The Legend and the Loch

by Green Platypus

The last week of vacation brings the gang to Daphne's ancestral home in Scotland. But trouble soon follows when a mad pirate with a grudge against the Blakes begins bombing the shores of Loch Ness. Sequel to The Haunting and the Hex. AU. F/D.

Part 1: The Shadows in the Mist

The air was cool around the Loch, the mist swirled like a living creature. Shannon Blake stepped out onto her balcony. When she was little and her cousin would visit they weren't allowed to come out here, Shannon's grandmother always said that it wasn't safe to be this close to the Loch at night. She believed in Nessie.

Of course, there were other reasons not to go wondering about the castle, for example some of the structures were unstable, and there were rats and other animals. Mostly, Shannon stayed to one part of the house; she still couldn't believe that her family stayed in this old castle.

She sat staring out at the Loch when something caught her eye, Nessie perhaps. She laughed at the thought, she had been raised on the shores of Loch Ness and had never seen the creature, but she did see something. Shannon leaned farther over the balcony. She strained her eyes to see through the dense fog. There were shapes in the fog, big shapes. She could make them out more clearly as they got closer; rigging, a mast, and sales. It was a ship, a blood red ship, and something was pulling it along, something long and reptilian. Shannon ran inside and bolted the door.

Part 2: Winter at the Airport

Shaggy and Scooby ran through the airport at breakneck speed. Shaggy checked his watch; it was six thirty and the plane was supposed to leave at six. How could they be late, they were leaving on a private jet, how could they be late? They turned the corner, and ran right into Fred.

"Ow, hey guys, where have you been?"

"Like sorry we're late, somebody forgot to set the alarm."

"Roo I rook rike I rave rumbs?"

"It's all right, we're all ready to go; we were just waiting for you two."

Shaggy breathed a sigh of relief as Fred led them to the plane, leaning heavily on his cane. It had been a month and a half since he broke his leg at the theater and his recovery was going incredibly well. The cane was recent and marked his long awaited abandonment of crutches.

"Sure was nice of Daphne to invite us with her family to Scotland for the last week of break."

"Reah"

The three of them boarded the plane. It was probably the nicest plane Shaggy and Scooby had ever been on. The inside was set up more like lounge than a plane. Daphne was sitting at a table with her mother. It was incredible how much Daphne looked like her mother, except for her hair. While Daphne's hair was bright orange, her mother's was dark brown. Shaggy spotted Velma on the other side of the plane reading from her new kindle. Fred limped over to Daphne's table. Shaggy and Scooby went over to Velma.

"Sherlock Holmes?" Shaggy asked.

"Legend of the Loch" Velma answered showing the screen with a full color drawing of the Loch Ness Monster.

"Like right" Shaggy said nervously "Good thing we're gonna be far away from Loch Ness"

"Actually, Blake Castle is right on the shore of the Loch."

Shaggy turned around and saw Dell Chillman leaving the cockpit.

"Like, Dell, what're you doing here?"

"Fred and Daphne brought me along as a consultant for their show."

"What show?" Shaggy asked.

"Our winter break project for film class" Fred said, limping over. "We're gonna do a mini documentary about the Loch Ness Monster."

Shaggy and Scooby took fearful looks at each other.

"So we're, like, Loch Ness bound"

"And taking off right now, so ye best get your seatbelts on" Someone yelled from the cockpit in a thick Scottish accent.

"Alright Mr. Blake" Fred yelled back.

"Daphne, is that your father flying the plane?" Velma asked over her Kindle.

"Yeah, Daphne answered looking over her phone.

"George likes to fly whenever he goes back home" Daphne's mother said in, what was in stark contrast to Mr. Blake's thick burr, a French accent.

Shaggy and Velma exchanged a look that made it clear that neither of them had actually met Daphne's parents. They had always known Daphne was Scottish and French, but they had no idea that her family had come to the Unites States so recently. Scooby seemed to have taken a liking to Mrs. Blake who was scratching him behind the ears.

"He is a good dog, we had dogs like this when I was a little girl."

"Yeah, he's like great" Shaggy said as Scooby walked back to him and settled himself into a seat before takeoff.

The plane gave a lurch as it left the ground. Shaggy barely had time to buckle Scooby into his seat. In ten minutes they were soaring across the Atlantic.

"So, Mrs. Blake, when did you and Mr. Blake come to the US?" Velma asked, finally putting her kindle back into her bag.

"Well, we lived in Scotland for about five years before we moved; I think it was about a year after Daphne was born, because Elizabeth spent at least two years in pre- school before we moved."

Shaggy and Velma exchanged another surprised look. It occurred to them that they knew very little about Daphne's home life, especially considering all that they were finding out know.

After another hour Mr. Blake walked out of the cockpit. Despite Daphne's strong resemblance to her mother, she had some of her father's features as well; most notable was the bright red hair. Another bit of Daphne they could see had come from her father was the overall way they both carried themselves. They both had an alert way of walking that suggested a readiness for action. While in social situations Daphne sometimes adopted a supermodel's runway strut, this was the way she carried herself when they were on cases.

"Jenkins has got it for now" he announced as he took a seat next to Mrs. Blake.

"Fredrick, join us won't you" Mr. Blake said jovially. Fred, who had been quite obviously pretending to tend to the camera equipment in his bag, looked around nervously and walked over to the Blake's table. It had been two months since Fred and Daphne had become a couple and Fred still seemed rather nervous at the prospect of spending time with Daphne's parents.

"Good name, Fredrick, that's my brother's name" Mr. Blake said. It seemed that he was trying to make Fred feel better, but the opposite rather seemed to be happening.

"Like, why did nobody tell us that we were gonna be near monster central?" Shaggy asked.

"Would you have come if we told you?" Velma asked with a smirk.

"Like no" Shaggy said in a defeated tone as he switched on his PSP.

The flight continued rather normally for the next few hours. Dell mostly stayed on his laptop. Velma continued to scan the books on her kindle. Shaggy and Scooby had taken up a card game at one of the tables, nobody was quite sure what it was, but it rather looked like Scooby was winning. Eventually a low British accented voice came from the PA system.

"We will be landing shortly, please fasten your seatbelts and secure loose items."

"Ooh, best go help with that" Mr. Blake said, moving toward the cockpit.

The plane jerked forward as it descended. Shaggy glanced out the window and saw heavy snow fall outside. He saw the rest of the gang looking out with awe; snow wasn't something you got much in Florida. The plane lurched as it touched down.

"Bundle up everyone, it's gonna be a cold one" Mr. Blake announced as he walked out in a thick, large buttoned, blue coat. The rest of the gang pulled on heavy jackets, including Scooby, who sported a light blue sweater that Maggie had insisted Shaggy should get Scooby for Christmas.

Together they stepped off of the plane into the biting cold Scottish winter. Everybody gave a collective shiver except Daphne and her father, who seemed to rather enjoy the cold. Mr. Blake walked up to a car parked by the plane. A man with bright red hair stepped out of it.

"Fredrick!" Mr. Blake called jovially.

As they got closer to the man, it became obvious that this man and Mr. Blake were twins.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet my brother Fredrick Blake. Fredrick, this is Shaggy, Velma, Scooby, Dell, and Fredrick." He said, indicating the shivering gang. "They're not really used to this weather"

Fredrick Blake looked them over.

"Well, welcome to Scotland."

Part 3: Blake Hall

The car that Mr. Blake's brother had brought was large enough for all of them to fit and thankfully heated. A thick blanket of snow covered all of the buildings as they passed through the city. Fredrick and George were engaging in rapid, heavily accented, conversation.

"Hey, why're all the shops closed?" George asked.

"They heard you were coming to town George, scared' em stiff." Fredrick answered jokingly.

"What is that?" Velma asked looking out the window. To their left was what used to be a building. All that remained of it were some smoldering timbers.

"Ah, right" Fredrick Blake answered uneasily. "A couple of night ago, we had a little incident."

"Please don't be ghost, please don't be ghosts, please don't be ghosts" Shaggy muttered in the back.

"It seems there's a madman out on the loch, the police haven't been able to find him. He runs a ship, cannons the shore every so often. That was our bakery."

"Not a ghost" Shaggy said relieved.

"People are claiming he's the ghost of Red-Beard"

"Like zoinks. Okay I'll bite, who's Red- Beard?"

"Collin McCullen was a pirate who terrorized the British Isles in the 1700's. After he was caught, he escaped inland to Loch Ness. He started pillaging the lakeside communities. The king's men finnaly caught up to him and sunk his ship. Legend has it that when he fell into the Loch, Nessie rose up and swallowed him whole."

It seemed like it would be hard to make the picturesque vista scary, with its quaint shops and snow covered countryside. Unfortunately Daphne's uncle had managed to do just that. Shaggy and Scooby were already regretting coming on this trip.

"Has anyone seen this ghost?" Fred asked.

"Most of the people who live just on the shore claimed to have seen the ship." Fredrick answered. "Including Shannon, but no more of this talk right now, we're here and you came for a visit not a fright."

Fredrick opened the doors to the car and led them into a stone courtyard. The castle was, for the most part, in good condition, though one of the towers had some sizable holes in it and thick ivy covered one of the far courtyards. It rested on a high cliff overlooking Loch Ness. Fredrick pushed open the large oak doors with surprising ease and revealed the main room.

"Welcome to Blake Hall"

The main hall was huge; it was easily twice as big as the school cafeteria. There were hand- woven tapestries hanging on the walls and large wooden columns reaching up into the rafters. The largest tapestry hung at the far end of the room. It showed a Blake family tree that seemed to stretch at least as far back as the 1400's.

"These tapestries record the history of the Clan Blake; it's a rich history of warriors, poets, philanthropists…"

"Falling through trap doors, discovering dangerous secret passageways and getting caught in overly complicated…"

"Thank you Moira" Fredrick Blake said, interrupting the tall Red haired women who had just entered the hall.

"Aunt Moira" Daphne said giving her aunt a hug. "This is Shaggy, Velma, Scooby, Dell, and my boyfriend Fred" She said, blushing as she introduced Fred. Fred for his part looked rather like he wanted to jump out the large stained glass window into the Loch.

"Oh, boyfriend; I hope these two haven't given you too much trouble" She said indicating the Blake brothers. Fred's eyes darted between the two brothers who gave identical mischievous smirks.

"Where's Shannon?" Daphne's mother asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Up in her room, you can go see her if you want" Moira answered.

Daphne and Fred looked more like they wanted the next plane back to Florida, but the others were more than happy to meet more of Daphne's, rather entertaining, family. Daphne led them out of the main hall to a staircase that looked like it went on for miles. Scooby and Shaggy walked off toward the back of the group. Shaggy discretely passed a couple of Scooby Snacks to Scooby while he mumbled something about how should have never bet on Fred fainting.

Daphne stopped them at another, smaller, oak door. This one had a paper sign with Shannon written on it. She knocked and a teenage girl answered. She looked their age, and had Daphne's height and build as well as the same bright orange hair as the rest of the family. However, her face wasn't quite the same, she was much paler and her hair was cropped closer to her head.

"Daphne" she yelled, embracing her cousin immediately. "And these must be your friends. The tall blond one is Fred right." She said this with the same smirk that the Blake brothers had used in the main hall.

"Daphne's family does not believe in subtlety do they?" Dell whispered.

"No they don't" Velma whispered back.

"We, ah, heard the town has been having some trouble lately" Fred said, trying to move the attention away from himself.

Shannon looked downcast for a moment.

"Yes, there's been that, but that's not all of it."

"What is it?" Velma asked.

"I saw the ship they've all been talking about, and I also saw, her"

"Nessie?" Daphne asked disbelievingly. Shannon nodded her head. Dell let out a squeal of excitement.

"Come inside" Shannon said "I'll tell you what I saw"

They all shuffled inside Shannon's room. It was large for a bedroom. The walls were decorated with soccer posters, and a fireplace was set into the wall with water boiling over a crackling fire. Shannon poured them all cups of tea and they took seats around the room.

"Okay based on your squeal I can guess that you're one of those people, the Nessie nuts." She said to Dell. "I don't condemn that, but I've lived here all my life and I've never seen her, until Sunday. I was out on the balcony, the one Gran never let us go on. I saw the ship come through the fog. There was no wind but it was going fast, it was being pulled by something. Then I saw her, chained to the front, pulling them along." Shannon was shivering, she sipped her tea to try and calm herself.

"Dell, you're, like, the expert, is there any place on this planet without a monster story?" Shaggy asked.

"Um… no, nothing comes to mind" He answered.

"Like, well Scoob, I guess we can always move to Pluto."

"Reah, re's a rog"

"Pluto was the Roman God of death" Velma quipped.

"Like, of course he was"

"Is there anyone we could talk to about this, any credible source?" Velma asked.

"There's Doctor Fletcher, he's from the University. He's sort of an expert on everything. Aside from him there's Duncan Macguffin, he's the dock master…"

Dell let out another squeal of excitement.

"…and he holds the world record for most Nessie sightings" Shannon finished. "There's also Doctor Pembrooke, she's staying at the castle for some research."

This time both Dell and Velma let out excited shrieks.

"Is he gonna keep doing that?" Shannon asked looking at Dell.

"Sorry, it's just that, Doctor Pembrooke is one of the most well known and respected Nessie searchers, she's kind of a hero of mine." Velma said.

"What about him?" Shannon asked, looking at Dell again.

"Don't worry about him; he's been doing that since we offered him the trip." Fred said; relieved to have someone else as the focus of attention. "Is there a time when we could meet these people?"

"The Fletchers and Doctor Pembrooke will be at dinner tonight.

"Like, what're the odds, huh Scoob?"

Part 4: The Courtyard

Everyone dispersed to their rooms to get ready for dinner. Shannon had told them that the western part of the castle wasn't structurally sound, but there were still more than enough rooms for everyone to get their own. Shaggy and Scooby got a room with no windows, at their request. After a flight filled with Dell's Loch Ness musings and Velma's stories about demon dogs they had no desire to see the Scottish countryside at night. Shaggy opened his suitcase and looked down at what he had packed. There were clothes, his PSP, some games, and… no extra Scooby Snacks.

"Like, Scoob, how much is left in that bag of Scooby Snacks in my coat?"

"Ronely Rone "

"Okay, we may have problem, wanna split that one"

"Ri ralready rate it"

"Then, like, why did you tell me we had it?"

"Ri radn't reaten it ret"

"Alright, like, it's okay, when did they say dinner was?"

"Ren rinutes"

"Well that's way too long, let's see if we can find a pantry."

They walked out of the room and into the hallway. Despite the obvious attempts to modernize, the house still looked very old and, in the dim light, pretty scary. Shaggy and Scooby walked down the hallway until they came to a dead end with a window. Outside, the Loch stretched far off into the distance. Despite themselves, the two could see the beauty of it, it didn't last long though. A shadow passed in front of the window and Shaggy and Scooby saw a large reptilian head rise from the water. It turned and opened its mouth at them. Its teeth were massive and flecked with seaweed. Shaggy and Scooby backed away slowly. Scooby skidded behind Shaggy's legs causing him to trip backwards into the wall. He braced for impact but none came; he fell through the wall and caught himself on the stone floor.

"Raggy, are roo rokay?

Shaggy looked up. He had fallen into a tunnel. Scooby was hovering over him. Then he heard stone scraping against stone and he saw the wall closing behind them. The tunnel was pitch dark now. Shaggy stood up and felt at the wall, there was no opening.

'Raggy, rhere are ree?"

"Like, I don't know, but I hope there's another way out"

The two of them started in the other direction, feeling their way along the walls. After what felt like forever, they came to an opening in the wall. They emerged in a courtyard, but not the one they had entered from. This one was overgrown with vines and covered in a layer of dust and dirt. Moonlight was shining through the tree branches that covered the top of the courtyard.

"Like where are we?"

"Ri ron't row"

Shaggy walked toward the middle where a circular stone table was set into the ground. It had a crest carved into it, and an inscription around it; Et sic nos et auxiliatus est nobis.

"What does this say?"

"Raggy, ronster"

"Monster, where!?"

"Ron the rable"

Shaggy looked down at the table; Scooby was right; the crest was the Loch Ness monster.

"We oughta get outa here Scoob." Shaggy said nervously. "See any doors?"

Suddenly the sky lit up with fire. They looked overhead to see cannon fire soaring over the trees. Both of them looked around frantically and spotted an exit on the far side of the courtyard. They ran for it. Trees lined the path outside. Finally they burst out of the trees right in front of the castle. They were so preoccupied with running that they ran right into a person.

"Whoa, you alright there?" The man said, straightening his blue pinstripe suit.

"Like, who are you?"

"John Fletcher, you're Shaggy right?"

"Yeah, what're you doing out here?"

"Looking for you, everyone's worried about you; you're late for dinner you know"

As the man lead them up to the castle, Shaggy tried to remember where he had heard that name before. Another cannonball soared across the sky. For a moment, Shaggy could see the man in more detail. He was tall and thin, with spiky brown hair and a stubbly beard.

"We'd better hurry" The man said. Shaggy could tell that he was Scottish from the accent.

"Like, wait a minute, are you the Doctor Fletcher from the university?"

"That I am"

"What are you doing out here"

"Looking for you, dinner started ten minutes ago and you friends said you two aren't likely to miss a meal. Besides, it's not safe out here anymore ever since the ghost started bombarding the shores."

"Like man, I wish you hadn't said that."

"Well, I say ghost. It might be an alien or a…"

"Like, okay, I get it, you're one of them. Um aren't you a little calm, we are being fired on"

"Eh, it's dangerous yes, but we've been through worse."

"By we, you mean?"

"Me and Misses Fletcher, we've been looking into strange events since we met as teenagers. From what I hear it's what you and your friends do."

Shaggy had to ponder that for a moment. It never occurred to him that there had been other people who did what they did as teens. The man led them up to the doors of the castle where an athletic looking blond woman was waiting.

"John, where did you find them?"

"Out on the grounds."

"Well come in all ready. Sir Locksley came when the shelling started, and he's angry."

Part 5: Dinner and a Show

"Mr. Blake see reason, if you would just let us position some troops in the castle, we could stop this menace."

"Mr. Locksley, so long as there is a Blake in this castle, nobody sets soldiers in inside of it without our permission, and you do not have it. If you'd like to stay for dinner then that's fine, but we'll have no more talk of troops tonight" Mr. Blake yelled back.

"I'd rather not" said the skinny white haired old man. "I'd don't want to get engaged in another discussion on why not believing in The Loch Ness Monster is wrong." He said, shooting a scathing look at a small bespectacled woman sitting at the dinner table. "Good night Mr. Blake" Mr. Locksley stormed out the doors with his bodyguard just as the Fletchers walked in with Shaggy and Scooby.

"That's Lord Blake; you're not the only bloody nobleman in this town." Mr. Blake said in what was a commendable attempt at speaking under his breath, but a failed one none the less. "I am so sorry" He said returning his gaze to his dinner guests. "That was rude."

"It's not like he wasn't" The bespectacled woman, Doctor Pembrooke, said angrily.

"Come on Fiona, you know he was directing that at me as well, and he's always like that. He's an old man on a power trip." Doctor Fletcher said, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Come on; let's have no more talk of that man. The cannons have stopped, the castle is still standing and the last of our guests have been found. Let's start dinner shall we." Moira Blake said.

With that the servants came in and placed several platters of delicious looking food on the table. Shaggy and Scooby gave each other excited grins.

"Who was that again?" Fred asked Shannon.

"That, was Sir Ian Locksley. He was a university professor, now he's in semi retirement. He still thinks his wealth and his title give him some power in this town, his private security force unofficially patrols the Loch. "

"That's who he wanted to station in the castle?"

"Exactly"

"Fred, is it? He was in here for the last fifteen minutes, how do you not remember who he was?" Mrs. Fletcher asked.

"Fred, has a condition." Daphne answered. "It's called Moffat's syndrome, right." Fred nodded.

"Yeah, it affects my observational abilities. I have to take the long way around problems, so to speak. My brain catalogues everything but leaves it to me to process it."

"But, it's cool too right; you said you can observe things that other people miss if you give yourself the time, right?" Daphne said, trying to make Fred seem more appealing to her assembled family.

"Oh, trust me, we know all about Moffat's Syndrome" Dr. Fletcher said with a broad grin on his face. "It is so nice to finnaly meet another one." Fletcher stood up and shook Fred's hand from across the table.

"Another one?" Fred asked, confused.

"Well, you didn't think you were the only one in the world right? Doctor John Fletcher, diagnosed with Moffat's Syndrome at the age of twelve."

Fred was taken aback, he always knew that there must be others, but the doctors had said it was so rare. It wasn't long though, before Fred and the Doctor where chattering like old school friends.

On the other end of the table, Velma was speaking with Doctor Pembrooke.

"So, we were hoping you could shed some light on this ghost pirate with the Loch Ness monster thing."

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, ghosts don't exist, but someone has been shelling the town and Shannon has told me her suspicions about Nessie being chained to the ship. It is possible that whoever these men are have managed to find her and chain her up, in which case this is both an extraordinary find, and a huge animal rights violation. If you want opinions on ghosts, talk to John, that's his particular brand of madness."

"Well, I know the old legend, if that's what you mean." Fletcher said.

"The one about Red- Beard being swallowed by the creature after his ship was sunk?" Fred asked.

"Well there's more to it than that. Fredrick, could I go fetch one of the old Blake journals from your library, I think there's a manuscript of the legend in there."

"Be my guest" Fredrick Blake answered with a sweep of his arm.

A few minutes later Doctor Fletcher had returned with a large leather- bound book. It was surprisingly clean for something so old.

"These journals have been kept by the clan Blake for centuries as a record of the events in the family and the area in general." Fletcher said animatedly. "This particular entry is from 1750 and was written by Sir William Blake. Missive received from the royal navy, Collin McCullen caught and escaped. He is reported to be heading toward Loch Ness. McCullen continues to make war on the lakeside communities. He is thought to be hiding in a cave on the Loch. Captain Magnus of his majesty's royal navy plans to engage with McCullen on his next raid, I will be accompanying him. The battle was successful in a manner of speaking. Though, I do not believe what I saw. Magnus' ship engaged McCullen's. It was a fierce battle; McCullen had a large vessel with at least sixty guns. Many men were lost on both sides. It was then that the creature purported to inhabit the loch rose from the water and attempted to attack both vessels. McCullen's ship, The Storm's Army, roped the creature and tried to strangle it. I jumped from the ship to atop the creature's head and cut its bonds. In gratitude, I believe, it struck only at McCullen's ship. In the end its captain was knocked from the deck and swallowed whole by the creature. The creature retreated to a cave under Blake Castle where I tended to its injuries. The creature continues to inhabit the caves beneath the castle. Magnus men arrived demanding to see and slay the creature. What follows is the strictly confidential conclusion to this strange event. I sealed the tunnels from the castle to the grotto where the creature has housed itself. It will be able to escape, but it will no longer be accessible to me. Captain Magnus was arrested after…" Fletcher stopped reading. "I'm sorry that's it. Someone has ripped the next page out."

"What, that's ridiculous!" Fredrick said storming over to the table. "I can't believe this. These haven't been accessed in years; who could have done this?"

"Do you know what it said?" Mrs. Fletcher asked.

"No, I've always meant to read them all, but never had the time. I think this is the first time I've heard the original story."

"Wasn't there a Magnus family who used to run a business in the town?" Daphne's mother asked.

"Charles Magnus ran a shipping industry, he always claimed to be a descendent of Captain Magnus, but he died in boating accident on the Loch a year ago. The company went public and Sir Locksley bought everything." Fredrick answered.

The gang gave each other knowing glances; they most definitely had a suspect.

Part 6: Infiltration

The gang met in one of the smaller sitting rooms the next morning, with Shannon and Dell joining them.

"Okay, here's the plan. Daphne, you, Velma, and Dell need to go question Macguffin. Shaggy, you, Scooby, Shannon, and I will try and get into Locksley's office, to see if we can find any clues. If my hunch is correct, we'll find something in his things that connects him to these attacks." Fred finished confidently.

"Fred, like, how exactly are we going to search this guy's office? He's not just gonna let us."

"I was hoping you'd ask that" Fred said, grinning mischievously.

Shaggy leaned against the brown stone wall of the university office building with a large newspaper covering his face. Scooby was connected to a leash that Shaggy was holding. Normally Shaggy never put Scooby on a leash; he knew he could trust him, but today they were undercover. A man in a tweed suit with an orange bowtie hobbled past them leaning heavily on his cane. His grey hair was slightly disheveled and his glasses were so thick that his eyes looked three times too large. A younger woman in dark suit with her dark brown hair tied back into a tight bun walked along with him. She also wore a set of more modern, smaller, glasses.

The pair walked into the building and up to the guard at the desk.

"Professor Van Sloan has a meeting with Doktor Locksley." The young woman said in a crisp German accent.

"I wasn't aware that Mr. Locksley had any meetings today." The guard, Macintyre, by his name tag, said.

"Ich muss mit ihm sprechen. Es ist dringend notwendig." The old man said in a thicker German accent.

"Please Doktor Van Sloan needs to see Doktor Locksley it is urgent." The young woman said.

"Alright, you can wait for him in his office, fourth floor." The guard said, waving his hand toward the elevator.

The two Germans walked into the elevator; once the doors closed Fred pulled off the grey wig and ruffled his hair out. Shannon pulled off the brown wig and took off the glasses.

"I can't see a thing in these." He said pulling his own glasses off.

"That was pretty good German." Shannon said.

"Yeah, the wonder of Google"

"You think your friends can pull this off."

"I hope so."

Shaggy and Scooby walked into the building as the guard waved Fred and Shannon in. Once Shaggy moved the large paper away from his face it was plain to see that he was wearing an almost exact replica the guard's uniform that Daphne and Shannon had made for him earlier that day.

"They sent to me to take the next shift" Shaggy said in what he hoped was a Scottish accent.

"Doctor Locksley okay this?" The guard asked.

"I don't know; I got orders from the main office" Shaggy said, wearily stroking the half fake and half real stubble on his chin.

"Alright, I could use the break, what's with the dog?"

"Found him with the leash, bloody students, right."

"Yeah, you got that. By the way, are you Irish?"

Shaggy gulped. Apparently it hadn't been a Scottish accent.

"Yeah, just moved" He said nervously.

"Alright, well just mind the doors." The guard said walking away.

Shaggy breathed a sigh of relief and sat down at the security desk.

Fred and Shannon put their disguises back on as they exited the elevator, just in case anyone was outside. As it turned out, no one was outside because the entire floor was devoted to the office. Together they walked inside.

"Okay, look for anything connecting him to the pirates or the monster."

Fred tried to open one of the drawers but found it was locked.

"Here, let me help with that" Shannon said pulling a pin from the wig. She put the pin into the lock and in a few seconds it was open.

"How did you do that?" Fred said in amazement.

"Family talent"

"Hey, look at this" Fred said, pulling a file out of the drawer. "Police Report for the boat accident and death of Charles Louis Magnus. The boat collided with an unknown object approximately seventeen kilometers into Loch Ness. Charles Louis Magnus was the only reported passenger on the boat. No body was found and Magnus is presumed dead. Now why would Locksley have this?"

Just then the intercom on the desk buzzed to life.

"Oh, Doctor Locksley, what are you doing here?"

Shaggy was just getting comfortable behind the security desk when Locksley strolled in through the front doors.

"Oh, Doctor Locksley, what are you doing in here?" Shaggy said leaning toward the intercom to signal Fred and Shannon.

"Who are you, where's Macintyre?" Locksley asked in an irritated voice.

"The security office sent me to replace him; I'm O' Flannery." Shaggy said.

"Why do you have a dog?"

"Found him on campus, must be a stray"

"Well, keep him calm." Locksley said looking at Scooby who was doing his best to look like a sympathetic stray.

"Did anyone come looking for me?" Locksley asked.

"Yeah" Shaggy answered. "Doctor McCrimmon came to see you." He said, giving the first Scottish name he could think of, someone from one of the science fiction shows Velma watched.

"Oh, the bloody history department, they have no respect for people's schedules. Well, I'll meet him in my office."

Shaggy looked down at the computer on the desk; it showed that the elevator was coming down from the fourth floor. Shaggy was searching for a distraction when Scooby made one for him.

"O' Flannery, get that dog before it runs wild in this office!"

"Right sir" Shaggy yelled chasing after Scooby who was running down the hall making as much noise as possible. Shaggy looked back and saw Fred and Shannon running out the door and out of sight, thankfully Locksley did not. Shaggy and Scooby ran until they were out of Locksley's sight then slowed down and took the first exit they could find. Once they were out in the open they gave each other a resounding high five. Eventually they found Fred and Shannon waiting at the university cafeteria.

"That was exciting, are you lives always like this?" Shannon asked as she sipped her tea.

"Yeah, it's, like, great. Now, like, please tell me you guys got something for all the trouble we went through" Shaggy asked wiping the fake stubble off of his face with a napkin.

"Oh, we got something all right" Fred said wiping the wrinkle lines Daphne had drawn on his face off. He had taken off the tweed jacket to cool off, but he seemed to be developing an affinity for the orange tie which he kept on. His cane was leaning on the table.

Shannon pulled her phone out and showed them a picture of the police report from Locksley's office.

"Like, what do you think Scoob?" He asked showing Scooby the phone.

"Rask Relma" Scooby barked.

"Yeah, this looks like her thing" Shaggy said. "Like, by the way, when we went in, the guard wanted to know if Locksley had approved the staff change. I know he's got a high up job and all, but he shouldn't have that much power, like, should he?"

"No, he shouldn't" Said a Scottish voice from behind them.

They turned to see a tall skinny man in a grey pinstripe suit and a long overcoat.

"Doctor Fletcher" Fred said, trying to hide the phone.

"You know, funny thing, I heard an Irish security guard with a dog took over for officer Macintyre, and ran amok throughout the main office. Macintyre also said that before the guard took over for him, two Germans came in for a meeting with Doctor Locksley and one of them was wearing an orange bowtie, so my question is, what'd you get?"

They all stared at him dumbstruck.

"Oh, come on, did you think that you were the only ones who were suspicious?"

"Um"

Fletcher took the phone and whipped on a pair of rectangular glasses. He stared at the picture for a moment.

"Now, why would he have this? Good work you three."

Fletcher put away his glasses and walked away.

"Like what was that?"

"Suspicious, that's what it was."

Part 7: The Cave

Dell was having the time of his life. He was on a boat out on Loch Ness with his camera ready to snap the picture of a lifetime.

"Dell, get over here" Velma called. "I don't know how to work this camera."

Dell walked over to the middle of the boat where a video camera had been set up on a tri pod.

"You ready Miss Lane?"

"Ready Jimmy" Daphne said straightening her hair.

Dell turned on the camera.

"Welcome to Loch Ness, just west of here is my birthplace, the town of Drumnadrochit where millions of tourists flock every year hoping to glimpse the legendary Loch Ness Monster. We're here with Professor Fiona Pembrooke, a leading Nessie researcher, and Duncan Macguffin, the man who holds the most loch Ness Monster sightings."

Dell panned the camera to Pembrooke who was stand next to Daphne.

"The earliest reported sighting was in river Ness in the sixth century when a local man was reported to have been killed by a water beast. However, the most popular legend local to this area concerns Sir William Blake of Blake hall and the notorious pirate Collin McCullen…"

Velma moved over to the side of the boat while Pembrooke recounted the legend. It really was a beautiful vista, monsters aside. It was still early morning and the mist hung heavy and low.

"Mister Macguffin can you describe the first time you saw the creature?"

"It was nineteen forty seven; I was just a boy. I took a boat out onto the Loch for some travelers and she came up right next to us. I saw her bright yellow eyes and her teeth flecked with seaweed. She just looked at us and then went under and out of sight. I saw her many times after that, but never so close as that day." The old man finished.

"Well, there you have it" Daphne finished.

"Um, Daphne, where were those caves that McCullen was hiding in?" Velma asked.

"Not sure, why?"

"Well, there's a cave over there with a rope tied off to a rock going into it."

"I've never seen that before" Macguffin said.

"Do you think we can go in there?" Daphne asked Macguffin.

"I don't think we have a choice, someone's got something in there that's not on the register."

Macguffin steered the ship into the cave. It was dark and cold. Everyone pulled their coats closer to their bodies. Macguffin turned the lights on the mast to full brightness. Daphne motioned for dell to turn the camera back on.

"Oh, my god" Said Macguffin.

In front of them was a huge blood red pirate ship. It had a gang plank leading to a man made dock. Macguffin pulled along beside it and lowered his own boat's gang plank. Everyone got off. Dell trained the camera on Daphne once again.

"We have just found this cave on the loch, inside is a pirate ship that we believe could be the ship used to bombard the shores with cannon fire these past few weeks."

"I've checked the front; she's not here, Nessie" Pembrooke announced.

"Now why would ghosts need a hideout?" Velma asked.

It's strange that no one's here, I mean, if this is their hideout" Dell said, his voice still in awe of the ship.

"Who, say's they're not" Macguffin said pulling a very old revolver out of his coat pocket. "I say that we get out of here and report it." It was too late; Daphne and Dell had already climbed up onto the ship.

The others followed. The deck of the ship looked just as expected. There were cannons and ropes. Towards the back there was a chest with a large lock on it and on the side, there was a rack full of swords. Dell panned the camera around the ship. Macguffin still had his pistol drawn. Pembrooke was scanning the front of the boat where there where chains and straps hanging into the water.

"If she's chained up here, than this is the biggest animal rights violation since…"

Bang.

Everyone turned to see a red bearded man in a red coat. Behind him stood four more men, who all looked like pirates. The bearded one was holding a smoking flintlock pistol above his head. He had apparently fired it into the air. The others were all brandishing weapons as well. Macguffin fired his pistol at the pirates. The bullet hit the bearded captain square in the chest, and he didn't flinch.

"Get em boyos" The captain said in a gruff Scottish accent.

The other pirates advanced with swords and pistols. Macguffin fired another shot and clipped one of them in the arm. This one did react, with some rather nasty swear words. He was clearly hurt and bleeding.

"Go, back to the boat!" Macguffin yelled, cocking the pistol once more.

The others ran as a third shot was fired. There were more pirates on deck now and they were firing, trying to block the escape. Daphne shoved Velma's head down as a bullet whizzed over their heads. Pembrooke pushed Dell aside as another bullet soared between them. Macguffin was now crouched behind some large barrels on the deck trying to buy himself some cover to escape. He squeezed off two more rounds. If Velma was counting right, he had one left; he had better make it count. Finally they made it onto their own boat. Pembrooke started the engine.

"Raise the gangplank" She called.

"We can't leave Mr. Macguffin" Daphne called back.

"I found some frag grenades down here" Dell called from below deck.

"What kind of dock master is he?" Velma yelled.

Daphne took one of the grenades out of Dell's hand.

"Um; Daphne, do you have a plan to go with that grenade?" Velma said worriedly.

She pulled the pin, and gave a spectacular throw that launched the grenade into the main mast of the pirate ship. On impact the grenade exploded and took the mast tumbling down with it. Macguffin took this opportunity to escape onto the boat. Pembroke put the boat into reverse and took them out of the cave. The gunfire had stopped coming from the ship.

"Why did they stop" Dell said frantically.

"You're complaining?" Velma said panting.

They looked back at Macguffin who still had his pistol leveled at the ship which was now giving chase.

The first mate looked to his captain for orders.

"Fire the cannons" The captain said with a murderous look in his eye. "There's a Blake on that boat, and I want to send her back her ancestors."

The first mate called the order to the men on deck. They loaded the largest of the cannons, aimed at the small boat, and lit the fuse.

They saw the fireball before they heard the explosion. The cannonball zoomed toward their little fishing boat. It was unlike any cannonball anyone had ever seen however, because this one was the size of small chair, and on fire. Dell fainted, Daphne began praying, and Velma simply closed her eyes, breathing with all the calm she could muster. But Macguffin had a steely look in his eyes as he cocked his revolver. He said something that no one could hear, but it seemed defiant. Then he squeezed the trigger and the bullet went flying. It struck the cannonball in midair before it had even hit the boat and it exploded in the open water. Pembrooke gunned the engine and zoomed toward the dock. When they all looked back they could see the pirate ship receding into the mist.

"I'd say that counts" Macguffin said grinning.

Part 8: Road Rage

Shannon swerved her convertible into the next lane. It had been an interesting mission, but now they were eager to see what the others had come up with.

"Like I'm still wondering what was up with Doctor Fletcher; that was weird the way he seemed to want to break into that office as much as we did."

"Reah"

"I still think that Locksley is suspicious, he's got way too much power for a college professor. What's his deal Shannon?" Fred asked.

"Magnus' company basically ran the town, he supplied all of the businesses and no one really liked him. In fact, after he died, the town was pretty happy. Once Sir Ian bought the company, he sort of treated it like his own personal country. Dad says that he got his own people hired as guards at the University and he thinks that he has the right to police the Loch. Dad and Uncle George have been trying to help out the local businesses, in fact, they're holding a fair tomorrow night in the town square to help get the townspeople working on their own. Without Sir Ian Locksley." Shannon finished disdainfully.

"That could be a good way to see what the townspeople think about all of this." Fred said.

"Ray, rut's rat" Scooby barked.

A dark shape ran into the road. Shannon swerved to avoid it but it came right towards them. They all looked up to see the Loch Ness Monster bearing down upon them. They turned onto a side road and the monster turned with them. It was surprising that something so large could move so gracefully. They were now in a dark forested area. The monster snapped its jaws at them. Fred pulled a cricket paddle from the back seat and tried to swipe at the monster, but it caught it in its jaws and snapped it in two. Fred ducked as its tail came from behind and swatted at him.

"Shannon, do you have any weapons in here?"

"Yeah, there's a bazooka in the trunk" She said sarcastically.

Fred frantically searched his pockets for something useful. 'Knife, no too short, mints, yeah right, lighter, maybe', he thought.

"Got any hairspray Shannon?" He yelled.

Shannon gave him a look that told him he would really get it if he even implied that she had any hairspray again.

"Ooookay" Fred said.

The monster swiped its tail at them, this time it hit Shannon in the arm. She screamed in pain and lost her hold on the wheel. The car went out of control. Shaggy took the wheel as Fred pulled Shannon into the backseat and tied off her bleeding arm with the bowtie.

It was getting dark now and the trees were getting thicker, the monster had taken to keeping its head low in order to stop bumping on the branches. Scooby was helping Fred in the back while Shaggy navigated the car through winding roads. It was little known, but Shaggy was an excellent driver. He took the car down a narrow Cliffside road hoping to lose the monster, but it kept chasing. It took another bite at the car and tore the bumper off. Shaggy accelerated and sped off into another more swampy area. Now this was his terrain, he was New Mexico born, but Florida raised, and he knew his way around a swamp. Mud splashed up into the car. Shaggy wiped it from his eyes.

"That's a peat bog, up ahead, hit the brakes!" Shannon yelled frantically.

Shaggy slammed the pedal, and the car skidded to a stop just before the bog. The monster, however, sped right off across the bog and into the forest. Shaggy backed the car away and drove a little more carefully back to the castle; he doubted that the others had had quite as much excitement.

Part 9: Castles May Stand, But They Don't Last Forever

Shaggy and Scooby helped Fred get Shannon out of the car. Her arm had stopped bleeding, but Fred probably wasn't going to want the bowtie back. They all walked wearily up to the castle. When they got there, they saw Daphne and Velma holding Dell up between them. He was looking pretty woozy. Daphne had the camera bag slung over her shoulder and was clutching it protectively with her free hand.

"What the hell happened to you?" Each group said in unison.

All of the adults were out to dinner. Shannon had sent the servants on break and they had the sitting room all to themselves. There was a fire crackling and everyone had hot cups of tea and hot chocolate. Shaggy had made some cookies for everyone and a fresh batch of Scooby Snacks for himself and Scooby. Shaggy was sitting on a couch with Scooby and Velma sitting close to him. Dell was sitting closest to the fire, still recovering from his fainting episode. Shannon now had a proper bandage on and was lying on the other couch. Daphne and Fred were sitting very close on another couch, Daphne was still considerably shaken. They each recounted their experiences of the day. Once they were done, there was a knock on the door. When Shannon answered it, they saw Doctor Fletcher standing in the doorway with a big goofy grin on his face and a large overcoat.

"Hello, I know you had a bad day, but I got some information that you might like."

Fletcher sat down and put some papers on the table. One was a printout of a piece of parchment, the other was a printout of an even older piece of parchment that looked like a floor plan.

"Is that the missing page from the book?" Shannon asked.

"Yep, straight from Locksley's office. I got in after you kids left and snooped around. He had these in his drawer, the, um, other drawer. I photographed them and did these printouts. This one" He said, holding up the parchment with the writing "is the missing page from the Blake journal, it's very interesting, but, this one" he said holding up the floor plan "is very, very interesting. Go ahead, read the journal entry first. The last line of the other one was 'Captain Magnus was arrested after…'"

"Brutally attacking my staff because I refused to give him the creature which he has come to blame along with me for his recent misfortune. He revealed that his unmarried daughter is with child, the child of Collin McCullen, whom she was helping in his raids on the township. This news drove him mad. The child will be raised by its mother and grandparents under the guise of a legitimate child from a secret marriage to a naval officer. No one apart from myself, the committed and mad Magnus and his daughter know the truth. Captain Locksley will be taking over patrolling the Loch for any remnants of McCullen's crew. It has been a strange tale, one I hope never must come to its terrible but perhaps inevitable conclusion. As a final thought, I am building an addition to the castle that will help me should the Clan Blake ever be threatened by these vile pirates again." Fred finished reading the journal entry, at the bottom of the page was a crest with a picture of the Loch Ness Monster on it.

"So, what do you think?" Fletcher said.

"This means that Magnus was a descendant of McCullen." Velma said in awe.

"Yep, and now this one" said Fletcher holding up the floor plan. "This one says that your ancestor built a signaling device for the creature in the tallest tower." Fletcher punctuated the information by tapping the picture on the map.

"Hey, like, I've seen that symbol before" Shaggy said.

"Reah, rin ruh rourtrard"

"Yeah, in the courtyard." Shaggy repeated.

"Probably, that courtyard I found you two in last night was where Blake supposedly set the entrance to the creatures cave. And this Latin inscription 'Et sic nos et auxiliatus est nobis', it roughly translates as 'we helped it, and it shall help us.' So, anyone want to have one more adventure for the night?"

Fred and Daphne both stood up, but the others seemed too tired to even consider it.

"Right then, allons- y…" Everyone stared blankly. "It's French, for let's go, never mind, let's just go." Doctor Fletcher said, seemingly disappointed that nobody had reacted to his gratuitous French.

Everyone panted as they finnaly reached the top of tower. Fred leaned on the wall and massaged his leg. It was very dark except for the moonlight shining through the missing stones. and they had to feel around with their hands to avoid bumping in to each other. Doctor Fletcher pulled a flashlight out of his coat and flicked it on. The room immediately lit up. It was round and all stone. There was a crest in the middle of the floor. Fred checked the map; it was the same crest that was shown on the courtyard that Shaggy and Scooby had found.

"There's a brazier here" Daphne said indicating an iron frame on the wall.

"Oh, excellent!" Fletcher said. "Does anyone have a light?"

Fred pulled out his lighter and lit the brazier. The fire light cast an eerie shadow around the room, a shadow in the shape of the Loch Ness Monster, and the head was pointing up to the ceiling. Fletcher looked up and found another brazier, Fred lit it. It cast another shadow onto a stone panel on the wall. Fred and Daphne grinned at each other. When Fletcher caught the look he grinned too. It reminded him of Rachael and himself at that age. Together, Fred and Daphne put their hands on the panel and pushed. It slid into the wall and the floor where the crest was carved opened up. A telescope raised from the floor, pointed directly out the window. There was another brazier behind the lens. Fred lit it and a beam of light shot out of the telescope across the Loch. It stopped somewhere in the middle and shot back toward Blake Hall. Fred and Daphne's eyes lit up.

"Do you think there's a rock somewhere out there with a mirror attached to it?" Fred said excitedly.

"Maybe, but I wonder why this is here in the first place." Daphne answered equally as excited.

Doctor Fletcher, however, looked worried.

"I love your enthusiasm, but that light is probably visible from that cave where you found the pirates. Now, everyone has been shutting their lights off so that there are no clear targets. But this, this is like a big beacon to the castle, to a big tower on the castle, that we're all inside. We need to shut that off and get down from here."

Fred doused the lights and they hurried down the stairs. They were maybe halfway down when the light from the explosion came through the cracks in the walls. Then the boom came. It shook the tower and everyone struggled for balance. There was second when they were worried that the ceiling would come down on them. Then something much worse happened. The floor started to move and they saw sky outside of the bottom of the tower. The world went sideways. Floor became wall and wall became floor. Everyone hung on for dear life as the tower tumbled down the cliff side. They felt a jolt as it smashed into a bridge on the castle. A hole opened in the wall/floor and Daphne fell through. Fred caught her by the arm and Fletcher had to grab his cane to keep him from falling through. They each took hold of the stairs as the tower flipped over. There was another lurch as it hit a boulder and soared into the air. For a moment, there was weightlessness, and then it hit the ground again. Once they were on level ground it skidded for another twenty feet until it came to a halt just before the cliff side. Fletcher was the first to step out; he must have done this kind of thing on a regular basis, because he was barely fazed. Fred and Daphne came stumbling out a moment later leaning heavily on each other.

There were people standing around the broken tower. Now that they were out they could see that there was only one piece of the tower left intact, roughly about the size of a car. The Blake brothers stepped out of the crowd.

"Inside, now" Fredrick ordered sternly.

"Now, you have to see reason Blake, they are obviously after something here. You need to let my people guard the castle, for your family's safety" Locksley added as an afterthought.

Everyone looked at Fredrick.

"Your right, put in whoever you need, this is serious. I want all of you to stay out of this, it's too dangerous, John, I expect more from you."

Even George Blake looked surprised, not so much at his brother's decision, but at how serious his tone was.

"I'll have troops ready in the morning, goodnight Lord Blake" Sir Locksley said leaving with his bodyguard.

Doctor Fletcher left as well, he whispered to Fred as he opened the door.

"Don't give up, Locksley is playing at something. I can't help you at the moment, but don't give up." He slipped his phone number into Fred's hand and left.

On the other side of the room the Blake brothers were deep in conversation.

"I don't know George; maybe it's not safe here"

'You know it's not their fault right"

"I know that, we did worse when we were kids, that tour boat company still won't let me come near them, but with this, and you know we had a break in last week. They didn't take anything, but I mean, the castle might not be the safest place for us."

Part 10: Taken

It was a hard night. Mr. Blake wasn't so much angry about the tower; he was just worried about how involved his daughter and her friends were getting in this debacle. In the morning, Locksley sent his guards into the castle under the command of Macintyre from the university. Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, and Shannon had to avoid him when he was in the house so that they wouldn't be recognized. For the most part they just patrolled the grounds and stayed out of the house, but occasionally they came inside. By night time everyone was very relieved to be able to go out to the fair in town.

It was a pretty nice little festival, there were stands and musicians. Shaggy and Scooby immediately raided the snack table. Velma was looking over some books at one of the stalls, and Dell was spending most of his money on Loch Ness Monster souvenirs. Fred and Daphne normally would be the first ones on the dance floor, but now they were in full investigation mode. It seemed that Mr. Blake's ultimatum had just made them more determined. They were currently interviewing some townspeople.

"So, Mister Haggart, what do you think of this?"

"I don't believe in Nessie in the slightest, but my hotel needs tourists so I buy into it. Although, since this madman nobody's been coming, most of us have had to hire Locksley's private guard. It's been hard on a lot of businesses here."

"Psst" They heard from behind a souvenir stand.

They walked over to see Doctor and Mrs. Fletcher hiding.

"Hello, how are you?"

"We're good, still investigating"

"I just wanted to apologize for getting you into this mess"

"It's okay" Fred and Daphne said in unison.

The Fletchers smiled at each other.

"So, what's your conclusion on this case?" Mrs. Fletcher asked.

"Not sure yet, when we get something, you'll know."

"Well, enjoy the festival, and again, sorry."

Fred and Daphne said goodbye to the Fletchers and walked over to a bench in the square.

"Daph, do you ever think that maybe mystery solving is too dangerous? Maybe we should take a break from it you know."

"I don't know" Daphne yawned. "I just thought that it was worth it to have the excitement, you know. After all, if it weren't for mysteries, we wouldn't be together." Daphne yawned again and punctuated it with a tired giggle.

"Boy, you are really tired. I am getting back you back to the castle."

"To the castle good sir"

"What do they put in the punch here?" Fred mused.

Fred helped Daphne to the car and drove back up to the castle. The guards were still posted outside. Fred nodded to them as he passed through the gates. The night air was cool as he helped her stumble through the doors. Daphne was almost having trouble standing and Fred was seriously considering driving back to the festival and testing the punch. Shannon had told him about two local jokesters that would find this kind of thing very funny.

"Alright, I'm taking you up to your room" Fred said as Daphne stumbled to the floor. Suddenly she straightened up.

"Had you fooled, didn't I?" She asked playfully, suddenly looking a lot more awake.

"Yes, I was gonna go run drug tests on the punch after you were asleep." He said laughing.

"Come on, I got some footage from the pirate attack that I want to go over."

They went into Daphne's room overlooking the Loch and ran the footage on her laptop next to a blazing fireplace.

"Right there" She said pointing to a blob in front of the ship. "That is Nessie strapped to the front of the ship, she wasn't there when we got into the cave, but appeared after the ship started chasing us."

"That's impossible; she was chasing us in the peat bog."

"You know what that means, right?"

"Two monsters" Fred deadpanned.

"No, you goof, another fake." She said triumphantly leaning back in her chair.

"Yeah, but whoever is faking it is still dangerous. I mean they tried to shoot you. They tried to run us off the road and they shot down the tower."

"Enough 'whoever,' I say that this is Locksley. He had the accident report from Magnus' boat accident. He had the missing page and he had the schematics from the tower. I say that he's looking for the cave where William supposedly kept the monster because that's where he stored Magnus' body after he killed him to take over his businesses."

"That is the craziest thing that I have ever heard in my life."

"Well, do you have a better idea?"

Fred shrugged.

"I thought so" She said smugly.

"Wait a minute, so why are they cannoning the town?" He said as though he had just countered her check in a game of chess.

"He needs an excuse to get his people in the castle." She said.

"Alright, thank you for the paranoia, goodnight" Fred said with what was most definitely a real yawn. He stood up, supporting himself on his cane.

Daphne stood up and kissed him good night. At least, that had been the intention; about five minutes in they realized it was more of a make out goodnight. In all the madness that Fred's life was, the Moffat's Syndrome, the mysteries, the Father/ Mayor, Daphne was the best thing about it. She was the only person that he could talk to comfortably and never feel awkward. She was the only person who he didn't feel embarrassed having to ask for things explained to him a couple of times. He liked this. Then it ended.

The first thing that he heard was the rustling in the bushes. Then, there was a low mechanical grinding. Then he heard a gruff Scottish voice.

"So sorry to interrupt, but Miss Blake and her family are due for a reunion with their ancestors."

Fred turned to see the pirates climbing in through the window. The moment froze in his mind. His brain went into high gear. The doctors had said that this would be a side effect of the Moffat's Syndrome, adrenaline would make his brain work faster than its usual time; things would slow down. He saw the pirate next to the captain grab Daphne by the arm. He grabbed the poker from the fireplace and lunged at the red coated captain. He immediately knew that it had been a bad move. He saw the twitch in the arm first; then heard the click of the hammer, the flash of the muzzle. He knew what would happen and switched the poker to the other arm. He felt the sting on the shoulder of his free arm. He felt the warm drip of blood. He didn't care, Daphne was all that mattered. He lunged with the poker, this time tearing at the captain's shirt, but he didn't flinch. Fred saw a spot of grey where the fabric had torn. The captain kicked at him with his boot and Fred went flying into the bed. He saw the pirates leave with Daphne but couldn't get up, but he had to. He pulled himself up and to the window. The pirates were walking along the neck of the Loch Ness Monster onto their ship. He heard the familiar click again and ducked as another bullet sailed over his head and shattered the mirror on the wall. Fred ran out into the hall. He would make it back to the party and get help. He stumbled into the main hall where Shaggy, Scooby, Velma, Dell, Pembrooke, and Jenkins the butler were standing with the Fletchers. Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher were holding a man between them. Fred gasped as he saw that it was Doctor Locksley. He almost didn't recognize him with his face beaten and bruised. Fred clutched at his own injured arm, just now aware of how much it hurt, but that didn't matter now. He had to tell them.

"They… Took … Her" He croaked.

Part 11: Hypnosis

Doctor Fletcher finished patching up Fred's arm. He hadn't actually been shot, the bullet had grazed him, but as bad as it had hurt, he might as well have lost his arm. Doctor Locksley was sitting in the other chair icing his bruised face.

"What happened?" Fred asked once he was strong enough.

"The pirates came. They raided the festival and took all the Blakes. One of them gave Locksley a pretty good beating too." Doctor Fletcher said.

"They said that they were…"

"Due for a meeting with their ancestors" Fred said, interrupting Mrs. Fletcher "The other ones too."

"We need to find out where they're hiding, I wonder if we can find that cave again" Velma said.

"That's not the problem, finding them is easy, stopping them won't be." Jenkins said.

"We could call the cops" Shaggy offered.

"No, It'd take too long, we need a boat and a plan" Fletcher said stroking his chin.

"I've got a boat we can use; she's strong enough to go against whatever those bloody scoundrels have got." Doctor Locksley said.

"Great, but we need…" Fletcher stopped and looked at Fred. "We need information, you said that when the pirates came in that your brain went into high gear, that you had a moment where time slowed down and you could see everything."

"I didn't say that" Fred said, confused, but utterly sure that he hadn't said anything about his slow motion fight with the pirates.

"Yes you did" Doctor Fletcher said commandingly, snapping his fingers.

"Yes, that's right" Fred said, shaking his head for a moment, of course he had told them. He saw Mrs. Fletcher give her husband a stern look, but did not think much of it.

"Right, when that happens, as a side effect of Moffat's Syndrome, your brain processes not only what you're seeing in front of you, but also everything that's happened to you before that you hadn't processed yet. Everything that you've seen in this mystery has been deduced and is just sitting on the edge of your mind. All it needs is a little pull." Fletcher finished taking a golden pocket watch out of his jacket.

"You're going to hypnotize me?" Fred asked hesitantly.

"It could be the only way to find out what their weakness is. You've got that information inside of your head; if we can get it we can beat them and save the Blakes."

"Okay" Fred said confidently "Anything for Daphne"

Fred settled into the armchair as Doctor Fletcher swung the pocket watch in front of him.

"Just relax; I need you to remember everything about your trip to Scotland, every detail."

Everyone gazed on worriedly. First, Fred started blinking rapidly, whatever this was, it was not normal hypnotism. Velma grabbed onto Shaggy's arm as Fred started to shake violently. Shaggy for his part started to pet Scooby's head a bit more intensely, something that might have annoyed him if he were not also looking for anything to distract him from seeing his friend like this.

Fred felt like his head was on fire; he had read about hypnotism, this wasn't how it was described, but, he could see everything. He saw what had happened in the plane; he saw Shaggy and Scooby's mystery card game and immediately understood it. He saw Daphne's parents sizing him up as they talked; he saw them relax as they began to approve of him. He saw Daphne's apologetic smile during the whole conversation. He saw the dinner the first night again. He saw Fletcher's eyes darting around the room observing everything and realized that his had probably done the same thing. He saw the nervous look on Locksley's bodyguard's face and realized that he was the same guard, Macintyre, who had been at the university and guarding the castle. He saw the disturbed dust on the handle of Locksley's desk drawer. It was the only undusted spot on the desk. He saw the bookshelf that was spotless. That was the only thing that Locksley used. He saw heard the mechanical whir of the Loch Ness Monster as it swiped at the car. He saw the tire tracks along the bog before they faded from the monster going over it. He saw the cannon blast from the tower coming from the very middle of the loch. He saw it go into the sky, not hit the tower. He heard the same mechanical whir as the tower toppled. He heard it again as the pirates entered Daphne's room. He saw the grey armor beneath the captain's shirt as he ripped it. He saw Fletcher swinging his watch in front of him and the strange symbol on it, a V over an H. Then, just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. He relaxed in the chair drenched in sweat. Everyone was staring at him worriedly.

"I know what to do" Fred said confidently.

Part 12: The Signal

Doctor Fletcher walked cautiously into the courtyard where he had found the boy and the dog the previous night. Rachael Fletcher walked in a moment later. They had told the others that they needed to get some equipment, it was a lie. The truth was that while Jones had figured out the basic way to defeat the pirates, Fletcher had another idea. He waved his hand over the stone table in the middle of the courtyard. The dirt and dust that had been settled in the cracks for the last four hundred years flew out. Rachael looked on amazed.

"I will never get used to that." She said.

He smirked as he grasped the edges of the table.

"Come on, help me with this," He said urgently.

She rolled up her sleeves revealing the tattoo on her forearm, the same VH symbol that was on her husband's watch. Together they twisted the table.

"And on the subject, that was risky, reading that boys mind like that, I mean he almost caught you."

"He didn't"

"Only because you magically made him think you he had told you."

"It was harmless"

"What about that so called hypnotism"

"Still basically harmless, I survived it when the VH doctors did it to me. Besides, he agreed to."

She gave him a disapproving look.

"You know I wouldn't do anything to hurt him."

The sound of stone grinding against stone filled the night air. As they twisted it the table rose, just a little. Then they released it. The table slammed back to the ground with a loud boom.

"Explain this to me again" Rachael said wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"We helped it, and it shall help us. Old William built this and the tower as a signal to her. In case the family was ever in trouble he could light that come here and send a big shockwave into the water, signaling her on two fronts, I just hope that this one is enough."

"You like speaking cryptically don't you?" She said exasperated.

"Maybe a little, now, do you have the EMP?"

"Of course" She said pulling out a little round object.

"Good, now to send the signal" Fletcher raised his hand straight up into the air. A ball of fire shot out of it. From a distance, it looked just like one of the cannonballs form the ship. He hoped it would be enough to fool them.

Sure enough, it came. It was the same kind of thing that they had done a million times with far more dangerous foes. However, as the giant Loch Ness Monster barreled towards them, there was little distinction. It snapped its jaws at them and they both dived out of the way. Rachael Fletcher raised the little device over her head and pressed the button on its side. The creature groaned and stopped in its tracks, shut off by the electromagnetic pulse released from the device. Something moved on its scaly green hide. A door opened and a man in dark clothes stepped out with a pistol. Fletcher looked angry at the mere sight of the gun. He held out his hand and the man flew back into the monster. The door swung closed and locked.

"What is it?" Rachael asked.

"It's a crane, someone dressed up a crane as a monster. They put some floaters on the treads to let it get across the mud, just like Jones said.

"Should we tell them?"

"We'll tell them that we caught this one, but the rest of it, they're not ready for."

The Fletchers walked out of the courtyard. The man inside the monster was still beating his hands against the doors. Doctor Fletcher waved his hand and the noise stopped.

Part 13: Battle

Everyone stood on the deck of Locksley's ship. After about ten minutes the Fletchers had joined them and they were off into the Loch. The ship wasn't armed in any way, but it was sturdy, partially fireproof, and it had radar and a mini sub. Macguffin loaded six new bullets into his revolver. Fletcher looked displeased at this, but said nothing, almost as if the old man commanded too much respect in Fletcher's eyes to criticize him. Fred had taken a satchel and filled it with emergency flares. He was also examining a new cane that Fletcher had given him. He popped the top off to reveal a long thin sword. It was amazing, but ever since Daphne had been taken, he didn't feel the same pain in his leg. Locksley and Dell were manning the radar keeping an eye out for the pirate ship. Fred had a plan for beating them; he just hoped that it worked.

"Large target off the portside bow" Locksley announced.

"Right, Doctor Locksley, are you sure you want to help with this, after the beating you took?" Fred asked.

"My ancestors were all defenders of this Loch. I plan to follow in those footsteps."

"Okay Doctor Pembrooke, Velma, into the sub, you know what to do from there. Good monster hunting." Fred said.

"Aye, don't be fool; there's no such thing as good monster hunting" Macguffin sneered.

"Like words to live by" Shaggy mused to Scooby who offered him a sage nod.

Doctor Pembrooke and Velma went to the edge of the deck where an orange mini sub was locked onto a magnetic arm. They climbed inside.

"We're ready to be released Ian." Doctor Pembrooke said into the intercom.

Locksley pressed a button on the control pad and released the sub into the water. Pembrooke and Velma felt weightless as the sub fell. Then they were jolted forward as it hit the water.

Back on deck they could see the pirate ship emerging from the fog. The blood red paint stood out against the dark black and white of the night sky and the fog. In front of the ship there was a dark shape. It was the monster, its glowing red eyes were lighting the way for the giant ship. Shaggy and Scooby both gulped. They weren't soldiers or knights. They were a scared high school student and his dog, but they weren't cowards. People thought they were a lot. People thought that because they voiced concern at what the other members of the gang did readily, that they were not as brave as them. The truth was that Shaggy and Scooby liked solving mysteries as much as the others, the difference was that they knew the full danger. They kept doing it anyway though, because deep down they knew that if they were there the others stood a better chance of surviving. That was why they were about to attack an armed pirate ship, because they had a friend on it, and they had to help her. The pirate ship was close now. From inside the control room, Locksley and Dell aimed a harpoon gun at the enemy ship. It fired pulling a towline along behind it. The harpoon struck the ship and stuck itself into one of the thick masts. Fred, Macguffin, Jenkins, and the Fletchers each took ropes and swung them over the harpoon's towline. They jumped and zip lined across the water and onto the other ship. Shaggy and Scooby took one look at each other, high fived, and hands clasped, each took one end of rope and zip lined together into battle.

"Zoooooiiiiiinks!"

"Scooby Dooby Dooooooo!"

When they landed on the other deck it was pandemonium. They could see the Fletchers both armed with swords fighting the wave of pirates back to back. Jenkins was wielding two swords and holding his own surprisingly well. Fred was weaving his way in and out of the attackers swatting swords away with his sword- cane. Macguffin was firing shots, not at the pirates, Shaggy noticed, but at the ship itself. Ropes and sails were coming undone with perfect shots and landing on pirates trapping them. It was at this point that Shaggy realized that he did not have a weapon. It was too late, a pirate brandishing a cutlass ran at him. He ducked at the first swing and sidestepped the second one. With the third the pirate backed Shaggy into a corner and held the sword at his throat. Shaggy, terrified, saw Scooby sneaking behind the pirate and immediately saw what he was thinking.

"Oh my god what's that" He yelled pointing to some unknown location behind the pirate.

Instinctually the pirate turned just for second, it was all Shaggy and Scooby needed. Shaggy cocked his arm back and then shot his fist out. The pirate turned just in time to look surprised at the skinny young man's fist making contact with his face. He staggered backwards and stumbled tripping over Scooby and falling to the floor. Shaggy caught the pirate's sword as he released it and high fived Scooby. They turned and ran head first into the battle.

On the other side of the deck Fred was bobbing and weaving through the attackers. He did not want to get locked down to one opponent, he had a mission. He scanned the deck looking for any place where they could have put Daphne and her family. He settled on the captain's quarters near the aft. He ran at the door and kicked it open with his heavy hiking boot. Inside he saw the captain with his red coat and long orange beard standing over the Blakes, who were tied up on the floor. Fred charged the man, blocking the swing of his sword. Fred back stepped out of the cabin as the Captain took another swing. He lunged stabbing through the coat. Through the tear in the coat he could see the grey body armor that had protected the Captain, making him seem invulnerable. The Captain laughed a horrifying cackle. Fred used this opportunity to do some real damage; he pulled a flare from the satchel and lit it. He threw it up into the sail and watched it ignite the large white canvass. The Captain was mad now. He lunged at Fred who blocked with his own blade.

Behind the Captain he could see Shaggy and Scooby in the cabin cutting the Blakes loose. Once they were all free they armed themselves with swords that were hanging on the wall and entered the fray. 'Atta girl' Fred though as he saw Daphne kick a pirate in the chest and send him flying into a wall. Shannon was covering Daphne's back, expertly blocking strikes and beating back pirates.

The first mate ran to the locked chest in the middle of the deck. He produced a key from his pocket and released the latch. Inside there was passageway leading to a sublevel of the ship. He climbed down into it. At the bottom he closed the hatch above him and made his way to a small control room. He pressed a button marked release and felt his craft separate from the ship. He took the controls and steered the underwater vessel to the surface. Those meddling kids were in for a real surprise once they got a load of what the Loch Ness Monster that had been chained to the ship could really do.

Velma saw it first. They had been watching the bottom of the ship, where the monster was chained up. Fred had told them to wait, so they had. Now the creature was swimming up towards the surface. Pembrooke pushed the steering mechanism forward. The sub lurched and they shot off in pursuit of the giant reptilian monster. They just had to get into its line of sight. Velma turned on all of the exterior lights, trying to get its attention. Its head whipped back towards them. Now it was time to lead the chase. 'No wonder Shaggy and Scooby hate this' Velma thought as the monster started to chase them. They sped off in the direction of Locksley's boat. The monster followed them. It was getting closer now. They were almost to their destination when it snapped its jaws at them and locked onto the back motor. Velma tried putting all of the power into the back lights to distract it, but it did not react at all. The monster dived with the submarine.

"We need to get out and try to swim up before we go too deep!" Doctor Pembrooke yelled as she tried to open the main hatch.

Just then the sub lurched again. The two women checked the monitor displaying the feed from the exterior camera, it showed something swatting at the monster. Something was beating it towards the surface. The creature's scaly flesh was tearing, revealing a metal frame. The water foamed as whatever was out there swung the monster around and launched it up. The sub, still locked in with the creature flew up as well. Up ahead they could see the surface and a large metal object hovering over them. They launched out of the water and so did the creature. Above them the large magnetic arm that had released them into the water locked onto the monster and hauled it up on deck.

Velma and Doctor Pembrooke climbed out of the mini sub. They surveyed their catch, a half metal half scale monstrosity like something out of a James Cameron movie. Part of its hide opened and a man dressed like a pirate stepped out. He charged them but Velma grabbed a fishing net from the deck and tossed it over the man. As he struggled, Pembrooke pulled a large monkey wrench out of a toolbox and knocked the man over the head.

Doctor Fletcher fell to the floor as a pirate kicked him in the gut. Rachael swung at the man with her sword and cut him across the face. She punched the man's stomach and he doubled over in pain. She struck his head with the butt of her sword and watched the man crumple to the deck. Behind her another pirate cocked a pistol. Doctor Fletcher shot his arm out and the pistol flew from the man's hand and into his face. He hoped nobody had seen that. Then he realized he had overlooked a huge problem, all of the pirates still had guns, and it was only a matter of time before they started to get bored with swordplay and used them. He concentrated for a moment and swept his arms around the ship. Immediately all of the guns fell apart. He breathed heavily with exhaustion, that was probably his limit for the day, only real fighting from here on out.

Daphne and Shannon stood back to back on the deck of the ship. They each held swords in their hands and were fighting with the pirates. Daphne blocked a swing and punched the man square in the jaw. Shannon pulled her down as another one thrust his sword at them. She ran at the man and flipped him over her shoulder.

"Hey, remember all those pretend sword fights when we were kids?" Shannon yelled over sounds of battle.

"Yeah, why?"

"This, is much more exciting"

Fred slashed his sword across the captain's chest, but it was no use, the body armor was just too thick.

"You've got guts kid, I'll give you that, but did you really think that you could win this? You've got no plan, no backup, and no chance."

"Wrong, wrong, and wrong" Fred yelled back throwing a new flare with each word.

All of the sails and one of the masts were on fire now. The pirates were starting to look nervous, of course, Fred's team did not look too excited about being stranded on a burning ship either.

"Like, uh, Fred, what was the next part of the plan, you know, after the fire."

"Aye, what was your plan?" The Captain asked snidely, as he made another swing at Fred.

Fred did not answer; instead he removed the last flare from his satchel and lit it. He waved the burning stick in the Captains face.

"Abandon ship!" Fred yelled, throwing the flare to the ground. The fire spread on the deck quickly. For one moment the fighting stopped, everyone stared as the increasingly large flames engulfed the ship. Even some of the pirates looked appalled at the destruction, but Fred just smiled.

"Alright everybody off the ship unless you want to get roasted." He yelled.

Immediately everyone began running for the sides. Pirates were jumping over the side. Rachael Fletcher was holding her husband up by the arm, he looked severely weakened. She walked them over to the edge of the deck.

"I hope you know what you're doing Jones!" She yelled as she pitched them both off the side of the ship.

Soon the others followed suit, Shaggy and Scooby first, and then all of the Blakes, except for Daphne. She stayed behind, running to join Fred. Meanwhile, Fred was still locked in battle with the Captain, who now seemed positively mad with rage.

"You think this changes anything!" He yelled. "I will have my revenge; it's still my crew against the six of them!"

"Do you ever stop talking!?" Fred yelled as he ducked the Captain's sword, but this time the sword was stopped mid swing. Daphne stood beside him blocking the Captain's sword with her own.

Fred stood up and smiled at her.

"What was that you said about no back up?" He sneered.

The Captain swung again and Fred blocked. Daphne lunged, managing to slash at his arm. The sound of metal against metal filled the night air. Together they held the captain at bay, weaving through the burning ship. Fred and Daphne were perfectly in sync as they sidestepped, and lunged forward, it was like dancing together, but with swords. Slowly, the Captain's confidence began to fade from his face. He slashed at them again, this time, they ducked and his sword got stuck in the mast. He pulled another sword from the deck and continued his assault.

"Is this what you've become then, are you willing to burn all of us to cinders to beat me?" The Captain growled, practically foaming at the mouth in anger. He locked swords with Fred again drawing him closer. "Because if you've become that, then I've still won"

"Anything for Daphne" Fred sneered as he swung again. "But, incidentally, that is not my plan."

The sun was rising now. Light was streaking through the collapsed sails and rigging, but there was another light too. An artificial light was filling up the horizon. Something was getting closer. Fred pulled Daphne out of the way as Doctor Locksley's large boat crashed through the fragile wooden pirate ship. A rope flew down from deck. Fred motioned for Daphne to take it and she was pulled up onto the deck. Another rope was thrown down for Fred, but as he tried to grab it, a large boot kicked him to the floor. He turned back to the rope, but saw that it was too late; the boat had to move on to pull the others from the water before they were crushed by the collapsing ship. There was still a chance though; one of the fallen masts was sticking out over the side of the deck. If he could walk along it, he could jump onto the deck.

He ran and the Captain followed. He swung his sword again and Fred back stepped up the fallen mast. They continued their fight up the mast and through the flames. The pain was returning to Fred's leg now, his adrenaline was running low and he was succumbing to fatigue. His leg buckled under him and he had to lean on his sword to avoid falling into the flames. The Captain lunged at him and he stumbled backwards to avoid getting skewered. They were over the water now. The ship lurched as it began to sink. The point of the sword was the only thing keeping him from falling. The Captain was not so lucky; he lost his balance and fell off of the mast. Fred leaned forward, steadied by his sword and caught the Captain by the leg. His arm ached with the strain of holding the heavy man up.

He was about to lose his grip when he saw Doctor Locksley's boat come underneath them. On the deck below, the others were holding a net, ready to catch them. Fred released his grip on the Captain and saw him plummet into the net. Then Fred let go of the sword and got ready to jump. Suddenly the mast jolted to the side and Fred fell into the icy waters of Loch Ness.

Part 14: Rescue

He felt every nerve in his body scream at the cold, he tried to swim up, but his leg was totally numb now. He was sinking. He saw the ship moving above him. He saw the flaming timbers of the pirate ship falling to the Loch floor, and he realized that he would soon join them.

Rachael held the American Blake girl back as she tried to jump over the side to save Jones. The others were clearly upset as well. The bespectacled girl in the orange sweater was crying into the shoulder of the skinny green jacketed young man. Both were kneeling down beside the large dog that also had his head buried in the young man's arm. The young man just looked shocked, he was not crying, but his face was frozen in total shock. Doctor Fletcher was still incredibly drained, but hoped that he could manage one last calling spell, as long as she had not left yet. He leaned out over the edge of the boat chanting in some long forgotten ancient dialect. He felt the last of his energy leave his body, he knew he would be out of commission for at least a month, he did not care. With his last ounce of energy he finished the spell and collapsed onto the deck.

Fred saw something, illuminated by the flaming timbers. Something passed above him, and then disappeared. The next thing he knew he was being pushed up through the water. He saw daylight rushing towards him; at least he hoped it was daylight. He felt the morning air hit his face. He felt the rope fall across his head. He grabbed onto it and was hoisted up on deck. As he was being raised from the water he looked down to see something green and scaly retreat into the deep.

Part 15: The Culprits

The sun had full risen by the time they got back to the shore. The police were waiting for them.

"Well, who have we here" Said the lead police man cuffing the Captain.

"If we got this right" Said Fred pulling off the long red beard "It should be officer Macintyre."

"Um, no" said Pembrooke helping one of the officers cuff the pirate that had been piloting the Loch Ness Monster submarine. "This is Macintyre, I recognized him the second we trapped him on the ship."

"But, like then, who's that?" Shaggy said looking at the now beardless red haired man standing with the police.

"My god, that's Charles Magnus" Locksley said, suitably horrified. "You're supposed to be dead."

"Oh, I bet you would have like that Sir Ian, but no."

"Ri ron't ret it" Scooby barked looking confusedly at Shaggy, who only offered a confused shrug in return.

"I do" said Velma, suddenly understanding. "He faked his death to try and pull this off without being a suspect."

"Right, and he got officer Macintyre to plant those papers in Locksley's office to throw suspicion on him. That's why that was the only part of the desk without dust. You never use your desk, do you Doctor?" Fred asked.

"No, I don't" He admitted embarrassedly. "I only go in there anymore to read some of my old work. I haven't done anything new in years."

"Of course I planted them, that's why I let you in the building, did you really think your pathetic disguises fooled me?" Macintyre answered.

"Ri rought re rere retty rood" Scooby barked downtrodden.

"Like, so did I"

"But, why did he do all of this, why get the floor plan of the house and bomb the shore?" Daphne said, still clutching Fred's arm protectively.

"Revenge" Magnus answered. "I wanted revenge on the family that ruined mine. My ancestor could have gone down in history as the man who caught Nessie. Instead he went down in history as the naval officer who went mad, because your family wouldn't give it to him. Your family kept the sighting all to themselves."

"But, the legend was spread out among the community, everyone knows it" Doctor Pembrooke said.

"Aye, but it was passed around as joke, Lord Blake denied that it had really happened. I broke into the Blake library and found those documents, detailing Lord William's device to signal the beast. I knew that if I could make the shores dangerous enough, that Locksley would want to put soldiers in the castle, and he would put Macintyre in charge of them. Once that was done my men in Locksley's security force could signal her to come while I took revenge on the Clan Blake. I would kill the creature, pretend that I had been taken hostage by the pirates and then say that I had single handedly defeated them and taken the creature as prize, we even had a buyer lined up for the corpse."

"We had it all planned out a year ago, when he approached me with his plan, back when I ran a private security firm. I used the money that Locksley paid when he hired us as his private guards to finance the Nessie sub to scare people on the Loch, and the crane made up to look like her, for terrorizing people on land, to make them think that they needed Locksley's protection, which put more money into building the ship. Once the ship was done, we started shelling the shores. Magnus used the cannons to signal the Nessie crane when there was a job for it to do." Macintyre said.

"That's why I heard that mechanical whir when the tower collapsed, it wasn't the cannon that destroyed it; it was the crane." Fred explained confidently.

"He's in the western courtyard by the way" Rachael told one of the officers.

"Aye, and we would have gotten away with it if not for you meddling kids."

"Like seriously dude, is that the best you can come up with?" Shaggy said as he and Scooby doubled over laughing.

Part 16: Decisions

The rest of the week passed pretty uneventfully. Fred and Daphne made some filler footage for their video project and edited it together. Shaggy and Scooby finally got a chance to try out the local restaurants. Dell spent his time talking with Mr. Macguffin about Nessie, and Velma spent her time in the Blake library. Finnaly, on the last day before they left, Fred called them in for a group meeting.

"Guys, I think we need to reconsider our lifestyle. I mean, we almost died on this one, I don't want to put you all in danger anymore."

"What are you saying Freddy?" Daphne asked.

"I'm saying that if you guys all agree, I think that we should stop getting involved in mysteries."

"Ro, rore rysteries" Scooby barked confused.

"No more mysteries" Fred confirmed.

They all stared at each other for a moment, and then they each nodded their heads.

"It's getting to a point where our lives are being put into a lot of danger" Velma said.

"Like, yeah, I don't know what I would do if I lost any of you guys." Shaggy said with specific glances at Scooby and Velma.

"Then it's decided, for now, no more mysteries." Daphne said, making sure to put emphasis on the words, 'for now'.

That night at dinner, Fredrick Blake made an important announcement of his own.

"After what happened here, Moira and I have decided to spend some time in the US, we've all talked it over, the three of us, and we're agreed on it"

"Oh, that's great" Daphne's mother said, congratulating them.

"Like I'd say that gives us another member of Mysteries Inc, but I guess it's just another member of the gang now" Shaggy whispered to Scooby and Velma.

"Since when are we called Mysteries Inc?" Velma asked.

"Oh, that's just what I always called us in my head" Shaggy said, slightly downtrodden.

Part 17: Epilogue

Rachael walked into the old cellar of Blake Manor, Fredrick and Moira had said that they could stay in the house if they wanted. Of course, she and John were satisfied with their apartment, but there was something that she needed to use in the house. It would be easier if John was feeling strong enough to just summon a communicator spell in their house, but he had used up too much power in the battle. He needed a couple of weeks for his magic to recharge. So, she would have to contact headquarters manually. She found the old mirror in the cellar and held her tattoo up to the glass. The image of an older man with a thin mustache appeared in it.

"Hello Rachael, how's John?" The man in the mirror said.

"He's recuperating" she answered.

"It was dangerous for him to use that much magic in such a short space of time, even for a sorcerer as powerful as him."

"It was, but you know how he is"

"Ah ,yes, and on the subject of the battle, how is Mr. Macguffin?"

"He's happier than ever, I think that he enjoyed being in the thick of things again, but I'm not sure John appreciates his weapon of choice."

"Yes, I am aware of your husband's dislike of firearms, but Macguffin was one of our best agents back in the day. So, did anyone see her?"

"Nessie, I think that Jones might have when she pushed him to the surface, but I'm not sure that he believes it, he was concussed. Pembrooke and the American girl, I believe did not see anything conclusive when it saved them in the submarine, and Macintyre was too mad in that monster craft to notice anything."

"We might need to divert more agents to your area to keep guard. Our sources indicate that He was the buyer waiting to buy her body if they had succeeded. Between Jacobo's activity on his behalf in September, his Randomonium bid and the failed ritual in October, and now this, I fear that he is working on something big."

"Sir, I know that you have had agents tailing the American teenagers." She said, as though she could hold back this though no longer. "I recognize the need, given his apparent interest in them, but I'm not sure that the agent you have leading the observation is an ethical choice."

"I know your concerns, but he volunteered, it is the mark of a true Knight of Van Helsing to want to protect their loved ones."

"Yes, sir, but I fear that Ro…"

"I understand you're concerned that his performance could be compromised by his personal involvement, but that is why agents travel in pairs on cases like this." He said cutting her off. "Now, with regards to the signaling device in Blake Hall"

"It has been disabled. We recognized the danger in it and took the appropriate action. No one will be able to signal Nessie without magical help, although it's a pity. Sir William really was genius to build it, never the less, as I said disabled."

"Excellent Rachael, give Jonathan and Duncan my regards."

"Yes, Mister Van Ghoul."

End Part 4

Is this the end of Mysteries Inc.? Of course not. Did I have anyone fooled?, probably not, they'll be back in The The Doppelgangers and the Disavowed. If anyone is interested in some soundtrack for this; the fight scene goes good with "Battle" and "This is our Fight" from the Transformers Dark of the Moon soundtrack, and the chase in the cave goes good with "Zu viele Fusche fur euch Hansel" from the Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows soundtrack. The car chase would go good with "The Desert Chase" from the Raiders of the Lost Ark soundtrack.