I wonder if any of you folks kept picturing the gang and the scenes from Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins instead of the gang and the settings from Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated as you read this story?

Chapter 10: Some clues and another encounter

That night, the gang hid behind some bushes near the school's main entrance.

Peeking from his hiding place, Fred scan their surroundings and the school building.

All of the windows are dark, and he took note of the location of the nearest security cameras, which are located at the edges of the building.

"The coast is clear, gang." He said, signalling the rest of the gang to emerge from their hiding places.

The gang then made their way to the main entrance. Fred was cautious in picking the locks, not wanting the school's security alarm to go off when he tries to pick the lock on the doors.

It was then that he remembered that the school has yet to upgrade its security alarm system, but nonetheless, he figured it will be safe for him to be careful.

About a minute went by before Daphne said to him, "Here, let me try, Fred. You might take all night trying to pick the door open."

"Don't worry, I've got this, Daph." Fred said confidently.

Daphne shared a glance with Shaggy, and he gave her a look as if he was saying "I'm not sure about Fred's lock-picking skills."

She nodded, and Shaggy was right about his doubts on Fred's lock-picking skills, as in the next moment, Fred said, "You know what, how about you try it, Daphne?"

"Of course." Daphne replied before taking over. In no time was she able to successfully pick the lock and open the door.

Soon, the gang were gathered in the main hallway and looked both sides down the dark hallway.

Then, Fred broke the silence. "Alright, gang. I think we might as well as split up now to search for clues."

"Are you sure, Fred? The place the Dark Specter appeared is at the school gym, so why do we need to split up if that fake ghost only appeared at one place?" Velma questioned.

"Well, it's just that I thought that we may be able to find something in the library, and..." Fred wasn't able to finish, as Velma soon cut in, saying, "I guess you probably wanted to go with Daphne while I go with Shaggy and Scooby, right?"

"Are you serious, Velma? I mean, that want I intend to do, but not for the same reason as you think." Fred quickly said.

As Fred and Velma argued, Daphne turned to Shaggy and Scooby, as Scooby gave a look that said, "Oh bother!"

Shaggy quickly cut in, saying, "Guys, let's just stick together. It's getting really late now, and I don't want anything bad happening to any of us, especially if we're splitting into smaller groups."

Figuring that Shaggy may be right, Fred says, "Alright, fine. We'll stick together. Let's go, then."

Nodding, the gang carried on down the hallway to the school gym.

However, just as the gang left, a door down the hallway behind them opened up, and a shadowed figure said, "Go get rid of those meddling kids, ghosts!"

"Yes, master." The two ghosts replied as they hovered towards the gang.

Soon, the gang walked past the school's Athletic Hall of Fame display that included a soccer mannequin and a football mannequin.

Just as they walked by the display, the ghost of Amadeus Masterson went to possess the soccer mannequin while the ghost of Emily Elgar possesses the football mannequin.

The football mannequin then started to have red, glowing eyes while surrounded by a slight glow of yellow rays. The mannequin looked towards the gang.

Just then, Scooby, who was the last to walk by the display, felt a sense of someone watching and turned to look towards the display.

At that instant, the mannequin quickly returned to its un-possessed state by looking back forward with no rays or glows around it.

Realizing that it was only a mannequin, Scooby shrugged before turning. He then turned back to the mannequin and growled at it, receiving no response.

He then turned and walked away, following the rest of the gang as they made their way towards the school gym.

After Scooby was out of sight, the two possessed mannequins hopped out of the display and did some movement practices before proceeding to follow the gang.

Unaware that they were being followed by posessed mannequins, the gang entered the school gym and proceeded to the makeshift stage where the Dark Specter appeared during the prep rally.

Velma keeled down at the stage when she noticed some white viscous fluid left on the stage, approximately at where the Dark Specter was standing.

Immediately, she drew a pick from her pick-storing container and dabbed the fluid onto the pick. She then took out a small plastic bag and placed the pick with the fluid into it.

After that, she took out a black Sharpie pen and labelled the bag "Evidence".

"You certainly came prepared, Velma." Fred commented. "Just like a professional crime scene investigator."

Velma smiled as she agreed with Fred's comment, while Daphne turned to Shaggy and Scooby and smiled at them.

Just as the duo smiled back at her, the posessed soccer mannequin managed to sneak up to Scooby's back and growled.

Thinking that one of them made that noise, Velma turned to Fred and said, "Shhh!"

Nodding, Fred then turned to Daphne and did the same thing to her.

This went on from Daphne to Shaggy and Shaggy to Scooby until Scooby turned to the posessed soccer mannequin and said "Shhh!" to it.

Turning back to the rest of the gang, Scooby paused briefly before he realized that he had just shushed at a mannequin and when he turned back to face the mannequin, it growled loudly at the gang.

"Ripe!" Scooby shouted.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as they all stood up and retreated towards the nearby door.

Just as they were about to race through the door, the posessed football mannequin raced up at them and said, "Going somewhere?"

Then, Fred went up to it and said, "Want to play ball with me? I do know football, pal!"

"Challenge accepted!" The mannequin said before charging towards Fred while the soccer mannequin goes after Shaggy, Scooby, Daphne and Velma.

The four raced towards the nearby exit before the girls split up with the boys at the fork of the hallway, with Velma and Daphne taking the left towards the costume room for the school's drama classes while Shaggy and Scooby took the path on the right.

At the fork, the soccer mannequin hesitated for a brief moment before opting to take the path on the left, going after the girls.

Back in the gym, the posessed football mannequin tried to charge towards Fred for several occasions, but each time, Fred managed to duck out of the way in time.

Frustrated, the mannequin turned to other measures. Using her supernatural powers, she managed to have a volleyball net dragged towards Fred and push him towards the nearby wall.

Pinned to the wall, Fred tried to break free, but to no avail. Taking advantage of the situation, the mannequin took a sharp object and charged towards him, intending to stab him.

Just as the mannequin was about to reach Fred, he saw a cable behind him with the hook attached to his pants. Swiftly, he grabbed onto the nearby rope, causing the cable and hook to lift him out of the way, which then lead to the ghost of Emily Elgar to be ejected out of the mannequin when it collides with the wall.

Suspended in the air, Fred remarked to himself, "So this is how the Dark Specter managed to fly in and out in the darkness."

Meanwhile in the costume room, the posessed soccer mannequin was searching for the girls, who were running from him.

"Come on, come on." Daphne said quietly to Velma as they ran through the row of costumes. "Let's get out of here."

However, the girls soon reached a dead end, and they can hear footsteps nearby, with the ghost of Amadeus Masterson saying, "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

"Jinkies! Now what?" Velma asked urgently.

Looking around, Daphne saw something and said, "Let's hide!"

A few moments later, the mannequin came to where Velma and Daphne were standing at a moment ago, looking around and peeking through the costumes.

It looked around at the dead end, seeing several costumes and a horse costume lying on the floor. However, there was nothing that caught its interest, and the girls were nowhere to be found.

Giving up, the ghost ejects itself out of the mannequin and flew off.

After seeing the ghost flew away, Daphne, who was hiding in the front half of the horse costume, said, "Let's go now."

Velma, who was hiding in the rear half of the costume, replied, "Right behind you." as they stood up and made their way out of the room.

Meanwhile, Shaggy and Scooby were racing through the hallway until they stumbled into the school's cafeteria and stopped.

Seeing the closed lids that holds the food in the serving area, Shaggy turned to Scooby and said, "Like, time for a nutritious midnight snack, eh Scoob?"

Before Scooby could reply, the lid suddenly flew off and the ghost of Emily Elgar appeared from the empty tray as she said, "First, a grammar lesson! You never start a sentence with the word 'like'!"

Surprised by the sight of the ghost, both of the boys swallowed nervously as Shaggy said, "Gulp, sorry!"

With that, the duo raced off as the ghost gives chase.

Several moments later, the gang made their way out of Crystal Cove Central High School, running for their lives as flames shot up at the front side of the high school and the two ghosts could be heard laughing evilly.

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