"It's not like Uncle Scooby to just wander off like this," Scrappy said. He was a puppy on a mission, marching down the street and looking into every shop. "They must have decided to split up and look for Flim-Flam that way!"
"Or they got lost," Daphne said, trailing after the puppy. Vincent had stayed behind, under a tree at the edge of town, trying to use his crystal to scry for Flim-Flam. Daphne and Scrappy were retracing their steps in hopes of finding Shaggy and Scooby.
"I'm sure that they're hard at work hunting for Flim-Flam!" Scrappy went on.
"I'm sure they're hard at work finding something to eat," Daphne retorted.
"They gotta be around here somewhere! Mr. Van Ghoul teleported us here, so they couldn't have left without us," Scrappy peeped around the door frame of another shop, taking in the inside. There was no sign of his uncle or Shaggy in it.
"For a small village, there's a lot of places to look," Daphne sighed.
The ground started to shake. A giant black shape bounded through the town. Daphne gaped at it. Scrappy was ready to fight. "Look at that monster! Let me at 'em! I'll splat 'em!"
"Not now Scrappy! We have to find Shaggy and Scooby!" Daphne told him. "And we gotta figure out what could have caused that thing to appear."
"Why don't we use the crystal ball and call Mr. V?" Scrappy offered. "Maybe he can shed some light on that monster for us."
"Good idea, Scrappy," Daphne took off her shoulder bag and set it on the ground. She carefully pulled the half a shattered crystal ball out of her bag. "Mr. Van Ghoul? Are you there?"
"I'm here," his image was not visible, no doubt due the fact that the crystal was shattered. "I'm sensing a great evil nearby. Where are you?"
"Still trying to find Uncle Scooby and Shaggy, Mr. V!" Scrappy reported. "No sign of 'em yet."
"That will never do." Vincent was suddenly standing next to them. Daphne nearly dropped the broken crystal, but Scrappy caught it before it could hit the ground."We have to find them before this evil presence does!"
By now villagers were running away. There was no way they could miss it. "We know where to start looking," Daphne said, and they three of them took off running the direction everyone was fleeing from.
(-)
When the monster ripped open the front of the building, Shaggy and Scooby were instantly clinging to each other and shaking.
Flim-Flam didn't miss a beat. "Howdy stranger! What can we do ya for? I bet I know. You're here for some of our famous Dal Bhat. Well, you've come to the right place. We'll get you set right up. Waiter!"
At this cue, Shaggy and Scooby darted away, taking their dishes with them. Scooby reappeared with a white tablecloth that he threw over the table. Dishes were tossed into place on top of it. The Great Dane disappeared into the back of the shop.
"Come in, come right in," Flim-Flam escorted the monster, which seemed a little surprised, into the building. "Have a seat. Our chef will get you all taken care of. Waiter!"
Scooby reappeared.
"Bring our guest a drink. Water." Flim-Flam glanced at the monster. "Make it a bowl."
"Right awray," Scooby disappeared into the back and reappeared with a large bowl of water that he set on the table.
"And a bowl of the house special!" Flim-Flam called after him as he vanished back into the rear of the shop
This time is was Shaggy who appeared, with a large bowl of Dal Bhat. "Like, here you are! A bowl of our finest Dal Bhat! Enjoy!"
The monster let out a loud cry.
"Zoinks!" Shaggy threw the bowl on the table, grabbed Flim-Flam, and raced out of the building, followed by Scooby. Outdoors, they collided with Daphne, Vincent, and Scrappy.
"There you are Uncle Scooby! And Flim-Flam! They found you! I knew Uncle Scooby could do it!" Scrappy cheered.
Vincent was the first to untangle himself and get back to his feet. "There's a dark presence here," he repeated.
"Yeah, it's right in there if you want to see it. We'll stay out here," Shaggy pointed back the way he, Scooby, and Flim-Flam had come.
"As a matter of fact, I do want to see it," Vincent replied, stalking off towards the damaged store.
Daphne, Scrappy, and Flim-Flam followed. "It ripped the place up pretty good," Flim-Flam offered. The monster was still more interested in the bowl of food in front of it, and was busy snarfing the food down in great gulps.
"Whatever's in that bowl won't keep it busy for very long," Daphne noted.
"That's Dal Bhat, and it's the best you're gonna find in the village," Flim-Flam said proudly.
"This won't take very long," Vincent said. "I know where this power comes from." He strode towards the monster. As he drew closer, the monster looked up and snarled at him. "Temporal chains!" Instantly, strands of green magic held the monster in place. On the monster's forehead was a dark stone, one that looked something between red and black. With the monster restrained, the warlock was able to reach up and take the stone away. With the stone removed, the monster shrank back down to a normal wolf. As soon as Vincent released it from the Temporal Chains, it ran away.
"Say, that's a neat trick. Are you a magician?" Flim-Flam asked as he came back into the room, followed by Scrappy and Daphne.
"A warlock," Vincent corrected. He crushed the red stone to powder, and brushed it off his hands. "Tell me, what do you remember about the Chest of Demons?"
Flim-Flam shrugged. "I thought I had imagined it."
"No way!" Scrappy said. "It was nothing you imagined." He set the broken crystal down and focused on his old friend. "It was all real."
Flim-Flam was looking at something else: the broken crystal. "Where'd that come from?"
"We brought it with us," Scrappy said. "I found it one morning, after our failed fight with Asmodeus."
Flim-Flam went behind the shop counter, and returned with a package carefully wrapped. "Maybe there's something to what you're saying," he said as he worked to unwind the material. When it was fully unwound, half a crystal ball was lying on it. It appeared to perfectly mach the half that Scrappy was holding. "I found this the same morning I woke up here."
Shaggy and Scooby had crept cautiously back into the building when they saw the wolf go running out of it. "Rwe told you rit rwas real," Scooby pointed out when he saw the other half of the crystal.
"I guess it has to be," Flim-Flam said. He looked at he others. "So what did I miss?"
(-)
"Insolent fools!"
Bogel and Weerd were on the ground, hands over their heads, shivering. "Forgive us, o wise and mighty Ghost King," Weerd invoked.
"You have lost the Dark Ruby that I gave you, and you lost it to Vincent Van Ghoul!" Asmodeus thundered.
"We didn't mean it your most Exalted Wickedness," Bogel added. "We were trying to stop those kids from finding their friend." That they had been unsuccessful was not something that either of them felt like mentioning.
"You should have told me that you found those blasted meddlers! I could have done away with them!"
"We thought you only needed the Chest, sir," Weerd added.
"The Chest, and the corpses of those meddlers!"
"Forgive us, most Esteemed Evilness," Bogel was still shaking. Asmodeus glared out over the cleft of the rocks they were on. The village down below them was a zigzagged maze of buildings. "Please give us another chance," Bogel went on.
Asmodeus' attention turned back to them. "I will give you a simple assignment." He enunciated the words carefully. "Bring me the Chest of Demons. And this time, if you fail me, don't bother coming back."
Bogel and Weerd sprang up. "We'll get right on it, Your Rottenness," Weerd said, but before they could get over the edge of the cliff, they hit the rocks again, hard. Asmodeus held out a hand, alight with glowing red magic.
"You may get another chance to retrieve the Chest," Asmodeus told them. "But if you do, it won't be now. I will take things from here."
"Of course, Your Wickedness," Weerd managed to get out.
"Now begone!" Asmodeus thundered. The two lesser ghosts disappeared, shaking as they did.
Asmodeus glared at the space where they had been, let out a snort, smoke rolling from his nostrils as he did. Then he opened his wings and took flight.
(-)
As the group walked back towards the van, which had been parked outside the town, they filled Flim-Flam in on what the remembered. Most of the boy's memories about the events had come back when he met the others, just as their memories had when Vincent had appeared to them.
"And that's everything," Daphne finished.
"Well, how did we all forget this stuff, anyway? I haven't thought about it in a long time." Flim-Flam looked at Vincent. "How'd we forget everything, Vince?"
Vincent didn't seem thrilled by the question, but he didn't get a chance to answer or deflect it. Asmodeus chose that moment to drop out of the sky and land in front of them. "I'll take that Chest!" He snarled.
The Gang found themselves stepping back inadvertently. Vincent pulled out his crystal ball and was ready to transport them away. As the crystal started to glow, Asmodeus lunged forward with a roar, and grabbed at the ball. He missed as Vincent stepped back, out of the way, but managed to knock the warlock's hand just enough that the ball fell as the teleport began.
Shaggy snatched at the ball, trying to keep it from hitting the ground, at the same time Vincent reached for it, and they were all gone. Asmodeus let out an angry growl. Bogel and Weerd were hiding behind a nearby boulder.
"Don't just sit there sniveling!" Asmodeus told them. "Go find that chest!"
"Y-yes, your Wickedness," Bogel managed to get out, and the two ghosts disappeared.
Asmodeus watched them go, and with a growl, took to the skies to begin his own hunt.
(-)
When they landed, free of the teleport scant seconds later, Shaggy found the breath knocked out of him, as both Scooby and Scrappy had landed on top of him.
"Where are we?" he heard Daphne groan. It was then that he realized that he recognized the fireplace in front of him and the rug he was lying on.
Then he heard Miss Grimwood. She was sitting in one of the ornate chairs by a small table, holding a teacup. "It's always the Thirteenth Ghost, isn't it, Vincent?"
The warlock was on the floor next to Shaggy, Flim-Flam having landed half on top of him. The crystal ball he had used to teleport them rested on the rug, intact. The two halves of the broken crystal lay nearby, their fall cushioned by the rug. "Yes, I'm afraid it is," the warlock intoned.
Miss Grimwood looked at the group, then held up the teapot. "Would anyone care for some Toadstool Tea?"
[A/N:] Temporal Chains is a spell that Vincent uses throughout the Second Season. I actually forgot I had him using this spell until I re-read the chapter the other day. The middle portion actually gave me massive heartburn before I settled on the waiters-to-the-monster gag.
Oh, and just to be clear, I do have in mind for Daphne her more stylish movie self. Her appearance in the original series was, in fairness, rather frumpy looking. I was gonna try and steal that scene where Older!Flim-Flam greets the Gang and points out how different they are and use that to explain this point, but that scene didn't fit in.