When Chip finally returned home, he was tired, very tired. But he was also very satisfied. After all, he had just finished solving the last few levels of the clubhouse, and they had been some of the toughest puzzles that he had encountered. Still, he had a strange feeling that there was something that he had missed.
He lay awake on his bed, thinking back to all the amazing challenges that he had ever faced. His eyelids grew heavy, and soon he was having a weird dream. He was back in the first clubhouse being chased by a swarm of walkers. Then suddenly, he was seeing those unfinished levels whose drawings he'd seen in the Bit Busters' lounge. Nothing seemed to make sense...
All of a sudden, Chip woke up. He pondered upon his dream and realized why he felt that it wasn't all over yet.
Those secret levels that he'd seen in the lounge... Where were they?? There was only one way to find out...
It was midnight when Chip reached the clubhouse. He sneaked in and quietly made his way to the door next to the control room that said "Authorized Personnel Only". The lock had been damaged by the explosion and was yet to be repaired. Chip's fingers nervously grabbed the handle and pulled the door open.
As Chip climbed down a ladder leading down into a secret underground facility, he looked around nervously at all the monsters in the room into which he was descending. Why weren't they moving?
Then he smiled, realizing that they were all asleep. "Cakewalk!" Chip chuckled as he tiptoed around each room, collecting all the chips.
Taking a deep breath, Chip opened the last door of the clubhouse. Then he gasped.
The room was completely empty!!!
Stunned, he walked to the corner of the room where a table stood. A sketch book lay on the table. Several sheets had been torn out of it, and crumpled balls of paper filled the waste basket. Chip finally understood why Melinda had kept these levels a secret. The last one had not been completed.
"I've got to help Melinda make this level," Chip said to himself, lifting a pencil. Then dejectedly, he put it down. "But how? I've never designed any levels," he thought. Then his face brightened. "But I've played lots of them. I'll build a level from my memories, and I'll make it a level to remember!"
Through the night, Chip worked hard to fill the level with pieces of just about every kind of puzzle that he could think of.
And when Melinda walked in the next morning, she was surprised and delighted at what she saw.
"Why, Chip!" she beamed. "This is just - amazing! Thank you so much!!"
"You're welcome..." Chip mumbled bashfully as she wandered around the level admiring his work. Swallowing hard, he decided that the time had come to ask the question that had haunted him throughout the night.
"Uh, Melinda...?" Chip began.
"Yes, Chip?" Melinda asked.
"There's something I've been meaning to ask you..." said Chip.
Their eyes met. Chip stepped up to where she was standing and got down on one bended knee.
Then picking up the hammer that he had left lying on the floor there, he asked, "How the heck do you hammer a panel into place without bruising your thumb?!"
"It's an acquired skill," Melinda replied, smiling.
She walked to the door. "Would you like to join me for lunch?" she asked.
"I'd be glad to!" Chip replied. "What time?"
"Just as soon as you finish solving this level," Melinda replied with a twinkle in her eye, as she stepped outside and locked the door behind her.