The gang had agreed to call the second anything was wrong and the others would rush to help as soon as possible. Shaggy and Scooby were now at the cave on the beach, holding a flashlight each, Scooby's being attached by a head device so he could still walk. "Like, after you Scoob." Shaggy gestured towards the cave. Scooby shot him a blank look and rolled his eyes. "What ro Rooby Snacks?" Shaggy chuckled and handed him two Scooby Snacks to which he devoured immediately. He also popped two in his own mouth. With Scooby taking the lead, Shaggy walked slowly behind him, making sure he pointed the flashlight every possible way so they didn't miss anything. The cave was narrow inside, often Shaggy had to crouch due to his lanky appearance. "This cave looks like it could go on forever!" Shaggy said when pointing the flashlight in front of them, revealing what looked to be an ongoing tunnel with no light at the end.
Meanwhile, Fred and Daphne had parked up at Trowburg's gas station. Fred turned the engine off but didn't move to get out. "Is everything okay Freddie?" Daphne asked, noticing his hesitation which wasn't like Fred. He looked blankly out of the window before turning to face her.
"I'm scared Daph." Her face softened as he spoke because Fred Jones was never one for admitting his fears, especially when he always acted so brave and heroic in front of her. "I'm scared too Freddie. But we're Mystery Inc and we always figure it out in the end. We got this." She assured him whilst placing taking his hand and caressing it. Fred managed a small smile, though her gestures were sweet, she didn't realise exactly what he meant. Yes, he was scared at what was to come with the mystery, but Fred had other things on his mind. "I'm scared about the baby." He mumbled, half not wanting her to hear what he said, but of course she did. Daphne beamed hearing him talk about it, even if it was because he was confessing his fears. She feared the worst about telling Fred, in case he didn't want it, or broke up with her, but here he was supporting her and admitting it was scaring him. "Freddie, it's normal to be scared about that too! We're young, we have school and mysteries to think of so I understand why. I'm scared too but I know we'll manage, and I know you'll be an amazing dad." Fred smiled at her words and pulled her into his embrace. They stayed like that for a few minutes, his arms wrapped around her as they faced the front window on the van. He kissed the top of her head and rested his head against hers. "We should probably go inside." Daphne suggested. Fred nodded but hadn't wanted to go in yet even though he knew they had to. They shared a tender kiss before climbing out of the van and walking up to the front door.
Shaggy and Scooby felt like they had been walking for hours when in reality it had only been about 15 minutes. They had approached a sharp turn in the cave which finally looked as though it led to somewhere! A yellow glow appeared at the end of the tunnel. Despite being relieved that it led somewhere, Shaggy couldn't help but feeling butterflies in his stomach at the thought of what was down there. Unfortunately, this was interrupted by a low and deep growling sound which echoed through the cave. "Scooby Doo! Like please tell me that was your stomach…" Shaggy nervously laughed when looking at his canine companion. Scooby flinched and turned around to find none other than the frog creature standing a short distance behind them and nearing very close very fast. "Ruh Roh!" Scooby zoomed as fast as his paws could carry him, not even waiting for Shaggy to catch up. "Scoob!" Shaggy hurriedly made after his pal, looking behind his shoulder every few seconds to see how close the creature was.
Fred pushed the door open, not bothering to knock. He held Daphne's hand and made sure she was close to him. Shining the flashlight around the familiar room, everything appeared to be exactly how they left it those days previous. "It just looks normal, I mean definitely creepier than other gas stations but nothing leading us to Grubwort." Daphne said, sighing and feeling like they were being defeated. "It doesn't make sense, surely it can't be a coincidence that Grubwort and Trowburg are acronyms of each other." Fred commented, still looking around the room for anything at all that could be indicative of their current mystery. "What are you two doing here!" A voice yelled from behind the desk. Daphne and Fred jumped in fear, not realising anyone else was in there. When they turned around it was the crazy older lady who had warned them to stay away when they had arrived! "We're so sorry Ma'am. We didn't realise anyone was here!" Fred began, looking to Daphne for some help. "Yeah we're really sorry but we're trying to solve the lake monster mystery."
"And you thought coming here would help?" The old lady said, raising an eyebrow at the teens.
"Well we realised that Grubwort spelled backwards is Trowburg. Wanda Grubwort as in the evil witch who we think has possessed our friend Velma." Fred explained, seeming sceptical of the old lady which she picked up on. She sighed and seemed to soften. "I tried to warn you young ones days ago. Yes I admit it okay. I'm a distant relative of Wanda. I changed by surname so that no one would know, for obvious reasons. My family didn't want shame upon us for the horrid witch Wanda was. I'll help look around for any clues in here since you think this place is of significance, though I haven't noticed any strange goings on." Fred, Daphne and Mrs Grubwort (Trowburg) began searching across the bookshelves and collection of random things in the room. Fred stumbled upon a door with a brass doorknob on it which was set at the back of the room. "What's in there?" Fred asked, causing Mrs Grubwort and Daphne to join him. "That's just an old storage cupboard we used to use, but we stopped using it because it would always get stuck and my grandson got trapped in there once. We never got around to buying another door." As quickly as she spoke, Mrs Grubwort then realised that the door was ever-so-slightly ajar. Something she hadn't seen for the year in which it had been stuck. "That's odd." Daphne simply commented. Fred nudged the door slightly, and what was inside appeared underwhelming. It was exactly as described, an old storage cupboard that was completely empty. "Well, I guess we have nothing." Fred said, holding his hands behind his head. He was at a loss at what to do next. "Hold on a second. I don't remember this being there…" Mrs Grubwort sounded confused as she leaned towards the wooden floor and pulled what seemed to be a thick piece of rope. Without warning, a square patch of the floor began to rise. "A trapdoor!" Daphne exclaimed, helping the old woman to open it full. The three of them peered down but it was pitch black. "Well Daph, there's our lead."
Shaggy and Scooby finally reached the glow at the end of the tunnel. The frog creature seemed to have slightly slowed down behind them, allowing them a chance to catch their breath from running so fast. When they looked around what they expected to be the end of the tunnel, Shaggy and Scooby became disappointed. What they saw before them was a part of the cave that was much higher, Shaggy could stand up straight and lift his arms up and not reach the top. It was quite wide too. In front of them they saw three different routes, and pondered which one to follow. Shaggy scratched his beard whilst Scooby gave each one a quick sniff. "Scoob, I can't believe I'm gonna say this but- I think we should split up." Scooby looked at him in shock, but knew it was probably for the best. "Ri'll take rhis one." He said, opting for the cave opening on the left whereas Shaggy took the one on the right, leaving the middle one free. They hoped the frog creature didn't see their decisions and took the middle one.
Daphne and Fred began climbing down the sand coloured ladder from the trapdoor at the gas station. Fred told Mrs Grubwort to stay and call the authorities, hopefully they would believe them. They knew they were onto something here and they might need the back up. When Fred reached the bottom of the ladder, he helped Daphne down. They turned around to find a yellow glow at the end, not too far away from where they were, probably the length of a tennis court. "Stay close Daph." Fred spoke quietly, not wanting to be noticed by whoever might be down there. Daphne wrapped her arms around Fred's right arm, they moved at a cautious pace but it only took them a few minutes to get to the light. Unbeknownst to Daphne and Fred, they had arrived at the exact same part of the cave that Scooby and Shaggy were at around ten minutes earlier. "Daph, do you think you can choose your women's intuition to choose which tunnel we should go into?" Fred was half-joking, knowing their fate within each of the tunnel was down to luck. "Let's take the middle." She responded, hoping that she had made the right choice.
A/N- I have a few more chapters saved to my laptop but want to double check things before I upload. I'm currently going through a phase of writers block for the chapter I'm working on so hopefully I get some ideas pretty quick! Enjoy, don't forget to review, the reviews are really encouraging for me. Also, if you have any criticisms/ways of improving for future chapters let me know and I'll try to include them.