We're back, with another new chapter! Sorry for taking a while, but I was doing a huge project last week, which I just finished up. So, I'll have plenty of time to focus on this and other fics from here on in! Anyway, enjoy!
EIGHT YEARS LATER...
"POPCORN!"
"Rummy!"
At the concession stand in the theater, the grown up boy and his dog happily opened up the large filled up popcorn machine all lined up in the middle and dived right in, much to Daphne's amusement. Scooby popped out of the popcorn as he started to swim around as he exclaimed, "I rove ro rive around rin rit rike a rorpoise..."
"...burrow through it like a gopher..." Shaggy said as he jumped out of the popcorn as both he and Scooby took a handful of popcorn.
"...rand ross it rup..." Scooby said as he and Shaggy tossed the popcorn up as the kernels landed on their heads, making them laugh.
"...and let it hit us on the head!" Shaggy laughed as he opened his mouth as some falling bits of popcorn landed on their mouth.
"First of all, you two, very unsanitary." Daphne rolled her eyes as she poked her head inside and frowned. "Second of all, don't you two think that this is suspicious?"
"Like, what's suspicious about it, Daphne?" Shaggy asked as he raised an eyebrow. "Free popcorn that we don't have to pay for, because the theater's closed!"
"Reah! Ree roprorn!" Scooby laughed as he started to stuff his face.
"Yeah, but... don't they usually EMPTY out popcorn machines after they close, because they could go stale?" Daphne asked. "Sorry to break it to you guys, but you're eating stale popcorn."
The Great Dane and the teenage man in the green shirt stopped as they looked around at the large amounts of popcorn surrounding them, then felt the ones they had in their mouth. After a few minutes, the two just shrugged as they continued to eat. Daphne couldn't help but give a sigh.
"And once again, you two think with your stomachs." Daphne said as she took off her heels before delicately climbing into the machine. "I swear, you two bring out the worst in yourselves."
Shaggy and Scooby just ignored Daphne as they continually started to eat the popcorn. The red haired teenager shook her head, yet couldn't help but smile as she trudged herself through the popcorn. As she trudged through, she couldn't help but imagine how her younger self would have reacted if she was forced to dive into popcorn. She chuckled at the mere thought. Being a little more calm and collected as she was now, she didn't mind getting herself into quite the mess. She could always remember a time when she had her butlers on call, just in case something happened that was either worse for her, or find something that they couldn't quite reach as kids.
Needless to say, Daphne had looked over towards Shaggy and Scooby with a smile, knowing that while the two have grown up, they haven't changed that much different. But for Daphne, she felt different. She knew she had changed, but she could never figure out why. As she tried to dig around for clues at the popcorn machine, she thought about that reason. Sure, she was a bit vain and snooty, but that all changed when the gang formed. Of course, she knew that already, but when had that change occurred? For quite a while, she thought it was because of the adventures in mystery solving with her friends. She felt the green scarf she wore around her neck as she looked down at it, giving a small smile. Sure, purple with green go great together, but this scarf to her was special, in a way.
Before she can think any further though, she heard a loud cracking sound and Shaggy going, "Ow!", making her turn her head.
"Are you okay, Shaggy?" Daphne asked in concern as the teenager rubbed his cheek, holding something in one hand.
"Yeah, like, I'm okay. But I am certainly not chewing on a popcorn kernel here." Shaggy frowned as he held out what appeared to be a red ruby, with Scooby staring at it in fascination.
"Is that a red ruby? How did THAT get into the popcorn machine?" Daphne asked as she waddled through the popcorn to examine the ruby.
"Like, I'm not sure, but I think we stumbled upon a clue." Shaggy said as Daphne examined the ruby, with the girl pausing in thought.
Scooby paused as he gave a slight chuckle, getting Shaggy's attention. "What's so funny, Scoob?"
"Roh, rothing. Rust... rinking." Scooby said, giving a small smile.
"I have to admit, I would never expect to see a red ruby hiding inside something as simple as popcorn." Daphne paused. "Unless I'm mistaken... Shaggy, Scooby, dig around and find a trap door!"
The two nodded as they continued to swim around the popcorn, eating some on the way to try to find some sort of hidden hatch underneath. Daphne decided to get to work herself as she dug through more popcorn, trying her best to search and to search, digging some more, until she reached her hand towards the bottom and felt something hard and rough. She carefully tugged whatever she was holding a couple times to make sure it's firm. She turned towards her two friends as they were a little far along the wall.
"Hey, Shaggy, Scooby, I think I found some-" Daphne said as she pulled out what appeared to be a rope... only for her to unceremoniously sink into the popcorn as she disappeared, with some popcorn falling being heard.
"Did you say something, Daphne?" Shaggy asked as he looked up. The man then yelped as he looked around. "Daphne?"
"Ruh-roh..." Scooby said, shaking like a leaf as he suddenly had a bad feeling that... once again, Daphne had somehow been put in danger.
"Yeah, like, I agree, Scooby-Doo. Ruh-roh." Shaggy bit his tongue, getting worried about the girl he cared for. "But... hey, Daphne's tough. Maybe she found the trap door on that end. Let's take a look!"
The Great Dane nodded as he and Shaggy started to swim over towards where Daphne was, with Shaggy and Scooby busily eating popcorn along the way. Pretty soon, as Scooby and Shaggy approached the area and dug through the popcorn, they noticed a shut trap door that could only be opened by pulling a rope. The two friends looked at each other as they both gulped.
"Well, Scoob, it seems we have two choices here. Either scramble for our lives and hope Daphne makes it out okay... or we dive right in, play the brave heroes, and hopefully find her." Shaggy said.
Scooby looked at Shaggy with a scared, but confident look on his face that told the boy that they would never leave their friends in danger. Shaggy gave a nod as he looked down. "I'm assuming you read my mind, Scoob. Let's just do this."
Shaggy nodded as he opened the trap door. "After you."
"Right." Scooby nodded as he tried to crawl into the trap door, only to find himself sliding down, giving out a loud yelp. Shaggy quickly dived down after the dog, shutting the trap door behind them.
Of course, as soon as Shaggy let go of the rope, he gave out a loud scream as he found himself riding a hidden slide, following the sound of Scooby's scream as he was a little far ahead. The man in green started to snivel a bit, "Like, why is when we find a trap door, we always end up in these slides?!"
That question was left unanswered as he kept sliding, wondering where it would take him. He tried to look around but the surroundings were going way too fast for his eyes. The only thing he could do was see straight. Eventually, he noticed that the path of the slide was split down the middle... and he could no longer hear Scooby's scream. Shutting his eyes and trusting his instinct, he decided to go to the left path.
"Okay, okay, keep it cool, Shaggy..." Shaggy said to himself as he continually slid down. "What would Commander Cool do in a situation like this... what would he do... what would he do...?"
And the ninth chapter of this story is now done! How did you guys like it? Next time, we'll check on young Shaggy and young Daphne in their quest from eight years ago! Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, everyone!