(A/N: This is my first time trying a review fanfic. I've never tried it, but I'm always looking for experience to broaden my horizons, and I thought of doing this to break out of my comfort zone. Especially since I'm giving my opinions on these things being reviewed by Mew in an unbiased way. And just like me, the Critical Mew is also a newbie at reviewing. So, in a way, the Critical Mew is me, being a beginner with this and slowly becoming an expert. With that out of the way, hope you enjoy this.)
(P.S. The intro is based off the intro for The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries. My brother's the one who came up with the idea. Don't ask why, he thought it would be funny. Also, the 13 Curses of Scooby-Doo is a joke used to make fun of Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost, since that film is like a curse to the fans of the original show.)
A trio of glowing dots looked at the readers.
Critical Mew, looking for you
The glowing dots split into the Regi Trio.
Critical Mew, where are you?
The Critical Mew flies in, wearing a trench coat and a hat, giving the readers a wink.
Come on, Mew, where you been?
The Critical Mew took off the trench coat and used Transform, becoming a king, a dame with blonde hair, a waiter and an Elvis impersonator.
Trouble's on the loose again
A mysterious figure showed up, trying to crush Mew with a sandbag, only to narrowly miss. He looked behind him to the embodiment of stress, who proceeded to chase him to a door of things to review, which began to do the Thriller hip movements.
(Mew)
They're not gonna get you
(Critical Mew)
The Regi Trio went in a protective circle in front of Mew, protecting him.
Uh uh, the Regi Trio's gonna help you
(Mew)
Mew was in a barrel full of toys, deciding to peek out only for the floor to break under him, causing him to grab a loose floorboard with his tail.
Ooh, the comment's gonna be there
Registeel jumped on the floorboard, launching Mew into the air. Regice and Regirock caught Mew in their arms.
And the readers too
The Critical Mew floated past Lavender Town, only for the ghost of Marowak to appear, scaring him away.
Critical Mew, looking for you
Mew was surrounded by loads of Ghost and Dark-Type Pokemon, all about to ambush him.
Critical Mew, where are you?
Only for the Regi Trio to attack them all, saving Mew as they head back to the Tree of Beginning.
Mew, Critical Mew
Mew
The stuff to be reviewed danced once again, doing the Thriller hip moves.
Critical Mew
Mew
A pair of eyes zoom out, showing Mew and the Regi Trio with the Tree of Beginning in the background.
Critical Mew!
The Critical Mew-Season One
Episode One: Mask of the Gorgons by Crystal Rose of Pollux
Tree of Beginning, Kanto Region, 2021
At the Tree of Beginning, in a room full of toys, Mew was setting up a tab on a random Google Chromebook he got on his travels around the world.
"Hi, I'm the Critical Mew! You're probably wondering why I'm doing reviews. Well, let's just say someone's not pleased when it came to the birth of a certain clone that nearly destroyed the world." Mew said, remembering what happened some time ago.
Flashback(sometime before Pokemon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life)
"You're telling me that you not only let humans take a single eyelash from you, mistaking it for a feather, but you allowed a clone of yourself to live?!" Arceus demanded.
"Um, would this be a bad time to mention a Lucario died to save me and the Tree of Beginning?" Mew said nervously.
Arceus took a few moments to take some deep breaths before screaming.
Present time
"Sure, it took me about 12 years to finally get to it, mainly because I decided to roam around the world, punking any Trainers chasing after me just to catch me, and getting cool things that caught my attention, like this Chromebook." Mew said, pointing at said Chromebook.
"And if you're wondering about my protection, I've got the best bodyguards ever." Mew said, as the view shifts to the Regi Trio, the three normally would be making sure that the tree was protected. But right now, they were taking a break.
"So, glad that Mew is back once again." Regice said.
"I know. It's so satisfying that we don't have to worry about him getting into danger." Regirock said.
"Guys, keep your voices down. I'm pretty sure he can hear us." Registeel told the two, just as Ledyba flew up to the trio.
"Hey, can you three show me how to get to-" was all she got out before Registeel turned towards her.
"I'M TALKING TO MY BROTHERS!" Registeel exclaimed, causing Ledyba to scream as she flew away.
"Um, Registeel, you might want to relax a bit." Regice said as he and Regirock had a sweatdrop from the scene Registeel caused.
Suddenly, they heard Mew's voice amplified by a megaphone shout, "I said, 'I've got the best bodyguards ever!' And they would be making sure that no one would try to get in this sacred place!"
"Well, better get started on our jobs." Regirock said.
"Yeah, like that AniMat guy." Regice said.
Right at that moment, AniMat, from a distance, said, "Really? I mean, what is he gonna do? Is he gonna throw one of his rocks at-"
Regirock turned towards the direction of AniMat's voice. "Take this, knave!" Regirock shouted, firing off a Hyper Beam.
"Oh crap!" AniMat's voice cursed as the attack hit wherever he was.
Yet Regirock could tell AniMat didn't get hit by the Hyper Beam. "Wanna insult me again, knave?!" He demanded.
AniMat's girly scream answered for him, telling Regirock that he would not be insulting him again.
"Heh heh. Apologies to any AniMats out there, but this is why you shouldn't insult the Regi Trio. They're sensitive about their pride." Mew whispered before beaming.
"Now with that out of the way, who remembers The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo?" Mew asked, firing up the Chromebook.
"Ah, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, a show made by Hanna-Barbera in the 1980s, one of their good eras. Since I'm planning on giving a review on this show one day, I'll give you a brief overview on it." Mew said with a smile.
"The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo was made in 1985, during the era of Scooby-Doo where the monsters were real. It has Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, and Daphne, accompanied by Flim-Flam McScam, a con artist, and Vinceant Van-Ghoul, a warlock voiced by legend Vincent Price.
"The main gist of the show is that New Gang+ has to find 13 demons from the Chest of Demons since Shaggy and Scooby were deceived into opening it by Bogel and Weerd, 2 recurring villains." Mew said before sighing.
"Unfortunately, the show got cancelled with only 13 episodes due to budget issues, and the hate between Scrappy-Doo and Flim-Flam were split evenly, no one was sure who they hated more. Not even the people working on the show. So, they pulled the plug before we can get any resolution on the 13th ghost getting caught." Mew said.
"Man, I wish we could've gotten a good second season of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, just so everything could be wrapped up nicely." Mew said.
Suddenly, the cover for Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost DVD came right out of nowhere. Mew glared at the DVD before using Psychic on it, throwing it off the side of the Tree of Beginning.
"I said a good second season, not that trash! That is a mockery of the original series and a slap in the faces to the fans, who were lied to by Warner Bros. that the film would be the conclusion they want! Begone, foul demon! Back to wherever demon chest from whence you came!" Mew shouted, throwing a ball of psychic energy at the DVD case, blowing up the film.
"Unfortunately, we can't have a second season of the best series of Scooby-Doo, can we?" Mew asked, just as Regirock climbed up to the tree to where Mew was.
"Um, Crystal Rose of Pollux came by with a letter addressed to you." Regirock said.
"Um, okay. But, and forgive me for asking this, but what are you wearing?" Mew asked, as it showed Regirock wearing Shakespearean clothing.
Shakespearean clothing. She wants me to wear this while speaking in Shakespearean quotation." Regirock said, before opening the letter, clearing his throat, and began speaking.
"To Scoob, or not to Scoob, that is the question." Regirock said.
Dude, you just got played by a human. You know, the very being you're supposed to stop from coming here. How did you not see that? Better question, how did she come here, convince you to make a fool out of yourself, and manage to get off scot-free, like the villains from Pinnocchio? Mew asked in his thoughts, dumbfounded.
"Okay, I can't let you continue making a fool out of yourself. You got played by a human. Let me check." Mew said, grabbing the letter from Regirock with his stubby arms and put it in his face.
"Huh. She actually did write this in Shakespearean quotations. When did she get the time?" Mew said, before skimming through the letter.
"Blah, blah. Scooby-Doo. Boring, boring, plot and reasons for cancellation. Skipping ahead to 13 Curses." Mew said before something catches his eye.
"What the? What's this?" Mew asked, seeing a picture of the Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School cover. At the bottom of it were words that say, "13 Curse problems? Have I got a cure for all your 13 ghosts itches. Look at the bottom right corner of this letter."
Mew looked at said corner, and saw a link. He typed the link into his Chromebook with his stubby arms.
"I don't care if this looks cute. I'm the Critical Mew, gosh darn it!" Mew said.
"You look like those cat videos that you saw once." Regirock commented.
"Back to your post! Or do I have to call your giant continent carrying father?" Mew asked.
Regirock just jumped down all the way to the bottom. "And take those ridiculous clothes off! You look like Arceus the one time he did cosplay with that outfit!" Mew shouted before returning his attention to the Chromebook.
"Now, where is this link taking me?" Mew asked, as the link sent him to a page on .
The story was titled Mask of the Gorgons. "Really, she wants me to read about the Gorgons sisters? I mean, I could read about Greek Mythology or even read Rick Riordan books on t-" Mew said, reading the description of the story and spitting out his drink.
"Holy Master Balls! Did it just say what I think it just said?" Mew asked, glancing at the description.
Masks of the Gorgons
By: Crystal Rose of Pollux
[Original 13 Ghosts 'verse, hypothetical "Season 2"] The gang finds their quest to capture the final ghost from the Chest of Demons on hold after Vincent is conscripted by an ancient goddess into taking on a different group of monsters. When Vincent orders the gang to return home while he handles this new task alone, the gang find themselves surprisingly unwilling to leave.
Rated: Fiction K+ - English - Friendship/Adventure - Shaggy, Daphne, Vincent Van Ghoul, Scooby Doo - Chapters: 7 - Words: 29,942 - Reviews: 17 - Favs: 11 - Follows: 9 - Updated: Sep 23, 2020 - Published: Aug 5, 2020 - Status: Complete - id: 13663753
Mew's heart stopped beating for a moment and his brain started shooting off fireworks as Beethoven's Ode of Joy played in the background. "Hallelujah!" Mew shouted joyously.
"Someone gets it! My eyes have finally been cleansed of that demon! Now let's get on to this review! This is Masks of the Gorgon." Mew said.
"So Crystal Rose decided to write a note explaining the reason to write this hypothetical second season." Mew said.
Notes: So, it turns out my muse has a lot more stories to tell about the gang during the 13 Ghosts days, so this is going to be the first in a series of multichapter adventures that will serve as my "Season 2" to the original 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, with this fic creating the premise of my "Season 2." As with the oneshot I posted last month, I'm drawing from the Curse of the 13th Ghost movie for only Vincent's backstory, and will be ignoring the "present-day" stuff from the movie, as it retconned way too many things to make sense, such as making the gang younger except for Flim-Flam or refusing to explain Scrappy's absence. I probably will address Asamad/Asmodeus being the final ghost at some point down the line, but for the moment, he won't be the focus.
"Holy Metapods, she did it. She actually did it. She made something useful out of that movie while throwing away many of its logicless plot holes. I salute you, Crystal Rose!" Mew said, giving a cute salute to the screen.
"We begin the story with Shaggy's point of view, recapping the series." Mew said.
He winced. He still felt guilty about that—opening the Chest of Demons and freeing the 13 ghosts inside—and he knew Scooby felt that way, too. In hindsight, it seemed so obvious that they were getting tricked—but neither of them could have imagined just how badly their blunder would have ended up being.
And yet… in a weird way, it had been almost worth it to meet Flim-Flam and Vincent Van Ghoul. Flim-Flam had gotten along with Scrappy right away, and Scrappy had been thrilled to have a companion close to his own age. As for Vincent, well… he had taken much longer to warm up to them, having been initially furious over the Chest being opened. Shaggy had been absolutely terrified of the warlock at first as a result, but as it became clearer that Vincent's icy exterior was merely a façade to hide his true caring nature, the fear was eventually replaced by admiration—an admiration that Daphne and Scooby also shared. As their quest to recapture the 13 ghosts progressed, Vincent had inevitably become another member of their mixed-up little family, and it was his castle that Shaggy—and the rest of their ghost-hunting crew—were currently staying.
They had captured Zimbulu, the 12th demon ghost, at the winter solstice in Boris Kreepoff's studio. With only one more remaining, Vincent had granted them some time off. While Flim-Flam's swift dealing allowed him to eagerly cash in on the madness that was holiday shopping season, Shaggy, Daphne, Scooby, and Scrappy had proceeded to spend the holidays in Cocoa Beach with their longtime friends Fred and Velma; it had been a nostalgic week, reliving the days when they had been chasing after (and being chased by) crooks in costumes, and yet, they had felt guilty for leaving Vincent all alone. They couldn't even bring it up to Fred and Velma—as far as they knew, Daphne was traveling all over the world as a reporter, with Shaggy and the dogs helping out; though it hurt to deceive their oldest friends in such a manner, they knew it was essential for their safety—Fred and Velma simply weren't prepared to take on the burden of hunting real monsters and ghosts, some of whom had proven to be vengeful and outright dangerous, and wouldn't have spared them.
"Hey, Crystal Rose remembers that Shaggy opened the Chest of Demons too. And just like Scooby," Mew began, trying to be serious, wearing a armor for no reason, with one of his stubby arms holding a sword over his heart, "he, too, bears the burden that comes with the sin of being tricked by string cheese and a giant blob of paste." Mew said, looking serious.
"Oh, and also Fred and Velma never met any real monsters, besides that one hassle at Dracula's castle. Or the Ghost of Christmas Never. Seriously, you can't tell me Nanette wasn't a ghost when no one explained how she managed to get anywhere in disguise without anyone seeing." Mew added.
And so, when the holidays ended and Fred and Velma returned to their day jobs, the others had picked up Flim-Flam and had ended up on the doorstep of Vincent's castle, much to his surprise.
"They have jobs, you numbnuts! Get to work!" Mew shouted, wearing a suit and tie, throwing the descriptions of Fred and Velma during the 1980s at random Pokemon. They were at a part of the Tree of Beginning that looks like the meeting room of the Warner Bros. Headquarters.
"Our inventory are lost!" Altaria screamed.
"Help! I've gone blind!" Yanma cried out as all Distortion Dimensions broke loose.
"Okay, moving on." Mew said without the suit and tie, ignoring the ensuing chaos beneath him.
Nevertheless, the warlock was a most gracious host, having only two house rules: the first, the nonnegotiable rule, was that they were not to touch any unfamiliar magical object or read from any unfamiliar spellbook for their own safety; the second rule, not as strict as the first, was that they at least try not to make a mess of the place.
"Rule number three: no killing in this very castle. Or at my old hideout. I rather keep my place clean of all bloodstains. And another one, don't bring rats. I hear they're offended by being called sewer rats. Now does anyone want some Coca-Cola?" Mew said, using Transform to become Vincent Price in a polar bear suit.
"And so waited for months, and months, and many more months for the 13th ghost to show up, but he never did. Is Asmodeus hanging out with Sledge during the events of this." Mew asked.
At Hawaii, during at dance party
"Woo! Wait, what am I doing? Oh yeah, partying!" Asmodeus said, dancing. "Sure hope the other 12 demons are having the time of their lives!" Asmodeus shouted.
Chest of Demons
"I swear to any god out there that Vincent and any of his relatives will pay!" Rankor shouted.
"Isn't Asmodeus related to Vincent?" Maldor the Malevolent asked.
"Who bloody gives a-wait, what is that one of your fingers?" Rankor asked Nekara.
"A ring from Vincent. ...Oh no." Nekara said, realizing the problem.
"Get her!" Marcella and Zomba shouted, chasing after Nekara.
Back at the Tree of Beginning
"I have no Magikarping clue what happened when you guys left, but let's get back to the review." Mew said.
So Shaggy woke up at nearly midnight and decided to get a snack. He does so, walking from the turret to the kitchen, not getting lost, much to his shock, and gets some snacks. Just as he was about to head back, he noticed a door open and took a detour to the east wing to see who is also awake." Mew said.
As Shaggy headed down wing's corridor, he realized that there was a light coming from Vincent's study; the study was crammed full of books on all areas of magic, and beside an ornate glass window was an enchanted telescope that, when activated, displayed whatever it saw upon the walls and floor of the study. More than once, both Shaggy and Daphne had wished they could've let Velma in on the secret—she would have loved to have spent hours getting up-close glimpses of stars and galaxies like never before. And Fred would've had a field day with all of the books; there was no telling the novels he could've come up with just by looking at the titles alone.
Quickly realizing that Vincent was the one still awake, Shaggy moved to wish him goodnight before heading back to the turret. He reached the doorway of the study, and, sure enough, Vincent was once again gazing into the crystal ball, trying to find any sign of the final escaped ghost.
"This proves two points. One: Shaggy and Daphne would help Fred and Velma with their jobs, which prove how great of a friendship the original gang has. Unlike a certain demon that passed itself off as a film." Mew said, glaring down at the bottom of the tree, where the ashes of the DVD he destroyed rest upon the ground.
"And two: the fact that Vincent is trying to find any signs of the 13th ghost proves how much danger remains. For those who watch and remember the 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, it is stated that one ghost is enough to destroy the world. All 13 of them will be enough to make you want to be anywhere else but your own world. Heck, not even hiding in the Distortion World and even the Hall of Origins will save you. And since the Tree of Beginning is a giant battery of aura energy, and it's connected to my lifeforce, this would be their first target! Not even the Regi Trio, best bodyguards in the world, would be enough to save me and this place." Mew said, before calming down.
"Anyways, Shaggy went to wish Vincent good night when he realizes Vincent isn't alone. Vincent is with a woman wearing armor and has a sword and shield." Mew continued.
"It has been a very long time," she said. "And I suppose you know why I am here? I am here to collect on a very old debt. Will it finally be repaid at long last?"
Shaggy watched in apprehension as Vincent now bowed before the intruder.
"It shall, My Lady," he said. "My word is my bond—and your wish is my command."
A satisfied smile crossed the woman's face.
"Excellent," she said, and she reached out with the staff, touching Vincent on the shoulder with it. "Let's go."
There was a flash of bright light, and Shaggy thought he saw the doorway of light close; when the light faded, both Vincent and the woman were gone—nowhere to be seen. The crystal ball was gone from its stand, as well.
"So of course, Shaggy immediately starts to panic and runs around the castle to wake up the others." Mew said.
Whoever or whatever she was, they had to save Vincent from her!
Shaggy was now knocking on all of the bedroom doors, raising the alarm—
"Vincent's gone!" he cried. "He's been spirited away! We have to find him—to save him!"
That had certainly gotten everyone awake and into the corridor in a hurry; as they ran to Vincent's study, Shaggy relayed what he had seen and heard.
"Like, zoinks, guys. Like, Vincent went with a random girl!" Mew said, using Transform to become Shaggy to do an impression of said person before returning back to normal.
"To be fair, I get where they're coming from. The last time any woman tried dating Vincent, and put a ring on it, it was Nekara trying to drain Vincent of his magic. So I can't harp on the gang for being paranoid of a random female showing up and taking Vincent with her to get a debt paid. For all they know, she could be an ally of the 13 Ghosts!" Mew said dramatically.
"So they decide to use the crystal ball to figure out Vincent's location via his own crystal ball so they can find him. And his location is...an ancient Greek temple. Makes sense given the title of this story." Mew said thoughtfully.
"So of course, they noticed that the woman looks exactly like a statue of a woman, but they decided to ignore that for now because Vincent takes top priority! They attempted to teleport, only to fail due to something blocking the connection between the crystal balls." Mew said.
"I'll bet it was that woman!" Shaggy fretted. "Like, she got in here as though all of Mr. V's protection spells were nothing!"
"That means that meanie could have him at her mercy right now!" Scrappy exclaimed.
"Roh no," Scooby moaned. "Poor Mr. Van Ghoul…"
"This can't be it!" Daphne said, shaking her head in sheer disbelief. "After everything Mr. Van Ghoul's done for us, we can't let him down now! Flim-Flam, you've got to get it to work!"
"I'm trying! Agh, come on!" Flim-Flam shouted, shaking the crystal ball now. "We've gotta find Vince!"
He smacked the crystal ball in frustration, and, finally, it began to glow.
"Aw, this shows how much they care for Vincent and are willing to do anything to repay his kindness." Mew said.
"So they managed to get sent to the ancient Greek temple, where they get held at swordpoint by a winged person, who tells them they're not invited to something. Daphne tries to calm down the winged person and explain they're there to save a friend, only for the winged person to claim that anyone who shows up is invited and clearly not in trouble.
"When they tried to push past the winged person to look for Vincent, he blocked their path again and tried to get them to leave. However, once the gang say they won't leave without Vincent, he asks them if they're asking about Vincent Van Ghoul, which Scrappy says he bet they are. And then suddenly more people show up." Mew said.
"What seems to be the trouble here?" a new voice asked.
"Zoinks, it's her!" Shaggy exclaimed, pointing to the woman with the staff and shield, who was now approaching them. "She's the one who took…" He trailed off as he saw Vincent following behind her. "…Mr. Van Ghoul?"
"…And he's not alone…" Daphne said, going red with embarrassment to see two other familiar faces with Vincent.
"It's Mr. Voudini and Mr. Kreepoff," Scrappy realized, the fight going out of him and being replaced by utter confusion. They'd met Boris back in December, of course, during their run-in with Zimbulu at his studio, and they'd met Voudini nearly a year ago in New Orleans during the whole fiasco with Nekara.
"You know, the fiasco that have Nekara being Mrs. Van Ghoul. So Vincent and Boris are wondering how the gang got to the temple, since there's a barrier around it, and Scooby threw Shaggy under the bus. Shaggy reveals that he saw the whole encounter between Vincent and the mysterious woman and believes she might be the 13th ghost." Mew said.
"Shaggy, no!" Vincent said, looking absolutely embarrassed now.
"I would advise you strongly to take that last statement back—or else," Boris warned, as he and Voudini cast nervous glances at the woman.
"Huh?" the beatnik blinked.
"Shaggy, apologize to her at once!" Vincent said, urgently, and without waiting, he turned to the woman. "My Lady, please forgive him; he has no way of knowing—"
"I understand," she said, with a serene look, and she turned to Shaggy. "You may put your mind at ease, Norville. I am not a ghost nor a demon."
"Oh, well that's… How did you know my real name?"
"She is Pallas Athena!" Vincent informed him.
"You mean, the Greek goddess of wisdom and light?" Daphne exclaimed. Suddenly, she felt very awkward, realizing that she was standing before a goddess in just pajamas and a robe—and her hair and makeup undone.
"Oh no, not Athena! She's the one who tries to gain the power of Hope in Gods of War 3!" Mew exclaimed, as Athena's ghost appeared in front of him, causing him to scream.
"The power of Mew compels you!" Mew exclaims, throwing a ball of psychic energy at Athena's ghost...only for it to go through her.
"I forgot! Only Dark and Ghost-Type moves affect Ghost-Type Pokemon! I can't win!" Mew shouted.
"I'll help you. For a price." Hoopa's voice said as he appeared next to Mew via his hoops.
"I'll do anything!" Mew said, desperate.
"Review my movie." Hoopa said.
"No. I'll rather get caught by a Trainer than do that." Mew said.
"That'll be if you survive Athena's ghost." Hoopa said with a smirk.
"Oh, Marowaks, I'm gonna regret this. Fine, I'll do it!" Mew said.
"Glad you accept!" Hoopa said, sending Athena through a random hoop.
"Where did you send her?" Mew asked.
"Don't know, don't care. See ya when you review my movie!" Hoopa said, leaving.
"Dear me, I hope this doesn't come back to bite me in the tail." Mew muttered to himself.
"Anyways, the Athena that showed up just now is not the Athena from this story. That Athena is actually nice. And after the gang realizes they messed up their first impressions, they apologize for intruding and say they thought Vincent was in trouble, which she says she can't fault them on that and tells Vincent that he's lucky and allows the gang to attend the meeting which happens in the next chapter." Mew said.
Notes: The Mask of Medusa mentioned in this chapter is from The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries episode "The Stoney Glare Stare" (and if you're at all familiar with the episode, you'll know exactly why Scooby is upset at the mention of it; for those who don't know, the answer will be revealed in a future chapter). According to legend, Medusa had two older sisters, so it makes sense that they would have masks, as well.
"Now, I have never watched the episode in question. But it's nice to see that she's not only putting in something in this hypothetical second season for those who did watch it, but she's also planning on explaining it to those who haven't later on. That's good writing right there!" Mew said with excitement.
"Now, I won't spoil the chapter, because you should read this story, but here is what the chapter reveals. Vincent's ancestor made a deal with Athena, but didn't honor his end of it, so Vincent took it upon himself to honor the deal despite Athena thinking he shouldn't have to.
"Boris and Voudini also give their help to Athena due to owing Vincent a debt. In Boris's case, due to trying to use the Chest of Demons to increase his powers only to realize the consequences of his actions and in Voudinin's case, it's due to losing his power to Nekara and Vincent giving him some of his power. However, Athena gives Voudini back his power right at that moment, so he just promises his service to her in return.
"The gang asked if they have to promise their service too, but Athena smiles and tells them that they don't need to be a part of this discussion, it's just for their benefit to understand what Vincent is doing. If they do decide to promise their service, they have to take it up with Vincent, not her, though Vincent says they can discuss that later." Mew said.
"Wow, this version of Athena is actually nice. Normally when we get Athena, she's usually wise but brags about it or she's kind of a jerk about it. But this...this Athena actually cares about everyone. I don't care if the gods are gonna argue, saying they shouldn't interact with mortals, we need more gods like this version of Athena!" Mew declare, before remembering what he was doing.
"So, Athena sends Boris and Voudini to the Labyrinth to clear it of any monsters while Vincent's task is to deal with Gorgons. Mainly the masks of the Gorgons." Mew said.
"You know, of course, that there were three Gorgons—the mortal Medusa, and her immortal elder sisters, Stheno and Euryale. All three of these sisters had a mask depicting their terrifying visages—masks, like the three of them, which could be used to petrify one's enemies—"
"Forgive me for interrupting," Daphne said. "But are you possibly referring to the Mask of Medusa?"
"That is one of the three, yes," Athena replied. "Do you know of it?"
"Know of it? Zoinks, like all too well!" Shaggy exclaimed, as Scooby moaned and nodded in agreement.
"We had to fight some nasty meanies who were after that mask!" Scrappy added.
"When was this?" Flim-Flam asked.
Even Vincent seemed surprised by this revelation, glancing at the gang with an arched eyebrow.
"About a year before we met you," Daphne said. "I was covering a story about the international criminal, Thaddeus Blimp… Well, I guess that part doesn't matter, but after we found out that he was after the Mask of Medusa and wanted to use it, we scrambled to try to find it before he did."
"See, Warner Bros.? These characters can have jobs. Anyways, Vincent asked where the masks are, and Shaggy said they turned the mask over to the Greek authorities back then, and Daphne adds that they wanted to make sure the mask stays in proper hands since if activated, even by accident, the power could be devastating. Vincent says it's a start, but notices Scooby looks upset for some reason.
"But before he could ask about it, Athena reminds everyone that Medusa's sisters are immortal, which makes the gang wonder about how they are supposed to stop them." Mew said.
"Huh?" Daphne asked in surprise. "But if they're supposed to be immortal, then how can we stop them?"
"Yeah—if we splatted them, they'd just get right back up again," Scrappy mused aloud. "But there must be something we can do…"
"I am sure Lady Pallas intends that I am to use whatever means necessary to stop them," Vincent said. He paused for a moment, as though steeling his resolve. "And I shall see the task through."
"…Oh boy…" Shaggy gulped.
"Hey, don't sweat it, Shaggy!" Flim-Flam chirruped. "I'm sure that between the six of us, we'll come up with a brilliant plan on how to stop 'em, no problem!"
"Let me rephrase my last statement," Vincent said, a noticeable edge to his voice now. "I shall see the task through—alone."
The others looked at him, stunned.
"…Alone?" Daphne repeated.
"You heard me!" Vincent quipped. "Dealing with a threat such as Gorgons requires a plan with extreme precision—the last thing I need is the five of you getting underfoot and complicating everything!"
"Holy Feebas! Vincent isn't holding back! He's being cold towards the gang, surprising everyone in the room. And when the gang try to protest, saying that their experiences with the 12 ghosts should be enough to help Vincent, he coldly counters them, causing Scrappy's ears to droop. That's how bad his cold attitude is." Mew said.
"As for the final escaped ghost," Vincent continued. "Until he shows himself, there's nothing to be done about him—meaning that I have no further need for you five until then, and you have no further need to abandon the lives you left behind. You're going back to the United States at once, and if and when the final ghost shows himself, I will contact you. And as for you…" He rounded on Flim-Flam. "You can decide whether or not you'll go with them, or return to the village in Tibet—you have fifteen minutes to decide."
"Vince…!" The Tibetan boy looked as though he'd been gutted.
"Mr. Van Ghoul, please reconsider!" Daphne pleaded. "Don't do this to us! Even if we've never dealt with the likes of Gorgons before, we have, at least, handled one of their masks! We could help with that—!"
"Enough!" Vincent ordered. "I need to speak with Lady Pallas privately—as I said, you have fifteen minutes."
"Even Athena thinks this is harsh, but Vincent believes it needs to be done because he believes it would be a disaster to have some sentimental ties to the gang. However, Athena believes that the separation itself would be a disaster to the gang and even to Vincent." Mew said.
She glanced pointedly at the gang, and Vincent followed her gaze; Scooby and Scrappy still had their ears drooped (though Scooby had been upset ever since the masks had been mentioned), Flim-Flam was uncharacteristically subdued, Shaggy looked both hurt and confused, and Daphne just looked blankly at the table as Voudini spoke to them, with Boris right behind him.
Vincent now looked away.
"It has to be done, My Lady. Allowing any room for discussion—allowing them to beg me to change my mind, or allowing for any sort of drawn-out goodbye—and I might not be able to see it through. Already, I can feel my resolve weakening."
"Now, this does sort of explain why Vincent is acting cold towards the gang. He is trying to keep his mind focused so he won't make any mistakes that would doom the world, and even though he doesn't admit it, he wants to make sure the gang are safe, which they won't be if they join him on this task. Even if as Athena says, it's a bit harsh. There are two sides to every coin." Mew mused.
"As the gang talked about how it's not right that Vincent is forcing them to go back to America, Voudini tries to get them to see from Vincent's point of view, since Nekara nearly succeeded with her plans. However, Boris decides to explain why Vincent is cold and distant to others." Mew said.
"There's another reason why Vincent is pushing you away," Boris informed them. "It's the same reason why he pushed Voudini and myself away centuries ago, despite the three of us being inseparable during our school days. After our graduation in the year of 36, we traveled together for quite a long while, and even then, Vincent's powers had no equal, but there were many other magicians who had to test that out for themselves."
"We'd been camped on a mountainside in a faraway dimension," Voudini recalled. "We were then attacked by an enemy warlock who claimed to be the most powerful mage in that dimension—he had sensed Vincent's great power and had felt that his own power had been threatened, especially since Vincent was so young at the time. And so, this warlock attacked us, completely out of the blue."
"Naturally, Vincent did not take too kindly to being ambushed in such a manner," Boris continued. "Rather than draw out the duel with our attacker, Vincent decided to cast the most powerful spell he knew to teach him a lesson—Ultima."
"Did it work?" Flim-Flam asked.
"Too well," Voudini sighed. "Vincent defeated the enemy warlock—who just barely managed to survive and was wise enough to flee. But he also vaporized a giant hole in the mountaintop in the process."
"Zoinks…!" Shaggy exclaimed.
"The three of us were banished from the land by the king after that incident," Boris added. "We made it back to our dimension—but something had changed in Vincent that day. He became much more distant towards the two of us after that."
"We had been in blast radius, after all," Voudini said. "We managed to teleport in the nick of time, but Vincent had been horrified at the thought of us being collateral damage. Vincent became a lot more withdrawn after that, and he tried to avoid using offensive spells from that day forward."
"So that's why he usually just sticks to teleporting," Scrappy realized. "Gee, I never stopped to think about why he did that…"
"His great power is a gift—and a curse," Voudini agreed. "Even simple spells end up being more powerful than he intends. And the nature of the tasks that Lady Pallas is assigning us requires that we use offensive magic. And you, being mortals with no magical abilities, would not be able to teleport as Boris and I were able to."
"…You mean…?" Daphne began.
"He may be worried about the Gorgons harming you," Boris agreed. "But he's also equally worried, if not moreso, about unintentionally hurting you with his magic."
"...Holy Zapdos, no wonder Vincent is trying to get the gang to leave. If he didn't try this approach, they would be chasing after him right to their early deaths and he would blame himself for their actions!" Mew exclaimed, shocked about the reveal.
"So after that reveal, Vincent and Athena return to the gang, Boris and Voudini. Vincent asked Flim-Flam about his decision, and the latter decides to stick with the gang, making a barb about the gang is supposed to stick together, but Vincent ignores the barb.
"Daphne tries to reason with him, only for him to bring up the fact that they never told Fred or Velma about the 13 Ghosts, winning his argument and getting Daphne pissed at him. Vincent, you brought the wrath of Daphne O'Neil on yourself." Mew said.
"Before Vincent sends the gang away via the crystal ball, Scooby tells Vincent to be careful, which brings us to this," Mew said.
Vincent still hadn't figured out why Scooby had been so subdued and upset since the mention of the Gorgons' masks, and if he hadn't been trying to seem cold, he would've inquired as to the reason for Scooby's distress. As it was, he would have to let them cheer Scooby up without him.
"And this proves that Vincent is at least regretting his decision, but he forced himself to go down this road because he already made the hard decisions. So he sends the gang away and then gets mad at Boris and Voudini for telling the gang about the duel." Mew said, drinking an Apricot Juice.
"You should have told them—about the duel, and about how Mortifer's death still weighs on you, even after all this time!" Voudini countered, taking Vincent by surprise. "After everything those youngsters have done for you, you owed them a proper explanation and a proper goodbye—they didn't even deserve to be sent back! But after the way you just treated them, I'm amazed they still wanted to stay!"
Mew did a spit take. "Wait, what? Did she just kill off Mortifer, someone who was a villain in the 13 Curses of Scooby-Doo? No, I must be dreaming. And to prove that, I'm gonna drink this Apricot Juice and eat this Oran Berry." Mew said, doing just that.
"You should have told them—about the duel, and about how Mortifer's death still weighs on you, even after all this time!" Voudini countered, taking Vincent by surprise.
"Holy Creation Trio, she did! Crystal Rose of Pollux actually killed Mortifer, and kept him dead! And this is a good thing, given what Warner Bros. did to him, this is much kinder. I wonder what happened that caused Vincent to act this way, anyways." Mew said, only to see a link for The People on the Edge of the Night on a Post-It note on the back of the letter.
"Hmm, let's see what this is about." Mew said, typing the link in with his stubby arms.
One read through later.
Mew was sniffling, trying not to cry. "No wonder Vincent is the way he is. Why can't we have more stuff about Vincent's backstory? And the gang giving up so much just to keep their missions a secret from those who aren't prepared to handle it." Mew said, before wiping his tears.
"Nope. I can shed tears after this review is done. So Boris and Voudini try to get Vincent to reconsider by telling him that the gang, specifically Daphne, will resent him, but he tells them the two that at least the gang will be alive to do that, and anyways, Daphne will get over it.
However, when Voudini tries to remind Vincent of what happened in New Orleans, Vincent reveals that when Nekara tried to convince him to use his magic to get rid of the gang, it took all of his willpower just to resist that and brings the conservation to a close by reminding the two about their task once Boris reminded Vincent about the gang breaching the barrier somehow." Mew said somberly.
"Then, as Vincent prepares to leave to do his task, Athena points out the same thing and tells Vincent to consider it. He's not sure what she means, so he returns to his study and leaves the crystal ball, sure they'll try to get his location again. He then sees the broken saucer and the food left on the ground, which was from Shaggy raising the alarm. Vincent tries to push the sentimental thought of the gang being concerned for him out of his head, even when he regrets his actions. Man, this is deep. Wonder what the gang's up to." Mew wondered.
It had been a while since Daphne had found herself back in the house she owned (well, technically owned by her parents, as their names were on the deed, as well). It had been her home base when she had started her journalism career, and it had continued to be for the start of their quest to recapture the 13 ghosts, at least until Vincent had allowed them to stay at his castle. Of course, Vincent had insisted that was over now—as if to cement that fact, not only had they been teleported back to her living room, but all of their bag and baggage that they'd been keeping at the castle had been transported here, as well.
"…He really kicked us out," Flim-Flam said, his voice a little shaky. "I didn't actually think he'd really do it, but he did. Before you guys showed up, he kept saying he'd send me off somewhere if I 'didn't stop pestering' him, but he never did."
"Probably because he didn't want to send you away without having someone there to look after you," Daphne said. She glanced at the armchair in the living room; during the times when Vincent had stayed here, he had more or less claimed it for himself.
"Gee, I miss him already," Scrappy sighed.
"Like, we all do," Shaggy added.
"Rou think he's gonna be rhokay?" Scooby asked.
"Oh, he'll be okay," Daphne said; now it was her turn to have an edge to her voice. "He's the most powerful warlock in the world—why wouldn't he be okay!? Just because we've had to bail him out of trouble before, twice, why wouldn't he be okay!?"
She frowned. She was still hurt, but, more than that, she was still furious with him for bringing up Fred and Velma in that way…
…Even if it was true.
"Well, it seems like Daphne is still mad. Boris was right. And if that isn't enough, Shaggy asks Daphne if she's okay, to which she responds." Mew said.
"What Vincent said about us keeping Fred and Velma out of the loop—it's not at all like what he just did to us, right!?" she returned. "We begged him to let us stay, and he just pushed us away—but Fred and Velma never begged us. We just… didn't tell them. But if they had found out somehow and begged to help… we'd have let them, wouldn't we? Because at the end of the day, we're a team, right?"
Shaggy exchanged glances with Scooby and Scrappy.
"…I don't really know," Shaggy admitted. "We never really brought it up in discussions. Look, we're all on edge here—why don't I order some pizzas for us? We'll eat, we'll calm down, and maybe figure out what to do next—always works for me."
"…Right…" Daphne sighed. "Scrappy, why don't you and Flim-Flam see if there are any snacks that haven't expired?"
"Sure!" the puppy exclaimed, cheering up slightly. "C'mon, Flim!"
"You know, I got something for this." Mew said, pulling out a random scene from Atop the Fourth Wall and pinned it next to him via psychic powers.
"We should do something."
"Should we do something?"
"We should do something."
"Should we do something?"
We should d-"
"Okay, the joke is getting a bit out of control. I only meant to use it once." Mew said, sending it away.
"Anyways, Daphne realizes Scooby isn't interested in food." Mew said before gasping. "It's the apocalypse! Tepigs are learning how to fly, Giratina and Cyrus are skating around the Distortion World and I'm pretty sure if there's a Legendary Pokemon that is a monkey, it would be raising a human!"
"Scooby?" she asked.
"Rhi don't want Mr. Van Ghoul to become a statue again," Scooby whimpered.
"Well, he almost did—but you saved him before he actually did, remember? Just like you saved all of us from the Mask of Medusa."
"But Rhi caused it!" Scooby howled. "Rhi activated the mask and opened the Chest! And Rankor and Nekara got Mr. Van Ghoul! Maybe… Maybe rhat's why he sent us away—so Rhi wouldn't mess things up again!"
So that was it—guilt, and lots of it.
"Holy Kyogre. Crystal Rose remembers something that Warner Bros. forgot these days. Scooby has a lot of guilt from opening the Chest of Demons and the Mask of Medusa incident the year prior. And then after Shaggy orders the pizzas, he and Daphne comforts Scooby." Mew said.
"Scoob, ol' buddy, don't be so hard on yourself," he said. "You didn't mean for any of those things to happen."
"That's right—they were all just accidents," Daphne said. "And Mr. Van Ghoul knows that—well, about Rankor and Nekara anyway. And anyway, look who you're talking to—old 'Danger-Prone Daphne,' remember?"
"And like, I opened the Chest along with you," Shaggy reminded him. "So, if anything, he should've been mad at me, too." He sighed. "…Well, when this whole thing started, he was mad at the both of us, wasn't he? Man, when he was snarling at us back there at the temple, it was like nothing had changed. Do you really think what Mr. Voudini said was true—that he was only acting like that to make it easier for him to send us back?"
"I know it's true," Daphne said. "But it some ways, that almost makes it worse—he must've known how we'd feel about it and how hurt we'd be, but he'd just get to pretend that he didn't care…" She frowned again. "And then he just had to bring up Fred and Velma! He knew how guilty I felt about lying to them…!" Even if she knew why he'd said that, she couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed, especially since that was something she had confessed in a private conversation with the warlock. Maybe that was why she was so upset with him—not because he had made such a good point, but because it was something that she had taken him into her confidence with.
"For those who never read the one-shot, The People on the Edge of the Night, read it. It explains the reason why Fred and Velma are kept out of the loop or even explains why Daphne is mad at Vincent right now. Also, there's a minor error. Crystal Rose should've written 'But in some ways,', not 'But it some ways,' but like I said, it's a minor error." Mew explains.
"Anyways, Shaggy and Scooby notice Daphne's expression and try to talk to her about it, only for her to claim she's fine. Shaggy, though concerned for Daphne, decides to drop it. However, none of them realize they are being watched by Bogel and Weerd, who decides to try and use the gang's negative emotions towards Vincent to convince them to switch sides and if not, to at least hand over the Chest of Demons." Mew said.
"However, the gang remember the first time they had their radio on in Vincent's castle while eating the pizzas." Mew added.
Daphne found herself slightly distracted by the music after a while.
"Something on your mind, Daphne?" Scrappy asked.
"I was just remembering the first time we had the radio going off in the castle," she said, with a wan smile.
"Zoinks, how could anyone forget that?" Shaggy replied. "Especially with Mr. Van Ghoul running in, exclaiming 'What in the name of Pan is that din!?'"
"Well, you were the one who answered, 'the Top 40,'" Daphne teased. "He actually didn't know how to reply to that one!"
Even Scooby giggled at that.
"However, the good memories end once they start wondering how Vincent is doing with his task, which Daphne points out that Vincent would do it the logical way and that logic is all that matters to Vincent. When Scooby starts to get concerned for Daphne, she assures him, and everyone else, that she's fine and volunteers to do dishwashing duty. Since Scooby and Shaggy are still eating, she takes her, Flim-Flam and Scrappy's plate to the kitchen, where she loads them in the dishwasher. And then Bogel and Weerd make their move." Mew said as a microphone lowered itself next to his face.
She turned and gasped as she found Bogel and Weerd in her kitchen.
"What are you doing here!?" she demanded.
"We come in peace, O Mortal Who Has Been so Grievously Wronged!" Bogel exclaimed.
"Yes, we're here to provide comforting shoulders to you and your companions after the horrible way you were treated by that nasty warlock," Weerd agreed.
"…Oh, really?" Daphne asked, folding her arms. "I didn't realize word got around so quickly."
"Oh, when it comes to treachery and betrayal, we are there!" Weerd boasted.
"Yeah, we're experts!" Bogel added, prompting Weerd to give him a look.
"Well, thanks, but no thanks—I think my friends and I can cope with our situation just fine," Daphne said.
"And Danger Prone Daphne brushes off Bogel and Weerd attempts of 'sympathy', but they won't back down that easily!" Mew said, dressed like a sports announcer and speaking out of the microphone.
"Cope? Cope?" Weerd repeated. "Bogel, did you hear this poor child? She wants to cope—after everything that old ingrate put her through!"
"Oh, she is so blinded in her faith despite how she and her friends were cast aside like old shoes!" Bogel bemoaned. "Oh, it's enough to make a grown ghost cry!"
"Stiff upper, My Friend, stiff upper," Weerd said, placing a hand on Bogel's shoulder. "There's every chance we can make her see the light!"
Daphne stared at them, unimpressed.
"Is there a point to this routine…?"
"A point? Absolutely, there is a point!" Weerd explained. "You've spent over a year doing whatever Van Ghoul told you to do—and for what? Nothing. Nada. Just some emotional manipulation, complete with him throwing your own words back at you—words you had told him under the understanding of utter secrecy."
"You don't have to tell me that," she frowned.
"And Bogel and Weerd are losing ground. They're gonna have to come up with something to convince Daphne and the gang to give in to the hate." Mew continued.
"How, pray tell, does that make you feel?" Bogel queried.
"Hurt," she admitted.
"Hurt, yes," Weerd sighed. "But perhaps angry, too?"
"Well…"
"Perhaps even… a bit vengeful?"
"…What…?" Daphne asked.
"And they managed to break through her defenses to give her a dangerous vocabulary lesson!" Mew said, before taking off the sports announcer clothes and pushing the microphone away.
"We make it no secret that we despise the man," Weerd said. "Why do you think we were trying to help Nekara get rid of him? Or pulling a last-minute switch to ensure that Rankor's curse would finish him off? We knew this would happen to you kids—we were just trying to spare you! You know what the word 'warlock' means? It's from the antiquated phrase wærloga—and that means 'Oathbreaker.' And if that ain't exactly what he did to you by twisting those words you trusted him with, then I don't know what is."
"Now that you have seen what it is like on Van Ghoul's side," Bogel said, shaking his head in pity. "You should realize that no matter what you do, it will never be good enough for him. The way he just threw you aside like yesterday's news? That's all you're ever going to get from him—and that is on a good day."
"My associate is right," Weerd said. "You don't owe that old geezer anything after how he treated you. He broke your trust in him first. Now, if you and your friends came over to our side, not only would we appreciate you, we won't leave you high and dry, either. I bet you could even gain the favor of the 12 ghosts you captured—once they see that you were led astray by Van Ghoul, they'll welcome you, too."
"And this is why, kids, vocabulary words are deadly. Use caution when using them." Mew said, before throwing away a random dictionary.
"However, Bogel and Weerd forget they're talking to Daphne, who proceeds to rip into them. Figuratively, of course. However, one cannot be too careful." Mew said, putting on some protective gear.
Daphne's gobsmacked stare now changed to a look of absolute fury.
"How dare you!?" she fumed. "Even though I am hurt by what Vincent said and did, that doesn't mean I would ever betray him—and certainly never put him in any danger!" She started grabbing things from her pockets and hurled them at the two ghosts; the items phased right through them, but they were still highly alarmed by her reaction. "If I ever see you here again, the only thing you'll see of the Chest of Demons is the inside of it! Now get out of my house—get out!"
Mew took off his helmet, slowly, after being blown back by the scene. "And this is why I don't date yet. Sometimes, this happens to me." Mew said in a trembling voice before taking off the gear.
"Bogel and Weerd, realizing how doomed they are if they continue pushing Daphne's rage button, decide to leave just as the rest of the gang runs into the kitchen. Good decision, Bogel and Weerd. Who knows what might happen if you continue pushing Daphne's buttons?" Mew wondered, horrified with the answer.
"Mew, are you alright, man?" Regice asked, having just climbed up the tree.
"Yeah, just experience the rage of Daphne O'Neil." Mew said.
"The protective gear worked?" Regice asked.
"Yep." Mew said.
"Good. Then I'll get back to chilling and patrolling the inner tree. Till next time, Mew." Regice said as he hopped down to the middle of the rock formation.
"Anyways, the gang asked Daphne if she's alright and when she begins to explain what they were trying to do, she sees the thing she threw at them: an amulet Vincent gave her to help the gang deal with the Reflector Spector. Shaggy reasons that if Vincent didn't care for them, he wouldn't give them the amulet, and that was when the latter was starting to be not mad at the gang.
"With that, Daphne decides that they need to go after Vincent, not because she is over her anger towards him, but due to him owing them one more chance. She even points out that if they do nothing, there will be two things: A.) Vincent has failed his mission, or B.) he succeeds and Athena gives him another. Either way, the gang won't be able to see him again." Mew said.
"However, when Shaggy tries to point out that they don't know where the mask is, Daphne reminds him that they know who does; Anna, a character from the episode featuring the Mask of Medusa. I mean, given that Anna seems to know about it, that means she was in the episode." Mew mused.
"And no, this Anna is not a Disney Princess. That Anna is from Norway. This Anna is in Athens." Mew added, stopping any comments that was about to make that joke.
"Of course!" Scrappy exclaimed. "The Greek Intelligence agent we gave the Mask to! Even if she doesn't know herself, she knows who to ask to find out!"
"I get it!" Flim-Flam exclaimed. "If we get the mask before Vince, that'll prove to him that we're worth having around!"
"Exactly," Daphne said. She looked around at her friends. "This could get dangerous, though… especially if we do end up following Mr. Van Ghoul right to the Gorgons. Whoever's going, it's going to be on a fully volunteer basis."
"And so with that, the gang agrees to go to Athens. Which they do, in their private plane and meet up with Anna in her office, where they give her the rundown on why they need it. However, despite knowing they're telling the truth, she can't give them the mask. Luckily for the gang, though, she does tell them she can take them to where it is stored and she'll look the other way while they take the mask. After that, they are on their own, which they believe is fair." Mew said.
"As Anna takes the gang over to where the Mask of Medusa is via her car, she asks them how they crossed paths with Vincent, which Daphne said it's a long story. When Anna asks Daphne is she sure Vincent's intentions are pure, she replies that while his intentions are pure, the way he does them aren't so." Mew said.
Once again, the word Oathbreaker returned to Daphne's consciousness; she hadn't taken Weerd at face value, of course—she had done her research before they'd left for Athens and had been dismayed to find out that the ghost's words had been true about the origin of the word warlock…
"Oh my lords and ladies! Bogel and Weerd manipulated another member of the gang! First, they tricked Scooby and Shaggy into opening the Chest of Demons! Now they got Daphne thinking about oathbreaker and warlocks, causing her to have some doubts about Vincent! Who will they trick next?! Flim-Flam by getting into his head? Scrappy by using his emotions against him? Or Vincent by forcing him to use magic, therefore getting the gang in the crossfire? The possibilities are endless!" Mew exclaimed.
"Anyways, Shaggy managed to convince Anna that Vincent is a good person since he did help them with 12 out of the 13 ghosts, while making sure not to mention anything about the Chest of Demons." Mew said.
"Believe us, Anna," Shaggy said. "Like, our friend has been the one thing keeping most things from going out of control in the past year after… well, after some evil spirits got loose."
Considering Anna had seen the aftermath of Scooby's accidental activation of the Mask, Shaggy decided it was best not to let her know the exact circumstances of what happened with the Chest.
"And you are willing to handle the Mask of Medusa again to help him, knowing what it can do?" Anna asked. She shook her head. "I hope your friend appreciates the trouble you are going through."
"…Well, no—but nobody's perfect," Flim-Flam sighed.
Daphne's expression darkened, but she didn't say anything.
Scooby sighed as they drew closer to the museum; he certainly didn't want to see the Mask of Medusa again, but if it meant a chance to see Vincent again, then he'd put up with it for a little while, at least.
"Luckily for Scoob, but unluckily for him and everyone else at the same time as when they pulled up to the museum, they saw a bunch of police officers and Anna's coworkers surrounding the place. Their suspicions are confirmed after Anna talks with one of the museum workers: Vincent took the Mask of Medusa. Not only that, but he took the mask twenty minutes before the gang and Anna pulled up.
"With that plan down the drain, Daphne asked Anna if she knows anything about the other Gorgons' masks locations, desperate for anything. Anna confirms that she had heard a legend about the masks." Mew said, before clearing his throat.
"To put the legend simply, when Medusa died, her sisters were devastated. Euryale, Medusa's sister, was in grief and her cries of sadness were so heart-breaking that the Cyclops guarding the Mask of Medusa left his cave to comfort her. When she decided to hide, she gave him her mask, the Mask of Euryale, which he gave to one of his brethren in Sicily.
"When the gang believes Vincent went to Sicily to get that mask and decides to head there, Anna tells them about Stheno, Medusa's other sister, was in rage and wants revenge since she believes Athena is the reason Medusa was killed. She attempted to raze Athens, but was thwarted by Athena's forces. So, before she went into hiding, she hid her mask in Athens just to spite Athena and have a Chimera protect her mask, so no one can take the mask or even destroy it." Mew explained before taking a deep breath.
"Greek Mythologies, always a mouthful." Mew muttered to himself before getting back to the review.
"So of course, due to the Mask of Stheno being located in Athens, the gang asked Anna if she believes that Vincent is still in Athens. She tells them if the legend is true, then it is in Athens and tells the gang she hopes they find Vincent and gets the mask without getting injured by the Chimera. With that, she leaves the gang to decide what their next move is." Mew said.
"I don't know if it's worth trying to look for the Mask of Stheno here," she said, after some time. "Vincent probably already knows exactly where in Athens it is, just like he knew where the Mask of Medusa was—he's probably teleported there already. If we want to intercept him, maybe we should just try to head him off in Sicily. He probably knows exactly where in Sicily the Mask of Euryale is, too, but at least we'll have time to look for it in Sicily rather than scramble for the Mask of Stheno here—if we tried that now, it'd be like looking for a needle in a haystack."
"Yeah, I can't imagine he'd stick around—" Shaggy began, but he was cut off by the sound of a tremendous roar echoing from the top of the Acropolis of Athens—followed by a large flare of fire shooting up into the air from the Acropolis. "Zoinks!"
"Rhat was that!?" Scooby yelped.
"Like Scooby said! What was that?!" Mew asked, shaking in fear.
"…Offhand, I'd say that's our needle in the haystack," Flim-Flam said, a look of alarm on his face.
"…Anna did say that the Chimera was a big meanie that can breathe fire, didn't she…?" Scrappy added.
Daphne didn't need to think any longer on it.
"Come on!" she ordered, running towards the Acropolis.
"Meanwhile, we cut to Vincent's point of view, showing that despite how much he tries to tell himself that he did what was necessary to protect the gang, he is regretting his actions. We even get to see how he was spotted by Anna's coworker: it was because he was thinking about the gang.
"Then we get to see him make careful preparations to get the Mask of Stheno in the tunnels under Athens without the Chimera seeing him. He managed to get the mask, but scraped his elbow on the tunnel walls, causing him to get chased by the Chimera. Luckily, Vincent managed to get back to the surface, escap-" Mew began.
He walked away from the Parthenon ruins, aiming to use the mirror shards to scry the location of the final Mask when he suddenly felt something beneath his feet—and he leaped away only just in time as the Chimera leaped from the underground, sword aimed upwards. The attack had taken Vincent by enough surprise to cause him to drop the Mask of Stheno, which slid along the ground a short distance, and was completely ignored by the angry Chimera, which climbed out of the tunnel and drew itself to its full height—taller even than Vincent himself.
The lion-headed creature looked around, and, spotting Vincent, let out a furious roar and spat a mouthful of flames skyward before charging at him with its four hoofed legs.
Mew screamed, "Get a Trainer to deal with the Chimera!" while flying around in a panic, only to grab a random toy and hold it, immediately calming down.
"Um, pretend you never saw this part and continue on with the review." Mew said in an embarrassed tone.
But Vincent had expected the creature to strike.
"Reflect!"
He had cast the spell (this one taught to him by Pallas Athena herself) when the beast was merely inches from him; it ran headlong into the barrier he had conjured, stunning itself.
Vincent wasn't about to let the Chimera recover; he raised his right hand, aiming directly at its face—
"Diaga!"
A gigantic pulse of light magic emerged from his hand, knocking him back slightly from the recoil, but striking the Chimera directly in the face. He followed up by raising his left hand, as well—
"Darkra!"
This time, a pulse of dark magic struck the Chimera. The beast roared again, blindly swinging the sword it carried; Vincent once again cast Athena's Reflect spell to parry a swing that had gotten too close for comfort.
"Man, why isn't Vincent a main character in Final Fantasy games? I would love to see him beat up some of the more serious threats that could've been prevented!" Mew said.
We see Sephiroth about to fatally stab Aerith.
"Reflect!"
Sephiroth was blown back, defeated.
Suddenly, Ardyn was about to fatally stab Luna.
"Diaga!"
Ardyn blew up.
"The possibilities are endless! However, none of the magic seems to have an effect on the Chimera, due to it using an iron shield, which it used to hit him. Just when he's about to bite it," Mew said.
"Rhook out!"
Vincent had been bracing himself to try to cast a spell that would absorb some of the incoming fire damage, but he suddenly found his attention diverted by 180 pounds of Great Dane slamming into his chest from the side, literally and figuratively bowling him over as the Chimera's flames just barely missed him.
"He gets saved by Scooby! And the rest of the gang shouts at the Chimera, getting its attention and plans on getting it in the Chest of Demons. However, Vincent chides them, saying that it won't work until they get it to stand still and decides to use his magic to do that. I wonder, though, what spell is he planning on us-" Mew began to ask.
"Temporal Chains!" Vincent called.
Chains of green light now wrapped themselves around the Chimera, immobilizing it.
Mew applauded Vincent for the spell. "And this, folks, is why Vincent should be in Final Fantasy as a character. Because he can solve any problems with a wave of his hand." Mew said.
"And so, they put the Chimera in the Chest of Demons, commenting on the fact that it's a good thing that it could hold more than the 13 Ghosts. It's like Pokeballs. The difference is, the beings in the Chest of Demons don't get a right to be free." Mew said.
"However, Scooby got injured during the whole thing, but luckily for him, Vincent healed him. Then, just as Vincent was about to reprimand the gang for coming to Athens and tries to send them back, Daphne interrupts him." Mew said.
He was interrupted as Daphne cleared her throat, and they all turned to her, staring as she stood there, staring back at Vincent while holding up the Mask of Stheno that she had picked up from where he had dropped it after the Chimera had attacked him.
"This time," she finished for him. "Let's talk."
Notes: Anna, like the Mask of Medusa, appeared in "The Stoney Glare Stare" episode of The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries.
As for writing Vincent using offensive magic spells, since we never got to see him use those kinds of spells in the series proper, I based his spell repertoire off of multiple sources, which I would like to properly credit—the Diaga, Darkra, and Esuna spells are from Final Fantasy, Reflect is based off Palutena's Reflect Barrier from Kid Icarus (in fact, it's meant to be the exact same spell—I wrote Pallas Athena in chapter 2 with Palutena in mind, as I try to have all of my fics across multiple fandoms in the same unified timeline, and Palutena is essentially Athena; the idea here was that, as Vincent sought her blessings, she taught him how to use the Reflect Barrier himself), and Temporal Chains is pretty much the Stasis+ rune from Breath of the Wild.
As for the Chest of Demons being able to capture the Chimera, we've seen in the series that it is able to capture more than just the 13 Ghosts, such as in Nekara's episode, where Vincent is able to capture her entire bridal party along with her; the Chest appears to be able to hold numerous evil entities, and not just the 13 Ghosts.
"Holy mother of me, this story just got deep. While we take a commercial break, which Registeel will put on, I'll be doing research on the episode featuring the Mask of Medusa. Maybe then I'll know why Scooby was upset with the talk about the Mask of Medusa." Mew said, doing the research.
"COMMERCIAL!" Registeel shouted, turning on the commercial.
*Cue the instrumental version of the theme song*
This review has been sponsored by Charicific Valley.
"Want to become strong, but can't due to life getting in the way?" A familiar Charizard asked. "Or maybe you're not getting enough challenge from Trainers and Wild Pokemon?"
Suddenly, we get a view of the Charicific Valley. All of the Charizards are seen training, talking amongst each other, and generally enjoying each other's company.
"Then come to Charicific Valley, where you will be put through the training of your life! But it'll be worth it when you become stronger and learn powerful moves! I sure have, and I'm one of the strongest Pokemon my Trainer has! So come over to the Charicific Valley, you won't regret it!" Charizard said.
"Disclosure: Only Charizards are allowed into the Charicific Valley. Any other Pokemon that attempts to enter will be turned away. Don't say we didn't warn you." A random voice adds as the commercial fades to black.
"Wow. Wait, who got Ash's Charizard to do the commercial?" Mew asked.
"I did." Regice said.
"How?" Mew asked.
"I got my ways." Regice said, a bit ominously.
Flashback(A couple weeks ago)
"So, wanna do a commercial for Charicific Valley? It would be a great sponsor for Mew's reviews." Regice said, as he and Charizard were chilling at the center of the Tree of Beginning, which Charizard flew to.
"Sure. I've got nothing to do since Ash is traveling around the world, doing research for Professor Cerise." Charizard said.
"Great. We shall get started on it right now, while we have time to kill." Regice said, as he dragged the shocked Charizard along to the recording area.
Present time
"Wow, I thought something else would have happened, given your tone." Mew said.
"Nope. Now, if you excuse me, I need to make sure the recording area is properly prepared for any other commercials." Regice said as he jumped back down, along with Registeel.
"See. The best bodyguards around. And since I've done the research, and now know why Scooby was upset with the mention of the Mask of Medusa, back to the review!" Mew stated.
This hadn't been the first time that Daphne had taken up this kind of attitude—it had happened once before, a few months back, in the aftermath of their entire struggle with Rankor. It had been so vexing for Vincent; she normally wasn't so argumentative. However, last time, it had been on account of her emotions getting the better of her—perhaps that was the reason for this, as well. Surely, she would calm down and see reason soon enough…
And with that in mind, he walked over to Daphne, his hand outstretched.
"I'll take that mask now," he said, in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.
"And I said we're going to talk," Daphne countered.
Vincent arched an eyebrow.
"Are you insinuating that you won't hand over the mask until I acquiesce to this discussion you are demanding?"
"If you want to call it that," she returned.
"Oh yeah, things got deep. And the gang notices that Daphne is preparing to use the mask as leverage against Vincent and they don't like it. Neither does Vincent as he takes a step towards her, ignoring the gang." Mew said, his eyes wide with anticipation.
"I don't think I care for your attitude, Daphne," he chided.
"Well, I guess that makes things even, doesn't it?" Daphne asked. "I've taken issue with some of the things you've said and done these past 12 hours, after all."
"Everything I said and did was with the sole purpose of keeping the five of you safe!" Vincent insisted. "Now, for the last time, give me the mask!"
"Wow, Vincent managed to match Daphne's wrath. And he didn't need protective gear. However, just as Vincent was about to grab the mask, he noticed that Daphne wasn't making any effort to move it away and look at her eyes. However, he became unnerved by her expression, since she's not defiant like he expected but questioning to see how far he would go to get the mask, which caused him to wonder what caused her to lose her faith in him." Mew said in a somber tone.
"And to make things worse for the poor old warlock, Vincent starts to remember what Boris and Voudini told him right after he sent the gang away, which caused him to believe the bonds he made with the gang had been undone because of his actions. Things can't get any worse for Vincent, can they?" asked Mew, worried about the chains of events.
Vincent was brought back to the present as he realized that the Mask of Stheno was being held right out right in front of him—Daphne'd had a change of heart.
"I'm sorry," she said, softly. "I don't know what came over me—must have been the lack of sleep…"
That wasn't it, Vincent knew; she was hiding the real reason for acting that way. And she was refusing to look him in the eyes as she spoke.
"I still want us to have that talk," she said, still not looking directly at him. "But there's no point in me holding on to this mask. I thought we could prove a point with it, but… now, I don't think it would matter, anyway."
"Oh, Daphne, you clearly let Bogel and Weerd's words get to you. However, that isn't important right now since Vincent comes to a realisation that he'll lose the gang one way or another and decides to talk to them, right then and there." Mew said, beaming with joy.
"…Alright," he sighed, after a long moment. "Let's talk."
"Do you really mean that?" Daphne asked. "Or are we just going to be pointlessly discussing things with someone whose mind is already made up?"
"Of course I really mean that!" Vincent replied, indignantly. The barb stung, but, perhaps he did deserve it…
What was more, she didn't look convinced, but she sat beside the others on the ground in front of the Parthenon.
"Look, Vince, before you say anything," Flim-Flam said. "You just gotta know that all really wanted was to help you out."
"Yeah—just like how you've been helping us out this past year!" Scrappy added. "You didn't have to help us recapture all those ghosties, but you did."
"Even though we know you were, like, furious at us for letting them out in the first place," Shaggy pointed out.
"Rhand we're still sorry about that," Scooby added.
"You don't have to keep apologizing; I know you never intended for it to happen," Vincent acknowledged. "My emotions got the better of me then—just as they did back in Lady Pallas's meeting." He sighed. "Surely, you understand why I said and did those things—why I sent you back?"
"Like, sure—it wasn't you sending us back that got to us," Shaggy said. "Well, at least for me; I actually didn't mind seeing home again… But man, for a while there, we thought you were furious at us again, and we couldn't figure out why!"
"Thankfully, Mr. Voudini and Mr. Kreepoff explained everything to us," Daphne added, a noticeable edge to her voice. "But you could've just told us yourself, you know."
"Yeah, Vince—you had a bad day way back when, you got jumped by some challenger, you blew up a mountaintop… We'd have understood," Flim-Flam said.
"And the thing is, we splatted that Chimera even with you using your powers against it—and you didn't hurt us," Scrappy pointed out. "You even helped Uncle Scooby!"
"Rheah, you did!" Scooby added, looking again at his left arm and marveling how it was as if the burn from the Chimera's fire had never even touched him.
"The spells I used against the Chimera are nowhere near the strength of the spell I used on the mountain that day," Vincent said, bitterly. "I had wanted to avoid any further damage to Lady Pallas's Parthenon. Even then, my spells against the Chimera were stronger than I intended them to be."
"Mr. Voudini mentioned that, too," Daphne said.
"And then, since the gang didn't grasp the implications of Voudini's words, Vincent reveals how powerful his magic is, to the point that the smallest flame to make a campfire to him is a fireball. The gang, excluding Daphne, assures Vincent that they'll take the Tactical Retreat option so he can get a clear shot of any monsters, even if Scrappy and Flim-Flam are not fans of that idea." Mew said.
Vincent just stared at them for a moment.
"…This isn't even your fight!" he reminded them. "You have your whole lives ahead of you; there's no need to throw them all away—and for what!?"
"For you, Vince—you're one of us," Flim-Flam answered.
"I thought we'd established that," Daphne said. She still wasn't looking at him, but it was, at least, a bit of relief to hear her confirm it, given the way she'd been acting.
Still, he was duty-bound not to accept their insistence just yet; Vincent now turned to Shaggy and Scooby.
"I would've thought that you two, at least, would rather have stayed away from any of these monsters," he pointed out.
"Oh, we do," Shaggy assured him, as Scooby nodded in agreement.
"…Well, then?" Vincent prompted.
The two exchanged glances and then shrugged helplessly.
"Rhe've got nothing," Scooby said, with a sheepish grin.
Vincent facepalmed, sighing in exasperation.
"And with the gang winning that argument, Vincent agrees to take them along, but tells them he'll draw the line on them battling the Gorgons since he's been turned to stone and he doesn't want them to experience that. Only for Daphne to burst that bubble." Mew said.
"Some of us already have," Daphne said, quietly. "Shaggy, Scrappy, and me."
Vincent stared at her; she still wasn't looking at him, but she seemed to know that he was looking her way.
"Of course," she added. "If you'd just taken five minutes back at the meeting to ask Scooby why he was so upset when the Masks were first mentioned, you would've found out then."
Scooby whimpered, feeling guilty again, and Shaggy once again drew an arm around him.
"…You never mentioned this before," Vincent said, looking from Scooby to back to Daphne.
"You never asked," Daphne returned. "But I guess there's a lot about each other we don't know—or thought we knew."
"Dang, Daphne's sassiness is worse than that time Mewtwo forgot the lesson he learned at New Island and has to be told the same lesson by Ash Ketchum and that talking Meowth from the Team Rocket Trio. And of course, Vincent notices Daphne's lack of faith towards him and starts to wonder what happened that caused it." Mew said.
"Daphne—"
"We've got work to do," she interrupted. "We know the general idea of where the Mask of Euryale is—it's in Sicily, where the Cyclops colony lives. But where exactly in Sicily that is, we don't know."
Whatever was the issue, they clearly weren't going to discuss it now.
"I haven't had the opportunity to pinpoint the exact location, but I thank you for narrowing down the search," Vincent said. "If you give me the crystal ball, I can find exactly where we need to go."
Flim-Flam pulled the crystal ball from his pocket, but Daphne took it from him before he could give it to Vincent.
"How do we know you won't use it to send us back again?" she challenged.
"I give you my word," he returned. "…I would hope that would be good enough for you."
She didn't reply to that, but she did hand over the crystal, and then walked back to the others.
"This is a warning for all friends and warlocks: don't look up the meaning of warlock! It will ruin your faith in warlocks and potentially ruin friendships! And all warlocks, don't send away people just because you don't want them to be killed! Just allow them to make their decision!" Mew exclaimed, raising the alarms as the Regi Trio added more to the noise and chaos that unfolded.
"Now that I got the necessary panic out of the way, Vincent used the crystal ball to find the location of the mask: in a cave, with a Cyclops. Luckily for them, it's asleep. And due to Scrappy being the smallest and therefore the lightest, they decide to have him get the mask. Mainly because he's their best chance at getting the mask, since he'll be less likely to be noticed. With that agreed upon, Vincent used the crystal ball to send himself and the gang to Sicily." Mew said.
"What could possibly go wrong?" A certain bobcat asked, appearing out of nowhere.
"Stop jinxing everything when they're going fine for the characters, you reject!" Mew shouted, throwing Bubsy far away with his psychic powers.
"Let's just hope he didn't jinx th-" Mew began.
Ahead of Vincent and the gang, however, Bogel and Weerd had already teleported themselves into the Cyclops's cave; having recovered from Daphne's outburst, they had gathered the nerve to follow them to Athens and had witnessed the entire battle against the Chimera and the discussion that had followed—and had overheard the plan to have Scrappy steal the mask from the Cyclops.
"Remind me again, Weerd," Bogel said, casting a nervous glance at the snoring Cyclops. "What are we doing here?"
"A little bit of sabotage," Weerd said, with a smirk. "Even if that redhead gave us a bawling out about what we tried to do, fact is, we still succeeded in planting a little seed of doubt in her mind. And Van Ghoul knows something's up with her, too."
"So?" Bogel asked.
"So, we gotta drive that wedge in further," Weerd said. "If we wake up the Cyclops at the right moment, Van Ghoul will think those dumb mortals did it—he'll think they're just a load instead of actually being able to help him. He'll send 'em back again, and there's no way that redhead will trust him ever again!"
"She still won't give us the Chest," Bogel pointed out.
"At that point, Van Ghoul won't want anything to do with 'em anymore—we can just take the Chest."
"Ohhh…"
"Got it? Now let's get into position…"
"...If that bobcat shows his face around here again, I'm gonna send him to the Distortion World by introducing him to my bodyguards. I'm sure they'll get along just fine." Mew said sarcastically.
"But, we need to see the damage he's done. So Bogel and Weerd hid up in the stalagmites as Vincent and the gang arrived in the cave. Scrappy managed to get the mask from the Cyclops' necklace and jumped into Scooby's arms, just as Bogel and Weerd dumped buckets of water on the Cyclops, waking it up, causing Vincent to freeze." Mew said.
"…Listen…" he whispered.
"…I don't hear anything," Shaggy whispered back, after a moment.
"That's just it—the Cyclops isn't snoring anymore…" Vincent realized aloud. A look of dread crossed his face as he looked up and over his shoulder.
The others looked as well—looking in time to see the giant get to its feet, drawing itself to its full height—the dim light reflecting off of its single, giant eye as it glared down at them.
"We're doomed." Mew said meekly, just moments away from pressing the panic button.
"Run!" Vincent ordered. "Head for the cave's exit—go!"
"Can't you just warp us out of here, Vince!?" Flim-Flam asked, as they took off down the cavern.
"This Cyclops will still be rampaging—there's no telling what it could do!" Vincent returned. "Keep going!"
Scooby was still carrying Scrappy, who looked uncharacteristically embarrassed, thinking something he had done had awakened the Cyclops. But as the two dogs looked back, they were both alarmed to see that Vincent had stopped running, turning to face the giant as it approached, towering over him.
"Mr. Van Ghoul!" Scooby yelped.
"What are you doing!?" Shaggy exclaimed.
The Cyclops made a grab for him, but Vincent dodged the giant hand, and seized his opening—
"Diaga!"
The bright light magic blast struck the Cyclops in its eye, and with a roar of pain, it backed away, covering its eye. But Vincent wasn't finished, casting more light magic spells at the giant relentlessly as the gang continued to watch from over their shoulders as they ran.
The Cyclops was now flailing blindly with its free arm, which Vincent managed to dodge, continuing his counterattack. He had the giant beast on the ropes—but by an unfortunate mix of bad luck and bad timing, though Vincent had dodged yet another attempt by the Cyclops to grab him, the Cyclops's heel had kicked him squarely in the back, sending him crashing into the cavern wall.
"Vincent!" Daphne cried. She had stopped in her tracks—they all had.
"At least Daphne decides to drop the whole 'being pissed at Vincent because he might be a Oathbreaker' attitude she has going on. Also, getting kicked by something bigger than you is nothing you can walk off easily. I should know, it took me a moment to fly back to Mewtwo's stadium." Mew said.
"Luckily for everyone, Vincent had used Reflect to soften the damage. Unluckily for them, the Cyclops got the others' scent and headed towards them. Daphne prepares to sacrifice herself, but fortunately for her, Vincent electrocuted the Cyclops, stopping it from grabbing Daphne. Then, Daphne tells Flim-Flam to hand her the Chest of Demons so that they could capture the Cyclops, which he does, and she managed to capture the Cyclops." Mew said.
"Congratulations, you caught a wild Cyclops. Would you like to nickname the Cyclops you are never gonna let out?" A random voice asked.
"Oh, um, Bob." Mew said.
"Bob the Cyclops is sent into the Chest of Demons." The voice said.
"...What was that about?" Mew asked, wondering about the random voice.
"Anyways, Vincent asks Scooby, Shaggy and Daphne if they're alright since they were right in the range of his Thundera spell, while Flim-Flam and Scrappy managed to get away from it, which they say they are. Then Daphne does the unthinkable: she gazes into Vincent's eyes and thanks him." Mew said as the sound of minds being blown were in the background.
"However, Vincent says that she doesn't have to thank him only to notice Daphne is acting like her hand is still hurting and tries to acknowledge it, only for Daphne to claims she's fine." Mew said.
"I'm fine—I promise," she said again. "I… I guess I understand better now about what you and Mr. Voudini meant about your powers—I think we all do. But are you alright? That Cyclops kicked you into the wall…"
"I'm fine, as well—Lady Pallas's reflect spell has more than just one way to use it," he assured her. "But do you understand now that this is exactly what I was worried about? You are all woefully unprepared for this sort of thing!" Never mind that they had also been woefully unprepared for taking on the 13 Ghosts, as well, but that wasn't going to help his case. "And even though I tried to keep that Cyclops at bay long enough for you to get away, he still got too close to you." He sighed. "In hindsight, I probably should have used Temporal Chains again, but Thundara was the first spell that came to mind, and I knew I had no time to think…"
"Thing is, you wouldn't have had to fight that big meanie if I hadn't woken him up," Scrappy sighed. "I'm sorry—I thought I was being careful…"
"You were careful, Scrappy—you did everything correctly," Vincent assured the pup. "You weren't the one who woke up the Cyclops."
"I wasn't!?" Scrappy asked, surprised.
"But then, who—?" Shaggy began.
Vincent now shushed them all with a finger to his lips, and silently glanced over his shoulder for a moment before suddenly firing another blast of light magic in that direction—
"Diaga!"
The group of stalagmites near where the Cyclops had been sleeping now broke apart, revealing Bogel and Weerd; the two ghosts were clutching at each other, screaming in absolutely fright.
"Wow, Vincent's so perceptive, he not only reminds everyone that Scrappy didn't wake up the Cyclops due to doing everything right, but also knows that Bogel and Weerd were still in the caves. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the true Vincent Van Ghoul." Mew said as the crowd of fans for The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo applauded Vincent.
"And with that, Bogel and Weerd attempted to plead with Vincent, only for Daphne to push past the warlock and tell the two ghosts she thought she told them to them she never wanted to see them again. Only for Bogel to sink him and Weerd by reminding her that she said she never wanted to see them in her house again, and they're not in her house, revealing to Vincent what they did." Mew said.
"They were in your house!?" he asked; the venom audible in his voice suggested that, after he got through with them, there wouldn't be much left for Scrappy to deal with.
"Not for long—they made another try for the Chest, but I made it clear that they weren't welcome," Daphne said.
"W-Well, you can't b-blame us for trying, huh?" Weerd stammered as Vincent drew closer. "And it wasn't as though w-we were just after the Chest, right? A little harmless banter, a little vocabulary lesson…"
Daphne froze, her rage suddenly leaving her.
And this was enough to distract Vincent, who looked back at her in concern.
"Daphne…?"
"And with that, Bogel and Weerd made their escape. However, that's not important as Vincent wonders what Bogel and Weerd said to Daphne that caused her to act a bit off around him, especially since the rest of the gang had their faith in Vincent restored due to him allowing them to help him with the task. But we put that aside due to the fact that all three Gorgons' masks have been collected.
"Vincent tries to tell the gang they should go back now since the Gorgons will be dangerous and his plan involves fighting them blindfolded, but they point out the flaws in that plan: mainly the part about him being blindfolded and the fact the Gorgons are immortal anyways, so Vincent's at a disadvantage. When Shaggy questions why would Athena send Vincent on this task without any backup, Daphne realize Athena's plans." Mew said.
"He wasn't," Daphne said, the realization dawning on her. "Athena knew that we had the Chest of Demons; I think she was expecting us to get involved and help—except we crashed the meeting sooner than she intended, and, eventually, we got sent home."
"Do you honestly think Lady Pallas would expect me to put the lives of five mortals in danger!?" Vincent asked.
Though… she had tried to talk him out of sending them home, hadn't she?
"But do you think that a separation as harsh as this isn't a disaster for them, in another form? …And perhaps, a disaster for you, as well?"
Had that been her way of being subtle?
"However, Vincent still believes it's too dangerous for the gang and tells them that the spells he would have to use on the Gorgons will be more powerful than the ones on the Chimera and the Cyclops. However, Daphne decides that she could distract the Gorgons by pretending to be Medusa, even wearing the Mask of Medusa to protect herself from being turned to stone, while Vincent prepares the spell so that the rest of the gang can send the Gorgons into the Chest of Demons, which Vincent notices that Daphne's plan might be her way of making up for holding him at a arm's length, though he doesn't like the prospect of using her as distraction." Mew said.
"I don't like it," he insisted.
"I know you don't, but this is the way we've always done things—work together, come up with a plan, split up where we need to, and put all the pieces together. And if we have to wing it when things go awry, that's just what we do," Daphne returned. "It worked when the monsters were fake, and it's been working when they were real, too. We recaptured twelve of the escaped ghosts that way—and now these two mythical creatures, too."
"I mean… I guess we have been doing well sticking together…" Shaggy agreed.
"Rheah!" Scooby exclaimed. "Rhe're two for two!"
"Yeah, in spite of all our setbacks," Flim-Flam grinned.
"And even if you did try to splat those Gorgons alone, there's a chance those two ghosts might get in the way and mess things up, like how they woke up the Cyclops," Scrappy pointed out.
Vincent looked away, folding his arms. They all had good points—but he wasn't about to admit that.
"I don't understand you five," he said, at last. "Why do you insist on this when you know how dangerous it is?"
"…You really don't know?" Daphne asked, though she suspected that he knew full well why—and was just stalling at this point. "It's the same reason why you want us out of it. We don't like the idea of you going against the Gorgons any more than you like the idea of us going against them. But, maybe, if we're all in this together, it'll make things a little bit better."
Vincent was now utterly confused—not by her reasoning, but by how her attitude had done a complete 180 turn. Perhaps his hunch was right, and she was now trying to make up for before… But he could still sense an underlying apprehension in her voice as she spoke to him—one that hadn't been there since the beginning of their adventure of the 13 Ghosts.
For now, however, they had work to do—and as much as he hated to admit it, Daphne's plan was, indeed, the one that seemed to have the greatest chance of success.
"Let's discuss the finer details of this plan of yours," he said, at last.
Whatever those ghosts had said to her, he could only hope that she would, in time, move past that.
"And this is why the gang stuck together during the old days. They prove, no matter what, that they would always have each other's back! And Vincent does show once again to agree with one of the gang doing something that is dangerous not because it's safe, but because it's their best chance at succeeding. And now we're on the final chapter of this story, where Daphne puts on her disguise." Mew said.
Daphne glanced at her reflection. She was back in her room in her house, having tried on the Grecian dress (dark purple and red with gold trim—based off of a dress that Medusa had apparently favored in life) that Vincent had conjured up for her disguise; he had also given her a matching hooded cape to go with the ensemble. It wasn't her style at all, but, of course, it wasn't meant to be.
With a sigh, she turned away from the mirror, sitting at her writing desk for a moment. She didn't really want to do this, of course, but after what had happened, she certainly felt as though she owed it to Vincent.
Though she was still upset with him for bringing up what she had said in a private conversation for everyone else to hear, she was also upset at Bogel and Weerd for causing her to doubt Vincent—and upset at herself for falling for it long enough to feel the need to try to test him back at the Acropolis. She hadn't expected Vincent to lose his thunder as quickly as he had upon realizing that something was upsetting her—and that had been what had snapped her out of it, realizing that manipulating Vincent into a conversation by using the Mask of Stheno as a bargaining chip was absolutely uncalled for on her end, in spite of however much he had upset her.
Even after that, of course, she had been sharp with him, and he certainly didn't miss it. And yet, in the heat of the battle against the Cyclops, that had meant nothing to him—Vincent had selflessly put himself between them and the giant monster, and she knew that even if it had been just her and her sharp attitude, he still would have done the same. And that moment of terror when Vincent had been kicked into the cavern wall had been enough to metaphorically shake some sense back into her, even before Bogel and Weerd had been revealed as the troublemakers yet again.
So what if "warlock" meant "Oathbreaker?" That wasn't a reflection on Vincent himself; he was downstairs right this moment, casting protection spells around the house, for their sake—not his.
"And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the true reason vocabulary words so not be taught to kids. It causes people to forget that a word meant to label people doesn't reflect a specific person. Then again, who am I to give that lesson? I never went to school, mainly because there weren't any schools for us Mythical and Legendary Pokemon back then...or even now." Mew added.
"So anyways, while Daphne muses about her looming discussion with Vincent once the whole thing is over, Shaggy starts to feel some guilt for their plan against the Gorgons," said Mew.
"Something about this whole thing makes me feel like a bit of a heel," Shaggy was saying. "Like, I know the Gorgons are evil and we've gotta seal 'em away in the Chest and all… But part of me feels a little guilty that we're going to trick them into thinking they're going to see their little sister again."
"Oh? And what brought this on?" Vincent asked. He was back in the armchair that he had usually claimed on his other visits; having finished casting the protection spells around the house, he was now searching for the Gorgons via the gang's crystal ball, but he had looked up upon hearing Shaggy's comment, genuinely interested in his answer.
"Not much, really—I was just thinking," Shaggy sighed. "I have a little sister of my own—guess I'd know how much Medusa's sisters must miss her. What do you think, Scoob? You've got a little sister, too."
"Yeah—my mom!" Scrappy exclaimed.
"Rheah," Scooby sighed. "Rhi'd miss her, too…"
"Wait, why are you guys making me feel sorry for monsters?" Flim-Flam asked.
"There's nothing wrong with compassion," Vincent assured them. "If anything, I find it a relief that you all think the way you do. You don't want to lose your compassion—and it's an easy thing to do when you're repeatedly facing monsters and other evil forces. I believe it was Nietzsche who said something along those lines—'If thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.'"
"And that's good advice that you don't see brought up often. This is why the gang have always helped out random strangers from 1969 to the 1980s: it's because they still have compassion, regardless of what happened that would make any other person not be compassionate to others." Mew said with a smile.
"That looks cute, Lord Mew!" Regirock shouted from the corner of the room.
"Super cute." Regice adds.
"It beats all of those cat videos on YouTube!" Registeel added on to the previous two statements.
"Wh-Get back to your posts and stop calling me cute!" Mew shouted.
"Yes, Mew! Although you look cute ordering us around." Regirock said as he and the other two left.
"Anyways, Daphne puts on the Mask of Medusa only for one thing to happen: she's gone blind!" Mew exclaimed as all the Pokemon that live in the Tree of Beginning came to the top so they can panic.
"That was my doing, I'm afraid," Vincent said, once again searching in the crystal ball. "I can't run the risk of you making eye contact with either of the other two Gorgons, so I have to make the mask completely opaque."
"False alarm, folks. Get back to your daily lives." Mew said as said Pokemon went back to their areas, grumbling about Mew raising a false alarm.
"They'll get over it. It's not the first time I raised a false alarm by accident...or on purpose." Mew said, with a playful smirk, before shaking his head.
"But we're getting off-track. Daphne tells Vincent that she can't be a convincing Medusa if she falls flat on her face, but Vincent assures her that he knows of the fact, he just wants her to trust him. Which Daphne realises that Vincent hasn't forgotten her lack of faith in him." Mew said.
"I do trust you—I trust you with my life," she insisted. "And I think I speak for all of us when I say that." The others nodded in agreement. "I'm sorry about how I acted back at the Acropolis—I was upset, and I said and did some things more harshly than I should've, but I'm alright now."
Vincent didn't seem to entirely buy it, but he, too, knew they had other things to focus on, and he continued searching for Stheno and Euryale. At last, he succeeded.
"Good news, Vincent realized the reason he couldn't find the two Gorgons was because they've been in a pocket dimension, probably by Athena. Bad news, they've been trying to break out since they've been put in there, which means they have to travel through dimensions, which involves more power. Luckily for everyone, Vincent got everyone covered, and gave the gang a lesson in magical gemstones ." Mew said.
"Practitioners of the magic arts can use gemstones and crystals to channel and augment their power, and they choose a stone that represents what they value most," Vincent explained. "Obviously, one stone can augment their powers to a certain extent—additional stones can augment them significantly; the caveat, of course, is that you must have conviction for what your stone of choice represents. And, obviously, I do."
"And that is Magic 101 with Vincent Van Ghoul." Mew said, as the crowd of fans applauded.
"Vincent then gives Daphne a couple of talismans: one translate Ancient Greek to English for her and anything she says will be translated as Greek for the Gorgons, and the second one aloows her mind to see what is in front of her so she won't fall flat on her face. He even has some for the rest of the gang, and tells them he won't bring them along unless they are blindfolded, which they complied with." Mew said.
They all nodded, and, satisfied, he handed the talismans to Daphne and to the others. Daphne now put the Mask of Medusa on; at first, she couldn't see, but once the talisman activated, she could see everything around her, but all in emerald green—no doubt powered by Vincent's magic.
By using his pendant, Vincent then transported them to the pocket dimension's cavern, behind a large boulder.
"And so, Vincent says that they'll send Daphne first and once the Gorgons are distracted by her, he'll go a bit closer to them and start to cast his spell. Only then will they be able to use the Chest of Demons. He then asks Daphne is she ready for the task," said Mew, sitting on the edge of his seat.
"…No, but I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she admitted. She didn't want to let on how terrified she was; one slight slip-up, and she knew the Gorgons would retaliate without hesitation. "How much time do you need?"
"For the spell I'm going to use? Approximately ten minutes," Vincent said.
"Ten minutes? I'm supposed to convince those two Gorgons that I'm their dead sister for ten minutes? I'll be lucky if I last two!"
"But Daphne, you had lasted longer than that before. Remember the hassle at Drac-no, wait, you didn't actually do anything there. Wait, I know, what about the time you and the gang helped Batman and Robin? Surely you lasted longer than two minutes or even ten." Mew pointed out.
"If I had another alternative, I would," Vincent sighed. "I need a spell strong enough to weaken them, but, at the same time, not cause any of you harm. This Heavenly Light spell will do that—but it needs time to cast. Lady Pallas can cast it instantaneously, but she, of course, is a goddess. My powers may be unrivaled among other mages, but they're hardly divine."
"With that, Daphne begins the plan, calling out the Gorgons by name and pretends to be Medusa. For a while, it works, as Daphne lies about Athena planning to use the Gorgons' masks to turn them to stone, which worries the Gorgons." Mew said.
"It is Athena, isn't it?" Stheno hissed. "She has found out of our attempt to return to the mortal world, hasn't she?"
"…Yes," Daphne said. "That was why I had to send word to you somehow, and this was the only way."
"What are they planning for us if we were to breach to the mortal world?" Euryale asked. "We are immortals—there is little they could to us."
"The Olympians intend to turn you to stone," Daphne lied. "By the use of your own masks!"
"But we Gorgons are immune to our own petrifying gazes. That should be impossible…" Stheno gasped. "…Shouldn't it…?"
"I don't know," Euryale confessed. "The masks were made in our images, but designed such that any could use their power—it is possible they could be turned against us!"
"But our masks are well-guarded," Stheno said.
"I regret to inform you that the Chimera atop the Acropolis and the Cyclops who guarded Euryale's mask and mine have both been vanquished by the followers of Athena," Daphne said. "With the Cyclops gone, there was no one left to guard my mask—my spirit possessed the closest mortal and went to the Cave of the Cyclops to retrieve my mask. By sheer fortune, I had beaten them to it."
"And you risked so much to find your way to us and warn us," Euryale sighed.
"Do you realize what they could have done to your spirit had they found out who you were and what you were up to!?" Stheno chided her.
"I… I'm sorry…" Daphne stammered.
"However, Euryale does thank 'Medusa' for saving their masks, saying if it were them, they would do the same. Curse you Crystal Rose of Pollux, you're making me feel bad for them! Curse you for making me feel some sympathy for them!" Mew declared to the sky.
"And we are more armed now than they expect," Stheno added, gleefully. "They do not know that we have your mask, Medusa! They will come here, seeking to petrify us with our other two masks—but we will have set your mask up as a trap first, to petrify them before they get the chance! Give us your mask, dear sister—together, we can defeat them, and perhaps be in a position to bargain with Hades for the return of your true body!"
"What?! No, no, no! I thought we already dealt with Bubsy jinxing the story!" Mew shouted.
To Daphne's horror, Stheno's hand left her shoulder, now reaching for the mask to remove it, and Daphne felt as though she was petrified already—from fright. But in moments, it would soon be for real—
"Quick, someone do something! Call Superman! Wait, he'll just get turned to stone as well. Call Percy Jackson! Wait, his time as a hero ended as he decided to live a normal life, as normal as a demigod can live life. Vincent, we need you!" Mew shouted.
But before Stheno could remove the mask, suddenly, long swirls of emerald-green magical energy surrounded Daphne, levitating her into the air, out of reach of the two Gorgons. Daphne let out a cry of surprise—completely genuine, for this had most definitely not been part of the plan. What had happened to Vincent's Heavenly Light spell? His concentration had been broken—he would need another ten minutes to prepare the spell, but now that his presence was known…
Daphne's thoughts were jolted as the two Gorgons started trying to reach out to her.
"Medusa—!" they cried out, but they found themselves interrupted as Vincent's deep cackle filled the cavern.
"You fools!" Vincent taunted. "Did you really think that the followers of Lady Pallas did not know what you were doing? When we found the Mask of Medusa missing, we knew it had been claimed by its owner—and so, we followed her, knowing that we would have the chance to dispose of all three Gorgons at once!"
"Spare our sister!" Euryale screamed.
"Do with us as you wish," Stheno agreed. "But spare Medusa!"
"You are in no position to make demands!" Vincent retorted.
With another yelp of surprise, Daphne found herself flying backwards now, only to stop levitating just behind the boulder—and, therefore, falling right into Shaggy and Scooby's arms.
"Vincent Van Ghoul, warlock, mentor, follower of Athena and hero! Vincent decides to screw the original plan by casting Reflect and Protect spells on the gang, and decides to use the spell that Voudini mentioned to the gang." Mew said.
He was cut off as an enormous sphere of magical energy emerged from Vincent's hand—a sphere that struck the two Gorgons and flung them back as the sphere began to rapidly expand and grow in intensity.
Mew was holding on to his chest of toys, which were bolted to the floor, barely hanging on as the impact of the spell was blowing everything away. "Sweet mother of Rayquaza, this is much more powerful than Arceus Judgement attack on his bad days!" Mew exclaimed.
But as the Gorgons were flung to the back of the cavern, the recoil sent Vincent flying in the opposite direction, towards the gang—but he hit his own reflective dome that he had cast around them, falling to the cavern floor in front of the barrier.
"Vince—!" Flim-Flam exclaimed.
"That's gotta hurt! And this is getting tiring." Mew said, before using Barrier, causing a pink bubble to cover him and protect him from being blown away.
"Ah, much better. So, Vincent tells the gang to ignore him and use the Chest of Demons on the Gorgons, which they do, and take off their blindfolds, and in Daphne's case, the mask. However, when they try to pull Vincent into the protective dome, they can't get out to do so, which Vincent says is the point as he takes off his own blindfold. Not only that, but he's too exhausted to make another barrier for himself, meaning he'll get caught in the blast, which the gang refuse to let happen." Mew said.
They were running out of time, and, motivated by sheer desperation, they pushed and shoved against the barrier as Vincent watched his own devastating attack grow closer and closer with each passing moment, resigned to being hoist with his own petard.
And then, he felt hands—and paws—grab his arms.
He looked back, shocked to see that all five of the others had, somehow, managed to phase their arms through the barrier to grab him, and before he could even figure out how that had even been possible, they had pulled him through the barrier, which re-solidified behind them.
He knelt there, stunned for a moment as the white-hot Ultima spell now expanded all around them—but, within the protective dome, they were safe and unscathed. That didn't do anything to quell the fear of his five young companions, however; they were still clinging to his arms—and he was vaguely aware of something sharp gripping his arm, too—either Daphne's nails or Scooby's claws, or probably both, given how they were all trembling. But even that was taking a backseat to his confusion—
"…You shouldn't have been able to do that…" he managed to say. "How did you get through my barrier…?"
The looks they gave him in return were just as baffled—they didn't even know how they'd done it, just like they hadn't known how they'd breached Pallas Athena's barrier to crash the meeting.
But there was more than just confusion in their eyes; that was clearly eclipsed by the worry and concern as they looked at him, the realization sinking in as to how close they'd come to losing him—and some amount of guilt that it had been because he'd prioritized protecting them over himself…
And in that moment, he realized how they'd done it; he'd even said it himself, just before they'd arrived here—that their compassion was a kind of magic that even they, as mortals, could utilize.
"And with that thought, Vincent uses the crystal ball to send everyone, including himself, back to the castle, where Vincent passed out while the gang pleads with him to hold on. And I could get why they would say that. I mean, Vincent got battered badly when Ultima sent him into the barrier. Who knows what damage may have happened? He could've died from that even being a warlock!" Mew stated.
"When Vincent wakes up, he notices Voudini, Boris and Athena are there. Athena says that the gang have given her the three Gorgons' masks and told her that Stheno and Euryale aren't threats anymore, due to being caught by the Chest of Demons." Mew said.
"…You don't seem surprised to see them here, after you all saw me send them back," Vincent realized.
"Not at all," the goddess smiled. "I've seen it before—and I knew you were wise enough to realize yourself what the best decision was. Oh, I have no doubt that you would've found ways to complete my mission without them, but I don't think you would have found them as fulfilling."
"Yes, I… realized that eventually," Vincent admitted.
"Wow, Athena can see into the future. Wonder what else can she do? Oh, and Vincent asks Voudini that if anything happens to him, would Voudini be able to watch over the gang, which Voudini says he would, but he thinks the gang would want Vincent to be alive and well, and seeing him on his feet would take that stress off their shoulders. He even got a mana potion brewed for Vincent after the gang told him everything." Mew said.
"Thank you, my friend," Vincent said, gratefully taking a drink from the goblet. "It wasn't just the overexertion; I don't remember Ultima having that much of a recoil to it—it took me completely by surprise."
"…Of course, you are no longer young," Boris deadpanned.
"…You're one to talk," Vincent countered.
"He isn't entirely wrong, Vincent…" Voudini began.
"And the three start to argue like old friends do, as Athena watches them with amusement. Their argument woke up Scooby, a naturally light sleeper, who wakes up the rest of the gang so they can all ask Vincent how he is doing." Mew said.
"Believe me, I'm in a much better position now than I would've been if you five hadn't intervened," he assured them.
"But you were out cold for such a long time again," Scrappy said.
"From what you had told me, it is to be expected," Voudini replied. "Between dealing with the Chimera and the Cyclops, Vincent had cast several spells already, and Ultima uses up quite a lot of mana—magical stamina—to cast; it's no wonder that Vincent drove himself to exhaustion casting that. Let's see, how can I best describe it…? You, young man, are an athlete, correct?"
"Uh, well I was—back in high school," Shaggy said.
"Then you would understand what would happen if you did a full decathlon—and then ran a four-minute mile on top of that?"
"Like, I'd be bushed for days," Shaggy agreed.
"Vincent just did the magical equivalent of all of that," Voudini said. "Warlocks overexert their mana all the time—but over time, they will recover, and this potion that I've given Vincent will hasten that further. You'll see—he'll be back on his feet in just a few hours, provided you let him rest some more."
"Well, at least they compare running to using magic. And when Flim-Flam asked about the mana transfer back in New Orleans, Voudini answered Flim-Flam's question." Mew said.
"Overexerting mana isn't the same thing as having it stolen," Voudini sighed. "Mana affects the vitality of a magical practitioner. You saw how Vincent overexerting his mana affected his physical condition, as well—to have one's mana outright stolen is a death sentence. Mercifully, Vincent was able to loan me some of his mana until Lady Pallas restored mine—to which I am still eternally grateful for, My Lady."
"Athena praises everyone in the room for completing their tasks and tells them she'll give them time to recover. When Scrappy wonders if the gang will be going to America once she assigns the next missions, Athena tells him that it's not up to her to answer that one, it's Vincent's decision, which caused the gang to turn towards him." Mew said.
"If there's one thing I've learned from all of this, it's that you five are the most stubborn, vexing mortals I have ever met in my life," he said. "But for some reason, I've found that I prefer having you around."
"Rhou mean…?" Scooby asked.
"…Yes," Vincent sighed. "You can stay—as long as you like."
Scrappy and Flim-Flam celebrated with a high-five again, and Shaggy and Scooby sighed contentedly—and Daphne just responded with a smile.
"Thank you for reconsidering," she said.
She was acting so formal again, just as she had when she had thanked him for saving them from the Cyclops. But before Vincent could address it, Shaggy suddenly spoke up.
"Hey!" he exclaimed. "All of our stuff is back at Daphne's place!"
"Vincent must rest," Voudini insisted. "But Boris and I can help you bring whatever you need."
"We can?" Boris asked. He backtracked as Voudini gave him a look. "Er, yes. We can."
"Then it's settled," Athena said, with a contented smile. "I'll talk to you all again sometime."
"And with that, Athena leaves and Voudini tells the gang they could go ahead with Boris while he talks with Vincent. And while Boris heads off with the gang, with the gang listing off the items they wanted, Voudini and Vincent talked about how glad they are that Vincent realized what he was about to toss aside." Mew said.
Voudini then turned back to Vincent.
"I am truly glad, my friend, that you did realize in time what you were about to cast aside."
"So am I," Vincent admitted. "Even if it wasn't for very long, I actually found myself missing them…"
He trailed off, and both he and Voudini looked around as the sound of boosted bass was audible through the walls.
"…It would appear they asked Boris for a hi-fi music system," Voudini observed.
"Can we not have a party to interrupt this moment?!" Mew asked, before thinking for a moment. "You know what? Party away, we all need it after dealing with Gorgons." Mew said before dancing along to the music.
Vincent sighed.
"…I signed up for this, didn't I…?"
"You certainly did," Voudini smirked. He gave Vincent a clap on the shoulder. "Enjoy the experience of fatherhood—but fear not; I shall instruct them to turn that off whilst you rest."
"I appreciate it," Vincent mused, reclining back onto his pillow with a yawn.
"Voudini also tells Vincent that once he and Boris are done helping the gang move into the castle, they're gonna shift through the footage Boris's cameraman took of them in the Labyrinth, since he wants to use that for his show along with Voudini being his special guest. He then tells Vincent he'll be leaving to help out so he doesn't wake up Vincent later and Vincent tells Voudini to take care before falling asleep." Mew said.
Voudini quietly left Vincent's room, closing the door behind him—and then paused in surprise to see Daphne still standing in the hallway, not having gone with the others. She was facepalming—presumably about the others playing that music.
"Miss Blake?"
"Huh? Oh, Mr. Voudini…"
"I would have thought you would be asking Boris to bring your things over?"
"Well, the others have Mr. Kreepoff pretty busy, as you can hear…" she sighed, shaking her head.
Voudini chuckled.
"Yes, perhaps he could use the aid of another warlock in this endeavor…"
Daphne suddenly looked at him.
"Wow. I mean, sure, Voudini and Boris have known Vincent for a long time, but I've never expected this twist of them being warlocks. Especially since Boris was known to use magic in the episode he appeared in, which was the series finale due to the show cancelling. You did your job well, Crystal Rose of Pollux." Mew said.
"Why do you call yourselves that?" she wondered aloud.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Warlock—it's from a word that means 'Oathbreaker,' isn't it?" she asked. "Why would you call yourselves something like that?"
Voudini blinked; he, too, had noticed Daphne's changed behavior, and he was beginning to realize why.
"Miss Blake, I can assure you that the origins of that word have nothing to do with us as individuals," he said. "Boris may have had a moment of weakness—but he has truly regretted it, and is doing his best to make up for it. And as for myself, I would never consider breaking an oath—and Vincent certainly would not!"
"But, then why—?"
"For the greater part of our lives, we were merely known as sorcerers and mages," Voudini said. His expression darkened. "Then came the witch hunts. They branded us as Oathbreakers to justify our persecution, whether or not our intentions of using the magic arts were for good or ill. In defiance, we started calling ourselves Warlocks—to reclaim the branding."
Daphne's mouth fell open.
"I… I completely forgot that the three of you lived through the witch hunts…" she said, stunned. "…Did they come after you three?"
"Oh God, I think we're gonna get into something dark. No, no, no. I wanna pretend things are peachy like the first-just kidding." Mew said, laughing a bit. "This it The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, the darkest series in the Scooby-Doo series. Even the show knows when to keep the comedy to a minimum." Mew said.
"Mainly, the Order of magical people that Vincent and Voudini were a part of were in the line of fire during the witch hunts. Boris wasn't with them because he was hiding at the time. Anyways, Vincent decided to give himself up to save the Order because he already lost someone and he didn't want to lose anyone else, acting as a decoy to lure the witch hunters away from the other warlocks until he couldn't." Mew said.
Daphne stared.
"He did all that…?"
"That's the kind of man he is. He kept it up for a long time… until he could no longer do so." Voudini looked away, upset about something. "I lost track of him around the Black Forest, but from what another member of the Order told me, Vincent was being pursued by the witch hunters, but stopped when he saw a child drowning in a stream. He used his powers to rescue the child, but, in doing so, forfeited his chance of escape." He glanced at Daphne, who had her hand over her mouth in shock. "Exactly what they did to him, I don't know—Vincent has never told anyone, not even me. All I know is that the mother of the child he had saved had enough of a conscience after seeing what he was going through to help him escape. But, between his personal tragedy from before the hunts, and whatever it was he had gone through at his captors' hands, it was more than he could stand—he sealed himself here in this castle, alone, for the greater part of the last three hundred years. Boris and I did what we could, of course, trying to save him from himself. But it wasn't until little Flim-Flam turned up here three years ago that things began to change—he was six years old at the time, a runaway from one of the orphanages on a winter night much like this one… I don't know how that boy got the idea to come here for shelter, but, in doing so, he not only saved himself, but he might have saved Vincent, too. And the rest of you entered the picture a year ago, and helped him even further. I don't think you'll ever fully understand how much you all have helped Vincent—which is why I am relieved to hear that you'll be staying. I humbly request that you and the others continue to look after him. And I know he will do the same for all of you."
"We salute you, Vincent Van Ghoul. We salute you." Mew said, doing a cute salute.
"And then we get to two days later, Daphne is up, thinking about how she had hurt Vincent due to losing faith in him and wondering what did the witch hunters do to him that made him decide to be lonely for 300 years. She then decides to consult her computer to try and sort her thoughts." Mew said.
She pulled up the word processor on her computer, and then pulled up an encyclopedia to help refresh her memory on the origins of the Gorgons. She paused after a moment, recalling something else she had been curious about, and then consulted the encyclopedia, looking up the entry on the emerald, and skipping to the section on its significance.
"'The emerald is believed to have mystic properties that augments clairvoyance,'" she read aloud quietly. "'But the emerald itself, known as the Stone of Successful Love, is said to represent loyalty, compassion, and unconditional love—and its green hue representing its connection to the heart chakra, which also represents compassion and unconditional love.'"
Her guilt returned full force, fully understanding now what Voudini had meant by Vincent not being able to consider breaking an oath—not when he valued that the most. And that meant that spending three hundred years alone must have been sheer torture for him…
Daphne sighed, getting to her feet. This night would call for coffee—and lots of it.
"However, just like Shaggy, Daphne notices that the door to the east wing is open and there are lights. So she decides to check up on Vincent, who questions her about being up in the middle of the night, even when she claims it's for her article. However, when Vincent tells her good luck on her article, she asks him if she can actually come into the room, which he tells her she doesn't need permission and she doesn't need to walk on eggshells around him." Mew said.
"I know—I know," Daphne sighed, sitting at the other side of Vincent's crystal-gazing table. "I just felt so awkward and I didn't know what else to do, so I just… Well, let me start over. Mr. Van Ghoul, I am so sorry for the way I've been acting. I'm sorry I let those two ghosts get to me, I'm so sorry I doubted you, and I'm so sorry about the passive-aggressive way I acted before I realized what I was doing. Once I realized it, I guess I swung back in the opposite direction." She exhaled. "Those two ghosts had tried to get to me by saying that 'warlock' was derived from a word meaning 'Oathbreaker,' and when I looked it up and saw that they were right, I jumped to a terrible conclusion. Mr. Voudini explained it to me, though—about the witch hunters, and…" She trailed off, not wanting to awaken any unpleasant memories. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that."
"…That last one isn't something you have to apologize for," Vincent pointed out.
"I guess not," Daphne mused. "But for everything else, I do apologize."
"And your apology is accepted," Vincent promised her.
"Thank you," Daphne smiled. She then sighed in relief. "Well, I'm glad that's over. I'll just go get that coffee…"
"However, Vincent asks Daphne if he did anything to cause her to lose her faith in him, since even with Bogel and Weerd's vocabulary lesson, it wouldn't have affected her without Vincent doing anything to make her not trust him. Daphne tries to claim it's nothing, but Vincent persists in getting the truth from her, so she tells him it was because he used Fred and Velma in the argument when he sent the gang back to Daphne's place. Again, for more info on that one, read the one shot mentioned earlier." Mew said.
"But that didn't change the fact that it hurt," Vincent realized. "And, indeed, I shouldn't have uttered things that were told to me when I was confided in. Daphne, I am truly sorry."
Daphne blinked.
"…You're apologizing to me? I was the one who acted so childishly about the whole thing afterwards!"
"Not without good reason," Vincent said.
"Well, I accept your apology, too," she said, with a smile. "And I think I owe Shaggy and Scooby an apology of my own. There were times this past year I'd been giving them a bit of a hard time for being tricked by those ghosts into opening the Chest, but… seeing how easily I got tricked by them into thinking I couldn't trust you, of all people… Even if it was only for a short time, after everything you've done for us, I actually doubted…" Her voice cracked and her smile faded as she got to her feet. "I'm going to get that coffee now…"
"Vincent does ask Daphne if she's alright, though, and she said it's been a rough couple of days before hugging Vincent." Mew said as the audience went "Aw!" at the moment.
"And when Vincent says he's not a hugging kind of person, Daphne says that after being lonely for 300 years, she can see why, which Vincent realizes Voudini did told Daphne everything that happened during the witch hunts. Daphne admits that Voudini only told her what he knew due to Vincent never telling anyone what happened." Mew said.
"He's right; I never did," Vincent returned. "And you don't need to hear it with all the things on your mind already."
"I understand," Daphne said. "I'm just glad you're alright—from that, and from all this. I guess that's also why I felt so guilty about doubting you—especially after you kept on sticking your neck out for us after that. You changed the plan just because you saw that Stheno was going to remove the mask I was wearing—and then you used your Reflect spell on us instead of yourself when you cast Ultima."
"It was entirely my choice, and I don't regret any of it—so please don't blame yourself," Vincent said, sincerely. This prompted Daphne to hug him again, leaving him standing there awkwardly once more.
"And then the rest of the gang walked into the room, carrying shortbread and wondering how Vincent is." Mew said.
Daphne smiled and waved them over.
"Bring it in," she said, extending one arm while keeping the other around Vincent.
"What…?" Vincent asked.
"Rheah!" Scooby exclaimed. "Group hug!"
"…What!?" Vincent asked again.
He quickly realized what he was in for as Shaggy once again abandoned his plate of shortbread and they all bounded over; Vincent merely sighed in resignation as he found himself in a tangle of arms.
"…Oh, very well," he relented; he surrendered to the inevitable and drew his arms around them, as well.
None of this had been as Vincent intended—he'd planned for a simple and swift recapturing of the Thirteen Ghosts, upon which Flim-Flam would've returned to the village, the others would've returned Stateside, and that would've been the end of it. But they were, as he'd described earlier, incredibly stubborn and vexing—and they were making it clear, under no uncertain terms, that Vincent's self-imposed exile of the last three hundred years was over and done.
Fine, then—they'd won. They'd beaten the most powerful warlock in the world in a battle of wills without even realizing it.
And Vincent knew he'd be eternally grateful for it.
"Oh joy, that looks like fun! I'm gonna join this hug fest too!" Mew said, teleporting to Vincent's study and joining the hug, with no one questioning why a small floating pink feline was joining their group hug.
Mew then teleported back to the Tree of Beginning. "And that was Mask of the Gorgons. It was great. It did not disappoint and I recommend this for the fans of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby who wants the characters to stay consistent without the executive meddling of Warner Bros." Mew said.
"Um, Lord Mew, I think you should check the author's note at the bottom." Regirock said.
"What?" Mew asked, seeing it.
Notes: And that's the end (well, at least for the first installment in my "13 Ghosts: Season 2" series)! Thanks to everyone who supported this! Just a few acknowledgements here—the Ultima spell that Vincent casts, like some of the previous spells, is from Final Fantasy.
The significance of the emerald representing compassion and loyalty is, in fact, real based on the research I did, and I have to wonder whether the writers and animators of the 13 Ghosts series actually had that in mind when they gave Vincent his emeralds motif in the show, as it fits his personality perfectly.
Lastly, I did leave a bit of a loose end in this fic, as I didn't reveal exactly what had happened to Vincent during the witch hunts that caused him to go into a self-imposed exile for three hundred years; I intend to address that in my next fic—which, given the nature of, will be a bit darker than this fic, and is intended to be more of a character study, not just for Vincent, but the rest of the gang, as well. The fic I have planned after that one will be more light-hearted, but for those of you interested in fics that explore darker, angsty elements, my second installment will begin posting in October.
"Darker than this one? How dark can you go? That's what I wanna know. Anyways, I'm the Critical Mew, and I review these contents so you don't have to." Mew said, flying off to the kingdom of Rota to get some toys from the Cameran Palace.
However, what everyone forgot about was the ring Hoopa used to send the ghost of Athena away was still open. Suddenly, a hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the ring, pulling it through...despite it's impossible for anything, except Hoopa, to do so.
Next time: What's Past is Prologue.
Credits:
Bulbapedia
The Pokemon Movies
The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo
AniMat's Top 10 Best Animated Sequels
Atop the Fourth Wall
God of War 3
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy XV
Scoobypedia
Wikipedia