Fred took a large breath and returned back under the water. He noticed that were the pipe had burst, a large piece of it remained on the floor, next to where the water was still coming out. With no other options, this had to work. Part of the pipe was still attached to the main machinery, so he had to pull with all he could to separate it. He knew he was losing oxygen, but he needed to act fast and get them the hell out of there. He placed a foot against the wall, both hands gripping the pipe and pulled as hard as he could. It had finally loosened, allowing him to twist it and come undone. He picked up the medium sized tube that was then laying against the ground and resurfaced, much to the relief of Daphne who was growing increasingly more worried. He had been under what felt like over five minutes, but in reality it probably wasn't even one.
Fred glided in the water over to the circular window of the door, holding the pipe tightly and began to hit it.
"Come on, come on!" Fred said, determinedly, forcing the pipe into the window. He hit it with force, three times in a row. It seemed to be working better than the previous attempts. He was beginning to feel defeated again, after another three hits with no luck. He looked back at Daphne, then to her stomach before turning his attention back to the window "COME ON!" He yelled forcing the pipe into the window, with as much force as his body would allow him. He repeated this stronger method three times before the glass shattered, falling on the other side of the door and the water began pouring out, making the water in the room finally go down.
"Freddie you did it! You saved us! All of us." He moved over to Daphne and embraced her whilst they waited for most of the water to drain out. "That was close. Way too close Daph. This mystery is getting really dangerous I don't know if we can risk anything like that happening again, especially with you." Fred pulled her close whilst he said this, kissing the top of her head and holding onto her like he never wanted to let go. "We have to. We can't give up now. We'll just have to be extra safe."
Some time later, Fred and Daphne returned to the room, where they met with Shaggy and Scooby, still leaving Velma undisturbed. They figured she would join them if she was feeling up to it. Fred and Daphne explained what happened, they decided to tell Shaggy and Scooby about the baby, considering Velma already knew. They were completely shocked, but happy for the couple and seemed very protective of Daphne already.
"So what did you guys find?" Fred asked whilst Daphne began putting all their clues on the table.
"We saw the witch hanging around the trees and stuff not too far from the spa. She was digging but then disappeared into the darker part. Scoob and I went over and he dug up this. I figure she was looking for it." Shaggy put the moonstone on the table and Fred and Daphne closely inspected it. "Wait a minute." Daphne suddenly realised something. She looked through the newspaper articles that she had saved using the waterproof purse. "We were just about to read this but then the water started to fill up." She showed the others one article. Fred recalled reading it but not all of it.
"It says Grubwort used moonstones as the magic in her staff. So it isn't just the staff that is magical, but the moonstones are needed to power it?" Fred questioned and the rest of the group nodded in agreement. "Like, Velma and I found that one on the beach when we first explored there. She really loved it." Shaggy said, with a goofy smile on his face, remembering the time they had shared. Daphne however, had a very different look on her face. "Gang…" she hesitated "Velma is the witch."
"Daph are you crazy?!" Shaggy exclaimed, looking puzzled as to why Daphne would say such a thing. Fred and Scooby didn't speak, instead waiting for an explanation. "Think about it, the clues have been under our noses the entire time. Shaggy you said she got sick that time at the beach, that was when you found the very first moonstone. She wasn't there any of the times that the creature attacked, that the witch showed up and she spilled her tea on the computers when we were about to reveal the witch's identity!" Suddenly, everyone in the room looked at Daphne as if she was the smartest person alive. She was right. Daphne had solved it. "Daphne you're right! How could we have missed those clues. Guys remember we found Velma at the beach this morning. Sasha (the blonde girl) said that she saw a figure near the caves at the beach. Daph you found the cloak with paint from the boat on. The very boat that we almost died in." Fred added to Daphne's clues and everything began to come together. Shaggy looked upset but he knew they were right. "Rand Relma had rarts ron her hands." The gang looked at Scooby as he spoke and realised he was right. They had seen clear evidence of Velma in witch form with the grotesque warts across her arms.
The gang pondered for a few moments, as to what their next move should be. Fred, despite being the unofficial leader couldn't even think of anything. Confronting Velma would be no use, especially if the spirit of Wanda Grubwort had possessed her, heck she most likely wouldn't be aware of it. Shaggy was aimlessly looking through one of the books that Velma had been reading on one of the previous nights, hoping to find anything that could decide their next move. Suddenly, his face lit up as he made his way over to the mirror that was across the room. The others looked at him, raising an eyebrow wondering why now of all times was Shaggy, possibly the scruffiest member of Mystery Inc, admiring himself in the mirror. "Like, guys… check this out." Scooby was the first to join Shaggy in front of the mirror, but was completely oblivious what was going on. . Fred clapped him on the back. "No way, Grubwort backwards is Trowburg, the name of the gas station from the night we got here!"
"Shaggy! You're a genius!" Daphne complimented, catching onto what the lanky teen was staring at
So they had a lead, but they didn't have a plan of action. They returned to their seats, now determined to find any information on how save Velma and solve this mystery. Shaggy continued reading the book, hoping he would be able to decipher anymore clues. Scooby had decided to go and check on Velma, the last thing they wanted was to her to realised they knew what was going on if the Wanda Grubwort part of her was in control. Fred and Daphne were sitting next to each other, going over with fine detail, every single newspaper article they had recovered. "So we know about the moonstones being a source of power and we know that Velma is the one who has been doing all this. But how? Why?" Fred asked, not really expecting an answer but more just vocalising his thoughts. "Well if the moonstones are the source of power which are used in the staff, as soon as Velma picked up that first moonstone her and Shaggy found on the beach, Grubwort must've possessed her." Daphne explained, showing the group an article dated 1965 where someone claimed to have had an encounter with someone possessed by the powerful witch. "They took Wilma Groves to an asylum, no one believed her…"
"What are we gonna do?" Shaggy asked nervously. He didn't want anything bad to happen to Velma whilst she was possessed by the witch. "I don't know Shag. We need to go back to Trowburg's but I'm reluctant to do that until we know what her plan is. We could do without any more near-death experiences." Fred turned his eyes to Daphne when saying the last part, putting his hand on hers, resting them on her thigh. Scooby came running in the room, interrupting the moment and frantically trying to speak. "RUYS! RELMA RISNT THERE." It took the others a moment to process what he was saying but then they realised and became wide eyed.
"You don't think she went to Trowburg's do you?" Daphne asked the group.
"But what's so significant about that place. What would a witch want with a gas station?" Fred responded, unable to provide an explanation.
"What about the cave on the beach? You know where Daph found the cloak, maybe she could be headed there and not Trowburg's." The gang looked to Shaggy as he spoke, they were dumbfounded that he had such an idea as he was usually the one to shy away and run from anything like this. "Well, I hate to say it gang… but it looks like we're gonna have to split up again." Fred declared, running a hand through his hair in a way that he only did when he was stressed. He would rather them stay as a group in case anything bad happened again but they needed to explore both places, it would take too long to do one then the other and who knows what Velma would be doing by then. "Shaggy, Scooby you take the cave. I'll go to Trowburg's…" Fred began but the others looked at him confused.
"Uh Freddie- what about me?" The redhead asked, expecting him to have suggested they pair off together like always. "Daph I don't want to put you at risk. What happened on the boat was scary enough. We have no idea what she's capable of and I need to keep you safe."
"But you can't go alone or you won't be safe! I will not raise this baby alone Fred Jones." The tone of voice was one that you couldn't argue with, in normal circumstances anyway but this was serious to Fred. "Please Daphne. I'll be fine." Daphne shook her head, no way would she let him go alone.
"If I'm not going then neither are you. Then I guess Velma will stay this way forever. The decision is yours." Daphne said, knowing it was absolutely not a decision because no one would agree to Velma staying as a witch forever. She had been so scared at the thought of losing Fred in the boat earlier that she couldn't bare the thought of him going somewhere without her. Fred knew he had to back down so he just managed an 'Okay." Arguing with Daphne about this was useless, and deep down Fred knew it was too dangerous to go alone.