Collision Course [+ Additional Levels]

Level Five - Close Call

This all happened in an instant.

QBert let out a long sigh, and fell back onto Jumpman's lap in relief, a little word balloon with a wobbly tail appearing above his head.

"That was a little close," Jumpman said, his voice tight and a few octaves above normal.

Pacman grinned. "And now it's time to put Pinky and Clyde back to where they belong."

He hit the drive pedal, and spun the steering wheel, making the yellow Denali swing around one hundred eighty degrees. Impossibly, they seemed to spin in place to do so, as opposed to making a U-turn. Now facing Clyde and Pinky, Pacman spun back the wheel and drove forward. Both ghosts were momentarily stunned by the turn of events, but quickly recovered, driving backward. It wasn't long before Pacman caught up to Clyde.

"One ghost left," Jumpman said under his breath, and Pac nodded.

Pacman drove past and around different blocks of the neighborhood, now ignoring the dots to search for Pinky. Although he knew exactly where she was, Pinky had gotten surprisingly far in his race for Clyde, so it took a minute to get to her. He sped down the street to the small, glowing, dark blue car. Pinky suddenly started flashing white, warning him that she was going to become dangerous again, but he caught up to her quickly, and he crashed into her. In a red flash, the pink mini cooper disappeared. A sudden frown crossed his face as QBert whooped for joy.

"Yeah! We won!" he shouted, hopping on Jumpman's lap.

"But where's their spawn point? How soon will they be coming back?" Jumpman asked as they drove on, still clutching his chest, breathing hard. Man, if he had to watch his best friend crash his only vehicle into another car one more time...

With a dismissive shake off his head, Pacman smiled. "It's about two states away," he answered.

"Two states—sheesh—two @!#?@! states away?" QBert asked. Jumpman glanced up at the word balloon in his face and shot QBert a look.

Pacman chuckled. "Yeah. So we should be.... alright....."

"Pacman?" Jumpman asked, alarmed.

The neighborhood they were in suddenly vanished in pixels, and was replaced with a highway.

Jumpman's hand instinctively shot out took hold of the wheel, and after immediately hitting the red triangle shaped button behind it, he pulled them off to the side, out of the flow of traffic. They quickly slowed as his friend pulled his foot from the gas pedal, the only sound being clicking from the hazard lights. The Denali flashed, and returned to it's original navy blue, yellow numbers and squares being drawn to the steering wheel where Pacman's hand was. Pacman moaned softly, and slumped forward, resting his forehead on his arm on the wheel, his eyelids fluttering.

"Pacman?" Jumpman asked again, reaching behind the wheel again to shift them into park, then resting his hand on his friend's shoulder. He tried not to be too jittery from the adrenaline rush that his heart was still pounding from.

"I'm fine. I'm just... exhausted," Pacman replied wearily.

"Uh, oh," QBert suddenly said from Jumpman's lap, his round eyes widening.

"Huh? What?" Jumpman quickly asked, frowning at him.

There was a sudden orange flash, and QBert changed into a person again.

"Augh! QBert, you're squishing me!" Jumpman's hands searched for the door handle. He found it, and the Denali door swung open. They were parked on the edge of the highway, so QBert fell out and rolled onto grass.