Chapter 11

"The Terrible Dogfish"

Like, where have we heard that before? Then again, we should have been used to it by now and yet, Scooby and I, we would never get used to it if you ask me. As we were driving back from the Police Station to our hotel, Fred had a hunch that the Coachman wasn't exactly who he was at least to him.

"I hate to have to use my shoes in an interrogation," Daphne sighed, examining the bluntness on her left high heel. "But there's plenty more where that came from?"

"More suspects?" Beau asked from the back of the van.

"More shoes," Daphne replied as she put the shoe down at her feet. "Thank God I have money to replace them."

"Speaking of which," I suggested. "Anybody got any money for a pizza? Scoob wants to bite into something that isn't living."

"Reah! Ruck!"

"Might as well," Fred said. "But the idea of the coachman's ghost seems very…likely to me."

Like, Fred had his suspicions about the Coachman and knowing Fred, he wasn't going to rest until he discovered the truth.

"If it's someone in a costume, Fred," Beau said. "Then Reverend Kane must have promised them riches if he or she caught us for him."

It was then that Fred began to get a suspicion from a few days earlier.

"I just had another thought, gang. Admiral McCroskey, hasn't anyone noticed that he seemed a little…strange to you?"

"Why?" remarked Beau. "His son is missing, taken captive to Pleasure Island. It all adds up."

Just then, we heard an all points bulletin on the Italian Radio that said a fishing boat had been attacked off shore. Immediately, Fred turned the Mystery Machine around to head back to the beach.

"Like the pizza will have to wait?" I shrieked as Fred sharply turned around. "Bummer!"

…

Arriving at the same beach where we had discovered the body of the donkey dude, a pair of stretchers came forward and on them were two men, both Italian.

"What happened here, Inspector?" Beau asked as we saw him again.

"Well, Signor Neville, judging from what I could make out," explained Inspector DiNucci, turning to look out towards the ocean. "They were near Pleasure Island when some creature attacked their boat. Some undersea creature if you ask me."

"Undersea creature?" I whimpered along with Scooby Doo, but Fred and Daphne were not frightened. "Is it a Kraken?"

"I'm not sure that it's a Kraken signor, but from what they described to me, it was a dogfish."

"Rogfish? Rhere?" asked Scooby, releasing his grip from me.

"But aren't Dogfishes of the Shark family?" Daphne asked. "I mean, if this was a dogfish, I doubt that they would have tentacles."

Sighing, Inspector DiNucci saw a piece of the boat wash up on shore and he saw from the damages that the boat was indeed attacked by a creature with tentacles.

"There is a possibility that this dogfish could be a guardian of the Pleasure Island, signors," pondered Inspector DiNucci. "If it is, then this creature could be being used as a weapon to keep boats away."

He then proceeded to look back out to the ocean and saw what appeared to be seagulls flying overhead. Like, why would Seagulls be involved in this? Unless if it's Moby Dick or something.

"Do you think that maybe this dogfish can be incapacitated in any way?" Fred asked the Inspector as he got to his feet once more.

"It's possible, but we're going to need help. There's a specialist that lives here in Rome that hunts down large sea creatures for study."

The Inspector then reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

"Excuse me."

Once he was gone, another piece of the attacked boat drifted towards us and like, Fred picked it up with his bare hands.

"Yes, it looks like someone with tentacles attacked it," he declared. "In fact, I'm starting to come up with an idea for a plan to get into Pleasure Island."

An anxious feeling developed inside of Scooby and me when Fred said that he was coming up with another idea. As we watched him pace back and forth along the beach, none of us were wondering what he was going to do.

…

Back on Pleasure Island, the Coachman was overseeing the next departing shipment of Donkeys when he saw the Dogfish's eyes out in the distance. Walking forward, he saw the Dogfish get closer and closer and into the island's surroundings.

"Where are they?" he sharply asked the sea creature. He studied the creature's eyes intently and then stepped back with a worried look on his face, whispering in a frightened voice. "No, they've been captured by the authorities! If they reveal everything to the authorities, everything that I have worked for will be ruined!"

Turning back to the ape like workers, the Coachman warned them of what was happening and then sent the dogfish to further protect the island from any outside threat.

Still in a panic, he stormed over to the corral where the talking donkeys were being kept and he then took out a revolver from his large red coat pocket.

"Please don't kill me!" screamed one of the donkeys and he opened fire on the innocent talking donkeys. Firing 5 times, he stepped back and sighed while one of the servants came to his side.

"Inform your friends that we might have been discovered by the authorities," he sighed, placing the revolver back in his coat pocket. "Tell them that they must be prepared to fight if necessary, is that clear? I will not lose everything that I have worked for on account of this setback."

After hearing the command in the coachman's voice, the servant immediately turned and walked away while the Coachman looked at the donkeys he had killed.

…

Meanwhile, the next morning, Inspector DiNucci brought the specialist to our hotel and down in the lobby, an area of the breakfast patio was roped off for our privacy.

"Sit down, my friends," he said, gesturing us to sit down. "I have brought you a specialist who knows about Pleasure Island and the creature we are up against. This is Signor Quint, Jr."

Quint? Like, the son of the guy who was killed by the shark off Amity Bay a while back? This is his son. Like, this is getting more insane by the minute. He then placed his fingernails on the chalkboard that had been provided to us, causing a rather irritating noise.

"Frank Quint, Jr. to be exact, lad," he answered in an Irish accent. "Now, it seems like you have a little problem that you need my help on, yes?"

We nevertheless said nothing as we, mostly Scooby and I were frightened by this guy. Like, please don't kill us pal. We were only skin and bone, right?

…

…