Chapter 31

Silver, devastated that Greeny had thrown his art, once again stayed silent. Bronze stayed silent, but his only reason for doing so was to support Silver and Violet. He wanted to support his team and make sure nothing Greeny could do would break them apart. They would visit Violet and each other each week if they needed to. Greeny, too, stayed silent. He didn’t want anything to do with Silver and Bronze anymore, but he was willing to still team up with Silver in the maze for a bit.

I HAVE to get revenge on Pac-Man today, Greeny thought. When he sees me, he should KNOW he’s a goner. I’m FAST! I’m CONFIDENT!

Is Violet coming to support us? Silver wondered. If she doesn’t, I understand. She doesn’t want to support Greeny. But it would still be great if she came to support me. Greeny destroyed all my hard work, and now I still have to be on his side to catch Pac-Man. In all this stress, I need some support.

“I’ll leave you two alone. I need some me time,” Greeny told them. He instantly took off, shut the door, and traveled to Pac-Land by himself.

“Hey Silver, is Violet coming to support us?” Bronze asked, pulling out his phone.

“I was just thinking about that!” Silver exclaimed. “I doubt it. I will call her anyway.”

“I already got it,” Bronze smiled. Bronze set his phone to speakerphone. It only took four seconds for Violet to answer.

“Hello?” Violet said.

“Hey, you’re on speakerphone because Greeny took off by himself,” Bronze replied enthusiastically.

“Oh, OK. What is it?” Violet wondered.

“It’s less than an hour until the maze event starts,” Silver answered. “Do you want to come watch it?”

“Sure!” Violet shouted. “I need to watch from a spot where no one sees me, though.”

“I’m positive you’ll find one,” Bronze assured her. “See you there! Or at least we will afterwards.”

Chapter 32

The streets of Pac-Land looked entirely empty that day because every citizen of Pac-Land, a city with a population of about one hundred, was sitting in the bleachers. Pac-Land citizens watching the event included Bill and Harry and their very proud boss. Next to the flat and large maze, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Jr. Pac-Man stood for pictures. Silver, Pinky, Inky, and Greeny were two feet below them in the maze, which they had entered by jumping in. They floated to their starting point inside the rectangular box, which had red borders just like the rest of the maze.

The mayor, previously sitting in the front row of the bleachers, now stood in front of Pac-Man’s family. He had a gray beard. He motioned for Ms. Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man to sit down in the front row. He then motioned for Pac-Man to jump into the maze and find his marked starting position. Pac-Man jumped in and walked up to the one spot in the whole maze that didn’t have a pellet: the top left corner.

“Ahem!” the mayor yelled, hoping everyone in the crowd would notice him standing there in his red jacket. The crowd took ten seconds to calm down while the mayor patiently and awkwardly kept standing there.

“Thank you!” the mayor chuckled. “And good morning. In three minutes, Pac-Man will attempt, with no practice beforehand… to complete the new maze that Bill and Harry built! Everyone clap for Bill and Harry!”
The audience screamed, stomped, and then finally clapped. Bill and Harry smiled as if this was normal, even though construction workers typically weren’t recognized for their hard work in Pac-Land.

The mayor continued once the noise died down. “As you might have been curious about, we don’t have the usual four ghosts against Pac-Man today! NO! We have Pinky and Inky, but we also have two ghosts who are new to the scene… Silver and Greeny!”

While the mayor invited Bill and Harry to come down and talk about their hard work on the maze, Blinky and Clyde found a spot to park at on the opposite side of the maze where no Pac-Land citizens were seated. Unfortunately, they couldn’t see anything because the maze was two feet deep. They could, however, hear everything clearly. A minute later, Violet found them and joined them.

“Good to see you, Violet!” Blinky greeted her quietly.

“There’s no spot to view the action…”

“That’s alright. I’m just here to support Pinky, Inky, and Silver. I know Silver will tell me all about it later,” Violet replied.

“Are you all ready to see Pac-Man CHOMP SOME GHOSTS??” the mayor yelled.

“YEAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!” the audience screamed.

“Wait, how is he able to chomp us?” Greeny asked.

“Those,” Pinky told him, pointing his eyes at one of the five ghosteater pellets scattered in random places throughout the maze.
Oops. We forgot to warn you about those, Inky giggled in his mind.

Greeny had heard of ghosteater pellets before, but he didn’t know they’d be in this maze. He thought back to his first conversation with Blinky when Blinky told him Pac-Man tries to eat the ghosts with a powerful pellet.

“READYYYYY? START!” the mayor screamed. He ran out of the way so he and the rest of Pac-Land could see clearly.
It’s too bad we have to be silent, Silver thought. We are a team but kind of working independently at the same time.
Pac-Man turned right, then down, then right. The ghosts came out of their box, one by one: first Greeny, then Pinky, then Inky, then Silver. Greeny couldn’t wait to catch Pac-Man, so he went up to where Pac-Man was. Pac-Man turned towards Greeny but then ran away from Greeny to psych him out.

Man, he’s a jerk, Greeny thought.

Pac-Man gobbled up pellets, now going down. Silver, Inky, and Pinky all tried to corner him where one of the little walls was. They were too late; Pac-Man grabbed his first ghosteater pellet. A strange feeling of weakness came over the ghosts as they transformed. They all turned blue, and their faces became squiggly frowns.

What happened to us? Why is Pac-Man now coming TOWARDS us?? Silver thought, beginning to freak out and head a different direction.

I feel funny… oh well. Time to catch you, Pac-Man! Greeny thought. Pac-Man came right towards him and chomped him. He immediately became a pair of floating eyes. All of Pac-Land cheered. Ms. Pac-Man cheered the loudest. Terrified and creeped out, Greeny darted around several turns into the box. He felt his body being restored.

I don’t want that to happen to me. AHHHHHH! Silver thought. Pac-Man chomped Pinky, then Inky, and chased Silver. Silver felt himself blinking from white to blue to white to blue. He felt tingling and then rapid relief. He was back to his usual silver color.

I can’t believe this! This is supposed to be FUN?? Greeny thought, shaking. He hadn’t come out of the box yet.
Is Greeny… nervous? Pinky wondered. Well, he isn’t used to being chomped on... Pinky decided he’d briefly pass the ghost box from above it to motivate Greeny to come out. Greeny looked up at him and followed him. Immediately, Pac-Man found another ghosteater pellet. Once again, the four ghosts felt weaker. Greeny felt even more panic.

I JUST WANTED TO CATCH THIS DORK! Greeny thought, panicking.

The ghosts had managed to avoid getting chomped on this time. Pinky and Inky came very close to Pac-Man. Greeny attempted to help them corner him. Inky tapped Pac-Man, so Pac-Man spun around and vanished.
Finally, something BAD happens to you! Greeny thought. Good riddance. I am so sick of seeing your overly happy face--

Pac-Man re-spawned at the top left corner of the maze. Greeny’s eyes widened more and more as he stared at Pac-Man. He couldn’t think of anything to do but go hide in the box again. This whole “game” creeped him out beyond what he thought he could handle. Silver had to try very hard to keep himself from bursting out laughing. Greeny was never scared of anything. Now, though, the creature he had been excessively passionate about catching broke him. The other three ghosts attempted to corner Pac-Man. Pac-Man shoveled pellet after pellet in his mouth, moving through the very long horizontal section of the maze that led to the next ghosteater pellet he spotted.

This is so disturbing! Look at him, pigging out down there! GROSS! Greeny thought.

Two minutes later, the ghosts still weren’t getting anywhere, and Greeny was still in the box.

Pac-Man is already halfway through this massive maze. Come on out, Greeny… Pinky thought.

A cherry spawned in the middle of the maze. Greeny looked down and remembered that they used a cherry as their trap in the abandoned building.

Oh, no no no. That cherry is too far away this time, Pac-Man thought. A timer, located to the left of the maze on a gray pole, began to count down from sixty seconds with a beep for every second. Pac-Man stared at the cherry and changed his mind.

Yes, go for your favorite! Pinky thought.

Pac-Man desperately raced through the maze to reach his
cherry. Focused too much on the cherry, Silver caught him three turns away from it.

Awwwww I’m still hungry, Pac-Man whined in his mind when he respawned. But I only have one more chance to beat this maze!

Pac-Man whipped through the maze. At the bottom of the maze, he found two ghosteater pellets side by side. Pinky was right behind him when he chomped on one.

It’s over, Greeny thought. He only has a few dots left to eat, and they’re all right there.

Sure enough, Pac-Man finished the maze without getting caught a third time. Pinky and Inky sat in the box pretty surprised that Pac-Man did this on the first try. Greeny felt extremely angry and jealous of Pac-Man’s skill. Silver felt happy because it was Greeny’s fault they lost. Greeny had skill and speed that they didn’t, and he didn’t use it much.

“HE COMPLETED THE MAZE!” the mayor screamed. “That was a close one, folks! For a second there, I almost thought Pac-Man would have to give it another shot next year! I will never doubt Pac-Man again, though! WOW!!!”

“I LOVE YOU!!! YOU’RE THE BEST!!!” Ms. Pac-Man screamed.

The rest of the audience kept stomping and screaming.
Greeny felt so angry that he called Silver over to him and whispered, “I’m going on a permanent vacation. Away from Pac-Land and away from Booming City. I’ll go to the island that ghosts visit for vacations and live there. You and Bronze have fun with your little missions. Me? I’m going to go as far away from everyone as possible. I’ve learned my lesson about working with others. It’s no fun. See ya. Never. Ever. Again.”