Chapter 8: Operation Scooby Rescue
The group returned to the resort, noticing everyone was gone. And as they did, Izzy told them how the prisoners had been forced to build a machine while the monsters posed as them with those suits that kept them out of the sunlight.
Within minutes, Velma instantly began forming a plan."We need a spotlight...and mirrors!" she exclaimed.
"I could get on top of the cavern, with some rappeling gear!" Daphne responded.
Izzy nodded. "Luckily, the monsters only wear the suits when above ground."
"Good for them, and good for us!" Fred responded.
"What can I do?" inquired Shaggy.
"I think your knowledge of mechanical crane games will be a BIG help this time around," Fred replied.
"And what about me?" Scrappy inquired.
"Somebody has to distract the agents while Fred, Daphne and Velma work on their plan," responded Izzy.
"Leave it to me, Izz!" Scrappy nodded. "I'll decimate 'em!"
Izzy held up a bag of super powered Scooby Snacks. "These should help," she replied.
"They actually WOULD!" Scrappy nodded as he accepted the bag and got ready to begin.
"And what should I do?" asked Mary Jane.
Izzy turned to the blonde. "As Fred and Velma work on the mirrors, and Daphne goes topside to help them, you and I will try and free the prisoners as Scrappy distracts the agents," she finished.
"This is gonna be a difficult one," said Fred. "But, if we can all pull this off, then not only will this be the biggest mystery of our careers, but we'll have saved the world from a demon army."
"Let's just make sure the fame doesn't go to our heads again," warned Velma.
"It won't. We're not doing this to be famous," replied Daphne. "We're doing this to save Scooby, and the world!"
The others gave nods of agreement before they split up and got to work.
MEANWHILE, IN A PREPARATORY ENCLAVE...
Scooby was, surprisingly enough, being showered with all sorts of pampering. 'Humans' were adorning him with garlands, someone was giving him a manicure, and a scantily-clad woman was feeding him from a silver platter of Scooby Snax like they were grapes. Now, Scooby-Doo tended to be a bit of a glutton, but he was no fool—even if the circumstances involved food. He knew that there was something seriously rotten going on, so he kept his guard up.
Nearby, Mondavarious sat in a sheet metal throne as he observed the proceedings.
"Everything is going as planned, Mr. Crawford," said Zarkos as he arrived with 2 of the agents. "No sign of the Salvator Docga."
"Exquisite," Mondavarious gave a wicked smile as he tented his hands. "It will only be a matter of time until the Soul Storm passes over the Earth, and then...HE shall be freed, and grant me my greatest desire!"
He began chuckling madly as Zarkos joined in.
As they did, the demons began to drum and play weird, Seussian instruments while chanting a weird demon mantra.
"Meggido, Demon Rex!" bellowed Mondavarious as the chanting began. "This eve your sweet servants gather in worshipful anticipation of your coming rule!"
Several agents began to bring in something while he continued. "And with this glorious machine built, you shall rejoin this world, and rule it in all of your majesty!"
As they did, the gang enacted their plan. Scrappy snuck into the dungeons and sniffed around for some of the guards. He eventually found most of them in a room, celebrating their leader's victory with wine and whatnot.
Scrappy ate another of the special Scooby Snax, and the nanotech kicked in seconds later. He felt faster, all of a sudden.
"Oh-kay!" he smiled as he got into a running stance. "Let's boost!"
As he started running, his feet became blurry spinning wheels, and he left a trail of thick dust in his wake!
He was so fast, that when he ran past the agents, he made them all slip and fall from the force of his running!
"Come get me, ya creeps!" he called.
"GET THAT PUPPY!" they shouted as they took off after Scrappy.
As they took off, Izzy snuck into the dungeon and began to unlock the cells harboring the trapped college students.
"Izzy!" Mandy whispered. "You came back!"
Izzy smiled. "Of course I did. Now follow me," she instructed. "You guys all gotta get outta here while me and my friends stop these guys!"
"How did you escape?" inquired Mandy.
"My cousin and his friends broke me out," replied Izzy. "Now we've gotta get outta here so they can fix all of this."
"Don't gotta tell ME twice..." Mandy responded as she left the cell.
And with that, Izzy and Mary Jane began leading everyone down the tunnel she and the others had used beforehand to escape.
Meanwhile...
Daphne was crawling through a vent leading to the top of the building.
"Alright...now's the time I get to prove myself!" she said to herself as she continued crawling.
All she had to do was get the sunlight shining into the place. It would be a piece of cake!
Just so long as she wasn't interrupted.
Meanwhile, as she did this, Fred and Velma were enacting their part of the plan, setting up the mirrors and such so they would deflect the sunlight all over and destroy the demons while they were out of their suits.
"When all of this is finally over, I wouldn't mind us all getting some burgers and milkshakes," said Fred.
Velma chuckled. "Just like the good ol' days, right?" she asked.
"Yeah...but better," Fred blushed.
Velma blushed as well, but cleared her throat. "We'd better finish up these mirrors," she said. "Scooby and the world are counting on us."
"Right," Fred nodded as he continued with setting the mirrors up.
Elsewhere in the tunnels, Shaggy was slowly sneaking around, hoping to find Scooby. "C'mon, Scoob...you gotta be around here somewhere..." he muttered to himself.
As he peeked around a corner, he noticed an agent walking into a room that said, "bathrooms", while having a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Like, that gives me an idea!" Shaggy beamed.
So, after a quick change of clothes, Shaggy was now clad in the agent's outfit, so he made his way into the ceremonial enclave and tried to blend in with the other agents.
He saw one agent trying to sing the song: "A ringa-dingo wampaloo, rama-lama womba-ding, this is what the demons sing!"
THWAP!
...when another smacked him upside the head.
Shaggy kept his eyes peeled for Scooby. He saw Mondovarious standing above the agents, and noticed that one of his hands looked kinda funny. In fact...the hand looked almost METALLIC!
"Wait a second..." whispered Shaggy. "Is he—?"
Before he could finish that thought, he heard Mondovarious exclaim: "And now, behold—the sacrifice!"
Shortly afterwards, Scooby-Doo was brought out, attached to a stretcher, while the disguised demons chanted and cheered wildly.
Shaggy looked on, horrified. "...Scoob!" he whisper-gasped, before making his way over as quickly as possible to the petrified pooch.
Suddenly, the disguised humans all let out a demonic-sounding screech. A hole in the ceiling exploded, and the demonic energies surged out through the rooftop, swirling in a vortex shape.
Daphne had just made it to the rooftop, and was looking on in shock; Fred and Velma looked on with terrified expressions.
Upon hearing, Shaggy sped up his approach towards Scooby; but before he could make it, soaring down through the roof came a horrific creature: MEGGIDO, the DEMON REX. He was a gargantuan, fiery winged beast with hollow, wet, black eyes; his wings had talons, and his thin, slimy tongue traced over his steely sharp beak.
Mondovarious began cackling like a mad hyena, and Shaggy took notice of the incredibly sharp teeth he had!
Sharp teeth, freaky robot hand and wants to become immortal. It's definitely him! he thought.
"Oh, mighty Meggido! Gaze upon the followers that I have created in your name!" bellowed Mondavarius.
As he declared this, the disguised monsters began to shed their human suits.
When they did, Meggido gazed around the room. "Goood puppy..." he snickered darkly as he clutched Scooby's chin in his talons.
"It's nothing short of an honor to meet you," said Mondavarius.
"Don't waste time, you fool!" ordered Meggido. "Hurry up and make some room in there so I can get in!"
"But of course, my lord," nodded Mondavarius as he started pushing the levers at the control station, and the massive pincer began to rise into the air. "Through the vessel of this pure one, you shall take mortal form, and rule over this world!"
Meggido laughed at Scooby. "I'm gonna be wearin' YOUR spots, pal," he chuckled.
Daphne prepared to aim the spotlight at a mirror, but one of the demons kicked it over and broke it in a celebratory fracas.
"Damn!" she grumbled, before hearing something behind her. As she turned around, it turned out to be Zarkos!
"Señorita," he chuckled. "It looks as though I have caught you without your chi again, si?"
Daphne gave a fierce glare as she got into a fighting stance.
Zarkos chuckled. "Muy bueno! Let's make this interesting!" he exclaimed.
Meanwhile...
Mondavarius guided the crane pincer towards Scooby's chest, before it reached inside, and fished out Scooby's soul: it looked like a smaller, translucent version of Scooby's head, but with a whispy tail behind it!
"NOW, MEGGIDO! CLAIM YOUR VESSEL!" bellowed Mondavarius.
Shaggy stared on in horror. Every cell of his body was telling him to turn and run. But in spite of himself, he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
"NOBODY POSSESSES MY PAL!" he bellowed.
At that, EVERYONE turned in Shaggy's direction, while Meggido opened the mouth of Scooby's limp body.
"Rey! Re's roing into re!" Scooby's soul exclaimed.
"I've got my critics...but you gotta LOVE this!" Meggido declared as he clamored into Scooby's empty body. "While I claim my new form...DESTROY HIM!"
And he dived into the throat.
Shaggy ran as fast as he could past the monsters, as each one kept lunging at him. But if there's one thing Shaggy was great at besides eating, it was running!
He grabbed Meggido's foot as it stuck out of Scooby's mouth, with the dogs soul staring on in awe.
"Get outta my pal, you creep!" shouted Shaggy.
"Fool!" exclaimed Mondavarius. "Nobody can stop us now!"
"That's what you think, bucko!" called a voice.
"What? Who DARES to defy the will of the great Meggido?" inquired Mondavarius, looking around the room. Before he even knew what was happening, Scrappy swung in on a rope and kicked him in the face, sending him flying into the controls of the crane!
"ME!" Scrappy exclaimed. "Scrappy-Doo to the rescue!"
Scooby's soul-self giggled. "Reheeheeheehee! Rhat's ry rephew!" he exclaimed proudly.
Mondavarius convulsed and screamed as a surge of electricity shot through him, and sent him flying over to Fred and Velma were, while the crane started to go haywire and grabbed Meggido before he could finish possessing Scooby's body.
"Eh? What the—" Meggido exclaimed before he was yanked off and pulled into the air.
"Like, I think this belongs to you!" Shaggy exclaimed as he pulled himself free of the henchman pile, then slam-dunked Scooby's soul back into his body.
All at once, Scooby-Doo blinked as his body regained its healthy glow. "Rey! Ri'm okay!" he beamed, wagging his tail excitedly as he sat up.
Meggido shrieked as he was flung through the air, while Izzy showed up, confused.
Fred and Velma slowly made their way over to Mondavarius as he leaned against the wall, smoke rising off of him. "Ohhh...I so despise lightning..." he groaned.
"Just who ARE you?" asked Fred.
"I vould be so pleased to enlighten you..." Mondavarius replied. "But why tell...when you can SHOW?"
Reaching up, Mondavarius peeled his face-mask off, revealing tiny eyes behind yellow tinted glasses, crazy looking white hair, shark-like teeth, and a new and improved robotic hand!
"I AM DOCTOR PHINEUS PHIBES!" he cackled. [played by...oh, let's say, John Malkovich]
"I knew it!" Shaggy and Scooby said in unison.
"That bozo again!" Scrappy remarked.
"Had a feeling," mused Izzy.
"You fools have no knowledge of who you're messing with! For I, Doctor Phineus Phibes, will rule as a loyal follower of Meggido!" declared Phibes. "And as gratitude for my service, I shall become...IMMORTAL!"
Meggido nodded. "Indeed you will, mortal," he responded. "But the only thing I need to make this a reality is..."
Phibes and Megido turned in unison. "SCOOBY-DOO!" they both exclaimed.
"Re?" asked Scooby. "Ron't you mean Jabberjaw?"
"GET ZEM!" bellowed Phibes as he transformed his hand into a blaster, then he jumped down and began shooting at Shaggy, Scrappy and Scooby. The trio took off running, while Phibes kept hot on their trail, followed by Meggido.
"SCOOBY-DOO! WHERE ARE YOU!?" the devilish duo bellowed as they began their pursuit.
BOOM! Surprise, folks! The villain was Phibes!
