It was evening/nighttime and the family were outside, and were standing next to a wilted flower that Eustace had planted recently.
"...and as we honor the land, may the blessing of the harvest moon fill this lovely plant with life and beauty," Muriel said while closing the book she was reading. "... if possible."
It was the night of the Harvest Moon. And as Shaggy and Scooby are told, the family were supposed to harvest their crops and giving offerings to the Harvest Moon as thanks for a bountiful year and to bless the next one. It is apparently tradition for farmers to do this every year.
But seeing as Eustace is a terrible farmer, if you could even call him a farmer, they have nothing to offer except this one plant he planted a few days ago. But it has wilted and essentially is dead, the family tried to bring it back to life by saying some blessings from an old book but it failed, Courage even tried to ring a bell to help but it didn't.
"Like, I know it's just a plant and all, but it just really pains me to watch it wilt like this," Shaggy said with a frown.
"Roor delicate little flower," Scooby lamented.
"Don't waste your breaths, nothing ever grows here! Nothing ever will!" Eustace yelled, giving up.
"Uncle Eustace, like, two things, okay: one, it's rude to be disrespectful to the deceased!" Shaggy stated, folding his arms.
"Rand two, maybe if you actually try to put in some effort into your farming skills, then this wouldn't even be a problem for us in the first place!" Scooby noted with a frown.
"Ah, what do you know, you're just a stupid dog! Besides, I'm done trying!" Eustace, snapped, making his final decision.
"Oh!" Muriel gasped.
"Rotten soil!" Eustace told her before stomping on the flower. "Let's eat."
Courage placed his head in his paws and shook his head, "That's not the only living thing rotten around here."
"Oh, my," Muriel said sadly as she looked at the flower.
"Do you think this flower will ever bloom again someday, Aunt Muriel?" Shaggy inquired as he kneeled down and tried to recall anything he knew of plants to try and help but came up short.
"Oh, I'm not sure, dear. Unless someone like you, Courage and Scooby care a whole awful lot about mother nature, I'm afraid nothing is ever going to get better for this wee little flower. It's just not," Muriel said as she gave the book to her nephew.
Shaggy, Scooby and Courage look at one another with concern and sympathy. They did everything to help the flower Eustace plant, but it seems there was nothing they could do to save it now.
Shaggy and Scooby were both in the living room, eating popcorn and watching a R rated black-and-white movie on TV. It was called, Angels with Even Filthier Souls.
At that very moment, a lady was entering a room where her husband was waiting…
"Hold it right there!" the man spat.
"It's me Johnny!" the lady insisted.
"I knew it was you!" Johnny shouted, pulling the cigarette out of his mouth, "I could smell you getting off the elevator! You was here was night too, wasn't you?"
Shaggy and Scooby glanced at each other as the lady insisted that was not the case.
"I was singing at the Blue Monkey last night!" the lady insisted.
"Rhe was not!" Scooby remarked, really into the movie "Rhe was smooching with your brother!" He popped a piece of buttery popcorn into his mouth.
"You was here…" Johnny began, "And you were smooching with my brother!"
"That's a dirty rotten lie Johnny!" the lady said hastily, filled with denial.
"Don't give me that!" Johnny argued, "You've been smooching with everybody! Snuffy, Al, Leo, Little Moe with the gimpy leg, Cheeks, Boney Bob, Cliff…I can go on forever baby!"
"You can't argue with the results," Shaggy remarked.
"Rounds like it," Scooby replied as the lady backed away nervously and said, "Rooks like, she been caught."
"Johnny, I'm loving the moon for you!" the lady reassured in desperation.
"Alright I believe you!" Johnny said, "But my Tommy gun don't!" he pulled out a Tommy gun out from under his chair. "Get down on your knees and tell me you love me!"
Shaggy and Scooby once again glanced at each other as the advents, was taking place on the TV.
"Johnny, you're the only duck in my pond!" the lady assured.
"You got to do better than that!" Johnny not having any of it, aiming the Tommy gun.
"If my heart was an ocean…" the lady said, "Linda would have to take 2 airplanes to get across it!"
"Maybe I'm off my hinges…" Johnny said slyly, "But I believe you! That's why I'm going to let you go! I'm going to give you to the count of three, to get your lousy, lying, low down, low-flushing carcass off my floor!" the lady began to back away…
"Oh boy, this is it, Scoob," Shaggy whispered.
"One…two…" Johnny suddenly began firing his Tommy gun.
Shaggy and Scooby both resisted the temptation to cover their eyes at the gruesome sight unfolding in front of them on television.
"Three! Merry Christmas you filthy animal!" he fired a few more gunshots, "And a Happy New Year!" he fired one last gunshot.
Suddenly Shaggy and Scooby heard a loud ghostly male voice. "GET OUT!" it demanded.
Shaggy froze upon hearing a bone-chilling voice, and he turned to glare at Scooby, he must be playing a prank on him. "Scooby, like cut it out!" he snapped.
"Ruh?" Scooby asked, he narrowed his eyes at his best friend.
"GET OUT!" the voice demanded again.
"Scooby quit it," Shaggy said, annoyed.
"Rit's not me," Scooby protested.
Shaggy's eyes began to widen, and his pulse accelerated, pounding in his ears like a giant fist banging against a thick, wooden door, "If it's not you-" he gasped, feeling weak on the legs.
Before Shaggy could finished, entire room essentially came to life, the television started flickering on and off while the lamp did the same, the couches and chairs started moving towards Shaggy and Scooby and then suddenly flew to them.
"RIKES!" Scooby yelped.
Shaggy and Scooby managed to dodge out of the way to avoid getting hit. Getting up from the floor, they both saw that the furniture destroyed the television and also created a hole in the wall.
At that moment, Shaggy and Scooby heard a terrified scream from the kitchen, the scream was unmistakable.
"HELP! HELP!" Muriel screamed in terror.
"AUNT MURIEL!" Shaggy gasped and raced to the kitchen with Scooby right behind him.
Courage was eating the cushion, in the truck when he heard a familiar scream, "HELP! HELP!"
"It's Muriel, she's in trouble!" Courage cried with urgency to himself, he shot himself out of the truck to go and see what the trouble was.
Opening the door, Shaggy and Scooby saw that Muriel was being attacked by fruit and appliances of all things, chills ran up Shaggy and Scooby's spines.
"Zoinks! The food and the appliances are attacking my aunt!" Shaggy screamed.
"Rhe food betray us all!" Scooby trembled, fearfully.
Shaggy, and Scooby ran over to her and tried to get all the food and appliances off but they simply kept throwing them off and attacking Muriel again. Courage saw all of this outside through the window very terrified of what he is seeing. Seeing that his family was in trouble, he tried to opened the window as hard as he could, but it was was shut tight. He went over to the back door, but it was locked. He had to get in there! He had to save his family!
Shaggy and Scooby inside tried to opened the door, but it was locked inside too.
"HELP!/RELP!" Shaggy and Scooby screamed out, in panicked.
Hearing his friends cries he shouted out, "Stand clear guys!" the cowardly pink beagle went away to the truck.
He zoomed into the truck, turned the keys, and drove backwards into the house. The truck crashed through the wall surprising everyone, Courage laughed dizzily from the crash.
"Are you okay, little pink dude?" Shaggy asked as he pulled Courage from the truck.
"Yeah Shaggy, I'm fine," Courage barked, his head was pounding a bit and the world was still spinning a bit. But other than that he was fine.
But a scream brought the cowardly trio's attention back to focus.
"Muriel!" Courage wailed before running over to her.
Courage tried to remove the fruit from her but failed as well, he then gulped before picking up Muriel and putting her in his MOUTH to eat all the food that was covering her before bringing her back out.
Shaggy and Scooby both jumped in amazement.
"Whoa, man! Like, I've never seen someone other than me and my best buddy over here gobbled down delicious food in one big bite!" Shaggy shouted, holding his head in disbelief.
"Ruh, neither did I!" Scooby agreed, as he clasped his paws together.
"Ugh... and you wonder why I don't eat a lot as much as you guys do," Courage said, lying on his back as he felt incredibly and painfully full, rubbing his big belly. He then burped from how much he ate. "Excuse me."
"Row on Earth did this happened anyway?!" Scooby asked alarmed, as he looked around to a messy kitchen.
The family then heard, Eustace scream from upstairs and heard what sounded like waves as well.
"Something tells me we're about to find out..." Courage said, as he heard Eustace scream
"Was that... Uncle Eustace?" Shaggy questioned.
The family were about to go up but stopped when we noticed a leak coming from the ceiling, but the leak soon turned into a waterfall when the ceiling gave way from the weight of the water. A second later, Eustace came down as well along with the bathtub, and a moment after he hit the floor, it gave out from under the family and they fell into the basement.
"Oh, doh," Eustace groaned in pain as he slowly climbed out of the tub.
Shaggy scrambled up and padded over to help his aunt up, "Like, is everybody okay?"
"Do I look okay, you stupid nephew?!" Eustace snapped.
Shaggy ignored him, before gazing his attention to his aunt.
"Oh... oh, my," Muriel said.
"Aunt Muriel, what about you?" Shaggy asked, with eyes full of concern.
"A little wet, but I'm fine. Thank you for your concern, Shaggy," Muriel replied.
Shaggy then rotated his head to Scooby, "Scoob?"
"RI'm alright... I think," Scooby responded, as he shook himself from the water.
Shaggy looked at Courage, "And you ain't hurt either, are you, little pink dude?"
"Oooh," Courage said in a low groan his face wrinkled up in pain, as he slowly stood up.
Turning, Shaggy, Scooby and Courage suddenly couldn't move a muscle, what they saw horrified them. IT WAS A GIANT FLOATING GHOST HEAD. Its eyes were black as night yet the mouth seemed close to that of a real person and not a ghost which freaked them out even more.
Heavy breaths escaped from Shaggy, Scooby and Courage's nostrils, and their pupils shrank from fear.
"ZOINKS!" Shaggy yelled horrified, as he went behind his aunt.
"RIKES!" Scooby shrieked, as he went behind Shaggy in fright.
Courage screamed in horror as he went behind Scooby.
"Would you look at that," Eustace growled.
"It's a floating head," Muriel said with shock.
"Yeah, a really scary-looking one at that," Courage squeaked, he was too frightened to approach the gruesome-looking head. He shivered with terror behind Scooby.
"I was talking about that leaky pipe," Eustace corrected while pointing to the pipe behind the ghost. "Waste of money, got to fix that leaky pipe!"
Despite the danger they were in, Shaggy felt a pang of irritation, "Uncle Eustace, like, there's a spooky ghost head floating right in front of us and all you're worried about is a leaky pipe?!" How could he seriously think about a broken pipe at a time like this!?
"Eh, he doesn't look so scary to me," Eustace shook it off.
"GET OOOOUUUT," the ghost head threatened stopping Eustace in his tracks, and cold shivers of fear ran down Shaggy, Scooby and Courage's spines.
"That's not very polite!" Muriel scolded.
"You didn't let me finish," the ghost countered.
"I'm sorry," Muriel apologized.
"It's time to hit the road," the ghost finished.
"Well, that's not much better," Muriel said crossing her arms, clearly not satisfied with the answer.
"Just who do you think you are head?" Eustace demanded.
Scooby grounded his teeth together, "Rand why exactly are you haunting us for?! Re didn't even do anything wrong!" There was so many other questions he wanted to ask, but he knew he was taking a big risk enough as it is.
"That is where you're wrong. For you see, I'm the Spirit if the Harvest Moon," the ghost answered.
"And I'm a bucket of sardines," Eustace mocked.
"Cut it out, Uncle Eustace! You don't wanna make this ghost dude mad!" Shaggy yelled to his uncle, not wanting to make the ghost even more angry.
"I have come for on this night of the Harvest Moon, when all that grows from the soil is celebrated, and offerings are made, you have nothing," the spirit answered with his voice echoing off at the end.
"Lousy soil," Eustace argued.
"It's not the soil. Because you don't respect your land, you must leave it," the spirit declared.
This caught Courage off guard, "Wow, didn't think a really scary ghost like him could care so much about how we treat our land as much as all of us do," he stated, despite being scared out of his dog mind.
"I ain't leaving nothing," Eustace complained.
"Well... some of us anyways," Courage finished with a deadpan voice, as he give a look to the stubborn old man.
"We've been here almost all our lives, Mr. Ghost-Spirit-Head! We can't just leave," Muriel told the spirit.
"I ain't going nowhere!" Eustace said again bitterly.
Thinking that Eustace is referring to the town they're at Scooby said, "RI thought we were already in Nowhere."
"Then you will suffer the consequences," the spirit warned.
Shaggy, Scooby and Courage's mouths dropped open, their bodies shook with fright, and they stared at the ghostly head with desperate expressions.
"Consequences?!/Ronsequences?!" Shaggy, Scooby and Courage screeched in unison, feeling their hearts lurch.
"You got big ears, but you ain't hearing me! I ain't going nowhere!" Eustace said while crossing his arms.
Shaggy was starting to become desperate and frustrated as he shouted, "Like, you're aren't helping, Uncle Eustace!"
"Please have mercy on us, we're a poor farm family. We'll try harder, we will!" Muriel begged.
Courage stood up straight, shaking his head with a growing expression of fear, "Yes! We swear on our faces if you could just please find it in your ghostly heart to give us another chance, we'll never take our own land for granted ever again!"
"Alright, you have until midnight to grow something and if you can't... well, you were warned," the spirit answered before giving his proposition.
Muriel, Shaggy, Scooby and Courage looked over to the grandfather clock that fell down with them for some reason despite being in the living room, checking the time, they saw that it was ten to midnight.
Shaggy, Scooby and Courage give a gasp of horror, sparking all new terror into the trio. They didn't have much time before midnight.
"But that only gives us only ten minutes," Muriel stated.
"Yeah, man! Like, can't you just give us like an hour or maybe a day or two?!" Shaggy exclaimed panicked, praying for more time.
"By midnight, you either grow, or go," the spirit threatened before using his powers and making the basement doors fly open.
"Blah, blah, blah! I ain't growing and I ain't going!" Eustace declared as he got into the tub again.
"I don't believe you, man! What a stubborn old goat you are!" Muriel scolded Eustace.
"Blah, blah, blah!" Eustace ignore his wife.
"You can't grow a thing and you won't admit it," Muriel scolded.
"You don't know nothing about farming, I'm a farmer. I got a green thumb," Eustace falsely countered.
"Rell, guys, looks like it's up to the three of us... as usual," Scooby said ominously.
"You're no farmer," the spirit interjected causing Eustace to growl in anger.
"Am too!" Eustace growled.
"Are not," the spirit argued.
"Stubborn is what you are!" Muriel pointed out.
"Am not!" Eustace argued, like a 5 year old.
"Are too," the spirit argued back.
Shaggy, Scooby and Courage listened to their arguing, and looked at the clock and realized there's not much time left.
"What are we all still doing standing around here, let's go!" Courage exclaimed in apparent panic.
The cowardly trio then ran out of the basement to the plant. Shaggy, Scooby and Courage came rushing out of the basement and rad directly to the plant.
"Come on! Grow, grow!" Courage yelled as he picked up the plant and started tapping it.
"Like, try giving it some sunlight, man!" Shaggy gasped, as a sudden idea came into his mind.
Courage then pulled out a tanning light and turned it on, hoping to get something from the plant. But after a minute or so it still remained wilted, the three worried friends gave up on that.
"Rit's not working!" Scooby screamed, suddenly he had an idea, "Ruh, how about playing it some beautiful music instead?"
Courage grabbed a violin, and started to play, but to his dismay it didn't work either.
"Nope, that didn't work either, nice tune though," Shaggy commented.
Courage hesitated, thinking quick and hard, an idea flashed into his mind, "Um... wait, how about we try liquid nutrition! After all, plants need water to help them grow, right?" he pointed out, as he attach an IV line to the plant and turned on the machine associated with it. Some fluid started go from the giant bag into the plant.
Shaggy kept staring at the flower as if it were a countdown clock, heart pounding harder than ever in panic, "Come on, any day now..."
Soon the bag emptied and a flatline noise came from the machine.
"We're losing it, dudes!" Shaggy wailed, fear gripped him deep.
Scooby panicked, "Rand we're losing time too!" he cried.
Courage froze, fear was making him stupid, he realized. They needed to get the watering can, not an hospital IV! "I'll go get the watering can!" he decided swiftly as he ran off only to return a second later with the watering can.
Courage desperately tried to use it, only dust came out. The three friends' hearts clenched with horror.
That horrible sense of fear that rolling through Courage was quickly turning into all out terror. "Oh, of all the times this thing had to be empty, it's when we're right in the middle of a haunting hour!" he cried out.
"Like, where the heck are we gonna find water at the very last minute?!" Shaggy yelled.
"RI don't know, I'm all out of ideas!" Scooby exclaimed, his stomach clenching.
"Wait a minute, the leaky pipe!" Courage answered, immediately thinking back to the basement where Eustace complained about the broken pipe.
"Duh, of course! Why didn't we think of that earlier?" Shaggy asked putting a hand to his forehead. He felt a stab of hope.
"Rurry! Re gotta go!" Scooby told his friends urgently as he dug up the plant to take it with them.
Once dug up, Shaggy, Scooby and Courage raced over to the basement steps only to find that they were shut and locked up tight.
"Eeh, the cellar door's shut!" Courage wailed, looking at the cellar doors in horror.
"Rikes! Rellar doors getting closed shut is never a good sign!" Scooby exclaimed fearfully.
"Eustace, it's getting awfully warm in here," the trio heard Muriel inside the basement.
"And I suppose that's my fault too," Eustace asked weakly.
"This is no time to argue, but yes!" Muriel shouted to her husband.
Unfortunately it took the cowardly trio to realized that they recognized the voices this time and were horrified, as Shaggy cried out, "Oh, man! Like, Aunt Muriel and Uncle Eustace are getting broiled alive in there!"
"Rull harder, Rourage! Rull harder!" Scooby yelled to the pink beagle.
"I'm trying, but all the doors are closed shut!" Courage tried to force them open but to his dismay, they did not budge one bit. He tried to opened the back door, but it was locked too. "What do we do, what do we do?!"
"Rait, I got it!" Scooby exclaimed, a sudden idea hitting him, "Remember when those eggplants held us captive in their underground headquarters to prevent us from saving Ruriel back from the time we had a drought?"
"Good thinking, Scoob! Like, we'll just dig our way back into the farmhouse the same way we did the first time!" Shaggy exclaimed in a hopeful grin.
"Well, then we better start digging and fast! There's no time to waste, literally!" Courage yelled.
Scooby handed Shaggy plant, he and Courage started to dig through the ground into the basement, knowing this was their only chance, Shaggy jumped into the hole with him and began to help. After a quick minute, they were inside the basement, Hot air blasted Shaggy, Scooby and Courage in the face, it was like they're in the oven. The heat in there was so intense, it felt as though the basement would burst into flames at any moment.
Shaggy, Scooby and Courage began to sweat heavily from the heat inside the basement, but the three instantly forgot about that when they saw Muriel and Eustace about to faint from the heat.
The temperature was rising and the air was searing hot, the ground burned the trio's skin, they could practically feel their blood boiling inside their veins.
Courage saw that the pipe had melted and the water evaporated leaving behind only sand, because of the heat. He let out a scream of shock. "No, that was our last chance to bring this flower back to life!"
How much heat could the human body or the dog body stand? Shaggy, Scooby and Courage had no idea.
"Now what are we gonna do?! Like, our time is up and we're too late!" Shaggy asked in a panic, sweat coated his forehead and ran down his back.
The blistering heat was getting worse. With each second it grew hotter. Shaggy, Scooby and Courage could practically feel their blood boiling, their skin sizzling, their flesh cooking on their bones.
They wouldn't last long in here, and neither would Muriel and Eustace.
Scooby looked at the old farmer, who was sweating like crazy.
"Raybe not, check out Rustace," Scooby said, pointing with his paw and having noticed Eustace sweating really hard.
"Boy, he's sure sweating like a pig over there," Shaggy noted, sweat beaded on his forehead and he wiped it away.
Courage scanned Eustace, maybe if he put the plant under Eustace… "That's it, I have an idea so crazy that it just might work!" he exclaimed, as he thought of an idea. He felt sweat beading up on his forehead.
It was a crazy idea, and their only idea.
It was getting hotter in the basement, which means they don't have much time left…
Running over to Eustace, Courage placed the plant under his head to allow the sweat to water the plant.
Courage held his breath. Please, work. He thought.
After a few heartbeats and a few drops landing on it, the plant sprung to life.
Shaggy's heart leaped, "We did it!"
"Rhe flower's blooming again!" Scooby exclaimed, wagging his tail.
"Yay!" Courage cheered.
And as soon as the flower bloom, the temperature immediately dropped to normal with the basement doors flying open. And Shaggy, Scooby and Courage knew that as long as they lived, they would never forget the feeling of the cool night air on their roasted skin.
And because the temperature lowered, Muriel and Eustace were able to snap to focus again and stand up.
Shaggy rushed up to his relatives' sides, "Aunt Muriel, Uncle Eustace, thank goodness you two haven't passed out yet! Like, you both gotta see this!"
"Huh? What is that?" Eustace asked spotting the plant.
"It's your plant, Eustace! It's alive!" Muriel answered, seemingly happy that everything is returning to normal.
"Did I do that?" Eustace asked.
"Rell, exactly, w-" Scooby began, before being elbow by Courage.
"Mmm-hmm," Courage nodded.
You sure did, Uncle Eustace! I mean after all, it really did took a farmer's blood, sweat and tears to grow this plant, especially your sweat!" Shaggy told his uncle.
"Really? You don't say! Huh, I didn't know I could grow something, that's-that's pretty! I did that?" Eustace asked happily and not in the greedy way.
"You did say you have a green thumb. Isn't that right, boys?" Muriel said.
"Uh-huh!/Yeah, definitely!/RA green thumb!" Shaggy, Scooby and Courage all replied at the same time.
"Uh, yeah. Well... I do. I'm a farmer, you know," Eustace said returning back to his egotistical self.
"For the first time, you are. You have grown more than a plant. Happy planting," the spirit reappeared, announced before disappearing, apparently pleased with the plant.
"What did he mean by that?" Eustace demanded to know.
"I think he meant you grew something inside," Muriel said, to her husband.
"Yeah, a great big hungry hole in me stomach," Eustace confirmed, not getting his wife's words.
"Make that two holes," Shaggy said, as he heard his stomach growl.
"Rhree," Scooby added, as he also heard his stomach growl.
Courage rolled his eyes, but smiled at his hungry friends.
The next morning, Muriel, Shaggy, Scooby and Courage were standing on the porch of the house.
"Well, I guess Eustace really did learned something under the Harvest Moon in his own way," Muriel said as she, and the trio watched Eustace try to sell the plant that saved his life last night.
"...and then I'll grow hundreds of plants, thousands of plants! And I'll be rich, rich, rich!" Eustace greedily told himself. "I got me a green thumb, Muriel! Hee-hee-hee-hee, green, the headlight, money!"
"Guess somethings never change," Courage smirked, as he shook his head.
"Yup, that's my uncle for you," Shaggy rolled his eyes, breaking into a smile.
Rou can say that again!" Scooby agreed. "SCOOBY-DOOBY-BLOOM!"
Well that's all for this chapter, next will be The Sand Whale Strikes. I like to thank schweenieboy and Aartman741999 for the quotes and ideas. Let me guys know in the reviews/comments of what should I do for the future episodes or next chapter. And what Courage should say in future chapters. Until then this is vakarns signing out.
The Sand Whale Strikes Summary: A sand whale arrives at the farmhouse. He mistakes Eustace for his deceased father, Ickett, and demands on giving back his accordion he swindled from him. Eustace tries to explain that his mother, Ma, has it but the sand whale does not believe him. After chasing the family, wrecking the farmhouse in the process, the whale eats Muriel, Eustace, Scooby and Courage, then heads off. Shaggy must convince stubborn old Ma to give the whale back his accordion in order to win his family back.