There was once a band. Their name was the Mystery Pandas. The Mystery Pandas consisted of a total of five members: Fred, Shaggy, Scooby, Velma, and Daphne. They were traveling across Europe singing anywhere they could in hopes to get their name out into the public and catch their lucky break. One day, while playing on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris, France, they were approached by an older man.
The man said, "Hello, my name is King Manavarious. The sound of your band is amazing and I wish nothing more but to have you all play at my upcoming winter ball." The Mystery Pandas were extremely excited to have caught what appeared to be their first big chance at stardom. King Manavarious was known for having extravagant parties, which many well connected individuals attended. They created a playlist of appropriate songs for the ball and immediately began practicing. Fred, the leader of the group, replied, "Nothing would please us more."
They got down twenty songs of their best songs, which they would be playing throughout the entirety of the night in hopes to get their name out into the world. Once they arrived at the ball, everything was exactly as extravagant as they had imagined. They finished playing all the songs they had prepared, and everyone in attendance loved them. They loved them so much that the king wished to hire them as the royal band. They had finally caught their big break. This was until the king's son, Duy, walked over to his father and spoke horrid lies about who the Pandas really were.
"That they are con artists. They play on the streets until they get invited to play at a house party by a wealthy individual. Once they get the invitation they play twenty of their most beautiful songs and steal whatever they can get their hands on. If they are invited back as the royal band they will steal everything from the palace."
After this, Duy advised the king on how to handle this situation. He told him to tell the Pandas that he would build a castle for them in the outreaches of the mountains on an island, Spooky Island, but there would be no castle. This would cause them to become lost and die out in the wilderness on an island with no escape.
Duy was only lying because he had dreams of becoming a famous singer, but his dad always found other musical talent to be superior to his own. His father always believed him over anything else. He was the most precious thing in the King's life. Duy would always get rid of singers that his father found interest in, but in the case of the Pandas, they were to become the royal band. If they went missing King Manavarious would send an army in search for them. This led to Duy's devious plan. The king then sent the Pandas out on their journey to search for their castle. Duy's plan worked perfectly. The Pandas disappeared.
But one day, years after they had vanished into the mountains, they reappeared. But they were somehow different. Each one seemed like they had spent an eternity in the depths of hell. Their faces were blank and their minds blanker. Nobody is quite sure what happened to them, or how they survived in the mountains for that long. But one thing is for certain. They were not the same people that had left the city years ago.
Author's Note:
This story is based off The Scooby Doo Movie, where the Scooby gang is invited to a theme park island to solve a mystery. They end up in a supernatural issue where there are soul-sucking creatures. They steal part of your soul to power a single being. They also burn in the sun.
The original story is about how the son of King Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana, deceives his father into thinking that the Pandavas, Duryodhana's cousins, tricked him and thus should send them to a castle that is built to burn to the ground with the Pandavas in it. I used the same basic concept, but changed the burning castle to a mystery in the mountains on an island causing the Pandas to lose their souls, similar to the plot of the Scooby Doo movie and what happened to the teenagers on Spooky Island. The king represents the ignorant island owner who invited the Scooby gang to the island to solve the mystery there. Duy represents Scrappy Doo who wants nothing more than the Scooby gang to die. He was the one who originally asked them to come to the island by kidnapping the owner and dressing as him. This is similar to how Duy tricked his father into sending them away. Although the reader can believe whatever they wish about what took place on that island or how they returned, but it's similar to the plot of the Scooby Doo movie. The reason the island is covered in mist is to block the sun out for the creatures to live. The sun burns them and they cannot live in the light.
Bibliography: Duryodhana's Jealousy Author: C.A. Kincaid
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