Surprised to see another chapter so soon after the last one? Well, I have a good reason for that, as this story is now going to be nuts... while at the same time, explore the romantic sides of young love between the 'Pup' Shaggy and 'Pup' Daphne, and keep in mind, it may say eight years later, BUT the Shaggy and Daphne being focused on are their past selves. With that squared away, let's get ourselves going! Anyway, enjoy!
EIGHT YEARS LATER...
It had been a little while since Shaggy and Daphne had left the theater to go up to the projectionist booth as Scooby was sniffing around the area. The more he went down each aisle to check for signs of any clues the Ghost of Kilijoumango had left behind. The large Great Dane was even starting to wonder if accepting those Scooby Snacks was worth the search. And what could be taking them so long in finding those lights?
Scooby paused for a brief moment, before giving a small eye roll, and a small smile. Even though Shaggy and Daphne were both his friends, even he knew the writing on the wall from the start, both of them having small crushes on each other, but having trouble spitting the words out. It had been that way since they were kids, and it had been that way all throughout their lives. Sure, there were a few times where when Daphne wasn't off with Fred and Velma on one of their mystery cases whilst Shaggy and Scooby were in the kitchen, getting a large smorgasbord of snacks (as typical as it was for them), she would usually be with Shaggy and Scooby together, and although it was basically the same, with Shaggy and Scooby searching the kitchens/looking for a large smorgasbord of snacks, they still tried their best in mysteries, even finding a few clues here and there. And Daphne, despite everything, always liked hanging out with the two, even if their idea of spending time while splitting up with the gang was mainly eating and forgetting about the mystery. Heck, there were often times Daphne would join the two in eating as well (granted, not as much as the two ate, but still a nice time).
Scooby leaned over and sighed as the memories of Shaggy and Daphne together were made clear in his mind. Sure, Shaggy often told Scooby that even though Daphne was cool with hanging out, heck, even the dog himself liked having Daphne around, it was clear that the two of them had some... odd tension amongst themselves, like, they were still good friends, no doubt, but when it was just the two of them alone (or so they thought whenever Scooby curiously spied on them... just a couple of times, nothing big), they would be a little awkward around each other one minute, but then be talking about comics and the next Commander Cool comic that came out at any time, with Daphne often coming in, dressing up as the various "Gorgeous Gal" outfits. And each and every time Shaggy saw her in those costumes, Scooby would notice a small glint in his best friend's eye, his brain momentarily shutting down as he was off in a 'la la' land somewhere in his mind. And yet, despite everything, Shaggy would compliment her, and she would blush.
It had been that way, for sure, ever since the two of them were kids. And yet, while Scooby did feel ten percent jealous of this friendship, the other ninety percent found himself liking the idea of Shaggy and Daphne together, especially since she DID often acknowledge Scooby, and she was often playful with the Great Dane, even when growing up. To Scooby Doo, it was hard to believe that Daphne would honestly grow up from a haughty fashionista girl (although still rather sweet and friendly), to a comic book fan, playful and, while still into fashion, she was genuinely nice, even more accepting of Scooby's doggie kisses whenever Scooby gave them. It did seem rather hard to believe, but deep down, Scooby knew there was another side to the girl as they grew up.
Of course, Scooby only knew about Shaggy's crush on Daphne once Shaggy had told him about it, and although the dog was a bit surprised at first, he found it in his heart to accept it. After all, Shaggy was his best friend, and best friends are always there for each other. Still, he knew better than to blab Shaggy's secret, so he kept quiet about it. But still, he couldn't help but wonder if Shaggy was up there right now, talking to Daphne about his feelings without stumbling over his words. Even though he knew Shaggy wasn't exactly one to be romantic, his dog intuition also sensed that Daphne also had a crush on Shaggy as well. He couldn't help but wonder what was happening up in the projectionist booth right now...
All of a sudden, he heard a loud sound coming upstairs from the projectionist room above... no, TWO loud sounds, like screaming! And they sounded like... young kids? Scooby frowned as he held his breath, trying to be brave as he went up. Did Shaggy and Daphne run into the ghost? He knew better than to run up blindly towards the stairs, but he needed to see if his friends were okay!
And as fast as he could, the large Great Dane bounded up the stairs as he gave out a loud call. "Raggy! Raphne! Rang o-"
And then, Scooby stopped as he looked into the door way... and blinked twice. Standing in the center were two familiar faces, wearing familiar costumes that Scooby saw once, back when they were playing pretend as kids... but how could this be? Shaggy and Daphne... young kids? In their Commander Cool and Gorgeous Gal outfits? Here? How? Wha-?
Something in Scooby's mind snapped as the combination of pressure, horror AND imagination caused the dog to fall down unconscious... of course, seeing as how he was standing atop of stairs, the dog found himself tumbling down and down before everything went black.
Of course, young Shaggy and young Daphne still hadn't noticed as they were trying to take in their surroundings, when they heard the sound of something falling downstairs.
"Zoinks! Like, what was that?" Shaggy yelped as he held "Gorgeous Gal".
"Gorgeous Gal" gave a small gulp. "Sounded like something was tumbling down. Uh... maybe we should go investigate, Commander."
It took a few seconds for "Commander Cool" to swallow his pride, but he stood tall as he motioned for "Gorgeous" to follow suit. The two walked downstairs in caution as "Commander Cool" looked back towards "Gorgeous Gal", as he could swear that the way she walked looked... beautiful. His heart started to beat a little faster, before realizing that "Gorgeous Gal" was looking up at him in confusion. The young Shaggy gave a slight cough as he turned his head back, looking rather awkward before moving forward.
Upon reaching the downstairs, "Commander Cool" spotted a rather large object in front of him as he gave a loud yelp, backing himself up into Gorgeous, bumping her down to the stairs.
"Sha-" Young Daphne started to say, before catching her slip and frowning. "Commander! Watch where you're backing!"
"Like, sorry, Gorgeous..." Young Shaggy blushed in embarrassment as he picked young Daphne up from the floor. "But look!"
Young Daphne looked over to where young Shaggy had pointed, and to say her eyes widened as big as dinner plates was a bit of an understatement, as she examined the unconscious creature in front of her. It looked like... a fainted dog? No, a large Great Dane. The young Shaggy and young Daphne leaned closer towards the large unconscious dog as Shaggy leaned into its chest and listened to his heart beat.
"Well, his heart's beating. I guess this large dog fell down the stairs." The young Shaggy noted... before looking over towards the facial features and chuckled. "You know, looking at him from angle, he looks like a grown up Scoob-" The young boy quickly caught himself, before saying, "Uh, some other famous Great Dane puppy that I know!"
"...yeah, he does look at lot like him, doesn't he?" The young Daphne asked, examining the unconscious dog in curiosity. "Do you think he could be that Great Dane's family member?"
"I don't think so..." The young Shaggy said as he put his hand behind his back as he thought to himself, "At least, Scooby would have SAID something about having a large cousin in his family..."
The young Daphne paused slightly as she looked over at the strange figure, as both she and Shaggy thought, "Something to ask Scooby when we talk to him again... out of costume, of course..."
"Hmmmm... do you think he may be related to that Clock Monster, or... uh..." Commander Cool chuckled nervously as he tried to change the subject.
"Gorgeous Gal" examined the large dog before her, before shaking her head. "I doubt it, because why would THIS be part of the case now? Besides, from what we saw inside the manor, they didn't even have a dog, let alone someone as large as this... Great Dane?"
The young Shaggy paused as he noted a familiar looking dog tag around the large Great Dane's neck. He blinked twice, before giving a shrug. Perhaps this dog tag was normal for all dogs... after all, even he knew there were dog fans of Scooby who often wore his dog tags. "But still, we're nowhere near the mansion Sir Reginald is at..."
"Right..." The young Daphne nodded as she and Shaggy prepped the dog up. "And he doesn't seem to be hurt. I think we can leave this person here for the time being."
"Like, are you sure?" Commander Cool asked in concern.
Gorgeous Gal nodded. "Even if he were to help us now, what good would that do? Besides, Mellow Mutt is still back in the mansion, and he's probably worried about us."
Commander Cool gulped as he gave a small sigh. "I suppose you're right..."
With that, the two kids turned and started to leave, as the unconscious Scooby was now resting near the chairs. He wouldn't be able to get back up until a few minutes later, and even then, the dog would have still been a little confused at what he saw...
Both kids walked out of the theater and into the aisles as "Gorgeous Gal" had a strange feeling. "Commander Cool, could you wait here for just a moment?"
"Of course." "Commander Cool" nodded as he leaned towards the wall in thought as he watched Gorgeous Gal leave.
As soon as the young Daphne was sure she was at least a few feet away so that Shaggy wouldn't see her, she gave a cough, before taking a deep breath. "Jenkins!"
She waited, but there was no answer from her famous Blake butler. Daphne blinked twice in confusion. "Huh? That's... weird. Jenkins! Jenkins!"
No answer, no zip in from her butler... nothing. Daphne blinked twice in worry before going further and taking a deep breath.
"JEEEEEEEEEEENKIIIIIIINS!"
The wind in Daphne's voice lowered as she panted, looking a little exhausted, sweat forming in her head... and yet, nothing was coming.
"What is going on?" Daphne frowned. "Uhhh... Dawson?"
No answer. She immediately went outside and looked around, but the street looked empty, nothing seemed to be coming for miles... not even a limo. Daphne frowned as she looked towards the left side of the road. "I don't get it. Jenkins always answers at my beck and call, and if not him, Dawson usually does. What's going on?"
A moment of fear struck the young Daphne as she looked around. "What if that laser shot us and we were taken to the afterlife, where there's nothing but an empty movie theater and what looks like a grown Scooby?"
Daphne immediately felt her pulse in worry, taking a few deep breaths... before shaking her head. No, she seemed to be breathing just fine, but if that was true, why were her butlers not coming when she called for them? Daphne whimpered a bit as she held her head. "This is insane! What kind of a place did I go to where no butler shows up to help? Why did I even dress up as a superhero? What possessed me to do this? I... I..."
The young Daphne held her heart in worry as she slowly backed up, and slid down towards the glass door. She looked inside, and while she could barely make it out, she noted the reflection of herself in the glass door. The young girl examined herself as she looked up towards the girl standing before her, the same girl that was wearing that beautiful red and blue leotard, the one with the fancy tiara on her head, the purple go-go boots, the green G in the center of the leotard, the red mask... a mask that could only show fear and tears in her eyes.
"...I only read one comic, one comic is all. How does Shaggy do it, how does he have all this knowledge of everything I... I don't?! Why did I let my curiosity get the best of me?" Daphne whimpered as she sniffled a bit, trying to think back to that moment...
She pictured the moment she picked up the comic, the one that had introduced Gorgeous Gal, the girl superhero that caught her interest, her fashion sense... it was then she remembered what the young Shaggy had told her before... in fact, she could picture him in her mind...
"Someday, these costumes will be quite the fashion statement..."
She knew that Shaggy said that this morning to her before they left to do Commander Cool and Mellow Mutt hours ago, but it felt like an eternity compared to everything else... and yet, how could she look at herself and feel so ridiculous wearing a costume she had no right in wearing...
"Shaggy seems to like it..."
The small voice in her head called out as Daphne frowned. While it was arguably true that Shaggy may have LIKED the suit, it was only because he didn't KNOW it was his best friend wearing it. She only wore the suit because not only was it fashionable, she wanted to see what it was like to pretend to be a hero...
"Was that really it, or was there something more, particularly, with Shaggy?"
The young fashionista paused as she thought about the time she, as "Gorgeous Gal", hung out with "Commander Cool", as the boy seemed so eager to share his knowledge of the comic, while pretending to be the hero, and yet, "Gorgeous Gal", with only one comic in her belt, had no idea about anything, and yet was more interested in the lore. She only guessed Gorgeous's special abilities through luck, and even then, she didn't care, because she was having too much fun with Shaggy to...
Her eyes widened as she felt her heart beating. Her mind slowly catching up as to WHY she truly wanted to play superheroes with Shaggy... to understand him. Sure, at first, she thought these comics were nothing more than geeky stuff, but the more she hung out with Shaggy and Scooby, the more she started to understand and the fact that he looked so cute was...
Cute? Daphne's eyes widened as she blushed furiously. She then gave a small gasp to herself. Sure, the thought had crossed her mind during this mystery once or twice, but now things started to become apparent. The way she noted Commander Cool/Shaggy and his nerdiness, the smile he gives, the way he offered to help her out... the fact her heart would beat faster whenever she and Shaggy were alone... there was no doubt in her mind.
The young fashionista, the young rich girl, Daphne Blake, had fallen in love with a geeky and poor, yet sweet and nice boy, Shaggy Rogers. And it was thanks to this discovery of liking comics that led her to give not only them a chance, but to give Shaggy a chance.
Still, she didn't know if Shaggy liked her back... sure, she knew he probably LOVED "Gorgeous Gal", but what about the girl behind her, Daphne Blake? She gave a sigh, having a strange feeling that Shaggy would find it weird that one of his best friends would fall for someone like him... she was worried he'd freak out... and yet, she knew that Shaggy needed to know the girl behind Gorgeous Gal... maybe not confess her love for him, she wasn't going to go THAT far... but still, maybe a slow step along the way would be nice...
The young Daphne took a deep breath as she gave a nod. "Right... I have to tell him..."
With a deep breath, the young Daphne went inside and walked through the doors... only to find Commander Cool running out from the hall, freaking out.
"Shag-" The young Daphne started to say, before shaking her head, noticing the panicked look on his face. "Commander Cool, what's wrong?"
"No time! I was waiting for you and then all of a sudden, this creepy phantom came out of nowhere! We have to run, Gorgeous!" "Commander Cool" shouted as he started to run off, dragging "Gorgeous Gal" by the hand as both of them started running to the other side of the hall.
The young Daphne resisted the urge to say her usual catchphrase when it came to Shaggy's belief of ghosts, as she only asked, "What are you-"
It was then she heard a freaky sound coming from behind her. She turned around fast and noticed a freaky ghost floating towards her as he gave a laugh.
"I AM THE GHOST OF KILIJOUMANGO!"
Okay, that is it for THIS chapter! How did you guys like it? Next time, we go to the past with the future selves as they try to see if they can make some of the past a little easy for their past selves to solve... all the while, the two of them decide to talk about their own feelings for each other... eventually leading to a big moment of their lives! Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, everyone!