Chapter 5:
A Secret Revealed

First chapter of the New Year!

Meanwhile, Velma and Fred were still searching for clues. As they continued on their way, they came upon an unusual-looking room.

"Something tells me there might be a clue in here," observed Velma.

Fred nodded. "Then we better take a look around," he responded.

As they searched the room, they noticed a rather large screen with a DVD player and a DVD near it.

Velma picked it up and read the disc. "An Introduction to Doctor Phineas Phibes' Evil Organization."

"That's oddly specific..." Fred commented.

Velma nodded and said, "maybe we should play this thing and learn more?"

Fred gave a thumbs-up in agreement. So Velma put the DVD in and turned on the TV.

After a few seconds, the video started with the screen showing a brief shot of Phibes' logo.

"Hello, and welcome, future minions of Dr. Finneus Phibes!" an announcer's voice said. [Think Wally Wingert=Arkhamverse Riddler, Jon Arbuckle, Almighty Tallest Red]

The video cut to a line of various costumed henchmen with numbers on their chests, almost like nametags; Agent 1 was tall and skinny, Agent 2 was short and chubby; Agent 5 was very short and skinny, and Agent 8 was an old man.

"If you are watching this, then you have been hired to join the fearsome ranks of this evil organisation and its quest for world domination." the announcer continued.

"Yay!" exclaimed Agent 2, before Agent 1 smacked him upside the head. "Owww...!"

"If so...then congratulations," the announcer said. "With your help, the world will tremble underneath the robotic hand of Dr. Phibes, the greatest mind of this century! And he shall become...IMMORTAAAAAAAAAAL!"

Fred rubbed his chin. "This Phibes guy must be behind the hypno-beam."

The announcer then spoke up, "And rest assured, there are no hypno-beams or mind control technology of any kind in the organization's plans, because the money to make that would put us over budget."

"Well, that rules out that theory," stated Velma.

"Agent training begins soon, although it will have to be cut short, due to a covert mission on Spooky Island," explained the announcer as the video came to an end. "Look in your booklets for more details about the Meggido Project."

And the screen went to static.

"'Meggido Project'?" Velma murmured as the video ended. "That definitely warrants further research..."

"Then we'd better go find the others and see what they found," stated Fred. "Maybe they know what the heck this Meggido thing is?"

"OK, let's go find the others before any of these agents show up," Velma replied, as she and Fred took off.

Shortly afterwards, Zarkos and Mondavarious entered the room.

"How come you didn't stop them?" asked Zarkos.

"I have." Mondavarious responded. "They just don't know it yet."

He pulled out a small remote and pressed a button on it; an antenna emerged from the top end of the remote. "Send the monsters after the team known as Mystery Inc. They must be captured in order for my plan to succeed!" he growled.

"Can it wait until after dinner?" a voice asked on the other end. "It's taco tuesday!"

"Agent 1, smack Agent 2," instructed Mondavarious.

On the other end, a loud slap was heard, followed by an OW! Mondavarious smirked at that.

"It's the little things, Zarkos," he informed the luchador. "That make a man happy."

Meanwhile, the gang was making their way towards the exit. They had regrouped, and were now making their way down the hall as they talked.

"So like, me and Scoob were right!" Shaggy exclaimed. "Phibes is behind all of this!"

"Who the heck is Phibes?" asked Daphne.

"In two words: bad news!" Scrappy responded.

"You guys remember back when my Uncle Albert left us all that money when he disappeared for awhile?" Shaggy asked.

"Oh, yeah...that was a pretty weird moment for us," said Daphne.

THREE YEARS AGO...

"Hey, everyone! You'll never believe it!" Shaggy hyperventilated. "Like, wow! Rich! My uncle!"

"It's Shaggy!" said Fred as he lowered the phone. "Something about his Uncle Rich."

"His uncle's name is Albert," Velma responded.

"Maybe he's speaking in secret code?" suggested Daphne.

"Shaggy? Can you speak a little more clearly?" inquired Fred.

"Sorry...I'll pass the phone to Scoob!" Shaggy replied as he passed the phone over to Scooby.

Fred instantly gave Velma the phone, since she could better understand Scooby.

"Raggy's Runcle Ralbert reft him a rillion rollars!" Scooby exclaimed.

"Shaggy's Uncle Albert left him a billion dollars!" Velma translated.

"Wow!" Fred exclaimed.

"That oughta give Daddy quite the surprise," Daphne chuckled at that.

"You heard it here first, everybody: we're RICH!" Shaggy exclaimed. "So make a list of, like, everything you've ever wanted, and we'll buy it for ya! Call ya later from the mansion!"

"So then Scoob and I went to the mansion," explained Shaggy.

As the duo headed up the steps of the mansion, Shaggy looked at Scooby. "Y'know what the craziest part of this is?" he asked. "Uncle Albert didn't even pass away! He just, like, up and disappeared! Weird..."

"Sounds like a mystery," replied Scooby.

"One I'd really like to solve," Shaggy nodded.

As knocked in the door, Shaggy and Scooby were shocked as some sort of robot slammed the doors open!

"Welcome, guests!" he beeped.

Scooby leapt back in shock.

"Relax, Scoob; that's just Robi; Uncle Albert's very first invention!" Shaggy informed his friend.

"Ah! You must be Professor Rogers' nephew, Shaggy," chimed Robi. "And his dog, Scoopy Doop!"

"Rhat's Rooby-Roo." Scooby corrected.

"Of course! My mistake, Rooby-Roo!" Robi said.

"Knock it off, Robi," said a voice as its owner came outside. She was a young goth girl who looked like the spitting image of Triana Orpheus from "The Venture Brothers"—minus the pigtails, of course, and in her arms she held a Great Dane puppy with a red collar.

Shaggy and Scooby beamed. "Izzie! Scrappy! It's so good to see you!" they exclaimed.

"Hi, Uncle Scooby!" Scrappy-Doo waved as he raced over and bounded onto his uncle.

"Hey, Norv," Isabelle waved to her cousin.

"So, what're you guys doing here?" asked Shaggy. "Did Uncle Albert leave you money too?"

"Actually, we live here," Isabelle replied.

"Oh," commented Shaggy. "Well, then do either of you know what happened to Uncle Albert?"

The both of them shook their heads.

"It turned out Uncle Al was working undercover to impede Dr. Phibes' evil plans," Shaggy narrated. "And he did so by telling me and Scoob what was gonna happen, and we'd have to go stop it."

END FLASHBACK.

"Yeah...it took a long time, but Shaggy and Uncle Scooby showed that nasty Phibes what for!" said Scrappy firmly.

Fred nodded. "But it looks like this Phibes guy is back, and trying to enact this 'Project Meggido'," he added.

"Well, we managed to find something on that," said Daphne.

"What is it?" asked Velma.

Daphne reached down and brought out the Daemon Ritus. "We found out about this nasty little thing—apparently it's supposed to summon that Meggido demon. They say that whoever awakens him will be gifted with various rewards."

Shaggy added, "And one of those includes immortality! And like, Phibes was totally nutso over getting that!"

Suddenly, Scrappy heard footsteps. "Guys...someone's coming!" he whispered. "There's gotta be some disguises around here for us to hide in!"

Looking around, they soon spotted mannequins of some medieval characters nearby.

A few minutes later, as Zarkos and some of the Agents raced by, the gang was hidden in plain sight in the medieval costumes: Daphne was a princess, Shaggy a jester, Fred a knight, Scooby a dragon, Velma a wizard, and Scrappy was inside of a cauldron.

As soon as the group was certain their pursuers had left, they discarded their disguises and raced back to the hotel.

"Okay, let's meet up in a half-hour," Fred informed the group. "Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, and if there's anything to report, make a mental note of it and once we regroup feel free to mention it."

"Daphne and I will do some more research on this Meggido creature," stated Velma.

"And if we learn anything about Phibes, we'll take note of it!" added Daphne.

And so the gang split up and went around the hotel, as Velma decided to analyze the tiny pyramid in Dead Mike's Bar & Grill.

She opened it up as she sat down, seeing the ornate drawings of Meggido. They were ferocious, to say the least.

As she did so, she was approached by a metal head from the plane. "Hey, did your friends ditch you?" he asked.

Velma looked up from her research."Huh? Oh, no. I'm just researching something," she replied. "I've always sorta been like that when it comes to me and my friends. The least sociable of the bunch, I guess."

"Can I buy you a drink?" the metal head asked.

Velma shrugged. "Uh, sure..."

"Cool! 2 Cokes!" said the Metal Head.

As he placed his order, nobody noticed someone spiking Velma's coke with some liquor.

"So, what's THAT dealie?" the Metal Head asked, pointing at the pyramid.

Velma glanced down. "Some kind of ancient artifact that comes with its own instruction book..." she replied. "It talks about some sort of ancient creature with mystical powers. Just trying to learn all I can about it."

"You really dig doing this, huh?" asked the metal head. "Checking out all these clues and stuff?"

"Yup," Velma nodded. "Really reminds me of the old days."

She couldn't help but reminisce about when the gang was younger, more enthusiastic about mysteries.

"It used to be great..." she remembered. "Daphne was so rich and beautiful...she'd given up the whole 'queen bee' act after 8th grade. And we all looked up to Fred—he was one of the most popular kids at Crystal Cove High. Shaggy and Scooby? Well, they were always the same fun goofballs with a passion for food. And don't forget Scrappy..."

"The little guy?" mumbled the metal head.

"Yeah, he was a real spitfire," Velma replied with a light chuckle. "You'd never expect a puppy to be so ridiculously strong. We were the best of friends—a family..."

By then, the bartender brought over the cokes, and Velma took a sip of hers. Surprised by how good it tasted, she took another sip.

Up in her hotel room, Daphne was unpacking her suitcase, and pulled out a eggplant-and-pink bodysuit on a hanger.

"Imagine solving the case in this thing!" she smirked. "Nobody would call me a damsel anymore!"

As she admired the suit, she heard a knock on the door. Placing the bodysuit on the bed, Daphne answered the door, and she saw Fred standing in the doorway.

"You find anything?" he asked her.

Daphne shook her head. "There wasn't much else on Meggido and Phibes we could find. It looks like he's trying to cover his tracks."

"Nuts!" Fred remarked. "Guess that's nothing for both of us...you seen Velma?"

"Last I saw, she went to the tiki bar," Daphne replied as she put her jumpsuit into her purse. "We better go see what she's found."

And with that, she followed Fred out the door.

Downstairs, the both of them found Velma, atop the piano, singing in a breathy manner...of course, she was still inebriated, mind you.

"~You're just too good to be true...can't take my eyes off you...~" she sang. "~You'd be like heaven to touch...Oh, God—I wanna hold you so much! At long last, love has arrived. And I thank God I'm alive~"

She pointed up at Fred. "~You're just too good to be true...can't take my eyes off you...~" she sang.

"What happened?!" exclaimed Fred, shocked. Once the song concluded, the rowdy college kids picked Velma up, and hoisted her into the air as she slid her sweater off and swung it around.

"Did she have anything to drink?" Daphne asked the metal head.

"She had ONE coke, but other than that, no!" he insisted. "I don't know HOW she got this plastered!"

"Somebody must've spiked it..." murmured Daphne.

Fred nodded, before he turned to the college kids. "Alright, guys," he instructed in a stern voice. "Put her down."

The college students placed Velma down, and she stumbled a bit before Fred got her and helped her up. "Heeey, Freeeee—dy~" the bespectacled brunette giggled as she hiccuped.

"Go find Shag, Scraps and Scoob," Fred instructed. "Something doesn't smell right."

Daphne nodded in agreement, and with that, she left while Fred tried to steady Velma in her inebriated state, the brainy brunette giggling all the way.

Daphne had managed to find Scrappy, Shaggy and Scooby, around a table, trying to figure out what to do next while gorging themselves on appetizers.

"So, any ideas on what to do?" Daphne inquired.

"Nope," Shaggy replied.

"Ruh-uh," said Scooby.

"Sorry," added Scrappy.

"What if whatever those guys have planned comes after us?" asked Daphne.

"Then, like, we'd better start plannin' to run for cover," Shaggy said as he scarfed down another handful of onion rings.

"Rup!" Scooby nodded.

"No way!" Scrappy fumed. "This Phibes guy made it personal, so you two can't just go hiding again!"

Shaggy and Scooby looked at each other, and sighed. "Like...Scrappy's right," said Shaggy. "It was one thing for Phibes to mess with the world...but now he's messin' with our family."

"Ruff yeah!" Scrappy declared. "Besides, we've taken on monsters before, and these guys are gonna go down too!"

"That's the spirit," replied Daphne as she picked Scrappy up while Shaggy and Scooby finished their food.

As the four of them headed to the lobby, they bumped into the girl Shaggy had met, Mary Jane!

"Oh, hey," she greeted, pointing to Fred tending to the very tipsy Velma. "I think your friend was singing atop the piano."

Daphne winced inwardly. "Velma isn't a heavy drinker, so one glass of of liquor will do her in," she said, no doubt remembering a past incident.

As the group continued forward, Scrappy's ears perked up. "Wait a second...I hear somethin'!" he murmured.

Scooby turned towards the windows, and froze like a statue.

Shaggy noticed his nervousness. "Scoob?" he asked. "Like, what's got you so spooked?"

Suddenly, the creature in question crashed right through the windows! It was ten feet tall, its body was pink and shriveled, and it had a pair of glowing green eyes!

"RONSTER...!" shrieked Scooby. Instinctively, he reached out to grab Scrappy...only to see the little pup was already making a break for it in the direction opposite of the massive monster. "Rappy?"

"Just like you always taught me, Uncle Scooby!" called Scrappy. "A good detective knows when to run!"

Scooby shrugged, and ran behind a downed table, pulling Scrappy behind it.

The other attendees screamed and ran as the monsters grabbed them and exhaled a green fog in their faces; it made them sleepy, and they passed out. As Fred was dragging Velma to safety, one of the creatures grabbed him off the ground.

"FRED!" everyone exclaimed.

"Grab Velma and get outta here!" called Fred, right before the monster suddenly jumped through the roof, taking him with them.

Meanwhile, Velma had landed on the floor, and after regaining consciousness, was now searching for her glasses.

"Ugh, where are they?" she muttered. "Ngh, bad time to be drinking..."

As she searched, one of the monsters jumped down and handed her her glasses. "Thank you," she responded.

The monster roared at her; Velma chuckled as the lumbering beast picked her up. "Nice mask...bad breath," she observed. The monster growled at her. She tried pulling off its face, but her eyes widened as she realized that this was NOT a mask. Her first clue was when its face snapped back into place.

"Jinkies..." Velma remarked, before the monster roared into her face, knocking her out with its spray, and jumped through the windows with her!

"VELMA!" the others screamed.

Some more monsters came and grabbed some more college kids, and knocked them out before capturing them.

"We gotta find out where these things took Fred and Velma!" exclaimed Daphne.

"Like, sure—after we get ourselves outta here!" Shaggy responded.

As he peeked over the bar, there were now eight more demons in the building. One of them spotted Shaggy and let off a high-pitched shriek.

"Okay...time to start running!" called Shaggy as he and Mary Jane scrambled over the bar. "Scooby-Doo! Where ARE you?!"

Suddenly, Shaggy, Mary Jane and Daphne were lifted on top of a large room service cart, being pushed by Scooby with Scrappy on his head as they yelled, "ROVER HERE!"

"And with company, to boot!" Scrappy added, as several demons were right behind them.

"Faster, Uncle Scooby! Faster!" called Scrappy.

"Ri'm roing as rast as I can!" Scooby responded.

"YEE-HAW!" Scrappy exclaimed as he ducked under a silver platter, before the cart crashed out a window at the end of the hallway.

KRASSSSH!

The group screamed as the cart tumbled down before landing and rolling away as fast as it could from the hotel! Everyone was scuffed and shaken, but...they were alright, mostly.

The demons leapt out the window after them...but fell through the awning, and landed on their faces.

"...ow..." one groaned.