Back In the Habit
Traditional Scooby Caper Novel, my appologies for the length. Gang tries to solve the case of some missing bones, and get's some help from some guests.

It was a dull day in Coolsville. Spring had arrived. Everything seemed to be mellow. For once the gang had not been occupied with a mystery. Having just solved a few hectic mysteries, the gang had felt they just wanted to be home for a bit.

After years of living together in a van most of their youth, settling and owning a house together wasn't much different. Except that a house had a lot more legroom. 

It was on this lazy, happy spring afternoon when the enjoyable silence was interrupted by a knock on the door. Curled up around a good book, Velma found herself the only one in hearing range. After a few light knocks, a louder knock had come. Seeing that no one else had seemed to hear the person at the door, Velma sighed and placed a bookmark in the book and got up. Taking two seconds brush a few wrinkles from her sweatpants, she headed to the door calling out to the person on the other side,

"Alright... All right, I'm coming. No need to bang on the door anymore."

She grabbed for the handle and unlocked the top lock. Once the lock was undone, and the doorknob turned, the door was force open by the thing behind it. Bounding into the house was a large Great Dane. He did not notice he had knocked Velma to the ground by his actions, and continued past the fallen girl. Instead the brown blur disappeared inside the house as Velma groggily got her senses back.

"Are you ok?"

Came an unfamiliar voice. She adjusted her glasses on her nose to look up at the young boy standing awkwardly on the front porch of the house. He looked like he wanted to step inside and help her up, and yet he was also cautious to enter because he had not been invited in. Grabbing onto the handle of the front door, Velma pulled herself to her feet. She looked at the boy again, trying to figure out if she knew the boy. He was standing a bit taller then her, but he looked smaller by his slightly hunched stance. He was wearing a battered pair of glasses, taped on one side where the earpiece wire met the lenses. His black hair was mussed and capped off with a brimmed brown cap. What hair had stuck out from the cap looked messy, as if he had ran most of the way (where ever he had come from) with the Great Dane. He was shifting his weight slightly, in a worried or anxious manner. Occasionally taking glances from the floor or her, to look at where the Great Dane had gone.

"E...Excuse me... But do you mind if I come in?"

He stammered, obviously trying to be polite in the presence of Velma. She shook her head to shut off her detective analysis of the youth and motioned for him to come in.

"Oh, sorry. Come in."

She said politely. He bobbed his head and grabbed a suitcase by his side and stepped into the door. He then stuttered,

"I... I hope you don't mind a dog... He said he would be welcome here."

Velma looked at the boy confused and showed him to the living room where she had been hanging out. She was curious, and voiced her thoughts out loud to him.

"Sorry to seem rude, but who are you and who was the Great Dane? One of Scooby's relatives I would think."

The boy realized he had not introduced himself. He dropped his bag to his side and scooped the hat off his head as he bowed, making his introduction of himself and his Dane.

"Oh... Sorry... How rude of me... My name is Melvin, Melvin Toore. And that was my Great Dane..."

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Bound through the house, the Great Dane in question. He sniffed the air and knew he had to be close. When food was in the air, it was not too hard to guess where his relative was. He skidded to a stop, right before the last door in the hallway. Slowly he came to the door, pausing to listen for anyone inside the room. The voices he heard coming from the kitchen assured him he was in the right spot.

Nosing open the door gently, he saw that the door was a swing door for easy access. Being as quiet as he could, he squeezed himself through the door and snuck behind the two culinary masters at work. He watched and waited for just the right moment. When the time was right, he shouted out from behind them, making Shaggy jump to the ceiling in fright.

"UNCLE SCOOBY! SHAGGY!"

Scooby caught the beatnik in his arms as the spooked Shaggy stammered a reply...

"S...S...Sc"

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"Scrappy?"

Velma gasped, shocked as the boy hung his head from her reaction. He felt bad that his dog had not only knocked over the girl, but she seemed to have a rather shocked attitude when she heard his name.

"He... He convinced me that it would be ok... He said that they wouldn't mind him coming for a visit. I... I... I'm sorry."

The boy stuttered some more, playing with his hat nervously in his hand while he waited for her response. He tried not to look at her, out of fear he did something wrong. Velma shook her head, it had been ages since she had seen the loud puppy, and it was apparent at his large size he wasn't a puppy any longer. Then she noticed how much the boy Melvin seemed to be bashing himself, thinking he and his dog was intruding. She tried to comfort him.

"Oh no no no... I didn't mean it like that. It's just been a while since I had heard anything about him. It's just a shock to see him bound in after all these years...Literally…"

Her conversation was interrupted by another voice entering the room. As the red haired girl came across the two of them, she spoke out.

"What's all this racket? I hear a bang and scampering around the house. Did Shaggy accidentally let another cat in and Scooby is after it? Oh!"

She saw Velma and Melvin and the boy looked quite ashamed. His dog was causing more chaos then he thought. Daphne really didn’t mind, she had just been relaxing upstairs in her room listening to a new CD she had gotten. Giving her hand an unconscious run through her hair to make sure it was intact for visitors, she happily greeted the boy.

"Hello. And who are you?"

"Oh. Daphne meet Melvin Toore. Melvin, this is Daphne Blake. And I'm Velma Dinkley." Velma introduced Daphne to Melvin, and then introduced herself as well since she had forgotten earlier. "Oh and Melvin is Scrappy Doo's owner."

Velma chirped matter of factly. Daphne did a double take. The owner of the rambunctious puppy was a rather shy, twitchy guy. She would have thought that Scrappy's owner might be some more adventurous, athletic type to keep up with the little puppy. But from the sounds created by Scrappy, he wasn't so 'little' anymore.

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"Scrappy!"

Scooby shouted, throwing his paws around his nephew, promptly dropping Shaggy in the process. It had been ages since he had seen him. Puppy no more, Scrappy sat as tall as he was. Though Scrappy was built more then his lanky uncle. He hugged him back just the same.

"Hiya Uncle Scooby. Hiya Shaggy. Long time no see!"

Scrappy greeted his old friends. He really missed them, and was happy he was able to convince Melvin to come here. And if all went well, maybe he'll be able to go on another mystery with them. Knowing that the gang rarely was not on an adventure, or one would seem to pop up when they weren’t playing any attention. They always seemed to draw the mysteries to them. Shaggy picked himself off the ground where Scooby dumped him and addressed Scrappy while dusting off his pants from the floor. Not seeming to matter much that Scooby had deposited him on the ground.

"Like, What are you doing here man? Not that I'm not happy to see you, but Zoinks, it's been ages."

Shaggy commented as he walked over to Scrappy, petting him on the head. Being a dog person, he knew just where to pet the younger Dane to make his foot start tapping the floor in rapid secession as he tried to talk.

"I was able... no left left... there... I was able to convince my owner to bring me over. And well... Oooooo a bit lower... And Here I am."

Scrappy leaned into the scratching as his foot thumped the ground harder telling Shaggy he had the perfect spot. Scooby looked over at Scrappy and nodded, then spoke to his human counterpart.

"Raggy, Re roing ro rave Rappy r'and ris rowner ror runch!"

Scooby stated with a determined nod. Shaggy stopped scratching and thought it over. He placed his hand to his scruffy chin and played with part of his goatee as the ideas tumbled around in his head. Then a grin formed on his face.

"Like, good idea Scoob. What better way to catch up on old times and meet Scrappy's owner but over food. Perfect. No one can turn down a free meal!"

Shaggy clapped his hands together at the end of his sentence, in an act of a well thought decision. Scrappy liked the idea. They had not eaten very much, since Scrappy was to concerned to getting here rather then making sure they stayed fed. And it wasn't fair to his boy Melvin to not eat. Plus he happened to be hungry too. So he piped up in response.

"Sounds like a great idea uncle Scooby. Why don't I help you set up?"

Scrappy offered his paw to help. Shaggy nodded. He grinned inwardly, if felt nice seeing Scooby's nephew again. Scrappy always liked to help out. And there was no trouble, so he didn't have to be worried about the younger Dane getting his nose into it. Home was the only place he felt safe in.

"Thanks Scrappy. That goes there. And Scooby, that is going over on that area."

Shaggy directed the Danes a bit in the kitchen. After a bit of organizing and setting up, Shaggy saw that Scrappy was finding his way around well enough that he washed off his hands to get the rest of the gang.

"You guys put the finishing touches on it. I'm going to do get the rest of the gang and your owner and we can then dig in."

Shaggy took off his apron he was wearing and handed it to Scooby who placed it on himself and took over directing Scrappy. Smartly, he saluted Shaggy as he started to leave. Making sure to keep the ‘pup’ on track.

"R'ok Raggy..."

Scooby dismissed Shaggy and went to pointing of the final placements of the table. Shaggy watched for two seconds before he pushed open the door and headed to get everyone else.

”Like…. This is going to be great!”

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Coming upon the girls talking with Melvin, he spoke to get their attention.

"Like, come on gang. Food's a ready and I'm starved! Ahahaha..."

Shaggy laughed at his own words and motioned the guys in the living to follow him. Daphne looked over from their conversation at Shaggy then turned to shrug at Velma. She then in turn shrugged back and took up the pace. Daphne watched Velma start to walk by when she noticed Melvin hadn't moved. She motioned for him to follow. The boy looked at her and pointed to himself confused. As if by cue, his stomach launched a groan of complaint from the depths of the boy that made his face grow red with embarrassment. Daphne sighed and went back for the boy, grabbing him by the wrist she pulled him after her to the kitchen. Velma had stopped to watch the scene in amusement, she tried to not let show as she took up the rear on their little train of people to the kitchen.

Melvin, once captured didn't struggle. He was hungry. Though he was more embarrassed now that his stomach had done that in front of the two ladies he just met and was talking to. But the lanky boy that showed up seemed to be one of the people that Scrappy talked about more. Sure Daphne, Velma and a guy named Fred had been mentioned before, but Shaggy and Scooby were the two he heard about the most.

Melvin was too lost in his thoughts to pay much attention to the hallway that Daphne was dragging him through, but the kitchen did get his full attention. Maybe it was the fact that it mostly painted a nice cheery pale yellow color. Or maybe it was the pure size of it.  Since you could park the Mystery Inc van inside the main cooking area, had the tables and oven not been there. Or the fact that it was more suited to serve a 5 star restaurant... But however you looked at it, the kitchen was quite a site. He remembered looking at the house on the outside; it didn't look like it could fit something of this grandeur. His attention also didn't miss the comical look of Scooby in Shaggy's Apron on, "Don't Forget To Feed the cook". Scooby did a flourished bow and let his paw gesture to the meal set up.

"Runch ris rerved"

Melvin was paying to much attention to everything else; he didn't notice where Daphne had dragged him to till a plate was placed in his hands.

"Here."

Daphne offered the plate and waited for him to take it. In all of his observations of the kitchen, he had missed the actual meal served. He was standing behind Daphne and in front of Velma in some sort of line. He leaned to his left and found himself looking at a bunch of tables pulled together to house all the various food that had been set up. It was a buffet, serving spoons and everything.

"I had forgotten it was Buffet Wednesday." Velma said with a chipper tone to her voice. Giddy at the prospect of the variety of food they were being presented. Choices were always nice to have.

"W...Wednesday? You mean this amount of food happens weekly?" Stammered the boy. Velma gave him a nod.

"This amount of food happens each meal... Wither we get access to it is another matter all together. But since Shaggy likes making so many dishes on a regular basis, we thought making one day of the week to making dishes for the rest of us was a good opportunity for him. Just... A warning. Unless you have a strong stomach, don't touch anything on that last table down at the end."

Velma pointed to the end of the table. Melvin leaned again and didn't notice anything particularly odd about the meals on that particular table. He wondered what was so bad.

"Why shouldn't I touch it?" He asked as he moved down the table picking up foods that looked good and that he wanted to try. He didn't notice how much he was stacking. But he was hungry enough to eat it all.

"That's Shaggy's experiment table. If the ingredients don't explode on contact, then you can bet those odd combinations are down there."

Daphne grimaced at the memory of last weeks main dish. Liver and Linguini it was. Though the Tofu toast and cream cheese wasn't as bad as it looked. Velma's face reflected similar thoughts. Melvin looked at the two older girls and decided to take their word for it. His stomach was hungry, not desperate. Normal food was fine.

They got off the line, plates full and sat at the dinning room table. Scrappy was glued to the hip to his uncle Scooby, ringing him and Shaggy for stories of their recent exploits. They were not sitting there at the table for more then five minutes, before Daphne made an observation.

"Where's Freddy?"

Velma shook her head, Melvin just kind of looked up from eating behind the mound of food he was politely attacking. Shaggy also looked up from his meal and swallowed to answer her question, unless he wanted to be sharing his meal with everyone at the table.

"I went up and knocked on his door. I heard shuffling of papers before he said I could come in... He said he would be working on something and he would, be down in a minute."

Just as Shaggy finished his sentence, the person in question came running rather hurried into the dinning room. He stood panting for a bit as the swinging door took its time settling back in place as Fred caught his breath.

"Gang... I just got a call..." Fred noticed he had something in his hand and quickly pocketed it before he continued. Having caught his breath, he straightened up about to continue before Shaggy stood up and stopped him.

"Whoa whoa there Freddy. Take it like' easy man. Grab some food, and take a seat and explain what's going on. We're going to let the guests finish eating before we do anything else. They’re like, hungry man."

"Guests?"

Fred confusedly murmured before he noticed Scrappy and Melvin sitting at the table. He didn't know Melvin, he looked like he could be a friend of Shaggy's, but he noticed Scrappy right away.

"Scrappy, that you? Hey man, long time no see." Fred waved to the eating Dane plastered to Scooby's side. Scrappy waved back before turning back to Scooby, talking to him more to get every morsel of detail from his uncle about the current tale he had been mentioning.

"And this is Melvin, Scrappy's owner" Shaggy commented as he sat back down to get back at his food before Fred filled them in with the current mystery. Fred was hungry, so he did get some food before he sat himself down. After a few bites, he let everyone know that they got a new assignment.

"There is a nearby Museum in West Virginia that having a showing of a newly found dinosaur that had never been seen before, but only a few days before the unveiling; the bones have gone missing. I worked out the details and they were hoping that we headed there today to get there in time a bit before closing so that we could get it taken care of before they continued to set up the display. They had put a lot of money in advertising and it would be a great loss if they can't get the bones on display on time.”

Fred paused, looking at their two guests.

“…But what are we going to do about Scrappy and Melvin, it's not like we can take them with us..."

Scrappy was the first to speak up.

"Oh come on Fred... Please? I... We'll be able to help you out. A museum must be a big place, more people that can help catch the bad guys. And plus I have in the past helped before. Come on... please?"

Begged Scrappy, Shaggy and Scooby joined in because it had been ages since they worked with him and it would be nice and it would have a nostalgic feel to it. Daphne though about it then spoke up.

"Well, what about Melvin?"

Velma was the first to reply.

"Well, he's about the age we started with our serious mysteries Daphne, Freddie... And it's not he's going to be unsupervised. This sounds like a pretty simple case to me, nothing out of the ordinary. Just some misplaced bones."

Shaggy bounced up to add in after Velma had stopped talking to help prove for Scrappy and Melvin's case.

"No stories of ghosts... No haunting monsters... Just missing bones. I think it's perfect. I don't see why he can't come along Fred. And it sounds to me like' these guys have traveled a long way man, to get here. Look at how much food these two have piled away. Do you want to throw them out after they just got here?"

Fred sighed. He wasn't going to be a bad guy and not let Scrappy come. And Velma was right; it did seem to be a routine job, nothing special. And it wasn't like they were babysitting; Melvin looked mostly like a capable guy, even if he did have a bit of chicken stuck on his lower lip he hadn’t noticed. Sticking his fork into the remainder of his pile of food, Fred agreed. With a whoop, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy were up and celebrating with a dance. Melvin was quickly scooped up and was forced to join the dance. Fred placed his hand over his face and shook his head, a smile peeking from behind the fingers.

Once the dance was done, Fred suggested that they got ready. While the girls went to get dressed, Melvin lent a hand with Fred to clean the table off while Shaggy started washing dishes and Scooby and Scrappy put away the leftovers in Shaggy's walk in freezer for later. They also were packing emergency rations for the trip there. Never could have enough emergency rations; quoted the lanky beatnik. After a while, the girls returned dressed in their usual Mystery outfits and helped finish cleaning before they all headed to the Van.

Off they headed at last, to solve the awaiting mystery.

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An apology to anyone who studies Paleontology, museum curators, and anything else I might have gotten wrong in this story. Please feel free to correct anything you see here and send me it so I can fix it.
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The ride wasn't that long, but it was enough to make Melvin sick. He wasn't used to traveling in the back of van, and all the bumps seemed to congregate underneath just him and no one else. At least he thought so. His face was a nice shade of green and Scooby’s food offerings from the ‘rations’, weren't helping much. Thankfully he was able to keep his eyes out of the back of the van at the passing scenery. And the window was cracked open in the front, giving him enough of a supply of fresh air, so he made it to the location without making a mess and adding to the decor. Once stopped, Melvin was the first out to get his feet on solid ground. With some quick thinking from Fred, he got the kid a drink of water and waited until he was ok before they headed in to the museum. Shaggy stayed beside Melvin to give the kid some support until he was feeling better enough to walk on his own. Melvin felt embarrassed, but Shaggy laughed it off.

"Like' don't be sorry man. At first Velms and me had a hard time with car rides in the back of the van. Those bumps used to be doosies to us, but you get used to it."

Melvin hid his surprise that even Velma had been carsick. He couldn't picture the strong older girl walking confidently in front of him, could have had problems just like he had. The whole gang seemed to glow in the anticipation of the mystery at hand. It was different from when they all were home. They really seemed to be the legends that Scrappy had told stories about. And here he was, somehow walking with them. And he was actually going on a mystery with them. To bad there was no monster to unveil, but then again… He wasn't sure he could handle a monster.

They walked through the main doors and headed to the security desk. Most people had left the museum, except for the few hard-core people who didn’t leave till they were kicked out. Fred and Daphne went to talk to the security guard while Velma wandered over to the informational booth, where she was quickly absorbed into reading the information there and collecting maps of the exhibits.  So that she would know where everything was. Melvin found himself generally looking about when Scrappy walked over excitedly.

”Can you believe this? We actually got to go on mystery. Oh!  This is going to be a blast! You’re going to love it Mel!” Scrappy ending his sentence with the nickname he called his owner. Melvin looked down at Scrappy and nodded, not being able to stop the grin from spreading across his face. He was feeling the excitement too. Melvin for some reason felt giddy in anticipation. Scrappy then got a look of sadness.

”I was hoping we would get a monster or something though. It’s been ages since I went on a monster hunt with the gang. Oh you would love it! The chasing, the monsters…the traps!” Scrapped sighed with a wistful look upon his face. “Those were the days.”

Melvin wasn’t sure he wanted to be chased, or chase monsters, which ever Scrappy had meant. It was not hard to believe in monsters when someone in a costume that looks pretty real, is running straight at you. At least that’s always how it sounded like. The gang would be chased until they got enough clues to prove who it was underneath and then they formed a plan and captured them to unmask them. But a lot of the time it sounded like they seemed to be running compared to the actual capture time. Not exactly something Melvin wanted to experience. So he was quite happy there were no rumors of a ghost or monster. It still was a mystery to solve.

Fred came back to where Melvin and Scrappy were standing and waiting, while Daphne pried Velma away from the information booth. Once everyone was there, they noticed something was missing.

”Where’s Shaggy and Scooby?” Velma wondered, in her hand was a map of the museum. A quick scan of the area proved that the two had gone missing from visual range. They all looked around a bit, spreading out since they could not have gone far when Scrappy called out from down the hall. ”Over here guys!”

The rest followed Scrappy’s voice and came upon the guys. It was a comical sight. They had stumbled across the children’s section, and were romping around with material dinosaur tails strapped to themselves and each had a hat on that made them look like those head-butting dinosaurs. Shaggy and Scooby kept charging at each other and clashing heads. But thankfully there was enough foam in the hats that they weren’t hurting themselves. Shaggy noticed them and waved for them to come into the area, urging them to join the duo.

”Like’ come on guys, it’s fun. Grab a tail and romp like a dinosaur!”

”Oh Shaggy, Scooby… What are we going to do with you guys?” Daphne sighed, though with a smile on her face as she watched the two goofballs playing. Fred leaned against the wall and watched. They had talked to the security guard and he was going to get one of the guys who worked on the project for them, so they had to wait a bit anyway. Might as well wait here. It wasn’t that far from the main desk. Daphne also watched, leaning forward to lean on a short wall that surrounded most of the kid’s area, enclosing it except two entrances, one on each side. Velma was curious and she wandered into the room they were playing in. She examined the various things they had to offer the kids, picking each up to eye them though her glasses perched on her nose. A bucket full of dinosaurs, a few construction tables that had educational things on them about dinosaurs, and a basket which had several other dinosaur tails and hats that the guys had discovered. Velma crouched over and was mumbling to herself about the names of the various tails and hats, saying something how the hat’s Shaggy and Scooby where wearing did not match the tails they each had on.

”A Pachycephalosaurus would not have the tail of a Ankylosaurus or a Stegosaurus. Though it could also be a tail of a Europlocephalus instead of a Ankylosaurus, and a Kentrosaurus instead of a Stegosaurus, but the children would know the more merchandised species rather then any other type that might have lived with similar characteristics.”

While Velma babbled to herself, Melvin found himself wandering around. He noticed large statues of various dinosaurs. They were very large for a child; he guessed that it was to show to the children kind of how tall the dinosaurs really were, compared to them without seeming overly whelming and scary. But they were more cartoon-ish then their real counterparts so they didn’t scar the children with nightmares of the large reptiles. Some kids really couldn’t take the sheer size of the dinosaurs at young ages. As Melvin was walking around them, he wasn’t careful where he was placing his feet and he tripped over one of the dinosaur’s tails.

”Waaaaaaah! Oof!” He yelled as he fell and landed with a crash.

He groaned and patted around for his glasses, which had fallen off in the fall. Everyone had come over to help him up; Fred picked him up, while Daphne dusted him off. And for once Velma was the one to find the lost glasses. She handed them to him with a smile. Melvin blushed as he thanked her and accepted his glasses back. Shaggy and Scooby had come over to see if he was ok as well, still looking ridiculous in their hats and tails. Scrappy hovering in the back of the group, once he saw that Melvin was fine, he turned his attention to the Dinosaur which had been knocked out of place.

”This dinosaur is pretty heavy…”Scrappy commented as he tried to put the tail back in place that Melvin had tripped over and moved. The Dane couldn’t even lift it off the floor.

”Let me help Scrappy.” Fred said as he came over. Getting a grip on the tip of the tail, he heaved with his back and knees to lift the tail. He did little to move the heavy tail, and ended up tilting the heavy dinosaur, it slowly started to fall over being set of balance. The gang braced for impact as the dinosaur started to head to the ground. But the dinosaur never hit. Peeking though fingers and closed eyelids, they saw that the Security guard had come back and caught the monster of a dinosaur with one hand. Righting the dinosaur with a grunt, he leaned down and moved the tail back into place before glaring over at them all.

”Stupid kids… Always messing with the scenery…” The guard grumbled to himself, as he made sure it was back to the way it was before. Then he turned to Fred and grunted, narrowing his eyes towards him. Turning, he talked grumpily over his shoulder. ”The Assistant will see you now.”

”O…Ok.” Fred almost stammered as he looked at the security guard who effortlessly moved the dinosaur without any problems, while he himself could barely move the tail and ended up knocking the dinosaur off balance. He looked back at everyone and shrugged, motioning the rest of the gang to also follow the security guard. The security guard led the gang back to the security desk where a scruffy looking man stood. He looked like he was just out of college and a bit out of place in the museum in his clean lab coat and thick glasses. He looked like a nice enough fellow though, unlike the grumbling security guard, no doubt mumbling about annoying kids and dogs. Fred tried to thank the guard, but all he got was a glare from the man. With a slam of the door, the guard was in his office and away from the Mystery Inc. gang.

”Ignore Robert. He’s had a long day and we have field trippers in here earlier. The little kids drive him nuts…” The assistant said with a chuckle. He extended his hand out of Fred. ”My name is Derk Reinman, nice to meet you all. I have heard of your exploits. Glad to have you here to help us out.”

Fred returned the gesture, shaking the man’s hand and moved straight to business. ”I heard that a set of bones was stolen, can you fill us in on how you got the bones and what happened around the time that it was stolen. Tell us as much as you know. Any little detail might be the thing that can crack this case.”

The man nodded, running his hands though his orange-red hair as he recalled what had happened so far to get them all up to speed. The rest of the gang listened carefully; trying to make sure nothing was missed. Derk started to lead them to the main warehouse where there bones had been, talking as he walked.

”It all started a few years ago. I was just out of college and I was invited to a dig. Not just any dig, but a dig with the famous Professor Kent Perl.”

Velma couldn’t prevent herself from commenting, drawing on her vast knowledge.

”Kent Perl, you mean ‘The’ Kent Perl, head of Utah’s division of Paleontology researchers?  He has been on every important discovery that has been made in the Utah region in the last 5 years. He is said to be one of the best people in Paleontology at the moment and he is very skilled with excavation and location of dinosaurs.”

Derk snorted, apparently not believing the words Velma thought was the truth. At least that is what papers and news had said of him.

”That man has no clue what he is doing when it comes to Paleontology. He can’t tell the difference between a mini jack for prep work, and his power toothbrush for his own teeth. All that man does is goes on the site, shouts orders and then takes my credit when I finally find something. The Deinoscerasaurus, or Terrible Horned Lizard. It was what looked like a raptor like body and structure, but it’s head, frill and spine resembled those of a Cera family. The horned dinosaurs like Triceratops and Protoceratops. Though it’s bottom jaw was more of a carnivore then an herbivore. Making the species totally new and never discovered. I could name it my own… But Kent… He took it and called it Veloceraraptor. That doesn’t even make any sense! Just changing Cira to Cera a name for a dinosaur does not make!”

It was clear that there was more to this, and the man could go on for hours. But they were drifting from the subject at hand. Managing to get the man’s attention, Daphne calmed him down enough to get in another question.

”Alright Mr. Reinman…”

”Call me Derk.”

”Alright Derk, we know what it is now, now can you let us know how or who might have stolen it?”

Breathing in deep, and smoothing out is hair that got a bit mussed from his annoyed rant, he continued. ”… I think it was the old man.”

”Old man?” Velma asked, making sure to milk the man for as much information. Melvin was trying to make sure he paid attention to everything he could. The stories of them solving mysteries always fascinated him, so he didn’t want to miss anything. Maybe he would even help out. So Melvin was trying to remember everything that was being said. He was half tempted to take notes like school, though he had not brought a pad or pencil. Derk continued.

 “Yes… There was a old man…”

”A Crazy old man… Nothing more.” A voice interrupted Derk, as he was about to continue. Standing before them, in front of the warehouse door was Kent Perl. He stood there, with his arms cross, a grin across his face. He looked like a Crocodile Dundee reject, his athletic form covered in a tan, and was clad in an almost safari looking attire. A dusty brown cowboy hat was sitting atop his bleach blond hair. His smile was a set of pearly whites; he made sure to flash a dazzling smile at the ladies present. Velma gave him a raised eyebrow look, and Daphne smiled back. Derk made an audible groan while Fred pushed forward in front of the group.

”Ah, you must be Kent Perl. I have heard a lot about you Mister Perl.”

”Kent is fine. And you guys must be the famous Mystery Inc. Nice to meet you all.”

He shook Fred’s extended hand and winked at Daphne. Velma rolled her eyes and looked away. As much as respect as she had in his works that she read about, and the papers she read of his; as soon as she saw his chauvinistic attitude… she liked him a bit less. She found it odd that a man who wrote such wonderful and insightful papers could seem so shallow. She chewed on the inside of her mouth as she reluctantly turned back to gather information he might provide, mulling over the information already given to them. Melvin was a bit in awe. He didn’t get out much, but he figured a person who was such a famous Paleontologist, wouldn’t look so impressive. He had to work out or something. Melvin figured that most Paleontologists would be geeks like him and Derk… People in lab coats and were skinner then the man before them. This guy looked like he lived in a gym and tanning booth, not out digging up bones and sitting behind a microscope in a lab. Derk looked more like a Paleontologist then Kent did. But Kent seemed to be the right person.

”So Mister Kent, What is this about an old man?” Daphne tried to bring up their only lead, to find out more. He grinned at her.

”Well, if you really want to know. There was an old man who came to the dig and was talking about an ancient undead guardian or something like that. Some strange dinosaur ghost that seems to haunts the bones of its relatives, and guards it against people who disturb it. Or some crock like that. I think that old man baked in the sun to long, if you know what I mean. Ghost dinosaurs… Sheesh.” He laughed, obviously not believing the old man’s story. As the gang had known a few times before, that not all Indian guardians were real. From Indian shamans, to Tiki gods and Aztec stone creatures. They had been all people in costumes, so it wasn’t impossible for this to be the same thing. But that didn’t stop two of the people present, from shaking in their shoes. (Well, only one of them actually ‘wore’ shoes.)

”…G…G…Ghosts? I thought you said no monsters… Now we have to deal with some walking undead Dinosaur? Great… Just our luck Scoob.” Shaggy moaned to his canine cohort. Who looked to his with equal dread.

”Just our luck Mel!” While Shaggy and Scooby clung to one another, with another prospect of a monster to chase… Scrappy seemed excited! He would get to go on monster hunt with his uncle Scooby and the rest of that gang after all. He couldn’t be happier! But Melvin wasn’t so sure he was sharing Scrappy’s thrilled response.

”Yes, there was an old man at the dig site.” Interjected Derk from behind, trying to get their attention off Kent, some signs of agitation was clear in his voice at his superior. “He was trying to tell Kent to stop digging. That if they didn’t stop, the ancient guardian of the dinosaur bones would rise up, preventing the bones from being unearthed and transported.”

Kent eyed the interrupting assistant, but kept his tongue behind his glittering white teeth in effort to keep his more superior air around the guests. Derk didn’t seem to notice the look, or if he did he just enjoyed it as he continued. “I listened to that old man one day, out of curiosity of what the old crackpot had to say. He spoke of an undead dinosaur, standing as tall as a man, and having a ghostly look to it. Its eyes glowed an eerie red and…”

Before the man was able to continue, Kent interjected. “That is enough Derk. These people are not here to listen to your tales of fables and myth. There is no such thing as ghosts or monsters. The man was just an old Indian man who spoke of myths to get rid of us from digging. I didn’t see you stopping the dig just because the story.” His eyes narrowed, but his Cheshire grin stayed as he enjoyed telling his assistant off. “Now run along Derk, some of us have to do some work. Not all of us can stand around and tell fables for a living…” Kent turned his back and made a motion for Mystery Inc to follow him to the warehouse. Derk was clearly restraining himself as he turned and stalked off. Fist clenched as he walked away, Melvin almost stopped to chase after the man, but with the rest of the gang following Kent, he had little choice of where to follow. Trotting to catch up, Melvin panted as Kent held out his arms in dramatic fashion.

”Welcome to My Warehouse! This is where all my findings and my research are stored. Only Me and a few others have the key card to enter.” He did a flourish and pulled out his card and swiped it. With a beep, the doors slide open. He did a bow and offered the ladies to enter first, then the rest to follow. Daphne humored him, while Velma gave him more of a look before she entered. Kent waited till they were all inside before he came in behind them. He began a long speech about his various accomplishments that had or was being held on the shelves that they walked past. Shelves and shelves packed row-by-row lining the whole inside of the warehouse except for pockets of area’s that were used to hold some of the larger artifacts that would not fit on a shelf. Melvin was too busy swallowing up all the grand sights of the priceless artifacts to pay full attention to the whole long stories of Kent’s many achievements that lined the walls… And those who were listening only did to hope for some clue in his story about the missing bones.

With relief to them all, Kent finally came to a large crate that one could assume had contained the bones. He dramatized him pulling out the key, holding it up before them all. “Here is the key to this crate. Only Robert and I have a key to it… for security reasons. But apparently that wasn’t enough to stop them from stealing my bones.” With a flourish, he used the key and heaved the heavy lid open quickly. Inside was what looked like a milky white covering? It was a type of insulation foam, and one could clearly make out the shapes of where the bones had been, but where missing. Velma and Shaggy peered over the sides of the deep box and inside, the beatnik giving a poke at the foam in curiosity.

”Ah, I see you noticed the foam. It’s a brand my scientists and I worked out. It’s a two-part gel that starts off clear. When the gel takes an impact, the flimsy wall between the gels breaks and a reaction happens. The two compounds mix and expand to create the milky white substance you see before you that act’s as a cushion to the bones. It is like the same principle of a glow stick. But instead of illuminating and making a Florissant glow, it creates a cushioning. It’s great for transporting bones without worrying about them breaking. Soon everyone will be using it!” He spoke proudly of his creation, which caused Velma to roll her eyes once again, but Melvin was amazed! Not only did this guy discover lost bones, and travel all over the world. But he was also a scientist who made fascinating chemical compounds to further his study’s longevity.

”What’s this?” Came a comment from Scrappy. He was leaning under the top of the crate; though being under it gave little light for him to look at it. “There is something carved into the top here.”

Daphne and Fred moved to heave on the top to bring it back in place to see what Scrappy was talking about. Though it was heavier then they thought. Kent moved swiftly around to help them out bring the top quickly over and back in place. Deep claw marks were raked across the top of the crate. Kent had been to occupied with showing off, that he had not noticed the top of the crate before he opened it for them to see.


”I can’t believe this!” Came the first clear angry words out of Kent. He threw up his hands in protest and stalked away from the crate as he continued to talk. “I can’t believe that Derk would go so low to mark up my crate even after he stole the bones!” Kent growled, pacing back and forth, with angry hand gestures to go with it.

”Now see here… Mr. Perl.” Velma moved away from inspecting the claw marks on the crate to shake a finger at the hollering man. “I do not know what has happened between you and your assistant, but it can’t be determined on feelings alone that he is the person who stole your bones. We need more evidence before you can start to point fingers.” She moved towards him as he, who was caught off guard by a lady daring to argue against him. “It appears that someone… or something has clawed up your crate here.”

”Are you claiming that the ghost Derk was talking about is here? What nonsense!” He straightened up against her arguing and nodded. Feeling strong about there not being a ghost. Someone had to have done it.

”She’s right Kent. We have solved a lot of cases and it’s best not to jump to conclusions. It could merely be someone using the ghost tale to scare you away. Making a few scratches on a crate isn’t that much beyond what someone parading around trying to scare you off might do. We’ve seen it before.” Fred added in Velma’s argument’s defense.

”I’m not saying that it is the ghost, but in our profession we don’t make assumptions till we have all the facts.” Daphne added in as well. It looked to her like a clear case of someone trying to parade around as the ‘ghost’ or what not in order to scare Kent away.

”… And for all you know, it could be someone in a dinosaur costume romping about trying to scare you away. It would not be the first time someone has done it. We deal with them all the time.” By this time, Velma was lecturing him face to face. She was sick and tired of him taking it out on his assistant without proof. There was always a scientific and logical explanation for everything and this case wasn’t going to be any different.

”Velma, Maybe you should come…” Scrappy was about to try to rein in the arguing brunette when a roar sounded in the warehouse. It was like the whole place was rattling due to something massive and heavy moving towards them. Velma only had a short time to turn and go wide-eyed as a huge form came flying towards her and Kent. With a quick glace and thinking quickly, Kent pushed himself forward and scooped Velma into his arms. To the rest of the gang looking on, they watched as a ghostly form of a dinosaur flew inches away, where only seconds before Kent and Velma had been standing. At a quick glace, as the image burned into the scared minds of Shaggy and Scooby. Floating off the ground, the ghostly white dinosaur had piercing glowing red eyes. It was an eerie milky white in color, bones visible under what seemed to be the white ‘skin’ of the ghost. But nothing else was inside it. It looked hollow, besides the bones. Sunken dark sockets of the dinosaur’s skull glowed an unnerving reddish hue from the depths It looked taller then a man!

”Zoinks! That’s like’ the Ghost dinosaur!” Squeaked Shaggy as Scooby hoped reactively into his arms. They both shook as they stared where the dinosaur had just flown by.

”Th… Thank you…” Stammered a blushing Velma as Kent put her down. Being rescued from being crushed by a dinosaur monster, now that wasn’t really what she had expected. She had not expected him to save her like that. It had definitely threw her off, but Kent seemed to be having a harder time with what had just happened then she had.

“What the heck was THAT?!”

He pointed to where the form had just nearly run them over. He looked definitely shook up. He was about to yell some more before Shaggy gave warning. Him and Scooby had moved to peer where the ghost had gone in morbid curiosity, actually hoping it was gone and just a figment of their imagination. But no such luck. “No time for that gang! It’s coming back!!!!” He yelled, taking off to the warehouse door down one of the paths through the shelves. The shelved rattled, as the dinosaur got closer. The rest were not far behind. Daphne and Fred had to grab the confused Velma and Kent and dragged them out as the dinosaur roared back into view. Scrappy paused at the doorway, turned and assumed a fighting stance. “Let me at ‘em!” The young Dane was going to try to fight off the ghostly apparition. But this wasn’t new to the duo and they heaved on the younger Dane’s collar to drag him out of the way. With Scrappy repositions away from the door, Shaggy and Scooby made sure to heave it shut before the Dinosaur was able to follow them. The door shut with a lock, and a bang could be felt and heard, coming from the warehouse. Kent took off running and the gang followed him to what seemed to be Kent’s office. The man was shaking, obviously not used to the idea that a ghost dinosaur had just been chasing them all over the warehouse and the shock of the situation settling in. A few others were shaking, though only one had been from excitement.

“That… was GREAT!”

Clapped Scrappy with glee obviously caught up in the adrenalin rush. Melvin looked over to his Dane with a bewildered expression. Who in their right mind found that fun? It was clear to Kent that he was sharing Melvin’s thoughts. “I don’t care what that thing… Was…. But you are going to get rid of it!” Growled the angered man, his hair mussed and his hat had fallen behind him on a string that had caught it from falling. “That is why you’re here… And I want this taken care of quickly! I need my bones back! Now get out and do… What ever you do! I’ll…. Be here in my office with the door locked. Leave me!” The disheveled man who had seemed so composed moments before, shoved and forced the gang to leave his office to leave him alone.  With a slam, he closed the door on their faces.

With a sigh, Fred tried to gather everyone together. Melvin had been quite shaken as well. This was his first monster, and he didn’t like the experience. Especially how it almost attacked Kent and Velma. Daphne had taken a few short seconds to catch her breath and smooth out her hair in perfect order. Velma had regained her composure and was already off and thinking. Shaggy and Scooby had latched on to Scrappy to prevent the young dog from running back to the warehouse. They argued that they didn’t have card to get in so Scrappy could beat him up. Scrappy conceded but knew that he could have taken the monster on.

”Alright gang. We had our first run in with this so-called Ghost. Now let’s see the facts that we have so far.” Fred jumped to start brainstorming. “What do we know? And who do we have as suspects?”

”Well… The bones seemed to have disappeared once at the museum. So it has to be stolen by someone who works here or could get access to things. And that only Robert and Kent had access to the key to the crate.” Daphne added in.

”Like’ Robert the grumpy security guard didn’t seem to like us very much. He might be a suspect. He had one of the keys and like’ he was really Cheesed off.” Shaggy offered up some more ideas, with Scooby echoing. “Ra Ra, R’eesed r’off. R’um!” Scooby and Shaggy licking their lips at the mention of food.

”And it’s clear that Derk has it out for Kent. Obviously unhappy with the way he gets treated by his superior Kent. It’s impossible to rule him out, though we have yet to have any evidence yet.” Velma added. She had to count him in, even though she could understand a bit why the other man got frustrated with Kent… Though he did save her life. “…Though he saved me… I don’t think Kent is off the list of suspects either.”

”…But why would he steal his own bones and make such a reaction when the monster attacked?” Melvin wondered out loud. This was his first case, so maybe there was something he was missing. But why would he go through the process to save Velma and then react so badly to the dinosaur showing up? It didn’t seem like he was expecting that.

”I don’t know Melvin, but we need to gather more information if we are going to crack this case.” Fred moved into leader mode. “I think it’s time to Split up Gang!” As usual, Shaggy and Scooby groaned.

”Like’… We have to go explore the warehouse… Don’t we?” Sulked Shaggy. Really not looking forward to meeting the creepy ghost dinosaur again. Scooby hid behind Shaggy’s legs with a whine.

”No… It’s ok guys. You get to play guard duty. I want you, Scooby and Scrappy to keep an eye on Kent. He’s not ruled out as a suspect, so I want you guys to watch his door. If anything happens, send Scrappy to come and find us.” Fred suggested, and frankly the guys like that suggestion better then having to search the warehouse like they thought. With a salute, Shaggy took up his position.

”Nothing will get past us!” “Rah rah!” Adding to the salute, Scooby stood besides Shaggy, with Scrappy falling in right behind him. “Leave it to us!”

”The rest of us will go talk Derk and Robert. Maybe we can find out more information from them. Let’s go Gang.” Fred made a motion for them to follow. Melvin was a bit pensive about trailing along, feeling more comfortable with his dog. But he wasn’t put on the guarding list, and with Daphne’s tugging since he was falling behind, he had to follow.

”Should I…” Melvin stuttered, blushing a bit as Daphne dragged the boy with her to catch up.

”The guys can take care of themselves. They’ve done this before. We need you to come and help us. We can use all the hands we can get. Now come on, we’re lagging behind.” She trotted to catch up, with Melvin in tow. He was surprised at how strong she was. Not that he weighed much, but she didn’t seem to have any problems pulling him along at enough of a speed to catch up to Fred and Velma. Their destination was the guardroom. Perhaps Robert could tell them more information. Rapping lightly on the guard window, they waited for Robert to show up. It didn’t take long for the grumpy security guard to come and slam the window separating them open.

”What you kids want?” He grunted in a stony tone, narrowing his eyes at them all. Melvin dived to hide behind the rest of them, but they didn’t seem to even flinch at the man’s unwelcoming nature. Fred was the first to speak.

”I understand your name is Robert. Should we call you anything else instead?” The irritated guard glared at Fred before making his response. “…Suppose not.” Fred took that as a good sign and continued. “Well Robert, would you mind if we ask you a few questions?” The man’s expression didn’t change, he merely grunted in what Fred took as a positive response. Velma then took over next.

“Where were you just now? Say, about ten minutes ago?” The man turned his heated glare at her. She didn’t seem to mind it, though Melvin would have shrunk under that angry of an expression. Robert didn’t take long to respond, voice still as monotone as ever. “I was here for a bit, then I went to talk to Peter about his faulty cameras in the warehouse.”

”Faulty cameras?” Came an inquisitive voice from Daphne, picking right up on a possible clue. The guard looked over at her and explained. “We have installed several camera’s all over the different parts of the museum, the displays and in the warehouse. But recently the cameras in the warehouse have gone static and you can’t make out much. Like when you guys were in the warehouse, it cut out. I went to talk to Peter about it, but by the time I came back with him to look at it, you were outside on the entrance monitor heading for Mr. Perl’s office.”

”So you saw us in the warehouse?” Fred inquired.

”For the most part.” Grunted Robert. “Like I said, it worked fine till the camera broke.”

”Did you see anything on the camera? Like something you couldn’t explain?” Daphne asked. He turned at her and his brow’s furrowed.

”What might you be talking about? I told you it was fuzzy and static. I wasn’t able to make out much once it broke. That’s why I went to talk to Peter.” Robert replied in defense.

”Do you mind if we look at the camera’s and the tapes?” Velma wanted to investigate more, and if the tapes might have recorded what had happened, even if it was fuzzy, she might be able to find something of use to them. The security guard didn’t look happy. Sliding the door shut, he disappeared from sight. Melvin thought that maybe he was so angry that he was ignoring them, but soon the guard door opened and he was standing on the other side. “Do you know what you are doing?” He grunted in what seemed to be a question. Velma and Fred nodded their heads. Fred had some experience working for Daphne’s TV show and Velma did some recording and editing on her own, so she was skilled in the machines. He left them pass and Fred sat down and started to pull up the tape that had recorded there time in the warehouse while Velma leaned over to ponder at the video screens on the guard consul. They seemed to know what they were doing, so the guard moved to leave before Daphne stopped him. “Where are you going?”

He turned and looked down at her, “To make my rounds.” Well, he was a security guard. Melvin used this time to slide past the guard and into the room himself. He didn’t know anything about cameras, tapes or editing devices, so he made sure he was just out of the way. But he noticed a lot of the screens were either blank, or the blue screen that needed input. “Why are these screen’s not working?” Melvin asked over his shoulder at the stopped guard.

”Peter didn’t get a chance to fix the cameras. Apparently some of the cameras were faulty and so we had to replace a lot of them. But with the new problem of the missing bones, Peter has yet to have gotten around to putting them in.” Robert replied, impatient to get to his rounds on time. He always liked being prompt and on time with his duties and these stupid kids were preventing him from making his rounds. “Anything else?” He growled, wanting to get to work.

”Yes, one more thing.” Daphne interjected. “Where is Peter? Can we talk to him?”
Robert gave Daphne the directions, and then was allowed to go. Stalking off, his shoulders were hunched over and he seemed to be mumbling something to himself.

”Cheery guy.” Melvin muttered.

”Yeah, a real ray of sunshine.” Commented Daphne as she moved away from the door where she had been standing. Coming up behind, she leaned over to see what Fred and Velma were hanging intently over. “You guys found something?”

”Well… it is just like Robert said.” Fred explained. “You can see us here entering the warehouse, here. And here was where we were following Kent to the crate. You can see as everything plays out fine till about when we all heard that roar in the warehouse. Then the screen goes static. You can make out a bit on these screens, but nothing that can help us. The angles of these three cameras don’t get a good look what ever passed by us.” “You mean the ghost dinosaur?” Melvin added, a bit of fear in his voice. He didn’t like the idea of ghost dinosaurs romping about. “I highly doubt it is a real dinosaur ghost. We have yet to find any real evidence on ghosts existing.” Velma said with a snort.

“Well there was that one time in the bayou…”

Daphne started, but a look from Velma stopped her. Melvin was confused, but he didn’t say anything. He continued to watch in amazement as they worked together and had gathered a lot of information already. Had he been trying on his own, he would not have known what to ask, or what to say. Yet these people in front of him, only a few years his seniors… were already on their way to solving the case. At least it sounded like that to him. Pushing away from the monitors, Fred leaned and looked back. “Well… I can’t find anything on this tape that shows someone entering the room with anything. Though the time code of the bottom looks odd. Velma, can you stay in here and try to figure that out while Daphne, Melvin and I go and have a talk with Peter?” Velma nodded and waited till Fred had gotten out of the seat he had been in, so she would have closer access to the controls. “Leave it to me. I’ll figure out what’s funky with these time codes.” Fred nodded and moved to leave the room. Daphne was close behind, though Melvin wasn’t sure that Velma should be left alone. Once outside the room, Melvin turned to Fred. “Is… It alright to leave her alone, by herself?”

”Velms?” Fred cast a glance back to the room. He could hear the button’s clicking away as Velma’s fingers flew across the control board as she searched.  He chuckled. “It’s better not to get in her way right now. And she’ll be fine. I don’t think Robert is going to be gone to long, so he’ll be there to keep her company. Plus there is a camera pointed to see all directions approaching the guardroom. So she’ll see anyone coming before they even get to her.”

Even though Melvin felt odd leaving the older girl alone, but Fred and Daphne had thought nothing of it, so this must be not uncommon for them to do. It was splitting up, like Fred had said before.

Daphne led the way, since Robert had explained to her how to get there. Pushing the door open they came upon a guy who was leaning over a small device. He seemed to be to busy with that he was working on to really notice them. He was a lean man, with frizzy reddish brown hair. He was not exactly the neatest man, dressed more for comfort since it appeared he worked out of this back room away from most people that came to the museum. A cough from Daphne got his attention, but it was little more then a quick glance. “The museum is closed. Go away.” Came a muttering from him, though he didn’t even think of why they might still be allowed to be in here. He waved them away with his hand as he went back to his work.

”We are here to solve the case of the missing dinosaur bones. Derk called us here to help. Are you Peter?” Daphne asked the man curled around the device he was working on. At the mention of bones, his head snapped up to look at them.

”Bones? Oh yes… Bones… Terrible thing they are missing. But I had nothing to do with that.” He seemed a bit jittery, almost falling over to stand up. His hand rubbed the back of his head in an anxious manner. “I been to busy with these darn cameras. I’ve barely been out of this room unless I would be working on a camera out in the museum. I seemed to have miss placed a few and can’t seem to find them. Clumsy me.” He chuckled nervously, fingers playing with the device he had in his hand.

”Pardon me, but what do you have there?” Daphne pointed out the device, calling attention to it. It looked like a small tube with various wires sticking out of it. The man looked over and noticed that she was pointed out what he had in his hand.

”Oh! This?” He held it up for her to look at. “This is the latest in Lipstick cameras. This little baby, if a normal person wanted to buy it would be any where from ninety to two hundred dollars. But that range is all depending on what you wanted it for. The lower cost one’s are just black and white. But the more expensive ones like these babies. Can see infrared, catch audio, zoom and if I wanted, could be installed with personal LED lights that could illuminate up to 20 feet from the camera. But since the reason we are installing these cameras are for security and keeping an unseen eye on the public to make sure our museum’s pieces are not bothered, or anyone is trying to steal something. It would make little sense drawing attention to it. We have caught more people since they don’t think we are watching.” Peter seemed very proud of his lipstick cameras. Fred and Daphne could understand why, though it all was Latin to Melvin. But it sounded cool.

”So why, if these are such good of cameras, that they mess up and go static like Robert was talking about?” Daphne wondered. If they were so good, why did they not work there?

”In the warehouse?” Peter wondered.

”Yeah, Robert said they didn’t work on occasion.” Fred responded to Peter’s question.

”Ah, well those aren’t like these. The warehouse required a larger sight range then these little cameras can provide. You see these are more like point and shoot. You only can look at the limited area it can record, why it’s good to point it at a piece of artwork or a relic. You only have to pay attention to one thing. The warehouse cameras had to see the entire warehouse. Though even those three cameras can only do so much. They are a board type camera design. And the static, I can’t do anything for. Those models are prone to power surges. So you just need to be using something that zaps a lot of electricity to fry those puppies out. Actually, the small cameras can fry too, but they are more isolated to not have as much problems as the board one’s. One good power surge, and if there is too much voltage, the camera is sure to brake. I had to replace all of them in the last few weeks. It’s also one of the reason’s I haven’t been able to get the display cameras up. The last batch we had before had some problems with picking up a strange signal on the monitors. Probably some kid playing with their own cameras. The view kept sweeping back and forth; it was too dizzy to pay to much attention to. So Kent suggested we bought new one’s. But for the life of me I can’t find where I put my inventory list… I clearly remember that the list of parts and lists of what we received didn’t match up. Maybe who ever took the bones wanted my cameras, and my list too. Though I don’t know what they might want with them, they weren’t even fully put together.” Peter suggested. It was an interesting clue indeed, though at the moment this didn’t fit into place.

”Do you know if there was any recording of the strange video you captured?” Fred wondered, thinking back that he would have to bring this up to Velma to find as well. “When did this start happening?”

”Well… I think it was a bit before the bones went missing. Maybe that’s why we weren’t able to catch the crook. Terrible really. Well, I must go look for my list again. Feel free to look around.” And with that, Peter stood up, placed the camera on the table he had been working on it, and left. Melvin watched the man leave rather quickly.

”…He seemed a bit too nervous. Didn’t he?” Melvin asked Fred and Daphne as Peter had gotten out of hearing range. Peering out the door where he had gone, before bring it back to look at the two older sleuths.

”Maybe Melvin, but just being a bit forgetful where he put things isn’t enough to place the blame on him. We need to gather more clues. Though if we could find that inventory he seemed to have lost, it would be nice to know what was missing.” Fred told Melvin as he stroked his chin in thought. Daphne had moved over to the table and was inspecting the room.

”Jeepers! It’s no wonder why he lost the list in this room; it’s a mess in here. And he didn’t even ask us to lock the door. Odd. With such expensive equipment, you think he would be more careful about it.” Daphne pushed about the camera, glancing over what else was on the table. She was looking for a bit before she came across something that looked like a small screen. “Oh… Look at this.” She dug out the screen and fiddled with what looked like a battery pack. Moving to use the seat, her hands flew across the table as she put together the lipstick camera and attached the screen. The screen flickered and lit up, showing a narrow, but clear view of the room where the camera was pointing. Holding it up to the side of her head, she looked about the room. Where she could see, came right back on the camera, though it was not as good at handling the sudden rush of movement like human eyes were used to seeing, so watching the screen made Melvin nauseous.

”Jinkies.” Spoke Fred with a grin. Daphne turned to look at him with an odd glance.

”Now Fred. That’s Velma’s line. You want me to start telling us to all split up?” Daphne joked, setting the camera down and disconnecting it. Fred put his hands up in his own defense and laughed. ”Well, she wasn’t here, and we found a clue.” Daphne moved to him and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. He laughed. “Hey… It’s not my fault it’s a fun word to say! Jinkies.”

”Jinkies?”

Melvin muttered, confused at the word. Sure, he had heard but before from Scrappy, but it was an odd word to hear out of Fred. Though Fred moved over and gave Melvin a hair tussle. “Yep. Jinkies.” Fred nodded to Melvin, though the boy was still confused. Daphne watched them and sighed. She moved to the door and made motion for them to leave.

”Oh come on you two. Let’s get back to Velma. Maybe she found something else out. Really, stealing Velma’s Jinkies.” Daphne couldn’t help but grin as Fred placed an arm around Melvin’s shoulder and lead the boy out, who still was confused at the whole incident.

’Jinkies?’
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While the rest of the gang were off finding clues; Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy had taken up their duty to watch the door with gusto. With Scrappy and Scooby on either sides of the door in salute, Shaggy had taken up the British march back and forth. Though it took no time before the growls of several unhappy stomachs made Shaggy pause in place.

”Man oh Man Scoob. Like’ my tummy is a rumbling and I think it’s time for a lunch break!”

Suggested Shaggy in a very bear like manner, and Scooby was not far behind breaking rank to pad up to his hungry counterpart. But Scrappy’s brow furrowed.

”But aren’t we supposed to keep an eye on the door?” The young Dane was a bit hungry, but he could last, unlike the perpetually ravenous stomachs of Shaggy and Scooby.

”Like’ we won’t be long Scrappy. We’ll just go down and find a snack machine and then come back. It won’t take to much time, we’ll even try to bring you something back too.” Though no promise of food could be held accountable for the hoggish pair. Scrappy sighed, but agreed. It was better off to let them go find food, then listen to their stomachs duel each other for who was the loudest.

”Find, but head back as soon as you find something. You can eat it on your way back here. I don’t want to have to explain to the rest of the gang if they come back and you guys are missing.” Scrappy waved them to leave. The quicker they leave, hopefully the quicker they would come back.

”Like’ no prob Scrappy. I think when we were running by, I saw a vending machine down a bit. We’ll be back before you can even say ‘Peanut butter and tuna fish, pickled sandwich!’ Ah ha ha.” Shaggy laughed, starting off to find the vending machine.

”R’ummy… Reanut r’an rickles… Umm Umm!” Scooby fell in shadow behind Shaggy, licking his lips at the tasty sounding sandwich. Scrappy groaned, he never understood how they could stomach such odd food combinations.

”Peanut butter and ugh… Yeah… by the time I manage to stomach saying it, they will be back.” Scrappy muttered as they left him along to guard the door by himself. Not that he minded all that much. It was kind of nice to be able to be trusted to watch something all by himself. He was now in charge of guarding. He straightened up, being a good watch door and keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

Though as time inched by, he lost his enthusiasm and slouched forward a bit. Soon he was leaning on the ground, tapping his paw in impatience. ‘What was taking them so long?’ Scrappy wondered. ‘Could they have run into the monster with out him?’ He stood up and looked down the direction they had head. Though the idea passed out of his head. ‘Well… if they were in trouble, I would hear something.’ As if on cue, a mass of banging was heard in the distance. Again, the young Dane was on his paws. He wanted to rush to them, but he was also supposed to watch the door. From the door to the hall, as the bangs increased, so did his troubled thoughts. The banging just got louder. With one last look at the door, Scrappy abandoned it to give chase.

”I’ll save you guys!” He hollered as he ran down where he had seen them go. Paws echoing in the hallway as he ran to their rescue. “Dah dah dah da dah Da! Scrappy….” He shouted as he slid into the hallway where the banging was heard. But the scene was not one he had been picturing in his head. “…power?” He had come across Shaggy and Scooby in trouble all right, but not like the kind he could have imagined. Shaggy had gotten a hold on the vending machine, pulling it off the wall; he and Scooby had been banging on it to get their food out. Apparently the machine ate their money and didn’t fend over the snacks, so the guys had gotten desperate. Dropping the machine in surprise for the sudden appearance of Scrappy, Shaggy was confused at why he had run over. But when the machine slammed down, the food that had been rebelliously hanging out of reach finally came loose. Scooby picked up the handful of stuff that had fallen and looked happy.

”Rah! R’acks.” Scooby offered some to Shaggy who took it and didn’t waste any time shoveling its contents into his mouth. Between handfuls, he paused long enough to ask Scrappy why he had come.

”I heard you guys banging. I thought maybe the ghost Dinosaur had gotten you.” Scrappy caught an offered bag of chips that Scooby had tossed his way. He pulled it open and fell beside Shaggy who started to head back.

”Like’ who’s watching the professor?” Shaggy wondered. Scrappy shrugged, munching on the bag of chips he had been given. “I thought you guys were in trouble. I had to leave the door unattended.”

”R’I r’ope r’a roressor r’is r’ok.” Scooby wondered as he tore through his second bag of chips, while eating some licorice that had also fallen. The trio plodded along, enjoying their meal. Though when Scrappy made motion that they should hurry, Shaggy won’t move any faster unless he needed to. Such was his beatnik ways, relaxed and easy unless provoked.

Though maybe it was better if they had gone faster as Scrappy suggested, for when they came upon the professor’s door, it was wide open. Peering reluctantly, Shaggy was only met with a sight of pure chaos. He let out a sigh; thankful it wasn’t filled with the ghost dinosaur. Moving a bit into the door, he and Scrappy tried to see if the professor was still in the room.

”Kent… Mister Kent… Are you like’ in here?” Shaggy placed a hand to the side of his mouth to project his voice into the room. Scrappy nosed a few papers out of the way. “I don’t think he’s in here Shaggy.”

”Rah… Raggy…”

”Not now Scoob. I’m looking for mister Kent. Are you in here?”

”Rah… Raggy!” Scooby said with more earnest, pulling on Shaggy’s brown pants.

”Not now…. Wait… Don’t tell me…I don’t want to know do I?”

”Ruh uh…” Scooby said negatively, inching closer and closer to Shaggy’s leg. The beatnik closed his eyes, placing a hand over them.

”Like… Is it Big?”

”Rah!”

”And scary…?”

”Rah rah!”

”And Ghostly?”

Scooby’s response was a whimper. Leaning out of the room, Shaggy forced his hand to open to peer through the gap his fingers made. He groaned as he noticed the giant, glowing red eyed, dinosaur. With a roar, the dinosaur opened its mouth and exhaled a hot and foul stink of breath. It smelled like a skunk, rotten eggs, and some of the leftovers he had found at the back of the fridge that had been sitting around for a while. Shaggy was forced to wave a hand in front of his face to clear the pungent smell. He got an idea, fishing into his pockets; he pulled out a breath mint and then threw it at the back of the dinosaur’s open maw. It clattered as it hit the backset of teeth. The jaw shut with a snap, almost confused look on its face as Shaggy turned to Scooby.

”Shall we?” Shaggy asked Scooby as he made polite gestures to his cohort. Scooby nodded. Jumping into Scooby’s paws, his delayed scared reaction made Scooby jump into Scrappy’s paws. Occupied with carrying them both, he had little time to pause and fight the monster; such was the plan of Scooby and Shaggy.

”Run away!!!!”

Hollered Shaggy as Scrappy made a mad dash away from the room. The dinosaur, recovering from its earlier confusion gave chase. It made an awful clattering sound as it chased the guys, solid nails hitting hard and echoing against the tile flooring. Thankfully, it was slower then the dashing Dane, and started to fall back as they powered down the hallways. With a few twists and turns of the skillful running of Scrappy, they soon lost the dinosaur in all the tangling turns Scrappy took to get away from it.

Panting, Scrappy had to stop and let the guys off. Even though he was older, it was hard to run to far with them since he wasn’t used to it. Shaggy and Scooby got off and moved to continue to dash. They needed to find the rest of the gang and quick. Scrappy groaned, and pushed off to continue running, though it was easier now that he didn’t have to carry them.

”We got to let the gang know what happened!”
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As the Shaggy and gang haul tail to tell what happened to the professor, it was about the same time that Fred, Daphne and Melvin got back to Velma in the guardroom. Though oddly, Robert had yet to return.

”We found a…”
”I found a …”

Both Fred and Velma said at the same time. Velma was first to concede. Backing down, she sat down and waited for Fred to tell the clues that they had managed to gather first before she moved to say anything. Since she beat Fred to backing down, which was the gentlemanly thing to do, he continued. Since she was too stubborn to listen to otherwise, he had long given up trying to let her to first. (Though that was not after many failed attempts on his part.)

”Well, first we talked with Peter and were told about the lipstick cameras he was using. Also found out that there were previous sets of lipstick cameras before the one’s that were currently bought and installed. Well… Installed for the most part. Anyway, something was interfering with their reception, which is why Kent asked for a replacement set. The interference was all this dizzying motion captured on film. During this switch, was the time when the bones went missing from the warehouse.” Velma was about to open her mouth to comment before Fred continued. ”Yes… I know that doesn’t explain why the cameras are all static. Peter also told us that there is a different type of camera that is installed in the warehouse, which is prone to voltage surges. He had to replace a few in the past week or so, which includes the time that the bones were removed.”

”Ahhh… That makes a lot of sense now.” Velma saw that it was now enough time for her to get something in. “I came across several bits of tape that were different including what might be evidence of the ‘interference’ you were talking about. It was a bunch of shaky images like someone was playing around with a hand held camera and didn’t know how to use it.”

”Oh! Like when Daphne was looking around with the lipstick camera against her head.” Melvin said with a slap of one hand into the palm of the other in realization.

”Jinkies!”

Came a gasp from Velma, who turned back to the screens. Fred then bumped into Melvin, who looked up to see Fred wiggle his eyebrows at the younger kid. “See.” He whispered. “…Jinkies.” He said with a grin. Though Velma was to into her work to hear what was going on behind her.

”If I take the recording that I found, and the static tapes… I might be able to run it through my computer and see if I can find anything out. But it might take some time to configure and render the images. So I’ll…” She paused, looking at the screen next to her.

”Incoming at 3… 2…. 1…. We have cowardice.”

As Velma finished her count down, the door burst open and in came, paws over heels the mass of canine and beatnik. With a bit of a struggle, Shaggy forced his head past Scooby, or was that Scrappy’s paw, to speak. With a salute, he some how managed, Shaggy croaked out what had happened.

”Like’ we just got chased by the Ghost Dinosaur… And man does he have the worst breath! We…” He paused trying to figure how to put it lightly… “We got sidetracked a bit looking for rations and we misplaced the guard on the door due to some… Circumstances.”

”But Shaggy, you guys… Oof!” A quick elbow from one of the other two came swift and shutting up Scrappy to let Shaggy continue their tale. ”We lost track of the door for a short bit, and when we came back… The professor was gone. The room was like a mess. Worst then our room, eh Scoob?”

”Rah rah!” Agreed from somewhere of the mass of paws, limbs and Shaggy’s clothing.

”We tried to look for him, but then came along all tall ghostly and gruesome. A bit of a chase later, well… Here we are!” Shaggy finished his tale and flumped to the floor. Daphne and Melvin moved to try to untangle the mass of limbs from one another, it was a slow process, but they managed after a bit to get them into three separate bodies, all limbs accounted for. ”Thanks guys.”

”Alright gang. Let’s go see.” Fred suggested, though Shaggy got all wide eyed.

”Do… we like’ have to go back? We just finished running away.” He tried to plead with the puppy eyes, but had yet to recover from the run to have it all that effective. Scooby would have backed him up, but he was holding Scrappy back from running to face the monster alone. “Come on you guys, we’ll all go together.” Daphne suggested, though Velma added. “Let me go run this to the Van and I’ll be right with you. Melvin, can you give me a hand?” Melvin was confused at first, so he stood there looking over at her till she waved a few tapes to catch his attention. He got it then, and hurried over to accept the tapes that she started to pile on his waiting hands. As the pile got stacked to his chin, he watched in amazement, as she seemed to take double the portion she gave him and picked them up like they were nothing. Well, they seemed nothing with one or two, but the like sixteen tapes all piled up felt heavier then it looked. Following after her in awe, she told the rest of the gang to be careful and headed off to the van with Melvin in tow. It was a bit of a silent trip back till they got to the car, mostly because Melvin didn’t know what to say. It was all a bit hard to swallow everything that had happened that day for him. Though it was clear that Velma was practically skipping with happiness, even with being weighed down with the tapes… Which now were really getting heavy for him. Thankfully though, they had arrived to the van. Placing down the stack he had, he leaned against the van trying to catch his breath.

”Sorry…” Came Velma once she noticed how he was trying to recover. It wasn’t as easy for him as it was for her. Who was far used to such things.

”How…. Can you carry all that?” Panted Melvin amazed that she wasn’t even having a hard time breathing.

”Oh, well I own a small bookshop I sometimes open when the guys are off doing other things. It’s a nice way to spend a week when not on a mystery. Those stacks of books are heavier then these tapes.” She said, all the while putting the tapes into the back of the van.

”Ah, well that makes sense.” Melvin thought.

Hopping up into the van once she piled all the tapes inside, Velma moved to stacking them all. Curious, Melvin had recovered enough to walk around and peer at what she was doing.

”I’m separating them into categories. The static tapes, the motion tapes and a few to judge the size ratio’s of the people working there.”

”Size ratio?” Melvin looked at her puzzled. Why would they need to know the size of everyone?

”Well, it’s clear that someone is using this ‘Ghost Dinosaur’ as a disguise to cover up something. And it has to do with the bones, but the intention is still unclear. So I figured that it might be good to figure the size difference for each suspect on camera, so that once or if my computer can gather any more data from damaged and shaky tapes, that we can compare and figure out who is on film. It might just give us the clue we need. It might be also useless, but better off then to look and find nothing, then to not look at all and miss something. I’ve done that before.” Once piled, she started putting in tape after tape of the parts she wanted on some device she had hooked up to a small screen in the back of the van. He hadn’t noticed it prior to now, since the whole ride he had been preventing himself from being sick, but it had been there the whole time. He leaned in and noticed the whole back of the van seemed outputted with various compartments installed into the walls.

”We learned a lot over the years. And now a lot of the things we always wished we had for various mysteries we carry in the back of the van just in case. It is a pain for when we have to pay tolls on how heavy the van is, and the gas money, but it’s worth it in the end.” Velma remarked as she watched the younger boy look in fascination at the back of the van. She chuckled. “...Even though it’s scary at some points, isn’t it fun?” She leaned forward on the consul, crossing her arms and laying her head on it as she looked at him.

”I… I really didn’t expect any of this… It’s a lot to take in at one time. I mean… We were CHASED! That this was huge and scary!” Melvin waved his arms as he spoke, indicating the huge size of the monster. “And you guys are amazing, picking up on all these things I would have never noticed. And Daphne and Fred… Wow… I didn’t understand half of the things that the guy Peter was saying, yet they seemed to know exactly what he was talking about.”

Velma listened the whole time, a smile growing across her face. He reminded her of when they had been younger. She hadn’t forgotten how it was to learn so much. True, she had no one before her to teach any of gang what he or she needed to know, but they learned from each other. She knew a lot, but some things Fred and Daphne did know better then she did due to their experience with cameras and film. But that is the beauty of working in a group. You each had strong points to work off of.

”Well, you noticed that the shakiness could be attributed to something like Daphne putting the camera to the side of her head to make the same effect.”

”Well… I…”

”That might be an important factor, if Fred and I are correct.”

”Fred thought that too?” Melvin felt confused. He didn’t recall Fred ever saying anything. Velma laughed.

”Well, What Fred didn’t say, I could tell where his mind was going. You, kind of learn to read each other when you live and work with each other so long. His mind is already turning and if I know him, once we get back we’ll probably spilt up again and have a few more places to check before everything falls into place.”

”…Falls into place? Like you guys already know what is going on?” Melvin was really lost, he knew they had found a few clues, but how did she already have an idea of what was going on?

”Well, Fred and Daphne didn’t talk too much about Peter. So he doesn’t seem to be a suspect.” Velma started but Melvin interrupted. “But Peter seemed so… stuttering and jittery. And he lost things. He could be it as well.” Velma snickered.

“Just because someone lost something due to carelessness or is a bit jumpy or jittery, doesn’t mean they are the person who did it. Actually, it seems to be a more normal reaction when questioned to be a bit jumpy. The calm one’s are the one’s to be more suspicious about it.”

Melvin’s brow furrowed in thought and confusion. “Huh? Really?”

”Well… Look at it this way. When a person comes out of no where and starts asking you questions, wouldn’t you get all confused and disoriented if it was sudden and unexpected? Wondering something like… ‘what did I do wrong’ type deal, right?”

”Well… I guess…”

”Though when you ask someone something, and they are able to give you a clear and well thought out of answer, and quickly. Doesn’t that mean that they have had enough time to think about it to give an answer in such a situation? To me that seems more suspicious.”

Melvin had never thought about it like that. Well, he never thought he would be a person in such a situation so didn’t have to think about it. But I guess the paranoia might do that to a person.

”I’m not saying that Peter is not totally ruled out, but at this point in time, we have others who pose more of a possibility then him. So unless the clues move towards him, then we should waste less time on watching him and more time doing other things.” Velma said, as she was finishing up her work. She had set up a program to see if she could straighten out the jumbled pictures into something that was a bit easier to watch. Using a point-to-point system that had a lot of input of levels and lines, it was going to try to take the few points of the tape that seemed to have a clear direction of what was up and what was down as the base reference. So the program would run and tilt the pictures to make them all lines up based on the base point that Velma had given the computer. Hopping off the Mystery Machine, she closed the doors and dusted her hands off. Making a motion to Melvin, she waved him to follow her as she trotted towards the door, eager to find out what the rest of the gang had found out in her absence. Melvin had to jog after her. Surprised at how fast she moved; yet kept a dainty grace that didn’t kick up her skirt much. Must be from all the experience from running away from monsters.

Entering the lobby, they watched at the rest of the gang come back from the professor’s office. Fred and Daphne informed Melvin and Velma that they had found the room all torn up, like Shaggy had said. The professor was gone, and there were clear signs of struggle, and claw marks of the ghost dinosaur. Velma told Fred that she had set up the computers to run, but it was going to take a bit before they would be able to be rendered and watch able.

”Alright gang.” Started Fred, though everyone knew what he was about to say. “It looks like we still have a few clues to find before we can wrap up this mystery. Velma do you have a map I can borrow?” Velma was quick to provide it, though Melvin wasn’t sure where she had it, since he could not see any pockets on Velma’s outfit. Looking the map over, Fred made a game plan. “Alright. Shaggy, Scooby…. I want you guys to check over here.” Using the map, Fred pointed to a section that was the staff area. Had some minor storage, the staff back room, and a few lockers. “Explore this area, see if you can find anything that might look out of the ordinary.”

Looking over the map, he noted the area where the dinosaur was going to be exhibited. It was worth looking at. Maybe there was a clue or two by where it was supposed to go. Moving closer to Daphne, Fred made motions for Scrappy and Melvin to come closer.

”Daphne, Melvin and Scrappy will cover here. Maybe you can find something about the dinosaur that wasn’t provided by Derk or Kent. Keep you eyes out gang. Velma and I will try to find Derk to talk to him again and maybe explore the wrecked office a bit more carefully. Maybe there is a document that might be useful. Be careful gang, and holler if you find anything. We’ll meet back up in about an hour here. Good luck.”
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Waiting till everyone had left the area did he turn to Velma to start off to their own clue gathering. She had been waiting for him, moving up to his side and placing her hands behind her back at her relaxed posture. Shooting her a grin, he thanked her and handed the map back, which she took. Letting Fred lead, Velma kept up with his stride. She figured that Fred wanted to find Derk before going to the office, since it wasn’t going anywhere.

It was a while before either of them spoke up. Fred was the one to break the silence.

”… You know Melvin isn’t so bad at this as I thought it was. He reminds me of the old days when were didn’t know as much as we know now.” Fred chuckled at the end of it. He was getting a liking to the kid, and he felt a bit like a mentor. Since he was inexperienced but seemed to have potential.

”I have to agree.” Responded Velma. “…He has a quick mind and inquisitive thought. He has that same look that we used to have on our faces. It’s a bit nostalgic.” Fred laughed.

”Now don’t you be getting any funny ideas miss Dinkley. We cannot take on a protégé. That and the kid is way to young for this racket. He should be in school, not chasing monsters and ghosts like we did. Not saying we turned out bad, but this doesn’t seem to be well thought out on his and Scrappy’s part. They don’t even live nearby. I… just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

”Oh Fred. I know that. He’s a nice kid and all, but I don’t think he’s cut out for this as much as we were. Oh!” As Velma was talking, she caught someone down on of the hallways. “This way Fred!”

Taking off down the hall, Velma ran to catch the person, with Fred close at her heels. He caught up to be neck and neck with her as the clashed the person, who seemed to have spotted them and ran to avoid them. Squinting, Fred recognized the man for being Peter from before. “PETER! Wait up!” He hollered, but that only seemed to make the man run faster. It was soon that Fred and Velma lost him in all the twists and turns they had taken. Leaning on the wall to catch his breath, he tried to listen over his heart for footfalls, but could not hear anything. Velma had been panting heavy, but took a short time to recover, same as Fred.

”I wonder what got into him. He seemed scared of us.”

”Maybe he is more suspicious then I thought.” Velma responded.

”And where do you think you are running to?” Came a gruff voice from behind them. Upon turning, Fred and Velma looked up at the intimidating form of Robert, the security guard. He seemed to have run to catch them.

”I saw someone and I tried to catch them, Fred identified him as Peter and I had a few more questions to ask but he took off.” Velma told the security guard. She didn’t mean to spook him, but why was he running away from them then. Especially when Fred said his name.

”Peter… Doesn’t talk to people.” Robert said with a snort. People seeming to apply for him as well.

”Well, maybe we can ask you then. Have you seen Derk? I wanted to ask him a few more questions.” Fred responded.

”Derk. He just went and got the box key from me. He said something about Kent wanting it since he lost his. So I gave him my copy and told him to have Kent give it back to me when he was done.”

”…But Kent was captured.” Velma said puzzled.

”Captured? What do you mean?” Robert looked at them suspiciously. Like, they were not to be trusted. They were a bunch of overgrown kids to him anyway.

”Kent was being guarded by Shaggy, Scrappy and Scooby, they went away from the door for a few minutes and when they came back his room was torn apart and Kent was missing. Didn’t you see that on the security camera’s?” Fred asked.

”No.” Robert said with a huff. “That is one of the camera’s that Peter has yet to put back up.”

”Hmm… Thank you Robert. Now which way did Derk head off to?” Velma asked politely, so not to anger the man any more then he seemed to be.

”He was heading to Kent’s office to meet Kent.” Grunted Robert.

”Maybe you should come with us.” Suggested Fred. Not that the aura the man gave off towards them was any comfort, but it was damage property and the head of security should know about it. Robert seemed a bit shocked at the offer, but took no time in figuring out the meaning behind the offer. Velma watched as the big man took off in the direction and looked towards Fred. He in turn shrugged and set a place comfortably giving the man ahead of them enough room.

The trip did not take long. Though before they got there, Robert spotted Derk coming down the hallway that led to Kent’s office. “Where’s Kent?” Robert barked to Derk. The man jumped for a second, before he realized it was just Robert. Though he did not miss the fact that Velma and Fred were there.

”I just finished talking with him. He rushed me a bit since he said he had to go.” Derk made a sour face, since he did not like having to deal with Kent at all, and the fact he seemed such in a rush to get him away from him made him enjoy the interaction even less.

”So you just saw him?” Fred asked confused.

”Yeah. The jerk just left. He stopped me in the hall outside his office.” Derk said with an unhappy huff. First the guy asks if he could bring him the key, then he wants him away.

”… But Kent’s been missing since his room as torn apart.” Velma added. Feeling really confused at the situation. Had Derk really seen Kent, or was he lying. She wasn’t sure.

”…Um. But I just saw him?” Derk said, giving them a look like they were stupid. Like, ’duh, he was right there…’ kind of look.

”Move!” Robert said, fed up with the conversation. He was going to see for himself. Derk tried to continue his side before Robert pushed past him. Dazed, he forgot his argument and followed. Fred and Velma were close behind wanting to know what had just happened. Coming upon the room came a scene that shocked all but Fred, who had already been to it once before. At a staggeringly slow pace, Derk’s mouth hung open as he moved to the entrance of the door. While he was in shock, Robert was having a different reaction.

”What did you do?” He yelled, seizing Derk roughly by the collar. Robert picked up Derk and flipped him around to face the angered Security guard. Apparently he didn’t like not knowing things that were going on without him noticing. He started to shake him before Velma grabbed him by an arm to stop Robert from shaking Derk.

”Calm down!” She told him sternly, surprising the taller man with the strength that the younger woman was displaying.

”Yes. Calm down Robert. Derk, you know nothing about this?” Fred asked the shaken scientist. He shook his head like a nervous twitch back and forth as fast as he could to show that he didn’t know what was going on.

”I…I just saw him a second ago…” Stuttered Derk.

”Liar!” Yelled Robert in his face, which made the smaller man flinch.

”Put him down Robert.” Commanded Velma. The towering security guard looked as if he was going to bite her head off, but she was shooting back a glare hot enough that was able to stand down his. Grudgingly, he put Derk down. Who in turn sprinted away from Robert and hid behind Fred.

”It’s all HIS Fault!” Said Derk, starting to get hysteric. “… HE framed me… It’s all the high and mighty Kent Perl’s fault!” Derk pointed an accusing finger in the direction of where Kent’s office was. Fred was starting to feel a headache coming on.
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”Oh boy!” Shouted the excited voice of Scrappy. He was practically dancing around the floor, well... like an excited puppy. “I can’t believe it! I’ll go ahead and scout out ahead for that nasty ghost Dinosaur! Grrrrr!”

Scrappy scampered off ahead before Melvin was able to stop the ambitious dog. His hand went limp and fell to his side as the Dane vanished from sight in the direction they were heading.

”…Scrappy…” Murmured Melvin in defeat as he was already to far for him to hear the weak protest of his. His head hung low as he followed wordlessly after the older girl. She had watched the whole thing and the wheels in her head had been turning. Though the thought has plagued her earlier, since he seemed to have felt a bit more comfortable and used to them, maybe it was time to indulge in her curiosities.

”Hey Melvin?”

”Hmm?” He turned, his attention changing from where his dog had gone to the older girl.

”I was wondering…” She started off slow, watching him for any key motions or hints that she was talking about a subject he might feel uncomfortable with. “…Scrappy doesn’t seem to be your kind of dog.”

”What? Him being a mass of energy, inquisitive, adventurous and me being… well me?” He looked over at her, though his neither voice, nor posture gave away that he was annoyed or even upset about what she was saying. “You are absolutely right. Scrappy was originally my brother’s dog. Owen Toore, eldest son of the Toore household is eventually going to claim the family name and take over for dad’s business. He’s a rather widely known Head Foreman around where I live, and he wanted to pass the position to my brother since he has taken up a liking to it. I’m getting past myself, but basically my brother, being the older one always got what he wanted. And one year he wanted a puppy, so my parent’s complied. It was nice… for the first week or so. But as the puppy grew more energetic, and my brother’s patience for dealing with the burden of responsibility getting slimmer, he did what every older sibling does… Made his younger brother do it.”

Melvin sighed a mixed feeling sigh, slumping his head forward on his shoulders. “Being several years younger then my brother, I looked up to him. So when he asked me to do him a favor, I was too young and gullible to refuse him. I ended up for a long time, doing the chores that were supposed to build character for my brother… Or so said my father. Maybe he should have done it all those times, but it wasn’t exactly like he was going to tell my parent’s. Both were hardly home to realize that I was doing the chores. Occasionally my dad did come in and comment when he saw me and Scrappy watching TV, but usually that was some comment that my dad said for me to keep up the good work, that maybe I would be as responsible as my brother some day.  Little did he know? Well, eventually being with me all the time, Scrappy got restless. Maybe it was when we once caught some news about one of the crimes that you guys had just solved. It showed a bit of some lady interviewing Shaggy and where he got Scooby. It was from then on that Scrappy became obsessed with finding out about his long lost uncle. From the news on TV…To paper clippings from the Sunday papers. Scrappy used to take me for hunts if he ever heard wind of you guys doing something else new he didn’t know about. Eventually he ran away, which I assume that is when he came to you guys. It was years before Scrappy actually returned to us. But by then my brother could care less about some puppy who he barely remembered even being his. So he ‘gave’ me Scrappy. My father thought it was a good idea, since I could use the responsibility for once. But Scrappy didn’t come back empty handed. For many years I spent taking care of Scrappy, all he would talk about was the gang and your adventures together. He kept a scrapbook, afterwards to keep track of you guy’s travels and accomplishments. But it was recently that he seemed more restless then normal. And things lead from one thing to another… and, well. Here we are.”

He made a motion to the museum they were currently in. Making gestures to the various things they were passing by.

”One day at home and watching TV, to on an plane and eventually in a museum haunted by a ghost dinosaur that is unhappy we moved it’s remains. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my weekend, but it could be worse.”

”…Worse?” Daphne inquired puzzled at what could he deem worse then this situation. Since she was used to Shaggy’s constant reaction that each new mystery was the scariest moment in his life.

”Well… If I recall some of the stories Scrappy told me about… He made mention of a rather large Minotaur, a Vampire or two, mummies, werewolves, living toys… and a haunted Treasure Chest or something along those lines. He seemed a bit vague on the details about that last one. So, this is only a ghost Dinosaur that can easily bite through most of me without effort. No biggie.”

Daphne grinned, repressing the fact to chuckle since he was being so sarcastic about it. He seemed to be handling it better then she might have thought. It did feel odd him making mention of a few things, though it just made her realize how many things she had done so far in her life. They all had done in their lifetime so far.

”Well…” She was about to say something when Scrappy came scampering back.

”Guys! Guys! I found it! It’s only a bit further ahead!” Scrappy slid across the tile floor enough to make some chattering of his claws upon the ceramic before he disappeared entirely. It took only seconds before Melvin took off after his rambunctious dog.

”Wait up!” He yelled.

”Boy…” Daphne commented as she watched the smaller boy scamper off after his hyper canine. She felt a bit bad for him, since she knew full well how it was to deal with the young dog, first hand. She could not picture living with him. Though, she had to pick up her pace before she lost track of them both.

 It didn’t to long for her to come where Scrappy was showing off his find. It sure seemed to be a main exhibit due to the sheer size that was offered to the one showcase for the dinosaur. Though with the size of the ‘ghost’ that was chasing them, it seemed a lot of space for a bit larger then the average human, sized dinosaur to be showed off on. Seemed like a lot of time and effort went into the showcasing of it, even before it was even in the area. The perimeter was roped off by those fancy kind of velvety ropes that were linked together by posts, to let people see past it at the display in the making. Scrappy had waited on the proper side till they caught up, before he ducked under and trotted past the flimsy red boundary that separated the guests from where the work was going on. Melvin held up a hand in protest as his words just got lost somewhere on the way up. Daphne came over and let a hand come to rest on his shoulder. He looked up at her, a bit of helplessness at Scrappy’s actions before his eyes grew wide as she ducked past the ropes.

”We can’t solve the case sitting on the sidelines. Plus, they hired us, so it’s not like it’s cut off for us to not go past.” Not that trespassing was beyond her of the gang. They had done their share of it in the past, but it was always for the good of people, and not to do it for a illegal or wrongful reason. “…We are technically working here. So come on.” She urged to him. They had clues to find.

Tentatively, Melvin inched himself over the ropes. He nearly tripped, and knocked the whole line of posts over. But caught his balance before he caused any damage. He almost flinched as his foot touched the other side. Like an alarm was going to go off since he felt like a person who was not authorized to be in the area. Since the bells and whistles never went off, he was able to look up and take in the grandeur of the area. With the stage in the middle of it all, he figured that was where the Dinosaur was supposed to be put on display.  Behind it seemed a small alcove where was sketched a rough outline of what the dinosaur looked like, though the painter had yet to work more then just the most minor details. On either side stemming from where the alcove was, were two long stretched of what looked like slanted counters? These had various pictures describing what the dinosaur’s diet, environment and other tidbits of information that had been thought out by scientists. It seemed odd, since it looked like a carnivore, but it had a jaw that seemed to be of an herbivore. So it either was a plant eater, or mixed. An Omnivore.

Though something caught his attention. Moving to the odd shaped piece on the display board, it read for him to smell the contents that were held somewhere inside. Leery of the result, his curiosity got the better of him. Though only a small whiff was needed to send the boy into tears.

”WAH!”

He croaked out as he reeled back from the stench. It was worse then a skunk. Worse then some of the foul gym socks that had been thrown his way. There was no stench that he could compare it to. At his exclamation, Daphne and Scrappy came running over.

”What did you find?” Asked a chipper Scrappy. The dogs tail a blur in excitement. Daphne was more relieved it was not a yell of danger or something. Though with the boy covering his nose she too was curious at what he had found.

”…Na’ere” Came a nasally response as he still shielded his nose. Though it seemed that since he only was able to smell it when he got close, that you had to actually seek out the hideous smell to bear witness to it’s awfulness. Scrappy was next to get hit by it. He flinched and pulled back from the counter top.

”Man that stuff stinks!” He growled, pawing at his nose to try to rid him of the smell. Melvin wasn’t sure if he would be able to smell straight after such an assault.

”Contain inside is a simulation of what the breath of this deadly creature might smell like due to it’s ranged diet and possible bacteria contained in the mouth to help take down larger prey then itself. Like the Komodo dragon.” Read Daphne from the wall where the information about the particular ‘attraction was. After the two reactions, she was unsure that she wished to subject herself to such a smell. But being a true detective, she steeled herself for it and took a quick whiff. Though even braced for it, did not damper the tear inducing effect the overbearing odor contained.

”Man…” Daphne shook her head in attempt to dislodge the smell as it clung to her nostrils.

”…You’re telling me. I should have stopped you.” Melvin felt a tad bit badly she had went and subjected herself to it as well. And that he didn’t protect her from experiencing it.

”Yes you should have.” Daphne said, though light hearted in manner, giving her nose a few more rubs. “…We’ll have to tell Kent that he needs this fixed. It’s nice and all to let people experience prehistoric morning breath, but it doesn’t have to be as…” As she searched for the right, appropriate word, she did one more set of rubbing on her nose. “…Potent.”

”Seriously.” Said Scrappy with a bit of a grumpy distain at the small container of evil. Especially being a dog, the smell was horrendous. And he didn’t have to be all that close to get a hint of it, and he had practically put his nose in the thing to smell.

Looking at the time, Daphne noticed that it was getting close to meeting back with the rest of them. They had found a bit out, and could always come back. But it appeared that nothing was really there that could provide any clues that weren’t in big bold lettering so that even a young child could read about the dinosaur.

”Come on. We better meet back up with the gang. Let’s head off this way, I think it’s a shortcut back though some of the staff area’s and Shaggy and Scooby might have found something.” Scrappy nodded and Melvin was just happy to get away from the horrid smelling contraption. He couldn’t picture parent’s letting their kids smell something like that. Though it was tall enough that you had to be a certain height to get to the top of it. The protection from curiosity, in the form of a convenient height restriction. In that moment, he pitied the taller children.

Past the ropes, they went away from the display and along what slowly became a cluttered pathway. It seemed that the route they were traveling became less and less visitor and more staff since the halls became a jumbled mess of parts and pieces of what looked to be past exhibits and such. Not impossible to get around, but sometimes it was enough to take up half the large hallway. Where normally they could pass all three in a row and not be touching shoulders, the smaller areas would be harder to fit two people shoulder to shoulder. Checking doors as she led them, Daphne peered into each one and called out Shaggy and Scooby’s names. Scrappy was close behind, peering into each in the shadow of Daphne. Melvin was more curious at the things that were in the pile by the door she was currently searching. It seemed to be filled with mannequin parts. From legs to arms… and a few torsos added in for good measure. Probably used for the suits of armor and things on display and this was where for the moment they put the extra parts. It was Melvin who was the first to hear something out of the ordinary. As Daphne hung into the dark room calling the names of their companions, Melvin heard this faint and growing louder sound.

At first he thought he might just be imagining it, but as it got louder and louder between Daphne and Scrappy’s yells, He looked up from the barrel to have his eyes grow wide! He was barely able to give a squeak before the ghost dinosaur came charging into the area. Hitting into the pile, it sent parts flying all over the place. Melvin ducked, hiding into one of the area’s as Scrappy turned to face the Dinosaur. Though the dinosaur was faster and hit a spare arm that landed right across Scrappy’s muzzle, dazing him. With a push forward, he came from behind the open door and slammed it close, pinning Daphne on the other side of the door into the darkness.

A groan came from Scrappy as he was trying to shake off the dizziness he was experiencing. Paw to his head, he was able to get enough sense to jump out of the way as the tail of the dinosaur came crashing down where he had just been standing. Had he been able to see straight, he would be able to take the ghost dinosaur easy. But his mind was still making the room spin. He was no good like this, and was forced to start to back up. Daphne seemed to be locked in the room by a few articles closing the outside opening door, shut. Banging on the door showed that Daphne was not happy with her capture on the other side of the door. And Melvin was nowhere in sight. Backing off, he was trying to shake off his headache. His best bet for them all was to return with help. If anything, Fred would know how to handle the Dinosaur. With one more last look of regret for not being able to fight the ghost, he took off in search for help.

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’They were late.’ Though Fred. Looking over it seemed Velma was thinking the same thing as she paced nervously in a small area. Once they had finished sorting things out with Robert and Derk, Velma had checked on the van and returned and there still was no sign of the rest of the gang. With a nod in her direction, he started off in the direction where Shaggy and Scooby where. Experience told him that most of the time trouble went after them, and the next on the list was Daphne. He just hoped that it had not come to that since Melvin was with her. Though she was used to all sorts of situations, he hoped that he was just paranoid. He preferred being paranoid to being right. Velma was right behind him, eager to give search. Finding everyone was top priority. With hurried purpose, they covered the hallways pretty quickly to get to the area where he had sent Shaggy and Scooby. With one quick look at the map, it was easy to find the large staff room. It was a best bet for the duo, since staff lounges usually meant a type of food, or fridge for food. Where there was food, there would be them.

With a sigh of relief, Fred was happy he was right as he came to watch the two gluttons’ on the end of a massing cleaning spree, of the lounges fridge and pantry. Even the sugar packets were free game as they chugged them down like Shot glasses to see who was ‘manlier’ then the other and could handle the sugar rush till overload.

”Like’ hey gang. Care to join us for a few rounds? We still have enough for a few more players.” Shaggy chuckled amusedly. It was clear to Velma and Fred that it was not likely that Shaggy and Scooby had seen the ghost Dinosaur recently enough. At least not recently enough to have downed over one hundred sugar packets by themselves, two sandwiches, part of a watermelon, and a few other miscellaneous wrappers strewn about table they were eating off of.

”No thanks Shaggy. We just were wondering what happened to everyone.” Fred asked the sugar high beatnik.

”Well… We found a mess in most of the hallways, but nothing looked interesting…” Or Edible. “…Checked the rooms but nothing seemed out of the ordinary that we could notice. So we ended up here. Besides coming across the fridge unlocked, this odd scribbled note, and some skittish guy running in here looking for something before he went running off when he noticed us.”

”What did you say?” Velma responded.

”Oh, some skittish guy…”

”No… Before that.”

”Before that? Well the fridge was unlocked. Such carelessness…” He was about to continue when Fred cut him off, trying to get to the one bit of info that wanted to know more about.

”No… After the Fridge, but before the skittish guy.” Fred said with a sigh.

”Oh. Like why didn’t you just ask about it in the first place?” The earned a rolled eyes look from Velma, but at least they were now on the right track.

“Here.” Shaggy said, holding up a piece of paper. It seemed to rain a bit of sugar off of it, but was unstained from anything else. Taking it from Shaggy, Fred placed it on a clean part of the table to examine it. It seemed to be a typed up list of inventory. With the date recording to recently. Though, what seemed off about the inventory list were strange footnotes that were along the sides of some of the cameras. It was a strange combination of letters and numbers.

”Jinkies!” Came a gasp out of Velma. Which brought everyone’s attention to her. She pulled out her map and skimmed it before a grin flowered across her face.

”Look here!” She placed down the map next to the list so that Fred could see it. Curious, Shaggy and Scooby had joined them on the clean side of the table and peered around the other two to look at the notes. “Each of the sections of the museum on the map is color coded and given a number for each area. So, my guess is that each of these combinations… are the area color, room number.”

”But what is this… H, something note over here. On this part, thingy of the notes on the list after the Color and room number?” Shaggy asked, curious. He could understand the color and number relation, but the space after it and the next set of letter number combinations confused him. Velma seemed to still be working at it, her hand upon the bottom on her chin.

”Well… It’s all the letter ‘H’ for the whole list all the way down. So maybe it’s the same kind of thing?”

”R’uts?” Scooby offered.

”Like no Scoob, I don’t think its huts. Nice try buddy.” Shaggy patted the Dane on the head for a good try.

”…Could it be … Hallways?” Fred suggested.

Velma’s eyes grew wide as she looked at it. Running her hands over it, she counted the hallways and compared it to the list. “You know, you are right. The count seems to never go past the amount of hallways in the different area. And using the map it seemed to be lined up in a fashion… But…” She looked it over, making the H spots on the map. “This looks like an odd placement for the camera’s to be put for protecting the exhibits… Most of the them are watching the staff areas… not…” Velma was not able to get of the rest of it when they all heard the scampering of claws against the floor. Scrappy came dashing into the room.

”GUYS! The ghost Dinosaur! It got Daphne and Melvin!”

Snatching up the paper and map, they all ran to follow Scrappy. Reluctantly in the case of Shaggy and Scooby, but they never could leave one of their own, even if Daphne got captured more often then not. As they ran, Velma seemed to be taking note of something as she ran by, checking the map as they went past. She was distracted and ended up crashing into Fred when they stopped.

”Oof… Sorry Fred.” She apologized.

”It’s ok Velma.” Fred helped her straighten up before surveying the scene. What seemed that have started out to be a pile upon one of the sides of the hallway had been strewn about as if the dinosaur was looking for something. A mess of things had been piled up in front of a door, which Scrappy pointed out.

”Daphne’s inside there. The Ghost Dinosaur shoved her inside and then attacked me. I would have clobbered him, but I couldn’t get near him as he started to throw all the stuff about. But it looks like he left. I could have taken him.” Scrappy said with a snort.

Moving to the door, Scooby, Scrappy and Shaggy started to clear off the door.  “Daph! You ok in there?” Shaggy talked to the door, hoping it would talk back.

As they worked at freeing the door, Fred started to look through the scattered things. It was a bit before he heard a groan. “Over here!” Fred shouted, drawing Scooby and Velma over to assist him. Pulling various things out of the way, they made a path to what seemed to be a barrel of Mannequin legs. Though one set of legs was wearing a ratty pair of worn jeans on. With a heave, they found the legs were connected to a very dizzy and upside down Melvin.

”Melvin! You ok man?” Fred asked concerned as he flipped the boy right side up. Besides his head spinning, and that a huge Ghost Dinosaur just attacked him. He was just peachy.

”Ugh… my head…” Melvin groaned. His voice calling over Scrappy who came over enough to notice he was ok, and then went back to digging out the door with Shaggy.

”R’hat rappened?” Scooby asked, nosing the younger kid in concern. Giving his face a wash with his sloppy long tongue. Melvin fought off the bath and tried to push away the concerned head.

”I’m ok… All I remember was that the Ghost Dinosaur came charging towards me, and the next thing I knew you guys found me.” Little did he recall, fainting at the sight. But even if he recalled it he wouldn’t admit it in his embarrassment. “…Where’s Daphne?” He moved forward looking for the older girl that was with him.

”Perfectly fine, besides the fact I was shoved into a storage closet. But I found something interesting. .” Moving back into the door, Daphne led the way into the lit room. In her time contained inside, she was able to find a light on one of the tables. It was arched over to a spot on the wall, which seemed to be occupied by rolls of what seemed to be clear material for the most part… Except for an irregular edge. Daphne went straight to it and pointed out the roll. “See?”

Melvin didn’t get it. What did the roll of the material have to do with being a clue? At least that is what he figured she was doing showing it to them. He didn’t get it. Though as he looked around the room, the smiles were betraying that this in fact was a clue, and it was just beyond him.

”I do see. Great find Daphne.” Fred complimented the older girl, watching Velma look at the material with a closer look. Though she pulled out a flashlight and examined the edge more carefully. Melvin wandered closer to see what the older girl was looking at so closely. It was only when she shone the light upon the edge that he started to get a clue of what it was.

”…This is the same stuff as...” Melvin started, unsure if he should finish his sentence, since he didn’t want to be wrong and embarrass himself in front of the older girl.

”Exactly. This explains a lot.” Velma looked over at him with a nod. Peering behind her, she looked at Fred. Melvin’s view followed hers, as they all seemed to be looking at him. He looked thick in concentration. “Here it comes…” Velma whispered with a slight hint of excitement in her voice that seemed to be lost on Melvin. Though even Scrappy looked intently at the older man, tail swishing happily. What was going on with Fred? Melvin thought puzzled.

”Gang… I have a plan!”

Fred said as he pulled his hand off his chin in thought and placed it at his hip. A grin plastered across his face.
__________________________________

Melvin had heard of the complexity of Fred’s plans from Scrappy, but hearing them from Scrappy, and actually being apart of it was two different experiences.

”Velma. This room is secure, isn’t it?” Fred asked the girl. She looked over her map, fingers tracing over something she had written down upon it.

”Yeah Fred, it’s clear.” Though her words didn’t make any sense to Melvin. He listened anyway.

”Alright, Velma trace a route for Shaggy and Scooby to take to attract the Dinosaur leading to… Here.” Fred had said as he looked over the map and pointed out a room that was on it. Melvin looked at it seemed a room filled with rows of displays. Or so it described. Velma nodded. “Good choice Fred. One entrance in and out, so we can monitor him coming in, and have a way out.”

”Alright, We are going to need a type of rope.” Fred mentioned next.

”I can get that; Melvin and I found a set of those display ropes for the exhibits. We could link them have a good amount of length.” Daphne responded. Though Melvin was shocked that his name was mentioned. What did she mean they found it? What did they find?

”All right, Daph. We need as much as you can get. Velma, trace her a path so that she can get their undetected, even if it’s a bit out of the way.” Velma nodded and looked back to the map with Daphne coming over to get her instructions.

”Shaggy, Scooby…. You guys…” Fred started.

”You know… We’ll only do it for a box…” He paused. “Each!” Shaggy negotiated on their part for the both of them. Earning a nod from the Dane in approval. Fred sighed and looked over to Daphne. She nodded. “Two boxes, alright. But they are back at the van. Velma can get them as she gets ready.” Velma also nodded in agreement.

”All right, Velma, you check on the videos and grab anything you think might help. Think you can rig up a jammer?” Fred suggested.

”I can see what we have in the van. I can give it a try!” She beamed, obviously brimming with excitement of the moment.

”All right, now on to the details of the plan. Come around the map Velma has.” They all crowded around the map as Fred pointed out the plan. “See here. This is where we will set up. When Shaggy and Scooby get the attention of the dinosaur, they will lead him through this entrance.” Fred pointed out the entry of a rather large room. “This has a lot of display cases to hide behind as cover. And restricts the moment of the Dinosaur to straight lines with it’s size. So it’s only going to come at us in one direction.” Fred slid his finger down the wider row of the cases. The common walk way used by the visitors. “Here, and here is where you guys can duck behind. And me and Melvin will be right here as well.” He pointed out behind the more middle-ish section. “Me?” Stuttered Melvin, who had not actually expecting to be part of it.

“Yeah. I’m going to need everyone’s help to make this work. He’s strong, so we will need everyone to jump on him to hold him down.” Fred said to Melvin as he then moved to the next part of the plan.

“Scrappy and Velma will be at this one side, Daphne you at the other side of the entranceway. You will be using the rope to trip the Dinosaur. Scrappy, I need you to help just in case Velma isn’t done with the jammer. Velma, try if you can to get it done, if not just help trip him. We can still take him even with out it.”

Fred looked about every one with an accomplished look. “Alright, you guys got it? Lead,” He pointed to Shaggy and Scooby. “Trip…” He pointed to Daphne, Velma and Scrappy. “And they we’ll tackle him for the capture. Once he’s we can tie him up with what ever rope we have and then we’ll have him. All right. Meet at the location. Melvin, follow me. Scrappy go with Daphne.”

”And we’ll follow Velma and get our boxes.” Offered Shaggy. Fred laughed.

”All right, you guys go and get you payment and then all meet back at the room. Good luck gang. And be careful!” Fred warned.
__________________________________

”Like… It sure is an empty hallway…” Shaggy half shouted as he munched on the end of the box he was given. Preferring to finish the box before he had to run. Scooby had the same mentality though was at the end of the box and licking the crumbs off the bottom of the bag. Extracting his muzzle, the Dane agreed as he licked the last crumbs off his nose.

”Rah rah… Real R’uiet.”


Shaggy’s head drooped as he finished the last of his bag as well. Which meant it was time to get the plan underway.

”Like Scoob… Wasn’t it amazing how Velma found those bones like that?” He placed his hands around his mouth and shouted it, so that his voice could be heard.

”The dinosaur was there all along. Funny how we didn’t notice it earlier.” Shaggy remarked.

”Rah Rah, runny r’ing.”

”…We better get going to meet up with the rest of the gang. They are waiting for this news before they go to the COPS!” Shaggy stressed the last word. “…And capture the guy responsible.” He started to move down the hallway at a slow pace. Though he wanted to just run to the safety of the gang were they lay in wait for them. Though they would not have to wait to long, since the growing, ground shacking clatter from behind them was getting closer.

”… Like… Now Scoob?” Shaggy was too afraid to look back. Though he didn’t have to hear his cohort’s response, since the Dane took to a mad dash forward. That was all the answer Shaggy needed. “GANG WAY!” He shouted as he took off running.

Shaggy’s eyes grew wide as he offered a glance behind him. The Ghost Dinosaur was close at their heels and getting closer. The big gapping maw, filled with sharp and pointy teeth were aimed at them. Sure some of them were flat in the mouth as well… But Teeth are still teeth. “YIPE!” Shaggy hiccupped and poured on the speed to match Scooby’s.

”Incoming!!!”

As the two of them burst into the room, they traveled a bit before skidding to a halt and diving to their hiding spots.

“NOW!” Yelled Fred from his spot and up when the display ropes. Daphne and Scrappy pulling on them to bring the rope up off the floor where the guys had leaped over it to a nice trip height. But they had not taken into the consideration of HOW strong the Dinosaur was. As it hit the rope, instead of tripping, it pulled Daphne and Scrappy away form the wall. Velma dropped what she was working on and grabbed a quick grip on the rope but even her added strength did little to slow down the movement of the Dinosaur. With a roar, the Dinosaur thrashed its tail about trying to shake the restriction. Glass shattered and sprayed all over the place making everyone hide to avoid the glass.

”Try to take him anyway!” Fred said as he got up. Jumping at the Dinosaur, Shaggy and Scooby were not to far behind. Unable to get his legs to move, Melvin shook where he had hid. Wanting to move, but paralyzed in fright at the situation. But the three of them were not enough.

”I’ll get him!” Shouted Scrappy as he got up from where he got pulled to by the rope. Though as he moved, he was impeded in attacking the Dinosaur by catching the flung Scooby in his paws. “Oof!”

One by one, The Dinosaur had thrown off Fred and Shaggy. Daphne was still trying to pull and tangle the legs with the rope, as Velma dived back to her electronics to rush her work in attempt that it might aid their dire situation. A roar bellowed from the massive form of the Dinosaur as it looked about for something. And it found it in the huddled form of Velma working. As the Dinosaur locked on her, it moved forward slowly due to the ropes. But it still was not being stopped by it.

”STOP!” Yelled Melvin as he stood between the Dinosaur and the older girl. She looked up in shock, but saw that he was buying her time so she dove back to her work. “…s…s..stop!” He yelled again only with a little less courage as the first yell. Especially since the Dinosaur was getting closer and closer to him. It seemed to be growing in size, as he got nearer. Melvin gulped. “…Don’t… Come… any…” The boy had courage, but he could only take so much. Eyes rolling back into his skull, the boy fainted. His adrenalin rush had ended and he fell to the floor like a stone. It was then a blur of Brown came flying out of nowhere. Slamming in the Dinosaur, Scrappy was pushing and hitting the massive creature.

”You can scare my Uncle Scooby… You can throw my Uncle Shaggy… You can destroy the museum property… But never… Ever do you touch or harm my owner or the gang!” With a growl he lunged and pushed back the Dinosaur. Though it was a bit of a stalemate, as the Dane was only keeping him from advancing, but not stopping him.

”Ah!” Squeaked Velma as she fumbled with the device she had in her hands and pressed the button. It seemed that the Dinosaur stiffed and it’s head darted around as if it was looking for something. Though it got little a chance to find what it wanted since Scrappy charged. With the momentum of Scrappy, and the quick movement of Shaggy, Scooby, Fred and Daphne at the ropes, they pulled and uprooted the monster and sent it to a crashing halt to the ground. Moving quickly, as Scrappy stood on top of the Dinosaur keeping him still, they worked to wind the rope around and tie up the Dinosaur’s legs up to the wrists. Panting, they all pulled back to get a look at their work. The Dinosaur seemed to struggle, but was finally captured.

Melvin groaned as he shifted from the ground and rubbed the back of his head that had hit the ground when he fainted. Scrappy dashed off the pinned Dinosaur and to his master’s side. Melvin used the Dane to steady himself as he leaned up looking over in the ghost’s direction. “Did we win?” He asked tentatively, as the gang sighed with relief at the boy being ok. Scrappy licked his master’s face. “Yeah Mel. We won.”

”WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?” Came the bellow that most of the gang had gotten to know as the grumpy voice of Robert. He came storming in with a few other security guards that were under his command. Picking herself off the floor, Velma dusted off her skirt and moved to where the Dinosaur had been struggling against its confinements. With Scooby and Shaggy hauling the Dinosaur to a sitting position, Velma grabbed the top of the Dinosaurs head.

”Let me introduce you to…”
__________________________________

Do you know who the culprit is? Can you guess from the clues that were provided? Let’s see if you were right…
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Pulling off the head of the Dinosaur, was a hand. With the removal of the top mask, it reached around for the missing mask a second before it realized that it was being unmasked.

”A Hand?” Came a grunted and confused uttering from Robert. The idea that a Dinosaur was romping around stealing bones and destroying museum property was hard enough to swallow. But here it was in front of him. But now the fact that inside the head seemed to be a… hand? Really got the security guard confused.

”Like, a Hand?” Shaggy looked also puzzled.

Daphne moved over to the Dinosaur and seemed to be searching for something. Upon finding it, she removed a front cover that pulled open the chest cavity revealing the real identity of the Ghost Dinosaur.

”Kent PERL?” Came a gasp of shock from the security crew. Shocked at the sight of the famous man being behind it all.

”Yes. The Ghost Dinosaur is none other then our own Kent Perl.” Velma showed around the mask that she had taken off Kent’s hand. “Using a modified dinosaur wire frame, he was able to make a costume out of it.”

”The dinosaurs that were in the Kid’s area!” Said Scrappy in figuring out where it came from.

“Right.” Said Fred, picking up the explanation. “ Kent had the wire frame, and he had access to the bones. It is my understanding that when bones are made for display, fiberglass bones sometimes are used in place for the real one’s. Since you don’t normally want precious bones in an area that people could have access to. Kent used these fiberglass copies to add realism to his faking of the dinosaur making us think it’s the Bones come to life.”

”And he used the Gel he used to package and ship the bones to make an eerie skin on the ‘ghost’. Making it look transparent, yet the milky white substance could hide him inside.” Daphne responded, showing the chest piece and peeling back the gel packaging from the frame.

”So the roll you found in the store room...” Melvin started.

”Yeah, it was where he cut what he used on the dinosaur. You noticed that the edges had been irregularly cut and were a bit white from the impact from the scissors, since cutting into the gel triggered the chemical reaction.” Velma told Melvin. It made sense.

”What’s going on here?” Came another shout from behind Robert’s dazed crew. Derk and Peter came pushing in with the rest of the museum crew that had been there that night working on things. “Kent?” Derk looked shocked. “...It was you all along?” Though even shocked the young scientist did seem to enjoy the angered look Kent was giving them all. He looked like a beat, bright red and fuming.

”Yes Derk, it was Kent all along.”

”But, how was he able to see out of the chest of the Dinosaur?” Scrappy wondered.

”That is simple.” Velma replied, fishing in the right eye of the glowing head and pulled out a small tube with wires off of it. “Peter didn’t misplace his list, nor did he misplace the lipstick camera’s. When Kent was setting up this whole thing, he had stole some of the parts to outfit the costume with a way he could see out of the head of the dinosaur using a spare screen. But since it was the same frequency of the camera’s at the time…” Melvin interrupted Velma.

“The shaking camera videos!” He said shocked.

”Yeah Melvin.” Replied Fred. “The interference wasn’t someone else nearby, it was Kent learning how to see out of it. The shaking was similar to when Daphne put the camera to her head. When Kent was informed of the video, he made everyone change the current camera’s, which also gave him some time. When Velma ran her program, the few scenes that worked were not of some other area, but inside the warehouse.”

”And the Inventory report was stolen and used to show where Kent had stolen and placed the old camera’s in places where he could watch his own people while he worked. He made notes on the stolen inventory list of where and what hallways he had placed the cameras. So that no one could catch him off guard while he was planning.” Velma said, holding up the map that showed the route that he had mapped out to keep an eye on them all.

”But why… Why did he do it all?” Asked a tentative Peter, hiding a bit behind everyone.

”For that… We need to go to the warehouse. Grab Kent and bring him. We need him for something.”

Robert and his men grabbed Kent roughly and dragged the protesting man after the gang as they walked to the warehouse. Derk used his key card and let them in as Fred marched them all to the box.

”But… I don’t have the key!” Derk said in his defense, worried that they might think he was part of it.

”Relax Derk. Kent has them both. Knowing that only he and Robert had the key, he made you get the other key for him.” Fred calmed the other man.

”But why?” Dark asked.

”I wondered that myself, until I remembered when we first looked at the crate.” Velma reached in to Kent’s costume and fished in his pockets for the key. Unlocking it, she pushed the battered top open with the help of Shaggy and Fred. ”An awfully large crate for only the top to have contained the bones.” She made a gesture at the indentations at where the bones had been, but were gone. “I thought this odd, but if my guess is correct.” She said as she had some help in pulling back the first layer of the gel and revealed the next layer. It was jam packed with bones.

”He had it hiding in plan sight.” Scrappy said in a bit of awe. “So he and Robert only had the keys, so once he had Roberts…”

”He didn’t have to worry about anyone checking where he had hidden it. And if he was able to scare everyone away, he would have enough time to remove the bones.” Daphne replied.

”But wouldn’t he have been seen by the camera’s?” Melvin wondered.

”Maybe, had he not found a way around that. Since the camera’s get overloaded easy, he found that using something in the warehouse would disrupt the connection.” Fred noted. Velma wandered over and searched something before she found what she was looking for. It was a small control that was connected to a long wire stemming from the ceiling. With a press of a button, a roar echoed in the warehouse. Shaggy jumped into Scooby’s arms and shivered.

”Relax guys.” Velma said as she put out her hand. She caught what seemed to be a long and thick chain. “This was used to hand the costume from. So that he was able to use this to make him and the Dinosaur be in two places at once. So him saving me was helping to put him in less suspicion. It’s a crane hooked up to the ceiling to help lift things to the higher positions on the upper shelves. The roaring sound it the large gears groaning against one another as it moved at a faster pace then it normally is run. Also when this is moving, the cameras get overloaded with the amount of power the crane needs to work, thus when ever Kent used it, he was able to scramble the cameras.”

”But… Why did he do it?” Derk wondered curiously.

”Simple.” Fred replied. “The bones are not real.”

”What!” Said a shocked Derk, for he had unburied them himself and knew them to be real.

”Well… Not real in the sense of them being fake. But the Dinosaur isn’t a new dinosaur. It’s actually two set’s of bones that got mixed up when they died.” Came Velma’s explanation, and a groan from Kent from inside the suit. “I thought so. It isn’t uncommon for even an archeologist to find a set of two bones, and think it’s a new dinosaur. But usually the analysis of the bones once in a proper lab would reveal that they are from two separate dinosaurs. But I’m guessing that Kent got excited. And started to plan all… This.” Velma gestured to the museum. “…All the money, and publicity he put into the production of showing off the bones, only to have to reveal it was all fake. He couldn’t afford losing all the money and effort… or his reputation. So if he could not pull it off, he would have them stolen. He figured that if the bones went missing long enough, they would refund him and his reputation would stay intact. He made the costume to help just in case things got tricky. But he did not intend for Derk to invite us. That was his downfall.”

Robert had heard enough, he seized the man and pulled him roughly to his feet. Kent growled at the kids, pure hate in his eyes.

”And I would have pulled it all off, if you stupid kids didn’t get in my way!”

Pulling him out the door, the security guards dragged the struggling, once famous Kent Perl off to his fate in jail. Derk watched him got a bit with a tiny big of smug satisfaction before walking over to where the bones were. “So… they aren’t a real Dinosaur then?”

”I’m afraid not. A good find, but two incomplete dinosaurs, not one new one I’m afraid. Sorry.” Consoled Fred, placing a reassuring hand on the man’s shoulder.

”Oh well. At least this means I’ll be able to do some real discoveries on my own. And who knows. Maybe I’ll find the Deinoscerasaurus eventually in my finds. Oh well. Thanks.” Derk said as he turned and left, Peter had seemed to disappear as well. That left just the gang in the warehouse.

Fred turned around with a big beaming smile. “And that wraps up another mystery. Great job gang!” He said proudly, especially at Melvin and Scrappy. They had been a lot of help, even when things had gotten messier then he had planned. Though it seemed Scrappy was sulking a bit. And this did not go unnoticed by Melvin.

”What’s wrong Scrappy? I thought you would be happy. We just solved a case. This is what you wanted!” Melvin said caught up in the excitement, forgetting about the scary scene that had played before. Though Scrappy didn’t seem to have forgotten it as easily.

”…But… Mel. You could have gotten hurt.” Scrappy said, his head downcast. “I… I was selfish in dragging you all the way here. I put you in a dangerous situation and I’m… I’m sorry.” Melvin kneeled down and placed a hand on the back of Scrappy’s head before he pulled the Dane into a hug. Which gained an ‘Aw’ from everyone that was there witnessing the touching scene.

”I… wanted to ask if we could stay. But… ” Scrappy admitted truthfully. He had spent most of the whole time planning on how to convince the gang to let them stay with them. But in light of what had happened… He felt that there was someone far more important to spend time with then the gang, his best friend in the whole world. “But I think I want to go home after this.”

Shaggy leaned against Scooby, petting the Dane affectionately on the head. Fred beamed a smile a the two of them and made a motion to leave the warehouse.

”Come on gang… Let’s go home!”