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Chapter 7: Malicious Intent
A/N:
Content Warning: This chapter contains minimal use of swearing/foul language. This chapter also marks the first chapter where cussing/swearing will be used, and so this content warning will go for the rest of the story from here on out as well. Cussing will be prominent in some chapters, and less or not present in other chapters. Either way, from this point onward, viewer discretion is advised in regards to foul language.
Apologies for the long wait. I hope this longer chapter makes up for it!
When the team finally arrived in the city, it was pandemonium.
They've fought large-scale invasions before, often with Pointyheads involved, but few were as widespread as this.
Swarms of ghosts enveloped the city in a shimmering cloud of multi-coloured blurs. They flew as far as the eye could see, phasing through skyscrapers and shooting a barrage of slime attacks at residences. No buildings were spared, and no corner of the city was left untouched by the invasion.
Along with the haunting horde of ghosts, there were two dragons. Their crimson scales gleamed sharply in the sun as they swooped in and set several buildings on fire, knocking over cars and forcing traffic-goers to flee on foot.
Shrieks of panic tore through the streets. Citizens ran for cover, either rushing for designated shelters or taking the nearest route to a de-sliming station. Several law enforcement and anti-ghost forces were already out and fighting, but they were straining against the attack. Slime balls came from every which way. It was mayhem.
Pac only had seconds to assess the situation. As the Pac-a-chini roared into the city's airspace, he hurriedly glanced around to get a scale of the invasion, trying to figure out a plan of action.
When a bunch of hissing fire ghosts came their way, he yanked on the controls and their vehicle made a sharp turn to the left, narrowly dodging the fiery spectres. From behind him in the backseats, he could vaguely hear three PSC's going off and shooting electrical beams to catch some of the fire ghosts.
A pit of dread opened up in his stomach – they're going to need a lot more than PSC's to push back this invasion.
"What should we do, Pac?!" Elliptica called from the back, after unsuccessfully trying to zap a pair of ice ghosts flying by. She sounded as overwhelmed as they all felt at that moment.
They were tricked, led into believing that the attack at the campsite was their only task, when all this time it was just a diversion to keep them distracted and far away from the city for when the main invasion hit.
Pac's first instinct was to think of the Roundhouse. Not only was it a frequent target during ghost attacks, but it was also where the secret locations of the Repository and the Tree of Life were stored. If Betrayus and his ghosts got their hands on those, then they could very well say goodbye to their planet's freedom and everything they've ever fought for. But people were in danger too, and they couldn't just be left alone to fend for themselves with the state the city was in. Especially with dragons on the loose.
Pac gritted his teeth. The Roundhouse needed protection, but they were already behind the clock in stopping the invasion. They needed to make haste to keep citizens from harm, and for that, he needed a full team to tackle an attack of this size.
But the diversion had already given the ghosts a head-start, and if they were breaking into the Roundhouse right now…
He had no choice. They had to split up.
"I'll handle the dragons," Pac gave his command, steering the Pac-a-chini down to a place where they could quickly land. "Spiral and Cyli, you guys try and push back the ghosts! Elli, defend the Roundhouse!"
"Our PSC's are almost full—" Cylindria warned, worriedly glancing down at her weapon. "We still have our power berries, but they won't give us a good enough advantage over the ghosts!"
Pac nodded, knowing the uphill battle his team would face with power berries that gave them limited powers compared to Yellow Ones, but they would have to work with what they've got. Tersely, he parked the Pac-a-chini on the flat surface of a rooftop. "Hold them off as long as you can, I'll help as soon as I take out the dragons!"
"On it, bro!" Spiral said, he and the girls giving respective nods of understanding.
Within a flash, they all ate Flying berries and took to the sky, each heading off in four different directions to their designated tasks.
Pac ascended through the air, catching and gobbling up any ghosts that got in his way. When he spotted blood-red wings skimming through the towering skyscrapers from above, he quickly slipped a berry out of his dispenser.
He looked down at the light blue, super-powered fruit, nested into the palm of his hand.
"Only one Ice Berry left. Gotta make it count."
He flicked the tiny sphere into his mouth and swallowed.
The berry was cold, but it had a fresh and minty flavour when it invaded his tastebuds and enveloped him with an ethereal sense of calmness. Instantly, a chill raced through his body. His skin hardened, going from golden yellow to pale blue, and his body temperature fell several degrees lower. And yet, despite the cold, he felt the power of the berry course through him so vividly that the cold didn't bother him at all.
His transformation ended, finishing off with the emergence of a crown of ice on his head, swept back like an icicle.
Sapphire eyes opened to glare determinedly up at the flying reptiles, swooping past buildings and diving down towards civilians.
"Alright. Let's dance, you overgrown lizards."
Without a second to lose, he shot through the air and made a beeline for one of the dragons, ice at the ready.
Elliptica had to fight her way through a wall of ghosts before she finally caught a glimpse of the Roundhouse.
Zapping and trapping them into her PSC, she powered through the merciless horde and came out on the other side half-drenched in slime. She shook off the build-up of ectoplasm on her arms and readied her weapon again. With one more blast at a few unsuspecting ghosts, she finally cleared her way through to the Roundhouse.
Panting, she flew a straight line towards the circular building, passing its gardens along the way.
For a brief moment in time, a bittersweet memory came to her. It was just yesterday that she and her uncle were sitting down in those gardens, having their heart-to-heart and talking about their family history.
How ironic it was that the very man they had been discussing was now sending his legion of undead spirits to terrorise the city they call home.
She was beyond relieved when Pac gave her the task of protecting the Roundhouse – the safety of her beloved uncle has been at the forefront of her worries ever since they returned to the defenceless city. What if the ghosts had already gotten to him?
Terrified of the thought, Elliptica picked up speed and made haste to reach the Roundhouse, ignoring any ghosts that got in her way. She reached the presidential building and readied her aim, expecting to find the building in a disastrous state.
But to her surprise and arrant confusion, the Roundhouse was… untouched?
Its white walls were as pristine as ever, not a single speck of slime visible on any of its exteriors. High up in the sky, ghosts swarmed around in scattered groups and gravitated more to the centre of the city, but barely any ghosts were within the vicinity of the Roundhouse. Some strays came close, but they either flew away quickly or simply ignored the building. They didn't target it whatsoever.
"What…?" The girl breathed, baffled and wary.
She inched closer to the general direction of the Roundhouse, eyes fixed on the ghosts. She held her weapon tightly in her hands, ready to fire at a moment's notice, despite the suspicious lack of attacks on the building. Several questions raced through her mind until they were abruptly silenced when a familiar voice called up to her.
"Elliptica!"
Whipping around, the light lavender girl spotted a green Pacworlder waving out from one of the windows, frantically and very much still alive. Relief washed over her. It was the president.
"Uncle Stratos!" She hovered closer until she was a few feet away from the window. "What's going on?! Did the ghosts already get inside? Are you hurt-"
Stratos cut her off with a shake of his head. "No ghost has infiltrated the Roundhouse, thank Pacness, but they're too much for the city's defences to handle! They've been wreaking havoc ever since they got here—"
A resounding boom in the distance drew their attention to the centre of the city. They watched as a dense cloud of ghosts flew away from a building, feigning retreat from a fleet of police troops only to come back and spit several slime bombs back at them. When laser beams and ectoplasmic matter collided, it set off a dozen tiny explosions. The police force fell back and dodged it just in time, giving the ghosts ample time to escape. They flew down and disappeared behind the walls of spherical buildings, chasing after civilians on the ground.
Elliptica tried to look closely at the ghosts that terrorized the streets. Amidst the chaos and people screaming and running for their lives, something stood out to her.
With the inclusion of the Roundhouse, the haunting spectres didn't seem to target any buildings, although several structures were encased in multi-coloured sheens of slime nonetheless. The civilians looked like ants from this distance, each of them being chased by ghosts. A chorus of panicked screams reverberated through the city as people tried to escape the unyielding onslaught of slime attacks. Whenever the fleeting movement of a Pacworlder caught a ghost's eye, it immediately went for them.
"They're targeting people…"
The realisation was as sudden as it was worrisome. Her instincts told her to act, to protect civilians before they got seriously injured, but the Roundhouse…
"Elliptica—" Stratos called once more, and the frazzled girl looked back just in time to see her uncle's two overbearing bodyguards arrive, trying to usher their president away to safety.
Stratos sidestepped and swatted their arms away before they could, looking back up at her. "This isn't a typical invasion— Betrayus must've switched tactics and is now targeting the innocents. People's lives are at stake, you must hurry and defend the citizens!"
That much I gathered, Elliptica nearly wanted to say, but even though her uncle was right and she wanted nothing more than to join her team in driving off the ghosts, Pac still gave her an order and that was to protect the Roundhouse in case the ghosts were to break in and steal valuable information.
Stratos must've seen the turmoil swimming in her eyes. "Don't worry about the Roundhouse! It's clearly not Betrayus's focus right now, and we've got enough security to hold them off for a while in case of an attack!"
"But what about you—"
"I'll be fine," he said slowly, mustering a faint and reassuring smile for her sake. "Right now, Pacopolis and its people need you more than I do."
Her mouth opened to protest, but nothing came out. Instead, she glanced back at the citizens in peril, then back at her uncle. She knew what she had to do. Still, her heart twisted painfully at the prospect of leaving her uncle alone in this uncertain battle.
"Please stay safe! I'll be back as soon as I can to check on you, I promise!"
The green orb gave her an affirming nod and watched as she turned on her heel and flew away, straight for the city.
Not a second too soon, twin blue bodies came and tackled Stratos down and away from the window, all three of them hitting the floor with a familiar chant of "Protect the president!"
"Oh for the love of Pacworld, GET OFF ME you recalcitrant dummies!"
Those were the last words Elliptica heard from her uncle before she was out of earshot from the Roundhouse.
Approaching the ghost-infested city, she raised her weapon and snagged a small group of ghosts flying above her. Electricity and light crackled in her peripherals as the ghosts vanished into her canon, groaning in protest of their captivity. Once she entered the city, she hovered in place and scouted the area, trying to catch a glimpse of her teammates.
Almost every building had slime oozing out of its windows from spectres phasing through them, and blobs of ectoplasm caked the pavement on the streets below. Ghosts were still making a strategic effort to harass, slime and possess any civilians they could reach. A dragon flew behind a distant skyscraper, and some more ghosts cascaded through the sky, but there was no sign of her three friends.
Quickly, she lifted an arm closer to her face and activated her wristcom.
"Team, can anyone hear me? Where are you guys?!" she implored into the mini telecommunications device, waiting with bated breath for someone to answer.
Her stomach dropped when nothing but static came out of the wristcom for several seconds. But just before panic started setting in, the static frequency changed and out came a clear and feminine voice.
'I hear ya! I'm in the southern district trying to get a bunch of creepies to stop harassing a bus full of people—'
Elliptica spared herself a sigh of relief upon hearing her pigtailed friend's voice. Cylindria sounded focused and determined, but there was a nervous strain in her voice.
'We've been trying to chip them off in their numbers, but it doesn't look promising. How bad is the Roundhouse?'
"That's the thing—" Elliptica intoned, narrowly dodging a slimeball thrown her way. "No ghost has come anywhere near the Roundhouse since this all started. It's completely untouched! They're not targeting my uncle or the building at all, they've just been sliming and terrorising people in the city."
'Wait—they're just going after citizens?'
"I think so, be it Betrayus's cruel game or not-"
Before Elliptica could continue, a hiss to her left made her jump, turning around just in time to see a tentacle ghost coming straight for her.
"Eep—!"
She yelped, dropping out of the sky just in time before the squid-like ghost collided with her, flying past her instead.
Before the spectre could twist and turn around to get her, Elliptica made a beeline for the nearest building and threw herself behind its walls, holding her breath. For a moment, all she heard was a frustrated roar from the ghost as it searched aimlessly for her, until it gave up on its search and instead opted to go slime an easier target.
'Elli? You okay?!'
"Just peachy,"she chuckled dryly, eyeing the retreating squid with contempt. "I would reaaally like to get this invasion over with already!"
'I can't get through to the guys, they're not answering my calls,' Cylindria informed, before the sound of a firing PSC went off on her end, shucking up ghosts. 'And my PSC is about to die, too! I don't know how the boys are doing, I haven't seen them since we split up.'
Pushing herself off of the building's wall, Elliptica floated tensely in the air. With her PSC still in her hand, she looked around and tried to spot any one of her friends amidst an ocean of ghosts. But still, there were no signs of Pac and Spiral, or Cylindria.
"I can't see them on my end either—what do you suppose we do?"
'See if you can find Spiral. The three of us need to regroup and figure out a plan to stop the ghosts while we're waiting for Pac to deal with the dragons. We're not going to make a dent in their numbers if we take them on separately like this!'
"Okay," Elliptica concurred, albeit nervously. "Any idea on where Spiral is, though?"
'Last time I saw him, he was chasing after a cyclops in the eastern district…' Cylindria trailed off, uncertainly.
It was all the info she needed at that moment, and with the help of her wristcom's navigator, Elliptica took off eastward.
After a gruelling flight filled with interceptions from all sorts of ghosts, the light lavender girl eventually soared into the eastern side of the city. This was where most of the city's residential buildings were situated, branching off to form several clusters of suburban houses. Just like the city, it wasn't spared from the torrential onslaught of slime and ghosts. It took great effort to avoid the attention of ghosts while trying to spot her tall, crimson teammate. All she saw were various ghosts and cyclops as they blanketed the area, but no red Pacworlder.
"I can't see him!" Elliptica reported into her wristcom, trying not to let panic seep into her tone. "Maybe he went to a different area—"
BOOM!
As though on cue, the sound of an explosion went off nearby, accompanied by a masculine cry of unsolicited surprise. Elliptica whirled around to her right, just in time to see a cloud of electricity and smoke burst out near a small cluster of houses.
The next thing she knew, a familiar red Pacworlder came flying out from the smoke, uncontrollably with the force of the explosion propelling him through the air. He practically looked like a spinning starfish as he hurtled across the sky.
"…Found him!"
Spiral soared a wide arch before gravity started pulling him down again. He twisted and turned, trying in vain to regain control and slow down his descent. As he fell closer and closer to the ground, Elliptica realised with a start that he wouldn't regain altitude in time before hitting the pavement.
Her body moved into action before she could give anything else a second thought, diving down for him as fast as she could. In her haste, she didn't even register that she dropped her PSC in her rush to save her friend.
Just before Spiral could plummet against the side of a house, Elliptica swerved into position behind him and braced herself, catching him by the back. The collision sent them both tumbling backwards, but it broke Spiral's fall and the two gradually came to a halt in the air, floating mere inches above the ground.
"Gotcha," Elliptica grunted, still holding her friend up by the arms.
Spiral's face was dusted grey with smoke, and he coughed and gagged a little to get the ashy taste out of his mouth. Gritting his teeth, he peered up at the ghosts still swarming the sky, before looking over his shoulder at her. Appreciation shone in his emerald eyes. "Good catch. Thanks!"
"What happened?"
"My PSC blew up in my face. At least now we know what happens when we try forcing more ghosts into them when they're full…"
When it was evident that he could still fly on his own, Elliptica let go of his arms and the two hovered in place. They gazed up at the sky, infested with ghosts and cyclopes alike. In the distance, they heard the faint, guttural roar of a dragon.
Spiral's jaw was clenched tightly, looking upon the city with a tense and nervous countenance. "Shit. We might be a bit in over our heads with this one…"
Elliptica looked no better. "There's so many of them…we need to regroup and figure out a new plan. Cyli and I have been trying to contact you guys, why didn't you answer our calls?"
"Water and wristcoms don't mix well, you see," Spiral answered, a bit of light-hearted sass to his tone. He lifted his wrist to eye-level, showing a dead and unresponsive wristcom. The result of jumping into a river without taking it off first.
"Oh—" Elliptica uttered, realising the complications that broken wristcoms would bring, but her thoughts were interrupted when a chorus of ghastly laughter from above caught both their attention. Ghosts circled in tight groups in the sky, converging and forming a much bigger swarm – a swarm that steadily came closer to the two ghost-fighters, as if anticipating an attack.
"Okay, coming back on track—" Elliptica spoke hastily, eyeing the growing swarm apprehensively. "We need to find the others and come up with a different tactic, or else people could get injured if we don't stop the ghosts fast enough!"
Spiral took in her words carefully. His eyes were locked on the growing horde of spectres, contemplating their options. There was a tense and grim look in his eyes, and Elliptica knew then that he was thinking the same thing she was thinking.
With time against them and an invasion of this scale, the odds of citizens coming out of this battle unscathed suddenly felt very slim.
Spiral turned to look at Elliptica, and after a second of silent contemplation, he gave her an affirmative nod. "Okay, let's go!"
Turning on their heels, the crimson and lilac teens kicked off the ground and ascended in the air, soaring towards the centre of the city. All they need to do is find their teammates, regroup, and use a different strategy to defeat the ghosts. With hope, they could still change the tides and turn this battle around.
But just as the two teens gained speed and neared the city, a giant shadow befell them from above.
"Leaving so soon?"
Involuntary gasps escaped their throats when a tentacled ghost came out of nowhere and flew in front of them, cutting them off.
Not a second too soon, a dozen more squids came and surrounded them, accompanied by a swarm of snickering, smirking ghosts.
The ghost-fighting duo didn't react quickly enough before their enemies had surrounded them completely. The ghosts circled them in tight groups, forming a dome of multi-coloured blurs and effectively trapping them inside. From above, a pair of cyclops sneered wickedly down at them.
Dread hit them like a ton of bricks, and Elliptica wished with all her heart that she had not dropped her PSC.
They floated there, back-to-back and trying not to consider the odds of them coming out of this predicament unscathed.
Spiral cursed under his breath.
"Regrouping is gonna have to wait…"
An ear-splitting roar shook the skies.
Its echo made buildings tremble and citizens cowered fearfully, taking shelter under whatever stable architecture they could find.
Along with its roar, the dragon breathed a stream of flame in its wake, its orange glow illuminating the dark clouds above.
And out of its fiery reach, a pale blue orb soared out of the wake of the fire. The orb turned sharply and a blue hue joined the illuminated clouds as a blast of ice rocketed towards the dragon.
It struck the beast's chest with a crackling bang and the fire-breathing reptile beat its wings angrily to keep itself airborne, growling as ice shards flickered off its scales. A guttural, furious roar tore out from the beast's maw, glaring daggers at its opponent.
Ice Pac breathed fast and hard, sparing a second to wipe some remnants of sweat and smoke off of his cold brow.
He's lost track of how long he's been trying to take down this dragon.
It could've been minutes, hours, or even the whole day. By his aching limbs and tired lungs, he'd wager that it's taken an absolute eternity. Not even the chilling powers of his Ice Berry could prevent his body from working up a sweat.
He was not given a moment's rest, for as soon as the dragon's roar faded away, it came for him again with fire already steaming out of its jaws.
Willing his tired and worn body to move, Pac dove down and dropped out of the sky right before the dragon could reach him. As the crimson beast soared by and missed him by a hair, Pac twisted around and blew out a stream of ice, blasting against the dragon's belly and all along its sides.
GRAAAR!
The dragon floundered in its flight, unbalanced from the sudden chunks of ice dragging it down. It beat its wings rapidly to compensate for the extra load, but it did little to stop its descent.
The one-eyed beast plummeted, barely grazing the side of a building before it crashed into the pavement. The impact shattered the ice covering its body, but the force of the landing also knocked the wind out of the dragon. It lay there, sprawled across the street and covered in several loose icicles. Moments later, it staggered to its feet and huffed out a plume of smoke.
Growling deeply in defeat, it took to the sky and flew off into a wayward direction, hopefully back to the Netherworld.
Pac breathed a great sigh of relief.
That took too long.
Dragons weren't easy to defeat, but if it took him this long to take out one dragon then he feared the outcome of this battle. There was still one more dragon left, and that's also not counting the rest of the ghost army. Under normal circumstances, he's usually in better shape and on the top of his game. One mere dragon shouldn't have taken him thismuch time to defeat.
Except that these weren't exactly normal circumstances.
Fatigue was wearing him down, carrying over from their battle at the campsite and slowing down his movements and response time. Overexerting his muscles against the river's strong currents had already depleted his energy considerably, and now he was feeling the effects of it in this battle.
When he looked around to assess the state of the invasion, it did little to ease his worries.
Ghosts were still swarming the sky in abundance, and while they did decrease in numbers, it was nowhere near enough for him and his team to gain the upper hand yet. The buildings were no longer on fire at least, courtesy of his ice, but he didn't know how long his berry would last.
He worried for the safety of his teammates – if they were struggling as much as he was, then they were all in deep trouble.
We need Sir C, the Yellow One decided with a sinking feeling in his stomach. There was no other solution. They needed help.
There was just one little problem…
He looked down at his wristcom, now nothing but a lifeless device strapped to his right wrist. Completely useless ever since it got submerged with him underwater at the river incident.
Without his wristcom in working order, he had no way of getting in contact with Sir Cumference. Or any of his teammates.
The only option he had was to fly to Sir Cumference's laboratory to get back-up, but that would mean leaving his team behind to deal with the battle on their own. And with no means of communication to check on their progress…
His tense deliberations were interrupted when the distant echo of a roar caught his attention.
Pac turned around to his left, locking his gaze on the last dragon trailing through the sky. It flew near the southern district, seemingly looking for a target down below on the streets. On the ground, people panicked and ran for their lives, desperate to get out of the fire-breathing monster's sight.
The ice-powered Yellow One drew in a tense intake of breath.
There was no use in leaving to get back up if the remaining dragon did irreparable harm in his absence. He couldn't just leave the citizens in peril like this.
Getting a hold of Sir Cumference would have to wait.
Willing his aching body to move, he took off and soared across the cloudy sky, straight for the flying reptile. He was about a building's length away from reaching the dragon when the beast dipped its head and entered a steep dive down towards a group of fleeing people.
Had a blast of ice not been shot in its face mere seconds before it reached the ground, then the dragon surely would've gobbled those people whole.
"Over here, you overgrown salamander!"
Angry bursts of smoke and embers spewed from the dragon's maw, shaking off the icicles from its head. It swerved around to glare at Pac before ascending back up in the air, bellowing out a challenge.
Pac responded by giving chase.
He flew after the beast, soaring further into the southern district's airspace. Here, there were fewer skyscrapers and tall buildings in their way, but the southern district was an industrial area filled with several factories and construction assembly zones. The worst possible area to fight a fire-breathing creature.
Gotta make this quick, Pac thought tersely, picking up speed to catch up with the dragon before it could set fire to any of the surrounding buildings.
The crimson beast angled itself into flying a steep, downward arch over some rooftops, trying to shake the Yellow One off its tail. Ghosts peeled off in random directions to get out of their way. Out of the corner of his eye, Pac saw the ghosts fly across rooftops and disappear behind some buildings, seemingly after a different target.
That's when a sudden stream of electrical energy burst out from behind the buildings and arced towards said group of ghosts.
It caught them in a tight and electrifying ball of energy, before pulling them back down and disappearing behind the frame of the building again.
Pac nearly came to a scampering halt in the air. That was a PSC blast!
Something akin to relief and solace washed over him. One of his teammates was nearby!
He watched as another stream of energy coursed through the air, catching another pair of ghosts before returning to its anonymous holder. He briefly wondered which one of his friends the blast belonged to, and if they'd stand a bigger chance of winning this fight if they could team up to defeat the dragon.
Unfortunately, Pac wasn't the only one who took notice of the extra ghost-fighter.
The dragon suddenly veered off-course, banking to the right and soaring straight for the area where the PSC blast had come from.
Heart jumping into his throat, Pac sprang into action and turned sharply to the right as well, trying to fly fast enough to cut the dragon off from its course.
As they both neared the building, Pac fired a blast of ice at the beast…
And missed it by several inches.
The dragon pulled up at the last second and the ice struck the edge of the building instead, creating a growth of icicles.
Cursing under his breath, Pac kept flying and finally passed over the rooftop, reaching the other side of the building. Immediately, he looked around and scanned the area.
There, standing farther down in the street and fighting her heart out, was a teammate and friend in pigtails.
The relief he felt was short-lived when a crimson wing skimmed by in his peripheral vision. Pac looked up just in time to see that the dragon had turned back and was now diving down the street, straight for his unsuspecting friend, who had her back turned against the approaching danger.
Panic leapt through his chest.
He didn't know which came first.
The blast of ice he fired hastily, or his yell of warning.
"Cyli! Behind you!"
Ice streaked through the air, rocketing towards the dragon.
Within seconds, the sound of a crackling bang and a pained roar echoed in the sky as the ice collided with the beast's head, right before it could reach its target. Tiny particles of ice scattered in every which way.
Through a cloud of icy glimmers and angry smoke, Pac saw his friend whirl around at breakneck speed upon hearing the cacophonic explosion, staring wide-eyed at the dragon that came so close to chomping her.
A furious bellow thundered out of the blood-red beast's maw, wings beating with such ferocity that gusts of wind pushed back against both ghost-fighters, nearly blowing them off-balance.
There wasn't a chance for Pac and Cylindria to communicate before the dragon lurched upwards, jaws open and fangs bared, coming straight for him.
A yelp burst from Pac's lips as he banked to the side and narrowly escaped the dragon's teeth.
Just as he evaded the jaws of doom, he twisted his body harshly to dodge a set of claws swiping at him. Amidst a flurry of leathery wings and elaborate movements, Pac found an opening and swerved out of reach from the dragon's sharp appendages. A gust of wind blew from a snap of the dragon's wings and Pac used it as an aid to blow himself away from the furious beast.
Pac floundered in the air before finding his balance, panting and hovering just a couple of feet off the ground.
In the midst of trying to stay clear of the dragon's proximity, Pac thought he heard Cylindria call out to him, but he couldn't make out her words – not when the dragon turned back around to chase after him again. The beast was relentless!
It took an agonising amount of effort to summon up another ice blast. He was frazzled and his muscles burned in protest, but he managed to muster up enough strength to fire one more beam of ice at the approaching reptile. The ice smashed against the dragon's shoulder, splintering off into a thousand particles, forcing the dragon to rebound and fly up and away from the ice-powered Yellow One. Pac had half a mind to fire another beam of ice at the crimson beast, just enough to drive it off for good.
But suddenly, things took a turn for the worse.
A ripple of numbness coursed through Pac's body, followed by a shiver that covered him from head to toe. His body temperature rose significantly. When he looked down at himself, dread and despair threaded themselves into his being as he watched his skin go from pale blue to a golden yellow, reverting back to his normal self.
His Ice Berry had finally worn off.
With no supernatural powers to aid him, a crushing wave of exhaustion enveloped Pac and he fell out of the air.
Now detransformed, he braced himself and came to a harsh landing on the street, next to a pair of buildings. His shoes slid against the asphalt until he came to a staggering halt.
"Damnit—" Pac gasped, fast and hard. That was the only Ice Berry he had left, and the only advantage they had over the dragons.
He looked to the sky…
And dreaded the sight of the city still teeming with ghosts, with no sign of an end in sight.
With no more Ice berries, what else could he use to help them fight? The Chameleon berry could turn him invisible, but it was limited when it came to taking on several ghosts at a time. The Rubber berry was useless with his exhausted body, and the Fire berry could cause more harm than good.
As he stood there, trying to wrack his brain for any alternatives, he didn't notice the rapid approach of danger – a foe covered in crimson scales.
"Pac, watch out!"
The desperate shout of his friend reached his ears and Pac whirled around at her yell of warning—
Only to see the dragon coming back and diving towards him, jaws wide open and fire gathering at the back of its throat.
His instincts screamed at him to move, to either block or dodge the attack that would surely burn him to a crisp.
But he couldn't move.
His muscles were locked up and frozen.
Exhaustion planted him firmly down on the ground. His body felt like lead.
Everything seemed to turn into slow-motion as Pac came face-to-face with a wall of fire. For the briefest moment in time, he felt convinced that this was it. This was the way he was going to die. This was his end.
But the fire never reached him.
Just as he was seconds away from death, a body came and careened into his side.
He was sent flying sideways, along with whoever had tackled him out of the range of fire, and the searing hot flames missed them by mere inches.
Pac's world flew past his vision before he could even comprehend what was happening.
Pain grazed his side as they struck the ground once, twice, and then went rolling down into an alleyway, right between two nearby buildings.
BAM!
SMASH!
CLATTER!
Pac nearly blacked out as they crashed into wooden crates and piles of something hard and loose. Planks, tools, and various construction supplies broke apart and collapsed on top of them as they ended up in a heap on the ground. Dust encased the small alley in a dense cloud.
Somehow, amid the cluttering chaos, he ended up face-down on top of something warm.
While he couldn't see what he had fallen on top of, he was almost certain that several planks and cold metal beams had settled on his back from the collision into whatever pile of storage was kept in the alleyway.
For a moment, everything was quiet as the dust settled.
Then, a muffled and retreating roar from somewhere outside pulled Pac out of nearly losing consciousness.
He groaned lowly, barely able to lift his head to stare up ahead at the entrance of the alleyway, where flames were slowly dissipating after not reaching their target.
Pac was in a daze.
What just happened?
One moment he had expected to be engulfed by flames that would surely have ended his life, and then the next…
Something had pushed him out of the way. Something had saved his life.
And as though on cue, he suddenly felt something – or someone – moving and squirming from underneath him.
"Ow, ow, ow—"
Pac looked down so quickly that the movement made him feel dizzy.
Pinned underneath him, with red glasses askew and raven black hair in messy pigtails, was a familiar pink face. A face that grimaced from all the extra weight piled on top of her, and Pac quickly realised his elbow was digging into her arm. Through his hazy consciousness, he managed to shift his arm so that his elbow wasn't pressing painfully into hers anymore, and her eyes slowly creaked open.
For a moment, sapphire blue met rouge pink as all they could do was stare at each other in shocked silence.
Until Pac realised with a start the awkward predicament they were in and immediately tried lifting himself off of her, an apology already forming on his lips.
"Cyl-"
But when he made to push himself off, he was quickly reminded of the piles of planks and metal beams holding him down. He grunted in pain as a particular plank jabbed into his side upon moving, his own grimace tugging at his face.
"Your left—try pushing them off to your left," Cylindria croaked out in an attempt to help, winded from the sheer weight of everything pinning her down.
Heeding her forethought, Pac braced his hands against the ground on either side of her and willed strength into his arms, pushing himself up and leaning to the left.
Miraculously, the planks and beams slid off from his back and clattered down to the ground next to them.
Now free and unrestrained, Pac held back a groan as he eased himself into a sitting position before standing up. His head spun from the movement and his body ached all over, but despite his protesting limbs, he held out a hand for Cylindria.
"Are you hurt?"
"Are you?" She countered in concern, taking his hand and allowing him to pull her up. When both of them were back on their feet, her eyes searched his face worriedly. She almost looked more shaken than he was. "For a moment I thought the fire had reached you before I could…"
As if snapping him out of his daze, Pac froze and stared dumbly at her while she dusted herself off, slowly registering her words. The puzzle pieces finally clicked together in his mind – and he berated himself for not figuring it out sooner.
It was Cylindria. She was the one who tackled him out of the way.
She saved him.
And at the risk of her own life. Had she not acted at just the right time, then she surely would've been caught in that fire blast, too…
Pac was about to open his mouth to say a handful of things – a thank-you and a concerned chide for putting herself in danger for him, among other things – but he never got the chance to.
A familiar roar thundered from outside of the walls, echoing distantly and causing faint tremors to run across the ground.
Swiftly reminded of the battle still at hand, Pac and Cylindria turned on their heel and ran for the entrance of the alleyway, careful not to trip over any tools and construction supplies in their way. Once the two 17-year-olds reached the entrance, they stopped and cautiously peeked out from the alley, looking around and scanning the area for danger.
Pac spotted the red dragon making a quick sweep through the street before climbing higher in the air. Its leathery wings disappeared behind some buildings as it flew off in search of new prey. From up above, ghosts still swarmed the skies.
"We're really in over our heads with this one…" Cylindria muttered next to him, eyeing the skies with growing unease.
Pac wished he had the optimism needed to spur them both on, but the pit of dread he felt was starting to feel like lead. It dragged him down and plagued his thoughts as he tried desperately to think of a new plan.
What worked before when we had to fight an invasion of this size? He wondered, racking his brain for anything that could help them.
That's when he remembered someone.
"Sir C!" He turned around to face his pink comrade. "We can't win this battle on our own, we need Sir C's help!"
Cylindria nodded, but there was a deep wariness to her countenance as she glanced up at the air. She pointed to the sky. "We're gonna have a hard time reaching him if we need to get past that guy first, though."
Pac looked up to where she was pointing, right at the distant red silhouette of the dragon flying through the city's skies.
The Yellow One grit his teeth, considering their options. "I can hold him off for a little while longer, but I don't have any Ice berries left…"
Aside from his depleted stash of Ice berries, his aching body practically screamed at him at the prospect of another duel with a dragon. It took a gathered effort not to acknowledge the faint tremor of exhaustion in his limbs, or the fact that the fatigue was making it hard to think. Despite his tired state, he swallowed his nervousness and ignored his fatigue. They can't rest until the city was safe.
"Maybe we don't need ice," Cylindria suddenly whispered from beside him, as if hit with an epiphany.
Pac looked back at her, only to see her staring at something far away in the distance. A construction site, to be exact. It lay sprawled across several miles of land, littered with giant metal beams and blocks of cemented foundation. An unoccupied crane hovered over the area.
He could practically see the cogs turning in her mind.
When she looked back at him, a glimmer of much-needed hope shone in her pink irises. "Do you have a Titanium berry?"
Pac blinked, taking a moment to remember that he did indeed have one in his berry dispenser, before giving her a nod. A determined smile broke out on Cylindria's face.
"I have an idea—it might not win the battle, but it should get the dragon out of our hair!"
To see such unbridled determination from her made him feel lighter, the hope in her eyes taking away some weight from the dread that had been pulling him down. It gave him strength.
"Let's go!" She insisted, already stepping out of the alley to make a beeline for their new destination.
"Wait—"
He grabbed her shoulder before he could stop himself and Cylindria paused to look back at him, confused.
"Thanks for saving me back there," Pac said after a moment, slowly and softly. The image of a wall of brazen flame speeding towards him briefly flashed before his eyes, remembering how close he came to getting fatally burned – if it weren't for her.
The corners of his mouth quirked up into a small, appreciative smile and deep gratitude gleamed in his eyes. "I owe ya."
Recognising the reciprocated phrase from years ago, Cylindria smiled warmly back at him before giving a firm and condoling nod.
A roar and the distant sound of screaming snapped them back into reality, whipping around to glance at the city in peril. Without a second to lose, the ghost-fighting duo broke into a run and headed straight for the construction site.
Boom. Smash. Boo!
On and on went the sound effects, blaring from his large screen as it showcased the battle that raged on the surface.
Several views and angles were on display, showing every corner of the invasion from a slugcam's perspective, relaying the images back to the Netherworld for the Nether King's viewing pleasure. On the seat of his throne, a smirk curled on his lips.
When something on the big screen caught his eye, he lifted a claw to tap on the transmitter by his ear.
"Move into position on the west side and give those pedestrians a scare that'll haunt them for months," he intoned, lowly.
Sinister satisfaction gleamed in his eyes as the screen showed a group of ghosts obeying his command and swarming towards several fleeing people on the sidewalks. The spectres flew in and rained down upon the pedestrians, either sliming them, possessing them, or simply phasing through them to frighten them. Screams of terror joined the plethora of sound effects from the screen.
As he watched, Betrayus felt a sense of glee at the sight of the citizens in peril, and an even greater sense of accomplishment when he observed how the Pac-Man himself is struggling to regain the upper hand against his forces.
It was a deliciously cunning plan. Trick the Pac-pest and his cohorts into going to a place far away from the city, wait until the right moment, and then send the real attack to the city while they're distracted. If the diversion didn't tire them out, then this certainly will, he mused to himself.
And now, the poor whelps are running out of energy faster than a—
He halted his ruminations when something on the screen caught his attention.
On one of the displays on the far right of the screen, the images of a pair of ghost-fighters showed up, fighting against a relentless horde. The Pacworlders were familiar to him. One lilac, one crimson.
Specifically, it was the lilac Pacworlder that caught his attention.
His niece.
Betrayus watched as Elliptica and her red teammate made elaborate twists and turns in the air to dodge slimeballs while throwing in a punch or two to ward off the spectres. Both were covered head-to-toe in specks of ectoplasm, and upon closer inspection, their breathing was laboured and their tired bodies were slow to respond against attacks.
The Nether King leaned his head against his propped-up hand, an amused smirk crawling up on his face.
So, another one of my own blood is still fighting against me. How pitiful.
He'd lie if he said he did not feel any contempt for the girl.
She's been fighting on the Pac-Man's side for a year by now, deliberately going against her uncle for the sake of protecting Pacworld from his conquest. He had once hoped that a young mind like hers would've been more susceptible to his manipulation of words when he tried to get her to join his side.
Granted, his scheme to send a ghost to possess her into tricking the Pac-Man to lead them to the Repository was convoluted and flawed from the start. Not to mention his poorly executed sob story when he tried feeding lies to her about his past. Still, he'd expect a younger member of his family – who had never met him before – to have been naïve enough to fall for his tricks.
The girl was smarter than she looked, that much was certain. Just like her mother.
And now, a year after joining the Pac-Pain's side, she was as determined as ever to fight against her own uncle.
Revolting.
A light scoff emitted from his throat, watching the screen through leering eyes. So much for blood being thicker than water.
He tapped a claw on his transmitter again and opened his mouth to bark out an order to the group of ghosts that targeted his niece and her vermilion friend – a command that would surely knock the two ghost-fighters out.
And yet, as the screen showed Elliptica being shoved around by ghosts, he hesitated.
The light lavender girl was knocked into Spiral's side, the red boy barely able to keep them both afloat, before they narrowly dodged another set of ghosts barrelling for them. When they regained their balance, they were back-to-back again in a face-off against the swarming horde. Panic shone clearly in their eyes.
Betrayus's upper lip curled to form a scowl of disgust on his face. He loathed himself for hesitating to open fire on two of his enemies, especially if the reason was just because one of them was his niece.
After giving it some thought, Betrayus merely scoffed. Finally, he barked out an order into the transmitter.
"All of you, abandon your current objective and move over to the northern side. There's a school waiting to get a scare from you insolent blobs."
He watched as some ghosts on the screen seemed hesitant, confused as to why they were ordered to abandon the two ghost-fighters when they were so close to finishing them off. Nevertheless, they followed their leader's orders and flew off, leaving only a couple of their numbers behind to deal with the two teenagers.
Before Betrayus could fully consider what he'd just done, a voice spoke up from his left.
"I must applaud you, my lord."
Floating off to the side of the throne, Dr Buttocks peered up at the big screen contemplatively. "Zis might be one of ze best strategies you've come up with thus far. First, tire them out with a distraction, then overwhelm them with a bigger invasion. Why, look! Even ze lemon ball himself is struggling."
The fire ghost turned in his seat to cast an emotionless stare at his lackey, who was staring at the screen with mounting glee. The evil scientist tapped his prosthetic claw against his other, nubby hand in an excited manner. "If everything goes smoothly, then we'll have zat lemon sap beaten und begging for mercy within hours! At long last…we might actually win zis battle and attain victor-"
"Not today."
Snapping out of his fervour, Dr Buttocks whirled around to look at Betrayus perplexedly, looking confused and affronted. The blue scientist searched his leader's stoic face for any signs of wit or droll, waiting tensely for some sort of punch line. When it was clear that the fire ghost was not joking, Dr Buttocks stared wide-eyed at Betrayus, completely aghast.
"Not today? What are you on about? You sent them on a diversion to weaken them und then lure them back to ze big battle to exhaust them further, surely to defeat them-"
"Precisely, I do intend on exhausting them," Betrayus drawled, levelling the scientist with a leering smirk. Darkness loomed in the Nether King's eyes.
"Today, we are to trick them, confuse them, and exhaust them. But we are not defeating them. Not the Pac-pest, his team, or the city," Betrayus pulled his focus away from the shocked scientist, diverting his attention back to the screen showcasing the battle. The dark and evil glint in his eyes never faded.
"My only goal for today is to scare them. Not take over."
"But—But victory is within our grasp!"
Dr Buttocks was about to say a few more choice words of protest, on the verge of rambling angrily and agitatedly at the fire ghost. But he never got the liberty to do so.
A dangerous and pointed look came over Betrayus's visage, blood-red irises narrowing down at the blue scientist. Sparks of flame burst from Betrayus's claws. It lingered on his hands as they rested on the armrests of his throne, before slowly sizzling out into tiny plumes of smoke. Dying embers flickered down to the floor.
A warning.
Dr Buttocks immediately shut his mouth and floated an inch or so backwards, but his eyes still held a plethora of questions and conflicted emotions. He stared at his leader, flabbergasted and afraid.
A cunning smirk crawled onto Betrayus's face again. "Oh, dear little doctor, how short-sighted you are."
He turned to look back at the screen. "I have my ways. A ghost invasion of this size is nothing new for the lemon menace, even without the energy they need to win. We're not attacking to claim victory today. We're attacking to deliver a message."
Because even the King of the Netherworld will admit that Pac-Man is a strong opponent, and it will take much more than a diversion and an overwhelming surprise attack to take his yellow enemy down. Neither an army of ghosts nor an invasion of aliens has ever prohibited the yellow boy from fighting until his enemies are crawling back to wherever they came from.
Time and time again, Pac-Man has foiled his plans and won, either by himself or with the help of his friends and allies. Though it made Betrayus physically sick to admit it, he knew that Pac-Man and his team could easily wipe the floor with him, especially since he kept underestimating them. They were a force to be reckoned with.
And so, his goal is to weaken them systematically and psychologically.
To keep surprising them with attacks and advances that they won't expect, to keep them guessing, to keep them on their toes. Sooner or later they will slip up, creating the perfect opportunity for him to deliver his final strike.
And so, this battle is not another attempt at stealing the Repository or the Tree of Life, or even to overthrow the world, but to scare his enemies. To deliver them a message: Lord Betrayus is back to his malicious ways. His former glory.
After all, where's the fun in world domination without a little game of cat and mouse? The chase for victory will be as thrilling as the moment he finally seizes his rule over the world.
And then, it will finally be my time to shine. And it's going to be glorious.
Betrayus was so engrossed with his inner monologue that he nearly didn't notice something peculiar coming up on the big screen.
One of the displays to the left had a bird's eye view of the northern side of the city, where ghosts were still swarming around and harassing citizens in abundance. All of a sudden, all ghosts within the display stopped whatever they were doing and flew away in random directions, fleeing from something off-screen. Right on cue, a familiar vehicle came into view as it flew across the city in haste, chasing off the ghosts.
It was the Lemon Rocket.
Its golden exterior shone brightly in the sun as it zoomed across the city's airspace, en route to help the Pac-Man, no doubt. Streams of electricity arced out from its boosters, zapping and rounding up any ghosts in its wake. In the vehicle's seat was an elderly green Pacworlder, none other than Pacworld's leading scientist.
Betrayus chuckled darkly. "And here comes Sir-Kumquat to crash the party. Bummer. I was just starting to enjoy myself."
He watched as the vehicle did an impressive job at gathering up a multitude of ghosts at once, zapping them all into its bulk similar to that of a PSC. Clearly, the Lemon Rocket had undergone some upgrades. Now it would only be a matter of minutes before his ghostly forces would vastly dwindle in numbers, finally bringing in the upper hand for the Pac-Man.
Despite the changing tides, a grin still lulled at Betrayus's face. He has done what he wanted to do for the day, and that was to catch the Pac-pain and his team off-guard. He couldn't care less if his ghost army came back to him as defeated, bumbling eyeballs. In his books, this battle was a win for him.
Betrayus lifted a claw once more to tap at the transmitter by his ear, this time issuing a command for all ghosts in the city.
"Minions, cease all your hauntings and wrap it up. Prepare to fall back."
"Come on, come on…"
Titanium Pac whispered under his breath, restless and antsy as he kept his eyes peeled for the moment his pigtailed teammate would come flying around the corner.
He was hiding behind a skyscraper, its pristine and chlorine walls camouflaging his silver body from the eyes of any nearby ghosts. A long steel beam was held firmly in his hands, his magnetic powers aiding him in carrying the weight of the object. It had not taken long for him and his teammate to pick up the perfectly sized beam from the construction site, taking it with them and flying to the centre of the city soon afterwards.
Now, all they had to do was execute their plan.
Pac's job was to hide behind the building with the metal beam at the ready, while Cylindria went away to find the dragon and get its attention, using herself as a decoy to lure the dragon towards the skyscraper, where Pac was waiting in position to attack.
The only problem was that the longer he waited, the more on edge and worried he felt.
If it could be helped, then Pac would much rather put himself in harm's way before he'd let any of his friends get within a mile of potential danger. From the start, Pac had not been keen on the idea of Cylindria essentially using herself as bait to lead the dragon towards their trap – not for lack of faith in his teammate, but for worry that something could go wrong amidst the dragon's chase.
As a Yellow One, he had specialised berry powers that gave him an edge over any enemy, while Cylindria only had her wits and a Flying berry to use against the fire-breathing monster. While he had full faith in her abilities, it didn't stop him from worrying over her safety – they were all already compromised and exhausted enough as it was.
As the minutes ticked by and he was still floating there against the wall of the skyscraper, he tried his best not to think of the worst. But just before Pac could consider aborting the plan, the sound of a roar rumbled out in the distance, growing louder in volume as it came closer.
The titanium-powered boy got into position and tightened his grip on the steel beam, eyes and ears peeled for the right moment to act. He set his sights on the corner of the building, waiting.
Another roar echoed through the skies, much closer this time.
Wait for it…
Soon, he heard the rapid approach of leathery wings.
Almost there…
A blur of black and pink came flying around the corner.
"NOW!"
Pac sprang into action the moment he heard her signal.
He shot out of his hiding spot and flew straight towards the open air next to the skyscraper, just as the dragon's giant, crimson head appeared around the corner.
With near-perfect timing, he launched himself into the side of the beast's head, steel beam in hand. The dragon could barely let out a bellow of surprise before Pac's magnetic powers were already at work.
With one end of the beam held against the dragon's maw, Pac bent and warped the beam around the beast's jaws, coiling it tightly around its snout and effectively muzzling the dragon's mouth shut. Bursts of smoke choked out from its nostrils.
Caught off-guard, a muffled and furious growl erupted from the dragon's throat, aggrieved at the sudden inability to open its mouth. It floundered in the air and clawed at its face to try and get the coiled beam off, to no avail.
Hanging onto the dragon's horns, Pac grinned and gave a whoop of victory. It worked! The plan worked! Now it can't breathe fire anymore—
But his victory was short-lived when the muzzled beast suddenly bucked and bolted from underneath him, viciously swinging its head around to throw the boy off.
"Whoa—" Pac barely managed to keep his grip on the beast's horn as he got thrown around like a ragdoll. Blurred imagery zoomed past his vision from the ferocious swinging. The dragon swung a wide arc before it snapped its head sharply to the side, finally flinging the boy off and sending him flying through the air.
Pac twisted and tried to righten himself in the air when a building came into view, fast approaching. Instinctively, he held out his arm in a vain attempt to cushion his inevitable collision with the building's wall.
Big mistake.
As soon as Pac slammed against the wall, pain shot through his wrist.
"Argh—!"
The titanium boy momentarily heard a sharp ringing in his ears, a few stars scattering in his vision. Dust particles rained down upon his silver head, trailing down the building from the hit. Jabs of pain enveloped his wrist, having taken the brunt of the collision. He held it and cradled it close to his chest, trying his darndest not to think of the pain.
Pac forced his electric blue eyes open, glaring ahead at the dragon through thin eyelids.
The crimson beast was still making a futile attempt at clawing at the muzzle around its jaws, huffing and puffing smoke through its nostrils angrily. It threw and swung its head around fervently, trying to break the mended beam apart. Alas, after several struggling attempts, the beam still held tight and the dragon growled displeasingly through its teeth.
Finally, the dragon turned and flew off and away from the city in defeat, unable to fight anymore with a metal muzzle dragging it down.
After holding his breath, Pac blew out a deep sigh of relief. He shook himself free from some dust and dirt and watched as the dragon flew off dejectedly with the metal beam still coiled around its jaws, retreating to the Netherworld.
Lingering pain in his wrist made him look down, assessing the damage and hoping that it wasn't as bad as it felt. It was his left wrist, the same wrist that took a beating from the rocks at the river rapids.
Gritting his teeth, he tentatively moved his injured wrist and flexed his fingers.
It hurt. A lot. But thankfully, as he carefully tested out his wrist, nothing felt broken. He probably had his Titanium form to thank for that.
"Pac!"
Looking back up, Pac saw Cylindria flying towards him in haste, only stopping to hover once she was near him. There was evident concern in her eyes. "Are you okay? That looked like it hurt!"
Despite the feeling of pins and needles still coursing through his wrist, he forced a smile and gave her a reassuring nod. "I'm okay. It was just a bump, no big deal."
He knew it was a poor excuse, especially judging by the look of disbelief that sparked in her expression. So, he smiled more broadly, genuinely this time, and spoke again before she could call him out on his bluff.
"Your plan worked. The dragon is high-tailing back to the Netherworld!"
"Yeah," she murmured, glancing over her shoulder at the retreating beast. When she turned back to him again, she matched his victorious smile with one of her own. "It was a close call, but we did it!"
Pac grinned in agreement and they shared a quick high-five. With his good hand, of course.
"Yo, Pacster!"
Pac and Cylindria whirled around at the familiar call. Happiness and surprise leapt about in their hearts when they saw two familiar faces on the horizon. Coming out between some buildings and flying towards them, was none other than Spiral and Elliptica.
Immeasurable relief washed through Pac upon seeing the rest of his teammates, especially now that he's certain that they're safe, sound and unharmed—
Sort of?
As Spiral and Elliptica approached, Pac immediately saw the state they were in. Aside from the way their bodies faintly sagged with fatigue, both of them were covered from head-to-toe in slime. Elliptica's hairpins were missing and Spiral's curly hair was sodden and dragged down by chunks of ectoplasm. Slime coated their bodies in varying layers, so much so that their skin colour barely came through. They were practically green.
As they flew closer and the two parties finally met up, all four ghost-fighters gaped at each other in arrant shock.
"What happened to you two?" Cylindria dared to ask, she and Pac staring wide-eyed at their slime-drenched friends.
"What happened to you?" Elliptica countered as both she and Spiral pointed back at them in question, equally as perplexed.
Only then did Pac and Cylindria look down at themselves to assess how ruffled up they were.
Sure enough, both the Yellow One and the pigtailed goth were in a messy state themselves.
Specks of slime clung to their shoes, but it was minimal compared to how much they were covered in dust and concrete powder from their time in the industrial zone. Even Pac's silvery, titanium skin wasn't spared from being marred with dirt and scratches. They smelled like smoke too, courtesy of the dragon.
Despite their unsavoury predicament, Pac managed a brisk chuckle. "Just a typical day at work?"
"If only this was a typical day," Spiral grimaced, flicking slime off of his arm. "But at least it's over now."
"Over?" Cylindria blurted out in surprise. "But there are still so many ghosts left—"
"Not anymore," Elliptica perked up as if remembering something, right in the middle of trying to get slime off of herself as well. "That's what we came to tell you. The invasion is over—the ghosts are retreating!"
"Thanks to the Lemon Rocket," Spiral added, a positive grin on his face for the first time since the invasion started.
Pac gawked at them, slowly taking in their revelation. His head whipped up to look at the sky.
Something between confusion and shock filled him when he saw that, indeed, the entire army of ghosts were all flying in one linear direction in great masses, away from the city and off to the Netherworld.
They were fleeing. He couldn't believe his eyes.
A familiar, golden rocket soared into view as it powered through the swarm of ghosts. Only then did Pac feel relief and elation as the final puzzle pieces clicked together.
"Sir C," he breathed, his eyes following the Lemon Rocket's trail. A smile tugged at his face.
Pac and his friends watched as Sir Cumference steered the vehicle all around the city, zapping up ghosts and chasing off the last remnants of the invasion, leaving their skies blue once more.
"What the blazes happened to you kids?"
The team of four ghost-fighters touched down on the asphalt road, several feet away from where the Lemon Rocket had parked itself mere seconds ago.
A peach-coloured woman, the speaker, was standing by the rocket's side, having gotten out of the vehicle as a passenger soon after it landed.
Now detransformed and back to his regular self, Pac took extra caution to land carefully on the ground, for fear of his legs buckling out from underneath him out of exhaustion. Once he was certain that his footing was stable, he looked up to face the peach-coloured woman standing a few feet away from them. His aunt.
Spheria Suprema was looking at all four of them through bewildered eyes, taking in the state of their weary bodies covered in grime.
Pac followed her line of sight and stole a glance at himself and his teammates.
Spiral tried wringing some slime out of his curly hair while Elliptica did the same with her gloves. Both Pac and Cylindria were still dirtied up with dust and smoke, some scratches lingering on their skin. One of Cylindria's pigtails was messy and precariously close to coming loose, and Pac's wrist still hurt. All four of them stood awkwardly next to each other, tired and worn.
They truly were a sorry sight.
"Ya'll look like you've just been smoked, buried, then eaten an' spat out by a cyclops," Spheria observed, astonished and concerned despite the slight jest in her tone.
"Pretty much," Spiral concurred.
The sound of a hatch opening drew everyone's attention to the top of the Lemon Rocket. Out popped a familiar green head from the pilot's seat.
"You kids alright?" Sir Cumference inquired, climbing out of the vehicle before plopping down onto the pavement. He briefly glanced up at the empty sky. "By golly, that was a much bigger rush than I expected…"
"We're okay," Pac answered, faintly. But like his friends, his countenance was laden with fatigue. "Though we would've been cooked had the Lemon Rocket not shown up…"
"I've never seen the Rocket do that before," Elliptica ventured, marvelling softly at the vehicle's sudden ability to catch ghosts like a PSC.
Sir Cumference smiled half-heartedly. "If only it could've been able to do it sooner. My apologies for arriving so late to help you out… adding the Lemon Rocket's very own plasma-sucking compartment was an upgrade that I've had in the works for a long time up until now, but it would be useless and not bring anything of value to the fight unless I patched in the last few necessary screws."
"Hey, it all turned out alright in the end, didn't it?" Spiral said, looking at the bright side. "The ghosts fled, the day is saved, and we're all still in one piece."
"Narrowly," Cylindria quipped.
"What I don't understand," Spheria suddenly spoke up, a ruminating edge to her tone, "is what on Pacworld was Betrayus's intentions for today's attack? The hothead sent ya'll on a diversion, then sent an entire army of ghosts to invade the city, only to pull back at the last second."
Everyone fell silent at that. All of the events that transpired in the last twelve hours flashed through their minds, more vividly so for Pac.
"It wasn't a regular invasion, either…" Elliptica trailed off, her voice so small that the others nearly didn't catch it. When she looked up to meet their eyes, she seemed confused. "I went to the Roundhouse as soon as we came back to the city. We all thought that it would be their main target, but when I got there, there was no ghost in sight. Not a single drop of slime has touched the Roundhouse, or my uncle. It's as if the ghosts had changed targets."
"Yeah, they attacked and harassed the citizens instead…" Spiral added, recalling his own observations. "Which isn't new, of course, but it's as if the ghosts got smarter this time around. A bunch of them even teamed up and went ham on Elli and me. We could barely help ourselves, let alone protect the citizens."
"That's…not good," Sir Cumference said, carefully. He brought up a finger to his chin, contemplatively. "We can't have ghosts going around with deliberate intentions to target innocent people – they'll get traumatised, or worse, somebody could get seriously hurt…"
"Why would he even go after them?" Pac asked, realising for the first time that his throat felt dry. "Betrayus has always been focussed on one thing and one thing only: getting his body back. So it's either stealing the Repository or the Tree of Life."
"Sometimes, the mind of the deranged completely baffles the sane," Sir Cumference said, still deep in thought. "But with that, it also doesn't explain why he made an elaborate plan to distract you before plunging the city into peril if he had no goal of infiltrating the Roundhouse in the first place. I've checked with Spheros, both the Repository and the Tree of Life are still hidden and intact."
The green scientist trailed on, eyes unfocused as he tried to think of a possible explanation. Soon, a glimmer of suspicion and wariness seeped into his eyes.
"If this was a method that was intentional on Betrayus's part, then it was a very deliberate plan with some sort of strategy in mind… but that's completely unlike the Betrayus we're used to. As a matter of fact, the last time he's come up with something like this was—"
"During the war."
All eyes swung to Spheria.
A cold chill ran down everyone's spines at her words. A dreadful silence befell the group, until a tentative voice broke the quiet.
"You don't—" Elliptica started, an apprehensive stutter to her words. "You don't think he's back to the way he was, do you? Back to…you know, going to extremes?"
Pac expected his aunt and Sir Cumference to jump at assuring her that this was not the case. The yellow boy himself felt nearly inclined to assure them all that Betrayus was not the same guy he was back in the war, now being the cowardly, obnoxious and self-proclaimed leader of the Netherworld they all knew him to be.
But Sir Cumference and Spheria didn't answer her. Not for a few, very long seconds. They merely stared at each other quietly and tensely, some hidden message passing between the two. They seemed to be thinking the same thing, only there was a strange, underlying emotion in their body language.
Was it… dread?
Pac didn't want to think of the implication of their words or the foreboding look in their eyes. He didn't want to consider the possibility that Betrayus, their arch-nemesis, was somehow going back to his malicious, cunning ways.
It wasn't always easy to defeat him and his ghost armies, but Pac and his team had always managed to be successful in their mission to keep Pacopolis safe. He was too young to remember the war, but his keen interest in his history books had given him enough information on how terriblethe war was. He didn't want to imagine what it would be like to witness such terrible actions again in his lifetime.
"…Let's not entertain the idea," Sir Cumference finally stated, sensing everybody's worst fears and assumptions. "We don't have a clear idea of what happened today, but it shouldn't discourage us from doing what we do best, and that's being Freedom Fighters."
"Besides," Spheria joined in, "we've shown that bag of hot air time and time again that we ain't to be trifled with. Next time he rears his ugly head at us, we'll send him packin'."
Everyone seemed hesitant to release a sigh of relief, especially the teens. Nevertheless, they all nodded in agreement to Spheria's encouragement, tense shoulders finally given a moment to relax from the day's events.
"With that settled, our work for the day is not quite finished yet," Sir Cumference said with a tiny chuckle as he glanced over the city, covered in slime. "Take a breather and eat something to get your energy back, then we ought to start shovelling slime. Pacopolis isn't going to clean up itself!"
Collective groans came from the teens.
This was the last thing they wanted to do after the day they'd had. But alas, the city needed cleaning, citizens needed counselling, and the police force and military certainly could not get everything cleaned up without their help.
"Man," Spiral sighed, "what a hectic day it was."
Casually, the crimson boy started listing the day's events off on his fingers. "First the diversion, pesky ghosts, cyclops being bullies, Pac almost drowning, then the bigger invasion in the city-"
He didn't get to finish.
Spheria whirled around like a high-strung animal, eyes locked onto her nephew. "WHAT?! You nearly drowned!?"
Pac had half a mind to consider sprinting off to run away from the angry and protective fire surging in his aunt's eyes. He gulped.
Thanks, Spiral.
A/N:
That was a close call for our heroes, but this is only the beginning.
This was…VERY long. I both love and hate this chapter. Love it cuz of the character interactions, hate it because it feels like the battle was dragged on unnecessarily. How do you write action and battle scenes without it getting repetitive and boring? :') Any constructive feedback is welcomed!
Just a note, I've reworked chapters 1, 2 and 6 a bit to improve the sentence flow and the quality of writing. Nothing too drastic has changed in them, nor do the changes affect the storyline, but feel free to reread them if you feel so inclined.
Reminder that you all can keep track of my progress with upcoming chapters by having a look at my bio/profile. There I always try keep the percentage meter updated the closer I get to finishing a chapter, so you guys can know when to anticipate a new chapter :D
To Hope: Thank you so so SO very much! It really means the absolute world to me that you want to stick around till the very end! I'm happy to have you along on the ride :D And I especially love your feedback and noticing the little details and depth of the characters! I kinda fall a bit more in love with each of the characters as I write this story, and I hope it's the same for the readers!
To Bellmelody: Welcome to the story! Thank you so much for all of your enthusiastic reviews! Reading each one of them made me so happy, it practically gave me a jumpstart to finish this chapter, thank you so much! As for your question, sometimes it is a little tricky to write characters like Betrayus. My favourite character is Cylindria, so writing a character as totally opposite in personality like Betrayus comes with its challenges – but in some way, it was because of his pitifulness in the show that some of his writing comes easy. Coupled with the lore from the show and all the context we've been given, Betrayus had great potential to be this unhinged, maniacal villain with twisted morals because of a complicated family history – and that's what I'm trying to explore in this fanfic
Thank you all for your support! Until next time!