Gah, this jacket itched, but Ihaan didn’t want to disappoint the Mystery Gang. He tugged the jacket’s collar with one hand and removed a blanket from the dry bag in his canoe with his other. He tossed it over Ro, who rested peacefully on the canoe’s bottom, so peacefully that it was hard to believe she was the Lightning Spirit only an hour ago.
Ihaan and the Mystery Gang paddled past islands of all sizes, hidden paths, and a few points on their way to the first portage. The thundercloud had vanished from the sky, so sunrays sparkled on Anima’s surface.
In their canoe, Shaggy and Scooby took charge for a bit while Velma wrote notes down in a notebook.
“Like, Velma, how much longer do we have to do this?” Shaggy complained. “Scoob and I are dying for an all-you-can-eat buffet.”
“Just a little longer,” Velma replied, writing faster. “I’m almost finished.” After another minute, she smiled and set the notebook on her lap. “Hey, gang, could we have a meeting? I want to go over what we know so far.”
“Oh, look at that,” Daphne, who filed her nails, said. “You’ve already solved the mystery, Velma?”
“Not yet,” Velma answered, “but I’m making progress.” She looked at Ihaan. “We just need to ask you a few questions, Ihaan, so I can develop my hypothesis.”
That was the smartest Ihaan had ever heard her. What was a hypothesis? Would it help Ro? He asked himself that while he and the gang each grabbed a canoe and came together for their board meeting.
Shaggy and Scooby snacked on dried fruit but argued over banana chips.
In the meantime, Velma showed Ihaan her notebook. “First things first,” she explained, “let’s review what we know so far using the five Ws.”
“The five Ws?” Ihaan had never heard of them.
Velma opened her mouth, but Fred held up his hand. “Allow me, Ihaan. I’m the five Ws expert.”
Knowing Freddie, Ihaan doubted that highly, but he went ahead and remained patient, tilting his head when Fred put those stupid sunglasses on and lowered his voice.
“Now, man...” Did Fred twist his hips? “The five Ws are crucial for solving any mystery. They give it a little swag… see?” There went that hip twist again, but luckily, Ihaan wasn’t the only one who blushed: Shaggy, Scooby, Velma, and Daphne did, too. “They’re who, what, when, where, why, and how,” Fred continued. “Now, don’t ask about how; let’s just say it has a w in it.”
“Oh, gosh,” Velma mumbled, tucking her hand under her glasses.
“We know the who.” Fred rolled his shoulders and crossed one leg over the other. “The who is Ro; we now just need what, when, where, why, and how.” He bowed there. “Thank you, thank you very much.”
Ihaan didn’t like that side of him; where was leader Fred? He sure hoped the Mystery Gang wasn’t treating the mystery like one of their usual cases.
Daphne finally lifted her hand and removed the sunglasses from Fred’s face, tucking them into her purse.
“Hey!” he protested. “How am I supposed to do my Elvis impression without my glasses, Daphne?”
Daphne’s bottom lip twitched. She pulled a brush from her purse and started brushing her hair. “You’ll get them back when you learn to act, Fred.”
Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby sniggered, but they cleared their throats when Fred glared at them.
Even Ihaan fought a smile, but he quickly grew serious again when Velma said, “I’m sorry that was hard to listen to, Ihaan—”
“Hey!” Fred fought in the background.
“—But Fred is right about the five Ws,” Velma continued. She showed Ihaan her notebook again before returning it to her care. “So, let’s try to figure this out together. I only have a few questions for you.”
“Wait.” Ihaan narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying this is my fault, Velma?”
“No, no!” she quickly responded. “I’m saying that you know Ro best, and you can speak for her.”
“Well, you two have fun,” Shaggy said. He and Scooby grabbed an iPod from their dry bag and shared a headset, leaning against their chairs. Shaggy placed his hands behind his head and added, “Scooby and I will listen to ‘American Pie’.”
“Reah.” Scooby licked his lips. “‘American Rie’.”
“Um…” Daphne giggled. “You two do realize that’s a grief song, not a food one?”
Shaggy and Scooby paused and stared at her for a moment. Then, Shaggy closed his eyes, and he and Scooby sang, “So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie.”
“I swear,” Daphne said, “we’re never going to get them away from food.”
“Nope,” Fred agreed, shaking his head.
“It looks like we’re doing this on our own,” Velma guessed, focusing back on Ihaan. “Okay, Ihaan, so let’s work through what we have for the five Ws so far.”
“O-Okay,” he responded, lugging Ro onto his lap.
She opened her eyes and studied her surroundings, occasionally whistling.
“So, we’re trying to solve the mystery of the Thunderbird,” Velma began, nodding at the eagle. “Our who is that Ro is the Thunderbird, our what is that she’s transforming unexpectedly. Now, our when is that this likely started happening when you began growing, Ihaan. You said that was when she became clingy, right?”
“Yes,” he explained. He didn’t feel like going into enormous detail right now because he still couldn’t believe his best friend was the Thunderbird.
“Good, good,” Velma continued. “Now, for where: where were you and Ro when she broke her wing?”
Ihaan thought back. “Red Squirrel Lake. We were doing our weekly patrol when the thunderstorm happened. But… she can’t be the Thunderbird, Velma. She hasn’t flown since that day.”
“Maybe not as an eagle,” Velma quipped, writing more notes. “But she has as the Thunderbird. I think that’s why she’s scared of flying.”
Was she always this logical? Fred and Daphne’s faces told Ihaan yes.
They smirked and folded their arms, but didn’t say anything.
Velma checked off her list and started the next step of the chat. “So, this leaves us with two more questions: why is this happening to Ro, and how can we help her? Once we get those answers, Ihaan, the mystery is solved.” Her eyes shifted to Shaggy and Scooby, who again belted out, “So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie.”
“And I think I know how to get started.” Without warning, Velma yanked the earphones out of Shaggy and Scooby’s ears and grabbed their iPod.
“Like, Velma!” Shaggy yelped.
“You’ll get them back in a second,” Velma stated. “I want to try something.” She shifted in the canoe to face Ihaan again. “Ihaan, could you place Ro on the canoe’s edge, please? I’m testing my hypothesis, and Shaggy and Scooby just gave me a great idea.”
“Like, we did?” Shaggy inquired, scratching his chin.
“Of course, you did,” Daphne answered him. “After all, you two cowards have unexpectedly uncovered the most important clues before.”
Was that true? Ihaan assumed so, and he also trusted that Velma knew what she was talking about. “It’s okay, Ro,” he encouraged, unwrapping the blanket from her. Ihaan set her on the canoe’s edge and stuffed the blanket into the old dry bag in his canoe.
Once Ro was comfortable with her wings folded, Velma slid the headphones over her ears and leaned back.
“Like, ha, ha, ha!” Shaggy laughed, pointing at Ro. “She looks better in headphones than you, Scoob!”
Slightly offended, Scooby huffed, but he soon relaxed his face.
Velma scrolled on the iPod, leaving Freddie to ask, “What are you doing, Velma?”
“Playing ‘American Pie’ from the beginning,” she explained. “I’m going to see if we get a reaction from her.”
“Why?” Ihaan questioned. “You’re not going to hurt my friend, right, Velma?”
“Of course not,” she said, pressing the play button on the iPod. “I’m approaching this mystery scientifically, Ihaan: mixing music with psychology.” She glanced at each of the gang members. “Now, let’s sit back and watch.” Velma turned up the iPod’s volume so they could hear better and crossed her own arms.
“American Pie” started. Ro didn’t react at first, but as the song went on and reached “So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie,” her feathers ruffled, and she twitched. Ro’s talons tightly gripped the canoe’s edge, and sadness flickered in her eyes. Around the halfway point of the song, a few of her feathers shimmered, and lightning sparks escaped from them.
“Ro!” Ihaan yelled. No, she couldn’t transform now! “Velma, stop!” Ihaan begged, pulling the headset off Ro’s ears and tossing it to her. He held Ro close, and her feathers stopped glowing as she relaxed.
“I knew it!” Velma clenched her fist and punched her palm. She shook her hand out. “You did it again, Shaggy and Scooby!”
“Like, great,” Shaggy said, a bewildered look on his face. “But like, what did we do, Velma?”
Velma grinned so much that Ihaan’s cheeks hurt. He felt Velma’s stretching and rocked Ro to distract himself.
After a slight pause, Velma elucidated, “Ro is grieving, guys. She knows that song and understands what it means.”
“But… like… how?” Daphne inquired. “She-She’s a Spirit Animal.”
“Exactly.” Velma’s smile kept growing. “And this only means one thing.” She held her finger up to emphasize. “Ro was human before she became a Spirit.”
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhY4ljjBt2y
Prompt: "American Pie" - Don McLean
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