Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all related characters and trademarks are copyright 2011 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network. Harry Nile and all related characters and trademarks are copyright 2011 Jim French Productions, which is run by and was founded by a Seattle, Washington area Radio Producer/Disc Jockey/Radio Host named Jim French.
Chapter 1
It is a rather warm early September afternoon in the city that served as the crown jewel of the region of the United States known as the Pacific Northwest, specifically Seattle, Washington; Seattle is known as the Emerald City, and the gateway to the Pacific Rim, because of its close relationship with cities in the Far East, mainly business and shipping related, which makes it truly one of the top cities in the United States to live in and do business in.
Seattle is also home to landmarks which draw tourists from all over the globe such as the Space Needle, the Pike Place Market, the Experience Music Project, and of course its magnificent waterfront, which is a magnet for both local and out of town visitors alike because of its numerous shops and restaurants, not to mention the breathtaking view of Mount Rainier that can be seen when one visits the area.
The city of Seattle also features the National Football League's Seahawks, Major League Baseball's Mariners, Major League Soccer's Sounders FC, and for many years the National Basketball Association's Supersonics, who won the city's only major modern professional sports championship.
The majestic city also includes numerous halls of higher education, one of which is the University of Washington, whose football, men's basketball, softball and women's volleyball teams are among the nation's best in those respective sports, not to mention thousands of students who after graduation will no doubt become some of the nation's top doctors, scholars and some of the best in other fields of employment as well.
As the great city goes about its daily business on this September day, on one of the many side streets located in the downtown area, a colorfully painted green van known as the Mystery Machine sits on a curb; while as the Mystery Machine sits idle, the five young adults, or rather four young adults and one Great Dane, who are the members of a detective agency known as Mystery Inc. are enjoying a fairly quiet lunch at a local restaurant.
So far the group's lunch has gone fairly well, and without incident, but after the group's meal is over, Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma will find themselves in yet another mystery, but this time the mystery will not only find the gang dealing with a dangerous criminal, but it will also bring the gang many years into the past, where they will meet a fellow member of the detective profession, and solve one of the weirdest cases of their respective careers.
"Sure is nice to be back in Seattle again" Fred remarked, before eating a mouthful of clam chowder.
"Yeah, the last time we were here we had to deal with those demons" Daphne replied, noting the gang's previous adventure in the picturesque city.
"Like yeah, it's nice to have a vacation for once were we don't end up solving a mystery" Shaggy commented, all the while in the back of his mind hoping that the rest of the gang's vacation was going to go well and not be interrupted by the appearance of something from the realm of the supernatural.
"It certainly is; and I can't wait to go see some of the sights here" Velma remarked.
"Right Velma, like the Space Needle, the Pike Place Market, and the Woodland Park Zoo" Daphne noted.
"Ri ran't rait to go to the roo" Scooby replied.
"Yep, you're probably looking forward to seeing all the animals huh Scoob?" Velma asked.
"Ruh-huh, rou ret" Scooby answered.
"Don't forget you guys, we still have tours scheduled of Qwest Field and Safeco Field too; that should be pretty fun" Fred replied.
"Freddie, you and your sports" Daphne commented, shaking her head as she spoke.
"What's wrong with me liking sports a lot? I mean what other times do you get a chance to have a private tour of a Major League Baseball stadium, and a NFL stadium to boot?" Fred replied, with a question of his own.
"There's nothing wrong with liking sports Freddie, and I think it will be pretty cool to tour the homes of the Seahawks and Mariners; but, it's not the only thing in the world, and I would like to do some souvenir shopping while we're here" Daphne remarked.
"I know you do Daphne, and we will; but it will probably be after our Safeco and Qwest tours" Fred replied.
"That's fine, I don't mind that; maybe I can even find something that I could buy as a souvenir from either one of those stadiums," Daphne explained.
"Maybe Daphne, as I understand it, there's a lot of stuff in the team stores at those stadiums, so maybe you'll find something" Fred replied.
"I'm sure I will; by the way Freddie, I was going to ask you: how did you manage a private tour of each stadium?" the red head inquired.
"Yeah, I thought you could only go on a public tour of a major stadium" chimed in Velma with her own query.
"Well, it helps to know somebody who works in each of those organizations" Fred replied.
"Like who Fred?" Daphne asked.
"Well for the Mariners, my cousin Danny works in the public relations department for the team; and for the Seahawks, my dad's brother in law works for the team, I think he's in the media relations department" Fred explained.
"Cool; we'll have to talk to them if they're in the offices when we get to both stadiums" Daphne replied.
"I don't know if they're there today Daphne, but it's worth a shot" Fred remarked.
"Like I don't know much about sports, other then track and gymnastics, but I do know food and I have to say that this seafood is terrific" Shaggy remarked, giving his approval after savoring a mouthful of fish.
"Well it should be Shaggy, the Seattle-Tacoma area is supposed to have some of the best seafood in the entire country" Velma replied, giving her boyfriend a brief crash course in the region's cuisine.
"I can sure agree with that statement" Daphne remarked, while sipping a glass of iced tea.
"I'll sure eat to that" Fred commented, before taking a bite of the food laid out on his plate.
"And like speaking of eating" Shaggy said, as he and Scooby resumed their lunch; in this case, the cowardly young adult picked up a few French fries and ate them, with a very satisfied look on his face.
After ten or so minutes passed, Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma had completely polished off their lunch, or as much food that was on the table that they could eat before getting full, which includes various kinds of fish including salmon, as well as bread, French fries, salad and a few soft drinks.
Following the group's satisfying lunch, the five members of Mystery Inc. found themselves sitting back in their respective chairs and relaxing for a few minutes before setting off on the rest of their sightseeing in the Emerald City; needless to say the gang couldn't believe the selection of food they had partaken in, and were complimenting the restaurant and the chefs before chatting amongst themselves at their table.
"Boy was that good" Fred remarked, rubbing his stomach in approval.
"I'll say it was, that might have been the best seafood I've ever eaten" Daphne replied, before finishing off the last of her iced tea.
"I can sure agree with that," Velma added, while noticing the cars driving by on the street near the restaurant.
"Like that's for sure" Shaggy replied, petting his cowardly canine companion as he spoke.
"Well now that lunch is over, what's next on our package tour of Seattle?" Daphne asked, awaiting the next part of the gang's sight seeing journey.
"Well according to this, we're supposed to take a guided tour of Underground Seattle" Fred said reading a white sheet of paper, which he had printed out after he booked the gang's vacation some months back in Coolsville; although he had booked the trip, he made sure and asked the gang's opinions before planning it, which were a resounding approval of the choice of Mystery Inc.'s vacation destination.
"Like that sounds kind of spooky," Shaggy remarked nervously.
"Oh don't be silly Shaggy there's nothing spooky about underground Seattle" Velma replied, looking over at the young man in attempt to calm his nerves, knowing that they would be frayed when the gang took their underground tour, partly because the area underneath Seattle in his mind was very scary and frightening.
"Oh yeah? What about ghosts, goblins, phantoms and who knows what else" Shaggy noted, while his teeth chattered and he shook like a bowl full of gelatin all the while.
"Shaggy, just because we had to solve the mystery of those demons years ago, doesn't mean there are ghosts in Underground Seattle" Velma replied, still attempting to calm him down.
"Like I hope so," Shaggy responded.
"Well let's not worry about that now, let's head back to the Mystery Machine and continue our sight seeing" Fred said as he stood up from the table that he and the rest of Mystery Inc. were sitting at, and pushed his chair in towards said table after standing up.
"Right, after all, we're on vacation and we're supposed to be having a good time, not worrying about ghosts or trying to solve any mystery" Daphne replied, after retrieving her credit card from the table and putting it back into her purse after paying for the group's lunch.
With that, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby walked back to their colorfully painted van and entered the vehicle, following the group's respective entrances into the vehicle, each of the five sleuths buckled up and following that, the unofficial leader of the group of sleuths started the Mystery Machine and within moments, the vehicle began lumbering down the streets of Seattle yet again, but this time headed for Mystery Inc.'s next destination.
Fred had been driving the Mystery Machine for about fifteen minutes until he spotted a large sign above a medium sized brown brick building which read Underground Seattle Tours; the blond detective realized that he had found where the gang was supposed to be and parked the colorful van in front of said building.
After parking the vehicle, the blond young adult exited the Mystery Machine, followed closely behind by Daphne and the rest of Mystery Incorporated; a few moments later the five of them walked up to the door of the building, saw that it had an open sign on it and entered the building, with Fred turning the doorknob, which allowed his friends to follow him and come into the building as well.
The building in question, or at least its contents consisted of the fairly typical office materials; a large desk front and center towards the back of the office, a computer terminal with keyboard also on the desk, along with file cabinets on both sides near the corners of the office, and a well dressed dark brown haired woman typing away at said keyboard.
The woman wore brown rimmed glasses and a dark blue suit, along with a light red skirt and dark brown heeled shoes; she seemed to be fully engrossed in her work, and didn't even notice the group of young adults and their canine stepping up to the desk, until Fred walked up and rang the bell located on the right side of said desk, which caused the woman to look up and smile at the gang.
"Hello there, sorry about that; I was working on some receipts and things and I didn't hear you come in," the woman explained.
"That's all right, it happens" Daphne replied.
"Thank you, now what can I do for the five of you?" the woman asked.
"Well, we have a tour of underground Seattle scheduled for 2 o' clock and we wanted to make sure we made it" Fred replied.
"Ah; well, believe it or not, you're a few minutes early" the woman responded.
"You're kidding" Fred replied.
"Nope, not at all; now if you kids would like you can start your tour now, as we don't really have anyone else scheduled for a tour in the next few hours" the woman answered.
"Wait, you don't have any other tours scheduled?" Velma asked.
"Nope, none at all" the woman replied.
"That's unusual; how come?" Shaggy inquired.
"Well, schools have started, plus most of the tourists are on the waterfront or in other parts of Seattle, so as a result we don't have too many people taking our tours" the woman replied.
"That's new; but if you're offering us a chance to start our tour early, we would love to" Fred remarked.
"Outstanding; I'm sure all of you will enjoy it" the woman replied.
"I'm sure we will" Daphne responded.
The woman at the desk and the gang then continued speaking for a few more minutes, and soon the gang showed the aforementioned woman at the desk their information and their trip itinerary, which the woman checked over, and a few moments later the woman gave the gang the go ahead for their tour, after also making sure they were able to pay for it of course.
With everything as far as the itinerary, payment and miscellaneous other things taken care of, the woman then explained to the gang that the entrance to the underground city was in the building that was behind the office; that being said, Scooby Doo and the gang left the office and headed for the entrance to underground Seattle to begin their tour, which promised to be anything unlike what the group had ever seen or experienced before in their lives.
After walking a few feet behind the office building, the gang found themselves standing at the front of the structure that would provide the starting point for the diverse group's tour of underground Seattle, not to mention the beginning of one of the gang's most unusual adventures ever.
"Well, I guess we better go inside" Fred remarked.
"Right" Daphne replied.
With that Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo then entered the small building, through a pair of what looked to be wooden double doors and towards a set of stairs, towards the back of the building; as the group headed towards the staircase, they couldn't help but think of the last time that the group had entered into a building like this and the last time they had been in Seattle on what was supposed to be a vacation.
"Jeepers, is it just me or does this feel like we're entering Captain Sally's basement?" Daphne quipped.
"Jinkies, come to think of it this does seem almost familiar" Velma added.
"Oh no, like it can't be! Like if we encounter a pair of demons or monsters again, I'm splitting!" Shaggy replied, shaking like the leaves from a tree in the autumn as he spoke.
"Knock it off Shaggy, we're not going to find or see any ghosts or monsters; trust me" Velma answered, speaking as if she was shifting into girlfriend mode.
"I know Velma, I know, but like I'm still nervous" Shaggy replied.
"Well if you're still nervous, hold my hand" Velma remarked.
"Like OK" Shaggy replied, as he took hold of the young woman's right hand, and together the two of them along with Fred, Daphne and Scooby continued down the stairs and through untold doors, before finally reaching what they hoped to be the entrance to underground Seattle, but oh how wrong they would be, as they were soon to find out.
"Hmm… like I hope this is the entrance to the underground city, I'm getting exhausted" Shaggy commented, sounding like a marathon runner in the last stages of a race.
"I hope so too Shaggy" Velma replied, still holding onto the young man's hand.
"Well gang, there's only one way to find out if that's the case" Fred noted.
"Right, let's open it and find out where it leads to and if it is what we're looking for" Daphne responded.
"Good idea Daph, come on gang" Fred replied.
The gang then prepared to open the large door, expecting to find what one would usually see when they toured the underground portion of Seattle, mainly whatever was left over from the old city, specifically shops and other business, as well as things that may have been interesting to people who were big history buffs.
But instead of anything like that, and anything that would usually be found in underground Seattle, the members of Mystery Inc. noticed that there was a strange yellow light coming from the other side of the door, and shining through at the bottom, which perplexed every one of the young sleuths.
"Hmm, this is strange" Velma wondered aloud.
"Right Velma, I think we'd better check this out gang" Fred commented.
"Oh no, like there's no way I'm going in there" Shaggy remarked.
"Reah re reither!" Scooby replied.
"Come on you two, there's nothing to be afraid of" Velma commented as she looked over and winked at Shaggy.
"Like on second thought, let's go" Shaggy responded, realizing what the bespectacled young woman meant.
"Roh rall right" Scooby replied, realizing that if he didn't follow Shaggy, he might get into serious trouble, despite the fact that Velma was there as well.
After the trepidation and uneasiness of what the group was going to find beyond the strange door passed, the unofficial leader of the group of sleuths opened the large door and after the gang took their respective deep breaths, the Great Dane and his friends walked through the strange light, for the moment it didn't seem like anything was wrong and that Scooby and company were unharmed and safe in their entrance through the door, which enabled them to continue on their way.
However as the group of adolescent investigators got deeper and deeper into the hallway, hoping that they were advancing deeper into the very catacombs of the underground city, they began to experience something that could only be described as very unsettling, and certainly not a feeling that one would experience if one were to find or uncover something from the worlds of the supernatural or the paranormal.
In this case it was something similar to what you or anyone else might experience if or when you stepped off an airplane and arrived in a far off land, or somewhere that one would travel to on vacation or for business; specifically it was something that a lot of people would or might experience, in terms of going through severe turbulence or having a very bumpy ride, which seemed to be what the gang was experiencing right now.
A few minutes after entering through the mysterious door and the equally mysterious light Velma could sense that she was beginning to feel a little queasy in the stomach and as a result started to fall backwards towards the ground, thankfully Shaggy was thinking quickly and managed to catch the bespectacled female sleuth before she fell to the wooden floor.
"Velma, like what happened? It looked like you fainted or something, are you alright?" Shaggy asked, with a concerned tone in his voice as he lifted his female companion up from the ground, all the while hoping and praying that she wasn't harmed in any way, shape or form.
"I-I don't know, I was standing up and feeling great as I usually do, but then all of a sudden I felt really dizzy and fell backwards; you know Shaggy, it's a good thing you managed to catch me, otherwise I might have suffered a serious head injury or worse" the bespectacled sleuth replied smiling.
"Thanks, I'm just glad I was able to be at the right place at the right time" Shaggy responded, with his arm on the young woman's shoulder.
"And I'm glad you were, you're, well my knight in shining armor" Velma replied, still a bit red in the face from embarrassment, and a little bit from talking about her feelings to one of her oldest and dearest friends.
"Like it was no problem at all Vel, I was happy to do it," Shaggy responded.
However at the exact same time, or within a few moments of Shaggy catching Velma, Daphne also began to feel a little unsettled in the stomach and started to fall backwards, luckily Fred was standing right behind the redhead and managed to catch her before she landed on the floor.
Although her first thought was the weird coincidence that surrounded her and Velma's almost simultaneous collapses onto the ground, her mind soon shifted to the fact that Fred Jones had rescued her from a horrible fate, not to mention that he was holding onto her as if she was a delicate flower and might wilt if not held up.
"Daphne, good grief are you okay; I mean you started to fall backwards suddenly, are you hurt?" the blond young adult asked with a great amount of concern in his voice.
"Of course I'm okay Freddie, I'm surprised you care so much" the redhead remarked with a somewhat indifferent tone in her voice.
"Sure I care Daphne, I care about you and all of the gang; if you ever became hurt or injured I would take care of you all day, every day, heck I would even cater to your every whim if possible" the blond young adult replied smiling.
"Freddie, you really would do all that for me? If I was injured I mean?" Daphne asked, still uncertain if her companion was really telling the truth or not.
"Daphne, of course I would; I already said I would take care of you as much as possible, and that I wouldn't let any harm come to you, and if you're still not sure if I'm serious or not, maybe this will change your mind" Fred said, before leaning over and giving Daphne a polite, but loving kiss on her cheek.
"Oh Freddie, you're such a wonderful boyfriend!" the redhead exclaimed with a smile on her face she hugged the blond young adult, which Fred seemed to enjoy, as he figured it was her way of returning his kiss.
"You're pretty great yourself Daph" the blond young man replied with a smile.
"Like there's still one thing I don't understand" Shaggy wondered, all the while holding onto Velma's arm to make certain she wouldn't fall again.
"What's that Shaggy?" the bespectacled sleuth asked.
"What was that weird yellow light that we passed through when we opened that large door a while ago?" the cowardly young adult inquired.
"I don't know Shaggy, but there's something that I don't understand about as well" Velma replied.
"What's that Velma?" the cowardly detective queried.
"Why did the four of us suddenly become light-headed and dizzy when we walked through the light, not to mention for some reason everything in this passageway looks different than from everything that was in the corridor that we entered to get to this door in the first place" the bespectacled sleuth responded.
"How so Velma?" the lanky young man asked.
"Well all of the doors, furniture and everything here seems brand new; you would think everything would have a layer of dust and cobwebs on it, but there just isn't a speck of dust on anything here" the bespectacled sleuth explained.
"Like that would be impossible unless…" the cowardly young man replied, before stopping in mid-sentence.
"Unless what Shaggy?" the bespectacled sleuth asked.
"Like unless that yellow light caused everything around us to change; in fact if I remember my movies correctly and if I didn't know any better I would say we passed through some kind of portal, like a time portal or something" the cowardly young adult explained to the amazement of his friends.
"Time Portal?" Fred, Velma, Daphne and Scooby exclaimed in unison.
"Shaggy, that's impossible although it actually makes as much sense as any explanation that I could come up with" Velma commented.
"So Shaggy, if we really did go through a time portal as you say, where or when are we?" Fred asked.
"Hmm… like it beats the heck out of me, we could be anywhere from the 1990's or yesterday or even as far back as the 1800's, it really depends I guess" the cowardly detective replied.
"Well there's only one way to figure out exactly where or when we are, and that's to explore the rest of this passage then try and find a door that will lead us out of here" Fred explained.
"You know Freddie, maybe you should hang on to me or hold my arm just in case I fall down again" Daphne replied sweetly.
"That sounds like a good idea Daphne, Shaggy maybe you should do the same thing for me" Velma remarked, in an equally sweet tone of voice.
"OK Velma, I'll make sure that nothing happens to you" the cowardly young sleuth replied.
"And just in case I'll do the same for you Daphne" Fred added, smiling as he spoke.
With that the gang began walking through the corridor trying to navigate their way through the dark and dreary passage, hoping that they could find a way to the underground portion of Seattle, although at the moment that particular item wasn't a very top priority for the five of them; after walking for what seemed and felt like several miles Daphne found herself walking into something large and made of stone, which gave her a definite rude awakening, both mentally and physically.
"Oooh ouch!" Daphne bemoaned as she held her leg, and rubbed it as she spoke.
"What's wrong Daphne?" Fred asked.
"Oh I think I bumped into something but I don't know what it is" Daphne replied.
Fred then walked over to where his companion was standing and saw exactly what the red head had the unfortunate experience of walking into, which caused her discomfort.
"Hmm, looks like you walked into some sort of old staircase Daph" Fred remarked.
"Staircase? Hmm, I wonder where it leads" Daphne replied, wondering aloud as she spoke.
"Well let's find out" Fred responded.
"Wait a minute, we just passed through some weird light, we walk through a dark passageway and then we find a staircase not knowing who or what is waiting for us; like to me that says we shouldn't walk up those stairs" Shaggy replied.
"Shaggy, why would you be afraid to walk up a regular old staircase to see what's on the other side? Besides, where's your sense of adventure and mystery; aren't you at least a little bit curious?" Velma asked.
"Like I don't know, maybe those stairs lead to some kind of graveyard or cemetery or some other scary or spooky place" Shaggy responded nervously.
"Oh come on, we've been through this a couple times already, you know there's no such things as ghosts, phantoms, specters, ghouls or anything like that; so let's go up the stairs and see what happens" Velma responded.
"Oh all right, I guess there's nothing to really worry about" Shaggy responded with a bit of trepidation in his voice.
"One thing though Velma" Shaggy asked.
"What's that?" Velma wondered.
"Would you mind going ahead of me, just to make sure everything's OK?" Shaggy replied smiling.
"Shaggy you are such a chicken, but I guess I could" Velma responded, chuckling as she spoke.
"Thanks Velma" Shaggy replied smiling.
"You're welcome Shaggy" Velma responded smiling back.
"Yeah come on gang, let's walk up those stairs and hopefully into some fresh air" Fred remarked.
"Good idea Fred, we've been in this corridor for so long I think I'm getting stir crazy" Daphne remarked.
With that Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby made their way up the staircase; after making their way up the stairs, the gang found another door and opened it; after opened the door the sleuths from Mystery Inc. found themselves in what looked to be a dark hallway.
Realizing that this might be something important, or could lead to something of crucial importance or great significance, the gang walked through the hall until finding yet another door; noticing that it was unlocked for some reason or another, the gang decided to enter the mysterious door and see exactly what was inside it, and if it might be something that would resemble a clue as to what was happening to the group of sleuths, or why they had passed through the mysterious yellow light or perhaps why they had passed through a time portal.
Figuring that any one of these items or situations might have something to do with the door and where the gang currently were, they decided to do what any good detective would do in their shoes, mainly they entered the door and walked inside to explore whatever was lurking behind said door.
"Hmm, this looks like an office of some kind" Velma remarked.
"I wonder who works here?" Fred questioned.
"Can we find out tomorrow, I'm exhausted" Daphne commented with an audible yawn.
"Like yeah, come to think of it I'm kind of tired too; it's getting pretty late" Shaggy remarked, starting to yawn himself.
"Shaggy's right, according to my watch it's almost 11 o'clock at night" Fred commented.
"Well, since we're in this office and it looks like there's a sofa and some chairs why don't we sleep here" Daphne remarked.
"Like are you sure that's a good idea, besides we don't know for sure who owns this office" Shaggy replied.
"Oh come on you chickens, I'm too tired to argue let's just get some sleep" Velma commented, hoping that her companion and his canine would take a hint and the two of them would relent to getting some rest.
"Like I guess that's a good idea" Shaggy replied.
So with that each member of the gang found a place to sleep; in this case, Fred and Daphne took a sofa which was in the corner of the room, Shaggy and Velma each found large chairs, while Scooby Doo slept on the floor; with their respective sleeping arrangements picked out, the five members of Mystery Inc. drifted off to sleep unaware of what was in store for them the next day.
Author's Notes: Hopefully everybody will enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it; by the way, I just wanted to let my readers know that even though I live in the Seattle area, I have never taken the Underground Seattle tour, so most of the stuff in this chapter concerning that is either made up, or from the first Scooby Doo episode where the gang was in Seattle, which was a Scooby Doo Show episode from 1976.