"Now it's time for my surprise" said Velma leading Shaggy to a side room off her main lab area. "Meet Daphne and Velma 2.0." she said opening the door.
"Zoinks!" exclaimed Shaggy as he looked at what could be the girls' identical twins standing in front of him. Hair, clothes, height, Velma's glasses they looked identical to the real thing.
"They are designed to take our places when we are sleeping. They have a GPS position locator and transmitter, a radio distress beacon, life-like breathing patterns, hair, skin, body temperature and weight distribution, some movement, speaker, microphone and a gas analyser. Should someone attempt to use knock-out gas on one of them a silent alarm is triggered and it reacts as if we were being gassed. If it is moved it sends regular position updates." Velma stood next to her decoy.
Shaggy circled all three "Like creepy man, they look so real."
"As great as it is to be rescued by you boys, Daphne and I are getting tired of ending up as damsels-in-distress, especially me, I've never been good at escapology. I can spend hours struggling to get free and all I get is rope burns. Why rope all the time? Do they know Daph has taught me how to pick locks, and the tape they use for gags these days just brings me out in a rash. My hair colour and freckles should tell them that I have sensitive skin, I'll start carrying a roll of low-allergy tape at this rate..." said Velma
"Well Fred and I don't look good in a dress, Scoob has the hips but..." replied Shaggy but Velma wasn't listening
"And you're never held anywhere nice; it's always a damp dungeon or some kind of run-down warehouse. Even when it's not you end up bring dumped on a cold hard floor or tied to a rough wooden chair, I mean seriously last time it took hours to get all the splinters out of my legs. Sure it sounds romantic like the kind of fluff Daphne used to read when she was young, 'the beautiful heroine waiting for rescue by the gallant hero'. And, well, yes it is wonderful when you rescue me Shaggy, it does set my heart racing the first time I see you, but..." Shaggy pinched the arm of the decoy Velma "...Ow! What did you do that for?"
"Sorry Velms, I thought you were the decoy." replied Shaggy
"Well it fooled you" said Velma rubbing her arm "so I guess it's ready."
They loaded up the History Machine with the various bits of gear they needed, Velma collected a small jar from the kitchen cupboard.
"What are you bringing that stuff for?" asked Shaggy
"This will help us tell the real from the phoney Fred" she said
After the gear was all stowed they went to put the finishing touches on their disguise. Velma went to fashion some jewellery then they got changed into their new identities. Velma wore her red beret, a chocolate-orange shirt, an orange T-shirt, jeans and red trainers. Shaggy changed into a black jacket, green long-sleeve shirt, combat trousers and orange trainers; he also dyed his goatee a darker colour.
Velma tensed "OK Shaggy, just, just do it..." Shaggy proceeded to apply make-up and hairspray to her.
"All done, hope that didn't hurt too much" he smiled "It's as close as I can get to your normal natural look, but disguise you." Velma examined her new face with a sense of trepidation.
"That's not bad Shag, this should work I don't recognise my self" she said
"Well I prefer your natural look as well" said Shaggy gallantly
"Thanks Shag... come here and help me test the kissability of this lipstick" smiled Velma as she pulled Shaggy to her. Once the testing was completed they applied the final part of their disguise. They stood back to admire their handiwork and each other.
"I can still see your classic colour theme" said Shaggy
"Well I do have my standards to maintain" smiled Velma
"Well you look fantastic Mrs Rogers" said Shaggy
"Thank you Mr Rogers, my husband has excellent taste." After about 5 minutes they finally got their fit of the giggles under control enough to make a start.
As they headed off they began to feel quite positive about the whole affair. They were now doing something about the trouble their friends were in so their sense of powerlessness was beginning to evaporate. It began to dawn on them that this was all new, Shaggy and Scooby had solved mysteries together, Velma and Fred had often solved mysteries together, occasionally Daphne and Shaggy had solved mysteries together, but neither could recall a time when they had solved a mystery, just by themselves. On the way they stopped for some supplies, much to Velma's delight Shaggy brought her a huge bunch of flowers.
"Our first mystery as an official couple" proclaims Shaggy handing over the flowers..
"That's so romantic" said Velma imitating Daphne's voice and mannerisms. The happy mood dissipated as they approached the convention centre. Velma attempted to get a remote connect to the Mystery Machine so to activate its GPS emergency beacon but was unable to make contact.
"The current aerial is not all that good, that's why I'm working on an update." explained Velma "you need to be quite close to get a remote connection."
"Well, it's time to get our game faces on" said Shaggy "We've arrived."