Groaned Shaggy as Fred unveiled his idea.
"This is we're going to do. Daph and me will search this room. We'll try to find out how the ghost of Mr. Ridmore got out of here with Edward Junior. Velma, I want you to look back and check if there are speakers in the living room and maybe see how it was tampered with. Shaggy, Scooby…"
"Y...y..yes Fred?"
The two-scaredy cats already feared the plans Fred had for them. Their fears were correct.
"You two check the basement. Ms. Norman said she opened up the basement when he came out at her. There might be a hidden passage or something in there as well. All right Gang. Let's solve this mystery!"
With a reassured nod from Velma, she took off back to the living room. Though Shaggy and Scooby had to be roughly tossed out of the study, they reluctantly headed towards the basement.
"Like' why do we have to get all the Creepy jobs, eh Scoob?"
"Rah rah.. Reepy."
The beatnik and his Great Dane headed towards their destination. With quivering knee and chattering teeth, the duo opened the door. They both braced for a fright, but nothing came. Shaggy peered down the stairs to the dark gloom below with a gulp.
"You go first pal."
"Ruh uh... Ru Raggy."
"Me? Why does it always have to be me?"
Shaggy though a bit then came up with a plan.
"Alright buddy. How about we play rock paper scissor to see who goes first."
Scooby thought it over, and then nodded his head.
"Rah rah!"
"Rock paper scissor says' shoot!"
They both held out their hand. Shaggy had his hand in the shape of scissor, while Scooby held out his paw.
"Like' what is that? Paper or rock?"
Scooby looked at his paw then back to Shaggy.
"Rock. Rah rah... Rock."
"Aw... I lost man... I... I don't want to go down there."
Shaggy turned his head towards the inviting darkness of the basement. Checking his pockets, he pulled out a pocket light and shined it down into the shadows. With legs of jello, he started down the stairs. Holding onto the railing, he slowly descended into darkness, Scooby right at his heels. He shined the light but all he saw was the floor. Nothing seemed creepy or spooky, unless you counted the loads of seemingly dirty laundry. But as long as they didn't get up and chase him, he had nothing to worry from stained and dirty laundry. The beam from his flashlight cut through the darkness and he spotted the washing machine and dryer.
"Look Scoob. Unless these are haunted appliances, I think we got of Scott free this time. Heh heh... Scoob.... Scooby?"
Shaggy looked around and found Scooby hiding behind him, his mouth hung open, eyes wide as he stared into the darkness behind him. People! A huge group of people all were standing there. He got so spooked he dropped the flashlight and dove behind to hide behind the Great Dane.
"ZOINKS! It's... It's... Zombies!"
His voice squeaked as he dashed around the back of Scooby. Seeing the flashlight hit the ground in front of him, Scooby picked it up and juggled the light for a few seconds till he was able to get it pointing straight and flinching his head away he shone the light at the mass of zombies. Shaggy peeked one eye open, just so he could see his doom coming...
"Heh hehe.. Hey Scoob.... Look. Mannequins."
"Rannequins?"
"Yeah, Mannequins. Like the one's on store fronts with the clothes on at all those shops Daph goes to."
Scooby and Shaggy felt sheepish for being so scared over nothing. Shaggy took the flashlight and walked over to the bunch of mannequins. Some had heads, some were missing limbs, and some were just the base. A few had the beginnings of a wardrobe on them. Shaggy removed a hat that sat on one of the posed Mannequins and copied how the mannequin was positioned.
"Hey look Scoob. Gee, Think Daph would buy this hat?"
Scooby poked his head out from a pile of clothes and placed a paw to his face in though. Then he got a negative look and he shook his head. Shaggy took off the hat and looked at it.
"Yeah, you right Scoob. She's more of a purple person, not this green."
Shaggy continued to go through clothing while Scooby's nose had picked up something. He wound through the sea of mannequins till he came upon a box.
"Ra clue!"
"Gasuntite Buddy."
"No Raggy... A rue!"
"Oh.. A clue! Where?"
"R'over here."
Shaggy followed the sound of Scooby's voice and came across Scooby sniffing a box of broken fireworks. It looked like someone split them all open and removed all the fuses.
"That's funny. Well. There seems to be nothing else down here besides these mannequins, laundry and these broken fireworks. Let's get back to the gang."
Shaggy said as he led Scooby winding through the sea of mannequins and towards the steps.
"Wait till the gang hears what we found. A bunch of Groovy hats and clothes!"