Mystery Inc had agreed to meet Vincent at a magic bookstore. At first the gang thought they'd have to drag Shaggy and Scooby inside but as soon as they learned there was an anti-ghost charm cast around the building the bigger problem was going to get them to leave.
"Look at all these books, this could take all day," Daphne said as the bell on the door rang behind them. They turned to see Vincent Van Ghoul enter.
"That is why I brought reinforcements," he declared, before stepping aside revealing Lincoln, Lucy, and the Morticians club who excitedly fanned out among the shelves.
Rita entered behind everyone. "Remember kids, you break it, you buy it" she said loud enough for all of them to hear.
"Thanks for coming Aunt Rita," Fred said, embracing his aunt.
"Of course Freddie, happy to help. Besides, if I get a full article on this place, I can write off the gas as a business expense."
Vincent gave the title and description of the book they were looking for to the Clerk, unfortunately it was shelved around hundreds of other tomes from the dark ages. He gave instructions, "Lucy, instruct your classmates to each take a shelf and scan them for the book."
"What exactly do we expect to find in the book Mr. Van Ghoul?" Lucy replied.
"Maldor had the Reflector Specter retrieve a copy of this manuscript; it likely contained the instructions the Yowie Yahoo used to cast the runes. It is possible it will also contain the secret to locating the summoning point." Vincent said.
"Alright, and after we find it; I'd like to see if this place has anything tied to the Loud family. According to Lincoln the Blue Scarab said that the revenge plot is against not only Mystery Inc but our family as well" Lucy said.
"Yes, and I have managed to get some eyes and ears among Maldor's minions. Hopefully this part of mystery can be unraveled quickly" as Vincent spoke Scooby stared awkwardly at a jar of eyeballs; which gave new understanding to what the warlock said. All of the eyes blinked at him causing the dog to jump.
The sound of a ringing cell phone caused the cashier to shout. Rita quietly picked up her phone, apologized and went outside to take the call. The cashier then turned her attention to the large unleashed great dane who was reading over Shaggy's shoulder. "No dogs allowed in the store!" she exclaimed.
'Like hey, did you not see that we were with Mr. Van Ghoul?" Shaggy interjected, coming to Scooby's defense. Unfortunately, the bookstore's dog ban happened after Vincent's last visit. And after a handful of exchanges Shaggy and Scooby found themselves kicked out the front door. "Man, she didn't look that strong," Shaggy replied feeling his sore butt after it hit the concrete.
Just then they heard Rita freaking out on the phone. "Don't worry Maria, we'll be there as soon as we can." She said, trying to sound reassuring. "Now from the top, what do you mean they were sucked into the television?"
While Maria was talking to Rita, she was staring at the television set. Ronnie Anne, Carl, C.J., Sid, had been sitting down to watch a werewolf movie on tv. Baby Carlitos was asleep on the sofa and Rosa had been vacuuming in the room. But while Maria was in the kitchen getting a drink everyone disappeared from the room.
After a bright life caused her to black out, Ronnie Anne blinked her eyes open. She grumbled, "that DVD should've come with a warning label for flashing lights. But as her eyes adjusted, she realized she was no longer in her living room. She was in the dark woods right outside the werewolf castle from the movie. "W-what the? I've got to be dreaming." She tried to reassure herself. The sound of her baby cousin crying dashed the hope it was only a nightmare. "Carlitos!" She looked and saw her baby cousin crying in a pile of leaves. Suddenly the others all emerged from the shrubs equally as disoriented.
"Que Pasa? Is everyone okay?" Rosa asked, picking up the crying baby. She rocked Carlitos to soothe him.
"Uh, is this part of the movie?" Sid said, looking around.
"Um, actually I think we might be in the movie," Carl anxiously added.
"Why do you say that?" CJ questioned his brother who pointed up at the moon. But where the moon surface was supposed to be, instead they saw their living room with Maria panicking. As a result, they started freaking out.
"How are we in the movie? This is impossible!" Carl exclaimed.
"And ghost clowns, pirates and alligators aren't?" Ronnie Anne rebutted. "This has got to do with the chest of demons!"
"Hahahaha, clever girl, clever girl!" a voice called from the treetops. A red undead figure leapt down onto the drawbridge of the castle. She had a nasty mane of purple hair, bone earrings, and yellow eyes! "Zomba takes great pleasure trapping you in this movie! Now with you out of the way, I can sneak into your home, find the chest of demons and destroy it forever!"
Zomba laughed maniacally, but she was caught off guard by Rosa slinging her chancla into her mouth. As she spit out the shoe Rosa grabbed her by the collar. "Okay niños, go ahead and lock her in the chest."
"But Abuela, we don't have the chest right now," said CJ. Both Abuela and Zomba was surprised.
"Hmm, well Zomba did not think of that. No matter, we will have fun until I come up with a new plan. Maybe a game of hiding the old lady in the werewolf castle?" the zombie grinned. Then she sprung up into the castle tower taking Rosa with her. The children were horrified as they lost sight of them in the fog. "Nanee Nanee Booboo you can't catch me!" Zumba's taunt echoed in the night.
Meanwhile back in the Casagrande's living room; Rita had arrived bringing Lincoln, Shaggy, Scooby, and Vincent Van Ghoul. They had left Velma in charge at the bookshop. Observing the red glow around the screen the warlock reached a definite conclusion. "This is Zomba without a doubt, another original ghost from the Chest of Demons. And it appears she is up to her old tricks."
"But why would she yank them into the tv?" Maria exclaimed, trying hard to calm her tenseness.
"No doubt to remove obstacles between her and the Chest of Demons, but I can only imagine what her plan is pivoting to now that knows it was not in your home." Vincent added. "Right now our first priority is to get the children and Rosa out of the movie then we can deal with Zomba. Fortunately, I have just the thing; I picked it up one spring break in Crete." Vincent magically produced a spool of golden string. "Lincoln, tie one end to a hook on the wall. It will be an anchor from which we can pull the others out of the movie."
Lincoln did as instructed, making the tightest knot he could. "All set Mr V," he replied.
"Excellent you will man the string and when you feel the signal of three short tugs know to reel in the string. The red glow indicates that portal into the film is still open, so I shall enter along with Scooby and" Vincent Realized Shaggy was not in the room. They heard a thud. Peeking through the kitchen pass-through window they saw Shaggy sound asleep propped against the Casagrande's fridge with a mostly eaten plate of flan in his lap.
"It looks like Shaggy found Rosa's flan; she says it puts Hector to sleep this fast too" Rita commented. Scooby began trying to rouse Shaggy but he was in the middle of what must have been an excellent dream.
"Well, this won't work, Shaggy cannot come with into the movie in such an impaired state" Vincent replied.
"Then I'm coming" Maria said, drawing everyone's amazed looks.
"Are you sure Mrs. Santiago; these ghosts don't play around" warned Lincoln.
"My baby girl is in there: I am sure" she replied. "Mr. Van Ghoul, when do we leave."
Vincent snapped and the end of the string magically frayed and joined each of their sleeves and Scooby's collar. He then touched the tv causing it to ripple and the one by one the three of them passed through into the movie. Lincoln and his mother sat on the sofa to watch; while Shaggy slept.
Inside the movie; Ronnie Anne and Sid had accidentally gotten separated from Carl, CJ and Carlitos. They wandered through the woods right outside the castle, listening for bats, werewolves or the cackling of Zomba. "You know next time you invite me to movie night; let's watch something funny" Sid said nervously.
"I don't know what to do; that zombie lady has us trapped in here. Are we gonna have to wait for someone to notice we're gone? Then what?" Ronnie Anne added sitting on a log.
"Well at least we won't starve" Sid tried cheering up her friend by pulling out a bag of gummy bears.
Suddenly the sky went alight and three red comets shot down. The girls ducked out of sight unsure what to prepare for next. At first neither of them was brave enough to peak out from behind the tree. But the sound of familiar voices eased their fear and they found Scooby, Vincent, and Maria standing in the clearing.
"Mom!" Ronnie Anne exclaimed and greeted her mother with a tight hug.
"Boy are we glad to see you" Sid added as she side-hugged Scooby.
"Zomba took Abuela; and I think the boys were trying to sneak into the castle and get her back" Ronnie Anne informed.
They headed back toward the drawbridge where Carl was trying to build a tree branch catapult. Carlitos watched on with amusement as his brother struggled and growled at the poor quality of the wood. CJ spotted the rest of the party; "hooray, help has arrived."
"Yes, and it appears not a moment too soon" Vincent examined the makeshift catapult. "I see," he waved his hands and magically turned it into an better engineered model. CJ was impressed but Carl was annoyed. "Scooby, when you get across lower the drawbridge so we can all get into the castle."
Scooby began panicking about being launched, but CJ poured a few Scooby snacks into the catapult which he jumped at. Carl meanwhile was upset about being passed over for passenger status and tried climbing in as the Catapult went off. The three of them sailed way too high and into an open window.
"Yeah, I don't think you calculated the weight right Mr. Van Ghoul" Ronnie Anne said with a touch of sarcasm.
While they searched for a plan b to gain entry, Scooby, Carl and CJ crept through the spooky castle. "Abuela?" CJ called before Scooby and Carl clapped hands over his mouth.
"Pipe down CJ; we don't want that zombie lady to hear us," Carl replied. They moved through the spooky corridor; and then they heard a rattling noise. Carl then turned to see Scooby's teeth chattering and shushed him too. They peaked into the first room hoping to find Abuela, but it was simply the castle's kitchen. "Dangit, why is it wherever we go we end up in the kitchen?" he complained.
CJ had already moved to the fridge and opened it. "Werewolf snacks?" he said as he picked up a jar. And all three of them said yuck simultaneously.
Lincoln and Rita were watching them from the couch. "Wait a minute, Lorne Chumley's The Wrath of the Werewolf came out when I was kid, but the fridge looks brand new." Rita commented.
"They don't get any points for historical accuracy," Lincoln added.
"Even more inaccurate, Scooby didn't eat anything out of that fridge" Shaggy added, having roused and made nachos.
Meanwhile hidden from view; Zumba was in communication with Maldor. "What do you mean the chest is not there!" Maldor said from his smoky appearance in a candle flame.
"Zomba made mistake, I trapped the children when they didn't have it. But don't worry Maldor, no doubt someone is bringing their precious chest of demons. Besides these aren't even the children you wanted; Zomba can keep them here until your revenge is complete."
"You had better; or getting torn to shreds by the movie werewolf will be your best ending!" Maldor flared before the candle extinguished.
Rosa had been eavesdropping as she tried to break free of the ropes tying her to a chair. Zomba had at least been considerate enough to let her face the window. Zomba began ranting about the stupid deal Maldor had made with the human who had freed him. But Rosa stopped paying attention when she saw Ronnie Anne, Sid, Maria, Carlitos, and Vincent Van Ghoul at the edge of the moat. With a pair of magic energy blasts Vincent struck the chains holding the drawbridge up. The spools unraveled and it heavy door thudded. Everyone heard it, even Zomba who stuck her head out the window to look.
"So your family is coming to rescue. Well Zomba knows how to entertain!" The zombie laughed. She opened a safe, picked up a tv remote, placed it inside, and pulled out a whole ham and dropped it into Rosa's lap. "Give my regards to the werewolf" she said before leaving the room and locking the door.
Zomba headed towards the castle's foyer; meanwhile Maria was commandeering a torch off the wall. "So are we more worried about the freaky red zombie, or the savage werewolf that gives this movie its title?" Sid asked.
"Trust me, Zomba is the one to fear" Vincent replied. "And it is best that we return her to the chest as quickly as possible" Vincent ruffled his cape showing the pocket he had made for the Chest of Demons.
"Well we can deal with that after we get Abuela back, and find Carl, CJ, and Scooby Doo" Ronnie Anne added. "Also why is nobody worried about the werewolf from this movie?"
"Sweetie, I've seen this movie, the werewolf had like four scenes. Right now he's probably running from the town square to the church on the hill" Maria replied.
"Well let's hurry before he gets back!" Sid exclaimed. Baby Carlitos clung tight to her.
The group headed up one flight of stairs as Zomba came down the other missing each other by a second.
Angered by missing her prey Zomba slammed the door and headed back; unaware two rooms up, Scooby, CJ and Carl were now hiding. "We have to do something, she's gonna find us!" Carl whimpered.
"I have an idea!" CJ replied, yanking a tablecloth off its table. Zomba heard them and thought it was Ronnie Anne and her rescue party so she burst into the room yelling 'surprise'. But was surprised instead to find CJ wearing a fake moustache and holding an electric hair trimmer. "Ah ready for your salon treatment senorita?" he asked. Zomba was confused as Scooby dressed as a barber's assistant plopped Zomba into a chair and tied the tablecloth around her neck. CJ turned on the clippers and and spun around, when he was through, Zomba's hair looked like his mom Frida's. Zomba oohed in the hand mirror. "All the boys are gonna go wild for you!" CJ flattered. "Now let's work on that complexion" Zomba was about to protest but Carl hurled a hot towel at her face. While she was distracted Scooby wrapped her tight like a burrito down to her feet.
"Sorry, lunch break!" Carl cried and the three of them ran out of the room leaving Zomba struggling to get loose. They ran ahead, passing the others in the hallway but did not stop to chat. Ronnie Anne and company pulled back into the corridor when they heard Zomba coming; the zombie passed and did not see them.
"Rick a roor!" Scooby exclaimed, and they ducked inside the nearest doorway. As they slammed the door a chancla missed their heads by inches. They turned to see Rosa who had freed herself and opened the safe.
"Abuela!" CJ said and he rushed to hug her.
"Oh niño I am so glad you're safe! Where are the others?" Rosa asked.
"With Tia Maria and Mr Van Ghoul!" Carl said, "we've gotta get out of here!"
But before they could leave Zomba kicked down the door. "Hahahaha going so soon Scooby Doo?" she snickered. The zombie closed the gap. Sid holding Carlitos and Vincent entered the room.
"It's over Zomba!" Vincent exclaimed.
"Oh you have no idea Van Ghoul!" Zomba replied bursting past the kids and to the safe where she grabbed her remote. "I'll use this if I have to!" But Rosa grappled with her for it and suddenly a button was pressed. There was a flash of light and they were no longer in the movie; but they weren't home either.
"Wait what happened, where are we?" Carl cried as he looked up the cliff face behind them.
"Rosa, that remote had taken us out of the movie and into another program!" Vincent said. The remote slipped out of Rosa and Zomba's hands like a wet bar of soap and flew over onto the ground a few feet away.
"I got it" Sid said; but before anyone could move rocks began falling, and a massive tail swung knocking the adults down.
Scooby jumped frantically into CJ's arms and the boy looked up and saw why. "Look, a dinosaur!" CJ exclaimed, and his brother and Sid looked up and saw the massive brontosaurus knocking rocks off the cliff wall. "What is he doing?"
"Trying to flatten us!" Carl cried "somebody do something!"
Carlitos was distracted by a dangling string, and he decided to pull it. Everyone heard a horn blaring, looked up and saw the string was tied to a bird's tail feather. "How cruel!" Sid commented.
Then they heard a loud holler coming from above, and they saw a figure on top of the dinosaur. "Y-yabba dabba doo!" And then saw a caveman in a spotted suit and turtle shell hardhat sliding down the tail. When he landed on the ground Fred Flintstone immediately spotted the kids and Scooby Doo. "Hey, what are you doing in the rock quarry? This is not a safe place for kids, especially the baby!"
"Y-yes sir" CJ said, dropping Scooby, amazed at how well the caveman spoke english. "We're just waiting on our abuela to return."
"Well you better go find her before Mr. Slate sees you! I can't spend my whole break babysitting, Wilma packed me a pterodactyl drumstick for lunch" Fred replied. Scooby spotted the drumstick bone and he and Fred began tugging on either end with Fred holding the meat. Rosa, and Vincent ran back towards the others.
"Sorry Mr. Flintstone," Rosa said, recognizing one of her childhood favorites. And pressed the button as Scooby pulled the bone out of the meat. They pressed the button as Zomba lunged and they all disappeared.
"Hmm, maybe I shouldn't have skipped the coffee this morning" Fred pondered wondering if he had hallucinated.
Next the group materialized midair. "Zomba not like this, Zomba was in control in corny werewolf movie!" she said but then they all began falling
As they fell Sid admired the earthy asian architecture of the city they were in. "I hope this is one of those shows where there's always a convenient haystack!" she cried.
They did all get a semi soft landing; but instead of a haystack it was a cart full of vegetables. "Ugh," several of them said as they recovered.
"Rass the ranch" Scooby said as he picked a cabbage from the cart and took a big bite.
However the merchant was not having it and began whacking Scooby with a broom. "Out of my cabbages all of you!" he ordered.
Sid was already on the ground as Zomba barreled out with CJ and Carl holding onto her back as Rosa and Vincent gave chase. Scooby continued dreaming of coleslaw on a hotdog as he stared at the cart of cabbages when Sid cried, "look out!" She pulled Scooby out of the way as a cart carrying three kids, a lemur and an old king slid down the city's delivery chute. It destroyed the vegetable cart in its way, but the passengers were enjoying themselves; the bald one with the arrow tattoo waved at Sid and Scooby as they passed by.
"My cabbages!" cried the cabbage merchant! Sid burst out laughing as Scooby tried to determine what was funny as flecks of cabbage fluttered around him.
"It gets funnier every time that happens!" Sid assured the dog. "Come on, let's go find the others, don't worry, there are no crazy firebenders in the city right now!" They didn't have to go far as they crashed into Zomba as she rounded a corner. When everyone was close enough CJ pressed a button and they left the Earth Kingdom behind.
They were now back in the castle, and CJ dropped the remote causing the batteries to pop out and roll across the room. "That's it no more channel surfing, it's starting to upset my stomach!" Rosa commented.
Ronnie Anne quickly entered the room when she saw the others still grappling with Zomba, she ran to them and cried out, "We've got to get out of here!"
But Zomba knocked over Vincent and snagged the Chest of Demons. Everyone looked in horror as she ran away with it. "Fools you should never have challenge zom-," the zombie was cut off as she collided with someone in the doorway. Knocked down she looked up and saw a hairy man in shabby muted green clothes and wolfish face; it growled at her.
"The werewolf!" Carl cried out ducking behind Scooby for protection, Scooby then dove behind Rosa.
Zumba began backing away as the werewolf moved towards her baring claws. "Nice doggie" she muttered. The werewolf roared at her and she then took off running still clutching the chest desperately.
"After them!" Vincent said "Lincoln, Rita, Shaggy prepare to reel us back in!"
Zomba ran from the werewolf in one hallway door and out the other, until she finally tripped and fell down the stairs. The chest fell open revealing it was in fact filled with Scooby snacks and not ghosts. "What trickery is this?" she said, her fear replaced with rage.
"Zomba we are not foolish enough to bring the chest of Demons here!" Vincent replied.
"What!" she replied looking out the moon where Shaggy now held the Chest of Demons. "No matter," she vanished.
"Lincoln pull now and look out!" Vincent cried.
As they began pulling in the string Zomba appeared in the Casagrande's living room and began trying to rip the chest out of Shaggy's hands. "Give it to me, shaggy boy! There is no one to save you here, no Van Ghoul, no Scooby Doo, no grandmother with chancla, no…" Zomba was cut off by a low growl. "Were-wolf!" In panic both she and Shaggy began running around the room from the monster. This gave Rita and Lincoln time to reel in the others.
After circling the room twice, Shaggy crashed through the door while Zomba was standing on a dining room chair trying to hold back the wolfman. "Get it away from me, I'll do anything! Help!" Zomba cried in horror. She had forgotten she was holding the Chest of Demons and was shocked when Carl jumped up and grabbed it.
The werewolf stopped and smiled, the voiced changed and it said, "if you insist Zomba, hocus pocus spirit rest, return oh return to the demon chest!" The chest began to glow, Carl opened it up and as Zomba fell off the chair and in the chest, regretting her saying she'd do anything. Carl fistpumped air as the chest closed.
Everyone clapped and cheered. "Way to go mom!" Ronnie Anne said. Her mother yanked the werewolf mask off, they had come up with the ruse while the others had been channel surfing.
Everyone cheered. "Wow nice work Mrs. Santiago!" Sid said, handing Carlitos to his aunt.
"This calls for a celebration! Provided there is still food in the fridge," Rosa joked knowing Shaggy had been in the kitchen.
Shaggy then came back through the door and asked "Is that monster gone?" Everyone nodded. "Phew, also Mrs. C I was running so fast I knocked down the door to another apartment and some lady named Maybelle was not happy." Rosa sighed.
As everything settled down after the excitment, Lincoln got a call. "Hey Lucy, good news we caught the tv zombie! Did you find the book?"
"That's great Lincoln! We did get the book though translating it is proving tricky; but in our search we dug through some sketches and you're not going to believe what we've found here! I can't wait to show everyone!" Lucy exclaimed with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. She was staring over Velma's shoulder as the older teen examined Lucy's discovery. "We're close to something big, I can feel it!" she replied to Lincoln's push for more information. She looked back down at the picture on antique parchment. It was a sketch of her ancestor Lucille Loud from the sixteen hundreds, and next to her placed among their background furnishing in the castle of Loch Loud, was the Chest of Demons!