Chapter 9: Changes at the Right and Wrong Times.

Shaggy snored loudly as he slept, his dreams filled with the usual food, food, and even more food, but tonight was different, his dreams slowly degrading into nightmares. To his horror, his food had come alive and was trying to eat him. He was now running and being chased around by it until he was cornered by a giant sandwich with large teeth, roaring at Shaggy before trying to swallow him whole...

Shaggy shot bolt upright in his bed, panting heavily, his body shaking with a cold sweat as he looked around. With his bedroom window still boarded up the room was in darkness, so Shaggy got up slowly and walked to the wooden board covering his window and pulled it away just a little to look out. It was still dark outside, but a small stain of light in the distance let him know it was nearly sunrise. "Like, it's not like I will be able to get back to sleep anyway." He sighed before walking to the nightstand at his beside and flicking on the old, antique lamp, the small bulb in it spluttering slightly before it came on, casting a gloomy light over his room.

Shaggy noticed as the room lit up that the pile of dirty clothes by the door was gone, and had now been replaced by a pile of clothing, freshly laundered and folded, in the same spot. "I really need to, like, thank Miss Grimmwood." He chuckled and walked into the bathroom, glancing at the mirror as he went past, before rushing back to stare at his image in shock.

His body had changed slightly, appearing slightly more muscular, a six pack forming over his stomach. To his surprise, he felt a little stronger and upon closer examination, his canines seemed slightly longer. "Zoinks! Could this be, like, a side effect? How am I going to explain this to Scooby and the gang?" He wondered to himself.

He sighed and started the shower, stepping into the warm water as it cascaded down onto him, making him relax and slowly awaken fully to the new day. Shaggy had a feeling he was going to have a good day, and nothing was going to ruin it. Not the girl's experiments and playing around, not the disgusting food. Nothing, in Shaggy's mind, was going to ruin this good feeling. Shaggy heard a light knock at his door and raised an eyebrow. "Like, who could that be this early?" He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around himself, before heading to his door and opening it, half expecting it to be one of the girls, but instead, he found Miss Grimmwood, as lively as ever, looking him over with an approving glance.

"My, my, Mister Rogers. Have you been working out? Or…have you been letting the girls try new things out on you?" She asked grinning.

Shaggy blushed slightly and looked away, making Miss Grimmwood giggle before continuing. "I just came up to remind you to be ready for the parents evening tonight. All the girls' fathers will be here, and I have heard they are anxious to meet you again. Especially Sibylla's father, Dracula. But I am sure you are well prepared Mister Rogers, so I will see you at breakfast!"

And with that she headed back downstairs and out of sight, leaving Shaggy, who still had a smile frozen on his face, his left eye twitching slightly as he slowly let her words sink in. "Ha-ha... Parents evening... Like... That's... Great..." He sank to his knees and groaned, "Like... I am so screwed..." The rest of the day passed so quickly, the girls all quite surprised by the new look of Shaggy but didn't complain, but most of all the girls were all excited about seeing their fathers again, so they spent most of the day getting ready, cleaning their rooms and sorting out what they were going to tell their dads, each wondering if they should explain about Shaggy...

Shaggy, however, was outside most of the day, cleaning the mystery machine and making sure it was in working order, just in case he needed to hightail it out of there like last time, but he also took the box from the back of the van and smiled, "Like, may as well give these to the girls now." He walked back inside the school and put his fingers to his lips, before whistling as loud as he could. "Like, girls! Come down here a second!" He shouted, and after a few minutes, all the girls made their way downstairs, curious as to what Shaggy wanted them for. He set the box down and opened it, smiling as he first took out an envelope.

"First off... To make up for the last time Scooby, Scrappy and I ran off, I, like, got us all tickets to go see the Hex Girls on Halloween! So, we can do some trick-or-treating before we go if you all like..." The girls seemed overjoyed at the news, making Shaggy smile happily as he then opened the box again. "Well, the next things are, like, a little something to thank you, girls, for making me feel welcome again."

Shaggy took several small cases from the box and gave a certain one to each girl. When the girls opened their case, they went silent for a moment. Inside each box was a gold necklace, each with a different charm for each girl. Sibylla's necklace had her name engraved on a bat pendant, Winnie's pendant was shaped like a fang with her name along the side of it, Phanty's was a musical note, Elsa's was a lightning bolt and Tanis had her pendant in the shape of an ankh. All the girls blushed, and each ran to him, hugging him tightly. After he helped them all put their necklaces on, he tried to hide the box away quickly, but Winnie's nose sniffed something odd.

"Did...did you order food in Coach?" She blinked, making Shaggy chuckle nervously as all the girls watched him.

"Only...um, like, a few things," Shaggy said quietly. Suddenly the bottom of the box gave out as he picked it up, several boxes of Scooby snacks bounced off the floor and then lay out in plain view, making Sibylla sigh as the other girls shook their heads.

"Shaggy darling... Please tell me you don't plan on actually eating those things. I would expect it from Winnie but..." Sibylla was cut off as she yelped, lifting up her right foot, nursing it as she hopped a little on her remaining foot.

Winnie just smirked and tried to look as innocent as possible. "Sorry Bats, but my foot slipped."

Shaggy quickly grabbed the boxes and excused himself, making the excuse of the parents evening coming up soon to go get ready, before spiriting away upstairs with his prize. When he was safely in his room, he sat down on his bed and sighed, placing the boxes next to him. "Like, I have to hand it to Freddy. He sure goes all out if you ask him for something." He then opened a box and ate one of the snacks inside, smiling happily. "Oh... Like, wow... So good..."

But suddenly he froze as he heard the front door bell ring. He heard some muffled chatting and laughter going on and guessed the parents had arrived, so he took a deep breath... And tried to climb out the window... Which, to his shock, had been hammered shut, a small note near the base of the window read, 'I hope you do not have plans of running again Mister Rogers..."

He gulped and slowly made his way down, leaving his bedroom door open as he did so... He got to the top of the stairs and nervously poked his head around the corner of the wall, looking down into the lobby and, to his relief, he found that everyone had moved on to the lounge, leaving Shaggy a clear route to the front door! He grinned and snuck downstairs and put his hand on the doorknob, but let out a loud yell as he got a powerful electric shock, blowing him back a little, making him land on his back, groaning. Shaggy slowly opened his eyes, finding he was staring up at Elsa's father, Frankenstein Senior, who had a smile on his face as he easily picked Shaggy up under his arms and stood him up, the giant of a ghoul looked Shaggy over.

"You have changed a lot since the last time we met. You also seem to be missing your two companions. I take it you have been looking out for my daughter." He growled the last part, making Shaggy nervous, "Like... Of course... Elsa shows a lot of talent..." Frankenstein Senior seemed to accept this and laughed loudly, slapping Shaggy on the back, nearly crippling the nervous man.

"I see, that is good. I leave her in your hands then! But I can hardly keep you here, let's go see the others." The ghoul grabbed Shaggy by the scruff of his shirt and dragged him into the lounge. Shaggy felt like he was going to faint. He was the center of attention as he was dragged into the room. As he was let go Sibylla rushed over and grabbed Shaggy's left arm, tugging him with her as she headed towards her father, Dracula, who looked less then pleased to see Shaggy, sour memories of the Monster race still fresh in his mind. "Come Shaggy, I want you to hear my father apologize!"

She felt resistance though, not from Shaggy, but from Winnie, who was grabbing his right arm, "No way! I want you to talk to my dad! He has something he wants to talk about, Coach!"

Shaggy glanced over at the wolf-man and gulped, noticing that he had a ticked off look in his eye. Both girls locked eyes and hissed and growled at each other, giving Shaggy enough time to slip away, sighing in relief as Sibylla and Winnie didn't notice him slip from their grasp as they argued, much to their fathers' amusement. Now he had a moment to relax, Shaggy glanced around, all the girls were in fancy long dresses, even Tanis and Winnie, all seemed to be dressed in black, which Shaggy guessed might have caused some arguing before he arrived. He suddenly felt a hand on each shoulder and gulped, slowly turning around to see the Mummy and The Phantom of the Opera, both smiling at him. "It is good to see you again." Said the Phantom.

"Yes. It was quite amazing to see how fast you ran last time." Added the Mummy, both laughing as Shaggy joined in with a low chuckle, but the laughing stopped as Shaggy felt the grip of both hands on his shoulders tighten.

"We know that our daughters look up to you, and may even like you but if you hurt them, or try and run out on them..." The Mummy let one of his bandages wrap around Shaggy's throat lightly to back up his words.

The Phantom seemed a little calmer. "But if our daughters do decide to open up to you in 'that' way, then we give our blessing... Only if you make honest ghouls of them of course!" He then laughed loudly and flew over to Phanty who was sat at the piano, and they both began to play a tune together, the light music filling the room.

The mummy agreed with what the Phantom had said and let Shaggy go, before shuffling off to find his daughter, leaving Shaggy wishing he could just vanish. Miss Grimmwood patted Shaggy's back gently. "No need to worry. All you need do is stay around and have a chat here and there. Nothing to get nervous over, they won't hurt you..." Shaggy smiled a little, but she continued, "Much."

So, Shaggy decided to go and speak with the wolf-man, stopping a little away from him, "Hmm Shaggy was it? I have had a few quiet words with Winnie and... She informs me you are her mate... Is this true?" The wolf-man glared at Shaggy who nodded slightly but was quite shocked to find the Wolf-man laughing. "Ah... I knew that batty old count's curse on you would come in handy. Just a shame it only happens when you hiccup huh?" He patted Shaggy's shoulder.

"But... Aren't you... Like, angry that I slept with your daughter and may have got her pregnant?" Shaggy whispered, to which the Wolf-man growled.

"Angry? No... I'm livid. I had this full werewolf set up to be with Winnie, son of a friend. And she chooses you?! But..." He looked a little worried as he glanced over to where Winnie and Sibylla were still arguing it out, all the others had gathered round to watch them. "If Winnie is happy then I suppose I will be... As long as my grandkids aren't cowards like their father." Shaggy nodded and the wolf-man pushed past him.

Shaggy relaxed a little and noticed that no one was watching him at the moment, and he was near a window in the lounge. "If I can just..." But before he could move towards it a large black bat fluttered in his face, scaring him, before landing and turning back into Count Dracula.

"Ah! Shaggy! We meet again. We miss you at the races, are you QUITE sure you do not want to come back?" Count Dracula boomed jovially.

Shaggy could see through this false show of friendliness, however. "Like, no way! Not again!" Shaggy coughed and gasped for breath as the count grabbed him by his throat.

"I have had a few words with my daughter. And from the look of those fangs, I can only assume what she has told me is true. So, I will say this. Watch your back, Shaggy Rogers." He let Shaggy drop and land on his rear, before huffing and walking back to join the others as Miss Grimmwood brought some of her home cooked party food in, at which point Shaggy decided he had done his part, meeting the parents, giving the girls their gifts. So, he went back upstairs quietly and opened his bedroom door which was slightly ajar.

"Like, at least I can have some... What the hell?!" Matches was asleep on his bed, his belly bulging, and crumbs scattered all over him. Empty boxes of Scooby snacks scattered on the floor. "Like... My snacks..." He sank to his knees and sighed, before feeling a soft touch on his neck, making him turn, "Tanis?" She kissed him deeply as she tugged down the bandage covering her mouth, her arms around him, "I am sorry you had a bad day Shaggy... Let me make it up to you..." Shaggy sighed and smiled sadly, "Well... Maybe this day wasn't, like, as bad as I thought..."

TBC