Scooby Doo Fan Fiction ❯ Me and My Shadow Demon ❯ Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all related characters are copyright 2014 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network.

No challenge to their ownership is implied; I am not making any money from writing this story, I am just a fan and I am writing this simply for fun.

Author's Notes Addendum: For all those who tried to read this story through my account here and saw that Chapter 1 is the same as Chapter 2, I wholeheartedly apologize. I did not know until after I posted Chapter 1 that it and Chapter 2 are exactly the same; hopefully it will not deter anyone from reading this story or any of the others in my 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo remake series.

Also, there will be some changes in dialogue and some small plot changes that differ from the TV episode that this story is based on; I hope each and every person who reads this story will not mind these changed and hopefully everyone will still like this story just as much as the TV version.

Chapter 1

The word shadow is usually defined as an area where light from a light source is obstructed by an object.

However, this definition says nothing about the more sinister and darker side of shadows. When Misters Miriam and Webster penned the first version of the dictionary that bares their names, they could never have imagined the terror that strikes the heart of mere mortals when dealing with what usually turns out to be figments of the imagination, or the reflection of a person or animal.

That is best described as the downside of the word; hiding someone or something that lurks in the darkness, ready to spring and... for lack of a better word: completely overwhelm the average man or woman.

There is a more frightening word that describes a shadow, much worse then a mere reflection or something that casts light across a dark room. Since the days that dinosaurs roamed the Earth, man has always assumed that some shadows could take form of creatures like vampires, or werewolves... or most menacing of all: demons.

Horrible looking creatures that plague decent folks nightmares from their first steps, through their school days, through their first kiss, getting married all the way until one's final days.

These creatures, or beings whatever they might look like usually can be found in old houses, mansions or other places that might have been abandoned for years, until someone or a group of people dare to cross their path.

Perhaps these people are foolish, perhaps these people are brave, and perhaps these people are willing to delve into the world of the supernatural to unlock its secrets. One such group of people(and one dog) are the members of Mystery Incorporated, the famed group of ghost chasers and mystery solvers who some time ago ran across a mysterious artifact known as the Chest of Demons.

Unfortunately for these folks, a simple mistake by one Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, one Scoobert Doo(Scooby to his friends), and one Velma Dinkley(albeit she was involved less so then her companions) caused Mystery Incorporated to embark on a journey around the world to track down the former occupants of said container.

Thankfully the five members of our group of sleuths didn't have to go it alone on their trip. A young semi con artist and quick thinking trickster named Flim Flam, and one of the world's most powerful warlocks, an individual named Vincent Van Ghoul, joined the 5 members of Mystery Inc. on their around the world trek, to assist them whenever possible.

All of this however is merely preamble; our story truly begins with the aforementioned conjurer sitting
in one of the hundreds of rooms in his ancient castle, somewhere in the world. At the present time Vincent is occupying his time by reading a book from his massive library of tomes on the supernatural.

The gray haired wizard is engrossed in reading this particular volume, while sitting rather comfortably in the room. Or at least he was sitting rather comfortably when a strange noise gets his attention; then, in a manner that could best be described as if he was sitting on a chair with a spring attached to it, he leaps to his feet.

After his attention was peaked by the noise, he rushes into the next room with the speed of an Olympic sprinter. Once he arrives in the room, he spots that a nearby window is somehow cracked; as he surveys the scene, he also notices that his crystal ball has fallen onto ground, resulting in it being cracked as well.

Vincent is puzzled by these occurrences; surely he might have heard of something before he went to check on the window and the Crystal Ball, or at least he thinks he there was some kind of noise... but was there?

"My word..." Vincent thought aloud, albeit slightly puzzled, as he looks over the damage to the window and his mystic crystal.

"Who could have done this and why?" the great sorcerer remarks, as he continues to ponder this strange occurrence.

The powerful conjurer then picks up the crystal ball and places it back on the table, before looking around the room to see if there was any kind of presence with him.

As he strokes his chin, while deep in thought over what kind of otherworldly force he might be dealing with, out of his line of sight, a sinister shadow like figure floats near his window. This mysterious being then heads to said window and goes through it, disappearing out of sight.

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Thousands of miles away from Vincent's castle, our ghost chasing mystery solving heroes sit inside their van, a vehicle known as the Mystery Machine. On this occasion it is driven by Fred Jones, the unofficial leader of the group.

The blond sleuth guides the group's van slowly but surely down a dark and desolate looking road. To the passengers inside the crimson and black van, it would appear that this particular area is a place that most people would only go on a dare, much less a ghost hunt.

But alas, ghost hunting is one of those occupations where one would have to go to a place like this, where danger lurks around every corner and the forces of evil could strike at any moment.

Knowing the danger concerned in an area such as this, the Mystery Machine continues on its way, passing trees with broken branches, and not much of anything else. Inside the crimson and black colored vehicle, Velma Dinkley, sitting towards the back holds a small electronic device specifically designed to locate ghosts, spooks, or anything that might go bump in the night.

Without warning, the machine begins to emit a strong beeping signal. Realizing that this might be the break the team of sleuths might be looking for, the bespectacled detective peers down at the device in order to confirm its findings; once she has done that, she informs her colleagues of this peculiar event.

"Jinkies, it looks like we're picking up something on our Specter Detector." Velma noted.

"That's good news, but where is it coming from?" Daphne asked.

"Hmm... according to the reading I’m getting whatever it's picking up seems to be coming from that direction." Velma said pointing further down the road.

"Then that's where we need to go." Fred commented.

With a new lead as to a possible specter, the Mystery Machine continues down the gloomy looking stretch of road. Meanwhile, the detector continued to emit its signal; taking a glance at the device again, Velma notices that the signal seemed to be getting stronger as the van got closer to the source of the apparent ghostly activity.

Eventually, Fred guided the Mystery Machine to what looked to be an area in front of an old cave. The cave looked to be abandoned, possibly for a hundred years or so, at least that's what the sleuths guessed as they exited the van and stood in front of the cave, while attempting to figure out their next move.

"Hmm, there seems to be a large concentration of ectoplasmic activity coming from inside that cave." Velma remarked.

"What's ectoplasm?" Shaggy asked.

"Isn't that what ghosts are made of?" Daphne added.

"Like I thought ghosts were made of nothing." Shaggy wondered.

"Well that is what most ghosts are made of Shaggy, however most spirits are nothing but shadows." Fred replied.

With that Scooby and the gang entered the cave and began their search for ghosts. After the team of investigators entered the cave, they noticed that inside of it was an old abandoned mine; the cowardly Great Dane and his master then remembered what their colleague had mentioned about some spirits being shadows and the two of them reluctantly walked through the mine along with the rest of the group all the while looking frightened.

After walking for several minutes the cowardly canine spotted something and began whimpering; the Great Dane's equally cowardly companion looked over at his pet and attempted to see what was troubling him.

"Like what's the matter Scoob?" Shaggy asked.

"R-ra rhadow." Scooby replied trembling.

"Aw come on Scoob, like don't tell me you're afraid of your own shadow?" Shaggy said trying to reassure him.

As the beatnik softly petted his canine companion the two of them were unaware that the shadow began to form into a strange creature. The being had piercing yellow eyes that were almost the same color as the moon; the creature's body was also as black as the night itself.

While this was occurring, Shaggy and Scooby continued to walk through the cave. However, as they continued to explore, they each seemed to have the distinct feeling that they were being watched... by someone or something...

"Scooby like I think your nerves are getting on my nerves." Shaggy remarked.

"Rhy?" Scooby asked.

"Because I think somebody or something is giving us the once over." Shaggy said nervously.

"Don't be ridiculous you two, no one is watching us." Velma said scolding them.

But this time Velma would be proven completely wrong, for as the gang continued to walk through the cave the strange creature began laughing wickedly.

"Zoinks! Like what was that?" Shaggy wondered with dread in his voice, hoping he wouldn't find out who or what was making the noise.

He and Scooby then turned around and saw the strange shadow creature floating right in front of them, which caused the rest of the gang on instinct to also turn around and see the source of the mysterious sound.

"Jeepers! It's some kind of shadow creature; I guess you two were right!" Daphne shrieked, before turning to Shaggy and Scooby.

"Jinkies, now what do we do?" Velma wondered.

"Well in times like this I prefer to think of the words of the great confused one." Flim Flam remarked.

"And those would be?" Fred wondered.

"Let's split!" Flim Flam replied.

"Good thinking Flim Flam buddy, let's get out of here!" Shaggy said.

With that, Mystery Inc. began running at top speed away from the strange shadow creature; as they ran, Scooby and company found themselves heading deeper and deeper into the mine until the six sleuths suddenly stopped.

In this case Scooby and company had stopped with good reason because the strange creature had chased the college aged detectives, Flim Flam and Scooby to a rickety old wooden bridge across a wide chasm. The group looked down from their precarious perch to see what was below the strange bridge but saw only blackness, realizing that if they happened to get to close to the edge or fall off they might not get out of their current situation alive.

Naturally this was what the strange shadow creature was hoping to do to the group, as the strange being began using its piercing yellow eyes as something akin to miniature torches to begin burning through the ropes that held up the bridge.

Suddenly, the ropes began to unravel as each member of the group became nervous as to what would happen; almost as if it was meant to happen, like a bad joke or karma having its way with the sleuths, the ropes snapped and Mystery Inc. fell from the bridge several hundred feet down into the chasm.

As if being flung hundreds of feet off a wooden bridge into a chasm wasn't bad enough, just before the gang fell from the bridge the strange shadow creature used its ghostly tail to grab the Chest of Demons.

Our heroes were unaware of this fact at first, as they wanted to make sure they were all in one piece and to make sure they would survive this adventure first. As the strange shadow creature floated away with the chest, the team of sleuths continued to fall into the deep dark abyss.

The six investigators figured they would just continue to fall, deeper and deeper into the chasm until they reached whatever was at the bottom... or the center of the earth, which is something none of the team wanted.

After what seemed like an eternity, they somehow someway managed to reach the bottom. Except that in this case the bottom happened to be what looked like an old coal car.

"Phew am I glad that's over" Shaggy said, exhaling deeply as it seemed like Mystery Inc. was out of the woods... or were they?

"Uh Shag?" Velma replied.

"What's up?" Shaggy asked.

"Somehow I don't think it's over." Velma remarked.

"Why?" Shaggy asked.

Velma was about to answer Shaggy's question when the car began rolling down a set of old mine tracks heading for parts unknown; Velma gasped at this occurrence and wondered what was going to happen next.

"Jinkies, I wonder where this old car's headed for?" Velma wondered.

"Like I don't know and I don't think I want to find out." Shaggy replied nervously.

The old coal car continued to rattle down the ancient tracks, however as the small car continued on its way the gang saw something that they wished they didn't see. Specifically, the ancient vehicle was approaching a portion of the track that was broken; as the car the team of sleuths was in came ever closer to the broken part of the track, Mystery Incorporated and Flim Flam knew that they were all in deep trouble.

"Zoinks! Like it looks like we're going to be down for the count in a few minutes." Shaggy exclaimed in terror.

"I hate to say it but Shaggy's right, we better figure out something or we're going to be joining the ranks of the thirteen ghosts!" Velma yelled.

"In that case there's only one thing to do, in the words of the great confused one: when all else fails scream!" Flim Flam yelled.

"Like that's just what we had in mind Flim Flam, help!" Shaggy added.

At this point the members of Mystery Inc. figured they were all but done for... but this time, they would be wrong; because somehow Flim Flam's yell caused a large rock to dislodge and fall between the gap in the mine tracks, right where the gang was headed.

Finally, in what would best be described as a miracle, the mine car managed to successfully make it's way across the track and the gang continued to on their way, safe(for now), and still all in one piece.

"Flim Flam you did it!" Daphne exclaimed happily.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Flim Flam replied rubbing his hand on his sweatshirt in triumph.

"Don't celebrate yet gang, look!" Fred yelled as the coal car approached a section of the tracks, which led to two large loops; the car then passed through the loops safely and prepared to finish its journey.

Suddenly the car stopped at the end of the tracks, which caused Scooby and company to be tossed from the car. Luckily, or unluckily for the six of them, gravity entered the scene and created a situation where they found themselves in a large coal pile for the most part safe and sound except for the fact that our heroes were all covered in black soot.

"Fred? Daphne? Velma? Shaggy, Flim Flam?" Scooby asked with a whimper, trying to find out where his friends were.

Shaggy poked his head out of the coal pile, followed by Fred, Daphne, Velma and Flim Flam; each of the sleuths then discovered that the black soot they were coated in was actually coal dust. Of course after the ordeal in the mine and cave the group went through, the college aged sleuths were just lucky that they didn't have any broken bones, or were covered in blood.

While Scooby and company were 100 percent healthy and intact, they would soon discover that something just as bad as having broken bones or being covered in blood was about to occur...

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"Shaggy, where's the Chest of Demons?" Velma asked with a gasp.

"Like I don't know, I had it with me when we entered the cave but now it's gone!" Shaggy commented, while looking for the mysterious container... alas, he was coming up empty.

"Oh brother, Mr. Van Ghoul's going to mad when he finds out what happened." Fred remarked.

"He may be upset, he may be mad and he might throw a temper tantrum the likes we've never seen. But irregardless of all that, we've got to tell him what happened to the chest." Velma commented.

“Right Velma. If something were to happen to the Chest of Demons, we might as well kiss our career as ghost chasers goodbye, not to mention possibly our lives.” Daphne replied.

“Yep. If that chest were to fall into the wrong hands, it would only be a matter of time before the ghosts or demons that got their hands on it found us, and who knows what they would do with us after that.” Flim Flam added.

“L-like let's just hope that doesn't happen.” Shaggy replied with a gulp.

“Reah, ri'd rather re rafe rhen rorry.” Scooby remarked.

“Like you and me both Scoob.” the sandy haired beatnik responded, softly petting his canine companion's head as he spoke.

"S-so who wants to tell him?" Flim Flam said nervously, as he pulled the Crystal Ball out of his sweatshirt.

"I sure don't." the budding young magician/con artist/detective continued, before tossing it over to Shaggy.

"Like not a chance." Shaggy remarked tossing the crystal over to Scooby.

"Rare rou ridding, rot re." Scooby commented tossing the crystal ball over to Velma.

"Oh no, I'm not telling him." Velma remarked as she tossed the crystal over to Daphne.

"No way, not me." Daphne said as she tossed it over to Fred.

"I don't think so." Fred said as he tossed the crystal back to Flim Flam.

"Come on guys this is ridiculous, I'll tell him. I'm not afraid of Vince, besides he and I are friends." Flim Flam remarked.

Flim Flam placed his hands atop the Crystal Ball and began trying to contact Vincent; finally the gang was able to reach their warlock friend except that the crystal was a bit on the fritz.

"Jinkies, it looks like Vincent's reception is a bit fuzzy." Velma commented.

"Flim Flam, how many times have I told you not to tamper with the crystal" Vincent commented, sounding a bit perturbed at the young man.

"Sorry Vince, let me try again." addressed Flim Flam.

"You know the crystal ball works and has a lot of parts that are similar to our Television set back home, whenever it's on the fritz one of us usually hits the top of it and then it works." Velma explained.

"Oh, you mean like this." Flim Flam said as he banged the top of the crystal.

"Hey it worked, good thinking Velma." Fred commented.

Now that the Crystal Ball's reception was fixed, Mystery Inc. still had the unhappy task of informing their warlock ally about their present situation and informing him of the disappearance of the Chest of Demons, which was not an easy thing to do by any stretch of the imagination.

"Vincent, um we have sort of a problem; now you have to promise not to yell or scream OK?" addressed Flim Flam.

"Slim Flam, in all my years dealing with the macabre nothing has ever made me scream or yell." replied Vincent.

"We lost the Chest of Demons." Shaggy commented.

Naturally, Vincent then screamed after hearing this dreadful news, but attempted to regain his composure in order to inform his confederates of the consequences, especially those if the chest was not found.

"This is serious, you have to find that chest this very evening." Vincent explained.

"But how, like we don't have any clues as to where it is." Shaggy wondered aloud.

"Actually Shaggy, we do. Remember we saw a shadow creature of some kind just before we lost it." Velma commented.

"Hey that's right. Maybe Vincent knows something about this Shadow Creature and where it's from" Daphne remarked.

"Indeed I do Daphne." addressed Vincent, as he rummaged around his library looking for some information before finally finding what he was looking for.

"Here we are; hmm... this is not good news at all." the warlock added, in a very serious sounding tone of voice.

"Like what is it?" Shaggy asked with a gulp.

"For starters, you must get the Chest of Demons back tonight, because on this night the powers of darkness are at its strongest; in fact they are strong enough to destroy it." Vincent explained.

"Jeepers, what can we do to find the chest and get it back?" Daphne asked.

"Very simple. On this very evening, ghosts from all over the world will congregate at Bald Mountain to celebrate their triumph; at the foot of the mountain sits Befuddle Manor, that is where you must go; inside the manor, the ghosts will try to destroy the chest before sunrise which is when they lose their powers." Vincent replied.

"Then we should get going immediately, before it's too late." Fred stated.

"Precisely, but there is also one last thing you need to know before you get going, you must…" Vincent began explaining before the crystal cut out.

"Vincent what else do we need to know?" asked Velma.

"Oh that Flim Flam and his fiddling with the crystal; I was going to tell them that parts of Befuddle Hall are like a giant maze, those who enter never get out alive." Vincent commented.

"Vincent, Mr. Van Ghoul?" addressed Velma as she tried to reach the warlock.

For a few seconds Vincent's picture came back on the crystal but then it disappeared just as quickly.

"Like now what should we do, who knows what Mr. Van Ghoul was trying to say about Befuddle Hall." Shaggy wondered aloud.

"Well there's only one thing to do: we have to get to Befuddle Manor and get inside somehow to try and find the Chest and the shadow creature." Fred explained.

"And I think I know how to get inside." Flim Flam commented.

"You do?" the gang asked in unison.

"Sure, it will be a cinch." the young boy explained.

Flim Flam, Scooby and the rest of the gang then gathered into a small huddle as the young boy explained his plan, which Shaggy and Scooby immediately disliked.

"Like, no way Scooby and I aren't going to some creepy house where we might get lost or worse." the cowardly college student explained.

"Reah, ro ray!" Scooby added.

"Come on you two, you don't expect the four of us to go inside Befuddle Hall by ourselves do you?" Velma asked.

"Well, like actually." Shaggy replied, looking over at Velma and smiling all the while.

"You're kidding; you want the four of us to go in by ourselves? But what if some creepy ghost or monster tries to get us, then we won't have protection and I'll be all alone." the bespectacled girl explained with a frown on her face, speaking as if she was a damsel in distress.

Naturally Velma Dinkley didn't want to speak this way and act like a princess who has been captured by a diabolical villain... but in a case like this, she knew she had to pull out all the stops.

"Like on second thought, we'll go right Scooby?" Shaggy said to his canine companion.

"Reah, ret's ro!" the Great Dane replied.

With that Scooby and company piled into the Mystery Machine and heading for Befuddle Manor; inside the crimson colored van, Daphne who was still amazed that Scooby and Shaggy were able to be coaxed so easily into coming with the rest of the gang decided to ask Velma about how she was able to get the cowardly pair to join their investigation.

"Velma, I'm really surprised how easily you got Shaggy and Scooby to join us." the redhead said in a whisper.

"Yeah I'm surprised too, usually those two are always scared stiff and they never want to go on creepy assignments like this one." the bespectacled girl replied.

"That's just the thing, how on earth were you able to do that anyway?" Daphne asked.

"Simple, even though I'm the most intelligent member of the group, I still know how to turn on the old charm when I need to." Velma replied blushing a little.

"Velma! You were trying to butter Shaggy up to get him to come with us, weren't you?" Daphne asked with a surprised look on her face.

"Oh, I guess I was, wasn't I?" the bespectacled young woman replied.

"Yes, but that's okay, at least I never have to do that to Fred in order to get him to do something." Daphne remarked.

"True, but at least it worked." Velma replied.

"It sure did." the redhead commented, as the two girls began giggling under their respective breaths.

At a stoplight the two detectives heard the two girls giggling, then turned around and wondered what was going on with Daphne and Velma, so they decided to ask what was up with the two of them.

"Like, okay what's so funny girls?" the cowardly college student wondered.

"Yeah, let us in the joke huh?" the blond sleuth added, while keeping his hands on the wheel.

"Oh nothing." Daphne said.

"Right, the two of us were just having a nice friendly chat." Velma added.

Fred and Shaggy shook their heads as they turned their attention back to the road and the gang's investigation of the strange and gloomy house known as Befuddle Hall and the group's hopeful recovery of the Chest of Demons.

After driving for several more minutes the Mystery Machine came to a stop in front of the peculiar and possibly haunted house that the gang was set to explore.

"Well here it is gang Befuddle Hall; now let's get inside and look for that chest." Fred commented.

The gang then walked up to the door, all the while Shaggy and Scooby were trembling in fear as Fred rang the doorbell; they waited for an answer for a couple minutes until they heard someone coming up to the door.

The door opened and an elderly woman answered, the gang was a little surprised by this seeing as how they didn't expect someone like her to answer.

"Hello, can I help you?" the woman asked.

"Yes we're the exterminators you hired." Fred answered, while playing the part of a bug buster... which Flim Flam had suggested; after all, what better way was there to get into a haunted house then posing as an exterminator, or a group of them?

"Ah yes, I'm glad you're here; I'm having a party tonight and I need some pests taken care of." the woman replied.

"A party?" Daphne asked, a tinge of curiosity in her voice as she spoke.

The red headed sleuth felt that curiosity partly due to her and her family's wealth, which enabled the Blakes to throw numerous shindigs over the years, so she always wondered what other peoples parties might be like, especially when she spoke to someone who was planning to hold such an event.

Of course whatever questions the pretty red head might have had about said event would have to wait, as she and her friends were on an extremely important ghost hunt... or a shadow creature hunt as the case was.

"Yes, my guests are flying in from all over the world; if possible I don't want my guests to know you're here, kind of hush hush so to speak." the woman explained.

"Right, come on gang let's get to work." Fred commented.

"Like do we have to go inside there?" Shaggy asked.

"Come on you two let's go in; besides you'll miss all the great party food that's going to be served" Velma said, winking at the sandy haired sleuth as she spoke.

At the same time, the group's newest and youngest member glimpsed the bespectacled brunette's eye moment and immediately tried to join her camp... mainly getting the chickens of the group to go inside Befuddle Manor.

"Sure. Not to mention they'll probably have singing, dancing and all kinds of other terrific entertainment." Flim Flam remarked.

At this point, after hearing about the wonderful things inside the old haunted house(and after some encouragement from the two youngest members of the group) Shaggy and Scooby had their minds more then made up....

"Oh boy, like what are we waiting for let's go in Scoob!" the sandy haired college student declared.

"Reah, Scooby Doo!" replied his eager canine companion.

The old woman held the door open for Scooby and friends, watching carefully as they entered the building; after Mystery Inc. walked inside the elderly woman glimpsed the Great Dane and company leaving her line of sight, however this old woman was no ordinary elderly person... in fact this particular woman had some ulterior motives for wanting the gang there.

"Well, Griswald it looks like our little mice are in the trap." the woman said as she looked over at a spider wearing a blue top hat and a white tuxedo; suddenly there was a plume of smoke and the elderly woman became a younger looking woman with black hair and wearing a worn out red dress with black shoes.

"And now our crew of cats shall spring and take care of our curious guests." the woman continued while laughing wickedly.

Meanwhile in another part of Befuddle Hall, Mystery Inc. began their search for the Shadow Creature and the Chest of Demons.

"Ok gang, let's get started with our investigation, remember if we don't find the chest, who knows what will happen." Fred explained.

Scooby and company started walking through a long hallway past at least dozens of doors; suddenly the blond college aged leader of the group saw a familiar and frightening sight.

"That must be the shadow creature!" Fred exclaimed.

"He's the one that stole the Chest of Demons." Daphne added.

"Right, come on gang after him!" Fred declared.

The gang then followed the shadow creature down a long passageway, which seemed to go forever(or at least it seemed like forever to the members of the group). After running for some time Mystery Inc. suddenly stopped as they noticed that the main passage split into two separate ones; however as they would soon learn the shadow creature had the same idea and split in two as well.

"Now what are we going to do, we can't follow both passages." Daphne remarked.

"Sure we can, all we have to do is split up so that we can follow both of them; Daphne, you, me and Flim Flam will head down one passage while Velma, you, Shaggy and Scooby can search the other." Fred explained.

"Like I don't know about this, we still don't know what Vincent meant when he warned us about Befuddle Hall earlier." Shaggy replied nervously.

"Oh don't be ridiculous Shaggy, we'll be fine; but if it makes you feel any better I'll give you and Scooby a couple of Scooby Snacks a piece, OK?" Velma asked.

"Now that's more like it." Shaggy replied.

Daphne then produced a red and white box, after which she handed it to Velma who took a few snacks out of the box and gave a couple each to Shaggy and Scooby.

"Ro roy, ranks Relma." Scooby said.

"Like double thanks Velma." Shaggy replied.

"No problem, guys." Velma remarked, chuckling a bit as she spoke.

"Now come on let's get searching gang." Fred commented.

With that the members of Mystery Inc. went their separate ways and began their respective searches.

After a few moments of walking Fred, Daphne and Flim Flam saw a strange looking black figure; the gang instantly recognized it as the same being that they had seen earlier in the mine.

"Jeepers, it's him; the shadow creature!" Daphne exclaimed.

"Come on gang we can catch him, let's go!" Fred replied.

The trio of sleuths followed the Shadow Creature for several minutes before the gang found themselves in a hallway with numerous doors.

"Jeepers, now how are we going to find him?" Daphne asked.

"We'll just have to search every single door until we find the creature." Fred replied.

The trio stared on the left side of the hallway and saw a door with a large lock on it; each of the group wondered how they were going to open the door but none of them could figure out a way in which to do so.

"Hmm, I wonder what's in this room?" Daphne wondered.

"We'll never know, this door must be locked up tighter than Fort Knox." Fred replied, trying to open the door, unfortunately for him it wasn't budging.

"Well now what do we do, we don't know what's behind any of these doors, plus we have no idea what's in store for us in here." Daphne remarked.

"Hmm… well I guess we might be out of options, so there's only one thing we can do: call Vincent for help." Fred explained.

After hearing this Flim Flam got down on his knees and began begging his two friends not to call their warlock ally.

"Oh please, please don't call Vincent you guys; I'll do anything if you don't contact him!" the young boy said with his hands together and pleading with his adolescent friends.

"Come on Flim Flam, knock it off." Fred said, softly scolding him.

"Yeah, besides if anyone can help us it's him." Daphne added.

"I guess you're right, besides he's probably gotten over being mad at me by now, right?" Flim Flam said.

The young boy then pulled out the Crystal Ball from his sweatshirt pocket and placed his hands over the crystal, trying to contact the great warlock.

"Calling Vincent Van Ghoul, calling Vincent Van Ghoul, come in Vincent." Flim Flam said.

Thousands of miles away meanwhile, inside his castle Vincent was trying to fix the crystal ball but was still quite perturbed by the young boy's constant fiddling with it.

"Blast this crystal and Flim Flam meddling with it, I guess it's no use contacting them; I'll just have to go there and assist them in person" Vincent said as he sat on a bright red flying carpet.

"Now let's be off, oh how I dread long flights and this carpet never shows a movie." he mused as the carpet flew out the window as he started on his way.

"I guess he's not answering." Flim Flam said.

"Terrific, now what are we going to do?" Daphne asked.

"Simple we keep searching the house until we find that chest and shadow creature, now let's see what's in this room." Fred commented.

The trio of sleuths opened the door and walked inside; the three of them then noticed that inside this particular room were several large baskets as well as a washer and dryer.

"This must be the laundry room." Daphne noted.

"Looks like it, I wonder if there's any sign of that Shadow Creature or the Chest of Demons in here." Fred wondered aloud.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Daphne replied.

"Right, we'll each check part of the room for clues." Fred explained.

"And if anyone finds anything whistle." Flim Flam remarked.

"I was just going to say that, but it any case it sounds good. OK gang, let's get started." Fred replied.

Fred, Daphne and Flim Flam then proceeded to commence their search through the laundry room and had been doing so for several minutes when the youngest of the trio began to hear strange noises.

Flim Flam whistled in order to get Fred and Daphne's attention as the two of them continued to search for the mysterious Shadow Creature; Fred noticed that the young boy was trying to get his attention and walked over to him.

"What's up Flim Flam?" Fred asked.

"I think I heard something." Flim Flam replied.

Daphne had now joined the two of them and was also wondering what was going on.

"What's the matter Fred?" Daphne asked.

"Flim Flam was just telling me that he had heard something." Fred replied.

"Like what?" Daphne wondered.

"Actually he was just about to tell me." Fred remarked.

"Right." Flim Flam replied.

"So Flim Flam, what exactly did you hear?" Fred asked.

"I think I heard some kind of weird scratching noise, it sounded like some one was trying to get into the room." Flim Flam replied.

"Jeepers" Daphne remarked.

As Fred, Daphne and Flim Flam continued to discuss their surroundings and their present investigation, they were all unaware that a strange presence was in the room with them.

Meanwhile in the other passageway Velma, Shaggy and Scooby were in the midst of their own investigation, attempting to make their way through the cobweb littered hallway headed towards who knows where.

"Velma?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes?" Velma replied.

"Like were are we anyway?" Shaggy asked.

"Beats me, but wherever we are it's certainly dark; I can hardly see two feet in front of my face even with my glasses." Velma replied.

"I have an idea, maybe we should hold hands so we don't get separated." Shaggy replied.

"That's actually a good idea Shaggy, I'll take your hand and Scooby, you can take mine." Velma explained.

With that Shaggy took Velma's hand, afterward she took Scooby's paw in her hand and the three began walking down the passageway; making sure to keep in close distance of one another, the trio of sleuths made their way down the dark and dusty hallway.

After walking for quite some time the only female in the trio noticed something at the end of the passageway.

"Jinkies, I think I see a door and it looks like there's light coming from behind it." Velma commented.

"Hey like I think you're right Velma, nice work." Shaggy replied.

"Thank you Shaggy." Velma replied with a smile.

"Now like let's see what's behind that door." Shaggy commented.

"Right, come on you two." Velma replied.

Velma, Shaggy and Scooby reached the door and found that it was locked tight; being the resourceful intelligent individual that she was Velma brought out a small hairpin and used it to open the door; she was successful and the door opened for the three sleuths.

The three investigators walked through the door into what looked to be a dining hall. Shaggy and Scooby smiled at this development and couldn't wait to see what kind of food was in the offering, Velma meanwhile was more cautious than her friends as they all looked around the room.

Shaggy and Scooby then walked over to a large table at the back of the room and saw mountains of all different kinds of food. Velma noticed that while her cowardly friends were staring at the large table of goodies, some one or rather some thing was staring at them.

The bespectacled detective quickly ran over to join her friends while still being watched by hundreds of pairs of eyes in the room. After that, Velma took Shaggy's hand and Scooby's paw and hurriedly ushered them aside, away from the table and prying eyes.

"Velma, like what's up?" Shaggy asked.

"Reah, re rere rust arout to rave a snack." Scooby replied.

"Somehow I think you two can do without food just this once, just take a look around." Velma explained.

Shaggy and Scooby looked around the large dining room and saw hundreds of tables at which sat literally hundreds of hideous, horrible monsters of every description and type.

"Zoinks!" Shaggy declared, with a rather horrified tone in his voice.

Velma quickly put her hand over Shaggy's mouth to avoid him giving the gang's position away.

"Velma, like what did you do that for?" Shaggy asked.

"Simple, we don't want any of those creepy monsters to find us right?" Velma replied.

"True" Shaggy remarked.

"So if those creeps don't know where we are, then they can't find us, correct?" Velma commented.

"Right" Shaggy replied.

"So basically all we have to do is stay hidden and nothing will happen understand?" Velma said.

"Like I sure do." Shaggy replied.

"Re roo." Scooby added.

"Now let's find a place to hide, come on you two." Velma said.

With that Velma, Shaggy and Scooby looked throughout the room but saw only hideous monsters, and nowhere to hide.

Needless to say they were trapped like hamsters in a maze; at that moment, the trio of sleuths were only concerned with one thing: finding a way out of the room they were currently in. If they were successful with that, maybe they could eventually find a way out of Befuddle Hall without anything happening to them... if they were lucky that is.

Author's Notes: The part of the chapter where Shaggy suggests that he and Velma should hold hands isn't really a Shelma moment, even though to anyone who reads this it would seem like it. In the Scooby Doo Where Are You? Episode "Haunted House Hang-Up" Velma suggests that she, Shaggy and Scooby hold hands because they are in a dark room and they cannot see where they are, that's basically where that part came from.