Chapter 2

After a few days of driving the Mystery Machine had already been through most of the state of Texas and most of the state of Louisiana before coming to the beautiful city of New Orleans; Mystery Inc. decided to rent a couple of rooms in a hotel in the Crescent City before continuing their journey to Moonscar Island, after spending a night in one of the South's most popular tourist destinations the Mystery Machine left the parking lot of their hotel and drove on towards the ferry dock which would lead them to the place where they spent some of the most frightening days of their lives.

The ferry dock which housed the ferry to Moonscar Island was a medium size wooden structure which sat at the edge of a large bayou, this particular bayou's waters emptied into a branch of the great Mississippi River several hundreds of miles away which is probably where two of the members of Mystery Inc. wished they were as the Mystery Machine came to a stop in front of the dock.

"Well, here we are gang one step closer to returning to Moonscar Island" Fred explained.

"Like there's just one thing Fred, how are we going to get to Moonscar Island? The ferry driver's dead and we don't know anyone with a ferry or a ferry captain" Shaggy replied.

"Actually we do, while we were in New Orleans I got in touch with Miss Stephenson again and told her that we needed to have a ferry meet us at the dock; luckily she was able to call a friend of her parents who is an expert with marine vessels and this person said that he could come right away to the ferry dock and pilot the craft so that we could get to Moonscar Island" Velma remarked.

"Good going Velma, you're fantastic!" Fred declared.

"Thank You Fred I greatly appreciate that" the bespectacled girl replied with a smile on her face.

"So do we have any idea how long it will take for this person to get here?" Daphne asked.

Just as the redhead finished her statement she and the rest of the gang heard what sounded like the honking of a car horn right behind them; the gang looked and saw a brown haired man in his mid fifties wearing a dark blue long sleeve shirt, a brown belt and blue jeans waving to them from the front seat of a dark green pickup truck; the man got out of the vehicle with a smile on his face and stepped up to the driver's side window, Fred rolled the window down so that the man could speak to the group and introduce himself.

"You must be Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo if I'm not mistaken?" the man asked.

"We sure are, who are you sir?" Daphne asked.

"My name is David Roberts and I am Lisa Stephenson's uncle" the man explained.

"So you're the friend of Lisa's parents that she mentioned" Velma noted.

"Correct, young lady and I was more than happy to come here and help you kids out, especially since my niece is involved and possibly in trouble" Mr. Roberts replied.

"You're welcome sir, to be quite honest we were quite surprised when we got the call from Miss Stephenson; actually we hoped we would never have to come back here but I guess some things just aren't meant to be" Velma responded.

"I just hope you kids and Scooby can help my niece out, I would hate to see anything happen to Lisa and with any luck whatever's going on at this Moonscar Island will cease" Mr. Roberts explained.

"We certainly hope so too sir" Daphne chimed in.

"Well I do believe it's time to get going, I'll start up the ferry and then I'll open the gate so that you kids can drive your vehicle aboard; just give me a few minutes and then we'll be all set to go" Mr. Roberts explained.

The man then walked from the Mystery Machine, slowly stepped over the gate which separated the dock from the boat and headed over to the vessel; Mr. Roberts flipped a switch next behind the gate and it opened, which enabled Fred drive the van onto the front of the boat, after the vehicle and everyone was on the commuter boat Mr. Roberts brought the ferryboat to life as it pulled away from the dock.

The craft started on its all too familiar journey, familiar of course to Scooby and company but to the driver of the ferry: Mr. Roberts, it was uncharted territory; while he made sure not to take his eyes of the route to the island he became curious about the island and decided to ask his passengers about the their destination.

"So where exactly is this Moonscar Island and why is it important to the five of you?" Mr. Roberts asked.

"It's a long story Mr. Roberts, however we'll give you the short version: some years ago I was the host of a syndicated television series and my boyfriend Fred was the cameraperson and one man crew of the show; we got a tip from a woman named Lena about a haunted house that she worked at, naturally we decided to investigate the place and found that the residents of the dwelling were actually centuries old cat creatures and they attempted to drain our life forces in order to maintain their immortality; we were able to stop them and their scheme was thwarted" Daphne explained.

"Holy smokes that's some story, but what's the connection between the cat creatures and the ghosts that have been haunting the house that my niece currently lives in?" Mr. Roberts asked.

"We have reason to believe that the ghosts are Lena, Jacques and Simone: the very same cat creatures that we defeated previously, but somehow their ghosts have returned to haunt the island; so we've got to figure out why their ghosts have returned, how they returned and hopefully stop them" Velma explained.

"I certainly hope you can kids, for my niece's sake" Mr. Roberts responded.

"Like don't worry Mr. Roberts we'll make sure those ghosts don't harm a single hair on your daughter's head" Shaggy replied.

"Thank you young man, I'm certain that with you kids and Scooby on the job my niece will be safe and unharmed" Mr. Roberts said with a relieved look on his face.

"Mr. Roberts, Velma mentioned that you are pretty good with marine vessels, were you a sailor at one time?" Fred asked.

"Indeed I was young man, I was stationed in the United States Coast Guard for several years and after that my wife and I moved to New York City and became a ferry captain there" Mr. Roberts answered back.

"Like exactly how long were you stationed for?" Shaggy asked.

"Well, I joined when I was nineteen and I served the usual four years; I loved working with boats and decided to make that my profession, about a few months after my twenty second birthday and after getting a good college education I decided to move to the Staten Island borough if New York City and I applied for a job as a ferryboat captain, I got the job and served in that capacity until a couple of years ago when I turned fifty four; now I'm fifty six and my wife Denise and I are currently living a few hundred miles outside of New Orleans, which is where I was when Lisa called me after she called the five of you; she explained her situation and I was only happy to help" Mr. Roberts replied.

"Jeepers, what an interesting life you've led Mr. Roberts" Daphne responded.

"Yes it's been quite an interesting life to say the least; but what about you five, my niece told me a lot about you but is there anything else I need to know?" Mr. Roberts asked.

"Not really, just that hopefully we can defeat the ghosts and help your niece" Daphne replied.

"Well like I said before, I know that with the five of you on the job nothing will go wrong" Mr. Roberts answered back.

The gang stood inside the cabin of the ferryboat as the vessel continued on its journey through the dark and dismal looking swamp and bayou areas which led to Moonscar Island; while Velma stayed near Mr. Roberts to guide him towards the strange island, the retired ferry captain decided to inquire about the gang's current surroundings which looked quite abysmal to say the least.

"My goodness, what eerie surroundings these bayous have; I've never seen anything so gloomy, so dark and frankly speaking: so frightening, in fact the only other time I've ever seen such surroundings were in old horror movies that I would watch as a kid" Mr. Roberts remarked, shaking his head in the process.

"Like as the old song goes, you ain't seen nothing yet Mr. Roberts" Shaggy replied.

The commuter boat continued through the crocodile infested bayous making its way ever closer to the strange island and the equally peculiar house where Scooby and company were hoping to solve their next mystery; after some time had passed Velma was wondering about something and leaned over to her boyfriend to whisper something to him.

"Shaggy, have you noticed someone missing so far during our trip?" Velma remarked.

"Who's that Velma?" the cowardly teen replied.

"That fisherman Snakebite Scruggs, I haven't seen one sign of him ever since we got on the ferry" the bespectacled girl commented.

"Yeah like actually I've noticed that too, he must be taking some time off from chasing that catfish around huh" Shaggy observed.

"Maybe, or maybe he's somehow involved with this whole ghost scheme" Velma replied.

"Like I don't know Velma, I seriously doubt he's in on this whole plan" Shaggy answered.

"I suppose, well it was just an idea and you know me, I have to play every angle" she replied.

"Like that's certainly true and that's why you're such a good detective" Shaggy commented with a smile.

"Thank you Shaggy, that means a lot to me you know" Velma said.

"I know" he replied.

After about ten more minutes the ancient ferryboat began the final leg of its journey as it approached the ferry dock at Moonscar Island; Scooby and company could see the ferry dock coming into view and realized full well that there was a good chance they might never return from this mystery, after remembering their previous journey to the island each member of the group even the three bravest ones: Fred, Daphne and Velma, each took a completely audible gulp as the great vessel pulled into the dock.

"Well it looks like we're here, if you kids would like I can come with you to the island and help you in your investigation" Mr. Roberts explained.

"Actually Mr. Roberts, this might be one of our most frightening adventures of all and we don't really want to get anyone else involved" Fred replied.

"Nonsense! I served in the US Coast Guard and I had a hand in stopping smugglers, drug runners and terrorists of all kinds, I think I can handle some cat creatures and ghosts; besides I want to do everything in my power to protect Lisa and I think I owe it to her parents to help you out" Mr. Roberts declared.

"Alright sir, if that's what you really want" Daphne replied.

"It is young lady, now just let me turn the boat off and I'll join you in the Mystery Machine" Mr. Roberts said with a stern look on his face.

"OK, we'll wait for you then" Fred replied.

Mr. Roberts walked over to the gate, which separated the dock from the boat, raised it and then waited for the Mystery Machine to drive off the boat before closing it again; he then tied the ferry to the dock with rope before slowly climbing above the gate an onto the island, then he opened one of the back doors on the side of the van and climbed inside, joining Shaggy, Scooby and Velma in the back part of the vehicle.

"Well Mr. Roberts welcome inside the Mystery Machine and we're glad you decided to join us on this mystery" Fred explained.

"Right, just pick a seat and buckle yourself in sir, the roads that lead to the mansion where your niece live are quite bumpy" Daphne added.

"Very well, I believe I will take this seat" Mr. Roberts said pointing to a chair that was across from where Shaggy had chosen to sit, he buckled himself in and waited for Fred to start the vehicle.

"Everybody all set?" the blond teen asked.

"Ready" replied everyone.

"Okay, here we go" Fred explained as he started the engine, which brought the Mystery Machine to life; the van pulled away from the dock as vehicle began its journey towards the mansion.

The multicolored van spent the next twenty minutes or so making its way through the dirt roads that dotted the island; once the vehicle reached the part of the island where the road became bumpy and uncomfortable, which caused the vehicle's passengers to be jarred up from their respective seats, but luckily the five sleuths and Miss Stephenson's uncle were wearing their seatbelts or it would have been a lot worse.

"You're right kids, these roads certainly are bumpy" Mr. Roberts commented as he was jarred up and down in his chair by the uneven roads.

"We told you Mr. Roberts, these island roads are notorious for being really rough for travel" Daphne replied.

"I can certainly see why, this is like being on a bucking bronco at a rodeo" Mr. Roberts commented.

"I guess you could say that sir, these roads are sure a lot like that" Fred answered back.

The Mystery Machine drove on towards the former home of Lena and Simone, inside the vehicle all its inhabitants could talk about was the strange island and the equally sinister mansion that the group was set to return to after several years.

"You know I thought we would never have to come back to this awful place, but I guess I was wrong" Velma remarked.

"Like yeah, this place holds so many bad memories for us: those creepy zombies, the cats, Lena and Simone being Cat Creatures, those ghosts, not to mention Scooby and me almost being drained of our life forces by those creeps" Shaggy replied.

"Reah re almost recame raisins" Scooby added.

"Like yeah, don't remind me; if it was up to me I would have wished that this island never existed in the first place" the cowardly teen remarked.

"But Shaggy, if this place never existed then Mystery Inc. might never have reunited and then the two of us might never have gotten together as a couple" Velma replied, with a frown on her face.

"True, like maybe it's better that this mystery did happen; besides this island is so much better when you've got someone to share it with" Shaggy smiled, which caused the bespectacled girl to smile as well.

With that the Mystery Machine continued to making its way through the long winding roads of the island as they had done once before; finally the van arrived in front of the large mansion that was the main structure on the island, the gang exited the Mystery Machine with luggage in tow and walked up to the front door.

Fred slowly knocked on the door and waited for some one to answer; the door opened and a young woman answered, she had red hair, almost the same color as Daphne's and wore a dark blue long sleeved shirt with gray pants, and she looked to be possibly in her mid-twenties.

The woman smiled and looked relieved at the site of the gang standing outside the front door.

"I'm so glad you've arrived, I thought I would have to wait several days for you to get here" the woman remarked.

"Hello dear" Mr. Roberts remarked.

"Hi Uncle David, I'm glad to see you; did you guys have a good trip here?" the woman asked.

"Well part if it was a bit bumpy but we managed to get through it alright" Mr. Roberts replied.

"Come in on everyone and make yourself at home" the woman said.

The gang took their luggage and carried it into the house with the woman who had contacted them and her uncle following behind; after each of them had entered the house she slowly closed the front door.

The gang walked into the front foyer of the mansion, each of them looked around at their surroundings and noticed that most of the furniture and items in the house were different from when they had visited previously.

The gang then walked into the living room and sat down on some chairs and a sofa, as they relaxed from their journey.

"Now you already spoke to us on the phone in our van but I really think we should be properly introduced" Fred asked.

"Well as I mentioned to your colleague on the phone, my name is Lisa Stephenson, and I just graduated from the University of Alabama a few months ago with a degree in Medicine" the woman replied.

"I guess we should properly introduce ourselves too; my name is Fred Jones, this is Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers and our dog Scooby-Doo" Fred commented as he introduced the gang to the young woman.

"I know all of you, I've followed your adventures all throughout high school and college; it sure must be exciting solving all those mysteries all over the world and I'm sure you already know my uncle David" Lisa responded.

"Yes we met him at the ferry dock and solving mysteries is pretty exciting, we get to meet all sorts of exciting people and see all kinds of exciting places" Fred replied.

"Boy that sounds like a great job, I'm probably going to become a doctor or pediatrician or something like that, but for right now I need your help in getting to the bottom of this mystery" Lisa explained.

"We'll do whatever we can Miss Stephenson, now can you tell us what exactly is the mystery that you would like us to solve?" Fred asked.

"Well, it's pretty simple; several months ago I was looking for a place to live after I graduated from college; I looked through various real estate magazines and web sites trying to figure out a good place for me until I found a listing for a house on an island called Moonscar Island; I called the real estate agent that was advertising the listing to inquire about the property and he told me that the price of the house had dropped significantly for some reason; I told him that I was looking to buy the property to live at and he told me that I should not because of the various mysterious happenings here over the years; well I basically told him that I didn't believe in such things and that I still wanted to buy the property, so he relented and he said that he would come out here with me to look at the house; then I bought the house with some help from my parents and moved in, at first things were fine and I didn't have anything to worry about but then all sorts of strange things began to happen" Lisa responded.

"What sorts of strange things?" Daphne asked.

"Anything and everything; like furniture floating in mid-air, the lights flickering on and off, not to mention the most recent thing that happened after which I just had to call you guys" Lisa replied.

"What exactly happened?" Velma asked.

"I was in the bathroom combing my hair yesterday morning when I saw three strange almost ghostly images in the mirror; I didn't know what to make of it at first but then the images became clearer" Lisa responded.

"What did the images look like?" Shaggy replied.

"One of them looked like an older woman in a blue dress wearing what looked like a cat pendant of some kind, another looked like a younger woman with black hair and wearing red, and the last one looked like an older man with a gray fishing hat, a mustache and wearing what looked like a riverboat captain's outfit" Lisa remarked.

"Hmm, if I didn't know any better I would say that the images you saw looked like Simone, Lena and Jacques" Fred commented.

"I'm curious, who exactly are this Lena, Simone and Jacques anyway?" Lisa asked.

The unofficial leader of Mystery Inc, sighed and took a deep breath as he decided to tell the college student of the gang's previous adventure on Moonscar Island, including their almost doom at the hands of the trio of cat creatures.

"Well you see, the last time we were here I was the cameraperson for my girlfriend Daphne's television show Coast To Coast With Daphne Blake, you may or may not have seen it, it was on for a couple of years; anyway, we came to the state of Louisiana to do a segment for the show and while we were in New Orleans we met a woman named Lena" the blond teen began.

"She mentioned that she was a cook at a house on Moonscar Island, which was haunted by the ghost of a pirate named Morgan Moonscar; we decided to head to the island because we figured it would be a good place to get footage for my show" Daphne said as she took over the explanation.

"Later after meeting a ferry boat captain named Jacques, and a couple of other unusual people we met the owner of the house: miss Simone Lenoir; everything was going fine, at least until we found out that Lena and Simone were actually centuries old Cat Creatures that lured victims to the island to drain their life-force in order to preserve the pair's immortality" Velma continued.

"Then like we found out that Lena and Simone had given the power of immortality to the ferry captain and he came after me and Scooby; not to mention there were plenty of zombies on the island as well" Shaggy added.

"However, we later found out that the zombies were actually all of the people that Lena and Simone had drained of their life force over the years; eventually we were able to stop them in their evil plans and they were defeated" Fred continued.

"Then their bodies disintegrated into bones and dust just as the bodies of all of the cat creatures victims; the spirits of Lena and Simone's victims were then able to rest in peace as they had been avenged for what had happened to them" Velma added.

"My goodness, that must have been a horrifying experience for you, how on earth were you able to live through all that?" Lisa asked, after being transfixed by the gang's strange story.

"Like believe me it wasn't easy, especially since we were a little out of our league trying to stop the cat creatures; our area of expertise is usually unmasking creeps in costumes attempting to scare people away from some illegal scheme that they were involved in" Shaggy replied.

"You know Shaggy, you're kind of right about that" Velma said replying to her boyfriend's comment.

"Like I am?" the cowardly teen asked, looking surprised that the bespectacled girl was agreeing with him.

"Sure, we almost were drained by those cat creatures and became zombies just like everyone else on the island; however we were able to stop them and prove that we can handle cases other than just unmasking people in costumes, and I'm convinced that we can track down Lena, Simone and Jacques again and stop them from whatever their up to" Velma replied.

"Velma, did I ever tell you that you're the most logical person I've met and because of that I love you" Shaggy said with a smile.

"Not for a while but tell me anyway" the bespectacled girl replied with a smile as she stood next to him, quite pleased that he was sharing her feelings for her.

"Well you've always been such a great girl and a cool friend, you've always been able to make me smile and you've always laughed at my jokes, no matter how corny they were; those are some of the things that make you such a great girlfriend and I'm so happy that I can openly share with you how I feel about you" Shaggy replied.

"You're welcome Shaggy, and I feel the same way about you too" Velma smiled as she and the cowardly teen looked back at one another with true devotion in both their eyes.

"The three of them can't be ghosts because we saw their bodies perish" Daphne remarked trying to get the conversation back on track.

"That's right, we did see them disintegrate into dust and bones right before our very eyes" Velma commented.

"Like yeah, this doesn't make any sense; if we defeated them previously then how in the world did they appear in the mirror?" Shaggy commented.

"I don't know" Fred remarked.

"Like maybe they're really ghosts" Shaggy responded.

"For once I'm with Shaggy; Simone, Lena and Jacques must be ghosts, how else would they be able to appear in the mirror" Daphne commented.

"I seriously doubt that they're really ghosts, it might be like a hologram or a projection or something but just in case they are we'll stick around and investigate" Fred remarked.

Lisa smiled and looked very relieved that the gang was helping her.

"Thank you everyone, you'll never know how much this means to me that you're helping me" Lisa responded sounding relieved.

"Yes and I'm happy as well that you five are helping my niece out, I certainly hope that Mystery Inc. can solve this case" Mr. Roberts responded

"No problem Lisa and Mr. Roberts, by the way would you mind if we use your phone to call someone to help out with our investigation?" Fred asked.

"Sure go right ahead" Lisa replied.

Lisa showed Fred where the telephone was so he could use it; Daphne followed behind him and wondered why Fred was going to use the phone.

"Who are you calling Freddie?" Daphne asked with a smile on her face and putting a hand on the blond teen's shoulder.

"Detective Beau Neville, he helped us out last time so maybe he can help us out this time" Fred responded.

"Are you really certain that he'll come out here to assist us again?" Daphne asked.

"Sure, at least that's what I'm hoping" Fred replied.

Fred picked up the telephone and dialed up the number of Detective Neville's police department; the phone began emitting a dial tone a few seconds, finally the phone connected and Fred heard a male voice on the other end.

"Hello, could I speak to Detective Beau Neville please?" Fred asked.

"Who's calling please?" the voice responded.

"This is Fred Jones, Detective Neville will know who I am" Fred replied.

"Very well, I believe he's at his desk at the moment; I'll go see if he's available" the voice responded.

Fred waited a few moments for an answer, and then a familiar voice answered the phone on the other end.

"Hello?" the voice asked.

"Hello Detective Neville?" Fred asked.

"Yes?" Detective Neville replied.

"This is Fred Jones" Fred responded.

"Fred, it's great to speak with you again, how are things?" Beau replied.

"Good, I was calling to ask if you were busy" Fred asked.

"Not really, I was doing some paperwork when you called; things have been pretty slow lately, why do you ask?" Detective Neville replied.

"Well, we're at Moonscar Island and a woman called us saying that she had bought Simone and Lena's house; we've arrived at the house and the woman told us that she saw Simone, Lena and Jacques' images in a mirror" Fred responded.

"Hmm, that does sound unusual; I thought that the three of them were gone" Beau replied.

"All of us thought they were gone too but I guess we were wrong" Fred responded.

"Yeah I guess I was wrong too, well I'll tell you what; I'll talk to my superiors and I'll see if I can come out there and help you guys out, can you hang on Fred?" Detective Neville asked.

"Certainly" Fred responded.

"OK, hang on the line for a few minutes" Detective Neville responded.

Fred waited for Detective Neville to talk to someone; while he did that Daphne tapped him on the shoulder.

"What's up Daphne?" Fred asked.

"Any progress on whether or not Beau will be here?" Daphne replied.

"He's talking to his supervisors right now, but I think he'll be able to join us in our investigation" Fred responded.

"Terrific, we can use all the help we can get" Daphne replied.

Fred waited for a few more minutes, after which Detective Neville's voice came back on the line.

"Fred?" Detective Neville asked.

"Yes?" Fred responded.

"I talked to my supervisors and told them about you guys and Moonscar Island; they told me that they had no objections to me headed down there and joining you guys" Detective Neville replied.

"That's terrific" Fred responded.

"Yep, they told me that because things are kind of slow here that investigating a mystery with the five of you would be good for me and the department" Detective Neville responded.

"Sounds good, do you know when you're going to be joining us?" Fred asked.

"Let's see, from where I am it should take about three or four hours driving" Detective Neville replied.

"Good, oh I just remembered; there might not be any way for you to get from the mainland to Moonscar Island, tell you what the woman that hired us has an uncle who is a retired ferry captain, we'll let him know about you and see if he can pick you up and bring you here" Fred explained.

"Terrific, I'll wait a few minutes while you go talk to him" Detective Neville replied.

Fred took the phone away from his ear and told his female companion to hold onto it while he walked back into the other room and spoke to Lisa's uncle, which the redhead did as Fred walked out of sight.

The blond teen had a brief conversation with the woman's uncle during which he told him about Detective Neville and said that he wished to help the gang out with their investigation; Mr. Roberts listened intently and agreed to pick up the police detective at the mainland ferry dock.

With that Fred returned to the phone after being handed it by Daphne and told Detective Neville the good news; he was quite pleased that the woman's uncle was able to make arrangements to pick him up and after describing the man and the ferry, he wished the police detective goodbye and hoped that he would see him and the woman's uncle soon before hanging up the phone.

After Fred and Daphne returned to the living room, Mr. Roberts put on a brown jacket which he had taken with him off the boat and walked back out the door of the mansion towards the Moonscar Island ferry dock as he prepared to pick up the police detective and bring him back towards the mansion, where he hoped to avoid becoming a part of the newspaper's obituary section.

Author's Notes: I decided to have Velma and Shaggy as a couple as well as Daphne and Fred as a couple in this story so some parts of this chapter might be considered OOC, however considering the tone of the story and plot of the story the romantic moments would probably make sense.