Chapter 4

About an hour passed since Miss Grimwood, the headmistress of the Grimwood Finishing School for Ghouls had finished bandaging up the tail of the cowardly pet of Mystery Inc., one Scoobert "Scooby" Doo(of course he usually liked going by Scooby, and hated whenever anyone, especially his parents called him by his given name).

As a matter of fact, it was almost similar to how Scooby's best friend Shaggy Rogers, another member of Mystery Inc. hated being called by his given name Norville. This fact led him to tell everyone he knew, friends and relatives alike that he wanted to be called Shaggy, which everyone did, except for his parents who still called their son Norville, not that he minded it that much.

During that time, Shaggy, Scooby and Miss Grimwood had checked on the other members of Mystery Inc., Fred Jones, Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley, who were teaching the five Grimwood girls, who were all daughters of famous ghouls (hence the name of the school) various subjects, or at least the subjects that they knew about, or were experts in.

For Fred, those subjects included sports, P.E. and cars (which Elsa found interesting for some unknown reason). For Daphne, her subjects included fashion, music (both classical and popular), books, money and everything else that the wealthy redhead knew anything about, which apparently was quite a lot. While for Velma, her subjects of expertise included math, science, biology and anything else under the sun that she was good at in school, or knew anything else about for that matter.

After the three other members of Mystery Inc. gave their pupils the benefit of their knowledge, Shaggy and Scooby taught their five students everything they knew about food, cooking, mystery solving and a little bit about staying in proper condition.

Even though Miss Grimwood's students were the daughters of famous monsters, they found the lectures in food and cooking fascinating. In addition, they also found the lecture about staying in proper condition intriguing, particularly since they were amazed how Shaggy and Scooby stayed in such good shape.

Of course it wasn't easy, despite the fact that they ate as much as the University of Washington, Washington State University and Seattle Seahawks football teams combined during pre game meals and at their training tables, sometimes even in one setting.

Naturally this caused a bit of ribbing from Fred, Daphne and Velma, but the cowardly duo knew their friends were just kidding, especially Velma who was currently dating one Shaggy Rogers, albeit unofficially for now.

After Shaggy and Scooby finished sharing their knowledge with the five Grimwood students, Miss Grimwood informed the members of Mystery Inc., and her students to proceed to the gymnasium portion of the building, which was actually a fairly small room with a record player and other necessary equipment needed for gym class.

Soon after Miss Grimwood, her five students and the five members of Mystery Inc. started walking through the corridor leading from the room where Daphne had been teaching music class, and after making their way past numerous doors in the corridor, the college aged sleuths and their pupils, with the headmistress of the school in tow found themselves in front of another wooden door, with gold bands on the side.

Miss Grimwood then explained to the members of Mystery Inc. that this room was where the girls gym classes were to take place, or at least where they would start with their lessons, which so far were kept a secret from everyone, even Shaggy and Scooby.

After Miss Grimwood took a key she had with her out of a pocket of her old fashioned dress, she unlocked the door of the room which the gang was currently standing in front of and once it was open, she told the mystery solvers to enter the room, so that they could start the lessons she had planned for them and for her students as well.

Once they entered the room, Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Daphne and Velma were a bit confused as to what they were doing in said room; after all, they had signed up to be gym teachers at Miss Grimwood's school, but judging by the appearance of the room that they currently were entering, it didn't seem to be any gymnasium the team of detectives had ever seen.

Even Fred was a little confused, despite the fact that he had spent a lot of time in gymnasiums over the years, specifically during his high school years when he was on his high school's football team and in college, where he was also on the university's football team.

But with those facts in mind, the blond unofficial leader of the group still couldn't figure out why he and his friends were in this very room. Naturally though he knew that if the headmistress had a good reason for being in this room, it was probably something important, both to Mystery Inc. and to the Grimwood students as well.

After Miss Grimwood made sure all of her students and teachers were inside the room, she closed the door behind her and prepared to explain what specific lessons Mystery Inc. and her prize pupils were going to learn, and why they needed to learn these subjects, not to mention why they needed to be taught these things in the first place.

"All right girls, now that we're all here, and that all five of our new teachers are here, we can start our first gym lesson" the headmistress of the finishing school explained to her pupils and her teachers.

"Forgive my curiosity Miss Grimwood, but why are we in this particular room in the first place?" Fred asked.

"Like yeah, it doesn't look like any gymnasium I've ever seen" Shaggy added.

"Well, actually Mr. Rogers and Mr. Jones, it's not a gymnasium" Miss Grimwood replied.

"It's not?" Shaggy and Fred answered in unison.

"No, it is not. However, I believe that two of the members of your group may enjoy our first gym related activity." Miss Grimwood clarified, albeit with a somewhat curious smile on her face.

"Two members of our group?" Fred asked inquisitively.

"Like who in our group would like whatever we're going to be doing in here?" Shaggy responded, with a question of his own.

"Reah" Scooby added.

At the moment, Fred, Shaggy and Scooby Doo were scratching their respective heads, trying to figure out just what Miss Grimwood had meant. While the male members of Mystery Inc. were a bit confused at what was going on, Daphne and Velma were starting to realize what the headmistress of the school had in mind.

"Hmm… I think I know what room we're in, right Velma?" the purple clad red head asked, turning to her bespectacled companion.

"I think I recognize where we are too Daphne. You know, I think this might be pretty fun; plus I've always wanted to try this." The intelligent college student replied, with an equally big smile on her face.

While Daphne and Velma spoke, Miss Grimwood made her way over to a large brown box in the corner of the room. The two male members of Mystery Inc. and their canine were still quite perplexed as to what their employer was up to. However, soon they would know exactly what was going on, as Miss Grimwood prepared to open said container and begin the day's gym activities.

"Here we are; now, I'm sure you kids would like to know why you're in this room, and why I'm standing by this box. Well, I can officially tell you that this very room is somewhere that Miss Blake and Miss Dinkley might want to spend a lot of time in during their time at this finishing school." Miss Grimwood explained.

"Like OK, OK, just what's up with all the suspense Miss Grimwood?" Shaggy inquired.

"Well Shaggy, I'm glad you asked. First, Miss Dinkley, Miss Blake, would you mind helping me open this box?" the headmistress replied, turning towards the female members of the group of sleuths.

"Certainly Miss Grimwood, come on Velma" Daphne remarked.

Daphne and Velma then walked across the room, towards where the leader of the school was standing and prepared to assist the headmistress with the task she set out to accomplish. A few moments, the red head and the bespectacled college student were standing next to Miss Grimwood, both at the ready to help her with whatever she needed.

"Now, since the two of you are somewhat familiar with what we're going to be doing, Miss Dinkley and Miss Blake, why don't you open the box and tell me what's inside, all right?" Miss Grimwood asked.

"Sure Miss Grimwood" Daphne replied.

Following the rumpled woman's advice, the red head and the brunette leaned down towards the box, with each of them opening one side of the container. After the pair of sleuths/college students were able to get the box open, they both noticed that it had rather interesting contents. In this case, the box contained pink and purple tutus, which caused the two of them to smile broadly.

"Jeepers, the box is full of ballet wear" Daphne declared happily.

"Hey, you're right Daphne, it is full of ballet stuff." Velma replied.

"Ballet?" Shaggy and Fred asked in unison.

"Yes Mr. Rogers and Mr. Jones, ballet." Miss Grimwood responded, with a slightly stern look on her face.

"Aw man, like I hate ballet." Shaggy replied.

"You and me both Shaggy, you and me both." Fred said, echoing his friend and fellow student's statement.

"Oh really?" Daphne asked, hands on her hips and looking quite perturbed with her blond haired companion.

"This time I agree with Daphne, just what is wrong with ballet?" Velma added.

"Wait a minute; I can understand why Daphne complained about the whole ballet thing. But what I don't get is why you said something Velma. I didn't even know you liked that girl stuff." Shaggy remarked.

"For your information Shaggy, I happened to take ballet classes in my junior year of high school. Although I didn't like it at first, I started to grow into it a little bit; of course my parents were the ones who decided to enroll me in ballet classes. They thought I could use some culture, in addition to studying science, technology and such." Velma replied.

"Like sorry about that Velma. I didn't know you took ballet; heck, I didn't even know you enjoyed it, much less attended classes." Shaggy responded.

"Well, maybe you should try and ask me more about my life, and hobbies. After all, there's probably a whole side of me that you've probably never seen before." Velma replied.

"Like I guess so. What else do you like that I don't know about?" Shaggy asked.

"Wouldn't you like too know…" Velma replied.

"OK, OK, like I guess I'll ask you about it later." Shaggy responded.

"Good thinking you two, besides, we have to get started in our ballet class with Miss Griwmood's students." Daphne spoke up.

"I still don't understand why we have to do ballet, and why we have to wear these dumb tutus to boot." Fred observed.

"Because Fred, this is traditional ballet wear. Even Miss Grimwood knows that, right Miss Grimwood?" Daphne asked.

"Correct Daphne. And my girls don't seem to mind wearing the tutus, do you girls?" the headmistress inquired, looking over at her five students, who by now had taken some of the ballet wear out of the box and were all wearing tutus.

"Not at all Miss Grimwood, actually they're really fang-tastic. And it sort of matches my outfit to boot." Sybella remarked.

"I can agree with that Miss Grimwood. The color pink really matches my outfit as well; something about purple and pink blends very nicely." Daphne said, concurring with her vampire friend.

"You know Daphne, not only do pink and purple blend well, but I think the tutu color blends well with my outfit as well. Orange, red and pink make for beautiful looking sunsets, and the combination of those three colors, the latter one the color of my tutu, really makes me feel, pretty I guess." Velma replied.

"Like I don't know about the tutu Velma, but I think the colors of pink, orange and red really do make you look beautiful." Shaggy responded, looking over and smiling at his girlfriend.

"Thank you Shaggy, that was very sweet." Velma replied, smiling back at him.

"You're welcome." Shaggy responded.

"My goodness, you two certainly are blossoming as a couple. Shaggy, maybe you and Velma could show and teach my girls how to attract a boy, or man for that matter." Miss Grimwood remarked.

"Sure thing Miss Grimwood. Although, are there very many boy ghouls out there?" Shaggy inquired, not knowing whether he should gulp at the thought of more monsters out there, or whether he should run screaming if he saw one of the aforementioned creatures.

But of course since Velma wanted him to stay, and because the rest of the gang weren't afraid of the girl ghouls, he figured he would say what anyone would say in this situation.

"Well Shaggy, actually there are quite a few boy ghouls out there. And some of them are quire nice and pleasant; maybe I should let you meet them sometime." Miss Grimwood remarked.

"I think I would like that Miss Grimwood. I think I would like that." Shaggy replied.

"Excellent; now, I do believe it's time to begin our ballet lesson for the day. Daphne, Velma, I assume you have finished changing into your ballet outfits?" Miss Grimwood inquired.

"Yep, we're wearing our tutus right now actually." Daphne replied.

"Excellent, what about you Shaggy?" Miss Grimwood asked, looking over at the sandy haired young man.

"Like even though I wished I didn't have to wear this dumb thing, I guess I have no choice." Shaggy replied, before walking over to the box of ballet gear and putting on his tutu.

"Roy Rhaggy, rou rook ridiculous." Scooby remarked, laughing under his breath as he spoke.

"I know we're friends and all Shaggy, but I agree with Scooby Doo. You look unbelievably silly." Fred replied, as he began chuckling as well.

"Ha ha ha, very funny. But like don't forget, you two still have to put on your tutus as well." Shaggy responded, before pointing to the container.

"Oh yeah, I guess we do too. Whether we like it or not, right Scooby?" Fred noted, before looking over at the gang's Great Dane, who was already walking over to the box to pick out his own tutu.

"Reah, ri ruess ro." Scooby replied.

Before long, Fred and Scooby had done exactly like Shaggy did and each of them chose a ballet tutu for themselves. Once the blond and the canine were wearing tutus, they walked back over to where the Grimwood girls, Daphne and Velma were standing.

The three male members of Mystery Inc. then waited with their female comrades for Miss Grimwood to start the group's ballet lesson, which Fred, Shaggy and Scooby hoped would start soon.

"All right girls, and staff. Since we're in the proper uniforms, and we're in the proper place, it's time to start our lesson." Miss Grimwood explained, as she walked over to the other side of the room.

The school's headmistress then opened a hidden closet, and brought out an old fashioned record player, complete with a record still on it, and what looked to be an ancient speaker of some kind attached to the back of it.

"Now, the first thing to remember about ballet is that it's very important to keep in time with the music that's playing. When one stays in step with the music, one can move about the floor like a free spirit, almost with no worries." Miss Grimwood observed.

"Like I didn't know that's what ballet was about Miss Grimwood. I always thought that ballet was like a thing that girls really liked; I had no idea that ballet was so deep, and had so much involved in it. And I certainly had no idea that it was such a deep and philosophical…" Shaggy replied, before stopping, partly because he wasn't quite sure how to finish his statement.

"Hobby? Pastime? Something else?" Velma asked.

"Those are all pretty good Velma." Shaggy replied.

"Indeed." Velma responded.

"By the way, why did you say ballet was something that only girls liked Shaggy?" Daphne asked, with somewhat of annoyed look on her face.

"That's right, you did say that Shaggy. And I want to know why you said it." Velma replied, looking somewhat annoyed at the young man, almost as much so as Daphne was.

"Well… there's no clear way I'm going to get out of this without getting hurt is there?" Shaggy asked with a sheepish look on his face.

"Unless you tell the truth about what you were saying about ballet." Velma replied.

"Do I have to?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes, unless you want to get the silent treatment the rest of the time that we're at Grimwood." Velma replied, looking quite irritated as she spoke.

"Oh, alright, I guess I could tell you why I said what I said. To tell the truth, ballet always seemed like a girl thing; I mean I never knew any guys that took ballet in the past, and it's kind of a silly thing for guys to participate in anyway." Shaggy explained.

"Yeah, and besides, I thought we were here to help the girls win volleyball game, not to participate in a ballet recital." Fred replied.

"But Mr. Jones, dancing, and especially ballet is something that a lot of athletes partake in. How else do you explain how well athletes do in that celebrity dancing show?" Miss Grimwood clarified.

"Well… actually…" Fred started, before thinking for a few moments.

"Yes?" Miss Grimwood asked.

"I guess… I guess I never thought about it that much. Although all those athletes do have pretty fancy footwork; maybe dancing and ballet will help me become a better football player." Fred replied.

"There you go Fred. After all, from what I've seen and read, football is all about athleticism. Running, avoiding tacklers, jumping, it's all apart of the game." Miss Grimwood responded.

"I didn't know you liked football Miss Grimwood." Fred remarked.

"Well, I do watch a game on occasion. It's quite exciting actually, and a very exhilarating way to spend a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday, by watching and rooting for your favorite football team." Miss Grimwood replied.

"Thank you Miss Grimwood. Football is a great game, and I really enjoy it." Fred responded.

"Not a problem Fred, and you're welcome. Maybe I'll come out and watch a game someday; plus, football is mostly played in the fall, which is the time of the year that is very nippy, and cold, and cloudy, in other words, perfect weather for watching a sporting event." Miss Grimwood explained.

"Interestingly put Miss Griwmood, but I do agree with you." Fred replied.

"Thank you, now I believe we should get back to ballet." Miss Grimwood responded.

"Good idea Miss Grimwood. Now, what were you saying before?" Velma asked.

"Well, as I was explaining earlier, I believe that when you keep in step with the music, you are able to both mentally and physically keep in shape. To stay limber as it were, both in life and in any job or competition you are involved in." Miss Grimwood replied.

"Very well put Miss Grimwood, yet again." Daphne responded.

"Good, now shall we get started?" Miss Grimwood inquired, hoping once again that the group's lessons would get started sooner rather then later.

"Sounds good to me Miss Grimwood." Daphne replied.

"Ditto for me." Velma added.

"All right everyone, let's get the ball rolling as it were. Maestro, if you please." Miss Grimwood remarked.

As she spoke, the headmistress of the school motioned over to a very familiar looking white disembodied hand. Actually, it was the same hand that had brought in the gang's luggage a few days ago, a fact that the group of sleuths definitely noticed.

The disembodied hand then floated over to the old fashioned record player and began cranking the handle on the side of it. Soon the sounds of soft, ballet type music began emanating from the speaker of the player, and before long Daphne, Velma and the girl ghouls were showing off their moves.

"You were right Miss Grimwood, I feel as light as a feather." Daphne said, moving around the small room ever so gracefully.

"I have to agree Daphne, I'm starting to feel great too." Velma replied, following closely behind the red head.

"Wow Miss Blake, you're really terrific at this." Tanis remarked, as she and Dracula's daughter were following closely in the red head and the brunette's footsteps.

"I'll say. Daphne, you and Velma are fang-tastic at ballet; you're both really burning up the floor." The aforementioned purple clad vampire responded.

Strangely enough, this statement caused a certain small green dragon to grumble and mumble a little bit, as he stood nearby and watched all of this occur. But of course since he didn't want to bother Miss Grimwood's students and teachers in their class, he decided to keep quiet, in more ways then one.

Meanwhile, as Miss Grimwood's pupils and the members of Mystery Incorporated practiced their dancing, a group of young people in military uniforms were watching all of this through a periscope, and were a bit confused at what they were seeing.

"Man, those Grimwood Girls have some really strange rituals." Commented a black haired African American young adult.

"I'll say. But it doesn't matter what they do or how they do it, we'll still beat them when we play them in volleyball soon." Replied a blond haired young adult.

"I guess. Although, take a look at who else is inside that Grimwood place." Remarked a young man with shorter brown hair.

"Yeah, I see them. Looks like Grimwood's got some new students; judging by the looks of them, it's an interesting mix." The keeper of the periscope replied.

"I'll say. I see a dog, a couple of girls, and a couple of guys." Remarked another young adult, only this one had light brown hair.

"Man, those girls are kind of cute. I see a red head wearing purple, and a brunette wearing glasses; although those two guys look pretty formidable." Replied the blond.

"Got that right. Looks like there's a pretty well built blond guy, and a skinny guy with light brown hair, a red shirt and blue jeans. Wonder if he's one of your relatives?" joked the dark brown haired young adult.

"Very funny man, very funny." Replied the young adult with lighter brown hair.

"Hey, let me see you guys." Remarked a somewhat bulkier young man, who was trying to see what the other young adults were seeing.

This group of young adults was dressed the way they were for a reason. The reason being that they were all cadets at the nearby Calloway Military Academy, which the Mystery Machine drove by on their way towards the Grimwood School.

For now though, the cadets were trying to observe the students at the rival Grimwood School for Ghouls in advance of their yearly volleyball match. Of course, that observation wasn't going too well, especially since one of them was about to receive a rather rude awakening.

"Be careful Grunt, that new scope has a…." the possessor of the tool was about to say.

However, he was a bit too late as the bulky cadet's attempt caused the scope to shake a bit and land on his head. Meanwhile, at the same time the headset, or more specifically the microphone on top of the scope, slammed onto the black haired young adult's head which caused him to shake a bit again as a result.

"Attention cadets!" a stern sounding voice said, from behind the group of young adults.

"It's Colonel Calloway, attention!" the dark brown haired young man said, as he turned around rather quickly.

Three of the cadets followed in similar fashion, as they all faced their commanding officer.

However, one of them was a bit late in doing so. This was a fact that their CO couldn't help but point out, which made one of them a bit nervous.

"Colonel Jamal, you know you really should stand at attention when I arrive." The distinguished looking man who was now in their midst said as he watched the African American young adult shake like a bowl full of gelatin.

"Sorry about that Colonel." The African American cadet said, while being steadied by the rather chubby cadet.

"Thank you Cadet Grunt." Replied the distinguished looking Colonel.

"Sir Yes sir!" the dark brown haired young adult responded.

"At ease cadet." The colonel replied, while looking down at the now destroyed periscope.

"It appears that you have been observing your opponents." The military leader observed.

"Yes sir!" the blond young adult replied, making sure he wouldn't get on the colonel's bad side.

"That is very admirable, and a very good thing to do. However, all of you as a result of your observing have been neglecting your practicing." The well dressed military leader added, as he placed the metal that used to be a periscope down and picked up volleyball in the process.

"Don't worry Colonel Calloway, we could beat those Grimwood Girls in our sleep." Remarked the bulky cadet, after the military man tossed the ball over to him.

"Yes Cadet Grunt. However, I am planning on setting up the date and time for our game very soon, so I would appreciate it if all of you got to work." Colonel Calloway replied, as he watched the cadet bounce the ball a couple of times before hitting it over to the dark brown haired cadet.

"Right. Don't worry Colonel, we'll have no trouble winning the match, you can count on it." The aforementioned cadet said, as he smashed the ball over volleyball net.

The ball then proceeded to bounce off five trees, one right after another. After that, the sphere started coming right back at the group of cadets and the colonel, which caused him to shout in alarm.

"Hit the deck!" the military man declared as the volleyball zipped past him and the other cadets.

After getting past the cadets and the colonel, the volleyball traveled through a nearby grass wall, which caused the aforementioned military leader to lose his balance a bit and fall to the ground.

This of course resulted in the Colonel being helped up by said cadets, who didn't waste in any time in doing so.

"Excellent serve cadet, it will certainly come in handy." Colonel Calloway remarked, as his pupils helped him off the dirt covered ground.

"Thank you colonel." The dark brown haired cadet replied.

"Although, I would work on your control just a little bit." The colonel said, saluting his cadets before walking in the opposite direction.

"Right sir." The dark brown haired cadet responded.

With Colonel Calloway gone, the cadets then went back to trying to solve a rather annoying problem.

"Looks like our ball is now in enemy territory. I suggest a recon patrol to retrieve it." The African American member of the group replied.

"Good thinking Jamal. Grunt, you lead the way." The blond haired cadet remarked.

The rather bulky cadet then smiled as he proceeded to make like a fullback, which was needed in order to retrieve the cadets volleyball.

"Charge!" Grunt declared, running straight through the grass wall, as if it wasn't a very big deal.

However, after the other four cadets followed their own version of Mike Alstott through the wall, they all ran into a rather unavoidable problem, mainly one that was green, and scaly and didn't look too happy to see them all.

Author's Notes: Hi again everybody.

Sorry this chapter took so long to complete, but I had other things on my mind and I couldn't get around to writing this until now. I have not abandoned this story at all, in fact I fully intend to finish it, although I don't know when; again, thanks for sticking with me, and I promise it will be worth it.

Also, for those unaware with football, Mike Alstott was a famous fullback in the NFL for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the late 90s and through most of the 2000s.