"I wonder where Flim-Flam is," Scrappy was looking out the window of the van at the five story building that Shaggy had disappeared too. This was the office of the magazine that Daphne worked for. Shaggy had gone in to see if he could find Daphne. "Have you seen him lately, Mr. Van Ghoul?"

"Until this afternoon, Scrappy, I have seen none of you for some time now," Vincent told him.

Shaggy came back out to the van just then.

"Rwhere's Daphne?" Scooby asked.

"Out on assignment, but I was able to get the address," Shaggy replied as he started the vehicle. "Let's head on over there."

"Daphne's gonna be really surprised!" Scrappy said.

"You're not kidding about that," Shaggy replied.

(-)

Bogel and Weerd were spying. For so long, Asmodeus had been biding his time, waiting for the right moment to strike, and when he had, he had almost overwhelmed the gang of meddling kids and Van Ghoul, much to the joy of the two ghosts.

But as Asmodeus had been trying to destroy them once and for all, Van Ghoul had managed to interfere just enough. Now the meddling kids were scattered across the world, and Asmodeus had made it clear that Van Ghoul was his.

Now they were keeping an eye on the redhead. Unable to get into the Grimwood School to do any spying there – it was too risky - and having followed the Tibetan orphan around long enough to be sure that the kid didn't have what they were looking for, she was their last chance.

The Chest of Demons was missing. No one had it. Bogel and Weerd had suggested that maybe Van Ghoul had it. With all the protection spells around his castle, there was a possibility that the warlock had simply taken it into his castle.

Asmodeus had informed them, in no uncertain terms, that that was not the case, and dispatched the two to go find the chest.

"I'm getting bored, Weerd," Bogel complained.

"Never mind that! We gotta find that chest!" Weerd replied.

"All she's doing is writing down what people say," Bogel went on. It was true that Daphne was listening to a couple of man talk, and taking notes on a pad that she was holding. "We've been following her for months now. Maybe she doesn't have the chest."

"It's got to be somewhere," Weerd said. "Sooner or later, we'll find it. And if we don't..."

There was a pause as they both considered how well Asmodeus would take it if they couldn't find the Chest.

"Weerd! Weerd! Look!" Bogel anxiously yanked on the other ghost, trying to get his attention.

"Not now!" Weerd was squinting at the writing on the redhead's notepad. Was it possible that she had written down the location of the chest somewhere? Maybe they would have to go search her apartment again.

"Look!" Bogel turned the other ghost around, and they both looked out a nearby window. A familiar red van was parked there. They watched as the vehicle doors opened and saw who was exiting.

"Oh no!" They exclaimed in unison.

"It's that kid and his dogs!" Bogel moaned.

"And Van Ghoul!" Weerd snarled.

"I thought Asmodeus had dealt with him!" Bogel went on.

"Let's get out of here for now," Weerd decided. "We'll keep an eye on them. We've still got to find that Chest!"

The pair disappeared.

(-)

Daphne had found a spot away from the hustle and bustle of the studio to make additions to her notes. What had started with an interview with the director of the 31st Spirit had ended up turning into a longer interview than expected and covered several recent popular movies. It was a victory for her. She knew that her editors would be thrilled with the story, and she was already planning how to get two or three articles out of the material she had.

"Daphne!" Fred was by her side. "Lance Penderton isn't here yet," Lance was to star in the movie. "But they're expecting him any minute. You want to stay and wait for him to arrive, maybe get some quotes from him when he gets here?"

"If you're sure it won't be a problem, Fred," Daphne replied. She opened a tiny watch hanging around her neck, on a longer chain than the emerald pendant had. "I've got plenty of time and I've gotten lots of good material already."

"Daphne!" Another familiar voice called, and both Fred and Daphne turned to see who was there.

"Shaggy! Scooby! And Scrappy," Fred looked pleased. "What brings all of you here?"

"We, uh, we had an old friend drop in," Shaggy said. It was funny, now that he thought of it, but the more time he had spent with Vincent, the more he felt everything was true, and even some of his hazy dreams were beginning to make more sense to him. They weren't dreams, they were memories, though how he could of forgotten all of this was one mystery he hadn't had time to focus on yet.

"Ryeah," Scooby echoed. "Ran rold friend."

"And he came to see up on some old unfinished business and we came looking for you. You, like, haven't seem Flim-Flam lately, have you?"

Daphne was looking at Shaggy as though he had grown a second head. "I don't know a Flim-Flam. I can't think of any unfinished business we have. And who is this old friend?"

"You remember Mr. Van Ghoul, right?" Shaggy offered. He got a pair of blank looks in response.

"Ruh, Rhaggy," Scooby said, glancing behind them. "Rhe's gone."

"Zoinks!" Shaggy looked around. "Scrappy, did you see where Mr. V went?"

"Nope. Do you think he saw something in the crystal ball and teleported off to take a look at it?" Scrappy offered.

"Rhe rwhould have told us," Scooby protested.

Daphne and Fred looked even more confused. "Who are you talking about?" Fred asked.

"You don't know him, but Daphne did. Does," Shaggy turned and looked behind them. "We gotta find Mr. V."

Vincent, meanwhile, was trying to extract himself from a case of mistaken identity. "If you would like to go to your trailer, Mr. Penderton, we can send the makeup artist right over," the studio executive was saying.

"I have been trying to tell you for some time now that you have mistaken me for someone else," Vincent's tone was icy.

"I know you're a humble man, Penderton, but you're the star of this movie," the producer wrapped an around Vincent's shoulders. He didn't seem to notice that the warlock was gritting his teeth. "Let's get this show on the road."

"Do it without me," Vincent pulled out his crystal and transported himself away, much to the shock of the producer.

Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy were searching for Van Ghoul, trailed along by Fred and Daphne. The two dogs were tracking the warlock by scent. They didn't have to look very far, as Vincent appeared in front of them.

"Like, Mr. V! We thought we lost you!"

"You didn't," Vincent replied.

Daphne came to a stop, looking at the man in question. Fred glanced back and forth between Vincent and Daphne.

"You...you're…." Daphne trailed off.

Vincent crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you remember me?"

Daphne stared at him for a moment. "Vin...Vincent Van Ghoul," she said slowly. "But how do I know you?" she paused and thought it over. "There was a chest. The Chest!" she said suddenly.

"Do you know where it is?" Vincent asked.

"Ryou don't rhave it?" Scooby asked the warlock.

"No. It's been missing," Vincent admitted.

"I know where it is," Daphne said. She looked at Fred. "I have to go."

He nodded. "I'll come too. You can introduce me on the way."

(-)

"Like, are you sure this is the place?" Shaggy asked as he brought the van to a stop in front of the storage facility.

"Yes, I am," Daphne said. She opened the door to the van and walked over to the gate to unlock it and let them in. Then she came back to the van. "Unit 3F." She said as she closed the door of the vehicle.

Shaggy turned at the row marked three, and drove past the units until he found the one with a big bold letter 'F' on the door. "Like, we're here."

They watched in silence as Daphne unlocked the door. Fred opened opened it for them.

Shaggy looked at the wrapped bundles and boxes inside. "I don't see it. Guess it's not here. What a shame. Well, looks like we'll all have to go home."

"No. It is here," Vincent said, walking past him into the unit.

"It sure is!" Scrappy jumped forward, digging around behind a stack of boxes and coming out with the red box with a demon head mounted on the front of it. He hefted it up and carried it to the center of the unit. "Here it is! The Demon Chest!"

Shaggy and Scooby were hugging each other again. "Looks as horrible now as it did back then!" Shaggy said.

Fred didn't look convinced. "So this box contains thirteen ghosts."

"No. It contains twelve of the thirteen ghosts," Vincent corrected him. "The most foul and evil spirits to ever roam the Earth."

"And there's one more to catch," Fred went on. They had explained most of it on the way over, but he wasn't sure he believed it.

"That would be correct," Vincent said.

"How did they get loose in the first place?" Fred asked.

"Like, it was an accident, okay?" Shaggy said, sounding a little defensive as he did.

"Ryeah! Rwe rwere tricked!" Scooby protested.

"It doesn't matter how it got opened," Daphne said. "We've got to find that thirteenth ghost." Scrappy was lugging the Chest back out of the unit. The others trailed after him.

Fred looked at her. "Okay." He took the chest from Scrappy. "We'll use this as bait and set a trap for this thing-" He was cut off as Scooby and Shaggy pounced on him, knocking him to the ground. The chest went sliding away.

"You're crazy Fred! We can't set a trap for this thing!" Shaggy protested. "This isn't like the other monsters!"

"Ryeah! Rit's not fake!" Scooby added. "Rit's real!"

There was no time to say anything else. The wind changed suddenly, and the sun itself seemed to dim. A red monster, with wide wings and dressed in clothes of a bygone era, was coming towards them.

"That's the thing that followed us here!" Scrappy exclaimed.

"Is that..." Daphne trailed off.

"Yes, that is Asmodeus," Vincent's voice was flat. "The thirteenth ghost."

[A/N:] I want to be absolutely clear here that Vincent being mistaken for an actor has everything to do with the fact that Van Ghoul was modeled after Vincent Price and for no other reason. It's not a shout out to the Mystery Incorporated series, so don't take it that way.

Poor Fred has a lot to take in here. The idea that he writes books and Daphne works for a magazine are both lifted from somewhere In Rose of Pollux's second season, though I think Fred's job comes from some source material somewhere. At this point in the second season, Fred and Velma haven't really shown up yet, some I'm kind of doing my own thing on that front here.