Scooby Doo: Monster Menagerie

Chapter 11: The Tournament

For the next few weeks, it seemed as if the whole investigation slowed to a halt. Not that anyone was to blame, of course, but after searching through the town and the school grounds where they were allowed, there weren't a lot of places to look around. For the most part, the group felt as if they had as much information as needed, and all they really had to do was narrow everything down.

This wasn't seen as too bothersome by anyone, however. For the most part, everyone started to enjoy sticking around in the old, spooky school. Everyone was starting to grow on each other, as well as find other activities so that no one was ever bored. The added company of humans was quite nice, in Miss Grimwood's opinion. She never really understood why monster-kind tended to look down on humans in the first place, as well as vice versa. It was clear to see that with time and patience, the two groups could get along quite easily.

It wouldn't surprise anyone that Velma often spent her time reading from a book from one of their many shelves, making herself familiar with some history. From time to time, she'd help the detective with his research, but she would also make sure to spend time with Elsa, who appeared to match her intelligence quite well. The bookworm of Mystery Inc. would want to know more about how Elsa came to be, and the golem girl thankfully didn't mind the curiosity of the human. Freddie would also spend some time with Elsa, mostly due to the fact that she shared his love of building stuff.

It wouldn't take long before he would begin regaling her in a few stories of their past mysteries and how they came to solve them, which of course always ended the same way. Still, it never seemed to bring down the natural energy Freddie had, nor did it ever seem to bore Elsa, who was always eager to learn more about what humans could accomplish. She had to admit, even if they had evil plans, humans could get a lot done if they so wished...

Soon, Freddie would start telling the other girls about these mysteries as well, usually with the help of the other members. These stories often took place at the dinner table, the attention of everyone often drawn to the blond haired leader. Tanis seemed to be the most intrigued in them, always making sure to listen up and pay attention. She always enjoyed stories, and she found herself more and more fascinated with the fact that her human friends always managed to find situations like these and successfully right them. Of course, the other girls found this admirable as well.

When she wasn't studying or having her classes, Tanis often found herself hanging out with one of the humans, finding herself wanting to get to know them better. More often than not, she would hang around Googie, who found herself growing closer to the mummy in a sisterly fashion. The two found the other one really nice and sweet, clearly enjoying each others conversations and company. It wouldn't be unusual to find the two of them sharing facts about the other's culture. Either that or they would be sharing gossip about certain topics that they wouldn't dispel to anyone else.

After having sent her strongly worded letter to her father, it wouldn't take long before Sibella got a response back. Of course, it wouldn't provide her with all the answers she needed, and was very vague as she read it. At most, he apologized about how terrible the race that year went, as well as voicing his understanding to her displeasure of his two hunchback minions. Of course, he'd mention to not bring up this whole situation to her mother, which only made her sigh in frustration. If she wouldn't get answers the easy way, she'd have to wait for his visit when it was open house...

For now, though, Sibella seemed to be in better spirits. She would spend a lot of her time studying, though most certainly wouldn't mind it whenever Winnie, Daphne, or Velma decided to pop in and have 'girl time'. They'd trade stories about what they would go through when they were at home, with both the vampire and the red-head having a similar childhood of being raised by a rather rich family before growing up with friends who helped bring them more 'down-to-Earth'. Daphne often stated how if it weren't for Mystery Incorporated, she'd probably be as stuck up as Dracula himself. Sibella laughed with her, concurring.