sonderling || mystery incorporated

011 THE SECRET SERUM

Lydia sat at the edge of the pool, for once wearing shorts despite the hoodie on her torso. Her lower legs were dipped into the water, eventually choosing to lay back on the ground while the rest of the gang sat around or in the pool. Shaggy and Scooby were both on pool floaties, drinking some juice that Daphne had brought out. She was sitting off to the side in a bikini while Fred sat beside her.

"Like, Scooby-Doo, there's something about putting a teeny-tiny umbrella in your drink that just makes it better!" Shaggy spoke up, his dog nodding in agreement rapidly. "Now, this is purely hypothetical, but let's say your extravagant grotto was haunted by a pool monster. Want to know how I'd trap it?" Fred asked Daphne, who was staring at the water while kicking her feet. She was obviously uninterested in the trap topic of conversation.

She groaned a bit, glancing up at Fred, "Could you tell me later. . .?" She offered, though the blond clearly was in his own space as he looked at their surroundings, "First, I'd use some combination of Shag or Scoob to lure him under the waterfall. . . then I'd add quick-drying cement to the water and. . . boo-yah!! Trapped!"

"Do you guys like my new swimsuit?" Lydia opened her eyes, sitting up as Velma walked by behind her. She squinted through her sunglasses, staring up at the bookworm who was. . . wearing what she usually wore. "Um. . . like, I dunno. . . Are you wearing one?" Shaggy questioned.

"Yes! I just don't want to get burned. Do you have any idea how damaging the sun is?" Velma shot back, moving to sit down on a lawn chair, picking up a newspaper. "Give me a call when someone wants to make a leathery handbag out of your back fat!" She added, hiding her face with the newspaper before looking past it, narrowing her eyes as Lydia, "And don't wear a hoodie in this kind of weather! You're just asking for heatstroke!" She was back to hiding behind the newspaper as Lydia stuck her tongue out at her.

"Hey, don't worry, Velma. . . I think you look great!" Fred offered, "With the sun reflecting off your pale, colorless skin. . ." The brunette looked at him with a frown, though he was clearly still in his own world, "We can blind the monster and just push him into the pool with the cement already in it! Genius!"

Daphne gasped, smacking his arm lightly, "Fred!!" "I'll push you in the pool, Frederick." Lydia frowned, "I'm more pale than Velma, leave her alone." He blinked, seemingly just realizing what he said.

"Boy, am I steamed!" All of the kids, and the dog, looked up to see Nan Blake standing behind Daphne and Fred, pouting ever slightly, since frowning would cause wrinkles. "What's wrong, mom?" Daphne asked, getting up as Fred did the same. Her mother sighed, "A vampire ruined my auction last night!"

Both Scooby-Doo and Shaggy gasped, "Vampire??" The dog slid off his floatie, into the water. "A mystery! Quick, Velma, Lydia, set your milky whiteness for stun!!" He pointed at both of them. Velma almost growled in response, sending him a harsh glare while Lydia raised her sunglasses to her forehead, giving the blond a unamused look.

"Fred!!" Daphne scolded him again, smacking his arm. He looked confused, rubbing at his arm while Velma got up, tucking the newspaper under her arm and moving over to where Lydia was, "It's okay, Daphne." She grumbled, pulling Lydia up by the hood of her sweater, "We don't care what Fred thinks." The blue haired girl looked a bit frazzled as she was lead away, Shaggy left behind to awkwardly get out of the pool.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓ ❔ ┏━━━━━━━━━━━━

Lydia followed behind the gang, sensing some odd tension in the air. Fred pushed open the front doors of the Blake mansion to quickly move down the steps to the Mystery Machine. The rest of the gang stopped at the doors, the blond finally noticing as he turned to look at them, clearly confused, "Guys? Mystery, times running out, go, let's?" The blue haired girl looked at the others, taking a few steps down towards Fred when Daphne grabbed onto her, "We can't!" She cut in, smiling awkwardly. "We should. . . split up!" She added.