Author's Note: Hi there. So as if the title wasn't a dead giveaway, this is indeed a "Halloween Special" of sorts for the Infinity Crisis series. It took me a little while to decide what to do for it, because I had several ideas I really liked. Eventually though, I realized that bringing Scooby-Doo into the mix was the right way to go. Plus, I realized I've never written a story set on Earth-1, so I figured I could add to it by introducing versions of Mystery, Inc. to it. Originally, I planned for this to be a crossover with Batwoman where Ryan Wilder would also play a role too, but I decided to not go forward with that due to the current drama revolving around Ruby Rose and her damning statements about how she was treated while playing Kate Kane. Having that in my mind just made trying to write the Arrowverse's version of Gotham into the story kind of awkward. This was also supposed to be a one-shot at first, not unlike Keep the Yuletide Amazing, but I decided to split it into two chapters instead. Because of that, this is mostly an introduction to the characters and some set up, with the rest being saved for the next part. I'm hoping to get that done before October's over, but we'll have to see about that. Anyway, enjoy!
Earth-1
Somewhere in New Hampshire
In late October, on a crisp, sunny New England day, a van was being driven down a windy, mostly empty road. While it was a blocky motor vehicle for sure, what really made it stand out was its paint job; it was mostly a cool blue, with green segments on the sides that had a few orange flower shapes within them. Further above, on both sides, were panels that were the same green, with orange letters painted over them that spelled out a name; The Mystery Machine. Indeed, if you were to ask the owner of this van if that was what he called the vehicle, he would proudly let you know that it was so. Said owner was the one at the wheel of the Mystery Machine, nodding his head to the lead-in to a song that was playing.
Well I live with snakes and lizards
And other things that go bump in the night
And to me everyday is Halloween
I have given up hiding and started to fight
He was a fairly tall, handsome looking young man with pale blond hair, dark brown eyes, and a strong upper upper body. He was mostly Anglo-American, but did actually have some Puerto Rican blood through a grandparent. He was dressed in a long sleeved white shirt that had a collar and a large stripe along that were both deep blue, blue jeans, and brown shoes. If you were to ask him what his own name was, he would happily let you know to call him Fred Jones.
I have started to fight
Fred wasn't alone in the car. Sitting to his left were two young women, and in the back behind them were another young man and a large dog.
Well any time, any place, anywhere that I go
All the people seem to stop and stare
They say "Why are you dressed like it's Halloween?
You look so absurd, you look so obscene"
One of the young women, who was between Fred and the other woman seated to her right, was looking down at her cellphone. She was a very fetching woman of mixed white English, African, and Indigenous North American descent. Even though such a mix made it rather improbable, she had beautiful and wavy ginger hair. She wore a short dress that was dark purple with significantly lighter purple trimming, long pink leggings, stylish light purple shoes, and a light purple headband in her bouncy hair. If you were to then ask her what she is named, she would answer with Daphne Blake.
Oh, why can't I live a life for me?
Why should I take the abuse that's served?
Why can't they see they're just like me?
It's the same, it's the same in the whole wide world
The second young woman was looking out the window. She was noticeably shorter and a bit plumper than the thin Daphne, but was also quite attractive, with a style that suited her. Ethnicity wise, she was half Japanese and half white Scottish. She had a cute bob of dark, nearly black brown hair with small red berets clipped to the sides to keep her hair out of the way of her black framed glasses. She wore a slightly baggy, light orange turtleneck sweater, a pleated maroon red skirt, white knee socks, and Mary Jane shoes that matched her skirt in color. If you had already been given Fred and Daphne's names, then she would proactively inform you that she was Velma Dinkley.
Well I let their teeny minds think
That they're dealing with someone who is over the brink
And I dress this way just to keep them at bay
'Cause Halloween is everyday
It's everyday
The second young man was goofing around with the dog in the back. He was a gangly built person of Lebanese descent whose head was topped with a disheveled plop of brown hair. That, along with his unshaven chin, gave him a scruffy appearance. He was of Lebanese descent, and was dressed in a short sleeved green v-neck shirt, brown bell-bottom pants, and worn out black sneakers. Officially, his name was Norville Rogers, as his parents had anglicized all their names when they immigrated to the United States. When introducing himself though, he would tell people to call him Shaggy, which was a childhood nickname that had stuck.
Oh, why can't I live a life for me?
Why should I take the abuse that's served?
Why can't they see they're just like me?
It's the same, it's the same in the whole wide world
Last, but not least, was the big happy dog, who was very unusual indeed, as while he was officially a Great Dane, he didn't look like the ideal of the breed. In fact, he looks like the opposite of that. His chin was small, his back was humped, and even the color of his fur wasn't like other Great Danes, as he was a rich brown from head to toe, save for a few small black spots on his upper body. Around his neck was a collar with a diamond shaped tag that had an S and a D on it. Normally, a dog couldn't introduce himself, but this dog was not your typical animal. He was of a special breed of life, one not limited by species. When this dog was just a tiny pup, Shaggy had named him something special and that special name was none other than Scooby-Doo.
Oh, why can't I live a life for me?
Why should I take the abuse that's served?
Why can't they see they're just like me?
I'm not the one that's so absurd
The five all smiled as Fred turned off of the road and onto a dirt path surrounded by grass. It had been a long, long trip to get to where they were headed, but they were finally about to arrive there, and the group's happiness was as clear to see as the scarlet tanagers flying around a nearby tree that was passed by the Mystery Machine.
Why hide it?
Why fight it?
Hurt feelings
Best to stop feeling hurt
From denials, reprisals
It's the same, it's the same in the whole wide world
Fred pulled up to a large, one story cabin. It was gorgeous, made of fine, clean wood and designed to look both welcoming, elegant, and cozy. A small charcoal colored car was sitting right next to where Fred parked the Mystery Machine. A middle aged white woman with grayed brown hair and in modest seasonal dress was sitting in the passenger's seat and smiled when she noticed that the Mystery Machine was there.
It's the same, it's the same in the whole wide
It's the same, it's the same in the whole wide
Oh, it's the same, it's the same i…*click*
Daphne switched off the radio.
"Wow! It looks even better than the pictures online!" Fred cheerfully commented as he looked at the cabin.
Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby all got out from the Mystery Machine. The woman in the car next to it lowered her window, and the gang stepped over to it.
"Hello there. You must be the ones renting the cabin for the weekend." the woman, who had a thick Dutch accent, greeted them. "I'm Lotte de Goede."
"Hi there, Lotte. It's nice to meet you." Velma responded.
"So were you, like, renting this place before us?" Shaggy asked.
"Yes. Just me and Govert." Lotte answered. "We would have been gone before you all got here, but he wouldn't let me help him with our luggage, so we're taking longer than we should."
She motioned to the trunk of the car, which was opened. It already had some bags in it, but there was clearly enough room for a couple more.
"We could help him. It wouldn't be any trouble." Fred offered.
"Zuster, hoor ik iemand buiten? Geen onruststokers, hoop ik!" a man, presumably the Govert Lotte had mentioned, called out from the open front door.
"Maak je geen zorgen, broer! Het zijn maar een paar jonge mensen en een hond!" Lotte called back to him. "Laat de grote je helpen met mijn koffer!"
"Prima, maar alleen zodat hij zich nuttig voelt!" Govert called out.
"Okay, he'll let you help him. Thank you so much." Lotte said to Fred, switching from her native tongue back to English.
"Heh heh. Dutch is a fun language." Daphne giggled.
Fred walked over to the front door and saw Govert, who was a short and scrawny man who was around Lotte's age, struggling to lift a large suitcase in one hand while more easily holding up a duffel bag in the other. Fred plucked it out of his hand and lifted it up using both of his.
"This sure is heavy. No wonder you couldn't lift it with only one hand." Fred said.
Govert sighed.
"Thank you, young man." he said to Fred.
The two walked outside and put the suitcase and duffel bag into the trunk. Fred looked at the other cases that were inside, and then stroked them. All of them felt like clothes, books, and little else.
"Are you sure this is everything? No other equipment?" Fred asked.
"Everything is here." Govert answered. "Lotte and I didn't have much use for things needed for outdoor activities. A local came by to do a little yard work for the owners."
Fred smiled and nodded before he closed the trunk. Govert walked up to the door to the driver's seat and got inside. He and Lotte strapped on their seatbelts. The latter looked at Daphne and Velma, who were still standing by her opened window. Shaggy and Scooby were back at the Mystery Machine pulling out their own luggage.
"So why did you nice kids come out here?" Lotte asked.
"Well, we wanted a break from what we normally do." Daphne answered. "This is going to sound silly, but we normally go around the world solving mysteries."
"Mysteries? What kind? Murders?" Govert questioned.
"It tends to be more along the lines of people dressing up like monsters and trying to scare people." Velma explained. "We've dealt with people pretending to be pirate captain ghosts at least twice. One was Redbeard and the other was Skunkbeard."
Govert and Lotte looked at each other with befuddled looks.
"Yeah, you'd be surprised how often people try to do stuff like that. If anything, it's ramped up since, you know, the... event from a while back." Fred added as he walked up next to Velma and Daphne. "It may sound strange to some, but we tend to run into that kind of stuff almost everywhere we go."
"And lately, it's been kind of overwhelming." Daphne sighed.
"October is a big month for it, you see." Velma said. "Especially Halloween. We just want to stay here for a couple days to relax."
Shaggy and Scooby walked up, both carrying a bag. Yes, Scooby is able to use his paws as if they were human hands. His nephew can do the same thing, but most often has then curled into fists.
"Like, me and Scoob think it'll be a nice change of pace, man." Shaggy said.
"I hope you have a good time here then." Govert said.
"Goodbye now." Lotte said.
Govert turned on the car and safely drove away from the cabin and onto the dirt road Fred had come down.
"Rhey reemed riendly." Scooby said.
Scooby was a talking animal. The others didn't find it particularly weird. He had been that way for a long time and they lived in an unusual world. With the many metahumans popping up in both Central City, Star City, and Gotham, people were now much more willing to accept the unexplained as a part of life.
"Let's get the rest of the bags." Daphne said.
She, Velma, and Fred all went back to the Mystery Machine and retrieved their respective luggage. They then went into the cabin along with Scooby and Shaggy. The cabin was just as beautiful on the inside as it was from the outside. The main area consisted of a living area with a large couch, a recliner, a coffee table, and a television, a small kitchen with a refrigerator, a few cabinets, a sink, an oven, and a stove, a dining table in front of a door that led to the back of the cabin, and the entrances to the cabin's two bedrooms and the bathroom off to the side.
"We sure lucked out finding this place." Shaggy said.
He then walked over to the kitchen and opened the fridge. There wasn't anything inside except for a carton of milk, a loaf of bread, and an unwashed head of lettuce. After closing it, Shaggy opened up one of the nearby cabinets to see a stack of clean dishes and some cups. He opened the one next to it and found some canned beans, beets, and corn.
"Thinking about dinner already, Shaggy?" Fred asked.
Scooby walked over to the kitchen and joined Shaggy and he took out a couple of cans.
"Just weighing our options, Freddie." Shaggy said. "Scoob and I can figure this out."
"That's fine. I'm going to go outside and see what the back is like. I'll come back in a bit to put my bags away." Fred announced.
He then walked over to the back door and stepped outside. Daphne smiled down and Velma, who smiled back. They both looked over at Shaggy and Scooby, who were both rummaging through the kitchen to see if there was anything else they could use for dinner. Daphne picked up her bag.
"Velma and I are gonna go pick a room." Daphne said.
"Rood ruck rith rhat." Scooby said, barely listening.
"Hey, come look at this, Scoob!" Shaggy exclaimed.
Daphne and Velma both carried their bags over to the doors to the two bedrooms. The one on the right had two beds while the one on the left had one larger one. The two went into the room on the left and were about to close the door when Shaggy and Scooby dashed up to them. Shaggy held up a slip of paper.
"Check it out! I just found a 'Buy 2, Get 1 Free' coupon for a pizza place that's nearby!" Shaggy told them.
"Really? Maybe de Goedes left it here." Velma said.
"Yeah, to our benefit." Shaggy beamed. "So do you two want to pick out toppings with us?"
"No thanks, Shaggy. We really just want to put our clothes away right now." Velma declined.
"We'll trust your judgement." Daphne said.
The two then went into the room and closed the door. Shaggy rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
"Ummm…like, okay then." Shaggy said.
Scooby happily licked Shaggy's face and the latter cheered up. The two headed over to the couch. Inside the bedroom, Velma and Daphne plopped their bags down at the foot of the bed. Velma looked over at the bedside table on her side, which had a lamp and a landline phone on it, and then turned over to look at Daphne, who was looking right at her. Velma played with a bit of Daphne's hair for a second.
"Finally…" Daphne sighed as she gazed at Velma, "…I have you all to myself."
"I'm ready whenever you are." Velma said back flirtatiously.
"Oh, I've been ready for this for a while." Daphne said as she cupped Velma's chin in her hand.
Daphne pulled Velma's face up to hers and kissed her softly on the lips before pulling away. The two then looked into each other's eyes with hungry eyes.
"I'm going to need a lot more than that, Daphne. A lot more." Velma whispered.
The two wrapped their arms around each other and began to kiss, this time much more passionately, and fell onto the bed. Velma stopped for a moment to bury her face in Daphne's red hair, inhaling the aroma of her. The two took a moment to throw off their shoes. The two then went right back to making out, much to their shared pleasure. Neither said a word to the other about how much they were enjoying what they were doing, because both of them could tell. They continued on like that for several minutes, letting the world around them melt away as they indulged into their feelings of desire. It had been quite a while since the two had taken the time to do this and they didn't care. This wasn't something they did every day anyway, but they could always tell when they both wanted it, and this was most assuredly one of those days. Unfortunately, the moment came to an abrupt end with the coming of an even more abrupt noise.
Brrriiiing Brrriiiing
It was the loud ring of the telephone on the bedside table.
"Should we…just ignore it?" Daphne asked as the two stopped kissing.
"If it's a crank, I can just hang up." Velma said as she put her glasses back on.
Velma picked up the telephone and brought it to her ear.
"Hello." Velma answered.
"Thank you for picking up. You are the people renting the cabin, yes?" a deep voiced man said on the other asked.
"We are." Velma confirmed. "Who are you and why're you calling?"
"My name is Preston. You don't know me, but I live in town and I think you should know something about where you're staying." the man, named Preston, answered.
"Umm…okay, tell me." Velma requested.
An annoyed Daphne got up from the bed and walked out of the bedroom. She figured that she and Velma could probably get back to their fun later, when distractions would ideally be less likely. Shaggy and Scooby were both sitting on the couch, with Shaggy talking on his cellphone. He was placing the order for the pizza.
"Alright, and for the third pizza we'd like the 'Veggie Lovers', with extra mushrooms." Shaggy said.
Scooby then grabbed the cellphone from Shaggy.
"Rold the reen reppers." Scooby added.
"I'm sorry. What was that?" the woman taking down the order asked.
Scooby sulked and have Shaggy his cellphone back.
"Hold the green peppers." Shaggy said, repeating what Scooby said.
"Oh, okay. Got it. Thanks for buying local." the woman said.
"No reason not to. Thanks. Bye now." Shaggy said before hanging up.
Daphne walked over to the couch and sat down next to Scooby. The two could tell she looked a little disappointed.
"Rey, Raphne." Scooby greeted her.
"Is something wrong?" Shaggy asked.
Daphne sighed.
"I'll be fine, guys. Velma's just had to answer a phone call." Daphne answered as she glanced around the cabin. "Is Fred still outside?"
As if on cue, Fred then reentered the cabin through the back door. He looked quite confused. He was even lightly scratching the side of his head.
"Heh. There's your answer, Daphne." Shaggy chuckled.
"Hey, Fred. Is something bothering you?" Daphne asked, getting up from the couch.
Fred walked over closer to them before answering.
"Well, I know this doesn't sound like much, but there's a hole in the backyard, filled with dirt." Fred answered. "It doesn't look like it's a garden or anything like that though. I was just trying to think of why it would be there."
"Like, maybe it's buried treasure." Shaggy joked.
"Shaggy, the only reason I really noticed is because that Govert guy told me he and Lotte didn't do much outside." Fred said. "I…"
Fred then put his right hand on his forehead and laughed.
"…and he also said the owners who rent this place out had someone come by to work on the lawn! How did I forget that?" Fred laughed, recalling more details from earlier. "Sorry for that, gang. I guess we've been solving so many mysteries lately that my mind was trying to give me one that wasn't there."
Just as Fred was about to sit down on the nearby chair, Velma came out of the bedroom.
"Oh good. Everyone's here." Velma said as she walked over.
"What's up, Velma?" Fred asked as he sat down.
"A local just called and told me a story he's heard many times." Velma answered.
The others all looked at each other with disappointed looks, their minds having all jumped to the same conclusion.
"Ruh-roh." Scooby gulped.
"Please don't tell me this place is supposed to be 'haunted' too. We already had to deal with two fake hauntings last week!" Daphne griped.
"Plus having to stop that weirdo in Hatton Corners a couple days ago. Like, so much for us getting some downtime before Halloween." Shaggy added.
"I hear you, Shaggy." I normally love solving mysteries, but…"
"All of you just stop! It isn't what you think." Velma cut Fred off.
Everyone stopped their bellyaching and looked at Velma, who smiled in response. She looked down at the coffee table and saw the coupon that Scooby had found. She picked it up.
"That's better. Now, just hear me out." Velma told them. "I think I know how to make tonight perfect. But first, I'm going to tell you the story of a girl...a girl who was allegedly killed in this house."
Like I said up above, I'm saving the rest for Chapter 2, where we'll be getting some more crazy stuff, so please don't give up on this just yet. The ending is going to be more important than you may think.
Some notes:
- The title of this story is a riff on the 1981 Horror film Dead & Buried. The reference'll make more sense when the story is completed.
- The song at the beginning there was "Every Day is Halloween" by the band Ministry.
- The characters' ethnic backgrounds on Earth-1 are taken from some of the actors who have played the characters in different installments of the franchise. Specifically, Freddie Prinze Jr., who played Fred in Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Hayley Kiyoko, who played Velma in Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins and Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, Sarah Jeffery as Daphne in Daphne & Velma, and, of course, Casey Kasem, the original voice of Shaggy.
- Scooby is a meta-animal on Earth-1, thus explaining why he isn't just a normal dog.
- The "pirate ghosts" mentioned, Redbeard and Skunkbeard, originate from an episode of the original series and the Pirates Ahoy! film, respectively.
- Hatton Corners is a town in the DC universe that was first introduced in The Brave and the Bold #54, where the original Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash fought Mister Twister, aka Brom Stikk. The "weirdo" Mystery Inc. dealt with was the Earth-1 counterpart of Stikk, who only faked having wind powers as part of a plot to "kidnap" local youths on behalf of unloving parents.
- As for these versions of Daphne and Velma, they're both bisexual and they're in an open relationship where they're both fine with the the other dating others. The guys know and are cool with it, because they're good friends, but the girls still like their privacy.
- I had to use Google Translate for those couple of lines that were in Dutch. I hope the site was actually accurate for me for once, or else what they said would probably sound silly to a person who actually knows Dutch.
Okay, I think that should be it for now. So just in case I don't have the second chapter ready to post in the next few days, Happy Halloween!