Chapter 13: The Forest Illusion

Outside in the real world, everyone stood around Ford's body. No one spoke for long time.

"Is he—" Stan dared to ask.

Dipper had fallen to his knees, almost hyperventilating. Mabel sat by his side, rubbing his back, trying to calm him down.

"Great—Uncle Ford—I—" He dropped the piece of paper as he began sobbing.

Stan just looked at his brother's body. "God, no—" he whispered. All at once, he got up and began kicking Ford in the ribs. "You arrogant bastard! I frickin' hate you!"

"Mr. Pines, stop it!" Soos pulled him away. Stan breathed heavily as tears ran down his face. "Why didn't he just let be the one to sacrifice myself?" Stan turned and punched a nearby tree, which with his brass knuckled didn't hurt that much.

Suddenly, a low moan came from behind the tree. The Creeper stumbled forward, still bearing the gunshot wound.

"Zoinks! Creepy's back!" Shaggy wailed.

"Oh, I am not in the mood!" Stan yelled. He drew his fist back and punched the monster in the face, forcing the creature to fall unconscious onto the ground.

Everyone stared down at the monster that lay motionless.

"Well, that's one way to get rid of the monster," Fred said.

"So, what's up with this all of the sudden?" Stan asked gesturing at the Creeper.

"We don't know," Velma answered. "They just came out of nowhere."

"Yeah, like there was also the zombie," Shaggy said.

Stan pounded his fist into his hand. "Zombie, huh? I can take care of him."

"Yeah, we heard about your track record," Fred responded. "But we shouldn't have to worry about the zombie. I hit it with the Mystery Machine." Stan's eyes widened.

"Your brother insisted we do that," Daphne said crossly. Stan looked silently over at Ford.

"So, now what?" Dipper asked. His eyes were really red from balling his eyes out earlier.

Stan sighed. "I have no clue, kid."

"But, what happened to Bill?" Mabel asked. "Is he gone?"

"He'd better be!" Stan fumed. "After all of that crap!" Shaggy looked over at Scooby.

"Like, Scoob, can you talk again?" Scooby opened his mouth.

"Ruff!" Scooby barked.

"Like, oh no. Scooby still can't talk. Like, didn't Ford say Scooby would talk again once Bill was gone?" Velma picked up the journal page Dipper dropped.

"Which incantation did you read?" she asked him. Dipper pointed to it. "What's this one then?" Velma put her finger on the words below it.

"I don't know, " he answered. "Why?" Velma read the Latin to herself.

(From beyond the living awake and breathe again).

"This sounds like an incantation to bring someone back to life," she said.

"Oh great, we can make Ford a zombie," Shaggy wailed. "Like he wasn't already dangerous enough before."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Stan said. "Bring him back!"

Dipper stared down at his great uncle's body. He did want him to be alive, more than anything. But...

"What if, when we bring him back, we bring Bill back too?" Dipper wondered.

"Would that happen?" Daphne asked.

"Are you serious?" Stan raged at Dipper. "I thought you of all people, would want that man breathing again." Dipper covered his eyes on the verge of tears again.

"I do! But—"

Mabel put her arms around her brother. "I think I understand what Dipper is saying. We don't know what that incantation will really do.

As everyone stood around, a low growl came from some underbrush a few feet away. All eyes went to the sound.

"N-now what?" Shaggy stammered. Scooby began growling back. He closed in on the brushes.

"Who knew that your dog's voice being taken away would make him braver," Stan said. "He's acting like a real dog."

"Yeah, but we don't know what's over there," Fred said. "Be careful Scooby," he warned.

Two beat red eyes stared out at everyone.

"What weapons do we have?" Stan asked. Soos put the bag of guns down and pulled out the pistol. "Alright! That's what I'm talking about!" He took the gun.

"Again with the guns?" Fred asked, aghast.

"What's with you?" Stan asked.

"This is not how we do things," Velma said. "Look, we tried it your way, but maybe we can offer something too. Let's combine our methods."

"So, what are you thinking we should do?" Dipper asked.

Suddenly, the beast from behind the brush jumped out into the open. Everyone stared at a fury creature on two feet, stretching out its claws, its dog-like snout snarling.

"Zoinks! It a werewolf!" Shaggy yelled. Stan pointed the gun at it.

"I don't have silver bullets, but I'm sure it'll still go down!" Before Stan could pull the trigger, something jumped down from the tree above, tackling him to the ground. The gun flew out of his hand and into another bush. Stan looked up into the big yellow eyes of a giant cat-like creature. Stan let out the most horrified scream. Dipper ran at the creature, swinging his bat. However, the cat creature easily blocked the attack, breaking the bat in half.

"Now can we use guns?!" Stan yelled. Suddenly, a bullet rang through the air, hitting the cat creature in the chest. It fell off of Stan and rolled onto the ground. Stan quickly got to his feet. He turned to see Soos holding the other pistol.

"Good Job, Soos. You're getting a raise!"

"But, Mr. Pines, I own the shop now."

"Do you want the raise or not?"

Soos gave a big, wide smile. "You bet."

The cat creature and the werewolf now closed in on the group.

"Okay, so like what's the plan now?" Daphne asked.

Fred looked down at Ford's trench coat. The magnum was in its holster. He took it.

"Looks like we're going to have to do things differently this time, gang." He held the gun out. The werewolf charged. Fred fired the gun, sending a bullet through the creature's head.

"Since when can you shoot a gun, Fred?" Daphne asked.

"Are you kidding? I used to shoot guns all the time at the shooting range with my dad." The beast seemed unaffected as he charged again. Soos shot at the werewolf, hitting the front of his skull. The werewolf staggered backward.

Stan finally retrieved his gun and aimed at the cat creature coming at him. The bullet would have hit the creature in the head if it didn't jump over Stan, landing behind him. Stan whiled around and shot, hitting the monster in the face. What was strange was that the creature didn't bleed. None of the creatures bled for that matter. There wasn't any liquid at all.

As the battle continued, the fire that had started into the woods began spreading, getting closer to everyone.

"Oh my Gosh!" Daphne yelled looking out at the flames. Velma studied the fire for a moment.

"How is there no smoke?" she said.

"What do you mean?" Daphne asked.

"Well, you know, smoke and fire come together. However, I don't see any smoke and I don't feel any heat either. With a fire this big, we all should be sweltering being this close to it." More gunshots went off. The girls, along with Shaggy turned to watch the struggle with the monsters. No matter how many times each monster was shot, they just got back up again.

It was at that moment they heard someone chanting. Within the flames stood a figure wearing a tribal mask. He hopped around, doing a native dance.

"Who is that?" Shaggy asked.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say its that witch doctor from that mystery in Hawaii," Velma said.

"He's standing right in the fire, but it doesn't seem to affect him," Daphne said.

"What? Something else we have to kill?" Stan asked, trying to avoid the cat creature's claws. "Soos, shoot this thing!"

"I'm out of bullets, Mr. Pines," he answered.

"So am I!" Stan yelled back. "What other guns do we have?"

Dipper pulled out the rifle with the night scope. "Gimme that!" Stan grabbed it, aimed at the cat creature and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the creature head on, but now, it didn't even slow the monster down.

"What the hell?!" Stan yelled. He turned to the others with terrified eyes. "I seriously don't know what else to do!"

"Then let us come up with a plan," Velma said.

"How about we run!" Shaggy yelled. He ran off.

"I can't leave Ford behind!" Stan shouted. Soos picked him up and carrying him over his shoulder.

"I got him, Mr. Pines." Everyone ran away from the monsters and the rising fire.

They ran towards a clearing from the trees up ahead.

"Alright everyone, I have a plan to catch those three, but everyone is going to have to play their part," Fred said.

As the three monsters approached the clearing, Shaggy, Scooby, Dipper, and Soos stepped out into the open, wearing fire marshal uniforms. The three monsters stopped, staring at them, not knowing what they were doing. Soos waved his hands.

"It's okay Dudes. We're going to get this fire under control. We just need you three to go to the right path over there," he pointed to a dirt path leading away from the clearing. The monsters looked at each other, confused and then followed the path.

"Like, keep going down that way. You'll see the painted X's on the trees," Shaggy said. After, the monsters left out of sight, Dipper turned to Shaggy.

"Okay, that was weird. Why did they listen to us?"

"Like, I never know why, but we've done these charades a lot and they always work," Shaggy responded.

Meanwhile, Stan was with Fred, and Mabel stood with Daphne and Velma. The girls all wore nurse outfits. Ford stay lay unconscious on the ground, now with a blanket covering him. Suddenly they heard footsteps. The monsters looked at Daphne, Velma, and Mabel pretending to tend to Ford's injuries. Fred and Stan hid behind the trees each holding a long rope tied to the branches up above. Fred turned to Stan. "Okay, you remember what to do?"

"Yeah—I guess. This is the weirdest way I've ever seen someone catch three monsters," he said.

As the monsters approached the girls, Daphne turned towards them holding a first aide kit.

"Don't worry, we have plenty of these to go around," she said. "Where are you injured?" she asked. The monsters looked at one another in confusion. "I see a burn mark on you," she said to the werewolf showing his scorched fur. Daphne wrapped a bandage around his arm.

"Okay, now we need you three to stand in that circle," Velma said pointing to the spray painted circle on the ground. "You'll be safe there."

"Are they really going to fall for it?" Stan whispered to Fred.

"It looks like they are."

Stan rolled his eyes. "Then they're the world's dumbest monsters."

The cat-creature, werewolf, and witch doctor all stood in the circle. Suddenly the leaves gave way and all three fell into a deep hole.

"Okay, now!" Fred yelled. Both he and Stan let go of their ropes. A big net came down on the monsters "We got them!" He and Stan ran over to the girls.

"Great job!" Velma said excitedly.

Shaggy led the others over. "Like, did it work?" he asked.

"See for yourself," Fred said, looking down into the hole. The monsters still struggled to get out of the net.

"So, usually we do the unmasking here," Daphne said. "But, we already determined their real, so—" She turned to Fred. "Now what?"

"Maybe we find out what's going on with this fire," Dipper suggested.

Mabel sat next to Ford still. "Can we bring back Grunkle Ford now?" she asked sorrowfully.

"I guess, this is a good time to try," Dipper responded, taking out the journal page.

"Hold on," Velma said. "I read the incantation. There are also directions. You can't be a direct family member." She took the page from him. Dipper smiled.

"Thanks Velma," he said.

"You don't need any ingredients this time?" Daphne asked.

"Nope. However, I need everyone to stand at least five feet away." Everyone listened. Velma touched Ford's head and started speaking the Latin words. As she did, the powder he breathed in earlier came back out of his nose and mouth. Suddenly, he coughed. His family members all turned with hopeful expressions. Then, Ford sat up.

"Y-you're alive!" Stan yelled as he ran over. He stood there a moment. Part of him wanted to punch his brother in the face, but all he ended up doing was throwing his arms around his twin.

"Stanley?" Ford's hoarse voice spoke. He looked around at all the happy faces. He grabbed his head. "I'm—alive? How?"

"That journal page also had an incantation to bring you back," Dipper said. Ford gritted his teeth with fearful eyes. "What? You weren't supposed to read that one!" Dipper turned away.

"What's the big deal?" Stan asked crossly.

"The big deal is that Bill was inside my mind and the first spell destroyed my mind with him inside."

"Oh God! Was I right?" Dipper asked. "When we brought you back, we brought him back too?"

"I don't know," Ford answered. He tried to stand, but his legs felt weak. Using Stan, he gained his balance. Suddenly, Ford grabbed his right side where Stan kicked him. "Why do my ribs hurt?"

Stan avoided eye contact. "Have no idea," he said quickly.

"Well, anyway, there's one way we can make sure that demon doesn't take physical form again. Have you found his stone body yet?"

"We had no idea we should look for it," Velma said. At that moment, he heard the cries from the monsters in the hole. He walked over and looked down.

"What in the world?" he cried out.

"Yeah, so, these monsters showed up and we tried shooting them, but it didn't work," Stan explained. "And there's this fire." Ford looked at the flames engulfing the woods.

"This isn't a real fire," he said finally. "I can't believe I let the illusion trick me."

"Illusion?" Fred asked.

"Do we have anything that can break a stone statue? Like a sledge hammer?"

"We have a drill in the Mystery Machine," Fred answered.

"Okay, I'm going to need it," Ford responded.

After getting to the van, Fred looked for the drill.

"Okay Shaggy, where is it?" Shaggy put a hand to his chin. "Gee, I don't know, Fred." Fred groaned.

"Just as well, you need to plug it in," Velma said. Suddenly, Soos saw something hidden under the front seat. He pulled out a long handled hammer.

"Will this work?" he asked.

"Yes!" Ford answered excitedly.

Back in the woods, the group followed the fire blaze until they all saw a chasm in the middle of the forest.

"What the hell?" Stan cried out. Ford moved towards the giant gap. Peering inside, he saw a red glow. It was as if he looked into the gateway into another dimension. "This is really interesting," he said. "This is a new one. I've never seen anything like this."

Scooby sniffed around the area. Suddenly, his nose hit something hard. He looked up to see a stone triangle with a top hat and one eye carved into the stone. He began barking wildly.

"Like, what's up Scooby?" He just barked. It took Shaggy a moment to realize that was the only way Scooby could communicate now. He walked over to see.

"Yikes! It's Bill!" He ran the other way. Fred stopped him.

"That's a stone statue, Shaggy."

Ford looked over at it. "You found it!" He took the hammer in his hand. Everyone watched as Ford approached the statue. His eyes stared coldly at it. He could feel Bill within the sculpture and maybe still inside him. He raised the hammer and swung down, making contact with the stone. He swung over and over again, grunting as if getting out every aggressive emotion he ever felt towards the triangular being.

Finally, the statue lay in grumbled pieces. A strange energy evaporated from the pieces. The fire disappeared along with the chasm. Ford leaned on the hammer, breathing heavily. He almost fell over from exhaustion. Stan put an arm around him for support.

"Feel better?" he asked. Ford smiled.

"Yeah, I actually do." A tear fell from his eye; he wiped it away. "It's actually over."

Suddenly, Scooby stood up on his hind legs. He tapped Shaggy on the shoulder. Shaggy turned to his pal.

"Ri'm rungry!" he said.

"Oh, okay Scooby, We'll get you something to eat— Wait a minute! Scooby, you're talking again!"

Fred and the girls turned to Scooby.

"Scooby?" Daphne asked.

"Reah!" The gang hugged the Great Dane, all going on about how they were happy to have him back.

Everyone walked back towards the van. It still sat in poor condition.

"Are you going to be able to drive this?" Ford asked Fred.

"I don't know." He checked the tires, which looked fine. However, when he tried to start the van, it showed something wrong with is battery.

"Don't worry, I'll fix it," Soos said. "Pop your hood." Fred did so and Soos got to work. In a matter of moments, the van started again. Everyone climbed into the van. Fred put the van into gear and drove towards the Mystery Shack.

Author's Note: This chapter may have been a little too silly. I wanted the Mystery Inc. gang to capture the monsters like they do in the show. This story is almost done. There will be one more chapter after this one. Again, I've had fun writing this and I'm glad for the support.

Thanks.