"Hmmm…I think the french fry turrets should be to the left of the ice cream colonnade," Shaggy told Scooby as the Mystery Machine screeched to a halt in front of the Hotel Nieve. "And the pizza parapet should be nearer to the back."
"We're here!" Fred announced, putting the van in park and snapping on a pair of earmuffs.
On the hotel's front lawn, a half-dozen people were hard at work sculpting multi-storied palaces and replicas of famous buildings. One woman piled snow onto the top dome of the Kremlin, while a man nearby added another column to his Coliseum.
A tall woman, her dark hair tied back in a ponytail, approached the gang. "I'm Joanne Scott, the owner of Hotel Nieve. Would you like to enter the competition, or are you just here as spectators?"
"Enter, if it's not too late," Velma replied.
Joanne laughed, her voice like crystal bells in the cool air. "Wonderful. If you could fill out this form…" She shoved a clipboard into Velma's hands, who started scribbling down information. "I know it's called a snow 'castle' contest, but pretty much anything goes," continued Joanne. "We've been having the competition on these grounds for years, but I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to."
"Able to what?" Velma asked.
"Host the competition," Joanne explained, shrugging her red coat closer to her body. "Especially after the fiasco last night. Someone…or something…smashed up almost all the snow castles!"
"Like, zoinks!" Shaggy gasped, leaping into Scooby's arms and shivering in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.
"But I'm sure that nothing else will happen," Joanne replied quickly, as though trying to convince herself instead of Mystery Incorporated. She showed them towards their assigned space where they were to build their castle.
"Okay, Scoob, let's get started," Shaggy exclaimed, flicking open his pad of paper. "We're going to need a good foundation for the licorice drawbridge...and we can't skimp on the soda pop towers!"
Scooby quickly got to work, digging up mounds of snow with his gloved paws. As quickly as Scooby dug it, Shaggy deftly shaped it into a reasonable facsimile of a castle.
Soon, ice-cream-cone-shaped towers began to form from the snowdrifts, quickly followed by a tall spire fashioned to look like a bottle of soda. "Wow, you guys are really into this, huh?" Fred asked, surveying their handiwork proudly.
"Like, this is fun," Shaggy replied, patting another handful of snow onto the ice cream cone. "Especially, like, the whole 'no-monsters' part."
"Roo rhaid it!" Scooby barked as he used his tail to carve out the cherry on top.
"Well, we'll leave you two be," Velma said. "I want to see what everyone is working on."
After a full day of castle-building, Shaggy and Scooby had managed to carve out about half of their castle. "We still have to, like, dig out the hot-fudge moat,"
"Rand rha rhamburgers!" Scooby added.
"Right, Scoob," Shaggy replied, scratching his friend gently behind the ears. "But for now, let's, like, hit the hay."