The Critical Mew

by Daggett19

Inspired by the Nostalgia Critic. Being forced into the reviewing job after getting on Arceus' bad side, the newbie reviewer, the Critical Mew, does reviews on fanfictions, fancomics, television shows, movies, video games and even books. With a fun cast of characters, hilarious guest stars and obstacles to overcome, see the Critical Mew become a experienced critic! Or maybe not.

2. Episode 2: What's Past is Prologue

(A/N: I like to apologize for how the first chapter turned out. Like I said, I'm new to reviewing pieces of works, but I made a lot of mistakes. For example, I made less jokes and gave more of my opinions, which were unbiased. Also, I felt like I used a bit too much dialogue and quotes from the story. I'm fixing those problems with this chapter and everything onwards. With that said, hope you enjoy this episode of The Critical Mew.)

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 2: What's Past is Prologue by: Crystal Rose of Pollux

Tree of Beginning

Mew looked at the sky, smiling at the sun shining down at him.

"Hello, everyone. You're probably wondering why it took me this long to do another review." Mew said, before glancing away.

"Well, long story short, Regirock thought it would be a good idea if I went to a critic class so I would learn something," Mew said.

"You can't deny the fact you needed the class! Your first review wasn't...great," Regirock said, choosing his words carefully.

"Don't remind me," Mew groaned, burying his face in his paws.

"However, he's not wrong. And the past couple of weeks have been interesting." Mew admitted.

Flashback-A couple weeks ago, Critic class

Mew had four computer monitors turned on in front of him, courtesy of the teacher. On the monitors were the Nostalgia Critic, JonTron, The AVGN(Angry Video Game Nerd) and Billiam doing their own reviews.

"Why hasn't anyone talked about these guys much? They're geniuses." Mew said, writing down notes.

Present time

"Anyways, I think I'm more prepared than last time." Mew said, using his psychic powers to turn on the Chromebook he obtained from his travels around the world.

"So, last time, I had talked about Masks of the Gorgons by Crystal Rose of Pollux, where she did Warner Bros. jobs for them and made a second season of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo. Now, you're probably wondering why I mentioned that," Mew said with a bright smile.

"That's because I'm gonna review the second episode she did, What's Past is Prologue!" Mew shouted joyfully as fireworks exploded in the sky behind him.

What's Past is Prologue

By: Crystal Rose of Pollux

[Original 13 Ghosts 'verse, hypothetical "Season 2"] Vincent and the gang find themselves in another dimension, sent there by someone determined to make Vincent face the memories of his past that he'd been trying to forget. As they search for a way back, the gang learns more about what happened to their warlock mentor, and why he had spent the last three hundred years alone.

Rated: Fiction T - English - Friendship/Drama - Shaggy, Daphne, Vincent Van Ghoul, Scooby Doo - Chapters: 12 - Words: 32,993 - Reviews: 20 - Favs: 10 - Follows: 7 - Updated: Oct 30, 2020 - Published: Oct 1, 2020 - Status: Complete - id: 13709689

"What exactly happened to Vincent that made him lonely? Let's find out! This is What's Past is Prologue!" Mew said.

Notes: This is the second installment in my hypothetical "season 2" of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo, basically a continuation of the first season and (mostly) ignoring the Curse movie. This particular installment will be less focused on ghost/monster-hunting, and will be more of a character study, specifically of Vincent Van Ghoul, but also of the gang in relation to their connection with him.

This fic will be exploring a few darker themes, namely the medieval witch hunts and how Vincent's memories of those times will affect the present, as well as how other incidents of his past can affect the present, as well.

"Well, at least we know what we're getting ourselves into," Mew said with a nervous smile, wondering what dark themes were involved beside the ones mentioned.

"Um, anyways, we begin the story a few weeks after the events of Masks of the Gorgons, where they have a lazy day since nothing's happening right now. Vincent is reading a book, Daphne is working on her article in one of the studies in Vincent's castle and the rest are playing a video game in the courtroom," Mew said.

Daphne brought herself back to the present, glanced at her progress on her computer, and began to pace, trying to find the exact way she wanted to word her article. But, as she paced, something outside the window caught her eye. She paused, going to the window for a closer look.

Her window overlooked the area of the peak in front of the castle—and the winding mountain trail that led down from the castle's front doors. Several yards down the trail, someone had planted some sort of torch in the ground that was burning with a bright, blue flame; despite the wind and snow howling around it, the torch stayed lit—no doubt through some sort of magic.

Knowing that this was the kind of thing that required Vincent's attention, Daphne moved to step away from the window to join the others in the study and tell them about it when something in the shadows beneath the torch caused her to freeze.

"Oh my Arceus, a Sableye is on the loose! Quick, someone get a Fairy-Type to deal with it, STAT!" Mew exclaimed, before remembering something.

"Wait, I have access to every Pokemon move on the planet just by transforming into them. Don't worry, Daphne! I'll save you!" Mew shouted dramatically, flying off.

"...Oh my god, a Sableye!" Mew said offscreen.

The shadows were amorphous, at first, but then, they began to take shape, and as Daphne watched, they began to resemble the familiar shapes of a tall, broad-shouldered young man and a short, bespectacled young woman. The two shadowy figures were looking up at her; seemingly unable to speak, they waved up at her to get her attention—and shackles were visible on their shadowy arms. And it was as they waved to her that Daphne recognized their silhouettes.

"…Fred…!? Velma…!?" she gasped, horrified.

"Oh my Oran Berries, Fred and Velma have been turned into shadow people! And what worse, they're mute! Whoever did this are true fiends!" Mew shouted, shaking his paws in the air like one would with their fist.

"However, before Daphne runs to check up Fred and Velma, she remembers what Vincent had told the gang once they reaffirm their promise to help them," Mew said.

"You've accepted this life now, and while I am incredibly moved that you have chosen this just for my sake, it is my duty to warn you about some of the tactics the forces of evil use," Vincent had said. "And the first thing you must learn is that the forces of evil love nothing more than to use your own mind against you—your fears, your insecurities, your regrets… anything that could be used to manipulate you to their ends is on the table. No one is immune, not even me. Question everything you see—whether it is something that would make a troubling amount of sense, or whether it's something completely unknown. Question it. Your very lives could depend on that."

"And with that, Daphne calls Velma, who tells Daphne that she's just starting work. Daphne is embarrassed as she remembered that since she and the others are in Tibet, they're 12 hours ahead of Florida, where Velma is working." Mew said.

"I'm so sorry to bother you, Velma," she said. "I'd better go, but, can you just tell me—when did you last hear from Fred?"

"Last evening, actually—I realize it's pretty early to be talking about it, but my supervisor is in the finishing stages of his magnum opus, and if it's a success, in a few months, we'll be celebrating its launch, and… Well, I was hoping you, Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy could join us for that celebration when it happens—Fred already said he'd be there. I can't really say much about it now, but once it happens, it'll be a great article for you, too!"

"Again. These people have jobs! Now do your jobs right and give them back their jobs! Fanfiction writers are putting you people to shame!" Mew said in a random business suit, throwing a stack of papers on a table.

The Altarias, wearing business suits, start to panic.

"We're not getting paid enough for this!"

"We forgot their jobs!"

"Everything's on fire!"

As chaos ensued, Mew took off the business suit and went back to the top of the Tree of Beginning, while Regice put out the flames.

"So, after getting invited, Velma points out that she and Fred noticed Daphne had been stressing out, making them worry. Luckily for Daphne, though, she managed to come up with a convincing lie," Mew said.

"Oh, you know—deadlines; it's nothing to worry about. Really," Daphne lied. "Speaking of which, I should probably get back to this article—and you should probably get back to work, too. Good luck on your supervisor's project!"

"Thanks, Daphne! Good luck to you, too!"

Daphne put the phone down after they exchanged goodbyes, feeling relieved. Velma and Fred were safe, then!

…But that still didn't explain what was going on outside her window, and why these shadow clones of Fred and Velma were trying to get her to come out and help them.

"Because they want your souls!" Mew said dramatically as lightning struck in the background.

"However, before she can warn Vincent about the shadow creatures, they melted into one being, whose eyes burned brightly into Daphne's hypnotising her." Mew said, his eyes slowly widening with horror.

"…Mr. Van Ghoul…?" she weakly called out, as she found her mind going blank. "There's… something… out there…"

"Do not be alarmed, my dear," a female voice whispered in her mind. "I mean you no harm. But I need assistance, and perhaps you can be the one to help me."

"I need… I need to warn him…"

"You need to help me," the voice insisted.

"I need… to…"

"…help me. "

"…I need to help you…" Daphne now said, her voice monotone.

"That's right, my dear. Now, come outside and help me—but don't let the warlock see you. He'd only try to stop you, and we can't have that, can we?"

"…No, we can't…" Daphne replied, in the same tone.

"Then come out and help me! Quickly!"

"Oh my gosh, it's the invasion of the talking Malamars again!" Mew screamed while flying around in a panic, as alarms were blaring in the background.

After a few moments, Mew calmed down.

"So, Daphne attempts to fight off the mind control after seeing the statue of Athena. But the shadow strengthens the mind control, forcing her to head to the door. Who will save Daphne now?!" Mew asked.

Vincent first sensed something amiss the moment Daphne had tried to call out when the shadowy eyes had first started to take over her mind. Absently, he placed a hand to his emerald brooch for a moment, and then suddenly got to his feet, heading for the large, ornate window of the study.

"Of course, I forgot the true Final Fantasy protagonist, Vincent Van Ghoul!" Mew said, showing a recap of Vincent stopping every single Final Fantasy villain as everyone clapped.

"And of course, he knows that the shadows are bad news, since a source of light isn't supposed to have shadows, meaning they're unnatural." Mew said, glad that Vincent knows what's wrong with the situation.

"It must be some kind of beastie trying to…" Scrappy began, but then he trailed off as the shadows shifted position. "Look! It is a beastie—it's got eyes!"

Vincent took one look at the eyes and froze for a moment before suddenly cutting off their view by raising his cape in front of the window.

"Get back—away from the window!" he ordered, ushering them back. "Whatever you do, don't look into those eyes!"

"Um...a bit too late with that warning, Vincent." Mew said, referring to Daphne.

"Though, at least he points out that he's not immune given what happened in New Orleans, hence the warning. But when Scrappy points out that the eyes aren't looking at them, Vincent realizes who they are looking at," Mew said.

"…Daphne!" he realized aloud.

"However, he's too late as he knocked on her door, only for it to open. He then teleports to the main hall, where the castle door is open and Daphne is about to exit." Mew said, on the edge of his seat. That is, if he wasn't floating right now, he would be sitting on a seat.

"Daphne!"

His shout startled her long enough to allow him to run over and grab her arm to keep her from going over the front steps. But she didn't even acknowledge him; she kept trying to move forward, over the steps.

"Daphne, listen to me—you must fight that influence!" Vincent insisted. He sighed, inwardly. "Perhaps it's hypocritical of me to say that, seeing how Nekara had me in her trance…" He trailed off as Daphne now froze in her attempt to keep moving. "Naturally, I understand how impossible it may seem for you to succeed where a warlock could not, but if there's anyone who could, it would be you."

"Um, Vincent, aren't you forgetting what happened with Maldor The Malevolent? I mean, glad you're giving Daphne some confidence, but she kind of got cursed by him." Mew said as he got stuff thrown at him.

"Anyways," Mew said with a glare, ignoring the stuff thrown at him, "the others come to help Vincent with breaking Daphne out of the mind control and it seems to be working. Guess we have nothing to worry about…" Mew began.

The look in Daphne's eyes seemed to be getting clearer, but, then, suddenly, a screech issued from the shadowy mass beneath the torch. Scooby jumped into Shaggy's arms as he usually did, and even Flim-Flam and Scrappy retreated slightly.

"What the heck was that screech for?! I swear, Zubats screeched quieter than that! And that's saying something!" Mew shouted, covering his ears.

"Why does it sound like someone tortured a lot of Meowths?!" Regirock shouted.

"What?!" Regice shouted back.

"Enchiladas!" Registeel shouted for no reason.

Vincent, however, did not let go of Daphne's arm, but Daphne now turned around sharply to aid the screaming shadowy form. She couldn't walk, but then, she extended her free arm, trying to reach for the form…

"Daphne, no!" Vincent exclaimed, realizing that her hand was about to cross the protective barrier.

"Quick, do something! Oh, wait. Any of his smaller spells still has power to hurt anyone. Scooby, Shaggy, Scrappy, Flim-Flam, do something!" Mew said in a panic.

A shadowy tendril reached out from the mass and seized Daphne's wrist as it crossed the barrier, pulling her towards it—or tried to, anyway. Vincent was still holding on to her other arm, and then, the shadows changed tactics.

"...I don't like where this is going," Mew said, his voice shaking in terror.

"And of course, the tendril became a mist, which went into Daphne's hand and ejected her out of the barrier. Hopefully, it's not that ba-" Mew began with a nervous smile.

And then, she spoke; it was Daphne's voice, alright, but it wasn't Daphne speaking at all—

"Too bad, Warlock," her voiced taunted Vincent. "But your efforts just weren't enough. And now, in the name of my king, you will pay for your act of insolence from so long ago!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, I think I found the sister to the King of Pokélantis. We are so screwed!" Mew said, trying to not panic and failing, as the alarms blared again.

Twenty minutes of panicking later

"Okay, I'm calm," Mew said, taking deep breaths.

"So, Vincent feels like he failed because the sister of Pokélantis's king had fully possessed Daphne just to get back at him for something that happened centuries ago." Mew said.

"If your king's quarrel is with me, then there's no reason to use Daphne any further," he insisted. "Let her go."

"Oh, I think not," the entity said. "At the moment, she is a very useful insurance policy. Now… first things first—step out from behind all of your shields and protective spells, and face me."

Without hesitation, Vincent crossed the threshold, prompting her to blink in surprise at how quickly he'd acquiesced.

"Well, now…" she mused. "This girl is a more effective insurance policy than I first thought…!"

"Daphne, you gotta break free!" Shaggy called.

"Yeah, you're nobody's puppet!" Scrappy added.

"Rhou can do it, Rhaphne!" Scooby barked.

"For Vince—for all of us!" Flim-Flam encouraged.

"Vincent even says that Daphne's strong willpower will help her fight this shadow person, but in the meantime, asks her who she is and why she's there," Mew said.

"My name means nothing to you; we have never met, though I certainly know you by reputation," she replied. "You may address me as the Sorceress of Shadows. As for the one who sent me here, though you did meet him once, you never bothered to ask for his name. No, you attacked him without a second thought."

"...False alarms, everyone. She's not related to the King of Pokélantis." Mew said as everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"She can still control us, though," Mew said, causing another round of panic and alarms.

"...Too soon?" asked Mew sheepishly. "Anyways, Vincents shows that it's not easy to push him around."

Vincent's eyes narrowed.

"If I did attack him, I would have had a good reason for it," he insisted.

"Nevertheless, his name would also mean nothing to you. But he remembered you, Vincent Van Ghoul. He never forgave—and he never forgot. In spite of the fact that my king now has achieved his goals—that he has slain all who could possibly oppose him and is in the process of defeating his last challenger—he still sees you as one last, possible threat to his power. You ought to be flattered."

"I'm not," Vincent returned. "Let Daphne go, and tell your king that I have no desire to tangle with him again. He doesn't have to fear anything from me."

"Unfortunately, the sorceress doesn't decide to leave, saying that Vincent's words won't matter to her or her king. And then she proceeds to try and attack Vincent with whatever magic she believes Daphne might have." Mew said, pulling out a random tub of popcorn. "This might be interesting."

She raised an arm, aiming a hand at Vincent; Vincent stood serenely as the others, still watching from the threshold, all watched in apprehension.

Nothing happened, and a shocked and confused expression crossed the possessed Daphne's face.

A riff shot was heard in the background as Mew started laughing hysterically.

"…She has no mana!" the sorceress exclaimed. "She can't cast any spells!" She looked over Vincent's shoulder at Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, and Flim-Flam, who were still standing behind the barrier. She concentrated for a moment, and looked stunned once again. "None of them have any mana, either!"

"Oh my gods, she's just now realized that! How did she not know about it when she first controlled Daph-" Mew burst into laughter once again.

"So? What of it!?" Flim-Flam frowned.

The Sorceress still looked baffled for a moment, but then, she suddenly started giggling—and then broke out into a full-on uproarious laughter.

"Um, lady, I'm the one who's supposed to laugh, not you!" Mew said, starting to get uneasy.

"…Like, I hate it when bad guys do that—there's never anything funny," Shaggy gulped. "But it's worse when she's making Daphne laugh like that…"

"I agree, Shaggy. This isn't fun anymore," Mew whimpered in fear.

"What, may I ask, is so amusing?" Vincent frowned.

"You mean to tell me…" she managed to choke out, between laughs. "That the most powerful sorcerer of multiple realms has been reduced to merely looking after waifs…". She glanced from Shaggy and Flim-Flam to Scooby and Scrappy. "…and strays!?"

"She just did not call Scooby and Scrappy strays! It's even worse than that female Meowth who can never be pleased with anything she demands unless it's an Persian." Mew said.

"Rhays!?" Scooby repeated, affronted.

"Why, I oughta…!" Scrappy fumed. "We're pedigree!"

"Tell her, boys! You won't take this sitting down!" Mew said dramatically.

"Uh, Mew, this doesn't impress the sorceress in any way," Regice said, killing the mood.

"...Bullocks!" Mew exclaimed, upset that the whole thing was ruined.

"Anyways, the sorceress laughs about how Vincent has the gang living with him and even uses emeralds to channel his magic, claiming he has gotten soft." Mew pouted a bit, still upset the moment was ruined.

"Are you quite finished?" Vincent interrupted. "As you pointed out, Daphne has no magical powers, so you might as well let her go! And, by all means, go report to your king as to how 'soft' I really am!"

"Mmm, no," she replied, after pretending to think on it for a moment. "In spite of going soft, your powers are still a very serious threat. I must follow the orders of my king." Still using Daphne as her puppet, the sorceress grabbed the torch with the blue flame. "And even if this girl has no mana, I can simply use my own!"

"She even shows Vincent the terrifying desert agate and opens a one-way portal to the place where 'it all began'. She demands he hands over the emerald and when he tries setting the condition of her freeing Daphne, she says he doesn't make the demands. However, before he hands over the emerald, Daphne regains control briefly," Mew said, getting interested again.

"No…!" she winced, placing her hands on her head.

"Daphne?" Vincent asked, concerned.

She opened her eyes now, and her eyes were flickering back and forth from her normal ones to the sorceress's glowing ones.

"Mr. Van Ghoul, you can't… can't let her…" She cringed again, doubling over in pain. "You've got to stop her… stop me… Use Temporal Chains… any other spell that'll stop us! I can hold her for another moment, but after that…!"

"However, not wanting to hurt Daphne due to the powers of his spells, Vincent tries to tell her that she can overpower the sorceress's control over her if she believes it. But that plan failed since the sorceress takes control again." Mew said.

"Your belief is in vain. This mortal is no match for me," she hissed. She snatched the emerald pendant from Vincent's hand. "Now, through the gate!"

But before Vincent could move, Daphne cringed again, and she suddenly threw the pendant as far as she could, where it disappeared into the nearest snowbank.

"You foolish girl!" the sorceress screeched.

"While Vincent tries to find his pendant, the sorceress tries to hit him from behind with a fireball. Luckily, Daphne takes control of herself to give Vincent a warning and he uses Reflect, protecting himself while Daphne kicks the sorceress out of her body. And while Daphne runs towards the barrier, Vincent and the sorceress have a magic battle that would make Harry Potter cry in shame!" Mew exclaimed happily.

Daphne nodded and moved to run back towards the others, but as she ran, a magical fight quickly broke out between Vincent and the sorceress, who had now taken her true form—a woman dressed in a shadowy black robe; the shadow witch was sending more fireballs Vincent's way, and Vincent countered then with handfuls of light magic.

"DarkFira!"

"Diaga!"

"DARKFIRA!"

"DIAGA!"

"Unfortunately, the sorceress must have read the Death Eater's Guidebook Of Under-handed Tactics and Cheats because she throws a dark fireball at Daphne, who, luckily thanks to Vincent's warning, avoided getting hit, was blown backwards towards the portal and barely grabbed the edges," Mew said as everyone booed at the sorceress for cheating.

Even as Vincent teleported to the edge of the gate to try to reach her, the sorceress struck once more—

"DarkFira!"

Vincent took the hit as he reached for Daphne, shielded somewhat by the magical properties of his cape, but Daphne, once again hit by the shockwave, had been forced to let go, falling into the open gate just before Vincent could take her hand.

"Daphne!"

"She's in land full of talking horses, redeemable villains and complex story plots that takes every season premiere to make and finale to wrap up!" Mew exclaimed as people booed him. "I know, I know, but how can I not make that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic joke." Mew said, only for produce to be thrown at him.

"Anyways, Vincent jumps into the portal with the rest of the gang shortly afterwards while the sorceress takes the pendant from the snowpile and plans on undoing Vincent's protection just so she can get to his artifacts," Mew said.

"Yeah, good luck with that, Lady," a new voice said.

The shadow sorceress looked behind her as Bogel and Weerd materialized beside her.

"Oh no, not you two. I thought we left you in Greece." Mew said. "Anyways, Bogel and Weerd tells the sorceress that Vincent's defenses can't be broken easily."

"For now, no," the witch admitted. "But you fail to understand that my king has readied a… reception committee of sorts for Van Ghoul. I did my research when my king instructed me to deliver Van Ghoul to him. I delved into his past and found a way to tap in to all of the memories he has undoubtedly been trying to bury all these long years. And I can tell you exactly what will happen to him."

"Despite Weerd's interest in the matter, she just explains the plan her king has in store for everyone." Mew said.

"Yes, and those mortals insisting on going with him will work to my advantage. Assuming the welcoming committee doesn't eliminate him and those mortals from the start, he will be forced to delve further into his memories. But his pride won't allow him to lament or appear weak to those mortals—his pride is far too great to allow them to see him with any weakness."

"However, Bogel and Weerd know that Vincent's pride won't be an issue, since the whole Rankor incident, but don't tell the sorceress. The sorceress even explains how once the gang dies, Vincent will blame himself, which would make his death easy. And once he's dead, then the protection spell around the castle will be gone and she'll be able to go inside to get what she wants." Mew said, eyes widen in horror.

"…If you say so, Lady," Weerd said. "You can have almost anything in there you want, but just remember that Bogel and I have dibs on the Chest of Demons."

"But of course," she replied, unconcerned. "And now, all we need to do is wait."

Bogel and Weerd glanced at each other and shrugged. It didn't make much sense, but far be it from them to say anything about it.

For now, they would relax and merely wonder what Vincent and those mortals would be getting themselves into.

"So while those three are playing the waiting game, never my favorite game, Daphne looks around to see where she's at," Mew said.

She was, therefore, surprised to feel grass and flower petals beneath her, and she could also smell the scent of flowers—cherry blossoms, to be precise. And she could hear the sound of something splashing in water. Slowly, she opened her eyes as she sat up, and gasped in wonder.

She seemed to be on the peak of a small mountain, from the top of which she could see vast fields of green meadows, thick forests, rolling hills and other mountain peaks, and, in and amongst the green, lakes and rivers that sparkled with crystal-clear waters. And she, herself, was sitting beneath a cherry tree in full bloom.

This place looked beautiful.

"And then she sees a ghost horse, who looks at her with sympathy. And then she remembers her hands having burns from grabbing the edges of that portal. Guess something beautiful can distract you from pain for a moment, huh?" Mew asked.

When she looked back at the creature, however, she was startled to see it vanish before her eyes, leaving nothing in the small pool. Before she could even put a coherent thought together as to what she'd seen, she was then startled by Vincent suddenly appearing, hitting the ground nearby, also beside the water's edge.

"Mr. Van Ghoul!" she exclaimed. Her heart then sunk—he must have gone through the gate of his own volition because she had fallen through.

Indeed, he sat up now, and without even stopping to get his bearings, he looked to her.

"Are you alright?"

She gave a shaky nod.

"Why…? Why did you…?" she began.

"Don't act as though you wouldn't have done the same for me," Vincent said. He glanced at her hands—and at the burns on them; she quickly tried to hide her hands, but she knew he'd seen them.

"And after failing to assure Vincent that her hands will heal on its own, Daphne allows Vincent to heal the hands. And then the rest of the gang landed near them, with Scooby landing in the waters," Mew said, before getting splashed by water.

"Vincent said it better," Mew said, playing a scene from The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.

"This is beginning to get quite annoying!" Vincent said as water sprayed out of his crystal ball and swept away his plate of food.

"You said it, Vincent," Mew said, as Regirock was drying him off with a towel.

"Were they riding giant ducks in the background?!" Registeel asked.

"...Yes, Registeel, Scooby and Shaggy were riding giant ducks in the background," Mew said.

"I'm gonna find a giant duck and ride it!" Registeel exclaimed, running off to find a 'giant duck'.

"He does realize there is-" Regirock began.

"He'll figure it out the hard way," Mew said.

"...Okay, then. I'll just get back to my post," Regirock said after a moment, taking his leave.

"You do just that." Mew said.

"…Please don't tell me you left the safety of the castle and came here," Vincent said, facepalming.

"No problem, Mr. V," Shaggy said, with a sheepish smile. "We won't tell you, then. Wait, Scoob, don't—!"

He was cut off as Scooby now vigorously shook himself dry, getting water all over the rest of them.

"…Whoops," Scooby said, realizing what he'd done. "Rhorry…"

"Oh, come on! I just got dry, too!" Mew complained as he used Psychic to grab the towel again and dried himself off.

"So, Vincent decides that it might be a good thing they're all together, given that the sorceress can control them, which Daphne feels guilty about. However, Vincent reminds her about what happened with Nekara, one of the 13 ghosts and technically his wife," Mew said as people started booing him.

"Hey, hey! He and Nekara never signed those divorce papers, so they're still legally married. Now, what would their child be like? You know, besides being half demon and half warlock or witch, depending on the gender." Mew said thoughtfully. "Oh well. We'll think about that later. For now, Vincent feels like he's been at this place before." Mew said.

Shaggy, who had clambered onto a larger pile of rocks on the peak, now took a look around—and froze as he spotted something off in the distance.

"Uh… Mr. V? You know that story Mr. Voudini and Mr. Kreepoff told us about how you vaporized a hole in a mountaintop when you had a duel with another warlock that had tried to take you by surprise?"

"Yes, what about it?" Vincent asked.

"…Let's just say that yes—you have been here before," Shaggy finished.

"…Oh, no…"

Vincent and the others now joined Shaggy at his vantage point, and found themselves staring off into the distance at a snow-capped mountain with a gigantic hole in its peak.

"...Welp, that's a surprise! And for those of you who don't know about this, please read Masks of the Gorgons and The People on the Edge of the Night, as they explain about the story Shaggy is referring to." Mew said, before clearing his throat.

"But, just to summarize, some random person attacked Vincent, Boris and Voudini when the three friends arrived at this place. Vincent blasted a hole to scare off the attacker, narrowly missing Boris and Voudini, who managed to teleport out of the way. Since then, Vincent has pushed away people so that they won't be caught in the crossfire." Mew explained.

"Now that's out of the way, wonder what's next?" Mew asked.

"Look at the wanton destruction you have wrought!" the king had snarled at him.

"Ow! That was my ears!" Mew said, covering his ears.

"I do not deny the results of my actions, Your Grace," Vincent had replied. "I seek only to explain them. And it is as I said—my companions and I were attacked, and to teach our assailant a lesson, I used the most powerful spell I knew…"

"Without stopping to think about the collateral damage you could cause with it!?" the king had fumed. "And furthermore, who gave you the authority to be judge, jury, and executioner? Your complaint should have been brought to me—and now, the man of the western desert you claimed to have attacked you is levying complaints against you that you were the one who attacked him. How am I to know whose word to accept?"

"It is as I told you, Your Grace, this man attacked us first, and unprovoked—my companions can attest to it, as well," Vincent had answered.

Behind him, Boris and Voudini, also bowing on their knees before the furious king, had nodded in agreement.

"Oh, I get it now," Mew said, rubbing his ears a bit tenderly.

"Yes, folks, this is Vincent's flashback of what happened after the duel, where you already noticed the ticked off king. He's pissed because of Vincent's actions and doesn't want to hear what caused the duel, he was just mad at Vincent for blowing up a mountain." Mew said, before realizing the problem.

"I mean, yeah, I would be pissed off if someone would come here and start blowing stuff up, too. But I think the more appropriate thing is, 'Well, you say someone from here attacked you unprovoked? I'll just ask everyone involved what happened and see if they're telling the truth.'" Mew said, using a royal voice.

But nope, he believes Boris and Voudini will just agree with Vincent's story because they're his friends. Yeah, because they weren't nearly caught in the crossfire of a duel. No, they'll just agree with it immediately. Jerk." Mew said, a bit miffed.

"And my people are already demanding recompense for the destruction of our highest peak, and the man you attacked also demands recompense for your attempt to slay him. Thankfully, the mountain still stands, and the man lives. I will spare you, Sorcerer—but you are henceforth banished from this realm, and should you ever set foot here again, I will not do anything to stop my people, including your intended victim, from having their revenge."

Vincent had cringed at hearing the angry rage from the crowd around.

"Again, Your Grace, I understand."

"Good. Now, get out!"

"Or else, I'll release the mob! And trust me, they won't restrain themselves." Mew said in an imitation of the king.

"Meanwhile, back in the present, Flim-Flam tries to make a joke out of hole in the mountain, but Vincent tells him not to, given it's not a good moment. Flim-Flam apologizes for trying to make a joke out of that." Mew said.

"But at least now I understand what's going on," Vincent continued. "The warlock I dueled has managed to take over this entire land, and now wants to make sure I don't try anything against him. And he wants me to go 'back to where it began' to face what I've done—if what that shadow witch said was true about the second gate being there."

"Rhall the way there?" Scooby asked, pointing at the damaged peak.

"So it would seem…" Vincent sighed.

"Good news: Flim-Flam grabbed the crystal ball, thinking they could use it to teleport to the gate. Bad news: the person that attacked Vincent is interfering with Vincent's magic and reveals himself via a glowing eye." Mew said, grossed out.

"How perceptive, Warlock," a voice hissed from within the crystal. "You may thank this girl for allowing me to interfere with your precious crystal!" The eye shifted to look directly at Daphne for a moment, prompting her to look mortified. "You handed over your emerald pendant for her sake; the desert agate I gave the Sorceress of Shadows was one of my own—as long as she holds my desert agate and your emerald, I can render your crystal ball useless! You will play by my rules, Warlock."

"If this is about what happened all those years ago, I never wanted to revisit this," Vincent insisted. "Allow us to return to our world, and you will never hear from me again."

"You are a danger as long as you remain alive, Warlock," the eye returned. "Such power cannot be trusted—especially when you don't have full control over it. Its existence—your existence—is a threat in and of itself."

Vincent froze; something in those words had struck a deep nerve.

Mew gasped at that. "This mysterious person has done the impossible! He struck Vincent Van Ghoul down with words!" Mew exclaimed as everyone screamed in the background.

"You can't hold something that happened that long ago against him!" Scrappy frowned.

"Yeah!" Flim-Flam agreed. "He didn't know any better—and you were the one who attacked him first! It was self-defense!"

"You know nothing of that day," the eye snarled at them. "I attacked because I sensed the threat he presented—to this realm, and countless others. I was sent by the people of this realm to neutralize this threat. And lo, he proved how dangerous he was in our duel—it was only by a sheer miracle that no one perished in his careless attack!" The eye now moved back to look at Vincent. "I have not forgotten, Warlock. And the people see the hole in the mountain peak and remember what transpired. And my most devoted followers are ready to face the danger and stop your threat—for good."

"And if that isn't enough, this person brings up the witch trials, which cause Vincent to throw the crystal ball in the lake. Everyone else is shocked, since Vincent tells them to be careful with the crystal ball. When they try to ask Vincent what's up, the eye tries to convince them to join him, only at the low cost of their lives!" Mew said as lightning struck once again.

"Do not concern yourselves with him, Young Ones," the eye said, still glaring through the submerged crystal. "I see the purity in your hearts, and so I give you the chance to free yourselves from the warlock's influence and join my crusade. I reward the loyalty of my followers."

Without a word, the five of them drew closer to Vincent, prompting the warlock to look at them with an unreadable expression.

"…Very well, then," the eye snarled. "You may suffer with him."

The eye disappeared and the crystal reverted to its normal glow, but Vincent still didn't move.

"Vincent claims he's fine, but that doesn't fool everyone, especially Daphne since she knows the reason behind Vincent throwing the crystal ball." Mew said.

And Daphne hadn't missed how this entity had deliberately used the words 'trial by fire,' and how that had been what had caused Vincent to throw the crystal aside. Over the last few weeks, her curiosity had gotten the better of her since Voudini had told her of Vincent's tribulations during the witch hunts, and she had begun to look up exactly what accused sorcerers had been through. Her findings had not been pretty—and fire had been a recurring device used for questioning and execution. Based on Vincent's reaction to being reminded of those days, she'd quickly put together a horrible picture of what Vincent must have endured. And now, he was being forced to relive those terrifying memories, and all because of her getting sent here.

"Daphne soon blames herself for getting everyone sent to the realm, only for Vincent to blame himself due to what happened that day, much to the protest of Scrappy and Flim-Flam. Vincent says there are some mistakes no one can run away from and worries that the gang had invited trouble when they stand by his side, but they reaffirm their point that Vincent is a good person." Mew said, with a smile.

"Nevertheless," Vincent said. "It's a long way to the other mountain on foot, and our mysterious assailant will be sending people after us to pursue us the entire way. We'll be reduced to fugitives. Look—it's already begun."

He pointed to the base of the mountain they were standing on; a small group of people were gathered, watching the trail that led down the mountain.

"Wow, those people are quick. I wonder if the Shadow Triad trained them. Never met them myself, but I have heard about them from talking to a Liepard that used to be with them before being reunited with her former trainer." Mew said, imagining the scene.

Random place in Unova

"And now it's time you maggots learn how to hide your presences." One of the Shadow Triad said.

"Um, why?" A random recruit asked.

"Because of this," The same Shadow Triad member said, disappearing, shocking all the recruits.

The Shadow Triad member reappear behind the recruit, about to-

"No, no! We are not going that dark!" Mew scolded the joke.

"Anyways, they come up with a plan to run. Vincent even gets the gang to promise that if it comes to it, they have to leave him behind, which they reluctantly promised. And with that, the chase is on." Mew said.

Notes: The place where the gang has ended up in is basically meant to be Hyrule (and the malevolent being threatening them is basically meant to be Ganon—who absolutely cannot be trusted and is attempting to gaslight Vincent, but that'll become more obvious in later chapters); I don't really consider this a crossover per se since the focus will be on Vincent and the gang, but I've been having Breath of the Wild on the brain ever since they announced the Age of Calamity prequel for next month, and, therefore, this happened.

"...So this whole time, everyone has been in Hyrule. Like, the actual Hyrule?! And Ganon is the one who attacked Vincent? You know what? This isn't The Legend of Zelda, this is The Legend of Scoobert." Mew said.

Suddenly a game title screen appeared next to Mew. Instead of The Legend of Zelda, it said, The Legend of Scoobert, with Scooby wearing green tights and hat, wielding the Master Sword and a random shield.

"Nintendo and Warner Bros. should get working on this." Mew said.

Vincent hadn't just relied on the gang's experience at running for their lives; he had taken a proactive approach, as well, casting a spell that summoned a thick fog upon their pursuers—a fortunate thing that he had, for only moments later, a volley of arrows had shot at them from the mist—and had missed.

Casting his Reflect Barrier, Vincent covered their retreat until they had outdistanced their pursuers, but, even then, they kept running until they found their path towards the damaged mountain blocked by an impassable canyon, illuminated in the dusky glow of evening.

"Like, what now?" Shaggy asked, catching his breath as he leaned against a tree.

"If there was no interference from the crystal, I could teleport us across, but that isn't an option available to us now," Vincent muttered.

"This is worse than that one time I was doing the role of an evil rabbit with an iron tail, trying to prevent Peter Cottontail from becoming the Easter Bunny. ...Wait, Shaggy, why do you sound exactly like Peter Cottontail?" asked Mew doing a Vincent Price impression.

"However, Scooby sees a bridge, which Daphne notices a waystation in the distance. Scrappy suggests they can stop there to get some rest and hide from Ganon's group of attackers, but Vincent has other ideas for himself." Mew said.

"No…" Vincent replied. "I can't risk getting involved with any of the people here in this realm. They could be minions of our 'host,' or they could just be holding a grudge against me." He paused, seeing the looks on the others' faces. "However, if the five of you wish to rest for a while and stock up on provisions, you can stop by there. I can hide until you're ready."

"Eh, we can keep going; right, guys?" Flim-Flam asked.

They all spoke at once, agreeing that they didn't need to stop and rest; Scooby even started looking in the opposite direction and observed that the canyon ended near a winding trail that led right to the snowy mountain range where their destination lay, and they all proceeded to head in that direction.

Vincent stared at them for a moment before going with them. Without hesitation and without complaint, they had decided that they would rather abandon their quest for rest and comfort rather than abandon him. They knew that they would likely end up having to sleep on the ground, and yet, despite being young enough that complaining about it would be understandable, they didn't make so much as a peep about it.

"And that, everyone, is the power of companionship." Mew said with a random whiteboard about the subject before pushing it away.

"While Vincent realizes the reason why the gang haven't complained about not stopping at the waystation is due to them being wiser than their age, he still feels like they shouldn't be risking their lives over his mistake. He even begins to believe Ganon about his magic being dangerous, only to be pulled from his thoughts by Daphne's gasp." Mew said.

"Oh my gosh, look!" she said, pointing ahead.

She was pointing to the abandoned ruins of what had once been a town. There were some buildings still standing, but all of them seemed to have been under some kind of barrage. Mechanical parts and husks of large mechanical objects were scattered around everywhere, too, near the places with the most damage.

"And I thought Kanto in the 90s were bad. This makes it look like Disney World." Mew said, referring to how Kanto was when Ash first traveled around it.

"Rhat happened rhere?" Scooby asked, his eyes wide.

"A lot, by the looks of it," Flim-Flam said, his eyes wide.

"Some sort of attack," Vincent said. "But there was nothing like this the last time I was here—the towns were smaller and simpler, but they were thriving and intact."

"From the damage and the debris, I'd say that whatever happened here happened within the last five years," Daphne said, using a nail file to scrape some of the charred portions of a wall. "The people living here grabbed their essentials and ran for it."

"So this took place during Link's 100 year coma. I wonder how he's doing," Mew said.

The scene shifts to Link in a pool of healing liquid, still in a coma.

"...You know, sometimes when a Pokémon wonders how a person is doing, they don't really mean it." Mew said in a bored tone.

"Anyways, they decide to rest at the ghost town for a little bit, since they have given their attackers the slip, though Vincent warns them that they shouldn't stay in one place for too long." Mew said.

"Yeah, the sooner we can get back to our world, the better," Shaggy sighed. "Hey, look at this sign on this building! 'The Rambunctious Rooster Inn.' That sounds like a good spot to crash for the night!"

He moved to open the front door of the inn, but it fell off of its hinges and landed with a THUD on the floor. Straw from the half-destroyed thatched roof fell from the rafters upon impact like a weird kind of snow.

"…Not exactly what I meant by crash," Shaggy said.

Regice showed up and did a random riff shot on a set of drums.

"Rhooks like the rooster flew the coop," Scooby snarked.

"Very funny, Scoob," Shaggy returned. "Anyone else have any opinions about this place?"

There was an awkward silence, which was only broken when Flim-Flam started whistling the chorus of "Hotel California."

"And with that, they start to prepare to eat some ramen Shaggy has in case he and Scooby get hungry. Daphne and Scooby went off to get some water they can use to boil and Flim-Flam and Scrappy went to get some wood using an axe they saw earlier. And Shaggy is planning on cleaning a cast iron once Daphne and Scooby are back with the water." Mew said.

"…I'm sorry I can't be of more help," Vincent said. "But with that shadow witch holding my emerald pendant, if I tried to use my magic to conjure up a meal or water, they'd be able to know exactly where we are. I'd even considered a protection spell on this old inn, but with our… host's ability to hijack my crystal, I wasn't sure if we would truly be safe."

"Hey, it's alright, Mr. V—we get it," Shaggy assured him. "You're always looking out for us and helping us; now it's our turn to return the favor."

Vincent managed a wan smile. Despite knowing that he had powers that could bring those youngsters anything they could've wanted in the blink of an eye, they asked for very little. And they certainly intended to ensure that this compassion was a two-way street.

Suddenly, he froze.

"Shaggy, did Flim-Flam and Scrappy say they were going to get an axe!?"

"Yeah, they said…" Shaggy trailed off, the realization sinking in that their two youngest companions were attempting to procure a sharp object larger than they were. "Zoinks!"

They both dashed out the door.

"Quick, stop them before they accidentally cut themselves with an axe!" Mew exclaimed.

"Luckily, though, they managed to avert that disaster and everyone ate dinner. Soon, they all head off to sleep with Shaggy taking first watch. Okay, he also wants to continue eating, but still." Mew said.

Vincent had stared derisively at the hole-laden ceiling as he drifted off to sleep, thinking of how those youngsters deserved better than this—and yet, again, they didn't complain, not even once…

"Have you considered that they do not complain because they fear your power?"

Vincent froze; all of a sudden, the old inn and the night sky were gone—all that was left now was a dark forest on a moonless night. Vincent tried to take a step forward, but found that he couldn't move; glancing down, he saw that he was tied to a tree trunk—more than that, his hands were bound, preventing him from using his magic to free himself. At his feet were bundles of straw and wood.

"Um, when did this become one of those Outlast games I heard about?" Mew asked, confused.

"What is this!?" he demanded. "How did I get here!? I was with the others! And where is this place!? This is just like…!" He trailed off.

"Go on," the voice encouraged. "Finish the sentence—for it was your sentence."

Vincent paled, looking up as a figure emerged from the darkness—it was the enemy warlock who had brought them here, the same one he dueled on the mountaintop all those years ago. The man's red hair was longer than Vincent remembered, but the headpiece he wore with the desert agate stone was the same. And his eye was the same one he had seen in the crystal ball.

"Ganon has the power to read people's minds and use whatever he sees against them? I know he could do magic, but congratulations, Crystal Rose of Pollux, you made Ganon more threatening than ever." Mew said, a bit scared.

"And yes, Ganon uses the memory of the night Vincent being burnt by mortals to try and scare him, while gloating about how, like him, mortals feared Vincent for his powers and even Vincent had questioned whether or not they were right. And then mortal lit the tree trunk Vincent is tied up to," Mew said with horror in his voice.

"…May God have mercy on your soul, Warlock," he said, lighting the straw and wood aflame.

Vincent cringed, once again struggling against the ropes, hoping against hope that a stray flame or ember would burn through them and set him free…

"Why do you recoil?" their enemy host taunted. "This was a fate befitting one so dangerous as you—and even then, you managed to escape it. But I will not allow you to escape it again—my followers will see to that."

Vincent ignored him and ignored the memory playing out around him; he shut his eyes, trying to forget about the searing heat.

"This isn't real…" he reminded himself. "This was three hundred years ago. Now I'm in a different time and place, with different people…"

"However, Ganon decides to ask Vincent once again how he is sure that the gang doesn't fear him, while showing their glowing figures. Vincent says he knows that much and that Ganon will never understand their compassion." Mew said. "Stick it to pig man, Vincent!"

"And yet, there is so much you haven't told them," their host smirked. "You fear they would turn on you, as well, if you told them?"

"No," Vincent insisted. "If I haven't told them, it is because the memories are too painful for me, not because I fear them turning on me. Daphne was able to break through your sorceress's possession because she didn't want to be used as a puppet against me. And they all unanimously rejected your offer to join you to save themselves. If those aren't shows of loyalty, I don't know what else would be."

"They stand by you, not knowing the danger that you present to their lives!" the other warlock snarled back. "Fine, then—I shall teach them, courtesy of my followers. It will be the last lesson they learn—perhaps you can be haunted by their spirits as they question why they ever made the decision to trust you."

"However, Ganon pushed Vincent's buttons because Vincent tells Ganon not to harm the gang, calling them his kids. And it seems to get Ganon to leave with his curly tail between his l-" Mew began.

The other warlock turned to leave, unimpressed—or had pretended to; the moment Vincent's guard had lowered, his foe had whirled around and struck him with a fist swirling with dark magic.

Winded and taken by surprise, Vincent dropped to his knees, looking up to see his enemy aiming another magic-cloaked fist at the glowing images of the others, who were backing away in fear.

"NO!"

"...I don't think I want to be on this ride anymore," Mew whimpered in terror, before seeing the rest of the chapter and let out a breath of relief.

"Luckily for Vincent, and us, it turned out to be a dream influenced by Ganon. Vincent relieves Shaggy of sentry duty so that the latter can get some sleep." Mew said.

"Really?" Shaggy asked, checking his watch. "I've only been at it about twenty minutes—you sure that's enough sleep for you?"

"Warlocks need far less sleep than mortals," Vincent assured him. "Our mana keeps us well energized."

"Ohhh, so that's why you sleep for an entire day when your mana runs out," Shaggy realized. "Go figure. Well, if you're sure, I'll take you up on that." He covered a yawn. "G'night, Mr. V!"

"Goodnight, Shaggy."

The beatnik headed to his room, and Vincent took over pacing the foyer.

It was going to be a long night.

"It is going to be a long night, Vincent. That, I agree on." Mew said, getting prepared for an all-nighter.

"Mew, it's only four in the evening!" hollered Regirock from roots of the Tree of Beginnings.

"Let me live my dreams!" Mew shouted back.

Some time later

Mew groaned from all the sugar he consumed as he glanced at the clock, which read 4:03 P.M.

"It's only been three minutes?! I have been cheated!" Mew shouted to the sky.

While Regirock cleaned up the mess, Regice cleaned up Mew's face.

"Thanks." Mew said to Regice.

"You're welcome," Regice said, before helping Regirock.

"Anyways, things seem to be normal until the moon turns red, which worries Vincent as it never happened when he, Boris and Voudini were there before. And then some figures move around the buildings, which instantly pushes his panic button." Mew said.

They had to leave. Now.

Within seconds, Vincent was hammering on all of the room doors, calling to all of them that they had to leave.

"Vincent wakes up the gang, despite their protests of wanting five more minutes to sleep, and frantically shouts for them to wake up completely. However, Daphne decides to focus on something off-topic," Mew said.

His frantic shout did it; Daphne was the first to let out an exclamation as she saw the moon's red light pour in through the holes in the roof, and the others also quickly awakened, scrambling out of their rooms.

"What is this!?" Daphne exclaimed.

"Um, a red moon. Duh," Mew said with a roll of his eyes, only for produce to get thrown at him once again.

"Okay, okay, stop! I get why she asks, though. I mean, had anyone ever seen a red moon before? We usually get a white moon, a yellow moon or even rarely a blue moon, but never a red one. Heck, I think we all saw an evil moon with a face on it about to crush us. When have we ever seen a red moon before?" Mew said, wiping the produce off his face.

"Luckily, Vincent gets everything back on track by telling everyone about the figures he saw and tells them to grab blankets since they're going to head to the mountains. As they grab blankets, Vincent notices what the assassins sent by Ganon are up to," Mew said.

Daphne and Shaggy grabbed the blankets, and, rather than let them leave through the doorway, Vincent used a light magic spell to knock a hole in the back wall. Even as he ushered the others out the back wall, Vincent looked back, nearly freezing again as he saw the red-clad assassins sent by their enemy host forcing their way through the front, dashing swiftly and silently through the foyer and into the rooms—with the moon's red glow dancing off of their weapons.

Vincent urged the others onward, realizing that their "host" had ordered his followers to target the others, just as he had threatened to. His quick thinking had saved them from the ambush, but they were still very much in danger.

"However, some of the machines turned back on and aimed at the gang. Luckily they have Vincent, a true Final Fantasy hero, to save them!" Mew said.

One of the machines was now turned in their direction, aiming its next laser right at them—

"Reflect!"

Vincent's Reflect Barrier saved them, but that had also caught the attention of their assailants in the inn; they would be making their way back to where they were at any moment, and more of those mechanical laser tanks were activating…

"Temporal Chains!"

And for a moment, he stopped them all—the assassins, the mechanical fiends, everything. He summoned as much of his power as he could to hold them in place, for they were already trying to break through the chains.

"Unfortunately, he won't hold them for long and everyone knows it. Yet, Vincent tells them to leave since they promise to leave him if he tells them to, which they reluctantly do. Oh, and Ganon decides to gloat, once again, to Vincent." Mew said.

"You are a fool," he hissed. "You repeatedly choose compassion over power, and that will be your undoing. Fine. This was between us, anyway—no need waste my power on eliminating those mortals when I'm sure I can find some other use for them. Once you're gone, they will be trapped in my realm without you to help them escape, but don't worry. I'll look after 'your kids' for you. Under my power, they will forget that you ever existed."

In his mind's eye, Vincent saw the briefest image of their enemy warlock with his arms extended over his five companions, their eyes glazed over and their expressions listless and blank, devoid of all willpower.

"However, he only made Vincent snaps, which begins the greatest beatdown ever." Mew said.

"Levitate!"

He used each hand to levitate one of the mechanical attackers, and quickly swung his arms to make them crash into the other machines and minions surrounding him, knocking them aside, before hurling them into the air.

He then put up his reflect barrier as those assassins who hadn't been knocked over now ran at him and more lasers were sent his way from the two remaining machines. A few moments later, the two mechanical monstrosities he had sent flying now came crashing back down on the other two mechanical creatures, causing all four of them to break apart into piles of gears and armor.

With them out of the way, Vincent now focused on the flesh-and-blood enemies around him.

"Diaga! Darkra!"

He aimed the light and dark magic pulses at the assassins' feet, not wanting to attack them directly, in the hopes they would retreat, but they sensed his reluctance and doubled their efforts, swarming him all at once—

"Sleep!"

He cast the spell in a circle, and, in an instant, the assassins were all unconscious on the ground, snoring away.

"Unfortunately, the machines repair themselves due to the red moon's power and begin firing lasers at Vincent, who dodges them. Not to mention Ganon doesn't care whether or not his followers get killed, attempting to blame Vincent for what happens and even claims the gang are Vincent's followers, but Vincent says the gang aren't his followers." Mew said.

"Yes, that's right, they're 'your kids,' aren't they?" the other warlock sneered. "Even without my influence, they never would have stood by you."

"That's a lie," Vincent insisted, aiming several magic blasts at the machines outside with his good arm. "Maybe you're right about my powers making me a danger to others, but even if you are right about that, there is nothing you can say that will ever convince me that those kids would ever betray me."

"Take it from me, Warlock," the other said. "This concept of 'loyalty?' That is the lie. That is why I do not trust my own 'followers,' for I have been betrayed by followers in the past. That is why they are expendable now—and that includes the Sorceress of Shadows. And even if you were right about those mortals, what use could they possibly be to you? Not one drop of mana runs through their veins; they couldn't help you even if they wanted to! And you know that to be true—for why else would you send them away? You did not wish for them to witness your final stand. I don't understand why a warlock of your caliber would have surround himself with useless mortals in the first place. See where it's got you now! You may as well surrender to your fate!"

"And leave those kids at your mercy? Not likely. Levitate!"

"However, even Vincent has his limits as he only took out two machines and only damages the third. And before he manages to destroy that, it fires at the inn Vincent is hiding in, causing it to go up in flames. ...What is Ganon trying to do, rip off the Beast Trio's backstories? If so, you failed miserably." Mew said.

"If that isn't enough, Ganon holds down Vincent with dark tendrils and plans of torching him. And yet we're supposed to have some sympathy for Ganon in the main The Legend of Zelda games? I'm looking at you, TV Tropes! I mean, tell me if this is supposed to be someone we're supposed to feel bad for?!" Mew asked, showing the scene.

Sure enough, his enemy's taunts brought up exactly that—

"I now pass sentence on you," the voice said, echoing in his mind. "With the danger you present to those who dwell in multiple realms, I choose to liberate them all from the threat of your existence! The flames can take you!"

The last, damaged laser machine was shutting down from the other one bouncing off of it, but it had enough power for just one more laser, aiming from the hole in the back wall of the inn. Through the flames, it aimed its firing mechanism at Vincent.

"Ganon is a freaking psychopath, just wanting to get rid of Vincent because he feels like he's justified! And he takes pleasure in it!" Mew ranted before taking a breath.

"And Vincent isn't trying to free himself because he felt like he had failed the gang, all because he ran out of miracles to get out of danger. Meanwhile, the gang started discussing how they left Vincent when they should've stayed and helped. And while noticing the sky turned red, someone calls out to them," Mew said.

"What are you doing here!?" a voice interrupted.

The five of them whirled around now to see a woman in traveling clothes, staring at them in concern.

"Uh…" Shaggy said, shaking slightly. "We were… we were…"

"A great evil has plagued this land, and the roads are not safe at night—and especially not for children," the woman said, glancing at Flim-Flam. "And certainly not under the red moon. You two don't look as though you could defend yourselves, either. And what kind of retrievers are these?"

"Hey, we're Great Danes, not retrievers!" Scrappy snapped, prompting Scooby to pick him back up and give the woman an apologetic, nervous chuckle.

The woman arched an eyebrow.

"Wow, that's the look Arceus gives Hoopa whenever Hoopa pulls a prank. By the way, I wonder if Hoopa ever did grab the hoop of his...oh well, probably nothing." Mew said, waving it off.

"Nevertheless, you must get off of the road—and reach shelter. Come with me," she instructed.

"No!" Daphne exclaimed, prompting the woman to glance at Daphne in surprise. "I'm sorry… It's just that we promised someone that we'd go to the mountains! There's a slim chance he might be trying to find us, and would be expecting us to go there—and he might need help, so we wouldn't want to miss him by accident."

"You're ill-equipped for the mountains, too," the woman said, without missing a beat. She glanced at their raggedy, threadbare blankets that they'd grabbed from the inn and shook her head. "Who in the name of the Goddesses would instruct you to go there? Travelers haven't ventured into those peaks for thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years!"

"Well, the point is we promised…" Shaggy began, but he trailed off as the woman's words sunk in. "Zoinks! Thousands of years!?"

"Wait a minute!" Flim-Flam said. "Are you telling me there isn't a bounty on, uh… on the guy responsible for vaporizing a hole in that mountain?"

The woman stared at him for a moment, and then glanced over her shoulder at the mountain in the distance.

"The woman tells the legend of what happened on the mountain and when the jerk king realize that Vincent was telling the truth about Ganon, who was pretending to be a victim since he hasn't shown his true colors, it was too late since he and everyone else on that day threatened Vincent, Boris and Voudini that they would die if they came back. She then questions how did the gang know about it since it was in the distant past, which Shaggy claims they heard from a grapevine while being confused about Daphne being upset about the version of events." Mew said.

"I won't even begin to decipher what you mean," the woman said. "All I know is that it isn't safe for you to be out on the road on a night like this, but if you are insistent on waiting for this companion of yours, I suppose I cannot stop you. But I will say again—you had best seek shelter. And if you're truly waiting for someone, then you must accept the possibility that, given the circumstances, he might not make it."

She glanced once more at the red sky, shook her head again, and continued the way she had been going, keeping an eye out around her as she ran.

"See you kids, later! I'm going to see if there's anyone else who is stupid enough to be outside during a red moon!" Mew said, imitating the woman. "Yeah, I know the reason behind this, but who knew Hyrulians can be jerks to not even give defenseless people something?" Mew asked, just as the mangas for The Legend of Zelda appear next to him.

"No!" Mew slapped the mangas away. "I know for sure that no one use those things as the basis for materials like this!"

"And so the gang realizes that Vincent's name has been cleared but there's one problem: Vincent has no idea about it! Ganon intentionally made Vincent believe that everyone in Hyrule still hates him and knows Vincent would allow the gang to rest up, setting up an ambush." Mew said.

"And we fell for it," Shaggy realized, horrified. "But how do you know that something's happened to Mr. V?"

"I told you, I just know it—I just have this terrible feeling that he's in danger right now," Daphne said. She didn't want to elaborate in front of Flim-Flam and Scrappy—that everything that other warlock had told Vincent had been to send him further and further into despair. It wasn't just that Vincent wouldn't be at the top of his game—their enemy, knowing that Vincent was the stronger warlock, had been putting everything he had into making sure that Vincent wouldn't fight back, or at least not fight back to the best of his ability.

"See, everyone? Ganon is pure evil! Stop trying to make him sympathetic, because in the end, he chooses to become evil! Heck, Daphne just gave you proof of that!" Mew ranted. "However, when they try to contact Vincent, Ganon starts to taunt them."

But before they could even try, the eye of their enemy warlock now appeared in the crystal instead, glaring at all of them.

"Your message will never reach him," the other warlock's voice taunted them. "I will make sure of that!"

"Stop it!" Daphne ordered. "We know the truth—you just want revenge on Vincent! Everything you said back there was a lie!"

"And just what do you intend to do about it?" the voice asked. "You are useless to him, all of you—and you know that is not a lie. What chance do you stand against me?"

"They still try to contact Vincent about how his name is cleared and Ganon has been lying the whole time, but they're not sure if their message went through." Mew said.

And the other warlock began to laugh.

"You are too late!" he taunted. "It is almost done! All that remains now is for me to decide what to do with all of you; if you had joined me when I had offered you the chance, I would have gladly welcomed you with open arms. Had you not behaved so rudely just now, I would even have spared you. I shall need time to think on what to do with you."

The eye disappeared from view, and, once again, the crystal reverted to its normal steady glow.

"You're sick, Ganon! You're sick!" Mew shouted in horror and anger.

"But the gang decided to go see what happened to Vincent, only the crystal ball to lose its glow, turning into a normal glassy orb. Which means…" Mew trailed off.

"Rhat… rhat's happened…!?" Scooby cried.

"It's like the magic's just… gone," Shaggy said. "But that means…"

"No… NO!" Flim-Flam pleaded, grabbing the dead crystal from Daphne and trying, through tears, desperately to reactivate it again.

Daphne stared at this scene, and as Scooby tried in vain to comfort an increasingly-distraught Scrappy, before something in her broke. She suddenly hugged Shaggy, suppressing a sob as he hugged her back in despair.

"We never should've left him!" she lamented.

"I know," Shaggy said, his voice breaking, as well. "But you know Mr. V—he would've sent us away if we hadn't gone…"

"We didn't… we didn't even get to say goodbye…" Scrappy added, trying to dry his eyes with his tiny paws.

Flim-Flam had now sunk to his knees, placing the functionless crystal on the ground, no longer able to look at it.

"This is the saddest moment in history! Vincent is dead all because Ganon is a bigot!" Mew wailed, bursting into tears.

Even Scooby had started sniffling as he glanced at the crystal—but then, he paused as the crystal began to flicker again, a weak glow fading in and out.

"W-W-What?" Mew stammered out, sniffling a bit.

"Rhook!" he exclaimed. "The rhystal!"

The others now looked, as well. The glow was so weak and so erratic, but the fact that the glow was there at all was enough to rekindle some hope in their hearts, for it meant that Vincent was still trying to hang on.

Mew dried his eyes while sniffling. "Vincent, you son of Gyarados. You did have a miracle up your sleeve, did you? And yes, the gang realize the crystal ball is doing a S.O.S. signal, meaning Vincent needs their help. They run off back to the village to go help Vincent." Mew said.

Back in Tibet, the Sorceress of Shadows watched in sadistic glee as a crackling of weakening magic surrounded the protection spells around Vincent's castle. The protective barrier was beginning to fade.

"…Bogel, do you see that…?" Weerd asked, his eyes wide.

"I see it, but I don't believe it," Bogel commented, also staring at the sight. "Nothing like this has ever happened to one of Van Ghoul's protective barriers before!"

"Believe it," the shadow witch smirked. "Van Ghoul may be the more powerful of the two warlocks, but my king is craftier."

"…Does your king have any use for two ghost minions? Just asking for some friends," Weerd asked.

"What friends?" Bogel asked, prompting Weerd to give him a shove.

The sorceress ignored them.

"Such trivial matters will soon become unimportant," she said. "Look at this barrier. The signs are clear—Van Ghoul's life is hanging by a thread! And once that thread snaps…" A smirk crossed her face. "My king will become the most powerful warlock in existence and assume command of all realms!"

"I don't have time to deal with you three! While I go freshen myself, I think it's time for commercials. Registeel, you're up!" Mew said as he left to clean himself up.

Registeel walked up to the cameras.

"Commercials! And remember, keep your voices down when speaking!" Registeel shouted as the commercial turned on.

*Instrumental version of the theme song played in the background*

This review is brought to you by Pokémon Musical

"Have you always wanted to star in plays and musicals, but always get shafted by humans? Well, head on over to Nimbasa City, where you can be the lead of the production! And better yet, the humans are only the audience." A random voice said as a montage of Pokémon dancing onstage to different types of music.

"I always wanted to get the chance to perform, and now my dreams are a reality." A Cubchoo in a grass skirt said with joy.

"At first, I never saw the appeal of doing a musical. But I gave it a chance and I never regretted it since," a Sawk said, wearing a tuxedo.

"Come on down to Nimbasa City and join the Pokémon Musical. You won't regret joining at all." said the random voice as the commercial faded to black.

*Instrumental version of the theme song played in the background*

"Well, after getting myself freshened from the most emotional moment ever, I'm back!" Mew said, his eyes weren't bloodshot and his face has no tear stains.

"So they return to the village, where they see the aftermath of the attack on Vincent," Mew said.

The five were shocked to see the village still very much aflame as they drew closer—but what also seemed clear was that there didn't appear to be any more signs of fighting going on. Still, they had to be careful.

"With that bit of good news in mind," Mew said a bit sarcastically, "Daphne and Shaggy tell Flim-Flam and Scrappy to stay behind to make a mattress just in case Vincent needs some rest and have Scooby watch over them. When Scrappy and Flim-Flam protest that they won't know if Daphne and Shaggy will end up in trouble or not, Daphne tells them to give them one hour. If they're not back by then, then the other three can come into the village. Scooby agrees to that and Daphne and Shaggy run into the village," Mew said.

"I have a confession," Daphne admitted. "I mean, I'm glad Scrappy and Flim-Flam won't be running around all that fire, but that wasn't the main reason why I wanted them to stay behind."

"It's the same reason I wanted Scoob to stay behind," Shaggy said, understanding. "If Mr. V really has had something terrible happen to him, we don't want Scrappy and Flim-Flam to see him like that. …Scoob, too—you know how sensitive he is."

Daphne nodded.

"I really, really hope I'm wrong," she said. "I've never wanted to be more wrong about anything, but…"

"Well, this just shows that Shaggy and Daphne are more emotionally prepared for this type of stuff. Maybe this explains Shaggy's attitude during Scooby-Doo Meets The Boo Brothers." Mew said, thinking about it for a moment.

"Nah. He probably decided to be Fred Jones in that instance. And failed." Mew waved the notion away.

"Uh, Lord Mew, there is a huge wagon of tomatoes on its way here," Regirock said, concerned.

"Oh, come on!" Mew said as the wagon landed on him, covering him in tomatoes.

She trailed off as they reentered the village. It was all so quiet, aside from the crackling of the flames, and it was clear that Daphne's sense of foreboding wasn't at all unwarranted.

"Mr. Van Ghoul!?" Daphne called.

"Can you hear us, Mr. V!?" Shaggy added. "…I can barely hear myself over all this fire! Let's go back to the back of the inn; that's where we saw him last!"

"Okay, but I really don't think he'd stick around…" Daphne trailed off, gasping as she saw the unconscious assassins snoring away on the ground, and the four mechanical laser tanks, motionless aside from some weak flickering.

"They just decided to sleep on the ground?" Shaggy asked.

"Not likely," Daphne said. "Vincent probably put a sleeping spell on them because he didn't want to hurt them."

"Then… he won!" Shaggy realized. "But, like, why wouldn't he have left and caught up with us? We would've seen him on the way back here—"

"Watch out!" Daphne exclaimed, grabbing Shaggy's arm.

"Zoinks…!" Shaggy yelped, realizing he had nearly walked right into one of the pools of dark magic on the ground. "What is that stuff!?"

"Gateway to Distortion World, maybe?" Mew asked, cleaning off the tomatoes.

"Don't you mean Hades?" Regice asked.

"I thought it was Tartarus," Regirock mused.

"Who cares?! It's black and dangerous!" Registeel shouted.

"Seems like Daphne and Shaggy shares the same opinion as you, Registeel, because they decide to focus on getting to Vincent, safely, after seeing him through the flames." Mew said.

"Finally, someone gets it!" Registeel said, as the trio left to go back to their post.

"Anyways, they made their way to Vincent, only to see the damage." Mew explained.

Daphne changed course immediately, and Shaggy was right behind her; Daphne let out another cry as they saw Vincent, collapsed on the floor of the inn with the tendril of dark magic wrapped around him—and a severe burn on his left shoulder from where one of the lasers had struck him, burning a hole right through his tuxedo. A second laser had struck him on his right calf, also having burned right through his pants leg and leaving a burn, there, as well—he had narrowly avoided taking a direct hit from that last laser by allowing himself to fall, but had lost consciousness soon after that. In addition to the flames all around him, embers and flaming chunks falling from the ceiling were landing dangerously close to him.

"Shaggy then grabs the same axe from earlier to chop the dark pool. Interesting way to do it. Normally, you need a Fairy-Type to do that," Mew said.

Daphne gave him room as Shaggy now grabbed the double-sided axe that he and Vincent had managed to grab earlier, before Scrappy and Flim-Flam had been able to; thinking quickly, Shaggy hacked at the dark magic pool a couple feet from where Vincent was ensnared in it. The beatnik let out a frightened cry as an eye appeared in the darkness—a magical, glowing eye that resembled the one they had seen in the hijacked crystal ball. But Shaggy had already been in mid-swing and couldn't stop—he brought the axe down on the eye.

There was a blood-curdling roar of pain, and the magical eye vanished, followed by the entire pool of darkness ensnaring Vincent also vanishing, as though it had been alive.

"...Holy flying Feebas. Shaggy just axed Ganon's eye a question." Mew joked lamely, surprised by the chain of events.

Surprisingly, no one booed him.

"Guess we should change the title of this to The Legend of Shaggy?" Mew asked.

Before the title card reappear with Shaggy on it, Mew stopped it. "Nope! We already did that joke once! Doing it multiple times takes away the appeal!" Mew reprimanded the title card, who sadly left.

"Anyways, they managed to get Vincent out of the inn just in time. Mainly due to the roof collapsing as soon as they did. However, they hit a snag with their plans on healing him." Mew said.

"Our little first aid kit isn't going to be enough for this!" she exclaimed, pointing to the deep burn on Vincent's shoulder. Vincent was still unconscious, but the look on his face was one of unmistakable pain, and his breathing was extremely shallow. "He needs help now—right this moment!"

"But how are we supposed to—?"

"I got it!" Daphne exclaimed. "When I burned my hands on the shadow witch's fire gate, Mr. Van Ghoul healed them with a spell—he also used that spell once on Scooby when he got burned by Chimera fire when we were getting the Gorgons' masks! Maybe that spell can work on him, too!"

"Yeah, I remember," Shaggy recalled. "But there's just one problem—we can't use that spell. We're ordinary mortals! We don't have mana, remember?"

"I know that, but Mr. Van Ghoul does," Daphne said, crossing Vincent's right arm across his chest so that the fingertips of his right hand just barely touched his wounded left shoulder. "Maybe we can use his mana to cast the spell!"

"With that as their only plan, they try to get Vincent to heal himself by saying Esuna while putting their hands on Vincent's so that Vincent's mana could cast the spell, However, it seems hopeless as nothing worked. To make matters worse, Scrappy, Flim-Flam and Scooby are coming into the village, meaning they would see Vincent's injured body soon!" Mew said, his voice barely hiding his panic.

He was cut off by familiar shouts nearby—

"Vince!? Shaggy!? Daphne!? …Anyone…!?"

"Mr. Van Ghoul? Rhaggy? Rhaphne?"

"Where are you guys!?"

"Oh, no…" Shaggy whispered. "I told them an hour…!" Deep down, however, he had known they probably wouldn't have been able to wait—if anything, it was a miracle they'd waited this long.

"Mr. Van Ghoul, please wake up!" Daphne pleaded. "You can't let Flim-Flam and Scrappy see you like this—they'll never get over it! Scooby, too! I'll never ask for anything ever again, just please, wake up!"

"Guess that worked since Vincent's brooch is glowing. Using that, Shaggy and Daphne attempted to have Vincent's mana use Esuna one last time, which worked as Vincent's shoulder burn healed itself. Good thing too, as Scooby, Scrappy and Flim-Flam arrived, revealing that Ganon was trying to order them to stop helping Vincent only to scream in pain from Shaggy's axe-incident." Mew joked lamely as, this time, Oran Berries were thrown at him.

The crystal suddenly fell from Flim-Flam's pocket, causing him to yelp in alarm as the crystal blazed with the dark magic that had been all over the ground of the village. The eye glared at them from within the crystal, but it was only half-open now, and a scar now ran across it from the top-down, and it glared furiously at Shaggy.

"YOU!" the enemy warlock fumed. "You did this to me—a pathetic, mortal boy dared to strike me!?"

"Oh, and Link was a god compared to Shaggy? I think you should be used to being injured by those you underestimated, Ganon. Oh, and Vincent wakes up to stop Ganon from threatening Shaggy. Gods, Vincent is amazing in his own rights." Mew said with a smirk.

"I will do more than threaten," their enemy vowed. "The boy will pay dearly for his insolence, make no mistake about that!"

"You will leave Shaggy and the others alone," Vincent declared.

The others whirled around, stunned to see Vincent not only conscious again, but sitting upright; the burn on his leg was still bothering him, but he clearly had other things on his mind right at that moment.

The enemy warlock let out another snarl of frustration as he glared at Vincent now.

"You!? Why won't you just die!?"

"If you can't figure out that incredibly obvious answer, I see no reason for me to explain it to you," Vincent returned. "But let me reiterate again what you seem to ignore repeatedly—these five are under my protection. I will not allow you to harm them. Diaga!"

He reached out and placed a hand on the crystal, summoning light magic from within it; the sudden flash of light caused the other warlock to retreat with another pained roar, and the crystal ball reverted once more to its steady, calm glow—reflecting that Vincent was in good health once again.

"And no Master Sword is needed for this one. Now Vincent is a Final Fantasy hero and a hero of Hyrule. What can't he do? You know, besides getting out of a group hug from the gang, that is." Mew said, amazed.

"Also, back in Tibet, the sorceress is not pleased, but who cares about her feelings?" Mew said, not caring at all.

The Sorceress of Shadow's smirk had faded from her face as the barrier around Vincent's castle stopped weakening—and then, to her utter frustration, it began to glow again at full strength.

"What happened!?" she fumed. "He was dying—the barrier was almost completely faded! Who is responsible for this!?"

"I'll give you one guess," Bogel said, realizing that he should've seen this coming.

"Those meddling kids," Weerd finished for him. "And the dogs, too."

"What!?" the witch fumed.

"Van Ghoul ain't too proud after all," Bogel informed her. "And those kids aren't about to hesitate in helping him if he needs it."

"Impossible!" she scoffed. "What can a bunch of useless mortals do!?"

"Apparently enough," Weerd said. "Lady, get in line. We've been dealing with these kinds of shenanigans for over a year now. We don't get it, either."

The sorceress cursed under her breath, glaring at the barrier.

"This isn't over," she assured them. "My king won't allow for this. You'll see. Next time, he'll just take them all out."

"Lady, you and Ganon have some serious problems. You two don't know when to give up. What, did either of you lose a choo-choo train when you were young? Is that why you guys are like this? Explain!" Mew said, annoyed with the sorceress.

"But who cares about those three in Tibet? Back in Hyrule, Vincent finally finds out that his name has been cleared and Ganon has been lying the whole time. With that in mind, he healed his leg and summoned rain to put out the fires. He then plans on teleporting everyone to the mountains," Mew said, interested.

"I'm hoping that he won't be expecting it after all of this, but he might try to stop us before we reach our destination, and one of two things will happen," Vincent said. "Either we'll successfully reach the mountaintop and can use the gate to go home, or he will interfere and we'll fall short—but if that happens, even he won't know where we are. You all need to stick close to me in case we do fall short—if we lost track of each other in mid-warp, we would get separated, which, in that climate, would be a disaster." He waited until he felt the others grab on to his arms, and then activated the crystal.

They felt the familiar sensation that they always felt whenever they teleported, but then they felt it interrupted, as Vincent had warned them, and heard another furious roar from the enemy warlock.

The next thing they knew, they had all landed together on a snowdrift, not quite in the right place, though they were in the shadow of the mountain—so close, and yet so far. But they were also in the middle of a blizzard, and the winds were whipping the snow all around them—Shaggy, in just his red t-shirt and jeans, was suffering the most, and quickly hugged Scooby close.

"Welp, Ganon's a sore loser. Also, when did they get to Sinnoh Route 216?" Mew asked.

"...Oh well. They made their way to a waystation, where it is true that Vincent's name has been cleared since the owner didn't give Vincent a second glance. However, he did had some problems at first giving Vincent and the gang some rooms due to not having currency. But after bartered with her earrings, helped with Flim-Flam's haggling skills, the owner not only give them rooms, but also a hot meal and spare winter gear. Plus, he doesn't object to Scooby and Scrappy staying at the waystation due to having three dogs, so he has a soft spot for them.

"And while Scrappy and Flim-Flam get some rest, Scooby, Shaggy and Daphne check up on Vincent, who is wondering what Shaggy exactly did to earn Ganon's wrath." Mew said.

"There was this glowing eye in that pool of dark magic you were trapped in, and when I was using the axe to try to free you from it, I accidently hit it when it showed up," Shaggy said, with a shudder. "…I don't think he liked that very much."

"And now he's marked you as another one of his victims," Vincent realized. "I am sorry, Shaggy."

"Like, I had to get you out of that stuff," Shaggy said. "Not even a coward like me could leave you in that—"

"You are not a coward, Shaggy," Vincent insisted. Scooby opened his mouth to say something, but Vincent cut him off, as well. "And neither are you, Scooby."

"Rhuh?"

"Uh… I think you might need some more rest, Mr. V," Shaggy said.

"I know what I'm saying," Vincent said, biting back a smirk. "A coward would never have come here and followed this far—and certainly wouldn't have faced a dark sorcerer when he didn't have any mana of his own."

"I've been trying to tell you two that for years," Daphne said. "I know Fred would always tease you two about how you always wanted to run from the crooks, but I know he would agree with me—Velma, too. When the chips were down, we were always able to count on you. And even now, when the monsters are real, that hasn't changed. If it hadn't been for your quick thinking back at the village, Mr. Van Ghoul might not have made it."

"See, Shaggy and Scooby? Even your friends have your backs. Plus, remember Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King and Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword. Now, only if Warner Bros. remember that." Mew said, glaring at the Warner Bros. logo.

"Anyways, Vincent thanks the three of them for helping him, Shaggy and Daphne ran in to save him. Plus, he heard the gang's voice, which helped him recover quicker than last time, which Shaggy put together the pieces that it was the witch hunt. Vincent proceeds to explain how he got caught during that time." Mew said.

"No, I suppose that, after all this time, maybe I can get some sort of closure," Vincent said. "Before all this started, I'd spent most of my time traveling on my own after the duel on that mountaintop. I was alone, and yet, I had the opportunity to meet people. One of these people—a mortal just like you—actually convinced me to let him travel with me for some time. However, he met an untimely end after helping me fulfill a rather personal quest."

"I'm sorry," Daphne said.

Shaggy and Scooby also offered their sentiments, as well.

"Thank you. But it was after this that I received word from Voudini about the trouble in Europe. I didn't want to lose anyone else, so… I made myself a target for the witch hunters to draw the attention away from the others." Vincent sighed. "The plan worked too well—the stories of how powerful I was were already a source of worry among my fellow mages—once the mortals got wind of that, I was—very quickly—their most wanted warlock."

"If you thought that was bad, wait till you hear about why other magic people fear Vincent," Mew said, his eyes full of sympathy for Vincent.

"I know the mortals were just afraid of anything that had magic," Shaggy said. "But why were the other magicians afraid of you?"

"You recall Lady Pallas mentioning about my ancestor who was the greatest sorcerer of his time—the one corrupted by Hades into breaking his vow and using his powers for evil?" Vincent asked. "Well, once I showed a similar level of skill with my powers, almost everyone assumed that, as his heir, I would be susceptible to the same corruption."

"That's just cruel and unusual, but kind of common. Folks usually think that people related to someone who committed crimes will end up the same way or even worse. However, Scooby thinks it's unfair for Vincent to be afraid for that reason, and Daphne even points out her own Scottish ancestry and that doesn't mean she does what they did." Mew explained, before looking thoughtful.

"Guess the family curse of being caught in traps was a myth, then. Glad we threw that logic out of the window." Mew said with a smile.

"Lucky for me—my ancestors were the English," Shaggy said, with a wan smile. "Well, before they came over and settled in Plymouth…"

"Nevertheless, it's what several other mages believed, and then the mortals believed it, too," Vincent said. "I'd managed to evade them for quite a while, but I got distracted…"

"Mr. Voudini said you stopped to help a child who was drowning," Daphne recalled.

"Yes. I knew I was throwing away my chance at escaping, and yet…"

"You couldn't just do nothing," Shaggy realized, seeing the parallels to what had happened back at the village. "Even if you knew you were in for it, you had to help someone who needed your help."

"I don't regret it," Vincent admitted. "Even if what happened next were the most terrifying moments of my life. There was no need for a trial—they knew what I was. They tied me to a tree trunk and set some kindling alight at my feet…"

He trailed off, shutting his eyes again, and he felt all three of the others hug him again.

"They tell Vincent he doesn't deserve being lit on fire due to how much good he has. Vincent, though, tells them that the child's mother did feel guilty for what Vincent went through and released him, allowing him time to escape to Tibet, where he spent the next three hundred years by himself. He's still surprised how he survived that time since he didn't have anyone to help him recover from that. Though, that's easy, Vincent: you have the power of family on your side." Mew said, spreading his paws outwards.

"We're glad you did," Shaggy said. "Like, where would we be without you, Mr. V?"

"Not here," he reminded them. "You'd be safe in the States where you belong."

"Do you really think that matters to us now?" Daphne said. "I can't believe that just before all this started, I was worried about my performance review for the Chronicle. That's so unimportant now—all that matters now is that we're all okay."

"Rhat means rhou, too," Scooby added.

"I am honored by your declarations of loyalty, in spite of the fact that I've repeatedly dragged you into my problems," Vincent sighed.

"Hey, it's not your fault everyone's in this mess, Vincent. It's Ganon's fault for losing a choo-choo train and not getting over it," Mew said.

"Hey, well, Scoob and I opened the Chest of Demons and dragged you into that, so we're even," Shaggy said, with a shrug.

"Glad that no one seems to care when it get brought up. Wonder why My Little Pony: Equestria Girls likes to constantly bring up the whole 'Sunset being turned into a raging she-demon' thing and saying no offense when anyone would take offense to being reminded of their worst mistake," Mew mused.

"…Actually, that has been my problem even before you opened it," Vincent admitted. "That personal quest I mentioned that took the life of my mortal companion? …I once had to recapture the 13 Ghosts, as well."

He hadn't been sure what to expect for their reactions, but, though they were surprised, nothing else in their attitude had changed, much to his relief.

"...What, you expect me to explain what happened? Read the two stories I mentioned earlier. Just know that Crystal Rose of Pollux actually keeps Mortifier dead, instead of what Warner Bros. did with The 13 Curses of Scooby-Doo. Heck, she even mentions it in the author's note at the end of this chapter!" Mew said, showing the author's note.

Notes: As I've mentioned before, I'm mostly ignoring all of the retcons that the Curse movie did, but I am keeping Vincent's backstory, as it really gave a lot of depth to his character and explained his initial fury at the 13 Ghosts being released again. The exception to this is that, in my timeline, Mortifer is actually dead—WB seemed to have forgotten (or just didn't care) for the Curse movie that Vincent was supposed to be over 2000 years old and had Mortifer end up surviving regardless of being a mortal (despite the fact that Vincent was significantly younger in the flashbacks with Mortifer, so, in reality, centuries would have passed). Coupled with the fact that I thought it was an unnecessarily cruel twist to bring Mortifer back the way the movie did, I think it's for the best. That being said, I fully intend to have Mortifer play a posthumous role later on in my timeline.

"But this does explain to Scooby, Shaggy and Daphne about Vincent's cold attitude towards the gang at the beginning and the reason Rankor and Nekara really wanted to do Vincent in." Mew said.

"Like, wow, that explains a lot," Shaggy realized. "Like why Nekara and Rankor had it in for you."

"Rhand why rhou were so mad at us rhat first," Scooby realized. "Rhe undid all of your hard work!"

"Yes, that was why I was… not as helpful as I should've been at the start," Vincent admitted. "I was more than a bit bitter, but I truly am sorry about that. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"But then you stepped up and helped us more than you'll ever know," Daphne said. "We were in it together, and now, we're in this together."

"And, like, we're gonna see it through together," Shaggy added.

"Rheah! Together!" Scooby barked.

And though he was not normally such an optimist, Vincent couldn't help but believe it.

"Soon, the sun rises and that creepy red moon is thankfully gone. The gang are prepared to climb up the mountain, which has a healthy dose of blizzards. And of course, it's time for embarrassment by winter gear." Mew said, laughing.

Shaggy was relieved to try on the winter gear that the waystation owner had thrown in with their stay; the tunic and snowpants weren't heavy, but they were incredibly warm and fit perfectly over his t-shirt and jeans. And an odd-looking headpiece that resembled feathery earmuffs covered his ears comfortably, and, based on Scooby's giggles, he clearly looked amusing in it.

"Laugh it up all you want, Scoob; this boy won't be freezing up on that mountain, that's for sure," Shaggy insisted. He sighed, glancing at his canine companion. "I wish we had a set of this winter gear for you and Scrappy."

"Rhe've got fur," Scooby boasted.

"You say that now, Buddy, but, like, we haven't even started our climb yet," Shaggy said, putting on the matching gloves.

Scooby harrumphed and followed Shaggy outside, where the others were waiting. Daphne and Flim-Flam were also wearing their sets of winter gear over their clothes, feathery earmuff headpieces and all; Vincent was wearing the tunic and snowpants over his tuxedo, but he had outright refused to wear the headpiece, instead opting to fasten his cape over the winter gear and turning up the cape's high collar to protect his ears that way.

"See? Even Vincent thinks the headpiece is embarrassing. And when Flim-Flam decides to take it off, Vincent tells him to keep it on, due to this being a 'do-as-I-say, not do-as-I-do' type of situation, which Flim-Flam whines about. However, there's someone missing. Where's Scrappy?" Mew asked.

"Where's Rhrappy?" Scooby asked, looking around for his nephew.

"Hey, I asked that question first!" Mew protested.

"Technically, you're reviewing this. So, Scoooby asked the question first," Regirock said.

"...STOP RUINING MY FUN!" Mew screamed.

"Regirock, we talked about this," Regice said.

"But it's true." Regirock protested.

"Dude. We talked about this last week." Regice affirmed his stance on the issue as he dragged Regirock away.

"Right here, Uncle Scooby!" Scrappy said, briefly poking his nose from beneath the collar of Flim-Flam's tunic. "And right here is where I'm staying—it's gonna be even colder on that mountaintop, and none of that winter stuff will fit me!"

"That's probably the best thing we can do for him," Daphne sighed. "Scooby, will you be alright?"

"Rheah, peachy!" Scooby assured her.

"However, Vincent isn't sure Scooby can handle the cold and gives him his cape and headpiece, which warms Scooby up. However, he worries about Vincent's well-being, since Vincent only has snow pants and a tunic over his tux." Mew said.

But Vincent gave the Great Dane a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about me, Scooby; I'll be fine," he said, and he then turned to face the mountain—and the damaged peak where his life had changed forever. "The climb won't be an easy one—and there's no telling what will be waiting for us on the way there, but I can't use my magic without attracting our enemy's attention."

"We've got this," Daphne replied. "You just lead the way."

Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, and Flim-Flam nodded in agreement, and Vincent once again faced the mountain trail.

"Then, follow me."

"And so they climbed up the mountain, much more treacherous than Mt. Silver and Mt. Coronet. They stopped at multiple abandoned checkpoints, resting up until they decided to rest for the night and see an aurora in the night sky, which amazes them since they have never seen that in Tibet." Mew said, smiling at the moment.

"That's 'cause we're not north enough," Flim-Flam said. "But you know what, aside from the aurora, the clear mountain night really takes me back!"

"…Flim-Flam, you're nine years old," Daphne said. "Just how far back can you even go?"

"Hey, having fewer memories means I can remember 'em better," the boy grinned. "But yeah, it was on a clear and cold night like this, three years ago, when I dropped in on old Vince for the first time."

Vincent glance back over his shoulder at the others.

"Call it a moment of weakness that I let him in," he intoned.

"He means mercy," Flim-Flam said, sobering slightly. "I… kinda underestimated how cold it would be—I'd probably have frozen up there if Vince hadn't intervened. But hey, I was six—what did you want from me?"

"But why would you even have been climbing those mountains when you were that young anyway?" Scrappy asked, briefly poking his nose out of the tunic again.

"Because I didn't want to go back to the orphanage," Flim-Flam stated. "I'd been on the run from them for a year—they wanted me to be someone I wasn't. 'Just be like all the other children—you'll be adopted in no time at all.' …Maybe I would've been. But I wouldn't have been happy."

"You know, this explains so much about why Flim-Flam tries to make a name for himself in the series. And he's not alone. Take it away, Daphne," Mew said.

"…You know, I understand that," Daphne said.

"You do?" Flim-Flam asked.

"Yeah. My father is a soap magnate—both he and my mother expected me to join the business when I turned 18, but I wanted to be an investigative reporter instead. There were a lot of discussions about it, believe me, but, in the end, I think they realized that I wouldn't have been happy with that kind of career."

Shaggy sighed; he'd remembered that period of time all too well—shortly after they'd broken up the gang after Velma joined NASA and Fred had left on his own to start his freelance writing career, Daphne's parents had called her home, leaving Shaggy with Scooby and Scrappy to adventure on their own. Shaggy remembered the frustrated phone calls he'd received from Daphne during that time about her worries that her parents would never understand her true ambition—until Daphne had finally called him up, excited to announce that her parents had finally accepted her decision. She'd taken it solo at first while Shaggy and the dogs still did odd jobs for his uncle until she'd finally offered for them to form an investigation team. And that had led to this.

"It does explain, in this continuity, why Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy were on their own during The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show, which, I'll admit, does have its own fair share of problems I might get to if I review that someday.

"And while Daphne points out there a difference between her standing up to her parents at the age of 18 and Flim-Flam running away from an orphanage at the age of 5, she does understand the reason why he ran away. However, Shaggy wonders why Flim-Flam went up the mountain Vincent was on in the first place." Mew said.

"Well, I ended up at one of the monasteries up in the mountains—naturally, we all quickly realized I wasn't a good fit there, either, but they still provided me with food and shelter since I was clearly in need of it. But I'd noticed that in the village nearby, people kept talking about one of the mountains, and not one of the famous big ones, either. Somewhere, they said, hidden among all the big peaks was a smaller one with a castle at the top—and in that castle was supposed to have been a powerful sorcerer who'd been there for the last three hundred years. They were calling it Jadhugar Peak—jadhugar is the Nepali word for 'magician.' I asked the monks what they knew about Jadhugar Peak, and though most of them didn't know too much, a few of them said that no one ever dared to go there on account of the sorcerer supposedly being the most powerful one ever known. One of the monks said that he still sensed a great power on that mountain, and that was enough for everyone to stay away—except me, that is. I knew I had to check this story out."

"Rhy would rhou go after hearing rhat?" Scooby asked.

"Hey, you know what they say—'go big, or go home.' And I had no home to go to," Flim-Flam replied, with a shrug. "I thought that, maybe, if I could work a little of my smooth-talking on this sorcerer, he could cast some sort of spell on the social workers to leave me alone so I could run around the village all I wanted. …I didn't account for the possibility of a blizzard complicating things, though. I don't even know how, but, somehow, I made it to the door of the castle."

"Starved and hypothermic," Vincent said, glancing back again. "I will never know what you were thinking, trying something like that."

"I told you, I was six—I wasn't thinking," Flim-Flam shrugged.

"Hmm, that was obvious…"

"But, you took him in," Daphne said. "After three hundred years locked up in that castle, you finally opened up."

"Which Daphne isn't wrong about, and Vincent knows it. Even when he tries to affirm his whole 'it was a moment of weakness', no one buys it and says they're lucky to have Vincent in their lives, which he shares the same feeling." Mew said with a bright, and adorable, smile.

He continued to lead the way up the mountain, pondering on how his reputation for going soft seemed to have reached new heights. It was one thing when his companions brought it up—for them, it was reassuring. But their enemy had also scoffed at him for being soft, as had the shadow witch.

Vincent glanced back behind him once more, surprised to see that the others had closed the gaps between them and were walking together, close behind him, ready to come to his assistance if need be.

There were worse things he could be than soft, he realized. And if these were the repercussions of being soft, well… He'd accept them—gladly.

"Also, Crystal Rose of Pollux cares about doing research on the area the stories take place in, which is rare these days." Mew pointed out.

Notes: I'm a stickler for details and actually spent a few hours trying to find which mountain in the Himalayas Vincent lives on. I narrowed it down to the Mahalangur Himal region on the Nepal-Tibetan border. It can't be one of the really tall peaks, as the gang and the deliveryman from Rankor's episode can reach it and stay there without the need for supplemental oxygen, and 16,000 feet (5km) is around the cutoff point for that… but I couldn't find any names for peaks that low, so I made up one of my own. Jadhugar is, indeed, the Nepali and Hindi word for "magician," so it made sense that the local villagers, having grown up hearing rumors of Vincent and his castle, would name the mountain after that.

"Did I mention I enjoy this person's take on The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo? If not, I enjoy Crystal Rose of Pollux hypothetical second season of this terrifying series. I take this over The 13 Curses of Scooby-Doo anytime." Mew said with a smile.

"Anyways, they are almost near the peak of the mountain and the weather is getting worse. However, the gang aren't complaining. I wonder why anyone thinks climbing up this mountain is treacherous," Mew said.

A crunch beneath his foot caused Vincent to pause, glancing down at his feet. He quickly stepped back, seeing that he had stepped on the bones of a skeleton half-buried in the snow. The skull had an elongated snout and a large horn—it clearly wasn't human, but, whatever it was, it wasn't alone; ahead, as the path continued upward, there were more of these creatures' skeletons lying in the snow.

"...Okay, I see why, now." Mew said, looking away sheepishly. "Of course, the gang notices the skeletons and asks Vincent about the creatures they belonged to, but Vincent has no idea. All he knows is that they had been there for a long time, since they were preserved by the snow, and the creatures must have died at the same time."

"Oh, like in an avalanche?" Flim-Flam asked.

"Perhaps… or, more likely, they got caught in the outer edge of an out-of-control spell by a young and reckless warlock…" Vincent said, the bitterness evident in his voice. "…I, most likely, am responsible for this."

Scooby, who had picked up the arm bone in his mouth, now let it drop back to the ground, looking a bit awkward.

"Are you really sure about that?" Daphne asked. "Remember, that other warlock has been trying his hardest to let your guilt do his work for him." She gave a quiet sigh, furious at how unfair it was that Vincent, as kind and caring as he was, could be gaslighted into thinking he was something horrible. His compassion was supposed to be his strength, not his weakness…

"Yeah, that's right!" Scrappy said, poking his nose out once more. "It's just been one lie after another with that big creep!"

"…I suppose it's possible that he wiped out all of these creatures to make it seem as though I did," Vincent admitted.

"Rheah, Rhi'll bet rhat's it!" Scooby said.

"At least they don't believe that Vincent would do something like kill creatures, even by accident. However, while everyone makes plans on what to do once they're back in Tibet, Vincent sees something that would chill anyone to the bones: CGI skeleton monsters!" Mew said in a panicked tone.

"Mew, there is no CGI in this story." Regice said.

"Then imagine those CGI skeletons from Young Hercules for this moment!" Mew countered.

"...Now I see what you mean." Regice said, visibly scared.

"Yeah, I say we just finish this home stretch and talk about this around the fireplace—maybe with some nice, hot tea," Shaggy said. "And maybe some of those tea biscuits, too…"

"Why not a whole meal?" Vincent snarked, glancing over his shoulder at the beatnik. He then froze, seeing one of the skeletons behind Shaggy suddenly emerge from the snow, standing to its full height, a whole head taller than Shaggy. The snout-like jaws opened, revealing jagged teeth.

These skeletons were the bones of monsters.

"Shaggy, behind you!" Vincent warned.

"Huh? What's behind—? ZOINKS!"

"And so everyone runs. But after Daphne nearly gets attack by one of these undead skeletons, Scooby decides to go on the offensive and bites one of the skeletons on the arm. However, he doesn't realize it's intending on throwing the arm, along with Scooby, off a cliff." Mew said, his voice trying to hide his terror.

The skeletal monster let out an angered hiss and shook its arm vigorously, but Scooby still clung on in spite of his fear. The creature then drew its arm back, Scooby still biting it, as though it was going to throw something—and its gaze was fixed on the cliff that the mountain trail ran alongside.

"Scooby, let go!" Vincent ordered, realizing what it was planning.

But Scooby didn't react in time; the creature swung its arm out… and then detached it. The momentum sent the arm—with Scooby still holding on to it—over the cliff.

"SCOOBY!"

"I can't look!" Mew said, covering his eyes...at first. "But I must. Mainly because how else am I supposed to see how this ends?"

The others' voices had almost been in perfect unison; they all ran to the cliff's edge, but Vincent had already had his hand raised—

"Levitate!"

"Well, Vincent saved Scooby. I don't know why I was so sc-" Mew began.

Swirls of green magic poured from his fingertips, wrapping around the falling dog and securing him. Scooby was shaking like a leaf as Vincent brought him back to the mountain trail, but only let out a panicked shout as, from their high vantage point on the slope, they saw a castle, far-off in the distance, suddenly erupt with a storm of dark magic whipping up around it—and in the middle of this storm of darkness was a large beast-like shape, with one of its eyes partly damaged as it glared in the direction of the peak, opening its gigantic jaws, and roaring. Even the monster skeletons stopped to stare at it, and Vincent quickly used his Temporal Chains spell on them to make sure they wouldn't attack while they were distracted.

"What… What is that thing!?" Daphne asked, as she, Shaggy, Flim-Flam, and Scrappy now hugged the terrified Scooby.

"It's him…" Vincent answered, staring at the beast. "He sensed my magic being used and finally showed himself. …But that wasn't how he looked the last time we met; I swear he looked human!"

"I literally want off this ride!" Mew screamed, somehow on a random rollercoaster of doom. Regice and Regirock were screaming in terror as well, while Registeel enjoyed the ride.

"Best ride ever! Bring on the screams of terror and joy!" He laughed like a maniac as the others screamed in fear.

That was, however, the least of their worries; the other warlock, realizing how close they were to the end of their quest, now sent several bolts of dark magic from his location, zooming towards the mountaintop. The snow whipped up as the magic swirled around the monster skeletons, and then, once the Temporal Chains broke, the snow and magic surrounded them, creating a monstrous-looking creature made up of snow and bones, carrying a sword made of ice in each of its skeletal hands. The creature leered at them as two glowing eyes appeared in the sockets of the large skull that served as its head—one of the eyes glowing less intently than the other.

The thing then raised one of the ice swords, aiming it at them, but Vincent quick cast Temporal Chains again, struggling to keep the creature in place.

"Okay, I'm back from the Rollercoaster of Doom and Terrors. I'm not sure how that happened, but I'm amazed that Crystal Rose of Pollux made Ganon much more threatening than how he is in Breath of the Wild. I mean, I'm surprised he's able to hunt down Vincent and the gang when he should be imprisoned by Zelda, who, the game has stated, has been keeping Ganon in Hyrule Castle for 100 years just by her at-the-time recently awakened powers alone. Crystal Rose of Pollux, Warner Bros. should hire you to make more The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo content, the correct way." Mew said, shocked, horrified and amazed at the same time.

"And once again, Vincent tries to get the gang to run off and leave him to his fate, but they won't accept it this time. Given the last time they left him, he almost burned to death." Mew explained.

"Can't you think of yourselves for once in your lives!?" he said, through gritted teeth.

"Because they care about you. Plus, you were the one who told Shaggy that having compassion isn't a bad thing, but a sign that a person is still good. So, Shaggy and Daphne drag Vincent away, breaking Temporal Chains, but he tells them that their plan won't work unless there's enough distance between them and the monsters. Luckily, Shaggy has a plan." Mew said.

"…I think I have an idea," Shaggy realized. "…I can't believe it's my idea, though." He gulped. "All those times I tried to convince Fred not to ask me to be the bait, and here I am, volunteering… And those monsters weren't even real…"

"Rhaggy…?" Scooby asked, concerned for him.

"Mr. V, I need you to cover me with that spell you used to save Scoob."

Vincent looked dead-set against it, but Shaggy had already let go of his arm and walked towards the creature.

"Shaggy, be careful!" Daphne pleaded.

"Hey, Double-Ugly!" Shaggy called. "Over here! It's me—the mortal with that axe, remember?"

The fiend turned on him, and Shaggy made his way towards the cliff's edge ever so carefully, as though he was backing away, intimidated.

"Regrets… regrets… regrets…" he stammered, his better judgement now kicking in. "Ohhhh boy, do I have regrets…"

The fiend charged at him with both swords drawn—

"Levitate!"

The swirls of green magic now surrounded Shaggy, pulling him out of the way just in time; the fiend was the one that was sent sailing over the cliff this time with a furious screech.

"The Gang: 9. Ganon: 0! Take that, Ganon! And as the gang finish their trek, Vincent muses to himself about why Ganon chooses to present himself in human form when giving Vincent and the gang mental messages, yet looks like a beast." Mew said.

It wasn't the threat of facing that creature again that was concerning him now; it was that form of the beast that swirled around in the distance, watching them. The enemy warlock had presented himself in his mental messages in his humanoid form; what had caused him to become this creature? Had it been of his own choice—a way to prove his dominion over the mortal world?

It wasn't the first time Vincent had heard of such a thing happening; his own ancestor's corruption had led to him either losing or abandoning his human form, as well, and becoming a demon—the final escaped captive of the Chest, in fact.

Had it been a choice? Vincent had heard back in his school days that a warlock's power could increase if they took a larger, nonhuman form. That had never concerned nor appealed to him in the past, so he had never followed up on finding out if that changed form was voluntary or not.

…But what if the metamorphosis was simply the eventual fate of powerful mages, no matter what they wanted? To eventually lose their very humanity on account of their power being too great to sustain a human form?

…And, if it wasn't a voluntary choice, then how long would it be before that fate befell him?

He suppressed these new, growing concerns; he had other things to worry about right now—the kids, first and foremost. If nothing else, he would, at least, ensure that they returned home safely.

"I hope Vincent doesn't end up with that fate. That's too cruel for him. And given his life before the gang entered it, that's saying a lot." Mew said with pity and sympathy in his tone.

"Anyways, everyone arrives at the crater made by Vincent's Ultima spell, where the gateway is located, due to him, Boris and Voudini never making it to the peak before getting attacked by Ganon. After some back and forth about whether or not the gate exists or not, Shaggy says he found it." Mew said.

"Uh… Would this gate be a bunch of weird shapes and squiggles all carved in a big circle?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes, those carvings would be runes that would need to be activated in order to open the gate," Vincent said.

"Groovy—then I found it."

They all glanced at Shaggy, who had been leaning against the part of the peak that had survived Vincent's spell, albeit after having been flattened by the spell; behind him, carved on the flat side of the mountain, were the runes he'd described. In the center of the circle were two depressions meant for hands—and, arranged in a star pattern around the central depressions were five more sets of depressions all around the edge of the circle.

"Rhow do we ropen it?" Scooby asked.

"Good question. And Vincent figures out the answers via the runes. Good news: the portal can take them back to Tibet. Bad news...well, I'll let Vincent explain." Mew said.

"This gate can only be activated by blood magic."

"…What does that mean!?" Flim-Flam asked, his eyes wide.

"Not what you're thinking," he assured them, seeing that they all had similar expressions, as though they were expecting something along the lines of someone needing to draw blood. "Blood magic is just an archaic way of saying that those who attempt an endeavor—in this case, opening this gate—need to have familial ties."

"Oh, so me and Uncle Scooby could do it?" Scrappy asked.

"You would be able to… except neither of you have any mana. If order for blood magic to work, at least one of the ones involved needs to have mana," Vincent sighed.

"Oh…" Scrappy said. "Gee, that's too bad."

"Magic has its pros and cons, and this is one of those cons. But, at least they are there for a reason. Without limits, people can do anything without consequences. And the gang don't even blame for their hopes being dashed, as they attempt to focus on something else, as long as they can get away from Ganon." Mew said.

Vincent just stared at them as they all moved to go back the way they had come. After he'd led them all here for nothing, dashing any hopes they'd had of going home, they didn't hold it against him. They didn't even think of asking him to try something else—no, they never asked him anything, save for that moment back at the village when Daphne and Shaggy had been pleading with him just to stay alive.

As much as he knew they would accept living here, in this dangerous and unfamiliar world, without complaint, Vincent knew he couldn't let them down now. They were too tired, too drained to climb down the mountain, especially with the threat of being attacked on the way down.

"Vincent decides to try and use all of his mana in the central depression to open the gate, even if it might not work and he'll be defenseless regardless of it working or not. But Vincent, not wanting to risk their safety, goes through with it, ignoring the gang's protests, as he attempts to open the gate." Mew said.

She was the first to run over, trying to pull his arm away from the gate, but he seemed to have put himself in some sort of stasis in order to completely focus—she couldn't budge him, not even slightly. Nor could the others, who had also run over to try to move him.

Daphne now switched tactics, hammering on the gate with her fists. It did nothing—until her hand struck one of the depressions on the outer edge of the circle. For the brief moment her hand had hit the depression, it had glowed with the same emerald green glow.

"Daphne, do that again!" Shaggy exclaimed. He placed his hands on another pair of depressions—which also began to glow.

"…But how?" Daphne asked, placing her hands back—and also causing them to glow. "How can we activate the blood magic lock?"

"Who cares!?" Flim-Flam replied, placing his hands on another set of depressions.

Scrappy placed his paws on another set, and Scooby stood up on his hind legs to place his paws on the final set.

As all six sets of depressions glowed, the runes carved on the gate began to glow—and then, the two halves of the gate began to pull apart, revealing another portal.

"Even Vincent is surprised at this. However, once Shaggy asks Vincent about the blood magic requiring family ties, Vincent speculates that it could mean a family of choice, especially since he called the gang his kids when Ganon threatened them in his dreams before the inn attack." Mew pointed out.

To think, at first, he had wanted as little to do with them as possible… And yet, without even trying, they'd ended up being the closest thing to family he'd ever known.

"Yep. The gang called it." Mew said, leaning back in his seat.

Another roar from where the swirling, dark-magic-powered beast drew all of their attention. He'd sensed the opened gate, and was, no doubt, attempting to summon the snow-and-skeleton creature once more—they could hear it thundering up the mountain path.

"Oh holy mother of me!" Mew exclaimed, falling backwards.

Mew then floated back up, rubbing his head. "With that proper motivation, the gang and Vincent jumps through the portal, shocking the sorceress, but not to the surprise of Bogel and Weerd." Mew said.

"Impossible!" the shadow witch screech. She glared at Vincent, who glared right back at her from the edge of the barrier. "You made it back alive!?"

"I hate to say 'I told you so,' but I told you so," Weerd quipped.

"Yeah, you underestimated them," Bogel added.

"Listen to those two, lady. They're the experts on these people." Mew said, before realizing something.

"Did I just agree with Bogel and Weerd of all beings?" He asked, horrified.

"You stay out of this!" she quipped at them, before glaring back at Vincent. "You should be dead. You were almost dead! How did you survive!? How did you break the lock on the gate!?"

"The answer to both of those questions is the same," Vincent responded. "My survival and my return were all thanks to… Hmm, what was the phrase you used? Ah, yes—those 'waifs and strays' that I'd taken under my wing!"

"But… the lock was blood magic!" she sputtered.

"It needs a new name," Vincent snarked.

"R-R-Roasted." Mew said, wearing sunglasses.

"However, it's too early to celebrate since the skeleton-and-snow creature rears its ugly head again, which the gang realize they forgot to close the portal. And then Ganon highjacked the crystal ball again to give a threat." Mew said, taking off the shades.

"Fools!" he thundered. "It matters not whether I end this in my realm or yours, but end it, I shall—make no mistake!" The snow-and-skeleton creature now pointed one of the ice blades directly at Vincent. "Step out of that barrier and accept your fate, Warlock, or I will unleash this beast upon every village in these mountains and all who live in them!"

"With no other options, Vincent steps out, but tells Ganon he won't go down without a fight, protecting his home and those he's protecting, which annoys Ganon to no end." Mew explained.

The other warlock's eye glared at the gang for a moment before turning his attention back to Vincent.

"You endeavor to protect that which is worthless," he declared. "You could have, long ago, made yourself a god among these mortals. You could have chosen to rule multiple realms. And you cast it all aside—for what?"

"You could never hope to understand," Vincent replied. He suddenly aimed his right hand at the snow-and-skeleton creature. "Fira!"

The ice blade that had been pointed at him now melted away as Vincent lobbed a fireball at it, leading to a growl of frustration from the other warlock.

"And when the sorceress attempts to attack Vincent, using dirty tactics again, he use Reflect against her Dark Fira, sending it to the creature, which piss Ganon off." Mew said.

"Veran, you fool!" the enemy warlock hissed.

The shadow witch looked slightly embarrassed.

"Her name is Veran? That takes away from her threat factor! Even Bogel makes fun of her blunder, pointing out that's usually something he and Weerd do, though Weerd pulls him into a snowbank, saying now is not the time." Mew said in between laughter.

The enemy warlock ignored them, realizing that he was limited with what he could do now.

"In his domain, he does, indeed, have the advantage. Heed me, Veran; use the gate and return to me—and bring me his emerald!" he ordered. "Let's see if he can keep singing his same tune once I've infected his emerald with my malice—if I cannot destroy him, then I will make him my servant!"

"Boo! You're a sore loser, Ganon! And the gang decide to help Vincent get the pendant back and get out of the clutches of the monster. Shaggy runs back in the castle to grab the Chest of Demons, Scooby and Scrappy bites the monster in the arms and Daphne tackles Veran, snatching the pendant and tossing it to Flim-Flam. However, Veran turned into a massive spider and has Daphne in her clutches, but Daphne tells Flim-Flam to help Vincent, which he does." Mew said.

Flim-Flam hesitated a moment, but nodded, running over and helping Scrappy with his arm that he'd been trying to pull back. With a determined growl, Scooby pushed off against the beast with all four paws, moving the creature's arm just enough to loosen its grip, allowing Vincent to get one of his arms free…

"Temporal Chains!"

Even as the beast froze in place, Vincent had teleported out of its grasp, reappearing between Daphne and the shadow witch's giant spider form, and reached his right hand towards the sky.

"Thundara!"

The giant spider emitted a pained shriek as the lightning bolt struck her; Shaggy, who was now running out of the castle again—with the Chest of Demons in his hands—did a double-take as he saw the wayward arachnid.

"Zoinks! Well, there's plenty of room in the Chest for both of 'em, I guess…!"

"However, only the monster got caught in the Chest of Demons, due to Veran escaping back to Hyrule, but at least the worst is behind them. Plus, Vincent got his pendant back." Mew said.

"That's that over and done with. Except, there's just one last thing…" He turned around, glancing at the nearby snowbank. "Shaggy, get the Chest ready."

Shaggy took a step forward, prompting Bogel and Weerd to pop out of the snowbank in a panic.

"Wait, wait!" Weerd protested. "We had nothin' to do with this!"

"It was all them!" Bogel agreed. "We were just gonna pick up the Chest after the barrier went down, is all!"

"Bogel…" Weerd fumed. He turned back to face Vincent and the others. "Look, we're going—we're gone!"

He vanished, prompting Bogel to yelp and follow suit.

"Despite what we hope, we know they will be back someday. But for now, Vincent convinces Daphne that they don't need to contact Voudini to get a mana potion and tells everyone that they need some rest since they can afford it, which they do.

"However, Daphne shortly wakes up due to her injured right arm she's gotten from Veran's spider transformation and goes off to heal it, while feeling guilt for Vincent's near death experience in Hyrule due to being controlled by Veran. However, she stops what she was doing when she hears footsteps, which turns out to be Scooby and Shaggy." Mew said.

"What are you doing here in the dark!?" Shaggy exclaimed.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here!? What are you two doing here!?" she returned.

"Rhe're hungry!" Scooby said, stating the obvious.

"Scoob woke me up because of his hunger pangs," Shaggy said, grabbing a bag of trail mix from one of the larder shelves and pouring it into a serving bowl. "And that was when I realized I was hungry, too. We hadn't eaten since we left the last rest stop on that mountain back in that place—but I guess we were all too wiped out to realize how hungry we were when we finally made it back."

He and Scooby each took a handful of trail mix, sighing quietly in contentment as they took the edge off of their appetites.

"Classic Scooby and Shaggy. When they're not being scared of fake monsters or even real monsters, they're eating." Mew said, laughing.

"However, the two do notice Daphne's injury, despite her attempts at hiding it, and try to get her to see Vincent so he can heal it, but she doesn't want Vincent to use more magic for a 'minor sprain'." Mew said.

"You're the one who tried to hide it," Shaggy pointed out. "And yet, you've completely switched to your left hand! That's what makes me think it's not so 'little' after all."

"Fine; if Mr. Van Ghoul is feeling better in the morning, I'll bring it up in the conversation," she said. "Happy?"

Shaggy paused for a moment before choosing his next words carefully.

"I know why you're acting like this, Daphne, but you don't have to. This is about the village, isn't it?"

She looked away for a moment.

"That and… other things. Everything, really." She looked back at Shaggy and Scooby. "Everything that happened was because of me. The shadow witch possessed me. I was the one who fell through the gate, and Vincent went in after me. Everything he went through—believing he was still a wanted man, nearly dying at the village, draining himself to get the gate open on the mountain—was because of me. And I know what you're going to say—that it was just bad luck I was the one the shadow witch chose, and that if she'd chosen either of you two, or Scrappy or Flim-Flam, nothing would've changed. I know that. But it was me, and so, he nearly died because of me!"

"Um, actually he would've died because Ganon...Not the time, I see," Mew said, as a truck full of tomatoes appeared over him, its headlights glaring at him.

"Anyways, Shaggy reminds Daphne that she helped save Vincent, only for her to counter that he wouldn't need to be saved in the first place if she wasn't controlled. She then claims Shaggy and Scooby don't understand what she's going through. Um, Daphne, are you forgetting a certain event that kicked everything off?" Mew asked.

"…Rhaggy and Rhi do understand," Scooby replied.

"Yeah," Shaggy sighed. "Maybe you forgot, but we nearly lost Mr. V twice before, and it was technically our fault—Scoob's and mine. Remember Nekara and Rankor?"

"Who could forget them?" Daphne stated.

"Rhe let them out of the Chest…" Scooby sighed, staring at the floor.

"Yeah, like, they never would've targeted Mr. V if we hadn't set them loose," Shaggy added. "We've been living with that guilt for a while."

"Daphne realizes her mistake and apologizes to Scooby and Shaggy, before she started questioning whether or not they should had listened to Vincent in Masks of the Gorgons and returned to the United States, only for Scooby and Shaggy to point out the flaws with that logic" Mew said.

"Whoa, like, wait a minute!" Shaggy exclaimed. "Now you're swinging way too much the opposite direction!"

"Rheah!" Scooby agreed. "Mr. Van Ghoul wanted us to stay rheventually!"

"That's right—Mr. Voudini said that sending us away was hurting him as much as it was hurting us," Shaggy added. "And there's something else you gotta consider here, too—how all six of us opened that gate on the mountain together."

"There's nothing surprising about that," Daphne said. "Vincent's been like family to us—that was enough for the gate to consider as 'family ties.'"

"That's just it!" Shaggy exclaimed. "It wouldn't have worked if Mr. V hadn't thought of us as family, too! If he wanted us out of it, we'd be back in the States right now with an amnesia spell to make us forget everything—we wouldn't even be talking about it! He may not say it, but he really wants us to stick around."

"…That's true," Daphne realized. "And he told us about what the witch hunters did to him—Mr. Voudini said that Vincent hadn't even told him about that."

"Rhou see?" Scooby said.

"…Yeah, I do," she said, managing a smile. "Thanks, Guys."

"Just as they're all about to leave the kitchen, though, they notice a light in Vincent's study and walk over there to see Vincent, who just recovered, paging through his books. Vincent wonders why they're awake, to which Shaggy explains that he and Scooby were getting snacks. Daphne was about to make her exit, but Scooby and Shaggy stop her by clearing their throats and glanicn at her injured arm, which Vincent notices." Mew said.

"What's all this about?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"It's nothing, really," Daphne insisted. "I think I sprained my arm during our struggle with the shadow witch. But I'm sure it's nothing—"

"Let me see," Vincent interrupted, tossing the current book aside, as well, extending a hand to them.

"Uh… I'm sure I'll be alright by morning, but if there's been no change, I'll let you know… Hey!"

She yelped as Shaggy and Scooby practically nudged her into the study, and, with a sigh, she walked over to Vincent and pulled the right sleeve up of her robe.

"Zoinks! You call that a 'little' sprain!?" Shaggy exclaimed.

Scooby whimpered in sympathy as he looked at her swollen elbow.

"Probably a hairline fracture, though I'm certainly not an expert," Vincent sighed. "Still, it's nothing I can't fix."

"But your mana—" Daphne protested.

"I have more than enough mana for this," Vincent assured her. "Esuna."

"While Daphne is reliefed her arm is healed, Vincent is wondering why she didn't bring it up sooner. Daphne explains that it's due to her making a promise at the village to never ask Vincent for anything if he woke up from his injuries he gotten thanks to Ganon. While Vincent thinks that's noble, he never agree to that and tells Daphne that what happened during this whole incident is not her fault, which Daphne says it's hard not to." Mew explained.

"Listen to me—all of you," he added, glancing at Shaggy and Scooby, as well. "Everything that I did—every single decision that I made—was completely my choice. That goes for everything that we've been through so far—the Gorgons, the 13 Ghosts, everything. I had every chance to stay on the sidelines while you went after the Ghosts—I even tried that, at first, as you recall. And once Lady Pallas started giving me assignments, I even tried sending you home. Neither of those stuck, as you very well know."

The three nodded.

"Nothing has changed with this," Vincent continued. "I could use the Time Scepter now to rewind time, and the only thing I would try to change would be preventing the shadow witch from mesmerizing you, Daphne—not because of what it led to, but because of the suffering you endured during it." He glanced at Shaggy and Scooby now. "And all three of you—well, all five of you, really—need to know that there is nothing that I wouldn't do to ensure your safety, and that, whatever it might be, would be my choice. …And you have all proven that the sentiment is returned, and believe me, I am grateful for it, even if I am vexed at you putting yourselves in danger. I can promise you that nothing, from my end, will ever change, as long as my humanity remains intact."

"Well, we're grateful, too…" Daphne began, but she trailed off as Vincent's last sentence sunk in. "Wait, what?"

"Uh, Mr. V, what did you mean by that last one?" Shaggy asked.

"That's what I want to know. Surely Vincent isn't saying what I think he's saying," Mew said.

"…You saw what became of that other warlock," Vincent said, after a moment. "I knew him when he was human—now, he is completely unrecognizable as that gigantic beast. The shadow witch, as well, transformed into that giant spider. It's something that I've seen and heard among powerful witches and warlocks—their power allows them to take on those monstrous forms and gain even more power. And my power ranks as high as theirs—and greater."

"Rhut, rhat doesn't mean that rhou're going to…" Scooby began, but he trailed off at the pained look on Vincent's face.

"My own ancestor did the same thing," he admitted. "And my power is said to surpass his. I've been searching through all of these books, trying to find out whether this is a voluntary transformation or not, but there is no clear answer. This same fate could be written in my blood, and I would have no way of knowing until it happens. It could be only a matter of time."

"…No," Daphne said. "No, I know it won't happen."

"We have no way of knowing for certain—"

"No, Vincent, stop it! We shall have no talk about you becoming a monster in your family of choice! Even Shaggy, Daphne and Scooby agrees!" Mew declared.

"Yes, we do," she returned. "You said it yourself—as long as your humanity remains intact. Well, you chose emeralds for your power stone—they stand for compassion, and that's exactly how you treat us."

"Yeah, that's right," Shaggy agreed. "You're a big old softy, like Flim-Flam said. What can be more human than that?"

"Or dog!" Scooby added, prompting the others to give him a bemused look. He shrugged, and continued. "Rhe're here for rhou, Mr. Van Ghoul! Rhe know rhou could never be a monster!"

"They're both right," Daphne agreed. "That other warlock and the shadow witch only cared about power. And while I don't know anything about your ancestor, I'm pretty sure he didn't prioritize his family like you." She managed a smile. "I'm still sorry that this happened—but I'm not sorry that we got through it while realizing where we all stand. And I know I speak for all of us when I say that we'll most definitely stand by you."

"And that there'll be no transforming into a monster on our watch!" Shaggy added.

"Rheah!" Scooby barked.

They all proceeded to hug him again, prompting him to sigh in slight exasperation.

"You know, I'm almost beginning to get used to this," he said, eventually returning the group hug.

"Good," the others chorused.

"See, Vincent? They gave you evidence on why you won't become a monster. Heck, you hadn't even become a monster duing your 300 years of solitude. And Scrappy and Flim-Flam come into the room, joining in the group hug, despite not understanding what's going on." Mew said with a happy smile, looking like he was gonna burst from the amount of happiness.

And Vincent, still slightly exasperated—but still very grateful to all five of them—decided that there was truth to what they said after all. Why would he ever seek out power, or even anything else, when he had something far more valuabl

e right now?

They were, as he'd called them, "his kids." And they were, clearly, here to stay.

And that suited him just fine.

"Oh, and we also have this author's note at the end." Mew said, showing it.

Notes: And that's the end of this fic! Thanks to everyone who supported it! I promise that the next installment of my 13 Ghosts "Season 2" will be much more lighthearted and in the spirit of the original series. I'm not entirely sure when I'll be starting it, as I want to tackle an original project in November for NaNoWriMo, but there's every chance in the world I might start part 3 of my 13 Ghosts series at some point in November if inspiration is persistent (and, at the current rate, it definitely is).

Also, if anyone wants to know the full list of all of the Legend of Zelda references I managed to fit in to this fic, just ask.

"And that's What's Past is Prologue. It's does a great job of making putting dark themes and yet not having it drag the characters down. Heck, she even managed to make Ganon a much bigger threat than we can ever believe, and anyone who can do that has my respect! Sure, there are a couple of minor errors with the words she uses, but otherwise, this is a great second episode and I can't wait for The Pleasant Valley Poltergeist to be completed so I can review that someday." Mew said with joy.

"Anyways, see you all next time, on whatever review I'll be doing. This has been the Critical Mew, and I review these contents so you don't have to. For now, I'm joining a group hug!" Mew shouted as he flew off to Tibet.

"...He doesn't know, does he?" Regice asked, concerned.

"Know what?" Regirock asked, concerned.

"He's gonna do a review on a movie based on Hallmark Greeting Cards that features talking, mutlicolored bears! I requested it!" Registeel shouted, as Regirock realize the problem.

"...Oh no." He said.

Next time: The Care Bears Movie

Credits:

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo

The Legend of Zelda games

Final Fantasy games

Peter Cottontail(Rankin-Bass)

Crystal Rose of Pollux's The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo Second Season project

Pokémon Black and White Versions and Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 Versions

The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries

Pokémon Gold, Silver, Crystal, Heartgold and Soulsilver Versions

Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum Versions

Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across The Second Dimension

Nostalgia Critic and Channel Awesome

AVGN

Billiam

Jontron

Bulbapedia

And thanks to you guys for reading this review.