Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all related characters and trademarks are copyright 2010 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network. I am not making any money off of writing this story, I am just a fan.
Chapter 1
The renowned detective team of Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby, known worldwide as Mystery Inc. sit inside their equally recognizable van: the Mystery Machine; only a few weeks ago Scooby and company had left their home town of Coolsville, Ohio for what they hoped to be a nice restful vacation.
The first decade of the twenty first century had been pretty good for the teenage sleuths and their canine companion, they had solved numerous mysteries, saw themselves on the silver screen twice, not to mention the gang's romantic encounters: mainly Shaggy and Scooby falling for a photographer and her dog named Crystal and Amber, only to find out that the pair were aliens from a distant galaxy; once the cowardly pair had found out who and what their new girlfriends were, they became crestfallen and sadly bid goodbye to them as they returned to their homes.
However Velma who had always been there for Shaggy and Scooby whenever they needed cheering up decided to spend more time with the pair, after a while the two sleuths realized that not only they had been there for each other for such a long time but that they were also falling in love with each other and had made it official by deciding to start dating; while Shaggy and Velma had become a dating couple, Fred and Daphne who had also felt the same way also decided to start dating.
Seeing his four human friends currently as two couples was a bit weird for Scooby to see, after all he had been used to Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy solving mysteries for many years; however once he got used to seeing Fred and Daphne together as well as Velma and Shaggy together he didn't really seem to mind it, in fact in between the romantic moments that each couple had the four teenage sleuths spent a lot of time with the Great Dane, even taking the canine on some of their dates; as usual things were going along quite swimmingly for the Mystery Inc. detective agency, during the past decade they even had a phone installed in the van in addition to the vehicle's usual array of high tech mystery solving gadgets.
The Mystery Machine's telephone which had been specially installed by a friend of Daphne's fathers' who was also an expert with electronics sat in the front of the van, near a drink holder and right below the vehicle's radio/CD/Tape Player was a major benefit for the detective agency just in case someone needed to get in touch with them when they were on the road.
Fred Jones, the unofficial leader was keeping his eyes on the road while guiding the multi colored green and red flower painted van down a major interstate in the southwest United States; in fact the teenage driver's concentration was so good that he was able to concentrate on the road ahead even though the vehicle's phone began ringing.
"Sounds like someone wants to talk to us" Daphne noted.
"Hmm… I wonder if it's another mystery for us?" Velma speculated.
"Like I sure hope not, I don't want to spend another vacation being chased by ghosts or spooks" Shaggy answered.
"Well there's only one way to find out and that's to answer the phone" Fred explained.
"I'll take care of it Freddie" Daphne replied.
The redhead reached over towards the car phone and picked it up, all the while wondering who would be contacting Mystery Inc. and what did the person needed the four teenage sleuths and their Great Dane to do for them.
"Hello Mystery Inc. detective agency, this is Daphne Blake speaking how can I help you?" the redhead cheerfully answered.
"I certainly hope I have the right phone number, I mean the caller ID said that I had reached a car phone and I didn't know if I had the right number or not" the voice on the phone answered back.
"Yes this is the correct number, I'm speaking to you via the phone in our van the Mystery Machine at the moment, now what can we do for you?" Daphne asked.
"Oh good, I'm glad this is the right agency; my name is Lisa Stephenson and I just graduated from the University of Alabama, I understand that the five of you are specialists in solving mysteries specializing in ghosts and monsters and I was hoping that you could help solve one for me, frankly I have no idea what's going on and maybe you can help" the voice explained.
"Yes Miss Stevenson we specialize in mysteries involving ghosts and things like that but we can solve other mysteries as well; now what exactly is this mystery that you need solving?" Daphne asked.
"Well I live in an old house at a place called Moonscar Island and I think my house is being haunted by three ghosts, and I figured because I've heard so much about you guys that I could call you and hopefully you could come and flush out the ghosts and make sure they stop haunting the house" Ms. Stevenson explained.
As soon as the young woman finished describing for the redheaded teenage investigator what the mystery she needed help with Daphne found herself slowly taking the phone away from her ear; the mere mention of Moonscar Island filled the young woman with terror as she thought back to the group's last visit to the island, during which she was the host of her own syndicated television series and decided to go to the isle in order to get some footage of a haunted mansion but almost didn't leave alive.
The owner of the mansion, a woman named Simone as well as another younger woman named Lena and a ferry captain named Jacques attempted to drain the group's life force in order to maintain the trio's immortality, however Scooby and company along with a police detective named Beau Neville thwarted the trio's attempts leaving the villains deceased and unable to harm anyone ever again; the red head's thoughts now returned to the van and her friends as she decided to continue with the phone call.
"Miss Stevenson, did you say Moonscar Island?" Daphne asked.
"Yes I did, why?" the woman answered back.
"I'm going to let my fellow detectives know about this, okay?" Daphne asked the woman.
"Yes that's fine" Miss Stephenson replied.
Daphne pulled the phone away from her right ear and put her hand over the phone as she placed it on her knee, in preparation to address her friends.
"Gang, there's a woman named Lisa Stephenson on the phone and she lives at the house on Moonscar Island that we investigated and she says there are three ghosts that are haunting the place" the redhead explained, addressing the other passengers in the vehicle.
"You mean Simone and Lena's house? Jinkies, I didn't think anyone wanted to live there or even dared to after the Cat Creatures and Zombies were there" Velma added with a surprised tone in her voice.
"Zoinks, like this time Scooby and I aren't going on a mystery, Fred you can drop us off in Dallas, maybe we can try out for the Cowboys considering Scooby and I can run really fast" Shaggy commented.
"Well Shag and Scoob first of all I think you would be great Cowboys, however I think there's something fishy about the fact that there are ghosts haunting Moonscar Island; I really think the whole thing's a big joke, Daphne can you put Miss Stephenson on speakerphone and we can all talk to her" Fred remarked to his female companion.
"Okay Fred" Daphne said as she flipped a small switch on the car phone to speakerphone mode.
"Miss Stephenson, you're now on speakerphone so all four of us can speak to you; continue with your story please" the redhead explained.
"Alright, well I bought the house several months ago after I graduated from college and things were going okay for a while, that is until a few days ago when I was freshening up in the bathroom and I saw what looked like three ghosts" the recent college graduate replied.
"Hmm… this sounds very intriguing Miss Stephenson, tell you what we're going to take a quick vote and we'll give you our decision" Fred explained.
Fred told Daphne to turn the volume down on the speakerphone for a few minutes so that the group could have a private conference.
"Well gang what do you think, should we take the case?" the blond teen asked.
"I'm not really sure, considering the last time we were here, although I don't see why we shouldn't; actually we haven't gotten any other offers for solving mysteries so I say we do it" Daphne added.
"I guess we could help her out, I mean considering there are ghosts there and they might be Simone, Lena and Jacques I would seriously consider not going but on the other hand, I think it would be a good challenge for us so I say we accept the case" Velma commented.
"Like I guess Scooby and I could come along for the ride, besides those creepy cat creatures and zombies are gone now plus most of those cats might be gone too, like okay I'm in" Shaggy remarked.
"Reah ro rore rats, rhank roodness" Scooby replied.
"And I think we should take the case too, Daphne go ahead and bring Miss Stephenson back on the phone and tell her that we'll take the case" Fred explained.
"Okay" Daphne said, turning the speakerphone's volume back up so that Mystery Inc. could inform her of their decision.
"Miss Stephenson are you still there?" the redhead asked.
"Yes I'm still here" the woman answered.
"The five of us have talked about it and we've decided to take your case" Daphne explained.
"That's fantastic, I'm so relieved that you're coming; I've contacted the police but they don't believe me" Miss Stephenson said.
"Actually miss we happen to have a friend in the police department down there and I'm sure he would be glad to help you and us out on this case" Fred replied.
"Thank goodness, do the five of you need directions to Moonscar Island?" the woman asked.
"Actually we know exactly where the island is, it should take us maybe three or four days to get there if my calculations are correct" Velma remarked.
"Wonderful, I'll see you then alright?" Miss Stephenson asked.
"Right and don't worry miss Stephenson, we'll take care of the ghosts" Fred replied.
"Thank You kids, I don't know what I would do if I hadn't found your number" the woman remarked.
"No problem miss, and we were glad to help; hopefully we can sort out this whole haunting thing for you" Fred responded.
"I certainly hope so, otherwise I might have to move and frankly I really don't want to do that" Miss Stephenson replied.
"Don't worry Miss Stephenson, you won't have to move, because we'll find out who or what is behind the hauntings on the island" Velma chimed in.
"Thank you all again for offering to help and I'll see you in a few days" the woman replied.
"Right, see you then" Fred answered back.
With that Daphne hung up and turned off the speakerphone leaving each member of Mystery Inc. to their respective thoughts while the atmosphere and mood inside the Mystery Machine returned to a relatively quiet one as the five teenage sleuths and their Great Dane continued to mull over the events that were leading up to them returning to the scene of one of their scariest adventures.
The pastel blue and green painted van continued on its way down the highway through the vast landscapes of Texas as Mystery Inc. prepared to take on three of the most dangerous foes that they had ever faced, not knowing that the trio of Cat Creatures were plotting to use three of the members of Mystery Inc. in their scheme for revenge against the entire group and would possibly use the three of them to take the lives of the other two members of the gang as well as their detective friend and the woman who asked them to solve the mystery.