"Again?" Velma jumped off his lap.

"Yeah, every time something happened there's been that purple light." Adrian grabbed Velma's hand and they headed outside.

"Daphne!" Velma shouted.

Daphne tumbled out of some bushes followed by a pair of walking skeletons.

"You called!" Daphne aimed a kick at the closest of the skeletons knocking its arm off and causing it to fall back onto the other. Skeletons surged out of the bushes, chaos and confusion erupted as people who were outside ran for cover and those inside ran outside to see what was happening. In the mess Velma and Adrian became separated when her glasses were knocked off by someone running past. By the time she'd found them he'd been swept away in the panic. Fortunately Daphne found her, unfortunately so did a number of skeletons who soon overpowered them and dragged them into the bushes.

In the sports bar Fred was impressed by the level of interest Shaggy and Scooby seemed to be taking in the game and the stats produced by the new scoring table. He raised an eyebrow as the pair started to consult tide tables, the current phase of the moon and other almanacs. He was about to ask what they were doing when Daphne and Velma burst through the door, both looking like they'd been dragged through a hedge backward and then some.

"Hot dates girls?" said Fred giving them a wink.

"Skeletons!" the girls said in unison.

Shaggy silently mouthed 'yes' and clenched his fist, he then held out his hand towards Scooby.

"Rhould rave reen radioactive rob ronsters," Scooby sulked slightly as he reluctantly handed Shaggy ten dollars.

"Like Scoob we only see radioactive blob monsters in the fall when it's an even number year." Scooby face-palmed himself at making such as basic mistake.

"Oh yeah, skeletons," Shaggy deflated when he realised what was happing.

"What have I told you two about playing tricks on Shag and Scoob, I mean skeletons …" said Fred sternly, he was interrupted when another student, as equally dishevelled as the girls ran in and slammed the door closed and pressed his back against it. He held a makeshift club in his hand.

"She ain't lying, it's not pretty out there right now."

"Adrian!" Velma hurried over.

"Velma, you're safe I was look all over of you." He sagged with relief and opened his arms which Velma was more than happy to jump into.

"Awwwwww," Daphne cooed quietly at the scene.

"So what happened?" said Fred as he pulled a couple of twigs out of Daphne's hair.

"Oh Vel and I go on a date, get attacked by some kind of undead monsters, Velma loses her glasses, we get abducted by said undead monsters, fight ourselves free… the usual," Daphne brushed herself down "hasn't put Velma of her stride though."

"So I see," Fred smiled at the sight of Velma cooing over Adrian "still we do have a job to do.

"In the morning Fred, let them have some time together, besides I'd like some time to wind down after what just happened."

"Like, plus they've just dished out some fresh chilli and nachos. For once Fred can't we just ride out the apocalypse?"

"Beside I think it's all over now, I can hear campus security giving the all-clear."

"OK you two win, this time, but we're on the case bright and early in the morning." Shaggy and Daphne gave each other a silent high-five as Fred turned his attention to the game.

The next morning the gang decided to visit various faculty members who Professor Dart has suggested they interview as they had been investigating the happenings prior to the gang being hired. Their first port of call was the biology department to interview a Professor Krebs. They had just arrived outside the building as Krebs was carrying his bicycle inside.

"Kerbs is a mamil," said Fred.

"Well he's not a reptile Fred," Velma rolled her eyes as they followed him inside.

"M-a-m-i-l, middle aged man in Lycia." Fred dipped his head towards Krebs.

"Ewwww," went Daphne and Velma simultaneously.

"Well there have been some reports of creatures seen in the woods near one of the athletics training grounds. The area is used by a number of departments for field work and while we haven't seen any creature, there's enough circumstantial evidence to say something odd is going on there." Krebs spoke as he passed around photographs of tracks and other evidence.

"Anything else?"

"Well Belinda, that's Professor Jackson in the History department, has quite a lot of student data. She's on one of the welfare committees so gets to see a lot of students so she'll have the bigger picture. I think it would be more efficient if you formed a couple of groups and continued the search for evidences in parallel."

"I prefer the way I say it," Fred muttered under his breath then looked up "Sure thing Professor. Daph and I will go to the history department while Shaggy, Scooby and Velma can explore the woods."

"Why can't you do the woods Fred? That place has monster written all over it" Shaggy complained as they walked out of the building.

"Well Scooby has a nose for tracking and Velma is good a field biology and you, well you bring that special Shaggy sauce to any investigation."

"Like, was that a complement?" Shaggy whispered in Velma's ear as they parted company.

"I think so, you do have a unique style to investigations which can upset any crooks plans."

"What running around at random and screaming a lot."
"That'll be it." Velma smiled as they walked towards the wood "Don't knock it Shag, it's got us out of a jam on many occasion. Plus it's a nice day for a walk in the woods."

"Yeah, like a wood that could be full of mystical malevolent monsters."

"Or fake tracks planted by the people behind this who affair. How often have we ever encountered real monsters?"

"Like, that old wardrobe you brought off that internet auction side?"

"OK, aside from that."

"And Seattle."

"You just drank too much coffee."

"What about the giant dog-creature of Washington State."

"That was Scooby and his broccoli allergy."

The trio crunched their way through the woods. Leaves were beginning to fall and as the place was left alone there was still some leaf matter from the previous year

"Hmmmm," Velma knelt down and looked at a patch of ground Scooby had indicated at "Well something made this mark in the ground. Good work Scooby."

"Hey what about a 'good work Shaggy'?" Said Shaggy as he wandered away a few paces.

"Well, when you find a clue…" Velma returned her attention to the mark in the ground "This was recent, there are some of newly fallen leaves in the imprint." She stood up and looked at the imprint again "Looks like it came from some kind of giant amphibian like a…"

"Frog?" said Shaggy quietly.

"Yes, well done. How did you… jinkies." Velma whispered under her breath. Shaggy was standing only a few feet away from a frog almost as big as the Mystery Machine. Its tongue slipped out of its mouth and wiped its eyes.

"Don't move Shaggy, they can only see movement, stay still and you're effectively invisible," said Velma from the safety of the trees.

"That's easy for you to say," said Shaggy keeping his jaw still.

Velma turned to Scooby "This is what we're going to do, Scooby and I are going to collect… yes we are Scooby or seriously I'm feeding all your Scooby Snacks to that frog, you got that? Good. So we're going to do this…" Velma quickly outlined the plan.

Together they collected all the leaves twigs and any other detritus they could carry. Scooby then crept behind the tree closest to Shaggy's right while Velma crept up behind Shaggy making sure she was hidden from the frog by Shaggy's body.

"Right Shaggy on the count of three run to your left for the trees and Scooby throw your leaves at the frog. Ready? One… two…th… Velma threw her leaves to the right …ree Scooby threw his leaves. As expected the frog went for the motion, Shaggy went for the trees, Velma waited for a second too long before she headed for cover.

"Jink...ugh!" The frog's tongue slammed into her back knocking her to the ground

"Relma!"

It curled around her body, gripped tightly then pulled her screaming inside its mouth.