As night became morning, the sun slowly rose among the thick clouds that hung about the Grimwood School. Pushing past the gloom to cast a few rays of daylight to the rooftops. One of these beams of light, happened to awaken the local rooster that had snuck into the property and nested nearby one of the upper floors.
Now it's thought that the rooster mainly crows at dawn or close to it, but they are actually known for crowing a lot throughout the day as well. Enough, that Matches had no patience for the annoying and noisy bird. As soon as the rooster started yelling its lungs out, in the wee a.m.'s... The dragon muttered under his breath as his warm and pleasant sleep was disturbed.
Lightly getting off of the bed, and not to disturb the sleeping form of Fred underneath his paws... Matches made his way across the room and heaved open the nearby window. This was his territory, and he wasn't going to let some feather brained free loader get in his way.
Huffing air in and out, he revved up his inner furnace. Taking a bit to build up enough flames in the early morning. As the color changed across his scales, the heat inside him welled up and grew to a bright intensity. Taking in a deep breath, he readied himself against the roof tiles and took aim. Breathing out with all his might, Matches belched flame across the space between him and the rooster. Roasting the fowl across the backside, ending the annoying crowing with a choke of surprise.
The Rooster sailed out into the forest, fleeing on its meager wings to glide away from the Dragon's wraith. Matches shook a fist one time at the retreating bird, before nodding with approval of defending his territory and stalked back to the bedroom.
"That is one stubborn rooster, isn't it?"
Used to this sort of wake up, Shaggy was quick to hear the noise and associate the sound with dawn coming out. Greeting Matches as he came back in through the window. And while it had been a long time since he had heard that particular wake-up call, it was unique enough that Shaggy's body moved back into his coach days and made it easy to roll out of bed to start the day.
"Morning Shaggy!"
Curling out from in front of Melvin, the smaller Dane stretched his paws out in front of him, and then shifted to give his ear a scratch with a back paw. Lightly jingling his dog tags as his moving paw would occasionally slip past his ear and hit his collar. Trying to reach that one spot that had been itching him that morning. He also was woken up by the familiar sounds and made it easy to get out of bed.
"Morning Scrappy. Ready for a new day?" Shaggy asked, waking up more and giving himself a bit of bounce on his toes. Shaking out his neck and giving a small rotation to his shoulder. Shaking off the sleep and bringing some energy to the rest of him waking up.
"... Did I just hear a chicken getting strangled?"
Grumbled a slightly awake Fred, trying to put the odder sounds together as his brain slowly clicked into place and started the day. Unlike Shaggy, these sounds were unfamiliar and strange. It took a small bit for Fred's mind to recall what had all happened the day before and let him know where he was waking up to. It was a familiar habit that him and the rest of the gang tended to go through, when they found themselves waking up in a new bedroom/hotel room/sleeping area. Having to trace back what had happened recently, to figure out what was going on at the time. And what should be happening next.
"...Is Daphne captured? Do we have to go rescue her?"
Still a bit thrown off from his usual groove, Fred wasn't sure if this was about time that Shaggy and Scooby would have been chased by a monster, or far enough that Daphne fell down a hole, through a bookcase or got captured and had to be found in time for other clues.
"Hiya Fred. Good morning!" Turning to the sound of the new person awake, Scrappy barked a light greeting to him.
"Heh, nothing like that Fred. We are at the Grimwood School, for a reunion remember? Unless Daphne couldn't sleep and like' took a tour in the middle of the night and ended up sitting on some of Miss Grimwoods old inquisition seats... She should be sleeping still." Though thinking about it, Shaggy had to add something to his statement with a laugh.
"I bet the only thing that is capturing Daphne right now, is the blankets on her bed that she tangled herself up in overnight."
Reassured that the girls were probably ok, and seeing Shaggy calm and Scooby still passed out, it wasn't the kind of set up that he had to be immediately worried about. Also Scrappy was there and acting pretty chill overall. So, he was able to slowly get himself awake and process the day before fully. He had at least slept really well. Fred had been concerned about how lumpy the bed had originally felt, but it was surprisingly comfortable. And even contorting around Matches as the dragon had slept by his legs, didn't do as much as he thought for sleeping oddly.
"Yawn... What are we going to be doing today?" Ruffling his own hair, Fred pushed himself out of bed and sat at the edge of bed to search out where he had placed his suitcase to get ready for the day. Wanting to know what sort of clothing he needed to be wearing, if normal or if it was time to break out the nice clothing for the reunion itself.
"Yeah, what are we doing today Shaggy?" Curious to also know, Scrappy added his two cents. He was eager to start the day, but he didn't know what was in store to start getting prepped for.
"I know the new girl students are supposed to be coming probably a bit after breakfast. Maybe before depending. But I think it is going to be pretty chill for now."
Shaggy grabbed a bundle of his own clothing, talking to Fred and Scrappy as he moved to get back into another pair of blue jeans and his red shirt. Changing just around the door of their bathroom, leaving it open slightly to continue talking to the pair.
It was still weird for Fred to see Shaggy without his typical Green shirt and brown bell bottoms. But he didn't look bad in them, and well he did actually wear other clothing besides his normal outfit. It was just far rarer than not. Even his pajama's tended to be in that color scheme. Well, besides his classic green/blue nightshirt and nightcap.
"Oh, they are supposed to come home today, yeah."
Recalling that the new students were supposed to return, it just set Fred's mind trying to picture just exactly what other sorts of monsters they would run into. Even if it was just teenager or younger versions. Though if Matches was a dragon, and he was more like a pet... then were there some monster types that were more animal like, and others more humanoid? It made Fred curious at what the distinction was, and how that might end up. Or if there were two different types, like there might have been more people dragons as well, as ones like Matches.
"Yep, and we might as well help Sibella and the other girls help get ready." Shaggy mentioned, exiting out the door and letting Fred get in to change and take care of his hair. Folding up his pajamas and moved to start waking Scooby up. He had something in mind and was going to need all hands-on deck.
"Hey Scrappy, can you gently wake Melvin, and help him to get ready?" Shaggy asked, working to slowly poke his own Dane into waking up. Not wanting to spook Scooby in case, like Fred, didn't realize where they were. As he didn't wake up to the call of the rooster roasting. He wanted to ease the dog into becoming awake and aware of the room.
"Gotcha Shaggy."
Turning to his own master, he used his big head and nudged the shoulder of Melvin on the cot. Gently pushing on the younger boy's body to try to nudge him awake. Not his preferred method of just jumping on him and tugging the boy to his feet till he moved. But now wasn't the time for that. And also, Scrappy felt a bit bad for dragging Melvin through the fright the day before. Not realizing that he would end up scared by the girls as much as he had.
"Melvin, up and at em Melvin! It's time to wake up. We have some new girls to meet!"
Slowly, the younger boy did stir. His face scrunched as he was being poked by Scrappy, earning a groan in protest. Rolling over to try to get away from the bother, it wasn't until his wrist lightly hit against the metal frame of the unfamiliar cot that he woke up. Locking up his muscles, he tensed in fear for a second as his eyes snapped open. But without his glasses, he couldn't see much besides the blur that was the wall in front of him.
"Shaggy?... Fred?" Squeaked the frightened Melvin, hoping that they would respond and he wasn't just waking up alone with Scrappy. Not that he was unhappy to be with his dog, but what Scrappy thought was a safe environment was different then Melvin's point of view.
"Yeah Melvin?" Called Fred from the bathroom.
"Good morning, did you sleep well?" Added Shaggy, looking over his shoulder.
Relaxing at the sound of their voices, he moved to find where his glasses fell too. Not recalling where he put it the night before. As he eventually found them and placed them on his face to sit up on the cot, he thought about the question.
"I... Actually, didn't sleep too bad. The cot was more comfortable then it looked." Melvin had to admit. He had been forced to sleep on a few cots at family events, and he had slept in worse. So, he couldn't really complain. But the day before was slowly trickling back to his mind.
"... did we really sleep in a monster school?" His voice cracking a tiny bit at the end.
"Yep, though they are really nice girls. And the students should be pretty cool as well. There is nothing to worry about." Shaggy said over his shoulder, still struggling to get Scooby to wake up. But as much as he would just leave Scooby to nap, he needed his help. He needed the dog to be awake to be a part of his idea for the morning.
"Oh brother..." Sighing slightly, Shaggy had no choice but to call upon the sure-fire way to get Scooby out of bed. Moving to his suitcase, Shaggy pushed various clothing out of the way to get to the box he was looking for. Just placing his hand on the box, made it shift and sound out. Earning a sleepy ear to perk up even while Scooby continued to snooze. Like it reacted on automatic, listening out for more of that sound.
Taking the box, Shaggy opened up one end and shook out a few Scooby snacks that he had packed just in case. But it seemed like he was going to need them. Tilting to talk loudly in Scooby's direction, he taunted the Dane in such a way that he knew would get him up and out of bed.
"I think I'll just have an early breakfast with these snacks... here." Tossing the snacks into the air, it arched up and down aiming to land into the open mouth of the scruffy man. But it never landed, as the ruse worked and Scooby shot awake at the sound of his beloved treats. Rocketing him from where he had been curled on the bed, to soaring through the air to snatch the prize from reaching Shaggy's open mouth.
Sliding across the room, he slurped across his face to make sure not even a crumb was lost. Before turning back to Shaggy to greet the morning and his best pal.
"Rum rum... Morning Raggy!"
"Morning Scoob. Sorry for waking you. I just have something I need to have you help me with."
"R'oh?" Padding over, Scooby got closer and sat on his haunches. Tilting his head to the side, curious at what Shaggy was going to need him to do. Ears perking up on top of his head as he awaited to hear what his pal had to say.
"I can use your help as well Scrappy, and you too Matches." Shaggy waved them both over, so he would be able to tell them all his idea he had in mind.
"Velma and Daphne are in the room down the hall, you saw where they were right Scrappy?"
"Yep!"
"Great, I want you to politely wake the two of them up. No jumping on the bed or hauling them out please. Though you might want to wake Velma up first, so she can help you untangle Daphne if she needs it. And once they are ready, it might take a bit, can you bring them to the Ballet room?" He figured it was safer to send Scrappy to wake the girls up, compared to Matches. As better as Velma was doing, Shaggy figured that it would be better for a familiar face to be there. Plus Matches had a slighlty toastier wake up call for those he didn't trust. So it was safer with Scrappy.
"You got it, Shaggy! I'm on it!" Saluting and accepting his mission, Scrappy waited just in case, that Shaggy had anything else to add before he left.
"Matches, can you like' get the other Girls up? In case anyone isn't already awake with the rooster? And bring them up to the room as well, please?" Shaggy politely asked of Matches. He still was a dragon after all. A proud mythical creature that lived at the school. It was more of a request then a demand. Not that Shaggy would really demand much out of anyone in general.
Matches considered the request and then nodded. It was simple enough.
"Oh, and then can you join Scooby in the kitchen? He's going to need your help making some breakfast." Seeing a second nod, Shaggy then turned to Scooby. "The new girls might be coming for breakfast. So, I was thinking of a quick morning exercise with the gang and the girls, and then meet you in the garden for the morning meal. Think you can handle it on your own? I want to see what Winny might have in mind, if she kept up morning calisthenics or what not. But someone has to hold down the fort and man the food. Can you do that, Scooby Doo?"
"Rah rah! Reave r'it to me!" Eager to get started, he grinned and started wiggling in place. Waiting for Shaggy to officially let them go, to get started.
"Alright, you have your jobs... Now let's get to it!" Shaggy tossed a loose hand to his forehead and released the 'hounds' to their own respective jobs. Clattering of nails on the floorboards, and the pitter patter of Match's flippers as well. So, all that was left, was to get the guys ready and off to the upper floor.