I do not own the characters affiliated with either Scooby-Doo or the Loud House. (Scooby-Doo is the property of Warner Bros, and The Loud House is the property of Nickelodeon)
Mystery Inc got an early start when they hit the road in the Mystery Machine leaving Chicago and heading east towards New York City.
"I'll be honest Shaggy, I expected you and Scooby to protest more when we left Chicago" remarked Velma.
"Like we were upset at first, but then we realized we can simply expand our search for the perfect pizza by comparing the two most iconic styles" Shaggy replied. He gestured behind them to the dozen boxes of leftover pizza that Scooby was trying to wedge into the van's minifridge.
Upon succeeding in closing the door, Scooby chimed in, "Reah' rin crust or reep dish."
"And like besides, if we stayed much longer you would have found another ghost for us to chase" Shaggy added.
Indeed the gang found a mystery their first night in Chicago, but they quickly sniffed out the sneaky lawyer behind the were-bear. That was over a week ago but Shaggy and Scooby felt that they should try to keep this good streak up forever."
"Well that's assuming you are able to resist devouring the rest of that pizza before we get to New York. But who knows maybe Indiana has their own style" said Fred as the gang passed a 'Welcome to Indiana' sign.
They pulled off at the rest stop so Fred could plot their travel route, Shaggy and Scooby caved and ate the first pizza, Velma read,and Daphne talked on the phone. After a few moments on the phone with the hotel where they had stayed in Chicago, Daphne sighed as she hung up. "The hotel staff said that my tablet was not in my room. They are filing a report with the police. At least all my photos and notes from our mysteries are uploaded to the cloud" she reported.
"Like, because those are the memories you want to keep," Shaggy added sarcastically.
Suddenly Fred looked up from his examination of the map with excitement. "Hey gang, I just realized we're about 2 hours from the town of Royal Woods. My Aunt Rita, Uncle Lynn and my cousins live there, I haven't seen them since I was little. Do you guys mind if we visit them?" He asked. The gang agreed, it was okay, they had plenty of time for stops. After a quick text to his Mom to get his Aunt's phone number, Fred fired off a call to the Loud House.
Meanwhile the Loud siblings were all engaged in various activities. In the living room Lincoln Loud was watching "Arrgh", Lucy Loud was looking into her crystal ball, Lily was playing with her stuffed giraffe, and Luna, Luan and Lynn Jr. were playing a board game. The rest of the Loud sisters were either in the dining room, outside or upstairs where Leni Loud had just come from, as the home phone rang.
"Loud residence" she said. "Hold please" she turned to her siblings, a puzzled expression on her face. "Do we have an Aunt Rita?" She asked.
"Um, no Leni, that's Mom's name." Lincoln replied, turning the volume down on the tv.
"Thanks Lincoln," Leni returned to the caller. "I'm sorry we don't have an Aunt Rita."
"No no, I'm looking for my Aunt Rita, this is Freddy Jones, Skip and Peggy' son."
Leni was getting frustrated by the caller, finally passing the phone off to her mother. When she came into the room. "Mom maybe you can help here, this boy named Freddy is looking for his Aunt Rita"
"Freddy" exclaimed Rita Loud, the Mother of the Loud Family. She excitedly took the phone and after a few minutes she had invited the gang to stop by. By that point all of the Loud children had come into the room curious as to what was happening.
"So wait, who's coming Mom?" Lincoln asked.
"Your cousin Fred and his friends," she responded.
"We have a cousin Fred?" replied Lola.
Rita pulled out a family album. "You've never met him sweetie, I haven't actually seen him since Pop-Pop's Fourth of July party years ago. She showed them a picture of Fred age 7 standing with Lori age 7, Leni age 6, Luna age 5, Luan age 4, Lynn Jr. age 3, and baby Lincoln being held by Lori.
"Oh yeah, I forgot all about that dude," said Luna.
Half an hour later, Lynn Loud Sr. arrived home and started work on dinner for his family and company. Most of the Loud children went outside to pass the time until their long lost cousin arrived or supper was ready; whichever came first.
"Gasp" cried Lucy Loud, as she peered mystified into her crystal ball. She was sitting under a tree outside with her youngest sister Lily.
"Ucy?" Lily asked concernedly.
"What's wrong Lucy, is your ball not rolling out a good image?" chuckled Luan Loud "Hahaha get it?. Her siblings had a range of less amused reactions to her joke.
"Laugh all you want dear sister, but the crystal ball tells me we are in for a night of utter terror?"
Lucy replied.
"Come on Lucy, that could mean anything." Lincoln added before pausing as he took in a pungent smell. "Ughh, did some just fart?"
"Worse Linc!" cried Lana coming outside. "Dad is making cabbage casserole again, only with blue cheese instead of fish sauce." The rest of their siblings cringed at the idea.
"Huh maybe that's the terror Lucy" Lincoln replied optimistically.
"I hope so, my vision was something monstrous, but I suppose that fits the bill. I shall consult the spirits for further information" Lucy concluded.
Meanwhile the doorbell rang, Leni, Luna, Lynn Jr., and Lisa all looked over from the couch as their Parents went to get it.
At the door was a snappy teen with white shirt and orange ascot. "Freddy!" Rita exclaimed, hugging him. "Oh look how much you've grown!"
"It's been forever Aunt Rita" said Fred.
"Tell me about it, last time we saw you we only had six kids," Lynn Sr. added. This caused Fred and Rita to laugh, but a rather shocked reaction from the rest of the gang. Fred then proceeded to introduce the rest of the gang to his Aunt and Uncle then went on to catch up with his cousins.
"O M gosh, that is so seventies retro" Leni exclaimed as she grabbed Fred's ascot.
"Haha, Leni you haven't changed a bit" Fred replied. He looked to his other cousins as Leni turned her attention to asking where Daphne got her shoes. "Whoa! you have changed Luna, you look like a rebel kicked out of Elvis camp"
"That's the power of Rock and Roll cuz!" Luna replied hi-fiving him.
"Greetings elder cousin" Lisa said and shook Fred's hand. "I am Lisa, we've never met, but my parental units have spoken highly of you in the last few hours."
"Haha, yeah good to meet you" Fred replied.
"Think fast" Lynn Jr. exclaimed and Fred did not have time to register before a football crashed into his stomach. "Haha, Mom said you played football with Pop-Pop when we all were at that party, let's see what you got Fred!" She nudged him.
Fred regained his lost breath, "maybe later Lynn. Oh hold the phone, I almost forgot, guys these are some of my cousins Leni, Luna, Lynn and Lisa; guys these are my friends Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and," Fred paused his introduction when he noticed their great dane companion was absent. "Wait where's Scooby-Doo?"
At that moment in another part of the backyard, Lori sat in a lawn chair, Lana was feeding her frog, and Lola had set up a fancy tea party for her stuffed animals. In the center of the table was a plate of cookies for her guests; a fact she made clear when Lori tried to snatch one.
Scooby-Doo had intended to follow the gang inside the Loud House but the wafting scent of fresh baked cookies drew him towards the backyard. He meandered towards it and soon found himself staring at a cookie sitting on a plate in front of a teddy bear. He sniffed it gingerly, licked his lips and dropped the whole thing into his mouth.
"MMM" he said, satisfied by the delicious treat.
"Ahem" Scooby heard, and turned to face the angry little girl in a pink dress and tiara. "That cookie was for Mr. Sprinkles!" Lola screamed.
Scooby jumped back in terror crashing onto Lori who was on the phone with her boyfriend Bobby.
"What's going on!" Lincoln exclaimed as the rest of the siblings in the backyard came over to investigate the commotion.
Lori struggled to get the giant dog off of her. "Boo-Boo bear, I'm gonna have to call you back." She said before hanging up the phone. "A little help here" she asked.
"Whoa he's huge," said Lana who immediately took a liking to the canine newcomer. "Hey buddy, " she began petting him, Scooby rolled over and she rubbed his belly. "Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" she repeated.
"Lana, be careful who knows if that dog has had all his shots!" Lola reprimanded her twin.
Scooby's ears shot up at Lola's remark. "Rog, Where?" he asked. Every Loud in the yard gasped.
"Did that dog just talk?" Lincoln asked.
"That … is … awesome!" Lana exclaimed.
"Hello Doggy," Lily said, approaching Scooby-Doo.
"Don't get too close to Lily, he may be possessed by a ghost" said Lucy, who stayed behind Lincoln.
The mention of the g-word triggered an involuntary response from Scooby, "Rhost, ripe" he gulped jumping backwards into Lori's arms. She dropped to the ground under his weight yet again.
"Lucy, I don't think he likes ghosts," Lori said. Scooby shook his head in agreement.
"He has a collar so he's not a stray, what's your name, boy?" asked Lincoln.
"Rooby Roo" Scooby said getting up off of Lori.
"Ruby Roo?" Luan asked with an arched eyebrow.
" Ro Rooby Roo," Scooby repeated.
"I think he's replacing the first syllables with an r sound" Lincoln deduced.
"Then his name could be literally anything?" Lori declared.
"Scooby-Doo where are you?" a voice called out.
Shaggy stuck his head over the fence, then said "Like sorry Loud dudes, Scoob, don't embarrass us in front of Fred's family!"
"Don't worry, he wasn't hounding us" said Luan with emphasis on the pun. Shaggy and Scooby laughed.
After all of the introductions were complete, everyone settled into the Loud's living room. "So Freddy, your Mom says you and your friends have been traveling this summer" said Rita.
"Yep, we've been traveling around solving all kinds of mysteries," Fred replied. "Usually involving some sort of ghost or monster."
"Whoa, you mean like on ARGGH?" Lincoln exclaimed.
"Sort of, only most of our mysteries end with the monster being just someone in a mask" Velma interjected.
"Logical, seeing that the odds of a monster epidemic is most unlikely" concurred Lisa. Velma nodded approvingly.
"Sigh," added Lucy. "We've met ghosts but I would love to meet a real vampire or werewolf." Shaggy looked at Lucy as if she was crazy.
"Well we're glad y'all could come tonight, and you're in for a treat for dinner. I've finally perfect my cabbage casserole 3.0" Lynn Sr. proclaimed, to the shuttering of his family.
"Sounds great Uncle Lynn," Fred replied. Suddenly there was a loud burp coming from the kitchen. The gang looked embarrassed, "but I think Scooby-Doo may have already found your casserole.
Sure enough, upon entering the kitchen they found Scooby and Lana on the floor where Scooby had devoured half of the cabbage casserole. Lana winked at her siblings who had been dreading this dinner. Scooby-Doo looked up at the surprised Lynn Sr. "Re-ricious" he declared. Shaggy then grabbed a spoon and bent down to try the dish.
"Sorry Uncle Lynn," Fred apologized. But his Uncle was already laughing.
"It's okay, as a chef, it's always a pleasure when someone appreciates a new recipe. But that does leave us without dinner," said Lynn.
"I know, let's go to Jean Juan's" Leni suggested, and the Loud siblings chorused agreement.
They headed out to the cars, neither the Mystery Machine, nor Vanzilla was big enough to transport everyone. So they split up with Shaggy and Scooby trading places with Lori, Leni, and Luna in order to give Fred directions. The Loud Family's next door neighbor, Mr. Grouse was raking leaves as they were backing up. "Hey Loud, if you're passing the store pick me up a jar of peanut butter" he grumbled. Rita said they would try.
Driving along, Lucy popped her head back to stare at Scooby-Doo. "I'm sorry for accusing you of being possessed, my crystal ball predicted we were destined for a night of pure terror" she apologized. Scooby was understanding but the concept of a night of terror sent chills down his spine.
"Like a night of terror sounds like a night without dinner, so I'd say we are doing a good job of avoiding it" Shaggy added.
Suddenly the van jerked, sideswiping a rushing stream of cars rushing into the other direction. Vanzilla ran up onto the curb and into some shrubs. The rattled passengers groaned as they recovered from the shock. "Everyone ok?" Lynn Sr. replied.
"Yeah Dad, but that might have curbed our appetites," joked Luan.
The mystery machine pulled into the parking lot behind them. "Did you see that, it was literally a stampede of cars!" Lori exclaimed.
"I wonder what was important enough to make them drive in such a frenzy?" Asked Daphne.
"Well the mall is about to close" Leni suggested pointing to the Royal Woods Mall whose empty parking lot they had entered. The mall seemed deserted, but the windows were tinted by ominous green lights coming from inside. "Hmm, Lori does the mall always look like this from the outside? I guess I don't notice it when I'm at work."
"No dude, that's a truly eerie green glow. Like one of Lisa' glow in the dark chemistry things" said Luna.
"It certainly is suspicious, I wonder if there's a connection between that light and everybody driving away" Velma pondered.
Meanwhile everyone had disembarked from Vanzilla and were assessing the damage.
"It doesn't look too bad Pop, we just have to push it back onto the road" declared Lynn Jr..
"Well let's get going, we've got to have more than these cookies for dinner" Lola exclaimed as she and Lana snacked.
"Uh Lola, where did you get those?" Lincoln asked curiously, not remembering there being any boxes of cookies in the Loud House recently.
Lana looked guiltily at Shaggy, who laughed when he realized what had happened. "Like Scoob I think Lana and Lola owe you a new box of Scooby snacks" he and Scooby laughed, joined by Luan and Lincoln. Mortified Lola looked at the box as the realization she and her twin had eaten at least six of the dog treats each sank in.
"Mmm, I thought there was a hint of pork with brown sugariness" Lana said as she ate another one then fed a snack to Scooby.
Lola freaked. Screaming she ran for the mall to wash out her mouth in the water fountain. The gang in the Mystery Machine saw her running; she had not noticed the lights. They called out for her to stop but Lola was a girl on a mission. They chased after her, and when the rest of the Louds, Shaggy and Scooby saw them running they followed, believing they were just worried about Lola being ill. Just inside the mall Lola was rinsing out her mouth at a water fountain.
"Lola, what are you doing, didn't you see the green lights?" Daphne asked.
"Are you crazy I wasn't looking at the lights, I just ate a handful of your dog's treats!" she retorted
The rest of the Louds and Mystery Inc followed them inside. "I hope Lola has explained what happened," said Rita.
"She did Mom, but we were trying to warn her about the creepy green lights we saw outside" Luna replied.
"Sorry your first visit to Royal Woods hasn't been so fun" Lincoln apologized, "maybe we can play a game after we get back from the restaurant." But as they turned to leave Scooby and Leni both slammed straight into the door. Confused, both of them tried to make the automatic doors open.
Then Leni had an epiphany, "oh silly, they must have turned on the time locks from the wrong side." She explained.
"Time Locks" Lincoln asked worryingly.
"Yeah that way nobody can come shopping before we open the store at 9 in the morning. They taught me that when I got my job" his second oldest sister continued. The realization that they were locked in, created great anxiety among the Louds, Shaggy and Scooby. Lori was especially distraught realizing her cell service was out.
"Cool it everyone, it's all a mistake. As soon as someone notices we're still in here they'll open the doors back up" Lynn Sr. explained.
"I don't know Mr. Loud, there doesn't appear to be any staff left, not even security guards, I bet it has something to do with all the people driving away, and the mysterious green lights" Velma explained.
"Yeah, something weird is going on," Lincoln agreed.
Shaggy and Scooby braced, they knew what Fred was going to say, "Well gang, it looks like we have another mystery on our hands."
"I'm not sure if this is much of a mystery, elder cousin, more likely it's a consistent string of poor timing that has befallen us" Lisa replied.
"Speak for yourself, the spirits warned us we were in for a night of terror" Lucy replied. "There is darkness here, and not the fun kind." Several of her older sisters looked at her like 'seriously'.
"Well let's go find a payphone and call someone to let us out, then we can go looking for your mystery" said Rita. And they all started for the payphones located near the escalators.
As they walked, Lincoln stopped staring excited at a cutout display. Scooby stopped to see what he was looking at. "Rhat's up Rincoln?"
"Oh, sorry Scooby, I'm just so pumped. They arcade has just gotten the new 3-D Virtual Ace-Savvy Crime fighter game. The cutout on the right is Ace Savvy, he's my favorite superhero" Lincoln pointed to the cardboard hero wearing red and blue, "and the one on the left is the brand new villain called the Dealer." The other cardboard figure had a white cloak, black cloth gloves, and a scarf patterned with card suits covering their face with the exception of two glowing red eyes. Scooby shuttered at the creepy villain. "Oh don't worry Scooby, Ace beats him at the end" Lincoln said as he pat Scooby behind the ear to calm his nerves; "and this is just the cardboard cutout. Now come on, let's go catch up with the others." Lincoln ran on ahead and Scooby followed. Before he could catch up to the boy, Scooby heard an echoing sound as something was dropped behind him. He looked back to see the cardboard cutout had been knocked over by a figure who looked identical to the Dealer; they were looking at Scooby while fanning a deck of playing cards. Scooby realized he was staring at the real Dealer and took off running, as the figure disappeared in the other direction.
The panicking Scooby Doo jumped on Shaggy knocking him to the ground. "Like what's with you Scooby Doo?"
Scooby began miming what he had seen, drawing the curiosity of Lincoln, Lana, Lola, and Luna.
"Realer, Realer" he muttered.
"Scooby, I told you the Dealer is just a video game character" Lincoln reassured. Scooby calmed down and they returned to the rest of the group who were standing by the payphones.
"Ding dang darn it, what a night to not have a quarter," snapped Lynn Sr. searching his pockets.
"Relax Dad, I literally always keep one for emergencies," Lori said, popping the coin into the slot, "never know when I'll be out of minutes." She picked up the receiver, and was about to start dialing when she heard a voice on the other end, it was sinister and robotic.
"This is your final warning!" The voice shouted so loud that Lori dropped the phone and everyone heard the rest as though it was on speaker. "My master plan will not be stopped! Depart now or face your worst nightmares brought to life!" The line went dead. Scooby jumped into Shaggy's arms, and instinctively the elder Loud siblings grabbed the younger siblings protectively.
"Like you heard the freaky phone voice, let's get out of here" Shaggy declared.
"And how pray tell do you suggest we do that when the doors will not open for over 10 hours" Lisa asked as she and Lily held tight to Luan.
"Lisa's right we can't get out till morning so until then I suggest we do some investigating," said Velma.
"But what about dinner?" Lynn Jr asked as her stomach growled.
"Nobody's gonna starve LJ, we'll just have to make do with the food court" her father reassured.
"Alright Uncle Lynn, you go start dinner, take Shaggy and Scooby with you" Fred knew suggesting they go anywhere else would be pointless. Lynn Sr.'s frequent sous-chef daughter Luan, and the twins also volunteered to go with them as well.
Before Fred could assign another destination, Lily started tugging on her Mom's pants leg. "Potty Mommy, potty!" she whined. Leni offered to use her key to the employee bathroom at Reininger's department store since it was cleaner and the three of them set off with Daphne whom Leni had some awesome accessories to show.
That left Lincoln, Lori, Luna, Lynn Jr., Lucy, Lisa, Velma, and Fred. They headed back to the arcade where something had scared Scooby, but they were not convinced it was Ace Savvy's newest supervillain.
In the food court, there was not too much ready to eat, so Lynn Sr. turned on the oven at the soft pretzel stand and started procuring ingredients from the dim-sum booth. "I'm used to my own personal spice rack, but a good chef can adapt to the seasonings around them," he explained, taking whiffs of the cinnamon and garlic.
"And like, as a connoisseur of all things edible I approve" Shaggy said as poured a soda.
"Hmm, there's parmesan cheese not to mention plenty of fruits and veggies in this makeline, but we need some protein. Luan, take a look in the walk-in freezer and see if they have any lobster or quail." He suggested.
"Uhh sure Dad" she replied; but Luan was pretty sure the culinary limits of the mall food court was not that exotic. She leaned into Scooby Doo and asked, "want to help me get some hotdogs out of the cooler? There might be an ice-cream-bar in there too." Scooby jumped at the thought and followed Luan into the freezer. Inside there were stacked boxes of frozen food, enough for the entire week at the mall. "Brr, let's find the hot dogs fast, it's too cold in here to chill. Hahaha get it?"
Scooby gave her a little a chuckle and but then another laugh echoed inside the cooler. "Hahee-hahahaehee" in a shrill alien voice.
"Umm that wasn't you, was it Scooby Doo?" Luan asked, looking around for the source. Scooby emphatically shook his head no. "Let's find the hot dogs and ice cream bars and get out of here fast!" she said softly, aware she might be overheard. They cautiously began looking through the boxes. But as Scooby moved a package of frozen cookie dough he discovered the source of the familiar laugh, a skull face under a glass dome and helmet. The Spooky Space Kook.
"Ruh Roh" he quickly placed the package. "Ru-an, ru-an, race rook race rook."
"Scooby-Doo I'm sorry Race Kook could mean anything, lace kook, ace kook," Luan began, as the cookie dough box was pushed out by the space kook. She stared at the skull face as the helmet blinked red. "But…on this occasion I'm gonna have to guess you meant space kook!" she exclaimed. They took off out of the freezer, bolting it shut once they were outside. Panting she sighed, "I guess cousin Fred wasn't exaggerating when he said y'all dealt with monsters."
"Like what's going on Scooby Doo, where's the rest of the ingredients?" Shaggy asked as he and the twins came over to see what the noise was.
"Rooky Race Kook, Rooky Race Kook" Scooby repeated panting.
Lana noted the distressed and immediately began patting Scooby to calm his nerves. "It's okay buddy" she said.
"Scooby's serious, there's a spooky monster in the freezer wearing a spacesuit and a skull face that lights up red and has this crazy high-pitched laugh like this" said Luan who attempted to imitate the laugh of space kook.
The twins were confused. Shaggy was skeptical, "like are you sure it was the Spooky Space K-k-kook?" He was shaken by Luan and Scooby's emphatic nodding of yes.
Lola was unconvinced, with all that was going on she was not in the mood. "Come on Luan, April Fools Day was months ago, do you seriously expect me to believe you found a monster in the freezer? We're hungry and I do not have time for games!" She pushed past and before Scooby, Luan, or Shaggy could stop her she pulled open the freezer door. There was nobody standing there, so she triumphantly grabbed an ice cream part, and turned around the gloat. "See!" she began, but saw her sisters, Shaggy, and Scooby quivering. Lana pointed over her twin's head. She turned and looked up at the Kook standing right behind her. Her mouth dropped.
It let out another cackling wail! "Woooooooooo-oo-oo-oo!"
Lynn Loud Sr. could not see the Space Kook, but he did hear his daughters, Shaggy and Scooby all screaming terror. Unaware, he called out "calm down, kids the first dozen fusion pretzels are ready."
"Great! let's take them to go" Shaggy exclaimed. He grabbed the pretzels and darted ahead. Lynn was peeved but then saw Scooby bolt by with the twins on his back, and Luan grabbed his hand to pull him with them. He looked back to see the kook chasing them. He dropped the jar of mustard in panic, and the kook slipped on it, slowing down its pursuit. They darted for the escalator and the upper floor.
"How are we supposed to stop him?" Lola cried out as they reached the top.
"Stand back and let me work!" Lana replied, pulling out her wrench and using it to pry the panel off the escalator. Everyone made it up as the kook began ascending the escalator.
"Sweetie, if you're gonna do something now's the time to do it" her father cried.
Lana flipped a switch and the escalator reversed going down instead of up. Caught off guard, the kook tripped up a face planted on the stairs with a thud.
"Rice rork" Scooby commended.
They looked over the railing to see what the kook was doing but it had disappeared. "Like let's get out of here and find the others" exclaimed Shaggy.
"Agreed, but first sweet or savory?" Lynn senior said as he started handing out the soft pretzels.
Meanwhile, in Reininger's, Leni and Daphne were looking around while Rita tended to Lily. They were a bit surprised by the fact they found all the lights still turned on. Assuming it was just because of everyone running away earlier. "Wow Leni, this store is impressive, do you like working here?" Daphne asked as she admired the merchandise.
"O M gosh yes, employee discount and awesome coworkers, best job ever!" Leni replied. They turned the corner to see an overturned display of sweaters and broken store mannequins. "Hmm I'm not sure how this display is supposed to get people to buy stuff?" Leni pondered.
"No Leni, there was a struggle here" Daphne said. She picked up and moved the destroyed mannequin parts looking for anything that could be a clue. The only thing out of place was a book that had been dropped among the debris. It was open so Daphne could see pages 80-83 were missing. She turned it over and read the title 'History of Royal Woods'. "Hmm, this is strange, well there's nothing here to show us who was here, Leni do you see anything." Daphne then heard Leni shriek.
She was on her knees holding two plastic cards. "These are Fiona and Miguel's nametags, we have a special name tag holder for them when we leave. But if they are in this mess;" Leni paused and became fearful for her friends, "Daphne something terrible must have happened to them!"
"Don't worry Leni we'll find them, let's go get your Mom and then go find the others" said Daphne.
Rita was standing outside the bathroom next to a cluster of mannequins. Lily was next to her, happy and clean. "Are you girls ok, I heard Leni scream" she asked.
"Something happened to Miguel and Fiona mom, we have to find them!" Leni explained, she was bordering on crying.
"No cry Leni," Lily said, hugging her older sister's legs.
"Thanks Lily" Leni said with a sniffle, "anyone have a tissue?" A hand with a white glove and regal yellow sleeve stuck out of the mannequin clump holding a box of tissues. "Thanks" Leni said, taking one and blowing her nose. Daphne and Rita jumped at the hand. Before they could ask who was there Lily pushed aside the mannequin in front to show a set of sophisticated 19th century clothes complete with frill, but with the glaring omission of anything above the shoulders.
"Jeepers, it's the Headless Specter" Daphne exclaimed, as the Specter laughed. Rita grabbed Lily as the monster began coming towards them. The girls moved back, "This is impossible, we caught the headless specter ages ago, and it turned out he wasn't even that bad of a guy!"
"Well Daphne I think this one didn't get the memo" Rita exclaimed. "We've got to get past him and find the others!"
"O M gosh this will never do" Leni stopped moving, "those shoes are so last century and look like they hurt your feet!" She grabbed a pair of high-top sneakers, and went into her salesgirl mode, bent over and to swap off the Headless Specter's shoes.
"Leni, what are you doing?" Daphne asked. Her mother was holding Lily protectively as she watched her second oldest daughter with a look of pure anxiety.
"Trust me, this is so much better" Leni winked. Standing back up, she revealed the Specter was now wearing a pair of red high-tops whose shoelaces Leni had tied together.
"Well it's time for our break, another clerk will be with you shortly," Daphne said before they took off running in the other direction, the Headless Specter tried to follow but tripped falling into a display of hats. "Too bad he doesn't have a head for hats, he could have pulled off a fedora."
They headed out the store as the Specter tried and failed to get to his feet.
At this time, Lincoln, Lori, Luna, Lucy, Lynn Jr., Lisa, Fred and Velma were at the arcade where Scooby had claimed he saw the dealer. As the cardboard cutout was still lying flat on the ground. Lori, Lynn and Lisa were looking outside the arcade while the others went inside to look around.
"Well, this seems to be a waste of time, granted I feel all of this talk of otherworldly creatures stalking our local shopping mall to be highly unlikely" Lisa said.
"Well someone or something went out of their way to scare me on the phone!" Lori rebutted. She was still trying to get a signal on her cell phone, "grr, I was supposed to videochat with Bobby an hour ago, he must be worried sick!"
Inside the arcade, Velma was examining footprints. "Hmm, whoever Scooby saw left greasy footprints" she concluded
"Then we can eliminate it being a vampire, they are notably clean, at least that's how they are portrayed on Vampires of Melancholia" Lucy added. Velma wanted to add that vampires were fictional but stopped short, she didn't want to rain on the young goth's parade.
"Oh no!" they heard Lincoln shout.
"What's the matter Lincoln?" Fred asked as he and Luna rushed to check on him.
"The new Ace Savvy virtual 3-D fighting game, it's been wrecked! What if Scooby's right? Maybe the Dealer is lashing out against Ace Savvy" Lincoln suggested. Indeed the game machine has been broken and several pieces were missing.
"I don't know bro, this whole thing is kind of weird" said Luna. Their attention was then drawn to a sick guitar solo. "Whoa, where's that killer beat coming from?" she asked.
They went around the corner to find the Guitar Power machine. Someone was shredding on the game. After a final strum he turned to face his audience. He wore a spangly jumpsuit, with makeup like the band Smooch, flaming red hair and white eyes with no pupils. He cackled maniacally!
"Hold the phone, that's the Guitar Ghoul!" Fred exclaimed. "Everyone get back!"
"Don't run away dudes and dudettes, this next number will be legendary, if you can" the Guitar Ghoul paused suspensefully, "survive it!"
The others came inside, to see what the noise was and soon they were all staring at the rocking ghost. Lisa was at a loss for words.
"His spirit is prideful, overconfident," Lucy said. "Luna grab the other guitar controller and pretend you're gonna outplay him!"
Luna nodded sliding on the floor to the game machine and grabbing the p2 guitar. "No pretending necessary" she said and struck a confident chord. The Guitar Ghoul stared angrily, then grinned. The pair played their hearts out as the scores rocketed on the arcade machine. The Ghoul was fast but Luna was faster. Her siblings cheered. She struck the final chord and it was like a shockwave sending the Guitar Ghoul flying, then the power surged, the light went out, and when they returned he was gone.
"Let that be a lesson, ghost dude, nobody out-rocks Luna Loud!" she yelled as her siblings cheered.
"Nice work Luna!" said Fred, "You sure smashed his pumpkin." The Louds groaned, Fred's joke was Luan level corny.
They headed out of the arcade to see both of the other groups heading towards them. "Here comes everyone else, maybe they've found something" Velma said.
"O. M. Gosh you guys we saw a crazy Headless Specter!" Leni exclaimed.
"No way!" Lana replied, "we got chased by a spooky skull faced space ghost."
"Well we saw a rock and roll ghost and Luna just owned him" bragged Lincoln, mimicking an air guitar.
The Loud kids continued recounting their encounters with the ghosts and ghouls. Mystery Inc was baffled, how had three different villains from their past shown up here? "Aunt Rita, Uncle Lynn, I don't know what's going on here, but I promise we'll get to the bottom of this" Fred reassured.
Rita smiled and put a hand on her nephew's shoulder, "this isn't your fault Fred, I'm not sure what's happening either, but this family sticks together, we'll help you figure it out."
The moment was interrupted by a cackling laugh above them. Everyone looked up. "It's the Dealer" Lincoln exclaimed. The figure in the garb of the comic book supervillain was leaning over the railing staring down at them.
"You will not stop me this time!" the Dealer snickered. "My first three cards were duds, but I've got plenty left to play. There is nowhere you can hide!" They laughed again, throwing a smoke bomb and vanishing with a crashing sound.
"Looks like Scooby was right, and this Dealer isn't giving anyone a pass" said Daphne.
"Not reassuring considering we're trapped in here with them!" added Lori.
"Well we still have about eight hours to solve this mystery," Fred replied.
"Whoa whoa whoa, look up there" Lynn Jr. exclaimed pointing up where the dealer was. as the overturned trash-can rolled away, spilling garbage."
"Dibs on searching the trash!" Lane exclaimed, touching her nose. Nobody was eager to fight her for it. Fred, Lincoln, Lynn Jr. and Daphne opted to go with her to protect her. Before they left Daphne gave Shaggy and Scooby the book she had found in Reininger's and told them to follow up on the torn pages.
"Like how are we supposed to do that?" Shaggy asked.
"Simple, go to the bookstore and find an undamaged copy" Daphne replied. Lori volunteered to show them where it was, and Lily, who was enjoying riding on Scooby's back, went with them too.
"Well we still need some dinner, and since the food court is crawling with space kooks, I think I'll restart in the cookware department. Might even find a meat tenderizer to use as a weapon" Lynn Sr. announced. He took Lucy with him to keep watch. The others headed off to search for Leni's missing coworkers.
Lori was still in disbelief over what was going on, "so all these ghost things running around here, you guys have already caught them before, and there could be literally dozens more?"
"Reah" Scooby replied, shaking at the thought of all their past villains converging on them tonight. Lily noticed his tension and began petting his neck.
"No worry, Scooby," she said. Scooby appreciated her attempt to comfort her.
Inside the bookstore they looked around for an undamaged copy of the Royal Woods history book. Lori quickly flipped to the missing section. "Hmm, it's the section from 1864, it's when a bandit called Big Jack Crandall, who stole 15,000 Golden Eagles, was caught by Marshall John Grouse."
"Like didn't your Mom call your neighbor Mr. Grouse" asked Shaggy. Lori was amazed, the photo of the 19th century lawman who bared an uncanny resemblance to their neighbor.
"Yeah, this must be his great-great-grandfather," Lori replied. "It says he caught the robber after he hid the Eagles and they were never found. Why would anyone steal that many birds anyway?"
"Like when Velma figures that out she'll know why the pages were torn out. Now let's get out of here before" Shaggy was interrupted by the sound of clanking footsteps getting closer. "Like zoinks, hide" he whispered. Quick as a flash Scooby and Lily ducked under the tablecloth of a new release display, while Lori and Shaggy ducked behind a big sofa. In walked an all to familiar suit of armor that appeared to be guarding their escape. Shaggy gulped, "the Black Knight."
"Ok how did you beat him the first time" Lori asked but Shaggy had already ducked under the sofa. The fact that Scooby Doo had crashed an antique airplane into the Knight last time would not have been much comfort anyway.
Scooby and Lily watched as the Black Knight paced in front of the door, he had not spotted any of them, but there was no way they could get out without him seeing them. Scooby had gone into full survival mode, much like he does for his nephew Scrappy, we would let no hard come to her. Suddenly the sound of Lori's phone ringing drew the knight's attention.
Lori quickly answered, "I'm sorry Boo Boo Bear, I can't talk right." But before should tell him why the knight grunted and tossed a potted palm at the sofa Shaggy and Lori were hiding behind, the phone went flying. Lori could not hear what Bobby was saying but watched in horror as the phone slammed into the wall cracking. "My screen!" she shrieked.
The knight drew closer to the exposed Lori. Lily was horrified, crying, "do something Scooby!" The great dane scanned the room, and spotted the curtain in the store window. He locked eyes with Shaggy and used gestures to elaborate his plan. Shaggy, a master of Scooby communication, quietly untangled the cord from the pulled back curtain. He tossed one end to Scoob. Scooby growled as he darted towards the Black Knight encircling him with the rope again and again. Lily held on tight, enjoying the ride.
"Lily save Lori! '' she exclaimed. Her sister saw the cord had entangled the knight's feet and as Scooby doubled back towards the door, now holding both ends in his teeth the knight tripped up and began falling forward. Lori rolled to avoid the crashing suit of armor. The Black Knight face planted and appeared to be twitching. Not waiting around, Lori grabbed the book, joined Shaggy, Scooby and Lily and as they left she hit the button to lower the gate, so the knight would not be able to follow them.
"Is that how you beat him the first time?" Lori asked.
"Actually Scooby used that move on a vampire" Shaggy replied much to Lori's confusion. They ran for a little while before stopping to catch their breath, "phew, I think we lost him."
"Lost who?" a voice asked, Shaggy jumped backwards in fear. Everyone turned to stare at Lucy sitting on the floor with her crystal ball. Lori recounted what had transpired and Lucy was captivated. "Dad and I have this place pretty well fortified, I think he's making stew. I'm on sentry duty watching for everyone. Sigh, I also tried using my crystal ball to figure out what was going on, but it appears even the friendly spirits are afraid tonight."
Scooby bent over so Lily could hug her goth sister, Lucy returned a side hug and then patted Scooby on the head.
"Well we found the untorn book Daphne wanted, have you seen her?" Lori asked.
"She's upstairs right now," Lucy explained.
Meanwhile, on the floor above them, Fred, Daphne, Lana, Lincoln and Lynn Jr. were searching the trail of garbage the Dealer had created during their escape.
"This doesn't make sense," Lincoln said, "in the Ace Savvy universe, the Dealer has a totally different personality and he doesn't use an army of monsters; he's got card-based martial arts."
"Yeah well, this guy clearly didn't read that comic Linc" Lynn replied in an annoyed tone.
"It does seem weird, but I don't know what we expect to find among all this trash," said Daphne.
"This is just a bunch of empty soda cups, price tags, and weird green things. Don't know why but I expected a better spread to sift through" Lana admitted.
"What do you mean green things?" Fred asked. His younger cousin handed him three green circular pieces of greenish plastic. "Hold the phone Lana, this is a big clue" he declared. Lana was excited to have found something important; they all got close as Fred showed them the full body images of the Spooky Space Kook, Headless Specter, and the Guitar Ghoul imprinted onto them.
"What are they?" Lincoln asked.
"I'm not sure, they like collectible coins but this material feels more like weird plastic" Fred explained.
"We should keep an eye out for more, maybe this is how the dealer summons his minions" Lincoln suggested.
"L-like maybe one with the body of a gorilla but the head from a saber toothed tiger?" Lynn Jr. asked.
"Did you find one with that on it Lynn? It sounds like the Jaguaro that we encountered in Brazil" Daphne explained.
Suddenly everyone heard a terrible roar. Everyone looked up to see the exact figure Lynn Jr. had described; the Jaguaro. It was beating on his chest, trying to scare them. "Uh-oh" Lana muttered, before running back toward the others crying out, "Ahhhhhhh!"
Her brother, sister, Daphne and Fred all began backing away as the beast came towards them. From below, Lori, Lucy, Lily, Shaggy and Scooby all saw the chase scene unfolding.
"Zoinks! It's the j-Jaguaro!" Shaggy exclaimed.
"We've got to help them!" Lori cried. "That crazy cat-ape thing is between them and the escalators they're literally trapped up there!"
"Bouncy, bouncy!" cried lily pointing. Scooby followed the baby's gesture to see the large inflatable bouncy house. Understanding Lily's idea,he darted towards the inflatable with the others following his lead.
Above them the Jaguaro made a swipe at them with his massive arm. Lincoln protectively tried to shield his sisters, but ended up getting knocked into Daphne. "Lincoln, are you okay" Daphne asked, Lana and Lynn waited for the response.
Lincoln was shaken but nothing was broken. "I'll be okay! But I'm gonna bruised tomorrow"
"Let's just try to make it till tomorrow Linc" Lana said as they continued moving back. Unbeknownst to them, their friends and siblings were moving the bounce house in a daring rescue attempt.
Seeing the fear on Lana's face and the Jaguaro's pummeling of Lincoln, sparked rage within Lynn Jr. She scowled at the approaching monster, "listen hear freak! Nobody messes with my family and gets away with it!" She looked as though she was about to tackle the Jaguaro.
From below Shaggy called, "Hey you guys! Down here, like jump"; he was steadying the bounce house with Lori, Lucy, and Scooby.
They looked down, saw the bounce house, and understood the plan. "Alright one at a time," Fred said.
"Freddy you go first then catch Lana and Lincoln; Lynn and I can hold him back" Daphne said taking a martial arts pose. Without time to argue Fred jumped down onto the castle followed closely by Lincoln and Lana.
"Whoa, that was too close" Lincoln said as he and Lana tightly hugged Lucy.
"Lynn! Daphne! Hurry" Lori cried.
Daphne and Lynn stood their ground till the last second before jumping backwards together. They landed safely at the same time but the force was so great it propelled Scooby Doo into the air.
"Scooby flying," Lily said, looking up at the flying dog. Scooby ended up face to face with the Jaguaro. He panicked and tried running away in midair; his hind legs began kicking the Jaguaro in the face repeatedly. The others watched on as Scooby unknowingly pummeled the monster.
As Scooby began falling back to the ground, Lynn jumped back onto the bounce-house. "My turn!" she exclaimed, when Scooby landed on the inflatable, she was catapulted up. The Jaguaro was covering his face when she began speed-bagging his stomach. "That's … for… my…sibs" she said, her voice shaking with each punch. As Lynn began falling back to the ground the Jaguaro clutched his belly, bending over in pain. Lynn's landing sent Scooby up again and with a kick like a mule he launched the Jaguaro backwards with a wail. Scooby landed back to cheers, sending Lynn back up a final time.
"Great job Scoob!" said Daphne as she hugged his neck.
Just then Lynn landed again, "gee Scooby Doo you must've launched that thing halfway to Great Lakes City! He's gone" she announced.
"Well that's new for him," Fred said.
Just then Lynn Loud Sr. emerged from the kitchen supplies store. "There you guys are, what did I miss?" Everyone gave him a look of 'you wouldn't believe us if we told you'.
At the other end of the Mall the rest of the Louds and Velma headed up the search party. "Miguel! Fiona!" Leni hollered.
"Calm down Leni; I'm sure they're ok" Rita replied comforting her daughter.
"Unless it turns out they're the ones behind all this" Velma replied. The rest of the present Loud sisters then leered at Velma's accusation.
"Like no way dude!" snapped Luna.
"Agreed, Fiona and Miguel are not capable of anything like this" Lisa agreed.
"Okay Okay, sorry, being locked in here puts limits on my ability to find viable suspects." Velma apologized.
"Well I'd suggest we check the security guard's offices. Perhaps the mall's security cameras have captured what is going on" said Lisa.
They agreed and headed towards the security booth. Inside they flipped on the lights and found the closed circuit tvs all turned off.
"It doesn't look like there's anything here, '' Rita said. "I guess even the security guards got scared off." On the table there was a box of donuts sitting on top of a charging cord. Lola's sweet tooth began tingling and she dashed over to grab one. "Lola, don't eat those, we don't know where they came from" her mother criticized.
Lola turned around, the donut was already half eaten. Velma laughed, it was like watching a princess version of Scooby Doo. "Hello, they wouldn't be half eaten if there was something wrong with them" Lola replied, picking up the picked over donut box to show them. It was then Velma noticed what was underneath. The charging cord was connected to a tablet computer.
"Jinkies!" she exclaimed, dashing towards the table.
Leni jumped back into Luna's arms. "Where, where's the jinkies ghost?" she cried.
"Oh, sorry Leni, it's just something I say when I'm excited" Velma apologized. "But this is Daphne's tablet she lost last week in Chicago. This could explain a whole lot of what's going on here." The Louds gasped.
"But what's it doing here? Did it hitch a ride on the cloud?" joked Luan. "Hahaha get it."
A cackling voice rang out. The Dealer appeared through the door on the other side of the booth. "That is my secret to keep, and a mystery which you will never solve!"
"Kids let's get out of here" Rita replied and they headed for the door.
"Not so fast," the Dealer replied "take a card." They chucked a card at the other door. A blast of green light appeared and a greenish hunched over figure appeared. The Creeper.
He grumbled, "Creeper! Creeper!"
"Uh Velma, am I right in assuming this lowbrow ghoul with the nauseous pigmentation is not a friend?" Lisa asked. Velma did not respond. They turned around to see the Dealer had overpowered Velma, smashed the Ipad and disappeared through the other door carrying her.
"Velma!" all of the Louds cried.
"Creeper!" the Creeper yelled.
"Not now!" Lola exclaimed and kicked the Creeper in the shin.
"Owwww!" he exclaimed.
"Come on!" Rita replied and they took off through the door after the Dealer. But both the Dealer and Velma were gone. "We've got to find the others and tell them!"
"Well we've got to get away from this guy who I've decided is probably just called the Creeper" Luan replied. The Creeper chased them through the stores. They ducked around and jumped over displays but could not shake the monster. Luna swore she heard funky retro music playing during the chase.
They boarded the elevator at full speed and the door shut just before the Creeper could barge inside. They were panting from exhaustion as they rode down. Finding the others was easy, just follow the smell of Lynn Sr. 's food court stew. The others were finally getting some proper dinner while armed with meat tenderizers and skillets.
"Guys what happened!" Lincoln asked, looking up at his Mom and sisters.
While hyperventilating Leni recounted, "Velma (gasp) taken (gasp) Dealer." A mix of shocked gasps and "whats?!" from the others.
"It was right after we found Daphne's stolen tablet which the Dealer destroyed to get rid of any evidence" Lisa added.
"And then this grody Creeper dude sent us on a rockin 'chase!" chimed in Luna. Shaggy and Scooby shuttered at the thought of the Creeper.
"We have to find Velma, Miguel and Fiona!" Leni cried.
"And we will Leni and solve this Mystery," assured Fred. "Lisa, we found these strange green plastic things, any idea what they are?" He handed his second youngest cousin the coin shaped plastic pieces; he had planned on asking Velma what they were.
"I need to run some tests, unfortunately all I have access to here are the chemistry sets in the Toy store." Lisa explained as her father sat a bowl of stew in front of her bits of hotdog bobbed up and down. As she ate, Fred assigned Luna, Lincoln, Scooby and Shaggy to go along to protect her and assist if necessary.
"In the meantime, I've come up with a plan to get help from outside the mall" continued Fred.
"You mean the cell service is back?" Lori exclaimed. She was now long overdue to call back Bobby.
"No Lori, but I've found a way to access the outside," Fred pointed to the vent.
"We'll send a team through the vents to get help!" And Aunt Rita can communicate with them via these walkie talkies from the electronics store.
"Well I'm too big to fit through there cuz, and there's no way we're letting Lily go in there!" Lynn Jr. remarked.
All eyes fell on Lucy, Lana and Lola, the sisters were nervous. "Are you insane?! Who knows what could be lurking in there!" Lola snapped.
"Lori, Uncle Lynn and I will stand guard by the AC controls to make sure nobody turns it on. The younger Louds were still nervous.
"Hmm, normally if this was Scooby and Shaggy I'd just offer some Scooby Snacks and everything works out" Daphne explained to the others holding the box of Scooby Snacks. Suddenly it was jerked from her hands and Lana began feasting on them.
"I'll do it!" she cried with a mouth full. Lucy looked at the box as Lana offered her some, and she shook her head no, she would go in of her own free will. Down the last of her bowl of soup and accepted that it would be enough enticement to get out of the monster filled mall.
"Meanwhile it's time for a trip to the catwalk, we never solved the mystery of the green lights. And you said you saw them again when the Creeper appeared" Daphne added. "Lynn Jr., Luan, Leni, you're with me." They headed for the ladder to reach the upper regions of the mall. Lily had tuckered out and was asleep on Rita's lap.
"Ok everyone, be careful" Lynn Sr. declared, and they split up again.
The toy store had a decent selection of equipment but Lisa had to improvise a few things such as telescopes and dollhouse bathtubs for mixing beakers. She examined the mysterious green things with Lincoln and Scooby looking over each shoulder. "Fascinating, this material is a chemically altered cellulose acetate compound" she decreed.
"O-k, what does that mean," Lincoln asked.
"It's similar to what they use to make reels of film but this has been extremely altered. I need to run further tests" Lisa explained. "I hope Shaggy and Luna are having luck finding the equipment I need." While they waited Scooby began playing with a Blarney the Dinosaur farm animal noise machine. Yanking the chord it made a loud mooing noise.
Shaggy and Luna returned from the shelves at that moment. "Like, shhh Scooby Doo, we don't want the Dealer to know we're in here!" Shaggy chastised.
Scooby snickered a little, "rorry."
"Sorry specs, we only found glowsticks, no acetylene torch" Luna said, passing the glow sticks to her genius sister.
"Hmm, perhaps I can use them in something else" Lisa said, "could please grab me the tweezers out of a medical board game box Scooby Doo."
"R'okay" Scooby replied. He headed down the game aisle. As he tried to open the box, he heard a soft roar. He shuttered. Just then Lincoln came around the corner.
"Scooby Doo, was that you?" he asked. Scooby shook his head. They heard the sound again and Scooby's fear grew, Lincoln began comforting him. "Don't worry boy, it's probably some motion activated toy… I hope." Lincoln's reassurance was interrupted by something dripping out of the fire sprinklers. A steady stream of dark black goo was pattering on the ground, forming a blob. Suddenly the mass stood up revealing a single glowing chartreuse eye. It growled again.
"Rar Monster" Scooby cried, freezing with fear.
"Retreat!" Lincoln said, shaking Scooby back to his senses.
Back at the table Lisa had added the glow stick liquid to her formula. "Uh oh, that is not the result I wanted" she said as the mixture began bubbling. It let off an odor, causing Shaggy and Luna to cover their noses. Just then Lincoln and Scooby ran past beckoning the others to follow. "It doesn't smell that bad Lincoln!" Lisa protested. Suddenly the Tar Monster emerged from around the corner, its body dripping.
Shaggy was first to turn around at the sound of the glob. "Oh boy, like it's only the Tar Monster."
"Tar Monster" screamed Lisa and Luna jerking to look at the grotesque glob. Shaggy then realized what he had just said, and after an appropriate Zoinks the three of them headed off after Scooby and Lincoln, but not before Lisa grabbed her chemical. They followed and Lincoln crossed into the nail salon with the Tar monster following behind. Inside, Lincoln, and Scooby wearing white coats stood waiting.
"Here for your appointment sir?" Lincoln asked. The monster was confused. "It's our after hours monster special." Scooby held up a clipboard, oh my and I see you you have also selected the Brazilian wax. Let's start there, oh Lisa!"
As Lincoln melodically called his sister's name, Lisa threw her chemical mix onto the Tar Monster. It reeled back in fear, then hardened like rock. "Dudes, that was awesome!" Luna replied, hi-fiving Lincoln and petting Scooby.
"We had best go find the others, I am not sure if this solution will wear off" Lisa explained and they left the Tar Monster statue to go find the others.
High above them, Daphne, Leni, Luan and Lynn Jr. were on the catwalk. "What are we looking for exactly?" Lynn Jr. asked.
"Anything that can lead us to the source of the green lights, or tell us where Velma and Leni's friends might be being held," Daphne explained.
"Well if they're up here, at least the view is nice" added Luan, as she looked down. However in addition to seeing the roofs of kiosks she saw a rotating device emitting green lights like a haunted disco ball. "What the? You guys check this out."
The other girls looked over and saw the device they were standing above. "I wonder what this is for?" Daphne pondered.
"Wait, I thought Lincoln said the Dealer was Ace Savvy's villain, then why is his name on that thing," Leni asked, pointing to the label. Lynn and Luan did not correct Leni that both characters were fictional, but she was correct that the label was Ace Savvy.
"This must be the missing piece of the Arcade machine Lincoln said got trashed. But why would they anchor it up here?" said Lynn Jr.
Below they could also see Fred, Lori, and Lynn Sr., guarding the air conditioner controls so that Lucy, Lola and Lana could crawl outside and get help, and their mother was reading the Royal woods history book with Lily on her lap.
Rita had taken to cross referencing the history book and not just reading the part that had been torn out of the copy they'd found in Reininger's. Flipping the pages she cross referenced dates and locations before gasping at her discovery. She shifted, carrying Lily with the book tucked under her arm, she rushed to join her husband, daughter, and nephew. "Lynn, Lori, Fred!" she called, "I've got it, I think I know what is going on here, and why the Dealer is in the Mall. The Mall was built on the site of the farm, where the arrest was detailed on the torn pages. They never found the loot he stole, what if it's buried somewhere in the mall?"
"Nice job honey." Lynn replied kissing his wife on the cheek
Just then Shaggy, Scooby, Lincoln, Luna and Lisa arrived, having successfully escaped the Tar Monster. And Daphne, Luan, Leni and Lynn jr. were descending the ladder. "Perfect timing guys, it's trappin time." exclaimed Fred.
"Uhhh trapping time?" Lincoln asked. His sisters mirrored his curiousity.
"Like it's when we know enough of the mystery that it's time to set a trap for the Dealer." Shaggy replied.
"Shaggy, you and Scooby watch these controls with Uncle Lynn." Fred asked.
"Leni you know this Mall the like the back of your hand, come help me match up this map to the floor plan" Rita asked.
"Sure Mom, but this mall looks nothing like the back of my hand" Leni replied. Lisa sighed, then decided she would go along to help.
"Everyone else is with me and Daphne, we're gonna set a full proof trap for the Dealer" finished Fred and he, Daphne and the rest of his cousins headed off.
Meanwhile Lucy, Lana and Lola were traversing the maze of vents trying to find their way out of the mall.
"This is so dusty," Lola said, crawling third in the line.
"Well dust is kind of in the air," her twin replied sarcastically.
"Shhh, I hear someone" Lucy replied as they came to a fork. The grunt sounds were coming from the left.
"Well considering we have been chased by ghosts and monsters all night, I vote we go the other way" Lola declared. But Lucy had already begun cautiously inching towards the source. She came to a vent and peered out into the mall jail, which was not empty. Three people were bound and gagged. On the far side were Miguel and Fiona, Leni's missing coworkers, and Velma was sitting closer to the vent and slid closer when she spotted Lucy.
When Velma was close enough, reached through the vent and pulled off her gag. "Lucy thank goodness, the Dealer locked us in here, hoping it would scare you all into hiding. But we don't have much time, the Dealer also brought a box of explosives!" Velma pointed to the crate labeled dynamite.
"Don't worry Velma, we're on our way to get out of the Mall and get help. Sorry we can't get you out through her but we'll be back for all of you later" Lucy said. At this point Fiona and Miguel had moved so she could ungag them as well. "Converse among yourselves in the meantime," she said and then headed back to the twins. She informed them that Velma and the others were safe and they resumed their crawl.
"Are you sure this is the right way Lana?" Lola asked.
"I think so, Hops would have preferred to crawl through the sewer" her twin replied revealing her pet frog underneath her red cap.
"Has he been there this whole time?" a dumbfounded Lucy asked. Lana nodded. They made two more turns then saw cracks of light coming through a vent. Excited, the three girls got into position and kicked the vent off.
"Woohoo, we made it!" Lana cried as they exited the vent. The dawn was just breaking. They had been in the mall all night.
"Never thought I'd be so happy to see the sun!" Lucy said with a smile.
Just then they heard a familiar voice calling their names. They turned around as Lori's boyfriend Bobby Santiago ran up to them.
"Bobby? What are you doing here?" Lola asked, surprised to see him.
"Lori was in a panic on the phone and when I tried to call back I couldn't reach any of you. So I drove to your house, and you weren't home. Your neighbor said y'all had gone out hours ago, also he was getting tired of waiting for the peanut butter you were gonna pick up for him." Bobby explained.
"That's right, I assume you didn't buy it in there" shouted Mr Grouse walking over with Officer Schoffner, whom the girls recognized as the policewoman who had arrested their mother once. "I went out to get some myself, and this youngster followed so he could look for you, then we saw your van run off the road. That's when we called the law."
"Aww, you do care about us," Lana said hugging her grouchy neighbor, Mr. Grouse did not return the hug but he did appreciate it.
"I'm glad they called, we have been swamped with calls about what's going on, it's high-time we get to the bottom of this" Officer Schoffner interrupted.
"Everyone else is inside with a whole bunch of monsters, and not the fun kind" Lucy explained. The newcomers did not seem to understand what she meant.
They contacted Rita via walkie talkie and then she, Lily, Lynn Sr. Shaggy, Scooby, Lisa and Leni went to see what Fred and the loud Kids had come up with for a trap. The Loud Parents were dumbfounded. "Umm Fred, what am I looking at?" Rita asked.
"It's simple Aunt Rita, when the Dealer comes through that doorway, they slip on all the freshly waxed floor," Fred began, pointing to Luan leaning against the floor waxer. "When they hit the pogostick modified mattress, Lori pulls the lever which will catapult the dealer into the caboose of the toddlers' train."
Lincoln took over from Fred's explanation. "When they land in the seat, Luna and I set off these toy rockets we attached to send the train off too fast for the Dealer to get off. They then rocket into that net hammock we have positioned at the end of the train track where they'll be more tangled than a bowl of dad's Lynnguini."
"Brilliant kids, if a bit overcomplicated, but how are you gonna get the Dealer to come in here?" Lynn Sr. asked.
Lynn Jr. suddenly rollerskated up, "Daphne's in position Fred" she said, and her cousin gave her a thumb's up.
"Now Scooby and Shaggy, you and Lynn Jr. will lure the Dealer into the room" Fred concluded. Which led to a vigorous head shaking from Shaggy and Scooby. But before they could protest further they heard Lynn shaking a box of Scooby Snacks for encouragement.
Moments later they were standing out in the middle of the food court with Scooby hiding a big trunk they had commandeered from the luggage store. "Yo! Dealer, we have a deal to offer! If you let us go we'll give you the trunk of eagles you want!" shouted Lynn even though she was still fuzzy on how the Dealer would believe this trunk contained a bunch of birds.
"Like we're in luck, maybe the Dealer has played out" Shaggy laughed, they could hear Luann laughing at the joke from the other room. But they had spoken too soon as the lights began to flicker. And sparks of orange began emitting from the outlets in the walls. They watched as it manifested a physical form made of pure orange energy. "Zoinks, it's the 10,000 volt ghost!" Shaggy cried.
"Let's beat it, Shaggy!" Lynn cried and they both skated away with the ghost hot on their trail. Once they had turned the corner, the Dealer emerged from the shadows and went for the box.
"Finally!" the dealer said taking a crowbar to break open the trunk. As the lid popped up Scooby surprised the Dealer with a pie to the face. As they reeled back and wiped the pie from their eyes the sound of a loud crash echoed from across the mall.
Lynn and Shaggy had been cornered by the 10,000 Volt Ghost. But before it could do anything, Daphne had dislocated the machine anchored to the catwalk, it crashed to the floor ten feet behind the ghost. The three of them watched as the 10,000 Volt Ghost twitched vigorously morphing randomly between the other monsters they had encountered that night. Finally the light on the machine went off and the monster disappeared.
"Woohoo! Nice work Daphne!" Lynn hollered. And from high above Daphne gave a thumbs up.
Meanwhile the Dealer was chasing Scooby in a fit of rage. Scooby quickly darted into the room where the trap was set up, he was moving too quick to dodge the floor wax but jumped over Lori's catapult. The Dealer also got caught on waxed floor and face planted on the mattress. Lori yanked the lever and sent the Dealer flying into the train car. Lincoln and Luna heard their rockets charging up, but their sense of triumph quickly turned to horror as they saw Scooby Doo had also landed on the train getting stuck in the smokestack.
"Scooby!" they both cried and joined by Lori they began trying to dislodge him. As the Dealer began trying to get out, Luna turned her attention and conked them on the head. But at that moment the rockets blasted, taking Scooby, Lincoln and Lori along with the train.
They both screamed! "Lincoln! "Lori! don't…let…go!" Their Dad cried out!
"Literally wouldn't dream of it!" Lori cried.
"We've got to help them!" Luna yelled as she ran over to the rest of her family.
The train bolted straight through the hammock, which was not strong enough to stop it.
"Lincoln! You have to drive the train until I get Scooby out of here!" Lori ordered.
Lincoln hesitated but his eldest sister shot him a look of confidence. He nodded, moving to the engine where he attempted to control the runaway ride. He struggled as the train did not respond well to being trackless. He looked to the right to see what was in front of him, and saw a crowd coming in through the doors of the mall which were working again. At the front of the group he saw Lana, Lola, and Lucy. "Gang way!" he warned. The crowd dodged to either side.
"Watch where you're driving that thing Loud!" bellowed Mr Grouse as Lincoln barely missed his foot. Lincoln gave an apologetic wave.
Finally Lori pried Scooby from the smokestack. But they were going way too fast to dismount the train. Lincoln steered as best as he could, until the steering wheel came off in his hand. "Uhh Lori, we have a problem!" he said.
"Umm, make that two problems!" Lori said pointing.
"Rikes" Scooby agreed, when he saw they were careening towards the fountain.
When all hope of avoiding the crash seemed lost they saw Shaggy, and Lynn Jr. skating alongside them with a bargain bin filled with clothes. "Like jump you guys!" Shaggy exclaimed.
Scooby, Lincoln and Lori jumped into the bin and they pulled away from the train. The Dealer roused just in time to see the train heading on a collision course with the fountain. They screamed as the train crashed, splitting the fountain with its force. The dazed Dealer laid in a daze at the destroyed fountain revealed a trove of gold coins spouting up with the water.
Everyone cheered. The rest of the sisters tightly hugged Lincoln and Lori, thankful they did not get hurt.
"That was an awesome trap Fred, but I think the train got a little off track! Hahaha," Luan joked and everyone groaned.
"And now for the unmasking," Fred declared. Lori didn't care, she ran over to hug Bobby and began recounting the night to her boyfriend.
"Well I hope someone else has figured out who's under the mask," Velma added. She was not a fan of the times they unmasked a person they had never met before.
"I believe we do Velma," Lincoln chimed in "when the Dealer threatened us the second time they would not be stopped again; leading us to someone whose plans this Family has already foiled before." As Lincoln was speaking, Lily, still being held in her Dad's arms, reached down and yanked the mask off the concussed dealer. Underneath was a woman with reddish brown hair tied in a bun. The Louds recognized the deranged former Government representative who once nearly flooded the city.
"Joyce Crandall!" they all declared, as Crandall held her aching head.
The next day, after spending some time recovering from the sleepless night of fright, Mystery Inc and Louds were all back in the Loud's backyard for a celebratory BBQ. In addition to inviting everyone that had been at the mall, minus Joyce Crandall who was safely behind bars, they had invited Pop-pop, Myrtle, and Lincoln's best friend Clyde McBride.
"I can't believe you face down an army of monsters, and a supervillain who was really a real life villain!" Clyde exclaimed after hearing Lincoln recounting the night's events. "But how did you figure out it was Ms. Crandall before taking off the mask?"
"Well it wasn't obvious, but Mom and Lily figured it out using this Royal Woods History book" Lincoln said opening the book. "Lori was the first to see it, and saw that the lawman was Mr Grouse's ancestor, but since she was at college while Ms. Crandall was here last. She didn't make the connection but Mom and Lily did."
"Guess being rotten runs in that family," Lynn Jr, added before biting into her hot dog.
"That still doesn't explain what she was up to," Clyde added.
"Well according to the book the stolen Golden Eagles were never recovered, so after she lost her job, she came back to search for her loot."
Velma then interrupted, as she, Leni, Miguel and Fiona walked over with their plates. "The Mall was built on the site of the farm where the arrest took place so it gave her a rough idea of where to start but nothing more."
"She knew she needed time and devised this whole plan to keep people away while she searched," Lincoln added.
"She didn't know Fiona and Miguel were in the back doing inventory and like when they surprised her, she tied them up in mall jail" Leni interjected.
"I know I was there for this whole thing, but where are all the eagles?" Lana asked while filling up her plate. "We never found them."
"They weren't actually birds Lana," Fred answered. "In the old days 10-Dollar gold coins were called eagles."
"Haha, Freddy remembered I have three of those coins in my collection," "Pop-Pop" said, slapping Fred on the back.
"That's right, Pop-Pop, and there must have been over a million dollars worth of them hidden under that fountain," Fred continued.
"But how did they get there?" The Loud's Gran-Gran Myrtle asked.
"Well, the fountain was built on the site of the farm's original water well, Ms Crandall's ancestor must have dropped the gold into the well. But when Lincoln crashed the train into it, he brought them back to the surface." chipped in Luan. "All's well that ends well" her joke brought a laugh from her grandparents.
"Wow it sounds like you guys had the craziest night!" Clyde continued. "But why did she dress up like an Ace Savvy villain?"
"She got the idea from the cardboard cutout outside the arcade," Lincoln replied.
"Which is also where she got her technology" Lisa said, "one moment and I'll prepare a demonstration." She left and Shaggy appeared with a sandwich as tall as Luna.
"Like check this out, an unadeca-decker sandwich. I call it a Loud House po-boy." Shaggy began. Lincoln could tell Shaggy had raided his Dad's restaurant stockroom.
"Good golly miss molly, what is in that thing?" Luna asked. Shaggy explained that each layer was inspired by their family after talking about the family's favorite foods with Lynn senior. The layers featured in no particular order, peanut butter and sauerkraut for Lincoln, blood orange marmalade for Lucy, bangers and mash for Luna, meatloaf for Lisa, candy for Lola, sushi for Leni, jalapeno nachos for Lori, Scooby Snacks for Lana, pie filling for Luan, a Burpin Burger patty with hot sauce for Lynn jr., and, at the top, two scoops of ice cream with peach puree for Lily.
"Who wants some?" Shaggy asked. "Like I mean we've got to celebrate not having any ghosts left."
He was about to take a bite when he heard a familiar voice grumble "Creeper!"and made his hair stand up.
He looked to see the Creeper standing in the yard. "Zoinks!" he yelled and then ducked into Charles' doghouse, the Loud family dog stared at Shaggy's poking out feet confusedly.
Behind the somewhat see-through figure of the Creeper was Lisa standing with Scooby who was snickering and Lucy who was very satisfied with the scare. "As you can see the augmented reality capabilities found in the Ace Savvy arcade game created advanced holographic forms of these monsters that felt so real we could touch them." Lisa explained as the guests studied the holographic Creeper.
"Ms. Krandall got all of her monsters from the data on my tablet" Daphne said guiltily. "She had been staying at the same hotel as us and that's where she learned about our mysteries, and then swiped my tablet to get the data."
"She uploaded it all to the machine then reworked the video game fighters into your past monster foes." Lisa concluded.
At the end of the wrap up Fred turned to his Aunt and Uncle. "Gee Aunt Rita, Uncle Lynn, I'm sorry our visit brought y'all so much trouble" he apologized.
After a short laugh, Rita replied, "Oh that wasn't your fault Freddy! I mean if it wasn't for you, your friends, us and the kids meddling in Joyce Krandall's scheme she'd have gotten away with it!"
"And believe me this family is no stranger to crazy nights. Who knows what's gonna happen next time y'all visit!" Lynn Sr. added and then returned to the grill.
Shaggy was now struggling to get out of the dog house as the Loud Siblings pondered what to do with his monstrous sandwich.
"O-K" Lincoln enunciated. "Anyone actually want to taste this?"
"Are you kidding?" Lola retorted. Everything is getting drenched in melted ice cream drizzle!"
"You know, Lynn's hot sauce and this ice cream on a Scooby Snack isn't bad" interrupted Lana with a mouthful she had masterfully plucked from the sandwich without causing it to collapse.
"Ooh dibs on the sushi roll with Lucy's blood orange" Leni said yankee the roll from the food tower. The sandwich began swaying. The Louds gasped.
It split in half somewhere between the Luan and Luna layers and the top two-thirds fell. Scooby was there to catch it in his mouth and, in a feat of eating magic, devour it. "Re-ricious!" he said with a laugh.
Lily jumped on Scooby's back and said "Scooby-Dooby-Doo!" which garnered a mix of 'Aws' and laughter.