AN: I know I probably should have taken a little more time to let Rita hang out with each of the girls individually, but I was running short on ideas of what they could do and talk about, and also I have been eagerly awaiting writing the climatic final battle to come. It's gonna be a big one, so it may take some time and will definitely be split into at least two chapters.


The Building Storm

With Miss Grimwood's planned trip a few days after the end of Thanksgiving break, she knew she needed a plan so's not to disrupt her student's education while she was away. And fortunately, she had a plan. Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy were somewhat familiar with how things were taught at Grimwood's, so she could leave a syllabus with them for most of the classes, and since Sibella was in a more advanced magic class, she could easily teach spellcrafting herself. Potions...perhaps that could wait until she returned. And, if Mrs Loud had no objections, perhaps she could help as well. Meanwhile, as Miss Grimwood prepared to depart, Sigmund was preparing his arrival. He deduced that he couldn't get in from the front or back with the grounds rigged the way they were, and trying to get in from an upper window would leave him a sitting duck. However, he did have one option available: dig in through the basement. It wouldn't be easy, certainly. It would take days to get there, and he would have to account for the moat as well. However, it was the only way. So he hid out in the empty supply depot and started to dig his tunnel.

The Monday afternoon after the break, a cab pulled out to the gate outside the Grimwood grounds. The cabbie, naturally, wouldn't drive up to the moat. However, that was far enough for the passenger. Rita Loud emerged from the taxi, grabbed her suitcase from the trunk, and paid the driver before she turned to look at the house. The drawbridge was already down for her. She was used to being around the monster girls already, but the house...the house was still intimidating to her. She took a breath before she strolled down the path to the school. across the drawbridge, and knocked on the door. "Ah. Mrs Loud. Good afternoon." Abigail Grimwood said as she answered the door. "Come in. Come in. Thank you so much for offering to help."

"My pleasure, Miss Grimwood." Rita replied with a smile as she stepped inside. All eight Grimwood girls were already in the entry room, along with the octopus butler, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy. Miss Grimwood's helping hand was carrying the head mistress' bags down the stairs. "Hello girls, Mr Rogers, Mr Doo and Mr Doo."

"Hello Mrs Loud." The girls (except for Milly) replied together.

"Like, it's good to see you again, ma'am." Shaggy said, shaking her hand.

"It's good to see you all again too...uh...where's Lincoln?" She asked, noticing the lack of her son.

"I think he's still asleep in the gym tower." Winnie told her, pointing upward.

"We learned some defense spells before you arrived and Lincoln...kinda pushed himself too hard." Phantasma explained, rubbing the back of her head.

"Can't say I blame him." Scrappy piped up. "This news of that crazy monster hunter has everyone on edge. We all want to be ready, just in case." Rita nodded lightly, remembering what Lynn Jr had said about Lincoln's determination. It was almost like he was certain that this terrible person would be there.

'But...that's not going to happen, right?' Rita thought to herself, trying to put her own mind at ease.

"I could go wake him up, if you like." Sibella offered.

"No. That's alright, Sibella. Let him rest." His mother replied. "I'll see him later."

"Indeed. Lincoln has earned himself some rest, the poor boy." Abigail agreed. "Well, I better get on my way, or I'll miss the spirit train."

"The what?"

"The spirit train. The Witches and Warlocks convention is being held in the spirit realm this year. I suspect it was meant to keep gatecrashers out." She explained. "Fare well everyone. Stay safe till we meet again."

"Bye Miss Grimwood." Everyone replied, waving to her as she took hold of her bags.

"Have a good time." Rita added, just before Miss Grimwood vanished from sight. With the headmistress gone, the Loud mother slowly looked to the monster girls, Shaggy and the Doos. "Ok...I'll be the first to admit that I'm not sure how things work around here…"

"Like, no need to stress over it, Mrs Loud." Shaggy said, pulling a notebook from behind his back. "Miss Grimwood has it planned out. We're each going to cover classes here while Miss G is away…" He started to explain, gesturing to himself, the dogs, the man sized squid and Sibella. "...with lesson plans all set up."

'She's thought of practically everything.' Rita thought as she took a look at the notebook Shaggy showed her. "Hmmm...I think I could help with the literature and history classes." The ever hungry coward nodded as he handed the lesson plans to her. "Thank you, Mr Rogers."

"Call me Shaggy, Mrs Loud."


Meanwhile, Miss Grimwood had just arrived at the Station Between Worlds: a special train station that could take witches, warlocks, and certain magically inclined creatures and their guests to whatever alternate plan they needed to go to. Couldn't they travel their directly? Of course, but it often took a LOT of effort. The trains, while taking upwards of an hour, allowed for comfort while travelling. She took a moment to look around the grand station that acted as a hubworld between realms. As ever, it was abuzz with activity, filled with magical beings of all shapes, sizes and from all walks of life. She looked up at the crystal ceiling, which showed the psychedelic array of colors that was the sky of this hubworld. She quickly looked away, knowing better than to keep watching the pretty, but nausea inducing colors. She made her way to the platforms outside, as she already had her ticket (having had the forethought to buy in advance). It took her a few minutes, but she eventually found the spirit train and got herself boarded. She made herself comfortable in her seat, pulling a book out of her carry-on bag to read while she waited for the train to move. "Excuse me, but is this seat taken?" A man's voice asked her from her left, a hand indicating the seat beside her.

"No. Be my guest." She replied, glancing over at the man standing in the aisle beside the seat. She looked back to her book, then quickly looked back. Standing there was a tall man in a fine suit, with graying hair, a pencil thin mustache, a red sash belt, and a dark cape over his shoulders. His face had an ever serious look about it, but he was smiling warmly at her.

"Hello, Abigail." He said to her.

"Vincent Van Ghoul! You old fox." Miss Grimwood said in delighted surprise as he took the seat beside her. "I haven't seen you since you moved out to the Himalayas. How has life been treating you?"

"Oh, things have quieted down since the Thirteen Ghosts had been dealt with a couple years back." He replied.

"Oh dear...did they get released again?"

"Yes, though they are safely sealed away again, with the Chest of Demons hidden very well this time."

"Thank goodness." Miss Grimwood sighed with relief as she heard this.

"How about you, Abigail? How are things at your school?" The warlock inquired.

"Quite stressful at the moment, truth be told." She answered. "A lot has gone on recently. We started a student exchange program at the start of the year, sending one of my girls to experience human public school, while bringing a young human boy to Grimwood's."

"A boy? Quite a step, Miss Grimwood. Is he the cause of the stress?"

"Oh no. Lincoln has been just fine at Grimwood's. He's becoming quite the warlock, actually." She told him with a small smile. "No...the cause of my stress is Sigmund Lesrec…"

"The monster hunter?" He asked in alarm.

"The same...he put poor Zanya in the hospital in critical condition, and it is believed that he may be heading for my school…"

"...I had heard he was single minded and heartless in his pursuit of monsters...but I didn't want to believe it…" Vincent said, shaking his head.

"Well, even in the off chance he finds the school, he's not getting in." Miss Grimwood continued. "The girls and Lincoln will be safe until I can return."

"I see. I suppose this trip to the convention isn't as a pleasure trip then?"

"No. I'm actually planning to try and hire more teachers for the school." She elaborated. "Student enrollment is going up, and as I am not as young as I used to be, it seemed prudent."

"Oh please, Abigail…" Van Ghoul interjected with a chuckle. "You don't look a day over one hundred." That got a little girlish giggle out of the motherly witch.

"Vincent, you silver tongued charmer…"

"You know me so well. But seriously...with the Thirteen Ghosts no longer an issue, perhaps I could offer my assistance."

"That would be greatly appreciated, Vincent. Thank you so much."

"My pleasure. It would be nice to pass on my knowledge and experience...to someone who wouldn't use it for con purposes." He said, a hint of disappointment in his voice as he remembered his old assistant. It was about that time when the train started to move, while the two of them started chatting and reminiscing about the good old days.


Lincoln was out for about an hour after his overexertion during spellcrafting class. Luckily, he didn't have any classes until later that evening. He quickly descended the stairs from the gym tower, hoping he didn't miss his chance to say goodbye to Miss Grimwood. However, upon hearing his mother's voice in the entry room, he knew he must have already missed her. He sighed quietly, feeling a little bad as he stepped into the room. "Hey there, sleepy head." Winnie teased with a giggle. "Had a good rest?" The girls, minus Milly (who was still in the room, seated opposite Rita in one of the antique chairs) were gathered around Lincoln's mother, who was sitting on a couch with Tanis on her lap.

"Yeah, I guess." He replied, before continuing with a "Hi Mom."

"Hello Lincoln." She greeted in return, smiling at him as he walked over. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah. Just...kinda overdid it."

"You know, you've been working yourself way too hard." Mrs Loud pointed out to him.

"Yeah." Elsa agreed. "Not just in spellcrafting class, but up in the gym tower too. Winnie says she saw you practicing on the sandbag for nearly two hours on Saturday."

"We know you want to be ready in case that fiend comes here, but working yourself to near death like that isn't good for you." Gila added softly.

"Besides, that monster hunter is probably miles from here." Gosuki said. Little did she (or anyone else present) know how close he really was, working hard to start his tunnel. Lincoln and Tanis shared a silent look for a moment. The two of them knew why Lincoln was pushing himself so hard, along with wanting to protect himself, his friends, his loved ones, and avenging Zanya. However, the man with the plan knew that Gila and his mother were right. While his body was improving bit by bit, he knew that endless work wouldn't be doing him any favors. Even Lynn took rests between her intense training sessions.

"Yeah...you're right." He finally said with a soft smile. "I am in serious need of a break." He carefully squeezed past the girls around the couch and sat down between his mother and Phanty, the latter of which putting her arm around him.

"So, what was it you were saying, Mrs Loud?" Sibella asked, eager to hear the rest of the story.

"Where was I?...oh, right. Well, right after I told her she couldn't go to that party with Bobby, I went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and waited." Rita said with a grin. "Like clockwork, I heard Lori shimmy down from her window and heard her sneak away from the house exactly ten minutes after I told her no." Lincoln stifled a chuckle at this point. Luna had told him this story before, so he knew where it was going.

"Why didn't you want her to go to the party?" Tanis asked with a tilted head.

"Her grades had been slipping. Too many missed homework assignments. She, at the time, told me she would do her homework when she got back. I didn't believe it. But anyway, knowing she was out of the house, I knew she wouldn't be back until after midnight. She told me so herself. So I carried on like nothing was wrong until near midnight. Then, I made my way up to Lori and Leni's room and sat on her bed. Then I waited. And waited. For nearly a half hour. That was when she finally arrived; crawling in back through the window. She thought she was home free until she sat right down on my lap." All the girls, even Milly, started snickering at that.

"I bet she was really surprised." Winnie commented.

"Most certainly. She screamed so loud she woke half her siblings. She tried to make excuses, but I didn't want to hear them. Instead, I held her to her word. I took her to her desk, handed her her homework, and told her to get started. I stood there and watched her for a full hour, until her homework was done."

"But how did you know she would have snuck away?" Elsa inquired.

"A very good question, Elsa. Lori asked me the same thing, so I told her that I did the very same thing at her age." Rita told them.

"You did!?" The girls from Grimwood all seemed shocked at this revelation. Even Lincoln looked a little surprised, and he heard this story before.

"I know. Hard to imagine." She said with a giggle. "But it's true. I snuck out in the middle of the night in high school. Never got away with it, because, just like with Lori, I got caught by my own mother, who was waiting in my room. The only difference being I didn't end up sitting on my mother. I didn't sneak in through my window, which I will credit Lori for. If I was waiting for her anywhere else, she would have avoided me. Also, I just ended up grounded...not that Lori didn't get grounded, but she had to do her homework too."

"You know...someday, Lori will probably have a daughter of her own, who will do the exact same thing." Gila said after a fit of giggles.

"Pop Pop told me the same thing the next day."

"Hehehe. I love that story." Lincoln said as he wiped a tear of laughter from his eye.

"I dunno. I think I liked the story about you and 'The Harvester' was better." Phanty commented with a giggle, which got all Lincoln's friends giggling too. His pupils shrank as his cheeks turned red.

"Mooom….." He groaned, which made Rita chortle a little as well.


Three days had passed, and things seemed to be going smoothly: for those at Grimwood's, for Abigail, and for Sigmund as well. Classes, barring potions and alchemy, went on as usual, being taught by Shaggy, The Doos, Mrs Loud and Sibella. The students were becoming more relaxed, even Lincoln and Tanis, and the girls were getting along well with Rita. Miss Grimwood was enjoying the convention and managed to gather quite a few applications from hopeful teachers. And Sigmund's tunnel was almost finished. He emerged from his end around noon, covered in dirt and sweat, but looking very pleased with himself. All that separated him from his targets was a sandstone wall. But he wasn't quite ready to strike yet. He was exhausted from all that digging, so he needed to rest. He helped himself to some trail mix as well (which was all he ate since he took up residence in Old Calloway. He couldn't risk getting spotted). However, in his off times, he was keeping watch of the school; he was well aware of the grown ups present, mostly humans, and wanted to try and get them out of the way so he wouldn't have to hurt them. He was just pondering how when he heard:

"See you later, guys. Heading out to pick up a few sodas." Scrappy called from the front door.

"Like, you wanna ride, Scrappy?" Shaggy asked in return.

"Nah. I'll be fine."

"Rokay, rut re rafe, Rappy."

"I will, Uncle Scooby." The pup said before he started on his way down the path.

"...and the planets align." Sigmund muttered with a smirk. He quickly snuck out of the compound and waited for Scrappy to jog by before he started to follow him. He waited till they were about halfway to the village before he struck. "Excuse me…" The little Great Dane paused and turned around to see a dirty, disheveled man following him.

"Oh. Hang on a sec." He said, reaching into a pocket that shouldn't exist and pulling out a dollar. "Here you go. Hope it helps." Sigmund was caught somewhat flat footed by this, but decided to roll with it.

"Bless you, young pup." He said, taking the bill from him. "It's so nice to see such caring young folk."

"Ah, think nothing of it. You'd do the same for me if I were in your shoes." Scrappy told him with a smile.

"Of course, I….would!" In one swift motion, he made a grab for Scrappy's neck and swiped his collar before running off down the sidewalk.

"Ack! Hey!" The pup cried out as he gave chase. "Come back with my collar!" Sigmund pulled out his cell as the little dog pursued him, making a quiet phone call before he dove off the path into some bushes. "Oh no you don't! You aren't getting away that easy." Scrappy declared as he started to look through the bushes. To his surprise, the man he thought a homeless man was gone. "Huh? Where'd he go?" While the puppy was pondering what just happened, a dog catcher van pulled up behind him.

"Well, lookie here. A little lost stray." A man in a white coat and hat said as he emerged from the vehicle.

"Stray? Where?" Scrappy asked, looking up and down the road until he realized he didn't have a collar. "Whoa, wait, mister...I'm no stray!"

"A talking dog!? Just when you think you've seen it all…" The surprised dog catcher said, scratching his head. "But you certainly look like a stray."

"But I'm not. My collar was just stolen by this homeless guy." The dog catcher slowly looked up and scanned the area with this eyes.

"What homeless guy?" He asked, seeing no one in sight.

"He's around here somewhere...I swear…"

"Sorry little fella, but the law is the law." He said as he grabbed his net. "Even talking dogs need a license...I think."

"But-" Scrappy didn't even get a chance to say anything further, he was scooped up in the dog catcher's net. "Hey! Let me go! I'm innocent! Help!" He cried, but no one came to his aid as he was dumped into the back of the van and locked up.


About twenty minutes later, Shaggy and Rita were talking about Shaggy's racing career while Scooby curled up in front of the not currently in service fireplace, Matches napping on his back. "Then, with a push of a button, our drill add-on came out and we tunneled our way into first." The foodaholic related, getting so into his story that he was making the motions of driving with his arms and hands.

"I never got to see that race. A shame we missed it. Pop Pop loved the funny car races back in the day." Rita said with a sigh. "Why did you give up racing?"

"Well, after the 'Monster Road Rally' in Transylvania, I decided it was a little too dangerous...so I went back to solving mysteries with Fred, Velma and Daphne."

"Hmmm. You know, my son mentioned you've solved mysteries. Were you like detectives or something?"

"Not really." He replied. "More like freelance private eyes. More often than not, we stumbled upon mysteries and end up solving them, getting paid in the process."

"Doesn't sound very stable, as work goes." Rita criticized.

"Yeah. Dad, a police officer, said the same thing. Probably why Mystery Inc disbanded a few times over our career. But we always made it work." Shaggy explained. Right as he finished speaking, the phone rang. Being closer to it, he picked it up. "Like, Grimwood's Finishing School."

"Shaggy! It's Scrappy! I need your help!" Scrappy's voice said over the phone, getting Scooby's attention. "I'm in the pound!"

"The pound! Zoinks! What are you doing there!?"

"Some bum swiped my collar and the dog catcher picked me up! Get down here quick and bail me out! There's little kids here and I'm not liking the way they're looking at me…."

"We'll be there in two shakes, Scrap!" Shaggy dropped the receiver, which fell off the table and hung suspended over the floor.

"Shaggy? What's wrong?" Rita asked worriedly.

"Scrappy's in the pound. Come on Scoob. We gotta get him out!"

"Rhe Round!? ROMING RAPPY!" Scooby screamed as he bolted for the door, Matches still laying in mid air for a few seconds before falling to the rug below.

"We'll make this as quick as possible, Mrs Loud! Be right back!" Shaggy yelled as he sped off after his faithful dog. Within seconds, Rita heard the Mystery Machine start up and speed off. Shaggy was in such a hurry, he didn't even close the front door, so the Loud Mother had to shut it for him.

"Mom? What happened?" Lincoln asked from the top of the stairs, with all the Grimwood Girls around him except for Gosuki. "We heard a lot of yelling..."

"I don't know all the details, but it sounds like Scrappy was taken to the pound." She replied, walking to the bottom of the stairs and looking up at them.

"The pound? Oh poor Scrappy…." Phantasma said sadly.

"Why would they take him to the pound?" Lincoln asked with a frown on his face. "He had his license, and would the rules even apply the same to talking dogs?" To those questions, Mrs Loud could only shrug.

"I think you have far greater things to worry about." Said a chilling, unfamiliar voice. Rita turned her head and the students leaned over the railing to see who had spoken. Standing beside the stairs, was a man in a brand new noble's outfit, with dirty blond hair made even dirtier by the dirt and mud that covered some of his face as well. He had a smirk on his face as he glanced upward at the boy and girls. One look at his face made Tanis scream in fright and scramble away from the railing.

"That….that's him, Lincoln! The man from my nightmare!" She cried, her eyes filling with tears of terror. Lincoln himself felt a powerful combination of fear and anger upon hearing that.

"...who are you and what are you doing here!?" Rita demanded, reaching for the nearest weapon she could (which was an umbrella in the umbrella stand).

"I am here to do my service for humanity." He replied in a cold voice. "As for who I am...I am Sigmund Lesrec."