Chapter 6
Several hours had passed since the sinister pair of monsters called the Hunch Bunch had left Coolsville, Ohio with Mystery Inc. and the Mystery Machine in tow; the flight of the Bat Copter was apparently fairly easy, even though it had a large van hooked onto it via a long cable, although the sight of a helicopter hooked onto a van was a fairly unusual spectacle for most of the people that saw the air vehicle and the car flying through the night sky; of course the large number of people who saw this decided not to say anything about it or wonder why this was occurring.
Soon the Bat Copter approached Europe and about two hours later the occupants of the strange helicopter saw that they were flying over Dracula's castle, and at the front door of the castle were Count Dracula himself and his bride Vanna Pira; as the two monsters looked down towards terra firma they could see the vampire and his wife watching and waiting for the Hunch Bunch to bring Shaggy to him, in addition they noticed a peculiar looking class enclosure atop the castle, which the hunch backed creatures were happy to see because that was where they were aiming to land.
"It looks like the master has installed the new Bat Copter Dome for us Crunch; now, my dear fellow bring the bat copter towards the dome for a landing" Brunch explained; naturally the second of the two monsters complied with this request, albeit as what usually happened when Crunch tried to do something happened this time because when he tried to land the copter and the Mystery Machine, both vehicles became stuck on the side of the ancient structure which Dracula saw and frankly he didn't seem too pleased with the Hunch Bunch as he and his wife ran over from where they were standing to inspect the damage.
"What happened?" Dracula asked, somewhat annoyed.
"Um, it appears that we've had a bit of a hang up as it were sire" Brunch replied.
"Well, try unhooking the Bat copter from that vehicle, that might fix things" Dracula explained.
"OK master, here goes" Brunch said as he flipped a switch which unhooked the Mystery Machine from the copter; unfortunately for the two monsters when the Mystery Machine was unhooked the van fell right onto Dracula who growled and grumbled from underneath the large vehicle.
"Ooh, you two are going to get it when I get out from underneath here!" Dracula declared.
"I wonder just what he's going to do to us?" Brunch asked while Crunch spoke in his nonsensical voice.
Later on after Dracula got the thousand pound Mystery Machine off his back and after Crunch and Brunch parked the van and the Bat Copter, the two monsters carried Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby into the castle and onto five stone pedestals in the main hall of the structure; at the moment the five sleuths were still sleeping soundly, completely unaware of the fate that was about to befall them in addition to being unaware of what location the team of detectives were in.
As he watched the college age sleuths and their Great Dane sleep peacefully, or as peaceful as someone who was in Dracula's castle could sleep, the sinister vampire chuckled evilly as he prepared to welcome the members of Mystery Inc. to his home, but before he could do that he began speaking to the Hunch Bunch yet again.
"Crunch and Brunch bring the revival spray here so that we may, greet our new werewolf" Dracula said, chuckling evilly; the two monsters complied with the leader of vampires request and brought a strange canister filled what looked to be similar in composition to steam with them to spray on the gang, however as Crunch started using the revival spray his aim necessarily wasn't that great, because he began spraying Count Dracula instead of Mystery Inc., which made the vampire a little steamed.
"Will you get that stuff away from my face and wake up Sha-Gee and his friends!" the vampire declared; Brunch then pointed the spray away from Dracula, and towards the gang as what had originally been attended, soon what seemed to be a strange fog appeared above the five members of Mystery Inc. and it began affect the gang as they were rousted from their slumber and began stretching and yawning; however, as they woke up it became apparent that the gang was not in Coolsville any more.
"I bid you all welcome" Count Dracula remarked; each of the five members of Mystery Inc. stood in shock and fear at the strange assortment of monsters that were looking at them and especially Shaggy; as the monsters gazed at their visitors, Fred on instinct quickly grabbed Daphne and held her close to him just as the now fur covered Shaggy on instinct quickly grabbed Velma and pulled her close to him, all the while Scooby Doo along with the rest of the mystery solving team shivered in terror at the sight of the dozens of monsters that were only a few feet away.
"L-like this has to be a dream, come on gang let's wake up from this nightmare" Shaggy commented.
"Right Shaggy; OK gang one, two, three" Fred said as he and the rest of the gang attempted to shake off their surroundings.
"This is not a dream!" Dracula bellowed; it was then that Scooby Doo and his friends realized that the vampire was right and that they were going to be in Transylvania for a long time to come.
"L-like where are we?" Shaggy asked as he and the gang attempted to fully comprehend their surroundings.
"Jinkies, wherever we are, it almost feels like we're in a horror movie" Velma replied, holding onto Shaggy's arm as if her life depended on it.
"How rude of me, I really should introduce myself: you see I am Count Dracula and I have brought you Sha-Gee here to Transylvania to drive the Werewolf car in the annual Monster Road Race" the vampire explained.
"Transylvania?" replied Fred.
"Werewolf car?" added Daphne.
"Monster road race?" wondered Velma.
"Yes, you see our original Werewolf retired which is why you were changed into one and brought here to compete" Count Dracula remarked.
"So that's what I was feeling the other night; my women's intuition was telling me that we were going to get involved in a mystery and that something might happen to one of us, it was Dracula and he was plotting to bring my Shaggy here to compete in an automobile race" Velma commented.
"Jeepers, I guess your intuition was right Velma" Daphne added.
"Like I still don't understand all this why couldn't you just run the race without a werewolf?" asked Shaggy.
"Because, without a Werewolf there would be no fair way to determine a monster of the year," replied Dracula.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense" Shaggy said; as the cowardly college student scanned the crowd of monsters who were gawking at him, he began chuckling a little bit, partly because he began noticing the absolute absurdity of the creatures, specifically their appearances; once the rest of the gang realized what Shaggy was doing, they began to join in, realizing that most of the monsters either resembled some of the villains they unmasked, or that they just seemed like creatures that could give them nightmares.
However the leader of vampires was not amused with the cowardly werewolf, as a scowl could be seen on his face, while he peered at the werewolf and his mystery solving friends; the vampire and the werewolf, along with the rest of the gang then took part in a stare down which seemed to last hours but in reality only lasted a few minutes, eventually the vampire had enough and walked over to a nearby table, the sinister blood drinker then scratched his long nails on the table, which resulted in a loud almost screeching noise as he dragged his nails across the table; naturally this caused Scooby and the gang to stop laughing, although the team of sleuths found themselves covering their ears after Dracula made his point, which the members of Mystery Inc. weren't happy about.
"Hey!" Fred declared.
"Ah, it appears that I got your attention Sha-Gee, and I got your friends attention as well; now it's only fair that since you know my name, I should know yours since the five of you shall be staying around for a while" Dracula smiled, although it wasn't the kind of a smile that you or any mortal was accustomed to seeing, in fact it was a devious smile, which seemed to hide the vampire's true intentions.
"Oh, okay I guess we could introduce ourselves: I'm Fred, this is Daphne, Velma and Scooby Doo, and of course you know Shaggy, considering he's a werewolf in your stupid race" Fred explained, as his hand clenched into an angry fist.
"Pardon me? What is so stupid about the monster race?" a creature similar in appearance to a dragonfly asked in a bit of a hissing voice; the four young sleuths and their Great Dane were taken aback by the appearance of this creature and they gasped as he spoke.
"N-nothing sir, I t-think competing in a race like t-this is a very fine endeavor" Daphne commented nervously.
"What's the matter deary? Nervous?" a skinny green skinned witch asked the red head.
"Uh huh, to be honest this place gives me the absolute creeps" Daphne replied.
"Well, it does take some getting used to but once you get settled it's not really that bad" the skinny green skinned witch said.
"Jinkies, I don't see how anyone could get used to living in a place like this" Velma commented; while she spoke a familiar black haired woman started walking into the room, after she had seen that the hunch bunch had parked the Mystery Machine and the bat copter safely, she made her way into the line of sight of the gang but after she did that she stood next to Dracula and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Ah, Vanna Pira I didn't see you there, how are you my dear?" Dracula asked as he turned around to greet his bride.
"I'm well; so that's Shaggy and his friends, I have to say he does look pretty cute, I wouldn't mind sinking my teeth into him" Vanna Pira replied with a chuckle.
"Um, like thanks: I think" Shaggy said as he pulled Velma closer to him.
"By the way, I'm Vanna Pira, Dracula's wife; so who are the rest of your friends Shaggy?" Vanna Pira asked as she continued to eye the cowardly werewolf; while she was doing that Velma was beginning to squeeze his waist tightly, although at that moment Fred began to look over the black haired woman and started to speak to her.
"It's very nice to meet you Vanna Pira, I'm Fred and this is Velma and Scooby" Fred commented; although he was quickly pulled towards the wealthy red haired member of the group as she began to talk to the black haired woman.
"And I'm Daphne, Fred's girlfriend; also, if I were you I wouldn't be making eyes at my Freddie" the red head remarked as she pulled Fred closer to her.
"Yes and don't make eyes at my Shaggy either, although I wouldn't blame you if you did, after all he is rather cute" Velma commented as she looked at the cowardly werewolf.
"Like thanks Velma" Shaggy replied, looking into her eyes.
"Excuse me, but if we could stop the romance for a few seconds, I could show you to your rooms for the duration of your stay here" Dracula spoke up.
"Like knowing him, they probably come with hot and cold running bats" Shaggy whispered to Velma.
"Yeah, and maybe the beds are coffins," Velma whispered back.
"You know it's very polite to keep things from me Sha-Gee" Dracula remarked after clearing his throat.
"Jinkies, how did he know what we were saying?" Velma asked.
"First off, I have good hearing considering I'm part bat, and second, you were whispering, which can be easy to hear" Dracula replied.
"Oh; well I hate to be rude but I don't think we want to stay here, I mean there must be hundreds of other werewolves in the world that can race cars, so if you don't mind we're going to head back to Coolsville and try and get our lives back to normal" Fred remarked as he and the rest of the gang began walking through the door to the main hall of the castle.
"Master, you're letting them leave without putting up so much as an argument, why?" Brunch asked as he and Crunch had rejoined their fellow monsters by this point.
"Very simple my simple minded Hunch Bunch, you see Sha-Gee and his friends can leave my castle, I don't mind that at all… actually they can leave here, provided can find an exit" Dracula chuckled evilly.
"Ah I see, but what if they do find an exit?" Brunch inquired.
"Who cares, besides if they do ever find one, Sha-Gee will be much too tired from trying to escape that he will never win the monster race, now come on you two we must set our traps for the werewolf and his friends" Dracula remarked as he and the two hunchbacked creatures exited the room and started on their mission to trip up Shaggy and company in their chance of escaping the evil castle.
Later on that night Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma were in the midst of trying to find an exit to Dracula's castle, however as it was soon becoming apparent that there was no escape and Mystery Inc. was walking in circles.
"Fred?" Daphne asked.
"Yes Daph?" Fred responded.
"We haven't found a way out of this place yet, I'm really beginning to think that this place is like a maze and that there is no way out" Daphne replied.
"Daphne, don't be silly; there's always a way out of every haunted mansion, castle and house that we've ever been in" Fred remarked.
"Yeah, plus like if Scooby and I know our horror movies, Dracula's castle always seems to have hidden passages, hidden doors, hidden rooms, basically it's like every other place that we've ever been in" Shaggy noted.
"Shaggy, that's actually a good idea; if Dracula's castle is anything like the haunted places in our mysteries, then there should be a secret way out of here, right?" Fred commented.
"True, like all we have to do then is find it," Shaggy replied.
"Well then what are we standing around here for? Let's get out of this castle!" Daphne declared.
"Right, come on gang" Fred remarked; with that the five sleuths embarked in their journey to explore the immense structure that was Count Dracula's castle, at first it seemed like Scooby and company weren't having much luck in finding an exit, particularly since they had been exploring for about an hour and the only thing they had found so far were dozens of doors.
"Fred, maybe we should just give up this search, there's no way we're going to find an exit from this place" Daphne commented.
"I'm actually starting to agree with Daphne Fred, we've been searching for an hour and haven't found a thing yet, maybe we should just find Dracula and see if he can show us to our rooms, besides I think whatever substance those two creeps used on us is having a lingering effect, I'm starting to get tired again" Velma remarked.
"I hate to say it Velma but I think you're right, let's see if we can find our bedrooms and get some rest, maybe we can figure this one out in the morning" Fred replied.
"Like I could sure go for a good night's sleep too, right Scoob?" Shaggy asked.
"Right Rhaggy" Scooby agreed.
"OK, let's see if we can find our rooms and then we can figure a way out of this mess in the morning" Fred commented; soon the blond college student and the rest of Mystery Inc. continued walking down the dark corridors of Dracula's castle, until that is they came to a room at the end of a long hallway, which seemed to be unlocked; this surprised the team of sleuths a bit, considering it was a little weird to have an unlocked room in a castle such as this, although the gang didn't mind it too much, so they decided to walk into the strange room which also happened to be absent of lights.
"Jinkies, it sure is dark in here" Velma commented.
"Yeah, and like a little spooky too" Shaggy added.
"Well let's not worry about that, let's just try and get some sleep" Fred replied.
A few moments later the five members of Mystery Inc. spread out across the room and picked places to rest, soon Scooby and friends were fast asleep, however they were unaware that Count Dracula and the Hunch Bunch were standing at the door to the room, watching every minute of the gang's slumber.
"Ah excellent, this is just what I had hoped for; Sha-Gee and his friends are sleeping in my little Torture Chamber and soon I will awaken him and his companions" Dracula explained.
"What are you going to do with them Master?" Brunch asked.
"Very simple: in the room that Sha-Gee and his friends are resting in are untold different methods and weapons that I use to make my visitors, shall we say rather uncomfortable" Dracula commented.
"Like what Master?" Brunch inquired.
"Some of the most devious weapons ever created in the history of mortals and monsters; the Iron Maiden, The Rack, all sorts of chains and other wonderful items" Dracula replied chuckling evilly.
"Ah I get it, once the werewolf and his friends see what's inside the room they'll be forced to stay here" Brunch remarked.
"Yes, and if they don't… then it will be curtains for our little guests" Dracula said as he continued to laugh menacingly; soon he and the Hunch Bunch left the doorway and went back into the hallway where they waited for Scooby and company to wake up.
A few hours later, Mystery Inc. did indeed awaken from their slumber as each of the members of the group yawned and stretched out their limbs; however, it became apparent that while the gang was rested and ready to escape the castle, they still needed to figure out where they were, so Daphne remembering that she had her purse with her from the movies and retrieved a flashlight which she had brought just in case; however, once the members of Mystery Inc. saw what the room was like illuminated their moods quickly shifted and the college age sleuths became nervous and frightened once more.