Chapter Five:

Meet Mystery Incorporated


Sonic and Amy walked outside the diner with Shaggy leading the way and Scooby walking next to the two hedgehogs.

Scooby often rubbed his head against Sonic's side and looked up at the speedster with a smile and the blue hedgehog pat him on the head. He even scratched the back of Scooby's ear, which made the dog happy, and Amy gave Scooby a little pet on the back.

"Like, there's the gang over there, fellas!" Shaggy told the hedgehogs in a happy mood.

A blue and green-colored van was parked outside the motel with the words "MYSTERY MACHINE" written on the side of it, Sonic spotted a trio of people standing around the van as Shaggy pointed them out.

Two of them, an orange-haired girl in a purple dress with pink leggings and a brown-haired girl wearing a gold sweater and an orange skirt, appeared to be looking at their luggage bags, probably checking to see if they had everything.

The other person, a tall and muscular blonde man wearing an orange ascot, white-colored shirt and long pants was examining the van's engines.

Right off the bat, Sonic recognized them all.

"Yo!" He called, "Fred, Daphne, Velma! Great to see you, guys! How's it going?"

"Like, wow, you sure do know us." Shaggy chuckled.

The rest of Mystery Inc looked up from what they were doing and turned to face the group. "Oh, hey!" Fred said with a wave, "Did you and Scooby get something to eat, Shag?"

"Um, sort of." Shaggy said, "Scooby went to get a chili-dog and we just happened to run into these fellas right here as they were about to have some chili-dogs." He gestured to Sonic and Amy, "And, like, he ended up getting to their chili-dogs."

"Hi." Amy said.

"Sup?" Sonic said with a wink.

"Scooby didn't give you any trouble when he came for your food, did he?" Fred asked.

"Absolutely not, Mr. Jones." Sonic replied in honesty, "However, I was a little unsure about him having my food, but sharing is caring and so I shared a chili dog with him."

"My Sonic is a sweet guy." Amy nodded.

"Wait a minute, hold the phone!" Fred held up a hand and approached Sonic, "Aren't you Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive, the guy who's given bad guys like Doctor Robotnik a massive headache multiple times over?"

"That's me." Sonic grinned, "Fastest hedgehog in the world at your service."

"Jinkies!" Velma exclaimed and adjusted her glasses, "I did not see that coming, we came here for a vacation getaway and, by coincidence, the famous Sonic the Hedgehog is in town and likely here for a vacation as well. Talk about fate!"

"Oh my gosh!" Daphne ran up with a notepad and a pencil in hand, "Sonic, I am such a huge fan, I once got my hands on a plushy of you at the local carnival and it was so cute! Merch based of famous heroes is all the rage, c-can I have your autograph?"

Sonic grinned and signed the autograph for Daphne. "Nice to meet a fan." He said, "I've heard so much about you and the rest of the gang, your appearance is exactly the way I imagined."

"Because you're very handsome and that makes you an irresistible magnet to women." Amy told the speedster with a dirty smirk.

"Oh, c'mon, Amy." Sonic chuckled, "Don't tell me you think I have a crush on Daphne…"

"You have a crush on Daphne?" Scooby asked.

"Great." Fred groaned, "Daphne's about to have another suitor."

"No-no-no-no-no." Sonic said quickly, "Who said that I had a crush on Daphne, I was just telling Amy not to assume that I was. C'mon, why would I steal your girl, Fred?

"You two are perfect together. You guys are way past cool, I've followed your activities for some time. The Mystery of the Moon Temple, you really got that Creepy Cowler real good."

"Like, we know what we're doin'." Shaggy quipped with a wink.

"As long as you two are cooperative and don't do your crazy scaredy cat act." Fred told the green-shirted mystery solver sternly, "Recently, during the Motorpark Pirate Case, you were way more cowardly than normal. For crying out loud!"

"Sorry, Fred." Scooby moaned.

"What happened?" Amy asked.

"Long story…" Velma said, "Shaggy and Scooby were begging for us to let them go while we were TRYING to catch that Motorbike Pirate Maniac aka Marco Yelhop Flike."


-Flashback-


Motorcycle engines roared, accompanied by the sound of spooky laughter and screaming as the cloaked Pirate Maniac pursued Shaggy and Scooby through the garage with the two running for their lives.

The Pirate Maniac was hard on their tail and the two wouldn't stop running and screaming.

Somewhere close by, Fred waited in the shadows with his net trap, Velma and Daphne were on lookout and would let him know when it was time to spring the net. Closer and closer, their friends were running like mad and their crazy motorcycle-riding foe was gaining speed traction.

It wouldn't be long, closer and closer…

"WE QUIT, WE QUIT!" Shaggy cried, "NO MORE OF THIS, NO MORE CRAZY MYSTERIES LIKE THIS!"

"WE'RE OUTTA HERE!" Scooby wailed, "EVERY MYSTERY SOLVER FOR THEMSELVES!"

The two turned and started scrambling over cars, heading for the garage exit as the biker pursued them. Fred face-palmed, he couldn't believe those two were luring their target AWAY from the net trap. It would take a while, perhaps another day, many more hours.

By hook or by crook, they would catch that nut and solve that mystery, no matter what it took. But still, it was hard to work with people when they were so freaked out all the time.

"DARN IT, SHAGGY AND SCOOBY!" Fred yelled.


-End Flashback-


He took a bit to take it in, then Sonic slapped a hand to his head with shock. "Dang, I mean, wow." He said, "Sure, your mysteries can be nuts, but I guess that mystery was way more nuts than normal."

"We've dealt with far crazier things." Velma remarked.

"Like the time Shaggy and Scooby met the Goblin King," Daphne commented, "And we were too busy looking into a shady magician's actions at the local carnival to even join them on that wonky adventure in the Halloween world."

"Man, usually those supernatural spooks you faced on your mysteries are just regular folks in crazy costumes." Sonic quipped, "Those cases I'm most familiar with, but hearing that you dealt with real monsters and real ghosts is wild, and you're lookin' at a hedgehog who's not only fought a mad scientist, but has dealt with ghosts, sinister genies, sorcerers and evil deities."

"He's also dealt with space aliens too." Amy added.

"So have we." Velma said, "Even though some of them have been fake aliens."

"Speaking of crazy..." Scooby said, looking at Sonic in the eye, "Didn't you race The Flash once?"

"WH-WHAT?" Sonic yelled, throwing up his hands, "Who said I did, I never raced The Flash?'

"Eh, we heard otherwise." Fred said smugly.

"And my secret is out…" Sonic groaned; the memories finally surfaced as he finally admitted the truth to everyone.


-Flashback-


He zipped across the grassland, racing at high speed, going at maximum velocity. The hedgehog looked back, his equal was right behind him and gaining fast, but Sonic could go faster and he grinned with confidence as he kept running.

"You're too sloooow!" He sang.

"Too slow?"

BOOM!

A massive force of energy knocked Sonic off his feet and he sprawled to the ground, his face making contact with the ground. He groaned, feeling dazed, and looked up to see a massive red blur. The Flash was running even faster, yellow lightning streaked around his red aura.

The Flash then hollered out to the hedgehog in a nearly mocking tone, "YOU'RE TOO SLOW!"

'You take this one.' Sonic groaned, he rose to his knees and lowered his head.

It was on this day, he learned an important lesson, one that he would take to heart for the rest of his life; Never race the Flash. Sonic was still a hero, the Fastest Thing Alive. And if he wanted to keep that title, he would continue protecting the world with his speed.

And if he ever raced anyone, it would be individuals who were not like The Flash.

'Never race The Flash, unless you want to take the punishment of being knocked out of a race with him.'


-End Flashback-


Sonic lowered his head, feeling embarrassed. The memory replayed in his head, then the memory of Eggman laughing at him afterwards played. It took a while, but the memories of the race and its aftermath soon subsided back into the back of Sonic's mind as he regained his self-confidence.

"Yeah, uh, sorry about that." Amy said apologetically, "That's an incident he doesn't talk about very much, it's kind of an embarrassment to him. But he and The Flash are still on good terms, they've met up a few times and have had friendly chats about each other's lives."

Fred chuckled, "And our team-ups with the Batman are very rare, it's not very often when you team up with other mystery solvers or famous celebrities."

Sonic then raised his hand, a thought coming to his mind. "So..." He said, "I was just thinkin'. Since you guys are in town and we know each other, you, uh, wanna try solvin' a mystery?"

"Not now, Sonic." Daphne said, "Cool idea though."

"Besides…" Velma added, "We came here for a vacation."

"However, there is ONE mystery that I wanna deal with." Fred looked at Sonic, "And that mystery is you, Sonic. How the heck are you so fast and where did you get your super-speed, what's the source of your power?"

"Heh-heh." Sonic chuckled, "Well, honestly, the answer is that I was born with super-speed, not much I can say about that there. That is a good question, though."

"Well, there is a mystery that you fellas can solve."

Everyone turned. Walking towards them, dressed in a black hat with a black suit was a blue-eyed and orange-colored badger girl with a monocle on her right eye. The badger was eying each and every single one of the group with a smile, a very sweet smile.

"Name's Sticks, Sticks T. Badger." Sticks introduced herself, "I'm the one runnin' this town and we couldn't be honored to have the likes of a world hero like Sonic here."

Sticks shook Sonic's hand and the hedgehog accepted her greeting with a casual smile, even though he was a little uneasy with this politician. Sticks seemed to give off multiple vibes.

The first was a warm and welcoming vibe and the last vibe she gave off was the vibe of someone who was likely shady and a little nuts, mostly because of that scratchy voice.

"Hey, uh, Sticks…" Amy waved, "Nice to meet such a fine town leader like yourself."

"And I take it that this girl is your assistant?" Sticks asked Sonic.

"Sh-She's my girlfriend and one of my most trustworthy allies." Sonic replied.

"Well now, that's a good thing, I like a hero with a girlfriend that anybody can trust." Sticks then looked at Mystery Inc and back at Sonic, "And your arrival couldn't come at a much better time, like I said, I have the perfect mystery for you guys and it involves recent events that are afoot, this mystery is about... the Ghost Biker."

"G-G-G-GHOST BIKER?!" Shaggy and Scooby screamed with trembling teeth.

'Oh boy.' Sonic thought, he looked at Amy, who gulped nervously. The two hedgehogs looked at Mystery Inc and then, they looked at Sticks, who grinned ominously...