Daphne's cell phone chiming was the first sound that broke the silence as they drove away from the storage facility. Daphne was driving. She glanced at the device briefly before handing it back to Shaggy in the back. "Check that for me?"

Shaggy opened the text. "Fred made it back to the studio. He says he'll see you when you get back."

"Rif we make rit back," Scooby whimpered.

"Thanks for that thought," Shaggy reached up between the front seats and set the phone on the console.

"Where are we going now?" Scrappy asked.

"We need to find Flim-Flam," Vincent told him. "Do you have the broken crystal?"

Scrappy took the box containing the broken ball from one of the cabinets in the back of the van and brought it up front. "Here you go Mr. Van Ghoul!"

"Thank you Scrappy," Vincent took the box, set it on his lap, and opened it.

Daphne took her eyes off the road briefly to glance into the box. "Where did that come from?"

Scrappy shrugged. "I don't know. Last time we saw that evil ghostie, I don't remember what happened but I found that half a crystal ball when I woke up."

"Rwe told him to get rid of it," Scooby added.

"Yeah, we didn't know what it was and it looked like trash," Shaggy added.

"Wouldn't your unbroken crystal work better for whatever magic you're trying to use?" Daphne asked.

"I have had no success with it so far," Vincent replied. "I'm hoping to have better luck with this one. It was used the last time we faced Asmodeus. Maybe it will lead us back to Flim-Flam now."

(-)

A village in Nepal

The ghost of a man, dressed in the clothes of a long dead era, looked down on the small village. A boy dressed in yellow was darting back into a small store. The wide storefront was made of wood and open for the public to be able to wander in an out freely. Benny, the owner, claimed that this had led to an increase in his sales.

But this did not concern the ghost. Keeping himself invisible, he drifted down and into the store, where the boy in yellow was letting himself back behind the counter.

On a shelf against the back wall was a bundle carefully wrapped. The ghost drifted over, and yanked on it as hard as he could. All these years, he thought darkly, that he had been content to not interfere and now that the wanted too, one ill-fated encounter with Asmodeus had turned all his plans upside down. But there was no help for it.

Finally the bundle gave way, and fell to the floor. He wasn't worried about breaking the contents of the bundle. It was wrapped well enough that he didn't think it would be an issue. Even if it did break, he would have to chance it.

The boy in yellow turned and looked annoyed. "I know I put this thing far enough back that it wouldn't fall," he grumbled as he went to pick it up. In the fall, part of the wrapping had slid off, revealing half of a broken crystal ball. He picked it up, unwrapped it so he could lay the wrapping out flat, and started to carefully fold the cloth over it again.

The ghost allowed himself to fade away. If Vincent couldn't figure this one out now, there wasn't much more he could do about the matter…

(-)

"Like, I don't want to doubt your magic crystal Mr. Van Ghoul, but-"

"But you're going to anyway," Vincent cut Shaggy off.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes, I am sure this is the place," Vincent replied as the group wound their way through the crowds in the marketplace of the village.

"It's sure busy here! I hope we can spot Flim-Flam!" Scrappy was marching around and under people keeping a sharp eyes out for his friend.

"Rhere could rhe be?" Scooby wondered. The village hadn't seemed that large when viewed in the crystal ball, but now that Vincent had transported them here, it was taking them longer then it seemed like it should have to find Flim-Flam.

But Vincent hadn't been able to pinpoint Flim-Flam's exact location, just that the other half of the crystal ball was somewhere in this village. It was a long shot, but as Daphne had noted, it was the only lead they had.

Scooby had drifted back to the end of the group, where Shaggy was. "RI'm rhunrgy, Shaggy," Scooby complained.

"I am too pal," Shaggy said. He stopped following the others. Scooby stopped too. "Hey, that shop over there looks like they might have food! Let's check it out!"

"Ryeah! Ryeah!" Scooby agreed excitedly. Leaving the others to continue the search, they entered the small store.

"What can I do you for?" the dark-haired boy asked, propping his elbows on the counter.

"Flim-Flam!" Scooby and Shaggy said at the same time.

Flim-Flam looked confused. "Do I know you?"

"Like, it's a long story," Shaggy told him.

"Ryeah, rabout a box, rand a lot of ghosts!" Scooby added.

"But for now, what do you have in the way of food?" Shaggy asked hopefully.

(-)

Bogel and Weerd were looking down on the scene below them.

"Look, Weerd! They're gonna find their friend!" Bogel complained. "Then the whole team of those meddling kids will be back together!"

"Not to worry, Bogel!" Weerd was grinning maliciously. "We've got a card left to play." He pulled out a red gemstone, so dark red it almost looked black.

"Asmodeus' gemstone?!"

"Yes, Asmodeus' gemstone," Weerd seemed pleased. "And we can use it!"

"But Asmodeus will be angry with us if we use it and we don't get the Chest! And he said not to do anything to Van Ghoul!" Bogel pointed out.

"Well, we ignore Van Ghoul then," whatever Asmodeus' business with the warlock was, Weerd hadn't looked too deeply into it. "But we can get rid of those kids. And they have the Chest with them. Asmodeus will have to accept us if we bring that chest back!"

That thought seemed to cheer Bogel up. "That's true! So how will we do it?"

(-)

"So you're telling me that I was helping you put thirteen of the most dangerous ghosts the world has ever seen back in a magic box that they got out of because the two of you got tricked into opening the magic box, and that we caught twelve of them, failed to catch the thirteenth, lost our memories about the event, and now this Vincent Van Ghoul guy is trying to get us all back together to catch the Thirteenth Ghost?" Flim-Flam asked. He had taken a break from helping mind the store and was sitting at a small corner table, where Shaggy and Scooby were devouring huge bowls of Dal Bhat. "I dunno. Sounds a little far-fetched to me."

"Rit's true!" Scooby insisted. "Rit all really rhappened! Rwe just forgot."
"Yeah, it all felt like a dream, until Mr. Van Ghoul showed up. Had his crystal ball on the table and everything," Shaggy added.

"Crystal ball?"

"Yeah, he never anywhere without one. We used to carry one too, back in the day," Shaggy scraped the last of the bowl clean. "That was a good snack wasn't it Scoob?"

"Ryeah! Ryeah!"

Shaggy turned to Flim-Flam. "Why don't you come back with us? I'm sure Mr. V's got some kind of magic that can bring your memories back."

"I'm busy minding the place for Benny. He took me in. I woke up one day, outside of the village and I didn't remember anything, and Benny gave me a job," Flim-Flam explained.

"Rhat happened to rus, too," Scooby said.

"Yeah, we, like, all forgot everything," Shaggy said.

Flim-Flam was thinking about something else. "You said a crystal ball?"

"Yeah. Mr. V was always usin' 'em!" Shaggy said.

"You know what, I would like to meet your friends. But only meet! I'm not agreeing to go anywhere with you guys."

"Meeting ris a good start," Scooby said philosophically.

"And eating more, because that first bowl was only a good start," Shaggy added.

"A good start! That bowl was huge!" Flim-Flam pointed out.

Shaggy held the bowl out to him. "Can I get some more?"

"I'll have to charge you double," Flim-Flam replied.

Just then the ground shook. "What was that?" Flim-Flam asked, getting to his feet as he did.

Shaggy had dropped his bowl. He and Scooby were clutching each other and shivering. "Rit's gotta be ranother monster!" Scooby moaned.

The ground shook again, and outside, they heard the sound of screams.

The front awning of the store was ripped away, and a huge black thing in the shape of a wolf, with glowing red eyes and a tail that seemed to be burning was glaring at them.

[A/N:] Dal Bhat, according to Google, is a Nepali dish made of steamed rice and lentils.

No monster car here. I couldn't understand that in the movie, and I still don't understand it now. I'm pretty good at putting aside things that don't make sense for the sake of the story - CSI: Miami, which I enjoy, is a frequent offender on that front - but the monster car in Curse was a bridge too far for me. Which is not a real positive statement about Curse, to be honest.