After a cheesy spaghetti dinner, about a week later, it was time to visit Jessica in her school. Oddly enough, when Atticus and Patch were on the way to the local bus, they saw someone familiar getting on the bus as well.
"Atticus, isn't that Cherry?" Patch noticed.
"Yeah, I think so." Atticus said.
Atticus and Patch weren't totally sure, but certain, they were in line to get on the bus and saw Cherry really was in front of them.
"Cherry, what are you doing here?" Patch asked.
Cherry blinked, surprised to see them, but answered their questions. "I've signed up for an experiment after a tour here for when I graduate high school. After my tour, about a month later, I'm going to be helping with a project called 'Hell House' with some other students to study insomnia with the professor."
"That sounds interesting." Atticus said.
They kept walking along. Cherry then saw there was a NO PETS sign, so she quickly told Atticus to hide Patch so Atticus wouldn't get in trouble for bringing the Dalmatian puppy along. Atticus quickly hid the Dalmatian puppy in his backpack. Cherry and Atticus kept walking along to get on the bus and make their way for the college they would be visiting.
"This is so exciting." Atticus said.
"Yeah..." Cherry said, she was interested, but a little tired.
"Oh, I can't wait to see Jessica again, it's been so long." Atticus said.
"Don't worry, the holidays aren't too far away, she'll be back soon..." Cherry said as she leaned her head against the window, looking very exhausted like she could fall asleep any minute now.
"Still, I can't wait to see her and her video game." Atticus said.
The bus ride took about an hour because of stops and getting new people on and off. But it didn't take too long until the bus finally stopped.
"Last stop, everybody out!" the driver called once they arrived to the institute where Jessica and many other students attended.
"Sorry Patch..." Cherry said softly as she put Patch back in Atticus's backpack so they wouldn't get in trouble for having an animal on board the bus.
"It's alright, let's just get to Jessica's school and off the bus." Patch said.
Cherry and Atticus left, the driver sneezed a little and rubbed his nose as they passsed by, but closed the bus doors to get back to the bus station. The two went along, but allowed Patch's head to pop out from the backpack as they walked along the sidewalk and into the school Jessica was in with her friends/classmates/colleagues.
"What's Jessica majoring in?" Cherry asked.
"I think child care..." Patch asked, not for sure himself as he didn't fully understand the programs. "She really loved to babysit the neighbor kids whenever she would be home from school or not spending the weekend with her friends."
"I think it's with game programming." Atticus said.
"HEY!" a portly security guard stopped them and walked over. "Where do you think you're goin'?"
"We're visiting my sister," Atticus replied. "She's a student here."
"Not if you're not on my list." the guard sneered at them.
"Just look under Atticus Fudo." the boy pointed to his name that was on the list.
The guard glanced. "This girl with ya, including the spotted dog?"
"Yes!" Patch yipped up.
The guard agreed, but gave them a warning. When the three kept walking along the university, they paid attention to the door signs to find the computer lab that had Jessica inside of it with her professor and fellow students. Patch was too excited to see Jessica again, that both him and Atticus ran into the computer room to see Jessica.
"My brother and his friends should be here any minute," Jessica said to the student known as Eric Staufer. "You think your friends will be there by then too?"
"Probably by now," Eric shrugged himself. "We'll look together."
Jessica smiled at him and went along with him to go to the front of the school to see if their company had come along at all. Then she got knocked down by Patch and Atticus as they hugged her.
"Oof!" Jessica called before laughing.
Patch licked her face.
"Okay, okay, I missed you too!" Jessica laughed as she was 'trampled', but sat up, wiping her face a little and set Patch down as he smiled fondly to her.
"This must be them..." Eric chuckled. "I'm going to look for my friends... Anyone care to come with me?"
"I will." Cherry shrugged.
"We might as well go with him and meet these friends of his." Atticus said.
Jessica wiped her face more once she got on her feet. "Sorry about that, Eric."
"It's cool... My parents are the same way when they visit on my birthday," Eric chuckled as he walked down the corridor with them. "Let's hope the old gang won't be the same way."
"This gang of yours, are they friendly?" Cherry asked, not knowing who they were yet.
"Yeah, they're great..." Eric said with a smile. "I've known them since we went to junior high, even though they were busy outside of school sometimes... Had their own little detective agency in a treehouse, sometimes we babysat Shaggy's little sister..."
Cherry noticed something. "Did you say 'Shaggy'?"
"Yeah, why?" Eric looked back at her curiously.
Cherry had to wonder if this was Shaggy Rogers or merely a coincidence. They then went to meet Eric's friends.
'Shaggy, it could be a coincidence, but I think this Shaggy that he knows might be Shaggy Rogers.' Atticus thought.
It was proved that Eric's childhood friends were indeed Mystery Inc. After sharing a friendly meeting with everyone, especially Cherry and Atticus, they all went to follow Jessica and Eric into the computer lab.
"Guys, this lab is one groovy set!" Daphne was amazed.
They saw many books, beakers, and there was even a tomato plant in the room.
"Yeah, no kidding." Atticus said.
"I like it too." Eric smiled as he led them all inside.
Of course, passing the tomato plant experiment made Shaggy and Scooby hungry.
"Oh, guys, don't eat those." Jessica warned them.
"She's right, guys," a student with frizzy ginger hair and a red baseball cap added, making them stop. "They grow in radioactive soil."
This shocks Shaggy and Scooby, wiping their hands/paws on shaggy's shirt.
"Thanks for stopping Shaggy and Scooby from glowing in the dark." Atticus said to his sister and the ginger hair student.
"You'll get dinner after the tour." Jessica promised the boys.
"Everyone, this is our lab partner," Eric introduced the student. "Bill McLemore."
"Nice to meet ya." Fred shook his hand.
Patch sniffed Bill and began to growl at him, as if he was an enemy. Bill glanced down at the puppy.
"Patch... Down..." Cherry told him. "I'm sorry, Bill, he's usually not like this."
"That's okay... Must be something spilled on my coat." Bill shrugged.
Scooby walked to the puppy, wondering why he had been acting up like that. "Ratch, rhat's wrong?"
"It's him, he's evil, I just know, I recognize that smell anywhere, evil people from birth or jealousy, but with this guy it's something else." Patch said while growling at Bill.
"Rhe reems rice ro me..." Scooby was unsure, but he would keep a close eye on Bill with Patch.
"So, when do we play this game?" Cherry asked Jessica.
"The minute and sooner ve are rid of our problems..." an elder man with a lab coat and thick glasses walked into the room, he must have been the professor.
"Professor Kaufman, I want you to meet Mystery Inc," Eric introduced. "I based my game on them."
Mystery Inc greeted the distinguished and intelligent man.
"And this is my brother Atticus, our puppy Patch, and this is our friend, Cherry." Jessica introduced her part of the group in the room.
"Ah, zhe famous Mystery Inc vith Cherry and Atticus." Kaufman greeted, he then glanced to see the Great Dane playing by the beakers.
"And that's Scooby-Doo!" Shaggy happily introduced.
Patch seemed to find it funny, looking through the beakers with Scooby. Scooby giggled, he had a lot of fun seeing his reflection in various strange shapes.
"Um, zhat's very nice..." Kaufman said as he took off his glasses briefly to clean them, he was hoping Scooby wouldn't break any of them. "But you all showed up just in time for a little mystery."
"A mystery?" Velma asked, a little shocked and concerned.
"What happened?" Fred added.
"This is a hyper energy laser," Eric explained, coming behind the device he just mentioned. "We use it so it can cut down normal objects and transport them into cyberspace."
"Amazing, so you mean that you can actually beam things from the real world into the computer world?" Atticus asked, amazed.
"Precisely, Atticus." Kaufman gave a nod.
"Jinkies!" Velma was astonished.
"That's fantastic." Daphne was also impressed.
"Yeah, really fantastic." Patch said.
"It was..." Eric frowned then.
"We don't know who did it, but someone used the laser to beam a monster into our world last night." Jessica told them.
Shaggy and Scooby were instantly worried. "A monster!?" they shrieked before zipping off to run and hide.
"Yes, the computer virus was released right here into this world." Eric explained.
"A real freaky one in fact." Bill said, wiggling his fingers as a demonstration.
"It's even blocking some of the data in our computers." Jessica added.
"Oh, dear." Patch said.
Daphne hugged the dogs.
"Where did this virus come from?" Cherry asked, getting her technical self.
"From Eric's computer game." Bill answered, gesturing to one of the computers on a desk.
"Viruses don't just appear though, they have to be created by someone." Cherry explained.
"She's right." Velma agreed.
"But I didn't create it!" Eric cried in defense.
"And neither did I!" Jessica also defended herself.
"I'm sure it vasn't Mr. Staufer or Miss Fudo, but whoever created zhe virus is in serious trouble," Kaufman said, gently calming down his two students, then walked off to pick up a broken down telephone. "Our civilization is so dependent on technology, zhat zhis virus is such a threat to zhe entire vorld."
"Can you show us how it works?" Cherry asked.
"Yeah, just show us a demonstration of how it works." Atticus said.
"You can show zhem zhe demo, but don't start zhe game, same goes for you, Miss Fudo!" Professor Kaufman told them strictly and firmly in warning.
"Yes, sir." Eric and Jessica agreed as they went to their computers.
"Yes, now we can finally see, it even if it is a demo." Patch said.
"Jessica, you can show the others your game first if you want." Eric offered.
"Thank you, Eric," Jessica smiled as she just started her computer, showing popular games from Litwak's Arcade she based her game on, mostly Sugar Rush Speedway though. "I loved this game since I was Darla's age."
"It's that old?" Cherry looked curious.
"Oh yes, back in my day, it was on Nintendo in the 90's." Jessica explained.
"Cool, so, is this like a combination of all the games into one?" Atticus asked.
"Yeah," Jessica said with a smile. "It starts at Sugar Rush, but then the Cy-Bugs invade it and the racer of your choice has to go with Sergeant Calhoun with Wreck-it-Ralph and Fix-it-Felix's help to save Sugar Rush so they can have their annual race by decree of King and Queen von Schweetz. I heard you guys liked those games, so I decided to make them all into one and the creators gave me their permission to use their characters."
"Do you have to be one of the official racers?" Cherry asked.
"No, if you want," Jessica clicked her mouse to another option of the game and showed them a section that said 'WOULD YOU LIKE A BOY OR GIRL?'. "You can go to this area and make up your own Sugar Rush racer... There's name options, or you can put in your own name. I also put in a print feature for little kids... I remember when I was growing up, we always made up our own Sugar Rush racers and we'd make a game out of it." she smiled at her memories.
"That is so awesome!" Atticus cheered.
"Something weird though..." Jessica said.
"What do you mean?" Velma asked.
"For some reason, my Taffyta Muttonfudge hasn't come up much lately..." Jessica said, but shrugged. "Oh well, she's not really my favorite racer anyway."
"Something about that little cavity bugged me..." Cherry murmured under her breath, even when Taffyta changed like the other racers after Vanellope was revealed to be the princess of Sugar Rush, she still didn't trust the girl.
"Anyways, moving on." Atticus said.
"Now, my game." Eric got everyone to look at his computer. He then started up the game to show the Scooby gang with Fred, Velma, Daphne, Scooby himself, and Shaggy, but as they used to look in the old days, Shaggy had a red shirt and blue pants in this version though.
"Wow, we're digital!" Shaggy beamed.
"Reah, rigital!" Scooby agreed with a smile.
"Cool." Patch said.
Bill went on his own computer while Eric showed the others his Scooby gang.
"Sorry guys, I didn't put you in." Eric said apologetically to Cherry and Atticus.
"It's alright." Atticus said.
Patch then went over to Bill's computer, even though he didn't trust the guy, he was still curious about the game he was playing.
Bill seemed to glare at Patch at first, but he had a friendly smile. "Hey, boy..." he gently picked up the puppy to sit on his lap with him. "This is a baseball game I'm working on, I haven't had any virus though."
"Where did the virus come from then?" Cherry asked.
"Unfortunately from my game..." Eric felt guilty, but he promised that he didn't do it.
"It's okay, Eric, I trust you..." Jessica said softly, feeling really close with him and would always defend him like a true friend.
"Nice baseball game, Bill, I'm a sports fan myself, but I don't try out for any sports teams." Atticus said.
"Really, why not?" Bill asked as the major league theme played from the computer.
"Because if I did, I would either throw the ball way too hard, causing it to go right through the baseball bat and if I hit the baseball too hard, it would be destroyed and if I tried football, the teams would be hospitals and the football would be sent to the center of the earth, if I got a touch-down and extra, extra..." Atticus said.
"He has the strength of Hercules." Jessica explained.
Bill blinked in disbelief, but he said nothing.
"I'm a huge fan of baseball myself." Fred smiled.
"The Scooby game has 10 levels," Eric explained his game as he showed the demo. "You battle monsters or villains while trying to find Scooby Snacks on each level," he said, which of course, excited Shaggy and Scooby. "Okay Professor, now check out the monitor."
Professor Kaufman hit the laser, taking the box of Scooby Snacks and transported them onto a screen right before their very eyes, amazing them.
"Kinda reminds me of Wonkavision." Cherry commented.
"Amazing." Patch said.
"I wouldn't believe it if i didn't see it with my own eyes." Daphne was blown away.
"Like, I don't believe it either," Shaggy sounded hurt as he went to the table. "We didn't even get one Scooby Snack."
"Eric, Bill, and Jessica are sure to vin the $250,000 grand prize at zhe international science fair." Professor Kaufman was proud with his students.
"Wait, it's just a computer virus, right?" Patch asked. "So, how much harm could it do in the real world?"
"You'd be surprised..." Jessica told him gravely.
"How powerful could it possibly be?" Patch asked.
"Just trust us... Not even security could take him down..." Jessica sounded horrified. "Anyone who could though would be a greatfully rewarded."
"Like, speaking of rewards, is it possible to get the Scooby Snacks out of the game?" Shaggy asked, feeling very hungry.
"Show him, Eric." Jessica told her friend with a smile.
Eric nodded to her, then went to his computer to do just that. The scooby snacks then disappeared from the screen the laser then fired back to the table and the Scooby Snacks reappeared on the table.
"Dig in, boys." Jessica chuckled.
"Groovy!" Shaggy called, running with Scooby yo get the snacks.
"They're going to fight over it, right?" Patch asked.
"Yes, yes they are." Atticus said.
And he was right, Shaggy and Scooby began to fight over the box of Scooby Snacks.
"Is that the way the virus came out of the game, Eric?" Fred asked, gesturing to the laser transporter.
"Yeah, it was pretty scary." Eric shuddered slightly.
"Also from vhat ve observed last night, zhe virus had potential to steal every computer program in zhe vorld und make it come to life," Kaufman explained about how dangerous the computer virus could be in the real world. "And zhe virus made zhe telephone come to life, vhich attacked Eric.
"It kept coming toward us and we couldnt't stop it," Jessica added in. "When he held up a magnetic bar in defense it seemed to have
an adverse effect on the virus."
"Yeah, it seemed like the magnet weakened him." Eric added.
"Like Kryptonite and Superman." Cherry commented.
"Of course, it makes sense." Atticus said.
Eric rolled up his sleeve to show his bandages, making them all flinch, he must have seriously gotten hurt.
"I don't know if you've noticed..." Jessica showed a scar under her left eye.
"Oh dear, what happened to you?" Atticus asked his older sister.
"That virus... Before Eric got the magnet, I was unable to defend myself." jessica explained softly.
"Is he still around?" Daphne asked the students.
"The security guards checked the campus, but couldn't find him anywhere," Eric explained. "I suspect that he is still in the building somewhere."
Shaggy and Scooby got scared as Velma took the box from them to make them stop arguing with each other.
"This is going to be a very difficult." Atticus said.
Velma nodded. "So what can we do to help, Eric?"
"If you can lure the Phantom Virus into the lab, I can use the laser to beam him back into cyberspace." Eric informed, glad that they would be there to help him out.
"Oh, great," Shaggy moaned. "Like, you want us to be virus bait? Like, no way, man!"
"Ruh-uh!" Scooby shook his head, agreeing with Shaggy.
"Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?" Cherry asked, trying to make a friendly smile.
Scooby agreed, but Shaggy still didn't want to take part in this adventure.
"Two Scooby Snacks each?" Cherry bribed, showing four snacks between her fingers.
This was an offer that Scooby found very appealing and just had to let Shaggy agree. Cherry then threw the snacks the best she could, allowing Scooby and Shaggy to catch the snacks in their mouths.
"How do we capture the Phantom Virus once we find him?" Velma asked.
Professor Kaufman opened a drawer, showing magnets. "Zhe Phantom Virus is composed of electromagic energy. Get close enough to him vith vun of zhese super magnets and it vill render him helpless."
Scooby carried one magnet in his mouth and it made the tacks on a far away bulletin board fly off the board and aganst him, making him drop the magnet in fright and surprise.
"Be careful, Scooby, those magnets are as strong as me and Patch are in strength." Atticus advised.
""That actually sounds about right." Cherry agreed, she didn't think the magnets would be THAT strong.
"Rorry..." Scooby nodded, shaking slightly.
"Now let's really put them to the test." Fred was determined.
Eric and Jessica smiled.
"I knew we could count on you guys, Jessica, you think your brother and his friend could also help?" Eric asked gratefully.
"Absolutely." Jessica said with a smile.
"Of course." Atticus said.
"I'll help too." Patch added.