A/N: And finally, we have another chapter for this story and it's the 2nd-to-last one. :)
Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico
Chapter 7: Day of the Dead
Later at night, a torch was lighting a candle where it's at a cemetery, where all people were gathering some gifts and flowers for their ancestors. Then, at that moment, the gang entered the cemetery, not knowing that El Chupacabra was hiding behind the bushes, although Shaggy and Scooby got the idea as they smiled nervously and ran as fast they could before Scooby stopped and saw Amber with Chiquita. He tried to impress her by acting like a man while Amber saw him affectionately as Chiquita grinned, only for Scooby to hit a gravestone.
"Rouch!", Scooby exclaimed before Chiquita giggled.
"Are you okay, Scooby?", Amber asked as she went over to him as he shook his head quickly to get himself together.
"Uh-huh. Thank you.", Scooby responded as he got up.
Meanwhile, Sofia, Doña Dolores, and three woman with her were sitting on a bench with Sofia looking especially upset.
"How awful to witness something like that.", one old woman spoke.
"You are so strong, Dolores. Like a bull.", another added.
"Some people have all the luck. Why can't the Chupacabra carry off my future daughter-in-law?", the 3rd added.
"Señora!", Delores scolded sternly before the woman shrugged just as Alejo, Luis, Lily, and the majority of the gang arrived to see Delores and Sofia.
"What's going on? Are you alright?", Alejo asked.
"Yeah, it's looking pretty dismal here. And not in a good way.", Dusk added.
"Where's Charlene? Charlene!", Luis panicked.
"Please, please. Calm down, both of you. There's nothing to be upset about. EL CHUPACABRA HAS RUN OFF WITH YOUR FIANCÉE! We'll never see her again!", Doña Dolores sobbed.
"Please, tell us what happened?", Alejo asked.
"It all started just as moments after you left. We were in the cafe, your mother Charlene and I. El Chupacabra broke down the door, picked up Charlene in his arms and run off with her!", Sofia explained.
"But why?", Googie puzzled.
"Would you believe to give her an all-expenses paid trip?", Stormy Weathers asked a bit jokingly.
"I don't think that's quite the reason to go about it.", Ben responded.
"Charlene! This is bad. I never should have left!", Luis spoke sadly.
"Jinkies! And she's still missing?", Velma spoke.
"Yes, we been looking for her since yesterday. The villagers are continuing the search; here at the cemetery and up in the hills.", Sofia spoke.
"Well, it's nice to know you care that much.", Simone spoke.
"Grr. I'm El Chupacabra, I'm gonna to eat you.", Jorge spoke as he playfully chased the two kids while they screamed.
"All this talk of the Chupacabra is not good for the children.", Sofia spoke.
"Given what's happened so far, it's not hard to see why.", Marcie responded before the kids ran over to Sofia.
"Now forget all about this scary monster nonsense, and play with your skeleton among the tombstone.", Sofia suggested before the children left and it went to Luis, Lily, and Alejo.
"Uf, estoy tan confundido. Por un lado, me alegro de que se haya ido, pero por el otro, no quiero ver al tío Luis tan molesto.", Lily spoke.
"What did she say now?", Lena asked.
"Let's just say she's very conflicted.", Alejo responded.
"I must go and join the search!", Luis spoke as he marched only for Fred to stop him.
"Yes, but it'll be more productive if we get all our facts straight first.", Fred responded.
Later, the gang was now outside the cemetery.
"I think the village is being terrorized for a reason. Somebody wants him to scare everyone off and get us out of the way.", Fred spoke.
"But what could be gained from that?", Daphne asked.
"El Chupacabra is scaring off the tourists, making businesses suffer.", Velma stated.
"That's cruel.", Lena spoke.
"But what we don't understand here is why? There's got to be some motive for all this.", Scrappy spoke.
"True, but we don't even have a clue about that yet.", Amber responded.
"If we don't find an answer soon, Mexico could wind up becoming the biggest non-tourist attraction in history.", Ben added.
"That's not going to happen. And we'll make sure of that.", Diane spoke up, drawing her claws as Sarah did the same.
"All the same, there could be another reason why the Chupracabra is making businesses suffer like this. And I should know.", Dark Skull
"Dark Skull has a point. If the Oteros are forced to sale. Señor Fuente gets what he wants, the Otero's land.", Fred responded.
"Good point. But what does that have to do with El Chupacabra?", Daphne puzzled.
"The footprints leading away from the cottage suggested El Chupacabra was scared off when Shaggy alerted the rest of us.", Fred responded.
"Ha! Some monster. He was okay scaring Scoob and me, but chickened out when there are more of us.", Shaggy responded.
"Reah.", Scooby agreed.
"Maybe he's a fake.", Googie guessed.
"Maybe, but given past experiences, I don't think we can rule out the supernatural.", Lena responded.
"Supernatural?", Alejo and Luis puzzled.
"¿Sobrenatural?", Lily puzzled at the same time.
"If the creatures at the pyramids were special affects. They were pretty special.", Daphne spoke.
"And very effective.", Shaggy added.
"Real or fake, someone's been following us.", Velma spoke.
"And they're anticipating our every move. But the question is how?", Ben puzzled.
"Let's look at my video tape again.", Velma spoke before she got out her camera and started it up just as the rest of the gang looked at the video they took earlier.
"Wait, freeze that frame. Look, whoever wrote 'mañana,' a Spanish word for 'tomorrow', forgot the tilde.", Fred spoke.
"What's a tilde?", Shaggy puzzled.
"It's a symbol you put over the 'n' to change the pronunciation. Without it, the word would be said as 'manana' instead of 'mañana,' a mistake no real Spanish speaking person would ever make.", Fred spoke.
"Looks like your Spanish lessons are finally paying off.", Velma grinned.
"Oh, uh, Muchas Gracias.",Fred grinned.
"So the bad guy doesn't speak Spanish?", Shaggy asked.
"Maybe, but there's always the possibility there's more than one bad guy.", Fred spoke.
"So, that means El Chupacabra is someone who doesn't speak Spanish.", Googie guessed.
"On that note, you're correct.", Ben responded.
"Hey, you still got that sheet for the fake warrior's costume?", Scrappy asked.
"Sure did, but I still don't know what it means.", Velma asked.
"Maybe they're part of bigger words.", Crystal guessed.
"Now that you mention it, those words and the way they're arranged does seem familiar.", Lena spoke.
"Sorry to interrupt. But it's time to pay our respects. We're already to go.", Doña Dolores said.
"Please, feel free to join us.", Sofia spoke before she and Delores walked away with the gang joining them.
Then, they arrived at Luis's father's grave as a sweater, a chili bowl, and a picture were placed on the grave.
"My homemade mango salsa, your favorite. And from Charlene, a cup of her cafe lechera. Maybe if he knows where she is, he will send us a sign.", Luis spoke before suddenly gray smoke came out of Señor Otero's grave and it appeared to turn in a ghost, revealing of an old man which scared almost everybody who laid eyes on it.
"I am the Ghost of Senor Otero. And don't be alarmed. As you all know today we spirits return to Earth to commune with the living.", Señor Otero's ghost spoke before Dolores grew shocked and fainted, but was caught by Sofia just in time as Alejo grabbed her hand.
"Mama, please wake up!", Alejo spoke before Delores woke up.
"I have learned that an El Chupacabra is a result of an evil curse. Placed upon our land. The only way to break the spell is to get rid of that land. Once the land is sold, El Chupacabra will vanish forever! And Charlene will be returned unharmed.", the ghost spoke.
"Charlene?", Luis asked before Luis realized something as did Lily.
"That doesn't look or sound like anything like my father. Someone is playing a trick on us.", Luis realized.
"El tiene razón. Mi abuelo nunca pediría que se vendiera su tierra.", Lily concurred before everyone gasped.
"Can I see your medallion?", Fred asked before he took a look a the back.
"Just as I thought. It's a tracking device.", Fred spoke.
"Of course. That must've been how they were following us the whole time.", Moon realized.
"Let's see if it works in reverse.", Fred spoke before he pressed the button with Scooby, Scrappy, Amber, Chiquita, Googie, and Moon (the latter two of which grew wolf ears).
"What that noise?", Moon puzzled.
"Far be it from me, but I think it's coming from over there.", Googie responded, pointing to the source before she, Moon, Scooby, Scrappy, Amber, and Chiquita all went toward it and discovered behind the curtain a skeleton apparently controlling a holographic ghost.
"The ghost was a fake. A hologram at that.", Moon spoke.
"And it looks like that skeleton is controlling it.", Googie added.
"Why, that no-good, little...", Scrappy growled before he, Amber, Scooby, and Chiquita barked at said skeleton.
"Now, stop that now! Now, be quiet! You hear me?! Quiet!", the skeleton shouted before they only continued to bark.
"Please, ignore the stupid dogs.", the "ghost" spoke.
"Why are Scooby, Scrappy, Amber, and Chiquita barking over there?", Luna puzzled.
"And for that matter, where did Googie and Moon go?", Crystal asked.
"Well, let's go over there and find out. Come on.", Ben spoke as he pointed to where the barking sounded the loudest and helped led the way straight toward the building where the skeleton was as Googie and Moon glared.
"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.", the skeleton spoke as the "ghost" continued.
"Leave the cemetery at once! It's cursed! The whole town is cursed! Sell the land and everything will return to normal.", the "Ghost" spoke.
"Can't you see? Many of them don't understand your foreign language. Speaking Spanish might help.", Fred laughed.
"Well, I don't know how to speak Spanish. Why can't everyone just learn English?", the skeleton spoke before he closed the curtain.
"Well, there's our suspect. Want first crack at him, Scrappy?", Googie asked.
"After you.", Scrappy responded.
"Well, in that case, I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll...!", Googie began as she turned into a werewolf and started huffing and puffing.
"Well, you get the picture.", Googie finished before she then blew out a mighty gust from her mouth, blowing at the curtains to a point that they came apart and destroyed the equipment in the process, causing the ghost to disappear.
When it did, the skeleton popped up, quite livid.
"All right, what's the big idea here?", the skeleton spoke before he saw, much to his shock, Googie in werewolf form, who smirked.
"AAH! Werewolf!", the skeleton shouted before Scrappy then lunged at the Skeleton and bit into his leg, or rather, the lower part of an apparent costume with a growl.
"Get off me! Get off!", the skeleton exclaimed, trying to shake Scrappy off as Googie giggled only for Scooby to stop him.
"And just where do you think you're going?", Simone asked as she then turned into a werecat again and roared slightly, freaking him out.
"Oh, great! Now, there's a werecat?!", the skeleton exclaimed.
"You're not going anywhere, señor.", Googie discouraged as she reverted back to normal.
"Now, to see who you really are.", Daphne spoke before she unmasked the skeleton as Mr. Smiley.
"It's Mr. Smiley!", Fred shouted before the officers arrived.
"Officers.", Daphne urged before the officers then put Mr. Smiley in handcuffs.
A/N: And with that, the culprit has been caught. Or has he? As Fred said, there is always a possibility of more than one culprit. And in this case, it's no exception. And the next chapter will be the last for this story. :)