When Shaggy woke up, he was laying on the bed with the puppies. Phew, like, we're out of that place. He thought to himself. And it was just a dream.
"My poison oak is gone!" Shaggy heard Coraline exclaim from another bedroom.
The announcement from the blue-haired girl made Shaggy's stomach lurch with fear yet again.
Scooby and Courage both raised their heads sleepily at Coraline's shouting.
"Like dudes, please tell me you didn't dreamed about creepy button-eyed parents," Shaggy pleaded, feeling weak on the arms.
Scooby and Courage felt their stomachs drop out from under them as those words sunk in.
"Y-yep..." Courage gulped.
"Like, I told you not to tell me that," Shaggy replied in a frightened manner.
The three best friends were beginning to think about the 'dream'. It felt so real...but what if it was just a dream? It was so perfect for Coraline...and them that it just couldn't be real...but...it wasn't a dream. It couldn't be. Proof was right in front of them...Coraline's poison oak was all gone. There's no way it went away all by itself. He was suspicious about the Other World. They're gonna keep a sharp eye out on it.
The kids and puppies all went to the kitchen for breakfast, Coraline told her parents all about her 'dream.'
"It was incredibly real, Mom," Coraline said as Mel removed the screeching kettle from the stove. "Only you weren't really you, you were my OTHER mother."
Mel poured water into two mugs and added instant coffee. "Buttons for eyes, huh? Coraline, you only dreamed you ate all that chicken. Take your multivitamin at least." She took one mug and the jar of coffee and walked over toward the refrigerator.
That's right! The chicken was really delicious. Courage realized he wasn't starving anymore. He and Coraline had that big meal. (But of course Shaggy and Scooby both still ate their cereal because, well they're Shaggy and Scooby.)
"You were there guys, right? Didn't it feel real?" Coraline asked the cowardly trio.
Shaggy, Scooby and Courage looked at one another with unease and worry.
"Um, I don't know, dreams can feel real," Courage stressed, shrugging.
"But it was real!" Coraline said, "You were in the dream too, Dad. You had wild-looking pajamas and orange monkey slippers."
"Orange?" Charlie questioned, "My monkey slippers are blue. Psst, can you get me some of that magic mud you were talking about? Because I have a terrible case of writer's rash...on my..."
"AHEM." Someone cleared her throat very loudly. Charlie looked around. Mel was glaring at him. He brought his hand back to his side and turned to face her.
"If the REAL Charlie Jones wants his pages edited," Mel said icily, "He'd better wrap them up asap."
Charlie walked off to his study. Mel put a jug of milk back in the fridge and shoved the door. It shut with a metallic clang, the latch clicking into place. "Coraline."
The kids and puppies looked up as Mel walked over to pick up her coffee and newspaper. Coraline was playing with her spoon. She was holding it upright with the tip of the spoon's bowl on the table and twisting it back and forth.
"Why don't you and your friends go visit downstairs. I bet those 'actresses' would love to hear your dream," Mel continued unperturbedly as she headed toward the hallway.
"Miss Spink and Forcible?" Coraline said in disbelief, "But YOU they're dingbats!" with the last word she hit her head with the heel of her hand to indicate craziness.
Mel turned around in the doorway, "Mmm-hm," she left.
The kids and puppies walked out of the door, Coraline had some garden shears in her hand.
Shaggy meanwhile had tripped over a big pile of mail, "Zoinks," he groaned, getting up from the ground.
"Rare you okay Raggy?" Scooby asked.
"I'm fine Scoob, like, I just tripped that's all," Shaggy assured.
"I wonder whose mail it is." Coraline said, sticking her pruning shears firmly into the wood porch, scooped up the packages, "Bo-bin-sky," she read, carefully sounding out the name. "Bobinsky, Bobinsky, Bobinsky...do you smell something off?"
Courage sniffed, "Definitely. Where's it coming from?"
"Hmm..." Coraline put her nose near the top package and cautiously sniffed. "Ugh!" she coughed, "Phew-ee!"
"Wow! I don't even wanna know!" Courage wrinkled his nose.
Then Scooby noticed something, "Rey, look."
His friends turned around. Behind them there was a sign in the shape of an arrow, pointing up a rusty set of stairs. It read: 'BOBINSKY THERE'. They carefully walked up, each balancing several packages.
When they reached the top, Coraline carefully knocked on the door. It was an uncommonly tall door, and somewhat narrow. There was a bell with a string hanging next to it, but neither of the kids nor puppies noticed. They were preoccupied with keeping the packages as far from their noses as possible.
"Hello?" Shaggy called after knocking. No answer.
"I think our mail got mixed up!" Coraline added. Still no answer. "Should we leave it outside, or—oh!" she had been pressing her ear to the door listening for any response, abruptly discovered that the door was not completely latched. She lost her balance, and the packages she'd been carrying flew up in the air. She recovered just in time to catch them. "Well, it's open, might as well have a look."
"Um, Coraline? It's a bit rude to look in other people's houses without their permission," Courage said.
But Coraline ignored the pink beagle puppy and peered inside the apartment.
Shaggy, Scooby and Courage were so worried that they might get in trouble if Coraline kept staring at the window that they didn't notice—
"SECRET!"
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as two of the puppies ram behind him screaming.
Coraline let out a gasp.
Something like a long blue stick reached past Coraline and jerked the door closed. She bent forward to avoid being knocked over. The stick shook a dark red blob at her.
"Famous jumping mouse seercus not ready!" the voice had a Russian accent.
The girls looked blue, the blue stick became one arm of a man with light blue skin.
Like, now THAT'S weird. Shaggy thought to himself.
"Little girl, little boy and little dogs," the man added, taking a bite of the dark red blob.
"Circus? Uh...I brought this for you," Coraline said, holding out the mail.
The man's face lit up. He dropped the dark red blob he'd been eating a beet and swung forward to snatch the packages from the girls. Coraline grimaced as he clutched the packages tightly and sniffed them earnestly. He sighed with pleasure.
"Mmm, novye syra."
Neither the kids nor puppies had ever studied Russian.
"Ruh?" Scooby asked.
"New cheese samples?" the man translated. Letting the packages fall to the deck, he braced himself on the railing and vaulted over the kids and puppies heads with a grunt. They scurried forward to avoid being hit. The man straightened his back. Clasping his hands, he stretched his arms out in front of him, cracking his knuckles. He then lifted one leg straight over his head, leaned forward, picked up a package, and held in Courage's face. He wrinkled his nose and tried not to breathe.
"Very clever, using dis mix-up to sneak my home and peek at myshkas!" he said angrily.
"Myshkas?" Shaggy asked.
"De mice!" the man exclaimed as he straightened up, dropped the package, and jerked one thumb over his shoulder towards the apartment. He vaulted back over to the railing, landing on his hands with his legs in a split, and the kids and puppies jumped back toward the door.
"Oh," Coraline said, "Sorry. "I'm Coraline Jones..." she offered hopefully.
"And I'm Norville Rogers, but you like can call me Shaggy. And these are Scooby-Doo and Courage," Shaggy introduced.
"And I—" the man moved so he was parallel to the railing, gripping it with both hands, his legs in an elegant shape above his head "—am de Amazing Bobinsky!" He balanced on the rail with one hand, his body held out straight. He grinned hugely. His wrist only trembled a little.
The kids and puppies stared at him, he didn't seem to notice.
"But you call me Mr. B." Standing on the railing, he made a B-shape with his body. Both knees were bent, one to the front and one to the side. He had one hand on his hip and the other reached behind his back to grab the bent wrist. He tilted his head to one side. The imitation of a capital B was very accurate, if a bit pointy.
"Because 'Amazing,' I already know," he moved so that he was holding himself up by both arms in front of him with his legs in a split, "That I am," he crossed his legs behind him and pushed off the railing with a grunt, spreading his arms out wide and looking very much like a skydiver as he fell out of sight.
"What the-," Coraline gasped as she, Shaggy, Scooby and Courage rushed to the railing. When they looked over, all they could see was the path below. There was no sign of Mr. B
"Hah!" the kids and puppies spun around to find that the missing man had sprung back onto the deck.
"You see, Shaggy, Scooby-Doo, Courage and Caroline, de problem eez: my new songs go 'OOM-pah, OOM-pah.' " Mr. Bobinski hit his chest with each 'pah,' then hopped across the deck like a mouse and imitated playing a flute. "But de jumping mice play only 'tootle-toot,' like that. It eez nice, but..." He shrugged. "Not so much AMAZING."
The kids and puppies looked at each other.
"So now I svitch to stronger cheese!" he bent down, gathered the packages, and held them up to show the girls. They flinched away from the smell. "And soon...vatch out!" he saluted and turned to leave, but then turned back to the kids and puppies. "Here, have beet." He pulled a beet out of his back pocket and handed it to Coraline, "Make you STRONG."
The kids and puppies looked up at him quizzically.
He kicked the door open with one long leg and smiled, "Do svidaniya, Caroline, Shaggy, Scooby-Doo and Courage," he sprang backward through the door and it shut with a clang of the bell.
The kids and puppies looked at the closed door.
"COR-aline," Coraline muttered.
Scooby devoured the beet out of Coraline's hand.
"Eww! Gross-gusting," Coraline said.
Scooby smiled weakly, "Rorry."
They went back downstairs and proceeded to where they were going when Mr. B called their names.
"Oompah, oompah. Tootle-toot, tootle-toot," Coraline muttered as the kids and puppies walked along the path by the side of the house, and toward the car.
"Hey! Caroline! Shaggy! Scooby-Doo! Courage!"
Shaggy, Scooby, Courage and Coraline looked up. They were right under Mr. B's deck, and he was standing by the railing and waving his arms frantically.
"Podozhdi! VAAAAAIT!" he jumped over the railing and came hurtling down toward them.
"No!" Coraline yelped as she covered her head and crouched down.
Fortunately, Mr. B's legs were long enough that he could simply spread them apart and land OVER the Coraline's head. He lifted one leg and they scurried out from below him. He crouched very low, so that his head was level with the kids and puppies and leaned in.
"The mice ask me to give you message," he said.
"The...jumping mice?" Courage asked warily.
"Dey are saying," Mr. B looked around, making sure no one was watching, and put a hand to the side of his mouth like he was telling a secret "Do not go through leetle door."
Shaggy, Scooby, Courage and Coraline quietly gasped. Those words hit the cowardly trio hard as they thought again about the door. If even little mice are telling them not to go through, it MUST be bad. Coraline didn't see this though.
"Do you know such a ting?" Mr. B asked, looking very confused.
"The one behind the wallpaper?" Coraline questioned, "but...it's all...bricked up."
Mr. B straightened and began to walk toward the front of the house.
"Bah. So sorry, eez nothing, he turned to face them, squatting down in preparation for a jump. "Sometimes the mice are leetle...how to say...mixed-up, hmm?" he pointed one finger of each hand at his hand and twirled them around, then leaped into the air and over the railing.
The kids and puppies watched as he headed up the stairs towards his apartment.
"Dey even get your name wrong, you know? Dey call you 'Coraline' instead of 'Caroline,'" he gestured wildly, "Not 'Caroline' at all! Maybe I work dem too hard."
Mr. B then went back into the apartment, and Shaggy, Scooby, Courage and Coraline went out to the car. Coraline clipped the rope holding a suitcase with her hat, and she put it on.
Courage thought hard about what Mr. B said. "Coraline, if MICE get your name right, that's a sign that they know more than we're letting on about. I'm telling you there's something not right here."
"Don't be such a worry wort Courage," Coraline scoffed. "It's just dreams and they aren't dangerous."
Shaggy chimed in, "Like, the little pink dude has a point Coraline, we really need to be like careful."
"Whatever," Coraline rolled her eyes.
She, Shaggy and the puppies walked down the stairs to the old ladies' apartment. A fine white mist was beginning to creep along the ground and down the stairwell.
They had reached the bottom and stood in front of the door. It was set into a wall made of very rough-hewn grey stones, with an arched doorway. The door itself was not arched, but a normal rectangle, brown with a window in the top half. Above the door, in the space between the lintel and the stone arch, was a light like an old-fashioned lantern.
The curtains on the inside of the window were pulled back and the girls peered inside. The light was too dim to see much of anything, Scooby looked down.
"Rey, look, the doormat says 'Ro whistling in the house," Scooby said, "Rhy would that be?"
Shaggy shrugged, "Like, beats me Scoob," he lifted the knocker and dropped it in surprise. "Drama masks!"
Indeed, the knocker was attached to the door through the mouths of two masks, one happy and one sad.
Coraline rolled her eyes, "Shag, they're ACTRESSES. Duh." She grabbed the knocker and knocked several more times.
They waited, Scooby peered intently through the window.
Scooby yelped and jumped into Shaggy's arms. Several scotty dogs had suddenly jumped up towards the window. They jumped and fell back down and jumped back up and fell back down, barking repeatedly.
Someone with pink hair opened the door. Five scotties tumbled out and encircled the kids and puppies, leaping up and putting their paws against them. Coraline, Shaggy, Scooby and Courage stood back to back, trying to keep away from the dogs.
"Oh, cease your infernal yapping!" the voice was high-pitched and full of vibration: perhaps that was why, surprisingly, the dogs obeyed.
They yipped and instantly stopped jumping and began to circle the kids and puppies, sniffing them.
"Ah, how nice to see you, Caroline. Would you and your friends like to come in? We're playing cards," the voice belonged to a short, fat woman, shorter even than Coraline.
"Still Coraline, Miss Spink," Coraline said, rolling her eyes. She took off her hat, carefully removed her coat, making sure the doll didn't fall out, and put it over her arm.
"Oh, and who's the three?" Spink asked acknowledging Shaggy, Scooby and Courage.
"Oh, these is my friends, Shaggy Rogers and his dogs, Scooby-Doo and Courage," Coraline said.
"Re can speak for ourselves you know," Scooby playfully snapped.
The foyer was curtained with maroon velvet on the left and had a single light bulb on the ceiling.
"Miriam!" Miss Spink trilled through the curtain, putting one hand to her mouth, "Put the kettle on!" she put one hand on her hip and winked at the kids and puppies. Then she moved off through the curtain.
On the wall behind the place where she had stood was a poster. It showed two young women, both had their hands on their hips and looked out at the viewer, and the shorter one was winking. Their outfits were...somewhat risqué. The poster was labeled 'Spink!" and "Forcible!'
Coraline looked at the poster in confusion.
O-ho. Courage thought. They're that kind of actresses.
They followed Miss Spink through the curtain and into a different type of apartment than anything they'd ever seen. There were several square wooden pillars holding the roof up, all wrapped with blue Christmas lights. Myriads of different chairs were scattered haphazardly around the main room. The dogs had run ahead of the three and all piled onto a pink sofa at the far end of the room.
As Miss Spink, Shaggy, Scooby, Courage and Coraline made their way across the room, Miss Forcible came out of the kitchen.
"April, I think I think you're being followed!" Miss Forcible pulled a pair of glasses off her neckline where they'd been clipped and unfolded them, showing that they were on a long stick: they were intended to be held in front of the eyes instead of worn behind the ears.
"It's the new neighbor, Miriam Caroline and her friends," Miss Spink replied.
Shaggy, Scooby, Courage and Coraline waved.
"They'll be having the oolong tea," Miss Spink continued.
"No, no, no, no," Miss Forcible said. "I'm SURE they'd prefer jasmine, she was holding a jar marked 'jasmine' as she spoke.
Miss Spink stopped and glared at Miss Forcible, "No, oolong."
"Ah, jasmine it is, then!" Miss Forcible exclaimed, holding up the jar and shuffling off.
Miss Spink groaned and put one hand to her head. Coraline, Shaggy, Scooby and Courage looked at each other and shrugged.
When they finally got to the sofa, the dogs were still sitting on it. "Come on, boys!" Miss Spink said sternly.
The dogs removed themselves from the sofa, leaving five piles of cards behind. Coraline put her raincoat on the sofa and edged behind the table to sit down. Then the kids and puppies accidentally looked up and gasped.
On each side of the stage, there was a display of scotty dogs. They all wore gold-trimmed white robes, gold wings, gold halos, and some had little harps. Their eyes were sewn shut, and their fur looked uncomfortably natural.
"Rare those dogs…" Scooby began with a shudder.
"…Real?" Courage whimpered.
"Our sweet departed angels," Miss Spink said as she made her way to a chair and sat down, "Couldn't bear to part with them, so we had them stuffed."
Scooby and Courage's eyes got wide in fear and they gripped each other. Shaggy hugged the puppies in assurance, while Coraline recoiled, but Miss Spink didn't notice. "Now, there's Hamish the third, the fourth..."
Miss Forcible came up carrying a tray with two cups of tea, a teapot, and a glass bowl full of candy.
"...the eighth, the ninth, Malcolm the sixth..."
"Oh, go on, have one," Miss Forcible set down the tray in front of the kids and puppies. As they looked at the candy curiously, she added, "It's hand-pulled taffy from Brighton."
"...the second, the fourth, Angus the second..."
"Best in the world," Miss Forcible struck a modeling pose and walked off.
"...the fifth, the seventh, Duncan the eighth..."
Scooby went to take a piece, but when he lifted one the whole bowl lifted too. He shook his paw, hoping that the candy would come off. It didn't.
"...the third, the ninth, yes..."
"Here, Scoob, like, I'll hold the bowl and you grab the candy and we'll push off each other," Shaggy suggested, taking the bowl.
"...the fourth, I'm right...and Jock Jr., Jock Sr..."
They pulled as hard as they could, but unfortunately their hands slipped and the whole thing flew up in the air. The candy stuck to a large pipe above the kids and puppies' heads, effectively holding the bowl up in the air as well.
"...Jock the third, the fourth...oh! And that's Jock's second cousin thrice removed."
Shaggy and Scooby sat up.
"I'll read them, if you like," Miss Spink said, leaning in and startling Shaggy and Scooby.
"Read what?" Coraline asked.
Miss Spink settled a purple hat on her head. It had a point that came down between her eyes, and on the front was an eye. Behind the eye a floppy blue feather stuck up, "Oh, your tea leaves, dear. They'll tell me your future. Drink up, then, go on."
Coraline picked up a teacup and began to drink.
"No, not all of it, not all of it!"
She slowed down her drinking.
"That's right, now hand it over," Miss Spink said.
Coraline carefully handed over her cup. Miss Spink swirled it a few times and looked in.
"Oh... Caroline, Caroline, Caroline, you and your friends are in terrible danger," she said looking up to Coraline.
Terrible danger!? Courage thought, feeling a chill running up and down in his spine.
Shaggy, Scooby and Courage didn't like the sound of that. The three realized...that's the second person...well living thing to tell them something along the lines of they were in danger.
"Oh, give me that cup, April, your eyes are going!" Miss Forcible snatched the hat off Miss Spink's head and began to slowly and carefully bring it up toward her own head.
"MY eyes? YOU'RE blind as a bat!" Miss Spink grabbed the hat back. She held the cup up for Miss Forcible to peer at through her glasses.
"Oh, now, ummm... not to worry, children, it's good news, there's a tall, handsome beast in your future," Miss Forcible said.
"A WHAT?!/RA WHAT!?" Shaggy, Scooby, Courage and Coraline said at the same time.
"Miriam, really! You're holding it wrong," Miss Spink turned the cup so Miss Forcible could see what she meant. "See? Danger!"
Shaggy gulped, "Like, what do you see?"
Miss Spink said, "I see a very peculiar hand..."
"I see a giraffe," Miss Forcible said, twisting the cup back around.
"Giraffes don't just fall from the sky, Miriam," Miss Spink said with annoyance.
Of COURSE, that was the moment the taffy chose to relinquish its hold on the pipe. It fell down and the bowl smashed into little glass shards mixed with pieces of taffy. Coraline, Shaggy, Scooby and Courage fell backwards on the sofa, Miss Spink nearly fell over as she reflexively lifted her walker, Miss Forcible threw her hands up in the air and lost hold of the teacup, which crashed to the floor behind her, and the dogs all jumped and barked.
Shaggy smiled as he said, "But like, I guess one-hundred year old candy does."
Everyone laughed at Shaggy's comment.
Coraline looked down at the remains of the taffy bowl, "Well," she asked, "What should I do?"
"Never wear green in your dressing room," Miss Spink said, edging in front of Miss Forcible.
"Acquire a very tall stepladder," said Miss Forcible, edging in front of Miss Spink.
"And be very, very careful," Miss Spink said, pushing Miss Forcible to the side. Miss Forcible turned and knocked Miss Spink over with her bust, then smiled and fiddled with her hair as though she was the star of the show.
Miss Spink got to her feet, looking rather angry, but it soon faded. "Now, was there something you came to tell us?" Both actresses leaned in.
Shaggy, Scooby Courage and Coraline looked at each other and reconsidered their purpose.
"No, guess not," Coraline sighed, standing up.
"Thank for the tea, though," Courage added as Shaggy picked up her coat and hat and walked toward the door. The dogs quickly hopped back onto the sofa.
"Toodle-oo," said Miss Forcible.
"Cheery-bye," Miss Spink added after them.
As the girls went through the curtain, they heard Miss Forcible ask, "Do you have any nice Queens for mummy?"
One of the dogs yipped sadly.
Shaggy closed the door behind them, and he and Scooby, Courage and Coraline walked up the stairs.
"Danger?" Coraline said, puzzled.
"FWI Roarline, that's the second person to tell us something is endangering us," Scooby replied in a serious manner.
"Like, that Bobinsky dude said the mice told us not to go through the little door, and Spink and Forcible told us we're in danger," Shaggy chimed in.
"Yeah, we're telling you, something's up with that door," Courage concurred.
The mist from before was now thick all over and reached to Coraline's waist. It was like sinking halfway into a cloud with each step, but without the feeling of getting stuck.
They had just turned left around the corner and towards the front steps when Coraline stopped. She cocked her head to one side and frowned, "Did you hear that?"
"Rear what?" Scooby asked, stopping also.
"Hmm," Coraline thought a moment, then smirked, "Just follow my lead." She turned around and began walking back the way they had come.
"The car?" Shaggy quipped, raising one eyebrow.
"Just come on."
Shaggy, Scooby and Courage looked at one another shrugged and followed their friend as Coraline flounced along pretending to be completely oblivious. The kids and puppies passed the entrance to the ladies' apartment and jumped down the steps in two bounds, past a dead tree that had fallen down. After a few more paces, Coraline sneaked a look behind her.
"Great, the village stalker!" Coraline yelled frowning fiercely at Wybie. One of the microscope lenses on his mask had been replaced with a long S-shaped tube that acted as a periscope. Said mask was now in Coraline's hand, and Wybie looked very uncomfortable. She punched him in the arm.
"Ow!" Wybie jumped away, rubbing the spot she'd hit.
"Like, how'd you know he was there?" Shaggy asked curiously.
"I heard the clicky of his thingamajig when he rotated it," Coraline said, smirking, "I have very good ears."
"Ow! I-I wasn't stalking you!" Wybie protested, "We're hunting banana slugs."
"Ranana slugs?" Scooby asked, "Ruck!"
"Um, I don't think it's that kind of bananas Scoob," Courage corrected him.
"Who's 'we'?" Coraline demanded.
Part of Wybie's coat began to move in a lumpy fashion. The lump skittered up to his neckline and the black cat the kids and puppies had met two days earlier poked its head out. It then climbed out of the boy's jacket and curled around his shoulders.
"Ha!" Coraline said, laughing," "Your cat's not wild, he's a wuss-puss!"
The cat arched its back and hissed at her.
"What?" Wybie said, annoyed, "He hates to get his feet wet. Geez." He walked around the kids and puppies, snatching his mask back from Coraline and putting it on.
Coraline crossed her arms and looked up and away, "Wuss-puss," she whispered in a sing-song tone.
Shaggy, Scooby and Courage frowned at their friend as the cat looked sharply at Coraline.
Wybie put his mask on and rotated it so the tube was pointed toward the ground, he then pulled a pair of tongs with concave ends out of his pocket and clicked them together. He put his head down so he could look through the mist and began to walk around hunched over, the cat sat straight up on his back.
Coraline crossed her arms, "So, that doll. Did YOU make it look like me?"
Courage rolled his eyes, that creepy doll again.
Wybie had put his helmet on again and was looking for slugs, "Oh no I found it that way. It's older than Grandma, old as this house probably," he said, still looking for slugs.
Coraline raised an eyebrow, before pointing to herself, "C'mom, blue hair, my swampers and raincoat?"
"Like, yeah, doesn't that seem a little creepy?" Shaggy asked with concern.
Wybie wasn't paying attention, "Dang!" he leaped up out of the mist, holding something in his tongs. He pushed back his mask, revealing a huge smile. "Check out SLUGZILLA!" he dramatically held his tongs up rather close to the kids and puppies' faces.
"Get it away from me!" Courage yelped, leaping behind Shaggy.
Coraline crossed her arms, "You're just like them."
Wybie, Scooby and Shaggy looked at the slug, "Huh?/Ruh?" they said in unison.
"I mean my PARENTS," Coraline clarified, shooting a glare at Shaggy and Scooby, "They don't listen to me either."
"Uh-huh," Wybie said, not paying attention, "Do you mind?" He thrust a camera at Coraline.
She reluctantly took it and put it up to her eye.
Wybie then commenced to do a series of silly things with 'Slugzilla.'First, he held it up with the tongs and pretended to take a bite, chewing and making satisfied noises as though he were actually eating it. Next, he held it up to his nose with his fingers and stretched it out as though he REALLY needed to blow his nose.
After that, he held the slug close to the camera, making it look like 'Slugzilla' really was Slugzilla in other words, a slug version of Godzilla and was terrorizing the town, and pretended to be frightened, even to the point of yelling. Finally, he held one arm up to his face and shiftily looked back and forth. He then dropped his arm and leaned in towards the camera, showing that he now sported a slimy, yellow, moving mustache.
"Eww!" Coraline said, laughing. Shaggy and Scooby both giggled as well.
But Courage wasn't paying attention, he couldn't shake off this strange feeling. How could a doll that looks just like Coraline be way older than the Pink Palace? He thought.
Wybie removed the slug from his face and tossed it back behind him, there was a quiet plop as it landed and a small billow of mist sprang up. "You know, I've never been inside the Pink Palace," he took his mask off and tucked it under his right arm.
"You're kidding," Shaggy said, shocked.
"Rever?" Scooby asked.
"Grandma'd KILL me," Wybie responded, turning towards them, "Thinks it's...dangerous or something."
Courage looked back at the house, "Dangerous?" he asked with a frown.
Scooby fake coughed and pointed out, "Reh-hem, third person TODAY to tell us about danger."
The cat watched the three children and two puppies from the roof, as Shaggy, Scooby and Courage looked up to see the cat on the roof.
"Well," Wybie headed toward the front steps, and Coraline followed him. They left trails in the mist which were quickly filled in, "She had a twin sister."
Rin sister? Scooby mentally asked himself.
"So?" Coraline asked.
"When they were kids, Grandma's sister disappeared," the boy continued.
That made Shaggy, Scooby and Courage more freaked out. What caused Wybie's grandma twin sister to disappear out of thin air?
The cat narrowed its eyes as it tracked Coraline and Wybie.
"She says she was stolen," Wybie finished.
The cat's eyes grew wide and it whisked around to hiss at the window to the Coraline's room.
Coraline's doll was sitting on the window seat and leaning against the window definitely NOT where she had left it.
This made Shaggy, Scooby and Courage's hearts hammered. They also see the cat is looking as suspicious as they are, they nodded in understanding that something's up.
"Stolen?" Coraline questioned skeptically, "Well, what do YOUthink?"
"Uh, I-I don't know," he stammered uncomfortably, "Maybe she just...ran away." He pulled his bike upright and mounted it, the cat jumped down off the porch roof to land on the boy's back.
"Wyborne!" the distant shout was accompanied by the sound of a bell being beaten furiously.
Wybie and the cat both looked off into the distance, the boy with a nervous look on his face. He quickly put his mask on, "Look, I-I gotta go."
"Wait a minute!" Coraline cried, but he was already off.
His mask flipped down as he jumped the steps and disappeared in a billow of mist along with the cat.
Shaggy, Scooby and Courage kept staring at the cat. They knew the cat knew something, but what is it?
That cat knows something that we don't. Courage thought.
If only the cat could talk. Then again he didn't need to in order to know that something is up...and Coraline was in danger...possibly dragging the trio down there too...they had to protect her...but from what they wondered...
Well that's all for now. This is Vakarns signing off.