Collision Course [+ Additional Levels]

Level Twelve - Still Dreaming

Suddenly, QBert looked down at himself. Just then, a tendril of orange electricity quickly laced around one of his arms in a flash. He looked up again and swallowed, silent for a moment. Next, he just shook his head and opened the car door. Jumpman's eyes widened as he watched his friend jump out of the truck and slam the door behind him.

"QBert?" Jumpman glanced at Pacman before he grabbed the door handle on the driver's side and got out himself. He decided to leave the car running idly so that the headlights would stay on and he'd be able to see. Leaving his red hat in the vehicle, he closed the door. Light rain patted on his dark blue hair and his denim jacket, and chilly night air blew around him. The sky above was pitch black and shifty with clouds. A faint rumbling of thunder could be heard overhead, and Jumpman thought that he could almost feel the lightning. Though, at that moment, he wasn't really sure which source of electricity he could feel stronger―the lightning, or QBert.

Bright orange threads of energy crackled and flashed across QBert's body. He looked like he could shift forms at any given second.

"QBert, talk to me." Jumpman watched him pace back and forth. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" QBert yelled at him. His hood wasn't pulled up in the rain, so his wild orange hair that normally stuck out everywhere started to flatten on his head, some plastered to his face. "I don't know how Coily messed up rule twenty seven―"

Jumpman's eyes widened. "Rule twenty seven? What was he doing with a rule like that?"

"―I don't know how he messed up our memories," QBert continued as if Jumpman hadn't even spoken. "I don't know how Pac fixed it, I don't know what happened to him," he ranted. As he paced, the sparks around him became more frequent. "I don't know what Coily did to me, what that dream was, I don't know who that girl was, I don't know who I was, or―"

"QBert, you need to calm down," Jumpman began.

He stopped pacing, his hands balling into fists. He set the heels of his palms on his head again, thunder rumbling above them, louder this time. "I... I can't, Jay," he said.

"We can figure this out," his friend said slowly. "And we'll figure out later, because we can't do that right now. What Coily has done, is done, okay? And from what I've heard from you guys, what was damaged has been restored already."

"But he got to me, and that isn't supposed to happen," QBert told him. "That isn't possible."

"What do you mean, he got to you?" he asked, frowning.

"He messed with my head!" QBert yelled, moving his palms away from his head. "He was somehow able to increase this, this connection he has with this kid that he bit, and when he did...." He trailed off and grimaced at the memory.

"What happened?" Jumpman pressed.

"The Game Code... it went crazy. It was nothing like I had felt before. Worse than in the woods that other day. I know that the Game Code is always in my head, in me, I can feel it. It's always in the back of my mind, though, and quiet. I figure that's because my game hasn't Sstarted yet. Coily was somehow able to wake that up." Jumpman saw him scowl in the dark, his features faintly illuminated by headlights behind him. "And painfully too. It..." QBert almost trailed off again as something dawned on him. "It was like it was an attack."

"How?" he asked him.

At that, QBert threw his arms out, and his voice rose again. "That's what I've been trying to say!"

What looked like miniature lightning zapped loudly around his arms, and Jumpman took a step back. "QBert..." he warned.

"I don't know! After I woke up, it was gone, but it still isn't possible," he said, raking his fingers through his wet hair; sparks trailed in its wake.