Prologue
"Hey, Velm, don't you ever stop reading that book?"
Velma Dinkley looked up from the pages of her book and gazed across the room at her friend, Daphne Blake, who was lounging on the sofa, engrossed in one of her magazines.
"I can't help it" Velma defended herself. "It's just such a good story. And anyway, you're not exactly innocent, Miss Daphne Blake. You've always got your nose in those lame, girly magazines."
"Hey!" Daphne said, sitting up. "I'll have you know Trending Today is not lame! It's actually full of useful information."
Velma rolled her eyes and scoffed. "What, like how to apply lipstick correctly and which shoes go with which dress? Oh yeah, real useful."
Daphne grabbed a cushion and flung it across the room at Velma who caught it with a peal of girlish laughter and tossed it to the floor. "Like, me-ow!" Shaggy said from his corner of the room, making a clawing motion. "Talk about a cat fight."
"Huh? Rat fight? Where?" Scooby-Doo said, jumping to his feet and looking around the room.
Shaggy laughed. "Like, no Scoob. Not rat fight. Cat fight."
"Reah. Rat's what I said. Rat fight."
"No, cat."
"Reah. Rat."
"Cat!"
"Rat!"
"Cat!"
Everyone chuckled at their argument and Scooby's inability to say the word cat properly. "What are you reading anyway, Velm?" asked Fred who was mindlessly flicking through channels on the television.
"Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien" Velma replied, showing him the cover. It was black, adorned with a yellow ring surrounded by golden elfish runes, with the title written above it in white.
"Hey! Like, remember when we went to see Lord of the Rings at the cinema?" Shaggy said.
"Reah, rand it was awesome!" said Scooby.
"It sure was" Velma agreed. "Don't you think so, Daphne?"
The redhead shrugged. "I guess so" she said, feigning disinterest although everyone knew very well that she had thoroughly enjoyed all three movies. She had particularly liked the scene from The Return of the King when Eowyn destroyed the witch king. "It's nice to see a girl defeating the bad guy for a change" she had said.
"Do you guys ever wonder what it would be like to be a Lord of the Rings character?" Velma asked the group.
"It would be pretty cool. I've always imagined myself as Aragorn" Fred admitted.
"Well, if Peter Jackson ever does a remake of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, maybe you could audition for the role" Velma suggested.
"I've always liked Legolas myself" Daphne chipped in.
"Like, why? Because you think the guy who plays him is cute?" Shaggy asked with a goofy grin.
Daphne's face turned as red as her hair. "I do NOT have a crush on Orlando Bloom!" She insisted. "And if you even try to make such a suggestion again, Shaggy Rogers, I will put you over my knee and spank you to within an inch of your life."
"Ooh! Can I watch?" asked Velma, earning a laugh from her friends.
The gang spent the next hour discussing Lord of the Rings and anything and everything related to it. When they began to yawn, everyone decided to call it a night and shuffled off to their rooms. As they all lay down in their beds, one thought kept circling their minds: What would it be like to be in Lord of the Rings?