The others soon returned with their snacks as Velma returned with her parents, her sister, and her Uncle Cosmo. Flim-Flam introduced himself to them briefly (and Vincent did the same, even more briefly, before continuing to stand off to the side), and Velma was soon busy going over the last-minute details with Dr. Midori (who had brought his two friends from the previous night, as well as his family).
Shaggy had noticed that Daphne seemed slightly less upset than before, and it didn't take much to figure out why.
"You talk to Mr. V about all the stuff going on with your parents?" he asked, quietly.
She nodded.
"He knows where I'm coming from—which is probably why he advised me not to be too quick to shut them out of my life," she admitted.
"…Miranda?" Shaggy asked.
Daphne looked to him in surprise.
"He told you?"
"Not directly, no; I kinda figured it out when I saw the portrait of them together in his family gallery—you didn't see it?"
Daphne shook her head.
"I don't think I've really taken a close look at those portraits," she admitted.
"Oh. Well, this one was of the two of them when they were both around our age—they were posing like she was going to join the family… but she didn't because of a bad breakup."
"They were engaged—he just told me," Daphne confirmed. "And yes, it was a bad breakup."
"Yeah, I had a feeling," Shaggy sighed. "Poor Mr. V."
"And poor Miranda," Daphne added. "I think the sad part about it is that it isn't really anyone's fault—except maybe that other warlock that attacked Vincent on the mountaintop. Vincent must've been really shaken up by what had happened, and he was terrified of hurting her by accident. Only he ended up accidentally hurting her in a different way."
"…You know, I know it's not a good sign when we start thinking along the same lines as Flim-Flam, but…" Shaggy began.
"…Are you thinking that we try to get them back together?" Daphne asked, her eyes wide.
"It's just a thought," Shaggy said. "And maybe 'back together' isn't the plan here—at least get them back on speaking terms with each other for now? Something to think about after this thing with the Time Worm is all over…"
They continued to converse quietly as Velma continued to work the details out with Dr. Midori, and as Flim-Flam and the dogs were now listening to Vincent recite more Athenian poetry. Fred was in a polite conversation with Velma's sister, but he was soon distracted as he noticed something outside the window again—it looked exactly like those two glowing shapes he'd seen here the night before… only this time, it was broad daylight.
"…Can you excuse me for a second?" he asked Velma's sister, frowning. He glanced out the window again, but saw nothing. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary now, but Fred's instincts were telling him all was not well. Exhaling, he now crossed the room to where Shaggy and Daphne were talking. "Hey, Daph? Can I borrow Shaggy for a second?"
"Uh… sure," she said, exchanging a glance with Shaggy.
Shaggy shrugged in response, and Daphne headed over to hear some of Vincent's recitations.
"How's she holding up?" Fred asked.
"As good as can be expected," Shaggy said. "Man, this really came outta nowhere, though. I'm glad Mr. V is here; he knows what to say more than I would."
"Yeah, I'll bet; must be nice to have someone with his experience around," Fred sighed, certainly not knowing what to say, either. He pushed the thought aside for the moment, however. "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I want to take a quick look around the base."
"Huh? Why?"
"I thought I saw something outside the window," Fred informed him. "I saw it last night, too. It's probably nothing, but given everything that's at stake here, I think we should check it out."
"Like, shouldn't we tell Velma?" Shaggy asked, his eyes going wide.
"I don't want to have them have to delay or call off the launch over potentially nothing," Fred said. "Base security is pretty tight, as Velma said—the chances of someone getting in who shouldn't be are pretty low."
Shaggy gulped, trying very hard not to glance over at Vincent.
"So…?" he went on.
"So, my instincts still tell me to take a look around, just to reassure myself, if no other reason," Fred admitted. "If you come with me, we can do a quick sweep and be back in time for the countdown. Velma's busy, and Daphne has enough on her mind already—and the others are having such a good time listening to that poetry, I'd hate to interrupt them."
Shaggy pondered for a moment. He remembered what Vincent had said about the Time Worm being unable to reach them at the base… but then he also remembered that Bogel and Weerd had been heading for the base last night, too—had Fred seen them last night, and had seen them again just now?
"Sure, I'll search with you," he agreed, not wanting Fred to go alone in case Bogel and Weerd were here—and if they were, then everyone else in this room would be safe with Vincent right here. If the ghosts were roaming the halls somewhere, Shaggy knew he would have to find some way of explaining their presence—but, hopefully, he could get them to retreat by warning them that Vincent would undoubtedly make their afterlives miserable indeed if they even thought about trying anything.
"Thanks," Fred grinned.
They slipped unobtrusively into the corridor and began to wander, trying to look casual but, in reality, on alert.
"What exactly did you see?" Shaggy asked, after a while.
"I'm not entirely sure," Fred admitted. "They looked like two, glowing things—and they moved fast. I didn't really get a good look at them, but they did remind me of some of the things we've seen on our old adventures."
"Two of 'em, huh?" Shaggy asked, the unpleasant feeling in his gut growing. Suddenly, he felt himself wishing that he had the Chest with him, but Vincent still had it.
"Hopefully, it's nothing," Fred added.
"I really hope so," Shaggy sighed.
Fred sensed his friend's growing unease and tried to change the subject again.
"Mr. Van Ghoul seems like a really nice guy," he said.
"Yeah, he sure is," Shaggy said, cheering up slightly. "He knows something about everything—well, it feels like he does, at least. We've all learned a lot from him in the past two years."
"And he really looks out for you guys, doesn't he?" Fred asked.
"He sure does…" Shaggy began, but he trailed off. "Is it that obvious?"
"Kinda. Two guys were bothering Daphne last night, and he chased them off before Velma and I could even reach her."
"Yeah, he is a bit protective over us—not that I'm complaining," Shaggy said, with a wan smile. "See, Mr. V doesn't have any kids of his own—well, at least he didn't until we showed up."
"And you just clicked?" Fred asked.
"Not immediately, but not too long after we met him," Shaggy recalled. "Now it feels like we've known him for years."
Fred hesitated for a moment.
"…Why did you wait so long to introduce him to Velma and me?" he asked. "He sounds like someone who's really important to you guys, and well… We're important to you guys, too."
He sounded hurt—though he was trying his best to hide it, and Shaggy felt a new, second unpleasant feeling in his gut.
"Like, we didn't want to wait so long…" he said. "It took a bit of time for Mr. V to come out of his shell before he finally started clicking with us. Like he said last night, he doesn't make friends that easily."
"Sorry; I didn't mean to sound so accusing," Fred winced. "I guess I was just… wondering why you guys told him all about Velma and me, but didn't mention anything about him to us."
"Well… With all of his… eccentricities…" Shaggy trailed off, trying to come up with some explanation to cover up the he's a 2000-year-old warlock truth of the matter. "He kinda… wants to keep a low profile. He cares a lot about what other people think of him because he's… not like everyone else."
"Neither are any of us," Fred pointed out. "Isn't that how we all clicked as kids—that we were all misfits? You know Velma and I are better than that—we wouldn't have held anything against Mr. Van Ghoul. You guys obviously care about him a lot, and he cares about you—that's enough for us. If he needed time or room to open up, we'd have given it to him—you didn't have to try to protect him from us!"
"There's more to it than that, Freddie," Shaggy sighed. "We weren't trying to protect him from you, honest!"
"Then, why—?"
"Because, Blondie, they were trying to protect you from us!" Weerd grinned, materializing through the wall and hovering just in front of Fred.
Fred and Shaggy both yelped and scrambled backwards as Bogel also phased through the wall, floating beside Weerd.
"Huh—!?" Fred exclaimed, before pausing. "Wait a minute; I recognize those voices—you were the ones bothering Daphne here last night before Mr. Van Ghoul chased you off!" He frowned. "Then it was the two of you I saw through the window both times! What are you—holograms? Or is it all done with trick mirrors and lighting?"
He moved to take a step forward, but Shaggy seized his arm.
"Freddie, no!" he pleaded. "Those two are too dangerous; you don't want to mess with them! We've got to go back and get Mr. V to take care of them!"
Fred looked back at Shaggy in surprise.
"You know these clowns?" he asked, utterly confused now. …Then again, hadn't Daphne sounded more annoyed than surprised the previous night…?
"I'll explain later!" Shaggy said, and he gave a quick, nervous gulp before pointing an accusing finger at the ghosts. "Like, you two better split before Mr. V sees you, or he'll send you into next week himself!"
"Oh sure," Bogel sighed, rolling his eyes. "Run back to the warlock for help! Too afraid to face us ghosts yourself, huh?"
"…Warlock? Ghosts?" Fred asked. "Shaggy…!?"
Shaggy looked at Fred in a state of semi-panic, shrugging helplessly as the façade now crumbled all around him.
"You mean you don't know, Blondie?" Weerd said, in a mock hurt voice. "He never told you about us? After everything we've been through together? Oh, it's too much—it's much too much!"
Fred stared in absolute confusion for a moment, before something finally came to him as he recalled how these two voices had wanted to take Daphne to this "Asmodeus" they had mentioned…
"This was never about the launch…" he realized, turning to Shaggy. "This is about you guys, isn't it? You got on someone's bad side during one of your investigations, and Mr. Van Ghoul has been helping you!"
"…More or less…" Shaggy whimpered. "C'mon, Freddie, we've gotta get back to where it's safe—"
"But these are just intimidation tactics, right? Ghost projections?" Fred asked. "The ones behind these two have to be in the building somewhere—"
"Projections!?" Bogel scoffed, insulted. "Sir, I did not die on the streets of New Orleans at the hands of a pair of monster catwomen to be called a projection!"
Shaggy and Fred exchanged equally baffled glances now—this was news to Shaggy, who hadn't really thought too much to Bogel and Weerd's pasts.
"…Monster catwomen—?" Shaggy gulped.
"Forget that," Weerd sneered. "Just hand over the Chest, and no one gets hurt!"
"But I don't have it!" Shaggy exclaimed.
"What are they talking about? What Chest?" Fred asked, glancing back at Shaggy in confusion.
"The Chest of Demons, of course!" Bogel exclaimed.
"Ah, nevermind, Bogel; it's clear that there's only one way to persuade them to hand it over," Weerd said, a smirk growing on his features. "We'll have to make a deal—give 'em something they'd want in exchange for it!"
A feeling of utter dread now filled Shaggy's heart as he realized what the ghosts were planning.
"Freddie, run!" he yelled, tightening his grip on his friend's arm, trying to pull him away from the ghosts.
"What—?" Fred began, but as he glanced back at the ghosts, he let out a cry of alarm as he saw them, swooping in at him.
Each of them grasped one of his arms, and despite Shaggy also still holding onto one of Fred's arms, when the ghosts teleported away, Fred teleported away with them, leaving Shaggy holding onto empty air.
Notes: Bogel mentioned in Nekara's episode that "[his] old cemetery was right next door" to the one where Nekara wanted to hold the wedding—therefore, New Orleans was where he was buried, and—it's implied—where he died. And yes, his mention of meeting his end at the hands of "monstrous catwomen" in this chapter is significant; the fact that it was New Orleans made it fully possible that he was one of Simone and Lena's many victims; perhaps they'd had trouble that year bringing someone to Moonscar Island in time for the Harvest Moon, and so were forced to go to the mainland to find someone—and Bogel just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I do have vague ideas for a retelling of Zombie Island that would fit my fic 'verse (which would expand on this little tidbit of Bogel's past), but that's long, long ways off (as in, "13 Ghosts: Season 3"), as Asmodeus is meant to be the overarching villain of my Season 2 project.