The van was about to hit 75 mph when it took flight. After hitting a little dip in the road, it soared for several feet before landing hard back on the road. Everything in the back jostled around, including Shaggy, who sat on the floor with a small tin tray on his lap full of loose ganja he was meticulously sprinkling into a small, folded paper.

"Take it easy, Fred! I'm, like, trying to work back here, man!"

Sitting shotgun, with her feet propped up on the dashboard in a pair of Daisy Duke shorts, was Daphne, who reached back to accept the doobie when it was finished.

"Have you ever thought that's why you're such a nervous wreck all the time, Shag?" Fred said, looking back through the rearview mirror. "They say that stuff makes you paranoid."

"Not just that, Fred," interjected Velma, who sat on the bench seat beside Shaggy, "but steady, long-term users are more likely to develop temporary psychosis and long lasting mental disorders such as schizophrenia."

"Hey, you gotta be crazy to do what we do, right, Scoob?"

*WOOF!*

Daphne held the joint in her lips as Shaggy reached around in his pockets until he retrieved a plastic lighter and held it out. He flicked it over and over again, but it wouldn't produce a flame.

"You, like, gotta be fucking kidding me."

Daphne pushed in the cigarette lighter on the dash.

"Doesn't work," said Fred.

Daphne kicked the dashboard with both feet. "What the fuck, Fred?!"

"What? It's never worked!"

"Like, what are we gonna do, man?"

Doctor Louis D'Ville sat quietly in the back on the same bench seat as Velma, covered head-to-toe in dirt and filth. He looked forward, with his back straight, and his hands rested on his lap, paying no attention to the rest of the crew. Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy all looked behind them and had a look as if they'd forgotten he was back there.

"Oh yeah, uh, hey…. Doctor L—Louis? Right?"

Doc slowly turned his head towards them and smiled.

My friends call me 'Doc'.

"Uhhhh… Hehehe… Like, okay, Dawk! You, like, wouldn't happen to have a light, would ya?"

As a matter of fact, I do! I never leave home without one!

Fred adjusted the mirror to check out the old man in the back. He scanned him up and down. "So, what the hell happened to you, friend? You get buried alive out in the desert, or something?"

Daphne reached over and overhand slapped Fred on the shoulder from which he cowered.

Doc laughed softly. Not exactly. Just had a little trouble getting home, is all.

"How'd you end up all the way out here anyway? You have a car? I didn't see–"

Daphne slapped him again.

Took a wrong turn at Albuquerque. Doc smiled back into the mirror.

While Daphne was quietly reprimanding Fred for his crudeness, Shaggy snatched the doobie from her fingertips and held it out. "Do you, like, partake, my dude?"

Ha! Why not? I would gladly do the honors!

"Hell yeah!" Shaggy said with a giggle as he tossed it over. "Spark it up!"

Doc produced a single match from inside his jacket and held it up for everyone to see. He snapped his finger and produced a poof of flame that lit the end of the joint.

"Like, wow, dude! How'd you do that?"

Oh, that's nothing. You want to see something really cool?

Shaggy shrugged and laughed. Doc exhaled then began hitting the joint. And kept hitting it. The cherry burned like a fuse, dropping off trails of ash along the way.

"Like, save some for the rest of us!"

*WOOF!*

Doc continued hitting the joint until it poofed away in his fingertips. He held it in and attempted a smile through his puffed out cheeks.

"Fuck it! That was awesome! I'll roll anoth–"

Doc exhaled and it was like a dust storm passed through inside the van. It filled up with smoke quicker than anyone could react, causing them to lose complete sight of the road. Daphne fumbled around with the crank for the window and finally managed to roll it down enough to stick her head out to find that the road ahead was gone. Not just the road, but everything.

A giant crevice split the land ahead of them and Daphne's heart sunk.

"Freddy, stop!"

"What?" Fred said, rolling down his own window. The smoke had cleared mostly out now, and Fred could see for himself.

"Stop!"

Fred slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. The van screeched until it left the road and took flight once more. Daphne tried to scream, but couldn't, as the van disappeared into the crack in the earth.






Daphne opened her eyes in surprise and sprung up from her seat.

"Everything okay, Daph? You've been out for a while."

She looked around cautiously. Shaggy was in the back lying with Scooby Doo, Velma was seated on the bench seat, and Fred was driving. Everything seemed fine.

Shaggy looked up to her. "Yeah, like, for real, Daph, you look like you saw a ghost or something. What's up?"

She sat back in the seat again and ran a hand through her bright orange hair and took a breath.

"Uhm.. Nothing. I just had a really weird dream."

"About what?"

Biting her lip, she thought about it, but nothing could come to mind. "I– I don't remember."

"It's not uncommon to forget dreams," said Velma, "it's actually quite common. The hippocampus, the structure in the brain responsible for learning and–"

"Oh can-it, Google!" Daphne snapped. "Where are we anyway? Are we close?"

"A little over two hours out… We should be there before midnight."

"Good. I'm tired of this fucking desert."

"Like, Las Vegas is still in the desert, dude."

"I know that, asshole!" Daphne retorted. "But I'll be in a jacuzzi or next to a swimming pool and not in the Misery Machine driving across the Mojave fucking Desert."

"And me and Scoob'll be at one of those All-You-Can-Gorge buffets getting our eat-on, hehehehehehe! Ain't that right, Scoob?"

*WOOF!*

"Something's troubling you, Daph, and I think I know just the trick!"

Shaggy pulled out a small bag of reefer and dropped some onto a small tin tray.

"How about a doobie-snack? Hehehehe!"

"What the–?" Fred said out of the blue. Everyone directed their attention ahead and saw a figure standing on the side of the road. Fred pumped the brakes and started to slow down, when Daphne got a weird feeling.

"Fred? What are you doing?"

"What do you mean? We're in the desert in the middle of the night, Daph… We should see if they need help."

"I, like, thought we had a rule about hitch-hikers!"

*WOOF!*

Fred slowed down enough on the way by them to get a good look. It was an old man dressed quite nice in a fancy suit, but it looked like he had a rough day covered all over in dirt. Fred didn't give it any more thought and pulled the van over to the side of the road. The old man approached the passenger-side window where Daphne ignored him, so he walked out in front of the van to the driver's side and met with Fred.

Hello, my friends!

"What's up, guy? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

Trouble? No. No, trouble. I am, however, a bit stuck. May I ask where you're all heading?

"Vegas," Fred pointed.

The old man's eyes lit up with intrigue and he chuckled.

Sin City, you say? Interesting! He said, scratching his chin. An old man couldn't trouble you all for a lift, could he? I assure you, you'll never know I was there, and I'm quite able to provide compensation for the trouble.

Fred swung around and looked at Daphne and the rest of the crew. No one really had a reaction to the situation.

"They guy is wearing a suit," Fred said quietly to the group. "He's probably loaded, had in some trouble in the city, and got fucking ditched out here or something."

Fred turned back to the old man.

"What do they call you, old-timer?"

He smiled, My name is Doctor Louis D'Ville, good sir, but my friends call me 'Doc'.

A cold streak shot up Daphne's spine out of nowhere and caused her to shudder out loud. Fred looked back to her real quick, but ultimately paid no mind to it. He looked back to Doc once more.

"Hop in the back, Dawk!"







Within the Mojave Desert, a few hundred yards from the highway, an arm shot out of the desert sand. It pulled and scratched the surface until another arm shot out beside it. A few seconds later, a head and the rest of the body followed. It was Doc, reemerging from the depths. He sat for a moment, catching his breath, then reached back down into the ground and pulled out a silver briefcase and dusted it off. He admired it in the moonlight for a moment before standing up and heading towards the road.

Well, it's happened, my friends. The inevitable is finally upon our doorstep.

Doc held up the briefcase once more, admiring it, before letting it off to his side as he walked.

The power is in my hands once again and powerLESS is exactly what all of you are now… once again. When you think about it, this should be a good thing when this all comes to fruition. Why, you may ask? Well, following my many, many years in this fine federation, I've been labeled what they call around here a 'Legend'. I've got the badge to prove it. Don't think this is an effort to toot my own horn, by any means. No, no. Look at this as an effort to show anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to see what the good doctor is truly capable of. This briefcase that Bobby Bourbon was so eagerly ready to sacrifice at Relentless is not what I would call a golden ticket, but a doorway. Passage back to where I belong, bypassing the nonsense in between… the climb that comes necessary when you desire great things around here. I've proven myself time and time again to the hundreds of faces that have passed by in my time here. Taking the passage and reclaiming my place at the peak of this place is prophetic. The writing has been on the wall for years, prophecy was only waiting on me to act on it.

I'll make it clear that I will not be using this first opportunity to take my passage to my rightful place.  Spooky Savage will be the first step into what will be the reincarnation of this universe and Dick Powers will be the first to fall in my next rise to the top, but will hardly act as an example for those that follow.  Hardly, but an example none the less.  Dick Powers will show anyone who dares cross my in the future exactly where they will be ending up...  At the heel of my boot in a pile of themselves.  My strangle hold on this place will grow and grow until you're already on your knees begging for mercy and it is then, my friends, that you can bow your heads once more to the one true KING of the XWF.

Upon reaching the road, Doc stopped.  In the pitch dark it was difficult to see, but the road appeared endless in both directions.  Doc sighed, unknowing to which way he should go, when a pair of headlights appeared far in the distance.  He smiled, straightened his collar, and stuck out his thumb.