Author's Note: And now comes the twelfth installment of my mainstream reboot of SDMI, folks!
In case any of you folks have missed, I've split the Dimension Three into two different timelines similar to the two timelines that currently exist for Dimension Five.
This mainstream reboot of SDMI is part of Timeline One, while the new series Paranormal Instincts, which has taken its inspiration from both SDMI and EauDeDream's story Nocturnal Instinct, is part of Timeline Two with its own storylines.
By the way, in case anyone didn't notice in Howl of the Fright Hound, the name Karmah, which is the name I've came up with for the Crystal Cove Animal Asylum for the Criminally Insane, is an anagram of the name Arkham.
Yes. The same Arkham of the Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane from the DC Comics stories. I just thought I should point this out before continuing on with this twelfth installment of my SDMI reboot.
I don't own Scooby-Doo. Hanna-Barbera Productions and Warner Bros. does.
Chapter 1: A nightmare
It was a dark and stormy night in Crystal Cove as NCIS Special Agent Norville "Shaggy" Rogers found himself inside the closed-down Steelco Industries steel mill, where he was anxiously searching through the main floor of the mill with his flashlights on.
"Freddie?" Shaggy called out as he looked around, the flashlight shaking from his anxious mood. "Velma? Daphne?"
Then, turning towards the other side, he continued, "Scooby-Doo?"
A sudden flash of lightning caused the agent to jump, though he calmed down when he realized that it was only the lightning from outside.
As it started raining heavily outside, Shaggy continued on with the light from outside shining onto the NCIS badge clipped to his belt.
"Gang?" Shaggy called out.
He paused when he heard groaning, and he swiftly turned around with his flashlight shining towards the source of the sound.
In the distance, he recognized a figure laying on the floor motionless, and with his heart racing, he ran over towards the figure.
As he got closer to the figure, he then saw that it was a Great Dane, and his mind began to race as the sight began to confirm his worst fear.
"Oh, no..." Shaggy said as he stopped, knelt down at the figure and turned it around.
The sight of Scooby's lifeless body, complete with his trademark "SD" tag and the black spots and brown fur, confirmed his worst fear.
Shaggy tried to wake the Great Dane up, though no matter how hard he shook his old pal, it was clear that Scooby's not waking up.
"I'm...so sorry, Scoob." Shaggy sobbed as he gently lifted one of Scooby's paws before placing it back down.
Standing up, the NCIS agent then looked beyond Scooby's body and saw a trail of blood leading into the nearby room, and his heart began to jump again.
The blood trail soon led Shaggy into a large storage room, where he stopped and continued to follow the blood trail with the light from his flashlight.
Shaggy began to tense as the flashlight shined onto a figure that was chained to the wall with blood all over his white shirt, and he swallowed when he recognized Fred's body.
"No...!" Shaggy whimpered, during which he saw the trail of blood leading away from Fred's body.
Taking a deep breath, the NCIS agent followed the other trail of blood, whereupon the scene shifted towards a nearby wall.
Through the shadows projected on the wall, it can be seen that the trail of blood led him to a headless body.
"Velma!" Shaggy gasped as he resisted the urge to throw up at the sight of Velma's body, who was clearly decapitated. Her trademark orange turtleneck sweater was dyed red from the blood, and as he noted the flies flying around her body, Shaggy continued to follow the blood trail.
As he did so, he heard muffled cries, and he sharply turned towards its source and shined his flashlight at it.
"Daphne!" Shaggy exclaimed as he recognized Daphne, who was chained to the wall and gagged.
Rushing over towards the redhead, Shaggy quickly move to remove the gag.
"Sh-sh-Shaggy!" Daphne choked, and Shaggy quickly moved to use his picks to unlock the chains.
Once the redhead was freed, she immediately ran into Shaggy's arms and broke down sobbing.
"It's okay...Daph." Shaggy said as he stroked her hair. "I'm here now."
As Daphne continued to sob, she looked up towards behind Shaggy and widened her eyes.
"Sh-Shaggy!" She gasped.
"Huh?" Shaggy asked as she instinctively pointed towards what she was seeing.
"B-behind you!" Daphne shouted.
Shaggy turned towards where Daphne was pointing towards, only to widen his eyes at the sight in front of them. "Zoinks!"
Those were the very last words he blurted out before the figure leaped out of the shadows and towards the duo, during which the figure revealed itself to be an advanced version of the Destroido Robot Hound.
May 23, 2012
It was 4:00 in the early morning when Shaggy woke up in cold sweat, and he panted as he surveyed his surroundings.
He saw that he was still in his basement bedroom, and looking around, he saw Scooby still laying on his bed near his legs, snoring away.
With a sigh, Shaggy scratched his head as he laid back down onto the pillow and turned towards the alarm clock.
It may have been two days since he and the gang had to deal with the menace of the tampered Robot Hound smashing its way across Crystal Cove, but the nightmares like the one he just had kept coming.
Watching Scooby snoring away, Shaggy sighed as he looked towards the window.
Scooby hasn't exactly been himself in the days since the Robot Hound case was closed, and as Shaggy had noticed, the Great Dane hasn't been eating as much as he usually did lately.
Scooby's name may have been cleared, but the menace of the Robot Hound remained fresh on their minds.
Shaggy drew out a breath as he looked up towards the ceiling, and he frowned as he tried to recall details of the nightmare he just had.
Apparently, in that nightmare, he is a special agent of a federal law enforcement agency tasked with investigating crimes involving members and personnel of the United States Navy and Marine Corps.
It was an agency whose acronym is the same as that of a television series depicting a fictional team based in its Washington field office, an acronym that Shaggy had at times confused with the television series CSI.
Nodding at himself, Shaggy felt that he knew the source of him being depicted as an NCIS agent in the nightmare he just woke up from.
It came from him watching the rerun of an episode shortly before bedtime, where the scene following the opening sequence began with a man seated at his desk and speaking angrily on the phone.
"For the last time, my name is Anthony DiNozzo, Jr." The man said angrily while his female colleague walked by him, watching him on the phone with an amused look on her face. "My father is Anthony DiNozzo, Sr. He lives in New York, I live in Washington, DC. Junior, Senior. Is that so complicated?"
As the man waited for the party on the other end to respond, his female colleague joined another colleague, who was seated at a desk and watching the man on the phone.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"Tony's been trying to withdraw money from a bank in New York." Her colleague responded as they watched the man on the phone. "Sounds like they've confused his account with one of his fathers, and he can't get the money."
As the woman smirked in response, the man on the phone said, "So you want me to spell my name again? Okay!"
Then, without missing a beat, the man continued, "It's big 'D' as in Dimwit, little 'I' as in idiot, big 'N' as in Nimrod, little 'O' as in Obtuse..."
As the man on the phone said, "Double 'Z's as in ZZ Top!", Shaggy remembered having a light chuckle.
Ever since he first watched that particular episode, every time someone brought up the band ZZ Top, Shaggy was always reminded of that particular scene and can't help but chuckle.
(For NCIS fans out there, what episode was Shaggy watching before bedtime?)
He then sighed as he looked towards the alarm clock on the nightstand.
4:15. He thought to himself before he pulled the sheets over him.
Looking at Scooby for one more time, Shaggy sighed again before he slowly closed his eyes, hoping that he would catch up on the lost sleep.
Shaggy mentally began counting sheep before he slowly drifted away and returned back to dream land.
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