Velma peeled her face of her desk looking for all the world like a confused owl, fumbling for her glasses she looked through them at the time. 3:07 am. She turned her computer monitor on and moaned, shielding her eyes from the painful brightness and checked her email. Velma sighed in relief, her head resting on the desk again; she had managed to send her completed assessment off in time and had received an automated reply receipt to prove it. She rubbed her eyes; her ears were ringing with tiredness. Mystery solving was really messing with her studies and her sleep patterns. She was just about to turn off the monitor and haul herself into bed when another email arrived. She scanned the message, despite her state she just about managed to raise an eyebrow. A request for help from Mystery Incorporated from the Regents of Orange University… the very university she'd just sent her completed assignment to.

"Dear Miss Dinkley blah blah blah Mystery Incorporated's reputation blah blah blah experiments gone wrong yadda yadda yadda monsters blah mutant creatures running amok yawn... Whatever," Velma forwarded the email to the rest of the gang turned off her monitor then turned herself off.

The next day Velma read the message to the gang.

"…furthermore the Regents of Orange University consider the unexpected and spontaneous mutation of its faculty and students into mythical beasts coupled with the random appearance of fantastic creatures on campus to be an experience not compatible with the ethos espoused in out charter and detrimental to the culture of learning and scholarship we at the… univer…"

"Wake up Shaggy," said Daphne nudging him in the ribs.

"Say isn't that your university Vel?" said Fred.

"Only indirectly and only part-time, the Coolsville Institute of Advanced Studies is affiliated to them. I can't afford either the time or the money to go to Orange so I go to Coolsville." Velma's voice had an air of resigned sadness to it.

That Velma was a genius wasn't in doubt but the source of her genius was. Some said it was because her head was big she had a big brain. It was true her head was larger than average. The first person to notice just how big her head was was her mother, during delivery. There was a famous piece of film footage, or infamous from Velma's point of view, from her early months. She was sitting, propped up by cushions, looking at some playing cards turning one over and over again staring intently at the card. She screwed up her eyes for a few moments, picked up a different card, stared at one side, then the other, her breathing rate could be heard on increase in expectation and turned it back to the original side. Velma kicked her legs and waved her arms in excitement, the first side was still there! She tipped her head back and squealed with delight, this caused her to topple over onto the floor. There followed a few moments of her sucking on her toes, whether as a reward for her discovery or to moderate the emotional impact of the moment was unclear. But whatever it was she never looked back from that first taste of the thrill of discovery. But if she still sucked her toes she did it in private.

Whilst Velma had been quite bright from an early age most people attributed her genius to repeated bouts of childhood asthma which had kept her confined to bed for days at a time and the only thing to do was read, and read she did. She wrote a school play based on ancient Greek myths, read how to - then built a radio, made a remote control cookie collector, then a device to un-confiscate the cookie collector. It was certain that her love of books and electronics came from those days. Some said that Velma wasn't a genius as such she just didn't forget as much stuff as everyone else, and so the theories continued. The one area where Velma didn't excel was in sports. She like playing all kinds but just not very well, it was that which was her undoing; she failed to get a scholarship to Orange University due to their requirement for some kind of sporting prowess, any kind of prowess. Finally she was going to Orange, just not the way she wanted.

On the appointed day and at the appointed time Fred carefully parked a freshly cleaned and waxed Mystery Machine outside the administration block of Orange University. The gang calmly alighted from the Mystery Machine and proceeded in an orderly fashion towards into the building. Velma had been very clear on this, they alighted, not bundled, charged, piled or flopped out; they alighted in a neat and tidy fashion. They were even wearing their smartest mystery solving clothes. Sensing she was nervous Shaggy took Velma's hand, she gripped it like a vice. He realized she wasn't nervous, she was terrified. Like everyone Velma had her insecurities, and hers was to do with her intelligence. She found being known as the 'brain' of the group quite stressful. She knew she was intelligent, smart and all those other words but she never felt she was as smart as people made out, that she was winging it more than people realised. She felt smarter and more secure in her smarts when she was with the gang. She appreciated how their insights and observations fed her own and that any conclusion she made was more complete because of them. There was always pressure at the beginning of a case, she felt people were looking at her, wondering when she was going to solve it, and why hadn't she done it yet. And that was just a regular case.

The gang went to the office of the arch-chancellor where they were greeted by his secretary, a disturbingly older version of Velma who was reading from a Latin version of Dante's Inferno. She sat up and gave them a warm, but formal, smile.

"How may I be of assistance?"

"Excuse me I'm looking for Professor Dart, I have an appointment to see him."

"He is indeed extant at present; may I enquire as to whom is calling?"

"Dinkley, Velma Dinkley."

"Professor Dinkley?"

"No, just, just Velma," said Velma sadly, sagging slightly as she spoke.

"One day Vel, one day," Fred placed his hand on her shoulder. Velma smiled and rested her hand on his. Whilst Daphne was the lynch-pin of her emotional support network and Shaggy could lighten whatever mood she was in, sometime only a Fred would do.

Professor Dart turned out to be a tall man with a neatly-trimmed white beard. He gave the impression of a wrestler going to fat. There was a rounded softness to his appearance, but it was clear strength lurked beneath.

"Welcome to Orange University," Professor Dart shook hands with each of the gang.

"Happy to help sir," said Fred.

"Come into my office and we can discuss the situation."

There were some advantages to working with clients such as Orange, the coffee and biscuits were excellent and the chairs comfy. The surroundings and Professor Dart's easy-going manner set them at ease, even Velma found herself relaxing. Dart appeared genuinely interested in the history of the group so they engaged in small talk, Velma didn't say much, she became curious over Dart's line of questions. He'd essentially asked the same question a number of time but in very different ways, Dart was a clinical psychologist by training so was probably testing them.

"You've been quiet for a while Velma, what's on your mind?" Dark asked gently.

"You, I, I was thinking about your questions, you've asked the same question a number of times to check our responses." Daphne and Fred looked horrified, at times they wished they could muzzle Velma but Dart eyes wrinkled as he smiled; he nodded.

"Very observant, yes partly its force of habit but I also wanted to see how your experience meshed together. This is a very unusual situation we have here and every detail may matter." He looked at Velma "you've proved my decision to approach you for help was correct."

"Thank you professor," Velma smiled, her heart was warmed by his praise but she felt the pressure more than before as her stomach twisted up in knots.

"Let me show you some footage of why we have called you…" Dart went to his computer, the display on the wall flickered into life.

"Jinkies!"

"Jeepers!"

"Mother!"

"Shaggy, please get off my lap," whispered Fred.

The footage showed a minotaur-like figure prowling outside the library. A couple of students walked out from the library, the creature pointed its finger at them. A bolt of energy leapt from its finger and engulfed the students. The students convulsed and fell to the ground, they slowly transformed into human-snake hybrids with the torso of a human but the lower half of a snake. The pair slithered off out of view of the camera.

"The Minotaur vanished before campus police arrived, the two students were found a few hours later in the athletics track apparently unharmed with no memory of what had happened." Dart leant back in his chair and looked at the gang "So you see our problem. Dr Spilsbury, she's the Reader in forensic science here, is preparing what evidence we have for your inspection tomorrow morning."

"Very much so Professor Dart, we'll check in to a local hotel and get started," said Fred.

"No need for that, follow me please," Dart got out of his chair and gestured to the door "This is not your normal Ivy League university; we're so good that even our ivy has ivy growing on it," said Professor Dart as he escorted the gang from his office and out onto the campus.

"Jeepers that impressive," said Daphne.

"Its a joke Daph," whispered Velma.

"I knew that."

"So for cover, and so you'll be on the scene quicker, we have put you in one of our campus houses, these are normally used by visiting staff or postgraduate students with families so your presence should not arouse any suspicion. But please do try to smarten him up."

"Don't worry about Scooby. Bath time Scooby,"said Daphne. Scooby began to protest as Fred and Daphne started to drag him off; 'no rubber ducky, no bath-time' was his motto.

"I wasn't referring to the Dane," Professor Dart eyed Shaggy.

"Ohhh ok. Bath time Shaggy," said Daphne. Shaggy protested as Fred and Daphne dragged him off.

"You don't have a problem with dogs on campus?" said Velma above Shaggy's protests.

"Indeed no," Dart patted Scooby on the head, causing his tail to thump happily on the ground "in fact we are the only institution to offer the prestigious canine BA."

"Canine BA?"

"BArk," smiled Dart.

"Right," sighed Velma "Do you have any suspects Professor?"

"Well this is a prestige academic institution which prides itself in professionalism so…"

"So?"

"So scratch the surface and you'll find a whole pile of lust, passion, personal and professional envy, rivalries, feuds."
"I wasn't thinking about the student Professor."

"Neither was I."