Author's Note – Before we conclude this two part chapter an important correction to make:

Having read back the last couple of chapters before editing some future storylines, I have only just picked up on an important clarification.

Hong Kong is obviously in China NOT Japan.

I can only think I was perhaps mixing up Hong Kong and Tokyo as cities initially and can only apologise for this error.

For later storyline purposes, that will eventually become clear, the setting does need to be in Hong Kong so please disregard the previous many (!) incorrect references to visiting Japan. The Fred, Daphne and Ethan portions of the story are very much taking part in CHINA.

Thanks! I hope you continue to enjoy the story that is unfolding.

Daphne and Fred- Philippines Airlines Flight to Hong Kong via Manila

Daphne jolted awake as she felt the plane shake.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are just experiencing a little bit of turbulence, please remain seated until further announcements, thank you.

She hated turbulence at the best of times but felt even more unsettled without Fred, or anyone she knew by her side to reassure her.

It's perfectly normal, she assured herself, holding on tightly to the armrests. There was a couple more violent shakes and she squeezed her eyes shut, willing it be over and then mercifully it was. The plane started travelling smoothly again and after a few minutes, the seat belt release sign pinged back on and she sighed in relief.

After a quick visit to the bathroom, she settled herself back into her seat, propping up her travel pillow. She had slept in fits and starts so far but nothing of any great quality, she reclined the seat slightly, slipped on her eye mask and soon found herself drifting peacefully to sleep.

Unfortunately, she too soon found herself in the grip of a nightmare though she didn't realise this straight away. She wasn't dreaming of Fred or of Ethan or anything that made any sense at first.

She found herself in bright sunshine in a courtyard, standing in front of a single, unremarkable looking door. There didn't seem to be anywhere else to go, so with some trepidation she reached forward to open the door and stepped forward, the door shutting behind her and immediately plunging her into darkness.

She called out uncertainly, trying to swallow her fears.

"Is anybody there?"

She was met in response by only the sound of someone gently sobbing, and she hurried towards the noise.

"Hello?"

As she got nearer, she finally saw the female figure, bathed in a sudden pool of light, on the floor. She was sitting slumped against the wall, still crying but she didn't seem hurt.

The girl was young, maybe only around 17 or 18, with flaming red hair, similar to her own, a green scarf was wrapped tightly around her neck.

At first, Daphne thought she might have been looking at a manifestation of her younger self, the girl's features were so similar. As she touched the girl's shoulder gently and took a closer look at her face, she gasped as she realised exactly who the girl was.

"Adelaide," she whispered and the girl stopped crying immediately.

"Daphne Ann Blake," the girl sneered. "My very unfortunate look-a-like."

"Adelaide, I'm so sorry," Daphne stroked her face, and Adelaide's scarf fell away, revealing the dark bruises from the grip around her throat.

The cause of her death.

Daphne tried not to look at the bruising, she could see now Adelaide's face was pale, ghostly.

"I died just because I looked like you, how unfair is that? He wrapped his hands around my throat and choked me and I didn't stand a chance. You know, I always loved my hair, never thought it would be the feature that would lead to me being murdered."

"Adelaide, you didn't deserve to die."

"I didn't deserve to die Daphne, you're right. I had my whole future ahead of me and yet I DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!"

As clearly as she was once sat there, Adelaide suddenly vanished, the light over her, blinking out, leaving a stunned Daphne in darkness once again.

She stumbled to her feet, struggling to recover from the ghostly encounter. She had barely had a second to reflect on it before she heard the sound of a man groaning in pain.

She carried on falteringly down the pitch dark tunnel, with the groans getting louder still, until she found the source of the moans.

Another beam of light switched on, nearly blinding her and enveloping the struggling man underneath in a pure white light. He was soaked in blood, crimson staining a white shirt and sweat was plastered to his face and hair, he was struggling to breathe.

Daphne flew down by his side, her only instinct to try and stem the atrocious bleeding to his abdomen.

"Oh god Will."

The Detective was dying, slowly bleeding out and Daphne realised there was very little she could do, she held his hand.

"Daphne?" Will gasped. "Why are you here?"

Through her own tears, Daphne tried to comfort him. "Shhh don't try to speak."

"You're too late Daphne, you're always too late."

Will coughed up a little blood then but Daphne didn't miss the change in his tone of voice.

Accusatory.

"What?"

"Well this," he gestured at his bloody shirt. "It's all your fault isn't it? I'm dying, or probably even dead already, and it's all because of you."

"Will..." Daphne reeled brokenly in shock. "What do you mean?"

"Your pseudo father...you had the chance to end all this a long time ago didn't you? You could have taken him out."

At first she didn't understand, what Will was saying didn't make any sense, but she soon realised the moment he was referring to.

The factory. She had Devon at gunpoint. Long before Shag and Velma appeared on the scene. Yes, she could have killed him but she didn't because he had...

"Fred," she whispered. "He had my Freddy."

"Exactly," Will bemoaned with a slight chuckle. "You could have killed him but instead you hesitated and all to save one man. One man over the lives of so many others."

"No! It wasn't like that."

"Wasn't it? You let Devon live to save your beau and because of that decision, look at the evil he has become, how many more innocent people are going to die Daphne?"

Daphne was distraught now. "It's my fault?"

Will nodded grimly. "Your fault. My daughter will grow up without a father because of you."

He coughed up blood and his eyes closed and then he too faded away like he was never really there, leaving Daphne to stare in horror at her blood covered hands.

"It's all my fault," she repeated brokenly to herself. "It's all my fault..."

She awoke then, quite peacefully but with her heart still racing. She had never once dreamed of Adelaide McKenna before, the poor girl who had been murdered in her place.

For that alone she felt incredible guilt.

Guilt.

Her nightmare had been plagued with it.

Adelaide, Will, or that manifestation of Will anyway, they weren't wrong; it was her fault. It was why she was even more determined to put everything right in Coolsville. After their little detour to China of course.

She peeled off her sleep mask and took slow, calming deep breaths. The innocent blood on her hands, it was all symbolic.

She reminded herself it wasn't real, it couldn't be real. They didn't yet know what had happened to Detective Barnum. She fervently hoped he wasn't dead. And as for what 'Will' had said to her; he couldn't possibly have known that.

The only people who were in that room that night were herself and Devon. She had never even told Fred that she sacrificed a chance to kill Devon to try and save him.

She hadn't told Shaggy or Velma, nor Ethan or Stella and so certainly not Will. Nobody knew.

The only person who could beat Daphne up about that decision was herself, her own subconscious.

She was surprised to hear an announcement about landing in Manila, breaking her from her thoughts and she realised that in addition to the nightmare, she must also have managed some quality sleep as they had now completed the first leg of their journey.

Grateful to soon be out of the small space, she quickly gathered her things and joined the rush to the exit, hoping to catch up with Fred, who she assumed would have already left the plane.

She moved as quickly as she could, trying to catch sight of him ahead of her, amongst the throng of passengers on the tarmac. She frowned in confusion when she couldn't see him.

"Daph!"

The shout came from behind her and she lifted her hand to shield her eyes and was rewarded with the sight of Fred waving, only just ready to descend the front staircase. He was moving haltingly down the steps, which had her very confused at first but her heart melted when she saw the reason why.

Gingerly clinging to his elbow, carefully watching her step was a tiny gray-haired old lady. Fred had clasped his own arm over hers as he gently guided her down the steps. When they reached the bottom, he still didn't let go until he was absolutely sure she was OK. When he finally did look up, he saw Daphne watching with a wistful smile on her lips.

"Daphne," he beamed, introducing his adorable companion. "This is Dorothy."

"Oh darling," Dorothy exclaimed, reaching out for Daphne's hand. " What a dear sweet boy you have. You'll want to keep good hold of this one," she winked. "He's special."

"Yes," Daphne replied, staring at him lovingly and kissing his cheek as Dorothy finally released his arm. "Yes, he is."

He was a man worth saving.

Shaggy and Velma – Hawaiian Airlines Flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles.

He'd delivered that ultimatum as fiercely as he could, but he never believed she would actually respond to it in kind.

She sniffled, attempting to compose herself, and placed her own hand over the top of his.

"Okay Shaggy, you're right, you deserve the truth, I want you to know the real me," she started, staring at his knuckles. "I've decided I'm going to tell you everything. But please could you let me finish? All I ask is that you don't interrupt no matter how much you are probably going to want to."

"Okay."

She nodded, taking a final steadying intake of breath and held it for a few seconds before exhaling again, feeling calm and ready now, she gave him unwavering eye contact as she spoke.

"To really know me, you have to my know my family, and I have hidden away the truth to protect them for so long. I have a sister, her name is Madelyn and I love her dearly. She's sixteen now, but she's sick Shaggy."

Velma could feel herself becoming tearful already as she thought about Madelyn.

"She's really sick, she has been since birth. So everything I do, I do for her. That night we met, I didn't lie to you, and the only reason I left you and Fred in such a precarious position and took that money, was for her."

It completely floored Shaggy to find out what he thought was just a convenient sob story she had spun to manipulate himself and Fred, was actually real this whole time. He found himself slipping an arm around her shoulder, she did not protest as she continued with a tearful smile on her face.

"Madelyn is beautiful, so bright and bubbly, she is the best of us. But, without treatment, it's unlikely she will live to see her 21st birthday. There is the potential for her to be saved, to be cured but not without a substantial amount of money. Money that makes the generous reward money we get from our work look like chicken feed. Nevertheless though, every penny I've earned legitimately, or sadly less so, I've saved for her.

I know what you're thinking, I can see it in your face, what happened to the Dinkley fortune?"

"I didn't know too much about you at high school but everyone knew about your father and his brilliant inventions. It was why I was so shocked when Fred and I first ran up against you, I couldn't understand why someone like you was turning to such desperate measures."

Velma nodded again, the emotion she had felt talking about Madelyn, already turning to anger now and she unintentionally squeezed his hand painfully causing him to gasp.

"Because we lost everything. And all because of two people," she seethed, her voice dripping with scorn as she spat out their names. "George Wisely and his son, Patrick.

My father met George at a convention when he offered to buy a couple of dad's inventions. He did and my dad was thrilled, sometimes it could take a long time before anyone was interested in his inventions and this guy had bought two. My father was so grateful and overwhelmed by the money received, that he broke his own promise of not telling outsiders about Madelyn's condition.

George was completely moved by Madelyn's story, he vowed he was going to help her. It started with a generous donation to her treatment fund but George wanted more. He proposed a way to make enough money to help us reach our goal of raising enough money for the treatment long before her sixteenth birthday. George was a wealthy businessman, dad a talented inventor, why not go into business together?

Dad was so wary, he had always done things on his own but George was completely charming in every way, he promised him the world. If dad could make the inventions, he would provide the clients, they would share the profits. It sounded too good to be true but slowly but surely he convinced him. It was George; George who had already paid a significant sum into Madelyn's fund, we could all trust George right?" she said scornfully.

"Velma, you don't have to go in to details if you don't want to, I think I'm getting the picture where this is going..."

She glared at him in response and he remembered his promise, holding his hands up in apology and indicated her to to continue.

"And Patrick. Saint fucking Patrick, how could anyone doubt Saint Patrick? Not least me. Boy, he had me fooled.

I was almost sixteen when George decided to introduce his perfect son and how could I not be smitten? He could charm the pants off anyone and I soon found myself besotted with him. Patrick was a little bit older, attractive in a geeky way and fully took after his father in the charm stakes. Between them both, they schmoozed myself and my father for over a year, on the charm offensive of a lifetime.

Dad poured everything he had into their new business venture, his heart, his soul and his money and I fell head over heels in love with Patrick. Saint Patrick even helped set up a separate special fund for Madelyn. We had never wanted people to know about Madelyn,we never wanted people's pity, people's handouts, we had never told anyone how sick she really was but Patrick convinced me of a way we could do it without looking desperate. He masterminded a series of high profile events to raise more money, fancy dinners, charity races, it was a huge success and Madelyn adored him. So did I. Everything was perfect.

Until it wasn't.

Until George and Patrick were exposed for the shameful conmen they were. By then it was too late. George and Patrick had fled with the money. Turns out they weren't even father and son, just an incredibly sophisticated pair of scam artists. The day they ran, they cleaned out the charity fund for Madelyn and the joint business with dad. George had handled all the admin side of things registering the business, doing the banking. He was experienced, it made sense but, the business was never even registered. Those two despicable imposters had taken everything. All the money raised for Maddy so far, my dad's entire life savings. They left us with nothing."

Shaggy felt a wave of anger instantly run through him on Velma's behalf, how dare these scumbags do that to her and her family!

"Velma I'm so sorry, I don't know what to say."

"The worst thing was, they waited until we had nearly raised enough for the treatment and then that was the point they split. Patrick actually told my sister she was going to get her treatment, the bastard, and then he did that. Can you imagine how difficult that conversation was Shaggy? To have to tell my sister she wasn't going to get the treatment after all.

She was so brave bless her, but I know how disappointed she really was, he allowed her to get her hopes up.

Patrick took my heart and stamped on it but it's how his actions impacted Madelyn that has left me with a whole load of fucked up trust issues.

I didn't even see it coming, I opened my whole heart to him, he was the perfect gentleman, he didn't just win me over, he won over my whole family and then betrayed us ALL in the most horrifying way imaginable. His final flourish though?"

Shaggy swallowed, how much worse could this horrific story possibly get?

"The night before he fled, after we had told Madelyn we had enough money for the treatment, I finally gave myself to him, body and soul, and he told me loved him. I went to sleep in his arms feeling completely contented, when I woke the next morning he was gone. For good."

She was sobbing now and Shaggy held her close, not caring if anyone was looking. He stroked her hair. He had never thought he could hate anyone as much as he hated Devon but even though he had never met him, Patrick was already tying for first place in his mind.

"That horrible, horrible bastard," he seethed. "Did anyone ever manage to find them?"

"No. I looked, believe me I looked but they vanished without a trace. Probably onto the next pair of suckers they could fleece.

My father was so ashamed he had been manipulated in this way, they took his money, his inventions, everything. I felt sick to the core but we had to put a brave face on for Madelyn. We told her the treatment had been cancelled but nothing else. She asked about Patrick but eventually over time she forgot about him. Devastated by the betrayal, my dad devoted the rest of his time to caring for Madelyn and I set about repairing the damage they had done, I found a way to use my talents to raise funds in a very different way."

"That's when you became a criminal," Shaggy noted.

"I wasn't proud about it, but my experience with Patrick, it desensitised me. I realised very quickly that I was good at it, stealing things to sell on. We were back to rock bottom financially but it kept us ticking over, kept a roof over our heads. Dad never questioned where the money came from, I think deep down he knew, but our need was too desperate now.

And it was that desperation that led me to saying yes to Fred's crazy kidnapping proposal," she paused, smiling a little now. "A decision that had such long standing ramifications on my life. There were a lot of bumps along the road but it changed the trajectory, it really did turn my life around.

Now, every bit of money I give to dad for Maddy, has been earned and slowly but surely the pot has been growing again. It will take a while but we'll get there, I know we will.

So that's it, that's my story, I know it was a long time in the making and believe me I've wanted to tell you many times before now it's just that..."

Shaggy stopped her, placing both hands on her cheeks before kissing her very softly.

Surprised, she didn't respond at first, but then with tears streaming down both cheeks she relished the feel of his mouth on hers again for those magical few seconds.

He pulled away, his thumbs clumsily wiping away her tears before he again held her face in his hands, he looked her deeply in the eye.

"You are an incredible woman Velma Dinkley," he declared, causing her to tear up again. He kissed her on the forehead. "I want you to know I will always be here for you no matter what. I've got your back for life."

She closed her eyes, welcoming the chance to snuggle into his embrace.

"Thank you Shaggy," she whispered.

Shaggy hugged her even more tightly.

They spent the rest of the flight in quiet companionship, with either or both occasionally dozing off, but with Velma always wrapped in Shaggy's embrace. When the time came to leave the plane as they landed in Los Angeles, Shaggy led her off by the hand, feeling a huge weight lifted off his shoulders.

Their relationship was not suddenly going to change overnight and he knew there would be time for further discussion about where this left them as a couple, but at least he understood now. Her cagey evasiveness, her bailing out on him as they got closer, it all made perfect sense, she had had her heart broken in the most brutal way imaginable; if he was ever fortunate enough to cross paths with this Patrick, he knew he wouldn't be responsible for his actions.

They walked together through the busy airport, eager to be reunited with Scooby. Once again, they were confronted by news reports of what had happened in Coolsville, which they tried to ignore but the headlines were damning and unavoidable. Shaggy squeezed Velma's hand tightly, knowing she too had seen it.

Latest confirmation is now 12 dead.

Velma's stomach recoiled in horror. Twelve. She knew Shaggy would undoubtedly be thinking the same thing; were Stella and Will among them?

They walked hand in hand to collect Scooby who was beyond delighted to be freed from his crate. He wagged his tail joyfully when he saw Shaggy and Velma, and raced to his master's side, skidding to a halt just before his feet when he saw Velma's hand clasped tightly in Shaggy's. Already happy to have his freedom again, he was even more thrilled at this development, given the frosty atmosphere that had marked their departure in Hawaii.

He waited until most other passengers had gone before raising his eyebrows comically at the couple.

"Rar rou rack rogether?!" he asked hopefully.

Velma blushed and Shaggy smiled before replying.

"No Scoob, we're not actually back together," he confirmed, "but we are...we're..." he looked to Velma for some help.

"We're good," she replied contentedly. "We're good Scooby," she smiled up at Shaggy who beamed in response.

The three of them headed for the exit, immediately met with an icy blast of cold air as the automatic doors opened. Shaggy was grateful he had the foresight to wear pants in preparation for the cooler California air.

"Man, I miss Hawaii," he complained as they took their place in the huge queue for taxi's.

"Re roo," Scooby whined, shivering against the cold.

It took a long while to get to the front and even when they did, they faced further problems. Most of the cabs that pulled in took one look at Scooby and shook their head firmly, indicating Velma and Shaggy to step aside for the next set of dog-free passengers. It wasn't uncommon; because of Scooby's size, many cabs refused to take him, it's why they rarely used them.

After allowing about seven set of passengers ahead of them, finally a cab pulled in and nodded his confirmation he would take Scooby in his car.

"I can take you guys, but it's gonna cost you extra for the mutt okay?"

Scooby's nostrils flared, Mutt! How rude!

But Shaggy was already gratefully opening the door to get Velma inside, only too aware of how cold she was.

"Thanks man!" Shaggy said as he and Scooby climbed in too.

"Sure, no problem, where to kids?" the cabbie smiled as they departed.

"Coolsville," Velma said, and watched his expression in the mirror visibly change.

"Oh kids I'm sorry, we're not allowed to take anyone into Coolsville today."

"Seriously?" Shaggy asked.

"Seriously, after what happened and with the curfew in place, my bosses are not taking any fares to Coolsville."

"The curfew?" Velma asked him in confusion.

"We've been out of town for a while," Shaggy explained at the cabbie's skeptical look at them in the mirror.

"Ah. Well yeah, even before the bombing there was a curfew in place, we were cutting down on fares in and out anyway, after that, my bosses imposed a blanket ban, no fares to Coolsville, sorry about that."

"It's okay, just drop us back at the pick-up, we could try our luck with other companies."

The cabbie nodded and prepared to turn around when an idea struck him. "Hey, is Oakland bus station any good for you? I'm happy to take you as far as there and then you should still be able to get a bus back to Coolsville. As far as I know they haven't pulled public transport out, yet just private ones?"

"Thank you, that would be perfect," Shaggy replied, knowing it was anything but, taking Scooby on a Greyhound was never his idea of fun but he knew beggars couldn't be choosers right now.

They arrived at Oakland bus depot just as it was beginning to turn dark and Shaggy paid the driver, with a generous tip for taking Scooby.

"Good luck kids," he said cheerfully as he drove back towards L.A.

Shaggy, Velma and Scooby made their way wearily to the front desk of the mostly empty bus station.

They got to the window, where the bored-looking woman acknowledged them with a sigh.

"Yes?"

"We need two tickets and a pet pass for Coolsville please," Shaggy asked politely.

The woman's eyes bugged out a little, before she snorted in derision.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, we're serious, is a pet pass for our dog really that much of a problem?" Velma asked annoyed.

"Honey," the woman smirked, "it's not your dog that's the problem, it's your destination."

"Are buses no longer calling at Coolsville?"

"Oh no honey, we're still offering services to Coolsville for the time being but no one's really taking us up on it. Are you sure that's where you want to go?"

The woman's derisive attitude had now turned into something approaching concern.

"Yes, we're sure," Shaggy confirmed. "Is there a bus soon?"

"Sure, there's a bus that leaves in about fifteen minutes if you're really set on going, pretty sure you'll be the only passengers though."

She sold them the tickets and they walked to the completely deserted bus stand where the Greyhound marked 'Coolsville' stood, engine idling.

"Wow, she wasn't joking was she," Velma commented as they approached the bus.

The driver put down his newspaper in surprise at the incoming passengers, but hopped down to help them with their luggage.

"Really didn't think I'd see anyone for this service," he said, but let them board without further comment.

Shaggy took the opportunity to stretch out on a double seat to himself while Scooby lay across another.

Velma sat up looking out the window, feeling incredibly uneasy about both the cabbie and the bus station attendant's reaction on hearing they wanted to travel to Coolsville. Had it already become that much of a 'no go zone?' Were things really that bad? The cabbie had said there was a curfew in place.

"God I miss the van," Shaggy commented as he struggled to get comfortable on the bus. "I can't wait to be reunited with her when we get back."

Velma smiled at the pronoun, she too couldn't wait to be back in the Mystery Machine again.

She rested her head against the window, dozing a little until both Shaggy and the driver made her sit up in alarm.

"Woah," Shaggy exclaimed loudly and the driver also let out a low whistle.

"Gosh, would you look at that," he commented and Velma snapped to attention to do just that.

She knew from the sight of some familiar buildings they were fast approaching the Coolsville boundary line now and as they did, lights suddenly filled the opposite side of the road and her eyes widened.

As far as the eye could see, a line of traffic snaked along the road, unmoving, bumper to bumper, rear-view lights lit up, headed in only one direction.

Out of Coolsville.

As the bus continued along the empty carriageway towards Coolsville, Velma and Shaggy nervously eyed the occupants of cars facing away from their town. Many had suitcases strapped to the top of the cars, it was like a scene from a zombie apocalypse or some other disaster movie.

"Phew," the driver shouted to them, "that is some exodus, are you sure you kids want to go in? I'm going straight back to Oakland after I've picked up. Heard we might be pulling out of Coolsville by tomorrow morning."

"We're going in," Velma declared and the driver nodded.

They all peered out the window as they finally entered the town, it was eerie how deserted the streets were. It was early evening, but even the darkened nights didn't normally deter children being out playing at this time, but the basketball courts were empty. The traffic normally atrocious at this time was almost non-existent. Nobody was walking the streets.

The Greyhound rattled along, Velma and Shaggy's sense of foreboding increasing, they pulled into the station and gathered their belongings ready to get off. As they descended the final step, his hand found hers again in reassurance.

"Oh wow," she murmured.

In front of them, almost as long as the queue of cars leaving the town boundaries, was a huge queue of people waiting desperately for the bus to take them out of Coolsville.

As they passed the line, the only people walking into the bus station, they were met with stares and hostility.

"Are you insane!?" Someone shouted out, causing Shaggy to flinch.

"If the cops can't protect us, what hope do we even have?" shouted another.

"Coolsville is gone, it's lost." A woman with a little boy in tow declared desolately. "That's why I'm getting out, you would be wise to as well."

"It's not lost," Velma muttered as they passed but the woman still heard.

She laughed in scorn, "Really? It's not? And who's going to save it now, you?"

Her little boy had been clinging to his mum's legs and suddenly looked up at Shaggy, Velma and Scooby as they passed, his little face suddenly breaking out in a grin.

He chased after them, causing his mum to scream in alarm.

"Archie! Come back here this instant Archie!" she shouted as she scrambled after him.

Archie tugged at the bottom of Shaggy's T-shirt, "excuse me mister!" he said animatedly.

Shaggy gave him his full attention as his mum scooped him into her arms.

"It is you!" Archie said, his eyes shining in excitement. "I knew it was you! Mom, it's them, it's Mystery Inc! They're back!"

His mom regarded Shaggy and Velma coolly, they had become something of local celebrities so it wasn't too much of a surprise that they had been recognised.

"Oh yes, I see," she said. "Nice of you to show your faces at last...well some of you anyway," she sniffed, noting the absence of the other two members.

Archie squirmed free of his mother's grasp again to hug Shaggy, looking up at him with hope all over his little face.

"Please save Coolsville," he pleaded, "you've got to save Coolsville. I know you can do it!"

Both Velma and Shaggy were visibly moved by little Archie's pleas and his mother softened a little, as she took his hand again.

"You're pretty much his heroes," she explained. "You guys are like real life superheroes for him, he used to keep a scrapbook of all your adventures, he was pretty crushed when you left."

She ushered him away then, seeing the line move along, leaving Velma and Shaggy struggling with their emotions.

"I had no idea we had had such an impact," he said with a little bit of pride in his voice.

"The whole town seems to be evacuating," Velma commented, "how could we even think we will able to help?"

"Come on Velma," Shaggy said, taking her hand once again. "You heard little Archie, we're Mystery Inc."

"This is like nothing we've ever faced before, we don't know what we're letting ourselves in for, plus there's only us three."

"Velma you are anything but defeatist, I'm supposed to be the 'fraidy cat'."

"And are you? Afraid I mean?"

"I'm absolutely pooping my pants Velma," Shaggy admitted, his puerile choice of language causing Scooby to snigger and Velma to smile. "But you heard Archie," he said, as they passed under the 'Welcome to Coolsville' sign. "We've got a town to save."