I do not own Scooby Doo or Pokémon, and I am not making a profit from this (though I wish I was). It and any characters that may appear in this fanfic are the intellectual property of Hanna-Barbera and the Pokémon Company. Please do not sue me.
It was a dark, stormy night in front of an old chateau, thunder rumbling up above. Suddenly, the doors burst open as a group of five men in hard hats and construction uniforms came running out screaming, practically trampling each other.
"Let's get out of here!" one man yells.
"I'm not getting paid enough to deal with this!" another shouts.
The foreman jumps out of his truck as he tries to stop his men. "Hey!" he bellows. "Where do you bums think you're going?!"
"Anywhere but here!" Another man cries out, running right past the foreman.
The Foreman turns around to yell something else at the fleeing men, but is interrupted by the wind picking up and a flash of thunder and lightning across the sky. He turns again to the sound of a deep groaning from his truck and is shocked to see that it is now floating off the ground. With a sudden jerk, it is tossed on its side away from him, hitting the ground with a resounding crash.
The foreman, now speechless, gets a terrible feeling in his gut. As if to confirm that feeling, he slowly turns around back towards the entrance of the manor. The color practically drains from his face as he notices them; several pairs of glowing red eyes glaring back at him from the windows and open doors. Too scared now to even muster a shout, the foreman turns around and runs after his men. The eyes slowly fade away as the front doors slam themselves shut, sealing the manor away from the outside world.
The next day, we open on the backroads of Pennsylvania on a cool autumn afternoon. The Mystery Machine travels along without a care in the world, its passengers absorbed in their own activities. Fred is driving, enjoying the open road. Daphne is reading the latest fashion magazine. Velma is reviewing their route on the way to their next destination. Shaggy and Scooby, in the back of the van sitting across from each other, are tossing Scooby Snacks in each other's mouths, performing tricks for each other.
"Alright Scoob old buddy, try catching this one," Shaggy says as he tosses a snack from under his leg. Scooby dashes to the side catching it in his mouth.
"Rour turn." Says Scooby, tossing the snack over his head and hitting it with his tail. Shaggy jumps up and devours the treat, landing back in his seat and causing the Mystery Machine to shake.
"Hey, take it easy back there, guys," says Fred. "I know you're bored, but don't take it out on the van."
"Sorry," "Rorry," the two friends apologize.
"Any idea how much longer until we get to the festival?" Daphne asks Velma.
Velma looks over her navigation app. "According to this, at our current speed and route, it should take us another day or so to get there."
"Jeepers, we're not gonna have to camp out in the van again, are we?"
Fred shakes his head. "Nope. According to navigation, we should be coming up on a town here any minute now. We'll grab a motel for the night and head out the next day."
"Oh man, am I, like, so excited for this festival." chuckles Shaggy. "Good music, good eats, and best of all, no ghosts and no ghouls to scare us."
"Reah!" Scooby said excitedly. Finishing off the last of the snacks, the boys feel their stomachs rumble for more.
"I know I shouldn't be surprised anymore," Velma deadpans, "but how can you two still be hungry?"
"What can I say? The stomach wants what the stomach wants." Shaggy answers.
"Well good news for us then, I can see the town just up ahead," says Fred.
The gang passes by a sign for the entrance to the town: "Welcome to Lavender Town, a noble town where present and past flow together in history."
Pulling into a parking lot, the gang enters a restaurant, a classic family-style diner with a large neon sign flashing above.
"Hearthome Diner, huh?" comments Daphne. "Sounds cozy." The gang enters, and notices that practically no one else is there aside from a few older gentlemen in the corner enjoying some coffee. They grab a booth nearby and settle in. Not long after, a waitress comes over to take their order. She is a slender girl, around the same age as the gang, with short spiky black hair, tan skin, and blue eyes. Her most noticeable feature was the two red Hawaiian-style cornflower hairpins on both sides of her head.
"Welcome to Hearthome Diner! My name is Phoebe, what can I get you guys today?" she asked cheerfully.
Fred, Daphne, and Velma put in their orders. Turning to Scooby and Shaggy, "Like, get us one of everything on the menu, then put all that on top of an extra-large pizza."
"Rith rextra rickles."
"Haha, yeah, good catch, Scoob."
Phoebe, taken aback slightly, turns to the other three as is asking silently, "they're kidding, right?". The others either shake their heads or just shrug in acceptance. Recomposing herself, she replies, "Alright, coming right up!"
The gang spends the next several minutes chatting, talking about their plans for the upcoming festival. Soon enough, Phoebe comes back with their orders, including the literal mountain of food for Shaggy and Scooby. "Enjoy!"
The next scene was practically carnage incarnate. Scraps of food could be seen flying everywhere as the two practically inhaled their meal. No less than a minute later, the mountain of food was reduced to a scant few crumbs, which in turn were being polished off by the gluttonous duo. Phoebe looks at this scene in surprise, turning to Fred and the girls again. "Are they always like this?"
"Yep." "Yeah." "Pretty much." the three replied simultaneously.
"Sorry about them, pretty much the only mystery we haven't been able to solve is where they get their boundless appetite," Daphne says.
Phoebe just laughs it off, "Ah, don't sweat it. Believe you me, I've seen way stranger things."
"What do you mean by that?" Velma asks.
"You guys don't know? I thought you were tourists?"
"Not exactly. See, we're on our way to the big music festival over in Philadelphia, so we were just planning to spend the night in a motel and continue traveling the rest of the way in the morning," says Fred.
"I see, so then you guys really wouldn't know about our town then."
"Like, know what?" Shaggy asks, a sudden feeling of unease coming over him and Scooby.
"About our town's histoire with spirits." A new voice answers in a noticeable French accent. The group turns around to spot a new person walking over to them. She is a tall woman, whose height is further accentuated by her high heels. She had deep purple eyes and hair, which oddly enough was tied into four balloon-shaped pigtails. Despite only wearing a basic manager's outfit, the woman radiated a certain air of refinement and style, something Daphne took notice of immediately.
"I'm sorry, did you just say s-sp-spirits?" Shaggy asked, trembling in fear.
"Oui, monsieur glouton. I was originally coming out to meet with the group that practically cleared out my refrigerators, but I'm more than happy to tell you more about our town's history if that piqued your curiosity. My name is Fantina, by the way, and I am the proprietress of this restaurant."
"Please, continue Ms. Fantina." Said, Velma, now certainly curious. Fantina nodded in understanding. "Since the founding of our town 300 years ago, hauntings and sightings of ghosts have been common. People, both locals and visitors alike, have said to have experienced unnatural phenomenon at least once during their stay here."
Shaggy and Scooby, now thoroughly spooked, are holding each other in fear. Fred and Daphne listen in rapt attention, while Velma listens with skepticism. Phoebe hops in. "Yeah, it's one of our town's main attractions. It used to be that no matter where you went, it was likely you were to run into some kind of spooky event taking place almost anywhere if you were lucky enough. Of course, the hauntings in question were never any danger to anyone; even back then, they mostly just amounted to harmless pranks just meant to frighten people."
"Used to?" inquires Velma.
"Well see that's the odd thing. For some reason, the hauntings have only increased since last year, and it only seems to be at the old Oak manor across town. Everywhere else, it's just stopped cold."
Fantina continues, "Le vieux chateau used to belong to a reclusive old woman and her husband, both of whom have passed on just a year prior. Since then, a construction company from out of town has been looking to buy the land and tear down the manor, but they haven't been able to get near it."
"Really?" Fred at this point has his mind made up. Shaggy and Scooby, knowing the look on their friends' faces all too well, can only lament their terrible luck. "Well gang, looks like we got another mystery on our hands."
"Nooo way, man!" Shaggy finally says. "What happened to taking a break from all this creepy stuff? Besides, I'm not looking to get eaten by any monsters before we get to the festival."
"Reah," Scooby agrees "Ri rould taste terrible."
"Come on you guys," Daphne says. "We've done this more times than we can count, and every single time, there was never a real ghost or monster to begin with; just some criminal in a costume looking to scare people away from a treasure of some kind."
"It's always a costume until the day it isn't, and that's the day we get eaten!" Shaggy cries, unconvinced.
"So, you guys are actual pro mystery solvers?" Phoebe cuts in.
"Pretty much, though the mysteries tend to find us more often than not." Velma answers.
"Well, if you jeunes inspecteurs are really that curious about this matter, then perhaps it would benefit you to learn more about the history of the manor. If you hurry, you may be able to make it to our town's library before they close for the evening. The town's historian should still be there if you are lucky." Fantina writes down an address on a scrap of paper and hands it to Daphne.
"Merci, madame." Daphne thanks Fantina, the two sharing a smile with each other.
The Mystery Machine pulls up to the town library. The gang enters and finds two people standing at the front desk, a man and a woman. The woman shared a few similarities to Velma: She wore large frameless glasses, her short bob-cut hair and dress were a deep violet, complimented by dark tights, gloves, and pink shoes. And at the base of her neck, she wore a ribbon in the shape of a black cat. The young man next to her wore a three-piece black suit with a purple tie and cuffs, matching his eyes; his shoulder-length golden-blond hair was kept away from his face by a wide headband that matched his tie. On his right breast was a metal pin that looked like a lowercase delta (δ).
The two seemed to be in deep conversation, so much so that they did not notice the gang until they attempted to interrupt. "Um, pardon us, I hope we're not coming at a bad time," Fred asked.
The two turned towards the gang and put on a greeting smile. "No worries, the two of us were just finishing our conversation. You must be tourists. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mortimer, but everyone just calls me Morty, and I am the proud mayor of Lavender town." The woman joins in, "and I'm Shauntal, the head librarian and historian."
"Wow, the mayor? It's nice to meet you," Fred holds out his hand to shake. Morty accepts it. "My name is Fred Jones, and these are my friends: Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo." The others give their own greeting as well.
"Such a nice group of young people," comments Shauntal.
"Indeed," Morty agrees. "So, what can we do for you?"
"Actually, we were hoping to talk with the head librarian here," Velma gestures to Shauntal, "about the haunted manor at the edge of town that we've heard so much about. We were told you were the person to talk to if we wanted to learn more."
Morty's face shifts to a more somber expression. "I see. I suppose I may be able to help as well then. You see, the former owner of that manor was an acquaintance of mine, may she rest in peace. She was a rich old woman named Agatha Oak, who shared the manor with her husband, an anthrozoology as I recall."
"An anthro-whaty?" Shaggy asked confused.
"A scientist that researches the relationship between humans and animals," Velma answers.
"Ah." Shaggy and Scooby voiced, still looking confused.
Morty continues, "Sadly, her husband passed away many years ago, and with no other living relatives, she was left alone. Now even before that, Agatha was famous around town for having a short temper who cared little for other people outside her family; after the loss of her husband, she practically shut herself off from the world. She turned away all visitors aside from myself."
Shauntal joins in now. "There was also a rumor that she was planning to turn her house into a historical landmark, to preserve it post-mortem. She apparently had everything detailed in her will, but after her death, it seems to have disappeared. A couple months later, some construction company came in looking to buy the land and tear down the manor. The only reason they haven't been able to do so yet is because of the statute of limitations on the land preventing them from fully owning it and the increased supernatural activity scaring off the workers."
She adds in eerily, "It's as if Agatha herself has come back from the grave, to frighten off anyone who would dare disturb her final resting place."
Fred and the girls listened on in close attention; Shaggy and Scooby were hiding in a large potted plant in the corner of the library, the leaves trembling in terror giving away their location.
"However," Shauntal continues, "the statute of limitations is scheduled to end in the next couple of days, and the president of the construction company is a stubborn old bull who won't let anyone scare him off, ghosts or no ghosts. Soon there will be nothing stopping him from bulldozing the manor."
Morty rejoins the conversation, "Even if it is just an unsubstantiated rumor, I have been trying to buy time to find her will, at the very least to settle the matter cleanly and leave nothing in question. Even if we were not exactly friends, I feel I owe Agatha that much."
The gang shares a look in silent agreement. "Mayor," Fred finally answers, "thank you for telling us about this. We happen to be pretty good at solving mysteries; if you'll allow us, we'd like to see if we can solve what's happening at the old Oak manor. Who knows, we may even be able to find the will and put your mind at ease."
Morty gives a somber smile. "I've done all the searching I can; perhaps a fresh set of eyes is exactly what is needed. If you believe that you can help, I would greatly appreciate it." The gang departs the library, but not before Velma borrows a set of books from Shauntal detailing the history of the town, the two bookish girls quickly bonding over their love for books and knowledge.
It's sunset by the time the Mystery Machine pulls up to the manor gates. As they are about to enter, they spot three men out front, who seemed to be discussing something important until they took notice of the approaching van.
The man in the middle seemed to be the boss; a short, stout man with curly brown hair and sideburns and brown eyes. His whole attire pretty much screamed "I'm from Texas, y'all!": He sported a large cowboy hat, with a yellow stripe and a teal gem on the front. Complimenting that was a sleeveless, tasseled jacket, a hazel shirt, teal pants with a belt and gold buckle underneath his larger brown pants, and a pair of dark leather boots. On his left wrist is an expensive-looking watch. Flanking him were two men in construction uniforms, one tall and lanky with a buzz cut and the other short and portly with his hair flared up on the sides like a pair of wings.
"Who are you kids?" asked the Texan (he had a Texan accent, to further accentuate the stereotype). "Understand now that this is private property back here."
"From what we understand, this property doesn't belong to anyone at present," Velma retorts.
"Not for long," the taller goon says. "In the next few days, this land will belong to the boss here. Then we'll be free to clear out the place."
"What do you guys plan on building here anyways?" Daphne asks.
"The boss wants to build a sports stadium here." answers the portly goon. "It'll rake in the dough for sure, for the company and the town. So scram, we don't have time to entertain brats."
"Please, sir, we're not looking to cause trouble. We just wanted to investigate the rumors about the haunted manor. We're pretty experienced mystery solvers." Fred pleads, choosing to ignore the rude response from the goons.
"Is that a fact?" the Texan answers. He takes a moment to consider Fred's words. "Then perhaps you kids have been the answer I've been looking for. The name's Clay, president of Driftveil Construction. The two behind me are my head foremen, Yas and Kaz. Apologies for the harsh words, their hard workers but lacking in social etiquette."
"I'm Fred, and these are my friends."
"If you kids are as good as you claim to be, then I just might be interested in hirin' you. If you believe that you can clear out this old shack of ghosts or whatever, I'm willing to pay quite handsomely." Clay raises his hand and snaps his fingers. Yas suddenly brings out a briefcase, opening it for the gang to see it practically stacked with cash.
"Oh man, Scoob, think of all the Scooby Snacks we could get with that kind of money!" Shaggy exclaims, his eyes shaped like his favorite treat.
"Re rould get a ractory!" Scooby says, his eyes also Snack-shaped.
"Consider it done, sir, though truth is we don't really need the money," Fred says, shaking off his surprise after seeing the large amount of money.
Shaggy and Scooby pull him to the side. "Like, Fred, you sure about that? Like, if we're gonna be dealing with scary monsters and ghosts, I think we've earned at least some lunch money."
"Reah, Reah."
"No, guys, we can't accept it. We've never solved mysteries for money before, and we're not about to start now," Daphne admonishes them.
"Well, suit yourselves. Good luck with your little ghost hunt." Clay and his men begin to leave. "We'll be back in the mornin' to check up on you kids...assumin' of course, that you survive the night." He adds on ominously. He and his men laugh as they head toward their car.
Before they can sneak away, Daphne and Velma grab Scooby and Shaggy by the back of the tail and shirt and toss them in the Mystery Machine. A few minutes later, the van is parked out front of the manor doors as the last vestiges of sunlight have given way to night.
"Alright, gang," Fred hops out of the vehicle with Daphne and Velma. "I hope you're ready."
Velma knocks on the back of the van. "Come on you two, get out of there. We're all going in together now." She opens the back doors and finds Shaggy and Scooby wrapped up in blankets shivering slightly with their feet in a warm bath. Shaggy has an ice pack on his head while Scooby holds a thermometer in his mouth.
"Cough cough, Sorry guys, but it looks like me and Scoob came down with a nasty cold, we'll have to sit this one out."
"Ri'm rurning up." Scooby shows the thermometer, measuring well over 100° F.
"I'm sorry to hear that, fellas," Daphne starts. "Guess you guys will just have to wait out here for the rest of us, in the dead of night, all by yourselves."
"Well, what do you know, I'm feeling better already." Shaggy quickly hops out, slightly more motivated than before.
"Rall retter row."
"Glad to hear. Alright, Let's solve this mystery." The friends begin walking towards the front doors of the manor, getting ready to go inside, unaware that they are already being watched...
Welp, there it is, chapter 1 of my first fanfic. I am by no means a professional writer in any capacity, so any advice or constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. I do not plan on making this a long story, so expect 4-5 more chapters. Also understand that I do have other things in life going on, so while I will try to get chapters out in a consistent manner, I cannot make any promises. Please drop a review, and I'll see you guys next time for chapter 2.