Hi! Time for 'nother chapter! This one is honestly my least favorite, but this does need to go somewhere. ~Sigh~

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"The next you'll be dealing with isn't that hard either. It isn't as connected to your memories, but we are drawing from what you know. Now, you're going to deal with..."

"Surprise!" came a yell. Velma turned toward the sound of the noise.

"Guys? What are you doing here?" In front of her were Daphne, Fred, Shaggy and Scooby.

"I really hate to be the bearer of bad news," Alissa said, gripping her shoulder, "but this, unfortunately, is an illusion. Surprise, like I said, is fairly easy to work through and repair."

"So you mean it's not really them?"

"No, unfortunately."

"When will I be able to see them again?"

"When you reconnect yourself." She sighed. "Now, why did they surprise you?"

"I guess... I guess I just wasn't expecting them to be here."

"That's almost precisely it. Why didn't you expect it?"

"They were just suddenly here, and I haven't seen them since coming here, wherever here is. Also, they gave me a bit of a spook." Alissa laughed.

"Surprises do that. I know you're probably very happy to see them, but..." Velma sighed.

"Do we have to?"

"Yes, unfortunately. Remember, when you return, you can see the real ones again. If you stayed and tried to interact, they wouldn't be very good at seeming like your friends. No one in surprise is."

"Have you done this before?" Alissa only smiled and strode forward.

"Why is that a shocking revelation?" Alissa continued and Velma stood dumbstruck for a moment.

"Alissa, wait!"

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As they continued, Velma noticed a foul scent. Unfortunately, they moved toward the smell.

"What's that smell?"

"Not very nice, is it?"

"Yeah. What is it? Seriously, it's getting worse." They turned at a rather sharp angle and the stench from whatever was ahead made Velma feel sick to her stomach. Past a clearing in the trees was a bog.

A bubbly and ugly bog.

That was the source of the stench, Velma realized as the overpowering smell washed over her, bringing another wave of nausea.

"We have to cross that?" Velma asked once she had gotten over the wave of nausea.

She looked to find Alissa and saw...

"How did you get over there?!" she shrieked.

"The log I stepped on sunk," Alissa replied apologetically. Velma crossed her arms. "There's no other way around. You can do it! I believe in you!"

"If you think I'm stepping in this shit, you're crazy!"

"There's no way to deal with it without confronting it." Checkmate. Both Velma and Alissa knew it. She gingerly stepped into the bog. It was only ankle deep. As she walked a bit further, it didn't get very much deeper, but bubbles kept rising and bursting.

"Wait," Velma called. "If it doesn't get deeper than this, how did the log sink?" Alissa put her hands on her hips and laughed. "You didn't use a log, did you? You somehow can control this place, why didn't you admit that?"

"Because you're so grounded in logic it wouldn't have made sense."

"None of this makes sense, grounded in logic or not," she grumbled as she resumed again. Alissa concealed a small smirk with her hand. "This isn't very funny!"

"It is from here," she said back.

Velma reached the other side and stepped onto the dirt, splattering God-knows-what-was-in-that-bog on it.

"You did good. I'm proud of you."

"I regret everything," Velma muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"But guess what? You fixed another connection. You're halfway through this!" Velma perked up significantly.

"Really?"

"Yes!" Alissa guided her forward gently. When her shoe made a squishy sound, she tried not to gag.

"Don't worry, we're coming up on a stream. No need for the smell to keep following you." Velma laughed.

"That's a relief."

"Now, on a more serious note, things will only get worse from here. This was the easy part. You'll have to deal with more powerful emotions than merely happiness, surprise, and disgust."

For once, Velma said this without hesitation.

"I'm ready."

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Okay, now we're gonna get into some better stuff! The next chapter's gonna have a certain annoying character from What's New, Scooby Doo? Frighthouse of a Lighthouse! If you don't get the context, I'd recommend watching that first.

As always, reviews are very appreciated!