Chapter 5

Monsters from the Past

The gang soon found themselves underwater, complete with scuba gear. It didn't take them long to find where the Scooby Snacks were on that level. It turned out that they were on the wreckage of a sunken ship. Scooby managed to grab the box before a shark could have them all for dinner. After that, they found themselves smaller than an ant. To them, the ant looked like a giant dragon. Despite the fact that Fluttershy was an animal lover, the very sight of the ant terrified her. The gang managed to get away while also grabbing the box of Scooby Snacks.

Once they were out of that level, the gang soon found themselves in ancient Japan. While there, they faced off against a samurai monster. Fred tried to beat him with a rake, but instantly got it knocked out of his hands. Daphne, however, caught the rake in mid-air and showed off her twirling abilities from high school. She even managed to disarm the samurai of his katana. After getting the Scooby Snacks from that level, the gang found themselves in an Egyptian tomb. Scooby, Shaggy, Fluttershy, and Rainbow were running from a mummy that was after them. After escaping it, they even managed to help the rest of the gang escape the Virus and get the box of Scooby Snacks on that level, as well.

The gang soon found themselves in medieval-era Europe. Shaggy was a knight in shining armor with Scooby-Doo as his trusty steed. The virus was riding a red dragon that guarded a princess, who held the box of Scooby Snacks. Sunset, who was tied up with her, was horrified to see Shaggy fighting for his life. Shaggy, however, used quick thinking and threw a bucket of water at the dragon before it could breathe fire at him. The startled dragon flew away in a fright. Shaggy ran up to the two tied-up girls. As soon as he ran up to Sunset, she gave him a kiss on the cheek. After that, Shaggy took the box of Scooby Snacks that the princess was holding, transporting the gang to the ninth level.

The ninth level took place at the North Pole, just north of the arctic circle. The gang was decked out in winter-like attire. Rarity pointed up to the tip of the pole. There was the box of Scooby Snacks. At the very top. Unfortunately, the Virus was headed right towards them on the back of a vicious polar bear. As Scooby climbed the pole, the rest of the gang threw snowballs at the Virus, which seemed to have no effect on the polar bear he was riding. Fluttershy then decided to use her infamous stare on it. The polar bear was so frightened by her face that it flipped the Virus clean off its back. This gave Scooby enough time to grab the box of Scooby Snacks. Once he did, the gang found themselves in a city street that resembled Coolsville. Before anyone could celebrate, however, Fred noticed that they were all still in the game, much to everyone's chagrin.

"They've made it to the last level!" Bill exclaimed back in the real world.

"But this one's the toughest of them all," Eric explained. "No player has ever won it, not even me. It'll take everything they've got just to survive."

Phantasma gulped. She was terrified. The last thing that she wanted was for her friend, Twilight, to get hurt on the final level.

Back in the game, the gang realized that the only thing left for them to do was to find the last box of Scooby Snacks.

"This city is so big! Where do we start?" Daphne pointed out.

Fred then noticed what appeared to be an old lady nearby. As they went up to the old lady, they revealed that they were actually the Phantom Virus in disguise.

"Welcome to the final level," he said. "You're in the major leagues, now."

The gang ran as fast as they could until they came to the Malt Shop, the place where they often hung out as teenagers. They all ran inside and panted, due to almost being out of breath. Daphne then noticed a group of five individuals at the bar behind them.

"Can someone help us?" she asked.

The five individuals turned around, revealing themselves to be the cyber versions of themselves, minus the Rainbooms, that is. There was Cyber Shaggy, who wore Shaggy's red shirt that he wore for a time.

"You're me!" said Shaggy.

"And like, you're me!" said Cyber Shaggy.

Next, was Cyber Velma. Cyber Velma looked exactly like Velma, with the main difference being that Cyber Velma's socks were knee-length.

"You're the characters in Eric's video game!" Velma gasped.

"And YOU'RE from the real world!" Cyber Velma added.

Next, was Cyber Daphne. She wore Daphne's old outfit from high school. The outfit consisted of a green ascot, a purple headband, pink tights, purple Takamoto shoes, and a purple shirt with lavender stripes on the bottom and cuffs.

"Did I really wear that years ago?" Daphne pondered.

"That jacket with that skirt?" Cyber Daphne added.

Cyber Fred was wearing Fred's original high school attire, as well. It consisted of an orange ascot, brown shoes, a white shirt with a blue collar, and blue jeans. Fred was impressed by his taste during his teenage years.

"Nice ascot," he complimented.

"Works for me," said Cyber Fred.

Cyber Scooby was just like Scooby, save for the red collar.

"Wow! It's like seeing double!" Pinkie said.

The rest of the girls groaned at her quip.

"What?"

"Seriously, Pinkie? That's the best thing you could come up with?!" Twilight chastised.

"That aside, I guess it's been a while since we've seen Eric," said Velma. "He hasn't seen our fashion changes."

"Velma, darling, you look fabulous, either way," said Rarity.

"Be that as it may, how about we see if our old clothes still fit us later?" Daphne suggested. "I kind of miss wearing that headband."

As both Shaggy and Cyber Shaggy had a snack of fries, both Scooby and Cyber Scooby decided to trick them so they could get the fries. The plan worked and they stole both the plate of fries and the ketchup they got with it. Pinkie laughed at the dogs' success.

"We don't have time to play around," Velma chastised. "We need to find the Scooby Snacks and get out of here."

"You guys need to relax," said Cyber Shaggy.

"Yeah, what are you worried about?" asked Cyber Daphne.

"Aren't you afraid of the Phantom Virus?" asked Daphne.

"Phantom who? Never heard of him," said Cyber Fred.

"I get it, now!" said Twilight. "The virus isn't technically a part of this game. He doesn't really have a reason to be going after the cyber doubles of you guys."

Just then, everyone heard the laugh of the Phantom Virus. He was just outside the Malt Shop. His appearance even made the cyber gang uneasy.

"Let's get out of here! The Mystery Machine is out back!" Cyber Fred said.

Both Fred and Cyber Fred volunteered to drive, but it ended up being driven by Cyber Fred. Unlike the Mystery Machine they had now, however, this Mystery Machine was the original 1964 Dodge A100 that Fred originally bought from a music group called the Mystery Kids.

"Wow! This is nostalgic!" said Fred. "I miss this old van."

"Shouldn't the old van be ready to get picked up by now?" asked Rainbow. "It's been three months since you dropped it off at the auto repair shop."

"I know, but they haven't gotten back to me since then."

"Hey, uh, question: do you guys know where the Scooby Snacks are?" Twilight asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, we know where they are," said Cyber Velma. "There's just no reason for us to go after them. Because even if we get the Scooby Snacks, we'd just go right back to the beginning of the game."

"And we like it here," added Cyber Daphne.

"Until you guys showed up with that Phantom Virus, that is," said Cyber Shaggy.

"We would gladly get rid of him for you," said Velma.

"If we could," Daphne said warily.

"You know, if all seventeen of us team up, the Phantom Virus wouldn't stand a chance!" Fred suggested.

The Cyber Gang agreed to help out their real-world counterparts and eventually made their way to a place called Cyberland. It was the cyberspace version of Funland.

"Holy cow!" Sunset squealed. "This is just like the last time we went to Funland! Remember that, Shaggy?"

"Like, of course!" said Shaggy. "We had a blast at the arcade!"

"And don't forget the Ferris Wheel. That was so romantic."

Cyber Shaggy then explained that the Scooby Snacks were inside the video arcade on the Scooby game. Just then, everyone heard a clanging sound.

"Did you guys hear that?" Rainbow asked, putting her hand up to her ear.

They heard another clang and stopped walking on the boardwalk.

"There it is again!" Daphne said.

"Raserall," said Cyber Scooby.

"Cyber Scooby is right," said Cyber Fred. "There's a batting cage over there."

He was right. Just directly in front of them was the newly added batting cage that was at Funland. They walked up to the cage and saw someone who was really good at hitting the ball.

"Hey, man, great swing!" Shaggy complimented.

The player turned around and revealed himself to be the Phantom Virus.

"Thanks. Want my autograph?" he said sinisterly. "Let's play ball!"

He then swung a ball directly at them. The ball itself was now made of pure energy. Because of this, everyone had to dodge it before it could them.

"Everybody make a run for the video arcade!" Fred exclaimed.

Everyone ran for the arcade but were soon stopped by an old foe from the gang's high school days: the Creeper.

"Paper!" he roared.

"Jeepers, it's the Creeper!" Daphne gasped.

"H-H-H-H-H-H-H-He's the one that interrupted our high school dance at the barn!" Sunset shivered.

"Zoinks! And it looks like he's got a pet!" Shaggy shivered.

The pet in question was the monster from Brazil, Jaguaro. The gang slowly backed up but soon ran into two more monsters. Gator Ghoul and the Tar Monster.

"Head for the beach!" said Cyber Fred.

Before they could do that, however, both Scooby and Cyber Scooby saw someone on two torpedo sharks approaching them.

"It's Old Iron Face!" gasped Shaggy.

The Phantom Virus was happy to see this reunion and ordered the other monsters to surround them. That's when Velma remembered something.

"All of these creatures in the real world turned out to be just people in costumes," she said.

"Hey, that's right!" Rainbow said. "That Creeper guy was the bank president, Mr. Carswell!"

"And that naughty Jaguaro was a diamond smuggler named Barney!" said Fluttershy.

"And the Gator Ghoul was a woman named Alice Dovely to take over a soda company!" said Twilight.

"And that ugly Tar Monster, from what I've heard, was just a no-good treasure thief!" said Rarity.

"And that Old Iron Face person was criminal smuggler named Mama Mione!" said Applejack.

"How did you know?" asked Velma.

"We read up on your cases," said Twilight. "Nice try, Mr. Phantom, but you can't fool us! Applejack, help me with the Gator Ghoul!"

"Sure thing, Twi," said Applejack.

The two girls walked up to the Gator Ghoul and tried to pull the mask off, but it was revealed to be real. In fact, they were all real. The gang ran inside Cyberland to escape the monsters and decided to split up. Sunset and Pinkie went with Shaggy and Cyber Shaggy, Rarity went with Daphne and Cyber Daphne, Rainbow and Applejack went with Fred and Cyber Fred, Twilight went with Velma and Cyber Velma, and Fluttershy went with Scooby and Cyber Scooby. They were close to getting the Scooby Snacks, but first they had to get past their former foes. Will the gang and the girls be able to finally escape back to the real world? Only time well time.