In the cozy town of Staybrook, traveling down the road was the Mystery Machine. Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo were looking forward to spending Christmas together with their very good friends, Rachel and Sasha Jocklin.
"How long until we get there, Fred?" Daphne asked.
"Yeah! Like, are we there yet?" Shaggy asked as well.
"I already told you we're almost there." Fred responded.
"But you said that three hours ago, Fred." Velma said.
"And that equals twenty one hours in dog time!" Shaggy added.
"Reah!" Scooby barked.
"Relax, gang." Fred said. "We're almost at the mansion. Right now, we need to get some gas."
Fred pulled over at the local gas station. The gang exited the vehicle and headed inside.
"Excuse me, do you know the quickest way to get to the Grant Mansion?" Fred asked the clerk at the desk.
The elderly aged clerk scratched his beard. "Well, the only way I know is past the old cemetery. But of course, nobody ever goes there around Christmas time." he said in his crusty drawl voice.
"Why's that?" Daphne asked.
The clerk stared at the kids. "You folks new around here?"
The gang nodded.
"That makes sense. Otherwise, you'd know about the local legend that haunts these very parts this time of year."
Shaggy gulped. "H-H-Haunts?!"
The clerk nodded. "That's right. It all started a long time ago on a Christmas Eve just like tonight. A madman dressed up like Santa Claus came flyin' on a sleigh of skeleton reindeer and instead of delivering toys, he sent evil, demonic toys you would see in bad dreams! Like baby dolls possessed by demons, monster trains with tentacle tracks, and haunted toys that would chase and terrorize children!"
Shaggy and Scooby were hugging each other, shivering in fright as they heard this scary Christmas story.
"And when the military finally spotted the Scary Santa, they shot him down from the sky. And some say the maniac's spirit haunts the very cemetery where he crashed."
"Have you ever seen this Scary Santa?" Fred asked.
"Nope, but I have heard the sound of clattering bones late after dark. And some people even claimed to see the Scary Santa rearing his ugly skeleton head around the tombstones of the old boneyard."
"Zoinks! That's one Santa Claus I don't want coming to town!" Shaggy said.
"Re reither!" Scooby agreed.
"Sounds like a mystery." Fred said.
"No way, Fred!" Shaggy said. "Can't we just take a break from mystery solving for once?! It's Christmas!"
"Reeeeaaaaaase?!" Scooby begged on his knees.
"Besides, that story is just an old wives' tale anyway." the clerk said with a little shrug.
Fred sighed. "Alright, fine."
Shaggy and Scooby jumped for joy and hugged Fred.
Once they filled up on gas, the gang pulled out of the gas station and went back on the road. They decided to take the shortcut through the old graveyard. Once they past the gates, the atmosphere changed completely.
Shaggy gulped. "Like, even when it's Christmas, a cemetery is still scary as ever!"
"R-Reah!" Scooby said.
Daphne shook her head. "Guys, let's just put fear behind us for once. It's Christmas."
Fred peered through the windshield. "Look! There's the mansion!"
Fred drove up a tall hill and pulled up to the infamous Grant Mansion. The large house reached up towards the ominous sky, its twisted windows portals to darkness.
A sense of dread crept up the back of Scooby and Shaggy's necks.
The mansion doors slowly opened and instead of a ghost or a monster, the Scooby gang were greeted by the friendly faces of the Jocklin sisters, Rachel and Sasha.
Scooby was the first to react. He ran over and tackled Sasha Jocklin. The girl giggled as Scooby licked her. "Hahahahaha! Okay! Easy, boy! I missed you too, Scooby!"
Rachel smiled as she greeted the gang. "I'm so glad you guys could come!"
"Thanks so much for inviting us to your Christmas party, Rachel." said Daphne.
"It's our pleasure." Rachel said.
"Like, don't you guys have any Christmas lights up?" asked Shaggy.
"We would love to, but we don't people to know that we live here." said Rachel. "We have to keep a low profile."
"Why's that?" Daphne asked.
"Well, if people knew that alien monsters live here, it could only spell disaster." Sasha said. "Y'know how that is."
Inside the mansion, there were Christmas lights! They glowed so bright and sparkled like stars in the night sky. A spectacular Christmas tree stood tall and beautiful in the living room.
"Jinkies! This place looks fantastic!" Velma complimented. "Are the aliens here?"
Rachel shook her head. "They're away on business. But they'll be back in time for our Christmas party."
"Anyway, while turkey's in the oven, let's get this party started!" Rachel said. "I'll get the eggnog."
That's when Scooby noticed something about the Christmas tree. "Hmm, where's the star?"
Sasha gasped. "Oh, my gosh! We forgot to put on the star! Where is it?!"
"The star is up in attic somewhere." said Rachel.
"Like, don't sweat it, Scoob and I can get it." Shaggy told them.
Rachel smiled. "Thanks you guys, just be careful up there."
And so, Scooby and Shaggy went upstairs and headed for the attic. Once they stepped inside, they had that familiar feeling again, the feeling of fear. The attic was even darker and scarier than the mansion itself. It was crammed with dusty clutter and a chilly breeze seemed to come from invisible drafts, it gave Scooby and Shaggy the shivers.
"L-Like, this place is pretty spooky, Scoob." he chuckled nervously.
"Reah, reeheeheeheehee..." Scooby said, chuckling equally nervous.
Shaggy tried to remain calm. "Oh, come on, Scoob. What are we worried about? There's nothing to be afraid of...except for all the shadows and scary stuff in here..."
The cold breeze raced chills up the boys' spines. The creaky floorboards caused their paranoia to rise.
"Let's get that star and get out of here!" Shaggy said.
The boys looked quickly around the room. They screamed a few times when they saw a spider or two hiding in the corners.
Shaggy was desperate to get out. "Where is that star?!"
Scooby tried to sniff out the star, but it was hard with all the dust. Suddenly, something dropped in front of Scooby,
It was a skeleton.
"RIIIIIIKES!" Scooby screamed and ran away, crashing into Shaggy. Once Scooby seized his panic attack, they got a closer look, and discovered it was just a plastic skeleton.
Shaggy let out a little laugh. "Look, Scooby Doo. It's just a Halloween decoration."
Scooby saw it was only fake and started to laugh, Shaggy laughed as well. They were so scared over something so silly, they just laughed.
Then someone laughed behind them, causing Scooby and Shaggy to freeze.
They quivered as they slowly turned around and saw another skeleton,
Only this skeleton was alive! He screeched at the boy and dog.
Shaggy and Scooby screeched even louder. They tumbled back and saw that this skeleton was extremely tall and slender. And he was wearing a Santa suit.
"It's the Scary Santa!" Shaggy wailed.
The Scary Santa cackled seeing these strangers so frightened. He menaced towards them, his expression nightmarish. "I have a special gift for you two." He pointed a bony finger at them. "Who's first?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Shaggy and Scooby screeched and screamed, terrified beyond rational thought. They burst right through the attic door and came crashing down the stairs and into the hallway.
"Guys?"
The boys jumped and saw Sasha. "What happened?! We could hear you screaming all the way from downstairs!"
The boys were so scared, they could barely stand. So they trembled on the ground and tried to tell Sasha what they saw. But all they could do was stammer and make multiple hand gestures.
Sasha tilted her head, trying to make sense of what they were saying.
"Uh, how's that again?" she asked.
Shaggy and Scooby gasped when they saw the Scary Santa right behind Sasha.
The boys fell over in a faint.
Rachel, Fred, Velma, and Daphne ran down to the hall. "Guys!" Rachel said. "What's going on in-"
Sasha saw her sister and her friends frozen still. Feeling a shiver up her spine, she turned around and the supposedly Scary Santa smiled and waved. "Merry Christmas, Sasha!" he said with a deep Santa voice. "Have you been good this year?"
Sasha gasped with a big smile. "Jack!" she squealed and threw her arms around the skinny skeleton.
"Jack Skellington! What are you doing here?!" Rachel said, just as surprised. "And what's with that costume?"
"I just thought I'd dress for the occasion!" the skeleton in the Santa suit said. He chuckled as he hugged Sasha deeply.
"Uh, hello? Kind of freaked out here..." said Fred.
Scooby and Shaggy woke up and saw the skeleton in the Santa suit. They let out a shout and scrambled away from him, jumping into Daphne's arms.
Jack laughed heartily at their reaction. "What fine fellows!" he chortled. "I've never seen two people scared so much!" It delighted the skeleton to see people terrified by him.
"Very funny." Velma said, not amused. "How about ditching the mask now?" She marched up to Jack and started pulling off his head!
"Velma! WAIT!" Rachel said.
But it was too late.
POP!
Velma pulled Jack's head clean off his neck! The bespectacled teen stared in quivering horror as she held Jack's glaring skull. She watched his decapitated body cross his arms and tap his foot in annoyance.
Jack roared at Velma, causing her to scream and throw Jack's head back to his body. He caught it and promptly put it back on his neck.
"So much for Christmas spirits." Jack said as he turned away.
"Don't be mad, Jack." Sasha said. "They just thought you weren't a real skeleton, this is Mystery Inc., the mystery solvers we told you about."
Jack turned back to the teens with a surprised look. "Really?! You're the famous sleuths I've heard so much about?!"
"Uh...yeah we are." Daphne said. She finally put Shaggy and Scooby down.
"What a pleasure!" Jack said, his smile returned. "I've been dying to meet you!"
"L-L-Like, it wasn't worth it! You don't wanna eat us!" Shaggy whimpered. His whimper was echoed by Scooby.
Jack couldn't help but laugh a little. "Eat you? Perish the thought!" He knelt down to a shivering Scooby. The hound covered his eyes and whined in fear.
The friendly skeleton reached out and began scratching Scooby's head. Scooby yelped a little, but once he felt how good Jack's scratching was, he let out a sigh and started to relax.
"Good boy!" Jack said. He continued scratching Scooby's neck, then down to his belly. Scooby panted happily and rolled on his back, allowing Jack to scratch his stomach. The dog's leg shook vigorously.
After the scratching, Scooby thanked Jack with a lick on his bony cheek. Jack laughed as Scooby kept licking, admiring the taste of Jack's bones.
Shaggy was amazed at how well this spooky skeleton was handling Scooby. If he was this gentle to his best friend, maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all.
Rachel laughed. "Okay, enough reindeer games you two." she said. "We have a Christmas dinner to eat!"
Scooby helped Jack up. The skeleton patted Scooby's head. "Sounds great!" Jack said. "I brought another guest, hope you don't mind!"
"Not at all!" Rachel said.
Jack brought everyone outside the mansion. He stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled.
A reindeer driven sleigh came down from the rooftop! But as the sleigh glided down, the sleigh turned out to be a coffin! And the reindeer were skeleton reindeer!
Not only did Scooby and Shaggy jump back in fear, so did Rachel and Sasha.
"No cause for alarm." Jack told them. "They're harmless." Jack walked over and helped his wife, Sally the Rag doll out of the sleigh.
Rachel walked past her fear-stricken friends and smiled. "Good to see you, Sally." Rachel said.
The rag doll smiled her stitched smile. "And it's good to be here, Rachel."
It took a bit for the gang to get used to Sally, they were still getting used to Jack! But seeing how calm and casual they were to the ghoulish couple once they showed theme inside, the gang slowly started to relax.
The aliens arrived to the mansion. And the party was now in full swing.
Now that everyone has been acquainted and mingled, they gathered in the dining room and Jack explained the true story behind the 'Scary Santa'. How Jack rules the holiday of Halloween, how he discovered Christmas and became fascinated with it, taking away Santa and being his replacement, trying to deliver his own Christmas cheer...and having it end up in disaster.
But he also told them how he set things right and helped Santa from danger.
"Wow! Sounds like you had it pretty rough." Daphne said.
"True. But we all make mistakes." Jack replied. "And I learned that Halloween is my true specialty."
"Dinner's ready!" Rachel said. She and Sally brought in the food.
Jack's eye sockets widened with wonder. "Oh, my! What a marvelous looking feast!"
Shaggy and Scooby slurped their tongues over their lips. "Like, you can say that again!" Shaggy said.
And the feast began. Everyone ate well and hardy on this most festive party. Rachel and Sasha couldn't help but a winch a little from Shaggy and Scooby's savage table manners, but Jack didn't mind at all.
"My! What healthy appetites!" the skeleton said. "You boys sure don't let food go to waste!"
"Like, we don't let a single scrap escape us!" Shaggy said with a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
Velma looked at Jack, Sally, and the many aliens they were dining with. "This certainly has been the most unforgettable Christmas."
"Yeah," Scooby said. "The best one ever!"
And Scooby Doo was right. This truly was a memorable, and truly special Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all of my fanfiction friends! Have a blessed holiday and a Happy New Year!