“Face it Shaggy, we are lost,” Daphne huffed and crossed her arms.
“Wast?” Scooby whimpered.
“Like relax, there is the old fort right there,” Shaggy pointed down the road, “No need to panic.”
“Fort Wolfbane?” Daphne asked, “We are looking for Fort Walden!”
“Like gulp!”
On the road ahead of them a man came out form the entrance to the fort and looked over at the approaching Mystery Machine van. He started waving them into the parking area at the front of the stone fort.
“Like should we stop?” Shaggy asked.
“At the very least we need to ask for directions,” Daphne glared at Shaggy.
Shaggy pulled the van into the parking lot and the three of them got out and walked over to waiting man. He was average height, maybe five ten, stocky build and with a big silver beard wearing cargo shorts and a button down uniform shirt.
“Let me guess, you want Fort Walden,” the man smiled as he walked over.
“Like how did you know?” Shaggy asked.
“Walden is the major historical site with all the battles and hauntings and what not,” the man said,
“Wolfbane was just the flank position where nothing happened. My name is Jonas by the way.”
“I’m sure it has its own history,” Daphne smile and shook his hand.
“Fort Wolfbane, built 1822, shut down 1850, served as a militia training area during the Civil War, was the training area for the National Guard units in World War One, was the invasion training site for Fort Walden’s National Guard Units. Turned over to the state in 1960. That is the historical value of Fort Wolfbane,” Jonas smiled, “Now as far as getting to Fort Walden, you can either drive 18 hours around the lake or wait until tomorrow.”
“Like what happens tomorrow?” Shaggy asked.
“Nominally at nine in the morning,” Jonas smirked, “the ferry starts from the docks built next to the fort and it runs to our docks right over there, but they tend to run late.”
“Great,” Daphne sighed, “We have interviews to do.”
“Give them a call and tell them you are at Fort Wolfbane.”
“Like where did the creepy name come from?” Shaggy asked.
“Yeah, where did da nam come from?” Scooby asked.
“Captain Jonathan Wolfbane, 3rd US Artillery Regiment,” Jonas furrowed his brows at Scooby, “Where did you get the talking dog?”
“Like we have always been best buds,” Shaggy said.
Daphne stomped her foot.
“No signal,” Daphne said, “do you have a phone we can use?”
“Sure,” Jonas lead them to the ranger cabin.
*
“Thank you,” Daphne, “Here he is!”
Daphne handed the phone hand piece to Jonas.
“Like what did they say?” Shaggy asked.
“That they would meet us first thing in the morning,” Daphne said, “They will send a ferry at eight and they are getting us guest quarters here for the night. What are you playing with?”
“An old medal Jonas was cleaning,” Shaggy held a brass coin with a gem in the middle, “He said it was from their show and tell collection, here.”
Shaggy handed it to Daphne and she looked at it. There was an inscription saying “For Service to the Republic, 1860 – 1865”. The stone in the middle looked like a ruby but was green.
“This is interesting,” Daphne said.
“Oh that?” Jonas smiled, “A token given to returning soldiers after the Civil War. A gift from the town, the soldier that got this one had a lucky stone mounted in it.”
“Oh,” Daphne said and handed the medal back to Jonas.
She thought she saw the stone turn blue when it landed in his hand. He tucked the medal into a display case. Jonas lead Shaggy and Daphne away and Scooby followed along. Scooby stopped for a second to look at the medal with its white stone in the middle. Scooby followed the three as the park employee lead them out of the ranger cabin to the guest cabin. The Ranger opened the door and Shaggy and Daphne walked in.
SLAM! Jonas slammed the door shut and hit a button releasing a series of clamps locking the door in place.
“Like what gives?” Shaggy shouted.
“Hay!” Daphne shouted slamming back on the door.
“Come on dog,” Jonas motioned for Scooby to follow him to a window, “They are perfectly fine, here take a look.”
The two were in a room with a bunch of mattresses on the floor and the inside was lined with metal bars. Scooby saw the pair start to scratch and contort.
“How long has it been since your last change?” Jonas asked.
“What?” Shaggy shouted.
“What is going on?” Daphne screamed.
“The Moon is coming out,” Jonas said, “I don’t know how you managed to make your curse dormant, but here it returns. Now, once the night is over you will be in control of your curse for the most part.”
“What curse?” Daphne asked.
“Being a Werewolf.”
“Like,” Shaggy curled up in a ball, “That was one time for that stupid race.”
“It was just once in Tibet!” Daphne fell to the floor.
“Now sadly I only have one room,” Jonas said, “So this could turn into ‘two shall enter, one shall leave,’ or possibly a shotgun wedding.”
“Rotgun Redding?” Scooby asked.
“Hay, a man and a woman out of their minds and being controlled by base instincts,” Jonas shrugged.
Howling started to come from inside the cabin. Scooby looked in only to see a reddish wolf woman tearing off the last of her cloths and brown colored wolf man rolling on the floor.
“Raggy? Raphne?” Scooby cried.
“I don’t think they can hear you anymore,” Jonas said.
Scooby looked at the man and then back into the cabin. A red werewolf was jumping at the bars inside the room and bouncing back in pain. It stopped and started sniffing the air and turned to the other werewolf in the room. Scooby Yelped as the red on jumped on the brown one and wrestled him into the corner.
“Nothing else we can do for them now,” Jonas rubbed Scooby’s shoulder, “Come on, lets get some sleep.”