Collision Course [+ Additional Levels]

Cutscene Part 2 - They Meet

His feet flickered, and with a zap, yellow glowing blades of energy formed on the soles of his worn running shoes. He pushed himself up from the ice, and leapt forward, skating on the ice. He left two lines of yellow energy behind him, the color fading from the lines as he raced out of there. Some of the hockey players turned their heads, some of them looking puzzled, some looking alarmed, and others simply slowing to stare, forgetting practice as their mouths hung open. Pacman heard a shrill whistle and shouts distantly, but he focused on keeping one foot ahead of the other. Without looking, he knew that Inky was coming in hot on his right, and Clyde... Pacman frowned slightly. He had no idea what Clyde thought he was doing, at the top of the rows of seats in the back of the stadium.

It was fine though. Clyde could be doing whatever he wanted, as long as it was away from him, he didn't care. What he cared about was where he was going to go next, and right now, he was coming close to the end of the rink. Then with a blink, he checked his mental map of the area again. Finally, he made it to the end... and took a sharp right. Ice particles flew up in the air behind him, his skates leaving a glowing hot trail and cutting deeper grooves than any of the other skates on the rink; there wasn't an opening at both sides—only one side had the opening, the other with a tall transparent shield. Skating along the side, zooming past a goal net, he headed straight for the bench area behind the short wall on his left. He felt Inky go around a row of seats, and then turn back for him.

"Scootch it, bohunk!" he heard Blinky shout behind him, a cry of surprise from someone else following shortly after.

Speeding towards his destination, he reached forward with his hands. Then he caught the edge of the wall with his left hand—deciding to rest his right arm as much as he could—and leaped, swinging his legs over the side. Right before his feet touch the ground, the blades of energy beneath his feet dissipated. His feet landed smoothly. Fortunately, no one was at this bench, so there was only minimal difficulty getting through.

After leaping the bench, he looked around him, and chose to go to the right, pushing through the see-through door and running out. He saw some doors to his left higher up that would most likely lead to the curved out halls he had been running through before. Then he looked behind him, and realized that he was not going to be able to go there. With Inky at the speed he was now, he wouldn't make it. He had tried a similar maneuver a few weeks before, and it hadn't ended well for him; he respawned with a lesson learned, making sure to gauge his speed in comparison to the ghosts more accurately. So, here in the hockey stadium, he kept going straight ahead, running through his row of seats. Inky followed close behind. He noted that Clyde was now heading over to his side of the stadium, ahead of him. He turned left at the end of the row, and ran up the stairs, but Pinky, the fourth of the Ghosts, was waiting for him past the wide doorway in the curved halls just outside. To avoid her, he turned left away from the large opening, and ran through another row of seats. He quickly looked down at the row Inky was racing through, who looked back up at him. They stared at each other as they ran ahead, Inky with a look of determination on his face. He looked like he was planning something. They were at arms-length from each other, but they knew that they couldn't reach through borders. Pacman turned away, looking ahead.

He pushed himself as hard as the game would currently allow, sensing Inky run up the stairs and come into his row of seats. There was another doorway like he had seen before up ahead, and he had only seconds to think about where to go. The doorway served as an escape route, and in his mind's-eye-view of the map of the stadium, there was something valuable that he needed to reach in the halls outside of the arena. He was coming closer to the end of his row. He needed to come to a decision fast, because directional options were going to be opened up to him real quick. He took account of the variables in his mind. He had to reach the halls.