As the Shaggy and gang haul tail to tell what happened to the professor, it was about the same time that Fred, Daphne and Melvin got back to Velma in the guardroom. Though oddly, Robert had yet to return.
"We
found a…"
"I found a …"
Both Fred and Velma said at the same time. Velma was first to concede. Backing down, she sat down and waited for Fred to tell the clues that they had managed to gather first before she moved to say anything. Since she beat Fred to backing down, which was the gentlemanly thing to do, he continued. Since she was too stubborn to listen to otherwise, he had long given up trying to let her to first. (Though that was not after many failed attempts on his part.)
"Well, first we talked with Peter and were told about the lipstick cameras he was using. Also found out that there were previous sets of lipstick cameras before the one's that were currently bought and installed. Well… Installed for the most part. Anyway, something was interfering with their reception, which is why Kent asked for a replacement set. The interference was all this dizzying motion captured on film. During this switch, was the time when the bones went missing from the warehouse." Velma was about to open her mouth to comment before Fred continued. "Yes… I know that doesn't explain why the cameras are all static. Peter also told us that there is a different type of camera that is installed in the warehouse, which is prone to voltage surges. He had to replace a few in the past week or so, which includes the time that the bones were removed."
"Ahhh… That makes a lot of sense now." Velma saw that it was now enough time for her to get something in. "I came across several bits of tape that were different including what might be evidence of the 'interference' you were talking about. It was a bunch of shaky images like someone was playing around with a hand held camera and didn't know how to use it."
"Oh! Like when Daphne was looking around with the lipstick camera against her head." Melvin said with a slap of one hand into the palm of the other in realization.
"Jinkies!"
Came a gasp from Velma, who turned back to the screens. Fred then bumped into Melvin, who looked up to see Fred wiggle his eyebrows at the younger kid. "See." He whispered. "…Jinkies." He said with a grin. Though Velma was to into her work to hear what was going on behind her.
"If I take the recording that I found, and the static tapes… I might be able to run it through my computer and see if I can find anything out. But it might take some time to configure and render the images. So I'll…" She paused, looking at the screen next to her.
"Incoming at 3… 2…. 1…. We have cowardice."
As Velma finished her count down, the door burst open and in came, paws over heels the mass of canine and beatnik. With a bit of a struggle, Shaggy forced his head past Scooby, or was that Scrappy's paw, to speak. With a salute, he some how managed, Shaggy croaked out what had happened.
"Like' we just got chased by the Ghost Dinosaur… And man does he have the worst breath! We…" He paused trying to figure how to put it lightly… "We got sidetracked a bit looking for rations and we misplaced the guard on the door due to some… Circumstances."
"But Shaggy, you guys… Oof!" A quick elbow from one of the other two came swift and shutting up Scrappy to let Shaggy continue their tale. "We lost track of the door for a short bit, and when we came back… The professor was gone. The room was like a mess. Worst then our room, eh Scoob?"
"Rah rah!" Agreed from somewhere of the mass of paws, limbs and Shaggy's clothing.
"We tried to look for him, but then came along all tall ghostly and gruesome. A bit of a chase later, well… Here we are!" Shaggy finished his tale and flumped to the floor. Daphne and Melvin moved to try to untangle the mass of limbs from one another, it was a slow process, but they managed after a bit to get them into three separate bodies, all limbs accounted for. "Thanks guys."
"Alright gang. Let's go see." Fred suggested, though Shaggy got all wide eyed.
"Do… we like' have to go back? We just finished running away." He tried to plead with the puppy eyes, but had yet to recover from the run to have it all that effective. Scooby would have backed him up, but he was holding Scrappy back from running to face the monster alone. "Come on you guys, we'll all go together." Daphne suggested, though Velma added. "Let me go run this to the Van and I'll be right with you. Melvin, can you give me a hand?" Melvin was confused at first, so he stood there looking over at her till she waved a few tapes to catch his attention. He got it then, and hurried over to accept the tapes that she started to pile on his waiting hands. As the pile got stacked to his chin, he watched in amazement, as she seemed to take double the portion she gave him and picked them up like they were nothing. Well, they seemed nothing with one or two, but the like sixteen tapes all piled up felt heavier then it looked. Following after her in awe, she told the rest of the gang to be careful and headed off to the van with Melvin in tow. It was a bit of a silent trip back till they got to the car, mostly because Melvin didn't know what to say. It was all a bit hard to swallow everything that had happened that day for him. Though it was clear that Velma was practically skipping with happiness, even with being weighed down with the tapes… Which now were really getting heavy for him. Thankfully though, they had arrived to the van. Placing down the stack he had, he leaned against the van trying to catch his breath.
"Sorry…" Came Velma once she noticed how he was trying to recover. It wasn't as easy for him as it was for her. Who was far used to such things.
"How…. Can you carry all that?" Panted Melvin amazed that she wasn't even having a hard time breathing.
"Oh, well I own a small bookshop I sometimes open when the guys are off doing other things. It's a nice way to spend a week when not on a mystery. Those stacks of books are heavier then these tapes." She said, all the while putting the tapes into the back of the van.
"Ah, well that makes sense." Melvin thought.
Hopping up into the van once she piled all the tapes inside, Velma moved to stacking them all. Curious, Melvin had recovered enough to walk around and peer at what she was doing.
"I'm separating them into categories. The static tapes, the motion tapes and a few to judge the size ratio's of the people working there."
"Size ratio?" Melvin looked at her puzzled. Why would they need to know the size of everyone?
"Well, it's clear that someone is using this 'Ghost Dinosaur' as a disguise to cover up something. And it has to do with the bones, but the intention is still unclear. So I figured that it might be good to figure the size difference for each suspect on camera, so that once or if my computer can gather any more data from damaged and shaky tapes, that we can compare and figure out who is on film. It might just give us the clue we need. It might be also useless, but better off then to look and find nothing, then to not look at all and miss something. I've done that before." Once piled, she started putting in tape after tape of the parts she wanted on some device she had hooked up to a small screen in the back of the van. He hadn't noticed it prior to now, since the whole ride he had been preventing himself from being sick, but it had been there the whole time. He leaned in and noticed the whole back of the van seemed outputted with various compartments installed into the walls.
"We learned a lot over the years. And now a lot of the things we always wished we had for various mysteries we carry in the back of the van just in case. It is a pain for when we have to pay tolls on how heavy the van is, and the gas money, but it's worth it in the end." Velma remarked as she watched the younger boy look in fascination at the back of the van. She chuckled. "...Even though it's scary at some points, isn't it fun?" She leaned forward on the consul, crossing her arms and laying her head on it as she looked at him.
"I… I really didn't expect any of this… It's a lot to take in at one time. I mean… We were CHASED! That this was huge and scary!" Melvin waved his arms as he spoke, indicating the huge size of the monster. "And you guys are amazing, picking up on all these things I would have never noticed. And Daphne and Fred… Wow… I didn't understand half of the things that the guy Peter was saying, yet they seemed to know exactly what he was talking about."
Velma listened the whole time, a smile growing across her face. He reminded her of when they had been younger. She hadn't forgotten how it was to learn so much. True, she had no one before her to teach any of gang what he or she needed to know, but they learned from each other. She knew a lot, but some things Fred and Daphne did know better then she did due to their experience with cameras and film. But that is the beauty of working in a group. You each had strong points to work off of.
"Well, you noticed that the shakiness could be attributed to something like Daphne putting the camera to the side of her head to make the same effect."
"Well… I…"
"That might be an important factor, if Fred and I are correct."
"Fred thought that too?" Melvin felt confused. He didn't recall Fred ever saying anything. Velma laughed.
"Well, What Fred didn't say, I could tell where his mind was going. You, kind of learn to read each other when you live and work with each other so long. His mind is already turning and if I know him, once we get back we'll probably spilt up again and have a few more places to check before everything falls into place."
"…Falls into place? Like you guys already know what is going on?" Melvin was really lost, he knew they had found a few clues, but how did she already have an idea of what was going on?
"Well, Fred and Daphne didn't talk too much about Peter. So he doesn't seem to be a suspect." Velma started but Melvin interrupted. "But Peter seemed so… stuttering and jittery. And he lost things. He could be it as well." Velma snickered.
"Just because someone lost something due to carelessness or is a bit jumpy or jittery, doesn't mean they are the person who did it. Actually, it seems to be a more normal reaction when questioned to be a bit jumpy. The calm one's are the one's to be more suspicious about it."
Melvin's brow furrowed in thought and confusion. "Huh? Really?"
"Well… Look at it this way. When a person comes out of no where and starts asking you questions, wouldn't you get all confused and disoriented if it was sudden and unexpected? Wondering something like… 'what did I do wrong' type deal, right?"
"Well… I guess…"
"Though when you ask someone something, and they are able to give you a clear and well thought out of answer, and quickly. Doesn't that mean that they have had enough time to think about it to give an answer in such a situation? To me that seems more suspicious."
Melvin had never thought about it like that. Well, he never thought he would be a person in such a situation so didn't have to think about it. But I guess the paranoia might do that to a person.
"I'm not saying that Peter is not totally ruled out, but at this point in time, we have others who pose more of a possibility then him. So unless the clues move towards him, then we should waste less time on watching him and more time doing other things." Velma said, as she was finishing up her work. She had set up a program to see if she could straighten out the jumbled pictures into something that was a bit easier to watch. Using a point-to-point system that had a lot of input of levels and lines, it was going to try to take the few points of the tape that seemed to have a clear direction of what was up and what was down as the base reference. So the program would run and tilt the pictures to make them all lines up based on the base point that Velma had given the computer. Hopping off the Mystery Machine, she closed the doors and dusted her hands off. Making a motion to Melvin, she waved him to follow her as she trotted towards the door, eager to find out what the rest of the gang had found out in her absence. Melvin had to jog after her. Surprised at how fast she moved; yet kept a dainty grace that didn't kick up her skirt much. Must be from all the experience from running away from monsters.
Entering the lobby, they watched at the rest of the gang come back from the professor's office. Fred and Daphne informed Melvin and Velma that they had found the room all torn up, like Shaggy had said. The professor was gone, and there were clear signs of struggle, and claw marks of the ghost dinosaur. Velma told Fred that she had set up the computers to run, but it was going to take a bit before they would be able to be rendered and watch able.
"Alright gang." Started Fred, though everyone knew what he was about to say. "It looks like we still have a few clues to find before we can wrap up this mystery. Velma do you have a map I can borrow?" Velma was quick to provide it, though Melvin wasn't sure where she had it, since he could not see any pockets on Velma's outfit. Looking the map over, Fred made a game plan. "Alright. Shaggy, Scooby…. I want you guys to check over here." Using the map, Fred pointed to a section that was the staff area. Had some minor storage, the staff back room, and a few lockers. "Explore this area, see if you can find anything that might look out of the ordinary."
Looking over the map, he noted the area where the dinosaur was going to be exhibited. It was worth looking at. Maybe there was a clue or two by where it was supposed to go. Moving closer to Daphne, Fred made motions for Scrappy and Melvin to come closer.
"Daphne, Melvin and Scrappy will cover here. Maybe you can find something about the dinosaur that wasn't provided by Derk or Kent. Keep you eyes out gang. Velma and I will try to find Derk to talk to him again and maybe explore the wrecked office a bit more carefully. Maybe there is a document that might be useful. Be careful gang, and holler if you find anything. We'll meet back up in about an hour here. Good luck."
Waiting till everyone had left the area did he turn to Velma to start off to their own clue gathering. She had been waiting for him, moving up to his side and placing her hands behind her back at her relaxed posture. Shooting her a grin, he thanked her and handed the map back, which she took. Letting Fred lead, Velma kept up with his stride. She figured that Fred wanted to find Derk before going to the office, since it wasn't going anywhere.
It was a while before either of them spoke up. Fred was the one to break the silence.
"… You know Melvin isn't so bad at this as I thought it was. He reminds me of the old days when were didn't know as much as we know now." Fred chuckled at the end of it. He was getting a liking to the kid, and he felt a bit like a mentor. Since he was inexperienced but seemed to have potential.
"I have to agree." Responded Velma. "…He has a quick mind and inquisitive thought. He has that same look that we used to have on our faces. It's a bit nostalgic." Fred laughed.
"Now don't you be getting any funny ideas miss Dinkley. We cannot take on a protégé. That and the kid is way to young for this racket. He should be in school, not chasing monsters and ghosts like we did. Not saying we turned out bad, but this doesn't seem to be well thought out on his and Scrappy's part. They don't even live nearby. I… just don't think it's a good idea."
"Oh Fred. I know that. He's a nice kid and all, but I don't think he's cut out for this as much as we were. Oh!" As Velma was talking, she caught someone down on of the hallways. "This way Fred!"
Taking off down the hall, Velma ran to catch the person, with Fred close at her heels. He caught up to be neck and neck with her as the clashed the person, who seemed to have spotted them and ran to avoid them. Squinting, Fred recognized the man for being Peter from before. "PETER! Wait up!" He hollered, but that only seemed to make the man run faster. It was soon that Fred and Velma lost him in all the twists and turns they had taken. Leaning on the wall to catch his breath, he tried to listen over his heart for footfalls, but could not hear anything. Velma had been panting heavy, but took a short time to recover, same as Fred.
"I wonder what got into him. He seemed scared of us."
"Maybe he is more suspicious then I thought." Velma responded.
"And where do you think you are running to?" Came a gruff voice from behind them. Upon turning, Fred and Velma looked up at the intimidating form of Robert, the security guard. He seemed to have run to catch them.
"I saw someone and I tried to catch them, Fred identified him as Peter and I had a few more questions to ask but he took off." Velma told the security guard. She didn't mean to spook him, but why was he running away from them then. Especially when Fred said his name.
"Peter… Doesn't talk to people." Robert said with a snort. People seeming to apply for him as well.
"Well, maybe we can ask you then. Have you seen Derk? I wanted to ask him a few more questions." Fred responded.
"Derk. He just went and got the box key from me. He said something about Kent wanting it since he lost his. So I gave him my copy and told him to have Kent give it back to me when he was done."
"…But Kent was captured." Velma said puzzled.
"Captured? What do you mean?" Robert looked at them suspiciously. Like, they were not to be trusted. They were a bunch of overgrown kids to him anyway.
"Kent was being guarded by Shaggy, Scrappy and Scooby, they went away from the door for a few minutes and when they came back his room was torn apart and Kent was missing. Didn't you see that on the security camera's?" Fred asked.
"No." Robert said with a huff. "That is one of the camera's that Peter has yet to put back up."
"Hmm… Thank you Robert. Now which way did Derk head off to?" Velma asked politely, so not to anger the man any more then he seemed to be.
"He was heading to Kent's office to meet Kent." Grunted Robert.
"Maybe you should come with us." Suggested Fred. Not that the aura the man gave off towards them was any comfort, but it was damage property and the head of security should know about it. Robert seemed a bit shocked at the offer, but took no time in figuring out the meaning behind the offer. Velma watched as the big man took off in the direction and looked towards Fred. He in turn shrugged and set a place comfortably giving the man ahead of them enough room.
The trip did not take long. Though before they got there, Robert spotted Derk coming down the hallway that led to Kent's office. "Where's Kent?" Robert barked to Derk. The man jumped for a second, before he realized it was just Robert. Though he did not miss the fact that Velma and Fred were there.
"I just finished talking with him. He rushed me a bit since he said he had to go." Derk made a sour face, since he did not like having to deal with Kent at all, and the fact he seemed such in a rush to get him away from him made him enjoy the interaction even less.
"So you just saw him?" Fred asked confused.
"Yeah. The jerk just left. He stopped me in the hall outside his office." Derk said with an unhappy huff. First the guy asks if he could bring him the key, then he wants him away.
"… But Kent's been missing since his room as torn apart." Velma added. Feeling really confused at the situation. Had Derk really seen Kent, or was he lying. She wasn't sure.
"…Um. But I just saw him?" Derk said, giving them a look like they were stupid. Like, 'duh, he was right there…' kind of look.
"Move!" Robert said, fed up with the conversation. He was going to see for himself. Derk tried to continue his side before Robert pushed past him. Dazed, he forgot his argument and followed. Fred and Velma were close behind wanting to know what had just happened. Coming upon the room came a scene that shocked all but Fred, who had already been to it once before. At a staggeringly slow pace, Derk's mouth hung open as he moved to the entrance of the door. While he was in shock, Robert was having a different reaction.
"What did you do?" He yelled, seizing Derk roughly by the collar. Robert picked up Derk and flipped him around to face the angered Security guard. Apparently he didn't like not knowing things that were going on without him noticing. He started to shake him before Velma grabbed him by an arm to stop Robert from shaking Derk.
"Calm down!" She told him sternly, surprising the taller man with the strength that the younger woman was displaying.
"Yes. Calm down Robert. Derk, you know nothing about this?" Fred asked the shaken scientist. He shook his head like a nervous twitch back and forth as fast as he could to show that he didn't know what was going on.
"I…I just saw him a second ago…" Stuttered Derk.
"Liar!" Yelled Robert in his face, which made the smaller man flinch.
"Put him down Robert." Commanded Velma. The towering security guard looked as if he was going to bite her head off, but she was shooting back a glare hot enough that was able to stand down his. Grudgingly, he put Derk down. Who in turn sprinted away from Robert and hid behind Fred.
"It's all HIS Fault!" Said Derk, starting to get hysteric. "… HE framed me… It's all the high and mighty Kent Perl's fault!" Derk pointed an accusing finger in the direction of where Kent's office was. Fred was starting to feel a headache coming on.
"Oh boy!" Shouted the excited voice of Scrappy. He was practically dancing around the floor, well... like an excited puppy. "I can't believe it! I'll go ahead and scout out ahead for that nasty ghost Dinosaur! Grrrrr!"
Scrappy scampered off ahead before Melvin was able to stop the ambitious dog. His hand went limp and fell to his side as the Dane vanished from sight in the direction they were heading.
"…Scrappy…" Murmured Melvin in defeat as he was already to far for him to hear the weak protest of his. His head hung low as he followed wordlessly after the older girl. She had watched the whole thing and the wheels in her head had been turning. Though the thought has plagued her earlier, since he seemed to have felt a bit more comfortable and used to them, maybe it was time to indulge in her curiosities.
"Hey Melvin?"
"Hmm?" He turned, his attention changing from where his dog had gone to the older girl.
"I was wondering…" She started off slow, watching him for any key motions or hints that she was talking about a subject he might feel uncomfortable with. "…Scrappy doesn't seem to be your kind of dog."
"What? Him being a mass of energy, inquisitive, adventurous and me being… well me?" He looked over at her, though his neither voice, nor posture gave away that he was annoyed or even upset about what she was saying. "You are absolutely right. Scrappy was originally my brother's dog. Owen Toore, eldest son of the Toore household is eventually going to claim the family name and take over for dad's business. He's a rather widely known Head Foreman around where I live, and he wanted to pass the position to my brother since he has taken up a liking to it. I'm getting past myself, but basically my brother, being the older one always got what he wanted. And one year he wanted a puppy, so my parent's complied. It was nice… for the first week or so. But as the puppy grew more energetic, and my brother's patience for dealing with the burden of responsibility getting slimmer, he did what every older sibling does… Made his younger brother do it."
Melvin sighed a mixed feeling sigh, slumping his head forward on his shoulders. "Being several years younger then my brother, I looked up to him. So when he asked me to do him a favor, I was too young and gullible to refuse him. I ended up for a long time, doing the chores that were supposed to build character for my brother… Or so said my father. Maybe he should have done it all those times, but it wasn't exactly like he was going to tell my parent's. Both were hardly home to realize that I was doing the chores. Occasionally my dad did come in and comment when he saw me and Scrappy watching TV, but usually that was some comment that my dad said for me to keep up the good work, that maybe I would be as responsible as my brother some day. Little did he know? Well, eventually being with me all the time, Scrappy got restless. Maybe it was when we once caught some news about one of the crimes that you guys had just solved. It showed a bit of some lady interviewing Shaggy and where he got Scooby. It was from then on that Scrappy became obsessed with finding out about his long lost uncle. From the news on TV…To paper clippings from the Sunday papers. Scrappy used to take me for hunts if he ever heard wind of you guys doing something else new he didn't know about. Eventually he ran away, which I assume that is when he came to you guys. It was years before Scrappy actually returned to us. But by then my brother could care less about some puppy who he barely remembered even being his. So he 'gave' me Scrappy. My father thought it was a good idea, since I could use the responsibility for once. But Scrappy didn't come back empty handed. For many years I spent taking care of Scrappy, all he would talk about was the gang and your adventures together. He kept a scrapbook, afterwards to keep track of you guy's travels and accomplishments. But it was recently that he seemed more restless then normal. And things lead from one thing to another… and, well. Here we are."
He made a motion to the museum they were currently in. Making gestures to the various things they were passing by.
"One day at home and watching TV, to on an plane and eventually in a museum haunted by a ghost dinosaur that is unhappy we moved it's remains. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my weekend, but it could be worse."
"…Worse?" Daphne inquired puzzled at what could he deem worse then this situation. Since she was used to Shaggy's constant reaction that each new mystery was the scariest moment in his life.
"Well… If I recall some of the stories Scrappy told me about… He made mention of a rather large Minotaur, a Vampire or two, mummies, werewolves, living toys… and a haunted Treasure Chest or something along those lines. He seemed a bit vague on the details about that last one. So, this is only a ghost Dinosaur that can easily bite through most of me without effort. No biggie."
Daphne grinned, repressing the fact to chuckle since he was being so sarcastic about it. He seemed to be handling it better then she might have thought. It did feel odd him making mention of a few things, though it just made her realize how many things she had done so far in her life. They all had done in their lifetime so far.
"Well…" She was about to say something when Scrappy came scampering back.
"Guys! Guys! I found it! It's only a bit further ahead!" Scrappy slid across the tile floor enough to make some chattering of his claws upon the ceramic before he disappeared entirely. It took only seconds before Melvin took off after his rambunctious dog.
"Wait up!" He yelled.
"Boy…" Daphne commented as she watched the smaller boy scamper off after his hyper canine. She felt a bit bad for him, since she knew full well how it was to deal with the young dog, first hand. She could not picture living with him. Though, she had to pick up her pace before she lost track of them both.
It didn't to long for her to come where Scrappy was showing off his find. It sure seemed to be a main exhibit due to the sheer size that was offered to the one showcase for the dinosaur. Though with the size of the 'ghost' that was chasing them, it seemed a lot of space for a bit larger then the average human, sized dinosaur to be showed off on. Seemed like a lot of time and effort went into the showcasing of it, even before it was even in the area. The perimeter was roped off by those fancy kind of velvety ropes that were linked together by posts, to let people see past it at the display in the making. Scrappy had waited on the proper side till they caught up, before he ducked under and trotted past the flimsy red boundary that separated the guests from where the work was going on. Melvin held up a hand in protest as his words just got lost somewhere on the way up. Daphne came over and let a hand come to rest on his shoulder. He looked up at her, a bit of helplessness at Scrappy's actions before his eyes grew wide as she ducked past the ropes.
"We can't solve the case sitting on the sidelines. Plus, they hired us, so it's not like it's cut off for us to not go past." Not that trespassing was beyond her of the gang. They had done their share of it in the past, but it was always for the good of people, and not to do it for a illegal or wrongful reason. "…We are technically working here. So come on." She urged to him. They had clues to find.
Tentatively, Melvin inched himself over the ropes. He nearly tripped, and knocked the whole line of posts over. But caught his balance before he caused any damage. He almost flinched as his foot touched the other side. Like an alarm was going to go off since he felt like a person who was not authorized to be in the area. Since the bells and whistles never went off, he was able to look up and take in the grandeur of the area. With the stage in the middle of it all, he figured that was where the Dinosaur was supposed to be put on display. Behind it seemed a small alcove where was sketched a rough outline of what the dinosaur looked like, though the painter had yet to work more then just the most minor details. On either side stemming from where the alcove was, were two long stretched of what looked like slanted counters? These had various pictures describing what the dinosaur's diet, environment and other tidbits of information that had been thought out by scientists. It seemed odd, since it looked like a carnivore, but it had a jaw that seemed to be of an herbivore. So it either was a plant eater, or mixed. An Omnivore.
Though something caught his attention. Moving to the odd shaped piece on the display board, it read for him to smell the contents that were held somewhere inside. Leery of the result, his curiosity got the better of him. Though only a small whiff was needed to send the boy into tears.
"WAH!"
He croaked out as he reeled back from the stench. It was worse then a skunk. Worse then some of the foul gym socks that had been thrown his way. There was no stench that he could compare it to. At his exclamation, Daphne and Scrappy came running over.
"What did you find?" Asked a chipper Scrappy. The dogs tail a blur in excitement. Daphne was more relieved it was not a yell of danger or something. Though with the boy covering his nose she too was curious at what he had found.
"…Na'ere" Came a nasally response as he still shielded his nose. Though it seemed that since he only was able to smell it when he got close, that you had to actually seek out the hideous smell to bear witness to it's awfulness. Scrappy was next to get hit by it. He flinched and pulled back from the counter top.
"Man that stuff stinks!" He growled, pawing at his nose to try to rid him of the smell. Melvin wasn't sure if he would be able to smell straight after such an assault.
"Contain inside is a simulation of what the breath of this deadly creature might smell like due to it's ranged diet and possible bacteria contained in the mouth to help take down larger prey then itself. Like the Komodo dragon." Read Daphne from the wall where the information about the particular 'attraction was. After the two reactions, she was unsure that she wished to subject herself to such a smell. But being a true detective, she steeled herself for it and took a quick whiff. Though even braced for it, did not damper the tear inducing effect the overbearing odor contained.
"Man…" Daphne shook her head in attempt to dislodge the smell as it clung to her nostrils.
"…You're telling me. I should have stopped you." Melvin felt a tad bit badly she had went and subjected herself to it as well. And that he didn't protect her from experiencing it.
"Yes you should have." Daphne said, though light hearted in manner, giving her nose a few more rubs. "…We'll have to tell Kent that he needs this fixed. It's nice and all to let people experience prehistoric morning breath, but it doesn't have to be as…" As she searched for the right, appropriate word, she did one more set of rubbing on her nose. "…Potent."
"Seriously." Said Scrappy with a bit of a grumpy distain at the small container of evil. Especially being a dog, the smell was horrendous. And he didn't have to be all that close to get a hint of it, and he had practically put his nose in the thing to smell.
Looking at the time, Daphne noticed that it was getting close to meeting back with the rest of them. They had found a bit out, and could always come back. But it appeared that nothing was really there that could provide any clues that weren't in big bold lettering so that even a young child could read about the dinosaur.
"Come on. We better meet back up with the gang. Let's head off this way, I think it's a shortcut back though some of the staff area's and Shaggy and Scooby might have found something." Scrappy nodded and Melvin was just happy to get away from the horrid smelling contraption. He couldn't picture parent's letting their kids smell something like that. Though it was tall enough that you had to be a certain height to get to the top of it. The protection from curiosity, in the form of a convenient height restriction. In that moment, he pitied the taller children.
Past the ropes, they went away from the display and along what slowly became a cluttered pathway. It seemed that the route they were traveling became less and less visitor and more staff since the halls became a jumbled mess of parts and pieces of what looked to be past exhibits and such. Not impossible to get around, but sometimes it was enough to take up half the large hallway. Where normally they could pass all three in a row and not be touching shoulders, the smaller areas would be harder to fit two people shoulder to shoulder. Checking doors as she led them, Daphne peered into each one and called out Shaggy and Scooby's names. Scrappy was close behind, peering into each in the shadow of Daphne. Melvin was more curious at the things that were in the pile by the door she was currently searching. It seemed to be filled with mannequin parts. From legs to arms… and a few torsos added in for good measure. Probably used for the suits of armor and things on display and this was where for the moment they put the extra parts. It was Melvin who was the first to hear something out of the ordinary. As Daphne hung into the dark room calling the names of their companions, Melvin heard this faint and growing louder sound.
At first he thought he might just be imagining it, but as it got louder and louder between Daphne and Scrappy's yells, He looked up from the barrel to have his eyes grow wide! He was barely able to give a squeak before the ghost dinosaur came charging into the area. Hitting into the pile, it sent parts flying all over the place. Melvin ducked, hiding into one of the area's as Scrappy turned to face the Dinosaur. Though the dinosaur was faster and hit a spare arm that landed right across Scrappy's muzzle, dazing him. With a push forward, he came from behind the open door and slammed it close, pinning Daphne on the other side of the door into the darkness.
A groan came from Scrappy as he was trying to shake off the dizziness he was experiencing. Paw to his head, he was able to get enough sense to jump out of the way as the tail of the dinosaur came crashing down where he had just been standing. Had he been able to see straight, he would be able to take the ghost dinosaur easy. But his mind was still making the room spin. He was no good like this, and was forced to start to back up. Daphne seemed to be locked in the room by a few articles closing the outside opening door, shut. Banging on the door showed that Daphne was not happy with her capture on the other side of the door. And Melvin was nowhere in sight. Backing off, he was trying to shake off his headache. His best bet for them all was to return with help. If anything, Fred would know how to handle the Dinosaur. With one more last look of regret for not being able to fight the ghost, he took off in search for help.
'They were late.' Though Fred. Looking over it seemed Velma was thinking the same thing as she paced nervously in a small area. Once they had finished sorting things out with Robert and Derk, Velma had checked on the van and returned and there still was no sign of the rest of the gang. With a nod in her direction, he started off in the direction where Shaggy and Scooby where. Experience told him that most of the time trouble went after them, and the next on the list was Daphne. He just hoped that it had not come to that since Melvin was with her. Though she was used to all sorts of situations, he hoped that he was just paranoid. He preferred being paranoid to being right. Velma was right behind him, eager to give search. Finding everyone was top priority. With hurried purpose, they covered the hallways pretty quickly to get to the area where he had sent Shaggy and Scooby. With one quick look at the map, it was easy to find the large staff room. It was a best bet for the duo, since staff lounges usually meant a type of food, or fridge for food. Where there was food, there would be them.
With a sigh of relief, Fred was happy he was right as he came to watch the two gluttons' on the end of a massing cleaning spree, of the lounges fridge and pantry. Even the sugar packets were free game as they chugged them down like Shot glasses to see who was 'manlier' then the other and could handle the sugar rush till overload.
"Like' hey gang. Care to join us for a few rounds? We still have enough for a few more players." Shaggy chuckled amusedly. It was clear to Velma and Fred that it was not likely that Shaggy and Scooby had seen the ghost Dinosaur recently enough. At least not recently enough to have downed over one hundred sugar packets by themselves, two sandwiches, part of a watermelon, and a few other miscellaneous wrappers strewn about table they were eating off of.
"No thanks Shaggy. We just were wondering what happened to everyone." Fred asked the sugar high beatnik.
"Well… We found a mess in most of the hallways, but nothing looked interesting…" Or Edible. "…Checked the rooms but nothing seemed out of the ordinary that we could notice. So we ended up here. Besides coming across the fridge unlocked, this odd scribbled note, and some skittish guy running in here looking for something before he went running off when he noticed us."
"What did you say?" Velma responded.
"Oh, some skittish guy…"
"No… Before that."
"Before that? Well the fridge was unlocked. Such carelessness…" He was about to continue when Fred cut him off, trying to get to the one bit of info that wanted to know more about.
"No… After the Fridge, but before the skittish guy." Fred said with a sigh.
"Oh. Like why didn't you just ask about it in the first place?" The earned a rolled eyes look from Velma, but at least they were now on the right track.
"Here." Shaggy said, holding up a piece of paper. It seemed to rain a bit of sugar off of it, but was unstained from anything else. Taking it from Shaggy, Fred placed it on a clean part of the table to examine it. It seemed to be a typed up list of inventory. With the date recording to recently. Though, what seemed off about the inventory list were strange footnotes that were along the sides of some of the cameras. It was a strange combination of letters and numbers.
"Jinkies!" Came a gasp out of Velma. Which brought everyone's attention to her. She pulled out her map and skimmed it before a grin flowered across her face.
"Look here!" She placed down the map next to the list so that Fred could see it. Curious, Shaggy and Scooby had joined them on the clean side of the table and peered around the other two to look at the notes. "Each of the sections of the museum on the map is color coded and given a number for each area. So, my guess is that each of these combinations… are the area color, room number."
"But what is this… H, something note over here. On this part, thingy of the notes on the list after the Color and room number?" Shaggy asked, curious. He could understand the color and number relation, but the space after it and the next set of letter number combinations confused him. Velma seemed to still be working at it, her hand upon the bottom on her chin.
"Well… It's all the letter 'H' for the whole list all the way down. So maybe it's the same kind of thing?"
"R'uts?" Scooby offered.
"Like no Scoob, I don't think its huts. Nice try buddy." Shaggy patted the Dane on the head for a good try.
"…Could it be … Hallways?" Fred suggested.
Velma's eyes grew wide as she looked at it. Running her hands over it, she counted the hallways and compared it to the list. "You know, you are right. The count seems to never go past the amount of hallways in the different area. And using the map it seemed to be lined up in a fashion… But…" She looked it over, making the H spots on the map. "This looks like an odd placement for the camera's to be put for protecting the exhibits… Most of the them are watching the staff areas… not…" Velma was not able to get of the rest of it when they all heard the scampering of claws against the floor. Scrappy came dashing into the room.
"GUYS! The Ghost Dinosaur! It got Daphne and Melvin!"
Snatching up the paper and map, they all ran to follow Scrappy. Reluctantly in the case of Shaggy and Scooby, but they never could leave one of their own, even if Daphne got captured more often then not. As they ran, Velma seemed to be taking note of something as she ran by, checking the map as they went past. She was distracted and ended up crashing into Fred when they stopped.
"Oof… Sorry Fred." She apologized.
"It's ok Velma." Fred helped her straighten up before surveying the scene. What seemed that have started out to be a pile upon one of the sides of the hallway had been strewn about as if the dinosaur was looking for something. A mess of things had been piled up in front of a door, which Scrappy pointed out.
"Daphne's inside there. The Ghost Dinosaur shoved her inside and then attacked me. I would have clobbered him, but I couldn't get near him as he started to throw all the stuff about. But it looks like he left. I could have taken him." Scrappy said with a snort.
Moving to the door, Scooby, Scrappy and Shaggy started to clear off the door. "Daph! You ok in there?" Shaggy talked to the door, hoping it would talk back.
As they worked at freeing the door, Fred started to look through the scattered things. It was a bit before he heard a groan. "Over here!" Fred shouted, drawing Scooby and Velma over to assist him. Pulling various things out of the way, they made a path to what seemed to be a barrel of Mannequin legs. Though one set of legs was wearing a ratty pair of worn jeans on. With a heave, they found the legs were connected to a very dizzy and upside down Melvin.
"Melvin! You ok man?" Fred asked concerned as he flipped the boy right side up. Besides his head spinning, and that a huge Ghost Dinosaur just attacked him. He was just peachy.
"Ugh… my head…" Melvin groaned. His voice calling over Scrappy who came over enough to notice he was ok, and then went back to digging out the door with Shaggy.
"R'hat rappened?" Scooby asked, nosing the younger kid in concern. Giving his face a wash with his sloppy long tongue. Melvin fought off the bath and tried to push away the concerned head.
"I'm ok… All I remember was that the Ghost Dinosaur came charging towards me, and the next thing I knew you guys found me." Little did he recall, fainting at the sight. But even if he recalled it he wouldn't admit it in his embarrassment. "…Where's Daphne?" He moved forward looking for the older girl that was with him.
"Perfectly fine, besides the fact I was shoved into a storage closet. But I found something interesting." Moving back into the door, Daphne led the way into the lit room. In her time contained inside, she was able to find a light on one of the tables. It was arched over to a spot on the wall, which seemed to be occupied by rolls of what seemed to be clear material for the most part… Except for an irregular edge. Daphne went straight to it and pointed out the roll. "See?"
Melvin didn't get it. What did the roll of the material have to do with being a clue? At least that is what he figured she was doing showing it to them. He didn't get it. Though as he looked around the room, the smiles were betraying that this in fact was a clue, and it was just beyond him.
"I do see. Great find Daphne." Fred complimented the older girl, watching Velma look at the material with a closer look. Though she pulled out a flashlight and examined the edge more carefully. Melvin wandered closer to see what the older girl was looking at so closely. It was only when she shone the light upon the edge that he started to get a clue of what it was.
"…This is the same stuff as..." Melvin started, unsure if he should finish his sentence, since he didn't want to be wrong and embarrass himself in front of the older girl.
"Exactly. This explains a lot." Velma looked over at him with a nod. Peering behind her, she looked at Fred. Melvin's view followed hers, as they all seemed to be looking at him. He looked thick in concentration. "Here it comes…" Velma whispered with a slight hint of excitement in her voice that seemed to be lost on Melvin. Though even Scrappy looked intently at the older man, tail swishing happily. What was going on with Fred? Melvin thought puzzled.
"Gang… I have a plan!"
Fred said as he pulled his hand off his chin in thought and placed it at his hip. A grin plastered across his face.
Melvin had heard of the complexity of Fred's plans from Scrappy, but hearing them from Scrappy, and actually being apart of it was two different experiences.
"Velma. This room is secure, isn't it?" Fred asked the girl. She looked over her map, fingers tracing over something she had written down upon it.
"Yeah Fred, it's clear." Though her words didn't make any sense to Melvin. He listened anyway.
"Alright, Velma trace a route for Shaggy and Scooby to take to attract the Dinosaur leading to… Here." Fred had said as he looked over the map and pointed out a room that was on it. Melvin looked at it seemed a room filled with rows of displays. Or so it described. Velma nodded. "Good choice Fred. One entrance in and out, so we can monitor him coming in, and have a way out."
"Alright, We are going to need a type of rope." Fred mentioned next.
"I can get that; Melvin and I found a set of those display ropes for the exhibits. We could link them have a good amount of length." Daphne responded. Though Melvin was shocked that his name was mentioned. What did she mean they found it? What did they find?
"All right, Daph. We need as much as you can get. Velma, trace her a path so that she can get their undetected, even if it's a bit out of the way." Velma nodded and looked back to the map with Daphne coming over to get her instructions.
"Shaggy, Scooby…. You guys…" Fred started.
"You know… We'll only do it for a box…" He paused. "Each!" Shaggy negotiated on their part for the both of them. Earning a nod from the Dane in approval. Fred sighed and looked over to Daphne. She nodded. "Two boxes, alright. But they are back at the van. Velma can get them as she gets ready." Velma also nodded in agreement.
"All right, Velma, you check on the videos and grab anything you think might help. Think you can rig up a jammer?" Fred suggested.
"I can see what we have in the van. I can give it a try!" She beamed, obviously brimming with excitement of the moment.
"All right, now on to the details of the plan. Come around the map Velma has." They all crowded around the map as Fred pointed out the plan. "See here. This is where we will set up. When Shaggy and Scooby get the attention of the dinosaur, they will lead him through this entrance." Fred pointed out the entry of a rather large room. "This has a lot of display cases to hide behind as cover. And restricts the moment of the Dinosaur to straight lines with it's size. So it's only going to come at us in one direction." Fred slid his finger down the wider row of the cases. The common walk way used by the visitors. "Here, and here is where you guys can duck behind. And me and Melvin will be right here as well." He pointed out behind the more middle-ish section. "Me?" Stuttered Melvin, who had not actually expecting to be part of it.
"Yeah. I'm going to need everyone's help to make this work. He's strong, so we will need everyone to jump on him to hold him down." Fred said to Melvin as he then moved to the next part of the plan.
"Scrappy and Velma will be at this one side, Daphne you at the other side of the entranceway. You will be using the rope to trip the Dinosaur. Scrappy, I need you to help just in case Velma isn't done with the jammer. Velma, try if you can to get it done, if not just help trip him. We can still take him even with out it."
Fred looked about every one with an accomplished look. "Alright, you guys got it? Lead," He pointed to Shaggy and Scooby. "Trip…" He pointed to Daphne, Velma and Scrappy. "And they we'll tackle him for the capture. Once he's we can tie him up with what ever rope we have and then we'll have him. All right. Meet at the location. Melvin, follow me. Scrappy go with Daphne."
"And we'll follow Velma and get our boxes." Offered Shaggy. Fred laughed.
"All right, you guys go and get you payment and then all meet back at the room. Good luck gang. And be careful!" Fred warned.
"Like… It sure is an empty hallway…" Shaggy half shouted as he munched on the end of the box he was given. Preferring to finish the box before he had to run. Scooby had the same mentality though was at the end of the box and licking the crumbs off the bottom of the bag. Extracting his muzzle, the Dane agreed as he licked the last crumbs off his nose.
"Rah rah… Real R'uiet."
Shaggy's head drooped as he finished the last of his bag as well. Which meant it was time to get the plan underway.
"Like Scoob… Wasn't it amazing how Velma found those bones like that?" He placed his hands around his mouth and shouted it, so that his voice could be heard.
"The dinosaur was there all along. Funny how we didn't notice it earlier." Shaggy remarked.
"Rah Rah, runny r'ing."
"…We better get going to meet up with the rest of the gang. They are waiting for this news before they go to the COPS!" Shaggy stressed the last word. "…And capture the guy responsible." He started to move down the hallway at a slow pace. Though he wanted to just run to the safety of the gang were they lay in wait for them. Though they would not have to wait to long, since the growing, ground shacking clatter from behind them was getting closer.
"… Like… Now Scoob?" Shaggy was too afraid to look back. Though he didn't have to hear his cohort's response, since the Dane took to a mad dash forward. That was all the answer Shaggy needed. "GANG WAY!" He shouted as he took off running.
Shaggy's eyes grew wide as he offered a glance behind him. The Ghost Dinosaur was close at their heels and getting closer. The big gapping maw, filled with sharp and pointy teeth were aimed at them. Sure some of them were flat in the mouth as well… But Teeth are still teeth. "YIPE!" Shaggy hiccupped and poured on the speed to match Scooby's.
"Incoming!"
As the two of them burst into the room, they traveled a bit before skidding to a halt and diving to their hiding spots.
"NOW!" Yelled Fred from his spot and up when the display ropes. Daphne and Scrappy pulling on them to bring the rope up off the floor where the guys had leaped over it to a nice trip height. But they had not taken into the consideration of HOW strong the Dinosaur was. As it hit the rope, instead of tripping, it pulled Daphne and Scrappy away form the wall. Velma dropped what she was working on and grabbed a quick grip on the rope but even her added strength did little to slow down the movement of the Dinosaur. With a roar, the Dinosaur thrashed its tail about trying to shake the restriction. Glass shattered and sprayed all over the place making everyone hide to avoid the glass.
"Try to take him anyway!" Fred said as he got up. Jumping at the Dinosaur, Shaggy and Scooby were not to far behind. Unable to get his legs to move, Melvin shook where he had hid. Wanting to move, but paralyzed in fright at the situation. But the three of them were not enough.
"I'll get him!" Shouted Scrappy as he got up from where he got pulled to by the rope. Though as he moved, he was impeded in attacking the Dinosaur by catching the flung Scooby in his paws. "Oof!"
One by one, The Dinosaur had thrown off Fred and Shaggy. Daphne was still trying to pull and tangle the legs with the rope, as Velma dived back to her electronics to rush her work in attempt that it might aid their dire situation. A roar bellowed from the massive form of the Dinosaur as it looked about for something. And it found it in the huddled form of Velma working. As the Dinosaur locked on her, it moved forward slowly due to the ropes. But it still was not being stopped by it.
"STOP!" Yelled Melvin as he stood between the Dinosaur and the older girl. She looked up in shock, but saw that he was buying her time so she dove back to her work. "…s…s..stop!" He yelled again only with a little less courage as the first yell. Especially since the Dinosaur was getting closer and closer to him. It seemed to be growing in size, as he got nearer. Melvin gulped. "…Don't… Come… any…" The boy had courage, but he could only take so much. Eyes rolling back into his skull, the boy fainted. His adrenalin rush had ended and he fell to the floor like a stone. It was then a blur of Brown came flying out of nowhere. Slamming in the Dinosaur, Scrappy was pushing and hitting the massive creature.
"You can scare my Uncle Scooby… You can throw my Uncle Shaggy… You can destroy the museum property… But never… Ever do you touch or harm my owner or the gang!" With a growl he lunged and pushed back the Dinosaur. Though it was a bit of a stalemate, as the Dane was only keeping him from advancing, but not stopping him.
"Ah!" Squeaked Velma as she fumbled with the device she had in her hands and pressed the button. It seemed that the Dinosaur stiffed and it's head darted around as if it was looking for something. Though it got little a chance to find what it wanted since Scrappy charged. With the momentum of Scrappy, and the quick movement of Shaggy, Scooby, Fred and Daphne at the ropes, they pulled and uprooted the monster and sent it to a crashing halt to the ground. Moving quickly, as Scrappy stood on top of the Dinosaur keeping him still, they worked to wind the rope around and tie up the Dinosaur's legs up to the wrists. Panting, they all pulled back to get a look at their work. The Dinosaur seemed to struggle, but was finally captured.
Melvin groaned as he shifted from the ground and rubbed the back of his head that had hit the ground when he fainted. Scrappy dashed off the pinned Dinosaur and to his master's side. Melvin used the Dane to steady himself as he leaned up looking over in the ghost's direction. "Did we win?" He asked tentatively, as the gang sighed with relief at the boy being ok. Scrappy licked his master's face. "Yeah Mel. We won."
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" Came the bellow that most of the gang had gotten to know as the grumpy voice of Robert. He came storming in with a few other security guards that were under his command. Picking herself off the floor, Velma dusted off her skirt and moved to where the Dinosaur had been struggling against its confinements. With Scooby and Shaggy hauling the Dinosaur to a sitting position, Velma grabbed the top of the Dinosaurs head.
"Let me introduce you to…"
