AN: *Drum Roll* Here's the new chapter! By the way, there's a reference in this chapter.


The Hot Sauce Test

After walking back into Facility without having any zombies seeing them, the gang pop their heads at a corner to see a worker and a Abra zombie walking in the opposite direction they're from. After making sure they are completely out of sight, the gang proceed to tip-toe down the halls. All is quiet.

"As our heroes venture down the seemly empty hallway of the infected facility, they're keeping in mind of that everyone but them are the only people, animal, and Pokémon that are not turned into zombies. With twelve against an entire building full of highly contagious zombies, it looks very helpless to our heroes." Or, maybe not. No soon after she finishes her narration, Daphne is greeted with annoyed looks from her friends and Kumi, and confused looks from the kids.

"Uh, what's she doing now?" Serena asks, although she knew better than to question these people.

"Oh, another one of her antics." Freddy answers her. "This time it's nature narration."

"Except we're not in nature, but in a dangerous infected facility!" Velma shouts.

"Exactly!" Daphne points out. "We're in a survival apocalypse situation! What better way than to set the mood of this dangerous place than with a little survival narration!"

...

...

...

"...And the other antic is her overdramatic motivation speaking." Velma eventually says as they all stare at Daphne weirdly.

As they continue on down the hall (while ignoring Daphne's narration), Fred turn to Kumi and asks, "So, Kumi. You've been working as the facility's tour guide for a while, right?"

"Yeah? What's your point?" Kumi asks, looking like she doesn't want to have a conversation after what's happening.

"So, you probably know everyone at the facility. Do you have any idea on who could create the zombie virus?"

"Well, no. But I have an idea on who might, though." At this, Kumi gives out a smirk that makes everyone nervous.


After what seemed like to be hours crawling through the vents, they finally reach to where Kumi lead them.

"You know, I just realized that air vents are the most cliché hiding place when it comes to a zombie invasion." Velma comments once they all exited the vent shaft. "Surprisingly the zombies didn't even think of the possibility of us hiding in them."

"So, Kumi?" Serena asks, as they stare at the small metal door before them. "How exactly does this person know everyone in the facility?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Kumi smirks before she loudly bangs on the door. "Hey, Frank!"

"How'd ya zombies know my name?!" A voice that sounded familiar to Mystery Inc. yelled through the metal door. Suddenly the Judas door on top opens, revealing two familiar pair of eyes. "I'll have ya know-oh wait, it's just you Kumi... Even worse." The person, who name is obviously Frank, mumbles.

"Everyone, I would like you all to meet Troglodyte Frank." Kumi said with a smirk.

"It's Freaky Frank! You double-jawed sorry excuse of a Pokémon!" Freaky Frank shouted, opening to the door to reveal an exact doppelgänger of Hermit Hank, only he's wearing the jumpsuit that all the workers at the facility wore. "Mom and Pa had foresight when they gave me that name."

"Right, Freaky Frank." Kumi corrects herself, although she is still chuckling as she said.

"Like, hey, aren't you by any chance related to Hermit Hank?" Shaggy asks.

"Hermit who now?" Clemont suddenly speaks up.

"We'll tell you later." Daphne tells them.

"How'd y'all know about me twin brother? You've been spying on me?!" Freaky Frank shouts, getting a little too close for Shaggy's liking.

He gulps. "Uh, no, sir! Your brother just help us solve a case!" Shaggy says with his hands up in surrender.

Freaky Frank narrows his eyes before backing away slightly.

"Like brother, like brother..." Velma mumbles once she realize the similarities between the two.

"So, Freaky Frank, Kumi tells us you know everyone in the facility." Fred said.

"Yeah, what else has that double-mouthed creature been telling tell ya?" Freaky Franks asks with a suspicious look in his eyes.

"Nothing! Nothing!" Freddy insists. "She was just saying that maybe you have an idea on who is spreading the zombie virus?"

"I don't trust friends of Kumi, sonny," Freaky Frank said, "Last time I did, I ended up getting my bare behind in pot full of-!"

"Whoa, okay!" Velma speaks up as the kids and the others made sounds of disgust once they heard enough of Freaky Frank's explanation. "We get the idea!"

"So, yeah, I ain't-" Freaky Frank stops short once he catches sight the still paled kids behind the teenagers. "Are those kids?!" For the first time since they met him, Freaky Frank had a genuine smile on his face. "Aw, I love kids! Come here, ya'll!" Hesitantly, the kids walk up towards the hunchback. Soon Freaky Frank squished Ash's cheeks as he says, "Aw, aren't ya just adorable!" After releasing his cheeks (with the boy trying to readjust them) Freaky Frank asks, "Now, what can I do for ya kids?"

"Wait, you don't trust us teenagers because we hang out with Kumi, but you trust kids when the hang out with Kumi?!" Velma asks in disbelief.

"Of course I trust kids!" Freaky Frank looked at her like she was crazy. "They're more innocence than ya teenagers ever be!"

"Wh-But-!" Velma stutter before let out a loud groan as she walks away a bit. "The power of kids is fooling you all!"

"Okay..." Bonnie said slowly, she and the others unsure on how to respond to that.

"Now, what can I do for ya kids?" Freaky Frank said with a polite smile.

"Um, we were wondering if you have any idea on who is spreading the zombie virus?" Clemont asks with an uneasy look.

"What? But that's the same question those teenagers asked." Freaky Frank said. "Alright, look kiddies, I really like you, but I can hardly trust Kumi after what she did. So, I'll have ya and your teenager friends go through a little test."

"Uh, what kind of test?" Freddy cautiously, he and his friends gave each other uneasy looks. If Freaky Frank is anything like Hermit Hank, then that could mean...

"Homemade Hot Sauce!" Freaky Frank announces with a smirk as he suddenly holds up a large drinking jar that seems to be full of a very dark red sauce.

"Uh-oh..." Mystery Inc. mumbles, should have seen it coming...

"What?! Are you crazy Freaky Frank?!" Kumi shouts with wide eyes. "Not the Hot Sauce Test! Twenty-four people went to hospital to get their tongues legally remove after having that hot sauce of yours!"

"Twenty-four people?!" Clemont asks nervously.

"Relax, she's just exaggerating." At this, they all sigh. "There were actually fifty-five that went to the hospital." Now they gulped.

"So, what's your hot sauce called?" Velma asks, although she already had a feeling on what it could be.

"Glad, you asked. It's called AAARRRGGGGGGGGHHHH!" Yep, saw that coming. However, the kids and their Pokémon didn't know about Hermit Hank or even got to know Freaky Frank like Kumi has, so they all jumped in shock when Freaky Frank suddenly scream and flailing about like he was on fire. "That's spelt with eight G's by the way."

Freaky Frank then began to dip bread sticks into the hot sauce and handed them all-not Kumi- bread sticks. The kids and their Pokémon all stare cautiously at the red substance on the bread. They could practically see the small steams coming from it.

"Like Scoob, stop me if I'm losing my mind, but are we really risking the lives of our tongues just for the sake of finding a clue?" Shaggy asks nervously, his eyes never leaving the tainted breadstick.

"Yep," Scooby answered.

...

"This is best thing that could ever happen to us!" Shaggy yells in excitement as Scooby licks his lips while staring the breadstick in hunger.

"If ya can handle the heat, I'll be willing to answer the kids' question." Freaky Frank told them, although his face told them 'ya nevah going to beat this.'

Shaggy and Scooby, always being the most eager to have food, are the first ones to stick the breadsticks in their mouths. Just a mere second later, their skin quickly became red like a rising thermometer, before they let out painful "AAARRGGGGGGGGHHHH!"'s while they flail their arms around wildly as steam burst through their ears and fire shooting from their mouths. Finally they drop down onto floor, motionless.

For a moment, everyone thought they were dead, luckily they returned back to their usually selves when they suddenly raise their breadsticks. "Mowe pwease..." They babbled in pain, showing that their tongues have swollen pretty bad.

The rest of them shot nervous looks at each other, if Shaggy and Scooby were in agonizing pain because of food, who knows what it could do to them?

Taking the chance, Fred, Velma, and Daphne stuck their tongues on the breadsticks. Like Shaggy and Scooby, they're skin quickly became red on contact, before screaming "AAARRRGGGGGGGGHHH!" with their arms flailing about, steam bursting from their ears and fire from their mouths. Soon the drop dead just like Shaggy and Scooby. The kids stare at each other nervously before looking at the teenagers' bodies on the ground.

"You wonder why he calls it that," Kumi speaks as she lightly kicks Daphne's body to see if it's still responsive.

The kids still stare at their breadsticks nervously. Suddenly Scooby sits up, his face all sweaty, and tells them, "It's really not that bad. Just imagine it like a checkup at the doctors." With that, he drop face first back into the ground.

Soon Shaggy pops up, his face just as sweaty but with more anguish. "Yep, a trip to the doctors. Where they have terrifying needles that leave horrible. Burning. Searing. PAIN!" During his explaination and with him face planting into the floor, the kids flinched at the horrible description.

Daphne pops up as well. "But in the end, you'll get a lollipop." She reassures them, before face planting on the floor, with Fred taking her place.

"But instead of a lollipop, you'll be getting a clue that could save a whole civilization!" He tells them with a forced smile, before his face turn into Shaggy's agonizing one. "It hurts in more ways than you can imagine..." With that, he face planted to the floor.

"Thanks for trying to make us feel better!" Clemont said, fearfully sarcastic. Soon he and his friends' gaze look back their own breadsticks. They could now see the hot sauce burning through it, giving them more of a reason to not eat. But, if they go through with this test, then they could find a way to save everyone in this facility.

Taking deep breaths, they quickly took a bite out of the breadsticks, each of their eyes close tightly to wait for the "horrible burning pain" to come.

...

...

...

It never came. The kids open their eyes in surprise at feeling of coolness of the sauce. After they swallow, Ash speaks up, "You know, that was actually pretty tasty!"

"WHAT?!" The teenagers and Kumi all yelled in shock. How did they not feel the "horrible burning pain"?!

"Sweet mother of Christmas..." Freaky Franks mumbles with wide eyes. He couldn't believe what he's seeing. "No one, and I mean no one, has ever called AAARRRGGGGGGGGHHH-!" Okay, even when they saw that coming, the kids still flinched. "Tasty before." Freaky Frank finish. "You kids are tough sons of a gun, I'll tell you what I know about this virus."

Freaky Frank made the 'come here' gesture to the kids, so they huddle near to listen. "The day after the robbery, I saw that Amanda Chambers walking in with this new worker called Blue, seems pretty suspicious if you ask me."

Seeing Ash's face suddenly darken at the mention of "Blue", Clemont quickly changes the subject as Serena and Bonnie pull him away from Freaky Frank. "Uh, thanks for that sir! But I think we got everything we need!"

"Wait, what about how you guys can handle-!" Velma was cut off when she and the others were dragged away by the kids, with Kumi yelling "Touching! Your touching me!"

Freaky Frank rubs his head in confusion at the sight before walking back into his room.


As they continue down the darken hallway of the facility, Velma still didn't let her eyes leave the kids, something that the already notice.

"Uh, what?" Bonnie asks, getting a little creep out.

"Nothing. I'm just wondering how you four were able to switch the breadsticks so fast." Velma says slowly.

"We didn't switch the breadsticks." Clemont insists.

"Yeah, we ate the sauce." Ash continues.

"But that still doesn't explain how you all can eat that hot sauce without getting a burn! I still have blisters thanks to that sauce!" Velma stuck out her tongue to prove her point.

"We deal with Fire-types on a daily basis, you kind of get use to the burns." Serena tells her. Velma looked like she wanted to argue more, before closing her mouth begrudgingly.

The hallways soon became darker, the only sounds that are being made are their footprints, but that didn't make Shaggy and Scooby feel any better.

"Like, why does it have to so quiet in here?!" Shaggy says, his eyes darting around every corner like something is about to come out at him.

"I know, the only thing we can hear are our footsteps." Serena adds in, her eyes also darting around the walls. However, when they stop walking the footsteps still got louder.

"Um, shouldn't our footsteps stop making noise when we stop walking?" Daphne asks nervously, now she and everyone else having their eyes darting around the walls.

"Unless," Clemont stops once they all heard moans coming from the dark path in front of them. "That's not our footsteps." He finishes meekly, he and Bonnie gripping each other tightly.

Everyone stares at the dark path in front of them, they moans stop when they look towards their direction, so they waited to see what's going to happen. The deathly silence was unbearable, is there something going to pop out or not? They were finally answer when the light at the hall finally starts working, revealing all the zombies in the facility with the Feraligatr in the front!

They all scream as the zombies came right towards them.


An: Cliffhanger! Now, something I want to say before I end this chapter. I can't answer any question that involve solving the mystery, after all, it is Scooby-Doo. Anyway, hope you like the chapter!

SHOTOUTS-

GMC: Thanks! The requestor thought it was good idea.

CMC: Well then, here it is :D!

Blueberry: Of course they will!

Grape: I really can't tell you.

Skarloey: They will at the end.

Sir Handel: At the end you'll find out why.

Peter Sam: Pretty much, yeah.

Might Mac: Um, that was put there for fun. But he is a country boy, so he's bound to know self-defense right?

Rusty: Okay, that's a pretty far fetched theory, but this is set in Be Cool, Scooby-Doo, so there's no Scrappy-Doo.

Lightwing: She will, but not the way that you think.

Darkwing: Daphne's daphenisim in this story is the reenactment of her old daphenisims, also with motivation speaking.

Hex: Can't tell you that.

Cody: Well, I don't know about Freaky Frank, but I guess you can consider him suspicious.