Author's Note: After some thoughts, I'm considering utilizing Fred and Velma's parents from SDMI rather than the mainstream parents for this series.

That being said, Fred's mother is Peggy Jones from Pirates Ahoy! and Fred Jones, Sr., is his biological father.

Anyways, for those of you that know The Funky Phantom, the character of Mayor Henry Iverson will be utilized both in this series and in Coolsville Central, where he's going to be depicted as being at odds with Mystery Inc. as mayor of Coolsville.

Also, another HB-related character that is utilized in my stories is Chief of Police Lou Strickland from Top Cat: The Movie, where as you all will note in my very first story Coolsville: Year One, he's portrayed in a completely different way than he was in the movie in question.

Special thanks to my friend Ellis97 for introducing those characters to me.

Chapter 4: An encounter and the discovery

(Shaggy's Point of View)

I looked on as Mrs. Gales left the library and there was no one at the front desk to greet the students and handle issues such as overdue fines and checked out books.

From what I've heard, recent school board budget cutbacks has resulted in the scaling back in the staffing at the school library.

I honestly have no clue what's the point of those budget cuts, or more like, why are those cutbacks necessary if the school board is operating at a budget surplus lately?

One thing I do believe is that the poor state of Crystal Cove County Public Schools can be traced back to the era when this former Hollywood star-turned politician who was two-time Governor of California was elected president in 1980.

Once that bloke became president, he presided over an era of financial deregulation, commencement of the fraudulent War on Drugs, increased U.S. military involvement in the Middle East and Latin America, tax cuts with his "trickle-down economics" and the deficits that resulted from those irresponsible financial policies.

I'm no accountant, nor is money my strong suit, but I do know that trickle-down economics is nothing more than a financial fraud that robbed hard-working middle-class workers out of their hard-earned money, pensions and money that could've been used to continue to invest in health care, education, social services and infrastructure.

Anyways, I've heard from plenty of people that Crystal Cove County Public Schools used to be among the best school boards in the state up into the 1980s when those budget cuts that followed the financial slowdown took a toll on service quality.

The result: Crystal Cove County Public Schools is now among the school boards on the low end of the ranking spectrum in the state, and the cuts in basic operations in the school board in the 1990s has resulted in dwindling in service quality, in addition to urgent repairs becoming a regular feature.

And that certainly explains the poor state of our school lockers, which were installed when the school had its last major renovation in the 1960s.

Anyways, with Mrs. Gales gone, it was just me, Fred, Velma and Daphne at the table as we all sat to work on our English assignments.

There was some silence that is thick enough that I'm certain that you can cut it with a knife.

An hour or so had went by since Mrs. Gales left.

By that point, I felt that I had wrote down enough ideas to form the basis of my English essay, and I decided to fiddle with my pencil as I took a break and stretched on my chair.

As I did so, I noticed Daphne had picked up a James Patterson novel, titled 2nd Chance, and started reading the book. Not that I blame her for procrastinating on getting a heads start on the English essay.

Looking around, I saw Velma furiously typing away on her laptop and Fred placing his hands on his cheeks. He certainly looked bored.

It was then that I saw Fred noticing the novel Daphne was reading, and he began to open his mouth.

"Ah, I know who that mass shooter was." Fred said to Daphne. "It was an-"

"Don't spoil the ending, man." I quickly spoke before the blonde could finish.

I'm not much of a reader when it comes to long mystery novels, but if there's one thing I do know, it's that people tend to hate it when the ending of a mystery story gets spoiled.

Daphne looked up from the book she was reading, and for a brief second, I thought that she smiled at me.

I then turned and saw Fred awkwardly returning to his usual stupor, and there was some silence afterwards.

Another minute went by before I felt someone ruffling my hair, and as I looked up, I saw that jock Iverson walking by me.

"I gotta head to my locker to grab something, Jones." He said to Fred. "I'll be back."

Fred nodded but didn't say a word, and then Iverson ruffled my hair again before making his way towards the exit doors.

What in the world is taking Mrs. Gales so long to find Vice Principal Grimes? She should be back by now.

I shrugged at the thought and decided to get up from my seat and pace around to stretch my legs. Sitting on a chair all day without standing up and next thing you know, I'll be having grass growing out from my rear.

Fred must've noticed something on my face, because he called me out.

"Hey." He said, looking towards me as he spoke, and I paused and turned, facing him.

"What can I do for you, man?" I asked.

"I just wanna say I'm sorry about what Tom just did, as well as what he always do to you on the bus." Fred said. "I should've done something about it-"

"Easier for you to say that when you always stood by and did nothing while your friend continues to pick on him." Daphne scoffed at Fred as she gestured towards me.

"Yeah, you could've done something to keep your friend from getting into trouble." Velma added as she and Daph took my side.

"Well, guys, Tom's not really my friend." Fred raised his arms in an attempt to calm the girls down, not that I blame him. "We do play together on the school football team and have a great partnership."

"That, we've noticed." Velma huffed. "Him being the quarterback and you being the team captain."

As Fred and the girls continued with their back-and-forth arguing, I sighed. Man, of all the days for me to leave my MP3 at home to be charged up.

Not that I should leave my electronics charging at home, though with Scooby staying at home most of the time everyday, he knows when to unplug my MP3 player when its battery is charged up.

(Third Person)

With Fred and the girls arguing with each other back and forth, Shaggy glanced at his watch, noted the time and then decided to go grab his stuff on the desk.

It was Daphne who noticed Shaggy walking to the desk and grabbing his stuff.

"You leaving, Shag?" She asked.

"Yeah. It's getting late and I just remembered that I was supposed to meet up with my sister Mags a couple minutes ago." Shaggy nodded.

"Your sister?" Daphne raised an eyebrow.

"She's taking part in the student council's meeting." Shaggy explained.

"I see." Daphne nodded understandingly as Shaggy took his leave. "Anyways, I'll see you in English and Chemistry."

"Yeah, see you." Shaggy waved a hand as he made his way out of the library.

The moment Shaggy stepped out of the library, he took a deep breath, sighed, and then carried on down the hallway, whistling Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire as he went.

In the library, the atmosphere remained tense even as Fred and the girls calmed down and resumed doing what they were doing.

Fred looked on as Daphne continued to scribble down notes on her notebook while Velma continued to type away on her laptop.

The scene was certainly tense, and the silence, minus the typing and the movement of the pencil and erasers, was deafening and he could've sworn he could cut the tension with a knife.

As he read a sports magazine, he could've sworn that he can feel Daphne and Velma's eyes piercing at him.

Some minutes went by before he finally sighed, put down the magazine and raised his hands.

"Look, you girls don't honestly think it's my fault that Tom's out of control like he is, right?" He asked as he looked at the girls.

"More like you should've done something to keep that jock in line, Jones." Velma huffed.

"Well, I could." Fred shrugged. "However, you honestly think that it's worth ruining my father's friendship with the mayor in order to keep Tom in line?"

"In that case, why is your father associating himself with someone like Mayor Iverson?" Daphne frowned.

"Let's just say that Dad and Mayor Iverson graduated from law school together and they both served with the Judge Advocates Division together." Fred offered.

"JAD, huh?" Daphne asked. "Now why is it that-"

Before she could continue, their conversation was interrupted when they began noticing the lights flickering on and off in the library.

Looking around, the trio arched their eyebrows.

"Hold the phone." Fred said as he looked at the ceiling lights. "What's with the lights?"

"Something with the power, I suppose." Daphne surmised as the lights continued to flicker on and off.

Then, the trio noticed that the lights were diminishing in brightness with each flickering, and then they began hearing some ghostly sounds.

"What was that?" Daphne asked as she looked around nervously.

"Probably just the wind." Fred offered.

"In this part of the school?" Velma asked. "Unless the windows are opened, which they aren't, there's no way it could get windy in here."

While Velma was making the remark, the trio began to feel the temperature dropping in the library.

"Funny..." Daphne remarked as she began rubbing her upper arms. "The air conditioning isn't working, yet it's starting to get freezing in here."

At the sight of Fred exhaling and breathing out fog, Velma's eyes narrowed.

"This certainly isn't possible." She said. "Not without a logical explanation."

Their attention was soon turned towards the doorways when they heard screaming from outside the library, most likely from the nearby hallways.

"ZOINKS!" The voice screamed, and the trio could hear someone racing down the nearby hallway.

"Jinkies." Velma said as the trio shared looks with each other. "What was that?"

"I don't know, but-" Fred was about to continue when all in a sudden, Shaggy burst right into the library.

His face was pale, and he looked like he had the run of his life.

"What happened, Shaggy?" Daphne asked. "And what's the matter? You looked like you've seen a ghost."

Shaggy stuttered as he shook uncontrollably.

"G-g-g-" He shuttered.

"What's he saying?" Velma asked.

"G-g-g-ghost...k-k-k-killing..." Shaggy shuttered as he pointed towards the library doors.

"Ghost-killing?" Fred arched his eyebrows.

"N-no!" Shaggy shook his head as he pointed towards the library door, his eyes widening in fear. "G-g-ghosts...are gonna...kill us...if we don't...get outta...here..."

"Kill us?" Velma asked skeptically.

"What do you mean, Shag?" Daphne asked.

"L-l-look..." Shaggy shuttered as he continued to point towards the library door.

Fred and the girls turned towards where Shaggy was pointing at and at that very instant, the colour on their faces drained away.

On the other side of where they were standing at in the library were two light green floating figures, both of whom were dressed in Victorian-era dressing.

"Jinkies..." Velma exclaimed in horror as she covered her mouth in shock. "I...don't believe...it..."

"Jeepers...!" Daphne covered her mouth in horror, momentarily at a loss of words.

It was then that the two ghosts floated forward menacingly towards the four students and growled at them with their arms reaching forward.

"Z-z-z-zoinks!" Shaggy swallowed.

"Run!" Fred shouted, and almost immediately, the four students took off running and the two ghosts gave chase.

Several minutes went by as the two ghosts chased the four students around the school library, during which the former used their supernatural powers to send books and other nearby objects flying, as if a tornado was in the midst of striking the school library.

Eventually, the four students managed to make it out of the library with the two ghosts in close pursuit, though not before the entire library looked like it has been demolished by a wrecking ball.

Another several minutes went by before the scene shifts to a deserted hallway, during which the two ghosts flew by, only to find that the four students were nowhere to be seen.

Looking around, the two ghosts then turned towards each other.

"Where did they went?" The male ghost asked.

"Now that's funny." The female ghost replied after looking around before shrugging and added, "Oh well. Not that it's our concern, but I digress, we should return to the master."

"Right." The male ghost nodded before reaching an arm out and added, "After you, dear."

Once the two ghosts had flown out of view, the scene then moves to a nearby closed door, though it is clear that the room behind it, a janitor's storage room, is occupied by none other than Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne.

Fred and Daphne waited for a few moments before bravely cracking open the door and peeked out, then after a while, they turned back to their companions.

"The coast is clear, gang." Fred said.

"You sure?" Velma asked.

"Yes, we're sure." Daphne nodded as she gently pushed the door open.

Seeing that the ghosts were nowhere in sight, Fred and the girls sighed in relief.

"Well, I don't know about you girls, but I think we better get out of here before we get into trouble for causing damage to the library." Fred said as they made their way out of the storage room.

"And I'm certain Dad's not going to be in a mood in paying for the damages that is blamed on me and you guys." Daphne said.

"Uh...guys...?" Shaggy, who was still in the room, called out.

"No one's gonna believe us if we tell them about those two...things...that attacked us in the library." Velma said as she gestured towards where the two ghosts were last seen at.

"Guys...?" Shaggy repeated.

"If things come down to that and we get blamed, then it's going to be your fault, Jones." Daphne scoffed.

"My fault?" Fred asked. "I wasn't the one who attracted those ghosts into the library in the first place, and-"

"Guys!" Shaggy finally shouted, attracting the attention of the others.

"What is it, Shag?" Velma asked as they finally turned towards him, though they immediately noticed that his face remained pale.

"What's the matter?" Daphne asked.

"Like...I think we've got more things...to worry about..." Shaggy trailed off.

"What do you mean?" Fred asked.

Shaggy swallowed as he gestured towards the inside of the storage room before adding, "See for yourselves."

At that, Fred and the girls walked back into the storage room and followed Shaggy's arm, though nothing in the creation of mankind could prepare them for what Shaggy had just saw that resulted in his face turning pale.

"Jinkies..." Velma's eyes widened at the sight.

"Jeepers..." Daphne said as the colour started draining from her face.

"Oh no..." Fred said in horror. "Tom!"

Sure enough, laying in front of the four was Thomas Iverson, who laid on the floor.

There was blood pouring out from his mouth and a wide open wound in his chest, and the jock's eyes were widened as if he had witnessed something horrifying just prior to meeting his end.

Velma crouched down to take a close look at his body, moving first to check his wrist for a pulse.

When no pulse comes into view, she shook her head and turned towards the others.

"He's dead." Velma said.

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