Chapter 12: Spirited Away

Okay, let's go back three or so days, adjust the setting to PacWorld and...play.

For those of you who don't know what that place looks like without the Pac-Man protecting it for more than a few days, three words: complete, utter chaos. Ghosts were free to roam wherever they wished, the citizens and President Spheros were under some kind of mind control and slime was in every nook and cranny you could name in Pacopolis. Sir Cumference also took to hiding underground to avoid all the nasty things happening under Betrayus's rule.

Yeah, Pacopolis was absolutely f**ked, thats kinda what you get for having only one line of defense. The Ghost Gang were understandably more than worried - well, that was mainly Pinky and to some extent, Clyde. Blinky and Inky were enjoying their freedom like every other ghost, no longer being trapped in the hot, stinky, lava-filled hellscape that was the Netherworld. But why the repository hasn't been found yet is beyond me. Don't ask.

Now was just another day for them under Betrayus's rule: the gang went wherever they liked, with Pinky being real upset deep down and every so often attempting to find her precious Paccums, and the other three occasionally telling her that all her searching and hoping was no use while trying not to let the dread seep in and interfere with their fun. Betrayus didn't give half a crap about the Ghost Gang anymore, since he knew that his greatest nemesis was gone and even if Dr. Buttocks' assumptions about them were true, there was still nothing they could do now. Besides, Slug-cam made it incredibly convenient for him to rewatch the lemon ball and his friends be erased from his existence in the comfort of his evil lair.

By now, it had been a solid three or so months since the Pac-Man and his friends disappeared, yet Pinky was confident as ever that he would return someday, that all they needed to do was some searching. Even the rain couldn't put a damper on her ahem, flames of hope.

"C'mon Pinky! Snap outta it! We all knew the lemon ball would go down at some point," Blinky snapped when the pink ghost brought up the topic again. "That's funny, you once said that you sided with Paccums because he was on the winning team," The pink ghost retorted.

"Yeah, so what? Those were different times, and now he's missing! We're not gonna find him just by looking around!" Blinky shouted in frustration.

"Which is exactly why we have to keep searching! Do you want to spend the rest of your afterlife under a big dolt like Betrayus?"

"Course not, but finding him isn't as simple as visiting all the restaurant outlets in Pacopolis, which is saying something! What, you think some random portal will magically teleport us to where the Pac-Man is?" Inky said, sarcasm evident in his tone.

"Shh, something's coming!" Clyde whispered, pointing to something rounding the corner. Some kind of black wolf, it seemed, with two heads, a crimson scarf and blood-red eyes with traces of malice in them. Silently, it padded over to them, with dark shadows moving along with it under the creature's paws.

Hello there.

"W-who said that!?" Clyde panicked at the cold, disembodied voice.

I did. Now, I'm going to ask you four one thing.

The shadows under the creature suddenly formed into sharp blades, rising off the ground and inched steadily towards the Ghost Gang. Blinky flinched.

Give me the location of the Tree of Life.

"You're expecting us to know!?" Inky asked, startled. He and the rest of them had no idea where the Tree was, since only Sir C knew and they hadn't seen him since Pac disappeared. "And what if we don't know?" Blinky

added.

Well, you all would make a fine meal for a Diaberus like me.

The dark shadow blades were now way too close to the Ghost Gang for comfort. They were about to beat it out of there when the voice spoke again:

But that wouldn't be nice, you'd all perish without knowing where your yellow friend disappeared off to.

Pinky froze. "You know where he's gone? You've seen my Paccums?" A smirk appeared on both of the wolves' lips.

Well, how do you know I haven't eaten him and his little companions already?

The pink ghost gasped, and in the span of a second transformed into her cyclops ghost form, her one eye glowering at the Diaberus. "Because if you did, I would be beating the sense out of you, doggy," She said threateningly. Surprisingly, the two-headed ghost wolf was unfazed.

Relax, pink ghostie. I've done nothing of the sort. But I do know how he disappeared.

With a huff, Pinky returned to her normal form. "Alright then, where is he?" She demanded.

You know, dearie, let's make a deal. You find for me the location of the Tree of Life, and I'll show you where your boyfriend went.

Before she could react, Clyde grabbed her arm and took off after Blinky and Inky, and the Ghost Gang ran/flew as fast as they could away from the two-headed ghost wolf. As expected, the shadow blades were right on their heels, and they probably ran for quite a few minutes until they followed some strange-looking animal into a safe spot and hid.

"Whew, that was a close one," Inky panted. "Yeah, if it hadn't been for...wait..." Blinky paused and turned to look at their "savior".

The creature he saw was a midnight blue fox-dog with hints of eerie light blue on its chest fur, disembodied hind legs, a floating tail and lifeless dark green irises. Blinky thought the creature was some kind of cat due to the white marks on its paws, but this wasn't the case.

"Clyde, what did you do that for?!" Pinky asked, pissed that she wasn't able to get any meaningful information on her Paccums' whereabouts. "We don't know where the Tree is! And what if it intended to destroy it?" Clyde said, his voice quivering, and added: "It's not that I don't want to get Pac back, but at this kind of price?"

I think I know where your friend is.

Everyone stopped and stared at the strange creature. "Really? For what cost?" Pinky asked. "Really? For all we know it could be another attempt to get at something important, Pinky," Blinky snapped, trying to get her to think things through logically. The fox-like creature sighed.

Don't worry. I'm not gonna ask for much. All I need you guys to do is trust me.

"All right, we trust you. Now what?" Pinky said without hesitation. "Hold on, we don't even know what that thing's gonna do-" Inky protested, but was cut off by a dark blue mist shrouding everyone's view.

The final thing they all saw was the creature's dark green eyes in the mist.

When Pinky woke up, the first things she noticed were the thick forest and her body. After much confusion, she and the rest of the Ghost Gang deduced that they had been transformed into strange creatures and sent to another place, hopefully the one where they would find Pac-Man and Co.

Pinky was a small mammalian creature with light blue fur, dark blue markings on its back and paws, some weird teal crest with two dangles that could somehow control temperatures, specifically cold temperatures. Blinky was some kind of large black cat with yellow rings all over its body and tail. Inky looked kinda like a weird mammalian fish with fins sticking out the sides of his face, a back fin and a fish tail, and unlike most fish, could use water to attack. Clyde was a...plant and a dog mixed together? Either way, the only thing that didn't change about them were their original eye colors.

They wandered around the forest for a bit, slowly learning how their new bodies worked. Pinky believed that once they got out of the forest, they would find her Paccums. About a week after they'd been dumped in the Pokémon world, the pink-eyed Glaceon was returning to their campsite with a couple of berries for the rest of the gang. The only warning she had of something coming for her was the faint rustle of bushes and some hissing.

She blacked out even before she hit the ground.

Yay, finally found out how I wanted to write this! Now to find ideas to make the next chapter not boring...