The trio wasted no time making their way back to the Enigma Machine.
"Alright gang, this is it!" Daphne said. "Our biggest mystery ever! We are going to fight real demons! Now let's find that Rankor guy!"
"But Daphne, how can we possibly find a shadow demon in a dark spooky forest?" asked Shaggy. "He could be anywhere!"
"Yeah! Reven in the van!" Scooby added.
"Don't be silly guys, he's not in the van." Daphne assured them.
Little did our heroes know that Rankor was already in the van, hiding in the walls.
"Fools..." The demon thought to himself as Daphne started the van.
As soon as Daphne started up the van, Rankor used his powers to put himself inside of the Enigma Machine, which caused it glow on the outside.
Meanwhile, Flim Flam went back to the academy to tell Logan and Pierre what had happened.
"...and that's when we come to now." He finished explaining.
"I knew it wasn't something good." Pierre remarked.
"And what do you propose we do about it?" asked Logan.
"I suggest we try to contact or go find Vincent." Flim said. "After all, he was the one who was there when we dealt with the commotion surrounding the Chest Miss Grimwood has handed to those guys."
"And where do you suppose he hangs out at?" Logan folded his arms. "We can't expect to find some powerful warlock shopping for groceries now, can we?"
"Well, in most stories, warlocks live in the woods, so my guess is that he lives somewhere deep in the woods." Flim Flam deduced. "Either that, or another dimension."
"I guess the deep in the woods part is much easier for us." Pierre remarked. "After all, I don't suppose we have some sort of teleportation device that can transport us to another dimension and find this warlock?"
"And what do you propose we do about it?" asked Logan.
"Well, in most stories, warlocks live in the woods, so my guess is that he lives somewhere deep in the woods." Flim Flam deduced. "Either that, or another dimension."
"I guess the deep in the woods part is much easier for us." Pierre remarked. "After all, I don't suppose we have some sort of teleportation device that can transport us to another dimension and find this warlock?"
"But that still doesn't give us a clue on where exactly can we find him in the woods." Logan added. "After all, the woods covers a really large area."
"Well, those people that I saw in that red van were on their way into the woods, so maybe they're on their way to find Vince." Flim Flam suggested. "All we have to do is follow them and they might lead us to him."
"And how do you know they're going to find him?" asked Logan.
"They were talking to Miss Grimwood and I saw him on her crystal ball." Flim Flam explained. "My guess is that she sent them to find him to fix this."
"That's...not the most outlandish thing I've heard you say." Logan remarked.
Pierre nodded in agreement.
"So come on, let's go!" said Flim Flam.
The boys ran out of the rec room and into the woods, following the tire tracks of the van.
Meanwhile, Colonel Calloway was in his office working on some papers when somebody barged into the room.
"Are you Colonel Calloway?!" The man demanded.
"Who wants to know?" asked the colonel.
"Me, Lou Strickland!" said the man. "I believe you have some things that belong to me!"
"What sort of things are you talking about here?" The colonel barked as he stood up, clearly unimpressed by the intrusion. "This is a military academy, not a lost and found, unless you're looking to enlist in the Army, that is."
"I don't want to enlist in your stinkin army!" Strickland retorted. "I want you to hand over the boys that you stole from me!"
"What boys?" asked the colonel.
"The boys that have clearly came here to get away from what they're supposed to be doing in my orphanage." Strickland exasperated.
"That a fact?" Calloway drawled. "You have any proof or documentation, explicitly stating that the boys belonged to you?"
"Well...I...uh seem to have left it back at the orphanage!" Strickland gulped.
"Well then, unless you have some actual proof or anything, those boys do not belong to you and I am going to have to order you to leave!" Colonel Calloway pressed a button on the intercom. "Security!"
Two large and brawny soldiers grabbed Strickland and literally threw him out of the camp and into the woods.
"And stay out!" One of the soldiers barked at Strickland before slamming the gate shut.
As Strickland picked himself up off the ground, he noticed Flim Flam, Logan and Pierre following the van's tracks into the woods.
"Bah! Who needs those documents when I've got that pesky trio right in front of me?" Strickland remarked.
As soon as he picked himself up off the ground, he started to secretly follow the trio into the woods.
Meanwhile, the gang was still in the woods looking for the Rankor.
"Jeepers, this sure is one spooky forest." Daphne remarked.
"Yeah, perfect for a shadow monster like thy Rankor guy." Shaggy shivered.
Scooby kept whimpering when all of a sudden, he saw Rankor's face appearing on the floor of the van.
"Aaahhh!" He jumped into Shaggy's arms.
"Scooby, like what's wrong, bud?" asked Shaggy.
Scooby's teeth were chattering in fright as his tail pointed towards where he spotted Rankor's face.
"Huh?" Shaggy looked down and saw Rankor's face. "Zoinks!"
Daphne stopped the car. "Guys, what's wrong? You look like you saw a ghost or something."
Before the guys could reply, the doors to the van doors suddenly locked by themselves and the lights started blinking.
"What the?" Daphne gasped. "What's up with the van?"
"About the shadow demon, Daph..." Shaggy stuttered. "Like, I think it's been with us the whole time!"
"What makes you say that?" asked Daphne.
Rankor's image appeared on the GPS screen and he started manically laughing.
"Call it a hunch." Scooby gulped.
Daphne turned towards the GPS screen and spotted Rankor's imagine.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Rankor laughed. "Now that I have control over your van, I can destroy the Chest of Demons! But first, I have some other things to take care of!"
"Aaahhhh!" The gang screamed.
Back outside, the boys had finally caught up to the Enigma Machine in the woods.
"There it is, guys!" Flim Flam exclaimed. "Now all we have to do-"
"Not so fast, boys!" Someone said from behind. "You're coming with me!"
The boys turned around and saw Strickland standing right before them.
"Mr. Strickland!" They gasped.
"You really think you're getting away from me, huh?" Strickland demanded.
Flim was about to ask how Strickland managed to get away, but then he remembered the reasoning behind the gang's rush to find Vincent and capture the demons.
"Now, be a good little boy and come with me!" Strickland grinned evilly.
"Help! Help!" The boys shouted as they ran to the van.
"You're not getting away that easy!" Strickland ran after them.
Back at the van, the trio were trying to figure out what to do as Rankor continues to drive the van.
They tried to unlock the back door, but it was locked tight. But before they could kick it open, Rankor used the seatbelts to hold them hostage.
"Now, to destroy that prison from whence I was trapped in for so long!" He cackled as he used a seatbelt to grab a nearby mallet.
"I told Dee-Dee not to leave her mallet in there." Daphne remarked.
But just as Rankor was about the smash the Chest of Demons to smithereens, something hit the van, causing it to shake.
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed. "What was that?"
Rankor was caught off guard by the shake, which saw him losing his balance and dropping the mallet.
Back outside, Flim-Flam and his friends were climbing up the van, trying to get away from Strickland.
"Get back here, you stupid brats!" He yelled as he ran after them.
"Never!" They screamed.
"Fine!" He growled. "You're coming back with me whether you like it or not!"
Strickland charged right at the van and began banging it, causing the van to shake again. When the boys held on tight, he started pushing down the van.
"Heh, heh, heh!" He laughed. "Looks like you've got nowhere to go."
At the same time, the shaking caused Rankor to loose control of the seatbelts, allowing the trio to break free.
"We're free!" Daphne exclaimed. "Quick, grab the chest!"
Scooby grabbed the chest, but just when he was about to open it, the van tipped over, causing Rankor to fall right out of the car's system.
"Now!" Daphne exclaimed.
Shaggy and Scooby opened up the chest and Daphne kicked Rankor right into the chest, sealing him inside.
"One down, who knows how many more to go." Shaggy said.
"Before we think about that, we need to see why the van tipped over." Daphne said.
The trio climbed out of the van and saw the boys lying down on the ground from the fall.
"Zoinks! Look!" Shaggy pointed to them. "M-m-more monsters!"
"Jeepers!" Daphne exclaimed. "Those aren't monsters, Shaggy. They're little boys!"
The gang walked over to see if the boys were okay.
"Are you boys alright?" Shaggy asked in concern as they approached the three boys.
Scooby sniffed them and started licking their faces.
"Huh? What?" Flim Flam woke up. "Wh-what's going on? I fell down and everything went black. Logan, Pierre, are you guys okay?"
"I think I broke my everything..." Pierre groaned as he felt for his glasses.
"Well, this pounding headache's a pain." Logan rubbed his forehead.
"Where did you little guys come from?" Daphne helped the boys get up. "And what were you doing on our van, anyways?"
Before the boys could speak, Strickland approached them.
"Hand them over!" He demanded.
"And who might that be?" asked Daphne.
"I think I know the answer already." Shaggy said, judging from the terrified looks on the boys' faces. "Like, someone who they must be trying to get away from."
Although Scooby didn't exactly get Shaggy's catch, there was something about Strickland that doesn't sit right with him, prompting him to get up and growl.
"Hand over those boys at once, they're mine!" Strickland demanded.
"You're their dad?" Daphne raised an eyebrow.
"No, I am their rightful guardian and I am taking them back with me, so hand them over at once or face the consequences!" Strickland roared.
"How do we know this isn't a trick?" asked Shaggy.
"Yeah." Daphne agreed as she placed her hands on her hips. "You got any proof?"
"Like any documentation, perhaps?" Shaggy added as he folded his arms.
"It's none of your concern." Strickland snapped. "Now hand those brats over!"
Shaggy and Daphne glanced at each other briefly before they continued to stood their ground, prompting Strickland to walk towards them.
Without missing a beat, Scooby put himself between Strickland and the boys and growling viciously at Strickland.
"Your mutt doesn't scare me!" Strickland said as he stopped in his tracks, though Shaggy and Daphne can clearly see that Strickland looked very much intimidated by Scooby's vicious growl towards him.
"Bark! Bark! Bark!" Scooby barked.
"Aaahhh!" Strickland ran away, only to run into someone in front of him. "Watch where you're going, pal!"
"Maybe it's you who should be watching!" The man retorted.
"Oh yeah? Who says?" Strickland turned to see the man. It was Colonel Calloway. "Uh oh."
"I went to resume class, but it seems that three of my cadets were missing." He said. "And judging by the looks of things, I think I know what happened to them!"
"It wasn't me!" Strickland denied. "It was those meddling kids and their stupid dog!"
"Rog? Where?" Scooby looked around.
Immediately, Flim Flam stepped forward.
"He tried to kidnap us, but those two and their dog saved us, Colonel Calloway!" He said.
"It's true, sir!" said Logan. "He even knocked down their van!"
"Yeah, and we're borrowing it from a friend." Shaggy added.
"Don't listen to these hoodlums!" Strickland snapped. "They're nothing but a bunch of conniving troublemakers! That's why they are coming with me!"
"Don't listen to him, sir!" Flim-Flam pleaded. "He's insane!"
"Who are you gonna believe, colonel?" Strickland asked the colonel. "Me? Or a bunch of brats and their mutt?"
However, when he looked at the colonel in the eye, he saw the his eyes darkening.
"Give me one good reason why I should believe you, Mr. Strickland." Calloway demanded.
"Because I am the most handsome man in the world and because everything these three say is a load of malarkey, especially that kid with the mop-top!" Strickland pointed to Flim. "They seem innocent and childish, but they're horrible demon children! So hand them over to me and I will deal with them personally."
Calloway almost immediately scoffed. "You, handsome? You look more like you need more discipline than my cadets, including those three. Much, more, discipline, if you ask me."
Strickland's mouth dropped open. "But-"
"Now don't you interrupt me, Mr. Strickland." Calloway snapped. "Those three have been with me for some time, and I hardly have any trouble dealing with them since they showed up."
"Yeah, and unless you can anything about it, you can just leave." Shaggy added.
Strickland looked around and saw that everyone was glaring at him.
"Fine, you win this round, Calloway, but mark my words, you haven't seen the last of me!" He vowed and walked away.
After Strickland walked away, the others turned towards the colonel.
"Thanks for your help, colonel." said Daphne. "We never would've saved these little guys from that man had you not intervened."
"You're most welcome, but I wish I could say the same about your van." said Calloway.
"Yeah, well, it's our friends' van." Shaggy explained as they examined the overturned van. "But still."
"Well, as a way to thank you, me and my cadets will help you get it out of the mud." said Calloway.
In no time at all, the gang, the cadets, and Calloway got the Enigma Machine out of the mud.
"Thanks for helping us." said Daphne.
"Daphne, lemme ask you a question." said Flim Flam. "Weren't there a bunch of shadowy figures coming out of Miss Grimwood's school?"
"Maybe. You saw them?" Daphne asked.
"Yeah, it really caught our attention." Flim nodded. "What was all that?"
"Like, you wouldn't believe us if we tell you what it was." Shaggy said.
"I'm going to assume it had something to do with that chest over there?" Logan pointed to the Chest of Demons. "Don't worry. We've seen that chest before and if you told us, we'd believe you."
"Well cadets, time to get going." said the colonel. "You've already missed ten minutes of your exercises!"
As the cadets gathered, Shaggy, Scooby and Daphne turned towards the Chest of Demons.
"Well gang, it looks like this is only the beginning." Daphne said.
"Yeah, and I think that we ought to tell someone about it." Shaggy added.
Author's Note:
Stay tuned for the epilogue.
