Scooby-Doo and the Curse of the Dark Witch

Prologue

"To the wedding of Prince Conner! May he and his bride live to be long and prosperous!"  The servants in their quarters did cheers over a bottle of champagne.  It was late at night in the royal palace of Padaladia, and almost all of it's residents were fast asleep.  Some of the staff, however, were doing a little afterparty to the ball where the Crown Prince had just announced his engagement to Megan Morse, an American commoner he had fallen in love with before being adopted into the royal family.

"Isn't it amazing?", Giles Grimm, the royal sorcerer, exclaimed.  "Our future king has at last found his own true love!  All that is left to complete their happily ever after, is the fairytale wedding!"  His brother, Miles, the King's most trusted advisor, polished the blue orb on his staff.  "Yes, considering you-know-who doesn't ruin everything with you-know-what?"

Standing nearby were Sparrow Hood, son of Robin Hood, and Ginger Breadhouse, daughter of the Candy Witch from Hansel & Gretel.  Sparrow's mother, Maid Marian, taught classes on ladylike etiquette and hobbies to the princesses and all the other young ladies of the royal court.  The Candy Witch had never been evil in the first place. Hansel and Gretel had been bratty children who trespassed on her property, ate her house without permission, and then lied about it when she called their parents on them. Luckily, Raven understood Ginger's daughter-of-a-storybook-villain plight. She had even been nice enough to hire the Candy Witch as the royal head chef.

"You-know-who? You-know-what?", Ginger sputtered, confused. "What are you talking about?" "Isn't it obvious?", Sparrow said, leaning in towards her, a devious smile on his face. "They're talking about the Dark Witch and her curse!" Ginger gasped. "Curse? What curse?" Candy Witch looked up from the dishes she was washing and flew to her daughter's side. "Now, now, dearie, don't listen to him.", she said soothingly, giving Sparrow a look. "Whatever you hear about a witch and her curse around here, its only a silly legend."

"Guys?" Everyone looked in the doorway to see six-year-old Princess Mary standing their, in her white muslin nightgown, clutching her baby blanket. "Your Highness? What are you doing in here?", Miles asked softly. "I had a bad dream, so I went to find Mommy and Daddy.", she whimpered. "But I got lost." "Of course ya did!", Sparrow said. "There are more hallways in this place than there is fairytales back in Ever After!"

Ginger walked up to Mary and took her hand. "Oh, don't worry, honey.", she whispered. "We'll walk you back to your room. C'mon, Sparrow." With a wave goodbye to the staff, they began to walk the tiny princess down the halls.

As they walked along, Ginger looked at Sparrow with a curious expression. "Sparrow, about that 'Dark Witch' you mentioned...who is she, and what is it about her curse?" Sparrow shrugged. "Oh, its a long story. Basically, this girl tricked some duke or lord or whatever into falling in love with her, and then she cursed his entire family, saying her ghost would come back to haunt them someday." He shrugged. "Whatever. Your mom's right. Its just a story."

"But Headmaster Grimm—" "You know how superstitious ol' Miles is! Relax, Ging. Like your mom said, its just a silly legend." He led her and Mary down the hall. Suddenly, he noticed thick black smoke steaming all around the floor. "Uh, hey, Ging? I think your mom might be burning something." Ginger looked all around. "No...there's smoke, but there's no smell. And the smoke should fill the whole hall, not just the floor."

Just then, they heard a raspy voice softly chant unfamiliar words. "Who is that? Who's there?" Sparrow took a few steps backwards as he got out his guitar and started playing. "OH NO! You're not gonna SCARE-O, any guy named SPAR-ROW!" Then he noticed the terrified look that Ginger was giving him. Her eyes were wide behind her glasses, and the lower of her magenta lips was trembling. "Uh...Ging?"

She raised a shaking finger to point behind him. Slowly, he turned around to see a menacing figure standing above him. Her skin was so pale, it was a light shade of purple, in contrast to her dried-out, shriveled up lips that were as black as charcoal. Her eyes glowed a blood-red, with dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was all over the place, colored all sorts of shades of black, gray and white, with a black kerchief over her head. She wore a dark black peasant's gown, that swirled all around her with no wind, just like her crazy mess of hair.

She raised her bony white hands with nails so long and sharp, they could double as claws, over her head, and opened her mouth to let out an ear-piercing scream, showing all of her pointed yellow teeth. Sparrow dropped his guitar and yelled out, "THE LEGEND IS REAL!"