Author's Note: Ever since I've published my City of Mysteries series as part of Dimension Seven, starting with The Mark of the Werewolf, I have came to note how my existing Dimension Four stories have a lot of room to improve, specifically on the procedural, realism (even with the presence of the supernatural and magic), pacing and the dialogues.
In the face of that, having had successfully remastered the early entries of my Garfield Stephenson Ngôo stories for Dimension Four on FictionPress, beginning with A Tick of the Missing Clock!, and on account of the world-building process I have in mind for Dimension Four, I have decided to remaster these earlier D4 Scooby stories and overhaul their storylines, starting first with A Coolsville Central High School Story.
As previously established, Dimension Four includes my revision and expansion of the Hanna-Barbera canon of the Scooby-Doo franchise, beginning with Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? and up to The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo! and the Superstar 10 films.
In keeping with the locale Hanna-Barbera had used for the franchise and the location of the production studio, Coolsville is located in Southern California. In a departure from my usual depictions in which Coolsville is the county seat and largest city of Crystal Cove County, Coolsville is instead located in Grande Cristal County, with Grande Cristal meaning "Big Crystal" in Spanish.
Much like how there is a City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, there is also a Grande Cristal County and the City of Grande Cristal with the latter's name a combination of Big City, home of the Blue Falcon and Dynomutt, and Crystal Cove, the setting of Mystery Incorporated. Within this setting, Coolsville is the largest city of Grande Cristal County outside the City of Grande Cristal, just like how Long Beach is the largest city of Los Angeles County outside the City of Los Angeles.
As noted in A Tick of the Missing Clock! on FictionPress, in between 1969 and 1991, the timeline of Dimension Four floats in that every person physically ages a year over the course of two years.
Therefore, with all human members of Mystery Inc. born in 1953, after they hit 16 years of age in 1969, they will all turn 17 in 1971. 18 in 1973, and so on.
As previously established in my ongoing remastering of Coolsville Central, I will be utilizing the following birthdays for the gang:
- Scooby: September 8th, which is based on the original air date of TNSD Mysteries episode Happy Birthday, Scooby-Doo. In addition, Don Messick's birthday is on September 7th
- Shaggy: April 27th, which is also the birthday of Casey Kasem
- Daphne: August 24th, which is also the birthday of Grey Griffin
- Fred: June 30th
- Velma: November 12th
Given the presence of the supernatural in this series and how I intend to have this series serve as a shared universe between Scooby-Doo and the works of Hanna-Barbera, I would like to first take a moment to thank the following authors for providing me the inspiration for this series.
First off, The Thirteenth Ghost (from the Shaggy/Daphne forums) had inspired me with ideas for an origin story for the classic Hanna-Barbera incarnation of the gang, which led to me creating this series in the first place.
Second, Ellis97 for inspiring me to utilize the other mystery solvers created by Hanna-Barbera in my stories, namely the Chan Clan, the Speed Bugs, Jabberjaw and the Neptunes, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels and the Funky Phantom gang.
Third, Seahawksfan1 (formerly Scoobyfan1) for providing me the inspiration of having members of the gang depicted to have magical powers.
And last but not least, Crystal Rose of Pollux for providing me the inspiration for an in-depth portrayal of Vincent Van Ghoul's origins and using Ancient Greece and Greek mythology as the setting for the magical world.
I don't own Scooby-Doo! Hanna-Barbera Productions and Warner Bros. does.
Prologue
Circa 4th millennium Before Common Era
"All rise!" The mage serjeant-at-arms barked, prompting everyone present in the chamber of the Olympian Temple of Justice to fall silent as they all stood up.
The air inside the chamber became unusually still as Athena, the Olympian goddess of wisdom, made her way onto the bench. She was soon followed by the twelve members of the jury, who were ushered into the jury box by the mage constables.
Athena looked on as members of the jury took their seats, then she sat down at the bench.
As everyone else proceeded to take their seats, Athena looked around the chamber and gallery, which was packed with spectators - Amazons, mages, men, Atlanteans, deities, just to name a few of the being types present - following the proceedings of the trial diligently.
It wasn't just those that were present in the gallery that were diligently following the proceedings of the trial. Mages, deities, and other beings with the means were also diligently following the developments from the trial without being present in the gallery.
The massive following of the trial's proceedings had a lot to do with the identity of the defendant, a mage, and the nature of his offenses, offenses that were so outright abominable that it marked the first time in recorded history that a deity had to preside over the trial of a mage.
As the last of the spectators took their seats, Athena glanced to her left, where the prosecutor Felix Oster, an Olympian mage, was conferring with the assistant prosecutor Arnold Cronqvist, a fellow Olympian mage.
To Athena's right sat the defendant Asamad Van Ghoul, who at the peak of his career, served directly under the King of the Olympians, Zeus, as his chief of staff. In fact, Asamad's rise in the mage's world came under the tutorage and patronage of Zeus himself upon the chief deity's discovery of his talents and potential.
In his role as Zeus' chief of staff, Asamad was responsible for liaising between the Olympians, and by extension, the Conference of Deities, and the mages. It was a role long-prized by mages, and to be directly under the service of the King of the Olympians himself was considered a source of pride and great honour.
It was not just Asamad's achievements that was the primary reason for his trial being closely-watched and dubbed as the Trial of the Olympian Millennium. His downfall and standing accused of genocide, dehumanization, enslavement, political repression, and seditious conspiracy, had saw his trial being so closely-followed that Athena had to order the enaction of temporary facilities near the Olympian Temple of Justice to accommodate the crowd.
There was no single defining event that could pinpoint what exactly motivated Asamad to join Ares when he launched his rebellion against Zeus. However, if there is one thing observers can agree on, the origins of all the trouble in the present day could be traced back to Hades' deteriorating relationship with the King of the Olympians, who is also his brother.
Arguably, the seeds of discord between Hades and Zeus were planted in the aftermath of their successful overthrow of the Titans millennia before.
Although Hades played a crucial role in their successful rebellion against the Titans, the decision to put him in charge of underworld affairs, specifically passing judgement to the condemned to spend eternity in the Underworld, left Hades with a bad taste in his mouth as he slowly came to see the worst of humanity and mages.
Zeus insisting on continuing to influence the evolution of humanity and the mages by molding them further into the likeness of his fellow deities did not sit right with Hades, and it was around this time that he began to note a discord between the King of the Olympians and his son Ares, the Olympian deity of war.
In particular, Hades noted Ares' growing jealousy and hatred of humanity and his growing efforts to corrupt them with war, blood-thirst, and violence, leading Zeus and the other deities to respond by influencing the evolution of a new race known as the Amazons to spread love and compassion.
Hades' opportunity to stage a rebellion to overthrow his brother and install himself as the dominion over humanity and mages soon came in an event that came to be known as Nibiru that took place around 4000 BCE, in the form of the Anunnaki race from a different dimension arriving at Earth.
In this first contact, the Anunnaki warned of an impending invasion of Earth from Apokolips, another extra-dimensional world that is prophesized to be ruled by the tyrant Darkseid, then known as Uxas, who is leading the conquest in search for the Anti-Life Equation, which will ultimately give him the ability to erase all free will across all universes.
Uxas' conquest across galaxies and universes saw him terraforming planet after planet that came across his path, among them being the planet Anunn, home world of the Anunnaki, which was among the first to fall.
The fall of Anunn subsequently led to the surviving Anunnaki to successfully lobby the Guardians of the Universe the creation of the intergalactical police force - the Green Lantern Corps - with the explicit purpose of stopping the Apokoliptan conquest in its tracks, or at least slow it down, while they try to raise an army strong enough to push back the invaders for good.
With agreement from the deities, the surviving Anunnaki that landed on Earth were given permission to inhabit an array of animals, which gifted them the abilities of speech and an array of powers ranging from magic to shapeshifting.
The animals inhabited by the Anunnaki subsequently attained leadership positions in both the human and mage civilizations, among the most-notable of them included the Monkey King (孫悟空) in the East and the Pharaoh Ascoobis in Egypt.
For Hades, having a legion of talking animals were proven to be the last straw and he promptly made contact with the invaders, promising them access to Mount Olympus in return for dominion over humanity and mages in Uxas' name.
Although Hades' betrayal gave the invaders a heads start in their infiltration and invasion, the defenders, comprising of the remaining deities, mages, humans, the Anunnaki-inhabited animals, Amazons, and Atlantean, and with assistance from a Green Lantern, were able to strike back.
In the heat of the battle just outside Mount Olympus, with Uxas on the defensive as a result of Zeus' lightning attack, Ares was able to grievously injure the Apokoliptan prince with his ax in the shoulder and forced him into a retreat.
Concurrently, the other defenders were able to take out the army of Parademons, the Apokoliptan high priests and later separate the mother boxes, which when merged into the Unity and activated, would've commenced the terraforming process on Earth.
The battle outside Mount Olympus subsequently proved to be a turning point of the invasion as the planet's defenders worked together to neutralize and repel the remaining Apokoliptan forces, eventually forcing them into a retreat.
Hades was subsequently caught when he tried to flee in the commotion of the Apokoliptan retreat, and in punishment for his role in the betrayal, Zeus had him banished to the Underworld, though not before he correctly predicted that the discord between Zeus and Ares would only grow with time as a result of the latter's continued jealousy of humanity and continued efforts to corrupt them.
He also predicted that repelling the Apokoliptan invasion would not be the last time Zeus would be betrayed by someone close to him, a prediction that soon come true when Asamad joined Ares after he launched the insurrection against Zeus.
A young but powerful warlock at the time of his participation in the war against the Apokoliptan Invasion, Asamad Van Ghoul had made a name for himself with his brave deeds, resourcefulness, and quick-thinking when he saved the lives of hundreds of his comrade-in-arms.
It was his acts of bravery that put him on an accelerated path up the magical ladder that eventually saw him appointed as Zeus' chief of staff, the youngest mage to have ever been appointed at the age of 43.
However, just because he survived the war and has the magical powers to keep himself and others safe did not meant that the war did not shape him for the worse.
Particularly, Asamad was haunted by what he saw in combat, including the dissection of Parademons, who turned out to be inhabitants of other planets that were unfortunate enough to have crossed Uxas' path, enslaved and drained of their free will and put under the service of Apokolips.
But it wasn't just what he saw in combat that haunted Asamad and contributed to him joining Ares' insurrection, nor did the disturbing visions he saw, which were conjured up by the Unity, while fighting an Apokoliptan High Priest in an effort to destroy the Unity.
Rather, it was not long before the battle outside Mount Olympus. While the battle itself would be the turning point for Earth's defenders, up until the battle, cynicism had set in as the invaders managed to took out some of the best defenders, and it remained an open question of whether they could turn the tide against the invaders.
Adding to the cynicism was that until that battle outside Mount Olympus, Earth's defenders fought separately, a legacy of millennia of manipulation and distrust forging a history for each race that taught them not to trust, not to hope for an alliance, and to fight apart.
Word soon got around among the defenders that in a temple hidden deep in the Himalayas, holds the key that could guarantee their victory over the Apokoliptan invaders; however, the temple's location is so sensitive to the purity of mana that neither deities nor humanity could access it.
Adding to the challenge is that of the mages that have made it to the temple in the past, no one ever passed any of the trials held by the monks to the chambers beyond and made it out of the temple in one piece.
Desperate times comes desperate measures, and in spite of the mutual distrust, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the races agreed to work together and coordinate the counteroffensive against the invaders.
The races in the Himalayas agreed to assist the mages in reaching the sacred temple, and determined to prove the stories wrong, Asamad volunteered to go retrieve the key in the hidden temple.
In retrospect, the warnings that no mage ever passed the trials and made it out of the temple in one piece could also be taken as a figure of speech and not just literal.
The key for them to turn the tide against the invaders was the acquisition of a time crystal, which Asamad successfully accomplished. However, in the leadup to him acquiring the time crystal, the monk warned, "But I must warn you, Jadhugar. The present is but a curtain anticipation and trepidation. Lift it and hysteria may follow."
It was not known what exactly did Asamad experience when he acquired the time crystal, however when he returned, the other mages and the deities noted that he looked haunted, as if he had witnessed his own future.
Maybe that was the part about not making it out of the temple in one piece, in which a part of Asamad remained in the temple. Whatever it is that had happened, it planted the seed for his subsequent decision to join Ares in his insurrection against Zeus.
More turning points that led to Asamad turning against Zeus were to follow. First and foremost, once the defenders of Earth have successfully repelled the Apokoliptan invasion, there came the issue of what to do with the Mother Boxes left behind by the invaders, given no one had the power, not even Zeus himself, to destroy them for good.
Having all the deities and mages combine their powers to destroy the Mother Boxes wasn't an option, as the feedback from the ensuring destruction is more than enough to destroy the planet, if not the solar system or even the entire galaxy.
Therefore, it was decided that the Mother Boxes be distributed among the victorious parties, to be secured and safe-guarded.
It was Ares that objected to allocating three of the Mother Boxes to humanity, and over time Asamad came to agree with Ares' concerns, albeit with different reasons.
For one, having been prophesized to be the most-powerful warlock to have ever walked the face of the planet, Asamad was not too keen on the thought of humans, or mortals as mages came to refer to them, using the properties of the Mother Boxes to reverse-engineer the technology that would enable their abilities to surpass that of his powers.
Other mages soon came to observe Asamad's growing ego as he climbed up the magical ladder. Subsequently came allegations of him promoting a toxic workplace in his office, and whatever complaints filed to the King of the Olympians himself were often not followed-up on as he had to deal with more-pressing matters concerning the growing rift between him and Ares.
In spite of his uncle's banishment to the Underworld, through his frequent and discreet visits to Hades, Ares eventually agreed to his assistance as they began to plot out details of their rebellion against Zeus, with Ares promised full dominion over humanity once Hades takes charge.
No single defining moment led to Asamad agreeing to join Ares and Hades in their rebellion against Zeus, however it was possible that the growing gulf with his fellow mages further factored into his decision to join Ares, especially not long before the first of the shots were fired that marked the beginning of the putsch, word got around that Zeus has been planning to replace him as his chief of staff and move him to a new position that was widely-regarded as a do-nothing job.
Other rumours also spread of his impending retirement altogether. Whatever the plans were, for Asamad, it was proven to be the last straw for him.
No words could fully describe the carnage inflicted on the planet by Ares, Asamad, and their followers in the subsequent conflict that came to be known as the War of the Gods, other than the casualties were extensive.
By the time it was all over, Hades was successfully banished back to the Underworld while Ares was slain, but not before he successfully slaughtered the bulk of his fellow Olympians and their allies with Athena the only one left standing.
Many prehistoric civilizations outside what eventually became known as the Old World centuries later, like Bedrock, home to the first superhero Captain Caveman, were completely destroyed beyond recognition.
In his last stand defending Bedrock against Asamad's forces, Captain Caveman, a veteran in the war against the Apokoliptan invasion, and his son Captain Caveman, Jr. were frozen in a block of ice.
But it was not just the act of freezing Captain Caveman and his son that was the most heinous of Asamad's crimes. Rather, it had to do with what he had witnessed while acquiring the time crystal in the Himalayas.
He still couldn't find the words to explain it, but what he experienced as he tried to reach for the time crystal felt real enough.
It wasn't the part where he completely lost his human form for good, nor the part of him becoming locked in a chest of sorts or becoming bound to a human host.
Rather, it was his final moments as something else entirely. Coming undone by a descendant of an Anunnaki, who is a talking Great Dane, and his wolf hybrid loyal servant, with help from his own blood and the loyal servant's bride-to-be.
Not too keen to what he considered to be meeting his end at the hands of mere mortals, Asamad had his followers dispatched to narrow down the likely candidate whose descendant is a talking Great Dane.
Eventually, it was established that the talking Great Dane and his wolf hybrid loyal servant seen in Asamad's vision while retrieving the time crystal is none other than the Pharaoh Ascoobis and his loyal manservant Shagenkhamen.
The mages who were able to rush to Thinis later testified in the two-week trial about the sheer brutality of the slaughter of the Pharaoh Ascoobis and his family and servants, and they also noted the complete lack of remorse in Asamad's eyes.
Defiantly claiming sole responsibility for the insurrection, Asamad added that his only regret was that two of his remaining targets were unaccounted for in the chaos in the palace.
All in all, the two weeks of the trial was as gruelling as it gets and now arrived the moment of truth as Athena turned towards the jury foreman and asked, "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?"
"We have, my Lady." The foreman nodded.
"And how has the jury found the defendant?" Athena asked.
At Athena's question, Asamad turned towards the jury foreman with a stare that could be seen as boring holes through the foreman's head.
In spite of the stare from the defendant, the foreman did not hesitate one bit when he responded, "We the jury found the defendant, Asamad Van Ghoul, head of the House of Van Ghoul and late of the High Staff to His Divine Majesty Zeus, guilty of all charges."
All at once, the chamber completely fell silent before Asamad scoffed and contemptuously said, "Predictable outcome, not that it would change the fact that Lord Hades shall rise again once this sham of a trial reaches its conclusion."
"Mr. Van Ghoul, that would be enough out of you!" Athena said, the calmness in her voice betraying the anger and other rash of emotions building up inside her since the insurrection was put down. "In light of the verdict delivered based on your heinous actions, normally the fitting penalty we have on our books is eternal banishment to the Underworld. However, considering Hades role in supporting the insurrection...banishment to the Underworld will be too lenient to you."
Asamad only growled as Athena motioned for a squad of mage constables to enter the chamber carrying a large chest and continued, "Which is why this specially-conjured up magic chest currently imprisoning your dastardly followers shall serve as your eternal prison."
Outside the chamber, Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons sighed as she watched the mage social services being overwhelmed by the orphans under their care.
In light of the massive casualties from the ten-year insurrection, the mage social services have find themselves stretched as untold numbers of children were left orphaned in the destruction and violence.
Among the orphans included Casehamen, the youngest child of Shagenkhamen, and Prince Scarab. They were both fortunate enough to have been sent away prior to Asamad's murderous rampage in the palace; however, the servant intrusted in carrying them was subsequently caught in an ambush (though the ambushers knew nothing of their identities), in which he was gravely wounded.
Determined to keep the prince and the child safe, the servant continued to trek on until he was able to reach Athena's army, where he handed the mages the two orphans before he collapsed and drew in his last breath.
Scarab and Casehamen were subsequently shuffled around by the mage social services tasked with assisting orphans of the war before word of their servant's plight and brave act of protecting them reached the ears of Asteria, who was busy freeing the Amazons from the slavery Hades had imposed on them.
Asteria, who later sacrificed herself to buy her sisters time to make their escape to Themyscira in the battle against Hades' forces, made Queen Hippolyta promise to help out the orphans, which was how she came to find herself in the Temple of Justice watching over the mage social services processing the orphans at the present moment.
Her attention was drawn towards the door leading to the chambers by a strange noise, and when she got the doorway and saw what was unfolding inside, her mouth opened in shock.
Athena had Asamad Van Ghoul transformed into a demon, but what surprised her the most wasn't the way the former Chief of the High Staff to Zeus looked after the completion of his transformation.
Instead, it was the fact that he willingly embraced his transformation, as if it was an act of defiance against the verdict.
While she has seen the warning signs on Asamad's downfall, like everyone else following the proceedings closely, Queen Hippolyta was still trying to process the extent of damage he has caused in joining Hades and Ares in their insurrection, among them being the enslavement of the Amazons.
It was only because of Asteria's sacrifice was Hippolyta able to lead the Amazons to freedom in their new-found home of Themyscira, created by Zeus with his dying strength as one of his last acts before his death.
Paying particularly close attention to Casehamen and Prince Scarab, Hippolyta exhaled as she saw the innocence in their eyes and recalled the discussions she's had with the Amazon High Priestess.
The High Priestess spoke of the grand things that await the duo and their distant descendants and the prophecy of them, their friends, and Asamad's descendant having the combined powers that would do away with Hades and other threats for good.
"But until that day comes, it is all the more important for the heirs to understand compassion and love." The High Priestess spoke.
Recalling the High Priestess' words, Hippolyta exhaled as she turned back into the chamber in time to see Asamad, now christened as the demon Asmodeous, imprisoned into the magic chest.
Briefly making eye contact with Asmodeous, the Queen of the Amazons only hardened her glare in the face of the look of defiance in Asmodeous' face.
After breaking off eye contact with Asmodeous, Hippolyta exhaled as she came to a decision and summoned one of her aides over.
Eventually, upon dismissing the jurors and adjourning the court, Athena held a meeting with Hippolyta and senior Amazons.
Athena listened intently as Queen Hippolyta outlined the Amazons' plan to rear the young Casehamen and Scarab on Themyscira until they become of age, upon which they will embark on their own path in the mortal world.
Nodding in approval, Athena turned towards the two orphans and said, "May Zeus watch over them and their descendants from beyond."
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