"He taught her that courage wasn't the absence of fear-it was running anyway, especially if someone you loved was running beside you."
"They were an unlikely equation-the boy who ran from monsters and the girl who stood her ground. But in the space...
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*💚Julia's POV💚*
"Velma! Julia!"
Fred and Daphne burst into the Monster Hive, weapons (a tire iron and a high-heeled shoe, respectively) at the ready, just in time to see the last dark flutter of the Pterodactyl Ghost's wings vanish into an upper air shaft. Patrick was gone.
"That thing just flew off with Patrick!" Velma yelled; her voice raw with a confusion that mirrored my own.
Daphne's eyes swept the chamber, landing on us. "The best we can do for him right now is to get that control panel back where it belongs." Her tone was all business, but it held an unspoken question: Where is it?
Velma and I exchanged a glance that was pure, unadulterated awkwardness.
"Where is it?" Daphne pressed.
"We... uh..." Velma pushed her glasses up her nose. "We gave it to Shaggy and Scooby."
Fred blinked, then let out a short, disbelieving laugh. "That's weird. It sounded like you just said you gave it to Shaggy and Scooby."
Our silence was his answer. His smile vanished, replaced by a look of pure, unvarnished panic. Daphne's face fell into a mask of exasperated horror.
We didn't waste another second. The four of us took off, a frantic search party in the bowels of the mine. Every shadow seemed to hold a monster, and the two most important—and most vulnerable—members of our team were out there alone with the key to saving the city.
We burst back into the ruined lab. "I don't see Shaggy and Scooby anywhere," Fred said, his voice tight.
"The poor guys are probably running around helpless and terrified," Daphne murmured, a hand to her forehead.
Just then, a familiar grinding sound filled the air. The elevator doors shuddered open. And there they were.
Shaggy and Scooby stepped out, not with terror, but with beaming smiles that stretched from ear to ear. They were dusted from head to toe in a fine, pink powder that smelled suspiciously of cotton candy.
A wave of pure, dizzying relief washed over me, so strong my knees felt weak.
"This is like the greatest day of our lives, Scoob!" Shaggy announced, his voice full of glee. "Finally, a monster we could sink our teeth into!" He patted his stomach. "I'm kind of thirsty. I wonder if there's a Litre-sized Soda Glob anywhere?"
The mental image of them actually eating one of the monstrous creations was so perfectly, absurdly them that I couldn't help the smile that broke across my face, even amidst the chaos.
"Come on, guys," Fred said, striding forward and plucking the control panel from Shaggy's sticky hands. "We have to hurry."
We followed Fred back toward the heart of the Hive, Shaggy and Scooby falling into step, their earlier snack-run swagger undimmed.
