It was a while before Velma and Fred had managed to get themselves to where Daphne had been hard at work. The various people among the crowds of people occasionally turned to stare, as Velma still had a Mask on her head, and Fred was still sporting the Alien. They were quite a sight and were distracting other carnival goers as they passed. Velma was a bit unnerved at the attention, but Fred didn't seem to even notice. He just merrily walked on, spinning the other monster mask upon one hand. Like he didn't have a care in the world.

Sometimes Velma envied him... But she really didn't want to look that silly either.

Entering into the food court, it wasn't hard to find the guys hard at work on a few tables full of food. It seemed they had pulled several of the wooden picnic tables to form a strong enough place to put all the food they were chowing down upon. The pile towering over them both, covering them in the shadow it casted.

"Hey guys..." Peeking the mask around the corner of the food, Fred talked with the mask, knowing what reaction he would get. And just as he expected, Shaggy saw the mask and jumped into Scooby's arms with a yell. Expertly, the Dane managed to catch his partner without even dropping the food he had been working on.

"WAH! Oh. It's just you Fred."

Following after the mask, Fred's smiling face came around the mass. He grinned, and Shaggy recovered quickly before Scooby got to far ahead of him on the meal before them.

"Phew Fred. Like' don't do that." Shaggy shook a ear of corn at Fred, who was grinning like an imp. The spread in front of them was impressive, even for them; Fred thought. The blond man wasn't even sure how they could afford all of it, having eaten earlier as well.

"Raphne's reat!" Scooby exclaimed, guessing Fred's unspoken question before he could ask it aloud. There was something about how he wiggled his brows that the hungry Dane had deduced the question before it was said aloud.

"Velma Velma! Over here!"

Velma had originally wandered to where Fred had been, but soon the red head got her attention. Wondering over, she found where Daphne had been, oddly further away from the guys then she would have expected. Especially that she was the provider of the whole thing. She would at least be picking at it, shouldn't she? Curious, Velma padded over to where Daphne was hiding.

"What you doing all the way over here Daph?"

"Shhh... Come here. I got a proposition for you. Here's the plan..." Whispering into the younger woman's ear, she shared information about the thing she had seen earlier. A sparkle hit Velma's eye as she listened into the masterful plan Daphne had been setting up.

While the girls planned in secret, Fred sat down and played with the mask telling the guys what had happened earlier.

"Those tunnel of love places are rather odd. I think I get what it's trying to do, but even that place could use a new paint job. It was flaking and alot of the stuff looked run down if you ask me."

"Well, it did seem like this place travels around alot, maybe they didn't have time to get a new paint job on it?"Shaggy had managed between mouthfuls, using one hand to fend off the hungry Scooby from a bunch of fries he had wanted for himself.

"True, but then again how many people are like me and Velma and actually paid attention to the paint job?" Fred said with a laugh. Only the two of them would go into the Tunnel of Love with observation in mind. Ever the detectives, Fred mused to himself. "But those kids thought they were pretty funny."

"R'ids?" Scooby slipped under Shaggys arm and snagged something in front of the beatnik with one bite, with the vanishing talent that even magicians would be envious of.

"Yeah, why Velma's got a new hat, and the thing in my hands I spooked you guys with earlier. Two young kids thought they were funny by scaring couples in the Tunnel. Me and Velms heard about some couples leaving the tunnel scared by some haunting. They had some stories of couples disappearing or breaking up after they came out."

"R'hosts?" Scooby asked a bit scared, though it was just a story.

"Yeah, some people thought that. It kinda felt like the old days, when we just tumbled over mysteries, even thought it was a little one." Fred reminisced, it certainly was fun though a bit to short for his tastes. Not really too much of a challenge.

"Aw." Shaggy whined. "You guys had fun without us..." He grumbled.

"Yeah, but you got free food instead, not too bad of a bargain. Plus there wasn't much to it. Some kids were wearing these masks and trying to scare the couples. Hardly the heart pumping action of our usual mysteries. Just a bunch of snot nosed kids thinking they were cool to scare people. I hope their parents give them a stern lecture later about it."

Shaggy nodded. "There is a time and place for it, and this isn't it. Keep the masks for Halloween."

Fred looked over at the simple mask, it really didn't look to realistic compared to some. Definitely a Halloween mask best used for the dark night for gathering candy. He had plenty of experience face to face with some that looked more realistic then he would have liked. The one in his hand was far from that.

Leaning back, Fred peered around where he was sitting to look at the two girls chatting away about something.

"Should we be worried?" Fred mused aloud. Shaggy shrugged at the question.

"I figured Daphne was up to something anyway."

Fred looked over and raised an eyebrow.

"What, I'm a detective too." Shaggy said around a mass of cotton candy, he looked a bit miffed at the look. His fluffy browns locked together looking at Fred with a look of his own. Fred shook his head, putting his hands up in his own defense.

"Come on Shag, you know that's not what I mean. I know that you're a detective. Hands down. We haven't been running around together this long that I just thought you're just a stomach on legs. I was just surprised you knew she was up to something and yet you are going along with it."

Fred had never thought anything against the laid back man. In fact he was always amazed at how clever the other man could be at times. Being a simple guy didn't mean that he was stupid. Sometimes simple was the way to go for certain things. Though Shaggy loved food, he was also part of the Mystery Inc. They were nicknamed 'Mysteries Five' for a reason. No one was lacking in importance. Daphne on the other hand, was less trustworthy when she wanted to be. Not that she had any mal-intent really, but she wanted something badly enough to cheat a bit.

"Yeah, it feels like she's up to something alright, and she needs Velma's help for something. But I don't mind." Shaggy was mellow about the whole thing. Daphne would never do anything bad to him, not intentionally anyway. It wasn't like her. So he didn't see the need to stress about it.

"There are four things I don't like. Ghosts. Monsters. Going Hungry. And anything else that scares me." Shaggy listed the various things off his fingers he had been holding up. Fred smiled.

"Why not say two things then?"

"Then it wouldn't sound like more then it is." Shaggy said with a grin.

"As there is no monsters or other scary things about, I'm like' ok with that. And as you can see in front of me, the second is taken care of. Not much else to worry about then. Now if she wants to invite me to a underground mine she found nearby in exchange, then I'll be heading for the hills. But other then that, or something of the sort I'm going to indulge on her behalf." He said smiling, and indicating the slowly shrinking pile of food. Fred clapped him on the back and laughed.

"Ah, ever the sensible one Shaggy. If it's not broken, don't fix it eh? Mind if I have some? While we have to wait for them to come around and let us know what their evil plot is, anyway?" Fred asked, indicating to a bag of popcorn sitting close to him. Shaggy swallowed his mouthful and nodded at the request.

The three enjoyed each others company as they two girls disappeared. Mild conversation floated around them all as they waited. Eventually with Cheshire grins upon them both, they returned.

"Guys..." Daphne skipped closer with something hiding behind her back. Velma followed slower, the mask off her head and now in her hands. Daphne looked to excited for her own good. If they didn't already have been tipped off at her hiding something, how she was acting now was like a big neon sign hanging over her head, "I'M UP TO SOMETHING!"

Flipping up the pieces of paper she was hiding, she flared them out in front of her for them all to see. It looked like a runners number for a marathon.

"I entered us into..." Just as Daphne was about to tell them something that she had gotten three of them into, the loud speakers that hung above their heads crackled to life.

---------------------
Greeting Carnival Attendees!

The Watermelon Eating Contest will start in a few minutes!
All those who registered before hand, please make way to the tables!
The late registration will be closing soon, so get to the main area!
Come one come all!
...and bring an empty stomach!
---------------------

As the speakers died down, Daphne offered the paper to Shaggy. Her eyes raising once as she handed it over before speaking.

"We figured you might want to participate. I bet you still have room, don't you?"

She looked over at the expecting Dane, with his tail wagging and paws outstretched for his own number. Daphne looked over at him regrettably.

"I'm sorry Scooby, none of these aren't for you. They won't let dogs participate. But we did try, sorry."

Snapping his fingers, he sighed. "R'ucks."

Taking the paper, Shaggy nodded to the pile of finished food. "Well, looks like you evened the playing field. I like' accept your challenge." Shaggy said with a grin, pinning his number to the front of his shirt.

"Games on!" Daphne smiled back and pinned her own number to herself. Surprisingly, Velma took the other number and pinned it to herself, rolling up her sweater sleeves up a bit higher.

"Looks like I get to watch with you, Scoob. This looks like it's going to be interesting." Fred said watching the sparks of competition flicker between the three participants. Scooby sighed again for not being included, but he was kinda used to it. He would just bug Daphne after for watermelon, it sounded pretty good right now.