A/N: I HATE SHORT CHAPTERS. HOPEFULLY THIS ISN'T TOO SHORT
GUEST REVIEW ANSWERS:
No one important: See, I knew you knew! ^_^ Though, you're right about Jerry maybe doing it….he didn't do it this time though. YOU CAN'T PIN IT ALL ON JERRY.
Though in all honesty it's probably not just Inky doing it. We'll see where this goes hahaha
—
The Mystery Machine drives over the bumpy road, jolting up and down with each pothole. The two passengers in the back seemed unfazed by this, continuing their midday snack, while the three in front are uncomfortable. To say the least.
They'd been driving for a while (probably around five hours) just to get from where they were staying to where they would be staying for the next few weeks. That place was Ebott City.
Legends said that anyone who climbed the mountain the city was named for would disappear, never to be seen again. Recently, a small child had disproved that legend, and brought with them 'monsters'.
Of course, Mystery, Inc. didn't think they were REAL monsters. They were probably just an urban legend.
A highly realistic urban legend, but a legend all the same. After all, nobody could confirm seeing one, and monsters didn't really exist.
The reason they were going to a city near a 'cursed' mountain? A string of arsons. All on relatively rich people or criminals. The arsonist probably fancied themselves a vigilante or something like that.
But crimes were crimes, and mysteries were mysteries. This one was a doozy.
Apparently, the arsonist left the scene with no clues left behind. Only a playing card with an 'I' burned on it would be left on the scene.
Velma had been very confused. "Surely there must be something else there!"
"Not that the police have found," Fred had answered. "That's why we're going to a city in the middle of nowhere."
And so here they are. Driving down a bumpy road towards a place in the middle of nowhere. A mountain rises out of the horizon, and a sign on the road reads "Welcome to Ebott City, home of Mount Ebott!".
A few miles later, the place starts to show some life. Fred pulls over at a small, fairly nice-looking hotel. "Here we are, gang. Ebott Motel. Hope it isn't haunted." The last part was mainly to tease Shaggy and Scooby, who are still freaked out about the monster thing.
Shaggy shakes, even more scared. "W-what?"
"R-rhaunted?! Red, rhy rare re raying rere?!" Scooby shakes his head. "Ri'm rot roing rin rere!"
Velma laughs. "Relax, you two. It's not haunted. It's a perfectly nice motel."
"Phew! For once, we get to stay somewhere not haunted." Shaggy wipes his brow. "I was worried there for a second. Like, Fred, don't scare me like that!"
They enter the hotel and get settled in fairly quickly. The entire gang is exhausted, so they conk out on the beds.
—
By the time Scooby wakes up, it's morning. He wakes up Shaggy and goes to the door, prepared to check out the food the motel has. "Rike, Rhaggy, rome ron! Rood!"
"Yeah! We, like, need food, and quick!" Shaggy jumps out of the bed, wide awake at the mention of food. The rest of the gang stays sound asleep. "Come on, Scoob!"
When they get there, it turns out the motel doesn't serve food, which sucks. So they walk down the road (as they're not allowed to drive the van due to it being Fred's van and him being overprotective of it) and look for restaurants. It doesn't take too long for them to find one, and they walk in.
It ends up costing them the remainder of their personal money, but they eat all they can and leave. The rest of the gang is just waking up when they get back.
Velma yawns. "Hey, Shaggy. Hey, Scooby. Where were you two? We couldn't find you."
"We were out getting something to eat. We, like, couldn't go one more second, and the motel doesn't serve anything."
"Wow. That's….a problem." Velma frowns. "Did you find anything?"
"Yeah. There's a diner down the road." Shaggy vaguely gestures in the direction of the diner. "Like, they have really good food."
Fred jangles the van keys in his hand. "Guess we're going there then."
—
After breakfast (or breakfast number two for Shaggy and Scooby), they head down to the crime scene. The police meet them there, and a female police officer meets them. Her badge says Chief Maria. "I'm glad you could make it. We have a crisis on our hands. This crime scene here is the tenth in our area, and the seventh that proved fatal."
"That sounds bad," Velma says. "And Fred says you only found a playing card on the scene?"
"On all of the scenes. That's the only evidence left behind, and it's left behind on purpose." Chief Maria seems distraught. The gang can understand why. It feels like you've failed your job when you can't stop someone from killing.
The chief looks at them. "So, I've heard you like to split up. I'm in charge here, so I know what's been searched and what hasn't."
"Uh, that's usually my job-" Fred starts to protest, only to get cut off. "I said, I'm in charge here. I am the chief of the police. I know more about this case than you do. If you have a problem with that, you can save it." She shakes her head. "Anyway, Shaggy and Scooby can search the woods for anything we might have missed. Fred, Velma, you search the house. Daphne, you stay with me and help me search the backyard, or what's left of it."
Fred starts protesting again. "That's not how we do it!" Velma snorts. "That's exactly how you do it, with the exception of Daphne staying behind."
Shaggy and Scooby, surprisingly, only salute and go off to do their jobs.
—
Shaggy turns to Scooby as soon as they're out of sight. "Like, Scoob! That lady didn't make us go to the creepiest part of the place!"
"Ri row, right?!" Scooby is just as excited about this turn of events.
They walk through the woods, looking carefully for things. They're looking so carefully, they don't even notice when they nearly slam into someone until they're almost on top of them. Shaggy snaps his head up. "Like, sorry, man! We didn't mean-" He cuts off, staring at the person in front of him. Or people, in this case.
There's two skeletons in front of them. And they're staring back. Both are short, around the same height. One's wearing a blue jacket and some shorts and the other's wearing a t-shirt, a tattered scarf, and some pants.
They gather their wits.
And then Shaggy screeches at the top of his lungs and Scooby does as well, jumping into his arms. The skeletons look worried - is this supposed to happen? Is this a normal part of humans? What is going on? - and turn to each other. They shrug, and then the scarf-wearing one puts his hand on Shaggy's shoulder. "do not be alarmed, human! it is i, the Sensational Sans! and this is my friend, the Other Sensational Sans!"
"i guess you could say we're….sans-sational?" The skeleton chuckles to himself. The scarf-wearing one turns towards him. "that's a great idea, actually. please do make all the puns. we should actually probably figure out nicknames, this whole 'we're both sans' thing is getting old. i mean, even blossom and stretch made nicknames! my brother's is just terrible."
Shaggy and Scooby stand there, dumbfounded. They stare for a while, before Shaggy speaks up. "So, like, you don't want to kill us? Or trap us? Or chase us around and generally scare us out of our wits?"
The skeletons abruptly stop talking about nicknames and turn back. The scarf-wearing one seems insulted. "no! of course not! what on earth gave you that idea?! we would never do that!" He pauses. "well, stretch might, just for fun, but he wouldn't hurt you!"
Shaggy and Scooby stare at each other before Scooby hops out of Shaggy's arms. He goes over to the scarf-wearing one and tries to take one of the bones, just to see. The scarf-wearing one jumps. "MWEH! UNMOUTH ME, DOG!"
—
A/N: oh shit underswap
well let's see
i don't like this chapter but whatever
