"We're back!" the voices of Dracula, Crunch and Brunch hissed in tandem.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed. He couldn't believe his eyes or ears, as he glanced towards the window and saw the hideous faces of his former tormentors. After everything he, Googie, Scooby and Scrappy had been through, this did not even seem like it could be happening.

"We need to get out of here!" Googie instructed the others.

"Ri'll recond rhat!" Scooby nodded in agreement.

"Quick, get to the car!" Scrappy suggested.

Dracula and his two fiends noticed that Shaggy, Googie, Scrappy and Scooby were all retreating to the garage.

"Quick Hunch Bunch, stop them!" Dracula commanded from outside the window.

Without looking back, Shaggy raced through the living room and kitchen, both of which had been left in a state of dishevelment from the evening's snacks. Scooby flung open the door leading to the garage, as he and Scrappy piled into the backseat of Shaggy's trusty red racing vehicle, the Double Dyno Turbo Blaster. The red car had large elevated wheels in the back, complemented by smaller wheels on the front. Googie was quick to follow the other two, taking the passenger's seat just as her boyfriend jumped into the driver's seat.

"Did you, like, grab the book, Googie?" Shaggy gasped.

"I've got it." Googie confirmed, showing the red fabled book of spells that she held in her hands to her boyfriend.

Shaggy reached up above his head to press the garage door opener, and wasted no time starting the car for a quick getaway.

"Like oh no!" he exclaimed, once the garage door had fully opened, allowing him to see what was going on behind him. The Hunch Bunch were spraying a sticky trail of glue all over the driveway, in an effort to prevent Shaggy and his friends from leaving. Both of them snickered evilly when they saw Shaggy attempting to get out of his driveway.

"Rhat row?" Scooby questioned in panic.

"Guess we'll just have to extend our chances of escaping!" Googie said, as she put her hand on the stick shift and put it into another gear.

"Like, oh yeah!" Shaggy exclaimed, the path to escape becoming much clearer in his mind thanks to his girlfriend's reminder.

As Shaggy and his crew backed up, the vehicle's wheels suddenly pivoted so that the vehicle was driving on the sides of the wheels. This nifty feature thankfully allowed their wheels to bypass the trail of glue that the Hunch Bunch was putting in the driveway.

"No! No! They're escaping again! Hunch Bunch, stop them!" Dracula cried.

"So long, Drac!" Scrappy chuckled, as the car left the driveway and sped down the road.

"I'm glad we escaped…but now that we have, where are we going?" Googie asked.

"Maybe we could hide out at the grocery store? Or maybe the movie theater?" Scrappy recalled. "Maybe even that cliffside where teenagers go to make out…what was it called again? Oh yeah, Snogsbury Point!"

"Like, we already tried all those places before." Shaggy reminded. "They chased us all around town before they caught us and made me a werewolf, remember? I don't want to be a werewolf again! Like, I've only been free of the curse for a couple hours!"

"Shaggy's right." Googie agreed. "If we're going to hide, we're going to need to go somewhere private. Someplace where they wouldn't expect to find us."

"Oh! I know! What about calling Daphne?" Scrappy suggested.

"They, like, followed us all around the world, though! They'll probably find us again in a couple of days!" Shaggy's face clenched in panic.

"We'll only stay there for the night." Googie promised. "It will just give us a place to sleep and think about where we want to hide long-term, before we figure out a plan to stop Dracula once and for all."

"Like, I guess that's a good plan." Shaggy shrugged.

"Yeah, then we'll stop that old bat for good!" Scrappy sassed.

"Ri rope." Scooby whimpered.

It was about a ten minute drive to Daphne's house, although Shaggy had driven so fast that it was more like a five minute drive. He didn't usually drive so recklessly, but he didn't want any chance that Dracula and his goons had followed him. Thank goodness no cops had been around to see him driving so fast.

Daphne's neighborhood was a suburban paradise: each yard was immaculately maintained, and beautiful maple and oak trees were nestled between each of the houses, dropping their vibrant orange and red leaves onto the lawn. Shaggy remembered it well from his brief stint living there with Scooby and Scrappy while they were chasing the thirteen most foul ghosts upon the face of the Earth. As Shaggy pulled up to the front of his red-haired friend's home, he felt a cold chill run down his spine when he remembered an unfortunate detail of the circumstance they were in.

"Wait a minute! Like, Dracula will recognize my car if he drives past here!" Shaggy gasped.

"That's alright! We'll just have to ask Daphne to park in her garage." Scrappy shrugged, as he got out of the car and stretched his paws.

"Well, let's do it quickly. Dracula could drive past here at any moment." Googie urged. Her short red hair swooshed a bit in the evening breeze, as she quickly got out of her boyfriend's car and rushed up the stairs to Daphne's doorstep. Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy were quick to follow Googie up the stairs, not pausing for even a moment after Shaggy had locked the car. Shaggy rang the doorbell, which let out a surprisingly loud ding. His terrified heart pounded with anxiety as he desperately hoped she would answer.

Thankfully, the door was quickly answered by Daphne, who was currently wearing lavender pajamas. She looked to be a bit sleepy.

"Hey guys." the redhead said with a yawn. "What's up?"

"Like, you'll never believe it." Shaggy said, his words sounding both physically and emotionally exhausted.

"Oh…what's going on?" This seemed to get the redhead a bit more alert, as she pushed a stray strand of hair out of her face.

"There's a ghoul chasing us!" Scrappy exclaimed. "We need to hide out at your place for a while!"

"Wait, what?!" Daphne exclaimed. "Slow down…why is a ghoul chasing you? What's going on?"

"It's, like, a long story, but can we please pull our car into your garage? We don't want Dracula to see it." Shaggy asked. "We'll tell you the full story afterwards."

"Yeah…yeah…of course." Daphne said. "Just go through the living room and past the spare bedroom, and open the first door on your right."

"Yeah, like I remember." Shaggy nodded.

"I can go move the car while you fill her in." Googie offered, quickly hurrying through the living room in the direction Daphne pointed her.

"So, what in the world's going on?" Daphne looked quite frazzled by her friend's revelation.

"Well, you see, it's like this…you know how I started racing recently since that teaching job didn't work out?" Shaggy inquired.

"Yeah, I remember that. You said something about how you and Scooby got scared when a bunch of monster students enrolled?" Daphne asked for clarification.

"Yep, that's about the gist of it." Scrappy nodded.

"Like anyway, a couple weeks ago, Dracula came here to Tyler County and captured me, Googie, Scooby and Scrappy! Apparently some old book, like, said I was next in line to be a werewolf!" Shaggy explained. "I don't know if you believe it, but like, it's the truth!"

"Well…it would line up with you saying that your family has that werewolf curse." Daphne nodded. "Why's he back here now, though? Did you escape?"

"I guess…kind of…" Shaggy stuttered, struggling for the words to describe what had happened. "Well, you see, he made me a deal."

"You made a deal with Dracula?" Daphne gasped in disbelief.

"Yeah. He wanted me to drive in some monster race he was having, and he said if I won, he'd turn me back into a human again!" Shaggy described. "Well, I won, but then, Dracula wouldn't honor the deal! So, like, we stole his book and Googie turned me back into a human, but Dracula and his goons, like, followed us home and we had to make a break for it!"

"Wow, that's certainly quite the story!" Daphne took a deep breath.

Shaggy's face sunk for a moment. "Like, you don't believe me."

"Shaggy, we chased thirteen of the most terrifying ghosts upon the face of the Earth together. Of course I believe you!" Daphne promised. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Like, I think it's best if you don't get involved. I already feel bad enough, like, getting my girlfriend, Scooby and Scrappy involved in this." Shaggy hung his head. It really bothered him that he had gotten his girlfriend and two of his best friends in the world involved in something like this. He seemed to have a knack for doing things like that: just because he and Scooby had gotten tricked by two ghosts into opening the Chest of Demons, he roped Daphne, Scrappy and Flim-Flam into a months-long quest to stop the thirteen ghosts from wreaking havoc on the world. These things weren't like the little mysteries he and his friends used to solve together. These monsters were the real deal, and he felt like it was his fault that they were chasing him and his friends.

"Okay. So are you just thinking about laying low here for a couple days?" Daphne questioned, radiating a tone of supportiveness for her frightened friends.

"Rust rhe night." Scooby confirmed.

"We'll find somewhere better to hide once we can get a good night of sleep." Scrappy added.

"Like if that's okay, of course." Shaggy kindly interjected.

"Of course it's okay!" Daphne said. "I've only got one guest bed though, so somebody will have to sleep on the couch or the floor."

"Rhat's fine rith me!" Scooby responded.

"Yeah, I don't mind the floor! Do you have a sleeping bag?" Scrappy inquired.

"There are two in the closet in the guest room." Daphne informed.

"Well, the car's safe in the garage." Googie's voice chimed in, as she headed back towards the others. "Thank you so much for letting us stay here, Daphne. You're the best!"

"Of course!" Daphne warmly exclaimed. "I'm going to head to bed upstairs, but if you need anything, don't hesitate to wake me! I'll make you guys a nice breakfast when you get up in the morning. How does blueberry pancakes sound?"

"Mmm, mmm, mmm!" Shaggy licked his lips in anticipation.

"That sounds amazing, Daphne!" Scrappy exclaimed.

"Reah! Relicious!" Scooby chimed in.

"That's so generous of you, Daphne! We can't thank you enough. We're sorry for the inconvenience of having to put us up." Googie apologized.

"It's no inconvenience at all." Daphne assured. "Besides, who wouldn't help their friend when they were being chased by a mythical vampire from the Dark Ages? Anyway, I hope you guys sleep well. Goodnight."

"Like, goodnight Daph!" Shaggy said, as he headed for the guest room with Scooby, Scrappy and Googie.

Daphne's house was just as Shaggy remembered it: the comfy couch and the set of two small lamps right above it, with various pictures of Daphne with her family adorning the wall. Walking through the halls, he felt the memories of their time capturing the 13 ghosts rush past him. Some of these memories were obviously bad, like nearly getting killed by vengeful specters; however, as odd as it was, there were some good memories couched in with the terrifying ones. Shaggy enjoyed cohabiting with Daphne, Flim-Flam, Scrappy and Scooby for that little while. Despite the horrifying situations they'd found themselves in, he certainly had also had a lot of fun spending that time with his friends.

All of them felt wiped out from the extremely long day of travel they'd had coming back from Transylvania. One was liable to get jet lagged simply flying on a plane for a few hours, so flying back with your car resting on the wing of a plane really took it out of the four of them.

"Like, I'm bushed." Shaggy let out a sigh of exhaustion as he collapsed into bed. The bed was quite simple: it just had white cotton sheets on them, along with a comforter with dark blue stripes. However, this would be more than sufficient for their short stay given they just needed a place to sleep. Shaggy had previously slept in this room when he lived here, although Daphne had apparently repainted the walls from a dull shade of ivory to a vibrant purple.

"We're gonna need a good night of sleep tonight if we're gonna do all that travel tomorrow!" Scrappy exclaimed.

"Rou can ray that again!" Scooby agreed.

"Goodnight, everyone!" Googie added, as she crawled into bed next to Shaggy.

Shaggy could tell Googie drifted off to sleep almost immediately. Her heartbeat began to slow down as he affectionately rested his head near her heart. While it took him a few minutes to get to sleep, he was close behind her in his voyage to the land of nod.

Shaggy was rudely awoken by an ear-piercing crash. As he frantically looked around, he quickly realized the others had also been woken by a loud construction crane crashing through their window. The vehicle was being driven by Crunch, the more dimwitted of the Hunch Bunch.

"Crunch my boy, I told you to quietly open the window so we could grab the werewolf with the crane. I didn't say crash through it!" Brunch scolded.

"Sorry!" Crunch cried out, slurring his 's' sound as he did so.

"Like, they've found us!" Shaggy shouted.

"Ruh-roh!" Scooby gasped in horror.

"We've gotta get outta here!" Scrappy exclaimed.

Hearing the other three's panic, Googie leaped out of bed, and quickly followed the others when she saw they were sprinting towards the garage. It had been a short stay, and Shaggy wondered if Daphne could hear the chaos that was ensuing in the guest room, but he presumed she would figure it out. Sadly, there was no time to alert her. He knew there was only one thing he could do to keep his friends and himself safe: run. So this is exactly what the shaggy-haired young adult did, until he reached the garage and bolted through the door.

"Let's hope the Hunch Bunch hasn't left any more tricky traps for us." Googie worried.

Shaggy quickly pressed the garage door opener affixed to the wall, as he jumped into the car once again with a flying leap. The others quickly piled in too, as Shaggy shifted into drive. He proceeded to floor it down Daphne's street before the Hunch Bunch could attempt to foil their escape once again.

"Looks like they're already planning another one!" Shaggy gulped, as he pointed to the large crane driven by Crunch. The vehicle was headed right for Shaggy's car with the crane extended in the path of his vehicle. If Shaggy continued in the direction he was going, the large crane would scoop up the front of his car for sure.

"Swerve to the left, Shaggy!" Scrappy shouted.

Shaggy did as he was told, causing the car to make a loud squealing sound as his wheels suddenly jolted to bring him into the left lane. Thanks to Crunch's ineptness, the crane pivoted back on itself so that it grabbed Crunch out of the driver's seat.

"Yow!" Crunch cried out in pain, as the crane scooped him out of his seat by the elastic band of his pants.

"Oh no! They're getting avay!" Dracula exclaimed.

"Smooth rove, Raggy!" Scooby complimented.

"Like, thanks Scoob. That was a close one!" Shaggy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where can we go now?" Scrappy asked.

"We've still got six hours until daylight." Googie looked at her watch, which read that it was just a little after midnight. "What about your friend Velma's house?"

"Like, that's not a bad idea, but won't they just be able to find us there again? They didn't seem to, like, have any problem finding us this time." Shaggy asked.

"Velma's house is across town though, and Crunch has bungled up that crane enough where it'll take them a bit to get him out of there." Googie reasoned.

"Like, good point." Shaggy agreed. "We just need some sleep, so, like, we can process where to go next."

"Hopefully we won't be waking Velma up!" Scrappy brought up.

It'd been a fifteen minute drive to get across town over to Velma's house. Although not quite as nice as Daphne's, Velma seemed to live in a decent neighborhood. It was difficult to see the surroundings in the dark, but Shaggy remembered that Velma had specifically mentioned she lived at the end of a boulevard. Through the light his headlights provided, Shaggy was able to see that the road was a dead-end, which alerted him that this was Velma's new house. He quickly slammed on his brakes so as not to plow into the tree ahead.

"Like, sorry guys. This is Velma's house." Shaggy informed.

"Didn't your friend Velma just get back from working at NASA?" Googie asked her boyfriend.

"Like, yeah. She just finished her internship with them and found this house to rent, like, a month ago I think." Shaggy replied, as he got out of the car and walked up the set of three steps leading to her front door. He then proceeded to ring her doorbell.

There was no answer for a minute or so, until a sleepy-eyed Velma came down.

"Oh…hey. Is everything alright?" Velma seemed a bit disturbed.

"Ro it isn't!" Scooby whimpered.

"Like, you can say that again!" Shaggy gulped. "We're being chased and we, like, need a place to hide out for the night!"

"What? Who's chasing you?" Velma looked bewildered. "Is it another carnival owner, because you ate all the peanuts? Or no. Let me guess. You accidentally stepped on a carnival strongman's toe, and now he's got it out for you."

Shaggy blushed a bit at Velma reminding him of these instances. For a period of time, he, Scrappy and Scooby seemed to piss off everyone they met.

"No, like, much worse! Dracula!" Shaggy revealed.

"Oh boy." Velma rolled her eyes. "Shaggy, you've come up with a lot of crazy stories over the years, but this one takes the cake."

"Rake? Rhere?!" Scooby looked around with a delighted look on his face.

"There's no cake, Scoob. I-" Shaggy began, before he was cut off by his girlfriend.

"There's some creep dressed like Dracula chasing us, Velma." Googie lied. "Him and his two goons. I don't know, but I think they might be bank robbers or something. We'll figure it out in the morning, but we just need to stay the night. And pull our car in your garage, if possible. Just so they don't see it."

"Oh…umm…yeah, sure. You guys can stay the night." Velma seemed a bit flustered. "The garage code is 1988. Feel free to open it and put your car in there."

"I'll be right back." Googie said, as Shaggy put the keys in her outstretched hand. She rapidly scurried back towards the garage to enter the code.

"I've got one guest room, but there's not much in it other than sheets on the bed, a comforter, and some pillows. What do you guys need?" Velma inquired.

"Like, that's more than okay, Velma." Shaggy assured, as he and the two dogs stepped into her home.

"Thanks for putting us up on such short notice!" Scrappy appreciated.

"No problem. I'm sorry you're being chased by those creeps. I could call the police, if you need me to." Velma offered.

"Uh…re already rid!" Scooby stuttered out an answer.

"Yeah, but they haven't found the guys yet, so we're hiding out to be safe." Scrappy explained.

"Oh, that makes sense. Hopefully they'll be caught by morning. Anyway, the guest room is the first door on your left past the living room. If you need anything, just holler." Velma informed. "Goodnight!"

"Like, goodnight Velma!" Shaggy waved, as his glasses-clad friend headed upstairs.

"Goodnight!" Scrappy added.

"Roodnight!" Scooby replied.

Whilst he and the dogs walked through the house, Shaggy noticed Velma's home looked quite modest: a red couch, a rocking chair, a few pictures, and a lot of full bookcases adorned the living room. However, he wasn't sure if Velma had planned to purchase more to decorate the house once she'd gotten settled.

Thanks to Velma's clear instructions, Shaggy was easily able to locate the guest room. As he and the dogs went inside, they all observed that the guest room was quite meager. Similar to the guest room in Daphne's home, there was only a bed in the room. The bed was lined with some cheap-looking turquoise sheets and had two pillows on either side. However, the added bonus of this room was a small skylight where you could see the midnight sky and stars above your head.

"Like, why are all of you lying to Velma?" Shaggy wondered, once he was sure Velma was upstairs and out of earshot of the conversation.

"You know how skeptical Velma can be…she's never met any real ghosts like we have." Scrappy pointed out.

"Except for rhe rinn!" Scooby pointed out, referring to Jadall, the evil djinn they'd met during their time with Jeannie and Babu in ancient Persia.

"It was just easier than trying to spend all night convincing her." Googie added as she came back into the room after moving the car. She'd apparently overheard enough of their conversation to know what was being talked about. "By the time we convinced her, Dracula would have been here and nabbed all of us."

"Good thinking." Shaggy nodded, even though he didn't like the notion of having to lie to his friend. He calmed his conscience by telling himself that he'd share the whole story after this nightmare was over. "Like, I'm dead tired."

"Like, she forgot to give me and Uncle Scooby pillows!" Scrappy realized, noticing that there were only two pillows from the bed.

"I can go upstairs and grab them." Shaggy offered, letting out a yawn after he finished his sentence. He was still so tired from all the travel that he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to stay awake.

Hoping to catch Velma before she went to sleep, Shaggy walked quickly across the living room and ascended the stairs. He soon realized that Velma's door was shut, but he still took the risk and knocked on the door softly. He didn't want to wake her if she was in a deep sleep, but he figured that he knocked quietly enough that it wouldn't cause a rude awakening.

"Is that you, Shaggy? What do you need?" Velma called from the room.

Shaggy took this as an invitation to come into the room, and opened the doorknob. He immediately regretted it, as Velma looked a tad flustered when he did.

"Just some pillows for Scooby and Scrappy, if you have any extras." Shaggy responded.

"Oh…there's some extras in the closet outside of that room." Velma replied, her voice striking a frazzled tone.

"Okay, I'll grab some…" Shaggy paused, as to his horror, he saw a large bump move under her covers. It couldn't have been Velma's legs, given the bump was on the other side of the bed from where she was sleeping. "Like….V-v-velma. There's something moving under your covers!"

"Ah, dang. He noticed me." a masculine voice sighed, as the bump began to emerge from the covers. The strangest thing to Shaggy was that the voice seemed oddly familiar. To his shock, Fred emerged from under Velma's bedsheets.

"Fred?!" Shaggy gasped, realizing this likely meant that the two of them were a couple. "You and Velma are together?! Like, when were you going to tell us about this?"

"The answer is simple, Shaggy: we weren't!" Fred exclaimed matter-of-factly, before his tone shifted to being a bit more gruff. "Now goodnight."

Shaggy quickly shut the door after he heard the sound of vigorous kissing ensue.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy gulped, blushing a bit at the accidental revelation he'd just made. He quickly grabbed the pillows and scurried off to bed from there.

Shaggy had drifted off into the peaceful world of sleep, where there were only delicious double-decker clubs and triple scoop tutti frutti ice cream sundaes, without any vampires or creepy henchmen. Although he had hoped to be awakened by the sun's rays alerting him it was morning, he was instead awakened by a frightened Great Dane.

"Raggy! Raggy!" Scooby exclaimed, as he frantically tapped his best buddy on the shoulder.

"Like, what is it, Scoob?" Shaggy groggily muttered.

Scooby pointed up at the skylight above their heads, and much to Shaggy's horror, the Hunch Bunch were climbing on the roof. Brunch appeared to have an ice pick, while Crunch had a pile of rocks. Both of them laughed as they noticed Shaggy and Scooby looking up at them. Shaggy felt a sense of panic wash over him. He couldn't believe that Dracula and the Hunch Bunch continued to find him no matter where he ran.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy shrieked. "Like, everybody up and everybody out! They found us again!"

"Not again!" Scrappy cried.

All of them once again ran out of the room, their feet thudding across the tile floor towards the front door without worrying whether they'd woken Velma or Fred. Once outside, they quickly retreated to the garage, but Shaggy became even more anxious once he got outside and realized an unfortunate inconvenience: he couldn't remember the code. Was it 1983 or 1984? No, it was 1985. Or was it 1987?

"Like, I know this is the worst time in the world to ask a question like this, but does anyone remember the garage code?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes, it was 1988!" Googie replied as she punched the four numbers in, causing the garage door to slowly open. Given he was the shortest, Scrappy was the first one able to get in the garage and climb in the car. As such, he made sure to take the keys from Shaggy and start the vehicle, before hopping in the back seat. The other three quickly joined them as soon as the garage door had gone up enough for them to comfortably run under.

Once everyone was safely in the car, Shaggy prepared to slam on the gas out of Velma's garage.

"Ah-ha!" the voice of Dracula exclaimed, as he jumped behind the car. "So you think you can escape me?"

"Like, we were sure hoping!" Shaggy replied, as he put the pedal to the metal, running over Dracula. He knew it wouldn't kill the vampire, given he'd been run over several times in the Monster Road Rally, but it would at least slow him down.

"Crunch!" Shaggy could hear him whimper after he'd been run over. "Go get him!"

"Alright!" Crunch slobbered. Keeping on brand with his inept demeanor, he wrapped his arms around Brunch instead, holding him with a tight grip.

"Not me, you idiot! Grab that Shaggy fellow!" Brunch snapped, clearly not amused with his coworker's clumsy behavior.

"Oh…sorry!" Crunch apologized.

Thanks to the Hunch Bunch's antics, Shaggy had at least gotten a head start on Dracula and the Hunch Bunch. Due to his cutting of corners (literally speaking, since he was so frightened that didn't stop at any stop signs), he was able to get out of Velma's neighborhood at a quick pace.

"Well, it's 5 o'clock." Googie said, as the moon beamed down onto the watch on her wrist, allowing her to clearly see the time. "Only one hour til the sun rises."

"Where are we going now, Shaggy? Fred's house?" Scrappy asked.

"Like, I don't know if he'll be home." Shaggy gulped, trying not to blush from the embarrassing memory of walking in on he and Velma's smooching session.

"It's 5 in the morning. Why wouldn't he be home?" Scrappy questioned. Shaggy was relieved when Googie jumped in to answer the question so he wouldn't have to.

"Either way, it's not safe to stick around here anymore. Clearly Dracula and the Hunch Bunch are able to find us within a few hours regardless of where we hide. I think we've got to go a long way away…someplace where they'd never think to look for us." Googie suggested. "I have no idea where that'd be, though."

Shaggy racked his brain for a moment before the perfect solution hit him. "I think I've got just the place."

"Rhere, Raggy?" Scooby questioned.

"Like, my uncle's old house." Shaggy said, not elaborating as to what he meant.

"Where does your uncle live, Shaggy?" Googie asked.

"Well, he's not exactly living, although I guess, like, neither are the current inhabitants." Shaggy vaguely said, still processing his plan in his mind.

"You mean…" Scrappy seemed to realize what he meant, but Shaggy instinctively clarified what he meant before the little dog could speak.

"Guys, I think we should go back to my Uncle Beauregard's." Shaggy confirmed.

Author's note:

Thanks so much for clicking on this fanfic, and I hope you've enjoyed what you read thus far. I've always loved cliffhanger endings that really make you think, an example of this being Scooby-Doo Meets Boo Brothers where the real ghost of Shaggy's uncle appears at the end of the film. Given the fake ghost was already caught, this set up the audience to come up with their own interpretation of if the ghosts were real or fake. What makes it even more fascinating, at least to me, is that the appearances of each of the ghosts had some notable inconsistencies throughout. For example, in the Skull Ghost's first appearance, he is a terrifying skeleton that has glowing red eyes, bones can be heard clanking, and he wears a cape. In future appearances, it is quite obviously a man in a bone suit, and he does not have red eyes or wear a cape. In addition, in his second appearance in the bedroom, the ghost of Uncle Beauregard floats directly through the wall on his bike. In other appearances, he seems to be a solid ghost who is able to bump into people without going through them. In the scene with the bridge, the gang is safe when the bridge is cut, but given he was able to float through the wall earlier, Beauregard's ghost should have been able to float over the bridge without an issue. These inconsistencies make the cliffhanger very fascinating and thought-provoking, because it pushes you as a viewer to draw your own conclusions about which appearances were real ghosts, and which were fake.

That being said, it always bothered me that Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf ended on a cliffhanger. With Boo Brothers, the cliffhanger is thought-provoking and adds to the plot. With this film, having Dracula and the Hunch Bunch return to Shaggy's house only to have the movie randomly end with no conclusion does not make any sense. After recently writing a fanfic that provided a conclusion to The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo that stayed more true to the tone of the original series than Scooby-Doo and the Curse of the 13th Ghost, this gave me the idea to write a fanfic concluding Reluctant Werewolf. I had the 13 Ghosts fic be a one-shot, because that's what I felt would fit best with the tone of the original series. However, with this one, I think a ten chapter fanfic fits the story much better, since there was a lot left unresolved.

I tied in quite a bit of Scooby and Scrappy-Doo era lore into this fanfic. As stated in "Happy Birthday, Scooby-Doo" from The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, Velma works at NASA. Since Velma does not work at NASA forever, I thought making her work at NASA be part of a paid internship made more sense. It would be unlikely that she would just quit a job as prestigious as working at NASA just to mystery solve with the gang. With the Fred/Velma stuff, that was more just a joke than anything and you don't have to worry about it appearing again in the story, because it won't.

I also mentioned that Velma had never met a real supernatural creature, other than the djinn, as Scooby points out. Chronologically, I view this as being before any of the post-1988 Scooby media (and if you've read my other fanfics, I think of this as taking place after Scooby-Doo and the 13th Ghost, but before all the others).

Daphne also mentions Shaggy's teaching job, which is a reference to Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School. Her comment about the werewolf curse on Shaggy's family refers to a short from The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show, "Moonlight Madness," which centers around Shaggy visiting his ancestral home, where he discovers a cursed amulet that turns people into werewolves.

My plan is to publish a new chapter every Friday until the completion of the fic. I hope you've enjoyed what you read so far, and as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!