sonderling || mystery incorporated

003 THE SECRET OF THE GHOST RIG

Lydia always felt weird standing in City Hall, waiting in the hallway for Fred's dad to tell Fred what he wanted him to do. Daphne wasn't with them, her parents needed her, so maybe that added to Lydia feeling weird about it. She yawned, setting her elbow on Velma's shoulder a few times, the girl with glasses just knocking her arm off every time. "Thanks for coming along, gang, I really need the support. It's never a good thing when my dad asks me to meet at his office..." Fred smiled, despite shifting around nervously.

"Like, dude, no problemo!" Shaggy nodded, smiling as Scooby mimicked him, nodding rapidly. Lydia shrugged, "It's no biggie, Freddie." She finally willingly removed her arm from Velma's shoulder as she crossed her arms. "Too bad Daphne couldn't make it." Velma shook her head slightly, "Trust me, she'd love to be here for you if she could." Lydia nodded along.

Mayor Jones finally left his office, smiling excitedly at his son, "Ah, Fred, my boy!" He put his hand on his son's shoulder, "Today is a very exciting day for you, because today you learn the family business– Politics!" Lydia wasn't sure if Fred Sr. was actually genuinely excited or if it was just some persona he played up.

"Politics? That's adult stuff! You know kids my age are into traps and solving mysteries." Fred smiled, clearly a bit confused, but happy to be there for his dad. "No they're not, son." Mayor Jones shook his head, sighing a bit. "You're going to learn all the vital things I do for this community, like create pamphlets and strategize about new places to put parking meters."

Velma rolled her eyes, glaring at the mayor, "I know a place he can put a new parking meter..." She muttered while Shaggy and Lydia looked at her amused. "Fine... What do you want me to do?" Fred sighed, deflating a bit, though his smile was still there.

His father took a pamphlet out of his suit jacket, handing it over, "Help me get reelected as mayor. Make me 4000 copies of this campaign pamphlet." And he left with that, back into his office, probably to deal with more mayor things for the election. Lydia felt like he must have done some illegal things to be mayor, he was only good at specific things. "Don't worry, Freddie, we'll get your dad elected again, and you'll be back to solving mysteries in no time!" Shaggy assured Fred, smiling calmly.

Scooby took the pamphlet from Fred, marching over to the copy machine, chanting 'Vote for Fred Sr.' as he hit some buttons on the copy machine. Then the machine started to smoke and shake, the gang ducking for cover right before the ink cartridge exploded, covering the hall. "Look at what you've done to my suit!" They all jumped, turning to see a new man covered in ink.

The dog's ears drooped a bit, everyone looking at him awkwardly, "Uh... Vote for Fred Sr.?" Mayor Jones had snuck up behind the group, probably because he heard the copy machine explode, "What's the problem here, Avocados?" Lydia laughed a bit at the name, coving it up with a cough when the man glared at her.

"That's Avoc-ados." He huffed, "And if you want to run a dirty campaign, Jones, two can play at that game." He threatened, storming off before anything else could be said. Fred frowned a bit, turning to his dad, "Gee, dad, who was that guy?" His father sighed, shaking his head, "George Avocados, the person I'm running against. He considers himself a shoo-in for the job because his father, Theodore Avocados, was mayor once. Until he was caught stealing a priceless diamond from Crystal Cove bank." He explained.

Velma's eyebrows raised, "Jinkies! What happened?" She asked, and the mayor shrugged, "The diamond was never found, but Theodore went to jail. George has claimed his fathers innocence ever since."

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Fred was driving them towards the beach, Daphne was finally able to join them. "We sure missed you today, Daph. Is everything okay at home?" The blonde asked, making her sit up a bit straighter and nod, giving a painfully obviously fake smile, "Sure. Yeah, of course! That's a weird question." She stammered, hands patting her lap.