The Mystery of the Cul-de-sac

(Edit): Sorry, I had to reupload the chapter because there was something weird that happened with the document. Sorry, but everything should be fine now.

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to either of these shows or franchises; Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated and Ed, Edd, n Eddy are owned solely by their creators.

Author's Note: This story is not going to be based on or follow any episodes depicted in the shows, but there may be small references to certain characters or events in the shows.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Double d's eyes fluttered open, wiping away the memories of any previous dream he had and replaced with the sudden realization of reality; still somewhat groggy and sleep deprived, Double d glanced around to scan his surroundings. It was obvious he was in a plane – the window directly next to him revealed the distant ground bellow and the nonchalant white clouds that whipped by. Starting to remember where he was, and also that he was deathly afraid of heights, Double d tore himself away from the glass window, now glancing at the other individual he was sharing the isle with. Next to him sat a disgruntled Eddy, who was lazily flipping through the magazines that were provided on the trip. The majority of the pages were composed of words with little pictures gracing paper; it was probably the reason why Eddy seemed so utterly bored.

Noticing that Double d had awoken, a small look of excitement crossed his face – possibly because he hadn't spoken to someone in hours.

"Rise and shine, sleepy-head," Eddy said in a somewhat mocking tone, although he was truly grateful that he finally had some actual company during the trip.

Double d blinked, forcing his mind to recall the reason for him being in a plane of all places; the events of the past soon began to flood back into his head until he regained a state of clarity.

He, Ed, and Eddy were all taking a trip to California, a 5 hour ride by plane. A couple of weeks ago, his mother had approached him with an offer to attend a program that provided education to various students across the U.S; only a select few number of students, chosen for their academic advancement, were given this opportunity, and it allowed students to attend certain educational institutions of their own choice from a list of schools. There was one particular school that stood out to Double d the most. It was 'Crystal Cove High School', a school well-known for its strong math and science courses. Eagerly, the beanie-wearing teen chose the school, completely sold on its math and science department; although Double d disliked plane rides for the most part, he was willing to go through the torment – especially since the program was paying for the traveling expenses. This was going to take place during the summer, so Double d was a little bit sad that he had to sacrifice his time with Ed and Eddy; that was until his mother told him that she had a cousin who lived in California and would be willing to let him stay there for the summer. Asking mainly out of curiosity, Double d wondered if it would be possible for Ed and Eddy to come along. His mother hesitantly thought about it, but in the end she finally agreed. So, a few weeks later, after going through the trouble of convincing Ed and Eddy's parents to let them leave, the three Eds embarked on a 4 to 6 hour trip to California.

Finally remembering all the details, Double d glanced at the time on his watch – it read 4:10 pm (Pacific time). Doing the math in his head, knowing that the plane left at about 11:30am, he concluded that they should be nearing the end of the trip within the next 30 minutes. His estimation was confirmed when, moments later, the pilot's voice erupted from the speakers stating: "attention everyone, we are nearing the end of the flight; we should be arriving in roughly 15 minutes. Please prepare to gather your belongings and we'll be finished soon. Thank you for flying with –"

Double d's attention was cut off when he felt something touch the back of his head; turning around to face the source of whatever rubbed against him, he realized that there was nothing there. Hearing soft snickers and restrained laughter, Double d chuckled to himself.

"I know it's you, Ed," he said with confidence in his voice, which seemed to cause the laughing to stop.

Ed revealed himself out from behind Double d's seat with a disappointed face.

"How'd you know it was me?" the large Ed questioned.

"To my knowledge, Ed, you're the only one who was sitting behind me," he stated factually.

"Oh," Ed said in response, scratching his head as he attempted to follow his friend's logic; while Ed was busy in thought, Double d's attention was pulled by Eddy calling his name.

"Yo, Sock-head, take a look at this," he said as he shoved an open magazine in Double d's face.

Calmly taking the article from Eddy's sweaty hands, Double d composed himself and proceeded to read the series of words that graced the page.

The article was small; more like a literary section that covered merely a fourth of the page. The title of the article, written in haunting green letters was 'Mystery Incorporated: Hoax or not?' To the bottom-right of the section was an image of about four teenagers (about his age) with a large dog by their side. Scanning through the article, Double d was surprised to see the word 'Crystal Cove' among the assortment of letters and characters. The article discussed a small group named 'Mystery Incorporated' that investigated various paranormal events and/or happenings; it briefly stated that they would occasionally (and accidentally) catch legitimate criminals in their investigations, but their vast body of work never included any true paranormal discoveries. The implication of the article was that Mystery Incorporated, although doing a lot of good, was based on many false claims of paranormal activity and that this reflected negatively on the group as a whole.

After reading the article, Double d glanced over at Eddy, confused by why he gave him the article.

Immediately seeing that his friend was confused, Eddy decided to just tell Double d what he thought of the article.

"Dude, the guys in the magazine are pure genius! Imagine being so good at scamming people that you get a freaking article written about you; don't you wanna know how much money they make by faking the whole 'ghosts are real' bullshit?"

Double d rolled his eyes – now he sees why Eddy wanted him to read the article.

Before Eddy could get another word in, however, the pilot's voice resumed on the intercom: "Alright everyone, we have safely boarded. Please watch your step on the way out and have a good day."

Once the voice on the intercom ended, people on the plane finally started to move; some people stood up to get their luggage from the overhead compartment while others merely stood up to stretch. The next few minutes were pure mayhem as people pushed past each other in an effort to exit the plane; among the endless chatter of people saying 'excuse me' and 'pardon me', the three teens quietly made their way off the plane after grabbing their luggage. Traversing the long boarding hallway that led to the primary airport complex, the three Eds emerged from the thin corridor and into the large open space of the building. Although the area was quite spacious, which could largely be contributed to the high ceilings, the building was by no means empty. The busy hallway was flooded with people, some going in opposite directions and others in a hurry to catch their flight; small food courts were open on both sides of the hallways, catering to people left and right. In the immediate vicinity of the Eds was a large sitting area where people would sit and wait – either for their flight to board or to meet someone getting off of the plane.

A man sitting in one of the seats looked up from a newspaper he was reading, possibly playing a crossword puzzle, and happened to spot the three teens. Taking his time to set the newspaper down, the man stood up from his seat and slowly approached the Eds. The man had a thick, black mustache that contrasted his somewhat light-colored skin; his shoulders were wide and stocky as well as his chest which was slightly puffed out. A cowboy-like hat rested atop his graying hair and cast a dim shadow on his forehead.

"Hey… are you…ummm…Edward Marion?" the man asked as he briefly glanced at a piece of paper in his hand; the man quickly tried to hide the paper, but it was already quite obvious that he had been reading from it.

"Oh, why, yes, that's me," Double d responded in a respectful tone.

"Hey, how's it goin'? Name's Sheriff Bronson Stone, but you can just call me 'Sheriff'," the man said.

"I see, you're a Sheriff then, I suspect. At least in terms of occupation, anyway," Double d stated.

"What's your real name?" Eddy suddenly questioned, giving the man an untrusting glare.

"Sheriff. My real name's Sheriff," he angrily said after a few moments of silence.

It became somewhat awkward before Sheriff resumed speaking to ease the tension.

"Can I help you with your bags?" he offered, already reaching for the Eds' luggage.

The three teens agreed and slowly followed the man as he led them through the hallways, past the crowds of people, and to the exit. Emerging from the building and stepping out into the evening air, Sheriff Bronson led the group out to a parking lot that was at least half-full. After walking up to a parked car and struggling with the keys a little bit, Sheriff Bronson opened the trunk up to place the bags there; he then motioned for the Eds to get in the car and soon after got in as well. The car engine then roared to life as the vehicle pulled out of the parking lot and onto the nearest road, headed for the highway.

End of Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hey, guys, I'm 110% aware that I haven't been doing much writing recently, but it's not what you think – unless you think I'm just lazy, in which case you're completely correct. I'm supper susceptible to writer's block, so when I hit a creative roadblock I usually just stop. That being said, I would like to know what you think of this story so far: is it good? Is it bad? Or is it just ehhh? Please let me know in the comments – I need feedback to live!

By the way, the next few chapters won't have an author's note cuz I wrote them all at once and I didn't wanna add more than I had to.