Then:

Delilah Blake was tired. She had fought long and hard in order to get to the Calloway Military Academy. She was trying to make sure that she got her fair shake, but being a woman, it was harder than it should've been. She had to work harder to prove that she belonged, she had to work longer hours and she had finally gotten into the Academy because she called in a favor. She hated that, she hated that she had to ask for help to get in. She wanted to get in on merit, but instead, she had to lean on someone she knew from childhood, Shaggy Rogers.

Shaggy had became great friends with Rhett Herring, and Rhett had managed to get himself as the second-in-command, and he brought her in for an interview.

"This is very impressive," Rhett said as he looked over her application. "It says that you graduated Darrow University at the age of 13?"

Delilah nodded. "I did. I understand that you were friends with my sister, Daphne?"

Rhett smirked. "Friends may be pushing our relationship just a bit. Let's say that we knew each other."

"She hated you, didn't she?"

"With a fiery passion."

Delilah laughed. "That sounds like Baby Sis. I hope that you won't hold that against me."

"With this application, I don't think anyone could hold anything against you." He glanced down, "You were the head of the ROTC when you were there?"

"Yes, sir."

"And when you turned 18, you joined the marines?"

"I did."

Rhett placed the application on the desk and shook his head. "You are so much better than this place. I'm sorry that Colonel Calloway is a bit backwards when it comes to these sorts of things. But don't worry about it. Shaggy said that you were a good pick, and I trust him. We've really been tight over the last two years, in fact I was even…" Rhett stopped talking as if he was about to reveal something that he wasn't supposed to say. "Anyways, you are in."

Delilah smiled. "Glad to hear it. I assume that I will be under you?"

"No, actually," Rhett said, "You're taking my spot. See, I'm leaving. Shaggy convinced me to go back home. I'm 24, I hadn't been home in a while."

Delilah nodded. "I'm the opposite. I was home for a short while, but now I am ready to leave. I'm 28 years old, and I haven't really gotten a career started. I think that it's important to figure out who I am. So when are you gone?"

"I'll be here for a month. I'll train you on everything that you need to know, and then we'll be able to move you into the position. I do need to warn you though; your main rival is with the Miss Grimwood's School for Girls. Normally, Shaggy is one of your main rivals, but he's been here for two years and he's leaving too. I'll give you a rundown on the boys here. They are a good group, but you still need to be careful."

"I'm a marine, sir, I'm prepared for anything. Certainly, I can handle a few teenage boys."

"I have no doubt that you can," Rhett said.

Now:

Velma pulled back surprised. "I…uh..."

Ned rubbed the back of his head and looked. "I don't know what that was." He was shocked. He knew about his feelings for Velma, but there hadn't been one moment where she seemed to have any interest in returning those feelings. It was out of character for him to act on them in such a manner.

Velma shook her head. "Ned, it's OK."

He raised an eyebrow. "It is?"

She nodded. "Clearly, you're under whatever influence is affecting all of us. I know that wasn't indicative of who you really are."

Ned smiled. "Thank you." But it was indicative of his feelings. And he had to wonder, was he acting under the influence of whatever was going on? He couldn't be too sure, but then again, none of them could be sure of their own actions.

Fred raised an eyebrow. "So what are we going to do, gang?"

"Well," Daphne said, "Rhett and Shaggy are still out looking for their mystery man, and I think Velma and I are still trying to track down the source of the smell. We think it's a lot of wood burning. It shouldn't be too hard to track down."

Ned nodded. "That's fair. Fred still thinks the mayor is involved, so we're going to keep tracking him down."

"There is something oddly familiar about that man," Fred said, rubbing his chin, "But I can't figure out what that is."

Daphne looked over at Velma and raised an eyebrow. "I don't think he's wrong. It almost seemed like he knew who we were."

"Well, they probably have TV out here," Ned said. Then he shrugged. "Maybe. They don't seem to have cell signal out here, so it's hard to say. If they did though, Velma is pretty famous. Maybe he's just a fan?"

Velma shrugged. "Could be. But that still wouldn't explain why Fred thought he was familiar."

"Maybe he was at a book signing or something."

"What book signing? I've never written a book. Are you suggesting that he and I both went to get a book signed at the same time?" Fred looked confused at his friend.

"It's a theory." Ned said as he shrugged.

"Well, it is that," Velma said, "But I still think it's a smart idea for the two of you to follow him. We'll keep looking for the source of the smell. Meet up here again in two hours?"

Fred nodded and turned away. "You girls be safe."

Daphne scoffed. "You boys be safe."

Ned smirked. "That seems fair."

Daphne and Velma walked away. "Velma, how are we going to track down this smell? I can't get a figure on it. With that much wood, there has to be smoke, but we can't see it."

Velma held out her phone and turned on her camera. She held it up and waved it into the air. "It's over there. We have to follow our phones."

"Man," Daphne said, "My parents always said that I was on this too long. I wonder what they would say if they would see me now?"

Then:

Delilah knew that she was going to have a hard time fitting in at the school. She was going to a school that had never had a woman in it. Honestly, it was old hat to her. All her life, she had to work harder than everyone else in order to get half the recognition. Today was going to be no different. "Cadets!" She bellowed, "Front and center!"

The Calloway Cadets were exactly what she would've expected, a group of ragtag misfits who didn't really have anywhere else to fit in. It was to be expected. She had read all of their reports and she knew what to expect from them.

There was Baxter, he was the youngest, but he was the most likely to follow orders. One would've thought that him being the youngest and smallest that he would've been bullied, but he fit in well there. He was extremely well respected. Once she won him over, the rest would fall.

Grunt was the largest of the cadets, but his girth betrayed his strength. He wasn't the smartest of the group and Delilah realized that he was going to be the hardest one for her to gain the respect of.

Jamal Williams seemed like he was born for the military life. He followed orders, and he did as was expected from him, sometimes to his detriment. Following orders was important in the field, but if you couldn't come up with your own thoughts, you would find yourself in serious trouble.

Miguel was a genius, pure and simple, but he seemed ill fitted for life in the military. Delilah could understand that, she felt that way herself sometimes. Miguel's inventions were superb, and she felt that he would be able to be a real benefit to mankind down the line.

Tug Roper was the leader of the group, but Delilah knew that was by default. It wouldn't be too long before Baxter had taken over for him.

"Cadets! Today, we will be working on physical fitness. We shall start off light, with a simple lap around the school."

Grunt snickered. "I am sorry, Cadet, did you not understand my order? I can give it to you in smaller words, if you'd like."

Miguel looked nervous. "I understood you, ma'am."

"Now," Delilah started, "I gave you all an order."

"And if we don't, whatcha gonna do, call Colonel Calloway?" Grunt asked, smirking.

"Call Colonel Calloway?" Delilah shook her head slowly. "Heavens no, I won't have to do that. See, if I do that, then I'm turning you over to someone who is going to go a lot easier on you than I will. See, if you don't do the things that I tell you to, you will pay for it. For example, I think I'll clean the bathroom."

The boys looked at her confused. "I get it," She said, "I may have forgotten a detail. See, I plan on using one of your toothbrushes for the really hard to reach spots. But I won't tell you which one or when. And if one of you goes against my wishes, I will pick one of you at random to do it. If you screw up, you won't necessarily be punished. By me." She smiled. "And that is just the start."

The boys gulped as they saw something in her eyes.

"Now everyone give me five laps. If I see even one of you walking, then you all have to do another lap." She grinned. "And next time, I won't ask you so nicely."

Now:

Shaggy and Scooby took off running from the painted man, but then Rhett grabbed them from behind. "C'mon! You aren't going to start running from someone when you aren't even sure who they are, are you?"

"Like, of course we are!"

"Rit's rhat re roo!"

Rhett shook his head. "Well, I'm not. We're going to get to the bottom of this right now."

"Leave this place," the painted man hissed, waving a walking stick in the air. "I control the world in this place, with my walking stick….Bob."

Rhett looked over at Shaggy. "Did he just name his stick?"

"He did."

Rhett shrugged. "OK, Bob…"

"That is my stick's name!"

"Of course it is." Rhett sighed. "What is so important about your stick?"

"I use him to control others! That strange feeling you have in your head?" The painted man shook Bob violently at Shaggy and Scooby. "He controls your mind!"

Shaggy looked over at Scooby who shrugged. "Like man," Shaggy said, "I think it's time that we played fetch!"

Rhett smirked. "Shag, I think that sounds like a plan." Rhett ran forward, running shoulder first into the gut of the painted man. The painted man collapsed forward and Shaggy ran over and grabbed the stick.

"Like, go fetch, Scoob!" With that, he gave the stick a throw, and Scooby Doo ran towards it, jumping into the air and catching it in his mouth. Scooby ran into the woods, stick in his mouth, trying to put enough distance between him and the painted man to consider himself safe, though he started to doubt whether there was enough distance to make himself feel that way.

The painted man got around Rhett, and fell past Shaggy, reaching desperately for Scooby Doo. As he stumbled, he reached out, grabbing Scooby by the tail. Scooby wasn't about to let the stick go, but he bit down in frustration at having his tail pulled. The force was so much that the stick snapped in twain.

The Painted Man blinked slowly and looked around. "Where am I?"

Shaggy and Rhett exchanged glances. "You don't know what's going on?"

"I'm in the woods with a man covered in mud, a dog, and I'm covered in paint. I'm not at all sure what's going on, but I really need someone to explain it."

Shaggy shrugged. "Like, I don't really think that I can. This town is really odd, man. Like, one minute you think you're leaving and then boom, you are right back where you left off."

The man looked around confused. "Someone else explain it?"

"I'm not really sure that I can," Rhett said, "My friend is right, something odd is going on." He motioned to the remains of Bob, "You stated that was the secret to everything that was going on around here. Then when it was broken, you seemed to snap out of it."

Shaggy smiled. "Well, on the plus side, I'm thinking pretty clearly for the first time since we got here.

Then:

"You know," Colonel Calloway said as he came from the main building, "I was against hiring you."

"Well," Delilah said as she crossed her arms and glared at him, "You certainly know how to make your employees feel good about themselves. Why did you even hire me?"

"Major Herring insisted upon it. He told me that what we needed around here was a woman's touch. He said that you were tough enough to hang with this group. He was right."

Delilah smirked. "Yeah, you're doing a great job selling this, you know that, right?"

"I saw how you handled those boys. You did a good job. I haven't seen them actually interested in anything in a while."

Delilah rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, they only other girls that they have around them are at another school. A bunch of hormone laden teens are going to pay more attention to me than anyone else you would've hired."

Calloway smiled. "I can understand that. But I think they listened to you about everything else. They respect you, Major."

Delilah nodded slowly. "I would like to think so. I've had to work twice as hard as anyone else to get to where I am today. I want you to remember that."

"I don't think I will ever forget it." He smirked. "Especially if you manage to coach them to win the big volleyball game."

Delilah laughed. "I guess it's pretty clear what your priorities are, isn't it?"

Calloway shrugged as he walked away from her. He leaned against a fence, looking out over the swamps that separated his school from his rival's. "Maybe it's not."

Delilah raised an eyebrow. "OK, if that's not everything, then what else is there in life for Colonel Calloway?"

"Call me, Clarence."

"Wow, your parents really loved alliteration, didn't they?"

Calloway shook his head. "I know right?" He paused. "Wait, isn't everyone of your sisters named something that starts with a D?"

"I don't really see how that's at all relevant to anything we've been talking about."

Calloway laughed. "Yeah, I can tell. It's utterly unrelated."

"So, Clarence," Delilah said, "What other priorities do you have in your life?"

Calloway sighed. "I'm just going to say it, Major. Would you like to have dinner with me?"

Delilah paused for a moment. "I…are…you mean like a date?"

Calloway turned red. "It was stupid. Forget I even said anything. I'm your superior. It wouldn't be right."

Delilah looked at him for a moment. "You know, I will have dinner with you, under one condition."

"What is your condition, Major?"

"You finally start calling me, Delilah."

Calloway smiled. "I think I can do that."

Now:

Daphne and Velma had been following the smoke trails that they had seen using the camera and was amazed by what was actually going on in the town. The people who seemed happy and content was revealed for what they were really were, a group of really confused folk, walking around, trying to figure out what had happened to their sleepy, little town.

"Well," Daphne said, "We are getting closer to the smoke, that much is given." She paused. "It does make you question something, though, doesn't it?"

"Why are we able to see the same thing, when it doesn't look like anyone else in town is able to do that?" Velma said, keeping her eye on the camera.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking that," Daphne said.

"I've thought about it," Velma said, "And I think I have the answer for it."

"Well, have at it."

"I think that whatever caused all of this had to hit us all at the same time, or at least close enough to it that we can still register each other."

Daphne shrugged. She wasn't sure that she bought that theory, but there wasn't any other ideas that she had that could answer this question. Ultimately, it didn't really matter. They walked in silence, following their cameras, as it lead them into the woods. The thick, dark smoke hung in the air, like a beacon, calling for them.

"Someone had to have started this fire on purpose," Daphne said, "There is too much smoke here to make it something that accidently happened, but it's also contained, which means that someone had to control it, at least initially or it would've spread out of control."

Velma smiled. "That's pretty observant of you. That assumes the wind doesn't rile it up, but pretty good. Where did you learn that from?"

"Nature rangers!" Daphne said proudly. "Mom didn't want me to join. She said that the outside was just a large toilet that wanted to eat me."

"Wise woman," Velma said with a grin. "Well, you are right. But the smoke is getting thicker, I think we're getting closer to the source."

Daphne nodded and pushed through a thicket. "Found it."

Velma joined her, and saw a huge plume of black smoke coming out of a hole that had been clearly dug into the ground. Carefully peering into the depths, she gasped. "It's Terrorwood! I should've known."

"I have never heard of Terrorwood before, what is it."

"It's a wood, that when burned has been known to cause hallucinations. But it isn't native here, someone had to have found it and brought it here." She started to count on her fingers. "This has to be at least half of the world's total population in this hole, why would anyone do this?"

Daphne shrugged. "Maybe to mess with us. But I know how to fix it." She pointed towards a massive excavator that was sitting there. "I bet anything that was used to dig that hole."

"Well, if either of us knew how to…" Velma started but she blinked in surprise when she heard the sound of the giant machine starting up, and it started to grab a giant dirt pile. "Where did you learn to drive one of those?" It didn't matter. As soon as the dirt was added to the pile and the smoke disappeared, her head started to clear.

Then:

Delilah Blake was utterly surprised by the way that her life gone. She didn't have any real hope for the date with Calloway, but it actually went really well. And the next date also went really well. In fact, every date they had went really well for a year. And now it was time for their first anniversary.

She was worried that once it became public, that everyone had assumed she worked her way up the hard way would change their minds, but she was surprised to find that everyone was very supportive of them. She had initially thought that would give her happiness to her face but talk bad about her when she wasn't around, but that wasn't the case. In fact, everyone seemed to really be happy for them. She assumed that it was because they all loved Calloway and wanted him to be happy. It didn't really matter, he made her happy and she realized that this was the missing piece of her life.

She was standing in front of the mess hall, and couldn't help but smile. Any other woman would've been upset that for their anniversary they went to the mess hall of the school, but she wasn't any other woman. She wanted this night to be part of who they were, and together, they realized that this was their life. This was the exact place that she wanted to spend this night at.

Calloway showed up, but he wasn't wearing his uniform. It felt odd to see him like this, even for their dates, it seemed that the only thing that he ever wore was his military uniform, so to see him like this, dressed in a tuxedo just felt off to Delilah. But she couldn't help but think that he looked rather handsome in it. "Good evening," he said as he held his hand out to hers.

She grabbed his hand and smiled. "Good evening, Colonel." He winced at the formal title and she laughed, kissing him on the cheek. "What is the plan for tonight?"

"I just thought that we would walk around the grounds. Some fresh air would do us some good."

"It's true," Delilah said, "Here on the grounds, with more land than buildings, fresh air is basically a premium."

Calloway grumbled, "Right," under his breath and started to walk, leading her towards the swampland that was between his school and the Grimwood School.

Delilah raised an eyebrow and started to make several notes. The first was that Calloway wouldn't look her in the eyes. The second was that he was sweating and she didn't think that the change of attire would've had that level of affect on him. The last thing that she noticed was that he couldn't stop shaking. "Are you feeling OK?"

"What?" Calloway nearly jumped when she spoke. "Yes, yes, of course I am!"

Delilah frowned. "You don't have to yell at me."

Calloway looked like a puppy that was just told it was bad. "I'm sorry. But no, I am fine."

Delilah couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. "What's going on?"

Calloway sighed and stuck his hand in his pocket. "I don't even know how to say this." Delilah was concerned, but before she could voice that concern, Calloway dropped to one knee, taking his hand out of his pocket, showing a diamond ring. "Will you marry me?"

Delilah smiled broadly. "Of course I will!"

Now:

Ned and Fred were following the mayor closely, looking at him through the camera. "I don't know, Fred," Ned said as he kept the camera honed. "I still gotta say he looks the same. I don't think his outer appearance has been changed due to whatever is affecting the rest of the things we're seeing."

Fred shook his head. "I'm telling you, something isn't right about that man."

"I'll give you that it's odd for a man to want to shake the hands of every single person that he meets in town, but he's a politician. Maybe glad-handing has become such a second nature to him that he wouldn't have thought about the fact that we can't vote for him? Maybe he has aspirations to be the governor and doesn't want to make any potential voters angry with him?"

"Maybe he's a man in a mask?"

Ned shrugged. "I mean…yeah, sure, that's also an option. I've seen some odd stuff in my time with Velma, but never a dude pretending to be another living dude, mostly just ghosts and ghouls and what have you."

"I'm certain that he's a man in a mask," Fred said evenly.

"Oh…oh OK," Ned said, "What's our end game here, Fred?"

"We're going to set up a trap to catch him."

"So…we're going to try to catch the, so far as we know, lawfully elected mayor of the town that we are in, because you believe that he is a man wearing a mask?"

Fred looked over at Ned. "Do you have any qualms about that?"

Ned paused for a moment. "Y'know, not as many as I think I should. I can't believe that I am going to say it, but what kind of trap do you think that we should go for?"

Fred placed a hand on his chin. "I think something basic may be in line for this." He quickly outlined a plan that did seem simple enough. Ned honestly felt that it might have been too simple.

Ned's part of the plan was easy enough. He was managed to get in front of the mayor and waved at him. The mayor stopped in his walking and waved back, looking slightly confused. Ned was also confused, so he felt that it was a fairly even split. That was when Fred's part of the plan came into play.

Fred leaped from behind a nearby house, and launched a net into the air, crashing it down onto the mayor. "Got him!"

"Unhand me!" The mayor cried in a way that Ned assumed any rational person would've done if this were to happen to them. Honestly, Ned had assumed there would be more cursing.

"Now it's time to see who the mayor really is!" Fred said with gusto.

'Now it's time to see how much jail time I'm really going to get,' Ned thought with trepidation.

Fred nudged Ned's gut and pointed towards the mayor's neck. "See that," Fred said proudly.

"He has wrinkles?"

Fred shook his head. "Nope. His skin doesn't match right here. He's wearing a mask." Ned truly hoped that was true. He waited with baited breath as Fred reached down, grabbed his hair and pulled.

Then:

It was two in the morning when Delilah finally gave in to her impulses and rolled over in bed, grabbing her phone. The dim light fell onto her face and she sighed, as she looked at her various social media. This was the same thing that she had been doing for months.

"Sweetheart?" Calloway rolled over and looked at her, his eyes were blurry and he wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but it was clear that something was bothering his fiancée. "What's wrong?"

Delilah didn't want to bother him with her little issues, but she knew what he would say if she didn't mention it. That worrying about her was his job. He loved her and that meant that he cared about the things that she cared about. She sighed as she tried to put her thoughts out properly. "I'm worried I'm in a rut." That was probably not the best way for her to put it.

"I'm sorry?"

Delilah shook her head. "Not with us. I'm very happy with us." She grabbed his hand reassuringly, "But is this where my life was supposed to go? Is that really my life? A teacher?"

"What else do you want?" Calloway stared into the eyes of his soon to be bride. "You know I will support you in anything."

Delilah smiled broadly. "I really do appreciate that. I am not sure what we are going to do." She turned to look at Calloway. "Do you think that this sounds odd?"

Calloway shook his head. "I always assumed that something like this was going to happen. Think about it. You graduated college when you were 13. Do you even realize how amazing that is?"

She smiled. "You have to say that."

"Do I?" Calloway shook his head. "I don't. Then you went to the army and moved up the ranks, despite the fact that it's harder for you as a woman to accomplish your goals. And then you forced your way in here, which has never had a woman in it before and found your place here. Love," he smiled, "You were always a woman who wanted to move onto the next big thing in life. I know that you were never destined to stay here forever. You are just ready to find what's next for you." He looked over at her. "Will you let me be part of it?"

She smiled broadly and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him. "I couldn't imagine anyone else I would want on the journey with me." She paused. "But you wouldn't be able to go on the journey with me, would you?"

"Not until summer," he said softly. "Is that going to be a deal breaker for you?"

She shook her head. "Not at all. I'm not about to let you go now that I've finally found you."

He grinned. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Calloway got out of bed and went to bathroom. Delilah was distracted by something from her phone.

"That's odd," she said looking at her phone.

"What is it?" Calloway asked, popping his head out of the bathroom.

She held up her phone. "I'm getting a phone call."

Now:

"Harry the Hypnotist!" Fred said with a smile. "I knew it!"

"I have no idea how you could've known this," Ned said. "I don't even know who this guy is."

"He's an old foe of ours," Velma said as she walked up to them from behind. "And he's been planting the terrorwood."

Harry looked at Fred with a confused look on his face. "What's terrorwood?"

"That's not what caused it at all," Shaggy said, coming out of the woods, "Like, he hypnotized this dude into thinking he had a magic stick. I think the stick had some sort of, like, radio that drove us all crazy."

Rhett nodded. "When we looked at it, it wasn't wood inside. It certainly looks like some sort of radio."

"What guy?" Harry asked.

The gang seemed to be confused for a moment, as doubt started to creep into their minds. "Harry, what are you doing here?" Daphne finally had the clear mindedness to ask.

Harry grumbled, as he tried to get out from the net. "I thought I could come here and take over a small town. Hypnotize them all into making me mayor and then I could live the high life. I knew I was going to be able to get past most of you." He shot a glare at Scooby. "But I was worried that your darn dog would get a good whiff of me and ruin it all."

Scooby growled. He had smelled something off about the mayor when they met. If only he would've been able to put it together faster, they may have wrapped things up sooner.

One of the local police had stumbled over, the months long fog being lifted from his head. He heard a confused explanation of the events, but what mattered the most was when he called into the precinct and found that Harry had been wanted in numerous states for theft. It didn't take long before Harry was read his rights. He had the right to remain silent, but he chose to wave that right when he said, "And I would've gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids!"

There was a silent moment between the gang, but they all seemed to break into smiles at once. Well, there was one exception. "Like, we did it!"

"Jeepers!" Daphne cried out, "That was super exciting!"

Ned grinned. "I have to admit, that was certainly something else. It's almost funny…"

"That's not very funny," Rhett said with a grin.

"Good work gang!" Fred said with a smile. "Another mystery solved!"

"Scooby Dooby Doo!"

Velma wasn't satisfied. The way that the other people in town were acting, they had solved the mystery. Treefallen was saved, but how? Did she and Daphne solve it when they got the terrorwood? Was it Shaggy and Rhett? Fred and Ned? None of the above? They had solved the mystery, but which mystery was it? Why did she feel that she solved the mystery that she was supposed to solve? She would get the answers that she needed, but they wouldn't come for years. Now, there were other mysteries for her to solve.

To Come:

A thump was heard upstairs, and he pulled the blankets tighter over him, his head barely visible between them and the pillows. "It's not real," he told himself. He had called numerous experts into his house and they couldn't find anything, but Vincent Van Ghoul was no fool, he knew that he was being haunted. But no one was willing to believe him. He knew whom he needed, he needed to get in touch with Mystery Inc, but there was only one member he was able to find. He had made the call, but he wasn't sure that it was ever going to lead anywhere. He wasn't ready for this, but it was time for a sequel to his Thirteen Ghosts.

Ghosts would've been nice for the five girls that were huddled together in front of a sign that read "Fearless Detective Agency." They had heard that their favorite teachers had gone off and formed this after they had left. They remember when they left. Shaggy had mentioned that he missed his old life, that he wanted to remember what it was like to be a detective and that his Uncle Fearless was going to be able to help him get back to his roots. They couldn't imagine that it had gone very well for them, Shaggy never really seemed like they type that should've been a detective. Scrappy, maybe he was someone that could work, but he was too reckless. Shaggy and Scooby were cowards, but maybe they had a keen mind for the job. These girls didn't know, all they knew for certain was that they needed to find their favorite teachers, or things were about to get bad for them.

Things were getting bad as Burt looked out over the lake at Camp Little Moose. Something was up, it seemed as if every camp story that he had every told was coming to life. The Woodsman, the Fishman, the Specter of Shadow Canyon; all of them were being reported around the camp. There wasn't anything really odd about that, the campers always managed to hear the stories and they were always seeing these things, but it wasn't just the campers who saw it, the councilors did too, and one of them had written home to all the parents. Most of the campers were gone from the camp, only a few remained, and Burt was worried he was going to have to close the camp. His favorite camper may have been able to turn all of this around, but he had to get in touch with Fred Jones.

She needed to get in touch with Velma Dinkley, or she was going to die. Things were dark in her world, they had been ever since she was kicked out of Mystery Inc, but now she needed them more than ever. She ran down a corridor, and dove past a door. She pushed herself against the wall, and peered into the room. She wouldn't have believed that her life was going to go this way, skulking in the shadows, training only in lies. Being a spy had sounded very romantic, but she didn't really think about what that meant for her. She could never trust anyone; no one could know what she was doing and she was in danger at every turn. But she knew one person that she could trust no matter what, Velma Dinkley was going to be the reason that she was going to survive. Of course, if she didn't find her, she was going to be in hot water.

Hot water filled the bathtub of Nancy Chang as she glared into the mirror. "I am going to get even with Fred Jones. He humiliated me!" She angrily dropped a few bath salts into the water and watched the bubbles foam up as the water swirled around them. "He never loved me. I was always the second choice. Always." She closed her eyes and took a calming breath. She had to make sure that kept a cool mind. After all, if she didn't, how would she be able to kill Daphne Blake?

Daphne Blake had been one of his best friends. He had known all the members of Mystery Inc, of course, but he was closest to Daphne. Fred and Velma had spent an entire summer away from him, and he had only grown closer to Daphne. In many ways, he was closer to her than he was his Uncle Scooby. Heck, after they quit the Fearless Detective Agency, he went off with his Uncle Yabba. None of it mattered now. He left the West behind, and he left Fearless behind and Mystery Inc had left him behind. He was grown now, but life seemed to have lost all sense of purpose. What was he supposed to do now? Just when his life felt at it's lowest, something was changing for him. Scrappy didn't realize it, but there was still someone that believed in him, someone that wanted Puppy Power still.

Power was a funny thing, as the three young women from Oakhaven had recently found out. They were certain that they were about to get their big time record deal, and suddenly it vanished. It seemed like it was around the same time that ghost started to show up. Normally, this would've been the point in time when people started to run away like a crazy person, this time it didn't happen. In fact, the ghost was part of the tourist campaign and the town had shirts made up with ghost's image on it. Now, it would've been insane for them to say that they ghost had stopped them from getting their shot at stardom, but something had stopped it. And these girls were going to solve this case. They were pretty certain that everything was going to go right again once they stopped the Witch's Ghost.

A ghost was not going to scare away Beau Neville. He had a map on the table in front of him, and he held a compass in his hand. He honestly had no idea what the point of the compass was, but he felt pretty certain that he if he was going to be serious about finding the treasure of Morgan Moonscar, then he had to be properly prepared. It seemed like there was an island that he needed to get on, but he ran into a slight issue, the island was private property. He didn't want to sneak on, he had no idea how long it would take for him to get to it, but he was sure he would be caught. It didn't matter, all he had to do was convince the owner of the island to hire him and he would have totally access, whenever he needed it. There was just one slight problem; he wasn't even totally sure who owned the island yet.

Who owned your legacy? It was a question that Maggie "Sugie" Rogers often asked herself. She didn't really wonder about her own legacy, mostly because there didn't seem to be one. She was wondering about her brother's legacy. Shaggy had been seen as a coward, but what about all the brave things that he did? How many heroic acts did it take to overcome others opinions? He was also seen as a lay about, but he did have several jobs since high school, and he even ran his own detective agency, for as well as that went on. But when did those achievements outweigh perception? And what happened when your own perception of yourself was negative? Sugie really didn't think much of her own life. She had a wonderful husband, and she loved him very much, but she still was worried about her own legacy.

Legacy was a tricky thing. This other woman often thought about Shaggy Rogers, but for very different reasons than his sister did. She was going to find him again, and eventually she was going to drop the bombshell that may change things for him. She didn't want to radically change his life, but she knew him well enough to know that people didn't really understand him. He was a private guy, but once they knew the truth, he may have lost that forever.

Forever was exactly what Madeline Dinkley was looking for. But she was looking for it in all the wrong places. She wasn't sure what her future was going to be, but after trying to become an organic farmer, she was certain that it wasn't going to be selling produce on a roadside. She sighed as she sat down, looking at the computer, trying desperately to find her calling in life. Her sister had it easy, she had been solving mysteries her entire life, since before Madeline was born. And while she had recently been taken off the air, Maddie knew that Velma was going to be back on top again, that's what the "best" Dinkley sister always managed to do. Madeline wasn't sure what her destiny was, but she was certain of one thing, once she found it, she was going to prove herself to everyone.

Proving himself was something that Chuck Magnum always wanted to do. He had been in Fred Jones' shadow his entire life, and now, he had a plan. This was going to be the first time that he was able to show his old friend, Fred, just who was boss. He didn't want anyone to think that he was trying to stop his friend from succeeding, but Chuck was fine with him becoming a friendly rival with Fred. But there was just one slight problem- he didn't actually rival him. Chuck had a plan though; it was going to work too. And for once, he was going to be out of Fred's shadow. Camp Little Moose was going to be ancient history, seeing Fred's name in the paper over and over and over was going to be a thing in the past. People may not know who Chuck Magnum was, but they were going to learn his name soon.

His name was confusing. Heck, a lot of things for Jonathan Wellington Muddlemore were. His friends called him Mudsy, but his backstory was one that defied belief, and he was actually surprised that so many people did believe it. His cover was that he was the ghost of an American Revolutionary solider who died in a grandfather clock. That was hogwash, of course, ghosts weren't real and everyone knew that. But criminals were a superstitious lot, and Mudsy used that against them. Stage makeup and some nifty special effects gave him the appearance of a ghost. And that was really the last interesting thing about him and his friends. They had joined the Mystery Teen fad, but they never really seemed to get any publicity. But now that Mystery Inc was back in business, it was time for Mudsy to get Funky again.

Funky was the music that the Neptunes had been accused of playing. Jabberjaw was perfectly fine with that, but then again, he was a talking shark. He also didn't seem to realize that when people accused the music of being "funky" they were not giving him a compliment. His band, the Neptunes, had come across a gimmick that stuck well with them, initially; they were from the future. They were from the year 2076 and they came back in time to play some good music. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, every band needed a gimmick they decided, but it didn't dawn on them the fact that their drummer was a talking shark should've been enough. They too had joined the teen mystery-solving craze, but they had fallen out of practice. The Neptunes still did some shows here and there, but they were seen as a blast from the past

A blast from the past was exactly what Captain Caveman was going for. Much like the others, he had a gimmick as well; he was a Caveman who was thawed out in current days. In reality, he was just a man in a costume with some very clever gadgets in his club. But that wasn't enough for him or the Teen Angels to stay in the public perception. But that didn't matter, he had heard rumblings that some of the other groups were getting back into the game, and if that was true, then he wanted in on stopping some plots.

They were where the plot began, or at least they had been, once upon a time. Life had brought about a series of interesting changes for the group; they were as popular as they ever had been, at least as a rock band. But they didn't want to just be a rock band, they wanted to be someone who could solve crimes as well, but they never seemed to have time for it anymore. They traveled from town to town, getting their names cheered, but they never really managed to get what they wanted, they just wanted to be involved in this or that. But they were stuck, they had thought about trying to get out of the business, but every time, their manager told them that they had no time for purrs or pats and they had to go and play a neat, sweet, groovy song. But they longed for a point in time in their life, where people could watch the good guys win.

Watching the good guys win was always his motto, though lately, the amount of times that the good guys actually won was limited. Heck, the amount of times that the good guys even participated was rather low. They were still out there, trying to solve mysteries but they never seemed to find them. Or if they did find them, the police was always there and told them to stop, because they were professionals. The Speed Buggs were professionals. After their high school days, they actually opened up a PI service, but very few people felt that a dune buggy was the correct call for not drawing attention to themselves. Lately, all they really did was check to see if people's boyfriends were cheating on them. It turned out that they were. Every time. It was starting to get boring for them.

His life had gotten boring ever since his nephew had left. His best friend, Deputy Dusty, has still managed to get his share of crime in Tumbleweed County, but it wasn't very exciting. Someone ran a stop sign here, someone illegally parked there, but the sort of stuff that he did when Scrappy was with him just didn't happen anymore. They still went out, but life was boring. Not that he minded it, when he was in random danger every week, he was sure he lost a few years off his life, but still, there were times that he longed for more. But what he didn't realize was that something was coming. As the wind blew across the desert, it was blowing in a wind that carried with it, it's own sort of violence. No matter what he was used to, no matter what had come before, Yabba Doo was not going to be ready for what came next.

She was certainly ready for what was going to come next, but for Janet Nettles, whatever came next was certainly going to be one thing, dull. She lived in Crystal Cove, and while there were some serious changes that were coming to her town, she was going to end up missing them. Her time was coming, but it wasn't going be for quiet some time. Even though she really wanted to be part of something bigger, it wasn't going to happen for her. That wasn't due to someone else trying though. She was in love, but she had to know what came outside of this town. She had just hoped that the man that she had pledged herself to understood that.

They understood exactly what their lives had become. They wanted to prove themselves, and boy, did they have a way to do that. There was murder coming down the pike, and they knew who was going to be murdered, but no one would believe them. They didn't know why or where or how, but they certainly knew who. Now they had to find the one person who could help them. The Calloway Cadets were camped out, and the rain came down on their tents. As the thunder crashed around them, they pulled their blankets tighter around them.