So, to celebrate Halloween (and Scoobtober), I decided to do another "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" Shaphne one-shot! Now, unlike most of the other stories, I'll admit this was inspired by a small comic that was created by Diolot Clement on Twitter/X (give him a follow, he makes some very good art based off of Warner Bros characters), and all through the month of October, he did these Pup Named Scooby-Doo comics that focused on the day and life of the the Scooby-Doo Detective Agency. There was one particular comic that got my interest though that... gave my Shaphne vibes tingling, and it was "Strip 12: Team". So, if you're wondering where the inspiration for the story came from, it's from Diolot Clement's comic. Again, give him a follow on Twitter/X. This is merely just me expanding the ideas of the comic and how things ended up the way they did. Anyway, for you fans of Shaphne and "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" out there, I hope you all enjoy this nice little one-shot! Anyway, enjoy!
As far as anybody knew about the Scooby-Doo Detective Agency, they were young kids that helped solved mysteries, unmasked people trying to commit crimes from under everyone's noses, and were generally an interesting group of kids and their dog who usually hung out together. Of course, there was always a system that the kids always followed whenever mysteries were abound, and it had been quite a good system. However, on one particular mystery, the formula was about to be switched up, just a smidge.
"Like, I can't believe that we're walking around in some strange mansion in the late evening, all to hunt for that creepy Black Lagoo' Creature." Shaggy frowned as he was holding a rather large sandwich that he and Scooby were planning to eat later.
"It's a necessary part of what we do. We're the Scooby-Doo Detective Agency, if we're going to get anywhere, we need to solve this mystery!" Freddy pointed out as he and the others were standing in the hallway, with everyone looking at Freddy in curiosity.
"Agreed." Velma nodded as she pulled out her laptop and was typing up what she and the gang had discovered so far.
"All right, Freddy, what are we going to do this time?" Daphne asked as she tilted her head. "We already got this far… and we still haven't found any trace of the monster…"
"Ret." Scooby noted as he gave a frown, noting Freddy's thinking position.
"The best thing we can do!" Fred snapped his fingers as Shaggy and Scooby frowned as they looked at each other, frowning. "Alright, let's split up to search for clues! Daphne, Velma and I will-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there, Freddy." Shaggy frowned as he held up his hand, silencing the blonde haired boy as he, Velma and Daphne turned to him in curiosity.
"What's the matter, Shaggy?" Freddy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's just, every time Scooby and I team up, the ghosts ALWAYS come after US." Shaggy frowned.
"Reah! Rit's reriously arroying." Scooby frowned in annoyance as Shaggy handed Scooby the rather large submarine sandwich as he narrowed his eyes at the others.
"That's right. I love Scoob and all, but I think we can both agree that this team-up is starting to reach a stalemate. So… we're switching partners this time."
Freddy blinked twice as he looked over towards Daphne and Velma, each of them looking confused as to what Shaggy had in mind. After a slight pause, Fred shrugged as he asked, "Okay, but… how?"
"Sooo… here's what I'm thinking." Shaggy said as he pulled out a few straws from his pocket. "We'll draw straws. The two shortest straws will be a team, the two longest will be another team, and the one in the middle… they can try and find something out… would that be agreeable?"
Freddy paused as he scratched his head. "Well, uh… it's a little unorthodox to try it this way, BUUUUUUT… Daphne, Velma, what do you think?"
"I don't know, Freddy." Daphne frowned as she crossed her arms. "We've always done this the old fashioned way…"
"Maybe, but have we ever split up with other partners before?" Freddy asked.
"It is new territory, I admit, but it could potentially work…" Velma said as she looked towards Daphne.
Daphne raised an eyebrow in annoyance. "Velma, surely you do NOT agree with this!"
"I'm not saying I don't, but… come on, Daphne, surely you get a little tired of doing the same way of trying to approach the mystery and how we split up every now and then." Velma pointed out. "Besides, Shaggy does have a point. Whenever the two go off, they DO seem to find the monster."
"Thank you, she gets it." Shaggy sighed in relief as he looked towards the three. "So, how about it, hm?"
Daphne lowered her eyes, her annoyance clearly showing once more. "Oh, fine. I suppose if it'll make this investigation go by faster, I'll do it. But just for the record, you guys are clearly wasting time with this!"
"Good to have you on board, Daphne." Fred nodded before Shaggy held out the straws. "Okay, let's draw the straws."
With that, Scooby, Velma, Daphne and Fred reached out and picked a straw out of Shaggy's hand before holding them up. The beautiful orange haired girl immediately noticed her straw being short, and noted the one Shaggy was holding was also the same lengths as Daphne's. Scooby seemed to be impressed with the long straw he was holding, with Fred just blinking twice as he looked at his very large straw, before looking towards Scooby.
"You got to be kidding me, I'm paired with the dog?" Freddy asked in shock, before giving a frown. "This team is ridiculous!"
"Rey!" Scooby frowned.
"Oh come on, Freddy. Scooby DOES have his uses." Shaggy smiled as he smirked. "If anything, you're lucky to be paired with him."
Fred opened his mouth to argue, before taking a moment to think. "Hmmmm… I suppose you have a good point. All right then, me and Scooby will be going through the graveyard to investigate. Shaggy, Daphne, you two search around the upstairs and see if you can find anything. Velma, stick to the downstairs, and we'll meet back around here."
The others nodded (though Daphne looked more hesitant about this team-up) as Scooby handed Velma the large submarine sandwich before saying, "Ry rot to rose it, Relma."
"Jinkies! Seriously, Scooby?" Velma asked as she stumbled a bit, holding the large sandwich. "Why are you handing me this? Why not hand it to Shaggy?"
"Ugh, you really want to hand that despicably, large messy sandwich to Shaggy, who might make a mess and eat it?!" Daphne rolled her eyes. "Besides, some of it might get on my nice clothes, and I just had these press-cleaned!"
"I'm not really hungry, anyway." Shaggy said. "I mean, I could eat, but Scoob and I both agreed we'd save this sandwich until later. Sorry, Velma, but you'll have to hold it for quite a bit while you search downstairs."
"All right, I'll-" Velma yelped as her little legs almost slipped, almost dropping the large sandwich, but managing to keep it on hold. She then gave a nod before holding the sandwich tight. "I'll be sure to explore the kitchen first, if only to find some sort of bag to hold this sandwich in…"
"All right, then, we have our areas, let's spread out, gang!" Freddy grinned as he motioned for Scooby to follow. "Come on, Scooby, maybe I can put your nose to good use."
"Rokay, Freddy!" Scooby saluted as he followed Fred out the door, with Velma trying to head towards the kitchen, doing her best to hold onto the sandwich.
Of course, this naturally left Shaggy and Daphne alone as Daphne pouted in frustration. "Our team is weird!"
"Aw, don't pout, Daphne." Shaggy sighed as he turned towards the beautiful orange-haired girl. "Besides, if there's a ghost coming our way, you can always protect me…"
Daphne just glared at Shaggy a bit. "I suppose it would be useless to tell you what I've always said so many times before, that there are no such things as ghosts and monsters."
"Come on, Daphne, you've seen an actual ghost before!" Shaggy pointed out as the two started to go upstairs. "A friendly one, remember? Mr. Boo?"
Daphne groaned in frustration. "I'm aware of who we've met before, Shaggy. Come on, the upstairs mansion isn't going to investigate itself!"
As Daphne walked up in frustration, Shaggy couldn't help but note a rather frustrated look on her face. He knew that look, and understood why Daphne was acting out this way… it was mainly because the ghost that was haunting this mystery was deeply affecting her and her family in more ways than one. She didn't even want to go on this mystery tonight, as she had plans to go out to a party with her parents to attend a higher-up society… but because of the Black Lagoo' Creature scaring all the guests away (and in turn ruining what would have been a special night for Daphne), her night was not only ruined, but the fancy party she SOOOO wanted to attend had to be cancelled.
Of course, when she called her friends to tell her about her night, this caused Freddy's curiosity to peak as he dragged her, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby back towards the now empty manor where the Black Lagoo' Creature was said to be haunting the place and decided to catch the monster for themselves.
As soon as they reached the upstairs, Shaggy noted Daphne looking around at the various doors scattered across the hallway, before she turned towards him with an annoyed look. "Okay, which one?"
"Oh… uh… this door?" Shaggy stammered a bit as he pointed down the hall, towards one door. "Three down from the right?"
"Fine." Daphne huffed a bit as she walked onwards. "Let's just go in, look around, and then say we investigated and didn't find anything, okay?!"
"Like, Daph, I can tell you're in a really bad mood right now, but… like, can you not try to bring down the mood?" Shaggy asked.
"Bad mood?" Daphne stopped short as she gave a laugh. "Who says I'm in a bad mood, huh? Just because that ghost just ruined the best fanciest party I ever attended, and just because I got forced into a mystery when all I wanted to do was explain my night, and… and…"
Daphne groaned as she held her head. "It's just not fair, you know? All I wanted tonight was a nice night for me to show how I might be the prettiest little girl in the party, and the ghost just ups and ruins it!"
The green wearing boy could only look at the beautiful girl in sympathy as she had tears falling out of her eyes. He couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards her as he walked over… and put his arms around her, behind her back, hugging her tight. Daphne tensed at the physical contact, but looked over as she saw Shaggy giving a small smile towards her. She started to relax a bit as he said, "Like, I'm not the best at words, and… well, I know it's hard that your party didn't go the way it hoped… but like, we've all had our bad days. And besides, like, you know Freddy and we are only doing this mystery because we all care about you, right?"
"...yeah, I know…" Daphne sighed as she looked down.
"Well, like, maybe instead of crying about it, we try to find out what that creature is… and like, maybe try to find out why they would ruin your big moment at the party." Shaggy said. "It may not be much, but maybe instead of punishing yourself, you try and punish the monster, huh? At least, get the guy that ruined your party?"
"Oh, Shaggy…" Daphne sighed a bit before looking back towards him with a small smile. "I don't know if it's as simple as that. It's just… I really wanted to mingle with a few other people at the party, maybe have some fun and dance with a cute boy or two… but nothing seemed to come to that. Even before the ghost attacked, no boy even looked in my direction."
Shaggy frowned a bit as he crossed his arms and sat her down. "Like, no boy? Look at you? Like, that's completely bonkers! If I were at that party, I'd notice you right away!"
Daphne sniffled a bit as she looked towards the young boy. "Y-you would?"
"Like, totally! The way you dress up sometimes, I've noticed it quite a lot, and you look cute in any dress you wear!" Shaggy pointed out. "Even in your nice dresses, you always pull them off with style."
Daphne let out a small giggle… the first laugh she has had all night, and it was completely genuine.
"I may not be the richest man in the world, Daphne… and I doubt I'll ever be as popular or on your level… but you're drop dead gorgeous!" Shaggy complimented. "Why, I'd be the first one to take you dancing."
"Oh, really?" Daphne asked as she looked up. "How would you do that?"
"Believe it or not, Scooby and I have been taking our time practicing various dance moves from television in an attempt to hopefully distract the monsters if the situation called for it." Shaggy smiled as he got up and offered his hand. "In fact… let me show you…"
Daphne blinked twice as she curiously took Shaggy's hand, then the young boy guided her as she put her other hand around her body, with Shaggy holding Daphne in a position like he was ballroom dancing. Shaggy smiled as he gave a nod. "Now, like, imagine that you're in a gigantic ballroom… close your eyes and envision it…"
Daphne nodded as she obeyed. In her mind, she saw herself and Shaggy standing in a massive ballroom filled with guests alike, with Daphne wearing a pretty pink princess dress. "Okay, I'm envisioning…"
"Now, imagine me, offering a dance…" Shaggy's voice sounded as the Shaggy in front of her was wearing a nice green tuxedo and black pants, the young boy looking lovingly at her.
"Huh huh…" Daphne nodded as she opened her eyes, still seeing Shaggy.
"Well, imagine there's music playing… and it's slow and nice, and we dance… like so…" Shaggy whispered as somewhere, a melody played in the background.
"Y-yeah, I hear it…" Daphne smiled a bit as she and Shaggy moved her feet as the two of them started to ballroom dance.
Shaggy could only give a smile towards the beautiful girl as he kept holding her tightly. "We keep hold of each other, you see, and we dance and talk, get to know each other a bit…"
"Like you often do at these dances." Daphne giggled as she blushed, her heart starting to beat at a rather rapid rate.
Shaggy was blushing as well, looking at the young girl's smiling face. In some strange way, he also felt his heart beating rapidly, though, being a young kid, he didn't know why. Maybe because he felt that being close to Daphne made him feel… safe? Comfortable? It did feel like a logical explanation.
Nevertheless, they continued dancing as Shaggy continued, "And like, you're always looking into each other's eyes the whole time, and you feel something special from within…"
"I think I'm feeling it too…" Daphne giggled a bit as the two continued to dance as the music continued to play.
However, as the two continued dancing, they remained unaware of a strange, drippy-like figure appearing from the door they were about to enter and was standing in front of the dancing couple, glowering at them as some drips came down on the two, raining on the couple.
However, Daphne didn't notice as she laid her eyes on Shaggy. "And the weather?"
"Yes, the weather for dancing is always perfect… outdoor dancing is what I'd prefer the most, whether it be sunny or rainy, like right now." Shaggy smiled a bit.
"I think I enjoy rainy dances as well… I feel some drips on me… I-" Daphne started before pausing, stopping the dance. "Wait… I AM feeling drips on me…"
"That's funny… so am I." Shaggy paused as he examined himself before noting some black drips from his shirt.
Daphne looked at her shirt as well and winced in disgust as she noted the black drips on her dress. "EW! EW! EW! What are those drips?!"
A loud roar quickly silenced both kids as they turned to see a large black ink-like monster standing in front of them, red eyes glaring at them, and a gutteral, animalistic sound coming out of its mouth.
"ZOINKS! It's the Black Lagoo' Creature!" Shaggy said as his face started to overexaggerate.
"Let's get out of here!" Daphne shouted as she grabbed Shaggy's hand and started to run off, with the monster in pursuit.
"Like, no need to tell me twice!" Shaggy shouted as he held tightly to Daphne's hand as he looked back. "Pick up the pace!"
"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Daphne shouted as she ran downstairs, with the monster trying to pursue them. "What do we do?"
"Quick, in here!" Shaggy said as he spotted what seemed to be another room.
As quick as they could, Daphne and Shaggy ran inside and slammed the door as Daphne looked over at the boy in concern. It was at this moment, Shaggy was looking around the room and giving a nod. "Shaggy? What do you have in mind?"
Shaggy gave a smirk.
About a few seconds later, the monster came running up to the door and pushed them opened… only to be confused as he saw what seemed to be Daphne wearing a cute blue blouse and brown skirt, as she seemed to be wearing glasses, with another figure having his nose in a book.
Daphne then looked up and shushed the growling monster. "Quiet, please! You're in a library!"
The monster looked around in confusion as he scratched his head, before Daphne gave a small smile. "Ahhh, but you are here to borrow a book, are you not? Here, why don't we get you started in this section?"
With that, Daphne grabbed the monster's hand (trying to resist every urge to be grossed out) as she led him further into the large study. She then led him around to a large section of bookcases and stopped there as she pointed the monster downwards. "Here's a nice little section of books for the horror fanatics such as yourself. Go ahead and pick out a book… anything you'd like."
The monster blinked twice as he seemed to look around, before giving a small wide-eyed interest as it wandered down the halls and looked through various books. Daphne could only give a nod as Shaggy, who had by now put the book down, was heading over to the other area where the row of bookcases began.
Shaggy then grunted as he tried to push through the bookcases… and when he felt the bookcase he was pushing beginning to tip over, he stood back to watch each bookcase hit each other, as if to attempt a domino effect. Sure enough, each bookcase tipped over as the Black Lagoo' Creature had picked out a book at random and was reading its title… until he noted one book was collapsing on its head. The monster looked up and yelped as the bookcase he was in front of got pushed by another hit bookcase and slammed directly on the monster's head.
"Like, we got him!" Shaggy cheered as Daphne gave a sigh of relief, jumping out of the librarian disguise, revealing her regular pink uniform.
"So this is what it's like when you and Scooby do these weird scenarios…" Daphne noted, before giggling. "I have to admit, this is quite fun!"
Shaggy chuckled. "Like, it's a hobby…"
"Come on, maybe we got the guy unconscious!" Daphne said as she ran over to dig around at the books.
Shaggy, hearing Daphne's idea, gave an audible gulp. "Uh, let's not check and say we did."
"Oh, come on, Shaggy, where's your sense of adventure!" Daphne grinned as she dug through the books to try to find the monster.
Shaggy gave a small sigh as he walked over with a slight hesitation. "Well, I'm just glad you're in a better mood now…"
"Are you kidding? After that nice dance with you… I feel pretty invigorated." Daphne giggled as she turned to Shaggy with a smile. "Thank you. You may be weird, but…" She turned around and kissed his cheek, causing Shaggy's eyes to widen in surprise. "...that's what makes you unique."
"Zoinks…" Shaggy uttered simply as he felt his cheek, rubbing where Daphne had kissed him as she blushed.
With a nod, Daphne turned around to try to dig through the pile of books, but despite everything, and much to the kids's surprise, there was no monster underneath.
"Wh-what?" Daphne blinked in confusion. "I swear there was a monster here. Where did it go?"
"Who knows?" Shaggy shuddered before looking at Daphne's pink shirt, which was still covered in ink drippings. "Uh, Daph? You do know your shirt is still… well, dirty, right?"
"Ugh, don't remind me…" Daphne frowned as she looked down at her blouse. "I'd change right now, but… I'm still going to need to wear this thing… just in case these ink stains are a clue."
"You think it might be ink?" Shaggy asked in curiosity.
"It could very well be…" Daphne shrugged.
Shaggy and Daphne stood and pondered as they were trying to figure out what happened to the monster, before the former shrugged, "Well, I'm sure we'll find out. Shall we get back to Velma, Fred and Scoob?"
"Good idea." Daphne nodded as the two started to head out of the study.
"Like, you know, Daphne, it was nice to be with you, but… if it's all the same to you, I think I'd prefer hanging out with Scooby." Shaggy pointed out. "Although, if you want, you're welcome to join us in investigating."
Daphne looked over and smiled. "I think I'd like that…"
And with that, the two walked out of the study together, unaware that all this time, they seemed to be holding hands. Sure, Daphne was still a bit bitter about the Black Lagoo' Creature ruining her perfect fancy party, but for what it was worth, she and Shaggy were slowly beginning to connect… and it was but a small stepping stone in their budding relationship.
Of course, the gang would come back to the study eventually and find a lever that led to a trap door where the creature escaped… but that was another story for another time.
And there is this one-shot done and out! What did you guys think? Here are my thoughts.
Overall, this was a nice little story I wanted to do, and again, special thanks goes to Diolot Clement for making the original comic that inspired this story, and if he does come across this fic, I hope you don't mind that I used your comic as an expansion/inspiration point for this fic! Other than that, I wanted to just do some nice little Pup!Shaggy/Pup!Daphne and give them some cute moments, and give an idea for a monster trying to chase them... which, all in all, I think I managed to pull off quite well. But you guys can tell me what you think! I probably won't come back to this to expand on the mystery (since, again, this was mainly about Shaggy and Daphne), but I hope you can fill in the blanks... or better yet, you can do your own headcanon on this fic! I look forward to seeing how you expand this idea!
Well, that's enough for me for now! Thank you all for reading, and have a VERY wonderful day!
