Lucy gathered all of her siblings and both of her parents in the living room to show them the discovery. She had the painting from the book enlarged and projected it on a slideshow. As she pointed out the Chest of Demons sitting in their ancestral castle. The room was filled with assorted gasps and whoas.
"Um I don't get it, how can the chest be there and in our bunker?" Leni asked.
"This drawing is four hundred years old Leni. According to what we found in the bookshop our family were the protectors of the Chest of Demons during this period" Lucy explained.
"Whoa, so that's why we were targeted!" Lincoln exclaimed.
"Yes, but why us, when there were presumably other designated guardians between us and Mr. Van Ghoul?" chimed in Lisa.
"That much remains unclear; for now, all we can do is wait" Lucy added.
A week later there was a knock at the door. Lynn Sr. opened the door to reveal the mail carrier who shoved a frozen fish into his hands. "Uhh, thanks." Mr Loud said in confusion. After closing the door, he turned to his family.
"It must be from Gramps!" Lana cheered as she came down the stairs.
Lynn Sr. reached into the fish's mouth and pulled out a partially digested note. "It says: There's been some strange noises coming out of the forest. I think it might be a new species of bird. Campers are too scared to spend the night. Please come help me figure it out, love" he read "and the fish ate his name."
"A new species! Fascinating, I'd love to help document it for the scientific community," Lisa said while trying to read the letter over her father's shoulder.
"I'll come too!" Lana said, thinking she might need to protect whatever animal it was from Lisa's documentation.
"If Gramps needs help, count me in too!" Lincoln exclaimed.
"Then it's settled, I've got ample coverage at the restaurant today, we'll drive up to Camp Mastodon and see what's going on" declared Lynn Sr.
So Lincoln., Lana and Lisa piled into vanzilla with their dad at the wheel. They headed out of Royal Woods and headed north towards Lake Michigan. "I wonder if Gramps has made any progress," pondered Lincoln.
"I wish he had provided us with some description of the sound he heard. That might help us determine if it is actually a new species of bird or just a migrating sparrow" Lisa said as she poured over a bird encyclopedia.
"If I know your grandfather, he's probably," Lynn Sr. stopped speaking when a loud screech echoed like thunder above the van. Everyone looked up at the dark grey clouds. "Whoa what was that?" Everyone looked up at the sky as an owl appeared out of the clouds. With the bolt of lightning, it appeared to be glowing and as large as the van. It flew in front of the van and Lynn Sr veered right to avoid it. In a blur they found themselves having on a stump with all four tires running in midair.
"What was that?" Lana asked.
"It looked like a giant owl," her father replied.
"Yes, I think the lightning made it look twelve larger than it actually was," Lisa added. "But it's not even raining."
"Never mind the owl" said Lincoln, "how are we going to get the van off this stump?" They climbed down and examined the accident.
"I still don't understand how this happened," said Lana.
"It does look like there was no way within the laws of physics for this to happen," Lisa said, staring at the van's perfect central placement on top of the high stump.
"Settle down, kids, try to call your mother and sisters. We may have to hitchhike a ride to the camp," Lynn Sr. lamented.
After talking to Rita, Lynn Sr. gave her a rough idea of where they were and promised to call if they managed to get a ride to the camp. They looked down the road as they heard the sound of an approaching vehicle. At first, they were wondering how they would convince a total stranger to pick them up but then they realized it was the Mystery Machine
When it stopped Shaggy looked out the window and exclaimed, "oh no, please tell me this is some strange coincidence and we're not bumping into you Louds because there's a ghost from the chest of demons running loose!"
"I think this falls under the insane coincidence category," Lana replied, still amazed herself.
Scooby moved to the back as Lynn Sr. and Lincoln. joined Shaggy in the front with Lana and Lisa behind them. "So where can we drop you guys off?" Shaggy asked.
"We're heading up to our grandfather's summer camp! It's not too far" Lincoln replied. "Where are you guys heading?" Shaggy whispered that it was a surprise for Scooby who was asleep and didn't hear. Half an hour later they arrived at Camp Mastodon. However, the lights were off and there was no activity.
"I know Gramps said that the noises made people not want to stay but this place is deserted!" Lincoln pondered. They called out for Leonard Loud but got no answer.
"I'm getting worried Dad, this isn't like Gramps," Lana said, as she and Lisa stayed close to Scooby.
"Look, there's a light in that cabin at the end of the row. I'll bet that your grandpa is just asleep" Lynn Sr. replied.
But when they opened the door, a big barrel rolled out and nearly flattened them. Lisa somehow ended up on top of the rolling barrel and rode it around the campground. "How do you stop this thing?" she cried.
"What gives?" Lincoln exclaimed as they looked in the cabin. A makeshift ramp had been set up to launch the barrel at whomever opened the door. Peeking out from behind the table next to the ramp they were greeted by the tops of 3 familiar heads.
Shelby, Shane and Shiloh Loud smiled when they recognized their cousins and emerged from their hiding places. "Boy are we glad to see you guys!" Shelby exclaimed.
"What are you guys doing here? Where's Gramps?" Lincoln asked as he hugged his cousin.
"We came up here for a weekend camping trip with Gramps. But then creepy noises got really weird; and now Gramps is missing!" Shane exclaimed. His cousins, and uncle gasped, while Shaggy and Scooby shook with fear.
"What do you mean he's missing?" Lynn Sr asked, fearful for his dad.
"W-well first we heard what we thought was an owl, but it almost sounded like it was calling Gramps' name. Then he went hunting for the source of the sound, we saw a bright light in the sky and he never came back!" Shelby cried.
"Zoinks! Did you say an owl called your grandpa's name?" Shaggy said fearfully. Shelby and her brothers nodded. He groaned, "I knew it was too good to be a coincidence!"
"What do you mean?" Lincoln asked.
"When an owl calls someone's name, that means the Willawaw is coming for them! It's a giant monster from Chippewa legend. A giant glowing owl" Shaggy explained.
"Giant owl!" Lana exclaimed, "just like what ran us off the road!"
"Zoinks, and why didn't you feel that was pertinent to share earlier!"
"You didn't ask!" Lynn Sr. retorted.
Shaggy sighed, "well we're either dealing with a Native American spirit nowhere near where it's supposed to be, or."
"A Chest of Demons spirit?" Lincoln completed the thought. Shaggy and Scooby shuttered, they had dealt with the balloon powered fake Willawaw up at the Canadian border. But now it seemed very likely this Willawaw had come from the chest.
"Wait what's a Chest of Demons?" Shelby asked.
"Long story sweetie," Lynn Sr. said, putting a hand on his niece's shoulder.
"Can you get me off of here before you tell her!" Lisa shouted, still rolling out of control on the barrel.
"Don't worry Lisa!" reassured Lincoln. "Dad, call Lori and have her bring up the chest" he directed.
"How does an empty barrel keep up such momentum?" Lisa questioned aloud as her feet began getting tired.
"Oh gee, I forgot, we put Gramps' new watchdog in there for added weight" Shiloh exclaimed.
Shaggy laughed for a moment. "Oh yeah that's why we were coming up here!"
The Louds were confused. Lisa meanwhile was struggling to steer the barrel and rolled into a cabin wall to stop. The barrel shuttered and out rolled a grey great dane with buck teeth and a red hat.
"Scooooooby Dum!" Scooby cheered on recognizing the dog.
"Scooooooby Doo!" replied Scooby Dum as he and Scooby Doo engaged in a wildly choreographed reunion handshake.
"Ugh I'm seeing double," Lisa said, as she recovered from her dizziness.
"No, that's just Gramps' new watchdog Scooby Dum," Shiloh replied as he helped his cousin to his feet.
"Yeah, he's also Scooby Doo's cousin, I was bringing him up here for a surprise reunion," Shaggy explained.
The exciting moment was then interrupted by another loud screech from up in the sky. "Oh no not again!" Lincoln exclaimed.
Looking up they saw the massive glowing owl circling overhead of the camp. Everyone ran for cover as the Willawaw dive bombed the camp in two consecutive sweeps. Its sharp talons slashed the roof of the cabin where they were hiding, leaving long gashes in its wake.
"Hope Gramps is okay with the new skylights!" Lana winced.
A few moments passed and they neither saw nor heard the Willawaw. They braved going outside and saw the essence glowing at the top of the nearest mountain.
"Do you suppose that's its nest?" Shane asked.
"Well, that glow certainly gives it a dark magic kind of vibe" Shaggy added.
"Then that's where Gramps must be," Lincoln said.
It was hours later before Lori arrived with the chest of demons. "Mr. Van Ghoul says to be careful, that this is a huge amount of magical energy stemming from here" she said.
"So why didn't he come with you?" Lisa asked.
"He's helping Lucy with something," Lori replied.
"Well, he can catch up with us, time to get to climbing," Lynn Sr. said. "We hike up as close as we can to find out what's going on, then wait for backup, or if by some miracle the giant ghost owl is asleep you can go ahead and shut him in the chest.
Lincoln turned to his cousins, he had spent the last few hours explaining everything that had been going on with the Scooby gang and the chest of demons. "You guys don't have to come, no one would think anything of it, this could be really dangerous," he tried reassuring.
"No way Lincoln, it's safety in numbers and besides we've gotta rescue Gramps!" Shelby replied. They started the hike up the mountain with Lynn at the front of the party and Shaggy bringing up the rear. The higher they climbed the more they could hear the crackling of magic at the top of the mountain.
"I wish we had some idea what this Williwaw was doing" Lincoln added, "if only we had some clue."
"Clue?" Scooby Dum exclaimed, "dum dum dum dum." He whipped out a magnifying glass and off the path and into a nearby cave. "Uh oh, a clue!"
"What'd you find, Scooby Dum?" Shaggy asked. He immediately regretted his question when Scooby Dum reappeared being chased by a pair of ghastly wooden owl-men with ghostly yellow eyes like the Willawaw. "Zoinks! Why couldn't you have found some nice safe fingerprints!"
"Spread out," Lincoln said as the two owl-men dropped Scooby Dum to prepare for an attack.
As one of them bent down and prepared to charge at Lana but Lori yanked her out of the way and it went straight off the cliffside and plummeted 400 feet before exploding into a pile of kindling. "Well I guess Gramps isn't gonna need to chop firewood for a while" Lana said, looking down.
The other owl-man slashed wooden wings at the others. "Not cool!" Shane said as it almost got him. He backed away and they realized that its wood was wedged inside a retaining wall of loose stones. "We've got to do something, before this crazy thing brings down the mountain!"
"Too late!" Lisa cried as the rocks started coming down.
One boulder crushed the owl man while the others began spilling down the cliffside. A single log rolled down with them. As the landslide buried the train everyone started looking for each other. Lori was still holding on to Lana, Lincoln and Shane were helping Scooby Dum back from nearly slipping over, and Shelby and Shaggy were staring at the massive pile of dirt and rocks that blocked their way back down. "That was too close!" Shelby exclaimed.
The group's ease was shattered by sounds of terror coming from below. Looking over they were shocked to see the massive log that had spilled off the mountain with the rocks rolling down. On it were Scooby, Lynn Sr., Lisa, and Shiloh riding down back towards the cabins. Everyone cried out in fear at the sight.
"Brace yourselves!" Lynn cried to the others on the log as it headed towards the lake. At the last moment they jumped for the water.
"Cannonball!" Shiloh exclaimed as the four of them landed with a great splash. Up the mountain everyone tensely watched and were extremely relieved when they saw the four of them pop back up in the water. Lisa got to shore first and rung her sweater out while Scooby Doo shook all the water off. As Shiloh helped his Uncle Lynn out of the water he asked, "can we do that again? That was fun!"
"I don't think so Shiloh, ow!" Lynn replied as he clutched his ankle. "Ding dang darn it, I think I twisted something."
"Shiloh, go get an ice pack, Father elevate your foot," Lisa took command of the situation. Looking up she saw the others were moving on trying to find a safer place to rest. "Hmm, at this rate I'm not sure how we'll be able to get back up there. Even if Father wasn't injured the collapsed rock and dirt will take hours to get around" she pondered to herself. Scooby got his own idea and darted back to the mystery machine.
Meanwhile high up the mountain Lincoln tried to call his Dad but got no response. "Hmm it looked like they were all in one piece but I guess Dad's phone got wet in the lake."
"Well we've got to keep climbing, Lincoln, if Gramps is up there, he must be terrified!" Lana said.
Suddenly they heard the loud shriek of the Willawaw and the giant owl took off yet again from the top of the mountain. They all ducked out of sight as the Willawaw flew past them to the forest below and returned with a massive dead tree clutched in its talons.
"L-like maybe he's adding on to his nest!" Shaggy said as he peeked out from behind the tree. They began smelling smoke coming from the top of the mountain.
"Or maybe it's a barbeque?" Shelby added.
"We better hurry!" Lori exclaimed, fearing their grandfather may be on the menu. The got as close to the massive birds nest as they could. The Williwaw had arranged the dead trees in a circle and was beginning to burn them and then flew off again. "What is he doing?"
"I don't know but I don't see Gramps either," Lincoln added. "We have to find him before the Willawaw comes back!"
They were interrupted by a cry for help high above them in a cage hanging in a tree. "Found him," Scooby Dum said with a chuckle. Sure enough Leonard Loud was waving down at them.
"Hot dog! Up here ya little minnows!" he called. "Hurry before that overgrown owl gets back and decides I'm a worm!"
"Hold tight Gramps, we'll find a way to get you down!" Lincoln replied. But he wasn't sure how, the cage holding their Grandpa was suspended fifty feet up in a tree. It would be a difficult and dangerous climb for any of them. They were all trying to figure out a plan when they noticed the dirt stirring at the feet. The air blowing dirt was coming from behind them as they heard a whirring sound.
Shelby was the first to turn around to see what it was. "Wow!' she said. Then everyone turned around to see Scooby and Lisa flying behind them on a pedal powered tandem bicycle helicopter. They landed to amazed cheers.
"Like I forgot we packed the bike-a-copter!" Shaggy said.
"Indeed, and while I still question the practicality of how this contraption works; it did its job" Lisa said hopping down. Her legs had been two short to reach the pedals and Scooby had been peddling for two. He slipped off the seat and collapsed from exhaustion. "Father twisted his ankle, Shiloh is taking care of him."
Seeing the bike-a-copter Lincoln got a brilliant idea. He told Shaggy to take over and fly up to retrieve their grandfather. Having one person on the bike halved the weight so Shaggy was able to pedal and fly it up to the cage door. "Like your taxi is here Mr. Loud!" Shaggy said.
Leonard laughed as he picked the lock on the cage. "Anywhere but here! And step on it!" he said. But as he worked his way to the second seat of the bike, they heard a horrific screech. Everyone turned to see the Willawaw flying back to its layer. "On the double!" Shaggy and Leonard pedaled furiously trying to get away from the monster in an ariel chase.
"We have to do something!" Lana said. Lincoln was already tying together all the safety harnesses they'd packed. He put a loop into the end, and everyone got the gist of his plan.
"Gramps! Shaggy! Lead it this way!" Lincoln exclaimed. They turned the bike-a-copter to fly lower enough that when the Willawaw followed it was low enough that Lincoln was able to loop the rope around its leg. Everyone grabbed on and pulled with all their might trying to pull the Willawaw down. "If we can get it to crash we can get close enough to trap it," he said.
But the Wilawaw was strong and resisted the trap. Everyone grabbed a hold of the bungee cords and pulled. The rope stretched and in the middle between Scooby Doo and Scooby Dum the cords came unlinked. The elasticity recoiled and sent Scooby Dum, Shane and Lori flying strain at the Willawaw. They screamed at the ricochet and overshot the monster and then they dropped straight onto its back. The unexpected weight made the Willawaw falter. It fell out of the air and crashed into the ground; they all began sliding down riding the owl like a luge. Scooby Dum grabbed two feathers and tried to steer but it was useless. "That won't work!" Lori said as she tied the cord around her arm and pulled the Chest of Demons out of her backpack. "Shane, when I count to three say 'hocus pocus spirit rest, return oh return to the demon chest!"
Her cousin obliged and sung the incantation as an acapella ballad. The chest began to glow, Lori pointed it down on the Williwaw's back. She opened it and the ghost was sucked inside. Now without anything to land on the three of them landed in a mud puddle.
Shaggy and Leonard landed the bike-a-copter to check on them. Triumphantly, Scooby Dum brought the plucked owl feathers he had been clutching. "I got em boss!" he said.
Leonard Loud laughed "nice trophy Scooby Dum. But I doubt anyone will believe the story!" Then everyone laughed.
Meanwhile, back at the top of the mountain, Scooby, Lincoln, Lana, Lisa, and Shelby were cheering at the successful capture of the Williwaw. "Wow this was crazy, as soon as we get back down you've got to tell me everything!" Shelby said.
"Sure thing Shelby, but first we better smother the rest of that fire" Lincoln replied. They turned to see the fire had mostly subsided except for a singly tree standing upright. "Why was it burning them anyway?"
As they approached the tree, they saw it began to glow with blue symbols. Scooby recognized them as the runes cast by the Yowie Yahoo. He pulled the kids away as the fire blazed hotter and engulfed the tree. "This doesn't look good," Lana said, confused because whenever they trapped a ghost the supernatural stuff usually stopped. But then the fire turned to smoke.
As it cleared, they saw a figure standing there. His long purple and black robes blew in the wind, and two long horns grew out of his long unkempt grey hair. His face was obscured, only bright yellow eyes against darkness. Shelby and Lisa stood speechless, but Scooby, Lincoln and Lana all recognized the eyes they had previously seen in flaming clouds of smoke. "Maldor!" they all exclaimed.
Maldor laughed when he saw the children and Scooby cowering. "Foolish mortals! You are too late! Vengeance is mine!" Fireballs began growing in his hands magically. The chest of demons was far below them, they were without any defense. He hurled the fireballs, as Scooby and the louds hit the deck.
They held their eyes closed, but after a moment they realized there was no burning, not even a warm feeling. Lincoln was the first to find the courage to open his eyes. He was amazed to see Lucy standing over them holding a golden wand. Next her was Vincent Van Ghoul. "Sorry we're late," he said.
Enraged, Maldor summoned the remaining wooden owl men but before they had time to do anything they exploded. Where they stood, Ronnie Anne, Bobby, Scrappy, Carl, Daphne, Lynn Jr. and Lily posed like triumphant gladiators.
"Impossible!" Maldor roared. He fired another blast, but Lucy absorbed it into her wand which Scooby recognized as the wonder wand. As a last resort Maldor retreated in a twinkle of lights that drifted into the sky and away.
Everyone ran over to help Lincoln and the others up. "Are you guys alright?" Daphne asked.
"We are thanks to you guys," Lincoln replied. "Where did you all come from?"
"We'll tell you the whole story but first let's get out of here!" Ronnie Anne answered.
"Maldor may be corporeal again," Lucy turned to face them proudly showing off her wand. Scrappy stood beside her with a bottle which appeared to contain a cloud. Lucy finished her statement "but now we know everything!"