Chapter 3: Secrets Underground
Shaggy and Scooby crept further down the stairs until they came to an elevator.
"Like, I wonder where this goes?" Shaggy said and gulped. "Hopefully up!"
They walked inside and looked at the numbers. "Let's go to second floor." Shaggy hit the number two button. However, the elevator went down.
"Raggy! It's rowing rown!" Scooby shouted. He jumped into Shaggy's arms. The two shivered until the elevator stopped. The doors slid open. The boy and his dog walked through a doorway into what appeared to be a lab with big computers, desks with loads of notes.
"Okay Scoob, I take back what I said about nothing being creepy in this town. We just found creepy!"
"I rwonder rif ranyone ris rown rhere," Scooby said as he stayed behind Shaggy.
"I don't think so Scoob, but, this doesn't look the type of place that would belong to someone like Soos or his grandma." Shaggy looked down at a bunch of notes on the desk. Many weird creatures were drawn on the pages with handwritten words next to them.
"Look at these weird pictures. Like I hope I don't see anything like this," he said looking at a strange blob creature with the name Cycloptopus written next to it. "'Don't let this thing ever taste human flesh,'" he read. "Zoinks! Like I don't want to read anymore!"
Scooby looked at the big computer monitor. A strange helmet sat next to it with a hose attached to the computer.
"Rut's rhis?" He placed the helmet on his head. The computer turned on. Scooby watched as he saw himself appear on screen. "Rhat's me!" He laughed. He watched himself as a variety of food popped up in front of his image. "Roy boy! Rood!" The image of Scooby chowed down on burritos, pizza and other food while the real life version of Scooby chomped down on air.
Meanwhile Shaggy looked through the various notes on creatures such as centaurs, Minotaurs, gnomes, fairies and unicorns. "'Unicorns are the most frustrating creatures in the universe,'" Shaggy read. "'They seek out the one who is pure of heart, but it's just a cruel joke as they don't really have the power to look into a human's heart, just point to the nearest rainbow and play rave music—' Huh?" He squint his eyes in confusion. "'Luckily I got ahold of some unicorn hair to make the protective shield around the shack.'" Shaggy scratched his head. "Protective shield around the shack? Why would there be a point to having that?" He looked over at Scooby hooked up to the machine. He rushed over and tore off the helmet. Scooby was in mid-chew. He slowly realized that the food he thought he was eating did not exist. His eyes rolled up to look at Shaggy.
"Rhere rid rhe rood go?" he asked.
"Food? What are you talking about?" Scooby looked up at the machine, but the screen faded to black. "Awww!" he exclaimed.
"Scoob, you gotta be careful. Who knows what that machine is or what it'll do to your brain." Shaggy walked to the back wall where there was a chalkboard. The side he stared at was blank. Then he noticed that the board could be flipped to the other side.
"I'm probably going to regret this, but I guess I'm curious." He put a hand on top of the wood frame. He turned his head to scooby. "Like, you can stop me any time, Scoob," he said. Scooby made a circle motion with his paw to say he wanted shaggy to flip the board.
Shaggy gulped, "Like thanks a lot pal," he said and flipped the board around.
It took Shaggy a moment to understand what he was looking at. There was a picture of the world, split in half on the left, a bunch of chaotic images of people running in panic and most importantly, a triangular shaped being with one eye wearing a top hat that seemed to be in control of it all. At the top of the picture, big bold letters spelled the word Weirdmageddon. Shaggy turned, narrowing his eyes at Scooby, "See, that's why I shouldn't listen to you." Scooby studied the drawing on the chalkboard at every angle.
"Rhat roes rhis mean?"
Before Shaggy could respond, a strange, almost otherworldly whisper echoed through the room. The words were jumbled up, speaking the same words over and over.
"Like, who's whispering?" Shaggy wondered. They listened for a moment. Shaggy took out a tape recorder and hit the record button.
"Rhat are rou roing?" Scooby asked.
"Remember what I said during our last mystery. The next time we found something creepy, I was going to record it as proof to show to the rest of the gang." I think maybe a video camera would have been better." Shaggy held up the tape recorder. The whispering continued. Now it was becoming louder and louder until the voice sounded high and shrill like it came from beyond the world of the living.
"Ret's ret out of rhere!" Scooby shouted. Now, the voice sounded as if it came from all around them.
"Yeah, like, we're done here!" Shaggy said. The two ran back to the elevator. Shaggy hit the number one button.
The elevator arrived back on the first floor. The two raced up the stairs and towards the back of the vending machine. Shaggy pushed hard on the door, His hand hit the latch that opened it up and the two fell out onto the floor.
Getting up, they saw they were back in the gift shop. Shaggy closed the machine back up.
"That's enough spooky stuff for now."
Total silence engulfed the two as Shaggy and Scooby looked around the dark shop. All the weird paraphernalia looked really cryptic now. The two rushed over to the door. Shaggy put a hand on the doorknob and turned it only to find the door locked.
"Oh no!" he cried. He pulled hard on the door. It wasn't budging. "S-someone locked us in!" Shaggy pounded on the door. "Hey! Anyone there? Someone let us in!" Scooby began to whimper.
"Like don't tell me we're stuck in the creepy shop," shaggy whined. "Well, I guess I'd rather be in here than that creepy basement."
Scooby looked around the shop. It didn't take him long until he found a box of chips and candy bars. He unwrapped each treat and at it one by one. Shaggy noticed his pal chowing down.
"Hey, more snacks!" Shaggy said as he joined his friend. As they emptied the box, they found something they couldn't eat. Shaggy pulled out strange contraption almost like a gun, but with a hook at the end.
"Wow! Is this one of those whatcallits—a grappling hook."
"Rappling rook?" Scooby asked.
"Yeah, you know, you shoot out the hook and it grabs onto a ledge and you use the trigger to pull yourself up." He paused as if in thought. "Hey, maybe we can use this to get in through a window." He walked over to the exit door and unlocked it and walked outside. Scooby followed.
However, the moment the two were outside in the quiet night, surrounded by trees, they instantly regretted it.
"Oh boy! Maybe we should rethink this. Like it's creepier out here than the basement."
"Ruh-uh!" Scooby nodded his head. Shaggy moved around the shack and looked up at the attic window where he saw a light. "Hey, Fred's still up. He can let us back inside." Shaggy pointed the grappling hook up and pulled the trigger, sending the hook sailing up to the roof. It caught on the edge.
"Perfect, now it will hoist us up to the window." Scooby jumped into Shaggy's arms as he pulled the trigger. They went right up to the window. Dangling there, Shaggy tried to tap on the window. The wind blew harshly, causing the two to sway.
"Whoa!" Shaggy wailed. "Like Fred! Fred! Are you in there?" They swayed back and forth, each time they passed the window, Scooby knocked on it. Suddenly, Fred pushed out the tiny widow pane.
"Shaggy? Scooby? What are you two doing out there?"
"Like panicking! Help us inside, will ya?" Fred held out his hand for Scooby to jump inside, and then he pulled Shaggy inside.
"What happened to you two?"
"Like, where do I start?" Shaggy began.