Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie
Chapter 17: A Revolting Premonition
"So like, what's the plan?" Shaggy asked the group. It was quite the puzzle indeed, as it would surely take a lot to deal with this sort of situation.
"The only way that I can see us having any sort of chance over it is if we meet with J'alzhikhan directly," Miss Grimwood answered in a serious tone, quickly re-gathering everyone's attention.
"Um, but Miss Grimwood?" Began Tanis cautiously, her fingers fidgeting around. "If the demon's already got enough power to do lots of damage without it actually being here, wouldn't bringing it over into our realm be even more dangerous?"
"That's correct," The headmistress answered with a nod. "Which is why we're not going to be summoning it into our world."
"Wait, are you suggeting that we're going to be the ones to bring the fight to it?" Daphne asked.
"But that'd be even more dangerous!" Tanis exclaimed.
"I hate to break it to y'all, but there ain't no safe way of desposin' of demonic beings," The Detective stated. "I'm sure I don't need to be the one to tell y'all that our old friend ain't wantin' to hold anything back." With his usual crooked grin, he gave a shrug. "So we'll just have to return the favor," He concluded, almost nonchalantly, as if he were making dinner plans.
"Well that simplifies everything, doesn't it?" Winnie replied in a sardonic manner.
"More or less," Velma replied, her hand cupping her chin as she thought aloud. "I don't imagine we have as much time as we'd like, but with what everyone knows so far, it's bound to be enough to at least reach it's realm. Once we arrive, I'm sure we could come up with the rest of the plan."
"Thinking off the cuff, Velma?" Fred asked with a small grin. "Now that's the style of problem solving I like to hear!"
With a small, satisfied smile of her own, Velma adjusted her glasses. "Alway helps to have a little pressure. Makes for better plans, I've come to find out."
"So, what, we're all just going to swarm into it's home unprepared?" The Colonel asked, an eyebrow raised. "No offense, but from the sounds of things, going in without any sort of plan almost seems like suicide!"
His statement was met with a small chuckle from the headmistress, who gave a wry grin and a raised eyebrow of her own to Calloway. "Really, now, don't tell me you earned your title based on strength alone, Colonel?" She accused in a rather playful tone. "If you could use some wit to outsmart an enemy, then surely the rest of us could, as well?" At this, he quieted up, merely clearing his throat and adjusting his hat. He looked a bit embarrassed, though mostly at the fact that he had accidentally been condescending everyone else's ability to get through a situation.
The silence was broken soon by Googie, with a cautionary thought of her own. "I, uh, don't mean to alarm anyone, but... can't it hear us? Y'know, with the book and all?" She asked, pointing a finger towards said object.
As Velma inspected the book a bit, Sibella was the one to answer the strawberry blonde's concern. "At this point, I don't think it would matter if the Demonologist's Bible was in the same room as us or not. We're all aware of J'alzhikhan at this point, and it's aware of us. It's watching us no matter what," She said, turning her gaze to the rest of the human group. "That is why we do need to act quickly. The faster we finish our plan, the sooner we can catch the demon off guard, and rightfully dispose of it."
"Also helps to be as vague as we possibly can," Elsa added in. "Try to keep it in the dark for as long as possible. Maybe even trick it up every once in awhile."
"Can we even do that?" Phantasma asked with a tilt of her ghostly head. "I mean, it is a demon of intellect, isn't it? Even if we try to throw it off, somehow, it's bound to figure out and try to stop us!"
"Remember what I said about demons being vain?" The Detective chuckled, trying to hold back a couple of coughs. "If it did somehow manage to figure out, it'd be up it's own ass comin' up with mulitple solutions. By the time it came up with one to use, we'd already be on phase two."
"The intellect of one will never outmatch the wisdom of many," Velma sagely added.
"Woah... now that's, like, deep, man," Shaggy added. "I'm gonna guess that's why we're, like, being totally vague about everything?"
"That's correct, Shaggy," Velma answered with a nod.
"So, where do we even begin?" Daphne asked.
"Well," Miss Grimwood began. "I do know we'll need the portal. It will take a bit more time than creating a summoning circle, and we'll need quite a bit of blood for it."
At this request, Winnie cracked a toothy smile and cracked her knuckles. "I'm down for a bit of huntin'," She growled eagerly. The headmistress turned her direction to the werewolf, giving a smile, yet also shaking her head.
"I appreciate your enthusiasm, Winnie, and I know I can trust you to find something. However, allowing you to go by yourself is far too dangerous," She responded, ignoring the fact that Winnie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "A bit of company to help make the hunt easier and, more importantly, safer, will surely do you some good. Hmm..." She thought, scanning around a bit. "Colonel, Scooby, Matches, do you mind to join her?"
Naturally, the green adolescent dragon seemed less than thrilled about having to go do things that didn't require napping. Of course, he also understood how serious this whole situation was getting, and if nothing was done, then there would never be a time to rest. With a few low grumbles, he stood on his stumpy legs, moving over to Winnie's legs, awaiting further orders.
Calloway seemed a bit taken aback to be suddenly offered to step forward, though he didn't balk at the request. "A simple hunting trip in the forest? No trouble at all," He stated confidentally, puffing his chest out slightly. The act of him doing so, plus the thought of being joined with a human who made her almost physically ill did nothing to please the werewolf. There was no denying he was a decent solider (though compared to the hunting prowess of a werewolf, he wouldn't add a whole lot, in her opinion).
"Ugh, fine, but don't hold me back at all," Winnie said, pointing a clawed finger in his direction.
Scooby, however, had a different idea altogether. With a gulp, he shook his head. "Ruh-uh! No way!" He stated firmly. After barely escaping a fire breathing demon earlier, he was not ready to go anywhere near those woods again!
Wordlessly, though, Daphne reached into Shaggy's pocket, quickly digging out a single, small morsel of a biscuit. A Scooby Snack. Sure enough, once it was dangled in front of his nose, his eyes opened widely, his tongue slurping loudly against his jowls. The moment Daphne released it, Scooby instantly caught it in his mouth, swallowing it one bite. "Phew... rohkay, I'll go," He said nonchalantly. It was an odd sight to everyone else, having watched his stance change in an instant due to a snack.
"Daph, c'mon, I was saving that..." Shaggy muttered to her.
"Now, I don't want any of you three going too far out into the woods again. Find any fauna that's closeby and that's it. I do not want to risk losing anyone again," Miss Grimwood stated firmly. Regardless of the fact that it would inhibit their hunt by quite a bit, Winnie agreed with the others. Once satisfied with their answer, she gave a small smile and a nod. "Very well. Go ahead and find some bodies for us to use." With that, the four hurried out, with Winnie leading the charge, with the werewolf calling after the dragon to follow.
Even though Googie looked a bit queasy at the thought of animal corpses being dragged in to have their blood smeared on the floor, the group continued on with their planning. "I assume you're going to do some planning on the ritual itself, yes?" Velma asked Miss Grimwood.
"That's right, Velma," She responded, standing up from her seat, groaning as she stretched a bit. "I'll need help gathering some materials, plus planning out the circle itself." With an outstretched finger, she pointed between Elsa, Phanty, and the Detective. "Perhaps you three could assist me?" She asked.
She was unanimously met with eager nods and replies of agreement. The Detective in particular looked incredibly excited to be a part of such a ritual. His eagerness only made his smile even more off-putting, but his knowledge on the subject would surely help. "Terrific! Then go ahead into the summoning room behind the bookcase. I'll meet you all there in a bit," She directed, watching as they hurried into the next room.
As the sounds of footsteps and ghostly giggles became quieter, Miss Grimwood turned to the remaining group. "As for the rest of you, it would do you some good to study up on how to defend yourselves against demonic entities," She suggested, turning her head to Tanis and Sibella. "You two are very knowledgable on the subject, I'm sure, so be sure to give them some pointers, yes?"
"No problem, Miss Grimwood!" Tanis said with an eager nod.
"What should we prepare for?" Sibella asked, a small smile on her face as she already expected the answer her headmistress was about to give.
"Everything," She answered. "As much as you all can."
"We'll do our best," Fred answered with a nod, the others following suit. With a nod between everyone, Miss Grimwood nodded and began to head into the secret room as well.
"Wonderful. Good luck, then. I'll call for you when it is time," She concluded as she left.
With that, Velma turned to the two monster girls. "Well then... where should we start?"
"Try to get the circle as large as you can, Elsa, dear," Miss Grimwood stated, looking over a few dusty tomes. "These kinds of summoning circles require as much space as we can get." The headmistress was looking over a few old references in order to accurately create the foundation for a portal to Hell. The flesh golem girl was helping out Miss Grimwood by drawing the location the circle would be drawn in plain white chalk. She worked slowly and methodically, trying to get it as near perfect as she could.
While she was doing this, Phantasma would be helping out by cleaning up as much of the old blood as she could. Miss Grimwood's logic on this was because of the fact that it would interfere with their new ritual circle. Not only that, but it was quite unsightly at this point. A few times, the ghostly girl would phase through the floorboards to have an easier time at scraping up the brown stains.
As for the Detective, he remained near Miss Grimwood, poring over a few other old, dusty books that happened to be close by. His current objective was deciphering the right runes to draw on the floor, as well as finding the right words to help summon the portal. While one hand was kept in a book, the other held a pen, scribbling down a few words in Latin.
"I figure I'm at least halfway through figurin' out the terms to use," He hummed, loud enough for the headmistress to hear. "Still gotta know the right way to say it, though."
"Plus the order of the runes, dear," Miss Grimwood gently reminded, which was met with a single nod. The man didn't look away from his notes or the book in question, his fingers daintily turning each yellow page with great care. "If I may be so bold to ask, Detective, why do you have such an interest in this sort of subject?" She asked him in a neutral tone. This made his large eyes move towards her direction, as he contemplated his answer.
"Hm... always had an interest in the abnormal, I suppose," He said in a slow, thoughtful tone. "In the human world, evidence that supports the existence of anything paranormal or supernatural is, well... for lack of a better term, 'swept under the rug'," the man concluded, moving his fingers through his hair and moving it behind his ears. This action did little, as his hair merely fell forwards in front of his face in a messy manner.
"I can understand that," Miss Grimwood said with a small nod of her own, returning her attention to the book in front of her, scanning over a few paragraphs over rituals. "It took quite a long time to convince the nearby town to allow this school to stand. I daresay we haven't had any recent incidents due to the fact that they're all too scared," She said with a light chuckle. "It would be very ignorant of me to say that lots of people don't think monstrous beings walk among them. I just think many of them ignore it."
At this, the man let out a nod, laughing a bit as well. "People don't like it when things are out of the ordinary," He concurred. "They could watch a quadrupedal fish person walk across a bridge right before their eyes, and they themselves would choose to think that their brain was playin' tricks on them." With another turn of a page, the man paused for a little bit before continuing on. "If anything or anyone is considered to weird for them, then they don't want any part of it."
"Sounds like you're talking from experience," Miss Grimwood retorted with a slight grin. The Detective turned his head towards her fully this time, an eyebrow raised upwards in curiosity. A knowing expression was evident on his face, however, as he let out a bit of a sigh.
"Let's just say this..." He began, a finger reaching up to scratch at his scruffy face. "It's easy to work for the police and not have to carry a weapon when everyone is scared of ya." With that statement, Miss Grimwood gingerly put a hand on his shoulder, removing her full focus from her own studying. Again, the man flinched noticeably at being touched, though did not pull away or reject her touch.
"People fear those they don't understand. From my experience with this sort of thing, that fear dissappears when knowledge of the unknown is presented. Why, when Shaggy, Scooby, and their little friend, Scrappy, first arrived, they were quite on edge about our ways. I noticed, however, that they were quite fast to adjust, and soon realized that they are all indeed very friendly." Miss Grimwood flashed a smile to him as she continued. "I daresay you've noticed this as well?"
The Detective nodded to her. "Well, of course. Your students are quite likable and friendly. In their own way, of course."
At this, however, Miss Grimwood instead raised an eyebrow. "A very kind sentiment, Detective, but I wasn't talking about my girls." A few seconds of silence passed, which turned into a minute. The man was almost in denial about her statement, yet there was no hiding the fact that she was indeed correct. The silence was soon broken, as the deep voice of Elsa soon echoed throughout the room.
"The pentagram is done, Miss Grimwood," She called out, cracking her spine with her own hands to try and straighten her back.
"Wonderful work, Elsa!" She called back, removing her hand from the Detective's shoulder and turning the other way. "This will be a good guideline when the hunting group returns with their catch," She said, looking a few inches to the right. "How about you, Phanty dear? Are you almost done?"
"Just about, Miss G!" She giggled, quickly scrubbing up one final spot. "There we go! What do we gotta do next?" She asked.
"Well, we'll need quite a few candles... I'd say six of them. One for each point of the pentagram and one for the center." The headmistress pointed a finger towards the left side of the ceiling as she continued on. "I believe I have a few in the corridors. Would you be so kind as to gather some up for me?"
"Sure thing! Be back in two shakes of a snake's tail!" She laughed, quickly flying into the ceiling.
As Phantasma flew off, Elsa walked towards the other two and leaned against a wall for a little break. "Any progress with the runes and translations?" She asked curiously, arms crossed casually across her chest.
"We're getting there," Miss Grimwood replied, looking back to her own book.
"I honestly would've figured y'all had a class in ancient runes, to be honest," The Detective said as he jotted down another Latin word, along with a few arrows connecting it to a couple of others he had written.
"Nah, though it would be pretty cool, all things considered," Elsa said with a shrug and a grin on her face. "Some monsters consider that a way to read the futures of others... though most just consider it a sort of hobby. Not unlike humans and Tarot cards."
This garnered the man's attention once more, his eyes wide and attentive as he asked, "So monsterkind don't use Tarot?" This question made both Miss Grimwood and Elsa laugh a little bit.
"Of course we do, Detective," She said with a wry grin. "However, our readings and interpretations are far more accurate. Not that humans haven't given a good shot of it, though."
"Hmm... if ya don't mind me askin', then-" He began, before he was cut off by the older woman.
"Another time, perhaps, dear? We do have quite a ways to go."
"Heh... yes, of course, Miss Grimwood," He replied simply, returning to his book, his smile still wide and interested.
Soon after, the sound of maniacal laughing grew in volume as Phanty phased through the ceiling once more, dropping off six candles, each one of various size and shape on the shelf that everyone else was hanging around. "I found some! Will these do the trick?"
"Certainly, Phantasma," Miss Grimwood answered, lifting one up and examining it. "We'll set them up and light them aflame when we get the circle properly drawn out in blood."
The ghost nodded and soon floated over to her freaky friend, placing both hands on his shoulders and lifting herself above his head, reading over his notes. The man seemed amused by this, looking up and chuckling a bit. "Ooh Latin! Cool! I used to know quite a bit of it! Or am I thinking of Italian... they sound pretty similar, right? Maybe I could help ya!" Phanty eagerly offered her friend.
"I'd appreciate it, Phanty," He responded, looking up with a wide smile. As she moved her body to lean over his right side, Miss Grimwood and Elsa watched with amusement at the sight.
"Wonder how the others are doing?" The tall golem girl asked aloud, moving a stray hair out of her face.
"Only time will tell," Miss Grimwood answered. "Let's just hope it's not too much time."
The hunting group was currently walking along the wide, open road, leading from the two schools and close to the woods. As per Miss Grimwood's suggestion, though, none of the four dared to stray out too far into them. For the most part, they all remained quiet and wary, with Winnie and Scooby leading, while Matches walked alongside Calloway. He kept a hand on his sword handle, which remaind in it's scabbard, keeping a watchful eye out for anything as he followed the others.
After a few yards, Winnie slowed to a half, standing up on her feet, as she had been walking around on all fours with Scooby. "Feh. The one time we need to find some prey, we can't pick up a single scent!"
"Ryeah, no luck..." Scooby sighed, shaking his head as he sat upright, taking a break with the werewolf.
"There must be something around here we could use," The Colonel offered, glancing around the area a bit. "After all, we've barely surveyed the area."
"Yeah, no offense, Colonel, but this nose could pick up a chipmunk from at least a couple of miles away," Winnie boasted in a cynical tone. "Barely been able to pick up anything sound wise, too."
"Hrm..." He said, resting a hand on his chin as he gathered his thoughts. For the most part, he decided to let her snide comments roll off his back. As far as he was aware, that was just how she always was, and there was no time to argue with her over petty nonsense. "No reason to stop now, then."
The group continued to venture further along the trail, keeping their senses peeled for any potential targets. For the most part, everyone remained silent, wanting to keep their concentration. Eventually, the four hunters found themselves into a more open environment, their dirt and mud trail slowly leading into broken stone and gravel. This caused everyone to slow down considerably, looking forwards at the scene before them.
In its unholy, deteriorating glory, stood the remains of a castle. At least, that's what the large piles of rocks and wood splinters used to be, at least. A few bones could be seen scattered and piled in random piles close by. Very little vegetation remained, and any that happened to be close by was rotting away into the nutrient deficient soil. Everyone remained silent, though after some time, Scooby gulped and looked over to Winnie. "Revolta..?" He asked carefully, wondering if it was the same castle they had previously destroyed.
"Sure is. Every day, it seems to fall apart a little bit more," the werewolf stated, her tail twitching as she remained ever vigilant. Just because no activity came from the castle in years, that doesn't mean they should let up their guard. Who knows what was biding it's time in there...
"That's where she used to live, then? I had forgotten how impressive of a job you did blow it up," Calloway said, his eyes scanning over the rubble in great detail. "I've only heard the stories about her. You all were quite lucky to get away," He continued, moving his glance to the werewolf as well.
"Thanks," She said simply, not sure of what else to say. "Barely got away, though," She said, sighing and restlessly running her claws through her curls. "...by the way, uh... guess I should say thanks to your Cadets for helping us."
At this, he blinked, raising an eyebrow. "Why are you thanking me? I didn't even give them the order to do that. Not only that, but I never knew they left until after everything had played out."
Winnie shrugged at this, replying with, "Guess they had to learn some nobility from someone..."
He blinked again, feeling even more confused. Was she being grateful for his students that he taught? It was unexpected to him, especially coming from Winnie. "Oh. Well... thank you for saying so," the Colonel thanked bluntly, shifting around a little bit.
The awkward moment between the two of them wouldn't have time to stew, however, as soon, Matches began to snarl and growl, looking off into the distance towards the decaying castle. Scooby seemed to sense something as well, as he looked quite on edge. The hackles of Winnie's fur stood on end as well, as she soon found attention to something as well. "Wait. There's something there," She said, looking and pointing the same direction as Matches.
"An animal?" The Colonel asked, resting his hand on the handle of his sword.
"Sort of," Winnie answered, slowly moving with the others to the area. "Something a lot more dangerous, though. Be careful guys," She advised everyone.
As they moved closer to the source of everyone's discontentment, certain noises started to become audible, putting everyone on edge. The faint sound of joints snapping and bones cracking. The dripping of blood onto stone. The disgusting noise of something lapping and slurping. Despite the short trek towards the castle, it felt as if they had traveled for hours. Eventually, something came into view as the group moved behind the large pile of rubble the noises were coming from.
A large, rotting figure stood atop of a large white tailed buck. At least, the remains of it. The body was so horrendously mutlilated, the only signs that it was noticeably a deer were the hooves and antlers, both of which were broken off as if they were porcelain. The monster itself was bloated, with numerous bony legs piercing into the body, soaking them in blood and other viscera.
Spiny thorns covered it's large arachnid-esque body as well, looking as if a plant had mixed with a spider. It was hunched over, it's face buried into the corpse of the buck, slurping and lapping away at the bleeding meat, it's head and back covered in disgusting, filth ridden hair. Despite the grotesque scene laid out before, it took merely seconds of the monstrous creature to sense others. After pausing for one second, it quickly lifted it's head up, numerous red eyes piercing into the others, making them flinch at the sight.
"You?!" Winnie growled, already preparing her stance for a fight. At this action, Matches did the same action, smoke starting to seep from his nostrils. With wide eyes, the Colonel also steeled his nerves and drew his sword. Scooby was less brave, and merely cowered under his own paws, peeking up at the sight before them.
"Revolta?!" He howled out in fear. The figure itself certainly did look like Revolta, if she were fused together with her old minion, the Grim Creeper. A large maw opened up on her face, with rows of large, sharp teeth reveleaing themselves. A loud screaming screech left her mouth, threatening them as saliva splattered from her blood covered tongue. In an instant, her (it's?) spider like legs began to grow like viney tendrils, shooting themselves towards the group. Naturally, Scooby ran behind the group, not wanting to get hurt. The other three defended themselves properly, with Matches shooting a burst of fire towards the tendrils, easily charring the skin and burning the flesh, letting the fire spread up the legs and towards the body. The Colonel used his sword in an expert display of technique, almost effortlessly cutting them away. As for Winnie, she wasted no time in grappling one of them, pulling and biting into it as she wrestled with it. In a matter of seconds, the endurance of the tendril gave way to the werewolf's inhuman strength, and she ripped it clean off, with dark green blood splattering all over the group.
The monstrous abomination howled out in pain and anger, quickly attempting to regrow it's spent tendrils, as well as try to put out the fire before it burned alive. An odd scene occurred. Before the creature could attack once again, it began to... melt? Starting from it's legs and moving it's way to it's head, it quickly began to melt away into black liquid, it's screams echoing and growing louder, up until it was completely dissolved. The liquid also quickly sank into the ground, leaving nothing but the remains of the deer.
The corpse bled out silently, the only noises being heard were the pants from the Colonel, Winnie, and Matches, and whines of fear coming from Scooby. As Calloway sheathed his sword, the dragon turned his attention to his canine friend, nudging him to help comfort him. This thankfully seemed to help, as the dog peered up from his shaking paws, checking to see if the coast was clear.
"What... the fuck... was that?" Winnie huffed, carefully stepping towards the deer corpse, examining it.
"Hopefully it's gone away..." Calloway replied, wiping his brow and stepping towards the carcass as well. "Do you suppose it'll come back?"
"Let's not find out. C'mon, let's take as much as we can," Winnie said, gathering up the large hunk of flesh, carrying it with both arms as she turned and began to walk back to the school. "See if you can gather up some chunks as well, Colonel. We may need 'em," She called from behind her shoulder.
With a disgusted look, Calloway did so, holding bleeding hooves and viscera with both hands outstretched from his body. "Ugh... why couldn't it have kept it all in one piece..?"
Scooby and Matches soon joined the other two, looking behind their backs. Even though the threat of the Revolta abomination was gone now, there was still the lingering sense of foreboding. The one that told them that she wasn't completely gone. All they could hope for was that she remained melted into the ground.
"...and these charms here should give you all a good amount of protection!" Tanis chimed up, holding up a talisman in one hand, holding a few more in the other. Each one was held together by leather strings, the charm on them being gold coins with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics etched into them.
"Wow... do you think these will work?" Fred asked genuinely, carefully picking one up holding one up to eye level.
"Better then going on without anything," Velma answered, running a finger delicately across the writing of another.
Close by, Sibella, Shaggy, Daphne, and Googie were looking through the Demonologist's Bible carefully, eyeing over certain articles. Tanis moved closer to the group, passing a talisman to each of the others.
"Like, thanks Tanis," Shaggy said to the mummy girl.
"So, uh, any luck finding out any sort of good weaknesses?" Tanis asked curiously.
"I believe so," Sibella answered, her eyes not glancing up from a page. "Naturally, a lot of them vary, though there are some similarities between a lot of them. I figure it would be the same deal for our target."
"So far, we've come across a few that seem to be weak to banishment rituals, though I don't know if any of us can really do that," Daphne said.
"It really isn't that hard, honestly," Sibella said, glancing towards the red-head with a small grin, her fangs gently peering out. "Even though you're human, magic spells could still be used. As for strength, I don't know how much a mortal could put out..."
"Maybe it can be a quantity type of deal?" Googie suggested. "The more of us that try it out, the greater the outcome might be?"
"Could work..." Sibella hummed, setting the book down and moving to a bookshelf, scanning the contents. "I do believe we have some old beginner spells in here," She stated.
"Oh! If you're all going to try out magic, make sure to learn about some defensive ones!" Tanis suggested. "For instance, I can use my bandages as a type of rope to bind anything I need. Maybe you all could learn something similar? Even a shielding charm is enough to hold back against a lot of force!"
"You sure know a lot about this sort of thing, huh?" Velma said with a smile, the mummy beaming up at her eagerly.
"One of my favorite subjects, honestly," She replied.
"Hm! And here I thought all we'd really need to do is trip it up with a trap, or throw a nice sized rock at it, or something," Fred mused.
As Sibella set the spell book down on the table and opened it, she couldn't help but let out a bit of a laugh. "Only time will tell if it'll be that easy, Fred," She stated, scanning a finger over a list of spells.
"Hm... thinking about it, do you think that's why you were targeted earlier, Tanis?" Daphne asked the youngest monster girl, who let out a sigh and a nod, her smile turning into a disappointed frown.
"Unfortunately, yes. With the powers that I could have used, it would not have had an easy time. So, instead, it just decided to... well, turn me against my friends," She answered.
"That's behind us now, though," Fred quickly added in, gently placing a hand on her shoulder and patting it reassuringly. "Soon enough, we're gonna teach this guy a lesson or two about messing with us." The statement seemed to perk Tanis up a bit, who nodded again and smiled with a rekindled eagerness.
"Like, as long as we won't be sitting ducks, then it'll be a piece of cake!" Shaggy said, eyeing one of the spells in the book the vampire laid out. "Hm... 'think these words in your mind, snap your fingers, and imagine a burning flame for an easy spark'... like, that's a cinch," He said, snapping his fingers as he read aloud. Rather quickly, his finger tips emitted a spark of fire, which caught him and everyone else off guard. "Zoinks!" While the flame quickly went out, the others turned to look at him with surprise.
"Woah, Shaggy, how'd you manage that so easily?" Daphne said, quite impressed with his trick.
"Like, I have no clue!"
"Maybe this will be easier than I thought..." Sibella said hopefully.
"We'll definitely have to bring that book with us for future reference," Velma suggested as she peered over the book with the others.
"I just hope the rest of us will have an easy time understanding these spells as well," Googie added on. "Some of these look pretty complicated..."
"We gotta be prepared for everything, I guess," Daphne replied, smiling gently to the strawberry blonde girl.
Before the others could study up anymore, however, heavy footsteps could be heard, along with the nasty smell of blood and rot. Everyone looked towards the entrance to find Winnie, Matches, Colonel Calloway, and Scooby bringing in the carcass of... something. They all looked quite exhausted, and blood seemed to cover them completely. "Phew... we're back..!" Winnie called out in an almost nonchalant way. "We got a body for blood!"
"Jinkies, what happened to you all?" Velma asked, covering her nose due to the stench. She wasn't the only one to do so, though Sibella seemed to move closer, looking over their 'catch' curiously.
"What did you do to this thing, Winnie? You didn't get hungry, did you?" She asked, joking around a little.
"No, I didn't eat any of it," The werewolf growled, rolling her eyes.
"Rit was Revolta!" Scooby called out in fear. This quickly caught the attention of the rest, a collective gasp ringing out from everyone.
"Zoinks! Like, don't joke around with that kinda thing, Scoob!" Shaggy replied, already starting to shake in his seat.
"It's the truth, Mister Rogers," Calloway answered. "She was not a pretty sight."
"For real! She didn't look like her old self! She was even uglier!" Winnie continued.
"W-what do you mean?!" Tanis asked.
"She looked even more like a spider! Her legs grew like nasty vines, and she had lots and lots of teeth!" The werewolf answered, holding up the still bloodied corpse of the deer. "We found her sucking on this, so we figured she was the one who killed it."
"How did you get away then?" Sibella continued to ask, sounding quite rushed, as if wanting to find a way to dispose of the monster before it came any closer to them.
"That... well, uh, it's gonna be hard to believe..." Winnie said with an unsure tone.
"Considering what we've already seen so far, anything goes," Velma replied.
"She relted! Right into the ground!" Scooby answered, gulping.
"It really was the strangest thing. Even weirder was that she didn't try to attack us after that happened," the Colonel continued on.
"So does that mean that she's... gone?" Googie asked with a nervous, yet hopeful tone. Sibella on the other hand, shook her head.
"It's not normal for something like that to happen. She wouldn't have stopped killing in order to leave. Something took her away," She rambled on.
"That's not a good sign..." Fred said with a nervous look, scratching the back of his head.
Sibella turned back to Winnie, an almost desperate look in her eyes. "We all need to summon that portal as soon as we can. We can't give them enough time to find us." Without arguing, Winnie nodded and hurried towards the secret room, being followed by the Colonel and Matches. Scooby stayed behind, finding comfort in being close to the rest of Mystery Inc.
"Well gang, whether or not we're ready, we have no choice," Velma sighed, turning to look over everyone. "Let's do our best to stay strong. Let's go guys," She said, starting to follow the rest. Slowly, everyone else followed suit, with Sibella scooping up the book, and Tanis clutching a few charms of her own, ready to pass them out to the rest.
Shaggy stepped closer to Sibella, looking her over. "Like, are ya gonna be okay?" He asked her gently. Sibella wordlessly nodded to him, not looking to him. "Hey, it's okay if you're not. Like, we're all pretty terrified of this whole situation. Like, especially me!"
"Rand me!" Scooby added in.
"But, like, without this fear to motivate us, then we wouldn't do anything to protect our friends. Without fear, we'd either stand aside in apathy, or like, get all cocky and not be able to actually do anything! The fear, like, gives us time to think about how we can protect others when times get scary. If we all help each other overcome our fears, then we can surely, like, do good."
The vampire slowed down a bit, finally turning her attention to him, nodding and sighing. "I am so frightened of what's about to happen. I have no clue what we're getting into. But we must do so. I trust you, Coach."
With a warm smile, Shaggy walked with her into the summoning room with the rest, making sure to remain close by to her.
Everyone watched as the finishing touches were made to the now bloodied ritual circle. Elsa and Miss Grimwood would be the ones to form the circle and write in the proper runes, with the help of Sibella and the Detective. Phantasma would also be the one to set up the candles once they were done. After the set up was done, the headmistress spoke to the group.
"Okay now, everyone. Our next step is to light the candles aflame," She instructed. In a movement, the Detective's hand moved to his back pocket, pulling out a plain black pocket lighter.
"I can help ya with that," He'd say simply, flicking the flame.
"...why do you have a lighter?" Velma asked bluntly.
In response, the man shrugged and flicked the lighter a few more times, his smile not faltering. "Reasons."
"Regardless of the reasons, you may put that away, Detective," Miss Grimwood said with a wave of her hand. "I have a much easier method." With a large wave of both arms, all of the candles lit aflame.
"Now that's a time saver," Fred stated as the Detective shuffled his lighter back into his pocket.
"Next... something to connect our two worlds..." Miss Grimwood continued in a mystic, dark tone. She turned her attention to the vampire, nodding. "The Demonologist's Bible, if you please Sibella," She gently instructed. She nodded and gently set the book down in the middle of the pentagram, right below the lit candle.
"Now... comes a rather... difficult request..." the headmistress sighed, turning a weary gaze to the group. "...we'll need some blood."
A few confused murmurs rang out, with Shaggy speaking up first. "But, like, don't we already have enough?"
"Yeah," came the voice of Winnie. "Plus, we've still got that carcass if we need any more of it."
"No, no," Miss Grimwood said, sighing again and continuing on patiently. "We need fresh blood. From humans. I'm willing to do my part in this-" She began, which was met with a few vocal disagreements.
"Wait a second now..!" Daphne started up.
"Miss Grimwood, that's dangerous!" Tanis yelped out.
"Isn't there another way?" Phanty suggested loudly.
Everyone quickly hushed up as Miss Grimwood held up a hand, continuing on with her explanation. "...but, sadly, I'll need at least three others. Human blood is needed, preferably. It will make for a stronger summoning. I won't force anyone to do this, but until we get some volunteers, we can't continue on."
Unsurprisingly to everyone, the first one to step forward was the Detective, his smile growing with a dark grin. "Might as well, yeah?" Before he could step closer, Phanty hugged him from behind, making him freeze up.
"Please be careful, okay?" She asked him.
After some time, he finally replied to her, nodding with a rather gentle smile, one that looked warmer than his defaul grin. "Don't worry 'bout me. I'll be alright." When she was satisfied with that answer, she let go of him and walked towards the circle, the rest of the group looking on with an uneasy glance.
Soon enough, the Colonel stepped forward, his chest puffed out a bit. "Like, Colonel, are you sure?" Shaggy asked him.
Without stopping, Calloway turned his head behind him and gave a single, firm nod. "I figure I have to learn a lesson from my boys, as they do from me. I will give what I can to help you all."
Miss Grimwood gave a pleasant look to him, feeling both surprised and not surprised at all at his selflessness. "I always knew you were a noble man, Colonel," She told him gently. The man merely gave a bow of his head, smiling back to her.
A little bit more time passed before another person would step in. "So... one more, huh?" Daphne said with an uneasy tone.
"I guess so," Velma sighed. Before anyone else could step forward, however, Googie hurried ahead of the others, fists balled up and a determined look on her face.
"W-wait a sec, Googie!" Fred began, reaching a hand out. "What are ya doing?"
"I'm tired of being afraid," She answered simply, standing next to the others at the circle. She was obviously nervous, due to her subtle shaking, but she was not willing to back down from her decision from the looks of it. "I want to be able to do something more than just be a bystander in all of this," She explained further. "I'll give some of my blood, too! No matter what'll happen to me, I'm not changing my mind!"
Everyone was quiet once again for a few seconds. The Detective put a comforting, friendly hand on her shoulder, rubbing it as he nodded to her. "Well... c'mon then, y'all. A demon awaits us."
"Yes. Let's get this over with," The Colonel stated.
With a nod, Miss Grimwood looked out to her monster students and the rest of Mystery Inc. "Now, no matter what happens to us during the summoning, you all stay put. Don't try to intervene until the portal has been opened. Understood?" She requested. Barely anyone made a noise, as they were all unsure of how to respond. "That means even if we're all pulled in or even attacked, you must not get closer. Promise me this," She urged, an eyebrow raised.
"...you have our word," Sibella said quietly to her teacher.
That seemed to satisfy the headmistress, as she nodded. "Good... I'm proud of all of you. We're reaching the end of our mission. We just have to stay strong. I believe in all of you," She said with a smile.
"Like, ,we believe in you too, Miss G," Shaggy replied.
With another nod, Miss Grimwood turned her back to the larger group, gently instructing the other three volunteers on where to stand. She also handed each of them a ritual knife. "Now, do be careful. It will definitely hurt, but a cut on your hand will draw out enough blood to do the job. You remember the words, don't you Detective?"
"Yes ma'am," He answered, admiring the knife with his fingers as he replied to her, standing where he was instructed.
"Good. Okay everyone..." She said, looking to the center with the others. "On the count of three... we do it." With a nervous nod from Googie and a confident nod from the Detective and the Colonel, they settled their knives against the palms of their hands. Some of the others who were standing off to the side looked away, though others made sure to keep an eye on the four just in case something bad happened.
"Three..." Miss Grimwood began, the Detective already starting to murmur some words of a different language under his breath, too low for anyone to fully understand.
"Two..." She continued, Googie's hands shaking as she rested the sharp edge of the knife against the palm of her hand.
"One..." She went on, the Colonel drawing in a deep breath and steeling his nerves.
"Now!" Miss Grimwood finished, quickly slashing the blade against her hand, quickly drawing blood as she moved her palm downwards towards the circle, letting it splatter and drip into the pentagram. The others joined suit, with Googie letting out a sharp gasp of pain, Calloway letting out a grunt, and the Detective hesitating for a slight second before continuing his chant.
As blood flowed into the circle, the candles' flames grew upwards, growing brighter and hotter. The blood from their hands seemed to make the pentagram glow brightly, as the candle in the center seemed to burn hotter and hotter and hotter. Regardless of the fact that the wax was quickly melting under the intense heat, the flame did not falter. Instead, it continued to grow and grow, becoming rounder and taller.
Eventually, it was the size of a large human body, and the flame seemed to waver and change, somewhat. The fire was turning into a portal right before their very eyes. "Jinkies, it's working..!" Velma whispered harshly, watching with wide eyes. Everyone else was quite impressive, as well as terrified, of the sight before them.
Soon, the flame stopped changing, the other five candles at the points of the pentagram suddenly blowing out. At the center remained the portal in it's unholy glory. The Detective's chants slowed to a halt as everyone took in it's presence with awe.
"We did it..!" Googie gasped, quickly nursing her own bleeding hand.
"No turning back now," Elsa stated, taking in a deep breath.
"Let's not waste any time, then," Velma stated. Before any of them could step forward, though, another sight made all of them freeze in place.
To a few, it was a familiar sight, and not a very welcome one either.
The voice of J'alzhikhan began to giggle in everyone's ears.
Something was definitely wrong.
Something was horribly wrong.
And none of them could stop what was about to happen to the four summoners.
Author's Notes: Another day, another chapter. I never really know what to say at the ends of these chapters, so I'll keep it short, yet precise. Despite everything crazy going on in the world as of writing this, I do hope you are all doing alright and surviving. Maybe by posting another chapter to my fiction, it will help bright up someone's day? I sure do hope so.
Never worry about me. I know I'll be okay in the long run. I wish nothing but the best for everyone reading. Look out not only for yourselves, but for each other. Your friends and family and community in these hard times. I don't know when I'll post the next section, but regardless, thanks so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful day!