"Ihaan!" His mother.
Although blurry, Ihaan saw the capsized canoe and a small figure floating on the lake. He heard thunder, saw flashes of lightning, and then his mother reached for him with both hands, her black hair distinct from his own.
"Ihaan!" called a new voice. Something warm and wet brushed against his face.
Ihaan squirmed and slowly opened his eyes, seeing Scooby, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy hovering over him.
Grinning, Scooby licked him again and wagged his tail.
"Scooby!" Ihaan said, pushing him away.
Daphne, holding the Deet bottle, said, "Welcome back, Ihaan. We were getting worried."
"Like, the Deet didn't work," Shaggy giggled, patting Scooby. "So, we brought in the heavy artillery..."
"Scooby-Dooby Doo!" Scooby howled, smiling himself.
Ihaan searched the area, then quickly sat up. A dull pain shot up his foot into his leg, and he puffed out his cheeks (his head also throbbed). "Ro and Freddie! Where Ro and Freddie?" Was it just him, or did Velma seem the most fearful out of everyone? Ihaan had never seen that side of her.
"We-We're going to get him right now," she explained. She grasped Ihaan's upper arm and helped him stand. "He-He confronted Ro himself to get her away from us."
Daphne gave her a smug look. "Well, look at you, Velma. I've never seen you scared for Fred."
She blushed. "I'm not scared—just concerned. I've also solved the mystery, and it's just not the same without Fred here."
She solved the mystery? Oh, who was Ihaan kidding—of course she solved it. So, she probably figured out that Ro wasn't Ihaan's mom, although a part of him said she was, and it made sense with her behavioral changes after her accident.
The Thunderbird was said to encompass both good and evil and was seen as a guardian figure, much like parents were to their children. A parent was not out of the question, but no... Ihaan's mother was alive in the memory. He had also searched Red Squirrel Lake high and low and never saw evidence of someone who had died.
Ihaan snapped out of his trance when Daphne said, "All right, Scooby, we need your sniffer. Let's track down Fred and Ro." Unlike Velma, she looked more excited than scared—and not about fashion for once.
"Let me help." Ihaan stood tall, fists clenched. He stepped forward, but as soon as he put weight on his foot, he yelled and collapsed into Velma's arms. He sure hoped he didn't break it again. That would've been two times in his short life.
"Whoa, Ihaan," Velma said. "Take it easy—you're still injured."
Ihaan didn't care; he just wanted Ro back. He needed to know the truth, and he wanted to hear it from Ro herself. If she were his mother, why didn't she tell Ihaan earlier? And what about his father? If he had lost his mother, did he still have a father? And why had Ihaan never searched for him?
Ihaan's chest tightened, but he knelt with Velma, and both of them placed their hands on the soil.
Scooby pressed his nose to the ground and paced back and forth, sniffing. He jumped up after a minute and stretched his nose and tail, barking, "Rhis way! Rhis way!" pointing at the island's overgrown section.
"He right," Ihaan said, moving his hands forward. "Ground is hotter this way."
Velma's fearful look returned to a logical one, and she nodded. "You and I are thinking the same thing, Ihaan."
"So, what are we waiting for?" Ihaan swore that Daphne looked more excited by the second. "Let's go get Freddie! I've got the Deet and"—she fluffed her hair—"the sweetest style going, so I'm ready to rumble."
Shaggy lifted his hand. "Like, great, Daph. And while you guys do that, maybe one of us should stay behind for... ya know... safety reasons."
Velma stood and brushed herself down. "I think you mean cowardly reasons, Shaggy."
"Would you come for a Scooby Snack, Shaggy?" Daphne asked, reaching into her purse.
Shaggy crossed his arms. "Like, no way, José! Not this time."
Daphne held up two fingers, then three. "Two? Three?"
Shaggy paused at "three" before asking, "Four?"
"Four it is," Daphne said. "And four for you, too, Scooby."
She, Velma, and Ihaan chuckled when the two caught their treats and patted their bellies. It looked like they would launch as rockets at any moment, and once they settled down, they, Daphne, Velma, and Ihaan ducked into the forest and began their journey to confront Ro and save Fred.
Although Ihaan's foot and head hurt, he pushed through and tried his best to keep up with the others. While they had kept the secret about Ro from him, they were still eager to help, and now Ihaan felt terrible about saying, "I thought you were friends." They were just trying to protect him. He needed to find a time to apologize to them and Ro, but Fred came first.
With Scooby's super sniffer and Velma and Ihaan's constant checks on the soil, they found an open area of the island, lined with trees along the edge of Red Squirrel Lake. It looked like an abandoned campsite, but it wasn't when they got there. There was Ro, still tall and electrified, standing under the thundercloud, and Fred was in one of the trees, hugging the trunk.
"Oh, hey, gang! How's it going?" he called at the sight of them. Ro flapped her wings, and he jumped. "Don't look now, but I-I don't think this Spirit likes me."
Scooby growled and crouched, and Daphne called, "Just hold on, Fred!"
"Please hurry!" he added. "I don't taste great."
He was trying to be good ole Fred, but Ihaan saw the fear in his eyes. He was seeing all-new sides of the Mystery Gang that day—signs that they were human, like him, instead of just mystery-loving, meddling kids.
Fred climbed higher in the tree and hugged the trunk again. It seemed like his fight-or-flight response was kicking in.
Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, and Ihaan approached Ro and surrounded her.
"Leave him alone!" Velma snapped. "He's done nothing wrong."
"He just made a mistake," Daphne said.
Ihaan moved closer to Ro and raised his hands. "Please stop, Ro. I'm okay. Look!" He pointed at himself. "I'm okay." He wondered something. Ro's powers seemed to be at full strength on the island, starting with the shockwave earlier, and now her constant fight with the Thunderbird's malice. Was the island—?
Ro closed her eyes and screeched into the sky. A single lightning bolt shot down from the thundercloud and struck the base of the tree Fred was in.
The bark ignited on impact, and the flames traveled up the trunk toward him.
"Oh, gosh!" Freddie shouted. "Oh, gosh! Oh, gosh!" Well, there went his jokes.
Sweating, Ihaan peered over his shoulder at him. "Jump, Fred! It's deep here and not a long drop."
"Hurry!" the others yelled. "Freddie!"
"Ri-Right," Freddie stammered. He let go of the trunk and covered his nose and mouth with his shirt. "Well, tally-ho!" Freddie bent his knees and leaped out of the tree, landing with a splash in Red Squirrel.
"Reddie!" Scooby barked, narrowing his eyes. Before Ihaan and the Mystery Gang knew it, he broke off from the group and dove into the lake after him.
"Like, Scoob old pal!" Shaggy bellowed, backing away from Ro, who continued to screech.
She had completely lost control of her power—and on that island, nonetheless. What could Ihaan do to calm her? Where on Earth were the Spirit Animals when he needed them?
Underwater in the lake, Scooby paddled furiously, searching for Freddie. His eyes then caught something at the lake's surface, and he paddled faster.
Above the water, Ihaan and the gang saw it, too; another lightning bolt shot out of the thundercloud and hit the burning tree. A terrible crack followed, and the entire plant toppled into the lake where Fred and Scooby had vanished. The flames extinguished with a loud sizzle, but the Mystery Gang's yells overtook them.
"Fred! Scooby!"
Velma's shouts were the loudest, followed by Shaggy's.
Daphne smacked her hands over her mouth, and that was when Ihaan decided he'd had enough.
He left Ro, endured the pain in his foot, and jumped into the lake. There was the tree sinking on his left, but where were Fred and Scooby?
There they were!
Below Ihaan, Scooby paddled toward him, his tail wrapped around Fred's torso. Fred's limp figure said he had been knocked out, but no one had been crushed by the tree.
Ihaan kicked his feet and flinched, but he swam to Fred and Scooby and grabbed Fred. However, Fred was too heavy, and Ihaan couldn't swim for long with his ankle injury. He needed more hands, but right when he thought that, he heard three more splashes: Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy.
They swam down together; Daphne took Ihaan's hand, and Shaggy and Velma clutched each of Fred's arms. Working together, with Scooby leading the way, they swam toward the surface and were soon intercepted by a final figure: a no-longer electrified head of white feathers.
Ro caught the gang on her head and beat her wings, pulling them out of the lake. They coughed and hacked while she escorted them back to the island and set them down.
The thundercloud disappeared from the sky, and Ro closed her eyes as she flew away. She shrank back down to her eagle form and landed on her front in the island's heart, her wings spread and her head lowered.
It was over.
20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBeGc7Cehum
Prompt: "Gone Too Soon" - Simple Plan
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