Hyia. Welcome to another chapter of Winky and Blinky: Pac-Man Party- A New Adventure...sadly the adventure is nearly over. In this chapter there is indeed a reference to Laser Collection episode 3, it's my favorite quote from that particular episode. Another reference included is the alignment chart. (Lawful, chaotic, and neutral).

So shall we begin? I think we shall.

Rescue Mission: Pinky, Inky, Clyde

"So I've been tracking the Darkness's movements with Dr. Labo...and I think we found your sister, Inky." Pac-Man announced to the ghosts.

"Really?" The blue ghost sprang up in anticipation.

"Yes. The scanner has picked up a lot of Darkness action in Spooky Hallow."

"Of course, where else would a dark spirit like him go?" Pinky growled to herself.

"There has also been high readings of very powerful pure energy."

"Energy? Like solar? What?" Inky asked.

"No...Just. Pure. Energy. Anyways, there is definitely traces of three gems there. The Darkness must've nabbed another while he had the chance to...The scanner also caught an unaligned ghost core near the pumpkin patch."

"Unaligned? How?" Pinky asked confused.

"They're True Neutral."

Inky sighed. "Yeah, that's definitely Winky..."

"True Neutral? I thought all ghosts were aligned to be chaotic. Whether evil, neutral, or good, but a true neutral? Extremely rare." Pinky asked.

"Well that's weird." Clyde added.

"Really weird. You'd think she was Lawful Evil..." Blinky muttered. "True Neutral? That kind of raw energy seems like good news for the Darkness."

"And bad news for us..." Pinky finished.

The ghosts turned to Inky.

"It's not my fault she hasn't chosen her alignment!" He growled in defense.

Pac-Man shrugged. "We can talk about that later. Right now we need to get Winky away from the Darkness before he finds out she doesn't have an alignment and turns her Chaotic Evil to destroy everything."

"Can we at least agree on Lawful Evil?" Blinky reasoned.

Pinky rolled her eyes. "We can figure out her alignment later! We have more important matters to attend to!"

Blinky groaned. "Fine, go on Pac-Man."

"Besides the risk the captured un-aligned ghost, our bigger problem is the end of everything. When the Darkness gets his hand on the Diamond, it won't matter if he has the Peridot or not. It's a game over...So here's the plan."

Inky, Pinky, and Clyde floated nonchalantly in the open fields of Greenwood Grove. "Do you really think that this will work, Pinky?" Clyde asked unsurely.

"Since when have Pac-Man's plans ever failed before?" She chuckled.

Inky and Clyde exchanged looks.

"Okay, well they haven't failed him enough to get him killed. Besides most of them have worked..."

Inky shrugged. "Alright. So where's the imposter Diamond? Blinky and Pac-Man were supposed to bring it ages ago..."

"Here they come now!" Clyde announced.

Sure enough, the two long-term enemies were heading towards the three ghosts with a large, shiny gem in their possession.

"Wow, that Diamond looks so real I can't believe it's fake." Pinky purred.

"Okay, so get in and wait for the Darkness to cart you off." Blinky ordered.

Pinky rolled her eyes. "Hold your horses, Blinky. You obviously weren't paying attention when Pac-Man specifically said, 'Do not get into positions until an all clear is given'. Now can you tell me why he said that?"

"Blah blah blah. Who cares? I don't see why we just don't go down there and get Winky now."

"Jeez Blinky, you're being more impatient than usual." Clyde acknowledged.

"Of course I am! Winky is down there probably being tortured by that stupid cloud, and we're sitting ducks!"

"Hey, we're all worried about her Blinky, but you're going to have to keep a level head if we're gonna get her back." Inky reassured him.

"Yeah, you don't see Inky blowing up about this, and Winky is his sister." Pinky added.

"So don't worry, be happy." Clyde said.

"As long as we stick to the plan, everyone will live as peacefully as they used to." Pac-Man chimed.

As if on cue, the sky darkened. "Now hurry along, the darkening of the sky is a reaction to the Darkness's approach."

The three ghost nodded and phased through the walls of the faux diamond.

Blinky and Pac-Man turned their attention towards the sky. "We're gonna have to put up a good fight if this is gonna be convincing enough..."

Blinky shrugged. "Nice knowing you Pac-Man-"

"Uh...Blinky...we're not fighting to the finish...I hope you know that..."

"Oh...right..."

Thunder sounded, followed by a cracking bolt of lightning. The bolt struck the ground, causing a shaking aftermath, nearly knocking Pac-Man off his feet.

A small fox stood in the place of the lightning attack. 'She' laughed darkly. "Hello Pac-Man, it has been a while since you last visited my palace. We are having a feast soon, and you were the first person I thought of inviting!"

"Sorry Patra, but you're invitation is declined! We already know you're true identity and why you're here! You're not getting the Diamond!"

Patra sighed and leapt up high in the air. Just before hitting the ground, a large bear replaced her. "I was hoping you would play fair, Pac-Man, but if it has to be this way..." The bear unsheathed its claws and roared. "We'll have to play dirty!" Bearzerk slashed a large mechanical claw towards the two, which Pac-Man and Blinky easily dodged.

"Now?!" Blinky demanded.

"Not yet, we have to make it seem like we're fighting back." Pac-Man responded.

The red ghost sighed and floated out in the open. "Where's Winky?!"

"What would you want with her? She's so weak and bland compared to a powerful ghost such as yourself..." The bear purred.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, you don't know do you?" Bearzerk chuckled. "Well your little girlfriend may have raw talents beyond even my imagination, but only you have the power to help me unlock it."

The red ghost edged carefully closer to the large bear. "Spit it out!"

"It's obvious, isn't it? The darkest gem of them all is being protected by you. And since you care for that ghost girl, its powers are only stronger. With that stone I can turn her into a powerful indestructible force that will destroy everything!"

"Not if I have anything to do with it!" He growled. Using all of his force the red ghost launched himself into the sky, then like a missile, the poltergeist expertly rocketed towards Bearzerk.

The bear swatted his razor sharp claws at the ghost, barely missing him. The red ghost continued his aerial attack, while Pac-Man launched a ground attack.

Just as the assaults were about to push the Darkness over the edge, the bear made one lucky swipe that not only knocked the red ghost from the sky, managed to find its way to the ghost chaser.

With both heroes down, the darkness shifted shapes again, but this time to Idmon. "Now that's killing two birds with one stone, and now I can claim what rightfully belongs to me..." The spider used its front claws to grab hold of the Diamond and grinned deviously. "And all that's left is the Peridot, but I shall return for that later." With a single gust of wind, dark clouds surrounded the spider, and like that it evaporated.

Pinky, Inky, and Clyde remained silent and motionless as they felt the entire gem around them shake.

We must be moving now... Inky thought.

Pinky and Clyde nodded as if they heard his thoughts.

The shaking around them somewhat calmed, but grew violent once more before stopping completely.

"Alright, lets go invisible..." Pinky whispered

Following the order, the other two disappeared along with Pinky and floated out of their temporary imprisonment.

Inky took in their landscape. Once again they had returned to their hometown, but somehow it was more gloomier than ever.

"I think it's dying..." Pinky whispered almost inaudibly.

"I think you're right..." Inky replied, then floated around to get a better view.

At the moment, the three were alone with three other gems circling above their heads. Each of them emitted an unnatural electrical charge of black lightning, and in the center, a small thundercloud of darkness was forming. Idmon and a tiny witch were far off, clearly gloating on their newest catch.

Clyde lightly bumped Inky, nearly causing him a second death by heart attack. "What is it Clyde?" He hissed silently.

"I found Winky..." He replied quietly.

Just as Clyde said, Winky was there, but to Inky's dismay she was stranded high in the air, alone, and trapped in a reasonably sized bubble.

Inky could sense his sister's distress, loneliness, and sorrow despite being a fair distance away.

"Don't worry, little sister, I'm coming for you." He muttered. "Come on." He addressed his companions.

The three swam through the air towards the bubble, careful not to attract any unwanted attention.

Winky was sobbing softly. "Oh Blinky...I never even gave you a chance...now you're gone..."

Inky concentrated on the bubble, trying his best not to attract attention to himself.

Pinky lightly brushed against the bubble, accidentally shocking herself in the process. Holding in her cry of pain, she knew it was too late. The tiny witch caught the spark the shock caused and frowned. "Freeze the rescuers where they stay, and make it so they're bodies betray!" She growled.

Three ghosts were immediately exposed to the Darkness and his servant, frozen helplessly.

The witch laughed darkly. "You really thought you could just come here and save your friend without getting caught? Ha ha! You ghosties make me laugh. But lucky for you you will get your dear Winky back but not freed. So scoot over, Winky and make room for your 'saviors'."

Pinky frowned. "Your voice...it's familiar."

The witch laughed as she shifted into red-eyed Winky. "Oh so you recognize my voice, Pinky? How was the Oasis?"

Inky's eyes widened. "You're 'the voice'? How?"

The witch snorted. "Simple first level witchcraft, dummy. I use your sister's ability to turn invisible, speak telepathically to your girlfriend, and there you go. You've got an invisible voice."

Pinky snarled as she and her friends were shoved into the bubble with Winky.

"Same thing at Celebration Ave. with Winky. And Patra. And Roger...Oh and the whole red-eyed thing at the underground Oasis. While the brother is away the witch comes to play. I simply switched Winky out for myself, even if she can't remember it. Oh I do love memory spells." As she said this she began undoing the frozen charms she placed on the three ghosts. "Unfortunately my disguise didn't last very long and my eyes changed color...I knew I shouldn't have stayed in that form between travels."

Pinky growled at the fraud ghost. "How dare you?! You tricked me and my friends and you have no sense of remorse!"

"Oh don't act so innocent now, Pinky! You and your incompetent friends have been tricking Pac-Man for years, and you have the nerve to snap at me when you get what you deserve!"

"We can't change our past, I know," Inky intervened, "but that doesn't mean my sister has to suffer. Let her go."

Winky floated forward. "No way, Inky...I deserve to be in here as much as anyone. If I had listened to you and stayed by the pumpkin patch...Penelope wouldn't have found me...and we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Winky-"

"No Inky... I have to take responsibility for my wrongs...Blinky...as well as Patra, Roger...and maybe even Woofa are gone because of me... Lives I haven't even been in have been destroyed because I disobeyed my brother..."

Clyde shook his head. "Everyone gets into trouble sometimes, Winky, even if it leads to bad things. It's the mistakes we learn from that help improve our past wrongs."

"...Wow Clyde that was...really...deep coming from you..."

Clyde grinned broadly. "I do have my moments."

"I'm sure you do..." The witch purred.

Clyde looked highly disturbed by the witch's comment.

Pinky glowered at the copy. "Don't you have frogs to disfigure?" She snapped.

The witch stuck out her tongue playfully before floating down to ground level.

"I just want to let you know Winky, that no matter what happens, I'm not mad at you. And this isn't your fault...it's as much as ours as anyone's..." Inky sighed. "I really love you, and didn't want you to get hurt...that's why I didn't want you to leave the Hallow...I was being selfish...and I'm sorry..."

Winky nuzzled her brother softly. "Don't be. I knew you were just being the crazy, over-protective, lovable brother you are..."

Inky smiled lightly, then turned to look down at the ground below them. The floating gems still casting ominous shadows.

"If they could be turned dark...do you think they could...return to the light?" The blue ghost asked no one.

Pinky floated to his side. "There is light even in the darkest of places...so to answer your question...I do believe we could negate their dark energy...But something extremely powerful and extremely pure would have to do it..."

Winky smiled. "I think I know what will do it...but we'd need Pac-Man and time..."

Wow, that was some pretty heavy stuff. I don't even know how to comment on it...But I do know that the clock is winding down until the finale...DX So until next time!

Ciao!

~Raphadelia