Chapter 7: Two rescues
After the split-up with Shaggy, Courage and Scooby sniffed their way down the hallway as they continued to follow Velma's scent.
"I hope we're on the right track." Scooby commented as they continued sniffing.
"Yeah." Courage nodded. "They've got to be here somewhere!"
The two dogs continued on with their search down the hallway before coming to a hallway intersection.
"Now which way should we go?" Courage asked as they looked around.
"Hmmm..." Scooby said as he sniffed the nearby floor before gesturing to the hallway on the left and replied, "This way."
Courage nodded, but before the two dogs could move, they heard footsteps coming from the right.
"Someone's coming!" Courage said.
"We'd better duck!" Scooby said as they hid behind a wall while the footsteps got louder.
From their hiding spot, the two dogs saw two similarly-dressed figures walking down the hall, looking around.
"We've got three intruders around the hideout!" One of the voices shouted. "We've got to get rid of them before they foul things up!"
"Uh oh." Scooby whispered to Courage. "We'd better be quick!"
Courage nodded, but before he could say something, a voice suddenly said, "Going somewhere?"
The two dogs turned and looked. The two figures that they saw were approaching them.
"Ruh roh." Scooby said as he and Courage backed away from the figures.
"You thought you can intrude and mess with our plan, did you?" One of the figures said to the two dogs.
"What have you done with Muriel?" Courage demanded.
"She's in good hands, you pisky dog." The second figure said. "You better not mess with us, or you'll be sorry!"
As the second figure was speaking, Scooby backed into a cold, metal tube-like item hung on the wall.
Turning to look, he saw a fire extinguisher and thought of an idea.
"Oh yeah?" Courage asked. "You're the ones that are going to be sorry if you don't let us through!"
"Forget about it, dog." The first figure retorted. "You foiled my plan to experiment on your owners, so you should watch what you're saying."
"Yes, not to mention that I almost had my hands on that so-called 'stupid one', but thanks to you, you leave me with no choice!" The second figure added.
Just before the two figures could make their moves on the two dogs, Scooby grabbed the fire extinguisher, aimed the tube at the two figures and squeezed the handle.
A split second later, the area was engulfed with white powder, blinding the two figures as Scooby and Courage moved quick to put on the goggles they've took from the storage room where they had knocked out Cajun earlier.
With the two figures coughing and blinded, the two dogs proceeded to knock them out and tie them up before hurrying away from the scene.
"That was close!" Scooby said to Courage as they raced down the hallway where Scooby continued to detect Velma's scent.
"You said it." Courage nodded. "I only hope we're not too late!"
The two dogs continued their way down the hallway, and it didn't take long for them to reach the dark cells.
At the entrance to the cells area of the hideout, the two dogs stopped and looked down the main hallway.
At the end of the hallway was a steel door with bars on the window, and there was no one around.
From behind the steel door, the two dogs can hear someone shouting, "Courage, help!"
"That's Muriel!" Courage said to Scooby. "She's in that cell at the end of the hallway!"
"Then, let's go!" Scooby said as they resumed.
As they made their way to the cell, they saw numerous skeletons occupying the cells on both sides of the hallway.
"The sooner we rescue them and get out of here, the better!" Courage said to the Great Dane.
"Yeah." Scooby agreed. "This place gives me the creeps!"
Eventually, the two dogs arrived at the door, where Scooby used a claw to pick the lock and unlock the door.
Pushing the door open, the two dogs peeked into the total darkness.
"Rello?" Scooby called into the darkness. "Ranybody there?"
Just then, a faint female voice asked, "Scooby, is that you?"
"Relma!" Scooby exclaimed as Courage managed to find the light switch and switched the lights on, revealing his owners, Fred and Velma chained to the wall in a cell with treacherous conditions.
"Oh, Courage!" Muriel exclaimed as Courage raced towards her while Scooby raced towards Velma and started licking her.
"Scooby!" Fred said. "I knew you and Courage will find us here."
"Oh, Scooby, stop it!" Velma laughed as Scooby licked her face. "Have you find my glasses? I can't see a thing without them."
"Right here." Scooby replied as he took out Velma's glasses and helped her put them on.
"Thanks, Scooby." Velma smiled as she can see her surroundings clearly. "Jinkies! This place..."
"I know, Velms." Fred agreed. "The sooner we get out of here, the better."
"Indeed." Eustace said after Courage freed him and Muriel. "All the dust is killing me."
"Hey, where's Shaggy?" Velma asked when she noticed that the shaggy-haired moving appetite wasn't with the dogs.
"I hope he's okay." Muriel said worriedly.
Meanwhile, there was some screaming from Room 101 as Shaggy slowly opened the door.
Katz was showing Daphne a video of a lady looking identical to the redhead getting her head shaved by a freaky-looking barber.
"No!" Daphne exclaimed as she watched her lookalike now looking ugly without her hair. "This can't happen to me!"
"Oh, it will, my lady." Katz said coldly. "If you don't tell me where the Blake Emerald is, then you'll be having an exclusive appointment with my friend Fred in the video."
"You mean..." Daphne trailed off when she heard the buzzing coming from an electric hair clipper.
"That's right, my lady." A creepy-sounding voice, revealing to be that of Freaky Fred's, said. "Your hair makes me feel naughty."
"So now tell me." Katz said. "Where is the Blake Emerald?"
During the whole conversation, Shaggy managed to sneak into the room quietly and upon seeing the frozen screen of a projection of Daphne with no hair, he knew he had to act.
"Where is it?" Katz demanded.
"It's...it's..." Daphne begin to say, but her reply was interrupted when a metal making contact with a head can be heard, and within seconds, Freaky Fred was an unconscious slump of mass lying on the floor.
"Right over here!" A voice then shouted, attracting Katz and Daphne's attention.
"Huh?" Katz asked just as the lights switched on, revealing Shaggy holding the shovel he had just whacked Freaky Fred with.
"Shaggy!" Daphne exclaimed when she recognized her fried.
"I thought that French duck got rid of you!" Katz said.
"Yeah, like, and the object you're looking for is right here!" Shaggy added as he revealed his belt.
"Shaggy, don't..." Daphne was about to say before Katz slapped her and made his way to Shaggy.
"Where is it?" Katz asked as he approaches Shaggy.
"Over here." Shaggy replied, showing a button on the belt buckle. "Like, it's hidden in a compartment of the buckle of the belt."
"Then, let me have it." Katz says.
"Like, help yourself." Shaggy replied.
"Alright, if you say so." Katz growled as he reached for the belt button and pressed it.
Just then, a boxing glove emerged from the belt buckle compartment and whacked Katz right in the head.
Seeing the foolish look on the red cat's face, Shaggy said angrily, "This is for trying to hurt Daphne!"
Dazed, the cat slumped forward in time for Shaggy to give him another blow as he added, "And this is for kidnapping her against her will!"
The force in which Shaggy hit Katz caused the latter to flew across the room and hit a large switch in the nearby control panel, triggering an alarm of some sort.
"Jeepers!" Daphne said as Shaggy moved quickly to free her. "What's the alarm about?"
Before Shaggy could answer, the speakers said, "Warning: Hideout self destruct activated! Base will self-destruct in one minute!"
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as he freed the redhead. "Let's get out of here!"
Uh oh. Looks like the whole hideout is about to blow. What will happen next?
Stay tuned, and please read and review!