Collision Course [+ Additional Levels]

Level Five - Close Call

QBert turned onto his back, and started laughing. "Did I suddenly become a little bit too heavy on your lap there, Jay?"

Jumpman breathed heavily. "Yes. You might have. Just, just a little bit," he said, measuring a small space between his index and thumb. Then, under his breath, he added, "Like, an 8-bit." QBert heard him and laughed.

Jumpman turned back to the driver. "Come on out. You're not driving us home," he added flatly.

Pacman smiled sleepily. "No, thank you." He slowly sat up, and opened the door. He hopped out, but instead of going to the backseat on his side, he walked around to the side Jumpman and QBert were. He sighed, and rested his back on the side of the now dark blue truck. His head landed on the window with a gentle thump as he closed his eyes.

QBert didn't get up from the ground. Instead, he propped himself up on his elbows, grinning. Then he suddenly blinked and raised his eyebrows. After a second more, a frown creased his face. "Okay, so when you said that the power thingy makes Pacman eat the Ghosts..." He tilted his head to one side and Pacman opened his eyes to look at him. "What did you mean by 'eat', exactly?"

Pacman's brows rose in surprise. "Um... Well, really, I just have to tag them," he said.

Jessie slowly turned his head to look at his friend. "'Tag'?" he asked dryly; somehow, there wasn't a scratch on his truck, but still. 

Pacman caught his tone and looked over at him. "Your truck's fine," he said.

QBert stared at Pacman. "Really? That's it?"

"Yeah. That's what we call 'eating' in Pac–Man terms." Then he paused, looking off in the distance as he thought aloud quietly to himself, "I mean, at least in this current form. It's a little different the other way..."

QBert shook his head. "Well, that's boring," he said, sounding unimpressed.

Pacman snapped to focus, and frowned at him. "Why? Were expecting something else?"

"Um, yeah! I mean, when Jumpman here explained that it reversed the food chain, I half expected, like, the front of the truck to open up and chow down the other cars," QBert told him.

They stared at him. Jumpman arched his eyebrows. "What...?"

QBert set the heels of his palms together, and moved his fingers together and apart like a mouth for emphasis. "Waka, waka, waka, chomp, chomp, chomp!" QBert demonstrated. "Not," he separated his hands and lightly poked his left palm with his right index finger, "boop! Blink, blink," he opened and closed his hands, "poof!" He splayed his fingers at the last sound effect.

Pacman laughed at his theatrics. "No, it's nothing like that. That's not how the game works."

"I'm sure glad that it isn't, too," Jumpman muttered, stroking the side of his truck protectively.

"Phooey." QBert looked away, disappointed. "I was gonna ask you if the Ghosts taste like anything, too."

Pacman laughed. "You what?"

"Well, ya know, if Clyde really does taste like oranges," QBert said. He fell back onto the grass with a sigh. "But if all you're doing is just poking them..."

"Even so... that was quite the game, tonight," Jumpman remarked, looking at Pac.

Pacman smiled softly. "Yeah... It's been a little while since they've gone out on me like that." He looked up. His breath misted in the chilly night air. "It felt good." Then he looked at his friends. "Sure, I feel like I might collapse at any given second, it wasn't like they weren't taking it easy on me in the slightest," he said with a shrug, "but it was fun. It was fun."