Chapter 12: A strange journey

Something felt...off. Shaggy wasn't able to quite put his finger in it, though as he observed his surroundings, the first thing he noticed is that everything seemed to be in a glowing and translucent shade of light blue.

Raising his hands, he was surprised to see they, too, were in a glowing and translucent shade, this one being more greenish than his surroundings.

It was as if he was wearing a pair of night vision goggles, except that he was not wearing any goggles at all.

Somehow, he had acquired night vision, though Shaggy was still puzzled by how he came to find himself floating over the abandoned underground swimming pool.

Only when Shaggy looked down did he see himself, completely submerged under water with no bubbles emerging.

He blinked, and immediately his surroundings shifted to a year ago, right at the intersection in exact moment the tractor trailer, which was about to collide with the school bus he was riding on, was barreling down the perpendicular road.

Floating towards the cab of the tractor unit, Shaggy saw that the truck driver was trying to apply the brakes before blared the horn in panic.

As the scene paused, he floated to under the tractor unit and saw how worn down the braking disc was. Whoever owned and maintained the tractor unit clearly wasn't doing a thorough check of the air brake system.

Upon blinking, Shaggy saw the scene immediately shifting to the moment of impact, and he floated towards the school bus.

In slow motion, Shaggy watched several of the students in the middle, including Pierre, Erin and his gang, screaming as the bus structure collides with the front of the tractor trailer.

He then saw his younger self getting knocked in the head by one of the pieces of the seat and the tractor unit's bumper, followed by his left arm getting pinned between the tractor unit's engine hood and the wall.

Shades of broken glass showered over him, then all was silent as steam emerged from the wreckage.

After another blink, Shaggy found himself back in his old home in Brooklyn a few months later, in which he watched his father in combats trying to talk some sense into him before he was to be deployed that day.

Watching his younger self protesting about the non-stop pain in his left arm, Shaggy exhaled as he watched his younger self and his father arguing back and forth before his father slapped him.

Then, Shaggy shook his head as he watched his younger self storming up the stairs without another word before seeing the regret and shame washing over his father's eyes.

Following another blink, Shaggy was watching himself, his mother and sister at the memorial service at Arlington, in which the honor guard lowered his father's coffin into his final resting place.

He was silent as he saw his younger self causing a scene when he fainted, and then getting escorted out of the proceedings by his mother, who tried to comfort him.

Shaking his head and momentarily closing his eyes, Shaggy opened them again and find himself at the cemetery on the night he met Scooby.

He watched as Scooby wondered into the cemetery and the wind picking up speed, followed by the thunder rumbling.

It was then that he noticed a faint, glowing shockwave floating towards the sky, and in an instant, lightning struck, prompting Scooby's eyes to bug out in horror when he saw the cemetery sign.

Shaggy also noticed the same faint, glowing shockwave traversing the ground before reaching the graves of Ebenezer Crabbe and Sarah Ravencroft, which prompted him to frown.

As the two tombstones began to shake, Shaggy turned back towards the night sky, in time to see another faint, glowing shockwave floating towards the sky.

This faint, glowing shockwave was much more visible than the first, and the lightning that followed was the one that struck the two graves, leading to Crabbe and Ravencroft's ghosts raising from their graves.

Shaggy's frown deepened before he paused the scene and replayed the moment leading to the lightning strikes, then he floated over to trace the origin of the faint, glowing shockwaves.

The tracing led him to a residence somewhere in town, and Shaggy raised an eyebrow when he saw the lone figure with the book in the home office.

Volume Three: A Practical Guide to Resurrection and its Applications. Shaggy read the title, then he proceeded to examine his surroundings.

There were pictures and posters of stamps on the wall, accompanying the diplomas and awards received, and Shaggy arched his eyebrows when he saw whose name is on the diplomas and awards.

But it can't be, unless... Shaggy thought to himself before he looked at the desk, where he soon found the same clippings that Fred and the girls have discovered with the book while searching through Vice Principal Grimes' office.

Then, looking at some of the photos on the desk, Shaggy saw one dated from the summer of 1989, which was a group photo at Lake Erie Summer Camp.

One of the fourteen-year old girls in the group photo looked familiar, and Shaggy promptly picked up one of the newspaper clippings on the desk, which detailed an investigation into a drowning death that summer in that camp.

It was in that clipping that Shaggy saw the girl's photo, along with a caption that identified her as Lauren Owens, who was the drowning victim.

Looking at the group photo again, Shaggy saw that one of the camp counselors looked like a younger version of Principal Lantsman.

Shaggy then blinked, in time to see Owens' family leaving the courthouse following the announcement of the civil suit settlement between them and the school board.

Neither of them looked particularly happy, especially the boy, which the newspaper article had identified as Linda's sixteen-year old brother, Richard, who goes by Ricky by his friends.

Ricky was subsequently seen in the company of a parrot, a girl who looked awfully similar to Dr. Wymils, and a pair of blondes, and they all comforted him on the news of the death and settlement, which will apparently see the school board absolved of any responsibility on the cause of his sister's drowning at the camp.

The scene subsequently shifted to the five searching through documents in the public library, followed by a scene in which there were protests outside the county administration's office and the State Legislature building decrying efforts to cut the public library's budget.

Shaggy next came upon a news article from the fall of 1991, which reported the disappearance of Ricky and his friends and accompanied by a photo of them.

With a frown, Shaggy then shifted the scene back to the county administration's office, in which there were protests outside about plans to rezone greenspaces in the county's outskirts and open them up for development.

The scene then shifts to inside the meeting room of the board of supervisors, in which one of the developers was articulating on the benefits of the new housing and industry invested as part of the rezoning.

One of the supervisors was subsequently seen shaking the hands of the lobbyist, who proceeded to provide her business card to the supervisor.

Shaggy's frown deepened as he saw the logo of Destroido Development Inc. on the business card, then the scene shifted to when the supervisor endorsed a couple of the candidates running for the Crystal Cove United School District's five-member board of trustees, both of whom were subsequently elected in 1994.

It was there that the scene shifted to one of the trustees being sworn in as a member of the State House in 2003, where Shaggy subsequently saw him often breaking bread with future Principal Lantsman on numerous occasions, even bringing her to meet Destroido Industries Group officials.

He soon found himself reading through several more files, several of which detailed how funding for many of the proposed works scheduled for the school like computer upgrades or replacements got watered down.

Although the school wasn't unique in facing funding issues, it was worth noting that while the school was struggling to overhaul its aging mechanical system, Principal Lantsman has spent quite a fortune the same summer on vacations, including at casino resorts, which couldn't be supported on her principal's salary.

It's also on top of Destroido has secured numerous contracts in works with the county administration, including for the school board, even though the services rendered were anything but top tier.

The scene subsequently shifted to the summer of 2008, in which a young girl was injured while attending a summer camp run by the school board in a private-public partnership with Destroido.

Standing by a nearby tree, Shaggy watched the girl getting carried away in stretchers by the paramedics while several of the campers and staff members, among them being Principal Lantsman, looked on.

The subsequent newspaper article detailing the incident identified the girl as Harriet Gates, daughter of the school librarian Martha Taylor Gates, and several more months shifted forward before Shaggy saw that the school board and Destroido were absolved from charges of criminal negligence stemming from the accident.

Which then led Shaggy to the front of the Coolsville Central Courthouse three weeks ago, in which the librarian and her family announced the civil suit they are launching against Destroido.

He then followed Gates to a few days later, in which she is in her office in the library looking through finances.

Gates subsequently stopped when she stumbled upon a file, then she frowned as she looked closer, which is when Shaggy got a good look at the file she was reading.

The minute he started reading the accounting figures, Shaggy found himself transported to various locations where whatever money that was allocated for the library was instead embezzled, and together with the "commissions" received from Destroido, spent lavishly on cruises and at casino resorts.

And at each of those locations he had literally followed the money to, he always spotted Principal Lantsman.

It was then that he found himself back at the high school, where just a couple days before her death, Gates was seen confronting Principal Lantsman on the matter.

Which then led him to the exact moment the two ghosts showed up while he, Fred and the girls were serving detention.

He watched himself and the gang reacting to the storm brewing inside with all those books and other objects flying around, then just as everything settled down, out of nowhere, the large thick book came crashing down onto the table in front of them.

Unlike all the other books or objects that were flying around them during that storm, Shaggy noticed that this large thick book was faintly glowing, something neither he nor the others had noticed at that very moment, because it was that exact moment that Crabbe and Ravencroft's ghosts emerged from the book.

In the chaos of trying to get away from Crabbe and Ravencroft's ghosts, neither himself nor the others have noticed the book following behind the ghosts, and as Shaggy watched the book, he was astonished to find Mrs. Gates right by the entrance as the two ghosts chased himself and the others to the gym.

The librarian was certainly stunned by the sight in front of her, and it was the very last thing she would see, for at that exact moment, the book slammed right into the back of her head.

In slow motion, Shaggy watched solemnly as the book slammed right into Mrs. Gates' skull.

With the book lodged in the back of her head, Mrs. Gates crumbled to the floor. She was dead before she hit the floor.

A few seconds later, the book's glow became more pronounced before it was dislodged from her skull, and when the glow dissipated back to its faint state, the blood had disappeared.

Shaggy blinked when he saw the book title. Volume Three: A Practical Guide to Resurrection and its Applications.

And all this time, we've been carrying the murder weapon. He thought to himself as the scene shifts back to the present moment, in which he saw his friends were running away from the two ghosts.

But through the labyrinth of the ruins, he could see that they were nowhere out of danger, for the path they were taking leads them straight back to the bottom of the hole, where the Witch was awaiting them.

Clearly, in a blind panic to get away from Crabbe and Ravencroft, neither Fred nor the girls had a chance to find the spell that could banish the two ghosts, and Shaggy swallowed as he contemplated how to help his friends.


Sure enough, as Fred and the girls rounded the corner, the Witch stepped forward as she said, "A-ha! Going somewhere?"

As the trio retreated, they froze when they saw Crabbe and Ravencroft's ghosts floating right behind them.

"Seize them!" The Witch ordered, and the two ghosts complied before they proceeded to levitate Fred and the girls into the air.

Struggling to break free, Velma momentarily let go of the book, which the Witch wasted no effort catching.

"Must say it was very nice of you to return the book to me." The Witch said as she flipped it open. "Now where were we...?"

Upon flipping through several pages, the Witch stopped at one and said, "Right. Maybe this spell will teach you kids a lesson!"

"You won't get away with this!" Fred growled as he struggled to break free from Crabbe's levitation.

"Oh please." The Witch cackled. "You can't even bother to rescue your friend and his pooch, and as easy it can be for me to use you for my cause, it's simply not worth my time to keep you brats in line."

Holding up the book, she said, "Without further adieu, a nice ol' burial spell shall do the trick to you brats!"


Seeing the Witch eying the particular spell, Shaggy's eyes widened when the enchantment floated from the book and reassembled in front of him to underline its meaning.

On an impulse, Shaggy quickly flew right into the Witch's body without any second thought as he shouted, "No!"


Fred and the girls squeezed their eyes shut at that very moment as the Witch began, "N-"

A split-second later, the Witch, in a considerably more masculine voice, finished, "-o!"

The shift in the Witch's voice prompted Fred and the girls to open their eyes and turn towards her in surprise, while Crabbe and Ravencroft's ghosts exchanged puzzled looks.

However, neither of them were more surprised by the change in the Witch's voice more than the Witch herself, but before she could inquire about what happened to her voice, Fred and the girls could see her eyes glow through the mask as she began flipping through the pages of the book.

Abruptly, the Witch said, "Sdneirf ym esaeler!"

Right away, Fred and the girls fell back onto the ground while Crabbe and Ravencroft exchanged bewildered looks with each other, then the latter attempted to use her telekinesis to levitate the trio.


The Witch was clearly caught flat-footed by him taking over her body, as she made no effort to try to eject him from her.

Slightly confident with himself, Shaggy noticed Ravencroft attempting to levitate his friends and stepped forward.

"Pots, Haras Tforcnevar!" Shaggy shouted.


Ravencroft's ghost suddenly froze after the Witch shouted, which prompted Fred and the girls to exchange confused looks.

As Crabbe attempted to act, he, too, suddenly froze after the Witch added, "Ezeerf, Rezenebe Ebbarc!"

Daphne blinked as she realized whose voice it was, then she promptly turned towards the Witch and said, "Shaggy?"

The Witch turned towards Daphne in response, and though she didn't say a thing, the glowing look of her eyes through her mask was all Daphne needed for confirmation.


Before the redhead could say anything more, Shaggy flipped through the pages of the book in the Witch's hands before coming upon one where the text on it glowed and floated up towards him.

As he blinked, Shaggy felt the Witch trying hard to regain control of her body, which prompted him to hurriedly say, "Lla eht daed taht si tneserp..."

Halfway through the enchantment, the Witch grunted and ejected him from her body.


Fred and the girls were both shocked to see Shaggy ejected from the Witch, though it was more to do with how he looked.

Evidently, the Witch was equally surprised to see him floating between her and the trio, as she continued to pant upon successfully ejecting Shaggy from her body.


Shaggy briefly flipped in the air before regaining his senses and turned towards the Witch, who was staring at him in bewilderment.

Turning his head towards his friends, he saw a couple of flashes engulfing Ravencroft and Crabbe's ghosts, but it was clear that without finishing the enchantment, the two ghosts will soon break free from the freezing enchantment he had put them under.

Without missing a beat, Shaggy promptly touched the book and finished, "...hsinab thgir kcab ot rieht sevarg!"


As soon as Shaggy finished saying the enchantment, the two ghosts began to shake uncontrollably.

Groaning, the two ghosts were soon dragged out of the ruins and up the hole.

"We're sorry!" Crabbe moaned as he was dragged up the hole.

"We were under her control!" Ravencroft added.


With the Witch absorbed in watching the two ghosts disappearing, Shaggy lifted his hand and snatched the book out of the Witch's hand.

The book sailed right through him before Fred and the girls caught it, which is when they realized he is a ghost.

Turning towards his friends, Shaggy lifted his hands before seeing that they were fading.

"Like..." Shaggy said as he saw his hands and arms fading away. "...I feel funny, guys."

To Fred and the girls' horror, Shaggy vanished right in front of them as soon as he finished.


"Shaggy!" Daphne stepped forward, only for Shaggy to completely vanish into thin air.

It took a few minutes for Fred and the girls to process what just happened, and when it did, the shock and horror in Fred was immediately replaced by rage.

"You!" Fred growled in anger as he stormed towards the Witch.

Although taken aback by the brief possession by Shaggy and the loss of her two ghost minions, the Witch was clearly prepared for what was to come, for she immediately stopped Fred by pulling out a dynamite stick with a lit fuse, prompting the blonde and the girls to momentarily retreat.

"I thought so." The Witch cackled. "You kids really think that changes the fact that I'm the only one who's getting out of here, do you?"

As Fred and the girls exchanged uncertain looks with each other, the Witch laughed, though it was short-lived as she looked up the hole and saw Scooby sliding down the rope, followed by Maggie.

At the sight of the Witch, the Great Dane growled as he let go and plunges down onto the Witch, knocking the wind out of her and leading her to lose the capsule and dynamite stick.

Fred caught the capsule while Daphne caught the dynamite stick, and for a brief moment, she panicked before Velma managed to yank the fuse out, leaving the stick useless.

With the Witch dazed, Scooby then grabbed onto the rope and proceeded to rapidly run around her, tying her up in the process.

Eventually, the Witch was completely tied up as Maggie landed, and to Fred and the girls' surprises, she was followed by Vice Principal Grimes, who was in turn followed by the sheriff and several deputies.

As soon as he landed at the bottom of the hole, Stone grunted at the sight of the Witch while Grimes turned towards the trio.

Before the vice principal could say something, Maggie looked around and asked, "Where's Norville?"

The grim looks on Fred and the girls' faces prompted Maggie to pale and said, "Oh no..."

"Those two ghosts grabbed Shaggy before he could get away with us, there wasn't a thing we could do without them grabbing us, Maggie..." Daphne explained. "And he urged us to run..."

While Maggie tried to calm herself, Scooby noticed the discarded book and leaned down to sniff it, then he perked up and said, "Raggy."

"Shaggy's not here, Scooby..." Fred said, only for the Great Dane to shake his head.

"Ri smell Raggy." Scooby said.

Velma perked up. "The Witch was holding the book when Shaggy possessed her, that must be how his scent got onto it."

"See if you could pick up his scent around." Stone said to Scooby.

"Rokay." Scooby nodded as he sniffed the air, then without any hesitation, he pointed towards the door where Shaggy was thrown through earlier and said, "Right ris way!"

"Lead the way." Grimes urged, prompting the Great Dane to nod again as he took off.

As Grimes, Fred and the girls followed Scooby, Stone turned towards Bucky and said, "Have the team above secure the school and call for paramedics, Bucky."

"Right away, sir." Bucky nodded before he relayed the order through the radio while Stone took off.

As soon as Stone kicked the door down, he, Grimes, Scooby, Fred and the girls rushed into the room, where they saw the swimming pool becoming filled up.

"Hold the light." Stone ordered as he took off his equipment and hat.

Before Fred and the girls could enquire what he was about to do, the sheriff dived into the water and swam deeper into the pool.

In spite of the darkness from the murky water, it didn't take long for the former Scout Sniper to find Shaggy tied down near the bottom of the pool, and he wasted no effort swimming towards him.

At the edge of the pool, Grimes, Scooby, Fred and the girls looked on before the sheriff surfaced with Shaggy in his arm.

"He's been in the water for who knows how long." Stone said as he placed Shaggy onto the edge.

Immediately, Grimes took off his jacket and placed Shaggy flat down on the floor as he said, "I know first aid."

As the vice principal began doing chest compressions, Stone spoke into the radio. "This is Stone, what's the ETA for our ambulance?"

"Ambulance is five minutes out, sir." The deputy at the other end reported back.

After Grimes breathed into Shaggy's mouth, Stone promptly took over doing the chest compressions as he spoke into the radio, "Bucky, have an AED sent straight here from the wagon."

"Right away, sir." Bucky responded.

Watching the sheriff doing CPR on Shaggy, Maggie leaned closer to Daphne, who in turn leaned closer to Velma and Fred, while Scooby rubbed himself on her leg.

"Come on, Shaggy." Daphne whispered softly as she looked at Shaggy's unconscious face. "Come on."


It was a warm and sunny setting when Shaggy opened his eyes, and the first thing he noticed was he was no longer in the ruins of the old school.

But the second thing he saw immediately made him jump in surprise, for Sarah Ravencroft and Ebenezer Crabbe were staring back at him in concern.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy said as he abruptly sat up. "You-!"

"Yes, we know we gave you and your friends quite the scare." Crabbe spoke. "And we owe you an apology for that, but that's the ticket as we never had a proper send-off to here, which in turn leaves us spirits susceptible to manipulation by any mortal who has knowledge on resurrection."

Shaggy blinked before he said, "As in you guys have unfinished business at the time of your demise in the Great Crystal Cove Flood?"

"Precisely." Ravencroft nodded. "The time capsule was meant to be buried on the day of the school's opening and then unearthed around three years ago so future generations like you could appreciate everything from our time as part of the town's long history."

"I can imagine." Shaggy nodded slowly. "But you guys got caught up by the flood after that earthquake in San Francisco, and you never had a chance to bury the time capsule."

"We didn't, and as you and your friends can see, our school was ruined by the flooding." Crabbe said. "To add insult to injury, they did not do anything about the ruins, instead waited for the grading to bury it underground before building another school above it."

"You were hoping that the town would rebuild the school to what you have envisioned." Shaggy offered.

"Exactly." Ravencroft said. "In any way, when you return to your friends, you will be doing us a great favour by burying that time capsule."

Shaggy blinked again before he said, "Wait, I'm..."

"I can answer your question, Norville." A voice suddenly spoke, prompting Shaggy, Ravencroft and Crabbe to turn towards its source.

Squinting his eyes, Shaggy frowned at the man as he asked, "Do I know you?"

"No, you wouldn't." The man replied. "The name's Van Ghoul. Vincent Van Ghoul. I am what you would consider to be a guardian of time and space, and my travels have brought me to countless places across various time periods and spaces, spaces that are outside the linear scope of time and of the living and dead."

Exchanging looks with Ravencroft and Crabbe, Shaggy asked, "So this place...how would you describe it?"

"Where the planes of the living and the dead intersect." Vincent said simply. "Whether you return to the land of the living depends on your predetermined...time, which based on my calculations has yet to come."

"So I'm not dead yet." Shaggy said.

"No, it's yet to come and for confidential reasons, I simply cannot disclose to you." Vincent replied. "Now, you will be returning to your friends and family down there, but be warned. The next couple of years are bound to be turbulent in this place you hail from."

"Turbulent, like how?" Shaggy prompted.

"Again, the exact nature of turbulence is not something I'm at the liberty to discuss." Vincent responded. "Only that buried secrets await, secrets that...have the risk of opening up a...Pandora's box should you and your friends continue your pursuit of those secrets."

Shaggy gulped. "I don't like the sounds of this."

"Fear not, Norville." Vincent said as he placed his hand on Shaggy's shoulder. "With everything I have seen since you came close to coming here on a one-way trip one year ago, if this is any consolation in all of what's to come, it's that you will be blessed with a gift."

"A gift?" Shaggy raised an eyebrow.

"You will find out soon enough when you return to your friends and family." Vincent said. "But before you go, I believe there is someone you would like to speak to."

Shaggy blinked as Vincent continued, "Someone I know you have been yearning to mend fences with since he joined us here."

Even though he was certain that he's in this halfway point between the living and the dead in spiritual form, Shaggy felt his heart pounding as Vincent moved out of the way and motioned for someone to step out from behind the nearby column.

His breathing hitched when the Marine stepped out, and then he gulped as he said the words he wasn't sure when was the last time he said.

"Like...hey, Dad." Shaggy sputtered.

As Crabbe and Ravencroft exchanged knowing looks with each other, Lieutenant Colonel Sam Rogers only smiled relaxly.

"Hello, Norville." Sam said in greeting.


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