Author's Notes: While Scooby Doo and the gang will be mentioned in this story, they will not be featured, but as always is the case in my fan fics, Scooby Doo and all related characters and trademarks are copyright 2010 Hanna Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network; hopefully everybody likes this story, as it is my attempt at a modern day twist on Scooby Doo, but focusing on the lives and personalities of the mystery solving teenagers, in addition this is also somewhat of a tribute to the original Scooby Doo Where Are You?, as are all the stories in the series that I am going to do, I hope everybody enjoys this though.
Chapter 1
In the small suburban city of Coolsville, Washington there sits a medium sized two floor building, which is home to Coolsville High School; the building was built in the early 1900's and has been remodeled several times after fires, an earthquake that damaged the school and a plumbing issue or two which made the school very wet, to say the least.
Coolsville, Washington itself is located about ten minutes from the city of Tacoma, Washington and while the city has always stood in the shadows of Tacoma, it has done very well on it's own ever since it was established in 1931; however, Coolsville had a major claim to fame over forty years ago, as it was home to a group of four high school students named Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers.
Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy along with Shaggy's cowardly Great Dane named Scooby Doo composed the Mystery Inc. detective agency, who started out merely solving cases involving the supernatural around the greater Coolsville area; Scooby Doo and his friends then eventually started solving cases throughout the state of Washington, then around the rest of the United States and then the rest of the world.
During all their years of solving cases, Scooby Doo and friends had put nearly 400 criminals behind bars, all attempting to steal some kind of treasure or asset, but all were eventually foiled by the combined teamwork of Mystery Incorporated; however as the old saying goes all good things must come to an end and for Scooby Doo and friends that end came in 2002, as the group retired from crime solving and decided to settle down and have fairly normal lives for the rest of their days.
For high school sweethearts Fred Jones and Daphne Blake, they decided to spend the rest of their lives in Los Angeles, California were they currently reside as husband and wife; for Fred, his chosen profession is writing, mostly mystery novels, and on occasion sports writing, although his real love is mysteries; his bride Daphne meanwhile, works as a free lance writer for several magazines including a pop culture magazine, a fashion magazine and several travel magazines.
In addition to their jobs, the pair also have their hands full with their five year old son named Justin, who inherited his mother's red hair, but his dad's love for sports, mysteries and cars; in addition to inheriting his hair color from his mother though, Justin Jones also inherited his mother's penchant for getting in trouble and being danger prone, but regardless of that Fred and Daphne love their son and are hoping that he grows up to be a successful young man, just like his dad.
As for the other three members of Mystery Inc., they currently reside thousands of miles away on the opposite coast of the United States, specifically our nation's capital of Washington D.C.; around the time that their friends Fred and Daphne were married, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers and Velma Dinkley decided to take their life long friendship to the next level, which resulted in it turning into a romantic relationship and then resulted in the two of them dating fairly regularly.
The pair's relationship went along very swimmingly, and was even applauded by one Scooby Doo until the two of them realized that they were truly meant for each other and soon the two of them just like Fred and Daphne had decided the time had come to make plans for a wedding, and on the same day that the red head and the blond haired young man were wed, Shaggy and Velma were also married in a lavish ceremony, both of which were paid for by the red head's parents, who were quite happy to see Daphne getting married.
As for Shaggy and Velma, their parents and relatives were also there and as you might expect the cowardly young man's parents were quite happy that their son was getting married, in addition the intelligent young woman's parents were also pleased that she was becoming Mrs. Shaggy Rogers; eventually the excitement of the wedding and the pair's honeymoon passed and the two of them settled down into their new careers, Velma working with NASA and the United States space program as an assistant research scientist and part of the program's advisory council, and Shaggy as the owner of one of the top restaurants in the District of Columbia, in addition to being quite the part time chef for the eating establishment.
Of course, just as Fred and Daphne have their hands filled with their son Justin, Shaggy and Velma also have their own bundle of joy, or rather bundles of joy, in this case their four year old son named Daniel, who inherited his mother's chestnut colored hair, along with her intelligence, but luckily not his mother's sight problems, yet; the other bundle of joy that has blessed the Rogers household is a five year old daughter named Stephanie, who inherited her father's appetite, and even his cowardice, as she is very afraid of bugs, spiders, taking baths(because she might get captured by a sea monster) and ghosts, monsters and everything Shaggy is afraid of.
Shaggy and Velma being married and living in Washington D.C. has also been a change of pace for one Great Dane named Scooby Doo, in fact you might say after his friends were married that the Great Dane's life also changed forever; for you see one day when Shaggy brought Scooby with him to NASA to take his bride out to a nice lunch, Scooby Doo caught side of a female Golden Retriever belonging to one of the NASA scientists and of course was smitten almost instantly.
The golden retriever's name was Sandy, and as soon as Scooby Doo looked into her deep brown eyes he knew he was in love; seeing as how the golden retriever was owned by a NASA scientist it was a bit of an interesting relationship between the two canines to say the least, but considering that Velma Dinkley was one of the most trusted and most intelligent members of the NASA community, the scientist had no problem letting Scooby see and even date Sandy, which was a good idea as seven months after the canines began dating, the golden retriever gave birth to a litter of four puppies.
One went to the NASA scientist and was a male puppy who he named Roger, which was an interesting name for a puppy but as the scientist later explained, he really liked the name, so that's what he was christened; the other three puppies went of course to Velma and Shaggy, one of which was male, and who was named Peter, while the other two were female puppies and were named Suzanne and Lisa, which were fairly unusual names for dogs, but as Shaggy and Velma would later explain, they enjoyed those names and made their decisions rather quickly as to what the names of the dogs should be.
Thankfully for Shaggy and Velma, the two of them lived in a fairly large two story house in the portion of Washington known as Georgetown, which the two of them were able to afford rather easily thanks to Velma's large salary working for the government; in addition the house had a huge backyard which enabled the pair's children and puppies to get lots of exercise, whenever the Mid-Atlantic weather would co-operate that is.
Just like Fred and Daphne, and Shaggy and Velma, Scooby and Sandy's life was one of happiness and enjoyment, because after all, wouldn't you want to have a nice retirement in a beautiful house with two wonderful people as your owners if you were a Great Dane and Golden Retriever? Especially in Scooby's case, after helping solve so many mysteries over the years that Mystery Inc. was active.
Because of their fame and spotless reputation of solving difficult crimes, even though they were retired, it always seemed like the members of the group would get calls to solve cases that would have something to do with the supernatural or the paranormal, but as the five sleuths explained to people when they were contacted, they were indeed retired, which meant they would be unable to solve any cases in the future.
While they were retired, Scooby Doo and company would take the opportunity to get together every so often each year for a reunion, most of the time these reunions took place in Washington D.C. which made sense considering Velma didn't want to leave her post with the government, not even for a short amount of time; but luckily for her, she, Shaggy, Scooby and Sandy got the usual vacation time which meant that they were able to enjoy some time off every so often.
The reunions for Mystery Inc. usually consisted of the five sleuths discussing their favorite mysteries from their careers, what had happened to them in the past, their love lives, their high school and college years, as well as miscellaneous items including the sleuths current lives, careers and just overall gossip and chatting.
The five members of Mystery Inc. had been through so much through their careers as detectives and through their respective lives so far and they were fortunate that they had been so successful in their current careers and that they were healthy and that each of them had found love and their respective soul mates, so overall you could say that Mystery Inc. was enjoying their retirements and were quite content with staying right where they were.
However, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo's retirements left somewhat of a hole in Coolsville, Washington, that being who would be the town's protectors and who would solve mysteries involving strange and unusual occurrences such as ghosts, monsters, werewolves, vampires and other peculiar happenings if they were to occur.
To answer that question we must remember the old phrase When One Door Closes, Another One Opens, and it just so happens that while Scooby and friends door has been closed, the door for another group of teen sleuths and their canine is opening, or rather is about to open in the small suburban city of Coolsville, Washington and while they don't know it now, four teenagers are about to meet one another and are about to have their lives change forever.
It is a fairly typical Autumn morning in Western Washington, rain is falling and people are treating the raindrops as if they were not much of a hazard, for as the droplets of water began forming on the asphalt, most of the cars on the road are driving somewhat fast, unaware that it is raining, which is pretty much how people seem to treat rain in Western Washington.
Meanwhile, on one of streets of the suburban city a sleek black limousine drives along, however this automobile is taking great care as it goes upon it's business, mostly due to the passenger that inhabits the back of the limousine; in the back seat of the expensive car sits a young woman with blonde hair, wearing a dark blue short sleeve shirt, a pair of light blue jeans and ruby red heels, the woman looks out the windows with disgust in her eyes and face as she prepares for the first day of her junior year at Coolsville High School.
"Ugh, why does it have to rain today of all days?" the young woman asks herself as she places the Ipod Touch she was listening to down on the seat of the limousine while she grabs her Dark Blue jacket and places it in her lap.
In another vehicle that is approaching the school, a Ford Focus to be exact, a black haired young man wearing a white shirt with a blue collar, and blue jeans sits in the back seat while he watches his dark blue backpack on the seat next to him, making sure he keeps track of it and doesn't lose it, because it contains most of what the young man needs for the day and for the school year.
"Well son, are you ready to start your junior year?" a balding man with dark brown hair on both sides of his head says, looking towards the passenger in the back.
"Sure am dad; you know I think I'm going to see if I can get on the football and baseball teams this year again" the black haired youngster replied.
"Sounds great son, I know you'll do a great job" the balding man remarked.
"Thanks dad" the young man replied.
In another vehicle approaching the school, a hybrid Nissan to be exact, a dark brown haired young man wearing brown pants, a red t-shirt and black sneakers sits in the back seat while his mother and father sit in the passenger and driver's seats respectively; the young man has a note pad on his lap and scribbles down a few things on the paper while his parents speak to him about various subjects, such as the new school year and his activities.
"Well son, it's time for another school year, are you ready to go?" the young man's father, a well dressed man with graying blackish hair and wearing a green tie, neatly pressed gray striped shirt and red slacks asked.
"I'm ready dad, I'm ready," the young man answers, albeit somewhat impatiently and possibly even a bit anxiously.
"Are you going to run track and compete in gymnastics again this year Derrick?" the young man's mother, a red haired woman wearing a dark red dress shirt, purple pants and dark blue heels inquired.
"I hope to mom, I just wish I hope I can do really well this year" the young man replied.
"Don't worry dear, as long as you do your best you'll be all right" the young man's mother remarked.
Finally in yet another vehicle headed towards the school, in this case a red Toyota Corolla, a light brown haired young woman sits smiling in the back seat of the car, the young woman is wearing a dark green long sleeve shirt, black horn rimmed glasses, light green pants, and dark red heels as her parents speak with her about her upcoming year of high school, although part of her wishes a certain person, or rather animal was with her as she begins her junior year.
"I can't wait to start school this year, although I wish Sasha was here, she would love school" the young woman remarks.
"Now dear you know Sasha can't go to school with you, yes she is a husky and people are very fond of huskies here in Washington, but somehow I don't think dogs are very welcome in high schools" the young woman's mother, a woman wearing a violet colored dress, red pants and dark brown shoes replies.
"I know mom, maybe it's because Sasha is a talking Husky, maybe that's why she can't come to school," the young woman said.
"Now you know that's not true dear, Sasha can't come to school because, well because the principal would probably have a conniption fit if he found out that a dog was in school" a blond haired man, wearing a button down blue and white striped shirt, blue slacks and brown shoes replied.
"I know dad, I know; maybe because I'm one of the smartest students in school, then maybe the principal will let Sasha come with me" the young woman said.
"I doubt that dear, but it was a nice thought; and you should be very proud to be one of the smartest students in school" the young woman's father replied.
"Thanks dad" the young woman said with a smile.
Like the old saying goes: when one door closes, another door opens, and whether they know it or not the four high school students and their canine that you have just met and are going to discover soon that their door is about to open as wide as the grin of a Cheshire cat, and that they are about to follow in the footsteps of a certain group of young sleuths and their Great Dane who solved mysteries in Coolsville several decades before.
Only as they are going to discover, just like the high school students and their Great Dane before them, having careers as detectives won't be as easy or as cool as they think it's going to be; not to mention the four teens and their Husky are about to get involved in something that quite possibly they may not get out of, ever.
Author's Notes: For those wondering, I based Coolsville High School being outside of Tacoma on the high school that I attended; however, that is the only thing I based on my real life, hopefully no one minds that too much. I also based the fact that Coolsville is outside of Tacoma in this story and this series of fics on real life as well, I live in a city outside of Tacoma too but all the characters in this story and series are original characters and not based on me at all.