Author's Notes: Scooby Doo, Clue Club, Speed Buggy and Josie and the Pussycats and all characters and trademarks from their respective shows are copyright Hanna-Barbera Productions & Warner Brothers. The Josie and the Pussycats comic book on which the cartoon version of the show is based is copyright Archie Comics, the live-action movie version of Josie and the Pussycats is copyright Universal & MGM. For this story I am using the cartoon versions of the Josie and the Pussycats characters and not the Archie Comics comic book versions. I am not making any money writing this, I am only a fan. I got the idea for this story from the Stephen King novels/television mini-series The Stand & The Langoilers as well as partially from the 1983 television movie The Day After.
Chapter 1
It is a bright sunny summer day in Middle America as the familiar brightly colored red and green van known as The Mystery Machine travels along the highway in Eastern Kansas; inside of which are the famous teenage sleuths of Mystery Inc. Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley, Daphne Blake, Shaggy Rogers and their Great Dane Scooby Doo, after solving a mystery in Missouri the four adolescent investigators and their canine companion continue on their way across the Great Plains region and at the moment are discussing their most recent adventure.
"You know I was beginning to think we were never going to solve that mystery" Fred commented.
"Yeah, that sure was a tough case, plus that Mr. Craven was sure a smart crook" Daphne replied.
"I'll have to admit, using that Phantom disguise so he could hide his counterfeiting scheme was sure clever" Velma remarked.
"Like yeah plus he sure gave Scoob and me a fright" Shaggy said.
"Reah" Scooby replied.
"But thankfully we were able to stop him before he got away with it" Fred remarked.
Meanwhile another familiar vehicle is heading north, it is the internationally renowned orange fiberglass Dune Buggy known as Speed Buggy, inside of which sits it's equally famous passengers: Mark, Debbie and Tinker.
"Golly, that Oklahoma 500 race sure was a tough one, right Speedy?" Tinker asked.
"Yeah, a tough one" Speed Buggy replied.
"It may have been tough but you two did a great job and deserved to win it" Mark said.
"Yeah, Speedy you're the best car in the world" Debbie commented.
"Thanks Debbie" Speed Buggy replied blushing a little bit.
Coming from the West another familiar vehicle can be seen; it is the Clue Car which is the official mode of transportation for the group of mystery solvers collectively known as the Clue Club, in which sits two bloodhounds named Woofer and Wimper, three teenage sleuths named Larry, Pepper and D.D., and a younger girl with red hair and pigtails named Dottie.
"I sure am glad to be headed back home," D.D. said.
"Yeah, I sure enjoyed skiing in Colorado but it'll sure be great to get back" Larry replied.
"I am sure glad you took me with you guys" Dottie remarked.
"No problem sis, we're always glad to take you on vacations" Pepper replied.
"The skiing was sure nice but it sure was cold" Wimper said still shivering a bit from the memory of the snow capped Rocky Mountains.
"Oh it didn't bother me, I'm warm-blooded" Woofer replied in a matter of fact style fashion.
"Yeah sure" Whimper replied, not believing his companion.
"Why sure I am you know Whimper sometimes I think you don't have faith in me" Woofer said.
"Of course I do" Whimper replied.
Traveling East and heading in the opposite direction is a large red bus belonging to the famous singing group Josie and the Pussycats, Josie and her friends are currently in route to the state of Missouri for some concert dates in Kansas City and St. Louis.
"Well dear brother you've done it again" Alexandra said.
"What did I do this time?" Alexander asked.
"Wanting to drive cross-country for our gigs is probably the dumbest thing you've ever though of" Alexandra commented.
"Don't worry about it Alex, I kind of like traveling across country; it reminds me of the old rock bands of the sixties" Alan said.
"Yeah, this is really fun" Josie replied.
"I'm really enjoying all the sights" Melody commented.
"Sure, they say traveling the highways and byways is pretty enjoyable" Valerie replied.
"Actually when you get right down to it, I guess it's not too bad" Alexandra commented, relenting a bit to her brother's decision.
"Thanks sis" Alexander replied.
"Just don't make a big deal of it, it's not often that I compliment you and it may not happen again for a long time" Alexandra commented.
"Hey I'll take whatever I can get sis" Alexander replied.
The four vehicles then continued their respective treks down the interstate towards their respective destinations; after driving for about twenty minutes each of the four vehicles found themselves approaching a large cloverleaf in the middle of the highway; after each of the four vehicles drivers' noticed the cloverleaf, with no other options and possibly no way out of it, each of the drivers hits the brakes on their respective vehicles.
Fred, Tinker, Alexander and Larry then each looked out through the front windshields of their respective vehicles inside the cloverleaf and each notices that they have a decision to make: drive through the cloverleaf in circles, or stop each of their vehicles and figure out what to do next.
Seeing that there are little to no other vehicles on the highway, each driver decides to stop their respective automobiles and decides to confer with the occupants of their respective modes of transportation; after each group finished discussing what their next move should be, each one of the four drivers looked over at the other automobiles.
However when Fred, Alan, Tinker and Larry noticed who was driving each of the other vehicles the four adolescent drivers smiled ear to ear as each person noticed some familiar faces sitting in each automobile.
After seeing who the passengers in each of the other vehicles were, the four drivers each returned to their respective modes of transportation, turned them on and moved each of them to the side of the highway.
Finally after each vehicle had been moved, Mystery Inc., Josie and the Pussycats, the Clue Club and Speed Buggy and company each exited their parked vehicles and began to greet one another.
"Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma; boy is it great to see all of you!" Larry exclaimed happily.
"Likewise" Fred replied.
"Yeah we haven't seen you five in a long time" Mark said.
"No kidding, we're sure happy to see some familiar faces" Alan commented.
"It's sure been a long time hasn't it?" Josie asked.
"Yeah, it has and we sure are glad to see all of you again" Daphne replied.
"So like where are you guys headed Tinker?" Shaggy asked.
"We're heading back from a race in Oklahoma" Tinker replied.
"Terrific, did you guys win?" Velma asked.
"Yep, sure did" Tinker replied.
"What about all of you Valerie?" Velma asked.
"We're headed for some concert dates in Kansas City and St. Louis Missouri" Valerie replied.
"That sounds like fun, what about you guys Pepper?" Daphne asked.
"We're heading home from a skiing vacation in Colorado" Pepper replied.
"That sounds pretty fun," Shaggy said.
"What about you five?" Larry asked.
"Yeah what have you guys been up to lately?" Alan asked.
"I bet you guys have solved a lot of mysteries" Mark asked.
"We sure have, and we're getting back from solving one in Missouri" Fred replied.
"Boy, it sounds like we've all been pretty busy lately" Mark replied.
"Well now that we're all here what should we do?" Alexander asked.
"I've got an idea, since it looks like we're all not sure where we're headed, why don't all four of our teams join up for a while" Fred replied.
"Groovy idea Fred" Mark replied.
"Yeah that sounds like a lot of fun," Larry said.
"Why not, Josie, Valerie and Melody have a concert but we can change the date if we have to" Alan replied.
"What about the customers who bought tickets to the show?" Alexandra asked.
"Don't worry about it sis, it's not such a big deal; after all how often do we get to see old friends," Alexander said.
"OK, then it's all settled: the five of us, Josie and her pals, Speed Buggy and his friends, and the Clue Club will all team up for a while" Fred said.
Each of the mystery solving groups agreed to Fred's idea; but there was still one problem: where would the four sleuthing teams go?
The four respective groups of teen sleuths then got out a map from each of their respective vehicles to figure out which direction that they should head in.
"According to the map we're somewhere outside of Lawrence, Kansas" Velma said.
"Our map looks that way too" Mark replied.
"So does ours" D.D said.
"And ours" Alan said.
"OK, so now we know where exactly we're we are" Fred said.
"And according to all our maps we should probably head West towards Topeka" Larry replied.
"That sounds good, but we've still got to figure a way out of the cloverleaf," Debbie added.
"Hang on a second, I think I see a way out of this" Valerie replied.
Each of the teens walked over to where Valerie was standing and looked over her shoulder at the map.
"If we go this way, through here we should get out of the clover leaf with no problems" Valerie said.
"Good thinking Val, everybody back into the vehicles and let's head out of this clover leaf," Alan said.
"Right" said everyone in unison.
Each of the Mystery-solving teams entered their respective vehicles and headed west towards Lawrence, Kansas; the four vehicles drove through Lawrence with no problems, however as the respective vehicles left the home of the University of Kansas something very strange started to happen; a thick fog began to develop as the vehicles left the city, at first the four groups of teenage sleuths shrugged it off as nothing however it became thicker and thicker and began to enshroud the four groups as they drove along Interstate 40 on the way to Topeka; after about five miles the fog had become so thick and dense that it forced each of the vehicle's drivers to turn on their respective headlights.
"Boy this fog is as thick as pea soup," Fred said.
"Pea soup nothing, this fog is as thick as ham" Daphne replied.
The vehicles continued to drive along the Interstate finally arriving in the city of Topeka, Kansas; however the strange happenings that had started with the thick fog became more and more apparent as the gang entered the city's outskirts.
"Hmm, does anyone notice anything weird around here?" Debbie asked.
"Yeah there are no other cars besides our four vehicles" Mark replied.
"And I don't see any people either" Tinker said.
"Yeah, it's creepy" Speed Buggy remarked.
The four vehicles then made their way into the city center of Topeka; meanwhile the four groups of crime solving teams were still thoroughly confused by what was going on.
"This is really weird, there's no cars, no people and who knows what else is going on around here," said Larry.
"Yeah it's like a ghost town around here" D.D. replied.
"I wish you wouldn't say that D.D." Pepper said.
"I wish he wouldn't say that either" Wimper commented.
"What are you Wimper a dog or a mouse?" Woofer asked.
"Squeak, Squeak" Wimper replied.
"Cut that out Wimper" Woofer said somewhat impatiently.
As the four groups of adolescent investigators continued to make their way through Topeka's Main Street they each saw noticed that no one was coming out of or going into or even inside any buildings, no one was driving any cars or other vehicles, and most importantly no one was on the streets, not even tourists or passersby.
"I'm getting a really creepy feeling all of a sudden," Alexander said.
"What's the matter oh chicken brother of mine" Alexandra replied.
"It's just I'm really scared by all of this" Alexander commented.
"I tend to agree with Alexander, something really creepy is going on" Alan said.
"Yeah, this is really strange" Josie replied.
"There has to be some kind of logical explanation as to why there are no people. There's no other cars besides the four vehicles belonging to us, Scooby and friends, Speed Buggy and the Clue Club; besides a city the size of Topeka I would think would have at least some people here" Valerie said.
"Maybe somebody left a giant fog machine on" Melody commented giggling.
"Very funny Melody" Valerie replied.
"Thank You" Melody replied giggling.
The four vehicles belonging to the various crime solving groups then found their way into Downtown Topeka, with no other options and not knowing just what was happening to them, they decided to park each vehicle and investigate the city as well as the peculiar events that had somehow caused every person and every vehicle in the city to disappear.
Mystery Inc., the Clue Club, Speed Buggy and company as well as Josie and the Pussycats each exited their respective vehicles and walked over to a small grassy area to discuss their plans and how to proceed with their investigation.
"Well Fred now that we're here, what should we do?" Alan asked.
"Hmm, there certainly is a lot of ground to cover around here; maybe we should split up, with all four of our separate groups we should be able to investigate the entire city several times over" Fred explained.
"Good thinking Fred, although" Velma remarked.
"Although what Velma?" Valerie wondered.
"There's something I want to do before we start investigating, it's kind of an experiment really; to be honest I really don't know if it will work" the bespectacled teen sleuth replied.
"What is it Velma?" Fred asked.
"First I want to ask if anyone is wearing a watch or timepiece" the bespectacled teen sleuth answered back.
"I think I might be wearing one Velma" Fred remarked.
"I'm also wearing one" Alan commented.
"I'm wearing one as well" Larry remarked.
"I'm wearing a watch also" Mark commented.
"Good, now what I want the four of you to do is look at your watches and tell me what time it is" Velma explained.
"Huh? Why would you want to know what time it is Velma?" Fred wondered.
"Trust me, it will help me figure out what's going on here" the bespectacled girl replied.
"In that case, according to my watch it's…" Fred commented, as he looked at the timepiece on his wrist, however he stopped for a second before sharing with the rest of the teenage sleuths what time it was.
"What's the matter Fred?" Daphne wondered.
"Something really weird to say the least, my watch says it's 3:30 PM, but the dial hasn't changed from that time, it's stuck" the blond teen replied.
"That's weird, my watch also stopped" Alan chimed in.
"Yeah mine too" Larry replied.
"Mine's stopped also" Mark added.
"Hmm… just as I figured, now I want to try the other part of the experiment; one person in each group take the keys for each of the vehicles and start them up, after each vehicle is turned on look to see if the radio or any electronic equipment in each of the vehicles works" Velma explained.
"Can do Velma, I'll check the Mystery Machine" Fred replied.
"I'll check our tour bus" Alexander explained.
"I'll go check the Clue Car" Larry commented.
"And I'll start up Speed Buggy" Tinker explained.
With that Fred headed for the Mystery Machine, Alexander walked over to Josie and her group's tour bus, Larry walked over to the Clue Car and Tinker headed over to Speed Buggy; each of the four opened up their respective vehicles and started up their respective engines.
After the four drivers headed over to their respective vehicles, the rest of each of the four mystery solving groups walked over to watch their friends and see if Velma's experiment would bear fruit; first Fred checked the radio and electronic equipment in the Mystery Machine.
"Hmm… that's strange, I've check all through the radio in the van as well as the GPS and every other piece of electronic equipment in the van and everything either doesn't work or I can't pick up anything" the blond teen commented.
"That's very interesting, Alexander go ahead and try your vehicle" Velma explained.
Next Alexander checked everything in Josie and company's tour bus, only to discover the same thing that happened to the Mystery Machine was happening to the tour bus.
"Yikes! The radio and all our equipment is dead too" he exclaimed.
"Hmm… looks two for two, Larry go ahead and check out the Clue Car now" Velma said.
The leader of the Clue Club then did as Fred and Alexander had previously done, only to find that the Clue Car was suffering from a case of déjà vu.
"Hey this is getting serious, our radio, scanner and everything else in the car except the engine is dead" Larry explained.
"Uh oh, three for three, Tinker go ahead and check on Speed Buggy, although I think I have an idea what will happen" Velma said.
With that the driver of the famous race car checked the dune buggy's radio and equipment but as with the other vehicles, he found that Speed Buggy was suffering from the same ailment as the first three automobiles.
"Golly, I can't get any radio stations or work any of the radar equipment in Speed Buggy at all" Tinker commented.
"Jinkies! Then it looks like all my fears are confirmed, you guys can exit each of the vehicles now, I think I have a pretty good idea as to what's going on here" Velma explained.
After the bespectacled girl finished speaking, Fred, Alexandra, Larry and Tinker turned off their respective vehicles and walked back over to rejoin each of their respective mystery solving groups.
"So Velma did your experiment turn out the way you were hoping?" Valerie asked.
"Unfortunately, yes; according to my calculations and the results of the experiment that just took place, I have come to a horrible conclusion" the bespectacled girl replied.
"Like what's that Velma? Although on second thought I don't think I want to know" Shaggy responded, cowering a bit as he walked over to Velma and stood behind her.
"My conclusion is this: somehow and for some reason, not only are all our watches frozen but all our electronic equipment is useless or dead; in other words, when we drove into that fog earlier we must have somehow, someway passed through a portal" the bespectacled girl explained.
"A portal? What kind of portal Velma?" Valerie asked.
"You guys are never going to believe this but there's just no other explanation, I think we passed through a portal to some kind of parallel universe" the bespectacled girl replied.
Velma's statement sent shockwaves through the members of Mystery Inc, including herself as well as through the members of Speed Buggy's crew, as well as the members of Josie and the Pussycats and the Clue Club; in addition to that each of the teenage sleuths, the three canines and the one talking dune buggy of the group felt a sudden chill go up each and every one of their spines in addition to having a serious case of goose bumps not to mention the absolute shivers.
Author's Notes: I decided to end this chapter with somewhat of a cliff hanger, this is the largest fan fiction project I've undertaken so far in terms of number of characters involved so this may be a bit tricky for me but I've become a decent writer so I believe I'm up to it.