Chapter 9: Erasing the Skepticism

The next morning, the Mystery Inc. gang awoke still feeling pretty fatigued from everything that happened the previous night. Fred, Shaggy and Scooby dragged themselves down the hallway towards the living room. Velma sat on the couch with Dipper who read more from his new journal while Daphne sat across from Mabel getting a manicure.

"I have to say that I never thought anyone would ever convince me that supernatural creatures exist, but now I'm starting to wonder," Velma said.

"I wish I could just show you one for real," Dipper responded.

Mabel continued painting Daphne's nails. "You have the shiniest nails," Mabel told her.

"Thanks, I take care of them regularly," Daphne responded.

Stan strolled into the living room. His eyes grew wide, then softened.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot I told you kids that you could stay here," he said. "We got coffee. It's actually good because Soos made it today." At that moment Soos walked by, wearing the Mr. Mystery getup.

"Aw, thanks Mr. Pines," he gushed. He waved at Fred and Shaggy. "Hey roomies!" He continued into the shop. Stan sat in his chair. Dipper went on and on about his adventures from last summer as Mabel finally finished Daphne's nails.

"Okay, as soon as they dry, I can put on the stickers," she said.

"Stickers? I've never put stickers on my nails before," Daphne said, believing that was kind of strange. Mabel took out her box of various stickers.

"Me and my friends do it all the time! I got glitter stickers, puffy stickers, crazy design stickers—"

"I like those kitty ones," Daphne said.

"Ooh! Yeah, those are special ones."

"You know, I was thinking I should do a Tarot card reading for you, Mabel."

Mabel looked up and smiled. "You can do those?"

"Yeah, I've taken a class in it. We can do it later on tonight."

"So, my Grunkle Ford said he's studying your dog now?" Mabel asked.

Daphne opened her mouth to speak, but wasn't quite sure what to say. "Well—" she began.

"Scooby said he didn't mind," Shaggy said.

"It is kind of strange," Fred admitted. "What exactly is he going to find out? We already know that Scooby is an unusual dog."

"Knowing my brother, he'll just write a bunch of notes and he'll make all his so called discovers sound so smart," Stan said in sarcasm.

Velma stood up. "I need to talk to him about something. Do you know where he is?"

"Probably down in his lab. What are you going to talk to him about?"

"See, I'm someone who needs to know all the facts. Usually, so called supernatural phenomenon are all proven to be proven obsolete," Velma said.

"What?" Stan asked, not understanding a word Velma just said.

"She's basically saying that supernatural creatures don't exist," Dipper translated.

Stan waved his hand. "Geez, you even talk like my brother," he said to Velma. "The two of you should go talk nerd stuff with each other."

"Actually I do want to talk to him about these anomalies he studies," she replied.

"Have fun with that. He'll talk forever about that stuff. Especially everything he's found in this town."

"Quite honestly, we haven't seen anything that out of the ordinary here," Fred said.

"That's because a lot of the anomalies have either moved on or are pretty well hidden," Dipper said. "A lot of anomalies don't come out into the open where people can see them."

"Well, me and Ford have been hunting those creatures all year. I just want a break right now," Stan said leaning back in his chair.

"Come on, Velma, I'll go with you," Dipper said leading her towards the shop.

They entered the store, which was completely empty before business hours. Soos arranged various merchandise on the shelves.

"Soos, we're going downstairs. I'll text you when we're coming back up so you can tell us if the coast is clear, okay?"

"Okay Dipper," he answered without looking up. Dipper turned to Velma. "He really loves this shop so much, I think more than my Grunkle did."

"I still don't get why people come here," Velma said.

"I think some are just curious, others are just stupid," Dipper responded. He input the code into the vending machine. They entered the elevator and went down to the second floor.

Down on the second floor of the basement, Scooby sat at a small table across from Ford. "Okay, so you eat normal people food, including chocolate, which is a substance that normally kills dogs. However, you remain unharmed." Ford continued writing. "Do you see a people doctor or do you go to the vet?"

"RI ro roo rhe ret."

"Ret?" Ford asked.

"Uh-uh. The Rvet."

"So, that weird accent you have, what's the deal with that?"

Scooby stared at Ford for a moment. "Ri ron't row."

"Hmm. It almost like your barking, but you're also speaking at the same time." Ford wrote some more.

Dipper and Velma entered through the door. Dipper watched his great uncle write for a moment before speaking.

"Hey Great Uncle Ford," he began. Ford looked up, and then raised an eyebrow to his grand nephew's presence.

"Hey there, something I can help you with?" he asked.

"You've met Velma, right?" Dipper asked his uncle.

Ford switched his glance to the girl. "Uh, yeah, you're one of Scooby's owners or something?"

"Actually, if it were appropriate to name Scooby's owner, that would be Shaggy. However, we really don't look at Scooby as just an animal. He's a member of our team. He's our friend," she explained.

"Raw!" Scooby gushed.

"I can see why. He has the intelligence of a human. I just don't know why he's different." Ford looked over his notes. "I guess he's like every other anomaly out there. It's just the way he is."

"So, what do you do with all this research?" Velma wondered.

"I studied a lot of different subjects while in school and my thesis on Quantum Physics earned me a grant so I could research anything I wanted. I chose anomalies, well because—" He showed his hand.

"So, everyone in this town has seen something strange and out of the ordinary?"

Ford let out a short laugh. "Well, with what happened last year, it's pretty safe to assume that."

"She's skeptical, Uncle Ford," Dipper tossed out. "She doesn't believe in the supernatural."

"Well, I can't blame a person being skeptical. I was too at first, but I've found more than enough weirdness in this town as solid proof."

"I just want to see one of these anomalies," Velma explained. "Like the gnomes that your grandnephew wrote about."

"Well, you have an anomaly right here," he gestured to Scooby.

"But, Scooby is different," Velma insisted.

Ford raised an eyebrow. "How? He's no different than any other unnatural phenomenon out there."

"Just because Scooby is unusual, doesn't mean he's a supernatural creature," Velma pointed out.

"I'm having a hard time understanding how you are alright with a talking dog, but don't believe in strange and unnatural occurrences." He shrugged. "Well, no one can force you to believe, you need to find out the truth on your own."

"So, how long do you plan on studying Scooby?"

"I'm not sure. About as long as it takes for me to gather the needed information. How much longer are you staying here?"

"Well, if there's no mystery to solve, we don't have to be here any longer," Velma said.

"But there's tons of mysteries here!" Dipper spoke with excitement.

"Actually, the anomalies here are pretty much the nice ones just trying to live in their own habitat. I haven't seen any anomalies that are a threat since we've come back," Ford explained. "However—" His mind went to the recorded whispering. "I just want to make sure of something. You still have that recording, right?"

"Recording? Oh, the whispering Shaggy recorded. Yeah, he probably still does."

"I'm going to need to listen to it again."

Velma nodded. "Sure. I'll get it from him."

Dipper and Velma returned upstairs. No one was inside the shop so it was safe to come out. Outside, Soos was busy with a tour. He had new instructions on including the Mystery Machine.

"This here is our newest attraction, the Mystery Machine," Soos announced to the crowd. "A lot of mysteries take place in this van as it finds every scary place from one side of the country to the other. It may be haunted. Who knows?" People took pictures of the van. As Dipper and Velma watched, the rest of the gang and Mabel joined them.

"Hey! I wasn't aware people were going to take pictures of my van," Fred said sourly.

"Well, you agreed to it, Fred," Daphne reminded him.

At that moment, Velma turned to Shaggy.

"Hey, would you mind if Ford listened to that recording of the whispering again?"

"Like, he can listen to it all he wants. I don't ever want to hear it again." He handed her the tape recorder.

"What's he trying to do?" Daphne asked.

"He's probably trying to figure out what it means," Mabel said.

"Or at least figure out the person or thing whispering," Dipper added.

"Did you have to say 'thing,'" Shaggy asked anxiously.

"But, he already told us," Velma said. "He showed us that picture of the triangle demon or whatever."

"Wait! What?" Dipper cried out.

"Wait a minute," Mabel voice trembled. "That sounds like—"

"No way," Dipper interrupted, trying to sound cheerful. "That demonic triangle is gone. Grunkle Ford erased him."

"Yeah," Mabel laughed nervously. "Hey, looks like Soos is done with the tour, let's go see how he's doing."

"Right behind you!" Dipper said as the two raced off.

"I think mentioning that weird triangle being upset the kids," Daphne said. "Let's not mention it again."

Later that night, Ford sat in his study with the tape recorder in hand. He listened to the shrill voice over and over.

"There has to be some hint in the words of when and where he will reincarnate," he said to himself. As he lay back in his chair, listening, his eyes slowly began to close.

Inside Ford's mind were a bunch of books, paper and equations floating around in an endless void. He didn't pay any attention to them, however as he climbed a long staircase made of his own research notes. At the top of the stairs was a door where bright light seeped out from underneath it. Ford opened the door to see some place familiar and horrifying at the same time. He stood on the stone floor of the floating pyramid. He noticed he wore his brother's suit and fez. In front of him was his brother in his sweater and beige trench coat; his eyes closed. Ford had the memory eraser gun in his hand. He typed in his brother's name. He aimed at Stan head, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.

In the next moment, everything disappeared and Ford stood in a black void again. As he tried to wrap his mind around the truth of what really happened to his brother.

I erased his memory. Why did it come back so easily?

He thought about Mabel using her scrapbook to help Stan remember his life, but it shouldn't have worked. Besides, there were only pictures of him with the kids last summer. What about the memories before then? What about his childhood memories? It was too easy... Then he heard a familiar voice speak; his high pitch tone echoed all around him.

"I never left Six Fingers. I'm still inside Stanley's mind. Waiting to be reborn." The voice grew deeper and more demonic. "And when I'm fully reborn, you will regret tricking me!"

Suddenly, Ford woke up. Sitting up, he felt his hands burning. He looked down at them. His eyes widened in horror as he saw ancient symbols covering them. As he stared, he realized they were fading away, as if only an illusion. However, he saw these symbols multiple times before in his dreams.