Chapter Text
Pac-World was a peaceful planet.
For centuries, the Yellow Ones used to rule the civilization, bringing peace and harmony amongst the inhabitants. Until, one day, Commander Betrayus led a revolt that devastated the planet, giving start to the Great Pac-World War.
Many heroes were lost, many other lives were lost, and all of this altered the nation’s history forever. Ultimately, Betrayus and his forces were defeated, although no one exactly knows what happened to him and his minions…
“There are many theories that try to explain what might’ve happened to them. The most widely accepted one is that they were all sentenced to death, which is the most logical explanation, but there are others that say that they might still be alive somewhere, maybe locked up in a secret room or on some foreign planet…”
It was another average day at Maze High School, with Ms. Globular giving out a lesson no one was particularly interested on hearing. “But, all that matters is that Pac-World managed to recover from such horrific events, and we should be grateful to our heroes that bravely fought for our nation!” Ms. Globular ended her speech. “Now, does anyone have a question?”
One blue student with a football helmet and with stripes painted on his face raised his hand. “Yeah, uh, was the guy’s name actually Betrayus? Because if so, poor dude, imagine not being loved by your parents.”
Everyone laughed at the guy’s last comment while Ms. Globular looked irritated by it. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t make such insensitive jokes about this subject, Mr. Matthew. But no, no one really knows what his actual name was, but his betrayal to our nation made him worthy of such title.”
Another blue guy with blonde hair who was wearing a letterman jacket yawned. “Ugh, can we move on to another topic, Ms. Globular? I don’t really feel like learning about war criminals right now.”
“Well, Mr. Skeebo, you might as well be leaving the class because this is the subject we will be focusing on all week.” Everyone groaned. “Yes, that’s right, this will also be on your test so I recommend you all pay attention. Now, does anyone have any other theory on what might have happened to Commander Betrayus and his army?”
Skeebo raised his hand.
“I want serious theories, Mr. Skeebo.” Ms. Globular scolded him. And, just like that, Skeebo rolled his eyes and lowered his hand. No one else seemed to raise their hand after that.
“Really, no one?” Ms. Globular asked, kind of disappointed until she noticed a hand raised amongst the other students. “Oh, Mr. Pac!”
A yellow student with orange gloves and bright, red shoes was the one raising his hand.
“Packy?!” Everyone seemed to mock him and laughed.
“I have a theory, Ms. Globular. One that might as well be true because of how much research I’ve done about it!” The student, named Pac, was very confident on what he was about to say.
“Ooh, then tell us about it!” Ms. Globular said intrigued as everyone was now paying attention to the yellow boy.
“I think that what happened to Commander Betrayus and his army is that they were turned into….. ghosts.”
One second, two seconds, three seconds…
Everyone fell into laughter once again.
“Not again!” One student exclaimed.
“Doesn’t he ever shut up about ghosts?” Another student complained.
Ms. Globular seemed very disappointed after looking so interested in what Pac was saying. “I repeat, I said I only want serious theories guys! Not silly joke comments!”
“But, I’m being serious, Ms. Globular, they were turned into ghosts!”
“And with what evidence do you back up your theory, young man?”
“My aunt fought in the war. After…what happened to my parents in it, she was determined to capture the enemy team and, when they did so, she witnessed how all of Betrayus’s minions and himself were sent to some sort of…torture room or something, where they were locked up for hours until they were strapped into some sort of electric chairs, and then…”
The students’ laughter cut Pac’s speech short.
“Has your aunt been taking her meds, Lemon-Ball? Because she sounds delusional!” Skeebo made fun of him as the laughter grew louder.
“Hey, knock it off, Skeebs! Let him finish!” A red student with blue, curly hair stood up to defend Pac.
“Aw, come on Spiral! You can’t seriously believe whatever bullshit he’s saying!”
“Language, Mr. Skeebo.” Ms. Globular warned before turning to look at Pac. “Mr. Pac, I don’t mean to diminish what your aunt told you since I respect her very much for what she has done for our nation, but it is widely known that Spheria Suprema’s mental health lowered greatly after having actively participated in the war.”
“Are you saying she’s lying?” Pac asked the teacher.
“I’m just saying that you should take whatever she says with a grain of salt because she might just be seeing things that are not true.”
“In other words, she’s saying your aunt should go to therapy.” Skeebo laughed before the lunch bell rang. “Ooh, lunch time!”
Ms. Globular just sighed. “We’ll keep talking about this tomorrow, okay class? Have a nice day and remember to study!”
Of course, no one really listened to her because they all ran outside like wild bulls. Well, everyone except Pac, who sat in his chair looking sadly at his notes.
“Come on, Pacster, don’t listen to them! They don’t know what they’re saying!” Spiral tried to cheer up his best friend. Spiral might have not understood what Pac was talking about moments ago, but he would always defend his best friend with his life.
“Yeah, whatever…” Pac solemnly said before getting off his chair and heading to the hallway.
Spiral followed him and soon the two began walking.
“Spiral, do you actually believe what I’m saying or do you just pretend to do so because I’m your friend?” Pac asked.
Spiral replied. “Well, I mean, I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t really understand what you were saying dude, but you said you did a lot of research about it?”
“Because I have! I’ve read books and old records from the Great War and some of them do seem to imply the existence of some kind of torture room inside the White House, and how necromancy could’ve really well played a role in turning them into ghosts!” Pac disappointedly sighed. “People just don’t wanna hear about it…”
“Well, then I believe you, Pac. Trust me, one of these days, you’ll prove them all wrong and you’ll be able to laugh in their faces about it!” Spiral gave a smile towards Pac, which caused Pac to smile back at him.
“Thanks, Spiral…I really don’t know what I’d do without you.” Pacster told him before they arrived at the cafeteria.
The cafeteria was probably Pac’s favorite place in the entire school. He really enjoyed eating but, like, really enjoyed it. He could eat a dozen meals a day and he still wouldn’t get full. His aunt told him that it was a special trait those of his kind possessed and that he should be proud of it but, here at school, it was just another reason why people would bully you. Not like Pac cared though because he was already getting bullied because of other things.
They were in line waiting for their food to be served. All Pac wanted was to have a moment of peace for himself after what happened back at class but, you really can’t have that here with Skeebo around.
Just when Pac was about to grab his lunch tray, a blue hand swiped it away, causing it to fall on the floor.
“Whoooops! I forgot how much you loved eating, Pigster!” Skeebo’s annoying voice sounded in his ear, as he and his two friends laughed at Pac, who just stood there looking at his food on the floor.
“Skeebo. Don’t you ever get bored of doing this?” Spiral angrily asked him as he began picking up the food that had just fell.
“Hmm, no, not really. Hahaha!” They continued laughing as Skeebo turned to look at Pac. “Aww, what’s wrong, Lemon-Ball? If you want revenge so badly, why don’t you summon your dead friends from hell?” He then stopped to think. “Oh, wait! You can’t! Because ghosts don’t exist!”
He then proceeded to push Pac to the floor. “Ow! Skeebo, just stop, please. Not right now.” A sad Pacster said from where he was sitting on the floor, trying to stop the bully’s actions to no avail.
“Not until you realize how stupid you sound when you babble about ghosts all day long! Seriously, do you ever talk about anything else, you big loser?”
“Yeah, everyone knows ghosts don’t exist.” Matthew said from beside Skeebo.
“Well, everyone except you.” A brown student with a mohawk and piercings said before all three started laughing once again.
“Skeeby, just stop, please!” A female voice then exclaimed. A pink student with black and pink pigtails with red glasses appeared from the cafeteria. “Pac hasn’t done anything to you for you to be doing this!”
“His presence alone annoys me, babe. I’m just teaching him a lesson.” Skeebo smirked towards his girlfriend.
“That’s not a good reason for you to throw his food away and for you throw him to the floor!” The girl stomped her foot on the floor before she calmed down. “How about you return to the table so we can talk like you promised? You said you had something special planned for me.”
His other two friends turned to look at Skeebo who stood there for like two seconds before he reacted. “Oh, yeah, right! Fuck, I forgot. Yeah, I’m coming!” He then turned to look at Pac who was still on the floor. “This isn’t over yet, you little lemon freak.” He spat on him before turning around with his friends and returning to his table.
The pink girl checked they were gone before helping Pac stand up from the floor.
“Are you okay, Pac?” The girl asked before she got pushed off by Spiral.
“Since when do you care, Cylindria? Don’t you have a boyfriend to go back to?” He angrily asked, replacing her as the one helping Pacster stand up.
“Well, sorry! I just got worried because of how badly they were treating him! I’m not heartless, you know?” Cylindria said, offended of how badly the red Pac Worlder thought of her.
“Well, he’s fine now, so you can go back with the popular kids before they beat us up for talking with you.” Spiral side-glanced at her. Cylindria just stood there, her gaze filled with hurt for a second, until she shook her head and rolled her eyes
“Whatever! Ugh, I didn’t know you guys were so ungrateful!” She exclaimed before she returned back to her lunch table, where Skeebo and the others were waiting for her.
Spiral angrily stared at her until she disappeared from his view, returning his gaze back at Pac. “Are you good, dude?” He worriedly asked. Pac hadn’t said anything after Skeebo had left.
“You know what?” Pacster started. “I think I just need some time to myself. I’ll see ya at the dorm later.” He began walking towards the exit of the cafeteria.
“A-Are you sure, Pac? Don’t you want to at least grab something to eat?” Spiral pointed towards the lunch ladies still serving food.
“I’m…not in the mood right now.” Pac mumbled before leaving the cafeteria and going outside the school for a quick walk. Spiral just looked at him concerned and sighed. He was making sure Skeebo paid for this.
Pac passed through the tennis court as he thought to himself. You know, maybe he was a little weird for obsessing over ghosts all the time. But, when you have an aunt that fought in a war and that swears to have seen her enemies souls upfront, it was kind of impossible to not be interested on the subject. But, maybe, everyone else was right about his aunt Spheria and maybe she was the one imagining things after all the war sequels she receives daily. Maybe he’s the crazy one for believing all that stuff and for wanting to research about it.
After all, ghosts don’t exist. Right? They’re just things made up by sci-fi movies and novels.
He stopped in front of the maze that was just behind the tennis court.
Maze 256.
It was the largest maze on both Pacopolis and Pac-World as a whole. It’s also the reason why the school is named “Maze High School” since the school was built right next to it. Entry to it was completely prohibited since it was rumored that the people who entered there never got out. However, there really was no one to take care of who entered and who didn’t, and the place looked mostly abandoned.
Pacster thought about it for a moment. “Well, it’s not like anyone really cares about me over there…” He turned to look at the school. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He said as he set up his mind, and walked into the maze. After all, how difficult could it be to get out?
Apparently, very difficult.
Midday became noon which then became night. At first Pac had been walking a few hours just thinking about his life and his parents, but now he was really focused on looking for the exit. He was starting to get a little scared.
“Uhh, maybe it was a bad idea entering here.” Pacster told himself as he reached another dead end.
“Next time, I’m bringing a GPS…and a midnight snack.” He joked to himself as he continued walking around the maze, slowly losing hope until he found a path that marked “DEAD END” very explicitly.
Pac looked at it confused for a second until he realized its intentions. “Oooh, I get it. This is what they want you to think so you don’t get out, but this is definitely the way out!”
He confidently walked towards said path, not noticing a rock that was in the way which caused him to trip over and fall down the hole.
“AAAAAH!!!” Pacster yelled as he broke through various warning signs that said things like “WATCH OUT!”, “STOP!”, and “WE WARNED YOU!”. He then fell into some sort of room, where he accidentally stepped on a button, which caused the floor under him to open and send him sliding into another room.
He bumped into a wall that had a pixelated ghost carved into it, until it opened. And Pacster could not believe his eyes when he saw what was behind that wall.
He thought he had gone insane, that maybe all that tumbling and falling messed up his brain somehow. But no, it was real.
A dark portal was opened up in front of him, one that seemed to look like a black hole from a distance. Nothing was coming out of it, however. It seemed like it was waiting for Pac to step into it before doing something.
“What the fuck…?” Pac stared dumbfoundly at what was in front of him.
Pacster debated himself mentally. He could possibly die from entering through that portal since he had no idea where it let to, he didn’t even know portals actually existed! But, Pac was a very curious boy. He was interested in everything that surrounded him (hence why he was that interested in ghosts) and this portal was no exception. What if there was a big treasure waiting for him inside? It kind of seemed like the portal had been waiting for his arrival, after all.
“Meh, what’s the worst that could happen?” Pac was definitely not known for making the best decisions.
He took a deep breath before entering through that portal.
And that was when everything went black.