Part Three

Shaggy wasn't having the best day of his constant-fearing life. He had only just been discharged from hospital the week before after his infamous confrontation with the phantom hippy hater when he had been hit repeatedly with an aluminium baseball bat. Then during his hospital stay, he'd only managed to eat half of what he was eating normally and told to sleep all the time, which had really cheesed him off. Talking of food, he'd had nothing since breakfast and now he found himself crawling up a tube, so narrow he'd get stuck if he didn't keep moving, towards a rocket that Buddy Ford's big company thingy was preparing to launch in less that five minutes.

"Like, why are we doing this again?" he asked

"Mits ma mit mard mo may manything mith mour moot min my mouth!" Mumbled Fred, who was crawling up behind him.

"What was that Fred?"

"He said, it's a bit hard to say anything with your foot in his mouth" replied Velma, who was behind Fred.

Daphne was behind Velma with Scooby bringing up the rear. She was squirming. "Ew! Gross!"

Velma sighed, as this had happened about five times already "You found another bug Daph?" she asked.

"No, your skirt!" Daphne answered "I've never seen it up this close before, I mean what were you thinking where you bought it? Does red really do anything for you?"

Fred pulled Shaggy's trainer out of his windpipe and tried to get a view of the rest of the gang through a gap in his legs. It was very hard as a leader to give orders to the gang when all he could currently see immediately in front of him was Shaggy's bottom. Nevertheless he called backwards and hoped someone heard him. "We've got to keep moving" he said "This rocket's going to launch any minute!"

"Rocket? Ruh-oh!" Scooby gulped. He'd been in rockets more often that a dog should have and his experience hadn't been nice. Long remembered was his narrow escape on the moon level whilst escaping from the phantom virus.

"Scooby's right, I don't like the sound of this" Shaggy whimpered "Rockets go whoosh and turn you inside out and stuff."

"Rinside out?"

"That's right Scooby"

"No it isn't" corrected Fred "Now keep moving…"

He was interrupted by the sound of announcer over the sound system. "Ready for take off in 5…"

"Great" groaned Fred "Now we'll miss the launch!"

"4…"

"Rorry" Scooby apologised

"3…"

"It isn't your fault Scoob" said Shaggy

"2…"

"No it's yours" Velma alleged.

"Hey!"

"1…"

"What a really really big waste of time!" mumbled Daphne

"Lift off aborted." Came the sound of the dead-pan announcer "Would the owner of the blue and green van please come to the front desk"

Everyone looked at Fred.

"Don't look at me!" Fred protested "I gave it to some valet parking guy in the carpark"

"Fred, this is a rocket launch site." Velma informed him "Valet parking?"

It dawned on Fred. "Ooops"

"Can we just get out of here?" Shaggy groaned "I'm not as claustrophobic as the next dude, but this is really starting to freak me out"

Fred agreed, and getting his own back on the shagster, head butted the beatnik up the tube until he collapsed out on the other side of the pipe.

"Like… ow" was all he could say as the others climbed out after him.

"Buddy Ford's rocket." Said Velma "'Fava Dasas'" she read off the side. "What do you suppose that could mean? It's not Latin, or Greek or anything."

"It reans trouble!" Scooby wailed

"It means that the answer is going to be inside that rocket. That's the reason we're here" said Fred, already starting to make his way up the entrance ramp. "There's something in there that they don't want us to see, and since they won't launch until the mystery machine is moved, it gives us ample time to look around"

Tentatively, the gang stepped through the airlock and into the 'Fava Dasas', only to find in horror, that the door slapped shut and locked itself.

"Jeepers!" Daphne cried, jumping into Fred's arms "We're trapped!"

Scooby looked out of a small porthole to see a dark figure running away. He seemed to have microphone headset on. Maybe he worked in the control room. Velma rushed to the controls and clicked on a mass of different coloured keyboards.

"The atmospheric pressure is depressurizing" She babbled "Before long we'll become more squashed than a claustrophobic sardine in a trash compactor!"

This news had led the distraught Shaggy and Scooby to start howling, huddled up in the corner in the room. "I'm too young to die! I just finished collecting all the coupons for the mega veggie burger at the Coolsville drive-in!"

"Pull yourselves together you two" ordered Fred "We're not done for yet. Right Velms"

Velma looked at the rest of the gang with a tiny teardrop in the corner of her glasses. "I'm sorry Fred" she said "I'm sure you wanted it to end with a battle with a monster or a werewolf. But there's nothing, I can do. These controls are configured for in-flight use, the air purifying systems are back at command HQ"

It dawned on Daphne "I can't die. I'm too pretty to die! Tell her she's wrong Freddy! We can call for help surely!"

"soundproof casing" muttered Fred, eyes fixed on the floor.

A silence hung for an eerily long time. Shaggy and Scooby began to cough.

"Like, this is it dudes. Time for the air to ship out"

"If we go out, we go out together, right?" Fred said.

"Right" said the gang.

Up above them, Buddy Ford observed the gang's slow death with a knowing grin. "Switch to Camera five" he said. The petrified staff obeyed him. "It's better this way." Said Buddy "the death of Mystery Inc on National television. You'd be surprised how many people will watch this. War movies, beat-em-up video games, we welcome death. Let's home the gang will"

"Freddy. I just wanted to say… I love you"

"Back at you Daphne"

"Goodbye old Scooby old buddy old pal"

"Rye Raggy"

Velma herself, opened her mouth to say her goodbye, but the air had already escaped her lungs.

Mystery Inc were dying, and there was nothing they could do about it……