Chapter 1

"Right...the Blaskov Hotel, upper west side? Yes. Yes. Right...yes of course we'd be interested. How much would you be willing to pay?" Fred asked the Russian on the phone.

"Uh...ve' pay you total of fifteen thousand USA dollars. But only iv' you manage to capture the beast. Ve' haff' to stay opehn'. Is ve' holiday period, Mr Jones. I trust that payment is acceptable.?"

"Certainly, certainly." Fred replied, excited by the immense figure he had just heard. "And don't worry. We'll sort this out for you in no time. Is ten PM tonight a good time for you?"

"I see you then'." the Russian hung up.

Fred leapt up from his desk chair, and whooped for joy. "Ka-ching!" he yelled to himself. He bounded out of the room. "Team...Blaskov Hotel, ten tonight. Fifteen thousand dollars man!"

"No way..." Daphne gasped. She looked up from painting her nails, wide eyed. "How much?"

"Fifteen plus three zero's baby!"

Her eyes narrowed. "Is there a catch? What's the mystery?" She had been solving mysteries long enough to know that large amounts of money often meant dangerous mysteries. Fred too often allowed himself to be distracted by the fee, not regarding the fact that there must be a reason behind such large payouts. "The Awthorn Monkey." Fred said dramatically. "What do you know of it?"

"Nothing."

Fred cleared his throat importantly. "It's an urban myth. According to the villagers of Awthorn, about two hundred years ago, their village was terrorised on a nightly basis by the so called Awthorn Monkey. Nobody ever saw it. But they all heard it. Every night, the monkey sounds would ring through the village. The villagers would sometimes hear it scratching on their doors, as it tried to get inside in the dead of night. Windows were smashed. Gardens ruined. Horses would be found in the morning without any tails. And then one day...something was seen. A man of the village went into the woods hunting and found something. A tomb. An underground tomb. It was open. It looked like something had broken out of it. Looking round, the hunter saw a man with a neck twice the length that should be. And his head was on backwards. He was standing there with his back to the man, but the face was there, on the huge neck leering down at the man. Naturally, the guy fled back to the village to tell the others."

"All right...so what then?" Daphne asked.

"That's it. Records end. The village was found five years later, completely empty. The villagers vanished. We only know this story because a diary was allegedly found in one of the houses. Spooky stuff, isn't it? Odd thing is, an Ancient Egyptian carving matching the description of the Awthorn Monkey exists. As well as the diary written by a Greek madman: "Beware he who looks from behind, who's neck elongates to the point of hideous deformity, for heard he brings trouble. Once seen he brings death." There are other records as well."

"Spooky yes...but as you said, a myth. Not real."

"Indeed. So why, ask yourself, has it been seen again, four times, in the new Russian hotel in town?" Fred smiled to himself. He enjoyed telling spooky stories.

Daphne's chuckled. "Stop trying to be dramatic, Freddy boy. You're too cute to be scary." Fred blushed.

"I think we all know the answer. Someone is dressed up in a good costume. So, we're going to solve it? Sweet. I'll give Velmster a call." Daphne reached for her phone on the coffee table and dialled Velma's number. Velma answered on the third ring. "Hey Daph." she said.

"Hi Velma...listen. Can you Shaggy and Scooby get over here? We've got a pretty cool sounding mystery lined up."

"Oh that's nice. One problem. Burch broke Shaggy's leg."

"What?" shrieked Daphne. "How?"

"We took Scooby and Burch out to play Frisbee. Well, Shaggy decided to race Scooby to the Frisbee. Burch decided to try and hold Shaggy back from beating Scooby, so he took his leg out when he was running. That dog doesn't realise his own strength I don't think." Velma muttered.

"You don't say..."

"Yes well...the upshot of it all is that Shaggy's leg is broken in three places. He isn't going anywhere soon. I'm at hospital with him now."

Daphne shut her eyes and rubbed her head, frustrated. "All right. I'll tell Fred. I'll let you know if we're going ahead or not in a bit. See you."

"Bye."

"Freddy." called Daphne "That friend of Scooby's disabled Shaggy at the park earlier. He can't come." Fred groaned from his bedroom and walked out looking annoyed. "That hotel's huge man. We need at least four people if we have any hope of cracking the case tonight. It's over. I'll call the manager again and cancel."

"Fred!" shouted Daphne. Fred always gave up when he was frustrated. "Isn't there somebody else we can take?"

The phone rang.

Fred slouched over to answer the call. "Mystery Inc, Fred speaking, what the hell do you want?" he snapped.

"Like calm down man." Shaggy said. "You'll rupture a blood vessel or something."

"Oh...sorry Shaggy. How's the leg man?" Fred asked, highly embarrassed.

Shaggy laughed. "Been better. Listen, about tonight. I'm sorry about this dude. Is that what you're angry about?"

"No...kind of...yes...but I don't blame you man. It weren't your fault. It's just the amount of money we're getting offered."

Shaggy considered for a moment. He didn't like to disappoint his friends, and although he knew he wasn't being blamed, he still felt responsible. Then, a brainwave hit him. He couldn't go tonight, that's for certain. However...

"Listen man, call my cousin Rufus. He's out of work and he's got nothing to do man. I'm sure he'll come along." Shaggy told Fred. Fred considered, not liking the idea at all. Rufus was Shaggy's cousin, and like Shaggy fitted right into the Rogers family. He was five years senior to Shaggy, and was the definition of hippy. Long hair, ludicrous hats, coloured sunglasses. Rufus had a criminal record, and was by all accounts a deadbeat. He didn't work, at least not honest work. He drank. He'd been to prison. Fred had met him once or twice, and despite himself had liked the guy. Rufus was a loveable loser. Fred thought he was hilarious. Would he hang out with Rufus? Absolutely. But take him on a job? That was a different matter. Plus, Daphne and Velma hated Rufus. But fifteen grand...how could they refuse that money? Which is probably why, against all his better judgement he said:

"Sure, why not. I'll give him a call, dude. Hope you feel better soon."

"Like, yeah man. Over and out."

"So are we going tonight or not?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah, I think we are. Listen, why don't you collect Velma and head over to the hotel. I need to make a phone call..."

Note: Yeah, that's chapter one. Two's up soon. Cheers for reading