sonderling || mystery incorporated

009 BATTLE OF THE HUMUNGONAUTS

A/N: hey so i think now's a good time to state the obvious. this fanfic had various things changed, but specifically the shaggy/velma romance. this chapter/episode goes into it, things will be changed from how it was in the show. also, hey, if you don't like lesbian velma, uh. sucks because i'm making that real here. another reminder is that eventually this fanfic will start to get darker, not horribly so, but enough that i wanna point it out before it happens. professor pericles in this is a human, that's another thing changed. this has a healthy dose of canon divergence and sticking to the script.

also thanks to everyone that's read so far!! i'm happy people are enjoying what i write.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓ ❔ ┏━━━━━━━━━━━━

Lydia glanced to the back of the Mystery Machine, fingers tapping on her lap. There was an awkward feeling in the air today, Scooby-Doo staring down Velma, like a service dog detecting someone about to go into a panic attack. "It's me, isn't it? I said something that made it awkward." Fred sighed, sitting at the wheel as they drove to the Tiki Tub. There had been some kind of attack, so of course the gang had to show up to see what kind of mystery there was to solve.

"It's not you, Fred." Velma piped up, the van pulling to a stop. "Scooby just overheard something he shouldn't have." She mumbled, sounding defensive as she watched the dog. "Don't blame him, Velm." Shaggy jumped in, petting Scooby-Doo on the head.

Fred just nodded, looking away from the rear view mirror to glance at both Daphne and Lydia, "Welp, here we are!" He tried to change the subject, thumbs tapping on the steering wheel. No one made an attempt to leave. "I guess we should get out." All three sitting in the front turned to fully look back at the three in the back, "Or. . . not?" They watched as Scooby kept a steady, concerned eye on Velma, who was trying to avoid eye contact, shuffling around nervously. They slowly turned to face the front again, "It's a. . . pretty good view from here!" Fred tried to lighten the mood.

Eventually they were able to get out and onto the site, walking around the wreckage that used to be the Tiki Tub. Scooby-Doo sniffed around as the rest of the gang split up to try and find clues amongst the destruction. "This place got absolutely flattened." Lydia spoke as she picked up a tiki mask, staring at it before tossing it over her shoulder. Shaggy poked his head up from behind a pile of wood, probably what used to be the stage. "Oh boy, I'll say!" He nodded, holding up a damaged trumpet, "Flat as a pancake. . . and speaking of pancakes, oh boy!" Scooby had wandered past the two still sniffing, "I sure could go for a big stack covered with clams and syrup at the Clam Cabin, right, Scoob?" Shaggy turned to look towards the pooch, who was now sitting oddly close to Velma.

"Is he okay?" Lydia asked, and Shaggy struggled to come up with an answer as Sheriff Stone approached, "Well, well. . . look what the talking dog dragged in." He mused, hands on his hips as Fred and Daphne joined him. "We're just here to help, Sheriff." Fred sighed, making the sheriff shake his head. "Yeah, help not needed here! No! This was just your normal, everyday nightclub stuff, and so. . . Skedaddle!"

Velma stood up from kneeling on the ground, holding up a pair of tweezers that pinched a tuft of green fur, "From what we've heard, whatever did this was big, green, and hairy." She pointed out, "But definitely not normal."

A large man had appeared, behind him a bulldozer was dumping debris into the back of a dump truck. "I just hope that thing sticks around and does some more stomping!" He grinned. Lydia couldn't tell who that was, though clearly the man was excited about the destruction, "I could use the business!" He added, gripping some blueprints tightly as he laughed evilly before walking away.

Fred turned back to the sheriff, "Got any theories on what kind of beast did this, Sheriff?" He asked. Sheriff Bronson Stone looked around, taking a step away from the group of teens, "Maybe I do. . ." He trailed off, taking another step back, "Maybe I don't. . ." Then he jumped forward, excitedly smiling, "Okay, I do!! Way I see it, the beast can only be a completely new and as-yet undiscovered monster, and as the 'beast discoverer', I have decided to call it a 'humungonaut' from the Latin term for big and hairy space traveler!"