Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all related characters and trademarks are copyright 2010 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network. I am not making any money off of writing this story, I am just a fan. Also this story will be similar to the 1980-82 Scary Scooby Funnies/Scooby and Scrappy Doo series but with Fred, Daphne and Velma instead of Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy Doo.
Chapter 1
The blue and green paint job of the van known as the Mystery Machine reflects off the moonlight coming from the night sky above as the famous vehicle travels through the German countryside; to anyone who would be out on a night like this it would seem a bit unusual to see a bright green van with red flowers traveling down the road, but for the vehicle's occupants, nights like this and areas like the one they are currently traveling through are all too common.
Inside the vehicle sat Fred Jones, Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley, three members of the world famous detective agency known as Mystery Inc.; they have solved cases all over the world, but at the moment the five are not solving mysteries, at least together.
The other two members of the group: Shaggy Rogers and a Great Dane named Scooby Doo are back home in Coolsville; right now things were pretty good for the duo, even when Fred and the girls contacted them about getting back together and solving mysteries again, they decided they wanted to take it easy and relax for a while.
Naturally with what the duo had accomplished and done in the past, the trio understood and went on their way, but not before uncovering the gang's old vehicle: the Mystery Machine, which had been in storage for quite some time at Daphne's mansion; after applying a fresh coat of paint and getting the van tuned up, the trio of sleuths headed out once again on the open road, although it wasn't the same without Shaggy and Scooby, but as the blond teenage leader of the group remarked it was going to take some getting used to and it would be just as fun as when all five solved mysteries together.
The trio had solved quite a few mysteries so far when one afternoon Fred received a call from his great Uncle Von Jones; he had recently moved from the United States to the Jones family's ancestral home, an ancient castle in Germany and was doing fine, that is until something or someone cut the conversation off, as the line suddenly went dead.
Fred, figuring that his uncle was in trouble then called up Daphne and Velma to see if they wanted to come along; the two girls agreed and Fred picked them up in the Mystery Machine, soon the trio headed for the Coolsville Airport and a flight to Europe; naturally because Fred wanted to take the Mystery Machine along, Daphne through her parents business connections was able to secure a private jet with a spacious cargo area for the van.
Several hours passed and the private jet carrying three members of Mystery Inc. landed at an airport in southeast Germany; after landing and retrieving the gang's luggage, Fred and the girls got into the Mystery Machine and the pilot opened the cargo door, allowing Fred to drive out of the plane and onto a small road leading away from the airport and onto the back roads of the German countryside.
At the moment Fred and the girls are continuing to make their way through the roads that led to the Jones family castle; both of the female members of the group peer outside the windows of the van and noticed that for once things seem pretty calm, there's no thunder, no rain, nothing that would hinder the group's travels, but as Mystery Inc. would soon learn, nothing is ever that simple.
The conversation inside the van now changes from the weather to Fred's relative; actually Daphne and Velma are quite curious as to why their blond friend's uncle wanted him to travel halfway around the world and to another continent, so they decided to question their comrade about Fred's uncle.
"Fred?" Daphne asked.
"Yes Daph" Fred replied.
"So what can you tell us about this uncle of yours anyway?" Daphne responded.
"Well, he's my uncle for one thing, his name's Jeff; actually his full name is Jeffrey Von Jones and he lives or lived on a huge house back in the US, remember we were going to visit him once; he was the one who lived near the coffin factory and had a museum" Fred replied.
"That's right; you wanted to visit him, but Scooby wanted to go to a dog show so we went there instead" Velma replied.
"You sure you're not too upset about seeing your uncle then Fred?" Daphne asked.
"Of course not, Scooby's a great dog and it was nice to do what he wanted to do for a change; although my hair certainly took a while to grow back after that dog groomer got done with me" Fred replied, cringing at the memory of him getting a new hairstyle, albeit reluctantly.
"Well at least it grew back, and at least you get to see your uncle again" Daphne commented.
"Yeah, too bad Shaggy and Scooby aren't here, they would have enjoyed my ancestral family home" Fred replied.
"I bet they would have, after all Shaggy and Scooby seem to really like mysteries, although they don't show it much" Daphne commented.
"Yeah, they would have probably went straight for the kitchen once we got there" Velma added, while she and Daphne giggled at the thought of their two cowardly teammates eating Fred's uncle out of house and castle.
"So Fred, why did your uncle want you to come all the way to Germany anyway?" Daphne wondered.
"Beats me Daphne, all he said was that he decided to move to my family's ancestral family home and that he was in some kind of trouble or danger, but before I could ask him about it more, the line went dead" Fred replied.
"Well I know whatever's going on, we can solve it" Velma remarked.
"We sure can, besides we've solved much more difficult mysteries then this" Fred added.
"Right, there's not a ghost or monster alive or dead that could defeat us" Daphne remarked.
So with that the Mystery Machine continued it's drive through the German back roads, however unknown to the occupants of the vehicle, a few seconds after they continued driving and a few hundred yards in back of them a strange black caped figure appeared on the road, the figure had long white fangs and blond hair; naturally the gang couldn't see this figure at the moment but eventually he would be visiting the trio and it would not be pleasant for all involved.
After driving about ten more minutes, the Mystery Machine drove through a long, winding road made of stone and a few bricks, at the end of the road, flanked by a series of large Fir trees there stood a large ancient looking castle with a several frightening looking stone gargoyles on the roof and next to the front door; the castle looked to have several hundred rooms and at least three or four floors by the size of it, at least that's what it looked like from the outside.
Daphne and Velma were quite puzzled as the van approached the large structure, but Fred wasn't, in fact as soon as the castle came into view he instantly recognized the place and was happy and surprised by what he saw.
"I don't believe it, I'm finally here; all my life I've wanted to see this and now I finally can: Jones Castle, my family's ancestral family home" Fred remarked, sounding a bit stunned and a little bit taken aback by the sight of the immense structure that was only about a dozen feet away.
"Jeepers, you mean this is Jones Castle?" Daphne asked.
"Sure is, this was where my ancestors lived; some of them even came over on the Mayflower in addition to the pilgrims from England" Fred explained.
"Jinkies, I didn't know that Fred" Velma replied, somewhat surprised at what the blond teen had told them.
"Yeah and a few of them came from Europe and settled in major cities like Milwaukee, Philadelphia and others; actually some of my ancestors helped found schools, hospitals and even a few libraries and fire departments" Fred remarked.
"Jeepers, that's impressive Fred, I never knew that; but how did you know all that?' Daphne asked.
"From family reunions; my parents and grandparents used to tell me stories about my ancestors coming here and doing all of that; actually I think I even have a couple relatives who play professional sports too" Fred commented.
"You're kidding" Daphne replied, somewhat surprised.
"Sure do, I have a couple of cousins who share the same name as me who play football and basketball, I forget whether they're third cousins or fourth cousins or something else" Fred explained.
"Jinkies, that's impressive Fred, I never knew that; we have to go to a game sometime" Velma commented.
"Velma, I never knew you liked pro sports, well other than hockey of course" Daphne replied.
"Well we have seen the Harlem Globetrotters play and that was pretty cool" Velma added.
"That's true" Daphne commented.
"Well girls, what do you say we get our luggage and head inside" Fred replied.
"Good idea Fred, besides I wouldn't want to stay out in the dark all night" Daphne remarked.
So with that the gang opened the back of the Mystery Machine and took out their belongings; the trio of detectives then brought everything they had with them to the front of the castle and prepared to enter the building, but first they needed to alert whoever was inside of their arrival, so Fred reached over and rang the doorbell, which sounded like it could raise the dead several times over.
"J-Jeepers! That doorbell might be one of the scariest things I've ever heard" Daphne commented.
"Daphne, I tend to agree; I'm surprised we haven't seen any ghosts yet" Velma added as both girls shivered in fright at the sound of the strange doorbell; after that, they quickly hid behind the blond teen leader of Mystery Inc. and did what Shaggy and Scooby usually did: mainly cower.
"Don't be ridiculous girls, there's nothing scary about a doorbell" Fred remarked.
"Well to tell you the truth, the doorbell's not the only thing that's scary about this place" Daphne commented.
"So what's the other thing that's scary, if you don't mind me asking?" Fred wondered.
"Daphne and I don't mind answering that Fred; basically if you want my opinion I think the castle's pretty frightening too" Velma replied.
"Knock it off girls, there's nothing frightening about this place; it's just my family's ancestral family home, besides there's hundreds of years of Jones family history here and I think it would be cool to explore it all" Fred commented.
While Fred, Daphne and Velma debated the merits of the Jones family ancestral castle and whether it was indeed haunted or not, they began to hear footsteps coming from inside the lavish structure; after a few more moments the trio noticed that the footsteps began to get louder and louder, that is until they heard the ancient wooden door of the castle open slowly, with a eerie sounding creak.
The fashionable and wealthy red haired member of the trio and the brunette haired intelligent member of the trio each held clung to one of Fred's arms for dear life and in sheer terror as the ancient door fully opened; standing in the doorway was a black haired man wearing what looked to be a black tuxedo and white dress pants.
Normally the sight of a man like this wouldn't be too frightening to Fred and the girls, but the fact that his face looked like something out of a nightmare, mainly pale white not to mention that fact that he might have been a double for Bela Lugosi made the normally brave trio of sleuths a bit nervous and a little scared.
"Yes? Can I help you?" the man said in a creepy sounding voice.
"Um yes, my-my name is Fred Jones, and these are my friends Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley; my Uncle Von Jones lives in this castle, he phoned me a few days ago and told me that he had moved here and that he was in some kind of trouble or danger, he's expecting me" Fred explained, while trying to control his fear of the strange individual.
"Ah yes, Master Frederick your uncle is looking forward to seeing you again" the man said.
"Great, but who are you? we would like to know who we're talking to" Fred asked.
"My name is Christopher Wilkins, I am the castle's caretaker and I assist your uncle in running the estate; now if you will please come inside, I can retrieve your luggage and bring it inside with me" the man explained.
"Alright" Fred replied, though somewhat reluctantly.
With that Mr. Wilkins walked outside of the castle doors and did as he said, mainly retrieving the trio of sleuths luggage, although considering what Daphne had brought, it wasn't easy; the middle aged black haired man struggled a little with the luggage but managed to get inside the castle, that is with Fred, Daphne and Velma's help, as they closed the castle door after Mr. Wilkins brought the luggage inside; after Mr. Wilkins and the luggage were inside, he closed the large imposing castle door and locked it.
"Now if you will follow me I will you take you to your uncle Master Frederick" Mr. Wilkins remarked.
The strange black haired caretaker then walked over to a nearby candle holder, took the candle from it and began walking through a dark, dreary, dank cobweb filled hallway; as Fred, Daphne and Velma followed the peculiar man through the passage, the two female members of the trio began snickering under their breaths at what Mr. Wilkins had said.
"Master Frederick?" Daphne wondered, while attempting to stifle a giggle at the same time.
"I don't think I've heard anyone call Fred Master Frederick before" Velma replied, also trying to stifle a chuckle.
"I guess Mr. Wilkins is just trying to be polite" Daphne commented in a whisper.
"Actually Daphne, Master or Mistress is quite a common title in this part of the world; it's also quite an honor as it is a very noble title, almost similar to modern day royalty" Velma replied.
"Hmm, I wonder if Fred will want us to treat him like royalty now?" the red head questioned.
"Maybe, but to me he'll always be the same old Fred" Velma replied.
After the two girls continued to chuckle, the blond teenage leader of Mystery Inc. continued to follow the caretaker of the castle through the frightening looking passageway; while he was being led through the hall, Fred looked around and noticed that there were dozens of pieces of artwork on the walls, in addition to various sculptures and other miscellaneous items.
However, being a detective the blond teenager naturally noticed a few things that were strange or unusual in the hallway, specifically with the paintings; for instance, Fred noticed that each of the paintings were of people that had very close resemblances to the teen sleuth; actually each of them had almost the same features that Fred did, mainly the same hair color hair, the same eyes and even a few wore neckties similar to Fred's ascot, even a few of the paintings were of women and a few of them wore orange colored scarves, or at least close to the color orange as possible.
Fred also noticed, at least for a few seconds, that apparently some of the paintings eyes were moving; but the blond teen sleuth dismissed it as nothing and continued walking, but still Fred had the strangest feeling that someone or something was watching him, the caretaker and the girls.
"Mr. Wilkins?" the blond teen asked.
"Yes Master Frederick?" the caretaker replied.
"What are all these paintings hanging in the hallway?" Fred inquired.
"I'm glad you asked Master Frederick, these are all portraits of your family members over the centuries; actually, there are a few paintings of your ancestors in this hallway as well paintings of family members from this century" Mr. Wilkins explained.
"Wow, are there any paintings of my parents?" Fred wondered.
"Yes, but they are in another portion of the castle, you may see them later if you wish" Mr. Wilkins said.
"I may take you up on that offer" Fred replied.
Eventually the trio plus the caretaker found themselves in front of a large unmarked wooden door; Fred was quite puzzled as to why the caretaker had brought the trio to where they currently were, but figured there was at least some reason why they were there.
"Here we are" Mr. Wilkins remarked.
"Yes, but where is here?" Velma wondered.
"This is the castle's study and library, Master Frederick's uncle is inside this room at the moment and he is expecting you three, especially you Frederick" Mr. Wilkins replied.
With that the castle caretaker handed the candle he was carrying to the blond teen and took out a set of keys from his pants pocket; he then looked through the keys before finding the one that opened the study, after putting the key in the lock the door opened with a noisy creak which made the red haired member of the group a little nervous.
"Jeepers, how many doors in this castle are creaky anyway?" Daphne asked.
"Oh don't be silly Daphne, it's just a door" Fred replied.
"Sure and that doorbell was just a doorbell" the red head remarked.
"Now let's not start that again, it was just a doorbell and the doors are just doors; there's nothing to be afraid of and if you two want to leave and act like scaredy cats, that's more than fine with me!" Fred declared as his voice raised a few octaves, in addition to being somewhat annoyed with the two female members of the group.
"Fred, you've never said anything like that before" Daphne commented.
"Jinkies, you said it Daphne; I've never heard Fred act like this before, I mean he never acted like this with Shaggy and Scooby around" Velma added.
"I'm sorry girls, I didn't mean to snap at you like that; I just wanted to tell you that if you didn't want to stay you could go home if you wished, it's just that my uncle means a lot to me and if any member of my family needs my help, I have to help them, no matter what the situation or no matter how creepy of frightening the situation might be" Fred replied, his voice sounding a bit lower in tone and pitch from before.
"I know Freddie, I know; I mean if one of my family members was in trouble I would help him or her" Daphne said, putting a hand on Fred's shoulder.
"Right, and the same goes for me; if one of my relatives was in trouble, I would help them out too" Velma added.
"Thanks girls, I knew you would understand; so are you two going to stay here and help me and my uncle out?" Fred asked.
"Absolutely!" Daphne replied.
"Right, nothing can scare us off" Velma added.
So with that the care taker walked inside the castle's combination study and library with Fred, Daphne and Velma following close behind them; after entering the room, Fred and the girls noticed that there were dozens of bookshelves throughout, in addition to a large painting hanging above one of the bookshelves on right side of the room.
Sitting at a wooden table in the middle of the room was a middle aged man with dark blond hair, wearing what looked to be black horn-rimmed reading glasses, a dark blue business suit and what looked to be an light orange tie around his neck; he was also wearing dark blue slacks and light brown loafers and was in the middle of reading a book when Mr. Wilkins stepped up to the table.
"Sir, your nephew Frederick and his friends are here," Mr. Wilkins said to the man.
"Oh, well in that case let me put down my book so I can talk to him" the man replied.
With that the blond haired gentleman laid down his book on the wooden table and got up from the chair he was sitting in; the man smiled as he walked closer to Fred and the girls, and as Fred got a closer look at him, he smiled as well; actually, he did more than smile, because once he recognized the man, he ran over to him and began hugging him.
"Uncle Jeff! It's so good to see you again!" Fred exclaimed.
"Freddy! It's fantastic to see you again too!" Uncle Jeff replied.
"Uncle Jeff, I want you to meet some friends of mine: this is Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley, girls this is my Uncle Jeff Von Jones" Fred said, introducing the two female members of the group.
"My my, what charming young ladies" Uncle Jeff remarked as he kissed Daphne and then Velma's hand.
"Jeepers, thank you Mr. Jones" Daphne replied with a smile.
"Jinkies, likewise" Velma added, also smiling.
"Nephew, aren't there usually another couple of members of your group?" Uncle Jeff asked.
"Yes usually; actually Shaggy and Scooby are taking a vacation, right now they're back home and probably enjoying themselves a lot," Fred explained.
"It's too bad, I heard they enjoy food so I used some of my connections to arrange a tour at one of Germany's largest candy factories for them" Uncle Jeff replied.
"Uncle Jeff, I'm sure they would have enjoyed it, but confidentially I don't think a tour of a candy factory would have been a good idea" Fred remarked.
"Why not?" Uncle Jeff asked.
"Because they probably would have sent the factory into bankruptcy, they probably would have eaten every piece of candy in the place" Velma replied with a giggle.
"They sure would have" Daphne agreed, also chuckling a little.
"Well let's not worry about that right now" Fred commented.
"That's right, although I would like to see them, they would be a lot of fun to talk to" Uncle Jeff replied.
"They sure would be Uncle Jeff, they sure would be" Fred commented.
"Now, let's get to the reason why I called you here in the first place" Uncle Jeff replied.
Author's Notes: Hopefully everyone likes the way I ended the first chapter, it's sort of a cliff-hangar and the chapter ended up being sort of short, although the next couple chapters will be a lot longer.
