Collision Course [+ Additional Levels]

Level Five - Close Call

Pacman nodded and yawned. "But for now, let's go back home. I'm beat."

"Actually, you're tired because you won, remember?" QBert pointed out.

Pacman chuckled, and QBert stood up, stretching. "I call shotgun!" he called out to them.

"Be my guest." Jumpman opened the backdoor for Pacman. He clambered in, telling Jumpman that he'd shut the door, and Jumpman turned to QBert. "Come on." Then he grinned. "Little Q," he added.

"Jumpman," Pacman warned from inside the truck, but QBert just shook his head in amusement—he didn't feel like getting angry right then.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" he asked—then, he couldn't help himself. "Shorty," he added with a knowing smirk; Jumpman was the "short guy" of the group, so he enjoyed it when he wasn't the smallest.

"Pipsqueak," Jumpman readily shot back.

"Munchkin."

Jumpman scrunched his nose in response to that one. QBert chuckled—he'd hit something. "I could play this game all night long, wee man," he told him daringly.

Jumpman arched his brow at him, challenge accepted. "You sure about that, arm rest?"

That stopped QBert in his tracks. He tried to come up with something to beat that, but all that came out was a stunned sounding, "What?"

His friend smirked, and spread his arms. "Yo, I've heard them all. You can't touch this arsenal."

"I will leave you two here," they heard Pac say from the back of the vehicle.

They both looked at each other.

"Vertically challenged," QBert said defiantly with a lift of his chin. Jumpman burst out laughing.

"Guys."

"Yeah, yeah," Jumpman told him with a wave of his one hand, the other rubbing his face. "We're coming." He glanced at QBert as he began to move around the vehicle. "You're coming too, right?"

"Yeah. Don't you dare leave without me—"

Hearing his friend's response, he furrowed his brow. It was just cut off enough to make him wonder, and he looked back. Then his feet stepped no further, for upon seeing QBert's face, he immediately knew that something was wrong.

"What is it?" Jumpman asked. Hearing his alarm, Pacman poked his head of the vehicle.

QBert rubbed the heel of his palm against his chest. He couldn't get his breath back, and his head started spinning. "I don't know..." He quickly shook his head. "It's probably nothing," he assured them, not really assured himself. He frowned, trying to take a deep breath.

"It doesn't look like nothing," Pacman said, his voice alarmed.

QBert swallowed. Then he shrugged and attempted a smile. "Maybe it was the crazy car ri—" his voice caught in his chest. He blinked hard and swallowed again, his frown deepening. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Jumpman took a step forward. "QBert?"

"I..." QBert coughed, and rasped, "I don't know what... this—ahh!" He clutched his side as he felt an electric jolt jab into him, and his legs suddenly gave out beneath him. Bright electricity sparked around him in flashes. The world tilted, and he collapsed to his knees on the grassy ground, and slumping forward and wrapping his arms around his stomach.

"QBert!" Jumpman rushed forward.

The edge of the highway began to flicker in QBert's vision, and he moved in and out of two places. One moment, he was on grass by the busy highway in the dark; the next, he was laying on cold pavement by big labeled trucks in white lamp light. QBert clutched his head, gasping for air as his head split in two, not sure where he was anymore. By the highway, hands grabbed his shoulders. By the labeled trucks, his left hand stung. Two needle points set fire to his hand, causing him to wince in pain. He heard more than one voice, and he had a strange feeling that all were calling for him, despite the different names.

"QBert!"

"QBert!"

"Moe!"

His eyes suddenly shot open, and he gasped as air filled his lungs again.

"QBert, talk to me! Your eyes just flashed orange. What's happening?" Jumpman asked him.

Trembling, he slowly released his head with his shaking hands, and looked up at them. "It's Coily," he replied, voice hoarse. With air just coming back, his voice was no higher than a whisper.

"What about him?" Pacman asked, crouching beside Jumpman.

QBert swallowed, pale. "He's done something." He looked down, and flexed his left hand. Slowly, he looked back up at both of them.

"And it's not good."