"We are not working with professionals," Fred stated bluntly. "And that's final."

"Jeez, like, after everything we've done, we're not professionals?" Shaggy retorted, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. "Hmpf."

"I have to agree with Shaggy on this one, Freddy," Daphne cooed, perching her hand on Fred's right shoulder, as he was turned away from her. "We do happen to have some idea on what we're doing."

"Stop being a drama king, Fred." Velma snapped, pushing her glasses up her nose. "We're up against something that we've all agreed is evil. You want to take that on our own?" She grabbed the house phone, walking outside to the gang's deck and backyard.

"Where is she going?" Fred whined.

"To call PRS back, Fred." Daphne scowled, yanking her hand off Fred's shoulder. "We're not doing this alone." She stalked across the kitchen, joining Velma outside.

By the time Fred pulled his head up, he was completely alone.

XXX

"I understand." Ryan's words slipped from his lips as he hung up the phone. Letting it fall from his hands, he rose, snatching his jacket from his computer chair. Taking one last glance at his dorm room, he left.

Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed his right-hand man, Sergey.

"Serg,"

"Ryan, my man. What's happenin'?"

"They agreed."

"I'm sorry, who? Why you being so… Cryptic?"

"Mystery Inc finally agreed to work jointly with us. Be at the court yard in an hour- case briefing."

It was of no use on Sergey's part to inform his team leader that the team had already had a case briefing. And several in-term meetings along the way. Whatever Ryan said, happened, and so he agreed.

Ryan's next step was to inform the other members, meaning first and foremost, his next in chain of command: Katrina. Though Katrina was competent, she would, if provoked, discuss case matters privately with Sergey. PRS' version of high school drama, which, to say the least, upset Ryan, who obviously had a desperate need to be in control.

XXX

"I have called you here," Began Ryan, interrupting Katrina and fellow teammate Heather's gossip session. "Because our colleagues Mystery Inc. have agreed to cooperate with our investigation."

Fortunately, Serg and Katrina knew how to rip Ryan off his extremely high horse. "Ryan," Serg interrupted. "It's a joint investigation now." He used the word joint as if he were introducing a new word to Ryan's vocabulary. "Mystery Inc. And PRS are working on this jointly."

"It was originally our case, needless to say, Sergey." Ryan retorted.

It seemed like it was all up to Katrina now, before Ryan went on a complete tirade. She gently pulled her companion Heather up by the crook up her arm, leading her outside the Penn State courtyard, leading in the direction of the junior parking lot, where their cars slept and wait for them. Following the duo's lead, the remaining two members, Sergey, the technology specialist, and Elfie, the occult specialist, also headed in the direction of the parking lot, leaving Ryan to lecture himself. His hung slumped down, his pointer finger and thumb caressing where his eyebrow met his nose. He groaned, treading lightly, admitting defeat. 'Way to make a statement, Katrina…' Ryan mumbled mentally.

XXX

"I still do not like this idea at all." Fred groaned from his cell of the backseat.

"That's why I'm, like, the one driving." Shaggy responded, "You'd like, have turned the car around the minute we left the driveway."

"Would you watch what gear you drive her in, please?" Fred snapped at Shaggy, referring to his beloved van the Mystery Machine. "She's delicate."

"Fred, I've driven stick before. I'm not, like, completely incompetent." Shaggy snorted, not even glancing up in the rear view mirror to answer. He shifted the van into a faster gear, and assaulted the gas pedal, sending Fred sliding into the van's rear door. Shaggy snickered to himself. 'That'll teach 'im.'

Daphne had elected to also take the backseat, and as everyone suspected, it was only as an attempt to spend more time with Fred. 'Well how much more time can you spend with the guy?' Velma thought to herself. 'You both sleep in the same bed now.' It was no secret that the redhead and blonde were sexually active with each other. That boat had sailed. As awkward as it was going to sleep, it certainly made for some satisfying laughs for Shaggy and Velma the next morning at breakfast. Velma often thought about the teen currently driving, as their rooms were adjacent, shared a bathroom, and had attended school together all their lives. She felt warm when she was with him, but could not place the feeling.

As Shaggy drove, he gripped the wheel tightly. He also shared the same warm feeling that Velma had, but was completely overwhelmed by embarrassment. Seeing as the young prodigy and lanky boy shared a bathroom, it was bound to happen sometime, but it was still completely embarrassing. His mind drifted back to the incident…

"Like God, sometimes I hate being a dude." Shaggy groaned as he slipped his boxers off. "Why do I have to deal with… This." Glancing down, Shaggy sighed as he yet again had a severe case of what was know as morning wood. As he began to address the problem, he heard the door click, and then swing open.

"Knock knock- oh good grief." It was Velma. And she was staring at none other than Shaggy's second head.

"I-um, well, we, uh," Shaggy stuttered, "It's a guy thing?" He smiled haphazardly.

"I-I can see that." Velma squeaked, eyes still transfixed on Shaggy. "It's um. It's nice!" She shouted, completely confused and embarrassed as she fled the bathroom.

"Oh shit," Shaggy muttered as he reached for the nearest towel.

By the time Shaggy had replayed the entire scenario in his head, his legs were applying so much pressure against each other they were crushing the very thing that had caused this morning's problem. The more pain he was in, the more he pressed the gas pedal. By this point, completely unaware of the early morning's happenings, Fred was having a coronary.

"Oh sweet bejezus let me drive!" Fred howled, reaching a shaking arm over the front seat.

On the other side of the front seat, Velma was completely aware why Shaggy was driving erratically. She felt guilty for making Shaggy feel so self conscious. She placed a hand on his leg gently, which she then realized was too intimate of a gesture. Shaggy was completely red in the face, trying to breathe normally.

"Shaggy," she whispered, "I wanted to apologize. I should have actually knocked."

"Look, I like, don't want to talk about it." Shaggy whispered back. The truth was, Shaggy had never made it to first base, let alone let someone see something that intimate.

Velma let the subject drop, seeing as the gang was arriving at their destination: an old 18th century mansion. Shaggy threw the van into park, and called Scooby to open the rear doors and join him outside.

XXX

"The other half of our team is just arriving now, Mrs. Berkshire." Ryan told the client, the owner of the house.

"Bless you, Mr. Buell." The elderly lady spoke in a crackling, yet sweet voice, taking Ryan's hands. Taking out his walkie-talkie, he summoned the rest of PRS to come meet Mystery Inc. Afterwards; he smiled at Mrs. Berkshire, letting her hands go, and jogged outside.

"Fred?" Ryan greeted, stretching out his hand.

"I'm Shaggy; Fred's the platinum blonde over there." Shaggy pointed to Fred, who still seemed upset at Shaggy's driving. The lanky teen shook Ryan's hand. "Ryan Buell?"

"Yep." Ryan quickly met Fred on the path up to the house, leaving Shaggy alone with his thoughts. He was broken out of his trance by Scooby, who was nudging his friend with his cold, wet nose.

"Hey old buddy, old friend, old pal." Shaggy smiled meagerly, scratching Scooby's ears. The tender moment between old friends stopped when man and canine both sensed a presence behind them. Turning, Shaggy saw that it was none other than Velma, with the most apologetic look on her face. Shaggy turned away, leading Scooby Doo into the house.

XXX

"I asked that you both work together," Mrs. Berkshire began, "Because you are both the best of the best, the cream of the crop! And I truly know whatever is plaguing my home will be gone!"

Ryan smiled as best he could, while he glanced over and saw Fred scowling. Daphne, Katrina, Heather and Sergey were pretty stoic, while Shaggy and Velma showed feelings of depression on their faces.

"Well then," the elderly lady continued, "Hop to it!" She waved her hands, motioning for the two groups to start their work. "There's a den upstairs you guys can use as your base."

Upstairs, in the 'Paranormal Mystery Society Inc' home base, Ryan was taking over the case briefing, as usual. "Mrs. Berkshire has been plagued for years by the paranormal, was not bothered by it. But when the spirit, or demonic force, attacked her daughter, and caused her to miscarry, she put her foot down."

"What do you mean attacked?" Velma inquired.

"Her daughter and son-in-law were sleeping when her daughter, Elizabeth, woke up on the business end of an assault; all that was missing was an attacker. They then saw a black apparition slink out of the room. She miscarried the next day."

Shaggy's heat sank. Though he had never grasped religion growing up, through adolescence, and now as an adult, he still felt that even in the early stages of pregnancy, there was still life, and for some sadistic, undead thing to murder it, just was horrific to him.

Katrina, seeing how distraught Shaggy had become over Ryan's last statements, spoke suddenly. "We start tomorrow." And with that PRS dissipated, leaving the gang alone. Shaggy was the first of the Mystery Inc group to leave, Scooby following him to an unoccupied room.

Daphne noticed Shaggy's odd behavior, and called Velma on it. "You know something."

"Leave it be." Velma snapped, stalking off.

XXX

Around three am, Velma woke up in a cold sweat. She'd been having nightmares, but that's all she could remember. She had no idea what about. But she knew she woke up scared as hell. Which automatically made her think of Shaggy. Which led her to Shaggy's door. She opened it, and stood, silent in the doorway.

Shaggy was startled, and awoke from the sound of his door being jolted open. "Like, is there some reason you're, like, standing in the doorway? In your underwear?"

Velma blushed, just realizing now she was only wearing her bra and panties. "I wanted to apologize. Does my completely unattractive appearance make up somewhat for this morning?"

Shaggy did have a slight smile on his face, until she'd gone and said that. He pulled the sheets up to his chest, and turned away from the young woman. "I said," he spoke with an unusually low and angry voice. "I won't talk about it."

'Great,' she thought to herself. 'I don't want to talk about it, just became 'I won't talk about it.' She turned to leave, pausing for a moment. "I wasn't lying when I said it was nice."

Shaggy made sure Velma was long out of earshot before squeaking: "Like, Scoob, I need another towel."

XXX

The next morning there was no breakfast, which was unusual for the gang. They had gathered downstairs, presumably for a morning meal and a sit-down before the investigation began, but the Scooby gang found themselves alone. They always had a sit down breakfast, talked about their dreams, told stories. But apparently with PRS, that was out the window. They didn't eat breakfast apparently.

Which, for once in his life, didn't bother Shaggy at all. In fact, his body gave him no biological sign that he needed any form of nutrition. Scooby was worried, and had every right to be.

"Rhaggy," the Great Dane nuzzled his nose against his friend's leg. "Rhat's rong?"

"It's, like, nothing, Scoob." He patted his best friend on the head, and smiled the best he could. Scooby placed his head on Shaggy's lap, perking his ears up at him. Shaggy bent over, and Scooby must have appreciated this, because he gave Shaggy several licks to the face. His tail wagged briefly, until he felt his tail being stepped on. Scooby's first instinct was to yelp, and scramble up onto Shaggy's lap, causing the chair to stumble over, both friends landing on the floor with a loud thud. Through his fallen daze, Shaggy glanced over.

"There's, like, nothing there, Scoob." The teen attempted to calm his beloved Great Dane.

"Rut rhere ras, rhere ras!" Scooby insisted, "Rhost!" He hid his face under his paws, whimpering.

Shaggy considered this for a moment. Were they really in a true haunted house? 'If it, like, caused someone to miscarry, why wouldn't it step on Scooby's tail? Maybe there's no dude in a mask this time.' He thought to himself, scratching the dog's ears. He hoisted Scooby off his chest, which is how he had landed, and sat up.

"Shag?" Came a voice to shatter the silence.

"Like, yeah Fred?"

"Everything alright?" This time it was Daphne who spoke, slightly frightened by what had just occurred.

"I think this is, like, something we should tell PRS."

XXX

"What exactly happened?" Katrina questioned, pen and pad in front of her.

"What's ever in this house went after Scooby." Fred stated, arms folded across his chest.

On the floor, Scooby was still visibly shaken. Shaggy was stroking his fur, neck to tail, slowly in an attempt to calm him. "That's what, like, happened, Katrina. We were downstairs, and it, like, jumped him." Scooby shuddered as Shaggy recalled the morning's events.

"Can you be more specific?" Ryan questioned.

"Rit repped ron ry rail." Scooby whimpered, placing his head on Shaggy's lap. "Rard."

"Like, it's okay now, Scoob." Shaggy comforted.

"So the spirit will attack dogs as well as humans." Daphne concluded.

"Time for dead time." Serg interrupted, grabbing a bag sitting next to him, and pulling out several mounds of wires.

'Right, Serg!' Fred exclaimed. 'Time to find that ghost."

For the first time since their arrival, both Mystery Inc. and PRS had actually agreed on something.

"Velma, care to join me on tech duty?" Serg asked, offering out a headset. She gratefully accepted, popping off the couch with great energy, almost tripping over Shaggy and the beloved Scooby Doo. Their eyes locked for a brief second as she carefully tip-toed around the duo, tension think as fog coming off a bay.

'This is, like, getting ridiculous.' Shaggy thought to himself. 'We can't even, like, talk to each other?' Putting his awkwardness with Velma aside, he climbed off the floor, and called for Scooby to join him.

"Shaggy, Scooby, take the master bedroom." Ryan instructed.

Shaggy's eyes glowed with excitement. "Just one room? We, like, don't have to search the basement, or anything, like, creepy?"

"Ryan, if I may," Velma interjected. "This place is awful big to have everyone sit in just one room. How about we combine dead time and searching for clues?"

Ordinarily, coming from someone that wasn't him, Ryan would have tossed this idea aside. But considering the circumstances, he agreed. "Alright. Shaggy, Scooby, take the fifth floor. Try to communicate with the spirit."

'Like thanks, Velma. Really appreciated.' Shaggy whined mentally, rolling his eyes at Velma. In response, she placed her head in her hand, messaging her temple.

"Fred, Daphne, take the third floor."

Fred nodded, taking Daphne by the hand, exiting the base room, and leading Daphne up the stairs. They creaked with every step, making Shaggy shake.

"Like, let's go, Scoob." Shaggy led the faithful Great Dane up the stairs.

"Rhat rime ris rit?" Scooby complained. It had been several hours since both groups had dispatched.

XXX

"Like, it's about three am." Shaggy responded, leading the way. The duo had inspected most of the fifth floor, not enjoying one minute of it. They'd had several encounters with the thing the lurked the halls of Mrs. Berkshire's mansion. More stepping on Scooby's tail, Shaggy getting slapped in the back of the head; but yet nothing confrontational.

"Ri'm rired." Scooby continued. "Ran re rop?"

"Not, like, until, Ryan calls off dead time- Zoinks! Like, what was that?" Hearing something in the next room over topple, Shaggy dropped and effectively broke their only flashlight. "Better go check it out, Scoob." Shaggy felt his way out of the small bedroom they currently found themselves in, down the hall, and into the next room. He felt he way around until he found the light, but before he did, noticed that one corner of the room was incredibly blacker than the rest of the room. "L-l-like, Scooby Doo, where are you?"

"Right rere, Rhaggy." Scooby sounded, nuzzling against Shaggy's legs.

"Then, like, what's that?" He flicked on the lights, only to see the blackest corner remained just that: black. Shaggy felt Scooby burrowing between his legs as what was contained in the corner rose upwards, taking the form of a person's head and shoulders, the rest cascaded down like midnight black satin.

"I. Am. Six," it breathed, voice like gravel being ground into fine powder. "Six."

"Like, gangway!" Shaggy screamed, snatching Scooby Doo by the collar and bolted from the room. "Help!" he shrieked, "Help!" It pursued them, switching lights on and off throughout the crimson red hallway, anointed with portraits of family members. The spirit continued after them, throwing the portraits of the walls, glass soaring in every direction. "Like, keep running, Scoob!" Shaggy yelled, not bearing enough courage to look back. The figure appeared once more, sending fallen glass darting through the air once more, a large shard landing in the back of Shaggy's neck. It sent him tumbling to the floor, knocking over Scooby as well.

"Rhaggy! Rour reck!" Scooby cried, pawing at the glass in his friend's neck.

"Like, leave it, Scoob. The doc needs to, like, remove it. We'll just hurt it more." Shaggy squeaked as he scrambled upwards, pain surging through his body. "Just run!" As the duo took off once again, neither of them saw the table at the end of the hallway skid into the middle of the walkway, just above the stairs. As they rounded the corner, they collided head-on with the wooden table, which broke upon impact, sending them spiraling down the stairs, and shook the piece of glass in Shaggy's neck loose and fell with them. Blood fell loose down the teen's shirt as they landed on the fourth floor. "Keep going, Scooby Doo! Keep going! Zoinks!" Shaggy gasped as he saw the apparition appear at the top at the stair case.

XXX

"Did you hear that thud, Freddy?" Daphne gulped, grabbing the blonde's arm.

"No, Daph. What thud?"

"I heard something hit the floor above us." Daphne's voice became increasingly concerned.

"I'm sure it was nothing. C'mere spirits, spirits, spirits!"

Daphne stopped in her tracks, dropping Fred's arm. "Sure, nothing there. And calling the ghost like a kitten's going to work?"

Fred turned to face the redhead, the flashlight's beam dancing around her face. "Would you happen to have a better idea?"

"Well, yes I do!" Daphne turned, passing Fred, walking the direction of the stairs. "I'm going to see what hit the fourth floor."

"No- Daphne… Wait for me!" Fred scrambled down the hall and joined the ginger on the staircase.

As the couple climbed the staircase, it became apparent to them that someone or something was moaning. "Daph, what exactly is the plan if that's the ghost?"

Daphne stopped and glared. "You're the man with the plan. Start thinking."

Fred was, needless to say, speechless. He'd never been without a plan. "Well, I- um-" As they grew closer to the top of the fourth floor, each step creaked more, as if it were in pain. But they heard something else as well- a distinct moan.

"Jeepers!" Daphne cried as she climbed the last step, "It's Shaggy!"

XXX

"Serg, pull up the film from the fifth floor," Velma instructed, pushing up her glasses. "I thought I just saw something."

"Sure thing." Serg scratched his head as he pulled up the footage. "What camera, and what time frame?"

"I'd like to see all the cameras, but try the past two minutes." Velma scooted forward on her seat as the footage started to roll.

Shaggy and Scooby seemed to be running for their lives, both of them screaming as lights flickered off and on, on and off, framed pictures flew off the walls.

"Help!" Shaggy shrieked as he and Scooby darted down the hall, "Help!" Scooby began to slip behind, leaving him closer to the figure that was slinking down the hall after the duo. "Like, keep running, Scoob!" A slight burst of power allowed Scooby to somewhat catch up with Shaggy, only to be sent scattering on account that Shaggy had tumbled to the ground.

"Wait!" Velma cried out, startling Serg. "Rewind that!"

"W-what exactly are you looking for?" Stumbled Serg, attempting to regain his composure.

"Go back to the part right before Shaggy fell."

The tape buzzed as it rewound, Serg clicked, telling it to halt, and allowed the tape to run once more.

"Can you zoom in, Serg?" Velma pestered. Serg grunted in sheer annoyance, clicking several times on the screen, allowing it to zoom in on the lanky teenager and the Great Dane. She slapped her self mentally, remembering something else she had wanted Serg to do. "Oh, and Serg? Could yo-"

"Slow motion? Got it." Velma could tell clearly now that Sergey was, very, very annoyed. He fiddled with the keys until the motion picture slowed down.

Shaggy was running, Scooby close on his heels. Out of the corner of the camera angle, something flew across the screen. As the duo on screen were chased in and out of the shadows, and the flying object disappeared.

Relieved that whatever she saw had vanished, Velma relaxed, sitting back slightly. She then leaned over to turn off the recording when a ghastly scream shook her from her chair. Her eyes fled back to the computer screen, only to see Shaggy lying on the floor, something lodged in his neck.

"Stop!" Velma cried out from the floor. Serg slammed his hand onto the space bar, pausing the video. Velma pulled herself off the floor, sat down on the edge of her seat, inspecting the film closely. "What's that stuck in Shaggy's neck?"

Serg leaned in. "It appears to be-"

A sudden outburst ended their conversation. "Call an ambulance!" It was Daphne. "Call 911!"

"What?" Serg questioned, ripping off his headphones, standing up and walking out to the living room, as the cry for help had not come from any surveillance camera. "What happened?"

"Shaggy's been stabbed!" Fred exclaimed, holding a limp Shaggy in his arms. Blood covered his neck, and the upper area of the back of his shirt. Fred's left hand, which was clutching Shaggy's neck, was also covered in blood. Shaggy's blood.

Daphne was already on the phone, frantic as she could possibly be. "M-m-my friend's b-been s-s-st-stabbed! A soft murmur could be heard on the other end of the phone, "We found him upstairs, covered in blood-" She continued to tell the 911 operator everything, hysterically crying all the while.

XXX

"Keep applying pressure!"

"Apply the antiseptic! Faster!"

"Is the IV in? Administer 50 milligrams of Dilaudid!"

Lying on a cot in the Emergency Department, Shaggy could not distinguish anyone's voice. He was unaware of who anyone was, and barely understood that he was receiving treatment in a hospital.

As the administrating nurse pushed the fluid through Shaggy's veins, his head began to spin. He felt as though he was floating, slipping away.

"He's flat-lining!"