The very next morning, the Mystery Machine drove along the roads of Ohio, headed towards Springwood.
As Fred Jones drove, Velma Dinkley and Daphne Blake sat in the passenger seats. In the back, as usual, Shaggy Rogers and Scooby-Doo were stuffing their faces with a ton of food they had with them.
"Like, you're not gonna finish before I do!" Shaggy said, shoving a cheeseburger down his throat.
"Uh-huh!" Scooby barked, as he devoured a huge slice of cake.
Needless to say, the two of them were making a pretty big mess back there. Spaghetti was flying around, steak was being thrown, and all different kinds of ice cream was being guzzled down by those goofs.
"Hey, can you guys calm down a bit back there?" Velma asked, turning her head to see them.
"Why are you eating so much anyway?" Daphne asked.
"We're, like, training for the competition." Shaggy chuckled.
It was true. Every year in Springwood around October, a 3 day festival would be held. There would be music, and Ferris Wheels, and contests. A few weeks ago, when the gang first heard about the festival, Scooby and Shaggy couldn't pass up the opportunity of entering the eating contest. They also had heard that The Hex Girls would be performing at the festival, so they were also going to pay their old friends a visit.
"Who would think that you guys would have to train for an eating contest?" Fred said.
"Yeah. Isn't every time you guys eat an eating contest?" Velma laughed.
I know, right?
"Well, the contest isn't until the like, last day. So me and Scoob are gonna need all the preparation we can get" Shaggy said.
"Yeah." Scooby agreed.
The two continued eating, while Daphne started a new conversation with Fred and Velma.
"I think the festival's gonna be great." she said.
"Yeah, and it'll be great catching up with the Hex Girls." Velma said.
"Yeah, we haven't seen them since that whole deal with the Vampires" Fred added.
Back, in town, in Springwood Park, there was a lot of attractions and booths being set up for the festival. In the ride area, workers were setting up the attraction, the "Sea Dragon" which was depicted as a huge gondola that would swing back and forth. There was also a bumper car area, a "Spin-Out" attraction, and of course, a Ferris Wheel.
In the midst of all of the ticket booths, and popcorn stands, was a huge performance stage where the eco-gothic band, The Hex Girls were prepping for their 3 day performance to help promote their new album.
There was Thorn, whose real name was Sally McKnight. Beautiful, with dark black hair, with red highlights, and green eyes. She wore her signature red and black dress. She was the guitarist and lead singer for the band.
Also there, were her two band mates, Dusk, and Luna.
Dusk had blonde hair, and wore a dark green gothic dress, with green lipstick. She was the drummer of the band.
Luna had orange hair, dark eyes, wore a black purple dress, and gold earrings. She was the keyboardist and also served as a back up singer along with Dusk.
The girls had been there all morning. The band's moving truck was parked in front of the stage, and after the girl's instruments had been set up, they practiced for a bit while other workers unloaded the truck and set up mics and lights.
Thorn yawned as she tuned her guitar. It had been a rather strenuous week on her part. Being the leader of this band had taken a toll on her physically. In the past week, she averaged about 2 to 3 hours of sleep a night. She was either booking the band a gig, recording in the studio, or writing new material. On top of that, she had repeatedly been having weird nightmares the past few days, so sleeping wasn't really something she wanted so much as needed.
"Okay, you guys ready?" she turned to ask Dusk and Luna. They both nodded.
"Alright. Hit it sisters!" Thorn announced.
And with that, the band began rehearsing their signature song, "I'm a Hex Girl"
The rhythm and the melody of the instruments flowed perfectly together as Thorn began to sing:
I'm gonna cast a spell on you
You're gonna do what I want you to
Mix it up here in in my little bowl
Say a few words and you'll lose control
I'm a Hex girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you
I'm gonna put a spell on you
I'm a Hex girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you (put a spell on you)
In the parking lot of the park, the Mystery Machine pulled to a stop.
"Alright, gang. We're here." Fred said, as he unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the van.
"Jeepers. They're really going all out with this festival." Daphne said, gazing at the size of the attractions.
The rest of the gang exited the van and began to walk around. Looking at the surrounding booths, Shaggy thought of something.
"Hey. Like, do you think they're serving food here yet?" he asked.
"The festival doesn't start until tomorrow, Shaggy." Velma said. "Notice how all the booths are empty?"
"Oh. Yeah." Shaggy chuckled.
"Are you sure we should be here now, Fred? We really need to check in at the hotel." Daphne said.
"I just wanna check this place out first." Fred said.
As they walked further in, they began to hear a noise.
"What's that?" Scooby asked as his ears perked up.
"Yeah. I hear it too." Daphne said.
Holding his hand to his ear, Fred recognized the sound.
"Hey, I know what that is. Come on, guys." he said.
The gang jogged with him, heading towards the direction of the noise.
Back on the stage, the band continued playing.
With this little cobweb potion
You'll fall into dark devotion
If you ever lose affection
I can change your whole direction
I'm a Hex girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you
I'm gonna put a spell on you
I'm a Hex girl and I'm gonna put a spell on you
We're gonna put a spell on all of you!
The girls then threw to the ground, their explosive powder stage props. Much like the first time they met them, Mystery Inc. stood by the stage, applauding the performance. The Hex Girl's eyes all widened when they recognized their old friends.
"Oh, my god! It's you guys!" Thorn smiled as she took off her guitar strap, and walked off the stage.
The other girls followed her. Everyone embraced each other and gave friendly greetings.
"It's been a while, girls." Fred said.
"Yeah, I know." Thorn said.
"So, how have you guys been?" Velma asked.
"Oh, it's been fun, but tough, you know?" Luna said.
"Yeah, work, work, work." Thorn added.
"Hey, I hear you." Fred agreed.
"What have you guys been up to? Still solving mysteries and stuff?"
"Yeah, that's our life." Velma said.
"So, what are you doing here? Got called in to solve another monster mystery?" Dusk asked.
"Actually, we're just here to enjoy the festival. We heard you guys would be here, so we thought, why not come see you perform?" Fred said.
"Yeah, and like, Scoob and I entered in the food eating contest." Shaggy said.
"Yeah. I can't wait." Scooby added.
Everyone had a laugh.
"Have you guys booked a hotel?" Thorn asked.
"Not yet. We're about to head over to the Four Seasons." Daphne answered.
"You're staying there too? Cool, so are we."
"Great. We could use some time to catch up." Fred said.
"Hey, girls!" a voice called.
Everyone turned and saw a young man about their age approach them. He had on blue jeans, a T-shirt that was seen underneath his unbuttoned shirt, and wore a red baseball cap over his dark hair.
"Hey, Scott. What's going on?" Dusk asked.
Scott was one of the helpers with the band. He was mostly the moving coordinator whenever the band got any gigs outside of Oakhaven.
"There's something crazy going on over on Elm street." he said.
"What happened?" Fred asked.
Scott gave the gang with an unfamiliar stare.
"Guys, this is Scott. Scott, this is Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby." Thorn introduced.
"How's it going?" Scott quickly said. "Anyway, there's this girl over on Elm street. She just moved in with her parents last week, and get this. Her throat was slit in her sleep last night."
"Yikes. How awful." Daphne said.
"Do they know who did it?" asked Fred.
"Nope. They say they have no idea what it could've been." Scott said.
"Are they sure it wasn't some guy who broke in?" Luna asked.
"Hmm, cops said they couldn't find any fingerprints."
"So, they have nothing to go on?" Velma asked.
"All her parents said was that she kept complaining to them about nightmares she had about some burned guy with finger knives. Some guy called…Freddy Krueger."
Thorn froze.
"What's the matter?" Luna asked.
"….It's, it's nothing." Thorn said.
"Are you sure? You look a little pale."
"Yeah, I'm sure. Hey, we have a rehearsal to get through, right?"
Velma also noticed the frightened look on Thorn's face.
"Sally, is something wrong?" she asked.
"I'm fine. Just a little tired, that's all." Thorn answered. "I gotta go to the bathroom."
Thorn walked off, away from the group of people. When she got to the ladies' bathroom of the park, she walked inside, and looked into the mirror.
"Oh, my God." she said to her reflection.
She couldn't believe it. Freddy Krueger? The same guy she had been having dreams about was attacking someone else? She thought it had just been her dreams. This couldn't be real. Could it? That deal with Sara Ravencroft years ago was real enough to make Thorn believe anything.
To calm herself down, she turned on the sink and splashed her face with some water.
When she looked up, she saw the horrible, burnt face of Freddy Krueger, smiling maniacally at her.
"Remember me, Sally?" the evil bastard cackled.
Thorn screamed before suddenly snapping back to reality and only seeing her reflection.
This was so weird that it was starting to freak her out.
"It's okay. You're going out of your mind, that's all." she said to herself.
She took in two heavy breaths before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small bottle of Desoxyn tablets. Her doctor had advised her against taking them, but she insisted that she needed them in order to stay awake due to all of the band's performances.
She stared at the tablet for a second before shoving into her mouth. This should keep her awake for the next 10 hours or so.