After the gang had finished dinner, they were ready to go back to school and start the investigation.

"Okay gang" said Fred "Now that we've eaten, let's start investigating"

"Good" said Scooby "So uh...where do we start?"

"Good question, Scooby" Fred said as he turned to his folks "Mom? Dad? What do you think we should do?"

"The first place you start your investigation is at the scene of the haunting." Judy said.

"Which will be the library." Velma said.

"Right." Brad nodded. "Now, once you are at the scene, start searching around for clues."

"Ideally, the best place to start will be where the ghost was standing at." Ricky added

"I was hiding under a desk when the kids were captured" said Marcie "And I saw the reaper standing in the center of the library and he vanished at that. My guess is that we should look in the center"

"Like, I suppose we're going to have to break into the school tonight if we're going to search for clues now." Shaggy assumed.

"Good thing I know all about breaking and entering" said Marcie.

Scooby at that same time, was sniffing Shaggy's backpack when he took out some treats that looked like small sugar cookies in a plastic baggy.

"Roh boy, rog riscuits" Scooby said as he looked at the treats.

"Oh yeah" said Shaggy "Those are some homemade snacks I made"

"Really? What're they made out of?" Velma asked Shaggy.

Before Shaggy could reply, Fred said, "We'd better get moving if we want to solve this mystery, gang."

"Yeah" said Daphne "Good thing we still have enough money for bus fare"

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" Madelyn asked.

The gang made their way out of the Jones residence, but not before Fred's parents and the old Mysteries Five wished them good luck.

"Good luck, son" Brad said as the kids made their way out of the house.

"You're gonna need it" Cassidy added.

The gang made their way to the bus stop in Fred's neighborhood.

"You know guys, I'm glad I decided to name ourselves 'Mystery Inc'" said Daphne.

"Yeah, it has a nice ring to it" Fred told Daphne.

"I think so too" Shaggy said "At first I was considering calling us 'The Scooby-Doo Detective Agency', but then I realized, that name sucks. No offense Scoob"

"That's okay" said Scooby "That is a pretty dumb name"

"And it sounds too long, too." Daphne agreed.

It didn't take long for the bus to arrive and the gang promptly got on.

After a ten-to-fifteen minute bus ride, the gang were back at their school.

"Here we are, gang" said Fred "We're back at school. Now all we need to do is to find a way to get in"

"Marcie, you're smart, why don't you think of something?" Madelyn suggested as she turned to Marcie.

Marcie signalled them to be quiet as she looked around before coming up with an idea.

"I've got it" she said as she snapped her fingers.

"What?" asked everyone.

Marcie pointed to an open window on the third floor "There's an open window up there and there's a ladder on the corner of the school. My theory is that if one of us climbs that ladder and goes into the window, we can get inside if said person opens the door from inside"

"Gee Marcie, that sounds crazy enough to work" Velma said.

"Thanks V" said Marcie "Now all we need is someone to test it out"

"Let Shaggy do it." Fred suggested.

"Huh?" Shaggy swallowed as everyone turned to him. "Why me?"

"Because that's a small window and you're the thinnest." Fred answered as they walked closer to the building.

"Don't worry, Shag." Daphne encouraged him. "You're the swingingest gyminist in gym class."

"I suppose so." Shaggy nodded before walking over to the ladder and started climbing it.

Once he reached the top of the ladder, Fred called out. "When you get in, open the front door!"

"Right, man." Shaggy nodded. "Now watch me swing right in!"

With that remark, he leaped from the top of the ladder, grabbed onto the bottom side of the window and swinged right through the small, open window.

As soon as Shaggy jumped in, there were some falling, tumbling and hitting sounds from inside of the building.

"He got in, alright" Velma remarked "Come on"

Inside their school, Shaggy managed to land on the floor with maybe a few stacks of papers near him.

After picking himself up off the ground, Shaggy went to the front door, where his friends were waiting for him.

"Like, come on in, gang" Shaggy said as he opened the door.

"Such a gentleman" Madelyn sighed.

The gang walked down the main hallway quietly, not wanting to attract any attention.

"Boy, it's kind of spooky in here" Shaggy whispered "School sure is more spooky than during the day"

Scooby started to shiver.

"Shh" Velma hushed Scooby "We need to keep quiet so we don't attract any attention"

Without making much noise, the gang made their way back to the school library.

"Okay gang" Fred whispered as he turned on a flashlight "Here we are, back at the scene of the crime"

"Jinkies" said Velma "Sure is dark in here"

"Okay gang, let's split up and search for clues" said Fred "Daphne and I will check the right side of the library, Marcie and Velma will check the left side of the library and Scooby, Shaggy and Madelyn will check the upstairs section"

"And what does Scooby do?" Madelyn asked as she rushed over to cling onto Shaggy's arm.

"Stand guard." Fred replied.

"Me? No way" Scooby shook his head "What if a dog catcher shows up?"

"Come on Scooby" Marcie said as she petted his head "We need a big, brave doggy to protect us"

"Sorry, my mind is made up" Scooby replied.

Velma thought for a moment "I've got an idea! Scooby, if you stand guard, I'll give you one of those dog biscuits you found in Shaggy's backpack"

"Rog biscuits?" Scooby asked and thought for a while before nodding. "I'll do it!"

"Great!" Shaggy said. "We'd better move!"

Velma fed Scooby a treat and everybody split up to search for clues.

Shaggy was whistling a tune quietly as he and Madelyn searched through the area.

"What's the tune you're whistling, Shaggy?" Madelyn asked.

"Oh nothing" Shaggy said as he instantly stopped.

"Well, anyways, what do you think that ghost could've left behind?" Madelyn asked.

"I don't really know." Shaggy said as he looked around before something caught his eye and added, "Wait a minute! What's that on the floor?"

"What's what?" asked Madelyn.

"That outline on the floor." Shaggy said as he pointed to the floor.

Madelyn looked towards where Shaggy was pointing at and noticed a wide square area in the carpet that appeared to be lower than the surrounding area, along with a thin, three-side cut surrounding three sides of the square area in question.

"My goodness!" She said. "What do you think it could be, Shaggy?"

"Could be a switch of some sort." Shaggy shrugged. "Or maybe it is a trapdoor and wait a minute..."

He paused as his mind flashed back towards the moment they saw the reaper.

"Remember when the reaper first appeared?" Shaggy asked Madelyn "Well, my guess is that he must've gone down there and taken the others"

"But how do we get in?" asked Madelyn.

"Beats me" Shaggy shrugged.

At that same time, Fred and Daphne were searching for clues as well.

"Find anything yet, Daph?" Fred asked.

"No Freddy" said Daphne "What about you?"

"I'm not too sure, Daph" Fred replied "But I think there's some kind of book on this shelf that can give us some info on reapers and how to locate them"

Daphne nodded silently as Fred begins to search for a book.

In the same time, Velma and Marcie were busy searching.

"Okay Marcie, any idea on how we can find clues or something about this reaper?" Velma asked Marcie.

Marcie thought for a while before coming up with a reply.

"Why don't we try looking in the last place we saw him?" she suggested "Maybe we can find a clue and analyze it. Then, once we analyze it, we can use one of the computers to look up more info"

"Sure thing." Velma nodded as they got to work.

The two girls went downstairs to where the reaper was last seen.

Marcie reached into her backpack "It's a good thing I brought some detective stuff to assist us. We're going to search for clues like they do on CSI"

"Jinkies!" Velma remarked. "What do you have?"

Marcie started to pull out the stuff inside "Well, I've got a really sensitive blacklight torch..."

"Cool" Velma remarked.

"...and I've got one of those latent print kits..." she continued as she showed a box of fingerprint stuff.

Marcie took out some nightvison goggles "...and some nightvison goggles to scan the dark areas..."

"What else?" Velma asked.

Marcie then showed a jar of powder "And finally, some purple thief detection power. You put this powder to a surface such as a doorknob or a valuable object. When it comes into contact with human skin, the powder will turn hands purple to easily identify the thief. It's simple as that"

"Wow" Velma remarked as she put on a pair of gloves. "Let's get to work, then."

At that same time, Scooby was still guarding the library.

"Okay, okay" he thought "You're a brave guard dog and you must alert your friends if you see anything suspicious. I cannot be scared"

He continued his duties as he looked around, being on the look out for anything suspicious.

"Maybe I'd better check and see if the others are okay" he thought "They must be petrified without me to protect them"

He took another look around before deciding to go find Shaggy.

"Shaggy?" he whispered "Shaggy? Where are you?"

He looked around as he tried to sniff out Shaggy's scent.

Finally, he saw a light in the distance. Assuming it was Shaggy, he followed the glow.

"It must be Shaggy." He thought to himself.

Using his canine sight, he followed the illuminating glow and finally, he saw Velma and Marcie using the gadgets Marcie brought.

The two girls were busy examining the area to notice Scooby approaching.

"Boy V" Marcie said to Velma "It sure is great to be investigating together"

"Yeah" Velma agreed.

The two girls continued to look around searching for clues, unaware that Scooby was walking towards their direction.

Velma shined the blacklight at the floor and same something glowing green.

"Marcie" Velma said as she pulled Marcie's jacket "I found something"

"Uh Velma..." Marcie said nervously "I think we are being watched"

"Watched?" Velma asked. "By who?"

The two girls nervously looked back.

They turned around and pointed the light. It was Scooby.

"Rello" he waved as the flashlight shined on him.

"AAAHHH!" the girls both screamed.

"Huh?" Scooby asked. "What was that for?"

"Scooby!" Velma exclaimed when they recognized the voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah" Marcie said as she waved her finger "Didn't we tell you to stand guard?"

"Well, I was." Scooby shrugged. "I was just checking and see if you guys are alright."

"Aww" Velma gushed "You're such a sweet doggy to worry about us like that"

"You're so adorable, Scooby" Marcie said as she hugged Scooby and kissed him on the cheek.

"Well, anyways, what is it that you guys discover?" Scooby asked.

"We found some footprints and a trail on the spot where the reaper was" Velma explained.

"Thanks to my handy dandy blacklight torch" Marcie boasted.

"Maybe we should follow them." Scooby suggested.

"Good idea, boy" said Velma "You deserve another treat"

Velma reached into the plastic bag and fed Scooby another dog biscuit.

"Maybe we should find the others and let them know what we saw" Marcie suggested "I mean, we are doing this as a team"

"Good idea." Scooby nodded. "We should go."

Scooby and the girls started to walk over to where Shaggy and Madelyn were.

Speaking of those two, let's see how they are progressing.

"Hmmm..." Madelyn said as she examined the area Shaggy pointed out. "There's got to be a switch of some sorts that activates the trapdoor around here."

Shaggy looked all around and didn't find anything.

"Like, nothing here but a bunch of books" Shaggy said to Madelyn.

"Unless one of them activates a switch." Madelyn said.

Shaggy raised both eyebrows and nodded thoughtfully.

They both started to pull off all the books on the bookshelves, but nothing happened. M

"Rats" said Madelyn "I sure there was a switch on here"

"Like, maybe there's one on the other side of the library" suggested Shaggy.

"Isn't that where Fred and Daphne are?" Madelyn asked.

"Yeah" Shaggy nodded. "I hope they found something."

Meanwhile, Fred and Daphne were searching through the bookshelves in search for a clue.

During the search, Daphne pulled a book out, inadvertently activating a hidden switch that opened a trapdoor which Fred fell through.

That same switch also opened the trapdoor Shaggy discovered

"Freddy?" Daphne looked around "Where are you? Freddy?"

In the same time, Madelyn noticed that the trapdoor is opened.

"Hey, the trapdoor opened!" She said.

"Like, Fred and Daph must have discovered something." Shaggy said before hearing Daphne calling for Fred and added. "Zoinks! Sounds like Freddie is in trouble!"

"Oh my god" said Madelyn "We've gotta save him"

"We'd better go find Daph." Shaggy said as they took off. "She could be in danger if Fred's in trouble!"

"Right." Madelyn nodded just as they ran into Velma, Marcie and Scooby.

Conveniently, while searching for each other, everybody bumped into each other at the same time and all fell to the ground.

"Jeepers, that is convenient" Daphne said to the narrator.

"Like, what happened, Daph?" Shaggy asked as he rubbed his forehead.

"I was searching through the bookshelf and randomly picked up this book." Daphne replied as she showed the book. "But then, next thing you know, Fred's vanished!"

"Put the book back where you found it, Daphne." Scooby suggested. "It could've triggered a hidden switch of some sorts."

Daphne was confused by the statement, but didn't say anything as she did as Scooby suggested.

As soon as the book was back in it's place, they can hear a trapdoor close.

"The book was on a hidden switch that activates trapdoors!" Shaggy said as he removed the book, opening the trapdoor again. "You found a clue, Daph!"

"Yeah, Danger-Prone Daphne sure did." Fred said from where he was at.

"Are you alright, Freddie?" Velma asked.

"Yeah" Fred said as Daphne helped him get up "Just a bit of a headache, Daphne. What is this place?"

"I don't know, but we sure discovered how the others disappeared without a trace when the Reaper appeared." Madelyn said.

"Right, and while we were searching around, Marcie and I discovered another clue." Velma added.

"A clue?" Scooby asked Velma.

"What kind of clue?" Daphne added.

"Footprints." Marcie explained. "Follow us!"

The gang wasted no time following Velma and Marcie, who pointed out the footprints they discovered.

"Footprints?" Daphne asked "Where did they lead to?"

"I think I can sniff them out." Scooby said. "Follow me!"

The gang nodded as they follow Scooby, who was sniffing out the scent accompanying the footprints.

"Are you sure Scooby can track down the reaper?" Marcie asked the others.

"I'm pretty sure he can track him down" Velma said "Canines have very good senses of direction"

"And I'm pretty sure he'll find the reaper in the next chapter" Daphne added.

Author's Note:

That's true Daphne! Scooby is going to find the culprit in the next chapter. I swear, this would be a great new Scooby-Doo series. What do you think?