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alphashley14 · 1 year

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One of Us

A Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated/Mystery Skulls Crossover

Chapter Fourteen

Soul on Fire

Thanks to Lewis and Velma, they now had resources from the Haunted Museum, the chest of clues from Darrow University, and the books the Mystery Skulls had collected from the Darrow Library to go through along with the Mystery Skulls’ vast collection.

Mystery Inc. was already familiar with the Darrow University texts. As was Mr. E, who was the one who stole them and sent them to the gang in the first place. But it was new to the Mystery Skulls and there was a lot of new information to be taken from their new sources.

They kept at it for another couple of hours, and Daphne only became distracted when, at about 6:30 or so, she was putting a couple of dead-end books back on the top floor of the library and a painting caught her eye.

It wasn’t exactly Daphne’s style, but all the same there was something beautiful about it. It wasn’t moving or otherwise haunted. In fact, it was quite different from most of the paintings in the house. It was Japanese, for starters. And it was old. Very old - so old that the Mystery Skulls had seen fit to display it behind glass. It was of a warrior, her sword raised in combat against an enormous… Wolf? With multiple tails.

There was something familiar about that warrior… and the creature she was fighting.

“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Vivi asked.

“Who is she?” Daphne asked.

“That,” Vivi said proudly, “Is Mushi. She was a warrior of the Onna-musha - basically the female equivalent of the samurai. She was also my ancestor.”

“Oh, really? Wow! She was beautiful.” Daphne said.

“Yeah, the blue hair is kind of a dead giveaway,” Vivi laughed.

“So… what’s that she’s fighting?” Daphne asked.

It didn’t escape her notice the way Vivi hesitated before she answered. “A kitsune,” she finally said. “A powerful shape-shifting fox spirit. There’s a legend in my family that Mushi fought beside one. I’ve been told… that I have a lot in common with her.”

“Must be where you get your ‘warrior spirit’, huh?” Daphne teased.

“Girl. You have no idea.” Vivi said with complete seriousness.

Daphne never got to ask her what she meant by that, because that’s when everyone’s attention was seized by Velma popping out of a pile of books on the bottom floor.

“Jinkies! Guys, take a look at this!”

Vivi and Daphne turned away from the painting and looked over the railing to look down on the others.

“What is it, Velma?” Fred asked.

“This book is a sort of encyclopedia on magical artifacts. Take a look at this: The Daemon Ritus.” And she turned around to show the gang an illustration of a small, pyramid-like object.

The Mystery Skulls looked at each other and winced.

“It says here that this object is capable of removing protoplasms and displacing them!” Velma exclaimed excitedly.

“Okay Velma. Like, pretend that no one here understands what that means.” Shaggy said pointedly.

“Velma-” Vivi started, but Velma interrupted.

“It can take a soul out of one body and put it into another one!”

“Oh. Like, oh!” Shaggy cried.

“Uh, guys…” Lewis said.

“This could switch our bodies back!” Mr. E exclaimed, getting excited.

“We destroyed it!” Vivi blurted out.

Mystery Inc. whirled around to look up at her.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, guys.” Mystery said.

“But why?” Shaggy exclaimed, banging his head against a table with frustration.

“Keep reading. Just another paragraph down.”

Velma’s eyes scanned the page, and she visibly paled. “Oh. Jinkies…” She said quietly.

“Yeah. If we hadn’t destroyed it, an ancient race of demons would have used it to take over the world,” Vivi said.

“Ah, yes. The Spooky Island mystery.” Mystery said fondly.

“That one probably would’ve made us famous, but the federal government covered it up in the end.” Lewis pouted. “Something about not wanting to cause a panic.”

“I thought you guys said body swapping was a new one for you,” Fred said.

“Well we never actually saw the Daemon Ritus transfer a soul into a different vessel,” Vivi explained. “It was meant to steal the energy of many souls and transfer their power into one entity - which we stopped them from doing before they completed that step.”

“So as helpful as it would be to have it right now, between dealing with this and the world being already over, I’ll take this any day,” Mystery said.

“No kidding,” Scooby gulped.

“You know what? I think we’re at a good stopping point for now,” Lewis said. “I’m going to get dinner started.”

“I know I could use a break,” Fred agreed.

“Like, yeah!” Shaggy said. “If you’re half as good at making enchiladas as flipping pancakes, then this’ll be great!”

“Oh boy!” Scooby licked his lips.

As they left the library behind, Daphne couldn’t help but glance back at the painting of Mushi and the kitsune. There was something important about it, she was sure of it!

But what?

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Dinner with the Mystery Skulls was a surprisingly enjoyable affair.

Mr. E, Shaggy, and Scooby helped in the kitchen with Vivi and Lewis while Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Mystery sat at the table and watched them work under Lewis’ direction.

Making dinner went pretty smoothly - for the most part. Scooby was eventually kicked out of the cooking process when Lewis noticed him sneaking before-dinner bites. Shaggy, being in Arthur’s body without his usual appetite, had much better self-control.

Lewis turned on one of his playlists as they worked, and dinner was nearly done when a Mystery Skulls’ song came on.

The enchiladas were assembled, the chili sauce and cheese was lathered generously on top, all four pans were in the oven, and the side dishes were all coming along nicely. Yes indeed, a blend of truly wonderful smells was filling the kitchen when Vivi’s voice crescendoed through the speakers.

“Soul on- soul on- soul on fire tonight.

Soul on- soul on- soul on fire tonight!...”

Vivi and Lewis’ faces absolutely lit up when they realized what song was on and without even having to exchange a word about it, they exchanged flirtatious smirks and began to bob their heads

“I was born poor, I’ll probably die poor,” Lewis sang along.

“Was born with nothing and I’ll die with less.

Hearing you singin’s got me singin’ too,

It keeps me dreaming, all I dream is you, Oh.”

Beside Velma, Daphne smiled dreamily and leaned next to Fred. Oh, brother.

As the beat of the synth ascended, Lewis and Vivi sashayed across the kitchen until they were together. The Dead Beats, having come to the sound of music, delightedly began to swirl around the room, bouncing and trilling to the beat. And as the lyrics returned, the Master and Lady of the house began to dance.

Vivi came in for the background vocals.

“Tell~ me!”

Then Lewis with the lyrics.

“You got my soul on fire tonight!”

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my love, stare into the fire.”

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my soul on fire tonight!”

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my love stare- love stare!”

As the chorus repeated and Lewis and Vivi continued to rotate around the room, laughing and singing together, Velma’s eyes wandered to the others. Mystery looked pleased - clearly he approved of the relationship. Shaggy and Scooby, the goofballs (who clearly knew nothing about romantic love but that was a whole other thing) were tapping their toes. Daphne was sending Fred signals, and as usual Fred wasn’t receiving them.

And then there was Mr. E.

His posture was relaxed at his station, where he was keeping an eye on the black beans and rice. He was smiling, tapping his fingers and lightly nodding his head to and fro with the music. But there remained that deep sadness and longing in his eyes that Velma had caught on his face several times at random moments throughout the day, and she knew he must be thinking of Angel.

With everything else going on, Velma had to remind herself that the wound was fresh for him and he was trying to stay strong and productive through his grief. But all the same… was it terrible that it kind of pissed her off?

The pattern from the chorus broke with Vivi singing,

“Soul on- soul on- soul on fire tonight.

Soul on- soul on- soul on fire tonight!...”

Then Lewis came in with the next verse.

“Feelin’ my dreams are never comin’ true.

Was on my nightmare til’ it came to you.

Making me feel just like I wanted to,

You keep me dreaming, all I dream is you. Oh!”

Then as the instrumentals crested once more, Lewis picked Vivi up effortlessly under her legs and lifted her into the air against his chest. Vivi shrieked with laughter, her arms thrown around his neck.

Through all her cynicism, it was enough to make even Velma feel all mushy inside just looking at how happy they were together. They were so caught up in each other that they actually missed the first few lines of their return vocals. But their voices on the radio did just fine at supplementing the chorus over the sound of the lovers’ giggling.

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my soul on fire tonight!”

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my love, stare into the fire.”

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my soul on fire tonight!”

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my love stare- love stare!”

As the chorus repeated and the rest of the song trailed off into repeating vocals that blended with the instrumentals, Vivi grabbed Lewis by the ascot and pulled him into a kiss.

The Dead Beats broke out into happy noises at the sight. Mystery, looking extremely pleased, looked away respectfully. Mr. E did the same, albeit while red in the face at the open display of affection. (Mr. E blushing! Definitely something that never occurred to Velma.) Daphne gushed, Freddy was smiling, and Shaggy and Scooby looked at each other and fake gagged. Of course.

“Alright, alright. Settle down everyone,” Vivi giggled, her cheeks pink as her boyfriend set her down.

“Sorry about that - when it comes to that song it’s easy for us to get carried away,” Lewis said with a shit-eating grin on his face. But even as he apologized Vivi was leaning against him and reaching for his hand to interlock their fingers.

“I think it was just wonderful! Oh, it’s so romantic!” Daphne said delightedly.

Right then, one of the timers went off for their food.

“Eh, Lewis? What do you want me to do with this?” Mr. E asked.

“Just stir it and turn the heat down as low as it’ll go to keep it warm until the rest is done,” Lewis said, leaving Vivi’s side to go help.

Before long, dinner was served.

Given that they’d eat just about anything, most people often disagreed with Shaggy and Scooby on the concept of what tasted good (this was the same pair who loved clam-flavored ice cream and had once gorged themselves on years-old gator burgers), but in this case Shaggy was right. Lewis was a really good cook. While the Peppers' restaurant, Pepper Paradiso, specialized in spicy food, Lewis had adjusted his recipes to take his guests’ tastes into consideration. He’d made four batches of enchiladas: one beef, one chicken, and one of each of the original recipe, with sauce spicy enough to melt your tongue off. At least to the standards of literally everyone except Lewis, Vivi, Scooby, and Mr. E.

How that came about was actually quite funny. Shaggy, still thinking as if he was still in his own body, tried to shove an entire spicy beef enchilada into his mouth at once and literally belched fire. He was so shocked by Arthur’s taste buds that he nearly threw up, and Scooby had to rush in to save the day by yanking his tongue out of his mouth and dousing it with ketchup to douse the heat. Then Lewis brought him an entire half-gallon jug of milk.

It wasn’t exactly funny at the moment, but once it was established that Shaggy wasn’t literally dying, everyone had a good laugh over it.

“L-like, I’d forgotten what spicy food’s like to someone who like, doesn’t have the mouth for it,” Shaggy wheezed.

“‘Someone who doesn’t have the mouth for it,’” Velma echoed thoughtfully, “Hey Mr. E, how well do you handle spicy food? When you’re in your own body, I mean.”

Mr. E held up a finger ‘just a moment’, while he chewed the bite of rice and black beans in his mouth. “Not very well,” he laughed after he swallowed. “I remember I went on a trip to New Orleans one summer with Cassidy and her family, and they put Cajun in everything there. The Williamses teased me the whole time - all in good fun, of course.” And again, he was smiling, but Velma could tell that through his pain the memory of her was bittersweet.

If you loved her so much, then why weren’t you her ally- our ally? Why couldn’t you have treated her the way she deserved when she was still alive? Velma thought. But she kept those thoughts to herself. After all, Velma knew the power of the curse, so she knew it wasn’t entirely his fault. She also knew that all on his own, he’d broken free of it and was trying to do better.

But still, those bitter feelings persisted.

“Alright then Mr. E, inquiring young minds want to know,” Velma said, putting a spicy chicken enchilada on a plate and sliding it over to him. “Same person, different body. How does he fare?”

Mr. E gulped, looking around at everyone’s expectant faces as if to ask for help. “Do I have to?”

“I mean, no one’s gonna make you,” Scooby said.

“But it is for science,” Velma said mischievously.

“Who knows? Maybe it’ll provide a clue,” Daphne said, going along with it.

“This is revenge, isn’t it?” Mr. E asked dryly.

“Maybe,” all five members of Mystery Inc. said at once.

“Fine,” he sighed, rolling his eyes.

After a moment of trepidation, he took a bite.

The first good sign was that he didn’t immediately spit it out. Then he hummed, pleasantly surprised as he chewed, and swallowed. “Huh. So this is the appeal with spicy food.”

“Well? What’s it like?” Daphne asked.

“Weird,” he replied. “I know for a fact that I’d be having about the same reaction Shaggy did if I was in my own body, but Shaggy’s taste buds are used to it so it’s just… good. Really good, actually. All the flavor with none of the pain. Thanks again for the meal, Lewis.” He said, taking another bite.

“I’m glad you like it,” Lewis said, looking very proud of himself. “I’ve been in the kitchen with the Peppers for as long as I can remember.”

“‘With the Peppers?’ Don’t you mean your parents?” Fred asked.

“Oh, I’m adopted,” Lewis said. “I don’t remember much of my birth parents. They died in an incident with a monster when I was… three or four, I think? Maybe five? But the Peppers have never treated me any differently from their own kids. I consider them my parents, and their bio kids are my sisters. They’re really good people.”

“That’s terrible!” Daphne exclaimed.

“It is,” Lewis shrugged. “But it doesn’t bother me much anymore. Maybe it’s not fair to them, but I remember so little of my bio parents that I don’t think of them much, and the Peppers are wonderful. They taught me everything I know about food.”

“I think I can understand that,” Fred said. “I’m… I guess ‘adopted’ too. My Mayor-Dad may have kinda, sorta, kidnapped me. And he wasn’t the best parent… a lot of times. But at the end of the day, he still raised me, and I know he loved me. Especially after everything that happened with my ‘real’ Mom and Dad, I consider him more my father than them.”

“I’m sorry you weren’t as lucky as I was in the family category,” Lewis said.

“You said your parents were killed by a monster?” Mr. E asked thoughtfully. “There are monsters in… where were you guys from again? I know it’s in Texas. It was… Tempo, right?”

“Oh, no. I mean yeah sure, there are mysteries abound to be found in Tempo, but my parents didn’t die there. We were from Crystal Cove originally, remember? Otherwise we wouldn’t be part of your curse. No - they died here. In Crystal Cove. I moved to Tempo with the Peppers.”

“Waitwaitwait- when did this happen? This would have been during my group’s time, wouldn’t it? I think I would have remembered a monster actually killing people during my Mystery solving days!”

“That’s because it didn’t happen during your mystery solving days,” Mystery said sadly. His ears were down, and his brows were furrowed. “It happened about two months after you left.”

“What?”

“You think the curse stopped after it got rid of you? It took almost a year for monsters to stop appearing after the Original Mystery Incorporated disappeared. I’m sure you all remember how chaotic Crystal Cove was during Crybaby Clown’s reign without Mystery Inc. to maintain the balance. Well let me tell you: 20 years ago, it was a lot worse. With multiple monsters on the loose getting increasingly violent without anyone able to stop them. Come to think of it, they didn’t stop appearing until after the not-yet-formed Mystery Skulls left Crystal Cove,” Mystery said thoughtfully.

“How do you know all that?” Scooby asked.

A look flashed across Mystery’s face like he’d been caught, but it disappeared just as quickly. “Vivi’s Dad and Grandma Yukino told me about it,” he dismissed the topic and buried his face in his dinner.

Vivi and Lewis also went straight to eating, avoiding their guests’ eyes.

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, and Mr. E all looked at each other. They knew that look well enough.

The Mystery Skulls had yet another thing they were holding off on telling them.

But what?

Whatever it was, it was apparent that the Mystery Skulls didn’t think it was the right time to share it, if at all.

The table fell into silence for a few minutes, broken only by the clink of dinnerware.

How to get them talking again? Velma wondered.

She looked around the table and once again her eyes fell on Mr. E, working his way through a plate piled as high as Scooby and Vivi’s. If talking about the past had been what got the Mystery Skulls to slip up, then maybe Velma could hit two birds with one stone. There was something she’d been meaning to ask…

“Hey Mr. E,” Velma said casually.

“Hm?” He acknowledged through a mouthful of beef.

“You never finished your story earlier.”

The entire table abruptly went quiet. Mr. E, yet again looking very put-on-the-spot, swallowed the food in his mouth. “Oh. You mean from back at the hilltop? When you asked why I went back to Pericles?”

Velma nodded. “We don’t have to talk about it now, but given that we’re all together and no one was saying anything else, I figured now’s as good a time as any.”

“No, no. You’re right. You all deserve the rest of my explanation. It’s fine that you’re still angry with me. In fact, it’s to be expected,” he said, sulking a little.

“I’m not angry,” Velma said, to her own surprise as much as his. “At least not as angry as I was this morning, after everything that’s happened today. I just… want to understand.”

He was so surprised it took him a second to respond. “Okay then… Let’s see… where did we leave off? Right. When I reached out to Velma. I’m good to tell you the rest of it, now. If that’s alright with everyone else.”

There were nods all around.

“Okay. So, when I was telling you all this story earlier I had actually gotten a little ahead of myself. I’d lost your trust - rightfully so. Sorry about the Obliteratrix, by the way. Alice took it further than I meant for her to, but it really was all special effects. I never would have actually hurt any of you.”

“At this point I'm too exhausted to even be mad at you. For now just consider it water under the bridge,” Velma said dryly.

“Thanks for not actually blowing up the Mystery Machine,” Fred said anxiously.

“Really? I mean- okay then. Anyway - Ed was dead, and Cassidy and I were hardly speaking anymore, much less working together. So after I drove Velma and Hot Dog Water against me, I couldn’t get anyone else to work with me. No one else wanted to, because I’d given in to my own greed and other bullshit, and it made me treat the people around me in ways they didn’t deserve. Everyone, that is… except one.” He sighed and looked away in shame, rubbing the back of his neck.

“At the time I came to see you Velma, if I recall correctly you all were in the middle of the Graveyard Ghoul mystery. You were out by yourself looking for clues while the rest of the gang was otherwise occupied.”

“Stuffing their faces with German chocolate,” Velma confirmed, giving the gang the side-eye. All of them shrugged guiltily.

“Well, here’s the part you don’t know,” Mr. E sighed. “A few days prior, Professor Pericles had called a meeting of the Original Mystery Incorporated - the first time all five of us had been together in twenty years. None of us would have gone if we’d known he was the one who called the meeting, but he tricked us. Cassidy, Brad, and Judy all thought that I’d arranged the meeting, and I was under the impression that Cassidy had called it. Then he showed up,” Mr. E growled, his scowl making him look more like himself than Velma had seen him all day.

“He offered a partnership - told us that you kids had another disk piece and that our best chance of getting the better of you was to work together again. Now, to be clear, I am not completely stupid. Neither are Brad and Judy, and Cassidy certainly wasn’t. That, we all actually agreed on at the time. We looked at him individually, and told him to go fuck himself. Not in those words exactly, but to the same effect.”

Several people snorted at that.

“But of course that was all part of his plan. He’s a patient bird. He had bid his time, watched from the shadows, and he knew exactly when to strike. He’d already murdered Ed, nudged Angel and I apart, egged me on and nudged my isolation along, then he started dropping in.

“After you refused my offer and left me Velma, you didn’t see it. But right after you left, he was there. Perched on a tree branch right above us, having watched the whole thing. He knew how desperate I was to have someone by my side. He knew exactly where I’d be and what I was going to do before I did it, and he was there lying in wait when the sting of rejection was fresh and I was ripe for the picking. ‘The others won’t work with me, so that leaves only you, Ricky. My sweet Ricky.'” He said mockingly.

“God,” He sighed, running a hand over his face. “I knew he was being manipulative, and I still gave him exactly what he wanted. He knew me, and he knew exactly what to say. He knew what I wanted most was impossible, but he dangled such a convincing illusion of it in front of my nose that I fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker. He played me so well that eventually, I thought our partnership was my idea,” he scoffed, shaking his head at his past self, “what a joke. So that’s it, Velma. That’s how I wound up back under Pericles’ thumb. Because I was stupid and pathetic.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

All eyes snapped over to Mystery. The little dog looked absolutely livid. But once he saw everyone looking at him he got a grip on himself, his lips lowering over his teeth and his fur lying flat on his back. He looked over at Mr. E and smiled sadly.

The table was quiet for a few moments.

“Okay,” Velma finally said.

“Okay?” Mr. E echoed.

“There was a lot there. But I think I understand better now. Thank you for telling us,” Velma said, going back to her food. She… really wasn’t sure what to say or do with that information. Not yet anyway. But for now she wanted Mr. E to know that she was okay with him being there. Even with all their history and her mixed feelings and everything else… She trusted people. Maybe that was a weakness of hers, but she wanted to give him another chance. He’d earned it.

“Good job, Ricky.” Mystery said, following suit.

Everyone else eventually went back to their dinner as well. Mr. E was the last to pick up his fork again, looking around incredulously at the others as if he couldn’t believe how fine they were with his confession.

“Oh. And, Mr. E?” Velma said.

He looked at her like he was expecting the other shoe to drop.

But all Velma said was, “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Then she went right back to her dinner. And after another moment of processing, Mr. E did the same.

“... Thanks, Velma.”

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Ricky was tense for the rest of the meal. At any moment, he anticipated… something. Some sort of reprimand or consequence for what he’d told them. Mocking, teasing, jabs, the silent treatment, anything.

But nothing of the sort ever happened. The meal just continued oddly… normal. The Gluten Demon was brought up and that led to Mystery Incorporated recounting the Headless Horror mystery and telling the Mystery Skulls all about how they’d met Dr. Rick Spartan, Cachinga, and Marian for the first time. Vivi took her scarf off and she and Velma compared turtlenecks. Fred, Daphne, and Lewis talked about ascots and men’s fashion. Shaggy and Scooby were… Shaggy and Scooby. And Ricky was… there. They didn’t push him to talk or join in, but they didn’t ignore him either. Nor did they seem at all displeased that he was with them.

It was strange, yet also sort of perfect.

I don’t deserve this, he thought to himself. But is it selfish of me to enjoy it while I have it anyway?

Between the nine of them, they absolutely demolished dinner. There would be zero leftovers to be found the next day, that was for sure. They all pitched in to get the dishes where they needed to be and straightened up the table. Which went without incident until Velma, her arms full of dirty plates, asked Mr. E to open a door for her. Or rather, she tried to.

“Hey Mystery, could you please get the door for me?”

Of course he didn’t acknowledge her, thinking she was talking to the dog. And Mystery was on the other side of the room and thought she was talking to the human.

“Hey Mystery-” Then Velma realized what she’d said. “Oh my God, now I’m doing it!” She exclaimed. “Mister. E. Could you please open this door for me?” Velma asked again, pronouncing both words this time.

“Oh, you were talking to me. Sorry Velma, I got it,” He said, rushing to get the door for her.

“I’m the one who got your name wrong. Why are you apologizing?” She asked, stepping into the kitchen.

A few minutes later everyone was in the kitchen helping put everything away and get all the dishes in the sink when Lewis popped his head in from the dining room. “Hey, Mr. E?”

“Yeah?” Ricky and Mystery both said at once.

“Oh. Hehe. Sorry. I don’t know which one I said now. Uh- Mister. E, as in the homo sapien, you left your jacket on the back of your chair.”

“Oh! Thanks Lewis," Ricky said, accepting his jacket from Lewis and putting it on.

“You know what? This isn’t working.” Vivi said, putting her arms up in the air.

Then she asked a question that absolutely nothing that had happened thus far today could have prepared him for.

“Hey, E? Would you mind if we started calling you Ricky?”

You could almost hear the record scratch as the entire room suddenly went dead quiet, staring at them.

“I mean- sorry if that was overstepping,” Vivi said. “It’s just that between you and Mystery, your names are so similar that they keep getting mixed up. And even when we get them right, whenever we say either of your names, both of you look up. Mystery doesn’t exactly have another name to fall back on, and you do.”

“I mean I do have another name but humans can’t exactly say it,” Mystery added.

“Ricky does suit him,” Lewis said.

“Or if that makes you uncomfortable, could we call you Mr. Owens?”

“No,” Ricky said a little too harshly. But he immediately caught himself. “Sorry- no. It’s just- Mr. Owens was my father. I never really got to be Mr. Owens, and the few times I’ve ever been called that it just feels wrong. So I suppose… Ricky’s fine. You can call me either/or. As long as you kids are okay with calling me that,” he said, turning to the new Mystery Inc.

“I mean- it would be the practical thing to do,” Fred said. “As long as you’re okay with us calling you that, E- or um… Ricky?”

Velma was staring at him with her eyes narrowed, arms crossed, hand held up to her chin deep in thought. She crossed the room to stand in front of him and sort of leaned in to look at him closely.

“Uh… what?” Ricky gulped, looking around the room for help.

After a tense moment of scrutinization, she finally broke the awkward silence.

“Ricky,” She said, testing it out. Then she turned around and stepped out of his space. “Yeah, I think I could get used to it.”

Ricky let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in.

“Me too! Uh, I think.” Scooby said.

“Like, yeah. It’s kinda weird but it’s like Velma said. Like, I could get used to it.” Shaggy shrugged.

“If you’d asked this morning I’d’ve been like ‘no way’. But now… Ricky… Yeah this’ll work,” Daphne said.

And that was how Ricky graduated to a first-name basis.

What a fucking day.

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Once the dishes were all in the sink, the Mystery Skulls told their guests to go wait for them in one of the central dens.

“We’re not going back to the library?” Scooby asked.

“The library isn’t exactly ideal for the conversation we promised you after dinner,” Vivi laughed.

Six sets of eyes widened. Clearly, Lew-lew’s mad kitchen skills had made them all temporarily forget what came after dinner.

“You mean-” Daphne started to say, but Lewis cut her off.

“Yeah. We’re going to spill the beans on what we’ve been keeping from you,” Lewis said. He said it with a smile, but Vivi knew him well enough to see that he was nervous.

Lewis and Vivi refused all offers of help with the dishes so that as their guests’ footsteps faded off with Mystery at the lead, Vivi and Lewis had a moment alone to talk.

“Alright. How do you want to go about this?” Lewis asked, scrubbing the largest pans first.

“I have an idea as to what would be the best approach."

They talked for a few minutes until they had a plan. Then Vivi asked: “Do you think we should tell them about… ‘our informant’ after that?”

“No,” Lewis said immediately. “It’s too much. Especially for Ricky. They’re bound to be freaking out enough about the other stuff as it is. Give them a night to process and rest. Then we’ll tell them in the morning before she gets here. It’ll be a big enough shock as it is without their blood pressure already being up because of us.”

“Ricky’s in a lot of pain because he thinks she’s dead. And he blames himself for it. He’s… a lot like Arthur. The longer we wait to tell him, the angrier he’ll be.”

“I know. But this isn’t about us. And trust me: today is not a good time to tell him. According to the Dead Beats… There was an incident with one of the mirrors in his room. That’s why it took him so long to come down earlier. Whatever he saw really upset him - don’t worry, the Dead Beats went ahead and moved the mirror to the basement. Anyway, Ricky’s pretending to be fine, but he’s not. We tell him that she’s alive and on her way here, he’ll have an anxiety attack or worse. And he won’t sleep a wink tonight. We don’t want that. He seriously needs to relax.”

“You’re right,” Vivi agreed with a sigh. “Dammit, I don’t like it. But you’re right.”

“Then it’s decided.” Lewis said, drying his hands as Vivi shut the dishwasher. “Minus Arthur’s part in our story, we tell them the truth about us tonight. And in the morning… we tell them the truth about who sent us back to Crystal Cove.”

༻˚⁺･⚉｡○✼༓☾⦾♫෴♡💛♡෴♫⦾☽༓✼○｡⚉･⁺˚༺

“My personal favorite theory is coven of witches,” Ricky shrugged.

“I’m still holding out hope for ‘secret trapping club.’” Fred said giddily.

“Seriously?” Velma deadpanned.

“No, but it’s funny to speculate,” Ricky chuckled.

Mystery had led them into a large yet cozy room with a high ceiling and tall, gothic rafters. There was plenty of seating space for all of them and a large roaring fireplace, above which hung a large not-moving print of the Mystery Skulls all together. Like the rest of the house, there was lots of pink, purple, and black in the decorations. There was a record player with a display case of Lewis’ record collection, a large TV with a gaming setup, two cabinets containing Lewis’ collection of romance movies and adventure games, and the walls were decorated with moving paintings of Peruvian landscapes and fluffy grazing alpacas.

“Neither of you aren’t even close,” Mystery said.

Just then, Lewis and Vivi entered the room. Lewis was rolling a large chalkboard, and Vivi was carrying a folder.

“Oh my. They have a chalkboard. Truly, this must be very serious business,” Ricky joked as Lewis positioned the chalkboard in front of the fireplace where they could all see it.

“Hardy har-har. Do you want us to tell you or not?” Vivi said flatly.

“Cuz I mean, we could make you wait another day if you’d prefer,” Lewis shrugged.

“No!” All of Mystery Incorporated exclaimed over-dramatically.

“Do not listen to him! He- he doesn’t speak for all of us!” Fred said in mock-seriousness.

“Yes! Yes. Please, we beg you, do not let Ricky’s smart ass mouth prolong the suspense any longer!” Velma said, shaking her head and trying not to laugh.

Ricky chuckled, brushing aside the feeling he got when the kids said his name.

“Okay then. Settle down and buckle your seatbelts,” Vivi said.

Lewis drew a five-row, three-column table on the board. When he was done, it looked like this:

“To start off our explanation, Vivi and I talked and decided to start off with what you know before making our way over to what you don’t know,” Lewis said, turning around.

“As you all know,” Vivi said, pointing to the board with a ruler, “the members within each mystery solving group connected to the curse of Crystal Cove, who are collectively known as the Children of Nibiru, traditionally fall into a distinct pattern of four kids and an animal descendant of the Annunaki, and further fall into roughly distinguishable roles based on general appearances, skills, and personality traits. Fred and Brad, Daphne and Judy, Velma and Cassidy, Shaggy and Ricky, and Scooby and Professor Pericles respectively all fall into the same roles. It’s this connection that allowed the being possessing Nova to swap Ricky, Shaggy, and Arthur - because they’re all in the same role.”

Lewis circled Shaggy, Ricky, and Arthur’s column on the table.

“Yes, we all knew this. What’s your point?” Velma asked.

“The point,” Mystery said, “is that as the Annunaki explained to Ricky and Shaggy, Arthur is the only member of our group who fits enough into that model that the swap was possible. The rest of us are in one way or another deviant from the pattern, and the Mystery Skulls collectively really only hang onto it by a thread.”

“And that’s what we’re going to tell you tonight,” Vivi said.

“Rohkay,” Scooby said. The others nodded to indicate that they were following along.

“First, the most obvious thing that differentiates the Mystery Skulls from every single other group that’s come before us,” Vivi said nervously, reaching over and grabbing Lewis’ hand.

Lewis took a deep breath. “As you all know through your own research,” Lewis sighed, “Three years ago our group investigated a supposedly haunted cave system and there was an accident that resulted in Arthur losing his arm and one fatality.”

“Up until this point, we’ve allowed you all to believe that the person who died was the fifth member of our group,” Vivi said.

“But that isn’t true,” Mystery confessed.

“What?” All six of them cried out at once.

“The Mystery Skulls have only four members. We’ve always had only four members. There isn’t, hasn’t, and likely never will be a fifth member of the Mystery Skulls,” Vivi explained.

“But like- that can’t be right!” Shaggy exclaimed. “Like, that doesn’t make any sense!”

“He’s right - it doesn’t. I uncovered from my research about you, independent of theirs, that one of your members died. Unless you somehow fabricated it? But I don’t see why you would do that,” Ricky said.

“That’s just it,” Mystery sighed. “I wish I could say otherwise, but we aren’t making it up, and we didn’t lie. Three years ago, in a cave system near Tempo, one of us was murdered. After the fact, after- everything happened, there was too much police involvement and press to cover up the fact that one of us died. But we could cover up who.”

“Wait wait wait- this still doesn’t make any sense! If one of you really did die, and you only have four members, then how are you all still… here?” Daphne asked, shrinking next to Fred.

“Because he didn’t leave,” Vivi said, with such an indescribable sadness that they all knew it to be nothing but the truth.

“The member of the Mystery Skulls who was killed three years ago…”

Lewis pointed at the chalkboard and to the shock of their guests, the piece of chalk in his other hand flew into the air and, by itself, crossed out his name in one furious swipe.

“... was me.”

And that’s when the whites of Lewis’ eyes turned black, and he was engulfed from head to toe in a pink inferno. No sooner had the six of them shot to their feet, gasping in horror, the flames cleared.

And floating before them, terrifying, spectral, and real, was the ghost of Lewis Pepper.

Scooby yelped with fear and jumped into Shaggy’s arms. Velma and Daphne shrank behind Fred, and without even thinking about it, Ricky dashed to stand between the monster and the only five things on Earth that he had left to care about.

Oh, it occurred to him as he trembled, Soul on Fire, indeed.

SO. This is what was originally planned for Chapter 13. As you can see, it would have been kind of perfect for the spooky ghost reveal to line up with unlucky/magical number 13, but then it took over 3,000 words to get Ricky downstairs. So here we are at Chapter 14. Lol For real tho, I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS REVEAL FOR 14 CHAPTERS! I did NOT expect it to take this long for us to get to this point, but here we are. I've literally been saving the song 'Soul on Fire' all this time just so that it would be in the chapter to foreshadow this reveal! I mean- okay, it wasn't exactly a reveal to us, but Mystery Incorporated is shooketh. 👻 Enjoy that cliffhanger, by the way. Because I have no idea when the next chapter (and the rest of the big reveal) will be written and posted. 😜 SO - The past couple of chapters of this fic have definitely put the Mystery Skulls on the back burner with the main focus being on the SDMI characters, so I was happy to bring them back into the spotlight this chapter. And for those of you who caught the reference at the beginning: come on. This is a Scooby Doo BODY-SWAP FIC. I had to make at least one reference to the live-action 2002 film. And given that there's so little Mystery Skulls canon to work with, why not give references like that to them? Kudos to anyone who got that reference without needing to read the author's notes. You get a gold star! ⭐ And an extra-shiny gold star if you caught the other, less obvious reference to the same film during the dinner scene. 🌟 Ricky's experience with Cajun food in New Orleans is based on my own experiences, by the way. Loved New Orleans - I was there the week before Mardi Gras last year. But no matter where you turn, the spicy WILL find you. 😆 I swear to God, my singular week in New Orleans exposed me to so much spicy food that it literally changed the structure of my mouth or something. 😝 Or maybe it was just forced exposure therapy. I was never able to handle even a teeny bit of spice before. It's a sensory thing with me. Like, I could not even stand to eat pepperoni pizza because that little bit of spice was just too much for me. But now? I can actually eat some spicy food. I like pepperoni! And I 100% believe that I have the Hell week my tastebuds endured in NOLA to thank for it. Back to the fic from my "obviously so-interesting life," the gang is calling Mr. E "Ricky" now! Stemming from practicality or no, progress is progress! 😁 That's all I'll say about this chapter - but I could talk on and on about it. If you notice things or have predictions/opinions, PLEASE SHARE THEM. The reason why I'm not saying more is BECAUSE I like hearing your thoughts! I like having conversations! I'd love to talk about this fic and SDMI or Mystery Skulls with anyone who wants to! I hope you all loved this chapter just as much as I did! Until next time, Auf Wiedersehen! 😈

Chapters 1-13 of One of Us are presently posted on Archive of Our Own.

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