Chapter 9
As they slept, Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley tossed and turned, trying to get some rest before the next day, so they would be well rested to participate in the gang's search for an exit to Castle Dracula; however, inside their subconscious minds, Daphne and Velma felt like they were being tortured by the sinister vampire, who it seemed was using their own dreams to cause trouble for them.
Inside Daphne's dream, the red head pictured herself dressed in a long, elegant purple gown, which reached down to her shoes; the wealthy college student found herself in a old castle of some kind, but she wasn't enjoying her time there, she in fact seemed to be running from something or someone.
As her pursuer approached, Daphne could see who or what had been chasing her, in fact she could swear that she could recognize the person that was chasing her, only it wasn't a person at all; for the person that was chasing Daphne through the halls of the castle was a blond man wearing a dark blue suit and covered entirely in thick brown fur, in short he was a werewolf, but not just an ordinary werewolf, in point of fact it was one Fred Jones.
As Fred the werewolf was chasing her, someone wearing a dark black cape with red trim seemed to be watching the pair nearby; however Daphne recognized the man as who she didn't expect and didn't want to see in this situation, for the person that was watching the young man and woman was Count Dracula; the evil vampire laughed evilly as he watched the young blond college student stalk the young woman throughout the castle, but no matter what she did, she couldn't escape the grasp of the blond werewolf, who was once a kind and gentle soul and still was her boyfriend.
Meanwhile inside Velma's dream, almost the exact same sequence of events was playing out; the bespectacled young woman was dressed in an elegant long orange gown, in fact the color of her gown seemed to match the color of the turtleneck sweaters that she usually wore; but in this dream, or rather nightmare she wished she was wearing a sweater, because as she found herself in almost the same type of castle as Daphne, she like the red head was being chased by a frightening figure.
Specifically the figure wore what seemed to be a ragged and torn red military type uniform; while it would seem that a girl like Velma would enjoy this type of dream, it was not the case for as the figure approached her she could recognize it instantly; the figure was covered in dark brown fur, in point of fact the figure that was attempting to track her down was none other than Shaggy Rogers.
As the Shaggy werewolf approached her she could see that there was someone watching the cowardly werewolf chase the young woman through the castle from afar; wearing her glasses seemed to sharpen the young woman's eyesight as it only took her a few seconds to spot the unmistakable dark black cape of Count Dracula, who seemed to be laughing and reveling in the fact that Shaggy was a werewolf and was trying to track down Velma.
Deep down Velma knew that Shaggy was still human and was still the kind and gentle soul that he always had been and that she had been friends with since they were little, and that she had fallen in love with many years before, which was the reason why the two of them had began dating and were now officially boyfriend and girlfriend.
As Shaggy the werewolf chased her throughout the castle, she was sure that he knew this as well; unfortunately, it seemed as if he wasn't listening to her or that something was blocking Shaggy from realizing that Velma wasn't a threat and that he shouldn't harm her, because as Velma pictured herself pleading and begging on her knees for Shaggy to think of his humanity, Dracula was smiling, waiting for the werewolf to pounce on her.
Both Daphne and Velma's nightmares went that way for most of the night as their attempts at sleep were not to be, while they managed to squeeze in a few hours of rest, it was a rather unsettling sleep, but no matter what happened in both their nightmares they both promised themselves that they would get through the night without anything major happening to them.
What seemed like an eternity passed, but in reality it was only five or six hours as the five members of Mystery Inc. began to awake from their slumber in their respective bedrooms; Daphne and Velma were the first members of the group of sleuths to wake up as they both stood up from the cold stone floor of the bedroom, where they had placed their sheets after finding out the previous night that Dracula had replaced each of their mattresses with a bed of spikes, which they weren't too happy about.
"Oh brother, what a horrible night's sleep, I don't know if I've ever had a worse night of sleep in my entire life" Daphne said as she stretched and yawned after waking up.
"Yeah, I didn't have that great a night's sleep either; although it didn't feel like I got a full night's sleep, if felt more like I only got a catnap in" Velma replied.
"Now that I think of it, it felt that way to me too; not to mention I had one of the worst nightmares I've ever had while I slept" Daphne remarked.
"Daphne, if it's anything like the one I had, I'm beginning to think Dracula is really out to get us and he's going to continue to try and separate us, or rather he's already tried to do that by turning Shaggy into a werewolf" Velma replied.
"Believe me Velma, I had almost the same nightmare as you did; only in mine, Fred was chasing me around some creepy castle" Daphne noted.
"Jinkies, you too? I had the same nightmare, only in mine Shaggy was chasing me throughout some castle; I was wearing a long orange gown, and Dracula, that-that vampire was watching us from nearby" Velma replied.
"That sounds wonderful, except for a werewolf chasing you and Dracula being there; although, in my nightmare, I was wearing a long purple gown, and Fred was a werewolf, and Dracula was watching us; that creep, boy would I like to get my hands on him!" Daphne said, with a very angry look on her face.
"But Daphne, that was a nightmare, it wasn't real; so how can you go after Dracula for something that he hasn't done?" Velma inquired.
"I know it was a nightmare Velma, but it felt real to me and it probably felt real to you too; the problem is that even though it may not have been real, a lot of the things that happened while we were sleeping have taken place in real life, for instance: we're in a creepy castle, and it happens to be the home of Count Dracula, plus Shaggy's a werewolf, and if he doesn't win that dumb monster car race we might not leave here" Daphne replied.
"Daphne, I completely understand what you're going through, as a matter of fact anyone would feel the same way in your situation; well, anyone who had to watch one of their best friends be turned into a snarling beast just to compete in some sporting event, that he couldn't care less about that is" Velma remarked.
"Tell me about it, although I'm sure glad of one thing" Daphne replied.
"What's that Daphne?" Velma asked.
"I'm certainly happy that Fred, Shaggy and Scooby are here with us; well, not in the same room as us, but I'm glad that they're with us during this adventure" Daphne replied.
"Me too Daphne, me too; I mean if it was just the two of us I would go crazy, and besides if we were the only ones here then we would probably be easy pickings for that creep Dracula" Velma stated.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to be a minion of that creepy vampire for all the Blake's Bubble Bath in the world" Daphne replied.
"Me neither; I mean as someone who has spent her entire life trying to rationally and reasonably think things over and someone who knows that there's always a rational explanation for everything in the world, even the supernatural, being a vampire or zombie or whatever other monsters are in this place would be downright frightening" Velma stated.
"It would be wouldn't it, Velma can I ask you something as a friend?" Daphne inquired.
"Sure Daphne, go right ahead" Velma replied.
"Do you wonder if Shaggy will really win this race?" Daphne asked.
"Daphne, I think Shaggy has as great a chance to win Dracula's monster race as, well as Fred, or you or I would if we were monsters; and I know that he'll pull this off, and before you know it we'll be back safe and sound at home" Velma replied.
"I really hope so Velma, I really hope so; it's just that this place makes me so darn nervous, the walls are so damp and dreary; the halls are so, so creepy, and every room in this castle makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs" Daphne commented, feeling as if she was having the scariest time of her life as she stood in the small bedroom.
"Daphne, to tell you the truth I'm really frightened too; I've done a lot of reading in my life and I've read the book Dracula before; believe me, I know what Count Dracula can do, and what he's capable of, we just have to stay here long enough for Shaggy to win his race and then Dracula will turn him back to normal, and then we can go home" Velma replied, sounding like a little sister as she attempted to calm her red haired friend.
"Yes but what if he goes back on his deal, what if, what if he decides to keep us all here and turn us into monsters; what if he refuses to turn Shaggy back to normal, what if he doesn't win the race?" Daphne asked nervously.
"Daphne you're almost starting to sound like Shaggy, don't tell me you're in love with him, are you?" Velma wondered.
"No, no, that's not it at all Velma; I know Shaggy and you love each other and Fred and I are in love, but it's just that as a long time friend, and because I consider Shaggy to be like a brother to me, I want him to come out of this okay, I don't want him to be a werewolf forever" Daphne replied.
"I understand Daphne; I'm Shaggy's girlfriend and I'm going through a lot of the same things as you, only I have more involved; I don't want Shaggy to be a werewolf either, I mean can you imagine me trying to kiss him and go on dates with him as a werewolf?" Velma asked.
"Yeah, that would be pretty weird; I mean, we both saw what happened at the drive in" Daphne replied with a bit of a grin on her face.
"True, I mean it would be hard to hug someone or kiss someone who has a lot of fur, claws that could rip you apart and looks like something out a bad dream" Velma remarked.
"Yeah, I'll bet; you know Velma, there's something else that I've always wondered about" Daphne replied.
"What's that Daphne?" Velma asked.
"You said that I was like a sister to you right?" Daphne inquired.
"Right" Velma replied.
"Well, does that mean Fred is like a brother to you?" Daphne asked.
"I guess you could say that, but what about Shaggy? Is he like a brother to you as well?" Velma replied.
"Sure, I mean he and I did spend a lot of time together the past few years; but now we're all together and things are going pretty well, other then Shaggy being a werewolf and all" Daphne remarked.
"True, and believe me, I wouldn't have it any other way; speaking of Shaggy, I never did ask you what you and he did in the last few years, when Fred and I were working on our careers" Velma replied.
"Oh that, well we spent a couple of years, Scrappy, Scooby, Shaggy obviously, and I, just solving mysteries, although it was a little different from the usual mysteries; actually during that time I was working for a magazine for a while" Daphne remarked.
"Cool, I never figured you as much of a writer Daphne" Velma replied.
"Oh sure, of course most of the mysteries we solved ended up being combination mysteries/assignments for the magazine, but it was fun nonetheless" Daphne commented.
"Right, and then Fred and I started visiting and we all realized that we missed each other; then we decided to all attend the same college together, and then the whole Demon Chest thing happened during spring break a couple years back, then eventually we came to day and the rest is history" Velma replied.
"Exactly, and now…" Daphne remarked.
"And now Shaggy's a werewolf and Dracula's forcing him to drive in this dumb Monster of the Year race; I just wish I could go back in time and prevent this from ever happening" Velma replied.
"Unfortunately you can't Velma, what's past is past, and you can't change whatever has happened already, so you can't change the fact that Shaggy is now a werewolf, we just have to make sure he wins the race and Dracula keeps his word to turn him back to normal" Daphne remarked.
"Right, speaking of which I wonder how Shaggy, Scooby and Fred are doing?" Velma wondered aloud.
Meanwhile next door in the other bedroom, the aforementioned trio of sleuths, well one college student, one Great Dane and one college aged werewolf chatted amongst themselves, mostly about the group's current adventure in Transylvania and about the team of investigators hopes of escaping the sinister castle of Count Dracula intact, healthy and most of all human, not to mention Shaggy's chances of winning the Monster Road Rally and Dracula turning Shaggy back to himself.
"Like you know something Fred, that actually might be the best night's sleep I've ever had in a creepy or haunted place" Shaggy remarked, sitting up in bed.
"Why's that Shaggy?" Fred inquired.
"Because, like I'm a werewolf after all, and I could easily handle any ghosts or creepy creatures that we might encounter in here; plus I would sure like to see Dracula come in here, I think I could take him easily" Shaggy replied, chuckling a little as he spoke, in addition to rubbing his hand on his red t shirt in a triumphant way.
"Um Shaggy, I don't know if you should get too confident about your werewolf abilities; besides, Dracula's the one who turned you into a werewolf in the first place, and he might have put in a fail safe or something to stop you from taking him on, or causing him any harm" Fred remarked.
"Like Fred, if I'm a werewolf then I would have no problems taking on any villains we might face; I mean werewolves are tough creatures, able to rip people's shirts and other things like tissue paper" Shaggy replied, naturally hearing his college aged master talk like that frightened one Scooby Doo a bit, and as a result he began whimpering while he sat up at the foot of Shaggy's bed.
"Rhaggy, rould rou really ruse rour rerewolf rowers?" the Great Dane inquired.
"Like it depends Scooby Doo, I might and I might not" Shaggy replied.
"R-ri rouldn't rind rot" Scooby remarked nervously.
"See Shaggy, even Scooby doesn't think you should use your werewolf abilities" Fred replied.
"Like come on Fred, Scoob, you guys are worried about nothing; like believe me I can handle being a werewolf, it would be a piece of cake" Shaggy remarked, before proudly howling a little, which caused the unofficial leader of the group of sleuths to quickly clamp his hand over Shaggy's mouth.
"Hey, like what was that for Fred?" Shaggy asked.
"What it was for was trying to avoid Dracula hearing you; we don't want him to know where you are because he might try something else, something horrible if I had to guess" Fred replied.
"Like Fred, we're already in our bedrooms, what else could Dracula try?' Shaggy asked.
"I don't know, but just in case we should watch our step; speaking of which I wonder what Daphne and Velma are up to right now?" Fred replied.
"Like in their bedroom and safe, I hope," Shaggy remarked.
As Shaggy spoke, back inside the girls bedroom, Daphne and Velma had decided to get dressed and reapplied makeup, lipstick and whatever else they usually did before getting ready for a day of mystery solving, or anything else that the members of Mystery Inc. were involved in; having completed their regimen of beauty treatments, the two female members of the team of sleuths decided to walk out of their bedroom and into the hallway, soon they had walked a few feet and found themselves in front of Shaggy, Scooby and Fred's bedroom, where Daphne knocked on the door, which perked up the trio's ears.
"Who is it?" Fred asked.
"Freddie, it's Daphne and Velma, can we come in?" the red head answered.
"Sure, just let me unlock the door" Fred replied; with that he unlatched and unhooked the locks of the door and within a matter of moments, it was open and Daphne and Velma walked inside.
"Freddie, Scooby, Shaggy am I glad to see you guys" Daphne remarked as she ran over to Fred and hugged him like she had never hugged the blond college student before in his life.
"I'm glad to see you too Shaggy and Scooby, I had a horrible night, I barely got any sleep and what's worse, I had a nightmare" Velma said as she hugged the cowardly college aged werewolf and hung onto him as if her life depended on it.
"Zoinks! Like w-what was the nightmare Velma?" Shaggy asked as the brainiest member of Mystery Inc. loosened her grip on him.
"I dreamt that we were in some castle, kind of like this one, and I know it sounds cliché considering what's really going on here but, I was wearing a long orange gown, and you were a werewolf, but you weren't like you really are now, you were evil, and Dracula was watching us, he almost seemed like he wanted you to devour me or something, oh it was horrible" Velma said tearfully.
"Like it's okay Velma, it's okay; it was a dream, dreams can't hurt you" Shaggy replied, with his furry paw on the young woman's shoulder.
"I know they can't and you know they can't but…" Velma remarked.
"But what?" Shaggy asked.
"Well, I don't know, the dream just seemed so real, everything inside the dream is happening now, well except for a few things, just ask Daphne, she had the same dream" Velma replied; as she spoke, the gang's attention turned to the red headed member of the team, who hadn't let go of Fred much at all.
"Daphne, you had the same dream as Velma? Was it a nightmare too?" Fred asked, secretly hoping it wasn't the exact same dream, considering Shaggy was a werewolf both in the dream and in real life, at least at the moment.
"Yes Freddie, it was; I was being chased through some castle, I was wearing a long purple gown, I think there might have been a few diamonds sewn into it too; but in the dream Freddie, you were a werewolf too and you were the one chasing me, and that fanged creep Dracula was there too, watching us" Daphne replied.
"Wow, talk about a creepy coincidence Daphne; Velma had a dream where she was wearing a gown, and she was being chased by a werewolf Shaggy, and you had the same dream about me, only I was a werewolf" Fred remarked, holding onto the red head as if his life depended on it.
"I know, that's why I was telling Velma that because of the atmosphere and what Dracula's capable of, I'm really frightened of this place; I mean this isn't like any of our other mysteries, we're in real danger here, maybe, maybe we should get out of the mystery solving business for good" Daphne replied nervously.
"Daphne, how can you say that? You love mysteries, we all do, after all you told me when you were a little girl that you wanted to be like Nancy Drew, and you always wanted to be a sleuth I thought that was really cool; heck I wanted to be a detective when I was young too, of course my whole obsession with the National Exaggerator kind of messed that up, but still I shook it off and look where we all are today" Fred reassured her.
"Yeah, stuck in Dracula's castle in Transylvania and Shaggy's a werewolf" Daphne responded.
"Daphne, if this is about that dream you had, don't worry about it; I'm not a werewolf, and even if I do get turned into one, which is not likely to happen any time soon I might add, I'll be furry and have claws and things like that, but I won't harm you, I wouldn't harm any one for that matter, I would be the exact same person I've always been" Fred replied, softly stroking the red head's cheek and twirling her hair.
"I know Freddie I know, but what if your animal instincts take over?" Daphne asked.
"What if Daphne, what if; that's why it's called a what if; if my dad had wheels and pedals he would be a bicycle, if the moon was made of cheese we could eat it; it's a what if, which means it might happen or it might not happen, just don't worry about it Daph, for now let's worry about trying to find some way to get out of here" Fred replied.
"Right" Daphne remarked, while still holding onto Fred's arm.
However as Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby prepared to leave the bedroom, they began to hear footsteps echoing throughout the hall; the five members of Mystery Inc. stood in Fred, Shaggy and Scooby Doo's bedroom trying to figure out where the footsteps were exactly coming from, and who or what they might belong to.
With the five members of the team of sleuths unable to move, partly because of sheer fright and nervousness because they didn't know what was coming, they began fearing the absolute worst; they then realized that because they were trapped inside a castle of monsters, including one of the most despised villains in history, one Count Dracula, it wasn't going to be easy to escape and it wasn't going to be easy to last until the aforementioned vampire's monster race started.
The footsteps then grew louder and more intense as the team of sleuths waited for something to happen or for someone, whoever it was to visit them and share whatever it was that the person or thing wanted of Mystery Inc.; soon the five of them could hear that the footsteps were now in the very hallway that the group's bedrooms were in and that they were slowly approaching, a few moments later the group of five decided to look outside the bedroom door and as they did they saw a certain black caped, green faced vampire walking towards their room, which made them nervous as you might expect.
"Jeepers, it's that creep; I wonder what he wants?" Daphne asked, looking towards the rest of her friends.
"I don't know Daph, but whatever he wants, it's not good news" Fred replied; soon the creature of the night had walked down the hallway and passed the girls bedroom without even knocking or saying anything, he then made his way towards Shaggy, Scooby and Fred's bedroom and a few moments later spotted the five ghost chasers peeking out and looking for something, which prompted him to clear his throat and speak as he stood next to the team of investigators.
"Am I interrupting anything?" Dracula asked; which caused Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby to tremble in fear at the sight of the vampire, in addition to quickly moving away from him; as if that wasn't enough, Shaggy and Velma held each other as close as possible without them crushing one another, of course the same could be said for Fred and Daphne as they did exactly the same thing, while Scooby Doo cowered at the foot of Shaggy's bed.
"W-what do you want?" Daphne asked, somewhat terrified at the sight of the evil being, which made sense considering that this was someone who could drink your blood if you looked at him wrong.
"I just wanted to see how the five of you were doing this fine morning" Dracula replied.
"Fine morning? Like he must be kidding," Shaggy said as he whispered to Velma.
"Just fine Dracula, just fine" Daphne said through gritted teeth.
"What's wrong with her?" Dracula asked, looking towards Fred, while motioning over at the red head.
"Oh she just doesn't like being here, and frankly neither does any of us" Fred replied.
"Well like it or not blondie, you and your friends are here for the long haul, and so is Sha-Gee for that matter" Dracula remarked.
"Um actually, my name is Fred" the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. replied.
"And my name is Shaggy, not Sha-Gee" the cowardly temporary werewolf of the group added.
"Fine, fine whatever" Dracula commented impatiently.
"By the way, what are you doing in here anyway?" Daphne asked,
"Well, as I said I wanted to see how the five of you were doing, in addition I wanted to tell Shaggy that because he is a first time driver in this race I want him, and the four of you if you wish to come along to test out the course, to get a feel for what it's like and the handling of it, after all I wouldn't want you to crash or get into car trouble, then you wouldn't be able to win the race" Dracula replied, chuckling evilly as he spoke.
"Like okay, I guess I could test the course in whatever vehicle you have for me" Shaggy remarked.
"Good, I'm glad to hear it Sha-Gee; because even if you do manage somehow to win the race, you won't leave here, ever" Dracula replied, saying the last part of his statement under his breath.
"Pardon?" Shaggy asked.
"Never mind Sha-Gee, never mind" Dracula replied, with a somewhat devious look on his face.
"All right, if you say so" Shaggy remarked.
"Very well; Now, I would imagine that you and your friends are hungry after a long night's sleep, correct?" Dracula asked.
"Like you said the magic words Count, we could sure go for some breakfast right now" Shaggy replied, licking his lips as he spoke.
"Velma and I barely got any sleep thanks to you, although I guess we could go for something to eat" Daphne added as she glared at Dracula.
"Really? How come?" the sinister vampire inquired.
"Because you put a bed of nails under each of our mattresses, we had to sleep on the floor" Velma declared angrily.
"Ah I see; well, I can explain about that" Dracula replied, with a sinister smirk on his face.
"I wouldn't mind hearing this" Velma responded, folding her arms together and looking quite impatient with the fiendish creature.
"You see, I was doing some remodeling a while back and I forgot that I left the nails in your bedroom" Dracula replied.
"Yeah sure; why were those beds of nails inside our bedrooms and not inside Fred, Shaggy and Scooby's?" Daphne asked.
"Because that's where I put them, and before you say I'm lying, I am telling the truth" Dracula replied.
"Yeah, he's telling the truth all right, and I'm the commissioner of the National Football League" Fred remarked, looking towards Daphne.
"Well let's not worry about that now, do the five of you want something to eat or should I leave?" Dracula asked.
"Like oh yeah, now that I'm a werewolf I guess my appetite is pretty heavy, more then usual I guess" Shaggy quipped.
"Good, good" Dracula replied.
"Wait a minute Shaggy, we don't know what to expect here; are you really sure you want to try any of the food?" Velma asked.
"Oh come on Velma, it can't be all that bad; I mean Dracula and Vanna Pira have to eat too" Shaggy replied.
"Shaggy's right girls, I'm sure it will all be good" Fred remarked.
"Very well, since you five are hungry, you may call Tomb Service and order anything you want except ugh, Angel Food Cake" Dracula commented.
"Like sounds good" Shaggy replied.
With that Shaggy then walked over to a nearby nightstand, picked up the telephone and began dialing the number of Tomb Service.
"Like hello, could you send up some pancakes, syrup, waffles, sausage, some peanut butter, and a few other things" Shaggy said speaking into the phone.
"And maybe some eggs and toast" Fred replied.
"Rand rome ruice rand rilk" Scooby responded.
"Like you got all that? Ok cool" Shaggy said once again into the phone.
The cowardly werewolf then hung up the phone and he and the gang waited a few minutes, suddenly the gang heard a knock on the door; Fred opened the door and Dracula's two cronies Crunch and Brunch were standing in the doorway with a whole cartful of food.
"Tomb Service" Crunch mumbled.
"Yes, with the chef's compliments" Brunch replied.
"Mmm, everything looks really good" Shaggy remarked, helping himself to some food from one of the trays.
"Reah" Scooby replied.
"Actually everything does look pretty good, I think I'll take a little something for myself" Fred remarked as he also took some food.
With those words Fred, Shaggy and Scooby began eating, while the red haired and bespectacled members of the group decided to wait for the three of them to finish a few feet away.
The chicken hearted werewolf was still eating when suddenly he felt a strange feeling inside him, normally the cowardly teen would chalk it up to a stomach ache or indigestion but not this time; in this case the feeling that the werewolf had wasn't something that he normally would encounter.
"This stuff is pretty good, aoooh!" Shaggy commented before beginning to unexpectedly howl.
"Rmm, rummy, raoooh!" Scooby remarked as he began to howl as well.
"Mmm, you guys are right this stuff is delicious, aooooh!" Fred commented as he also began to howl unexpectedly, although after he began howling he put his hand to his mouth to attempt to stop himself from baying, although it wasn't quite working.
As the blond college student joined the cowardly werewolf and the Great Dane in a howl, the Hunch Bunch stood next to the two girls almost marveling at Fred, Shaggy and Scooby.
"Just think all of that stuff was made with a special kind of beans" Brunch remarked.
"Beans? What kind of beans causes people and dogs to howl like that?" Daphne asked.
"Scream Beans, they grow wild in our torture chamber" Brunch answered.
"Jinkies, that's horrible!" Velma replied.
"Yes I tend to agree my dear, Crunch next time you see chef tell him that his cooking is out of tune again" Brunch remarked.
Fred, Shaggy and Scooby then continued to howl as Daphne and Velma looked at them with a look that was half disgusted and half frightened.
Later, after the three of them stopped howling Fred, Shaggy and Scooby along with Daphne and Velma stand in a room along with Dracula and the Hunch Bunch as they look at a map of the race course.
"Now Sha-Gee, this will be the course that you will be driving in the Monster Road Race tomorrow; first the course starts with a run through the quick sand pits, then we continue to Dragon Breath tunnel for a long stretch, then through Monster Marsh, and finally through the homestretch of the track which leads to the finish line back here at the castle" Dracula said as he pointed to each area of the track with a long pointer, similar to what a school teacher would use in class if he or she wanted to point to something on the blackboard or white board.
"Jinkies, that sounds like a pretty tough track" Velma remarked.
"Yeah Shaggy, that does sound pretty difficult are you sure you can handle it?" Fred asked.
"Sure I'm sure, I've driven in tougher situations than this" Shaggy replied.
"You sure have Shaggy, although most of those times you ended up getting in a car wreck" Daphne quipped.
"Like I'll ignore that; besides I haven't gotten in any car accidents in ten years, at least" Shaggy replied.
"Actually, I wouldn't mind you getting an accident Sha-Gee, I really love to see my racers get in wrecks, it makes the race that much more exciting" Dracula explained.
"Like thanks, but no thanks Dracula, I'm in this race to win and with my friends helping me, the other racers don't have a ghost of a chance" Shaggy replied.
"Oh brother, you don't know how sick I am of hearing that expression; every day I hear mortals saying that, oh you don't have a ghost of a chance, we don't have a ghost of a chance, and on it goes; it drives me nuts" Dracula remarked.
"Like fine, then we won't say it any more" Shaggy replied, shaking his head in disgust at the vampire.
"Good" Dracula replied, smirking evilly as he spoke.
"By the way, would you mind if we took the Werewolf Car out on the course for a test run, just to get out the kinks and bugs?" Velma asked.
"Well no, you see it's in the shop for repairs" Dracula replied.
"Like what about if we took our van out on the course?" Shaggy asked.
"Hey that's right, we have the Mystery Machine with us; that should be able to handle anything" Fred responded.
"Well, all right I guess that would be all right" Dracula remarked.
"Terrific, come on gang let's show these monsters what we're made of" Fred declared.
With that Scooby and company each walked over to the crimson colored vehicle and the five sleuths got inside the large van; the blond young adult sat down in the passenger's seat as Shaggy took the driver's seat while Scooby Doo joined Daphne and Velma in the back of the van as the cowardly teen turned werewolf started up the Mystery Machine.
Meanwhile Dracula and the Hunch Bunch were discussing how to make sure Shaggy and the rest of Mystery Inc. didn't try and get out of his agreement to drive in the Monster Road Rally.
"Master are you certain it was wise to let Shaggy and the others take their car, what if they try and escape again?" Brunch asked.
"Yes I'm certain, but just to make sure nothing goes wrong you two are going to go out on the course and try and stop him from completing the track, got it?" Dracula said, somewhat angrily, or maybe it was impatiently, of course when dealing with the Hunch Bunch, he wasn't quite sure.
"Right boss" Brunch replied; with that Brunch and Crunch took off for the Bat Copter, while the gang's cowardly werewolf started the engine of the Mystery Machine and the crimson colored van took off for the first portion of the track, while the creepy hunchbacked duo known as the Hunch Bunch followed behind a few hundred feet in the air.
"Like man, we sure took off didn't we?" Shaggy asked, looking over at his friends for a few moments.
"We sure did Shaggy, let's just hope we can get through the first leg of the course without anything happening" Velma replied.
"Yeah, because there's the quick sand pits just like Dracula said" Daphne added, pointing out a large area up ahead filled with what looked to be gritty brown material, only it wasn't regular sand as the five sleuths would soon learn.
"Like okay gang, everybody hang on and here we go!" Shaggy said as he hit the gas pedal with his fur covered foot like a man, or werewolf possessed for that matter.
As fast as you could say Scooby Dooby Doo, the Mystery Machine took off like a rocket, speeding through the quicksand like hot knife through butter; however, this event was not pleasing to everyone as the Hunch Bunch witnessed the van going through the quick sand easily from their perch above the track.
"Oh dear, I do believe we had better stop Shaggy and the others and fast, before Dracula has our heads and our necks" Brunch quipped.
With that the strange helicopter continued hovering above the gang as it turned a corner and reached another portion of the race course, but this time the Hunch Bunch were ready for them; the two hunchbacked creatures had a large magnet attached to the bottom of the airborne vehicle and aimed it for the Mystery Machine, hoping that it would catch the van, but it didn't work as the van was just too fast for them and as soon as the copter caught up with the van, the magnet somehow swung up and caught the upper portion of the helicopter which grounded the airborne vehicle for quite a while.
Once the Hunch Bunch had got the Bat Copter up and running again, the Mystery Machine was halfway through the course and had already gone through Dragon Breath tunnel, with nothing more happening to the group other then the intense heat messing up Daphne and Velma's hair and Scooby deciding to have a barbecued hot dog, which he was able to do by putting a stick with the hot dog on it into the flames, which cooked it nicely.
Soon the Mystery Machine was headed for the final portion of the course, and by monster and mortal standards alike it was burning rubber; the Hunch Bunch though was hovering above the Mystery Machine and was attempting to derail the van's trip through the rest of the course, unfortunately for the two hunchbacked villains, Shaggy Rogers guided the crimson colored vehicle through the final stretch of the race course and across the finish line rather easily.
Later on that day, Dracula stood in front of the race course map with Crunch and Brunch next to him; the three of them were quite unhappy, as it appeared to the three of them that Shaggy was a pro when it came to the monster race course, although if the vampire and his cronies had their way, they were going to make sure that Shaggy didn't win the race and stayed a werewolf for the rest of his natural life.
"I say, that Shaggy fellow is a much talented driver then we gave him credit for, should we just hand him the trophy now? Because he probably will win it easily," Brunch commented.
"I doubt it you two, especially since I changed the course; then before he goes to sleep, I want the two of you to make the modifications I want to Sha-Gee's car" Dracula replied.
"Right master; but what about after he goes to sleep? What are we going to do then?" Brunch asked.
"Do I have to spell it out for you two? Keep him awake, by any means necessary, then he won't have a chance at winning this race!" Dracula declared, laughing evilly as he spoke.
With that the Hunch Bunch headed off on their way, leaving Dracula to gloat about the possibility of Shaggy and the rest of the gang as monsters for the rest of their natural lives; later, after the Hunch Bunch returned and Shaggy went to sleep, the two strange creatures attempted to keep Shaggy awake, which seemed to be working, although he did manage to get some rest, but not much.
With not much sleep, the fates of Scooby Doo, Fred, Daphne and Velma, along with the red shirted werewolf Shaggy were left to one sleepy college aged monster, although with Dracula, the rest of the monster races and the Hunch Bunch lurking around the race course, it wasn't going to be easy to win the competition, but one thing was for sure as he slept: Shaggy knew he had to win, or else, in short there was no room for failure whatsoever.
Author's Notes: Sorry for taking such a long time to update this; I've been working on some other stories and my plot wheel for this story stopped turning for a while, but I will try and update it more often.