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alphashley14 · 1 year

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One of Us

A Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated/Mystery Skulls Crossover

Chapter Fifteen

Brainsick

Ricky suddenly felt like a meddling kid again.

Rather fitting, considering he was now trapped inside the body of a seventeen year old. But this particular bout of deja vu wasn’t the good kind of nostalgia.

Not so differently from back then, he was frozen, trembling in front of a ghost. But it wasn’t a person in a costume this time.

And this time, he didn’t have Brad’s bravado to help him feel brave. Judy wasn’t hiding in the shadows to spring a trap. He didn’t have words of wisdom on his shoulder… and Cassidy wasn’t here to catch him, jumping into her arms.

No - now he was the only thing standing between the new Mystery Incorporated and a monster - a real-live ghost! Ricky’s heart was pounding out of his chest, every instinct he had was screaming, Run! RUN!

But something else was shouting above the fearful static in his ears, desperate to be heard.

It’s Lewis. Even if he’s dead, even if he’s a ghost, it’s Lewis, and he’s my friend!

He lied to me! Another scarred, paranoid, ever-frightened part of him wailed.

His next thoughts flew through his head extremely quickly.

It’s a real ghost! Not like the Dead Beats - a dead person walking the Earth!

The Mystery Skulls were upfront that they were keeping secrets.

It was a trap from the start!

He probably just didn’t want to scare us.

Arthur had to have known about this.

BUT WHAT IF HE HURTS THE KIDS?!

It’s LEWIS!

She loved those kids.

I love those kids.

HE’S GOING TO HURT THE KIDS!

But it’s Lewis…

Vivi was saying something. The words passing through his ears were finally registering in his brain.

Behind him, Daphne was hugging Fred’s arm, Scooby was trembling in Shaggy’s embrace, and Velma was mumbling incoherently, her arms around Scooby’s neck, shaking her head in denial.

“Calm down, everyone. It’s Lewis. It’s just Lewis. He’s been like this for as long as you’ve known him. He isn’t going to hurt anyone,” Vivi insisted.

“Please… don’t be frightened.” The ghost pleaded. Lewis’ entire skull moved when his expression changed, the black eye holes moving with his brow as if he was drawing his eyebrows together in sadness. But his jaw didn’t move when he spoke on account of the fact that he didn’t have one. Rather, his voice was disembodied, deep, and had an eerie sort of echo to it.

Lewis moved forward, and Ricky’s heart jumped to his throat. “You stay back!” He spat, holding his arms out protectively in front of Fred.

And Lewis stopped.

“I am not going to hurt anyone,” the ghost said. “I would never hurt my friends," Lewis’ voice went back to normal as, in a flash of pink fire, he resumed his mortal illusion.

“L-like guys… it’s him. That’s the ghost from this morning!” Shaggy trembled.

“Oh! So not only are you dead, you’re also the so-called ‘basement ghost’ that attacked Shaggy!” Fred exclaimed angrily.

“... Yes. I am, and I’m sorry. I know I apologized as if it was not my doing earlier today Shaggy, but I really am sorry for blowing up at you this morning. You were already so scared and I only made it worse,” Lewis apologized, head down.

“Like, ya think?” Shaggy shouted, putting Scooby down. The shock was wearing off, and all that was left was anger, fear, and confusion.

“This can’t be happening!” Velma said, nervously pulling at her hair. “It’s impossible. There’s no way. There have to be projectors and special effects somewhere…”

“It isn’t a trick,” Lewis said sadly. “I am the ghost of Lewis Pepper. No illusions. No masks. Well, I suppose, unless you count this one,” Lewis said as he resumed his skeletal form. “I know I deceived you all. But I didn’t do it out of any ill-intent. People see the true face of my spirit and they’re terrified. Putting on an illusion as if I’m still human allows me to walk among the living as I once did - solving mysteries with my friends… and making new ones too.”

“Are we, Lewis?” Scooby asked coldly. “Are we friends?”

“What else was I supposed to do?!” Lewis demanded. Realizing he was getting angry, he opted to resume his mortal illusion rather than let the flames flare any more than they already were, though his eyes remained black. “How do you think our first meeting would have gone if I was honest with you from the start? ‘Hi, I’m Lewis. I like to solve mysteries and I think we’d be great friends. By the way:’” And without saying anything else, Lewis took his head off to prove a point.

“Let’s just calm down everyone,” Mystery said gently. Grumbling, Lewis put his head back on. “I know it’s shocking, but we’re here to have a conversation.”

“You lied to us,” Fred said. “You’ve been lying to us from the beginning! Why should we believe anything you say now?!”

“Like, yeah! Why should we?” Shaggy agreed fiercely. Scooby nodded beside him.

“Because they’re right.”

Mystery Incorporated turned to Ricky in genuine shock. “They’re what?” They echoed, dumbfounded.

“I mean how dishonest were they, really?” Mr. E asked, having long-since dropped his arms and relaxed a bit. “Think about it: How many times did Cassidy and I lie to you back then because we thought it was what was best for you? Yeah, we were wrong to do so. But they at least had the courtesy to be honest about the fact that they were being dishonest.” Ricky stepped over to Velma and gently took her wrists in his hands to stop her nervous hair-pulling, then lowered her hands down to her sides. “We all knew we were about to find out something… important,” he said thoughtfully as he smoothed out Velma’s hair and fixed her little red bows where they’d gone askew. “We’ve known for most of today that they were withholding something big. And before then, they’d met you what? Twice?”

Velma was finally calming down, the new information finding its place in her worldview. Ricky gently straightened her glasses on her face and patted her gently on the back before stepping out of her personal space and turning back to the others. “We shouldn’t turn on them now just because we didn’t like what we learned. Not without at least giving them a chance to explain themselves - it’s not like they’ve betrayed us. Nothing has changed. I mean… come on… It’s Lewis.”

“But how can we trust a single thing they say?” Fred asked.

“Because you said the exact same thing to Angel the day she told you her name was Cassidy Williams. And we all regret not listening to her when we had the chance.”

That shut them up extremely fast. For a moment, no one said anything.

“So like um… you’re dead?” Shaggy said after a moment, rubbing the back of his neck.

Lewis sighed, “Yes. I’ve been dead a little over three years now.”

“So um… Jeepers- you really have been like this the whole time we’ve known you?” Daphne asked nervously, still glued to Fred.

“That’s right,” Lewis nodded.

“And you can just… switch back and forth between yourself and- I’m sorry… which one is ‘yourself’?”

“Technically,” the ghost said, resuming his frightening appearance, “This is the real me. It took me a while to be able to make myself look like I once did. And I was only able to perfect the human disguise with practice and after learning some tricks from… a friend.”

“So then, if you don’t mind my asking,” Velma gulped, “how did you die?”

“L-like yeah… Like, Mystery said something about muh-muh-murder…” Shaggy gulped.

Lewis hesitated before he answered, nervously scratching the back of his skull. “That’s… can we save that one for another day?”

Ricky answered before anyone else could. “Sure Lewis,” he said, glancing over at Mystery. “It was… a very personal question. So take your time.”

Mystery smiled at Ricky gratefully and gave an encouraging nod.

“Okay then,” Velma said. “So you’re the ‘Master of the House’, huh? Is it because you’re the most powerful spirit in the house?”

“Sort of,” Lewis said. “The fact is, I sort of… made this house.”

“What?”

“The Dead Beats and the suits of Armor are… extensions of me.”

“Lewis is an extremely powerful spirit,” Vivi explained. “In fact he’s so powerful that there’s a lot of leftover energy just around him at any given moment.”

“And there was even more of it when I was freshly-dead and couldn’t conserve or control it yet,” Lewis added. “I explained to you all before that the Dead Beats are tied to me, but it’s deeper than that,” a couple of Dead Beats came up around Lewis for a snuggle as he spoke about them. “The fact is, I created them. The Dead Beats were created out of that energy and from my emotions and intentions. As for the suits of armor… you might want to brace yourselves.”

“Like, what could you possibly tell us that’s more shocking than this?” Shaggy exclaimed, gesturing to Lewis’ entire person.

“You all seemed surprised to learn that we had a mansion. Or even that the house was here,” Lewis said.

“Yeah,” Ricky said thoughtfully. “I know my way around real estate in Crystal Cove. But this? A spooky, classy, spacious old place like this in such a convenient remote location… it honestly doesn’t make sense that I didn’t know about it. Not saying I would have bought it, but I definitely would have considered it.”

“Not just that,” Velma said, “but it occurred to me earlier that this place looks too lived in for the amount of time you’ve been in Crystal Cove.”

“Jeepers - that didn’t even occur to me Velma!” Daphne gasped.

“Come to think of it,” Fred said, “I would think that my Mayor-Dad would have turned a spooky place like this into a tourist attraction a long time ago.”

“That’s because as of about a week ago,” Lewis cringed, “it wasn’t here.”

“Come again?” Velma asked.

“What if I told you that the house you’re standing in - from the foundation to the roof - is a supernatural structure? This entire house is a manifestation of Lewis,” Vivi said.

“It sort of works like a pocket-dimension. Mostly it exists in the Neitherworld, but Lewis can bring it out of the Neitherworld and set it up on any patch of land with enough space. Think of it like pitching a tent,” Mystery explained.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Ricky exclaimed. All of Mystery Incorporated was looking around very closely at their surroundings. But try as they might to see any discrepancy, everything looked so real!

“Wait- you mean you made all of this? Just- made it magically appear?” Daphne cried.

“In a sense… yeah. It’s not as simple or easy as ‘pitching a tent’, as Mystery put it. But yes. Basically. I can move the house wherever I want. I usually leave it in the Neitherworld, but I put it up any time we’re traveling and need a place to stay for a prolonged period of time.”

“Then the suits of armor-”

“Were created along with the house to serve the purpose of protecting it,” Lewis explained.

“Fascinating,” Velma exclaimed. “So then… what about the painting ghosts?”

“I actually didn't create the painting ghosts,” Lewis said. “Over time I’ve sort of… collected them. Think of them like really weird foster dogs.”

“You’re going to need to explain it better than that,” Daphne said.

“They’re very weak human spirits,” Vivi explained. “That were either displaced, wandering with no place to haunt, or that we took pity on and decided not to exorcize for whatever reason on a case. Or sometimes we take them in if we need their expertise for whatever reason.”

“Weak spirits are attracted to me because of the same excess power that created the Dead Beats. They can use that power to make themselves more perceivable, and I contain them within the paintings of the house whenever the house is set up in the living world.”

“I know you all have no frame of reference, but I really can’t put it into words how powerful Lewis is compared to most other ghosts. He’s easily in like the top one percent,” Mystery explained.

“For most spirits, outside of the Neitherworld it takes a tremendous amount of energy to even be able to do a simple trick, like appear as an apparition, or to make so much as a single object move. I mean have you ever watched those cheesy ghost hunting shows on TV? Some of those are fake, but a lot of them are real. Apparitions are rare and most investigators freak out if they so much as see a door move. Consider that, then look at what Lewis can do.”

“Like, I have a question,” Shaggy said.

“Yeah?”

“Like um… you’re dead. And like, you don’t actually have a body. But you had dinner with us. So… how do you eat?” Shaggy asked.

Lewis looked surprised, then he busted out laughing at the question.

“This isn’t a joke! It’s very serious business!” Scooby cried.

Once Lewis stopped laughing, he explained how an older and more powerful ghost had taught him how to “eat” human food by breaking it down into its barest molecules within his "body" and absorbing its energy. Lewis couldn’t taste nearly as strongly as he could when he was alive, but he could get a hint of the flavor.

“Like, you mean that you make such amazing food and you can hardly even taste it?” Shaggy cried, dismayed.

“Sad yet true - makes me love spicy food even more than I used to. Stronger flavor means I can taste it more. And Vivi and Arthur occasionally let me possess them for a little bit so that I can enjoy food properly. I’m lucky to have friends like them.”

“Okay then. For now, I just have one more question…” Fred said, his eyes narrowed.

Lewis gulped.

“... How exactly would one go about trapping you?” Fred asked excitedly. “I can’t imagine anything I have working on a real ghost. So how much about vessels or blessed objects is true? Or is there such a thing as ghost traps? Oooh!!! How would one even make a ghost trap-...”

As Fred went off on his tangent, Lewis smiled, realizing that things were going to turn out alright. Ricky, shaking his head and smiling fondly, sat down on the couch next to Mystery. And the rest of Mystery Inc. resumed their seats as well.

They talked for at least another twenty minutes before Mystery gently redirected the conversation back to the board and back to the matter at hand.

“So,” Lewis explained, “this is how my trifecta is broken - I’m dead. So how is my body supposed to get swapped when I don’t have one?”

“I mean like, yeah. That makes sense.” Shaggy gulped with a shrug.

“Sorry about what we said earlier by the way,” Fred apologized.

“It was just… a shock,” Ricky added.

“Really, it’s fine. Compared to how others have reacted in the past, you actually handled it really well. If I had a nickel for every time someone tried to exorcize me…” Lewis sighed, rolling the lights in his eye sockets that served as his pupils. “So… are we still friends?”

Mystery Incorporated looked at each other.

“Yes. We’re definitely still friends,” Daphne said.

“Totally!” Said Fred.

“Reah!” Said Scooby, wagging his tail.

“But like, I’ve never been friends with a dead guy before. So this is like… totally awesome but also like, super weird.” Shaggy laughed.

“You’re going to need to put up with a lot of questions,” Velma said, adjusting her glasses.

Once the excitement about Lewis being dead calmed down, he resumed his mortal illusion and the Dead Beats fetched all of the living some water. Then it was Vivi’s turn.

“I would first like to start with where Lewis left off, because he set it up nicely for me to explain how I diverge from the pattern.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re dead too,” Scooby whimpered.

“Pffft, no. I’m very much alive and human. That being said, I do have abilities. But before I get into that - after analyzing what we know about the other groups, our current theory is that my divergence has nothing to do with what I can do.

“As you now know, the Mystery Skulls have and have always had four members and not five. However, since learning about the pattern, the boys and I have debated over which role I fit into. It’s as plain as the noses on their faces that Lewis, Arthur, and Mystery each fit into Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby’s roles respectively. Which leaves me in either Velma or Daphne’s spot. But the thing is, it’s really blurry which of them I would fit into, and therefore which of us is ‘missing’. I have traits that could put me into either category. Which has led us to believe that whatever magic is surrounding the pattern has compensated for our lack of a fifth member by putting me into…”

Vivi licked her thumb and erased the line between the Velma/Cassidy and Daphne/Judy columns in the Mystery Skulls row, then wrote her name in between them.

“Both of them!”

“It’s a longshot, but it definitely makes sense,” Velma said thoughtfully.

"So that's how my 'trifecta' is technically broken - I intersect between two of them and if Nova-or-whatever tried to swap me, it would probably lead to some crazy four-way swap between myself, Daphne, Judy, and Velma. And who wants to be swapped with Judy? Never even met her, but just from what I've heard, HAH! I sure don't!"

“But that doesn’t answer the new big question of the hour,” Ricky said. “If you’re living and human, then what exactly can you ‘do’?”

“I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised that everyone wants to know about that,” Vivi half-laughed, her bat resting lazily on her shoulder. “My truth is kind of a long story - before I get into my abilities, I would like to start off by telling you how and why I have them.

“It all began hundreds of years ago near the end of Japan’s feudal age with my ancestor - Mushi.”

Vivi took one page out of the folder, holding it to her chest, then dropped the rest open on the coffee table for the others to see. The folder’s contents were a bunch of printed scans of old paintings and documents, all of the same bescarfed warrior of an ancient time featured in the painting in the library.

“As I told Daphne earlier, Mushi was an accomplished warrior of the Onna-musha. What I did not tell Daphne was that while Mushi was strong, she was also gentle, good, and kind. In an era that could be ruthless, she showed mercy defended the weak. She also had a great respect and connection with the Yokai and the spirit world. So much so that one hard winter the spirits saw fit to bless her with a gift.”

“A gift?” Mystery Incorporated echoed in surprise.

“But like, what kind of gift can a bunch of like, ghosts and magical creatures and stuff give anybody? They’re like, dead. And like, I don’t think they have money,” Shaggy asked.

Mystery barked a laugh. “Ha! Do they have money? That entirely depends on which Yokai you look at. Some are poor, some don’t want or need money, and some are quite wealthy. Some are privy to the greed and lust of man, others are above such things. And as far as gifts from the spirits go, Vivi doesn’t speak of any mere trinket.

“Please understand: in Japanese mythology, (which has a substantial amount of truth to it), every human (or otherwise sentient, human-like mortal being) has a god living inside of them that is their spirit. And when they die, that god is released and can either be reborn into a new life, can pass on into the spirit world or some other afterlife, or can roam the Earth as a ghost for whatever reason. A gift to a living mortal from the gods is a rare and important thing. Sometimes such gifts can be a curse that one would do anything to be rid of. Other times, it’s a blessing the likes of which money cannot buy. And sometimes… it can even be a bit of both.”

“Fortunately for Mushi,” Vivi interrupted, glaring playfully at Mystery’s smirk, “in her case it was a blessing.”

“What kind of blessing?” Daphne asked, leaning forward with curiosity.

“That,” Vivi said, “is what I’m going to show you. If you’ll all follow me right this way…”

Vivi led them out of the room and a short way through the mansion. All the while, Vivi explained to them how while she was not Mushi reborn into a new life, three years ago, because Vivi had more in common with Mushi than the rest of her family, Mushi’s spirit had seen fit to pass her powers down to her along with some of her memories.

“So you have superpowers? That’s awesome!” Fred exclaimed.

“Like yeah! Totally cool!”

“I guess, kind of,” Vivi shrugged, her bat resting across her shoulders. “Along with Mushi’s power, I have her strength and a lot of her muscle-memory, which has allowed me to master a lot that would normally take even a talented martial artist much longer.”

“Where are you taking us?” Velma asked.

“Outside,” Vivi replied. “It can get kind of destructive if I go overboard and I want my demonstration to be a good one. That, and I don’t want to clean it up.”

“Why would you need to clean it up?” Ricky asked.

“You guys don’t do ‘wait and see’ very well, do you?” Vivi laughed. “I suppose until we get there, I can at least tell you-” And Vivi told them about the ease with which Vivi had always been able to sense and understand the supernatural. How she could get a general read of auras and could feel the flow of energy throughout the universe similar to the way Lewis could, being a ghost.

“That’s part of why we’ve been able to come so far in understanding this curse in the short time we’ve been here,” Vivi explained. “Save Arthur, we can just… sense it. This powerful negative presence in and around everyone and everything in this town and the surrounding areas. But what exactly we’ve been able to observe about it based off of that is another conversation for another time.”

“Like, is this how you knew I wasn’t Arthur this morning?” Shaggy asked.

“Yep.”

“What do you mean, Shaggy?” Daphne asked.

“Like, this morning when I woke up Vivi knew that I wasn’t Arthur like, literally immediately. Granted like - I was super freaked about my arm being gone. But like, I still thought it was kinda weird how fast she realized I wasn’t Arthur. And like, speaking of which, can um… can Mystery do that auras thing too? Cuz like, he looked at me this morning and was the first to realize I’d been body-swapped. And it was like, super weird.”

“I’m not going to spoil what Mystery… can do for you, but let’s just say that when it comes to what I told you about auras, Mystery is a lot better at it than me.”

The dog raised his head proudly and added a bit of a prance to his step.

Just then, they opened a door that led to a beautiful yet spooky conservatory. The glass walls and ceiling, save those attached to the rest of the house, were pink with black iron frames, and featured many of the same skull or heart patterns as the rest of the house. And the plants were… exotic. Velma for one already had a million questions forming, but chose not to ask them yet. Vivi led them through, past a koi pond (but the fish were translucent, glowing, and definitely ghosts), past a small collection of bonsai trees and a plant with rather suspicious-looking flowers, past a seating area, and past a set of black metal tables and chairs. Upon the table was a radio, and one of their songs was playing.

"-I'm feeling like I'm going cra-zy!

I'm feeling like I need some more time,

To think it over, with you.

Yeah baby~!

"So just leave me alone,

Sometimes I think I'm all right…

Just needing an escape,

Some time on my own,

Don't act like my time is over!

'Cause no one ever really

Dies dies, dies, dies, dies, dies, dies, dies…"

At those last two lines all six of their guests not-so-subtly glanced at Lewis.

No kidding.

The music drifted off as they walked away from it, and Vivi opened a set of ornate glass doors into an equally lovely yet macabre courtyard and garden at the back of the mansion, surrounded by a high stone wall and thick black iron gates.

“I’d say this is enough space.” Vivi said thoughtfully, shifting her weight onto one hip. Mystery And Lewis stood off to one side and Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, and Ricky stood in a row, an air of tense and eager anticipation about them as they watched.

“When Mushi received her gift,” Vivi began, “it was at the harshest point of a particularly unforgiving and frigid winter. She was in the middle of a sacred forest, separated from her comrades, her horse gone, near-freezing to death but still chasing after the yokai she was hunting. The spirits were impressed by her determination, and they had grown a fondness for her from her years of maintaining their temples and seeing that they were treated with the respect they deserved.”

Vivi moved her bat from her shoulder and spun it around her arms and around her neck with the practiced ease of a master. “So, to save her life and give her the power to restore order,” There came a sudden chill in the air, as if they were standing in the frozen woods with Mushi, even now. And the bat, still spinning hypnotically around Vivi, began to glow an icy blue. “-They gave her the ability to harness the very cold that nearly killed her. Mushi’s gift, my ability… is cryokinesis.”

And that was when the bat ceased its dance as the handle landed expertly in Vivi’s hands. She turned around and gave a mighty swing, and a blast of pure cold burst out of the bat and raced across the lawn, leaving spikes of ice in its wake before it finally struck a large, dead bush with such force that with a loud crash like breaking glass, it burst into millions of glittering frozen particles the very same instant it froze.

Six jaws dropped. Smirking, Lewis and Mystery engrained the utterly priceless looks on their faces in their memories.

There was a long beat of stunned silence as what they’d just seen hit them. icy glitter drifted down like snow, and Vivi turned back to them and released a breath so cold that they could see it swirling through the air before it dissipated. Then she spun the bat once more as it ceased its glow and let it land back on her shoulder.

Please stop staring at me with your mouths open and say something, Vivi pleaded inside her head as she covered up her unease with a smile.

Then all at once, the six of them exploded.

“THAT WAS AWESOME!”

༻˚⁺･⚉｡○✼༓☾⦾♫෴♡💛♡෴♫⦾☽༓✼○｡⚉･⁺˚༺

“Supernatural-gifts-that-give-you-superpowers” turned out to be somehow an even more shocking, awe-inspiring, and question-worthy revelation than “btw-the-guy-you’ve-spent-most-of-today-with-is-dead”.

Then again, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, and Ricky had at least been introduced to the concept that ghosts are real before finding out about Lewis, and they’d been telling them about ghosts and having them read texts about them all day. So perhaps that cushioned the shock somewhat.

And they couldn’t be angry at Vivi because the brunt of the anger and confusion had already been let out on Lewis.

Unfair.

But, that’s just how it happened.

Vivi performed a number of tricks for them, at their insistence. And answered questions for almost an hour. Lewis joined in as well, showing them a number of his talents with magic pink fire, making the topiaries come alive, among other things.

Mystery just watched with a smile, happy to let them have their moment. It would only be a matter of minutes now before they found out about him, and he found himself feeling rather anxious about it.

Anxiety used to be a rare occurrence for him.

Then again, back then Mystery had never known loss - not that he had much to lose.

But now, he pondered as he watched his little ones laugh and marvel at their gifts, now I have everything to lose.

Hiding one’s true self was considered by many of his kind to be a deeply human trait, but the longer Mystery spent in their company the more he realized just how hypocritical that stance was.

After all, Mystery was far from the only Yokai who, for one reason or another, hid their true form behind an ‘ordinary’ mask for some reason or another. The reason he’d taken on this one a little over twenty years ago just happened to be so that he could protect Mushi’s granddaughter the way she had protected him all of those centuries ago.

But… the reason he kept it had evolved over the years. First he had just one little one to look after. Then somehow it became three. Then twenty years ago, no matter how hard he’d tried not to grow fond of them from afar…

Mystery had failed to save four.

Yes, Mystery decided as he watched the wonder dance across Shaggy's- Ricky Owens’ face, he’s the biggest source of this anxiety. Because once you know what I am, it won’t be long before you piece together that I too was here in Crystal Cove twenty years ago…

And it’s my fault that you disappeared.

༻˚⁺･⚉｡○✼༓☾⦾♫෴♡💛♡෴♫⦾☽༓✼○｡⚉･⁺˚༺

Eventually, inevitably, Shaggy said, “Like Lewis is a ghost and Vivi has superpowers! There’s like, no way Mystery could surprise us any more than this, right?”

The Mystery Skulls sort of froze and looked directly at each other.

“... Right?”

“You-u-u totally just jinxed it,” Ricky said, giving Shaggy the side-eye.

And just like that, everyone’s attention was caught and Mystery was in the spotlight.

None of them had ever seen the little dog look so nervous.

“Let’s uh… Let’s go inside for this one, Mystery said, leading them back into the conservatory.

He led them to the seating area and placed his front paws on the table to turn the radio off, before returning to them. “I’m going to be very blunt about this with you all, because there’s no beating around the bush.”

Then Mystery took a deep breath and confessed.

“I’m not a dog.”

Fred started laughing, but he hastily stopped when he saw the way Mystery was looking at him.

“Oh. You’re serious.”

“I would argue, but as of today we’ve established that body-swapping, aliens, other dimensions, ghosts, the afterlife, and magical creatures all exist.” Ricky tossed his arms into the air and laughed, whole-heartedly believing that he was prepared for whatever he was about to find out. “So go on, out with it!”

Had he gotten to know Arthur a little longer than a few hours, he may have been blessed with the following piece of wisdom:

Rule number one of being an expert in the paranormal: never assume you’re an expert in the paranormal. The paranormal will see that as a challenge, and it will find a way to surprise you. Often in a way less-than-pleasant.

“As you all know,” Mystery began, clearing his throat, “Vivi’s ancestor, Mushi, was a great warrior who was very close to the spirit world. What she didn’t tell you is one of the greatest legends about Mushi - a legend that’s depicted in a painting that’s currently hanging in our library.”

“I saw that painting! Vivi told me about it!” Daphne said. “It’s of her and the fox spirit, right? Oh- what was it called again?”

“... A Kitsune,” Mystery replied quietly.

And that’s when Vivi came up behind him and dropped a single picture onto the table - the one she’d removed from Mushi’s file earlier.

This one was different from the painting.

They had seen fit to leave the painting up because the artist had missed a few crucial details when making it. Namely, the distinct spot on his back, his mane of black fur… and the unmistakable tufts of red behind each of his ears.

Mushi wasn’t in this picture.

No - it was of him.

And it was painted by a friend of hers - a friend that had seen him.

So such details were not omitted in this one.

They, his children of Nibiru, stared at the picture in stunned silence for several long moments, the cogs in their heads turning as dots connected and they each reached the same conclusion. Then by some unspoken signal, six heads slowly turned to look at him.

Ricky’s eyes were blown as wide as saucers. “No way…” He muttered quietly.

“I wasn’t always such a good dog,” Mystery confessed, voice hardening as he braced himself for the inevitable.

And without another word, he stood.

The transformation happened so fast and with such fluidity that something that should have appeared so unnatural and so wrong… didn’t.

It happened in a flash of red light. They briefly glimpsed Mystery rearing briefly on his hind legs, tossing his magnificent head into the air before the light covered him completely.

Ricky really shouldn’t have been so shocked after everything else he’d seen today, but all the same he and the kids shot to their feet and stumbled back with shock.

Then the light cleared.

And no sight had ever made Ricky feel such awe, wonder, and terror all at once… As the beast that stood where his friend had just a moment before.

Once more, he felt like a meddling kid again.

Lewis being a ghost had been a shock.

Vivi having the powers of a long-deceased warrior had been a surprise.

But this!

Seven tails swayed hypnotically to and fro, like a metronome to the beat of six hammering hearts.

Ricky suddenly felt very small in a world that he was learning was a lot bigger and a lot weirder than he’d ever imagined it was. Hell, even Scooby looked small next to this-

“Fuh-fuh. Fuhfuhfuh- Fox!” the Great Dane trembled.

Kitsune, He corrected silently. Trickster. Shape-shifter. Liar….. friend…?

I’ve been fooled by an animal who I thought was my friend before, that same paranoid, ever-frightened voice reminded him.

And fooled again, he had been.

Because Mystery wasn’t “man’s best friend.”

He was a kitsune. A yokai. A beast of legend!

A monster.

And so, this chapter wraps up in the same way it began!!! Muahaha! Chapter 15 was definitely a fun, albeit difficult and at times frustrating, challenge. Because I mean, this is the reveal that we've waited fourteen chapters for. For real anyone who's been reading this since the beginning be like: "WE DID OUR WAITING! SEVEN MONTHS OF IT! IN AZKABAN!" Also I checked my Ao3 to see when I posted the first chapter of One of Us just for the sake of that joke and wow - has it really been seven months? How time flies. I somehow didn't realize I've been working on this that long. Lol Anyway - I definitely felt a lot of pressure to make the big reveal for each of them as satisfying and worthwhile as possible while also adding to the characters and driving the story forward. And what better way to make Mystery's as dramatic as possible than to leave you on... A CLIFFHANGER?!

Also if I got anything about Japanese mythology wrong in this chapter, feel free to correct me. I only have like a surface-level understanding of it but I love stories and I love mythology so you would not be annoying me AT ALL if you wanted to refer me to any legends/lore that you think would interest me. And before anyone asks - I haven't forgotten about Arthur and Marcie. I know it's been a couple chapters since we checked up on them but fear not - I have... PART of a plan! Seriously. If all goes according to plan and the characters don't stage open rebellion, then I know what the chapter songs of the next THREE CHAPTERS of One of Us are going to be. This doesn't happen to me often. Let me enjoy it. 😆 And again - 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!

Lastly, I just wanted to give a big shout-out to nikicherry1234 and spiraleel-blog for the amazing fanart they've done of this story. I love ALL OF IT and I can't even put into words how touched I am that you loved it enough to put hours of your time into drawing it. 🥹

Chapters 1-14 of One of Us are presently posted on Archive of Our Own.

Chapter 15 should be posted on Ao3 tonight or tomorrow morning.

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