“Scooby Dude?” Ihaan asked, pointing at the Pokémon Blue save file on Shaggy and Scooby’s Game Boy. “Why’d you guys name yourself Scooby Dude?” He, Shaggy, and Scooby were back at the campsite’s picnic table, using the moonlight and Shaggy’s headlamp to light up the Game Boy’s screen. Fred and Daphne had gone to bed, but Velma sat around the fire, booting up the portable DVD Player.
Even though Ihaan had changed out of Daphne’s clothes, he still wanted to see some modern technology, so he watched as the game started.
Scooby playfully stuck out his tongue and punched the keys, and Shaggy said, “Like, Ihaan, Scooby’s better at the game than I am; I’m just the dude who sits back, so Scooby Dude it is. Oh!” He patted Scooby’s back. “Like, let’s show him Snorlax, Scoob!”
“Rokay.” Scooby opened the main menu in the game and went to a label that read “Pokédex”. He pulled up a picture of a massive creature with flabby arms and legs, short ears, fangs, and closed eyes.
“Like, there he is!” Shaggy said, tittering. “He eats 900 pounds of food a day. Sounds like Scooby and me.”
900 pounds of food? That was definitely impossible in real life. Were these “Pokémon” full of crazy secrets like that? The Spirit Animals certainly were, even Ro, who slept soundly beside Ihaan on the table. Her feathers flickered slightly, but not over the top. She was getting better at controlling her Thunderbird, but Ihaan still wondered if she had always been it. He had to enjoy this time with Scooby, Shaggy, and Velma, because something told him that, aside from Ro’s test flight, something awaited them on Red Squirrel Lake tomorrow.
Ihaan gulped but inhaled when Velma approached him and said, “All right, Ihaan, I have the DVD Player set up if you want to learn how to use it.” She gave him a weak smile. “I’m not forcing you.”
Ihaan wasn’t doing anything wrong by letting Velma show him the basics of the DVD Player, right? He was just curious, but he didn’t have the Spirit Animals to ask them about it. However, Ihaan trusted his gut and nodded at Velma.
During the final hour before bed, Ihaan sat back and let Velma run through the player with him. He felt a surge of power just by holding the remote and quickly pressing the fast-forward button during her lecture. He enjoyed that more than the actual movie, and while his instincts told him he wasn’t doing anything wrong, a part of him said he was. Therefore, he shut off the player and handed the remote to Velma, saying, “I don’t think I’m ready yet.”
“That’s okay,” Velma said, taking the player. “You’re trying, just like Ro, which is all that matters. Let’s focus on solving the mystery first, and we’ll go from there.”
That sounded like a great idea. Ihaan still needed time to make his decision.
And it all started with Ro’s test flight.
***
“All right, gang, so here’s the plan,” Fred said the next morning during breakfast. “We’re going to head out to Red Squirrel Lake and help Ro fly. After that”—he looked at Ihaan—“Ihaan, could you take us to where Ro had her accident? We may learn something there about what really happened that day.”
“And if Ro has always been Thunderbird.” Nervousness and excitement rushed through Ihaan’s body, but he also felt something else: a hole in his tummy—as if he had an idea of who Ro really was but didn’t want to accept it.
Velma jumped in. “This mystery is pretty much wrapped up, gang.”
“So, let’s finish strong.” Daphne clenched her fist and looked at Shaggy and Scooby. “Are you two cowards coming or staying behind?”
“Like, is that a genuine question, Daphne?” Shaggy asked, giggling. “This is the best plan talk yet, Scoob! But since this is about Ro and not some creepy ghost, I guess we have no choice but to tag along.”
Wow, the entire gang wanted to help Ihaan and Ro—even the cowards. Perhaps Ihaan didn’t need to try so hard to be like them after all. Maybe he didn’t need to do this on his own.
Ihaan sniffed and flicked a tear from his eye, admitting, “I love you meddling kids.”
The gang returned his hopeful look and surrounded him and Ro, Freddie saying, “Hey, that’s what the Mystery Gang does best.”
It sure was.
After breakfast, Ihaan and the gang packed up their campsite and reloaded their canoes.
Red Squirrel Lake sat before them, foggy as ever, but small sunrays shone through the low clouds. It looked like there was no one for miles, only islands, points, and the endless forest. Ihaan needed to read it to remember where Ro had her accident, but that would come after the test flight.
Once they were ready, Ihaan nodded at the gang, and they nodded back, but Shaggy and Scooby gulped and covered each other’s mouths to stop their teeth from chattering.
“Let’s do this,” Ihaan told his friends, pushing off the pier onto Red Squirrel Lake.
They rode over a few waves and canoed to the lake’s heart, stopping. They studied the area together for a few minutes, and then Ihaan set his paddle in the canoe and glanced at Ro, who was sitting on the thwart again, her feathers sticking up. “All right, Ro, this is it,” he said. “You must have faith in self. We start nice and slow.”
“You’ve got this, girl! You’ve got this, girl!” the Mystery Gang cheered from their canoes. They lifted their arms and waved them over their heads.
Shaggy and Scooby pulled a box of Scooby Snacks out of their dry bags and leaned back, beginning to stuff their faces.
“Like, Scooby, if we’re not gonna be chickens here,” Shaggy quipped, “we need to eat like Snorlax with our limited edition Scooby Snacks.”
“Rum! Rimited edition!” Scooby repeated after him.
Shaggy lifted the treat box and flipped it upside down, closing his eyes. He bumped it a few times, but Scooby came in and caught the Scooby Snacks instead.
“Hey!” Shaggy complained, glaring, but he laughed when Scooby licked his cheek.
“Rorry,” apologized the Great Dane.
Their relationship reminded Ihaan a lot of his with Ro. It was a beautiful thing—unknown, but beautiful.
He crossed his arms over his thighs and told the eagle, “You can do this, Ro. Let’s start with gliding.”
A sound came from Ro, and she faced Ihaan, tightening her grip on the thwart.
“You can do this,” Ihaan repeated.
Ro took deep breaths, but opened and flapped her wings, lifting off the thwart.
“There you go,” Ihaan said.
The Mystery Gang moved closer in their canoes, but still kept their distance.
Ro clenched her talons and glided over the side of Ihaan’s canoe. She carefully soared above Red Squirrel Lake and circled Ihaan and the gang.
“Great job, girl!” Ihaan encouraged when she reached his canoe again. “You feel okay?”
Ro studied her reflection in the water and unclenched her talons. She loosened her body and nodded at Ihaan.
Ihaan saw her confidence and faith; it was only a matter of time now. “Now try flapping,” he said. “Like what Scooby and Shaggy showed you.”
“Like, huh?” Shaggy inquired. “We did something right for a change? Well, what do you know, Scoob?” The two high-fived and went right back to their snacks.
Ro examined her reflection again, then gently flapped her wings and flew up and down, as if she were on an aerial staircase. Her body relaxed even more, and she circled the gang one more time before giving her wings a big flap.
“Go, girl, go!” Ihaan cheered when she soared out of her comfort zone and climbed higher into the sky toward the clouds. She was doing it! She was flying! It was the best thing Ihaan had seen in the past few months, and it looked like Red Squirrel Lake agreed with him, because the clouds began to part slowly, revealing a section of the blue summer sky.
Down below, Daphne put her hands together and said, “I feel like a mother who just told her daughter that she can have her first makeover.” Nonetheless, she squinted her eyes a minute later and questioned, “Hey, what’s that?”
“What’s what, Daph?” Fred asked, pressing his hand against his forehead.
Everyone else looked with them, and Velma’s eyes widened. “Jinkies!” she yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Loon flock, Ro! Loon flock!”
Sure enough, Ihaan’s eyes caught a sudden loon flock that had emerged from the clouds, and they headed straight for Ro.
She cried out when they flew into her and rapidly flapped her wings.
Ro tumbled around in the flock, screeching, and Ihaan shouted, “Ro!”
Finally, the flock left, but Ro dropped out of the sky, twisting and turning.
No! She was so close, too!
“Ro!” Ihaan yelled again. He, Velma, Daphne, and Freddie flapped their arms like Shaggy and Scooby’s demonstration overnight. Sweat trickled down Ihaan’s temples, and he ordered, “Flap, girl, flap! Please, girl!” There was no way she would survive a fall like that unless he caught her.
Scooby covered Shaggy’s eyes, and Shaggy did the same to him.
“Ro!” Ihaan called again.
A serious look crossed Ro’s face, and faint lightning bolts escaped her wingtips. With one last screech, she extended her wings, and boom! Caught the updraft.
“Yeah!” Ihaan belted out. There was the Ro he knew and loved—the one who spent hours flying around Lady Evelyn every day, the one before everything changed.
She soared past the gang and flew as fast as her wings carried her, whistling loudly.
“Look at that bird go, go, go!” Freddie said, rocking his and Daphne’s canoe.
“Jeepers, Fred!” Daphne grabbed the canoe’s edge. “Not so fast.”
“But look at her go!” Fred exclaimed. “We did it, gang! We did it! Ihaan, she’s flying! The Thunderbird is flying like an eagle again!”
Ihaan had never seen him so excited, but he was, too, so he wouldn’t complain. The most important thing was that he had Ro back, and she would, hopefully, never fall subject to the Thunderbird again. Her newfound faith would save her; Ihaan knew it. With that new mindset, he and the Mystery Gang kept cheering Ro on.
She folded her wings and twirled. A lightning shield appeared around her, but it soon faded, and she flew close to Red Squirrel’s surface, holding her talons before her. Wow, even her excitement had summoned a piece of her Thunderbird, but it was nice not to see it from stress.
Ro’s talons splashed into the lake, and when she removed them, she held a fish. She had already caught her first fish after months of not hunting.
Ro soared in a straight line toward Ihaan and showed off her prize.
Before he knew it, Ihaan had stood in his canoe and offered the eagle his arms. “I knew you could do it, Ro! Congratulations!” It felt like it had been forever since he last said that.
Ro darted into his chest, and Ihaan yelped when his foot slipped. The canoe flipped over, taking him and Ro with it, scattering Ihaan’s weapons and supplies across Red Squirrel.
The Mystery Gang gasped, but they laughed when Ihaan and Ro surfaced, and Ihaan pumped his arms, again shouting, “Yeah!” Nothing could ruin the day now, but while Ihaan swam around with Ro, gathered his things, and flipped his canoe back over, Fred crossed one leg over the other and gave him a friendly but clueless smile.
“Now, that’s how you solve a mystery, Ihaan.” Fred cleared his throat. “You and your mother are ready for anything now.”
Ihaan froze, and his grin disappeared. He dropped his arrow quiver, and his face paled like a ghost.
Mother?
12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWKx2O0DYvo
Prompt: "Faith" - George Michael
(End of TEGSA 2025 Prompts)
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