---

"I am a ROMhacker going by the codename 'KaBooM!' who prefers the security afforded to those who remain somewhat covert and mysterious. My actual name, age, gender, race, area of residence, social status, religious convictions, political affiliations, financial situation, and sexual orientations/preferences are and shall hopefully remain the subject of curious enigma. Despite my aversions of disclosure there are a few things about myself which I am willing to share..."

"First off, I am an Earthling of the 'human' species, who lives somewhere on the planet Earth...and I shall be residing here until the day our good friends from the stars of the Pleiades realize I was sent to the wrong planet by mistake, and subsequently return to take me back. (If the little green men with big black eyes from Zeta Reticuli 2 come around asking for me, tell them I've left the planet already. We Pleiadians don't roll with those cats for good reason!)"

"Second, I have been gifted with a needlessly complex mind as well as an exceptionally proficient grasp of not only the English language but also of several different forms of what can be considered 'creative ventures', all of which I use as my weapons in the ongoing battle against conformity. It's a war zone out there, and words and art are the tools of my trade. (Little blue bombs notwithstanding!)"

"Thirdly, I have never been, nor am I currently, nor do I believe that I will ever be, a representative of any company and/or organization which produces licensed commercial video games for platforms of any type or kind. If I were I think it's safe to say I certainly wouldn't view ROMhacking as an art form in itself. My propensity for non-conformity does not often find me in business attire like all the other goons and goonettes for hire, so we can all breathe easy not only knowing that I'm just an ordinary Jane/Joe like yourselves, but that I also will never be personally responsible for some of the shovelware that some of the big media companies like to cram down out throats. (Granted, there are a few exceptions. Damned few...)"

"Fourthly, I have a love of ROMhacking as it is one of many hobbies I undertake which not only exercises my mind but also satisfies my curiousity and fascination with reverse-engineering the work of others as well as my need to be creative and inspiring for the common good. In that regard, I have joined the ROMhacking community with the intention of sharing my notes, observations, insights, and also the ROMhacking creations produced by myself through my affiliate, 'KaBooM! Games' with others, again for the common good of all."

"Fifthly, I refer to myself by the codename 'KaBooM!' for several reasons, some of which I do not care to divulge as doing so would directly interfere with my propensity for obscure anonymity. This does not indicate that I necessarily pose any type of perceived threat...in fact, by most standards I consider myself quite harmless...as long as you are not a video game ROM! (Heh heh.) As for the reasons for my codename I don't mind sharing, well...not only does it serve as a tribute to one of the greatest Atari 2600 games of all time but also as a nice, quick, short, easy codename which can easily be inserted into the credits of any ROMhack which I create, and it looks different and grabs attention to boot. That, and it's so much fun to type with it's weird alternate capitalizations and punctuation. And it goes great with marinara sauce."

"Finally, I must truthfully admit that I look nothing like my avatar would suggest, at least until the day that the radioactive weapons which threaten mankind come raining down upon our heads and the survivors are turned into deformed mutants. It is my sincerest hope that this will never happen, because quite frankly, it would suck like a supercharged vacuum cleaner. Not only because civilization as we know it would cease to exist, not only because it would it be hard getting any sleep considering I'd be living next to people who constantly glow in the dark, but also because having a big, heavy, blue bomb for a head that's getting ready to explode any second is not a good condition to greet your new neighbors in. It doesn't exactly set their mind at ease, and it's terrible for one's complexion."

---

---

Pac-Man Begins
Chapter 1 - In The Beginning (The Distant Past)

Within the all-encompassing essence of Existence, there are many dimensions, each of these abiding by their own sets of rules, laws, and limitations, and each of these home to one or more dominant species of unique forms of life. The center of the vast, empty darkness of the singular dimension known as "Universe" by it's dominant hominid species had for countless ages been the domicile of an immense pocket of powerful, unbridled energy known to those who knew of it's existence as "The Wellspring". Though The Wellspring had thus far been underutilized by the dominant species of "Universe", it served as a focal point for several nearby dimensions, it's energies feeding through the very fabric which held them together, much to the benefit of the dominant species' which dwelled within them. Of those dimensions tied to The Wellspring, there were two whose presence within Existence were most prominent and whose fabrics were most generously fed by it's energies: Parcenda and Mazeinar.

Mazeinar, a multicular treebranch dimension which housed many "Realms" bearing "Zones" of their own within them, and "Levels" within these "Zones", served as home to a blue, timid, fragile, peace-loving species who called themselves "Monsters". These creatures, who were nothing like what the Earthling Hominid interpretation of their honorable name might suggest, built vast mazes within the levels of the zones of the realms of Mazeinar using their limitless technological knowledge and boundless industrial prowess. Their eternal essences were housed in blue, flowing, ethereal bodies who's existence was sustained by the energies of The Wellspring, which constantly emanated from the Xtreme Realm and flowed outward through the other realms of Mazeinar. Builders these Monsters were, and beautiful creatures at that...but without true direction to guide them in the construction of their technologically advanced maze structures, and therefore without discernable purpose.

Meanwhile, in the dimension of Parcenda, an endless and singular entity consisting of bright blue skies, beautiful forests, and rolling pastoral plains growing rich with foods and nutritional sustenance, there existed a species of brightly colored, ball-shaped, and quite lively creatures known as Pucks, beings whose appetites and expertise in the ways of magic and sorcery knew very few limits. Since the beginning of time, they had lived off the fruits and foods which grew from the ground, the soil richly fertilized by the power of The Wellspring which also served as the very source of the Pucks' magical powers which they used to further cultivate the lands of Parcenda and also to benefit each other in various ways. Fairly ruled and lovingly protected by the Grand Overseers, a council of the eldest and greatest of wizards, the Pucks retained respect for all the land as well as a natural apathy towards personal ownership of anything, preferring to share everything, eat contently, and live amongst each other in peace and harmony.

But the peace shared amongst the Pucks of Parcenda was soon to be broken, tainted by the undoings of evil. Tam-Lucen, a young, opportunistic, and newly appointed Grand Overseer, became blinded by his own ambitions and greed and obsessed with the near limitless power offered by The Wellspring...thus, he desired it entirely for himself. Tam-Lucen had decided that the era of the Grand Overseers had come to an end, that he and he alone, with the power of The Wellspring at his command, should single-handedly rule all of Parcenda and use it as a base from which to conquer the outlying dimensions, drafting the Pucks he would exert absolute rule over as his loyal soldiers. Those who had depended on The Wellspring to provide their needed sustenance for so long would have no choice but to willingly bow before him and declare him their ruler, for he would have absorbed The Wellspring and subjected it to his absolute control. Tam-Lucen would be a fair and just ruler, but an absolute and jealous ruler nonetheless. Those who received him openly would be subject to great blessings while those who resisted him would be subject to his wrath. Tam-Lucen decided that he would exalt his throne high above that of the Grand Overseers by gaining absolute control over The Wellspring and, in doing so, would become more that just a mere ruler. Tam-Lucen would become their god. And those who served him as a god would no longer recognize him as Tam-Lucen, for such hyphenated names were the possessions of mere mortals. Instead, they would recognize him by a new name which he had chosen for himself: "Cruise Elroy". For "Cruise Elroy", in the language of the Ancient First Species Of Existence, translated to "Ruler Of The Living".

And so, on the fateful day in question, Cruise Elroy cast a spell with which he attempted to absorb the entire power of The Wellspring within himself. The Pucks, unaccustomed to such treachery from one of their own, were unprepared for this and for the ecological damage to their entire dimension which would follow and were thus powerless to stop him. But Cruise Elroy had underestimated the power of The Wellspring itself, the energies of which were themselves alive, and it detected his greed and cast him aside before he could absorb it entirely. But Cruise Elroy had absorbed enough to not only make himself the most powerful and feared wizard in all of Parcenda, but to also taint The Wellspring with his own evil, thus rendering it's energies less effective in the dimensions who's fabrics it ran through. Thus, the once fruitful lands of Parcenda began to dry out and die, and produce no more sustenance, and a great famine fell upon the entire dimension. Hundreds of thousands of Pucks fell dead while Cruise Elroy, disillusioned at his inability to absorb all of The Wellspring's power, decided to use his own newfound power to spread war, chaos, and havoc across the land and take Parcenda by force at a time when it's Pucks were at their weakest and most vulnerable.

And resistance forces en masse, led by the former Grand Overseers themselves, rose up and attempted to overthrow Cruise Elroy, but the vast armies proved no match for him, and he wiped them out in great numbers with his mastery of sorcery and magic until nothing other than small, scattered pockets of gathered insurgents were left, which were picked off with the greatest of ease as they, one by one, made ill-advised attempts to overthrow the great tyrant Cruise Elroy. He had, in retrospect, partially accomplished his goal of completely dominating the dimension of Parcenda, but he soon realized that he now ruled a worthless wasteland born of his own treachery. Parcenda, nearly destroyed by his war against the Pucks he had hoped to count amongst his allies and barely able to sustain the life that had once run rampant through it, could no longer serve as a base from which to conquer other dimensions, nor could it's people be used as effective soldiers in his quest. And so, Cruise Elroy cast his evil gaze outwards across the plains of Existence to find a new dimension to conquer, a new dimension whose people would serve him willingly and fight on his behalf, a new dimension linked to The Wellspring which had sustained fairly well despite the evil which had tainted it. And he finally found one...the dimension of Mazeinar.

Cruise Elroy gazed across Existence to the dimension of Mazeinar and liked what he saw...a multicular dimension of endless mazes forged in the fires of advanced technology rather than sorcery, populated by a species dying by the thousands but not knowing why, all completely unaware of the treachery which had transpired in Parcenda, their bodies no longer able to naturally absorb The Wellspring's energies now tainted by Cruise Elroy's evil essence. These creatures who called themselves "Monsters", as fragile and as easily eaten as they were, were powerless to stop Cruise Elroy even before his ill-fated attempt at absorbing The Wellspring, which Cruise Elroy had recently found out was simply due to the negative polarity of the dimension of Parcenda itself which had allowed the living energies of The Wellspring to resist him. But the positive polarity of Mazeinar would allow Cruise Elroy to absorb all the power of The Wellspring uninhibited through the Xtreme Realm through which it tirelessly emanated. Thus, Cruise Elroy concocted a plan. He would conquer this dimension and it's people, not through the use of force, but with diplomacy, presenting himself as their saviour and asking for their permission to absorb The Wellspring and bestow it upon their people through the power of his mastery of wizardry thus allowing the Monsters to sustain themselves again. In this way, Cruise Elroy could have a base dimension under his rule from which to conquer other dimensions, servants who would pander to his every need lest they be denied the life-giving energies of The Wellspring which would reside within him, and soldiers under his command made nearly invincible by the power which he himself would bestow upon them anew. Leaving the wastelands of Parcenda behind him believing that all insurgencies against him had been completely wiped out and that the last of Parcenda's Puck inhabitants would be left to the futile struggle for survival on their own, Cruise Elroy traveled by way of sorcery to Mazeinar to make his case to it's inhabitants.

But one last pocket of insurgency, led by a determined Puck wizard and former Grand Overseer named Pac-Dexter, crawled from the ruins of Parcenda, gathering the last of it's people in a brave attempt to make a final push against Cruise Elroy and spare the outlying dimensions from his sadistic rule. Together, they would leave their ruined Parcenda behind and travel to Mazeinar and stop him before he could absorb The Wellspring, and also to educate it's people, the Monsters, of the death and destruction which Cruise Elroy had caused in Parcenda thus hopefully turning them to the side of the remaining Pucks in their fight. The absence of Cruise Elroy and his influence from the dimension of Parcenda during his travels to Mazeinar had bought the insurgency and those whom remained valuable time to plan what they were sure would be the final and ultimate battle against him. They would be correct in their assumptions.

Upon arriving in Mazeinar, the insurgency led by Pac-Dexter were not only able to gain many Monster allies but were able to take Cruise Elroy completely by surprise, who had been allowed access to the Xtreme Realm by those Monsters not yet in the know of his treachery. Cruise Elroy was just about to cast the spell which would have allowed him to absorb The Wellspring for all time when the insurgency rose up around him and attacked with all of their mastery of magic and sorcery at their command. The Wellspring, the source of the Pucks' magical powers which had been rendered ineffective to them in Parcenda by the unfortunate combination of it's negative polarity and the ruination of the dimension's outer fabric caused by Cruise Elroy, was now at the disposal of the Pucks in Mazeinar en masse, and ran strong through the Xtreme Realm as it was just now beginning to recover from Cruise Elroy's previous attempt to absorb it. Thus, a great and terrible battle played out across the Xtreme Realm, the insurgency locked in mortal magical combat with Cruise Elroy, who fought them with every dirty rotten trick and spell in the book. But it was no use. Cruise Elroy was outnumbered, outpowered, and far too exhausted by his previous exertions upon the Pucks to put up a fight effective enough to destroy the last insurgency, and he thus fell. Together, the last of the Pucks and the Monsters who had now seen the true nature of Cruise Elroy and were thus thankful for the liberation of their dimension from tyranny celebrated their victory and their newfound freedom.

But the victory celebration would be bittersweet. For the Pucks would soon learn that Parcenda, it's very fabric compromised by the strains of the weakening and renewing of The Wellspring upon it, had collapsed in upon itself, leaving the Pucks stranded in Mazeinar and with no dimension left for them to call home. Even worse, the renewing taking place within The Wellspring had purged the tainting of evil from within itself but had done so at the cost of radiating with a new frequency of energy, one which the Monsters could not absorb but for more that one day's time to sustain the bodies which sustained their very souls. Thus, the Monsters, as well as the Pucks which had no nutritional source with which to sustain themselves, would all die off unless something was done to sidestep the inevitable, and fast!

And so, in the spirit of survival and cooperation which would assure the longevity of both species, the Pucks and the Monsters forged a new alliance with each other, all while giving each other reason and purpose to exist. The Pucks, with insatiable appetites and capable of eating many things, would by way of magic and sorcery prepare new bodies for the souls of the Monsters to populate as their old bodies wore down on a daily basis. The Monsters' old bodies would be "chomped" thus providing partial sustenance to the Pucks so that the life essences of the chomped Monsters could escape the old bodies and populate the new bodies provided by the Pucks. Several specialized central factories known as "Monster Pens" were constructed within Mazeinar's levels for the sole purpose of creating these new bodies for the Monsters' souls to populate and were maintained by way of Puck sorcery. In return, the Pucks would be provided a permanent home in Mazeinar living amongst the Monsters in peace, and the Monsters would continue to use their technological innovations and industrial prowess to turn their entire maze-filled dimension into a full scale production facility which would manufacture and spontaneously create items of nutritional value for the Pucks' consumption, be they fruits, meats, vegetables, other foods, and even certain non-foods. And, as dictated by the new by-laws agreed on by both Pucks and Monsters, neither species would dabble in the other's means to benefit. In other words, the Monsters would never be allowed to imbue themselves in the ways of magic and sorcery, and the Pucks would never be allowed to imbue themselves in the ways of technological advancement and industry. Such was decided to create a balanced society in which one species never dominated the other, in which both species' needed each other for survival, and in which both Pucks and Monsters could live in peace, harmony, and happiness. And the Pucks and the Monsters, working together, did exactly that for a period of twenty-five thousand years.

But, as scholars and wise men amongst both the Pucks and the Monsters had predicted and warned of, the peace was not to last. For the immortal spirit of Cruise Elroy which had survived his mortal death had other plans...

---

---

Pac-Man Begins
Chapter 2 - Judgement Day (The Near Past)

Many of those knowledgeable in the ways of metaphysical matters, magic, and prophecies within the dimension of Mazeinar had, for a long time, believed that Cruise Elroy had used the last of his power to place a spell upon himself just before he had succumbed to the last insurgency of Pucks some twenty-five thousand years previous, a spell which would have allowed his soul to roam the realms of Mazeinar freely for all eternity, waiting for the opportune moment when he could be embraced by the heart of one creature, Puck or Monster, of negative mindset and use that creature to wreak havoc across the dimensional plains once again. These same wise men and scholars had long warned of and predicted a "Hundred Years War" which would occur in Mazeinar when this prophecy involving Cruise Elroy came to pass. Though many agreed that there had been evidence, based on their studies of the power emanating from The Wellspring, that Cruise Elroy had in fact used the power of magic to make himself spiritually prominent within the land, many wrote the warning of the scholars off as pure folly, believing there to be no negative thoughts or hearts amongst the Pucks and Monsters of Mazeinar. Everyone had, for a period of twenty-five thousand some years, lived in peace and harmony and mutual cooperation. It was unimaginable that the demonic spirit of a Puck conquerer who died long ago, should his spirit even still be roaming within Mazeinar, could cause another war, and as a result the beings of Mazeinar had grown complacent over the many thousands of years of peace. They had grown to believe that the prophecies of these wise men and scholars were nothing more than old wives' tales fueled by fears of another war and used to keep their people in line. They couldn't have been more wrong!

For the evil spirit of Cruise Elroy did, in fact, roam freely through the dimension of Mazeinar, quite enjoying the blissfully complacent attitudes growing amongst the people and waiting for his chance to use one of these creatures to his own aims. He knew that doubt was the beginning of fear, and that fear was the beginning of hatred, and that hatred served as fuel for the flames of war. And he liked the fact that doubt had begun to creep into the hearts of many a Monster over the course of time. There was no arguing that he Pucks had risen to dominance in Mazeinar over the last twenty-five thousand years, securing eminent domain over the Xtreme Realm from which the power of The Wellspring, the source of all the Pucks' magical power, flowed freely. The Pucks had not conquered it through any means of force whatsoever. Rather, their dominance over the Xtreme Realm had simply grown over time out of matters of convenience, so that the Pucks who used wizardry and sorcery as their means to benefit could be closest to the source of that power since the Monsters could no longer absorb The Wellspring's power as a means to rejuvenate their bodies. The Xtreme Realm had therefore become the exclusive realm of the Pucks and a very select few Monsters responsible for it's upkeep, a realm from which the new Grand Overseers ruled just as benevolently as they had in their former dimension of Parcenda. All of the Pucks and many of the Monsters, imbued by the love and compassion emanating from the Xtreme Realm, accepted this to be the status quo and had never thought to question the gentle authority of the Grand Overseers. But some Monsters were doubtful at best. They realized that the dimension of Mazeinar had once been their domain and questioned the Pucks' eventual dominion over it, despite the fact that that dominion had been mutually agreed on for the most part in the interest of mutual cooperation and survival, and that both species needed each other to sustain. Many Monsters had begun to therefore lightly rebel against established authority and dabble in the ways of wizardry, long ago mutually agreed to be the exclusive domain of the Pucks and therefore off-limits and illegal to the Monsters so as not to create imbalance within Mazeinar, just as technology and industry remained off-limits to all but the Monsters.

But the scales of balance had already been tipped, due to the doubts that had crept into the heart of many a Monster. And Cruise Elroy looked down upon them and reveled in their doubt, and saw that it was good. For he planned to use the Monsters' own doubt against them, and turn them against the Pucks in his spiteful vengeance, heralding in a new chaotic period of war which would end the sickening peace and prosperity which had permeated Mazeinar for the last two hundred fifty centuries. And all he needed now was one truly dark heart to embrace him, a Monster who had allowed his doubts to turn to fear and thus embraced hatred for the Pucks, one who was born a natural leader, one who was a mover and a shaker as well as he was a talker, one who could act as a charismatic speaker and promoter for Cruise Elroy's own aims and become so drunk with his own power that he wouldn't even know he was fulfilling Cruise Elroy's original dreams of conquering Mazeinar and all outlying dimensions. And finally, after twenty-five thousand long years, Cruise Elroy had found a Monster whose dark heart would be accepting of and harbor his demonic spirit. That Monster's name was Shadow Blinky.

Much to the chagrin of the prominent Shadow family which had birthed him, Blinky was the black sheep in the family. The third of five children, he was always getting into childhood mischief, deliberately and knowingly making the lives of those whom he dealt with, both Pucks and Monsters, a living hell. Stealing and hiding manufactured foods from the Pucks, stealing and breaking his siblings' toys, and causing vandalism and sometimes irreparable damage to the Monsters' mazes were just a few of the ways in which Blinky expressed his natural-born hatred and disdain for the painful yet necessary-for-survival chompings he was forced to endure from the Pucks on a daily basis. Blinky hated pain, and could not bring himself to reasonably understand why he and the Monsters were forced to endure it to survive while the Pucks were required to endure none. Such thoughts as these perverted his views of the Pucks and of history in general. Over time, he brought himself to falsely believe that the Pucks had initiated a grand scheme to subtly manipulate the Monsters of Mazeinar and take the entire dimension for themselves after ruining their own dimension through warfare and their supposed ignorance and apathy. As Blinky grew into an adolescent, his hatred for Pucks grew along with his violent outbursts, and after a final violent spat with his mother and father which resulted in the horrific murder by him of his entire family, he finally ran away from his home level for good, escaping justice and running to one of the most remote and unexplored levels in Mazeinar and isolating himself from society in general.

Despite all of his misgivings, Shadow Blinky was not stupid...quite the opposite, in fact. He had certainly been smart enough, despite his hatred for Pucks, to convince another Puck to accompany him on his journey to isolate himself from society so that Blinky could continue to be chomped and therefore survive. Dul-Harold, a rather dim-witted, lovingly-stupid Puck too inept to grasp the basic concepts of life who had been assigned to do odd jobs for and act as a housekeeper to the Shadow family, had always adored Blinky and looked upon him as a big brother of sorts. But Blinky, being of superior intellect, had no real use for the slow-thinking Puck as a valid confidante, and tolerated his presence only out of necessity for his own survival. He therefore often mistreated the Puck who was too lovingly stupid and ignorant to understand or care, often using him as a gopher or looking down on him on the same level that an Earthling hominid would look down upon a herd of cattle. For Dul-Harold served as a constant reminder to Blinky why he so vehemently despised this necessary yet barely tolerated species, and it fueled his hatred. As long as Dul-Harold was useful to Blinky, he would keep him around. But the minute his usefulness came to and end, Blinky swore that he would kill him, relieving him of the three lives granted to all Pucks by nature within a matter of seconds. And Blinky, having isolated himself from society and the watchful eyes of the Grand Overseers, planned and plotted to make sure that the day when Monsters would no longer need to live amongst Pucks to survive would not be too much farther off. For Blinky, his dark heart now fully infected with the demonic spirit of Cruise Elroy which had imbued itself upon the young wayward Monster during the murder of the Shadow family, planned a grand scheme which he himself would orchestrate...the taking back of Mazeinar for the Monsters who would serve him under his iron fist and also the ultimate destruction of all of the Pucks and of the rebellious Monsters who would not bow before his might. Shadow Blinky would rule over all of the dimension and it's beings for as long as he lived, and all would sing his praises for the liberation of Mazeinar for all eternity!

Again, Shadow Blinky was not stupid in the least. He realized that in order for a scheme that grand to work well, he would need to surround himself with supporters, like-minded Monsters dedicated to his cause who could spread his words and philosophies for him far beyond his hiding place. And he would also need to imbue himself in the ways of the mystical arts which had for so long been denied him by those who wrote and enforced the by-laws of Mazeinar, so that he could use the power of the Pucks' own magic against them. And in order to do this, he would need to gain control of the Xtreme Realm from which he would draw upon all the power of The Wellspring to cast his "ultimate spell" which would allow him to rule all of Mazeinar and allow the Monsters to become more powerful creatures capable not only of sustaining without intervention from the Pucks, but capable of killing the Pucks simply by making contact with them. In this manner, Shadow Blinky could then be closest to the very source of power which would enable him to use sorcery to his own twisted aims...The Wellspring. So, many decades after he had run away with Dul-Harold, Shadow Blinky, with a hard hateful heart, a mastery of sorcery and black arts at his command, and a mission which would ultimately spell the end of the Pucks' dominance of Mazeinar, Blinky set his diabolical plans into motion.

Shadow Blinky surrounded himself with Monster supporters which the spirit of Cruise Elroy had led him to believe could be the most loyal to him either due to the strength of the doubts and fears which ran rampant inside them or due to their previous relations with Blinky, and he gathered them together to be his twelve disciples: Noxious Terrell, Luscious Johnny, Speedy Pinky, Million Max, Bashful Inky, Curly Sue, Steel Ridgeway, Doubtful Thomas, Wayward Tim, Slick Veronica, Pokey Clyde, and Johann Sebastian. And Blinky turned them all to his way of thinking and believing using the same subtle manipulations that his followers themselves would use clandestinely on the rest of the Monsters in Mazeinar en masse to turn them against the Pucks. And through these subtle manipulations by his disciples, Shadow Blinky managed to secretly, without the Pucks ever knowing, turn millions upon millions of once blissfully happy Monsters into his anxious and determined supporters by promising them a life filled with great power, free and independent of the pain imposed upon them by the Pucks on a daily basis. Without a doubt, Shadow Blinky held the cards, and was slowly preparing to play his set of aces.

But a scant very few Monsters, including a number of his own disciples, had allowed their fears and doubts to make them question the validity of Shadow Blinky's ultimate plan. While all of these doubtful Monsters who chose not to align themselves with Shadow Blinky's directives were secretly killed to assure that word of the upcoming overthrow of Mazeinar would not reach the Pucks, Bashful Inky, Doubtful Thomas, and Johann Sebastian, who had often expressed questions about their own loyalties amongst themselves, were allowed to live for the time being. For Speedy Pinky, the second greatest wizard amongst the Monster disciples and the most loyal and dedicated to Shadow Blinky's cause, had brought the supposed disloyalty of the aforementioned three Monsters to Blinky's attention in order to win not only favorable position amongst the ranks, but also to win favorable position in Shadow Blinky's cold heart. She was in love with Blinky, knowing that Blinky represented true power, and Speedy Pinky wished nothing less than to be chosen to be his queen after the dimension of Mazeinar was completely conquered.

Because of their supposed disloyalty, Shadow Blinky decided that he would not have Inky, Thomas, and Sebastian killed immediately. Instead, knowing that they had gained the trust of the Pucks such so that they had limited access to the Xtreme Realm for maintenance work and such, he decided to use them as pawns in the ultimate overthrow of the Xtreme Realm, sending them to open a portal by way of their limited and combined knowledge of sorcery which would allow Shadow Blinky to pass through and use the power of The Wellspring emanating from the realm to cast his doomsday spell. Blinky knew he would be sending his subjects to die for the cause, for he knew that the practice of sorcery by any Monster within the boundaries of the Xtreme Realm which carried any deliberate destructive effects whatsoever to the surrounding time-space continuum was punishable by being chomped his or her last! All Blinky had to do was falsely convince Inky, Thomas, and Sebastian that they would survive the encounter by the timely arrival of himself and by the conquering of Mazeinar and thus the changing of all of the Monsters into new, powerful creatures. And Blinky did convince them of such successfully with the same manipulative nature he and his disciples had used to turn millions of Monsters against the Pucks, all the while knowing that the three Monsters in question were going to succumb to the Pucks and that they, along with the Pucks, were more worthless than dirt to him. Shadow Blinky also realized that all Monsters authorized to enter the Xtreme Realm must be accompanied by a Puck escort at all times, so Blinky would make sure that he sent that loyal halfwit idiot buffoon Dul-Harold along with them for good measure, as Blinky and his disciples would have no further use for Dul-Harold once the deal went down and everything hit the fan.

On the fateful day in question, which in later years would become known to both Monsters and Pucks alike as "Judgement Day", Bashful Inky, Doubtful Thomas, and Johann Sebastian, accompanied by Dul-Harold, were allowed access to enter the Xtreme Realm, and they immediately made their way towards a level located in Zone 1 known as "Electric Avenue". Shadow Blinky had wisely sent these wishy-washy disciples on their mission on a day when he knew that the council of Grand Overseers would be convening for a meeting in a room at the Domicile Of Dormitories located in Zone 5, a hospice for the few Monsters responsible for the upkeep of the Xtreme Realm whom actually lived on the premises. Not only would the Grand Overseers not be present to stop the treachery of the Monsters before they executed their plan, but they would be closest to the very Monsters who would soon become powerful creatures capable of killing the Pucks when Shadow Blinky cast his ultimate spell. As stated before, Shadow Blinky was not stupid in the least. He was cold, calculated, and purely evil, quite the opposite of Dul-Harold, who, upon reaching "Electric Avenue" with the other Monsters, engaged himself in the most logical thought he had ever had in his life: "How are they going to cast this spell of theirs when they have brought no spare spell energy in to filter the power of The Wellspring through?" Indeed, the carrying of any spell filter energy source into the Xtreme Realm by any Monster or Puck not previously condoned by the Grand Overseers was considered a criminal offense. "Could they somehow be smuggling it in?", Dul-Harold thought to himself? And that's when Dul-Harold suddenly realized that the elixir he had been given to drink by Shadow Blinky the night before during the rebel Monsters' premature celebration of their upcoming victory against the Pucks was actually liquefied spell filter energy! The Monsters had literally smuggled it into the Xtreme Realm inside of Dul-Harold, and once they utilized it to open their portal, the spell filter energy within Dul-Harold would activate causing him to explode from the inside out, killing him and removing all three of his lives at once!

There was no time to escape! The Monster's were beginning to surround Dul-Harold, and he now knew why. Frightened by the prospect of inevitable death and now realizing that he had blindly and lovingly followed Shadow Blinky only to be discarded like so much trash when his usefulness had ended, Dul-Harold suddenly and heroically acted, lashing out against the Monsters defensively and managing to chomp Bashful Inky before he was subdued and frozen in place by the spell energy activated from within him by the remaining two Monsters. Thus, Dul-Harold exploded with a death scream, the colorful spell energy emanating forth from him, and a mystical portal opened through which Shadow Blinky appeared. He directed his remaining Monsters, Doubtful Thomas and Johann Sebastian, to act quickly and make their escape through the "Domicile Of Dormitories", leading the two of them to believe that the area was empty and free of Pucks...but Blinky knew the truth. He grinned evilly from one side of himself to the other as he imagined the fate they had met that day at the hands of the Grand Overseers who were gathered there en masse, the Grand Overseers having no doubt who had caused the sudden shenanigans which had just taken place on Electric Avenue. The move, Shadow Blinky had calculated, would serve to distract the Grand Overseers now headed to Electric Avenue to close the opened portal and leave him free and clear to secretly make his way to a level of the Xtreme Realm in Zone 8 known as "The Eight Steps" from which the power of The Wellspring flowed most freely. And, just as the Grand Overseers used their mastery of wizardry to close the open portal, Shadow Blinky ascended to his perch in The Eight Steps, with no one around who could stop or oppose him. And at that fateful moment, Blinky channeled the full power of The Wellspring through himself, and cast his ultimate spell.

A great depression in the energies emanating from The Wellspring were felt by the Grand Overseers and all Puck wizards across Mazeinar, such so that it rendered them weak and powerless as Shadow Blinky channeled the full power of The Wellspring through himself as the entire dimension shuddered with great quaking, threatening to tear itself asunder. Blinky laughed with evil glee as he watched the result of the spell he had cast upon the land unfold before his eyes. First, the Xtreme Realm was enveloped in an interdimensional "shield" such so that no Puck would be able to pass through it, excluding all not already there from entering it and preventing the Grand Overseers and others who were lingering there from escaping, as well as preventing the escape of the free-flowing energies of The Wellspring from emanating past it, a plan concocted by Blinky to prevent any Puck wizards not in the Xtreme Realm from having access to the power line of their sorcery thus rendering it useless to them. Second, the levels of Mazeinar, beginning with those in the Xtreme Realm and continuing to those realms flowing outward from it, began to fill with thousands upon thousands of strange floating pellets, orbs with glowed with and emanated a radioactive spatial frequency unlike any experienced before in Mazeinar. And finally, The Wellspring, newly tainted with evil, changed and reshaped the level from which Blinky's ultimate spell had been cast, remaking it into an area representative of the image and likeness of Shadow Blinky's own dark heart...thus, The Eight Steps was transformed into a place of hot misery which became known as the "Stairway To Hell". And Shadow Blinky reveled in it all, overjoyed that he had actually pulled it off and that the entire dimension of Mazeinar would now belong to him!

Within minutes, it was over. Most of the Pucks in Mazeinar, cut off from the loving energies of The Wellspring and the watchful eyes of the Grand Overseers, ran around in circles and in fear for their families in the aftermath trying to figure out just what the had happened, many in awe and wonder of the strange glowing orbs which now filled their mazes. The Grand Overseers, their contact with the outside world cut off, rushed to the newly transformed "Stairway To Hell" to apprehend the Monster they now knew had caused such a massive surge within The Wellspring and who had caused all of the confusion running rampant within Mazeinar. Thus, several Grand Overseers rushed to deal with Shadow Blinky just as they had dealt with Doubtful Thomas and Johann Sebastian minutes before. but what they found waiting for them was not the timid, blue, weak Monster the Pucks had become accustomed to dealing with over the millennia. For Shadow Blinky had been literally transformed, made newly invulnerable by the constant stream of radiation which emanated from the nearby pellets which now permeated all of the levels of Mazeinar. Blinky's eyes bulged frighteningly from their sockets, his mouth had disappeared, and his ethereal form had become a color consummate with his hateful, murderous personality: Red. The color of blood. Horrified, and unable to use their sorcery against him due to the new tainting of evil within The Wellspring, several Grand Overseers and other Puck servants threw themselves at him in an attempt to chomp him outright. It was their first mistake. Upon making contact with the newly invulnerable Shadow Blinky, the Pucks who had attacked him withered to nothing and died, losing the first of their three lives.

As Shadow Blinky considered the dead Pucks laying at his tails and laughing evilly, he knew that all throughout the Xtreme Realm and through all of the dimension of Mazeinar that the same thing was happening. Monsters everywhere, affected by the radiation emanating from the pellets which now permeated the various mazes, were being transformed into insanely powerful creatures much as Shadow Blinky himself had been transformed, each turning a color consummate with their inner souls, and each knowing that the plans which Blinky had set into motion had been successfully pulled off and that they now had an obligation to serve their new master and destroy all the Pucks across Mazeinar, an obligation they were more than happy to fulfill due to the promises and propaganda that had been drilled into their minds by Shadow Blinky's disciples. Thus, all the Monsters across the land of Mazeinar turned violently upon the Pucks with a vengeance, killing them off by the millions. Throughout Mazeinar, Monsters affected by the emissions of the pellets repeatedly flashed with sickly yellow energy as they absorbed more and more of the pellets' magical radiation just before they were transformed into their new invulnerable forms, no longer dependent on the Pucks' chompings to stay alive. And the Pucks, their presence amongst the Monsters no longer required, fell before the wrath of their former allies losing lives upon lives upon lives. Within the locked boundaries of the Xtreme Realm, the Grand Overseers and their Puck heralds whom had been assembled at the Domicile Of Dormitories all succumbed to the Monsters gathered there, their means of escape closed off to them by the magical undoings of Blinky. And from the various realms of Mazeinar, those direct disciples of Blinky still living made their way to the Xtreme Realm from which their new master heralded to participate in the great victory celebration which would follow, all reveling in the ultimate destruction of the Pucks which had taken place and reveling in the destruction of the Pucks yet to come.

Without a doubt, Shadow Blinky and his Monster disciples were clearly in control of all of Mazeinar. And deep in Blinky's dark heart, the spirit of Cruise Elroy smiled, pleased at the chaos and havoc that had been created by the new Antichrist of a Monster which had willfully and unwittingly accepted him as his lord and personal saviour.

---

---

After silently observing the amount of people who's obsession with this particular hobby ended up swallowed up by the dreaded "real life" syndrome which we all experience, and vowing not to repeat these mistakes, I made a firm decision in 2007 that I would not become a part of any ROMhacking forum until I was primed and ready to produce something substantial for the community as a whole...

And now, that day has finally come.

As I type this, I am currently sitting on a 100% complete project which I can barely wait to share with all of you.

---

---

* The editor Monster Rapist was created to make this hack.

---

---

* A female ROM-hacker actually worked on this. It's true, at least one exists.

---