Hello there! So, first of all, I like to thank darkboy18 for letting me adopt this story and not only letting me continue it, but give it a bit of a touch-up from the ground-up! I've always been a fan of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, and seeing a story where Shaggy goes around the Hanna-Barbera verse and gathering a nice little harem of his own appealed to me. It was pretty sad that darkboy18 cancelled the story, but after some talking, I believe it's time for this story to come out of hiatus once and for all! However, as I've said, this is going to be more of a 'from the ground up' situation where most of the basic elements of the story are there, BUT... they're going to be changed a bit with new content, a little extra things... and not only that, but it'll also be on Archive of Our Own, where you can enjoy even more of it here.
Well, that being said, I think I've done my part. Now, let's get on with the story!
It was another boring day in the home of the infamous black demon with great flaming eyebrows. Indeed, Aku was sitting in his throne, seemingly waiting for something, hopefully news of a certain samurai's demise. Unfortunately for him, that didn't come.
Instead, what came to the edge that the large demon oversaw seemed to be a frail human in a blue cloak, slowly walking towards the edge. The demon could only roll his eyes as he gave a cough. "I don't have all day, you know..."
Two minutes later, and Aku COUNTED the seconds, the human finally made it as he gave a nod towards the demonic creature. "Oh, mighty Aku, I have come as per your request. The mighty Seer is not worthy of being in your mere presence!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Aku waved his hand around before staring intently at the small man. "I have called you here because I am facing a crisis."
"You are, of course, talking about your troubles of a certain samurai warrior? Mayhaps the infamous Samurai Jack?" The Seer asked, raising an eyebrow.
Hearing that name enraged the demon as flames shot out from behind him. "DO NOT MENTION THAT DREADED NAME IN FRONT OF ME! WHY WON'T THAT SAMURAI DIIIIIIIIE!"
The Seer yelped as he ducked down. After Aku held out that yell of 'Die', the demon calmed down as he gave a nod. "But yes. I need answers. Every day, he comes closer and closer to a time portal. I'm lucky to destroy the few I get before he gets close, but so far, I'm getting a little tired. That is why I called you here, to ask you... do I defeat that Samurai who has been nothing but a pain in my keister once and for all?!"
The Seer stared at the demon with fear, but wise intentions. "Well... let me see your hand and I'll answer that question for you."
"My hand?" Aku asked in shock, before giving a sigh. "Ugh, fine. Things I do for death..."
The demon held out his large hand as the Seer climbed on it as he walked around, counting by ten... before looking in surprise. "Boy, what a lifeline!"
"What does that mean?" Aku asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I sense that according to this... you will eventually get ALL the time portals destroyed..." The Seer smiled a bit. "And the Samurai broken up by it, being so angry and consumed by hate that he'd have no choice but to give up on life!"
Aku's eyes lit up as he held up his free hand. "That sounds good!"
"HOWEVER..." The Seer interrupted, causing the demon to frown in shock and confusion. "...after fifty years have passed, he will find that confidence again, all thanks to another time portal you unintentionally create."
"Wh-wait, what?" Aku asked before narrowing his eyes at the Seer. "What exactly do you mean by THAT?!"
The Seer yelped as he said, "Well... eventually, you come across a shrine dedicated to you and leave your essence. A follower of yours will drink the essence and give birth to seven girls... your daughters... they will each have your powers. Six of them will be destroyed, but one is spared..."
"My daughters?" Aku asked in confusion... before gasping. "So, secreting myself is going to do me in?"
"That, and maybe Jack's influence on your daughter will see the light..." The Seer grin sheepishly. "There'd be nothing you can do to stop it, even controlling your daughter won't be enough."
Aku gritted his teeth in annoyance, before crossing his arms. "Hmph! Fine. Then I won't ever secrete myself or visit any shrines dedicated to me! No visit, no children!"
"Then I hope you're prepared for your nemesis to never age." The Seer said, causing the demon to look in confusion. "If you expect him to die of old age, it's not that simple. When you sent him to this time period, it had an unintentional side effect of your samurai being stuck in the same age, even as the years go by. You've seen it after a year, he has not shown signs of faltering."
Aku couldn't believe his ears as his eyes began to narrow. He then shouted out to the heavens, "IS THERE NO END TO MY TORMENT?!"
"It seems to be that way... however..." The Seer began.
Aku looked down in confusion as he raised an eyebrow. "However?"
"There is legend of a man that, with influence on your end AND a harem of girls at his side, his harem will produce plenty of children that will gather as an whole army in order to destroy your samurai once and for all." The Seer explained.
"A man you say?" Aku asked, looking rather interested. "Tell me, who is this man you speak of that will destroy the samurai for me, and how is it he gets this... 'harem'?"
"He hasn't begun his harem yet, but in time, he will." The Seer said as he waved his arms around to make a portal appear. "This man may look like an ordinary beatnik who says some outdated slang, but believe me, with time and influence, he'll become quite a stud, and he may not even need to use a lot of his power... maybe just two percent of it."
"Get on with it!" The demon said rather impatiently. "Who is this man, and what do I have to do?"
The Seer could only give a grin as he pointed to the portal. Aku studied the portal as his eyes widened, before giving a grin. "Hmmmm... yes... YES! I believe that he may be quite useful..."
Inside a sandwich shop, a young adult sandy-blonde haired man in a green shirt, baggy red jeans and black shoes was sitting down, finishing up a very tall sandwich he had stuffed in his mouth as he gave a grin. "Like, man, that was the best sandwich I had in... well, five minutes!"
As Shaggy Rogers chuckled to himself as he got up and gave a nod towards the sandwich shopkeeper (who returned the nod with a wave), he walked out of the sandwich shop and took a deep breath of fresh air as he looked around his home city of Coolsville. A bright sunny day with no clouds in the sky and a few people walking around, talking as if a normal day had occurred. Shaggy grinned as he felt like the luckiest man in the world. In fact, he did consider himself lucky. Because Fred had told the gang the other day that the days of mystery solving are going to be put on hold for a least a couple of months. This was due to the fact that Fred was attending a con in California with his family regarding traps, and wouldn't be back for quite a while. This was probably for the best, since Shaggy's best friend, Scooby, was also away visiting his family. After reassuring that they'll pick up the mysteries once things are back to normal, Shaggy, Velma and Daphne had waved good-bye to Fred, and also saw Scooby off as he took the train to see his family.
Well, without Scooby around, Shaggy admitted that the place he was living in, his small apartment that he rented, was a bit lonely, but he had no trouble adjusting to bachelor life. At least with no mysteries for QUITE a while, he was free to do whatever he wanted. With Velma doing research for a project she was planning to turn into NASA, and Daphne agreeing to watch her mansion for her parents while they were away, that left Shaggy with the most to do.
But what could a man like Shaggy do when he was alone? He paused as he thought about his predicament. He was pretty comfortable with his bachelor life... there were times when a woman would be interested in him, and Shaggy would return interest, but things never worked out. It was tough, but that was the life of a bachelor.
For now, he had planned to head home... maybe there was a scary movie marathon on. After all, he didn't get scared too much by those movies, because he KNOWS they're movies. The adult male gave a smile as he started to walk off, humming a tune to himself when he heard a sound.
"PST! Hey! Hey!"
Shaggy stopped short as he looked around and noticed a bird perched on the power lines.
"No, no, not him. Look towards the northern direction."
Shaggy obeyed the voice as he noticed a strange shop settled in between a couple houses. Shaggy jumped in fear. "Z-zoinks! That... wasn't there before!"
"Come on in. Don't be shy..." The voice said as the doors to the shop opened.
Shaggy blinked a few times before frowning and shaking his head. "Like, no way, man. I've seen horror movies like this."
With that, Shaggy turned and was about to walk/run off, but then, a large carpet came out and snatched the boy, causing him to scream as he was dragged inside. For a moment, Shaggy could see nothing but darkness. But then, an assortment of lights came on as Shaggy gulped as he looked around at the various items. There seemed to be voodoo dolls everywhere, along with an assortment of magical and demonic stuff, things that wouldn't normally be comfortable with Shaggy. The man desperately looked around, trying to find an exit, but when he turned his head, he gave a scream as he saw a strange man wearing a purple tuxedo and red top hat standing in front of him.
"Welcome to the Shop of Wonders!" The man said in a very eccentric voice. "I'm glad you could stop by."
"Like, I'm not." Shaggy said as he tried to run, but the man stopped him in his tracks.
"Now hold on a second. Don't you want to at least see what I have?" The man asked.
"Like, I said no." Shaggy said in a deadpan voice.
"These items will make you braver than anything in the world!" The man said with a smirk.
Shaggy, who was about to run off in a random direction, stopped as he turned to the man, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean, braver?"
The man gave an evil laugh as he patted his shoulder. "Oh, my boy, you seem quite tense, I can feel it. I know this shop may look scary at first, but believe me, by the time you walk out, you'll feel a lot more confident."
Shaggy looked a little unsure as he stared at the smiling man. He bit his tongue, unsure of what to do at the moment. Then, giving a sigh, Shaggy slumped his shoulders in defeat as he said, "All right, what do you have?"
The man laughed as he ran over behind the counter, with Shaggy being dragged behind. "I'm glad you asked that, my friend! Because I have an assortment of ways to make you feel as if you're braver, enough to conquer a world!"
The man popped down and pulled out a baseball bat. "With this bat, you'll feel a lot braver."
"Like, more to be a professional baseball player, and even then, I'm not good at the sport." Shaggy said nervously.
"How about this?" The man said as he pulled out a set of earmuffs. "Magic earmuffs. It can help you overcome your fear of ice skating."
"But... how can I ice skate when it's summer out?" Shaggy asked.
The man opened his mouth, then paused. "Hmmm... good point. Tell me, what exactly do you fear?"
"Fear?" Shaggy chuckled nervously. "Like, where do I start?"
The man frowned as he examined the nervous man before giving a small grin. "Hmmm... you know, I think I might have something for you..."
With that, the man ducked down and pulled out from behind the desk a small vile of orange liquid that shined in the distance. Shaggy looked at the liquid in curiosity as the man explained, "This, my friend, is a patent-tested cologne. Just spray yourself once, and all of your fears will lessen. Let's just say, things will be different if you put it on yourself."
"Huh-huh." Shaggy frowned as he raised an eyebrow. "Forgive me if I'm being skeptical, but how does a bottle of colored water help me with my fears?"
"Why not give it a try? Who knows?" The man asked with a grin. "It could potentially CHANGE your life one day..."
Shaggy looked at the bottle, then back at the grinning man. In the back of his mind, he felt that he shouldn't take the deal, but something in the man felt an urge and curiosity to see what would happen. Before he knew it, Shaggy dug into his pockets and pulled out his wallet. "How much, man?"
"Twenty bucks." The man said as Shaggy gave him the money. "Thank you. You won't be disappointed."
Shaggy gave a grin as he took the bottle and gave a nod. "Well, hopefully, I didn't get ripped off... now, where's the exit? I'm still terrified of this place."
"Oh, no worries. Just go down through the voodoo aisle, then take a left and two rights. You'll find the exit door there." The man instructed.
Shaggy nodded as he turned around and started to walk off. As soon as he was sure Shaggy was gone, the man gave a grin as he suddenly transformed back into a familiar demon. "And with this... ultimate power has just begun!"
And that is the end of the first chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed it, because we still have quite a long way to go. Next time, we're going to be seeing our first girl in the harem! You'll find out who that is soon enough! Tune in next time!