Author's Note: Hey everyone! So, I just got out of my first week at my new school and I'm happy to say I survived from the homework they suddenly gave me (For now...)! Also, I should probably mention that my school work could get in the way of my writing schedule, so I probably won't be able to update my stories as frequently as I would like. I'm sorry, but my school system is very strict to make sure all the students get the best education they can and I have more responsibilities so... Yeah. Also, I'm working on a Pokémon horror story on DeviantArt and a Wicked Fandom (Yes, Wicked has caught my attention, but my passion will always be with Pokémon!) story. So I'll be pretty busy. But now, just enjoy this chapter by Joltie! :D
SHOUTOUTS-
Joshua Ketchum: Don't worry, things will be resolve soon... But until then, enjoy the suspense of this chapter!
Omarnosian10: That... Is an undetermined suggestion who's fate will remain undetermined until the series continues.
Guest #1: Well, there's no music sadly. Yeah, Ash has been through a lot and he was using his willpower so he won't recover so easily.
Satoshi-Greninja: That... Is completely undetermined since I haven't found the inspiration for it. If it makes you feel any better, my Pokémon horror story shows the connection Ash and Greninja have, but it will take a while for that scene to happen.
Blaze: Yeah, but Officer Jenny doesn't know that. Classic "you got the wrong guy" idea.
Lightwing: They are a lot of things we don't know about Shaggy, do we? :)
Darkwing: That is one of cartoon's greatest mysteries we can never figure out. Basically saying that Janitor thinks he can make it big as a performer and he loves the classics.
Matt: I know! I just found that "Dictate my will" line and I absolutely love it! Also, I really can't imagine anything in Shaggy and Scooby's will other than food. Um, I'm not into those AAA horror games because I've still mentally recovering from seeing a man's head getting and seeing everything going across-um, I probably shouldn't even mention this in a K+ story. But if it makes you feel any better, the horror story I'm making for Pokémon on DeviantArt is based on the RPG Horror Games known as "Mad Father", "Witch's House", and "Corpse Party" so there's that! You'll have to wait until I upload it this weekend, though.
Mr. R: Well, Stan knows Taku well and while he did dressed up as the Specter, he had good intentions, just didn't do it right.
Guest #2: Thanks Steel! (I can tell it's you just by the way you write.) Let me guess, Looney Tunes nostalgia? Sorry about the errors, can't do much about them. Uh... I SAW NOTHING! *Runs away*
Storygirl000: It's probably one of Shaggy's "I don't get scared so easily" moments. Bet you anything that he regrets it now. ;)
Chapter 5
The children looked up at the figure that was blocking their exit in fear. Although they weren't awake during her first appearance, they instantly knew who she was and she was hideous. That hair, those eyes, that hideous sharp teethed grin. Bonnie realised that her older brother was cowering behind her; Dedenne had hidden itself deeply in her pouch. Serena was clutching onto her crush's jacket who was shaking slightly but doing his best to hide his fear from the others. One of them needed to be strong right now. The cogs in his mind were whirring, coming up with a plan for escape, a plan to get everyone out safely without problem.
"WeLl, WeLl, WeLl, WhAt Do We HaVe HeRe?!" The Puppet Master cackled, holding her box closely to her chest. "A bUnCh Of RoUgE cHiLdReN aNd A rAt!" What she hadn't noticed, and what she should have really noticed was that, whilst the kids were backing towards the dressing room's table top, one of them was grabbing it in a way to use the edge to jump up onto it. The events that occurred then happened in quick succession. Whilst the Puppet Master was distracted with winding up the music box, Ash pushed himself onto the table top and used it to jump in the air, aiming his foot at the animatronic's music box.
The Puppet Master realised his intentions as she saw him, lowering her box from his line of kick, not knowing the ten year-old had planned that to happen. Using the box as a push off point, he managed to land a foot onto the animatronic's face, making her fall backwards, losing her balance.
"Come on!" He yelled to his friends, all of whom were looking in awe at his acrobatics, Pikachu applauding from his space on the floor.
"I so want you to teach me how to do that!" Bonnie grinned as the group ran out of the dressing room, not knowing how much of a head start Ash had managed to buy them.
"Maybe later!" Serena said kindly before turning her head towards Clemont. "Get in contact with Shaggy! We need to talk to him!"
"Right!" Clemont pressed a few buttons on his wrist communicator, trying to get it working whilst in panic. "Shaggy! Scooby! Come in! Can you hear me?!"
"Loud and clear, little dude!" Relief spread through the group as the oh-so-lovable and familiar voice responded to the call.
"We need you two to direct us through the theatre!" Bonnie took over, jerking her brother's arm closer to her mouth, causing him to protest against the sudden faster pace he had to run at. "We're kind being chased by an ugly old robot." A loud screech made the kids turn their heads around as the Puppet Master ran after them, having changed forms into a hideous six-legged monster, obviously outraged by being called both ugly and old in the same sentence.
"JuSt YoU wAiT uNtIl i GeT mY hAnDs On YoU, bAsEbAlL hEaD!" She screeched, causing the children to look each other in confusion until they realised what she had meant.
"Baseball head? Did she just call me Baseball head?" Ash sounded more annoyed than angry, obviously because the robot thought up of a name because of the hat he was wearing, an old fashioned style of nicknaming enemies which was totally not creative.
"YoU aNd YoUr TwErPiSh IdIoTiC fRiEnDs WiLl FeEl My WrAth!" The Puppet Master shouted, not knowing what implications her words had caused. Ash stopped running, his friends flying past him as he turned on his heels and dashed in the direction of the robot, anger covering his features.
"ASH!" The Kalosian citizens stopped as well, wondering what in the name of Mew had gotten into their Kantonese friend. He ignored them, building up momentum until he placed all of his weight onto one foot and led his other into a turning kick, using the built up force in smashing his limb into the robot's face. Needless to say, it worked.
The Puppet Master went flying backwards, crashing into the nearest wall, becoming an entanglement of leg limbs and robotics. Quickly, Ash turned and ran back to his friends, noticing their looks of pure disbelief.
"What? She said horrible things about you. I thought it was right thing to do." After a quick glance back to their chaser, a smile formed on his face. "Also, I think I've just brought us some more time."
"Hello, like guys? What's going on over there?!" Shaggy's worried voice echoed through the communicator, causing the four to remember the fact that they had actually made a form of contact to their friends in the security room.
"Long version or short?" Clemont asked with a nervous chuckle.
"Uhh… short." Scooby spoke up for the two adult males this time.
"Ash just basically gave the robot a face kick to remember, literally, I think he caused a dent." Serena chuckled, remembering the event with glee and joy. The line was silent for a moment before two voices of pure shock and horror screeched loudly at them.
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah… I understand if you can't comprehend it…" Clemont said with a slight shrug of the shoulders as he ran however Shaggy's voice spoke up once more.
"That's… AWESOME! Like, way to go Ash!"
"Reah! Rawesome!"
The raven haired boy blushed slightly as he laughed nervously, Pikachu grinning proudly from the floor as he ran on all fours. "Thanks guys, it was nothing really."
"You were saying?" Bonnie gave her older brother a sly look of sass which the inventor really didn't appreciate, especially since the Puppet Master had gotten untangled and was after them once again. The robot looked livid, increasing her speed as she rushed after the children in a rage over being called names and being kicked in the face twice.
"Directions please, and quickly!" Serena cried as she turned her head back slightly only to pale as she noticed the Puppet Master closing the sizeable gap between them.
"Right!" There were scuffling sounds in the background as the two Mystery Inc. members rushed around trying to find out where the GPS of the communication device was until it was silent for a moment.
"Gotcha, turn left at the next turning!" Following the instructions, the children made the quick skidding turn as they followed the path that Shaggy and Scooby were making them follow. However, there was no doubt behind it, they trusted the two with their lives and wouldn't question them with something as important as this.
Bonnie looked over her shoulder, noticing that the Puppet Master was no longer behind them, causing suspicion to rise in the young girl's mind. Since she wasn't looking at where she was running, she didn't notice the piece of upturned rug which her foot caught in, causing her to topple to the ground with a loud yelp. Obviously her friends and brother, stopped running, turning back to go and help her out however, from her position Bonnie realised that the chase hadn't ended yet, the robot was just using her spider like legs to walk on the ceiling. The Puppet Master let go, landing mere inches away from where the eight year-old had fallen, pure evil glee rising on her metallic features.
"BONNIE!" The others shouted with worry, fear travelling through their bloodstreams as the eminent was about to happen yet, it didn't. Dedenne jumped out of Bonnie's pouch, cheeks sparking as it prepared itself for a Nuzzle attack. Pikachu also jumped up from the ground, using a weak Thunderbolt to power the Nuzzle up. As Dedenne made contact, the robot's movements became sporadic; seizures distorted her body with arcs of electricity leaping off of her metallic figure. Seemingly, after minutes of painful screaming, the Puppet Master powered down, the electricity seemingly have damaged her circuits.
"Did that do it?" Ash asked, having a nagging feeling in the back of his head that this insane mechanical monstrosity wasn't down for the count.
"I think so." Clemont muttered, helping his little sister up as he spoke. "Electronics, when over powered, stop working. Fuses melt, circuits are damaged beyond repair and certain vital mechanisms are destroyed, rendering the machine useless and to some extent, unusable."
Bonnie was ignoring her brother, choosing to stroke Dedenne and Pikachu on their heads. "Thanks for saving me, you two." She grinned happily, to which the two electric types squeaked out their own joy back. Hey, they were getting a free head massage. She stopped when the whirring of locks entered the children's ears. The Puppet Master was rebooting and relatively quickly. Her eyes flashed open as she cackled, back in her normal form.
"TwAs BuT a ScRaTcH." The robot brushed her arms as if she was getting dried dirt off of them. As the children backed away, she pushed herself forwards, twitching every now and again making her seem even creepier than she already was. Suddenly, one of the kids had a bright idea.
"Look! It's that security guard you love!" Serena yelled, pointing behind the Puppet Master, who turned around with hearts in her horror movie-like eyes.
"WhErE?!" However, the guard wasn't there, causing her to growl before turning around to find the children… gone. She screamed angrily as she realised that was another diversion. Oh, she was so going to cause pain for those kids before she hypnotised them with her music.
"How on Earth did you know that thing was in love with this hall's security guard?!" Clemont questioned as the group of four ran through the hallways and corridors, sometimes getting information from the two in the watch room.
"Guessed." Serena began blushing suddenly, showing that she was lying. "Well, guessed from the fan base's assumptions…"
"The what?" Ash raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was talking about.
"Looks like Serena has been reading fanfictions and shipping stories!" Bonnie teased in a sing-song tone, earning her a glare from the older girl.
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Serena still had a blush on her face, showing the others that she had been, oh boy. There was no time to comment back on that however, a horrific roar from the end of the corridor told the children that the Puppet Master was right behind them and ready to strike!
For the next ten minutes, the children tried to lose her, going every twist and turn that Shaggy and Scooby told them to go down but failing to get the monstrous robot off of their backs. Nothing was working, not even running in circles to confuse her. She was gaining on the kids, all of whom were tiring out due to all of the additional exercise they were performing; Clemont was near enough about to pass out. Soon they would be in deep trouble. The robot behind them was cackling and the fear behind getting caught was the only thing keeping them running. However, trust a certain someone's clumsiness to keep them from being caught.
Ash had managed to get his foot caught in a long rug, making him stumble but nothing much else happened, unlike the Puppet Master got onto it. Due to the stumble, a large amount of the rug was bunched together and, since the floor was actually polished wood, her six legs only worked together to pull the rug towards her, not allowing the robot to move anywhere whatsoever. For the kids however, it was a God send. In a space where the rug once was, a sewer grate.
With all four children working together, they managed to pull up the cover in an immense struggle that drained them of most of their remaining energy. By then, the Puppet Master had untangled her legs from the fabric of the rug, leaving one thing left to do.
Jump.
Ash went first, falling silently until a splash was heard below. Serena followed, with Bonnie having to push her brother screaming into the hole before she grinned and jumped down, curling herself into a ball for added affect when she hit the water. The Puppet Master reached the sewer entrance and growled, there was no way to get those children now, she'd have to wait until she could find another way down there safely or when she next saw those rascals. Slowly, she turned around and left, the children sighing in relief when her horrible face left their sights.
Clemont was glad that his wrist communicator he invented was waterproof, especially after his little sister's dive-bomb. "Was that even necessary?"
"Of course!" Bonnie grinned, noticing how drenched her brother and friends were. "At least it was clean water and not dirty stuff!"
"She's right about that." Serena muttered; picking up some of the water in her cupped hands which looked as see through as it normally would. "This must be the entrance pipe. I guess we got lucky, right Ash…" She looked up to notice that her friend had turned a shade of white as he trembled. "Ash?!"
"Shaggy and Scooby! That robot's probably out for them now!" He turned to face Clemont with a stern leader like expression.
"Clemont, get in contact with them as soon as possible!"
The Gym Leader nodded and saluted jokingly. "Yes sir!" He turned on the communicator, glad once again that it was waterproof.
"Shaggy, Scooby… do you copy?!" A few moments passed without a word, worrying the gang until the crackled voices of their friends filled them with relief.
"Reah! Rhat's up?!" Scooby answered.
"Guys, the Puppet Master is heading your way!" Ash responded; realising how he had just phrased the situation and gulping, awaiting the outburst he knew would happen. And yet, moments later he got it. Two loud, terrified screams caused the communicator's tiny speakers to nearly cause the device to explode.
Shaggy and Scooby were panicking like crazy. Whilst they were glad to hear that the kids were okay and free from the Puppet Master, they now had to worry about themselves. Running around the security room seemed the best way for them to try and relieve the rising fear inside of them.
"HEY! LISTEN UP!" Bonnie's voice entered their ears and they stopped for a moment. "The room has doors you can lock, preventing anything from getting in! Just lock them; this place has infinite power after all!"
"You hear that, Scoob?" Shaggy turned to his best friend, swallowing a large lump of saliva in his throat. "This is like a real Five Night's at Freddy's."
"Roh great…" Scooby groaned, now wishing he had played the games alongside his friend now. Shaggy pressed the buttons on the doors, shutting them instantly. As the two looked outside, they realised how close that the shutting of the doors had been to their near evident attack as the Puppet Master screeched at them from the outside before a look of cunning plastered her plastic features and she disappeared from view. Minutes passed and they had seen no sign of the robot on the cameras. Apart from the wading of the children in the sewers, they heard nothing. What exactly was the Puppet Master planning? Shaggy decided to find out what their younger friends were up to now.
"Like, you guys okay?" He asked, waiting only seconds until he got his response.
"We're fine Shaggy!" Serena said with enthusiasm, apparently happy about something. "We're almost out of the sewer system and will be waiting for you guys at the front of the Lumiose Hall!"
"Roh-kay!" Scooby answered before both sides went quite once again before a scrapping sound coming from the air vents entered their ears. "Rhat's that?!"
"You did seal the air vents, didn't you?" Clemont inquired through the communication line. "That's one of the other ways she can get in otherwise…" However, the warning came in too late. The mechanical arm of the Puppet Master stretched out of the vent shaft, her glowing purple eyes causing Shaggy and Scooby to scream in terror and hug each other shaking. Before the robot could fully make her way into the office, the hippie pressed the door button opening it for an easy escape.
"Like, exit stage left!"
"Reah! Reft!" Scooby agreed as they dashed out of the office, disappearing down the hallways towards the exit so that they could meet up with the children. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them, not looking backwards at all or even caring that they could. The two didn't even noticed that they had passed the reception until the cold Lumiose air hit their faces and they slammed the doors shut, trapping that robot inside. And just to make sure, they nailed boards across the front of the doors.
"Umm, isn't that a bit too much?" Shaggy and Scooby turned around to see Bonnie with her hands on her hips, giving them a confused expression, the others behind her, all of them were dripping wet with the sewer system's water.
"No way!" Shaggy shook his head violently. "Nuh-uh! Not with that thing in there!" The kids just gave each other un-amused looks and shrugged their shoulders.
"Whatever you say Shaggy." They said in sync, not caring how creepy that sounded. They were waterlogged, tired and just wanted a good night's sleep. Now all they needed to do was find Taku.
If there was one thing that Taku Ketchum could ever say about a bank robbery is that the ones on TV were nothing like the one in here and were more realistic, and that's saying something with the way TV is. Broken shards of glass from the windows and doors littered the floor, the vault's door had been pulled so harshly and by so many people that it had been ripped off its hinges. He shivered at the thought of multiple people being able to do that in a hypnotised state, trying to quench their thirst for money.
The Ketchum family in general hadn't really been rich, not to the point of being millionaires like he was but then again, Taku had built his business up on his own two feet and nothing else, his parents gushing over his brother's Pokémon training over his education. However, by the time he was earning singular millions, his parents finally decided they'd focus on him over his brother, causing relations between the two siblings to hit an all-time low. Taku was too interested in the business to search for any love life, leaving his status as single whereas his brother married a small town girl from Pallet named Delia, and to be honest, the two really did love each other and the marriage wasn't out of spite. However relations between the brothers remained edgy, until that one day.
Taku wasn't surprised to hear that the two had decided to have a baby, many married couples did and since they hadn't had the child before marriage, his parents were respectful of Delia, calling her the daughter they had never had. He was travelling to Viridian from the continents when a panicked phone call from his parents made him change his plans to Pallet Town instead. At first, he thought someone had been hurt when only his father and brother met him, only to find out he had a baby nephew instead. As long as he would live, Taku would never forget first holding Ash in his arms, the smile that he got and that tiny hand holding one of his fingers. His brother had taken him aside and asked if he could stick around, saying he really wanted his brother to be a part of his son's life. All because of one baby, the brothers' relationship had been patched up to a degree and they could cope with being in the same room.
As time passed, the Millionaire found himself constantly at the flat in which Delia stayed at above the restaurant in which she worked, the one which his brother had moved into, looking after his nephew when both of the boy's parents were extremely tired or both at work however that rarely happened as the League only asked his brother to attend a meeting once a month. He noticed the flat wasn't good enough for raising a young boy and was dangerous for both the parents and the baby, so he offered to buy one of the two story houses in the town for them instead, which was heavily thanked by both his brother and Delia. It didn't take long to find which one they wanted, a red roofed one with a large back garden and a plot of soil at the side for planting floors. Oh, and by a large back garden, I mean some of the fields surrounding the house's location were also a part of the buy. Perfect for when Ash was older.
At times, Taku wanted to thank his brother for letting him stay around as he managed to see some of his nephew's firsts. The first word Ash ever said was "Mama" then "Papa" and, third place "Unky" and yes, all happened within quick succession of the other. He could also remember his nephew's first steps. As far as Taku knew, Ash had never shuffled or crawled, just sat there watching the adults until one day, a few weeks after his first birthday when Delia and Taku were watching him whilst chatting, he had grabbed the top of the coffee table, pulled himself up, and took a few wobbly steps towards his mother, arms outstretched. Delia had yelled at her husband to come in the lounge right now with a camera, which he did, recording a happy moment in the family's life.
Things continued swimmingly until Ash was four, Delia and his brother had been arguing a lot and, for a week, Delia asked if Taku could look after Ash. Of course, having done it before, he happily obliged, realising that the situation in the house wasn't good for a four year-old to be around. However, a week and a half later, more than planned, Delia called Taku up crying saying that her husband has left and wasn't coming back, abandoning herself and her son for no apparent reason. The millionaire was angry with his brother, livid, fuming. Words couldn't describe the emotions he felt. He then promised Delia that he would support her and Ash for as long as they needed and he'd be always there for his nephew and kept that promise, taking the boy on holiday trips so Delia could have some time to herself, coming over for birthdays and just randomly visiting when he had the time.
Taku was so deep in his thoughts that only a knock against his foot brought him out of it, looking down to see an old mechanism. It was slightly rusted, it looked like a…
"A spring lock?" He picked it up, studying the thing closely, realising it was similar to the ones Mr. Fazbear showed him back then he was invited to the restaurant. But, what was one doing here? Unless…
"Uncle Taku!" A familiar voice called from outside as a group of children, two Pokémon, one dog and a hippie rushed into the bank, gasping for breath.
"Ash! What's wrong?" Taku asked, wondering why they all looked scared and were slightly pale, except for the fact they had just been running.
"Mr. Ketchum, we need to get out of here now!" Serena said quickly, a stern expression covered her face as she talked. "The blockade Shaggy made didn't hold and now she's out!"
The millionaire looked at them all in bewilderment before inquiring about what he wanted to know. "Who's she?"
"Like, ask her for yourself!" Shaggy trembled as everyone looked outside the entrance of the bank. A short while away, coming towards them was the Puppet Master herself.
She couldn't help but grin when her eyes laid themselves on the cowering children and those two idiots from the music hall, however, another man was with them, this one she knew all too well, that billionaire. Now she could add them to her hypnotised army and there would be no one to stop her. She pulled out her music box, grabbing the handle and cranking it around revealing the tune for the entire city to hear and, oh boy, did it hear. In homes, cars, out on the streets, people fell victim to the entrancing lullaby and began to respond to their master's whim. The Police station was experiencing a full on break out as people caught from the original robberies were doing whatever they could to escape, some hypnotised police officers were helping them out and everything was becoming the embodiment of chaos.
As soon as the Melody began to play, Shaggy and Scooby helped to cover the ears of Serena, Ash, Bonnie and Taku, the Pokémon not being affected by the melody at all. However, that left one person without any protection.
"Big brother!" Bonnie cried worriedly, however she relaxed slightly when her brother showed no signs of becoming hypnotised. He even blinked and gave them a confused look.
"Why are you all staring at me like that?" He asked, causing everyone to sweat drop.
"That explains the torturous singing we hear from the showers at the Pokémon Center." Serena sighed, placing a hand on her face.
"Yeah, it's big brother who's tone deaf, not Ash." Bonnie added, looking extremely unamused.
"Why does everyone assume I'm the one who's tone deaf?!" Ash shouted exasperatedly, raising his hands up to the heavens as if to throw his question up there. When the melody was over, the hands disappeared from the not-so tone deaf people's ears as the Puppet Master growled at them.
"My MiNiOnS oF tHe NiGhT!" She commanded as the hypnotised people began to gather in the square. "We WiLl ObTaIn RiChEs. BuT fIrSt, GeT tHaT bAsEbAlL hEaD aNd HiS fRiEnDs!"
"Again with the Baseball head?" Ash sighed before Shaggy dragged him away from the entrance as they tried to run from the danger surrounding them however, it was too late. The many hypnotised people had now encircled the group. Shaggy could even see the blonde, brown, and orange hair colours of Fred, Velma and Daphne as a part of the horde of people, wondering how on Earth they got out of the Police Station. However, there wasn't time to ponder on it. Right now, the gang had only one thought running amongst their minds.
They were trapped.
