Author's Note: Guys... Only two more chapters left after this one... *Makes Markiplier Noises*
Oh man, I'm super sad right now! I can't believe this story is almost over, and I love writing Shaggy and Scooby with the XY Gang! I mean, I know I have other stories to work on, like my Horror story and my Wicked story, but still!
Wait... I suddenly feel happy. Why did I feel so happy?
I know why... I saw the last episode of the XY&Z series.
Oh, yes... You know what I'm talking about if you watched it.
*SPOILER ALERT*
SERENA KISSED ASH! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
AMOURSHIPPING IS OFFICIALLY CANON, BABY!
YES!
TAKE THAT ALL YOU HATERS! AMOURSHIPPING HAS FILLED THE HOLE THAT ALL OF YOU HAVE LEFT WHEN YOU KEPT COMPLAINING POKEMON WAS RUINED WHEN ASH DIDN'T WIN THE LEAGUE!
HA!
*END OF SPOILER ALERT*
Ahem... I'm done now. So, with that said, I feel very happy of how far this Crossover has gone. And when I'm done with this, I'm moving onto my Horror Story because now I can have full confidence on writing the Amourshipping scenes.
I have never felt so happy for romance in my entire life.
Enjoy the chapter!
SHOTOUTS-!
Joshua Ketchum: Thanks! Don't worry, everything is going to be fine.
R99: Sorry, I'm just a sucker for suspense!
Guest: Don't worry, there's only two more chapters left! :)
Steel Heart Alchemist: Wow, I guess Ash's OC uncle is really starting to grow on you, huh? Hey, we love cliffhangers and suspense, me especially! Don't worry though, Joltie kind of understands your pain because I myself leave her in suspense sometimes. ;) Yeah, Ash is safe(ish) for now. You do realize that this is Freddy we're talking about, right? Yeah, me and Joltie thought it would be okay to catch you guys off-guard. Um... That "Plan B" wouldn't have anything to with Shaggy and Scooby's Plan B, would it? Enjoy the chapter!
Blaze: Uh, why would you assume she has Taku?
Lightwing: Yeah, it was bound to happen, right? Seriously, why is everyone thinking the Puppet Master has Taku when I'm done to two more chapters?
Darkwing: Yeah, me and Joltie thought we would give a little break before things went wrong. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 13
"UNCLE TAKU!" Everyone watched as the clawed hand of the Puppet Master ripped through the jumper the millionaire was wearing, his face contorted into a grimace as blood began to run from his arm. He smiled to himself, however. At least Ash was safe now, he'd protected him and that was all that mattered. However, the fight wasn't over yet.
The Puppet Master crawled backwards, pulling out her music box. "ThIs IsN't OvEr YeT!" She smirked and began winding the thing, its cranks counted down their doom. Even though all hope seemed lost, deep inside Serena knew that there was something that could save them, if only she could work out what it was… oh! Of course! She remembered back to the last time they were cornered by hypnotised people and Ash's singing seemed to bring them out of it. A part of her hoped, prayed, that the same trick could work on the music box itself.
"Ash! You have to sing, now!" She yelled out to her crush, who gave her a look of pure disbelief.
"Seriously, right now?!" He asked, practically shouting back with the others looking at them.
"YES! NOW! OR ELSE WE'LL BECOME ZOMBIES FOR THAT OLD HAG!" Serena screeched, causing the Puppet Master to crank the handle faster and harder than before, reducing the time they had left.
"Whatever you say…" He mumbled, looking completely unamused with her answer but followed through anyway. The melody of a familiar cartoon song "Stronger than You" bounced off the walls of the theatre as the Puppet Master unleashed her lullaby. At first, nothing seemed to be happening; that was until a few moments later when the two sets of sound waves began to take effect.
They were crushing against each other, forming visible barriers that were powered by the musical melodies of contraption and human vocal chords. The lullaby had a dark, ghostly purple barrier with swirls of pink which hinted a psychic background. However, the chords made a pure golden barrier, one that seemed to be easily pushing back the opponent with determination. During this, everyone got to hear the music box's melody in full, some noticing an unusual sharp or flat hidden amongst the notes of the lullaby, notes that shouldn't be there naturally meaning they must be the ones causing the hypnosis.
As the battle between the sound waves continued, the Puppet Master realised she was losing, and fast. Soon her music box would be overpowered and she'd be blown back with it from the sheer power of that brat's voice. There was only one thing she could do now, cause a distraction. She moved with the box in hand, the humans watching her curiously and with a hint of confusion on their bewildered faces. She simply smirked as she cut the ropes that held up the giant red curtains, causing them to fall on the humans as she made her escape.
"Is everyone okay?" Fred asked as he finally managed to free himself. Daphne and Velma appeared up next to him and nodded. Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, their Pokémon and Taku simply smiled slightly.
"NOOO!" Shaggy cried, hugging Scooby, making everyone turn their attention to the two of them. "Like, that robot got away again! Even after, like, we tried so hard to rescue him…"
"Umm, Shaggy?" The two turned their heads to see Ash sitting right beside them. "I'm right here." Shaggy instantly let go of Scooby and crushed the ten year-old into an overprotective hug. "You're… choking… me!"
"You're okay, little dude!" Tears of joy rushed down the adult's face. "You're okay!"
"Shaggy, you're killing him." Velma deadpanned, rolling her eyes. Apologetically, Shaggy let go before everyone turned on both Serena and Ash.
"Okay, one… how did you know that was going to work and two…" Clemont asked cautiously before going full crazy mode. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE WAS THAT?! HOW DID SOUND WAVES GAIN A PHYSICAL FORM?! IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!" Velma and most of the adults were as well, agreeing with the inventor's scientific knowledge.
"It may not." Serena agreed; sweat dropping due to the fact that Clemont was right in her private space, so she pushed him away with one hand. "But when people were hypnotised back when we were being chased, I noticed that Ash's singing, although amazing, seemed to be able to work against it, cancelling it out. I guess what we just saw was the physical embodiment of that fight, huh?" She looked at the ground, deep in thought. "So the lullaby has odd sharps and flats that match psychic energy that has been added to the box's design? I wonder what in Ash's voice caused that psychic energy to become disrupted."
"Umm, do I look like I care?" Bonnie asked, gaining stern looks from everyone else. "What? I'm just glad we're not zombies. If anything I bet the singing voice problem has something to do with that Pure One title, end of. What we should be focusing about is the weird pitches." Even though she was blunt about it, Bonnie did have a point. Without finding out what those weird notes meant, they would have no idea on how the hypnosis was effecting the people who heard it.
"Maybe a psychic type could have something to do with it…" Ash mused, only to notice the others were giving him creepy stares. "What?"
"ASH YOU GENIUS!" Clemont yelled out, hugging his male friend with all of his might, "I COULD KISS YOU RIGHT NOW!"
"Ooo! Yaoi!" Bonnie grinned, her head resting on her hands. "Maybe that's why big brother doesn't want a lady keeper… because he doesn't swing that way."
"BONNIE!" Multiple voices yelled out, scolding the girl for even suggesting a thing like that. Serena was growling at her, eyes viciously sharp which caused the eight year-old to shiver where she sat. Never mention that around Serena when Ash is involved again.
"Where on Earth did you hear that?!" Clemont was literally red all over, embarrassed to high heaven with his little sister's suggestion.
"One of the callers, that guy with the spiky hair and a lab coat." She admitted truthfully, noticing Ash suddenly get extremely mad from being totally embarrassed.
"I am so using my bat on Gary when I get home…" He mumbled under his breath, voice dripping in pure rage.
"What was that?" Velma inquired, having heard something but, not real words. Once again, the raven haired trainer was embarrassed and waved his hands around randomly.
"Nothing! You heard nothing!" He said quickly before chuckling nervously. Oh boy, someone had almost heard him with his future plans of pain and punishment for ruining an innocent, yeah right, young girl's mind. Bonnie was sarcastic and sassy enough as it was…
"Okay, hold up." Fred began returning the conversation to a normal level for once. "What on Earth are you talking about with oddly pitched notes, that sounded fine to me."
"I can back the girls up." Taku nodded in agreement, eyes glazed over in thought. "And I'm sure Ash can too." He turned to his nephew. "Did you hear the pitch change in certain notes connecting to the tune?"
He was glad when Ash nodded back. "I was focusing on singing but I heard them, slight changes in the tone of the song with sharps and flats. It must have been added to the track, like a psychic move or something that causes the hypnosis."
"We can talk about this later." Daphne sighed and stood up, pulling the downed curtain off of her body. "But first, shouldn't we head back to the hotel room? It's been a long day and we all need our rest."
That was something that everyone could agree on.
Half an hour later and everyone was sat on the sofas in the lounge area of their hotel room, thinking about what on earth was going on with that music box, after some time of Shaggy making sure that Ash wasn't a fake or a robot sent to misplace their belief that they had succeeded in their rescue plans. Each of the three sofas had someone sitting on them for a discussion, Fred, Velma and Daphne taking the right one whilst Taku, Ash and Pikachu sat on the left, everyone else on the large, long sofa in between the two. Immediately talk turned to the future plans for what was going to happen next.
"So if what you kids were telling me was correct…" Velma began speaking her thoughts, trying to figure out how the music box was able to hypnotise everyone. "That certain Pokémon have psychic abilities which can take over the minds and cause those under their control to do their bidding."
"Exactly. Somehow the culprit behind this has managed to reproduce that ability into the lullaby, but it leaves behind a slight change in pitch." Clemont looked over to his friends, all of whom had been able to hear it yet everyone else couldn't. "Well, at least that's what you guys say."
"I have perfect pitch, as does Bonnie; she told me that your mother was an avid musician who had the ability." Serena said, before turning to face the two Ketchums, both of whom she was confused about. "However, I have no idea on how you two are able to hear it."
"Relative pitch." Taku responded. "It's almost exactly like perfect pitch but people can teach it to themselves through playing a musical instrument or having lessons to. I play the piano and was taught it in my educational days. When I found out Ash here could sing I paid for lessons when he was younger. That's how we could tell."
"I guess those lessons really did help out in the end." Ash muttered, absentmindedly stroking Pikachu's tail, which the electric type loved, making cute sounds with every stroke.
"Great, with the mystery behind the box solved, all we need to do it plan the trap." Fred rubbed his hands together with a large smile on his face. "I have the perfect net for this!"
Everyone stared at Fred in pure disbelief, another net? Seriously? And after the last ones had been ripped to shreds so easily. Bonnie was wondering whether to slap the blonde around the head to whack some sense into him or yell her little lungs out at him with the force of an adult woman. Fortunate for her, someone beat her to the match and acted first.
A loud, horrific noise echoed around the hotel room, one that made everyone clasp their hands over their ears to protect their hearing. It lasted for ten seconds, and in those ten seconds, Fred had broken down into a sobbing, shivering mess. It didn't take long to find out who had caused it as, standing with an emotionless expression, air horn in hand, was Ash.
"Now that you're listening to me..." He said with a sigh in the middle of his sentence, he grabbed Fred by the ascot and began shaking him. "How on EARTH do you think another net is going to contain that THING?! By using another net you are letting my kidnapper, and the sole person who has hypnotised millions of poor innocent people get away with it! Get it into your head! NO MORE NETS!" He let Fred go reluctantly, noting the scared and awed faces of those looking at him. "What?"
"You, like, kept that thing?" Shaggy asked, pointing to the air horn that was now sitting upright on the table beside them.
"Yeah, just to keep Fred in check." Ash admitted, rubbing his cheek with a finger slightly. "It worked though didn't it?"
"I have way more respect for you than I used to." Daphne said suddenly, gaining looks of disbelief. "What? Freddie needs it sometimes!"
"Ditto!" Bonnie grinned evilly. "Now we can work together, terrorising the streets of Kalos with that air horn!"
"BONNIE!" Clemont yelled angrily, scolding his little sister.
"No terrorising, fine!" She pouted and crossed her arms. "But can Fred be the only exception?"
Serena sent a glare towards Clemont as she answered. "Of course, Bonnie. He can."
"Come on guys..." Fred was crying streams of tears from his eyes. "Pity the blonde..."
"NO!" Serena, Clemont and Bonnie shouted angrily, all of them being blonde to some degree, Serena having a honey hint to hers. They wouldn't pity the idiot due to a simple factor such as their hair colour, as they wouldn't if they had messed up.
"Come on guys…" Fred mumbled, pushing his two fingers together and looking extremely sheepish with a pout. "Just one more net, I'll make it a good 'un…" Before anyone could answer that question, no matter how angry their response would be, a large blue mallet struck down on his head, causing the trapper to fall to the floor in pain. Once again it seemed Ash was the one who was dealing out lessons in pain and punishment but, then again, who could blame him after what had recently happened? And, yet again, everyone looked at the raven-haired trainer in awe, Daphne even applauding him.
"I'll take back what I said; I have a lot more respect for you now." She grinned, getting a happy smile back from the boy.
"I know Mrs. Ketchum gave us weapons but, didn't Clemont get the mallet?" Serena asked, still confused as to why her best friend and crush had one. "Why do you have one?"
"A friend of mine gave it to me." Ash admitted, lightly tapping the side of it against his hand with total control. "It was really to keep a friend of mine in check due to his tendencies and I never had to use it, even though she trained me how to. However, I thought Fred could use a knock to the head to whack some sense into him." One by one, the others began applauding him, Shaggy, Scooby and the XY Gang even cheering at what he had done. Taku simply rolled his eyes and smiled. It seemed as though Ash had inherited more things from Delia than he had ever first imagined. Ash half-bowed at his now adoring public and walked back to his seat, choosing to keep the mallet out, just for safe keeping.
Fred got up from the floor, visibly paling when his eyes landed on the raven-haired boy and his mallet, even though the person in question was smiling ever so sweetly at him. Quickly, he returned to his own seat and kept silent for the rest to the talk.
"Okay, so how are we gonna catch that robot and find out who's behind it?" Daphne asked, raising a point. "I mean, all we're catching is a bunch of parts…"
"Not exactly." Taku stood up and walked to the window, after pulling the springlock out of his trouser pocket and placing it down on the coffee table for all to see. "The Puppet Master is a springlock animatronic. That means the mechanisms of the robot can be pressed against the body so that a human can fit in there. I bet whoever is controlling the suit has had enough of our interference and wants to deal with us personally."
"Like, what part of kidnap and hostage taking wasn't personal?!" A confused Shaggy almost yelled causing Bonnie, who was sitting next to him, to cover her ears.
"Geez, could you put a volume knob on that?" She mumbled to herself with Dedenne agreeing, due it its hypersensitive hearing.
"All this time, we've been fighting a robot, not the mastermind behind everything. They've been watching everything from afar, using the animatronic as a puppet for their own schemes, just like the hypnotised humans. They haven't been there to deal with anything." The millionaire explained his train of thought, pacing up and down in a straight line. "However, they are probably really angry right now and, you know what they say. If you want something done right, do it yourself."
"What we need now is a plan and a trap." Velma spoke up. Fred looked up at the word trap, only to receive glares and the wavering threat of an angry boy and his mallet from across the room, causing him to sink back down.
"I have an idea." Serena said with her hand raised like she was trying to answer a question in a class at school. "Apparently the theatre is designed so it can do anything, musicals, orchestras, dance troupes. You name it. So the stage has some secret design features, one of them being a trapdoor!"
"So if we can coax the Puppet Master to fall through the trap door…" Clemont began, with his little sister deciding she would have the last say on this subject.
"We can nab 'er!" She jumped up, making a cute pose with Dedenne squeaking on her head.
"Exactly." Serena grinned, an evil glint sparkled in her normally gentle sky-blue eyes, this was revenge and she was going to be there to see it be carried through.
"For that to work, we need bait, a way to lure in the culprit and…" Fred had regained confidence but a certain someone raised their mallet up high. "NO NETS! A CAGE OR SOMETHING BUT NO NETS!"
"Glad to see someone's got the message." Bonnie grinned, swinging her legs.
"Alright, but then, who's gonna be the bait?" The children, Shaggy and Scooby retaliated in horror as they saw the other Mystery Inc.'s member's eyes land on Ash. Taku pulled his nephew into a protective hug putting his arm around the boy's shoulder and glowering at the three teens.
"No. No way!" He shouted. "I am not letting you put my nephew in danger again!"
"Out of everyone here, he is the perfect bait." Fred argued, not looking the subject of the conversation in the eye, just in case of mallet threats and air horns. "The Puppet Master never received the ransom due to our rescue attempt and somehow he has the ability to cancel out the hypnotic powers of the music box."
"Also, Shaggy and Scooby will be there to protect him." Daphne added quickly. "Right guys?"
"Reah?" Scooby looked confused for a moment before nodding extremely fast. "Oh Reah! Reah!"
"Like, of course we will." Shaggy sent a reassuring grin at the ten year-old. "We'll be like the best bodyguards you've ever had… and your first."
"Great! Now that's settled, we need to head over to the Music Hall and set up." Velma said getting up from her seat and heading off to leave.
"Glad that conversation's over." Fred muttered, only for the glares that he was receiving to tell him that the conversation was far from over and he was extremely outnumbered. For the first time ever, Fred feared that he had never obtained life insurance just for situations like these.
