Red hummed an old Bob Dylan song under his breath as he drew in the anchor of the Green Shark. All was as well as it could be and today was the day that had been dubbed "Do or Die Day" by the crew. They would either leave the final resting spot of the Charlotte as rich men (and woman), or they would go home empty handed. The wreck of the Charlotte had been blown to smithereens in several spots in the most likely places for the treasure to have been stored, and Red just hoped that the wreck hadn't been subject to the same fate as many of its counterparts: that is, that its bottom had been ripped out by a reef, scattering its precious cargo for miles, leaving the wreck itself empty. The crew had gone over the diagrams and testimonials again and again, and Scooby's original hypothesis (that the Charlotte had sunk nearly intact just a few hundred yards from where it had received its fatal blow) still seemed to be the most plausible. Red just hoped it proved to be correct.

Dot paced the deck, biting the ends of her fingers as she always did right before one of their blasts. Scooby, Harpo, Wakko and Buster suddenly broke to the surface.

"All set, boss!" Scooby cried. "She's ready to go when we are."

The foursome clambered up the ladder and began to peel scuba gear off. Red cranked up the volume on the small boat radio, flooding the boat with the strangely soothing sounds of English choral songs, as the only station coming in with the wind was an old-time religious station that seemed to play nothing except medieval hymns. He shook his head in wonder at this; the last place on earth one would expect to hear "Ave Regina Caelorum" or "O Sacrum Convivium" was in the middle of the Caribbean sea, but he knew that the only stations that could be relied on to reach the Green Shark's staticy frequency were the pirate radio stations that sat way off-shore and played whatever they felt like playing. Evidentially this particular station owner either needed religious healing or was, in his own way, asking God for the forgiveness of some hidden sin of the soul. Either way, it seemed bizarrely appropriate in the wake of the destruction the Green Shark and its crew were inflicting upon an old wreck that had undoubtedly sunk with some sinners in her wake. Even pirates needed some promise of something better in the afterlife, Red mused to himself.

"All right Red, take us away," Dot said as she dumped a pile cords over the side of the boat.

The boat needed to be moved a good deal away from the explosions underwater, as the bubbling mess that ensued after an explosion had caused many a ship to sink simply from being sucked down with the physical aftermath of a detonation. Wakko and Buster grinned at one another, proud of their handiwork thus far.

"Whoever knew that blowing trash cans up in Toontown just for the hell of it would help us out someday, eh?" Buster laughed as he wiped his face dry with a towel.

The boat lurched forward. Wakko nodded. "You never know when a useless skill will come in handy. It never hurts to be random in your hobbies and interests."

As the Green Shark steadily made her way to safety, Dot popped a bottle of champagne and began doling out little plastic cups full of cheap alcohol. "I didn't want to wait," she said with a sheepish smile. "We've waited long enough for this."

"Hear hear!" Buster said, raising his cup. "A toast! Not only to the Charlotte, but to this little family that we've all come to exist in."

"I second it!" Dot said, also raising her cup. Red, Scooby, and the other divers did the same.

"Can I say something?" Harpo asked as he stood up, clutching his glass of champagne to him. "Just real quick?"

"Hell, kid, say all you want," Red said with a warm smile. "You deserve it."

Harpo shifted his weight. The bottom half of his dive suit hung around his waist, making him look bigger and older than he actually was. "I just want to say…I just want to say thank you. For letting me be with you guys, and learn from you guys. You didn't have to let me join you, and you did. That means a lot to me. All of you mean a lot to me."

Touched, the others silently raised their glasses to the boy, all giving him broad smiles. "We're in this together, Harp," Scooby said.

Harpo smiled back at him, enjoying the rare moments of sentimentality shared among the misfit family. "Well, I guess there's only one thing left to do."

"What's that?"

Harpo grinned. "Let's get some damn treasure!"

Everyone cheered and Red halted the boat. Wakko and Buster stood poised over the detonator, when Scooby pushed them away. "Let's let the boss do this, eh? She's the one who got us into this whole crazy adventure. She's the one who's got to end it, too."

Dot smiled and made her way over to the detonator. She clutched at the small box and looked excitedly at all of them. "This ain't the end, Scooby. It's a new beginning."

With that, a terrific explosion erupted from underneath the water, shooting water ten feet into the air and creating a massive amount of foam as splintered wood floated to the surface. Everyone on the Green Shark cheered, and waited with plenty of champagne and baited breath for the roaring spot to calm down enough to dive.

Twenty minutes later, the Shark was once more moored over what was left of the wreck of the Charlotte. Harpo was suited up and already in the water as Wakko, Buster and Scooby tossed over netted buckets with which to bring up what they hoped would be the mother load. "We won't be able to get all of it today," Scooby explained as he yanked his mask over his face. "But we can at least get a good start."

The first thing to greet Harpo's eyes as he descended to the bottom was the light of the sun catching something shiny. It momentarily blinded him until he realized it was exactly what they had all hoped for – gold, and a mother load of it.

Tears appeared in Scooby's eyes and his mask began to fog up; Wakko shook Buster's hand excitedly while Harpo simply stared at the forest of gold beneath them. This is the most incredible thing I've ever seen, he thought as he studied the hole the explosion had made to reveal that which they sought.

For the next half hour or so, the crew of four worked quickly loading the coins and heavy gold bars the size and shape of incense holders into the netted baskets. When they were as heavy as the ropes could hold them, Scooby gave the signal for "up" and the four began their ascension.

"Dot!" Harpo shouted upon breaking the surface. "Come look at this!"

When he looked up to the deck, expecting to see his aunt and Red, he instead met the gaze of two uniformed officials smiling down at him condescendingly. "We knew you'd have to come up eventually," said the taller of the two. "Not even toons can hold their breath forever."

Behind Harpo, Wakko, Buster and Scooby came to the surface with a splash, laughing and cheering for what they'd found. The celebration quickly stopped upon seeing the two strangers aboard the Green Shark.

"Looting a wreck is a crime, boys," the officer said, sizing up the foursome as a lion might its prey. "And after that little explosion, I'd say you guys ain't going to see the Caribbean sunshine for a long time."

Buster threw his mask angrily into the water. "I don't want to go back to jail!" he shouted at the officers, as if that might make a difference.

"And we were so close, too," Wakko said with a note of melancholy in his voice as he looked at the pile of gold in the raised baskets.

"I'll take that," the shorter officer said as he pulled the heavy basket up on deck, using all of his strength. "Been tracking you guys for a long time. By the way, thanks for finding the Charlotte. I'm sure the Boomtown Police Department could use a big screen TV. Or seventy."

"Bastards!" Scooby hissed. "This is our wreck! We found it, we did all the work! We don't owe you guys anything!"

"Look," Harpo started in a sensible voice. He figured getting hysterical wasn't going to do much for their situation. "What if we let you guys keep some of the treasure, huh? If you'll get off our backs? That's a fair trade, don't you think?"

"I've got a better idea," the taller officer said in a dangerous voice, leaning down towards the water. He grinned a humorless smile. "Why don't you get up out of that water so we can haul your asses to the Boomtown Jail?"

"What've you done with Red and Dot?" Wakko demanded. "Where's my sister?"

"She's fine," the officer responded in a disinterested voice. "Are we going to have to come in there to get you, or what?"

"Try it, buddy!" Scooby said, brandishing his dive knife at them. "Come down here and see what happens!"

The two officers laughed. "Oh, we could leave you here if you wanted us to, boys. But I have to tell you something; it's a helluva swim back to dry land!"

Looking around, Harpo knew they were right. It took hours by boat to even get to the site of the wreck – they would surely drown from exhaustion if they tried to get back on their own. Even a toon has limits, Harpo thought despondedly.

The Green Shark was towed inland to Tuito's Cay behind the officer's boat. Harpo, Wakko, Red, Dot, Scooby and Buster sat on the back deck of the police boat, handcuffed on a chain to one another, all cursing under their breaths.

"They just came up so fast," Red whispered to them. "And I couldn't leave you guys down there."

"Don't worry about it, Red," Buster said, a little sadly. "There was nothing you could do."

"I'm sorry kid," Wakko whispered. "Really I am."

"It's all right Dad," Harpo said.

Wakko sighed. "No, it's not. I wanted better for you. This is a side of life I never wanted you to see."

"I've seen a lot already," Harpo said. "Believe me, this would be a lot worse if I didn't at least have some idea of what I was in for."

"I guess that's true," Wakko conceded. He fiddled with his handcuffs. "We'll figure some way out of this, buddy. You are going to live a better life than I did. I'll make sure of it, and it's a promise. I always keep my promises."

"I know," Harpo whispered to his father with a smile.

Yakko and Babs had settled in at the Neonfish Inn on Tuito's Cay a few days before and had been taking the opportunity to sleep and eat at leisure. When not engaged in these activities, the two roamed the crowded, somewhat piratical-looking Boomtown, showing pictures and giving descriptions of Harpo and Wakko to anyone who would give them a second. So far they'd come up short, but the first quiet moments of peace in months had done them both a world of good.

"This is the best steak I've had since we left Toontown," Yakko commented as he hungrily devoured his dinner that night at the Inn. "I swear, if I had to eat one more serving of conch soup…"

"I know it," Babs said with a nod, tearing into her own steak. "I don't think I'll ever eat anything that swims ever again. I've had to last me a lifetime."

"What do you suppose all this hubbub is about, hm?" Yakko asked, pointing to a street crew hanging decorations on lampposts in the street. "Ever since we got here, it's like they've been preparing for something."

"It's carnival time," the waiter said just as he appeared at the end of their table to refill their water glasses. He laughed and shook his head. "Where've you two been? Carnival's like the biggest celebration of the year everywhere in the Caribbean."

"We haven't been to any cities, that's for damn sure," Babs said.

The waiter shrugged. "That's probably why. The country people celebrate it too, of course, but everyone knows that the best place to be during carnival is in a city. Like Boomtown."

"When does it start?"

The waiter shook his head again, exasperated. "Man, you two really haven't been around, have you? Tonight. It starts tonight. Lasts for about a week."

"And I assume you're going to partake in the activities?" Yakko said in a teasing tone, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course!" The waiter looked as if this was the most obvious fact in the world. "Everyone on the island will be here. Everybody's going to celebrate. Won't be a place in the whole city that's open. Except for the jails; I guess they need a place to put the drunks who are beating everyone up."

"Well even the drunks need a place to go, I guess," Yakko said with a smile.

After a hearty meal and a walk on the beach, Yakko and Babs sat on railing of their balcony, overlooking downtown as the celebration started. It seemed like an endless parade of loud music and even louder costumes, the island inhabitants dressing up in all kinds of outrageous, imaginary animal costumes; alcohol flowed as freely as the effortless dancing of the natives. Yakko had to admit that after months of quiet island life, it was sort of a relief to see vivid, brightly-colored life right beneath him. For the first time in what seemed like years, he clasped his hand around Babs and grinned at her, the first real smile he'd given her since being in Toontown. It felt good to smile again.

Meanwhile, a few miles away the strange entourage of toons and Red stood in the small, dimly lit booking room of the Boomtown Jail, waiting to be thrown in a cell until god-knows-when. Harpo nervously fingered his necklace as Dot, the last in the group to get booked, pressed her inked finger to her arrest report. "This is ridiculous," she muttered. "I'm a toon. I don't have fingerprints."

"So?" the clerk sneered. Dot shot him a cold look; she knew the only reason he was insisting on fingerprinting the toons in the group was to humiliate them further. The two officers who had arrested the group stood in the back. The tall one suddenly broke into a grin, nodding to Red.

"Look buddy," he said to Red. "You and me are both humans, right? So let the toons take the fall. Come on, carnival has just started." He smirked at the toons in the group. "They're just toons, anyway. Who cares?"

"I do," Red spat. He stepped closer to the toons. "And I'm not going anywhere. These toons have been better friends to me than any human ever has. I'm staying."

Dot looked up at him, surprised and grateful. Red smiled down at her a little bit. The officer shrugged. "Have it your own way, pal, but if you want my opinion, you've been hangin' around toons too long."

"Maybe you've just been hanging around humans too long, pal," Red shot back. "This is my family, and there's no way in hell I'm gonna leave them now."

With that said, the six were ushered into a small cell and locked down. "The lawyers won't be back until carnival is over," the guard said with a simpering smile. "Even then, I don't think you stand much of a chance."

"Thanks," Dot said sarcastically. Sighing, she sank to the floor. "Jesus. I'm sorry about all this, you guys…"

"We knew what we were getting into and we were all willing to take the chance," Buster said. "And it's not as if there's any one of us who hasn't been in a jail cell before." A cough from Wakko brought Buster's attention to the youngest member of the group. "Oh. Yeah, except Harpo. Heh."

"So what's going to happen now?" Harpo asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Now?" Wakko sighed. "Now we wait for a miracle."

"Damn," Babs said as she slammed the receiver down on the hook back in she and Yakko's hotel room. "The goddamned phone doesn't work."

"Honey, on these islands they still have operators. Everyone's at carnival, remember?" Yakko said, leaning against the open window, his gaze not leaving the festive scene below. "Why? Who're you trying to call?"

"I'm trying to call my partners back at the law firm," Babs said. She leaned back on the bed. "They've been keeping an eye out in the newspapers to see if there's any word about someone of Harpo's description." Yakko looked at her strangely. "What?" she shrugged defensively. "It's worth a shot."

Returning the shrug, Yakko turned back to the window and dragged on his cigarette. Since this escapade had begun, his old habit had returned with a vengeance. "Well, good luck getting someone to connect you, babe. The only people who could do it are all down there," he said, pointing to the crowd below. "And they're all completely drunk."

"I haven't called in over a week. Maybe they found something."

Yakko looked to the floor. "So…have you been fired yet?"

"Of course," Babs answered quietly, going into the bathroom to splash some cool water on her face. "Not showing up to work for months on end tends to get you fired."

Yakko stubbed out his cigarette and sighed softly. "Sorry about that, Babs."

"Don't be," she answered. "I'd rather be unemployed if still having a job meant not looking for Harpo."

Yakko's eyes returned to the party scene outside and he laughed a bit to see a beat-up looking vessel with green sharks painted on the side tied up at one of the docks. "What a weird looking boat," he whispered to himself.

"I've got it!" Babs suddenly cried from the bathroom. She rushed back into the room. "The jail! The waiter said the jail was the only thing open, right? They must have a phone there. Maybe they'd let us use it."

"We could check, I guess. You really want to know that badly?"

"For some reason, I do. Call it a hunch," she said, grabbing her purse. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

Getting to the jail proved more difficult than might be expected because of the mass of humanity that stood between the Neonfish Inn and the Boomtown Jail. After jostling their way through the crowds for a good twenty minutes, the cracked mortar of the jail finally rose up above them. Yakko took a deep breath. "Ah, our second home. Seems like a million years since I last stepped foot in a jail to talk with a client. Almost like being home again."

The difference between what lay outside the jail and what lay inside could not have been more drastic. Outside was a glittering display of art in motion, all people of all kinds roamed, singing and dancing happily to the music that just kept coming, while inside was quiet, dark and morose. A lone clerk looked up at them apathetically. "It's a little early to be throwing drunks in the jug, isn't it?" he drawled.

"Look," Babs said as she hurried to the desk, eager to explain. "I really need to use the phone and you have the only working one on the island."

"The phone, huh?" the clerk said as if he'd never heard of anyone needing to use the telephone before. He seemed in no hurry compared to the frantic posture of Babs, and he took his time in sizing up the situation. "Well, I don't think it'd do any good. No local calls would get through. You said it yourself, honey; only working phone on the island."

"It's not local, but look – " she continued hastily, in the hopes that he wouldn't cut her off once he learned it was going to be a long, long distance call. "Look, I'm a lawyer. We both are," she gestured to Yakko, who waved. "I need to call my…office…and check on…something."

"Lawyers, huh?" Still the clerk was in no hurry. "Need to call your office. For what?"

"I…I can't divulge that information," Babs said quickly, hoping to sound covert and professional. "But it pertains to something very important, and I need to get in contact with them."

The clerk made a snorting sound. "Well, what are you going to give me in return?" he said suggestively, leaning closer to Babs. "I mean, a pretty little lawyer like you – "

Babs wasted no time in grabbing the swarthy man's shirt and practically yanking him right over his desk. "I'm going to give you a goddamn bloody nose, that's what, you little twerp. I'm in no mood to deal with ignorant misogynists tonight. I need your phone, and I can either do it with your consent or I can do it with your consent while your face drips blood, got it?" She looked at him fiercely. "I'm not going to let you stand in the way of finding my son," she whispered icily.

"You'd better let her use the phone," Yakko piped up helpfully. "Believe me, you don't want to be at the receiving end of those fists of fury. Policeman or not."

"All right, all right," the clerk said, trying not to betray the nervousness of his voice. Babs' grip loosened. "Use it for whatever you need to. It's not like I need it. But your friend here can do me a favor."

"What?" Babs said, her voice not cooling off any but letting the man go.

The clerk sat back at his desk, looking more than a little relieved. "There's a bunch of looters in a cell in the back. Caught digging up treasure from a wreck today. Go back and scare 'em a bit, huh? They seem to think they have rights or something."

"I don't know anything about shipwrecks," Yakko said in a neutral tone as he lit another cigarette. "Or the laws that pertain to them."

"I'm not asking you to recite shipwreck laws to them. I'm just asking that you go back there and shut them up. Make 'em know they did something wrong and they're going to pay for it. Our lawyers will be useless for the next week; they won't be acting any better than the drunken reprobates they usually represent. You're probably the only sober lawyer on Tuito's Cay. Go on. I'm tired of listening to them bitch."

"Go on, Yak. Do the best you can," Babs said as she began to dial the number for the States. "It's the least we can do."

Yakko resisted the urge to roll his eyes at this statement but nevertheless allowed the clerk to lead him back to the holding cells. "The last one on the right," the clerk said, pointing to the cell. Yakko nodded and tried to prepare himself, as he always did, for seeing a client behind bars. He hadn't done it in months and so felt out of practice; he also didn't exactly look like a lawyer tonight, so he doubted whether he'd be able to put the fear of the law into anyone, least of all hardened treasure hunters.

He stuck his cigarette in his mouth and loped along the corridor that stank of urine and wet paint, as jails always did. Before he even reached the cell, he started in on them, hoping his 'lawyer voice' hadn't left him even if he was out of practice: "All right, all of you, I hear you're in for looting a wreck. It's a serious offense, one that carries jail tim – "

The words died in his throat upon seeing the six occupants of the cell. The cigarette hung from the side of his mouth, forgotten, as his eyes wandered over those individuals he thought he might never see again.

"Wakko? Dot?" He swallowed hard. "Harpo?"