Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all related characters are copyright 2009 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network. No challenge to their ownership is implied; I am not making any money from writing this story, I am just a fan and I am writing this simply for fun.
Chapter 1
Our story begins in the mountainous country of Tibet, in the Himalayan Mountains specifically; Scooby Doo and Mystery Inc.'s warlock friend Vincent Van Ghoul is standing in the front room of his castle, this time however he is not working on any spells, incantations or anything that a warlock would usually be doing; instead he is waiting for his dinner which tonight consists of Chinese takeout food.
As he waits for his meal the great warlock sits in a large throne like chair watching a Crystal Ball; the Crystal is just one of the items he uses to look in on the outside world, at this very moment he is particularly looking at a specific place, or rather inside a specific place: the Mystery Flying Machine to be precise.
Inside the crimson colored aircraft Scooby and company are winging their way towards sunny Southern California to what else: chase ghosts; while Fred is doing his usual job of piloting the plane, Daphne is speaking with Vincent to update the warlock on the group's progress in their ongoing pursuit of the thirteen ghosts from the Chest of Demons.
"How goes the ghost hunting so far? Vincent asked.
"So far, so good Mr. Van Ghoul" Daphne replied.
"Right, we should be in Southern California within the next couple of hours" Fred remarked.
"Like yeah, I can't wait to do some surfing and have some fun in the sun right Scoob?" Shaggy remarked while dressed in blue shorts and wearing a snorkel.
"Reah, run in the sun" Scooby agreed wearing the exact same thing as his master, sans the shorts.
"Guys we're not going to California to have fun," Velma explained.
"Velma's right you two, we're going there to chase ghosts" Daphne added.
"Like why are we going to California if we're not going surfing?" Shaggy wondered.
"Because, according to our equipment there's a large concentration of ghostly activity in the Southern California area" Fred replied.
"Like it's just our luck Scoob old pal, we get to go somewhere nice and friendly like California and we don't get to enjoy it" Shaggy complained.
"Reah, rhat a rummer" Scooby replied.
Velma sitting in a chair towards the back of the plane looked over at her two friends and saw the look of disappointment on their faces.
"There has to be something I can do to cheer Shag and Scooby up, after all they've helped us out so much in the past; wait a second, I've got it" Velma thought to herself.
"Shaggy, Scooby, if it really means that much to you we'll have some fun in the sun after we take care of the ghosts, OK?" Velma asked.
"Like you've got a deal Velma" Shaggy replied.
"Reah a real" Scooby added.
"But first we've got to track down the source of the paranormal activity in this area" Fred remarked.
"Good luck in your ghost hunting kids, oh and by the way a quick word of warning" Vincent said.
"Like I hate to ask but what is it?" Shaggy asked nervously.
"I would advise you all to be on your guard, for you see tonight is the initiation night for S.A.P.S." Vincent remarked.
"S.A.P.S., what's that?" Daphne asked.
"S.A.P.S. is the acronym for the Spook and Poltergeist Society, tonight some of the most evil ghosts and ghouls in the world will be attempting to gain admission into this frightful organization by not only scaring living mortals like yourselves, but also by committing acts of wickedness, of evil and all manner of other malicious mischief" Vincent explained.
"That sounds terrible Mr. Van Ghoul" addressed Velma.
"It sure does, we'll make sure to be on our guard Vincent and thanks for the warning" Fred remarked.
"No problem kids, good luck and be careful" Vincent replied.
Both the crystal ball in the Mystery Flying Machine and in Vincent's temple flickered off; the powerful warlock relaxed back in his chair as he continued to wait for the Chinese delivery boy that was bringing him his dinner.
Many miles away inside a strange looking building that from the outside looked like something out of the Late Late Show, a floating disembodied head and numerous gruesome looking monsters sat around a large square table discussing matters of great importance or in this case great evil.
The head turned away from the table for a second and was looking at a large television monitor, the monitor screen had been empty but currently was displaying a fuzzy picture of a snowy mountainous landscape, the Himalayas to be exact; after a few seconds the screen now displayed a frightening looking creature, dressed completely in dark red and wearing the same color cape, the creature had strange horns growing out of his head and green piercing eyes; the head began to speak to the creature as the rest of the gruesome monsters looked on.
"All of us are anxious to know how you are progressing with your initiation task Rankor?" the head asked.
"Very well so far exhaulted evil one, I am in Tibet and am getting ready to begin my assignment," the strange creature hissed.
"Ah, good Rankor; report back when you have completed your task and if you are successful as promised you will made a full fledged member of SAPS" the head replied.
"Yes master" the strange creature remarked.
The monitor turned off as the disembodied head turned his attention to his fellow monsters once again.
"Very soon my cohorts in evil, the greatest threat to our existence shall be eliminated: Vincent Van Ghoul!" the head exclaimed.
The creatures sitting around the table loudly applauded at their leader's statement; the motley crew of monsters were now waiting with baited breath as they prepared to hear from what they hoped to be the newest member of their secret society.
"It appears that Rankor is progressing quite well in his appointed rounds, I just wish I could say the same for those miserable failures Bogel and Weerd; those two even give ghosts a bad name" the head remarked with a half please half disappointed look on his face.
Back in Tibet, Rankor prepared to prove to the members of SAPS that he wanted to become a member of the gruesome club and the way he was going to do that was to transform the powerful Vincent Van Ghoul into something as permanent as time itself: stone; after hiding out of sight Rankor noticed that a man carrying several white containers was walking up the snowy mountain path towards Vincent Van Ghoul's temple.
"Ah what do we have here, a delivery boy; hmm I believe he could be quite useful in my plans" Rankor thought to himself, chuckling evilly.
The man climbing the mountain was a Chinese food delivery boy taking Vincent Van Ghoul his order of takeout, he grumbled as he walked through the snow towards the powerful warlock's home.
"Why in the world would someone who lives in the Himalayas want Chinese food? I swear some people have the weirdest tastes, well I'm almost there anyway" the delivery boy remarked.
After walking for several minutes the delivery boy had made his way up to the front steps of the imposing gothic like structure that was Vincent's temple.
"Well here I am, Vincent Van Ghoul's castle" the delivery boy commented.
The delivery boy rung the doorbell which sounded like someone screaming, the delivery boy was unfazed by this however and waited for an answer; footsteps could be heard coming from inside the castle as he knew that soon he would get to make his delivery.
The large temple doors opened slowly; as they opened Vincent Van Ghoul stood in the doorway and did something he rarely did: he smiled; he was quite pleased that his food had arrived and greeted the delivery boy.
"Here's your takeout Chinese, Mr. Van Ghoul," the delivery boy said before passing out from exhaustion.
"Ah, my dinner has arrived" Vincent remarked as the delivery boy stood back up and gave Vincent his meal.
However Vincent's temporary joy turned to displeasure as he realized that there was one item that was missing from his dinner.
"Wait a second, I ordered a fortune cookie with this; I can't have a Chinese dinner without a fortune cookie" Vincent remarked.
"Oh for heaven's sake, why not?" the delivery boy asked.
"You know as well as I do that no Chinese meal is complete without a fortune cookie" Vincent explained.
"Alright, I'll humor you and go get your fortune cookie; I'll be back in a few minutes" the delivery boy replied.
Vincent closed the door and the delivery boy walked away once again, and like last time he was grumbling up a storm as he walked back to his van.
"Oh brother, that Vincent Van Ghoul has to be the most obnoxious customer I've ever had; Mr. I can't eat my Chinese takeout dinner without a fortune cookie, not to mention the fact that I had to travel several hundred miles just to deliver his food in the first place; oh well, at least this will all be over soon" the delivery boy commented.
The delivery boy's statement would be correct for soon it would be all over, however not in the way that he was thinking; still in the shadows Rankor waited patiently and it was at this time that the dreadful demon decided to make his move.
Rankor changed from a solid being into a dark red mist, then after becoming a red mist changed into a bat; in his bat form Rankor flew around trying to get the delivery boy's attention, he was successful and the delivery boy noticed the creature above him.
"Get away, get away you blasted creature!" the delivery boy shrieked as he tried to shoo away the bat, after a few moments Rankor decided to transform back into a red mist; the mist entered the delivery boy's body and took possession of it.
Rankor using the delivery boy's body walked back up the snow covered path towards Vincent Van Ghoul's temple; after reaching the front steps the delivery boy rang the doorbell once again, being a creature of the night Rankor was unfazed by the fact that the doorbell sounded like a woman's scream; he waited for Vincent to answer and once the warlock did so the demon prepared to put his plan into motion.
"Oh you're back already, I must put in a good word for you young man" Vincent remarked somewhat surprised at the quick return of the delivery person.
"Here is your fortune cookie sir," the delivery boy said in Rankor's voice, handing Mr. Van Ghoul a small Chinese takeout package.
Vincent took the container from the man's hand and opened it; however as he did so he looked confused because the small white cardboard box did not contain dessert but rather something else, something shiny and red.
"Wait, this isn't a cookie it's a jewel; it's the Eye of Eternity!" Vincent said with a gasp, he suddenly dropped the jewel as if it were a hot potato and with good reason; for after touching the gem the powerful mystic's right arm began turning to stone.
Rankor decided that with his mission complete he should make haste from the delivery boy and return to his fellow monsters at SAPS to report the good news, after he did so he stood in front of the delivery boy and as you might expect the man gasped, shrieked and screamed at the sight of the horrible creature.
"A-a vampire!" the delivery boy shrieked; Rankor hissed at the man and he ran screaming towards his vehicle, Rankor laughed evilly at the sight of the powerful Vincent Van Ghoul beginning to become petrified and a crooked smile could be seen on his face.
"Uh, got to call for help, got to call Scooby and friends" Vincent groaned as he reached for his Crystal Ball to let Mystery Inc. know of his perilous predicament, however as he did so his right hand had indeed become petrified.
The great mystic remembered reading about the jewel in the past and hoped that his mystery solving, ghost chasing friends were able to somehow reverse the petrifaction process; because unless they could do Vincent Van Ghoul would be soon be a statue for the rest of his natural life.