Daphne Blake
It's not as if I needed any more persuasion that the Whispering was coming back- I knew it already. But that night, I had yet another nightmare.
I was in my room again, but this was my room from when I was three or four- barbies, baby dolls in prams, flowery pink wallpaper and stuffed animals. And the rocking horse.
I wheeled around, and I saw the Whispering sitting on the horse, rocking back and forth on it violently- in real life, it would have certainly broken. But this was a dream...or something.
It wore the child's form- his clothes and his small body. But the face was that of the older man. A black top hat adorned his head, somehow staying on in spite of the forceful rocking motion. Looking at it brought my memories flooding back- what happened to Dawn, the retirement home, Robson, Lauren's boyfriend destroying the restaurant...all of it.
"Get closer," he barked in the man's voice, "we'll talk- we'll sort something out. Hey, here's a good deal- give me Lauren Howle, and I'll let you and the gang be. How 'bout it?"
"The next time I choose to get anywhere near you, I don't think you'll be so happy." I said. "I think that's when I'm going to kill you."
"You want to kill me?" the Whispering squealed in the child's voice. He cackled manically, the horse rocking even faster. "You can't kill thought itself, Daphne. Even you must realize that?"
"We beat you before. We'll do it again. You just wait."
"You will?" It replied, sounding genuinely interested. It's face shrank to the child's. "Better get your skatesh on, Daphne. You don't wanna be too late to say goodbye to daddy-dearest."
"What?" I said sharply.
"He'sh dying, doncha know? Heart failure. D'ya reckon he'll cry? Reckon he'll squeal like a pig..."
"Liar!" I screamed, taking two steps towards it and upending the rocking horse. The boy didn't move- he stayed in mid air, in a sitting position, rocking as though the horse was still beneath him.
"I'll be on the telly tommorrow morning, Daphne dear. Ten in the morning, to be precise. Tune in! Tell your friendsh! It'sh gonna be a show ya'll never forget!"
I woke up with a jump, and I knew that today was the day- the day it all started again. It was dark outside, only four in the morning...and from what it had told me, that left six hours until...until something happened.
I disregarded what he'd said about my dad. It was a lie. Of course it was.
I walked slowly to the darkened kitchen and poured myself a glass of water. I drank it in one go. The kitchen was humming with low breathing- Scooby's family were visiting. Ruby Doo, Yabba Doo, Scooby Bee and Scooby Dum slumped in a kingsize basket on the floor, all of them here for a week-
-they were meant to be here. Everything will fall into place-
- and I walked quietly, trying not to disturb any of them. They'd all woken up as I'd come in, but they were too tired to bother getting up. Scooby, as ever, slept in his own basket in the porch. His friend Burch was staying in for once- it was too cold to sleep outside-
-they're all here. It's all falling into place-
I was dismayed to realize that my memories of what happened last year were fading again...I remembered everything in the dream! Everything! How could it be fading?
My head throbbing and my body bathed in cold sweat, I strode over to the living room and flung myself down on the couch.
The couch screamed.
I scrambled back up in terror- it hadn't felt like the couch, that's for sure. Groping around in the darkness, I tried to find the switch for the table side lamp. With a thrill of relief I felt my fingers close over the switch, which I pulled, flooding the room with dim light.
"Lauren?" I gasped incredulously.
"Daphne." she replied angrily, rubbing her nose- the back of my head had landed right on it. It was a wonder I hadn't broken it.
"B...but..." suddenly I grinned, "What are you doing here?" Truthfully, I wasn't surprised to see her- I'd known she was coming back. I had been tempted to call her myself, but I'd come to understand that it wasn't necessary- when the time came, we'd all come together again. Of course she was here.
-Everything will fall into place-
"Shaggy let me in," Lauren said, "I got here at three. Fell asleep. Do you always wake up at this hour?"
"No, but look... why did you come?" I asked foolishly- as if I didn't know.
Lauren smiled grimly. "Dreams." She replied simply. I nodded.
"It's today, isn't it." Lauren murmured. "It's coming back."
I shook my head. "I don't think it's coming back today- I think it's already here. But it's gonna show itself today. On television!"
Lauren's eyes widened. "How?"
"I dunno, babe...I really don't know. Look, let me wake the others up. Whatever's coming, we've gotta do something." I was speaking quickly, feeling excited- yes excited. Not scared. That would come later. Which it did.
/
/
The Whispering
We used Wolfgang Smith to call Marcus Bateman. We'd been practicing all night- practicing how to control his body. It was harder than we remember, controlling a human body like this. But we got the hang of it. It took a lot of concentration to manipulate the little buttons on the phone, but we managed right enough.
"Yello!" An infuriating voice called down the line- we knew all about Marcus Bateman of course. We had access to Wolfgang's thoughts. But we didn't realize just how irritating a voice he had.
"Hey, boss." we replied in Wolfgang Smith's voice- we've always been good actors. We slipped into the role quite easily. To all intents and purposes, we were Wolfgang Smith. For now.
"I hear you're on the news this morning, dude!" Wolfgang said enthusiastically. "How d'you pull that off?"
"All down to your favourite people, really. Solved the mystery, didn't they? We're open for business again, me old chum! Brighter times ahead."
"Yeah, yeah. Say...not that I'm fame hungry or anything, but do you want me to go on with you? I was there on the night after all."
Bateman laughed hysterically down the line. We waited for him to finish, growing steadily more angry with every passing moment. Finally, he calmed himself enough to reply. "Not a chance, Wolfie! It ain't up to me anyway, the television people decide. They only want one guy, and the directors told me to do it. You didn't see much anyway, did you?"
"Thought you'd say that." Wolfgang replied. "But what you'll do is this- you'll stay home. I'll go on in your place."
Bateman laughed again. We felt the phone cracking in Wolfgang's hand as we squeezed it- he was stronger under our control, and we released out grip quickly.
"Take a walk, Wolfie. What's got into you? You-"
He stopped. Not surprising. The white noise flowed down the telephone line. Oh, not enough to harm him. Just enough to make him...make him a bit more co-operative you might say.
"Y...yeah," he said weakly, "sorry, what were you saying?"
"Television interview. I'll go. Not you. You stay in bed- lie in."
"Yeah." Bateman replied breathlessly. "Yeah, that's...that's a good idea...yeah." We heard him yawn widely over the line.
"Right. In fact, I think it's best you stay in bed for the morning. You get me?"
"Sure..." Bateman hung up.
Wolfgang smiled. He looked in the mirror- there stood Wolfgang Smith, once Iron Wolf, Guru of the Iron Giants gang, Coolsville Chapter. And now, the most important man in the world- the body of the Whispering. For now, anyway.
He was dead, of course. He had no idea of the honor bestowed on him.
Or maybe he did. He was a part of us now.
/
/
Daphne
We sat around the table at seven-forty that morning, having finished a breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup. I'd eaten it, but I hadn't really savored it- I was too hyped up for that. Lauren sat beside me, pale faced, her eyes bleary. She'd been up more or less the entire night.
"All right," Velma said, taking charge, "the way I see it, we've got a big problem right now. A very big problem. Issue number one- whatever happened last summer, of which we can all agree that something did happen, is happening again, according to Daphne and Lauren. Issue number two- I think we need to believe them. Lauren is so sure that she turned up here in the middle of the night. Both she and Daphne have been having bad dreams about it. Issue number three- none of us, and that includes Daphne and Lauren, can actually remember what happened last summer. We all know it was something bad...dangerous. Issue number four- and here's the big one- Daphne seems to think it's going to be on the television at ten this morning. That's in two hours and twenty minutes, give or take a few minutes."
Velma paused, and took a sip of orange juice before continuing.
"So," she resumed finally, "my first question is this- who remembers what? Who remembers anything?"
"Like, not me," Shaggy piped up at once, "nothing at all. But I got a question."
"Is it relevant?" Velma asked.
"Might be. I wanna know why Daphne and Lauren have been getting these dreams and whatnot, when the rest of us haven't. Why is that?"
It was me who answered, smirking a little. Shaggy had blushed noticeably when he'd mentioned Lauren's name. "I think I know- the thing killed Dawn, and Lauren's boyfriend. We both lost someone we loved because of it. I think, in some warped kind of way, that makes us...almost closer to it...or something."
"I'm not so sure," Lauren said after a moment, "it was always scared of me, before I even knew about it. I think- though I'm not sure- it was because I'm deaf. Somehow that made me dangerous to it..."
"Right! That does seem vaguely familiar!" Fred replied.
"It does," I agreed, "so maybe I'm wrong...maybe it's...well, it's scared of you because you are deaf. Maybe it's scared of me because of how I went after it after what it did. Maybe it never expected anybody to do that. Maybe?"
"I'd say both ideas might have weight," Velma said evenly, "I also think it's something to consider for another day- for now, let's just focus on the fact that they get these visions, regardless of the reason for it. Now, does anyone remember any little details? Anything that might help us?"
"Randomonium." Fred said quietly. We all looked at him, puzzled.
"I remember that part. How could I forget? I was so scared for Daphne...I..."
Fred's voice cracked. I gripped his forearm tightly, "tell us."
"It was Lauren's idea I think. Or Velma's. But Lauren managed to get hold of some randomonium, and we used it to...to find out about the thing. Could we possibly repeat that? That possible at all?"
Velma turned to Lauren. "Randomonium? Can you get hold of more randomonium?"
"What?"
"Radomonium," Velma repeated slowly, "Are you able to get some more?"
"I...should be. I'll have to send an e-mail to my old lecturer from college, but yes. I'm sure I can."
"Yeah," I said, "but that in itself wasn't enough. I remember now...we applied it to a sketch of the monster. We can't remember what it looks like though."
"That won't be a problem," Lauren assured us, "it's a remarkable chemical, randomonium. I've got an idea..."
/
/
9:25 AM, Coolsville Shopping Mall
Lauren's old tutor from college- a thin, balding man with thick glasses and wiry tufts of grey hair- dropped off a vial of the stuff at the Italian restaurant at the mall where we'd agreed to meet him. We'd ordered some food to be polite, but none of us were hungry- breakfast had only been a few hours ago, and anyhow, we were too excited. We'd taken the dogs- they were all sitting outside in the Mystery Machine, the back door open to give them some fresh air. Nobody dares mess with six huge dogs, so we weren't worried about it getting stolen.
Lauren's tutor didn't hang around to chat. Randomonium wasn't exactly illegal, but it was in contravention of all the university regulations to provide it to anybody outside of the university, past students or otherwise. He chatted to Lauren briefly, looking incredibly shifty, then scarpered quickly. We sat in a booth at the very corner of the room, the little vial of green liquid in the middle of the table. Fred and Shaggy, the two largest of the group, had positioned themselves with their backs to the rest of the dining room, blocking the view of anyone who might snoop.
"You sure this will work?" I asked Lauren.
"It should. We all think of last year. Think of anything and everything you remember, as little or as much as that is. Randomonium responds to thoughts, you know. Sitting in the middle of a circle like this, it will listen to us. It will show us something."
"Fine. Let's begin." Velma said.
"Yeah, let's...Shaggy, you all right?" I noticed he was looking glum.
"I don't remember anything, Daph," he grumbled, "literally nothing. I'm no help."
"Just wait, Shaggy," Velma said, "if this works, you will remember. Come on, everyone. Let's do it."
As one, we shut our eyes, and thought. I can't speak for the others, or what they remembered. I guessed Lauren would be thinking of that night her boyfriend died. Perhaps Velma would remember a little of when she researched about the murders it had committed over the generations. I myself, of course, thought about Dawn. About what had been done to her- and who had done it.
Not who had done it. What had done it.
I thought about the days and weeks afterwards. About what I saw and felt back then. I thought about the first times I saw it for myself- in some sort of museum to start with...then at the Milton Brothers studios...then in my dreams. I'd seen it in my dreams a lot. I thought about how scared I was. But how determined as well. Determined to make the creature pay.
I shut my eyes tighter and strained my memory. Show me what it was, I screamed in my head. Show me it! And show me how we beat it!"
Show me! Show me!
Everything went black. For a moment, I panicked- what had happened? I searched desparatley for Fred's hand, but it was too far away- millions of miles too far. My vision returned. My body was still in the restaurant, but my mind wasn't. I was in space! Actual space! Yet I was standing on firm, invisible ground, as though I was in some sort of invisible spaceship. I could breathe. Stars glittered not only above me, but below me! Woah...in spite of everything, I grinned. I couldn't help it. It seemed so real!
I was here for a reason though. Not to enjoy it. There was something I had to see. But what? For a moment, there was nothing. Just endless stars glittering all around me. Then it happened- a few yards from me, somewhere off to my left and above me, I heard an awful screeching noise-
-the white noise-
as the fabric of reality teared apart...a splinter had opened up in the middle of space, a splinter in the skin of the universe. Pure white light poured through...then, as I watched, a medium sized piece of space rock flew from the tear- it didn't drift along lazily as the rocks around me were doing- it zoomed, for want of a better word. It rushed past me at an impossible speed, a granite-grey boulder hurtling through space. Attached to it was some sort of black, smokey substance. The Whispering. The tear closed behind it with that same splintering sound.
The Whispering! I remembered the name! What's more, I was sure I could follow it...I shut my eyes again, and just...flew. I knew I could. Suddenly, I was rushing through space at the speed of light, galaxies and suns flying past me so fast they blurred. I laughed in spite of myself...what a feeling it was! Best of all, I knew exactly where we were headed. After mere seconds, I felt myself slowing down...there was a planet in front of me, a familiar planet. My planet.
There it was! Planet Earth! Greener than my time, and the continents were all muddled up. But it was Earth all right. I watched as the meteor glowed red, burning up as it crashed through the atmosphere. I saw the smoke still tethered to it. This was the day the Whispering arrived, I realized. Defeated by the Other and banished, it came to our world through a tear in space and time, crashing to Earth...
The scene changed. I was in a mine, of all places! Blimey! I'd just seen the wonders of space, now here I was in a grubby, smelly mineshaft! A team of men were working in front of me.
"Hello?" I asked cautiously. None of them heard me. Of course they hadn't.
But-
"Cor, Ernest! I got a big rock right here."
I looked. In the section the miner had been digging was a large granite rock. That rock. The same one I'd just watched crash to Earth.
Ernest came over to talk to the miner. "Well dig it up Robert, stupid boy! We-"
He stopped. Suddenly, with a pang of terror, I realized where I was- Coolsville, 1865. Velma told me about this, oh so long ago. A mine had collapsed, killing loads of workers...five days afterwards, the Whispering slaughtered someone-
And it was here! With a nauseating, head-spinning rush of painful emotion, I felt my memories come flooding back. All of them. At once. Dawn...the Whispering! Robson! The retirement home! All of it!
"No..." I screamed, clutching my head and collapsing, my eyes burning, "stop...the pain!"
I shut my eyes tightly my fingernails digging into my skin as I clutched my searing forehead. But even through all my pain, I saw it- the boy climbed out of the rock. Literally. He climbed out of it as though there was a hidden trap door. He pointed at Robert, not uttering a word. Robert, equally quietly, turned to Ernest and planted his pickaxe in his skull. The crunch set my teeth on edge, making my nausea a hundred times worse...Robert walked right past me without seeing me, down the shaft. I didn't know exactly what he was going to do, but I knew the result- the mind would be destroyed. The Whispering's first act, having just been dug up after millions of years, was to murder those who had found it...and I was in here! I'd be buried alive! Choked on soil and dust, unable to move or call for help...
No! I wasn't here! I wasn't! I was in the restaurant. I opened my mouth wide and drew breath,
"Freddie!" I screamed.
I screamed again, but not in fear this time, but extreme discomfort. The world went black again and I realized that I was soaked through and shivering. I opened my eyes. I was back in the restaurant, my friends gathered around me. Shaggy was standing up, an empty pitcher in his hand. He'd poured water over me to wake me up.
"Thanks, I guess..." I said grudgingly, my head and stomach somehow back to normal. Just like that.
"I saw it," I said excitedly, my words tripping over each other to get out, "I saw it arrive, thousands of years ago! I was in space guys! Actual space!"
"You never left that seat." Velma replied quickly.
"But I did. In my mind. I wasn't here at all. I saw more! The mine that collapsed in the 1800's. They found it. It crashed to Earth, and they dug it up. They woke it up."
"Yes, Daph. But do you remember it? Are your memories back?" Velma asked me urgently.
I grinned broadly, "Yeah. All of it. Golly, it hurt when it all came back to me. But it's all back. I remember everything we did. What about you guys? Please say you've got your memories back again?"
"Yeah," Fred grunted, "we all experienced something just there. We all saw something. None of us had it as bad as you though Daph."
"It wasn't bad," Daphne replied, "I mean, yeah, it was scary. But what I saw, it was...well, I'll never forget it. Ever. It was so beautiful, guys. You've no idea."
"We should use this stuff more often." Shaggy said, and we all laughed. For some reason, we all felt good. Perhaps it was the effects of the randomonium. We had no reason to feel so good right now. It was nine-thirty, half-an-hour until the Whispering was allegedly appearing on television, yet none of us felt any real urgency-
-You've remembered what you needed to. Battles will yet be lost, but the war is won-
-I voiced this latest intrusion of thought to the gang. "Perhaps we've won. Perhaps all we needed to do was remember how we beat it...perhaps we've won just by knowing that! Perhaps we can just...do it again, no trouble."
But Velma was turning white. Her hands gripped the table so tightly that the tendons on her hands were bulging through the skin. "Velmster?" I said, shaking her firmly on the shoulder.
"Oh no," she turned to me, shaking with terror and panic, "oh, no...no, no, no, no, no...Daph, we've got to get to the television station. Now!"
"Why?" I asked in alarm, glancing at the others. None of them spoke. "Come on guys! We all remember what happened, so somebody help me out here? What's the problem?"
It was Lauren's turn to go white. She stared from me to Velma, and back to me. "No..." she stood up suddenly, knocking her chair backwards behind her.
"The white noise," Velma replied in a voice barely more than a squeak, "the white noise...it's going on television, and it's gonna...it's gonna transmit the white noise. To everyone. Millions of people watching...Daph, just think what it did to us last time! Its-"
"Calm down." I ordered. "Come on guys, we've gotta go, now. We-
I froze...we all did. The restaurant had gone quiet. And not without good reason- everyone was asleep. Asleep at the bar, asleep at their tables. Waiters slept on the floor, the plates they'd been carrying lying in pieces beside them. Food lay everywhere.
But that wasn't the worst part. Blocking the entrance to the restaurant, which led out into the atrium of the shopping mall, were six enormous dogs. Six enormous dogs, some of them horribly familiar. And all of them horribly angry. Each of them snarled at us, their razor sharp teeth glistening with saliva.
I knew four of them- Algeron and Marmaduke the guard dogs at the Milton Brothers Movie Lot. Two dobermans whom I didn't recognize, one with strange light rings around the eyes, the other pure black with a silky fur coat. And then...Nikolai and Viktor, the Russian Wolfhounds from the Blaskov Hotel...and somehow, there they were. Just standing there, blocking our exit...
"No..." I moaned, "they can't be there...it makes no sense. How did they get there?"
"It must have summoned them..." Velma whispered, not taking her eyes off the huge, savage dogs that stood before us.
"No," I said, "they aren't there! They can't be real..."
"It's the Whispering." Shaggy whimpered, as the dogs growled at us, their eyes blazing. They didn't seem willing to attack- not yet- but if we so much as moved an inch...
"There will be a fire exit in the kitchen," Lauren said matter of factly, "but if we move, they'll..."
"Go back," Fred told us softly as the dogs began to salivate, "just go back...nice and slow. Head for the kitchen."
We did. I walked backwards at a snails pace, my heart pounding. Whether or not those dogs were real or not, I couldn't tell...if they were just a mirage, a trick of the Whispering's (like putting everyone in the vicinity to sleep), then they couldn't hurt us...but if, as I suspected, they were as real and as hungry as they looked, then the Whispering had come back ten times more powerful...had it really summoned them here? How else could it have happened? I kept backing up, my heart in my throat. I tried to imagine one of those brutes sinking their teeth into me...I wanted to run! I needed to run! They were walking towards us now, slowly and carefully, moving as a pack.
"Shaggy," Velma hissed, "Grab what's left of the randomonium. We'll need it."
Shaggy gulped- he was nearest the table, but to get it would mean moving forwards a couple of feet, an action which went against every instinct he possessed- a couple of feet forward was a couple of feet closer to the dogs...nonetheless, shaking like a leaf, he slowly moved forward and grabbed the little vial.
"G...got i...i...it..t," he managed to stutter.
"Good, good," Velma replied softly, "we'll need it. We're gonna call for help."
I gulped. The dogs were only a few feet in front of us now...
"We've gotta run for it." I said.
"Yeah," Fred's face had gone the color of chalk, "on my go."
I grabbed Lauren's hand. She slowly turned her head to look at me, unwilling to fully turn away from the dogs.
"We're running." I told her, "get ready."
She nodded.
"All right then," Fred gulped. "So on the count of three. One...two...go!"
Taken off guard, I stumbled, nearly pulling Lauren over with me- that would have been it for both of us, no doubt about it. Somehow I stayed upright, yanking her along with me. Behind us, the dogs charged, barking and snapping their jaws mere yards behind us. We poured into the kitchen (a sterile white room with blue and white tiles along the floor), slamming the door shut behind us.
"In here!" Velma said, leading us all into a walk-in pantry. We scrambled into it, closing the steel door behind us. It was a little room, about the size of those large elevators they have at hospitals, the ones they put the beds in. Food adorned every wall, shelves of dry-store products.
"Freddie," I gasped, massaging my heart, "you said we were going on three."
"We did!"
"You went on two, man!" Shaggy told him angrily.
"No...one, two, go. Go is number three."
"Your meant to say three. One, two, three...go." I snapped.
"But then you'd be going on the four..."
"Oh, just be quiet, please," Velma snapped, snatching the bottle of randomonium from Shaggy, "Give me that."
"What are you gonna do?" Lauren asked her curiously, looking deeply shaken by what just happened. We all were.
"I'll show you. Give me a second, all right?"
"This can't be real..." Fred whimpered, "those dogs...they can't be real...they aren't there guys...it's gotta be toying with us."
"They're as real as the Whispering wants them to be." Velma remarked darkly. "If it can do this, then it's come back a lot more powerful than the last time...guys, this is really bad."
"But we know it's not got endless power," I said, "this will have weakened it, bringing them here...if we can just get away from them, now's the perfect time to strike..."
"We're locked in a pantry." Lauren retorted. "We can't get past them."
Velma yanked the top off of the randomonium bottle. "True enough. But we can call for help. Guys- think of Scooby Doo and his family. Just think of them. Picture them in your mind, as hard as you can. Shaggy, you call them."
I did as she said, thinking what a spectacular coincidence this all was...we had six dogs of our own sitting right outside, six dogs who could get us out of this...six dogs whom would save our lives.
If you believe that's a coincidence, your an idiot. Just as the Whispering was working it's will over Coolsville once again-
-not for long-
-it was at this point that I truly began to realize that it wasn't alone- there was another force at work here, one not only equal to the Whispering, but possibly even stronger. It's how Lauren knew to come back. It's the reason that Scooby's family just happened to pick today to visit him. But what was it? The other-
-the other won't help. Anyhow, no more help is needed-
-all right then, what? Who? Who was bringing all these events together?
I lost my train of thought- not a suprise- the randomoinium was growing inside the bottle, smashing it into pieces. The green liquid continued to take shape, forming...surely not...no, it couldn't be...it...it was a megaphone.
I laughed aloud. It glowed green, it's skin damp and slimy. But I understood.
"That stuff is legendary." I remarked, laughing weakly.
Velma smiled. "I think you know what to do, Shaggy."
"You bet!" Shaggy laughed. Understanding, I shut my ears tightly. He picked up the megaphone and, at the top of his lungs, bellowed down the speaker-
"Scooby Doo! Where are you?"
Even with my ears covered, the noise ran through me like a shock-wave. The whole room seemed to shake. It was so loud that Lauren, who had about five percent of hearing, heard. She looked at him, quite fascinated. I realized that she'd never heard any of us speak before. She couldn't. But that megaphone had amplified Shaggy's voice so much that she'd heard a little of how he sounded. I smiled.
"D'you think they heard?" Shaggy asked.
"They heard," Velma said grinning, watching the megaphone melt back into green goo, "they're coming. They'll hold them off."
But something was wrong- "it's too quiet." I said. "Where are the dogs?"
A sickening thought crept into my mind- the dogs...well, we'd taken ourselves off the menu right enough. We were safe in here, if a little bit trapped. But all those people outside in the mall...put to sleep by the Whispering's power...they were like free meals out there.
Lauren, as if reading my mind, shook her head. "They're here for us. Only us. The Whispering won't waste energy on anyone else."
I nodded, my throat tight. "We need a plan then. When Scooby and the others get in here, we'll slip out. We'll slip past, and head to the television station...it's got to be there, guys. That's where we need to go."
"No, ma'am," Shaggy replied, his face resolute, "I'm staying here, with Scooby. I'm not leaving any of them to fend for themselves."
"Right," I said, "Velma, would you stay here as well?"
Velma shrugged, "I guess. Will you guys be all right?"
"We'll never get there in time," Fred said, glancing at his watch, "if it's broadcasting at ten..."
"No, but we can catch it while it's still there hopefully." I said.
We heard an enormous clatter from outside...followed by a series of ferocious barks. Clawed paws skidded away from the pantry door and rushed back into the restaurant area.
"Come on," I hissed, "we'll be safe."
My heart thumping violently, I opened the pantry door quietly. Walking as quietly as I could, I beckoned the others to follow- the most horrendous sounds were coming from the dining room, as Scooby and his family attacked the Whispering's dogs...Shaggy and Velma bustled past me. Shaggy, I noticed, was carrying a kitchen knife. I gaped- but then if things turned bad...if those dogs got at him and Velma...what else could he do?
"Good luck." I hissed, and scrambled out through the fire exit, into a grubby little garbage area behind the mall. Fred and Lauren followed suit. "Mystery Machine," I hissed, "Freddie, you've gotta drive like you've never driven before, all right?"
"Yeah," Fred's face had turned grey. "Gotcha."
/
/
The Whispering
9:45 AM, Coolsville Regional News Studios
"All right, Mr...Smith, ain't it?" A plump man in a headset and dark green t-shirt shook Wolfgang's hand.
Wolfgang smiled, "Yeah," we (he) replied, "Mr. Bateman sent me. He's way busy."
The white noise flowed through Wolfgang's body, addling the mind of the little producer man. Ordinarily, a last minute swap like this would never be approved so lightly. But today, what we say is what goes.
So it will be for ever, once we get in that studio.
"Fine..." the producer replied, sounding tired.
"When am I on?" Wolfgang asked.
"Twenty minutes."
"Whaaat?" Wolfgang bellowed, causing the producer to shudder.
"Look, sorry all right. I don't make the schedules. It's only five minutes late man!"
We forced ourselves to calm down. "Yes...forgive me," Wolfgang replied silkily, "I just...I'm a little nervous."
"Quite understandable," the producer replied, "I'll let you know when your up, all right?" He walked away.
We watched him go, fury and panic consuming us...five minutes...that might be all they need...they're coming. Daphne Blake and Lauren Howle...they're coming...our dogs didn't get them...but there's still a some of Mystery Inc at the mall. They divided to get away...maybe those left behind will die...
We're scared. We're so close! We can't be beaten now! Not now!
/
/
Shaggy
I loved Scooby (and indeed his family) for many reasons- but there was one above all else- they weren't aggressive. Not remotely. Oh, as a last resort they could defend themselves, but...usually they preferred more peaceful means. Like hurling food at six rival, murderous dogs.
I almost felt like laughing as Scooby and the others reared up on their back legs and hurled food at the other dogs, trying to distract them. They continued to stand and move around on their back legs as they began throwing different kinds of pizza, lasagna, spaghetti, cheesecake, and drinks at each other. But you can only hold off dogs of that size for so long... soon enough, all twelve dogs started wrestling and smashing the tables and chairs by falling on top of the tables and using the chairs as weapons. If Lauren had been there, which thankfully she wasn't, it would have reminded her strongly of another Italian restaurant that was destroyed, the one where she had worked, happily and contently. Until the Whispering had taken all that away.
Me and Velma watched in dismay as the animals tore out of the restaurant in a savage flurry of claws and snapping teeth. They moved into the next unit at the mall.
"What's in there?" Velma asked me.
"Uh...uh, toy store..." I replied. We looked at each other and ran after them, hoping to keep up. We raced into the toy store, a scene of devastation already unfolding.
Scooby Dum and Vik the wolfhound were trying to stave each other off over a large dollshouse. They used their claws to rip chunks of wood off of the roof and were crushing it to pieces, and within a few moments they were standing on what remained of the dollshouse, locked together with their forelegs wrapped around one another in what looked like a bizarre hug fight. The other ten dogs joined in as they started knocking toys onto the floor, slamming themselves up against action figures, games and dolls that hung on the walls.
Scooby Doo, Algeron, Yabba Doo, Burch, Scooby Dee, Ruby Doo, Nik, Marmaduke, and the two dobermans (Panda and Silky, I decided to nickname them) were fighting and wrestling in a ten dog pile up. They rolled all over the floor in one great big mass of fur, legs shooting out in random directions, crushing toys with their bodies and ripping the carpet with their claws and teeth as they fought.
And on it went... on they went, ransacking several businesses including a coffee house, a beauty salon, a comic book shop, an electronic store, a clothing retailer and at least one department store just to name a few. Me and Velma traipsed along behind them, not daring to get involved (obviously), but then not quite daring to try and separate them...if anything happened to Scooby...oh, if anything happened to my little buddy...
Feeling sick, I glanced at the kitchen knife in my hand. Would I do it? Could I do it?
I just hoped I wouldn't have to put it to the test...
/
/
The Whispering
"All right," the producer said, leading us into the studio and sitting us down next to the newsreader. What was left of Wolfgang's mind told us that the newsreader was mildly famous around Coolsville- we were almost starstruck!
He smiled at Wolfgang. "All right, buddy? Just answer the questions and you'll be fine. You ain't under any scrutiny, this is good news. Makes a change for me to report that!"
"Yes, yes yes," Wolfgang snapped, glancing nervously at the entrance, "when are we on?"
"Two minutes," the newsreader snapped back, "and you should watch your attitude, young man."
Oh blimey...oh blimey...I needed to get on air...
/
/
Daphne
"You need the cops," I told the guard at the television station, half-shouting with frustration, "please believe us! There's something dangerous going down here!"
"Then tell me what." The guard snapped.
"We can't!" I moaned, "We're Mystery Inc! You must know us? We know about stuff like this! Please, let us in."
The guard laughed. "Yeah, I know Mystery Inc all right. I happen to know, for example, that Mystery Inc only has one cute little redhead. Not two."
Me and Lauren looked at each other.
"She's a friend," I said, "I'm Daphne, I'm the one in Mystery Inc."
"Well good for you," the guard said, taking his walkie-talkie from his pocket, "but you still ain't coming in."
"Sir, I truly apologize for this," Fred said, swinging a large fist towards the guard. Idiot. Before he could so much as cry out, the guard had Fred's arm twisted behind his back. He hurled Fred to the floor.
"Well you wanted cops, you'll get cops," the guard said, dialing a number on his walkie-talkie, "yeah, it's Rex. I'm gonna need police assist-"
That was as far as he got. I hadn't used my martial arts skills for many a year, but if ever a situation called for it, this one did. My left leg to flew into the air, the toe of my shoe making contact with the bouncer's chin. Lauren took the opportunity to sink her fist into his stomach. Ordinarily, that punch would have made little impact. But unfortunately, he doubled over just moments before it made contact. Her punch hit home right enough, but it ended up striking somewhere lower down than his stomach.
"S...sorry," Lauren muttered as the guard cried out, sinking to the floor, clutching his groin, "I wasn't aiming there..."
"Save it for later," I told her, helping Fred up, "come on, we need to get moving before more of 'em come...it's gotta be the news. That's the only live broadcast going out now. Where's the news studio?"-
-Follow your instinct. You'll find it-
-"All right," I replied, more to the voice in my head than to the guys, "just follow me then. We'll find it."
/
/
The Whispering
"And now," the newsreader began, "we're happy to report the reopening of Pinewood Games, which until recently had been forced into closure, the result of rival games company AtGo Games's director sabotaging their establishment. We talk to janitor Wolfgang Smith, a man who saw the consequences of this dismally immoral campaign to wipe out the competition for himself. Mr. Smith, thanks for joining us today."
"Yes." Wolfgang snapped. We'd won! We were live on air! Millions of people were watching us.
"So I want to ask you about what went on over this period, and how it effected you. I mean, I suppose it took money out of your pocket as well?"
"I don't need money." Wolfgang replied. We watched the newsreader squirm a little, regretting allowing this sinister guy to come on in Bateman's place.
"Right um...but what did you see? What went on?"
Wolfgang considered the question, "well, Wolfgang's dead." we said smiling. Breaking cover. "But I can tell you what he saw if you like."
The newsreader loosened his collar, "Well, yes, uh..."
There was a commotion outside the studio doors. We heard raised voices from outside. Then, the doors burst open.
"You can't go in!" The producer wailed.
There they were- some of them anyway. I looked directly at Daphne Blake, and she at me. For a moment, she was confused- why was Wolfgang Smith here? But then, I saw understanding creep into her face. She turned white. I grinned at her.
"It's him!" She wailed, pointing at Wolfgang. "It's controlling him! Get him off air! Turn the cameras off!"
But it was far too late for that. I stood up, watching the cameras follow my progress. Everyone on set slumped to the floor, sleeping soundly- apart from my three visitors, that is.
"Well, ladies and gents," Wolfgang said, looking directly into the camera, "Here is the broadcast to end all broadcasts!"
We opened Wolfgang's mouth wide, allowing the White Noise to flow out. The sound reached millions of homes through the television. We could feel millions of ears hearing it, millions of minds submitting. We heard Daphne scream out in defeat- ha! Whatever they did now, it didn't matter. We'd done it! All through Coolsville, the white-noise blared, and everyone heard! Everyone was under our control! An entire city, or a sizable chunk of it- anyone who'd been watching the news! We had an army! A whole army! And nothing would stop us now.
Too late now, Mystery Inc! Coolsville belongs to us!
/
Note: Credit to Dark Fox Tailz for the scenes where Scooby and his family are fighting the Whispering's dogs. Sorry for the delay in updating the story, technical issues. All reviews appreciated. :)