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, Freddy 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 otherwordly 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 her Monsters By State book 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."