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While the girls were recovering from the teleporting they'd just experienced, Shaggy walked over to the table and picked up what he hoped was the final clue.
"Congratulations on finding my treasures.
Though might as you have guessed they are part of a greater whole.
There is 1 more section of this castle you have not explored, and it is there you will need the 4 previous treasures to locate my finest find.
No riddles this time.
No miss direction.
Place each treasure in its allotted slot.
And finally complete your overall mission."
Shaggy smiled as he finished the clue. "Girls", he called. "We have 1 more thing to do. Follow me."
With that Shaggy walked out of the dining room, with the girls trailing after him. As he headed for the stairs.
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Reaching the first floor Shaggy calmly walked toward the eastern hallway. When Tanis and Crystal realized where he was walking, the 2 of them jumped to his side, and each grabbed an arm. Both kept pace with him as he bypassed the point no one had been able to even see passed.
The hallway wasn't that special. It contained only 5 doors. The first door on the left had a yellow topaz in its handle, which was made of solid brass. The first door on the right, a little ways down the hall, had a green jade in its handle. This one was made of what looked to be silver. The second door on the left, just a little further down the hall, had a red ruby in a handle made of copper, or at least it looked like copper. The second door on the right near the end had a blue sapphire in a handle clearly made from diamond. The last door at the end of the hall stood in the center. The handle which seemed to be made from a single piece of onyx, held no gem. Instead the door was surrounded by blue, green, red, and yellow shields.
Shaggy whistled as he took in the array of doors. "I'm guessing we need to enter each room and solve a puzzle to lower those shields."
Thorn walked over to the yellow door, and tried to open it. As soon as she touched the gem in the handle she was sucked in through the door, and disappeared.
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Thorn found herself in a smaller version of the garden maze the group had searched for the golden rose, the first treasure they had found. Remembering how that search had gone, Thorn began to follow the same path the group had followed back when they had solved this first puzzle. It took about 5 minutes, but finally Thorn came upon a tree with a switch on it. As soon as Thorn pressed this switch she was teleported back to Shaggy.
Meanwhile in the hallway Shaggy was looking around constantly. He scanned both ends of the hall, he watched the doors, he watched the walls on either side of them, and he kept sweeping his eyes over the other girls.
It was this state into which Thorn reappeared as if by magic. Shaggy was beside her in a second. Checking her over from head to toe for any injuries. Thorn giggled. "I'm ok Shaggy. There was no danger where the door took me."
As she said this everyone noticed a pedestal had appeared next to the door Thorn had touched. On it was a note. "Place here the treasure found here."
Tanis read the note, and frowned. "What does this mean?"
Thorn looked at Shaggy. "I believe the golden rose needs to go here. After all the door took me to a smaller version of the maze we explored when we found it."
Shaggy blinked, and then smiled. "Before we do anything with this pedestal, I think we need to see if more than 1 puzzle can be completed at a time."
At Shaggy's words Debra hurried to the Ruby door and touched it, disappearing like Thorn had earlier. At the same time Crystal walked to the jade door, and touching it disappeared. However when Tanis tried touching the sapphire door nothing happened.
Sibella looked thoughtful as Tanis pouted. "I would guess only 2 puzzles can be active at a time."
Shaggy nodded to Sibella, and hurrying over scooped Tanis into his arms for a cuddle.
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Debra found herself in a small room. The walls were made of some kind of stone. The floor was carpeted. A door leading out, at least she assumed it lead out, was polished pine, and on the back wall hung a map. ON this map lay 3 towns. Debra remembered Shaggy and Thorn talking about this puzzle. Looking around she picked up a pencil laying on a table in the center of the room, and began tracing a line from the town in the lower left corner to the town in the lower right. Then she traced a line from the loser right corner to the town in the upper left. Finally she traced a line from the town in the upper left to the town in the lower left. As she completed the final line a switch appeared on the wall by the door. With a pleased smile Debra flipped the switch and disappeared.
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Shaggy had just calmed Tanis when Debra reappeared. With a squeal, Tanis reached out for the sapphire again, and just as she hoped disappeared. Shaggy shook his head at Tanis while chuckling.
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Crystal appeared in a room similar to the room with all the paintings they had seen in Elsa's bed chamber. There was a painting of a beast. A painting of a large tree. A painting of a shipwreck, and a painting of a temple. Under each of these paintings was a switch. Crystal studied the paintings for a little bit, then reached out and press the switch under the beast. As she suspected the switch flipped down. What she was not expecting wat the clear bell tone she heard as the switch flipped. Shrugging her shoulders, she reached out to the switch under the tree. Again the switch flipped down, and again there was that bell sound again. Moving a little more confidently she reached out to the switch under the shipwreck. Hearing again the now expected bell sound. Finally she moved over to the final painting of a temple, and flipped that switch. After the sound of the bell Crystal was surprised to see another switch appear. This 1 was in between the paintings. Guessing at what would happen, Crystal walked over to the switch, and pressed it causing her to disappear.
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Shaggy watched as Crystal appeared along with a third pedestal. A second pedestal had appeared along with Debra. Now they just needed to wait for Tanis to return.
While they waited Sibella walked over to Shaggy, and asked him what he planned to do after they finished here. Shaggy lent over and whispered in her ear. The squeal Sibella made upon hearing his plan caused a figure to tumble from the ceiling. Quick as a flash Shaggy and the girls surrounded the figure.
"Once Tanis returns, I think we will have to see just who is under that mask."
All the girls cheered.
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Tanis found herself in a room divided in to four equal parts. The northern part looked like it was winter. The eastern part looked like spring. The southern part mad her think of summer, and the western part looked like autumn was just starting. She stood in the middle of the room next to a pedestal with a note on it.
"Follow the sun, and walk the seasons."
Tanis stood for a moment, then turned and pushed through a small gate into the eastern section. Following the wall she waited for the wall to turn sough, and pushed through the gate into the section for summer. Following the southern wall she walked until she came to a gate leading west. She pushed through into the western section of the room. She walked to the western wall, turned north, and followed the wall until she came to a gate leading her to the winter section. As she entered the northern section of the room she heard a chime, and a switch appeared on a pedestal in the middle of the room. Altering her course a bit she walked to a gate that lead her back into the middle of the room, and walking to the switch pressed it. There was a tolling bell, and Tanis disappeared.
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Shaggy was just tying the figure with some rope Debra had on her, when Tanis appeared along with a fourth pedestal.
"Alright! Now that all the pedestals are here, we can now place the items on them."
A smiling Elsa walked to the door with the topaz, and placed the golden rose on the pedestal there. Crystal placed the necklace on the pedestal by the ruby door. Tanis skipped over to the jade door, and placed the apple on the pedestal. Finally Shaggy walked to the door with a sapphire, and placed the blue gem on the pedestal there. As soon as the gem was in place the shields around the final door dissolved. Elsa as the owner of the castle stepped forward, and opened the door. Inside was a large modern kitchen, and on the center counter sat a large cake box. They all stared at the box in puzzlement.
"What could be in that box? It can't be a cake, it would have gone bad by now."
Shaggy walked into the kitchen, and opened the box. Inside sat a very large cookbook.
"Is that all?"
Shaggy laughed. "My dear Crystal. It's not the treasure that's the most important. It's the adventure we all had looking for it."
Sibella, Thorn, Tanis, Debra, and Elsa all nodded at Shaggy's words. Shaggy walked back over to the tied up figure on the floor.
"Now let's see who this is."
With that Shaggy pulled off the mask revealing Shaggy's old girlfriend Googie. Shaggy stumbled back in shock. "But..."
Googie had regained consciousness by this point, and she gave Shaggy such a look, it was possible that if the others weren't there he probably would have released her on the spot.
"Googie why? If you wanted to be with me so bad, why did you break up with me to begin with?"
Googie snorted. "Because of your diamonds you dumb hippy. I was originally just going to take the diamonds from your dead bodies, but only that stupid puppy died when you hit that rock."
Tanis and the others all stiffened at that remark. "So you are just a gold digging murdering slut?"
Googie couldn't see which girl said that, but she laughed anyway. "Slut! No. I do however deserve to be rich for everything he put me through while I was his girlfriend."
"You broke up with the sweetest person I have ever met, all because you wanted to be rich?"
Googie laughed again. "Of course. Why would anyone want to stay with this loser otherwise."
"Oh I don't know. Maybe because he is kind, or maybe because of his willingness to do whatever it takes to keep people safe. It could be because he is an amazing cook, but for meat least it is because I love him."
Googie was startled by the voice that said those words, but she was even more surprised when 4 more voices said they loved him as well.
Shaggy had tears falling from his eyes at each declaration of love he heard. He now knew Googie never loved him, she just wanted him for riches. With that thought he straightened up ant turned to Elsa. "This is your castle Elsa. What would you like to do with a villain in your castle?
Googie paled at Shaggy's words. What would the daughter of Frankenteen do to her?
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An: and that's it. The mystery is over. Look at that. I got 2001 words in my second to last chapter. Not including the Ans. Yes there is 1 chapter left, but that will be an epilog, where we will see what happened to everyone after the mystery. I don't expect it to be very long, but we will see. Expect it on Friday. Till then.