Author's note: And now comes my next installment of my Dimension Four series, folks!

As the title suggests, this story is a rewrite of the 2017 Scooby DTV film Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown!, which I considered to be one of the best DTV films since Samurai Sword.

While the DTV film in question is quite good, like any post-2010 DTV film, Shaggy's Showdown! has some flaws that I thought should be addressed. This story will do exactly that, in addition to my incorporating some more country music.

This story takes place after the events of the series finale of SDWAY (Never Fool with a Phantom), as well as after the events of the Scooby comic story Ghost Riders in Disguise, which introduced Shaggy's identical-looking cousin Stetson.

I don't own Scooby-Doo. Hanna-Barbera Productions and Warner Bros. does.

Chapter 1: On the highway and a fright at night

July 22, 1971

It was a hot midsummer night as the Mystery Machine drove down Interstate Highway 15, having had left Los Angeles as it drove through San Bernardino County.

Fred was behind the wheel as usual with Daphne and Velma seated with him on the front row, while at the back sat Shaggy and Scooby, the former with his guitar and wearing a cowboy hat, complete with a green long sleeve shirt, a brown vest, blue jeans, a belt and a pair of casual brown shoes.

In spite of the blistering heat (And the fact that the Mystery Machine doesn't have air conditioning, leaving the gang to resort to keeping the windows rolled down for fresh air, means the van was pretty much just as hot as outside.), Shaggy didn't seem to mind.

Also at the back with Shaggy and Scooby was a gramophone player, and the player is currently playing a disk from Johnny Cash's album With His Hot and Blue Guitar.

At the moment, the disk is on the ninth track playing the hit "I Walk the Line", and Shaggy is playing along with the music with his guitar and singing.

The song began not long after they exited I-15 at Baker and switched onto California State Route 127, where they continued on towards the state line with Nevada, whereupon the highway continues on as Nevada State Route 29.

(History note: This story takes place five years before the 1976 state highway renumbering in Nevada and as such, the present-day Nevada State Route 373 is referred to as its pre-1976 number)

The F note that began the song started as they drove past a road sign indicating "Shoshone: 13 Miles; Death Valley Junction: 40 Miles"

After the first few introductory notes starting with the F note, followed by the drums joining in, then came the long F note played by the cello before Shaggy started to sing.

(Note: Please go onto YouTube and listen to I Walk the Line while reading this part of the story and try to picture Shaggy singing the song. The lines in italics belong to Johnny Cash, not me.)

"I keep a close watch on this heart of mine." Shaggy sang with his lips syncing with Johnny Cash's singing from the gramophone.

During the singing, Fred drove the Mystery Machine over a crack in the road, causing the needle of the gramophone player to jump a bit with the whole sound coming from the speaker sounding like as if Johnny Cash had a hiccup while recording the song.

Undeterred by the "hiccup", Shaggy kept singing.

"Because your mine, I walk the line." He sang.

Scooby then used his drumsticks to hit the nearby pile of pots and pans as if he was part of the band playing the drum in the recording, with the rhythm of him hitting the pots and pans matching the drums in the recording.

"I find it very, very easy to be true." Shaggy continued. "I find myself alone when each day is through."

With the surrounding desert around the highway and the sun setting in the distance, Shaggy's singing along with the gramophone playing I Walk the Line fits the surrounding scenery.

"Because your mine, I walk the line." Shaggy finally concluded after two minutes of singing along.

As the guitar music and the drums fade out, Velma and Daphne clapped their hands.

"That was really groovy, Shag." Daphne remarked as she and Velma clapped their hands.

"Yeah, it sure was." Fred agreed. "And thanks for inviting us all to your cousin Daniel's place at Tumbleweed for their annual rodeo show, Shag."

"Indeed." Velma said. "I suppose it's safe to say you might've lost count on how many cousins you've got working in ranches, huh?"

"Well, technically, Daniel's my third cousin twice-removed." Shaggy clarified. "Not like Stetson, who's my cousin and shares the same paternal grandfather with me, but anyways, the pleasure's mine, gang."

"You mentioned that Scooby has a brother that is living with him." Daphne said.

"Oh yes." Shaggy nodded. "Yabba Doo lives with Daniel and his wife Tawny over at Tumbleweed County."

"So when was the last time you visited Tumbleweed, Shag?" Fred asked.

"That will be this past March Break." Shaggy replied. "It consists of a trip on the City of Los Angeles train operated by Union Pacific to San Bernardino and then a transfer onto the Mojave Express that goes through Tumbleweed. Pops got us the tickets after Scooby learned from Yabba, who lives with Cousin Daniel, that Daniel's getting married so we went there for the wedding on March Break."

"Ah, no wonder you guys were in a rush to head home at the last day of school before March Break." Daphne remarked.

"Yeah." Shaggy nodded. "Packing was quite the nightmare and sometimes Scoob and I will take facing up a ghost than packing at the last minute."

"That should teach you guys to pack your stuff ahead of time before going on a trip." Fred said.

"Oh well." Daphne said. "Hopefully, this should be a break from all that mystery-solving we had, especially with the Ghost Riders we encountered while visiting your Cousin Stetson, Shag."

"Yeah. I certainly hope so." Shaggy nodded in agreement.

There was some murmuring in agreement from the others as the Mystery Machine continued on down the highway.

After reaching Death Valley Junction, the Mystery Machine switched onto State Route 190 before reaching a junction 2 miles in where they then switch onto State Route 329, which completely bypasses the national park's eastern boundary before running through the Mojave Desert along the state line in the northwest direction.

(California State Route 329 is a fictional highway I've made up. There's no actual State Route 329 in California.)

Some minutes went by before they crossed the county boundary between Inyo County and Tumbleweed County, whereupon they passed a road sign saying "Juneberry: 5 Miles; Town of Tumbleweed (County Seat): 15 Miles"

Inyo County and Tumbleweed County can be considered as twin counties, as they were formed out of the territory of the unorganized Coso County in 1866.

The unorganized Coso County's territory ended up splitting into two counties with Tumbleweed County taking up the northern part of the former county, while Inyo County takes up the remaining two-thirds of the territory of the former unorganized county in the south.

"It looks like we're going to be arriving at town soon, gang." Fred announced as they drove past the road sign.

Little did the gang realize what was in store for them at Tumbleweed.

That night, most of the town of Tumbleweed sleeps, knowing full well that they've got a full day of preparations for its annual rodeo festival in the upcoming weekend.

Among the people staying up was Larry Morrison, one of the ranch hands at the Crazy Q Ranch, who was in the process of finishing up some touches to the window frame of his house.

"Larry, are you almost done out there?" His wife called from their bedroom upstairs.

"Yeah, as soon as I'm finished with this window frame, Jen." Larry called back, unaware that at this moment, a shadow started to form on his front porch with a figure approaching him.

Larry then returned to hammering a nail on the window frame as he muttered to no one in particular, "Man, with the rodeo show approaching, the town's buzzing with that old legend on Dapper Jack Rogers' ghost haunting the town again."

He shrugged before continuing, "Oh well, maybe it's just someone spreading that rumour to generate a scare and spook everyone out of town."

He then chuckled at his remark.

"What kind of a fool will spread such a rumour anyways?" Larry said before shaking his head, and it was then that he noticed a shadow forming over him, together with the sound of spurs of cowboy boots clicking, with the sound becoming more pronounced as the steps went.

Feeling uneasy, Larry decided to put down the hammer and turned around, only for his face to go pale when he took shock on what was standing in front of him.

"Jumping jelly beans!" He exclaimed in horror as he came to be face-to-face with the figure in front of him. "It can't be!"

The figure marched towards him menacingly before pulling out his two guns and aimed them forward.

Swiftly, Larry leaped off the porch and raced away just as the figure opened fire, shooting out green flames and carving out a large letter "J" on the outside wall.

"He's back!" Larry screamed as he ran into town. "He's back!"

His running and screaming woke up many of the townsfolk, and each building and house he passed by have their lights turned on with the townsfolk looking outside to see what on earth is going on.

Larry then arrived at the sheriff's office, where he bursted into the building, waking up the sheriff as a result.

"What the blazes is the meaning of bursting into my office at this time of the night, Mr. Morrison?" The sheriff demanded as Larry catches his breath before pointing outside.

"The Ghost of Dapper Jack!" Larry shouted as he pointed outside. "He's back in town, Sheriff Moore!"

"Dapper Jack's ghost?" Sheriff Moore asked before laughing. "Oh, don't be ridiculous! It's simply just the town's old legend on the third sheriff."

"Well, do you honestly think I'll be panting like this if I did not see his ghost, sheriff?" Larry retorted.

Before the sheriff could respond, there were some screams from outside, accompanied by a sinister laughter.

"Oh no." Sheriff Moore gasped. "It can't be!"

"See for yourself, sheriff." Larry said as he gestured towards the door.

Without another word, the sheriff followed Larry out of the door and stepped onto the town's main street.

Sure enough, the Ghost of Dapper Jack Rogers was terrorizing the whole town, shooting green flames and carving carving out large letter "J"s around the town building.

The scene zoomed to the Ghost, where the ghost's resemblance to Shaggy can be seen clearly, other than the fact that the ghost also had a goatee and longer hair.

Seeing the ghost terrifying the townsfolk, Sheriff Moore turned back to the office as he said, "I'm going to mobilize the deputies and raise a posse to put a stop to that racket!"

After returning to his office, Sheriff Moore dialed a phone number and waited.

When the party on the other end answered, Moore barked, "Get me Deputy Dusty and his dog, too!"

First story of 2018, folks! Happy New Year!

Please read and review!