Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all related characters and trademarks are copyright 2016 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers Animation/Cartoon Network/Boomerang, and any other companies or entities that have ever been involved in the production of Scooby Doo over the years. I am also not making any money off of writing this story, I am just a fan.
I would also like to thank jjb88, Jazzola, LoveofVelma and bballgirl22 for plot and title ideas for this story, I greatly appreciate it and I enjoy getting advice, reviews and encouragement from fellow Fan Fiction writers.
Chapter 1
Our story begins on a beautiful bright spring day in Coolsville, Ohio, which would usually mean that five of the city's most famous citizens, mainly the five members of the Mystery Inc. detective agency would be out and about having fun, or spending the day outside in the sunshine; however at the moment, only two of the members of the agency are spending the day outside, particularly Fred Jones and Daphne Blake, actually at the moment both of them are on somewhat of an unofficial date at Coolsville City Park.
Meanwhile the other three members of the agency, Shaggy Rogers, Scooby Doo and Velma Dinkley are standing inside a mystery bookstore owned and operated by the bespectacled sleuth; the intelligent detective hasn't had that much time to devote to her business, mainly because she and the gang have been receiving calls from all over the country and world for their services; not to mention Velma's social and dating life, which is what she and Shaggy are discussing as the trio cleans and straightens up around the store.
"Velma?" Shaggy asks, while in the process of sweeping the floors while Scooby Doo holds a dust pan with his tail, managing to catch all of the dust that Shaggy is sweeping up.
"Yes Shaggy?" Velma replied.
"Like why did you decide to hang on to this book store, I thought you were going to sell it or something after the gang got back together." Shaggy remarked, before he finished sweeping the front room of the store.
"Well, I've been thinking, as much as I like to solve mysteries, I won't be doing it forever so even though I liked solving mysteries more than selling them, I decided to keep the store going for as long as possible, plus I don't see why I can't mix business with pleasure." Velma said as she watched Shaggy put down his broom next to the front counter of the store.
"Good point Vel, although it's too bad Scooby and I couldn't hang on to our jobs when the gang decided to get back to solving mysteries; I really liked working at the airport as a customs agent." Shaggy replied.
"Um Shaggy, didn't you and Scooby Doo get fired from that job?" Velma pointed out.
"Well, like yes; but it wasn't our fault, we tend to get hungry and eat a lot and I guess we just let our appetites get in the way of our jobs." Shaggy replied.
"That's for sure." Velma quipped, chuckling a little as she spoke.
"Okay, okay Velma, very funny; although now that Scooby and I are out of work, I guess we'll have to look for a day job." Shaggy noted.
"Hopefully you guys will find something that peaks you and Scooby's interests." Velma responded.
"Like it's funny you bring that up Velma. When I was online the other day, I looked up something that did just that." Shaggy replied.
"What was it Shaggy?" Velma asked.
"Well, Scooby Doo and I found that the Coolsville Preparatory School was hiring teachers for its culinary arts program, so I decided to submit my application." Shaggy remarked.
"That's great Shaggy, so what happened?" Velma inquired.
"I don't know, it's been several weeks since I sent the application in and I haven't heard a word back yet. I really don't know what to do, maybe I should just forget about being a culinary arts teacher." Shaggy said as he turned his back and stared out the shop's windows onto the streets of the small Midwestern town.
The cowardly young adult was doing this when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around; Shaggy was surprised however to see that it was Velma's hand on his shoulder, and he was even more surprised to see the bespectacled young woman reach her other hand for his face, a few moments later the young woman began to softly stroke his face and cheeks, which made Shaggy a bit nervous, as he took a deep breath and gulped loudly.
"Shaggy, what's wrong?" Velma asked, noticing how Shaggy was acting.
"You-you, touched my face; you've never done that before Velma, in fact I don't remember you doing that for any of us, including Scooby and Fred, what's up?" Shaggy inquired.
"Well Shaggy, we've been friends for many years, and for the longest time I've been well, attracted to you; I know it's really silly and you might not feel the same way about me, but I love you Shaggy." Velma replied, as she leaned in to kiss the green shirt clad young adult on the cheek.
"Velma, I-I don't know what to say, to tell you the truth ever since we were kids, I've been kind of attracted to you too; you're so beautiful, everything about you is wonderful, your hair is so luxurious and soft, I always knew that you and I might have something and now I know it's true." Shaggy remarked as he looked into Velma's brown eyes.
"Shaggy, would you mind if I asked you something? I mean now that we both know how we feel about each other." Velma replied.
"Sure Velma, go right ahead." Shaggy said.
"Well, it's a bit unusual, but do you have any hobbies? I mean besides eating and being scared." Velma replied with a small chuckle.
"Now that you mention I do have a few things I'm interested in; for instance, you know I ran track and was on the gymnastics team in High School right?" Shaggy inquired.
"Sure, I remember." Velma replied.
"Cool; well, besides that I'm an excellent ventriloquist, I am a pretty good cook, I've been called a master of disguises and can blend into any environment pretty well and I'm also an excellent artist, I can draw and paint like no one's business and some people think I'm pretty funny as well." Shaggy explained.
"I do remember you using your ventriloquism on a couple of mysteries that we had years ago; and I knew about you being a good cook, but I never knew about you being such a great artist or you being a master of disguises." Velma replied.
"Oh yeah, I've been drawing and painting for years; heck I was partly responsible for coming up with the idea to paint the Mystery Machine red, green and I came up with the idea to paint flowers on it, well me and Fred, we both came up with the idea." Shaggy remarked, speaking somewhat modestly.
"I know, and you both did a great job; by the way, I've always been curious as to how you were able to come up with all those great disguises in order to baffle all those crooks that we've faced over the years." Velma commented.
"Thanks for the compliment on the paint job Velma; as for the disguises, my mom always said that my penchant for disguises probably came from one of my aunts, she designs costumes for a major movie studio; in fact some people say that her costumes are so good, that they call her the Chameleon." Shaggy replied.
"The Chameleon? That's an interesting nickname Shaggy, so why do people call her that?" Velma asked.
"Well it stems from the fact that when people wear her costumes, they tend to really blend into whatever movie they're acting in, or whatever specific scene they're participating in and they really work too, most people can't believe how my aunt's costumes are so good, a few have even joked that she might be a sorceress the way she designs those costumes and makes them so wonderfully." Shaggy replied.
"Shaggy, that's very cool, you might have to show me some of your drawings sometime; there's something else though, I think something you know has rubbed off on me a little. Velma remarked.
"How so Vel?" Shaggy asked.
"Well, like I said you're really good at ventriloquism, and I can't believe how good you are at costumes and disguising yourself, but one specific thing you know has really rubbed off on me, your ventriloquism skills, I remember using them myself to sound like a witch, I guess all that time with you and using your ventriloquism has made an impact on me." Velma replied.
"Well, like I did teach you that a couple of times, I guess you paid really good attention to me when I taught you." Shaggy remarked, chuckling as he spoke.
"Sure has." Velma replied.
"Velma, can I ask you something." Shaggy remarked.
"What's that Shaggy?" Velma inquired.
"When we were on Moonscar Island, I thought you were interested in that police detective Beau, but when we came back and started solving mysteries again after that, you started to hang around me a lot more, then a few minutes ago you stroked my hair and cheek and you kissed me, how come?" Shaggy asked.
"Well, to be honest I did like Beau, but he was a police detective, if he and I ever started to date, someone would try and go after me to get to him, that's one of the things we discussed on the way back to the mainland after we defeated Lena, Simone and Jacques. Another thing we talked about is that I dated guys like him and they would always turn out to be jerks, and I was afraid he might be like that too." Velma replied.
"But he seemed like a nice guy, and he seemed like a nice person to me, at least once we knew who he was and what he was, so how come you two didn't click?" Shaggy asked, pressing the young woman a bit for an answer.
"Shaggy, it's just that, well I know what people like him are like, yes he's strong and a police detective but if he ever had a bad day he might or could…" Velma replied, stopping short of completing her sentence.
"Oh, yeah my dad was like that, whenever he had a tough day on the job, like if he had to catch some murderer or a really tough criminal, he would either get home late or sit in his easy chair or on the sofa and he would just watch television. Whenever my mom would try and talk to him he wouldn't listen to her, sometimes he would, well he would push her or hit her, it was really hard for me to take that and I know what you must have been feeling when Beau and you were talking." Shaggy explained, trying to fight back tears as he spoke about his childhood.
"Shaggy, I never knew about that part of your life, that your dad and mom had problems like that." Velma replied.
"I know Velma, I know; I never wanted to say anything about it because I wasn't sure how you and the gang would react, actually that's part of the reason why Scooby, Scrappy and I took the Mystery Machine all those years ago. I figured after that while we had the van, that the three of us would see the sights and do all the things I had never been able to do before that point." Shaggy remarked.
"But why? Why did you want to leave and start traveling the world?" Velma asked, trying to rack her brain about a reason why the young adult and his canine companions might have had to depart Mystery Inc., at least for a while.
"Well like one day I happened to go downstairs to take out the garbage, and I saw my dad pushing my mom around; I didn't know what to say after that, actually it's probably a good thing I didn't say anything about it because after I got done doing my chores I went up to my bedroom and started planning right away for an around the world trip, to get away from Coolsville for a while, and my parents." Shaggy replied.
"Jinkies, did your parents know about what you wanted to do?" Velma asked.
"Like they did all right. One day when they were out I left them a note saying I was going to visit you guys and take Scooby and Scrappy along with me, I also said I was going to pick up the Mystery Machine and then once I packed my luggage and loaded it into the van, I came to visit you guys." Shaggy replied.
"I remember that day now, as I recall you were really upset, you were crying like I had never seen someone cry before." Velma remarked, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.
"Like I was, all the time I thought my parents were getting along so great, but I guess appearances can be deceiving huh?" Shaggy said, trying to remember what he said and did that day, many years ago.
Although he didn't want to admit it and he wanted to push that day out of his memory for good, he knew he needed to relieve that day as a kind of therapy to help him sort out his life and the problems he had encountered; and as he watched Velma, who was now only a few inches away from him, he realized that he found the perfect person, and the perfect girl to discuss what he needed to talk about.
Shaggy had never been one to really discuss his feelings, mostly in fear of what his friends might think of him and what they might say; however, he did have plenty of time on his hands to express his feelings about everything from art, to music, to even politics with one particular person: Velma Dinkley.
Velma was a refreshing presence in Shaggy's life, and had been one for years, ever since the two of them met for the first time, and now as they stood in the front room of the bookstore Velma owned in downtown Coolsville, he knew it was time to express his true feelings for everything that had happened in his life, naturally of course Velma was there to hear all of it, and began asking about what had transpired to cause Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy to take their world traveling vacation so many years ago.
"I guess they can, so what happened after you talked to us? It was so long ago, I can't quite remember all the details." Velma said, restarting the conversation.
"Well, like I remember that you said whatever Scooby, Scrappy and I had to do, it was okay with you, and then Fred and Daphne agreed and we talked a while, then you…" Shaggy replied, although he stopped when he remembered a specific and very touching memory.
"I what Shaggy?" Velma asked.
"You kissed me on the cheek I think; wait, now I remember, you did kiss me on the cheek, you said have a good time on your trip and be careful of any danger we might encounter on our trip; then we hugged and I left for the driveway, got into the Mystery Machine and left Coolsvile for a while." Shaggy replied.
"You sure did, In fact I didn't see you for almost five or six years after we went our separate ways and you, Scooby and Scrappy left for your road trip; to tell the truth I thought about tracking you down and joining up with you guys for a while." Velma remarked.
"You did Velma?" Shaggy asked, finding himself lost in the beautiful eyes of the brunette detective.
"Mm-hmm, although I'm glad I didn't because I didn't know how you were going to react, I mean seeing me when you, Scooby and Scrappy were off on your little world journey would probably damage you too much, or maybe not, I don't know." Velma replied.
"Velma, like I've never heard someone talk like that before, well I have but that was just on TV on all those police officer shows and lawyer shows; but I do know this: I would have loved to have you there with me and the dogs, however…" Shaggy responded.
"However?" Velma inquired.
"If you were there I might have done something I might have regretted, I mean that time was just merely a time where I could get away from it all and lose myself in the beauty and wonder of the world, I wanted to be peaceful, and having you there might have brought back some bad memories for me." Shaggy replied.
"Shaggy, you've known me long enough to know that I wouldn't stop you from living your life, and if you wanted to be alone, I would support that; still, I wish I could have been there with you, maybe I could have given you support and comfort." Velma remarked.
"I know you would have Velma, I know you would have; I actually thought about calling you up and seeing if you could come to where Scoob, Scrappy and I were, but after I sent a letter to my parents one day, I forgot all about it." Shaggy replied.
"You sent a letter to your parents? What was it about?" Velma asked.
"Well, I sent the letter to my parents to tell them about where I was and what was doing with my life, that was around the spring time one year; at that time, Scooby, Scrappy and I were somewhere in Europe, I think it might have been somewhere in Germany maybe, or it might have been Austria, or Denmark, I forget the country." Shaggy replied.
"So you sent a letter to your parents, did they get it?" Velma asked.
"Well, one of them got it. When I got a response back to the letter I sent, I saw that it only had my mom's handwriting on it and not my dad's, then everything in my life pretty much was ruined, it was like a freight train hitting me and flattening me." Shaggy replied.
"Jinkies, why was your mom writing you back only and not your dad?" Velma inquired.
"Because my mom and dad… got a divorce, she told me about it in the letter; she had gotten tired of dad pushing her around and she yelled at him to leave, so he did; I think he ended up getting a job as the assistant police chief in Cleveland or something." Shaggy replied.
"Shaggy… I… had no idea, I can't imagine finding out your parents are getting divorced; what happened after they got divorced?" Velma asked.
"Well like I said, after hearing my parents got divorced it was really hard on me, I just forgot everything for a while, and because I was driving the Mystery Machine and had Scooby and Scrappy with me, I was able to do so." Shaggy replied, looking as if he was about to cry like no one had ever cried before.
"Shaggy, you know you didn't have to travel the world just to get away; and if you did, I would have come with you, I care a lot about you and whether you know it or not, so does the gang, Fred, Daphne, all of us are your friends, if you had a problem, then you could come to us, you know that." Velma said as she threw her arms around Shaggy's waist and pulled him into a warm hug.
"I know Vel, but like I said that was a tough time for me, I know you guys are my friends too, but I just felt like I needed some time alone." Shaggy replied, while realizing that Velma was still hugging him, although he really didn't mind it too much.
"I understand Shaggy, if it was me who had to deal with my parents getting a divorce I would have done the same thing; so, were you able to deal with the divorce pretty well? That is, did you get over it?" Velma asked.
"Well like I never really got over it, and I'm finding new ways to deal with the fact that they were once divorced; but thankfully they were able to work things out in time for my sister's wedding." Shaggy replied.
"Your sister? Maggie? I can't believe it, she really got married?" Velma asked, somewhat surprised at the young man's statement.
"She sure did, actually the last time I saw her was probably when she was two or three, remember? We used to baby-sit her on a few occasions." Shaggy replied.
"That's right we did, so what happened at her wedding?" Velma inquired.
"Well, there was a ghost who tried to ruin things, but we unmasked him as a photographer who was looking for a treasure buried somewhere in Plymouth." Shaggy replied.
"A treasure? A ghost? Do tell…" Velma said, smiling at the young sleuth as she took hold of his right hand, which strangely Shaggy didn't mind either.
"Well like Daphne, Scrappy, Scooby and I traveled to Plymouth, Massachusetts where my parents moved after they got back together; then, we got to see my sister's wedding, not to mention stopping a ghost who tried to find a buried Indian treasure, who turned about to be a photographer who was an ancestor of one of the founding families of Plymouth, or something like that, it's so long ago, I can't remember what exactly happened." Shaggy replied.
"That's okay, so what was the Indian treasure? Gold, jewels, Diamonds, or something else?" Velma asked.
"Like none of the above, it was Indian Corn." Shaggy replied.
"Ah, that must have been an important treasure then; because corn was one of the crops the Indians of Massachusetts taught the settlers who came over from England how to plant and how to grow." Velma remarked.
"Like that's true, Daphne mentioned that to me as well." Shaggy replied.
"Daphne?" Velma asked.
"Yeah, she told me later that she had remembered that from high school or something." Shaggy replied.
"Ah, so during the time that you and Daphne hung out and traveled together did you two ever go out?" Velma asked.
"Like on occasion; we had a few good dates, but one day I told her that I was still thinking about and in love with you, and she was still thinking about and in love with Fred, so we both agreed it would never work." Shaggy replied.
"That's too bad, I think you and Daphne would have made a really nice couple, but it was really cool that you were still thinking of me all that time." Velma said as she gently held the young sleuth's hands.
"Thanks Velma, like tell me something though: all that time when I was on the road with Scooby and Scrappy and all the time that you, Daphne and Fred were doing whatever you were doing back when Mystery Inc. was just the three of you, did you think about other guys?" Shaggy asked.
"I guess I thought about Fred a little, I mean he's a good friend, and I did have a few dates with him, but our personalities never really clicked enough for us to be anything other then good friends, why do you ask?" Velma inquired.
"Well, did you think about me all that time?" Shaggy asked.
"Do you want the truth, or something made up like all those villains we've unmasked." Velma replied, looking and sounding a bit surprised at Shaggy's statement.
"The truth preferably." Shaggy said.
"Well, yes actually; I mean we were best friends since we were all little kids, and I always liked to hang out with you and Scooby, so yes." Velma replied.
"Groovy, but what other guys? Did you have any other dates?" Shaggy asked.
"Sure, I had a few; but they always turned out to be total jerks, what about you, I mean besides Daphne." Velma replied.
"You mean did I have any dates besides Daphne? Sure, they were okay, but no one really clicked with me as far as personality goes." Shaggy remarked.
"Just like me, you know Shaggy, I think this is going to be a great relationship, and trust me, I love you, and I don't think anything will ever happen to change that." Velma replied as she looked over at the young man and into his eyes.
"Thanks Velma, so what's next? Because I think Scooby and I are close to finished with our dusting." Shaggy remarked.
"Well, why don't you and Scooby take a break for a while; just make yourself at home, and by the way, if you find a book you really enjoy and that you really want, I'll buy it for you, on the house." Velma replied.
"You will? Velma, that's really nice of you and thanks." Shaggy said as he kissed the young woman on the cheek.
"You're welcome, and you know what else, I think I'll treat you and Scooby to a meal at the Coolsville Malt Shop after we're done working around the book store, okay?" Velma replied, while Shaggy continued looking in her eyes.
"Sure thing Velma, Scooby and I will be waiting, but what are you going to do?" Shaggy asked.
"Well Shaggy, I have to head into the back room to work on some inventory and stock, then once I'm finished, we'll head to lunch, OK?" Velma suggested.
"You got it Velma, we'll be waiting." Shaggy replied, while smiling at the young woman as she walked through a curtain and into the back stockroom of the store; naturally Shaggy was still smiling and began thinking to himself as Velma passed through the curtain and into the back of the store.
"Like I must be the luckiest guy in the world, I've got a beautiful girl who's in love with me, I have a talking Great Dane, and I solve mysteries with some great friends, things couldn't get any better in my life." the cowardly young man said to himself as he began walking through the aisles of Velma's small bookstore and prepared to look through the cookbooks section, hoping to find something he might like, especially since Velma was going to pay for whatever purchase he wanted to make.
Meanwhile, back in the stockroom, Velma began pouring over the literally tons of shelves of books that her aunt had purchased for the store, or that people had been allowed to bring in, because after all, her aunt had told her once that it was a good idea for people to bring in their old unwanted or unread books and on rare occasions magazines, just in case someone wanted to purchase any one of them for a gift or for themselves.
"Jinkies, I never knew there were all these books here, it's going to take me forever to go over everything." Velma said as she started looking through one of the shelves.
The bespectacled young woman began going over the large amount of books on the shelf in front of her, with a black leather bound ledger in one hand and a black metal ink pen in the other, marking off every book that was in the backroom with a check in the aforementioned ledger.
Next she double checked everything in the ledger and the shelves, which gave her a great sense of satisfaction and joy; as usual, everything was in its proper place and every book that was intended to be in the book store was in the back room, ready to be properly shelved, all in all Velma was quite happy with herself.
The intelligent young woman was doing an excellent job of running her aunt's book store, and with Shaggy and Scooby's help, had made sure the business was in tip top shape, both inside and out, which would make the young woman's relative very pleased the next time she visited Velma and her friends.
While Velma continued to look over the shelves of the stock room, and the contents of said shelves, she noticed that behind one of the shelves, or rather mixed in with some of the volumes, something brown and something that looked to be made of wood as well.
Although she could only see a small portion of this mysterious object, Velma knew it was important and that it could possibly be something she might need to look at, so she took hold of a few of the volumes and moved them aside; once she began moving the books aside, she could begin to see what the object that was hidden behind the shelves and possibly why it was hidden so well.
"Jinkies, this looks like some kind of chest." Velma said as she took hold of the container and brought it down to the floor so she could examine it more closely.
"Hmm… the last time I encountered something like this was that Chest of Demons with the rest of the gang, I wonder…" the young woman thought as she remembered the group's ordeal with the sinister crimson chest and its hellish contents.
Undaunted by those memories, and because she was curious, the young investigator decided to go through with her examination of the box; once she had the container on the ground, she walked a few steps to a chair which was located on the right side of the stock room, but before she sat down she pulled the heavy container over to the chair so that it was in front of her.
Now with the chest on the ground in front of the wooden chair that she sat in, Velma was prepared to open said box and reveal whatever its contents might be, and whether they would be something that would help her with her life or if they were something unspeakable and that she would want to hide for the rest of her days.
With a deep breath and with all the courage that she possessed, Velma plunged into the unknown by leaning down and prying open the container; after opening the chest, the bespectacled investigator gasped at what she found, and wondered just what it had to do with her, and why she of all people was chosen to receive the strange box's contents.
Author's Notes: Man, that took a while, but I still managed to get it done; I of course ended Chapter 1 with a cliff-hanger, but I hope all of you enjoy it; to tell the truth, after writing several stories where the gang are witches and warlocks, the plots and villains tend to become repetitious and nonsensical, but I think I'm doing a good job here and I hope all of you think the same way, but if you don't, that's all right as well.