Scooby Doo! Meet Ellie Machine

The Wild Brood (Part 1)

The past week had been pretty eventful after we put away Grandma Moonbeam. Of course, my father was released from the hospital, and has gone right back to work at Destroido.

We also had managed to convince Mayor Jones to fund the Mystery Solvers State Finals Competition as a way to draw spectators and tourists, only for Scooby to get sick the day before. After being delirious for a few days, he managed to snap out of it, and the judges were nice enough to move the date so that we could go. The competition was mostly made up of kids and Sherlock-Holmes-wannabes, and we ran circles around them. We won a thousand dollars each by the end of the competition, so that was awesome.

During all of that time, I managed to finish translating the diary of Miriam Serra. She mostly wrote about the mysteries that they solved with Porto, but the final entry mentioned something about pieces of a puzzle that could lead them to a great treasure somewhere in Crystal Cove. This was the first time I ever heard about it, so I'm assuming they found it. But the way she seemed to have written the final entry was off like there was something more urgent she wanted to write about but didn't have the time.

Anyways, I started on yet another diary-type book I found, though it wasn't leather-bound. Instead, the book seemed to be all paper and sewn together into a homemade diary. It was also in Spanish, but after looking through it, it seemed to be the Spanish closer to what's spoken today, since languages evolved through the centuries.

But I couldn't work on it tonight. Fred told Shaggy, Scooby, and me that he wanted us to join him and Daphne on their second date at the Tiki Tub. I objected to it, but Velma said she wanted to see how it all played out and for once I didn't disagree with her on that.

We walked into the Tiki Tub and saw a table free next to Fred and Daphne, so we started walking over.

"...it's nice that we can spend some time together all alone. Isn't it?" I heard Daphne ask Fred, scooting closer to him. Shaggy laughed as we walked up. "Yeah, it is. But where's the waiter? I'm starving," Shaggy asked, looking around. "Yeah, me, too," Scooby agreed. "Guys! Sit down," I scolded them. "Daphne and Fred deserve a little privacy," Velma added.

"Then why did Fred drag us along on this date if he wasn't gonna feed us?" Shaggy complained. "Shaggy, they can hear you," I reminded them. "You invited them along?" I heard Daphne ask, astounded by Fred's obliviousness. "Yeah, we're all friends, right? And friends hang together, right?" Fred asked, not seeing the big deal.

Daphne sighed in disappointment and scooted her chair away from him. "Oh, Freddy. This was supposed to be our evening," she complained.

"Daphne, I didn't mean-,"

"Oh, look at that. I need a refill," Daphne said in spite, before storming off. I sighed and did my best friend duty of chasing after her. I managed to catch up to her at the drink fountain. "Daph, I'm sorry we're all here. I would like to say, in my defense, I came so they wouldn't be stupid," I told her quickly.

"It's not even that. It's like, we're in a relationship, but he just doesn't know what the relationship rules are. The big one is DON'T BRING FRIENDS ON DATES!" she exclaimed, filling her drink as she did.

"Sweetie, this is Fred we are talking about. It took him three years to even get a clue you liked him. He has only ever been interested in traps. You're his first girlfriend ever. So, maybe you need to be the one to teach him the relationship rules," I told her gently, putting my hand on her shoulder.

She sighed and seemed to calm down. "Maybe," she said, and we started to walk back. Then, we heard the sound of motorcycle engines. I rolled my eyes. There was a gang that hung out along the outskirts of Crystal Cove, and they liked disrupting random restaurants whenever they wanted.