"Let's do this!"
Velma mentally echoed Daphne's statement, slightly annoyed at herself that it had been taking them so long to catch the guys. Though the interjection of a time limit had certainly threw off any plans the two ladies had come up with. The chain had been far too slow to use against the time constrains, so they had to abandon that in lue of faster prospects.
...But nothing is stopping them now from using it.
Looking up, Velma got a mischievous glint in her eye, that wasn't missed by the other woman. Who moved in closer to talk strategy with the mastermind. At this point Daphne was open for anything, since her mind was blank with the whistling still ringing in her head.
"I have an idea..." Velma said in hushed tones to the other woman. Motioning her close.
"Hey!" Fred shouted out. "You guys are up to something, aren't you?"
Daphne gave him a cool look and nodded to the ground closer to her.
"Always! You're welcome to come closer and listen in." She mused, a grin on her face as she taunted him. "We are just talking reeeeeeaally quietly so you'll have to inch kinda close. Feel free to come over, within arm's reach even."
Fred snorted, not taking the bait. As curious as he was to overhear their plans, he was not stupid enough to move into their range.
But someone was...
As Velma started to try to explain to Daph her idea, she noticed from the corner of her eye someone who was trying to stealth-fully sneak up in their blind spot. She had still not worked out how she would have caught him in her plans... so this was perfect! While she made nondescript hand gestures and pretended to be talking still, her eyes quickly darted to the side where the intruder was coming from. It only took a second for Daphne to catch on, adding a few hand gestures herself to make it seem like they were tossing ideas back and forth. They waited till just the right moment, before turning on the would be rogue.
"Ah ha!"
"Got ya!"
The poor Dane didn't stand a chance! He noticed too late that they were on to him, and they had moved in such a way that they blocked off both sides of his escape. And the dog didn't have the thought to back pedal and was caught easily.
"Nice!" The ladies gave each other high fives as Scooby hung his head and huffed off to the out stairs. Victim to his own curiosity and lack of planning. Fred all but face planted, but what was he to do? Call out to the Dane and let the girls know he was coming up to them? Either way wasn't a good idea. But then again, master strategist, Scooby was not.
"Alright, now let's actually get to planning." Daphne said, patting Velma on the shoulder as they moved back to the center of the sidewalk. Leaning in, the younger woman cupped her hands to her face and whispered to Daphne her idea. She knew that Shaggy was able to read lips, and didn't want to put it past the man to strain his eyes and try to make out what she was saying. Neither man moved any closer, learning from Scooby not to drop their guard around those two. Seconds agonizingly ticked by for the guys, not wanting to even risk taking a run before they could get their eyes on both girls.
Finally, they detached and Daphne had a big grin on her face. The kinda worthy of a wonderland creature.
"So, do you think you are up for it?" Velma asked, watching Daphne do some stretches to limber up.
"Had this been a few hours ago, I would be more worried. But with all this running, 'that' shouldn't be a problem." Daphne replied. "Do you think your wrists are up for it?"
"Yeah, I think I should be able to do it." Velma gave an experimental wrist flex, judging the joint's mobility at the moment. It seemed ok for what they were about to do, though she didn't know how bad it might be until they gave it a go. Not like she had done something exactly like this, but some close enough.
"Spot me for a second." Daphne waved Velma over, and caught the shorter woman's shoulder. Leaning her weight, she looked over to Shaggy.
"It counts, as long as one of us is touching the sidewalk, right? No other exceptions to the rule? You get out with we touch you... somehow, right?"
This earned a eyebrow raise, and a tentative respond from the scraggly man. "... Like' yeah." Gulping, not liking that tone. Nor the question that came with it. "As long as part of you is connected to the sidewalk, like being connected through Velms... it counts."
This earned a smile and a double nod from the ladies.
"Perfect!"
Rolling her head around her shoulders once, Daphne leaned on Velma as she raised up one leg. At first it was only a bit off the ground at an angle, but giving it a short kick, she raised it to be level with the ground and pointing straight out. Leaving it at that level, she rotated her hips and shifted her other foot to pivot and point her foot directly at Fred. Almost as if to be indicating her intentions. Her smile growing wider, she gave another kick and shifted her center and while her upper body rocked to the side, her leg moved more and more vertical. Till finally, she had done a full split high kick. Holding it for a second to let it sink into the men who were staring at the show... she slowly shifted it back to a normal standing position.
"While I may not be able to do gymnastics." Daphne huffed, proud of herself for pulling that off with such little stretching. Making sure to quickly pull out a scrunchy and place her hair in a loose knot to get it out of her way. "I have done Belly dancing, Cheer, wrestling and Karate, as Velma made sure to point out. So something like this is in my wheelhouse."
The younger woman was beaming, happy that Daphne was up to the task, and now she had to fill out her side of the bargain. Planting one foot upon the sidewalk firmly, she offered her outstretched hands to the older woman. Taking those offered hands in her own, Daphne Shifted her weight and looked behind her at Fred. Keeping her shoulders square, Velma braced for her plan to go into effect, giving Daphne a starting nod.
"Here we come!"
Dashing to their wrist length, Daphne zipped quickly to stretch as far as their two hands could reach. Planting a foot firmly, Daphne shifted her weight and whipped a leg at Fred's position. Kicking the questing leg in his direction. But her aim was off, and it shot right beside him. His eyes growing wide as the reach he had gotten used to earlier, had grown by more than a foot of distance! He shifted away from the house, as Daphne moved into a rotation. Letting go with one hand, Daphne took the swinging foot and planted it on the ground to whip the other foot around to take another swing at him. Though she had more than enough control in her swings, to be able to tap him with the outstretched foot. Her Sensei had taught her that much at least.
"Wah!" Fred shouted, nearly taking another hit from her. Adjusting his retreat again to gain some ground, but she kept coming!
Across the lawn they went, with Velma providing the needed support and connection to the sidewalk, while Daphne's rotating reach was pushing him further away from safety. Soon he would have to either make a dash past Daphne's long leg reach, or take the risk of crossing onto the small strip of grass that sat in front of their property. But the spins were certainly taking their toll on Daphne, as she was not used to doing so much spinning. And it was showing with her kicks, as the spins were getting wider on the rotations.
'I'll just get ready to duck and make a dash for it when she gets right to the edge...' Thought Fred, bracing himself for the final push past the ladies. But he was certainly impressed. This was not something he had been ready to face up against. Some crazy martial arts, gymnastic leg tagging! And while he might have figured something like this from Shaggy, Daphne was a bit of a surprise. Not everyone could keep up with some of Velma's insane plots, nor have the prowess to pull it off. And their cooperation was flawless, as each rotation was always connected to the sidewalk by Velma, as she moved with the moves to make sure they were grounded.
"Now!"
Shouting to her partner, Daphne sprung from her kick and launched herself into the air in a huge arc! Her legs both leaving the ground and twisting up and over Fred's head by a long shot... But that wasn't the target. Landing with a light thump, Daphne quickly got her baring and placed her foot on the sidewalk. She had essentially hopped the corner and now was in front of Fred. So he wouldn't be able to escape across to the small sidewalk. But that was only part of the plan. Gritting her teeth, Daphne let go with one hand and held on for dear life with the other one. Pushing herself at full tilt, they had switched places and Velma now became the aggressor. One hand latched on to Daphne, she knew that Fred was quick but would probably get distracted by the flashy moves to hesitate long enough for her to make a run for him.
"!"
As a few grass blades settled to the ground from Daphne's kickoff, it was clear the result of the ladies gamble. Velma had a handful of Fred's sleeve caught in her hand, and a startled Fred just stared down at her hand. Poised to run but never had gotten the chance to move. He only looked amazed at the small hand that grasped his arm very tightly.
"... I'm out?" He finally looked up, unbelieving in what had just happened to him.
"Yep Fred." Shaggy chuckled from behind the man, using the berserk flurry of moves to make way across the same side as they all were. He came over and patted the man on the shoulder to console him.
"It looks like you are out."
"Um Shaggy?"
"Hm?" Shaggy responded, looking over at Daphne who had spoken to him.
"You are out as well then." Daphne pointed as, nodding her head to his hand resting on Fred's shoulder. Shaggy traced the sidewalk from Daphne's leg, up and across her to Velma... who still had a death grip on Fred's sleeve, and then up that sleeve and across Fred's shoulder to the other one... where he hand now sat.
"Ah ha ha ha! Well, will you look at that? So I am." Shaggy lightly sighed, though didn't seem all that broken up about it. That was the most impressive act of being 'it' that he had ever seen. And not even sure he could have pulled that one off, since the ladies had been so in sync.
"YES!" Finally releasing Velma's hand, Daphne moved to pluck the woman off the ground in a hug. "We wooooon!"
Caught up in the hug, Velma finally let go and stared at her hand. The plan had been a on the fly, rush job that had just hit her. And in doing so, had managed to catch each of the guys one by one. That hadn't been what she had in mind, nor did she expect it to go so well, but hey! Who was she to knock it?
As Daphne hopped around with Velma in grip, Scooby had come over and joined in the celebrations. Though made sure to keep his barking to a minimum, less he angered the dreaded Mrs. Johnson. Shaking his head, Fred had to hand it to them. He got caught fair and square, and the rush had been amazing! As Velma finally touched her feet back to the grass, Fred slid up and moved between the ladies to place an arm on each shoulder, and he had managed to snag Shaggy on the way to pull him close too.
"That was awesome ladies! Good game! We'll have to play this again!"
"One more round then?" Shaggy joked; earning a swift elbow, angry glare and eye roll from the trio beside him as he swung an arm around Velma who had become closest to him. Wincing a bit from her sharp and pointy decline of his offer.
"Come on gang." Fred tried to steer the group towards the house for a much needed break. The couch never sounded so good right now, and a nice cold glass of water as well. "Let's head inside before the neighbors complain. Though... good game!"
And so the gang headed inside for a round of refreshments, comfortable seating and some more laughs into the night. Enjoying each others company into the wee hours of the morning, before heading off to bed.
Good night.
