A/N: don't forget to leave a review- good or bad, both help! Leave me any suggestions you have for what you'd like to see in this fanfic and I'll try to incorporate it if I can! Enjoy.
"Bad guys in masks, mechanical claws, magnets… hologram projectors." Daphne said, sighing when she finished. Her elbows touched her knees and she used her hands to hold her head up as she stared at the ground. She was sat between Fred and Velma on a bench in a small town they had pulled into for the day. "Just like the good old days!" Velma said happily. Daphne looked over to her, frowning. "Too much like the good old days. We have a show to film and I need a real ghost, not all the phoneys in masks."
"Does anyone want a beignet?" Fred asked, eating one after the other which was unlike him. This was usually something Shaggy and Scooby would be up to. The girls looked over to him, Velma giggling and Daphne scowling. "What I want is a haunted house. There must be one somewhere in Louisiana."
"There is. I work in it." An unfamiliar voice spoke from a short distance away. The gang looked across to see a dark haired, tanned girl a similar age to themselves walking over. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. I work in a chef in a house on Moonscar Island, a house that really is haunted."
"Jinkies!" By this point, the gang had stood up next to the unnamed, attractive woman.
"My name is Lena. Lena Dupree." Fred immediately held his hand out for Lena to shake, which she accepted.
"I'm Fred Jones, this is Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley." He gestured to the girls in turn.
"Charmed to meet you all."
"Moonscar Island? Where is that?" Daphne asked, huffing and glancing between Lena and Fred who were still looking at each other.
"It's in a bayou not far from here. A pirate named Morgan Moonscar died on the island and his spirit haunts the place to this day." Fred smirked as Lena spoke.
"No offence Lena, but its probably just some guy in an old pirate suit trying to scare off the local kids."
"The ghost is real. If you want to check it out, you're welcome to come by. I understand if you're too scared to go." Lena smirked back, raising an eyebrow at Fred knowing she was teasing.
"Me scared? I don't think so." Daphne couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy as the two spoke to each other. They had only just met and were already teasing each other. "We'll think about it." Daphne bluntly said.
When Lena left to finish off her grocery shopping, the gang including Shaggy and Scooby were discussing their options. "Well what do you think?" Fred asked everyone, returning to his role as team leader. "It's the best we've had all day I suppose." Daphne responded, still bitter.
"And that Lena is kind of cute." Fred said, earning him a glare from Daphne. "I just meant she'd be real photogenic- for our segment."
"Right. Maybe you should wipe your upper lip, Romeo." She laughed, using her thumb to wipe the cream from Fred's lip. He blushed at her touch and wiped over the spot again after she moved her hand away. "Jinkies, listen to this. I punched up Moonscar Island on my phone. There have been strange disappearances on that island for years!" Velma held out her phone for everyone to see.
"Sounds promising." Fred added and Daphne nodded her head in agreement. Shaggy and Scooby had just finished sharing a sandwich covered in hot peppers and were currently throwing water over each other's faces to cool down. "Well guys what do you think?" Velma asked the pair.
"A haunted house? Great, more spooky things to find." Shaggy sighed whilst rolling his eyes.
"Raunted houses ralways have pictures rhat follow rou!" The gang laughed at Scooby and headed to the van. They spotted Lena climbing into her grey truck and she saw them, signalling for them to follow her.
Daphne was driving, which was unusual when on a mystery, but since starting the show with Fred, she had enjoyed being able to drive the van. They were following Lena down a country-like road, surrounded by grass, trees, flowers. The narrow road they were on suddenly got shorter as they approached a small dock. A boat was at the end of the dock afloat, painted white and red with a round, plump man waving at Lena. She drove her car straight onto the boat and stuck her hand out of the car window to signal for the gang to drive on. "Hopefully this is a good place to get some good, spooky footage!" Daphne said, finally getting excited at the thought.
"And some good Cajun cooking!" Shaggy added, rubbing his stomach as if he hadn't eaten for days.
"Rmm hmm." Scooby drooled, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. Daphne drove the mystery machine onto the boat and parked it behind Lena, who had already gotten out of her car.
"Miss Lena, I see you've brought some company eh?" The older man asked when the Fred, Daphne and Velma had joined Lena.
"These folks wanted to see a real haunted house."
"If they want haunted then they came to the right place! I'm Jacques, nice to meet you." He extended his hand for them all to shake. Scooby and Shaggy emerged from the back of the van.
"Oh I didn't know you had a dog." Lena said, hesitantly staring at Scooby who seemed confused.
"Rog? Rhere?"
"Are you allergic to dogs?" Shaggy asked, secretly hoping she was so they didn't have to go to the haunted house.
"No but my employer Ms. Lenoir… she keeps cats."
"Don't worry, Scooby is great with cats. Right?" Daphne asked Shaggy, praying that he agreed.
"Yeah he is."
The boat was gliding through the water at a steady pace. It seemed like some type of swamp they were in the midst of, which excited Daphne and Fred as this is exactly the type of footage they needed for the show. Fred had his camera out so he could film some of it. Shaggy and Scooby were looking over the edge of the boat. "Raggy rook! Ratfish." Scooby said pointing into the water.
"Zoinks, that's one huge catfish."
"That's probably Big Mona, ain't nobody been able to catch her." Jacques informed them, in his thick accent. The catfish suddenly shot water in Scooby's face, making him growl and swipe it with his paws, trying to catch it. Scooby fell into the water on his final attempt to get the fish, and Shaggy who grabbed his collar fell straight in after him. "Ruh roh!" Scooby pointed towards two alligators heading for them.
"Jaques, you have to turn the boat around!" Velma yelled.
"I'm trying but she don't turn on no dime!" Jacques desperately tried to turn the boat around but the alligators were gaining on a swimming Shaggy and Scooby. Suddenly, a tatty old boat pulled up at the side of them, a scary man with long flowing, blonde hair hauled them aboard using a pole with a hook on the end. "I shoulda' let the alligators eat ya, I sure hate tourists!" he said, with an angry undertone.
"Like thanks m-m-mister." Shaggy responded with chattering teeth, Scooby sighing with relief beside him. Jaques boat stopped beside the guys on the old boat.
"Quit your grumbling, Snakebite and hand those fellas' back over here."
"Rats rhat?" Scooby asked pointing at an animal beside Snakebite.
"This here is my hunting pig Mojo. He can smell a catfish a mile away. A lot smarter than any dog too. Now get off my boat!" Snakebite yelled as he ushered Shaggy and Scooby back over to Jacques boat, Fred meeting them to pull them aboard. "Not so friendly is he?"
"Our first suspicious character. Interesting." Velma commented, also coming to meet the pair.
The boat moved for approximately ten minutes longer before Jaques shouted down to the others. "Moonscar Island, dead ahead!" The gang looked on to where Jaques was headed. Like earlier, it was a small dock surrounded by a swamp and lots of tall and old looking trees. Everyone got back into their respective vehicles, Daphne driving again but Fred didn't seem to mind too much. "Give my best to Ms. Lenoir!" Jacques told Lena through the window of her car as she began to reverse off the boat.
"I'll do that! Ready? Follow me and hang on, the road's a little bumpy." Lena waited a second for the gang to reverse behind her. Daphne carefully steered around as many of the potholes as she could, but there were too many, and too many bumps.
The gang were being lunged into the air, back and forth, left and right until they finally approached a huge mansion-like home. It was surrounded by pristine grass and brightly coloured flowers that a man was in the midst of planting. "Well, there's our haunted house." Fred said, having a good look at the home.
"All of a sudden it doesn't look so spooky." Daphne grunted looking at how perfectly maintained the grounds were.
"Wow, Lena wasn't kidding. This place is crawling with cats!" Fred nodded towards at least ten felines stood around the porch and front yard of the house.
"RATS!" Scooby yelled, bolting out of Fred's open window, chasing after the herd of cats. They ran under the decking, some of it lifting up as Scooby was much taller and wider than them. He then ran into the gardener who had just stood up from planting flowers, knocking him heavily back to the ground. "Hey you mutt! I just planted those!" he yelled, shaking his fist as he watched Scooby demolish almost all of his hard work. "SCOOOOBY! Leave the kitties alone!" Daphne screamed hoping he would listen.
"Great with cats huh?" Lena scowled towards Daphne and Shaggy.
"LIKE SCOOBY DOO GET BACK HERE!" Scooby ignored the others and continued his pursuit to chase all the cats. He was running so fast he couldn't hit his own breaks when a short haired woman wearing blue emerged from the house and down the couple of steps in front of the door. One of the cats jumped into her arms but Scooby fell right onto her, knocking her to the ground too. "Ms Lenoir!" Lena screamed whilst running up to the 40 something woman.
"Who brought this… dog?" She asked, getting up to dust herself off and looking at Scooby in disgust. "Rog? Rhere?"
"I'm so sorry, we should've held onto him better. I'm Daphne Blake of Coast to Coast." The woman looked at her with a blank expression. "You know the TV show?" Daphne appeared offended that she didn't recognise her. "We do not have television on my island. Lena what are they doing here?
"Its all my fault, Ms. Lenoir. I heard these folks say they wanted to see a real haunted house, so I thought-"
"So you thought you might show them mine? I see. Really Lena?"
"But your house is simply beautiful Ms. Lenoir!" Daphne interrupted, gazing up at the freshly painted white building.
"Its been in my family for generations. It was a pepper plantation, some of the hottest in Louisiana grow here on this island."
"We've hit the proverbial chili pepper jackpot Scoob!" Shaggy exclaimed, licking his lips.
"Ms. Lenoir, is your house really haunted?" Velma asked, with her notebook and a pen writing bits of information down.
"Please, call me Simone. Yes it is an old house with a restless spirit. You're welcome to look around if you'd like. In fact I'd be most flattered. But you'll have to do something with the… dog." Simone glanced at Scooby at the last part.
"Food keeps him occupied!" Shaggy said hopefully, being hungry after all the swimming.
"If it will keep him from chasing my cats, you're welcome to my kitchen."
"Groovy, come on Scoob." With that, Simone invited everyone inside and pointed the guys into the kitchen to keep Scooby distracted and out of trouble. The others headed to the front room.
"Sorry about all the damage Simone." Daphne said apologetically with an awkward smile.
"Don't worry about it. Beau the gardener will take care of it." Simone smiled back, seemingly calmer than she had been outside when Scooby crashed into her. Simone gestured everyone to take a seat. Fred and Daphne each had their own purple armchair whilst Velma was too busy looking around and admiring the room. Lena entered the room after attending to Shaggy and Scooby and brought a tray with glasses of lemonade. Everyone smiled and took a glass as Simone was discussing with Velma about the island. "Delicious lemonade Lena." Fred commented after taking a sip. Daphne sent him a glare.
"Why thank you Fred."
"So Lena, how long have you worked for-" Daphne was cut off by Shaggy and Scooby's shrieks from the kitchen. "Oh no!" Velma said, joining the gang in their running towards the kitchen.
"That was some hot pepper!" Shaggy said whilst finishing the last drop of milk in the carton he was holding. "R'ill say!" Scooby added, doing the same.
"I wasn't exaggerating when I said they were the hottest peppers in Louisiana." Simone smirked at the two of them, feeling it was some type of karma for chasing her cats. "With all the screaming, we thought you might've seen a ghost." Daphne sounded deflated as she really hoped this would be her chance.
"Well you'll be the first to know if that happens." Shaggy laughed.
"Please, let's continue the tour." Simone said, instantly walking away and leaving Shaggy and Scooby in the kitchen again.