Chapter 4: A meeting and the chase

After reaching the basement, the gang quietly followed the man as he made his way through the hallway through the dimly-lighted area of the basement.

The man then entered a door leading to the large room where the school's garbage and recycled items (Old papers, bottles and cans etc.) are processed and placed in the large dumpsters, to be picked up by the garbage trucks and recycling trucks once every two weeks.

The man left the door opened as he entered, and so the gang can peek in without the need to open the door.

In the room, the gang can see the man and another man having a chat in the room. Shaggy, who will occasionally observe the school staff during school time, doesn't recognize either of the two men in the room, even though they wore the uniform issued to school janitors by the public school board.

"Like, I never saw any of those two men before in school, gang." He whispered to his friends.

Fred nodded as they peeked in to check out the two men that were in the room.

"I've got the toy boat the chief requested, Gabe." The man said as he showed the object to the man known as Gabe. "It was easy for me to pick those locks last Friday evening, and those dumb janitors didn't even bother checking when they went by the classroom where I got the toy."

"Excellent." Gabe nodded as he took the toy from the man. "I hope this is the one with the Jupiter in it."

As the two men were chatting, Fred whispered, "So those men were responsible for the theft of Ms. Stewart's toy ship. What for?"

"And who is their chief?" Daphne added.

"And, like, what do they mean by 'the Jupiter'?" Shaggy asked.

Just then, he felt the presence of someone behind him.

Thinking it was Scooby, Shaggy turned to his back to look.

"Like, not now, Scoob-." Shaggy said, only to find a living skeleton standing behind him. "Oh, it's just a skeleton, gang."

The others nodded as Shaggy turned back to peek through the door to view the room. A brief moment went by before they all realized something.

"A SKELETON?!" They all asked before turning back again, finding themselves face-to-face with the living skeleton who had its arms out in a menacing fashion.

"Get lost!" The living skeleton hissed.

"Zoinks! The Skeleton Man!" Shaggy shouted as he remembered that Scooby wasn't even with them.

"Run!" Fred shouted, and the gang took off while the Skeleton Man give chase!

The Skeleton Man chased the gang down the hallway as the gang tried to lose him and get to their class.

Soon, they got to a section of hallway with five doors on both sides. Immediately, they took the first door on the left, with the Skeleton Man following behind.

Eventually, the gang raced across the hallway from the second door on the left, and Fred stopped.

"Hold it, gang, this doesn't make any sense." He said.

"What doesn't make any sense?" Daphne asked.

"Didn't we enter the first door on the left?" Fred said as he gestured towards the door they had entered just a few seconds ago.

"And?" Velma asked.

"How did we end up coming out of the second door on the left?" Fred continued as he gestured at the door they had just exited. He remembered that there was a wall in the room they had entered that was supposed to separate the two doors.

Just then, Shaggy saw the Skeleton Man racing out of the door and said, "Like, who cares, man? Run!"

Immediately, the gang took off again and entered the second door on the right with the Skeleton Man close behind.

Soon, the Skeleton Man exited the third door on the right, and he was chased by the gang.

After that, the parties involved in the chase split up as every one of them simultaneously enters and exits a random door, racing across the hallway in different directions. The scene soon becomes messed up with all of the people racing around.

Eventually, the gang regrouped and Shaggy glanced at his watch.

"Zoinks! We've got a minute to go before class starts, gang!" He exclaimed when he saw the time.

"Then, let's go!" Fred replied, and they took off down the hallway before the Skeleton Man can catch up.

The gang were lucky to be on time for their first period class. Shortly after they arrived at their classroom, they had to stand by their seats for a short while as they catch their breaths from all of the running.

"Man, that was a lot of running!" Shaggy commented when they gathered together for lunch later during lunchtime.

"I'll say." Velma nodded in agreement, having to spend a longer period of time catching her breath due to her short height. "That Skeleton Man seemed eager to keep us away from those two suspicious men."

"I sure wonder what they're up to." Daphne wondered out loud.

"It'll help if we go back and find a clue, gang." Fred said.

"Like, the only clue I don't want to find is that creepy Skeleton Man!" Shaggy commented.

"Well, perhaps we should go back to that place to look around before our afternoon classes begins." Fred declared.

"Good idea, Freddie." Daphne nodded. "Hopefully, we can find some useful clues."

After finishing their lunches, the gang made their way back to the dumpsters room.

They were cautious in making sure that they don't attract the attention of anyone suspicious, particularly the men they saw earlier in the morning.

This time, the dumpster room was empty, and after making sure that no one is hiding in the room, the gang entered the room to look around for clues.

"Well gang, I was thinking that maybe we should split up, since this room is rather large." Fred announced.

Shaggy and the girls shared a look with each other, as they were worried that one of them might get caught or even kidnapped by the suspicious men.

"Like, may I suggest that we split up in pairs, Fred?" Shaggy asked. "I mean, it'll be dangerous if one of us searches the area alone."

"That's exactly what I was thinking, Shag." Fred agreed. "With those suspicious men on the loose, it'll certainly be dangerous for one of us to search the area alone."

"Good point, Fred." Velma nodded. "So how do we split up?"

"Daph and I will search the left side." Fred said as he gestured towards the left side of the room. "You guys will search the right side."

"That's a good idea, Velma." Daphne nodded.

"Then, let's split up, gang." Fred declared, and the gang split up into two groups and started searching in the dumpster room, with Shaggy noting that they've got twenty minutes before classes start.

Wonder what will the gang discover in the dumpster room? Please read and review!