Disclaimer: Scooby-Doo is owned by Hanna-Barbera Productions, a subsidiary of the Time Warner division of Warner Bros. I own nothing except the plot of this story. Feel free to rate and review, and have fun reading about Scooby-Doo's greatest adventure under the sea!

Chapter 1: Something's Fishy

It was a typical Friday afternoon for the Mystery Inc. gang as they were recently out of school for summer vacation. The gang had stopped by the Soda Shop as usual for a drink and a snack and for the news. They took their usual table with Scooby-Doo and Shaggy sitting together and Fred between Velma and Daphne. It was their routine as usual, so while they were sitting together enjoying cream sodas, Velma said, "I can't understand why the submarine from the Mediterranean expedition would turn back after only two weeks. I was hoping that some archaeological discovery would've been found by now."

"Well, it says here that the submarine was only allowed a month to make its expedition," said Fred, his eyes glued to the paper.

Shaggy looked up from the triple-fudge ice cream-on-baloney sandwich he was building and said, "Like, what could the archaeologists have been searching for that would make them just turn back?"

"I ron't ret it," added Scooby-Doo.

Then Daphne examined the paper and said, "Here it is, gang. It says here that the archaeologists taking the trip were on an expedition to find the lost city of Atlantis. Apparently, the crew was exploring a maze of caverns under the earth after arriving in an underground air pocket when the cameraman recording the archaeological journey was frightened by something that he called a 'fish-man'."

Shaggy and Scooby nervously gulped and shivered in each other's embrace, and Shaggy gulped, "Doesn't sound like the big new discovery I'd like to make."

"Re roo," said Scooby.

Fred simply chuckled and said, "Come on. Everyone knows that Atlantis is nothing more than another ancient myth. Right, Velma?"

Everyone in the gang knew that Velma was logical as well as intelligent and therefore would have to have a logical explanation for just about everything. The teens and their trusty Great Dane had had encounters with real monsters and ghosts, but these occasions were rare and usually connected to the mysteries they often solved on a regular basis, so to them, Velma had to come out and confirm that Atlantis was just a myth. But what came from the brainy girl's lips was something they hadn't heard concerning mythology.

Velma answered, "I wouldn't be so sure, Freddy."

The gang was quite surprised at that and Daphne said, "Jeepers! You believe in the legend of Atlantis, Velma?"

"Not the legend itself, but I do believe it's a mystery," explained Velma. "Although the Greek philosopher Plato wrote about the legend of Atlantis back in 360 B.C.*, there is scattered evidence to suggest that such a civilization might have actually existed. The account of the cataclysmic disaster that caused Atlantis to sink under the sea marks the date of the civilization's disappearance back almost to 1600 B.C. That's nearly thirty-five centuries ago."

"Zoinks!" yelped Shaggy. "An ancient city that's disappeared under the sea for nearly three thousand years? Great reason why we'd rather not know."

"Ruh-huh," agreed Scooby.

Daphne asked, "So what do we do now, Freddy?"

"I suggest we look for someone who knows about what's been happening concerning the sub expedition," Fred answered. "I'd like to find out about the recent craze with finding that lost city."

And so began the first step in the next great adventure of Scooby-Doo and his pals in Mystery Inc.

…

The gang paid a visit to the Coolsville Library to check for the names of any people involved in the long search for Atlantis. For nearly ten minutes, their efforts proved fruitless, and even Velma was getting concerned.

"If only historical records were more open to the public," the brunette brainiac groaned.

"You said it, Velma," added Daphne. "The only books on Atlantis I found were on the legend, no history involved."

"And there's nothing regarding Atlantis in archaeology either," reported Fred.

Then the gang got a surprise when Shaggy said, "Hey, gang, take a look at this! I think I found something that may be of some help."

The boy showed them a book that was entitled 101 Atlantis Enthusiasts. Velma flipped through the book and eventually found something that caught her eye.

"Here it is! 'Eccentric millionaire Cornelius J. Fletcher made history in 1985 when he discovered an ancient map in Tripoli which he believed could lead its owner to the lost city of Atlantis.'"

Fred looked over Velma's shoulder and read, "'Mr. Fletcher learned the possibility of this secret when he attempted to translate the map in comparison to the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt as well as the Linear script of the Mycenaeans. By comparing it to the cuneiform text of Mesopotamia, he learned that the map script dated at least five centuries before the fall of the Minoan civilization.'"

Daphne spoke next, and she said, "Isn't Cornelius Fletcher the man who financed the sub expedition that made the papers today?"

"The very same," confirmed Velma.

Then Shaggy said, "So my first guess is we'll be paying Mr. Fletcher a visit?"

The rest of the gang nodded, and in a short while, the gang had piled back into the Mystery Machine and headed across the state of Ohio toward Washington.

It was close to dinner when the Mystery Machine trundled along to the outskirts of the nation's capital until it came to one of the wealthier areas of town and stopped in front of a luxuriant mansion. Scooby and the gang exited the van and approached the door. As usual, Scooby knocked on the door, and the gang was greeted by a young woman who was doubtlessly the housekeeper.

Fred stepped to the front and said to the girl, "Good evening, miss. We're the Mystery Incorporated gang, here to investigate a situation concerning recent events. Is this the residence of Mr. Cornelius J. Fletcher?"

"It is, sir," the maid replied. "The Master is in his private quarters, but I will gladly inform him of your arrival. You're welcome to come inside."

The gang entered the mansion and looked around at the entrance hall. The walls were painted a bright blue and the whole chamber through to the other halls and the staircase was illuminated by a chandelier of crystal and gold. Paintings crowned the walls, and molds of gargoyle faces lined the corners of the walls and the tops of columns. The gang took in the splendor of the mansion as they followed the young maid up to the third flight of stairs where Mr. Fletcher was alone in his chamber.

The gang waited outside Mr. Fletcher's door while his housemaid told him that Mystery Inc. had come. Then Mr. Fletcher said, "Thank you, Marlene, my dear. Will you show them in?"

"Yes, sir."

With that, Fred, Velma, and Daphne entered the room with Shaggy and Scooby lingering behind. Then they got their first look at their host. Cornelius Fletcher was well over sixty, and sadly it was beginning to show. His slate-gray hair was receding and his limbs were quite lank, yet his evening suit and red tie gave him such a business-like appearance that he could pass for a bank manager if it wasn't for the fact that his home was a mansion.

"Ah. the famous Mystery Inc., I presume?" he said politely. "Do come in, children. No need for shyness."

"Thank you, sir," said Fred.

The gang each took seats around the fireplace with Mr. Fletcher, and even Scooby did so. Then when Mr. Fletcher asked them how he could be of service, Shaggy was the first to speak and said, "Like, would you believe we're here because of a little 'Expedition: Atlantis'?"

Cornelius Fletcher looked very thoughtful about this and said, "You refer to the recent submarine expedition to the Mediterranean?"

The gang nodded in reply, and Mr. Fletcher chuckled and said, Well, I have obviously made a name for myself with finding the map that is presumed to guide one to the lost city. I just never thought that anyone else would take it so seriously."

"Then why did the submarine crew abandon the mission when the cameraman filming the expedition got spooked by… something-or-other?" inquired Velma.

"I confess that I know nothing of Atlantis genuinely existing at this point in history," Mr. Fletcher said earnestly. "But I do know that there may be others seeking more than just the discovery of the ancient civilization."

"What do you mean, sir?" Daphne asked him with an air of concern.

"The only thing any archaeologist must fear in terms of expedition is the sin of greed," he replied.

"Like, what you mean greed is the only thing archaeologists should fear?" wondered Shaggy.

"Reah. Rhy only reed?" Scooby wanted to know.

Then Mr. Fletcher told them this. "Not long ago, when archaeology was in the prime of its life, historical discovery wasn't always at the forefront of priorities. Many who embarked on these expeditions were in it for the money. Even after discoveries were made, some attempted to profit from those discoveries for themselves. The desecration of mummies in Egypt was the worst of these examples. Hopefully, when and if the truth of Atlantis is found, this situation will be quite different."

Then Fred inquired, "Not to seem skeptical, Mr. Fletcher, but do you happen to have the Atlantean map you found way back when?"

A smile stretched across the older man's face, and he said, "Of course I do. It never leaves my sight."

He went over to one of the three tall bookshelves, took a wooden box from one shelf, and brought it before the gang. He opened it, and pulled out the map. Velma looked over the glyphs and the ancient pictures on the old map and immediately began writing down everything she could to work on translating it later.

"Wow. This is amazing, Mr. Fletcher," mused Daphne.

"Thank you, Daphne," the old archaeologist replied. "Now, I've been trying to encourage more expeditions to find evidence of Atlantis for the past week, but so far, no one is even willing to believe that it can be found."

"Have you told the news about this map?" asked Velma.

"Of course. More times than I can count. And yet, they still think that anyone who considers the existence of Atlantis is some kind of delusional fanatic."

The gang would've inquired more about the situation with the sub expedition, but Velma asked, "Mr. Fletcher, do you have any Linear script texts here in your home?"

The old archaeologist smiled and replied, "As a matter of fact, I do. Come with me."

He had the gang stand with him directly in front of the fireplace and turned one of the electric candles to the right. Before you could say "Jinkies!", the fireplace swiveled around, and then the six went down a circular flight of stairs until they came to a secret room. To the gang, it looked like a combination of a science lab mixed with a museum library.

Mr. Fletcher turned to look at them and said, "Welcome to my personal study room."

"Looks more like something out of a Frankenstein movie," gulped Shaggy.

"Creepy," Scooby added.

Shaggy looked to his pal and said, "You can say that again, Scoob."

"Cree-"

Shaggy immediately stopped him with a hand over Scooby's mouth, to which Scooby snickered for the humor of the moment. Mr. Fletcher gave Velma a copy of his own journal which he had used to determine the age of the map. Velma immediately got to work attempting to translate the Atlantean script. It was painstakingly difficult and Velma had to run through a number of theories on the phonetics of the ancient text, each of which seemed as unlikely as the next. It seemed to the rest of the gang that even Velma couldn't decipher it, but after a full forty minutes, their patience was rewarded, for the highly educated girl suddenly cried, "Jinkies! I did it! I did it! Just when it counted, I did it!"

Then the others crowded around as Velma explained, "The Indo-European root dialect theory was right! These Atlantean glyphs are connected to the Linear script and cuneiform, and now I may have translated the map!"

The others were all amazed, and even Shaggy said, "Like, wow! Leave it to Velma to pick up a centuries-old script and compare it with the oldest texts around to decode it."

Velma then held up the map and said to the others, "The glyphs on the map appear to be a message to anyone who finds it. And if I'm reading this right, the first part reads: 'The way to Atlantis will lie beneath the sea when this map is found. To find it, let the sailor make his way to the ships' graves.'"

That last part made Scooby and Shaggy shiver, and the buddies gulped, "'Th-the sh-sh-ships' graves?'"

The gang wondered what that meant, and then Fred asked, "What's after that, Velma?"

"I'm afraid that simply deciphering the first map of the map took a little while, and I wasn't able to get through the whole of it," Velma confessed. "I'm going to need some more time to decipher the rest of it."

"But that could take weeks, and we've got to solve the mystery of what the sub crew on that expedition ran into!" urged Daphne.

"For once, I'm with her," added Shaggy with a nervous chuckle. "We can't just leave the possibility of something weird going on at the bottom of the ocean to go unknown. It's asking for trouble."

"Reah, rubble," Scooby said worriedly.

The gang couldn't argue with that, but they couldn't possibly take a submarine to somewhere that a lot of people said was just a myth. That's when Cornelius Fletcher had an idea. He said, "Then there's only one way to find out the truth: a new expedition to Atlantis. And you four young ones and your dog will be on the vessel making this exploration to solve one of the oldest mysteries of all: the legend of Atlantis."

The gang could hardly believe their ears, and for a moment, even Shaggy and Scooby felt excited. This was going to be the best ocean mystery they had been on since their encounter with the Ghost Pirates in the Bermuda Triangle* only a year ago. What could possibly go wrong this time?

A/N: Velma's reference to Plato's telling of Atlantis reflects the beginning of Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, which partially inspired this fanfiction.

Also, The Mystery gang's encounter with ghost pirates refers to Scooby-Doo: Pirates Ahoy!, which was released in 2006, meaning that if this fanfiction were an actual movie, it would have lengthened the series by at least a year as it would have appeared before Chill Out, Scooby-Doo!

Hope you've enjoyed the start to this wet and wild adventure! Feel free to rate and review if you like.