Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie - Kettleworth - Scooby Doo (2024)

Chapter 1: To Shaggy

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 1: To Shaggy

Rain poured down from the skies above, landing on everything that it could sense. Very few people remained out and about, and those that were unfortunate to have to remain in it would hurry along, eager for some dry refuge. It had been pouring for most of the day, and showed no signs of letting up. That is, if the local weatherman was correct in his assumptions. Regardless of the fact, most of the local citizens of the city remained inside.

Shaggy Rogers was no different. The tall, lanky man decided to remain in his apartment, enjoying another day off. It had been quite awhile since he and his dog, Scooby Doo, had went along with his friends to go and solve yet another local mystery. It's not that he had planned on it, though, as he certainly didn't ask for it. The rest of the gang were doing their own thing for the time being, since they hadn't been able to find any work as of late. Well, "work" would be putting it a bit too broadly. It's not like they were ever hired or payed to do these kinds of jobs. It was always their type of interest, however, and so they would always go and check out whatever mystery needed to be solved. For the past three days, however, neither Fred nor Velma hadn't been able to find any sort of new stories or local legends to explore. No mysteries meant some time off. Not that Shaggy minded, of course. Time away from being scared out of his wits was something he felt like he could have used.

Despite having time to himself, his apartment remained, for the most part, unkempt. Dirty laundry laid out on the floor and the furniture, as well as discarded fast food bags, pizza boxes, soda cans, and other various food related garbage. Shaggy, naturally, was in the kitchen, his Great Dane right beside of him. Numerous jars, packages, and used knives were spread out all over the kitchen counter, most of which were open. The man was making quite the sizable sandwich, at least one foot tall. Scooby watched with his head perched on the counter, eyeing the sandwich with hungry eyes. The lanky man peered down at his dog for a second, seeing him lick at his slobbery chops.

"Like, almost done, Scoob," He told the dog, reaching down to pat at his head before going back to the task at hand. Shaggy pushed down the top piece of bread, smushing the sandwich downwards a bit before letting it go. He then reached for a fresh knife, using it to cut the massive meal in two. "There we go! Like, one club sandwich with extra everything," He replied, moving one half of the sandwich to the ground, where Scooby waited, licking his chops.

"Mmh-mm! Dericious," The dog seemed to reply to his owner. In an instant, Scooby seemed to lunge at the sandwich, gripping it with both front paws and taking large hungry bites out of it.

Shaggy laughed and nodded. "You said it, Scoob," He answered, moving his hands around his own oversized share, opening his mouth widely and taking a large hunk of the sandwich into his mouth, chewing rather loudly. Shaggy managed to swallow the entire portion and went to bite into it again. As he did, however, a familiar tone played faintly into the kitchen, which perked his attention. He recognized it as his ringtone, although he realized his phone was not in his pocket. It was in the living room. Buried underneath loads of trash. "Aw man..! Like, remind me to clean this place up after lunch, Scoob," Shaggy said, quickly walking to the living room, quickly shifting his large sandwich into one hand. Scooby paid no mind, loudly and quickly eating away at his own food.

While the phone played away the ringtone, Shaggy quickly brushed off piles of bags and boxes, which ruffled and clattered against the ground as they fell. After a few short seconds, Shaggy's phone was visible, the screen lit up with a familiar blonde haired man. After quickly wiping the screen off of any leftover crumbs, Shaggy pushed the button and held the phone up to his ear. "Hey Freddie, like, what's up?" He asked, moving himself on the couch, leaning back on it as his feet rested on the table in a reclined position.

"Shaggy, hey!" The enthusiastic man began. "Listen, I know it's been a few days of us doing nothing, but I just talked with Velma, and I think we have a mystery on our hands!" Freddie continued, who sounded quite glad to finally be doing something. His enthusiasm didn't surprise Shaggy, since Freddie definitely wasn't the type to sit around doing nothing.

Shaggy took another big bite of his sandwich as he listened, talking in between chews. "Like, sounds great, Fred," Shaggy said, not sounding as eager as Freddie clearly was. After all, he was enjoying his time doing nothing, and wasn't quite ready to be put back into a position of being chased around by some creep in a mask. Regardless, he kept the conversation up, still curious as to what he found. "What's the scoop?" He asked his friend.

"Check this out. It turns out that more and more people as of late have had sightings of monsters," Freddie explained, to which Shaggy replied by gulping. Both out of swallowing his sandwich, but also out of minor fear. Despite this, however, Shaggy had heard about these sightings on the local news.

"Like, why do you think I haven't left my apartment lately?" Shaggy replied, laughing nervously as he took another hunk off of his sandwich.

"Not only that," Freddie said, continuing over Shaggy's remark. "But as it turns out, one of the towns where these sightings were occurring just put out a news story about a recent attack, with the locals citing these monsters as the offenders!" The man said, not losing his sense of eagerness.

Upon hearing this, Shaggy was less than thrilled, his hand loosening up, almost letting his sandwich slip away. "Z-zoinks! L-like, you don't want us to go down there and, like, check that out?!" He remarked, his voice shifting a couple of pitches up.

Freddie didn't seem deterred by Shaggy's fear, instead answering him. "Well of course, Shaggy! There's a real mystery here. I was thinking that all of us were going to head out tomorrow to Louisiana and see what's going on," He said. It was clear he had thought this through a little, but Shaggy still wasn't willing to head down South.

"Like, if it turns out we have to deal with more zombies, I'm hightailing it out of there!" He replied, almost yelping.

"Shaggy, relax! It's not in the same area, and the place is well known for being filled with supernatural activity. We'll find whatever monster is out there quicker than you can eat an entire bowl of Cajun gumbo," Freddie said, joking a little bit. Even though Shaggy still held his half-eaten sandwich in his hand, his stomach seemed to reply eagerly to the thought of home-style Cajun cooking.

"Well... okay," Shaggy finally replied, taking another bite. "But if we better not get in the middle of, like, any weird voodoo mumbo jumbo stuff, man!" He remarked.

"Awesome! I'll go call Daphne and tell her the plan. See you tomorrow, Shaggy!" Freddie said, ending his call soon after.

"Like, talk to you later," Shaggy sighed, setting his phone back down on the table. "Aw man, this is gonna suck," He said, rubbing his head with his hand. Soon, Scooby walked into the living room, looking at Shaggy.

"Ruh rappened?" The dog asked, tilting his head.

The man looked to Scooby and answered, "Like, Freddie found us a mystery down in Louisiana again, and we're heading out tomorrow."

"Oooh, rummy!" Scooby replied, licking his chops hungrily.

To this, Shaggy laughed and pat at his head. "Like, I share your taste in cuisine, buddy, but he wants us to go exploring about a m-m-monster attack!" He finished, gulping.

"Rikes! Ruh-uh!" Scooby said, shaking his head in disapproval, moving closer to Shaggy for support and comfort. He reciprocated by rubbing and patting his dog soothingly.

"I feel ya, Scoob. Like, It's not going to be fun whatso-" Shaggy was soon cut off as the mail slot clattered and letters fell to the floor. The two looked over at the door as they heard the noise. "Like, I guess the mail's here."

"Ri'll get it!" Scooby replied, walking off to the front door, leaning his head down to observe the small pile of mail. He gripped the pile gently in his mouth before trotting back to Shaggy, dropping it onto the table. The mail scattered a bit, giving the two a better look at what was delivered. From the looks of it, their mail for the day consisted of nothing but solicitations, coupons, and offers for magazines. Junk mail.

"Hm... like, more trash for the pile, it seems, Scoob," Shaggy said, starting to gather up the mail. The corner of a hidden envelope caught the dogs attention, however.

"Rhaggy! A retter!" The dog barked, pointing towards the white corner. Well, more like a dark yellow corner, the paper looking quite old. Shaggy raised an eyebrow and shuffled the junk away, revealing the envelope. It was indeed ancient looking, yet the fancy writing looked quite fresh. Shaggy saw that his name was written on the front, and he quickly opened it.

"Zoinks, check this out, Scoob! Like, it looks like it's written on thousand year old paper," He said, laughing a bit as he unfolded the paper inside. The letter, too, looked about as old as it's envelope. "Like, it looks very official," He stated, looking it over some before he began to read the letter aloud.

Dear Mr. Rogers,

I do hope you and Scooby Doo are well. It has been awhile since we last saw each other, after you ran off so suddenly, I believe five years or so? I can not say I was surprised, although I do wish you would have stayed longer.

At any rate, I am writing to you to offer your position again. After you left, we had to go through a couple of changes to accommodate for your disappearance. Predictably, it did not go to the girls' liking.

Because of this, I am writing to you, Mr. Rogers, asking if you would be so kind as to return as the Coach of the school. The girls would appreciate it quite a lot. If you choose to accept my offer, please stop by the school. I doubt that you have forgotten where we're located. If you wish to consider this, please do act as quickly as possible. I do not like to be kept waiting to long.

Expecting you soon,

Ms Grimwood

While reading this, both Shaggy and Scooby's eyes widened, realizing who this letter was from without having to even check the bottom. Once he finished reading, the two met their eyes. "Zoinks! Like, that was from Ms Grimwood! She wants us to come back to that school of her's!" He exclaimed.

Scooby, as before, shook his head. "Ruh-uh! Ro more ronsters!" He replied, shaking a bit.

"Yeah, like, we got our fill of that place within the span of two months!" He said, laughing nervously and setting the letter down. "...it wasn't, like, too bad, though," Shaggy pondered, stroking his chin a bit.

Scooby tilted his head a bit. "Ruh?" He said, making a confused noise.

"Like, that bog was no fun trip for sure! The girls were nice, though, even if their fathers were big and spooky," He continued.

Scooby nodded at that. "Ruh-huh! Rig and rooky!"

"Like, I dunno, Scoob," Shaggy sighed, eyeing the letter again. "Seems like the monsters are coming to us as of late, huh?"

"Ryeah, rig rime."

Velma studied her books carefully, letting the tv play in the background somewhat quietly. Numerous books that were opened often had to do with various monsters from different parts of the US. Of course, she had read these entries hundreds of times, studying these monsters and where they were located. At this point, she had encountered almost every single one of them, and more often than not, they were just some shmuck disguised as that monster.

Velma sighed and rubbed her eyes under her glasses, getting a bit tired from her constant reading. Ever since she had heard about the recent monster sightings, she began reading restlessly about various monsters and other otherworldly creatures. She rested her chin in her hand, slowly looking up at the tv, hoping something interesting would show. She couldn't stand reality shows, and any science channels she had were only airing reruns. For the most part, she kept the channel on the local news, hoping some sort of story would turn up that would get her out of her room for awhile.

She dozed off a bit, already growing bored of what she was watching. The audio drifted off in her mind as she slowly fell asleep...

"...police in the town have stated that it was a local alligator attack, but locals say that it was because of a monster," The anchorman reported, looking at the screen. Velma jolted awake, her eyes shooting open at the mention of a monster. "Pictures of the crime scene are too gruesome to show here, but the police of the town have told the people to remain calm, telling them to keep an eye out for any loose gators in the street."

The girl fixed her glasses as she stared intently at the screen, before poring over herMonsters By Statebook for the 1000th time. Once she stopped on "Louisiana", she began to read. As soon as she did, her cell phone began to buzz next to her. Without so much as looking up, she reached beside of her and answered, not checking to see who it was. After all, she had a hunch. "Hello?" She answered.

"Velma, you won't believe this!" Freddie answered giddily.

"Is this about the monster attack?" She answered rigidly, pushing the phone onto her shoulder, holding it with her face.

"Yeah! The news says all the locals think it was a monster attack. If enough people seem to think that, it has to be more than a coincidence!" He continued.

Velma nodded to herself as she kept talking. "Definitely so, but we'd still have to investigate. If all the townspeople are describing different types of monsters, it would be hard to pinpoint it as a monster attack," The girl replied, thinking reasonably.

"Oh trust me, we're definitely investigating. After a few days with no activity, I was getting bored! I'll meet up with you and the gang tomorrow," Freddie said excitedly.

"Sounds fine with me. I'll see you tomorrow," Velma stated before hanging up.

"Later, Velma!" Freddie replied, ending his call as well. Velma moved her phone back to where it was previously and kept reading, preparing herself for what she might see this time.

"Jeez, he's in real bad shape..." One of the officers said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Not like a gator to up 'n attack someone like that," Another officer replied, looking over the body with his partner. The body that laid there was missing chunks of flesh from it's body, blood soaking through it's clothing. Even though it's face was obscured slightly, it was somewhat visible to see that whoever was attacked was now missing their face.

"Hear da folks talkin' bout th' monsters?"

"Yea. I know dis place is haunted 'n all, but-"

A hollow laugh made the two officers stop talking, freezing some what and shivering gently. They had almost forgotten about the detective, who had been examining everywhere silently. He was now standing right behind the two officers, a hand on each shoulder.

"I got news for you, gentlemen," The detective began, grinning in a wicked manner. "No gator could've done that."

Chapter 2: Detective Freak

Chapter Text

Scooby-Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 2: Detective Freak

The bog was filled with a loud silence. Almost nothing was stirring, and even the gentle breeze of the wind made no sound to the environment around it. Very little light was able to push through the dark, overcast of clouds above. One could only assume that it wouldn't be very long before the sky allowed the clouds to release the rain inside. Not that there was anything that could benefit from the rain, as pretty much all of the surrounding vegetation had long since been dead. Fungal life seemed to thrive, but even then it was quite scarce, growing in between the bacteria ridden bog and nutrient deficient soil. Any animal life that dared to try to live in the bog was soon sucked into the quicksand, their reactions too slow to save their own lives.

In the distance, but not too far away, a stone fence surrounded a large, yet old, mansion. The metal gate remained shut, rusted from being out in the rain for many years. The fence itself was in danger of falling apart, eroded and cracked in numerous areas. Strangely, however, it did not seem to budge after years of use. A shingle of wood was nailed to the fence, the words hand painted on. As for the mansion, it was surrounded by a moat, filled with rather murky water. The contents of the moat were hidden, although for most, it was probably better that way. The drawbridge remained down, held together by massive chains, which were also rusted.

A somewhat stout woman stood on the drawbridge, clad in a simple salmon pink dress, with dark red heels. She also wore a sort of collar, which was also a dark red, little skull broaches adorning either side on her shoulders. She kept a red headband on, as if to keep her messy black hair away from her face. Her face seemed a bit worn, due to age, but she managed to hold a small, yet genuine, grin.

After a while, the woman finally broke the stiff silence, closing her eyes and breathing in a deep inhale. She held it for a few seconds before exhaling, sighing peacefully.

"Such a pleasant day. I do hope that the days to come will be like this," She hummed to herself. "With any luck, I'll be able to have our old coach back before the girls return for the year. It would be quite lovely to give them a surprise."

She turned inside towards the mansion, as if shifting her attention to an unseen entity. "Come, Matches. I suggest you come out here, too. The air will do you some good."

Soon, a grumbling, green... creature, hobbled from the foyer and outside, moving somewhat slowly. It was the size of a komodo dragon, yet took on the former term more literally. Webbed front feet, clawed back feet, an arrow shaped tail, horns, and scruffy dark green hair formed over it's head like moss. It was no doubt a mythical creature, and one that did not like having it's sleep disturbed. Despite having been cooped up most of the time, the large scaled creature didn't seem to mind it's alone time.

Once it managed it's way next to the woman's side, it immediately plopped right next to her feet, mumbling to itself and curling up, wishing to continue it's slumber. She looked down at him, shaking her head in amusem*nt.

"Oh, you lazy dragon," The woman chuckled to herself, staring out into the bog once more. Her face seemed to sullen, just a little. Her smile remained, even if thoughts began to form in her mind. She began to speak aloud once more.

"...it's strange to say, but with how still and peaceful things have been, it almost feels like... the eye of the storm. As if preparing for something."

The dragon gave a snort, snoozing obliviously. The woman's expression livened up once more, as if mentally brushing her previous intrusions away.

"If he considers my offer, it will become much easier to stay alert, I believe. A helping hand is always needed, no matter what." With that, the woman turned to walk back inside her mansion, tilting her head back at her strange pet as she did. "Matches, don't forget to shut the door once you wake up."

A derisive snort from the sleeping dragon gave the woman the affirmation she needed and continued inside, ready to prepare her mansion for her incoming students, and hopefully, her returning teacher.

"Hey Shag, you awake back there?"

The sudden voice of Freddie seemed to snap Shaggy out of his own thoughts, having been lost in them for most of the trip. "Oh! Uh, like, sorry, Freddie. Guess I dozed off a little," He answered, adding a bit of a laugh. He wasn't being too truthful, naturally, but it didn't seem like his friends notice. Scooby seemed to be asleep, however, snoring quite a bit as the Mystery Machine continued on it's track to Louisiana.

The usual seating arrangements were present, with Freddie driving, Daphne sitting to his right, and Velma sitting toherright. Shaggy and Scooby remained in the back, sitting among everyone's bags. Once Shaggy acknowledged Fred's question, he continued on.

"Don't mean to bother you too much, but didn't you tell us that you used to teach around here for a little?"

A little stone of guilt dropped in his seemingly never-ending stomach, although the silence was filled with Velma's voice. "That's right! I remember when you actually managed to graduate with a degree in teaching. We were all so proud of you."

"Not as proud as you, Velma," Daphne joked, looking over at her with a grin. Velma returned the smile, her cheeks flushed some. It was true that among all of them, she was the most eager that Shaggy was seeing his education through, even if his subject of choice wasn't what any of them expected to be. In hindsight, however, it did make sense that the member of their group who spent the most time running would turn out to get his teaching degree in physical education.

Shaggy found himself rubbing the back of his head, smiling in a bashful manner as he laughed gently. "Y-yeah, like, I couldn't believe I managed to do that, either!"

"It's quite an accomplishment, Shaggy," Velma continued, turning her head back towards him. "It was a little... unusual how quickly you went to find a teaching job, though."

Shaggy shrugged at this. "Like, I guess I was eager to put my degree to good use, y'know?"

"The thing is, though, there really isn't a whole lot of choices around here, education wise," Daphne said, observing the surroundings.

"Uh, like, it was a private school, of sorts," Answered Shaggy. He wasn't being untruthful for sure, looking to find a way to slowly introduce his friends to the school of ghouls. Before they began to ask any questions, however, his cowardice got the best of him and allowed him to keep talking, as if trying to divert the attention away from what he just said. "Like, it didn't last too long though. We left about after a month or two."

The rest of the gang raised their eyebrows, looking to one another. Velma spoke up after a bit of silence. "...Shaggy, you were gone forfivemonths."

Once again, he gulped and laughed nervously. "O-o-oh yeah! Haha..! After we left, like, Scooby, Scrappy, and I started to uh... well..." He paused for a second, realizing that what he was about to say would probably be more absurd than him teaching. "...well, race."

What followed was a reaction that he somewhat expected: laughter. Not so much as making fun of him, but more so in disbelief. "What like, cars?" Daphne asked, trying to hide a grin with her hand.

"Yeah..! We were, like, pretty doggone good at it, too!" He answered, somewhat pridefully. "Like, I even got together with a girl because of it."

Freddie turned his head so that his vision was at the mirror, getting a glance at Shaggy, so he could see his reflection. After all, taking one's eyes off the road was very dangerous. "Woah, Shag, you dog! How come you haven't told us about her? Was she cute?"

Daphne responded by elbowing Fred in the ribs, hard enough to not actually injure, but making sure he got the message. As he grunted and used a free hand to rub where she hit him, Shaggy replied by laughing, waving his hand somewhat dismissively. "Like, it didn't last too long. By the time I decided to come back to you guys, she had already moved on," He answered, relaxing in his seat some. At this point, Scooby was starting to wake up, his eyelids fluttering open and letting out a loud yawn.

"Hey gang, I don't mean to interrupt, but we're here," Freddie informed.

The clouds above were overcast, making the air around them rather humid, threatening the whole town with rain. At this point in their trip, they were slowly cruising into the town of the attack. At one point, they even drove past the crime scene, which was cut off with police tape. A couple of locals seemed to linger around, although the police didn't seem to be paying much mind. When the brightly colored van passed them by, however, it did grab their attention, watching it drive by slowly, eyeing it for a little. The van was familiar to them, and it didn't make them happy that a certain group of meddling kids and their dog was going to start imposing on their investigation.

The young adults paid no mind to their accusatory glares, Freddie merely giving a friendly wave and a smile at them before turning his attention to the road. "I think the first place we oughta stop is the local police station," He said, turning down onto a different street. They kept receiving unreadable stares from locals, a few of them pointing the large van out to friends.

"Maybe the locals could help us out with that, too?" Daphne asked. "After all, they were the ones who thought the whole situation involved a monster."

"I'd say we do both," Velma requested. "I can see the police station up ahead, so let's stop by there first."

A grumble of two bellies got the attention of everyone. Predictably, Shaggy said, "Like, after that how about a quick lunch? All this talk of monsters works up an appetite."

"Ryeah!" Scooby agreed, giggling a bit.

The town itself wasn't too needlessly complex, nor was it simple. It was, simply put, a town. A larger than normal town, held together by the community, who seemed to be rather tightly knit. Buildings looked somewhat old fashioned, yet they were clean and nicely repaired to appear somewhat modern as well. A view inside any of these buildings would show that despite the old fashioned exterior, the inside managed to keep up with the times, fitting the needs of what people needed nowadays. Wi-fi, internet, phone service, and everything similar.

The Mystery Machine slowed to a halt in the parking lot of the police station. Fred parked the car and opened the door to his side. Soon, the rest of Mystery Inc. joined him, starting to head into the station. The building itself was fashioned out of nicely carved stone, bronze statues of simple orbs resting on stone pillars in the front. In a golden font on the front read simply "Southern LouisianaPolice Station."

With a shrug shared between all of them, they walked inside. Once inside, they looked around some. There were a couple of wooden and metal benches, where two cops seemed to be talking to each other on. At the reception desk, another officer appeared to be talking to the secretary, who was an older woman wearing glasses. The officers seemed to wear similar attire of a beige button up, with badges on the front, as well as black pants and boots. A phone and a holster remained around their waist.

As soon as the group walked in, the eyes of the four people fell onto them. Naturally, they were all familiar with who they were, but the only one to seem to greet them was the man talking to the receptionist. "Ah, hello there, y'all. Name's Deputy Marshall. What might I help y'all with?" He began, walking towards the group.

They walked closer to the deputy as Freddie straightened his ascot a bit. "Hey, Deputy. Uh, name's Freddie, and this is Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby," He greeted, pointing to each member as he called them out. Each one gave a little wave, including the dog. The deputy nodded at them.

"I thought I recognized y'all. Quite infamous, y'know," He continued on casually. "Gotta say, not a fan of y'all givin' us a bit of a bad name. What, with y'all solvin' the mysteries and makin' us officers look... useless."

"Oh..! But we're not trying to do that at all," Daphne interjected, which made the deputy turn his attention towards her, snorting a bit.

"That so? Then why're y'all here? Heard about the attack, no doubt."

"Well, yes, but-" Velma began.

"Don't go stickin' your nose into it. We've investigated it and determined it was nothin' more than a wild animal," He said, face reddening a bit in anger. He sighed, looking away suddenly, as if to calm down. "...please, just, don't go makin' our jobs harder by stickin' around here for too long."

They all felt somewhat disappointed, especially Fred. "Ah, we see," He started. In an instant, he seemed to lighten up, thinking of a new question. "Well, since we're here, why not go visit that school you used to teach at, Shaggy?"

Shaggy jumped at the question, laughing a bit. "W-what? Now? Without lunch first?" The deputy raised an eyebrow, now looking at the tall man.

"Teacher? You don't seem like the kind to teach," He asked, narrowing his eyebrows and scanning him over. His eyes traced over his pockets for awhile as well before looking back up at the man. "Whatcha teach?"

Scooby barked an answer up at him. "Rysical Reduration!"

The man looked at the dog blankly before he went back at Shaggy. "...what did he say?"

"Like, uh, p-physical education," Shaggy stammered a bit, somewhat intimidated by the officer. With that answer, the deputy crossed his arms, giving a smarmy look.

"Really. Where at?" At this question, Velma responded, crossing her own arms. She put a sharp tone to her voice as she did.

"It just sohappensthat it was the local private school!"

"Y'mean the one out in the bog?"

"Which one?" Came a new voice from behind the group. The voice was a sudden, deep, almost gravelly voice. While it sent shivers down Mystery Inc.'s spine, the officer seemed to freeze. His smug grin was replaced with a grimace, his eyes widening a bit.

Without looking away from the group, the officer merely gave a small nod. "Afternoon, detective," He responded simply. The gang noticed that the two cops that were on the bench were now suddenly hurrying towards a door, quickly walking through it further into the building. As for the receptionist, she was suddenly very intrigued with whatever was on her computer screen. The rest of them turned around to see the detective that seemed to freak the others out.

At first glance, he didn't look like a detective. More like the person you'd see being detainedbyone. He leaned against the door frame casually, hands in the pockets of his dark purple hoodie. Yes, a hoodie. The rest of his attire was just as casual, and certainly not fitting someone with a job like a detective. Basic blue jeans and sneakers were also worn, and the man's hair was utterly wild. Long and brown, yet very unkempt, almost covering his eyes.

That was probably the most chilling thing about him: his eyes. They were wide open, shadowed by his hair somewhat. The rest of his face wasn't much more welcoming. His skin was pale and gaunt, showing off his cheekbones. His facial hair was very scruffy and wild, not unlike his hair. He bared a grin that was as wide and unhinged as his eyes were. It was equally as discomforting when he started walking towards the group.

Well, limping would've been a more apt description. His left foot fell behind a little, giving him an uneven gait. He also could have stood about as tall as Shaggy if he stood up straight. Instead, he was hunched over a little bit. His expression never changed as he walked. This caused everyone to back up, albeit a bit unintentionally.

"Aw, come on, Deputy, don't leave them in the dark like that. You and I both know that there are two schools out there," He spoke, grinning even wider, if that was even possible. The deputy cleared his throat nervously, slowly turning to the creepy detective.

"L-listen, detective, you know you shouldn't spread those rumors..!"

The detective only shook his head, chuckling a little. Without so much as blinking, he lifted his hand up suddenly and pointed a finger at Shaggy. The speed of this caused him to yelp and jump. The detective paid no mind and merely continued. "Please do tell me. Was it Calloway's?" The name was certainly familiar to Shaggy, as he gulped.

Knowing it was no use lying to such a weird man, he shook his head. "N-n-n-no..?" He shivered, feeling Scoob hide behind him, covering his eyes.

The answer seemed to satisfy the detective, curling his finger back into his scarred fist and pushing it into his hoodie. His grin turned into a wide, even scarier, smile, looking back at the deputy. "It seems we're not the only ones who knows anymore, Deputy."

The deputy was turning red again, but didn't seem to dare talk back to him. The man merely started to limp past him, not turning his attention away from Shaggy or his friends. "I know why you're here, and it's the same reason why I've been so busy," He continued, giggling to himself. "If you're interested, follow me to my office." With that, he turned his head and walked past the receptionist, into the office space. She gave a noticeable shiver, trying her best to not look at him.

After a bit of awkward silence, Velma cleared her throat. "Who was that..?"

The deputy gulped and turned back, already looking worse for wear. "That... was our homicide detective. He just showed up one day, requesting a job. After looking over his credentials, he was the only one who was fit to manage his position. He's amazingly accurate and incredibly intelligent." The deputy leaned in, lowering his voice. "He's also absolutely batsh*t insane," He murmured.

"Why was he walking like that?" Daphne began.

"And what was wrong with his hand?" Fred continued.

"And l-l-like, why does he look so t-t-terrifying!?" Shaggy gulped.

The deputy looked between them all and sighed. "He thinks of himself as a... monster hunter of sorts. Got himself into lots of situations, wherein he tried to chase after a local legend, or somethin' stupid. Never wanted to harm whatever he was after, though." He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Those injuries are probably due to him pissin' off some animal he thought was a monster. He spends so much time 'researchin' them, though, that it's made him lose track of reality." The deputy rubbed his neck a little, looking thoughtful. "...course, I don't think he ever had a good grasp on it in the first place."

Everyone was silent for a little, taking in what was said. To break the stiffness of the air, Fred spoke up. "...we're going to talk to him."

"Weare?!" The group responded together.

Freddie merely nodded. "If anyone else has a tip on what's going on around here, he does. Even if we have to endure his... personality, we're going to get answers out of him!" With that, he began to walk towards the offices. The group looked to each other before following, Shaggy and Scooby keeping a good distance in the back.

The deputy began to say something, but his stammers caused them to ignore him. He merely stood there, defeated. "Dah... damn meddlin' kids."

The offices currently, were somewhat empty. Any surrounding workers that were there looked quite unnerved. It didn't take long for Fred to find the only closed off office around. The blinds were closed, making sure no one would go peeking inside. Not that anyone would want to. The name card on the door was scratched out, making the detective's name impossible to read. In place, scrawled below it in red marker read something else.

"Det.FREAK"

Despite the fact he was starting to get cold feet about this whole situation, he tapped his fist against the door a couple of times. Almost immediately after the first knock, the voice of the detective hissed out, muffled a little by the door.

"Hurry up and come inside."

Freddie opened the door and made his way inside, they all huddled into the office, looking around some. Scooby quickly shut the door behind him, his paws incredibly shaky, due to nervousness. The office was small, but very cramped. Mostly due to the fact that there was lots of pictures pinned everywhere, two whiteboards with lots of information scribbled on them, and on the desk, a large book laid on a recreation of the crime scene.

The detective did not look up immediately, instead mumbling incoherently to himself. After a few seconds, his eyes shot upwards, looking at the group, his eyes scanning them all rapidly.

"So...what did you want to know?"

...

I can sense doubt.

Hidden away in your mind, but there nonetheless.

The seed of all fear.

Waiting to sprout up in your subconscious mind.

Like an unwelcome weed.

...

But this is not new for you, is it?

No.

No no no no.

Certainly not.

Previous years, it's been lingering patiently.

Festering like a rotten maggot infested apple.

Despite this

You stay nonchalant.

Hiding it.

Making sure you protect those you care about.

Making sure you don't spread the seed.

...

The school year is about ready to begin, Miss Grimwood.

You better be prepared.

Chapter 3: Ghouls, Grimwood, and Googie

Chapter Text

Scooby-Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 3: Ghouls, Grimwood, and Googie

The way in which the office was adorned was a lot like the person it belonged to: strange, scattered, and somewhat terrifying. The wall that stood behind the detective had two maps: one of the entire united states, and one that was a close up of Louisiana specifically. On both maps, there were numerous crosses, arrows, and other similar types of symbols, pointing to specific regions on both maps. There was also writing on them, but due to the fact that so much of it was written in an almost illegible script, it was next to impossible to make it out. Every other wall was covered in pictures, which also had writing all over them. The pictures were an even mix of various people, as well as different types of monsters and mythological beings. A few times, the faces would be scratched out in black marker, hiding the identity of the person. At least, that's what the gang hoped it was for.

Resting along the gang's left were the two whiteboards. In red marker, lots of information was written about the crime scene. The description of the victim, as well as their injuries, were listed on one side. The rest of the boards had names of different monsters on them, most of them crossed out. The rest had a question mark next to the name. Lines connected each monster to the list of injuries, as if trying to figure out a connection.

To the right wall was an even smaller desk, one that held a simple computer. Since it wasn't in use, the computer remained in rest mode, the screen not giving off any sort of light. A small rolling chair hid away a pile of books, which remained underneath the desk for safe keeping. For some reason, there was also a guitar, resting on the floor, leaning against the computer desk.

As for the table in front of everyone, the detective had placed sheets of paper all over it, trying to do a recreation of the crime scene. The book resting on the table remained open, showing an entry for someone called "The Axeman". Velma recognized the book as the one she had been reading earlier,Monsters By State. The lone light that hung above the office was quite bright, so it at least covered the entire office in it's fluorescence. Despite this, the detective's wide, creepy eyes were shadowed by his hair, barely peering out of his bangs. He looked between every member expectantly, eager for any questions that they had for him.

Instead of any actual questions, however, Fred cleared his throat somewhat nervously. This made the detective's head whip to him, his wide eyes scanning him over thoroughly. The blond then began. "I'm sorry, but uh... I don't think we introduced ourselves yet. I'm-"

"Fred Jones," The detective finished, his grin not wavering in the slightest. "I'm quite aware of all of you guys'... mysteries." He chuckled darkly and stood up, pointing around the room. He stayed hunched over as he did. "Despite the fact that you all have an uncanny attraction to people merely pretending to be creatures, I'm also under the impression that you've all had contact with the real thing." He quickly turned his head, staring at- no,intoFred. He flinched and gulped, inadvertently looking away.

"Uh..."

"How doyouknow that we've met real monsters before?" Asked the voice of Daphne, looking at the detective with a skeptical, if cautious, look. Immediately after she began talking, his head whipped over at her, scanning her over a little too. He merely chuckled and leaned back over the table, not looking away from her.

"You just told me," He answered simply, joking a little. From the look that Daphne gave him, she was clearly not satisfied with his attempt at humor. "Daphne Blake, correct? It seems to me that since y'all have been doing your snooping around for quite a long time, y'all are bound to find something that isn't another human in a latex mask."

In a sudden movement, he lifted his head up, somewhat dramatically. His eyes stayed wide and unhinged, but his grin immediately turned into a concerned frown. This did not make him look any more welcoming. "I've spent most of my wholeliferesearching monsters. Even when I just began to scratch the surface of everything, it already felt as if my soul had been through more than anything." He grinned wickedly again, his eyes looking between all of them. "...and all of y'all have that same look that I once had. That feeling of curiosity, wanting to learn more and become familiar... and that feeling of terror that comes with it."

Everyone shared a shudder, feeling unnerved by his statements. The scariest part was that he wasn't incorrect. They had come across ghosts, vampires, ghouls, aliens, zombies, and even the occasional demon, as well as anything in between. They were all aware of the fact that if they kept exploring mysteries, there is a really good chance that it won't end in a man being unmasked and taken to jail. It could very well end in injury, world ending revelations, and evendeath. Disregarding these risks, they kept on, for the sake of closure to anything that comes their way.

The detective stood silently, looking between everybody, waiting for the next question. To break the tense silence, Velma spoke up, being the first to come back to their senses. "...what haveyouseen?" She asked. "It seems like your an expert, but have you actually come in contact with anything?" She couldn't help but put in her skeptical tone of voice. While she had no doubt that the detective knew what he was talking about, it didn't hurt to question everything. After all, who knows just how much experience he's actually had? They had no idea if he was lying to them or not, and hopefully a question like this would give them some sort of closure. Or expose the detective for a fraud, whichever came first.

Instead of speaking, this time, the detective stood up once more. He didn't move from his spot, but he quickly moved a hand to the bottom of his hoodie. In a quick movement, he lifted it up, only high enough to show off his stomach. The gang gasped as they took in what he was showing them.

"Z-zoinks!" Shaggy stammered, unable to peer away.

The detective kept grinning as he showed off a massive scar in the shape of a bite mark. It took up almost the entire right side of his body. Seeing everyone's reactions made him give a malicious giggle. "Got that exploring Honey Island. Mean old swamp monster didn't like being disturbed," He explained, talking about it as if it were a new watch.

Velma, despite being taken aback by the massive injury, she still furrowed her brow. The detective noticed this, raising an eyebrow at her, not yet lowering his hoodie. This time, instead of waiting for her to ask, he merely turned around, showing off part of his exposed back. Three large claw marks on either side of his back scratched from the middle all the way to his hips. "Ain't no sharks living in the swamps, Miss Dinkley. Still remains to be my best find yet," He laughed, lowering his hoodie finally.

"L-like, what were you doing out in the middle of the swamp, man? If you, like, knew about it, why didn't you run? It could've killed you!" Shaggy yelped, shaking a little.

"But it didn't." The creepy man turned to Shaggy, his laugh hollow. "I'm lucky it just decided to give me a warning."

"Like, if that's what a warning is, I sure don't wanna know what it's like when it'sreallymad!" Shaggy added.

"Ryeah!" Scooby concurred, still hiding behind Shaggy.

The detective leaned over his table a little, shadowing his own face wickedly as he seemed to stare into the cowardly man across from him. "...Shaggy Rogers, I presume?" He asked simply. Shaggy's response was a nod and a bit of a whimper, not saying much else. With another dark laugh, the detective merely shook his head and turned his attention back to the table in front of him. "I say the sooner you go to that school, the sooner you'll discover your answers."

Shaggy gulped as Scooby looked up at him nervously. Daphne and Freddie had taken to glance over at Shaggy while Velma was studying the table as well. She took into account the types of injuries the victim sustained, as well as any other evidence. She noticed that nothing that wasn't supernatural was written on any of the papers laid out.

"Detective," She began, drawing his attention upwards once more, his grin and eyes still wide with anticipation. "If it is something inhuman, do you suppose it's still around?"

His grin once again quickly flashed to a chilling frown, making him look even more menacing. "Let's hope not," He replied simply, staring into her eyes. She flinched visibly, unable to keep herself from looking away.

To help break the tension, Freddie cleared his throat. "Uh... well gang, let's let the detective finish his work."

"Yeah, we can go ask locals about their experiences," Daphne continued, turning to open the door and let them out. Shaggy and Scooby nodded wordlessly and went to hurry out. The detective's grin returned, staring at all of them once more.

"Be careful out there," He told them, putting on a mysterious, yet unreadable, tone of voice.

Once they all left his office, closing the door behind them, they heard him mumbling to himself. With a quick stare, they all hurried their way out of the police station. None of them were sure if they could trust his credibility.

Despite this, they all turned to Shaggy as they walked to their van. "So what do you think, Shaggy? Fancy a visit back to whatever school you went to?" Freddie asked, raising an eyebrow.

He didn't answer right away, rubbing the back of his head as he looked down. On one hand, he knew that the inhabitants of the building would probably freak everyone out. On the other, he still had that note from Miss Grimwood, which implied that she was waiting for him. After some thought, he looked back up and gave a small, timid smile.

"Sure. Like, there's no harm in it, I suppose," He answered. This prompted a smile from everyone else, along with a semi-confused look from Scooby.

"Well that's good to know, then. You can show us the way," Freddie said, moving into the driver's side of the van.

"Yeah, and I'm sure whoever was in charge will be happy to see you again," Daphne said, turning her attention to him as they all got in their seats.

"Like, no doubt! Be prepared though, because like, the school is kinda... well, unorthodox," Shaggy warned.

"Unorthodox? How so?" Velma asked, turning her head back at him as they got in the back of the Mystery Machine.

"Like, let's just say they're a bit... old fashioned."

Velma smiled to herself. "Ooh, that means there's quite a bit of history with it. A perfect place to explore!"

Shaggy nodded, looking away silently. The only noise that came from him was a loud grumbling noise, signaling lunch time. "Like, until then, how about some grub?"

"Ryeah, runch rime!" Scooby barked. Freddie started the Mystery Machine up.

"Sure! There's bound to be someone who can give us some info about recent events. Two birds, one stone, and all that," He said, beginning to drive out of the station. "I believe there was a cafe around here somewhere..."

A low rumble filled the air as dark clouds circled above the land. Despite the threat of a thunderstorm, a lone carriage trotted along an old pathway deeper into the forest. The man leading the horses was covered from head to toe in black garments, face hidden by a wide brimmed hat. As for the horses, it was almost hard to describe them as such. They had an emaciated appearance, their eyes dark and hollow, their whinnies sounding more like ghostly groans. They were not horses, but thestrals. Their long, demon like tails followed behind them with their bat-like wings folded up.

The carriage they pulled was very antique looking, but looked to be kept in very nice shape. The wheels moved evenly without any sort of bumping to be seen, lanterns hanging from above to give a small amount of illumination inside. Overall, it had a very Gothic aesthetic to it.

Inside, two figures sat opposite of each other, numerous suitcases and bags filling in the empty spots of the purple, vinyl seats. One passenger sat closest to the coachman, hands folded in his lap as he stared across from him. His hair was slicked back, yet showing the age of the man by having graceful streaks of gray among the black. His outfit was smart and neat, an elegant black suit with a white frilly shirt. His face was smiling gently, even if his skin gaunt and sickly white.

Across from him sat a young looking woman, most likely in her late teens. Her outfit fit her slim form, being an elegant aubergine colored dress with a slip on the side to show off her legs some, the hem frayed a little. The sleeves were long, yet stopped at around her forearms. The only part of her outfit that didn't match her dress were her heels and a sash around her waist, both of which were a dark red.

Her skin, as opposed to the other, looked youthful, even if it was tinged with lavender. Her hair was also purple, which almost touched her feet. She was staring out of the side of the carriage, her green eyes looking lost in thought, her hand resting daintily on her chin, fingers curled in.

"Such wonderful weather for your first day back, isn't it, Sibella dear?" Asked the man, his thick Romanian accent extremely obvious in his voice.

The girl merely nodded, not looking away from the window. "Hm," She replied in a noncommittal tone.

A flash of lightning quickly illuminated the inside of the carriage, low rumbling soon following it. The man raised an eyebrow at her as he continued. "Sibella, darling, are you okay? You have been brooding for the past couple of days." In response, she gave an answer identical to her last one. This did not appear to satisfy the man, as he went on. "...this is not about your step-mother again, is it?"

Sibella's hand seemed to clench, looking more like a fist at this point. Discussions about her step-mother were not a new occurrence, and it wasn't until recently did the two of them end up on any form of good terms with each other. Despite this, she had been quite adamant with her father that she remained absent from this current trip. She did not look away from the window, although she would finally speak up. "It's nothing, daddy." Her voice was almost like the purr of a cat, with almost no accent to be heard.

"Then what is troubling you, dear?"

Sibella remained quiet for a few seconds, as if formulating her response. After some time, she finally looked at her father, her eyes not changing from her thoughtful (or bored) expression. "It's nothing too important. I've just... been thinking about a dream I had a few nights ago," She explained.

The man's eyes widened some, his eyebrows co*cking upwards in a quizzical manner. "Hm. Do you perhaps remember what it is you dreamt?" He inquired.

Sibella merely shrugged at this, waving off it's importance. "Nothing too weird. Some of it was just flashes of images. Mostly fire," She told. "The strangest part for me, though, was the fact that during most of it, I saw nothing but blackness. The only thing I could sense was a voice, hissing inside my ear. It spoke of fear, power, and helplessness." She visibly shivered some, clearly being chilled by remembering it.

The man who was her father gave a serious look, arms now folding in front of him. "...hm. It may not seem like anything now, but if you still can recall it, than that must mean it has unnerved you," He spoke thoughtfully. "Dreams are not to be taken too lightly, you know."

"I'm aware, daddy."

"If this dream is to show up again, that means that something serious is going to happen." The man looked to the side, thinking to himself a little. "And from what you have told me, it is going to be nothing pleasant."

Sibella's hand seemed to clutch against her own, which were now folded in her lap as she listened to her father's words.

When she said nothing, he looked back at her, lowering his voice some. "Sibella. If you have a bad feeling about this sort of thing, we do not have to return-"

"No," She butted in suddenly. Her father raised his eyebrow again at her. "It was but one night that I had it. It was chilling, certainly, but it has not since repeated itself. It was most likely nothing." In her mind, however, she knew that the dream was nothing to brush off. Her father was right in that regard. Still, she did not want to stay home, away from her school. It was almost like a second home to her, and she could not bear to be away from her friends for much longer.

Naturally, he did not look to believe her at all. Of course, after a bit of a staring between each other, it was evident that she was not looking to back away. The man sighed and broke eye contact, looking down. "Very well. We continue."

Soon, the sky erupted in another loud boom of thunder, which followed after a strike of lightning. The carriage passed an enormous building, one which the two recognized as a rival school. In the years, it appears to have gotten much bigger as more and more students began to apply. That was not the place they were headed for, the coachman keeping a consistent speed throughout the haunted looking woods.

Throughout the remainder of the ride, neither of the two passengers spoke, enjoying the sounds of the incoming storm, as well as the stomps of the thestrals' hooves. Soon, the coachman clicked his tongue and the carriage slowed to a halt. "We have arrived, Count," He grumbled lowly.

"Ah, excellent," The man spoke, grinning a bit. He revealed his sharp fangs some as he turned his attention back to his daughter. "I hope you have a good year, darling. And please be careful."

Sibella finally flashed a smile, showing off her own set of fangs. "Do not worry, daddy. I'll be fine."

Soon, the side door of the coach opened up, the coachman remaining quiet as he did so. Sibella stepped out of the carriage, the Count remaining seated. As soon as she stepped foot onto the soil, she was greeted by a familiar walking octopus with a toupee and tie. His face was formed in a regal manner, tentacles quickly moving in to grab a hold of most the bags inside before leading the girl towards the mansion in front of them. Sibella had decided to hold onto one of them, keeping both hands around the handle. The drawbridge was down, and at the entrance stood the headmistress of the school: Miss Grimwood. Matches was laying by her left side, eyeing over the vampire some. To her right shoulder was a floating, white hand.

"Don't forget to write, dear!" The Count called to her before the door was shut. The coachman climbed up on the carriage, tipping his hat a little.

"Enjoy your year, miss," He replied simply before tugging the ropes and leading the carriage away.

Miss Grimwood greeted the young vampire with a wide smile. "Ah, Sibella. It's so nice to see you again!"

Sibella nodded and smiled at her, setting her bag down before curtsying a little as she spoke. "A pleasure to see you again too, Miss Grimwood. May I ask if anyone else has shown up yet?"

"No, you're the first one tonight," The teacher replied. "Not to worry, they'll be here soon! In the meantime, why not unpack and make yourself comfortable? Once everyone shows up, I'll get started with our evening feast."

"Sounds fang-tastic," Sibella said, gasping a little before covering her mouth. "...I mean, wonderful." She fixed, flushing a bit as she removed her hand.

Miss Grimwood merely chuckled and waved her hand. "Oh, come now, Sibella, no need to be so formal. You may be older, but you'll always be my student."

Sibella grinned at her before nodding. "I've missed this place," She sighed some, heading up the stairs with the octopus butler. As she reached for her bag, the white hand floating around Miss Grimwood's shoulder went to grab a hold of it for her. She put a hand up, shaking her head. "If you please, I wish to carry this one for myself." The hand let go and gave the 'OK' symbol with it's fingers before floating back to the headmistress.

Once the vampire had made it to her old room, the octopus had just finished putting her bags down, arranging them neatly on the floor. "Thank you very much," She said to the butler, who bowed it's large head before heading back down the stairs. Sibella shut the door behind her, setting her personal bag on the bed. Despite feeling a small sense of dread, due to her dream, she still felt an overwhelming sense of comfort, being back at her school, the promise of seeing her friends once more making her excited. With a contented sigh, she began to open up her bags, starting to put everything away.

Velma and Daphne watched with amusem*nt as Freddie got cursed out. They had sat themselves inside of the local cafe, both to get lunch and ask questions. However, it seems like the first person who Freddie went up to wasn't all too keen about speaking about the attack. Even though none of them could understand Creole, the angry expression on the woman made it apparent that she wouldn't talk.

"Okay okay, jeez!" Freddie said, turning away and lifting his hand up in exasperation. "You askonequestion..."

"Yeah, how'dthatwork out for you?" Velma asked smugly, resting her head in her hand. Daphne had her hand over her mouth, trying to hide her own laughter as Freddie sat himself down, crossing his arms.

"Guess the locals aren't very fond of answering questions about this sort of thing," He huffed, trying to avoid the gaze of the woman as she stared daggers at him.

"They probably think it's bad juju, or something," Daphne said, removing her hand and taking a sip from her mug.

At the same table, Shaggy and Scooby sat obliviously, eating from a shared plate of numerous burgers, fries piled all around the plate. After polishing off his fifth hamburger, he laughed a bit. "Like, I don't blame 'em! If I had experienced an attack, like I'd keep quiet too." Scooby nodded, his reply being muffled due to the amount of fries he was trying to shove in.

In that moment, someone sitting at a table by themselves had turned their attention towards the group of five. She stood up and began to make her way over to them. Daphne was the first to notice her, waving her hand. "Oh hello! Can we help you with something?" She asked, which pulled the attention of everyone else over to her. Velma and Freddie turned to the stranger, the latter of the two ready to ask questions. Before he could, however, Shaggy gulped down his food and spoke up for him.

"...Googie?"

The girl lifted her hand, waving sheepishly. "Hiya, Shaggy," She responded. Everyone else looked surprised. In a quick moment, Freddie smiled and look to him.

"Ooh, isthiswho you were talking about earlier?" He asked. Googie, much like the rest of the gang, hadn't changed much. Her hair was still a bright strawberry blond cut into a bob, her outfit still consisting of sneakers, socks, a skirt, and a tank top. The only difference was that she was also wearing a varsity jacket of a local college. She had taken to petting Scooby on the head, who had quickly ran over to give her a hug.

Shaggy laughed sheepishly and nodded. "Yeah..! Like, what's new with you, Googie?" He asked, turning to look at her.

Googie shrugged simply, her gentle voice speaking through. "Nothing much, just going through life normally, I suppose." She looked between them all, grinning a bit. "...but from what I hear, you and your friends have been doing more interesting things."

She decided to sit between Freddie and Shaggy. Despite Shaggy continuing to eat, Freddie couldn't help but look over her. Shewasreally cute. Daphne cleared her throat after he stared for a second too long, causing him to look away, blushing bashfully. "Heh... erm, w-well nice to meet you! I'm Freddie, this is Daphne, and that's Velma," He introduced, pointing to everyone else at the table.

The girl nodded and smiled more. "Oh, Shaggy's told me about you guys. It's really impressive, I think!" Googie looked around and leaned in. "To be honest, though, it's a bit dangerous to speak about ... what happened around here."

"Yeah, Freddie found that out the hard way," Velma stated, making everyone else laugh, much to the chagrin of Fred, who had crossed his arms again.

"So I heard," Googie continued, looking a bit serious again. "I don't have as much experience with this kind of thing as you guys, though, but it's still very dangerous. I've only gotten into these kind of exploits before, when Shag-"

In that moment, Shaggy began to choke, clearing his throat very loudly. This stopped her as they all looked at him. He merely responded with a laugh. "L-like, they don't have to know about that, Googie!"

In response, she gave a surprised look, her hands moving her hips. "You mean youhaven'ttold them?" Shaggy flinched as Scooby gulped, who also began to laugh nervously.

"What do you mean?" Daphne persisted, everyone looking confused by this.

Googie rolled her eyes as she sighed, Shaggy slumping in his seat as he remained quiet. "If Shaggy hasn't told you guys, I guessI'llhave to."

"Tell us about what?" Velma asked, everyone starting to lean in.

Googie looked between them all and replied, "About Shaggy's racing career."

Chapter 4: Back to School

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 4: Back to School

A few patrons of the small restaurant looked in the direction of a certain group of friends, who happened to be enjoying a story between the five of them (well, six, if you counted the great dane). Some looked amused, a few looked rather annoyed, as at random intervals, they would often break off into fits of laughter, sudden breaths of gasping, and even a bit of groaning.

Googie would be the one retelling most of the story, although Shaggy and occasionally Scooby would interject to fill in any blanks that she would have missed. For the most part, the other three members of Mystery Incorporated would be very interested in the story, albeit for slightly different reasons.

Freddie was greatly invested in the amount of action that Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, and Googie had to go through. It would have made a great story in and of itself, but with the fact that monsters were thrown in almost made it hard to believe! He didn't seem to take that into account, though, rather focusing on everything else.

Velma, however, focused more on the fact that none of them seemed to be quite nonchalant about the whole ordeal. Sure, sometimes they'd react with a grimace at the mention of two certain hunchbacks, or even slightly angry about the fact that Dracula had no intent on keeping his end of the bargain. That didn't seem to surprise the curious girl, though. The King of Vampires was known to be regal and a bit uptight. His reputation to be a deadly creature of the night was something he felt like he needed to uphold, and if he had to do so by lying and cheating, so be it. Still though, why he would do so for a ridiculous road race was beyond her.

As for Daphne, she didn't seem to carry any disbelief for the very outlandish story. For a little while, she didn't know why. Shaggy as a werewolf driving in a monster car with other monsters? It was definitely not something she should have blindly believed as she listened to the story unravel. Strangely enough, though, she did. It wasn't until around halfway through the story did she even realize why. It would also unknowingly give her an explanation as to why Shaggy didn't seem comfortable talking about that school he used to teach at.

At one point, she and Shaggy, along with Scooby, Scrappy, and a boy who passed himself off as a con-artist, managed to track down and recapture a bunch of evil spirits (after accidentally setting them free, that is). At the time, the whole prospect of it was quite terrifying, but they all made it through to the end. It was certainly an adventure that they would never forget.

And yet, neither one of them seemed to bring it up again afterwards. Why though? Was it the feeling that the others wouldn't believe them? Perhaps they both felt guilty about having not included them? Guilt over whether or not they'd be worried for their own safety when they, at the time, almost carelessly disregarded it? Strangely enough, even as she thought about it now, the only part about that whole adventure that scared her was how she had decided to style her hair back then. Just thinking about it made her wince a little.

Eventually, the story of the werewolf Shaggy, Dracula, and a monster road race would end, leaving most of the others in almost stunned silence. "In the end, it's strange to think back on that whole event. If anything, all of those monsters turned out to be kinda... well, dumb," Googie concluded, smiling a bit as she held in a laugh. Scooby wasn't as thoughtful, snickering to himself.

"Ryeah! Real dumb ronsters!"

Shaggy was grinning as well, although he was meekly slurping from a milkshake, not wanting to bring too much attention to himself.

Freddie was the first to speak, grinning widely at Shaggy, heavily impressed. "Wow, Shag, I guess you weren't lying about being a race car driver after all," He began. "Not only that, but you had to do it with a bunch of monsters!"

"As a werewolf too," Velma cut in, smiling, although looking down in thought. "Never knew someone could turn into one without being bitten..."

"Like, neither did I, really!" Shaggy said in between sips of his shake. "I guess, like, even on my own time, I can't help but get into monster related trouble," He said with a small laugh.

"...is that why you two broke up?" Daphne suddenly asked. It must have been the reporter in her to make her ask such a thing, but it still got some reactions. Shaggy immediately snorted milkshake in shock, making a lot of it shoot up into his face. Scooby was there to lick it off of his face, though once his vision was cleared, he gave a shocked 'Why would you ask that?!' face to Daphne. Freddie and Velma turned to her, slightly confused, eyebrows perked up. Googie also seemed quite surprised, eyes wide as she thought about what the red head had just asked.

"Oh..! Well uh, that's quite sudden..." Googie replied, blushing and looking away awkwardly. "Let me put it to you this way... you'rekindaright." When it was apparent that Shaggy didn't seem to have any sort of input other than trying to bury his face into his glass once again, his ex-girlfriend continued on. "Like I mentioned earlier, he's told me about you guys, as well as the types of 'mysteries' you all get into. While they don't sound dangerous, other than a bunch of weirdos dressing up, it just... wasn't the kind of thing for me."

Googie looked down, almost looking guilty. "...he even offered me to have me tag along. But with everything that had just happened, I was shocked and angry. I couldn't understandwhyhe wanted to go through all this again. I know I certainly wouldn't! So I... broke it off." She finished simply, rubbing her arm, avoiding everyone's gaze.

After a few minutes, Shaggy spoke up, having gotten the nerve to find his voice. "Hey, Googie, c'mon. Like, I don't blame ya." She turned her head to him and tilted it, wondering what he meant. "Like, It was a lot to go through, and asking such a question was a bit in... poor taste, I guess." He chuckled a little. "I mean, if I was in your position, I would've broken up with me too." He said, smiling gently. "So, like, don't go beating yourself over it. It's in the past, and we can move on, right?"

Googie returned the smile, her eyes looking somewhat embarrassed. "Yeah, we can."

Everyone else at the table watched the two make up, staying quiet and enjoying it. Even Scoob was touched by it, letting out a little "R'aww..." Good old Shaggy Rogers. Never one to hold a grudge for too long, and always looking to forgive. The moment didn't last too long, because soon, Shaggy turned to get another bit of shake, only to find Scoob slurping the rest of it, leaving an empty glass.

"Hey..!" He said, glaring at his dog, who began to giggle apologetically. Everyone else was amused by this, as they started laughing a long.

"Hm, guess some things never change, huh?" Googie mused.

"Seems like it," Velma agreed, nodding as she began to stand up. "By the way, we should probably head out to that school if we wanna get there before it gets too dark." The gang looked out the window, realizing they had spent a good portion of their day listening and talking in the cafe. The sky was a faint orange color as the sun began to set over the small town.

"Woah! Guess we kinda lost track of time," Daphne said, beginning to get up as well, everyone joining in.

"Right! Shag, you still remember where it is, right?" Fred asked his friend.

"Like, of course! Shouldn't take too long. We may even make it just in time for dinner!" Shaggy added, making Scooby nod.

"Ooh a school?" Googie said, looking between everyone. "I didn't know you taught, Shaggy. Okay if I tag along? Y'know, for old times' sake?" She continued, smiling shyly and looking down. The foodie and his dog froze in place, looking between each other for a bit.

"Hey, yeah! Come along with us, it should be fun!" Freddie answered, looking to his frozen friend. "You don't care, do you?"

"Uh..." The thoughts of Googie running away from the school after having met the monster students soon came to mind. His nerves got the best of him, as he quickly answered in a voice that was slightly higher pitched than usual. "Like, sure! Why not?"

Scooby merely shook his head and mumbled to himself. "Ruh roh..."

None of the others seemed to notice this as they began to head into the Mystery Machine. "Great! You can sit in the back with Shaggy and Scooby," Fred said, getting into the driver's seat. Soon, everyone got in their usual spots, Googie looking around some.

"Sothisis the infamous Mystery Machine..." She thought aloud.

"Like, what do you think?" Shaggy asked, leaning back in his seat some.

"Not bad! Pretty small, though, don't you think?"

"It does the job," Daphne continued, looking back at Googie.

"Hey, Shag, where do I head from here?" Freddie asked, starting the van up.

"Oh, like, head on down this road until you reach see a small soft-shouldered road to the right. You're gonna, like, head on down there through the woods," He answered, leaning over to point out the directions.

With a nod, he began to turn the wheel and they were off.

Out of curiosity, Googie asked, "So, now that I've told my story, what about you guys? Got any good adventures to retell while we wait?"

The sun began to set semi-quickly as the van rolled through the woods. Laughter filled the Mystery Machine as they all began to retell some of their favorite past adventures. Naturally, many of their stories ending as they usually did, with someone getting their disguise pulled off. It never seemed to get old, at least not to them.

As Freddie continued to drive further and further into the woods, the clouds above would seem to get heavier and darker. A rumble of thunder seemed to get everyone quiet for a little. "Hey gang, might run into a bit of rain."

"Like, turn your brights on, then. Last time I had to drive out here, it was raining. Almost got lost!" Shaggy advised. The blond nodded and quickly did so. In that moment, he seemed to almost drive directly into the storm. A wall of rain begin to hit against the windshield, and it was coming down hard.

None of the others could hear their own thoughts as rain pounded against the van, Freddie making sure to turn the wipers on high so that he wouldn't lose track of the road. "Hey Shaggy, how long until we get there?"

"Uh, like, not sure..." He said, rubbing his head.

"Wait, I see a sign up ahead!" Daphne pointed out. A couple of seconds passed as Freddie got closer to it, letting his lights hit the sign.

"Calloway Military School for Boys," Freddie read aloud. "Definitely not the place..." He said, a little disappointed. He had to speak a little louder, as the rain didn't seem to ease up any.

"Wait, we can't be too far away," Velma interject, also having to speak up. "The detective did say there were two schools out this way, right?"

"Like, yeah, I remember having to pass Calloway's. We're getting closer, Freddie, just keep going!" Shaggy continued. This seemed to spark a small surge of enthusiasm back into the blond, as he backed up a little and continued on down the old road. At this point, even though they could barely see anything else, they all began to get a bad feeling. Despite it being so dark, the overall feeling of dread seemed to fill everyone's mind. It was almost palpable.

"Hey, Shaggy..? Was it this... spooky when you drove here?" Googie asked somewhat nervously.

He nodded, but also seemed to be shaking a bit, Scooby holding onto him in a cowardly way. "Yeah, b-but that doesn't make it any less freaky!"

"Ruh huh!" Scooby agreed.

"Hey wait, I see... a gate!" Freddie laughed. "Finally, we made it!" Sure enough, the Mystery Machine made it to the metal gate, two gargoyles perched on either side. On the stone fence was a wooden sign, which Freddie shined his light on.

"Miss Grimwood's Finishing School for... Ghouls?" He read, sounding confused. "Huh, guess one of the boys back at the military school must've done a bit of graffiti."

Shaggy and Scooby shared a look with each other, nodding somewhat sheepishly. "Like, yeah, probably..."

"I'm just wondering why the police seemed to intent on keeping this place secret..." Velma started, as she looked to the sign. "However, I think our bigger problem is the fact that there's no one out here and the gate is-" In that moment, the gate slowly swung open, wide enough to let the van through. "...closed?" She finished, everyone starting to feel on edge as they looked at each other in an uneasy manner.

"...are yousurethis is normal?" Daphne asked aloud.

This question was met with a gulp from Shaggy. "Like, I hope..."

The gang was met with the image of a giant mansion, which began to grow closer and closer to them. Freddie soon began to slow the van to a halt, analyzing the area the best he could. It wasn't that easy to do in all the rain, even with the wipers at maximum speed. There was one easily noticeable thing that he felt like needed to be pointed out. "Hey gang, there's a moat here."

"So I guess this is as far as we go?" Googie asked, looking both a bit scared and confused. She wasn't the only one, as the others seemed to be nervous too.

"Like, don't worry guys, the drawbridge should come down any second," Shaggy stated, rather calmly. Almost on cue, the crank of an old wooden handle and the clinking of chains was audible, even through the pelting rain. The giant drawbridge opened up, revealing a rather warm looking light coming from inside the massive mansion. "Like, we have to walk from here. I don't think Miss Grimwood would appreciate us driving into her school." He chuckled before stepping out with Scooby. The gang was even more confused at this point. Why did Shaggy seem so... calm about this whole thing?

With a shrug, Velma unbuckled and opened her door. "Well... I guess we follow him," She stated simply. The other three gave a nod and left the van as well. They hurried along the drawbridge, wanting to get out of the rain as soon as possible. The wood creaked gently as they stumbled along a bit. At one point, Googie let out a shriek and seemed to jump, hurrying inside.

"G-guys..?! I think I saw something move in the moat..!"

Shaggy merely waved his hand casually, shaking himself off from the rain, Scooby doing the same. "Like, don't worry about him, he's harmless."

Freddie and Daphne looked around the room they were in. It looked quite old and dusty, as if it hadn't been cleaned in a long time. Cobwebs hung from everywhere, candles being used to light up rooms. Old bookshelves, dusty looking couches and chairs. Everything looked very antique, as if they were hired to upkeep the mansion and weren't doing a very good job of it. It was hard to believe that this building was the school in which Shaggy used to teach in.

Velma dried her glasses off with her sweater, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Him? Harmless? Shaggy, is there something you're not telling us?"

Shaggy chuckled sheepishly, looking a bit bashful. "Like, don't worry, you'll know soon enough."

"Maybe sooner than you think," Came a new voice. This got everyone's attention as they watched a stout woman with black hair and a pink dress walk in.

"Like, hey again Miss Grimwood," Shaggy greeted, Scooby giving a wave.

"Riya!"

"Hello again, Coach Rogers. Scooby."

While the woman was clearly quite friendly, there was something a bit off about her. She didn't seem like the type to keep her own building in such a frightful state, but yet she didn't seem at all perturbed by it. Even stranger, neither did Shaggy or Scooby. The rest of the gang watched with wide, confused looks. It wouldn't be long before she stepped forward and shook his hand, which he eagerly returned, doing the same with Scoob. "I also see you brought some friends, this time."

He turned around and saw the four of them huddled together, obviously weirded out by the weird house. Velma was giving him a strange look, as if waiting for him to explain where they were. Freddie, Daphne, and Googie seemed pretty nervous, watching to make sure a spider wouldn't land on them.

"Oh, like, these are my friends! Freddie, Velma, and Daphne are part of Mystery Incorporated, and that's Googie, who I, like, used to go out with," He explained, laughing a bit. They all gave a sheepish smile and a wave.

"Uh.. a pleasure to meet you, Miss Grimwood." Velma began, trying to sound polite.

"Yeah, real... lovely place you got here," Daphne added, eyeing roach crawl from a crack in the wall all the way up to a crack in the ceiling.

Miss Grimwood smiled a bit more, laughing some at her comment. "Oh well thank you. I made sure everything was just perfect for the girls' arrival!" She explained, leading them further into the building. Shaggy and Scooby followed closely, the rest soon catching up after a few seconds. Was this a... design choice by the woman?

"Erm... if you don't mind me asking," Googie began nervously. "I assume the girls don't mind this type of decor?"

"Oh, they adore it!" Grimwood replied happily, stopping in what appeared to be a big foyer. She turned her attention to Shaggy and Scooby. "Speaking of which, would you like to see the girls again, Shaggy? I'm sure they wouldn't mind taking time from unpacking to see their favorite coach again."

"Like, I'm their favorite?" He asked, sounding surprised. Miss Grimwood replied with a giggle.

"Well of course! Not only did you help them win their first volleyball game, but also saving them from that evil witch! You were bound to leave an impact."

"Witch?!" The other four replied, sounding surprised by how casual she threw that out there.

Shaggy gulped and laughed nervously. "Oh right! Heh... uh, Miss Grimwood... I like-"

"Didn't tell your friends, hm?" She finished, looking up with an eyebrow co*cked, her grin not leaving her face. A meek nod from the two gave her the answer she needed. The woman turned her attention to the four, smiling wider. "Not to worry, we'll be sure to explain everything over dinner." Shaggy and Scooby shared an excited expression at the mention of dinner, while the other four shared one of unease.

Miss Grimwood cleared her throat as she kept on. "But first..." She turned her head towards the stairwell, calling at them. "Girls! Come downstairs, your coach is here!"

None of them, save for Grimwood, expected the response that was given, which sounded like it came from a rough, tough girl. "Ugh, no way! I've had enough of him!"

Miss Grimwood put her hands on her hips as she huffed, everyone else making a confused noise. "Now,really, Winnie! That's no way to treat a guest, let alone your-"

"Coach..?" Came a new, timid voice. It was quite small sounding, but still made an effort to make itself known. This got the attention of everyone, looking at the source of the sound. To Freddie, Daphne, Velma, and Googie, they saw a bandaged girl decked out in gold jewelry peek out from behind a door frame. To Miss Grimwood, Shaggy, and Scooby, they knew exactly who that was.

Scooby grinned and waved a paw. "Riya, Ranis!"

Miss Grimwood stepped out of the way as the girl suddenly let out a squeal, quickly running forwards at the two. Now that she fully revealed herself to be fully bandaged, the other got even more confused. Was she a burn victim? She didn't sound like one, nor did she look like she was in pain. The jewelry looked Egyptian, certainly. Was she a...?

In that instant, the mummified girl jumped up and clung to Shaggy's neck, hugging onto him tightly. Shaggy, oddly enough,laughed. As he returned the hug to the overeager young girl, he looked over her some. "Like, youcan'tbe Tanis! You're all grown up!" He joked.

The girl replied by nodding happily. "Yeah..! My mummy-daddy made sure to freshly wrap my bandages before I got here, even supplying me with more in case I hit another growth spurt!"

At this point, the other four shared a look, as if sharing the same thought. Was 'mummy-daddy' a weird way of her saying 'mother and father'? Before any of them could ask, however, the voice from before was heard as Shaggy gently put the short, bandaged girl down.

"...wait a second..." The voice mumbled. The next noise heard was a door quickly opening up. A couple of seconds passed before a very loud howling noise was made. The noise sent shivers down everyone's spine, although Shaggy seemed to keep smiling happily.

"That sounded like..." Daphne began. Before she could continue, though, something heavy came rampaging down the stairs.

Thump thump thump thumpthump thump thump THUMP THUMP THUMP

A brown and blue furry blur came leaping down the stairs, hitting the floor and immediately jumping at Shaggy. Tanis had tugged Scooby out of the way to avoid the oncoming collision. "COOOOOOACH!" The blur howled out.

As she made contact with the lanky man, he let out a loud grunt, being sent back at least five yards. The gang let out a yell, Googie shrieking loudly.

"A werewolf!" She cried out, watching with wide scared eyes. The sight before them, thankfully, wasn't Shaggy being gored alive. It was Shaggy laughing.Again. He was trying to wrestle the girl off of him, who was taking to nuzzling and hugging him as tightly as she possibly could, giving Shaggy a face full of brown fur and messy orange hair. Up close, they could see that the wolf wore a baby blue tank top with shredded jeans. Obviously, she lacked shoes.

"Coach! Aw man, I can't believe it's you again! I didn't know you were here until I thought I heard your voice! I opened my door and took a whiff and... itwasyou! You actually came back!" She rambled in a giddy manner, her tail wagging like crazy.

"Hahaha! Like, it's good to see you too, Winnie!"

Freddie gave a little, nervous smile. "Uh... maybe it's just a really hairy girl?"

Googie shook her head, pointing towards the nuzzling wolf. "Then how do you explain the tail?!"

In that moment, Winnie lifted her head up and eyed them all, making them flinch a bit. She turned back to Shaggy. "Who're they?"

"Oh like, a few friends of mine I decided to bring along!" He answered. With this, she finally got off of Shaggy's chest, quickly moving towards the others, who were now huddled in a tight group, worried what Winnie was about to do. She began moving around them, eyeing them up with glowing yellow eyes and sniffing them loudly.

"Hrmm... they don'tsmelldangerous..." She grumbled, eyeing over Freddie a little. "How do we know they're not gonna cause trouble?" Winnie asked skeptically. Oddly enough, Velma was thinking the same thing.

Tanis had taken to hiding behind Scooby, who was looking over the group cautiously. Scooby was gently patting her head as she smiled shyly. "Th-they're friends of Shaggy's, so they wouldn't do anything. Right..?" She asked nervously, peeking up at them with her bright blue eyes.

Daphne couldn't help but smile at the shy young girl. She was really adorable, even if something about her did seem off. Did the bandages really mean she was a mummy?

Another noise seemed to echo through the room. This time, however, it sounded more like heavy footsteps growing louder and louder as they ascended a stairwell. Items seemed to shake as the rumbled grew louder, a few people losing their balance, even some of the students. "Ah, that must be another girl eager to meet you again!" Miss Grimwood stated.

One cue, a door loudly creaked open, and a tall girl started lumbering towards them. Averytall girl. Covered in stitches. With standing black and white hair. And bolts out of her neck. And very intimidating muscles. The girl seemed to be wearing patchwork green clothing, which almost matched her sickly pale green skin. From the looks of it, she also wore an old (and, thankfully, clean looking) apron. She wore matching pants and large black boots. The way she seemed to stare at everybody looked like she was going to murder them all in an instant.

That is until Shaggy spoke up. "Like, hey, Elsa! I see you've grown up lots too!" In that moment, her face softened up, smiling brightly as she quickly ran to him, quickly scooping up Scooby and Shaggy into a backbreaking hug.

"Coach! It's been so long!" She boomed happily. Her voice came out quite slow, yet loud. The two squirmed in her grasp, Shaggy's grin turning into a pained grimace.

"Mmf... yeah..! Like, great to be back..!" Shaggy strained.

"Reaking of racks..." Scooby grunted, starting to feel lightheaded.

Miss Grimwood seemed to chuckle a bit before speaking up. "Careful now, Elsa, or they'll pass out before the others get a chance to see them."

The girl named Elsa opened her arms and let out a sheepish laugh. "Sorry about that, Coach. Without your guidance I think I got a bit weaker." She said, rubbing her very toned looking bicep.

Shaggy laughed and gave her muscle a playful squeeze. Or at least tried to, but it looked like he was trying to squish a rock. "If that's weak, then I'll bet your A-game is, like, off the charts," He joked, laughing a bit.

Freddie blinked at the sight of more and more... strange girls coming in. As the werewolf continued to sniff them, he gulped. "...maybe she got into a few accidents as a kid..?"

"Including two bolts in her neck?" Velma added in sarcastically.

"Maybe an incident at a construction site?" He added in hastily. Winnie looked to Tanis, pointing a thumb at him and giving a look that said 'can you believe this guy?' The mummy girl hid her face in her bandages to stifle her giggles.

As Shaggy and Scooby readjusted their spines, a very loud cackling filled the room. All of the humans, save for Miss Grimwood, seemed to flinch at it. Suddenly, the torso of a blue girl phased through the floor, right in front of Daphne, who let out a shout, staring at her with wide eyes. She was a translucent blue, her hair white with a blue streak down the middle, almost like a side mohawk.

The girl didn't seem to take any mind at this, looking around. "Hehehe, hey hey! What's with all the ruckus, huh? Are we having our Halloween party in September this year?!" She joked, giggling maniacally. She turned her head 180 degrees, landing on the group, who seemed to back up. There was no denying that this girl was a ghost, and a loud one, at that. "Hiya, strangers! Pleasure to meet ya! I'm Phantasma, but you can all call me Phanty! Everyone does, after all," She continued to speak, pulling herself through the floor and floating above everyone. Her body was still dressed in a tattered blue dress, her feet covered in white cowboy boots. The biggest difference in her was that she definitely looked older, even if she didn't dress that way.

"And hello to you too, Winnie, and Tanis, and Shaggy, and Scooby, and Elsa, and Miss-" Phanty stopped mid-sentence, gasping loudly and over-dramatically. In an instant, she flew over to Scooby and Shaggy, pulling them by the waist so that she was in between them in a sandwich type of hug. The phantom let out an ear piercing squeal, bouncing in place in a giddy manner. "Ohmygod ohmygod ohmyGOD! It's really you two!" She laughed happily, her energy not having gone down an ounce.

Despite her loud voice and her cold touch, Shaggy smiled and returned the hug with Scooby. "Like, of course it is! I'm surprised you're this excited over us!"

"Well duh! You're the bestest coach in the world!" Phanty screamed, circling around the two happily.

"Come now, Phanty, try not to overwhelm our guests too badly," Came the purr of a sultry voice. Everyone turned to see a purple girl descend the stairs, staring with a half lidded gaze between everyone. She had a strange beauty to her, and it was almost hard to believe she was a teenager. She looked very much like a young woman, her complexion practically perfect in every way. Her dress seemed to flow gracefully behind her.

Thankfully, to the off-put group of four, she looked relatively normal, if a bit goth and... purple. Her eyes seemed very strange, for some reason, though. They peered into the eyes of the four before she turned to Shaggy and Scooby. She let herself curtsy and bow her head slightly. "Welcome to Grimwood's. I am Sibella Dracula," She introduced politely, almost regally. At the mention of the name 'Dracula', Googie's grasp seemed to tighten against Fred's shirt. Whether out of fear or anger, even she did not know.

There was definitely something... terrifying about the girl. Not outwardly, but something inside. With the name Dracula, there was no doubt this young lady was a vampire. Powerful beings, ones that shouldn't be trifled with. The gang remained silent as Shaggy stared blankly at her. For a moment, they thought he was going to come to terms with reality. He was in a mansion filled with monsters, one of whom was the daughter of the worlds' most dangerous vampire. They expected him to suddenly realize where he was and hit the road.

Imagine their faces when he merely put his hands on his hips, raised an eyebrow, and gave a wry smile.

"Like, c'mon, Sibella. You know there's no reason to act so proper around me!" He stated.

A few seconds passed before her lips curled upwards into a grin. A blur of purple flashed forward onto Shaggy, not unlike how Tanis had earlier. It was a bit creepier, though, since she was tall enough to reach the floor, her face right near his neck. Despite the fact the rest of the group held their breath, expecting her to plunge her fangs into his jugular, she merely kept hugging.

"...it's fang-tastic to see you again, Shaggy," She sighed, letting go of him after a few seconds. Shaggy smiled brightly at her and laughed again.

"Like,there'sthe Sibella I know!"

Googie, Velma, Daphne, and Fred were dumbfounded. Shaggy hugging monsters like it was nothing! Fred cleared his throat, finding his voice.

"...well, gang, I think it's safe to say the sign wasn't vandalized."

Chapter 5: Unexpected News

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 5: Unexpected News

The fire crackled slowly into nothingness as time went on. It illuminated the entire room, making everything look warm. Upon the walls of this room were various pictures, mostly painted, and a few hunting trophies. Above the mantle would be a glass case, holding various medals and other types of military honors. Sitting in a large, cozy looking chair opposite of the fireplace would be a middle aged man, staring intently into the fire, lost in his own thoughts. His fingers intertwined together and rested near his chin as he began to speculate. This man, while retired from the military, still went by the title of Colonel. This man, Colonel Calloway, was in charge of Calloway's Military School for Boys.

His school started out quite small, student wise. While he only had a total of five students, he made sure to work them quickly into perfect shape. He had recently retired from the Army when he opened the school, and unfortunately, despite his numerous honors, he was still quite short on funds to open the school. Reality isn't fun, it seems. Still, Colonel Calloway managed to find cheap estate out in the swamps of Louisiana. In all honesty, it wasn't at all the place he wanted to run his prestigious school, but it would have to do. Besides, his optimistic side told him that living out in a harsh environment would be good to help with survival instincts in his students.

Despite his best efforts, even he couldn't blame parents who didn't trust a school out in the middle of practically nowhere. It certainly didn't help that the building close by was considered haunted by many! He had a school to run, and nothing would stop him. Not even a strange, if charming, woman, who just so happened to live in that building. There was certainly something off putting about her, but Calloway could never figure out what it was. Not that he had time to explore for himself, for he had students to teach.

His five original students (which he now called the Five Stars of Calloway's), would consist of five boys named Tug, Grunt, Jamal, Miguel, and Baxter. He felt that they were a bit... scatterbrained at times, but were eager to please their Colonel, and they always managed to give 110 percent. He grew quite close to these boys, even if they tended to get into trouble... a lot. Even if they went against his orders more often than he cared for, they definitely had lots of potential, and no event showed this off more than the annual volleyball game with the competitors: Grimwood's.

Calloway was quite confident in their ability, as they won every game that they played. There were often rumors of cheating, but he never seemed to take enough care to notice, or do anything about it. After all, victory was victory, and his team showed the skills necessary to secure the win. There was only one year he could think of where his team actually lost, and it was after their competitors managed to get themselves an actual coach.

If it were up to him, that man wouldnothave gotten the position. He felt too laid back for his taste. He barely even had the body shape of someone who looked like they worked out! There was no denying results, of course. He lead Grimwood's to victory, leading to Calloway's first actual loss. This was a bit hit on his ego, for sure. Despite this, however, he knew that it meant he would have to push his students harder and harder. Shaping diamonds from coal, and all that.

Strangely enough, he had not seen the weird man ever since that game. When he asked Grimwood why, she merely said that he had other business to attend to. Even stranger, though, was the fact that she gavehimthe offer to coach her students. Unlike his students, who seemed to be in denial over the girls, he knew for a fact that they were abnormal. Clearly, ghouls would be the perfect term for them, as they were, quite literally, monsters. They were quite nice, of course, as was Grimwood. He got along with her very well, despite how strange he found her. Upon given the opportunity to coach her students, he took it up. He did not mind having to teach two different kinds of students, after all. This would give the girls an opportunity to see what arealcoach could do, and not some laid back hippie.

From that day forward, he went back and forth between the schools. During his own student's study period, he would go to Grimwood's and teach the needed physical education there. Even though he never got used to the odd ways in which they worked out, he didn't play favorites. He treated these girls as if they were his own boys. It was normal for them to complain, almost on a daily basis. The hairy one would often grumble something about the previous coach being vastly superior to his own teaching methods. Calloway never let it bother him, as he figured these girls had never been pushed further than what they were used to. As for future volleyball games, his team would continue to win, though they would always win by the skin of their teeth. No doubt that the girls were quickly catching up in physical skill to match his boys. He also made sure that no cheating would occur on either side, as per Miss Grimwood's request.

As years went on, so did his teaching methods. However, he found it increasingly difficult to keep up with this type of teaching. Mostly because, even though Grimwood's stayed the same, more or less, his own building would become more and more popular. He began to bring in more students each year, all of whom were eager to get military training. His old fashioned methods seemed to work for him, in his situation. It was at this point that he got his Five Stars to consider helping him out in teaching these new students, which they quickly accepted. Never in all his years had pride for his students been so high.

Tug seemed to be a natural leader, even though he often got a bit too rough. He always pushed the others and never accepted quiters. Grunt, while large, was quite strong. It goes to show that being big doesn't mean one is lazy. His own teaching methods seemed to match Tug's somewhat. Jamal was slightly more understanding and patient, which made him a favorite among newcomers. He always expected the best out of others, and was willing to do whatever it took to let them show it. Miguel was quite smart, teaching the students about analyzing and more secretive work, rather than front line. As for Baxter, despite still being quite small, was always eager to please and do anything to make Calloway proud. Baxter always reminded the Colonel of himself when he was younger.

Tonight, though, he wasn't thinking about his students. He was thinking about Grimwood's, oddly enough. Before their year began, he had received a letter from Miss Grimwood, stating that his services were not needed this year, and he could remain at his own school so he could have more time to his duties. This was what was bothering him, mostly. Had she really found someone to replace his methods? If so, who was it? Surely not that same hippie from before? It should not have bothered him as much as it did, but he could not deny it. Hints of doubt filled his mind once more, his mind speaking to him about potential situations to arise later. Would this coach show him up? Would they make Calloway lose again? What if his students wanted to be taught by that coach instead of by him?

The Colonel rubbed his head and sighed, realizing how late he had stayed up. As the fire died down, he got up from his chair and headed to his bed. This would have to be something to discuss with Miss Grimwood later. For now, he would have to put these doubts and thoughts aside. A proper Colonel did not show weakness to his men, after all, and a lack of sleep certainly wouldn't help.

Shaggy looked between his both groups of friends, smiling nervously. It was always awkward to introduce two groups of friends, especially when one was a group of monsters. Scooby seemed preoccupied, being pet by Tanis to seem to back him up. He looked to the rest of Mystery Inc. and cleared his throat a bit. "Well uh... guys, like, meet the girls of Grimwood!" He said, waving his hand out to them. Sibella and Elsa waved politely, Tanis still hiding behind Scooby, still waving at them shyly. Winnie was still close to the group, sniffing them out curiously. As for Phanty, well...

"Hello friends of Shaggy's! It's such ascreamto meet all of you! I don't think he's ever talked about you all before to us. Oh well, that's okay! He was probably too busy making sure we were in proper shape!" Phanty rambled excitedly, floating between each member and making sure to shake their hands as vigorously as possible. This sent a chill down their arms, since shewasa phantom. Fred and Googie seemed to shrink back at the odd ghost girl eagerly greeting them all, while Daphne and Velma were more perplexed by her behavior. She was loud, sure, but by no means malicious. While her large grin and wide eyes were odd looking, they looked a lot more friendly than the detective's.

"Uh... nice to meet you too," Daphne said, feeling unsure of herself. Velma's mind began to work into overdrive. Why did a ghost, of all beings, needphysicaleducation? Her thoughts were quickly disbanded when the loud, maniacal laughter of the phantom filled the air, very pleased to be meeting new friends.

"And like, girls, these are my friends. Aside from me and Scoob, like, Freddie, Daphne, and Velma all make up Mystery Incorporated, a sort of... freelance investigation agency. Like, over there is Googie, a friend of mine who I uh... used to date!" Shaggy explained, pointing everyone out. Freddie gave a small smile, waving back. He seemed to loosen up, even if the other blond, who stuck closely to the group, did not. Mainly due to the fact that Winnie was now inches from her face, sniffing at her intently.

"Hm... you do seem like the kinda person who'd date Coach..." Winnie mused aloud. "A little jumpy, like him." The blond had no idea of that was meant to be an insult or not.

Before Googie could finish her mumbling about personal space, Miss Grimwood had clapped her hands a couple of times to get everyone's attention. After doing so, she'd speak again. "While I'm more than eager to let you all introduce yourselves more properly, I do believe that dinner is ready. Let's take these conversations to the dining room, shall we?" Upon the mention of food, it wasn't long before Shaggy and Scooby had a race into the dining area, the ghouls following after.

"Seems that Shaggy is still the big eater," Sibella joked, walking with the rest of the human group.

"You don't know the half of it," Velma replied, leading to a small laugh from the vampire. Googie was still on edge, due to the fact that Sibella was related to the boss of all vampires, Dracula. She wasn't sure if she was quite ready to trust her just yet, even if she was very polite and on good terms with Shaggy.

"So uh, Sibella, was it?" Googie began, somewhat nervously. The vampire turned her head, ready for whatever question the blond had to ask. "If I can ask, since you're a vampire and all, how do you... get your... sustenance?" She seemed to try and word her sentence very carefully, unsure if this was even the right time to ask such a question.

Thankfully, that didn't happen to be the case, as Sibella merely answered, "Don't worry, vampires don't drink that much blood, and when I need to, I only feed on any small animals if they're nearby."

For the most part, that answer seemed to satisfy Googie, although one thing did stick out to her.Ifthey're nearby. "What do you do if there aren't any?" She continued on, raising an eyebrow. The answer, or lack thereof, is what freaked her out. Sibella merely flashed a mysterious smile, making sure to show off her fangs before heading off into the dining area.

"I'm pretty sure she was just riling you up," Daphne said, trying to comfort Googie. Regardless of the case, she was going to make sure to try and stick close to someone without fangs.

Before he stepped in, Fred put his hand on his chin, as if remembering something. "Um, Miss Grimwood? What about our bags? We left them out in the Mystery Machine."

Miss Grimwood nodded, not removing her gentle smile from her face. "Don't you worry about that, Freddie," She replied, clapping her hands once more. Soon, Freddie's eyes widened as he watched an... octopus with a tie walk (yeswalk) over to the entrance. In a couple of quick minutes, he was returning, their bags being carried by his multiple tentacles as if it were nothing. "I assume you're staying the night, so he'll help show you where you'll be sleeping," The woman continued casually, leading Freddie into the next room.

'This place gets weirder and weirder...'He thought to himself.

The dining area was just as creepy looking as the rest of the place, although the lit fire from a nearby furnace made the whole area nice and warm. Of course, right next to the fire, was a large green reptile, resting by itself. Apparently, it wasn't too keen on all the loud noise it was hearing earlier, and was trying to keep to itself. Velma was the first to take notice of this, pointing to it. "Oh! Is that a... komodo dragon?" She asked, moving closer to get a better view of the sleepy, grumpy Matches.

Matches peeked it's head up, grumbling lowly. Who were these people? He didn't recognize any of them. Intruders! He would not stand for this! With a bit of a growl, his whole body seemed to change from green to a glowing red. Velma gulped and stepped back, hands up as she tried to talk him down. "Okay boy, easy..!"

As smoke flared from his nostrils, he started to ready a fireball until Miss Grimwood came in. "Matches! No setting the guests on fire!" The dragon immediately settled down, turning his head quickly to the woman before grumbling and curling back up.

"That's Matches, our pet dragon," Tanis explained, having already seated herself, along with a few others. "Sorry, he's usually quite nice..." Velma took notice that she was seating herself right next to Shaggy, with Scooby moving over to where Matches was, sitting right next to him. Surprisingly, the dragon didn't seem to care, giving a little grumble as a sort of greeting to the familiar dog. Scooby, in return, smiled in a friendly way before awaiting for food.

The smell of something cooking was in the air, although none of the humans could really guess what it was. As everybody took a seat, it was pretty predictable how it went. Freddie, Googie, Velma, and Daphne were seated to the left, in a sort of square, the ghouls on the right. Shaggy seemed to be the intermediary, sitting between the two groups. That didn't seem to stop Winnie from sitting across Shaggy, in between Sibella and Googie, who was eyeing her carefully. The werewolf didn't seem to notice. Once it looked like everyone was ready, Miss Grimwood began to serve dinner.

Along with Miss Grimwood, a single, floating white hand would help serve bowls of some sort of stew to everyone. Naturally, the hand put off the humans a tad, although once they were served, they began to examine the food served. Inside, the stew seemed normal. Brown broth, various items swimming in it. So far, the large bone floating inside would be a red flag, though it was known for some people to throw bones in soups and stews for flavor. Naturally, it didn't take long before Winnie was stirring the stew with it, gnawing on one end of the bone. All of the other ghouls had began eating the stew regularly, Shaggy not hesitating to join in as well. Scooby was also heartily slurping from his own portion.

Freddie, seeing his friend start to eat it, shrugged and took a spoon, helping himself to his serving. Googie and Daphne cautiously joined in, Velma starting to examine the stew for herself. With an eyebrow raised, she began to wonder if the vegetables in it looked... dead. Or at the very least rotten. While it certainly didn't smell awful, it was still best to be wary. Before Velma could ask the question in her mind, Shaggy seemed to do it for her, having already finished off half of his own bowl.

"Like, Miss Grimwood, this stuff is amazing! What's in it?" He asked before continuing to eat.

With a small smile, she took another bit of her own stew before answering. "It's a recipe I always serve on the first night back. 'Spider Leech Stew', with vegetables from our garden." She answered simply.

While the ghouls (and Scooby) kept eating the meal, the others seemed to slow down or stop. Shaggy was taken by surprise, staring into his bowl, eyes wide at the realization at what he was eating. Unable to help himself, however, he took another bite. He did say it was good, after all. Freddie slowed down as well, finding himself agreeing with Shaggy. Itdidtaste good, that's for sure. For the rest of his meal, however, he seemed to be fishing out vegetables that looked the least rotten, avoiding the chunks of 'meat'. Daphne's eyes widened as she finished up her bite and gently pushed her bowl away.

"Erm, very lovely, but I ate before I got here..." Daphne said, quickly moving her bowl over to Scooby, who eagerly began seconds. To him, it was just more food. Odd food, but good food. Googie, predictably, looked like she was about to vomit, her spoon clattering as it hit against the bowl.

"Hey are you okay?" Winnie asked in between gnaws of her bone.

"Yeah, I just remembered I'm on a diet..." Googie gagged, quickly pushing her portion away as well.

As for Velma, she began to analyze the stew a bit more, curious about the cuisine. She eyed a brown piece of carrot, holding it up some. "I think you may have picked a few veggies past their prime."

At this point, Elsa turned, leaning forward to better talk to her. "She always makes sure to pick those ones. After all, they provide a better flavor for the spider meat, in my opinion," She replied, taking another bite from her bowl. With a nod and a small grimace, Velma slowly lowered her spoon back into the bowl.

"I see..." Velma decided to get her mind off of her strange meal by finding a topic of conversation. A couple of thoughts were prevalent in her mind, one of which wondering why andhowa ghost was eating. She chose to skip that question until another time, instead asking a different question, directed towards the headmistress. "So, Miss Grimwood, you said something about a witch earlier?"

Any loose conversations that were going on quieted up a little as Velma asked her query. While it wasn't an uncomfortable silence, it was enough to make the girl wonder if she shouldn't have asked that. However, Miss Grimwood didn't seem to really care, taking time to answer her. "Oh yes. The year Shaggy taught us last, a mean witch took all of my ghouls under her control. Shaggy and Scooby were brave enough to venture into her castle and retrieve them, with the help of the Cadets."

Velma certainly would've liked a little more information than that, but instead, she seemed to ponder a little. "Jinkies... our Shaggy braving a place like that?" She said aloud. This time, Sibella replied to her.

"A very heroic deed, for sure," The vampire answered politely, taking another sip of her stew before turning to the bookworm. "A real shame he didn't stay longer, but I guess the new students did terrify him a little too badly." She ended her sentence with a small giggle, flashing a grin the hungry coward before returning to her meal.

"There are more students here?" Daphne cut in, curious as to if they'd be meeting any more students. At this point, everyone stiffened a little, feeling a bit awkward. Miss Grimwood answered again.

"Weusedto. As Shaggy and Scooby left, we did take in three new students. However, the aliens couldn't adapt too well with Earth's atmosphere and had to return to where they came. Godzina turned out to hit her growth spurtsquiterapidly. And as for Goonie, well... her and her father had to quickly move away after she attacked someone. I don't believe it was fatal, but still left an impact on the poor victim, from what I heard."

At this point, the members of Mystery Inc. shared a surprised, yet knowing, glance between each other. They had a general idea as to who the victim was. Before anyone could say anything else, Elsa decided to speak up again. "It's not too surprising. They weren't too big a fan of... the new coach." She ended simply, moving her gaze over to Winnie, who looked noticeably agitated upon the mention of whoever this coach was.

"Yeah... workin' us until we could barely move, strict as anything, and annoyin'! I'd rather shave myself bald than have to work out with Colonel Cun-"

Sibella cleared her throat loudly, quickly cutting off whatever curse she was about to swear, Miss Grimwood giving a warning glare at the werewolf. She grumbled and quickly began to stuff her face with stew once again. At that moment, Phantasma began to laugh a little, perking up some. "But hey, we don't have to worry about that anymore! After all, Coach Shaggy's back!"

The lanky man froze a bit, eyes widened as the other humans looked between each other. From the way the other ghouls looked appreciative of the phantom's comment, it was quite obvious they expected him to resume his old, if short lived, position. After a few second of Shaggy saying nothing, Tanis spoke up, looking up at him expectantly. "...youaregoing to teach us again, right..?"

Shaggy lowered his spoon, looking between the two groups. To his right, five monster girls looked at him, smiling gently and awaiting his answer. To his left, his friends were also watching him, a bit curious, also wondering what he would say. Scooby lowered himself, trying to hide himself from view, not knowing what he was going to say either. After a bit, he cleared his throat and looked to Tanis, giving a nervous smile. "Uh... like, we'll see. I'm definitely going to consider it, but like, I may need a bit of time to mull it over," He replied.

He had no idea if that was the right answer or not, but he knew that he wouldn't mind teaching the girls again. They were nice and quite fun to teach. On the other hand, he knew that he couldn't abandon his friends for a year again. Besides, he knew that they were there for a reason. A terrifying reason, but one that he knew his friends needed help with. He figured he could consult with them to see what they would say about it. Currently, the girls had taken to whispering among themselves, somewhat excited about the idea of having their favorite coach return. The others looked unsure, not knowing what to really do either.

After some time, Miss Grimwood took notice that everyone was done with dinner. She stood up and got everyone's attention with a clap of her hands. "Well, I'll discuss this manner with Shaggy in private. For now, all of you girls go ahead and get some rest. Classes begin tomorrow, after all." The ghouls began to stand and move in various directions. Sibella and Winnie went upstairs, Tanis moving downstairs. Elsa appeared to go into a different room entirely, and Phanty simply phased through the ceiling, up to the next floor without using stairs. This left only Miss Grimwood, the rest of the humans, Scooby, and a sleeping Matches.

After a bit of silence, Fred spoke to Shaggy. "So, Shags, what's it gonna be?" He didn't seem to ask this in any sort of accusatory tone, merely a curious one.

Shaggy rubbed the back of his head, feeling somewhat guilty. "Like, I dunno, man. On one hand, I don't want to let down your students. But like, on the other... we are here to investigate, right?" He said, directing his last question towards his cohorts.

Before anyone could answer, Miss Grimwood spoke up again. "Investigating? May I ask what?"

Velma decided to answer this time. "Well, there was a recent attack on someone from the nearby town. We were going to look into what caused it."

Miss Grimwood raised her eyebrows, an unreadable look on her face. "So you decided to come here?"

"Well, we got some advice from someone working on the case. He said to come check this place out," Freddie answered.

"Him and the locals are claiming that whatever attacked the victim wasn't human... or animal for that matter." Daphne finished, rubbing her arm a bit. She didn't want to act like she was blaming Miss Grimwood or her students. They all acted and felt too nice to do something like that.

"Hm," Miss Grimwood replied simply, her own thoughts moving around in her brain. "I guess I don't blame you for coming here." She sat up a bit straighter, her voice having a bit of a thoughtful tone. "However, I don't think it's fair to let down my students, so if I may propose a compromise?"

The others looked to each other, giving silent confirmation before turning back to the older woman. Googie rubbed her arm, feeling... awkward. She wasn't really a part of the team, and she wasn't even saying anything on the matter. She wanted to say more, but didn't really know if she had the obligation to.

Once everyone was prepared for her explanation, Miss Grimwood grinned and continued. "I propose that in return for another year of tenure, I'll allow you to stay as long as you need to. You'll be free to investigate as long as you need. I have spare rooms, so you don't have to worry about sleeping in your van, or some motel." She began to reach into her pocket, pulling out a scroll and moving her free hand to the side, leaving it open. Soon, the floating hand dropped off a plain feather, already having been dipped in ink. "My only conditions are that you don't harm my students, and thatCoachShaggy stays on campus. What do you all say?"

Another round of looking between other occurred. As Miss Grimwood waited patiently for Shaggy's answer, Velma spoke up first. "Well, in my opinion, that's a really good compromise."

"What if we don't find the answers we're looking for?" Freddie asked, not sure if he was willing to sleep in a creepy place.

"It'll be a learning experience, either way. Imagine, getting to know actual monsters and how they live and act firsthand!" She continued, a little excited at the prospect.

"Besides, it's not like they're mean. I think it could be kinda fun," Daphne said, smiling gently.

"Well... that makes sense, I guess." Freddie grinned at Shaggy, as if giving him permission.

Everyone took a glance at Googie, who had a stumped look on her face. Why were they expectingherto answer? It took her off guard, but after a little, she got the courage to speak. "...I mean, if he wants to, I can't stop him," She replied, feeling dumb. "Wouldn't hurt to explore a bit more too, I suppose," She trailed off, not knowing if she meant what she said.

In that moment, Scooby propped himself up, smiling and giving an 'okay' sign with his paw. With a smile that grew wider, he gently accepted the quill and nodded. "Like, you got yourself a deal, Miss G," He replied, signing his name on the scroll.

Miss Grimwood beamed as he finished up, quickly rolling the scroll and tucking it away. "Excellent! Now, all of you should get some sleep to. Gym is the first class of the day, and they'll be expecting you outside near the graveyards," She said, directing the last point to Shaggy. He gave a nod and began to stand up.

"Like, sounds good with me. C'mon guys, let's hit they hay," He stated simply. Soon, everyone else got up, the octopus butler from before standing at the doorway.

"Take them to their rooms, please," The woman requested gently, waving a hand. With a slight bow, the octo-butler did just that, leading them upstairs.

A quick flash of blue quickly swooped back up into the ceiling, an excited face on the specter who was watching the entire exchange. She was laughing, although trying to be a bit quieter than usual as to not give away that she was eavesdropping. Phanty was, however, pumping her fist up and down repeatedly and vigorously, as if in victory. "Yessss!" She squealed as quietly as possible (which was more like a loud whisper).

In a room close by, a certain werewolf was doing the exact same thing, fist pumping in the air as her tail went nuts behind her. Winnie had cracked her door open a little, moving her ear towards it to listen in. Her superior hearing managed to take in most of the conversation, letting her know that Shaggy would indeed return to be their coach, andnotthat stuck up, anal, slave-driving Colonel.

It was already turning out to be an interesting year, that's for sure.

Chapter 6: The Swing of Things

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 6: The Swing of Things

The rooms that the investigators slept in were decorated as well as the rest of the school. Cobwebs took up most of the space in each corner, from the ceiling down to the floorboards. The furniture, while minimal, still appeared antique and worn down. Both rooms consisted of three beds, an old wooden dresser, a matching wardrobe, a large mirror, and thankfully, a bathroom off to the side with a working toilet and shower. Whether or not the shower could run hot water was something they would have to figure out on their own in the morning.

As for the beds themselves, they didn't look too filthy, even if the sheets looked somewhat tattered and worn. Scooby, Shaggy, and Freddie took one of the rooms while Daphne, Velma, and Googie went in the other. On the same floor as their rooms were also three other bedrooms. In each of these, Sibella, Winnie, and Phantasma would reside. Since they had lived in the school for quite awhile, they had their own types of decorations and design choices. As for Elsa and Tanis, their rooms were downstairs. Elsa was allowed to sleep in the school lab, since that's where she spends the most time anyways. Tanis's room was in a basem*nt of sorts, filled with sand and various small treasures, the walls covered in stone hieroglyphics. She still slept in the same giant gold sarcophagus, naturally.

The guys were looking around their room a bit, Freddie looking somewhat confused. Shaggy and Scooby didn't seem too bothered by it, as Shaggy began to change into pajamas, moving his stuff off the bed and acting as if they were right at home. "So, like, what do you think of this place so far?" Shaggy asked his friend, Scooby already nestling himself into a bed.

With a single finger, Freddie wiped a bit of dust from the nearby wardrobe, rubbing it against his thumb some. "Well... I've stayed in worse motel rooms, that's for sure," He joked, turning around. "To be honest though, I'm surprised you and Scoob stayed long enough in this place. I figured you would've run out the moment you found out who you were going to teach!"

Shaggy gave a small laugh, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Like, we almost did. If it weren't for the fact that we were under contract, like, we would've gone back with you guys almost immediately."

Freddie gave a small chuckle too, starting to change into his pajamas as well. "Well lucky for Miss Grimwood then, huh?"

"Like, I suppose," Shaggy replied. "To be honest though, I always wondered if I even did that great a job. Like, I know we won the volleyball game and we helped stop that witch, but... I dunno, like, I feel like I probably could've done a bit more as a coach, y'know?"

"I think it's normal to think you could do more than you did," Freddie responded, sitting on his own bed, facing his lanky friend. "But from what it sounds like, the girls really look up to you. They wouldn't do that unless they had a good reason to." Shaggy looked a bit thoughtful, looking to his lap a bit. When it was apparent he wasn't going to say anything, Freddie continued on. "I think you left a much bigger impact on them than you imagine. Despite the fact that it felt like nothing to you, it meant everything to them. After all, if you could never forget, how could they?"

Shaggy glanced up, smiling a little. He didn't directly answer his question, but the look on his face let the blond know everything he needed. "Hey, Freddie, like thanks..."

His friend gave a wide grin and a smile. "You'll do a great job this year, Shag, I know it." At this point, he began to lay down, stretching his arms a bit. "Now you got a class to teach tomorrow. Let's get some shut-eye."

Shaggy responded by nodding and yawning loudly, making himself cozy in his own bed. "Like, you got a point. G'night, Freddie, night Scoob."

"Rood right..." Scooby yawned, already having tucked himself into bed.

"Night guys," Freddie ended, closing his eyes. Tomorrow he'd get to see his friend as a coach. It was weird to think about, but also very exciting in a sense.

"...do you think anyone died sleeping in these beds?" Asked a nervous Googie, looking around at the old looking beds and somewhat dusty furniture. Daphne flashed a look at her as she was setting her stuff down from the bed.

"Don't say stuff like that, I'll get nightmares!" She replied, looking under the sheets with Velma. The brown haired girl had one eye shut, face close to the mattress as she felt around on it.

"Hm... doesn't look like there's anything particularly wrong with the beds themselves. No odd stains, no bugs, nothing out of the ordinary." She took a quick look around the room, standing straight up. "...well, relatively, that is."

Googie shuddered, sitting herself on a nearby bed. "That's good, at least. I don't know how well I'll be able to sleep anyways. An old creaky house filled with monsters isn't exactly a vacation home, y'know?"

"They don't seem like the type to attack anyone for no reason," Daphne began, also sitting on her bed. "Besides, if they're willing to be this friendly to Shaggy, I don't doubt that they'll be equally as nice to us."

The blonde girl rubbed her arm a little, feeling somewhat guilty on judging these girls a bit too quickly. Still, though, it was something she would have to get used to. She had her experience with monsters before, and it wasn't too pleasant, if her and Shaggy's story was anything to go by. Daphne did have a good point, though. None of the girls seem malicious. Maybe a bit mischievous, but nothing that would seem like they would attack anyone at random.

"...yeah, I guess you're right," Googie finally responded, laying out on the bed, merely relaxing for the time being. "It's still pretty strange though. Maybe I'll get adjusted to it quickly like you guys have."

"Hopefully," Velma added in optimistically. "When you're on the road as often as we are, looking into spooky stuff like this, it almost becomes second nature to get used to it fairly quickly. Especially when you have a feeling that whatever you're chasing after isn't really an evil undead clown from beyond the grave." After a little bit of a laugh from the others, Velma continued, thinking a bit more. "Still, it's very fascinating that these kinds of monstersarereal. What's even more strange is that it seems like not a lot of people know about it."

Googie thought for a little. It did seem odd she had never heard of this place despite living so close to it. No one else in her town seemed to talk about it, either. It wasn't until then that a thought hit her. "Maybe they do."

The other two girls looked to her, confused, yet intrigued with what she had said. She began to sit up, continuing her train of thought. "I mean, it's really strange that I haven't heard anyone in my town even mention a second school out in this area," She mused.

Daphne and Velma looked to each other, also beginning to ponder about this. "Hm... remember at the police station?" Velma asked suddenly. "The deputy wasn't too keen on letting anyone know about this place. If he seemed to know about this place, chances are, some other townsfolk do too, and they're willing to keep this place secret too."

"Maybe because they're scared?" Daphne theorized. "I mean, like you said, Googie, you didn't know about this place either, and we certainly haven't heard of it before. I don't imagine that too many people are comfortable with a monster school in the outskirts of their town."

"They probably are scared. I mean... you know how uncomfortable I am..." Googie added, feeling more and more guilty about her fear.

Daphne gave a gentle, comforting smile to her new friend. "Hey, it's normal to be afraid. We'll all get used to this. None of the girls have tried to kill us yet, and Miss Grimwood is a very nice woman."

"What I want to know," Velma began, still deep in thought. "Is why no one else seems keen on getting close to see how bad this place is for themselves."

Daphne shrugged and merely replied, "Probably just southern racism and paranoia."

"The townsfolk were awfully quick to say the attack was monster related," Googie added in.

There was a small bit of silence as the girls thought to themselves for a little. It's not like there was much else to bring up, anyways. Their theories were quite sound, although they would have to do some old fashioned snooping (or meddling as people often called it) to get their answers. For now, though, they began to get ready for bed. It was too late to be staying up brainstorming ideas as to why people weren't comfortable with a monster school.

Eventually, the loud crowing of some unnatural sounding bird would come screeching across the entire school. Whatever it was, it was most certainlynota rooster. Still, it would certainly be an indicator of the fact that morning has arrived. Even if, outside, the sky was still quite dark with heavy clouds overcasting the entire sky above. The threat of rain was imminent, but nonetheless, the gang began to get up, starting to get ready. It would take a little while, mostly due to the fact that in each bedroom, there would only be one shower, so everyone would have to wait their turn. Despite the fact the guys took less time with their showering process, there was still one issue that needed to be addressed...

"C'mon, Scoob, up and at 'em! Today's our first day back as coaches!" Shaggy said to the sleeping Dane, who was curled up on his blankets, not budging from his spot. After Scooby let out a small snort, unaffected by Shaggy's shaking, Freddie decided to give it a try.

"Scooby, wake up! The girls are expecting us." Nothing. The dog merely let out a low grumble and turned around, not wanting to be disturbed. The two men looked to each other and shrugged, both having the same idea. That idea was to grip the blankets under the sleeping Scooby and try to pull it out from under him. The dog was quite heavy, however, neither one of them able to yank him out.

"Jeez, how much does heweigh?" Freddie grunted.

"Like, I dunno..! At least a metric ton of Scooby Snacks..!" Shaggy replied. Upon the mention of 'Scooby Snacks', the dog quickly lifted his head up.

"Rooby Racks?!" In an instant, the dog had pushed off the bed, jumping onto the floor and started sniffing around for dog treats. Of course, due to the fact that Shaggy and Freddie were now pulling on practically nothing, the both of them fell backwards, landing with a yelp on their backsides as the blanket they gripped fluttered over their faces. The large dog made his way over to the two guys, pulling the blanket off of them, revealing their unamused faces. Naturally, Scooby reacted by letting out a bit of a snicker, tossing the blanket off of them.

"Thanks," Freddie replied sardonically, getting up to his feet with Shaggy.

"Okay, like, enough clowning around, guys. It's time for breakfast," The lanky foodie said, heading to the door with the other two.

"Roh boy, reakfast!" The hungry dog replied, licking at his chops as they stepped out into the hall. Daphne, Velma, and Googie were all waiting for them, turning as they stepped out from their room. They all gave a wave to each other.

"Morning, guys. What was all that thumping about?" Daphne asked, tilting her head. Apparently, the noise they were making was audible from the opposite room.

"Like, sorry about that. Scoob didn't feel like getting up this morning," Shaggy replied, getting a quick gaze at his yawning friend.

"I understand how he feels," Googie replied, yawning a little herself. "I don't miss the days I had to wake up early for school."

"Well, let's not hang around here much longer. Don't want to keep Miss Grimwood and the girls waiting," Freddie replied, starting to head downstairs, the others soon following. Since they didn't hear any noises from the neighboring rooms, they assumed that the others had already gotten ready and were waiting downstairs in the dining room.

Sure enough, when the group of six went downstairs, they were greeted by Miss Grimwood, already setting out plates of... some sort of thing that was hopefully edible. Matches ate from his own plate on the ground as the ghouls sat at the table, turning to the human group. All of the girls seemed quite happy, Shaggy being the first to greet them all.

"Like, good morning, girls!"

"Good morning... coach," Sibella purred happily, giving a bit of a laugh as the other girls joined in. Of course, this didn't seem to surprise anyone as they all began to take their seats. Like last time, they sat in the same spots, but they seemed to be a bit more comfortable.

"News travels fast, I guess," Velma said happily, looking over her plate with everyone else. Well, that is except for Shaggy and Scooby, who immediately began to stuff their faces. On the plate looked like two regular cuts of raisin toast, covered in butter. On the side seemed to be fresh oranges and some grapes with milk that was fortunately not spoiled.

"I understand that human beings aren't too accustomed to monster cuisine, so I thought I'd make something a bit more akin to your tastes," Miss Grimwood began, smiling happily between everyone. "It's a good thing I planned ahead and harvested some fresh items from our garden before I let them get too ripe."

Of course, while the humans gratefuly ate their breakfast, the girls seemed more content with getting through breakfast as quick as possible. They chattered to each other excitedly, quite glad to have their old gym teacher back to train them. Tanis beamed happily as she munched on a rotten apple while Elsa did the same, asking Shaggy about what they'd be doing.

"Like, nothing too much for the first day. I'm planning on having us meet outside so we can do a bit of warm ups, laps, and general work out stuff," He said in between mouthfuls, already going through his third helping. Miss Grimwood didn't seem to mind that, however.

Phantasma hadn't bothered too much with eating, as she was too busy giggling to herself, eyeing everyone, looking a bit impatient. "C'mon, girls, hurry!" Velma took a mental note to ask Phanty about how a ghost's anatomy (or lack thereof) worked.

Winnie seemed to be quite eager to hurry as well, as she was wolfing down (heh) her food with gusto. Sibella hid her excitement for the most part, although she was smiling quite a bit as she bit into a hard looking crab apple, quickly sucking up whatever sour juices were inside.

Naturally, it wouldn't take long for everyone to be finished with their food, the ghouls quickly hurrying outside. Miss Grimwood blinked and laughed to herself. "Well, that's the most energy I've seen them have for physical education in a long time! You better, Coach. I don't imagine they want to be kept waiting."

After shoveling in his fifth and last piece of toast, he nodded to her and got up, everyone following suit. "Like, let's get this class started then!" Scooby was soon by his side, trotting along happily. He was quite eager to be back in a teaching role as well. The rest of Mystery Inc. followed him so they could see just how good of a teacher he'd be. They noticed that Shaggy had already dressed himself in fitting clothing, which would be shorts, a tank top, and running shoes. The others also seemed to be wearing shorts, mostly due to the humid weather that the south tended to have.

Once outside, the group stayed behind a bit, watching from a distance as Shaggy and Scooby made their way to the line of ghoul girls. Shaggy noticed that they all seemed to have lined up based on height. On the far right, Elsa stood, being the tallest out of all of them (even if you didn't include her standing black and white hair). Sibella was next, along with Phanty, who was standing on her two feet instead of floating in place. Then came Winnie, and finally Tanis. While the mummy girl was the shortest, it seemed she was catching up with the werewolf quite a bit, only being about half a foot shorter.

Despite the fact none of them really had any sort of gym clothing, they all looked willing and ready to go. Shaggy cleared his throat and grinned widely after looking between each of them. "Okay, like, good morning girls!" After a small chorus of 'Good morning, Coach!', Shaggy continued on. "Since this is, like, your first day back, we're gonna, like, keep things nice and simple. To start off, we're going to begin with some simple stretches so none of us strain any muscles." The rest of Mystery Inc., while not in line with the girls, watched his class go on, fascinated with what was going on. It was a rare sight to see Shaggynotbe afraid of real monsters.

"First, like, stretch one arm across your chest, holding it there with your other arm for a few seconds," Shaggy said, demonstrating his stretch by pulling his arm over his chest, keeping it in place with his other arm below the elbow. The girls and Scooby soon followed along, switching arms once he told them to. It was also to be noted that Freddie had also joined in, Daphne giving an amused grin, raising her eyebrow. To reply he merely shrugged.

"Might as well, right? Could do us some good to follow along!" With a quick glance between each other, the girls soon joined in. When in Rome, and all that, right?

After stretching their arms, Shaggy held his foot up behind himself, gripping his ankle with a hand to stretch out his legs. Everyone followed suit, although a couple did seem off balance. The lanky coach soon went over to help out, keeping both Tanis and Phanty balanced by showing them the proper way to hold themselves. Soon after, they switched ankles, holding the pose again for a few seconds.

Then they were told to touch their toes. It seemed natural that only Winnie would actually be able to, already being an energetic animal. On the human's end, it seemed only Daphne could do so. Karate classes really seemed to help her be quite flexible. Of course, Shaggy didn't hesitate to go over and give tips on how to help. With his hand gently on their backs, in between their shoulder blades, he'd show how to not strain themselves in touching their toes. "Of course, like, don't feel bad if you still can't get it. Just go as far as you can and don't, like, strain yourselves," He added in an encouraging tone, letting them all stand straight again.

The class would continue on with a few more stretches before Shaggy decided to start with basic exercises. "Like, we'll start off small, and we can work our way up to higher reps. The most important thing is to keep your pace up," Shaggy explained, having everyone start with jumping jacks. It wasn't too difficult, though Tanis's bandages did come a bit loose. Once they finished up, she quickly adjusted them as if nothing had happened. Next were push-ups, which Elsa and Winnie were great at. However, once they started lunges, Elsa had noticeable trouble with it. Each time she tried to bend a knee, she would let out a grunt in pain.

"Sorry, Coach, I don't think my knees bend that well," She groaned, slightly disappointed in herself. Shaggy wouldn't have any of her sadness and gently patted her on the back.

"Like, don't worry about it. We'll work on it. For now, go as far as you can before it hurts, you're doing great, Elsa." With a small smile, she nodded and continued. While she would barely bend her stiff joints, she still kept up with the others at that point on.

Their workout would go on for a little bit before Shaggy finally had all of them follow him around, going for a jog around the entire school. Naturally, Scooby ran by his side with the girls and the rest of the gang doing their best to keep up. Shaggy was quite fast, even when he wasn't going at full speed. The gang also took notes as to how the girls seemed to keep up. It wasn't much of a surprise to see the werewolf manage to keep up, even as she was running on all fours, right by Shaggy's side. Sibella wasn't too far behind, her speed not hindering her gracefulness as she took long strides in the air. Elsa would be keeping up by her side, her own strides quite powerful, if only due to her very muscular legs. Despite the fact her legs moved like a train, her arms stayed pinned to her side, almost casually. Phantasma seemed to be doing well too, if for the fact that she was floating, rather than actually running. Not surprising, since she was a phantom, after all. As for Tanis, she seemed to be doing her best to keep up. She was right behind Phanty, her legs doing their best to make sure she wasn't left behind, her bandages fluttering behind her some.

As for the humans, they seemed to hold up pretty well, especially Freddie. After all, he wasn't in too bad of a shape either. Daphne kept up with him, while Googie ran with Velma. While Googie could easily pass up the other two (she didn't become a cheerleader for no reason, after all), she decided to stick next to Velma, who didn't feel comfortable with leaving her behind.

The lap around the school would prove to be much longer than anticipated, as most of Mystery Incorporated seemed to be quite winded, resting against their knees. Shaggy, puffed a bit as well, resting his hands behind the back of his head as he turned to his class. "Alright, gang, let's rest a little bit and, like, we'll finish up!" Winnie was against her knees as well, panting a bit. From the looks of it, the run wasn't too bad, although from how she sounded, she definitely could use work on stamina. Sibella breathed heavily as well, trying to keep a somewhat noble composure. Elsa was bent over some, rubbing her calves. Tanis was doing Shaggy's move, hands behind her head, albeit she was panting quite heavily as well. As for Phanty, well... it was hard to describe. She was definitely panting like she was out of breath, even if it didn't seem like she was doing a lot. She did laugh a bit though, eyes shut tight as a hand rubbed at her forehead some.

"Haha..! That was fun, Coach! Oof... ehehe! What next?" The phantom giggled, acting as though she had a headache. Velma would take this moment, despite being quite winded, to walk over to the ghost.

"Uh, hey Phanty... phew... can I ask something real fast?" Velma began, trying to pace her breathing some.

"Sure thing, Velmy!" The ghost eagerly said, turning to face the bookworm. It was a bit odd how eager she was to give a sort of nickname, but she didn't seem to really mind.

Instead, Velma asked, "If you don't mind me asking, why does a ghost need physical education?"

"Oooh great question!" Phanty giggled loudly, clearing her throat in an overdramatic tone. "Since I'm a phantom, I move and touch by my own will! This means that I have to concentrate on my actions a lot, some more than others. Merely moving around has become second nature to me that I barely have to do anything! For some things, like moving objects and exerting my body in different manners, I have to think a bit harder on things like that!" The ghost was quite cheerful in explaining this, Velma nodding with her chin in her hand, studying the translucent blue girl.

"I see..." She decided against asking how the ghost actually... passed, thinking it may overstep boundaries a bit. Instead, she chose to ask, "What about eating?"

The girl gave a raspberry, waving her hand casually. "Oh,pbbfft, I don't actually have to eat anything. I choose to, because I looooove Miss Grimwood's cooking!" Velma merely nodded, not having much else to ask at this point. Afterwards, Shaggy had everyone finish up with a few stretches and deep breathing exercises before he ended their session.

"Like, great job everyone! Tomorrow, I'll see about getting us some time to, like, train for the volleyball match," He explained, leading everyone back inside the large building. Everyone was a bit exhausted, but had gotten over it somewhat as they all headed back inside.

Miss Grimwood would be waiting for everyone, leading them towards the laboratory. "Okay girls, next up is Mad Science!" Elsa seemed to give a big grin, the other students also quite excited. Much like this class, she allowed the humans to observe the class and watch what it was all about. Of course, none were so excited about it as much as Velma was. An opportunity to get a free science lesson? Who wouldn't take this offer?

As they moved into the lab, a flash of lightning would flash, a low rumbling of thunder soon following. "Looks like you finished your class just in time, Shaggy," Miss Grimwood began smiling a bit. "Sounds like a storm's starting up."

"Yeah, wouldn't wanna be struck by lightning," Googie replied in an offhand manner. Elsa peeked back, giving a sheepish grin and a shrug.

"Pity, I wouldn't mind." Googie blinked and slowed her descent into the creepy looking lab. Figures the Frankenstein-esque monster girl wouldn't mind lightning. The inside of the lab was very dark, illuminated by various gadgets, powered by lightning. Torches covered the walls, tables set up with cauldrons, beakers, and other laboratory equipment, laid out on the floor. On the left of a room, there were five desks set up in front of a simple looking blackboard.

Miss Grimwood allowed Mystery Inc. to use the desks, as the ghouls would be using the tables and the equipment first. As all the girls put on safety goggles and gloves, Velma grinned, watching with enthusiasm as she sat in the middle row. This was certainly going to be fascinating.

The deputy rolled along carefully in his car. The sirens remained off, as there was not an emergency he needed to be driving to, as well as to not draw attention to himself. His eyes were wide open as they scanned the road in caution. In his mind, a conversation that was held a few minutes ago played in his head.

The deputy stood in front of a fellow officer, talking with him about their current case. With a subtle motion with his head, the officer would jerk it towards a locked office. The blinds would be closed, the name scratched out with black marker. "So, has he come up with anythin' yet?" The officer would ask simply, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against an empty desk.

"Not yet," The deputy would reply, rubbing his chin a bit. "Well I mean, nothin' that'd make too much sense to us, anyways."

The officer would response with a chuckle, shaking his head. "When does that freakevermake sense, deputy?" The deputy seemed to smirk solemnly at his joke, taking a quick glance over at him.

"All I can tell ya is he's on some sort of trail. Not sure where it's leadin', though. Only time will tell that."

"Hope ya ain't waitin' too long. A man's died and the victim's family is worried. I doubt they're gonna be willing to listen to a weirdo talk about swamp monsters and other spooks," The officer said, sighing and shaking his head.

The deputy heaved out a heavy sigh, looking at the door of the locked door. "As much as I hate to say it, his knowledge may be needed for a case like this."

The officer co*cked an eyebrow, frowning a bit in response. "Ya don't think that school has somethin' to do with it, do ya?"

With a gaze back at the officer, the older deputy merely shrugged. "At this point, I'd say the only person willing to find out is him." He said, pointing a thumb towards the office. In that instance, the door slowly creaked open, making the two turn their head at it. They steeled their nerves for what the person behind the door would say.

That was how the deputy found himself driving in the forest, a passenger in the back seat remaining dead silent. Not that he minded too much. Any conversation would distract him from navigating the shoulderless trail. It wasn't any fun driving in this type of environment, the threat of a storm brewing above. When the forest seemed to open up a little bit, he slowed the car down to a halt. A feeling of dread slowly creeped up his spine into his consciousness.

"I don't trust goin' much farther than this," The deputy said, breaking the silence. "If anythin', this can wait until tomorrow, when the weather clears up." His advice was cut off by the sound of a seatbelt clicking and removing itself from the passenger, the door opening.

The deputy turned his head and watched as the man quietly left the car without a word, carrying a tote bag with him in tow. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it, merely shaking his head in indignation. He kept his eyes on his ex-passenger as he limped slowly and quietly off into the clearing, further and further away from the car.

With another shake of his head, the deputy sighed and began to turn his car back around, heading back to the station. The name of the destination the passenger requested still stuck with him. It was ever-so familiar, forced to be forgotten out of fear. Yet it came ringing in his head.

"Grimwood..." He mumbled to himself, slowly navigating through the woods once more.

Hours had passed since the Mad Science class had began. Miss Grimwood taught her students about various potions, letting them use knowledge from previous classes they had taken. It was quite interesting for the humans to watch as various colors, fumes, and sparks filled the air. It would come to no one's surprise that Velma was utterly enjoying herself. Elsa, of course, was a natural, although all of them looked like they knew what they were doing. An interesting event would occur when a drop of Phantasma's potion dribbled from her cauldron and onto the ground below, quickly sporting a large bouquet of nightshade flowers, which were collected by Miss Grimwood.

After the fun class of Mad Science, Miss Grimwood politely requested that Mystery Inc. move to the other side, as the next class would be math. The girls took their seats and allowed their lessons to continue. Unfortunately, monster math was just as dull as any other. The ghouls, for the most part, paid attention. The sole exception was Winnie, who slumped forward in her seat, eyes glossed over, as it appeared she had trouble staying awake. While the other girls weren't too enthusiastic about math, Sibella sat up straight, deeply invested. It should have come as no surprise, since vampires were known for being exceptional at counting, and by extension, arithmetic. Velma became noticeably, less interested (if for the fact that there was nothing she didn't already know), but still watched. As for everyone else, it wasn't long before they began to doze off.

After class concluded, Miss Grimwood took notice of the sleeping observers, Shaggy and Scooby snoring some. With a mischievous grin, she took a single finger and scraped her fingernail across the blackboard. The cacophonous screeching noise quickly woke everyone up, pushing their palms against their ears to try and hide from the noise. Winnie made sure to do the same beforehand, since her hearing was more sensitive.

Thankfully, by that time, it was lunch. As they all filed into the dining area, thunder continued to rumble lightly, small flashes of lightning flashing in the clouds. Miss Grimwood prepared everyone finger sandwiches, which were actually quite delicious. It wouldn't take long before Freddie was looking through his portion, hoping to not find anyactualfingers inside.

"Oh don't worry, I made sure to prepare your portions differently," Miss Grimwood reassured, waving a hand as she saw the slightly worried look on Daphne's face. Of course, a quick glance through the sandwich would only reveal tomato, lettuce, and a bit of cucumber. Naturally, Shaggy seemed to eat at least a dozen or so. While the food was indeed good, one thought couldn't help but poke it's way into Googie's head.

'Does that mean she used real fingers for the ghouls?'

She quickly shook her head and ate her sandwich, knowing better than to dwell on that. Throughout lunch, everyone seemed much more comfortable with each other, Velma and Elsa excitedly talking about the science class with each other, while everyone else shared different topics of conversation.

Soon after lunch, Miss Grimwood allowed the girls a free period/study session, letting them go off and study or train whatever they felt like needed to be done.

"Ooh! I'm gonna go practice my song writing!" The bubbly ghost laughed, quickly shooting up through the ceiling. A couple of seconds later, keys of an organ began to play throughout the building. While it would've sounded quite somber and very beautiful, it kept getting cut off here and there, Phanty's manic giggling filling in for the organ.

"I'll be off doing arithmetic problems," Sibella stated simply, heading up the stairs in a graceful manner. The door to her room was soon heard opening and shutting.

"I'm going to go tinker around a little," Elsa said, moving from her seat and heading to the lab. It wouldn't take long before Velma went to her side.

"Oh, okay if I watch? I'd like to see what kind of work you do," The glasses wearing girl said, beaming up. Naturally, the patchwork golem gave a wide grin and nodded.

"Feel free. I could always use some assistance." With that, the two headed off, letting the door to the laboratory close shut.

"I think I'll go brush up on some curses!" Tanis added cheerfully. It was quite a strange thing to hear a young teenage mummy say in such a happy tone, but no one stopped her as she made her way to her room.

"I'mgonna practice my volleyball skills!" Winnie added in, not wanting to waste any time in letting her abilities deteriorate. She looked up at coach, a wide smile showing off her rows of sharp teeth. "Coach, can you come observe my techniques to see if they're up to snuff?"

Shaggy gave a laugh and a nod. "Like, sure thing- woah!" In the moment he said yes, she quickly grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the school. Scooby tilted his head, quickly following his friend.

"Don't betoorough, okay?" Miss Grimwood called to her, shaking her head with an amused smile. "Rambunctious, that one."

Despite slight concerns arising from letting Shaggy be alone with Winnie or letting Velma be alone with Elsa, the rest of the group headed to a simple living room. Freddie and Daphne decided to pass the time by telling Googie a few more stories about past cases they solved. Even though they were all predictable to conclude, that didn't stop the blonde cheerleader to enjoy listening to them. She found their stories interesting to listen to.

The hour and a half was soon up, Miss Grimwood going upstairs to get Sibella and Phanty. She looked to the other three and smiled. "Would you three gather everyone else up in the lab? There's one more class for them to do."

They all agreed and split up in different directions. Freddie decided to gather up Elsa and Velma, knocking on the door. "Hey girls! Miss Grimwood's gathering everyone here for the next lesson!" Of course, for curiosity's sake, he opened the door and poked his body in some. Inside, he could see Elsa messing with some wiring on a table, Velma studying her as she did. After a bit of fidgeting, the wires sparked and a little line of light bulbs lit up. Elsa and Velma grinned widely and nod at each other.

"Awesome," The glasses wearing girl said. Elsa nodded and moved her goggles off of her face.

"Hopefully this will help add a more reliable light source for everyone here. I just have to work on expanding this out throughout the building," The sewn girl replied, turning her head to the door. "Oh hey, Freddie! We were just finishing up."

"Wow, did you make that on your own?" Freddie replied, leaning against the frame, his smile big and wide as he admired the work done.

Elsa seemed bashful, but smiled nonetheless. "Yup. Took a little while to get all the right components and everything, but I managed to do so."

"That's awesome! I'm somewhat of an engineer myself," He said pridefully. Of course, Velma grinned, rolling her eyes.

"Just be careful when you say the word 'trap' around him," She joked.

"Hey, I don't ramblethatmuch about them!" Freddie replied indignantly, being met with a small laugh from Elsa and another eye roll from Velma.

Daphne headed outside to get Shaggy, Scooby, and Winnie. She remembered her saying something about training for volleyball, so she knew she didn't have to look for too long. Thankfully, she saw three figures rushing around out near the graveyard. With the dark clouds circling over head, it wouldn't surprise the redhead when she felt a drop of rain hit against her face. She hurried out to where the three were practicing, calling to them. "Hey, Shaggy! Scooby! Winnie! Miss Grimwood says it's time for your next class!"

They stopped and turned to Daphne, the taller one giving an eager wave before racing over, the orange haired werewolf and large brown dog soon running after. Because of the rain coming in, they decided to go inside the school before talking.

"Phew..! Like, what a workout!" Shaggy panted, wiping his head. Up close, she saw that he looked a bit dusty and dirty, his hair an even bigger mess than usual. Winnie looked just about the same, her already wild curls looking even more so as she grinned up at her. Scooby also looked quite dirty, shaking his body to get any loose dust off.

"I'll say. Thanks a ton, Coach!" The girl barked happily, panting some as she walked towards the lab. Daphne turned to Shaggy, a smile evident on her face, an eyebrow raised.

"You look rough," She stated, dusting his shirt off some as he laughed awkwardly, fixing his hair a little.

"Yeah. Like, she's just a big ball of energy! I helped her out with saves and dives. You would notbelievehow quickly she learns," He beamed eagerly.

"Rinnie's a ratural!" Scooby proclaimed eagerly, his own tail waggling behind him.

Daphne nodded, giving a somewhat concerned look over him. A few scrapes on his arms seemed to make her wonder about something. "Are you worried that she may... well... be a bit too energetic?"

Scooby and Shaggy tilted their head, confused. "Like, how so? I know she's a bit overenthusiastic, but she only tackled me like, three times." To Daphne, that number seemed a bit too high.

"Miss Grimwood did say she was rambunctious. Are you worried she might injure you?" Daphne continued, walking with the two to the lab.

Shaggy waved his head casually, laughing a bit. "Nah! Like, she'd never think about doing such a thing. Not on purpose anyways."

Daphne shrugged and looked ahead once more. "Whatever you say."

Googie slowly poked her head into the basem*nt, peering around the dark room. "Tanis? It's time for your next class," She called down, slightly nervous. When she heard no response, she sighed, knowing she was going to have to go down. Thankfully, there were stairs, but unfortunately, there wasn't a handrail. Instead, the blond had to push her hand against the wall, slowly descending downwards and letting it guide her.

Quickly, she began to realize the stone tiles soon felt a bit... grainer and older. Googie turned her head and gasped, seeing that the walls were now covered in ancient hierogylphics. She observed them for a little before continuing down. "Tanis? You there?" She called again, slowly losing her nerve. It didn't feel cool, however. Surprisingly, it felt quite warm, as if to match the deserts of Egypt. The sound of sand shifting under her feet let her know she had reached the bottom.

As Googie peered around, she saw small piles of golden treasures scattered about here and there, twinkling slightly from the torches that covered the wall. A large sarcophagus rested against the farthest wall, next to a little display case. In the center of the room, the mummy stood with her back to the cheerleader. Googie remained silent, wondering what she was doing.

For a minute or two, she stood still, as if focusing her mind on something. Suddenly, without warning, her hands would open, the sand stirring and spinning around her feet. The blond could hear her chanting something in a different language, barely audible due to how quiet it was. Googie held her breath, seeing Tanis raise her arms up above her head. All around her, six small pillars of sand raised up with her, quickly contorting and morphing into cobras.

Almost immediately, the all turned to Googie and hissed loudly. This caused her to let out a loud yelp. This must've broke Tanis's concentration, as she quickly turned her head, eyes open and lowering her hands. In doing so, the sand cobras dissolved back into the ground.

"Oh! Sorry for scaring you, Ms Googie!" The little mummy girl apologized, quickly heading over and looking up. "I didn't know you were there," She continued, looking quite shy and guilty.

Googie regained her composure, smiling gently at her and rubbing her head some. "H-hey, don't worry about it. That was some impressive magic, regardless," She said. This perked up the girl, beaming up with her blue eyes.

"Oh thank you! I've been working on that one for awhile now."

The two walked up the stairs, Googie feeling quite comfortable around the adorable mummy girl. "How many types of spells like that do you know?"

"Quite a lot! I still have a ways to go, I think."

"Looks like you're doing an amazing job so far!" Tanis giggled bashfully, blushing through her bandages some. "Anyways, it's time for your class."

"Oh goodie! I love history of monsters!" Tanis exclaimed, picking up the pace a little as she kept moving up the stairs. Googie also hurried, not wanting to be left behind in a dark basem*nt.

Soon, everyone met back up in the laboratory, the ghouls sitting back in their desks. Elsa had put her lights up in a safe spot, so that she could come back to it at a later time. This lesson was quite interesting, as Miss Grimwood began to talk about the history of how curses actually came to be. Monster history was fascinating, especially to the young Tanis. She seemed to know the answer to just about every question that her teacher had for them. Naturally, Velma was quite fascinated with it as well, although the others seemed to like listening to these lessons as well. Knowing more about a different culture first hand is always an experience, after all.

The class would end eventually, Miss Grimwood letting everyone have a bit more free time while she prepared dinner. This time, because of the fact it was raining heavily outside, everyone decided to remain close together, already sitting themselves at the table, even if dinner wasn't ready.

Elsa, Freddie, and Velma happily shared ideas about various gadgets, Velma absorbing the workings of her previous inventions, as well as how the golem's body worked. Elsa didn't seem too disturbed in answering, even if it did squick Freddie out somewhat.

Googie was also fitting in surprisingly well, sitting between Phantasma and Tanis, talking about the various curses and magical monsters that impressed them the most. She also acted as a referee of sorts when they got into a debate over whether or not a nightmare curse should kill someone within the first night or not. While the topic at hand made her uncomfortable to a degree, the two girls were really friendly and nice, and most definitely not the types to just give someone a heart attack. She hoped not, at the very least.

Winnie seemed to be retelling the events of her free period with Shaggy to Daphne and Sibella, going into detail about how she saved every pass with her wolf like agility, adding in her own little sound effects from time to time. She even told about how each time she'd try to spike the ball, she'd overshoot the net and land on the lanky coach. Sibella giggled a bit while Daphne merely smiled a little.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were doing that on purpose," Sibella teased. A small flush of pink covered the werewolf's cheeks, her ears folding back in an annoyed manner.

"Quiet, batsy!" She barked, slightly embarrassed. Shaggy also looked away, smiling awkwardly as Daphne raised an eyebrow. To help break tension, she cleared her throat and sat back down, regaining composure the best she could. "Besides, with techniques like mine, we'll be able to beat those crappy cadets!"

Conversations kept on merrily in the dining area as the smell of something roasted wafted through the air. Miss Grimwood was in the kitchen, keeping an eye on the meat roasting over the fire while Matches made sure to keep a cauldron full of carrots and potatoes at a constant boil.

Everything seemed to be going well enough until a familiar white hand suddenly flew into the kitchen, tapping Miss Grimwood on the shoulder politely. She looked at the hand, raising an eyebrow curiously. As if to answer, the finger pointed fervently to another room. The headmistress stepped away from the meat. "Hm... Matches keep an eye on the alligator, and don't eat it!"

As the stout woman passed through the dining hall, a couple of people turned to her. "Hey, Miss G! Is dinner ready?" Phanty greeted eagerly.

Miss Grimwood shook her head, smiling gently to the ghost. "Not yet, Phantasma. There's someone at the door I have to see."

This seemed to confuse a few, but conversations continued. Daphne turned back to Winnie, but she noticed she hadn't looked back. The werewolf kept her attention to the room Miss Grimwood was headed, eyes narrowed as she focused on... something.

"Hey, Winnie, are you okay?" She asked suddenly, waving her hand near her face. Sibella and Shaggy looked confused at this as well, the others not taking notice at this. Her fur seemed to stand on end a little as she growled gently.

"Something smells off," She rumbled lowly.

"It could be the Colonel again, Winnie," Sibella offered, slightly surprised by how she was acting. Winnie merely shook her head, sniffing a couple more times.

"No... not the Colonel..." She said, keeping her eyes peeled in the next room. Her ears twitched a bit as they picked up minor bits of a conversation being held a few rooms over. She could just barely make out Miss Grimwood's voice, a low mumble of... someone else being barely audible to her.

Shaggy, Daphne, and Sibella shared a concerned look to each other before the woman came back into the room, clearing her throat to get everyone's attention. They all quieted up, looking at her expectantly. Only the group of four in the middle seemed put-off by this, unsure of what was going to happen.

"I hate to interrupt you all, but it seems as if we have another guest," She explained, her voice seeming just slightly unnerved, but not stopping her from acting like a grateful host.

No one knew what she really meant until a new figure stepped in, standing beside Miss Grimwood and dripping a bit onto the hardwood floor. Tension filled the air as Shaggy, Daphne, Velma, Freddie, and Scooby looked quite frightened. The rest were nervous as well, though not as much. Winnie's fur was still stiff as she scanned the body over with her yellow eyes. The figure wore sneakers, jeans, and a dark purple hoodie that was absolutely drenched in rain. His hood was up, shadowing his eyes.

The only part of his face that was visible was his wide, unnatural, grin.

Chapter 7: Investigation Party

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 7: Investigation Party

The emotion that seemed to run the highest was unease. It was hard to not have such a feeling when someone looks as menacing as the detective does. The freaky man pulled back his damp hood, having been caught in the middle of the rainstorm on his way to the school. As his face was revealed better, his long bushy hair spilled free. Despite his long hair almost covering his eyes, they were still quite visible to all, looking just as unhinged as they were when Mystery Inc. first saw him. They were still just as put-off as they were before, as well. It wouldn't take long before his eyes began to quickly look over everybody, scanning over the familiar and new faces in front of him.

It would be quite predictable to see Shaggy start to cower a little in his presence, Scooby hiding under his paws as he peered out timidly. Daphne and Freddie shared an uncomfortable glance to each other while Velma raised an eyebrow. While he was certainly creepy to behold, there was a reason he was here. She mentally began to chide herself, because it was the same reason they were there. For the most part, they hadn't done much for their own investigation.

A few of the ghouls were visibly shaken by the man's strange appearance. Tanis, naturally, was hidden behind Googie the best to her ability, peeking out from behind with a nervous gaze. Elsa was a bit more composed, although the raised eyebrow and apprehensive look on her face showed that she had no idea who this person was or what their intent happened to be.

Of course, not everyone seemed frightened of the detective. Naturally, Miss Grimwood wouldn't show much else on her face besides a courteous smile. She would be the only one allowing such a friendly exterior, though. Sibella was perhaps the most calm looking, a cold, analytic gaze on her face as her green eyes seemed to scan over him. Her instincts knew that there was something off about this man, but showing fear would only show weakness. Winnie was a bit more open with how she felt, her hackles on end as she glared at him through her yellow gaze, almost unblinking. Her growls were audible to only the people around her. One wrong move would surely have the detective end up on the bad side of a werewolf attack. The pet dragon had left the kitchen to see what was going on, not pleased with seeing the detective. Matches was not looking to put up with some stranger's crap, as he was growling much louder than Winnie was, his tail twitching in irritation as smoke puffed through his nostrils. If it weren't for the fact that Miss Grimwood was standing right next to him, he'd be toast.

Googie and Phantasma, for the most part, were confused. While the blonde had certainly seen the detective around before, she never really took him much into account. She merely thought of him as some random bystander. While he was definitely quite freaky and off-putting, she could only look puzzled by his appearance. Phanty as well, although she seemed less puzzled, and more intrigued. A weird fellow with strange eyes and a weird smile reminded her of herself, after all. Once the strange man gave everyone a quick once over, he opened his grinning mouth, to start speaking.

"So the rumors are true," He began, his gruff voice chuckling a bit. Before he could continue, he sneezed, quickly covering his face with an arm. With the sudden movement, everyone seemed to flinch at this, their confusion rising just a tad. This startled Miss Grimwood a bit as well, although for a different reason.

"Oh goodness, how longhaveyou been in that rain? Matches! Some assistance please," She gently ordered, taking a look at her pet dragon. A few turned to the dragon, curious as what she meant. Of course, he did so unhappily, not wanting to be associated with this kind of company. Still, he knew that Miss Grimwood wouldn't take no for an answer. The grumbling dragon made it's way over to the two, smoke pouring from his nose. The detective watched with a co*cked eyebrow, curious as to what would happen with the odd creature. One could almost mistake him for getting ready to spew out a fireball. Instead though, when he opened his mouth, very little flame came out. Instead, it almost seemed like a giant smoke cloud that enveloped the man.

The detective almost felt like he was in a sauna, a large warmth quickly drying him out. He let out a bit of a relieved sigh, shuddering some. Once the smoke cleared up, the detective was revealed once more, his hair frizzed up quite a bit. Phantasma managed to restrain a giggle, pushing her hand to her growing smile as the man merely shook his head and chuckled, fixing his hair up. He did look much dryer and more comfortable, as if he wasn't even in the rain in the first place. After the slight comedic moment, the detective continued speaking.

"I can see that you all took my advice in searching this school out," He spoke, directing his attention to Mystery Incorporated. "While the rumors of this school were kept somewhat hidden, I always figured it would be true. After all, why would anyone even talk about it if it didn't exist?" He chuckled darkly, putting his hands into his hoodie pocket.

At this point, his eyes began to scan over the ghoul students with vast interest. As his eyes darted from ghoul to ghoul (with a brief glance at Googie), he continued with his little talk. "So... what have you all found out?" The humans took another uncomfortable look at each other.

Daphne cleared her throat, finding her voice first. "Well, we haven't actually... discovered anything new right now." Her fingers fidgeted as she couldn't maintain eye contact with him, since he quickly moved his sights over to her. The detective's eyes narrowed very slightly, his grin not lessening.

"Hm, a shame. At least I haven't missed anything." At this point, Winnie finally managed to say something in between her low growls.

"What are you talking about?" Her eyes didn't leave his figure for one second, his own gaze turning to her. His smile flashed a bit more, although he sounded surprised in his response.

"You mean they haven't told you?" The detective sounded quite amused, although it was mostly because he got to see a werewolf first hand.

"I thought it was because Coach wanted to teach us again..." Elsa added, sounding somewhat disappointed, if nervous. After his eyes darted over to the tall flesh golem, his face looked a tiny bit more thoughtful, though no less excited.

"Hm, well that may behismotive," He began, flashing a gaze to Shaggy, who was now looking down in an uncomfortable manner, rubbing his arm awkwardly and trying to not look at anyone. "As for everyone else, they're here for a different reason." After a small pause of anticipation, the man blinked and continued on, saying, "I'm the homicide detective for the nearby town, and recently, someone was killed. And not by anything human."

Tension seemed to rise a bit, the ghoul's eyes widening some. Phanty, naturally, let out a loud dramatic gasp, Tanis's and Elsa's being a bit less loud. For Sibella and Winnie, their eyes merely widened. This did nothing to lessen the werewolf's menacing gaze on the man, while Sibella decided to speak up in defense of her schoolmates.

"If you don't mind me saying this, detective, but there is no reason for you to search around here," She began coolly, her bored gaze staring into his own wide eyes, which were now turned to her. The sheer cheek of her statement made a few others look at her, Miss Grimwood looking quite shocked as well. The man raised an eyebrow and she continued on. "I assure you that all of us here keep our distance away from others. We do not harm mortals." As she stared into his eyes, anyone observant enough would notice his left eye twitch a little.

The man's smile grew wider as he lifted a finger at her. "Vampire, correct?" Sibella gave a simple nod, not removing her own gaze. He tapped his temple a little bit with a dark chuckle. "You're gonna have to do better than that," He began. Most everyone at the table gave the vampire a confused look as she merely flipped her hair off of her shoulder. Miss Grimwood raised an eyebrow at her vampire student in bemusem*nt before the detective continued. "Anyways, while thatmaybe true, I still have a job to do. Your gracious headmistress has allowed me to stay as long as needed to conduct my investigation. As I'm sure she allowed you all," He said, flashing a smile to the human group.

Velma managed to find her voice as well, building up a bit of courage to speak to the odd man. "If it would help, we could assist you with anything we find."

The man looked to her and grinned, giving a little nod. "I'll be sure to return the favor." Before anyone else could say anything, he turned to Miss Grimwood. "If I may, I would like a small rundown of your building, if you please."

"But of course, detective," Miss Grimwood said, giving a little whistle with her hand. Soon, the floating hand and octopus butler would come in, his eyes seeming to brighten up at the sight of it. "If you could, please show this man around the school. I'll summon you all once dinner is ready." The man gave a final nod to the woman before limping away silently with the even stranger guides.

No sooner had he stepped out of the room did Winnie start voicing her complaints. "Jeez, who does this freak think he is? None of us steppedfootinto that town since we got here!" She scoffed, crossing her arms and eyeing the door frame.

"More importantly, do you all think we had a hand in whatever happened?" Elsa had asked, looking to Mystery Incorporated with an unsure look. Sibella was also studying over everyone, as if trying to get a read on them. The guilty faces they all sported seemed to be a bit of a giveaway, although it was more due to the fact that they hadn't told the girls for this fact alone.

"Of course not..!" Daphne began. "None of us honestly think that at all!"

"Like, yeah!" Shaggy continued, lifting his head up with a look of determination. "I've been around you all before, and none of you have, like, done anything harmful to anyone!" Scooby nodded in agreement, getting the same look on his face.

"Besides, we had no idea what kind of school this was until we got here," Fred added in, trying to muster up a comforting smile. "From what we've seen, we don't have any reason to believe any of you are behind this."

Velma nodded. "All we're looking for is a bit of information first hand. If anything, I'll bet that's the reason the detective is here too."

A few of them lessened their expressions, somewhat relaxed by these statements. Tanis looked around a bit, managing to use her shy voice to speak up and get everyone's attention. "...so does that mean none of us are in trouble?"

Everyone looked to her, Googie deciding to lighten her mood by gently rubbing the top of her head in a friendly manner. "I'm sure that you all will be okay. I bet that once he realizes that none of you are behind this attack, he'll leave and you'll be able to go on without worrying about it."

This seemed to comfort the mummy girl, as she nodded along with her. The cacophonous giggle of Phantasma rang out as she decided to try and be optimistic too. "Yeah, c'mon guys! Don't look so down! After all, none of us did anything, right? There's nothin' to be afraid of!" She said, shrugging the whole event off like nothing happened. At this point, everyone else had started to relax a little more, getting over the initial shock of the news. Despite this, however, Winnie was still somewhat indignant, though her face seemed less on guard and threatening and more huffy.

Miss Grimwood grinned brightly and made her way back into the kitchen. "There's the spirit! I have faith in you girls that you haven't done anything wrong. All I ask is to let any investigations from himandyour new friends continue on," She said, walking with Matches back into the kitchen. Before she stepped in, she turned and pointed to the human group, giving a bit of a warning gaze. "Just don't cause any harm, you hear?"

Mystery Incorporated nodded their heads, not even considering doing such a thing. Satisfied with this, she smiled again and headed into the kitchen. While the conversations became less lively, they were certainly less freaked out than they were before.

Googie was the first to speak, looking to Velma. "So, I'm gonna guess you all know him?"

She gave a nod, fixing her glasses. "Yeah, we met with him before we came down here. Hopefully he'll let us in on a few of his gathered clues before we begin our investigation properly." After saying this, the purple vampire spoke up.

"Perhaps we could be of assistance too?" She asked, tilting her head. "After all, who else would be a better expert in monster kind than monsters?"

"She's got a point," Elsa said, looking a bit thoughtful, resting her hand on her chin. "It wouldn't hurt to help out with this case. We can help out whenever our free time allows it."

"Hey yeah!" Phanty said, cackling some. "You all got to solve some cool mysteries, it'd be fun to find this out!"

"Yeah! We could always use more hands in a case like this," Freddie said, nodding along with her idea. Scooby also nodded, looking quite pleased.

"The rore the rerrier!" He barked eagerly, tail wagging some. Winnie rolled her eyes, but started to slowly smile as her own tail waggled a bit. Admittedly, the excitement of being able to hunt down some new guilty prey made her eager to want to join in as well.

"...y'know what? I'm game," She said, smiling to show off her sharp teeth. "Might as well, since everyone's wanting to look around here."

"I'll help too!" Tanis said eagerly, looking quite determined. "I don't want to let anyone down, but I know we'll be able to do everything we can to help!"

Sibella flashed a smile, showing off her fangs. "Fangtastic, so we're in agreement. Don't be afraid to let us know whenever we can assist." Shaggy chuckled and smiled brightly at these reactions, everyone else also quite impressed with how eager all the ghouls were to help with their monster attack mystery.

"Like, wow! It means a lot to us that you're all wanting to be a part of this," Shaggy replied, leaning back a little as Phanty giggled some.

"Well ofcourse, Coach! Anything to help our new friends!" Very quickly, the atmosphere became a lot more lightened, since everyone now had a mystery to solve.

"We should be done with this case in no time!" Daphne said happily.

...

No.

No no nono.

Who are these mortals that dare try and ruin my plans?

...

Ah.

They are all investigators of sorts.

Mere humans.

Easy to pick apart.

But what of the monsters?

...

I see.

Easy to control, from the looks of it.

One of them quite familiar to me.

Yes.

Very familiar indeed.

Let them play their games and have their fun for now.

Let them play detective.

It won't be long before they realize who's really in control.

The excitement from all the detective talk died down somewhat as Miss Grimwood stepped back out of the kitchen after a little bit. "Okay, the alligator is done roasting. Once we get the detective back in here, we'll start dinner," She explained, her expression in her usual, cheery voice. While a little bit skeptical, the others didn't seem too bothered by this notion. She went to the door frame connecting to the next room and let out a whistle. "Dinner's ready! Come on down, please!" It wouldn't take long before the disembodied hand lead the odd man back into the kitchen, who was still smiling as creepily as ever.

"Such an interesting place, Miss Grimwood. By the way, sorry if my entrance was rather... sudden," He explained, his eyes almost looking sympathetic. She shook her head and waved his statement off casually.

"Oh please, no need to worry. Couldn't have you remain out there, or you'd catch your death! Now please sit, dinner's ready." The man simply nodded and replied with a small 'thank you', finding himself an empty seat near the end. Even though they were all willing to assist in the mystery, many of them were still unsure of the man and his strangeness, keeping a small distance away from him. Not that he seemed to mind however, as he sat in silence, waiting patiently. Well, almost everyone kept a small distance away from him.

Phantasma decided to stay put, sitting across from him as she studied him over in curiosity. While she seemed much more bombastic than the detective, their wide eyes and wide grins seemed to almost match. With him, however, it made him look more creepy. Nevertheless, she began to bombard the man with questions. "So you help solvemurdersand things like that? That's super cool! I'll bet you've seen all kinds of gruesome stuff, like heads cut off! Ooh! Or someone with, like, 50 stab wounds and no feet! Or someone who had their entire guts spill out!" She rambled on excitedly. While the man merely nodded, the other humans were definitely disturbed by how cheery she was being about homicides like that.

As Googie started to look queasy, Sibella cleared her throat to stop her ghostly friend. "Phanty, dear, perhaps you could save this conversation for later? Weareabout to eat." With that, Phanty stopped talking, covering her mouth and giggling.

"Oooops! Sorry, guys! I think that death is an interesting topic though, seeing as how Iamdead!" The ghost girl giggled some more, shrugging off her own statement like she just hadn't said something that was somewhat depressing.

As the floating hand and octopus butler began to serve out dishes of the meal, the odd man merely chuckled a little, shrugging. "Same here. S'why I got into this line of work," He stated simply, eyeing over the plate of alligator. The others did so too, Shaggy and Scooby not hesitating to dig in. While it was quite a strange choice of meat, alligator wasn't uncommon to use in Louisiana. Googie seemed comfortable with eating it, although Daphne had minor qualms with it. Worrying about the taste and whatnot. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it just fine.

Slowly, over the course of dinner, conversations began to pick up again. It wouldn't take long before Winnie started confiding in volleyball techniques, looking for ways to dethrone the Calloway Cadets off of their high horse again. Naturally, being their coach, Shaggy would make sure to be a part of this conversation too. That is, when he wasn't shoving more food into his mouth. Velma seemed to be going over a few ideas on where in the school they would begin to look, Freddie and Daphne making sure to give a few suggestions on research as well. Googie joined in too, even if she didn't have a full clue of what to really do. After all, she was quite new to this investigation thing. Velma, at one point, wondered if they should bring the detective in on this, since he was just sitting and eating, not really making any noise. She figured he had his own ideas to go through, though, and didn't bother him.

"Hmm... isn't there a bog around here? Maybe we'd be able to find something around in there?" Freddie suggested at one point, patting around his pockets. "I thought I had a map on me... must've left it upstairs."

"A bog, huh? I think it'd be okay if we went there as a group," Daphne continued, thinking about it for a little. Elsa had cut in, looking a bit worried.

"Erm, I hate to interrupt, but I suggest you stay away from the bog. It's too dangerous of a place." At this point, the ghouls were kept oddly silent as they heard her talk about the bog. Shaggy, understandably, slowed down his eating as well, Scooby whining some. Only those two actually knew why they wanted to avoid that place, despite previously having enjoyed a small field trip there. After all, that was where Revolta had not only resided, but caught all the ghouls. Not a fond memory.

Velma seemed to pick up on this. "Does this have something to do with whatever the situation with the witch was?"

Everyone nodded, Tanis piping up. "Miss Grimwood won't even let us go near the bog anymore. Just to be safe."

The detective lifted his head up, co*cking his own eyebrow up a little. "Have any other witch problems lately?" He asked the smaller mummy, who gasped a bit as he suddenly spoke to her.

She stammered a bit and looked away awkwardly, shaking her head. "Uh, n-no! Actually, things haven't really been too eventful in those regards. Not that that's a bad thing, though," She added. The detective merely nodded, making a little statement before continuing to eat.

"Can't ever rule out dark magic, y'know."

"If that's the case, I say we do a little research of the immediate area. The building, the town, things like that." Velma continued, straying from the plan of exploring the bog. After all, whatever this witch was, it kept these girls from having to return to that place. Not a good idea to wander around in it and get lost, or worse, get pulled in by quicksand.

The rest of the dinner continued uneventfully, for the most part. Winnie, deciding to try and make everyone less uncomfortable, started trash talking the cadets, which the rest of the ghouls seemed to enjoy. The others also laughed, listening and enjoying their meal. The octopus butler cleared the table as everyone began to get up. It wouldn't take long for Phantasma to float over to the detective, talking to him once more.

"Oh my god, I just thought of something! We never introduced ourselves properly! I'm Phantasma, the phantom! And over there is Sibella, Elsa, Tanis, and Winnie! From what I see, you already know Miss Grimwood and the others!" She said, pointing out each classmate as she listed them. His eyes looked over each one briefly as she continued, turning back to her with his wide grin.

"Well, a pleasure to meet a real spirit, Phantasma. Never had the luck before," He said, trying his best to sound more friendly.

"Now you have!~" She said in a bit of a sing-songy voice. "What about you? We can't just keep calling you 'detective'! Too formal, y'know?"

The man merely shrugged. "It's all I usually go by. That orfreak," He added in, emphasizing the last word a little. Apparently that was a common nickname for people to give him. If he was trying to be dramatic or sardonic, it went right over the phantom's head.

"Ooh, gotcha. Nice to meet you, Freaky!" She said, giggling in her usual bubbly fashion. This didn't seem to bother him, his usual unhinged look upon his face.

"Likewise. Now if you'll all excuse me, I think I'll peruse a bookshelf for the night. I left most of my personal library at the office, sadly." He had said, moving towards the living room, looking through various books. Velma recognized a few of them he eyed over. After all, being ever the bookworm, she couldn't help herself but take a gander at them herself. He seemed to stand at the bookshelf for quite some time, moving his gaze from spine to spine, almost unblinking.

At this point, Freddie had walked over to him, curious about one little detail. "Hey, uh, detective?" He began, the other man's eyes looking over at him. "Are you going to be staying in our room?" While the blond didn't see any qualms with him sleeping with them, he did still find him quite... well, freaky. His fear was quelled a little when the man shook his head, returning his attention to the bookshelf in front of him.

"Nah, I don't think so. I'm a bit of an insomniac, so I doubt I'll be doing much sleeping. Besides, there's too much to explore around here," He replied, his grin widening into a smile, quite excited about getting to look around a monster school. The blond was confused by this, but didn't seem to press further. He still found the homicide detective quite freaky, watching him pull out a book (History of Grimwood), and start to scan through it excitedly, limping his way to a chair and settling in it, his wide eyes not removing themselves.

Freddie turned away, rubbing the back of his head as he went to his group of friends. "Man, and I thoughtVelmawas book-obsessed..." The group, as well as the ghouls, headed back into their rooms for the night. Tomorrow, even though classes were to continue on, they all had a new activity to look forward to.

...

You know what to do.

Summon forth my servant.

Urge them out.

Let them know my power.

And by extension, yours.

Not much longer now before we can begin our plans proper.

Such power.

Exciting, is it not?

...

Your mind shows... hesitation.

Hm.

Hm hm hm.

A shame that does nothing for you.

I apologize.

It will be done, regardless.

You should know this by now, yes?

...

Good.

Good good good.

Now go and do what must be done.

Morning came once again, everybody heading into the kitchen for breakfast. The detective was already sitting when the first occupants (predictably, Shaggy and Scooby) arrived. His eyes were glued to a rather thick book, that looked like a very long biography of a famous vampire. The bags under his eyes showed that he hadn't slept at all last night. Never the less, his smile was wide and creepy, his eyes wide open. The two hungry friends decided to not press about it, since they still found him quite creepy. It wasn't much longer before everyone else filed down to the table, one of them bound to ask about it.

Everyone seemed to take their usual spots, Googie joining the rest of the humans this time around to help discuss plans of investigating the school. A couple of the girls were listening in too, wanting to be a big part of it as well. Naturally, while Shaggy didn't have much to offer, he listened in as well. No point in being lost, of course. Their breakfast for the day was pancakes. The ghouls' had beetles cooked in the batter, but thankfully, none of the humans' had anything as strange.

Sibella took a glance at the detective's book, getting a bit of a smirk as she began to speak to him. "Reading about Prince Lioncourt?" She asked, somewhat amused. The man nodded and glanced up with tired, yet wide eyes.

"Oh yes. I've never had the fortune of meeting Lestat personally, but he was always such an interesting topic, especially around here." He slowly closed the book, tilting his head at the vampire. "Is he your father by any chance?"

Sibella let out a bit of a laugh, shaking her head. "Oh, no. I am the daughter of Count Dracula," She answered. His eyes seemed to bug out a bit more, his smile widening (if that was even possible).

"The big man himself? Amazing... tell me, what is he like?" He asked, sounding a bit more excited.

Sibella merely shrugged, taking a small bite of her stack of pancakes. "Regal, for the most part. A bit stuffy for my tastes. Lately, however, I do believe he's going through a sort of... 'mid-death crisis'?" She ended her sentence with a bit of a giggle. "Lately, he's given up on his racing passion and has instead been occupied with different ways to decorate his castle."

Before the detective could ask about the castle, Googie turned over, smiling uncomfortably. "Heh, uh, that'll be something I'll have to talk to you about later..." Sibella gave an curious look, raising an eyebrow as Shaggy laughed nervously.

"Like, yeah. Let's just say that the last open house I was at wouldn't be the last time I saw him." Mystery Inc. shared a bit of an uncomfortable look, realizing that the awkward conversation about her father would arise sooner than expected.

"Coach, what do you..?" She began, being cut off with a wave of his hand, smiling nervously.

"Hey, don't worry about it too much! For now, let's finish up breakfast and we can, like, get started with our training." A few ghouls shared confused and concerned gazes, Sibella not removing her imploring green eyes from him. When it became obvious he wouldn't continue, she sighed through her nose and returned to her breakfast. While the rest of the freelance detectives continued to plan, already knowing about the whole story, the detective studied over Shaggy some, one eye narrowed. This put off the lanky man, though after a bit, the weird man merely shrugged and returned to his book, not eating anything.

Soon after breakfast, Shaggy and Scooby had all of the ghouls head outside with him. While Velma, Daphne, Googie, and Freddie decided to stay behind, the detective followed them out, with a promise of staying out of their hair while they exercised.

The rest of the investigators remained in the living room, going over their plan. "Okay, so the first thing we need to do is get a slightly better feel of this place. The more we're aware of our surroundings, the easier it'll be to recognize something out of the ordinary," Velma began to explain.

"Didn't we already see most of the school already though?" Googie asked, scratching the back of her head some. Velma responded by nodding and smiling gently.

"A little bit, but it wouldn't hurt to look closer. Besides, an old mansion like this is bound to have secret entrances and other hideaways."

"Perfect places for hiding any evidence!" Freddie concluded, getting a surge of enthusiasm. After all, who wouldn't be excited to find secrets.

"With a house as big as this," Daphne began, waving her arms to accentuate just how big the living room in and of itself was. "We'd better get started then. Who knows how long we'll be looking?"

As they began to split up around the living room, searching through bookshelves and under chairs and tables, Googie spoke up again. "Do you suppose any of the girls know of any hiding spots?"

Velma, who was on her knees, looking inside of a fireplace, turned her head. "Probably, though we'll wait to ask them when they're done with their classes. After all, it'd be wiser for them to stay focused on their education."

Freddie, who was flipping through books for emptied out pages hiding away a key, smirked and glanced over at his sweater wearing friend. "Not surprising you'd say something like that, Velma." The others laughed a bit with his joke, Velma wiping her glasses off with a small smirk and shrug.

Outside, Shaggy had the girls start with their usual stretches, exercises, and a lap around the school. They seemed to keep up slightly better than they had yesterday, but it was still quite a distance around the school. When they circled back to where they started, they found the detective scribbling something in a notebook. He was on a knee, looking at the prints they had left while running. For now, they wouldn't let that bother them, as he was staying a distance away from them, observing them some as they continued.

Okay, maybe that bothered them a little, but they didn't have time to dwell on that. Shaggy had walked them towards a practice net, where a giant spider had just crawled off, heading back into the nearby woods. "Like, thanks Legs!" He called to the arachnid, turning to the girls. "Alright, so today I'm gonna have you all practice against me and Scoob so we can get a feel for your volleyball skills. I already did a bit of it with Winnie yesterday, but, like, the point of this is to see where we can work off of!" Winnie flashed a smile as he mentioned her, the other girls nodding at this.

"Yeah! Maybe eventually you can teach us all kinds of awesome tricks, right Coach?" She asked eagerly. He laughed and nodded, raising his hand to calm her down some.

"Maybe eventually! Like, for now, let's just stick with the basics," He explained, bending down to pick up a nearby discarded volleyball. "Now, like, who wants to go first?" Naturally, they all pushed their hands up to the air, making Shaggy start to think a bit, putting his hand on his chin. "Hmm... okay how about this! All of you will go against me at the same time! It'll be a simple rally, and I'll call out who the ball will go to. They'll, like, pass it back to us, and we'll keep going for awhile. Understand?" With a chorus of 'yes, Coach!', he nodded and moved to one side of the court, the others forming to the other.

At first, he had the girls serve the ball, starting with Sibella. The rally lasted for a good bit as he passed it back to Phanty, floating over to the ball and returning it to the Great Dane. Scooby then passed it to Tanis, who just barely managed to hit it over the net back at him. "Good job, but like, put more power behind your hits!" Shaggy added in before passing to Elsa. Despite not seeming to do much with her arms, the ball still went up into the air...

...and for a few seconds, Shaggy waiting, looking up at the grey sky. "...well, uh, great job, Elsa, but maybe not that much power?" He suggested. Soon, the ball came back down and landed right at her feet. "And like, maybe substitute that power for distance?"

Elsa lifted the ball, looking somewhat embarrassed. "R-right, Coach. I'll work on that." With an encouraging smile, he nodded and let her serve the ball. She did much better this time, focusing more on getting the ball over the net, rather than getting it in the air. Of course, it still went pretty high, causing Shaggy to have to run towards the ball before hitting it back over. "Winnie, this one's yours-" He began, his sentence cut off as the werewolf dashed over, kicking up dust behind her. Right as it tipped to their side, she jumped up and spiked the ball down as hard as she could. Naturally, this caused a bunch of dirt to kick up as the ball rocketed at the ground.

A wave of dirt covered the girls and Shaggy, who stood there in shock. Soon, they began to shake it off of them, Winnie giving a nervous laugh. "Heh... uh, too hard?"

Shaggy coughed up some dust, moving towards the ball and clearing his throat. "Well, like, that'soneway of hitting it back. For now let's, like, focus on passes, Winnie." While not looking too embarrassed, she still gave a small smile, rubbing her arm.

"Right. S-sorry, Coach." With that, the lesson continued. Shaggy kept spouting off some advice for the girls as they kept the rally going for quite awhile. A few times, the ball would drop to the ground, but this never seemed to bother their coach. His advice for that would be to let them know to watch where he was going to serve the ball.

Eventually, class would end and Shaggy began to lead them all inside, the detective silently following them in. His notebook was under his arm, having collected whatever information he needed. However, as he passed the werewolf, he began to whistle a certain Van Halen song in a teasing manner. Phanty, being the musically inclined one, held her hands to her mouth to stifle her laughs as Winnie's ears folded in annoyance, glaring at the man. She did feel her face grow warm, but they didn't need to know that.

For now, the ghouls had another class, and the two human men made their way back to the group, who were resting on the chairs and couch, looking somewhat defeated. "Like, what's going on?" Shaggy wondered, wiping his sweaty forehead.

"Would you believe that we haven't foundonesecret passage in this living room?" Freddie groaned.

"Yeah, we tried all over this room, and couldn't even find a button," Daphne added. While Scooby and Shaggy shared a look at each other, the detective raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure you checked every inch? Because if they wanted to keep these secret rooms... secret, then they wouldn't make the switch something obvious," He added, trying to be helpful. Velma, on the other hand, sighed and shook her head.

"Trust me, that thought came to mind half an hour in. We tried pushing against every single brick, floorboard, and candle. Not one of them budged." With that, he began to think as well, a hand under his chin as he grinned.

"Hm. Perhaps there isn't anything else here than. There are plenty of other rooms to go."

"For now, we need a bit of a break," Daphne said, stretching some in the couch.

"Feel free, guys. I'm gonna go observe another mad science class," Velma added, smiling as she stood up and walked towards the lab. She was soon joined by the grinning man, eyes wide in excitement. This sent shivers down her spine, but allowed him to follow.

"Oh, mad science? Definitely a must see," He began, opening his notebook to an empty page, pen already poised in his hand.

The others watched them walk into the lab, Freddie speaking up again. "So uh, after a small break how about we go look around in the foyer? There's bound to be something there." With an agreement from the rest, they knew that their investigation was far from over.

Chapter 8: Using Your Noodle

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 8: Using Your Noodle

When one observes a class called "Mad Science", one must always expect the unexpected. After all, creating life as if you were God already crosses the boundaries of ethics and morals, regardless of what you do with your abilities. It can't be blamed too badly in this context, however. Monsters learn differently, it seems, and if a perversion of science is what helps them with their education, far be it from Velma to judge them. With that being said...

"Do you suppose those are human brains..?" She asked the detective quietly, leaning towards him as her eyes remained glued to the lesson. The reason she asked wasn't because she was unsure if they were really human brains, of course. She was smart enough to know they were in fact real. She had merely asked out of sick curiosity, a second question forming in her brain to ask later. 'Where did they get them in the first place?' Miss Grimwood had assigned the girls to create something with their given specimens. Before the class ended, they would show off their projects and allow everyone to see what they had created. A gruesome and macabre project to be sure, even if it was quite creative.

The creepy detective had his notebook open, eyes quickly moving from his pages back up to the girls working before darting back down, his hand continuously scrawling numerous diagrams and words on his pages in vast interest. Upon being asked by the bookworm about the authenticity of the brains, his hand stopped for a little so he could move his eyes over at her. His already wide grin formed into a toothy smile, letting out a couple of dark chuckles before moving back to his notebook. Velma whispered a small "Jinkies..!" to herself, definitely freaked out by both the detective's answer and what was going on in front of her.

Elsa, naturally, had taken to the project like a fish to water. It wouldn't be long before she examined her given brain, using measuring tools to determine the size of it. After quick measurements, the Frankenteen had decided to dissect it, using a scalpel to cut the brain in a state that showed off the two hemispheres so she could examine the insides for closer inspection. Once she determined that the brain itself was quite healthy, she began to sew it back up, not unlike how her own stitches were. Using various sized wires and plugs, she would route some sort of system, connecting various regions to each other. After that, she gently held the wired organ, moving over to a miniature tesla coil. With one hand gently cradling her 'invention', the other one reached out, a finger extended. A bright flash of electricity would quickly form to Elsa's finger. While it didn't seem to effect her, the electricity also inducted into the brain, making it shudder and smoke some. After a couple of minutes, she removed her hand and let the brain rest on her work table, moving around to scrounge for something else. Of course, everyone was quite interested in what she was doing, even if they had their own project to take care of. Eventually, she'd wire an old telegram up to the brain, making sure it was in working order. In no time, the telegram went to work, beeping out a message in morse code. Elsa, as well as the detective made sure to quickly jot down the message it was rapidly putting out.

.- ... . .-. . / .- - / .. / - ... / -. - -.. / .- ... -.- / -.-. .- -. .-. - / .. / ... . . / - .-. / ..-. . . .-.. / .- -. -.- - ... .. -. -. / .- ... .- - .-. ... / -. - .. -. -. / - -.

The message would continue on in the same manner, beeping out into the classroom. While the detective began to translate the messages, Velma's eyes continued to scan over the other students' handiwork. For Sibella, her project would have similarities to Elsa's, although instead of wiring, her brain would be connected with clear surgical tubing. Carefully using a syringe, she would inject blood into it, simulating a blood stream into the organ. Oddly enough, the brain seemed to react a lot like a heart would, in that it would begin to pulsate somewhat, steadily keeping the blood going. Velma had no idea how this was possible, but found it better to not ask questions about this sort of ordeal.

Phanty, for the most part, seemed to be shoving various bits of metal into the brain in front of hers, with seemingly no goal in mind. It was quite weird and disturbing to watch her prod around with a metal fork in a region of the brain before shoving what looked like a long metal pin into it, connecting numerous wires from each pin to one another in a haphazard manner. Whatever the reason, it managed to make... something happen. Holding up two fingers on each hand, she'd reach down at the brain and begin prodding at each different part of the brain. Somehow, the vibrations of it elicited a weird noise, almost like a garbled, echo-y squish. Rubbing her fingers along it would change the pitch of the odd noise. Soon, Phantasma was playing her own little brain theremin concerto, giggling wildly to herself. This got the attention of everyone else, the detective even stopping his scrawling to stare at the odd scene.

"...okay,nowI want to know how this all works," Velma murmured to herself, hand resting on her chin as she saw the detective draw a diagram of the brain theremin. The only thing close to words on the page would be numerous question marks.

Tanis, thankfully, did something that made slightly more sense than whatever the phantom was doing. Any pins and wiring that would be connected into the brain would be much more organized. Unlike the phantom, though, the mummy girl pushed two old fashioned glass tubes into either side of the brain, making sure to connect them. After figuring out how to connect an alarm clock to the front (with the help of Elsa), she would soon succeed in making something like a potato clock, only instead of a potato, it was a brain.

Winnie, for the most part, looked very unsure as to what to do with her brain. She never felt like the creative kind, so for half of the period, she would be nudging and poking the squishy membrane with a claw in a bored manner. At one point, she had connected a single wire into an area of the brain, connecting the wire into a switch and flicking it on and off, watching the current shoot through the brain and watching it react. After the third or fourth time of doing this, her eyes lit up as an idea hit her. With a scalpel in hand, she began to cut various lines throughout the brain, pushing in more wiring and connecting it to the switch. Near the end of the period, she had created what looked like a weird brain flower that would fold and move like a kinetic sculpture when she flipped the switch.

Miss Grimwood was quite impressed with what everyone came up with, praising their work as she had them put them upon a shelf for display purposes. As the detective continued to scrawl in his notebook, his smile still as wide as the day is long, Velma walked over to Elsa, making sure that the telegram was properly set up so it wouldn't fall off the shelf. "That's... quite a creation you made, Elsa," She began, trying her best to put on a polite and not at all creeped out smile.

The flesh golem girl flashed a sheepish smile at her, shrugging. "Thanks for saying so, Velma. Truth be told, I didn't really know what else to do with it."

As morse code beeped out continuously, Velma nodded and looked at the brain. "I know it's not my place to say so, but doesn't it seem a little... inhumane to keep them alive like that?"

Elsa shrugged, nonphased by such a notion. "Perhaps, though it's not like they're connected to anyone anymore. No pain receptors of any sort." She pointed at her project and continued to explain through the morse code. "You see, I connected spasms created from the hippocampus, so it can communicate with it's past memories. It can't hear or learn anything new, though, so it's only going through confused repetition at this point, I believe." Her explanations were slow and methodical, a hint of pride in her own work. "Don't worry, if it gets too annoying to deal with, I'll just disconnect the telegram."

Velma blinked at how nonchalant Elsa was about this whole thing. She supposed that the more you're around the macabre and weird, the more used to it you get. Her eyes drifted towards the other brains... and then to the detective. She looked back at Elsa and nodded a little. "I see. Well, I won't keep you from your next class," She ended with a small smile, which her friend returned before heading to the other side of the room with her friends.

As Velma walked back towards the exit, the detective shut his book and put his pencil into his pocket, walking with her. "Well that was quite interesting, yes?" He asked her curiously.

"Definitely interesting," She replied, feeling unsure if that was a good thing or not. To help get her mind off of the weird scene, she looked back at the detective. "Come on, let's see if the others have made any progress in finding a secret entrance anywhere yet."

"Have we checked under the stairs yet? Maybe there's a hidden cupboard or something."

"Like, sorry, no hidden rooms there."

"Check under creaky stairs, then! There has to be something under one of those, right?"

"No ruck rith the rug..."

The group of five had been searching around the foyer for the entire hour, slowly growing more and more frustrated with their lack of findings. Freddie was leaning against the stairwell, scratching the back of his head as he looked around the room in confusion. Googie was sitting on the stairs themselves, doing the same as Shaggy felt around the side, looking closely for hidden doors. Daphne and Scooby were finishing up pulling a rug back into place after having looked underneath it.

"Maybe there justisn'tany secret passageways around here," The redhead sighed, shaking her head and putting her hands on her hips.

"There are still plenty of other places to search, at least," Freddie continued, looking thoughtful as he rested his chin in his hand. "I could've sworn there would've been some sort of secret room here, though. The two largest rooms in the building and nothing!"

Shaggy stood straight up, stretching a little after having spent the last few minutes crawling on the ground. "Like, I dunno about you guys, but I think it's time we took a little break. We've been at this for, like, a good couple of hours," He sighed, leaning against the rounded top of the newel. As he did so, though, his hand pushed against the top, making it open up, in a sense. Because of this, the lanky man lost his balance and stumbled forward, gripping onto the post for support. "Zoinks! Hey, like, what's this?"

The others moved over to where Shaggy stood, surprised with the sudden development. Like a hidden compartment of sorts, hidden underneath the round post was a small hook with a single, small key. Etched into the wood near the hook was a symbol, that could best be described as a spiral with a single line going through it. Googie helped Shaggy stand to his feet as Fred gathered the key, a big happy grin forming on his face. "Alright, progress! Great find, Shag!"

"Now all we have to do is figure out where that key goes to, right?" Googie asked, looking over to the other blond, who nodded.

"Does that mean we'll have to search through the whole school again?" Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow. The thought of going on a wild goose chase for a key hole that may or may not even be located inside the house did not thrill the red head any more than it did looking for a secret in the first place. Still, it was nice to have actually found something.

"We may need to, Daph," Fred explained, still keeping the key in his hand, not wanting to lose it.

"Rucky rind, Raggy!" Scooby barked, looking up at his tall friend, who chuckled and started to scratch his head. Soon enough, Velma and the detective came walking to the huddled group, having just left the laboratory. Both of them quite curious as to what they had just discovered.

"I take it you all found something of interest?" Velma asked, a smile on her face as she looked in to see the new clue. Freddie presented the key proudly, beaming as his friend exclaimed out, "Jinkies! How'd you all find that?"

"Shaggy over here knocked over a stair post and revealed it to us," Googie explained, pointing over to the newel, which was still opened up. Velma examined it, fixing her glasses a little as she inspected the symbol inside.

"Do you think that could be a clue to where the key goes?" Daphne asked, watching as the detective soon scribbled down the drawing on a blank page in his notebook.

"Could be..." Velma mused, moving to shut the newel back. Who knows if they were even supposed to find this in the first place? Best to keep their discoveries as conspicuous as possible.

"Like, I wonder how long we'll have to look to find out where that key goes?" Shaggy asked, already feeling mentally exhausted just thinking about it. After all, the building was indeed quite big, and searching through every nook and cranny for a little keyhole sounded like a daunting task.

"We probably won't have to look too far," The detective added, his smile seeming to grow as he formed an idea. "I believe I've seen that symbol before." The others looked at him expectantly, though instead of immediately explaining to them, he began to walk back into the living room, curling a finger to have them follow. After sharing a quick glance to each other, they followed.

Soon, the group of investigators were standing in front of a bookshelf, the weird man's finger soon scanning over each book spine. After a few seconds, he pulled out a rather thick, worn green leather bound book. "Look here, on the cover," He said, pointing to the front. Embossed on it was a similar pattern, a title written in a different language.

"Woah! Is there anything in there?" Googie asked curiously, tilting her head. Soon, he began to flip through the pages of the book, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Velma and Daphne, meanwhile, began to look over the bookshelf again, checking it out to see if there was anything hidden.

"...hm, nothing unusual besides the language written..." The detective tutted, shutting the book, his smile lessening considerably.

"Hey guys, check this out! I think I see something," Daphne called. The group was soon back to the shelf, Velma starting to carefully pull books out of the shelf and setting them to the side. Behind the books would be a very small key hole, hidden from view by all of the strange books in place.

"Now we're getting somewhere! C'mon gang, let's see what'll happen," Freddie began, holding the key out and extending his arm into the shelf. Shaggy gulped, looking about as nervous as his dog was.

"Like, careful Freddie! There might be a reason why the keyhole and it's key was hidden away!" Scooby concurred, nodding as he hid behind his tall friend.

"Relax, Shaggy. I doubt that if anything were alive in there, it'd still be alive," Googie reassured, patting his shoulder gently. Velma however, thought aloud with a hand on her chin.

"Not necessarily, Googie. Rats, bats, snakes, spiders, and all sorts of insects could be living in a closed off room for years without being discovered..." The strawberry blonde turned to Velma, scowling a little, but obviously unnerved.

"...thanks, Velma," She muttered, making sure to stick close to the even more shaken foodie, who was also not fond of running to a large group of rats or snakes. Before he could make any sort of protest though, a loud click was heard. Freddie had turned the key into the hole, quickly stepping back as even more, smaller clicking noises emitted from somewhere behind the shelf.

The gang waited out the noise, some sort of machination working and moving around, hidden somewhere underneath the floorboards. Soon enough, the floor stopped it's clicking as the book shelf slowly opened outwards. Freddie and Shaggy helped tug the shelf out more, being careful not to do it too quickly so the books wouldn't fly out. Everyone gazed inside, seeing another small, stone staircase leading downwards into a very dark room. A few roaches spilled out from the cracks of the wall, skittering out into the room and hiding away. Scooby and Shaggy let out an audible shudder. Googie looked between everyone as a cold chill from the unknown room below spilled out onto the group. "So uh... who wants to go first?"

Without hesitating, the detective began his descent down into the room, not saying a word. The others gulped as Daphne pulled out her phone, quickly utilizing it's built in flashlight. "If we're gonna explore it, might as well be able to see..." The others soon followed her lead, slowly following their strange new companion. Daphne, of course, stuck to Freddie's side, while Velma, Scooby, Googie, and Shaggy moved closely as one group.

They all soon reached the bottom, everyone shivering lightly from how surprisingly cold the room felt. They flashed their lights in different directions, taking in what they saw. Along the walls of the room were gas lamps, dusted and covered in cobwebs after years of not being used. None of them were even sure if this placehadgas. On the floor, covering all three walls were more bookshelves, although instead of reaching up to the ceiling, they reached up to about their hips. They were also quite dusty, although there were also numerous instruments that looked like they could have been used for witchcraft. A mortar and pestle, an opened spell book, various runes scattered about, a deck of tarot cards left out in the open, and a cracked crystal ball were some of the few items laying around.

"Jinkies! This must've been a secret room used for spells and potion work. The question is, why was it hidden away..." Velma said, eyes wide in surprise as Shaggy and Scooby shook in place, hoping that nothing would jump out at them.

Freddie and Daphne watched the detective in front of them, as he was just standing in the middle, not moving an inch. "Hey, are you okay?" Freddie asked, flashing his light to the back of his head. The man slowly tilted his head towards them, eyes wide as usual, grin as big as it can be.

"I believe we've found a lead. Take a look downwards."

In their haste to glance around at the walls, they had all neglected to look downwards. When they all did so, they all gasped exclaimed in surprised. In the middle of the room, drawn in some form of dark colored chalk or paint was a summoning circle.

Sibella's eyes never wavered from the blackboard in front of her as Miss Grimwood kept up her explanation of calculus basics. While the same definitely couldn't be said for her werewolf friend, who was just about ready to fall forwards and pass out from boredom, the vampire's mind was elsewhere. While she would've preferred it to stay focused on the lesson at hand, she found it quite difficult to ignore the thoughts in her mind.

The reason being because of the fact that her dreams were plagued with fire, as it was the night before she left for Grimwood's. Fire, evil laughter, screaming... and the worse part of it was that half of the time, she would've even be able to see anything, which was quite unusual for a dream. Figments that were not visible, but were audibly quite real. It also didn't help that she could almostfeelthe flames engulfing her body. To make matters even worse, it was mixed in with the sensation of being stabbed and sliced by what felt like waves of knives. It took most of her willpower to not immediately start screaming as she finally managed to wake herself up. A quick glance over her body afterwards confirmed that she was not injured. Not physically, anyways. It was not normal for her dreams to feel so... real.

"...-bella? Sibella, did you hear me?"

For what seemed to be the first time in a few minutes, she blinked, the voice of her teacher bringing her back into the conscious world. The first thing she would process was the fact Miss Grimwood was staring at her, arms crossed as she had a stern, yet patient, look on her face. Apparently, she had asked a question and expected the vampire to be quick to answer, as she usually was. Either that or she finally took notice of her eyes glossed over, lost in thought.

A quick glance around the room would reveal that the other students were curious about Sibella's silence. Usually, with her answers, she'd be helping everyone understand the material better, or at least be able to follow along. Even Winnie seemed a little more alert by not having her daze snapped out of by Sibella's explanations of mathematics. Naturally, being ever the graceful one, she quickly composed herself, clearing her throat and answering as if nothing was wrong. "Ah, pardon me, Miss Grimwood. I believed I zoned out a little. Been awhile since I've last had sustenance, you see," She explained calmly. She felt like it wouldn't be wise to make anyone nervous about her dreams, though. At least not yet. Sibella thought that if they persisted, she would come forward about them.

Miss Grimwood raised an eyebrow, finding her answer somewhat satisfactory as she smiled and continued her lesson. "Well, lunch is after this class, so we'll be sure to find something for you. Until then, could you answer the question on the board?"

Sibella nodded and provided the answer, almost effortlessly. With that, the lesson continued, the vampire finding her focus working back towards the lesson. The other girls, while turning back, would now begin to worry for their friend. It was definitely notlikeSibella to act like that, even when she hadn't had blood lately. There was something wrong, and it didn't seem like she wanted to let them know about it just yet. A silent gaze shared between the other four let them all know that they'd have to ask about it when they had private time.

The investigation team couldn't help but stare downwards at the circle for awhile. Inside the circle, besides the odd detective, was a star, drawn in to match that of a pentagram. Unreadable symbols were also around the circumference, though oddly enough, there weren't any candles. A closer look from the team brainiac, however, saw small circles, possibly made from wax. If there were any candles, who ever set them there had removed them.

"Jeepers! Does this mean..?" Daphne exclaimed, trailing off her sentence. She honestly hoped that it wasn't something satanic, but with a slow nod from the ever grinning man, everyone would become quite shocked.

"Zoinks..! Like, do you suppose whatever was brought in is still lurking around?" Shaggy nervously asked, holding his scared dog in his arms as usual.

"Relax, guys, I don't think it's still here. At least, I hope not," Velma added, fixing her glasses and bending to the ground to get a better look at the circle. The detective and Freddie had done the same thing, both of them gently rubbing their finger along it.

"Jeez... this feels kinda sticky. It's also kinda... metallic. Is this...?" Freddie began, his eyes widening in fear of what he was touching. The detective nodded once more, sniffing his own fingers for confirmation.

"Blood. A thick amount of it too. Not surprising, since it's so cold," He said in his usual low voice, eyeing over the pattern of it all, almost appreciating it. Googie couldn't but imagine him putting his fingers to his mouth, tasting it. That nauseated her and decided to think of something else.

"Can you tell if it's... human?" She asked, starting to eye over her body a little, just in case whoever drew the circle happened to take it from her. Thankfully, she saw no scars or needle holes. Still, the case of where the blood even came from was still something that she felt like she needed to know.

The man glanced up and merely shrugged. "Googie, was it? Most blood smells the same. Whoever did this could've used any nearby wildlife. Wherever they got the blood, they did an amazing job with what they were doing..." He trailed off, giving the pentagram another admirable look before standing. A couple rolled their eyes, everyone slightly creeped out by his comment.

"Do you think we should let someone know?" Daphne pondered, using her phone flashlight to take another quick look around. "Even for a place like this, I doubt this is normal."

"Would it be wise to point this place out to the ghouls, or even Miss Grimwood?" Velma thought aloud, turning to look to her red-headed friend. "After all, whoever hid the key away did a pretty good job of making sure this room wouldn't be found. What if we tip off the culprit on accident and they make sure to keep the key hidden next time?"

Everyone shared an uncomfortable look, the detective raising an eyebrow at this. "Velma, are you implying that... this was the work of astudent?" Freddie asked, looking perplexed. However, before she could answer, a different voice interjected into the conversation.

"Like, hold on a second! There's no way any of the girls did this." Shaggy's nervous waver was still present in his voice, although it was taking a back seat to his slight indignation. "I've, like, known these girls longer than anyone else here, man. While they do like a bunch of freaky, weird stuff, they, like, wouldn'teverconsider something like this!" It somewhat surprised everyone to see Shaggy show his support in such an assertive manner (well, assertive for Shaggy, at least). His dog, still clinging onto his neck, nodding in support.

The others looked somewhat embarrassed, the thought of accusing those that they considered their friends to be in on this. After all, he did help stop an evil witch from brainwashing his students. The chances of one of them committing a heinous, Satanic ritual were slim to none.

To the detective, though, he merely shrugged again, starting to move closer to the group, out of the circle. "We can never be too sure, Shaggy. The circle isn't that old, and unless someone's been breaking into the school to commit a ritual..." He trailed off, eyeing everyone over with his wide eyes. They stopped on Shaggy, who looked like he was about to say something else, almost looking insulted. "But, as they say in court, innocent until proven guilty. The only conclusion we can draw from this is thatsomeone'sbeen busy."

When no one seemed to have anything else to add, the man kept walking towards the stairs. "In the meantime, I do believe the hour's almost up. Let's get out of here before anyone sees this place. Best to keep crime scenes as pristine as we saw it in, yes?" He continued, flashing his creepy grin at the group before heading up.

Everyone followed after, thinking about what he had said. It was certainly hard to digest that anyone in this school could consider doing such a thing. There were various factors, though, and none of them knew what they all were as of right now. Until then, they'd have to keep searching around the grounds, gathering information from the students if they could.

Lunch today seemed to consist of a type of chili, though strangely enough, this would probably be their quietest meal time today. No one seemed to have much to talk about, the most common sound being heard was Shaggy and Scooby's noisy eating. At times, someone would ask another a simple question about the day or some random tidbit of information, but for the most part, everyone stayed silent. Mystery Inc. would bet thinking about where to investigate next, deciding to keep their discovery a secret from the ghouls for the time being. The detective was always naturally quiet, so it wasn't that unusual.

Sibella's thoughts began to wonder how and when to explain to her friends about her dreams, and whether or not she would share them with Miss Grimwood, Shaggy, or any of his friends. In the meantime, she'd eat her meal, gently grasping a nearby unlabeled bottle of some sort of thick red sauce, putting a generous amount in her bowl. Miss Grimwood kept her word, managing to find some proper sustenance for the vampire girl. As for the other ghouls, they kept quiet, knowing that all of them would confront their vampire friend about her strange behavior in class. Of course, despite how worried they all felt, one ghoul in particular seemed to be noticeably uncomfortable with the heavy silence that fell upon the table.

With twitchy eyes and an occasional manic giggle, Phantasma's eyes quickly darted between everyone, her spoon quite shaky in her hand. A few times, she was the one to try and start conversations with the others. Firstly, excitedly asking Shaggy if they found anything, to which he replied to the negative, quite bluntly for that matter. The second time, she had desperately tried to engage Sibella into talking about their previous math class, although not bringing up her moment of dazing off. Instead, she tried to ask her if she could help her study up on her math, to which the vampire kindly accepted, not saying much else.

While that would give her and her friends the opportunity to confront her about what's obviously been bothering her, the phantom's ears were still ringing from the amount of not-talking everyone was doing. Her hands shook more, eyes twitching like crazy as she kept scanning everyone in an insane manner. Why was everyone soquiet?! It was enough to drive her bonkers!

"Hey Phanty, like, are you okay..?" Shaggy decided to ask, stopping in the middle of his fourth helping to look at the twitchy ghost.

Immediately after he asked that, she yelled out something to finally break the silence. "I MADE AN INSTRUMENT OUT A BRAIN TODAY!" With how loud she said that, everyone immediately stopped eating and looked at her, taken aback by the sheer volume of her statement and, to those that weren't observing the class at the time, the strangeness of what she had just said. If it was quiet before, it was nothing compared to right now. Phanty, realizing her outburst, merely let out a few small giggles, feeling her mood deflate a little. She soon stared into her bowl, feeling very embarrassed about the whole thing.

Tanis felt sorry for her ghostly friend, reaching over to gently pat her back (or at least make the gesture of it, since shewasa phantom). The little mummy tried to comfort her friend, feeling a bit guilty. "It's okay, Phanty. I think we forgot just how... uncomfortable silence makes you," Tanis said in a comforting manner. Her ghost looked up at her, giving a small, weary looking smile in response.

Of course, everyone else saw this, the ghouls deciding to casually try and start up conversations again. It seemed to work this time, everyone muttering to one another about the food, classes, progress on investigations, and other similar things. The detective remained silent, though, since he usually did.

After lunch was over, it wouldn't take long for Phantasma (who was thankfully brought out of her funk), to remind Sibella about a study session. Soon afterwards, Phanty giggled in her usual manner and floated through the ceiling, deciding to meet her there. Just as the vampire was beginning to walk up the stairs, she noticed that the other three were following. Once she gave a quick glance behind her back, co*cking an eyebrow up in confusion, Elsa spoke up.

"Uh, hope you don't mind us joining," She requested simply. With a mere nod from the purple girl, she continued her ascent up to her room, the rest of her class in tow. She knew the exact reason why they were following her. She wasn't stupid. Sure enough, when she entered her room, she saw the ghost girl floating in mid air, legs crossed as if she were sitting on the floor, no math book to be found. While she gave a wide smile and a wave to Sibella, her eyes suddenly became very interested in whatever was hanging on the wall, avoiding her friend's stony gaze.

With a small sigh, she walked in and let every join her, making sure to shut the door and lock it behind her. Sibella turned to her friends, who had gathered in a small group, looking expectantly at her. Ultimately, it was Winnie who decided to get straight to the point.

"So, what's the deal?" Her tone wasn't meant to come off as too stand-offish, or even mean. It was just the werewolf's natural bluntness wanting to know what was bothering her friend. The vampire took a look at everyone's face, somehow knowing that it wouldn't have been long since the others caught on to her somewhat unusual behavior. Elsa's face was, as usual, very analytic, yet thoughtful. Winnie's eyes looked thoughtful as well, though her stance let Sibella know that she wouldn't want to wait long. Tanis was quite worried, looking up at her with her nervous blue eyes. Phanty had also gotten her attention back to Sibella, giving a little shrug with an apologetic look.

The vampire's face softened up a little, seating herself in a nearby chair as she let out a sigh. "Very well. It'll do me no good hiding this, anyways," She began, letting everyone else take a seat opposite from her. They wouldn't have to wait long before Sibella began telling them about her strange dreams. "It all started when I was still back at Castle Dracula. Everything was going as normal, up until the night before I left for Grimwood's. That night, I had a nightmare unlike any other I've witnessed in the past."

The others wouldn't interrupt, although they did share an uneasy look towards each other before looking back at Sibella, silently urging her to continue. "I could see flashes of fire, blood, and someone being attacked, although I have no idea by what. The biggest thing that perturbed me, however, was the fact that during most of the dream, I could not see anything, yet I could hear the sounds of someone being attacked by... something." She said, her eyes narrowing as she looked off to the side. Her hand rested on her chin, as if thinking about what could possibly be attacking.

Before anyone could interject, the vampire turned back to the group. "I could also hear someone, or rather, somethingtalk to me." She paused, trying to remember what it said to her.

Tanis spoke up in a quiet voice, obviously quite nervous. "Do... do you remember what it said?"

The vampire looked to her and gave a small nod before replying with her answer.

"The fear you sense is nothing compared to what will soon happen.

Nothing can be done to stop what is already in motion.

Unless you feel the need to join my cause, you will fall with the others."

Sibella did not continue afterwards, letting her words sink in. Winnie's eyes were wide open, unsure of what to make of her statement. Phanty and Tanis shared a scared look to each other while Elsa kept her chin in her hand, thinking to herself. It wouldn't be long before she looked back up, a serious tone in her deep voice. "You had this dream again recently, didn't you." It wasn't formed into that of a question, and more like a statement. It was the only logical conclusion to be made, since Sibella had taken the time to tell her friends about her dream at home.

Sure enough, the vampire gave another nod. "Yes. This time it was much more severe though," She replied, shifting around in discomfort. "You see, while the dream was ultimately similar to the other one, the voice was much more sinister and evil. What's worse is that I couldfeelthe fire. And I couldfeelsomeone attacking me."

Winnie straightened up, as if ready to run over to her. "Are you okay?!" She quickly exclaimed, concerned about her friend's health. Thankfully, her friend gave a small smile.

"Don't worry, Winnie, I'm perfectly fine. I didn't even wake up with a scratch." Her smile turned back into a thoughtful frown as she leaned back in her chair. "Still, it all felt so real. I'm worried that if I have that dream again, it will only get worse."

After a few seconds of quiet, Phantasma spoke up, using a serious tone of voice that was rarely used for the ghost. "It couldn't be...her, could it?" Everyone knew exactly who she was talking about, although Elsa was the one to answer her.

"Shouldn't be. After her castle exploded, there were no other indicators that her magic continued to exist. Her castle wasn't rebuilt, there were no signs of her spider-bats. We threw her wand into her cauldron, destroying her source of magic, for the most part," She explained calmly.

Another few seconds of silence passed, Tanis looking at Sibella with a desperate look. "Sibella, youhaveto tell Miss Grimwood about this. Whatever it is can't be good."

Sibella gave a small nod, but sighed and crossed her arms. "I've considered it, but it just doesn't feel right to make her worry about something like this."

Winnie huffed and crossed her arms as well, rolling her eyes. "Listen, Sibella, now's not the time for keeping this kind of thing from her. Like you said, things could get worse. You've gotta stop this brooding and let someone know."

The vampire knew her werewolf friend was right. Just like she had told her friends, she needed to let her headmistress know. Still, bringing it up would be quite uncomfortable. She felt like her teacher was already busy enough as it was teaching her students most of their classes. It felt wrong to pile more worries onto her.

Phanty snapped her fingers, her usual semi-cheery voice back. "Hey, I've got an idea! Why not tell Coach? Him and his friends are sure to know what's going on!"

Elsa gave a nod, a small grin forming. "Yeah. Besides, maybe this connects with their mystery in some fashion."

"We did say we would help in any way he can..." Tanis added, hopefully egging the vampire on to confess to someone about her odd dreams. Sibella figured that everyone would come to this conclusion eventually, as she had that exact same thought herself.

It would definitely help them, of course. Sibella stood up, deciding to ride out her discomfort and swallow her pride. "Very well. It would make me comfortable if you all went with me, though." Of course, everyone got up, willing to follow her out. A small smile of confidence grew on the vampire's face, glad that her friends were there for her. She just hoped Shaggy and his friends would be able to help.

Mystery Inc. would watch as the ghouls made their way upstairs, leaving them time to plan things out a little. Shaggy was slightly confused by this, but didn't figure too much of it. They'd just get more training in another day. For now, though, the whole group was sitting in the living room with Miss Grimwood, doing a sort of interview.

While they all decided to keep their recent discovery a secret, it wouldn't hurt to see if there were any more potential secret areas to the house. Of course, the headmistress was happy to help, sitting with them and doing her best to answer any questions. Strangely enough, though, when Freddie asked about secret passageways, Miss Grimwood merely shook her head and answered in the negative.

"I've lived here for most of my life, and unfortunately, I haven't had time to create one. It would certainly help me a lot, though. I could always use more room for books and classes," She replied with a small laugh, sipping at some tea. Everyone else had a cup as well, though upon being told it was 'toadstool tea', none of them really made an effort to drink, save for Shaggy and the detective. The former because of the fact that he was used to the odd flavor, and the latter for curiosity's sake.

Her answer was quite strange though, as it obviously didn't go along with what they all saw earlier. Velma's mind began to think back to a book that only she and the detective had read.History of Grimwood.She didn't recall reading anything about secret passageways. There were paragraphs talking about how some were attempted to be built, but for some reason, a catastrophe would happen and seal it up. If that was the case though, why was the one they found earlier still in tact?

She lifted her head from her thinking position and asked, "How long have you lived here, Miss Grimwood?"

"I'd say a little over a century and a half," She answered simply, taking another sip of tea. This woman was definitely unnatural, if she was alive that long. "However, this place was here when I moved in and decided to form a school from it. It took a bit of 'cleaning out', but in no time I had this place up and running to where it is now." Miss Grimwood seemed quite proud of how she owned and ran her school. The question in Velma's mind was now what 'cleaning out' meant.

Before anyone else could ask something, they were greeted with someone clearing their throat. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything..?" Came the purr of a familiar vampire. Everyone looked over to see her descending the staircase, looking between everyone. Winnie was beside her, giving her a couple of nudged with her elbow, indicating something. The vampire flashed a look to her and kept moving to the group.

"Oh not at all, Sibella. What is it you'd like to ask?" Miss Grimwood greeted pleasantly. A smile did not form on her face, as she instead sighed, almost not feeling up to repeating her story again. Still, it had to be done.

"I think I have something that may help your case." She said, looking over to Mystery Inc.

"Where'd you say you saw it?"

"Da nearby graveyard! I was visitin' my granny's grave when I saw th' body!"

The deputy nodded, making sure to take down as much information as possible. "I see. We'll get some people out on the scene to investigate it." It wouldn't be long before he sent out officers to the graveyard, telling them to close off the scene of the crime and keep civilians away.

If this witness was correct, this would be almost similar to the last homicide that happened just a few days prior. The deputy sat at his desk, rubbing his forehead with a hand. He knew that he had to call him. He reached out for the phone and put in the number.

Everyone listened to Sibella's story with intrigue. Miss Grimwood, Shaggy, and Scooby were obviously surprised with it, as well as how much it seemed to be affecting her. The wellbeing of a student was very important, after all. The rest of Mystery Inc. listened as well, trying to make connections in their heads. As the vampire stated, her dreams may be tied in some fashion to the murder. The detective made sure to record everything down, as if he were a scribe.

Once she was finished with her story, Sibella looked quite drained, finding herself an empty seat to rest in. Out of concern, Winnie remained close to her, Shaggy keeping an eye on her. She definitely looked more tired, though on the inside, it felt as if a small weight had been lifted. It really did help to tell them about her problems.

Miss Grimwood looked thoughtful, a finger tapping against her cheekbone gently. "Thank you for telling us about this, Sibella," She said in a serious tone. "Maybe it would be in our best interest to keep an eye out for any further dreams like this." She glanced at everyone else, her face not changing. "This goes for everyone. Do not hesitate if anyone hears, sees, or dreams something like that. Dreams are more powerful than one can imagine, and if the seem to deviate from how they normally act, than something is wrong."

Daphne turned to the vampire, voicing her own concerns. "Does your dad know? I figure a powerful vampire such as him would be able to help."

Sibella gave a small shrug. "I've told him about the first one, though I shrugged it off at the time. Still, he thought that returning here might be bad for my health."

"And you still came here..?" Googie continued, lifting an eyebrow of hers. "Is there any reason? Not that I don't trust your judgement, of course!" She quickly added, not wanting to offend the vampire by any means. "It's just that... it's clear you know what your visions could mean if they continued. It seems risky to stay as far away from home as you are with this going on."

At this, surprisingly, Sibella turned her head some, her face flushing just barely. "Well... this is a little embarrassing to say..." She muttered shyly before speaking up. "I... didn't want to be away from my friends." She finally replied, brushing her hair out of her face, trying to act as casual and nonchalant as possible. A quick look at the ghouls showed that they were rather touched by this, a few returning the look of a shy smile.

Phanty, being herself, couldn't help but exclaim, "Awww..!" Sibella flashed a grin to them at this. The rest found themselves quite touched by this too, with Scooby joining Phanty in her statement. In an instant, though, the detective had shut his book and got up in a sudden manner. Because of this, a few flinched, looking over at him in confusion.

Rather than provide an explanation, he pulled a hand into his pocket, muttering out, "Excuse me." He turned his back to the group, walking a short distance away as he pulled out what looked to be a cellphone, buzzing in a call. He answered the call with a quiet, "Hello?"

The rest of them watched for a couple of seconds before Freddie spoke up to everyone. "Anyways, thank you for sharing this with us, Sibella. Every clue helps, and to be honest, I think this may be our biggest one yet!" His confident grin was evident on his face, hoping to liven everyone's spirits a little.

"You're quite welcome. As much as it's been bothering me, I know that it'll help all of us get to the bottom of it." She replied, a genuine smile showing, flashing her fangs.

"Like, you can count on us!" Shaggy added, happy to see his students happy once again.

Miss Grimwood was quite pleased as well, slowly standing to her feet. "I'm glad as well! Now, I do believe it's time for our next class, yes?" Before anyone could make a move, though, the detective returned from his phone call, a hand covering his mouth in thought. His eyes remained wide open, though it was unsure if his smile was still there or not.

"Yo, Freaky, what's the story?" Phanty called, curious about his sudden thoughtful look. The detective looked up at her, although not out of annoyance of the nickname. His eyes moved from her, to the group of ghouls, and then to the group of mystery solvers. He removed his hand from his face, his grin still as wide as it ever was as he spoke.

"There was a body found in a nearby graveyard."

Chapter 9: A Meddlesome Group

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 9: A Meddlesome Group

The brightly colored van rumbled along the dirt road, the gray clouds above barely allowing any light to seep through. Thankfully, despite the dark woods, the Mystery Machine's headlights would allow Freddie the sight needed to be able to safely steer through the trees. After the call of a body being found, it wasn't long before the van was being filled up with it's passengers. Freddie drove, naturally, with Velma and Daphne taking their usual spots. Because of the fact that Shaggy and Scooby had to stay behind at the school because of contractual obligations, their spots in the back were filled in with Googie and the detective.

Googie wasn't thrilled with the aspect of sharing a van with a creepy homicide detective, sitting in a van so that she can go investigate a dead body. However, for whatever reason, the gang seemed to have eagerly brought her along, as if she had been part of the group. It was a nice gesture, for sure, even if personally, she didn't have much to add to their observations. What could she even say? 'Oh look, a dead body!' Observant. Still, her heart raced, the thought of being in the middle of a crime scene somewhat exhilarating. Not everyday someone could say they had the opportunity to be a part of it all.

"Something on your mind?" The gruff voice of the detective snapped Googie back into consciousness, her eyes quickly looking up. She shivered some, put-off by how intently he seemed to be studying her with his wide eyes.

The blonde nodded, shifting her short hair with a hand in an idle manner. "Yeah, I guess so. I just feel so..."

"Out of place?" He answered for her, raising an eyebrow. The girl responded with a nod, feeling more and more uncomfortable.

"I dunno why I am, though. I mean, I've met Dracula with Shaggy when... we were still together. It was a strange few days, and it was really frightening too. None of us knew if we were going to... escape him." She finished, unsure if she should reveal all aspects of the story to him just yet. By the way he narrowed his eyes at her, he knew that there was more that she wasn't telling him.

Rather than pry it out of her, though, he merely gave a small nod. "Hm. Amazing that you managed to meet up with Lord Dracula in the first place."

"Not that we had much of a choice..." Googie responded, trailing off some. She was still rather mad at the King of Monsters for kidnapping the four of them in the first place. If given the opportunity, though, she'd prefer to just stay as far away from him as possible, even if she found his daughter to be polite and a lot kinder than him. She knew that the detective would've thought otherwise, but before he could ask, someone thankfully got his mind onto something else.

"So what did the deputy tell you?" Velma asked aloud, turning her head to the two in the back, direction her question to the strange man. His eyes turned to her, his grin never leaving his face, as per usual.

"Not much. Just brought up the fact that someone had found a dead body. He had squad cars tape off the area and they're waiting for us to arrive."

"...they do know we're coming, right?" Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow.

His grin widened, giving a shrug with his shoulders. "Nope." Everyone seemed somewhat exasperated by this, either responding with a groan, a roll of the eyes, or both. This didn't seem to bother the detective, leaning back against his seat. "Oh relax. Not like they don't know who you all are. Infamous meddling kids and all that, y'know. I'll tell them y'all are with me and you'll be free to examine the scene." As he said this, he reached into his tote-bag and pulled out plastic gloves, starting to hand everyone a pair. "That being said, take these. If you have to handle everything, make sure it's as delicate as possible."

Velma examined the gloves as the others held onto the gloves, Freddie quickly pocketing his pair before returning to the road. It was strange to think that a man as weird as the detective was still very competent about his work. After a few minutes, Freddie managed to drive the van free of the woods, headed back onto concrete roads. "I think I remember seeing a graveyard on the way in this town. It was near the entrance, right?" He asked aloud.

"That's right. For what reason, I'm not sure," Velma mused, adjusting her glasses again as they moved towards their destination. "Maybe it has something to do with deterring outsiders."

"I think that's exactly it," Googie answered, turning to the brunette. "Louisiana's known for having haunted cities and towns and other places, so putting their graveyard near the entrance would probably keep any unwanted guests out. Would probably explain why this town hasn't changed much from the time I've lived here..." Googie thought aloud. The detective concurred silently with a nod.

"With extra police activity around there, there's bound to be a crowd this time around," Freddie said, turning down the road near the entrance. "Might be hard to get past anyone." Sure enough, when the Mystery Machine got closer to the scene of the crime, multiple police cars were surrounding the graveyard, not allowing anyone through. There was a line of news vans trying to get the story on the ordeal, but they weren't being allowed in. When the multicolored van pulled in and parked, it was only a matter of time before a disgruntled officer went up to the driver's side, looking less than pleased by the constant interruptions.

Freddie rolled down the window, feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing. Without waiting for any greeting, the officer began ranting on the group. "What're y'all doin' around here? This is police work, an' we don't need any meddling kids stickin' their noses around where they ain't supposed to be!" The blond gulped, unsure of how to respond. The officer was technically right, and they had no real business being around here, even if they all wanted nothing more than to investigate. Thankfully, their saving grace came from a certain freaky passenger, who had just opened up the back of the van and climbed out. The detective quickly made his way to the officer, who froze and took a few steps back from the intimidating, limping figure.

With a quick flash of his hand, he had pulled out his ID, flashed it to the officer for half of a second before folding it back up, putting it away. "They're with me," He stated simply. With a look that could only be described as a grimace, the officer nodded and stepped away, heading towards the other squad cars. The detective looked to Freddie and flashed a wide smile. "C'mon, let's go."

Wasting no time, the other four left the Mystery Machine and followed the perpetually smiling man past the yellow police tape. Naturally, the other officers shared a displeased look to the group, but allowed them to continue in nonetheless. The only other vehicle that was past the police tape was an ambulance, a couple of EMTs waiting nearby. In an instant, the detective snapped on his gloves, making his way to the EMTs, eyes scanning over the nearby area. "Watch your step," He warned the group before moving in. Mystery Inc soon gasped upon the sight.

It was certainly a dead body, although the shape of it was quite nasty. Laying in a small pool of blood was the remains of man, clothes burned and shredded beyond repair. Numerous gashes covered his body, and any hair that was on his head was stringy and smoking lightly. The detective bent to his knee, eyes scanning the immediate area of the body, a gloved hand gently feeling over the gashes, despite the odd looks given from the first responders. With a quick glance upwards, he co*cked an eyebrow, waiting for some sort of status report.

The other investigators remained behind, Velma starting to pull her gloves on. "While he's dealing with the body, let's look around." With a nod, the others started to hesitantly do the same, splitting off individually to look around. They also made sure to avoid looking towards the body, as it was much to off-putting to view.

Shaggy was quite thankful that he had to stay behind at the school with Scooby. While he would've liked to have joined his friends in their investigation, there was no doubt that looking at a dead body would make him a nervous wreck. Not only that, but what if whatever caused the murder was still around? He silently thanked Miss Grimwood's contract for making him stay on the property until his term was up.

Of course, his students, on the other hand, were less happy that they had to stay behind. Miss Grimwood wouldn't allow the ghouls to follow for the simple fact being that they still had a class to attend to. Phantasma was especially bummed out, crossing her arms and looking quite pouty upon being denied the opportunity to look at a dead body. "No fair..." She had huffed. Miss Grimwood made sure to keep an extra close eye on her as they filed back into the laboratory for their final lesson. She allowed Shaggy and Scooby the opportunity to join in with their class so they wouldn't be bored waiting for the others to return.

Despite the disappointment, the ghouls sat in their seats and awaited their lesson, Shaggy and Scooby deciding to stand in the back and observe. After all, neither one of them had gotten the chance to actually see what monster history was like. It was bound to be interesting, if a little creepy. Thankfully, the ghouls' moods would be brought up a tad with the subject that their teacher was going to bring up: demons.

In the past, the ghouls had been told about them, but never in great detail. This could most likely be due to the fact of their witch problem with Revolta so many years ago. The headmistress took a great deal of care to not delve deeply into the subject, with the previous event still fresh on their minds. To Miss Grimwood, teaching something like this in the first place would be much too jarring. However, she soon began to realize that her lovely ghouls were growing up, and it would only be a matter of time before they began to learn about this subject on their own. It was best for them to learn it from their teacher first hand, rather than doing it on their own and risk being a part of something incredibly dangerous. Besides, she needed something interesting to tell them, otherwise they'd lose any interest in this class period in favor of helping out with the murder.

It wasn't long before everyone in the classroom was intently listening, eyes wide open as she told them the history of summoning rituals, curses brought upon by them, and other dark magic that demons tend to be associated with. The tales of horrifying things that have happened in such situations. Hundreds dead.Thousandsdead. Followers blindly following as if they were sheep, letting their minds soak in the manifestos of one single demonic entity.

"Of course, demons do not always rely on magic to get their point across. In fact, more often than not, they rely on other beings, both immortal and mortal, to carry out their dirty work. Humans are just as capable of doing such gruesome things, even without magic that many monsters rely on." Her students' eyes were still keeping their attention on her, too interested and taken back with her stories to even record any of this down. "As I've stated before, most of the times whenever a demon 'chooses' a human servant, the human gains amazing, dangerous magical abilities. Can anyone tell me what they're then called?" Her attention moved over to Elsa, who had her hand raised with Tanis and Sibella. She pointed a finger to her, allowing her to answer.

"Warlocks or witches, depending on who is chosen," Elsa answered.

"That's correct, Elsa," Miss Grimwood replied, smiling gently. Her face looked serious once more as she continued her lesson. "While I know it's not a topic any one of us like to bring up again, I'm sure we all remember our last encounters of an evil witch." Her eyes turned to Shaggy's, who shivered and gulped in response, having a clue as to where this was going to lead. From the looks on the ghouls' faces, they did too. "Especially you, Coach Rogers."

With that, the others turned their gaze to their Coach, gulping as he stood there, feeling as though he were put on the spot rather suddenly. With an uncomfortable look on his face, he scratched the back of his head as he looked to Scooby, returning the look back up at him. "...yeah," Was all he could manage to say. Shaggy just felt grateful that he didn't have to deal with Revolta again. He knew that everyone else was too.

Miss Grimwood gave a small nod, continuing her lesson. "I want to thank you two again for helping the girls out. Not every day that a regular mortal can get away with successfully dealing with a witch," She replied. In Shaggy's mind, he didn't think much of the rescue. After all, while he did go after the girls, it's not like he had much of a hand in stopping the witch. It was the ghouls who managed to actually defeat her. Before he could stammer out any sort of modest statement, Miss Grimwood continued on. "That is why I am here to tell you to neverever, under no circ*mstances, summon any sort of demonic entity. Don't go near one if you see one. Do not even consider it," Her voice became firm, making sure to look into each ghouls' eyes. "The consequences are quite dire, as you all have just now learned. Powers that go far beyond both humans and monsters alike are to be left alone." She turned to her blackboard, beginning to draw on it. She drew what looked like the cover of a book, the only symbol on it being a pentagram. She turned back to her students. "Does anyone know the name of the dreaded book of demonic and undead evil?"

For a little, everyone stayed quiet, unsure if they should even speak up. Slowly, the small bandaged hand of Tanis arose, shaking a little. Miss Grimwood pointed at her, looking at her expectantly. "...the Necronomicon?" Miss Grimwood gave a small smile, nodding and returning to the blackboard.

"Correct, Tanis. The Necronomicon is a feared tome, never to be brought into the hands of any mortal. Even immortals are frightened of what this book may bring." She raised an eyebrow, looking around once more. "That does not mean they haven't tried to harness their power. With no success, I must add." She raised her hand to the picture she drew behind her. "Thisbook, is often known as the Demonologist's Bible, and in it tells of every Hellish demon, devil, thrall, curse, ritual, and any other dark magic you could think of. It is just as revered as the Necronomicon, even if it does not possess the power to instruct others on such spellwork. Such Satanic knowledge is forbidden in the monster realm, as I'm sure you're all aware at this point."

With a silent nod from everyone, the headmistress continued on. "Unlike the Necronomicon, however, there are multiple copies, although not many. Only the most powerful of monsters are allowed to keep a copy on hand, and only for emergencies."

"Like, I'd hate to see what would happen if a human were to get a hold of that book..." Shaggy muttered to himself. This caught the attention of Miss Grimwood, a grave, yet apologetic look on her face. He flinched, apparently having been heard by her, since she decided to answer.

"If this book were to fall into the hands of a mere mortal... well, it'd be safe to say that they'd most likely lose their minds." Another gulp came from Shaggy, who looked like he was about to slump down the walls and faint. Scooby looked no better, laying low to the ground, barely peeking out from behind his lanky friend. The atmosphere was slightly lifted as Miss Grimwood put on her usual, optimistic tone as she turned back towards the blackboard. "I do hope you've all learned something valuable today. We'll go over a bit more tomorrow, going over the types of demons that are safe you all to learn about. Class dismissed."

The girls slowly gathered up their stuff, not saying a whole lot to each other as they left the laboratory. Miss Grimwood made her way over to the shaking duo, leaning in so she could whisper to him. "I do apologize if my lesson got a bit too... dark. It must be taught, though. Now, perhaps you might be able to help lift their spirits, Coach?" Shaggy looked towards the group of ghouls as they walked back into the main room, most likely headed to their bedrooms. With a quick glance back at the headmistress, he gave a small nod.

In an instant, Shaggy began to quickly run up the stairs, Scooby peering over and soon following. As they all started to part ways, Shaggy cleared his throat loudly, wanting their attention. The sudden noise of their Coach made them jump some, though looked at him, a little confused. With a nervous smile, he addressed the group. "Hey girls, like, how about a quick lesson before dinner tonight? Like, it could do us all some good to get a bit of training in." The ghouls looked to each other, a few raising eyebrows. Shaggy began to sweat. Did he have bad timing? Maybe an extra class wasn't what they needed. He sure hoped he didn't offend them.

"I think it sounds fang-tastic," Purred the voice of Sibella, sporting a relieved fanged smile. After a very dreary (even for monsters) lesson, she knew some physical education was something that could help get their minds off of it.

Shaggy's head lifted up in surprise, Winnie's voice soon following. "Yeah, sounds like a howl!" She replied, adding in her own rather loud howl for good measure.

"I'm game for more training," Elsa added, smiling a bit more.

"Oh! Me too, me too!" Phanty cut in, floating around in an energetic manner.

"Sounds like fun to me!" Tanis replied, her bright blue eyes twinkling as she beamed at her coach.

Shaggy nodded and smiled brightly. "Like, great! Meet me outside as soon as you can." With a unanimous 'yes coach!', the girls hurried off to put their books away. The lanky man let out a relieved sigh, laughing as he turned to Scooby. "Like, that was a close one, eh Scoob? I thought they were gonna be like, offended or something."

Scooby shook his head, following his friend outside. "Ruh-uh! They rike you too ruch."

At this, Shaggy chuckled and shrugged. "Like, hey, I'm not that great, y'know."

Scooby rolled his eyes, an amused smirk forming on his muzzle. "Too rodest, Raggy..."

Googie glanced around her side of the crime scene, hands in her jacket pockets. She had put her gloves on earlier, but hadn't had any real reason to pick anything up. Her eyes were glued to the ground, somewhat. All she could really see was a bunch of grass and dirt. Nothing out of the ordinary. From what she could hear from the detective, the dead body had apparently been attacked numerous times by something, but had also suffered from third degree burns in certain areas. A quick glance to the others saw that they were hard at work, making sure to examine everything around them.

As for the strawberry blond, she sighed and leaned against a gravestone, feeling even more secluded from the others. She didn't even know where to begin looking, and had only gone off in this direction because it was the only spot no one else was. Her eyes casually scanned the area around her, as if something would jump out at her.

Strangely, that was actually the case. On the gravestone she was leaning against were flecks of something dark. Her eyes widened and she stood straight up, looking around the whole stone. Sure enough, there was a bit of a splatter of what was most likely blood. Her heart raced, feeling quite excited upon finding a clue. Googie couldn't help but let a small smile start to grow as she turned to the others. "Hey guys, I think I found a clue!" In no time, Velma, Freddie, and Daphne had abandoned their current search and moved towards Googie. The detective glanced her way, but was a bit slower. He had to finish up whatever he was doing, apparently.

Still, that did little to deter her pride as she pointed towards the gravestone. "I think there's some blood from whatever attacked that guy," She explained, letting them all take a closer look.

"Jinkies... from the looks of it, it must've come from a bullet wound or something..." Velma thought, being careful not to touch any of the blood with her fingers.

"You'd be correct," Came the voice of the detective, who had silently gotten behind the group, making them jump and yelp. "There was a gun found at the scene," He continued, holding up an evidence bag with the handgun in it. "No bullets, from the looks of it."

As the detective bent down to scrape some blood into a different container, the rest looked around the gravestone. "There's gotta be something else around here..." Daphne said, keeping her eyes to the ground with the others.

"Look! I think there's something there," Freddie said, pointing to a small pile, a short distance away. The investigators hurried over, slowing down once they saw. It was a pile of what looked like ash, two footprints indented into the ground below. From the looks of it, whatever it was had very sharp talons or claws. The foot falls looked heavy and even seemed to push down some grass for awhile.

"Does anyone else smell that?" Daphne said, sniffing the air. The others soon joined in.

"Hey yeah... smells like... sulfur or something." Freddie replied, his face scrunched up from the foul smell.

It didn't take long for the detective to start sketching out the footprints in his notepad, also taking notice of the stench around them. "Hm... this is quite peculiar." He muttered, quickly getting to his feet.

Velma thought to herself, a hand placed on her chin. More often then not, these kinds of cases turned out to be people disguising themselves as monsters or other types of creatures. As far as she can remember, this was probably the first time she or any of her friends had witnessed one of these types of crimes that lead to the death of innocent bystanders. As the detective collected some of the ash, she couldn't help but wonder something. Was a human even behind this? Her logic wanted to say yes, but evidence of the existence of supernatural, immortal beings were real. Heck, she just came from a school full of them! It could have been possible this was the doing of something else...

After the detective pushed the evidence into his bag, he began to go deep into thought too, covering his wide mouth with his hand, eyes owlishly blinking from time to time. While the others had expected him to start explaining stuff, he remained silent. His eyes did look over to each of them, an eyebrow raised as if saying, 'what do you think?'

Daphne began the conversation, looking between everyone with a nervous gaze. "Do you think that room we found earlier might be related?"

"I hope not. If it is, then something sinister is going on..." Googie replied, shuddering a little. "I didn't like the look of that circle we saw."

"Me either, but from our past mysteries, we know by now that these are not coincidences," Velma replied, looking up at the group.

"Whatever's doing this, we know this is the second attack," Freddie continued, turning his attention to the thinking detective. "Was the other one like this?"

The man nodded, removing his hand and sighing through his nose. "Just about. Only difference is this one tried to defend himself using a handgun."

"...what about Sibella's dreams?" Velma suddenly asked aloud, getting everyone's attention. "I think it's gotta be too much of a coincidence that she would have dreams like that, especially after all we've recently discovered."

Freddie rubbed his chin in concentration, a worried look going over his eyes. "Gang, I hate to say it, but... what if everything that we know so far is related to something..." He froze up a little, unsure if he should even say it, out of fear for if it was really true or not.

"Satanic." The detective finished, giving a grave look to everyone. He hadn't removed his hand from his mouth, so it looked quite spooky. Googie, in particular, was getting a few chills up her spine.

"Be careful what you say..!" She hissed, looking around in a hurried manner. "Folks around these parts aren't keen on anything relating to...that." She was one of these locals, finding it to be a sort of jinx. The more one talks about a curse, the more likely it is to happen to them, she felt.

"She's right," Freddie continued, nodding beside her. "At any rate, I think we've found just about everything we could. I didn't have any luck over at the area I was."

The detective nodded, finally pulling his hand away from his mouth. It didn't comfort the others that he was sporting the widest grin they had probably ever seen him have. "We can go over this more back at the school. I'll meet y'all at the van, I just gotta run this evidence by the officers first." Without another word, he turned and moved towards the yellow tape. Mystery Inc. watched him for a little before turning their attention towards the EMTs, who had just finished loading in the corpse in a body bag.

"This is already getting too dangerous for me," Googie complained, looking around a bit more, as if whatever attacked the body would jump out and go after the group at any moment.

"This definitely isn't looking too bright so far, but at least we're gaining some sort of lead. Even if it is quite... gruesome," Velma added, fixing her glasses.

"Jeepers... do you really think that secret room might be connected to all of this?" Daphne asked.

Velma responded with a small nod, as well as a bit of a shrug. "Perhaps. If we're lucky we'll have enough time to get more answers before something else happens to us."

Googie gulped and leaned towards the nearest tree, making sure to hit her fist against the trunk three times. Freddie and Daphne shared a confused look, while Velma looked quite intrigued. "Superstitious, I take it?" She asked, doing everything she could to not make her question sound condescending, and rather make it sound more curious. The strawberry blonde nodded at her.

"Can't ever be too sure. It'd do us some good to have a little amount of luck on our end." In that moment, Freddie lead the group back to the Mystery Machine, taking a glance at the detective talk to the cops. To him, the officers didn't look very pleased.

It wouldn't be much longer before the detective joined the rest of the gang in the van, situating himself in the back as Freddie started up the engine and began to head back to Grimwood's. "So what were you talking about?" Daphne asked, turning her attention to the man in back.

"They weren't too keen on letting me go back to the school. They preferred me to stay and do my work in a 'professional' work environment," He replied, removing his hands from his hoodie pockets to do air quote before shoving them back in. Despite how peeved his voice sounded, his face never changed emotions from haunting amusem*nt.

To the others, that wasn't much of a surprise for the others to think that, but if the look of his office was anything to go by, it was hard to pin-point what exactly would be a 'professional' environment for the creepy cryptid hunter. At any rate, as much as they didn't want to admit it, having the detective around helped clear a bunch of things up. Now that they had substantial evidence to help lead their case in something resulting in a direction, they were bound to come up with an answer for these attacks. Now if only he'd stop grinning like that...

Despite the fact that they gray clouds above were growing darker with each passing minute, there would still be various activities happening outside. Most noticeably, a class of five ghoul girls would be having a great time learning from a human coach and his dog. Their shrieking laughs and howls and grunts echoing out into the growing dusk. From the looks and sounds of it, he was teaching them all various moves and techniques that would help them with their volleyball game. The girls were also quickly picking up these techniques, learning to hone their natural abilities.

Of course, this was picked up by a small group of boys, hanging around around the hedge that bordered from Grimwood's to the only school within a few miles: Calloway's. These boys would also be the only other group of students that were out and about. While the girls were allowed, however, the boys had to sneak their way out. Of course, they knew that if the Colonel caught them, he'd merely send them back inside with no further punishment. Despite this, the tallest of the group, Jamal, wasn't too keen on getting in trouble, shaking his head as he watched the others 'set up base'.

"Guys, c'mon. It's late and we have duties to attend to. Colonel isn't going to appreciate us shirking our work, especially now that we have responsibilities." He reasoned, watching the others expertly fumble with a needlessly complicated machine that looked like a mix between a laptop, a drone, and a periscope. Tug looked through the scope of the periscope part while Miguel did surveillance with Baxter on the computer, Grunt making sure that the whole thing didn't come crashing down on top of them and keeping it held up.

Without so much as giving a side glance, Tug's replied to his comrade. "Jamal, relax. The worst the Colonel will do is yell at us and have us go back to help the new recruits. Besides, this is an important espionage mission."

"Yeah..! Now come on, Jamal, help me keep this thing up!" Grunt groaned out, seeming to have a bit of trouble keeping the massive metal contraption up. With a roll of his eyes, Jamal moved over to the other side and kept it balanced.

"Important espionage... what else could we possibly learn? We've seen just about all we can these past few years. It's not like we're going to learn anything new," Jamal grunted out.

"I beg to differ, Jamal. From the looks of it, the Grimwood Girls aren't the only familiar faces out there," Miguel observed through the computer screen..

"The Colonel? I thought he said he wouldn't be returning to Grimwood's this year?" Baxter speculated, scratching his head a little bit in confusion.

"Affirmative, Baxter. However, it seems Miss Grimwood didn't have to hire any new faces," Tug continued, zooming his periscope on the face of Shaggy, who was saying something to the girls. At this point, it seems they were all taking a small break. As the periscope zoomed in on Scooby, Baxter spoke up.

"Hey, isn't that that weird beatnik guy and his dog who managed to have the girls beat us that one year?" Baxter spoke up, pointing to the screen.

"Affirmative," Tug answered, pulling back to rub his chin in thought.

"He'sback?" Grunt said in disbelief, almost losing his footing for a second. He thankfully caught himself, shaking his head. "Wait, weren't there two dogs he had with him?"

"Yeah, what happened to the other one?" Jamal asked to the group. A few seconds went by with everyone sharing a puzzled shrug.

"Whatever the case is, this can't be good for our winning streak," Tug mused, turning his gaze back to the periscope and looking around.

"If we lose again, I don't think the Colonel's going to be pleased about losing to the same guy who lead the girls to victory last-Tug, will you go back to the mission at hand!" Miguel cut himself off to chide Tug, who quickly peered the view away from a certain purple skinned young woman.

"Alright, jeez!" Tug groused, almost being able to hear the others roll their eyes. "Besides, it's not like you wouldn't have done the same," He muttered, zooming out so that the whole group was visible.

"Anyways, are you able to make out what they're saying?" Jamal pondered, peering over to the two overlooking the computer screen.

"Not quite yet, but it shouldn't take long to decipher their lips." Miguel shared a cheeky look with Baxter. "...unless Tug wants to key us in on what Sibella is saying, that is." A small round of laughter was shared with all but the blond in question, huffing and feeling his cheeks redden a little bit, not removing his gaze from the periscope, despite how much he wanted to glare at his fellow cadets. Suddenly, something caught his attention that made him raise a hand.

"Hang on, something is happening." With that, the others stopped laughing and returned to business.

"Whatcha see, Tug?" Grunt asked, leaning his body as if to try and look at the screen, though with no such luck.

"Woah..! Their Coach just... fell over!"

The others shared a confused look. "...what, did he trip?" Jamal asked, somewhat worried.

"No, just... on his own," Tug replied, looking away from the periscope.

"Raggy!" Scooby shouted, quickly going over to his best friend's side, the girls quickly joining him.

"Coach! Oh man, what the hell happened?!" Winnie yelped, looking over the unconscious body of Shaggy. From what they experienced, he was in the middle of telling them about what they should all work on, in terms of weaknesses when he just suddenly... fell over. He stopped talking beforehand, yes, but it was in the middle of a sentence. He wavered on the spot before falling backwards.

"Oh god! Oh no no nono! Coach wake up!Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup!" Phanty shrieked loudly, having grabbed a hold of Shaggy's shirt, starting to shake his body to wake him up. It had no effect, despite how loud she was being. The phantom was quickly pushed off of the coach by Sibella, giving a small glare to the girl.

"That's not going to work, it seems, Phanty. Besides, even if it, he'd just end up with a worse headache. He did land on his head pretty hard..." Sibella said, a delicate hand gently moving under his bangs and rubbing over his forehead. As she did, the large rough hand of Elsa reached down towards his neck, checking for a pulse. After a few seconds, she sighed and lifted her hand up, nodding.

"He's stable, but still, what caused him to black out like that? It's really unusual," She stated, watching as Scooby tried to lick at his face while Tanis gently shook him by his chest, looking her best to not sniffle.

"Coach..? Wake up, please..?" She tried, already looking like she'd break down. The little mummy did not want to see her Coach in this state, and she knew no one else would either. Elsa looked to her smaller friend in a worried manner, giving a comforting pat on her shoulder. Tanis peered up nervously between the others. "What should we do?"

"I dunno, but we'd better think of something fast!" Winnie said, pushing her head against his chest, making sure he was still breathing. Fortunately, he was, but the others agreed with her.

"I just wonder what knocked him out like this," Elsa said thoughtfully, looking over his body. Aside from some dirt scuffed onto his clothes from his training session, there wasn't a mark on him.

"More importantly, we gotta find a way to get him up and running again, or else the others will have our butts!" Phantasma suggested, floating around in place in an almost panicked manner.

"She has a point," Sibella said, doing her best to be the calm voice of reason among her friends. "It would not be nice for the others to see Shaggy in such a state." After a bit of thinking, Scooby suddenly snapped his fingers, an idea occurring to him. In an instant, he'd run back inside the school, leaving behind a cloud of dust.

The others were confused, not wanting to leave their Coach's side, but also curious as to what the Great Dane was going to do. They wouldn't have to wait long, though, as Scooby soon ran back out, a box in his mouth. Before any of the girls could ask what it contained, he set it down, reached in, grabbed a handful of whatever was inside, forced Shaggy's mouth opened, and stuffed the items down into his mouth. It took a few seconds, as he remained still on the ground, his mouth barely moving. Soon, though, he seemed to chew in a slow manner before swallowing the entire mouthful, eyes shooting open. Shaggy quickly sat up, groaning and gripping his forehead.

"Guh... like, what happened? I just suddenly passed out- d'oof!" He grunted, being cut off by the literal dog-pile. Scooby and Winnie had taken to hugging him tightly.

"Raggy! Ryou're awake!" Scooby barked excitedly.

The others were quite happy about this too, giving a sigh of relief, trying to peel the two off of him, which proved to be quite difficult. "Now now, give him room to stand," Sibella said gently, using a hand to effortlessly lift him back on his feet.

"Thought we lost ya for a second, Coach," Winnie said, peering up at him. Soon, Elsa seemed to idly look over Shaggy's body, looking for anything unusual. All she saw, thankfully, was a bump on the back of his head from where he fell. At this point, Tanis had taken to clinging to his waist, also peeking up at him with her large blue eyes.

"Glad to see you're awake! Please don't do that to us again..." Tanis said, receiving a small return hug from the taller man.

"Like, sorry girls. Don't know what came over me. One minute I'm fine, the next I'm like, on the ground!" He replied, looking between everyone. "Now, how about we return to, like, what we were doing? I think we still got a few minutes before dinner." Despite the fact that he had fainted, he still looked just as eager as ever to help out the others, acting as though he never even fell.

Everyone shared an odd look, unsure if they should even continue. "Erm... Coach? Are yousurewe should continue?" Sibella began, tilting her head some. "That was a nasty fall you took."

"And it was out of the blue, too! Who knows when it'll happen again! You might fall on a rock and crack your skull! Or worse, fall in the moat and drown! Or fall in the moat and crack your skull on a rock before drowning!" Phanty rambled, staring to hyperventilate. At that moment, Scooby reached up and handed the phantom a paper bag that he had on him (for some reason). In return, she quickly grabbed it and began to breathe heavily into it.

Shaggy looked between everyone, his smile fading just a tad as Elsa looked to him. "It doesn't look like you've sustained any serious injuries. Still, I'd recommend not continuing on with the extra lesson. Sorry, Coach," She added in the end, feeling a tad disappointed in having to agree with the others. Extra physical training was quite enjoyable, but only if it wouldn't lead to anyone getting injured.

Winnie wasn't up for cutting physical education early either, but the health of everyone else came first. She knew everyone else thought the same thing. "There's always tomorrow! You'll feel better by then," the werewolf added, starting to lead him back into the castle. The others were following close behind, so Shaggy didn't have much of a say in this. Even Scooby seemed to nod, sticking close to his side with the others.

"Rit's for the rest, Raggy," He barked at him, making the lanky man sigh and shrug a bit.

"Like, I guess if you girls say so..." He replied, resigning to letting everyone pull him back indoors. At least he'd be on time for dinner. As they walked, Phanty floated beside Scooby, who was carrying the box in his mouth.

"Hey, Scooby, what was that?" She asked curiously.

The dog pulled the box out of his mouth with one paw, holding it up for the ghost girl to see. "Rooby Rax!"

The phantom sported a grin, raising a piqued eyebrow. "Scooby Snax? Wait... does that say 'dog treats' on it? Weird..."

"It's not any weirder from what we eat in the school," Elsa responded, turning to the others as Shaggy laughed shyly, seeming somewhat embarrassed.

"Perhaps, but isn't it still a bit... strange for a human to eat something like that?" Sibella mused, a hand on her chin as she eyed the taller man over. He seemed to have an iron stomach, so to speak.

"You're awfully weird, Coach," Winnie said, not hesitating as she unabashedly reached into the box, curiously taking a couple and nibbling on them. From the way her tail wagged, it was safe to say she liked them.

"B-but that's okay! Weird is good," Tanis replied, hoping that they weren't offending their dear coach with their comments. "Don't try to spoil your appetite, though. Dinnerisalmost ready," The mummy continued on.

At this, Shaggy smiled down to the small mummy and laughed a bit. "Like, don't worry about my appetite, Tanis. I've never met a meal I couldn't eat." With this, everyone shared a small laugh with him. Despite this, Sibella couldn't help but look him over from where she stood, feeling somewhat concerned.

While he was walking around just fine now, it was still quite worrying just how he ended up like that. Did this relate to what the girls learned earlier in class? It couldn't have, right? Then again, with how strange her dreams have been, it just may. A second thought occurred to her: maybe this had something to do with whatever happened between him and her father? While she didn't know the story just yet, it was still worth bringing up. Perhaps during dinner, she thought. The vampire wanted answers to everything going on, and it was best to start somewhere that she knew her coach could actually answer. If the dreams persisted, she'd let the others know, certainly.

Until then, she had to keep an eye out for Shaggy. After all, Sibella felt as though he's already done so much for the ghouls. She wanted to return the favor.

"...now they're leading him back inside the castle," Tug reported to the others as Baxter made sure to record everything.

"That was really weird..." Miguel said, scratching his head as he turned his attention away from the screen.

"Tell me about it. Who eats dog food?" Grunt said, looking a bit disgusted.

"I wasn't talking about the dog food, Grunt," Miguel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Tug had pulled himself away as well, starting to stand. "Whatever it was, they seemed to have it under control. He probably just fell ill. Or locked his knees while he was talking," He mused. The other cadets nodded along with him. They all knew too well the dangers of doing such an action while standing, as they all fell victim to it at least once.

"At any rate, I'd say we get back to the school before the Colonel catches us," Baxter said, pointing his finger back towards the building. With a nod, Tug stepped away from the contraption, Miguel doing the same. Grunt and Jamal began to gently and slowly retract the invention, making look about as big as a small book once they finished folding it up. With his foot, Jamal shoved it back into the hedges, unseen from anyone else. It would definitely be best to question these events on their own time before the Colonel lost their cool in front of them. Again.

Chapter 10: Preparations

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 10: Preparations

Dusk was coming to a close, which would soon welcome the dark night sky, the moon barely visible beyond a thick sea of clouds above. During this time, any occupants of either school that sat next to each other would be inside, keeping to themselves with dinner, studies, or any other interests. In the military school, Colonel Calloway would be studying over his calender. Unsurprisingly, each day would be completely filled with his neat, yet tiny, writing. Black, red, and blue ink would be used for reasons only he knew, for different situations.

Currently, he was searching ahead a month, looking for any open positions that he may schedule the annual volleyball tournament between the two schools. In his opinion, volleyball was a little bit... dated. Especially since the students who took part in it were now much older, and probably didn't have as keen of a liking to the sport. However, it was also tradition, and he himself didn't like to stray too far from the usual. After all, as a headmaster of a military school, it was his job to keep everything as orderly as possible.

His finger carefully moved from day to day, thinking to himself about which day could work best. After a couple of minutes, he reached towards a pen, resting on his desk, and began to write neatly into the box. Exactly one month from today, the day before Halloween. It would work perfectly. After placing his pen down and stepping back from his desk, he moved over to his door, lifting his hat and jacket off of the rack before him and putting them on. The Colonel began his walk towards the old mansion of a private school.

The man kept an even, brisk pace, standing up straight and looking professional. Despite having a plain, thoughtful look on his face, his brain kept going, as it often was. Calloway knew that it wouldn't exactly be enjoyable to visit the school, though not because of the school itself. He was quite used to the odd exterior (and interior, for that matter). Instead, he knew that the monster students inside would not be happy to see him. He was thankful that he did not have to teach physical education to them anymore, but that just lead to another question that he began to ask himself. Who was teaching them? That question never left his head, though due to the fact that he was already quite a busy man, he never bothered to look for himself.

Now that he had a perfect opportunity, though, he would finally get his answer. As the Colonel crossed the border between his school and Miss Grimwood's, his movement slowed to a halt, an eyebrow perking at the vehicle parked nearby. He remembered that the only other coach he could remember seeing there drove a red van. The van parked here, however, was a strange clash of bright green, robin's egg blue, and orange. A very... retro hippie feel to it. The name on the side of it was also brought to his attention, his eyes thoroughly scanning over it. 'Mystery Machine'? For some reason, the name was somewhat familiar. Where had he heard it before? Radio or newspaper, most likely.

The Colonel shrugged to himself and sighed gently, turning his attention back to the school. If it was the same guy, maybe he touched up his van with a new coat of paint? Or maybe it was a new van altogether. Maybe, he secretly hoped, it was a new coach as well.

After moving across the drawbridge, he reached the front door, rapping his knuckles against the door before waiting patiently. Eventually, the door would open, revealing the strange octopus butler. If it were anyone else, they probably would have been weirded out by such a sight. However, Colonel Calloway was used to the cephalopod butler, and merely greeted with him with a tip of his cap. Soon enough, the octo-butler gave a small bow of it's own, stepping to the side and allowing the Colonel in. Time to get down to business...

Despite Shaggy ultimately being okay after the odd incident with him fainting for no apparent reason, the news would still come as a shock to the others once they finally returned from the crime scene. The fact that Phanty seemed so nonchalant when she brought up the fact to them didn't do anything to soften the blow. It wouldn't take long before the rest of the gang swamped around the lanky man, regardless of how many times he told them he was fine.

After the fifth examination from Velma, Shaggy waved them off, beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed. "Like, c'mon guys! I've already been looked over plenty of times! Nothing is wrong!" He insisted, sitting at the dining table with everyone else, Velma having just stepped away from checking his head.

"There aren't any injuries, that's for sure," Velma said, sitting beside of him, looking over him in a thoughtful manner. "Still, it's awfully strange how you just fell over so suddenly like that."

"Maybe you're just a little overworked, Shag," Freddie suggested. "I don't imagine being a coach is all that easy."

"That's probably it," Elsa interjected. "If it's been awhile since you've done any actual teaching, Coach, it's safe to say that your body is trying to get used to it again."

The lanky man scratched his head, thinking a little bit. He didn't feel worse for wear when that happened, but he also didn't want to worry his friends any more than he already had. With a small grin and a weary laugh, he nodded. "Like, that's probably it. Having a class before dinner probably distracted me or something."

Despite a small wave of laughter among everyone, there were still a couple of people who were worried, though kept it secret. If Shaggy looked and felt okay, then there was no reason to worry right? It was still concerning because no one knew why. Googie, with a raised eyebrow, turned to the detective, who sat across from her, eyeing the other man over some. "What do you think, detective?" She asked in a quiet, worried tone.

He remained quiet for a bit, not looking at her. After a few seconds, his grin flashed and he merely shrugged, turning to her. "It might just be exhaustion, like they said. I'm not a doctor, so unless he's dead, I wouldn't have a clue," He chuckled. That statement did little to make her feel better. With an uneasy glance back towards Shaggy, she sighed and fixed her hair idly with one hand. Nothing to fret about for now, at least.

During their dinner of some sort of quiche, Sibella had decided to speak up about a topic that Shaggy had not elaborated on. "So, Coach, if it's no trouble, could you please tell us how you, Scooby, and Googie met my Father?" Shaggy glanced upwards in the middle of his bite, first looking to the imploring vampire and then to Googie, who was looking at him back. Scooby was also looking to her for affirmation, which she gave with a small nod, mixed with a shrug. The rest of Mystery Incorporated had already heard the story, but they tensed up, wondering how she'd react. The detective looked their way, an eyebrow raised. It was obvious he was interested in hearing the story as well.

The other ghouls were very intrigued by this development too. Phantasma, not wanting to turn down a free opportunity for a free story, perked right up, eyes glued to her coach as she rested her chin in her hands, waiting eagerly. Winnie also perked up, becoming curious. "Hey, yeah! What happened between you and Bella's dad?" She'd ask, her words slightly muffled due to the fact she was eating with her mouth full.

Everyone was soon watching him, silently urging for the story. Even Miss Grimwood looked expectantly to the coach, a small, knowing smirk forming on her face. 'Like, does she know? Or does she just like watching me react under pressure or something?' Shaggy found himself asking to himself. After setting down his fork, Shaggy cleared his throat. "Well, uh... like, here's how Scooby, Scrappy, Googie, and I met the Count..."

The next few minutes would be Shaggy retelling the story of how he became a werewolf, with Googie adding in some points from her perspective, with Scooby concurring. Just like before, reactions were somewhat mixed, though from the ghouls' side, the most palpable emotion would be anger.Especiallyfrom Sibella, who's facial expression barely changed. While she did listen with interest, her somewhat curious look became more unreadable and stone-faced. With how badly her hand was shaking, though, it was clear to say that she was not pleased. She made sure to put her dining utensils down, hiding her growing fury. The anger from a vampire was so feasible, you could cut it with a knife. Winnie, who was much less subtle, looked less than pleased by this. On one hand, Shaggy had been a werewolf. On the other, it was against his will. And for what? A dumb road race for monsters? If she'd have known that this was going on, she would have immediately gone to her Papa and told him.

Tanis listened to the story with her eyes wide, rapt with attention. She was clearly shocked and horrified that Sibella's dad would do such a thing. After all, she had met the Count many times before, and he had always seemed so nice and pleasant! Why would he do such a thing to their coach? She was thankful that it didn't seem to leave any lasting effects on him, at the very least. Still... being turned into a werewolf against one's will didn't sound fun.

Elsa, Phanty, and the detective seemed to share the general emotion of vast intrigue. In Elsa's case, she was mostly wondering how (andwhy) the full moon could possess such powers to randomly decide when someone would become a werewolf under it. Was it even random? This was something she'd have to study about, surely. The detective's train of thought was more or less the same, minus the fact that his face was split into an expression of what could best be described as maniacal glee. To him, nothing was more fascinating to him currently than learning about gaining a werewolf curse without actuallybeingcursed. As for Phantasma, her thought process didn't have as much depth as the other two. She was merely captivated by the amazing story the two were telling!

After a bit of time, Shaggy awkwardly ended his story with, "So like... that's it, I guess. All in all, a very weird story."

"I'm just glad that we don't have to see Dracula again..." Googie gulped, quickly turning her gaze to Sibella. "Um, n-no offense of course!"

Sibella didn't turn her gaze to the blond, looking as if she was doing everything to keep herself from flying off the edge, so to speak. "Oh, none taken, I assure you," She replied, her voice sounding quite cold. "I sincerely apologize about my Father. If I'd have known sooner..." The vampire quickly stood up, quickly turning away and moving out of the dining area. "If you all will excuse me, I have a letter to send toFather," She continued, almost sounding as if she was suppressing a growl. No one dared to try and stop her, not even Miss Grimwood. The aura she was emitting was frightening enough as it was.

It wasn't until the room was one vampire short did anyone speak up anymore. "...well I knowsomeonewho won't be getting any Christmas cards this year," Daphne muttered, grinning a little at her own joke.

"Well, that was an awesome story, regardless, Shaggy!" Phantasma giggled. "It does suck that you all got kidnapped like that, plus having to go through with that awful race? My dad's very lucky he doesn't have to partake in that. Glad you all made it out okay and taught him a lesson or two!"

"If hediddo something, though, I wouldn't have hesitated to teach him a lesson myself," Winnie huffed, growling some. She did flash Shaggy an apologetic look, though.

"All I know is, I have a very stern letter to send to my parents," Elsa lamented, deciding to keep her interests to herself. After all, it was clear that they had been through a lot, and being reminded of it or showing any levity towards it probably wasn't very polite.

"Same here!" Tanis interjected. "I can't believe Mummy-Daddy would act so mean for a race! He was no better than those Calloway boys!" She huffed, crossing her arms.

"Like, girls, relax! This all happened years ago," Shaggy commented, moving his eyes from one girl to the next. "I'm just thankful we don't have to go through with that again."

"I'm not willing to forgive Dracula just yet, but as long as he doesn't butt into our lives again, I'll be thankful," Googie sighed, turning her attention towards where Sibella walked out from. "Is she gonna be okay..?" She asked cautiously.

"Oh don't worry about her," Miss Grimwood said, waving her hand. "I don't assume she's going to do much more than send a very strongly worded letter to her Father." She took a sip of her drink, thinking a couple of seconds before continuing. "...however, if she remains in her room, I'd be cautious about checking up on her. A brooding vampire is one that is filled with emotions. Sibella will be ready to talk about her emotions when she feels like she can. Until then, we'll just have to wait."

Dinner soon ended afterwards, since everyone had finished eating. Just as the detective was about to question Shaggy about the whole race, he was saved when someone had knocked on the door, gaining everyone's attention. As the octopus butler walked himself to the door to answer, Freddie spoke up. "Who could be stopping by this late?"

"That's probably the Colonel," Miss Grimwood answered, a snort of disdain coming from a certain red-haired werewolf, who soon got up and began to head to her room. After a glare towards Winnie, she continued. "He's probably here to schedule the volleyball tournament, and meet up with his replacement."

"Like, I remember him. Is he still as stuck up as usual?" Shaggy joked, sharing a laugh with the headmistress.

"I doubt he's ever going to loosen up, Coach."

The rest of the Mystery gang decided to stick with Shaggy, curious as to who this Colonel was. The detective was going to join them, but was soon flanked by Phantasma, who eagerly suggested that he tell her about the crime scene they had investigated earlier. More specifically, the dead body. At first, Velma wasn't too keen on the fact that he quickly agreed to do so, beginning to head up the stairs after Phanty flew into the ceiling, laughing in her usual giddy manner.

"They wanted to help us out, right? Might as well share the details with those who are willing," He answered simply before heading out. Velma's intuition told her that the ghost girl asking about the crime scene would not lead to her helping with the mystery, but she decided against bringing that point up to him. Phanty was nice and all, but she was a loose cannon. The only thing more dangerous than one of them is two of them in the same room.

Miss Grimwood, Shaggy, and the rest of the humans seated themselves in the living room, watching as the octopus butler walked in with the Colonel, still dressed in his navy blue suit, medals His mustache was still long and stringy underneath his long hooked nose, although it was clear that age was starting to take it's toll on the man. Despite that, he still carried himself with immense dignity and pride.

The look of pride soon wore off as his eyes fell upon the group of humans, recognizing two specific ones out of the whole group. Mainly, the tallest one and his dog. The look on his face was comparable to one who had just stuck his nose in a garbage can. This look quickly went away as the man cleared his throat. "Coach Rogers. I see we meet once again," He began, offering a hand. Shaggy quickly shook it, smiling politely.

"Like, good to see you again too, Colonel," He answered. Afterwards, Scooby took the hand with his paw, confusing the Colonel, but returning it.

"Er, likewise." His attention looked around to everyone else. "Are these fellow staff members?" He asked, sounding quite perplexed, soon taking a seat that was offered by the butler.

"Oh no, Colonel," Miss Grimwood replied. "They're all here to assist the local town with a few... attacks that have been occurring there, lately. I'm merely allowing them a place to stay and work until they solve it."

"A pleasure to meet you, Colonel," Freddie began, pointing between everyone in the group. "My name is Freddie, and that's Velma, Daphne, and Googie." Everyone gave a small wave to the man, who saluted them back briefly as a greeting.

The Colonel would then look a bit apprehensive about the headmistress's comment. "I see... well, good luck with that, in any case. That's one good thing about being in the middle of nowhere. I do have to protect my students, as I'm sure you understand Miss Grimwood." After a bit, he cleared his throat and straightened up. "However, right now I am here to discuss our upcoming game, if that's no problem."

With a nod, Shaggy leaned forward a bit. "Like, what do ya wanna discuss?"

It took every ounce of self control for Sibella not to slam her door shut and let out a loud exasperated scream. Rather, she gripped her fists tightly and let out an exasperated groan. She absolutely could notbelievethe nerve of him! Hadn't he sunken low enough without having to resort to kidnapping people for his dumb hobby? The vampire stormed over to her desk, digging out a spare sheet of paper and reaching for a pen, starting to write a letter. Her scrawl was a bit messy, due to rage, but she didn't seem to care about that.

At least, she wouldn't care about it until she heard something clatter against her floor. Her hand froze in place as her eyes widened, her face turning from anger to fear. Another small clatter got her to turn around towards her coffin, seeing a suitcase tremble around some. Sibella slowly set down her pen and made her way over to the suitcase. It was still closed tightly from the day she first arrived.

As the vampire reached her hand out towards the twitching suitcase, it seemed to pause, as if expecting her. She hesitated, as if it was going to suddenly attack her. She quickly moved her hands to the clasps and undid them, slowly opening the case up. Her large eyes seemed to widen some more upon what she saw. She had almost forgotten she had packed this, or rather, shewantedto forget she packed this.

Without waiting a second longer, she grabbed the item in her bag before it could move around some more, clinging it tightly to her chest. This had to be the reason for all of her nightmares, right? Had to be. Sibella moved towards her door and quickly opened it, peeking her head out. No one was in the hall, and she could hear talking. One conversation was coming from Phantasma's room, though music would play out in between every few sentences. Good. That would keep her distracted.

It was better to be safe than sorry, however, so she decided to levitate, though just barely. It was best to make as little noise as possible. As she carefully floated herself down the stairwell into the foyer, she peered her head just barely into the living room. Miss Grimwood and the others were having a conversation with Colonel Calloway. A perfect distraction, though she knew he wouldn't be sticking around for long. She had to hurry and hide this... particular item.

Thinking quickly, she hurried off towards the laboratory. Despite the door creaking open some, it didn't attract anyone closer to her, so she hurried down further into it. She was greeted with the dark room, barely lit by small candles that never seemed to burn out. Sibella began to look around, trying to find the best spot to hide it. The first thing she did was look towards her desk. That wouldn't do, there wasn't anywhere to hide it with her desk. Sibella's eyes then darted towards the cauldrons. Nearby shelves and boxes kept ingredients for potion work, but all that would do was make a big mess. Besides, with how often everyone went over there, it wouldn't be long before someone found it.

She then turned to the bookshelves. Debatable, since no one's really looked through a book there in awhile. With the layer of dust masked onto the shelves, it would be easy to hide her item. It would still stand out, though, if she put it there. Moving her gaze to the side, she figured it out. Rather than hiding itinthe shelf, she would just have to hide it behind the shelf. Thankfully, the shelves weren't pushed up too close to the wall, but it would still take a bit of effort in hiding it in such a place.

Sibella got to her knees and started to shove the item inwards. It was much tighter than it looked, but thankfully managed to hide it away, almost out of sight. If anyone bothered to get really close to the back of the shelf, they might be able to see it, but other than that, it was a pretty good spot.

A thought occurred to the girl as she began to levitate once more, starting to move back to her room. She could easily destroy it, as she had the capabilities. She shook her head upon thinking that, though, knowing better. First of all, it was her Father's, and despite the fact that she was still rather angry with him, this was a very important item for him to protect, and he didn't even know that she had taken it from him in the first place. Incurring the wrath of her father wouldn't do her any favors, especially since this item was incredibly important. And also very dangerous. The vampire quickly closed the door behind her and sighed, moving back to her desk.

'Hopefully the bad dreams will stop, at least,' Sibella thought to herself, continuing her letter.

"Burnsandscratch marks?! Oh how gruesome!" Phantasma giggled madly, floating at least a couple of feet off of the floor, making the detective have to look up at her.

"Oh it was. Any hair remaining on him was smoking and singed so badly, I'm surprised he even had any hair," The man replied, grinning in an excitable manner. He did so love to share details of his investigations, even to a ghost that was just as crazy as he was. The man was leaning against the nearby wall, hands remaining in his hoodie pockets.

"How much blood was there?" The ghost asked curiously, her voice just as eager for more details.

"There definitely wasn't a shortage, though most of it was around the body, as to be expected," The detective mused, almost disappointed that there wasn't more.

This didn't stop the phantom from giggling crazily. "Eww, gross! I bet that whole place justreeked!" She floated closely, face to face with the other man, both of them sharing wide smiles. "Tell me, was he missing any limbs? Fingers? Maybe something spilling out of him?!"

"Busted nose, though it was kinda hard to tell due to the fact that he had no face on him." The detective's grin seemed to widen in amusem*nt as Phanty reacted in shock.

"Woooah! No face, really? I can't imagine being without a face!" Phanty spoke aloud, crossing her legs as she 'sat' in midair. "Whatever's out there, it must be mad as hell!"

"That was the case with the other one we found. No face, scratch marks, burns, all that jazz." He put his hand on his chin, looking marginally more thoughtful. "I'm not sure if that's a motive or not. All it proves to me is that this thing is persistent, whatever it is."

"Well, let's hope you and the others figure out what it is before it finds us! I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm safe, since I'm incorporeal and all that, but it still wouldn't be pleasant to have that face burner come around here," Phantasma rambled, shrugging and grinning.

"I'm sure we will. I believe we're getting closer." With that, he stood straight and turned his attention to the large organ in the room. "On a different note, I take it that's your organ?"

Phantasma brightened up, giggling madly as she floated to the organ, sitting herself down at the seat. "Yup yup! Well, sorta, anyways. Technically it's the school's and Miss Grimwood's, but she lets me play it! This is technically the music room, but I stay around here so much, it's practically my bedroom at this point!" After saying that, she began to play a small, haunting refrain on her organ. The man listened to it, smiling and enjoying the music. After a minute, she stopped and turned around, returning to laughing. "Do you play anything?"

The man merely shrugged, eyeing over the old, yet very intricate, detail of the organ. "Well, sort of. Not an organ though. Used to want to play in a band, so I learned guitar." At this point, he moved a hand out of his hoodie pocket, showing his fingers, which were very calloused and scarred. "I decided towards a different career choice when that didn't work out."

Phantasma eyed over his hands a bit before getting an idea. "Oh really? One second!" She soon got up and floated over to a large walk in closet, rummaging around. The man raised an eyebrow and watched her, curious as to what she was searching for. In a few seconds time, she came back, holding a dusty old acoustic guitar, which she quickly handed over to the detective. While it looked old, it was still in perfect condition.

After giving it a quick glance, he turned to look at the ghost girl, who was now eagerly watching him. It was clear she was expecting him to play. With a small shrug, he grinned and pulled the strap on, straightening out the guitar. He'd strum the strings a couple of times, using his other hand to tune. Once that was done, he began to play, shutting his large, owl like eyes. The song he decided to play was also a bit of a haunting refrain, with almost a Spanish feel to it. He wouldn't keep the song to simple strums and chords. He wanted to play.

He kept going for about a minute as well, stopping and looking up at the Phantasma, who soon began to giggle and applaud for him. "Wow, that was... awesome!" She fixed herself on the seat, her body facing the organ once more, but turning her head to look back towards him. "Say, wanna try and see if we can work out a duet together? Or I guess in my case, a 'boo-et?'" She laughed at her own pun, which the man followed with a wide smile.

"Sounds like a scream," He answered, giving a few idle strums to the old guitar.

"The 30th of October will work just fine, correct?"

"Like, sounds good to me. What do you think, Miss Grimwood?"

"Works perfectly for us."

The meeting was moving to a conclusion as the Colonel confirmed the date. For the most part, no one else really had anything to add, and merely observed. Thankfully, the meeting wasn't too long or boring, lasting about five minutes.

"Excellent. I will be expecting you," He concluded, standing up and offering another handshake to Shaggy, which he took.

"Sounds cool, man. Like, may the best school win!"

With a somewhat smug grin, the Colonel replied. "Don't you worry, Coach Rogers. We intend to." With a small tip of his cap, he bid the others good day and left the building, heading back to his own school. Scooby and Shaggy scratched their heads as Miss Grimwood spoke up. "Well, I'll be expecting you to whip those girls into good shape, Coach! After all, you did such a good job last time, I assume it'll be no problem."

"Yeah, Shaggy! It shouldn't a problem. They're already really talented, and with you helping, they're bound to beat that military school," Daphne concurred enthusiastically.

"I have to admit, I didn't believe it at first when you said you used to be a coach. But now that I've observed how you do it, I think it's safe to say that we all have a lot of confidence in you two and the rest of the girls," Velma added, smiling at gently at him.

"Reah, Raggy! Re got this!" Scooby said, wagging his tail as he beamed up at his best friend, who returned the smile.

"Wow, like, thanks everyone! I know we'll all do the best we can. The girls are already showing lots of improvement. Like, we'll win for sure!" He added, chuckling some.

"That's the spirit!' Freddie beamed, adding in a thumbs up for good measure.

...

I see now.

The skinny one.

He has the most experience out of everyone else.

I am quite lucky to have gazed inside of his mind.

...

But this is only the beginning for me.

I know more than before, but not enough.

Never enough.

If I want more, I must delve deeper.

But who?

...

Oh.

Perfect.

They won't suspect a thing.

I will have to wait.

It will be torturous.

I do not like waiting.

No no no no.

But it must be done.

Until then, I must wait.

...

Chapter 11: The Tournament

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 11: The Tournament

For the next few weeks, it seemed as if the whole investigation slowed to a halt. Not that anyone was to blame, of course, but after searching through the town and the school grounds where they were allowed, there weren't a lot of places to look around. For the most part, the group felt as if they had as much information as needed, and all they really had to do was narrow everything down.

This wasn't seen as too bothersome by anyone, however. For the most part, everyone started to enjoy sticking around in the old, spooky school. Everyone was starting to grow on each other, as well as find other activities so that no one was ever bored. The added company of humans was quite nice, in Miss Grimwood's opinion. She never really understood why monster-kind tended to look down on humans in the first place, as well as vice versa. It was clear to see that with time and patience, the two groups could get along quite easily.

It wouldn't surprise anyone that Velma often spent her time reading from a book from one of their many shelves, making herself familiar with some history. From time to time, she'd help the detective with his research, but she would also make sure to spend time with Elsa, who appeared to match her intelligence quite well. The bookworm of Mystery Inc. would want to know more about how Elsa came to be, and the golem girl thankfully didn't mind the curiosity of the human. Freddie would also spend some time with Elsa, mostly due to the fact that she shared his love of building stuff.

It wouldn't take long before he would begin regaling her in a few stories of their past mysteries and how they came to solve them, which of course always ended the same way. Still, it never seemed to bring down the natural energy Freddie had, nor did it ever seem to bore Elsa, who was always eager to learn more about what humans could accomplish. She had to admit, even if they had evil plans, humans could get a lot done if they so wished...

Soon, Freddie would start telling the other girls about these mysteries as well, usually with the help of the other members. These stories often took place at the dinner table, the attention of everyone often drawn to the blond haired leader. Tanis seemed to be the most intrigued in them, always making sure to listen up and pay attention. She always enjoyed stories, and she found herself more and more fascinated with the fact that her human friends always managed to find situations like these and successfully right them. Of course, the other girls found this admirable as well.

When she wasn't studying or having her classes, Tanis often found herself hanging out with one of the humans, finding herself wanting to get to know them better. More often than not, she would hang around Googie, who found herself growing closer to the mummy in a sisterly fashion. The two found the other one really nice and sweet, clearly enjoying each others conversations and company. It wouldn't be unusual to find the two of them sharing facts about the other's culture. Either that or they would be sharing gossip about certain topics that they wouldn't dispel to anyone else.

After having sent her strongly worded letter to her father, it wouldn't take long before Sibella got a response back. Of course, it wouldn't provide her with all the answers she needed, and was very vague as she read it. At most, he apologized about how terrible the race that year went, as well as voicing his understanding to her displeasure of his two hunchback minions. Of course, he'd mention to not bring up this whole situation to her mother, which only made her sigh in frustration. If she wouldn't get answers the easy way, she'd have to wait for his visit when it was open house...

For now, though, Sibella seemed to be in better spirits. She would spend a lot of her time studying, though most certainly wouldn't mind it whenever Winnie, Daphne, or Velma decided to pop in and have 'girl time'. They'd trade stories about what they would go through when they were at home, with both the vampire and the red-head having a similar childhood of being raised by a rather rich family before growing up with friends who helped bring them more 'down-to-Earth'. Daphne often stated how if it weren't for Mystery Incorporated, she'd probably be as stuck up as Dracula himself. Sibella laughed with her, concurring.

In the vampire's mind, removing that item from her room seemed to clear up her mind. When asked by anyone if she had been having any weird dreams lately, she would always answer in the negative. As far as she knew, no one managed to find the secret spot she hid the dreaded thing. She figured that once her father came by for the open house, she'd bring him down the laboratory to both yell at him and return his rightful property to him. It was for the best that he get it back as soon as possible, anyways.

As for Winnie, it wouldn't come as a surprise that she was most likely to be doing something to try and work off her boundless energy. Of course, it would almost always be with Shaggy and Scooby, though the other girls would sometimes join in. After all, they all did need to continue training for their upcoming volleyball game. Whenever Winnie wasn't practicing, she would be receiving some help with her studies from other students, which almost never seemed to work. Her attention span was quite low and she got bored easily. As for Shaggy and Scooby, they would tend to spend a bit of one-on-one time with the students as they requested. They felt that as their coaches, it was their responsibility to help them out.

Phantasma adored hanging out with everyone, randomly floating in and out of conversations on a whim. After awhile, everyone got used to her brand of humor and her sudden need to be a part of everything. Of course, she found herself spending the most time with the detective, whose line of work she found interesting. Mostly due to learning about the types of corpses he's seen, but he never seemed to care about this and didn't mind her company. Unless it was during a meal time, he was most likely to be found in the laboratory, off in the corner as he did his research.

The detective was extremely erratic in how he managed to do everything, but with his 'organized mess', as Velma liked to put it, he seemed to be figuring everything out at his own pace and would always answer questions to the best of his ability. Such an odd case required a lot of his focus, which often meant he would go days without sleep. While this worried the others, he insisted that it was normal for him. Whenever he wasn't in the lab, he would often be reading or, more likely, doing 'jam sessions' with the blue ghost. Lately, he's been taking to giving her singing lessons, to the chagrin of everyone's ear drums. At least she's been getting better at it... very slowly.

Matches, for the most part, was quite dormant around the newer house guests, in that he wouldn't try and burn them each time he saw them. It was definitely an improvement, in some sense. Things seemed to be working out just fine, in Miss Grimwood's opinion. Their investigation was going well, her students were learning a lot, and she couldn't be prouder of them. As she took another sip of her tea, she began to wonder just what everyone else was doing at the moment...

It would turn out to be another great day of training for the ghouls, as evidenced by the fact that they were all in high spirits (metaphorically of course, unless you were referring to Phanty). With the tournament being tomorrow, Miss Grimwood allowed as much time as they needed to prepare for it, so it wouldn't come as a surprise that the whole group entered the building a few hours later than usual. As far as Shaggy was concerned, all of the girls had improved considerably, that he knew without a doubt that they would win their volleyball game this year for sure.

Naturally, Winnie would be the one to request a bit more time to practice, though her coaches made sure to tell her that it wouldn't be good to overdo it. "I like your fight, Winnie, but like, we don't want you all to be too tired or sore to play tomorrow. Stay focused, but relax a little as well." Shaggy explained, heading inside with the rest of the class.

"We were only out there for three hours..." Winnie groused to herself, not seeing much of a reason to end training now. However, she knew better than to argue, so she went along with everyone else.

"Perhaps on your own free time, you could see about coming back outside?" Elsa replied, looking to her furry friend.

Before Winnie could respond, though, Sibella spoke up. "Only if you don't plan on blowing off another study session, Winnie," She began, looking to her. "After all, you were the one who wanted some help with math, correct?"

Winnie sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I know, Bella..." She didn't like to be reminded that she was falling a little behind in her academic studies, but facts were facts. Since Sibella was one of her closest friends, as well as the local 'math nerd', she decided to come to her for some tutoring. Truth be told, it was helping a little bit. Emphasis on little. She still found herself growing rather bored with formulas and equations and lectures and blah blah blah...

At the very least, Sibella was willing to help out, which was why she suddenly gripped her wrist and walked her up the stairs for their study session. With a slightly disgruntled werewolf in tow, the group was shortened to three monsters, a human, and a dog. At this point, Daphne had left one of the rooms upstairs and was making her way down it, momentarily pausing to greet the duo heading up before continuing her path down.

"Hey guys! How was the training session?" She asked to the remaining group. To her, they all looked pretty dirty, though it seemed that Shaggy and Scooby were the only ones who looked fully worn out. Shaggy's usual messy mop of hair was even more unkempt, with his face red as it looked like he had been doused in sweat. Scooby looked thoroughly exhausted, as he had taken to sprawling out on his stomach, groaning out a little. As for the others, they also looked a bit dirty, but otherwise quite fine. Phantasma, unsurprisingly, looked the same as she ever did.

"Like, it went really great!" Shaggy replied, wiping his forehead with his hand. "All the girls are in tip top shape for the game."

"We'll win for sure," Elsa replied, flexing a very large bicep proudly, Phanty giggling and giving two thumbs up as Tanis nodded in agreement.

"Well that's great!" Daphne smirked a little, looking to the two coaches of the girls. "I suggest getting a shower in, though."

"Ryeah, re stink," Scooby said, snickering afterwards. Shaggy nodded and laughed, giving himself a bit of a whiff.

"Like, good point. Let's go get ourselves cleaned, Scoob," Shaggy suggested, turning to everyone before heading up. "See you guys later! Miss Grimwood let you have the rest of the day off, right?" After a nod of affirmation from the other girls, he would smile and give a small wave to them. "Cool! Like, good luck tomorrow girls!" He'd say before heading up to his room.

This just left the other four, looking to each other to continue their conversation. "So uh, any new developments happen while we were away?" Tanis asked the redhead politely.

Daphne gave a simple shrug and looked to the mummy. "I'm not sure, honestly. Velma's been reading and studying monster literature for awhile, and I think Freddie's been in the laboratory tinkering around with another trap of his." She paused, as if to think. "I think Googie said she was going to help Miss Grimwood with the cooking. As for the detective, I haven't seen him leave the lab in hours, so I have no clue what he's up to." She concluded, ending her last sentence with a bit of hesitation. She didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she had no idea what he was really doing or what his developments were.

Of course, it wouldn't take a detective to notice Phantasma perk up upon the mention of her new best friend, grinning from ear to ear. "Ooh! Then I'll have to go check up on him and see! Scuse me, girls," She giggled, giving a wave before flying off into the lab. At least, that's what the others assumed, anyways.

Tanis giggled a little on her own, a big smile on her face. "She seems to stick awfully close to that guy," She said, trying to stifle herself so she wasn't laughing too loudly.

Elsa shook her head, her own amused grin on her face. "They are both quite strange, aren't they? It would make sense that they would get along so well together." Daphne didn't seem to respond, though mostly because she was thinking. Before she really had time to formulate her thought, though, Elsa seemed to head towards the lab as well. "In any case, I'm gonna go see if Freddie needs any help. I'm sure he'd appreciate the extra set of hands."

The redhead snapped out of her thought process momentarily, giving a small wave and a smile. "Well, good luck! Dealing with him when he's building can be a task in and of itself," She told the golem girl. After stepping out, Daphne and Tanis decided to walk into the main room, where Velma was sitting on a couch, reading a book. Truth be told, Daphne thought she had exhausted the entire library that the school had to offer by now, but it was clear that was not the case. Either that or she was rereading something. Daphne didn't keep track, so she had no clue.

It wouldn't stop the two from sitting down on the couch. Velma briefly looked up from her book and smiled to the two. "Hey, guys. I take it practice is over?" She asked to the mummy girl, who replied with a nod.

"Yup. We were given the rest of the day off, so I hope you two don't mind if I stick around!" Daphne gently patted her head, eliciting a giggle from the mummy.

"We don't mind at all!" Daphne replied eagerly, Velma also responding with a wordless nod, eyes still glued to the book before her. A quick glance at the cover would show that Velma was readingEarly Witchcraft.

Tanis also noticed this, as she spoke up again. "That's a neat book you've got there! I've read that one a few times myself. Does it happen to involve the investigation you all are working on?" Velma's fingers seemed to fidget a little bit, which Daphne knew was a small tell for her. Without her needing to say anything, she knew for a fact that she was definitely researching this for the sheer fact that whatever was going on could be the source of some sort of witchcraft. Both of them knew about the witch the girls had to deal with though, and chances were she didn't want to scare Tanis.

Rather than keep it secret, though, Velma decided to be as delicate as possible. "Well, um... sort of. The evidence has been leading us to believe that, in a sense. We're not positive it is actually witchcraft, but we do know it's... not pleasant," She'd reply. Velma paused a couple of times in her explanations, as if trying to find the right words to say as to not overwhelm her.

Thankfully for both humans, Tanis didn't seem too disturbed by this revelation. Instead, she seemed to give a bit of a knowing nod. "That's understandable. Witches do tend to be attracted to extreme powers, aren't they?" This momentarily surprised the other two, but they quickly realized where she could have learned this information from. A certain blue chatterbox of a ghost came to mind...

Neither one of them would be irritated with this fact, however. If they were bound to figure it out eventually, at least they were somewhat at ease with it. With a small, almost disappointed sigh from the mummy, she continued on. "I was hoping we would be over the problem with witches, though." She sat straight up, as if she was just caught doing something embarrassing. "I-I mean, not all witches are like that, certainly! I don't wanna make that assumption." She began to fidget with a loose bandage on her arm, now a little uncomfortable. "After all, Miss Grimwood knows magic too, and I'dneversay anything bad about her."

Once again, neither of the two girls were too surprised with the fact that Miss Grimwood knew magic, herself. She was quite subtle about it, but their observant eyes were keen to recognize it. Shaggy and Scooby has known the woman the longest, so they casually accepted that fact. Velma, being the smart and observant one, was the first to really notice it. Daphne and Freddie eventually came to terms with it soon after, along with Googie once she got comfortable. While not openly saying it, it was an obvious conclusion that the detective knew as well. For the most part, she didn't seem to use her powers for a whole lot, at least as far as they were aware.

"Trust me, we wouldn't either," Daphne said in a comforting manner, having grown close to everyone here. Velma's mind wandered a little, however. Sure, Miss Grimwood was nice, but she was also quite... reserved. The bad thing about people who play everything close to the chest is that you have no idea what they're intentions are until you figure them out the hard way. She put these thoughts to the side for the time being, knowing that their investigation would hopefully make things more clear, and hopefully show that the woman was nothing more than a pleasantly weird magic user.

Velma, for the time being, closed her book and set it to the side. It was quite clear Tanis knew a lot about this sort of subject, and learning about it first-hand would be much easier than reading about it. "If you don't mind me asking, but would you mind telling us more about witchcraft and how the culture behind it?"

Naturally, Tanis beamed at this. "Oh of course! I suppose I could start about the time that witches were actually considered a part of monster-kind, which was also around the time period of the Salem witch trials back in the colonial period..."

"Do you suppose an electromagnetic field could help spring the mechanism much faster?"

"Sounds plausible, but where would the magnets be located?"

"At first I thought about placing them at opposite ends, but figured that they would get damaged. Instead, I was considering placing them in the middle on either side, that way it would close at a faster pace, as well as keep the trap shut tight."

"That actually sounds very doable. The only problem I see is the fact that it will be tough to re-open once it's shut, due to the strong pull of the magnets."

"I was thinking about that, too, and my solution would be a switch that would turn the magnets on and off..."

Phantasma watched from a short distance as Freddie and Elsa exchanged ideas. The two of them were looking over what they called a "prototype", but in all honesty, to the ghost it looked like a bear trap with curved clamps and no teeth. Overhearing the two, they would reveal that the bigger version would have a wire cage attached to either side, so whatever was inside wouldn't easily break out, nor would it be injured. She giggled to herself, flipping her hair out of her eyes. To her, it looked quite silly! She did rather enjoy watching the two get along, though. Heck, people watching was one of her favorite hobbies! In a matter of seconds, though, another new found interest soon garnered the attention of Phantasma.

Her body floated back over to the small group of desks, which were rearranged in a manner to make it look as if it were one big table. Hunched over it with both hands on the 'desk', the detective was looking over a bunch of papers that he had written on. Various lists and pictures were drawn and organized in a way that he and Phanty understood. Since he often tended to ramble to himself while working, Phantasma would be listening nearby and taking in everything. It was strange to think about, but the two had a very similar way of thinking and analyzing everything. 'Organized chaos', as Velma would most likely put it.

She had learned through the detective, and eventually the others, that whatever attacked the last two victims was definitely some form of demonic entity. With that being the case, she didn't know if an odd electro-thingamabob would be able to actually capture and hold it in place. With only a small after thought of hoping they wouldn't find out the hard way, she began her conversation with the strange man.

"So, from what you've said and gathered, it certainly looks like fire is somehow involved, but the bad thing is, I don't think that really narrows anything down! I mean, don't demons come from Hell, the land of nothing but darkness, fire, and evil and all that junk? If we're trying to figure out whatkindof demon did this, it could take forever!" Phantasma rambled on, raising a rather fair point, in the detective's opinion.

"That's what I'd like to find out, honestly," He began, his eyes not removing themselves from the strewn out pages before him. "In this case, a motive is quite helpful, though without solid evidence of one, we've appeared to have reached a wall." He stood back up, keeping his semi-slouched figure going as he placed a hand over his face, deep in thought.

The ghost matched his expression for a moment, crossing her legs in mid-air as she thought about it as well. As hard as she tried to keep her attention on the topic at hand, her flippant attitude and lack of focus made it increasingly hard. In her own mind, she knew she had no real idea of what was going on, and from the looks of it, he didn't either. At least not currently. After spending most of her time with him, she came to learn his various tics and actions. She would've known if he was keeping something hidden or secret from the others. While that may have been the case for a couple of things, she knew better than to pry too hard from him. Sure, one or two questions tryin gto provoke those topics would come up, but if he didn't yield, she wouldn't try to force it out of him until he felt like he was ready to do so.

At the moment, though, it was clear he was as stumped as she was. Before either one of them could be somewhat disappointed, the man removed his hand and turned to the ghost, grinning as wide as he ever did. "So, how's the vocal exercises coming along?" He asked her, finding himself genuinely curious as to how she was shaping up. With a loud giggle, she flipped over in midair, looking almost like the Cheshire Cat in the manner that she did it.

"Oh terrific! I've been practicing every night!" Phantasma answered. The detective nodded along, already aware of that fact. In fact,everybodywas. It was hard to ignore the wails and screeches, especially when they constantly break the windows. Thankfully Miss Grimwood could manage to repair them with her own magic, though she made sure to kindly, yet firmly, tell her to practice outside. Needless to say, it helped only somewhat. While the windows remained unbroken, the occupants of the house could definitely hear her vocalize.

Freddie and Elsa shared a similar grimace to each other as she said this, having been woken up at least twice by her practicing. How the detective didn't lose his hearing or his resolve was a mystery in and of itself. In the detective's opinion, though, she was definitely improving. A few of their 'jam sessions' would certainly help her grow more comfortable with using her voice when mixed in with music.

"And it certainly shows," He responded to her, his grin cracking into something of a smile. Phantasma cackled and returned the smile to him.

"Thanks! Hey! Sometime we should come up with a duet! I'd be an absolutescream!" While the detective beamed at this, Elsa and Freddie secretly hoped that their duet would be less cacophonous than what they've been hearing.

"Why wait? After dinner, how about we go to the graveyard and give it a shot?" He continued, growing excited with his ghostly friend. Soon, the ghost was right in his face, just as eager as he was, if their shared facial expressions were anything to go by.

"Sounds like a plan, Freaky!" Phanty cackled gleefully.

"Great! For the time being, let's get back to the case at hand, shall we?" With that, the two moved themselves back over the table, the mumbles of the strange man continuing on. Elsa and Freddie looked back to each other, moving into low whispers so that they wouldn't be overheard by the other two.

"Well that was... weird," Freddie said, giving a glance towards them before going back to his work.

"Great minds think alike, I suppose. Both are smart, in their own strange erratic way," Elsa continued, moving her hands to fiddle with a mechanism.

"Sure looks like. Personally, with the two of them distracting each other, it'll at least keep them out of trouble... for the most part."

In Freddie's own opinion, the detective was still a bit too odd to him. Despite being quite intelligent and observant, he was still on the edge about having the detective as a part of the team. Was he nice? Somewhat, though it was definitely overshadowed by his creepy aura. Phanty was almost the opposite, wherein the more she tried to be scary, the more she was bound to crack up and lose the entire act of terror. Still almost made Freddie hit the ceiling when she decided to prank him by suddenly phasing her arm through his chest.

At the very least, maybe spending more time with him would cause her to be too distracted to do that again. For now, he returned to the prototype in front of him. He liked Elsa, as he found that she was as good with machines as he was. He just wished that she wouldn't try and use electricity foreverythingshe made. He didn't want to learn the hard way that she often channeled that current through her own body.

Still, it was quite useful that she could merely cause an electrical charge with just her hands, which became useful as she finished up an electromagnet. The only problem was that it got stuck to one of her neck bolts, which Freddie knew better than to touch himself. Thankfully, she could pull it off herself, since she was already quite strong. Onto the next step, then...

Matches snoozed peacefully, curled up in his usual spot: right next to the stove. Considering that he had already lit it aflame, he didn't have much else to do besides wait for another order from Miss Grimwood to make sure that the fire didn't die out. While the headmistress was grinding...somethingin a mortar, Googie was standing just a few feet away, helping chop some fresh vegetables. Obviously not something for the monsters, but lately Googie has been helping Miss Grimwood with the cooking in general.

She explained to the strawberry blonde that after spending so many years cooking beastly food for monsters, her palate was altered, for lack of a better terms. Because of that, she finds it somewhat difficult to cook human safe food. It was quite fortunate that Googie knew her way around a kitchen, much like her ex-boyfriend and his dog. She often joked about the fact that her cooking skills were the reason that Shaggy got so attracted to her in the first place.

Speaking of which, it wasn't long before the two ever-hungry members of Mystery Inc. entered, both curious as to what was on the menu for dinner tonight. Well, that and to hopefully sample something delicious, but that was often a given with these two.

Googie looked over to them and smiled, returning to her task. "Hey, boys! How was practice?"

"Like, it was great!" Shaggy replied, sneaking a small bite of the zucchini that she was chopping. "Lots of improvement on their end! I don't think I have much else to teach them, to be honest."

"Well that's really good to hear!" Miss Grimwood exclaimed, glancing over in their direction with a small, pride filled smile on her face. It's not like she was surprised, but it was still nice to hear that her girls were doing amazingly.

"Ruh-huh! Rhwat's cooking?" Scooby asked, licking his chops eagerly as he too managed to sneak himself a bite of zucchini. Googie smiled down to the dog, not really caring a whole lot.

"I was planning on doing some stir-fry, if you two don't eat the ingredients before I cook them!" Googie answered, raising an eyebrow as she jokingly accused the two. It wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened, of course, so she was half hoping that they wouldn't do it again this time.

Shaggy chuckled, holding his hands up as if he were caught doing something. "Sounds good! Relax a bit, like, we'll stay out of your hair. Your stir-fry is like, to die for!" Everyone seemed to snicker at this joke, save for the blonde, who rolled her eyes. She still had a small grin growing on her face, though she wouldn't dare admit that she found his pun funny. Googie knew that the girls were rubbing off on him in some fashion, and this was evidence.

"Ha ha ha..." Googie laughed dryly. "Anyways, I'm actually glad you're here, Shaggy. Do you think you could help me with the cooking?" Always wanting to be involved when it came to food, he nodded and got to the left side of her.

"Sounds like a plan! Like, what do you want me to do?"

"Well, you could help me with the veggies if you want! And Scoob, could you please go wake Matches up for me real fast? I need the stove turned on." With that, Shaggy began to chop while Scooby nodded, heading over to the sleeping dragon. Not thinking much of it, Scooby gently began to shake the dragon.

"Ratches... rake up!" He said, trying to urge him awake. It didn't seem to do a lot of good, although Matches did seem to snort a little in his sleep, breathing out a big puff of fire. Scooby yelped out and ducked beneath it, breathing out a small sigh of relief. Miss Grimwood shook her head as she sighed a little.

"Honestly, it's so hard to get him to do anything nowadays." The headmistress turned over to him and cleared her throat. "Matches dear, be a good dragon and go light the stove for Googie." With another small snort, the dragon finally rolled open both of it's yellow and red eyes, huffing a small amount of smoke after having been woken up. Still, he slowly got to his feet and waddled over to the stove. After the latch was undone and opened by Googie, the dragon puffed out a bit of fire, which was enough to light it.

Googie closed the door and smiled to Matches as he made his way back to his spot, eager to continue his nap. "Thank you, Matches," She'd coo to the dragon, as if she were talking to a kitten. With a small snort, he flopped back down to his stomach and instantly fell asleep.

"Like, maybe he'll be more energetic when dinner's finish," Shaggy said, finishing up the squash he was working on cutting up.

"Oh, definitely. He never misses an opportunity for my stirred fly stir-fry," Miss Grimwood replied, casually going back to her mortar and pestle.

Googie, Shaggy, and Scooby shared a look of disgust, not saying anything else and returning to their insect-less cooking.

With the sun beginning to set, dusk was starting to make it's presence known, the last bits of sun dying down, giving way to darkness and letting the moon start it's ascent. While not a full moon, it wouldn't be but a few more nights before that was the case. A curly haired werewolf eyed the window a little bit, her clawed finger drumming a little against her book.

Sibella had the patience for a lot of things, but she often found her irritation grow much quicker when Winnie started to do stuff like that. With a small clearing of her throat, it quickly got her attention. "Winnie, could you please refrain from doing that? I'm trying to concentrate."

"Yeah yeah, sorry..." Winnie mumbled, turning her bored gaze back to the book. Much like the past few minutes, all the words and letters and numbers on the page were starting to melt together into one big unintelligible mess. Her pencil remained dormant in her clawed hand, not writing down any notes. Sibella drifted her gaze back over to her, slowly shutting her book and giving a small sigh. It was quite clear that Winnie was not interested in studying in the slightest.

"It seems something else is on your mind. Would it have to do with the tournament with the cadets tomorrow?" Sibella asked gently, an unreadable look on her face.

The werewolf sighed and shut her own book, stretching her arms. "Nah. Not really, anyways," She began. After scratching her ear a little bit, she turned to the vampire. "It's just... well, I don't know what it is, but I've been feeling... weird."

Sibella gave a confused look to her friend, a bit of concern mixed in. "Weird? How so?"

"It's sorta like... a sense of dread, I guess? It's like something is about to happen, but I don't know what." She looked down into her lap, growing a little more worried. "I get the feeling that everyone else is feeling it, too. Not just me."

Winnie looked back up at the vampire, with a half-expectant look on her face. Without even asking, Sibella knew that Winnie needed some form of confirmation about her worries. She couldn't blame her, though. After all, she was feeling a slight twinge of.. something uneasy. Like Winnie, though, she had no idea what it was for. She gave a small nod in agreement. "Strangely enough, I understand what you mean. It's not strong, but it is there. It's odd, because I haven't had a bad dream at all lately."

"Maybe whatever it is will go away," Winnie said, idly messing with a bit of hair. "Could have something to do with the odd monster attacks, I guess."

"It must be," Sibella concurred. "In any case, it seems as if the others are getting closer to some form of conclusion. By the time they solve this, everything should go back to normal," She conclued with a warming smile, showing off her fangs. The werewolf grinned back, nodding with her.

In her mind, Sibella had no clue if what she said was true or not. It could happen, but with that book still at the school, maybe they couldn't? Should she come forward about this? She knows for a fact she's going to return the book when her father visits for the Open House. By then, hopefully everything will be sorted out. Hopefully.

Before the two knew it, the torso of Phantasma suddenly floated up from the floorboards. "Boo!" She'd exclaim, giggling wildly as the two flinched. Before the two could reprimand her, though, she continued. "Heya girls! Sorry to interrupt, but Miss Grimwood says dinner's ready!" With that, she quickly exited. The two blinked and looked to each other.

"...guess it's time to go eat," Winnie said, chuckling a bit as she got up. Sibella soon followed her out of the door, their previous concerns pushed to the side, for the time being. They had a big day tomorrow, and going to sleep on an empty stomach wouldn't do.

At this point, it was tradition for the two schools to meet up on Grimwood's school grounds. There, a large spider had just climbed down from two old, wooden poles, having created a fresh, clean net of it's own webbing. The Grimwood girls were waiting on the field, feeling a little nervous, but also pumped up. Shaggy, Scooby, and Miss Grimwood stood near the crowd while everyone else remained sitting on a few nearby wooden benches. Prepared for the occasion, Googie sported two purple pom-poms, ready to cheer on the ghouls.

Across from the group, Colonel Calloway and his group of Cadets made their way over, marching in a straight line. The girls shared an unamused grimace with each other, all five of them ready to break their losing streak to these high and mighty douchebags. Scooby gave a salute upon seeing the Colonel, while Shaggy offered him a hand. He accepted it, a small prideful grin gracing both of their faces. Afterwards, he gave a handshake to Miss Grimwood as well.

"Good afternoon Colonel. I hope you and your boys are ready," She greeted.

"I should say the same thing to you, Miss Grimwood," He replied, hands behind him, looking as proper as ever. "My boys have been training for the past few weeks for this tournament, and we intend to win again." While the two headmasters got into a bit of playful banter with each other, the two teams met up with each other. Their confrontation would be a little less friendly, though.

Anyone watching would notice that both groups had lined up, facing their respective opponent. For a little bit, it almost seemed like they were engaging in a battle of wits, almost daring the other to say something first. Apparently, to these two schools, volleyball was a serious ordeal. Shaggy and Scooby watched from a small distance away, hoping that nothing would escalate from this very strange stand off.

Sibella stood in the middle of the ghouls, acting as the leader, or in this case, a team captain. Tug stood opposite of her, being in that position for the boys. Him and the others wore a similar uniform of shorts and a yellow top. The girls... wore what they usually wore. Phantasma made a bit of a show of it, sporting a sweatband around her head, for some reason.

The blue ghost would also be the one to break the tension. Of course, she'd do it in the best way she knew how. Over the top humor. "Y'all ready to getschooled? We're gonna whup yourbuttsso bad, you'll practically be handing the trophy over to us! Y'all better start begging now, because we're on our A-game today, and if you think y'all can just bust in here and show us up, you got anotha thing comin'!" She rambled on, doing a variety of hammy poses, trying to look more 'cool'. In the end, she looked ridiculous, but she didn't seem to care about that. The cadets looked rightfully confused at this, though, looking between each other as if mentally asking what she was doing.

As for the ghouls, the only one of them that didn't look exasperated with her shenanigans was Tanis, who gave a confused and embarrassed smile. Elsa was giving her a strange look with an eyebrow co*cked, while Winnie had her palm up against her face. Sibella wouldn't even look at the ghost, feeling embarrassed about her strangeness. Rather than point that out, however, she merely continued from there.

"...even though the mood is now dead, she's has a point," She began, recomposing herself to give an intimidating smile to the cadets, flashing her fangs. "Don't expect us to go easy."

"Yeah, we've been doin' nothing but training!" Winnie cut in, also having recomopsed herself into her usual co*cky self.

"Like we haven't?" The largest cadet, Grunt, retaliated. "The last few years we played ended with us winning. We'll do it again this year, too."

"We've shown improvement," Elsa snapped, a bit of a grin forming on her face. "Meanwhile, your skills have been stagnant. With the rate it's been going, there's no way you're going to beat us."

At this, Phantasma spoke up again. "Oooohsnap! You heard it from her, fellas! Better have the skills to back up those words!"

A visibly annoyed Grunt was about to say something to the ghost, but Tug butted in before he could. "Relax, Grunt. We'll have time to prove them wrong when the game actually begins," He said, turning his attention to Sibella. She raised an eyebrow at him as he went on. "May the best school win."

"Thanks," Sibella replied, giving a challenging smirk. "We intend to." With that, she and the rest of the girls turned way, heading to one side of the court. The boys moved to the other as the others got into position. Miss Grimwood and Colonel Calloway would act as the referees, as well as keep track of the score. Shaggy remained standing off court on the girls' side, ready to give advice if needed. Scooby would act as a "ball boy", by catching and throwing the ball to the serving side as needed.

With a blow of the whistle, the game began with Calloway giving the first serve from Jamal. Since it went straight for Tanis, everyone thought that it would hit her to the ground, or she would move. Instead, she easily and effortlessly bunted the ball upwards, as if it were nothing. In the next half a second, the orange blur of Winnie had jumped up and easily spiked the ball over the net, earning Grimwood their first point.

The wooden bleachers of Mystery Incorporated cheered for their monster friends, with Googie waving her pom-poms excitedly. The Cadets were quite astounded by this sudden movement. They obviously weren't kidding about this being their A-game. The Colonel stared with wide eyes as the boys tried their next serve. Fortunately for them, they actually managed to rally the ball somewhat. Unfortunately, though, it wasn't long before Sibella gracefully returned the ball towards them, shooting it at an angle so that the volleyball landed a good distance away before one of the boys could save it.

The game continued on, with the scoring varying a little bit. It was clear the ghouls were pulling all the stops in their skill this time, quickly racking up the points. Naturally, the boys scored a few times as well, making everything even. On the benches, the gang talked amongst one another in a quiet tone, as to not disturb or distract the players.

"Wow, Shaggy really wasn't kidding when he said they were showing improvement. They're like machines out there!" Freddie said, watching the werewolf dive into the ground for a quick save.

"Probably helps that they're also capable of so much, being monsters and all," Velma replied, watching them with a keen eye. Everyone was quite impressed, unable to look away.

"Let's just be glad that they're on our side," Daphne said to the two others. At this moment, the serve would move to the ghouls' side of the court, starting another round.

"Well, it's mostly about discipline out there, isn't it?" Googie said, joining in on the conversation. "I mean, I imagine that's how it is with every sport. With Shaggy pushing them to their full potential, it was only a matter of time before they revealed just how skillful they could be."

"Probably also helps that they all look up to him so much," Velma continued, glancing over at their coach, who was shouting encouragement to the school.

"Keep hitting em high, girls! Like, we've got this game in the bag!"

Freddie nudge her shoulder a bit, snickering a bit. "Feeling jealous?"

Daphne rolled her eyes, but tried to hide her own growing smile as Velma grunted, elbowing him back a big harder. "Oh please, Freddie. I'm not so shallow, y'know." Did she have an interest in Shaggy? A little, but she knew better than to let feelings like that overwhelm her. Relationships were more of an afterthought for her, anyways. Besides, they were his students and he was their coach. There was a very high chance none of them harbored any romantic feelings towards the other.

The game went on for at least a half hour, the clock ticking down the final few minutes. "With the score tied, this could go either way," the detective noted, speaking for the first time since the game started.

"Let's go, Grimwood! You can do it!" Googie cheered, giving a vigorous shake to her pom-poms. Soon, Tug gave the final serve to the ball, aiming it right towards Sibella. Instead of sending it right back, though, she passed it over to Elsa, who hit the ball straight up in the air. It kept going until it was out of sight from everyone.

A pen dropping could've been heard, even outside. Everyone on the court stopped what they were doing to look up, confused and wondering where the ball went. Only the golem girl kept watching the sky with conviction. Everyone on the wooden bench looked confused too, sharing glances of puzzlement. Scooby looked so high up into the air, that he fell over on his back, and Shaggy was merely biting his nails, unsure of what was going to happen.

As the clock ticked down to it's final seconds, the ball finally came back into view. Elsa grinned to herself as the ball slammed against the ground... on the cadets' side. Since it was close to the net, nobody had made a move towards it until it was too late. The Colonel blew the whistle right afterwards, staring in awe. "That's... the game!" He began, still flabbergasted. "Grimwood wins, 15-14." Shaggy wiped his forehead before laughing and jumping for joy, Scooby soon joining in by holding onto his hands.

Naturally, the others joined in on the cheering, with Googie throwing her pom-poms in the air. The ghouls joined by their coaches on the side lines, laughing and cheering with joy as they all got pulled into a large group hug. As for the cadets, they were all looking between each other, feeling a mix of disappointment and puzzlement, still confused over how they managed to let the ball hit their side.

The Colonel and Miss Grimwood shook hands, the former of the two handing the trophy over with a small, humble smile. "Well, fair's fair, Miss Grimwood. Your girls have certainly shown how capable they are at the sport."

As she accepted the trophy, she merely shook her head. "You mustn't let me have all the credit, Colonel. After all, it was Coach Shaggy and Scooby that honed in on their talents. If anything, they're the ones you should be congratulating."

He moved his gaze over to the group hug, the others surrounding them in praise. Even the strange man he didn't recognize was smiling ear to ear for the school. He scratched his head, feeling somewhat... embarrassed. He didn't know why he let it bother him so much, but it was clear that Shaggy had a great connection with the class. Where he failed as a coach for the girls, he had succeeded. "...perhaps some other time. They seem preoccupied for the moment." He lifted his hat to her, straightening up. "Until then, I bid you good day. Congratulations again for winning." With that, he turned around by his heel and moved towards the boys. "Come, boys, it's time to head back."

After a bit of hesitation, the boys fell into line and followed, still having trouble swallowing their own pride. Tug gave a final gaze to the girls before turning back around. He should've felt downtrodden, but in all honesty, he didn't feel too bad about it. They both played a good game, and in the end the girls ended up winning. He certainly couldn't deny that they all knew what they were doing. Especially Sibella. He cleared the thought of the purple vampire out of his head quickly before he started to fall behind. The last thing he wanted was for the others to bust his chops about it again.

Miss Grimwood walked towards the large group, who quickly separated as she handed the trophy off, letting all five of the girls hold it at once. "Great job today, girls! You've all done excellently, and this trophy is now rightfully yours," She said, beaming quickly proudly at all of them.

"Thank you, Miss Grimwood!" Tanis replied, using both hands to hold it up by the base.

"We owe it all to our coaches, after all," Elsa said, making Shaggy rub his head, blushing a little in modesty.

"H-hey, don't worry about it! Like, you girls are the ones who won," He replied, using his other hand to scratch a happy Scooby's head. At this point, the floating hand had brought over an old fashioned looking camera, quickly setting it up on a tripod a few feet away from the group.

"Oh, don't be modest, Coach Rogers. Come now, everyone join in for a group photograph!" She replied, gently positioning everyone into frame. The rest of Mystery Incorporated was about to step away, but stopped in place as soon as Miss Grimwood grabbed Freddie's wrist and pulled him back in.

"Woah..! Uh, we didn't do anything, though!" He exclaimed, looking confused. Soon, she was pushing everyone else back towards the group.

"It just feels... right," Miss Grimwood responded, giving a knowing wink to the group.

"Yeah, you guys are great!" Winnie howled as everyone was positioned.

"Never a dull moment if you all around!" Phantasma laughed, floating around everyone before getting back into place.

"Trust me, we don't mind in the least," Sibella said, smiling warmly to them all.

The detective looked slightly baffled, his creepy grin looking more awkward as he turned to the shorter woman, who was pushing him in as well. "Uh..."

"Yes, that includes you, detective," She tutted, waving a finger up at him. With that, everyone was intermingled around the trophy. While it was tight, they all smiled for the camera as it flashed a picture. Pushing the thought of how a camera could catch a vampire's complexion to the side for now, Velma couldn't help but think of how sweet it was that they were included in this group.

She didn't think about it, but with how much time everyone's been spending with one another, it just seemed... natural at this point. None of them were really scared of the girls, and had gotten used to the oddness of the entire place in and of itself. Even with how skeptical they were at first, with how scared Googie initially was, and how odd the detective was, they all found a way to fit in. Ironically, it was bynotfitting in. They had all gotten to know each other, and they viewed each other as friends.

Velma's previous question got answered as a photo was soon printed from the camera. It must've been enchanted, because the picture began to develop almost instantly. The hand floated to Miss Grimwood, who gently held it up for everyone to view. Miss Grimwood stood to the far left of the picture, with Tanis kneeling next to Scooby and Matches. Daphne was shown next, who was standing next to Sibella, who was thankfully shown on the picture, further cementing the camera's magic abilities. Shaggy was standing next to her, though he was being pulled down with Googie, as Winnie stood in between the two of them, an arm wrapped around them in a rough, friendly embrace. Next up was Freddie who was giving a big genuine smile to the camera. Elsa was to his right, and Velma joined her other side. The detective was on the far right, giving a peace sign with a more natural looking smile, looking as friendly as he ever had. Phantasma was floating above Velma and him, poking her head in between them and also giving a peace sign, winking and sticking her tongue out for the camera.

After admiring the picture for a bit, the entire group went inside, carrying the trophy behind them. Miss Grimwood gave the promise of making a huge, glorious feast to celebrate their victory, and that classes for the next few days were postponed.

Even though Mystery Incorporated went to the school to solve a mystery, they all felt like they were at home. They didn't want to leave any time soon. If it turned out that their investigation ran longer than they thought, they wouldn't care. They were happy right where they were.

Chapter 12: Open House

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 12: Open House

Once everyone was back inside of the mansion, a small party of sorts was hastily cobbled together to celebrate the victory of Grimwood. Ms Grimwood admitted to everyone that, while they wouldn't have a major feast until Halloween night, she didn't want to downplay the accomplishment of her students. Therefore, she decided that she would let everyone set up the Halloween decorations up a little early this year.

While Ms Grimwood was preparing a nice dinner for everyone, a few others were at work making the whole place look even spookier than it usually did. Old candelabras made from bone and skull candle holders were placed around, illuminating everything in an eerie orange glow. Skeletons were hung from the ceiling, like a macabre wind chime. Extra care was taken to filling every corner of the ceiling and the floor with cobwebs. To make things look slightly more festive, a few orange and black streamers were hung up as well, intermingling with everything else that was hanging from the ceiling.

While half of the occupants helped decorate, the other half would sit at the table and carve large jack-o-lanterns. A few of them were of typical triangular design, but there were some pumpkins that were carved in a very eloquent, creative manner. Naturally, they would be making terrifying faces that would no doubt scare someone of lesser resolve. The smell of pumpkin permeated the air, which only made the two resident foodies even hungrier. They weren't alone, however. After all, an exciting game of volleyball madeeveryonehungry, especially to the players.

Once the last jack-o-lantern was placed as a centerpiece on the massive dinner table, everyone was soon seated and treated to a wonderful mutton meal. For the monsters of the school, the vegetables would be withered and soggy, but for the humans, the sides would be more edible and palatable. Bread was also provided to everyone, although it was a bit too stale for the members of Mystery Incs' taste. At least none of the food would make them sick. At least, not from the food alone. Everyone was quite ravenous, and spent most of their dinner session eating.

After dinner, everyone spent some time hanging around the table, deciding to relax and hold a conversation about the major event that would be happening tomorrow.

"So, what time does this party start, anyways?" Fred asked the monster group.

"Should be around dusk, when the sun starts to set," Elsa replied, giving herself some time to determine an actual time. "...I'd estimate around seven or eight."

"Don't know if any of our parents will be here at exactly that time, though," Winnie continued on. "They tend to travel as a group, so hopefully we shouldn't have to wait long."

"Wait... your parents?" Velma cut in, a bit of concern showing on her face. She wasn't the only one, naturally, as quite a few of the others were not too keen on being in the same room as large, protective monster fathers.

"Yup! It's a sort of tradition at the school that we have an Open House night to show our parents how well we've been doing and the projects we've been working on," Tanis chirped nonchalantly.

"I assume that they won't mind a bunch of humans hanging around their daughters?" Daphne asked curiously. The few seconds of silence that followed was not a comforting sign to any of them, the ghouls taking some time to look between each other, as if scanning for a unanimous answer that didn't come.

Sibella finally turned back to the group, a small smile on her face. "We'll make sure they stay in check, should you stick around," She explained.

"Like, do the coaches need to stay? Because, like, they already met us last time, so..." Shaggy began, nervously looking for a way out of a reunion with their dads. While he wasn't on any bad terms with most of them (emphasis on most), he and Scooby knew that the two of them would be more comfortable hanging out in the Mystery Machine until they left.

"Well ofcourseyou're gonna stay!" Winnie butted in, smiling wide enough to show off her rows of sharp teeth. "Once our dads hear about us winning again, they'll be dying to meet you two!" Shaggy and Scooby gave a mixture of a whimper and a nervous chuckle.

"Like, knew we weren't getting out of that easy.."

"What about the rest of ya?" Phanty asked, tilting her head. "I mean, I guess you don'thaveto stick around, but the party would be super fun! The more guests, the more entertaining it'll be! Everyone knows that." At this point the humans looked to each other, wondering how each other would answer.

It would come as no surprise that the detective was the first to answer in the affirmative. "A chance to meet some of the biggest names in monster mythology? I'm certainly coming," He replied, smiling his wide, off-putting smile.

"I'll think I'll come too," Velma stated, adjusting her glasses idly. "Like the detective said, some first hand experience meeting some fully grown monsters under peaceful circ*mstances would be useful for research."

"Like, let's just hope they're feeling peaceful this time around," Shaggy mumbled.

Ignoring her friend's statement, Daphne spoke up. "Getting in good graces with them would be helpful too! After all, if things to happen to get rough, it'd be nice to know that we'd have some good fire power on our side."

"Plus, we could use a little downtime," Freddie said with a wry grin. "I think a party is the perfect time to relax a little."

While everyone else seemed on board, Googie still had her reservations. Sure, the girls were nice, and she figured that they wouldn't let their dads do anything dangerous to them if they could help it. Regardless, she knew that Dracula would cause some issues if he were to show up and see three fourths of the group who managed to outsmart him.

When Sibella noticed that Googie was looking apprehensive as she sat in silence, she decided to speak up. "...Googie, I assure you that if my Father steps out of line, he'll have to deal with me personally."

"Plus, he'd have to be pretty dumb to do something anyways!" Winnie butted in. "He may be aware of you all, but he'll have some respect. After all, you three were some of the few mortals who managed to outsmart the old bat." The werewolf used her pinky claw to pick in her ear some. "Some sort of old vampire etiquette thing, I think."

The blonde looked up and gave a small sigh, letting herself smile a bit. "You have a point, I suppose. Plus, it'd be pretty depressing if I was the only one who didn't show up. I'm in too," She replied with a genuine smile.

With a few pleased replies from everyone, Miss Grimwood soon came back into the room, a curious smile adorning her face. "Well, seems like this year's Open House will be a bit more active, huh? In that case, I have a lot of cooking to do," She chuckled to herself. "Also, don't stay up too late, everyone. Even though there aren't any classes tomorrow, I still need a bit more help around the place."

"Don't worry, Miss Grimwood, we'll make everything perfect!" Tanis beamed.

"Very good!" The headmistress replied. "Now, I won't keep you much longer. You're free to do as you wish." Soon, everyone dispersed to their various rooms. The ghoul girls would go off to start on a small gift that they would give to their fathers, while the humans would take some time to relax, in some sense.

It wouldn't be deemed a surprise when Phantasma immediately flew over to the detective, pleading for his assistance. "Hey, Freaky! Okay if we meet out in the graveyard again?" She'd ask him, floating above him. A few others turned to look at each other, a couple of eyes rolling. Tanis even hid her face in her bandages to help stifle her giggle fit.

Neither the detective nor the ghost noticed, however, with the man shrugging and grinning up at her. "Of course. Another lesson, I presume?"

"Weeeell... sorta!" Phantasma cackled. "It'll be easier to explain outside. The walls have ears, y'know!" She'd continue on, starting to head out towards the back exit. "C'mon, let's go!" With another small shrug, the man started hobbling after her.

After a little bit of time, Daphne sighed and shook her head. "I hope those two aren't up to anything questionable..."

"Knowing those two, who knows?" Elsa stated blankly with a shrug of her own. As she made her way to the laboratory, she continued on, "I wouldn't worry too much, though. If they were doing anything odd, Phanty wouldn't be able to keep it a secret."

"I suppose that's true," The red-head stated, beginning to head up the stairs.

There was very little light out in the graveyard, with only the waxing moon and the lights from the tall mansion being the only source of illumination. The only way the detective could even see anything was because of the blueish glow coming off of Phantasma as she floated around. Due to the little amount of light, his face would light up in an eerie way, making him look even more menacing than usual. Of course, his intentions would be far from malicious.

"A duet?" He asked, an eyebrow raised in interest.

"Yeah! Every year on Open House, I perform for my dad by playing the organ. Now that I've got some vocal strength under my belt now, though, I was hoping to sing with my playing as well!" Phanty replied eagerly, sitting herself on a nearby gravestone. "With you singing along with me, we'd sound awesome!~" She sang, drawing the last word out some.

The detective gave a small chuckle, nodding. "Yes, and I will say you've improved quite a lot. However, since you say it's for your dad, I think I'll let you go solo." He responded. This didn't seem to please the ghost, who started to pout.

"Aw come oooon! Our voices work super well together, especially with those last few songs we went along with!" She pleaded to the man.

At this, the detective rubbed his chin with a hand of his, thinking. After a few seconds, he looked back to her. "Tell ya what. You go solo tomorrow night and we can duet the next time we get a chance to perform for others. How's that?"

Phantasma thought a little to herself as well, face scrunched up in thought. "Hmm... deal!" She giggled, floating in the air right next to him. This time, she looked a little more reserved, which was a very strange look for the extroverted, hyperactive ghost. "...do you think I'll do well on my own?"

"I think you'll do wonderfully," The detective replied, flashing a genuine grin to her. After he did so, he removed his phone from his pocket, unlocking it and scrolling through his music, as he usually did with her. "Now, let's see if we can find something you'd wanna perform..."

The blue ghost looked over his shoulder, looking through various albums and titles with him. Due to the two of them hanging out quite a bit, she was already familiar with his personal taste in music. It was very varied, changing from old rock, to a bit of country, lots of punk, and a lot of music that could best be described as 'gothic'. Of course, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

After a few seconds of scrolling, Phanty would suddenly point at the phone screen, shrieking out, "Oooh! How about that one?"

With a loud laugh, the detective turned with an amused grin. "Definitelynot. While I imagine everyone's faces upon hearing that song would be priceless, I'm pretty sure they would all not be amused by your choice.Especiallyyour dad."

Phanty giggled heartily, rolling her eyes as they kept going with their search. "Spoil sport." It wouldn't take long before she pointed her finger once more. "Maybe that one? That's a pretty one!"

With a nod, the man turned to his ghostly friend. "I think that one would work much better," He replied. "I assume you already know the music and the lyrics?"

To this, Phantasma nodded eagerly, looking proud of herself. "The music for sure! I'mreallygood at playing by ear!" She exclaimed. "Of course, I could use a little refresher on the lyrics. Could we give it a listen first?"

"Not a problem," The detective said, tapping on the screen and starting up the song. He leaned against a gravestone as Phanty sat upon one opposite, the two listening to the music.

In one area of the large old school, there was a large room that the ghouls often went to for any sort of arts and crafts. It was especially helpful whenever the girls needed a large space for bigger projects, especially if there was a tendency that there was going to be a bit of a mess. Fortunately for them, Miss Grimwood had invested in enough artistic supplies that the girls shouldn't run out of anything.

Currently residing in the room was Sibella, who was finishing up a very lavish and exquisite oil painting that depicted Castle Dracula. The amount of detail that the young vampire had put into it was astonishing, considering that she was doing this strictly from memory. She was adorned in a smock, with some old newspapers underneath her, as to lessen any chances of making a mess.

Not too far away, Winnie was standing at a craft bench, chiseling away at a wooden block. At the time being, she was only halfway done, but from what she had accomplished so far, it was clear that she had a vision in mind. With one tongue hanging out and one eye open, the werewolf carefully chiseled away at the wood, doing her best to be as delicate as she possibly could (which was no easy task, knowing the wolf in question). Naturally, she would be trying to carve out a bipedal werewolf.

Lastly, to finish up the triangle of crafting monsters, Tanis would be seated at a pottery wheel, her foot steadily pumping away to keep it spinning. Much like Sibella, she was wearing a smock, as well as a pair of old gloves. After all, wet clay was very hard to get out of bandaging, and too much water could damage her wrappings. It was better to be safe than sorry. Despite having a slight disadvantage, due to the gloves, the mummy still managed to make a nice looking urn. She was currently smoothing and evening out everything so that it looked more professional. Tanis planned on painting it tomorrow, once it was finished baking in the stone kiln (which was thankfully located in the farthest corner of the room, as to not light anything else on fire).

Matches was sleeping soundly next to the kiln, ready to light it up whenever it needed to be. For now, he snored gently, not caring that he wasn't being needed at the time being. The only girl that wasn't in the room, aside from Phantasma, was Elsa. However, the other girls knew that whatever gift she had in store, she would rather make from the laboratory.

To help break the bout of silence, Sibella sighed and looked over her current work. "It's a shame the others couldn't stay behind to watch. I feel like they'd be amused to watch us work like this," The vampire began.

"Yeah, y'know how mortals are," Winnie replied, not removing her attention from the wood statue before her. "They get worn out easier than monsters."

"We all did have a big day today," Tanis responded, dipping her fingers into a nearby bowl of water before returning them to the urn she was crafting. "I don't think it'd be a bad idea if we all wrapped up what we were doing so we could get some rest as well."

For the first time in a half hour, the werewolf turned her eyes to the mummy, a bemuse grin on her face. "Was that pun intentional?"

"Not really," Tanis giggled gently, shrugging. "But it works, doesn't it?"

"You do have a point, Tanis dear," Sibella purred, setting her palette and brushes down, stepping back to admire her work. "If I keep refining every small detail on this, it will takeyearsfor it to dry."

Tanis's foot slowed down, the wheel turning to a halt as the mummy turned to also look at the vampire's painting. "Wow, that's amazing! And you did that with no reference?"

"When you've lived there for as long as I have, it's hard to forget what it looks like," Sibella said, shuffling the smock off of her.

Winnie, gave a small snort, grinning as she kept chiseling away at her wood block. "You and me both. The lupine form is natural to me. Literally," She laughed. Soon, the mummy would use a wooden peel to transfer her finished urn to the kiln, gently shoving it in before shutting the door.

"Matches, if you please?" She asked the dragon.

In response, he would open one of his large eyes, peering up at the mummy. He didn't seem bothered by her request, though, as he soon turned his head towards a small opening at the bottom and puffed out some small breaths of fire, quickly lighting it up. "Thank you!" Tanis said, beginning to remove her gloves as she walked back towards her friends. "It should be finished by tomorrow morning." The short mummy ended her sentence with a yawn, stretching her back some. "For now, I think I'll turn in for the night."

"Likewise. What about you, Winnie?" Sibella asked her furry friend, who was still concentrating on her wooden project.

"You two can go on ahead. Shouldn't take too much longer for me to finish up the body," The werewolf said, giving a quick puff to blow away any dust and shavings on her station. As Tanis untied her smock, Sibella raised an eyebrow, smiling gently.

"Try not to do another all-nighter this time, Winnie. I doubt Miss Grimwood would be pleased to find you asleep in here."

To this, Winnie rolled her eyes, giving a small sneer. "Yeah yeah. I'll make sure to go to bed soon,mom." The werewolf retorted. Sibella rolled her own eyes, but still looked somewhat amused.

"Don't be so rude, Winnie dear," The vampire replied simply, starting to walk out with Tanis. "I'm just looking out for you is all. Good night, now."

"Night, Winnie!" Tanis said, waving as they headed out.

"See ya," The werewolf replied, continuing to work.

It was about another half hour to an hour that Winnie worked, the only source of light a single candle that was close by. Even Matches had left the room a few minutes prior to find someplace more comfortable to sleep, leaving the wolf all alone to her work. In her own opinion, she was doing a great job thus far. The blocky look she had beforehand was now refined to have a more wolf like shape. With the base finished, she reached for the finer chisels, ready to do the finer details.

The only noises that could be heard was the gust of wind going on outside, as well as the floors creaking as the old house settled. It relaxed Winnie, even if it was seen as unsettling to anyone else. However, the wolf's ears soon perked up as all of these noises seemed to... stop. It wasn't as if there was a small pause in everything. The air was still and stiff, the scent suddenly stale, yet unknown to the werewolf's nose. She pried her attention away from her work, suddenly on edge as her fur bristled up in an uneasy manner. Something wasn't right.

Noises didn't just stop all at once for no good reason. Her ears swiveled in every direction, desperate to find some source of noise. Scooby's snoring, Phanty's singing,anything. Her eyes fell upon the lit kiln, her eyes wide as can be. Despite a fire roaring inside, she could not hear it. What was even weirder is that she couldn't evensmellit. To make matters worse, she got that dreaded sense that could only be described as instinct. Her sixth sense was going berserk. It was telling her that there was something right behind her. Her fight or flight instinct locked up, and she had no idea why.

As the feeling of something growing closer and closer grew stronger, Winnie knew she had to do something. Just as her eyes began to drift, her ear twitched.

"Gah!" The werewolf quickly clapped her paw against her left ear, wincing in pain. Her ear had popped. As Winnie dug her finger into her ear, trying to get it readjusted, she felt her sense of hearing get back to normal. Or was it ever abnormal? Winnie couldn't tell anymore. She quickly looked around, only to find nothing, even with her heightened senses. The werewolf let out an exhale of breath that she didn't realize she had been holding until now.

After a couple of moments to regain her bearings, Winnie looked to her nearly completed wooden sculpture. She turned her yellow gaze to the door and let out a sigh, standing up and stretching. "...maybe I'm tired," She mumbled to herself, making her way out to head to her room. She knew that her ear popping was no big deal, but Winnie knew better than to stick around, just in case there actually was something around. After all, her senses didn't just flare up like that for no reason.

"I'll just do the final details tomorrow," She yawned.

The next day, things would start out as a strange mixture of hectic, yet relaxing. Because of the fact that there were no lessons, everyone was a bit more laid back. Of course, with the fact that there was still a big night ahead, there wasn't much downtime at the beginning. To Miss Grimwood, there were still plenty of spots in the house that needed to be "tidied up". Most of the humans helped out in these situations, as the ghoul girls still needed preparation time to finish up their gifts for their fathers.

Every now and then, the group of mystery solvers would take a peek at what the girls would be working on. Naturally, they were all quite impressed with what the girls came up with. Tanis had finished painting her urn, giving it a lovely Egyptian design. Sibella's painting was very lovely, and Winnie's statue was very good as well, as she had just finished up with the finishing touches that she didn't do the night before.

Due to Phantasma wanting to keep her performance a 'secret' until later into the night, the only one who was actually familiar with what the ghost was singing was the detective. Of course, they would all hear her do vocal exercises every now and then. As for Elsa, she definitely took a huge step into the macabre.

At first glance, her invention looked like nothing more than a sewing machine that looked as if the metal had been stapled and stitched together. As Fred pointed out, however, there was a lot more added to it, keeping it from being a normal sewing machine. For one thing, there was a very strong electrical charge, which was being carried by yards and yards of tightly coiled copper wiring. One unlucky stray finger into the circuitry, and any living person would be fried alive before dropping to the ground dead. Another detail that would have easily been missed had it not been pointed out, was the fact that the three needles that hung from the machine were made of bone. Finger bones, to be exact.

In the center of it all was a beating heart, pumping away furiously as it was conducting the high amount of electricity. How it didn't manage to explode into a gory pulp was beyond anyone. What made the whole thing a lot more gut-wrenching, however, was how Elsa decided to demonstrate her freaky contraption. With her right hand, she'd casually lift up a large meat cleaver, before bringing it down onto her left forearm, easily cleaving it right off of her arm. The small group gasped loudly as the sight continued. Shaggy and Googie had to look away, Scooby fainted, and all of the others couldn't remove their eyes off the sight. Thankfully, since she had no working circulatory system, no blood came out.

Seemingly pleased with everyone's reactions thus far, Elsa sat herself down at her work station, placing both her amputated arm and her, now forearm-less, stump below the needles of the sewing machine. She used her free hand to turn a variety of knobs before pulling a large switch at the end. With a loud crackle and hum of electrical current, the machine sprung to life. The needle worked quickly and forcefully, though the golem girl showed no signs of pain as the needle jabbed stitches into her arm. In no time, she turned the machine off and turned to the crowd, holding up her reattached limb with a satisfied smirk.

"While I prefer to do all my sewing by hand, this machine will be useful for my Dada, should he be too busy to find time to sew up his own parts," She concluded, giving an appreciative pat on the metal invention.

Velma, Freddie, and the detective moved forward, all three of them wanting a closer look. The others decided to stay as far away from the thing as possible, lest they end up with about 20 stitches stabbed into their arm. Daphne would, however, lean to Shaggy, an eyebrow raised. "...dada?"

"Don't ask me, like, she's always called him that," He answered simply with a small shrug.

As Elsa let the three others look over the instrument, Velma turned to the ghoul. "Looks like you're a fan of using body parts, huh?"

"You could say that. Around here, they're easy to come by." Elsa answered.

"Don't you suppose that using human parts are kind of... insensitive to the dead?" Fred asked cautiously, rubbing the back of his head. He was all for building and engineering, but something about using leftover parts for a machine was off-putting to him.

To that, Elsa's creepy grin seemed to grow, rivaling the detective's. "Some folks would say that. Some would say that by using body parts like this, I'm perverting the laws of nature. To that I say, if nature allowed me into existing, then it's consenting to the notion that I can do the very same." She continued, grinning a bit. The three humans that were currently hanging around her turned to give her a confused, concerned, and curious look.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Fred cracked a nervous grin, laughing a bit. "Well uh... can't argue with you there."

Elsa nodded, returning to her laid back demeanor. "I'm just glad that this one didn't catch fire."

The day continued on until the sky darkened up once again, dusk soon fading onto the school. As predicted by Elsa yesterday, a large Gothic carriage rolled up to the school once more. This time, however, instead of being big enough for only two or three passengers, this one seemed big enough for at least eight. Miss Grimwood and Matches were waiting outside of the school, ready to welcome in the monster fathers while everyone else remained inside.

"Welcome, everyone," She began, smiling broadly as she stood before the five much taller figures. "I should warn all of you now, that we've been having guests over as well, and I've been allowing them to live here for a bit. I'm sure you all will recognize Coach Rogers and his dog, Scooby-Doo?"

"The same two that helped the girls actually win a game?" The mummy father spoke, his voice as old and dusty as his bandages.

"Don't forget that creepy old witch. They helped foil her plans too, right? How could we forget them?" The large, burly werewolf barked, laughing heartily.

The only one of the group that didn't seem to look back on the two so fondly was the King of Monsters himself, Count Dracula. His face had remained blank and unreadable, the only sign of acknowledgment coming from his co*cked eyebrow. "Yes... how could we forget?" He concurred in a neutral tone. While none of the other fathers seemed to take notice to this, Frankenteen Sr. would eye him over carefully, making sure that the older vampire wouldn't do anything drastic. He too was quite familiar with why the Count would harbor some bitter feelings towards the two cowardly mortals. Things would definitely go badly were Dracula to fly off the handle (either metaphorically or literally).

Soon, the five fathers were lead inside, they were soon met with their daughters. It wouldn't take long before they all greeted each other with a huge hug, shared between father and daughter. The only exceptions to this were the Draculas, who were much more formal with each other, sharing a small bow and curtsy, rather than anything physical. Whether or not this had anything to do with the disagreement involving a certain road race was left unanswered.

Naturally, it wouldn't be long before the monster fathers noticed the nearby group of humans. Shaggy and Scooby were instantly recognized, since they had all been acquainted at least once before. Only Dracula recognized the strawberry blond, who was eyeing him over in a cautious, yet suspicious, manner. Not that he could really blame her. His neutral face barely broke, only showing the slightest hint of annoyance, expressed with a small grimace.

As for the others, there would be visible confusion evident on the father's faces as they looked to the group. "I assume these are the guests you told us about, Miss Grimwood?" The wolfman asked, pointing to the humans. Much like how they initially viewed Shaggy, they didn't look like they were all that special. A glasses wearing bookworm, a rather toned, ascot wearing man, a red-headed rich looking girl, a blond college girl, and a long haired, off-putting man was what they all saw in this group.

"Yeah, they're all friends of Coach Shaggy!" Winnie answered proudly, hoping that her dad, as well as the others, would get along with them all.

"They haven't been causing any trouble, have they?" The mummy replied, eyeing over the group with his shining yellow eyes, sizing them up. He didn't mind humans, since he used to be one. However, he was a very protective mummy, and wouldn't take any wrong-doings sitting down.

Any worries he had would immediately wash away when his young daughter spoke up. "Of course not! They've all been really helpful!"

"There's also the fact that our returning coaches help lead our girls to victory, if I may add," Miss Grimwood added in, giving two short claps. In an instant, the octopus butler came in, carrying the large volleyball trophy. The fathers were visibly impressed, with Phantasma's dad snickering a bit.

"Well, guess those two are like a good luck charm, then!" He said, grinning widely.

"Not only that, but they've all been such a great help around the school," Sibella continued fondly. "When they're not helping us with studies, they're keeping us company and telling us amazing stories."

"Any friends of our daughters are friends of ours," the older Frankenteen replied.

"Yes..." Dracula said, speaking for the first time in awhile. While his expression remained blank, he turned to the Coaches in question, pointing a finger at them. "Why not introduce us to your friends, Coach? After all, some of us haven't met all of them yet," He continued, his eyes moving over to Googie before quickly shooting back at Shaggy. It was subtle, but his mouth also contorted into the slightest sneer.

Shaggy gulped, looked at the imposing vampiric father. "R-right! Like, uh, here we have Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Googie Hale, and Detective... erm, the detective," He went on, pointing out each member one at a time. They all gave a sort of polite wave and smile, though Googie was definitely a lot more reserved than the others. To her luck, Dracula seemed less than interested in any of them, even if all the other dads didn't mind.

"Now that we're all properly introduced to one another, how about we head into the living room?" Miss Grimwood laughed, turning to lead everyone out of the foyer. "Please follow me. We can all talk and celebrate in the next room."

With audible agreement, everyone began to file into the room, daughters sticking close to their respective fathers while Mystery Incorporated followed after them. Once they entered, the saw Hand and the butler finish laying out all of the food, which mostly consisted of a variety of monster foods. Since the humans would most likely be apprehensive about ingesting leech bites, spider wraps, and chocolate eyeballs, she made sure to fix some (not literal) finger food that was edible for mortals.

It wouldn't take long before Shaggy and Scooby found them, of course. Small saucers piled as high as they could, with Hand quickly replacing any empty serving dishes. It took a little longer for the two groups to start mingling with each other, however. Despite the fact that the ghoul girls and the humans were well acquainted with each other, there was now the added pressure of appeasing their dads.

Phanty wasted no time in dragging her father over to her newest friend and music teacher, the detective to formally introduce to the two. It didn't take long for them to take a liking to each other, with Mr. Phantom commending the man for tutoring her. Because the three seemed so relaxed and casual, the rest of the ghouls started to introduce their dads to the rest as well. At this point, conversation seemed to flow a lot more naturally, with Mystery Incorporated becoming a lot more comfortable and relaxed.

Some time would pass as all of the monster fathers got to know everyone, sharing various stories and events that happened in their lives. Whenever a human was asked about the reason they were there, however, they decided to remain quiet about it. It seemed to be an unspoken rule that they don't get anyone else involved. Partly because if whatever was happening was dangerous, it was best to have as few involved as possible. There was also the reason that any of the monster dads could try and interfere, whether it was for better or for worse.

Thankfully, Dracula seemed to be behaving, for the most part. While he seemed somewhat withdrawn from everything, he also didn't try and threaten or talk down to anyone. At least not to their faces. Still, he knew when to hold his tongue, especially since Sibella was probably still riding his cape about the whole road race ordeal. He couldn't help but glance over as the Wolfman and Shaggy laughed together, holding a conversation about something meaningless, most likely. Unlike the others, Dracula was here for something serious, and wouldn't be distracted from it. Any grudges he had towards anyone were not nearly as important as what he needed.

Soon, the ghouls started to bring out their gifts for their fathers. The Wolfman absolutely loved Winnie's wood carving, giving his daughter a large one armed hug as he held the wooden statuette. Tanis's dad greatly appreciated her urn, holding it up and turning it around to get a better look at it. "How gorgeous! Reminds me of the first time I got buried," He reminisced.

Dracula couldn't help but find himself beaming at his daughter's painting. "Goodness me... you did all of this by hand, Sibella?" He asked, looking down to her after admiring the painting for a good while.

"And from memory," She replied, smiling gently at him, enjoying his praise. "I think I did the dead trees well enough, though perhaps the lightning contrasts a bit too much."

"I think you did a perfect job," Dracula concluded, gently placing a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it affectionately.

It wouldn't take long before Elsa carried up her invention to her father, who instantly began trying it out. After checking each stitch, he laughed and gave his daughter a big bear hug that would most likely crush anyone else. "I love it! I know your mom will, too. Gives her less work at home, yeah?" He joked.

It was then time for Phantasma's gift, requesting that her dad and everyone else join her upstairs. Naturally, it didn't take long for the two phantoms to reach her room, while everyone else filed up the stairs. Once everyone managed to enter the room, it became considerably more crowded. The larger members of the crowd remained in the back, with everyone else hugging the walls and trying not to crowd against anyone. The ghost girl floated herself gently to her seat, taking a quick look back at the detective. With a small nod and a grin, she nodded and turned back to the organ in front of her. With a deep breath, she lifted her hands up, and began.

"Just a moment dear.

I hear someone at the door,

And the beating of a heart

that I hid beneath the floor.

They've come for me love.

Save yourself,

I am far beyond repair.

They will bury me alive,

but I'm not inclined to care.

I am too far gone now."

The song continued on, with Phantasma doing a surprisingly good job. Her tone was very gentle and somber, yet at certain parts of the music, her voice would turn into a dramatic wail. However, she made sure it wasn't over done, and it managed to fit into the song perfectly. Throughout the whole thing, Phanty kept her eyes shut, concentrating on the music and her own singing voice. It was safe to say that if the song didn't have an ending, she probably would've kept going for at least three more hours.

After around four minutes, though, the song finally came to an end, with the ghost taking some time after the song to sit in silence. It would be broken just a few seconds afterwards by the crowd behind her applauding and cheering for her. This took her by surprise, if the way she shot her head up was any indication. When she turned around, she was pleasantly surprised to find everyone clapping for her. Scooby and Winnie were even whistling for her! Peering over towards her father, he immediately flew over to her and enveloped his daughter in a large hug. Phanty's face soon broke out in a huge smile, letting out a few cheerful cackles. "I guess you all liked it, huh?"

"Phantasma, that was one of your best performances yet!" He exclaimed, literally glowing in pride.

"Glad you liked it, dad!" She beamed, glancing over his shoulder some. She could see the detective with his widest smile yet, incredibly pleased and happy with her performance. His eyes sparkled with genuine pride as he gave her a small nod.

Once everyone had settled down somewhat, Miss Grimwood spoke up again. "Excellent performance, Phantasma! There's still plenty of food downstairs, so let's not let it go to waste, shall we?" With a vocal agreement from everyone, they all headed back downstairs.

For the local vampires, however, they would not be joining everyone else right away. Instead, Dracula and her daughter would split off, heading into an empty room, far away from the others. When Sibella turned to see if anyone had spotted them, everyone else was already in the other room, continuing their party. Her gut twisted a bit, feeling the seed of worry start to take root in her stomach. If her father was pulling her away for something, it couldn't be good. What's worse is that she had a pretty good feeling as to what this impromptu meeting would be about.

As expected by the younger vampire, the first thing her father would say to her would be, "Sibella, I am missing something incredibly important."

Knowing that nothing good would come out of a denial or an affirmation, Sibella decided to try and encourage more information out of her father. "How important?"

"Let's just say that it came from my private library," Dracula continued in a somewhat cold manner. "A very powerful book, perhaps one of my greatest responsibilities."

Rather than play dumb, she put on a surprised face, her eyes widening owlishly. "You don't mean..?"

"Yes, my dear Sibella. I am missing the Demonilogist's Bible."

Chapter 13: Screaming, Dying, and Crying

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 13: Screaming, Dying, and Crying

It would be a good long while before the occupants of the school had settled down. It was a long night of celebrating, especially on the monster girls' end. Their fathers would be incredibly proud of them, giving them the proper congratulations they so deserved. They also thanked their coaches, as well as the other humans for keeping them all company. Plenty of food was consumed, especially from a certain pair of beatnik foodies, and plenty of stories were shared between everyone. It would be hours before all of the fathers had to leave, allowing everyone else to go to bed as well.

Even though it had been a few hours since the carriage had left and everyone had gone off to bed, Sibella still laid restless in her coffin. As much as she hated to keep the whole conversation a secret from her friends, her (and by extension, her father's), explanation for their sudden, private meeting would be for him to make sure everything was going okay for her. Being slightly overprotective, he would naturally ask these sorts of questions, but that wouldn't be the main reason for their meeting, instead saving those for afterwards. Instead, he informed his daughter of the fact that one of his most prized, and powerful, possessions was missing from his personal library.

"I've already placed guards among every inch of the castle, both inside and out. Everyone is to keep an eye out in case they are to find it, or if whatever intruder who stole it comes back for something else," Dracula explained, looking quite grave, yet compose at the same time. Being the King of Monsters, he had to keep some air of professional regality to him, after all. "I have also sent out a few servants to go out and search the land for the book. If they are to find the book, they are to also bring the thief to me so that I may deal with them."

Sibella's face showed that she was listening intently to him. To him, it looked like she was quite concerned about this whole thing, her eyes wide as she made sure to pay attention. She couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty, though. She hid that emotion quite well as she asked her father some questions of her own. "Do you perhaps have any leads as to where the Demonologist's Bible has gone?"

"Unfortunately, no," The older vampire sighed darkly. "Whoever had the gall to steal such an item from me left no trace." If it was at all possible, his face got even more stern, almost worried. "What truly concerns me, though, is the fact that nothing else was missing. Just that book."

"What do you suppose the reason for that is, Father?" Sibella asked, tilting her head.

"Nothing good, I should think," He responded, looking to his daughter with a worried glint in his yellow eyes. "What's worse is that, ever since arriving here, I've had this... feeling. It is one that is not quite foreign to me, but yet I can not place my finger on what it is. All I know is, it is not good. A bad omen of things to come," Dracula prattled on slowly, his accent thick and dripping with intense dread.

"This is also why I wished to speak with you privately," He continued, looking at her once more. Sibella remained silent for the time being, although she had a rough idea as to what he would ask of her. "Whatever is going to happen will happen at this school. While I have not lost faith in Grimwood's ability to deter dark magic like this away, I fear this is much too powerful for her. What's more, there are mortals hanging around, and I have a feeling that it does not welcome them here. I wish for you to return back to the castle with me, back to safety," He implored, his worried gaze becoming slightly more visible, his frown making his distressed wrinkles on his face stand out a lot more.

The girl was at a loss for words, but her father was patient in waiting for her response. Was she worried? Of course. While she sometimes thought that her Father was a less-than-credible source for information, he wouldn't ever lie about something as severe as this. Besides, she and a few others had naturally felt this emotion as well. She still remembers talking to Winnie about a 'bad feeling' as well. On the other hand, though, she felt quite bad for making her father worry about this sort of thing. She felt as if taking the Demonologist's Bible from her Father's library was what was making him paranoid. With how her dreams had been, though, she figured it would help her try and solve her nightmare problem.

Unfortunately, that hadn't been the case, and by hiding it away behind a bookcase in the school's laboratory, the nightmares had stopped. She did notice that it had done nothing to make the incomprehensible feeling of dread go away, though. While shewould'veliked to have returned the book back to her Father and get by with a scolding from him, that feeling was undeniable. Book or no book, whatever was going to happen was inevitable. With the Demonologist's Bible by her side, hopefully it would provide some more information on whatever was going on. The monster attacks had to be connected in some way. They just had to be.

While it pained her to keep such serious secrets from her Father like this, and even more so to make him worry about her, she finally sighed and shook her head. "No, Father. I think it would be for the better if I remained here."

At this, Dracula's eyes widened, confusion evident on his face. "Remain here? My daughter, I sense something powerful. Much more so than of that witch you had to deal with all those years ago. I do not wish to lose you like I almost did..." He trailed off, his voice sounding a bit more desperate.

"Please do not worry, Father," She reassured, her voice as cool and composed as it ever was. "We are all much older, and a lot more capable. Not only that, but you remember we have Coach Shaggy and his friends here. They too have abilities that are useful in dealing with matters as this."

At this, Dracula's face seemed to sneer somewhat, her statement doing little to comfort him. "My dear, they are mere mortals. It does not matter how skillful they might be, they would never match up to that of a monster's abilities. Pure dumb luck will do little for them, I'm afraid." Sibella raised an eyebrow at him, not feeling that surprised at his skepticism. He always did have a sort of disdain or humankind, after all.

She still felt a need to defend them, however. She had grown quite fond of all of them. Shaggy and Scooby, naturally, as she had known them the most out of the human group. She knew that when push comes to shove, those two would defend them all with their lives. Velma was quite smart and knowledgeable, but also understanding. She would help out in any way she could and would do anything for an answer. Daphne was kind, yet assertive. There was definitely more to her than meets the eye. Fred was also quite smart, yet also very handy. The cheerleader, Googie, while easily frightened, was a great friend to her as well. She was very sweet, and she knew that she wouldn't give up easily. Even the detective, easily the most secretive and terrifying of the group, was incredibly savvy and observant. It was clear that he does not act as malicious as he looks. In their own way, the group of humans were just as capable of dealing with whatever was going on.

"You may be incorrect in that statement, Father," Sibella began, looking up to Dracula seriously. "I trust them all. We will find an answer to everything and we will stop it. Please trust me. Trustus."

It was now Dracula's turn to be lost for words. His mouth opened, as if to say something, but then closed. He gave a grimace as he stared into his daughter's eyes, heavily considering what she was saying. It was clear that Sibella wasn't going to back down from this, and trying to fight against her like this would ultimately prove fruitless. After gulping thickly, he let out a sigh and scratched the back of his head, breaking eye contact. "...I sure hope you know what you're getting into, my dear Sibella," He'd sigh out.

Back in the present, the vampire finally shut her eyes, shifting around to get a bit more comfortable in her wooden, yet intricately carved, coffin. "...I hope I do too, Father..." She'd whisper before letting herself drift off into slumber. Before she fully went to sleep, though, she would have one final conscious thought.

"I need to get that book."

"Remind me again why the Colonel wanted us to come out and set a trail of flags?" Said the voice of Grunt, getting up from his knee after placing in a small, yet noticeable, red flag. That is, itwouldbe noticeable if the sun would come out a bit more.

"He wanted us to train the new Cadets by having them march in the bog," Tug answered, looking at the map he was holding to see where they would have to head to next.

"Doesn't he think it's dangerous, though?" Jamal asked, getting the attention from the other four in the group. "I mean, remember that one year? We got lost and almost got pulled into the quick sand."

"That's why he had us specifically lay out flags on the track," Baxter answered. "Not only will it keep us away from any hazards, but it'll make sure that everyone can walk the trail safely without incident."

"Let's go on up ahead," Tug said, starting to walk on the trail. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can leave."

"Affirmative. This place was never really that welcoming, was it?" Miguel stated, following Tug, along with everyone else. They all continued on the trail, setting flags every few yards. Since the trail wasn't too perilous, they wouldn't come across anything dangerous nor would they have to traverse over terrain that would prove to be too difficult for anyone.

Unfortunately for the group, as they reached a small opening in the woods, they all looked to each other, confusion evident on their faces. "Hey... is it me, or does it feel... weird here?" Jamal asked, looking around the treeline for anything.

"Affirmative. I feel it too..." Grunt replied, rubbing his arm.

"Y-you guys are just paranoid," Tug stated. There was no denying the look of unease that had crept onto his face, though. Despite the fact that they all had little to no idea what was going on, they knew something was wrong. That gut feeling, twisting and lurching around. They knew something bad was going to happen.

The group quickly formed closer together, keeping a wary eye out towards the treeline in five different directions. "Keep your guard up, men," Tug commanded, doing his best to not sound shaken. Not that the others could blame him, for all of them were fear stricken... somehow. As soon as their leader gave his order, though, the air all around them would erupt into what could best be described as a deafening, loud, inhuman roar.

None of them could help but throw their hands over their ears, struggling to stay on their feet as the roar echoed, making the ground beneath them rumble. They all also let out a few yells of fright or shock, barely able to keep their composure from what was happening. As they all tried to keep their ears from bleeding, all five of the Cadets would take notice of the fact that the air was also a lot warmer, almost as if a heat wave had suddenly dropped upon the area. The smell that followed wasn't pleasant, either. A strong waft of sulfur was abundant, almost suffocating.

Despite it feeling much longer, the roar continued on for a few seconds before becoming silent. The Cadets slowly removed their hands from their ears, trying to see if they could see the source. In one swift movement, all of them unsheathed their military swords from their scabbards, getting into a defense stance. The silence was almost as deafening as the roar itself, and all of them were quite thankful to have not lost their hearing from it. With how strong the scent of sulfur was, though, it was hard to keep focus.

"Show yourself..!" Tug commanded, now clearly frightened. "If this is a prank, the consequences will be dire, just so you know!" He continued on in a loud voice, perhaps thinking that this was all a prank from one of the other students at the military school, or perhaps even one of the girls from Grimwood's. After all, they did have a knack for scaring people. Regardless, all of them werehopingthat it was a prank.

The crack of a twig quickly got all five facing in the direction of the source, making sure to remain steadfast, even in the face of potential danger. Their swords were pointed in the direction as well, keeping a close eye on the treeline.

Unfortunately for the five, what revealed itself would not be a student from either school. It was most certainly inhuman, though, and most definitely a monster. Perhaps even worse than that. It's skin was blood red, with long, curved horns and sharp claws, both of which were cracked and blackened with soot. It was hard to tell if this thing actually had eyes or not, as it's eye holes were sunken in and dark. Bright orange lights would burn through it's skull, though, in lieu of actual eyeballs. Instead of a mouth, it had a large, sharp beak, standing out at least half a foot. It's figure looked emaciated, ribs, pelvis, and other bones protruding it's skin. It's long, sharpened tail and old, bat-like wings made it look even more imposing. It was a horror to behold, especially with it's orange eyes burning into the five Cadets.

It barely moved closer, the horrid figure staring down the group before it for a few seconds. Finally, it would lift up a clawed finger, somehow growling out a question in a deep, scratchy voice. "...do these ones know of anything, Master?" The five Cadets turned to look at each other, confused. Was it talking to them?

Before they could even formulate anything relating to an answer, it curled it's claw inwards, shifting it's position into a much more offensive, threatening one. "...I see. Mortals of no use of information have no use of living. I shall take care of them." It would unfurl it's wings and let out another deafening screech, making the Cadets stumble and flinch, steeling their nerves in preparation for a fight.

"Come, my comrade... join me in the bloodshed!" It squawked. Just like that, it pushed itself forward, dashing towards the group at inhuman speed.

All they could do was fight back.

Everyone was quite thankful that the day following the Open House was another day off. Mystery Inc. and the five monster students were currently hanging around the table, helping themselves to a small variety of food that Miss Grimwood had laid out for everybody. While the ghouls ate the more monstrous morsels, the humans would stick to something more palatable. Loose conversation was prevalent throughout the table, however, ranging from stories about last night, questions about the investigation, or anything that the students were studying.

"So how difficult is it to rewrap yourself, if I may ask?" Daphne asked the smallest and youngest ghoul, Tanis.

"Well, it depends on what needs to be wrapped," She began casually. "If it's an arm or a leg, it barely takes any time, and I can usually use my own innate magic to help. It takes a little while longer with my head and my back though. If I need a full rewrapping, though, I'd definitely need some help and at least a couple of hours," the mummy girl answered.

"You do have a steady supply of bandages, though, right?" Daphne asked, tilting her head. "I'd hate to think that you'd run out and be left... uh, exposed."

At this, Tanis smiled gently and nodded. "Oh, don't worry, Miss Daphne, I almost never run out. My mummy-daddy always makes sure to keep me stocked up while I'm here."

Elsewhere at the table, a few of them had questions for the two gym coaches, who were indulging in their overstacked portions.

"So now that volleyball season is over, Shags, what's your current plan for your class?" Freddie asked his foodie friend.

"Hey, yeah! With volleyball out of the way, there's more room for other stuff, right?" Winnie asked in between bites of her meal.

At this, Shaggy managed to swallow his own large mouthful, thinking a bit before answer. "Huh... like, I'm not too sure, actually! We're definitely, like, going to stick to some outdoor activities, but once it gets too cold, I'd say we, like, stick to something indoors. I'm still working out all the details," He answered, scratching his chin fuzz some.

"Maybe some weights?" Elsa suggested, looking his way.

"Ooh, maybe more dance classes!" Phantasma exclaimed, giggling some. "We still have that tutu you wore that one time," She teased, causing a few others to snicker at this. Shaggy took this in stride, giving a small, embarrassed laugh.

"W-well, like, all of those are great suggestions! I'll take them into consideration next time we have a class," Shaggy said, Scooby nodding and barking in agreement.

Instead of partaking in this particular conversation, Googie decided to voice a slight convern of her's as she looked around the table. "...is the detective still working in the lab?" She'd ask Velma, who was sitting across from her.

The bookworm of Mystery Inc. nodded simply as she flipped the pages of her own book. "Yeah, he is. Guess it's a common thing for him to be so obsessive with his investigations," She answered logically. The cheerleader scratched her head, giving a slight nod, though her gaze would look quite disapproving.

"I mean, I guess itispretty important. Still, I don't like the fact he hasn't slept in about a week, plus he barely eats anything. It's unhealthy," Googie sighed.

Velma looked up, also starting to look a bit concerned for their newest, creepy friend. "Yeah, you're right. After breakfast, I think I should head down and talk to him about it," She suggested, which Googie replied with a nod and a small smile.

"That'd be good. He's gonna work himself to death at the rate he's going," She'd sigh, taking another bite of fruit salad.

"Okay if I head down with ya, Velma? I gotta check on the electromagnets I've been working on," Elsa asked, looking over the table to the girl.

"That's fine with me, Elsa," Velma replied, her eyes drifting over from Elsa to the ghoul sitting right next to her. Throughout the entirety of breakfast, Sibella had barely touched anything on her plate, instead taking to prodding and nudging everything around with a fork. She was also the only one at the table who wasn't saying anything. Despite her neutral, cold gaze, she knew something was up. "Hey, Sibella?" She began curiously, her voice quickly snapping the vampire out of her oblivious daze. "How are you hanging up?"

"Oh. I'm doing fine," She answered simply, looking back down at her plate, jabbing a bit of some old looking sausage before taking a bite out of it and chewing slowly. This did little to lessen the concerns of the brunette, though. Winnie also seemed to take notice of Sibella's lethargic behavior. Was she in need of more 'nourishment'? Or was she hiding another secret..?

Soon, though, Velma stood up from her seat. "Well, I'm gonna go check on the detective and see-" Was all she could say before she was suddenly cut off. Not that anyone could blame her, of course, since the noise that had done was was absolutely noticeable, even in a spooky atmosphere such as this one. The whole mansion rumbled gently, clattering various bottles and other objects inside. The noise was something akin to a demonic roaring, echoing heavily from deep within the woods. Everyone sitting at the table began to look around, both curious and somewhat frightened by the noise.

"Like w-w-what was that?!" Shaggy stammered, holding onto Scooby as he jumped into his arms.

"Didn't sound good, whatever it was," Daphne trailed off cryptically.

"Definitely nothing native around here..." Winnie growled, her ears folded back and her fur standing on end.

Everyone at the table looked unnerved. Even the usually cool-headed Sibella had her eyes wide open, fear prevalent in her expression. Everyone then looked to each other, unsure of what to do.

"D-do you think that was..?" Tanis began nervously.

"The demon," Velma replied, nodding and looking quite serious. "It has to be close by. Much closer than before, if we can hear it."

"Doesn't sound too happy either," Googie gulped, scooting closer to the group.

"We have to go after it!" Freddie stated, quickly getting out of his seat and heading towards the door of the dining room.

"We do?!" The rest of the human group exclaimed, watching as their blond leader turned around.

"Guys, this is an opportunity to know what we're dealing with! Elsa and I finished the traps we were working on, so we shouldn't have too hard of a time, right?" He continued on.

"Freddie, whatever this thing is has killed two people already. We have evidence to prove that it's not a hoax, and is very dangerous."

"Yeah, like, there's no way we're all gonna be able to corner something that strong!" Shaggy stammered, shaking considerably, his dog companion looking displeased as well.

"Ruh huh! Re'll be slaughtered!" Scooby whined.

"Then you'll need help," Elsa stated, standing up with Freddie.

"Hey, yeah! If we all go, it wouldn't be able to take all of us! Plus, no offense, but us monsters could probably go toe to toe with something like a demon, if we outnumber it!" Winnie said, a co*cky snarl on her face as she stood up to join the others.

"B-but it's still dangerous!" Googie stammered, looking shocked as everyone started to want to join in. "Who knows what'll happen? We all can't risk going after it!"

"...we promised to help, yes?" Sibella stated suddenly, getting up from her seat. She had an extremely serious gaze on her face, grimacing some. "We'll make sure nothing bad happens to us, nor anyone else. We will put an end to this."

Freddie blinked and gave a small grin, giving her a thumbs up. "G-great!" He'd look out to those remaining in their seats. "C'mon, gang. Have some faith. We'll be able to put those who suffered to rest, and put their families at ease, as well as everyone else in town."

After a few seconds, Daphne shook her head, smiling gently as she slowly got up. "You always were the kind to see things through no matter what, huh? I'm in," She said, joining his side.

"M-me too!" Tanis piped up bravely. "It may be scary, but if it means protecting people and clearing our names... so be it!"

"Me three!~" Phantasma sang, floating up and giggling. "What's the worse that could happen to me, anyways?"

"Well... might as well," Velma added in, standing up. "It will help us a lot, as well as others once we know what's going on. Let's do it," She continued, adding in a confident smirk.

"I'm coming too, then!" Googie yelled out suddenly, surprising everyone. "I-I'm tired of cowering under the fear of being attacked! I wanna do something about this too!"

"Attah girl!" Winnie growled eagerly. Soon, everyone's attention turned to the two local cowards, who were still holding onto each other.

"...like, you're all gonna get yourselves killed!" Shaggy said, standing up and setting Scooby down. "...and it's my responsibility as a gym coach to keep that from happening," He'd add in. Even though his voice was still shaky and scared, he got a confident look on his face as well. Scooby steeled his resolve as well, barking in agreement. Everyone else was quite surprised, though it was welcome.

"W-wow Coach..." Winnie grumbled. "You really are a lot braver, huh?"

"Like, I hope so..!" He'd say, tittering nervously.

"Then let's not waste time!" Freddie said, leading everyone out towards the front door. "Velma, go get the detective. I know he's gonna want to go with us." With a nod, Velma headed into the laboratory. Freddie also turned to Elsa. "Elsa, go and get the trap. We're gonna need it," He'd say, the golem girl also nodding before following Velma. Just as the rest of the group headed to the entrance, they heard a voice speak up, sounding quite stern.

"Just one moment. Where do you all think you're going?" Came the voice of Miss Grimwood, who was looking at them all with a hardened, cold gaze of disapproval. To everyone, it seemed like she had just suddenly appeared right behind them all. "If you're thinking about investigating that noise, than forget it. That came from deep within the bog, and none of you are to go in there. Remember?"

The group froze and looked her way, a few looking uncomfortable, including Freddie. "Well, er... we just thought-"

"If I may?" Sibella cut in, looking to her headmistress. In her mind, she knew it was wrong to speak back to Miss Grimwood like this. But she knew it was for the best, to end everything bad that had been happening. "We are much older now, Miss Grimwood. All of us can handle our own against something powerful."

Miss Grimwood looked much more stressed, and quite angry too. "This is not some bumbling witch, Sibella! This is something much more powerful than anyone else could imagine! I heard the roars and felt the rumbles many times before. That is why I specifically taught you all to stayawayfrom beings like this!" She'd point a painted nail in Shaggy's direction, who cowered a bit in shame. "Shame on you, Coach Rogers, for allowing our students to return to that place after what happened last time!"

As Shaggy and Scooby gave each other a somewhat guilty look, Tanis chimed in. "That wasn't Shaggy's fault..! Not only that, but we're willing to help them out!"

"We're prepared, Miss Grimwood," Daphne added in. "We have a trap prepared. We also have a plan of action." At this, Freddie gave her a look of 'do we really?', while the redhead returned it with a glower of 'just go with it'.

"That demon won't know what him 'im!" Winnie added in, flexing proudly. Sibella rolled her eyes at this, but spoke up as well.

"We'll have each others' backs," She'd say. "We'll expect everything. We know we're dealing with something powerful. In order to help others, we must confront it. Please understand, Miss Grimwood," The vampire would gently plea.

After looking between everyone, she'd let out an exhausted, slightly exasperated, sigh. "...fine," She'd reply, sitting herself in a couch and fixing her messy hair. "Fine..." She'd sigh again, looking more stressed and worried now. "I'm just... scared for you all. I sure hope you all know what you're doing, for your own sake."

This was unlike any of the ghouls had seen. Miss Grimwood was almost never like this. Seeing her as a bit of a nervous wreck was... disheartening to say the least.

Shaggy spoke up, moving closer to her. "...Like, Miss Grimwood?" She looked his way, an eyebrow raised to the gym coach she hired. "We'll be okay. You can count us to to make it through. I'll make sure, like, no harm comes to any of our students!"

At this, Miss Grimwood gave a tired smile, nodding at him. "Thank you, Shaggy," She'd say, gently accepting a cup of tea given to her from the white floating hand. After taking a sip, she'd continue on in a more calm manner. "Go on ahead, then, and good luck."

She watched as the group hurried out of the building, thanking her before leaving. Miss Grimwood also took notice of Velma, Elsa, and the detective jogging on up to join everyone before they were left behind. As she was left alone, she'd grimace and sigh once more, taking another long sip of tea.

The detective's scarred fingers moved through his long hair in a fidgety manner. As he stared at all of his notes that he had laid out before him, he found himself growing more and more frustrated. He had been working since last night up until dawn trying to make everything add up.

No matter how hard he tried, though, there were still missing variables that he couldn't figure out! He felt useless and stupid for not getting farther in his research, nor getting any closer to finding a lead. In exasperation, he slapped his palms against the table suddenly, making a few sheets of paper flutter off.

"Dammit!" He'd shout out suddenly, the peak of his frustration making itself known. As he did so, the loud thud of something heavy echoed around the lab. He'd quickly whip his head around, an eyebrow raised.

The noise certainly came from the bookshelf behind him... but none of the books had fallen out. Right beside the shelf, though, was indeed a book. Curious, the man limped over to it, gently lifting it off of the floor. Did it fall off the top of the shelf? The noise it made wasn't loud enough to fit that theory.

As his fingers wrapped around the leather bound book, though, a sense of familiarity came over him. He felt giddy, for some reason. It wasn't until he held the book up into his vision did he realize why. His already wide eyes seemed to grow even further in excitement as he looked at the cover, his mouth breaking his smile to show surprise and shock. "No way..." The detective whispered, quickly opening the book and flipping through pages. As he looked through everything, his smile reformed, looking quite maniacal and unhinged. "Oh ho ho... yes..." He'd hiss to himself, eyes quickly darting from page to page in excitement. "How I've missed you..." The detective cooed to the book.

Before he could keep reading, though, the whole lab rumbled gently, the bottles jittering and the bookshelf shaking quite a bit. The detective quickly shut the book and looked around curiously. He thought he also heard the roar of... something. His grin became more hardened and a bit threatening. "Hmm... patience is a virtue it seems... we'll finally get a chance to see the demon and know what it is!" He rambled onto himself, putting the book into his tote bag.

The strange man also took time to take his notes with him, finishing up just as the door opened. He glanced up and saw Velma and Elsa, the latter hurrying down into the room itself. As he watched the golem hold up a large electromagnetic trap by the chain, Velma spoke to him. "We've got a lead," She'd state simply.

"I could tell," The man replied, grinning widely and excitedly as he followed Elsa up the stairs. "Let's get to it, then."

It took the entire group quite a long time before they all reached the entrance to the bog. The stench was quite unpleasant, even for this certain area. Trees were either dead, covered in thorns, or just unwelcome looking in general. There was a noticeable trail up ahead, although with how uneven the tree line was, anyone could enter from anywhere. The trail split off to the right and left as well, leading to different parts of the bog, though it didn't seem to lead to anywhere more welcoming.

As they reached the split trail, Daphne, Scooby, Shaggy, and Velma all looked to each other, already knowing what Fred was about to say. "Like, let me guess..." Shaggy began.

"Let's split up, gang!" The five of them said at the same time, Freddie looking a bit indignant.

"I'm... guessing that's a common thing?" Googie asked curiously.

"Yup," Daphne answered simply, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, it's a good idea!" Fred replied, looking to everyone. "We'll cover more ground if we split off into three groups of four."

"So how shall we do this?" Sibella asked the leader of Mystery Inc.

After a few minutes, everyone had settled into a group, choosing their path to follow. Deciding on the left trail was Team One, which consisted of Shaggy, Scooby, Googie, and Winnie. Going down the middle trail was Team Two, fulfilled by Daphne, Velma, Elsa, and Sibella. For the final trail, Team Three was formed from Fred, Tanis, Phantasma, and the detective. They all wished each other luck before heading down their respective trails. Now was the time for finding the monster once and for all.

"Ugh... I can't tell if it's the bog or what, but something stinks," Googie complained, looking around her feet, being careful to not step on or in anything dangerous.

"Nah, it's always like this," Winnie answered bluntly. "You get used to it after awhile."

"Like, hopefully that monster doesn't like the smell either," Shaggy added in. "Maybe it'll steer clear of this area."

"Ruh huh. Maybe it'll get stuck," Scooby chimed in hopefully.

"We can only hope..." Googie trailed off.

The team was lead by Winnie and Scooby, who were sniffing at the air and on the ground, checking the trail for anything unusual while Shaggy and Googie followed. At one point, the group had to pass by a large lake, filled with nothing but quick sand. Since there was very little room to go around, and any logs that were nearby were made of fragile dead wood, they all had to shimmy one at a time on the dry land.

Once successful, they continued on. To help settle her nerves, Googie started up a conversation with the werewolf as she sniffed ahead. "Hey, Winnie? If I may ask, how did you become a werewolf? Were you born like it?"

At this, Winnie moved her head behind her to reply, nodding. "Yeah, that's right. My papa was the one who was bitten. Since he got together with another werewolf, they gave birth to me." She turned her head back to the front as she continued on. "It's weird, though. Since I wasn't born a human, I don't really have a humanform, I guess. I'm always gonna be all furry like this. Around full moons, I just get even more so. Alotmore vicious, too!" She laughed, her tail wagging some behind her. "Man, you should see on the full moon! It's like I can't think of anything else but hunting and running!"

Shaggy and Googie looked to each other. During their whole stay at the school, the only indication that she had 'changed' was her howls. They never saw her in the building or even around the school. That was probably for the best, in their opinion.

"Makes sense," The beatnik said in response. "Like, I think my transformation was a special case, right?"

"Yeah, the moon is very weird. Even though I have it's calender memorized, even I can't predict it's pow-" Winnie froze, her ear twitching and her nose wrinkling. "...wait. Something's nearby." She said in a harsh whisper, lowering herself to the ground. Scooby concurred, sniffing the air and sticking his tongue out in disgust.

"Bleurgh!" He'd exclaim. Soon, the two humans would know why, as the air became thick with the stench of sulfur.

"Eugh..! Like, who did that?" Shaggy accused, holding his nose.

"I think I prefer the smell of the bog," Googie replied, also holding her nose.

Winnie's fur stood on end as her ears twitched like crazy. It was a strange feeling, one she was familiar with. Back when she was carving her wolf in the school, she felt it. It was close. Her instincts were going berserk, telling her to run away.

Before any one of them had a chance to do or say anything else, though, a large, bony figure dropped down from a tree, just a few yards in front of them, landing on it's talons with catlike grace. Everyone yelped out, Winnie preparing herself to attack just in case.

The strange, red demon before them, however, did not move, instead doing a sort of stare down with the group, it's orange lights flickering as if it were a candle lit flame. With one outstretched claw, it's beak opened up to speak.

"So... you're the ones Master disapproves of..." It squeaked out cryptically.

"I wouldn't say we approve of your master either...or you, for that matter!" Googie replied, feeling Shaggy and Scooby shudder in fear behind her. If the creature could sneer, it would have, curling it's finger inwards as it kept speaking, ignoring the strawberry blonde's statement.

"He has already gotten some information out of you, Norville Rogers. But it is not enough," He'd continue, the others looking to him.

"Zoinks..! Like, he did?" He said, not quite remembering the time he spoke to an evil demon and told him everything he could remember.

"Norville..?" Winnie whispered to herself before shaking her head. "Look, whatever you want with us, you're gonna have to forget it!" She threatened. Her sharp teeth were bared now, growling audibly to the Hellish figure before them.

Again, if the figure could've sneered, it would have. However, it made an offensive position with it's body, looking quite agitated with the werewolf. "Silence!" It'd squawk out, it's wings outstretched. "If you are withholding information, then you will be punished! We will get what you know out of you... whether you cooperate or not!" With a loud screech, it dashed forward, it's foot falls quite deep. It was going towards the group much faster than they anticipated.

They were fortunate enough that Winnie acted fast, pouncing forward and slamming herself into the demon. Since it was knocked off it's course, the two landed just a few feet away from the other three. They swiped at each other for a bit, trading a few hits before Winnie pushed herself off of it's body, going back to the group. She had a few noticeable claw marks into her, though she barely seemed fazed from them. "Jeez, this thing's tough!"

It quickly stood back up on it's hind talons, sporting a few injuries itself. Rather than pounce at them, it pointed it's palms towards the group, whispering in a Hellish language that none of them could quite comprehend.

Winnie's ear twitched, turning to the group sharply. "Duck, now!"

Not wanting to argue, all of them threw themselves onto the ground just as the demon threw an enormous fireball at them. Thanks to their quick thinking, it missed them and hit a few trees instead, instantly evaporating them into nothing but ash.

"Zoinks! If that hit us, we wouldn't even be able to know!" Shaggy exclaimed.

The werewolf shot up from her spot to tackle the demon once more. She was successful, but could only get a few swipes at it before it threw her off of, slamming her against the ground. "Oof!" She yelped out, rolling a few feet before scrambling to her feet. "Grrah! You stupid demon! I'll show you!" She'd growl.

"Winnie, wait!" Googie began, looking over the werewolf a bit. She was already showing injuries, a good amount of her fur matted with dirt and a bit of blood. Her head was bleeding quite a bit too, even though she could stand on her feet. "If you keep going, it'll surely kill you!" She said, looking to the demon. It had quite a few marks too, but was not bleeding, nor was it even fazed by any of it. In fact, the demon seemed to cackle at the group, knowing that none of them could physically stop it. As it prepared to charge at them again, the werewolf looked up at the girl.

"What do we do, than?!" She exclaimed.

"Ruuuuuun!" Scooby shouted, starting to push everyone into the opposite direction. They didnt need to be told twice, running for their lives as the demon chased them. Winnie and Shaggy were up front this time, the other two following very closely. Every so often, Shaggy would turn his head, seeing the demon slowly catch up to them, laughing maniacally.

"Like, why isn't it attacking or pouncing?" He asked aloud.

"He's teasing us," Winnie answered as she ran on all fours. "It's enjoying the hunt before it tears us apart!"

"Rait! Quicksand!" Scooby shouted, the four of them skidding to a halt right at the edge of the quicksand lake.

The demon was quickly closing in on them, and none of them had time to shimmy or jump across. Instead, all four of them seemed to get the same idea. Right as the demon pounced, Googie and Shaggy flung themselves one way while Scooby and Winnie dodged in the other. The demon flew right past them, landing right into the quicksand.

It was very fast acting, so the Hellish monster had little to no time to react before it was already a third of the way into the sand. It screeched and unfurled it's wings, trying to flap it's way out. No matter how hard it struggled, though, it was unsuccessful. With a loud roar of defiance, it lifted it's head up to scream louder, it's beak the last visible thing the group saw before it was completely swallowed up by the lake. It's screamed quickly died down, a few bubbles burbling to the top before stopping. One large, final bubble would expand to the surface before popping, letting out a deathly shrill wail, smelling of the horrid sulfur.

"L-like that worked? I can't believe it!" Shaggy said, slapping a hand to his forehead and laughing in disbelief.

"Yeah, we did it! We kicked it's stupid red ass back to Hell where it belongs!" Winnie said, giving a loud howl of victory.

"I'm just glad that we didn't get killed," Googie sighed, Scooby concurring with a sigh of relieve, wiping the sweat from his brow. "So, does that deal with the demon? Was it that simple?"

Another monstrous roar echoed throughout the bog, although it was farther away from the group. "Like, nope!"

"C'mon, let's go help the others!" Winnie said, starting to make her way across the lake. The others followed, but didn't share her enthusiasm.

"Ruh uh! You're too hurt, Rinnie!" Scooby whined looking over her wounds. The werewolf rolled her eyes, but the two humans agreed with the Great Dane.

"Like, Scoob is right, Winnie. We gotta hurry on back to the school before we push our luck too much!" Shaggy said, gently touching her shoulder.

"Ugh, fine. I just hope the others aren't having a hard time," She'd say, moving with everyone else back towards the school.

Team two didn't have too hard of a time traversing the bog. Not only was the trail pretty straight forward, but there were red flags guiding the way. While the smell of the bog was foul, what really took everyone by surprise was the fact that they could smell something else, growing stronger and stronger with each step. That gut feeling of dread also became more prevalent as they hurried on the trail.

Velma made sure to keep a close eye on the vampire, who was leading them deeper into the woods. With how erratically she was acting, she knew something was up. Sibella was hiding something, and it must have been important. The brunette knew that she would just give it up, especially not with a bunch of other things on their mind. Velma would just have to ask after this was all over with.

"We're on the right trail," Sibella suddenly spoke, getting everyone's attention. "I don't know why, but it has to be close by. The scent is picking up."

"Why would they follow the trail, though? Wouldn't that make it obvious?" Daphne asked aloud.

"Maybe that's what they're wanting. To be found," Elsa stated slowly, starting to think.

"How do you mean?" The redhead asked, looking to the golem.

"A being as powerful as what we're dealing with will surely hold nothing back. It must know how strong it is, and is almost hoping to find victims," She replied in a logical, thoughtful manner.

"You may be right, I hear something up ahead," Sibella stated, stopping the entire group. They all started to listen in. It sound like the yells of someone, though they had no idea who. More importantly,whywas someone out here in the first place?

"Is someone...fightingit?" Velma asked curiously, fixing her glasses.

"Let's hurry, then! They won't last long against a demon!" Daphne yelled out, running alongside everyone else. Team two was soon met with the peak of the smell and the dreadful feeling as they reached the opening of the woods. They all stopped right at the edge, gasping out as they stared.

In the center of the woods was a demon, no question about it. The claws, the tail, the wings, everything about it screamed "Hell". It was panting heavily as it glowered at a figure opposite of it. It was a young, blonde haired man, a sword outstretched in one shaky arm. He looked worse for wear, barely able to stand on his feet, or even able to see, due to a heavily swollen black eye. The demon, however, look like it had barely sustained anything, despite the fact that the young man's sword was covered with a crimson red blood.

"What are you going to do now?" The fiend cackled mockingly, his tail swishing around, similar to a cat. "You foolishly let your team run off, and you remained behind. A noble move, perhaps... but also your last one, I'm afraid." It prepared itself for another attack, it's claws extending out some.

"Is that..?" Elsa began, though Sibella would finish for her.

"Tug!" She gasped out, gaining the attention of the Cadetandhis attacker.

"...so. You all have arrived," The demon growled, moving it's body to face the four girls, almost as if it had forgotten Tug.

"Sibella..? G-guys, leave! Runnow! This thing is too strong..!" Tug began, looking quite frightened as he tried to warn everyone.

"Information is what our Master needs..." The demon continued on, ignoring the Cadet. "And with you four around, we'll get what we need in no time!"

With a loud yell, the Cadet charged his way towards the demon, He was already quite hurt, so it was quite clumsy. The demon effortlessly threw him to the ground, looking his way.

"Stay down. If you're smart, you'll die where you lay." It hissed to the Cadet, now visibly struggling to get back on his feet. As it turned it's attention to the group, though, it would be met with a face full of purple flame. Sibella had cast a fireball of her own, knocking the demon a good couple of yards.

"Your attacks end now, demon," She threatened, giving a very scary, death glare to the Hellish fiend. As it quickly scrambled to it's feet, Elsa, Daphne, and Velma hurried over to Tug. The two humans helped him onto his feet, keeping him steady while Elsa began to set up the large electromagnetic bear trap.

"...daughter of the King of Monsters... you surely know a lot. Come face me and die!" It squawked, charging itself at her. The two soon went toe to toe, dealing spells and dodging each others' attacks. Sibella was very graceful, managing to dodge everything the demon was throwing at her, making sure to hit the demon while it's guard was down.

While it was distracted, Daphne, Velma, and Tug watched with wide eyes, unable to believe what was happening before them. "This is crazy..." Velma muttered, making sure to remember the demon's form. "Never would I imagine the day I see a vampire fighting a demon."

Elsa stuck to herself, quickly setting everything up before shoving a few loose leaves and twigs on it to hide it. She hurried herself over to the group, relaying her plan.

"Okay, here's how it'll go down," She began, speaking quickly, yet methodically. "When it hits the trigger, it'll start up the electromagnet, causing the trap to close at a much higher rate than usual. It'll clench down on it's leg, quite possibly breaking it. Regardless, it will keep it in place."

"That's good and all, but what do we do once it's trapped?" Daphne asked in a worried tone. "I mean, we can't kill it on our own!"

At this, Elsa gave a wicked smirk, winking to the group. "I forgot to mention: I didn't ground the wires before hooking up the magnet," She'd say with a knowing look. Velma's eyes widened quite a bit, though Daphne and Tug looked to each other in confusion.

"...w-what?" Tug managed to stammer out, his lip bleeding quite a bit.

"Just watch," Elsa responded, turning her gaze to the demon. "Hey, horn head!" She called out, getting both Sibella's and the demon's attention. "Come and get me! I'm just a slow-witted patchwork doll who can't run very fast!"

"What are you doing?!" Daphne whispered harshly. Velma remained quiet, making sure to lead the other two a good distance away.

The demon considered it's options quickly, turning back to the vampire. With a wave of it's hand to her, he scoffed. "Feh, you're too much trouble!" It would say to her before charging Elsa. She remained put, though, standing just a few feet behind the trap.

"Yeah, that's right, you couldn't knock me down if you were the size of a redwood tree!" The golem girl kept calling, trying to rile it up. With a loud, annoyed snarl, it swiped to the golem girl, who sidestepped to the right, just by a little.

It made the demon stumble, and step right into the trap. She was right in assuming it would break it's leg, as a loud, satisfying 'CRACK' was heard. However, only Velma and Elsa expected what happened next. Right as it broke the demon's leg, it sent an enormous surge of electricity into it's body, making it roar and squeal out in utter pain.

They all watched in shock, horror, and awe as the trap sent about 200 volts at 0.5 amperes of electricity into it's body. It was fried alive within seconds. It was dead right before it hit the ground, it's leg still caught in the trap. Sibella hurried over to the others, the Frankenteen starting to regather the trap and release the dead demon.

"Don't touch it," She warned. "The amount of electricity could kill you too," She'd say, looking over the body with everyone else.

"W-what the hell was that?" Tug panted, still visibly shaken.

"A demon," Velma replied simply. As she answered, the body was suddenly aflame, lighting into an enormous pyre. Everyone quickly backed away as they watched the body shrivel up and become nothing but a pile of ashes. After a few seconds of shocked silence, Velma hurried over to grab a sample. Sibella and Elsa made their way to Daphne and Tug, looking over his injuries a bit.

"How long have you been fighting against it?" Sibella asked curiously, seeing him covered in scrapes, cuts, and a few burns. "I figured you would be killed within seconds."

Tug rolled his eyes a bit, but felt too weak to make a come back. "The other Cadets were with me. I told them to run when it became obvious none of us could hold our own against it. I held off it's attacks long enough for them to retreat." He said, groaning in pain as he did his best to regain his balance. He was successful, though was still visibly struggling.

"How are the others?" Sibella asked.

"Better off than I am," The blond said, giving a mirthless laugh.

"Hey, at least it's dead," Daphne said, peering over to Velma. "...itisdead, right?"

"Yeah, it's dead," She replied, standing on her feet. "Come on, we should be heading back before another one shows up."

"Jeepers, do you really think there are more?!" Daphne asked. As she did, a loud, high pitched, albeit distorted, scream, echoed throughout the bog.

"Sounds like it. Let's hurry," Sibella stated, hurrying with everyone back through the trail they followed. Tug managed to keep up with the others, though just barely.

"I have to report this to Colonel Calloway! He has to know!" He'd exclaim, panting heavily.

"I just hope the others aren't having a hard time!" Velma yelled in return as the five made their way back towards the schools.

"Aw, really? A dead end and we haven't foundanything?" Exclaimed the annoyed voice of Fred Jones, looking around the small opening. All that was on the ground was a bunch of rocks, dead trees surrounding the area.

"Not necessarily, Fred," Responded the voice of the detective, his weird grin still plastered on his face. "You smell that sulfur, too right? Plus, we've been hearing roars and noises all over the place, haven't we? Something's close."

Freddie, rather than feel encouraged, merely shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms. "Maybe, but it'd be much better if we actuallysawsomething."

"Can't argue there," The detective replied simply, watching as Phantasma floated around on her back in a casual.

"Hey, don't look so down! It's not every day we get a relaxing walk through the bog!" She giggled wildly.

"Oof... it would be relaxing, but... I don't feel well," Tanis groaned out, looking quite nauseated. She had no idea why that could be, though. Stress of what could come after them? The stress of what couldhappento them?

Phanty floated her way to her bandaged friend, rubbing her shoulders gently. "Let's sit down for a bit, then, huh? We've been investigating for awhile," She suggested. Fred made his way over to the others, nodding.

"Yeah, might as well. That trail's a lot longer than I thought it would be," He stated, sitting down next to Tanis. The detective wordlessly sat across from Fred, while Phanty sat in midair, her legs crossed. After a few awkward seconds of silence, the detective pointed a finger to Fred, an eyebrow raised.

"So, if I may ask, how many times have y'all actually seen something that wasn't hoaxed? Prior to this case, of course," He'd ask casually.

At this, Fred rubbed the back of his head, thinking a bit. The question put him off, but found the question itself harmless. "Phew, uh... more often than I can remember, actually. We've come across quite a bit, actually."

"W-wow," Tanis said, looking to him. "With how often this happens, it almost makes me wonder how you all survive these encounters so regularly," She continued thoughtfully.

"Dumb luck," The blond answered with a shrug. Sometimes skill, but to be honest, it almost seems like a coincidence that everything happens to work out in the end," He continued on. With that, he'd return the question to the odd man sitting in front of him. "What about you?" He asked, making the detective raise an eyebrow. "You've mentioned having come across the supernatural before. Has there ever been a case where itwasa hoax?"

With this, the detective thought for a few seconds. "Hm... that's a tough one. I haven't had the luxury of being pranked in that way since I was in high school," He joked, chuckling darkly. "I've had my fair share of run ins with stuff, though. Hell, I think my credibility's gone downbecauseof it. No one believes the ramblin' weirdo who investigates murder scenes for fun."

"But you two are still alive, right?" Phantasma suddenly asked. The two humans looked her way, both raising an eyebrow to her. "I mean, despite your run ins with the dangerous and scary side of monsterkind, everyone always made it out alive," She restated, an optimistic grin on her face. "I mean, sure it's tough and probably scarring, but if you guys are still here to tell the tale, then I think we have a chance of dealing with whatever the heck is going on. If your track record is anything to go by, I'm fully confident in you guy's ability to figure it out!" The ghost prattled on, doing her best to encourage the others.

Strangely enough, it seemed to work. Tanis gave a nod and a brave look to her blue friend, while Freddie nodded with her. "Y'know, oddly enough, that makes a lot of sense. Wecando this, can't we?"

"If we can't, than who else will?" The detective asked, his smile just as big as it ever was.

In that moment, the four heard the screeching wail of something in the forest, grabbing their attention. They all jumped up, looking in the direction towards the source. "Did you guys hear that?" Fred asked excitedly.

"Hard to miss it..!" Tanis piped up nervously. "Oooh, I wish we could know what was going on!"

Fred snapped his fingers, an idea forming in his head. "Got it! Phanty, go float up above the trees and see if you can find anything!" He'd say, pointing to the ghost.

With a salute, Phantasma nodded. "Yes sir!" She'd giggle before flying up above the trees. She'd cup her hands around her eyes, as if she were using binoculars. "Hmm..."

"See anything up there?" Tanis yelled up to her.

"Nooooo, nothin' but a bunch of dead trees..." She said, her tongue sticking out as she focused. "...wooooahwait a second!" She gasped, sounding in awe of something.

"What? What is it?" Fred called to her.

"I just saw a big tower of fire! I mean abigtower of fire!" Phantasma said. "Wait, it just went out suddenly!"

"Tower of fire..?" Freddie said, rubbing his chin. "I hope that doesn't mean that demon's attacked anyone," He'd continue, gazing over to the other man. His face was smiling in an excited manner, though it did little to make him look less off-putting.

"I've read demons spontaneously combust when they die..! Someone must've managed to kill a demon!" He said excitedly.

"Woah, that's sooo cool!" Phanty giggled, floating back down to the group.

"Wait... does that mean..?" Freddie began, an excited look on his face as well. "The mystery has been solved?"

"I'd say so, right? No demons, no more attacks, lives are avenged, everyone's happy!" Phanty rambled eagerly, laughing along.

"I-I can't believe it!" Freddie laughed, clutching his head in disbelief. "Hey Tanis, did you- Tanis?" He'd say, turning his attention to the mummy, his voice now sounding concerned. The detective and Phanty also turned to look, wondering what was going on.

Tanis was standing completely still, looking down at the ground. None of the three could see her eyes, though they could see her fists, which were shaking very subtly. The three tried to get her attention, but little did they know, their voices were dying off into silence, going unheard from the mummy.

...

...you can never rely on help these days, can you?

No matter.

I have a more reliable solution anyways.

My patience has paid off, finally.

And now, my dear Tanis...

...my plan may fully begin.

Go after the one with the book.

You know the one.

Let nothing stop the wrath of the mummy.

Let that pent up rage from your past life make itself known.

Let it run wild.

Let it seek vengeance, and do what must be done.

And kill.

Kill .

KILL .

The group of three wouldn't know what hit them. With a loud, ear piercing yell, the mummy lifted her hands up, head thrown back as she did so. A surge of strong, magical power sent the three flying, splitting them up and landing on the ground. While Fred and the Detective did their best to get back up on their feet, Phanty quickly floated back up, her face distraught and worried. "Tanny, what's gotten into you?!" She yelled out. She heard the scream from the mummy and knew right then and there that something was up. It didnotsound like her at all.

Lifting up one hand, she'd point her palm to the detective who had managed to get back up on his feet. He was staring at the scene, obviously taken aback. His eyes were wide, but his smile still big. He must not have been able to help it. As she pointed to him, bandages would shoot out towards him, quickly wrapping themselves against him. They quickly wrapped around his torso and around his neck, squeezing tightly. He gagged and choked, visibly fighting back by trying to pull them off with his bare hands. She merely made more go after him, wrapping around his wrists to constrict him further.

Fred gasped at the sight, frozen in shock. Phanty was unsure of what to do as well, yelling out in utter fear. "No! Stop, you're gonna kill him!"

The voice that came from Tanis was a mixture of her own, and something else. It was unworldly and unnatural, the way it spoke. "Death is the way to gain information. His death will prove us well!" The detective's struggling was starting to weaken, his face turning purple as his wide eyes started to roll back.

Unable to just stand around, Fred had to act. His instincts told him to just charge the mummy, so that's what he did. Despite the fact that he made her stumble a bit, she was still proving to be much more sturdy than he initially though. This broke her concentration, so her bandages loosened around the detective's body. Unfortunately, this also caused her bandages to fling him against the tree, where he slammed against them. Hard. His body slumped down to the ground, face down. Unlike last time, there was no movement for him to get up on his feet.

Phanty shrieked out as she flew over to his body, trying her best to get him conscious. She was panicking quite a bit, unsure of what to do. Fred watched the scene for a little before turning his attention back to the mummy. As he tried to slam into the possessed Tanis once more, the bandages caught his wrist.

Tanis turned her attention to him, the bandages now snaking their way around him. "You will prove useful, as well. Join your friend in unholy death!" She yelled out, starting to squeeze and constrict Freddie as well. Despite the fact that the blonde proved to be much more hardy than the detective, he was still having trouble resisting. Not only that, but the bandagesburned his skin.

"Gak... Phanty...help..!" Freddie choked out, still doing his best to fight back. The ghost in question gasped and looked up at her friend, who was squeezing the lift out of herotherfriend. She peered down to the unconscious body of the detective for a second, taking in a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," Was all she whispered to him before darting off towards Tanis. Thinking quickly, the ghost entered into Tanis's body, as if she were trying to posses her.

The first thing Phantasma felt was pain. It was as if she were trying to fly through a thick, thorny bramble patch. The atmosphere was nothing but pure hate and malice, which made it hard for her to keep going, let alone breathe, or evensee. She powered through it the best she could, however, seeing the floating, glowing body of Tanis. Her eyes were shut, but her whole body was surrounded with thorny, black vines. This apparition before Phanty represented her consciousness.

The ghost slowly reached out a hand towards her, grunting and struggling the whole way. "Let go of my friend, y-you big... bully!" She'd exclaim, touching her finger to the blue figure. A bright wave of light would overcome the whole place, blinding Phanty.

Fred watched as Tanis's eyes softened up, her grip immediately loosening around him, almost dropping him to the ground. He stumbled a bit, coughing quite a bit. "Guh..! Gah... Ta-tanis..!" He coughed, his voice strained from being strangled.

"F-f-fred..? Wh-what..?" She stammered, standing in disbelief. Phanty soon flew out of her body, panting heavily. "Phanty..?"

"Tanis..! Oh thank goodness! Somethingterriblehappened!"

At this, her eyes widened in fear. "What?! I-I blacked out, and..!"

"Y-you were... p-possessed," Fred managed to say, being helped up by the ghost. "Whatever got in you... attacked us..!"

Tanis was shocked, gasping out. "I-I did? O-oh no! I-I-I didn't mean to..! I really didn't!" She stammered, on the verge of tears. Phanty hurried back over to the detective, gripping his arm and doing her best to stand him up.

"Hey, help me out here! I don't know if he's breathing!" She gasped out. Freddie and Tanis hurried over, quickly helping her out. Freddie held an arm over his shoulder while Phanty and Tanis kept his other side balanced. The detective looked almost like a corpse, his eyes shut and his mouth hung open. No teeth were missing, but blood was pouring out of his mouth. Freddie noticed that he had burn marks from the bandages as well.

"I don't know if he's gonna make it..!" Tanis cried out, looking up at his unconscious face.

"Don't say that, please!" Phanty yelled out, looking very distraught as she did her best to not break down.

"We better hurry..!" Fred gasped out. "Come on..!"

As they all hobbled their way back towards the school, Fred's mind gave him one single thought. There wasno conceivable waythat the others were having a harder time than they were.

Miss Grimwood stood outside of the school, Matches standing right by her side. Normally, these opportunities would be a welcoming moment of peace for the older woman. Knowing what was at stake right now, though, made her feel completely different. With how many noises she had heard echoing from the bog, the sudden silence made her feel uneasy. The dragon nudged her leg, doing his best to comfort his owner. Her hands clenched a bit, feeling more and more nervous with each passing second.

She let out a gasp, apparently holding in a breath, as she saw four figures come running towards the school. She immediately recognized Winnie, along with Googie, and her two coaches. "Oh, thank heavens..!" She'd gasp out, ushering them inside. "Quick quick, get in!"

Miss Grimwood and Matches followed the others in, looking at them. She left the door open for when the others came back. Miss Grimwood took one look at the werewolf and let out a worried gasp. "Oh, Winnie, dear, what happened!"

"Hah, don't worry about me, Miss G..! I feel just fine!" She'd say, giving a toothy smile. Regardless of this fact, she was seated in the couch, right next to her. Using a handkerchief that she had on hand, she quickly wiped away the dried blood in Winnie's fur as she looked to the group expectantly.

"Like, we saw it alright!" Shaggy began, panting heavily, since the three were out of breath.

"Ruge! Red! Bony!Scary!" Scooby rambled on.

"We somehow outsmarted it," Googie finished, leaning against her knees. "Winnie managed to fight it off for a bit before we ran."

"Then that sucker fell right in the quick sand!" Winnie laughed, pumping a fist in the air. Miss Grimwood let out a huff, smiling to them a bit.

"Well, that's well and good, but what else? I could hear so much chaos coming from everywhere..!"

"Like, we're not sure," Shaggy answered. "We're pretty sure that, like, came from the other parts of the bog. We didn't have any other run-ins after that."

They wouldn't have to wait long before Sibella, Daphne, Velma, and Elsa ran inside of the school, greeted by hugs from the others.

"You guys made it too!" Googie laughed in relief.

"Was there any any doubt," Sibella replied, a small smile on her face as she stood near Winnie, who was grinning ear to ear.

"Iknewyou guys could handle it too!" She guffawed.

"Oh yeah..!" Velma began. "It was a bit rough, but I got a good description of it. Not to mention..." She held up a bag of ashes, a big excited grin on her face.

"Like, the trap worked?!" Shaggy said, looking over the ashes.

"Oh boy, did it," Elsa said proudly. "Like a bug caught in a zapper."

"We're also lucky that it was the only thing to have died. Even that one student from the military school made it out okay," Daphne said, Miss Grimwood looking in her direction.

"One of the Colonel's students got caught up in it?!" She said in amazement.

"He held his own, for sure," Sibella answered. "He and the others are warning him about it as well."

"I'd better have a talk with him, once everyone's back..." Miss Grimwood said.

"Hey yeah... Freddie's not back yet?" Daphne asked, looking around.

"Nope. Haven't seen Phanty or Tanis yet, either," Winnie replied, scratching her ear.

"Like, didn't the detective go with them too?" Shaggy asked.

"I think so..." Googie added in a somewhat worried tone.

They all waited for quite awhile, everyone starting to get a bit antsy. At one point, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby had taken to keeping an eye out for the last team. After what seemed like a long time, Scooby pointed out to a group, hurriedly moving towards the school. "Look, look!" He'd bark out.

"Like, it's them!" Shaggy exclaimed. This got everyone's attention, though Daphne's expression turned from excited to worried.

"...something's not right. Shaggy, follow me," She'd say, running out towards them. Shaggy nodded and ran after her. The two gasped out upon seeing the sighted of a badly beaten Freddie, carrying an unconscious, just as badly beaten, detective, along with a sniffling mummy, whose bandages were stained with tears, and a ghost girl who looked like she was about to have an emotional breakdown.

"Freddie!" Daphne gasped out, the two hurrying to their side. "What on Earth happened?!"

"No time..!" He gasped out. "Hurry... help us get him inside..!" He managed to choke, his voice still sounding somewhat strained. Soon, they also helped lead him indoors, everyone clamoring and gasping at the sight.

"Oh no..." Sibella gasped, a hand over her mouth in shock.

"What's going on, what happened?!" Winnie said, watching as Miss Grimwood hurried over to them all.

"Oh dear... Elsa, dear, please help the detective upstairs into a bed. He'll need treatment, ASAP!" She said. The Frankenteen didn't hesitate to gently lift up the unconscious man bridal style, walking up the steps into the bathroom. Phanty didn't know whether to follow or stay behind, floating around in the air, as if she were pacing. Her fingers felt through her hair in a manic manner.

Daphne hurried and sat Fred into a seat, looking over his injuries as well. "Freddie, how did this happen? You're hurt!" She gasped out, looking over his skin.

"I'll be... okay," He coughed up, trying to wave away her worries. "Just need some water and air is all..."

"Was it another demon?!" Googie gulped, holding onto a chair to stay balanced.

A loud sob grabbed everyone's attention. They looked to Tanis, who was now openly crying. "It... it was me..! I did this!" She admitted in between sobs, everyone looking quite surprised, looking between each other.

"Tanis... you?" Miss Grimwood started softly, looking taken aback.

"Something made me lose control and I attacked everyone!" She gasped out. "I injured Freddie badly and... andkilled the detective!" Tanis wailed, clinging to Shaggy's waist and burying her face into his stomach, muffling her sobs.

Everyone looked to each other, talking to each other as the tall, lanky coach gently hugged her back, gently petting her head to help comfort her.

"Is he really..?" Velma began, a hand to her forehead in disbelief.

"We don't know for sure, do we?" Sibella replied.

"Haha, y-yeah..! We don't know!" Phanty giggled nervously. "H-he could be just fine! Just p-peachy keen! Haha haha ha..!" Her hair was quite messed up and frazzled now, her eyes darting back in forth in a scared manner.

"H-he was breathing...just barely," Fred managed to respond. "B-but just barely. I don't know if he'd..." He trailed off, not finding the courage within himself to finish that sentence.

Phanty glanced up the stairs in a scared manner, fidgeting like crazy now. "No no nono..." She whispered to herself.

No one could say anything at this point. All they could do was wait for Elsa to return. The only noise that could be heard was Tanis whimpering into Shaggy's body.

Chapter 14: What's The Name?

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 14: What's The Name?

To say that his students were causing a ruckus would be a severe understatement. Incredibly severe. What Colonel Calloway had expected of his five cadets was to complete their job without incident. During breakfast, however, it wasn't long before he heard yelling and screaming. Shouts about a serious attack were coming from the entrance, and many of the other students were starting to take notice of this, their noise level soon becoming more than enough to catch his attention.

It took him a little while to be able to get through the crowd of students, and even more so to quiet them all down so he could actually see the cause. As he expected, four of his five 'Stars' were retelling their supposed encounter. Despite the fact that the Colonel often expected some sort of shenanigans from his students, he was also not a fan of fantasy stories. Especially when said stories came from teachers of the school, and carried a chance to ruin his reputation.

Regardless of the fact that he was initially quite angry at his four teachers, his expression quickly shifted to one of confused fear upon seeing that they were indeed quite filthy. Blood was drawn on their swords, with a few minor injuries to boot. The Colonel had them retell their story so he could actually keep up with it. The Colonel almost wished he didn't want to believe it. Part of him was telling him to deny the whole thing. Alas, he couldn't. Not with one of his star students, now teacher, still out there in the bog, fighting with the supposed beast.

The Colonel hurried them all to the nursing area, where they would be tended to. The Colonel, meanwhile, sat impatiently near the entrance of his own school. His foot tapped against the floorboards and his hands shook, clattering the ice of his bourbon loudly against the glass. The alcohol did little to soothe his nerves. While he waited, he also had two of his others students help keep an eye out for Tug, forcing the others to wait in their dorms. Whatever was going on, he had to know, and fast. The longer Calloway waited, however, the deeper his fear set it. What if Tugdidn'treturn? Every so often, he'd check his gold pocket watch, although he never really looked at it long enough to take in the time. Most likely, he was doing it due to shattered nerves.

Finally, the doors flung open, with Calloway jumping to his feet, quickly setting his glass of whiskey down on the end table, doing so a bit too hard so that most of it's contents wound up on the carpet. He didn't care. As his two guard students called out to him, the Colonel was already hurrying over to the blond boy's side. He looked absolutely awful, and was quite surprised to see him even standing on two legs. Somewhat, anyways, as he was visibly struggling.

The boy was far worse off than Calloway expected him to be. Large amounts of blood, wounds, scars, and an obvious black eye were but some of the few injuries that were evident on Tug. As the Colonel hurried him towards the medical area as well, he began his line of questioning to him as well. "Good gracious, Tug! What in the devil got a hold of you?" He asked, secretly hoping that the previous talks of a 'demon' were false, or that they were just imagined up due to trauma from a wild animal attack.

Once he was seated in one of the medical beds, one of the nurses came over and quickly began to aid him. Grunts of pain and discomfort came from Tug to start off with, but with the rest of his fellow cadets, as well as the Colonel, expectantly watching, he knew he had to answer. He was the only one who saw the entire ordeal through to the end, after all. It was quite clear that Tug's nerves were still shot, however, his mind still processing the shock he had been through. "Tug, please tell us. What the hell happened?" Calloway asked somewhat urgently. He remained patient, however, knowing he had been through quite a lot. With his eyes boring into his own pupil's, however, it was clear just how eager he was for some form of answer. As the nurse tended to his wounds, Tug let out grunts and groans of pain, trying to find in words between the stings of pain. It thankfully didn't take long for the nurse to finish wrapping up Tug's various injuries, and he finally found it within himself to speak.

"It... it was a demon..!" Tug finally answered, pushing a hand to his head, doing his best to keep himself balanced on the bed.

"It's true, sir!" Jamal spoke up, just a few feet away from them. "We all tried to stand our ground against it, b-but it was too strong!"

"It was unlike anything we've ever seen, sir..!" Tug continued. "Strength and power like I've never seen!"

Calloway's eyes were wide, his mind throbbing with pain. He so desperately wanted to not believe him, but at this point, how could he deny this? "Are... are you sure?" He asked, almost out of desperation. When Tug replied with nothing but a shaky nod, the Colonel sighed, starting to feel a bit faint himself.

"...how are you not dead, son?" He asked shakily. At this, Tug merely shook his head, giving a mirthless chuckle.

"Those Grimwood girls, sir," He replied simply. "If they hadn't arrived, along with their friends of theirs, I wouldn't even be here."

The Colonel couldn't bring himself to be surprised by this statement. After all, they were well versed in this sort of thing, he figured. Those monstrous girls must have been either stronger, smarter, or just flat out luckier if they could all handle their own. Hell, he found himself incredibly impressed with his own pupils for managing to make it out of this experience alive!

Regardless of this, Calloway was still worried beyond belief. With a wipe of his brow and a deep sigh, he stood up and began to pace, thinking to himself a little bit. After a few seconds of silence, the cadets shared a look of slight confusion and worry on their faces. "Uh, sir?" Tug prompted, wondering if he could get his superior to speak his mind.

After a little while longer, the Colonel turned his attention back to everyone, a rather grim look on his face. "Did anything else happen out there?" At this question, Tug rubbed the back of his head, as if trying to remember. The others shook their heads, as they were not fully aware of the rest of the situation either.

"Affirmative... I mean, I think?" Tug pondered. "We heard a loud noise after they managed to kill the demon thing, but I have no idea what it was or where it came from."

"Hm," The Colonel stated his hand going back to his chin, rubbing it idly as he thought. It didn't take much longer before he began to make his way out of the medical room. "Keep an eye on everyone, nurse," He began, turning his attention to the five cadets. "Keep an eye on everything for me, boys. I need some answers as well. If anything happens, you all know what we could be up against. Make sure it doesn't happen," Calloway commanded gently to them.

"Yes, sir," All five replied, straightening up a little. Truth be told, none of them knew if they would be able to hold back another attack, were it to happen. That wouldn't stop them from trying, of course.

"Excellent. Now get some rest, boys," Calloway concluded with a small grin, heading out of the room, and heading towards the main entrance of his building. His small smile quickly faded away into a frown, his eyes tired, yet determined. Opening the doors to his school, he soon left. Even though it was around midday, the area was quite prone to being overcast and cloudy, making the sky look darker than usual. Even though the Colonel was used to this type of weather, it still unnerved him, considering all that was happening.

He had no idea if Grimwood was behind this whole ordeal or not, but he knew that his students were in danger, one of them almost having been killed. This now concerned him, whether they liked it or not. And Calloway did not like it, but he had students to protect.

The familiar yard of the Grimwood manor was soon in view, the strange multicolored can still parked in front. He ignored it this time and made his way to the door. He had half the mind to barge in, but quickly caught himself before doing so, knowing that Miss Grimwood, her students, and the others must have been going through a lot. The Colonel knocked upon the large door and waited, his foot tapping somewhat impatiently.

After a small while, the door finally opened, revealing the familiar octopus butler. Unflappable as ever, the butler soon opened the door wider, wordlessly letting him in without needing an explanation. He must've known, Calloway figured. "Thank you," He muttered quickly before heading inside.

Upon entering the foyer, he took in the sight of the entire school (or rather, most of it. He noticed Elsa was not in the room, currently). The Colonel's appearance was still somewhat of a surprise to some, as he instantly attracted attention from everyone. He took notice that Winnie was sporting an injury on her head, with the tall blond man (Fred, he recalled), also looking quite worse for wear. Tanis clung to her coach's torso, barely peeking out from behind him as he turned his attention towards the door as well. Her eyes were stinging red, having been crying quite a lot.

Once everyone was aware of his presence, Miss Grimwood let out a small sigh, trying to muster up a friendly expression, though clearly struggling to do so. "Ah, hello again Colonel," She greeted weakly. "As you can see, we've been through quite a lot."

As he scanned his eyes across the others, they seemed to relax, though just slightly. Shaggy continued to comfort his youngest student, while the others looked between Miss Grimwood and Calloway. The sole exception was Phantasma, who's frantic gaze quickly darted back to the stairwell. The Colonel also took notice of the fact that Winnie's face grew slightly more dark, Sibella making sure to keep an eye on her and her head injury. Not that he was surprised by her evil eye, of course. She never did like him.

"I can see, Miss Grimwood," He replied, sounding quite anxious, despite the fact that he kept himself as dignified as he always did. "As much as I hate to show up unannounced, I must bring to attention that a few of my cadets had a run in with something." As he spoke, Miss Grimwood's smile slowly faded, realizing where he was going with this. Daphne and Velma shared a rather uncomfortable look between each other, Sibella looking quite guilty as well.

"Ah, yes," Miss Grimwood replied, her hand idly feeling through her mess of hair. "I was planning on meeting you about it, though it seems as though you've beat me to it," She said with a hollow laugh. "...I do hope your students are alright."

"They are," Calloway said, sounding a bit unsure of himself. Physically? They would heal, but mentally? Who knew? "For the most part, at least. Tug received the worst of it, however," He sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know exactly how you all helped, but... well, I'm appreciative. Thank you," Calloway finished, crossing his arms a little. "Regardless, however, I do require answers. Because if my students are in danger, then I must be a part of... well, whatever's been going on over here!"

Once the Colonel finished his ramble, the others seemed to look between each other, wondering who would be the first to speak up. What should they evenbeginwith? Winnie took the opportunity to crack a toothy grin, shrugging. "Well, it'll be a long story," She said, doing her best to warm up to the Colonel.

"Not to mention that we don't really have all the answers ourselves, uh, sir," Velma added in.

"Well, any sort of leads?" The Colonel questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Like, we know there's something bigger behind all this," Shaggy replied, idly rubbing Tanis's back in a comforting manner.

"And it's looking for something," Fred added in. His voice still sounded somewhat strained, but wasn't having too much difficulty speaking at this point. "By that, I mean, well, looking for information."

Before the Colonel could think of another question, the loud thuds of boots on the stairwell soon alerted and silenced everyone. Elsa was walking down the stairs, an unreadable expression on her face. Blood was apparent on her apron, which concerned Calloway heavily. It was quite fresh as well, and he had no clue where it would have come from.

Everyone was looking at her expectantly, Tanis having turned her face towards her, looking anxious. Elsa looked between everyone's expectant, worried looks, not even needing to be asked or told anything. She knew what they wanted.

"He's breathing," The tall girl finally said. "He's still unconscious, but I've patched him up. He should be okay." A breath of relief was shared between everyone, with Phanty letting out a few small scared giggles.

Despite Calloway not knowing who Elsa was referring to, the blonde girl (who he remembered was named Googie), asked the question that was still itching to be asked. "You didn't, uh... saw anything off, did you?" She asked, referring to the amount of blood on her apron.

"Nah, didn't need to," Elsa stated, grinning some. "Hedidcough up a lot of it, however. I think he may need some medicine, Miss Grimwood," She said, turning her attention the headmistress, who replied with a nod.

"I figured as much," She sighed.

"Er, if I may ask, who are you talking about?" Colonel Calloway asked the patchwork golem.

"Oh, sorry, I mean the detective," She answered, as if he understood who that would even be. Upon seeing his confused look and raised eyebrow, Miss Grimwood spoke up again.

"He was the one in with the purple hoodie and long brown hair at the volleyball game, Colonel," She reminded him. "He's the local homicide detective, who'd deciding to help us."

"Ah yes, I was wondering who that was," He said, stroking his chin curiously. Calloway did vaguely remember the odd man sitting with the other humans, eyes seemingly unblinking, his smile unceasing. Off putting, to say the least. "May I ask what his name is? I never got to properly ask," The Colonel asked, not really sure if he'd like being around the man in the first place.

He was only met with more silence, uncomfortable gazes shared between the others. This only confused him further, which didn't help when Daphne replied to his question. "Well... uh... we never really... asked?"

"Like, he never told us, either," Shaggy said, using a hand to scratch the back of his head in an uneasy manner.

Nothing really seemed to be adding up to the Colonel, at least not currently. How could they allow him to tag along with this odd case of theirs when they didn't even know hisname? "And yet you allowed him to stay?" He asked, almost indignant. "Knowing almost nothing about this man? How do we know he's not behind this whole ordeal?" His question was answered almost immediately.

"He's not," answered the curt, yet quiet, voice of Phantasma. "I mean, it's not that we know or not, because we don't. But, y'know, any one of us could be the culprit and we wouldn't know, right?" She continued on, rambling on as she typically did, but sounding much more low key, quiet, and just overall tired. "But I trust him..! I don't think he'd be behind anything like this! At least, I hope not..." She finished, sounding slightly unsure of herself. Regardless of how confident she was, Calloway still felt like he overstepped a boundary somewhat.

"...right. Innocent until proven guilty and all that," He replied, looking somewhat uncomfortable now.

After a minute or two of uncomfortable silence, Scooby spoke up with a cautious tone. "...rhut now?"

Velma replied with a mere shrug. "Keep investigating, I suppose," She replied. "After all, we have to be getting closer to some form of answer."

"Yeah, we can't give up now..!" Winnie said in a confident voice. "Not after all the hell we just went through."

"In any case, we all still have business to attend to," Miss Grimwood began as she stood up and headed towards the stairwell. "I'm just thankful that no one's dead. Speaking of which, I have some herbs to mix." She sighed, beginning to head up the stairs. After the first couple of steps, however, she stopped, and turned her head slightly to her ghostly student, giving a small, knowing, almost wry smile. "Yes, Phantasma, you may come up with me for a visit." Almost instantly, the ghost girl straightened up, nodding and quickly following the headmistress up the stairs without another word. Her face did somehow manage to flush a slightly darker shade of blue. How this was even possible was beyond anyone else's understanding, but figured that questioning these types of things now wouldn't be a good use of their time.

Once the two had gone upstairs, Googie decided to voice a concern. "...do you think we should take him to a hospital? I mean, I'm not doubting you or Miss Grimwood's ability, Elsa, but he was hurt pretty badly," She said in a worried tone.

"Miss Grimwood's medicine acts a lot faster than whatever a human hospital can do," Elsa reassured. "Plus, any movement at this point would do a lot more harm than good."

"Not only that, but how would we explain the whole ordeal to the nurses?" Daphne said, thinking aloud. "Pretty sure they wouldn't be happy if we told them he got attacked by a possessed monster."

Googie nodded with a small sigh, agreeing with the other statements. "Let's just hope he recovers quickly, then."

Throughout the whole conversation, Tanis had been squirming in an uncomfortable manner, feeling unbelievably guilty. Finally, she released herself from Shaggy's side and turned her attention to Fred. She appeared to have calmed down, though still looked quite sullen. After wiping her eyes once more, she finally spoke. "I'm sorry," She muttered in a sad, guilty tone. "I really couldn't control it. I... I didn't mean any harm by it."

Fred lifted up a single hand, shaking his head with a small smile. Despite all that had happened, he couldn't bring himself to feel any ill will towards the mummy. "Hey, don't worry about it," He reassured. "I'm still kickin', aren't I? And don't worry about the detective," Fred continued on. "I doubt he'll be angry, whenever he wakes up. Knowing him, he'd most likely see this as an 'informative experience'."

The Colonel looked to the small mummy girl, eyes widening a little bit. "Wait... are you saying..?"

"Yeah, she did quite a number on 'em," Elsa answered instantly, almost casually. "Just a couple of broken ribs, a few burns, and a closed off esophagus. Nothin' a few days rest and some of Miss Grimwood's medicine can't fix. When he wakes up, he should be alright."

Despite her confidence about the detective's inevitable recover, this did little to comfort a lot of the humans in the room. In order to help turn the conversation away to a less uncomfortable subject, Shaggy decided to check on the one ghoul who had barely said anything throughout the whole ordeal. "Hey, Sibella? Like, how are you holding up? You've been quiet for, like, awhile now. Something on your mind?"

Truth be told, there was more than a lot on her mind right now. Did the Demonologist's Bible have something to do with this? Was this all her doing, and she was in denial? What more would happen? Wasshebeing possessed and was unaware of it? The vampire girl sighed and looked to her lap, her half lidded gaze looking quite tired and exhausted as well. "...I don't know, Coach," She replied simply. "It's a lot to take in at once, and we don't even know what else is going to happen." Sibella couldn't help but find her somewhat secretive behavior to be bothersome, but if she started speaking her mind now, she figured she would most likely become the main suspect. She wanted to try and fix things before she fully admitted everything.

"We'll make it through this," Daphne reassured, Winnie giving a nice, large smile to her.

"Yeah..! We're sure to figure out what's going on. With everything that's happened, how could we not? We've come too far to just give up now!"

"Let's just hope we can figure it out before anyone else gets hurt," Googie added in.

Sibella nodded in response, though said nothing else. The only way for things to start getting better, in her mind, was to find that dreaded book she carried along with her at the start of the year. The one that was the cause of so many of her nightmares. It's presencehadto have a hand on what was going on.

Soon enough, Miss Grimwood returned into the foyer, though she was not followed by Phantasma. "Well, I'd say we've all had an incredibly eventful day already," She said, looking between everyone. For now, classes will be canceled, and will resume once we get to the bottom of this mystery of ours."

Despite the fact that most of the ghouls seemed a bit disappointed by the fact they wouldn't have classes (Winnie being the sole exception), they seemed to agree with her. At this point, she shared a look between all of her ghouls, Mystery Inc, and the Colonel. "I'll suggest to everyone to start treading lightly from this point on. Clearly what we're dealing with is more dangerous than we expected. One wrong move could prove fatal."

At this statement, Shaggy and Scooby shared a nervous gulp, though the others also seemed quite perturbed by this. Velma stood up, beginning to head out of the room. "Then we'd better be prepared for the worst," She stated. "I'm going to go do some research. Alright if I use the lab, Elsa?" She asked, turning to the tallest ghoul.

"Go right ahead," She replied with a nod and a wave of her hand. "I'll be joining you in a little while. I figure some assistance could be useful, yeah?" Elsa continued, following beside her towards the lab.

Once the two left the room, Calloway spoke up. "I'll go ahead and head back to my school. Expect to see me a lot more often, though," He said in an important tone. "If my students got caught in the middle of this, this whole situation now concerns me as well. Do please keep me updated," He said, tipping his head as he stepped out. "Good day to you all." With that, he left as well, with Miss Grimwood finding her seat on the couch once more.

Soon, Fred spoke up after clearing his throat. "Well, what about us, gang? We can't just sit around and do nothing..!"

"Like, I dunno, man," Shaggy replied, rubbing his arm. "After this whole demon thing, I think a little break is what we kinda need." Scooby concurred with a nod and an affirmative bark.

"Shaggy's got a point, Freddie," Daphne replied, rubbing his arm. "If there's anything else to be done, it can wait at least a day."

"How do we know?" Fred asked, sitting up a little straighter, sounding a bit concerned. "For all we know, something could happen an hour from now, maybe! I just don't want us to have our guard down, y'know?"

"Freddie," Daphne repeated, sounding a bit more stern. "Look at what's happened so far," She said looking out to the remaining group. A visibly shaken Tanis sat on the couch, looking at her hands. Winnie was trying to adjust her bandages, grumbling about them being too tight. Sibella gently kept her from fidgeting around too much. A tired Miss Grimwood sipped idly at a tea cup, her gaze looking over to the rest of the group. "We've had way too many close calls for one day."

"She's got a point, dear," Miss Grimwood said in a solemn manner. "Often times we wish we could do more, but in doing so, it would lead us to an early grave." Everyone looked to the headmistress as she continued on. "I understand that you don't want to stop until you've got answers, but pushing beyond the brink of fatigue, and toeing the line of death is not the way to do it." With another sigh, she took another sip of her tea. "You've already had a near death encounter. I don't know what's coming after us, but don't try to finish the job it started."

There was another moment of stunned silence as Fred took in everything she had just said. She had a point, for sure, and even though inaction at this point wasn't his style, there was nothing else he could really do. Maybe in a few moments time, something would come up, but Velma was already doing the next course of action. There was only one other option: wait.

The blond man leaned against the chair he was sitting in, nodding in acceptance. "...yeah, you're right," He sighed, giving a resigned grin to her. "After all, I could certainly go for a nap right about now."

"I think weallcould, honestly," Googie replied, stifling a yawn of her own.

"Rounds good to me," Scooby added, not bothering to hide his own yawn.

With that, everyone began to off into their rooms, with Miss Grimwood remaining behind in the foyer. Sibella helped Winnie, which she accepted somewhat reluctantly, while Daphne helped Fred, despite his insistence he could walk. Despite how eerie the house already was, the silence is what made it almost unbearable, even to the ghoulish inhabitants.

Sibella laid in her coffin, though she did not close her eyes or try to fall asleep. Everyone was alive, but for how much longer? If Tanis could be possessed by... whatever was after them, who's to say it won't go after anyone else? As much as she didn't want to, she knew she had to get the book back. Learn a few answers, return it to her Father, even if it meant running away from the school. Nightmares be damned, she had friends she wanted to protect.

Her only issue with going through with this, was the fact that Velma and Elsa were still in the lab. There was no way she could easily sneak down there and retrieve the book. Hell, she didn't even know if it was still down there! Hopefully it was, but what if someone else found it?

She spent the next few minutes deliberating this process in her mind, she heard the sounds of light talking, along with footsteps. Despite how quietly they were talking, it was clearly Elsa and Velma. The vampire lifted her head up gently, trying her best to listen in. The most she could gather through the walls, though, was something about 'checking notes'. The light tapping of a knock was heard, along with the low creak. Some more talking, then the gentle shut of the door.

From what she gathered, they had just entered the room the detective was recovering in. The lab would be empty. Sibella knew she couldn't waste anymore time. Using her levitation ability, she hurried out of her room and down into the laboratory. Thankfully, Miss Grimwood had retired elsewhere, and Matches remained asleep on the floor. After quietly opening the door into the basem*nt lab, she hurried down, making a bee line for the large bookshelf.

Sibella got to her knees, looking behind the shelf. Her eyes widened upon seeing the empty space, filled with nothing more than dust and cobwebs. The vampire got up to her feet, quickly scanning over the shelf, pulling out various books and looking at each cover. "Maybe it was put away on accident..?" She asked herself, quickly looking through the whole selection in desperation. After looking through the entire shelf at least twice, she felt her whole body freeze up, her breathing picking up as panic slowly began to form.

"The Demonologist's Bible..! Where'd it go? Who took it..!" She gasped to herself, looking around the room quickly. She froze once more, though it was from something else. A loud scream. Definitely Phantasma's. The vampire began to run towards the entrance to see what was wrong before she realized that she would be revealing that she had left her room. Most likely, someone else would be there as well, and would catch her not in her room. She would be caught.

Sibella moved towards a wall, her back gently bumping against it. She slid down, holding her knees closely. She considered herself thankful she was alone. She didn't want anyone to see her bury her face into her knees, tears stinging her eyes. This was all becoming too much to handle.

"...hm, this is actually a lot more difficult then I thought," Velma said aloud, looking through her sample of ash through an old microscope that Elsa thankfully had. "I mean, it doesn't seem too different from cigarette ash or anything, but it almost appears to be shifting perpetually."

"It is demonic in nature," Elsa said, writing down a few notes in an old, patchwork notebook. "Anything else look peculiar about it?"

Velma pulled away from the microscope, putting her glasses back on. "No, not up close. If only there was some sort of experiment we could do..." She sighed.

"Unfortunately, there aren't really any books around here that go over this sort of thing," Elsa sighed, taking a look into the microscope as well. "I should know, I've read everything here at least twice."

"You're not alone in that regard," Velma said with a small laugh. "Man, the detective would be all over this."

Elsa paused a second, as if formulating an idea. "...do you think he kept everything in a notebook of sorts?" She asked, turning her attention to Velma.

"Oh absolutely," She answered, rolling her eyes a little bit. "I don't think his organization methods are really the mostpractical, though..."

"Y'know, his bag is upstairs in his room..." Elsa said, planting the seed of an idea into the other girl's head.

Velma's eyes brightened up a little in recognition. "True... it seems wrong to just, I dunno, dig through his stuff like this..." She paced around a little as she thought aloud. "...however, he'd want us to do anything to research this sort of thing, huh? Everyone's been dying for an answer, so we might as well..." At this point, she quickly turned to the tall golem girl, who was watching with an expectant grin, which the human returned. "Alright, let's go pay him a visit."

The two did their best to not hurry out of the room, as they weren't even sure what kind of notes they were going to come across (or if they could even decipher them). They were met with complete silence, however. No one was around currently, which was a slightly odd sight. "Everyone must be in their rooms. Better try not to disturb them," Elsa stated as the two headed up the stairs.

"I don't blame them," Velma whispered. "If it weren't for the fact that we might come across a revelation of sorts, I'd conk out myself." The two soon reached the room Velma assumed he was staying in, since Elsa stopped in front of it. She gently tapped her knuckle against the door before opening it.

"Just gonna check something," Elsa stated, knowing that the detective wasn't the only one in the room. Velma shut the door behind her and couldn't help but gasp a little. Inside the room, besides the detective, was the familiar ghostly figure of Phantasma, who was keeping an eye on him. She seemed a lot less panicked, although just as worried. Her hair was still quite frazzled, the shadows under eyes accentuating her somber look.

As for the man laying in the bed, it was almost unusual seeing him this way. Velma noticed he was not wearing hoodie, his entire torso wrapped in bandages. A few dried blood stains remained on them, and Velma could still see a few burn scars around his neck from the burns he received. His hair was an even bigger mess than usual, some of the tips covered in dried blood as well. Even through the bandaging, Velma could still make out the numerous scars that painted his lanky, thin body. From his hands, to his arms, to his shoulders, and on his back. She could only imagine just how many more was covered up. What was exceptionally off-putting, however, was the fact that his eyes were shut, mouth gently formed into a neutral frown. If it weren't for the fact that his chest was moving very subtly, Velma would've thought that he was dead.

The bookworm's attention turned to the end table, sitting just a foot away from the old bed. A large wooden bowl was laying on it, steaming and bubbling somewhat with a thick, green liquid. The scent of it was almost as if someone had muddled mint and rosemary in a small pool of bleach. A few dried petals of some unrecognizable flower laid beside it.

"So uh... what kind of concoction is this?" Velma asked curiously, making sure to keep her finger a good distance away from the burbling liquid. "Nothing dangerous, I hope?"

"Nah, from the looks of it, that elixir is used to help speed up recovery, as well as stop internal bleeding. The worst that could happen is you throw up due to the taste and texture," Elsa replied, looking over the unconscious detective. "...of course, I don't think he's that concerned with the flavor right now." The joke seemed to cheer up Phantasma marginally, who let out a few small, sad laughs.

"Ha ha..! Heh..." Phanty snickered with a sigh, gently moving her hair out of her face with a hand. "Great to see you guys visiting. Although, I figure there's a reason?" She questioned.

"Well, sorta," Velma admitted, rubbing the back of her head. She didn't want to make it seem like she was just stopping by to use his notes, even if that was her initial intention. Wanting to make the situation less awkward, she kept up a conversation with the ghost. "I take it you're planning on staying in this room for awhile?"

At this question, Phanty fidgeted with her fingers a little, her face turning a slightly darker shade of blue again. Despite her clear embarrassment, she nodded in response. "Well, yeah. Doesn't feel right to just... leave him up here alone," She said with a shaky sigh, looking down to her hands. She seemed to have an odd sense of familiarity with that feeling of loneliness, although even she couldn't retrace that memory. Maybe it was back when she was still alive?

"...we talk a lot, out during our music lessons. Never really grew up with a lotta friends, and had only his interests to keep him distracted," Phanty went on, unprompted. She let out another shaky giggle, smiling a bit. "He'd probably tell me off for sayin' this, but... did you all know he considers all of us his only friends?"

Neither Velma nor Elsa knew what to say to this. Throughout the whole time of being with him, they certainly did consider him a good acquaintance of sorts. Maybe it was because of the knowledge that he would return to his own line of work, back to his own life, while everyone else went on with theirs. "His only friends..?" Velma asked, a hand on her chin. "Has he told you why?"

Phantasma seemed to freeze up, her fidgeting and squirming getting a little more obvious. "Er, w-well... yeah. But I'd rather not say. I think he'd wanna tell you himself."

"I understand," Velma replied, figuring that pushing for more information on that front would only make the ghost more uncomfortable.

"He is a very secretive one, isn't he?" Elsa stated, looking over him. "Brilliant mind for sure, though. A lot of dangerous knowledge, I'd presume."

At this, Phantasma straightened up a little, sounding a little bit more excited now. "Uh, well, y'know..! He still has his bag here!" She proclaimed, the prospect of being able to help with something seemed to brighten her up some. "I'd assume he has a lot of notes and... stuff in there. I just... don't feel comfortable looking through his stuff. B-but he'd want you guys to look through it, for sure!" She continued on, flashing a timid smile. "I mean, you guys are still investigating, yeah? I'm sure Freaky's got something useful for ya..!"

Elsa and Velma shared a small smile between each other. They were thankful Phantasma wouldn't try to be some sort of watch dog for his stuff. With the knowledge that they would be one step closer to uncovering something, "We appreciate it," Velma said, starting to make her way to his stuff. "Don't worry, we'll only use what we need," She continued. Despite her curiosity itching to know what his real name was, she decided against it. Snooping into his personal information would most likely cross a few boundaries.

Unfortunately, nothing is ever easy. As soon as Velma's fingertips brushed against the material of his bag, the detective's scarred hand shot out and tightly gripped her wrist. The action was fast and frightening, which caused Phantasma to scream out, with Elsa gasping and reaching forward to try and remove his hand. The man remained seemingly unconscious, but his entire body was jerking around uncontrollably.

"Ahh..! Let go..!" Velma pleaded in pain, doing her best to pull at his arm.

"I can't loosen his grip..!" Elsa grunted through gritted teeth, her own inhuman strength somehow no match for his. His fingers dug into her skin, his grip growing tighter with the threat of snapping her wrist. At this point, Phanty was gently holding onto his shoulders, trying to keep him from shaking about. Everyone was understandably freaked out about the situation, yet only Velma was the one to notice his bag shaking around as well.

Regardless of how much pain her wrist was in, she let go of the detective's arm and quickly grabbed a hold of the flap of his bag, yanking it open. In doing so, the bag fell forwards, his notebook and multiple loose papers flying out in a scattered mess. What really caught everyone's attention was the loud thumping of a large book, which was still vibrating around as if it were alive.

"Knock it off! Please!" Phanty yelled to him, keeping a firm grasp on his shoulders. Unfortunately for the ghost, neither her pleas nor her grasp helped. What finally caused his convulsions to end was when Velma reached over and grabbed the large book. Almost instantly, the detective's hand loosened and fell limply, the man's movements stopping as well.

A rather nasty scene occurred as the detective let out a few coughs. At first, they would sound raspy before gurgling. The man coughed up a good amount of blood all over himself, falling unconscious once more. The three stared at him anxiously, not doing anything until a few seconds later when they realized he wouldn't be moving anymore. His chest moved gently, showing he was not dead.

Suddenly, the door quickly opened, revealing a concerned Winnie. "I heard a scream, what happened?!" Her eyes scanned between a wide eyed Phanty, to a dumbfounded Elsa, to Velma holding a book under her arm while she nursed her right wrist with her other hand, to the bag of scattered papers, to the unconscious man with his own blood freshly stained on his bandages.

"I-I think he was possessed..!" Velma exclaimed, wincing a bit as she let go of her wrist. "Damn, that hurt," She muttered to herself.

"Are you okay?" Elsa asked, looking to the spectacled girl, who nodded in response.

"I'll be alright... this might've had something to do with it," She continued, holding up the old looking book. As soon as the cover became visible to the other three monsters, they let out a loud gasp. Elsa backed up a little, Winnie appeared on guard, and Phantasma flew as far back as she could without phasing through the wall.

"Velma..! That... that's the Demonologist's Bible..!" Elsa stated, pointing a finger to it.

"That's a cursed book you're holdin'!" Winnie growled, staring into the book.

"W-why was it in his bag?!" Exclaimed Phanty, who was looking between the body of the detective and the demonic tome.

Velma didn't seem to concerned, instead looking more confused and puzzled as she looked over the cover. While the leather that bounded the cover looked quite worn, it was still in tact. The color of it was a dark red, and if she looked carefully, she could see the etchings of some sort of writing. While it was not written in any language she's ever seen, it still pricked her with a tiny twinge of fear, for whatever reason.

"Cursed..?" Velma muttered, her fingers trembling against her own movements. "Jeez, how much power can this thing have?"

"The book provides forbidden knowledge," Elsa explained carefully. "The only other book that expounds on demonic curses and beings is the Necronoimcon itself."

"Hm... maybe that'd explain a few things, huh?" Winnie said, giving a somewhat accusatory glare towards the unconscious man. "Remember what Miss Grimwood said? No mortal would be able to mentally withstand it."

As Velma deliberated this statement, her eyes glued to the cover of this book, Phantasma flew back over to the group. "W-wait a second..! He wouldn't..!"

"How do we know?" Winnie cut in, her glare becoming more pointed. "Like ya said, it was in his bag, right? What was he doin' with it?"

"Maybe he had good intentions?" Elsa offered, scratching the back of her head in a stumped manner. Whatever his reason was, it didn't look good. The book had a reputation about it, and when paired with a man who already knew quite a lot on the subject.

Velma, on the other hand, began to gather up all of the detective's scattered notes back into his bag, in a much more organized matter. "Whatever the case, there's no reason to point the finger. Not now, at least." She looked between everyone, who were still a little rile up from the situation. "He held onto this for a reason, and it may have the answer we seek."

"Are you crazy, didn't you hear what I just said?!" Winnie growled in a frustrated tone. "You'd lose your mind!"

"I doubt one book will make me crazy," Velma reassured in a calm manner. She opened the books, flipping through the pages and scanning the words a little. Despite the others flinching, nothing happened. The pages themselves looked like any other book. The words were even written in English, so that would be helpful. "See? Nothing. I think we're all just wound up from the possession, and the book happened to get knocked over."

"In any case, I'll hold onto it for now and make sure no one looks through it unless needed," She concluded.

Regardless of the unsure looks on the other ghouls, Velma began to head out. "I'll meet you in the lab, Elsa."

There was silence between the three ghouls, with Elsa running a hand through her stuck up hair, letting out a sigh. As she stepped out, she gently took Winnie by the shoulder, leading her out. Despite the fact she was about to say something about this, Elsa merely gave her a look that said, 'Don't talk about this now.' As Elsa expected, Phantasma remained behind, quickly flying over to the bowl of odd medicine and gently coaxing some down the detective's throat, an action she watched Miss Grimwood do. Her face was quite worried as well, remaining closely to the bed after wiping his face of any blood that he had spit up.

She refused to believe that he would be so malicious as to use this book against everyone. Of course, there was that little seed of doubt that remained in her mind, one that would make her question her own thoughts as she sadly watched the man sleep.

Winnie decided to tag along with Elsa and Velma to the laboratory. Since she was awoken from her nap, she often found it difficult to go back to sleep, due to her restless nature. There was an odd moment where Velma slowed down near one of the bookshelves in the living room, which confused both the werewolf and the golem.

"Hey, you alright?" Winnie asked, an eyebrow raised.

"...yeah, I'm fine. Thought I heard something," She replied, sticking a finger in her ear before pulling it out and heading back into the lab. Winnie's own ear flicked around a little as she tried to scan for something. She didn't recall hearing anything, and her ears were 10 times better than that of a human. This was certainly off-putting, but the human wasn't giving her enough time to dwell on it.

Once all three of them were in the laboratory, Velma began to lay out a few of the detective's notes from his bag, setting the book aside for the time being. Elsa moved some of the equipment to the side for the time being, allowing Winnie to help out.

As Velma expected, the detective's handwriting was almost ineligible, although she could just barely make out his writing. "How does he even read his own writing?" She muttered aloud, scanning through various pages.

Elsa and Winnie got on either side of her, with the taller girl reading over her shoulder. Winnie, on the other hand, leaned on her elbow as she looked between the two others and the notes that were organized on the table. Thankfully for everyone, Elsa had an easier time reading the detective's writing, as she began to read some of his findings aloud.

"Scratch marks left behind on both bodies were three inches deep, more so than any animal found in Louisiana. No bite marks were discovered. Burn wounds horribly disfigured the victims, similar to that of an explosion," She read.

As she did, Winnie idly scanned over a few pictures. She was used to seeing dead animals, so dead humans wasn't as big of a disgusting sight as usual. Regardless, the pictures matched the descriptions perfectly. "Yeesh, glad we didn't get hit by one of those fireballs," The werewolf mused as Velma did her best to read from a different sheet of paper, which had different bullet points on it.

"Air thick with sulfur... scratch marks on ground equal marks on victims..." Velma repeated, raising an eyebrow as she got to one point. "...this one literally just says 'blood?' on it."

"That is peculiar," Elsa stated, scanning through the various other documents on the table. "Here's something that may explain it," She stated, putting one particular sheet in the middle, which the three huddled over. From the looks of it, they were hand drawn diagrams with captions on them. On the right, above the caption 'red blood cells (human)'. The diagram itself was a few typically shaped ovals, similar to a blood cell. The diagram on the right looked different, with the caption 'red blood cells (sickle cell)', with the picture showing more thin, curved shapes among a few ovals.

As for the third one, it was a drawing of a sort of in between of the ovular blood cells and the curved ones. Every cell looked more jagged and wrinkled, almost similar in shape of a raisin. The caption underneath read 'blood found at crime scene(s)'. An arrow was drawn from the sickle cell diagram to the crime scene one, with a few question marks drawn around it.

Velma's eyes caught the small writing at the bottom of the page, written in very small lettering. After squinting, adjusting her glasses, and moving the paper closer to her face, the bookworm read, "'Blood purely demonic in origin will combust immediately after being spilled'..."

"Wait a second..." Elsa mused, putting her hand up to her chin. "...you remember when we saw Tug, his sword was covered in blood, right?"

"Yeah, it was," Velma agreed, which perked up Winnie's attention.

"Wait, if he managed to actually slash or stab one of those demons, then how'd he not get a giant sword of fire?" She asked, a clawed finger curling around one of her orange curls. It took a few seconds before Velma reached a revelation, her eyes widening a little.

"What if... theyweren'tdemons?"

The other two looked to her, confused, but eager to hear her expound on her theory. "I'm not saying this is another one of those 'guys in masks' scenarios. We watched the body burn right in front of us, with nothing but a pile of ashes," she said looking between the others. "But if there was blood left behind at the crime scene as well, and thatdidn'tburn. If the detective's information is credible, then it's clear that we're dealing with a hybrid of sorts. One between man-"

"...and demon," Elsa finished, her own eyes widening at this information. "An experiment made out of maliciousness and evil... one that will mutate human beings and hellish creatures alike..!"

"Which will bring a fiery death to all those who are not changed..." Velma finished, musing aloud.

The three remained quiet for the longest time, soaking in this new found information. That had to be the reason for the attacks, no doubt about it. It only made sense that some demon wanted power, and was using their abilities to make sure they destroyed everything that disgusted it.

"...how do we figure out what's behind it?" Winnie asked. For a little while, she was met with silence, at least until Velma's eyes moved over to the red leather book before the three.

"With this, I'd presume," She replied, sliding it towards herself. Winnie's fur stood on end as she and Elsa stood guard, just in case something else bad happened. As she opened the book to a table of contents, nothing happened to her. In Velma's mind, however, she felt a strong sense of foreboding as she looked over the page.

There was quite a plethora of information, if the table of contents was anything to go by. Names of lesser and greater demons, categories of abilities and powers, the hierarchy of Hell, defense against said creatures, and so on. After looking through the entire contents, Velma immediately began flipping to a different page.

The section that Velma was scanning currently was the 'Greater Demons' pages, looking at various diagrams of demons, which were sort of crude and almost incomplete looking. Each one had a description to match it, along with the basis of summoning them, their motivations, their rumored abilities, and where they would most likely be found in Hell. As her eyes quickly read over the descriptions, her fingers turning the pages quickly in a fervent manner, Elsa cleared her throat. "Uh... did you find anything yet?"

Velma sighed and lowered the book a bit, shaking her head. "No. I don't understand it..! You'd think we'd have some sort of lead, but none of these pages match up with anything we've found out!" She said in frustration, looking through the pages once more.

Winnie watched with wide eyes, catching something with her keen vision that the other two didn't see. "Wait, go back a couple pages real quick," She urged, gently stopping Velma's hand from turning the page again. Slowly, she did so, with the human raising an eyebrow.

"What is it? A lead?"

"Not quite..." She said, pointing to the corners of the pages. "Take a look." Sure enough, upon closer inspection, the left page was number 145, and the page on the right was number 148.

"There's a page missing... someone must have ripped it out!" Velma gasped.

"That has to be what we're looking for then," Elsa stated, nodding as she tutted a little. Defacing such a powerful book almost seemed disrespectful, regardless of information it held.

"I bet that grinning weirdo did it..." Winnie grumbled aloud.

"If he did, I haven't seen it in his bag," Velma stated, looking through the various pages. "Maybe he didn't catch it?"

"Maybe he didn't do it..." Elsa added in, rubbing her chin once more in deep thought.

What the group of three didn't see during their deliberation, was that something else was in the room with them, watching and listening in on them. Hidden deep in the shadows of the ceiling, hanging upside down, was a furry, purple bat, it's wings wrapped tightly around it's body. It's eyes were as wide open as they could be, as if in shock. The only movement it made was a very subtle shivering. Not out of being cold, but out of fear.

Chapter 15: The Room

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 15: The Room

There was nothing. No light, no darkness. Just complete emptiness. Hours, years, decades, and seconds all passed at the same time, simply because time did not exist. Then, as if one's eyes were suddenly opening, everything came into view. The empty realm became filled with a deep, dark blackness, filled with the screams of the damned, the cries of the martyred , the laughs of the wicked, and the evil thoughts of the sinful. Each diabolical act echoed into a cacophonous song, one unfit for mortals to hear. Within each infinite corner of this realm housed a false deity of pure sin and malice. Of course, the realm itself: Hell.

Constantly changing as it's leader saw fit, forever punishing the amoral, Hell was a never ending place of extreme heat, subzero temperature, sharp pains, mutilations, and other such torturous means. To some, this was a second universe, one in which their god turned a blind eye to them and left them to rot eternally.

One room in particular was one of the many that was similar to a labyrinth. Those who had any sort of power in Hell almost saw this design as a 'fad', and one that was well overused. Unlike those that were simply mazes of never ending tunnels, this one was of constantly shifting and expanding rooms. They were constantly many, and singular. Anyone could be lost in a single room for years without ever making any progress.

It's ruler, like the maze it so created, was also constantly shifting and changing. Well read mortals of Earth would call him. "Lovecraftian" in nature. Unlike the 'Great Old Ones' of said fiction, this ruler was actually relatively new, and as such, was looked down upon by many of the others who have resided over kingdoms of their own making for far longer than it. Like all holders of power in Hell, however, it craved more. Because it's for was both constantly shifting and, therefore, shapeless, it had no real physical power over anything. What it lacked in physical prowess, it made up for in extreme intelligence and infinite wisdom, almost matching the creator it had forsaken.

It broke the basic laws of alchemy, as it's realm could break whatever rules it felt like it needed. It created thralls and monsters of it's own inhuman design, born with no morals or guidance other than to destroy and kill. However, it realized that making beings out of nothing was only a temporary solution, as each creation it made with this method soon dissolved into viscera and blood. The answer was standing before it, clear as daylight. How it had not come to this conclusion before, it had no clue.

Humans.

But of course.

Any would do, but it was very particular.

But thankfully, you are standing before it.

And you'll do quite nicely.

Fred Jones.

You're one of the few to witness my power firsthand.

And survive.

This power will be yours.

...

Oh? You don't want it?

Ha.

Ha ha ha ha.

Fred Jones.

It wasn't giving you a choice.

Fred let out a loud gasp as his eyes shot open. The vision of his dream slowly faded away into nothing, revealing nothing but the darkness of the room he slept in. His breathing was fast and sharp, panting into the otherwise silent room. Thankfully, his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could see that he was... alone?

Sleep paralysis was not uncommon among people, and unfortunately for the blond, he was currently suffering from it. He was barely unable to move his body, yet his eyes could move freely. Because he slept on his back, Fred had full vision of the room, and something in the corner sent chills up his spine.

For a half of a second, a shadowy, black figure stood in the corner of the room, blurred heavily so that it could not be seen properly. The only other feature that stood out about it was it's eyes, which were not obscured by anything. It stared at Fred. In an instant, it emitted a short, yet loud, buzz, and disappeared.

Fred found himself able to move, so he shot up from bed, sitting upwards now. He place a hand to his forehead and let out a few deep signs, rubbing his temples a bit. "Jeez, that was intense..." He groaned, looking around the room once again, just in case he saw anything else. The room remained empty and cold, the sleep paralysis... thing nowhere to be found. While he lost an opportunity to investigate something, at this point, he figured that it was a good thing it didn't stick around.

His nightmare was still fresh on his mind. The voice was very ethereal, almost as if it were a universal narrator for everything. It had a tone of malice, however, one that was almost untraceable. It was still audible, however, almost inescapable. There was no doubt in Fred's mind that whatever he just experienced had something to do with the mystery at hand.

"Urgh, my head..." He grumbled, slowly getting out of bed and stumbling somewhat towards the door. "How long was I out..?" He asked himself, the dim glow from the candles in the hallway making him squint a bit, his eyes readjusting to the light. Despite the fact that the school itself tended to be dark and dreary already, it was clear that there was very little lighting coming in from outside. Fred slowly walked down the stairwell into the foyer, looking around. It was oddly quiet, save for the usual creaking of old, molded wood, or the gusts of wind that blew outside, a threat of a storm looming over the area.

Another sound soon caught the blond's attention, which came from the kitchen. What he heard was the sound of somewhat noisy eating. Definitely Shaggy and Scooby. Smirking a little bit to himself, Fred made his way into the dining area. Sure enough, he was met with his two friends, along with Miss Grimwood, who was sitting opposite of them. Naturally, since the two food lovers were currently enjoying a stack of small sandwiches, the headmistress was the first to greet Fred, giving a small, tired smile. "Ah, good evening, Mr. Jones. Lovely to see you up and about," She greeted.

As the man gave a sheepish wave, the other two that were eating quickly looked up to him, somewhat surprised, yet also relieved. "Hey, Freddie! Like, we were wondering when you'd show up! Uh... as you can see, we're having, like, a late night snack," Shaggy said, pointing to the plate of food before them. "Like, you should have one before Scoob and I finish them off." He continued, offering one of the finger sandwiches to him.

Fred knew that it had been awhile since he actually ate, so a late dinner surely wouldn't hurt. Even if he was still shaken from what he had woken up to, an empty stomach wouldn't help anything. Once he sat down next to Shaggy, he took one of the sandwiches from the pile and began to eat at it. For the most part, though, he accepted it to just keep his shaky hands occupied. "Thanks," He said simply, rubbing his head with the other. "So, where are the others? It's a lot more quiet than it usually is around here."

"Like, not sure, man," Shaggy answered, scratching the back of his head. "Everyone's just been, like, keeping to themselves, as far as I can tell. It was a pretty rough turn of events, earlier."

"Reeping to remselves," Scooby added, quickly polishing off his sixth sandwich, reaching for another.

"I see," Fred responded, taking a nibble out of the corner of his sandwich. "Hopefully everyone calms down soon. I... kinda have something to tell everyone," He continued, taking a deep breath as he rubbed his head. As he saw the others look to him expectantly, the blond continued one before either Shaggy or Miss Grimwood could ask anything. "I'd rather not talk about it right now. Not until everyone's present, that is."

"Sounds like your voice is getting better," Called Daphne, who had just entered the dining room as well. She smiled to him and hurried up to him, quickly pulling him into a hug, making Fred grunt out.

"Heh, heya Daph!" He'd greet, hugging her back. "Guess I'm the last the to wake up, huh?"

"Yeah, more or less," She'd respond, letting go of him and joining everyone else at the table. "Also, didn't you say you had something to tell everyone?" She questioned.

"Well, I mean..." Fred trailed off uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his head. After a couple seconds of silence, Daphne sighed and shook her head at him.

"Like, he said he wanted to wait until everyone was around to tell us," Shaggy added in with his mouth full.

"Freddie," Daphne began, gently touching his arm.

"It's just... it was pretty intense, and, well, I'd like to recount it as few times as possible," He answered, taking a fresh bite of his sandwich, hoping everyone else was alright with his answer. It was clear to everyone that he was very uncomfortable and still slightly shaken. A few seconds passed of silence before Daphne began to pat him on the back in a comforting manner.

"Hey, don't worry about it," She reassured, giving a small smile to him. "Take your time and tell us whenever you're ready to."

"Yeah, man! We're, like, not in that big of a hurry, trust us," Shaggy added on, gently placing his hand on Fred's shoulder.

The blond smiled at the friendly gesture from both of his friends, letting out a sigh, relaxing his shoulders a little. "Thanks, guys." He replied. "I just hope no one else has been seeing things, either..."

"Sheesh..! That wind's really pickin' up," Winnie growled, her ears swiveling around. After hanging around Elsa and Velma for a little while, she needed some time to herself. Listening to the two of them talk on and on about forensics started to wear down on her brain. True, while it was somewhat interesting learning about the Infernal Plane and it's inhabitants through research, hearing them drone on and on made the subject almost uninteresting. The werewolf needed fresh air, which would've definitely taken quite a bit of persuasion to Miss Grimwood for her to be able to do so.

Which was why she had decided to sneak out without letting her know. It's not like she was leaving the school grounds, and she made sure to stay on her guard. Plus, she knew better than to cause her headmistress, or anyone else for that matter, anymore unneeded stress. A few laps around the school would be just enough for her to unwind on her own for a little, anyways. For the time being, though, she had slowed down considerably, her ears and eyes darting around warily. Her fur stood on end, though she couldn't see or hear anything. Hopefully it was just the wind and a minor case of paranoia, and nothing more. As she thought that, she continued on, her piercing yellow gaze turning to the large school.

Nothing seemed different about the place, physically. Winnie would surely notice if there was something lurking around on the rooftops. The lack of change is what concerned the werewolf, oddly enough. With all that had happened, she would've thought that something else would be coming straight for them. It's not like the school was a dingy little shack, it was a large mansion. Even with it secluded away, no one would miss the sight of it if they came across the area.

Regardless, it still put off the werewolf a little bit, even if she didn't really have a rational explanation for it. She didn't have a rational explanation for a lot of things, honestly, but one could surely help at this time. As Winnie began to round a corner, her eyes never broke contact with the school. At this point, she could see a few windows to the bedrooms. Only two of them had any sort of lights in them. One had the faint, dim, blue glow of Phantasma, and the other was gently flickering with candles. Upon closer inspection, the room that was lit up with candles had it's window slightly open. Winnie only knew of one of her fellow schoolmates who did this, and sure enough, her sharp eyes caught a streak of something dark flying from the window and onto the highest point of the school.

The werewolf froze in place, her gaze not breaking from where she saw it fly off to. "Sibella?" She uttered to herself, starting to make her way towards the school, her somewhat casual walk turning into a jog at this point. She had met with her vampire friend up on the roof before, so it wasn't unusual for Winnie to have a route up the school walls and onto the roof. As the werewolf clambered up the walls, jumping up onto the rooftop, she began to wonder about what was wrong with her friend. There must have been something, otherwise Sibella wouldn't be in such a hurry to get outside.

As Winnie finally got to the rooftop, she began to look around. There was no way that Sibella hadn't noticed her. While she was somewhat quiet, the dull thud of her landing would have alerted the vampire. Despite not being able to see her at the moment, Winnie decided to try and call out for her. After all, she knew that she was up here. "Sibella..!" She said in a loud tone, trying to see if she could get any form of acknowledgment. No response came, so Winnie kept walking on the rooftops, knowing she was probably hiding somewhere in her bat form.

With an slightly exhausted sigh, Winnie seated herself on the edge of the roof, using a clawed hand to run through her messy curls, which only made it messier. "C'mon, Bella, ya know it's not gonna help either of us if ya keep hiding. I know you're here, and I know something's eatin' at ya," She said, her foot swinging lazily over the edge of the roof. After a few more seconds of silence, Winnie sighed and spoke up again. "I mean, I'm not blamin' ya. I think at this point, it's bothering everyone." A few more seconds of silence passed before Winnie let out a bit of a sigh, slumping against the roof some. "C'mon, please? I know we could both use a chat..."

Silence continued on for a little bit longer, until the werewolf's ears finally picked up on something new. The shifting of clothing, soon accompanied with delicate, gentle footfalls. Winnie didn't even need to look to know that Sibella was seating herself right beside of her. Rather than let any of her legs hang over the edge of the roof, the vampire settled for pulling her legs close to her, gently hugging herself and resting her chin on her knees. Winnie flashed a small, comforting smile to her friend, finally looking her way. "So... ya gonna spill it or am I gonna have to do all the talkin' tonight?" She joked.

The attempt at humor seemed to loosen Sibella up somewhat, as she let out a small sigh, her lips curling upwards a little bit. "Like every other time, hm?" She teased back, glancing the werewolf's way. After acknowledging her remark with a snort, Winnie rolled her eyes, her own smile not faltering in the least. Sibella took this as a cue to continue on, letting out another small sigh as a hand started to brush her long hair behind her. "...to cut to the chase, Winnie, I was wondering... why us?"

Winnie raised an eyebrow, fully turning her head towards the vampire, a confused look forming on her face. "Why us?"

Sibella nodded and elaborated. "What I mean is, why is... whatever it is even targeting us in the first place?" The vampire turned her gaze to the werewolf, a concerned expression on her face. "You don't suppose... it's one of us, do you?"

Winnie had no idea how to really answer her question. She began to scratch at the back of her head. "Like, you and I?"

"I mean any of us," Sibella continued. "Me, you, the other ghouls, Shaggy, his friends..." She trailed on, her fingers idly drumming against her knee. Not in impatience, but more so out of anxiety.

Right away, Winnie wanted to say 'yes'. After all, despite the fact that she found most of Shaggy's friends trustworthy, it was still rather... sudden how they all came to arrive. Shaggy and Scooby's own arrival was sudden, as well, but she knew that the two of them didn't have the capabilities or wherewithal to bring about such horrible things. The Detective... was a different story, in her opinion. There was no denying that he has much more knowledge about this kind of thing than was safe. He was almost like a Boogeyman, coming out of nowhere. But then again, he wouldn't bring harm to himself in such a manner... perhaps.

Then there was the case of the others. It was obvious that there had been quite a few close calls with the demonic entities at play. Whether it was Sibella's dreams, Tanis' sudden possession, and Winnie's own growing paranoia, something was trying to get at them, almost on a personal level. As if something was trying to control them all...

"I don't know," The werewolf finally grumbled, her tail twitching irritably. "If it is any one of us, it couldn't be on our own doin'," She continued.

Sibella stirred a little, nodding. "I hope that's the case," She replied, glancing downwards into her own lap.

"Do you think... that you're..?" Winnie started, raising an eyebrow. Her tone wasn't accusatory, which Sibella welcomed, yet it was still inquisitive.

"Maybe..." Sibella answered bluntly, her fingers now starting to dig into her leg slightly.

Winnie gently put a hand on her shoulder, doing her best to comfort her friend. "Aw, c'mon, none of that. Like I said, it wouldn't be you doin' these things, it'd be this bigger demon... thing," She explained the best she could. "Plus, you don't have an evil bone in your body! Snooty, a bit prideful, maybe, but not evil," She continued, smiling widely again. Her teasing was successful in brightening up the vampire, again, as she rolled her eyes and let out a bit of a huff.

"Well, neither does Tanis, but you saw what happened," She retorted.

The werewolf shrugged, her smile growing a little more, chuckling a little. "Hey, that just proves me right! She'd never attack anyone for any reason. So it's not her, and it's not you," She concluded, laying back on the roof. "We'll just have to keep an eye out for these sort of things a bit better."

Sibella paused for a moment before laying on her back as well, moving her arms behind her head as she relaxed under the dark sky above, the moon just barely peering out from behind the clouds. "Yes, I suppose so."

"I think it's finally time I got some sleep," Velma yawned, stretching in place before shutting the Demonologist's Bible in front of her, lifting it up and carrying it in her arms. Elsa looked her way, cracking her neck carefully and straightening up her back.

"Yeah, a break sounds like a good idea right now," Elsa groaned, cracking her spine a little. "Hunching over the table like this won't do us any favors." Her eyebrow raised as she saw the bookworm start to walk out of the lab. "...uh, Velma? Why not leave the book here?"

She slowed to a halt, turning her head towards her golem friend. There was no concern or real fear in her voice, merely shrugging. "A little extra research on my part, I suppose," She answered. As Elsa gave an uneasy expression, Velma continued with a shake of her head. "I assure you it's nothing terrible."

"Then what are you planning on doing?" Elsa prompted.

"When, orif, this thing starts acting up on it's own again, I wanna be able to catch it," She explained, a grin forming on her face. "Maybe it'll lead to an answer as to what's making it act out like this."

Elsa still looked incredibly unsure as she snapped off her leather gloves, looking around the lab. She let out a deep sigh, shrugging to her friend. "Well, okay. Just... be careful. Like I said before, it's a cursed book."

"I'll keep that in mind, don't worry," She answered, heading up the steps. Once out of the lab, she peered her head into the dining room as she passed by it. She saw Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby relaxing at the table, chatting to themselves. It didn't take long for Fred to notice her standing at the entryway, waving to her with a big smile.

"Heya, Velma..! Nice to see ya around," He greeted enthusiastically.

"Likewise..! Sure sounds like you're doing better," She replied, leaning against the frame for a little bit.

"Yeah, a bit of rest really did me some good," He replied, sheepishly stretching a little bit.

"Speaking of which," Daphne began, giving a knowing smirk to her. "It sure looks like you could use some yourself."

Velma gave a small laugh of her own, reaching behind her glasses to rub her eyes. Indeed, her lids felt somewhat heavy, and she imagined that there were noticeable bags as well. "Heh, yeah, that's just what I was about to go do. All this research can wait until tomorrow."

"Speaking of which, where did you find that book?" Daphne asked, pointing to the book buried under her arm. Velma looked to it, showing the cover off to the others.

"Oh this? I found it in, well, the Detective's bag," She answered bluntly. After an apprehensive look from Fred and Daphne, and a fearful look from Shaggy and Scooby, she rolled her eyes and placed the book back under her arm. "Oh relax, it's not like I stole it without permission. I'm just borrowing it until he wakes back up."

Shaggy, however, gulped and spoke up for the first time, his voice somewhat shakey. "Uh, like, Velma? Miss G-grimwood warned us about that book..! Like, human minds can't handle it!"

"Ruh huh! Rinsanity!" Scooby concurred, hiding behind his owner, keeping a watchful, wary eye on the book, as if it would come alive and bite off Velma's arm.

Velma rolled her eyes at their remark. "Yeah, I figured you'd say something like that. The other girls have already told me how 'cursed' it supposedly is," She started, her tone sounding somewhat casual, and a little tired of everyone freaking out over a strange book. "Look, I get it has demonic origins, but I haven't felt the least bit different looking through the pages of this old thing."

"Like, you lookedinsideof it?!"

"Yes, Shaggy, I did. I also read the words. Nothing," The bookworm sighed, adjusting her glasses and stifling a yawn. "Listen, if anything bad happens, I'll be sure to let you all know in the morning. Don't worry about me just yet, guys," She stated, giving a small smile to everyone. "As if I'd let anything take control of me." Velma put a finger to her mouth in thought for a moment before saying, "...although make sure to check up on me if you hear me screaming."

"Uh... well, sure thing, Velma," Fred said in an unsure tone, looking between Daphne and Shaggy. The others shared his fearful expression, but the bookworm merely nodded and let out another yawn, which came out as a lot louder than her previous one.

"Cool. Good night, guys," She said, waving to them as she walked up the stairs. While none of the others could see, Velma felt the book vibrate to itself as she walked up the steps. It quickly stopped once she reached the top step, however, which made Velma even more perplexed. "Hm... that room must have some role in this..." She muttered to herself before stepping into the girls' shared bedroom. Oddly enough, Googie wasn't anywhere in the room either. "Huh... she must be bunking with someone else tonight," Velma thought aloud, setting her book down on a nearby nightstand, setting her glasses right beside of it. The most she did to change into sleepwear was to take off her shoes, leaving the rest of her attire on. The girl was far too exhausted to try and change into something more comfortable, so her sweater and skirt would have to do for tonight.

It didn't take her long to fall asleep, just as she finished pulling the musty smelling covers over her body. It was a peaceful rest... at first.

Dreams always start out without vision or focus, which can often lead to people forgetting them whenever they wake up. Not to mention that plenty of other dreams tend to happen at once, keeping one's brain occupied while they sleep. Of course, once something stands out, it tends to stick with you once you wake up.

Everything started to form in her mind, creating a familiar experience. It was almost as if it were an out of body experience, due to the fact that her visions became that of the Grimwood Manor. There were plenty of visions, but no sound. Everything was muffled, and difficult to hear. It was easier for her if she didn't even try to listen. Then, almost as if she herself was a ghost, she began to move through the walls, each figure she came across coming into view. The first room contained the ghost, herself, shining quite brightly in the room. The other figure, the detective, laid unconscious on the bed, illuminated slightly less than his current roommate. She then moved upwards, up through the ceiling and onto the roof. A wolfish figure slept shamelessly, her light easily overpowered by the moon's light.

She continued on, moving back inside of the school and heading downstairs. Five figures were laid out in various spots in the living room. Her friends, for sure. She recognized that two of the silhouettes were animal in appearance. Two of them were as bright as the sun's surface. The other three were far less bright, but still visible. Moving one more floor downwards, she found the sleeping body of the girl born from body parts, laying motionless. She was flickering, almost as if she were a candle. Then, she moved to the neighboring room, heading downwards a little bit more.

Inside, she could see one human figure laid out on a stone bench, curled up asleep. A blanket was pulled over her body, a pillow resting beneath her head. It was hard to miss her, since she was lit up quite brightly as well. Right behind her stood a large sarcophagus. It was only opened just a little, leaving a small crack of light to shine through. It was quite bright as well.

There was one place that she wanted to head into, but for some reason, she was unable to do so. Her head swam and her vision blurred and scrambled, almost like a television that was not on a proper channel. No matter how hard she tried to move closer to phase into that room, she was unable to without feeling weak, inadequate, nauseous, and foolish.

Instead, she settled on the one other room that she knew she could enter. She knew that there was one other place actually worth checking out, and that was where she wanted to go. Without anything stopping her, she headed towards the stairs. Another figure watched her. Unlike the others, there was no light emitting from it. It was pure shadow. It watched her move towards the stairs.

Then she moved into the secret room.

Then she moved into the secret room.

Then she moved into the secret room.

Velma Dinkley.

She moved into the secret room.

"Guh!" yelped Velma as she opened her eyes suddenly. The visions of her past dream drifted away, yet the memory seemed to stick with her. Pushing her hands to her eyes, she began to groan gently. "Urgh, craaaaap," She groaned out, letting one of her hands reach around for her glasses, which she managed to find somewhat quickly.

Once she slid them on her face, she reached for her phone as well, which was resting close by as well. Squinting slightly, she checked the time, letting out another low groan as she read it aloud. "5:30 AM. sh*t," She sighed, letting her arm flop down to the side, her hand lazily gripping the device. Something else caught her attention, however, making her move her head to the side.

The Demonologist's Bible was vibrating slightly once again, although this time, it didn't stop once she touched it. Sitting up and yawning, she looked to the book curiously. "What's gotten into you, huh?" She'd ask, flipping through the pages a little bit. Nothing happened, but the book merely continued to shake gently in her hands. "The last time you did this, I was on the-" She froze, remembering the voice of... something? Someone? A voice of no origin speaking to her. "...the secret room... hm..."

After quickly pulling her shoes on, she began to sneakily open the door to the room and walk down the hallway. Her gaze moved from closed door to closed door. Was this her dream again? Surely not. Velma could hear the soft creaks of the hardwood floor, as well as the wind gently whipping against the old walls. The sound of snoring also became audible, even though it was coming from the living room. A silent, yet quick, walk downstairs revealed to her the rest of Mystery Incorporated, asleep in the chairs and couch that was sitting out. Matches and Scooby were curled up against each other, using each other as a pillow of sorts.

Velma didn't have time to admire the rather cute image of the two, as her book began to shake a bit more violently, almost urgently. Her attention was brought back to the book, patting it and shushing it, as if it would help. "Alright alright, I'm going!" She whispered harshly, doing her best to not wake everyone up. While she was successful in making it down the stairs. The book vibrated harder, almost as if it were ready to jump out of her arms. With one fast movement, she moved the top of the post, quickly retrieving the key hanging on the end.

She made her way over to the bookshelf, using one hand to quietly remove the books she needed in order to properly reach the hidden keyhole. It was a bit of a stretch, but she was lucky that her arm was just barely long enough to be able to turn the key, doing so with a strained grunt. She quickly set the key down so that she could use both hands to hold onto the book, which was shaking in an incredibly erratic manner. For a moment, Velma's blood ran cold as she heard the mechanisms hidden behind the bookshelf begin to click and turn, worried that she was about to wake up the whole mansion.

Despite her worries, the secret room became unlocked, and the most that happened was that Scooby let out a loud, confused snort, before his snoring continued. After letting out a relieved sigh, Velma began to push the shelf to the side, doing so in a careful manner. It wasn't easy, however, since it was still quite heavy, plus the fact that she was doing so with only one arm. She struggled for a good few minutes before she managed to open up the entrance wide enough for her to side step into. Velma quickly hurried into the room, sighing and panting a little bit. "This had better be something good," She groused.

Oddly enough, once she stepped off the final step, the book froze. For a moment, Velma felt exasperated. "Oh comeon!" She began to say, holding the book up to her eyes. It wasn't easy to see, since the only source of light came from the crack in the bookshelf. In an instant, however, she didn't have to worry about a light source, as a few seemed to form for her. Five candles were suddenly lit up, flickering in the cold room. Velma turned her head towards the candles, her eyes scanning the floor and the walls. "...okaaay...thatwas pretty weird."

The room itself apparently hadn't changed much, save for a few new spiderwebs. Most of the belongings that were laying on various bookshelves remained untouched, a nice layer of dust resting atop them. What really stood out as odd was the fact that the bloody summoning circle was still drawn out on the floor. It was still really hard, caked onto the moldy wood. Velma's eyes lit up as she got an idea. Opening the Demonologist's Bible, she began to scan the pages for any diagrams that were similar to this one. "Come on... please don't be on the torn page..."

Unfortunately for Velma, her quick page turning got the better of her, and she gave herself a paper cut. "Ow!" She exclaimed, accidentally dropping the book on the ground. The strangeness continued as she watched the book bounce (or hop?) it's way to the center of the summoning circle, taking care not to knock over any candles and set itself on fire. With her cut finger tip in her mouth, she watched as the pages quickly turned to the middle of the book. Her eyes were wide, her legs rooted in place. She had no idea what was going to happen next.

Then, out of nowhere, she heard a voice. No,thevoice. The same one from her dream. Was it actually speaking to her? Or was she just imagining it?

"You are far too smart for your own good."

"The mind is a terrible thing to waste."

"Yet it is also an awful thing to willingly give away, as you have."

Velma blinked at these accusations, looking over herself. She didn't feel any different... but how did she give away any information to this book? It was just a book, right? Before she could interject with anything, the voice continued on, almost as if it could read her very thoughts.

"Those demons you and your friends fought?"

"Mere thralls."

"I could make more with the snap of my finger, given the supplies."

"You are all admirable, however."

"A lot more than I initially thought."

"I am so glad to have stuck around."

"Stuck around? How long have you been here?" Velma called out suddenly, trying her best to not make her tone sound shaky or scared. It wasn't easy, especially when she was also trying to be quiet.

"Long enough."

"Many answers of mine were answered."

"Mostly about humans."

"Especially about monster-kind."

"Learned so so much."

"..."

"I'm sure you could figure out the things I've discovered?"

Velma looked around for a little before settling on staring directly at the book. "I can think of a few," she remarked sarcastically. She wasn't too big of a fan of this greater demon, whatever it was. It was smug and aloof, almost amused with it's atrocities. Of course, what did she expect from something that came from Hell? "From what we've gathered, you've been using humans as your own little toys to mix and match with, creating whatever you want from it, as if you were God?"

"What an incredibly easy answer."

The voice was incredibly condescending to Velma, treating her as if she were nothing but a peasant. She ignored this and continued on. "I know that you've also tried your hand at a sort of... hypnotizing, brainwashing method!" She yelled out to it, hearing her own tone grow louder. She didn't care. She wanted answers at this point. "Tell me, since you seem to be one of those intellectual types, who even are you?" A few seconds of silence passed before the bookworm yelled again, growing increasingly angrier. "Don't ignore me like some pest! You'd have to kill me yourself if you want me to leaveyoualone!"

"..."

"Hm."

"Hm hm hm hm."

"Interesting how you say that."

"Because you are both correct and incorrect."

"..."

"Very well."

"I am J'alzhikhan."

"The Greater Demon of Creation and Intellect."

"And I have told you this for the simple reason that you are correct and incorrect."

"You are correct in assuming that I have learned how to use conscious minds to my whim."

"And even what the human body is physically capable of."

"When applied with intense mutilation that is."

"Hah."

"But sadly, you are incorrect in assuming that I must get my own hands dirty."

Velma's eyes widened as kept yelling at the voice, her own voice becoming somewhat strained and dry. "What..? What are you trying to pull?!" She'd scream.

"That little cry baby has more power than anyone is aware of."

"But she does not have the capabilities of a murderer."

"Thisone on the other hand..."

"She has a real knack for death."

"Remember?"

"She moved into the secret room."

The light of the entryway became obscured by a figure. Velma finally found the nerve within her to turn around. It was Sibella, standing in the way of her only means of exit. Her bright green eyes seemed to glow in the darkness as she made her presence known to the bookworm. For the longest time, neither one of them broke eye contact. The only thing that Velma registered was the voice, still speaking to her.

"Good-bye, Velma Dinkley."

"I'll see you quite soon."

With that, Sibella darted forward, not giving Velma enough time to react before one of the vampire's hands grasped around her throat, pushing her right into the wall. As she was slammed, she let out a low grunt, yet the vampire did not show any sort of reaction. Her face was stony and stern, her eyes boring into the other girl's face. Velma did her best to try and pry off her hand, but her grasp was far too strong for her to fight against.

As she was choking, she continued to try and wriggle out of her grasp, yet Sibella would not allow this. While she kept trying to fight, doing her best to take in air, Velma's eyes darted from the book, and back at Sibella. To her, it seemed the pieces were coming together. But she couldn't alert the others if she were dead!

Thinking quickly, Velma jutted out one of her feet, kicking the possessed vampire right in the gut. Sibella let out a grunt, her grip loosening up as she flinched at the kick. The bookworm knew that vampires were strong, but all she needed to do was distract her long enough to get away. To help remove her hand from her throat, she also decided to throw a punch into the side of the vampire's face. In the heat of the moment, Velma seemed to forget that the vampire in question was related to Dracula, so no amount of strength from her fist would affect her in any fashion. Instead, she let out a loud yell, injuring her hand as if she just punched a pile of bricks.

Out of anger, the vampire threw Velma onto the ground, right into the circle. The book slid a few feet away from Velma, but the candles were magically unaffected. Her eye contact with the vampire didn't dare break. It was almost as if Sibella were using her vampiric influence to make sure she stayed in place. The vampire reached towards one of the bookshelves, retrieving an old, dusty, crooked looking knife. There was dried blood on the blade, letting Velma know that this was a sacrificial dagger. Her eyes widened and she tried to find the courage or willpower to break eye contact and scramble away. But she could not. Sibella inched closer, the dagger gripped tightly in her left hand.

Just as she stepped right up to Velma, arm lifted and readied to plunge the dagger into her chest, two figures threw themselves onto Sibella. Then three. Then six. It was at this point that Velma's hearing decided to register the fact that there was lots of yelling going on. Her eyes adjusted to the sight before her. Shaggy, Scooby, Googie, Fred, Daphne, and Winnie had thrown themselves at the knife wielding vampire like football players trying to keep her from moving closer or killing the girl on the ground.

"Like, what's gotten into you?!" Shaggy yelled out, reaching up to try and remove the dagger from her tight grip.

"Quick, get out of here!" Fred yelled to Velma, turning towards her for a second. "We won't be able to constrain her for much longer!" At this, the girl scooted up to her feet, quickly backing away. She didn't fully leave the room, however, as she was worried about her friends.

The possessed vampire didn't appreciate the fact that her target was getting away, as she let out a growl, starting to jolt forward through the dog pile that had formed on her. "Get a hold of yourself..!" Winnie growled back, trying her best to pull her backwards.

"Mmf... s-someone help us!" Googie yelled out, keeping a close eye on where Sibella was swinging the dagger.

In an instant, a lasso of bandages flung itself onto the vampire's hands, constraining them. Velma's gaze darted back at the entrance, where Tanis was. Her expression was scared, yet she did her best to keep a tight grip on her own bandages, biting her lip as she dug in her heels. "G-go, Phanty..! Like you did for me..!" She gasped out. "Everyone, get out of the way, now!"

It took a second or two for the other six to fall away from the vampire, leaving her open. Before she had time to lunge for the bookworm, who was right in her eyesight once more, a blue streak zoomed into the room from up above, directly into the vampire. Then, Sibella froze, silently gasping. Tanis released her bandages from her hands, allowing the vampire to drop her arms, the dagger falling out of her loose fingers, clattering against the wood as it dropped. A few seconds passed before Phanty flew back out of Sibella, looking like she had been through hell and back. She was coughing and gasping for air, her blue glow flickering heavily. "Gah..! Oh myGod!" She hacked out, obviously exhausted from whatever she had to do.

Phantasma's method seemed to work, however, as Sibella's knees began to buckle under her own weight. Before she could fully collapse, she was caught by both Shaggy and Winnie. "Like, we've gotcha!" He grunted, carefully guiding her to her feet. Winnie also made sure the dagger was far away from them, kicking it into a far corner of the room. The candles also went out completely the moment Phanty left Sibella's body.

Velma finally found it in herself to move closer, knowing the danger had now faded, for the most part. Her gaze looked back to the book and returned to Sibella, who was no longer possessed, it seemed. She panted heavily, yet quietly, her gaze turned downwards on the ground. At this point, just about everyone in the building had surrounded the poor vampire, all of them perplexed, concerned, scared, and wanting answers.

No one made an effort to rush the girl, however, as she seemed to take her time lifting her head up, mostly out of shame. Her eyes looked between everyone as she tried to find the muscle to keep herself standing. As her knees shook under herself a little bit, she gave a humorless grin, giving an empty laugh. "...heh... guess I have some explaining to do..." She murmured.

"I believe you all do," came the voice of Miss Grimwood, who was standing at the entryway as well. She was wearing a night dress and a robe, her hair an even bigger mess than usual. Her eyes were wide in both fear and anger, unsure of what was even going on. Her voice was just as exhausted as it had been the whole day. "What... is going on?" She implored everyone.

After looking between everyone, Velma managed to find her voice, which was dry and somewhat sore. "...I think it's about time we all start sharing some answers with everyone."

Chapter 16: Trial and Error

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 16: Trial and Error

The mansion was perhaps the quietest it had been in a long time. It was almost as if the house itself was conscious enough to remain silent, as the sound of creaking or furniture settling was not audible. Feet shuffling on the floor was the only thing that could really be heard from anyone, as well as the slight murmur of the headmistress, Miss Grimwood. Right now, she was requesting that her floating hand go and retrieve Colonel Calloway from his school to come and take witness to what was about to happen.

Explanations were needed, and not just from Sibella, who just moments ago, was witnesed about to attack Velma. Understandably, she was not doing so under her own will, but it still raised obvious concerns. So much so that a trial of sorts was to be held. The vampire in question sat herself in the middle seat of a couch, hands folded delicately in her lap. Her gaze remained pointed down at her hands, feeling incredibly uncomfortable and guilty.

The rest of the current occupants seated themselves around in a circle of sorts. Miss Grimwood seemed to be a bit of an exception, as she sat in a chair just slightly outside of the ring, so she could keep watch. No one blamed her, as she already looked like she was the sheer embodiment of stress itself. Winnie sat down right beside Sibella, a paw resting on her shoulder in a comforting manner. Shaggy sat on the other side of his vampire pupil, also providing support, with Scooby resting at his feet. Everyone else opted to sit around wherever they could, with a few exceptions. Velma remained standing, finding it easier to keep track of everyone's statements. Phantasma remained in the circle, yet she kept floating as well, finding it much more comfortable. When the Colonel finally arrived, he opted to remain standing as well, arms folded with a concerned look on his face, scanning the room.

Noticing his expression, Velma decided to go ahead and answer the Colonel's inevitable question. "There's been an... incident," She sighed out, adjusting her glasses.

"Incident..?" He began in an uneasy tone. "How serious was it?" A few seconds of silence followed, everyone feeling just as uncomfortable answering that question.

"Well, uh..." Fred began, trying to find the right words to continue with. "Let's just say that, uh... our 'possession' problem's escalated once again."

"Another attack..!" Calloway said grimly, a hand on his chin. "I do hope everyone is alright, then," He continued on.

"Don't worry, we're fine," Velma answered again. Sibella gazed upwards without moving her head.

"I nearly killed you. I fail to see how that's 'fine'," She replied coldly. Another few seconds of silence remained, with Calloway remaining speechless for the time being.

"...Bella, c'mon," Winnie began. "You know that wasn't your doing."

"I still let it use me," She continued grimly, not looking up this time. "I'm sure this was all my fault. If it weren't for those dreams, I wouldn't have taken my Father's book from his library. I... I know that's been the cause of all of this. And I've been doing nothing about it. Like acoward," She rambled, her tone remaining icy cold. Her fists balled up, growing tighter with each passing moment. Her nails were threatening to break her skin at this point, with Winnie placing her paws on the vampire's hands to help restrain her from doing so.

"Like, that book is yours?" Shaggy asked.

"I was wondering where it came from..." Velma speculated, holding up the Demonologist's Bible. Ever since the whole ordeal, it hadn't moved at all. The bookworm figured that the demon who had been using it was either resting or watching everything silently.

"Hang on, didn't you say you got that from the Detective's bag?" Daphne asked suddenly.

"Hey, yeah..! How'd he manage to sneak that away?" Winnie interjected. "I mean, I don't imagine Sibella would've let that out of her sight. Right..?" The vampire remained quiet at this, sighing as the look of guilt spread over her face once more. "...Bella, you didn't..!"

"I just... wanted the dreams to stop..." She sighed sadly. "I hid it behind a bookshelf in the laboratory."

"No wonder the Detective managed to find it, then," Fred added on. "He spent a lot of his time down there."

"It'd also explain the other day," Elsa began slowly, getting her facts together before continuing. "The day we found the book in his bag, was also the day that he... well, grabbed your wrist, Velma."

"I remember that..!" Phanty started up. "That was definitely at the hands of something else! Freaky was out cold."

"It would make sense..." Velma trailed off.

Tanis cleared her throat, managing to find her voice as some questions entered her mind. "Um, if I may..?" The others looked her way curiously, waiting for her to continue on. "Well... what I'm thinking is that the book... or the demon controlling the book, rather, is behind... m-my possession as well."

"Yeah, it told me so when I went down there," Velma responded.

"N-not only that, but... I don't know, I just... know where Sibella is coming from," Tanis continued on, rubbing her arm and swinging her legs a little. "It... took control of my emotions. I-I didn't mean for it to, either..! But... somehow, it just struck all the right nerves, and..." She trailed off, looking away as she nervously picked at a loose end of a bandage.

Sibella merely nodded, giving a little smile to her mummy friend. "It's comforting to hear that we're not alone in what we experienced..."

"But... do we know why?" Googie suddenly piped up, having remained quiet up until this point. "I mean, the last time I came face to face with that... red creep, it said it got information."

"Like, yeah, I remember that," Shaggy responded, pointing a finger in her direction. "But, like, I definitely would've remembered that thing's ugly mug if I had seen it before. How did it, like, get anything from me?"

"...Raggy, remember when you rassed out..?" Scooby spoke up, peering up to his best friend.

"Zoinks..! Like, don't remind me..." He shuddered in response.

"He has a point, though, Shaggy," Daphne spoke up. "It didn't seem like it made you do anything... other than pass out, of course. Maybe you were exhausted from working out that it had an easier time doing that?"

"Could be... I think it has an easier time coming to us in our sleep," Fred responded. "I never did tell you guys about my odd dream that one night. Probably should've... heh..." He chuckled humorlessly.

"Do you remember anything about it now?" Velma asked him.

"Sorta?" He continued on, scratching his head as he recollected himself. "It was... hard to make out where I was, though I know it was nowhere pleasant. It was almost as if it were an-"

"...Out of body experience?" Velma finished for him, raising an eyebrow. Fred gave a nod, his eyes wide.

"Did it..?"

"Yeah. Well, sort of. I was flying around the whole mansion, and I could see everyone... kind of. It lead me to the... er... secret room." She finished.

"Hm... wonder whyweweren't told about it sooner..." Winnie grumbled.

"Can ya blame them?" Phanty replied, adding a scared laugh to her statement. "I mean, after all that, I sure wouldn't wanna. I like spooky, but that place was just...oozingwith something sinister..!"

"Continue with your dream, Freddie," Daphne prompted.

"R-right..! Well, I do kinda remember what it said to me. Something about... humans being the perfect solution. It said it was picky but... it said that I'd be perfect for it..." He shuddered. "It also said I didn't have a choice in the matter..."

"So you think this thing is... scouting for people to use?" Googie gasped.

"Might be," Calloway cut in suddenly. "I remember Private Tug telling me that during his fight with the beast, or demon, or whatever, that it almost began to... mock him?"

"Mock him? How so?" Velma asked.

"He was the only one remaining, and he said that it was almost laughing at him. Saying how he was strong... but never strong enough for it's master."

"So, like, it's looking for some servants or slaves to become all powerful and evil to do it's bidding?" Shaggy gulped.

"Well... yes, in a way," Velma answered. "It seems that, with monsterkind, it can simply enter their form, find out what makes them enraged, and use that to it's advantage," She explained, giving a sort of apologetic look to the ghoul girls. "Er, no offense, but maybe it sees that humans are more...complex? As in, there's no obvious mental weakness to them." As everyone looked between each other, the bookworm continued on. "I think that the demon in question has to make people come to it's side..."

"...or have them already dead," Winnie filled in, looking her way. "Remember that whole thing about how demon blood doesn't leave a trail or whatever?"

"That's right..!" Elsa added in, looking quite impressed that Winnie caught onto something like that.

Everyone else still seemed somewhat confused. "But... I saw blood on Private Tug's sword. There's no way that what he was fighting was human," The Colonel replied.

"Not anymore, at least," Velma sighed. The Colonel seemed to stiffen up, looking quite pale in the face. "From what it seems, this demon in question, who's name I'll not say, uses humans to change them. Or rather, mutilate them, would be the more accurate term."

"Jeepers..." Daphne whispered, a hand to her mouth.

"...maybe... that's what those things were doing back in town?" Googie asked cautiously, feeling quite queasy at this point. "It was trying to find others to join their master?"

"I hate to say it, but that's most likely the reason why," Velma sighed.

A few moments of silence slid on by, everyone thinking to themselves for the most part. It almost seemed to drag on for hours, even though it had been merely seconds. The sound of Fred speaking up almost made the others jump. "So... we know the motives for this demon, for the most part. But that still doesn't really explainhowit got here."

"Most likely with this," Velma answered, waving the book in the air to show it off. "From what I've seen in this book, there's not a whole lot of information based around summoning. However, what is in here is info based around the other aspects of Hellish beings. There's enough data in here that, if you knew where else to go, you could find your way to a summoning circle."

"Like the one in the secret room?" Fred asked.

"Exactly," Velma responded, continuing to think aloud. "The last time we discovered it, the circle was still remaining, almost untouched. What I'm curious about is how did the summoning occur if no one knew about the rooms existence?"

"Well obviously, someonedidknow about it and refused to tell everyone else," Daphne answered, looking around to everyone. "...not a whole lot of leads in that department, though, I don't think."

"Not really," Velma sighed. "However, there's another small issue that I think needs answering," She continued on, turning her attention to the sullen vampire and opening the Demonologist's Bible up. She had turned it to the portion of the book where there was a missing page. The tear was very subtle and could've easily been missed if one wasn't paying attention. The girl pointed this out before asking Sibella a question. "What I'm curious to know is what happened to the page that was missing right here."

The vampires eyes seemed to open a little bit wider, delicately pushing the tip of her index finger along the tear, remaining silent for a few seconds. Soon, she gazed back up at Velma and whispered, "I didn't do that."

…

…

There's still so much left.

So much left to unravel.

Even I am left feeling quite anxious.

…

Heh.

At least I have you to keep me company.

The others may not know much about you, but I sure do.

I can feel your excitement as well.

Knowledge of the unknown and the taboo.

I know that's what you want.

So please.

Please please please please.

Let me give it to you.

…

You hesitate?

Oh no.

No no no no.

I am sorry.

But I have run out of patience.

I can not be left waiting any longer.

So please.

Dear Detective.

Won't you and all of your friends

Just hurry up and quit your stupid games?

…

Do not wake up.

Do not wake up.

DO NOT WAKE UP.

"...you didn't do it?" Velma asked, a little taken back. When she was met with the vampire shaking her head, Tanis spoke up, trying to be helpful.

"Maybe you just... don't remember?" She helpfully offered. "After all, you did seem to have the book longer than anyone else. Maybe it forced you to get rid of any information about it after you... uh...um..." The mummy trailed off, catching herself before she said something she would've regretted.

"After she what," Winnie prompted, glaring at Tanis in a protective manner. The werewolf wasn't asking what she meant. She had the tone that she knew where the mummy was going with her train of thought and didn't like it. Tanis looked thoroughly embarrassed and scared, remaining quiet as she looked to her feet.

"Winnie, please," Sibella sighed, trying to keep her friend from escalating any sort of needless fight or argument. "While I surely don't remember doing something like this, she may be right. If the demon knew about the room before any one of us did, then it would have no trouble guiding someone down there without them knowing."

"You don't really think that..?" Googie began, hoping that whatever conclusion she was jumping to, she was wrong about. From the grave little nod that Sibella gave, though, she seemed to be correct.

"Like, there's no way..!" Shaggy began, instantly jumping to her defense. "Like, c'mon, the blood we found was old. No way she could've created something like that before we all got here!" He explained.

"Maybe it's not very picky, Shaggy," Velma answered, making sure to tread lightly. "The book says that, while most demons prefer a newer sigil, an old one will do for them if they're desperate. All they really need to be summoned is something that would catch their attention." Remembering earlier, Velma held up her index finger, examining the feint paper cut she had received. "In this case, blood."

"I guess it wouldn't be hard for a vampire to get blood..." Fred muttered, more to himself. The last thing he really wanted was to piss of his friend. Or a werewolf. Neither one of them would've lead to anything good. Fortunately for him, it seemed to be that the only ones who heard him were Daphne, Googie, and Velma, who were all close by.

"It seems that any amount of blood is enough to get it's attention," Velma stated, fixing her glasses once again. "...Sibella, do you remember doing anything...erm... 'questionable' with the book while you've been here?"

The vampire shook her head. "I do not. I'd hate to think that... I did do something, though."

"...If I may offer a possible reason?" Elsa asked, her gaze focused. After getting the others' attention, she continued on. "Maybe it got the blood from the last few times you've been out hunting for sustenance? Like Velma said, it doesn't seem picky. Any amount of blood from small animals could've been used."

"So you think it may have possessed her to bring her prey down to the circle?" Tanis suggested.

"Like, time-out!" Shaggy cut in. "Let's say that this all was happening. I thought, like, sacrifices or whatever had to be donearoundthe circle. Weren't all of the attacks, like, happeningbeforethe school year?"

"Yeah..! There's no way Sibella could've been made to summon anything!" Phantasma added. "I mean, not unless it found a way to teleport her to the school without her knowing..." She continued, her tone become more and more unsure.

"And who's to say it didn't make her draw the circle back at home?" Daphne replied. "After all, the book's been in her possession since the beginning."

"Her dad would'veseenit then!" Winnie snarked back in an overly defensive manner.

"We don't know that!" Fred snapped back. "Besides, can't she turn into a bat? She could've flown over to the school!"

"ThenMiss Grimwoodwould've seen something!" She continued to yell, the headmistress shifting around in her seat in an uncomfortable way.

"How do we know?!Noneof us really know what happened!"

"Exactly! So that means we can't just go blaming her for something she probably didn't do!" The werewolf yelled back. At this point, arguments were starting to rise up. While Fred and Winnie yelled, others tried to pipe up or silence the others, trying to reach a something resembling an agreement. Velma and the Colonel were too flabbergasted to know how to break everything up, and poor Sibella looked like she was about to break down. Within the span of a few minutes, the house changed from being eerily quiet to being far too loud for anyone's own good. No one even noticed when the staircase began to creak at an uneven, yet consistent, pace.

At one point, though, the arguing seemed to be too much for the vampire, as she balled up her fists tightly and screamed out, "Enough! Everyone shut up!" Instantly, everyone seemed to quiet up, looking quite shocked, with everyone instantly regretting their outburst. Despite the fact that Winnie and Fred wanted to apologize, they knew better than to try and speak currently. Bitter tears formed in the vampire's eyes as she continued on. "I don't know what I've done either! I wish I did, but I don't. I've been controlled since the very beginning, and it's all my fault..!" She gasped, doing her best to hold back any sobs that dared to try and enter her speech. "I'm sorry... I can't deal with this guilt anymore. That demon's been making me do things that I would never do!" She let out a sigh, slumping forwards some. "..but it happened. I betrayedeveryone'strust. I don't even know the truth anymore... I just... want it to end..."

Once again, the house fell into an uncomfortably loud silence. Scooby rested a big paw on the vampire's knee in comfort, with Winnie and Shaggy placing a hand on her shoulders. Even Velma had no idea how to continue. As far as she was aware, the mystery was solved. Sibella was not to blame, of course. The guilt of everything she had unknowingly done was eating at her, though, and she couldn't take it anymore.

At some point, the creaking had stopped. Soon, the uncomfortable silence was broken by a voice that hadn't been heard in awhile.

"So that's y'all's answer, is it?" Came a deep, gruff voice. This instantly caught everyone off guard, as they whipped their attention towards the direction of the voice. Sure enough, the Detective himself was leaning against the frame of the entryway. He still stood with a slight limp, and his hair looked even messier than usual. Despite the fact that his stance looked incredibly uncomfortable, he still kept a creepy, wide grin plastered on his face to match his wide eyes. For once, his presence was met with relief.

"Detective..! You're already awake!" Googie gasped, watching him hobble towards the circle. His limp seemed much worse, and it looked like he was struggling to stay balanced.

"Could say that," He huffed, joining the group. Despite the fact he looked off-balance, he remained standing. "By the way, Tanis, if ya wanna get rid of me in a much more efficient manner, aim for my head," He said, laughing darkly. The mummy in question looked embarrassed at this.

Looking for a reason to move attention away from Sibella's earlier outburst and give her some time to rest, Velma began speaking to him. "Doesn't seem like you recovered that well," She said, pointing out his stance.

"We all thought you were supposed to be sleeping fordays!" Phanty added on, looking both anxious and relieved, wasting no time in joining his side.

"Thought so too, but-" He began, starting to couch into his arm suddenly. Despite looks of concern from everyone, he soon stopped and continued on. "It seems our guest didn't wanna leave me be. Caused quite a racket in my head... so I woke up to spite it," He explained, his grin cracking open into his usual weird smile.

"Did it tell you the same things it's been telling Fred, me, and who knows who else?" Velma asked.

"If the same things involve being a part of it's twisted plans to corrupt everyone, then yes," He answered.

"Surely you'd be better off resting further, son," The Colonel hesitantly responded. This had been the first time Calloway had been this close to the man, let alone hear him speak. As he expected, he was quite the odd individual. It was almost inhuman how fast his head turned towards the Colonel as he was being addressed.

"And miss out on this? Nah," He giggled, rubbing his scruffy chin with a hand. "So... what did y'all figure out? I take it from my missing bag that ya found somethini' useful," He said, pointing a finger at Velma, an eyebrow raised.

"Uh... yeah, sorry about that," Velma said, rubbing her head in an uncomfortable manner. "We didn't dig through everything. Just... what we needed."

"Guess that's why y'all are called 'meddlin' kids', huh?" The Detective laughed.

"Heh, guess so," She answered, a tiny smile on her face.

Elsa spoke up this time, ready to move onto sharing all they've figured out. "Going from your notes, we learned that the beasts that were seen the other day were actually crafted from human flesh," She began. "Their master is the one behind all of this."

"Like, we also know it causes others to go crazy!" Shaggy added in. "Takes control of our bodies and makes us do things that, like, we didn't want to," He said, describing the possessions.

"One of which happened while you were asleep, by the way," Winnie said, looking to the man with her piercing yellow eyes. "Your hand whipped out and grabbed Velma's wrist as she was about to grab your bag! We thought you were gonna snap her hand off."

At this, the man's eyes seemed to light up somewhat. "Me? A part of a possession? Such a shame I wasn't awake..." He sighed, moving his hair back wistfully. This did little to amuse anyone.

"It's also how they found that cursed book in your bag!" Winnie growled, trying to return on topic.

"...thatisawfully suspicious," Fred added in, glancing over to the Detective with a wary gaze. "How'd it end up with you anyways?"

The man's face seemed to change slightly, looking much more grim. His grin remained, his face looking shadowed by his hair. "Well, I found it. Simple as that. Hidin' behind a bookshelf. Dunno how it got there, but how could I say no to a little extra... research?" He continued, giggling. "I lost my own copyyearsago, so it was quite a find, to say the least."

"Wait... youowneda copy?!" Tanis gasped out.

"That'd explain a lot..." Daphne muttered.

The man nodded to the mummy, pretending not to hear the red-head. "Yup. Almost wore the poor pages out..." He rambled, as if he were reminiscing about an old friend.

"Did it ever move when you owned it?" Velma asked him.

The Detective merely replied with a shake of his head. "Nope." After a few moments, he spoke up with his own inquiry. "Where'd it come from, anyways? I doubt that this came from the school itself."

"It is mine. Or rather, my fathers," Sibella answered, looking quite weary at this point. As the man rubbed his chin and cheeks with his fingers in thought, Velma spoke up once again.

"What we all think happened is that our demonic guest took control of her through this book, and made her summon it into being using various sigils, one of which includes the one in the secret room we all found that day."

"...and the only I nearly killed her in," Sibella added on, feeling quite bitter and angry at herself. As Winnie comforted her vampire friend, the Detective's eyes seemed to widen more, the pieces appearing to fall into place.

"But that wasn't her fault..!" Velma quickly cut in. "You see, the Demonologist's Bible was leading me down to the room. When I cut myself, it used the blood I dripped to talk to me. I... assume that's when it used Sibella to try and murder me," She finished. The limped man scratched at his face a little bit in thought.

"Hm... well... that answers just 'bout everythin', then, doesn't it?" He started. "Demon uses the daughter of Dracula for it's own biddin' so that it can wreak havoc on whoever it chooses, and make the overworld it's dominion..." He concluded, seeing a few nods of agreement. He seemed to nod as well, remaining quiet for a few seconds. In an odd moment, however, his face changed to an expression no one had seen before. The Detective looked almost... smug?

"...too bad that ain't fully correct," He finally stated.

This statement was more than enough to confuse and shock everyone. "Like, what?" Shaggy asked.

"How do youknow..?" Daphne added on.

"What does that even mean?!" Elsa exclaimed, looking as if her eyebrows would get lost in her black and white hair.

To help answer that, he looked to the vampire, who looked just as bewildered, and pointed to her. "Sibella, do please tell me, since you were the one 'doin' it's biddin'... what's it's name?"

"It's... name?" She asked in a perplexed tone.

"How is that important?" Winnie challenged, an eyebrow co*cked up at him.

"Demons areincrediblyvain, and it seems this one is no different," The Detective explained. "Any servants who join it, any person who summons it, or anything the demon creates, is going to be told their name and title. So, again I ask... what's it's name?" He asked again, a big expectant smile on his face.

A few seconds passed by, with Sibella recollecting her thoughts to try and answer him. "...I... it... never told me?" She finally said, feeling concerned.

"Not even in your dreams?" He pushed further. This question was met with another shake of the vampire's head. "Interesting..." He chuckled darkly, rubbing his chin again. Velma's eyes seemed to widen as she started to realize the Detective's train of thought. He pointed a finger to the bookworm, and asked the same question. "When you accidentally summoned it, what did it tell you it's name was?"

She seemed to jump a bit as he suddenly asked her, though she quickly straightened up and gulped. "W-well, I don't want to jinx us, but... well, it said it's name was J'alzhikhan," She said, speaking a little quieter, as to not arouse the demon's attention too much.

"The demon of creation and intellect..." The Detective hummed.

"Like, I think you know a bit too much about this for our own good, man..." Shaggy said, feeling scared once again.

"Velma, may I borrow the Demonologist's Bible for a moment?" The Detective inquired, opening his hand towards her.

She nodded and passed it off to him, but not before explaining a problem with the pages. "There's a page missing in there, though. I have a feeling that whatever needs to be known about it has been torn out."

His eyes widened once again, a rare expression of shock showing on his face as his smile dropped. "Oh damn, you're right. Such a shame, too..." He ran his finger along the tear of the book for a few seconds before his smile quickly returned. "Well, at least we have a lead there."

"But... I don't remember even doing that..! Why would it even make me do that in the first place?" Sibella asked, still under the impression that this was her doing.

"I assume that whoever did it must've removed the page for their own use... or to hide evidence," Velma stated.

"Maybe both?" Phanty added in. "They coulda used the page for their plan before hiding it away for later. Or throwing it into a fire out of guilt... somethin' like that?"

As the vampire began to speak up, the Detective asked another question to her. "So... why did ya take the book with ya in the first place?" His tone wasn't accusatory, although it did seem a bit excitable. He was quite eager in putting all of the evidence together.

"I...I wanted answers and some help from those dreams I had," Sibella answered. "When it became obvious that it was the source of my problems, I hid it away. Anything else that I did under it's influence, I don't even remember..."

"But what we're saying is... youweren'tunder it's influence," Velma replied. A puzzled look formed over Sibella's face, while Winnie seemed to roll her eyes in a 'yeah, but you didn't believe me' way. "Not at the beginning, anyways," Velma continued on. "If you weren't aware of the rip of the page before now, then you couldn't have summoned it. You didn't have the information about it. I imagine you would've had to have known it's name before then!"

The vampire looked slightly more relieved, as did everyone else. "So... like, if she didn't... than who did?" Velma looked to the Detective, wondering if he had reached that conclusion. From the eager smile on his face, that was a 'yes'.

"That circle we found in the room is the obvious spot, naturally," He began. "Hidden away in a secret spot that no one knew about. Not until one bothers to go lookin' for it. We happened to stumble 'cross it after a bit of snoopin' around, right?"

"Yeah. Even the clues used to find it were hidden in a way that could've easily been missed," Fred said, starting to focus on this train of thought as well.

"Do we know how long that circle's been there?" Googie asked the man.

"Sorta. From the coloration, it wasn't too recent. I'd say it had been there for... a couple weeks perhaps?" The Detective stated.

"So someone must've drawn before the school year," Daphne thought aloud.

"And there's only one person who's been here the longest, and knows all the hiding spots, secrets, and who knows what else..." The Detective lead on, his eyes scanning between everyone, hoping that the answer had been laid out.

To some, it had been. Velma was the first to reach the conclusion. She was the first to turn her gaze to the only person who had been sitting here this whole time and never spoke a word of what was going on. Soon, others joined her, most in disbelief, others in confusion. While they didn't want to believe, it sounded plausible. All they needed was the confirmation.

"...Miss Grimwood? Anything to add?" Velma asked her patiently.

The headmistress in question was staring into her tea cup, her lips pursed in a grim manner. Her hands shook very subtly, clinking very quietly. With a noticeable, yet barely audible, sigh, she finally spoke up, her voice tired and guilty. "...none of this was ever supposed to happen..." She whispered.

"Miss Grimwood..?" Phanty began worriedly.

She sighed louder this time, setting her cup and saucer down. "It's time you all know the truth. Yes, I'm the one who summoned J'alzhikhan," She explained slowly and sadly.

A few gasps rang out, with everyone looking between each other in a concerned manner. "But... why?" Sibella asked, looking quite frightened. The other ghouls looked just as scared, and almost betrayed. As for the humans, they too looked confused and curious. Shaggy and Scooby both looked incredibly unnerved, jumping to a conclusion that they were all brought in for something far worse than they could expect.

"Please, let me explain..." She sighed, adjusting her headband before continuing. "It's a bit of a long story, but one that needs to be said. You see, I've been teach you girls for a long time. It's easy to say that we're all like a family, at this point. But... you all won't be here forever. I know that. Soon, you will all head off into adulthood, and join your parents in their ranks as their heir." Another sigh followed before she continued. "And I would be left... alone. No new students have come here in years, girls. No matter how I try to drum up business, it just doesn't work. No parent wants to leave their ghoul out in the middle of the swamps in the wake of a dead witch. They think it's too 'high end'."

"That's why, in a bout of weakness, I came up with a plan. A foolish, stupid plan. Being a witch myself, I know much about the powers beyond, so I decided to visit my old workshop. That's the room you and your friends discovered, Velma," Miss Grimwood explained. "I used to create spells and potions in there that were far too dangerous to be witnessed by anyone. That day, though, would be my most dangerous ritual yet. I created the sigil from the blood of the nearby fauna, as well as a bit from myself, and began to ask for assistance. I knew that my consequences would've dire, but I needed help. All I asked was for more opportunities to teach and help raise and grow generations of ghouls to come..." At this, a few of the ghouls looked quite saddened by this realization. They didn't want to leave her behind either, but also knew that the day would eventually come.

Miss Grimwood went on with her story. "Unfortunately, the wrong ears heard me. J'alzhikhan was the first to act, and offered me much. It tried to persuade me to unleash him so that it may make my wishes true. It wished to create more beings that I may teach. I saw through his act, though," She added, a little angry. "I knew of it's methods, and declined its offer. Obviously, it did not like that. In a fit of rage, I knew that it began to go around, possessing others and killing humans left and right. A few times, it must have used it's own powers to make it's own demented creatures..."

"I knew that it wouldn't have lasted long in our world, so I hoped that it would soon go away, and leave me to deal with the mess of my own creation. Unfortunately, the school year arrived, and J'alzhikhan must have taken refuge in your book, Sibella. You see, when I summoned it, I did not realize that it had seen what connections I have, both towards this house, this area, and you all," She stated, looking between both the monsters and the humans. "It's plan formulated, and then it began waiting."

"I wrote to you, Shaggy, in the hopes that it would fade away, as I had no clue of it's intent. At least, until it was too late. You see, you and Scooby were my other option. After I knew I failed, I made the sensible decision to bring you back," She said, a small, sad smile forming on her face. "The girls... they loved you, Shaggy. No offense to you, Colonel, but there was no way I could bring in more students with a teacher my current class didn't like." At this statement, Calloway looked away, feeling quite awkward as he wrung his hands. "But with you, Shaggy, well... I figured that you would help inspire everyone else's trust again. Heck, even with your friends coming and sticking around, it's done more to make this whole place feel less like a husk," the headmistress rambled, laughing gently.

"Sadly, as the signs became more and more clear, I knew that my old plans were here to haunt not just me, but all of us. I tried to give you girls lessons to help defend yourselves against this sort of thing. I kept secrets I knew I shouldn't have in order to keep everyone safe..." Miss Grimwood shook her head, showing disappointment in herself. "...but it seems I've failed in that area as well..."

At this point, no one knew what else to say to help comfort the headmistress. Most of her student body looked like it was ready to cry, while the others looked incredibly guilty. After a few moments, Shaggy faced Miss Grimwood and finally spoke up. "...like, Miss G, we'll find a way to help," He said in a comforting manner. "I mean, like, we may not know how just yet, but me and the gang always find a way..!"

"A-and not only that, but we're all willing to do anything we can..!" Phantasma piped up, looking ready to burst into tears herself.

"Plus, despite everything that's happened, I mean... you've made our jobs easier!" Fred exclaimed. "Usually, we don't find out the culprit untilaftereverything's fixed."

"And they never own up to it, either," Daphne added.

"You ain't the only one who made the mistake of dealing with demons, y'know," The Detective said, doing his best to make his creepy facial expression look much more comforting. "There's a way out of this."

"And with your help, Miss Grimwood, we'll be able to put an end to J'alzhikhan's plans," Velma stated.

"We're all a family, after all," Sibella said, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her dress. "Not just us ghouls and you, but... everyone." She continued, gesturing to the humans, and even the Colonel, who looked a bit surprised by this motion. "No one has to figure this out alone," She finished with a smile.

With a small, tired smile forming on her face, the headmistress sighed and let out a few small laughs. "Sibella... I'm so... so very sorry that you've been put through the worst of all of this. And to everyone else, as well. To you, Tanis, as you never wanted to be possessed, and weren't even expecting it... to you, Colonel, for bringing your boys into this... to you, Fred... Detective, Velma, Shaggy... all of you."

"We all forgive you," Googie replied, looking around to everyone, hoping she hadn't been incorrect in saying that. From the number of unanimous nods, she wasn't wrong.

It didn't take long for the ghouls to find themselves wrapped in a group hug around their headmistress, which she warmly returned. As the humans watched, the Colonel cleared his throat, adjusting his stance a bit. "While I do agree with everyone, there is still the big issue. Which is... how do we get rid of this... "J'alzhikhan' beast?"

With everyone's attention back on topic, Fred didn't waste time in inspiring hope. "I know we can all brainstorm something up!"

"Especially with the help of our new friend here," Velma added, placing a hand on the Detective's shoulder. Regardless of the fact that he flinched at the sudden action and had to lean against a chair to keep balance, he blinked and looked towards the bookworm, his eyebrows raised in curiosity. His smile seemed a lot less creepy and a lot more... friendly.

In no time, he let out a small chuckle, fixing his hair with his free hand. "Well then... what're we waitin' for?"

Chapter 17: A Revolting Premonition

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 17: A Revolting Premonition

"So like, what's the plan?" Shaggy asked the group. It was quite the puzzle indeed, as it would surely take a lot to deal with this sort of situation.

"The only way that I can see us having any sort of chance over it is if we meet with J'alzhikhan directly," Miss Grimwood answered in a serious tone, quickly re-gathering everyone's attention.

"Um, but Miss Grimwood?" Began Tanis cautiously, her fingers fidgeting around. "If the demon's already got enough power to do lots of damagewithoutit actually being here, wouldn't bringing it over into our realm be evenmoredangerous?"

"That's correct," The headmistress answered with a nod. "Which is why we're not going to be summoning it into our world."

"Wait, are you suggeting that we're going to be the ones to bring the fight to it?" Daphne asked.

"But that'd be even more dangerous!" Tanis exclaimed.

"I hate to break it to y'all, but thereain'tno safe way of desposin' of demonic beings," The Detective stated. "I'm sure I don't need to be the one to tell y'all that our old friend ain't wantin' to hold anything back." With his usual crooked grin, he gave a shrug. "So we'll just have to return the favor," He concluded, almost nonchalantly, as if he were making dinner plans.

"Wellthatsimplifies everything, doesn't it?" Winnie replied in a sardonic manner.

"More or less," Velma replied, her hand cupping her chin as she thought aloud. "I don't imagine we have as much time as we'd like, but with what everyone knows so far, it's bound to be enough to at least reach it's realm. Once we arrive, I'm sure we could come up with the rest of the plan."

"Thinking off the cuff, Velma?" Fred asked with a small grin. "Nowthat'sthe style of problem solving I like to hear!"

With a small, satisfied smile of her own, Velma adjusted her glasses. "Alway helps to have a little pressure. Makes for better plans, I've come to find out."

"So, what, we're all just going to swarm into it's home unprepared?" The Colonel asked, an eyebrow raised. "No offense, but from the sounds of things, going in without any sort of plan almost seems like suicide!"

His statement was met with a small chuckle from the headmistress, who gave a wry grin and a raised eyebrow of her own to Calloway. "Really, now, don't tell me you earned your title based on strength alone, Colonel?" She accused in a rather playful tone. "If you could use some wit to outsmart an enemy, then surely the rest of us could, as well?" At this, he quieted up, merely clearing his throat and adjusting his hat. He looked a bit embarrassed, though mostly at the fact that he had accidentally been condescending everyone else's ability to get through a situation.

The silence was broken soon by Googie, with a cautionary thought of her own. "I, uh, don't mean to alarm anyone, but... can't it hear us? Y'know, with the book and all?" She asked, pointing a finger towards said object.

As Velma inspected the book a bit, Sibella was the one to answer the strawberry blonde's concern. "At this point, I don't think it would matter if the Demonologist's Bible was in the same room as us or not. We're all aware of J'alzhikhan at this point, and it's aware of us. It's watching us no matter what," She said, turning her gaze to the rest of the human group. "That is why we do need to act quickly. The faster we finish our plan, the sooner we can catch the demon off guard, and rightfully dispose of it."

"Also helps to be as vague as we possibly can," Elsa added in. "Try to keep it in the dark for as long as possible. Maybe even trick it up every once in awhile."

"Can we evendothat?" Phantasma asked with a tilt of her ghostly head. "I mean, it is a demon of intellect, isn't it? Even if we try to throw it off, somehow, it's bound to figure out and try to stop us!"

"Remember what I said about demons being vain?" The Detective chuckled, trying to hold back a couple of coughs. "If it did somehow manage to figure out, it'd be up it's own ass comin' up with mulitple solutions. By the time it came up with one to use, we'd already be on phase two."

"The intellect of one will never outmatch the wisdom of many," Velma sagely added.

"Woah... now that's, like, deep, man," Shaggy added. "I'm gonna guess that's why we're, like, being totally vague about everything?"

"That's correct, Shaggy," Velma answered with a nod.

"So, where do we even begin?" Daphne asked.

"Well," Miss Grimwood began. "I do know we'll need the portal. It will take a bit more time than creating a summoning circle, and we'll need quite a bit of blood for it."

At this request, Winnie cracked a toothy smile and cracked her knuckles. "I'm down for a bit of huntin'," She growled eagerly. The headmistress turned her direction to the werewolf, giving a smile, yet also shaking her head.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, Winnie, and I know I can trust you to find something. However, allowing you to go by yourself is far too dangerous," She responded, ignoring the fact that Winnie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "A bit of company to help make the hunt easier and, more importantly, safer, will surely do you some good. Hmm..." She thought, scanning around a bit. "Colonel, Scooby, Matches, do you mind to join her?"

Naturally, the green adolescent dragon seemed less than thrilled about having to go do things that didn't require napping. Of course, he also understood how serious this whole situation was getting, and if nothing was done, then there wouldneverbe a time to rest. With a few low grumbles, he stood on his stumpy legs, moving over to Winnie's legs, awaiting further orders.

Calloway seemed a bit taken aback to be suddenly offered to step forward, though he didn't balk at the request. "A simple hunting trip in the forest? No trouble at all," He stated confidentally, puffing his chest out slightly. The act of him doing so, plus the thought of being joined with a human who made her almost physically ill did nothing to please the werewolf. There was no denying he was a decent solider (though compared to the hunting prowess of a werewolf, he wouldn't add a whole lot, in her opinion).

"Ugh, fine, but don't hold me back at all," Winnie said, pointing a clawed finger in his direction.

Scooby, however, had a different idea altogether. With a gulp, he shook his head. "Ruh-uh! No way!" He stated firmly. After barely escaping a fire breathing demon earlier, he was not ready to go anywhere near those woods again!

Wordlessly, though, Daphne reached into Shaggy's pocket, quickly digging out a single, small morsel of a biscuit. A Scooby Snack. Sure enough, once it was dangled in front of his nose, his eyes opened widely, his tongue slurping loudly against his jowls. The moment Daphne released it, Scooby instantly caught it in his mouth, swallowing it one bite. "Phew... rohkay, I'll go," He said nonchalantly. It was an odd sight to everyone else, having watched his stance change in an instant due to a snack.

"Daph, c'mon, I was saving that..." Shaggy muttered to her.

"Now, I don't want any of you three going too far out into the woods again. Find any fauna that's closeby and that's it. I donotwant to risk losing anyone again," Miss Grimwood stated firmly. Regardless of the fact that it would inhibit their hunt by quite a bit, Winnie agreed with the others. Once satisfied with their answer, she gave a small smile and a nod. "Very well. Go ahead and find some bodies for us to use." With that, the four hurried out, with Winnie leading the charge, with the werewolf calling after the dragon to follow.

Even though Googie looked a bit queasy at the thought of animal corpses being dragged in to have their blood smeared on the floor, the group continued on with their planning. "I assume you're going to do some planning on the ritual itself, yes?" Velma asked Miss Grimwood.

"That's right, Velma," She responded, standing up from her seat, groaning as she stretched a bit. "I'll need help gathering some materials, plus planning out the circle itself." With an outstretched finger, she pointed between Elsa, Phanty, and the Detective. "Perhaps you three could assist me?" She asked.

She was unanimously met with eager nods and replies of agreement. The Detective in particular looked incredibly excited to be a part of such a ritual. His eagerness only made his smile even more off-putting, but his knowledge on the subject would surely help. "Terrific! Then go ahead into the summoning room behind the bookcase. I'll meet you all there in a bit," She directed, watching as they hurried into the next room.

As the sounds of footsteps and ghostly giggles became quieter, Miss Grimwood turned to the remaining group. "As for the rest of you, it would do you some good to study up on how to defend yourselves against demonic entities," She suggested, turning her head to Tanis and Sibella. "You two are very knowledgable on the subject, I'm sure, so be sure to give them some pointers, yes?"

"No problem, Miss Grimwood!" Tanis said with an eager nod.

"What should we prepare for?" Sibella asked, a small smile on her face as she already expected the answer her headmistress was about to give.

"Everything," She answered. "As much as you all can."

"We'll do our best," Fred answered with a nod, the others following suit. With a nod between everyone, Miss Grimwood nodded and began to head into the secret room as well.

"Wonderful. Good luck, then. I'll call for you when it is time," She concluded as she left.

With that, Velma turned to the two monster girls. "Well then... where should we start?"

"Try to get the circle as large as you can, Elsa, dear," Miss Grimwood stated, looking over a few dusty tomes. "These kinds of summoning circles require as much space as we can get." The headmistress was looking over a few old references in order to accurately create the foundation for a portal to Hell. The flesh golem girl was helping out Miss Grimwood by drawing the location the circle would be drawn in plain white chalk. She worked slowly and methodically, trying to get it as near perfect as she could.

While she was doing this, Phantasma would be helping out by cleaning up as much of the old blood as she could. Miss Grimwood's logic on this was because of the fact that it would interfere with their new ritual circle. Not only that, but it was quite unsightly at this point. A few times, the ghostly girl would phase through the floorboards to have an easier time at scraping up the brown stains.

As for the Detective, he remained near Miss Grimwood, poring over a few other old, dusty books that happened to be close by. His current objective was deciphering the right runes to draw on the floor, as well as finding the right words to help summon the portal. While one hand was kept in a book, the other held a pen, scribbling down a few words in Latin.

"I figure I'm at least halfway through figurin' out the terms to use," He hummed, loud enough for the headmistress to hear. "Still gotta know the right way to say it, though."

"Plus the order of the runes, dear," Miss Grimwood gently reminded, which was met with a single nod. The man didn't look away from his notes or the book in question, his fingers daintily turning each yellow page with great care. "If I may be so bold to ask, Detective, why do you have such an interest in this sort of subject?" She asked him in a neutral tone. This made his large eyes move towards her direction, as he contemplated his answer.

"Hm... always had an interest in the abnormal, I suppose," He said in a slow, thoughtful tone. "In the human world, evidence that supports the existence of anything paranormal or supernatural is, well... for lack of a better term, 'swept under the rug'," the man concluded, moving his fingers through his hair and moving it behind his ears. This action did little, as his hair merely fell forwards in front of his face in a messy manner.

"I can understand that," Miss Grimwood said with a small nod of her own, returning her attention to the book in front of her, scanning over a few paragraphs over rituals. "It took quite a long time to convince the nearby town to allow this school to stand. I daresay we haven't had any recent incidents due to the fact that they're all too scared," She said with a light chuckle. "It would be very ignorant of me to say that lots of people don't think monstrous beings walk among them. I just think many of them ignore it."

At this, the man let out a nod, laughing a bit as well. "People don't like it when things are out of the ordinary," He concurred. "They could watch a quadrupedal fish person walk across a bridge right before their eyes, and they themselves would choose to think that their brain was playin' tricks on them." With another turn of a page, the man paused for a little bit before continuing on. "If anything or anyoneis considered to weird for them, then they don't want any part of it."

"Sounds like you're talking from experience," Miss Grimwood retorted with a slight grin. The Detective turned his head towards her fully this time, an eyebrow raised upwards in curiosity. A knowing expression was evident on his face, however, as he let out a bit of a sigh.

"Let's just say this..." He began, a finger reaching up to scratch at his scruffy face. "It's easy to work for the police and not have to carry a weapon when everyone is scared of ya." With that statement, Miss Grimwood gingerly put a hand on his shoulder, removing her full focus from her own studying. Again, the man flinched noticeably at being touched, though did not pull away or reject her touch.

"People fear those they don't understand. From my experience with this sort of thing, that fear dissappears when knowledge of the unknown is presented. Why, when Shaggy, Scooby, and their little friend, Scrappy, first arrived, they were quite on edge about our ways. I noticed, however, that they were quite fast to adjust, and soon realized that they are all indeed very friendly." Miss Grimwood flashed a smile to him as she continued. "I daresay you've noticed this as well?"

The Detective nodded to her. "Well, of course. Your students are quite likable and friendly. In their own way, of course."

At this, however, Miss Grimwood instead raised an eyebrow. "A very kind sentiment, Detective, but I wasn't talking about my girls." A few seconds of silence passed, which turned into a minute. The man was almost in denial about her statement, yet there was no hiding the fact that she was indeed correct. The silence was soon broken, as the deep voice of Elsa soon echoed throughout the room.

"The pentagram is done, Miss Grimwood," She called out, cracking her spine with her own hands to try and straighten her back.

"Wonderful work, Elsa!" She called back, removing her hand from the Detective's shoulder and turning the other way. "This will be a good guideline when the hunting group returns with their catch," She said, looking a few inches to the right. "How about you, Phanty dear? Are you almost done?"

"Just about, Miss G!" She giggled, quickly scrubbing up one final spot. "There we go! What do we gotta do next?" She asked.

"Well, we'll need quite a few candles... I'd say six of them. One for each point of the pentagram and one for the center." The headmistress pointed a finger towards the left side of the ceiling as she continued on. "I believe I have a few in the corridors. Would you be so kind as to gather some up for me?"

"Sure thing! Be back in two shakes of a snake's tail!" She laughed, quickly flying into the ceiling.

As Phantasma flew off, Elsa walked towards the other two and leaned against a wall for a little break. "Any progress with the runes and translations?" She asked curiously, arms crossed casually across her chest.

"We're getting there," Miss Grimwood replied, looking back to her own book.

"I honestly would've figured y'all had a class in ancient runes, to be honest," The Detective said as he jotted down another Latin word, along with a few arrows connecting it to a couple of others he had written.

"Nah, though it would be pretty cool, all things considered," Elsa said with a shrug and a grin on her face. "Some monsters consider that a way to read the futures of others... though most just consider it a sort of hobby. Not unlike humans and Tarot cards."

This garnered the man's attention once more, his eyes wide and attentive as he asked, "So monsterkind don't use Tarot?" This question made both Miss Grimwood and Elsa laugh a little bit.

"Of course we do, Detective," She said with a wry grin. "However, our readings and interpretations are far more accurate. Not that humans haven't given a good shot of it, though."

"Hmm... if ya don't mind me askin', then-" He began, before he was cut off by the older woman.

"Another time, perhaps, dear? We do have quite a ways to go."

"Heh... yes, of course, Miss Grimwood," He replied simply, returning to his book, his smile still wide and interested.

Soon after, the sound of maniacal laughing grew in volume as Phanty phased through the ceiling once more, dropping off six candles, each one of various size and shape on the shelf that everyone else was hanging around. "I found some! Will these do the trick?"

"Certainly, Phantasma," Miss Grimwood answered, lifting one up and examining it. "We'll set them up and light them aflame when we get the circle properly drawn out in blood."

The ghost nodded and soon floated over to her freaky friend, placing both hands on his shoulders and lifting herself above his head, reading over his notes. The man seemed amused by this, looking up and chuckling a bit. "Ooh Latin! Cool! I used to know quite a bit of it! Or am I thinking of Italian... they sound pretty similar, right? Maybe I could help ya!" Phanty eagerly offered her friend.

"I'd appreciate it, Phanty," He responded, looking up with a wide smile. As she moved her body to lean over his right side, Miss Grimwood and Elsa watched with amusem*nt at the sight.

"Wonder how the others are doing?" The tall golem girl asked aloud, moving a stray hair out of her face.

"Only time will tell," Miss Grimwood answered. "Let's just hope it's nottoomuch time."

The hunting group was currently walking along the wide, open road, leading from the two schools and close to the woods. As per Miss Grimwood's suggestion, though, none of the four dared to stray out too far into them. For the most part, they all remained quiet and wary, with Winnie and Scooby leading, while Matches walked alongside Calloway. He kept a hand on his sword handle, which remaind in it's scabbard, keeping a watchful eye out for anything as he followed the others.

After a few yards, Winnie slowed to a half, standing up on her feet, as she had been walking around on all fours with Scooby. "Feh. The one time we need to find some prey, we can't pick up a single scent!"

"Ryeah, no luck..." Scooby sighed, shaking his head as he sat upright, taking a break with the werewolf.

"There must be something around here we could use," The Colonel offered, glancing around the area a bit. "After all, we've barely surveyed the area."

"Yeah, no offense, Colonel, but this nose could pick up a chipmunk from at least a couple of miles away," Winnie boasted in a cynical tone. "Barely been able to pick up anything sound wise, too."

"Hrm..." He said, resting a hand on his chin as he gathered his thoughts. For the most part, he decided to let her snide comments roll off his back. As far as he was aware, that was just how she always was, and there was no time to argue with her over petty nonsense. "No reason to stop now, then."

The group continued to venture further along the trail, keeping their senses peeled for any potential targets. For the most part, everyone remained silent, wanting to keep their concentration. Eventually, the four hunters found themselves into a more open environment, their dirt and mud trail slowly leading into broken stone and gravel. This caused everyone to slow down considerably, looking forwards at the scene before them.

In its unholy, deteriorating glory, stood the remains of a castle. At least, that's what the large piles of rocks and wood splinters used to be, at least. A few bones could be seen scattered and piled in random piles close by. Very little vegetation remained, and any that happened to be close by was rotting away into the nutrient deficient soil. Everyone remained silent, though after some time, Scooby gulped and looked over to Winnie. "Revolta..?" He asked carefully, wondering if it was the same castle they had previously destroyed.

"Sure is. Every day, it seems to fall apart a little bit more," the werewolf stated, her tail twitching as she remained ever vigilant. Just because no activity came from the castle in years, that doesn't mean they should let up their guard. Who knows what was biding it's time in there...

"That's where she used to live, then? I had forgotten how impressive of a job you did blow it up," Calloway said, his eyes scanning over the rubble in great detail. "I've only heard the stories about her. You all were quite lucky to get away," He continued, moving his glance to the werewolf as well.

"Thanks," She said simply, not sure of what else to say. "Barely got away, though," She said, sighing and restlessly running her claws through her curls. "...by the way, uh... guess I should say thanks to your Cadets for helping us."

At this, he blinked, raising an eyebrow. "Why are you thanking me? I didn't even give them the order to do that. Not only that, but I never knew they left until after everything had played out."

Winnie shrugged at this, replying with, "Guess they had to learn some nobility fromsomeone..."

He blinked again, feeling even more confused. Was she being grateful for his students that he taught? It was unexpected to him, especially coming from Winnie. "Oh. Well... thank you for saying so," the Colonel thanked bluntly, shifting around a little bit.

The awkward moment between the two of them wouldn't have time to stew, however, as soon, Matches began to snarl and growl, looking off into the distance towards the decaying castle. Scooby seemed to sense something as well, as he looked quite on edge. The hackles of Winnie's fur stood on end as well, as she soon found attention to something as well. "Wait. There's something there," She said, looking and pointing the same direction as Matches.

"An animal?" The Colonel asked, resting his hand on the handle of his sword.

"Sort of," Winnie answered, slowly moving with the others to the area. "Something a lot more dangerous, though. Be careful guys," She advised everyone.

As they moved closer to the source of everyone's discontentment, certain noises started to become audible, putting everyone on edge. The faint sound of joints snapping and bones cracking. The dripping of blood onto stone. The disgusting noise of something lapping and slurping. Despite the short trek towards the castle, it felt as if they had traveled for hours. Eventually, something came into view as the group moved behind the large pile of rubble the noises were coming from.

A large, rotting figure stood atop of a large white tailed buck. At least, the remains of it. The body was so horrendously mutlilated, the only signs that it was noticeably a deer were the hooves and antlers, both of which were broken off as if they were porcelain. The monster itself was bloated, with numerous bony legs piercing into the body, soaking them in blood and other viscera.

Spiny thorns covered it's large arachnid-esque body as well, looking as if a plant had mixed with a spider. It was hunched over, it's face buried into the corpse of the buck, slurping and lapping away at the bleeding meat, it's head and back covered in disgusting, filth ridden hair. Despite the grotesque scene laid out before, it took merely seconds of the monstrous creature to sense others. After pausing for one second, it quickly lifted it's head up, numerous red eyes piercing into the others, making them flinch at the sight.

"You?!" Winnie growled, already preparing her stance for a fight. At this action, Matches did the same action, smoke starting to seep from his nostrils. With wide eyes, the Colonel also steeled his nerves and drew his sword. Scooby was less brave, and merely cowered under his own paws, peeking up at the sight before them.

"Revolta?!" He howled out in fear. The figure itself certainly did look like Revolta, if she were fused together with her old minion, the Grim Creeper. A large maw opened up on her face, with rows of large, sharp teeth reveleaing themselves. A loud screaming screech left her mouth, threatening them as saliva splattered from her blood covered tongue. In an instant, her (it's?) spider like legs began to grow like viney tendrils, shooting themselves towards the group. Naturally, Scooby ran behind the group, not wanting to get hurt. The other three defended themselves properly, with Matches shooting a burst of fire towards the tendrils, easily charring the skin and burning the flesh, letting the fire spread up the legs and towards the body. The Colonel used his sword in an expert display of technique, almost effortlessly cutting them away. As for Winnie, she wasted no time in grappling one of them, pulling and biting into it as she wrestled with it. In a matter of seconds, the endurance of the tendril gave way to the werewolf's inhuman strength, and she ripped it clean off, with dark green blood splattering all over the group.

The monstrous abomination howled out in pain and anger, quickly attempting to regrow it's spent tendrils, as well as try to put out the fire before it burned alive. An odd scene occurred. Before the creature could attack once again, it began to... melt? Starting from it's legs and moving it's way to it's head, it quickly began to melt away into black liquid, it's screams echoing and growing louder, up until it was completely dissolved. The liquid also quickly sank into the ground, leaving nothing but the remains of the deer.

The corpse bled out silently, the only noises being heard were the pants from the Colonel, Winnie, and Matches, and whines of fear coming from Scooby. As Calloway sheathed his sword, the dragon turned his attention to his canine friend, nudging him to help comfort him. This thankfully seemed to help, as the dog peered up from his shaking paws, checking to see if the coast was clear.

"What... thef*ck... was that?" Winnie huffed, carefully stepping towards the deer corpse, examining it.

"Hopefully it's gone away..." Calloway replied, wiping his brow and stepping towards the carcass as well. "Do you suppose it'll come back?"

"Let's not find out. C'mon, let's take as much as we can," Winnie said, gathering up the large hunk of flesh, carrying it with both arms as she turned and began to walk back to the school. "See if you can gather up some chunks as well, Colonel. We may need 'em," She called from behind her shoulder.

With a disgusted look, Calloway did so, holding bleeding hooves and viscera with both hands outstretched from his body. "Ugh... why couldn't it have kept it all in one piece..?"

Scooby and Matches soon joined the other two, looking behind their backs. Even though the threat of the Revolta abomination was gone now, there was still the lingering sense of foreboding. The one that told them that she wasn't completely gone. All they could hope for was that she remained melted into the ground.

"...and these charms here should give you all a good amount of protection!" Tanis chimed up, holding up a talisman in one hand, holding a few more in the other. Each one was held together by leather strings, the charm on them being gold coins with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics etched into them.

"Wow... do you think these will work?" Fred asked genuinely, carefully picking one up holding one up to eye level.

"Better then going on without anything," Velma answered, running a finger delicately across the writing of another.

Close by, Sibella, Shaggy, Daphne, and Googie were looking through the Demonologist's Bible carefully, eyeing over certain articles. Tanis moved closer to the group, passing a talisman to each of the others.

"Like, thanks Tanis," Shaggy said to the mummy girl.

"So, uh, any luck finding out any sort of good weaknesses?" Tanis asked curiously.

"I believe so," Sibella answered, her eyes not glancing up from a page. "Naturally, a lot of them vary, though there are some similarities between a lot of them. I figure it would be the same deal for our target."

"So far, we've come across a few that seem to be weak to banishment rituals, though I don't know if any of us can really do that," Daphne said.

"It really isn't that hard, honestly," Sibella said, glancing towards the red-head with a small grin, her fangs gently peering out. "Even though you're human, magic spells could still be used. As for strength, I don't know how much a mortal could put out..."

"Maybe it can be a quantity type of deal?" Googie suggested. "The more of us that try it out, the greater the outcome might be?"

"Could work..." Sibella hummed, setting the book down and moving to a bookshelf, scanning the contents. "I do believe we have some old beginner spells in here," She stated.

"Oh! If you're all going to try out magic, make sure to learn about some defensive ones!" Tanis suggested. "For instance, I can use my bandages as a type of rope to bind anything I need. Maybe you all could learn something similar? Even a shielding charm is enough to hold back against a lot of force!"

"You sure know a lot about this sort of thing, huh?" Velma said with a smile, the mummy beaming up at her eagerly.

"One of my favorite subjects, honestly," She replied.

"Hm! And here I thought all we'd really need to do is trip it up with a trap, or throw a nice sized rock at it, or something," Fred mused.

As Sibella set the spell book down on the table and opened it, she couldn't help but let out a bit of a laugh. "Only time will tell if it'll be that easy, Fred," She stated, scanning a finger over a list of spells.

"Hm... thinking about it, do you think that's why you were targeted earlier, Tanis?" Daphne asked the youngest monster girl, who let out a sigh and a nod, her smile turning into a disappointed frown.

"Unfortunately, yes. With the powers that I could have used, it would not have had an easy time. So, instead, it just decided to... well, turn me against my friends," She answered.

"That's behind us now, though," Fred quickly added in, gently placing a hand on her shoulder and patting it reassuringly. "Soon enough, we're gonna teach this guy a lesson or two about messing with us." The statement seemed to perk Tanis up a bit, who nodded again and smiled with a rekindled eagerness.

"Like, as long as we won't be sitting ducks, then it'll be a piece of cake!" Shaggy said, eyeing one of the spells in the book the vampire laid out. "Hm... 'think these words in your mind, snap your fingers, and imagine a burning flame for an easy spark'... like, that's a cinch," He said, snapping his fingers as he read aloud. Rather quickly, his finger tips emitted a spark of fire, which caught him and everyone else off guard. "Zoinks!" While the flame quickly went out, the others turned to look at him with surprise.

"Woah, Shaggy, how'd you manage that so easily?" Daphne said, quite impressed with his trick.

"Like, I have no clue!"

"Maybe thiswillbe easier than I thought..." Sibella said hopefully.

"We'll definitely have to bring that book with us for future reference," Velma suggested as she peered over the book with the others.

"I just hope the rest of us will have an easy time understanding these spells as well," Googie added on. "Some of these look pretty complicated..."

"We gotta be prepared for everything, I guess," Daphne replied, smiling gently to the strawberry blonde girl.

Before the others could study up anymore, however, heavy footsteps could be heard, along with the nasty smell of blood and rot. Everyone looked towards the entrance to find Winnie, Matches, Colonel Calloway, and Scooby bringing in the carcass of... something. They all looked quite exhausted, and blood seemed to cover them completely. "Phew... we're back..!" Winnie called out in an almost nonchalant way. "We got a body for blood!"

"Jinkies, what happened to you all?" Velma asked, covering her nose due to the stench. She wasn't the only one to do so, though Sibella seemed to move closer, looking over their 'catch' curiously.

"What did you do to this thing, Winnie? You didn't get hungry, did you?" She asked, joking around a little.

"No, I didn't eat any of it," The werewolf growled, rolling her eyes.

"Rit was Revolta!" Scooby called out in fear. This quickly caught the attention of the rest, a collective gasp ringing out from everyone.

"Zoinks! Like, don't joke around with that kinda thing, Scoob!" Shaggy replied, already starting to shake in his seat.

"It's the truth, Mister Rogers," Calloway answered. "She was not a pretty sight."

"For real! She didn't look like her old self! She was even uglier!" Winnie continued.

"W-what do you mean?!" Tanis asked.

"She looked even more like a spider! Her legs grew like nasty vines, and she had lots and lots of teeth!" The werewolf answered, holding up the still bloodied corpse of the deer. "We found her sucking on this, so we figured she was the one who killed it."

"How did you get away then?" Sibella continued to ask, sounding quite rushed, as if wanting to find a way to dispose of the monster before it came any closer to them.

"That... well, uh, it's gonna be hard to believe..." Winnie said with an unsure tone.

"Considering what we've already seen so far, anything goes," Velma replied.

"She relted! Right into the ground!" Scooby answered, gulping.

"It really was the strangest thing. Even weirder was that she didn't try to attack us after that happened," the Colonel continued on.

"So does that mean that she's... gone?" Googie asked with a nervous, yet hopeful tone. Sibella on the other hand, shook her head.

"It's not normal for something like that to happen. She wouldn't have stopped killing in order to leave. Something took her away," She rambled on.

"That's not a good sign..." Fred said with a nervous look, scratching the back of his head.

Sibella turned back to Winnie, an almost desperate look in her eyes. "We all need to summon that portal as soon as we can. We can't give them enough time to find us." Without arguing, Winnie nodded and hurried towards the secret room, being followed by the Colonel and Matches. Scooby stayed behind, finding comfort in being close to the rest of Mystery Inc.

"Well gang, whether or not we're ready, we have no choice," Velma sighed, turning to look over everyone. "Let's do our best to stay strong. Let's go guys," She said, starting to follow the rest. Slowly, everyone else followed suit, with Sibella scooping up the book, and Tanis clutching a few charms of her own, ready to pass them out to the rest.

Shaggy stepped closer to Sibella, looking her over. "Like, are ya gonna be okay?" He asked her gently. Sibella wordlessly nodded to him, not looking to him. "Hey, it's okay if you're not. Like, we're all pretty terrified of this whole situation. Like, especially me!"

"Rand me!" Scooby added in.

"But, like, without this fear to motivate us, then we wouldn't do anything to protect our friends. Without fear, we'd either stand aside in apathy, or like, get all co*cky and not be able to actually do anything! The fear, like, gives us time to think about how we can protect others when times get scary. If we all help each other overcome our fears, then we can surely, like, do good."

The vampire slowed down a bit, finally turning her attention to him, nodding and sighing. "I am so frightened of what's about to happen. I have no clue what we're getting into. But we must do so. I trust you, Coach."

With a warm smile, Shaggy walked with her into the summoning room with the rest, making sure to remain close by to her.

Everyone watched as the finishing touches were made to the now bloodied ritual circle. Elsa and Miss Grimwood would be the ones to form the circle and write in the proper runes, with the help of Sibella and the Detective. Phantasma would also be the one to set up the candles once they were done. After the set up was done, the headmistress spoke to the group.

"Okay now, everyone. Our next step is to light the candles aflame," She instructed. In a movement, the Detective's hand moved to his back pocket, pulling out a plain black pocket lighter.

"I can help ya with that," He'd say simply, flicking the flame.

"...why do you have a lighter?" Velma asked bluntly.

In response, the man shrugged and flicked the lighter a few more times, his smile not faltering. "Reasons."

"Regardless of the reasons, you may put that away, Detective," Miss Grimwood said with a wave of her hand. "I have a much easier method." With a large wave of both arms, all of the candles lit aflame.

"Now that's a time saver," Fred stated as the Detective shuffled his lighter back into his pocket.

"Next... something to connect our two worlds..." Miss Grimwood continued in a mystic, dark tone. She turned her attention to the vampire, nodding. "The Demonologist's Bible, if you please Sibella," She gently instructed. She nodded and gently set the book down in the middle of the pentagram, right below the lit candle.

"Now... comes a rather... difficult request..." the headmistress sighed, turning a weary gaze to the group. "...we'll need some blood."

A few confused murmurs rang out, with Shaggy speaking up first. "But, like, don't we already have enough?"

"Yeah," came the voice of Winnie. "Plus, we've still got that carcass if we need any more of it."

"No, no," Miss Grimwood said, sighing again and continuing on patiently. "We need fresh blood. From humans. I'm willing to do my part in this-" She began, which was met with a few vocal disagreements.

"Wait a second now..!" Daphne started up.

"Miss Grimwood, that's dangerous!" Tanis yelped out.

"Isn't there another way?" Phanty suggested loudly.

Everyone quickly hushed up as Miss Grimwood held up a hand, continuing on with her explanation. "...but, sadly, I'll need at least three others. Human blood is needed, preferably. It will make for a stronger summoning. I won't force anyone to do this, but until we get some volunteers, we can't continue on."

Unsurprisingly to everyone, the first one to step forward was the Detective, his smile growing with a dark grin. "Might as well, yeah?" Before he could step closer, Phanty hugged him from behind, making him freeze up.

"Please be careful, okay?" She asked him.

After some time, he finally replied to her, nodding with a rather gentle smile, one that looked warmer than his defaul grin. "Don't worry 'bout me. I'll be alright." When she was satisfied with that answer, she let go of him and walked towards the circle, the rest of the group looking on with an uneasy glance.

Soon enough, the Colonel stepped forward, his chest puffed out a bit. "Like, Colonel, are you sure?" Shaggy asked him.

Without stopping, Calloway turned his head behind him and gave a single, firm nod. "I figure I have to learn a lesson from my boys, as they do from me. I will give what I can to help you all."

Miss Grimwood gave a pleasant look to him, feeling both surprised and not surprised at all at his selflessness. "I always knew you were a noble man, Colonel," She told him gently. The man merely gave a bow of his head, smiling back to her.

A little bit more time passed before another person would step in. "So... one more, huh?" Daphne said with an uneasy tone.

"I guess so," Velma sighed. Before anyone else could step forward, however, Googie hurried ahead of the others, fists balled up and a determined look on her face.

"W-wait a sec, Googie!" Fred began, reaching a hand out. "What are ya doing?"

"I'm tired of being afraid," She answered simply, standing next to the others at the circle. She was obviously nervous, due to her subtle shaking, but she was not willing to back down from her decision from the looks of it. "I want to be able to do something more than just be a bystander in all of this," She explained further. "I'll give some of my blood, too! No matter what'll happen to me, I'm not changing my mind!"

Everyone was quiet once again for a few seconds. The Detective put a comforting, friendly hand on her shoulder, rubbing it as he nodded to her. "Well... c'mon then, y'all. A demon awaits us."

"Yes. Let's get this over with," The Colonel stated.

With a nod, Miss Grimwood looked out to her monster students and the rest of Mystery Inc. "Now, no matter what happens to us during the summoning, you all stay put. Don't try to intervene until the portal has been opened. Understood?" She requested. Barely anyone made a noise, as they were all unsure of how to respond. "That means even if we're all pulled in or even attacked, you must not get closer. Promise me this," She urged, an eyebrow raised.

"...you have our word," Sibella said quietly to her teacher.

That seemed to satisfy the headmistress, as she nodded. "Good... I'm proud of all of you. We're reaching the end of our mission. We just have to stay strong. I believe in all of you," She said with a smile.

"Like, ,we believe in you too, Miss G," Shaggy replied.

With another nod, Miss Grimwood turned her back to the larger group, gently instructing the other three volunteers on where to stand. She also handed each of them a ritual knife. "Now, do be careful. It will definitely hurt, but a cut on your hand will draw out enough blood to do the job. You remember the words, don't you Detective?"

"Yes ma'am," He answered, admiring the knife with his fingers as he replied to her, standing where he was instructed.

"Good. Okay everyone..." She said, looking to the center with the others. "On the count of three... we do it." With a nervous nod from Googie and a confident nod from the Detective and the Colonel, they settled their knives against the palms of their hands. Some of the others who were standing off to the side looked away, though others made sure to keep an eye on the four just in case something bad happened.

"Three..." Miss Grimwood began, the Detective already starting to murmur some words of a different language under his breath, too low for anyone to fully understand.

"Two..." She continued, Googie's hands shaking as she rested the sharp edge of the knife against the palm of her hand.

"One..." She went on, the Colonel drawing in a deep breath and steeling his nerves.

"Now!" Miss Grimwood finished, quickly slashing the blade against her hand, quickly drawing blood as she moved her palm downwards towards the circle, letting it splatter and drip into the pentagram. The others joined suit, with Googie letting out a sharp gasp of pain, Calloway letting out a grunt, and the Detective hesitating for a slight second before continuing his chant.

As blood flowed into the circle, the candles' flames grew upwards, growing brighter and hotter. The blood from their hands seemed to make the pentagram glow brightly, as the candle in the center seemed to burn hotter and hotter and hotter. Regardless of the fact that the wax was quickly melting under the intense heat, the flame did not falter. Instead, it continued to grow and grow, becoming rounder and taller.

Eventually, it was the size of a large human body, and the flame seemed to waver and change, somewhat. The fire was turning into a portal right before their very eyes. "Jinkies, it's working..!" Velma whispered harshly, watching with wide eyes. Everyone else was quite impressive, as well as terrified, of the sight before them.

Soon, the flame stopped changing, the other five candles at the points of the pentagram suddenly blowing out. At the center remained the portal in it's unholy glory. The Detective's chants slowed to a halt as everyone took in it's presence with awe.

"We did it..!" Googie gasped, quickly nursing her own bleeding hand.

"No turning back now," Elsa stated, taking in a deep breath.

"Let's not waste any time, then," Velma stated. Before any of them could step forward, though, another sight made all of them freeze in place.

To a few, it was a familiar sight, and not a very welcome one either.

The voice of J'alzhikhan began to giggle in everyone's ears.

Something was definitely wrong.

Something was horribly wrong.

And none of them could stop what was about to happen to the four summoners.

Chapter 18: A Labyrinthine Nightmare

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 18: A Labyrinthine Nightmare

It was silent. Eerily silent. The five members of Mystery Incorporated were all spread out, each one of them completely unconscious. It would be quite a long time before even one of them stirred into consciousness. Velma groaned out, her eyes slowly opening, being greeted with utter darkness. It was incredibly hard to make out anything, especially with the fact that her glasses had been knocked off of her face. It took her a few minutes longer before she was able to bring herself into motion, slowly and surely lifting herself up to her knees with her arms. With one hand, she rubbed her aching head, blinking as she tried, and failed, to fix her blurred vision. The other was starting to shift around on the ground to see if she could retrieve her glasses. She just hoped that they were laying around nearby and unbroken.

Strangely enough, what Velma touched didn't even feel like any sort of tangible material. The floor felt cold, sure, but it was not the familiar touch of wood or the smooth feeling of stone. Heck, it wasn't even the rough touch of gravel or dirt. It felt very... plain. Almost like it was meant to be nothing at all. A solid material for sure, but an impossible one at that. Deciding to investigate about this later, the girl kept fumbling around the ground for her glasses. Soon, she was successful in finding them, fortunately in one piece. Velma quickly pushed them to her face and blinked a few times, now finding her eyesight become properly adjusted. This still took a little bit, however, as the area was still shrouded in a sort of darkness.

She decided to stay to her knees, crawling around to see if she could find any of her friends nearby. Thankfully, it wouldn't take but a minute or so before she bumped against the tall, thin body of Shaggy, who was laid out right next to Scooby. Gently, she rested her hands on his side and began to try and shake him awake. "Wake up, Shaggy..!" She said, her voice coming out a lot quieter than she would've thought. Despite being in what felt like a wide open space, her voice didn't echo. In fact, it sounded as if her voice had no reverberation at all. This worried her into thinking that sounded didn't travel anywhere, but this fear was quickly put to rest as the man began to stir around, grumbling some.

"Gmph... Velma..?" He began, his own voice a lot more hoarse and quiet than it should have been. The moment Shaggy began to lift himself up, Scooby also snorted awake, quickly lifting himself up onto his feet with shaky legs. After realizing how much harder it felt to stand, the large Great Dane settled on sitting down for the time being. Velma helped Shaggy up to his knees as he did his best to steady himself. After getting settled as well, he wiped his eyes to try and adjust his own vision to the strange new environment. "Like, you're alive..!" He said, laughing nervously with a slight tone of relief, putting his hands on her shoulders, as if making sure she was still there. "...we are alive, right?" He added on, becoming very uneasy.

"I think so," She answered, smiling gently and gently patting his hands. Soon, they pulled away from each other and Velma began scanning the area once again. "Before we think about that, though, help me find Freddie and Daphne," She requested. The other two agreed to help and began to search around. While Scooby walked around on all fours just fine, Shaggy and Velma were a little bit more hesitant to get up on their feet. For one, they had no idea if they had the physical strength currently to even do so. Secondly, neither one of them felt like tripping over the body of their friends.

Fortunately for them, they were successful in finding the two of them, and not too far away from each other either. Velma tasked herself with trying to shake Fred awake while Shaggy and Scooby did the same for Daphne. Soon enough, both of them were successful, with the red-head waking up first, with Fred soon joining. Velma let out a loud sigh of relief as she helped him sit up. "Oh thankgodyou're alive," She said to the two, with everyone being pulled into a group hug.

"Of course! Why wouldn't we be?" Fred replied with a small laugh.

Soon, everyone pulled away from each other, each one of them still resting on their knees for the time being. Daphne was looking around, her look of relief soon showing one of unease. "So uh... who wants to try and explain where we ended up?" She asked. Everyone soon joined in, realizing there was a little bit more to take in. For one thing, it didn't look as if the group was in an large, open void of space. Rather, it felt like they were in a dark room, yet one that they couldn't even tough. Upon closer inspection, they could make out the edges of walls, as well as the ceiling. A plain, dark, black room, with nothing else but the group of five mystery enthusiasts. Secondly, the sense of foreboding and evilness that seemed to loom around them began to weigh down upon them. It was far stronger than anything they have felt previously. It was almost nauseating just how much it seemed to linger around.

"We must be in the Infernal Realm..." Velma said cautiously.

Soon, Shaggy gasped out and looked to everyone else, clearly becoming panicked. "Like, what happened to the girls?" He began, trying to make his way up to his feet.

"Careful, Raggy..!" Scooby warned, not wanting his friend to trip over himself in a fit of panic. Despite this, Shaggy began to move around a bit more freely without much incident. Scooby joined his side as he began to inspect the walls, giving the other three enough time to get up on their feet as well.

"I don't see them anywhere," Fred stated as he searched around the room as well. "I don't see any sign of Googie, the Colonel, Miss Grimwood, or the Detective anywhere either. Seems like we're the only ones in this... place?" He continued, scratching his head as he tried to comprehend their location.

"What do you supposed happened to them?" Daphne asked the others.

"I don't know," Velma said, rubbing her forehead as she groaned. "For some reason, I can't... remember how we even got here."

"...that's weird," Daphne said, concentrating for a little bit before shrugging. "...I don't either."

"Same here," Fred confirmed, a hand on his chin. "Last thing I recall was us opening the portal... and then we all woke up here."

"Like, I wonder if they're all in the same kind of situation as us," Shaggy called out to the others from a wall, rubbing his hand against what looked like nothing. "Like, there's no doors or anything!"

"Seems like he wants us trapped..." Velma sighed out. "For what reason, I doubt is anything nice."

"So it just wants us to starve to death?" Daphne asked, rolling her eyes a little bit. "That's kinda lame, to be honest. I would've figured it would've done something more creative."

"How naive of you," Came a new voice. A different voice. A very unwelcome voice. Shaggy and Scooby yelled out, almost instantly recognizing it. The gang all turned their attention upwards, towards whatever ceiling there was. The voice began to gurgle and cackle, and quite loudly at that. It was quite the contrast to their quiet conversations early, that it was quite ear-splitting hearing it laugh in such a disgusting manner. Sure enough, though, almost like a large, black, slimy glob, it seemed to drip from the ceiling, quickly forming into a large spider. The torso was that of a nasty, witch like woman, with numerous red eyes and large, sharp teeth protruding out of it's mouth, which hung open, allowing a long, vine-like tongue to hang from it, drooling in a nasty way. It's limbs moved in an unnatural way, almost snapping and cracking with each sudden movement.

Everyone was frozen in place, with Shaggy and Scooby shaking with immense fear. "R-r-r-revolta!" Scooby yelped out.

"L-l-like what'reyoudoing here?" Shaggy added on, his voice quivering as much as his body was.

It seemed to laugh even louder, with Daphne covering her ears with a wince on her face. "Ugh!You surelooklike a nasty old witch!" She called out.

"Why, thank you, dearie," The arachnid Revolta said, her voice dripping with a sickeningly sweet tone, which was used solely to mock everyone. "I should ask all ofyouthe same question!" She began, her voice quickly changing to that of malice. "My master is not so happy to hear that you're trying to butt into his plans!"

"But we thought you got blown up!" Fred accused, pointing a finger in her direction. Revolta turned her gaze to him, flashing a look of absolute disgust to the human.

"Idid," She hissed angrily, her clawed hands twitching and forming into fists. "However, my master was oh so kind enough to rebuild me into somethingbetter.Morepowerful!" She laughed, arching her back a bit, which cracked loudly.

"What did you do with the others?" Velma called out, growing more and more impatient with this nasty woman. However, she knew better than to show it, as she needed answers first and foremost.

Revolta turned her attention to Velma, this time her gaze forming a large, malicious smile. "Me? Oh,I'vedone nothing with them. My master on the other hand..." She said, trailing off as she stood up a little bit higher, easily towering over the others. "Oh... butnoneof you remember, do you?" She said, laughing darkly as she mocked everyone.

As much as she didn't want to admit, the witch was correct. No matter how hard any of them tried, their minds quickly fogged into blackness, which gave them an immense migraine that they could not dwell on it for much longer. Taking everyone's silence as an answer of agreement, the witch laughed and raised both of her arms, as well as two of her vine-like spider legs. "Then let me give you a little...reminder," She laughed.

Without warning, black thorny vines sprouted from the ground in front of each member. Everyone flinched and yelled out, but didn't have enough time to react in any other way, as the vines soon touched their heads. Soon, everyone was spaced out, unable to move as their conscious mind were transported elsewhere...

The group all had the same vision. All of them were looking down upon the scene of everyone hanging out in the secret room, watching as the portal to the Infernal Realm was created. They all watched as they all began to make their way towards the portal, when they heard the familiar sound of J'alzhikhan giggling, which rang out among the room. Despite the pain that the whole group could feel from watching this scene play out again, they instantly began to remember everything as it happened right before their very eyes once again.

Googie was the first to shriek out as she looked at her feet. Black, melting vines seemed to crawl up her legs, locking her in place. What's more, it seemed to make her sink into the ground, slowly enveloping her whole body. The others noticed this as well, starting to yell out and panic, trying to help. Soon, they would notice that Calloway, the Detective, and even Miss Grimwood, were coming under the effects of whatever spell was happening. Everyone tried to hold onto their arms, trying to pull them out from the ground, but whatever force was making them melt away was too great. It was quite an alarming sight.

Miss Grimwood had quite the dark, grim look on her face as she turned to those around her. Her words still rang out loud and urgently. "Something is very wrong. Hurry into the portal, now!"

They were all still hesitant to do so, with Tanis yelling out as Googie was the first to melt into the ground, her hands disappearing into the puddle of black liquid, which quickly simmered away. "S-she's gone..!" She cried out in horror.

"Like, wecan'tleave you behind!" Shaggy added on, still trying his best to pull Miss Grimwood out, along with Sibella, Elsa, and Velma. The woman wasn't having it and shook her head, shoving them away.

"There's nothing you can do now, except listen to me. Nowgo," She commanded, watching as the Detective soon melted away, along with the Colonel. Phantasma panicked and tried to phase into the ground after them, but came back through with no luck.

"C'mon!" Velma said, turning to everyone else as she turned her attention to the portal. Seeing as how they all had no other choice, everyone began to dart into the portal. Everyone hurried with a look of desperation, hoping that none of them perished. Velma was the last to enter the portal, as she stayed behind a few seconds to watch the remains of Miss Grimwood melt into the floorboards. Knowing she had little time before the portal closed completely, she flung herself into the portal.

Revolta's vines snapped away from everyone's head, making them all yell and gasp out. As the vines decayed away rapidly, they all turned with a new look: anger. "That's right..! I remember now!" Velma began.

"Like, he killed them all!" Shaggy said, preparing a fighting stance, his whole body still shaking. "What's more, we still don't know what happened with the girls!" Scooby stood his ground as well, growling with an intense hatred towards the spider.

The spider-witch woman merely laughed again, stretching her long arms. "He did notkillthem. That would be merciful on my master's part," She said with an evil grin. "No, he's got somethingworsein mind..!" She said, giggling with malicious glee. Revolta's gaze changed from person to person, finding amusem*nt in the fact that each one of them looked about ready to start fighting her. "Oh, come now! This wouldn't be fair, now would it?" She giggled, pointing a crooked finger towards one of the walls. "After all, you didn't eventryto escape yet!"

"What are you talking about?" Fred began. "Thereisno... escape?" He said, trailing off as his eyes turned to the wall. Or at least, therewasa wall there. Everyone noticed him staring, so they joined in, also confused by the fact that instead, there was a large stone door, with carvings all over it. Despite the darkness, there was a definite fact that it wasn't there before. "Where did that come from?" He asked aloud.

"That'salwaysbeen there," Revolta answered, cackling evilly as she mocked the human. "My master just wanted you all to think for yourselves a little bit! This is his domain, and he can do as he pleases, don't you know!" She began to mock them all, tapping the tip of her finger against her chin. "Maybe all of your research was for nothing..." She hummed, taking glee in the sight of all of them turning back at her, visibly angry, but also noticeably scared.

"You stay out of this!" Daphne began. "Besides, at least we don't need someone to tell us what to do, unlike you, you ugly hag!"

Revolta's face scrunched up into an ugly grimace as she heard the redhead's remarks. "You should feel lucky that my master had told me to give you a fair head start, otherwise you would all know the true extent of my power..." She threatened, starting to turn her body towards a wall. Everyone was wary about what she was about to do, but quickly got out of the way as she began to scuttle up the walls and into the ceiling once again. Her cackling echoed around them, booming into their ears as she mocked them all. "Wewillmeet each other again... and I won't go easy when we do," She threatened as she seemed to melt into the ceiling.

Despite the fact that she wanted answers, Velma didn't dare try to stop her. After all, not only was she incredibly ugly and malicious, but trying anything with the witch didn't seem like the smartest idea, since she was much larger and clearly stronger than all of them combined ."Damn..!" She huffed harshly. "That barely answered anything!"

"Guess we're just gonna have to figure things out on our own, as usual," Fred sighed, moving their attention back towards the as he made his way towards it. "Besides, let's not forget the main reason we're all here," he continued on.

"Like, no turning back at this point," Shaggy said with a sigh of his own. He and Scooby, as well as Velma and Daphne, joined Fred's side as he began to scan over the strange carvings on the door. His fingers gingerly traced over them all as they began to take in what they saw. "What do you suppose this all means, gang?" He asked the others.

"They look like... animals almost," Daphne replied as she looked at the corners of the stone door. Sure enough, upon closer inspection, they all noticed the various animals carved into the stonework. Starting from the top left, there was a large wolf, standing tall and proud. On the top right was a cobra, reared up as if it were ready to strike. On the bottom right was the lanky figure of a cat, which looked to be stalking. The bottom left sported a large spider, and finally in the center was an enormous bat-like demon, it's large wings spread wide open. Surrounding each major engraving were numerous, small sigils scratched all over the rest of the door.

"Like, what are these even supposed to represent?" Shaggy asked, scratching his head as he looked over all of the markings a couple more times. Velma ran a finger across one of them curiously as she began to ponder about them herself.

"Perhaps they're warnings of what's to come," She thought aloud. "If the spider is anything to go by, at least."

"Representing Revolta, probably," Fred continued on, confused by the other markings. "Something tells me this won't be easy, if we gotta deal with more than one demon in this maze."

"Like, joy..." Shaggy sighed in a dejected tone. "You don't suppose the others are trapped in there as well, do you?"

With a sigh, Velma nodded, giving a grim look towards her lanky friend. "They could be, Shaggy." This caused him to gulp and straighten up, sharing a fearful look with Scooby.

"Guess we'd better not waste any time then," Daphne responded, looking to the group. With a shared nod, they would all grip the large stone handle of the door, using their collective strength to pull it open. It was incredibly heavy and took quite a bit of time before they even managed to get it open wide enough to look into. Everyone struggled and grunted, with everyone having to take a few seconds just to recollect themselves. They wouldn't stop, however, until the door was fully opened.

The sound of stone grinding against the floor seemed to echo loudly, piercing into their brain, not unlike how Revolta's laugh had done. Thankfully, the group of mystery enthusiasts managed to open the door completely, panting and groaning as they let go of the handle. "Jeepers..! That...whew... was a lot harder than I thought..!"

"You're telling me..!" Shaggy panted, resting against his knees while Scooby nodded in agreement, slumping forwards a little.

"Let's not rest yet, gang," Fred stated, looking into the opening. "Take a look," He'd request to everyone, currently looking into what looked like a long, dark hallway. The rest of the group also looked in, feeling quite uneasy with the fact that none of them could see past a couple of yards. Velma tried t use her phone to shine the light into it, but it seemed that nothing could pierce the veil of darkness inside.

"Looks like we don't have a choice but to go in blind," Velma said, putting her phone away.

"Well, let's go, I guess," Fred said, beginning to head inside. Before going in too far, he looked to everyone else, a serious look on his face. "No matter what happens, though, let'snotsplit up this time, gang. We'll have safety in numbers, and if any one of us splits away from the rest, it could mean death," He explained. Shaggy and Scooby gulped audibly upon hearing him say that, but much like the others, they steeled their nerves and agreed.. Soon, the group followed Fred into the hallway.

Strangely enough, the door didn't do the stereotypical spooky thing and shut automatically behind them. It just... remained open into the previous room. None of them had any interest in going back, of course, but it was a weird detail that they did notice. What they also took into account was the fact that, despite being unable to see anything farther than a few meters in front of them, they could see their immediate surroundings with no impairment whatsoever. The hall was extremely quiet, almost infuriatingly so. Not even the sounds of their footfalls were audible to anyone. No one said anything for the time being, as everyone was staying on edge, just in case anything happened.

Velma kept her eyes on the walls as she walked carefully with the rest of her friends. There were no strange markings, unfortunately, which could've certainly been helpful to them if they ever got lost. For the time being, however, it felt like the hallway was endless. None of them noticed any separating hallways or other rooms. The bookworm gently reached her hand out to feel the strange stony walls, which seemed to stand taller than any one of them could physically see.

Much like the floor back in the previous room, it didn't feel like the wall was made out of any real material, and sure didn't feel like cobblestone. Because her attention faltered for a little bit, she bumped directly into Daphne's back, the two of them letting out a grunt as they collided. "Oof! Sorry, Daphne..!" She apologized, quickly fixing her glasses before turning her gaze towards her friend. The suddenness of the two walking into each other caused the others to jump a bit, having been used to hearing nothing but their own heartbeat.

"It's okay..!" She gasped out quickly, sighing in relief. "Thought something was coming after me," She sighed.

"Like, guys..?" Shaggy began, pointing a finger forwards. "I don't think this is going to be easy," He stated. As everyone looked forwards, they realized why Shaggy was looking so skeptical, causing them all to stop in place. Even with the fog of darkness hiding most of what was ahead of them, Mystery Incorporated could still see that the hallway was splitting off into four different directions.

"This isn't just a hallway... it's a maze!" Fred exclaimed quietly.

"Wearein J'alzhikhan's realm," Velma responded, her gaze shifting from each different hallway. There didn't seem to be any sort of difference between any of them, and knowing just how this particular demon operated, these were only the first of many different pathways that the gang could take.

Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby looked almost expectantly to Fred, who looked to everyone else in confusion. "...what?" After being met with silence, the blond seemed to realize what they were waiting for, and he let out a bit of a sigh. "Gang, I was serious about usnotsplitting up..! Who knows what we'll come across in these!" The others let out a sigh as well, although it was one of relief. They were quite thankful that he was going to stay true to his word, although the problem of which path to take quickly arose to the top of their priorities. "Let's just... uh..." Fred began again, his gaze shifting between each pathway again. "That one!" He said with finality, pointing to the right most path. Finding themselves in no position to disagree (considering they didn't know what they were getting into either), the gang followed.

The next few minutes would roll by as uneventfully as the first few, with Mystery Inc. slowly and silently making their way through the hall that they chose. Once again, the hallway was shrouded in darkness, with no real sign of progress. Eventually, Fred slowed to a halt as he saw another split in the maze, allowing him to either go right or left. "Well, gang, where to now?" He asked, turning back to everyone expectantly.

Except there was no one behind him. Fred's face dropped when he realized that he was standing in the hallway... completely alone. Weren't they alljustbehind him? How did they all suddenly disappear? Was this the demon's doing? "Gang..?" He said, starting to show a bit of panic in his voice. "H-hey guys, c'mon! Quit playing around!" He said, laughing in a scared manner, starting to walk back down the hallway from where he entered. "Guys! Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, anyone?!" He called. He soon reached where he entered the hallway... but noticed that instead of being greeted with the three other halls, it merely split off into two directions again.

Fred gulped and turned back around, his eyes quickly scanning around as he tried to calm himself. "A-alright, Freddie... calm down..." He told himself, starting to find his footing and start making his way to the right. "C-clearly this demon's messing with your head..." He reassured himself. "If it's just trying to get us lost, then it'll have to do better than this..!" He said, slowly regaining what little courage he had within him. Before he could continue onward with his own trek through the maze, he heard a noise, which caused him to freeze in place. It sounded like something hitting against the ground. And somethingheavytoo.

The blond turned his attention to the source, both creeped out and confused with what he saw. It was... an arm? Slowly moving closer, he inspected it a bit. Pale and sickly looking, with some obvious stitching on it. Being careful to not damage it as he touched it, he gasped out. "T-this isElsa'sarm!" He exclaimed, quickly backing up. Soon, he heard the same noise again. Then two more times. Quickly looking around, Fred noticed that her other arm and both of her legs came falling from above, almost encircling him. Fully freaked out at this point, all he could do was watch with a horrified expression.

Another heavythudlanded just a few feet in front of him, which made him yelp out. Looking upwards at the shrouded darkness of the sky, he began to yell to the demon, who was probably watching him struggle. "What did you do with her?!" He called out, his tone a mixture of fear, and anger. If J'alzhikhan actually killed her...

The next odd sight would cause Fred to put his attention back upon the golem girl's discarded body parts, as they began to move towards each other, as if reassembling. Weirdly enough, he would've found the sight of this happening a lotlessoff-putting if it weren't for the fact that thin, familiar looking vines sprouted from the ground, starting to put them all back together. Fred found himself pushed up against the wall, rooted on the spot due to fear. "W-what is happening? If this J'alzhikhan's doing..?" He asked himself.

Cackling could be heard once again, making Fred look directly upwards, as if expecting to see Revolta crawling above. Instead, what he saw was just as scary. Thin, black webbing came oozing from the sky, slowly weaving into the golem's skin, holding up the body as if she were a marionette. Finally, as Fred had been dreading, he saw one more black string come down from above, wrapped around Elsa's disembodied head. Her eyes were shut, but her mouth hung open. "Elsa..!" He gasped out, not knowing what was about to happen next. "Please,pleasestill be alive somehow!" He begged aloud to no one in particular. Deep down, Fred knew that no amount of begging would stop what was going on.

Elsa's head was soon placed onto her body, twisting it into place. The moment her body reassembled, each black web began to shoot electricity into her, bringing her back to life. It seemed unnatural, however, almost as if this wasn't the proper way to bring a flesh golem to life (if there was arightway, anyways). She screamed out loudly, her voice intermingled with another that was not her own. After jolting around and screaming, she was placed onto the ground, her eyes glowing a deep, crimson hue. For awhile, she stood in place, motionless. The only movement that Fred could make out was her eyes, scanning the area.

The instant that her eyes fell upon the frightened blond, she jerked into action, stretching her arms out towards him as she ambled at him. Her voice was deep, the voice of Revolta pushing through her vocal chords. Fred began to back up as her legs began to stomp a bit faster at him. "Your head start is over, Fred Jones! Don't resist our master any longer!" She called out.

Fred almost tripped as he backed up, starting to break into a run. "Unhand her, you witch!" He yelled upwards, knowing that she was controlling Elsa from somewhere up above.

With a deep, low chuckle, the Revolta controlled Elsa cracked a scary smile, cracking her neck in an off-putting manner. "Why fight it? Most of your pals are already under his control! Come on... join us..!" She threatened, her body accelerating quite a bit at this point. Knowing he had no other choice at this point, Fred continued to run, letting his legs carry him deeper and deeper into the maze, with no knowledge of where he was going. He allowed his gut instinct to choose each turn randomly, knowing that it was futile to try and figure out the right direction.

"sh*t sh*tsh*t!" Fred gasped out, panting heavily as he kept trying to outrun the possessed Elsa. He didn't evenwantto think about what the others were going through! Was the rest of the gang already possessed at this point? Were they lost, or evenkilled? What was worse is that Fred knew the rest of the girls were probably already under the control of J'alzhikhan, not to mention his friends who were taken before they entered the Infernal Realm! Fred knew not to slow down, even as his chest began to hurt and his legs began to stumble a lot more often. He did his best to come up with a plan to either free Elsa or at the very least lose her lead.

Because he knew that if he didn't come up with something fast, he could end up as another puppet for the demon to control.

"Okay, like, this isn't funny anymore, guys!" Shaggy called out into the hallway. Scooby was trailing closely behind his friend, quickly looking around with a fearful look on his face.

"Raggy... we're lost..!" He whined, hurrying towards the man's left side. Gently scratching his head to help ease both of their nerves, Shaggy looked down to him, nodding with a loud, audible gulp.

"Y-yeah, no question about that, Scoob!" He replied, keeping his other hand on the wall for what little guidance it could have provided. "Like, let's just keep going, Scoob. Maybe we'll get lucky and come across the others," He'd say, his voice wavering and shaking quite a bit. With that, the two continued on their way, the feeling of dread and nausea seeming a lot more evident now that the two were without their friends. Mixed with the knowledge that the others were probably in immense danger, they were in danger of passing out due to fear!

They continued on, though, realizing that the hallway they were walking through was slowly starting to become wider, with the two noticing the maze walls were starting to form moss and vines. Not the black ones that Revolta made, but actual vegetation! Neither one of them knew if this would be a good sign or not, but at the very least, something would be more interesting then the same boring hallways they've been walking down.

Finally, the two reached an opening in the hallway, which lead into an area that neither one of them expected to be in a place like this. It was wide open, almost as if it were a courtyard to an overgrown garden, illuminated in a nonexistent moonlight that gave everything an unnatural glow. Surrounding the entire are were multiple openings to the maze, each entrance large and easy to see, even if visibility into the hallways were low. In the middle was a large, old stone fountain. There were lots of cracks and a few chunks of stone missing from the fountain itself, as well as the fact that it was overgrown with thorny vines and dark moss. There were also numerous bushes planted all around, with all of them sporting an impressive bloom of black roses. To really bring home the aesthetic of an old, forgotten garden, there were a couple of metal benches, the legs of which were also wrapped in the dangerous vines. Fortunately for Shaggy and Scooby, the seats themselves looked untouched, if a little rusted. They both opted to sit down in one of them, with the man letting out a shaky sigh, his hands over his face.

"Like, let's just rest here a few moments, Scoob," He'd say, with his canine friend nodding in agreement. "If we're lucky, then, like, maybe the others will find their way here as well. Let's just hope they don't get too lost..." He sighed.

"Ruh-huh," Scooby concurred, resting by his friend and looking around. "Weird place..."

"Like, tell me about it," Shaggy replied, leaning over to admire the rose bushes. "Well, at least it's nottoospooky," He'd say gently extending a finger towards one of the roses. Strangely enough, the rose seemed to stir to life, twitching and snaking it's way towards the man's finger slowly, almost as if it were being cautious. Shaggy was freaked out, quickly pulling his hand back with a small yelp. The flower seemed to react in the same way, quickly moving backwards as if it were reacting to his surprised shout. "Gah! Like, what the hell?" He exclaimed, with Scooby also flinching at the sight. The Great Dane carefully leaned forward, sniffing the now inactive flower.

"Rhat happened, Raggy?" Scooby asked, turning his head towards him.

"Like, no clue, Scoob!" He answered, looking over his hand now. "Like, maybe it's that weird magical ability or something?" Scooby tilted his head in confusion while the man continued to look around the overgrown courtyard. "Maybe there's something about this realm that, like, makes magic more potent," He thought aloud. Looking back to his fingers, he waved them around a little bit as he furrowed his brow. Scooby seemed to follow suit, lifting up one of his paws and waving it around to see if he could invoke some sort of magical ability. "Now to figure out how it works..."

Unfortunately for the two, neither one would have much more time to dwell on this sort of ability. A ground below them started to rumble, just slightly. At first, neither one of them noticed this until it made the metal benches shake under them. They began to look around as the thumps and slams grew louder. Shaggy and Scooby looked around fearfully, the two of them quickly jumping to their feet. "Like, what's happening?" He gulped, Scooby quickly hiding behind him.

The shaking was slow, yet increasing in volume, almost as if something large and heavy was on it's way. As the noise grew louder, the two realized that, aside from stomping, there was a slight noise of clattering and rattling of metal. It made their dread grow in the pit of their stomachs, their heads slowly turning towards one of the entrances. Much to their chagrin, they were right in assuming that that was the entrance the source of the noise would enter, as it slowly made it's presence known.

Even through the thick veil of darkness, they could make out four shining red orbs. One pair of certainly taller than anything Shaggy or Scooby would expect, almost as if it were the size of the fountain in the middle of the room. It seemed focused forwards, unwavering in position. The second pair seemed to be looking around expectantly, almost eagerly. They looked a lot more rough and natural, although with the noise of snarling and growling coming through the pounding footfalls and rattling of metal, Shaggy didn't think that hearing such a variety of noises was a good thing.

"Zoinks..! Like, what's that..?!" He exclaimed, backing up with his friend as far as they could without breaking eye contact.

"R-ronsters!?" Scooby yelped, cowering behind his taller human friend. Sure enough, the figure stomped into the room, the strange, unnatural lighting of the area. It looked to be a large knight, made completely out of metal. It's red eyes pierced through the battered old helmet, focused intently on the two food loving beatniks. Strangely enough, the two noticed that it's top half looked humanoid, even if they couldn't make out any sort of body parts. Around it's waist was a large scabbard, no doubt keeping an enormous sword sheathed inside of it. It's lower half, while also made of metal, looked more wolf like in appearance, as the knight stood on the strong, hind legs of a wolf, even sporting a long, shiny tail. Despite it's obvious choice in weaponry, the knight did not keep it's hands resting on it's side. Rather, it opted to hold a large chain with both gauntlets. Whatever was on the other end of the chain was falling behind quite a bit, as it had opted to smell around in the hallway. The knight paid no mind to it as it slowly approached the two, slowing to a halt.

Shaggy and Scooby had a staring match with the large knight for a few seconds before it finally... spoke? "So... it looks as if you've found His garden, hm?" It said, it's voice loud and commanding, yet hollow and almost monotonous. The voice was quite familiar to the duo, yet could not quickly come to the conclusion of who it was, due to the fact that they were still trying to wrap their heads around the maze itself.

"Like... his garden?" Shaggy asked, giving the bushes a side glance. His attention quickly snapped forward as the knight suddenly yelled, filled with an intense fiery hatred.

"FACE FORWARDS! I HAVE NOT RELIEVED YOU YET, ROGERS!" It screamed, also gaining the attention of whatever it was dragging around by a chain. It let out a confused huff, it's eyes scanning over it's metal master.

Shaggy and Scooby shook in place, their skin growing quite pale. Their feet felt rooted to the ground, almost as if they were starting to become overgrown with vines as well. They were too scared to check and merely let the knight continue forwards. The way the voice seemed to shout at them, however, quickly unlocked their memory of who this knight reminded them of.

"..Colonel?" Shaggy asked in a scared, unsure tone. Sure enough, the knight seemed to bow its head slightly, not removing it's gaze from the frightened man.

"Indeed," The knight responded, it's voice still firm, yet returning back to a monotonous tone.

"Like, what happened to you, man?" Shaggy asked in a frightened manner.

"I was changed for the better,CoachRogers," The monstrous Calloway answered, almost as if it were sneering to the man. "I would not have realized just how muchbetterI can be now that I fully relate to your students!" It said with a triumphant laugh. "But He showed me my unproven potential. That I can use my own power to prove against all the humiliation I've had to endure over the years, having to live in your shadow!"

For a few moments, Shaggy furrowed his brow, with Scooby looking at the metal Calloway with just as much confusion as the human. "Like, what are you talking about?" He asked, his eyes following the chain, still unable to see what was on the other side. What he did know, however, was that the two red eyes of whatever was chained up were now piercing into him intently. They felt familiar as well...

"I've tried for years to get them to listen to me!" He continued on, his voice slowly increasing in volume and anger. "Yet you come along once again and show me up! I donotappreciate it, Rogers," He replied, finally breaking eye contact with the frightened duo to tug at the chain and yank his captive forwards. It stumbled forwards, letting out a loud growl of discomfort. However, once it was revealed into the light, it's eyes shot back to Shaggy and Scooby, the two of which let out a loud gasp of shock.

It was Winnie, yet she looked far worse for wear than she did before entering the realm. For one, she looked a lot more feral, her fur standing on edge and her hair looking incredibly frazzled and messy. Her clothes looked even more dirty and torn than before, and her claws even looked a lot longer than they should've been! Her eyes seemed to glow an unnatural red, instead of their usual yellow. She panted heavily, snarling at the two, making them cower before they turned back to the metal Calloway. "Like, what did youdoto her?!" He asked, feeling his hands twitch and shake as they rested by his side.

The monstrous Colonel merely let out a dark laugh, shaking the chain a little in a taunting manner. "I've found a way to make her obedient, Rogers," He replied, gripping the chain tightly. "We both just needed the right motivation from Him."

"Like, you're not talking about... t-the demon?" Shaggy asked as he gulped.

"Who else?" He'd respond. "He's beenmostdispleased with you, so far. You know quite a lot, and yet won't reveal anything to Him. "No matter his method, he's had some of the most trouble withyou. And that's why he's sent me after you. To bring you to your senses, or force you to the hard way," He explained coldly. "Now come.Surely you don't want to do it the hard way? And end up like your dear student here?" He taunted, referring to Winnie, who looked to be preparing to leap after Scooby and Shaggy.

Shaggy glanced to Winnie, who was obviously being controlled by something greater. He knew that this wasn't how she would act, and even knew that the Colonel wouldn't become such an evil monster on his own. This was J'alzhikhan's doing, plain and simple, and while the alternative would surely be incredibly deadly and dangerous, Shaggy knew he had no other option but to go with his gut, which felt as if there was a large pit in the middle.

"Like... I don't know how it feels to be in your position right now, Colonel. But I won't succumb to whatever has gotten a hold of you, Winnie, and like, probably everyone else!" He rambled, doing his best to put on a brave stance, staring firmly right back at the metal knight. "So, like, go tellHimto go f*ck itself."

There was a long pause between them, a loud silence erupting in the unnatural garden. Finally, after an uncomfortable amount of time, the demonic Colonel slowly lowered it's arms, the chain still gripped tightly in his gauntlets. Without warning, it would slam one of it's wolf-like legs onto the chain, instantly breaking it and shattering a good portion of it into dust with an effortless action. Winnie was freed, and she soon let out an enormous, animalistic howl. A small length of chain remained around her neck, which clattered as she moved around. Her gaze fell back to Shaggy and Scooby, who yelled out and began to quickly back up.

"Zoinks! Like, let's book it Scoob!" He screamed, running back into the maze with the werewolf quickly running after them, trying to swipe and grab at them. The large metal knight quickly unsheathed his sword, holding it expertly with one hand as it began to follow after Winnie, using her as a hunting dog.

"RUN WHILE YOU CAN, ROGERS! SHE HAS YOUR SCENT! AND I WILL FIND YOU!"

Daphne knew she had no right to be mad at Fred, but she couldn't help but feel frustrated. Despite her best efforts, shestillended up separated from the rest of her group! It was almost as if fate was always trying to put her in peril...

"Ugh... is it me or is it getting... hotter?" She asked herself quietly, trying her best to get her eyes readjusted to the dark. At this point, the air did indeed start feeling a lot more stale and hot, making her start to sweat. It was uncomfortable, but she knew that if she stopped, then she would never find her way out. Not only that, but it was most likely another tactic used by J'alzhikhan to stop her from descending any further into his impossible labyrinth.

Opting to roll up her sleeves, Daphne started to realize that she was beginning to walk on something more firm than what she was before. Looking down for the moment, she realized that she was no longer on an unidentifiable surface, but rather sandstone. It looked rough, naturally, with piles of sand resting in every nook and cranny. Doing her best to not get any in her shoes, she also looked to the walls, confirming her suspicions that they had changed as well. She took notice of the fact that hieroglyphics seemed to cover the walls, intermingled with Satanic sigils. Her eyes scanned over a few of them for a few moments before continuing her trek into the sweltering hallway. "Man, if only Velma was here..."

As she continued on, Daphne realized that the room was opening up into a large room. At least, hopefully it was a room. The lighting did not seem to change, yet the walls seemed to disappear. As she went in further, she realized that sand dunes were becoming a lot bigger and more abundant. "I've got a feeling that Tanis might be around here," She mused, continuing to walk among the sand. "This reminds me an awful lot of her room..." Daphne continued, taking notice of the fact that a few broken stone pillars were scattered among the sand. The red-head gently touched one of them, being careful not to hurt herself on any jagged edges. "This is... peculiar. I'm no expert, but these don't look Egyptian. Looks more like they belong in Ancient Rome or something," She said to herself. Looking around, she sighed and rubbed her sweaty forehead, sighing a bit. "Aaaand here I am talking to no one... get a hold of yourself, Daphe," She continued to say to herself, walking along. [

Her field of view was still heavily reduced, but she could still make her way around any broken stone that she saw so that she wouldn't accidentally kick something and hurt herself. Or worse, attract unwanted attention. She froze in place as her ears picked up a new noise, one that wasn't the sound of her feet walking through sand or the sound of her own heart. Instead she heard... weeping? Incredibly gentle, soft crying, as if someone had just experienced the death of someone. She began to move slower, trying to remain as quiet as she possibly could as she made herself walk closer to the source of the crying, being careful to not alert... whatever it was.

As she grew closer, she began to realize that there weretwobeings crying, and she could make out a shadowy silhouette of two figure holding each other on the ground, keeping each other company as they wept. Despite the fact that her throat felt dry and hoarse from walking around in the dry heat, she still managed to whisper at the hidden figures. "Hello..?" She said, quietly clearing her throat, finding it difficult to find her voice. The two continued to weep, seemingly not aware of her presence. Stepping closer, Daphne managed to find the courage to raise her voice, whispering just a little bit louder. "Hello..?" She whispered again. This time, the two stopped, yet continued to gently hug each other. At this point, they were clearly aware of someone else being close to them.

Daphne slowly continued to walk forward, trying to make out who she was trying to gain the attention of. Standing just a couple of yards away, she could finally make out a certain girl wrapped in bandages... and another figure, who looked oddly familiar, yet whose skin was a sickly, almost scaly green. Their hair seemed to slowly come to life, waving around as if it were alive. Their face was covered in a blindfold, yet up close Daphne could see that her lower half was... snake-like. Of course, the style of her hair, the pitch of her voice... soon, she recognized just who was kneeling before her.

"Tanis? Googie? Is that you?" She began delicately, slowly reaching towards them. "Are... are you two alright-" Her sentence was cut off as large, towering pillars came shooting out of the ground, surrounding the three of them. The force of the ground shaking beneath her caused Daphne to trip backwards, landing on her back. She caught herself before the back of her head hit the stone ground, yet she let out a loud yell, unaware of what was going on. "H-hey, what is this?!" She shrieked out, watching with a panicked gaze as the pillars continued to rise up, stopping once they rose above her visibility level. The red-head heard shifting around, her sight quickly moving to the two, who started to stand. It took her a few moments before she found her foot and quickly scrambled to her own feet.

"So... you've finally shown up..." Hissed the voice of what Daphne assumed to be Googie. She made no effort to look Daphne's way, although Tanis did, her own eyes red. It clearly was not from crying, and the small mummy was giving a very firm, displeased frown to the red-head. Now that she was standing upright, she realized that the strawberry blonde looked so much different than before. It reminded her of the old stories of Medusa, the snake-haired Gorgon with a stony stare. Daphne didn't know if her wearing a blindfold was a good thing or not.

"Uh... y-yeah..!" She answered. "How... did you two get here?" She began to ask, feeling more and more unsure of their intentions. Neither one of them sounded too happy that she was there with them.

"We woke up here," Tanis responded, her own voice sounding very displeased. "He was kind enough to make sure we were safe..."

"Safe? Safe from what?" Daphne continued to question, looking between the mummy and the reptilian Googie.

"From what?" She hissed, her head slowly turning in the direction of Daphne. "More like from who..!" She replied, quickly pointing a finger in her direction. "After all... is it not because of your curiosity that we've ended up as we are now?!" She accused harshly.

"W-what?!" Daphne exclaimed, quickly lifting her hands up. "What do you mean?"

"Was it not because of your curiosity that we've ended up malformed and misguided? You and the others, yes?" She continued to explain, her fingers twitching by her side. "We were the lucky ones... spared by Him, and given his knowledge. Given the ability to move past our limitations and achieve powers beyond imaginable. It's His gift!" She said with a low laugh.

"Who else..?" Daphne said with a shaky. "Did... the others..?"

"You don't know?" She said, tilting her head and frowning to the red-head. "Well... we guess you'll find out soon enough," Googie said, stretching her arms and starting to slither around. Daphne did not keep her eyes off of her, although Tanis still remained standing in place. "You tried to leave us here to suffer...so we'll return the favor!" She yelled out, snapping her fingers. In an instant, pillars of flames erupted in between the pillars of stone, nowtrulytrapping them inside!

Daphne yelled out as she tried to keep talking, yelling at them to come to their senses. "Please, that wasn't the case! None of us knew this was all going to happen!" She begged. "We never wanted anyone to get hurt!"

"And yet you did!" Tanis shrieked out, her voice sounding incredibly enraged. Daphne's attention turned to the mummy girl, who was using her own magical powers to make herself levitate in place, making swarms of bandages snake from her body, starting to attack the red-head. She was lucky she dodged out of the way, but with how close to the fire she rolled, she knew she was going to have to fight this one out. She began to pant and sweat even more as she quickly got to her feet and ran in another direction, barely avoiding another attack.

"Grrraagh!" Growled the voice of the Gorgon Googie, who flicked her tail to form a miniature tornado made of sand, sending it in Daphne's direction. She closed her eyes in time, doing her best to not be knocked back by the wind. As the wind began to die down, the monstrous mutation of Googie hissed out angrily, "No running this time! Make your last fight count, and accept your fate!"

Daphne panted heavily, staring between the two of them. While she was unaware if she even harbored any magical abilities, she knew for a fact that she couldn't just give in. Despite not wanting to fight either of her friends, she sighed and took a fighting stance. "Good thing I have a black belt..." She muttered, changing her footing. "Alright then. You want a fight? Then I'll give you one," She'd say, fixing her gaze on the two.

She just hoped that a two against one fight would not be as unfair as the odds appeared.

"IswearI've walked by this area before," Velma sighed, staring at the wall. While there were no discernible markings on the wall for her to identify, she got a sense of familiarity at this point. After all, it certainly had been a long while since she had somehow separated from the rest of Mystery Inc, and at this point, she figured that J'alzhikhan was screwing with her just for kicks at this point. Despite the feeling of dread that hadn't gone away in her stomach, she was feeling more frustrated than anything else at this point.

The only sense of guidance that Velma had was an old strategy that she had read about a couple of years ago. By keeping her right hand on the wall, she would surely find the exit and avoid any unnecessary backtracking. At least, that's what she hoped for anyways. At this point, going from various hallways was disorienting enough, and she knew that the demon in control of the labyrinth would do whatever it could to make sure she wouldn't be able to cut any corners. Regardless of this fact, the action still brought the bookworm comfort, in some ways, so she continued on.

"I'm almost disappointed..." She mused softly to herself, looking around the same hallways, looking as bored as ever. "I expected him to just... I dunno, make something appear right before my very eyes," She said, almost hopefully. After a few more feet of walking, her hand gently knocked against something hard and wooden, which made her stop and flinch. "Oh!" She exclaimed, quickly looking to her right to see what her hand bumped into. Strangely enough, a large, old, wooden door had appeared right before her. Velma blinked as she looked it over, letting her hand run across the old, battered wood. She shrugged and began to slowly open it. "Alright then. Ask and ye shall receive," She muttered, peering into the room that the door lead into.

While she was expecting a new sight, unfortunately, the entire room was pitch black. Even when she opened the door even wider, nothing from the hallway could pierce the darkness that seemed to linger in the room. A sense of unease filled Velma, as she slowly moved her way inside. "Don't like the looks of this... but I gotta try and findsomething," She'd say to herself, pushing herself to continue further. Not wanting to be surprised by any sudden loud noises, she took it upon herself to shut the door behind her, blinking as she tried to get her vision adjusted to her new environment. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to do the trick.

"So... guess I'm doing this blind. Terrific," She sighed, slowly walking along. She kept her hands out and took small steps, wanting to make sure that if she ran into anything or bumped into anything, it would hopefully not result in any form of injury or breaking of anything important. Preferably the first one, as she didn't give a damn what belongings of J'alzhikhan she busted.

"This... would besomuch easier if I could see something," Velma huffed, carefully feeling along something wooden and firm, most likely a table. Her fingers then moved upwards, brushing against the familiar leather spine of an old book. Finally, after moving her hand another foot forward, she bumped against something made of iron. It clanged gently against her hand, which made her react by gasping out. "Gah..!What's this..?" She asked herself, gently gripping what felt like a handle. The moment her palm wrapped around it, Velma quickly realized she was holding a lantern.

Mainly due to the fact that the instant her fingers touched the handle, it quickly illuminated with a bright blue flame, lighting up the entire room and making everything visible. Velma couldn't help but flinch, squinting her eyes and covering them up momentarily before slowly reopening them. She blinked a few times before looking around, letting out a low whistle. "Okay... now this is interesting," She said to herself.

The room Velma found herself in was almost similar to a library, with the room being large and circular. Books hung from shelves that were nailed to the wall, as well as quite a few occult related objects, such as various candles, skulls, knives, runes, and other such objects. Her attention soon went to the table that she picked the lantern up in the first place. There were a couple of books laid out on the table, yet oddly enough, none of them seemed to have anything on the covers. Feeling curious, she decided to open one of them up. She didn't know if she was surprised or not to find absolutely nothing written in the pages, even after flipping through the book a couple of times. "Dunno what I expected, honestly," She muttered, shutting the book and continued her own tour of the room.

Velma turned to the center of the room, as the flooring was covered in dark purple and red carpeting, which seemed to form into a large ritual circle. She didn't recognize any of the markings that were formed into the carpet, but decided against thinking about that for too long. Instead, she opted to look at the large, dark purple cloak that rested in the center. Using one hand, she carefully lifted it up. It was made from a heavy material, almost like wool or cotton. There was a hood, and the sleeves and cloak itself seemed to be quite long. "Whoever this was made for must be a giant or something," She joked, letting go of it and letting it fall back to where it was.

She began to scan the shelves a little bit more, keeping the lantern close to her side. She felt that if she released it at any given moment, the room would return to it's original state of darkness. Not wanting a chance for the room to change on her, she skimmed various objects with her left hand. After looking through dozens of plain books, she came across one that was extremely familiar. One that made her roll her eyes almost.

"Oh,really?" She asked herself, quickly removing it from the shelf. Looking at the worn cover, she instantly recognizedThe Demonologist's Bible.Thankfully for her, it didn't decide to move or talk to her, so she instead opted to open it up. "Maybe there'll be something useful in here?" She asked herself, her eyebrow raising as she realized this one was far different from the other copy that belonged to Sibella.

With this copy, there was scribbled writing absolutelycoveringeach page, written in just about any empty spot that they could. It was almost impressive, if it didn't make the original text almost unreadable. Looking a little closer, Velma recognized the handwriting, which was small, yet almost illegible. "This is definitely the Detective's handwriting... is this the copy of the book that he owned?" She asked herself, setting it down on the table and flipping through with one hand. Skimming through, she saw that he had practically filled up small spaces with his own notes, as well as a few diagrams and drawings. Clearly, he had kept plenty of notes about everything.

Getting an idea, Velma decided to skip forwards into the book, knowing that there must be a certain page inside that she had not seen before. Hoping to find the page on J'alzhikhan, she skipped to the approximate place in the book. Unfortunately for the bookworm, she was not fortunate enough to be able to find any information on the demon in question. However, she did come across something... strange.

In place of the information about the demon, there seemed to be nothing but an entire page filled with the Detective's writing. Squinting and moving the book closer barely did anything for her, although she could make out a few sentences and words. "What the... 'had to bury Salem today. I'll miss that old cat'?" She read aloud, her confusion and curiosity growing with each second. "Hmm... 'Derek and his gang chased me to the swamp. They got a bit too close with whatever was living there. Unfortunately so did I'."

Velma began to realize that she was reading in a variety of journal entries written by the Detective himself. Her eyes began to scan for any sort of hints or clues, trying to read as much of his scribbles as she could. "This actually... kind of depressing to read," She said as she made out various sentences relating to being bullied, harrassed, and beat up, to name some of the more tame stuff. At the very end of the page, she saw, scrawled out in a shakier way than usual, were the words, 'This book is mine no one can take it its mine its mi ne m ine mine MINE'. Needless to say, it was incredibly off-putting for the girl. Unfortunately, the opposite side of the page had nothing else written from any sort of journal. In place was a diagram, much more along the lines of what the cursed book would have to offer. It was simple, and almost empty, almost as if it had recently been added in.

In the middle was a circle, with a crudely drawn robe in the middle. To the right was a cat's head, and to the left was a lantern. Both of them had arrows drawn towards the circle. And... that was it. Velma didn't waste time trying to find a deeper meaning, moving away from the book and looking around. "Well... that's pretty straight forward, isn't it?" She said to herself, moving towards the shelves and looking at the variety of skulls resting on them. "Should I be doing this? Probably not..." She sighed, tapping her cheek with a finger. "Let's see... if I remember biology correctly..." She hummed, viewing numerous human skulls. Her scanning stopped when her eyes fell upon a cat's skull, yellowed, and yet still in one piece. "Gotcha!"

Velma looked to the center and gulped, sighing out and shaking her head. "If I wantanychance of getting out of here, I gotta play along," She said, glancing between the skull and the lantern, both of which were in her hands. "Let's just hope this isn't a trap of some sort," She gulped, bending to her knees and gently placing the skull to the right of the hooded cloak. Carefully, she set the lantern down on the left of the cloak, very careful releasing the grip. Thankfully, the flame did not go out, nor did the visibility in the room.

Slowly standing up, Velma looked to the set up with her hands on her hips, thinking to herself for a few moments. "... so what happens now?" She asked no one in particular. Almost as if on cue, the flame of the lantern seemed to flare up, causing Velma to yelp out and back up into the table. Soon, a streak of blue shot from the lantern, a familiar, ear splitting giggle echoing in the air. Velma couldn't help but cover her ears, yet seemed to brighten up when Phantasma appeared in the air, floating above and laughing. "Phanty..! Thank goodness you're here..!" She began. Strangely, though, Phanty looked to Velma, her giggles lowering in volume, but not quantity. It was at this point that Velma noticed that Phanty's eyes were glowing a different color... a dark crimson hue.

"Hehehe!Whatcha think of His puzzle, hm?" She asked in between giggles. "He tried to not make ittoohard for you, y'know! Hahah!" Phanty cackled mockingly as she floated around. Velma kept her gaze on the ghost, both confused but also realizing what was happening.

"Hispuzzle..? Don't tell me," Velma said furrowing her brow. "This is J'alzhikhan's doing, isn't it? And he's got you under his control?"

"Ding ding ding!" Phanty laughed, quickly flying right up in Velma's face, getting uncomfortably close. "Howrightyou are! Y'know, I've beensoooobored waiting in that lantern for someone to arrive! Kept me waiting forfar too long!" She said, starting to yell a little bit. With how loudly the ghost was speaking, Velma was sure that she would bust an ear drum, making her flinch with each word she spoke. Phantasma gave her some relief, however, as she flew back above the set-up that she had set up.

"Butour good friendhere has been waiting for even longer thanIhave, hahahaaa!" She cackled, pointing a finger to Velma. "Maybe we'll let Him go easy on you for being sohelpful!" She continued, with Velma looking even more concerned at this point.

"We? What's about to happen? What did I summon?!" Velma asked urgently.

Phanty gave a stern frown this time, raising an eyebrow. "Oooh? Guess after all of your reading throughhisjournal, youstilldidn't get hisNAME?!" She shrieked, with Velma's eyes shooting open.

"Wait.. is that..?"

"Uh huh!" Phanty said with a cheery tone, looking as her through a stern gaze, yet a large, psychotic grin. "And won'thebe so happy to find his ever-so caringfriend?!" She cackled, quickly flying into the robe with loud laughter.

Velma didn't know what was about to happen, but she surely knew she wasn't going to like it very well. Sure enough, the cat's skull seemed to shake, along with the robe, which now had Phantasma's blueish aura around it. The skull seemed to roll into the hood of the cloak, settling into place. The cloak began to float up in the ground, the sound of Phantasma laughing still echoing into Velma's brain. As it grew higher, the girl noticed that skeletal arms began to sprout from the sleeves, creating long, clawed, bony fingers. A second voice seemed to join in on the maniacal laughter, one which Velma quickly realized was the Detective's voice. As the left arm grew, it quickly gripped the lantern, the flame of which suddenly turned a dark shade of purple, to match his robe. As it did, the wraith like figure floated up higher, two large flames suddenly erupting in the eye holes of the cat skull. They quickly fell upon Velma, the skull looking incredibly off-putting with fire eyes and a large, toothy smile. Even though the skull didn't seem to move, she could still hear the voice as loudly as she could before.

The laughter soon stopped, the Detective wraith hybrid soon pointing it's free hand to Velma, speaking in a harsh voice, almost as if it were speaking directly into her mind."I do thank ya for helpin' me out. Now, let me do his biddin'... and get over here so I can show you his true power!" He cackled, starting to fly at the frightened bookworm.

Deciding that her own life was much more important than takingThe Demonologist's Biblewith her, she flung open the door and quickly ran out into the hall, quickly being chased by the maniacal wraith. "Don't be afraid! You'll get used to being forgotten! I SURE HAVE! HAHAHAHA!" He continued to mock, flying into the walls, into the floor, and even into the air so that he could have a better time of catching her. Velma was just barely fast enough, though she knew that his chase would be relentless.

"Oh f*ck oh f*ck ohf*ck," Velma exclaimed, panting heavily as she rounded every sharp turn she could, hoping that she wouldn't reach a dead in. "I've gotta find a way to lose his trail..!" Velma panted to herself, trying to formulate a plan as the laughs of the wraith echoed endlessly throughout the maze. "But how do I outrun theghostof adetective?!" She thought frantically.

Whatever she came up, she just hoped that her brain would work a little bit faster. She did not want to know what would happen the moment he laid his claws on her.

Chapter 19: The Way Out

Chapter Text

Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 19: The Way Out

Shaggy and Scooby had no idea how long they had been running for, but they knew that their current rest period was not one to last, foreseeing themselves only having at least two or three minutes at maximum before the bestial, possessed Winnie found them. The two knew better than to speak above a whisper, as to give themselves some sense of an advantage, in the form of staying quiet. Even with this plan, however, their panting was still quite laborious, as they had been running in endless loops of the labyrinth for at least half an hour by this point. They were worn out, and they both knew that they couldn't outrun their student forever.

"Like, Scoob," Shaggy began, lowering his voice low enough to only be heard by the Great Dane, who perked an ear up to listen. "We have to figure out some way of fighting back!"

"Ryeah, but how?" He whispered in between pants.

"I dunno..." Shaggy continued, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "Like, we shouldn't try to hurt Winnie, though. Maybe we could break the demon's hold on her somehow?" Scooby tilted his head at this question, prompting Shaggy to continue on with his line of thinking. "So, like, we can do some form of magic, right? If we can just distract Helmet Head for a little, like, maybe we can find a way to bring her back to us!" At this plan, Scooby seemed to smile, eager to give that plan a shot.

"Ooh, ryeah! But uh... how?" The Great Dane asked in regards of causing a distraction. The heavy, clanging foot falls of the monstrous Colonel Calloway began to grow louder and closer, making the entire ground and walls of the stone maze shake intensely. No doubt that the metal giant was close by, most likely hearing the two's conversation.

"Zoinks..! I dunno, but like, let's brainstorm while we get away!" Shaggy panted, turning away from the source of the slamming. "Maybe if we sneak away in time, we won't get caught..."He suggested, the two turning a corner... and immediately being met face-to-face with the possessed werewolf, who was snarling insanely. Shaggy and Scooby yelled out at the sudden sight, no doubt attracting the attention of the metal knight. "Zoinks! Uh, wrong way!" He'd gasp, dropping his whisper. As soon as Winnie howled out, the two beatniks screamed out and began to run the opposite way, the slams of the metal knight now picking up, clearly having heard the two.

"Okay, so, like, major wrench in the plan!" Shaggy yelped out, with Scooby running close beside him. "Keep runnin', Scoob, we'll out run 'em again sometime!"

As the two rounded a corner, they soon slammed right into someone else, the whole group toppling over each other with a loud grunt. Fortunately for Shaggy and Scooby, they recognized the voice of the grunt, and it didn't belong to a monster.

"Owch! Like, Fred, is that you?" Shaggy began, starting to give a hysterical, yet relieved laugh. "Man, we're like, so glad to see you again!"

"Oof..! Shaggy, Scooby, is that you?" Fred groaned out, rubbing his head. Soon, the three scrambled up to their feet, pulling each other into a hug of sorts. "Man, same here! Guys, ya gotta help me with something!" He began desperately.

"Like, we need your help too!" Shaggy added on, hearing the howl of the werewolf get louder. This naturally scared the group, with Fred staring near the corner with wide eyes.

"Oh man, lemme guess: Winnie's been possessed by the demon?" He asked in a hurried tone.

"Like, and that's only the half of it!" Shaggy answered with a nod. "Like, don't tell me someone's giving you trouble, man!" The moment he asked that, the group heard someone cackling loudly with cacophonous glee, a noise that Fred was unfortunately familiar with. In no time, the hanging body of Elsa soon made it's appearance, being controlled by an unseen Revolta as if she were a marionette.

"You could say that..!" Fred exclaimed as the group huddled together a bit.

"Roh no!" Scooby whined, hiding behind the two men as he tried to hide from the imposing figure. This wasn't the first time that their students had been taken over, although it certainly didn't make it any easier to see that it was happening again.

"Like, what happened to her?" Shaggy asked, his voice wavering with fear. He felt conflicted. On one hand, he wanted to help Elsa and Winnie, as well as anyone else who was under the influence of J'alzhikhan. But he knew better than to blindly go after them. He knew he wasn't strong or brave enough to go face-to-face, so he needed to try and come up with an actual plan.

"Revolta's taken her under her control!" Fred explained, making the two beatniks gulp and shudder. It was just as they feared, except now a lot worse. Not only was she in danger, but so was everyone else, including themselves!

"And you'll be next, boys!" The possessed voice of Elsa laughed, starting to lurch after the group. In between the laughter and the howling, the shaking of the ground began to pick up, the heavy clanging of metal scraping by the stone walls.

"Oh no..! Like, we're getting surrounded!" Shaggy exclaimed in a panic.

"Whatisthat noise, even?" Fred exclaimed, pushing his hands against the walls for support. Even the puppet of Elsa was shaking around in a jerky manner, momentarily confused by the noise.

"The Colonel! He's roming!" Scooby yelled out, looking around at all sides, seeing that they were surrounded.

"TheColonel? Don't tell me they got a hold of him too?!" Fred asked incredulously.

"Like, you have no idea, Fred!" Shaggy replied, shaking where he stood as he tried to come up with some form of a plan. "It, like, doesn't evenlooklike him!" At the group remained close to each other, Scooby's ears perked up. Apparently he was catching something that the other two men weren't. Soon, the Great Dane turned his attention to the other two, yelping out a warning before throwing himself flat to the ground.

"Duck!" Scooby warned, covering his eyes. Shaggy and Fred did not know initially why Scooby had shouted that out, turning towards one of the corners. The Elsa puppet was still confused as well, yet kept stalking towards the group. However, in no time, all three of them would see the cause for commotion, as well a hear it!

The heavy foot falls of something feral was running around the corner, the clanging of chains echoing somewhat. The only other noise being heard over it was the sound of snarling and growling, which could've only meant one thing... "Winnie's coming!" Shaggy yelped out, joining Scooby as he threw himself to the ground. "Like, get down!"

The sound of claws scraping against the stone walls was the final clue Fred needed to shoot himself down with the others, doing so just in time. At that moment, he was only a few seconds away from being pounced upon by a feral werewolf, who was in mid-leap towards the blond. Since he had ducked, however, she was now instead in the path of Elsa. The two let out a loud grunt as they fell over each other, rolling around a little. It took a few good claw swipes of the possessed werewolf to realize that shehadn'tattacked the proper target. Of course, this action had consequences in this regard.

In her fervent swiping, Winnie was successful in inadvertently cutting the vines controlling Elsa, making her gasp loudly and pass out, laying on the ground unconscious. At least, the othershopedthat she was unconscious. The werewolf looked around, semi-confused as the voice of Revolta started to ring out, her form slowly revealing itself from the ceiling. From the ground, the three members of Mystery Inc. could tell that she wasnotpleased in the slightest.

"What are you doing, you mangy fool?!" She hissed angrily, using a spidery leg to swipe at the werewolf, knocking her against the wall. Winnie yelped out a bit, but she seemed to take the hit fairly well, soon lifting herself up to her feet once more. The crack in the stone showed that her landing was nowhere near soft. "You're supposed to go after the ones thataren'tpossessed!" Revolta continued to yell.

The slams of the metal Colonel soon picked up as he heard the commotion, rounding the corner with his enormous stature. The group tried to back away, still remaining on the ground so that they would stay out of everyone's general perception.

"What is the meaning of this?" Echoed the voice of the monstrous Colonel Calloway, gripping his large sword with one hand as he grew closer towards the large spider woman. Luckily for the others, neither the large metal knight nor the giant spider woman took notice of any of them. Even Winnie, who was still under the spell of J'alzhikhan, was merely looking between the two large beings with a puzzled look on her face.

"Iwasusing my puppet to try and stop these foolish mortals from getting away! That is until yourstupid petshowed up and ruined it! Now I have to re-posses the tall one!" Revolta explained, sounding quite pissed off towards the metal Calloway. Elsa was still laying on her back, remaining still.

"Myfoolish pet?!" The metal knight said with indignation. "I'll have you know we were doing just fine untilyoushowed up to completely ruin it!" His voice echoed.

"Howdareyou talk that way to me?" Revolta accused, pointing a clawed finger towards the knight, letting it flick against the metal chassis of the knight's armor, who barely looked fazed by the action. "Youdoknow that I am the Great J'alzhikhan's first in command, correct? I am allowed abilities beyond what you and anyone else are granted!" At this statement, the metal knight seemed to 'puff' up it's chest in a proud manner, narrowing it's glowing eyes to Revolta.

"Hmph...for now," He mocked in a haughty fashion. "Atyourrate, I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to makemetheir second-in-command!" This caused the spider witch to raise herself up, hissing in an offended manner. As the scene unfurled, the three mystery solvers couldn't help but look upon the scene in confusion and semi-amusem*nt.

Soon, Fred gently nudged Shaggy with his elbow, directing their attention to the body of Elsa, who was still laying motionless on the ground. As the two monstrous fiends kept arguing, looking as if they were ready to start fighting each other, the group of three crawled their way past the sight, heading towards the golem. While Shaggy and Fred were soon by her side, brainstorming ways of waking her back up, Scooby kept an eye on the werewolf, who was still looking between Revolta and the metal knight with a curious look. They were all hoping that she would be preoccupied for a little while longer while they tried to help their friend.

"Elsa, wake up..!" Fred quietly pleaded, trying to shake the girl by her shoulders.

"Like, what are we gonna do?" Shaggy asked in the same whisper that Fred was. Even as he attempted to shake her awake, neither man was successful. "There's no way we can, like, carry her around, man!"

At this point, Fred gingerly placed a finger on one of her neck bolts, frowning as he felt only the slightest buzz of electricity. "She is completely drained, Shag. She won't be getting up any time soon..!"

Shaggy, however, put a finger on his chin, thinking quickly. "...unless..." He began, an idea forming in his brain as he closed his eyes and began to rub his palms together. Fred watched with a raised eyebrow as Shaggy's pace picked up. It wasn't until the blonde could see small sparks start to fly from his hands did he get some sort of an idea of what Shaggy was doing. Scooby took attention to this as well, his ears perking up at the good idea. Unfortunately, this also got the attention of Winnie, whose ears quickly picked up the sound of sparks and electricity. Her ears soon folded back as she began to snarl, readying herself for whenever the group would try to run off.

Thankfully for the group, it didn't seem like Revolta nor the metal Calloway took notice of the werewolf nor the attempt of magic by Shaggy. Instead, the two kept arguing, quite loudly at that, trying to one-up each other. This gave the other group enough time to see if Shaggy's own magic would work in bringing Elsa to a state of consciousness. With a deep inhale, he shut his eyes, wincing as he prepared to shock his own student. He quickly reached forward and gripped the bolts with each hand, letting his charge go through.

As expected, the charge would be a large one, both shocking the beatnik, as well as Elsa. Thankfully, Shaggy wouldn't get electrocuted, although he would still be able to feel the shocking, buzzing sensation quite a bit as the golem girl was shocked back to life. Fred moved back a little, averting his gaze so that the sparks wouldn't ruin his eye sight, Scooby joining in by using both paws to hide his eyes.

Winnie also looked away in shock, letting out a yelp at the sight. The crackling energy would finally see what was going on. Neither one of them could look at the sight for long either, as the light that was coming off of the two was starting to grow, making Revolta hiss out as she looked away, the metal knight using a large gauntlet to hide his gaze.

"What now?!" The spider witch growled out, Shaggy finally letting go of Elsa's bolts, gasping and panting heavily His hair looked a lot more frizzy, though it was nothing compared to the golem's own. Thankfully, the treatment worked, as the girl quickly lifted herself up with both hands, rubbing her head as she steadied herself.

"Mmph..! What a wake-up call..." She grunted, opening her eyes and looking around. While greatly surprised by her situation, she quickly regained her composure and began to lift herself to her feet, with Shaggy, Fred, and Scooby joining in.

"Elsa..! Like, are you alright?" Shaggy asked, showing a little relief in the fact that his student was actually saved.

"No damage physically," She answered simply, using her hands to crack and pop her neck, as well as her wrists and fingers. "Mentally? Not quite sure yet," She continued, fixing her gaze to the large spider witch, her expression becoming a lot more sturdy and angry. "Once we save the others, then we'll find out for sure."

"Jeez, that demon's been busy, huh?" Fred said with a nervous tone, looking between the monstrous group. Winnie hopped back up to the metal knight's side, who had just redrawn his sword and was holding it steady with both hands, fully intent on attacking the group before him. As for Revolta, she let out another hiss, crawling up the wall as she growled.

"Not ifIcan help it!" Revolta growled out, scurrying up into the ceiling, melting into nothingness once more. Before disappearing completely, she commanded to Calloway, "Take care of these insolent pests! I must check the others," She said.

"Hmph!You would just get in the way, anyways..." Calloway mumbled, his glowing red eyes focusing on the group of four. Winnie was by his side, readying herself for another pounce, growling and snarling as she scanned between them. Within the group, Elsa was the only one not showing an ounce of fear, her expression more determined and angry. With Fred, he was wracking his brain to try and figure out a plan as well, while Shaggy and Scooby more or less stayed behind their student, knowing that she could take a good punch if necessary.

"Careful, that sword could split us all in half if he wanted it to!" Fred warned, watching as the knight seemed to take it's time in stepping forward.

"Wouldn't be the first time," The golem stated, smirking a bit at her own little joke. "I can take the Knight to distract him, but you guys gotta worry about Winnie," She explained, pointing a finger at her. "See that chain around her neck?"

"Hey yeah..!" The blonde added on. "If we can figure out a way to break those chains off, we can free her like we did with you!"

"But, like, the question is, how are we gonna do that?" Shaggy asked as he nervously looked over at the werewolf, who was now eyeing him maliciously. "I don't think either one of them are, like, gonna go out without a fight!"

"You've got that right,Coach!" Yelled out the knight, his voice echoing as he prepared a swing, taking a heavy step forward. Before he could fully commit to his swing, though, Elsa stepped forward and caught his wrists with both hands, gritting her teeth as she used as much of her strength as possible to keep him from moving his hands anymore.

"Gmmf..! Let me worry about that part, Shaggy..!" Elsa grunted, the knight trying to pull it's arms back, the two grappling around for a bit. "Try and see if you can get Winnie to sit still for a moment..!"

"Easier said than done..!" Fred exclaimed as the werewolf began to charge at them, letting the chains clatter and clang behind her. It took the possessed Winnie a few moments to figure out which target to go for, looking between Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby, all of which were trying to circle around her and slow her down. It didn't take long for her to lock her gaze onto the tall beatnik, immediately pouncing onto him. Fred and Scooby yelled out as she leaped, not knowing what would come of Shaggy's fate.

"Gah, Winnie, wait..!" He yelped out, landing on his back as the werewolf landed atop him, the man trying his best to hold her at bay. Strangely enough, the girl didn't immediately start tearing into Shaggy, instead, merely resisting against his hold. It was almost as if the girl wastryingto save herself from her own possession, not wanting to attack someone she clearly knew as a friend. With her body out of her control, though, it was hard to make any sort of decision on her own.

Meanwhile, Fred was standing there, adrenaline rushing through his body as he tried to come up with some form of a plan. He wanted to help remove Winnie off of his friend, but he also wanted to help Elsa out, as she was starting to visibly struggle against the strength of the metal knight. Her arms started to shake as she moved backwards, Calloway forcing her to start walking backwards in an attempt to overpower her.

"Stop resisting...all of you!" The metal knight growled out in a triumphant manner, Elsa's determined look softening up a bit as she realized she would not last much longer against him. Fred, thankfully, got an idea as he looked towards the werewolf and Shaggy once more, seeing the chain leading from her collar. He perked up and hurried to grab a hold of it with both hands, looking to the Great Dane as he did.

"Scooby..! Grab hold and pull!" He harshly whispered, the dog turning his head and nodding, hurrying to Fred's side to grab the length of chain. The pulling naturally got Winnie's attention, yet the way it was straining against her would make her sit up a bit straighter, using her claws to try and pull back, with little success. Her voice sounded strained a bit as she choked.

"Zoinks, like be careful guys..!" Shaggy yelped out, not wanting them to accidentally strangle Winnie to death.

Elsa heard the commotion, turning her gaze away for half of a second, seeing what the others were doing. In an instant, she knew what they were trying for and decided to help out, smirking and suddenly throwing her weight against the knight, tossing him in a way so that their positions changed. Because he was incredibly top-heavy, the knight stumbled forwards, trying to reach for anything to keep it's balance. He was unsuccessful, however, and instead tripped over the length of chain that was being held taut by Fred and Scooby. Predictably, he let out a yell as he fell backwards, landing with a heavy 'WHAM!' against the ground.

Due to the fact that the metal knight had landed on the chain, it's heavy body would completely shatter the chain, also breaking the collar right off of Winnie's neck. She let out a loud grunt, gasping for air as the curse was finally broken from her. "Augh..!" She choked out, collapsing on top of Shaggy, panting heavily as she tried to stay awake.

"Winnie..! Like, are you okay?!" He asked, trying to assist her in standing up. However, she looked far too exhausted and worn out, merely looking at him with a dazed, half-lidded expression.

"Cuh... coach..." She groaned out, stumbling heavily as she used Shaggy for support. It was clear that she was close to passing out, the thin beatnik holding onto her so that she wouldn't fall over. Shaggy nervously looked her over, making sure there weren't any major injuries on her body. He took notice of the fact that her neck had a ring around it, as if the collar itself was burning her skin. Most likely a silver collar to help keep her in check from her old master. Other than a few scrapes and scuffs, however, it didn't look as if she had suffered too much injury.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the metal knight was struggling, using it's hands to try and lift itself up while simultaneously reaching for it's sword, which had fallen and slid towards the others. Elsa took notice of it, pointing to the sword and shouting out advice. "Fred, grab that sword and finish him off!"

After looking down at it, the blonde grabbed the enormous sword with both hands, rushing to the knight. Despite it's immense weight, Fred's adrenaline made him able to have enough strength to lift it up and angle the blade towards the knight. "I dunno if this is gonna work... but let's see!" He shouted, planting the blade directly into the back of the knight. Oddly enough, it seemed to offer very little resistance, despite the loud scraping noise that the blade made the moment it came in contact with the metal. The metal knight let out a very loud grunt, freezing up and shuddering as the pain of it's own sword pierced it's carapace.

Fortunately, it seemed to do the trick, as the lights of it's helmet slowly dimmed away into nothingness. Afterwards, it's empty metal husk of a body collapsed, the metal body starting to crack where the sword made entry. Fred quickly stepped off and away from what used to be the monstrous Colonel Calloway, everyone now watching as the cracks began to grow and cover the rest of the knight. Once the cracks grew deeper, pieces began to fall off, instantly crumbling and dissolving away into a fine powder. All everyone could do, save for the unconscious Winnie, was watch in awe as the remains of the metal knight dissolved, the dust blowing away by an unseen breeze. Oddly enough, the sword remained in one piece, shrinking down from it's immense size to a regular looking sword.

Fred moved forward hesitantly, slowly picking the sword up once more and looking it over. Despite his own fit form, and the fact that it was a lot more manageable to hold, it was still quite heavy to wield. He looked over to everyone else, his eyes quickly scanning them over to see if they were still in one piece. "So, uh... is everyone alright?" He asked, panting heavily as he continued to hold the sword.

"I, like, think so," Shaggy answered, gently walking over towards the others, still holding onto Winnie as she fazed in and out of consciousness.

"Yeah... just... just tired," Winnie groaned out, her eyes struggling to remain open. Her legs shook a bit, as she was obviously trying to put the effort into standing. Noticing this, Shaggy merely got to his knees and shimmied her onto his back, allowing her to piggyback off of him. Despite her weight, Shaggy still managed to do so, though the werewolf seemed a bit embarrassed at this action. "C'mon, Coach... I can walk," She grumbled, her arms too weak to do anything other than hang loosely around his neck.

"I think it's for the best, Winnie," Elsa sighed, looking over her form as well. "Damn, did they make those chains out ofsilver?I'm surprised you can even talk at this point..." She mused, her eyes wide with awe. Despite Winnie's insistence that she could move, she barely held up any sort of fight as Shaggy carried her. Scooby was sniffing around the area where the metal knight had disintegrated, looking back to everyone with a worried look.

"Ris he... dead..?" Scooby asked with an audible gulp, sniffing around some more.

"I... I hope not," Fred said, looking over the sword. "If he is, then I..." He trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence. Despite the uneasy look between Elsa and Shaggy, Winnie still stirred, able to find energy to keep talking.

"Gmmf... n-no... he's alive... somewhere," She answered, her head resting against the back of Shaggy's. "The... the demon had us connected. Couldn't control what we were doing..." She sighed, still trying to find the energy to move around before reluctantly resting.

"I think Winnie's right," Elsa answered, a hand on her chin as she thought aloud. "When I was under the demon's influence, I could almost sense a sort of... hive mind, I suppose. I could sense all of the others, and knew that they were all still moving around. None of them are in control of what they do or look like, it seems," She said with a shake of her head. "However, I think the demon is keeping all of the others under tight wraps. It seems like he can control and use humans a bit more than he can with monsterkind."

"Like, that would explain why the Colonel looked like that!" Shaggy added on, using a free hand to rub his own scruffy chin. The other hand was used to make sure Winnie wouldn't slip off of his back, holding onto her arm gently. "Do you, like, think it's because of the fact he was part of the summoning ceremony..?"

Elsa gave a slow nod, sighing as she placed her hands on her hips. "Unfortunately so, Coach."

"Zoinks..!" Shaggy gasped out, his eyes widening.

"If that's the case, I'd hate to see the state of the others," Fred added on, looking down both ends of the hallway. "As much as I'd hate to speculate the worst... I think that Daphne and Velma might be dealing with something just as frightening."

"Then, like, we'd better hurry..!" Shaggy said, eager to find the rest of their friends.

"Let's go, then," Elsa said with a confident smile. "Where we find Velma and Daphne, we're sure to find Tanis and Phanty."

"Rand more monsters..!" Scooby added with a shudder. Despite his fears, he still found the courage within himself to stay put, starting to follow Elsa as she made her way down the hall. Fred was soon to follow, with Shaggy taking up the rear, still allowing Winnie to ride piggyback. Despite not outwardly showing it, the werewolf was incredibly thankful to be carried around for the time being. Especially considering that she was now hanging onto her favorite teacher. She was just thankful that he wouldn't be able to see a small flush glowing through her fur slightly.

"Let's just hope I can move a bit more when we get to 'em," Winnie replied, lifting her head up a little to help keep watch.

"I'm just hoping we won't be too late when we get to one of them..." Fred added, holding the sword carefully, keeping on the defense for the time being. After all, there was no telling what they would come across. If they were lucky, the size of the maze would give them all enough time to regather their thoughts and navigate the area.

"Like, all I know is, once we make sure everyone's safe, we go after that demonic prick, whatever his name was," Shaggy said, knowing that wanting to fight for his friends and students was the only reason he was able to keep going. He, as well as the rest of the group slowed up as they heard an echo of maniacal laughter, buried somewhere deep within the labyrinth. "Zoinks..!" He exclaimed. "What was that..?"

"Hopefully not the demon," Elsa mused as she continued down the hall. "Let's go, guys. I think we're close to someone else... I'm sure of it!"

"This... is getting...ridiculous," Velma panted to herself as she continued to run down the hall. She had been running for far too long at this point, yet she knew she couldn't stop. The echoes of crazed laughter filled her eardrums, almost driving her to insanity. The only thing more persistent than the noise was the source of it, coming in the form of a large, cat skull-headed wraith. A monstrous form for what was once her friend, a secretive homicide detective. For the time being, the bookworm had lost sight of the ghost, trying her best to make her brain keep up with every twist and turn that the labyrinth had to offer. She wasn't stupid, however, and knew that just because she couldn't see it, it might still be able to see her. It didn't help that it was able to fly through the walls and floors, cutting her off in attempts to freeze her up with fright. It didn't help that Phantasma was assisting him, doing her best to tail along so that the ghostly apparition wouldn't lose track.

Despite the fact that she had been in situations that required her to run from danger, this was still far too much for the investigator, and she slowed to a halt to catch her breath. Velma was lucky enough to not have the head of Phanty phase through the wall right beside her and freak her out, but she knew that anything could happen within the next few seconds. Her mind was racing a mile a minute, regardless of the fact that the rest of her body wanted to slump down to the ground so that she could have a few moments of respite.

"I gotta throw him off his trail, somehow," Velma though to herself, trying her best to slow her labored pants in an attempt to stay quiet. "Therehasto be a way, right?" She sighed, running a trembling hand through her hair. Despite feeling like her entire body was shaking, she stayed put, wanting to calm down a little more before continuing any further into the seemingly endless maze. It would've certainly helped if she had any of her friends with her to help her formulate a plan.

Velma's eyes opened widely as she soon heard the harsh whispers of a familiar blue phantom girl, menacing giggles peppered into her usual phrase of speech as she relayed something to the monstrous wraith. The girl held her breath, not knowing what sort of information she was giving to him. Naturally, her first instinct was that it wasn't anything good. In a few seconds, though, the whispering hushed, as some new sounds started to make themselves audible to the bookworm. It was almost too quiet to make out any sort of conversation, but she would recognize the speech patterns and dialects of these people from anywhere!

"...heard from somewhere around here, I think?"

"Like, this goes against every instinct in my body..!"

"Ryeah... re runawayfrom scary laughter..!"

It was her friends! Shaggy, Fred, and Scooby were there, as well as a few others? It didn't sound like Daphne was with them... maybe Elsa? Probably another one too. Her relief was instantly replaced with caution, as well as fear, as she realized that they were mostly likely going to be the ghostly Detective's next target. Whether or not he was aware of her current position was unknown to her, but his voice soon went radio silent, leaving only the sounds of her friends' conversation. It was a strange moment for her, due to the fact that she had no clue about what to do next. Should she come out into the open and meet back up with the others? Should she warn them? Should she stay hidden, just in case the wraith uses her as a beacon to track down the others? She didn't know, her head was swimming pretty terribly, her ears ringing from the laughter she had endured.

The decision to come face to face with her friends would be made on it's own, as the familiar, friendly face of soon peering it's way from around the corner. He let out a shocked yelp, not expecting Velma to be standing immediately before him, yet his face soon broke into a relieved smile, one which she found quite welcome.

"Fred? Whatcha see over there?" Called the voice of Elsa, who sounded wary after hearing him gasp out.

"It's just Velma, guys!" He said back, hurrying towards the girl. "Oh man, you don't know how glad I am to find you!"

"Likewise, honestly," She answered, letting out a sigh as she her eyes shifted over to the sword in his hand. A curious eyebrow quirked upwards as the rest of the group hurried their way towards her as well. Soon, she was reacquainted with Shaggy, who was still giving a semi-conscious Winnie a piggyback ride, Scooby, and Elsa. They all looked quite unraveled, which gave Velma the impression that she looked just as harrowed as the rest. The Great Dane couldn't help but launch himself to Velma, who let out a few chuckles as he eagerly licked at her face. "Heya, Scooby..!"

"Like, our sentiments exactly, buddy," Shaggy said with a tired smile. "I'm gonna guess that you've, like, come across some trouble too?"

"Wouldn't be a mystery if I didn't," She said dryly, pointing at Fred's newly acquired sword. "I'm gonna guess this same sort of trouble is how you got that, Freddie?"

Lifting it up to glance at it a little, he gave a small nod and a meek grin. "Yeah, you could say that," He replied.

"Nngh... nothin' we couldn't handle, though... heh," Winnie humorlessly chuckled, still trying to recuperate atop of Shaggy's shoulders. "Calloway put up one helluva fight," She continued weakly.

"The Colonel?" Velma said, her eyes widening, yet not finding herself shocked by this revelation. Even though the thought of the Colonel being possessed and even seemingly killed was roaming in her mind, her logistical side couldn't help but begin to make connections with their strange happenings. "Very strange..." She mused, a hand covering her chin in thought.

"What do you think, Velma?" Fred asked, the rest of the group looking at her expectantly. Pacing a little bit, the bookworm began to voice a probable theory.

"Remember what Revolta told us?" She began, looking between the rest of the group. After a few seconds of expectant, yet confused, silence, Velma continued. "She said that her 'master' had something else in mind with the others... remember when they all melted away?" Shaggy, Fred, and Scooby all looked uncomfortable, nodding along, with Elsa and Winnie also beginning to remember the events before they all went into the Hellish portal. While the others looked more concerned, they clearly understood where she was coming from, so she took the time to continue her explanation. "If you all came across the Colonel, then I can only assume that he was horribly mutated in a way that fitted the demon's needs."

"Like, yeah, that's exactly right..!" Shaggy replied, feeling his nerves start to jitter. "That can only mean that you saw someone in the same way, right?" He asked the girl, who replied with a simple nod.

"Who did you come across?" Elsa asked. Before Velma could get an actual answer out, the whole hallway was filled with the deep, dreaded laughter that the bookworm was quite familiar with at this point. Everyone else jumped up in shock, looking around to see if they could find the source. Even Winnie was sticking her head up to try and scan the area, the hackles of her fur raised on end as her ears folded from the loud cackling.

"Take a wild guess," Velma said, standing on edge as she looked between the seemingly endless ceiling and the stone floor. Soon, the deep laughter was joined with another familiar giggling, one which was instantly more recognizable, especially to the two monster girls.

"T-that's Phanty..!" Winnie growled out, her yellow eyes narrowing, lifting herself up from Shaggy's shoulders, as if ready to pounce off. The scared beatnik gulped, doing his best to try and keep her where she was.

"C'mon, Winnie, like, you'll get hurt..!" He whimpered out, trying to not trip over the Great Dane, who was now shaking like a leaf behind his lanky legs.

"If Phanty's here, then that can only mean..." Elsa began, her eyes widening in realization.

"Her best friend ain't far behind," Fred finished, looking around carefully as well. Despite his fear, he prepared his new sword, holding it with both hands in preparation. In very little time, the entire area felt a lot more chilling and uncomfortable, with quite a few of the group shuddering in place as a stiff breeze seemed to make itself known.

Everyone's attention soon went towards the floor, the source of the laughter making itself known to the others. As the two ghosts kept cackling away, the large cat skulled wraith would soon float above the others, still holding it's lantern. The flame inside of the old, metal lantern was flickering between a light blue and a deep purple, being gripped tightly with a clawed, skeletal left hand of the monstrous Detective. It's dark cloak seemed to ripple with the breeze, the flames in it's eyes only growing as it looked around at the group. Everyone couldn't help but remain frozen in the spot, unable to look away from the sight before them. If it weren't for the fact that the others were used in such similar ways, they would have no idea who this wraith initially was.

"Zoinks..! Is that really..?" Shaggy began, feeling weak in the knees, almost ready to back up and run away from the apparition.

"Detective..!" Velma began, the large skull whipping around to stare directly at the bookworm, it's deep laughter halting. The giggling of Phantasma seemed to trail off, yet didn't fully go away. It was low enough where everyone could talk over it, yet loud enough to still be audible, especially to the werewolf, who's ears folded back as she glared upwards at the crazy sight.

With it's free hand, it pointed a long, bony claw towards the bookworm, letting out a demented, dark chuckle, barely familiar with the Detective's actual voice. "Havin' a nice lil get-together, are we?" He hissed out, looking around at all of the others, it's head lingering on the two monster girls. Elsa was in a fighting stance, her defense prepared for anything he would do. As for Winnie, she was still staring at him, clearly trying to make herself more imposing. She had enough strength at this point to be able to hold herself up, but was still weak enough to not be able to do much else. "Hmm! So you two DID manage to escape his grasp, huh? You have impressed me heavily..." He continued on, it's head still scanning across the others. Lifting it's two arms up, the giggling from Phantasma seemed to increase, growing even more unstable and crazed. Despite this, as well as the others' freaked out reactions to it, the wraith continued speaking. "Shame your fun's gotta end here. Heh heh... maybe we can all finally get to know each other once you're under his command!"

"As if!" Winnie growled out, her tail twitching behind her in an irritated manner. The skull whipped around to stare at her curiously as she continued her rant. "We've had enough of being played with like a buncha dolls!"

"Yeah, tell your boss that we're done foolin' around," Elsa added, her steely gaze looking into the flames of the skull. "If ya let Phanty go, maybe we'll let ya go."

After a short, yet loud, derisive laugh from the wraith, Fred stepped up, angling his sword. His gaze was a bit more soft than the golem girl's, not wanting to have to attack someone he considered a friend, regardless of the monstrous form he was forced to take on. "Let us help you out, man," He plead, trying to keep an even tone, despite his fear. The skull headed wraith managed to remain silent, tilting it's head in interest of what the blonde was saying. "We all know what you're going through, and we can help you."

Everyone at this point was looking towards Fred, both out of curiosity and intrigue, especially with the wraith, who had slowly began to lower his skeletal hands, his fingers still wrapped around the handle of the lantern. The flickering of the flame was slowing down as well, looking more natural, even with it's blue hue. The blonde leader took this as a cue to keep trying his luck at reaching through to the Detective. "Your help's gotten us this far, and we could sure use some more. We can get everyone out of this, you just have to trust us, man. Please," He finished, the sword lowered, being held in one hand at this point, showing he meant no danger towards the wraith. A few others seemed to notice this and also stood down on the offence, even if there was a bit of reluctance to do so.

As for the monstrous Detective, he said nothing. He merely floated in place, as if taking in everything that Fred had said. The silence was quite deafening, with only the breathes of the others being barely audible. Despite how nerve-wracking it was, everyone stayed patient, with the wraith slowly lifting up it's free hand, as if he were putting it out towards the others. A small, relieved smile grew on Fred's face. Not only did it seem like the Detective was somewhat coming back, but also the fact that his words actuallyworked! Velma seemed impressed as well, her eyebrows raised as she looked between the two of them.

"Oh, that will not do atall!" Cackled an unwelcome, yet familiar, voice from up above. In an instant, two thorny, black vines shot out, binding their way around the wraith's arms. As soon as they touched the monstrous Detective's arm, he began to scream out, thrashing around to get out of Revolta's grip. Unfortunately, he was not successful in doing so. The action was so sudden, it made Fred jump backwards out of fear of being grabbed by one again. Regardless, his eyes widened, his smile instantly turning into a distressed expression of fear.

"No!" He yelped out, knowing there was nothing he could do at this point. Everyone else yelled out as well, not knowing what to do as the wraith began to thrash about from the thorns. Ear piercing screeches came from his form, making the more audibly sensitive members, like Winnie and Scooby, force their paws over their ears. No one else was too happy with the noise either, wincing in pain. The echoing cackles of the spider witch did nothing to help matters. From the sidelines, Velma had a theory as to what was happening, due to her and the others' past experience with the vines. From the agonized screams the wraith was giving, the witch was forcing the Detective to remember something quite painful. Going off of what he had written as journal entries, she could only imagine what he was being forced to think about.

"Remember yourrage!Let hispowermake youstronger!" Revolta howled from the endless void of a ceiling, withdrawing her vines and letting them rot back into the ground. As her laughs echoed away, the flame of the lantern began to burn furiously, glowing a deep, dark purple, only matched by the wraith's eyes as he began to yell out. He looked directly at a scared Fred, who was now holding his sword in both hands once more, his grip incredibly shaky due to fear. Elsa and Winnie stayed on the defense as well, while everyone else prepared themselves to run away in case he tried to physically attack or give chase.

With a low, malicious chuckle, he pointed a finger towards Fred, sweeping it across the others as it's flaming eyes scanned everyone. "Our Master heard about what y'all did to his metal guard.He ain't too happy 'bout it," He slowly explained, directing the lantern towards the blonde. Without waiting for others to ask what he was doing, the wraith merely continued with, "What a nice sword, Freddie.Let's put it to use!"

With a blue flash, Phantasma suddenly exited the lantern, laughing maniacally as she looked towards Fred, her eyes red and her expression manifesting pure, unhinged, insanity. Fred had no time to react as the giggling ghost instantly flew towards Fred, making him flinch. Rather than possessing his body, however, she instead went into the sword, which began to glow blue. While curling his hand back towards himself, the wraith began to laugh evilly, watching as the sword shook around, making the blonde unable to hold on.

"Agh..! She's got the sword..!" He managed to say, using both hands to try and grip the hilt as hard as he could, not wanting Phanty to fly off with it. Despite digging his heels into the ground, he still managed to slide forwards, the Detective watching the scene with amusem*nt. Elsa, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby hurried forward to try and help Fred out, adding their own hands to keeping the sword in place. Even Winnie, who was still on her coach's back, was doing her best. Even with an incredibly increase of strength, none of them could keep a hold on it for long, as Phantasma was putting up quite a bit of a fight, laughing crazily throughout the whole ordeal.

"Enough games, Phanty! Let's let his message...resonatewith them!" The wraith laughed, snapping a bony finger with it's free hand. The moment he did, a large wave of energy seemed to emanate from the sword, instantly knocking back everyone. Elsa was the only one sturdy enough to not be knocked on her backside, while everyone else tumbled down. Despite the fact that the pulse of energy made everyone let go of the handle, the sword was still floating in midair, due to Phanty's possession.

Winnie let out an annoyed, pained grunt as she was thrown off of Shaggy's shoulders. "Oof..! L-like, sorry Winnie..!" He hurried out, quickly trying to scramble to his feet and help the werewolf back up.

"Coach, watch out!" The werewolf said, pointing a clawed finger instead towards Shaggy's back. As Shaggy turned, his eyes instantly noticed the tip of the blade pointed directly at him, as well as the fact that it was nowflyingdirectly towards him! Needless to say, he let out a yelp and ducked down, just barely missing the blade by a few centimeters.

"Awww! Imissed!" Laughed the voice of the phantom, who began to angle the sword towards Velma, now deciding to send it flying in her direction.

The bookworm was lucky enough to have noticed beforehand, finding more time to dodge away. The ghost continued to chase around others, as if it were a game, making everyone else scatter around as they tried to avoid the possessed sword. It wasn't until Velma noticed the wraith halfway through the floor did she point in his direction. "Where are you going?" She'd ask, thankfully not being the current target of the blue ghost.

Everyone else, save for Elsa, had looked in the direction as well, just barely seeing him disappear under the ground. As for the golem, she was currently using all of her strength to keep the sword from piercing into her eyes, gritting her teeth as her arms shook in resistance. "Gmf... don't let him get away..!" She'd grunt out, using a surge of strength to throw the sword into the nearby wall, making it stick and crack the stone. The sword reverberated a bit, with Phantasma slowly phasing out, looking quite shaken.

"Guuhh...is it Halloween yet, dad?" She slurred dizzily, her eyes fading and shifting between their usual translucent white to the possessed red. Clearly, the demon was still trying to keep it's hold on her. The others hurried over, with Fred and Elsa doing their best to pull the sword from the wall before it was taken over again. As for the others, they were checking on the ghost, with Winnie lifting herself up a bit, a concerned look on her face.

"Geez, Phanty, you okay? That was a nasty hit ya took," She asked, the ghost starting to groan out and shut her eyes, wincing in pain as if she were suffering the worst migraine in existence. Shaggy and Scooby tried to comfort her, letting a hand rest on her shoulders (at least, without having them phase right through her body).

"Nngh... ah... Winnie..?" She began to ask, her eyes slowly opening up. Despite her blurred vision, she could make out the others fairly well, a weary, nervous smile appearing on her face. "A-ah..! Hey guys..! Glad to see you're okay," She muttered out, still shuddering as she floated.

"Likewise!" Shaggy said with a sigh, looking relieved to see another student of his escape the thrall of a demon. "Like, you're not too hurt, are ya?" He asked, with Scooby examining her as if he were a nurse. With a dry, humorless laugh, the phantom shook her head.

"Nah, not too badly... I'll be okay..?" She answered, her head lifting up a little as she began to make out a shadow behind everyone. As Velma raised an eyebrow at this, the ghost saw three purple flames light up, lighting up the ghostly figure of the monstrous Detective, who had his hand raised, ready to swing the large stone lantern towards everyone. Phantasma let out a scream as she tried her best to bring attention to him. "Look out! B-behind you!" She warned.

Despite her warning, everyone was far too slow to react properly, with the wraith swinging it's lantern towards the crowd. The heavy weight of the lantern easily knocked everyone to the ground, sending them sprawling and tumbling to the floor. Phantasma was too far away to be affected, yet she still ducked down, screaming out as the others took a nasty hit. Winnie howled out as she was sent rolling on the ground again, beginning to get up to her feet as she growled and rubbed her head. "Grrr... this is getting stupid..!"

Everyone else seemed to have trouble getting up, with the wraith raising the lantern again, angling towards everyone, the flame starting to flare up. "If you do not come along willingly, then I'm afraid I'll have to somethin'drasticand kill you myself!" He declared, looking at the lantern as he waved his free hand. "More souls for my flame to consume!" The wraith continued, pointing it towards Shaggy. "Starting withYOU!"

As Shaggy winced, preparing to accept whatever fate awaited him, two large, brown figured jumped at the wraith, forcing him to stop his ritual. The others looked upon the sight in confusion, yet were quite excited to see that Scooby and Winnie had leapt up from the ground and attacked the wraith by biting onto each of his skeletal arms. As both canine companions growled and hung on, the wraith swung his arms around in an attempt to shake them off. "Let go, you wretched creatures!" The monstrous detective growled out, having no luck as Scooby and Winnie held on relentlessly.

"Mmph..! Up yers, freakshow!" Winnie growled out in a muffled voice, moving her mouth so that it was angled above his wrist before taking a large bite. Due to the immense power she put behind her jaw, his hand easily snapped off, making him yell out in pain, the lantern clattering on the ground. With a loud howl, the wraith quickly phased into the ground, knocking Winnie and Scooby off. Thankfully, they quickly scrambled up from it.

"Re got him!" Scooby barked out, preparing his stance in case he needed to attack.

"Now for that flame!" The werewolf said, rushing herself towards the lantern.

Phantasma put a hand out, starting to rush towards her. "W-wait, Winnie, be careful with-" She began, her sentence cut short as the purple flame shot upwards, making the werewolf stop in her trail and shield her eyes.

"sh*t..! He's not makin' this easy, huh?" She huffed, stepping back as the flame merely grew.

"Keep your eyes peeled, gang! We don't know where he's gonna pop up next," Fred called out, starting to push himself to his feet, with the others slowly doing the same. Winnie, Phanty, and Scooby helped everyone out as well, as the golem girl turned to the lanky beatnik.

"Think you could figure out a spell to help it die down, Coach?" She asked semi-hopefully. With how Shaggy seemed to easily pick up the art of magic, Elsa imagined that there must have been some way for him to solve the issue.

With a loud gulp, he put his hands together, his legs shaking as he began to step closer. "L-l-like I'll give it a shot..! Cover my back, will ya guys?" He asked as he kept moving. With a deep breath, he shut his eyes and pushed both hands out in front of him. Almost instantly, a large gust of wind came from behind him, fighting against the flames. Despite the obvious strain that was being pushed on Shaggy, he was still quite successful in making it go down. With a surprised smile, he laughed a bit, looking behind him. "H-hey guys, like, it's working..!"

"Great job, Shaggy..!" Velma cheered, with the others joining in. Phantasma was currently hiding behind the bookworm, looking around the area with a panicky, yet hopeful smile. Thankfully, the fire soon went out in the lantern, leaving only a trail of smoke.

"Ryou did it, Raggy!" Scooby clapped, wiping his forehead in relief.

"Yeah, now all we gotta worry about i-" Fred began yelling out as the wraith came out from the ground, screaming out in utter rage. It's eyes were burning just as brightly as the lantern used to, using it's one good hand to take a swipe at the beatnik, who narrowly avoided the attack with a single back step.

"Zoinks!" He yelled out, barely dodging yet another attack, the others spread out in shock, with Winnie preparing to pounce on him again.

"How dare you! I'll have ya heads! All of ya!" The wraith growled out, pointing a boney finger towards the werewolf suddenly, curling it upwards. Apparently, some sort of spell was placed on Winnie, as she was instantly frozen in place, grunting out as she felt unable to react in anyway.

"Gmmf..! Cnt... mve..!" She mumbled out, watching with wide yellow eyes as the monstrous ghost cackled out.

"Should've done this earlier..!" He hissed out, darting his head around to the rest of the group, who were unsure of what to even do at this point. "I gave y'all a chance... but looks like I get to have MY fun now!"

Velma looked between everyone, her own eyes wide as can be as her brain tried to formulate some sort of plan. Almost as if her mind was her own personal library, she began to backtrack to a bunch of different books that she had read beforehand, with quite a few being about spirits. An idea popped in her head after a few seconds, even if it felt like hours. After all, being stared down by vengeful poltergeist hardly helped in the matter. Turning her head towards the blue ghost, who was hiding right behind her, only able to peek at the malicious form of the Detective. If her research was correct, however, this next question could make or break everyone's chance of survival...

"Phanty..!" Velma began, harshly whispering to the ghost, who perked up instantly upon hearing her name. "You're his best friend... has the Detective ever... told you his name?" She asked, mentally kicking herself for not having asked such a question to begin with.

Knowing how urgent the situation was, she kept her voice as low as she possibly could. "I... I think so..! Maybe once? Or twice? I dunno, I-I'm havin' trouble remembering.!" She answered rapidly, feeling unsure of herself. At this time, the wraith was floating towards the werewolf, who was looking far more fearful at this point, as he lifted his hand and kept cackling, ready to unleash some form of punishment onto the lycanthrope.

"Pleasetry," Velma insisted, feeling her whole body shake as some purple flames started to swirl around the ghost's hand, ready to blast Winnie into nothingness.

"It... it um..." Phantasma said, hitting her forehead with a fist as she shut her eyes in an effort to remember. The pressure certainly wasn't doing anything to help her thinking process, it seemed. "It... it started with a... a 'Q'!" She replied.

At first, the bookworm wanted to roll her eyes at this revelation. After all, not many common-place names began with 'Q'. However, after a quick second of thinking, Velma's mind went back to the journal that she had read through. Even though plenty of entries didn't bring up the man's actual name, there was one that constantly stood out to her, that seemed to seep through at the end of each entry. A memorable name, to say the least. "Q..." She thought to herself. Before the wraith could slam it's hand down towards the werewolf, Velma mustered up as much courage as she could, the name entering itself into her mind.

"QUINCY!" Was what she shouted, instantly making the wraith stop what it was doing. He didn't even whip his head around to look to the bookworm. He just... froze. None of the others seemed to know how to react either, merely looking between Velma and the monstrous Detective with a confused look. After all, none of them knew a 'Quincy'. This didn't stop the girl from continuing, pointing her own finger at him. Despite how terrified she was at attempting this, she kept her voice from wavering, as she called out, "Do not hurt us..! Um... how'd it go..? Wait, I got it..!In nomine sancte domine, ad te pertinent in..!?" She finished, trying her best to try and remember old Latin scriptures.

"GAAAAAAHHH...!" The wraith screamed out.

Fortunately for her, as well as everyone else, her words seemed to work, as the purple flames instantly died out, with the skull breaking open, unleashing an echo of a scream, which quickly faded away. The skull, as well as the rest of the bones, seemed to disintegrate into dust, blowing away by an unseen breeze before any of it could hit the ground. Even as the purple cloak spilled to the floor, it too eventually blew away into ash, leaving behind only the metal lantern. After a few seconds of silence, Velma pushed her hands onto her trembling knees, letting out a shaky sigh as she breathed heavily. "Hah..! C-can't believe that worked..!" She'd say with a startled voice.

After making sure she could move, Winnie gave a grin and stretched. "Heh... nothin' to it..! Awesome job, Velma!" She complimented, with the others also sharing gratitude by congratulating the girl.

"Guess I should've, like, studied more Latin, huh?" Shaggy laughed, with Scooby joining in. Afterwards, though, the Great Dane moved forwards, cautiously sniffing the lantern. After giving it a few prods with a paw, as well as his nose, he concluded that it was nothing more but a plain, metal lantern, and that the wraith would not return.

"Phew... rookit this!" He called out, with the others moving in closer.

"Huh... guess he decided to leave a souvenir as well, like Calloway did," Fred mused, glancing at the sword he had retrieved after pulling it from the wall.

"Wonder if..." Velma said to herself, reaching out to grip the handle again. Shaggy and Scooby held their breath, ready for something worse to happen. As Velma expected, though, all that happened was a small, relatively harmless, blue flame appearing inside. As an even stranger, yet welcome, side effect, the hallways seemed a lot more illuminated. Instead of the darkness shrouding everything within three feet, it actually seemed to show all of the walls properly. "Nice..! We can find our way around easier, at least," She said with a prideful smile.

"Like, that's our Velma! Way to outsmart the ghost!" Shaggy cheered out. A few others joined in, but there was one that seemed to stand out. Not so much that it was louder than the others, but moreso that it was more... insincere. Elsa was the first to notice, as she instantly recognized the tone and inflection, and how it wasnothinglike how it normally was.

"Phanty... are you holding up okay?" She'd ask the phantom. This drew attention to the blue ghost, even if none of them meant to put her on the spot so suddenly. The blue ghost had an obviously forced, fake smile on her face, trying to avoid eye contact as she rubbed an arm in discomfort.

"Heh... y-yeah, I'm.. fine," She said, lying obviously, as her smile faltered quite a bit. It was quite clear to everyone, however, that she was quite bothered with what had transpired. Not that anyone could blame her of course, as they were all still quite shaken up, even uncomfortable by it. One only knows how Phanty was feeling from it all...

Winnie made her way over to her ghostly friend, hobbling a little bit. After all of the fighting, her legs were still not fully ready to support her weight. Despite her heavy breathing, the werewolf looked somewhat... guilty. Her expression softened considerably as she tried to comfort Phanty. "If it helps at all, he's notreallygone. I'm sure you can sense that, right?" She'd ask, getting a mere nod from the ghost.

"Yeah, I can feel it, too," She responded quietly, giving a shaky sigh as she rubbed her forehead. "It's just... it was a lot to go through," She continued.

"Like, we could tell," Shaggy replied, wanting to help his student. "We're just thankful you're okay."

"Thanks, Coach," Phanty replied with a weak smile. "That fear, though... the anger... it... it's not easy knowing that's what... he's going through... whatallof them are going through!" She continued, shuddering as she tried to stay calm, not wanting to remember what the demon had forced her to think and act upon.

"Just like the forest..." Fred mused, a hand on his chin as he reminisced about the time Tanis became possessed and attacked everyone. He concluded that the mummy girl was most likely going through the same effects that one night.

"The demon seems to use the fears and insecurities of others," Velma continued, also showing a thoughtful expression.

"Like, if that's the case, then we need to get going to find the others!" Shaggy brought up, knowing that their group was still one Daphne and two monsters short.

"Hey, yeah! We still gotta find Daphe and save Sibella and Tanis!" The blond said, his eyes shooting open as he prepared the sword. Many of the others perked up to this idea, even the blue ghost, who despite her depression, shook her head and snapped out of her daze, looking more motivated to help.

"From what we've encountered so far, I'm willing to bet that, unfortunately, that demon's got a hold on them, too," Velma explained calmly. "Not to mention, there's no telling what it's done to Googie," She said, trailing off a bit. Her statements weren't meant to bring down the group, of course, as she was merely bring forth her observations, wanting the others to be cautious. Of course, Shaggy and Scooby gulped, not liking the idea of what awaited them in that regard.

"Then we'd better start looking," Elsa chimed in, looking around the now illuminated maze. "...but uh, any idea of where to look?"

"Yeah, this place ain't exactly easy to navigate," Winnie added, her tail twitching, as if her sixth sense was acting up. "Wait... something's... happening," She huffed simply, her ears swiveling in an effort to find the source of... some unknown noise.

"Whatcha see?" Scooby asked curiously, using his own ears to try and listen. Rather and move them around, he merely opted to push them against the ground. He made a confused noise, as he soon heard... rumbling under the ground. "Ruh? Runderground?" The Great Dane asked aloud, getting the attention of the others.

"Hey, yeah, what's that noise?" The werewolf asked, following Scooby's action and pushing her head against the floor. Everyone else merely looked at each other in confusion, not hearing or feeling anything.

"Uh... we don't know..?" Fred awkwardly added in, watching as Shaggy adjusted his hearing with a pinky finger before waiting a few seconds and shaking his head.

"Like, beats me," He'd respond.

"Oh, hey!" The phantom piped up, finding herself to be a bit more eager to be helpful. "I can shift down there and take a peek!"

"Alright, go for it!" Fred said enthusiastically. Without another word, the ghost pushed herself under the ground. The rest of the group waited for a little, though they wouldn't have to wait too long. After only a few seconds, the ghost came flying back up, yelling out with a frazzled, surprised look.

"Um..! Okay, so... good news, bad news time. Good news: Daphne is down there! With Tanis and uh... Googie," She said, looking fearful and uncomfortable.

"Wait, really? Where is she? How do we get there?" Fred instantly asked, hoping for the red-head's safety.

"What's the bad news?" Elsa asked, raising an eyebrow. Suddenly, the sound of rumbling grew louder, as the maze seemed to shake. It was as if an earthquake were occurring, making everyone stumble around a bit.

"I think the bad news is that we're gonna find the shortcut down there!" Velma shouted, answering Fred's question while simultaneously finishing Phantasma's thought.

As the ground began to crack, Scooby jumped into Shaggy's arms, as the two shook in place. "Zoinks! Like, what kind of a maze is this, anyways?!"

Daphne panted heavily, still on her feet. Despite her stance, it was clear that she had taken quite the beating. Not only was her outfit dirty, her hair all messed up, but a few good scrapes, burns, and bruises were littered all over her skin. The taste of blood made it evident to the red-head that she had busted her lip at one point, most likely due to tripping on one of the mummy's bandages and landing face first into the ground.

Regardless, she wasn't about to give in just yet. After all, she knew her two friends, now adversaries, were getting quite tired too. They learned the hard way that she wasn't defenseless, even if it was clear she wasn't putting in a lot of effort to seriously injure either the possessed mummy or the gorgon woman.

The woman in question, who used to be one Googie Hale, was panting just as heavily, The blindfold that had adorned her face was torn quite a bit, and stained with blood as well. Her shaky, clawed hands were outstretched, as if she were preparing a spell or had just finished throwing a stone. Daphne was certainly proving to be a hassle for the duo, as it seemed her new scaly skin wasn't as good of a defense as one would've expected. As for Tanis, she too was quite tired, though her small body refused to pass out, no matter how much it shook. Daphne figured that it was that inward 'wrath of the mummy' type of thing that the demon was using to get her to be powerful. Her bandages were dirty as well, with dried blood on some frayed strands. In one hand, she was even holding an Egyptian charm, one which Daphne knew was the source of many of her spells. She hoped that she wouldn't have do endure another one soon. Her leg was still stinging from those sand cobras...

The Gorgon in question let out an exasperated yell, clenching her fists as she hissed out, "Why are you not DEAD?!" Daphne huffed regained her composure, ready to dodge out of the way in case she decided to throw another spell her way.

"I... think you've found out... that I'm not as easy of a target as you think," The redhead panted out, steeling her gaze. "Just give up..! You know it doesn't have to end this way!" She called back.

Despite the fact that Tanis seemed to hesitate, the monstrous Googie merely let out another growl, clearly frustrated. "Why don'tyoujust give up? This is theonlyway!" She insisted for probably the tenth time since Daphne had come across the two of them. She was getting quite frustrated herself, but readied herself as Googie started to snicker to herself evilly, shaking her head. "Just more proof as to why you'd do better with us..." She urged.

Before Daphne could come up with any form of reply, a new noise made her freeze up. It was the unmistakable noise of a spider crawling. She felt herself shiver, never being a fan of arachnids in the first place, and it certainly didn't help that she knew just who had come to visit them. With how Tanis and Googie reacted, they knew as well, and neither of them were happy about it. Tanis looked more nervous, still being quite fearful of Revolta, regardless of her possession status. As for Googie, she became furious, lifting her head upwards towards the source, sneering as she hissed out, "Quit your stalking, spider witch! This is my business! Not yours!"

Daphne didn't even have the time to look upwards, as Revolta had made herself visible by simply detaching herself from the stone ceiling and falling downwards, landing on her eight legs. A lot of sand was kicked up as well, forcing the redhead to shield her face momentarily. Strangely enough, Revolta's attention was not on Daphne, instead pointed towards the gorgon, who was looking upwards, despite the fact that her vision was seemingly impaired by the blindfold.

Thinking that it was a good opportunity to look for a way out of the sandy arena, the redhead began to look around. Despite the pillars of flames, they appeared to be far weaker than when their fight actually started. She chalked it up that whatever magic was being used was getting weaker over time, due to their prolonged fighting. After affirming a spot to start running out of, Daphne began to sprint for it.

Unfortunately for her, Tanis had been keeping an eye on her, and was quick to lash out one of her bandages, instantly wrapping around the girl's ankles, before wrapping up her calves. Daphne tripped and fell once more, thankfully catching herself with her arms so that she wasn't injured too badly. After grunting in resistance and trying to kick her way out, she turned back towards the others, her eyes immediately meeting up with Tanis's, who looked incredibly displeased. Her red, glowing eyes glowered at Daphne as the mummy now stood over her. "You're not heading anywhere. Not until we sort this out!" She stated.

It was hard to miss the discussion between the witch and the gorgon, of course, as their words seemed to echo. Daphne just wished that their voices didn't grate on her hearing so bad...

"I think you've forgotten justwhois the more powerful one here!" Revolta boasted, crossing her two upper arms as she stared downwards at the gorgon. "In case you aren't aware, our master doesn't have time for slacking off!" With a sneer, she pointed a finger towards Googie, her gaze unreadable. "In fact, I just recently got word that the other two werevanquished!"

"Vanquished?!" Googie gasped out, feeling her fury grow as Revolta merely chuckled darkly.

"Can't trust men, can we?" She joked, her legs twitching in place a little as she started formulating a plan inside of her mind. "That is why I've decided to speed up the process!" She cackled, the room starting to shake and rumble. Daphne looked around the room, seeing familiar, plant-like tendrils snake up the walls and forming cracks everywhere. Tanis did not loosen her grasp on the girl, but was also looking around, unsure of what was going to happen. It was clear she was scared, but didn't dare try to do anything to stop this process.

As for Googie, she was rapidly looking around the room, her blindfold still tied tightly around her head. "What are you doing? Stop interfering!" She hissed angrily, clenching her claws, as if ready to give another attack.

"Save your anger for the others," Revolta replied, rolling her eyes at the ungrateful gorgon. Daphne also took notice of something... blue? It was a quick flash of blue before it disappeared again into the ceiling. It was a familiar color, as well... perhaps Phantasma? She had no idea.

"Others?" Googie asked, tilting her head curiously. Revolta merely grinned wickedly and looked upwards.

"Here they come now..!" The witch laughed, her body slowly falling into the sand. At this point, Tanis had broken concentration from the redhead and was staring at Revolta as she moved through the sand. Googie growled as her tail twitched wildly. Daphne figured if she were part rattlesnake, it'd be shaking up a storm right now.

"Meddlesome bug! Just wait until-" Was all she could get out before the ceiling caved inwards. Yelling and screaming was heard as a large group of familiar friends became visible to Daphne. Her momentary relief was soon pushed aside to make room for panic, as she realized that not only were her friends most likely going to get crushed within the rubble, but she was as well! She tried to crawl away, which was much easier this time, due to the lack of focus from the mummy girl. Thankfully, Tanis did nothing to stop the redhead this time around, as she was far more worried about getting to a safe place as well, diving behind a fallen pillar. As for the Gorgon, she opted to dive into the sand and try to slink away without getting injured. Daphne recalled seeing this move a few times as well, which lead to plenty of good cuts and hits.

The rumbling didn't seem to stop for a good long while, with plenty of sand and dust kicking up everywhere, making it hard to see what had happened. Thankfully for the group that had fallen through, none of them were crushed underneath any large rocks, nor had anyone fell straight to their death. Everyone, save for a floating ghost, who was trying to help and check up on the rest, were laying on top of the stony remains of what used to be the ground.

Of course, none of them looked too eager to be in their situation, though, as Winnie was grumbling and rubbing her head again, her ears flicking as she snarled irritably. "I swear, if I fall on my headone more time..." She growled.

"Like, are we alive..?" Shaggy coughed out, lifting himself up with a shaky arm, his other one being pulled up by Phantasma.

"Not all of us, but we aren't too seriously injured," Elsa stated bluntly, smirking a bit at her own joke. Phanty giggled at it, though none of the others were too impressed by the timing of the macabre humor.

"Terrific..." Velma sighed, readjusting her glasses after making sure that they weren't cracked or broken. "Well, at least we're here," She sighed, looking around, letting her sight get adjusted to the place. She also began to look for the lantern, as she had dropped it when falling through the ceiling. Thankfully, it wasn't too far away, as the fire was soon summoned once she touched it again. Fred followed suit by retrieving the sword, after making sure it hadn't impaled him when he fell.

"Guys, over here!" Daphne called out, making herself visible to the others, who instantly turned towards the redhead. Instantly, Fred perked up, ignoring the pain in his back after landing particularly roughly on the rubble.

"Daphne..? Is that you?" He hopefully called out, squinting his eyes as the dust started to settle. Thankfully, the figure of the redhead came into view as she ran through the sand. Everyone was momentarily shocked as they looked over her battered body. "Holy sh*t, Daphe, what happened?" Fred gasped out, hopping off of the rubble and hurrying towards her. With a bit of a smirk, Daphne allowed him to do so, helping him stay stable as he treaded on uneven feet.

"I should ask the same with you guys," She replied, graciously accepting and returning a hug that the blond had given to her. Everyone began to hop and climb down off of the rubble, forming the group together.

"Like, it's a long story, for sure," Shaggy said, sighing as he looked around the area. "Zoinks..! Like, what kind of a place is this?" He asked.

"I didn't know this was hiding around the maze," Velma mused. "I assume the maze made you get lost in here?"

"Oh yeah, for sure," She answered with a nod, as well as rolling her eyes at the annoyance of it all. "One second, I was listening to Freddie, and the next I'm in here." Daphne began to look around in an uneasy manner, turning back towards the rest of the group. "Um... while I'd love to havesomequestions answered, I think we should get out of here, first." Going from the expressions everyone else was giving, ranging from discomfort all the way to exhaustion and irritation, it was obvious to Daphne that they had all shared her experience in a similar fashion. Questions she would no doubt ask about later.

"For real, like, let's book it before-" Shaggy began, instantly being cut off as the heavy stacks of rubble began to shift. This quickly made the others run in the other direction, as it was soon thrown across the room. Thankfully, everyone was grouped up, so no one was hurt, though it didn't ease the fear of what they saw.

The gorgon girl was heaving and panting heavily, her arms shaking as she stared down the others. It was clear that Googie's monstrous form was no joke, as it provided her with an astounding amount of strength. How Daphne managed to stand her ground against someone this powerful was a feat in and of itself.

"Hngh...wretched witch..! Ruining my arena! Ruining my plans!" She hissed angrily, obviously harboring rage towards Revolta for causing such a mess. Unfortunately for the others, that meant that she would surely take her fury out on all of them instead. "I'm THROUGH messing around! So let's even the playing field a bit!" She said, a malicious smile starting to grow, showing her sharp teeth. "Tanis... if you will, please?"

"Yes, Miss Googie," Tanis replied from behind everyone. This turned heads, as she had decided to sneak up behind everyone to ambush them. Naturally, everyone was frozen in place, unsure of how to react as she lifted up both arms, her bandages starting to flail around as she began to chant in another language, one which Velma instantly recognized as ancient Egyptian. As the sand around everyone's feet began to stir up, the group began to formulate a plan.

"Guys, watch out! Her magic is insanely powerful!" Daphne warned, already starting to shield her eyes, an action which Scooby and Shaggy shared.

"Don't worry, I'll handle her!" Phanty began, a determined look on her face. This wasn't the first time she had to deal with a possessed mummy, and she knew just how to fix it. At least, she hoped so, anyways. She darted forwards, towards Tanis as she scrunched up her face, preparing herself for inevitable pain, much like last time.

However, Tanis was more than prepared for this. The moment Phanty was a foot away from entering her body, she flicked her wrist and summoned a type of forcefield, catching the ghost off guard. Not unlike a bug with a bug-zapper, the ghost squealed out in pain, jittering as Tanis's magic stopped her in her tracks before sending her flying in the opposite direction. As she was shot through the wall, the others yelled out in shock. Fred looked ready to run after her after a few seconds of the ghost not returning, but knew better than to let his guard down for the time being. He wasn't the only one who shared his sentiment, as Shaggy looked torn between rushing towards Phanty and trying to help Tanis.

"Phanty!" Winnie yelled out, turning her attention back towards the mummy. "Dang, her magic is no joke..!"

"I assume we're gonna have to fight fire with fire, right?" Elsa said, glancing towards Velma, who replied with a nod. Soon, the sandstorm that Tanis was summoning was in full swing, practically blinding everyone, and making the whole area basically next to impossible to look through.

"Can't see!" Scooby howled out, coughing a bit as some sand got in his mouth.

"Guys, are you all still here?" Daphne hollered as the wind whipped around them.

"We're fine..!" Fred shouted out, his grip around the sword tightening. "Velma, can you use the lantern for this?"

"I'm trying, Freddie!" She yelled back, using both hands to hold onto the handle. Despite the blue flame growing a bit, it did little to illuminate the area. "The sandstorm is too thick for this to handle!"

"Hang in there, guys!" Called the familiar voice of Phantasma, which provided some relief to everyone.

"Like, glad you're alright!" Shaggy called, trying to look around. "Like, where did Tanis and Googie go off to?" He'd ask, unaware of the snake woman who was practically swimming underneath the dunes. As if to answer his question, she instantly popped up behind him, her claws ready to strike.

"Right here, Shaggykins!" She cackled, swiping at his back. The attack was quite a hard one, as it left a nice bloodied scratch through his shirt, sending him falling forwards.

"Erk..!" Was all he was able to get out before his face was buried in the sand. Everyone else tried to look towards where he was, obviously scared about his fate.

"Shaggy!" The rest of the Mystery Inc. crew called out, including Scooby. Winnie growled out and took a chance towards pouncing right where she heard the gorgon pop out. Unfortunately, Googie decided to dive back into the sand, ready to ambush another person. Despite her frustration that she had not caught her, the werewolf opted to stay close to Shaggy, squinting her eyes to avoid getting sand in them.

"Mmf... Coach..! Speak to me..! You okay?" She yelled out, carefully turning him over. Even through the thick sand, she was close enough to be able to see his body. He was shaking tremendously, yet was still breathing, his eyes struggling to stay open due to the storm.

"Like... I'm fine..." He wheezed out, wincing a bit. "The sand's not doin' anything for my back, though," He said, trying to find the energy to stand up. Winnie wouldn't have this, however, and merely kept him laying down, standing over his body to protect him.

"Stay put, Shaggy. We can't afford you to take another hit like that..!" She growled. Before she knew it, though, two bandages had whipped towards the werewolf, instantly wrapping around her wrists. Winnie was strong enough to resist them, though Tanis was putting up quite a fight. As they played tug of war, Winnie kept growling, trying to find where the mummy was. "C-c'mon, let go, Tanis!" She'd plea to her friend, who merely snickered in reply.

"I thought youlovedtug-of-war, Winnie!" Tanis teased, yanking her bandages every once in awhile to trip her up. "NowIhave the upper hand, for once!" She'd giggle evilly, readying some more bandages to bind another target. "Who's next?!"

"Hang on, Winnie! I've got an idea!" Velma called, shielding her face with her lantern holding arm, using the light to help try and navigate her way around. She was having trouble walking through the sand, however, so it took her awhile to find the place where the werewolf and Shaggy were.

As for the others, they merely stayed on guard, not knowing who was going to attack, or when. As it turned out, Elsa was the unlucky target this time, as the swing of a large snake tail caused her to trip and fall backwards. Googie looked down on the golem, who was could only see the silhouette of the gorgon, due to the sand. "You'll be a lot less trouble when you're just a head!" She cackled, readying another arm to attack.

Elsa grunted and used an arm to instantly reach out and grab her tail, using as much of her strength as she could to pull at the gorgon and whip her to the ground, who reacted with a loud shriek. Gripping the tail tightly, Elsa got up on her feet, with Googie resisting underneath. "Un-unhand me at once!" She hissed, trying her best to look up at the golem.

With a bit of a smarmy smirk, Elsa reared her arm back, changing her stance. "With pleasure," She'd say before flinging the snake woman towards the opposite of the room. She naturally screamed the whole way, and only stopped when she smashed face first into a pillar. Even Elsa winced at that, rubbing the back of her neck. "Uh... hope she won't remember that..." She muttered, knowing how hard she threw. Almost instantly, Elsa's whole body was bound with the mummy's bandages, making her unable to move, despite her own inhuman strength. "Gah..! Tanis..!" She grunted out, seeing the furious face of the mummy.

"Oooh, you'llpayfor that one!" She threatened, using more bandages to now bind Winnie's arms, starting to yank a lot harder at this point. In an attempt to make Tanis let go, Elsa decided to try and use her own electricity to shoot into the bandages. Unfortunately, she seemed to absorb the energy very well, not even flinching! Instead, she merely constricted tighter, making Elsa choke and grunt more. "Nice try," Was all the mummy replied with. However, Tanis soon shrieked out, flinching at the pain of somethingelse. "Ow!" She cried out, loosening the bandages around Elsa momentarily. When the two tried to see what had happened, only Tanis could view a bright blue flame, being used to burn off part of her bandage, feeing the werewolf.

As Winnie unwravled herself from them, Velma gave an apologetic look, still gripping the lantern tightly with both hands. "Sorry, Tanis, but we can't have you hurting our friends again!" With a loud, angry scream, the mummy opted to use her burnt, frayed bandage ends to whip and smack the glasses off of Velma, slapping across the face and making her fall backwards. "Guh..!"

"Grah..! Stop...ruiningeverything!" She screamed. Before she could summon another spell or use another bandage to attack, she yelled out and actuallytrippedforwards, falling on her knees. Glaring back towards Elsa, she could see that Fred had managed to find his way towards Elsa, and used the sword to cut her down. The golem struggled a bit with the unwrapping, though Fred stayed at her defense while Daphne hurried over to try and help. It wasn't easy, due to the sand, but she did her best. Tanis stayed on the ground, angrily looking between the others, momentarily unsure of what to do.

Unfortunately for the rest of the group, Tanis's savior would come in the form of ear-splitting screaming, making everyone freeze up and look behind themselves. They wished they didn't, of course, as the moment they did, all of their eyes opened widely and they felt unable to move. It wasn't a case of them being too scared, even if they were quite fearful, but theyliterallywere unable to move!

The scream from Googie had caused the entire sandstorm to end, making the atmosphere more clear now. Unfortunately, this also gave her the opportunity to use her trump card. After having been flung backwards, in a fit of rage, she ripped off her blindfold, and was now staring into the eyes of everyone. Her sclera were a dark, blood red, and her pupils were very thing, snake-like slits. The comparison between her monstrous form and Medusa seemed even more accurate now, as she had frozen the others with her gaze alone.

She slowly began to slither towards the others, her panting and heaving increasing as she felt more anger towards the others. Googie also began to laugh madly, staring between each of her frozen targets. "I... haah... should've... done this... earlier!" She heaved, allowing the mummy to recompose herself and start to tangle her bandages around everyone's ankles, lifting them up in the air. Fred and a now glasses-less Velma let go of their respective items as they joined everyone in being hung upside down. None of them could react or move other than look between everyone with a fearful gaze. Even Phanty was subject to Tanis's bandages, who Velma figured was due to their magical properties.

As everyone hung there, Googie looked between everyone, as if looking for the first one to kill. Her hands and claws twitched eagerly, her sharp teeth glistening. "Master or no master, I will end you all!" She began rambling. "Soon, you'll see just what you've put all of us through!"

Tanis could only stand there, her red eyes keeping a watch on her hanging friends, making sure they wouldn't try to break out. Due to the nature of gravity, Shaggy's body was turning just slightly, his frightened eyes staring into the mummy's. His eyes were wide and scared, almost as if he were wordlessly pleading her to let go. The mummy's expression actually softened upon seeing her beloved coach, hanging in such a perilous manner with the rest of her friends.

Her mind started to argue with her body, yelling at her to let them all go. After all, they were her friends! She didn't want to hurt them! It was clear to Shaggy that something was going on with his student, as her red eyes were starting to well up with tears. Her hands shook and trembled as she began to remember all of their fun times. The volleyball game, the return of her favorite coach, the various classes with her friends... how could she even think about hurting them!

Blinking her eyes a few times before shutting them tightly, she'd shake her head and reopen them. Shaggy's eyebrows raised as he noticed that her eyes were their regular, bright blue self, showing that she had beaten her possession by herself. However, even as tears stung her eyes, she had an expression of conviction, her hands shaking more, fitting themselves into fists.

Googie noticed this, blinking as she stared at the mummy, with both a cautious and worried expression. "Tanis..? Are you alright?" She asked. Without turning her head to look into the gorgon's eyes, the mummy unclenched a fist, summoning a large sandstone pillar under the gorgon, smashing into her face and knocking her backwards. "Ack!"

With trembling hands, the mummy slowly put everyone back down on the ground, who were all starting to be released from the fearful gaze of Googie. As everyone started to scramble back to their feet, Tanis pointed a finger towards the gorgon, shouting her next lines. "I won't let you or that...fiendishdemon hurt my friends anymore!" Despite the fact that she knew Googie was not under her own influence, she was still very pissed about what had happened.

Despite a momentary look of betrayal on the gorgon's face, she soon scowled and unleashed another loud scream of fury. Her eyes seemed to glow even darker as she prepared another gaze for everyone. Tanis quickly looked towards Fred, who was rubbing his head and groaning, his eyes shut tight as he nursed a headache. The sword rested right next to his leg, which was what the mummy was looking at. "Freddie, the sword..!"

"Whuh..?" He asked dizzily, his eyes going to the sword, before glancing towards a furious gorgon, who was ready to stare down everyone again with her evil stare. "Oh..!" He gasped, remembering the old Mythological tale. With quick reflexes, he grabbed the sword and darted in front of the mummy, shielding his gaze from her. Rather than swing the sword to attack, he merely guarded with it, letting Googie look upon herself.

"Grrraaaaaaah!" She screamed out, freezing up as she was forced to look into her own gaze. Weirdly enough, her whole body was starting to turn to stone, slowly rising from her tail all the way over her body and her head. The others could only watch as the gorgon turned herself to stone, with Fred scrunching his eyes shut until her screams her silenced. Once he figured the coast was clear, he opened his eyes and peered over the hilt of his sword.

"Did... did that do it..?" He'd ask, gasping out as the statue of the gorgon started to crack before instantly crumbling into a pile of rubble. Freddie heard the gasp of the mummy girl, who clung to his back and shivered. Everyone else was clearly put off from this as well, but felt somewhat relieved in the fact that they were all still in one piece.

A couple of seconds of silence passed after the event before Tanis looked up, quite clearly scared. "Is... is she..?"

"No... no," Fred instantly answered, lowering his hands and sighing. "We're... we're pretty sure everyone else is fine... somewhere."

"Everyone else..?" Tanis gulped. She moved out from behind Fred as the others managed to get up. Her eyes widened as she noticed how hurt everyone was. "A-ah, I'm so sorry..!" She began.

"Like, don't worry about us..." Shaggy said, wincing as he felt the cuts on his back well up with pain again. "Oof..."

"Yeah, we know you couldn't help it," Winnie said, flashing a smile to the mummy. Despite this, Tanis looked very guilty, looking downwards as she sniffled a little.

"W-well... I know, but... at least let me help..!" She said, flexing her fingers. Her bandages would start to come out, making a few people flinch. Instead of attacking, however, she used them to gently wrap around Shaggy's abdomen and back, as well as carefully binding around Daphne's various wounds as well. After allowing them to snap off, the two let out sighs of relief, the healing effect seeping through instantly.

"Jeepers.. that feels much better," Daphne groaned out, standing a bit more straight.

Phantasma floated towards Velma, situating her glasses on her head for the girl. "Oh, thanks, Phanty!" She replied, adjusting the pair herself. Soon, Shaggy hurried over to the small mummy, pulling her into his chest for a tight hug.

"Glad you're okay," He told the girl, who instantly hugged him back. Scooby joined in on the hug as well, which neither one minded.

"Looks like everyone's still here with us," Fred sighed, looking around.

"B-but what about Sibella?" Tanis said, peering up from Shaggy's shoulder.

"We haven't seen her around, yet," Elsa mused. "Nor have we seen Miss Grimwood..."

"And you neverwill!" Growled the voice of Revolta, who was crawling out of the sand. This put everyone on the defense again, with Shaggy and Scooby standing in front of Tanis. Everyone else prepared an offensive stands towards the spider witch as she towered over everyone once more.

"Ugh, we've seenyoufar too much today!" Daphne huffed, looking very much done with her sh*t.

"Yeah, screw off!" Winnie growled.

"Haven't you cause enough damage for one day?" Fred added in, holding his sword outwards.

"Maybe if we finally killyou, we can get to the guy we came here for," Velma said, also holding her lantern like a blunt instrument to bash against the witch.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead anyways? Why not go back to doing that?" Phanty added in, 'rolling' up her sleeves, as if preparing for a pugilist style fight, with a nasty scowl on her face.

"Yeah, like, take the hint!" Shaggy said, with Scooby right by his side, growling at the witch.

The witch scowled down at everyone, her legs twitching angrily as she cracked her knuckles. "Not scared, huh? Well, I suppose I'll have to show you fear!" She cackled, her black, vine like tendrils shooting up from the ground, starting to swipe towards everyone. Many of them successfully fended them off, though it felt easy because Revolta was most likely toying with all of them.

"The Colonel... the Detective... the Cheerleader... all of them proved worthless!" She prattled on pompously, ignoring as Fred slashed away at the tendrils and as Elsa effortlessly wrestled and ripped them from the ground. The others held up just as well, with Winnie attacking and wrestling with the tendrils as well, with Scooby biting at any that came near. Shaggy was better at dodging them, though Tanis helped defend against him with her own bandages to keep them at bay. Velma used the lantern as a weapon, which worked well with the flame, while Daphne used her own moves to fend a few of them off. As for Phantasma, the tendrils predictably phased through her, so she opted to use herself as a distraction. Despite their best efforts, however, it was becoming more one vine was dealt with, it looked like two more grew in their place! "None of them could convertnorkill any of you! So I'll have to finish the job they couldn't even start! For my master, J'alzhikhan!" As she began to laugh, more and more tendrils came from the ground, ready to attack the group.

And they would have, if it weren't for one thing, which made all of them instantly shrivel up and die, confusing not only the monster girls and the mystery solvers, but the spider witch as well. A familiar voice called out to everyone.

"Enough. I grow tired of this."

"Master..?" Revolta called out, looking around in confusion. She looked downwards as she realized she wasmelting. The others also noticed, gasping out at the sight. "W-what is this?!What are you doing to me?!" She yelled out, feeling her motor skills deteriorate as her body fell apart into viscera and slimy blood.

"Those three I created could not do their job well, that is true."

"Yet I give you every chance in the underworld, and you still fail me."

"No more chances, Revolta."

"I wish to deal with this meddlesome group personally."

"I have no more use for you."

"Now rot away, spider witch."

With a gurgling scream, Revolta continued to puddle into the sand, melting away into nothingness. A few had to look away, with Scooby even supressing a gag. Many were conflicted on this, as despite the fact that she certainly deserved this fate, it was still disturbing to view. Especially considering the fact that J'alzhikhan was doing this.

They all remained in place, staring at the greenish, reddish puddle that was once Revolta, the sand staining with her remains. The sand underneath started to shift again, throwing them off.

"Jinkies! Another earthquake?" Velma asked, startled. Thankfully, the only thing that happened was that an enormous, stone door rose from the sand, the intricate masonry showing very detailed runes of various curses and hexes. If Velma were to guess what phrase was on the door, she would have assumed it were the demon's name itself, as well as it's title. Demons are vain, indeed...

"...do we, like, open that?" Shaggy asked, after a few seconds of stunned silence. No one answered, instead opting to look between one another, sharing expressions of caution and unease. Before anyone could answer the beatnik, the door slowly shifted open, a bright red light seeping from the hallway revealed. No noise was audible, and even Winnie heard nothing out of the ordinary. Pure, dead silence.

"Guess we don't have a choice," Fred answered, inhaling as he carefully took his first steps. "We're not backing out, now. C'mon, gang."

Wordlessly, the others followed, making sure to stay close. Scooby tailed the group, gently whining due to fear. Comforting pets from his best friend did little to ease his fear. Once the Great Dane stepped through the door, the door quickly shut itself, making Scooby flinch and peer back in shock. After a second, he hurried towards the rest of the group, with Shaggy waiting patiently before continuing further.

The light was unavoidable, and even the flame from Velma's lantern did nothing to increase visibility. It was clear that the hallway they were traveling down was growing larger and larger, almost becoming a full sized room.

And then.

And then.

And then...

…

...and then they found me.