Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jenny, the school nurse, always hated this time of the year. The weather was getting colder out, and soon snow would begin to fall. It was this time when flu infections became more and more prominent. Reports of people falling ill increased during this time of the year, and all because of something that kept mutating every year, making it impossible to be completely immune to it.

It had become mandatory at this school for all students to get a flu shot and be given checkups to make sure they didn't fall ill. Doing checkups didn't usually bother Jenny, but during this time, it was rather annoying. There were hundreds of students here, and she had to check on all of them before she could leave. This meant that she didn't get her usual breaks, except for lunch and going to the bathroom, for obvious reasons. She wished that the principal would come up with a better solution. Principal Stringent never did something like this, but she had retired years ago, unfortunately.

She had already attempted to reason with the new principal, Tyreek, but it was no use. He was determined to keep things remain the way they were currently set up. He said that the health of the students was a priority and she had an obligation to make sure they were all fine. She hadn't tried again to convince him. Tyreek had a strict mind. In some ways, it reminded her so much of Principal Stringent. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

She looked up at the clock. The day was half way through. And there were still so many students to check. Her trash cans were filled with so many empty needles. She was amazed they all fit in there. She had to take out the garbage three times, or was it more? And still she had to see many more students. This was going to be an exhausting day. It always was.

As she continued to check student after student, time seemed to blur, and she hardly noticed when two more hours had gone by. And when Rudy Tabootie was the next student to walk in, she felt a wave of relief sweep through her body. This indicated she was getting almost to the end, and soon she would be free for the rest of the day, and not have to worry about this until next year.

Rudy held up his hand and greeted her. "Hello, Nurse Jenny."

"Hello, Rudy." Jenny brushed off the chair. She motioned her hands over towards it. "Please, sit down. This won't take too long."

Rudy did as he was told. He walked up to the chair. He climbed into it and sat down. He pressed his back against it and smiled at Jenny. "It's that time of year again." He watched as Jenny put on her gloves in preparation for the checkup. "Winter is fun for a lot of things. But not so good when it comes to health, am I right?"

Jenny nodded her head. "Oh tell me about it. I wished we live somewhere warm all year round." She picked up her instruments and made her way over to Rudy. "Then I wouldn't have to worry about this."

"Actually..." Rudy lifted up a finger. "It might not be so much better. Penny told me how some disease thrives in warmer weather. You might get it a lot worse if we never got winter here."

Jenny rolled her eyes. Of course, she would never win. It was always something. Germs everywhere. Viruses and bacteria. No matter how cold or how hot it gets, some of those things would survive and thrive. And there was nothing she could do about it. Rudy was right. She would probably experience much worse if she did live in a warm reason, ideal conditions for many a germ to thrive.

She decided not to dwell on it for now. She took out a flat wooden stick and leaned in towards Rudy. She began her checkup. She did the usual stuff. She checked his throat, making sure there was nothing wrong with it. She was pleased when it appeared normal. She checked his blood pressure, which also came back just fine. His eyes, ears, and nose were also checked to make sure nothing was abnormal, and just like the other tests, they all came back normal.

This didn't surprise her. Rudy was usually a healthy teenager. Sometimes he got sick, but those were rare and far between. She was glad that he was doing fine. If he had gotten ill, she would have had to inform his parents and have him be taken to a doctor. And then she'd have to check all the students again to make sure Rudy didn't spread the disease. She had this happen once before, with another student, and it was not a fun experience.

The checkup went by really fast. Before she knew it, she had already checked his heart rate and the way his breathing sounded. And when she was certain there wasn't any problems, she started to put those instruments away. She went over to her desk and began to write down the results of her findings. She had to do this with every student and hand it over to Principal Tyreek. Once she was finished, she went over to a drawer and pulled out a small device to prick Rudy's finger with. She needed to get a small blood sample for checking iron levels.

"Hold out your hand." Jenny said in a gentle voice.

Rudy did so, but he looked nervous. "I always hate this part."

"Yeah I know." Jenny said sympathetically. It was never fun getting a finger pricked. "I'll make it quick."

She held onto Rudy's hand. She placed the device against Rudy's pointer finger. She did not hesitate to press the device shut, driving the needle into Rudy's skin only for a brief second. Rudy winced at this. Jenny then removed the device.

She noticed that she had pressed the needle a little too deeply. The tip of Rudy's finger blood a little more than it should have. Nothing life threatening, but it still had to be taken care of. She reached over and grabbed a small piece of cloth. She pressed it against Rudy's finger. It didn't require much pressure or much time for the blood to clot completely. When she pulled away, she noticed some of the blood had gotten on her finger. She ignored it for the time being, since she was finished with Rudy and she had some time to wash up.

"I'll go test your blood in a bit." Jenny said. She waved a dismissing hand at Rudy. "You may leave."

Rudy nodded at her. He got up out of his seat and walked towards the door. He opened it. He looked back at her and said, "See you later, Nurse Jenny."

"Yeah, see ya." Jenny said as Rudy shut the door behind him.

Jenny was about to go check on Rudy's blood when she suddenly got a pounding headache. She flinched, seething. She dropped the device on the ground, the tiny bit of blood spilling out on the hard ground. She dropped down to her knees and gripped her head. A pounding headache? Now? All of a sudden? She didn't know what was wrong. She felt fine just moments ago.

She closed her eyes and tried to cope with the sudden pain. It was unlike anything she had experienced before. It felt almost like something was crawling into her head. Something cold...and sharp... It spread through her head, from her temple to the back of her head. And nothing she did made the pain go away.

She looked around the room. Her vision distorted slightly, which scared her. It was almost like she was going to pass out...yet she did not. She got up to her legs, her body shaking. She stumbled over towards the cabinet. She grabbed a bottle of aspirin and attempted to take some. But then a sharp pain tugged at the side of her head suddenly and she dropped the pills on the ground. They spilled all over. She didn't try grabbing another bottle out of fear it would happen again.

Her vision darkened a little, like she was wearing sunglasses. She shook her head, trying to get her vision back to normal. Nothing changed it. It remained unusually dark. And then she felt a tingling sensation in the back of her head. It felt like something was working into her brain. She felt something change, something...very unpleasant. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the feeling. But nothing worked. She gripped her head tightly and trembled hard.

Then voices...omnipresent voices all around her. Dark...echoing...coming from all directions. Her eyes widened in fear as she looked around, trying to find the sources of these voices.

"We meet again, dear Jenny... Such promise... wasted... It has been a long time. We had helped you before. Now...We will help you again..."

"N-No.." Jenny whimpered, shaking her head. "You're not real...you're not real..."

Jenny knew she needed help and fast. She attempted to climb back to her feet. A wave of sudden sharp cold stopped her, going up and down her spine. She let out a cry as she fell back down. She kept holding onto her head, hoping that, somehow, she could will the pain away.

"Don't fret precious. We're here. We'll keep you safe. Just give into us. We only wish to help you..."

Jenny shook her head. Her eyes darted around the room wildly. She shut them again, trying to cope with the chilling sharp pain in her head. She wasn't sure how long she could hold out. At any moment, she could faint.

"It is too late...to resist, dear Jenny... You belonged to us before...you will again... Give it up. Let us in. Let us..reawaken you. So much was stolen from you. We will help you get it back. Now..awaken!"

Suddenly, all the pain stopped. Jenny laid on the ground, motionless for a few seconds. She let out a soft groan. She started to push herself off the ground. She raised her head. Strands of her blonde hair was plastered over her face, partially obscuring her. But her eyes could be seen. And as the faintest hint of a twisted smile tucked at her lips, her eyes began to glow black.

Chapter Text

The structure seemed to almost rise from nothing. Much of the area around it was flat, dull, nothing really exciting to see. Almost like the land was...incomplete. An unfinished place in which the only thing around for a couple miles was this single structure. It looked like a narrowing square, with a platform on the top of it. The structure appeared to be made of bricks, colored a deep red that slowly faded into white at the top. Primitive-looking stony stairs led the path upwards, each step being about two feet tall. This made climbing up require some effort.

On the top, somehow the structure became rounded. From a square, angular shape, slowly fading into a more circular one. Even the steps appeared to change shape. Once at the top, the steps took on a round shape, abandoning the angular look altogether, just like the structure itself. It looked almost like someone had taken a block, stretched it upwards, and used a nail file to smooth out the edges.

All around the edges of the rounded top were tall pillars. Unlike the rest of the structure, these were not any specific shape. No triangle, no square, no nothing. Just wavy, rocky structures that jetting out of the ground. Despite not being made of brick, they somehow still blended in well with the ground, not looking out of place. The pillars rose about twenty to thirty feet into the air. Tall and thin, yet sturdy, unbreakable. And attached to their tops were large, circular objects. They were transluscent with a hint of gold as the color.

The sun shined on these transluscent objects, causing each one to give off a soft, almost welcoming glow. Then, from the curved in side of the discs, light shot outward, shining on the ground below. Even though it was not necessary, the light from the discs still somehow stood out, illuminating the area even further. And the areas where the light shined revealed some patterns. Strange writings on the walls that faded when they went out of the light's reach. The writing was red in color, having a glow around them, almost like they were neon. The writing was odd shapes, almost like egyptian writing, yet still something totally different, foreign.

The light was circling all around. The pillars, despite being rock, somehow were able to spin the discs around in a constant circle around the structure. This allowed all the writing to be exposed, just not all at once. It was almost like a defense mechanism. This made it harder for visitors, especially those with ill will, to read the writing and figure out the secret of the place. The light also did well to expose the various cracks, moss, and dirt that littered it. The place looked like it hadn't been used in a very long time.

That, however, did not stop Rudy and his friends from wanting to explore it. They had heard stories about this place recently. Some zoners they passed by spoke of it, and mentioned how it was forbidden for some reason. They attempted to listen to them more and see if they had anything else to say, but the zoners vanished in a crowd. Their curiosity peaked, they did some research on the place.

There wasn't a lot of information they could find. Just that it was located far away, further than they had ever traveled before. Even by the fastest plane, it had taken them a few hours to get there. Rudy thought ahead and made sure to create a teleporter in this are so they could travel back in a faster amount of time. He also altered the design so there was a shield all around the teleporter, preventing another 'bull Snap' incident like what happened several years ago.

They did also learn the name of the place before they went there. Solar Pillars, if he remembered right. It was named for large structures that shot light out. Rudy wasn't sure what the purpose of these lights would be. The place was located in day zone. There was little need for the lights. Penny thought that maybe the lights served another purpose, and coming here, they found out she was exactly right on that. Snap commented that was a clever design, whoever had made this place. But what the place was actually for, they didn't know. It was literally incomplete. Whatever this artist wanted to draw, they apparently lost interest and just erased this large, mostly empty space with a single structure.

Even the ground was transluscent and see-through. When they first came, it looked like the areas around the structure were erased by a lot of real world water. It was almost like an island, but with empty space instead of a sea or ocean. They thought they would have to fly over it, but they quickly found out that the ground was indeed solid. It was just see-through, with no coloration to it whatsoever.

Despite being able to walk on the surface, it was still a frightening experience. They tried their best not to look down at the white void below their feet. It was hard to completely avoid this, however, and the trio found themselves occassionally looking down, sometimes freezing in fright because they thought they were going to fall down. They managed to keep going, offering encouragement to each other. But soon, about halfway, they couldn't take it anymore and Rudy drew them all a mode of flight. He drew rocket shoes for him and Penny, and he held onto Snap. They flew over to the island, feeling more secure being aloft over the clear ground, away from the endless void.

And when they got over onto the small amount of simple ground around the structure, they could being exploring it. It was a massive place, large enough to fit a small town. It also appeared to be pretty old. It showed plenty of signs of wear and tear. This confused Rudy. If this place wasn't that new, how come he had never heard of it before? He would have thought it was from the past year or so and something bad happened and that was why it was forbidden. But with the amount of wear he was seeing here, he guessed it was several years..maybe a few decades even. This place must have been one guarded secret. It was probably shere luck that those zoners knew about it.

It was a little strange an unknown place was forbidden if many zoners don't know about it. But then again, the fact that most zoners don't know about this place was probably protection enough. Who is going to go out to try to find something they don't know about? It would be pretty hard. The only way is if they stumble here on their own. Not likely to happen, as this wasn't a heavily populated place.

The longer they stayed, the more intrigued they became with the place. Who was its creator? What was its purpose? Was it hiding anything? Was this place dangerous and if so, why? What were the hidden perils here? Should Rudy do something with this place, perhaps destroy it so that no one can find it? Or was that going to make things a whole lot worse? And the more they stared at the red writing on the walls of the structure, the more drawn in they were. There was something about them... Rudy couldn't quite put his finger on it. But something about them kept catching their attention, making it hard for them to leave this place.

There were many thoughts on what the writing could be for. A warning, perhaps. It might explain what kind of danger this place hides, and warn them to get out as fast as they could. A danger that was either well hidden as they hadn't run into anything yet, or a danger that had long passed and this place was nothing more than a useless shell guarding absolutely nothing.

But danger wasn't the only thing it could be. Perhaps it was information regarding this place, maybe a hint of what its purpose was going to be. Maybe information regarding what zoners had lived here at one time. There were several things it might be trying to tell them, but without any way to decipher the writing right away, they weren't going to know anytime soon. It was a little frustrating to Rudy, but he understood that these things can take time. And Penny was going to try to do something about it.

Rudy looked over at his girlfriend. She was positoned in front of a currently illuminated spot. The light moved at a fair pace, so she still had to hurry as she sketched as much of the writing as she could in her notebook. Despite not believing herself to be an artist of Rudy's caliber, she was still able to draw pretty fast and accurately, especially when the time called for it. Rudy and Snap sometimes expressed confusion as to why she didn't think of herself as much of an artist.

He walked over towards her. He felt a little apprehensive about entering the light again. The filtered light felt strange. It wasn't painful or anything. Penny was completely bathed in it and she wasn't really reacting to it at all. Then again, he wasn't sure if it was affecting Penny or Snap. Maybe it was just him. None of them seemed to notice it. But whenever he entered the light, there was some awkward tingly sensation that swept through his body. It was uncomfortable and he disliked being in the light because of it. But if he wanted to speak to Penny, he'd have to come over to her; he wasn't about to force her to leave her work just to talk to her.

He walked into the light. He gave a shudder, flinching almost like he had been hit. His friends, who were looking in different directions, didn't notice. Snap was walking around the temple, eyeing it up and down. Rudy was glad that Snap and Penny didn't notice the flinch. If they asked him, he probably wouldn't really know what to say. This sensation, it was really hard to describe. It was probably nothing, anyway. Just a fluke thing perhaps.

He soon stood next to Penny. He didn't say a word at first. He just watched her, admiring how fast she was able to work despite having a limited time every so often to draw the writing on paper. He waited a few moments for the light to pass over them before he took another step forward and speaking up.

"How's it going?" Rudy asked.

Penny was a little startled. She clearly hadn't heard Rudy approaching. He felt bad for making her jump like that. But she didn't appear to be angry with him. Almost as soon as she appeared surprised, she was smiling at him, holding up her notebook towards herself. "It's going fine. This writing is really fascinating." She looked down at her notebook, tracing a couple fingers across the writing she copied down. "It's going to be a little hard to decipher, but I'm up for the challenge."

Rudy had thought about drawing her a translator. This is ChalkZone after all. Whatever he drew, it would work just as he intended. But he decided not to. Not out of mean-spiritedness or anything. But Penny did love figuring this sort of stuff on her own. And if she really wanted a shortcut and have these instantly translated, she would draw something herself. Or ask him to do it.

He moved his head so he could see the writing. He could tell, from how much wrinkling there was and how man pages were flipped, that Penny had already done a lot of writing. Her hand must be hurting by now. He knows his hand would be if he were in her position. But from the looks of it, despite that, she was still willing to write more. She was determined to get all this writing done before they left.

"How long do you think it will take?" Rudy asked.

"Quite some time." Penny replied. She glanced up at the structure. "The language here is unlike anything I've seen in other places of ChalkZone. This might be a dead language of some kind."

"Maybe there's a book about it." Rudy suggested. "I'm sure there's a library in ChalkZone somewhere that contains information on ancient languages that were spoken here at one time."

Penny thought about this for a moment. "Yeah, you could be right, Rudy. But..I'm still not sure. This place seems...ancient. It might be so old that even the libraries might not have information on it."

That was true. It was possible that, due to how old this place might be, no one knew about this language anymore. It might not be possible to find a single book with even a hint about this language they found on the walls here. It was definitely frustrating that it was going to take a much longer time for them to know what this place was trying to say. But patience was a virtue and he wasn't about to let himself get antsy over this.

He heard footsteps heading in his direction. He turned his head to see Snap coming up to him and Penny. The zoner stopped in front of them. For a moment, he was quiet, like he was trying to sift through his thoughts about something. Then he spoke.

"I have no idea how old this place is." Snap said. He looked up at the structure and spread his hands out to add emphasis. "I looked completely around this place, looking at every possible thing that could be a clue. But there's nothing here that gives a definite answer."

"Of course not, Snap. The year is not going to be just written down." Penny said.

"I know that, Buckette. I meant an approximate age, like if it was made last week, a month, a year..." Snap said. He paused, noting the way Rudy and Penny were looking at him, and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah it does seem silly to think that this place is that young."

Penny pointed her pencil in Snap's direction. "This place is definitely several years old. There's no way this kind of wear could appear in a short amount of time. Not unless somebody drew the cracks and vegetation on here."

Rudy smirked at this. "I can tell you it wasn't me."

"I'm quite aware it wasn't you, Rudy. I was just making a point." Penny said, smiling back at him. She turned her attention to Snap. "Well, from what you were able to see of this place, do you have any idea at all...any kind of clue that might help on how old this place is? I know you said you didn't know, but there has to be something..."

Snap narrowed his eyes, turning his gaze down, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. His eyes widened a little and he pointed his hand in Penny's direction. "Yeah I think there is! I remember hearing something about how decay works in here or...something like that. I don't remember all the details, but I think that, from what very little I remember, this place might be as old as Biclops."

This took Rudy and Penny by surprise. That was a lot longer than they had imagined this place being. Almost fifty years if they did the math right. Looking back at the decay, it made sense. The place wasn't falling apart, so it couldn't have been quite so ancient. Fifty years seemed like a good amount of time for this place to end up like this, especially if no one has been here in that amount of time.

It was a mystery as to why this place was abandoned, and if it had been fifty years, how come there weren't more zoners who knew about it? Fifty years wasn't a huge amount of time, and since zoners lived a very long time, it was unlikely that most zoners here hadn't heard of this place. Rudy began to wonder if this place was really unknown...or if zoners were deliberately withholding information. That would explain why it wasn't so easy getting out here, with some zoners commenting that they shouldn't go, trying to get them to stop. A sense of dread started to rise up inside of him. What if this place was a bad memory for zoners? What if there was a very good reason why it was forbidden to come here?

"Did you do anything else? Besides walk around the temple?" Rudy asked, hoping that Snap did find something useful. And luckily he did, as Snap held out what looked like a beige-colored book, coated in dust and having some kind of lock on it. "Where did you find that?"

Snap pointed up towards the top, where the pillars were. "Up there. It was laying there, in the middle of it. It was like it was just abandoned there without a second thought." He looked down at the book and narrowed his eyes. "I was trying to get it open, but it's sealed tight!"

"That's because you need a key. Did you find any?" Penny inquired.

Snap shook his head. "Nope. Just the book."

Rudy lowered himself to Snap's height, going down on one knee. He got out his magic chalk and drew a small key, the right size for this book. He took the book from Snap and put the key in the hole. After successfully unlocking it, he opened it up. It was a little hard. The pages stuck together and there was a lot of dust and wear on the pages, making it a tad hard to read.

He looked down on the first page. It was a diary of some kind. The first page simply said 'This diary belongs to...'. It wasn't written; it was clearly typed. He hadn't seen a diary like this before. Then again, he hardly ever looked at diaries. He felt a pang of guilt. He didn't like reading someone's personal diary. But this thing was here for a long time. Would it even matter? He hesitated, then turned the page to see who this diary once belonged to.

Upon seeing the name, his eyes widened in horror. He felt his heart clench and he sucked in a sharp breath. He couldn't believe it. He wondered if, at first, he was hallucinating. But he was feeling well today. There was..there was no way his eyes were playing tricks on him. He stared in shock at the name written in the diary.

"Rudy?" Penny asked, worriedly.

Snap was just as concerned. "What's the matter, Bucko?"

Rudy slowly looked over at them. His eyes were wide and wild. He took in a few shaky breaths. Then he spoke. "This diary...it belonged to Mr. Cosmo..."

Penny and Snap gasped in horror, staring at Rudy in shock. The mere mention of Cosmo's name sent chills down all their spines. Horrible memories were instantly brought to the surface. Even though it had been three years since their encounter with Cosmo, memories of what he had done were still fresh on their minds. The most visibly shaken was Snap, who had been tortured mercilessly by that evil man. They had hoped they never had to deal with anything regarding that man ever again.

And now here they stood, holding a diary left behind by Mr. Cosmo. Likely from when he was a kid. Rudy stared at the diary, his hands trembling. Did he want to read it? Did he want to know what horrible thoughts Cosmo had regarding ChalkZone? The threat had long passed. It wasn't like it was necessary to read the diary. But..no..that wasn't true. Remembering the details about the hybrid zoner experimentation, and how Bardot resulted because of it, Rudy knew that it wasn't worth it to not read the diary. As hard as it was going to be, he had to look through it, and make sure there wasn't some other hidden threat Mr. Cosmo had left behind.

It was a chilling thought to them, realizing that, even a couple years later, Cosmo still found a way to come back to haunt them. He did that well with Bardot, a zoner they encountered two years ago that had many of his traits but none of his restraint. Snap could attest to that. He had been ripped apart by the beast. And now this diary, appearing in a place that Rudy was already feeling apprehensive about. It didn't take him long to realize who had created this place. It had been Mr. Cosmo himself.

Seemingly forgetting all about the words on the walls, Penny reached out at the diary expectantly. Rudy handed it over to her. She turned her eyes down at the page Rudy was on. She bit her lip nervously. "Teddison Cosmo... Yeah...that's him all right..." She said grimly.

"That guy is like a cockroach." Snap had a tinge of fear in his voice. "Just when you think he's gone for good, he finds another way to come back."

Rudy nodded his head, staring down at Snap. "Yeah, I know. At least this time, it's just his diary we found." He looked back at Penny as she eyed the diary. "I doubt it's going to go on a killing spree any time soon."

Snap relaxed a little at this. "Yeah, you're right."

Penny gave a sharp gasp, drawing attention from the two boys. They stared at her, worried expressions on their faces. Penny looked shocked by something. Her eyes were wide with horror. She slowly looked over at Rudy. She took in a few quick breaths. "R-Rudy..."

His heart racing, Rudy took a step forward. "What? What is it, Penny?"

"This diary...it didn't belong to just Cosmo..." She said in a shaky voice.

"What? But Biclops never mentioned him having a partner!" Snap cried, in absolute shock.

Rudy said, "Who else did that diary belong to, Penny?" Penny looked down at the diary, her eyes growing bigger each second that passed. She looked at Rudy, clenching her teeth nervously. "Come on, Penny. Who else was there?"

Penny spoke in a hushed whisper. And the name she said sent shockwaves through Rudy's body.

"Nurse Jenny..."

Chapter Text

"What? Are you sure, Buckette?" Snap asked in an apprehensive voice.

Penny nodded her head. She looked down at the journal. "That's what it says, all right."

Rudy shook his head in disbelief. "No, it has to be a mistake..it..." He reached over and took the diary from Penny's hands. He looked at the page himself. His eyes widened slowly. "You're right..."

"Of course I am. Why would I lie?" Penny asked, her eyes narrowed slightly.

"I know. It's just that..." Rudy said softly. He glanced up at the sky, then he turned to Penny. "I never thought that our school nurse would ever have been involved with this guy." He let out a soft sigh. "Just when you think you know someone..."

Snap walked over to him. He put his hand on his arm. "Why are you so worried, Bucko?" Rudy glanced down at him. "It's not like she can do anything. Remember what Biclopse said? All the artists, except for Wilter, got their memories wipes and kicked out of ChalkZone."

"Snap's right, Rudy. Nurse Jenny isn't going to be a threat to us." Penny said.

Rudy wasn't so sure about that. He recalled the whole incident with Mr. Cosmo. Mr. Wilter admitted to being shocked that the man had regained his memories, which proved that the amnesia thing induced on the artists was not permanent. It merely suppressed the memories. With the right stimulation, the artists could remember what happened, and possibly seek revenge or find a way back into ChalkZone.

There was little reason to believe Nurse Jenny would be any different. The way she behaved during the checkup did seem a little odd. The detail of him losing a little more blood than what was necessary was strange. It wasn't anything major, but it had him wondering if she had done it on purpose or not. Finding out she was a black chalk user, and that he had been in the same room as her, completely defenseless, it did shake him up a little. What would have happened if she had her full memories?

"I don't know, Penny." Rudy admitted, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. His green eyes stared at her. "It's still possible that she could remember."

"Rudy..." Penny put a hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed it. "It will be fine. You'll see."

Rudy smiled back. "Yeah..I hope so."

He wanted so much to believe her. He wanted to believe that this diary wasn't marking the beginning of something bigger and more sinister than they had encountered before. He really hoped that Nurse Jenny was not going to get her memories back and become a new threat. They had deal with a lot the past couple of years. He had been hoping for some long peace thing. He didn't want to believe that, after two years of nothing dangerous going on, that the black chalk would raise its ugly head again and send something else at him.

The black chalk... He felt shudders go down his spine as he thought of that forsaken thing... Three years ago, he had almost lost his sanity, who he was, to that thing. It had nearly corrupted him, clouding his mind with chilling thoughts and rewriting his brain. It made him desire to do horrible things. He had murdered three zoners and nearly killed Penny while being controlled by the black chalk. It was just a stroke of luck that he was able to escape being fully corrupted.

He had hoped he would never have to deal with the black chalk again. But if Nurse Jenny did end up regaining her memories...would she try to corrupt him? How many more black chalk artists would get their memories back? What would their plans be? Would he have to face off against an army of them? The thought chilled him. The potential was there. Mr. Cosmo regained his memories. There's little reason to believe Nurse Jenny won't. Although he admired Penny for being so optimistic, Rudy couldn't bring himself to feel the same way. After the incident with Mr. Cosmo, how he regained his memories, it was best not to take chances.

He was in shock, at first, that Nurse Jenny had been involved with this guy. She was usually a pretty nice person. There was a reason why she was often the favorite for students to go to when they were feeling unwell. She didn't seem to fit the description of black chalk corruption. He would have expected her to be more like Mr. Cosmo. That man, even before his memories were awakened, was said to be pretty creepy and made even Terry Bouffant nervous to be around him. Terry was creepy enough at the time herself, so for her to be freaked out over Mr. Cosmo, that was quite a feat.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized...there were something about Nurse Jenny that might make sense if he took the black chalk into consideration. Despite her usually nice nature, there was a...bit of an issue with her. A problem that forced her to sometimes take medication if it got too bad.

A split personality...

Or something like that. While Nurse Jenny was usually sane, she had her moments where she was seen as a little crazy and downright creepy. Such events were rarely seen, at least at school. At her home, Rudy had no idea how she behaved, if she was sane or not. Nurse Jenny had done some pretty creepy things over the years, now that he thought of it. Things that he, for whatever reason, didn't think much of, but now knowing that she once worked with Mr. Cosmo, it started to make sense.

He recalled how, when he was ten years old, she had come over when Reggie got his foot stuck in a miniature portal. This was after he had gone back into the school building, so he didn't really see what happened. Penny had told him about it, though. And from what Penny said, Nurse Jenny seemed a little too eager to cut off Reggie's leg. She said how she wanted to try 'the procedure' and had taken out a saw and started to hack away at the air, making her intentions very clear. He had seen this action himself when he was coming back to help free Reggie. That look in her eyes... how determined she was to...

Rudy felt like an idiot. Why hadn't he noticed this before? How could he not have connected Nurse Jenny's obsession with 'the procedure' to the black chalk? As a kid, yeah he wouldn't have known. But he found out about the black chalk and what it could do. He should have...he should have realized something like this had gone on with her. And it wasn't like the whole thing with Reggie's leg had been the only incident, either. There had been others.

He recalled one particular time when she had been in the cafeteria with Principal Tyreek. During lunchtime, one of the students started to choke on something. The first thing Nurse Jenny wanted to do was beat the kid's back to try to force it out. She hadn't been able to do anything as Principal Tyreek stopped her and performed the heimleich. Then there was another time when a student injured his leg during gym, getting it stuck in some equipment somehow. And Nurse Jenny had brought along a knife to try to cut him free, despite the fact that it would have ended up hurting the kid even more.

Despite her few moments of insanity, Nurse Jenny was usually reliable, calm and sane. Those moments where she acted otherwise were rare and most people just dismissed as her 'forgetting her pills'. Most students still trusted her. Even Rudy himself had...at least before now. Before he had discovered she was a black chalk user...and that she had been partnered up with Mr. Cosmo. Now he felt uncomfortable around her, knowing that, at anytime, she could get her memories back.

And if her moments of insanity were from when she still had that amnesia induced on her...

...just what was she liked if she had her full memories back...?

"Let's see what it says."

Penny's voice took him out of his thoughts. He looked over at her. Her eyes were on the diary. Rudy glanced down at it. He bit his lip. He knew that they should read it just in case there was some other hidden threat that Cosmo left behind. But he was still nervous about it. Mr. Cosmo was quite an evil, demonic man, and the idea finding out what his thought process was, even if this was from when he was just a kid, unsettling.

Still, despite his feelings, he had to set them aside and read the diary, or journal was he was sometimes more tempted to call it. It was important that they make sure that no more of Cosmo's threats were loose around ChalkZone, or hidden somewhere in the real world like Bardot had until he accidentally erased his drawing.

Snap said, "I wonder what that creepazoid wrote about."

"Knowing him.." Rudy muttered softly. "...probably about how ChalkZone is nothing but one giant tool for him to use. He didn't think highly of zoners when we met him, and ever since the black chalk corrupted him, he had been a monster. Even as a kid."

"Yes. Quite." Penny agreed. "Which is why we should read his diary to make sure he didn't hide anything else from us."

Rudy nodded his head in agreement. He glanced up towards the light, doing his best not to flinch as it was coming back his way, soon to bathe him in that uncomfortable light. He started to move away from it, going close to where the clear ground started. Penny and Snap followed him, a little confused but not saying a word.

Rudy sat down on the ground. He crossed his legs and rested the diary on his lap. Penny and Snap took position on either side of them. They stared down at the journal in his lap. They all locked their eyes as they started to flip through the pages. There was a table of contents, which they thought was strange, as journals and diaries didn't usually have that. Perhaps Cosmo wrote so much, he did it this way so he could reread some of his old data. The table of contents was weird in another way. There were no specific names to identify them. It was marked by roman numerals. I, II, III, IV, V, etc. And that was it. Nothing special about any of them to help them tell just what those areas would contain.

He turned to the other page. A couple of them were blank, making him wonder why they were in the diary to begin with. Then he found one page with a large I written on it, the top and bottom nearly touching the edges of the page. And as he turned to the next page, the first handwriting from Mr. Cosmo in this diary could be seen. The three of them read in silence, their eyes darting and moving across the pages, reading each word.

It read:

"April 3rd at 7:00 PM-

I have no idea what happened. I was playing in my backyard with my best friend, Horace, when we happened upon what we thought was just a glowing piece of chalk. It was pretty, though, so we decided to play with it. Horace loved making cartoons on the sidewalk, so we went over to the steps that led up to my house's backdoor and we started to draw.

It didn't take us long to realize that, when drawing anything, there was some sort of bright glow. We had never seen anything like it. We were going to rush to our parents' and tell them. They might have been able to look at the chalk and figure out what caused the glow. But Horace said that we were old enough to figure things out on our own. I didn't really understand why he felt that way. We were only eight. But I gave in and we experimented with the chalk.

Upon creating a circle, we realized that, to our amazement, some kind of portal had been created. We were also horrified by this revelation. What kind of world would lie on the other side? Would it be dangerous? I wanted to tell our parents, but Horace still refused. He was pretty adventurous, I had to admit, and he convinced me to come into this strange new world.

I wasn't sure what to think of the place at first. It literally look like a child's drawing come to life. Everything looked so cartoony and yet so real at the same time. It was quite pretty and it was difficult to simply walk away from. I don't know how long Horace and I spent just walking around, but soon we came upon some natives.

We were taken aback by how the natives looked. Some were pretty humanoid, but others were merely stick figures, some were more beastly, some were bizarre, among other things. But they were all pretty friendly and welcomed us. It was from them that we learned that other artists also come into ChalkZone and have a lot of fun. It did fill me with relief that this place appeared to be safe. If other kids came here often, then why should I have to worry? There was nothing to fear here, especially when I learned I could create things with what they caled the magic chalk.

I will say, it felt both wonderful and strange to create something, to bring one of my drawings to life. I never felt this way before. It made me excited to come back to this place, which they said was called ChalkZone. The name was simple, but effective. Everyone and everything there was made of chalk. And somehow, they were alive. Very fascinating. I look forward to coming back here. The zoners, as they call themselves, said I could come back at anytime. They're certainly friendly. Much butter than the bullies at school, that's for sure.

It was a sad moment when Horace and I had to leave. But we didn't have much of a choice. Our parents were going to find out we were missing and I wasn't sure how they'd react to a world of chalk. So I convinced Horace we should leave. I kept the magic chalk in my pocket and promised him we would come back later. We said goodbye to the zoners and then we left."

A lot of the pages following that were similar. They mostly discussed about how Cosmo reacted when he first came into ChalkZone. It mentioned some of the adventures he'd have with Horace and, occassionally, the other kids. Rudy, Penny, and Snap shuddered as they realized that Cosmo's actions were similar to what they had done. Cosmo had not been lying when he said he had been a lot like Rudy once. There were still differences, but a lot of what the diary described were things they could imagine Rudy doing.

It was unsettling for them, reading these early pages and seeing how sane Cosmo really had been at one time. They were so used to him being a psychopath that anything that showed him otherwise, it rubbed them the wrong way. They all had bore witness to how cruel that man had become. To think that he started off so normal... And with such great promise, too. Cosmo could have been a great protector for ChalkZone if he hadn't gotten a hold of that black chalk.

It wasn't until they got about twenty or so pages in that things started to change. Cosmo had not yet been corrupted at this point, but something was immediately different, noticeable enough for them to see it. And what it was is, unlike the other pages which were all devoted to exploring different places of ChalkZone, this page was describing a singular location. And something about it had apparently peaked Cosmo's interest.

The page said:

"July 10th at 1:30 PM-

I found this really weird place. Not many of the zoners seem to know about it, and those who did, well they wanted me and Horace to stay away from it. I wasn't sure why. It seemed like any ordinary cave system. It was located in the middle of this forest, among some kind of civilization. It felt like it didn't belong there, among those zoners' homes and shops. But there it was, sticking out like a sore thumb.

I wonder if it was supposed to be some kind of protection. Perhaps those zoners were meant to be guarding it. That would make sense. Horace and I had tried to get in, but we were always stopped. The zoners never told us why. They just wanted us to leave. They didn't care if we had creator statuses or not. They were determined to keep us out, and unless we wanted to fight them, we had no choice but to obligue and move back away.

Horace was disappointed, and we had a talk with each other that we should try, someway, to give in. I had wanted to stay for nightfall, until I realized that doesn't work in ChalkZone. This place had a day zone, night zone theme going on, and the sun and moon never change position. So we could never truly use the cover of dark to get in. If we wanted inside, we would need to figure out another way.

Unfortunately, that will have to come at a different time. We had to go. Recess was almost over. If we didn't get out now, I hate to think of what kind of trouble we would be in. I will try going into ChalkZone alone later tonight and check the place out for myself."

The trio looked at each other nervously. They all had the same feeling of what the next page was going to contain. Reluctantly, Rudy turned the page. In a few moments, they would realize whether or not they were correct in their assumption.

The next page read:

"July 10th at 9:00 PM-

I have to admit, that was not the kind of trip I expected to have with ChalkZone. Nothing I had experienced these past few months with this place could have prepared me for what I had witnessed in that cave system. And I have a feeling I will never be completely the same after this.

I managed to sneak into the cave system using an invisibility cloak I drew. I snuck past the guards and got into the cave tunnel. At first, it seemed okay. The tunnels looked like they were dug out by something, but I guessed that was just part of the design perhaps. A detail the artist who likely made this wanted to add I suppose. I continued to walk down, and it started to get a little cold and damp, so I drew myself a jacket to wear as I headed down.

When I reached the end of the tunnel, there was this large door. It had something written on it. It was smudged so it took me a little while to realize that it said 'Everyone is born a sinner. A most dark desire. If you do not wish to leave yourself behind, get out of here.'

What had that meant? Even now, I still wasn't sure. I wish I had heeded its warning, even if I didn't understand what it meant. But curiosity had me gripped, and I ended up opening the door anyway. Drawing a large key and unlocking it was very easy. I went inside and took a look around. It didn't seem too special at first and I couldn't understand what the big deal was. It was nothing more than a large empty room, or so I had thought.

I did finally see there was something in the ground. A small patch in the middle of what appeared to be an empty room at the time. It looked like magic chalk, like from the Chalk Mine Horace and I visit once a day at least. This chalk, however, was black and it didn't sparkle as much as the white chalk did. Instead it glowed black. I stared at it, in utter amazement of my discovery. I couldn't wait to tell Horace about this. We had no idea there were other types of chalk in this world. I began to wonder if a different color meant a different power.

My amazement soon turned into my nightmare. I felt a cold chill all around me. Even wearing my jacket, I felt so very cold. I dropped to my knees and tried to keep myself warm. Then that's when I heard it. Voices, all around me. They beckoned to me, trying to make me use the black chalk. I looked around me to try to find the source of the voices. But it was no use. It soon came to my realization that the black chalk had been what was talking to me. I freaked out and rushed out of there as soon as I could.

I'm not sure if I will tell Horace about that strange encounter. Chalk speaking in an eerie, monotone voice, begging to be used, that was something that wasn't considered possible, even in the context of ChalkZone itself. And I wasn't even sure if that really happened. That's what scares me the most. I couldn't even tell if it was my imagination going wild or if the chalk really did speak to me. And if it was, why was it wanting me to use it? What did it want?

I just want to forget about that place, but there's a part of me, as I'm writing, that is being drawn into that place. Something about that black chalk is making me want to return. I'm going to try to forget about the place and just have fun in ChalkZone. There are plenty of other things for me to worry about other than this black chalk business. I won't ask anyone about it. I don't want them to know I went into those forbidden tunnels. I don't want to do something to offend the zoners that might impact not just me, but the other artists. It just wouldn't be fair if we were all punished for something foolish I did.

So for now, I'm putting that thought in the back of my mind. Horace and I plan on exploring some brand new place called the Candycane Forest. I look forward to it. I am hoping that place will be able to get myself to forget about those whole black chalk business. But alas, there is a part of me that's telling me it is far from over."

The trio looked at each other after that last line. There was more to read, but for the time being, they stopped. They let the last line sink into their minds. It seemed Cosmo had known something might be wrong, that something was about to give. He had sounded so worried about it in the journal. Even knowing that he wasn't corrupted at this time, it still felt quite strange. They all knew what kind of monster he had turned out to be and him showing any kind of concern was...alien to them to say the last.

A part of Rudy wanted to read more. He wanted to know what happened to Cosmo right after that. But another part of him was afraid of what he was going to find out. He himself had been a victim of the black chalk. He knew what it felt like as the energy from the black chalk began to rewire his brain, severing old connections and creating new ones. The damage was reversed after he was freed, thankfully, as the black chalk was too late in permanently altering him. The thought of reading the corruption status of someone else, even if he hated that person, was eerie. He felt as though he was going to be pushed back into that postion, the black chalk talking and beckoning him, changing him into a monster.

One thing he noticed was that, so far, not one entry had been from Nurse Jenny. He wondered if she was going to come in after Cosmo had been corrupted. He began to wonder just how involved she was, how much destruction she caused or helped to cause. Perhaps they should continue reading until they found an entry by Nurse Jenny, to see what kind of thought processes she had so they could properly assess what kind of threat level she truly posed.

But he soon realized they couldn't be able to do that. He heard a beeping from his phone. Penny and Snap looked at him, puzzled, as he pulled out his cellphone. It wasn't ringing. He had set up an alarm. He almost forgot about something he had planned that day and, unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to stay much longer. He turned to his friends.

"Sorry, you guys. I promised my parents I'd come with them on this meat convention my dad is going to. A one day thing." Rudy explained as he got up onto his feet. He clutched the diary to his side. "We'll have to continue reading this journal another time."

Penny said, "Okay, that sounds good. I don't know if I could have read more anyway."

"Yeah, me neither." Snap said with a shudder. "Knowing how that guy turned out, reading those entries is..." He gave a small shudder. "It's almost like he's pretending, you know?"

"Yeah, we get what you mean, Snap." Penny nodded her head.

"If it weren't for Mr. Wilter's word that he really was like me," Rudy said. "I would have believed he was lying too." The others nodded in agreement at what he said. He glanced down at his cellphone and let out a soft sigh. "Well, I have to get going. My parents expect me out of ChalkZone pretty soon. If I don't come out, they'll come in and try to find me, and they won't be happy if they're forced to have to come looking for me." He gave a nervous smile.

"Yeah we understand, Bucko." Snap smiled at him. "We can always come back here later. We have the teleporters up, so it shouldn't be a problem coming here anymore!"

"And hopefully, when we are able to come back, I can write down the rest of those markings." Penny said. She reached at her side, like she was trying to find something. Her eyes widened a little as realization struck her. "Oh, I left my notebook over there." She looked up at Rudy and asked, "Would you mind getting it for me?"

"Oh, sure Penny." Rudy said. "Hold on."

Rudy walked over to where the notebook was laying on the ground. He took notice of the light coming in his direction. He couldn't stop though. If he did, Penny and Snap would realize something was wrong, and he didn't want to worry them. He moved as quickly as he could. He reached down and grabbed the notebook. Unfortunately, he tried grabbing it with his weak left hand, and it slipped out, forcing him to stay and pick it up with his right. It wasn't much of a delay, but it was still enough for the light to touch him.

Unlike before, when Penny and Snap hadn't noticed anything because they weren't looking in his direction, this time, they were. They could see how Rudy reacted as the light touched him. Rudy tried not to do anything. He tried to ignore it. But the sudden uncomfortableness that gripped him caused him to react in a way that Penny and Snap clearly had not expected.

As soon as the light touched him, his body stiffened up. He dropped the diary on the ground. His hands and arms pressed against his side and he gritted his teeth. It felt like his whole body had just been grabbed by a giant hand. The uncomfortable sensation had intensified to the point where it was actually starting to get a little painful for him. He tried to move, but he felt like he was placed in some container filled with thick fudge or something. Moving was very difficult, taking a lot of effort to even move an inch.

Penny and Snap rushed over towards him. He could hear their panicked voices calling out to him. But, for some reason, Rudy couldn't make out what they were saying. Their voices had gotten too echoy. He looked at them, his eyes wide in a panic. That tingling sensation in his head, it was returning with a vengeance. He attempted to squirm to get out of the way.

Then he looked at the red writing on the wall. It seemed...different somehow. The writing seemed to almost flash at him. It was like it was beckoning to him, trying to get him to come closer. He managed to shake his head, and when he looked at the writing, he swore, for a brief second, it looked...readable..

Suddenly he was yanked backwards, clear out of the light. The sensation instantly left him, feeling like a burden was lifted off his shoulders. He laid down on his back, rubbing his head. Above him, Penny and Snap stared at him with horrified expressions. Penny knelt down and took Rudy by his right hand. She pulled him up to his feet.

Looking at him with concern, she asked, "Rudy...what happened...?"

"Yeah...you gave us a scare..." Snap said in a quiet voice. "What was wrong?"

Rudy rubbed his head a little. He looked at his friends, wincing slightly. "I-It was the light..." Penny and Snap looked at each other, confused. Rudy turned his head over towards the light. "It was the light..."

Penny and Snap looked over at the light that Rudy's eyes were locked on. It had just finished passing over the red writing and was moving along the steps. They looked back at Rudy, their eyes silently asking him if what he said was true. Rudy nodded, prompting the two to widen their eyes in horror at this realization.

Chapter Text

Rudy sat in the back seat of his parents' car, keeping quiet. He looked out the window, watching as the streets and everything rolled past. He hadn't said a word to his parents since they got into the car. They hadn't attempted yet to ask if anything was wrong, but he could tell that they sensed something was up. Maybe they were waiting for him to say something. Either way, he was kind of glad they weren't talking right now. His mind was too preoccupied and he wasn't in the mood to speak about what happened back at the Solar Pillars.

That had been one strange experience. He had mixed feelings about the whole thing. On the one hand, it did feel good exploring a new area. Every new place they find in ChalkZone always filled him up with some level of excitement. And there would always be new places to explore. Children, and adults too, would draw things on the chalkboard, including landscaping, and they'd appear in ChalkZone. So new areas always appeared. It gave them a limitless amount of things to go to and, as Snap would say, exploriate.

But this trip was unlike the others. This one also filled him with great anxiety. The Solar Pillars, right from the start, had sent a creepy vibe through him and his friends. The empty ground with an invisible platform... There was something wrong with that. He had never heard of anyone being able to draw something so clear that it can't be seen. There was no hint of it being something like glass or plastic. Maybe if he broke a piece off...no he didn't want to do that. He didn't want to accidentally shatter the whole thing, especially if he were standing on it while he was doing it.

The void was just...wrong. Why was it there to begin with? What could have caused it? He had been around ChalkZone and there is never a void like that unless the ground was completely erased, like the time he brought in a vacuum cleaner into this world. His initial thought was that the area was a target of the vacuum, but that was impossible, as when he popped the vacuum, everything came back out exactly where it was when it was sucked up. So this place was like that before then. Perhaps real world water was the cause, or deliberate erasing. There were a few things Rudy considered happened. Until they learned more of the place, all he could do was guess.

The writing and the light...they were also quite a mystery. Why did the writing only appear when the light was on it? Why did the writing seem different when he was bathed in the light? How come he was the only one affected by the light? What was so different about him that would cause his body to react to the light? And why was it starting to cause him pain that time around? Just what was with that light anyway? And the writing...what was it saying?

Penny and Snap had been so worried about him when they found out about how the light affected him. They wondered why he hadn't spoken up earlier when he first realized the light bothered him like that. There wasn't really a satisfying excuse Rudy could give, because he knew they were right. He should have spoken up earlier. If Penny had known that the light affected him negatively, she would have went and gotten the notebook herself. If they both had known about this light issue, they could have made sure that Rudy didn't have to pass through the light to come talk to them.

None of them could come up with a reason for why the light bothered him. Nothing that made sense anyway. There was nothing so vastly different about his genetic makeup that the light would only activate on him, and not Penny or Snap. The only thing he could think of was the black chalk, as that was the one thing different about him from Penny. He had been, unfortunately, touched by the black chalk. But that was impossible; all traces of the black chalk was removed from him. He did not hear those dreaded voices. He did not feel the temptation. He hadn't been using the black chalk long enough for it to become a permanent resident. If any ounce of black chalk still existed in him, the mere act of going into ChalkZone would have triggered it, causing it to reactivate.

It was creepy how the light somehow caused the writing to look different to him. He wondered why. He mentioned this to Penny on their way back. She was intrigued by it, but also worried. There was something major going on with that place, something very wrong. They had just visited that place once, and within a short time, all in the same day, it quickly shaped up to be a potentially dangerous place. The fact that it had something to do with Cosmo didn't help matters. It was uncertain if he drew the place himself, if he had help, or if it was something else. But what they did know for certain was that Cosmo was somehow involved with this place, and they had to figure out just what that was.

Thinking back to the writing, Rudy wondered if he would have to brave the light and go in there in order to read what was on the walls. He could have sworn that he could read something. He didn't remember what it said, though. It happened too quickly. The light did something to his head so he could, eventually, read the writing, like somehow, the light was a translator. But it was also something else, and it seemed to only work with him for some reason. There were so many questions about that place that haven't yet been answered. He hoped that, on their second trip there, they could learn more about it.

Cosmo's diary... That certainly left a bad taste in his mouth.

It was eerie knowing that Cosmo wasn't lying when he said he was a lot like him once. Reading those early entries, it did sound like stuff he would do. There was nothing in those first pages to suggest Cosmo would ever come the monster that they had come to know and hate. He was just a...regular kid, like he and Penny had been. Nothing strange or unusual. Just a kid who loved ChalkZone. In fact, these early pages suggested that Cosmo really did care for ChalkZone in much the same way he had. It was frightening to realize this, because now he had an idea of just how badly warped his mind was when he used the black chalk.

The last entry they had read before they left gave him chills. Cosmo had found the place where the black chalk had been locked up and, against what he was told, he went in anyway. Cosmo hadn't realized it at the time, but he was going to set off a horrific chain reaction that destroyed large portions of ChalkZone. Rudy wasn't sure entirely of the extent, but for all artists to be banned from ChalkZone, there had to have been massive damage.

It was sad that Cosmo had known that something was wrong. He was being drawn to the place and he didn't know why, and the black chalk had freaked him out. Cosmo had been determined to forget about the place and move on, have fun with Wilter, and be done with it. But Rudy knew that wasn't what happened. Cosmo had not only went back, but he had become a different person. He had gotten infected with the black chalk, and turned into a nightmare, one that ChalkZone was never going to forget.

Rudy still wasn't sure if he wanted to read the rest of the diary. He had nearly been corrupted by the black chalk. He knew what it felt like. He wasn't sure if Cosmo was going to suddenly shift, or if it was a gradual thing, and his writing would get creepier and creepier the further they delve in. Both would be pretty eerie to him. Even though he knew that they had to keep reading if they wanted to learn more about this place, he still wasn't all down with reading more of the diary. After that entry, Rudy knew that things would start going downhill for Cosmo and for ChalkZone. That journal entry marked the beginning of the end, in a way. Because after that, things weren't going to be the same.

Rudy felt a tinge of anger rise up inside of him. If Cosmo had known that something was wrong, he should have said something. The whole mess that happened afterwards, all that destruction of ChalkZone, all those zoners being killed, it could have been avoided, perhaps, had Cosmo spoken up to someone. He could have spoken to the zoners, admit he had done wrong, and they could have fixed it. Those zoners guarding it, they might have known a way to completely cure black chalk temptation, and Cosmo would have been fine.

He understood his fear. He understood that Cosmo didn't want anyone to suffer for his wrong doings at the time, which was so different from how he had known Cosmo when he was an adult. And it was true that it was possible all the other artists might have had to suffer for Cosmo's mistake. But what ended up happening was so much worse than what would have happened had he just confessed. Because of Cosmo, all artists were banned from ChalkZone, their memories wiped save for Wilter, and much of ChalkZone and many citizens were destroyed. There was no way confessing to what he had done would have resulted in something worse. Cosmo's decision not to speak made things worse for everyone.

He wasn't sure when they were going to read more of the diary. He had brought it with him for safe keeping, just in case he decided to brave it and read it while at the convention. He would have to be careful when he read it. He couldn't let anyone else see it, and he didn't want to offend his dad by having him believe he was more interested in the diary than hanging out with him and mom. He might try to get himself to read some of it while he's going to the bathroom. Or he might just wait until he's with Penny and Snap again before trying to read more.

He then realized there was someone they had forgotten in this equation. Mr. Wilter himself... He hadn't been able to see his teacher yet. He would tomorrow. He made a mental note to himself to talk to Wilter about his discovery. Perhaps the teacher would be able to give them some important clues, things that they might have missed. He might even be able to tell them just what Jenny's relationship to Cosmo was. Was she a friend, a simple ally, a relative, what? How did Cosmo view her? If they shared the same diary, it was possible that she was his human equal, perhaps helping to co-conspire to take over ChalkZone.

Mr. Wilter also would be able to tell them just what Jenny was like when she was under control of the black chalk. He might be able to give them the information they need to fight effectively against her, in case it ever came to that. Rudy hoped it never would. So far, there was no evidence of her getting her memories back, and he hoped it stayed that way. The last thing they needed was another black chalk user wreaking havoc in ChalkZone. He remembered how much Cosmo himself had been able to accomplish in twenty four hours, all under everyone's noses. The idea of a similar incident happening again was daunting. They didn't even know if Jenny had similar views on zoners as Cosmo came to adopt, if she was more mild, or if she was even worse...

He tried to push those thoughts aside. He tried to focus on what was happening now. He was going to a meat convention with his dad. And as boring as it sounded, these places tended to be some fun, well when he was with his dad that is. He enjoyed listening to what his dad had to say about his meat-related inventions. And he loved hearing the commentary people tend to make of his products. Even with very bizarre things like meat shakes, his dad tended to have a good amount of satisfied customers.

He stared out the window, watching as the world went by. The surroundings were becoming familiar. These buildings, those particular line up of trees, the rolling hills that were taking over, yeah they were getting close. The convention was well outside of town, in an area with few houses and buildings nearby. It was on a farm actually. Rudy could tell they were getting close. He could start to smell the scents from the farm, mostly from the animals. And they were getting stronger as the minutes passed by. He guessed they would be there in about fifteen minutes, give or take, provided that traffic here doesn't get too bad. It was out in the country, though, so he wasn't too worried.

Before he knew it, they had arrived at the farm. It seemed like those fifteen minutes went by faster than Rudy had expected. His dad pulled the car up on a hill, next to some other cars that were a little tightly packed. He put the car in park and shut it off. Rudy took a moment and looked around the convention from the car window.

There were a lot of people here, at least for a meat convention. Multiple tables were set outside, people going up and buying things or looking at items. The large red barn was open, revealing more stands and other convention goers. The convention, despite being small, was bustling with life. He could see some kids running around, playing with each other or with a friendly dog that the farmer here owned. Rudy watched the kids and gave a small smile. A lot of them were ten or younger. Looking at them reminded himself of what he was like at that age. It sure did bring back a lot of good memories.

He attempted to open up the door, but he found it was still locked. He realized his dad hadn't yet unlocked the doors. Strange, why wasn't he doing that? He noticed that neither of his parents were moving. They were sitting there quietly, staring blankly up ahead, like something was on their minds. He looked at them with a confused expression. What was going on? Did they want to talk to him about something? If so, why weren't they speaking? Heck, they were so still, it didn't even look like they were breathing. That wasn't like them. Why were they so still?

Rudy's confusion turned into apprehension as a minute passed and his parents still didn't move. He almost thought time had stopped, but looking outside, everyone was going about like nothing was wrong at all. Only his parents remained unusually still and quiet. He was getting really freaked out now, his heart starting to clench. He attempted to open the door, but it was still locked. He wondered if there was some kind of gas leak and his parents had been knocked out. If that were the case, he had to get out, and fast. He tried pounding on the windows, but no one, not even those who walked nearby, seemed to notice him.

Panicking now, he attempted to get his parents' attention. He grabbed their shoulders and shook them, hoping that they would wake up from whatever knocked them out. He made sure to take light breaths, not wanting to be afflicted by the same thing they were. He had to get them up. They couldn't be asleep in the car if it was filling up with gas. He couldn't smell anything, but that meant nothing. Something could still be filling up in this car, and it wouldn't be long before he would be affected.

"Mom? Dad?" Rudy called out in desperation. His parents didn't reply. Tears formed in his eyes. "Please...you have to get up... We have to get out of here..." Still nothing.

His breathing quickened, despite his best efforts not to let it happen. He looked all around. Why wasn't anyone noticing their plight? Why were they all acting as if they weren't there? Not matter how much noise he made, no matter how much movement he did, no one spared a passing glance, no matter how close they were. It was getting to the point where Rudy realized he would have to get out of the car himself. In desperation, he began to punch the glass as hard as he could. With the first punch, it hurt him, causing him to pull his hand back and rub his knuckles. He pulled his fist back and punched again.

When he pulled his hand back another time, he noticed something strange about the car window. There was something leaking out of it. Something black and goey and shiny. It poured in slowly, picking up a little speed as time passed. Rudy's eyes widened in horror at this. He looked around and realized the black goop was coming in from all directions. The roof of the car, the floor, even the seat he was in was leaking, getting coated in black goo. It was a little sticky, making it a tad hard to move.

Then, in front of him, he saw his parents start to move. But they looked...different. They seemed...darker, almost in shadow. They slowly turned their heads. He winced as their necks seemed to crack as they twisted. And when they looked at Rudy, he put his hands to his mouth in horror. He spoke in a frightened whisper.

"You're...you're not my parents..."

The two people before him, one of them was Nurse Jenny. The other...they looked familiar, but he couldn't tell if they were a guy or a gal. The two figures were getting heavily coated in the black goo, their eyes glowing a blood red. They looked at him, cackling evilly as the car continued to fill up with the black goo. Rudy let out a terrified scream and tried desperately to get out. The goo all around him seemed to get thicker, holding onto him tighter.

He tried desperately to get away. He punched the window again and again, hoping, by some miracle, it would give. But soon, it was completely covered in black goo. All the walls in the car were, putting him in sudden chilly darkness. The only light were those from the red eyes of Nurse Jenny and this other person. He tried to punch the goo, but all that happened was a splattering sound and nothing. The goo was preventing him from breaking the door down. Realizing he was not going to be able to free himself, he looked over at Nurse Jenny, his heart pounding against his chest.

"Such a naive child..."

Rudy nearly jumped at that. His eyes widened further, terror filling them. That voice...that omnipresent voice that came from all around... Multiple voices speaking at once... It was the black chalk...

Realizing this, he looked all around in a panic. The black goo..it was the black chalk. It had come back for him... It had trapped him.. He didn't know how this happened. What led up to this? He didn't notice anything strange. How could this have happened? Where were his parents? Were they hurt? Killed? And just how did he get here, trapped and defenseless? His body trembled as his eyes darted around, looking at the black chalk and then, seconds later, moving up to see Nurse Jenny and the mysterious second person.

The black chalk continued to speak.

"You think you can get away from us? You are so mistaken. No artist escaped us before, and you will not be an exception. We want you back, Rudy Tabootie. You will be ours again..."

Rudy shook his head, his lower lip quivering and tears streaming down his face. "N-No...I will not let you control me again! No, you will not have me!" He cried in a panic.

Nurse Jenny gave him a twisted smile. She spoke, her voice distorted. "You underestimate the power of the black chalk, Rudy. It will come back and find you, no matter where you go, no matter where you hide. Give in now. Trust me, it will be a lot easier."

The mysterious person spoke, the voice so distorted Rudy still couldn't tell if they were male or female. "Yes. Give in...give in or they will tear you apart..."

Rudy grabbed his head, pushing his fingers into his scalp. He gritted his teeth tightly, trying to block out the voices. He was not going to let them get to him. He was not going to give in. He would resist. Until his dying breath, he was going to resist. He had no idea how they managed to trap him here, but he would rather die than be turned into a puppet of the black chalk.

"Give in, Rudy..." The mysterious person said with a dark smile.

Rudy shook his head. "No."

"Surrender." Nurse Jenny said.

"No!" Rudy turned his head away, closing his eyes.

"Such determination..." The black chalk spoke, its tone sounding amused. "Such spirit... We love that... That is why we wish to have you again. You have...potential. You could help us achieve our goal..."

"Goal?" Rudy muttered under his breath. "What goal could you possibly have?"

"You know so little. You understand so little. There is much you don't know... If you let us in, we will show you. We will give you all the answers. Join us. Become one of us again."

Rudy narrowed his eyes. He straightened himself up and stared at the black goo all around him. Letting go of his fear for a short time, he bared his teeth at the blackness all around and said a simple phrase. "Fuck you."

The black goo all around him suddenly came to life. Rippling violently all around, the black goo started darting left and right. Rudy, horrified, pressed his back against the car seat, watching as the black goo moved all around him, like he was on a boat going down the rapids. Suddenly, the goo around his legs and arms froze, sealing him there. He tried to struggle, but it was no use.

He looked at Nurse Jenny and the mystery person. He let out a scream of terror when he saw their bodies distorting tremendously. Their sick, twisted smiles spread far beyond their ears. Their heads stretched forward, their entire bodies turning black. Their pupils vanished, leaving only the redness as their eyes. Their insides glowed white, noticeable whenever they opened their mouths. Their teeth became pointed fangs, making their mouths appear jagged.

With the sickening sound he'd imagine he'd hear from a clogged toilet, the two people in front of him began to stretch beyond recognition. They formed together, their bodies becoming one. Long spines grew otu of the back of the head of the combined figure. Before Rudy knew it, he was staring at what appeared to be a black goop dragon, flickering its tongue at him. The black dragon's mouth was turned upward in a vicious smile, and it was eyeing him like it was hungry.

The beast split its mouth open wide. Rudy could see right down its throat. The bright whiteness..it shined on him. As it hit him, he stiffened up. The light...it was just light what was at Solar Pillars. It was affecting him the same way. He looked at the dragon in horror as the mouth opened wider. The light began to hurt him, and soon it felt like he was on fire.

"You will not get away from us..."

Rudy's eyes widened in horror as the dragon pulled its head back. He could see the muscles tightening up as it was preparing to strike.

"We love you."

Suddenly, the dragon struck forward, letting out a loud, ear splitting screech.

sss

Rudy let out a scream as he jumped up in his bed. His eyes were wide, pupils shrank into dots. Sweat covered his body, soaking the bed. He took in a few ragged breaths. He felt his heart pounding against his chest so hard he thought it would burst free. He looked all around, and realized that he was in his bed in his own home.

He took in a few breaths, trying to calm himself down. It was all a dream...it was all just a dream... His mind reeled as images from the nightmare plagued him. He could remember, vividly, everything, the smells, how the goo felt when he touched it, everything. It all felt so...real... It was hard to believe that it was all just in his head.

He began to wonder if the Solar Pillars were also a dream. He looked around his bed to see if the diary was still there. He felt something under his covers. He picked it up and pulled it towards him. It was the diary all right. This meant that the Solar Pillars were indeed real. That whole exchange over there, it really had happened. As his mind grew less muggy, he started to remember what actually happened. He had gone to the meat convention, had fun, came home and went to bed. And that was when he had the nightmare.

"Rudy?!"

Rudy turned his head. He could hear the sound of footsteps rushing towards his room. The door opened up and he could see his parents. Panicked expressions were on their faces as they ran over to his bed.

"What's wrong?! We heard you screaming!" His mother cried in a panic.

"Is everything okay, son?" His dad asked cautiously.

Rudy rubbed the back of his head. His breath was still quickened. He was still sweating. He was still shaken up by that nightmare. And yet he still managed to give them an answer. "J-Just..just a nightmare..."

His parents gave a sigh of relief. It was clear that they thought something worse happened. They still showed concern for him. They looked at him sympathetically and reached up and touched his hands. They whispered soft, comforting words to him, telling him it will be all right. As they did this, Rudy felt his heart rate slow down. And soon it was back to normal. His breathing also slowed down, returning to its usual speed. His trembling slowly stopped.

For a few minutes, Rudy just sat there, his feet over the edge of the bed and staring down at his parents. It took a while for the impact of the fact his parents really were here to hit him, and unharmed at that. He just stared at them, letting that realization sink in. They were here. They were fine. They weren't kidnapped by the black chalk or its minions. They were okay. Slowly a smile crept onto his face, a tear forming in his eyes.

He suddenly jumped off the bed and gave his parents both a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around them. They hugged him back, looking at him in shock and worry. Rudy pressed himself against them, holding on firmly, afraid to let go. Delayed emotion now started to overcome him. The realization that his parents were fine, that they hadn't been harmed, it swelled up inside of him. And when he couldn't take it anymore, he started to cry a little.

"That must have been some nightmare..." His dad said softly, running his hand along the back of Rudy's head. "I've never seen you this upset over a nightmare before. Just..what happened...?"

Rudy paused, hesitating to answer. His eyes widened as images flashed in the back of his head. The black chalk speaking to him, that strange person, the black ooze, Nurse Jenny, the dragon, the odd light, it all came flooding back to him, making his head hurt. Moving away from his parents a little, Rudy rubbed his head, trying to cope with the pain. He could still feel that dragon's mouth around his body. He could still feel that light burning against his skin. Such a horrible sensation...

Rudy looked at his parents. They stared at him worriedly, expectantly. They wanted him to tell them what his dream, no, his nightmare was about. He didn't know if he could talk about it now. Despite having calmed down, he was still afraid. The nightmare still shook him up. It was so real, so disturbing. He could feel everything, smell everything. It was so realistic, even with the suddenly appearing ooze and the dragon that was formed from two adult humans. Nothing about the nightmare suggested it wasn't real. Nothing stood out to him and made him realize he was just dreaming. He...he didn't want to talk about it.

But he knew that, if he kept putting this off, it was going to get worse. If he refused to tell his parents, or anyone, then his fear would continue growing inside. He would just become more and more afraid as time passes. It would become even harder to talk about the dream if he didn't discuss it with his parents now. As much as he didn't want to, he knew he had to talk about it.

He took in a deep breath, looking at his parents. He gazed at the ground for a moment, then back at them. They waited patiently for him to speak. Rudy searched through his mind, trying to come up with the words to say. He thought about how he was going to explain it to them, thinking of sentences and phrases to use. When he felt he was ready, he began to speak to them.

"In the dream, we were heading down towards the meat convention, like we went to earlier today. We had arrived there, but when you parked, you both..just froze. You wouldn't say anything, you wouldn't move, nothing. And what was weird was..no one else around seemed to know we were there. They'd walk by and completely ignore my desperate attempts grabbing attention. They just completely ignored me." Rudy explained. His parents looked at each other worriedly, then back at him. "And..and then the car filled with this black ooze..."

"Black ooze?" His mother whispered in a soft voice.

Rudy nodded his head. "Yeah. Everything just...began to ooze this black stuff. And then when I looked in the front seats, you two were gone, and replaced with Nurse Jenny from my school, and someone else I didn't recognize." He watched as his parents' eyes went wide in shock. "And then the black chalk started to speak to me, saying how I will never be able to escape its grasp, and Jenny and that other person became this dragon and they swallowed me.."

His dad blinked a few times. "Black chalk?"

Rudy realized that he hadn't really gone into much detail about the black chalk. It's not that he never mentioned it. He did. But he didn't talk too much about it. Just what was needed and that's it. He hardly mentioned it before, and he wouldn't be surprised if his parents completely forgot about what black chalk is. Even he forgot a lot of the details he had shared with them a couple years back.

"It sounds dangerous." His mother said. "Black chalk..."

"Yeah it is." Rudy said affirmatively. "It's a dangerous type of chalk that corrupts any artist who dares to use it. Mr. Cosmo tried to corrupt me with the black chalk three years ago. And he nearly succeeded..."

"What?" His parents gasped, staring at him in horror.

Rudy's head lowered. "It was awful... I could feel the black chalk changing me, warping my mind... I nearly became a monster just like him.."

His mom's eyes snapped wide at this. "So that was how he was going to do it...?" She turned her head towards her husband. "The black chalk...?"

"I knew he wanted to try to...to...break him, but..." His dad looked at Rudy sadly. "..I had no idea it was going to be something like that..."

Rudy remembered his parents telling him about the video logs of Cosmo they had found. They had seen what kind of man Mr. Cosmo had become. They had gotten an idea at that time what he had planned. They found out about Cosmo trying to corrupt him, how he tried to have Penny killed off. And he recalled how much it really scared and disturbed them and Mrs. Sanchez to hear that sort of stuff said against him and Penny.

"The worst thing..."

His parents looked at him when he spoke up.

Rudy bit his lip nervously. "The black chalk's full corruption is...permanent."

"What? Permanent...?" His father said.

"If you had become corrupted, you..." His mother's voice trailed off.

"Yeah. I would have become just like Mr. Cosmo. Evil, a monster, despicable...and there would be nothing that could change me back." Rudy said softly. He closed his eyes. "I...I went nuts when I was under the black chalk's spell. It...it drove me to kill three zoners." His parents let out a gasp. "And I almost killed Penny. If Skrawl hadn't knocked the black chalk out of my hand, I would have been permanently corrupted." He reopened his eyes and looked at his parnets. "I am the only artist to ever escape its grasp. And now...I think it wants me back..."

His parents were at a loss of words. They stared at him in horror. Rudy looked down at the diary he had brought with him. He picked it up and brought it over. He set it on his lap, and he looked at his parents in the eyes.

"And..there's more..."

He proceeded to explain to them what happened while he was in ChalkZone.

Chapter Text

Jenny went over to the tall cabinet that stood not far from her desk. She used her finger to move down to the one she wanted. The one that began with a T... Once she found it, she put a key into the lock and undid it. Once she heard the click, she gripped the metal handle and pulled on it. Before her, a ton of folders became visible, all in alphabetical order. She looked through them, her eyes narrowing. There was one in particular she was looking for.

For a little while, she couldn't find it. She hissed softly in frustration. Come on, it's gotta be in here... And sure enough, she found it. Her frown faded in a small smile as she got what she wanted. She grabbed the folder and eased it out of the cabinet. She walked over to her desk and sat down. She laid the folder on her desk, spreading it flat down. She smirked as she looked at the name written on the top. This folder belonged to Rudy Tabootie.

Jenny had forgotten what it was like to be blessed with the knowledge of the black chalk. It had been so long. And so many things were forgotten, until now that is. She should thank the boy sometime. It was only after his visit that she regained her memories. And she had a feeling it had something to do with him. The only thing different about the meeting with him than the other students was that she had been a little too careless with him. A little blood got on her. That was what was different. And she was certain that is what helped her regain her memories.

Yes, there was something in Rudy's blood that interacted with the black chalk that laid dormant inside of her. She wasn't sure if it was more black chalk, or if it was something else. Perhaps some..component of the black chalk or something the black chalk reacted to. Something was different about it, and she was determined to find out just what that was.

His medical records might hold the key. She had seen him more than once over the past couple years. If Rudy really did have black chalk inside of him, she would recognize it. And if he did have it, how long was this the case? How long ago did he get it? Was his memory erased? Hmm... no that wasn't it. Narrowing her eyes, Jenny knew the truth very quickly. She had seen what artists were like when they were blessed by the black chalk. They were always so different. There was no indication that Rudy changed at all. That could only mean one thing.

He was the artist that got away...

Or so he thought. Jenny knew fully well that black chalk never really goes away. At least not completely. Rudy still had black chalk inside of him. Yes, she was fully convinced now he had been touched by the black chalk. That was the only thing that would make sense to her. Black chalk reacts to other black chalk, awakening each other, giving each other knowledge and power. Rudy, somehow, escaped its grasp. He was a renegade, an exile of sorts. And he was such a fool, believing that it was all over just because someone took the black chalk from him before the transition could be completed.

Jenny felt some tinge of anger at that realization. Rudy really turned down a great opportunity. He could have learned so much. All the black chalk wanted to do was help. It wanted to bestow knowledge and power on any artist who uses it. It was a gift, and Rudy had the gall to throw it away. Well, someday, that will all change. She would find a way to make the boy see things differently. The black chalk never lets go of an artist it chooses, and Rudy was not going to be an exception.

Her mind shifted for a time to Mr. Cosmo. She recalled the news she heard a couple years ago, about him being crushed to death in a freak accident. She clenched her teeth slightly. She felt it was such a pity that he had to go. If he were still alive, she would have gone and woken him up as well. After all, he was her partner. They had been equals back when they were in ChalkZone together. Cosmo was the one who started the revelation, waking up artists to the truth and how ChalkZone should really be handled. She had been happy to be a part of it, and she and Cosmo worked well as a team.

How sad that he wasn't able to be here and enjoy the splendid return of the black chalk. So disappointing indeed... Oh well, not much she can do about it now. She could at least now make up for lost time. There was much to be done. So much work ahead of her. But she wouldn't be able to do it alone. She would need some help. She knows of two other artists in here, both formerly black chalk users. The zoners might have taken away their memories for a time, but it wasn't to last, and soon three of them, including her, would be making a return to ChalkZone. She smirked as she wondered how the zoners were going to react when they realized their precious plan did not work.

She wondered how much had changed since she and Cosmo been there. She was certain that repairs had been made to the areas they destroyed. The hospitals would surely be back for certain. They had been among the first places she and Cosmo destroyed, as a way to weaken the zoners and make them more reliant on their creators. They were all leveled to the ground. Every single one of them, unless they miscalculated and one still stood somewhere.

She recalled details of a small war, with artists fighting artists. Black chalk against white chalk. The blessed versus the weak. Yes, it was a glorious battle that wound up tearing more of ChalkZone apart. She couldn't help but laugh. All those pitiful white chalk users did was help them further their goals. And of course, black chalk was winning, with more of the white chalk users being turned over to their side, or even killed. Yes, it was not just zoners who died at that time. A few humans lost their lives. Pitiful, but a necessary sacrifice for the greater good.

Jenny couldn't wait to go back to ChalkZone. She wouldn't do anything right away. She just wanted to see what it looked like, how much had changed. Getting a map of the place would be top priority, and she had a feeling she knew where she could get one. Not just any map, but a magical one that would alter its appearance as more places were erased into ChalkZone. That was an important detail; ChalkZone did change a lot more rapidly than anything in the real world.

She felt lucky that the two black chalk users she knew nearby were right in this school. It was pitiful seeing them like this. Neither of them acted like they knew ChalkZone at all, and that's because they didn't. They had taken up some mundane, boring lives as staff at this useless school. All that would change once they were awakened back to their past, glorious selves, and they could continue on with Mr. Cosmo's plans.

Teddison Cosmo...it was still so sad that he wasn't here anymore. Jenny did miss him. He had been one of her closest friends. It was simply cruel fate that he was taken from her, denied the glory of returning to ChalkZone and taking it over. Well it was just tough luck and, though she was sad, she knew she couldn't dwell on it for too long. There was nothing she could do to change it. All she could do now was move forward, and carry on with his work. She would make sure that his plans don't go to waste, that his dreams weren't in vain. Yes...she would finish what he had started.

But first, she needed to look through Rudy's medical records that the school had. She needed to see if there was anything she could use to get the boy to come down here today before school ended. A hidden medical condition perhaps, or something that seemed off. She needed some kind of excuse to make him come down. It was the blood that woken her up, she knew. And she needed more blood. Yet she could not just ask for it willy nilly. No, that would make her look too suspicious to him. She had to be smart about this. Rudy was an intelligent teenager and if she wasn't careful, he might realize what she was up to.

After looking through his records, she couldn't find anything of use to her. Nothing that she could use to get him to come down here without being suspicious. And thinking about it, she wasn't even sure how it was going to work. Even if she could find something that would warrant a possible blood test, how was she going to pull it off without becoming suspicious? She had to find some way to get blood from him without accidentally causing fingers to be pointed at herself.

So taking blood here was not an option. Maybe he had donated blood before. She could find that and steal it for herself. But there was no guarantee there would be black chalk in it until she ran some tests. She didn't want to have to go through all that trouble for nothing. It would be such a waste. All that effort into breaking into a hospital to get blood, only to find that the blood wasn't what she wanted... Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. No, she needed another plan.

She then recalled something she almost forgot about. She was a school nurse, which meant she had access to a lot of different things. She might have something here that would help her. She did keep some...rather odd things stored. No one ever found out about them, and even she forgot about a lot of the stuff she had. Even when she wasn't influenced by the black chalk, she did some strange things. Perhaps the black chalk never completely let go of her. Maybe that contributed to her awakening, to be blessed with the knowledge once more.

Her mind's gears began to turn as she formulated a plan in her head. She went over to the back of the infirmary. There was a hidden door here, one that she had forgotten about as she hardly used it in so long. She opened up the door, which blended in perfectly well with the wall. And inside, there were all sorts of things. Her grin widened as she stared at it all. Looks like those years of collecting odds and ends was finally going to come into some good use.

She reached in and grabbed a bottle. It was black in color with no label. She opened it up and took a quick whiff of it. The scent was very familiar. Yes, this was it. She twisted the cap shut and looked back in the small, hidden room. Her eyes moved around, glancing at everything in there. She grabbed what she needed and shut it. She had no fear of the cameras seeing her; she could easily say that was where she kept outdated medicine and that she was just doing some cleaning up.

Once she got what she needed, she put it all in her bag for the time being. She wouldn't be able to do anything right now. But soon, she would get what she wanted from Rudy. And he would never even know. And once she was able to get what she needed, she would be able to wake up the two other black chalk users and they could commence their plan on returning to ChalkZone.

They will not be kept out any longer...

sss

Rudy laid on his back on his bed, staring up blankly at the ceiling. His chest rose and fell slowly. He barely blinked his eyes as he was deep in thought. In his mind, he kept reeling back information regarding his discussion earlier today with his parents and friends. He had been trying his best not to think about it too much. He did need to get some rest soon. School day tomorrow and all that. He couldn't afford staying up too late as, tomorrow, he had an algebra test.

He was grateful that Penny helped him study for that. He did need to get a passing grade if he wanted to get a B in that class. The studying had gone pretty well, and he was certain he was going to succeed this time. But that would only be possible if he got a good night's rest. He kept trying to get his eyes to close and go to sleep. It was nine at night, and if he didn't get to sleep now, he might end up with very little sleep. Then taking the test would be impossible, even with all that studying he did with Penny.

But he couldn't help it. The talk he had with his loved ones about his nightmare, it just wouldn't leave him. After he had told his parents about what happened with Solar Pillars, they had wanted Penny and Snap to come over so they could talk more about it. They were hoping to see if they could come up with any possible answers or explanations to what was going on.

It was nice to have his parents in on the secret as well. It had taken some time the past two years to really realize the fact that his parents knew about ChalkZone. He had been keeping it a secret for so long that it was hard to retrain his brain not to tell a lie to them or to sneak away into ChalkZone. It had gone away eventually, and he was glad for it. He wasn't sure how long it was going to take him and Penny to get used to their folks knowing about ChalkZone. And it was a good thing they did know, as they now had someone else they could speak to regarding incidents there.

Though, due to how peaceful everything had been for quite a while, that hadn't been necessary. This was, actually, the very first time that he had really talked to his folks about something wrong in ChalkZone. For a first time, he thought it went over pretty well, as everyone got a chance to speak what they thought, and some ideas were tossed around. It was certainly better than before, when only he had Penny talk to in the real world about anything regarding ChalkZone. Then Mr. Wilter came onto their side, now their parents. That was a definite improvement, and it made it much easier to discuss things.

What kept clinging to Rudy's mind is what they said about his dream. While interpretations varied, it was decided, and agreed upon, that his dream must be trying to tell him something. It wasn't just a simple nightmare. Something in his mind was trying to warn him. There was the chilling suggestion that maybe there was still some tiny amount of black chalk still in him, and it was trying to reach out to him and communicate. No, that was impossible. That couldn't be the reason. And yet..it did make sense. The black goo...it might have been representing the black chalk in some way, and the dragon and the light... It might have been a foreshadowing thing, telling him that the black chalk really was coming back for him...

It was a thought he already had before the meeting. The black chalk does want him back, he was certain of that now. The black chalk was still around, hidden in ChalkZone. It was waiting for artists to come use it so it could spread its evil throughout the world. And what was terrible was that..it couldn't be punished. It couldn't be arrested and thrown in jail because..it was an inanimate object. It could speak and think, but not much else beyond that. And it wasn't like jail was going to do much for those objects. They already couldn't move anywhere. All putting them in jail would do was just change their locations.

No, they couldn't be treated like other criminals, like Draow and Bardot. The only thing he could think of was destroying the black chalk, but he was certain Biclops mentioned somewhere that it was impossible to do that. The black chalk would come back. The only thing they could do was keep it hidden and hope that no other artists could find it.

His parents were especially concerned about him when he mentioned what the light had done to him. It was that reaction that made his loved ones believe that the black chalk was responsible somehow. He still didn't want to believe it and yet it did still make sense, no matter how much he wanted to deny it. That was the only thing that was different between him and Penny. And she was never affected by the light. But if that were the case, then...how come he wasn't going nuts...?

He remembered how he felt when the black chalk started to surge through his body. He wanted to draw destructive things. He wanted to kill. He wanted to destroy. He was being given all this knowledge, and he had, for a time, had a greater understanding of magic chalk than he ever could have hoped for. But it came with a price. And that was his sanity. He nearly became a monster that day, just like Mr. Cosmo had become.

Going into ChalkZone should have triggered the black chalk somehow. Anytime he went, the black chalk supposedly inside of him should have activated, and the corruption process should have begun again. Yet it did not. There was simply no reaction. It was a little hard for him to believe that the black chalk could possibly exist inside of him without activating whenever he went into ChalkZone. If black chalk was to blame for the light's reaction...he had to figure out why and fast.

Snap had a pretty good suggestion. He had suggested that if the amount left in him was really so tiny, that might have been why it didn't react in ChalkZone. It might not be strong enough to go that far with him. Rudy hoped that was the case. It would fill him with great relief knowing that there was not enough black chalk in him to begin the corruption process all over again. He would prefer there being no black chalk in him whatsoever, but Snap's idea was the second best situation he could be in.

His parents suggested that he go to a ChalkZone hospital and get blood taken. This would be difficult as he would have to, somehow, get a hold of a real world needle for them to use as his blood would dissolve the chalk instruments they'd use. But he did see his parents' point. It would be better going to a hospital in that world as they would be able to detect chalk-based things more easily. They might be able to tell him if he really had black chalk in him still, or if he had something else going on with him.

He couldn't stay up too much longer. He had to get to bed. He had to get a good night's rest if he wanted to pass that algebra test. He tried his best to push those thoughts aside. He tried to clear his mind so he can focus getting to sleep. It wasn't going to be easy, but if he concentrated hard enough, maybe he would be able to accomplish it.

He laid back down on his bed. He stared blankly at the covers for a few seconds before giving a sigh. He grabbed the covers and pulled them over his body as he laid down on his side. He stared at the wall to his left for a while. He kept staring at it until his vision started to distort. He turned his head a little and shook his head, clearing up his vision. He didn't feel particularly tired, but that didn't matter. He forced his eyes to close. He took in a few deep breaths, and did his best to keep his mind clear. It was hard keeping his eyes closed. It was so easy for them to start opening up again as he still felt too awake. But he managed to keep them closed for the most part.

It took a little while, but soon he felt his mind start to get muggy. His body started to relax. His eyes had an easier time staying closed, and an increasing difficulty opening up. His heart rate began to slow down. Tiredness swept through his body. And, before he knew it, he was starting to fall asleep.

sss

Jenny knew that coming here at this time of night and trying to break in could land her in hot water. She knew full well that she was breaking the law doing this. But right now, she didn't really care. The cops weren't out in this area at this time, and everyone on this street was a sleep at this time. It was past one in the morning. If anyone was up, it would be either adults who were probably doing late night work and can't bother looking out the window, or children who don't know any better.

She wore a dark blue suit covering most of her body save for her eyes and nose. Blue was a good night time camouflage. She found it to be better than black. She also wore a thick pair of gloves so that she would not leave any fingerprints behind. She moved along behind the houses, staying clear of the street lights. She kept herself as close to the houses as she could, keeping her body hunched, so that it would be harder to see her.

She continued on her way, moving towards one particular house that was a little further away still. Rudy Tabootie's house. She knew it was the right place as she had the boy's address in her records. She knew this was the right street, and she knew this was the right house. She recognized it from when the news was on, when Rudy and Penny had mysteriously vanished for a time. Even though this was behind the house, she knew it was the right one from the color scheme and the way it was shaped.

Once she got to it, she kept to the back. She refused to go in the front as there was a higher risk of someone spotting her if she did. She went up to the back door and attempted to turn it. No surprise, it was locked. And when she looked on the side of the door, she noticed a white rectangular box with a bunch of buttons. She gritted her teeth at the sight of it. An alarm... Of course, she should have realized this. After Rudy and Penny were kidnapped, both the Tabooties and Mrs. Sanchez installed alarms so that such an incident wouldn't happen again. Well that was all fine and dandy for them, but it was going to cause trouble for her. She'd have to disable it somehow.

Or perhaps not. She remembered hearing about this type of alarm. It was designed to go off only if the door was forced open. If she were to slam against the door really hard, or if she broke a window, then the alarm would go off and alert the people inside. But if she found a way to open the door normally, slow and softly, then it wouldn't go off. She just needed a way to pick the lock. Obviously, she didn't have Rudy's household key, so she had to do this the very hard way. She had some experience picking locks, and now she was going to put what she knew to the test.

She got out a hairpin and eased it into the hole. She wiggled her hand from side to side and up and down. She narrowed her eyes in determination as she continued to pick the lock. Soon, she heard a click and the door was unlocked. She smirked and put the hairpin back into her pocket. She grabbed her bag she brought with her and opened up the door. She made sure to go in slow and nice so that she didn't trigger anything else with the alarm. She shut the door behind her.

She made her way through the house. She made sure to keep herself as quiet as possible. There were a few creaks, and she paused and flinched, thinking that it was going to draw attention. But luckily, nothing had happened. She sighed quietly with relief and continued making her way around the house. She managed to find the kitchen and the living room. She guessed the bedrooms were all on the top floor. It didn't take her long to find the stairs. She walked up them slowly, taking care not to make a squeaking sound with her feet as they pressed against the wood.

She went up to one of the doors. She had no way of knowing if it was Rudy's room or not unless she opened it up. She grabbed the knob and turned it slowly. She pushed it open and peered inside. Much to her surprise, she had guessed right the first time. She could see Rudy laying on top of his bunk bed. Well sort of a bunk bed. It had a ladder leading up to it, but there was just one bed. Where the other bed would be was a desk with a paper clipped to it and some drawing utensils.

Rudy was clearly asleep. He was laying on his back. His mouth was partially open and she could hear him snoring a little. She smirked at this. Him being asleep now was going to make things so much easier. She moved into the bedroom. She shut the door behind her just in case one of his parents has to use the bathroom at night. She can't have them seeing the door open and coming in. She walked up to his bed and stared up towards the sleeping boy. She put her bag on the ground and pulled out what she needed. A needle, which she put in her pocket, and then a cloth, a knife, and some bottle of chloroform.

She poured a bit of chloroform on the cloth. Not a lot. Just enough to do the job. She climbed up the ladder. When she reached the top, she stared at the boy's sleeping form. He looked pretty peaceful sleeping like this. She could try to do her work with him like this, but it was too much of a risk. She couldn't afford him waking up and alerting his parents, and she can't just tie him up and gag him because that may cause more problems than it was worth.

After she stared at him for a few seconds, she took the chloroform soaked cloth and pressed it against his face. The sudden gesture did cause Rudy's eyes to open. Before Rudy could try to struggle, she pressed the knife against his throat in a threatening gesture. Rudy held still, doing little more than letting out a soft whimper before he passed out from the chloroform. With his body now limp and unmoving, the chloroform taking a hold of his brain, Jenny could proceed with what she came here to do.

She got out the needle and moved herself as close as she could to Rudy without accidentally laying on him or falling down. She pulled the covers back so she could seize his arm. She pulled it out, straightening it at his side. She put her fingers on the crook of his arm, where it bent, feeling where his blood vessels would be. Once she found the right vein, she took the needle and stuck it deep into his arm.

Slowly, she pulled the top of the needle back. She smiled darkly as she saw it rapidly fill up with the boy's blood. Dark red fluid was drawn into the needle. The more she pulled back, the more blood that appeared. She didn't stop until the entire needle was filled with Rudy's blood. She pulled the needle out. She glanced at it, the same dark smile still spread across her face. She put the needle in the bag, careful not to spill any of it in there. She looked down at the boy's arm, noting the blood that poured out of where she had the needle stuck. She pressed her thumb against the hole she made and raised his arm up. She did this until the bleeding had stopped.

Jenny eased his arm back to his side and pulled the covers back up. She watched his sleeping, unconscious face for a few seconds. She reached over and pressed her hand against his face. She gently caressed his cheek. Her hand soon moved upwards and she rubbed the back of his ear like he was a dog. She then ran her fingers through his hair, taking her time. She leaned in and pressed her lips against his forehead and kissed him.

She leaned in and whispered into his ear, "Thanks for your contribution, Rudy. Sweet dreams..."

With that, she went down the ladder, took her things, and made her way out of the house, keeping as quiet as she could. Now that she has what she needed, all she has to do now is get a hold of those two former black chalk artists and rewaken them. And then, it was time to make some plans.

Chapter Text

Jenny stood in the middle of the school infirmary, her arms folded against her chest. She looked on at her handiwork that she was able to accompish. It wasn't easy pulling this off. She could have easily been caught. Thankfully, she did know this school pretty well and knew how to get around the security without too much difficulty. She also remembered to wear gloves at all times so that her fingerprints got on nothing. And after she was done with them, she made sure to cut them up, tear them apart and have them burned, destroying any chance of someone happening upon them and finding her marks all over them.

Everything was going exactly the way she wanted it. There was little possibility Rudy would know that it was her who ambushed him in his house. He had barely gotten a look at her before he was knocked unconscious. And it was very late at night and his mind was likely still muddled. There was a chance that he was not going to remember anything. Though that mark on his arm would look suspicious and he might have some memories following that. But with the suit she had worn, at best, he would only know he was attacked at night, but would not know who it was.

It was imperative that, for now, Rudy not know that she was up to something. The boy is clever, she knew. And there was Penny, one of Rudy's closest friends. If Rudy couldn't figure something out, she would. There was no way that Jenny was going to be able to get away with much of anything if Penny was on the scene. And she couldn't take her out without possibly exposing her self in the process, if she wasn't careful. There might be someone else she could go after as they had no idea who she was, but she would save that for another time.

So long as Rudy didn't know what was going on until she was ready for him to know, then she would be able to make her plans on returning to ChalkZone. She looked forward to going back to that place and continuing from where Cosmo had left off. She was going to make the zoners pay for what they did. They were going to pay for their insolence, shutting her and the others out like that. They had no right. All Cosmo was doing was claiming what was rightfully theirs. He had a vision, a wonderful one, and those stupid zoners took it all away. Oh how they were going to pay...

Especially Cyclops. That bumbling giant... He was supposed to be one of Cosmo's greatest warriors. A huge, monstrous beast with the ability to manipulate memories. He was like a large walking tape recorder and was to enforce Cosmo's rules, record everything that was going on and show it to Cosmo when called upon, and even inflict punishment when someone wasn't listening. That was part of the plan for him. His memory manipulation powers were given to him as a way to keep the others from knowing things that they shouldn't and would have come in handy should any zoner or non-pure artist were to get their hands on some knowledge that could be used against them.

But the giant turned out to be a wuss. Cosmo had not thought his design through and the giant ended up tripping all over the place and was hardly useful as a result. Cosmo's pride in the creation turned to shame and he shifted his focus elsewhere, creating Draow, a much more formidable creature and became Cosmo's 'right hand mind', so to speak.

Draow proved to be a much better enforcer than Cyclops. His design was a lot better, he was stronger and faster, and he was very loyal. He would do anything Cosmo told him to do, including keep a vow of silence so that no one realized just how smart he actually was. This would cause enemies to not use their full strength against him. They would assume he was just an overgrown mutt, and a lot of times, he acted just like that. In fact, Draow's performance was so convincing and he was able to stay in the role for so long, that pretty much ninety-nine percent of ChalkZone, at the time, thought Draow was just a pet Cosmo drew for himself.

And that is exactly how Cosmo wanted everyone to view him. He wanted everyone to underestimate Draow's capabilities, allowing the bat wolf to gain the upperhand, using moves that are clever, but not too much so, as to not expose his true intelligence underneath. Jenny had a feeling that even the little traitor, Wilter, had been fooled all that time, and never caught on. Her eyes narrowed a little as she thought about that old man, who was currently probably in his fifties or so. He had played a major role in getting them all kicked out of ChalkZone. Yes, he would also pay for what he's done. That might be her first order. She may just have to do something with Mr. Wilter, to get rid of him...

He was just as much of a nuisance as Cyclops was. In fact, the two had worked together to get rid of Cosmo and to stop the blessed artists from spreading their well-deserved control all across the chalk world. Jenny wasn't entirely sure how Wilter had done it, but he had managed to find a way to beat the other artists on his own before confronting Cosmo himself. It was an intense battle, but somehow, Wilter managed to win, and took Cosmo down. She would have tried to help, but she herself had already been defeated.

And after their defeat, Cyclops had begun to purge them of their ChalkZone memories. She recalled it didn't really hurt. It merely involved being forced to stare into Cyclops's one large eye. She sort of remembered a glow and a tingling feeling in the back of her neck. If she remembered right, they passed out after that and when they came to, they had no recollection of what transpired in ChalkZone, or that it even existed at all. They went on with their normal lives like nothing had happened.

But it would seem that, despite the ability being described as 'flawless' when Cosmo first drew Cyclops, it wasn't good enough. Something triggered her memories, something in Rudy's blood. And she was able to confirm what she had suspected all along. Rudy's blood did contain some traces of black chalk. It wasn't an insanely large amount, but it was enough to prove a couple of things to her.

It proved that black chalk really did restore memories. Rudy's black chalk was active this whole time, not forced into dormancy like hers was. It was active, but it wasn't strong enough to take control of Rudy, hence why he didn't act like any of the blessed artists she came across. It was because he was still one of the un-blessed. About half way between, so to speak. A hybrid of sorts.

The other thing that it proved was that Rudy was indeed in ChalkZone before. She wasn't sure if he visited often or if this was the result of some one time visit or what. Either way, the presence of black chalk proved that he was, indeed, in ChalkZone at one time. And in order to go to that world, magic chalk was required. Rudy must have a piece, logically. How else would he be able to go into that world? There was no other way. If she searched him enough, she wound find it.

But she was going to play it a little safer. It may be too much of a risk to just go back at his house, especially after that little stunt she pulled. Granted, she had good intentions, which was to reopen the portal into ChalkZone and let herself and her two comrades she chose back in. And from there, they would have reclaimed what was rightfully theres and begin to harvest ChalkZone, its full use taken advantage of. There was nothing wrong with that. It was Cyclops and Wilter who were in the wrong. They were the ones to blame. It was they who must fall.

And somehow, someway, she would see to it that it happens. But for now, she will focus on beginning the return to ChalkZone. It was going to require a little bit of planning, and she was definitely going to need some help on this one.

She looked in front of her, towards the two chairs in the middle. She hadn't been alone in there. Far from it. There were two other people in there. The two people she knew were black chalk artists just like herself. One of them was a large woman, about the same size as Rudy's mother, except noticeably smaller. The other was a man that was a little on the short side, and wasn't much taller than her. Jenny had managed to get them down here and soon, she was going to resurrect their memories. She would have woken them up sooner, but she had wanted to wait until they woke up. She wanted to see how they'd react to being in here, especially the way they were now.

The two adults were tied down to chairs. Their limbs were bound to the arms and legs of the chair, secured tightly. This kept them from getting up out of their seats. Gags had been placed in their mouths, keeping them mostly quiet. She felt she might be going a little too far in this, but it was worth it to minimize the chances of getting caught. And even if someone were to report this, with the status the man held, there was little chance of her getting in trouble.

The man and woman were struggling against their binds. They were shouting in muffled confusion. They both looked visibly angry and afraid at the same time. They clearly had no idea what was going on. That was understandable. Jenny knew that both of them had lost their memories. Once she resurrected them, they would calm down. They would see things her way. Yeah, she knew it was wrong to tie them up like this, but she didn't know how else she was going to accomplish this. Not many people were just going to allow some random person put blood on their skin.

She walked up to the two, giving them each a smile. "Don't worry. Everything will soon make sense. I will help you understand. It is okay."

The man and woman looked at each other, their eyes wide and giving confused muffled sounds. They looked back at Jenny and they let out a surprised scream when she took out a needle filled with red blood. Rudy's blood that is, from when she broke into his house. There was still about half of his blood remaining, more than enough to get the effect that she wanted. She went over to the man first. She gently pushed down on the needle. A small droplet of blood dropped out of the tip and landed on his bare skin. She repeated this same process with the woman, making sure to get a small amount of blood on her arm. She took a step back and waited for the results.

She didn't have to wait for too long. Seconds later, the two adults began to moan and groan. They closed their eyes tightly, whimpering as something started to overcome them. Jenny just smiled and watched this. It was unpleasant at first, she had to admit. So she understood why they were reacting this way. But it would soon be all over, and they would be reborn. They'd thank her for this later. She continued to watch them squirm, letting out muffled cries and looking around in a panic.

"It's okay. It's just all part of the process of remembering." Jenny said to them in a comforting tone. "You will be fine. Just calm down and let it take you under its wing. Let it help you remember."

The two adults continued to try to resist, but their struggling soon died down. This caused her smile to broaden more. At first, the adults just sat there, doing nothing. The only signs of life were their chests inflating and deflating with each ragged breath that they took. She waited patiently for them to do something. And soon enough, they did. They raised their heads up and looked over at her. Jenny was happy to see that the black chalk had exactly the kind of effect she wanted.

The man and woman were no longer afraid. Though it was hard to tell with the gags that were in place, she could tell that smiles were plastered on their faces. Genuine smiles at that, not nervous ones. Their eyes now shined a black aura, the dark smoke swirling around their eyes, filling them with knowledge they had long since lost years ago. They both stared at Jenny, no longer struggling or confused. They just sat there and waited for Jenny to set them free.

She went over to them and reached behind their heads, one at a time. She removed their gags and dropped them on the ground. They smacked their lips together, clearing their mouths of the taste of cloth. They said nothing as they smiled evilly in Jenny's direction. Jenny returned the smile. Yes, soon, plans will be made and set into motion. And with the help of these two, the goal of the black chalk will be completed.

"Greeting. Sorry to have you all tied up like this, but I had no choice." Jenny said, the smile never leaving her face.

"Oh it's quite all right, Commander Jenny." The woman said, shrugging her shoulders. "We understand why you did it."

"It has been...a long time." The man leaned back and took in a deep breath. "It feels so good to be alive again. Truly alive, and not trapped in this mundane hell that Cyclops enforcedo n us."

The woman scowled at this. "He and that traitor are not going to get away with this."

Jenny nodded her head. "Indeed they aren't. But first, we have to get back into ChalkZone. In order to do that, we need magic chalk. With no magic chalk, we will never be able to return."

"And how are we going to do that?" The man asked.

"None of us have any magic chalk left I don't think." The woman said. "I don't know how we'll be able to find any. We don't know if any artist has been into ChalkZone after us."

Jenny smirked at this. "There is someone." The man and woman turned and looked at her. "Rudy Tabootie. And I'm certain Penny Sanchez is in on this, considering how close those two are. Rudy has traces of black chalk in him, which is what I used to wake you both up." At this, the man and woman were intrigued. They leaned in a little to hear more of what Jenny had to say. "In order for him to have black chalk in him, he had to have been in ChalkZone before. That means he must have magic chalk somewhere. All we need is one piece, even a tiny one, and we're back in business..."

Jenny went over to the two tied up adults. She took out a small knife and cut the ropes that kept them secured to the chair. She grabbed their hands and pulled them up out of their seats.

"I am going to need your help." Jenny said. "Are you with me?"

The man and woman looked at each other. They turned to her and gave an affirmative nod, grinning darkly.

"Of course." The man said.

"It'll be my pleasure..." The woman replied, her voice darkening.

Jenny grinned at this. "Perfect..." She looked at the two of them. She remembered what it was like when they were kids. They were as confident then as they are now. Not too much had changed, outside the fact they are older and now with more experience. She felt lucky that she had these two on her side. "Welcome back... Lunchlady Ghadir and..." She turned her head to face the man. "...Principal Tyreek."

sss

When Rudy woke up, he had no idea what to think of the dull pain he felt in his arm. He glanced down on it and he did notice some kind of bruise on it, and what appeared to be a puncture mark. But he had no idea how that could have happened. Nothing occurred the other day that would have warranted such a wound, even if it were just small. He wondered if he had hit it during the night, but then, that wouldn't explain the puncture mark on it.

He had thought of possibly poking himself in the arm with a pencil, but he doesn't put pencils in his bed at night. So that wasn't it. He knew something had to have happened, but no matter how much he searched his mind, he just couldn't think of anything that might have happened. All he remembered last night was he had some trouble sleeping, and eventually pulled it off. He curled up in his bed and fell asleep. And then he just woke up in the morning, like usual. Nothing strange or bizarre happened. It was just a regular, uneventful night.

Or had it been? He never woke up with a mark on his arm like this before. It was a little tender, suggesting that, whatever happened, it wasn't exactly gentle or pleasant. And he had noticed he was a little more tired than usual when he woke up. He also had a slight headache, which he usually doesn't have when he first wakes up. It felt like something was pounding on his head. Not very hard, but enough to be a problem.

It was clear that something different had happened last night. He just couldn't remember what it was. Maybe he was just sleep walking and he hurt himself during the process. He didn't really sleep walk before, or if he did, no one told him about it. It was possible that he started to pick up the habit lately. He heard that stress can sometimes cause sleeping walking, and he had been stressed a lot more the past couple years than he's been before. Yeah, that was probably it.

He thought about raising the issue with his folks and his friends, but he decided against it, at least for now. He didn't really notice any negative side effects about what happened, aside from a little pain and a little headache. It didn't look like he had made a mess of things. It didn't seem like he had gone out somewhere and went on a stealing spree. He probably just walked all over the house for a while, tripped and fell on something tiny but needle sharp, and went back to bed. He did lose a little blood as he found some blood droplets on his bed, but nothing else beyond that.

If it got out of control, he would speak up. If he woke up and the next time he was in a garbage can somewhere singing along to songs from the fifties or something like that, he would say something to his loved ones and try to get help. Until then, he decided to think nothing of it. It was probably nothing anyway. Maybe nothing more than a one time freak incident.

He had managed to push those thoughts aside enough so that he could concentrate on what he had studied for today. That algebra test. He and Penny had studied for it all week, whenever they had a chance to. Penny, of course, had a great hang on it, but he still had some issues. She helped him the best she could, and he had prepared himself for this moment. And going into class, he did have some worry that he was going to fail. He was so set on the possibility of him failing that Penny had to snap him out of it and tell him to think more positivitely, otherwise, his negative attitude might spread to his work.

He tried to do what she told him to do. He cleared his mind, emptying it of all thoughts, except to those pertaining to just getting the work done. He remembered what Penny had taught him during their studying. And, when Mr. Wilter gave the command, like the other students, he began to work on the test. He toiled for whatever time had been allocated for the algebra test. By the end of it, his head was hurting, he was sweating, and he was afraid that he had failed miserably. Yet he still managed to finish all the questions in time and handed his paper in.

He was pleasantly surprised when he did manage to score that B he had wanted. He told Penny the good news and she congratulated him. He also told his parents as soon as he came back home. They were so proud of him and gave him a hug. Rudy wanted to go into ChalkZone afterwards, so he waved goodbye to his parents and headed out. He wanted to tell Snap the good news. He had promised him that he would tell him how he did on his test when he got into ChalkZone today. And just like his parents, Snap was also happy for him.

However, the happiness he felt didn't last for long. They all knew what they had to do next. They still had Cosmo's diary. They still hadn't read anymore pages since their trip to the Solar Pillars. And that was what they were going to do today. Despite his fears, he was going to read the next journal entry, right after the last one he read.

The three of them went over to Snap's place to do more reading. They had just arrived her a few minutes ago, and they were getting settled in. They planned on staying here for a while, so Rudy and Penny made sure to bring some drinks and food along, just in case. They kept them in a tightly concealed bag. They didn't want the soda they brought with to accidentally spill out and start to dissolve parts of Snap's home, or worse, hit Snap himself. The bag was kept at Penny's side, her arm looped around it so that it didn't fall down.

Penny and Snap sat on either side of Rudy, their eyes glued to the page. Rudy had just opened it up to the next entry. He felt his heart clench, knowing full well that he was not going to like what he was about to read. It was all going to go downhill, he knew. He already knew how this story was going to end, and he wasn't sure if knowing made it worse or not. He hesitated to start reading it, yet he didn't want to slow Penny and Snap down, as they were going to read it along with him. That did bring him some comfort, the fact that they were in this together, and that he didn't have to endure this terrible diary on his own.

Rudy took in a deep breath and proceeded to read the next entry.

"July 12 at 6:30 PM-

I know I said I was going to try to avoid that place, that forbidden tunnel, but I coudn't help myself. I keep thinking about it. It won't leave my mind. I had tried to enjoy my trip to the Candycane Forest with Horace. He had a great time there. But me, well, I just couldn't enjoy myself. Not completely. My mind was too focused on that tunnel. I thought about what those voices told me, and if they were even real or not. I just didn't know anymore, if they were real or just part of my imagination. And it was driving me nuts. I just had to know what was going on, and the only way to know was if I headed back.

So, when I was able to get some time alone, and I could get away from Horace without him finding out where I was going, I headed back to where I found that black chalk. Getting back in a second time was much harder. I won't go into details about how I succeeded. Let's just say I managed to get with with some great difficulty.

Being back in that odd room with all that black chalk was eerie. I could hear those voices again, talking to me, telling me to use it. The cold chill came back with a vengeance. Why was it so cold in here? Why did it feel like the temperature was lowering at a staggering rate? I really wanted to know. Maybe I should just leave now and ask the zoners about this place. Maybe I should just admit my mistake and leave before I cause more trouble. But a side of me wasn't letting me go, and I found my eyes glued on the black chalk before me. There was just something so tantalizing about the black aura that rose from it. It no longer looked as foreboding. It looked almost inviting.

It was so tempting to touch the black chalk. I had gotten really close to one piece. I had my hand reached out. I was going to grab it and hold it. I wanted to know what it felt like. I wanted to know what was so different about this chalk and if it was the cause of this room being so cold. Yet, there was a part of me that told me it was a bad idea. And as much was I wanted to grab the chalk, I did listen to that little voice in me and I didn't grab a piece.

I moved a couple steps away. As I did so, the voices began to grow louder. I had no idea if I could communicate with them or not. But I did attempt anyway. I tried talking back. I tried a few times, but they didn't really respond. I wonder if I have to be touching them in order to communicate. It was a possibility. I don't really know what helped me come to this conclusion, yet somehow, it seemed like the most logical solution to this. Yes, despite my fears, I was going to grab the black chalk so I may speak with it. I wish to understand it a little more. I mean, there has to be a reason why it was locked up, right? And I was in no danger. So long as I didn't draw anything with it, I wasn't going to unleash anything dangerous onto ChalkZone.

Knowing that it wasn't going to be anything that bad, I went over to the black chalk. I lowered myself so I could get a close up look of it. I reached out to grab a piece. My hand hadn't yet touched it, and I could already feel how icy cold it really was. I stopped myself, wondering if it was so cold it would burn my skin. I winced at the thought. Frostbite wasn't something I really wanted. Then again, who would?

I was about to grab a piece of black chalk when I heard a shout from far in the tunnel. I was startled and moved backwards when I realized I had been caught. Some of the zoners from the village found me and they escorted me out. They were certainly not pleased with me and they gave me a scolding I would never forget. I had tried to ask them about the black chalk, but they refused to comment. They warned me never to go in there again. I was pretty upset as I was just curious. Yet, I could also understand their reasoning for being upset. I did disobey the rules, after all.

I might try going back anyway. I managed to sneak in before and I could do it again. But not for a while. They would be suspicious and I imagine they'd put some guards there to keep me from going back in. I would wait until this blows over before trying again. I'll write again when I manage to get a hold of some black chalk."

Rudy felt his heart start to race. Cosmo had not yet been corrupted by the black chalk. But that part was coming up soon. It had to be the next entry or so. He wasn't sure if he wanted to read further. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be reminded of just what it was like to be influenced by the black chalk. He looked at his friends. They looked just as nervous as he did. Apprehension filled all their hearts. Rudy put his finger on the page and tried to turn it, yet he froze.

Did he really want to read further? Did he really want to know what happened after this? That was a silly question. Of course he did. No, it wasn't a simple want. It was a need. He had to figure out what happened. Cosmo wrote a lot of entries, and if there was anything here they needed to know, they would find it. There was no telling what other hidden dangers lurked around ChalkZone that Cosmo had left behind. If they never found out, how would they be able to protect ChalkZone from them?

He took in a deep breath. Then he managed to force himself to turn the page. A slow turn, but he still got himself to go to the next entry. And almost immediately, something was wrong. The other pages were written pretty neatly and calmly. But the writing on this page, it was sloppier, more slanted. The color of the ink stayed the same, but the overall look and feel changed. It wasn't gradual, either. It was sudden. Something major had changed at this point, and Rudy had a feeling he knew exactly what it was.

Although reluctant, he and his friends read the next entry.

"July 15 at 10:00 PM-

Well it seemed that I had gotten lucky. When I was startled back in that cave system, I had knocked myself into the batch of black chalk. A piece of it had broken off and stuck to me. I didn't really notice until I was on my way back home with Horace. When I did notice the black chalk clinging to me, I had Horace go on ahead. I wanted to check out the black chalk for myself.

I know I hadn't written any entries the past couple of days, but that was because I was busy. You see, when I touched the black chalk it was strange at first. It felt so cold and so sharp. Yet something drew me to it. I couldn't let go of it. It began to wrap me up in its magic. It was a wonderful sensation. I never felt something so good in my life. Those voices came back and spoke to me. But this time, they felt much more welcoming and kind. I didn't run away. I stayed and let the black chalk talk to me.

Knowledge. That's what the black chalk wanted to talk to me about. Knowledge, and giving it to me. I had learned so much, and there was still yet more to learn. The black chalk was a teacher of sorts. I don't understand why it was locked up at all. All it wanted to do was spread knowledge to other artists. There was so much that it knows, that it could teach. Why would the zoners hide such a thing? I had thought about that for a while, and I had come up with my own conclusion.

It was because the zoners weren't worthy of such knowledge. As I listened to the black chalk and thought about what I had been doing in ChalkZone, I realized just how much I had wasted my time. I had spent so long beind friends with these zoners, treating them like people. But the black chalk opened my eyes to the truth. They were nothing more than living drawings and they were meant to serve their creators. The black chalk knew this fully well, and it had chosen me to send that message. It wanted me to find the other artists and open their eyes to the truth as well.

First order of business, according to the black chalk, was taking over the place. That was the only way to begin the process of changing things to how it should be. Creators should not befriend their creations. They should rule over them. Creations were meant to serve, and anything less would be wasting their potential. I hadn't yet shared this with Horace, but I will in due time. I trust that he will see things my way and understand what I'm trying to accomplish. Jenny may also be interested in this. She's relatively new to ChalkZone and she and I get along really well. If Horace refuses my generous offer, Jenny could be a good partner.

I'm going to get started tomorrow after school. I will go into ChalkZone and I am going to make up for lost time. I will correct my mistake and commence the beginning of the plan to take over ChalkZone. I will continue writing entries to explain my progress. I trust it won't be too hard. Most of the zoners are more or less pacifistic, further proof that they are inferior to humans, and I can't believe I ever thought of them as my friends.

It is late now, and I must get to sleep. I will leave with this message, however. ChalkZone is going to be finally put to proper use. I just need to figure out how to control it completely, make it mine. And the black chalk is going to help me."

Chapter Text

As she was being driven over to Rudy's house, Penny's mind whirled with thoughts of what she, Rudy, and Snap read the other day. She, like the others, had been filled with anxiety as they got closer to whenever Cosmo's behavior changed. She had, honestly, been expecting something a little gradual, a slow change that only becomes disturbing when the beginning and ends were compared. But the diary offered something completely different, and it took her by surprise. It ended up giving a stronger creepy vibe to the whole thing.

Penny remembered what Rudy had told her about Mr. Wilter's account of the past. He had said that Mr. Cosmo's corruption was slow than his own. While Rudy was taking over not long after using the black chalk, Cosmo took a couple of times before the black chalk took control of him. That is what they had been lead to believe this whole time. There was little reason why Mr. Wilter would lie to them, especially since they now knew the truth about him and his connection to ChalkZone. Why would he muddle up this one important fact? Why would he continue to hide things from them? They would have to talk to him as soon as possible.

The diary clearly shown that the change was not as gradual as they thought. It had been quick, just like it had been with Rudy. This not only meant that Rudy's reaction wasn't anything special, that it was pretty average and normal, but it also meant that there some inconsistencies with Wilter's story. Of course, it was possible that Wilter didn't really know Cosmo was corrupted until later on. He might not have understood that the black chalk had a hold of him, and only believed he was corrupted when he started acting out. Cosmo might have been a good enough actor to fool him.

But this Jenny person... She still had a hard time wrapping her mind around that. Mr. Wilter had never once brought her up, and neither did Biclops. The two of them made it sound as though Cosmo had been working alone, aided largely by his dangerous weaponry and winged wolf, Draow. Even the visions Biclops showed them never indicated he worked with anyone else. It was clear something was going on here. Either those two weren't aware of Jenny's involvement or they knew and were witholding that bit of information.

She didn't like the idea of believing that those two were holding back on them. It was uncomfortable believing that Wilter and Biclops had important information regarding what happened years ago, that Cosmo had a partner, and then never telling them about it. Was it because she hadn't gotten her memories back? Did Biclops and Wilter believe that Jenny was no longer a threat because she had been given amnesia? It was a possibility, but this only raised even more questions, and made the thing seem even stranger to her.

Both of them knew that Cosmo got his memories back. Wilter had been suspicious when Cosmo entered the classroom that day, and yet he ended up putting his guard down and dismissing Cosmo was a threat. He had later regretted this decision when it lead to the horrific events that happened three years ago. She would have thought that he had learned from this. He should have known that, if Cosmo could regain his memories, others might follow suit. He should have told them about Jenny being a black chalk user, and anyone else that he knew of. Yet he kept silent about it.

Admittingly, Penny was not very happy with Mr. Wilter, or Biclops for that matter. If they knew a crucial piece of information, such as Cosmo having a partner, they should have said something. It would have made things a lot easier and they could have better prepared themselves just in case Jenny did regain her memories. They could also have gotten an idea of what she was like back then to have a better understanding of what she might be like now, should the amnesia on her wear off. It would have saved them a lot of trouble.

Snap had proposed his idea of why it was kept secret. It didn't make them feel that much better, as it sounded a little selfish, no matter many times Snap reworded it. It did make sense, though, his idea. It would indeed explain why they never touched up on the subject of Jenny whenever they told them about what Cosmo had done in the past.

It was because they were afraid of her. They were so terrified that even just mentioning her name made them fill up with anxiety. Suddenly, Wilter's reaction, the way he acted, around Nurse Jenny all those years ago, made sense. She recalled the incident when Reggie had his leg stuck and when Nurse Jenny came over and said that she wanted to try 'the procedure'. Wilter looked visibly shaken. She recalled the look on his face, the way he ever so cautiously pushed the saw away, and how he just took off, putting space between her and him.

In fact, that whole time, Wilter had been keeping his distance, more or less, from Jenny. He would barely look in her direction. At the time, she had believed it was because he was too busy worrying about how to get Reggie out of the ground. She had imagined the man had a lot on his mind, and she could understand why. A child being stuck in the ground like Reggie was, regardless if it was on school grounds or not, was a very serious issue. She had assumed that Wilter was just working out details of how to free the large child.

But if he were afraid of Jenny, then his reactions made even more sense. And, thinking back, it did add a whole new level to the whole thing. Mr. Wilter had never been too enthusiastic about Nurse Jenny. He was never outright hostile towards her, but something with the way he behaved around her did seem strange. As kids, they just dismissed it, believing it to be nothing. Then again, as kids, they didn't know about the black chalk, or Mr. Wilter knowing about ChalkZone, or any of that stuff. And Wilter's terrified reaction of Reggie might also have been, in part, caused by the possibility of ChalkZone getting exposed.

It was nothing more than a shot in the dark. The whole thing with Wilter and Biclops being terrified of Jenny and all that. But if that were the case, it did make the situation that much more serious. They recalled how Biclops, over the years, never once talked about Cosmo. He had shown Rudy some of the damage caused by the artists corrupted by black chalk, even kid Cosmo, but never really went into details about it. The only time Biclops ever talked about Cosmo was when they had met him in the real world and asked Biclops about him. It wasn't out of willingness he told them; they had found out and he simply had no choice.

But for him to not mention Jenny, despite her involvement with Cosmo, that did suggest something. It was possible that Biclops and Wilter were both more afraid of Jenny then they were of Cosmo. That possibly meant one thing.

Jenny was worse than Cosmo.

The thought sent chills down her spine. She remembered the Bardot incident very clearly. Bardot had proven himself a lot worse than Cosmo very quickly, and kept proving it as time went on. The hybrid zoner was absolutely insane, doing things just for sick pleasure. The idea of having to go through something like that again, of facing someone like Cosmo, but worse, a second time... She didn't want to think about it.

But it was a possible reality that she and the others were going to have to deal with. Jenny might turn out to be a much worse threat than Cosmo. Their best hope was that she was at least not as nuts as Bardot, and better yet, that she won't regain her memories. The possibility was still out there, however. And they had to be prepared just in case that happened. Knowledge was power, as Barney would say. And that was definitely true in this case. The more they knew, the better prepared they'd be if the unthinkable were to happen.

She wished she could just get her mind off the whole thing and try to focus on having fun in ChalkZone. But that was not likely to happen. Their next trip into ChalkZone was not going to be anything particularly fun. After reading that one entry the other day, the first 'corrupted entry', they decided, after school today, they would go and speak to Biclops himself. They would confront him about Jenny and see if he can give them more information. He wouldn't be able to deny her existence when they show him the diary that Cosmo wrote.

She hoped that Biclops would be cooperative. She hoped that, if he is afraid of Jenny, that he would be able to manage his fear enough to talk to them about her. This information was definitely important. Biclops could tell them about how Jenny was like and anything she might have done that they needed to know. Maybe they could get him to talk about other things that he might have left out when he told them the story of what happened when Cosmo attacked ChalkZone. Was there anything else that he wasn't telling them?

She and Rudy had wanted to go into ChalkZone during the school hours today. Unfortunately, things did not work out that way. Mr. Wilter was out sick and they had a substitute. It was an odd choice for a substitute though. She and Rudy had no idea that one of the lunchladies, Ghadir she believed her name was, had enough knowledge and experience to be a teacher. It did feel rather strange, as her method of teaching was definitely different than Wilter. They don't really see Ghadir that much. She was one of the lunchladies that usually works in the back and very rarely is up front.

Ghadir stayed in the classroom at all times, including study hall, the time of the day before school officially ends that students had a chance to study and just relax. Mr. Wilter would usually leave, and due to his strict teaching methods, other students usually left. So she and Rudy had no problem going into ChalkZone at that time. Even if Wilter stayed, he'd let them go in and stand watch.

But with Ghadir, that whole dynamic had changed. She refused to leave the room, even to go to the bathroom, during study hall. No one else but her and Rudy were in the room, and they were just waiting for her to leave. She remembered how antsy they were feeling as it was getting close to going home. They waited and hoped that Ghadir would move, go somewhere, but that had never happened. True, they wouldn't have had to wait too long as they were going to be home soon anyway. But it did frustrate them that they couldn't pay a quick visit to ChalkZone all because of some bad luck.

She wasn't sure exactly what was wrong with Mr. Wilter, other than he was sick. Well that was what Principal Tyreek had told them when he stopped by the classroom to give them the news. While she, Rudy, and the other students waited for Mr. Wilter to come into the classroom, she realized that he was quite late to class, which didn't make a lot of sense. It wasn't like Wilter to be tardy like that. And when the principal came in, she knew that something had to be wrong.

Principal Tyreek hadn't gone into too much detail of what was wrong with Mr. Wilter. Just that he was sick and he had to stay home. He never game an approximate time of how long he'd be gone. She guessed it was probably just going to be for a few days. She supposed that was manageable. A few days with a substitute was not going to be too bad. They just had to stick to going to ChalkZone at home until Mr. Wilter came back. It wasn't like their access was that heavily restricted anyway.

It did seem a little odd that Mr. Wilter was out. Although she tried to dismiss it as nothing more than a case of the flu, something in the back of her mind was bothering her. It was pretty strange for Mr. Wilter to get the flu. Oh it wasn't like he never did. But he was a pretty healthy teacher, and rarely caught the flu at all. And he had been perfectly fine the other day, with no signs of oncoming illness or anything.

Must have been just bad luck or something. She felt bad for Wilter. Having the flu sucks. She had it a couple times growing up, and it never gets easier to handle. She made a mental note to herself to go visit him after their trip into ChalkZone. Rudy planned on coming with her. There was a chance Snap might also want to come with, so they planned on bringing the portal chalkboard. They would write something on it so that Snap could follow them throughout ChalkZone.

Before she knew it, her mother had arrived at Rudy's place. Her mother had some errands to run, so she wasn't able to stay. She told her that she would be back within two hours to pick her up. Penny made a mental note of that so she would be out of ChalkZone on time.

As they pulled up along the side of the street, she noticed something a little different. There was another car here. And she recognized immediately what it was. It seems Rudy's aunt Tilly had decided to come over for a visit. It must have been a surprise visit as Rudy never mentioned this before. She wondered why Tilly had decided to come over, if it was just a regular visit or if something was going on. But seeing Sophie happily playing outside, she had her doubts that it was anything serious. Sophie was old enough to know when something was wrong, and if Tilly had anything bad to say, Sophie's behavior would reflect that.

Her mom pressed down on the breaks and the yellow car came to a complete stop. Her mom unlocked the doors. She turned to her daughter and said, "See you later, Penny. Have fun! And remember, I'll be back in two hours to pick you up. I expect you to be out here waiting. So try not to lose track of time while you and Rudy are in ChalkZone, okay?"

"Okay, mom. I promise!" Penny said.

Her mom smiled. She leaned forward and planted a kiss on Penny's forehead. "Take care."

"I will." Penny climbed out of the car. She waved to her mom. "See ya." She shut the door and walked towards Rudy's house. She could hear her mom drive away, and soon the sound faded into nothingness.

When she entered Rudy's house, she was immediately greeted by a bunch of talking. The sound was coming from the kitchen. She made her way over and she saw Rudy sitting at the dining table with his parents and his aunt Tilly. She couldn't tell what they were talking about. All the talking was pretty muddled together. She took a few steps further into the kitchen. They hadn't taken notice of her yet, but instead of speaking up and interrupting them, she decided to listen.

It was a little hard, but soon she started to pick up some words.

"What? You can't be serious!" Rudy cried, his eyes widened. "Why can't Sophie go with you guys?"

"Rudy, we explained this to you before. The dinner tickets we won are at one of those restaurants that has a bar in it. And Sophie is too young to be able to go. We can't take her with." His dad said. "She has to say here with you."

"Well why can't one of you stay?" Rudy asked, narrowing his eyes a little.

His mom replied, "It's very hard to get into this restaurant. Plus, there's a game going on there where we could win some grand prize. We don't want to miss that opportunity."

"You will be fine with Sophie." Tilly said. She stood next to Rudy and put a hand on his shoulder. "I know how well you two get along. You can take her into ChalkZone with you. She loves it there."

Rudy's eyes furrowed. Penny thought he was disgusted with the idea at first. But that seemed silly, and she soon realized what the real reason was. Which Rudy voiced very quickly. "Penny, Snap, and I have some important business in ChalkZone. It's too risky to bring her with on this trip. I don't want her getting hurt."

"Oh..." Tilly seemed to understand. It looked like she was reconsidering going, but in the next breath, this was clearly not the case. "Well, just don't go into ChalkZone then."

Rudy's eyes widened at this. "What?!"

"You heard her." His mom said, raising a finger up towards the air. "If whatever you plan on doing in ChalkZone is too dangerous for Sophie to attend, then just don't go there until much later today."

"But..." Rudy started to say.

His father interrupted him. "No buts, young man! You can postpone your trip there until we get back. It won't kill you." His dad paused for a moment, biting his lip. He looked to the side and rubbed the back of his head. He turned back to Rudy and said in a gentler voice, "Look, I know that you are worried about this black chalk business. I understand that you just want to try to find some answers that we and your friends could not provide. But right now, all we are asking is that you watch over Sophie until we get back. You can wait a few hours, can't you?"

Rudy opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. It was like he was trying to think of some way to get his dad to change his mind. But nothing was coming into his head. Penny watched this, looking at Rudy sympathetically. She would be the same way in his shoes. His father did raise some valid points. She wouldn't mind postponing the trip. They just had to let Snap know about it as soon as possible.

Rudy gave a soft sigh. "Sure, dad. I understand..."

"Good..." His dad patted him on the back. "We'll try to be back as soon as we can."

"Yeah. We promise, we won't stay longer than necessary." Tilly said. She turned around as if to stop leaving. She then saw Penny and stopped in her tracks. "Oh! Penny!" She put a hand on her chest and took in a few quick breaths. "You startled me! How long have you been standing there?"

Penny felt a little awkward when all eyes now turned to her. Rudy looked at her in absolute shock. And Tilly and his parents didn't look any less surprised. She felt a little foolish for not speaking up sooner. She felt silly that all she did was stand around and listen in on their conversations. It wasn't intentional or anything. She just didn't want to interrupt their speech. She would feel a little jerkish if she had done that.

She took a step back, looking at them all in the eyes. She gave a nervous smile and waved at them. They waved back, but slower than usual. Had she really surprised them by soming here so suddenly? They knew she was coming over. Perhaps she shold have spoken up when she arrived. Maybe she should have made at least some noise so that they would know she was here. And now she did feel a bit like a jerk as she was standing there listening in on their conversation without them knowing about it. Maybe it would have been better if she waited outside with the playful Sophie.

Penny said, "Sorry. I just didn't want to barge in."

"That's quite all right." Mr. Tabootie said. "Just please, speak up next time. Don't be afraid to do so, okay?" Penny nodded her head at this. Mr. Tabootie gave a small smile. "That's good." He turned to his wife and Tilly. "Well, shall we get going now?"

Mrs. Tabootie nodded her head. "Yeah, we should get going before it gets too crowded there. I want to be able to get one of the best seats."

"Let me just say goodbye to Sophie and we can be on our way." Tilly walked out of the kitchen and headed out the door.

Rudy's parents walked up to him and gave him a hug. He hugged them back. This lasted for a few seconds and then they parted. His parents smiled down at him. Rudy did return the smile, but it was a little smaller than usual. It was clear his mind was filled with worry, and Penny couldn't blame him for that.

"We won't be long." Mr. Tabootie said. "We promise."

"Yeah I know." Rudy said, doing his best to maintain his smile. "I understand. I hope you guys have fun."

"Thanks. We will." Mrs. Tabootie said. "We hope you do, too." She kissed Rudy on the forehead. "See you later."

Rudy raised his hand and waved goodbye to his parents. "Bye!"

With that, his parents walked out of the door. The sound of the door shutting could be heard. Then, not long after, Penny and Rudy both heard the sound of the car being turned on. The rev of the engine sounded out, and soon the car pulled out of the drive way and sped off into the distance.

For a few minutes, there was nothing but silence in the room. Rudy and Penny did not speak a word to each other. Penny hadn't been expecting this kind of development today. It was kind of annoying. First, they couldn't go into ChalkZone during school because of the whole thing with Mr. Wilter being sick. And now Sophie was there, and they couldn't risk taking her to the Solar Pillars, as they do not want to inadvertantly put her in any danger. True, they could just use the magic chalk to protect her, or even give her a piece. But after seeing Rudy's reaction and reading the journal, she and Rudy both silently agreed it was not worth the risk.

She didn't really want to postpone the trip herself. This ChalkZone visit was really important. It was imperative that they get as much information as they could. Yet, at the same time, she understand that they could indeed wait. Nothing bad was going on, and there was no signs of any imminent danger. Sure, Jenny was probably a threat, but right now, she didn't have her memories. And, much to her knowledge, nobody else at their school came into contact with black chalk. Just Jenny. So there was probably nothing really to worry about.

She still wished they could go into ChalkZone now. That had been the plan when she came here, but that ended up being changed. If she had known that Rudy's parents and aunt were going to some fancy bar restaurant sooner, she and Rudy could have altered their plans to accomodate. This all seemed pretty sudden and she wondered why his folks didn't say anything to him until now. That didn't seem like them, unless it was sudden for them, too. Maybe they won something on the radio or whatever.

After a while of silence, she decided to break it. "Well I suppose we'll have to tell Snap to wait a little longer."

Rudy nodded his head. "Yeah..." His voice was laced with disappointment. "Come on, let's go upstairs and give him the news before he has to wait for us too long."

Rudy and Penny walked up the steps. They headed into Rudy's bedroom and towards the large chalkboard. Rudy took out a piece of magic chalk and drew a portal. Once it opened, they were immediately greeted by Snap. The blue zoner poked his head and hands through the portal and gave his usual grin at them.

"Hiya, guys!"

"Hello, Snap." Rudy said in a somewhat defeated tone of voice.

Snap caught on to this quickly. His smile vanished and he furrowed his face with concern. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"We can't come into ChalkZone right now." Penny said.

"What? Why?" Snap asked. He sounded a little surprised, but he didn't seem upset. "Are you doing somewhere?"

Rudy shook his head. "No. My parents and aunt went out somewhere and they can't bring Sophie with. So they want me to babysit her until they get back. I don't want to risk taking her into ChalkZone today. I don't know if Solar Pillars is safe enough for her."

Penny spoke, "His folks said that, if we're worried about Sophie's safety, we should just postpone going into ChalkZone. Sorry, Snap, but we'll have to wait a couple of hours before we head in."

"Say no more!" Snap waved a dismissing hand at them. "I understand. Somethings you just can't control. I can wait."

"Thanks, Snap." Penny smiled at him.

"I still wish we could go in now. I want to find out more about this black chalk business, and more about that Solar Pillar place. There's something with that light, and I want to find out what it is. The longer I wait, the more nervous I get. There's something really wrong with that place. The more I sit here, the more I'm wondering. I find it hard to keep that place out of my head, you know? Something keeps telling me that, whatever Cosmo used that place for, it not only was an awful purpose, but it could be used again."

Penny and Snap looked at Rudy sympathetically. She understood why he was feeling this way. Although they could wait and it wasn't going to cause a problem, she could see how Rudy would feel uncomfortable with waiting. They had no idea what the Solar Pillars were, and they still needed to speak to Biclops regarding Jenny. They needed to find out more information so they could determine if there was any looming threat in the future.

If the incident with Bardot taught them one thing, it was that they couldn't take chances. They had thought they were through with Mr. Cosmo. They believed the threat was over. But they not only turned out to be so very wrong, but they nearly lost their lives to this one element about Cosmo that they had no clue about. Nothing was not worth knowing, especially in this case.

Snap cleared his throat, drawing the teenager's attention. "Well...if you really want to go, Bucko, I don't mind watching Sophie for you."

Rudy's eyes widened a little. "Are you sure, Snap? I don't want to force you if you don't want to."

Snap smiled at him. "It's no trouble at all, Rudy! I'll keep an eye on Sophie while you two go into ChalkZone. She and I will just play games or something in this room while we wait. She won't be leaving my sights."

Penny smiled at this. It was really sweet of Snap to offer babysitting Sophie for them. With him keeping an eye on her, that did free time for her and Rudy to go into ChalkZone. Snap was good with watching Sophie. It wasn't like this would be the first time. He could be trusted with her, and she knew he would keep her out of trouble. It wasn't that Sophie didn't know any better, but she was a bit more adventurous than Rudy was at that age, and she might wander too far. Having Snap around would keep her in the house. She did get along well with him.

She could hear the door opening up and she knew it was Sophie. She was probably going to head upstairs soon as she knew that was where she and Rudy usually hung out when she came over here. And sure enough, she could hear footsteps coming up the stairs. It didn't take long for the eleven year old to come through the door, smiling at them enthusiastically.

"When are we going into ChalkZone?" Sophie asked, a big grin on her face.

"Sorry, Sophie, but you can't go in this time." Rudy said to his little cousin. "You have to stay here."

"What?" Sophie looked disappointed. "Why?"

"Rudy and I have some important business in ChalkZone and it might be a little too dangerous for you." Penny explained.

"You could just give me some magic chalk and..." Sophie started to say.

Penny cut her off. "Sorry, but you remember what your mom said. We can't leave you alone in ChalkZone. That was part of the deal, remember? You have to stay with us when you're in ChalkZone. And today, we have to go somewhere that's too dangerous for you."

"We don't want you getting hurt, Sophie." Rudy said, putting a hand on the little girl's shoulder. "We won't be long, though. We promise. In the meantime," He gestured to the blue zoner. "Snap has agreed to stay with you until we get back. That'll be fun, right? You and Snap always seem to have a lot of fun together."

"Yeah..." Sophie said. She didn't sound to excited. She must have been really looking forward to going into ChalkZone right now. Rudy and Penny felt bad, but they weren't going to back out on their word. Sophie gave the best smile that she could. "I understand."

Snap climbed out of the portal. He walked over to Sophie and stood next to her. He turned and faced Rudy and Penny. "I hope you two find something."

"Yeah, we do too." Rudy said.

He and Penny headed towards the portal. Rudy took the small bag of magic chalk he had. He put it in his pocket as Penny climbed through the portal first. Then Rudy went in second. He turned to Snap and Sophie and he and Penny waved to them.

"See ya!" Snap called out.

"Come back soon!" Sophie said.

"Don't worry. We will." Penny said.

With that, Rudy and Penny headed further into ChalkZone, leaving Snap and Sophie alone.

sss

Sophie was disappointed that she couldn't go into ChalkZone. Everytime she comes over to Rudy's place, that was one of the first things she wanted to do. She wanted to go aroun ChalkZone and have fun. She always looked forward to it. She didn't really understand why her mother insisted she always have a chaperone around, though. Rudy and Penny were younger than her when they started going to ChalkZone and they could go on their own. Then again, their parents didn't know about ChalkZone at the time.

Still, she couldn't help but find it unfair. She wished that her mom would see reason. There was nothing so terrible about ChalkZone that she couldn't go alone. Most of the zoners were placid and docile. They wouldn't try to harm her. If anything, they'd probably just strike a friendly conversation with her. She was actually safer wandering the streets of ChalkZone than the streets of the real world. She could have gone into ChalkZone and just stick to familiar territory and wait for Rudy and Penny to come get her. She didn't see anything wrong with that.

But she didn't know how to explain herself. The disappointment came so suddenly. It was very rare that she wasn't allowed into ChalkZone when she came over. Most of the time, it was a guarantee. So this did genuinely surprise her. She had little time to come up with a counterpoint. All she could do was nod and say she understood the need of keeping her out of ChalkZone for now. She might have said it, but it didn't indicate she actually meant it. She didn't get why it was too dangerous for her. If it was, she could just use magic chalk, right?

Yeah, true her mom doesn't want her to be alone in ChalkZone. But that was what the magic chalk was for. She could use it to defend herself. She was much better at handling herself in ChalkZone than she was when she was two years old. Her drawing skills had vastly improved since then. She had much of Rudy's talent when he was her age. She could handle her own.

Now she was stuck in the house with Snap. Not that she didn't like Snap. She loved him. She enjoyed hanging out with him and playing games. She just wished they could do it in ChalkZone. Games there were always so much more fun and inventive. She didn't want to just lay around the house all day, waiting for her mother to come pick her up. She wanted to head into ChalkZone. Maybe if she spoke to Snap, she could convince him to let her go in. They could just hang around near the portal or something and not go far. And when they hear Rudy and Penny coming back, they could simply climb out of the portal and act like nothing happened.

She walked over to Snap. The zoner was laying on his back on the couch. They had recently finished playing a few games of checkers. It was pretty fun and they made a few jokes while playing it. But they soon had enough of playing and decided to turn on the television. Right now, some old cartoon was playing and Snap was fascinated by it. His eyes were glued to the screen.

Sophie used to like this cartoon when she was younger. She grew out of it, though, and there were other cartoons that got her interest. She understood why Snap would be interested in the cartoon, though. He was pretty much a drawing himself and 2D cartoons like the one playing now were also just a series of drawings that looked like they were alive and moving. While Snap was no stranger to it, that didn't stop him from enjoying cartoons when he came over to visit.

Snap took notice of her and broke his gaze from the television. "Sophie? What is it?"

"Snap, do you think we can go into ChalkZone anyway?" Sophie asked, her arms folded behind her back. "I mean, a quick visit couldn't hurt, right?"

Snap shook his head. "No can do, Sophie. I promised Rudy that I'd keep an eye on you. We can wait here."

"But..." Sophie searched for something that might change his mind. "What if you get thirsty? You can't drink anything there."

Snap waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine for a few hours." He gestured for Sophie to sit down. "Now come on, let's enjoy this cartoon together. You used to watch it, didn't you?"

Sophie nodded her head. "Yeah, I did." She said in a defeated tone of voice.

"Don't be like that." Snap said. "You can go into ChalkZone next time. It's not the end of the world."

She knew that he was right. She knew that she could just wait until next time to go. She had been to ChalkZone just a couple days ago, so it wasn't like she hadn't been there in forever. But she still couldn't conceal her disappointment. She still really wanted to go, and it still felt unfair to her that she had to be forced to say in the house. Why couldn't Snap see reason? A quick visit couldn't possibly hurt that much, could it?

But she ran out of things she could try to say to Snap. It was clear that the zoner was not going to go back on his word. He was very loyal to Rudy and Penny, and if he said he was going to do something, he would. Rudy and Penny entrusted him to keep her in the house, and that was exactly what he was going to do. There was nothing she could say to convince him otherwise. She could come up with the best reason, and Snap still wouldn't budge. It was best to just stop trying to convince him and try to enjoy the cartoon.

As she sat down, she felt something weird against her hip. She shifted herself, she still felt that strange sensation. She narrowed her eyes and looked down. Just what could be causing that feeling? She raised herself up and moved her hand under her leg. She grabbed something small and hard. She pulled it out. Her eyes widened widened when she realized what it was.

A piece of magic chalk... She stared at it in shock. How did it get here? Thinking back, she did recall Rudy bumping into the portal edge. That must have knocked a piece out and it, somehow, got down here. Maybe she and Snap kicked it by mistake. Either way, she had a piece of magic chalk now. A full stick, too, ready to be put to good use.

"Sophie..."

Sophie looked over at Snap. His eyes were wide and he was pressing his hands against the couch tenatively. He moved a little closer to her. His eyes were glued on the magic chalk she now held in her hand.

"Please give that chalk to me. You can't go into ChalkZone today. Please, just hand it over." Snap said gently, reaching his hand out towards her.

Sophie stared at him. Her better judgment told her that she should do as he says and hand it over. But her other side was telling her not to. She wanted to prove to the others that she could handle herself just fine in ChalkZone. This was her chance to prove it. She could prove them all wrong. She'd escape into ChalkZone and stay there, alone, until Rudy and Penny come back. She would prove to them that she could handle being alone in ChalkZone now. There was no reason why they had to keep chaperoning her like they have been.

Snap moved closer to her, his body tensed up like he was about to pounce. She narrowed her eyes at him. She was not going to let him take the chalk away from her. She was not going to let him ruin what was possibly her only chance to prove her worth to the others. Who knows when she would get another opportunity like this?

Without saying a word, she jumped from the couch and raced towards the door.

"Sophie! Wait!" Snap cried as he stumbled from the couch to chase after her. "Come back!"

But Sophie ignored him. She rushed out of the house door and onto the sidewalk. She stopped and was about to draw a portal, but there were two problems. The first one was that it was too out in the open. And the other was that Snap was going to catch up to her too fast. She knew of a more shaded area where she could draw the portal. So she bolted down that way before Snap could get out of the house. She could hear the door open behind her and she could hear him shouting at her to come back, but she ignored him.

She continued to run down the street until she found that spot she was looking for. Further down the road here, there was a large tree that provided a lot of shade. It obscured a lot of the neighbor's vision of the spot, reducing the amount of people that would see what was going on. She looked behind her and she saw Snap coming towards her. She narrowed her eyes in determination and she lowered herself to the ground. There wasn't much time to pull this off. She pressed the magic chalk onto the ground, preparing to draw with it.

Suddenly, she heard some heavy footsteps coming in her direction. And it was coming from the opposite direction as Snap. She turned her head and looked up. It was a man of some kind. She didn't recognize who it was. She had never seen him before. She wondered what he could want. She felt a tinge of apprehension as he took position just a couple feet in front of her.

"That's some pretty chalk there." The man said. His voice sounded friendly. She lowered himself and reached his hand out. "May I take a look at it?"

Regardless of his intentions, there was no way that Sophie was just going to hand it over. She had been warned of the dangers of exposing ChalkZone. Rudy and Penny couldn't stress enough how vitally important it was that she give no one the magic chalk. She didn't care if this man just wanted draw a pretty pony or something. She was not letting him have the magic chalk.

She narrowed her eyes and she pulled her hand away. "No. Sorry, but you can't use this chalk."

The man tilted his head in confusion. "Oh? And why not?"

"Because it's..." Sophie tried to think of some kind of excuse to give this man. She wondered how Rudy and Penny had been able to do this all this time. Coming up with excuses was hard. When she thought she figured out something, she said, "It was a gift.. I'm kind of sentimental about it..." Not the best reason, but hopefully it'll be enough.

"I see..." The man said. "Well then, I..."

"Sophie!" Snap called out. He stopped next to her. He put his hands on his knees and panted. "You shouldn't have run out like that! I..." He paused when he noticed the strange man. "Oh, hello. Who might you be?"

"I am Tyreek." The man said.

Snap's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, you're the principal from the school Rudy and Penny go to!"

Tyreek's eyes flashed at this. He tilted his head in slight curiosity. "Oh?" He asked. "Do you know them?"

Snap nodded his head. "Yeah. They're my best friends."

"That's very interesting." Tyreek then turned his gaze towards the little girl. "Are you his friend, too?"

Sophie nodded her head. "Yeah. Well he's my cousin, too."

Tyreek narrowed his eyes and folded his arms. "What are you two doing way out here? Shouldn't you be back home with them?" He made a gesture with his head. "It's not a good idea for you two little ones to be out here unattended."

Sophie narrowed her eyes. Another doubter? She wanted to retort back to him, but she thought better of it. She didn't know this principal that well and, for all she knew, he might use her retort as a way to punish Rudy. She had known principals in the past that were jerks like that. So instead, she focused on coming up with a reason for why she and Snap were over here.

"They're planning a surprise for me." Sophie said. She gestured to Snap. "He's here to accompany me while I wait. We have to go back in a few minutes."

"Oh, well in that case, I should be going soon too." Tyreek said, giving them a smile. He turned and started to walk away. Then he stopped in his tracks. He raised a finger as if he just remembered something. He looked back at the two and walked closer. "Are you sure I can't see that chalk?"

Snap looked shocked at this. "Why would you want to use that nasty old chalk anyway?"

Tyreek chuckled at this. "I like the way it sparkles. I never seen chalk do that before." He took another step towards them. "I just want to try it out. It won't be long. And I'll give it right back. I promise. I just want to see what the lines look like. They must be beautiful."

"I don't think that's such a good idea..." Snap said. He and Sophie took a few steps back from the man. "We have to get going now anyway. Rudy and Penny are expecting us." He grabbed Sophie's hand and tugged on her. "Come on, let's get going. They are probably done with the surprise by now."

"Yeah..." Sophie said. She turned to Tyreek and waved to him. "Sorry. Maybe I'll show you next time!"

Suddenly, Tyreek rushed in front of them. The motion was so unexpected that Sophie and Snap nearly tripped over themselves coming to a stop. Sophie stared at the man in shock, and Snap was no less surprised. Just what was this guy's deal? Why wouldn't he leave them alone? She began to get an uncomfortable vibe with this guy. The way he keeps trying to go for the magic chalk... A part of her began to wonder...did this guy know about it...?

She felt unsafe around this guy now. Snap also seemed to catch on that this guy was probably up to something. He put his arms out in front of her protectively. He didn't do anything to indicate he wanted to fight, but he made it very clear that the man was not to come a step closer.

"What is your problem?" Snap asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Problem? I don't have a problem." Tyreek said, holding out his hand in a gesture. "What is your problem?"

"I don't like the way you're trying to keep us here. We have to get back to Rudy's place. He's expecting us any time now." Snap said. "I know you just want to see the chalk, but you can't right now. You might get another chance later. But right now, no." He moved a little back, gently pressing his arm against Sophie to make her move back as well. "So please just let us go now."

Tyreek gave a smile. Snap and Sophie shuddered at it. It was a disturbing smile. It wasn't really scary or anything. It was just unsettling. He took a step towards them, his arms folded behind his back. He lowered his head a little and said, "Oh I understand. But I'm afraid there's going to be a little change in your schedule..."

Suddenly, Tyreek reached out and grabbed Snap by his scarf and raised him above the ground. The movement was so sudden that Snap gagged. He attempted to free himself.

"What's the big idea?!" Snap cried.

Sophie looked in in horror as Tyreek pulled out a large rock. The zoner's eyes widened in terror as the man pulled the rock back and then slammed it as hard as he could against the side of his skull. Sophie's body trembled as Snap fell limp in the man's arms. He then looked down at her, the creepy smile broadening. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife.

"If you don't wish your friend to be harmed..." Tyreek said calmly as he pressed the knife against Snap's vulnerable throat. "...come with me."

"I...I..." Sophie said, her voice shaking from fright. She stared at Snap's unconscious body, her eyes tracing along the knife that was going to slice his throat open if she didn't obey. "Please..."

Tyreek narrowed his eyes and he pressed the knife further against Snap's neck. "If you want him to be safe, just come with me."

Sophie's heart pounded against her chest. She should have just stayed back at the house. She shouldn't have run off out here. Why did she have to try to prove herself? Why did she rush out and do something so foolish? And now, because of her, she and Snap were both in danger. And there was nothing she can do about it. She didn't want Snap to get hurt. It wouldn't be fair. He didn't deserve that. She wanted him to be safe. She wanted the man to leave him alone.

There was only one thing she could do. There was only one way she thought of that would ensure that he would be fine...or so she hoped. She had no idea what this man was up to. She would have just run off away from him to get help, but he was holding Snap hostage. She couldn't leave him. She didn't want him getting hurt. The only way to help him...was if she complied with what this man said.

Reluctantly, she took a couple steps towards him, her head lowered in defeat. "Please..just..just don't hurt him..." She looked up at him. Tears formed in her eyes. "I'll come quietly with you..if you don't hurt him..."

Tyreek gave Snap's unconscious body a quick, hard shake. "Don't worry. He isn't the one we are interested in."

"We?" Sophie's eyes widened at that.

"You'll understand more when I take you there. Now..." Tyreek turned around and made a motion with his head. "Come along. They're waiting for us." He paused, then he turned to give Sophie a sideways glance. "And don't be trying to call for help. If anyone asks, say I found your friend injured and we are on the way to get him help. If you try to scream or run, I will slash his throat open. Do you understand me?"

A few tears strolled down Sophie's cheeks as she nodded her head. "Y-Yes sir..."

Tyreek smiled maniacally at this. "Good girl.." He turned and began to walk down the street. "Now come along. They're waiting for us. Well me, but they won't mind a couple of visitors."

Sophie gulped. "O-Okay..."

With that, Sophie reluctantly followed Tyreek. She didn't know how she was going to get out of this mess. She wished she had just stayed home. Yet she decided to be defiant and come out here. And now, both she and Snap were in danger, and Rudy and Penny weren't going to know where they were. Neither would her mom, her aunt or uncle, or Penny's mom. None of them will know, and all because she had to try to prove her independence.

Sometimes, she was a little too impulsive for her own good. Now, it might cost her more than she could know. As she followed Tyreek, doing exactly what he instructed her to do out of fear of Snap getting injured, she silently hoped that Rudy and Penny would find out what happened. She hoped and prayed that they'd be able to find them in time. But there was a fear swelling up inside of her, and she couldn't ignore it.

What if they don't find out in time?

Chapter Text

"Biclops..." Rudy said. His voice was soft and filled with disappointment. "Why did you hide this information from us?"

"If you had told us before..." Penny's voice trailed off. She wasn't sure what else to say after that. She just stared at Biclops, just as disappointed in him as Rudy was.

The giant was at a loss for words. He looked completely lost and unsure of what to do or say next. He stared down at the two teenagers, his eyes bulging open as he stared at the diary. "I...I just didn't..." That was all he could say before his voice became unintelligable mumbling.

"Of all the things you hid from us," Rudy's voice gained a tinge of anger. "This is the worst. I can see why you wouldn't speak of Cosmo to us. You didn't know he'd regain his memories. But this..?" Rudy shook his head. "There's no excuse... You should have told us."

"Yes, I know." Biclops said. "I...I'm sorry."

Words couldn't describe just how disappointed Penny, as well as Rudy, felt with Biclops. The giant really had been keeping Jenny a secret from them. Or rather, her status of being a black chalk user that is. She had hoped that maybe he just didn't know about her, somehow, but that, sadly, did not turn out to be the case. And it was so disheartening. She had thought that Biclops would have trusted them with the information. She thought that he would have told them anything that was important, anything that they should be aware of in case of future problems.

Rudy did recall that, when Biclops first told them of what Cosmo had done, he didn't give them all the details. He gave them a basic overall description, but left out details such as him creating the red chalk and how he was Cosmo's creation. These details were important, even if they did not really affect their current situation at the time. But still, Biclops did not admit to any of those; Mr. Wilter had to tell Rudy about that. So this wasn't the first time Biclops withheld information like that. Perhaps she and Rudy shouldn't be so surprised that Biclops did the same thing here.

Penny and Rudy couldn't talk to Biclops right away. They had to wait for him to clean up a little. There was a lot of snow in this part of ChalkZone right now, given it was the colder season, and Biclops's entrance was almost snowed in. They did offer to help and, with their assistance, Biclops was able to clear up the entrance. It was still snowing, though, and it was very likely that the entrance would be blocked up with snow again. Biclops didn't seem to mind too much as he was used to this sort of thing in the cold seasons.

After that was taken care of, that was when they brought up the topic of Mr. Cosmo. Naturally, Biclops was unnerved by the mention and wondered why they went back to that subject. They informed Biclops that they found out about Jenny being a black chalk user. At first, the giant tried to act like she wasn't involved with Cosmo. He immediately dropped that lame attempt at lying when they showed him the diary. When he laid his eyes on it, he knew there was no way he could convince them otherwise. There was nothing he could say or do that would get him out of this, so Biclops had no choice but to confess the truth. He and Wilter had been withholding that information from them.

That was so disappointing and upsetting to hear. Both Rudy and Penny weren't very happy to learn this. If Jenny was a possible threat to ChalkZone, and if she could regain her memories just like Cosmo could, then Biclops and Wilter should have said something to them. They should have informed them of any and all black chalk users that they knew of. If they didn't know about Jenny, that was one thing. But, from what they just heard, they not only knew Jenny, but they had plenty of encounters with her. They knew how dangerous she was, and yet they did not speak a word about her.

The only thing keeping the two teenagers from getting completely furious with Biclops was the fact that Jenny's memories had yet to be woken up. And nothing really bad happened yet anyway. So it wasn't like keeping the information a secret had caused much of a problem. No one was getting hurt by Jenny. She wasn't causing any problems right now. She was just a school nurse who, at worst, is just a little crazy at times.

The one question that was on both her mind and Rudy's was 'why?'. Why had Biclops and Wilter not tell them about Jenny? What possessed them to believe that keeping information was such a good idea? Were they afraid, like Snap believed? Was there some other reason they did not consider? Did they feel that it just wasn't important enough to tell them? Did it just merely slip their minds? There was some reason they didn't say a word, and Penny was hoping it was going to be a better excuse than just 'they were afraid of her'.

She understood fear well. She had been terrified in the recent past regarding Mr. Cosmo and all the trouble he had caused, such as the whole Bardot incident he unwittingly caused. But still, fear was not much of an excuse. She wasn't sure of selfish was the right word, but it was the best one to describe how she felt Biclops and Wilter were being. It was not only selfish, but foolish of them not to speak a word about Jenny. They were lucky that she hadn't caused any problems yet, otherwise the withholding of information would have landed them all in hot water. It would have caused problems that could have been avoided had they just spoken up earlier.

"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Penny asked. "Don't you trust us?"

The giant nodded his head. "Of course I do. It's just that..." His voice trailed off, and he bit his lip. He furrowed his eyes and he turned his head away. "Yeah, I know it was foolish."

"You should have told us earlier, Biclops. If there was anything else we needed to know, you should have told us." Rudy said to the giant. From the tone of his voice, he was doing his best not to sound too angry with Biclops. "Can you at least tell us why? We keep asking you and you keep dodging the question."

"I..." Biclops started to say.

"Just please..." Rudy took a step forward. "Just tell us why."

For a few moments, Biclops was quiet. He stared at the two teenagers. His eyes would sometimes shift to the diary Rudy still held in his hands. Then they'd shift to the floor and he'd turn his gaze behind himself. He was trying to think of a response. It was clear from his facial expressions. And whatever he wanted to say, Penny could tell that it wasn't going to be a response they'd like. There was something kind of like shame in his eyes, like he knew he had done something wrong and was afraid to admit to it.

This was further evidence to Penny that the only reason Biclops didn't tell them about Jenny was because he was terrified of her. And that wasn't a very good reason, especially considering that was still that chance she'd become a major threat later on. He should have spoken up earlier, yet he chose to remain quiet. And if they hadn't found out about Jenny when they had, this would have lead to some pretty dire consequences.

She hoped Snap wasn't right about this. She hoped that his theory of them simply being afraid wasn't the reason they withheld information. She wouldn't stay mad at them forever if that turned out to be the case, but she would still be very disappointed in them. The two of them knew how dangeorus Jenny was and they should have told them about her in the past. It would have been best if they had mentioned her right away.

Biclops looked very nervous to continue talking. He made gestures with his hand, pressing his pointer fingers against each other. He looked left and right, as if he was trying to find a way to get out of here. This angered Penny a little. Why was he trying to find an escape route? Was he really that afraid of Jenny that he couldn't just spit out the words? Was it that difficult for him to do the right thing and answer their question? Did it bother him that much that he'd rather keep hiding the truth instead of speaking up about Nurse Jenny?

Finally, after what felt like an hour, Biclops spoke.

"Okay...I'll tell you." Biclops said. His voice was soft and shaky, filled with apprehension. It was clear to Rudy and Penny, even before Biclops continued on, that what he had to say, they weren't going to like too much. "But before you jump on me and accuse me of anything, please...let me finish speaking first, okay?"

Penny nodded her head. "Okay. We will."

"Go ahead and tell us." Rudy replied. "We'll stay quiet until you are done."

"Thank you. I'll try to make this as quick as I can. Anyway, here is why we didn't speak of Jenny, and trust me when I say, it's not for the reason you think. In fact, I doubt you'd ever think of this as a reason. Now, what happened was that...well I didn't tell you this, but it didn't take a single battle for Wilter to beat Cosmo. It actually took a few tries. On the final try, when he did manage to win, he and the other corrupted artists weren't happy. Least of all, Jenny, who had been helping Cosmo along the way, though mostly little details. Well after Wilter won, we found out something quite nasty that Jenny did, and we didn't know about it until it was too late."

The giant paused for a moment. He hesitated to speak. He opened his mouth, then shut it. Rudy and Penny stared at him, waiting for him to continue. Knowing he wasn't going to be able to stop there, Biclops forced himself to continue, albeit unwillingly.

"There was this odd structure that had been built over the same place where Cosmo discovered the black chalk. We had assumed that Cosmo had been the one to build it. We later found out, from Jenny herself, she was the one who constructed it. Cosmo did help, but it was mostly her idea. We were horrified because that machine, it had been the start of it all. The start of the war that caused creators and zoners alike to be injured, even killed, in a battle that waved on...for longer than it should have. This structure was their base and it was heavily guarded and well protected. It used lights to destroy a huge chunk of land all around it, killing off any zoner who couldn't get away. The death toll was unimaginable and the screams echoed for miles."

Rudy and Penny looked at each other. A structure that did all that damage? That was..unthinkable. They couldn't believe that Jenny would design such a thing. All those zoners...perished by her hands. And they had done nothing to her. They didn't do anything to deserve that. They knew she was insane, but they had no idea that she'd go that far.

Biclops was clearly uncomfortable with talking about this. He did want to stop. But he didn't, and the teenagers were glad for that. As horrible as this story was, they needed to know more. They had to get whatever information that they could. Even though they would rather have known about this place much sooner, there was a saying. Better late than never. At least he was telling them now.

Biclops bit his lip, looking around nervously as if he thought someone was listening in. He continued, "The attack from the structure was so powerful that it had essentially destroyed the ground all around it, creating a void. Well almost. A very thin layer remained that could be used to traverse along, but most zoners and creators avoided it for obvious reasons. The structure served to protect what remained of the black chalk so that white chalk users couldn't destroy it. The only way to open the seal is to read the writing on the wall, which can only be read by black chalk users."

Penny's eyes widened at this. She gave a soft gasp. She turned her head to Rudy. From his horrified expression, it seemed that he made the same connection. At first, she thought that this structure was somewhere they never been to before. But the things Biclops was saying.. They were all clicking in their heads.

The lights that surrounded the structure...

The void that surrounded it, but could still be walked on...

The writing that not just anyone could read...

There was only one place that could be. Penny felt her heart start to clench at the realization. She couldn't believe it. No, it wasn't possible, could it? She looked up at Biclops, her eyes filling with dread. The giant took notice of this and looked down at her worriedly. She tried to think of what to say, how to ask, but she couldn't think of how to word it.

"I..." Rudy started to say. Penny looked over at him, and so did Biclops. "What...what was this place...?" Rudy asked, his voice filled with apprehension.

Biclops paused, clearly hesitant to say the name, as if just merely talking about it was going to physically hurt him. "Solar Pillars."

It was like a lightning bolt clashed in the back of Penny's mind. Images flashed in her head, going so fast it was hard for her to comprehend them. Suddenly, everything fell into place. The reason the place was forbidden... Why the writing was the way it was... Why there was a void... Penny felt a lump in her throat. She swallowed hard as the horrific realization dawned on her, sending waves of freezing chills up her spine.

The place they had been to... It had been a ground zero. They had been walking around the ruins of an old part of ChalkZone that had once existed decades ago. It was the remains of a once thriving village that had been guarding the black chalk, keeping creators away from it so that it couldn't be used against ChalkZone. It had been the one line of defense ChalkZone had at avoiding a corruption massacre. And Jenny and that structure of hers and Cosmo's... That had stripped away that one protection they had. Not only that, but they had mass murdered that entire populace...

The thought of that chilled Penny to the core. Solar Pillars had been disturbing before, but now it was outright terrifying. It was not just a simple structure. It was a large weapon of mass destruction. She found it hard to believe that she, Rudy, and Snap had really been walking over the graves, so to speak, of countless zoners that had lost their lives. The fact that it had been responsible for the deaths of so many zoners...it was unsettling and left her feeling a little nauseaous.

Rudy looked just as sickened. His face had rapidly lost its color when Biclops said that the name of the place was Solar Pillars. He was horrified just like she had been. Rudy's body was trembling as he came to the same realization that she had. So many zoners lost their lives there... at least the lucky ones. If any fell into the void, they would have died a very slow and painful death, as they would have kept falling forever. The thought filled Penny's blood with ice. Solar Pillars, that horrible place... It was sickening knowing that someone had actually thought of that place and built it, for no other purpose than to cause destruction and mayhem.

"That's...that's awful..." Penny breathed, her voice shaking.

"We were there..." Rudy said quietly. His eyes moved around, slowly widening as the seconds passed. "We were there, and we didn't know that...that we...were..."

Biclops's eyes widened at this. "You went to Solar Pillars?!" He cried in shock. Rudy and Penny flinched. They slowly nodded their heads. "But..no one is allowed to go there! Any zoner that knows about it is supposed to keep quiet about it! How...how did you two find out?"

Rudy said, "Some zoners mentioned it, and we overhead it." He looked up at Biclops, a regretful expression on his face. "We..we had no idea that it was so dangerous... We..."

Biclops raised his hand to silence him. "There's something else you need to know about that place. And I'm..putting you all at risk by telling you, too."

Rudy and Penny looked at each other with confused expressions. What was Biclops talking about? How could he cause more trouble if he told them? What could possibly happen? They waited for the giant to continue. For certain, he would explain why he felt he was going to put them in danger by revealing the truth. Was there something more sinister about that place than they realized? Could it be worse than that they were already lead to believe?

The giant cleared his throat. "You see... For whatever reason, Jenny didn't want anyone to associate her with Cosmo, especially that structure. We were lead to believe that it was because she wanted to keep a low profile, so that she could take us all by surprise. Or maybe it was to torment us further by not allowing us to activately speak of her. But you see, when she designed that place, she had in an extra feature that can't be turned off." He pause for a moment, taking in a deep breath. "She made the place the 'heart of ChalkZone', in a sense. The way she structured it, she made it with the intention of making it connect with the rest of ChalkZone."

"Connect with ChalkZone?" Rudy asked in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Penny asked.

"It has the potential to destroy all of ChalkZone." Biclops said. This prompted a gasp from the teenagers. Biclops nodded his head, looking at them sympathetically. "That was our reaction when we found out. It was then we knew just how far the black chalk's knowledge went, and just how smart and dangerous it made corrupted artists. And it only got worse from there. In addition to that, she also did something with the structure that prevented us from talking about her involvement in anyway. Just me and Wilter as we were the ones who stopped her and Cosmo. It was...a form of punishment. We aren't entirely sure how she was able to do it, but if we even dare utter a single thing she did, or hint that she was involved, the structure would reactivate and prepare itself for the slow destruction of ChalkZone."

"Wh-What...?" Rudy shuddered in horror, taking a step back. His breathing quickened and he stared at Biclops, his eyes silently pleading to him to be wrong. "You're...you're joking, right?"

Biclops shook his head. "I wouldn't lie about this, Rudy. By me telling you about Jenny, the structure has reactivated itself, at least that one portion of it. I know it sounds bizarre, but it's the truth, and we were so worried about it that Wilter promised never to speak of it in the real world." Biclops shifted his gaze upward. "I imagine right now, the Solar Pillars is trying to reopen the portal."

"Portal?" Penny asked in a shaky voice.

Biclops nodded his head. "Yeah..." He shifted his gaze to the side, looking rather depressed. "Cosmo and Jenny created a permanent portal, one that can never be erased. It can only be sealed up and deactivated. Once the portal is reopened, the Solar Pillars will then commence the rapid transmit of real world water all along ChalkZone." Rudy and Penny took a step back at this, horrified. "The structure's tunnels stretch very far and are thick so they can handle the real world water for a time. The real world water would be used to slowly destroy ChalkZone. Wilter and I thought about destroying the place, but there was a fail safe; it would automatically activate if we attempted that."

"And since you told us..." Rudy said.

"Yes. It has been activated again, if Jenny's words were true." Biclops shook his head. "The only good news is that Wilter was able to clog up some of the innerworkings of that structure so that the process would take a long time. That would buy you sometime to fix the problem...but to do so, it's going to be a big risk, as it involves standing in the light."

"I did that, and it..didn't feel right." Rudy shuddered, clearly remembering what happened.

"And for good reason." Biclops said. "You see, the light reacts to the black chalk, and if there's any left in you, and it seems like there is, it will activate them and make them stronger. The longer you stand in the light, the closer to corruption you will get."

This horrified Rudy and Penny. The realization that Rudy had actually been getting re-corrupted sent chills down their spines. They both remembered, all too vividly, what Rudy was like when the black chalk had taken control of him. The idea that he was about to become like that again was frightening. All of a sudden, as they pictured the light in their heads, it looked far more terrifying than ever before. It now had a foreboding look to it. The whole place of Solar Pillars had turned into a nightmare, one far bigger than they ever imagined it would be.

Penny felt bad that they made Biclops tell them the truth. If talking about Jenny had activated this..this contraption, she wished they hadn't pressed him to say anything. She was happy that, at least, the process had been greatly slowed down so she and Rudy had time to fix it. But fixing it was going to be problematic as well, as it involved Rudy having to stand in that corrupting light. If he was able to read the writing in the light, he would have to brave it and read as fast as he could, then get out. Hopefully, he wouldn't stand there too long and he wouldn't become corrupted all over again. And this time, if the light did reactivate his corrupted side, there would be no going back... This time, there was no black chalk to knock out of his hands...

As she thought about what Biclops told them, if he was being truthful, if Jenny had been honest, and this structure did activate if her name was mentioned in context with the black chalk and Cosmo, that would very well explain why they never spoke of her. Maybe it was never due to fear, at least not the fear they thought of. It wasn't fear of themselves, but fear of what would happen to the rest of ChalkZone if they spoke up. This structure..it was really proof of how sick and twisted Jenny was. She might be even worse than Cosmo... And that was a chilling thought, considering how Bardot turned out to be.

Now that they know more about Solar Pillars and what its purpose was, Penny knew they could then focus on stopping it. Jenny was not 'resurrected', so to speak, so they only had the Solar Pillars to worry about. She and Rudy could take care of it as soon as possible and that would be it. Nothing else to concern themselves with. She wished they could just dismantle it, but from what Biclops said, that wasn't going to work. Or maybe it could so long as they were very careful about it and found a way to destroy it without making things so much worse. Yes, there had to be a way.

At least Jenny's memories hadn't been reactivated yet. At least she wasn't out causing any problems. That was the only bit of comfort that she and Rudy had right now. Things could be so much worse than they are now. And hopefully, it would stay that way.

sss

Rudy tried not to think too much about what happened with Biclops. The information he had given them, while important, was very disturbing and left him feeling unnerved. The things he told them...he didn't think he could get out of his head anytime soon. Rudy never would have guessed that he and his friends stumbled upon some kind of giant death machine.

All those zoners...gone...all because of some vile child's actions. That structure, killing all those zoners with light...creating the void all around them.. It was terrifying. He couldn't believe that the light was used as a weapon like that. Just...what did it do that it caused the loss of almost all the land all around it? What did it do so that only a transparent, thin layer of land was left behind? How many holes were in it? Biclops indicated it was cratered and that he and his friends were lucky they didn't fall through. How many were there and how many zoners had fallen down?

The aspect of it weaponizing real world water...even if it did turn out to just be a fib Jenny used to scare them, it was quite unsettling to think about. A permanent portal...was that even possible? Was that a possible lie Jenny said, all just to keep Biclops and Wilter from opening their mouths? How far had Jenny been willing to go to make sure they stayed quiet? There were so many questions swimming in Rudy's head, making it ache.

The fact that Biclops and Wilter didn't tell them about Jenny because of the possibility of the structure activating if they did...even if it turned out to be a lie, it still sent chills up and down his spine. If Jenny hadn't created it, then if she got her memories back, she would most likely try to do something like that for real. She already went far enough to help design and create something that obliterated an entire village and much of the surrounding area. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume that she would extend the destruction much further than that.

He had wanted to go back to the structure anyway. He wanted to brave it and go there to try to take care of the problem right away. The only reason he didn't was because he and Penny realized it was almost time for his folks to get back. They had been gone much longer than they thought. He didn't want his folks to come back and find that he and Penny went into ChalkZone when they were told not to. He'd have to postpone the trip a little before he would go back to the Solar Pillars. It shouldn't be too much of a problem though. He and Penny would be back very soon anyway.

He hoped that Sophie wasn't too upset still about not being able to go into ChalkZone. He did feel bad about having to leave her behind. It wasn't that he didn't want to take her, but with the possibility of a trip to the Solar Pillars, he just couldn't risk it. And now that he knows how dangerous that place is, he realized that it was a very good idea he didn't take her with them. He didn't want to expose her to that kind of danger. He'd feel awful if he did that.

Rudy and Penny climbed out of the portal. He turned around and used the eraser to close it up. He then made his way out of his bedroom, Penny following close behind. He could hear the television downstairs and he assumed that Snap and Sophie were watching some old cartoon together. This made him smile. It was nice that Snap was able to find a way to keep Sophie entertained while they were gone. He was always good with that.

"Snap! Sophie!" Rudy called out down the stairs. "We're back!"

There was no answer. Rudy thought this was strange. They would usually say something back. Why weren't they replying? Maybe they were too focused on the television or something. It was possible.

Penny shouted, "Hey Snap! Can you come over here? We have something to talk to you about!" When seconds passed by and there was no answer, Penny continued, "Snap, come on! I know you love that show, but can you please come over here?"

Still nothing. A few minutes passed and there was no reply from Snap or Sophie. Rudy and Penny looked at each other, baffled. Their confusion soon turned into worry. They couldn't have fallen asleep. Neither of them were remotely tired. And it wasn't like them to sleep when they were together anyway. Unless they were sick...but that was impossible. They were both just fine hours ago. It was unlikely that something like that happened in such a short time frame.

Rudy and Penny made their way down the stairs. They turned into the living room, expecting to see Snap and Sophie laying on the couch together. But there was no one there. Their eyes widened at this. They rushed into the living room and looked around. It only took seconds for them to realize they weren't in here. But if they weren't here, where could they have gone? Maybe they were in another part of the house perhaps? Maybe they went into the kitchen.

They went over into the kitchen, but there was no one there either. They tried looking in other places of the house, even something bizarre like the closet. They were nowhere in sight. Not a trace of them to be found. They looked in room after room. As the seconds passed, Rudy's heart clenched. An intense, uncomfortable feeling swelled up inside of him as he searched around for his cousin and friend. His searching became more and more frantic as he and Penny looked in every room of his house, only to turn up nothing.

He looked over at Penny, his eyes widened. "They're not here..." He said in a soft voice.

Penny let out a gasp and looked over at something. "Rudy...look.." She pointed a finger towards the door. "Sophie must have gone outside."

Rudy noticed the door hadn't been closed all the way, and he could see blue smudges. His eyes snapped wide in realization. Sophie must have run outside. But why? Why would she do such a thing? And Snap had gone after her... Who knows how far they had gone? He didn't know how long they were even gone.

He tried to calm himself down. Maybe Sophie and Snap just went outside to go for a walk, or to play a game or something. Just because they were both outside didn't mean something was wrong. Snap was a responsible zoner, and he wouldn't go too far, especially since Sophie was still young and he was vulnerable to real world water. Yeah, they would be back any second now.

He and Penny walked outside to wait for their return. He sat down on the sidewalk and looked left and right. He didn't see them anywhere, but he was certain they'd return soon. Sophie's mom would be here any second to pick her daughter up. Sophie knew better than to keep her mom waiting.

But as the minutes passed, and there was no sign of them, Rudy's worry started to rise up inside. He couldn't shake off this pang in his heart. What if something had gone wrong? What if they had gotten lost? It was possible. Snap wasn't that familiar with the real world and Sophie was impulsive at times, so she might end up going down unfamiliar streets. Maybe he and Penny should make a trek up and down the streets to find them.

They then heard someone talking down the street. They looked over and two people standing over there. One was a man, and the other a police officer. Their hearts tightened up at the sight of this, and their imaginations ran wild. They tried to keep themselves calmed down. After all, this didn't really mean it pertained to Snap and Sophie. They were jumping to conclusions too fast. Curious, they walked over to see what the commotion was all about.

"It happened by that tree over there!" A man in his fifties shouted at the officer.

"Can you describe the man who did it?" The officer asked. He had out a notebook and a pen.

The man thought for a moment. "Well he wasn't that tall. Maybe five feet four or five. Caucasian. His hair was short and black. He had some kind of brown suit on, looked like he was some important figure."

"Okay..." The officer wrote down the information. "Is there anything else you can tell me about him?"

The man said, "No. I couldn't get close enough to see much other details beyond that. He moved pretty fast when he saw I was coming, and then he was in the car and he fled with those two."

Rudy's eyes widened in horror. "Who...who did he take...?" He said, speaking loud enough for the officer and man to hear.

The officer looked over at Rudy. "There was a kidnapping. This man here says he saw someone sneaking around here and grabbing two little kids and taking off with them."

The man nodded his head. "Yeah. One of them was a little girl. Blonde hair from what I could tell." He scratched his chin. "The other..was some blue kid. Superhero outfit. Large white eyes. He was knocked out by the man and carried and the girl was forced to follow. I tried to intervene, but the man then just grabbed the girl as soon as he saw me and ran towards this car and he took off with them. I didn't have time to get the license plate number."

Rudy felt like the walls closed in all around him. He could barely register the world going on all around. His body froze. His blood chilled. He started to tremble. Sophie and Snap were kidnapped... The realization sent shockwaves through his body. No..it was not possible. Not them... No... He shook his head in denial. A few tears formed in his eyes and he took a step back.

Penny was just as shaken up. She turned to Rudy and attempted to comfort him. She put her arms around him and pulled him close. His mind swelling up with so much emotion, Rudy pressed his face against Penny's shoulder and held onto her tightly. It couldn't be true. They had to be mistake, they just..they just couldn't be right. But the descriptions... They matched Sophie and Snap well. No one in this neighborhood went around outside during this time dressed like a superhero. There was no way it could have been anyone else.

"Do you know them?" The officer asked.

Rudy looked over at them, wiping away a tear. "Y-Yeah... I do..."

"It'll be okay. We'll find them." Penny said in a gentle voice in a clear attempt to help him feel better. "They'll be okay."

"I hope you're right." Rudy said in a shaky voice.

He shut his eyes tightly as guilt began to take him over. Why didn't he just take Sophie with them? Better yet, why didn't he just stay out of ChalkZone? If he had just done what he was told, this wouldn't have happened. And now, because of his foolishness, Snap and Sophie were gone. And the one person who might have been the only witness couldn't even get the license plate number... He had no idea where those two were taken..or if they would even see them again.

Tears formed in his eyes as intense emotion swept through his body. Penny held onto him tighter and rubbed his back gently, whispering soft comforting words to him. But no matter what she said, no matter how much she tried to urge him that it wasn't his fault, the guilt just wouldn't leave him. If he had just stayed home and kept Sophie company like he was supposed to, she and Snap wouldn't have been kidnapped. This was all his fault...

"Rudy...?"

Rudy's eyes widened and he swiveled his head. He didn't hear the car pull up. He didn't hear the car doors opening. He didn't realize that his folks were back now. And now there they were, his parents and his aunt, walking slowly up to them, confusing plastered all over their faces.

His mom said, "What's going on here?"

"Ma'am, there's been a kidnapping." The officer said.

Rudy's mother, father, and aunt all gasped in horror at this. They turned to look at Rudy and Penny. Their eyes were wide with a burning, silent question. They were almost pleading with them. It was like they had a strong idea of what happened, and they were hoping it wasn't true. Rudy flinched at this, and looked away. He was going to feel so horrible for delivering the bad news, but..he didn't have a choice.

"Yeah..." Rudy said in a weak, cracking voice. "Sophie and Snap were kidnapped..."

At this, his parents gasped in horror, their faces paled. Tilly's body trembled and she brought her hands to her mouth in horror. She shook her head in denial, taking a few steps back. Tears formed in her eyes. His parents were just as mortified by this. They stared at them, almost like they were expecting it to be some kind of sick joke. But when Rudy lowered his gaze, that was confirmation enough for them to know that he was not joking about this.

Tilly spoke in a trembling voice. "S-Sophie..? She's gone...? No...no, not my baby, no..." She started to cry. Rudy's mom wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a hug. Tilly pressed her face against her shoulders and started to cry.

"How...how did this happen...?" Rudy's father asked, clearly shaken by what happened.

The man that the officer spoke to answered this question. "Some strange man came around this area, not far from here, ambushed them, knocked the blue one out, and took off with them. It happened only about an hour ago."

"Rudy..." Mr. Tabootie turned his attention to his son. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because we didn't kn..." Rudy stopped himself, his eyes widening. He looked at his folk's expressions. They stared at him in shock, and he realized he had just slipped up. Then again, there was no way he could lie his way out of this one.

"Rudy...you went into ChalkZone...didn't you...?" Mrs. Tabootie said. There was a tinge of anger in her voice. When Rudy nodded his head meekly, she said, "You were supposed to watch Sophie. We entrusted you with watching her, and you..." Her voice trailed off, clearly getting too angry to speak to him.

Tilly wasn't happy either. She glared over at Rudy, causing him to flinch and take a step back. But she said nothing. She was too busy crying, knowing that her daughter was in danger somewhere and they had no idea where she was. Rudy stared at Tilly sympathetically, feeling the guilt rise up further inside of him. His heart rate quickened and he felt more tears filling up his eyes. The sight of his mother and aunt this angry at him made him feel even worse about what happened. His mother was right. He was supposed to watch Sophie, and he didn't do that.

Penny still held onto him. She was doing her best to help him feel better. But he didn't think there was anything she could say to help him feel better from this. This...this was probably the worst mistake he's ever made. Due to his foolishness, he had endangered the lives of two people he cared about. If he had just stayed in the real world, this wouldn't have happened.

Mr. Tabootie walked up to Rudy. His eyes were narrowed. It was clear he was not very happy with Rudy. Though he wanted to move away, Rudy stood there, casting a nervous glance towards the ground. He knew he was in big trouble, and there was nothing he could do to get around it. He looked up at his father, his eyes brimming with shame and guilt.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Rudy. We entrusted you to watch over Sophie, and instead you went into ChalkZone. Even though we told you to wait, you went in there anyway." His dad said, his voice brimming with anger. "And because of that, they're both gone! They've been kidnapped and now they're in big trouble! We don't even know if they're still alive! Not only did you disobey us, Rudy, but you put both Snap and Sophie in danger!"

Rudy lowered his head, tears streaming down his face. He started to cry, taking in quick, shaky breaths. "I-I'm sorry... I know I goofed up.."

"Goofed up? You did more than goof up!" His dad snapped at him.

Penny spoke up. "Please, you aren't helping anything. Yeah, I know Rudy and I screwed up. But we aren't going to solve anything if we just stand around pointing fingers."

Mr. Tabootie took in a few deep breaths. His angered expression melted away and he looked at Penny for a second. "Yeah...I know." He looked over at Rudy. Realizing that he had scared his son, he reached a hand out towards him and gripped his shoulder gently. "I'm sorry I snapped at you. It's just that..."

"I understand." Rudy said. He was still a little apprehensive, as his dad did not usually get that angry. "You have every right to be mad at me." He lowered his gaze. "I suppose I'm going to be punished for this?"

"Let's worry about that later." Mr. Tabootie said. "Right now, let's focus on finding Snap and Sophie."

Rudy nodded in agreement. He knew it was important that they begin to search for them as soon as possible. He didn't know where they were taken to, though. He didn't know how far they are by now, and they had no idea who took them and for what purpose. He could only hope that, by the time they are found, it wasn't too late to help them.

Chapter Text

Sophie had no idea where she was. The area where Tyreek had taken her didn’t look familiar to her at all. It was out in the country side with few buildings around. It was in the opposite direction that her mom would usually drive. She had never been out this way before, until now. Though she did look out the window to try to gain a sense of her surroundings, nothing looked familiar enough for anything to click into her mind.

The only thing familiar that she could see was Snap. She felt both happy and horrible that he was dragged into this. Happy because at least she wouldn’t be alone in this. She felt some comfort in knowing that Snap was going to be with her during this whole thing, whatever this ‘thing’ turned out to be. But she also felt horrible. She didn’t want him getting hurt because of a stupid mistake she made. She was the one who decided to wander out of the house despite warnings. She should have been the only one caught. Why did Snap have to suffer for it, too?

She thought back to the incidenti n the house. Why did she have to be so stupid and try to prove herself? Why did she get it in her head that she had to show that she was independent and could make decisions for herself? Why did she run out when Snap tried to stop her? She should have just handed the magic chalk over to him when he had asked her to. She should have stayed in the house like she was supposed to. Instead, she pulled a stupid stunt like this, and now look where she ended up. And she had no idea if she was going to make it out of this alive or not. She had no idea of the intentions of this crazy man who kidnapped her and her friend.

She could only imagine how terrified the others were going to be when they found out she was gone. Her mother especially... She’d freak out, have a heart attack. They must have found out by now. Surely, they were looking for her this very second. But that did little to comfort her. There was no way to know if they were going to be able to get on the right track and find her in time. They might be able to find her and Snap in time.

She knew that her mother, aunt, and uncle were going to be furious at Rudy for not watching her. She wouldn’t doubt that they all expressed anger towards him. She hoped that they didn’t stay mad at him for long. And Sophie didn’t really blame Rudy. Things would have been fine had she just stayed in the house. She was the one who made the mistake, in her eyes, not Rudy. She could just kick herself mentally for doing something so stupid.

And now, because of her stupidity, she was trapped in this dingy abandoned barn. Strong, horrible smells were everywhere, likely leftover scents from the animals that used to graze here. The wood itself was rotten in a few places and looked like it was going to fall apart soon. The red paint had all but chipped away, exposing the dark brown coloration underneath. There were three levels to this barn, ladders in place to help someone climb up. Large piles of hay were strewn about in large piles. Some of it surrounded her a little. The only bit of light came from the open windows above her, illuminating most of the inside of the barn.

Sophie was feeling a little chilly. It wasn’t that cold out, so she had run out without her jacket. But in this barn, unable to move, she felt colder than usual. Her body trembled as she desperately tried to get warm. The wind blowing in from the open windows did little to help her. To make matters worse, she was strapped down on a cold chair, her limbs bound to the chair’s legs. And she had been placed in the one spot where the most wind went through. A purposeful act, she suspected.

Her captor had left a few minutes ago, leaving her alone in here. He wasn’t going to be gone long. He said he was just going to ‘get the others’. He didn’t bother specifying who these ‘others’ were, though. Nor did he say how many were coming over, or for what purpose. She had a feeling it dealt with the magic chalk, but if that were the case, why not just take it from her by force and run off? Why go through the trouble of kidnapping her? Had that been part of the plan the whole time? And if it were, would she have been safe in the house anyway? Would he have taken her from Rudy’s house?

Questions burned through her mind. There was so much she didn’t understand about this whole thing. Why would the principal want magic chalk? Did he even know it was magic? Yeah, he must have. Why would he go through all this threatening if he didn’t know? She noticed that he hadn’t tried to take it from her when she was strapped down, adding to her confusion. Why didn’t he just take it? There had to be a reason. And she had a feeling she was going to get her answers very soon.

And sure enough, she turned out to be correct. The barn doors swung open, clanging against the sides. A rush of wind came in, blowing her hair back, forcing her to turn her head to the side. When the wind stopped, she looked over to see who was walking in.

Standing there in the doorway was Tyreek, who was still holding Snap by his scarf. At this point, Snap was now awake and struggling to get free. A few times, Snap attempted to swing a punch at Tyreek, but the man held him out too far to really be hit. Standing next to Tyreek were two women, both of whom Sophie didn’t recognize offhand. Though when she looked at the blonde woman more intently, she began to realize it was someone from Rudy’s school. What was her name... Jenny? Yeah, Nurse Jenny.

She was shocked by this. What was she doing here? Then again, what was the principal of Rudy’s school doing here? And was the third person also from that same school? Sophie couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. Two, maybe three, people from a respected school committing such heinous crimes... What had gotten into them? What made them think that this was a good idea? What was wrong with them? They never acted this way before. Sure, Nurse Jenny was a little weird. But she’d never willingly do something this horrible...would she?

“See, Jenny and Ghadir? I told you I got her.” Tyreek said as the three adults approached the little girl. “She says that she is Rudy’s cousin, and I saw her try to use the magic chalk.”

At this, Sophie realized that he really did know about the magic chalk. Suddenly the situation felt even more dire than before. She knew the consequences of just handing the magic chalk over to anyone.

“I can see that.” Jenny said, a dark smile on her face. She moved up to Sophie and walked in a wide circle around her, arms folded behind her back. “Rudy’s cousin, you say? Well that may work in our favor...”

Sophie didn’t like the sound of that. She began to struggle against her binds. “Please..let me go...” She begged with them, hoping that maybe, against the odds, they would listen. But when they did nothing more than smile at her, she gave a shudder and looked towards away. “I...I won’t tell anyone..I promise.”

Jenny reached down and cupped Sophie’s chin, tilting it upwards. “Oh I know, dear. But we can’t let you go yet. There’s still so much for us to..discuss.”

“Wh-What do you want from me?” Sophie asked them. She tried again to pull her arms free, but it was no use. “What did I do to deserve this?”

At this, Tyreek took a step forward. He put his free hand against his side and stared coldly down at her. “You resisted. If you had just given me the magic chalk when I asked, I would have left you and your friend alone.” Sophie looked up at him in fear. Tyreek raised Snap higher and stared at him for a few seconds. Then he turned to Sophie. “Because of your foolishness, you both must pay the price. And you both may have some...vital information that we need.”

Sophie leaned back in her chair in a desperate attempt to get away. “What kind of information?”

Ghadir spoke up this time. “Whatever we need.” She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “Whatever comes to mind, really. You two have information regarding Rudy’s status in ChalkZone, and I’m sure you know a lot more than that. And you two are going to give us that information...” She raised a small knife into the air, the tip of the blade glinting in the light. “...or else...”

Sophie gasped in horror and cringed back. Snap’s eyes shot open at this and he struggled harder to get free. “We won’t tell you anything!” Snap thrashed in Tyreek’s hand. “Let us go!”

Tyreek shook Snap hard, causing the zoner to gag and have a hard time breathing. “Be quiet, you!” He put his face close to Snap’s, causing the zoner’s eyes to widen and try to move his head back. “You two will fork over the information we need... Or you will be sorry...”

Jenny looked over at him. She lifted up her hand and made a gesture with her fingers. Tyreek walked over to her and stood in front of her. Jenny glanced down at the zoner for a few seconds, giving him a nasty smile. The look in that woman’s eyes...it was creepy. There was some kind of intent behind them. Sophie couldn’t yet identify what it was, but she had a feeling that things were about to take a turn for the worst.

Jenny made a signal with her hand towards Ghadir. The large woman walked over towards a corner of the barn. Sophie tried to follow her movements, but with the position she was tied down in, she could barely see her out of the corner of her eye. When she walked back, she saw that she was carrying several pieces of rope. She came over back to where Jenny was. It was then that Sophie looked up and saw there was a low hanging wooden bar above them. She watched as Ghadir threw the longest rope over on the bar, letting it hang up there. Then she turned her attention to Snap.

Sophie watched in horror as Tyreek shoved Snap into the ground on his stomach. The zoner let out a cry of pain as he hit the ground. His arms were forced back behind him and rope was wrapped around to hold them in place. The ropes were clearly tight and Sophie could see Snap grinding his teeth from the pain.

“No! Please! Stop!” Sophie cried out in horror.

But the adults did not listen. As Tyreek held Snap down, Ghadir went to work continuing to tie him up. After his hands were secured behind his back, she looped rope around his chest and the side of his arms, holding them further in place. She then went down towards his legs. Snap tried to kick at her, but it was no use. Ghadir grabbed his legs and held them together. She bound them together very tightly, causing Snap to seethe further in pain.

The lat thing she did was she took the long rope that she looped over the bar and tied it to the ropes attached around Snap’s chest and upper arms. Pulling on it a few times to make sure it was secure, Ghadir moved back. Tyreek let go of Snap and quickly grabbed the loose end of the long rope on the other side. With a swift yank, he pulled Snap up into the air. He stood in place, keeping Snap lifted a couple feet off the ground.

Snap attempted to free himself. He struggled wildly in the air. All he could manage was spinning himself around a little. He was not able to get himself free of the ropes. He tried as hard as he could. Sophie could see his face going a little red as he tried to put as much force into his pulls as possible. He yanked himself left and right, but still he remained dangling above the ground, his feet not even close to the floor. He stopped struggling and he glared hatefully towards Jenny.

“This is a cowardly move! Why don’t you release me and fight me?” Snap growled at her. “Are you afraid I’m going to win? I beat Bardot! I can certainly beat you!”

“Bardot you say?” Jenny asked, tilting her head to the side. “Who is Bardot? Care to explain?”

Snap snarled at her and turned his head away. “Never.”

Jenny stared at him for a few seconds. Then she shrugged her shoulders. “Okay then..” Snap looked at her in confusion. Jenny smiled at him before turning her head to Sophie. “I’m sure she will be able to explain. Besides...” She gave Snap a sideways glance. “...she will be doing most of the talking. You are here for...another reason.”

“What...?” Snap asked, his voice laced in confusion. “What are you...?”

Jenny pressed a hand against his mouth, silencing him. She put her face close to his. “You’ll soon find out, you useless piece of chalk...” Snap narrowed his eyes at her and bit down on her hand hard. Jenny’s eyes widened and she let out a scream. She yanked her hand away. She glared at Snap, but instead of hitting him, simply turned and walked away. She returned to Sophie’s side and smiled down at her. “Now..why don’t you be a good girl? Tell us what we want to know, and we will let you and your friend go free, unharmed.”

Sophie leaned away from Jenny, looking up at her in fear. There was no way she could just tell them whatever they wanted to know. More likely than not, they were going to ask her questions regarding ChalkZone. She couldn’t tell them that. She would be endangering all those zoners. She couldn’t betray them. Rudy told her many times what would happen if she did that. It was imperative that, no matter what, she remained quiet and not tell them anything.

She also had to figure out a way to keep them from getting the magic chalk. They could still take it from her, and if they did, it was going to be disastrous. If they could enter ChalkZone at any time, it was going to be much harder to stop them. It didn’t help that she had no idea what they wanted to do in ChalkZone. But if they were anything like Cosmo, that crazy man that Rudy told them about, it was nothing good. And judging from the way these three were acting, they certainly didn’t have ChalkZone’s best interests in mind. If they were like Cosmo, and she was certain they were, they were going to exploit that world, use it to their advantage. And she couldn’t help them do that. No, she wouldn’t do that. She was going to do her best to resist.

Sophie heard the snap of a finger. She looked up to see Ghadir had went over to the windows. For someone that looked like they weren’t in that great of shape, she sure could move. Ghadir closed all the windows. With each one, the room got darker and darker. And finally, when the last one was taken care of, Sophie had a hard time seeing what was right in front of her face. This didn’t last long as Jenny turned on a bright flashlight and shined it in her face.

Sophie let out a small cry. The light was intense, causing her pupils to shrink. She turned her head away, baring her teeth in discomfort. When her eyes adjusted to the light, she slowly looked over. She cast a fearful glance up at Jenny. As the woman smiled darkly down at her, as Ghadir started to climb back down to join them, Sophie wondered just what they were going to do.

Ghadir took position beside Snap. She kept her distance from him so the zoner wasn’t able to attack her. At the moment, Snap just glared at her, hanging limply in the air. He made no attempt to attack her, but from the look in his eyes, it was clear he was not above trying to do so, despite how impossible it seemed. Ghadir smiled darkly at him for a moment before shifting her gaze over to where Sophie was sitting. From the look in her eyes, Sophie could see a silent warning. ‘Obey or else’... A clear threat glowed in her eyes. Whatever she was going to do, it was nothing good.

“Now...let’s get started, shall we?” Jenny said in a cool voice. She positioned herself in front of Sophie. She placed her hands on her shoulders and leaned in a little. Sophie turned her head to the side as the woman moved in a little too closely. “I’m not going to worry about who Bardot is, as he’s probably not important to our plans. But here’s one question I strongly recommend you answer, little girl.” Her voice grew eerily soft. “Where did you get the magic chalk?”

“I...” Sophie started to say. She sealed her mouth shut tightly, refusing to say more.

“Don’t tell them, Sophie!” Snap called out to her, his eyes wide with desperation. “Don’t tell them anything!”

Ghadir glared at Snap and punched him in the stomach. He let out a cry of pain. “Shut up!”

Sophie looked on in horror. “Snap!” She looked up at Jenny. She took in a few shaky breaths. Then she shook her head rapidly and leaned away from the woman. “N-No...I won’t...”

Jenny’s smile never faltered. She leaned back away from Sophie. She turned around and walked away, holding her hands behind her back. “I see...Well then...” She gave the girl a sideways glance. “Maybe I need to give you a bigger incentive.” She looked over at Ghadir and gave her a single nod. “Go ahead. It seems we will have to resort to that plan after all.”

“P-Plan? What plan?” Sophie asked in a trembling voice. As Ghadir reached for something behind her back, Sophie felt her heart clenching. “What are you going to do?”

Sophie felt her blood freeze when Ghadir took out a water bottle, filled about halfway with what was clearly water. It was one of those that had a setting to send only sprinklets of water, not that it made the situation any less horrifying. She watched as Ghadir leveled the spray with Snap’s face. The zoner stared at the water bottle, his body trembling hard. Sophie struggled, trying to get herself free, but there was nothing she could do. She could only look on in horror as Ghadir prepared to spray Snap. With him tied up like that, there was no way he could get away from her.

Sophie’s breaths quickened as she looked back and forth from Jenny to Snap to Ghadir to Tyreek and back again. Despite Snap’s fear, anytime she looked at him, he would shake his head no. Even though he was in danger, he didn’t want her to speak a word to these people. Whenever she looked at Jenny, she just had her arms folded and stared expectantly down at her. She had a nasty smile on her face, a devious promise hidden underneath it. Sophie knew that, if she remained quiet, Jenny would go through with her threat.

She had never felt this torn before. She didn’t want to betray ChalkZone. She didn’t want to expose any information that these three could use against it. But at the same time, she didn’t want Snap getting hurt because of her. It just wasn’t fair. He never did anything to deserve this. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone?”

“Please leave him alone...” Sophie begged, her voice soft and desperate. “Please just let him go...”

Jenny chuckled evilly at this. “I’m afraid we can’t do that, child. You see, we know how to exploit weaknesses. And your clear attachment to that thing will prove most useful to us.. Now..” She leaned in closer to Sophie, who snapped her head back and clenched her teeth. “...talk...”

Sophie cast a glance over at Snap. The zoner silently said ‘no’ and shook his head. Sophie looked back up at Jenny. A nauseous feeling rising up in her gut, she swallowed hard and shook her head. This caused Jenny to narrow her eyes slightly. She looked back over at Ghadir, who stood next to Snap, waiting for a command. Jenny looked down at Sophie, waiting to see if she changed her mind. Sophie still refused to answer, not wanting to betray ChalkZone. Jenny gave a small snarl at this and then waved a hand over at Ghadir, giving her the signal. Ghadir smiled at this and stared intently at Snap. The zoner looked back at her worriedly, his eyes widening in fear.

Ghadir pressed the trigger on the bottle. A spray of small water droplets hit Snap against his face. The zoner’s eyes went wide and he let out a loud scream of pain. Steam rose from where the water hit him. Tiny portions of his face were a little dissolved, allowing blood to start trinkling out.

Sophie cried out in horror, “Snap!”

Ghadir sprayed Snap again, causing more blood flow. Snap continued to scream as he was sprayed a couple times with the water bottle. It wasn’t enough to cause major damage, but he was now loosing some blood. Burn marks appeared on his face from where the water bored into him. He shook his body from side to side, trying desperately to get free. Tears flowed down his face, his teeth gritted, and low whimpers were emitted from his mouth.

Ghadir only stopped when Jenny raised up her hand. She turned to Susie. She spread a twisted smile across her face. “Keep resisting, and he will continued to get sprayed. I know you don’t want to see him get hurt, do you?” She made a motion to where Snap was, letting out small whines of pain, blood covering his face and moving onto his chest and arms. Sophie looked at him, her eyes wide, and then looked back up at Jenny. “I didn’t think so. Now come on. Answer my question.”

Sophie opened her mouth, but she hesitated. She...she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t betray ChalkZone. She couldn’t give this woman the information she wanted. She had to resist...somehow.. She had to keep resisting. She turned her head away, trying her best to remain defiant. But that was soon shattered when she heard a bloodcurdling scream from Snap. She whipped her head around and gave a scream of terror when she saw Ghadir spray his back twice at close range. Through the small freshly dissolved parts of his costume, blood dripped down from the many small wounds.

“No! Please stop! You’re hurting him!” Sophie screamed, tears flowing down her cheeks.

“Then answer the question. Where did you get the magic chalk?” Jenny asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously. Sophie hesitated. Jenny said, “I will warn you, little girl. The longer you refuse to tell me, the more injured your friend here will get. Now talk!”

Sophie looked back at Ghadir. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw Ghadir prepare to spray Snap again. And Snap...he had so many small burn marks on him now, and blood stained his body. He was letting out small whimpers of pain and she could see the tears in his eyes. He was still silently pleading with her not to speak but..she couldn’t let him continue to get hurt like this. It..it wasn’t fair...

She looked back at Jenny, biting her lip. Seeing now choice, she lowered her head in submission. She said, “...I got it from Rudy...” Her voice was small, defeated.

“S-Sophie...” Snap said, his voice shaking from the pain. “No..”

Sophie looked at him and turned her head away in shame. “I’m sorry, Snap...”

“From Rudy, eh..?” Tyreek asked as he continued to hold onto the rope that held Snap above the ground. “And how long has he had magic chalk?”

“Yes...how long has he been going into ChalkZone?” Jenny asked, smirking at the little blonde girl tied to the chair. “Please share that knowledge with us. We are most interested...”

Despite Snap’s desperate shaking of the head, Sophie answered, not wanting to see him getting more hurt. “Since he was eight years old... He told us he found the chalk then, and he has been protecting ChalkZone ever since...” She said, her voice remaining small, no ounce of defiance in it. A few tears escaped her eyes. “He told me how...important it was to keep it safe from the real world...”

“I’m sure he did.” The tone that Jenny used was strange. It sounded like sarcasm, and then not sarcasm. Sophie couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Jenny continued, “And when was he touched by the black chalk?” Sophie looked at her in shock. “Yes, I know he was in contact with the black chalk. Tell me how long ago this was.”

Sophie hesitated for a second. She glanced down at the ground. She heard another cry from Snap. She looked up and saw he was sprayed again, this time on his arm. Her body trembling in fear for him, she looked at Jenny and said quickly, “It was three and a half years ago! Mr. Cosmo had...”

“Mr. Cosmo?” Jenny’s eyes widened at this, her expression softening. “He regained his memories...?” She moved a little closer to the girl. “How?”

“I..I don’t know...” Sophie said, gritting her teeth in fear. “B-But yeah... Cosmo tried to corrupt Rudy with it...”

Ghadir and Tyreek looked at each other. Their eyes were widened with surprise. They looked back at her. Jenny was the most surprised. It was clear she did not expect this bit of information. Slowly, Jenny’s eyes narrowed. Sophie gulped, realizing now she probably shouldn’t have mentioned Cosmo.

“What happened to Mr. Cosmo?” Jenny asked, her tone darkening a little.

“He was defeated... R-Rudy said that he tried to kill him...and he ended up caught in his own death trap...” Sophie said in a shaky voice. “He was crushed to death...”

At this, Jenny just stared at her, eyes widen and mouth relaxed. She looked shocked, stunned by this bit of information. Ghadir and Tyreek didn’t look any less surprised. For what felt like a few minutes, there was just silence in the room. Sophie felt very uncomfortable with sitting here under their gaze. They looked at her in shock, but did not speak a word. Then, slowly, Jenny’s mouth curled into a snarl, her teeth bared slightly. There was a glint of black in her eyes as she let out a low growl from her mouth.

“So the little brat killed Cosmo, did he...?” Jenny’s voice gained a dangerous tone.

Sophie shook her head in desperation. “N-No! I-It’s not like that at all! Rudy would never...”

Jenny cut her off. “I knew the boy was going to be trouble...” She leaned her head back, staring menacingly at the little girl. “I guarantee you that he won’t get away with this. Just like Mr. Wilter couldn’t get away...”

Snap gasped at this. “What did you do to Mr. Wilter...?”

Jenny cast an evil smile in Snap’s direction. “Let’s just say...” She moved over to Snap and pressed a finger under his chin. She ran her hand lightly over the top of his head, not caring when Snap winced in pain whenever she touched his wounds. “..he’ll be out of commission for a while...”

Snap’s eyes widened in horror. “You...you didn’t...”

“Oh don’t worry. He isn’t dead...” Jenny tilted her head to the side, a sneer spread across her face. “But whenever he wakes up, he will wish he was.”

“You...you monster...!” Snap snarled at her. “You’re not getting away with this!”

Jenny just laughed coldly at him before turning her attention back to Sophie. She then looked over at Ghadir and gave a nod. The large woman nodded back and moved over to Sophie. She put the water bottle away and stood next to Sophie. Jenny went over, but kept a considerable distance away from Sophie this time. She put her arms behind her back again and just smiled at the little girl. Sophie didn’t like the way she was looking at her.

“Ghadir will free one of your arms, Sophie. When she does, hand over the magic chalk.” Jenny ordered.

Sophie shook her head. “N-No...”

“You have no choice.” Jenny said coolly. “I call all the shots around here.”

“I won’t do it...” Sophie said. “Why don’t you try taking it for yourself?”

A low cold laughter from Ghadir. “Because, it so much more fun making you hand it over..because then you will have to live with the knowledge that you handed it over to us. It’s not as rewarding if we just take it from you.”

Sophie shook her head. “No...”

“Then so be it.” Jenny narrowed her eyes. She gave a nod to Ghadir. “Do it.”

Sophie looked over to see Ghadir pulling out a sharp knife. Her eyes widened in horror. She attempted to struggle but she froze and screamed as agony swept through her body, the knife plunged deep into her right arm. Ghadir pulled the knife back and struck back down, this time higher up on her arm. Blood pooled from the fresh wounds and she let out screams of agony. Ghadir then slashed across her face, leaving behind a long, bloody mark that stretched from the top right of her face down to the bottom left of her chin.

The three adults made no reaction when Snap cried out in desperation, begging them to stop. Ghadir stabbed Sophie again and again until she now sported ten stab wounds, her arms completely covered in blood. The little girl let out low whimpers of pain and her body trembled. Tears flowed down her face. She couldn’t speak at this point. Everytime she opened her mouth, all she could do was scream.

Even after Sophie surrendered and agreed to hand over the magic chalk, the knife torture just continued. The blade went into her arm and cut up along it, slicing through muscle and tissue. More tears came down her face and she tried to get free. More and more blood stained herself and the floor below her. Pain swept through her body, causing every corner to ache, even if it wasn’t attacked. She gritted her teeth and sobbed as she was stabbed in her left leg next. The knife was pulled slowly downward, increasing her agony and amount of suffering she had to endure.

She had no idea why they were doing this. Why would they keep hurting her when she surrendered? Was this their sick way of getting back at Rudy? Was Jenny only doing this to strike a blow against Rudy’s heart? Was she doing this just for some sick pleasure? She couldn’t think too hard on that. Her mind was clouded by the agony, making it hard for her to percieve the world around her effectively. She could hear Snap still calling out to them to stop, hearing the desperation in his voice.

“Stop that! Please! She’s just a little kid! What has she ever done to you?!” Snap cried out, struggling against his ropes. He was still in pain, but at the moment, he was ignoring it, twisting his body to try to get over to them. “Release her at once!”

“You can’t tell us what to do, you bundle of dust.” Tyreek said in a cold voice.

“And besides, she won’t be in pain for much longer...” Jenny said.

Through her pain, Sophie let out a gasp of horror. She looked over and saw Ghadir pull out a gun now and press it against her head. Sophie whimpered in fear and looked up at Ghadir, silently pleading with her. The woman just smirked at her, and her finger was pressed against the trigger.

“No...you can’t...” Snap said softly, his body shaking, moving his head from side to side in disbelief. “She’s just a child...”

“A child that is involved with the artist that got away.” Jenny replied, a creepy smile spread across her face. “I cannot have her telling Rudy anything, and she’s already as good as dead anyway.” She raised up her hand to prepare to snap her fingers. “We might as well get rid of some unwanted weight.”

Before she could snap her fingers, Snap let out a scream. “No! Don’t! I’ll...I’ll do anything you want! Just don’t kill her!”

“Snap...” Sophie managed to say through her pain. She watched as Jenny walked over to Snap and started to pace around him. What was she up to? What was she going to force Snap to do? She looked at the zoner worriedly. He cast her a concerned glance, eyeing her wounds up and down. “What are you...”

“I’m sorry, Sophie...” Snap said, lowering his head in shame. He then looked at Jenny, narrowing his eyes hatefully at her.

“So...you’ll do anything?” Jenny asked, her voice sounding slightly innocent. “Anything at all?” Snap growled at her, and then gave an affirmative nod. “I can see you really do have a strong connection with her. That is...perfect...” Her voice sounded unusually deep when she said that. “I know exactly what I want you to do. And if you do it, I promise we will release you both.”

Jenny walked over behind Snap. She made a motion with her hand for Tyreek to release him. With the support suddenly gone, Snap let out a scream was he fell to the ground. He landed with a thud, grunting a little. Jenny grabbed the rope and dragged him over to where Sophie was, uncaring if he hit his injuries against the ground. Once she was at Sophie, she held out her hand towards Ghadir. The woman handed the knife over to her.

Sophie’s eyes widened at this and she tried to tell them not to hurt Snap. But instead of stabbing him, she just cut him free from the ropes. They both stared at her in confusion. Before Snap could try to make a run for it or do anything, Jenny grabbed him by his scarf and yanked on him, causing him to gag. Ghadir pushed the muzzle of the gun further against Sophie’s head, threatening to shoot her if Snap did anything to try to help her.

Jenny handed the knife to Snap. He looked at it in confusion, taking it from her. Jenny made a motion towards Sophie and said, “Stab her in the stomach.”

At this, Sophie and Snap’s hearts filled with ice. They looked at Jenny in horror, their eyes wide.

“Wh-What?” Snap asked in a low voice.

“You heard me. Stab her.” Jenny said. The smile on her face never faltered. She spoke so casually. “Push that knife into her stomach. Then...” She pointed at the little zoner. “Stab yourself. Without cleaning the knife. Stab yourself with the knife coated in Sophie’s blood.”

Sophie couldn’t believe it. That was just..sick and wrong... Everything about this was wrong. This evil woman, this vile person, she was making Snap do something so horrible to her. Snap would never want to do something like that to someone. It would be utter torment for him to take that knife and plunge it into her stomach. How could anyone be this cruel and twisted? What would this accomplish? Why would Jenny force Snap to do such a thing?

And stab himself as well? With a blood-covered knife? Jenny must know what would happen if he did that. Blood wasn’t as dangerous as water, but it would still cause him pain. It would still cause some kind of internal damage. That was just..sick... Sophie wanted to get away. She wanted to take Snap and run, but there was nothing she could do.

“I...I can’t do that...” Snap’s body trembled. He stared at Sophie with wide eyes. He looked down at the knife, then back up at Jenny. “Please...not that.. I..I can’t...”

Jenny laughed coldly at this. “You have no choice! Either you stab her, and twist that knife while it’s in, and then do the same thing to yourself, or you both will die!” To emphasize the point, Ghadir started to apply pressure on the gun, threatening to blow Sophie’s brains out. “If you do as we say, you both will have a chance to live. Is it really that hard? We all make sacrifices... So why don’t you sacrifice a bit of your sense of justice and empathy and stab her! Or do you not care if she dies?”

“I...I...” Snap stammered. Tears screamed down his face. “P-Please..don’t make me do this..” He pleaded with her.

“Stab her.” Jenny said, narrowing her eyes. “If you want her to live, stab her.”

“D-Do it...” Sophie spoke up. Snap looked at her in shock. “Just..do it... Please..” There was tinge of fear in her voice as she stared at Snap. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I don’t want you to die either, Snap. Just...get it over with..”

“S-Sophie...” Snap whimpered, sniffling. “Please I...”

“Go ahead. I..I understand...” Sophie said, giving a small smile of acceptance.

Snap looked at the knife in his hand, his body trembling. Then he looked back up at Sophie. It was clear he didn’t want to do this. Sophie didn’t want this either, but she didn’t want Snap to die. If getting stabbed in the stomach meant a chance for both of them to survive, she’d take it. With her family nowhere in sight, and no sign of policemen coming, what other choice did she have? These adults already made it very clear they were willing to do anything to them.

“I..I’m so sorry...” Snap whispered as he pulled the knife up, poised to strike.

Sophie looked at the knife, which was already coated in her blood. She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes. She looked away and waited for the blow. She prepared herself for the intense pain that she was going to feel once that cold blade hit her. A few tears escaped her eyes, wondering why fate can be so cruel sometimes.

The blade came down quick. The coldness of it entered her stomach, and that area erupted in pain. Sophie’s eyes snapped open and she let out a bloodcurdling scream. Fresh blood flowed from the wound. Then, unwillingly, Snap twisted the knife, cutting her up further. More blood came, faster this time. She let out another scream and struggled, trying to get away from the pain. Her screams soon dissolved into sobs, and she took in sharp, shaky breaths. Then the knife was pulled from her, providing some relief, but still leaving her wracked with pain.

She opened her eyes and stared at Snap, her eyelid twitching in agony and teeth clenched tightly. Snap looked at her with a horror stricken face, his eyes shining with an apology. Fresh tears flowed down his cheeks, staining them a light red and obviously irritating his water-based injuries. Then, with a loud sniffle, Snap turned the blade inward to himself. Sophie watched as the zoner struck the knife right into his own stomach, a sickening sound being heard as the blade cut through his chalky flesh.

Snap let out loud cries of pain as he began to twist the knife in his own stomach. He screamed again and again as the real world blood irritated his new self-inflicted wound. Then he pulled the knife out and dropped it. His body trembled in agony, blood pouring like a faucet from his stomach. The zoner took a step forward, glaring hatefully up at Jenny, before he passed out.

“Snap!” Sophie cried, coughing up blood. “Get up!”

But Snap didn’t respond. He just laid there on his side, completely motionless aside from his breathing. Blood poured rapidly from his stomach wound and out from his mouth as well. Sophie stared at his still form in horror, her body shaking. She glared up at Jenny and opened her mouth to speak, but soon the blood loss started to affect her as well.

Pain overwhelming her and the blood loss becoming too much, Sophie’s world went dark.

Chapter Text

Five hours...

It had been five hours since his cousin and friend had disappeared. Granted, that wasn’t a very long time, but to Rudy, it felt so much longer.

Rudy never felt so guilty in his life. The horrible feeling kept tugging at his gut, filling him with nausaea. He tried his best to cope with it. He tried to clear his mind and focus on just getting stuff done rather than sit and worry about it. But it was hard and the thoughts just wouldn’t leave him. Even with Penny’s attempts to comfort him, it just wasn’t enough.

Of all the stupid things he had done, this was definitely one of the worst. This wasn’t a case where he had been alone and just wanted to visit ChalkZone real quick. No, this was a time when he was supposed to look after his cousin Sophie. His family had wanted him to keep an eye on her as she couldn’t go with them to this restaurant they went to. They entrusted him with her safety. Tilly often brought Sophie here to be babysat if she couldn’t go with her somewhere. And Rudy had always been good at keeping her well behaved and safe, especially with Snap’s help.

This time around, things were a little different, as he had to find out more information regarding Cosmo’s partner, Jenny. And while they did find out some worthwhile stuff, that was more or less overshadowed when he realized that going into ChalkZone, at least at this time, had been a horrible mistake. There was nothing he could do to turn back the clock. He was stuck with this mistake and it might have cost him more than he ever could have imagined.

Because of his mistake, because he went into ChalkZone and left Sohphie behind, though she had Snap, they both got kidnapped. He wasn’t sure of the circumstances or why they were taken. All he did know for certain is that both of them are gone, taken in broad daylight, and no one knows who took them and where. There was a general direction, but without the license plate number, it was very hard to track down the kidnapper. The description the eye witness gave was too vague to pinpoint any suspects. They had almost nothing to go off on.

They had very few chances. The police might turn up something as they were already performing a search as they spoke. Or maybe someone would find them and inform the police or call the hospital. Rudy hoped that, when they find them, they call them over immediately. If Snap were hurt and taken to the hospital, he could die the moment they inject him with any kind of fluid. And he hoped that, when they did find those two, it wasn’t too late. He hoped that they weren’t injured. If they were, he was going to feel even worse about disobeying his family.

To pour salt in the wound, Tilly was not very happy with him. She wasn’t really mean towards him, but whenever she’d look at him, she’d glare and turn her head away. She had hardly spoken since Sophie’s kidnapping, even to her sister. She kept to herself, preferring to be alone, at least for the time being. She was lost in her thoughts, no doubt trying to think of everything in her head and try to see if there was anything she could have done differently. He had a feeling that ‘leave Sophie with him’ was the thing she was having second thoughts on.

And his mother...she was disappointed in him as well. She was not as hostile as Tilly, but the way she spoke to him and the way she acted around him strongly suggested, no, confirmed that she was angry with him. She hadn’t spoken to him since the kidnapping, not that he talked to her either. He felt too ashamed of himself to try to speak to her. Besides, she and Tilly both had good reasons to get angry at him. Tilly’s daughter was gone and it was all because of him. If he had just watched her like he was supposed to, none of this would have happened. He felt like such an idiot.

His dad was more talkative and understanding towards him. He understood that Rudy never meant for this to happen and, out of the three, he was the only one who didn’t do anything that made him feel guilty, except for that initial outburst from when they first found out about the kidnapping. Like Penny, he would try to comfort Rudy, but nothing he said made him feel any better about the situation. It didn’t help that, whenever he saw his mom and aunt, regardless if they looked at him or not, he’d feel his guilt grow even stronger.

He felt so foolish... He thought that by leaving Sophie in the real world, she’d be safer. The place where he and Penny had to go was likely too dangerous for her, and she wasn’t to be allowed to wander off in ChalkZone alone. But he had been so wrong. Her being in the real world put her in greater danger. She had not only been kidnapped, along with Snap, but taken somewhere with no clues as to just where they were now. No trail to follow. Trying to find her in the real world was so much harder than in ChalkZone. There were multiple limitations the real world imposed on him and the others. He couldn’t just draw an airplane or something and try to find her that way.

At least in ChalkZone, he could do something to help. He had the power of the magic chalk there. He could create. He had a lot of friends there who would all be willing to help him. Forming a search part would be faster and he could be more efficient at finding someone. He had more options there. If Sophie had been lost in ChalkZone, it would have been much easier finding her. He should have just brought her into ChalkZone with him. That would have been a safer bet than just leaving her in the house. Even though she was with Snap, he should have realized that something like this could have happened.

Rudy went up into his room about twenty minutes ago. He wanted to be alone for a little while. He wanted to get away to be by himself so he could think about what happened. Maybe, if he searched his memories, there would be a clue in something that happened that he didn’t think about. Something that would provide a hint as to what happened. Being alone in his room allowed him to clear his thoughts some.

He sat down on the window sill and leaned back, pressing his back against the wall. He stared out the window, towards the road and street, and tried to think of the earlier events that happened. As he thought, the only thing that came into his head was that the attack was related to ChalkZone somehow. It was a bit of a stretch. But then it made sense. Anyone who got a very good look at Snap would take notice of his outline, indicating he’s a drawing. Zoner outlines weren’t always so obvious and Snap’s could be missed if someone wasn’t looking hard enough. But it was there. That would give some scrupulous people reason enough to capture him.

Why would Sophie be kidnapped then? Probably the connection. Those two were obviously together as they were both gone. Both captured. Perhaps Sophie had been trying to protect Snap, and the kidnapper just nabbed her, too. Maybe they were going to blackmail Snap into explaining what he is and where he came from, and was using Sophie as a means of making him talk. Rudy shuddered at the thought of his little cousin being hurt all just to make his friend, Snap, crack under the pressure. It was cruel... But he had already met those in the past who would do such a thing.

He tried to think of who might have done this sort of thing. His initial thoughts, years ago, would have been Terry Bouffant, but she had changed since the Bardot incident. She had been true to her word and she hadn’t attempted to do any reports regarding ChalkZone. They don’t see her too much, but when they do, she was usually pretty friendly. They were, by no means, buddy-buddy, but it was a nice change compared to how things were before.

But there was still Vinnie Raton. He was still more or less the same. He didn’t really care that Terry decided not to expose ChalkZone. He more or less preferred to work on his own anyway. He hadn’t been able to do much lately. Last year, he did try to free Boorat from jail, but it had completely failed, since he was not as intelligent as Terry. So he wasn’t really a huge threat, but the potential of danger was still there, and Rudy wasn’t simply going to dismiss him.

Vinnie was still obsessed with his ‘chalk world theme park’ idea. He had been going on about this for years. Rudy would have liked to find a way to get him arrested, but since everything he does bad just so happens to be in ChalkZone, there was nothing he could do. The only time he could get him arrested was when Vinnie had his bag with the portable chalkboard and he managed to get him to crash into the water fountain. And even then, he wasn’t in jail for very long as what he did was considered a ‘mild felony’.

As annoying as his obsession to profit off of ChalkZone was, Rudy would be lying if he said he didn’t feel somewhat relieved by that. Rudy’s worst fear isn’t someone trying to profit off of ChalkZone, but someone who would try to destroy it or drain it of its resources. There were many people who would be afraid of ChalkZone and the idea of drawings coming to life. It was a foreign idea to most people’s minds, and people tend to fear and hate what they don’t understand. Ms. Saffron herself had confessed that she had been afraid of ChalkZone until Snap helped her realize her fears were unfounded. His parents were afraid, too, until they saw Snap fight to protect them.

But not everyone was going to be so convinced. There would be people who would regard Snap’s behavior as ‘just a way to trick them’, and they would want to have ChalkZone destroyed to ‘protect the innocent’ or whatever. It would be even worse if they found out that the serial killer that attacked the town two years ago was a zoner. They might take that and say that all zoners were like that and should be destroyed. If ChalkZone were exposed and everyone learned that water kills zoners and washes away anything that was chalk, he could be sure that there’d be an army of people armed with fire hoses going in there to ‘wipe the abomination off the face of the earth’, as some of the extremists might say.

So he was glad that, when Vinnie came into ChalkZone, his reaction wasn’t to run away screaming and bring in his bulldozer to demolish the world. He had been excited about ChalkZone and really did seem to like it. If it weren’t for the fact that he wanted to expose ChalkZone and exploit it, he could be considered pretty harmless. He hadn’t even tried to hurt any of the zoners; the worst he did was just annoy the heck out of them. Even when he tried to free Boorat, he hadn’t used any methods that directly harmed any zoner. Though it might have been in part due to him wanting them to be in good condition for working.

Still, Vinnie was a threat to ChalkZone, and still wanted to expose it even after all these years. He wouldn’t put it past him to kidnap Sophie and Snap to try to get what he wanted. He didn’t really think he’d go too far. He wouldn’t really hurt Sophie and Snap, Rudy couldn’t picture Vinnie doing much damage to him. At least nothing compared to what Cosmo had done. Compared to that maniac, Vinnie was downright tame, even with his insane ‘dog barking’ tendencies. And it was clear that he was not a black chalk user as the trip into ChalkZone didn’t end up turning him into a homicidal maniac as it had with Cosmo.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when there was a knock on his door. He turned his head to see who it was. When the door opened up, he was a little surprised to see Tilly walking in. Given her behavior before, he didn’t think she would want to come in and speak to him, or anyone, for hours. Yet here she was, walking into his room.

He was uncomfortable by the way she was looking at him. He wasn’t sure what kind of emotion was on her face. It looked like so many rolled into one. Anger, disappointment, sadness, some others as well. She didn’t give him a glare this time, but he kinda wish she was because at least then he would know what she was feeling. But with the look she was giving him now, Rudy couldn’t tell what was going to happen. And as she approached him, he felt at unease. But he didn’t try to get away regardless. It wasn’t like running away was a very wise thing to do in this case.

He almost expected Penny, but unfortunately, her mother came and picked her up. She had to go home because her mom needed her help with something. But she did offer her condolences and promised to relay any information to them if she found anything out. Unless Penny decided to sneak out, which Rudy would not expect her to do, there was no way it could have been her, and he didn’t know why he had expected her. But he wished it was her as he wasn’t sure what to say to his aunt Tilly. Out of the three adults, she was the most angry at him.

Tilly walked over towards him slowly. Her cheeks were stained with tears, indicating she had been crying for a while. Her eyes were red and poofy. The way she walked was a little weird, and definitely indicated something was on her mind. She continued walking towards him, each step bringing her just a little closer, until she stood right in front of him. She cast her glance towards the ground for a moment, letting out what sounded like a forced sigh. Rudy could catch a tinge of anger on it. So she was still mad at him, which honestly didn’t really surprise him.

He expected her to yell at him, but she hadn’t said a word yet. She just looked at him. Her muddled expression did sharpen more and he could soon tell what emotion she was feeling. In addition to anger, the other strong feeling was disappointment, similar to how his mother felt. This went on for a few minutes, making Rudy feel even more uncomfortable. Why wasn’t she speaking to him? Why would she come up here just to stare at him like this? There had to be a reason she came up here. Maybe his mom or dad convinced her to.

“Hello, Rudy.” Tilly finally spoke. Rudy winced at how her voice sounded. Almost drained of emotion, and what was still in there, there was nothing positive about it.

Rudy hesitated. “Hi, Aunt Tilly...” He turned his head away for a second. He swallowed. “Uh...any news?”

His aunt shook her head. “No. I’m afraid not. They’ve interviewed almost everyone in the neighborhood by now. No one else except that one guy had seen anything. The only witness to the crime already gave out as much information as he could, and that hasn’t been enough to get a lead on the kidnapper.”

Rudy nodded his head. He couldn’t say he was surprised that little information had been found. It hadn’t been that long. The odds of the police finding out where they were taken in just five hours was very low, especially if there had only been one witness to the crime. It was then he realized, with a cold chill, how smart this kidnapper was. He must have picked a time he knew there wouldn’t be many people in the neighborhood to nab his cousin and friend. In fact, this time of day might have been better than at night since most people were away during this time.

The silence that fell upon the room was awkward. Tilly sometimes opened her mouth to speak, but she’d shut it. A few times, she did shoot him a small glare, and looked like there was something she wanted to say. She just couldn’t spit it out. Rudy felt uncomfortable in her presence. Her daughter was gone because of him. She had trusted him to keep her safe, and he completely screwed up. His mistake might cost him not only the life of his cousin, but also his zoner friend and the trust of his family. A part of him panicked and wondered if this incident would cause his and Penny’s folks to reverse their decision regarding ChalkZone. So far they never even hinted they’d do that, but the possibility was still there.

After what felt like an hour, his aunt let out an exasperated sigh. She took a step closer to Rudy. From her expression, she looked like she wanted to scold him. Instead, she did something different.

She opened up her mouth and uttered a single word in a soft voice. “Why?”

Rudy looked up at her in confusion. “Why what?” He asked hesitantly.

“Why did you go into ChalkZone when you were supposed to be watching Sophie?” His aunt asked him, her eyes narrowing slightly. Rudy flinched, seeing the anger hidden behind them. So far, his aunt was doing a good job at not exploding in his face. “What was so important in ChalkZone that you couldn’t wait a couple hours for us to get home? Would it have made that much of a difference?”

Rudy lowered his head. “I know I messed up... I’m sorry..”

“Yeah, I know you’re sorry.” Tilly said. “But that doesn’t really do much to help us find out where Sophie and Snap are, now does it?” Her voice had a slightly accusatory tone when she spoke that line and Rudy could have sworn there was a slight growl to her voice. Tilly exhaled slowly. She spoke in a forcibly calmer voice. “Look...I don’t want to be angry with you. I just don’t understand... You had always been so trustworthy, and then something like this...” Her voice trailed off and she growled in frustration.

Rudy flinched and looked away from his aunt. He wished she would leave him alone. He wasn’t in the mood to speak to her, and it was clear she didn’t really want to talk to him right now either. They both had a lot on their minds. Both of them were very worried for Sophie and Snap. They had no idea where they were or if they would see them again. And out of the two, Rudy wondered if he felt the worst. After all, he had been told to watch Sophie and he disobeyed.

Tilly spoke up again. Her voice slightly raised in volume, instantly catching his attention. “I just... Why did you disobey? Why did you ‘need’ to get into ChalkZone right at that moment? Please, tell me why you did it. I...I want to understand why.”

“W-Well...” Rudy started to say. He paused, trying to think of how he was going to word it. He realized that he hadn’t really told Tilly much of what happened with him. Now was a good time as any to fill in the blanks for her. “There was this...place my friends and I found in ChalkZone that had this strange writing, light that only affected me, and there was a diary there left behind by Mr. Cosmo.”

“Mr. Cosmo?” Tilly asked, her eyes widening slightly. “The one who created Draow and Bardot?”

“The same.” Rudy nodded his head affirmatively. “And from there, we found out that our school nurse, Jenny, she’s a black chalk user. We had wanted to go into ChalkZone to learn more about that and that Solar Pillars place we found. We just wanted to make sure there wasn’t another hidden through that could endanger ChalkZone, or the real world at that.” He paused, waiting for Tilly to reply. Then he realized there was something else he could add. “With what happened with Bardot we..just couldn’t take a chance. Our foolishness and neglect allowed him to be brought to life. We couldn’t allow history to repeat.”

Tilly stared at him for a few seconds. “I see...” She paused for a moment. She narrowed her eyes. “What’s this about black chalk? I know you mentioned it to me. What is it? Could you explain it to me again?”

“The black chalk is a dangerous type of chalk that corrupts any artist that uses it. I myself almost became a victim to it.” Rudy explained. Tilly’s eyes widened a little more at this. “Mr. Cosmo was a victim of the black chalk. He used to be more like me until he was corrupted. And he started to spread the corruption to other artists, and Jenny turned out to be one of them. Penny, Snap, and I know all too well just how dangerous Mr. Cosmo was, and we just...couldn’t take a chance...”

“And you couldn’t take Sophie into ChalkZone because...”

“I-I don’t know. I thought she’d be safer here. Well I was wrong.” Rudy said, his voice filled with guilt. “I should have just taken her with. She would have been safer with us. I..I...” He sighed. “I guess I just wasn’t thinking straight. I understand that you’re angry at me. I..I deserve it. I made a foolish mistake and all I can say is..I’m sorry.” He looked at Tilly, a tear forming in his eyes. “If something happens to them, I...” He lowered his head. “I don’t know if I could forgive myself.”

He started to cry softly. His eyes closed and he turned his head away. He couldn’t believe he had been so stupid. He couldn’t believe that he had made such a dumb decision. He could have waited. He didn’t have to go into ChalkZone right at that time. Biclops would still have been there. It wasn’t like something major was going to happen in those couple of hours. ChalkZone wasn’t under some kind of attack. There was really no reason, no strong enough urgency, to go into ChalkZone right at that time.

Now Sophie and Snap were taken with no clues as to where they might be. They could be very badly hurt, or even dead, and it wouldn’t have happened if he had just listened to his parents. He couldn’t stop the tears from trickling down his face. Guilt washed over him like a tidal wave. His aunt being in this room right now seemed to make things worse. Looking up at her, staring into her eyes, he was constantly reminded of his mistake, making him feel worse.

“If you came up here to punish me, go ahead.” Rudy said in a quiet voice. “I deserve it. There was no reason why I couldn’t have just stayed behind. So go ahead and punish me.”

He waited for his aunt to say something. He waited for her to dish out whatever punishment she could think of. He waited for her to rant and rave while she did so. He braced himself for the verbal beatdown he deserved for his horrible mistake.

But instead, he was treated with just silence. No word from his aunt. No yelling, no shouting, no nothing. Even her glare was gone, replaced with something calmer. He was confused. She had clearly been angry earlier. She hadn’t been happy with him. Why wasn’t she saying anything? He didn’t have a good enough excuse as to why he left Sophie behind in the real world while he went into the chalk word. There was just no reas for him to do that, and he acknowledged that.

To his surprise, Tilly lowered herself down to him, sitting down next to him on the window sill. She stared at him for a few seconds before reaching out to him with her right hand. She placed it on his shoulder. He stared at her in confusion. Slowly, Tilly started to smile at him. The smile was small and there was still some mixed emotions in there. But over all, it appeared to be a genuine smile.

Tilly said, “We’re not going to punish you.”

That one sentence sent a wave of shock through Rudy’s body. They weren’t going to punish him? Why not? He deserved it, didn’t he? He should have stayed behind and watched Sophie. He should have listened to his folks. It was his fault that both Sophie and Snap were gone. If anything happened to them, it would have been his fault. He deserved some form of punishment, didn’t he? How could Tilly come in here and say that they weren’t going to punish him?

He stared at her, his eyes widened in surprise. He wanted to say something, anything. But his mind was too full of shock to think of a comprehensive sentence to speak. He did try to talk regardless, but it just came out as confused babble. His aunt’s smile never faltered. She never made an attempt to indicate she had been sarcastic or lying. She didn’t do anything that indicated she was going to yell at him. And he couldn’t quite understand it.

“You’re...you’re not...?” Rudy asked in a soft voice. Tilly shook her head. “Why not? Don’t I deserve some punishment? I disobeyed you guys, I...”

Tilly raised her other hand to silence him. “I know. I’m not happy with what you did. Neither are your folks. But we understand you didn’t mean for this to happen. I spoke to your mother and father and we decided punishment was unnecessary. You acknowledged your mistake, and making you feel even worse isn’t going to solve anything.”

Rudy stared at her, still too surprised to speak.

“I will make it clear, though. I am still angry at you. But I’m not going to bite your head off. That won’t help us find Sophie or Snap. Just...” She leaned a little closer to him. “...just promise me you won’t do something like this again, okay? If we tell you to stay out of ChalkZone for a time, please listen to us. Do you understand?”

Rudy nodded his head slowly. “Yeah, I do...” He lowered his head and let more tears flow down his face. “I do...”

“Now now...” Tilly traced a tear from the boy’s face. “Don’t keep beating yourself up, okay? I’m sure we’ll find them, somehow.” Rudy didn’t reply. He just kept crying. Tilly gave him a sympathetic look. “Come here...”

To Rudy’s surprise, Tilly leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. She pulled him into a hug. Rudy froze, unsure of what to do. He remained stiff in her arms for a few seconds before he got himself to slowly relax. Tilly held onto him, gently hugging him. Slowly, he started to hug back. He clung to his aunt, pressing his face against her shoulder and cried softly. His aunt gently rubbed his back in an attempt soothe him.

Rudy felt himself start to feel a little better. The guilt was still there, but as the seconds passed, it became more manageable. His aunt’s comforting words started to have an effect on him, a positive one. He continued to cry, letting out all the negative emotion and all the guilt, all in one go. All the while, Tilly just hugged him, making to attempt to hurry him up. She just let him cry, rubbing his back slowly and pressing her cheek against his head.

After a few minutes, they broke apart. Tilly smiled gently at him, keeping her hands on his shoulders. Rudy did his best to smile back. Tilly said, “Do you feel better now?”

“Y-Yeah...a little...” Rudy said. His voice was shaky and he still felt guilty. But his aunt’s hug did help him feel a tad bit better.

Tilly’s smile broadened a little at this. She reached down and cupped his chin. She leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on his forehead. “I love you.”

Rudy’s eyes watered. “I...I love you, too.” He clenched his teeth as fresh tears stained his cheeks. “I’m so sorry about Sophie and Snap, I...”

“Shh...” Tilly said. Any sign of anger was gone by now. She placed a hand on his cheek and gently caressed it. “We’ll find them.. Don’t worry.”

“I...I hope you’re right..” Rudy said in a soft voice.

He really hoped his aunt was right. There was still a chance that Sophie and Snap would never be found, or if they were, it would be too late. There were no clues, no evidence of where to find them. And no one has spotted them yet. There was no sign of them anywhere. As much as he wanted to believe his aunt, as much as he wanted to be hopeful, there was still a strong chance that his worse fears will be realized this time. There was a chance that everything will go wrong and it would be too late to save them.

Still, he tried his best to remain hopeful. Maybe someone found something by now. Maybe a footprint, or a piece of cloth or something that was out of place. Maybe a security camera somewhere caught something. Maybe there had been more witnesses and they just haven’t come forward yet. Maybe someone had seen something. Anything.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps rushing up the stairs. The door was pushed open so fast that the knob banged against the wall. A startled Tilly and Rudy looked over to see Rudy’s mother standing there. Her eyes were wide with horror and she was taking in panicked breaths.

“M-Mom? What is it...?” Rudy asked, his voice filled with dread. Oh no...please, don’t let it be that... Please..

“Reggie Bullnerd...” Mrs. Tabootie said, her voice choked up with emotion. “He brought Sophie and Snap over... He found them on the side of the road...”

“What?!” Tilly said as she and Rudy nearly jumped from their seats. “Are they okay?”

Mrs. Tabootie had tears in her eyes and she shook her head. “They were both nearly dead when he found them...”

At this, Tilly and Rudy let out a sharp gasp. Their hearts filled with ice, and the uncomfortable sensation spread through their bodies. Rudy shook his head in denial. No, they had to be okay. They just had to be. His body shaking, he rushed forward, running passed his mother and making his way down the steps. The two women looked at him as he ran, and they soon followed close behind.

Rudy’s heart pounded against his chest as he ran down the steps. In his mind, thoughts intertwined and swirled constantly. Dread spread through every nerve, freezing it solid. Nearly dead... No, they couldn’t be that badly hurt, could they? Nearly dead meant...there was a chance he might lose them both.. No.. It couldn’t be true. There had to be some kind of mistake. Maybe Reggie had been exaggerating or something. But that wasn’t right... Reggie wouldn’t exaggerate about something like this.

And when he reached the living room, he froze, his heart nearly exploding from the intense negative emotion that welled up inside of it. His breaths came in shakingly, tears flowing down his face. Renewed guilt swept through him, causing him to tremble. His eyes widened, his pupils dilated, as he stared at the horrific scene before him.

There, laying down on the ground, were Snap and Sophie. They were resting on white, clean blankets, both laying on their backs. They both looked absolutely horrible. Their faces were pale, drained of color. Their faces were contorted in agony, like they had been in a lot of pain when they passed out. And when he moved his eyes up and down their bodies, he could quickly see why. Both of them were covered in wounds. Snap looked like he suffered several burns and had a gash in his stomach. Sophie also had a wound in her stomach, but in addition to that, she had multiple stab wounds. Both of them were covered in blood and their chest movements were painfully slow.

“Snap...Sophie...” He spoke, his voice cracked with emotion, filled with horror and disbelief.

Rudy walked up to them. He stared down at their mostly still bodies. He took in more shaky breaths, his body trembling harder. More tears continued to move down his reddened cheeks. The world around him seemed to darken and he became unaware of everything except for his injured friend and cousin. He didn’t even notice when his mother and aunt came down the steps, nor did he hear his aunt scream in horror at the sight of her daughter and Snap in such horrible condition.

Rudy dropped down on his knees beside them. He looked down at them, soft whimpers escaping his throat. He shook his head in denial. No..this couldn’t be happening..not to them.. What did they do to deserve this? Unable to speak, unable to percieve the world around him, Rudy put his hands to his face and started to sob.

sss

Rudy couldn’t believe this happened. He never would have thought that, when they found Sophie and Snap, they would both be in such horrible shape. He had feared something like this happened, but he was still in such shock and disbelief that it did happen. Who could have done this to them? And why? His blood boiled at the thought of someone hurting two children out of cold blood. Burning Snap, stabbing Sophie... Whoever did this, they were going to pay.

He had been grateful that Reggie brought both of them to his house instead of the hospital. Reggie’s explanation for that was that he wasn’t familiar enough with the roads to go to the hospital, but he did know his address. But regardless of the reason, Rudy was still happy that Reggie made the decision to go to his house instead of the hospital, since Snap could have been accidentally killed there.

Not long after Reggie had to leave, he and his family immediately went to work. Rudy called Penny and asked her to come over. He explained the situation and, after some talking, Mrs. Sanchez agreed to come down to help escort Snap to the ChalkZone hospital. She arrived with Penny as quickly as she could. She carried Snap in her arms while Penny opened up a portal into ChalkZone. As they went into ChalkZone, Rudy helped his folks get Sophie in the car and went with them to a real world hospital. He planned on visiting Snap as soon as possible. His folks did, too.

Upon arrival, Sophie was rushed down the halls and disappeared through the double doors. The doctors told them that they would do what they could to help Sophie and told them to sit down and wait. The doctors had no idea how long it would take, but that they would give them news as soon as possible. Rudy, his parents, and aunt sat down in the waiting room and did the only thing they could do. Wait patiently for the doctors to come back with any word on Sophie’s condition.

It took about an hour before any doctor came bake to tell them anything. All of them got up as the doctor had approached them. They listened intently as the doctor relayed information to them. They were relieved that Sophie was going to make it. The injuries were manageable and she was recieving a blood transfusion to replace the blood that she had lost. The stab wounds she had recieved on her arms and one of her legs, along with the slash over her face, were going to heal just fine. The stomach wound was of concern and she was going to need some mild surgery to help fix the damage done to her intestines.

But overall, Sophie’s condition, although at first appearing grim, was looking good. The doctor doesn’t think she’d be stuck in the hospital for too long. After the mild surgery, she just needs stay for a couple days to make sure there was no sign of infection and to ensure that the blood transfusion was a success. They also wanted to make sure that the wounds to her intestines wouldn’t cause any serious problems and she would be monitored. The doctor said she was very lucky and that her condition could easily have been so much worse. Rudy silently hoped that Snap would have a promising diagnosis as well.

About half an hour ago, the same doctor came back and told them that Sophie was fully stabilized and that they could come up to visit her. He escorted them down the hall to the room where Sophie was being kept. He opened the door and allowed them to go in. To give them some privacy, he shut the door.

The sight of Sophie laying unconscious with those wires hooked up to her was heartbreaking. Her body had multiple bandages on it where the cuts were. Some of them had bloodstains on them and would need to be changed soon. The heart monitor she was hooked up to beeped at a steady rate. Her expression had softened up, and now she looked more peaceful than pained. Her chest rose and fell at a more steady rate, each movement having more strength in it than when she was laying in his house. She had some IV fluids going in her, and there was some blood still being pumped into her.

He and his folks took a seat next to Sophie. His parents on one side, he and his aunt on the other. They watched as Sophie continued to sleep. If they didn’t know any better, they would have believed that she was just resting. She looked peaceful, and if it weren’t for the bandages and hookups, they would have thought she was just fine. But they knew better. She had been hurt, as well as Snap, and they still didn’t have a clue as to why.

As he stared at Sophie’s still face, Rudy’s heart filled with anger as he thought of the bastard who did this to her and Snap. He was going to find out who did it. And when he did, they were going to pay. He clutched a fist tightly, shaking at his side. They were going to pay big time. Whoever did this, they were sick and twisted. Sophie was only eleven years old. What kind of monster would do this to such a little child? He was going to find out who did this. He was going to find them, and he was going to make them regret ever touching her and his friend. No one gets away with hurting his loved ones. No one.

Another doctor came in and called out his folks. He wanted to discuss them about payment options and talk to them about whether or not to go through with the surgery or wait and see if it was even necessary. The doctor wanted to take them to his office to speak. He didn’t want to stress Sophie out in case she woke up and heard what they said. His folks told him to stay with Sophie. Rudy watched as his aunt and parents left, then turned his attention to his little cousin.

“Sophie...” Rudy said in a trembling voice. He sniffled and he reached down and gently stroked his cousin’s blonde hair. “I’m sorry this happened to you.. I should have let you come into ChalkZone with me.. I should have kept an eye on you.” He pulled his hand away and lowered his head, closing his eyes. He let out a few cries. “I’m sorry...I’m so sorry...”

Rudy was surprised when he felt a hand grip his arm lightly. He looked down. His eyes widened at what he saw. Sophie’s eyes were open. Barely, but they were still open and looking up at him. A small, faint smile was on her face. She stared at Rudy for a few seconds, then she spoke in a very weak voice.

“I-It’s okay... It...It wasn’t your fault...”

“S-Sophie...” Rudy whispered, tears flowing down his face. Although he knew now might not have been the best time to ask, he had to know. Even if she couldn’t remember everything right away, he had to at least try to ask the question. “Who did this to you...?”

Sophie’s expression turned fearful. Not of them, but at the memories that were probably swirling through her head right now. She might not be able to remember everything right away, but it was clear that, if there was anything she could remember now, it was the identity of her attacker.

“I-It was...” Sophie said. She stopped and coughed a few times. Rudy gripped her hand gently and waited for her to continue. “Ghadir.... your principal, Tyreek... and your school nurse, Jenny...”

Rudy’s heart all but stopped as horror swept through his body. His face paled and his body started to tremble. “Does...does Jenny know about ChalkZone...?”

Sophie nodded her head weakly. “Yeah...sh-she does... And she has the magic chalk...”

“No...” Rudy whispered as dread overtook his head. Things had just gotten a whole lot worse.

Chapter Text

“What...? Are you sure...?” Penny asked. Her voice was laden with fear.

Snap nodded his head weakly. “Y-Yeah.. I’m sorry, B-Buckette...” He hissed at the pain. “I wish I was wrong about this...”

“It’s not your fault.” Mrs. Sanchez said as she looked at Snap’s bandages. “Now please, hold still. If you move around too much, you’ll hurt yourself.”

Snap tried his best to keep still. He tried to do what Mrs. Sanchez told him to, but it was very hard. The burns were stinging him all over. The burns were tiny, but they were wide spread and the combined pain was unbearable. And then there was this stomach, which he was forced to stab. The human blood had been cleaned out of it, but the damage was already done. There was some internal damage to his intestines, with some holes burned into it, making the damage inflicted from the knife even worse.

He watched as Mrs. Sanchez removed one of his bloodiest bandages from his face and glanced at the wound. Although Mrs. Sanchez hadn’t been given permission to do this, she did still have knowledge on how to treat wounds. She was a vet after all, and she had spent some time in the past learning how to treat wounds on chalk beings. It was not much different than what she did before, except she had to use chalk materials, not things from the real world.

Penny would often assist her, drawing whatever she needed to treat a wound. And for this burns, the woman asked Penny to draw a small thing of chalk water, some cloths, and some ointment. Snap wasn’t sure if the doctors would appreciate her doing this without their permission, but knowing Mrs. Sanchez, she’d find some kind of excuse to give them that would pacify the doctors. And he didn’t mind. He had been treated by her before and she always did a good job.

It had been scary for him to wake up in the hospital room. He hadn’t remembered anything right away, and he couldn’t understand why he was in so much pain or why he was there to begin with. He had attempted to get up, but the severe pain in his stomach forced him to fall down and cry out in agony. It was then that he realized he wasn’t alone in the room. He could hear Penny’s comforting words and her hands gripping on him gently, trying to get him to calm down. He looked up at her with a blurred vision, which sharpened seconds later.

Penny wasn’t alone. She had brought her mother with. Snap couldn’t see Rudy anywhere and wondered where he was. Penny told him Rudy was with Sophie in the real world hospital. She promised him that Rudy would come over to see him as soon as he could. Mrs. Sanchez told him that he was lucky to be alive and that the stab in his stomach could have easily been fatal.

It was then that Snap’s memories started to come back. He recalled how he and Sophie were taken by Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir, if he remembered their names right. They took them out to an isolated area, in a barn specifically, and both were tortured for information. He flinched as he recalled how he had been sprayed by water and Sophie was stabbed. And, to his chilling horror, how he had been forced to stab Sophie in the stomach. It was such a horrible moment. He tried to push it out of his head, but now he couldn’t stop thinking about it. The way she looked at him, her screams, the feel of the knife going into her stomach, it all clung to him and wouldn’t let go, filling him with horrific realization.

He...had wounded someone. He had been forced to stab someone, a little girl, a person he cared about, in the stomach and nearly fatally wound her. The psychological damage was apparent. His heart was overtaken by grief and guilt. He had no idea if she was okay or how long it would take her to recover. He had stabbed her... He should have resisted. He shouldn’t have let Jenny get the laugh on him like that. He shouldn’t have let her control him. Sophie...he hoped she was alright. He hoped that she would forgive him for what he did to her. Please...he didn’t mean to do it...

That had been such a low blow. He wasn’t the type of zoner to do something like that. He wasn’t violent. He didn’t like inflicting harm on others. Stabbing Sophie like that, an innocent little girl, completely went against his nature. He wouldn’t do such a thing even to Mr. Cosmo, even after all the horrible things that man did to him. Heck, he didn’t think he could even do it to Bardot, who was a lot worse than Cosmo. And he had a feeling Jenny knew this. Jenny may have known he was not an aggressive zoner, and forced him to do that just to screw with his head, to strike him where it hurts the most just to be sadistic.

He let out a small hiss and cringed as Mrs. Sanchez pressed the water-soaked cloth against his face. It hurt only for a few seconds, then the coldness started to provide some relief. He relaxed and let her clean the burn marks on that area.

“I’m sorry. Did that hurt?” Mrs. Sanchez asked, her eyes a little wide.

Snap said, “Y-Yeah..but don’t worry. It’s better now... Just a little sting, that’s all.”

“Let me know if it hurts again.” Mrs. Sanchez said as she continued gently rubbing the wet cloth on his face. “Okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” Snap replied.

He laid as still as he could as Mrs. Sanchez cleaned up that burn on his face. When she pulled the cloth back, Snap was shocked to see some specks of blood on it. The burn must have been worse than he thought. He wasn’t sure how it had started to bleed again. At least it was just a small amount. The blood shouldn’t take too long to clot.

Mrs. Sanchez dried his face gently and then applied some ointment on his face. This stung a little, but he resisted the urge to cringe back and allowed her to apply it. The stinging did go away quickly and soon it started to feel rather soothing on his face. After she was done applying the ointment, she had her daughter draw some bandages. She then had Penny lift up his head for her. Mrs. Sanchez wrapped the bandages around his head, carefully avoiding his eyes and mouth in the process. Once Mrs. Sanchez was finished, she motioned for Penny to set his head back on the pillow.

“I still can’t believe Jenny has the magic chalk now...” Penny said after some uncomfortable silence had passed. “And if she’s anything like Mr. Cosmo...”

“She is definitely very similar to him. She forced a sadistic choice on me, just like Mr. Cosmo had with Rudy.” Snap said, cringing at the memory.

“What...what did she make you do?” Penny asked, her voice quiet and filled with fear.

Snap grimaced and turned his head away. “She...she forced me to stab Sophie...and then myself...” A gasp of horror came from Penny and her mother. They looked at him in shock, their eyes quietly asking him if it was true. He lowered his head in shame. “I-It’s true... It was either I nearly fatally wound the both of us, we would be killed... I...I didn’t want to...I..” Tears formed in his eyes as he started to cry. “B-But she made me and..”

“Shhh...it’s okay, Snap..” Penny said as she gripped his hand. “You didn’t mean for it to happen. It’s not your fault.”

“But...” Snap started to say.

“Penny’s right, Snap.” Mrs. Sanchez said as she gently placed a hand on his cheek. “You didn’t initiate that attack on her. They made you do it. You’re not the one to blame. They are.”

“Yeah, don’t beat yourself up, Snap. They won’t get away with what they did to you and Sophie. Don’t worry.” Penny said reassuringly.

Snap gave a smile. He wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind. What could he say? He was happy that they didn’t blame him for what happened. He still blamed himself, however, and he wasn’t sure if the guilt would go away anytime soon. He could have resisted or found someway to get her free. Maybe he could have used the knife to cut the ropes instead and they could have made a run for it. He could have thought of something that might have helped them out of there.

But Penny and her mom were right. He shouldn’t blame himself for what happened. He had done all what he believed he could do. He couldn’t allow those evil humans to mess with him like that. They attacked his heart, his emotions, and if he continued to act this way, they would have won. He had to be stronger than that. He had to remind himself that, in the end, he wasn’t the one to blame. It was Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir who should feel the guilt. They did this to him and Sophie. They were the ones who decided to kidnap them and subject them to horrific torture. And they weren’t going to get away with it.

Snap’s smile faded as another thought entered his mind. He wondered how Sophie was doing. He, Penny, and Mrs. Sanchez hadn’t got an update yet. Not surprised, considering that Rudy was in the real world and it wasn’t like the cellphone signals could cross dimensions or anything. Snap hoped that Rudy would be here soon. After what he was forced to do to Sophie, he wanted to make sure she was all right. And he wanted to apologize to her and make sure they were still on good terms. Sophie seemed to be understanding, but he wanted to be sure.

He was also worried about the fact that Jenny now had the magic chalk. Perhaps now was a good time as any to look through more of the diary to see just how much of a threat she is. He and Sophie got an unwilling taste of what she was capable of. What frightened him was the chance that she might be even worse than how she acted in that barn. It was an uncomfortable thought. She had made him hurt someone he cared about, something even Bardot never tried. What if she would go further than that? What if that was just a mild taste of what she was capable of?

He shuddered at the thought. And now she had magic chalk... He had no idea if she was in ChalkZone now, or if she was going to bide her time. If she was like Mr. Cosmo, she would lay low. At least for a time. It scared him knowing that she could be in ChalkZone, walking around, and he would have no idea if she was here or not. And if she decided to attack him while he was down, well, there was little he could do to escape. He was going to be in pain for a while, even with pain medication. He couldn’t even stand up without being in agony and that was going to last for a while. But, in the end, at least he and Sophie were still alive.

“Snap?” Penny asked, tearing him away from his thoughts. “Can I...ask you something?”

Snap nodded his head. “What is it, Penny?”

Penny glanced at the bandage that her mom just put on his face. “What..what happened to you? How did you get all those burn marks?”

Snap winced at that question. His mind swirled with memories of what had happened. He could sometimes still see that blasted water bottle when he closed his eyes. Ghadir had put it so close to his face. He had been able to see the real world water moving around in there, taunting him. Ghadir smiled at him almost the whole time. No remorse in her eyes, no indication that she felt sorry for what she was about to do. No, she was smiling deviously. She had wanted to pull that trigger and was disappointed when it was called off.

And when the trigger had been pulled, it was like being sprayed with lava. Each droplet, even the tiniest ones, hurt like hell and burned small portions of his skin. It reminded him so much of the vinegar that Mr. Cosmo used on his feet. The sensation of being burned by real world liquid was horrific. He had hoped he would never have to suffer through that again. And then something like this happens. He couldn’t believe how horrible his luck had been. Somehow, he had a feeling that wasn’t the last time he was going to be faced with water torture. A part of him was worried that he would have to endure it again sometime soon. He hoped he was wrong.

He looked at Penny in the eyes. His lower lip quivered as he thought of the intense pain he had been put through. He could still feel the water burning into his face, everyone he had been sprayed. “W-Water bottle..” He said in a soft voice.

“What...?” Penny asked, her eyes wide in horror. “They tortured you with water..?”

Snap nodded his head slowly, closing his eyes.

“But..doesn’t real world water...?” Mrs. Sanchez started to say. Snap looked up at her and gave another affirmative nod. Mrs. Sanchez gasped at this. “Oh my... I..I can’t believe they did that to you...”

Snap looked away. “Yeah... It was horrible. They did it to force Sophie to talk.”

“Those bastards...” Mrs. Sanchez muttered under her breath.

“They just..kept spraying me with water until Sophie spoke...” Snap said, shuddering at the horrible memories plaguing his mind. “And when they finally got her to speak, they found out that Mr. Cosmo had his memories back.. And that Rudy had defeated him. But Jenny..she...she thinks Rudy did it on purpose...” Penny’s eyes widened at this. “Just like Draow, she believes Rudy killed Mr. Cosmo... And she is going to make him pay.” He turned his head and looked at the horrified humans standing by his bed. “I’m sure that is why she had Sophie stabbed so many times... She wanted Rudy to suffer.”

Penny brought her hands to her mouth, her eyes big. “Sophie is only eleven years old...”

“Which makes Jenny’s actions even more disgusting.” Snap narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “The next time I see her I...” He clenched his hand into a fist. “I don’t know what I’m going to do...”

“What else did they do?” Penny asked hesitantly.

Snap opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped when he heard the door open up. He, Penny, and Mrs. Sanchez looked over and saw Rudy walking into the room. A small smile spread across the zoner’s face. He watched as Rudy walked up to the bed. There was a sorrowful look on his face, although Rudy was still trying his best to smile. There was a hint of tears in his eyes.

“Hello, Bucko.” Snap said, smiling up at Rudy.

“Hey, Snap...” Rudy reached down and touched Snap’s shoulders gently. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.” Snap replied. He hissed a little in pain. “Would be better if I wasn’t sprayed by a water bottle...”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror at this. “They did what to you?!” He looked over at Penny and Mrs. Sanchez. They nodded their heads solemnly. Rudy looked back down. He bit his lip, more tears flowing down his face. “S-Snap.. I’m so sorry...” He picked up Snap’s hand and gently squeezed it. “I promise, they won’t hurt you again..”

Snap smiled back. “It’s not your fault, Rudy. Don’t blame yourself.”

“I know...” Rudy lowered his gaze. “I still wish I had done something different, I... I didn’t need to go into ChalkZone right that second. I could have done something else. I could have watched Sophie and waited. I could have...”

Snap raised his other hand, silencing Rudy. “Even if you had stayed to watch Sophie, something could have happened. Jenny might have found another way to have her nabbed. She seems like the type of person who can adapt to get what she wants.” He narrowed his eyes in contempt for that disgusting woman. “She was truly vile...”

“Yeah I know.” Rudy said in agreement. “What she did to you and Sophie was just...inexcusable. Neither of you had done anything to her or her two lackeys, and they..” Rudy stopped, taking in a deep breath to calm himself. Snap could see that his chest had inflated rapidly. The thought of what Jenny had done was clearly upsetting the boy and he couldn’t blame him. “At least you two are safe now and can recover.” Rudy said, a small smile replacing his previous glare.

“Yeah...” Snap nodded. “How is Sophie?” Penny and her mother looked at Rudy expectantly. “Is she going to be fine?”

Rudy nodded his head. “She’s going to need mild surgery, but the doctors’ prognosis for her is looking good. They say she should be out of there not too long after the surgery is complete. The stab wounds were manageable and they got treated.”

Snap, Penny, and Mrs. Sanchez gave a sigh of relief. They were happy to hear the good news. It was nice to know that Sophie was going to be okay and that her injuries weren’t as severe as they thought they were. Her needing surgery was a little worrying, but if the doctors say she’ll be out of the hospital shortly after and if their prognosis was really as good as Rudy hinted, then it wasn’t as bad as they initially thought.

Snap wasn’t sure when his surgery was going to take place. There was some internal damage thanks to the human blood. The doctor that came in earlier didn’t say exactly what time it was going to be. He would guess later today or tomorrow. The surgery was going to be pretty mild, at least when it came to surgeries overall. He suffered similar damage to his stomach as Sophie, only his were a little more serious thanks to the human blood burning the wounds. At least it wasn’t water; that would have been disastrous.

“Snap, what exactly did they do to you and Sophie?” Rudy asked. Snap looked up at him. “Sophie passed out before she could tell me.” Snap grimaced as he recalled what had been done to them. It was not a comfortable subject. “Please, Snap. I know it’s painful, but you have to tell me. What happened?”

Snap paused for a moment. He didn’t stay quiet for long. He had explained some things to Penny and Mrs. Sanchez. Rudy had the right to know as well. As painful as it was to talk about what happened, he had to. It would not be a smart move to just keept quiet about it.

“This is what happened...” Snap began his story.

sss

“This is...perfect...” Jenny said as she held up the magic chalk. She stared at it, watching it glint. It was beautiful...although not as much as black chalk. Though she’d rather use black chalk, the white chalk would have to do for now, until they could get their hands on more. “The return to ChalkZone can finally begin...”

There was a dark chuckle behind her. She turned her head and saw Ghadir standing there. “I wonder if they will remember us.”

“I doubt it. Zoners are pretty stupid.” Tyreek muttered, rolling his eyes. “Even if we told them our names, they’d just stand there, dumbfounded.”

Jenny was standing in her bedroom with Ghadir and Tyreek. It wasn’t really much of a meeting place. Yeah she spruced things up, but it still wasn’t the ideal place she wanted to be. It felt...unprofessional was probably the word she was looking for. But then, where else could she go? She wasn’t ready to expose ChalkZone yet. She hadn’t done what she wanted with it yet. There were still so much to do, so much preparation that needed to be done first.

And of course, there was Rudy Tabootie. The little brat was more trouble than he was worth. Though it would be nice to get the black chalk reawakened inside of him, he was certain to make an excellent ally, her main goal right now was to remove him as a threat. Out of everyone, he was the biggest danger to their plans. If he was able to kill Mr. Cosmo, then he was to be taken seriously. The only other one who had ever defeated Cosmo was Wilter, and luckily that man had been taken care of.

She wondered if she should have just killed him. That would have prevented him from being a threat later on. Then again, what she did do to him would keep him from doing much of anything for a while. Yeah, there was no way he could try to stop them after what she, Ghadir, and Tyreek did to him.

The night that she restored Ghadir and Tyreek’s memories, the three of them had paid Mr. Wilter a ‘friendly’ visit. It had been easy, considering they worked at the same school he did and he saw no reason to be too nervous around him. He had been confused as to why they visited him, but if he was suspicious, he had done a great job of hiding it. When he asked why they were there, Tyreek, being the principal, simply stated he needed to discuss something regarding his job. Mr. Wilter was confused, but before he could say anything, they forced their way into his house.

Tyreek told Mr. Wilter that Ghadir was going to take his place as teacher for a while. Mr. Wilter tried to protest, stating that Ghadir was a lunchlady and wouldn’t know how to handle the teenagers. Ghadir insisted that she could do it, but Mr. Wilter was not convinced. He asked how long this was going to last, and Tyreek’s only response was ‘however long it takes’.

Mr. Wilter was getting uncomfortable as they continued to talk. The longer they stayed, the more suspicious Jenny was sure he had gotten. Mr. Wilter didn’t understand why he needed to take a break from the school and had done his best to convince Tyreek to let him stay, that he felt just fine. But Tyreek said he was not in any condition to work. Now this really threw Mr. Wilter for a loop. He clearly couldn’t understand why Tyreek would say something like that when he was in good physical condition, even for his age. And when Tyreek gave him that eerie look, Mr. Wilter realized in seconds that he was in big trouble.

The man had obviously realized that they had regained their memories of ChalkZone. He had tried to get away, but they already trapped him. They blocked his path and rounded on him, forcing him into the ground. Then they had proceeded to beat him up horrifically, using heavy objects to strike him with, and after he was beaten to a pulp, Ghadir grabbed the butcher knife and stabbed him in the stomach and chest. After it was all over, Wilter was laying on the ground in a whimpering heap, blood spilling all over the ground. The trio had just smiled down at him. It was so satisfying getting some payback against the artist who had stopped the black chalk’s glory.

After they cleaned up the bloody mess they had made, they took Wilter and dragged his battered form outside. They got in the car and they drove down the road. When they came by the hospital, they drove as close as they could to the window. They picked up Mr. Wilter and, uncaring if they hurt him more, threw him through the glass. Wilter let out a strangled cry of pain as the glass shattered and sliced his skin. The three of them then drove off before anyone could see them.

Mr. Wilter paid the price for his defiance against Mr. Cosmo. And now, it was Rudy’s turn. Jenny was not going to forgive him for what he did. Murdering Mr. Cosmo in cold blood...That will not be tolerated. She would make sure he’d pay for that. She didn’t care how. Corrupting him so he would be forced to be one of them, killing him so that he could never be a problem again, torturing him, or even torturing or killing his loved ones. All of them sounded good to the nurse. Any one of them would be able to teach Rudy a lesson.

She had started that when she had Ghadir continue to stab Sophie. She knew Rudy must care a lot for his cousin. And even if the bond wasn’t as strong as she thought, she was still family and Rudy would still feel awful about her being hurt. She wished she could have seen the look on his face when he found Sophie and Snap like that, bloodied and unconscious. She hoped Rudy took a nice long look, because what she did to Sophie and Snap was just the beginning of her revenge against him.

She had an idea of what she was going to do with Rudy. If she knew him well enough, then things will fall into place very quickly, allowing her to launch her move. She still had to be careful, as she couldn’t move too quickly. What she had to do, it required intelligence and the ability to decieve. Thankfully, the black chalk tended to give this ability to its loyal users. And already she formulated a plan in her head. Yes, after she was finished with the boy, he was going to regret killing Mr. Cosmo. He was not going to get away with doing it. She cared about Cosmo more than anyone, and the thought of someone like that boy killing him like that..it made her blood boil.

“When do we make our move?” Ghadir asked, a wide grin on her face. “Are we going into ChalkZone now?”

Jenny stayed quiet for a few seconds. “...No.”

Ghadir looked shocked and disappointed. “Why not? We have the magic chalk. Wouldn’t it be wise to go in now? It’s not like those lowly zoners can do anything to stop us.”

“Yeah.” Tyreek said, sounding just as disappointed as Ghadir. “What was the point of getting the magic chalk if we aren’t going to use it?”

Jenny turned to face the two. “Patience, Ghadir and Tyreek. We will go in soon enough.” She explained. She narrowed her eyes and glanced down at the magic chalk. “We can’t rush things. The boy will be expecting us to arrive as soon as possible, and we all know around when Rudy is likely to enter ChalkZone. We need to wait until late at night and go in while he’s not there.”

“And then we start to wreck the place, right?” Ghadir asked, her eyes twinkling.

Jenny shook her head. She forgot how eager Ghadir could be. Sometimes a little too much for her own good. “I know it’s tempting to do that, Ghadir. But we need to take care of Rudy first.”

“I’d say we just drag him to the Solar Pillars and force corrupt him like we did with some of the more resistant artists.” Tyreek suggested, pointing a finger up to get attention. “That would remove him as an obstacle.”

“Or we could just torture him.” Ghadir said. “Just like we had with those two stupid brats and Mr. Wilter.”

“Both are such wonderful suggestions, but I have another idea.” Jenny said, a dark smile spreading across her face. Ghadir and Tyreek stared at her, waiting for her to speak up. “First, we need to set up an ambush point. And then...” Jenny proceeded to explain her plan to her comrades.

sss

Rudy was seething in anger. Rage filled his blood, practically burning it. Even a trip into ChalkZone, walking along side Penny as he was now, it wasn’t enough to clear his mind of what Snap had told him.

Snap explained the entire story to him. Whatever the little zoner could remember, he relayed the information. At first, Rudy was shocked and horrified by what Snap said had happened. As the story continued, though, anger and hate slowly replaced those feelings. When Snap was finished, Rudy was so boiling with rage that he had to excuse himself so he wouldn’t bite someone’s head off. He went into the hospital bathroom and just sat there for about ten minutes, doing whatever he could to regain his composure.

No one was surprised by how he had reacted. They agreed that what Jenny did was disgusting and vile. Hurting a little child like that...blackmailing...forcing Snap to stab Sophie...it was all unforgiveable. It would seem that Jenny really does have a lot in common with Cosmo. She was just as disgusting as he was, if not even more so. Everything she and her lackeys did to Snap and Sophie was vile and abhorrent. Neither of those two had done anything to deserve what they got. And when Snap told Rudy how, even after Sophie agreed to give them the magic chalk, they still continued to stab her, Rudy thought he felt a vein pop in his head.

The anger inside still continued to burn him. It was the following morning since Snap and Sophie were taken to the hospital. And still he felt his blood boil. The anger did little to die down. He didn’t think it would go away for a long time. Going to school was going to be painful. In about an hour, he and Penny had to go. They had no choice whatsoever. They couldn’t call in sick. The fact that their principal was a black chalk user...that had been horrifying news. It was going to be hard discussing anything in private when he, their lunchlady, and their nurse were all corrupted. They could try something and no one was going to know.

It was scary. But despite how frightening things had become since they found that diary and the Solar Pillars, he and Penny tried their best to stay positive. They had been in tight scraps before. Mr. Cosmo and Bardot both had put them through hell, especially Bardot. And they still managed to come out on top. They would figure this out. They would be able to stop these three evil black chalk users. And somehow, someway, they were going to find a way to permanently end the black chalk’s reign of terror so ChalkZone could finally be at peace.

They had been told there was no way to destroy the black chalk. They had been told how it had some built-in defense, such as enabling black chalk users to create more black chalk. Still, Rudy refused to believe that destroying the black chalk for good was impossible. There had to be a way. Something that Biclops and Wilter had never thought of. He was certain there was a way, somehow, to destroy the black chalk completely.

Speaking of Mr. Wilter, he hoped he was all right. Snap told him that Jenny and her comrades did something to him, something painful, but had no idea what it was. Rudy’s heart clenched at the thought of Wilter being somewhere, possibly dying. He had to be okay. He just had to be...

“Rudy?”

Rudy turned his head over to Penny as he felt a hand on his. “What is it?”

Penny must have been reading his mind. The way she was looking at him, he could see the sympathy and empathy shining in her eyes. He didn’t even need to tell her what he was thinking. She already knew. “We’ll stop them.”

Rudy looked at her. He replied, “I hope you’re right.” He stopped walking, Penny standing beside him. He looked up towards the blue ChalkZone sky. “We’ve faced dire threats before and we always managed to win.” He looked towards the ground, then turned back to Penny. “I just hope that Jenny isn’t where our luck runs out.”

Penny looked at him sympathetically. She took a step towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. “We can do it together. It might not be today, or tomorrow, or the next day. But somehow, we will win. They won’t get away with what they did.”

“Yeah...they won’t.” Rudy said. His eyes narrowed as he thought of the horrific things Jenny had already done. “We’ll take them down.”

As soon as he said that, there was a cold laughter. The two teens stiffened up, their hearts tightening in dread. They looked around for the source of the laugh. They couldn’t see anything at first. The laugh seemed almost omnipresent, like it was coming from all around. But whether or not it was, they weren’t sure. Then they heard the laugh again and this time, it sounded like it was coming from their left side. They shifted their heads to see who it was, but still there was no one in sight.

Then there was the sound of rustling leaves and foliage. The two teens pressed against each other and looked all around. Another cold laugh, more rustling, more noises all around them. Rudy and Penny narrowed their eyes, apprehension filling their bodies. They readied their magic chalk, prepared to fight whoever it was that was threatening them. Rudy looked all around, wondering where they were and why they hadn’t shown themselves yet. Even before they showed up, he had a feeling he knew exactly who it was.

“I know you’re there, Jenny.” Rudy said, his voice filled with venom. “Come on out here...”

Without warning, someone jumped from the bushes and rushed towards them. Rudy turned his head just in time to see Principal Tyreek rushing towards him. The man pulled his fist back and punched him square on the jaw. Rudy cried out and was thrown into the ground. Penny screamed Rudy’s name and rushed to his side. But Ghadir came from the bushes and came towards her before she could do anything. The lunchlady grabbed Penny by the neck and kicked her in the stomach. Penny grunted in pain and fell to her knees. She looked up just as Ghadir delivered another kick to her chest, knocking her onto her back.

Groaning in pain, Rudy got up to his feet. He raised his magic chalk to draw. But he didn’t have time to draw anything. Tyreek punched him on his nose, causing it to bleed and he staggered back. He ended up dropping the magic chalk as he held his nose, crying out in pain. He recovered quickly, but by then, it was too late. Tyreek had taken his piece of magic chalk.

Penny still had hers. She tried to use it, but Ghadir stomped on her arm. Penny let out a cry of pain as Ghadir started to twist her arm roughly. The pain was enough to force her to let go of the chalk. Ghadir took it. Instead of just walking off, she proceeded to stomp on Penny’s stomach a couple of times. Penny cried out again and again as Ghadir slammed her foot on her vulnerable abdomen. Blood trinkled form her mouth.

“P-Penny..” Rudy said, horrified by what was done to his girlfriend. He attempted to get over to her, but Principal Tyreek had grabbed onto him, securing his arms behind his back and pressing the teen’s body against his. Rudy struggled to get free. “Let me go!”

Ghadir grabbed Penny roughly by the arm and yanked her off the ground. She held the female teenager in a headlock, squeezing a little too hard. Penny opened her mouth and gasped for some air. “R-Release us...at once!” Penny managed to say.

“Silence you two!” Tyreek growled. “You are in no position to tell us what to do.”

“Yeah. Be lucky that we weren’t sent here to kill you. Otherwise...” Ghadir squeezed Penny’s neck a little harder, causing her to gag. “..I would be twisting your sweet little neck until it broke...” Penny’s eyes widened in horror at that.

Rudy was horrified, not only by what Ghadir had said, but by the fact that this had happened so fast. One minute, he and Penny were just walking through a forest in ChalkZone. A usually peaceful forest at that. Then something like this happened. There was no warning, no time to react. They had been assaulted and quickly subdued. He couldn’t believe how quickly they had lost, how fast that these two black chalk users had been to disable them. Now they were immobilized, unable to do anything except wait and see what they plan on doing to them.

When he glanced at Ghadir and strained to see Tyreek, he realized something. These were the two in his dream, the one he told his parents about. The figure he didn’t recognize, it had been Ghadir and Tyreek, formed together to create a single person. That was why he didn’t recognize who it was. It wasn’t just one person. It had been two. The dream...it had been warning him about these two.

He didn’t have time to dwell on that. He heard another chuckle. This one sounded different than the others. He recognized the voice instantly. He narrowed his eyes as a third figure came towards them, coming in from the bushes. Sure enough, it was Nurse Jenny. She was walking towards them very slowly, her hands folded behind her back. Even just from the way she walked, she was so much like Mr. Cosmo. And the way she was looking at them, that sneer on her face, that smug expression, that was exactly how Mr. Cosmo would be looking at them if he were still alive.

“Ah...Rudy Tabootie...” Jenny said in a cool voice. She stopped in front of him, smiling darkly in his direciton. “I couldn’t believe how easy it was to catch you.” She tilted her head to the side. “For someone who was able to kill Mr. Cosmo...” There was a dangerous edge to her voice in that sentence. “I would have thought you would be less predictable...”

Rudy seethed. “I did not kill Mr. Cosmo. The idiot killed himself.”

Jenny growled at this. She took a step forward and slapped Rudy hard across the face. The boy let out a yelp. “Don’t you dare speak about Mr. Cosmo that way...” She hissed, glaring at him. Rudy just glared back, a defiant look in his eyes. Jenny’s expression softened up slightly. “I can see you have a lot of spirit in you. Too bad you’re using it for all the wrong reasons.”

“And what you’re doing is horrible!” Rudy yelled at Jenny. “I will make you pay for what you did to my little cousin and friend! That was sick, you know that?”

Jenny just smiled at this. “Consider it payback for what you did to Mr. Cosmo, boy.” She turned her head in Penny’s direction. “Perhaps we should give your girlfriend the same treatment?”

Rudy’s eyes widened at this. “Penny...?”

Ghadir, her arm still tight around Penny’s neck, sneered down at the girl she was holding. Penny hadn’t attempted to talk. She couldn’t. Ghadir’s grip was so tight now that she could barely take in a breath. Rudy could see her mouth open up wide for air. Ghadir wasn’t applying more pressure, but she wasn’t letting up either. She just smiled, getting clear enjoyment out of Penny’s suffering.

“Stop that!” Rudy cried in desperation. “Let her go! What gives you the right?!”

“We give ourselves the right, boy.” Tyreek said simply. “And soon, our rule will control all of ChalkZone. We will complete what our old leader, Cosmo, had been trying to accomplish. And this time, no one is going to stop us.” He lowered his head and whispered into Rudy’s ear. “Not even you, you miserable little chalk hugger...”

“Shut up! Penny doesn’t deserve that kind of fate! Neither did Snap and Sophie!” Rudy yelled, struggling to get free. “I’ll get you for that!”

“Oh pipe down.” Ghadir said coldly. “It’s not like we killed them. Besides...” A sneer spread across her face. “They would have been less injured if they had been cooperative. They brought that fate onto themselves.”

“Fuck you!” Rudy yelled at the lunchlady.

Ghadir’s eyes widened. She then narrowed them into slits and spoke through clenched teeth. “Watch your language...” It looked like she was about to hurt Penny, but Jenny raised her hand to stop her. Ghadir clearly looked disappointed. “What?”

Jenny looked at her briefly. “Let’s not get too hasty... After all, it wasn’t like Snap and Sophie begged for them to get hurt. It is not their fault.” Ghadir looked at the blonde woman in confusion. Before she could say anything, Jenny began to walk slowly towards Rudy. “Isn’t that right, Rudy? It would be...unprofessional if I attempted to pit the blame on those two, don’t you think?” Rudy bared his teeth at her. “But let’s not waste time on that... There is a reason I confronted you here, and now.”

Rudy snarled at her. “What do you want?”

Jenny stared at him intently, widening her eyes just a tad. This made Rudy feel very uncomfortable, especially with the way she was looking at him. “I issue you a challenge. And if you accept, and if you win, I promise I’ll leave ChalkZone for good.”

This prompted Tyreek and Ghadir to look at her with shocked expressions.

Rudy glared at her. “And if you win...?”

“If I win...” Jenny’s smile grew a little psychotic. “Penny dies.”

Chapter Text

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror. His heart clenched and he could feel it pounding hard against his chest. His mind reeled with a rush of thoughts. Dread filled every part of his body. Did he hear right? Did Jenny really just say that?

His heart pounding, he looked over at Penny. She was still trapped in Ghadir’s headlock. The large woman was holding her tightly and he could see Penny was having a hard time just taking in a breath. The pressure on her neck caused her face to redden a little. The female teenager was doing her best to try to get herself free. She was pushing against Ghadir, scratching at her arms, anything to get free. But nothing was working and Ghadir just held on tighter.

It hurt Rudy to see Penny rendered helpless like this. She didn’t even have her magic chalk with her and Ghadir was clearly stronger than she was, and she must have a considerable tolerance for pain as Penny digging her nails into her arm and scratching her was doing nothing to loosen her grip. He wanted to do something to help her. Yet he himself was also having problems. He was still being held by Tyreek. The man was having no difficulty in keeping him still and though Rudy tried to struggle, the man refused to let go of him.

Rudy attempted to yank himself from side to side, trying to twist his way out. He was forced to stop when Tyreek stomped on one of his feet, causing him to let out a cry of pain. He turned his head to glare hatefully at the man with one eye. He then looked back at Jenny. The evil nurse was looking at him with her arms folded, a nasty smile spread across her face. A smile that told Rudy that Jenny knew she had him and Penny trapped. Rudy had a feeling that this ‘challenge’ was not going to be optional.

But still, he had to try to resist. The offer that Jenny would leave permanently if he beat the challenge was tempting, but he couldn’t fall for it. There was no guarantee she would actually leave. She just said that to try to pull him in. He wasn’t stupid. She could just pretend to leave and then attack in the middle of the night or something. And threatening Penny like that... No, he couldn’t accept the challenge. He didn’t want Penny to get hurt. He had no idea what Jenny was really planning, but he wasn’t going to allow her to toy with him like this.

“I...I refuse!” Rudy declared, snarling in Jenny’s direction. Jenny cocked an eyebrow. “Do you think I’m that dumb?! You’re just going to rig it so I’ll lose! And even if I win, you won’t stay out of ChalkZone! You just want to lure me into a false sense of security!” Rudy shook his head. “No I’m not doing it!”

For a while, Jenny just stared at him. Her expression was blank, giving it an eerie look to it. Even her smile was gone. It almost looked like she had turned into a statue. The only signs of life from her was her inflating and deflating chest as she took in each breath. Rudy kept glaring at her, refusing to let up. As uncomfortable as it was, he maintained eye contact with her. He wanted to make sure the message got through her thick skull.

Then, slowly, Jenny turned her head to the side. Her eyes widened ever so slightly. Her pupils dilated a little. There was a flash of black in her eyes. Rudy gave a quick shudder. That blackness in her eyes, it reminded him so much of Mr. Cosmo. It reminded him of when he himself had been controlled by the black chalk. Thankfully, the black in Jenny’s eyes didn’t last long. Just a few seconds. But those few moments of seeing it were enough to send a chill up his spine, unwanted memories coming up to the surface. Still, he did not back down or change his mind, and he kept glaring defiantly at her.

Jenny gave a small smile. He couldn’t tell what kind of intent it had. It was...such a blank smile, he had no idea what to think. Was it an evil smile? A knowing smile? What was it? He tried to make sense of it, but Jenny did nothing to indicate just what the intention behind the smile was. She just stood there, that same blank smile on her face. It was almost...robotic. Rudy realized that Jenny must be pretty good at hiding her emotions if she so desired to. Was she doing this to hide some evil intent, or was she just doing this to screw with his head? In the end it didn’t matter; whatever the reason, she was succeeding in creeping him out.

The smile didn’t stay blank for long. It soon broadened into a hideous grin. The grin only lasted a few seconds, but Rudy was able to catch it. A calmer smile replaced it and the nurse looked over at Penny for a few seconds. She gave Rudy a sideways glance. Her teeth were partly exposed in a small grin.

“Is that your final answer, Rudy?” Jenny asked. Rudy glared at her and nodded his head. Jenny shrugged her shoulders. “That is such a shame, Rudy. I would have thought you’d jump at the chance. Still...” She tapped her finger against her chin. “...I don’t want this meeting to be all for nothing. I need to do something to make it...worth my while.” Her eyes snapped wide as a thought clearly entered her head. Her palm opened up quickly to emphasize. “..Oh! I know!” She moved closer to Rudy and leaned in towards him, an evil grin on her face. “I could make you want to take the challenge.”

Rudy looked at her in disgust. He turned his head to the side a little. “Why would I ever accept a challenge from you?”

Jenny laughed coldly at this. She threw her head back and started to walk in circles around Rudy and Tyreek. Rudy kept turning his head, glaring at her cautiously. Tyreek did nothing except keep his focus on the boy. He had a smile of his own, like he knew exactly what Jenny was going to say. Rudy had a very bad feeling about this, but he did his best not to show any fear.

Jenny began to speak in a low, cold voice. It sent cold chills through Rudy’s body. The way she was speaking...it was very uncomfortable to listen to.

“Once upon a time, there was a little boy who had committed his own little crime. He dared to deny it, so foolish was he. He was given a generous deal and yet he had shot it down. And he refused to kneel before the superior ones. So the nurse took matters into her own hands For she knew how much the boy cared, his dear little friend, a shame they fell into her plans. Now that little boy must check whether or not it was worth it to refuse as the nurse gives the orders 'break her neck'.”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror at this. He stared at Jenny in disbelief. She...She couldn’t be serious, could she? No, she can’t do that. Rudy shook his head in denial, mouthing the word ‘no’ over and over again. His breath quickened and he looked over at Penny. She was looking at him with fear filled eyes. Ghadir was sneering down at her, looking satisfied by her fear. Then Jenny raised a hand and pressed her fingers together.

“No..please...” Rudy begged.

But Jenny did not listen. She snapped her fingers, the resounding sound filling his ear drums. As soon as she did this, Ghadir started to twist Penny’s neck. The teen let out a cry of pain as Ghadir gripped her head and started to turn it roughly, trying to bend her neck far beyond its flexibility. Penny struggled frantically as her neck was being twisted like this. Tears of pain flowed down her face and she let out a few cries of agony.

Rudy watched this scene in horror. He tried to get free of Tyreek’s grasp. The man just held onto him tighter, glaring down at the boy. Rudy twisted his body left and right, trying to yank it free. He watched in absolute terror as Penny’s neck was slowly being broken. He looked over at Jenny with wide eyes, silently asking her ‘why?’. Jenny did nothing more than continue to smirk at him. She looked over at Ghadir and looked very pleased by what she was doing to Penny. Everytime Penny let out a scream, Jenny’s smile broadened just a tad, and soon she had a grin stretching almost ear to ear, Penny’s screams obviously music to her ears.

“No! Please! Stop that!” Rudy called out, tears forming in his eyes. He didn’t know how much more Penny could take. Her head already looked like it was at an odd angle. “Let her go!”

Jenny turned to Rudy. That eerie smile on her face caused his blood to turn to ice. Shudders swept through his body as the evil nurse approached him slowly. She reached over and placed a hand on his cheek, the same one she slapped not too long ago. “If you want her to live, dearie, you must accept my challenge.”

“A-And what is this...challenge..?” Rudy asked, staring at her with a mix of anger and fear.

Jenny chuckled. “It’s very simple, really.” She put her face close to his. He could feel her breath against his face. “I challenge you to a magic chalk duel. If you accept, you will come with me. Alone. I’ll take you somewhere where we can have our duel. I will provide a piece of magic chalk for you so you can fight back.” She suddenly pressed her forehead against his so hard that Rudy flinched from the pain of bone slamming against bone. Jenny didn’t seem to have a reaction. “If you don’t accept...” Her voice was low and hissing. “..your friend over there will be a little...neck impaired...”

At this, Penny let out a scream as Ghadir twisted her neck even further.

Rudy stared at this with wide-eyed terror. “Penny! No!” He let out a cry of pain when Jenny grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled on it. He winced and stared at Jenny with one eye, the other shut tightly from the pain.

Jenny looked at him up and down before she eerily licked her lips once. “So if I were you, little boy... I’d accept the challenge. Unless of course...” She gave a sideways glance over at where Penny was. “..you don’t really care about her that much...”

Rudy glared hatefully at Jenny. He then looked over at Penny, his face filled with horror as he watched her struggling in pain. Her head had been turned further. He hadn’t heard the resounding snap of the neck yet, but he knew it was coming very soon. If he kept quiet, if he refused, Penny was going to have her neck broken, and there was nothing he could do about it. Well nothing except accept the challenge.

But could he really do that? Could he take such a gamble? If he lost, Penny would be killed anyway. And if he won...he would just be led into a false sense of security. There was no way Jenny would keep her end of the bargain there. She’d come back into ChalkZone. She had the magic chalk. She could enter this world at any time. There was also no doubt that she would steal more magic chalk. She and her lackeys could invade the Chalk Mine and take whatever they wanted from it. Biclops might not be able to stop them, and he might put himself in danger if he tried to.

The challenge was too much of a risk for him to take. He was not going to get any real benefit from it. In the end, it was Jenny would benefit most from it. It didn’t matter if he ended up taking the challenge or not. Penny was still going to die, unless he managed to beat the challenge, and then, it was just going to be a wasted effort. Jenny might stay out for a short time, but it wasn’t going to be permanent. She’d come back, and she might kill Penny anyway.

But he couldn’t just let Penny die... If he had the power to at least delay her death, he could. He listened to her cry out in pain. Each scream filled him with more fear and sadness, making his body shake with emotion. Tears formed in his eyes. It hurt him so much to see her this way. He realized...he really didn’t have a choice. Jenny was determined to force him into this challenge. He tried to find another way outl, but he saw nothing. He glared at Jenny, noting her evil smile and expectant glance at him. Rudy’s frown slowly faded and he lowered his head in defeat.

“O-Okay...I...I’ll do it...” Rudy said, his eyes closed. “I’ll accept your challenge. Just please...stop hurting Penny...”

Jenny smiled at him triumphantly, that nasty grin still on her face. She looked over at Ghadir and made a motion with her hand. The lunchlady looked disgusted and disappointed. But nonetheless, she listened and loosened her grip on Penny a little. She still held her in a headlock, but Penny looked obviously relieved when her head was no longer being twisted. The teen looked over at Rudy in shock and disbelief. Rudy stared at Penny for a moment and then lowered his head again.

“R-Rudy...” Penny said, her voice sounding a little strangled. “You..can’t...Don’t...”

At this, Ghadir slammed her fist hard against the top of Penny’s head. It wasn’t hard enough to knock Penny out, but it was enough to cause her to cry out in pain. “Shut up, you little louse!”

“Penny!” Rudy cried out.

Tyreek released the boy, pushing him into the ground. Rudy let out a grunt of pain. He looked up at Penny, the two locking eyes. Horror radiated from them both. He tried to get over to her, but he felt a hand grip his arm and yank him back. Rudy looked over and saw that Jenny now had a hold of him. She dragged him about a foot away. He struggled to get free. But her grip on him was like a vice. He watched as she lifted up the magic chalk and began to draw.

In seconds, Jenny had drawn a car. Not an overly fancy one. Pretty basic, but it still looked functional. Jenny drew the car keys and stuck it in the keyhole. She unlocked the doors, a click sounding out. She opened up the back door. When Rudy took a look inside, he quickly realized that there was a glass shield, which would prevent him from crawling through to the front and wrestling with her, not that he’d want to try to do that unless he had a death wish and didn’t mind crashing. Jenny pulled him towards the open back seat door, twisting his arm a little and causing him to wince.

Jenny looked over at Tyreek and Ghadir. The man took position next to Ghadir, his arms folded and clearly waiting for orders. Penny had tried again to wriggle free, to no avail. She was staring over at Jenny and Rudy with wide eyes and clenched teeth. Ghadir’s own stare was on Jenny herself as she, like Tyreek, waited for their next command. Rudy hoped that Jenny planned on letting Penny go now. He accepted the challenge. He looked up at Jenny, silently pleading with her to let Penny go.

But Jenny clearly had other ideas. She looked at her two lackeys, no expression of sympathy for Penny showing in those blue eyes of hers. Exposing her teeth in a psychotic smile, she made a dismissing gesture to the two other black chalk artists.

“I don’t want her going for help. I want to have some...fun with the boy.” She glanced down at Rudy and pressed her finger under his chin. He yanked his head away and growled at her. “I need to play with him for a while. I need to..break him a little. Weaken his spirit. I know how to do that, too...”

“So what should we do with Penny, then?” Tyreek asked, casting a sideways glance down at her. Penny looked up at her captors with a fear-filled expression. “Are we to just stand here and wait for you to return?”

Jenny shook her head. “No.” She made another gesture with her hand, turning her head to the side and staring in their direction with a knowing smile. “Pummel her. Beat her to a pulp.” Rudy and Penny’s eyes widened in horror at this. In contrast, Ghadir and Tyreek smiled. “Don’t stop until she has no chance of getting up and calling for help. I don’t care what you do to her. Just don’t kill her.”

“Oh don’t worry about that...” Ghadir said, casting an evil smile on the frightened Penny.

“We won’t...” Tyreek cracked his knuckles.

Rudy cried out, “Penny!”

Penny looked over at him and called out, “Rudy! Help me!” She was silenced when she was thrown into the ground in a loud thud. She let out a grunt of pain. She looked up and screamed as Tyreek kicked her in her stomach.

As Ghadir and Tyreek began to beat up Penny, Rudy struggled against Jenny’s grasp, trying in vain to get over to her. He was unable to get free and he was shoved into the car. The door slammed before he could get out. He pressed his face against the window as Jenny climbed into the front seat. He watched, his body shaking and his heart clenching, as Penny was ruthlessly attacked. Her screams echoed in his mind and tears flowed down his face. Penny..no...

“Quit your sniveling.” Jenny said, her voice made of ice. “At least she will survive.”

Rudy shot her a hateful glare. He looked back and he was horrified to see Tyreek holding Penny up by her neck and Ghadir throwing punches at her stomach. Penny had a couple bruises on her face and he could see blood trinkling out of her mouth and nose. He could do nothing but call out Penny’s name as the car was revved to life and Jenny started to take him far away from his friend. Soon she was out of sight, but he still shouted her name, hoping, praying she would be okay.

sss

Jenny grinned at what was happening before her. Rudy had crawled right into her little game. Either he was not as bright as she thought, or she had been clever enough to fool him. How silly of him to believe Penny would escape unharmed. No, she never planned on letting Penny go scott free, not without suffering a little bit. Having her lackeys rough her up a bit would be satisfying enough.

And now here she was, standing in a large cave system with Rudy positioned several feet away from her. The magic chalk she had given him glowed, providing a little bit of light. Not that it really mattered. This cave had a bunch of little red lights all around, forming a complete circle. The red hue gave an almost ominous appearance to the ‘arena’ that she and Rudy engaged each other in. It was beautiful. A perfect set up for their little game she was playing with him. Their sticks of white chalk added some extra glow, but they were easily overpowered by the red light.

Fighting this boy had been fun. He did put up a good fight. Yes, he would have made a marvelous addition if he didn’t make the mistake of choosing his worthless friendship to zoners over the power that the black chalk provided. The boy could have been a lot more than he was now. No wonder Mr. Cosmo seemed to take a liking to this boy. He really did have talent and it showed in their battle. Although she had been holding back a little, she was still amazed at how well he performed. If only he put those skills to a more...worthwhile cause...

The little brat made a huge mistake when he killed Mr. Cosmo. And of course he would deny it. Rudy just didn’t want to face the guilt of what he had done. He seemed like a kid who didn’t like the idea of hurting someone else. Even in his fighting, she noted that he used more defensive tactics and attempts to disable; he refused to draw an actual weapon like a sword or gun. Given this information, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to conclude that Sophie had been right, and that he’d never willingly hurt or kill another human being. For the most part... He must have made an exception with Mr. Cosmo, and now he feels guilt about that and denied doing it. How disgusting...

No matter. He was going to pay for all that soon. After this battle was over, he would start to regret what he did. She had big plans for him. Oh yes, big plans. She wondered how he believes he would get out of this mess. After all, what she was about to do to him, he had never encountered before. It was something that she and Cosmo had been working on to ‘relieve’ themselves of the white chalk pests. She never got to use it before, but now was a perfect time to try. And the boy walked right into it.

Jenny grunted when she suddenly felt Rudy slam into her. She mentally slapped herself for being so lost in her thoughts that she failed to notice the boy coming at her. She was pressed against the wall. Rudy had drawn a long, metal pole. He gripped the two ends with his hands and pressed it against Jenny, keeping her pinned against the wall. He glared hatefully at her, his teeth clenched tightly. Jenny just smiled evilly at him and kneed him between his legs.

Rudy’s eyes widened, tears moving down his cheeks, and he let out a scream. He staggered back, still gripping on the pole. He seethed, his body trembling. Jenny took this chance. She quickly drew a long, sharp sword, sparkling with electricity. She rushed at him before he had a chance to react. Gripping the handle of the sword, she mustered up as much strength as she could and struck down. The bar being made of metal, the electrical current was quickly drawn into it. Rudy let out another scream as electricity coursed through his body. He let go of the bar and nearly fell into the ground.

Laughing maniacally, Jenny pulled the sword back, holding it high above her head. “Now would be a good time for me to try that procedure!”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror. The sword came down quick, becoming nothing but a blur of silver and yellow. Rudy rolled out of the way seconds before the sword slammed down into him. The loud clang of the sword echoed throughout the cave tunnels. Jenny wasn’t upset that she missed and she just sneered in in his direction. She held up the sword and rushed at him again.

Rudy got his magic chalk up and quickly drew something. Before Jenny could reach him, the brat had drawn up a shield in front of him. He backed up quickly, narrowing his eyes as the sword struck down on the shield. Sparks of electricity flew everywhere as the glass shattered. Jenny winced as some of the glass cut her across the face, causing a little bit of blood to move down her cheeks. She paid little attention to it though as she focused her attention on Rudy.

“How very clever...” Jenny said, giving a light chuckle. “I don’t suppose you have anymore parlor tricks for me, do you?”

“Screw you...” Rudy hissed as he held up the magic chalk.

“Watch your language, there, little boy.” Jenny said casually.

Rudy growled at this. “I won’t let you get away with what you did to Snap, Sophie, and Penny.”

Jenny shrugged her shoulders. “Well if you were trying to teach me a lesson in this duel...” Jenny’s sneer spread across her face, almost from ear to ear. “You’ve been doing a piss poor job of it. Come on, oh ‘great creator’ or whatever these worthless zoners call you. Try to stop me. Go on..I’ll stand perfectly still...”

She watched as Rudy started to round the corner and come at her from a different angle. She braced herself for a second, preparing for their collision. Then she got another idea. She looked down at the shattered pieces of glass and then at Rudy, who was barreling his way towards her. She lowered herself and grabbed a piece of glass. She paid little attention, gave no reaction, as the jagged pieces of the glass started to cut her hand. She ignored the blood that started to drip from her hand as Rudy came closer to her.

The boy had took out his magic chalk and was starting to draw. It only took seconds for Jenny to realize he was trying to trap her in something. Well she was not going to allow him to have that kind of fun. She rushed forward as the boy came over to her right side. She whipped around and grabbed Rudy by his arm and yanked him forward. She slammed the piece of glass across his left eye.

Rudy screamed and staggered back when Jenny released him. She smirked in satisfaction as he writhed in pain. He had his left hand against his injured eye, blood pouring from the wound. Rudy’s body was shaking and he let out low whimpers. Instead of attacking him, Jenny felt it was more fun to just watch him suffer for a little while. The blood came fast, covering the ground below him. Tears poured out of the uninjured right eye, staining his cheeks red, almost matching the blood stained one. Rudy attempted to move his hand away from his eye, but each time he tried to open his left eye, he screamed and put his hand over it again.

In the brief moments that his hand was removed, Jenny could see that the eye itself was undamaged. Well mostly. She had doubts that the eye would go blind, but she did scrape the cornea and iris a little. Most of the damage, though, was the sliced eyelid and the skin around it. This is where most of the blood was coming from. The sight of Rudy in pain like this was so satisfying, filling her heart with positive emotion. It wasn’t enough retribution for Mr. Cosmo, but it was a lovely start.

“You were a fool to accept a duel from me, Rudy. Not like you had a choice.” Jenny said. She started to walk over towards Rudy slowly, her hands and arms folded behind her back. “Because you knew that you either had to accept this challenge, or your little friend died. What a sadistic choice forced upon you, don’t you think?”

Rudy seethed in both anger and pain. He glared at Jenny, his breaths coming in shaky and ragged. His body continued to tremble from what Jenny recognized as anger and pain. “F-Fuck you..bitch...” Rudy said in a pain-filled voice.

Jenny’s eyes widened a little at that. She then narrowed them. “What did I tell you about foul language, boy?” Rudy just glared at her. Jenny’s evil smile returned, noting the look in the boy’s remaining unharmed eye. “Ah...I see you still believe you can win this challenge. Well face it, child. Your damaged eye is going to slow you down. And without your depth perception, how do you think you’ll stand a chance against me?”

Jenny did her best to hide her true motivations behind this challenge. She had been lying to the boy. She had no plans on killing Penny even if she did win. It was all just a lie, partly to toy with Rudy, and partly to hide what her real plans were. And so far, the boywas doing a marvelous job being fooled. He had no idea what was coming for him. When it was all said and done, he was going to wish the damaged eye was his only problem.

Rudy gave a pain-filled smile. “Y-Yeah well...If Cosmo could fight me well with one eye...I can fight you with the same limitation...”

Jenny stared at the boy in shock. “You took out his eye...?” She did not give the boy time to respond to that. Anger filled Jenny’s chest, the uncomfortable sensation sweeping through her body. “You little fucker!” Almost forgetting about her plan for several seconds, Jenny took the glass she still had in her hand, stained with blood, and struck across Rudy’s left hand, cutting deeply across the top. Rudy screamed. “You are going to regret that!”

She dropped the glass and pulled back her fist. She punched Rudy right against his injured hand and eye. The boy let out a bloodcurdling scream. Blood splattered all over her hand and the ground. Rudy started to stumble back. Jenny rushed towards him and pushed him into the ground. She pinned him down, her hand grabbing his throat. She squeezed hard, causing him to gag. Rudy kicked his legs wildly and he tried in desperation to push her off of him.

Soon the boy was able to get her off of him. He managed to pull a leg back far enough and kicked her against her chest. The nurse tumbled across the ground. She looked over at the boy hatefully. Half blinding Cosmo? Killing Cosmo? Oh that little brat was going to pay. She was going to wait for this, but she decided now was a good time as any to activate her little trap.

She smiled evilly at Rudy, letting out a dark chuckle. Rudy climbed up to his feet, staring at her in anger and confusion. He gritted his teeth and put his right hand out in front of him, clutching the magic chalk tightly. She stared at this, nothing just how perfect it was. Yes, this posture was the best for what she was about to do.

“I am going to stop you...” Rudy said through his pain. Determination was laced on his voice. “I will protect ChalkZone from you and your comrades. I swear it...”

“Oh really now?” Jenny asked innocently. She began to circle Rudy slowly. She kept a distance away, watching in amusement as he glared at her, his body tense. “There’s so much you don’t understand, Rudy... If you would just embrace the black chalk, you’d be blessed with that knowledge. But because you don’t, you put yourself at a disadvantage.”

“I know enough to know I am going to beat you somehow..” Rudy said, narrowing his eyes further.

This just made Jenny laugh harder. “Such a foolish child. I am gifted with the knowledge of the black chalk. I know a lot more than you do. I know the way the chalk here interacts, how it seems to come to life. I know how zoners are like a combination of flesh and chalk, and how it all comes into play.” Rudy glared at her and kept his defensive stance. His magic chalk was raised, prepared to draw. Her eyes glinted black at this. “You think you know so much about magic chalk, don’t you, little Rudy?”

Rudy growled at this. “If you’re trying to play mind games on me, it’s not going to work.”

“Oh, not at all...” Jenny said, her tone a playful mock. “But you see... There’s so much you can learn..” She stopped in front of Rudy, giving him an eerie smile. He looked apprehensive at this, causing her smile to broaden. The boy was tensed up, knowing that something was coming. But he had no idea what was about to unfold. “Let me show you a few things that you don’t know...” She snapped her fingers.

At this, the chalk in the boy’s hand started to disintigrate. Rudy stared down in shock, his eyes wide. The chalk crumbled into dust in a matter of seconds. The chalk dust clung to his fingers. The boy was at a loss of words, clearly not understanding what just happened. Then, seconds later, the chalk dust glowed brightly and Rudy let out a cry of pain. The chalk started to bore into his skin, absorbing into it. The bright lights rapidly died down as the chalk disappeared into his body.

Jenny watched this, amused. She then narrowed her eyes. “The artist who got away... Cosmo’s killer...” She spoke, her voice unusually dark. “It is the beginning of the end for you.”

Chapter Text

Rudy let out a cry of pain. He jerked back, his body trembling. He pressed his hand against his eye. His other eye stared forward, wild with pain. He clenched his teeth and let out a hiss of pain. “That hurts!” He cried out.

Mrs. Sanchez stared at him. “I know, but you have to let me apply the disinfectant.” Rudy shook his head. “Please, Rudy. It’s just going to get worse if you don’t let me do this.”

“No..” Rudy kept his hand over his eye and took a step back. “It hurts too much...”

Rudy knew that he wasn’t acting appropriately for this situation. He had been cut in the eye. And by a broken piece of glass no less. The eye and the area around it had become very tender and swollen. Agony wracked through his face even before Mrs. Sanchez did anything. He knew he had to get the wound clean, but the pain of the woman even just lightly touching it gripped him with severe agony. He wished there was another way to do this.

He hadn’t been able to open his eye since the attack. That just complicated things more for Mrs. Sanchez as she sometimes needed him to open his eye a little so she could clean some of the harder to reach parts of the lid. She also needed him to open his eye for a length of time so she could assess the damage. She said he was very lucky that all he has was a scrape across the eye. Well yeah, lucky, but it was incredibly painful. Even just moving his eye hurt him. That made it difficult to just look around, since he can’t move his eyes independantly.

“Now, now, son..” Mr. Tabootie said, looking at his son sympathetically. “You need to let her clean your eye. It’s just going to get worse if you keep letting it go. Please, hold still and let her help you.”

“But...” Rudy started to say, still holding his left eye protectively.

“Your father’s right, Rudy.” Rudy turned his head to look at Penny. She sat down on the couch not far from him. She looked at him with a sympathetic expression. “My mom knows what she’s doing. Just let her help you. Your eye might get worse if you don’t get it treated.”

Rudy’s expression softened as he stared at Penny. He recalled how they had found her. Not long after he that magic chalk somehow disappear into his skin, he had managed to get away. He didn’t know if Jenny just let him go or if she had actually tried to stop him. Whatever the case, he got away. It wasn’t easy going through the forest without his depth perception, no longer able to gauge accurately how far away something was. He still managed pretty well and headed off where Penny was last seen.

When he had found her, he was horrified by what he saw. Though Tyreek and Ghadir were long gone, Penny had been left in that spot. He remembered how he had started to cry when he saw what kind of state she was in. There were no broken bones, but that didn’t make the scene any less horrific.

Penny’s clothes had several rips and tears in them from where she was cut up by something sharp. Small cuts covered her arms and legs. She had been beaten to a pulp. Several dark bruises covered her body, and there was swelling everywhere, especially on her face. Blood covered her body, some of it trinkling out of her nostrils and mouth. A lot of atttention was paid to her right leg. The other leg suffered damage, too, but there was a lot more on the right. Huge dark bruises covered it and there was a deep gash in her calf. It was like they wanted to prevent her from walking but didn’t want the extra effort of breaking her leg, so they just improvised.

He had managed to wake her up, but she was in so much pain that she was mostly unresponsive. She could only let out groans of pain. He had tried to help her to her feet. But though she could stand, the pain in her right leg caused her to buckle forward and back onto the ground. He realized there was no way she was going to be able to walk like this. She was going to need help. He proved that assistance. He looped her arm across his shoulder and held on, allowing her to lean against him as she walked. He was happy that, though still unresponsive, she still managed to walk pretty okay.

Getting her back to the portal was not an easy task. The process was slow and painful. He did manage to run into a familiar face. He had no idea what Lars was doing around these parts, but he didn’t question it. He asked for the bear’s assistance, and he gladly gave it to him. He lifted Penny up and carried her as Rudy lead him towards the portal. With the bear’s help, Rudy was able to reach the portal in a faster amount of time than he would have had he done this all by himself. He thanked Lars, and helped Penny through the portal.

Her mother and his parents were horrified when they saw what kind of condition they were in, especially Penny. The adults immediately helped the teens into the living room and did what they could to help. Mrs. Sanchez treated both of them, using whatever knowledge she had at her disposal. She first treated Penny, which made Rudy happy as he was more concerned about her than his own well being. Penny’s conscious state was improving. Soon she was no longer in a dazed state and she became more aware of her surroundings. Her mother patched her up, treating her injuries to the best of her current ability.

Now there Penny sat, multiple bandages and small ice packs on her body. The most heavily bandaged areas were her face and even more so, her leg. He could see small blood stains from areas that were still bleeding a little. Laying down next to Penny was some old cane his parents found. Penny was to use it to help herself walk. Mrs. Sanchez said it should only be temporary and that she should be able to walk without the cane in a few days, provided that the wounds on her leg are properly cleaned everyday.

And now it was his turn. He was less cooperative than Penny, partly due to the fact that the eye is a very sensitive organ. It was hard for him to hold still and let the woman go to work. He managed to keep himslef from moving for a little while when she used a wet cloth to wash the wound, but after that, it was hard for him not to try to get away. His instincts were telling him to run and hide somewhere to protect his injured eye. His head was telling him that everything was okay and that Mrs. Sanchez was only trying to help, but that did little calm himself down.

But Penny and his father were right. He needed to let Mrs. Sanchez do her work. She had the highest level of medical knowledge of any of them. There was no way he could treat the wound himself. He’d need help. Penny could help, but even if she were in top notch condition, she didn’t have the same level of knowledge and experience her mother had. When it came to something like the eye, Rudy knew it was best just to go with someone with more experience.

Rudy wasn’t entirely concerned about school. At the moment, he should already be there, but if Principal Tyreek had been in ChalkZone, he guessed that there was a good chance that school was closed down for today. Turned out, he was right. He guessed that Tyreek, Ghadir, and Jenny wanted some extra time to do what they wanted. So school was shut down for today. He wasn’t sure how. Maybe the principal convinced the rest of the faculty that there was some kind of electrical issue. However he did it, school was closed for today, which he didn’t mind.

School being shut down meant that he had time to have his and Penny’s injuries cleaned up and patched without worry of speeding things up. It also gave him time to talk to his folks about what had happened and figure out where to go from there. They needed to know what happened. They needed to talk about this. He and Penny had just been assaulted in ChalkZone. A course of action was needed.

But first, he needed to have his eye taken care of. The stinging pain caused a tear to form in his undamaged right eye. If he didn’t get it treated soon, it was going to get infected. And if that happened, he might not be able to use the eye properly ever again. He couldn’t have that. He did his best to relax so that Mrs. Sanchez could go to work.

“Okay...” Rudy conceded, slouching his shoulders. “I-I’ll try...”

“That’s a good boy. This procedure will go a lot smoother if you are cooperative.” Mrs. Sanchez made a gesture with her hand. “Now come on over here.”

Though reluctant, Rudy walked over to where Mrs. Sanchez was. He stopped right in front of her. As she reached for him, he cringed, but soon stopped himself. He told himself to hold still, and that it would all be over soon. He couldn’t run away. They were right. The wound was going to get worse if he didn’t allow it to be treated. He just hoped that Mrs. Sanchez would be gentle and not hurt him much.

Mrs. Sanchez placed her hand under his chin and gently gripped it. She turned it until he had his head was now positioned at an angle that made it easy for Mrs. Sanchez to analyze the wound. Rudy could feel her fingers touching his face, the area around his eye. He hissed in pain a few times as she assessed the extent of the damage. Then she took the cloth she tried to use on him before, applying a little more disinfectant ointment on it. She began to apply it to the wound on his eye.

Rudy grunted in pain and let out a whimper. Mrs. Sanchez whispered an apology a few times as she continued to apply the stinging disinfenctant. Once there was a thin layer of the ointment on his injured eye, Mrs. Sanchez took a clean, sterile patch of cloth and pressed it gently against his wounded eye. He let out a cry of pain and cringed back. Mrs. Sanchez didn’t let up, although she did slow down a little to try to lessen the pain. She took out some bandages and began to tie them around his head, securing the patch in place.

Once she was finished, Rudy took a few steps back. The eye still hurt, but it felt a little better now that it has been treated. He looked around the room, taking note of the expressions from his family and friends. It did feel a little awkward not having a lot of depth perception, but at least it was just going to be for a little while. He could make do in the meantime. It could have been a whole lot worse.

Rudy turned to the woman and said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Mrs. Sanchez replied. “You’re going to need to keep your eye covered for a while. After your eye heals enough, you can switch over to an eyepatch until your eye heals enough that you can open it again without experiencing discomfort. Okay?”

Rudy nodded his head in understanding. “Got it.”

“Rudy...” Mrs. Tabootie said, fumbling with her hands nervously. “Just..what happened?”

Rudy realized that he hadn’t relayed the information to them yet. Then again, it was understandable. They had been horrified when they saw their children come in so badly hurt and they would have wanted their wounds to be treated first. Rudy was more focused on making sure Penny was safe and got treated. It almost slipped his mind to tell them exactly what had happened.

Now was a good time as any to tell them. It wasn’t going to be easy. Things haven’t been looking so good for them lately. For the past two years, everything seemed to be okay. And then now, this. Sophie and Snap kidnapped and tortured...Penny beaten... Him with his eye sliced up, looking more horrific than the wound on his left hand. And he knew that this was all just the beginning. He didn’t know when it was all going to end, when it would be over. He could only hope that they find a way to stop that evil trio and fast.

“Penny and I were...ambushed...” Rudy said in a quiet voice.

A collective gasp of horror from the adults. They looked at each other, murmuring softly.

“You two were attacked?” Mrs. Tabootie asked cautiously.

Rudy nodded his head. “We were going for a walk to clear our minds, and then we were suddenly attacked by Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir. They took away our magic chalk and Jenny forced me into a duel. Ghadir almost broke Penny’s neck as a way to force me to comply.”

The adults were horrified by this. They looked over at Penny. Their eyes shined with an unspoken question. It didn’t take much to know exactly what they were thinking.

“It’s true.” Penny said. She glanced down at her leg and winced. She looked up towards Rudy’s parents, and then at her mother. The two locked eyes and Penny rubbed the back of her neck. “She just...kept twisting it. She would have broken it, too. She almost reached that point...”

“Was she the one who..?” Mrs. Sanchez asked, her eyes moving up and down her daughter’s injured form.

Penny nodded her head, flinching at the memory. “She ordered Tyreek and Ghadir to...beat me up.”

Mrs. Sanchez gasped in horror. “What?! Why?!”

“Because...” Rudy spoke up. His eyes narrowed angrily, and he tightened his left hand into a fist. “She wanted to make sure Penny could go for help so that our ‘duel’ wasn’t interrupted...”

“That’s horrible...” Mrs. Tabootie said, her eyes narrowed. “That vile woman...”

“What else happened?” Mr. Tabootie asked, sounding just as angry with Jenny as the others.

Rudy began to relay the information of what happened after that. “She took me to this large cave and we had a magic chalk fight in there. During the fight, I managed to get the upperhand, but that didn’t last. She grabbed me and cut my eye with a broken piece of glass, as well as my hand. She blames me for Mr. Cosmo’s death, so when he heard about his left eye being taken out, she punched me on the same eye she wounded and just went nuts.”

He took note of the horrified expressions everyone in the room was giving, Penny included since she did not witness the fight. Rudy frowned a little as he recalled that duel. Jenny had not been fighting fair. She targeted him in the eye and between the legs. Both were low blows. And he was certain she knew that, as well. She purposely targeted those areas to gain an undeserved upperhand.

He continued, “After that, she..did something with the magic chalk I was using. She said how there was a lot about magic chalk I needed to learn and how she wanted to show me somethings I didn’t know about it. She snapped her fingers and the chalk just..disintegrated and went into my body.” Rudy looked at his right hand. There were no signs of what happened remaining on there, but sometimes he can still feel the pain or see a faint glow, though he coudn’t tell if he was just seeing things or not. He looked back at the others. “The chalk just absorbed into my skin. It was....so painful..” He shuddered. “I never felt a pain like this before...”

It was true. He wouldn’t say it hurt worse than what he and Penny were subjected to with Barodt. But the pain did feel unique. The way it felt..it was unlike anything he ever encountered before. It was like a bunch of tiny needles spread throughout his body, poking him just enough to cause pain. But with all of it combined, it became almost unbearable. The pain seemed to flow differently than other forms of pain. The intervals were random and so was the amount of pain he felt.

He shuddered when he recalled the nurse’s words to him. Strangely, he hadn’t felt any adverse side effects from what happened. He almost thought that he was going to be ripped apart from the inside out. But that didn’t happen. The only thing to remind him of what happened was a dull pain that sometimes spread through his hand and a little past his wrist. He didn’t know if Jenny’s threat was a bluff or if she had been serious. So far, it appeared to be a bluff, or perhaps she meant something else by what she said. He wasn’t about to simply dismiss her claim, though. It was too big of a risk to do that.

He felt someone grab his hand, snapping him back to reality. He turned his head to see Mrs. Sanchez gripping his hand. She had turned it over so she could take a look at his palm first. She ran her thumb along the skin, gently pressing down as she analyzed the area. She then turned the hand over and examined the top, gently pressing her fingers against the skin.

“You say the chalk got absorbed into you?” Mrs. Sanchez asked.

Rudy nodded his head. “Yeah. Just pulled right in.”

Mrs. Sanchez released his hand and said, “I don’t see any signs of damage. But I might need a microscope to take a look.” She stared at Rudy. “Do you know what this sort of thing will do?”

“No.” Rudy shook his head. “I never experienced anything like this. I don’t even know if there will be any adverse side effects.” He stared at his hand. “All I can say for certain is that it hurt.”

“That might be a sign something is wrong.” Mr. Tabootie said, looking at his son with great concern. “Pain is never a good thing. If the chalk hurt going in...” He paused for a moment, taking in a breath. “You may need to have that looked at.”

Mrs. Tabootie said, “But how? We can’t take him to a real world doctor. If it’s magic chalk that was involved...”

“We can’t take him to a ChalkZone hospital either.” Mr. Tabootie said. “His blood would dissolve any needle they use to try to get a sample.”

Penny spoke up. “We could bring some stuff with us. That might work.”

“Yeah, it could.” Mrs. Sanchez nodded in agreement. “I have some medical supplies they can use. They’re mostly for animals, but they should work on humans as well. I’ll go get them as soon as I can.”

All of a sudden, Rudy felt very tired. He was confused and started by how suddenly it set on. One minute, he was just fine, listening to his friends and family discuss what to do next. And now, he was suddenly taken over by some severe grogginess. He did his best to fight back, struggling to stay on his feet. He felt his body sway a little, although he managed to keep himself from falling down.

He didn’t understand why he felt so tired. He got a good night’s sleep. He was well rested. And yet he kept closing his eye, some kind of ache in it. It wasn’t painful; it was the type of ache his eyes would get in the past when they were trying to close. His body started to feel a tad weak. Not tremendously so, but it was noticeable, causing his body to shake a little like he had been working out too much or something. He put a hand on his head and he staggered back. He almost tripped over something and he nearly knocked something else down.

“Rudy? Honey?” Mrs. Tabootie asked, her eyes wide with worry. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, son...you don’t look too well...” Mr. Tabootie said.

“I-I’m fine...” Rudy mumbled. His words slurred a little as his mind grew groggier by the second. His right eye kept opening and closing and he stared off blankly, no longer focused on his folks or anyone. His body swayed a little more but he was able to regain enough strength to keep from falling down. He put his hand on his head. “I’m just sleepy, that’s all..”

“Tired?” Penny asked, sounding alarmed. She glanced at the clock, then back at Rudy. “It’s not even noon.”

Mrs. Sanchez rushed over to Rudy and stood in front of him. She placed a hand on his head. “You do have a slightly high fever. Come on, I’ll help you to your room.”

With that, Mrs. Sanchez held onto Rudy’s arm. Mrs. Tabootie came over quickly to offer more assistance. She grabbed her son’s other arm. Working together, the two women helped to guide Rudy up the stairs. Penny and Mr. Tabootie watched, their worried eyes focused on Rudy. Slowly, Rudy, his mom, and Mrs. Sanchez went up the stairs. He was grateful for their help. He didn’t think he would be able to make it without them.

They took him over to his bed. They helped him up the ladder so he could reach the top where his bed was. Rudy collapsed on the bed, the grogginess becoming too much for him. He wasn’t aware of much of anything after that. He felt someone’s hand on his head, possibly his mother’s, and some concerned chatting between the two women. The world around him was getting darker, less clear. Soon, as his right eye shut, he succumbed to his tiredness and, even though it was still morning, he went to sleep.

sss

“Darn cane...” Penny mumbled under her breath. “That’s the fifth time I almost tripped over something...”

“Well at least you won’t have to use the can for long.” Rudy said, offering her a smile. “At least there’s that.”

Penny knew Rudy was right. The cane was just temporary. She didn’t have to use it for long. Or at least, her mother didn’t think so. It was still an adjustment. She never used a can before, well obviously, and learning how to walk with it took a little bit of time. She was so used to being able to walk on her own that she had to keep reminding herself to use the cane to help carry her weight. There were times when she would almost trip over because of a mistep she’d make when she completely forgot about her leg injury.

It wasn’t like she was alone, though. Rudy had some trouble navigating the school hallways without his left eye working. But at least he could still walk and move around without a cane. That was one positive thing about it. Not that his injury wasn’t any less severe. She sometimes cringed as she thought about the glass slashing against her friend’s eye. The pain must have been unbearable. Her mom did check his eye the best she could and didn’t find anything in particular that suggested anything got in his eye. That did provide some relief.

Speaking of Rudy, the way he almost passed out the other day was horrifying. She had never seen Rudy get that tired so fast before. It wasn’t even noon, and he looked like he was about ready to collapse. The fact that he had a fever was very concerning. He had just been fine earlier that day. She had a hard time believing that a fever could onset that quickly. Though her mom said it was possible, Penny still found it very strange. This had to be related to the chalk absorbing into the skin. There was nothing else she could think of.

“Rudy.” Penny said, making sure she was quiet enough that no one around them could hear. “I think we should go see Biclops.”

“Oh?” Rudy looked at her. “Why?”

Penny narrowed her eyes. “You know very well why.”

“Oh...” Rudy’s right eye widened a little when he realized what she was talking about. “Well I feel fine now...”

Penny shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m sure that magic chalk that got into your skin is what made you so tired the other day. I think it’s doing something to you and Biclops might have an answer as to what that is.”

“Maybe.” Rudy frowned. He looked left and right to make sure there were no students nearby. “But it might have just been a fluke thing. Maybe I just wore myself out too much and didn’t realize it because of adrenaline. I was fighting Jenny and she was tough. I could have exerted more strength than I realized and just, well, passed out when my body realized how much energy it actually used.”

While Penny understood where Rudy was coming from with this, she had her doubts. Something about this whole thing just didn’t add up. Rudy had exerted strength before and he never collapsed like that. He never got a fever. There was something different that happened this time around. And the only thing that changed was that ‘chalk absorb into skin’ thing that Rudy told them about. So, thinking logically, it was safe to assume that the chalk was doing something to Rudy. But what? She had no idea.

It had been two days since the incident and so far nothing else had happened. Rudy’s fever had gone away by the next day and he did feel a lot better, no longer so groggy and tired. So she could understand why he felt it was unimportant. The fever hadn’t caused him any problems all of yesterday and so far nothing today. But she just didn’t want to take that chance. What if Jenny did something horrible to Rudy? Black chalk users could create new types of chalk. What if this was one such chalk? What if its purpose was something far more sinister than they realized?

“I think we should pay Biclops a visit after school.” Penny said in a firm voice. “We really should get you looked at.”

“I’m fine, though. I’m telling you, I was just a little too tired.” Rudy said.

Penny shook her head. “And I’m telling you there is something else wrong. You were never tired before. Even after you fought Mr. Cosmo, you didn’t just collapse in the middle of the day. Rudy, something is wrong and you need to see Biclops. If you don’t come willingly, I’ll drag you in.”

Rudy glanced at her leg. “With that leg?”

Penny narrowed her eyes. “Don’t understimate me...”

Rudy held up his hands in self defense. “I’m not! It’s just that...” His voice trailed off. He froze where he stood. He took in a deep breath and then he said, “I just..don’t know.. It seemed like everything was fine... I haven’t felt sick again since that day. Jenny might have been lying.”

“And what if she wasn’t?” Penny asked.

“I thought about that. She doesn’t seem like she’s very trustworthy. Still, I just..have mixed feelings about this whole thing. And I don’t even know if Biclops could help us. What if he doesn’t know anything about this?” Rudy turned his head to the ground, avoiding eye contact with Penny.

Penny hobbled a little closer to Rudy. Steadying herself with her cane, she leaned forward and put her free hand on his shoulder. “I don’t know, Rudy. But we won’t know unless we try to speak with him.” Rudy didn’t reply. He just stared at Penny. She could see that, though he might try to hide it, he was very worried. “Let’s go see Biclops after school, okay?”

Rudy stared at her. Then he slowly nodded his head. “Okay... I’ll go.”

Penny smiled at him. “Glad to hear it.”

The two of them began to make their way down the halls. School was about to start soon and they needed to get into their classroom. Neither of them liked the idea of being in the same room as Ghadir. But at least, in the school, they couldn’t do anything without drawing attention to themselves. Yesterday, Ghadir hardly even paid attention to them, so today was probably going to be the same thing. Jenny and Tyreek, who they sometimes see in the hallways, also didn’t really do or say much to them. And all for the same reason. They didn’t want to blow their covers.

Penny hoped that Mr. Wilter would recover soon. She missed him, and so did Rudy. During their visits with Sophie and Snap, they learned about what happened to Mr. Wilter. Penny was horrified and disgusted by how Mr. Wilter had been attacked like that. They did manage to visit him once, but he was still in a coma-like state. The beating was much more savage than any of them had realized. The doctors say he might not be out of the hospital for a couple of weeks.

But at least he was safe. The hospital was pretty secure, and Jenny and her minions haven’t shown much interest in going after Wilter again. They seemed more focused on getting back into ChalkZone, which they succeeded at, and then starting up some kind of plan. Oddly, they hadn’t noticed them in ChalkZone at all yesterday. This did not mean that they put their guard down. They all knew that, at any moment, those three could show up. She and Rudy weren’t expecting an attack, and they both suffered greatly for it.

She recalled how horrified Tilly, Snap, and Sophie were when they got the information on what happened to them. They couldn’t believe how viciously she and Rudy were attacked. They were relieved to learn that she and Rudy were going to be fine and that their wounds had been treated by Penny’s mother. Snap wanted to go find Jenny and give her a piece of his mind. But Penny told him that wouldn’t be a good idea in his condition. He still needed to heal up. Snap understood, but he was still upset by the whole thing. So were Tilly and Sophie.

Speaking of Snap and Sophie, they recently had surgery the other day. It was a bit of a coincidence that their surgeries were on the same day, but at least they got done. They had to leave their visiting time with them earlier so that they could be prepped for surgery. They did want to visit them in the morning, but their folks felt it would be best to wait until the afternoon so that Snap and Sophie had a bit of time to recover more from the surgery. It might have been minor, but they’d be so drugged up that they wouldn’t be able to carry out much of a conversation.

From what Penny remembered, Snap and Sophie weren’t going to be in the hospital for too much longer. She thought she heard something about them being released in a few days with heavy bandaging around their stomachs. They would be given instructions on how to clean the wounds and then rebandage them. She wasn’t sure if she would remember the instructions or not, but her mom was a vet, so it didn’t matter. Her mom would be doing most of the medical stuff with them anyway. In fact, the past couple days, it was her who changed her and Rudy’s bandages. So she would be able to help treat Snap and Sophie just fine.

She looked forward to seeing Sophie and Snap again. She wanted to see how they were doing. Although the surgery wasn’t that major, at least compared to what could have happened, she still wanted to make sure they were doing okay and healing fine. There was the chance of complications during surgery and she wasn’t sure if they encountered any. The doctors didn’t really say anything about it, but they also didn’t deny it. So something might have happened, and the doctors just weren’t telling them for whatever reason.

Her thoughts shifted over to Biclops. She hoped that the giant would have some information about what was happening to Rudy. The chalk absorbing into his skin didn’t sound right. It wasn’t what magic chalk should do. It just didn’t seem...natural was the only word she could think of. Something was very wrong. The giant was Mr. Cosmo’s creation and she didn’t have a doubt in her head that Biclops might have bore witness to a lot more terrible things at the time than just what he told them. There was a chance that maybe, just maybe, he had seen something like what was happening to Rudy, and if so, he could provide valuable information.

She hoped that, whatever was wrong with him, it wasn’t anything too serious. If it caused that fever, she hoped that it wouldn’t do any worse. The idea of Rudy contracting some unknown virus or bacteria was frightening to think about. And if there was something terribly wrong, she hoped that it could easily be treated and stopped before it caused too much damage. She wasn’t sure what she would do if she ended up losing Rudy so something she was powerless against.

Wanting to get her mind off of it, Penny said, “Hey, Rudy. Do you think Snap would want to play a quick game of cards when we visit him?” She waited for Rudy to answer. She was a little confused. She tried again. “Hey Rudy? Did you hear me?” Still nothing. Concern started to grip her. “Rudy?” She looked over and her eyes widened at what she saw.

Rudy stood in the middle of the hallway, about a foot behind her. Her heart clenched as she saw him sway back and forth like he had before. But this time, the sways were more pronounced and he had an even harder time standing up. He had a blank look on his face, his eyes completely unfocused. Penny could have sworn there was a little bit of drool in the corner of his mouth.

“R-Rudy...?” Penny squeaked, her mind swirling with thoughts. “What’s wrong?” There was no answer. Rudy suddenly collapsed on the ground. “Rudy!” Penny cried in horror. She dropped down to her knees next to him. She gripped him by his shoulders and shook him. “Rudy! Wake up!” He didn’t reply. Trembling with emotion, tears forming in her eyes, she pressed her hand against his head. She let out a startled cry and pulled her hand back. Rudy was burning up.

Penny attempted to hold Rudy up herself. But it was too hard supporting him and herself with the cane at the same time. She was going to need some help. She looked around. The hallways, at the moment, were empty, no student in sight. She bit her lip. How was this going to work? She was going to need some help. But she didn’t want to leave Rudy behind, even though he was in no danger at the school. But then..what if Tyreek, Ghadir, and Jenny took advantage of his weakened state...?

Luckily, she didn’t have to wait too long to figure out what she was going to do. At that moment, she heard foosteps heading down the hallway, and a whistling sound. Her eyes widened a little at that. She knew that whistling anywhere. And as the figure turned the corner, she saw exactly who she was expecting.

“Reggie!” Penny called out.

The large teenager stopped in his tracks. He turned and cast his brown eyes in Penny’s direction. “Sanchez? What do...” He stopped when he saw Rudy on the ground. Although he was not exactly friends with Rudy, his eyes still widened in shock and concern when he saw Rudy laying prone on the ground. “What happened to him?!”

“He passed out.” Penny said. She pulled herself off the ground using her cane. “Help me get him home.”

“But we aren’t allowed to leave school grounds without consulting the principal.” Reggie pointed out, raising a finger. “Shouldn’t we...?”

“I’ll take care of it later. Right now, Rudy needs help, fast. His parents will know what to do.” Penny said, cutting him off. “Now please...can you help me?”

Reggie stared at Penny for a few seconds. Then he nodded his head. “Okay.”

Penny was happy that Reggie agreed to help. He was still not the friendliest student, but he had mellowed out over the years and was more cooperative. She watched as the large child went over to Rudy and knelt down. He, being larger and stronger, was able to hoist Rudy in his arms very easily. He then turned and followed Penny as she headed out towards the parking lot.

It was true that they could get in trouble for leaving the school grounds early, but right now she didn’t care. The principal was an evil black chalk user and she doubted that she’d get permission to leave even if she asked him. She would come up with some kind of excuse later if she had to. Right now, she needed to get Rudy help as soon as possible. As they made it out to the parking lot and Reggie began to guide her over to where his car was parked, Penny cast a glance at Rudy’s unmoving face and silently hoped that he was going to be okay.

Chapter Text

Penny couldn’t believe the turn of events that took place. She felt stupid for allowing Reggie to take them. She should have known that he would have been a little reckless driving. She should have realized that he might end up driving a little too fast. And now, here they were, in the one place that she hoped Rudy wouldn’t end up.

A real world hospital.

There was no getting around it. When the officer pulled them over when Reggie was driving too fast and drove through a red light, he had noticed Rudy in the backseat, groaning in pain. The officer was horrified by Rudy’s state and attempted to escort them to the nearest hospital. Penny wasn’t sure what to say. She wasn’t sure if they should resist, since they had to get him to his house, not to a hospital, at least not one in the real world. Reggie did attempt to resist, but he didn’t think things through, and wound up making the officer believe that they had done something to Rudy and were trying to ‘dump’ his body.

This landed them in some quite hot water. The officer had them both arrested while Rudy was taken by another police officer to the hospital. Penny tried to stop them, but she and Reggie were shoved into the car and driven off before she could do anything. She expressed anger towards Reggie, who didn’t understand how it was his fault. He shut up when Penny pointed out they wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t been speeding.

It took a while for Penny to get things cleared up with the police station and prove that she and Reggie were innocent. It took a lot of talking, a lot of explaining, and her mother and Reggie’s dad were both called in to confirm their stories. Their parents were not very happy to see them when they came down. But they did lighten up when they realized what happened. Well Penny’s mom did anyway. Reggie’s dad was still not happy. No surprise. His son was speeding and could have caused an accident. He took Reggie home and she overheard him talking about how he was going to have to pay off the fine the police placed on him for the reckless driving.

The police did apologize for the mixup and allowed Penny to go free with no charge, since she was not the driver of the vehicle. Penny wasted no time and told her mother about Rudy being sent to the hospital. Worried about what they might find, they rushed over as soon as they could. It took them a little while to figure out just which hospital he was taken to. By the time they got there, Rudy had been in there for probably half an hour to forty-five minutes. This scared Penny as it meant that they had plenty of time to look at his blood. What if they found something chalk related in it?

There was nothing she could do at this point. She and her mom did attempt to get Rudy out of there. But none of the doctors would let them see him, let alone get him out. They tried to come up with some kind of story. Unfortunately, the doctors weren’t easily fooled and they insisted that Rudy stay for some testing. All Penny and her mom could do was sit down and wait and hope for the best.

Penny hoped that they wouldn’t find anything suspicious in Rudy’s blood. If they found traces of black chalk or white chalk, what were they going to say? What would they do? Would the black chalk try to possess them, too? These thoughts frightened Penny. So much could go wrong with Rudy being here. She hoped that the tests reveal nothing chalk-related, but that was just wishful thinking. With all the testing she was certain they’d do, they were bound to find something in his blood. And if they did find something chalk-based in his blood stream, how were they going to react?

It was an uncomfortable thought that she couldn’t shake off. They could order more testing, delve further into it... They might even realize what it might do, should they do enough of the right testing, and there was nothing she could do to stop them. Her mother attempted to comfort her, but that didn’t stop Penny from worrying. Everything could soon go horribly wrong, and all because she trusted Reggie to drive them back to Rudy’s place. They also could have avoided this whole thing if they just stayed home, but no, she didn’t think something like this could happen.

It was difficult telling Rudy’s parents about what happened. Her mother had called them on her cellphone and spoke to them. Though Penny could hardly hear what they were saying, she could tell Rudy’s parents sounded very worried. Her mom informed them of the passing out in school and how he ended up in a real world hospital because of some unfortunate events. She didn’t go into detail about them, though if they really wanted to know, Penny could tell them herself.

Rudy’s parents weren’t here yet. They would try to be here as soon as they could. This hospital was further away than the one Sophie was staying at. It frustrated Penny. Why couldn’t that officer at least take Rudy to the same hospital as Sophie? Well there was nothing she could do about it now. She hoped that, by the time Rudy’s parents come over, that there would be some news regarding Rudy’s condition.

Oh who was she kidding? That was very unlikely to happen. They wouldn’t be able to make the connection. They don’t have the right equipment to detect chalk-based things. They might see chalk in his blood stream. They might wonder what it is. But even if they did connect it to being the source of Rudy’s agony, what could they do? There was no medicine they could inject him with that would help him. And it was very likely that they will never find out what was wrong with Rudy. They might thing it’s some unknown disease and try to keep him here for as much testing as possible.

That would not be good news. It would mean delaying Rudy the help he desperately needed. It would mean an increased chance of the doctors possibly being led to ChalkZone. It meant more time would be wasted as Rudy gets worse and worse. She knew they didn’t have that kind of time. They had to find a way to get Rudy out of here and fast. But how? Nothing she and her mom tried worked with these guys. Oh, why didn’t they just stay home...?

“Don’t worry, Penny.” Mrs. Sanchez said gently, trying to cheer her daughter up. She put her hand on her shoulder, prompting the teenager to look at her mom. “I’m sure everything will turn out okay.”

Penny appreciated that her mom was trying to look on the bright side of things. But it did little to comfort her. “How do you know? What if they find...?”

“That is a possibility. But that doesn’t mean they’ll know what it does. I think it’s a bit of a stretch for them to realize what the black and white chalk actually do. They’ll probably think it’s nothing.” Mrs. Sanchez said. She tried to sound hopeful, but Penny could detect some doubt in her voice.

Penny tried to be more positive. She didn’t like spending too much time thinking of the negatives. That never got them anywhere. If she had done that with Mr. Cosmo, and then later Bardot, they might have ended up worse somehow. She had never given up in the past, and she wasn’t about to start now.

Still, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that maybe, this time, positivity wasn’t going to help her. Maybe, this time, there really wasn’t a way out. It was a thought that frightened her. She didn’t like feeling this way. Yet it was still a possibility. Though her mom tried to cheer her up, tried to help her understand that things may not be as bad as they look, that didn’t stop Penny from worrying. After all, if the doctors find something with Rudy’s blood, and if they, somehow, find a way to realize what magic chalk actually is, what was there she could do to stop them?

Before Penny could say anything else, she and her mom heard the door slam open. She expected it to be Rudy’s parents, but it turned out to be someone else. They looked over to see what appeared to be a tall, thin doctor. He made his way over to them, holding a clipboard in his hand.

“Hello, my name is Dr. Valentino.” The doctor said. He reached out and shook Mrs. Sanchez’s hand and then Penny’s. “You’re friends with Rudy Tabootie?”

“Yeah.” Penny said. Her mother nodded affirmatively.

Dr. Valentino nodded in acknowledgement. “Normally, I would wait for his parents to come before I relayed information. But I’ll make an exception this time. Just don’t go telling anyone okay?” He flipped through his clipboard and read the data on it. He shook his head, rubbing his head in disbelief. “We aren’t sure what to make of this. We ran a lot of blood tests on the boy to try to figure out what’s wrong with him. But what we end up finding, it has us completely baffled.”

Penny felt a sting on her heart. Did this mean that they found something chalk-based? Her heart started to beat a little faster. “Wh-What did you find?” She asked, her voice having a fearful tinge to it.

Dr. Valentino shook his head. “We ran test after test, but no matter what, we always found the same thing.”

“And that is?” Mrs. Sanchez asked. Penny could tell she, too, sounded nervous.

The doctor looked at them in the eye. His expression silently told them he was very unnerved by whatever he had found. Penny felt an uncomfortable sensation well up in her chest. The way the doctor was looking at them... To her, it felt almost like a confession, that yes, they did find something chalk related. If that were the case, what was she going to tell them? What were they going to do? How much did they figure out?

“Well...” The doctor finally spoke up after a bit of silence. He bit his lip and he looked down at the paper for a second. He turned his eyes back to her and her mother. They both stared at him expectantly. “We found nothing.”

Penny felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. It was a relief that the doctors didn’t find anything chalk based in him. Maybe their equipment was just unable to detect it, or they felt it unimportant. But this bit of news was also a bit of a double edge. If they didn’t find anything, then...what was wrong with Rudy? How was the chalk doing this to him if the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with him?

Or maybe they did and just didn’t know what was causing it. The doctor hadn’t gone into detail yet. Before she jumped to conclusions, she should wait and see what the doctor had to say. She just hoped that, whatever Dr. Valentino had to say, it was not as bad as it seemed. But given that Rudy had actually passed out...yeah the likelihood of it ‘not being as bad’ was painfully remote.

Dr. Valentino said, “Well almost nothing. We ran all sorts of tests and checked various levels, but nothing seems to add up. The boy has a very high fever and a high white blood cell count, but that high count is the only thing we’re detecting. We suspected that it was an autoimmune problem, but there’s no signs of damage in an isolated area of his body. The white blood cells aren’t even attacking anything. They’re just reproducing like mad.”

Mrs. Sanchez gasped at this. “I never heard of white blood cells increasing in numbers like that unless they know or think they’re attacking a foreign substance.”

“Indeed.” Dr. Valentino said. “It is very strange. And the number of white blood cells is increasing, offsetting the natural ratio they should have with the red blood cells. His blood stream is getting packed with the white blood cells, which is interfering with the transfer of nutrients. We don’t know yet how this led to his fever, though. Fever is associated with disease, but since the white blood cells aren’t attacking anything...” He gave a small shrug. “We just don’t know.”

Penny wasn’t sure what to think of this. Like her mother, she hadn’t heard of something like this happening. Granted, the human body could do a lot of things and there were so many conditions out there that do really bizarre and strange things. This could be another one. But still, this wasn’t something she heard of. She didn’t know if it was really possible for white blood cells to increase like that without attacking anything. She wasn’t sure if fevers could spontaneously appear without the presence of germs.

A ChalkZone hospital might be their best bet. They might have a better idea of what’s going on. But even that wasn’t a guarantee. Even with the real world equipment thing solved, there was a chance that even a hospital in ChalkZone can’t find anything. She hoped she was wrong. She hoped that something could be found that they could use to help Rudy. Anything at all...

“We would like to keep him overnight for observation.” The doctor said. “When Rudy’s parents come in, I will speak to them about that.”

Penny’s eyes widened at this. Keeping Rudy here overnight? Oh no...that might make things worse. Rudy needed help and the only place that might have some answers is in ChalkZone. If he stayed overnight in the real world, the chalk would continue to do more damage to him. There was a chance that Rudy couldn’t even wait overnight. She had to find some way to convince the doctors not to do that. But what could she say? The doctors would think she was nuts if she tried to get them to agree to release him within an hour or so to go home, especially with his condition.

“That sounds fine.” Mrs. Sanchez said. Penny looked at her mom, trying her best to hide her shocked expression. “I’ll inform Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie when they get here. I’m sure they’ll understand.”

Dr. Valentino smiled grimly. “Thank you.” He turned around, facing the door. “I’m going to have a couple more tests run on Rudy. Still a couple we haven’t tried yet.” He gave Mrs. Sanchez and Penny a sideways glance. “I’ll come back with the results. It shouldn’t take too long.” Penny and her mom nodded in understanding. “After that, you two and his parents may go visit him.”

With that, the doctor disappeared down the hallway. The doors were pushed open. Penny stared off after him as the doors swung shut. Then she turned and glanced at her mother. With no one else around to see it, she did little to hide just how shocked she was.

“Mom...! We can’t let them keep him here over night!” She said in a hushed voice.

Mrs. Sanchez closed her eyes. “I know, sweetie. But we don’t have a choice.”

“We could try to talk to them...” Penny didn’t believe her own words. She didn’t know what she or her mom could tell them to convince the doctors. But wasn’t it best to try instead of giving up without doing anything? “Please, we have to try something.”

Mrs. Sanchez put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Please settle down, Penny. I know Rudy needs to get to a ChalkZone hospital. But we can’t just pull him out right now. The doctors would get suspicious. As hard as it is, we must let them keep Rudy overnight.” Penny shook her head. Her mom tightened her grip on her shoulder. “Penny, please. If we want to help him without drawing unwanted attention, this is the way it has to be.”

Penny said, “But...but what if he gets worse?”

Her mother looked at her sympathetically. “I know... That is an unfortunate possibility. But look on the bright side, like you always do.” She gave her daughter a gentle smile. “Things will work out, I’m sure.”

Penny wanted to believe her mother. She wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay. She wanted to keep looking on the bright side of things. But she still couldn’t help but worry. Rudy staying in a real world hospital overnight isn’t what she had in mind. The longer he stays here, the longer he’d go without proper help. Not that she believed the doctors here were useless. But if Rudy had a chalk-based disease, then his best chance was in ChalkZone, not here.

Being a foreign disease, who knows what kind of damage would be done to him overnight? His body can’t fight off whatever the disease was doing to him. A zoner doctor would have a better chance of understanding what was happening to Rudy. This disease had been ravaging his body for two days. Another day longer without finding out what it is could be disastrous. A ChalkZone doctor might be able to help reverse at least some of the damage. A real world doctor probably couldn’t do much of anything except try to keep Rudy alive in case the disease gets even worse. And since it was chalk-based and not real world-based, she had a feeling it’s going to do exactly that.

But the more she thought about it, the more she knew her mom was right. Trying to pull him out too early would raise suspicions. Rudy was so sick that the doctors would probably have a heated argument with them if they tried to take him out before they could at least run all their tests. Rudy’s parents could probably convince them to change their minds, but only if they agreed to take him to another hospital. She and her mom had no authority to do this. They weren’t his biological family. They’d have to wait for Rudy’s parents to get here before they had a chance to convince the doctors they’d just move Rudy to another hospital.

She hoped that, if the doctors are convinced and allow Rudy to be transferred to another hospital, they won’t try to escort him themselves. Maybe Rudy’s parents, her mom, or even herself could find a way to convince the doctors that they are capable of taking Rudy to another hospital. She was certain it shouldn’t be a problem. But she didn’t want to get her hopes up. There was always a chance something could happen.

“I’ll try.” Penny said. She lowered her head a little. “I’ll try.”

Mrs. Sanchez pulled her daughter into a hug. “We’ll get through this. You’ll see.”

Penny didn’t answer. She returned her mother’s hug and pressed her head against her shoulders. Her mind swirled with many thoughts, many possibilities of what could happen. Her heart wrenched as she realized that, second after second, Rudy was likely getting worse. And what hurt her more is that, even if they got him into ChalkZone, what if they couldn’t find out what it was? What if Rudy got worse? What if he...?

No. She mentally slapped herself. She couldn’t think like that. No giving up. There was always a way to make things better. There was a way to help Rudy. She didn’t know what it was yet. But she would find out. As soon as she could, she’d head into ChalkZone to speak to Snap about the situation. Maybe he would have some ideas. Plus she wanted to see how well he was doing after the surgery.

She heard the doors open up again. This time from a different direction, and she knew who it had to be. Frantic footsteps filled the room. She and her mom turned their heads to see Rudy’s parents come walking in, along with Rudy’s aunt, Tilly. Rudy’s parents were rushing forward as quickly as they could, Tilly following not so far behind them. It took them seconds to reach where Penny and her mom where.

Panting heavily, Mrs. Tabootie said, “What’s the situation? What did they say?”

“Is our boy okay?” Mr. Tabootie asked.

Tilly asked, “What’s going on?”

“They...they don’t know what’s wrong with him...” Penny said softly, lowering her head. The three adults stared at her in shock. “Well I mean, they kind of have an idea, but they don’t know what’s causing it.”

“Wh-What’s wrong with him?” Mrs. Tabootie asked, her eyes wide.

Mrs. Sanchez answered that question. “His white blood cell count is dangerously high, and still rising, interfering with his red blood cells’ ability to deliver nutrients and keep his body functioning properly. The doctors can’t detect anything the white blood cells are attacking. According to them, they aren’t attacking anything at all.” She scratched her chin. “Which is very odd. A fever is the body’s way of trying to kill off foreign invaders. So there’s something there.”

“Yeah, the chalk that got absorbed into his skin.” Tilly said. “That could be what the white blood cells are trying to attack, and what the body is trying to kill.”

Mrs. Sanchez shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

Mr. Tabootie tilted his head to the side, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“The doctors said that his white blood cells aren’t attacking anything.” Penny said. She stared at the adults one at a time. Their worry over the situation added to her own, making her feel even more worried about the whole situation. “It has them baffled, so they want to keep Rudy overnight.” She turned her head to look at Rudy’s parents. “Dr. Valentino wants to speak to you as soon as possible about that.”

Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie looked at each other worriedly. Tilly looked concerned as well. Penny wished she could give some more positive news. She wished there was something she could say to try to offset the unsettling news she had to give to Rudy’s family members. But unfortunately, she could only draw a blank.

Her mother spoke up. “Dr. Valentino will be out here shortly to speak to you, Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie. He went to go run some last bit of tests on Rudy to see if they can find anything else. Then he wants to speak to you about having Rudy stay overnight for observation.”

“What else after that?” Mr. Tabootie asked.

“What if they don’t find anything? Would they let us take him home or are they going to try to keep him in longer?” Tilly asked.

Mrs. Sanchez shook her head. “I really don’t know.” She turned her head to the door where the doctor had come from before. “All we can do is wait.”

Penny watched and listened as the four adults discussed what was happening with Rudy. She could hear the concern rippling off their voices. She could hear the sniffling of Rudy’s mother, the distressed way his folks were talking. It made her heart tighten listening to it. She looked at the door where Dr. Valentino entered from before turning her gaze back to the adults. She kept quiet, allowing herself to sink deep into her thoughts.

Rudy had to be okay. He just had to. Whatever the chalk was doing to him, it can be reversed. It had to be reversable. It couldn’t be permanent. She didn’t want Rudy to suffer. He didn’t do anything to deserve this. A bit of anger started to well up in her chest as she thought about the horrible things Jenny and her lackeys have done. Rudy was just the latest victim in their crimes. Sophie and Snap, even Mr. Wilter, and herself... They all had been assaulted by those monsters. When was it going to end? How far are they going to go?

Listening to how worried they all were about this whole thing made Penny feel more determination rise up inside of her. She couldn’t allow this to keep happening. She had to find some way to stop them. She wasn’t going to allow Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek get away with this. She didn’t know exactly what she was going to do, but one thing was for certain.

She would do whatever it took to help bring them down.

sss

Jenny watched with sick satisfaction as the bird zoner struggled to get free. He flapped his wings hard, feathers flying everywhere, as he desperately tried to free himself. But Jenny knew better. He was secured perfectly down. He was not going anywhere. Those iron cuffs would hold him down. It helped that the cuffs on his wings went right through the flesh. Blood still trinkled down from them.

Catching this zoner was pretty easy. It was just a matter of using the right kind of trap. She smirked evilly at the memory of this bird’s capture. Zoners can be pretty stupid at times, and this bird proved it. Only an idiot would fall for the trap she made. This zoner took it hook, line, and sinker. And now he was going to pay the price for that. But not first without answering some questions. There was a reason she and her lackeys captured this particular zoner and not some other one.

When she was going back to meet up with Ghadir and Tyreek after her little ‘dance’ with Rudy, she had overheard this zoner speaking to another. She didn’t quite recall all the words, but from what she could make out, this bird zoner had been one of Mr. Cosmo’s prisoners. So it seemed Cosmo had managed to figure out mind control, a concept he thought of years ago but never could set into complete fruition because of Wilter. She imagined this zoner would have some information regarding how the mind control worked, and possibly more of what that Tabootie brat had done. She had a feeling that, whatever information this bird zoner could provide, it would be very valuable.

The bird zoner continued to struggle. There were tears in his eyes, obviously from the pain in his ruined wings. The more he struggled, the more blood leaked out of his wings. His feet were secured down as well. The zoner wasn’t even that large. Definitely bigger than Snap, but smaller than Draow. This zoner was a little smaller than an adult-sized human and his body was pretty thin and lanky. His beak was pretty long, at least the top of it was. His lower beak stopped halfway the length of the top one. It looked...so breakable...

She, Ghadir, and Tyreek dragged the bird zoner, who was unconscious at the time, into the real world and into her basement. They had drawn a large flat table made of cold metal in ChalkZone and took it in here, and then they strapped the bird down to it. The wings were a bit of a problem, but Tyreek managed to force the cuffs straight through the skin and muscle. Not exactly what Jenny had in mind, but oh well. Whatever works. At least it would guarantee the stupid bird never escapes, and even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to fly away.

The bird recently woke up. He started to screech loudly in pain and try to get away. Jenny wasn’t worried about anyone hearing him. Where she lived, it was unlikely anyone could hear him and even if they did, she could always find a way to make sure that they don’t intervene.

She watched as the bird zoner continued to thrash. A nasty smile curled on her face. This was quite satisfying indeed. Watching this pathetic creature try to escape filled her with excitement. Soon, they would be able to do this to more zoners as they begin their conquest. In order to effectively control zoners, they must first be broken. She had no plans on controlling this zoner. She had something else in mind. But that something would still satisfy her nonetheless.

“Wh-What..what do you want from me?!” The bird zoner cried, thrashing his body from side to side. “What did I ever do to you?! Let me go!”

“Oh we’ll let you go all right...” Ghadir said, folding her arms against her chest. “But first, you must tell us what we want to know.”

The bird zoner stared at the large woman, his beak clenched tightly. “L-Like what..?” He seethed in agony, his body trembling.

Tyreek made a gesture with his hand. “Oh nothing that complicated. We just want to know about what Cosmo did to you.”

The zoner’s eyes widened in horror at this. “Mr. Cosmo? You know him?” The zoner paused for a moment. He stared at the three. Then, suddenly, something seemed to click into his head. “Oh no...you’re...you’re those...” He pressed his head back against the table, clearly horrified by the revelation he had just made. “You’re those corrupted artists who worked with Mr. Cosmo... How...how did you...?”

Jenny laughed coldly. She walked over and stood on the zoner’s left side. She pressed her elbow against his wing and applied pressure. The zoner hissed in pain. “We..had our way..” She reached down and gripped the bird by his neck and squeezed tightly, watching him gag and try to suck in a breath. “Now I strongly recommend that you cooperate. Answer our questions, and we’ll let you go. If you don’t, we have ways of making your kind speak..”

With that, she gestured over to Ghadir. She held up a water bottle spray in front of the zoner. She shook it a little, making it very clear it was filled with water. The bird zoner gasped in horror and his struggles in creased. It was clear he was running out of energy as his thrashes became less and less energized. More tears flowed down his face, this time not just from pain but from shere terror.

Ghadir put the bottle in front of the zoner’s face. She threatened to pull the trigger. The bird zoner, trembling hard, moved his head back, turning his head to the side. He let out small whimpers, looking at the three of them with a pleading expression. This earned him no sympathy and only made Jenny’s evil smile broaden more. Yes, this zoner should be afraid. If he wasn’t, she would begin to break him.

“Let’s begin...” Jenny said, smirking down at the injured zoner. She walked around behind the platform, her head tilted upwards, looking up towards the ceiling. “How did Cosmo control you?”

The bird stammered. “I...I...” Ghadir sprayed his chest with the water bottle. He let out a scream of agony. “He used bracelets! And nails!”

“Nails...?” Tyreek asked. “I can see braces, but how could he use nails?”

“Th-They were i-implanted into the head...” The bird zoner said. “S-Snap was one unlucky zoner to have one put in him.”

“And where did he take you?” Jenny asked.

The bird hesitated to respond. But one look at the water bottle quickly changed his tune. “At his s-studios...S-Same town the Great Creator lives in. He had set up shop there.”

Ah, so it seemed Cosmo got a little smarter and set up his base in the real world. That made a lot of sense. Jenny wondered why they hadn’t thought of it before. Then again they were kids at the time and it wasn’t like they could have done so without drawing suspicion from their parents. Still, a base in the real would would have made it even harder for the zones to challenge them, as they could hide their dangerous equipment in the real world quite easily.

Most zoners fear going into the real world, and for good reason. There were so many dangers here for them. Water and any real world liquid were the most prominent ones. That was the reason she dragged this zoner here. Trapping him in a world that is far more dangerous to him than it is to her was fun. The bird’s realization that he was in the real world was a wonderful, amusing moment. She couldn’t wait to see more zoners give this reaction as she restarted Cosmo’s mind control plan. She just had to find the blueprints for those things. She was certain to have it where this bird was held captive.

“That is...convenient.” Tyreek said, his arms folded against his chest. He turned to his comrades and gestured with his right arm. “We can head there later. I’m sure Mr. Cosmo left behind a lot of equipment we could use.”

“Yeah, he was always good at coming up with stuff.” Ghadir agreed, a dark grin on her face.

“You...you won’t find anything.” The bird zoner said in a small voice. He cringed when the three humans looked at him.

“What do you mean?” Ghadir asked, a dangerous edge to her voice. The bird zoner didn’t answer. She sprayed his injured wing again and again, watching him scream in agony. “Answer me!”

The bird zoner’s body shook as sobbed wracked through him. He looked over at his wing, which was now severely burned and bloody from the water spray. He looked at Ghadir with a horrified expression. He looked at the other humans. “It w-was e-e-erased!” He called out in terror before Ghadir could spray him again. “Water was used to erase everything!”

Jenny and her comrades were shocked by this. Someone had went and erased Cosmo’s beautiful work? That was unacceptable. She had an idea of who it was. And if she turned out to be correct, well that would make her even happier knowing that the little brat was getting what he so richly deserved.

“It was Rudy Tabootie, wasn’t it?” Jenny asked, her voice a little darkened.

The bird zoner looked up at her in fear. His body shook a little harder, his eyes getting bigger as he stared into her anger-filled ones. He stammered, struggling to find some kind of response. Jenny looked at Ghadir and flicked her head towards the zoner. Ghadir lifted up the bottle and spread the zoner’s face twice. He let out a screech of pain, tears staining his face, giving his eyes a reddish hue.

“Y-Yes!” The bird zoner whimpered. “I-It was him...”

Tyreek’s lips curled up in disgust. “He will pay for that.”

“Yes, he will.” Jenny said. She turned and looked at her comrades. “And with what I did to him, he’s going to wish he were dead.”

Ghadir chuckled. “Good. The fucker deserves every once of pain he gets.”

“Indeed..” Jenny turned her attention back to the bird zoner. She had her doubts he knew anything else. So perhaps now was a perfect time to end the interrogation. She stood next to the zoner, straightening her back. She reached down and pressed her hand against the zoner’s cheek. “Thank you for your contribution.” She said in a sweet voice. “You have been a great help to us.”

“S-So does this mean you’re letting me go?” The bird asked in a shaky voice.

Jenny nodded her head. “Yes, indeed.”

Ghadir spoke up, taking a step towards Jenny. “I’m getting a little hungry.” She cast a glance over at the zoner before looking back at Jenny. “And I am in the mood for some...poultry.”

“Of course.” Jenny said. “I haven’t forgotten about your...desires.” She made a gesture with her hand. “Go on ahead and help yourself.”

Ghadir turned her attention towards the bird zoner. She gave him a nasty smile, causing him to shake harder as he looked at her in both fear and confusion. Ghadir narrowed her eyes a little, filled with obvious intent. She licked her lips slowly as she moved closer to the bird. The zoner struggled as she got closer. Ghadir let out a dark chuckle as she stopped in front of him. She pulled out a large butcher knife, the tip of it glinting in what little light there was.

“Wh-What are you doing?!” The bird zoner squawked, his struggles getting more frantic.

“I am having me a bird dinner.” Ghadir said, licking her lips again. “And you look positively...delicious.”

The bird zoner’s face paled. “B-But I’m make of chalk...!”

Ghadir’s eyes glinted black. “I like the taste of chalk.” She leveled the butcher knife at his stomach, preparing to slice into it.

“She has a chalk addiction.” Tyreek said casually. “You being made of chalk is exactly why she wants to eat you.”

“No!” The bird zoner struggled frantically. He looked over at Jenny with a pleading expression. “Please! Let me go!” Jenny just stared at him. He thrashed from side to side, trying in vain to free himself. Blood poured out of his wounds. “You said you were going to let me go if I told you want you wanted!”

Before the bird zoner could say anymore, Jenny gripped his beak tightly, silencing him. Her left hand was at the base of the beak and the right gripped just the top beak. He let out a few muffled calls, trying to speak. He attempted to pull his head awa, but Jenny’s grip was like a vice. He looked up at her, silently begging her to let him go. Jenny just smiled at this. She leaned down, putting her face next to his.

She whispered softly, “I lied.”

Then, mustering as much strength as she could, she forced her right hand down very hard. The force caused the beak to bend and in seconds, there was a resounding snap and a bloodcurdling screech.

Chapter Text

Snap stared at Penny in shock. He kept waiting for her to continue, to give him some kind of hope. But the more she stayed silent, the more he realized the dire truth. He didn’t want to believe it. It was something that he just didn’t want to comprehend. Yet running from the truth wouldn’t solve anything. It wasn’t going to help anyone, not him, not Penny, no one.

He felt his body tremble as the wave of emotion crashed into him. He just didn’t want to believe it was true. This couldn’t be happening. Not to his best friend. No... What did Rudy ever do to deserve this? He had helped save ChalkZone on many occassions. He helped people the best that he could. He didn’t deserve to be shot down like this. He didn’t deserve to die.

Death... It wasn’t something he wanted to think about. Rudy was still alive. He had to remind himself of that. But the news he got... she might as well just told him Rudy was dead and it would have had the same effect on him. The negative emotions that welled up inside of him... They were wrapped around him tightly, squeezing him like some invisible python. As the seconds passed, this feeling just got worse. It got to the point where a little bit of nausea and difficulty breathing started to settle in, weighing heavily in his stomach.

Penny had just informed him of Rudy’s fate. He had been injured in a fight with Jenny. Snap winced when she told him about his eye injury, which eerily matched Mr. Cosmo’s. The only difference was that the wound wasn’t as deep so Rudy would not lose sight in that eye. The idea did send shudders down his spine, the thought of Rudy having a mark that Mr. Cosmo had, same shape and size. He half wondered if Jenny did that on purpose, like she knew about the eye injury, or if it was just shere coincidence.

But the worst news came when Penny told him about the magic chalk infection. The chalk had been absorbed into his skin. Now Rudy had fallen very ill. He had nearly collapsed at home, and then he lost consciousness during school. He was staying at the hospital and the doctors don’t know what’s wrong with him. Well of course they don’t; they don’t have the right equipment to chalk for chalk germs. Snap had never heard of such a thing happening, but he knew it was very serious. If Rudy’s body can’t fight the infection, he is just going to get worse over time.

“They...won’t let you bring him home?” Snap asked nervously. “Not even to transfer him to another hospital?”

Penny sighed softly and shook her head. “No. Rudy’s parents tried to talk to them, but they won’t listen.” He looked at Snap sadly. “They insist that he stays overnight.”

“But...I thought Rudy’s parents would have some kind of control over that.” Snap said, his eyes wide.

“Usually, yes. I have heard of cases of patients being pulled out of hospitals by loved ones.” Penny lowered her gaze a little. “Sadly that isn’t going to work this time. The doctors are alarmed by the way his body is reacting and they think he might have some kind of dangerous disease. They want to monitor him overnight and have some tests run while he sleeps.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “They might even keep him there longer if it suits them.”

“But...if he doesn’t get the proper help...” Snap started to say.

“I know. But...I just don’t know what to do.” Penny said softly. “I know he’s going to get worse if he doesn’t get into ChalkZone. But getting him here...” She paused for a moment. “I couldn’t think of anything that would work. I was..hoping you had some idea on how to get Rudy out of that hospital.”

Snap thought about this. But it didn’t take him long before he realized he had no idea what they were going to do either. It was imperative they got Rudy out of there, but how? They couldn’t just ‘steal’ him away. The doctors would freak out and probably call the police to try to find him. If they think that Rudy has some kind of disease, then if he were to suddenly vanish without them knowing more about what he has, they might issue an alarm all across town. They might issue a manhutn to try to find Rudy and get him back to the hospital.

And if that is the case, if that’s how they’d react to him being taken out of the hospital illegally, no doubt they wouldn’t let him be removed legally. If even Rudy’s parents couldn’t convince the doctors to let him leave, then what hope did he or Penny have of pulling it off? They could talk to the doctors all they want to, but if Penny was right and if the doctors were this determined to keep him there for fear of a viral outbreak, then he really couldn’t see anything they could do that wouldn’t cause a riot. As tempting as it was to sneak into the hospital, it would just makle things a lot worse.

It didn’t help that there were cameras everywhere in that hospital. There were a few places without them, but Rudy’s room was likely not one of them. This meant that they weren’t able to use ChalkZone. They would be caught on camera and that was the last thing they really needed. After the threat of exposure two years ago with the parents and Terry, he didn’t want to go through that again. They needed to do something else. But what? How were they going to get Rudy help without alarming the doctors and potentially causing a massive manhunt for ‘the kid with the unknown disease’?

Snap knew there had to be something they could do. He just couldn’t think of it yet. Getting Rudy out of there was of utmost importance. He needed to get help and fast. He couldn’t remain in that hospital for too long. He would be in bigger trouble if he were transferred to another hospital somewhere without them knowing about it. If Rudy were moved, it would be much harder to get to him. So far, Penny hadn’t mentioned the doctors talking about moving Rudy somewhere, but the possibility was still there.

Snap didn’t want to stay silent for too long. Penny was staring at him expectantly, clearly hoping that he had some kind of idea. He didn’t want to disappoint her by saying ‘no’. He wanted to give her some kind of hope. She needed it. He did, too. Rudy was in danger, and coming up with an idea to help him, even if it didn’t work out in the end, was important to them. So he continued to think, tapping his hand against his chin thoughtfully as he tried to come up with a solution.

He did eventually think of something that might work. It wasn’t anything new, though. It was a thought tossed around. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it might be Rudy’s only chance. It could still backfire on them in some bad way. But it was better than the alternative. Rudy would just sicker and sicker, possibly worse, if he stayed in the real world hospital.

“We could go with that idea you talked about before.” Snap said. “We could try to convince the doctors that Rudy is being transferred to another doctor, a specialist perhaps.”

“I’m not sure if that would work, Snap.” Penny replied. “We might need some kind of proof he is going to another hospital. That would require lying to one hospital and then that would cause a lot of commotion. It’s not like when Rudy and I used to lie to our parents about ChalkZone. That was more manageable.” She paused and let out a sigh. “Lying to a hospital would be...different. And with them fussing over Rudy’s ‘unknown disease’...they’re going to want to keep an eye on him until he got better. If he just vanished...”

“Oh...” Snap nodded his head in understanding. “I see what you mean, Buckette....” He turned his head away, his eyes facing towards the blanket. “Yeah this is going to be a problem.”

There was a chance that Sophie might be able to come up with some kind of solution. She was pretty smart when she wasn’t being impulsive. She might know of something that could help. But he couldn’t talk to her. Not yet anyway. Sophie wasn’t going to be released from the hospital until at least two days from now if he remembered right. He, too, was stuck here for two more days at least. Longer if he was unlucky. Penny sometimes got a chance to see Sophie but it was hard talking about anything ChalkZone related there without risking someone overhearing.

So before any of them could even talk to Sophie effectively, it would have to be after she was released from the hospital, and by then it might be too late. Rudy might be taken to another hospital or he might get so worse that he... No, he couldn’t think like that. Snap shook the thought out of his head. He needed to remain positive. Where there was a will, there was a way. He just needed to focus.

He felt his bed shift as Penny sat down next to him. He looked over at her, watching her as she looked towards the ground, her fingers intertwining together. She looked so sad that they hadn’t been able to come up with anything. He looked at her sympathetically. He wanted to say something, anything, to cheer her up. He wanted to figure out some kind of idea they could use. But he couldn’t think of anything. They had already discussed the doctors freaking out over Rudy having an unknown disease. This pretty much negated any attempt to move him and now even an elaborate lie wouldn’t work because the hospital would want proof and data and whatever else.

He felt so useless. Penny came to him for advice, and he wasn’t able to give it to her. The only idea he could come up with that would benefit Rudy was just to take him out of that hospital, whether it be by sneaking in at night or lying to the doctors. But both would backfire on them big time. They needed something else. Yet he wasn’t able to come up with anything. They were both stuck. He wished he could be of bigger help. He wished he could figure out an idea, but in the end, he was just as lost as Penny was.

“You haven’t heard of something like this happening before, have you Snap?” Penny asked, breaking the silence. Snap looked over at Penny. The teenager shifted herself again so that her undamaged left leg was over on the bed. She used her cane to help keep her right leg from hurting her. Snap recalled how angry he was when he found out what those brutes did to her. “Have you heard of any past records of a human being infected with a chalk disease? Or is Rudy the only one?”

“Far as I know, Rudy’s the first.” Snap said grimly. “If there’s any record of this happening to another human, I wouldn’t know.”

Penny sighed. “I thought not. So we don’t have anything to go off of.” There was silence for a few seconds. Then Penny continued speaking, her voice just as dull and depressed as before. “If there was another case, we would have at least had some kind of lead. But Rudy was the first human in ChalkZone in years and this never happened before. If there were any incidents, it would have been during...or before that time.”

Snap knew what she was talking about. And she was right. Rudy and Penny had been the only humans allowed into ChalkZone for years until their parents came along. Neither of them had contracted a ChalkZone disease before. If there had been a case, it would have been during or before Cosmo’s time. That was about fifty years ago, roughly. Zoners did live forever unless they were killed in some shape or form. But there were so many zoners and not no guarantee any of them had heard of something like this happening way back when.

And it wasn’t like they had time to go asking every single zoner if they knew anything. That would just waste time. They needed a faster way to get help for Rudy. That meant that, if they did ask anyone, it needed to be someone they knew would have a chance to have the knowledge that they needed. There were only two zoners he could think of.

There was Biclops. He would be the easiest one to get to, since he hangs out in his Chalk Mine most of the time. He was usually willing to give information and he was around when Cosmo was. If Cosmo was experimenting with chalk types and created one that absorbed into the skin and infect like what happened with Rudy, Biclops would know. Perhaps he might also know how to treat it. Cosmo had to have created some kind of antidote in case he himself was infected. If he didn’t, he wasn’t very bright.

Then there was Barney. He would be harder to find, though. They had no idea where he was currently. He left his Impenerable Forest years ago and after the Bardot incident, he had relocated from his previous home, probably living with King Mumbo Jumbo somewhere. Snap couldn’t blame him after being tortured by Bardot for a year and a half. He remembered how horrified and appalled he was when he learned what happened to Barney. Bardot was truly one sick zoner. At least now he was paying the price for that, along with Draow.

Barney was around for much longer. If King Mumbo Jumbo was in that temple for three hundred years, then Barney was either as old or even older. Being in ChalkZone for that long and having all that wealth of knowledge, Barney would have a better chance of knowing something about humans getting chalk diseases. There might be a record of it somewhere in his databases. But as helpful as Barney would be, finding him would be difficult. He wasn’t going to suggest that to Penny since they didn’t have a lot of time. So he went with the only other option.

“Biclops might know something.” Snap suggested. It was a shot in the dark, but it was the only thing he could think of. “Maybe you could head to the Chalk Mine and speak to him?”

Penny stared at Snap for a moment. “Yeah, that might be our best bet. Maybe Biclops has some idea of how to help Rudy.”

“Yeah, and he might be able to give you something to help him feel better.” Snap said, a small smile on his face. “I’m sure Biclops would have an idea of what to do.”

“Yeah you maybe right, Snap.” Penny said. She gave a small smile back to Snap, though she still had some doubt in her eyes. “I’ll go speak with him now.” She got up from the bed. “Thanks for the suggestion.”

“No problem, Buckette.” Snap said. He watched her as she left the room. As the door shut, he stared for a few seconds. Then his smile faded and he slowly turned his head away. “Good luck..” He whispered in a soft voice before settling back down in bed, pulling the covers back over him.

sss

Vinnie stood outside of his mini-mall. It was amazing that it was still his mall after what he had done in the past to get in trouble with the police. He had learned to lay low and be quieter. He had been pretty vocal in the past and too impulsive, which landed him in hot water on many occassions. It had taken some time, but he learned to be quiet and take his time instead of rushing into things.

He hated this mini-mall. He really did. He wanted to tear it down. He wanted something bigger, something better. He wanted to sell it, give it to someone else. But right now, this was his main source of income. If he just quit now without a backup plan, he was going to get himself in a lot of trouble. He couldn’t afford to do that. He had to, for the time being, keep this mini-mall so he could have a home and be able to eat and buy clothes. It may not be the best source of income, but it was better than nothing.

If he could have his way, he would have had that chalk world theme park built already. Yeah, it had been almost ten years, but he hadn’t given up hope. Those little brats couldn’t keep access to that world cut off forever. Sooner or later, they were going to mess up and he would take advantage of that. No one makes a fool of Vinnie Raton and gets away with it. He would get back at those two for what they did. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do to them, but he would sure think of something to teach them a lesson they’d never forget.

He could have been a millionaire if he had gotten his way. He had been so close, too. He had access to the chalk world, only for it to be ripped away from him. He had the photographic proof, but everyone though they were just children’s drawings he took pictures of. Even when he showed the one with Rudy in it, they thought it was just photo-manipulated or something. It didn’t matter how many times he talked to them. No one believed him when he said it was an alternate dimension he and the boy were in.

And he had the boy’s bag once. It had that chalkboard thing the boy popped his head out of. If he had just held onto that and shown it someone, anyone, they would have believed his story. Rudy and Penny would have been yanked out of that world and prevented from interrupting his construction of the chalk world theme park. They would have been helpless to do anything to stop him and he would have just gloated in front of them. That chalk world was meant to be profited on and he was going to do that, one way or another.

He had screwed up multiple times, blowing his chance at his theme park. If he were to attempt again, he would have to be more cunning and subtle. He couldn’t just barge into the kids’ houses and try to find something related to that world. And he wasn’t going to just grab something and run without making sure that it wasn’t going to bite him back later, like when he grabbed the bag, which apparently moved the portal around so those brats knew he was taking it. He guessed it was because there were words written on it. Perhaps next time he should erase those words so they would have no trail to follow. Yeah, that’s what he’d do.

If he ever got a chance like that anyway. There was no guarantee. He hadn’t gotten a chance to find any proof of that world or any way to get into it for a while now. He had tried, but he never came that close usually. He wasn’t about to give up, though. He was determined to get that theme park going. He didn’t care how long it took. Even if he were an old man, he would still be actively trying to find an entrance into that chalky place. He was not going to allow Rudy and Penny to constantly shatter his dreams like that.

Perhaps it was time he shattered something of theirs. A dark smile spread across his face. He looked around, watching as his customers went by, entering and exiting his mini-mall. His head was swirling with dark thoughts. Yes, that would be something he could do. Those brats ruined his chance at being a millionaire one too many times. Maybe now would be a good time to ruin something of theirs. He wasn’t sure what it would be yet. But he would come up with something.

He wasn’t sure yet how he was going to go about it. There was no hurry, though. He had all the time in the world to think about it. Living alone had its benefits. He would sit at home later today with his thoughts, trying to come up with a plan. And whenever he came up with something, he would enact on it. Not right away, not impulsively. He would not make the same mistakes Terry had made in the past. He wasn’t going to just rush up to Rudy and Penny. He wasn’t going to jump into things. No, he was going to be smart about it. And once he figured out what he could do and how to go about it, he would make them pay for what they did.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a door open up suddenly not far from him. He turned his head a little and he saw Terry walking out of one of his stores. She didn’t seem to notice him. She was holding some kind of plastic bag and was walking slowly away. He watched her, his mind filling with a mixture of negative thoughts, mostly anger.

Though he often didn’t act like it, he was not happy that Terry had given up trying to find that chalk world. She had never really explained to him why. She just called him up on the phone one day and told him their partnership was off. When he asked why, the only thing she’d say was that she was no longer interested in exposing that chalk world. Vinnie had no idea what happened to her to make her feel that way, but he did not take the news very well. He had tried to do some things on his own, but without her, it was difficult.

He did not take losing an ally very well. Now Terry would go as far as deny the existence of that world. So he no longer had her support. It was frustrating not having anyone’s support anymore. No one believed him about that chalk world and he has had to keep his mouth shut about it. If he dared mention it here and now, he may drive away his customers. Many people living here were aware of how he had gone nuts in the past over that world and he was certain most of them would leave if they thought he was starting up again.

It would be more manageable if Terry would become his partner again. No matter how many times he tried, though, she refused and had even blocked his number. His hatred for this woman grew over the past two years, and it was getting even stronger now as he watched the woman head towards her car. He seethed in anger, his teeth clenched. He did his best to hide his anger, not wanting to scare away his customers. It took all his willpower not to delve into his old ‘bark like a dog’ habit that he had tried so hard to break himself of. The longer he stared at Terry, the angrier he got. He tried to look away, but his eyes were glued on her.

The one thing she did that angered him the most occurred two years ago. There were those multiple disappearances in Plainsville. He had jumped to the conclusion that it was related to that chalk world. And he had been right. Or at least, he wasn’t the only one who thought so. Terry had mentioned it to him and told him that she would inform him more once she got more data. He had waited for her for days, feeling excitement fill up inside of him. That excitement died down when she still didn’t call him. And then came the day he would never forget.

Terry had gotten footage of what happened to the victims. This had excited him at first, but when he saw something that was not of the chalk world, but some badly recorded footage here, he was pissed. Terry would deny it, but he knew that she had footage of that chalk world and had the chance to expose it. She had gone soft and threw that footage away in favor of something so..useless. And it was not long after the airing of that footage that she had declared their partnership over.

Vinnie couldn’t believe that she threw away an opportunity like that. She had the footage. She must have. She could have shown it on TV. Even just a few seconds of it would be enough to convince the public that this chalk world, this ChalkZone as Rudy and Penny had called it, was real. But instead, Terry refused to do that, completely tossing away her chance of becoming famous. She threw away both their chances.

As he watched her walk away, dark thoughts entered his mind. He knew Terry must still have the footage somewhere. If she didn’t have it, then she would know where she put it. If he could just get his hands on that footage, he could show it on TV and he could finally be the millionaire he deserved to be. But first, he would need to find a way to get it from her. He’d need to confront her somehow, and in a way that wouldn’t draw attention from others.

A dark smile spread across his face. He watched as Terry got into her car. He watched as she drove out of his parking lot and went in the direction of her home, all the while never knowing that he had been watching her. He knew exactly what he was going to do. He kept himself from allowing his smile to get too disturbing, not wanting anyone to get suspicious. He watched as the car vanished, his mind swirling with thoughts as he began to plot what he was going to do.

There was always a way to make someone talk. It was just a matter of knowing their weak points. He had worked closely enough with Terry for a long enough time to know what her buttons were, what her weaknesses were. She had made a mistake turning against him. She must not have realized that he would, someday, use what he knew against her. True he might have been a bit of a bonehead back then, and that the thought really hadn’t crossed her mind. But years can change someone. He was no longer the same buffoon that Terry had known back then. And she was going to find out the hard way.

She was going to fork over that footage one way or another.

sss

Penny arrived at the Chalk Mine. She couldn’t believe she made it here this fast while using a cane. She should have just drawn some form of transportation, or ask some zoner to help her get to the Chalk Mine quickly. Not only was she thirst, but she was feeling tired. It didn’t help that her leg was bothering her. She stopped for a few moments, leaning against the cane to support herself. She rode out the pain first before she started to hobble over towards the cave entrance.

She didn’t see any sign of Biclops yet. That didn’t surprise her. He wasn’t always standing outside of the mine guarding it. Sometimes, he’d spend some time inside. He was just as effective guarding this place inside and outside. He was a large zoner after all, larger than most in the immediate area. Only the really brave or the really stupid would come here. Well that and those he considers friends, like herself.

She stood outside of the cave entrance. She didn’t have to wait there for very long. She could feel the ground shaking, and soon the giant she knew so well was coming towards her. She backed away slowly so she wouldn’t accidentally get crushed to him. He was singing and whistling and probably wasn’t paying attention to what was in front of him. But it didn’t take the giant long to know that he had a visitor. He stared down at Penny and looked pleasantly surprised to see her.

“Penny Sanchez!” Biclops said, a wide smile on his face. “What brings you here?”

“I-It’s...uh...” Penny said solemnly, looking towards the ground. Biclops immediately realized something was wrong and he dropped his happy persona. He took a step towards her and looked at he with wide, concerned eyes. “It’s Rudy...”

Biclops’s eyes went big. “Rudy Tabootie is in trouble?”

Penny nodded her head. “Yeah.”

“What’s wrong with him?” The giant asked.

“Well it’s kind of along story, but I’ll try to condense it down the best I can.” Penny said. She took in a deep breath and began to relay the information to the giant. “To start off, there are now three black chalk users loose in ChalkZone.” This prompted a gasp of horror from the giant. “Yeah, my thoughts exactly. They somehow regained their memories and they attacked us.”

“Is that why your leg is damaged?” Biclops said, pointing a finger at Penny’s damaged leg, which was still wrapped tightly in bandages.

Penny nodded her head. “Yeah, that’s exactly why. They almost broke it. And Rudy nearly lost an eye.” She paused as she remembered how she felt when she first saw his eye like that. It was a horrible sensation. She had such a strong pang. She had almost thought he went blind in that eye. “But the most bizarre, and terrifying thing that happened to him was... well, he was fighting against Jenny...” She paused and noted Biclops’s face paling. “Yeah, she regained her memories. Rudy was fighting her and he said that she did something to the magic chalk that caused it to absorb into his skin.”

“Into his skin...?” Biclops asked.

Penny nodded her head to confirm this. “Yeah.” She grimaced as the recent events played through her head. “And he has fallen ill. The effects didn’t really show until a couple days after the incident. He almost passed out at home, and at school, he collapsed on the ground.” She took a couple steps towards the giant. “Have you...heard of this happening before?”

Biclops stared at her. At first, he was silent. He looked like he was in deep thought. He remained like this for a while. Penny eagerly waited for him to answer. Then Biclops opened his mouth to reply, what he said sent ice through Penny’s veins.

“Yes. There was at least one case. They..didn’t make it.”

Chapter Text

If Penny could see her own face right now, it was probably paler than a ghost. Biclops’s words did little to comfort her. They filled her with horror and dread. Now, more than ever, she feared for Rudy’s safety. If the previous human to get infected with a chalk disease...died...

Her mind suddenly flashed with images of Rudy’s collapse at the school, the fever he got at home. It was frightening before, but now it was really scary. If the last person how had this disease or something similar died, does this mean that there was no kind of treatment available? And if there was, is it too late to do anything about it? And now Rudy was stuck in that hospital for who knows how long. She was certain that the doctors would try to keep him there longer as they were dealing with an ‘unknown disease’. And in the end, they might make things worse, despite how well meaning they were.

She stared at Biclops, her eyes wide with horror as she did her best to digest the information she got. The words ‘They didn’t make it’ rang through her mind. She kept thinking back to Rudy and then trying to imagine this unknown artist. Horrible images of them laying on the ground, dead or coughing up blood or writhing in pain. They were uncomfortable images and she couldn’t get them to leave her head. There had to be something she could do to stop this. Anything.

Every disease had some kind of cure, didn’t it? Every disease had something that could be used to treat it. This disease couldn’t be any different, could it? Maybe they found something that could help and they just couldn’t reach it in time. Maybe this artist was doing better for a short while before relapsing or getting into another accident they couldn’t avoid due to damage from the disease. This disease just...couldn’t be completely untreatable, could it?

“They...they...” Penny said, finally finding her voice. “...they didn’t make it?” The giant nodded his head in confirmation. “Wh-What do you mean?”

“What do you mean by that?” Biclops tilted his massive head to the side. He raised up his hand in gesture. “Just what I said. They didn’t make it.” He looked pretty uneasy talking about this. Penny could see it in his large vertical eyes. “I don’t remember if the artist was a boy or a girl. It was utter chaos back then and I only heard it in passing.”

Penny felt her hope start to dwindle. Biclops had only heard of it? That was not good news. That meant he might not be able to provide as much information as she thought. It was still better than nothing, but it certainly was very encouraging. She might have had better luck with Barney. But who knows where that centipede was now? And there was no guarantee she’d find him in time to save Rudy. Whatever information Biclops had, that was the best she could go off of for now.

“What happened?” Penny asked, steadying herself on her cane. “What do you recall?”

“Well as I said, I didn’t witness it myself. There was a lot going on, as I believe you can imagine. I remember overhearing a couple of zoners talking about it. Apparently one of the white chalk artists had gotten very sick not long after a recent battle with the black chalk artists. They never said how long all of this was going on. But from what I do remember, the artist was wearing some type of green chalk...a chartreuse shade specifically, that helped them feel better. A sort of healing chalk, but it only works on a small scale and did little more than just ease pain mostly. For a time, the artist felt better, until they suddenly got worse.”

Penny’s heart clenched at this. “How much worse...?”

Biclops bit his lip. He looked down at Penny somewhat nervously. “From what the zoners said...a lot worse. The green chalk only made it seem like they were doing better, and it did heal some smaller wounds. They never said exactly what caused it, but something about whatever disease the artist head eventually killed them. It was doing...something else to them that no zoner was aware of that ultimately led to their demise.”

“And...you have no idea what it is?” Penny stared at him with wide eyes.

Biclops shook his head. “I’m afraid not, Penny. No zoner or artist were able to see the kid’s body to see what happened to them. The only thing we know for certain is that, whatever killed the artist, it hadn’t been noticeable. It had to have been something subtle enough that, by the time anything was detected, it was too late.” Biclops paused momentarily for breaht. “I do wish I could have brought you better news.” He furrowed his eyebrows in concern. “And now that Rudy Tabootie may have this very same disease...”

“I...I hope there’s something that could be done...” Penny felt a few tears tug at her eyes. “I..I don’t want to lose him...”

“I know you don’t. I...think you’ll be able to come up with something.” Biclops attempted to cheer Penny up. “If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you never give up.”

Penny took a finger and pressed it against her eye, rubbing away the small hint of a tear that formed. “Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t plan on giving up. It just...” She looked left and right. “..It just feels so hopeless, you know? Rudy has some disease that the only other artist who seemed to have it died from it. And there might be no cure for it. That doesn’t do much for encouragement.”

Biclops nodded his head. “Quite true. But there might be a way. The green chalk was a good try. That might be your friend’s only chance of at least extending his life span...” He grimaced at what he said. “Sorry if that sounds so dark to you. Anyway, the green chalk would help him survive longer, if it’s the same chalk disease.”

Penny realized she didn’t know how to tell if it was the same disease or not, because she never asked for the symptoms of the one Biclops had heard of. Since he had only heard it in passing, would he know? Would he have any idea on what were the tell tale symptoms? Well there was only one way to find otu.

“How would I know if Rudy has this same disease or not?” Penny asked. “Is there a way?”

Biclops paused for a moment, thinking to himself. He tapped his chin thoughtfully, his eyes narrowed as he was sorting through his thoughts. Penny waited patiently for him to reply. Once he seemed to remember something, he turned to Penny and nodded his large head once.

“Yeah there is.” Biclops said. “One thing the zoners said about this disease is that, even before the green chalk was used, it tended to flucuate.”

“Flucuate? What do you mean?” Penny was confused.

“The disease had a habit of ‘going away’ for a time. The initial symptoms actually appear the same day, so why Rudy didn’t, I wasn’t sure, but...”

“Oh wait they did!” Penny cried out, interrupting Biclops. Realizing what she did, she shrank back a little and gave a nervous smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to burst out like that. But I remember now. Rudy did have a bit of a fever not long after he got back. The collapse at school today and everything that’s happened and..”

Biclops raised his hand. “You don’t need to explain. We all make mistakes.” He lowered his hand. His eyes narrowed a little in concern. “So it seems he really does have the same disease. This isn’t good. We need to get him to a ChalkZone hospital stat.”

“But the doctors won’t let him leave.” Penny said sadly. “They want to keep him for observation.”

“Rudy should seem like he’s doing better sometime soon. Maybe tomorrow or the day after. There’s still some time to help him.” Biclops said, trying his best to encourage Penny. “As soon as the doctors say he’s getting better, try to have them release him. Get him into ChalkZone as soon as possible. He will need to stay here for a while.”

“For how long?” Penny asked.

“However long it takes. We need to know more about this disease. Not just for Rudy’s sake, but for the sake of any future artist that is infected with it.” Biclops explained. “The only chance Rudy has for a full recovery is himself. Whatever his going on inside, zoner doctors can try to understand it and maybe we can finally figure out a cure for it.”

Penny felt her heart sink. It didn’t really surprise her there was no cure. After all, this disease seemed alien to even the zoners. It wasn’t like a case of a familiar chalk disease somehow tranferring to humans. If it were that simple, the zoners would know what was wrong and try to find someway to deal with that. But the disease Rudy and this unknown artist had, it was something completely different and new. Its properties were not like any other disease they dealt with before.

Still, hearing that there was no cure didn’t do much for her spirit. It was good that there was something that could help Rudy a little and buy him time. But that, too, also caused her heart to clench. The way Biclops said it, it made it sound like Rudy only had a few days left to live without that green chalk, or that he at least believed that’s all the time he had left. The fact that Biclops didn’t even have any idea how long the artist lasted before they perished was unsettling to think about. That meant that she could have much less time than she thought to help Rudy.

Yet she wasn’t about to give up. If the green chalk would aid Rudy and help alleviate some of the pain, and if staying in ChalkZone in addition would help expand his life long enough for a potential cure to be found, she’d be all for it. Rudy was her best friend. She wasn’t about to let him suffer. Maybe she could help, too. She knew a thing or two about medicine and health that she learned from her mother. She was no professional like her mom was, but she had gotten better over the years. She could help to treat him.

“I’ll try my best to get him here as soon as I can.” Penny said, nodding her head. Biclops looked happy about this. Penny would have left now to go inform her mom and the others about what they could do. But there was one thing she needed to know. “Where can I find the green chalk?”

“Not in my Chalk Mine.” Biclops said with regret. “It used to be here, but it was destroyed.”

“By whom?” Penny asked.

Biclops hesitated, then he said, “....me.”

Penny gasped in horror and she took a step back. She stared at the giant in disbelief. “You...did what?”

Biclops waved his hands defensively in front of him. “I didn’t want to! Believe me, I had no intentions on doing it!” He sighed and lowered his gaze. “But Mr. Cosmo made me destroy the chartreuse chalk.” Penny stared at him in shock. Her eyes held an unspoken question, and he got it quickly. He held his hands at his sides. “He was going to spray me with water if I didn’t comply.” He lowered his gaze. “He didn’t let me go until all of that type of green chalk was gone.”

Penny stared at Biclops sympathetically. How horrible it must have been to have someone like Cosmo as his creator. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to be forced to work with that monster. She wondered how long Biclops was his slave until he had enough and switched sides. She presumed not very long, if Cosmo was so quick to dismiss him as a ‘failure’.

“There is one other place that this type of chalk grows. I read about it in a book once. I believe the location is called Moonlit Gardens. According to rumor, some chartreuse chalk still grows there.” Biclops said. “I never hinted of its existence to Cosmo or any of his comrades. I knew that, if he wanted it to be destroyed, it couldn’t be for any good reason. I don’t think he and the others ever found out.”

“And hopefully it’ll stay that way.” Penny said, her eyes narrowing. With a renewed sense of determination, she stared at Biclops and said, “Where do I find Moonlit Gardens?”

At this, Biclops shrugged. “I don’t remember.”

Penny stared at him in shock. “You...don’t remember?”

“I didn’t have the book for long. I was just borrowing it from a library.” Biclops pointed at Penny. “If you go to the library in ChalkZone City, you will find the book..if it wasn’t stolen or taken out or anything. The book should tell you where Moonlit Gardens is.”

That came as a relief to Penny. She almost thought she would have to go to every zoner and quiz them on Moonlit Gardens’s location. If it turned out to be a really obscure place, then she would have wasted a lot of time trying to find it. If this book had the location, that would save her a lot of trouble. She knows what library Biclops was referring to. She would head down there as soon as possible and get it. She hoped that no other zoner checked it out yet.

She glanced down at the time. Unfortunately, it had to wait. She promised her mother she’d be back home around this time. She didn’t want her mom to worry, and she could always go back into ChalkZone to get the book the same night, couldn’t she? She wouldn’t be gone long, plus she wanted to know if Rudy was doing any better. Hopefully he was and they could get him into ChalkZone tonight. If not, she prayed he would be okay tomorrow.

“Thanks for the information, Biclops!” Penny said, smiling at the giant. “I really appreciate it! I got to get going now. Bye!”

Biclops waved his large hand. “You’re welcome! See you later, Penny! I hope everything goes over well!”

With that, Penny walked away from the Chalk Mine and started to head back home.

sss

Biclops was unnerved by what Penny had said. As he watched her leave, his head filled with uncomfortable thoughts. The fact that Rudy had gotten sick, and by the same disease that killed that artist years ago, it was a disturbing thought. He hoped that they would be able to find something to help him and fast. He had no idea how long Rudy had. He wished he had gotten more information from those zoners when he had a chance. Now it was too late because those zoners were killed. He remembered their screams...

He shook his head, not wanting to think about it. He turned and started to head back towards his cave. There was some rotten chalk he had to clean out. It was a bit early for spring cleaning, but it never heard to get a head start. It would also do him good to clear his mind a little. Thinking too much of the horrible things that happened when Cosmo was around was a sure fire way to stress him out and clog up his ability to think straight. Cosmo was gone, but with this new threat roaming around, he coudn’t afford to allow himself to get too worked up.

It was scary that these three artists all regained their memories. He still wasn’t entirely sure how Cosmo managed to do it. Biclops had thought that his amnesia-inducing powers were full proof. Perhaps Cosmo made an error with him when he was created and the amnesia power didn’t work as well as he hoped it would. That was a double edged sword. On the one hand, Cosmo controlling information like he wanted wouldn’t have worked out too well if memories could be restored eventually. But on the other, it means that all the black chalk users who survived the war could get their memories back. And there was a lot more than just Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir.

Biclops headed down the tunnel leading into the cave. He walked down until he reached a fork where multiple tunnels were. He stopped for a moment and looked around. It was hard to believe that, three years ago, the Chalk Mine was almost destroyed with real world water. There had been so much destruction of the place and the white chalk was nearly destroyed. Luckily plenty of it survived so more could grow in its place. Still, it was scary that those zoners almost succeeded in destroying all but the black and red chalk.

It did seem odd that Cosmo would leave the red chalk around. Then again, he might have wanted Rudy to be forced to choose between two evils. He could use the red chalk, which could control him physically. Or he could choose the black chalk, which could manipulate him mentally. Both were unpleasant and both had their own dire consequences. In the end, the black chalk was the more dangerous of the two.

Still, both chalks were too dangerous to use. It was just like Cosmo to back Rudy into a corner like that, forcing him to choose between either a chalk that makes evil drawings or a chalk that would make him evil. Biclops was glad that some white chalk was found and Cosmo was defeated. Granted, it was a horrific sight when Cosmo was crushed to death. But at least he won’t be able to cause anymore trouble. Cosmo had caused a lot of pain and misery. And it seemed like karma finally caught up with him. It had taken him a while to fully realize he was gone. After so many years of fearing him, it was hard to believe when he and Rudy witnessed his death, and realized that he was gone, forever this time.

He turned to the left and headed down that way. He made his way towards where his large wheelbarrow was stored. Then after that, he’d go to where the rotten chalk was located. He needed to get it out as soon as possible. If he didn’t, new chalk wouldn’t be able to grew in its place and there’d be no more usable magic chalk. Although it wasn’t spring cleaning yet, he was certain that some of the chalk had gone rotten by now.

He soon came to a large door. He grabbed his key and unlocked it. He went inside. He was now in a small room. Well small by his standards. The room was filled with different supplies he used to keep the Chalk Mine clean. On both walls, there were tall shelves filled with different things. Soap, buckets, mops, cloths, just about everything he needed to keep his cave clean. It seemed a little silly, since it was a cave and all. But white magic chalk required a clean environment to grow. Even prolonged presence with rotten chalk could slow down or stop growth altogether. That was why other types of chalk could form elsewhere; they didn’t have the same requirements as white chalk. But white chalk could only grow in here.

He went over to where the large wheelbarrow was. He brushed the dust off of it. Then he went around behind it and grabbed the handlebars. It was time to get to work. He started to push the wheelbarrow forward. He didn’t get that far when the door suddenly shut on him. The loud slam startled the giant and he stumbled back a little. He stared at the closed door curiously, wondering how that could have happened. Must have been the wind or something.

He narrowed his eyes. No, it couldn’t be the wind. This part of the cave was too far down to be affected by wind. The only way the door could have shut was if someone else was in the cave. He growled softly. Intruders...just what he needed. He let go of the wheel barrow and went over towards the door. He grabbed the handle and tried to turn it. It wouldn’t budge. Just great. The intruder jammed the lock. He would have to tear the door down to get out.

He needed a running start first. He walked to the back of the room. He moved the wheel barrow away so he would have more room. Once he got to the back part of the wall, he put his hands against it and took in a deep breath. He mustered up as much strength as he could, and then he started to run towards the door, his feet pounding the ground and sending vibrations through the walls. The room shook heavily, objects wobbled. He glared at the door and prepared to slam into it.

But he didn’t get that far. All of a sudden, a row of electrical bars shot out of nowhere. Biclops’s eyes widened in horror and he skidded to a stop, almost crashing into the bars. He stared at them and took a few steps back. His body shook as he tried to comprehend what happened. He looked around the room. There were no signs of hookups anywhere, nothing appeared to be altered. How did these electric bars get here? There weren’t that many. He counted. About four. But they were thick and he was too large to fit through. Hearing the sparkle of electricity told him that they were of very high voltage. If he dared to touch them...

Then he heard a blip sound and the electric bars multiplied. Soon there were at his sides as well as his back. Then electric bars shot above him, preventing him from raising his hands up too high. He was trapped in an electrical cage. It was the right size for him, but left little room for him to move around. The buzz of electricity filled his ears, forcing him to cover them and try to drown out the sound.

There was a cold laughter. His eyes bulged wide. He looked around, trying to find the source of that voice. The way she was laughing, there was only one person it could be. And when the door was unlocked and opened up, who he saw was exactly who Biclops was expecting.

“Hello, dear Cyclops...” Jenny said. She paused and stared at his stunned and angered face. “Oh I’m sorry.” She said in a mocking voice. “I meant Biclops. It has been...a long time..”

“Not long enough...” Biclops said, glaring at her.

“Quite.” Jenny said, the smile never fading from her face. She gave Biclops a knowing glance. “You always were such a softie.. Even when you obeyed Cosmo’s orders.”

Biclops narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Of course this vile woman had to remind him of that. He took a step back. “What do you want?”

“I want a lot of things. But I’m sure you mean what I want now.” Jenny said. Biclops growled at her. Jenny chuckled. “I’ll tell you what I want right now.” She moved towards the electric cage. She eyed it up and down. “I do love the way this electric cage looks.” She tilted her head to the side and gave him a sideways glance. “Don’t you think?”

“Let me out of here.” Biclops demanded.

“You are in no position to tell me what to do.” Jenny said, waggling her finger like a parent scolding a child. She then rested her hand at her side and said, “Now..that thing I want from you is...” She took a few steps closer to the cage. She looked up at him, her arms folded behind her back. “Information...and your imprisonment.”

Biclops widened his eyes. “You intend on keeping me here? For how long?”

“However long it takes.” Jenny sneered. “And nobody...” She shook her head slowly from side to side. “...will know you’re in here. You’re already a loner in ChalkZone. You spend most of your time in here, guarding the mine. And the only one who ever comes here usually is Rudy, maybe Penny and Snap I’m sure. Point is, not many come here. So for anyone to realize that you were missing, it would take a long time, and by then...well...” Her smile darkened. “It might be too late.”

Biclops clenched his shaking fist tightly, doing his best to hide his fear. “What information do you want and what makes you think I will just hand it over? I could use that power Cosmo gave me to...”

“Oh I don’t think so.” Jenny said, chuckling lightly. “You see, if you dare try to use that power on me, and I walk out of here not remembering what I was doing, my comrades are to blow this entire cave up.” She stared at Biclops in the eyes. “With you in it.”

Biclops was horrified by this. Jenny had always been such a nasty character and he knew she was fully capable of rigging things up without anyone noticing. The Solar Pillars were a testament to that. But it was still shocking and outright terrifying for him that he was trapped in here with no way out and no one would find him before it was too late. This vile witch was going to keep him in here until he starved and dehydrated to death.

He knew that had to be part of her plan. He knew things about Cosmo that Rudy would find valuable, and this woman knew it. So she was doing whatever she could to prevent him from delivering said information. She truly was cunning. He felt stupid and wished he had taken better precautions when Rudy started talking about Jenny. He should have done something like have Rudy place hidden cameras in the Chalk Mine when he had the chance.

Now here he was, trapped in the Chalk Mine with no way out. And there was Jenny, sneering at him, knowing full well that she won this ‘round’. He was terrified of her, just as much as he was of Cosmo. But he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of him being afraid. He took a step forward, fist clenched tightly still. He was careful not to get too close so he wouldn’t electrocute himself.

“Now about that information... There’s some things I want to know. And you are going to tell me, otherwise not only is this place going to be blown up and you destroyed, but after you die, my comrades and I will begin to erase all of ChalkZone.” Biclops’s eyes widened in horror at that. Jenny smirked. “Because, after all, without the magic chalk, this world is useless.”

“You’re insane!” Biclops cried.

“And you are a coward.” Jenny said coldly. Biclops didn’t respond to that. What could he say? Not like she’d listen. He watched as she raised a hand up and point a finger directly at him. “The first thing I want you to do is show me exactly how Cosmo died. I know you witnessed it. Show me.” Biclops hesitated. “Show me you worthless piece of crap! Otherwise I will destroy ChalkZone!”

Biclops’s body was shaking. He could see the intent in Jenny’s eyes. She was not bluffing. Even though it wouldn’t do her so well in the long run, it was very clear she would resort to that if she had to. And even if she was bluffing, could he really take that chance? Could he really ignore the warning and risk ChalkZone getting destroyed? No, he couldn’t. He couldn’t let the millions of zoners die...he just couldn’t do that.

Lowering his head in defeat, he positioned himself so that Jenny could see just fine. He grabbed the side of his hair and pulled, activating his memory recall ability. His large eye went staticy and he opened it, allowing Jenny to bear witness to the events that took place when Rudy and Cosmo were fighting.

Chapter Text

Being a world made of chalk, where everything in the world had been drawn and erased via chalkboard, ChalkZone has had its fair share of bizarre cases and unusual phenomenon. There was almost nothing this world hadn’t seen at least once before over the countless years it has been around. About any absurd idea could be brought up and chances are, ChalkZone had experienced it before.

So when the doctors of the ChalkZone hospital were given a call about an unusual but very serious case, they thought nothing of it. To them, new and unusual cases were something of a norm. Not that random new conditions appeared all the time and not that they didn’t take them seriously. They did. It was just that, after all they had seen, nothing could really surprise them anymore. Or so they thought. They had believed they had seen every bizarre thing possible.

They were proven wrong when they finally saw their patient. Never before had they seen a human contract a chalk disease. Never before had a human been admitted to a ChalkZone hospital. This alone had sent shockwaves through the hospital staff. But it was made worse when they found out the patient was none other than Rudy Tabootie, the Great Creator.

Urgency became the dominant aura in the hospital as selected doctors rushed Rudy down the hallway. The boy was laying on a stretcher. He was awake and looking around the best he could. The doctors had taken precautions and strapped him down. His face was reddened from what was clearly a fever and his eyes were unfocused. It was clear that, if allowed to walk or not secured down, he would stumble over. His sense of balance would be impaired, making it impossible for him to walk on his own.

Penny watched as the zoner doctors took Rudy down the hallway. She couldn’t follow. She had to stay behind in the waiting room with Rudy’s parents, Tilly, Sophie, and Snap. Her mother, however, being a real world doctor, was allowed to come with the zoners. They felt her knowledge would be useful and it helped that she brought some real world tools that they could use since Rudy’s blood would damage anything they tried to use.

Penny stood there, watching as her mom, Rudy, and the doctors disappeared, turning a corner and heading down elsewhere, probably do an ER room. She turned and looked at the others. They all looked back at her with sympathy and worried expressions. As much as she didn’t want to be sitting around here waiting, it wasn’t like she really had a choice in the matter. Letting out a soft sigh, she gave one last look at the hallway Rudy disappeared down and headed back towards the others. She took a seat next to Snap and rested her head on her hands. She thought about the events that had led them here.

Sophie and Snap had been released from the hospital. They still needed their bandages changed, which her mom was happy to do for them. They were in some pain still, but that was easily manageable with painkillers. They were both happy to be able to be up and walking around on their own and not need assistance as much. A full recovery was still sometime away, but they were still much better off than they had been before.

Rudy ended up staying two nights in the real world hospital, much to everyone’s dismay. Penny had hoped that Rudy would be released yesterday. His condition did not look promising. His fever had gotten a little higher and he still hadn’t woken up. She had tried a few times, vain, to convince the zoner doctors to release Rudy. That, of course, didn’t work. She recalled what Biclops said and decided to wait until he started getting noticeably better. She wasn’t sure how long it would be before the disease would go into a ‘silent mode’. She could only hope it wasn’t too long.

Luckily it wasn’t. Penny would have hoped they could get him out of the hospital sooner, but at least he was out now. The doctors noted a steady rate of improvement and Rudy was awake and more responsive. It was only at this time that Rudy’s parents were able to convince the real world doctors to let Rudy come home with them. The real world doctors wanted a follow up to see how Rudy was doing. Exactly how this would be dealt with, they weren’t sure yet. But they’d think of something later.

After Rudy was released and they started to take him home, things went from bad to worse really quickly. It came as a shock to all of them. When the first ‘silent mode’ kicked in, it lasted a couple of days. This time was different. The ‘silent mode’ lasted maybe an hour at most. Not long after Rudy came home, he suddenly became very ill again. He collapsed on the ground, the fever having suddenly spiked up higher than it was before. He tried to get back on his feet but his sense of balance was destroyed and he only ended up wobbling around before he’d collapse again.

His sudden deterioration alarmed them and they rushed him into ChalkZone right away, not wasting a second. They were going to take him there anyway, but the fact that his ‘silent mode’ was over already and that his condition had taken a nose dive in a matter of less than an hour was truly scary and added a deeper level of urgency, making them move event faster to get him to a ChalkZone hospital.

The fact that the zoner doctors were horrified didn’t surprise Penny. They were confronted with an unusual and truly terrifying case. A human contracting a chalk disease was almost unheard of. Penny was still shaken up that the last human this happened to had passed away. She hoped that Rudy wouldn’t become the second case this happens to. The doctors promised that they would do whatever they could to stabilize Rudy, and Mrs. Sanchez had gone with them to offer help, given she has more experience looking after humans than they did.

All Penny could do now was wait with the others and hope for the best. Even though Rudy was now somewhere where he could get more proper help, that didn’t guarantee things were looking up. The doctors here still might not find anything, or if they did, the cure would be useless because it might involve swallowing or being injected with it. She wasn’t sure what kind of cure there could be that didn’t involve swallowing or needles, but she was certain something like that existed.

Penny felt a hand on hers. She looked down and she saw Snap looking up at her with sad yet still hopeful eyes. “I’m sure he’ll be okay, Buckette. Rudy’s been in tough scrapes before.” He said in a gentle voice in a clear attempt to comfort her.

Penny didn’t reply. She stared at him for a few moments. Then she smiled at him. She was grateful for his condolenses and she tried to get herself to cheer up a little. Rudy was in a better place now than he was b efore. He had a better chance of getting the proper help here. But Snap’s words did little to comfort her for long, and soon she looked away, her smile gone. She really wanted to believe him. She just couldn’t bring herself to do so.

“I...I hope you’re right, Snap.” Penny said in a quiet voice. She stared off at the door again for a second, then turned her head towards the ground. “I hope you’re right.”

At this, Snap huddled closer to Penny. Noticing Penny’s expression, he put his arms around her and pressed his head against the side of her arm. She looked down at him again. He stared at her with a sympathetic expresssion, a small smile of reassurance on his face. Penny, slowly, smiled back. She lifted up her arm and slung it around Snap. She lowered her head and rested her chin on his head. He was grateful for his presence. He usually knew what to say to help cheer her up.

She didn’t say anything. She just held onto Snap, refusing to let go. Snap didn’t mind. He laid against her, at times pushing himself closer. He wanted to be physically close to her to comfort her and help her remain hopeful. She knew, deep down, Snap was right. Rudy had survived a lot the past few years. He had been tortured, along with her, by Draow and Bardot. They both managed to survive, him being the worst off of the two. He was a tough person and it would take a lot to take him down. He would make it. She had to believe that. She kept repeating it in her head.

He would make it.

“After this, I think we should go find that chartreuse chalk you said Biclops mentioned.” Snap said, cutting off the silence. Not looking up at Penny, he continued to speak, his expression now that of determination. “We can go to the library and get that book and travel to the Midnight Gardens to locate that chalk.”

“Snap,” Penny looked at him with concern. “Are you sure you can go? You’re still in pain.”

Snap nodded his head. “Of course I can! I can still walk just fine. I’ll be able to travel with you no problem. I won’t slow you down!” He said with a smile on his face.

“Slowing me down isn’t what concerned me the most.” Penny pressed Snap against her a little more firmly. “I don’t want you getting hurt again.”

“I’ll be fine, Penny. Trust me.” Snap said, that same look of determination on his face. “It’s going to take more than what those creepazoids did to me to keep me down for long!”

Penny couldn’t help but smile at Snap’s enthusiasm. Even though he was still in pain, he still wanted to come with her to the Moonlit Gardens, even though neither of them knew how safe or unsafe it was. There could be danger lurking around every corner there. There could be traps there waiting for them. They might be ambushed by the black chalk users. So much could go wrong. Yet here was Snap, willing to face all of that if it meant helping Rudy. She admired his courage. Snap was a selfless zoner, putting others’ needs ahead of his own. This was very obvious two years ago when Bardot and Draow kidnapped them.

Her thoughts wandered to how things had been at that time. It was not a pleasant memory. She hated thinking about it. She sometimes had nightmares about it. She could still feel the pain from the injuries she sustained there. The feel of Draow’s teeth on her leg, twisting it until it broke... It still haunted her to this day. Sometimes her leg still had waves of pain rush through it. Though not as intense as before, it still brought her back to that moment. Sometimes she would then close her eyes and see that teal-eyed monster staring back at her, drool dripping from his fangs.

Snap had saved her and Rudy. He had been the worst injured out of all of them. He had been indirectly and directly tortured both physically and mentally. He had been on his last leg when he found them. He was so weak, so badly hurt, and yet he still fought for them. Despite how badly ripped apart he was by Draow and Bardot, not only did he win, but he beat the odds and he survived. He went through all that for them. Though he was afraid of dying, he still stepped up to the plate to save them, because losing them was more frightening to him than losing his own life.

“Can I come with?” Sophie asked. She attempted to go up to Penny and Snap, but her mother held her back. She struggled a little. “Mom!”

“No, you can’t go with them.” Tilly said with a stern voice.

“Why not? I’m feeling fine!” Sophie said before she winced in pain.

Tilly shook her head, narrowing her eyes at her daughter. “No, you’re not. You’re still hurt, and after what those monsters did to you, I am not going to risk you getting hurt. You are going to stay out of ChalkZone until this whole thing blows over. As long as those kidnappers are roaming loose in that world, I don’t want you setting a foot in it.”

“But...” Sophie looked at her mom with wide, determined eyes. She really did not want to be cut off from ChalkZone. “Snap is hurt, too, and he can go...”

Tilly sighed. “That’s because he lives in ChalkZone.”

Sophie asked, “And what about Penny?”

“She isn’t my child. I’m not going to order her to stay out of ChalkZone.” Tilly said. “That is up to her mother.”

Penny looked at Sophie sympathetically. The girl was looking left and right, the movement of her eyes suggesting she was really trying to figure out some way she could come with. Sophie loved going into ChalkZone and the idea of being cut off from it must be hard for her. She understood Tilly’s intentions, though. Sophie had been badly hurt by these people and now they were roaming around ChalkZone, doing who knows what to it. If they caught Sophie again, they might do much worse.

Penny wouldn’t want Sophie to come with. Her mother was right. She was still in pain and the bad guys could use that to their advantage. She might accidentally slow them down as she wasn’t used to running all around ChalkZone like they were. She wasn’t as used to combat. And she was the worst hurt of the two. She didn’t want to risk her getting injured again. She didn’t want her getting kidnapped a second time. She agreed with her mother. It was best that she stayed here. She just hoped that Sophie would come to understand that it is for her own good.

“Your mother is right, dear.” Mr. Tabootie said, glancing down at his eleven year old niece. “It’s too dangerous for you to go to ChalkZone now.”

“But...” Sophie started to protest.

“Now now,” Mrs. Tabootie spoke up. “You’ll be able to go back at some point. This isn’t a permanent ban. We just don’t want you getting hurt again.”

“I won’t!” Sophie cried. She looked over at Penny and Snap, her eyes wide. “I can come with you..can’t I?”

Penny flinched at this. The way Sophie sounded when she said that, the look in her eyes, Penny could feel a pang in her stomach. Sophie was counting her and Snap to back her up. Penny hated to shatter this, but she wasn’t about to lie.

“I’m sorry...” Penny said. Sophie’s eyes widened slightly. “But I agree with your folks. With Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek roaming around, it’s too much of a risk to let you enter ChalkZone at this time.”

“Yeah.” Snap said, nodding his head. He gave a reassuring smile at Sophie, pointing his hand in her direction. “But don’t worry! We’ll be able to take care of this problem soon, and before you know it, we’ll be back in ChalkZone, playing some nice games there and exploriating! Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

Sophie, disappointed, nodded her head and spoke in a soft voice. “I guess so...”

Tilly pulled her daughter close. “Oh I know you’re not happy, honey.” She gently rubbed her back. “You’ll be able to go back soon. You’ll see.”

“Okay.” Sophie said quietly.

Just then, the door opened up. They all turned to see one of the doctors, an anthro cheetah named Dr. Raiden, walking towards them, holding a clipboard. He had a forelorn look on his face, causing fear and worry to rise in everyone’s hearts. They all turned to face him and looked at him expectantly. Dr. Raiden positioned himself in front of Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie.

He glanced down at them with his amber eyes. “You are the boy’s parents?” He asked in a soft tone. They gave a nod of the head. Dr. Raiden bit his lip and he glanced at the clipboard. “Your son is in critical condition.” Everyone gasped in horror at this. “We are doing what we can to keep him stabilized. But we don’t know how long we can keep it up.”

“What’s going on with him?” Penny asked, her voice filled with dread.

“How bad off is he?” Mrs. Tabootie spoke up, her voice shaky.

Dr. Raiden’s ears lowered and he shook his head. “Not good. His fever has gotten worse and he isn’t responding to any treatment that well. Dr. Sanchez has been a great help. If it weren’t for her and that equipment she brought, Rudy may have passed away from the fever by now.”

Penny felt her heart clench, beating faster. She took in a few quick breaths, letting reality sink in. Rudy had been so close to death... She couldn’t believe it. She imagined her face must have paled a little at that. She looked at the others. She could see how horrified and worried the others were. His parents were staring in horror, shaking. His aunt and cousin were clearly frightened. Snap had his hands to his mouth, staring with huge eyes.

“We are doing what we can to keep his fever down. That is our biggest concern. It doesn’t seem like his body is getting damaged, although the high white blood cell count is of concern. We have to give him some medication to kill off some of the white blood cells so that his tissue can get the nutrients they need. But what is currently threatening to kill him is that fever. It keeps rising and the methods we are using now are just barely keeping it at bay. He was going to need a more affective treatment stat.”

Penny couldn’t believe it. A deadly fever that was raging out of control... This was an unpleasant way to die. She..she couldn’t allow it to happen. She had to find that green chalk and fast. It might not completely fix the problem, as much as she had hoped it would, but it would help Rudy feel a little better and bide him some time.

And hopefully the doctors can figure out what’s wrong with Rudy. If they could find out what’s causing the fever when there’s no infection, they could then devise a way to help him. Without knowing what actions the crumbled chalk took, they wouldn’t be able to treat him affectively. She hoped that, with extra time given to them, the zoner doctors can check his blood and see what’s going on with him.

“Did you check his blood?” Tilly asked in an apprehensive voice. “Did you find anything?”

Dr. Raiden swiveled his head towards her. “We took some blood samples and they are being looked at now. The results won’t be back for a while.” He paused, narrowing his eyes for a bit. He said, “But one result did come back already.” They all looked at him expectantly. “It was...” He rubbed the back of his head, looking left and right. He appeared to be confused, like he had no idea how to explain what they found. “..very...unusual...”

Penny didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean?”

“Unusual how?” Snap asked, a tinge of fear to his voice.

“What’s wrong with our boy?” Mr. Tabootie put his arm around his wife in an attempt to comfort her. “Is it manageable?”

Dr. Raiden at first was quiet. He looked at everyone in the room, wincing at their looks of fear, confusion, and concern. He clenched his teeth, his fangs barely visible against his lip. His ears flattened against his face again. He looked down at his clipboard and flipped through it. He stopped at one particular page and skimmed through it, his pupils moving rapidly from side to side. When he finished, he lowered his head and gazed at everyone at the room again. The look in his eyes told them all what he was about to say next was nothing good.

“When we checked a small sample of blood to see how high his white blood cell count was, we noticed that the structure was..a little different.” Dr. Raiden said.

Everyone blinked at him, looking confused. They didn’t understand why this was a concern.

“But Rudy is from the real world.” Snap pointed out. “Isn’t it normal that his blood isn’t exactly like ours?”

“Well yes, but that’s not what I meant.” Dr. Raiden explained. “You see, Dr. Sanchez is the one who noted it looked different, and she is from the real world, so she would know this sort of stuff.”

“And what did she find out?” Mr. Tabootie asked.

The cheetah doctor closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I...don’t know how to tell you this.” He looked over at Rudy’s parents. His eyes were filled with empathy. He clearly wanted to give them better news, but sometimes fate just won’t allow that. Penny felt her body tremble in anticipation. Just what had this doctor found out? “The boy’s DNA structure..it had been altered.”

“What?!” Everyone gasped in horror.

“It’s been...changed somehow. It’s not much. Very miniscule. But according to Dr. Sanchez, human blood isn’t supposed to have that kind of structure. The composition had been changed. How this will affect Rudy, we really don’t know. What we do know is that this is concerning and we will have to run more testing later, when Rudy is finally completely stabilized. Something is clearly wrong with his DNA structure.”

“Rudy..no...” Mrs. Tabootie held onto her husband.

Sophie said in a stammering voice, “I-Is he going...t-to..?”

The cheetah shook his head. “We don’t know if this change in his DNA is dangerous. It could just be a minor thing and have no consequences. Or, as my fellow doctors and I discussed, it might be what’s causing the spiked fever. It might be a new disease that attacks the structure of cells, causing them to break down and triggering an autoimmune response. But because the damage is done to the structure of cells themselves, the white blood cells have nothing to attack.”

Everyone was in shock. They had a hard time believing it. A disease that attacked the structure of cells? They hadn’t heard of such a thing before. Sure there were germs that attacked certain types of cells, even infecting them. But they hadn’t heard of one that did little more than just alter the DNA structure a little, enough to cause a reaction but subtle enough that the white cells can’t do anything to stop it. From the way the doctor described it, it seemed clear to them that Rudy’s blood was still functioning fine, so the chalk virus was somehow smart enough to be stealthy and spread in a way that the white blood cells, the body’s main defense, can’t fight back.

Matters were made worse considering that this is a chalk virus. It would not have the same type of signature as real world viruses. The body wouldn’t know how to respond to it. They might not even be able to destroy the chalk virus given its completely different structure from their real world counteparts. Penny knew all too well the horrors of diseases jumping species, and now Rudy was suffering from this. Just what was this horrid disease doing to him? And how were they going to stop it if oral and injection medicines would not work?

She wasn’t going to give up. No, she couldn’t give up. That would go completely against who she was. She’d keep trying to help Rudy, and she knew the others would as well. Even though it seemed hopeless, even the chartreuse chalk idea would just give them more time, they all wouldn’t give up on Rudy. There had to be a way to help him. There just had to. And she would do whatever it took to save him.

sss

“So...what’s what happened?” Tyreek asked, looking over at Jenny.

“That’s what the giant showed me, yes.” Jenny replied, her voice a tad dark. Her eyes were narrowed. “That is what happened to Mr. Cosmo.”

Ghadir hissed softly. “And the little brat still denies that he had anything to do with Mr. Cosmo’s death...” She took a bite of her food and swallowed loudly. Holding the piece of food and jabbing it in their direction, she said, “Killing Cosmo was bad enough, but to outright deny that is deplorable. I’d say we just finish the job now and...”

Tyreek shook his head. “No. The boy must suffer first.”

Jenny nodded in agreement. “And he is. That chalk disease I gave him, there’s no way he’ll survive it.” A nasty grin spread across her face. “The little urchin will be dead within three weeks. A month of he’s lucky to live a little longer.” She paused. Then she said, “And that’s with the chartreuse chalk. Without it, he’d be dead by now.”

Ghadir listened to this talk with a sense of anger and eagerness. She had been called in Jenny’s house for dinner and to discuss matters concerning Rudy and their plans. Ghadir, as well as Tyreek, had been interested to know what Cyclops, er..Biclops, had shown Jenny after she forced him to do it. Setting up that trap for him was pretty easy. It was just a matter of knowing when he left the cave and sneaking in to do what they needed. With magic chalk, it was fairly easy and the giant fell for it.

She had wanted to say and help interrogate the traitor, but Jenny wanted her and Tyreek to wait elsewhere for a signal she might make to start destroying the Chalk Mine. Ghadir wasn’t sure if she would have gone through with this or not since having no magic chalk meant that she and her comrades had no power over ChalkZone. They wouldn’t be as affective at getting what they wanted. It was probably just a bluff, and she placed her and Tyreek where they were to make it seem more believable to fool the giant.

Regardless, Jenny had gotten information from Biclops and left him alone. The giant was still trapped in the electric cage, unable to warn Rudy and his little friends of what was happening. He wouldn’t last very long without food or water and she guessed that he would die within a few days if no one found him. She smirked at the thought, licking her lips subconsciously. Jenny had promised her that she would get to eat Biclops after he expired. He was such a huge zoner...he would last for a long time. Ghadir couldn’t wait to sink her teeth into him.

It was hard to describe her fascination with chalk taste. She had this addiction for years, since she was a kid. It started off when she would do nothing more than lick the chalk dust from her fingers. She soon began to like it and started chewing on white chalk sticks. Her parents often had to buy more and more chalk because she would just eat them all so fast. There was just something about the texture and the taste that she liked. And ChalkZone, a whole world made of chalk, it was a fantasy come true for her.

She remembered the first time she killed a zoner for food. She was still a kid at the time. She had recently been blessed by the black chalk with extensive knowledge. She used this newfound knowledge to lure a small zoner into a trap in the deep parts of the Sunshine Forest, close to where the Solar Pillars were to be guilt. She had fun torturing the zoner, killing him as slowly as she could as she cut off pieces of chalk flesh and ate it right front of the zoner.

And that zoner was just one of many who became her meal. Others followed in his wake. True, she could go for easier prey, such as chalk food or a chalk plant. But for her, it wasn’t as much fun. She enjoyed the thrill of the hunt, luring unsuspecting zoners to their doom. She loved killing them off slowly, eating parts of them right in front of them. She loved to hear them scream. All of that filled her up with excitement and made it even more fun to eat them.

She wished she could have had a taste of Snap. Being that close to him made her lick her lips a few times, anticipating eating him. She wanted to at least tear off a piece of his arm or leg and eat it. The only reason she didn’t was because Jenny didn’t give the okay. Jenny was her leader and she called all the shots. She wasn’t allowed to eat any zoner until she gave the okay. After all, the zoner she might want to eat could still be of some use to them at some point.

But at least she was able to eat something now. The bird zoner they had interrogated before lasted a few days. She stored some of his parts in Jenny’s fridge. She was eating a piece of him now. One of his legs. She bit down on the leg and tore off another piece. The bird zoner’s screams she ripped his insides out was most amusing. She wished she had saved some of his organs to consume for tonight’s meeting, but oh well. This bird leg would do nicely. She continued gnawing and eating it.

“The next part of our revenge against Rudy will begin soon. We just have to get the pieces of the puzzle in place.” Jenny said. She walked away for a bit and then came back with a chessboard with pieces on it. She laid it down in front of Tyreek and Ghadir. She set up a few pieces, likely representing everyone involved in this. “Now watch closely.”

Ghadir never fully understood Jenny’s insistance on using a chessboard to explain some of their plans. Simply talking about them would be enough. But she dare not question her. Jenny was her superior. She always had been. She was Cosmo’s partner for a reason. And she was not in the mood to be of reminded of why.

“Rudy used to be here.” Jenny pointed to the king piece. “Then we were able to flush him out like this.” She began to make a few moves on the chessboard, indicating the capture of Sophie and Snap and then later, Rudy and Penny coming into ChalkZone. The pawn pieces representing Sophie and Snap were cast aside, captured, to indicate they served their purpose. Then Penny, represented by a bishop, was cornered with two pieces, a knight and a rook. That piece was removed, indicating her getting brutally beaten up. “Now we have Rudy here.”

Jenny now had the king placed in another corner, with two rooks and only one direction to go. Tyreek and Ghadir watched the board intently as Jenny made a few moves representing what they were going to do. She moved the king, representing the path Rudy was likely going to take, and soon the king was in the middle of the board, multiple pieces gone, representing different parts of the plan. Then she stopped and looked at her comrades.

“Our next move relies on the cooperation of our... ‘friend’..” Jenny’s grin broadened as she said this, prompting Tyreek and Ghadir to smirk back at her. “Biclops told me about the Moonlit Gardens, and how he had kept it a secret from Mr. Cosmo.” Jenny looked down at her board and moved a knight over into position. “He will be here. He will meet with Penny and Snap, both of whom I am sure will be there. And we...” She moved the bishop, the other knife, and then a queen over. “..will be there to..help out...”

Tyreek and Ghadir watched as Jenny moved the pieces some more, positioning them where she wanted them. Ghadir didn’t fully understand, but she got the gist of it. This was going to be one interesting plan, and it looked like it was going to work. She loved the way Jenny thought at times. She was just as cunning, if not more so, than Mr. Cosmo. If only he were still alive...

And now Rudy will be paying the price for what he did. Ghadir’s heart filled with happiness and anticipation at that. Yes, Rudy will pay dearly for what he’s done. He will not get away with murdering Mr. Cosmo.

“And so long as our ‘friend’ makes his move...” Jenny pushed the pieces around until the king, representing Rudy, had nowhere to go. A nasty grin plastered over the black chalk users’ faces. “Checkmate.”

Chapter Text

Penny was sitting down on her bed. She looked at her bandages that her mother recently changed. It still hurt a little whenever her mom treated her injuries. Some areas were still very sore, especially on her leg. Her mom miscalculated the recovery time of her leg. She had hoped that the leg would be better by this time, but the damage was more severe than she initially thought. This meant that Penny was stuck using the can for a longer period of time.

Oh well, not much she can do about it now. At least she can still walk. It could have been a lot worse. She looked over to see how Snap was doing. He was sitting on the other side of her bed wearing just his shorts. He also needed his bandages changed. Like her, he didn’t like this part as his wounds were still pretty sore. The burns still hurt him even now. The mere act of touching them often made him cringe, though he tried his best to hold still as her mom went through with changing his bandages.

Like with her, Mrs. Sanchez had washed Snap’s injuries first with warm water after removing the bandages carefully. She applied some ointment to the damaged areas carefully, being as gentle as she could. She then started to rebandange the injuries. Snap did his best to hold still. The rebandaging hurt him a little due to the sensitive skin, but he was doing a good job with holding still.

Mrs. Sanchez cast a glance over at her daughter. “Are you sure you want to go now?” She asked, holding Snap’s body carefully as she wrapped the bandages around him.

Penny nodded her head. “We don’t have much time. Snap and I need to get into ChalkZone quickly.” She frowned and lowered her gaze. “Rudy is running out of time.”

“I know dear, but...” Mrs. Sanchez bit her lip. “...shouldn’t you come up with a plan first?”

“Plan?” Penny asked, confused.

Mrs. Sanchez nodded her head. She continued bandaging up Snap as she spoke. “Yes. Just in case the library doesn’t have the book you want.. Where would you go from here? You need a game plan, even for something as ‘simple’ as this. If this library doesn’t have the book, then you need another plan you can fall back on.”

Penny realized her mother was right. She hadn’t thought of what she’d do if they couldn’t find the book Biclops had told her about. She didn’t even know the title of it as she had forgotten to ask for the title. But it couldn’t be that hard to find, could it? All they had to do was look up Moonlit Gardens are the library and all the books would show up. It should be easy, shouldn’t it?

She winced when she heard a yelp. She swiveled her head and looked over at Snap. He was cringing away from her mother. From the looks of it, her mom must have wrapped up one of the bandages a little too tight, irritating Snap’s injury. Her mother had an apologetic look on her face, pulling back a little.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Mrs. Sanchez said.

Snap said, “Oh it’s all right. I know it was an accident.” He winced as he looked down at his side, where a hint of one of his back burns could be seen. “Just please..be a little more gentle?”

Mrs. Sanchez nodded her head. “I’ll do what I can.”

Mrs. Sanchez continued with bandaging up Snap. She wrapped it around the rest of his wounds and then tied each of them off, securing them in place. Only after she was finished with rebandaging him did Snap put the rest of his clothes back on. It was a little hard for him to fit some of the clothes back on because of the bandages, but he was able to manage.

Once he was finished, he turned over to Penny and said, “Are you ready to go?”

Penny paused for a moment. She still wasn’t sure what she’d do if they couldn’t find the book. Maybe she should stay here and think about it for a time. She needed some plan she can fall back on. Her mother was right about that. With Rudy’s life on the line, she couldn’t afford to make mistakes. She should have thought about this more thoroughly when she had the chance. She shouldn’t rush into things without a game plan. It might be best if she waited before going into ChalkZone and speak to Snap about what they should do.

Then again, they didn’t have that much time on their hands. Rudy could keel over at any given moment. They had to hurry and try to find that book. They didn’t have time to sit around and try to come up with alternate plans. As much as she believed her mother was right and that planning was important, at the same time, they didn’t really have a lot of time on their hands to play around with. She had to get going, and the sooner, the better.

“Yeah, I am.” She got up from the bed. She steadied herself on her cane. She stumbled forward a little, but managed to keep her balance. “Come on, Snap. Let’s go.”

“Maybe we should see Biclops first.” Snap said as Penny headed towards the portal. She stopped and looked back at Snap. “Knowing the title of that book is important. I’m not sure why you didn’t ask Biclops before...but at least now, we can have another chance.”

Penny paused and contemplated this. Snap did have a good idea. She should have asked Biclops the title before, but at least this way, she could learn the name and then they could go find it in the library. Snap was right. It would be a lot harder finding the book if they didn’t have a name to go off of. She was glad Snap brought it to her attention. Rushing into the library without the name of the book handy might end up wasting more time than she intended.

“Okay, let’s pay Biclops a visit.” Penny said with a small smile on her face.

sss

Snap flipped through the book. Finding nothing that would help them, he let out a soft groan and tossed the book aside. “It’s not in here.”

Penny did the same thing with another book and shook her head. “It’s not this one either.”

“I’m going to look over here.” Snap said as he went down one of the aisles.

“I’ll look over here then.” Penny took off in another direction.

The library they went to in ChalkZone City was huge. It stood about five stories high and had a large variety of books, both old and new. It had a look that was the perfect combination between simplistic and fancy. The outside of it had stone lions positioned near the doors, and inside, there was a very tall, rounded ceiling with a chandelier at the top. Spiral staircases led up to higher levels, which they could see as the levels weren’t separated by walls or anything. Yet despite that, it still had a simple, almost homey feel to it. Nothing seemed too fancy or too out of place.

The library was bustling with life. Multiple zoners came in and out, checking out, renewing, and returning library books. It was a little hard for them to navigate this place at first as it was more crowded than they thought the library would be. And a little noisier too. The zoners all around them would chatter with each other. It wasn’t loud speech, but the small space and the shere number of zoners talking did become a little deafening. This made it a little hard for Penny and Snap to communicate.

They used the computer systems located near the entrance to look up information regarding Moonlit Gardens. They found a couple of books about it. There was surprisingly little information they could find. They didn’t know if Moonlit Gardens was a dangerous place or if it was simply obscure. Whatever the reason, there were only a few books that appear to mention or be about Moonlit Gardens. From the name, the only thing they could think of is that it has to be located in night zone.

Finding books around here was a little hard. The zoners who work here obviously don’t pay enough attention to what order the books are put in. This might be the result of this library being quite large. The librarians could easily miss some misplaced books and with how many zoners that came in here, it was no wonder the librarians weren’t able to keep up, or simply stopped trying to put everything in order during working hours.

Well that might be fine and dandy for them, but it was making it harder to locate the few books that reveals the location of Moonlit Gardens. Snap was frustrated that Penny didn’t ask Biclops the name of the book. He would have thought that would be one of the important questions she’d ask him. He didn’t know how it could have slipped her mind. Penny did apologize and they did try to seek out Biclops, but oddly he wasn’t at his cave. They didn’t see or hear any sign of the giant and they had assumed he went out for a walk.

Instead of waiting, they decided to come here. Time was of the essence. They had no idea when Biclops would be back. They couldn’t sit around all day waiting for him. Even though they had no idea what book they were looking for, it might take them less time to locate that book than to sit around waiting for Biclops to come back. He tended to go for very long walks at times.

Snap did think it was a little odd Biclops was gone during this time of day. He would have thought he’d be inside his cave doing exercises at that point, or standing outside the mine, enjoying the beautiful scenery. Him being absent was rather strange. But he and Penny didn’t have much time to sit around and think about it. They had to find that book and fast. Besides, Biclops wasn’t known to stick to a strict schedule anyway. He probably just got a head start on some jogging.

Snap looked all around the books in front of him. He looked at the names of the spines, trying to find one in particular. With the books out of order and scattered, it was hard to find anything of interest or anything that could help him and Penny. His eyes were starting to hurt from all the looking around and squinting to see letters. As much as he understood why the librarians didn’t bother trying to keep everything in order due to how busy they were, he wished they would put some effort into it. It would make searching the books here a lot easier.

He moved down to the next aisle. He glanced up and down, taking note of all the books that were there. His head started to hurt just thinking about all the books he’d have to sift through. Any one that he thought might have information, he would check out, even if it wasn’t a book in the search results the computer had given them regarding Moonlit Gardens. He felt it was worth a shot looking at them, because it was possible that other books mention Moonlit Gardens and just weren’t indexed. With all these books, he couldn’t doubt that at least some of them weren’t in the system. Hard to keep up with a place like this.

He hoped they would find something soon. Neither of them had a clue how long Rudy had. He was very worried for his friend. It came as a shock to him when he learned about his worsening fever and his DNA structure being altered. He knew a dangerously high fever could kill Rudy... And this DNA altering thing... He wasn’t sure if it was dangerous or not, but he didn’t want to take any chances. The fact that DNA isn’t supposed to be altered in this manner told him enough. They had to get Rudy that green chalk, and fast.

Suddenly, Penny’s voice rang out to him. “Hey Snap!” Snap turned his head to see Penny in another aisle, waving at him. “I think I found something!”

Snap wasted no time. He rushed down the aisle to where Penny was located. When he reached her, he could see that she was holding a book in her arms. She had lowered herself to the ground, her legs crossed. The book she had was large and white in color. She had it open to about the middle of the book. He couldn’t see much at first, just a bunch of squiggles. Getting closer, he could start to make out some details. It was only when he sat down next to her that he realized the book she had was on legends and what not.

He wondered, at first, why she would pick this book. But then he remembered what he thought earlier, about Moonlit Gardens possibly being a legend. Maybe it really was and not many zoners knew about it. Their only evidence that it exists is that Biclops apparently said green chalk grows there. He trusted Biclops’s word, and if he says that this place exists, then he believed him. Perhaps it was a good thing that this place wasn’t well known across ChalkZone. The last thing they really needed was for Jenny and her lackeys to find out and stage a trap for them.

“According to what it says here,” Penny traced her finger along the paper, her eyes moving back and forth as she read the words. “Moonlit Gardens is located deep in night zone, further than we have traveled there before. It is completely underground. We have to look for a hidden passageway, a tunnel somewhere in the Gem Desert.”

“The Gem Desert?” Snap asked, looking up at her. Penny nodded her head. “I think I heard of that place. It’s supposed to be pretty tranquil. Not a lot of night zoners live out that way.” He looked back down at the book. “Does it say where this passageway is?”

Penny shook her head. “It’s called ‘hidden’ for a reason, Snap. It doesn’t list any location for it. It just says there exists one, and finding it is not going to be that easy. The Gem Desert, according to this book, is pretty large. It’s located out beyond where Skrawl’s old hideout used to be. With the huge cacti and such.”

“But that’s in day zone.” Snap pointed out. “And Moonlit Gardens is in night zone.”

“Right.” Penny nodded her head. “But according to my calcuations, and what this book seems to indicate, if we keep going down beyond Skrawl’s...cactus hideout, not only would we eventually reach night zone, but we should end up in the Gem Desert. We will know we’re there from the tall, multi-colored gems that sprout everywhere, about as large as those cacti.”

Snap smiled and folded his arms. He gave a light hearted chuckle. “Or when we reach some place dark.”

Penny glared at him for a second, and then continued speaking. “The only clue it really gives on where to find this hidden tunnel is that it is located somewhere near one of these large gems.”

“Well that should be easy then.” Snap said.

“Actually no, it won’t be that easy.” Penny glanced at the book, furrowing her eye brows as she read more of it. “According to this, there’s hundreds of gems that grow there, even at the very entrance. And it doesn’t say how close to the gems the tunnel is. It could be right beside a gem or it could be a few feet away from one.”

Hundreds of gems? Yeah, he can see where that would be problematic. If that were the case, then it was going to be hard to figure out where to start. The hidden tunnel could be anywhere. It could take them hours to find it. They might have better luck going back to Biclops, wait for him to return, an ask him about the Moonlit Gardens’s entrance. That might actually take less time than looking through the Gem Desert, trying to find this one tunnel, which is well hidden somewhere in that desert. Things were definitely not going to be easy.

But Snap knew they couldn’t just sit around here for too long, trying to think of what to do. The sooner they started searching, the better. Rudy needed help fast, and that green chalk was going to buy him some time. It would be best to head to the Gem Desert now so that they are actually there. From there, they could formulate what they’ll do next. Penny could draw them some tools they could use to help locate the hidden passageway faster. He was certain she must know of something that would help them. She was smart. She would think of something on their way there.

“I’m sure we will find the passageway in enough time.” Snap said, smiling at Penny. “Let’s head out now.”

“Yeah, good idea.” Penny passed the book to Snap. He held onto it as Penny climbed up to her feet with her cane. She made a gesture with her head for Snap to follow her. “Come on, let’s check this book out and be on our way.” With that, she started to hobble over to the front desk, standing behind one of the zoners in the long line.

Snap followed close behind her. As they waited in line, he looked at her leg and winced. It looked even worse close up, even with the bandages. This made him even more worried if they were ambushed in the Gem Desert. If Jenny, Tyreek, and Gadir found them in the desert with Penny still injured like that, they would surely take advantage of it. Penny can’t run very well with the cane and she couldn’t stand up very long without it. He wouldn’t put it past those three to take advantage of Penny’s wounded leg.

And his injuries too... Although he wasn’t as hindered walking as Penny, he, too, was in considerable pain, even with pain medications, and he had very sensitive wounds that would spread agony through his body if they were even just lightly touched. If they were purposefully struck... He shuddered at the thought of just how painful that was going to be. Thinking about it, he realized how much of a risk it was for them to head out to the Gem Desert, since if they were attacked, they both had some physical weaknesses that could be taken advantage of.

But then again, he and Penny would stand a better chance against them together. If they were separated, yeah it would be a problem. He wasn’t that large and Penny’s injured leg would make it harder for her to fight back affectively. But together, they would be able to withstand them better. They were best friends and they’d protect each other. Even though they’d be at a disadvantage, if Jenny and her comrades want to get them, they would find it’s not going to be as easy as they might think it is.

Yeah, those three can try to stop them, but they were going to fail. He and Penny were going to beat them if they dare try to stop them. They would find the green chalk and help Rudy. And they would cure Rudy and then defeat those three black chalk users. He didn’t know exactly how they were going to do that, but he knew that, eventually, they’d figure something out and stop them. They had been in scraps before and they managed to succeed. Cosmo, Draow, and Bardot could all attest to that.

Snap clenched his hand onto a fist as he thought about that evil trio. Try as they might, they weren’t going to be able to stop him and his friends forever. They would succeed. They would win. And those three would be brought to justice. He would see to that.

sss

“So...this is the Gem Desert?” Snap breathed, his eyes wide.

Penny nodded her head slowly. “Yeah it is.”

“It’s...beautiful.” Snap’s eyes widened as he looked all around.

“Indeed...” Penny said, staring at the beauty all around them. She had a feeling that this place would be pretty just from the description, but she never imagined it would be like this.

The Gem Desert was indeed massive, spreading as far as the eye could see. There were a few hills and a couple mountains, but it was largely flat ground with several large boulders laying around. There were some plants growing, but with no leaves on them, just twigs. The ground color was a deep gray purple. In the moonlight above them, the rocks appeared to glint and shine. The reflective nature made it very easy to notice the formation of the land all around them without the need of a flashlight.

Protruding from the ground were the gems. Most of them were tall and angular, with a pointed end and a square-ish shape. Almost like a polygon pencil, if Penny had to think of any word to describe them. They grew either straight up or at angles. They were clear and highly reflective. She could see her reflection, kinda squiggly, on the gems that they passed. The gems were all multi-colored, like a rainbow. There were green, red, blue, orange, purple, and yellow gems all around them. Each one had rainbowy reflections on them when viewed from a certain angle.

In addition, the ground they walked on where the gems grew out of were also colorful. But not because of the ground naturally being that way. It didn’t take her and Snap long to realize it was the light from the gems that gave it this appearance. The light from the moon reflected through the gems, causing the light that exited it to be colored. This gave the ground a rainbow appearance, with patches of those six colors decorating the ground.

There were also small clusters of multi-colored crystals strewn about. From how they grew out of the ground, they looked kinda like bushes. Their tips were much sharper than the larger crystals and they had to be avoided. They were still pretty to look at, and unlike the larger crystals, these gave off their own light, making it even easier to see the landscape all around them. Which was good, because a lot of the ground they were stepping on was very uneven. One wrong move and they could trip and slam against these crystals.

Overall, the place looked quite beautiful and pretty. If she and Snap weren’t on such an important mission, she would be hanging around here, studying the structure of these gems, and perhaps taking pictures to show her mom. Maybe after this all blows over, she could bring her mom here. This place seemed nice and quiet. As the book mentioned, there wasn’t a zoner to be found within miles of here. It was just so...peaceful and quiet. But she didn’t have time to admire the scenery now. They had to locate that tunnel.

“Snap.” Penny pointed in one direction. “You look over there. And I’ll look around here.”

“You got it.” Snap replied.

With that, the two of them began searching the area. Snap went over to where Penny had told him to go and began to look around there. She stayed where she was and scanned the area for anything that looked unusual or out of place for this area. There were so many crystals. The book had been right about that. There were so many it was impossible to count them, and they were all over the place. She was certain, with the two of them looking, they would find something.

Penny went over to two crystals which, when crossed over each other the way they were, formed what looked lik an X mark. She looked at the ground around it. She didn’t see anything that stood out. She looked at the ground all around it, looking for anything that made it clear there was something hiding underneath. Nothing so far. She moved to another patch of crystals, these looking like they formed a box shape. Like before, she studied the ground to look for signs of abnormalities, but so far, nothing.

She walked around crystal after crystal, patch after patch. She looked around some large rocks as well, and spent some time walking with her head as low to the ground as she could manage with a cane. Navigating this rocky place was not easy with the cane, but she managed. She looked all around, trying to find any trace of a tunnel. She was not having much luck. She couldn’t even tell if the hidden tunnel was around here or if it was much further off. The only way to know is to keep looking and steadying every inch of the ground until they found something.

But after about half an hour, they were still no closer to finding the tunnel. Once a while, she’d glance over at Snap to see how he was fairing. It was clear he was having no such luck. He clearly looked frustrated as he checked gem after gem. She was getting frustrated too. She must have checked about fifty to sixty crystals so far, and the area around them, and there was still nothing. No sign of a tunnel to be found. She paused and looked all around her. How was she going to find the tunnel in time? She couldn’t just check all these crystals. There had to be a faster way to locate this hidden passageway. She just needed a little time to think and...

There was a cold chuckle. She heard Snap let out a cry of surprise. In seconds, the zoner was by her side, looking in one direction in fear and determination. She turned her head over to see what was going on. She gasped in horror at what she saw.

It was Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir... How did they find her and Snap so fast? How did they get here so quietly, without them knowing they were there? How did they even know that they were going to be here? She quickly took a fighting stance, steadying herself with her cane. This just earned mock smiles from the trio. They didn’t even need to say anything for her to know that they did not feel at all threatened by her due to her leg injury.

“Why hello...Penny...” Jenny greeted, giving a mock wave at the teenager. “What a pleasant surprise.”

Penny growled, detecting the sarcasm in that voice. “How long have you been waiting for us?”

Tyreek shrugged his shoulders. “What does it matter? The point is, you are here now.”

“Let’s just say we were waiting...a while.” Ghadir said, smirking down at them with her arms crossed. “I must say, we thought you would have thought to come here sooner. I guess you two aren’t as smart as we thought.”

Snap snarled, “You shouldn’t underestimate us...”

“Oh no?” Ghadir tilted her head to the side. “You and your human friend have not been able to lay a hand on us yet. If that shows us anything, it’s that you’re weak.”

Snap raised up a fist. “Why don’t you come down here and find out how ‘weak’ we are?”

Ghadir was about to speak, but she was silenced by Jenny. The nurse put a hand on her shoulder, making her close her mouth and look up at her. Jenny shook her head before looking back down towards Penny. “I know why you are here. You are trying to gain access to the Moonlit Gardens, no?” Penny clenched her teeth but did not respond. Jenny obviously took this as a yes as her creepy smile broadened. “Well then... You’ll have to get through us first. You see...”

Jenny raised her hands. Tyreek and Ghadir, who were positioned beside her, each took out a piece of magic chalk. To Penny and Snap’s horror, they realized it was black chalk. The pieces of black chalk was so hard to see in the darkness of night zone. Only a faint glitter from the black trails indicated that they were there.

Jenny took out her own. She raised it up in front of her, making sure that Penny and Snap could see it. A low chuckle escaped her throat. “Did you think that we would just let you through? You’d be a fool to believe that.”

Penny growled at this. “You’re not going to stop us from helping Rudy.” Snap nodded in agreement, glaring at the trio despite his fear. “If you’re expecting us to go down willingly, think again!”

“Oh no.” Jenny shook her head. “We don’t. Even injured...” Jenny looked intently at Penny’s injured leg. Penny took a subconscious step back. “We figured you would be too stubborn to just give up like that. Although...” She took a step forward. “You probably should have went with that plan instead. It would have been a lot less..painful.”

“You wish!” Snap shouted at them.

Jenny ignored his outburst. She raised her hand in the air and said. “I don’t suppose you two know why this place is empty, do you?” She waited to see if they would reply. When Penny and Snap said nothing, she took that as a gesture to continue. “Well you see, there is a good reason why this place doesn’t get many visitors. It would seem that, when you looked up information about Moonlit Gardens, you failed to realize just what kind of place Gem Desert is. I should know...” She chuckled. “Unlike you, I did the research, and you wanna know why there’s no zoners around here?”

Penny and Snap looked at each other nervously. Apprehension filled both their minds. What was Jenny alluding to? What was wrong with this place? Penny realized, in horror, there really did have to be a reason why this place felt lifeless. In most places in ChalkZone, there was at least some type of wildlife around. But here, there was nothing, not even a zoner insect. And this place was located right outside the day zone desert, where there were at least condors flying around. Here, nothing. All signs of life just abruptly ended.

From the look in Jenny’s eyes, from what she said, from how the others were looking at them, it was clear there was something very wrong this place, and they knew it. She took a few steps back, looking all around. Snap did likewise, darting his eyes around to find any possible source of danger. Neither of them saw anything at first. No sound, no sight, no nothing that they could detect.

Then suddenly, without warning, something hard struck against Penny. She let out a loud cry of pain as she crashed into the ground. Her cane was knocked to the side.

“Penny!” Snap cried. Snap rushed over to her side. He didn’t get very far. Something struck him as well, sending him flying across the ground, close to where the evil trio were. He let out a groan of pain.

“Snap!” Penny shouted in horror.

Penny managed to get back up onto her feet without her cane. She winced as she put pressure on her right leg. She had to shift her body weight onto her good leg. Her eye twitched as the agony spread through her body. Fear settled into her stomach as she realized what she was dealing with. Whatever attacked her, she couldn’t see it. At first, she thought it was because it moved so fast, she missed it. But she had seen Snap get attacked, and she couldn’t believe what she saw.

Or rather, what she didn’t see. The creature was invisible.

The horrific realization swept through her mind, chilling her. A large zoner was around here. It was angry, it was vicious, and it was invisible to the naked eye. She couldn’t hear it. There were no signs of footsteps. Whatever this zoner was, it could at least fly. She clenched her teeth. How was she going to fight an invisible zoner? And was this zoner a creation of theirs? The zoner was not attacking them, so she guessed this was the case.

Snap struggled to his feet. He looked over at Penny, his eyes wide. He started to make his way over, but he was stopped when he was yanked into the air by his leg. He hung upside down as Tyreek sneered at him. Snap struggled to get free, swinging his fist at the man. But Tyreek merely moved back far enough that Snap’s fist could not reach him.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Tyreek asked, a dark smile on his face.

“Let me go!” Snap demanded.

“Oh I’ll let you go all right...” Tyreek narrowed his eyes. “Into the ground!” With that, he slammed Snap against the ground as hard as he could, prompting Snap to cry out in pain.

“Leave him alone!" Penny cried.

She tried to rush over, limping horribly due to not having her cane with her. She was struck into the ground again, letting out a pain-filled cry. The invisible creature had struck her in her damaged leg, sending shockwaves of pain through her body. Tears of pain formed in her eyes. The creature grabbed onto her and held her off the ground. She looked over at where Snap was, her eyes widening in horror as she saw a fresh bruise on his face from when he was slammed.

Penny tried to free herself from the invisible creature’s grasp. But no matter what she tried, she couldn’t get free. She looked all around for any sign of this creature, and, to her shock, it didn’t leave any trace. No shadow, no footprints, nothing. And when she moved her hand around where she could feel it gripping her, there was nothing. She was horrified. What kind of zoner was this? A ghost?

She turned her attention back to Tyreek. He was still holding Snap by his leg. Snap was clearly in pain. His eyes were shut tightly, teeth clenched. The new bruise on his face overlapped with an old injury and she guessed that the older wound reopened. Tyreek’s wrist was wrapped tightly around Snap’s ankle, twisting it a little. She struggled harder to get free, determined to help her friend. She wasn’t about to let him get hurt again by these monsters. Soon, after she struggled hard enough, the creature let her go. She dropped down, coughing as dust was kicked up. She turned to where Tyreek was, growled in determination, and limped towards him.

“Give me my friend back!” Penny shouted.

“So you want him back?” Ghadir asked in a knowing voice.

“Why don’t you give him back, Tyreek?” Jenny suggested, her voice taunting. “I do think she misses him.”

Tyreek raised Snap in the air. “Gladly.”

Tyreek slammed Snap as hard as he could into the ground, causing the zoner to scream in pain. Then he pulled his arm back and, mustering as much strength as he could, he threw Snap into the air. He did not aim for Penny. Instead, he threw Snap towards one of the large gems. Penny watched, horror gripping her heard, as Snap slammed fast first into the crystal. There was a sickening crack and, from the blood now dripping from his nostrils, she realized his nose has been broken. She watched as Snap slid down the gem and laid limp on the ground.

Terrified, Penny rushed to her friend’s side. Seeing that his eyes were closed, she realized that he had been knocked unconscious. She gripped Snap by his shoulder and shook him gently. Snap did not respond. She tried to shake him a little harder, hoping, praying, that he would wake up. She called out his name several times out of desperation. But the little zoner did not respond. He laid there, out cold, unmoving. The only signs of life were a few groans and the sound and sight of him breathing.

Penny’s body shook from fear and from anger. She slowly lifted up her head and glared at the trio standing before her. They all looked at her with smug looks. Oh how she wanted to wipe those smiles off their faces. She slowly rose up to her feet. Though the pain in her leg would cause problems, even though she had to deal with an invisible creature as well as this trio, she was not going down without a fight. She raised up her magic chalk, glaring at Jenny and her comrades with determination.

“Looks like the little girl wants to play.” Jenny said. She turned to her comrades and made a gesture with her head. “Come on. Let’s not disappoint her.” With that, she, Tyreek, and Ghadir, holding up their magic chalk, rushed down towards Penny.

Chapter Text

Biclops laid down on the ground. He was resting with his belly against the floor. He glanced up towards the ceiling, the view partially obscured by the electric bars that held him in. He smacked his lips a few times, feeling how dry they were. He was very thirsty. He could use a glass of something to drink right about now. And he was hungry. Oh so very hungry. But there was nothing here to eat or drink and he was not able to get out of this electric cage. He was completely trapped.

Jenny had been right when she said no one would find him. There really weren’t a lot of zoners that came out this way. He didn’t go out into ChalkZone enough for zoners to realize anything strange was going on. He was usually in the Chalk Mine and only once in a while did he head out. Zoners were used to him not coming out for as long as a week or so. He didn’t have that kind of time. By then, he would die of dehydration, which is exactly what Jenny wanted. That was why she didn’t kill him right off the bat. She just wanted him to suffer.

She still held a grudge against him for his betrayal years ago. But what else could he do? He couldn’t stand watching so many zoners getting hurt because of these reckless creators. He had to find a way to put a stop to it. He was sick of being Cosmo’s slave, sick of being treated like he was just a tool to be wielded, and he did something about it. And he was glad he did. It felt nice to finally be able to do something good for a change, rather than be the ruthless monster Cosmo wanted him to be.

The bad part of that is that it did cause Cosmo to create Draow, who really was the ruthless beast Cosmo always wanted. Draow was a dangerous zoner with a volatile personality. And Cosmo wielded him like some sword. Draow never seemed to mind and followed his master willingly. Draow had turned the tide of the war even further into the favor of the black chalk artists. Draow’s ferocity was too much for most of the white chalk users, with only Tsere, Wilter’s creation, being able to stand toe to toe with him.

Biclops wondered if Jenny was going to try to get to the Solar Pillars. For now, it didn’t pose an immediate threat. With the machinery blocked, it wasn’t going to be able to activate completely. If it activated at all that is. Jenny did have a habit of decieving when she saw fit, and maybe Solar Pillars didn’t activate when he simply talked about it. Still, with how dangerous that place was and how very hard it was to stop it once it got going, it was too big a risk for him and Wilter to take. He felt bad that he had to withhold that information. At least he was finally able to tell them.

He guessed that Jenny and her lackeys were going to take over Solar Pillars. It was a weapon the black chalk artists had used in the past. It caused a lot of destruction and mayhem. It provided them a safe place to be while they used light beams to destroy target after target. It also housed the ‘origin of black chalk’, where black chalk originally started to grow. They would get an endless supply there.

Then there was the Chalk Mine. Cosmo had planted some of the black chalk in his own mine. Biclops had managed to contain it for years. After it was stumbled upon three years ago when Mr. Cosmo had returned, Biclops had sealed it more securely this time around to ensure no one would stumble upon it. Biclops had no idea of the Chalk Mine was the only place where Mr. Cosmo had planted its seed, but he had a feeling there was a lot more. So many locations, and it would be hard to find all of them.

This was a big reason why black chalk was thought to be impossible to destroy. It’s not just located in one place, like white chalk. It was likely it was located in many parts of ChalkZone. He was certain that Cosmo and other corrupted artists, able to create more black chalk, could spread the evil chalk throughout all of ChalkZone. With so many locations where the black chalk could reside, they could maybe destroy a few batches of black chalk, but not the whole thing. There was a saying. It’s easy to kill a lot of something, but it’s much harder to kill all of something. No matter how much black chalk batches they destroy, there could always be at least one. And one was all it took to begin the cycle again...

Biclops suspected that if there was a way to destroy all these batches of black chalk simultaneously, all at once, it might get rid of the black chalk permanently. It might also undo all the corruption that took place and revert any artist affected by it back to normal. But he wasn’t certain of this, and he wasn’t about to get his hopes up. He pretty much accepted the black chalk as a permanent problem and felt preventative measures, keeping artists from finding the black chalk, was the best option to go for.

It hadn’t been very pleasant seeing Jenny again. She was just as nasty as he remembered she was. He wasn’t sure if she would have gone through with destroying the Chalk Mine as it may not have worked in her favor. But there was no way he would have taken that risk. It wasn’t just his life he was concerned about. If they succeeded in destroying the Chalk Mine, it would render Rudy and Penny almost completely helpless, and they’d have to search across ChalkZone for more magic chalk. And they’d be stuck with different colored chalk, many of which he had forgotten the powers for.

He recalled how angry she was when he showed her the ‘footage’ of Cosmo and Rudy fighting. Since he hadn’t been there for the full fight, there was a huge portion of the fight he couldn’t show her. But what she did see was enough to infuriate her. She had been especially angry when Rudy slammed him against the wall like that, and how he managed to get away while Cosmo was crushed to death under the boulders. Even seeing his death, even though she could see for herself that Rudy had never meant for it to happen and that Cosmo really did cause his own death, Jenny still blamed him for it. And the footage did little more than fuel her thirst for revenge against Rudy.

And then, just to be sick, she had told him what the virus would do to Rudy. Biclops had never been so disturbed in his life. He had fought with all his might not to throw up. It suddenly all made sense. That other artist that passed way from this same disease...that was what had killed them. The virus did something..so horrific he couldn’t even think about it without feeling ill. It made him realize just how hard it was going to be to save Rudy. Even if they managed to get the chartreuse chalk to buy him time, they still needed to work as fast as they could to find a cure. But how could they find a cure for...something like that...?

Biclops couldn’t imagine how they were going to feel when they found out. They were going to be horrified, that’s for sure. And then they are going to try to find information on the disease, try to find a cure, and they might not find anything. This disease... It was abhorrent. He couldn’t believe that Jenny had actually done something like this to Rudy. Well then again, maybe he shouldn’t be all that shocked. She was always crazy, just that nowadays, she was even nuttier than she was as a child.

Biclops hoped someone would find him in time. He could feel his body getting weaker by the second. It wasn’t too bad at the moment, but if he stayed in here too much longer, he would find it difficult to move. He was almost always tired, even when he knew it was daytime hours. He had tried calling for help, but, being deep in the cave, no one could hear him. There was no guarantee that someone would find him in time. All he could do was lay there and hope that someone would find him before it was too late.

He had to tell Rudy about what was going on. He had to tell him and his friends what Jenny told him. They had to know. This information was very important. If they didn’t get it soon, Rudy might die because they don’t know exactly what they’re dealing with. This chalk virus was much more dangerous than they realized. He had to tell them somehow. He was getting tired...no he can’t fall asleep. He needed to keep trying to get attention. Someone was bound to hear him. Someone...anyone...

Biclops looked all around, trying to find a space small enough to squeeze his arm through. He tried to find something close enough for him to grab. Finding nothing, he did the only thing he could do. He raised his large hand into the air and started to pound the ground. He was not strong enough to break it, but it was enough that the room shook a little, sending shockwaves through the cave walls. He knew it was risky, but it was the only thing he hadn’t tried yet.

Again and again, he pounded the ground, hoping that it would be enough. The ground shook with vibrations from each blow. He grunted in pain, his hand starting to hurt from the slamming of his fist. But he still continued, gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain to the best of his ability. He hoped that the low rumble would be enough to draw some brave zoner to the cave to investigate. Or maybe it would frighten zoners away but then they might call someone to go take a look.

As Biclops continued to punch the ground, on the outside of the cave, unbeknownst to him, there was movement outside the cave entrance. Something small, beige, and having little hairs covering its body. Its long, proboscis-like mouth had a long tongue sometimes twirl out of it, or just hanging there like it were a dog.

Anyone who took a look at this thing immediately knew what it was. A wiggie. How it got to the Chalk Mine is unknown. It must have wandered far away from its home and got lost. Whatever the cause, it was hopping around the entrance of the Chalk Mine cave. This particular wiggie stood out from any other thanks to the collar around its neck. It was Wiggums, Snap’s pet wiggie. Wiggums hopped around the entrance, looking left and right as he explored this strange, new land he had stumbled upon.

Wiggums suddenly looked startled, having felt the vibrations sweep through the ground. Wiggums looked around, trying to find the source of the vibrations he felt. His tongue slurping in and out, he looked over at the cave, a look of curiosity clouding over his eyes. He tilted his head from side to sde. Then he felt another shake of the ground and he moved back. But being a wiggie, a zoner that would attach even to very large zoners, Wiggums was not frightened away so easily.

Curiosity clearly getting the better of him, Wiggums started to hop into the cave. He followed the vibrations deep through the tunnels, never breaking his hopping stride.

sss

Penny let out a scream as she was tossed across the ground again. She skidded across the rocky surface and crumpled down, groaning in pain. She looked over and glared hatefully at Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir. They hadn’t even bothered using their black chalks, and yet they were still gaining the upperhand. They took advantage of the fact she can’t walk that well, even with her cane, and really let her have it.

Again and again, they’d knock her into the ground. They kicked her, they threw her, they punched her, but not to the same degree as before. She could tell they were holding back. Compared to how they were to her in their first meeting, they were being downright gentle now. She quickly realized they were just toying with her, messing with her head. They clearly enjoyed to torment her this way, only attacking every so often and just preventing her from using her magic chalk.

She tried her best to keep her guard. She tried to prepare herself for when they’d come after her. But they were unpredictable. They’d come in at random times in random places. Sometimes they’d attack her in the side, others her back, and others from her front. There was even an aerial attack of sorts when Tyreek climbed on one of the large gems growing out of the ground and jumped on her, knocking her into the earthy ground. That knocked the wind out of her, and gave Jenny time to lift her up by her shirt and punching her in the face before throwing her aside, her back slamming against the gem with tremendous force.

And that was just part of the problem. In addition to them, there was an invisible monstrous zoner roaming around, attacking her. Only her. It acted like it didn’t see the black chalk users. Its eyes were only for her. And if she strayed too far from the black chalk users, it would strike her, knocking her off her feet. Sometimes the beast would knock her towards the black chalk users. She wasn’t sure if this was coincidence as the trio never really gave orders or hand signals to the beast, or if there was something more going on.

Dodging something she could see was not easy. It didn’t help that this beast, despite being large and strong enough to lift her up no problem, there were no footprints, no way to know where it was at any given moment. This made her much more vulnerable as she tried to face off against the evil trio. At any time, she could be tossed around like a rag doll by this thing, and its throws were much more painful than when Tyreek would throw her. Miraculously, she was able to avoid this thing most of the time, but it was only through shere luck and sometimes, that luck would run out and she sometimes still got attacked, knocked around the desert’s floor.

She sometimes had attempted to punch one of the black chalk users as they got close to her. But she was outsmarted each time. She couldn’t move fast enough and she wound up either causing herself to fall or almost fall, or she’d get attacked first and stumble backwards, sometimes falling down. She couldn’t count how many times she had fallen into the ground. More than she wanted, and each fall hurt her damaged right leg more and more. If she wasn’t careful, she might end up breaking her leg, and that was the last thing she needed right now.

The only good thing going on so far is that Snap was not being hurt. He was stil crumpled on the ground where he was slammed. He hadn’t moved from that spot. He was still out cold. Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek didn’t bother going after him. They didn’t even acknowledge that he was there. Their focus was solely on her.

This didn’t stop Penny from occassionally looking over to make sure Snap was fine. Knowing how this trio was, she wouldn’t put it past them to attack Snap while he was down. In that state, he was very vulnerable. She knew they weren’t above playing dirty and, at any time, they could grab him, and there wouldn’t be much she could do about it. In her state, she wouldn’t be able to run over and help him in time. Her leg, it hurt so badly. Even just standing, she was fighting back tears of pain. She wanted to go back and get her cane, but they were preventing her from doing that, attacking her and pushing her back any time she tried to get her cane.

She wasn’t sure how she was going to get out of this. She couldn’t draw anything. Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir were never too far away from her. If she tried pulling out her magic chalk, they’d punch her or kick her. They would do whatever it took to keep her from drawing. She wasn’t as fast as Rudy. She wasn’t able to draw anything quickly enough before she was shoved around like she was just some toy that they had found. It was frustrating and she did what she could to fight back, only to have her efforts fail on her each and every time.

There had to be someway to beat them. She stood her ground, glaring at them. They surrounded her now, each with dark smiles on their faces. They weren’t moving, not even an inch. They were almost like statues. The only source of movement came from their chests inflating and deflating from each breath they sucked in. She couldn’t go in either direction without one of them coming after her. And she cold hear the low hissing of the invisible zoner not far from her.

“Why don’t you give up now?” Ghadir asked, folding her arms and staring at Penny with that smug look on her face. “You’re no match for us!”

Penny growled at her and took a small step back. She ignored the hiss from the invisible zoner. “I will never give up...”

Tyreek gave a dark chuckle. “Well it seems to me like you should consider that.”

“I’ve never given up before.” Penny tightened her hand around her magic chalk. “I am certainly not going to start now!”

“There’s always a first time for everything.” Tyreek remarked.

Penny narrowed her eyes further. She kept her fighting stance. She did her best to ignore the pain in her leg. She wasn’t going to run away from this fight. Though it looked hopeless, there was no way she was going to run now. If she left, both Rudy and Snap would be in trouble. Rudy might die..no, he would die from the disease if she didn’t get him some help. And there was no way that this trio was just going to leave Snap there. They’d capture him and torture him, and she wasn’t about to let that happen to him.

There had to be something she could do to gain the upperhand. But what? They were too fast for her. She couldn’t draw anything in time. She was surrounded. She couldn’t turn and run off. Even if her leg wasn’t damaged, there was still that invisible zoner that was ready to attack her. Why it was targeting just her, why it wasn’t going after the others, why it didn’t attack when the evil trio were close to her, she wasn’t sure. But that didn’t matter too much to her right now when she was trapped and had no idea how she was going to get out of this mess.

Time was of the essence. Rudy needed that green chalk, fast. She had to look around this place and try to find it. She couldn’t remain here forever. She had to get that green chalk. She had to find that tunnel. She wasn’t going to be able to that with this trio and that invisible zoner lurking about. There had to be something she cold do. She just hadn’t thought of anything yet.

She looked around, trying to find something she could use to get out of here. Anything. But she found nothing. All that was around here were those large gems getting out of the ground, and of course the various rocks. None of those were going to do her any good. She then turned to glare back at the trio, looking at them one at a time. She gritted her teeth and kept her defensive stance, knowing that, at any time, they could start toying with her again. They obviously took pleasure in keeping her in suspense, attacking her at random intervals, with no rhyme or reason.

“It would be easier for you if you just surrendered now, Penny.” Jenny said as she paced back and forth, her eyes locked onto the eighteen year old’s. “Things would go a lot smoother, and you wouldn’t be wasting any of your...precious energy.”

Penny shook her head, refusing to back down. “There is no way I am going to surrender to you...you monster...”

Jenny’s eyes widened slightly and a psychotic smile spread across her face. “Oh I was hoping you would say that...” She raised her hand and snapped her finger.

Suddenly, Tyreek and Ghadir rushed at her as fast as they could. Penny looked at them, her eyes widening as she realized what was about to happen. Before she could get away, the two slammed their bodies against her, crushing her between them. She let out a yelp and a gasp as air was knocked out of her lungs. Tyreek and Ghadir squashed her between them for a few seconds before they took a few steps back. Stunned, Penny staggered a little, nearly losing her balance.

Ghadir rushed over and grabbed her by her injured leg. Penny let out a scream of pain as Ghadir hoisted her up and slammed her into the ground as hard as she could. Then, twisting her leg, prompting another scream, Ghadir threw Penny out away from them. Her body rolled across the ground, kicking up dust. She shook in agony as she struggled to her feet. She didn’t get very far and she ended up falling back onto her knees. She stared over at Ghadir with hate, raising her magic chalk in an attempt to try to defend herself.

This time, it wasn’t any of the black chalk users that stopped her from using the chalk. It was the invisible zoner creature. She felt herself being yanked into the air. The creature had her by her arm. She could feel its drool making her arm feel wet. She could feel sharp teeth poking at her skin. The creature’s low growls could be heard, vibrating through her body. She attempted to struggle, but without being able to touch the creature, there was nothing she could do to defend herself. She was helpless as the creature began to toy with her a little.

The creature began to shake her in the air. Her body was flung from side to side. Each shake was harder than the last. She could feel her body aching, her head starting to hurt. She closed her eyes tightly and gritted her teeth in pain, trying her best to bear it. The creature slammed her again and again before it finally released her and tossed her away. She let out a scream as her shoulder smashed against the hard, unforgiving floor. Then she just laid there, groaning in agony. She tried to get up, but she just collapsed back on the ground. She lifted up her head and looked around.

Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir were looking at her with looks of satisfaction on their faces. They were clearly proud of what they were doing. They were approaching her now, each holding up their magic chalk. She had no idea what they planned on doing, but it wasn’t going to be anything good. They got closer to her, flanking her from all sides. She felt Ghadir put her foot on her back, pressing her down, holding her there. She craned her head up to see Jenny. The vile nurse lowered herself on one knee in front of her, staring her with that evil expression.

“It is a shame it had to end this way, Penny.” Jenny said softly. “You could barely hold out against us, and should you be surprised? I hope not. You were outclassed, Penny. You never stood a chance against us. With that leg of yours, you are too slow.” Penny growled. Jenny reached down and placed her hand on her cheek gently. “I was hoping to keep you alive so you can witness your murderer friend perish, but maybe it’s better off this way. The more Rudy suffers, the better.”

Penny bared her teeth. “You’re sick! What did Rudy ever do to deserve this?!”

Tyreek growled lowly. “He killed Mr. Cosmo.”

“What?! No he didn’t!” Penny cried, turning her head to look up at Tyreek. “You’re insane to think that! Rudy wouldn’t hurt anyone! Cosmo died from his own stupidity!” She let out a grunt of pain when Ghadir slammed her foot against her back.

“Don’t you fucking dare bad mouth Cosmo like that you little worm.” Ghadir slammed her foot against Penny again, causing another yelp. “He has more talent in one finger than you do in your whole body... If I were you, I’d watch my tongue when speaking about him.”

Penny didn’t reply. She just growled, her eyes tightly shut. She only opened them when she felt Jenny move her hand a little lower and cup her chin. Her head was forcibly lifted up, causing the back of her neck to ache.

“That is true, Penny. Cosmo was more the creator than you will ever be.” Jenny spoke with a dangerous tone of voice. Penny felt herself shake ever so slightly when she stared into those anger-filled eyes. She tried to jerk her head away, but Jenny just tightened her grip. “Perhaps it’s time you learn a little...” She slowly turned her gaze over to were Snap was laying prone on the ground. A nasty smile. “...respect...”

Penny’s eyes widened in horror. “N-No...you’re not...” She struggled to get up, but Ghadir held her down. “Please leave him alone!” She cried in desperation.

Jenny and Tyreek moved in front of her, smirking down at her pinned form. There was no sympathy in their eyes. They ignored her cries as they turned and continued to move towards the unconscious Snap. Just in the way they were moving towards him, Penny could tell they were doing to do something horrible to him. Her heart pounding against her chest, she struggled to get free.

“You know...I hope they let me have a little fun with him.” Ghadir said. She licked her lips slowly, creeping Penny out. Ghadir stared in the direction her comrades were walking in. Then she looked down at Penny. “I have to wonder what he tastes like.”

Penny couldn’t stifle the gasp of horror when the lunchlady said that. Did she hear right? Did this woman really say, or indicate, that she wanted to eat Snap? That was...sickening. What kind of vile person anticipates eating another clearly sentient being? Penny felt her blood turn to ice as the horrific realization swept through her body. Realizing just what kind of danger Snap was in, she started to struggle even harder. She looked out ahead of her, panicking when she saw Jenny and Tyreek almost by Snap’s side now.

No..no she couldn’t allow this to happen. Her heart pounding faster, adrenaline rushing through her body, her struggles continued to increase. She wasn’t going to let these monsters eat her best friend. No, she wasn’t going to allow it to happen. She yanked herself from left to right, pushing back against Ghadir. Adrenaline powering her muscles, she managed to force Ghadir to move back enough to let her climb to her feet. She swung a punch at Ghadir, knocking the woman back , before she started to limp as quickly as she could over to where Jenny and Tyreek were.

“Oh no you don’t...” Ghadir growled.

Ghadir rushed over to Penny. With her limp, it didn’t take the woman long to reach her. She grabbed Penny by her shoulders and slammed her against one of the large crystals. Penny grunted in pain. She tried to push Ghadir back, but even with the adrenaline, she couldn’t manage to get the large woman off of her. Penny gritted her teeth and continued trying to push back. She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw that the other two were almost upon Snap now.

Ghadir clearly had no intentions of letting her go. She pulled back a fist and slammed it against Penny’s face. She let out a scream as her head was thrown to the side, hitting against the hard surface of the gem. She glared at Ghadir hatefully, baring her teeth. She mustered up as much a strength as she could and started to push back, despite the woman clearly being stronger than her.

This made the lunchlady laugh cruelly. “You really think you can beat us? With that bad leg of yours? With how much you are failing to protect yourself?” She tightened her grip. “Well I’ll tell you what. If you continue on struggling, you know what I’m going to do?” She leaned in and whispered into Penny’s ear. “I am going to make you eat a piece of your friend..”

Penny stared at Ghadir with horror-filled eyes. From the expression Ghadir was giving her, she was not lying. Penny felt her body start to shake. That was...unnecessarily cruel... She was not going to let her get away with that. She had to find a way out of here, and fast. If she didn’t, Snap was going to get hurt, or even killed, and this vile woman was going to eat him like some depraved sicko. She looked around in desperation for some way to free herself.

“If you’re thinking of trying to escape,” Ghadir said. “You may wanna rethink your plans. Even if you did get away from me, there’s still the crystal slither you have to get away from.”

“Crystal slither?” Penny inquired, confused.

“Oh yes. What do you think was attacking you?” Ghadir sneered. “Just one of the many dangers of the Gem Desert. I am amazed you didn’t do more research ahead of time.” She put her face close to Penny’s, causing the girl to turn her head, and said in a harsh voice, “Why do you think no zoner comes out here?”

The crystal slither...the invisible zoner. As Penny stood there, pinned against the crystal, she thought about how the slither had been behaving. Maybe there was something about it that she didn’t realize before. Her head swirled with thoughts as she tried to comprehend what had happened, and suddenly, it all started to make sense. Why hadn’t she made the connection before?

The crystal slither must not be able to see as well with anything that was black. The name suggested that it was made of crystal. And it must be adjusted for only certain light levels. It never goes into day zone because the light was too bright for it. But in night zone, it still couldn’t see that well, except around here, with the crystals giving off a little bit of light. Just enough for it to see and move around. That was why it had targeted her. The magic chalk gave off a glow that it could see. It must be a creature that hunts largely by sight.

And the evil trio... they had black chalk, which didn’t show up that well in the darkness of this place. It blended in quite well. Even she had a hard time seeing it when the trio stood in certain places and in certain ways. The zoner either didn’t see the black chalk or it was afraid of it. And if this is the case, if the zoner was targeting her because of the white chalk...

Realization clicked with her mind light a flashlight behind turned on. She looked down at her hand, gripping the white chalk. She looked back at Ghadir, then over to where Snap was. She knew what she had to do. Mustering up as much strength as she could, she stomped down on Ghadir’s foot. The women let out a cry of pain and took a few steps back. Wasting no time, Penny rushed forward as fast as she could with the limp. She raised the magic chalk into the air and started to wave it from side to side.

“Hey!”

The evil trio stopped what they were doing and stared over at Penny. They looked confused, wondering what she was going to do. Penny ignored them. She stared off in the direction she knew the crystal slither was. She could hear it coming towards her, a loud hiss escaping its toothy jaws. She waved the chalk back slowly, making sure the crystal slither got a good look at it. Then, tightening the muscles in her arms, she threw it over to where Jenny and Tyreek were.

The two of them stared down at the chalk in confusion. They didn’t have time to react when they were suddenly lifted into the air and a loud screech sounded out. The two of them let out a surprised shout. The crystal slither started to shake them, causing the black chalk to drop from their hands. Ghadir’s eyes were wide in horror and she rushed over to help her comrades.

Penny knew this distraction wasn’t going to work for long. She limped her way as fast as she could over to where Snap was. Once she reached him, she knelt down beside him and looked him over, making sure that he wasn’t injured further. She scooped him up into her arms and cradled him. She looked over and watched as Ghadir tried to do battle with the crystal slither, but was clearly having trouble. Tyreek and Jenny were trying to get free, flailing their limbs all over the place. But like her, they couldn’t land a blow on it.

A part of her felt guilty about doing this. She wasn’t the type of person to deliberately put others in danger like that, even if they were her enemy. But what else could she do? She had run out of options and Snap was in trouble. It was the only thing she could think of doing to save him. She tried to ignore her guilt as she glanced down at Snap.

A pang tugged at her stomach. It was unfair that he had to get hurt again. He didn’t deserve this. She reached down and began to stroke the top of his head. She hoped that this head injury wasn’t going to be anything serious. She felt her eyes begin to water as she started to realize how many head injuries Snap had gotten over the past couple years. At some point, one of them was going to do permanent damage. She bit her lip, trying to fight back her tears as realization hit her. Was this head injury...going to be the final straw? Was Snap going to began to have repurcussions?

She felt Snap start to squirm a little in her arms. She watched as his eyes started to flutter open. Elation began to fill her heart as she realized he was awake now. Snap let out a few groans, moving his head slowly as his glazed eyes looked around. He then saw her, and he started to look very confused, like he didn’t know where he was. Penny helped him sit up, using her arm to keep him from falling over.

“P-Penny? Wh-What’s...” He stared to say. He rubbed his head and winced. “Ow...it felt like someone took a drill to my head...”

“Come on, we have to get out of here.” Penny said. She attempted to get back up to her feet. She let out a cry of pain when her leg hit against something and she fell back down.

By now, Snap was awake enough to be somewhat aware of what was going on. He looked at Penny, his expression a mixture of pain and worry. “Where’s your cane..?”

Seething through clenched teeth, Penny looked in the direction her cane had been knocked. “It’s..over there...” She used her finger to point in the direction where the cane now laid on the ground.

Snap struggled to his feet. He rubbed his head gently. He started to walk towards the cane, wobbling a little. “I’ll go get it.”

“Wait..” Penny started to say, holding out her hand.

They didn’t get that far. Before Snap could get a foot away, the ground beneath them suddenly shifted. The two of them screamed as they suddenly fell downward. Before they knew it, they were in a long, underground tunnel. They held onto each other and continued screaming as the tunnel twisted and turned, twirled, dipped and dove.

The tunnel ride lasted for about a minute. They had no idea where they were being taken. The tunnel kept diving down, taking them somewhere deep underground. A few times there were some gems stuck in the tunnels, forcing them to duck whenever they showed up. They were hit a few times, causing them to cry out in pain. Other times, they were knocked over, causing them to start sliding on their stomachs, which was not very comfortable or pleasant. And at least once, a sudden turn or change in the tunnel caused them to slam against the side of the tunnel, which, with how hard this tunnel is, was quite painful.

Finally, they reached the exit of the tunnel. They were flung into a large room. They screamed as they slammed into the ground, tumbling across before laying still on the ground. They didn’t move for a few seconds, groaning in pain and shaking from the shere shock of that happening at all. Penny was the first one to sit up. She rubbed her head as she turned and looked at where they had ended up.

It was some kind of cave system. The room she was in was a dome shape, and there were multiple tunnels leading in all directions. She couldn’t tell where they were, or which way to go. And without the magic chalk, she couldn’t just draw them a mode of transportation. They were, for the time being, stuck and lost. Maybe, if they were lucky, they’d run into a zoner down here. Hopefully one much friendlier than the one above ground.

“Come on Snap.” Penny said. Keeping her weight shifted to her good leg, she helped Snap up to his feet. “Let’s get moving.”

“Where are we, Penny?” Snap asked, looking around with wide eyes. “How are we going to get out of here?”

“We’ll just have to explore until we either find the exit or find a zoner who knows this place.” Penny replied.

“...maybe one of these tunnels will lead us to Moonlit Gardens.” Snap suggested.

Penny realized Snap was right. This might be the path to Moonlit Gardens. It was hidden, and it did take them underground, which was where this place was. But..which tunnel do they take? It could be any one of these. She couldn’t stick around here for long. The black chalk trio might have seen where she disappeared to and come after her. They had to get moving.

The two of them started to make their way towards one tunnel when a voice suddenly stopped them.

“Penny? Snap? What...how did you get here?”

That voice... Penny’s eyes widened. No, it couldn’t be. Things were never that simple. She...she had to be hearing things. She turned around slowly and when she and Snap saw who it was, shock ravaged through their bodies. They rubbed their eyes, staring in complete disbelief. They couldn’t believe who it was standing there before them.

It was Barney.

Chapter Text

Penny and Snap had a hard time believing who it was standing before them. They never thought that they would find Barney, of all zoners, down here. They would have thought they’d run into some crazy, territorial zoner before they ran into this guy. Barney had always been an elusive, mostly solitary zoner, and usually the only other zoner to know where he was is King Mumbo Jumbo. The odds of them just randomnly running into him like this were astronomical.

Though that was how they actually found him in the first place years ago, when they first met him during the second balloonemia outbreak. The gola monster had ripped a hole in the side of his cave home and that was how Rudy found the encyclocentipedia. It was shere luck that they had found him. Now they had the same brand of luck when they ran into him here. It was still hard for them to believe, and, for a moment, Penny and Snap were wondering if they were dreaming. But the longer they stood there, the more they realized that they weren’t dreaming.

Penny felt a mixture of emotions well up inside of her. Mostly positive ones. They had found Barney, the one zoner whose vast knowledge of ChalkZone history might help them find a cure for Rudy. Against all odds, they had managed to locate the elusive centipede zoner. If anyone had an inkling on how to affectively help Rudy, if anyone knew about this chalk virus and how to counteract it, it would be Barney. He had more information stored inside of him than any other zoner. He had years and years of information catalogued into his body. Yes, if anyone could help, it would be him.

“Barney...?” Penny asked in a low voice, her eyes wide. “You...live here?”

“In the middle of a desert?” Snap asked.

Barney nodded his head. “Yes, I do. It’s safe here. Not many zoners dare trek here, so I can have my privacy. Plus...” His antenna curled up as a fearful expression came onto his face. “..Bardot wouldn’t try to come here..”

Penny felt sorry for Barney. Even two years later, he was still affected by Bardot’s actions. It came as no surprise to her. Barney had been tortured for a year and a half by that monster. He had even lost his eyesight for a time to that beast. The poor centipede rarely had peace of mind during that time, and he was unable to tell anyone. Bardot acted like he owned Barney and could control him. It was truly sickening. At least now Bardot couldn’t hurt him anymore. He was stuck in the Fire Zone. Served that monster right.

She understood why Barney still felt unsafe, though, even with Bardot currently banished into the Fire Zone. He wasn’t the only one who still feared Bardot and was paranoid about him possibly escaping. Her and her friends also felt the same way. Especially Snap... He had actually been temporarily killed by Bardot. If it weren’t for Terry, Snap would have died two years ago because of what Bardot did. And if Bardot had succeeded in killing Snap permanently, Penny wasn’t sure what she and Rudy would have done with Bardot. It wold have been so tempting to rip him apart if he did such a horrible thing.

“I’m going to ask you again.” Barney said, his voice a little more firm. “How did you get here?”

“We...fell in.” Snap said, giving a small smile. Barney started at him, incredulous. “I’m serious.” Snap pointed a hand towards the ceiling. “The ground gave way and we fell in.”

“...I see.” Barney looked up and gazed around himself. “I guess some of the ground here isn’t as stable as I thought. I’ll have to take a look at them later on, when those crystal slithers have gone to sleep.”

“We had a run in with one of those.” Penny rubbed her had as she remembered being tossed around like a rag doll. “Nasty thing. If I hadn’t thought of that idea to throw my magic chalk away and let the creature chase it, I don’t thnk I would have escaped.”

“Yes, the crystal slithers are attracted to bright colors. Smart move to throw something with a glow. Most crystal slithers would go for whatever is brighter, and last I checked, you humans didn’t exactly glow.” Barney took a few steps towards Penny and Snap. He was about to say something else, but then he started to look confused. He glanced around the room, looking left and right like he was expecting something. “Hmm...”

Penny and Snap looked each other. Penny shifted her gaze back towards Barney and asked, “Are you looking for something?”

“Yes.” Barney turned his head around to gaze at different parts of the cave room. “Where is Rudy?” At this, Penny and Snap flinched. Barney’s eyes widened a little. “Is...something wrong?”

“You could say that...” Snap said sadly, his eyes downward.

“Barney, Rudy is very sick.” Penny said solemnly.

Barney looked at her in horror and took a step back. “He’s fallen ill?” Penny nodded to confirm. Barney clasped his hands together. “Do you know what disease he has? I could look up the information for you, if you’d like.”

Penny shook her head. “We...don’t know what disease he has.” She stared at Barney, who had a shocked expression on his face. Penny paused for a moment, biting her lip as she tried to think of how to explain the situation. It was going to take some time. The longer she thought about it, the more she realized this to be a fact. “Look..it’s going to be kind of a long story. Why don’t we all sit down and I’ll explain it to you?”

“Okay, that sounds good.” Barney took a few more steps towards the duo. His eyes widened when he saw Penny’s leg. “What happened to your leg?”

“It’s all part of the story.” Penny said. She winced as she lowered herself to the ground. It was so painful to do this without her cane. She should have grabbed it but..she wouldn’t have had the time. She might have gotten caught. She could always get another one later. “Shall I begin?”

Barney nodded his head. “Yes.” He used his hand to gesture to her. “Please proceed.”

“Okay then.” Penny said. She watched as Barney sat down on the ground in front of them. Snap sat down beside Penny, leaning against her in an attempt to comfort her during the unpleasant recap of what they had gone through the past couple of days. “Here’s the story.”

sss

Biclops kept pounding the ground with his fist. He ignored the pain spreading through it. He had to keep pounding. Sooner or later, someone would have to feel the vibrations and realize he was in here. Again and again, he hit the ground, paying no mind to some of the small chunks of rock that fell from the ceiling. The ground beneath him started to crack, where his fist was slamming. He paid no attention to it and just kept punching the ground. Somehow, someway, someone had to take notice.

But he was running out of energy. Without food or water for days, he was getting weaker. And all this pounding seemed to do was waste more and more of what energy he had left. His punches began to slow down until he was barely hitting the ground. He struggled to keep his eyes open. He could barely keep himself lifted off the ground by his hands. His body trembled from the decreasing energy. Soon, unable to keep himself up any longer, he collapsed on the ground, his eyes lightly shut and taking in slow, shallow breaths.

All he could do now was lay here and hope that someone either felt those vibrations or they would think to come see him about something. There was no guarantee any of these would happen. There were usually not many zoners around the Chalk Mine. The chances of someone finding him were astronomical at best. Still, he couldn’t give up hope. Someone might find him before it was too late. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been in a situation like this before.

He thought back to when those three evil zoner with the water cannons had come to the Chalk Mine. He had tried to stop them, but they washed away one of his legs. He had been in excruciating pain and he had lost so much blood. He had laid there for a while, waiting for help, but no one came. He eventually passed out and he really thought that was the end for him. He was surprised when he woke up and found that his leg had been repaired, and he knew who it was. Somehow, Rudy had found him in time. That was why he refused to give up this time. Despite how bleak it looked, there was always a chance someone would find him.

As soon as he got out of here, and as soon as he got something to drink and eat, he would find Rudy and his friends and tell them about the disease. He still wasn’t entirely sure what could be done to fix it, but knowledge was power, and it was important that they got this information in time. If they didn’t, something horrible would happen to Rudy if he got the wrong treatment. This disease, from what Jenny said, had a ‘trigger’, something that might seem to make things better, but would only set off a chain reaction that ultimately makes the situation much more terrifying and urgent.

If he had known about this earlier, if he had just gotten more information years ago when he had the chance, he would have been able to tell Penny the last time he saw her. She would have been able to inform the others of what was going on, and they could have helped Rudy a little more. Instead, he had botched up his chance and never learned more about this disease, until Jenny came along that is. Whether or not her words were completely true were uncertain, but with her, it was best never to take chances. It was best to assume that she was being truthful, because she would do all the horrible things she threatened to do.

Biclops knew Rudy did not have that much time left. He needed help and fast. He didn’t know what he could do to help. He wasn’t sure of a cure. He had no idea if any doctor could come up with a cure in such a short amount of time. Something had to be done, but Biclops soon came to realize how little options there were. He knew of no doctor who could work that fast, and by the time they figure out anything, it might be too late.

He felt himself getting weaker. His eyes started to close. He shook his head. No, he had to remain awake. He couldn’t allow himself to fall asleep. He struggled to keep his eyes open. He tried to fight back the weak tiredness that was starting to overwhelm him. His head was swirling from light-headedness. Hunger pangs spread through his underside. He found it hard to lift up a finger, feeling it shake from lack of energy. His eyes felt very heavy and, despite his best efforts, they slowly started to close.

Just then, he heard the sound of some small pebble rolling across the ground. Groaning softly, he opened his eyes to see what was going on. He could make out a shadow moving along the wall. His heart started to fill up with some excitement. Had someone heard him? Was he seeing things? He continued to watch the shadow moving along, and he could hear the pitter patter of someone coming closer. He pushed himself up onto one arm, nearly slipping in the process, and watched.

Seconds later, he soon found out the identity of who found him. And he felt his hope start to sink as he realized just who it was.

It was just Wiggums, Snap’s pet wiggie.

Biclops couldn’t believe it. Out of all the zoners, it had to be Wiggums that found him. Wiggies weren’t known to be overly bright or intelligent. They were wild animals that ran off of instinct. He narrowed his eyes in disappointment. It wasn’t that he was upset with Wiggums. He just wished that at least someone else came with him. What was Wiggums going to do to help him? He was a wiggie; most likely he would just gnaw on his hair or something and leave him bald, then he’d hop away.

Then again, Wiggums finding him was better than no one finding him. And Snap did say that he managed to train him. Maybe Wiggums could follow simple commands. He might have been taught some tricks. If he could figure out what those tricks were, he might be able to use them to his advantage and get himself free. He just hoped that he could keep Wiggums in here. If he began to hop away, he might not be able to get him to come back.

Wiggums jumped around in the room. He took notice of Biclops and looked up at him with his green and blue eyes. He slurped his tongue a little, drool dripping off of it, and he hopped towards the electric cage. Wiggums looked all around. Biclops wasn’t sure how a wiggie would look when it was confused, but this just might be the expression they’d make in such a case.

Wiggums got a little too close to the electric cage. A small spark hit him in the face. He let out a screech, startling Biclops as he thought that wiggies didn’t vocalize. The giant watched as the wiggie jumped into the air, a small burnt spot visible on his face. He landed on the ground and let out a low whimper, his body shaking from the pain. He turned and jumped away. Biclops’s eyes widened and he, using what little strength he had left, pounded the ground to try to get Wiggums’s attention.

“No...stop...” Biclops said, his voice weak and scratchy. To his surprise, Wiggums actually listened. The frog-like zoner looked back at him, his tongue hanging out apprehensively. “C-Come here...” Biclops used a finger to gesture. Though he hesitated, Wiggums jumped back towards him and stared up at the giant curiously.

Biclops had to think of something that Wiggums would understand. He didn’t have a lot of time to think. He had no idea how long Wiggums would stay here. He didn’t know if he could keep him here for much longer. Wiggums might get bored or distracted and hop somewhere else. He had to think of what commands Snap had taught this guy and figure out which ones would best help him. His mind, though muggy, filled with thoughts of what Snap mentioned to him regarding Wiggums.

There was one command he thought of that Snap tried to teach Wiggums, but it didn’t seem like he caught on. This wasn’t of much hope to Biclops, but it was the one command that might help him. It was worth a try. Maybe Wiggums would actually obey him and do what he says. There was nothing else he could do except try. Maybe, just maybe, this would work and he would be able to get out of this electric cage.

Pointing at Wiggums, Biclops said, “Wiggums...go..go get...Blocky...” His voice trailed off.

Wiggums just stared at him. He tilted his head a little to the side, his tongue licking around his face for a second. Biclops felt his hope shatter. Of course the wiggie wouldn’t know what that command meant. Of course he was just going to look at him like he grew another head. He should have known better than to place hope in something like a wiggie. Feeling his strength leave him, Biclops gave in, and he collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

Wiggums jumped into the cage with him, easily bypassing the electric bars. He jumped onto Biclops and made small jumps along Biclops, looking down at him in what was probably a confused expression. Then, something seemed to click with the wiggie. He jumped off of Biclops and through the electric bars. He disappeared down the cave tunnels, hopping faster than he ever had before in his life.

sss

After Penny finished her story, Snap could tell just how horrified Barney was by the whole thing. Though the centipede tried to hide it, Snap caught on quickly. The way his eyes looked, the small tremble he saw, it was clear that Barney was horrified. Him trying to hide it, perhaps to try to be a little strong, was not working. Both he and Penny could tell how scared he was by the whole thing.

For a while, all he did was stare at them with slightly widened eyes and his mouth part way open. His expression held some disbelief, like he was secretly wondering if they were pulling his leg or not. It took him a few moments for him to seem to realize that they were being truthful. He leaned back a little, putting his hands together in a nervous fashion. He looked towards the ground, his eyes narrowing a little as he went deep into thought.

Snap didn’t know if Barney really had the information they needed. There might be a chance that he did not. If there was never a cure found, then Barney might know of the disease but not how to fix it. That was how it was with balloonemia. They thought Barney knew what the cure was, but because none was found, it was not in his database. Nowadays, he did have the information thanks to Rudy, who did finally figure out a cure for balloonemia. But this disease, the one Rudy was infected with, no cure was ever found far as he knew. Would Barney even have a clue?

He never voiced his doubt. He didn’t want to upset Penny. And he didn’t want to upset himself either. He wanted to believe, truly believe, that Barney did have the answers. Squashing his hope using statistics wasn’t something he wanted to do. Right now, they really needed some form of hope. Believing that Barney might have some answers brought about that hope. And who knows? Maybe the centipede would have some kind of answer for him. Barney was full of surprises and it was amazing what kind of information was stored inside of him. There might be some kind of cure after all, or some form of treatment to repair at least some of the damage.

“...I see...” Barney said, his gaze still downward. He bit his lip and looked a little to the side. “That is...terrible. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Barney, have you ever heard of this disease before? Do you have any information about it?” Penny asked, looking at Barney with wide eyes. “Please, Rudy really needs help. Can you give us whatever information you can?”

Barney scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I have heard of this chalk disease one time before...” He glanced at Penny and continued, “It was during the Great Chalk War, a brief but devastating battle that left ChalkZone in shambles, countless dead or injured, both human and zoner alike, and gave rise to the No Creator Era, which lasted until Rudy Tabootie was able to get into ChalkZone.”

The centipede tapped his fingers together and closed his eyes in concentration. The monitors on his side began to glow faintly. Penny and Snap watched this intently, waiting to see what the centipede was going to say next.

“Now let’s see...”

One of his monitors came to life. It was the letter M. Penny and Snap watched as many words zipped up the screen, flashing by so fast that they couldn’t see it. It soon slowed down and a red box surrounded one particular entry. Peering closely, they could make out the words ‘Mystery Disease’. They looked at each other. This did not sound hopeful.

“Mystery Disease. Also called the Unnamed Disease. There was only ever one known case of it. A creator named Daniel caught it mysteriously after her skirmish with a black chalk user. Said black chalk user did something to cause the chalk to absorb into her skin.”

“That’s what happened to Rudy!” Penny exclaimed. Barney glared softly at her. She smiled nervously and said, “Oh..sorry. Please continue.”

Barney said, “Now then, the immediate effects of the disease made itself known when Daniel got a fever and had to rest. They were able to help her feel better using chartreuse chalk, but it only slowed down the effects. Daniel got better only for short periods of time before she would get worse again. After a while, she stopped coming to ChalkZone. It wasn’t until a few weeks later it was confirmed she died.”

“Well we kinda knew the gist of that.” Snap pointed out, gesturing with his hand. “Do you have any other information that could help us? Like what the disease did, or a cure?”

Barney shook his head. “I don’t have that much information on it. It’s called ‘mystery disease’ for a reason. There so little known about it because there was only ever one case. Her body was never brought back for study for obvious reasons, so the properties of the disease are largely unknown.” He looked at Penny and Snap, noting their disappointed expressions. “I am sorry I can’t provide a lot of information.”

“That’s okay...” Penny sighed. She glanced down at Snap, who still leaned up against her. The hope in his eyes seemed to have died down. She looked back at Barney with one eye. “We should have known you might not be able to help us that much. If there was only ever one case, and no cure...”

Barney rubbed the back of his head. He looked upset that he wasn’t able to help them. His eyes moved around, like he was searching his head for some kind of information. Then, something clicked with him. His eyes widened and his antenna straightened up. He looked at them and quickly said, “Wait!”

Penny and Snap looked at him expectantly.

“There was something I almost forgot about. There was actually a second case of this happening.” Barney said. At this, Penny and Snap’s eyes widened, feeling some hope returning. “Michael, another creator, about a year younger than Daniel, he was reported to have contracted the disease after a battle with another black chalk user. He experienced the same symptoms, but he stayed in ChalkZone longer, and there was an account of some symptoms that we believe Daniel suffered as well.” Barney paused for a moment, flinching a little, silently telling Snap that, whatever happened, it was not pretty. “Even with the chartreuse chalk, he was constantly in pain, throwing up blood.

At this, the two gasped in horror. Was this Rudy’s fate? Was this going to start happening to him soon? Was this how Daniel died? She bled herself out? Did Michael bleed himself out too?

Barney continued to explain. “Michael seemed to lose strength. For some reason, he was hardly eating or drinking anything. He would complain that it would hurt him too much. He did eventually disappear from ChalkZone, but not before another symptom popped up. Hydrophobia.”

“Hydrophobia?” Penny asked, incredulous.

“Yes, hydrophobia. The fear of water...” Barney started to say.

“I know what it is!” Penny said quickly. She took in a breath and sighed softly. “Sorry.”

“That’s quite all right.” Barney climbed up to his feet. “I’m sure someone will figure out how to help Rudy. Every disease has some kind of cure. It’s just a matter of finding it.” Penny and Snap nodded their heads slowly. “Now come on, let’s get that chartruese chalk.” He waved a hand for them to follow. “I’ll take you to Moonlit Gardens, and from there, I’ll show you the fastest way out.”

Penny climbed up to her feet. She took a step forward and staggered a little from the pain. Snap, who got up as well, grabbed onto her. Snap knew he wasn’t that big and couldn’t be of much help. But he still did the best he could, providing some support for Penny as they were being led down the tunnels. For the most part, he could handle it a little well, finding it no more difficult than when he helped Rudy and Penny down the stairs when they had broken legs. This was actually a tad easier since they weren’t moving down steps, so they were able to go a little faster.

Barney took them down the center tunnel. The tunnel had small green lights illuminating the path. There wasn’t too much light, but enough that they could see where they were going. The path was pretty straight except for a dip that was a little harder to get through than Snap would have expected. The walls were shiny, almost like they were made of metal. The ground was unusually smooth. It was like this tunnel had been cleared out by something artificially, a drilling machine perhaps. A few places dripped with a bit of moisture, which was unusual since this was a desert. Perhaps there was a water reserve somewhere nearby. Barney has to get his water from somewhere.

They continued to follow Barney down the tunnel. There were no twists or turns. Nothing like what he and Penny had to go through when they fell through the ground. It was a nice change, although at least, if there were turns here, they’d see them coming and be able to react, not that nausaea-inducing ‘ride’ he and Penny were forced on. A few times, Penny did almost lose her footing. Snap managed to push against her just enough so that she could keep her balance. He hoped that Barney would be able to provide something Penny could use until she could get another cane.

Up ahead, he could see the tunnel start to end, giving way to another large area. The light got a little brighter, making it easier to see. The green crystals on the wall stopped abruptly, no longer being needed to light up anything. He and Penny quickened their pace a little, careful not to trip each other over. Barney was the first one to enter the room. Then Snap and Penny followed. Once they entered, they had to stop and look around the place in absolute awe.

The room was huge. It must have stretched for about a mile. A huge, underground place with thick walls above it, no signs of collapse anytime soon. There were very few stalactites and stalagmites around. There was a body of water located a good distance away, looking large enough to support a family of zoners down here for a long time. There was a small flow of water coming out of the wall it was next to, likely from an underground spring.

There was, surprisingly, vegetation growing here. Most of it was just moss and grass. But there was the occasional tiny tree and some bushes. They covered much of the room, stretching as far as the eye could see. A few chirps revealed that there were some small zoner animals living here, and sure enough, he and Penny saw a family of birds flying by. This place looked a lot like something Snap would see above ground, though not as heavily populated and with less variety. But what it did have was gorgeous to look at.

All over the place, there were beams of light shining in. He and Penny looked up and they could see there were multiple holes in the ceiling, letting in the light of the night zone moon. It wasn’t much. The holes weren’t that large. But it was enough to feed the plants that grew down here. And it was more than enough to provide light here, making it easy for them to tell where they were walking. The ground here was much smoother than it was on the surface, so it wasn’t as difficult to navigate.

Then, growing in random places, was the chartreuse chalk. Snap held his breath for a moment as he looked at it. He felt some tinge of hope rising inside of him. Here was that chalk that would help Rudy a little. The chalk that would buy them some time. He couldn’t help but make a small smile. He looked over and he saw Penny looked happy, too. Snap looked back at the green chalk. It grew only from the ceiling, which was opposite of black chalk. They hung in large clusters, and, unlike black chalk, these looked beautiful and welcoming.

The three of them headed over to one of the nearest chartreuse chalk batches. As they walked along, Penny and Snap had to take their time to look around at the place. They admired how pretty it all looked. It was hard to believe that such a pretty place like this existed underneath such a dangerous, though equally, beautiful area. Barney didn’t have to worry about crystal slithers here, since they only hunt on the surface. Barney did talk about how the beast remains invisible by shifting light spectrum or something... Snap couldn’t understand it. He tried but it just gave him a headache.

When they reached one of the batches, Barney used his wings to fly up to it. The ceiling was a little high. There would have been no way he and Penny could have reached them on their own. Barney grabbed a hold of some green pieces of chalk. He took about five. He then flew down and handed them over to Penny.

“Here you are!” Barney said, smiling as Penny took the green chalk. “I hope this helps you out.”

Penny smiled back. She held the green chalk in her hands. Then she put them in her pocket. “Yes, these will do.” She bent down and wrapped her arms around Barney. “Thank you.”

Barney looked a little startled by the sudden hug. But then he relaxed and he hugged her back. “You’re quite welcome.”

“Hey, Barney.” A voice said from behind them. Startled, the three looked over to see who it was. “I didn’t know you had company coming over.”

“Ah, my old friend!” Barney said, a wide smile on his face. “Penny and Snap came over to borrow some chartreuse chalk.”

King Mumbo Jumbo walked closer to them. When Barney mentioned the chartreuse chalk, the turtle’s eyes widened a little. He didn’t look surprised, but rather worried. He looked at Penny and Snap, and seemed to detect the urgency in their eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Rudy’s sick.” Penny said solemnly.

Mumbo Jumbo’s eyes widened. “The Great Creator has fallen ill?” He stared at them in shock. His mouth hung open for a few seconds as he watched Penny, Snap, and Barney nod their heads. Mumbo Jumbo shook his head in disbelief. “How? What happened?”

“It’s quite a story.” Barney said, fumbling his hands together. He moved over towards his turtle friend. He gently put his hands on the king’s back and gently pushed him. “Why don’t you take them to the exit? You know those tunnels over there better than I do, and after that last near encounter I had with that crystal slither...”

Mumbo Jumbo raised his hand. “Don’t say anymore. I completely understand.”

Barney smiled at King Mumbo Jumbo. The two of them shared a quick hug and then the tortoise walked over to Penny and Snap. Barney smiled as he watched them leave. The king started to ask Penny and Snap questions about what was going on. He could hear them talking, and soon it faded as they disappeared further down the tunnel.

“So...did you do it?”

Barney’s eyes widened slightly and the smile on his face was gone. Fumbling his hands together nervously, biting his lip, he said in a soft whisper, “...yes...”

There was a dark, chilling chuckle. Barney flinched as a hand was placed on his shoulder. He turned his head slightly to the left, looking over with the corner of his eyes. Standing next to him was a tall figure, taller than Penny.

“Good..” The figure said. Leaning closer, light shining on the face, it was easy for Barney to tell who this was.

Jenny...

The nurse wrapped her arm across Barney’s shoulder and pulled him close. He let out a soft whimper, his antennas curling up in fear. “Wise choice... You knew the consequences if you didn’t do this, don’t you, my ‘friend’?” Another evil laugh and Barney winced, turning his head away. Playing with one of his antennas, Jenny said, “And as I promised, we will leave Mumbo Jumbo alone...”

Barney shuddered, staring at Jenny in fear. He looked back at where Penny and Snap had gone. A look of remorse plastered over his face. He lowered his head in shame. “I’m...I’m so sorry...” He said in a soft, barely audible voice, a tear strolling down his cheek.

Chapter Text

“Hey! Wiggums!” Blocky cried. “Where are you going?!”

Wiggums did not slow down. He continued to hop at amazing speed. It was getting increasingly difficult for Blocky to keep up. He was not used to running this fast for this extended period of time. Not even his time playing Bardot’s ‘games’ could have prepared him for this marathon. Wiggums did slow down for him a few times, but just barely. Just enough so that he could still see him.

Snap had trained Wiggums well, but he mostly just obeyed Snap. It was a little difficult trying to get Wiggums to do something without Snap around. So Blocky was not surprised that Wiggums would not respond to his commands. He wasn’t sure where the wiggie was taking him. Usually when Wiggums comes get him, it meant Snap wanted to talk to him. Snap didn’t always contact him this way. Only when he was in the mood for it. But Snap was with Rudy at the hospital and the direction they were going was far away from the hospital Rudy was staying at, so that couldn’t have been it.

But if Snap didn’t send Wiggums to come get him, who did? How did they manage it? And why would they have Wiggums fetch him instead of come getting him themselves? Just where was this wiggie taking him? He didn’t go this way that often and he couldn’t recognize a lot of things around here.

As Blocky continued to chase after Wiggums, his mind shifted to Rudy. He was concerned about him. It was scary, the idea that the Great Creator had mysteriously fallen ill, and by the same disease he had heard rumors about. There was so little information, so little understanding on how it worked, and now Rudy was suffering from it. Blocky hoped that they find a way to help him. Someone had to know something of what’s going on, right? Maybe Biclops or Barney would know. They were full of information.

Then that concern shifted to fear when he remembered reports of three new creators in ChalkZone. Not so friendly ones either. They hadn’t done too much, but all that could change very quickly. A few zoners had already vanished, though there was no evidence to suggest these new creators were responsible for that. It could have been Bardot... No. He should his head. He wouldn’t have been responsible. The yellow zoner was banished to the Fire Zone, never to escape. There was no way he could have done this, and even if he did escape, he was wearing a purple collar, which he can’t remove, that weakened him. He wouldn’t be dumb enough to try to challenge anyone in that state.

Blocky wasn’t going to dismiss the possibility of these new creators being the one who made those zoners disappear. It seemed like too much of a coincidence that they disappeared around the same time these new creators showed up. But again, there was no proof that they did it. Regardless, many zoners have been taking precautions just in case. Most zoners started to walk around with friends, never being alone just in case they were picked off. When it was time for sleep, they’d lock the doors and windows and always stay with at least one other person. Some even went as far as get weaponry, even though the creators could just draw something to counteract it.

What was disturbing Blocky about all of this is that some zoners had been protesting in the streets, calling for the reinstatement of ‘all creators are banned’ that was in place for decades. This included Rudy Tabootie himself. These zoners claim that the disappearance of zoners after three new creators showed up is proof that all creators should be deemed dangerous and kicked out of ChalkZone permanently. And some other zoners began to agree with them. It wasn’t a particularly large group though, but it still worried Blocky that such a mindset was starting to spread at all.

He hoped that this anti-creator group wasn’t going to try to do anything to Rudy. The poor guy was already going through enough as it was. He didn’t need some anti-creator group getting him some problems. He wished that this group would see that Rudy is as much of a victim in this as them, that he is the one who is very sick, not them. But then, some people just can’t be reasoned with, and this group appears to be one of them. He hoped that, when the time came for it, they would be dealt with before they cause too many problems.

Blocky’s mind was torn from that when he took notice of where Wiggums had been taking him. It appeared to be the Chalk Mine. Blocky stopped for a moment, confused. Why would Wiggums bring him here? Since when did Wiggums take orders from Biclops? Or is that what happened all? Did Wiggums really want to lead him here or did he just want to play? He watched as the wiggie hopped towards the entrance. He stopped and stared back at him. He jumped up and dow, slurping his tongue, in an excitable manner. Blocky understood what this meant and he headed towards the Chalk Mine entrance.

Blocky followed Wiggums down the tunnels. He took a look around. This was one of the very few times he entered the Chalk Mine. He felt nervous. He knew how Biclops could be when it came to guarding this place. He didn’t permit a lot of people to come in here. Rudy was one of the few he allowed in the Chalk Mine. If someone else entered without permission, he was typically not very happy. He hoped that, if or when he did run into the giant, he would understand and not be too upset with him.

Further into the cave they went, and so far there was no sign of the giant. Blocky was admittingly confused, but dismissed it. Biclops probably just went for a stroll somewhere or something, or he was just in a different part of the cave. The Chalk Mine was not exactly very small. Then again he might not be here at all, like his first thought suggested. Biclops sometimes would sing to himself when he was alone, and he was hearing none of this. No pounding of feet as he walked, nothing. Biclops must have left the cave, but then, why was Wiggums taking him here?

The whole thing confused Blocky. He had no idea what was going on. There had to be a reason why Wiggums was taking him here. But what could it be? Who sent him? Why were they in the Chalk Mine? If they weren’t here, why would they have Wiggums come here to begin with? Something strange was going on, and the more Blocky walked down these tunnels, the more he started to get a bad feeling about the whole thing.

Wiggums then turned a corner and disappeared. Blocky rushed over. As he did so, he realized that it wasn’t a corner he disappeared through, but some open door. Blocky followed and he went through. He stopped and stared, his eyes widening in shock. He couldn’t believe it.

It was Biclops...

The giant looked horrible. He was laying on the ground, looking like he had passed out from something. He looked a tad thinner, and not in a good way. His mouth hung open, his tongue flopped to the side. Even from here, it looked dry. He at least didn’t look like he was physically hurt, well except for his hand, which looked a little bruised and banged up. Seeing the indention in the ground, he had a pretty good idea on how his hand got that way.

All around him were large electric bars. There was plenty of space between them for smaller zoners, but for Biclops, it was more than enough to keep him in that confined space. The area Biclops was stuck in was not too large and did not give him a lot of room to walk around, and the ‘ceiling’ of the cage looked like it was a little too low for the giant, which would have prevented him from standing up straight.

Blocky stared at this scene before him in disbelief. He watched as Biclops’s weak form took in slow, shallow breaths on the ground, his eyes sunken in, closed. Even without a lot of physical injuries, he looked so horrible. His pale skin made it seeme even worse, and everytime he heard him take in a breath, hearing out scratchy it was, he winced. Just how long had Biclops been trapped in here? Who had done this to him? When did this happen? Did they do anything else to him?

His body shaking, his heart racing, Blocky did the one thing he knew he had to do. He turned and began to run out of the Chalk Mine to get help.

sss

Penny, Snap, and the others sat next to Rudy’s hospital bed. The eighteen year old was still unconscious. His breaths sounded very weak. The heart monitor beeped ever so slowly and lightly. A wet cloth was laid across his head to try to help keep his fever down. It was hardly doing anything. One of the monitors showed that his fever was still dangerously high. His body was covered in sweat, his face pale, so white. He looked so...dead...

Penny wiped away a tear as she looked at Rudy’s prone form. They had brought the green chalk over. Rudy was wearing it around his neck, a piece attached to a string. So far, his condition was not improving. Snap suggested that it might just require a little bit of time for the chalk to activate. Penny hoped that he was right. She didn’t want to think that the whole trip to the Gem Desert wasn’t going to do anything to help Rudy. She didn’t want it to be all for nothing. It had to work. It just had to. Sure it was not going to cure the disease, but the idea of seeing Rudy do a little better, even for a short time, it would bring some hope to her and the others.

It hadn’t been easy getting back here. Even following King Mumbo Jumbo’s instructions, they still had a hard time. The exit they came out of was in the middle of the Gem Desert, and they couldn’t tell which direction they should go to get back. She had drawn a hovercar, though, being not as talented as Rudy, it didn’t function very well. It was even worse trying to use it when they were getting lost and had to try to find their way back. They did eventually get out after they thought more about the king’s instructions and finally understood what he was talking about.

She realized she should have drawn a teleporter there in case they had to find Barney again. Oh well, at least now she knew where he was. Unless he decided to move again, which she had doubts for, they could now go find Barney in case they ever needed his help again. Or just to visit him; not all the visits had to be business-related. That place did seem quite nice, and if even Bardot wouldn’t go there, she could undestand why he’d choose such a place. She did hope that, one day, he would be able to conquer his fear of Bardot. She hoped that he would come to realize that Bardot was trapped forever and can’t hurt him anymore.

She glanced over at Rudy’s parents. They had been crying for what felt like hours. Their faces were stained red, a little glisteny from the tears that rolled down their face. They had started sobbing when they saw their son in such a state. This was the first time any of them were allowed to see him, well except for her mom, and he looked so much worse than any of them had imagined. Mr. Tabootie had done his best to cheer up his wife, but even he couldn’t hold it together, and he started to break down himself. Seeing Rudy’s parents like this tugged at her heart strings.

Rudy’s aunt didn’t look much better. She, and Sophie too, had been crying a lot and looked like a mess. Sometimes Sophie would try to wake Rudy up, calling out his name, but to no avail. It was painful to watch, making Penny’s eyes water with more tears. And Tilly... Penny could have sworn she heard her say ‘sorry’ a few times. She wasn’t sure why she was saying that. Was it because of her being angry with Rudy for when Sophie disappeared? Why was she blaming herself like that? Rudy was never upset with her. But in times like this, Penny couldn’t really blame her for thinking mostly of the bad things.

She turned her attention back to Rudy. The chartreuse chalk had been around his neck for about ten minutes now. Why wasn’t it doing anything? Why wasn’t it working? She felt more tears well up. She looked down at Snap. He was crying, too. He wasn’t moving. He wasn’t saying anything. He was just frozen there, fresh tears moving down his face. Penny looked back at Rudy. She bit her lip. The chalk had to start working... shouldn’t it? Come on, work...

Just then, there was a soft glow coming from the chalk. Penny and the others watched, their eyes widening, as the glow spread through Rudy’s body, lasting only for a couple of seconds, before it vanished completely. The chalk kept glowing for a while, making some kind of weird sound. Penny couldn’t describe what it was, but something about it felt familiar. The chalk then made a ding sound before the glow became so dull that it was hardly noticeable. They all waited and watched, trying to see if the green chalk did anything to help Rudy.

At first, nothing happened. The hope that had risen up inside of them started to die down. Penny began to wonder if the chalk they brought back really was the right type, or if they had come back too late. She closed her eyes and let a few tears move down her face. She only reopened them when she felt Snap tug at her. He pointed at Rudy, and Penny could see that Snap’s eyes were widened. Confused, she looked over and when she saw what Snap was looking at, her eyes widened as well.

Rudy’s right eye was starting to open up, his lift still covered by the patch. She and the others watched with great anticipation as Rudy’s right eye opened up completely. The boy blinked slowly and let out a soft groan. Despite his eye being open, he didn’t seem fully awake, and when he tried to speak, it was just slurred words. He shifted on the bed, turning his body over. Another groan escaped his mouth as he took a look around. His right eye appeared to be glazed, distant, and filled with confusion.

Slowly, Rudy looked around the room. He lifted up his hand and started to rub his head. “Oh...” He groaned. “What...what happened...?”

Unable to hold back their elation, Rudy’s parents cried out his name and suddenly clung onto him. Rudy let out a surprised grunt as his parents wrapped their arms around him, crying tears of happiness. They expressed great joy and relief that he was finally awake again. Rudy could barely respond. He was still pretty out of it, the high fever still being present. He did not move; he just laid limp in his parents’ arms as they hugged him, his mother kissing his forehead and his dad stroking his hair.

Tilly and Sophie let out cries of happiness and they moved in closer, trying to get as close to Rudy was they could. Penny and Snap looked at each other and then back at the scene. They were stunned at first, but then extreme happiness welled up inside of them too. They shouted Rudy’s name and rushed over to join in. They took turns giving Rudy a hug and expressed their immense relief that he was awake again. All the while, Rudy did not respond with much outside of groans and perplexed expressions. This came as no surprise to any of them as Rudy had been out for a while and the fever may have made it hard for him to remember anything.

“Oh Rudy...” Mrs. Tabootie said as she hugged her son tightly. “We’re so glad you’re okay...” She planted another kiss on his forehead.

“What...what’s going on...?” Rudy said in a grumbled voice.

“You were unconscious.. A fever...” Tilly managed to say before getting choked up with more tears.

“You almost died...” Mr. Tabootie said, flinching. He ran his hand along Rudy’s head gently. “But you’re safe now... You’re safe...”

Rudy still looked so confused. He still couldn’t get his bearings and it didn’t seem to register with him just where he was. A few times, his right eye would start to close again. A shout from one of his loved ones was enough to keep Rudy from closing his right eye completely. He looked so out of it, like he hadn’t slept in days. He just laid there as his family and friends continued to hug him.

When she was able to, Penny held onto him, pressing her cheek against his. So the chartreuse chalk worked after all. Now Rudy had a fighting chance. She hoped that it will be enough to save him. She hoped that there was a chance to reverse this disease’s effects. For now, she concentrated on being glad he was still alive and some time had been given to him. She held onto him, running her hands along his back in an attempt to comfort him even though he still did not regain his bearings. Snap held onto his arm tightly and pressed his head against his shoulder, crying softly in immense relief. A few times, he’d whisper the word ‘Bucko’ in a shaky voice.

“We thought we lost you..” Penny said in a soft voice.

“But now you’re okay..” Sophie said quietly. She reached up and grabbed Rudy’s hand and squeezed it. “Now you’ll start to get better...won’t you...?” Tilly picked her daughter up and gave her a hug. “He’ll be fine, won’t he?” Tilly didn’t answer and just hugged her daughter tightly, tears streaming down her face.

Just then, the door opened up and they looked over to see Mrs. Sanchez. Penny watched her mother as she approached Rudy on the bed. They all made room for her, getting out of the way so she could examine him. She looked just as relieved as they were when she saw Rudy was awake now. She reached down and placed her hand across his head, then she pressed it against his cheek. She took out a notepad and wrote something down in it.

After that, she took out a stethoscope. She pressed it against his chest and listened, her eyes narrowing a little as she concentrated. Penny watched as her mother listened to Rudy’s heart beat and take in breaths. Once she was done, she wrote down the information on her notepad. She began to do other things, such as check his pulse on both his neck and on his wrist, and then she checked his blood pressure. Every time, she would write the information down in her notebook. Penny couldn’t tell if any of the information was good as her mother did not give any indications on the results being good or bad.

They all watched her, waiting in anticipation to see how Rudy’s condition had improved, or if it improved at all, with the presence of the chartreuse chalk. Penny felt her heart racing, clenching tightly at the thought of the chalk not working, of them being too late. She stared at her mother intently, clenching her teeth. She hoped, prayed, that the chartreuse chalk did something. The others were hoping the same thing. A quick glance down at Snap was enough for her to see the look of determination and fear in his eyes. Penny looked back at her mother, sucking on her lip. And when her mother turned to look at them, she found herseld subconsciously leaning closer, waiting to hear what she had to say.

“Rudy appears to be stabilized now. His blood pressure and pulse appear to be going down to manageable levels.” Mrs. Sanchez said, smiling at first. This excited everyone in the room, but they quickly quieted down when the woman frowned a little and looked down at the confused Rudy with concern. “However, his fever hasn’t gone down by much. It went down enough to allow him to be awake, but whether or not it will go down any further... Only time will tell.”

Penny looked at her mother as this information entered her mind. It was of some comfort that Rudy was doing a little better now, just like Biclops said he would. His blood pressure and heart rate returning to normal was definitely good. Both had been dangerously low, and from what she remembered her mother saying, that almost killed him, sometime after the fever nearly did him in. It was definitely terrific news that at least some things were returning to normal and he was improving a little. Even just a tiny bit of improvement was something, and it was nice seeing Rudy doing better than he had been for a while.

But the fever thing...that was definitely a concern. Her mother said it had gone down, but only enough to allow Rudy to regain consciousness, and it could go up again at any time. She wondered how low the fever would go, if it would disappear completely or remain there this whole time. Fevers were dangerous. Rudy may have to stay home for a while until they can figure out how to help him get rid of the fever. It would make him an easy target for those black chalk artists. No doubt they would take advantage of him in such a weak state.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Rudy started to talk again.

“C-Can someone...please tell me...” Rudy let out a soft groan. “What is going on here?”

Everyone in the room remained quiet. They looked at each other. From their expressions, Penny knew what they were all thinking. How were they going to explain everything to Rudy, especially in a state where his mind was muggy and he looked so unfocused? Someone had to tell him, though, or at least try. He had to know what was going on.

After a while of silence, Penny decided she would be the one to tell him. She moved closer to him and stood next to him. He looked up at her. She winced as she saw just how glossed over his right eye looked. Poor guy... he was still so sick and so weak. She took a moment to glance at the others. They all gave her a slow nod, encouraging her to begin the story. She looked back down at Rudy, who was staring up at her with that confused expression. A part of her wondered just how much he was able to see... She shook that horrific thought out of her head and took in a deep breath.

“Okay Rudy...” Penny hoped that he was going to be able to understand what she was talking about even in his muggy state. “Here’s what happened...” She began to explain to Rudy everything that had happened since he passed out at the school.

sss

Terry looked around in confusion. She stood in a large building that appeared to be empty. Not that there wasn’t anything in here. It looked like it was recently used. There was furniture, cabinets, and such in this place. It was clearly a home of some kind, and she guessed whoever lived here must had gone out somewhere.

But that didn’t make any sense. She looked down at her watch. This was the time when this person wanted to speak to her. She had gotten a phone call from her boss stating that this person in the building she was currently in had something of interest they wanted to report. This was the time they wanted to meet her. She had rushed over as fast as she could with her news camera. She had expected the person to be waiting for her, but when she knocked and no one answered, she was confused. She was even more puzzled when she found the door was open. Curious and confused, she walked in.

She didn’t like the idea of just entering someone’s home. She hoped that this guy wouldn’t mind her entering and would understand why she did it. Maybe he needed help? It was possible he was just stuck somewhere or busy and didn’t hear her knocking on the door. She didn’t really hear the voice or footsteps of anyone here, but it was possible that he was just a very quiet person. She took her time to look around the house, admiring how pretty it looked.

However designed this place had good taste, in her opinion. Everything seemed so neat and tidy, like it wasn’t lived in at all. The only sign she found that someone really was living here were some dishes in the sink. They didn’t look like they had been staying there that long. Everything else seemed almost impossibly clean. Maybe this person had just recently moved in. That would make sense. It would explain why the place looked more or less spotless.

Terry set down her camera and began to look around the place. She traveled through the house trying to find any sign of someone being here. A noise, a footstep, a shadow, anything. She found nothing, just more rooms. It was all so confusing. Where was this guy? Why did he tell her to meet him here at this time if he wasn’t going to be here? It was clear he was not in the house anywhere. Maybe he had just forgotten about their meeting and went somewhere. If that were the case, she should get going. Her boss wouldn’t be happy if she hung around here all day instead of going back for more orders.

She was about to start heading out when she noticed one room that seemed to stand out. The other rooms were dark, no lights turned on. But this one did. Perhaps that guy was home after all. She made her way to the room. She reached for the door knob and turned it to see if it was unlocked or not. Seeing that it was open, just like the front door, she turned it slowly and pushed the door open. She walked inside the room and took a look around.

This was...one unusual room. That was the only word she could think of to describe it. It was mostly empty except for a cabinet and some chair. It almost reminded her of a room she’d find at the doctor’s or dentist’s, though this room was more barren than what she’d find there. Everything else about the room was the same as she saw in the others. Same color floor, same color walls, same everything. She half wondered if this person was studying to be a doctor or dentist of some kind and just modeled this room to kind of resemble one to prepare. She hadn’t heard of anyone doing such a thing, but there was a first time for everything, wasn’t there?

She took a few steps further into the room. She put her hands on her hips and looked around. There was still no sign of that guy, much to her annoyance. She really had to talk with her boss about sending her to random sources like this without making sure they were legit. Anger rose up inside as she realized what this most likely was. Just some prank call, and she had fallen for it. She might have broken into a powerful person’s house and if they catch her in here, she was going to be in big trouble. While she had the chance, she had to get out of here.

Suddenly, the door shut behind her. Her body stiffened in surprise. She heard foosteps. Someone had entered the room with her. There was a click, then more footsteps. She turned her head, but to her shock, there was no one there. She grabbed the knob and tried to turn it. It was locked. She fumbled with the lock but for some reason, she couldn’t undo it. It was jammed. She spent some time trying to undo the lock, only stopping when she heard a cold laughter behind her, causing her heart to freeze.

It was then she knew, without a doubt, this was a trap... She had been tricked. She fell for it. Oh why didn’t she question things sooner? Why didn’t she leave when she realized there was no one here? Why did she have to be so nosey and look around? Now her nosiness had landed her in hot water. She was completely trapped. This room had no window, no vent, no other exit. Her only way out was blocked.

With nowhere to run, she slowly turned around to see who her captor was. She took a sharp gasp when she saw who it was.

“V-Vinnie?!”

There, standing not far from her, wearing his usual black leather outfit, was Vinnie Raton. He had his arms folded against his chest and staring at her with a smug smile. His dark eyes stared at her, almost boring through her soul. Her body shook a little from the shere shock of seeing him, and took a step back. How was this possible? Vinnie was not this intelligent. How had he...?

The man took a few steps towards her. Terry found herself moving back. She was still in such stunned silence, she wasn’t sure what to do. Vinnie had never been this smart before. She never would have thought he could trap her like this. What did he want from her? Was he angry about her breaking off their partnership? Was he going to try to coax her to resume her attempts at exposing ChalkZone? Admittingly, there were a few times where she was tempted, but she managed to control herself. She was never going back to that, not after her experience with the whole Bardot issue.

“Surprised, sister?” Vinnie said in a sarcastic tone. He paced in front of her, his head leaned back to look above him. “I bet you are shocked that ‘stupid little Raton’ did this... Well...” He stopped and turned his head, glaring at her. “I am not as dumb as you may think I am.”

Terry winced at how cold his voice sounded. He never spoke to her like this before...or to anyone for that manner. His voice never held this much malice before. She swallowed and managed to speak, “What do you want, Vinnie?”

“What do I want?” Vinnie pressed his thumb against his chest, narrowing his eyes further. “You dare ask what I want?” Terry winced at this. He pointed a finger in her direction. “You should know what I want! I want to be a millionaire! I want my chalk world theme park! You were supposed to help me!” He advanced on her, causing the woman to back away. “I don’t know why you turned your back on all this... But I intend to find out...”

Terry felt her heart start to race. She did her best to hide her fear. She pressed her back against the door and narrowed her eyes at the slightly shorter person standing before her. “And, what..you’re going to try to get me to tell you why I stopped, and then try to get me to help you again? Is that what this is about, Vinnie?”

Vinnie grinned nastily at her. “You seem pretty smart, sister. I remember why I enjoyed working with you.” He tilted his head to the side. “It is a shame you threw that all away.”

“I don’t plan on going back, Vinnie. You can’t make me.” Terry said firmly. “Now why don’t you let me leave?”

“Oh no, I can’t do that. You see...” Vinnie pressed against Terry, pinning her against the door. He grabbed her arms and forced them at her sides. She struggled to get free, but it was no use. He put his face close to hers. “For the next five hours...you belong to me...”

Terry’s eyes widened in horror at this. She started to struggle harder. If Vinnie was implying what she thinks he is, she had to get out of here now. No, Vinnie wouldn’t do that to her, would he? He was a nutcase, but he wasn’t that crazy. She tried to get free, pulling her arms as hard as she could. It was during this time she was given the horrific reminder of just how much stronger he was than her. He tightened his grip and twisted her arms, causing her to let out a yelp of pain.

She stared at him, her eyes locking onto his. As much as she tried to stop, she couldn’t keep herself from showing fear. Her eyes widened and she clenched her teeth. The realization that she was trapped, the dread that accompanied it, it was coming into full bloom now. She tried again and again to get free. Vinnie chuckled darkly as he watched her struggle.

“And trust me... by the time I’m done with you...” Vinnie said, his voice ice cold. “You will tell me whatever I want. And you will do whatever I say.”

Vinnie started to drag Terry over to the chair, keeping his grip on her arms. She tried to get herself free, her feet tripping up on the ground. But it was no use. Vinnie got her over to the chair and shoved her in it. Before she could get free, Vinnie started to clamp her limbs to the chair. Soon her arms and legs were immobilized. She tried to yank herself free to no avail. After one final yank, she involuntarily relaxed, running out of energy.

She looked up at Vinnie in horror. She winced as she saw him crack his knuckles and walk over to the cabinet. He pulled out something small. Her eyes widened as she saw it was a scalpel. Her eyes focused on the sharp tip as Vinnie walked back over to her. The man reached over with the scalpel and showed it to her, grinning menacingly as she shrank back in fear.

“So now then, sister...” Vinnie traced the scalpel lightly across her cheek. She winced at the slight pain. “...let’s talk...”

She shivered and looked at him with eyes wide with terror. How was she going to get out of this mess?

sss

Rudy couldn’t believe what had happened to him. His mind wasn’t so muggy anymore, so he was able to process the information that was given to him. It was hard for him to comprehend. How was this possible? He knew they weren’t lying. They told him the truth. But it was still so hard for him to fully accept as reality.

Being unconscious for days? He hardly even remembered what happened at the school. He did remember the fight with Jenny, but then after that, a blur. Even after it being explained, he still didn’t remember, not even the stinging pain of when Mrs. Sanchez apparently treated his eye. How was it possible that he had forgotten what happened even a couple days before the fever had knocked him out? He could see forgetting the day of, but all that time, a blur?

He was horrified when he learned that he had almost died at least twice due to the condition his body was in. And it was made even worse when he was informed he had some type of chalk virus. He had no idea how it was possible for a chalk virus to be contracted by a human, someone who was from the real world. Wouldn’t the virus dissolve in his blood? How was it wreaking havoc on his body? It was of no comfort that the last two humans who got this disease died...and no one knows exactly how that happened.

Rudy was grateful for the effort Penny and Snap put in to try to help him. Risking their lives while injured to get the chartreuse chalk, that must have taken a lot of courage. He was happy that they were able to find the chalk and they were able to help each other out defeat the evil trio, even if it were just temporary. It was nice that someone was able to get back at those three. He didn’t like the idea of Penny having them deliberately attacked like that, but he agreed there wasn’t much choice she had. It was either that or they both died.

He was happy to see that both Snap and Sophie got out of the hospital. They both looked relatively okay. The only reminder of what happened was the bandages that still adorned their bodies. They seemed to be able to moved around on their own just fine. He was happy for that. He had been so worried, so to see them doing much better did warm his heart.

He was furious when he learned what Ghadir threatened to do. Force feeding Penny a piece of Snap? Then wanting to eat Snap herself? This woman was absolutely sick and disgusting. She was twisted to even want to eat Snap at all. What kind of person would eat a sentient being? Only someone whose mind was so warped... Sort of like Bardot.. He shuddered at the name and tried to push it in the back of his head.

It was just as horrible that Ghadir was going to make Penny eat Snap. That was so cruel, so unnecessarily cruel... It would have been such a harsh blow to Penny mentally. The thought of it made his blood boil. If he saw Ghadir again, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He knew she was a vile person, like any black chalk user. But to eat a sentient, living, breathing person and to force feed a piece of them to a dear friend...? That was wrong on so many levels. Ghadir was not going to get away with that.

But for now, he tried to keep himself relaxed. Mrs. Sanchez believes he might make things worse for himself if he stressed himself out too much. He had to try to keep himself calm. That was going to be next to impossible with what was happening lately. She recommended he at least tried. So try he did. He wasn’t doing a very good job, though. His mind kept swirling with thoughts of the terrible things that had taken place.

It had been two hours since he woke up. He was still laying in the hospital bed. His friends and family had been ushered out. The zoner doctors and Mrs. Sanchez had wanted to run a few more tests on him to see how he was doing. He wasn’t too thrilled about it, but he participated nonetheless. And the tests were over before he knew it. So it wasn’t too bad. He just had to wait here for the results. He had a feeling that they were going to keep him here a little longer. He felt his stomach growling. He hoped they would bring some food in soon. He felt like he hadn’t eaten in days...which may very well be the case.

He glanced down at the green chalk hooked around his neck. He manipulated the object in his finger, examining it. He could see the faint glow from it. This piece of chalk was what was helping him stay awake. According to what Penny and Snap told him, this chalk would just slow down the disease’s progress. It didn’t get rid of it. Well it was certainly better than nothing. He was confident that they would find way to treat the disease. It was just a matter of time. Yeah...they’d find something soon.

He winced as he felt a sharp pang originating in his stomach and in his eye. He tried his best to ignore it. He hadn’t been able to hide the pain in his left eye earlier. The others caught on quickly, noticing the way he cringed. Mrs. Sanchez did what she could to treat the eye some more. It was painful, but he did feel a little better afterwards when more ointment was applied and the bandage reapplied. It was weird seeing out of only one eye, but at least he still had eyesight at all.

His stomach, on the other hand, he managed to hide well. He didn’t want to alarm them. He knew that stomach pains were a likely symptom of the disease he had, like what happened with Michael. He didn’t want to make his loved ones panic, and perhaps, in a way, he was trying to convince himself that the stomach pains were just from not eating for a while. It wasn’t related to the disease. It couldn’t be. He hadn’t started showing other signs like throwing up blood or the hydrophobia thing. Yeah, it was probably just something else. No need to worry. When he gets home, he’ll have something to eat and he’ll feel all better.

The doctors said he’ll be able to return home soon. Probably a few hours, however long it takes for the results to come in. His parents said they’ll be back to take him home later. However, after he gets home, he has to be monitored. Someone has to be with him at all times and look for any other symptoms that crop up. They weren’t able to prescribe any medications for him, though, because of the nature of the disease. A chalk virus infected a real world body... In this case, due to the dual-nature of it all, no oral or injection treatment from either world was going to help him out.

Rudy grunted as he felt another sharp pain in his stomach and he clutched it tightly. He shut his eye and gritted his teeth tightly. He tried to bear the pain. It had gotten a little worse. Perhaps it’s not hunger pains after all... No..that can’t be it. He shook his head. No, it had to be hunger pains. It can’t be a new symptom. It just couldn’t.. He tried to focus his mind on something else. Anything else. The more he thought about the pain in his stomach, the worse it seemed to get.

The door opened up. Rudy snapped his head over to see who it was. He saw Mrs. Sanchez walking into his room. She looked at him with concern. Rudy winced. He wondered if it was going to be some bad news. He watched as she went up to him, standing next to his bed.

“Well it seems all tests came back normal...” Mrs. Sanchez said.

Normal? Rudy was confused. If they came back normal, why did she look worried? Was there something else going on that he didn’t know about? Maybe if he waited, she will explain.

“However, I am going to recommend the doctors have you stay one more night, just to be on the safe side.” Mrs. Sanchez explained. “The fever you had could return at any moment. We want to make sure, at least for now, it’s gone. We also want to run some tests to see if there’s anything else wrong with you, things we didn’t notice before.”

Rudy nodded his head in understanding. “How many more tests do you need to run?”

Mrs. Sanchez replied, “A few. Don’t worry, it won’t take too long.” She leaned forward and placed her hand across his head. “Fever still seems to be down.” She removed her hand and glanced down at him. “Would you like something to eat?”

“Yes, please.” Rudy said.

Mrs. Sanchez smiled. “Hold on. I’ll go and grab you something. I’ll be back later.” She went up to the door. She paused and looked behind her. “Just try to relax while I’m gone. After what you’ve been through, you need some rest.”

As soon as Mrs. Sanchez disappeared, Rudy lowered himself back down on the bed. She was right. He did need some rest. He was a little tired. Perhaps a little sleep wouldn’t hurt him. The pain in his stomach was going way, making it easier for him to close his right eye. He took in a deep breath and started to fall asleep.

Suddenly there was a loud crash. He snapped his eyes wide open and looked around. The hospital was in shambles. Fire, bloodstains, smoke everywhere. The whole place was falling apart. No, it wasn’t just the hospital. Looking out a massive hole in the side of his room, he could see all of ChalkZone City was destroyed. It was all up in smoke and flames. Waves of heat smashed into him, causing him to flinch and look away. Horror and dread filled his mind as he looked at the destruction all around him.

What...what happened? How did this all occur so fast? Was this a dream? He couldn’t tell. He looked all around, trying to find some sign of this being a hallucination or reality. A sharp pain spread through his head and he clutched it tightly, seething in agony. The heat was increasing. The screams all around him were getting louder. He could hear the crashing of the building starting to crumble. A fire burst next to him, illuminating him in bright orange and red.

Then voices all around him. Spooky, chilling his heart to the core. His hair stood in end as he heard the voices.

“Rudy Tabootie... We weren’t lying when we said we wanted you back...”

Rudy looked all around for the source of the voice. He couldn’t see anyone.

“You may have resisted for so long...but sooner or later, the bow will break. We will have you again..even if we must kill you in the process.” The voice’s volume rose a little. “No matter how well you fight, no matter how long, you will fail eventually.”

Suddenly, black goop started to seep into the room. From the walls and from the ceiling it came. The floor all around him started to shine and move, covered by the black liquid. Rudy looked all around, horrified that he was surrounded by the stuff. It bubbled and popped like some kind of tar pit.

“Who...who are you?” Rudy asked, looking all around. “What do you want from me?”

“You do not remember us? What a shame..” The black goop on the ground rose up like a tidal wave. Rudy watched in horror as the goop began to form the head of a fearsome-looking dragon, the eyes glowing white. It opened its mouth wide, showing a bright white glow inside. “Maybe you need a reminder...”

Upon seeing the dragon, Rudy’s eyes widened in recognition. “The b-black chalk...”

“Ah so you do catch on quickly. Good boy...” The dragon head flexed its neck and lowered towards the boy like a snake read to strike. “You will make us an excellent servant...”

“I..I won’t work for you! I’ll never give into the corruption!” Rudy shouted, trying to sound brave. But deep down he was terrified, and the black chalk could sense this. Its cold laughter turned his blood to ice.

“How noble. How valiant. We are...most amused by your attempts to resist. But trust us, Rudy. You will not escape, not even in the light.”

At this, another dragon appeared. It sifted through the lightbulb hanging over Rudy. It was identical to the first dragon, only the colors were reversed. It was white with shining black eyes and a black throat.

“For you see, even in the brightest of light...” The white dragon opened its maw, showing Rudy what looked like an endless abyss of blackness. “There lies sometimes the cruelest of the dark.” Rudy shuddered at the cold laughter. “Even as a hero, you may hurt. We can sense it. You have the potential to cause harm...we know you want to...”

“You’re wrong...! I would never...!” Rudy protested.

“Deny it all you want to, boy.” The white and black dragons rose higher above him, opening their mouths wide and letting out a screech. Rudy covered his ears. “But in the end, we know the truth. We can sense what kind of person you are... You will give into your...less than pleasant desires.. One way..or another...”

The dragons suddenly lunged for him. Rudy let out a scream.

Chapter Text

Mrs. Sanchez held a tray of real world food and a glass of real world water and headed down the hallway. She didn’t bring too much food. Considering Rudy hasn’t eaten in a while, his stomach was going to be pretty small and he won’t be able to eat as much. She brought mostly fruit and vegetables. It might not be the most appetizing tray, but Rudy needed to eat something that was both light and filling.

She did feel bad about ushering the others out. If it had been up to her, she would have let them stay. But she was not the main doctor in charge of Rudy’s case. She was merely a helper. Being a ‘real worlder’ as some have said, she had knowledge of real world anatomy that proved useful. In the end, she still had to answer to the main doctor, the cheetah named Dr. Raiden. For the time being, she worked for him and answered to him. He seemed like a nice guy, though she did not agree with all of his decisions, least of all having Rudy’s loved ones leave.

True, testing is better performed when there were no distractions. But it wasn’t like Rudy’s parents and the others would make a lot of noise. They would have hung back and kept quiet. Dr. Raiden still wanted them out. He wasn’t particularly nasty but he wasn’t too gentle either. He flat out told them to leave and that they can come back in a couple hours. Since a couple hours passed, she guessed that someone would return soon. Though she wasn’t sure how long they could stay until Dr. Raiden forced them to leave again.

She tried her best not to worry about it. Dr. Raiden still meant well. She couldn’t really bring herself to stay that mad at him. At least Rudy was getting some form of help, even though, even there, there wasn’t a lot the doctors could do. The contrast between real world flesh and chalk disease had them baffled. It was a wonder he got infected at all, and it was a bigger mystery on how to stop it. The green chalk helps to manage the disease, but it does not cure it. Figuring out how to get rid of the disease...that was going to be quite a difficult journey.

At least Rudy’s vital signs were looking more or less okay. They still weren’t the greatest she’s seen, but considering what he was through, she wasn’t surprised. Despite them looking better, from what her daughter said, it was going to get worse eventuall. The green chalk can only slow it down so much and it only did minor repairs. It wasn’t going to hold out forever. Sooner or later, unless a cure is found beforehand, Rudy was going to fall back down.

She wished there was more she could do for the teenager. It pained her to see him, or anyone, in that kind of pain. She always knew what to do to help animals. She always knew what to do if her daughter or him had real world injuries. But this...this was out of her league. It was foreign. How can she treat something that doesn’t require injections or oral consumption? She couldn’t really think of any other way to deliver medication, and none of those were going to work. Was there another method she did not know about?

One of the blood test results did come back. And it did confirm there was a virus, and the virus was definitely chalk by nature. But the virus, it behaved so unusually, and it mutated so often that, at the moment, a vaccine wasn’t possible. Not that it would have done them any good, since Rudy’s blood was real world. Any injections would be dissolved.

But at least they have an idea on what the virus looks like. The zoner doctors did look up some information. They, unfortunately, found no virus that resembled this one, in any of its forms it took. It was indeed an unknown disease. It was frustrating for her, and the other doctors, not to know what this virus did. They would find out soon enough after they took another vial of blood, a bigger one, and running a massive load of tests on it. That would help enlighten them on what they’re dealing wit. Still, she wished that the disease given to Rudy was a more common, well known one so the zoner doctors had an idea of how to treat it, despite Rudy not being a zoner himself.

She was getting closer to Rudy’s room when something stopped her. Something loud and unexpected. Something that caused her blood to freeze, her eyes widening in horror.

A scream from Rudy.

Almost immediately, Mrs. Sanchez, forgetting what she was doing, dropped the tray on the ground. Her heart clenching, she rushed down the hallway towards the room where Rudy was staying at. Again and again, Rudy was screaming out. It sounded like he was being hurt. What was wrong with him? Did those three monsters find their way in?

She soon reached his room and swung the door open. Her eyes widened as she saw Rudy’s heart monitor going haywire, indicating his heartbeat had sped up dramatically. Rudy was tossing and turning on his hospital bed, his right eye shut tightly. Sweat covered his face, plastering his hair down, making it look greasy. It took her only seconds to realize that he was having some kind of horrible nightmare. She had to calm him down and fast. His body was still too weak to handle this kind of stress. She immediately rushed over to him.

“Rudy! Calm down!” Mrs. Sanchez stood by his side. She placed a hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed it. “It’s just a nightmare.” She said, her voice a little calmer, realizing that if she yelled, she might scare him more. “Come on...wake up now.”

Rudy, however, was not responding to what she was saying. He continued to toss and turn, trying to get away from whatever he was encountering in his dream. Sometimes she’d hear him say things like ‘no’ and ‘leave me alone’. Her heart tightened and she wondered if he was having a nightmare regarding Jenny. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was, considering what that vile woman had put the poor boy through.

She continued to try to calm the boy down. She ran her hand along his head and squeezed his hand. She kept talking softly to him, hoping he would calm down. Once in a while, she’d shake him to try to wake him up from the nightmare. Whatever he was dreaming about, it must be horrible, and it’s putting a lot of stress on his heart. He couldn’t afford that now. He needed to recover at least a little bit. He was going to put himself in a bad spot if he kept this up.

“Shhh...” Mrs. Sanchez said softly, placing her hand on his cheek. “Please calm down, Rudy. You’re making things worse for yourself. Wake up.”

Just then, Rudy’s right eye flew open and he sat up in his bed. Mrs. Sanchez moved back as Rudy gasped, taking in several deep, fast breaths. His right eye was wide and wild. He looked all around the room, looking like he was trying to regain his bearings. His breathing slowed down a little, but it was still a little too fast. Mrs. Sanchez reached out towards him. He shot her a look, and she froze.

That expression... There was something wrong with it. Rudy was looking at her like...like he didn’t know who she was. There was no recognition in those eyes. Instead of familiarity, they held confusion and fear. His body trembled when she reached her head closer to him. He cringed back, and just before she was able to touch him, he did something she never thought he would do because of her.

He let out a bloodcurdling scream.

sss

The scream echoed off the walls of the room. Loud, long, it just kept going. And then it finally broke off, dissolving into a low, steady whimper that lasted for several seconds. A sniffle and shaky gasps followed, followed by a dark chuckle.

“You’re making this harder on yourself, Terry. If you just tell me what I want to know, I wouldn’t have to do this to you.” Vinnie’s voice was low and icy, more chilling than the room itself. He held onto the scalpel from before. It was now coated in dark red blood. “So why don’t you talk to me? Why must you torment yourself this way?”

Terry’s body shook in a mixture of pain and fear. Her face had several cuts now adorning it, as well as her arms and legs. Vinnie had been slicing her up. He never pushed the scalpel in too deeply, as it was obvious he didn’t want to kill her. He wanted to cause a lot of pain, and he was succeeding in that. Every minute she didn’t answer, she would get hurt. Though her mind was clouded by the pain, she still refused to to talk.

She had made a promise she wouldn’t try to expose ChalkZone again. And she wasn’t about to back out of that promise. She had learned more about ChalkZone in that one visit than she and Vinnie ever did on their little ‘exploits’. If Vinnie saw what she did, would he turn over a new leaf like she had? Or would he continue on his pursuits? Whatever she did, she knew she mustn’t tell him about what happened. If he found out what happened, he was not going to be very happy with her.

She hated this man. She always found him annoying before, but now she hated him. He was using pain, fear, and intimidation to try to control her. Well he was going to have to try harder than this to make her break. She wasn’t going to go back on her word. She wasn’t going to tell Vinnie anything. She narrowed her eyes at him and she turned her head away. She could hear the man scowl at her, but she ignored it.

Another cut along her face and she let out another scream. Her throat was starting to get dry and sore from all the screaming she did. She had hoped that someone would hear her, but Vinnie had told her the walls were soundproof. She had tried to ask him how he managed to get this place and if it was his, but he refused to answer that, musing that if she won’t answer his questions, then he saw no reason why he should answer hers.

Terry could do little to hide the fear she was feeling. She looked at Vinnie in horror, her eyes focused on the tip of the scalpel. She didn’t want to show fear. She didn’t want to give Vinnie that satisfaction. But the pain was getting too intense for her, and it was clouding her judgment a little. She still did her best not to speak up. She still managed to resist that. This was clearly not pleasing Vinnie. She watched as he bared his teeth. She half expected him to start barking like a dog and was somewhat genuinely surprised when he did not.

After cutting her another time and still failing to get a response from her, Vinnie growled in anger. He raised his fists in the air and shook them, throwing his head back. “Oh come on, sister!” He looked back at her and pointed the scalpel in her direction. “Sooner or later, you’ve got to break! No one can resist pain forever!”

Terry narrowed her eyes defiantly, as if to silently say ‘we’ll see about that’. The sight of this only angered Vinnie further. Terry looked on in fear as he raised his free hand and slapped her across the face. She let out a cry of pain as Vinnie’s open palm struck against the gashes on her face, stinging them horribly. She let out a few tears of pain and looked back at him. Though clearly afraid, she still glared at him and, to openly defy him, she spat in his direction. Vinnie wiped his cheek and glared at her in disgust.

“Why you...” Vinnie’s face turned red as anger rose inside of him. Terry’s eyes widened in horror as Vinnie grabbed her arm. “You really don’t understand what position you are in, do you, bitch?!”

He jabbed the scalpel deep in Terry’s arm, hitting against the bone. Terry let out several screams of anguish as he cut along her arm, slicing right through old wounds and causing more bloodflow. He wasn’t being as careful this time around. He cut her much deeper, causing more damage than he had with his other cuts. He continued to cut along her arm, from the shoulder all the way to where the cuff was that held her arm down. He twisted the scalpel in her arm before thrusting it out, causing some blood splatter. Terry emitted another scream.

But despite the agony she was in, despite her sobbing, despite the pain being unbearable, she still refused to speak. Not a single word came from her mouth. As tempting as it was, she did not want to give him the satisfaction of her replying to anything he said. She would rather die that tell him anything. He was not getting any information from her. The secret would come with her to the grave.

She let out a surprised cry when Vinnie seized her by her jaws and yanked her head forward as hard as he could. This alone was painful, but it got even more uncomfortable when Vinnie put his forehead against hers. When she opened her eyes, she was startled to see nothing but those hate-filled eyes. She tried to struggle to get free to no avail. Vinnie took the scalpel and placed the tip very close to her eye. Terry trembled in fear, yet still refused to speak, even with the threat of losing her eyesight. Vinnie growled when she did not respond the way he wanted and shoved her back.

“I don’t believe this! No matter what I do, you still remain quiet! Maybe this wasn’t the right away to approaching things. Maybe you are too stubborn for your own good.” Vinnie said in a low voice. He looked down at the scalpel, noting the red blood clinging to it. “I have never known anyone to tolerate this much pain.”

Terry wondered if he was finally getting it. Maybe now he was finally going to understand that, no matter what, she was not going to talk to him about ChalkZone. Maybe he would give up and let her go. After all, if she stayed here and died, that would be a pretty big risk, and the guy was in enough trouble with the police as it was. He didn’t need something else on his head.

“But...”

Terry’s heart froze. The way he said that, and the way he was looking at her, it told her that it was far from other. And as he let out another cold chuckle, she knew that she was not leaving any time soon. No, this was far from over. That much was clear.

“I actually have all the time in the world here... How, I won’t tell you, not unless you tell me what I want. I don’t care what kind of excuses I have to make so no one realizes you’re gone. But I will see to it that you cannot leave until you tell me what I want.” Vinnie grabbed onto her shoulders and leaned in. He whispered into her ear. “Trust me..I will break you. I have plenty of time to play with you, and sooner or later, you will break...”

With that, he plunged the scalpel deep into her thigh, slicing it up like some deli meat. Terry, unable to hold it back, let out a bloodcurdling scream that echoed off the walls of the room. Vinnie showed no sympathy and just smiled coldly at her pain.

“Yes...you will break...”

sss

Penny couldn’t believe that Dr. Raiden had kicked them out of Rudy’s room. They would have kept quiet if they really needed the concentration. And her own mother... Penny had hoped that her mom would try to convince Dr. Raiden otherwise. But she hardly said anything. Maybe it was because she didn’t have authority or the doctor simply didn’t listen. Still, she wished her mother tried harder.

She wanted to see how Rudy was doing now. He had woken up a short time ago and was slowly regaining his bearings. He had become mostly aware after a while. It was around then they were kicked out so they could run more tests on the. She was curious to know how they came out. She hoped that Rudy was doing well enough that he could be dismissed from the hospital soon and come home. She didn’t mind having to monitor him as long as she knew that he was well enough to move around on his own again.

It was so sad seeing him bedridden the way he was currently. Unable to get up and do simple things for himself... He couldn’t even try to walk because the doctors say he is too weak for that. He needed to rest and regain more of his strength before he attempted to walk. Maybe, if fate were merciful, he would be walking by the time she got back. Wishful thinking, but still.

She would be able to see him later, though. In about an hour, her mom would pick her up and take her to the hospital. That wasn’t too long of a wait. It was certainly better than having to wait until tomorrow to see Rudy again. She was certain that Snap, Sophie, and the others would be happy to see Rudy again before he had to stay another night. It was sad that Rudy would have to stay another night in the hospital, but there was nothing she could do about it. The doctors were adamant about it and nothing would change their minds. Attempts were made to sway them but it was no use.

In the meantime, she had been dropped off at the school. Not the place she wanted to be, but she had little choice but to attend. Her mom did manage to get her some excuse notes explaining why she was late coming in and why she had to leave early. But that did little to comfort her as she knew she was wandering through a place, mostly on her own since Rudy was the person she hung out with the most, where three of her enemies, those black chalk users, resided. And there was nothing she could do about it.

She had hoped they could be pulled out of the school temporarily. They thought they could do this, that it would be so simple. But those three...they had really thought ahead with all of this. They had done something to make sure that they couldn’t be pulled out, and Penny couldn’t believe that none of them thought about this. They had spoken to the mayor. Apparently those three had a meeting with the mayor and had convinced him to forbid students from being pulled from school during this time of the year. They had no idea how they managed to do it, but they did. Now with the mayor on their side in terms of keeping them in school, it was impossible for their parents to pull them out.

Penny theorized that Jenny may have talked about a possible viral outbreak and that keeping the students in school would help her manage it better, or something. Or maybe they didn’t go as far as ‘keep students from being taken out’ and had just focused on her and Rudy. Whatever they did, however they did it, one thing she knew for certain was that she and Rudy were stuck coming to this school. It was a very unpleasant feeling walking down these halls, knowing that psychopaths lurk in certain parts of the school. Every time she passed the lunchlady, principal, and nurse, she had to give a shudder.

She really wanted to get out of this school. She didn’t want to be here with those three lunatics running about. She was uncomfortable going to class with Ghadir as her substitute. She hated going to lunch because Ghadir cooks a large portion of the food. She disliked being in a school run by a black chalk user. And she hated being in a school where the nurse is a psychopath. But if any of them call her down for something, she, unfortunately, had to obey, especially if Tyreek was involved. He had the authority to punish her, give her detention, send her to another class, whatever. She might not have to listen to him outside the school, but in school, she had no choice, otherwise he could call in the mayor.

But at least she only had an hour left to deal with this. It was study hall now and all she had to do was stand around in this hallway, leaning against the wall, and wait. She looked around and she saw many of the other students doing the same thing. She did feel somewhat safe here. With all these students around, there was no way that Jenny or her lackeys could make a move without drawing suspicion. They couldn’t hurt her here. Normally, she’d be in a quiet room, studying, but until those three are taken care of, she was going to hang around here during study hall. Better safe than sorry as the saying goes.

She saw someone coming towards her. At first, she couldn’t tell who it was due to distance and the crowd. When the person got closer, she saw it was Reggie. She narrowed her eyes slightly. She wondered what he wanted, or if he was just going to pass buy because maybe his father came in earlier to pick him up. But when he was clearly approaching her, she knew that this likely wasn’t the case.

“Penny.” Reggie said quietly when he stood in front of her.

“Reggie.” Penny acknowledged, giving a nod of her head. “What do you want?”

Reggie looked left and right nervously. He rubbed his arm up and down. “I...just want to say I’m sorry about before.” Penny looked at him with a confused expression. “I should have been more careful and I could have hurt Rudy more. So for that, I’m sorry.”

Penny couldn’t help but be surprised by this. Reggie rarely apologized for anything. The fact that he just came up to her and did it, she never thought she’d see the day. Reggie rarely admitted when he was at fault. He rarely did any kind of apologizing. She had to wonder what made him do it this time. She wondered if his dad made him do it or if it was a genuine guilty conscience or what.

Regardless, it did feel kind of nice to hear an apology from someone who rarely took fault for anything. It did go to show that Reggie wasn’t always so bad. Yeah he can be annoying and, sometimes, he wasn’t the nicest guy, though he had mellowed out over the years, but he was capable of doing nice things, such as offer to take Rudy back home, even if it ended up Rudy going to a real world hospital instead. Though it did not end the way she had hoped, Reggie’s assistance still helped Rudy in the long run. There was no way Penny could have gotten him help in time.

“Apology accepted.” Penny said, giving a small smile. She turned her head and looked up at the clock to see what time it was.

“Are you waiting for your mom?” Reggie asked.

Penny nodded her head. “Yeah. We’re going to see Rudy in the hospital.”

“Can I come with?” Reggie asked. Penny looked at him, her eyes wide in shock. “I want to see how he’s doing. We might not be friends, but I’m not heartless. I just want to make sure he’s okay.”

Penny was stunned by this. Normally she would have said yes, but there was no way she could allow Reggie to come with to ChalkZone. It would be too big of a risk. She recalled what Rudy said happened the last time he was there. There was no way any of them were going to put up with another ‘Reggie The Red’ incident. There was enough going on as it was.

“Sorry, Reggie, but you can’t come.” Penny said.

“What?” Reggie was shocked. “Why? Is it a crime?”

Penny shook her head. “No, it’s not that. It’s...” Penny searched her mind to try to find some kind of excuse Reggie would believe that didn’t sound too suspicious. “The doctors want to limit who can see him. Something about an unknown disease and they don’t want it to spread. But he’ll be released tomorrow. You can come by his house and see if you want.”

Reggie stared at her for a few moments. His eyes were narrowed. Penny wondered if he bought the story or if he had gotten smart enough to not be fooled. He soon relaxed and rubbed the back of his head. “Oh okay. I suppose that makes sense.”

“I’m glad you understand.” Penny said.

She expected Reggie to leave after that. It looked like he did want to leave since he delivered his apology and got the answer he was looking for. But instead, he remained standing there, staring at her with an expression that said there was something more he wanted to say. Something about the expression seemed a little off, though. It was like, what else he wanted to say, it was uncomfortable to think about or he didn’t know how she’d react.

She would have encouraged him to speak, but she knew that he didn’t like being rushed with these things. She knew it was best to just let Reggie figure out what he wanted to say. So she stood there and waited for him to say something, or if he was just going to get tongue tied and leave her alone. Whatever he had to say, she was certain that, given enough time, he’d know how to word it.

Before Reggie could say anything, the speaker came alive. She flinched at the painful beep that the thing sometimes made and she covered her ears. Then a distorted voice started to speak. She wished this speaker were fixed. It had been like this for months now.

“Penny Sanchez, please report to the nurse’s office immediately.”

Penny’s eyes widened in horror at this. The nurse’s office? Oh no... She couldn’t head there..not now.. Her mom will be here soon. What did Jenny want with her? Was she going to inject her with poison? Was she going to dig through her health records and find something to use against her? She tried to hide her shaking, but there was no way she could hide it from Reggie.

The large teenager looked at her in confusion, folding his arms. “Since when were you afraid of going to the nurse, Penny?”

Penny tried to calm herself down. “Afraid? I’m not afraid.”

Reggie’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t believe you.”

Penny sighed. She should have known she couldn’t lie to him when she was clearly showing fear in front of him. She let out a soft sigh. “I-It’s nothing...don’t worry about it.” She grabbed her things and looked back at him. “Well I should get going before they call my name again.”

“Hold on.” Reggie took a step towards her. He looked around at the other students. He gave a low growl, prompting any who were looking at him to turn away. Then he whispered something. “I know...”

Penny was confused. He knew? What did he know? She waited for him to continue, but he just continued to stare at her with that stern expression. Seconds went by and she tried to cycle, through her head, what Reggie was talking about. Then, slowly, as she studied his expression and those words, it dawned on her. Eyes widened in shock, she stared at Reggie and took a step back.

Reggie said nothing. Sensing that she might understand what he was saying, he gave an affirmative nod. This sent cold ice through Penny’s body and she started to tremble slightly. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words would come out. She forced herself to turn around. She took a few steps away. She stopped and looked back at Reggie, who stared at her with that knowing expression. Taking in a shuddering breath, Penny continued down the hallway reluctantly, her mind swimming with rapid, terrified thoughts.

It...it couldn’t be possible, could it? No, Reggie had to be lying. No, that was impossible. He couldn’t lie about this. This wasn’t something that could just be made up by some outsider. The seconds passed and Penny’s stomach twisted in knots as she began to, relucantly, accept reality.

Reggie not only remembered ChalkZone, but he knew it was real.

sss

Barney could not believe he had done that. How could he have done such a thing? It made him feel sick inside. He felt nauseaous, wanting to throw up. He couldn’t believe what that vile woman made him do. If it had been up to him, he wouldn’t have done that. He should have...he should have been more resistant. He should have stood up to her. But he didn’t. He let Jenny manipulate him, and because of his weakness, Rudy may die.

Why couldn’t he stand up to her? Bardot...that was why. It had been two years and he was still terrified of that beast. Could anyone blame him? No one seemed to. He had been tortured for over a year. It was something that was impossible to forget. He still remembered that creature’s laughter as he was hurt. He remembered the pain as his body was ripped open and his legs broken. He still remembered the shere agony he felt when his original eyes were ripped from their sockets. He still had nightmares about that, and he’d often wake up and look around to make sure he still had his eyesight.

He had chosen Gem Desert as a means of feeling safe again. He had discovered it sometime after Bardot was arrested. It seemed like the perfect hideout. Not many zoners dare to tread there, so he would not have to worry about zoners seeking information from him. And it was a place he was certain Bardot wouldn’t go to due to the invisible crystal slithers roaming about. And for the past couple years, he and Mumbo Jumbo had lived in safe and secluded solitude. Everything had been fight.

That is, until Jenny came...

Barney had no idea how she had found him, but she did. And she had threatened King Mumbo Jumbo if he did not do what she said. Unlike Bardot, she hadn’t tried to hurt him. But she was a creator, and thus she cold actually hurt his friend, or even kill him, if she so desired. It was made worse when she said that Ghadir, one of her comrades, would eat him.

He had been forced into a sadistic choice. He either helped them take down Rudy or they would take down the king. He eventually chose Mumbo Jumbo over Rudy but it was a spur of the moment decision and he regretted it immediately. He would have regretted both of the decisions anyway. He wished he had fought back and done something to resist. He didn’t want to betray Rudy. He didn’t want this to happen to him. But now it was too late. There was nothing he could do.

Tears of guilt streamed down his face. He put his hands on his cheeks and shook his head slowly. Rudy was already in a terrible state. If he had just resisted and not give in to Jenny, then he could have done something to help Rudy instead of making things even worse. He couldn’t even go to him now to tell him the truth; the black chalk users could be anywhere in ChalkZone at any time, and they could go through with their threat if they found out what he did. He could risk putting both Rudy and Mumbo Jumbo in danger if he spoke up. And that was the last thing he wanted to do.

There had to be something he could do, though. He didn’t want to sit around here hiding the whole time. He didn’t want to be afraid of Bardot whenever he left. The hybrid zoner was trapped in the Fire Zone. He didn’t want to be afraid of Jenny. She couldn’t possibly see everything he was doing. He had to do something before it was too late for Rudy. He didn’t want him to end up like Daniel and Michael did all those years ago.

“Barney?”

Barney lifted up his head. Not bothering to hide his tears, he looked over and he saw Mumbo Jumbo walking towards him.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” The tortoise asked, his voice laced with concern.

Barney knew he couldn’t lie to his friend. He was never that good at lying to him. They have known each other for hundreds of years. Mumbo Jumbo easily catches on when he is being dishonest. And he had seen him cry; he knows something is wrong and he would not stop until he got at least an idea of what was upsetting him. Barney didn’t want to talk to him about it, but it would seem he had no choice.

Fumbling with his hands, he bit his lip and said, “I...I did something...terrible...”

Mumbo Jumbo’s eyes widened at this. “What did you do?”

“Well..it was less of a matter of what I did...” Barney said softly. “..and more of what I...didn’t...do...”

“What...?” Mumbo Jumbo sounded so confused. “What are you...?”

Barney trembled and he said in a slightly raised voice. "The chartreuse chalk is not what it seems!" He spread his arms out into the air, his eyes widened. He looked at Mumbo Jumbo, his pupils slightly dilated. "In this case, no it's not.." He said in a calmer voice, casting his eyes downward. He noted the tortoise's confused expression and he said, "I..I didn't tell Penny and Snap about the mystery disease Rudy had having triggers..." He closed his eyes and let a tear trinkle down his face. "And I did not tell them that the chartreuse chalk was one of these triggers."

Mumbo Jumbo let out a sharp gasp. “What?! Why..why wouldn’t you tell them?”

“Because Jenny was going to kill you if I didn’t!” Barney shouted, his voice panicky. He took in a few shaky breaths to try to calm himself down. “She was going to kill you...”

Mumbo Jumbo stared at Barney in shock. Then he took a few steps over to the centipede. He placed a hand on his shoulder. He gave him a serious look. “Barney...tell me everything that happened.”

Wiping away his tears and knowing there was no way to run from this, Barney began to recount what happened with Jenny and her comrades.

Chapter Text

Penny’s mind felt numb as she sat in the passenger’s seat of her mom’s car. The car was moving along the somewhat bumpy road. But she hardly paid attention to it. She could barely feel the car moving forward. She hardly felt the car stopping at the red lights. She hardly heard her mom speaking about something. The only thing on her mind was what she had learned earlier, both from her mom and from Nurse Jenny.

Her body trembled at the thoughts that started to enter her mind. It wasn’t possible, was it? Were things really starting to go downhill again that fast? She didn’t want to believe it, but no matter how hard she tried to come up with excuses, nothing else could explain what happened.

The forced visit to the nurse’s office had been bad enough. She had no choice but to go to Jenny’s office, despite knowing what she was capable of doing. Jenny had been surprisingly gentle with her. She hadn’t attempted to strap her down or hurt her or anything. And that only served to creep Penny out more. Jenny could have done a lot of damage and she knew that. Jenny chose to instead torment her mentally by acting like she was going to hurt her, but never following through with it. Mind games...much like how Cosmo liked to play.

The visit to the office was, at first, largely uneventful. Penny wondered if Jenny just wanted to torment her a little, flaunt about how much control she had over the situation. Jenny had brought that up a few times. She told Penny that she could do whatever she wanted and there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn’t even tell the mayor as he was being twiddled under their thumbs. She even went as far as say she could break into her house and do some pretty awful things to her and she would never be able to pin the rap on her.

Penny had gotten increasingly uncomfortable being in the same room as her. She wanted to leave, but Jenny had secured the door tightly. She couldn’t escape until Jenny was through with whatever it is she wanted to do with her. Penny had to endure the nurse taunting her and mentally abusing her. It went from being uncomfortable to terrifying when she started to describe in detail the symptoms Rudy would experience, the same ones that Barney had mentioned to them before. Her blood ran cold. Was it possible Jenny had found Barney and...? Oh no.. Barney had been through a lot already. Did Jenny really have to make things worse for him?

Penny soon got tired of listening to Jenny speak and, out of anger, kicked her in the leg. The nurse did move back and looked at her angrily, but, to her surprise, she did not strike her back. But she didn’t stop with the mental abuse. She kept telling Penny about how she will never be able to cure Rudy in case, how it was impossible to find a way to fix the disease before it was too late. She strongly hinted that things were going to go downhill much sooner than she would have imagined.

She began to wonder if this was all Jenny brought her in for. Just to mentally torture her like this, taunting her on Rudy’s fate and how she’ll be helpless to stop it. Her harsh words echoed in her mind, unable to make it stop. She shook her head a few times, trying to get the words to leave her, but they wouldn’t. It frightened her, making her feel more apprehensive about Rudy’s condition. It forced her to ask herself an uneasy question. What if Jenny was right? What if she can’t help Rudy in time?

She tried not to think about it. She tried to stay positive. There was always a way. Always.. She couldn’t just give up. Jenny’s mind games...she shouldn’t allow them to bother her too much. She had to prove the evil nurse wrong and continue to perservere. She would find a way to help cure Rudy, and she would do it as soon as possible.

Nurse Jenny then told Penny something that downright horrified her. She couldn’t tell if she was lying or if she was just saying this to make her feel uneasy. But Jenny had told her about how she had broken into Rudy’s house and took some blood. She never confirmed this. She never showed any vial of blood. Nor did she ever say what it was for. She just said that she took some blood for him. No doubt this was Jenny’s way of showing Penny just how much control she really had. If she could break into Rudy’s house undetected and do something like that, then what else was she capable of doing? The thought scared Penny and she realized she was going to feel so vulnerable at night.

The visit to the office did turn out to have more to it than just mind games. Jenny was interested in getting some of her blood. She never stated why. Penny knew, whatever the reason, it could not be good. She had attempted to resist, but there was little she could do. Jenny had drugged her. It slowed her down and made it easy for the nurse to take her blood, choosing a spot far away from where the drug was injected. Thankfully, the drug’s properties wore off very quickly, just not fast enough to stop the nurse.

Jenny had taunted her about witnessing the next stage of the illness very soon. Penny wasn’t sure why Jenny was tormenting her mentally like this. She wondered if Jenny was trying to weaken her spirit so it’ll be easy to fight back against her. Penny was not going to allow her to get the upperhand and she did her best to remind herself that there still had to be some hope somewhere. Those two kids, Daniel and Michael, they could get more information from them. Maybe it would be enough to devise a cure or some way to weaken the disease more. She couldn’t allow Jenny to bring her down mentally like that.

And it seemed Jenny was not very surprised that Penny was able to hold out as well as she had. So she decided to bring out the big gun. She told Penny something that would never leave her. Something that she was going to worry about this whole time, trying to wonder what it means and if there was any way to stop it.

They had gotten on the topic of Rudy and the black chalk. It was revealed, if Jenny was being honest, that the black chalk does not require a living body as a host. So long as the body was mostly intact, and that there was enough of the black chalk essence in side, a dead body would become a literal zombie. This only worked in ChalkZone where the black chalk’s magic was the strongest. Jenny revealed that, even though she wants to kill Rudy, she knows the black chalk wants the boy back, so she planned on making sure he was in ChalkZone when he died so his lifeless corpse could be used to serve the black chalk.

Penny protested, stating that there was no way Rudy was going to just go into ChalkZone whenever they told him do. This prompted a cold laughter from Jenny, who went on to explain that, with what was going to happen to him soon, he was going to have no choice but to stay in ChalkZone. This was confusing and Penny attempted to have Jenny explain more. But the nurse refused, stating that it would ruin the surprise.

Jenny mentioned that things might be easier for Rudy if he just gave into the corruption again. This angered Penny and she shouted at the nurse that Rudy would never be like them. What Jenny said next was what was going to haunt Penny for a while as she struggled to understand what it meant.

"Oh dear Penny...You honestly don't believe your friend is any different, do you? The black chalk has planted its seed in him, just like it had with me. It is...just a matter of time. All the pieces will soon drop into the fray, and there is nothing you can do to stop it."

Penny had no idea what this meant. The way it was said, the way it was worded, it was so confusing. She had attempted to get Jenny to explain it more, but that was when she was kicked out of the office. She could hear Jenny’s cold, maniacal laughter as the door was slammed in her face. Jenny clearly enjoyed the torment she placed on her, forcing her to wonder the meaning of what she said.

Penny replayed that statement again and again in her mind. From the gist of it, it sounded like Jenny was implying that Rudy would, somehow, someday, give into the corruption, that he never truly escaped it completely. The thought was horrifying to her. She recalled how Rudy was when he was controlled by the black chalk three years ago. The idea of him becoming like that again...it was unbearable.

And Jenny’s words made it sound like she really thought all of this through. It hinted that she and her lackeys had this all planned out, with each step well coordinated and using the right moves to manipulate them into falling more and more into their little game. Stressing her out over this must be part of their sick plan. She wanted to try to ignore it. She wanted to show them that they can’t control her like that, but she couldn’t help but worry about the whole thing, which might be what they want. They might want her to fret over this so she makes mistakes. She..she couldn’t do that. She had to remain calm so she could think about this more thoroughly.

But it wasn’t just Jenny’s words that bothered her. After she left the school, getting in her mom’s car, she was informed of something that happened at the hospital with Rudy. As soon as she heard something bad happened, she immediately and wondered if it had anything to do with Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek. She was relieved when her mother assured her that they did not break in. But what happened, it was of little comfort and didn’t really make her feel that much better.

Rudy had a horrific nightmare at the hospital about an hour or so ago. He had been shouting and screaming in his sleep. It had been so loud that her mother heard it when she was halfway down the hall from him. He was covered in sweat and it seemed like, at least for a time, his fever had returned. When her mother attempted to calm him down, Rudy only struggled harder, making shouts at whoever was in tormenting him in his dream to leave him alone.

She had managed to wake him up after a while, but that was when a worrying symptom showed up. Some kind of form of amnesia. That was the best way her mother could describe it. Rudy remained terrified even after he had woken up. He acted like he had no idea where he was. He had stared at her mother with a horrified expression, and when she tried to touch him to calm him down, he screamed, clearly thinking that she was going to hurt him. His screams caught the other doctors’ attention, and they immediately came into the room.

Her mother and the doctors kept trying to calm him down. They would hold his arms and legs and try to tell him that everything was all right, that he was just in the hospital. Holding him down seemed to make things worse and Rudy just struggled harder, letting out panicked screams and begged them not to hurt him. Penny had no idea just what happened in the dream, but it was clear it traumatized him.

The doctors had no choice but to tranquilize Rudy. Penny’s mom had brought over some real world drugs just in case they needed them, and in this case, they did. Rudy’s heart rate was getting out of control. The only way that he could calm down was if he were injected with some tranquilizer. It was a little hard as he kept moving around. The doctors were able to hold him still while her mom injected him with the drug. Rudy did slowly calm down and became relaxed. The whole event had been terrifying, prompting one of the doctors to remain with him at all times so he doesn’t have another panic attack.

When Penny learned what happened, she was absolutely devastated. She was horrified that this had happened to Rudy. She felt her heart clench at the thought of Rudy suffering mentally like that. She knew nightmares could be horrifying, but being so bad that he actually forgot where he was and who her mom was? That was truly terrifying. At least he was calm now, though he only got calm thanks to the drug that her mom was forced to inject into him.

How had Rudy forgotten where he was? Why did he not recognize her mother when she came in to try to calm him down? She recalled, with a shudder, how her mom said he had even tried to attack her in self defense. He was truly terrified of her. There was no way it was mere acting, not that Rudy would ever pretend to be afraid like this. Something was seriously wrong. She and her mom both hoped that Rudy’s outburst was the result of the dream and not from any of the symptoms he was experiencing. They would find out for sure, whenever the drugs would wear off.

As her mom continued to drive her back home so they could head into ChalkZone, Penny hoped and prayed Rudy was going to be okay. He had to make it.. He just had to... She didn’t want to believe that his condition was getting worse already. She didn’t want to believe that there was nothing she could do. She didn’t want to believe the nurse’s words. There had to be a way to save Rudy. He would never give up on her. She wouldn’t give up on him.

Her stomach twisted in knots in apprehension of what was about to come. She feared greatly for Rudy. He was in trouble. He needed her help. She couldn’t let him down. And she knew exactly what she was going to do. In the midst of her muggy, confused, and horrified thoughts, she managed to formulate a plan. After she visited Rudy, she was going to do a little research of her own. She would find out about Daniel and Michael. She would try to learn of what happened to them, see if any real world hospitals have any records of them.

She was certain that something about what she may find regarding those two would help her. She would analyze whatever data she could get her hands on, and work towards helping Rudy feel better. She wasn’t going to give up. Despite Jenny’s words on how hopeless the situation was, she would still at least try. And if she worked hard enough, if she continued to push herself...

...she just might succeed.

sss

Vinnie was getting frustrated. Very frustrated. He had done so much harm to Terry. He had cut her up, made her bleed. He threatened her and he damaged her. And still, she would not break. She refused to tell him anything he wanted to know. He felt his blood start to boil, the full realization that she really had betrayed him coming to full bloom. Something happened that caused her to turn her back on exposing ChalkZone, and he fully intended on finding out what it was.

Everyone had a breaking point. Everyone got to the point where they finally can’t take it anymore. He just needed to find Terry’s. He had a lot of time to play with her. He just had to be careful of where he cut her and how deep. He didn’t want to kill her. However, he would do what it took to make her stay here a living hell. By the end of it all, she would be begging to be killed just to get away from the pain.

It shocked him how high of pain tolerance this bitch had. From looking at her, he would never have guessed that she could be so resistant against him. Even after all her injuries, even though she clearly hated the pain and screamed and cried, she still did not speak to him. She had stopped speaking to him since she was strapped down. He had tried some ‘friendly’ conversation, but she refused to speak even then. Even simple words like ‘yes’ and ‘no’ she wouldn’t speak. It was clear she didn’t want to give him any kind of satisfaction of acknowledging his questions and was ignoring him the best she could, despite all that pain he was inflicting on her.

He had to admit, it was kind of impressive. He would have thought she’d crack hours ago. The fact that she was still holding out and still refusing to speak, well it was an amazing feat. He had to admire that about her. It was just a shame that he didn’t have this kind of stubbornness and tenacity on his side. It was a shame that Terry, for whatever reason, decided to throw it all away. He was going to find out what happened, and once he did, he was going to find someway to force her back on his side. He wanted to control her and he would do whatever it took to achieve that.

He knew that torturing her like this may not work. It was clear it wasn’t. She was resisting too much. She would end up dying if he didn’t let up and try something else soon. But rather than stop, he decided to keep going for a while. He listened to her screams, smirking each time. Perhaps, if he kept this up a little longer, maybe she could end up snapping and giving in. And if not, well at least he had a little fun.

After another ten minutes of torturing Terry, he decided to try something else. He did have a backup plan in case the torture didn’t work. A dark smile spread across his face. She might have been able to resist the pain, but blackmail was a little harder to ignore. And the dirt he had on her, he could tell he’d be able to make her do anything he wanted. After how hard it was for her to rebuild her reputation, it was going to be much harder, if not impossible, for her to climb her way back up with what he had in store for her.

He ripped out the scalpel from her side, prompting a bloodcurdling scream from the woman. He took a step back and looked at his handiwork. Terry was covered in multiple cuts. Some were deep, most were shallow. Blood covered much of her body and stained the ground. Her face was glistening with tears. She had not only been screaming, but crying too. Sometimes she’d give him a look that was silently begging him to release her. He thought that at least one of these looks would be followed by her saying she’ll talk, but that never happened. He had ignored those looks and kept on hurting her.

A part of him was not proud of what he had done to her. He may have lost a willing ally. He found it much easier working with people if they were more cooperative and willingly followed him. He didn’t want to have to threaten Terry to make her do anything. But unfortunately, that seemed to be what the case was going to be. He wasn’t usually one for torture or causing physical pain and he would rather avoid it at all costs. But when it came to finding an entrance to ChalkZone so he could build his theme park, he thought that some sacrifices could be made. It was all going to work out in the long run.

Terry glared at him with those hate-filled eyes. He just smirked at her. He was going to make her break. And if he couldn’t do it through pain, he would do it through blackmail. Let’s see how long she would be able to resist when he threatened her with potential damage that she would not be able to recover from.

“I see you still refuse to talk. I wish you would just make things easier on yourself and speak, sister.” Vinnie said. He walked around the chair slowly, eyeing her injured body up and down. “But since you won’t, I’ll have to resort to...other means of making you talk.”

Terry growled at him, watching him as he circled her like a vulture. He pulled out something from his pocket. She saw it was a flashlight. He flipped it on. Terry let out a surprised cry and turned her head away, trying to shield herself from the bright light. Vinnie held the light steady, shining it against her face like he was a cop interrogating a suspect.

“I didn’t want to have to do this, but you left me no choice, sister.” He put his face close to hers. Terry wrinkled her nose in disgust as his breath hit against her face. “For you see, you made a mistake turning against me. Remember all those things you showed me? Back in your van? Do you think I forgot about all those?”

Terry’s eyes widened in horror. Vinnie’s smile grew nastier. Good, the little bitch understood where he was getting at. So she must also know there was no getting out of this. She couldn’t keep him from talking. She had no control over him. But he had oh so much control over her.

Vinnie chuckled and said, “Did you think I would simply forget? Oh no... I remember it all. You can’t take that way from me. And guess what?” He whispered in a harsh voice, “I have copies..” Terry shook her head in denial. “If you don’t want to believe me, that’s fine. After all, what reason do you have to believe a shifty guy like me?” Vinnie put his back to her and walked away. He stopped and gave her a sideways glance. “But then again...do you want to take that risk?”

Terry narrowed her eyes. She turned her head away, refusing to look at him. Vinnie shook his head. Defiant as usual. Even in the face of blackmail, she was still trying to resist. Well she won’t be able to resist for long. He knew how much she loved her job. He knew how much she would rather avoid doing something that would not only ruin her career, but her life. She would crack, he knew she would. He just needed to keep ‘gently’ nudging her in the right direction.

“After all... I could easily bring that evidence to court. I could easily have you arrested for stalking. Yes, it was years ago, but I don’t think they’d care. All that evidence, Terry...I don’t think you can defend yourself against all of it. Then everyone will know what you have done. They will know that you broke several laws getting all that information, all that dirt, on Rudy, Penny, and Snap. Once they see that evidence, you are going to be locked up.”

Terry glared at him, but he could see a tinge of fear in her eyes now.

“And even after you get out of jail, guess what? It’s going to affect your life as well. Who is going to hire someone who stalks children? Hmm? Who is going to believe you are trustworthy? You won’t have a job anymore. You will lose your home because you can’t pay your bills, and you will be living on the street. Is that the kind of life you really want? Do you not mind living in alleyways, scrounging for food like some wild animal? Is keeping information about ChalkZone away from me worth so much that you’d be willing to put yourself in such a bad place?”

The reporter still refused to answer. Vinnie watched as her expression grew more and more fearful. He could see her body start to shake a little. He smirked. Yes, he was getting closer. She would break soon.

He walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders and leaned in. “If you end up getting arrested and thrown in jail over this, remember this..” He smiled darkly. “You brought it on yourself. It would be all your fault. And when you sit in the jail cell, I hope you think to yourself how you could have prevented it all if you had just listened to me and did exactly what I told you to do.” He leaned back away from her, watching her terrified expression. “So what’s it gunna be, sister? Are you going to continue to resist, or are you going to help me?”

Terry finally couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “I...I...”

“Ah so you can talk!” Vinnie said in a mocking voice. “Good. Now why don’t you tell me your answer?”

Terry stared at him. She weakly shook her head. “N-No..I won’t...”

Vinnie cocked an eyebrow. “Still resisting I see. Well I’m sure I can convince you to see things my way. I’ve always had a knack for that, remember?” He leaned in close, putting his forehead against hers. His voice was a harsh whisper. “Even when we were kids, I could always get our parents to side with me. They’d never believe you. I know how much you hated how our mother and father wouldn’t believe you, and now it’s going to repeat, only this time, it won’t be just our parents against you. It’ll be all of Plainsville, and possibly other cities, other states.”

“You...” Terry started to say, but her voice trailed off. Her eyes were wide in horror as she seemed to realize the full gravity of the situation. “You wouldn’t do that...would you...brother?”

“I won’t...” Vinnie said in a casual voice. “...so long as you tell me what I want to know.” He lifted up the blood stained scalpel and looked at it. “Otherwise, drastic times call for drastic measures.” He gave her an eerie smile.

Terry stared at him with wide eyes.

sss

It had been difficult, but Penny’s mom was able to convince the doctors to let her in to the room with Rudy. She had even convinced the doctors to give them some privacy so they could talk. It took a while of talking, but the doctors eventually agreed, but told Penny she had a half hour limitation and then she had to get out.

She wished she could stay longer, but she should consider herself lucky to be able to come in her eat all. The doctors would only let her in, which meant that his parents, aunt, cousin, and Snap all couldn’t see him yet. The doctors were a little jumpy about that hallucination he had earlier, or whatever it was that happened, and they wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to happen again. They were afraid that if just anyone all of a sudden walks in, it could somehow trigger another episode.

While she understood their concerns, she did feel it was a little extreme barring everyone from entering the room and only letting her in for half an hour. They were all very worried about Rudy. They wanted to visit him. They wanted to make sure he was all right. It was unfair that the doctors keep them from visiting him. Yeah she understood the dangers of panic attacks, but they were his family. Surely, if he started to freak out, they could calm him down eventually, couldn’t they? At the very least, his parents would be able to keep him calm, wouldn’t they?

She sat down next to Rudy’s bed. The boy was pretty calm now, likely from the tranquilizer still being somewhat in effect. He seemed to know where he was now, his previous confusion gone. When she had asked him about why he screamed at her mom, he didn’t understand what she was talking about. This led to Penny thinking that maybe Rudy was never awake to begin with and maybe he was still dreaming. That would explain why he had no idea where he was and why he screamed at her mom.

At least it seemed to be over for now. The tranquilizer did its job at keeping him relaxed. He was more aware of his surroundings and he didn’t freak out when she and her mom came in. He was still a little tired, likely from the drug’s effects. But overall, he was looking better. She was glad to see him act calmer than how her mother had described how he behaved earlier. It was an improvement at least.

“The doctors say you may be released tomorrow.” Penny said, trying to make conversation. Rudy looked over at her. “Do you mind staying here another night?”

Rudy paused for a moment. He then said, “Not really. If it’s what is necessary, then I’m fine with it.” He leaned back on the bed, pressing his back against the headboard. “I just wish that they would the others in. I miss them. I want to see them again.”

Penny reached out and touched his shoulder. “And you will soon.”

Rudy smiled at her. “At least they let someone in to see me. Better than nothing, right?”

Penny nodded her head. “Yeah...”

She looked down at the plate laying in front of Rudy. Her mom had to go back and get more food for him. The plate had some veggies and fruit on it, but no meat. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to get some much needed nutrients into his body since he hadn’t really eaten since he was sick. She noticed that he hardly ate anything or drank much of anything despite being hungry and thirsty before. Strange, but then again, stomachs do shrink when there isn’t food put into them at a steady rate, so she wasn’t concerned.

She was happy that he got any food in him at all. And besides, he could always eat more later on. He would get hungry again and he would eat a little more. She’d be happy if he ate at least a quarter of the food on here before he had to go to sleep at night. She wanted him to regain at least some of his strength from having collapsed from a fever days ago.

She had thought about telling Rudy about what Jenny told her. But she decided not to. At least not now. She didn’t have much time to talk about anything too big in here. The doctors would be back soon to get her out so they could go back to monitoring him. She’ll have to wait until he was released from the hospital tomorrow to speak to him. As frustrating as it was, she knew she had no choice. She had no authority over these doctors. She’ll tell Rudy as soon as she could after he was released. She made a mental note to herself to remember.

And it wasn’t just that he needed to know. She was still shaken up by what Reggie had told her. He knew about ChalkZone? He remembered it? How? She thought that Rudy took care of that years ago. How is it that Reggie still remembered? Did someone tell him? She knew Rudy was going to be horrified by the news. Just when they thought things couldn’t get any worse, something else happened. Now not only did they have three black chalk users to worry about, but now they have a new Reggie problem to deal with. She hoped that he would at least be cooperative.

She watched as he picked up a carrot. He examined it for a moment and then he bit down on it. She smiled as he began to eat some of the carrot. It wasn’t much, but any amount of food after what he’s been through was good. He then reached for a glass of real world water and started to drink it. She was glad to see some sign of him doing a tad bit better, even though she knew it would start going downhill soon. The chartreuse chalk was not going to hold out forever.

Her smile faded when she saw him wince in pain and jerk the cup back. Water splashed on parts of his blanket, dissolving them, leaving holes behind. He put the cup down and his face contorted in agony. He forced himself to swallow the liquid and when he did, he let out a hiss of pain and held his stomach. Alarmed, her heart racing, Penny rushed to his side.

“Rudy?!” Penny cried, her eyes wide in horror. “What’s wrong?!”

Rudy looked at her, his eyes wide in a mixture of fear and pain. “I-It hurts....It hurts so much...”

Penny’s heart tightened as she listened to how pitiful Rudy’s voice sounded as he spoke. He was in so much pain. He sounded so terrified. He looked at her with those wide eyes, silently begging her to help him. She acted immediately.

Penny removed the tray from the bed, setting it on the nearby stand, and wrapped her arms around Rudy. He cuddled up against her, pressing the side of his face against her upper chest. She held up gently, listening to him crying and whimpering in pain. Hearing him like this, seeing him in this condition made Penny’s heart break. Tears of her own flowed down her face. What was wrong with Rudy? What happened that suddenly put him in such great agony? She watched as he continued to tremble in pain, her stomach twisting in knots.

Then he started to cough. She winced and more hot tears streamed down her face as she listened to him cough, holding onto him tighter. Again and again he coughed, and every time, it sounded worse and worse. She sniffled and pressed her chin against the top of his head.

“Oh Rudy...it’ll be okay...” Penny whispered, listening to him crying and coughing helplessly. “Shhh....it’ll be all right...”

Suddenly, Rudy gave a really loud, horrible sounding cough and she felt something wet against her shirt. It felt too thick and heavy to be saliva or mucous. Slowly, still cradling Rudy against her, she looked down to see what it was. Her eyes flew open in absolute horror.

It was a glob of blood...

Chapter Text

Blocky stood outside the Chalk Mine entrance. He watched as Wiggums hopped all around him. A forelorn look was on the green zoner’s face. He knelt down and picked up Wiggums and held onto him.

It was hard to believe that, just a short while ago, he had been having a pretty good day. Nothing strange or unusual. Well at first. That all changed when Wiggums showed up and when he passed by that anti-creator group. Now he had gotten on edge and nervous. His day had went downhill very fast. And it got worse when he found Biclops laying prone in the cave, unmoving. The finding had been such a shock to him. His body still trembled from it.

He had gotten help as soon as he could. They couldn’t transport him to the hospital. There was no hospital nearby that had sections large enough for him. Instead, doctors had to rush over with their equipment and make due. There were a lot of docotors, mostly fit and strong ones, that came in to assist the giant the best they could. From what Blocky heard, it hadn’t been easy trying to care for something so much bigger than they were.

He came in with them for a time. He kept his distance so he wouldn’t get in the way. The doctors went to work taking down the electric cage. This required meticulous work, looking all along the edges and walls to try to figure out where the power source was. When they were eventually able to find it, they cut off the power and the cage went down. Biclops no longer trapped by the horrific cage was a definite improvement.

The doctors checked the giant’s vitals. He recalled how horrified they sounded when they took note of the results. Apparently Biclops’s heart had started to slow down and his blood pressure dropped dramatically. He was so heavily dehydrated that his tongue looked like it had what resembled cracks in it, like he would see in a desert. His breathing had become so shallow that his chest hardly rose at all. And his breathing didn’t sound all that great either. Blocky had been horrified by this news. Just how long had Biclops been trapped here if his starvation and dehydration were this severe?

The doctors went to work providing nutrients for him and rehydrating him. They stuck multiple needles into his body, each one hooked up a machine to pumped in IV fluids. They also managed to hook him up to some monitor machines, such as one for the heart. The doctors hoped that he would be able to wake up relatively soon, provided all goes well. Satisfied and hopeful by this bit of news, Blocky took Wiggums, who had been getting in the doctors’ way, and left the cave.

Blocky decided it was best the wait out here while the doctors did their work. He didn’t want to get in their way. There was nothing he could really do to help them. And he could tell the doctors were getting a little agitated with him being there anyway. So might as well leave before they got annoyed enough and forced him to go. He would wait outside the cave until one of the doctors came to give him an update. So far, no doctors came, but they would eventually.

He hoped that Biclops was going to be okay. He had never seen anyone in that kind of state before. It was unnerving, unsettling. He had to wonder just how he got into that situation. Maybe Biclops would tell him after he woke up. He hoped that Biclops wouln’t mind talking about his encounter. He was sure that it would be less than pleasant, but the sooner he told someone about what happened, the better. Otherwise, it could just get worse.

He struggled to hold onto Wiggums. The wiggie was getting a little restless. He grunted in frustration as he held onto the squirming wiggie. He might have been useful in alerting him about Biclops’s condition, but he was still a wiggie and still prone to do things that just were’t helpful. He couldn’t let him hop around on his own without his leash. He might get himself into trouble, especially if whoever trapped Biclops was still around.Wiggums continued to struggle and he continued to hold onto him. Man, he wished he had remembered to bring Wiggums’s leash.

He heard footseps behind him. He turned around to see Rapsheeba coming towards him. He widened his eyes in confusion. How did she know he was here? Did she follow him? If so, why did she wait until now to show her face?

“Rapsheeba? What are you doing here?” Blocky asked.

“I could ask you the same thing.” Rapsheeba folded her arms together. “Why are you at the Chalk Mine? You know Biclops doesn’t like anyone in his cave. Well except for Rudy.” She noticed Blocky’s forelorn expression and her expression softened up slightly. “Blocky? What’s wrong?”

Blocky lowered his head and sighed. “Rapsheeba... Biclops..was in trouble.”

Rapsheeba’s eyes widened. “What? What happened to him?”

“Someone locked him up in a cage. It could have been for days.” Blocky’s voice was soft and filled with sorrow. “With how bad off he was, it couldn’t have been a short amount of time he was in there. He was severely dehydrated...and that was just one of his problems.” He looked over at Rapsheeba. She had her hands to her mouth, her eyes wide. “They’re doing what they can to help him.” A small smile. “The good news is that they think he’s going to make it.”

“Well that’s definitely good.” Rapsheeba smiled back. She still looked worried. “I wonder if this has to do with those three new creators who showed up in ChalkZone.”

Blocky was silent for a few seconds. “It could be. Reports did indicate those three new creators weren’t so friendly.” He glanced back at the entrance. “I hope they don’t come back and try that again. Biclops needs some time to recover.”

Rapsheeba nodded in agreement. “Yeah...” She furrowed her eyebrows. “Unfortunately, I don’t think they would be that reasonable. Best to be on the look out.”

On the look out... Yeah that’s all they could do. When it comes to creators, the best they can do is watch out for them and report if there was any suspicious activity. They couldn’t fight well against creators. Oh they could try, but they would always fail. The only way they’d have a chance was if they could get the magic chalk away from them, but that was easier said than done. They would have to catch the creators offguard and that was no easy feat. It would take all their skill and effort just to do that, and then they’d have to be careful of whatever the creator drew. Even if they got rid of the chalk, there was still the weaponry created that they’d have to deal with.

That is one reason why he was so concerned about what the anti-creator group would do with Rudy. Right now, he has no magic chalk to defend himself, and he wasn’t in the best of shape. He had heard there was some improvement, but he was still weak and ill. If the anti-creator group decided to get physically violent, they could do so with Rudy. They could gang up on him in the hospital and drag him out. They could beat him up if they so desired, as ‘retribution’ for what the three evil creators did. They might even try to kill him...

Blocky shook those thoughts out of his head. There was no way to know for certain, at the moment, what that group might do. It was possible that they wouldn’t even want to hurt Rudy. They might be a more peaceful group and just want to get him out of ChalkZone. They didn’t need to hurt him to do that. He shouldn’t place judgment on them until he knew more about them. He had only ever seen them in the streets; he never tried speaking to them. Maybe he would...sometime.

His thoughts were interrupted when, out of the corner of his eye, he could see someone walking out of the cave. He and Rapsheeba watched as one of the doctors came towards them. His eyes were fixated on Blocky only, barely paying attention to Wiggums or Rapsheeba.

Blocky swallowed, nervous about what the doctor might have to say. Something could have gone wrong. He hoped that this wasn’t the case. “Doctor? How...how is he...?”

The doctor paused for a moment. He then said, “He is doing fine...for the most part.” He narrowed his eyes a little and looked at the clipboard he was holding. “However, he is still very weak. It may take him longer to wake up from this than we thought. But overall, he should be okay. We just have to monitor him for a while and continue the IV fluids.”

Blocky and Rapsheeba were both relieved by this. Though it would take him longer to get up than they initially predicted, at least he was doing better. That was a definite improvement. They hoped that whoever had done this to Biclops wouldn’t be able to come back to try something else. They guessed that the doctors would remain there at all times and create a defense to keep Biclops safe, or maybe call someone to act as a bodyguard.

“You may go home.” The doctor said. “I am certain you must be getting tired, and we don’t think Biclops will wake up anytime soon. So why don’t you all go home and rest? I or someone else will call you if there’s any changes.”

“Okay.” Blocky said as he and Rapsheeba nodded in understanding.

The two of them turned around and began to walk away. As they did, Blocky’s thoughts kept going back to that anti-creator group. He half wondered if they were the ones who harmed Biclops somehow. Depending on how aggressive they were with their beliefs of ‘all creators are bad’, they might regard Biclops as a traitor. After all, Biclops had once been anti-creator himself and had been hostile towards Rudy when he first came. Could the group see his kindness towards Rudy as an act betrayal? If so, then trapping him like this could have been ‘retribution’.

There was no proof this group was behind this, though. There weren’t so many and they didn’t strike him as a group that knew how to do things, like set up electric bars without the giant noticing them. There was a good chance they weren’t involved at all, but still, it might not be a good idea to completely dismiss it. Not knowing the group was terrifying, because he had no idea what they were fully capable of or how far they’d go. They could be nonviolent, but then they could be downright maniacal.

He had to tell Rudy about this. That would be his next destination, the hospital. He had to go to him now and tell him about this group. He needed to be warned...before it was too late.

sss

Penny paced around the waiting room nervously, her arms folded behind her back. Once in a while, she’d glance up at the clock, seeing how little it moved in what felt like a long time to her. She sometimes let out a low grunt of frustration, wishing time would move faster. She tried to keep herself calm, but how could see? In this situation? The others didn’t try to stop her. They all felt what she was feeling.

When Penny had come over with news of what happened to Rudy, how he had coughed up blood, it was of no surprise when the others had gone completely silent in horror. Rudy’s parents asked her if she was being serious, to which she answered yes. She concerned the coughing of blood when she showed them the stain on her shirt from where Rudy had coughed on her. This horrified everyone, causing some nervous chatter amongst them.

Rudy’s parents were huddled together not far from the others. They were comforting each other the best they could. Penny watched them for a moment, her eyes filled with sympathy. She couldn’t imagine what they must be going through, to have their own son hospitalized with an unknown condition, and seemingly getting worse as time went on. She had thought that the chartreuse chalk would make things better for a time. Maybe they just brought it in too late and other symptoms started to appear. Still, this was worrying as it meant they most likely had less time to save Rudy. No wonder his parents would be so scared.

Tilly looked just as upset. She still sounded like she felt guilty still about how she had snapped at Rudy before. Penny wanted to comfort her and tell her that she shouldn’t blame herself, that it was all taken care of. But she wasn’t sure what she could say. She herself was so worried that it was hard to think of anything positive to say. She hoped that someone, perhaps the doctor, could bring in some optimism. They could really use it.

At least Sophie was trying to help. She tried to cheer her mother up, though Tilly hardly responded. Sophie did eventually stop trying, seeing that her efforts weren’t working. She huddled up against her mom and she was pulled into a hug. Sophie asked if Rudy was going to be all right. Tilly’s response was just to cry harder and hold onto Sophie more tightly.

Snap was quiet. He stared blankly at the wall. He hardly spoke since he got the news. Penny knew this wasn’t because he didn’t care. He was just stunned to silence. Rudy coughing up blood, and a lot of it too, was the last kind of news he would have liked to hear. Rudy’s condition was already starting to get worse. The coughing of blood reminded them of what Barney said. The realization that Rudy was getting to get these new symptoms was terrifying for them, and the others, too. She walked over toward Snap and sat down next to him. In an attempt to comfort him, she placed an arm around him, against his shoulder, and pulled him close.

As she gently held onto Snap, her thoughts went back to how Rudy acted earlier. He had seemed fine at first. He was a little weak, but he was calm and he was talking with her. Compared to how he used to be, it was a definite improvement. Nothing about his behavior hinted that something terrible was going to happen. She had been hopeful that he would improve enough that he could come home earlier.

But then...that happened...

She recalled the look of pain on his face when he had eaten that food and drank the water. He looked so anguished, so pained... She winced as the horrible memory came back to her. She held onto him and tried her best to calm him down. There was little she could do to alleviate the pain. All she could do was hold him and try to soothe him to make the pain at least a little more bearable. And then he coughed up blood and it horrified her. Just..just what happened to him? Why did it crop up suddenly? One minute, he was fine, and then the next, without warning, for no apparent reason, he was suddenly stricken by pain.

She soon realized that, no, it hadn’t been sudden. It happened after he had eaten and drank. She thought back to Rudy’s actions. He had eaten the carrot just fine. He hardly reacted to it. But when he drank the water, the reaction took only seconds. Her eyes widened a little as she realized that the water might have been what caused him pain. But how? It was just water. It wasn’t like it was acid or anything. It shouldn’t have caused him any kind of trouble. If he were a zoner, it would make sense. But Rudy was human, not a chalk being.

Then it hit her. Horror spread through her mind. Her blood chills. Could it...could it be possible that..? No, it couldn’t be. No, it was impossible. No disease, chalk or not, could do something like this. There had to be another explanation. Maybe the water was tainted or something.. No, it couldn’t have been. Some of the water got on Rudy’s skin and it was just fine. There was..no other explaination for this except...

...oh she hoped she was wrong. Her heart clenched at the thought. She hoped that she made a miscalculation. She had to be wrong. She just had to.

Regardless, she still had to tell the doctors about her hypothesis. They would be able to test for it. They could do some scans and bloodwork to see if she was, unfortunately, right. And if she was... She wondered how they were going to save Rudy. If this revelation turned out to be correct, then they were in a far more terrifying ride than she ever imagined they would. How...how were they going to fix this...?

Just then, her mom came walking into the waiting room. Immediately, they were all on their feet, looking over at her for any kind of news regarding Rudy. Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie were the closest to her mother, so close that her mom had to take a few steps back to make some room for herself. She and Snap came close, too, but she did make sure her mom had some breathing room. Snap did the same. Tilly and Sophie hung back a little further, but were still close enough to hear what her mom had to say.

“How is our boy?” Mr. Tabootie asked, his voice laced with worry.

Mrs. Tabootie wiped away a tear. “Is he doing better? What about that blood? Is he...?”

Mrs. Sanchez raised her hand in the air to silence the two. She looked down at the clipboard clutched in her hand. She looked back at them. “For now, Rudy is stabilized. We managed to get rid of the pain and he has calmed down. We haven’t been able to identify yet what caused him to cough up blood or what caused the sudden pain. We will keep an eye on him.”

Mrs. Tabootie bit her lip. “You...don’t know what caused him to be in agony that fast? Can’t you do a scan or something?”

Mrs. Sanchez nodded her head. “If it happens again, we will. We are hoping it was just a one off thing. Maybe it was just the result of his stomach acids being too high after not eating enough.” The others looked at her in confusion. She nodded her head. “A bit farfetched, I know. That is why, if this happens again, we will do a scan first thing. There could be something else going on that we just aren’t aware of yet.”

This placed the group in a nervous silence. Penny understood what her mom was getting at, and she wondered if she had come up with the same conclusion as she did. She looked around at the others, her expression sympathetic. They were all clearly worried and horrified. Some glanced at each other, exchanging glances of uncertainty. Snap looked up at her with those big, worried eyes. Unsure of what to say but still wanting to comfort him, Penny reached down and touched his cheek. She made a silent promise that they would fix this, and she hoped he understood her wordless message.

“We have noticed that Rudy developed a new condition while we helped to ease his pain.” Mrs. Sanchez explained.

“What did you find?” Tilly asked, taking a small step forward.

“Is it bad?” Snap managed to ask, his voice cracked with emotion.

“What’s wrong with Rudy?” Mr. Tabootie asked, holding onto his wife to comfort her. “It can be treated, whatever it is, right..?”

Mrs. Sanchez furrowed her eyebrows in concern. “Well, this condition is more psychological. We don’t know how he developed it, but it could be a side effect of this chalk disease that he has.” She looked at the others, who awaited her answer. She glanced down at her clipboard, and then she said, “Rudy has developed a case of hydrophobia.”

This caused the group to chatter with each other, their eyes wide in shock. They couldn’t believe what they heard. Rudy had never had this before. To think that he would develop it suddenly, it was hard for them to imagine. The boy loved the water, especially in the summer time when they would all go to the beach. He had never shown signs of hydrophobia before. Why would he develop it now?

Penny had a good idea of why. She tried not to think about it. She still hoped she was wrong. But if she was right, and if the water had, somehow, damaged Rudy, if it had been what hurt him to begin with, then it was understandable that he would now have an adverse reaction to it. She hoped that he would conquer his hydrophobia after this was over. It was going to be so sad watching him be so afraid of something that he had once enjoyed. How far would this hydrophobia go? Was he going to be afraid of all water? She hoped those black chalk users don’t catch wind of this.

“Hydrophobia..?” Snap repeated, his voice light. He lowered his gaze, shifting his eyes in a way that showed he had some deep level of understanding. “Just like me...”

Penny looked at Snap sympathetically. She recalled that he, too, suffered from hydrophobia. Not chalk water, but real world water. Snap had been tortured by water. Mr. Cosmo used water to hurt him, to deepen his wound so he could place that horrible mind control needle into his head. And Ghadir had sprayed Snap with water to force Sophie to speak. The poor guy suffered some mental damage because of that. It was no wonder he would be so terrified of water.

And now Rudy was suffering from the same thing. Hydrophobia, and for similiar reasons. Snap was hurt by real world water. And now so had Rudy. Out of all of them, Snap would understand the most of what he was going through. Maybe it would be a good idea for Snap to stay with Rudy for the night. She wasn’t sure if she could convince the doctors to let Rudy go to Snap’s treehouse, but maybe she could get them to agree to let Snap stay. Having someone with him that understood what he was going through may do a lot to help him mentally.

“Hydrophobia?” Mr. Tabootie asked. “How..how in tarnation did he get that? We never saw him show fear of it before.”

“It is strange...” Tilly looked down at her daughter. “Has Rudy showed signs of hydrophobia while you guys are in ChalkZone?”

Sophie shook her head. “Not from what I can remember.”

“He went with us to that water theme park.” Mrs. Tabootie’s eyes widened slightly. Confusion and horror was plastered over her face. “I can’t believe that... How did he...?”

“Sometimes phobias can arise without warning. You can go through most of your life without a particular fear. And then, out of the blue, you can get it.” Mrs. Sanchez explained. She looked at each of them sympathetically. It was clear she was just as concerned about Rudy’s sudden phobia as they all were. “Of course, more often, there is a trigger. A traumatic event that could have caused this.” She closed her eyes for a moment and looked back at Rudy’s parents. “Have you noticed anything happening to Rudy that may have been unpleasant regarding water?”

The two looked at each other. They looked back. They shook their heads slowly.

“No...nothing like that.” Mrs. Tabootie said, sucking on her lip. “We would have noticed. Just a few days ago, he was drinking water no problem. We didn’t notice any adverse reactions at all.”

Mr. Tabootie nodded his head. “That’s right. He hasn’t acted like he was getting afraid of water.”

“There could have been a trigger.” Snap spoke up. The others looked at him. “I mean... I am..afraid of water too.. Real world that is, because of what those monsters did to me. It is possible that he must have been hurt by water, somehow.”

“But if that were the case,” Tilly said. “Wouldn’t he have said something?”

Snap nodded his head. “It does seem strange that he wouldn’t speak up about it.” He looked over at Tilly, his eyes narrowed slightly. “But maybe he just hasn’t had the chance? Or maybe it was too traumatic?”

“He would still have said something.” Mr. Tabootie said. “I know my boy enough to know that, if something was really bothering him, he would have spoken up.”

Penny listened to the others chatter. She kept quiet, just watching as the other spoke. She thought about saying something. She thought about speaking what her idea was. But she wasn’t sure how to word it. And she didn’t want to cause a panic. If what she believed was right, just how would they all react? They would all be horrified. But it would be much worse if she didn’t say anything at all. She couldn’t just keep this thought a secret. If it is what was wrong with Rudy, then...

...then she had to speak up. She had to tell them. Or at least her mother so she could test for it. As soon as she got the chance to, she would speak to her mother about it. She would be the best person to speak to about this first. Her mother would be able to confirm if she was right or not. Penny hoped that her mom would be able to prove her wrong. She didn’t want to be right.

Penny didn’t have time to try to speak to her mother. They all didn’t have time to talk some more. The doors were suddenly slammed open. They looked over to see Blocky rushing towards them, holding Wiggums. Rapsheeba followed close behind him.

“Hey you guys!” Blocky called out. He couldn’t hold onto Wiggums anymore and the frog-like zoner jumped out of his hands.

Snap knelt down, holding out his arms. “Hey Wiggums!” The wiggie jumped into Snap’s arms. He held him up and stroked his back. “Good Wiggums!” He then looked over at Blocky. “What’s wrong on?”

Rapsheeba said, “There’s something you need to know...” Her voice was filled with worry.

Penny and the others looked at each other nervously. From the sound of it, it was going to be more bad news. Just what they all needed... They watched as the two zoners fidgeted nervously, scared expressions on their faces. Anxiety spread through the group, their blood turning to ice. They waited and watched the two, wondering what has them so worried.

“Can I speak to Rudy?” Blocky asked, his eyes widened.

“He’s recovering right now...” Mrs. Sanchez said. She took a few steps towards the two. “Is it urgent? Or can it wait?”

“It might be able to wait...” Blocky looked at the ground and kicked his foot against the ground. “But..it would be best if I speak to him now. Can I?”

Mrs. Sanchez paused for a moment. “Well if it’s that important, then okay. Follow me. I’ll speak with the other doctors and see if I can convince them to let you in.”

Penny and the others watched as her mom grabbed Blocky’s hand and started to take him down the hallway. As she watched him leave, she wondered what he needed to tell Rudy. It sounded urgent enough that he needed to speak with him right away. Had something horrible happened? Did he know something about Rudy’s condition they did not? She decided she would ask him the first chance she gets. She hoped that, whatever it is, it wasn’t going to make the situation worse than it already was.

sss

“Are you comfortable, Bucko?” Snap asked, leaning against his beanbag seat. “You all good?”

Rudy rested on the other beanbag. He was a little big for it, but he managed to sit comfortably on it. He wasn’t too far away from Snap. He looked over at his blue friend and nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Okay. Let me know if you need anything!” Snap said, a small smile on his face.

Though Rudy managed a small smile, it did little to distract him from the nauseating pangs he was feeling in his stomach. He hadn’t been feeling well lately, and it wasn’t just this mysterious illness either. Nothing seemed to go right lately, and just when they thought things couldn’t get any worse, something else would happen. He wasn’t sure when it was going to end.

He still remembered the horrible pain he was in when he drank the water. It had come on suddenly, unexpected. Eating the carrot had been fine, but as soon as he drank that water, it felt like he was drinking sulfuric acid. He felt like his insides were on fire. And when he coughed up that blood, he had been so horrified, more so than he’s ever been recently. He did feel comforting being held by Penny, and it did help the pain be more manageable. But it took a lot of swallowing of chalk before he started to feel better. He wasn’t sure why chalk worked, but he didn’t complain. At least the pain was gone...for now.

He had no idea if it was going to return or not. He wasn’t sure if the water really had caused it or if it were a coincidence. Regardless, he still was nervous around water. Looking at it reminded him of the horrific pain he was through. He didn’t want to experience it again and had been actively avoiding it, despite being dehydrated and in need of fluids. Luckily, the doctors had been able to rehydrate him using the IVs. Somehow, that did not hurt him. He hoped that this would remain true for as long as possible. If he started feeling pain from that, then how was he going to keep himself from dehydrating? He couldn’t drink chalk water. That would not help.

And would he start feeling pain from food? It was very possible. Water might just be the beginning. It might get to the point where he can’t eat anything without being in agony. Something was going on internally and he had no idea what it was. It was terrifying not knowing. The doctors did take some blood from him, but they did not tell him what they were testing for. He hoped that, whatever the results were, it would shed light on what had happened to him earlier.

He was grateful that the doctors allowed him to stay at Snap’s treehouse for one night. He wasn’t sure how Mrs. Sanchez and Penny convinced them, but he was grateful that they were able to pull it off. He’d go back to the doctors tomorrow. For now, he got to enjoy a night with Snap. It was a nice change of pace, sleeping with familiar territory around him instead of the hospital room. He felt more relaxed around here. He hoped that the doctors would allow him to stay every night here or at his own house. It might not be too hard to convince them; most of the doctors agreed. It was just Dr. Raiden that needed the most convincing.

But Rudy couldn’t get himself to relax too much. Blocky had brought some disturbing news. An anti-creator group? This was the first he heard about it. He had no idea if this group had always existed and only recently decided to be vocal, or if they had formed not long after the evil trio decided to show up in ChalkZone. It was very worrying. If these zoners could spread their mindset to other zoners, and if it becomes widespread...just what would happen to him, Penny, their family? What of Snap? Would he be treated differently because he was nice to creators?

At least, so far, they didn’t appear to be causing any trouble, but the fact that such a group exists at all frightened him. Rudy hated being the bad guy, and it hurt just as much if people started viewing him as such. He could understand the anti-creator group’s concern, since many humans aren’t exactly friendly. But to label all creators as bad...? That was prejudice, and Rudy had to wonder just how far they would take it. And with what Jenny and the others were doing, he doubt that this mindset would go away anytime soon.

He tried not to think about it. He tried to relax. He would deal with it when the time came. For now, the anti-creator group was just a background thing. They hadn’t done anything yet. There were no acts of violence, no harsh protests, no attempts to get at him or his friends or family. Nothing that would suggest that the group would be a major threat anytime soon. Right now, he had to focus on Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek.

He had no idea when they were going to strike next. He didn’t know what their next move was going to be. They could come over at anytime. And now that they have black chalk, things were about to get a lot worse. Would they try to force him to use it? Would they make Penny use it and corrupt her in an attempt to get back at him? Was Ghadir going to hunt more zoners and eat them and try to pin the wrap on him? Was Jenny going to try to hurt him in his sleep?

All these thoughts, and more, ravished through his mind, making it ache. So much could happen, so much could go wrong. Rudy never felt so confused in his life. He had no idea where their journey in beating them was going to lead them. They didn’t know how they were going to stop the evil trio. He had no idea if the anti-creator group was going to be a threat or not. All he could do was try to deal with everything the best he could and hope for the best. Everything would return to normal eventuall...wouldn’t it?

“I...heard about your hydrophobia.” Snap said, breaking the silence.

Rudy turned his head to him. “Mrs. Sanchez told you?”

Snap nodded his head. “Yeah. She told us all.” He gave Rudy a look of empathy. “I..understand how that feels.”

Rudy looked at Snap sympathetically. He recalled how Snap had been tortured by water. He wasn’t surprised that it still haunted him to this day, especially after getting sprayed by water recently. That did nothing to quell his fear. “It was so strange, though. I never felt so terrified of water before... It all happened after I got that horrible stomach ache, after I drank that water.”

Snap asked, “What...what did it feel like...?”

Rudy glanced down at the ground. He looked left and right, his eyes filling with anguish as he remembered the horrible sensation. “Seconds after I drank the water it...it felt like something was..burning inside of me... Like I had just drank acid or something. It burned...it hurt so bad... And then I coughed up blood.”

Snap grimaced at this. “Do you think the water triggered it?”

“I...I don’t know...” Rudy said, his voice laced with uncertainty and fear. “I don’t see how it could have. I mean..it was just water. If it were you, I could see, but..I’m a ‘real worlder’... I shouldn’t be affected by real world water like that.”

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two. They stared at each other, looking away, only to glance back. Thoughts swirled in their heads about what this could mean. Confusion and apprehension filled the air of the room, making it uncomfortable to be in. Rudy felt like he wanted to get out, but he remained there, because somehow, it still made him feel better being with one of his friends.

Slowly, Snap got up out of his beanbag. He furrowed his eyes with concern and, biting his lip, he walked over to Rudy. When he reached him, he stood in front of him for what felt like a few minutes. Then he leaned forward and placed a hand on Rudy’s shoulder. The look Snap was giving Rudy, all that concern and worry, it was making Rudy nervous. What was Snap about to say? He knew he would get his answer when Snap then opened his mouth to speak. What he said next, Rudy would never have predicted.

“Bucko...that feeling you described? The burning?” Snap sucked on his lip for a second. He paused and looked at Rudy nervously, the apprehension practically radiating off of his body. “That is...the same feeling I get...when real world water touches me..”

Rudy stared at Snap in confusion for a bit. Then, as he watched Snap’s eyes widen further, shining with concern, sympathy, and understanding, it slowly dawned on Rudy. Horror swept through his body as his eyes widened in terror. His stomach tied in knots and he felt like his blood turned to ice. No...no it was impossible. It...it couldn’t be true. His heart started to pump faster as he jumped out of the beanbag and backed away from Snap.

He looked at his friend’s face, looking for any signs that maybe he was joking. No..Snap wouldn’t joke about something like this. And the more he stared into his face, the more he began to realize that maybe...it was true. It would explain everything. But...no..it was impossible, wasn’t it? It couldn’t be what Snap was implying, no...

These thoughts were interrupted when, out of the blue, the lights in Snap’s treehouse went out, followed immediately by a crash and the sound of ripping. The whole tree shook violently, throwing the two friends about against the hard, wooden floors and walls. Snap’s belongings moved along with them, crushing and breaking. The TV smashed into pieces. The table it stood on broke, sending wooden pieces flying everywhere. Snap and Rudy grunted in pain as, in the process of the sudden crash, they were hit by some of the debris.

Dust filled the air, clouding their vision and making them cough. They waved at the smoke frantically, trying to get it out of the way. It took them about a minute to wave away enough dust to see much of anything. A burning smell filled his nostrils and he could see a hole in Snap’s treehouse. The edges looked charred, indicating that, whatever hit them, it was superheated.

He went over and helped Snap up to his feet. Other than a few scrapes and a bruise or two, the two of them were relatively okay. They brushed themselves off and looked over to see what had attacked them. They stared at the empty hole, and so far, nothing happened. Perhaps, somehow, it was an accident..no it couldn’t have been. Snap’s treehouse wasn’t small. It was clearly visible. This had been a deliberate attack. But...who had attacked them?

They got their answer when a dark figure jumped into the treehouse, knocking them back. A cold chuckle filled the room as they looked up. Their eyes widened in horror.

It was Ghadir...

Chapter Text

“Ghadir?!” Rudy cried. He took a few steps back. “What...how...?!”

Ghadir took a few steps towards them. She chuckled as she watched the pair take a fighting stance. She ignored Rudy’s question and began to turn her head around, looking at the interior of Snap’s tree house. After she got an eyeful, she sighed softly and shook her head. The smile never faded from her face.

“This place is a real dump.” Ghadir said. She looked at the ground and kicked a bit of debris to the side. “You should really clean it up. I’m surprised you can even live here, little blue creature.”

Rudy growled. How dare she call Snap a ‘creature’, like he wasn’t even a person. How dare she criticize his home for being dirty when she was the one who damaged it... And now she had the gall to act like she did nothing wrong. She wasn’t going to get away with this.

“You...” Rudy hissed, raising a clench fist. “How dare you...I...”

Ghadir raised a hand to silence him. “Oh please, spare me your ‘hero speech’. I might die of boredom!” Rudy narrowed his eyes further. Ghadir chuckled at this. She turned her gaze over to Snap. A slow, deliberate lick of the lips and she said, “I just came by for a...night time snack...”

At this, Snap’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “W-Well, if you want that, couldn’t you have just gotten something back at your place?”

The lunchlady’s smile spread and she shook her head slowly. “No. You see, blue boy...” She moved in closer. Rudy attempted to stop her, but Ghadir shoved him against the wall, holding him by his neck. As he struggled to get free, Ghadir gripped Snap by his scarf and tugged on him. “I have a...particular craving...”

Snap attempted to wiggle his way from the large woman. He was unable to make her let go, even when he bit her hand. “What kind of craving?” He asked hesitantly. He snapped his head back in fear as she put her face close to his.

“You...” Ghadir said in a low voice. Snap’s eyes widened in horror at this. “Yeah, that’s right, if you need confirmation, I like to eat chalk. And you, my fine little ‘friend’, you are made up entirely of it.” She licked her lips again. “I can’t wait to sink my teeth into you. I think I will eat you while you’re still awake. I know saliva doesn’t do well for dissolving chalk that fast, but..I don’t mind making the process as slow and painful as possible..”

“Gah!” Snap cried, pulling himself back as hard as he could. “No! Rudy!” He looked over at Rudy with wide, desperate eyes. “Help me!”

At his friend’s cries, Rudy attempted to struggle harder. He pushed back against Ghadir. The woman was too strong for him. Her grip on him was like a vice. She responded by squeezing his neck harder, causing him to gag. He felt so stupid for putting the magic chalk away. It was too far for him to reach. It was under the debris. If he could just get free, he could fight back. He could drive Ghadir away. But right now, he was stuck, pushed up against this wall, defenseless, unable to help himself, let alone aid Snap.

He watched in horror as Ghadir pulled Snap closer to her. She pulled on his scarf as hard as she could, forcing him on the ground. Snap looked up at her in fear, his body shaking. He tried to defend himself. He managed to land a punch on her face. But Ghadir must have high pain tolerance or was just very good at ignoring such actions. She sneered down at Snap, eyeing up up and down like he was nothing more than a catch of the day. The way she looked at him hungrily, smacking her lips in anticipation of eating him, it filled Rudy with dread. He had to help him somehow.

Rudy reached out with his right hand, his left one still gripping her arm as tightly as possible, and, in desperation, grabbed onto Ghadir’s hair. The woman let out a cry of pain as he yanked back as hard as he could. This caused her to release Snap. Rudy watched, sighing in relief, as Snap moved away from the large woman. Rudy continued to pull on her hair, now trying to make her let go of him. But instead of that, something else happened, the opposite of what he would have wanted.

Ghadir growled and tightened her grip on him. She whirled around and used her other hand to grab onto his shoulder. Baring her teeth at him, she shoved him roughly against the wall further. Rudy winced as he saw her eyes that up close to his, enough that he could see the tiny red veins in her eyes. She released her grip on his neck and reached down into her pocket. She pulled out something. Black, gloomy, and all to familiar. The black chalk...

Rudy attempted to struggle, his wide right eye staring at the black chalk. Ghadir hissed at him and, clearly getting tired of his struggles, gave him a hard kick in the stomach. Rudy keeled over in agony, coughing up blood. Ghadir reached down and yanked him back up to his feet by his arm. She delivered a punch to his jaws, causing him to cry out in pain, leaving behind a bruise.

Ghadir, a dark smile on her face, wordlessly went to work drawing up some chains that were attached to the wall, all the while keeping him pinned. Snap attempted to help him, but when he got too close, Ghadir pulled her foot back and kicked Snap between the legs and sending him flying across the room. He slammed against some debris and laid there, groaning in pain. Rudy looked at this in horror and called out his friend’s name. He stopped when Ghadir put something cold and tight around his wrists, nearly cutting off blood supply. Rudy turned his gaze to see what she had done.

Rudy’s arms were cuffed together, cold metal pressing against the skin. His arms and hands were secured above his head. Ghadir took a few steps back and smiled, clearly admiring what she did. Rudy, panic starting to enter his mind as he realized what was going to happen, started to struggle frantically. He tugged against the chains again and again, hoping that they would break. But nothing happened. He pulled harder and harder. His arm muscles started to ache badly and he soon realized he was not going to be able to break the bonds. After one final pull, his arm muscles gave out and he went limp.

He took in a few breaths, his eye wide with a mixture of emotions. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He lifted up his head and turned his attention to Ghadir. She sneered at him, her arms still folded like she was all proud. He realize that he was trapped. He was bound against the wall, and he was helpless against anything Ghadir decide to throw at him. If she wanted to use him as target practice for some new form of weapon, she could do that. His only chance now was if Snap was able to get help in time.

That’s when he realized something...

Snap was still here...

Rudy looked on in horror as Ghadir slammed her foot against Snap’s back, causing him to cry out. Why hadn’t Snap left? Rudy realized, dread filling him, that Snap must have stayed behind to help him. And Ghadir knew he would do that, so she had him chained up so she could go after Rudy, and she was going to do horrible things to him...right in front of him... Rudy struggled against the chains again, hoping that, somehow, he could get at least one arm free. But he was just a teenager and he was not thickly built. If he were built more like Reggie, then maybe...

Ghadir lowered herself onto one knee. She grabbed onto his scarf and removed her leg from him. Tightening her grip on his scarf, she roughly flipped him over so he was on his back. Snap grabbed her hand and tried to push her away. His struggles to get free just made Ghadir’s smile broaden.

“Oh how I love it when my prey struggles..” Ghadir said, a tinge of happiness in her voice. “It makes me feel so...alive...”

“You’re sick! Leave my friend alone!” Rudy shouted at her. This woman was vile...disgusting...

Ghadir gave an upwards glance to Rudy, her eyes flashing black for a few seconds. “Oh calm down. I’m going to let you have a taste.”

Rudy felt his stomach lurch forward. Ghadir was going to do exactly what she threatened to do with Penny. She was going to force him to eat a piece of Snap. How revolting...cruel... Snap hadn’t done anything to her. None of them had. And she had the gall to do something like this to them. How could anyone be so cruel? What gave her the right to treat them like this? He wasn’t going to stand for it. He wasn’t going to let her get with this. He struggled harder, trying his best to ignore the pain in his arms.

As he pulled against his binds, he watched in shere terror as Ghadir proceeded to play with his friend. She held him down by his neck, her fingers tightly wrapped around it. With her other hand, she started touching him. She stroked his cheek lightly, moving it up and down. Then she moved her hand up to his head and rubbed the top of it, smirking at Snap’s wide, fear-filled eyes. She dragged her hand down across his shoulder and all along his arm. She squeezed it gently. Snap jerked back to try to get away from her, but was unable to get far with Ghadir holding him like this. She continuously touched his arm, going up to his shoulder and head.

Ghadir then moved her hand down lower. She moved it along Snap’s chest and then down to his stomach. She gently massaged his underside, alternating between his chest and his stomach. Rudy was horrified by this and struggled harder, calling out Snap’s name. Snap, on the other hand, was quiet, in stunned silence as Ghadir continued to feel his body, like she was examing how much flesh he had on him, which was most likely what she was doing. Her hand soon went down to his leg. She ran her hand along it, squeezing his calf and thigh gently. She then spent some time rubbing his side.

She turned her head over to Rudy. “He has a lot of meat on him. I’m surprised, for someone his size...” She stared down at Snap hungrily. “Definitely a good thing... I am very hungry right now...”

“No! Leave him alone!” Rudy called out, his eye wide.

Snap looked up at Ghadir in fear. A few tears moved down his face. “P-Please...don’t...” He said with a whine. He yanked himself from side to side, but he was unable to get free.

Ghadir’s smile grew vicious. Her tongue moved across her lips in anticipation. “Oh don’t worry. I decided to be merciful. I’ll just take a couple bites out of you, but instead of making you live through that all the way, tell you what.” Her hand touched the side of his face and she gently caressed it. “I will break your spine so you won’t feel anything else.”

Snap let out a scream of terror. He kicked his legs against the ground and twisted his head away. “Rudy!”

Hearing the shere terror and distress in Snap’s voice caused Rudy’s heart to clench tightly. He tried to pull himself free. He pushed on the chains again and again. He thought they started to come free, but at this rate, he wasn’t going to get out in time. He watched, his right eye widened, as his friend was being tormented by this insane chalk eater. No...Snap... Tears flowed down Rudy’s facde as he realized he wasn’t going to be able to help his friend in time. That didn’t stop him from continuing to struggle, but his heart filled with dread as the fact that he won’t get free in time sank in.

Ghadir reached for Snap’s mask. She gripped the bottom of it and she pulled it up. After completely removing Snap’s mask, she lowered her face down to his. She gripped Snap’s head and twisted it to the side, holding it in place. Rudy watched, his heart beating fast, as Ghadir licked Snap’s cheek, going very slowly. Snap let out whimpers of pain. The saliva may not be as dangerous as water, but it still had a burning effect on zoners. Snap struggled frantically, crying out in pain as Ghadir continued to move her tongue up his cheek, taking her time. When she reached near the top of his head, she pulled back.

“Hmm...you taste good...” Ghadir said with a demented smile. She smacked her lips. “Yes... Nice flavor...” She raised her shoulders a little, almost like she was ready to pounce. “Delicious...”

Rudy called out, “Back off! Let him go!” He knew she wasn’t going to listen, but he wasn’t going to just watch in silence. “Ghadir, release him now!”

Ghadir looked at him. She just smirked, chuckling darkly, before turning her attention back to Snap. She eyed him up and down, watching as his body trembled in fear. “I know one thing I am going to do. After I break your back, I am going to cut off a piece of you and make you watch as I shove it down Rudy’s throat. Wouldn’t that be..a spectacular thing to see?” Snap gasped in horror and stared at her with wide eyes. “I can’t wait to see the look in both your eyes...”

Snap narrowed his eyes and started to growl softly. He didn’t bother replying, anger starting to override his fear. This did little to deter Ghadir, however. It was clear she didn’t see him as a threat and merely dismissed his growling. She put her face close to his, her eyes wide, a faint black glow to them.

“And after I am through with you, I’ll kill Rudy, and then I’ll hunt down your two zoner friends... Blocky and Rapsheeba I believe.” She grinned nastily as Snap, for a second, had a horrified expression, before he returned to growling, this time baring his teeth in a snarl. “I’ll eat them next. I’m sure they will taste just divine.” She let out a cruel laughter.

Snap’s body shook in rage. Rudy watched as Snap’s temper flared up, and exploded. The blue zoner pulled his fist back and punched Ghadir as hard as he could. Unlike his other punches, this one clearly registered with the woman. There was a small crack sound and blood started to drip from her nose as she let out a scream. She released Snap and staggered back, holding her nose.

Free, Snap took this chance to get away from her. Ghadir attempted to grab Snap again, but the superhero zoner reacted fast. He kicked at her leg enough to trip her up, causing her to fall into the ground. Snap glared at her hatefully. Though it was clear he was furious with her, he didn’t stick around to fight her. Instead, he rushed over towards the debris, heading straight for what Rudy could see was a sparkle. His right eye widened as he realized what Snap was doing.

“Why you little...!” Ghadir had recovered from the trip. She was back on her feet and she was not happy. She moved her way towards Snap, who, by now, had the magic chalk in his hand. “I am not going to...” She stopped when she noticed the magic chalk. “No, you’re not...”

Ghadir rushed towards Snap. The little zoner wasted no time. He jumped out of the way as Ghadir lunged at him. She hit the ground with a heavy thud as she missed. Snap rushed over towards where Rudy was chained to the wall. Rudy watched, his eye widened further, as Ghadir chased his friend down. His heart raced, wondering if Snap was going to be able to get to him in time. Again and again, his friend had to jump into the air or to the side to avoid being grabbed. Despite his difficulty, he was rapidly closing in the gap.

Snap eventually reached Rudy. He climbed onto Rudy’s shoulders and pushed the magic chalk in his hand. As Rudy gripped onto it, Snap was suddenly yanked back by his scarf. Ghadir glared at him angrily, holding onto his scarf like it was his scruff. Watching this in horror, Rudy fumbled with the magic chalk, trying to draw a circle to break the chains.

“I will make you pay for that...” Ghadir said, pulling a fist back. Snap turned his head away.

Managing to get free, Rudy charged forward. He slammed his body against Ghadir, knocking her back. Snap let out a cry as he hit the ground in a thud. Ghadir staggered back, almost tripping over herself. She glared back at Rudy. Her eyes held a mixture of surprise and anger, her teeth bared at him. Rudy took a fighting stance, raising up his magic chalk.

“Think you can beat me in a fair fight?” Rudy challenged.

Ghadir chuckled, her voice laced in anger. “I’m sure I would...” She raised up her black chalk. “Bring it on, little boy...”

“With pleasure..” Rudy hissed as he charged towards the large woman.

Rudy whipped his wrist around, drawing something as quickly as he could as he and the large woman rushed towards each other. Before he reached her, he managed to draw a simple weapon. A long metal bar. Gripping it tightly with both hands, though a little loose on his left, he rammed against her, pushing the bar into her stomach. The woman let out a gasp of air as the wind was knocked out of her. There was a loud thud as he managed to push her against the wall.

Mustering as much strength as he could, Rudy held her against the wall. Ghadir pushed back against him. For a while, Rudy could hold his own, keeping her from moving forward. Soon, his feet started to slip. He constantly scrambled to get his feet forward and planted firmly on the ground. But the more Ghadir pushed against him, the more he started to slip back. Then he felt his legs start to weaking. His left knee buckled and he was down on the ground. Ghadir, sneering, lifted up her foot and pressed it against Rudy’s chest. She pushed hard on him, caushing him to stumble across the ground.

Rudy laid on the ground for a few seconds. He looked up and saw Ghadir drawing something. He climbed up to his feet and held up his chalk to prepare to fight. Ghadir soon finished drawing and he could see that she had drawn a long, mechanical cobra, complete with a hood made out of needles and sheets of metal. Rudy stared, his right eye wide. How hard Ghadir managed to draw something that elaborate in such a short time? He had no time to question this when, a second later, the intricately designed mechacobra lashed out at him, its eyes glowing a bright red.

Rudy managed to dodge out of the way in time. The mechacobra let out a machine-sounding hiss, its mouth split wide open to show its fangs. Though mechanical, the snake did have venom. Rudy could see it dripping from its fangs. The snake slithered over towards him, hissing the whole way, never letting down its hood. It stood straight up. It was twice his height, but was still as thin as a real world cobra. Rudy raised up his magic chalk and took a few steps back, wondering how he was going to fight this thing.

Then the mechacobra seemed to lose interest in him. It turned its head and looked at where Snap was. Flickering a metallic tongue, it started to move towards the small blue zoner. Rudy’s eye widened in horror and he grabbed the snake by its tail. The snake whipped its head around and hissed loudly at him, its jaws wide open. Rudy yanked back as hard as he could, causing the snake’s upper body to fly upwards. It came down towards him thanks to gravity. Rudy watched as the snake opened its jaws further and prepared to bite him. Rudy realized, dread filling his heart, that he didn’t have time to get out of the way. He shut his eye and prepared for the pain.

Instead of pain, he heard something clang against something hard, a loud pained hiss, and something slumping on the ground. Rudy opened his right eye to see Snap standing in front of him in a fighting stance. Snap’s breaths were deep and quick, and he soon saw why that was so. In front of Snap, there was the mechacobra laying in a heap on the ground. There was a small dent on its head, just barely visible, and a bruise on his friend’s right fist. Rudy realized what Snap had done and he smiled gratefully down at him.

This didn’t last too long. Soon his smile faded as the mechacobra raised its head above the ground. Standing up tall and straight, the snake let out what sounded like a roar and struck forward. It wrapped its body around them like it were a python and held onto them tightly. Rudy and Snap grunted and struggled, their arms pinned at their sides. The snake split its jaws wide, its face not far from them. They looked up at the mechacobra in fear as it prepared to strike them.

But instead of biting them like they expected, the mechacobra opted instead to throw them against the wall. They cried out in pain and slid to the ground. Rudy sat up and rubbed his head. He looked up and saw the snake moving towards them again. He got up and held his magic chalk. As he did so, he looked over to where Ghadir was. She was holding some kind of device. His right eye widened as he realized it was the controls to this robotic snake. If he could just smash that device....

His thoughts were interrupted when there was a flash of silver heading in his direction. He turned just in time to see the mechacobra striking at him. A nanosecond later, there was a blue and white blur and now Snap was holding onto the snake, his arms wrapped around its throat. The snake let out a loud hiss as it desperately tried to bite Snap. When Snap wouldn’t let go, the snake, out of anger, slammed his body against the ground. The little zoner let out a cry of pain and released the snake. Before he could get up, the snake rose its head above him and struck downward. Snap let out a scream.

The snake never got a chance to sink its fangs into him. Rudy had grabbed onto the snake and yanked it back. The force of the pull was so great that the snake slammed its head against the wall. A few sparks flew and its body jittered mechanically a few times. It shook its head and turned its red-eyed face back at Rudy.

Thinking fast, Rudy began to draw something that Sophie herself used to draw all the time. Steel wool. After he finished doodling the scribbles, he grabbed the two ends and stretched them. He lunged for the snake and managed to wrap the steel wool around its head, sealing its mouth shut. He tied the steel wool in a knot and moved back. He and Snap watched as the snake shook its head, desperate to get free. Loud hisses escaped its throat, its tail wriggling in frustration. It would have been almost comical to watch if they didn’t know it could break free at any time. Rudy knew they had to seize this chance to get the controller out of the woman’s hand.

But what of the black chalk? He couldn’t just take it from her without risking corrupting himself. Maybe he could have Snap take it from her and break it into pieces so she can’t use it. That was his best bet. He lowered himself and whispered a few quick things into Snap’s ear. When he nodded his head, confirming he understood what they were going to do, the two friends, careful not to trip over the mechacobra, rushed over to where Ghadir was.

The woman was in the process of drawing something else. She didn’t get a chance to finish when Rudy pushed against her, breaking her concentration. The black lines that filled the air just fell down, laying useless on the ground. She glared at Rudy, gritting her teeth. In the process of pushing her against the wall, something happened that Rudy did not expect.

The black chalk touched him.

Almost immediately, Rudy felt the cold sharpness, the same feeling he did years ago. It rapidly spread through his body, creating a tingling sensation that felt foreboding. His right eye widened as a black glow emitted from it. His body started to tremble as the same echoy voices returned.

“So glad to see you... Why don’t you use us again..? You have so much potential, Rudy Tabootie... Why don’t you take us, use us once again...?”

Rudy shook his head, trying to fight against it as he kept Ghadir pinned. He quickly noticed the woman was not struggling to much against him. He realized, in horror, that she must know what was going on, and now she had gripped him to keep him from moving back. She made sure that his skin still contacted the black chalk. And the voices just grew louder, overriding Snap’s voice, who was calling out in desperation at him.

“Don’t you remember the power...? What it felt like...” The voices all around him taunted. “Draw with us... We will give you that power again...”

Involuntarily, Rudy slowly smiled. Not a friendly one, but the same malicious smile he had given years ago. The same one he gave...right before he killed three zoners and nearly killed Penny.

“No!”

Suddenly, Rudy was released and he stumbled backwards. As the horrific thoughts left his head, returning his mind to its normal state, he looked on to see Snap holdong into Ghadir’s arm. The large woman was struggling to get him off of her. In the struggle, Snap managed to grab the black chalk from her and he jumped back.

“Give that back!” Ghadir demanded. In a show of defiance, Snap threw the black chalk into the ground and, mustering as much strength as he could, crushed the chalk underneath his left food. He pounced the chalk into the ground until it was nothing but powder. Ghadir’s eyes widened in fury. “You little..” She whipped out her controller. “I’m going to...!”

“No you’re not!” Rudy rushed over and managed to snag the controller out of her hands.

“Hey!” Ghadir attempted to grab it back. She lurched forward, almost grabbing Rudy by his arm. “Give that back!”

Rudy narrowed his eye. “Never!”

With that, Rudy gripped the controller. As he did so, he heard a loud snap and he knew the mechacobra was free. It was slithering towards him now, preparing to strike. Wasting no time, he brought his knee up and his hands down as fast and hard as he could. Upon impact, along with pain, Rudy could feel, and hear, the device snapping in two. Sparkls flew from the exposed wire and he could hear the sound of engines dying down. Then a thud. He looked behind him.

The mechacobra lay prone on the ground. Its body sometimes convulsed as a few bits of electricity still pumped through it. But this soon died down completely and its red eyes became black with lifelessness. With the snake taken care of, Rudy threw the pieces of the controller into the ground and took a step towards Ghadir, raising his magic chalk. In response, her eyes wide a little as she realized she was defenseless, she took a step back, gritting her teeth in frustration.

“Do you really think it’s over, child?” Ghadir asked, her voice slightly panicked since she couldn’t fight back now. “Do you really think this will make me go away forever?”

Rudy narrowed his eye and shook his head. “No...but it will stop you for a time.” He jabbed the magic chalk in her direction. “Now leave...”

Ghadir remained where she was, her feet firmly planted on the ground. Rudy growled. He should have known that she wouldn’t just leave like that. Even at a disadvantage, she wasn’t going to admit defeat. She wasn’t going to run, not until she did what she wanted. She would have to be forced out. Rudy didn’t like using force if it was not necessary, but in her case, he would make an exception.

He looked down at Snap. He knew he could rely on him for backup just in case. Snap was afraid of Ghadir, but he was willing to stand up to her. Right now, more anger than fear shone in his eyes, and he was prepared to fight Ghadir if it was necessary. The two of them took a step towards Ghadir, watching as she moved back again. This showed that she was, in a sense, afraid of them now, even though she may try to hide it. Afraid enough that she wasn’t going to fight them in her current state. It was she, now, who was at the disadvantage.

“You can tell your two comrades that I am not going to give up.” Rudy declared, never abandoning his fighting stance. “I will keep fighting and we will get you three to leave ChalkZone forever! I don’t care how long it takes! We will win!”

Snap nodded in agreement. “Yeah! So why don’t you make it easier on yourselves and leave now? It will save you a lot of hurt later on!”

Ghadir just laughed, her shoulders shaking as her body shook in emotion. Rudy and Snap growled at this, baring their teeth. Ghadir was acting like this was all a joke, even though she is that is losing the fight. “So you really want to make us leave? I guess I can’t blame you...” She looked at her fingers, flexing them. “After all, you need to do something to offset the mistake you made...”

Rudy looked at her in confusion. “What mistake?”

“Oh? You don’t know?” Ghadir looked at the boy’s arm, pointing her finger at it. “Did you not question why you have that mark...?”

Rudy looked down at his arm. In the crook of it, he could see the small reddened mark that mysteriously appeared one day, just a short while ago. He hadn’t really thought much of it. Had it been something important? He looked back at Ghadir and, noticing her vicious smile, his eye widened a little.

“What...?” Rudy started to say.

Ghadir cut him off before he could say anything else. “How do you think Jenny, Tyreek, and I awakened? Jenny woke up after a bit of your blood touched her. She snuck into your house a few nights ago and took blood from you while you were sleeping.” Rudy’s right eye widened in horror at this. “Yes, boy, that is how you got your mark.” She leaned back a little. “And that is how I and Tyreek were awakened. It was thanks to your blood that the black chalk inside of us reawakened...”

Rudy shook his head in denial. He couldn’t believe it. A cold chill swept through his body. Jenny had done what? She took his blood while he slept? She was able to do that without getting caught? She used his blood to rewaken the others? It...it was his blood that caused all of this? He took a step back, his body trembling a little from this revelation. No, it couldn’t be true...it wasn’t possible...

Ghadir smiled at his reaction. She folded her arms against her chest. “It was all your fault, boy. You were the one who helped us awaken. We have you to thank.” A cold laughter escaped her throat as she looked at the horrified Rudy and Snap. “It was thanks to you that this was all possible, so I suppose we do owe you for that.”

“N-No...” Rudy said, his eye wide. “It’s not true... You’re lying!”

Ghadir tilted her head, looking amused by Rudy’s denial. She ignored his outburst and raised her hand in gesture. “And in case you are wondering why Jenny took some of Penny’s blood... Well it was just for a mere test. She wanted to see what was different about your blood and Penny’s blood. Something changed about the composition of your blood that let it absorb into skin. And once she figures that out, well...” Ghadir gave a dark laughter. “Well...that would be telling...”

Rudy’s eye was wide, but soon he narrowed it and gritted his teeth. He took a step forward and pointed at the large woman. “I...I am not going to let you get away with this!”

“Oh? But Rudy, my little boy...” Ghadir said innocently. “You already have... It was thanks to your blood that this all happened.” Rudy’s eyes widened and he took two steps back. “It was thanks to you that me and my comrades were able to return, ready to take back what is rightfully ours...”

“No...” Rudy shook his head, trembling.

“Yes, boy...” Ghadir said as she took a few steps forward. “It was because of you... Your friends getting hurt...you getting diseased...it was all thanks to you. This...” She raised her hands in the air. “This was all your doing.”

“You’re wrong..” Rudy tried to say.

Snap narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists tightly. “Hey, leave him alone! This wasn’t his fault! He wasn’t the one who asked for this to happen! It was all you! Don’t you dare try to pin this rap on him!”

Ghadir looked over at Snap. She laughed at him before turning her attention back to Rudy. “Face it, child. If you hadn’t gone to the nurse’s office that day, this wouldn’t have happened. If you had just waited for the checkup, you might have avoided everything that’s happened so far. Your friend here wouldn’t have been forced to stab his little friend and himself...”

Rudy took a step back. “No...”

“Stop it!” Snap warned, growling.

Ghadir didn’t stop. She continued to advance on Rudy, making him take a few steps back. “Your girlfriend wouldn’t have been beaten to a pulp and almost get her leg broken...”

Rudy’s eye was wide. He wanted to stay something to defend himself, but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Snap’s body was shaking in rage, but Ghadir ignored him. She grabbed Rudy by his shirt collar and pulled him forward.

“This was all your fault, Rudy Tabootie...” Ghadir put her face close to his. “How does it feel, kid? How do you feel knowing that you caused all this? You could have resisted grabbing the black chalk in the past. You could have called in sick that day when Jenny had to prick your finger. You could have done something, but you let it slip through your grasp...”

“Let him go!” Snap cried, raising his fists in warning.

Again, Ghadir dismissed him, her eyes focusing solely on Rudy. Her eyes glowed black as she whispered into his ear. “You are the one at fault here... You are the only one to blame for all this... This was all your fault...”

Rudy yanked his head away. “No!”

Finally, unable to take it anymore, Snap took action. He lunged forward, pulling his fist back. He slammed his fist against the woman’s stomach, causing her to release Rudy and stagger back. She held her stomach, grunting in pain. Snap slammed his body against her. Despite being smaller, he was able to knock her back a little. He then went for her legs. Like before, he was able to knock her off her feet, making her fall into the ground.

Ghadir laid on her side, her face contorted in pain. She glared up at Snap. The zoner looked at her, his eyes wide with anger and teeth bared. He stood in front of Rudy protectively, his hands raised to show he was prepared to attack again if need be. The two just stared at each other for several seconds. Though Snap trembled in fear, there was a lot more anger in his display of emotions, and he made it clear, from the expression on his face, that he wasn’t going to allow Ghadir to get closer.

“Don’t you ever speak to my friend that way again...you bitch...” Snap growled, taking in a few quick breaths. “This is not his fault..and don’t you fucking dare try to convince him or anyone else otherwise...”

Ghadir just glared at him. She slowly rose up to her feet. She stared at the zone for a few seconds. Then, instead of attacking back like Rudy and Snap thought she was, she instead backed away. Wordlessly, she turned around and willingly left the treehouse. As she jumped down, the two friends moved forward. They watched as Ghadir, without looking back at them, ran off into the distance.

Snap watched this in disgust. “She’s such a coward...” He turned his attention to Rudy. He looked at him sympathetically. “You okay, Bucko?”

Rudy didn’t respond. His mind swirled with many thoughts as he recalled what Ghadir told him. Had it really been his fault that this happened? Even indirectly? Was it his blood that caused all of this to happen? The thought sickened him and it was hard to fight back the nausea that started to rise up inside of his stomach. Yeah, he didn’t mean for this to happen, but the idea of him being, in some way, responsible...

He snapped out of his trance when he felt a tug at his arm. He looked down and he saw Snap, who had his arms wrapped around his. Rudy stared at him wordlessly before looking away, his eyes aiming at the ground. The feelings of guilt...they were hard to fight back.

“Rudy...” Snap said quietly. “You know this isn’t your fault, right?” He held on tighter. “Don’t listen to what she said. She was just trying to mess with you. Don’t let her do that.”

Rudy said softly, “I...I know Snap. I just...can’t get it out of my head... What if she was telling the truth?” He stared at Snap intently. “What if it was my blood that brought back their memories?”

Snap said, “That doesn’t make you responsible. They were the ones who chose to do this. You did not make them.” He cuddled closer to Rudy as the teenager wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into a hug. “This isn’t your fault. Please...don’t blame yourself...”

Slowly, though he still had some doubts in his mind, Rudy smiled back. Hugging Snap tightly, he said, “Yeah...you’re right... Thanks...”

Snap smiled back. “You’re welcome, Bucko.”

Rudy pulled back from Snap, still gently holding onto him. The two friends smiled at each other for a few seconds. Upon seeing Snap’s cheek, Rudy’s face furrowed with concern. He could see a little bit of bleeding and redness where Ghadir had licked him. The vile woman had licked over one of his burns, causing more damage to it.

“Come on, Snap. Let’s go see Mrs. Sanchez and get that burn cleaned up.” Rudy said. He stood up, gently lowering Snap so his feet touched the ground. “I’ll fix your treehouse when we get back.”

With that, the two friends started to make their way towards the hospital.

Chapter Text

Snap winced as Mrs. Sanchez placed the cool cloth against his cheek. It stung pretty badly as the woman had layered it with some disinfectant. He stiffened as the woman gently rubbed the cloth against his cheek. He soon relaxed as the soothing effects of the disinfectant kicked in. Soon, after she was done, she removed the cloth and reached down to grab some new bandages for him.

“You two say Ghadir attacked you?” Mrs. Sanchez said, her voice filled with concern.

“Yeah.” Rudy said. “She just burst through Snap’s treehouse and attacked us. We managed to drive her away, though.”

Mrs. Sanchez began to wrap the bandages around Snap’s head. Snap held as still as he could. This still kinda stung him. The new burn Ghadir gave him was worse than he thought it was going to be. It did make sense the more he thought about it. Ghadir had licked him slowly, so the real world liquid, saliva in this case, had longer to burn his skin. It didn’t help that she had licked over one of his older burns. So that added to the pain. He did do a pretty good job with holding still.

Soon Mrs. Sanchez was finished. She cut the bandage and then secured it tightly. She moved her head back and looked at him up and down. She reached down and began to lightly touch the bandage to make sure it wasn’t going to fall off. Once she had determined the bandage was fine, she gently grabbed his shoulders and turned him around, her eyes scanning to see if he had any other injuries to take care of.

“I’m fine.” Snap said as he moved a step back away from Mrs. Sanchez. “The burn was the only thing that needed to be taken care of. Thank you for that.”

Mrs. Sanchez, however, was clearly not convinced. “You could have gotten hurt during all that commotion and not notice. It’s best if I check you for other injuries.”

Looking over at Rudy, Snap said, “Rudy...?”

The eighteen year old nodded his head. “I agree with her. It won’t take long, Snap.”

The blue and white zoner turned back to Mrs. Sanchez. He kept still as she continued to examine him. She checked his arms, his legs, his chest, and stomach. She turned him around and looked along his back. She then examined his hands. She noticed the bruise and mumbled about getting him an ice pad for it. His feet were next. She gave him one more look around before she released him.

Snap took a step back and gave her a smile. “See? I’m fine!”

Mrs. Sanchez narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “No, you’re not.”

Snap’s smile faded. “What..?”

Rudy moved forward, his right eye wide with concern. “What’s wrong with him?”

The woman reached over and grabbed Snap’s left arm. She gently pulled him forward and turned his arm over. The two boys quickly noticed what she was trying to show them. Along Snap’s arm was a cut. Not very deep, but there was still a considerable amount of blood. This shocked Rudy and Snap. They had no idea how they missed this injury. And now that he was fully aware of it, Snap started to feel stinging pain from the injury. He winced when Mrs. Sanchez lightly touched him there.

Mrs. Sanchez immediately pulled her hand back. She gave Snap an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. That didn’t hurt too much, did it?”

Snap said, “It stung, like someone took a shard of glass and cut me...” Snap noticed Rudy wincing and immediately felt bad. Rudy’s left hand and left eye had been sliced by a broken piece of glass. He must have reminded him of the pain he felt as Jenny cut him up like that. “Sorry, Bucko.”

“Don’t worry about it Snap.” Rudy gave him a smile. He then turned his attention to Mrs. Sanchez. “How bad is the cut?”

“Not that bad.” Mrs. Sanchez shook her head. “I’m still going to have to clean it, though. But first...” She looked down at Snap. “What did you cut it on? Do you have any idea?”

Snap tried to think. He thought back to the attack, how they where tossed around. He couldn’t pinpoint what it could have been. He had hit up against different things, mostly wood. But there were no broken pieces of wood big enough and sharp enough to cut him like that. Ghadir couldn’t have done it. She had no sharp weapons with her and she didn’t try to bite him, thank goodness. The only other thing he could think of was the mechanical cobra. It did have some sharp edges to it as he recalled.

His eyes widened as he remembered what happened. It must have occurred when he jumped on the snake to wrestle it to the ground, which was not easy considering, even though the snake was thin, it was still a robot and a lot stronger than he had expected. The snake’s hood had some sharp points to it. In the struggle, he must have sliced his arm against it. Yeah, that’s exactly what had happened. He was trying to hold the snake, but then it had thrown him, and his arm cut along the mechacobra’s razor hood.

“That metal snake we were fighting...” Snap looked over at Rudy with wide eyes, then back at Mrs. Sanchez. “I must have cut my arm on it during the struggle...”

Mrs. Sanchez’s eyes widened at this. “Then we have to get this cut cleaned as soon as possible. Do you mind stepping out of your leotard? It’ll make it easier for me to clean your cut.”

Snap nodded his head. He took off his gloves and shoes so they wouldn’t be in the way. Then he removed his scarf and mask. He always found it difficult to remove his leotard without dragging his pants along with it. But he was able to succeed without experiencing too much trouble this time. With everything but his pants removed, he turned back to Mrs. Sanchez and raised his left arm up so she could start to mend it.

Mrs. Sanchez gripped his arm and reached for another wet cloth, this one doused in chalk water. She pressed it against his arm. He seethed a little from the pain that erupted, but soon he calmed down as the cooling effect took hold. Mrs. Sanchez moved the cloth up and down along the cut. Soon the cloth was covered in blood stains. After she was finished cleaning it, she dried it gently with another cloth. She reached for the bottle of disinfectant and sprayed his wound. Snap winced at this and yelped. Mrs. Sanchez whispered an apology to him and she reached for more bandages. After she was finished patching up the cut, Snap picked up his clothes and began to redress.

As he did this, Mrs. Sanchez turned her attention to Rudy. She walked over to him. As Snap put his clothes back on, he watched as Mrs. Sanchez checked Rudy over in a similar manner as she did with him. After he was finished redressing himself, Snap walked over towards them. He watched intently, hoping that Rudy didn’t get badly injured in that fight. He hadn’t noticed any injuries on his friend, but then again, they hadn’t noticed the cut until Mrs. Sanchez pointed it out. Were there any wounds Rudy had they didn’t notice? And if so, were they just as bad or worse than the cut on his arm?

After looking him over, Mrs. Sanchez gave a smile. “I don’t see any cuts on you. There could be some internal damage, but assessing from how you two looked when you walked in here, they probably aren’t too severe. If you experience any sudden pains, come back to me, okay?”

Rudy nodded his head. “Sure.”

“Oh!” Mrs. Sanchez raised a finger, drawing attention from the two boys. “Before I forget...” The woman walked over to a cabinet. She pulled out a dresser and took out a needle with a large vial attached to it. She went back over to Rudy. “Penny had a theory of what might be going on with you.”

Rudy said, “Oh? What does she think it is?”

“...something really horrific...that would explain why you suddenly felt pain when you drank the real world water...” Mrs. Sanchez said in a quiet voice, trailing off. She gave him a sympathetic, nervous look.

Rudy seemed to understand what she was referring to. His right eye widened. “Oh...”

So it seemed Penny thought the same thing he did. Snap wasn’t surprised. Penny was smart and caught on quickly to things. He was glad that she was able to make the connections and inform her mother about it. Snap felt stupid for not bringing it up before. He had his chance and he missed it. At least Penny seemed to realize what it might be and brought it up. Now they could test for it to see if this is what was going on. He hoped that it wouldn’t take long for the blood results to come in.

The idea was frightening. To think that something like...this...could happen to his best friend... It was unthinkable. He had no idea how those black chalk users were able to create such a thing. Well, if it is what he thinks it is, the next time he saw those black chalk users, he was going to make them reveal what the cure is. There was no way he was going to allow Rudy to suffer a fate like that. It was cruel...vile... He didn’t do anything to deserve that. He didn’t know how he was going to, but he would do whatever it took to get them to reveal how to treat the illness before the effects were too damaging.

He stood in silence, unable to think of what to say. What could he say in a situation like this? Anxiety rose in his heart as he realized what kind of danger his best friend could be in. He felt his blood chilling as he watched Mrs. Sanchez start to take blood from Rudy. He stared at the vial as it filled with the dark red fluid. A part of him was terrified of what the results would show, and the other was determined to find out. He kind of hoped that it wasn’t what he and Penny thought it was because of how horrible it would be, how much pain Rudy was going to be in for a while. But at the same time, he hoped that was it, because at least then, they’d have an answer to what was going on.

After Mrs. Sanchez was finished taking the blood, she pulled the needle out and pressed a small gauze on Rudy’s arm. After the bleeding stopped, she placed a bandaide over it, covering the small puncture wound. She labeled the vial and put it on the desk nearby. She turned back to Rudy.

“I’ll take it over to the doctors and we’ll have a look at it as soon as possible.” Mrs. Sanchez said. “We will have the results tomorrow. Come by after school as soon as you can. I will inform you of what the results told us, if what Penny thought turned out to be right or if there is something else going on.”

Rudy looked at his arm and then back at Mrs. Sanchez. “Okay. Thank you.”

Mrs. Sanchez smiled. “You two can head back now, if you’d like. Or did you want to stay another night at the hospital.”

Rudy took a step back and waved his hands. “No, I’m good. I promised Snap I was going to repair his treehouse since Ghadir damaged it.”

“Well I don’t mind waiting...” Snap started to say. Rudy gave him a look that told Snap that Rudy really didn’t want to stay at the hospital another night. He wasn’t sure why. He was about to ask, but he assumed that Rudy just wanted to be in a more comfortable room. He nodded his head. “Okay then, Rudy. Did you want to head back now?”

Rudy yawned a little. “Yeah, I am getting tired. I wanted to go to sleep earlier, but...”

Knowing what Rudy was going to say, Snap said, “Yeah, I know what you mean, Bucko.” Snap turned his attention to Mrs. Sanchez. “Well thanks for the help. We’ll see you tomorrow!” He waved at her.

“Okay, goodnight!” Mrs. Sanchez waved back at them.

sss

Terry let out a groan of pain. She couldn’t believe that her own brother did this to her. Well perhaps she shouldn’t be too surprised, actually. She and her brother never fully got along over the years. They had an estranged relationship and hardly saw each other before they tried to expose ChalkZone. Both of them had changed a lot, though sometimes still remained the same, such as how manipulative he could actually be. The only reason he had even listened to her before was because she had more knowledge about ChalkZone than he did.

She should have known that Vinnie might try to pull something like this. He was usually good about hiding his intelligence. Though she never thought he’d get this smart. If she weren’t in this terrible condition, she would have actually been impressed by it. He had thought through more than he usually would, and the entire time she was with him, he never once went into crazy mode like he had over the years. A part of her was glad, since his ‘dog barking’ thing he did drove her nuts. But another part of her missed it, because now it was replaced with a cold, calculating individual who, in a short time span, showed more cleverness than she had when she was digging up dirt on ChalkZone.

The first moment she realized Vinnie had snapped was when he started to torture her. She had resisted most of the time, despite the shere agony it put her through. She never thought he’d go as far as do something like that. He sliced her up real good, and she lost a considerable amount of blood. He kept going for what she thought was a couple hours. She wasn’t sure if it really was that long, but it sure felt like it. He had never resorted to causing physical harm before, so it took her by total surprise when he brought up th scalpel to her. She hoped that the scalpel would be all show, but he proved this theory wrong when he first started to slice into her skin.

Resisting was not easy. She had to bite her tongue and clench her teeth to keep herself from saying anything. She couldn’t stifle the screams that much, and she had let out cries of pain during most of the torture. Vinnie’s cuts became more pronounced, deeper and more vicious, the longer she didn’t say anything. She guessed that Vinnie was getting frustrated with her, and was getting desperate to make her say anything. She held her tongue and was able to keep quiet during most of the torture session.

She felt that, if she kept it up, Vinnie would stop. After all, she was his sister. He wouldn’t go as far as kill her, would he? She couldn’t see him doing that. Well, she didn’t foresee him going as far as hurt her, and she was proven wrong on that. Still, killing was really far out there. Vinnie couldn’t...he wouldn’t go that far, would he? They were family. He wouldn’t go that far...

But while Vinnie hadn’t gone that route, what he did do was just a cruel, if not crueler. She never thought he would do such a thing. He had actually threatened to ruin her life. He would do something so bad that it would cost her the job she currently has, and barred her from getting any new ones. She would be thrown on the street, like he said, and no one was going to trust her. After all, who would want to do business with a woman who had stalked a couple of children? Her obsession with ChalkZone was bad enough for some people, but when it came to stalking children, not many people she knew would be so forgiving.

Vinnie sounded very serious when he talked about it, too. It really did seem like he would go through with his threat if she didn’t cooperate. Terry wasn’t sure what to do at the time. She recalled the headache she got as she tried to think of a way out of the situation. She tried to think of something, anything, that would get her out of the mess without forking over the information Vinnie wanted. If this had happened a couple years ago, she would have given him the information no problem. But that all changed. And she was not willing to head back down that path.

She did eventually give in, but not before formulating a plan in her head. She didn’t like doing this to her brother, but after what he did, what else could she do? As she gave him the information he wanted, explaining to him what caused her to change her mind about ChalkZone, she was going to head down to the police station and tell them about her assault. With her bad injuries and Vinnie’s history with the police, they would believe her and lock him up. He wouldn’t be a threat to anyone after that.

But she had underestimated what her brother was capable of. He had not only realized that she may go to the police to report the assault, but he already formulated a plan to prevent her from doing so. After he was done interrogating her, not very happy with what she had to say to him, he unhooked her but kept her grip on her arm. He told her that she was going to stay at his place for a while. He warned her not to struggle or give any indication he was doing anything to hurt her. He wanted her to act like someone else hurt her and he was just bringing her home.

When she asked about her job, he said that he would just call her boss and say she was very sick and wouldn’t be able to come in for a while. He would also tell any of her friends if they were to try to call her. He said that if she tried to tell anyone otherwise, or struggled against him while they went back to his place, he would send that evidence in to the police. Not seeing much choice, Terry followed him willingly and he took her to his apartment on the other side of Plainsville.

Once there, he guided her up the steps and took her into the kitchen. In a surprising show of mercy that she didn’t thing think he was capable of in his current mood, he cleaned her cuts a little. He didn’t do a particularly good job, but it was a nice change from how he was treating her before. He gave her a thin layer of bandages and then took her to an extra bedroom he had. He threw her in there and locked her inside. He said he would let her out only for necessities, such as going to the bathroom and eating, but she was to stay in that bedroom until he saw fit to let her go. He also took liberty of taking her cellphone away so she couldn’t call anyone.

She was basically under a form of unofficial house arrest. She wasn’t able to leave the bedroom without his permission, and only to do important things. He would not allow her to leave the apartment. He would only let her go completely after he was able to set up his ‘chalk world theme park’ and by then it would be too late to stop him. She wished she could figure a way out of here, but this room had only one window and it was completely sealed shut. Vinnie had even spraypainted it black so no one can see in and notice her in distress. She couldn’t even pick the lock because Vinnie had made sure this room was bare of any small items that could be used in such a manner. She was completely trapped.

And apparently he was not done interrogating her. He said he was going to resume the interrogation sometime soon. There was something else he wanted to know. She guessed it was the tapes. He wanted them. He was going to want to expose ChalkZone, so he was going to try to get her to fork over those tapes. The idea of another interrogation frightened her. Would Vinnie hurt her more while doing so? How much further could he go with hurting her physically? Would he attack her mentally too?

She knew she was going to have to try harder to resist, for a couple of reasons. The most obvious one was what would happen if Plainsville did see that footage. Sure, years ago, she would have been psyched about it, but now that she had a better understanding of ChalkZone, the thought filled her with dread. She wondered if Vinnie had any idea of what would happen, what the consequences would be if he exposed ChalkZone. She wondered if he even cared about that. He was so ‘money money money’, she wondered if it was possible he would go as far as dismiss the needs of the zoners. She wouldn’t put it past him.

And then there was the other thing that had her worried. She had given all the tapes to the Tabooties’. She didn’t know if they had destroyed the evidence, kept it locked up or what. But no matter what they did with them, if she spilled the beans to Vinnie that Rudy and his family had the tapes, he would go after them. If he was willing to go this far in hurting his own sister for the chance of profit, then what would he do with Rudy and his parents? The thought chilled her blood. He would most likely do worse...

Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do right now. She had no way out of here. There was no way she could communicate with anyone. The only time she’d be let out of here was to eat and use the bathroom, and those Vinnie would limit so that she had less of a chance to escape. Her only hope is to try to sneak in an object during a trip out. He wouldn’t follow her in the bathroom, so maybe she could grab something there. It was unlikely, but it was the only chance she had. She hoped that, whenever she was able to get out, it wasn’t too late to warn Rudy.

Terry laid down on the bed, trying to ignore the aches and pains spreading through her body. Vinnie didn’t do anything to help ease the pain. She looked up at the ceiling, watching the fan spin round and around. She let out a soft sigh and spoke one quiet line.

“I’m sorry, Rudy...”

sss

Penny sat down with the others in the waiting room. They were waiting for her mother patiently, who was coming down the hallway soon to tell them of the results. She had seen Rudy late last night and was able to get a vial of his blood. Her mom and the doctors had been working on it for several hours, testing for what she believed was causing Rudy’s problems. She was nervous to know the answer, but in the end, she knew it would help her feel better, because not knowing was far scarier.

She had been startled when her mom told her about Rudy and Snap being attacked by Ghadir at night. When she saw Rudy and Snap the next day, she was able to talk to them so they could give a more detailed story. What she heard apalled her. Ghadir was truly disgusting, the way she tormented Snap like that. And licking his burn, despite knowing that saliva would hurt zoners... She was glad that they were able to make her run off.

It did concern her the way she left so easily. She would have thought that she would have stayed behind and fought longer. Then again, she was chalkless, so there wasn’t much she could do. In the real world, maybe. But this was ChalkZone, and Rudy was armed. Snap would have been, too, if he had blue chalk with him. But he was competent enough on his own, which, no surprise, Ghadir didn’t acknowledge. None of these villains do. Cosmo didn’t, and Bardot missed the mark as well. Well one good thing about that is that it allowed Snap to get some surprise attacks on them, which had turned the tides in their favor more than once.

But was there another reason Ghadir left? Was there something she did? Was her mission done? Was she not even serious and was just playing with them? Or was she just really crazy and wanted to try to eat Snap, but gave up when he started to fight back? If that were the case, then she’d have to agree with Snap and say she was a coward. If she runs off as soon as her ‘prey’ started to fight back... She decided not to think about Ghadir anymore and focus instead on what was happening right now.

Sitting next to her was Snap. He was leaning up against her for comfort. She had her arms wrapped around him and hugged him gently, carefully avoiding the cut he recieved from that mechacobra thing they described. He was strangely quiet. A few times, his eyes would move towards the door, looking to see if her mother was coming back. Then he’d shut his eyes and press his head further against her shoulder.

Sophie was in her mother’s arms. She sat in the woman’s lap. Tilly had her arms around Sophie and pulled her close. Tilly had been crying a lot, her face reddened from her tears. Other than a few sniffles, she had gone quiet as well. Sophie did try speaking to her mother earlier, and to the others. But they were all lost in their own thoughts, and they didn’t reply. They couldn’t bring themselves, too. Sophie understood the seriousness of the situation and she, too, fell silent. She glanced over at Penny and Snap once in a while and gave them a sympathetic, worried look. Her eyes silently asked them if Rudy was going to be okay, and all Penny and Snap could do was look away uncertainly.

Rudy’s parents sat not far from Sophie and Tilly. Like before, Mrs. Tabootie had her arms wrapped around her husband. She had been crying the entire time, her husband doing whatever it took to try to calm her down. He, too, was crying and it was hard for him to hold back his tears. It was a heartbreaking scene to watch. Penny wished she could say something, anything, to cheer them up. But what could she say? There was nothing positive about the situation she knew that would be enough to help them feel better. And if she was right about Rudy’s condition.... they were only feel worse.

They all had been more or less silent, save for some crying and sniffling, for about an hour now as they waited. No words were spoken. No conversation was made. They just sat there and waited for Mrs. Sanchez to come back. They had no idea how long it was going to take. It felt like hours had gone by. They barely looked at the clock. They barely moved from where they sat. They remained in their seats even if they had to use the restroom. They didn’t get up or talk or anything.

Penny felt like she was in a void, absent of sound. Except for crying and the occasional sound from the hospital, the room was silent. It was almost deafening, making her feel uncomfortable. She couldn’t bring herself to speak, though. Anxiety and depression had filled the atmosphere of the room. It was like a thick cloud, she could almost feel it. Everyone was waiting anxiously for the results, knowing that though the answer would enlighten them, it would also terrify them. And the worst part is... there might be no cure...

Penny shook her head. Of course there was a cure. There had to be. There was always a cure to a disease, even if it was obscure, or even not known yet. They just had to know where to look, what information to find. Somehow, someway, they would find the cure and save Rudy. He..he just couldn’t die like this... He couldn’t...

Then the moment they were waiting for happened. The doors opened up. They all turned their heads and jumped from their seats as Rudy, Dr. Raiden, and Mrs. Sanchez walked into the waiting room. Rudy’s head was lowered and it looked like he had been crying. This caused Penny’s heart to race. Had she been correct this whole time? The looks on her mom and the cheetah’s faces seemed to confirm this.

Rudy looked up and stared at his parents. They looked back at him with wide, worried eyes. They took a few steps towards him. They stared at each other for several moments, before someone finally spoke up.

“Rudy...?” His mom said in a low whisper.

Rudy bit his lip, tears forming in his eyes. “M-Mom...dad..”

In seconds, he had rushed over to his parents and gave them a hug. They put their arms around him and pulled him into a group hug. Rudy cried in his parents’ arms as they tried to calm him down. Penny and the others watched this with great sadness. Whatever the doctors had told him, it must have been horrible. It broke Penny’s heart seeing him like this. She, Snap, Tilly, and Sophie walked over to the grieving trio to offer their condolences.

When Rudy calmed down enough, his parents released him and they all turned their eyes towards the two doctors. Dr. Raiden and Mrs. Sanchez both looked very regretful. The cheetah’s ears were lowered and his face turned to the side. Her mother had a few tears moving down her face and she was fumbling with her hand nervously. They all knew what this meant. And they braced themselves for the worst possble news.

“The...results came back in.” Dr. Raiden said. His voice trailed off. He turned to Mrs. Sanchez.

“We had to run more tests, though, to confirm. That is why we called Rudy down. We needed to get an MRI on him.” Mrs. Sanchez said, her voice forelorn. She gave a sympathetic look to Rudy. “And what we found....confirmed our suspicions...” She fell silent.

“Well..? What’s wrong with him?” Mrs. Tabootie asked. “What’s wrong with our son?”

“Is it...bad..?” Tilly asked hesitantly.

“Can it be cured?” Snap spoke up, glancing uneasily in Rudy’s direction. “Please..tell us there’s a cure...”

Dr. Raiden shook his head. “As of now...there is no known cure. And what he has..” He looked over at Rudy. He gritted his teeth, sucking in a breath. He sighed, closed his eyes, and lowered his head. “Well, he can’t afford not having it...”

Everyone glanced at each other, their eyes wide in fear. Penny’s heart clenched, and she felt tears form in her eyes. She looked back at Rudy, who stayed between his parents, not wanting to leave their side. No wonder he was so scared. No known cure... That meant they’d have to find a cure themselves, but from what Dr. Raiden said...he didn’t have much time for that.

Mrs. Sanchez picked up. “There is no easy way for me to say this. And we do not understand entirely how this is happening, but...Rudy..his...” She paused, biting her lip. She looked at the others. They all looked at her intently, eyes wide with fearful dread. Penny could practically hear the hearts pounding. “His internal organs, and his blood vessels, they’re starting to change composition. They’re...becoming chalk.”

Horror swept through the group. There was a collection of gasps. Terrified looks plastered on everyone’s faces. They looked at Mrs. Sanchez, silently hoping, praying, that it wasn’t true. But all she could do was looked at them sympathetically. Dr. Raiden could provide them no comfort either.

Penny’s heart pounded against her chest. So she had been right. She was right all along. Rudy was turning into chalk from the inside out. That was why he was in so much agony from drinking the real world water. It was burning him... It was burned holes into his stomach, creating ulcers. That was why he had coughed up the blood. That was why he was in so much pain. Her heart clenched as she recalled the way he had whimpered in her arms, like he was a frightened little child. Now that she knew what was wrong, that memory was even more painful to think of.

“Oh Rudy...” Tilly said as she moved over towards him. She reached down and touched his cheek.

Mr. Tabootie put his arm around his son’s shoulders. He looked over at Mrs. Sanchez and said, “T-Turning to chalk...? Are..are you sure...?”

“C-Could it be a mistake?” Mrs. Tabootie asked hopefully.

Dr. Raiden shook his head. “I’m afraid not. We checked and rechecked many times. There’s no denying it. Rudy’s insides are becoming chalk. Right now most of the transformation is in his stomach, but it is spreading to other organs. And we detected signs that some of his blood vessels are starting to change, though thankfully it’s not any of the major ones yet.”

“But..there is something else.” Mrs. Sanchez said. She paused, furrowing her eyes with concern and fear. “His internal fluids, like his blood, they aren’t changing. They remain real world.”

A stunned silence among the group. The quiet was only interrupted when Sophie decided to speak.

“What does that mean?” Sophie asked.

Mrs. Sanchez looked at Sophie. She took a step towards her. “It means that... If this disease is allowed to progress...” She then looked over at Rudy sympathetically. “His insides will melt. He will die...very painfully...” She closed her eyes. “I-I’m sorry...”

Gasps of horror, heads shaking in disbelief, resumed crying and sobbing filled the room. Sophie looked up at Mrs. Sanchez in horror and she ran back to her mother and cried against her chest. Tilly tried to be strong for her, but she couldn’t stop crying. Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie held onto their son and cried, whispering questions of ‘why?’ and ‘how is this possible?’. Rudy didn’t speak. He just sobbed, his head against his father’s chest, his body trembling.

Snap hugged Penny and started to cry. She picked him off the ground and held him gently. She pressed her head against his, not able to hold back her tears for long. They flowed freely down her face. The two of them cried against each other as the horrible news began to sank in. She glanced at her mother and the zoner doctor, and all they did was look at them sadly and regretfully.

Penny couldn’t believe it. How..how could this happen? What did Rudy do to deserve this? He was such a nice person, always willing to help others out. It..it wasn’t fair that he was subjected to this. Jenny, that monster... She knowingly put Rudy through this. She was the one who infected him with this horrid disease. And for what? Some ill-gotten revenge quest. And now, because of that fiend, Rudy was going to be in a lot of pain. He was going to suffer, and it was all her fault.

He was definitely better in ChalkZone. He couldn’t stay in the real world for long without nearly passing out in pain. But even in ChalkZone, he was in agony. And with this disease, it was just going to get worse. It didn’t help that there was no pain medication they could give him that could help, given the nature of the disease. So poor Rudy had to suffer day in, day out with the pain. Though he managed, she could still tell he was suffering.

“And another thing...” Dr. Raiden said regretfully. “His blood...contained remnants of black chalk.”

“Wh-What...?” Mr. Tabootie said, his eyes wide with horror. “It’s...it’s in his bloodstream?”

Dr. Raiden nodded his head to confirm. “Yes. It’s not a lot, but it is there.”

This horrified everyone. Penny and Snap looked at each other, their eyes wide with terror. Just what they needed. More reasons to worry. While they already had their suspicions before, especially with what they encountered at the Solar Pillars and with Biclops, it was still terrifying to find out just how right they were. Penny looked at Rudy sadly. It must have been horrible for him to recieve that kind of news.

The biggest concern on everyone’s mind, though, was the disease. The black chalk appeared to be dormant, so it wasn’t as big of an issue. What was really worrying was this disease. How fast will it spread? How much time did Rudy have? How were they going to fix it? Could they fix it in time? These thoughts crowded Penny’s mind, making it ache. There had to be something they could do. Anything...

Stroking Rudy’s hair gently, Mr. Tabootie lifted his gaze up to the doctors. “I-Is there anyway to find a cure? Any information at all?”

Dr. Raiden shook his head. “None that we know of. Though Mrs. Sanchez had an idea.”

All eyes turned to Mrs. Sanchez. She said, “Yeah... There is..someone we all know...” She held out her hands in gesture. “..who might know a thing or two about interactions between real world flesh and chalk flesh...”

It felt like a cold wind sept through the group. Everyone froze. Hearts seemed to freeze, along with blood. It felt as though time itself had stopped. Horror filled everyone’s minds. Penny felt Snap’s body shaking and she held him tightly. She looked down at him, listening to him whimper in fear. She looked at the others. Everyone was shaking. Everyone had wide eyes filled with fear. Dread hung thickly in the air.

Penny wished it wasn’t true. She wished that there was another way. She wished that it could have been someone...anyone else they could go speak to. But in the end, she knew her mother was right. There was really only one being out there they knew that might be able to provide useful information.

And she knew that the others were all thinking the same thing. They knew exactly who her mother was alluding to.

Chapter Text

Skrawl stared the trio in disbelief. None of them had ever seen his eyes this wide before. It would have been comical if not for the circumstances. Skrawl had a very good reason to be this shocked, to stare at them like this. After all, what they had suggested isn’t something the jellybean would normally expect from him.

“You want me to have my Beanie Boys take you...where?!” Skrawl asked, flabbergasted.

“You heard us.” Rudy said, trying to be as serious as he could. “We need to go to the Fire Zone. And we know that your Beanie Boys know the way, since they had to help deliver Bardot and Draow there.”

“But...but...” Skrawl made some wild gestures with his hands. It was clear he was having a hard time comprehending this. “There’s a reason that place is isolated! Even without considering those two criminals who now reside there, the environment itself is very hostile! Wh-Why would you want to go there?!”

Rudy couldn’t blame Skrawl for being so startled about the whole thing. He didn’t really understand completely what was going on. Though he was certain he knew of the three black chalk artists and the anti-creator group, considering both may or would have committed crimes that he’d have to attend, but his condition... There was a strong chance that Skrawl didn’t know about it. There was good reason why they had to go into the Fire Zone, even though they would rather not go, for obvious reasons.

Rudy did wish there was another way. The idea of heading into the Fire Zone to see the two zoners that nearly killed him and his friends was not very pleasant. Sometimes he and his friends had nightmares about their encounter with these two years ago, and now they have to confront them again. He wasn’t sure how it would go. He had no idea if they would try to escape. THey just didn’t know what to expect. Yet despite their fears, he knew they had to go, as Bardot was the only one who might shed some light on his condition, even if it’s just a little bit.

“We have to go see Bardot.” Rudy said, taking a small step toward the jellybean. “We need to talk to him about something very important.”

Skrawl’s mismatched eyes widened. “Why would you want to talk to him?”

“It...has to do with Rudy.” Snap said softly. Skrawl looked at him in confusion. Snap casted an uneasy glance towards Rudy. “He’s...very sick.”

“Master Tabootie is ill?” Skrawl didn’t sound too surprised. Standing on one foot, he folded his arms together. “I have heard some news about that, but I didn’t know exactly what was wrong.” He shifted his gaze to Rudy and nodded his head once. “What’s going on with you? Do you know what kind of disease you have?”

Rudy casted his glance towards the ground. He shifted his foot uneasily. He felt Penny put a hand on his shoulder. Rudy looked at her for a few seconds, looking at her sympathetic expression. He looked away. Talking about his condition... It wasn’t going to be very easy. It terrified him, filled him with dread. He didn’t think he could sleep very well at night. He had thought about putting off the trip to the Fire Zone until tomorrow, but he didn’t think he could sleep well through the night and thought it was best to get it done and over with as soon as possible.

The idea of turning into chalk... It was horrifying to think about. He never thought that something like this was possible. He didn’t think that there was something in ChalkZone that could turn real world into chalk. Naturally there must be a reverse, though, right? Maybe Bardot knows something about that. Maybe his ability to eat real world flesh was contributed to something he found... But then what about the other hybrid zoner? The one that was never in ChalkZone most of the time and had scared Draow? It surely didn’t interact much with ChalkZone..did it..?

This was all so confusing. And frightening, too. It was hard to believe that, just a short while ago, everything was fine. Then came when he had to get his blood checked and...then all this had happened. He had indirectly awakened three black chalk artists. He still felt guilty about that. Despite his friends and family telling him that it wasn’t his fault, he still couldn’t help but feel responsible about the whole thing. In a twisted way, Ghadir was right. If he had not grabbed the black chalk years ago, there wouldn’t have been any black chalk in his blood and he wouldn’t have accidentally awakened Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek. Though he hadn’t done it on purpose, it was hard to fight back that guilt.

Skrawl was still staring at him, waiting for an answer. Rudy sucked in a breath, his teeth pressed against his lower lip. He couldn’t keep quiet for long. He looked at his friends. They looked at him reassuringly. Rudy turned back to Skrawl.

“Well you see Skrawl...” Rudy said, stumbling over his own words. He rubbed the back of his head nervously. “I...I was infected.” He paused, watching as Skrawl raised an eyebrow, showing curiosity. Rudy had to provide more information so he could understand the severity of it. “To make it simple, it’s turning my insides to chalk.”

At this, Skrawl’s eyes grew big. “That’s something in ChalkZone that can do that?” The three nodded affirmatively. Skrawl tapped the tip of his claw gainst his chin thoughtfully, tilting his head upwards. “Interesting... ChalkZone has a way of surprising you, even if you are a zoner that has lived here for years...” He looked back at the trio. “Just..how serious is it? It must not be a very pleasant disease if you are willing to risk heading through the Fire Zone and speak to Bardot.”

Rudy and the others were happy that Skrawl had least caught onto that rather quickly. He knew that they would never want to venture into such a hazardous place without good reason. They would rather not have to interact with one of their worst enemies if they could help it. Bardot, as well as Draow, had caused significant problems for them. They had been tortured nearly to death by them, Snap practically ripped apart. The whole experience had been nightmarish, and they had good cause to not go anywhere near those two again.

To think that they’d have to confront those monsters again... They didn’t know how they well they could handle it. They were all terrified. It was something they could all understand, as a group. It wasn’t like with Cosmo, when only Snap had to stay a while in the hospital. They were all severely injured and they all had to stay in the hospital, for longer than Snap had to endure when they faced off with Cosmo. They were all on their deathbeds. All three of them nearly died. And now they have to confront the very two who had put them in that situation. It was going to be one terrifying experience.

“Yes, there is good reason.” Penny spoke up. “My mom checked him out at the hospital. She and the other doctors found that only his internal organs are turning to chalk...well that and his blood vessels. The source of alarm is from the fact that...well...” Penny’s eyes filled with fear as she spoke. “His internal fluids..are remaining real world..”

“Wh-What...?” Skrawl stared at them in shock. He took an uneasy step back. “You’re joking, right...?”

Snap shook his head. “No, sorry. We wouldn’t joke about this.” He held out his hand in gesture. “So please, will you lend us some of your Beanie Boys so we can head to the Fire Zone? We really need to talk to this guy, as much as we would rather not to.”

Skrawl looked at the three one at a time. His eyes remained wide. His mouth hung open. He looked as if he were having a hard time digesting this information. Rudy wasn’t surprised. It was all hard to take in at first. Not only is such a disease unheard of, but it was a terrifying concept. Skrawl looked around, his mind surely racing to think of a response. Rudy hoped that he would be a little cooperative. There wasn’t much time to spare.

“I...I don’t like the idea.” Skrawl said, his hand raised with palm up, his claws spread out in a relaxed manner. “I think it’s best if I just have my Beanie Boys go and get information for you. They’ll be armed. It’ll be a much safer option.”

“No.” Rudy shook his head, staring at Skrawl with his right eye. “This is something we have to do ourselves. We...we need to confront those two, and get the information that way. We’ve handled those two before...”

Skrawl narrowed his eyes. “Barely... And you and Penita over there spent most of your time being tortured.”

“I landed a kick..” Rudy narrowed his eye.

Skrawl waved his hand dismissingly. “That’s not much.” He pointed a finger at the three. “The last time you three faced off against them, you were nearly killed. Please, why don’t just let my Beanie Boys handle this?” He moved his hand around to indicate confusion and frustration. “Just..why?” His voice sounded a little strained. “Why is it so important that you confront them yourselves? Why won’t you let someone else do it? I thought you would rather you not go and face them?”

“True...” Penny said, taking a step forward. “But, you see Skrawl, you don’t know those two the way we do. Rudy and I had spent a lot of time with them.” She gave a shudder, obviously remembering the horrific events that took place. “We got a very good idea on the way they think, the way they would act.”

“And based on what we know..” Rudy chimed in, picking up from where Penny left off. “We would know that, if your Beanie Boys tried to get the information, Draow and Bardot maybe not be so cooperative. Even if you do arm the Beanie Boys, that doesn’t mean they’d be willing to talk. Your Beanie Boys are more likely to damage them too much to the point where they can’t talk, than actually get any worthwhile information from them.”

Skrawl cocked an eyebrow. “Oh really? What makes you think it’ll be different if you go?”

“Bardot and Draow, well mostly Bardot, were surprisingly honest with us during our stay.” Rudy explained. “Sure, he didn’t tell us everything, but what he did say was more or less the truth. If he lied, it was rare. The guy clearly didn’t see any consequence in being, at least in part, truthful. He never tried to really sugarcoat anything. I’m sure that, if we go, they would speak the truth to us, since they would really have no benefit from lying.”

“Well they could lie so they have the benefit of knowing you died.” Skrawl pointed out.

Skrawl did have a good point. Thinking about it, Rudy wasn’t even sure if his idea made sense or would work. It was true that Bardot was truthful with him much of the time. He hadn’t tried to lie and say things like they were going to let him go. He never once denied being a monster or indicated he felt what he was doing was right. He did keep Draow in line, so there was the chance that he could keep the bat wolf from attacking them.

But what if he was wrong? Maybe Skrawl was right. Maybe Bardot and Draow wouldn’t be truthful, simply out of vengeance. He and Penny might have spent quite sometime with them, albeit unwillingly, but that was no guarantee they knew exactly how they would respond. Skrawl was right. They could still lie to them.

Then again, this may not be exactly correct. Draow could still lie to them, though he hadn’t really made himself out to be much of a liar to them. The only big lie he ever really told them, and he didn’t actually say it, was when he never spoke and just acted like a dumb animal to fool them all. He had done this with everyone, actually, and when the facade was dropped, he was a bit of a chatterbox.

Bardot, on the other hand, due to his dual nature of white and red, may actually be incapable of outright lying. The more Rudy thought about it, the more it made sense. The red chalk half of him may be what prevented him from speaking actual lies. He was capable of giving partial truths and refraining from giving certain information, but it may be impossible for him to speak true lies. Red chalk drawings were not subtle. They attack outright. They make their goal quite clear, to spread chaos throughout ChalkZone. They were incapable of deciet. This trait may have dominated Bardot’s personality.

In that case, it may be possible to speak to Bardot and he would have no choice but to tell them the truth. Or just refuse to answer, but they may be able to make him talk. After all, he had spent two years in the Fire Zone. He must have weakened a little while he was there, at the very least. He wouldn’t be as much of a threat. They could trap him and force him to talk. Without his speed or venom, and without his usual strength, he wouldn’t be able to fight them effectively.

“We would still like to try. Please, just let us handle this.” Rudy asked the jellybean. “We will be at an advantage. We won’t be disarmed this time.”

“We will bring magic chalk with us. We will be able to fight back.” Penny added in.

“The Fire Zone would have weakened them, too.” Snap pointed out. “They’d be in a weak state when we find them. I doubt they would be too much of a threat. And with magic chalk, they wouldn’t dare try to mess with us.”

Skrawl scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Well...you do make a good point there...” He glared back at them. “But I still don’t like the idea. I’d feel more comfortable if you stayed here and I send a few of my Beanie Boys. They have ways of making criminals talk.” He paused for a moment, then added. “The last time you three encountered those two, you nearly died.”

“Aww... It’s nice to hear you talk about how much you care about us, Skrawly.” Snap said with a grin.

Clutching his fist and shaking it, Skrawl hissed at the superhero zoner, “What have I told you about that...? Stop calling me ‘Skrawly’!”

Snap chuckled at this. “Sorry, it’s just hard to resist.”

Skrawl growled at this. He then recomposed himself, taking in a deep breath. He took a couple steps back from the trio and turned around, putting his back to them. “Though I would rather you not go...” He turned his head and stared at them with one eye. “...I have a feeling that you three won’t leave me alone until I agree to it...so okay... As much as I hate it, I’ll permit it...” His voice grew slightly deep. “But just this once. So get whatever information you can during this trip, because I will not permit you to go back again.”

Rudy and his friends nodded their heads. “We understand, Skrawl.” Rudy said. “And thanks for the help. We really appreciate it.”

“Whatever..” Skrawl said quickly. He turned his head and whistled. “Beanie Boys! Come here!” As a small group of Beanie Boys came over, Skrawl looked back at the trio. “I will have them take you to the Fire Zone. You will have three hours to get the information you need. As soon as you are done, you are to report back to the entrance of the Fire Zone, and my Beanie Boys will bring you back here. Understand?”

“Crystal clear.” Penny said.

“Good..” Skrawl said, nodding his head once. He added, “Oh, and do tell me what they said to you. I would like to know more about this...condition of yours, Tabootie.”

“Okay, we’ll let you know then.” Rudy replied.

As the Beanie Boys were preparing to escort them to the Fire Zone, Rudy let his mind wander a little. He looked at his friends. They both looked very nervous. He was certain he did, too. He imagined all their hearts were filling with dread, perhaps speeding up a little. They were about to confront a very dangerous enemy who nearly ended their lives years ago. Hiding their fear was going to be hard. And there was still the off chance that, somehow, those two could try something.

They still had to go through with it, though. Bardot was the only one who could provide them useful information..if they could get him to talk that is. And with him weakened, they’d have to be careful with how forceful they were. They might accidentally hurt him, and if they want information from him, that was the last thing they wanted to do.

But at least, this time, unlike before, they were in better shape. They weren’t ‘crippled’ in a sense. They had magic chalk with them. They were together as a group. Bardot and Draow didn’t have that advantage over them anymore. They wouldn’t stand a chance against them while they had magic chalk. This time, it was Rudy and his friends who had the upperhand.

sss

“So..this is the Fire Zone..?” Snap said, his eyes widening. He looked all around. “It’s..huge...”

“It’s definitely bigger than I imagined.” Penny noted. She shifted the bag on her back a little as she turned her head left and right nervously. “And the smell...”

Rudy winced as he caught whiff of it. “Sulfur..” He turned to his friends. “Come on, let’s keep going. Those two have to be around here..somewhere...”

The three friends continued their trek further into the Fire Zone. The place was indeed a lot more massive than they thought. They had believed it would have been, at most, about twice the size of the Future Dome. But when they arrived overhead, they could see the extent of the place. And their calculations were wrong. The place was more like five times the size of Future Dome, massive enough that it spread out to the horizon.

The place looked horrible even from a distance. The ground was mostly pitch black with some dark red around. They could see some pillows of smoke in different parts, dark grey and hanging in the air thickly. They could see bright red lights which they knew must be from lava that constantly flowed through the place. And this all stretched on for miles with no end in sight. The only things keeping this place isolated was the fact that there was a terrifying electric fence all around that looked like it would char even Biclops if he dare to touch it, and that the place was located on a floating island, high above an unhabitable desert.

Looking at the lava that poured over the edge, Rudy had wondered if this place generated its own lava since it couldn’t come from the center of chalk earth. Where the lava came from was of little concern though, as, either way, it was still dangerous and they were going to have to avoid it at all costs. Rudy was relieved that they had remembered to bring a lot of chalk there. There was a chance they were going to need to use a lot of it, if they were particularly unlucky.

Just walking around the place was unbearable. Though where he, Penny, and Snap were wasn’t too bad, it was not really pleasant either. The ground was pretty warm, and some areas got randomnly hotter, with seemingly no rhyme or reason. There were a few dead trees around, blackened and many broken down. In the distance, they sometimes could catch a lake of lava or an eruption in the distance. This place was highly volcanic. Ash was constantly in the air. The only reason why they weren’t choking on it was because they were too far away to be affected by it. Judging from this alone, Rudy guessed that much of the Fire Zone was too unlivable, so that did reduce the amount of ground they’d have to search.

Rudy felt uncomfortable walking under this sky. Somehow, maybe due to the composition of the air, any mount of sky that wasn’t covered by the grey and black smoke was blood red. It gave the place an extra level of foreboding atmosphere, making him shudder. He could tell Penny and Snap didn’t like being underneath it either. They continued to move forward, doing their best not to look up at the red sky above them. They needed to focus on finding Bardot and Draow. They had to be somewhere here.

The three of them did their best to cope with the heat. It was about ninety in this place, and some areas, they felt like it got over a hundred, which may have been the case. They aren’t even anywhere near the volcanoes. They could imagine how high the temperatures in those places were. They’d have to be careful as one one step could lead them all getting horrifically burned. The fact that there were sometimes lava balls shooting in the distance didn’t help anything either. One of them could easily fling towards them, and with how fast they were going, they might not be able to get out of the way in time.

So far, the place looked quite barren and they could all see why. This place hardly looked livable, even in the less dramatic places like where they were walking. There were no living plants here. At least none that they could see. And with no visible water, how could any plants grow here anyway? They also didn’t see any animal life either. Nothing scurrying along the ground. Not even a little insect could be seen.

This was worrying for the trio. If this place was this awful to live in, what were the odds that Bardot and Draow were even still alive? They doubted that they were checked on that often, so they could have died from lack of water and food after a time and no one found out. This would be pretty bad if this turned out to be the case. They couldn’t very well get information from a bunch of corpses. They hoped that, somehow, those two had managed to survive all this time and were at least in good enough shape to speak with them. And they hoped that they would find them soon before their time was up. Or before they burned to death, which ever happened first.

They did soon find some bit of animal life, or rather...former animal life laying around. They came upon a massive corpse. It looked like some cow beast with a long lizard like tail. Most of the skin had rotted off, but what was left on there looked both rigid and papery. A few flies where flying around the corpse, eating whatever was left of it. The empty sockets and the grin only a skull could give bore through their minds, making them shudder in fear and disgust. They moved on quickly, wanting to get as far away from that horrid sight as they could. They hoped they wouldn’t run into too much of these.

And of course, that was exactly what happened shortly after. There was a whole grave sight of these things. Shattered bones and petrified skin laid everywhere. Their bodies were ‘moving’ in a sense, as a bunch of insects chewed on the skin. Here, they could also see a few other forms of life, such as red lizards that gnawed on the bones, and some black-colored plants growing around underneath the dead animals. They realized that the black trees they encountered may not have been dead, but were actually alive, somehow able to take nutrients from this hostile place.

They walked around for what felt like an hour and still no sign of those two. They began to wonder if they really were dead. They hoped they weren’t. They didn’t want this treacherous journey to be all for nothing. They had to be around here...somewhere.. But where? Rudy tried to think of which direction they should go. Should they keep going straight..or change direction? Where would Bardot and Draow be in a place like this?

“Perhaps we should go...” Rudy started to say. But when he saw the look on his friends’ faces, he stopped and lowered his finger. “Guys...? What’s wrong...?”

“R-Rudy..” Penny pointed at something behind him.

Thinking it was Draow or Bardot, Rudy looked behind him. What he saw wasn’t them, but they would have been a welcome sight compared to this. Standing before him was a large bear-like zoner that appeared zombified. Parts of its bones were exposed, but its internal organs appeared to function, glowing brightly. The bear was on its hind legs and it was huge, about the same size as Draow. It let out a massive roar, opening its mouth so wide that they could see deep down its throat. Its sharp fangs glinted in the red glow of the place.

Rudy quickly got out the magic chalk. He took a fighting stance, making sure he was between the bear and his friends. He gritted his teeth as the bear took a few steps forward, still remaining on two legs. Letting out another roar, it stomped on the ground, shaking it. Rudy tried to draw in self defense, but the bear lunged for him and nearly ripped his arm off. He managed to get out of the way, but then the bear swatted him with its paw, knocking him into the ground.

Immediately his friends came rushing over. Snap jumped onto its back and pulled on its ears. The bear reared back up onto its hind legs and swung its head and shoulders from side to side, trying to dislodge Snap. While the little zoner distracted the bear, Penny went over and pulled Rudy up to his feet. They turned around just in time to see Snap let out of the bear and fall into the ground. Before he could get back up, the bear slammed its paw against his chest and stomach, prompting a grunt of pain from him. The bear pushed down hard and Snap winced in pain struggling to get free.

“Snap! No!” Rudy called out, reaching out with his hand.

Penny rushed over and, using her own piece of magic chalk, she started to draw..but then the ground beneath them started to shake. The bear’s previously furious expression changed to horror as it looked around. Removing its paw from Snap, it started to back away. Rudy and Penny reached Snap’s side and helped him to his feet. They then looked back at the bear, which stood very close to them. It hardly noticed them anymore and it continued taking backwards steps.

They soon found out what had scared the bear so much. The ground was starting to crack open. Red lava became visible. The cracks rapidly spread and grew wider and wider. The bear turned tail and ran off, but it didn’t get that far. To their horror, the ground beneath the bear crumbled apart and it sank into the lava. They watched what happened next in absolute horror. It was something that Rudy didn’t think he could ever get out of his head.

The bear melted before them. It slowly sank into the ground. All the while it let out loud screams of agony that tore through their soul just listening to it. Blood poured from many places as the bear’s skin began to break out in boils and burned off. As soon as the beast’s skull became visible, they could no longer take it and they turned their heads away, shielding their eyes. They could hear the grunching sounds of the bear being broken apart. It made them all feel nauseaous. And then a bubbling sound...

They couldn’t stand there for long. The ground beneath them shook more and, to their horror, red lava started to appear beneath their feet. The intense heat nearly burned them. They took off running as fast as they could. The crack moved rapidly behind them, splitting the ground. Lava oozed onto the black and red ground, melting whatever it touched. Their hearts pounded, their mouths became dry and scratchy, and their eyes wide with fear and terror as the lava line raced rapidly towards them.

“Rudy! You have to draw something!” Snap called out, his voice a little more high pitched than normal.

“I don’t know what to draw!” Rudy’s mind was filled with such panic, he had a hard time thinking of what to do next.

Penny called out, “Something that can fly!”

Rudy’s right eye widened. Of course, why hadn’t he thought of that? Working with Penny, they began to draw a large hang glider, one that was big enough to support all of them. Once they were finished, they put their magic chalks in their pockets and they grabbed onto the metal handle bar with one hand each. Their other hands grabbed onto Snap’s arms. They jumped into the air, hoping that it would at least provide some kind of lift for them.

They weren’t able to glide through the air, which was of no surprise since they did not start from a great height. But the glider did let them leap large distances across the ground. Using this method, they were able to put several feet, yards between them and the line. They then veered off in a different direction, heading towards what seemed to be more stable ground. The red line that seemed to be chasing them just continued on straight. As the three friends landed on the ground and released the hang glider, they watched, caution on their minds, as the red line zipped further into the distance, lava oozing from the cracks.

Not wanting to stand around for much longer in case this ground decided to become unstable as well, they began to walk down in a new direction. They were shaken up by what happened. It seemed that even the ground here could be unpredictable at best, with lava hiding underneath anywhere. They had to wonder how anyone could survive so long on this place. And anyone who could..it was a terrifying thought. One would have to be quite tough to make a living here. This made running into Draow and Bardot that much more frightening.

“I..I don’t like it here...” Snap said in a soft voice. His body was shaking a little. “If Bardot and Draow could survive this, does this mean that...?”

Penny shook her head. “I don’t think so, Snap. This place is too hostile. They couldn’t be at their full strength.”

“And it doesn’t look like there’s much to eat or drink here.” Rudy pointed out, placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder to reassure him. “They won’t be able to hurt any of us in their weakened state. They’re probably nothing but skin and bones now.”

Snap looked around nervously. “Maybe you’re right...” Snap didn’t sound very convinced. “Still...there’s a chance that...”

“It’s okay, Snap. We understand why you’re scared. We all are.” Rudy said gently. They slowed down their walk as he and Penny tried to calm Snap. “We all witnessed firsthand what those monsters were capable of. But they can’t hurt us anymore. And we have the upperhand.”

To emphasize Rudy’s point, Penny pulled out a piece of magic chalk. “They won’t try to do anything to us, even if they could. They know they stand no chance against two armed creators.”

Snap opened his mouth to say something, but then he stopped. His wide eyes looked around. He whipped his head from side to side. “D-Did you guys hear that...?”

As soon as he said that, Rudy and Penny took notice of it, too. There was something...near them. The patter of feet, shadows moving, something blurry moving just out of their line of sight. They thought they heard a growl, but it was too faint to tell if it was familiar or not. They stood close to each other, looking all around. They couldn’t see anything, but signs that someone or something was watching them were present, even if just vaguely.

After a while of nothing happening, the three cautiously began to walk forward. They never strayed too far from each other. They continuously looked around, trying to see any sign of what was following them. Once in a while, they caught what looked like a shadow or a dark figure, but it moved by so fast they couldn’t see it. They began to quicken their pace a little, deciding that it was best if they got away from here as soon as they could. They soon came upon what looked like a large stone pillar. And up ahead, it looked like the remnants of those lava cracks they saw earlier.

Suddenly, without warning, something large and heavy landed right behind them. Startled, they jumped into the air and looked to see what it was. It was that pillar they saw just seconds ago. It appeared to have been pushed over. They noted the claw marks against the stone. They took a few steps back, startled by how close they were to being crushed by this. But then, before they could catch a breather, the shallow ditches all around them erupted in a wall of fire.

They screamed and huddled tightly against each other, holding each other for comfort. The fire’s heat was intense, making them all sweat. It was almost burning, and the light was intense. They looked all around, trying to find an escape route. Panic settled into their minds, making Rudy and Penny temporarily forget that they have magic chalk to help them out. They just stood there, in absolute shock at what happened.

As the crackling fire and smoke surrounded them, making them cough, they could hear the sound of small footsteps, then claws scraping frantically. And then there was the flapping of wings and something heavy landing on something near them.

“Rudy...Penny...Snap...”

At this, Rudy and his friends froze. Their bodies stiff, their blood running cold. That voice....that horrible voice... They instantly knew who it was. They slowly turned around, their eyes wide in terror and fear.

“It’s been a long time...” The voice chortled.

There, standing on top of the rock that blocked them in, was Bardot. He was perched above them, his tail swishing left and right. And behind him, Draow. The teal-eyed beast leered down at them, hated practically radiating off his face.

Bardot gave a twisted smile as he saw the terrified expressions of Rudy, Penny, and Snap. He jumped off the rock and landed several feet in front of them. He took a few steps towards them, and then turned his head to the side. His familiar evil grin, his green eyes glinted with maliciousness, he stared at them with one eye.

Then Bardot spoke again, keeping his head tilted and leaning slightly forward, his voice mocking. “How have you been?”

Chapter Text

Rudy shook his head in disbelief. He couldn’t believe it. He found it hard to believe. This is not what he was expecting when he came here at all. Neither did his friends. When they went looking for Bardot and Draow, they had been looking for a couple of weak, malnourished zoners. The Fire Zone was supposed to be a harsh landscape to live in. It was supposed to force them to use their wits all the time to survive. It should have made them much weaker. They should have been much thinner.

But instead, the two stood before them, looking rather well for two zoners who lived two years in this hostile environment. They were a little thinner, but not nearly as much as they thought they would be. And to their horror, they looked a little more muscled than the last time they saw them, likely due to life in such a harsh place. Overall, the two zoners looked mostly the same as the last time they saw them, and it looked like, if they chose to, they could put up a really good fight. So far, neither of them made a move towards the trio, but they kept tense, prepared for a sudden attack.

Rudy wondered how their interrogation was going to go now. His idea of them succeeding largely rode on the fact that he thought the two would be weak when they found them. He thought that Bardot would be too weak to attempt an attack on them. But here he was, clearly able to make a move on them if he so decided. The blood that lightly stained his claws showed that he was still in fighting condition. He shuddered as Bardot looked from him, to Penny, to Snap, and then back at him again, yet saying nothing.

The only source of comfort he could find was the fact that Bardot still wore the purple collar. He couldn’t see the purple energy flowing over him, and he wondered if the collar was broken. Then he realized it might be all internalized, possibly getting that way after a period of time. At least Bardot won’t have his speed or venom to use on them. He still had his smaller razor sharp teeth, though, and those thick claws. He might still be able to do considerable damage to them if he could get close enough to them.

And Draow... The massive zoner would prove a definite threat. He stood on the rock still, his eyes piercing into them. He did not look very happy to see them. He, however, did not speak or try to come towards them. It could be he was waiting for an order from Bardot, or maybe he was just biding his time. The main advantage of the fire walls all around them is that it would make it difficult for Draow to make a move behind them without them noticing. But the fire wall was still blocking their escape. Rudy and Penny held up their magic chalk slowly, showing the two that they weren’t defenseless and would fight if need be.

Rudy hoped Penny would be able to hold her ground. He was amazed she could do it earlier. He contributed it to adrenaline. She still had trouble walking and the adrenaline may have helped her overcome the pain for a short period of time. She lost her cane earlier, however, when they were running away from the bear. He wouldn’t be surprise if she would be frustrated by that because that would have been the second cane she lost in a few days.

With Penny’s leg injury, she would be an easy target. At least she had the magic chalk to defend herself, but who knows when these two would attack? He imagined that Bardot would still be quick, even if he wouldn’t be as fast as usual, and Draow could move pretty fast for someone his size. No doubt that they would sense Penny’s weakness and be able to launch an attack on her so fast that she couldn’t defend herself.

But then there was Snap. He was another possible target. Though Draow hated Rudy the most, he might decide to go for the easiest target, which is Snap. The blue zoner can’t use the magic chalk and they had no blue chalk with them. Draow could easily swoop down, take Snap into his jaws and crush him. In an attempt to protect both his friends from being targeted, Rudy took a few steps forward, standing protectively in front of his friends. He glared at Bardot, trying his best not to let his fear show.

But it was impossible, and Bardot could sense he was afraid. The yellow and red zoner gave a cold laughter and began to pace back in forth in front of the boy, his tail swishing from side to side. His voice as he spoke, the same cold chilling voice that Rudy, Penny, and Snap learned all too well, still made their blood freeze to this day.

“How long as it been since we last met? Why..I think it’s been two years, hasn’t it?” Bardot said. He sneered at Rudy, baring his sharp teeth in a nasty grin. “How have things been with you three? Anything exciting?” He seemed to take notice of the patch over Rudy’s left eye. “Oh nice, that is a good look for you. What happened? Did you trip over your own heroic ego?”

Rudy narrowed his right eye. Bardot sounded so sarcastic when he said that. It was clear that he was just mocking him, probably to incite an argument. He had to try to ignore his words. He couldn’t allow himself to be manipulated by this monster. A negative reaction is exactly what he was trying to get from him.

“Shut up, Bardot...” Rudy growled under his breath. “If you’re still sore about losing...”

“Me? Sore?” Bardot placed a paw on his chest and gave Rudy a feigned innocent look. “Why, Rudy, why would you think that of me?” His smile returned, though a little softer than before. “You know that I willingly came here, because I conceded to you and your friends. You beat me fair and square. Why would I be upset about that?”

Rudy planted his feet firmly on the ground. He pointed a finger at the yellow zoner. “Because you went nuts after Snap beat you! How do we know you won’t try to pull something like that again?”

Bardot’s eyes narrowed slightly. He straightened himself a little and lifted up a paw. He placed a claw tip against the collar he was wearing. “You see this here? Purple collar, made with purple chalk.” He held out the paw, palm facing up, and he continued, “In case you forgot, purple chalk subdues my red chalk half. Not completely you know, but some of my abilities, like my venom, are gone. I cannot take it off. And you boy...” He pointed a claw at Rudy. “You and Penny I see, you both have magic chalk. Why would I risk my own tail trying to fight you when you are armed?”

Bardot did have a point. This was what he and his friends believed when they came here. Them being armed would give them an advantage, and it seemed they might be right. Even though Bardot and Draow were healthier than they thought they would be, they would still be at a disadvantage against the magic chalk. Still, Rudy didn’t want to let his guard down. With these two, it was best not to take chances.

He still couldn’t believe how fit these two looked despite being in the Fire Zone. How was this possible? Were they really that good at survival that being in the Fire Zone did not cause as much trouble as he thought it would? The idea was frightening. If these two could be this well in the Fire Zone, what would happen if they broke free? The chances were highly unlikely, but if the very remote chance happened, and they did get out, just how much more dangerous had they become? He hoped that the day never came that they’d never get out of the Fire Zone. He couldn’t imagine the kind of terror they’d be able to unleash in their current state, even without Bardot’s venom and speed.

Bardot must be able to read minds, or he just creepily knows what to say at the right moment. “You three must be surprised to see us...so well...”

“...you could say that again.” Snap said, his voice filled with nervousness. He put on a brave face. He took a step foward, holding out his hand, pointing it at Bardot. “Just how is this possible? Did you two escape Fire Zone from time to time or something?”

“We have seen quite a bit of Fire Zone and nothing here suggests that you could remain this way for two years.” Penny said hesitantly. “By my calculations...”

“Oh shut up about your dumb calculations, bitch.” Draow growled. The fur along his back and neck ruffled up a little. “You can see right before your eyes that you are wrong.”

Pointing the magic chalk in Draow’s direction, Rudy shouted, “Don’t talk to her like that!” This prompted a snarl from Draow, but nothing else.

Bardot chuckled, sounding amused by the little display that happened in front of him. As Rudy turned his attention back to him, they locked their green eyes together. Bardot merely sat down on his hanches. Once again holding out his paw, gesturing with it as he spoke, Bardot began to explain. “It’s so simple, really. Putting us in a harsh environment like the Fire Zone has forced us to become...well smarter. We had to use our wits to survive, so we’ve adapted. If you think living here automatically means you’ll grow weaker over time guarantee....well... That is a fallacy.”

Suddenly, Draow swooped down. He landed behind the trio, not far from them. He did not act bothered at all by the fire, like he had grown used to being so close to it, which they didn’t doubt. He straighted himself up for a second, giving them an evil glare, before curling his lips into a vicious grin and putting his face close to them. The group took a few steps away.

“Are you..disappointed?” Draow asked, his voice sounding a little deeper than usual. He chortled at their lack of a reply, taking it as a ‘yes’. “Well...ain’t that too bad...”

Draow flattened his ears and moved in to attack them. The trio stood their ground, preparing to fight. They watched as the bat wolf slowly approached them, drool dripping from his fangs and eyes glowing with hatred for them. Suddenly, Bardot lunged between them. His back was to the trio while his head, fangs bared, were on Draow. The bat wolf’s eyes widened and he took a step backwards.

“Easy, Draow. There’s no need to fight them.” Bardot said calmly. “After all...” He turned to cast a one-eyed glance at Rudy and his friends. “...we already had our fun with them.” He turned back to Draow. “You already got to attack all of them. You got to tear them up. Don’t be so greedy. You don’t need to attack them again. Stand down.”

Draow’s ears dropped. He gave a look that was a cross between disgust and disappointment. “You ruin all the fun..”

Bardot chuckled at this, but did not answer Draow. He whipped his head and looked back at Rudy and his friends. He took a few steps towards them. “Honestly, I don’t see why you are so surprised by how well we look. Don’t you know the old saying? What doesn’t kill you...”

Draow moved in closer, standing right behind Bardot. He stood up straight, spreading out his wings a little. “Makes you stronger.”

“I am part red chalk. Though this collar subdues it, some qualities still remain, such as some of the tenacity and ferocity of the red chalk.” Bardot said, smiling darkly. “It really comes in handy here...”

“And I... I was drawn as Cosmo’s top warrior. I’ve fought against many zoners on my own, taking on as many as ten at a time, and always coming out on top!” To emphasize his point, he spread his wings out further. “I was bred for this kind of hostility!” His teeth were bared in a vicious grin.

Rudy, Penny, and Snap stayed close together. They kept their eyes on the two evil zoners, unsure of what to expect from them. Bardot did say not to attack, but then, he had only said that about Draow. He didn’t say that he himself wouldn’t attack, and then there was always the chance that he could change his mind and allow Draow to come in for an assault.

The realization of what Bardot and Draow were saying did start to click with Rudy. Horror swept through his head, his mind trying to digest this new bit of information. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought about it before. Bardot and Draow...they both just made a really good point. There was some truth to that saying. This place did require a lot of skill to survive in. He should have realized that, the longer Draow and Bardot stayed here, the more talented they would become, the more adapt they’d get to surviving here. He realized they should have been more prepared when they came here, and not assume that these two would be weak.

And the bit about the red chalk and what they were drawn for made sense and he couldn’t believe he didn’t consider it before. Red chalk drawings would be more durable in a place like this thanks to their ferocity. Bardot would still have at least some of that, and it would have helped him survive here. And Draow... He was drawn to be a vicious fighter. This kind of place, though it likely was still hard for him to live in, it didn’t faze him as much because he was already used to fighting against the odds. Why didn’t he see it before? Why did he assume that they would be weak instead of considering other possibilities?

And now his mistake might cost them. He and Penny still had the magic chalk, but that was no guarantee of safety. One of these two could try to snag the chalk away from them. They could attack so fast that they cannot use it. If they had survived here for all this time, they may have learned some new tricks. Would they be prepared? Were they even ready to face them now? Rudy realized he probably should have allowed Skrawl to send the Beanie Boys in instead. They might have had a better handle on this than him.

Well now it was too late to go back on that now. They were here now, and they would have to make the most of it. So long as they had magic chalk with them, they may be able to still get these two to talk and spill the beans of what they are looking for. Without his speed or venom, Bardot would be at a disadvantage still. Though he still had his sharp teeth and claws and wasn’t really defenseless, at least he wasn’t as big of a threat as he was two years ago.

But Draow would still prove to be dangerous. He was huge, much larger than any of them. If he so desired, he could kill them with his jaws. He didn’t have any special abilities, well other than that glass trick but there’s no glass around here so he can’t use it. But he still had his strength, his flight, his claws, and of course, his ferocity. He was not going to be a pushover. Out of the two, he was the most immediately dangerous. If Bardot decides to let him attack, they would need to be fully prepared and anticipate it.

Rudy wondered how they would get information from them. He had expected them to be weak and his initial plan was based around that. Well that was thrown out the window. With them both healthier than they thought they would be, he needed to come up with another plan. He wasn’t sure just how willing Bardot would be to tell them what they wanted. He could easily withhold some important information, telling a half truth while keeping out some important details, or he could not say anything at all and simply stall for time.

He was taken from his thoughts when Bardot decided to break the silence.

“Now...what is it you came here for?” Bardot asked. He stood on all fours. He started to pace around the trio. “I’m sure you didn’t come all this way just to say ‘hello’. So tell me...what brings you to these parts?”

Rudy narrowed his eyes. He and his friends watched as the hybrid zoner paced around them like a vulture. Bardot’s voice sounded somewhat curious, but mostly mocking. Rudy tried to think of how he was going to word it. Though he knew, whatever he did say, Bardot and Draow would find a way to mock him anyway. He and his friends would have to make sure they ignore anything that wasn’t information. These two would probably still try to provoke them. They always had a habit of doing that two years ago. Why would they stop now?

“I...” He glanced at Penny and Snap. They nodded their heads. Standing as a group, he said, “We came here to ask you a few questions.”

“Oh?” Bardot tilted his head to the side. He looked amused by this. He let out a soft laughter that didn’t sound entirely maniacal. “How very interesting... You, of all people, coming to me...out of all zoners...” He put his paw on his chest, and then held it out in gesture. “...for information? I never thought I would see the day.”

Draow took a step forward, his ears lowered. “Why would you want to come to us, or rather, Bardot, for information? What makes you think that you will get that information so easily?” He raised his wings, positioning them so that his wing claws glinted in the fiery glow all around them. “After all, you two fell for our fire trap like it was nothing.” He folded his wings against his body and looked around, a small smile spreading across his muzzle. “This thing is always hard to set up. But it works...”

Penny looked all around, her eyes widening at the tall flames that still shot out from the ground. “You mean, you two were able to...?”

Draow nodded his head affirmatively. “You’d be amazed what you learn about this place after you spent some time in it.” He lowered his head and moved closer. The trio took a fighting stance as he put his head close to Penny’s face. His eyes glinting in hatred, he said, “Of course, you three wasted our chance with this thing. So we won’t be able to get our next meal for a while. Of course...” He looked down at Snap, grinning evilly. “...I could always go for a snack.”

Snap’s eyes widened in horror and he moved back. Rudy and Penny moved in front of him protectively, glaring hatefully at the bat wolf zoner. Draow laughed at this. But upon seeing the magic chalk in their hands, he started to move backwards, putting some distance between him and the teenagers. He then turned his head over to Bardot, likely awaiting orders. The hybrid zoner smiled at him, but the only order he gave was a single gesture, a wave of the paw to indicate that he stay put.

“What kind of information are you looking for?” Bardot asked, making his voice sound as innocent as possible. He scratched his chin with the tip of his claw. “Maybe you need to know how I used to kill zoners? Do you want detailed information about how my venom used to work? Oh! Maybe you want me to recount exactly what I did to Snap for...”

“Knock it off!” Rudy shouted, his right eye narrowed. “Why would I want to know any of that stuff?!”

Bardot laughed, his shoulders shaking a little. “Well I don’t know...” He sat down on his haunches and tilted his head to the side, making himself look very eerie, especially in the glow of the fire. “Maybe morbid curiosity...?”

Rudy growled under his breath. The way Bardot said that... It made his blood boil. He sounded like he would actually really want to know those things in great detail. Why would he come all the way here just to hear about that stuff? If he wanted some gruesome data, he could have just went to the library for that. He didn’t need to come here.

He had to keep himself calm. He had to remind himself that Bardot was just trying to stir up some trouble. He couldn’t let him do that. He couldn’t allow him to control him like that. He wasn’t going to allow Bardot the satisfaction of making him or his friends lose their tempers. He wasn’t going to give him the joy of knowing that they had managed to push their buttons. No, they weren’t going to be toyed with like that.

Doing his best to ignore Bardot’s statement, Rudy said, “How was it possible for you to digest real world flesh? I know you mentioned about dehydration but...what else? That couldn’t possibly be the only way you did it.”

At this, Bardot’s eyes widened ever so slightly. He turned his head a little. “Why would you want to know that?” He gave a mock gasp, putting his paw to his mouth. “Oh! Don’t tell me!” He narrowed his eyes and spread his grin far back. His ears pricked up. “You’ve taken a liking to eating zoners?”

The trio gasped at that. They couldn’t believe Bardot would suggest such a horrible thing. Their blood boiled in anger, their eyes narrowing into slits. Despite wanting to ignore this guy’s attempts at upsetting them, it was hard, and he knew just how to get under their skin.

“You are sick...” Snap growled. He pointed his round hand at him. “Truly disgusting!”

Penny hissed, “How fucking dare you...”

Rudy’s body was shaking in anger. “Why would I want to do that?!”

“Hey, whatever floats your boat..” Draow said, a cruel smile spread across his face. He looked at the patch over Rudy’s left eye. “I see you have a missing eye...just like my master...” His voice became deep in anger for a few seconds. When he continued talking, his voice lightened up again, sounding eerily cheerful. “Maybe you got that from your latest victim?”

Rudy’s eye widened and then they narrowed. He let out a soft growl. He tried his best not to get too angry, but it was hard, and he could feel his blood burning in his veins. Penny and Snap were both also visibly angered by what Draow said. Of course these two would want to make it seem like Rudy would want to be the bad guy. They would do whatever it took to try to shift blame onto him, and try to make it seem like he caused the problems.

That was just how these two operated. They loved shifting blame onto others when they saw fit. They never want to take responsibility for their own actions, so to feel better about themselves, they take sadistic joy in blaming the victim. What a horrible thing to do... Victims don’t ask to be victims. These two...they’re the only ones to blame for their actions. They chose to do what they did. They’re the only ones at fault. They had the power of choice. They could have chosen not to do anything diabolical and they wouldn’t have ended up here.

“Why you...” Rudy growled. His fists shook in anger. “I’m not hurting any zoners!”

“Are you sure about that?” Bardot asked.

“Yes!” Rudy declared. He tried his best not to let his anger get the best of him. He took in a few breaths, trying to calm himself down. “If you really must know why I need that kind of informatin from you, it’s because...I’m sick.”

“A confession?” Draow said with a sneer, his eyes wide in insanity.

“No, it’s not like that at all!” Penny waved her hands in front of her. Though she clearly looked angry, she was fighting with her emotions as she spoke. She tried to sound as calm as she could. “He was infected by a chalk virus!”

“And it is turning his insides to chalk, but not his internal fluids!” Snap narrowed his eyes. “So if you don’t fork over the information...”

“What..?” Bardot cut off Snap. His head was raised up, his ears perked straight. The expression on his face was that of surprise, a rare expression they got from this guy. Whether or not it was genuine, it was hard to tell. His voice, however, indicated that he really was taken aback by this news. “You’re kidding...”

“No, I’m not.” Rudy shook his head.

Draow threw his head back. His mouth split wide open and he started to laugh coldly. The laughter seemed to almost echo off the fire walls all around them. “How perfect!” He was clearly amused by the news. Rudy, Penny, and Snap glared at him. “What a fitting punishment for what you did to Mr. Cosmo!”

“Are you still on about that?!” Rudy snapped. “I didn’t kill Cosmo! He killed himself!”

Draow stopped laughing and his ears folded flat against his head. “My master isn’t stupid... That only happened because of your interference, boy!” He spread his wings out, adopting a dinosaur-like stance. He moved closer, placing his muzzle inches in front of Rudy’s face. “If I got the permit, I would...”

Bardot put his paws on Draow’s face and pushed him back. The bat wolf looked disappointed, but he moved back as Bardot silently told him to. Rudy didn’t know how Bardot still had control over Draow despite not being able to use his venom, but he was partially glad that he did. Out of the two, Bardot seemed the most calm and collected. It may be thanks in part to that collar. Still, Bardot was still dangerous, and with him standing so close, he had to be prepared.

“I suppose maybe I should give you the information. With the magic chalk, I’m sure you could force it out of me. You could trap me and Draow until we speak.” Bardot mused. He paced around in front of Rudy. As he turned, he kept his green eyes locked on the boy’s. “Of course...is there really a need for such...hostilities...?”

Rudy, Penny, and Snap growled at this. They took a step back away from the hybrid zoner. Their eyes watched as he paced around them, sometimes rubbing up against them in an almost affectionate manner. Rudy and Penny thought about defending themselves, but they didn’t want to attack Bardot unnecessarily, as that wouldn’t make them much better than him.

Bardot moved away from them. He sat down, his back turned to them. “I think we can put our differences behind us... for at least a little while...” He turned his head and gave them an eerie sideways glance. “...you monster.”

At this, seeing that Bardot was looking straight at him as he said that, Rudy’s right eye snapped wide open. What was this guy talking about? How was he the monster? He wasn’t the one who tortured and killed so many people. He wasn’t the one who ripped Snap apart. He wasn’t the one who broke Penny’s leg. He did none of those things.

The idea of Bardot now trying to blame him, trying to make it sound like he was the bad guy, it made him and his friends so angry. How dare he act like he was innocent... How dare he act like Rudy did something so terrible... How dare he try to make it sound like they weren’t so different... He was despicable...

“He’s not a monster!” Snap shouted in defense.

“Oh I know... It’s not just him. You all are.” Bardot mused. He pointed the tip of his claw at them. “You’re just too blinded to see it.”

Penny clenched her teeth, her brown eyes glinting in anger. “We’re not the ones who commited those crimes, Bardot! Don’t try your mind games on us! We know what really happened!”

“We witnessed some of what you did! You confessed to us some of your crimes!” Rudy’s voice was raised. “How the fuck is it any of our fault?! What did we do that makes you think we’re monsters?!”

“Wouldn’t you like to know...” Draow spoke in a dark, cold voice.

Bardot moved in closer. He moved at considerable speed. Not as fast as he used to, but still enough that Rudy was startled when the zoner was upon them. He stood up onto his hind legs, folding his front paws against his chest. It was a strange gesture they never saw him in before. It somehow made it creepier, especially when he said the next line.

“Your twisted sense of justice...” Bardot sneered.

“What are you talking about?!” Rudy demanded.

Bardot chuckled darkly. “Of course you would be confused. Allow me to explain...”

At this, Bardot moved in front of them. Draow moved a few steps back. He settled on the ground, his wings folded against his body. He watched, a dark smile on his face. Bardot continued to walk on two legs, his arms folded behind his back. His tail twitched from side to side.

“You think that you are so much better than us...by having us sent away to this hostile place... You believe that you did...the right thing... making us live in a dangerous land where we have to fight to survive every day. You might think of it as retribution. You might think of it as..karma... I know the way you people think. Force the criminals to endure the same thing as we inflicted on our victims...” He held out his paw to his side. “..which makes sense...” He pointed a claw upwards, grinning at them. “Up to a point.”

“You see, there is a downside to this...type of action that you call justice.” Draow said. “And yet, you are so focused on ‘bringing closure to the victims’, that you are unable to see...what this is doing to you...”

Bardot sneered, “Yes..correct... You three might think that it is only right for us to suffer the same kind of pain as our victims... But here’s something you may not have considered.” He took a step towards them. “We may have tortured our victims. I will not deny that. We have done many terrible things. But see...” His smile broadened ever so slightly. “We never condemned any of our victims to a permanent life of that... We never kept a victim around that long. We always killed them, save for very few. We ended their misery, which you could see as the only act of kindness we gave to them. Now...if we are ‘nice’ enough to kill our victims so they won’t suffer long..but you three are willing to let us suffer for the rest of our lives as punishment, a much longer time span...” He leaned his body forward, his eyes widening in insanity. “..what does that say about you three?”

Rudy and his friends were horrified by this. Their bodies shook in disbelief. They tried not to let Bardot’s words bother them. He...He was wrong. He just had to be. He was just saying that to make them angry. He just wanted to initiate a reaction from them, maybe give him an excuse to attack. They shouldn’t listen to what he says. What did this guy know about justice? What did he know about fairness? The guy had tortured so many, killed so many.. How dare he act like the gospel of truth...

Rudy tried to get his body to stop shaking. He found it impossible to do so. His mind swirled with what Bardot had said. He was horrified, disgusted, and angered all at once. This foul beast...he had some nerve trying to stay stuff like that. Trying to shift blame again, this time trying to make it sound like they were no different... He was a horrible little zoner. It seemed the Fire Zone had done little to cool down that ego of his.

“So I have to wonder...”

Rudy, Penny, and Snap glared as Bardot walked back over towards them. He stood in front of them, still on his hind legs. He looked up intently at Rudy. His sharp fangs that once carried venom glinted in the light menacingly.

“If Draow and I condemned our victims to suffering for a few days...if you count Barney, under two years...And you three believe that Draow and I should suffer for the rest of our lives in this hell hole...Tell me...” Bardot reached up and grabbed Rudy by his shirt collar. He tugged him down, putting his furry face against his. He spoke again, his voice the same growly voice that Snap had to listen to when he was being ripped apart. “Who is the real monster...?”

That was it. Rudy couldn’t take it anymore. He was tired of listening to the trash this guy was saying about them. He had no idea what he was talking about... Unable to stop himself, he brought his foot back and he kicked Bardot square on the stomach. The hybrid zoner let out a yelp of pain and he stumbled backwards. Penny and Snap grabbed onto Rudy to keep him from rushing over towards Bardot. Rudy stood there, panting very slowly, as he glared daggers at the hybrid zoner.

Bardot pushed himself onto his front paws, his back legs sprawled behind him. It was a similar posture he was in when Rudy kicked him for mocking what he did with Barney. This time, though, Bardot didn’t try to attack back. He looked up at Rudy, his eyes wide in shock. He coughed a few times, a bit of blood spraying on the ground. At the sight of this, Draow moved in, but Bardot raised a paw up.

“No...don’t attack...” Bardot said. He coughed a few more times. A bit of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. “I asked for it.. I shouldn’t have provoked them.” He climbed up to his feet. His pained look disappeared as a smile replaced it. “Enough of that..let’s drop that..unpleasant subject...” He took a step forward. “Let’s...change topics...”

His eyes focused intently on Snap.

Chapter Text

Snap instinctively took a step back when the hybrid zoner set his eyes on him. He narrowed his eyes, trying his best to hide his fear. Rudy and Penny stood next to him, and he knew that they would keep him safe in case Bardot tried to make a move. Snap’s eyes never left Bardot’s as the yellow zoner took a few steps towards him, that same eerie smile on his face.

Anger filled Snap’s mind, and he knew that Rudy and Penny were feeling the same emotion. The way Bardot tried to twist things, try to make them sound different, he could feel his blood heating up more as he thought about it. Bardot was trying to say that they were just as much of monsters as he was. He was trying to say that, somehow, them being sent out here was somehow much worse than the horrible acts that they had committed. Snap and his friends didn’t commit mass murder across ChalkZone. They didn’t torture and kill zoners for nothing more than sadistic pleasure, and eating for Bardot’s case.

No, that is what Bardot and Draow have done. They were the real monsters here. They had no empathy, no sense of compassion. They don’t really care about others’ suffering. They just care about getting what they want. Others’ pain is their pleasure, especially for Bardot. What do they know about justice? What could they possibly know about the pain of others? They have no sympathy, no empathy for others. Bardot himself had even said that life was just a game and that Rudy and everyone else are just toys to him. Why would he care at all about what is fair and what isn’t?

But of course, Bardot wouldn’t care about any of that. He was incapable of caring. He was a hybrid zoner. His red chalk half prevents him from feeling much empathy. Unless it was his life on the line, he could care less. He doesn’t even care about Draow, whom he is stuck with for the rest of his life. The only reason he keeps him around is because he’s probably the best hunter out of the two. Snap clenched his teeth as he realized that these two were still killing zoners. At least, in this case, there was a better reason for it than just simple pleasure.

“Ah... Snappy boy....” Bardot mused, eyeing Snap up and down. “So..glad to see you well..” His voice was low, mocking.

Bardot moved in closer. Rudy and Penny stood in front of Snap, blocking Bardot from coming any closer. The hybrid zoner just stared at them. He lifted up his paw and snapped his claws. Draow came in quickly and rammed his head against the two teenagers. Before they could draw anything, Draow planted his feet against their bodies, his claws pressing against their arms and preventing them from drawing. Draow lowered his head and sneered at them, a low growl emitting from his throat.

Snap watched in horror as his two friends struggled to just breathe properly. He made a move towards them, but he quickly collided with something yellow. Bardot had jumped in front of him. Seeing Bardot this up close again after years, it was quite unnerving. Looking into those eyes, Snap remembered the fight he had to endure, how he was practically on his last leg. And now here he was again with Bardot. Though he wasn’t at the disadvantage he was before, he was still terrified, unsure of what to do.

Bardot began to pace around him slowly. His tail pressed against his body in an almost affectionate manner, similar to a feline. Bardot looked him up and down again. He appeared to be examining him. Snap felt unnerved by this. He wanted to get away from Bardot, but something kept him frozen. A mixture of fear for himself and worry for his friends. He did his best to hide the fact he was afraid and he glared at Bardot.

The hybrid zoner stopped circling him. He stood in front of Snap, his side facing him. He turned his head so he could look at Snap in the eyes. He moved the side of his head close to Snap, to the point where the blue and white zoner not only saw the details of the zoner’s eyes, but he could also make out the small scars that adorned his torn left ear, which was bitten off by Mumbo Jumbo. Snap leaned back, uncomfortable with the evil zoner being that close to him.

“Things are getting very interesting...don’t you agree..?” Bardot moved himself around behind Snap. He got up onto his back feet and put his front paws around Snap’s shoulders. He pulled him into something of a hug, resting his head on top of his. “I wonder how things will turn out for you guys this time.”

“Get away from him!” Rudy shouted. He tried to get up, but he made a grunt sound as Draow pressed harder against him. Next to him, Penny was having the same problem.

Draow put his face close to them. “Be quiet...!” He warned them, his fur ruffling in anger. “Be glad that Bardot isn’t allowing me to attack you... Otherwise, I would be tearing off your heads right about now...”

Snap spun his head over and let out a cry of terror. “Rudy! Penny!”

“Shh...now now...” Bardot moved around in front of Snap. He grabbed his head and forced him to look at him. He pressed his forehead against his, like he had with Rudy. “Don’t worry so much about them... I can promise that Draow will not do anything that bad to them. So relax... Why don’t we...chat a little? Reminiscence?”

Snap raised up a fist. Bardot’s eyes widened and, for a moment, he looked genuinely afraid. He lowered his head a little and took a step back. Snap narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you dare hurt my friends...”

Bardot’s previously fearful face relaxed. Again, like before, he smiled at him, almost friendly. It creeped Snap out. Bardot moved back towards Snap. He put his face close to his, baring his teeth at him in a hideous grin. “Why of course, Snap...” He began to walk around him once until he stood by Snap’s side. He looked at Snap and said, “I remember well what happened...the last time I messed with your friends...” He tilted his head to the side. “Don’t you?”

Snap gritted his teeth. It was so tempting to punch Bardot. The only thing preventing him was that he was worried Draow would hurt his friends if he did. Bardot was unpredictable. He could decide to have Draow attack them despite his previous reassurance that he would not. He could always change his mind and do something like that. It seemed fitting for his personality. Lure them into a false sense of security and then pull the rug out from underneath them.

He began to wonder if trying to get information from this guy was a bad idea. So far, he hasn’t said anything useful. He has just been taunting them, mocking them, trying to stir up trouble. He hasn’t been helpful in the least. That didn’t really surprise him. It wasn’t like Bardot had any real incentive to help them, and with his kind of personality, why would he want to anyway? There was no real benefit to him directly, and even if it were, he’d probably still find a way to screw things up for them, like hiding some crucial information to make things harder for them, or lead them down a dangerous path.

Perhaps they were better off trying to figure things out on their own. It would have had the same results anyway, except at least, if they did things on their own, they wouldn’t worry about possibly being mislead or sent to a trap. Bardot might not be able to lie outright, but he could still decieve. Yeah, they probably should have gone elsewhere for help.

Though he still understood why Mrs. Sanchez thought coming to Bardot was a good idea. He did have experience with interactions between chalk and flesh. Even if he’s not being very helpful right now, he might know something that could help them. Maybe there was another method he used that let him eat real world flesh that he didn’t tell them about. If Bardot were willing to speak more about it, it could shed at least some light on the situation. But considering how Bardot was, Snap had his doubts that they’d get any information from him.

“Hey Snappy boy...” Bardot said in a low voice. He pressed his head against Snap’s shoulders. The blue and white zoner could feel his breath against him. “Do you remember...the time that I killed you...?”

Snap’s eyes widened in horror at this. His body started to tremble. His mind erupted with the horrific memories of what happened two years ago. Flashbacks moved through the back of his mind like a series of lightning bolts. He remembered how Bardot had completely snapped and chased after him. He remembered that growly voice, the sharp claws that tore apart his flesh. The pain that he felt back then came back, and soon his body, momentarily, erupted in what he could best describe as memory pain.

He stared at Bardot, unable to move. He could barely register anything else going on. He couldn’t even hear his friends trying to call out to him to move. He didn’t notice Bardot started to circle him again, this time standing behind him. He wanted to move. A part of his mind was screaming at him to move, but instead, he remained frozen there. His mind went numb as fear took him over. Suddenly, when he noticed Bardot next to him again, he didn’t just see a nemesis that they had defeated years ago.

He saw his murderer...

Bardot smirked at this, looking pleased at his response. No doubt this was the kind of reaction that he wanted from him. “Ah so you do remember... Good times they were... Such good times.” Bardot leaned forward, his breath hitting against Snap’s face. “I still remember the smell of your blood...the way you screamed as I cut into you... The look on your face when I injected you with venom...” He pulled his lips back to reveal the entirety of his fangs. “Oh if only I wasn’t stuck wearing this purple collar. I would love to relive that moment... When I finally snuffed your life out.”

Snap’s heart practically stopped beating at this. Bardot’s face this close, those chilling words, it petrified him. He lost sense of what was around him. He didn’t hear his friends calling out to him. He didn’t hear Draow’s cold laughter. He no longer heard the fire wall crackling all around them. Instead, the only thing his mind was really registering was Bardot. His terrified eyes were glued on the zoner. No longer able to hide his fear, he began to whimper and tremble as the yellow zoner stood so close to him. Those fangs this close, even though they had no venomo n them, was a scary sight.

His mind was telling him to get out of here. But with his heart frozen in fear, he couldn’t move his feet. Even when Bardot moved out of his sights and came in from behind him, Snap still couldn’t move. Bardot came around his front again. All this circling was scaring Snap. He had no idea when Bardot would hurt him, or if he’d hurt him at all. He has a way of messing with his victims, and he was doing a good job of that right now.

Bardot pressed his claw against Snap’s chest. Snap finally managed to get his feet to move and he took a step backwards. Bardot chuckled at this. “I see you healed quite nicely... Tell me... Is your...lung of working order?”

Snap let out an involuntary cough as he remembered when Bardot punctured his lung. No doubt he would have done the same thing just now if he hadn’t moved backwards. He didn’t doubt that, despite how civil Bardot was being, he may still hold some level of resentment over losing. He just hides it very well. And now, he was getting his revenge by being downright creepy and stirring up trouble.

Regaining some sense of his surroundings, he looked around to see where Rudy and Penny were. They were still pinned on the ground by Draow. They had their heads turned, looking at him in fear. They weren’t calling out to him anymore, and Snap soon saw why. Draow was pressing down on them even harder. It was hard for them to get a word in. Snap’s heart beat faster. Were they able to take in a breath like that? Was Draow choking them? He had to help them. He had to, somehow, get Draow off of them.

Trying his best to push past his fear earlier, Snap tried to rush towards his friends. He didn’t get far. Bardot had made a dash towards him and slammed against him. The two of them rolled across the ground before Bardot managed to pin Snap down. To Snap’s horror, it was the same position he managed to pull on him twice. His arms were pinned over his head. His legs were secured together by his tail. Bardot’s back feet stood on him. Snap attempted to struggle, but found himself unable to get up. He looked up at Bardot, gritting his teeth.

Bardot lowered his head, staring intently into Snap’s eyes. “Even though I don’t have my venom..” He reached down with his claw. He traced it lightly over Snap’s throat. “I still have ways of killing you, if I..so desired.”

Snap gasped in fear and struggled harder. He tried to get his legs free, or one of his arms. Anything. Nothing worked. He had almost forgotten how strong Bardot was. Enough to keep him held down. He started to feel stupid. He should have realized that Bardot would try something like this. He should have been more careful. He shouldn’t have turned his back on the zoner. He should have planned things out a little more. Now he and his friends were pinned down, completely at the mercy of their foes.

Regardless of Bardot previously stopping Draow, who is to say he’d do that again? They were all pushed up against the ground. They weren’t able to get back up. They couldn’t fight back. It would be so easy for these two to kill them now. There’s little reason to think that they would not. The opportunity is there. Surely they both want them dead and wouldn’t miss such a chance. Coming here really was a mistake. They should have had the Beanie Boys come in instead. They hadn’t fully prepared themselves for this.

“I must say, Snap... I am quite impressed with how you managed. Dying, then being revived.... you really are unkillable.” Bardot put his face a little closer. Snap turned his head away as he felt the zoner’s breath hitting his face again. “Of course, you are still..mortal. I could kill you now and eat you...”

Bardot dragged his claw over Snap’s face. He pressed his claw hard enough to start cutting flesh. Snap let out a yelp of pain as a little blood started to trickle down his face. Bardot continued to cut along his left cheek, going from the side of his face and horizontally across, almost to where his mouth began. It didn’t help that Bardot was cutting over one of his burns. Then Bardot removed his claw and looked at the tip. He opened his jaws and slowly licked the tiny bit of blood that had gathered there. Snap shuddered at this uncomfortable sight.

“You still taste good.”

Snap’s eyes widened at this. He was suddenly reminded of his ‘visit’ from Ghadir. He wasn’t sure which was more disturbing. A sentient zoner that likes to eat other sentient zoners, or a human that likes to eat sentient zoners. The idea that there were two people who wanted to eat him... That terrifying reality began to sink in.

Bardot sneered at him. “Oh the things I could do to you right now... I could...puncture your lung again. I...could rip out your throat... I could severe your arm from your body...” Snap’s body trembled harder as he said those things. “Or I could...” Bardot tilted his head to the side. “I could do something...even worse..”

“W-Worse..?” Snap said with a shaky voice. “Wh-What could you do that’s..worse than that?”

Bardot didn’t respond. He just chortled darkly, closing his eyes. Then he reopened them, his glinting green eyes boring through Snap’s soul. He raised his shoulders like he was going to punch. He stared down at Snap with dark intent, giving a hideous grin. Although Snap didn’t understand just what Bardot had in mind, he knew one thing. He wasn’t going to like it. He let out a terrified cry and tried to struggle to get free.

Suddenly, Bardot released Snap. He jumped backwards, doing a backflip. He landed a few feet away, his tail raised in the air and his lower body hunched low to the ground. Snap scrambled up to his feet and took a defensive stance, prepared for any other assault this yellow zoner had in store for him. Bardot, however, just remained standing there, swishing his tail from side to side. He glanced over at Rudy and Penny, and then back at Snap.

“But I won’t.” Bardot said. He lifted up his paw. “Draow...” He snapped his claws. “Release them.”

Draow looked at Bardot with a disgruntled expression. “Do I really have to?”

Bardot shot him a look. “Come on, Draow... Get off of them...”

Draow folded his ears against his head and let out a low growl. “Fine...” He glared down at Rudy and Penny, who were still struggling to breathe properly. He spread his wings and took to the air long enough for Rudy and Penny to take in a sharp breath and get away from him. He landed back on the ground and turned his attention back to Bardot. “I still don’t see why you won’t let me hurt them more.”

“Well of course you...would think it was unfair.. I’d expect that from you, Draow.” Bardot raised his front body to be level with his back half. “Though I’m sure you’re not the only one confused.” He looked over at Rudy and Penny. They had reached Snap and were standing on either side of him protectively. “I take it you three want an explanation as well?” He took their glares as a ‘yes’. “It’s really quite simple... You see.. I...got wanted I wanted..”

Rudy narrowed his eyes hatefully. “What are you talking about? You were stopped!”

“Actually, no...I wasn’t.” Bardot drolled. “At least...not in time. You see..” He held out his paw in gesture. “I still managed to do what I had been trying to accomplish with my experiment.”

“Are you crazy?!” Penny cried out. “We know what your goal was and you did not accomplish it!”

“Weren’t you listening at all, little girl?” Bardot said in a taunting voice. “I guess I should understand if you don’t hear everything...” He took a few steps towards them. He looked amused when Rudy and Penny huddled closer to Snap, putting their arms around him. With their free hands, they raised the magic chalk. Bardot’s eyes widened just ever so slightly. He stopped advancing, but the brief spark of what was probably fear left his eyes quickly. “If you remember right, my goal was to see just how ‘unkillable’ your friend was. I wanted to see how much he could take before he fell down.”

“And that never happened!” Rudy shouted. “Snap is still here with us!”

“Y-Yeah..!” Snap shouted, trying his best to override his fear. He still felt unnerved by the fact that Bardot saw him as nothing more than a test subject. There was still a chance he still thought of him like that now, even if he wasn’t currently experimenting on him. “What are you getting on about?”

Even Draow seemed confused by all this. “I normally wouldn’t agree with our enemies, but...” He swung a wing in their direction. “They are right. What are you talking about, Bardot?”

Bardot gave Draow a smirk and then turned his attention to Snap. “Even you just forgot our previous conversation? Oh dear Snap..” He said the word ‘dear’ with the deepest level of sarcasm they ever heard this guy muster. He lowered his head a little, grinning. “I already killed you. You were technically dead. Yes, you were...revived... But still...if I heard the reports right..you were dead, for a time. So...” He tilted his head to the side and gave them an eerie look with a single green eye. “...I won...”

At this, the trio’s eyes widened in horror. Realization settled in with them. They realized that Bardot was right. He did get to see how long Snap would last. He did get to kill him, even if it was just temporary. Technically, he did win, just briefly before victory was snatched away from him when Terry managed to save Snap. Bardot’s smile broadened and he turned his head to look at them with both eyes. He looked clearly satisfied that they understood what he was talking about. He gave a dark chuckle and began to move towards them again.

Rudy, Penny, and Snap took a fighting stance. Despite being afraid, they weren’t going to back down from this monster. Snap gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes. Out of them, he was probably the most afraid of Bardot, as he had, for a short time, lost his life to him. And he still had nightmares about his temper. Sometimes, when he closed his eyes at night, he could still see that feral face contorted in rage barreling down towards him. Sometimes he had to reopen his eyes just to reassure himself that he was just hallucinating.

But at least now, he didn’t have to face Bardot along. He had Rudy and Penny with him. They would make sure that Bardot can’t come near him again. He knew that Draow wouldn’t be able to surprise them again like he did before. They would be able to subdue him this time. And they would get that information from Bardot, even if they have to wrestle it from him. If Bardot knew anything, even just a tiny amount that could help Rudy, a little or a lot, they were going to recieve that information.

Bardot and Draow approached the trio. Rudy and Penny kept their magic chalk raised, the ends sparkling threateningly. This didn’t stop the two evil zoners from closing the gap between them. They continued to approach, evil smiles spread across their muzzles. They didn’t stop until the fire walls around them suddenly died. The smell of after smoke filled their nostrils. The trio looked around, a little confused by this sudden ‘freedom’. They could get away now. But they couldn’t leave. Not without getting Bardot to speak.

Draow looked disappointed. “Oh of cource the fire would be put out now...”

“Oh I knew it would.” Bardot said calmly. Draow gave him a disgruntled look, partially baring his teeth. “Draow, you know those fire walls only have a...limited life span...” Draow rolled his eyes. Bardot smirked at this. He looked back at Rudy, Penny, and Snap. “Besides, my desire to kill them isn’t..that strong anymore..”

Draow cocked an eyebrow. “Well you sure could have fooled me.”

“I like messing with people.” Bardot took a few more steps towards the trio. “Now... What information did you say you needed?”

“What?!” Draow spread his wings, his teal eyes wide in shock. “You’re just going to..hand over the information like that?”

“Sure.” Bardot shrugged like it was no big deal. “Why not?”

“It would be more satisfying if you didn’t say anything.” He turned an eye towards Rudy. “I would be to satisfied knowing that this boy died a painful death... Such retribution, don’t you think?”

Snap growled. What did this guy know about retribution? And what a hypocrite.. Just earlier, he was bragging about how retribution had problems, and now he was wielding the word almost like a weapon. Truly disgusting... He would expect nothing less from this guy.

He still couldn’t believe that Draow still blamed Rudy for Cosmo’s death. He had been told that Rudy didn’t do it, but of course he wouldn’t believe it. Whether or not he knew the truth was uncertain. But if he did and was just dismissing it so he could pit the blame on Rudy, that made Snap even angrier. Draow was so loyal to Cosmo that he refused to admit he had any faults. He was loyal to a fault. Snap realized that Draow would still blame Rudy even if he had seen what really happened with his own eyes. They had to try their best to ignore what he said.

Rudy and Penny also looked just as angry. Their teeth were bared and their eyes narrowed. Their hands clutched their magic chalk tightly, almost to the point of breaking them. But like Snap, they held back. They all understood that anger and rage was the kind of response these two zoners wanted. It was their way of getting back at them. Or at least Bardot’s way. Draow would tear into them if Bardot hadn’t kept him back. They had a feeling that Bardot felt that watching them squirm with more personal remarks was more satisfying than just outright attacking them.

“Calm yourself, Draow...” Bardot raised his paw. He pointed at Draow and said, “Stop right where you are and sit down. I will have a little...chat with these three...” He gave an eerie look to the three friends.

Draow growled in disappointment. He lowered himself on the ground, folding his wings against his body. “Okay then.... I still wish you’d let me have some more fun with them.”

Bardot ignored him. He moved even closer to the trio. He only stopped when he was about two feet in front of them. Then he sat down onto his haunches. He lifted up his paw and twisted it around so his palm was facing upwards. “What exactly did you want to know again?” He swung his paw out in front of him slowly, indicating all three of them. “Please, proceed...

“What do you know about the interactions between chalk and flesh?” Rudy asked, sounding annoyed that he had to repeat what they said earlier.

“And do you have any knowledge of how to reverse it? Anything that might be related to how you were able to...” Penny shuddered, bad memories obviously surfacing. “..eat real world victims...?”

“Hmm...let’s see...” Bardot raised his claw and tapped his chin thoughtfully, his pupils facing upwards.

Snap was a little surprised that Bardot was willingly giving them the information, or so it seemed. He still wasn’t sure if he would be helpful or not. After all, he had no real incentive to do so. He glanced at Rudy and Penny. They looked suspicious as well. They knew that, even if this guy forked over information, it may not be ‘complete information’. And whatever information he did give them, they would have to treat with caution.

The three friends stayed close to each other for comfort and support. They stood so close their bodies pressed up against each other. Their eyes never left Bardot, except when they would quickly glance over at Draow. Despite being told to lay off, Draow might still get frustrated enough and attack them. They were in this together. They had each other’s backs. And taking this posture, they sent a very clear, silent message to Bardot and Draow. This time, if they mess with one of them, they get the horns. They were not rendered weak and injured like last time.

“Now, I will admit.. I did not actually have an easy time digesting real world food. Even dehydrated, there was still some...indigestion...” Bardot held out his paw, his claws curving slightly upwards. “I had to ingest something else with it. In my case, what worked was a lot of chalk water beforehand, then immediately the real world food. Something about that made it possible for me to consume real world flesh.”

“I don’t think chalk water is going to help me with this.” Rudy raised an eyebrow. “In case you didn’t know, stomach acids would dissolve that stuff in a matter of seconds. I wouldn’t have enough time.”

“Indeed.” Bardot nodded his head in agreement. “That is why you should find..an alternate... Something thick enough that could coat your stomach for a short period of time. I can’t think of anything on the top of my head, but you three are...smart. I’m sure you can figure something out.” He tilted his head to the side. “After all...you managed to get out of the predicament I placed you in... You won fair and square. I’d be...shocked if you couldn’t figure this out.”

As much as they hated this guy, it was nice that he did admit to that. He seemed to understand, completely, what their potential was and he wasn’t risking underestimating them again, though he didn’t underestimate them to the same degree as Cosmo had years ago. It felt a little strange to them, though, that Bardot seemed to have accepted his defeat. But strange or not, it was still a welcome change from having a villain seek revenge on them.

Bardot continued, “As for finding a cure.. I cannot help you with that..however..” He took a few steps closer. He stared intently at the trio. “I am aware of Cosmo’s diary... If you look through it, you may find the answer to this.” At this, Draow’s fur raised on end and he let out a threatening growl, clearly not happy with Bardot suggesting they look through Cosmo’s private writings. “I do know this disease was created by him... I would think that he would have also created an antidote..in case any of his...comrades were infected.”

“I wonder why he’d care if his comrades would get infected.” Penny thought, narrowing her eyes. “Wouldn’t he just see them as expendable?”

“He certainly regards life that way in general.” Rudy mentioned in disgust.

Snap nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah...”

“Oh it’s not like that at all...” Bardot shook his head. The three friends looked at him in confusion. “Oh sure, he may have viewed zoners in such low light, but not other black chalk users. You see.. based on what I know of the black chalk, they’re a...collective mind. Many voices that talk and think as one, in a sense. They move as a unit, always.”

Collective mind? Think as one, act as one? Well that would explain why the black chalk spoke using only ‘we’ and ‘us’, never ‘I’ or ‘me’ when addressing Rudy. Then again, they weren’t really surprised by it at all. They already had their suspicions before. But hearing it confirmed like this... There was a sense of creepiness to the whole thing. The idea of abandoning individuality...

And Rudy had almost lost his individuality to the black chalk.. It was a frightening thought. Snap remembered the details Penny gave him when she told him how Rudy was nearly taken over by the black chalk permanently. Rudy gave him more details, like what it was like being controlled. It chilled Snap to the bone just thinking about it. It must have been horrible for both of them to experience. Nearly losing oneself to some...some thing... Snap was glad that things turned out okay.

“They look out for each other. They care about each other. You attack one, you get the whole flock, in a sense. They try to guarantee each other’s survival.” Bardot explained. “So it stands to reason that Cosmo, a black chalk user, would come up with a cure for this sort of thing, as he, influenced by the black chalk, wouldn’t want anything to happen to his comrades.”

Everyone remained still in silence. They let this information sink in. It wasn’t as much information as they would have liked, but it was still better than nothing. Looking back at Cosmo’s diary...why hadn’t they thought of that before? They felt a little stupid for not considering that before. Bardot was right. Cosmo surely would have written something about this in his diary right? And the thing about ingesting something thick did make sense. They weren’t sure yet what that is, but if they could find something, it would let Rudy eat some little bit of real world food and drink a little real world water so he wouldn’t have to go to the hospital every single time.

Bardot got back onto his feet. “Oh...and one more thing I should mention...”

The trio looked over at him. He dug into the ground, unveiling a weapon apparently he and Draow hid there. Rudy, Penny, and Snap took a fighting stance, wondering if Bardot decided to attack anyway. Draow seemed to think so, judging from his smirk. But he looked on in disappointment, as well as Rudy and Penny looking in confusion, as Bardot merely kicked the weapon in their direction.

“You might need this sometime...” Bardot gave a sneer. “I sense that...something big is coming...”

The trio widened their eyes at this.

Chapter Text

Draow remained on the ground. His eyes focused out ahead, in the direction where those three brats had walked off. He couldn’t believe that Bardot not only willingly gave them information, but that he had let them walk off scott free. The worst thing he did to any of them was he cut Snap’s cheek. Compared to the terrible things he did to them before, that was a gentle act. He could have done so much worse, and he wished that he had.

There was no benefit for Bardot to do such a thing. Why would he give information to help their enemies? The same ones that had put them in this hell hole? Yeah, they learned to master it and were living just fine. But he would much rather be free. He wanted to get out of here and be able to prowl the other areas of ChalkZone once again. There was more variety of prey there, more flavor. It was not just Bardot who liked to partake in the consumption of zoners. That was part of what made him a dangerous criminal.

He wished that Bardot would have let him do something to those three. Not just simply pin them down, but actually do some real damage to them. It was their fault that the Fire Zone was their home for the rest of their eternal lives. The only way out of this is to kill himself, and he wasn’t about to do that. He wanted to make them sorry they ever helped to turn them in. Somehow, someway, they would regret it. He was hoping that he would make them cry while they were here, because they may not come here again. But he missed his chance, and all because Bardot didn’t have the strong desire to kill them anymore.

He didn’t really understand why. Bardot was a hybrid zoner, and was shown to be incapable of remorse. So why would he be cooperative? Why would he let their enemies go without so much as one brutal attack? He was not a particularly remorseful zoner. He was not sympathetic to others’ well being. He didn’t genuinely care about anyone but himself. He and Bardot didn’t exactly like each other too much, but they did make a good team. Bardot, even without the red chalk’s maximum influence, was still light and agile on his feet, and that came in handy with hunting.

He watched Bardot. The yellow and red zoner was also watching the direction that the three left in. His tail was moving from side to side slowly. Other than that tail movement, he was surprisingly still, almost like he had become a statue. Draow climbed up to his feet. By this point, the three kids were far gone in the horizon, no doubt having drawn something to help them go faster. He took a few steps towards the hybrid zoner. He stopped when there was more movement from the much smaller zoner.

Bardot got onto his feet. His head was still oriented in that same direction. Then he slowly turned around. His pupils faced backwards, and he had, Draow quickly noticed, an evil smile with a strong hint of satisfaction. This caused Draow to stop and look at him in confusion. What was Bardot amused about? They had let their enemies simply walk away. It would have been more satisfying if they had either told them nothing or if they had hurt them badly before letting them go. But save for a few bruises and that cut on Snap’s cheek, they hardly delivered much of anything to them. So what was Bardot so happy about?

Bardot moved towards Draow, shifting his gaze onto him. He seemed to take notice of his confusion. His eyes twinkled a little and he raised his head up slightly. Draow was still confused, but he imagined that Bardot would explain himself pretty soon. He usually did in the past. He waited until Bardot was within a few feet of him, then he took a step forward, lowering himself a little and lifting his wings about an inch upwards.

“I don’t get why you’re smiling. You allowed our enemies to leave without so much as one debilitating injury!” Draow snarled, his voice reflecting his disappointment.

“Of course...Why wouldn’t I?” Bardot said, looking up at Draow. Nothing about his expression suggested that he regretted doing this, and that made Draow even angier.

Slamming his foot into the ground, kicking up dust, Draow shouted, “We could have done away with them! They were trapped! I had the two human brats pinned down! I could have killed them! You could have killed Snap! Or, even better, we could have forced them to take us to the exit so we can be free again, and then kill them!” He felt his body tremble in rage. “But no, you decided to just...let them walk away! I can’t believe you grew soft, Bardot!”

A chuckle escaped Bardot’s throat. “If you think that of me, then you don’t know me very well.”

“Hmph!” Draow twisted his head to the side and bared his teeth in an almost disgusted manner. “Before, you would let me attack them...”

“Yes...when we were ‘part of the story’ per say... But we aren’t in this one.” Bardot said. Draow looked at him, slightly confused. “It is clear we aren’t their problems now. So why not just let this new guy or gal have some fun, eh? We had our turn at them. Let someone else take the reigns.”

Draow shook his head. “It still makes no sense. We could have..”

“Yes, I know, Draow.. I know.” Bardot said, cutting him off.

“Then why did you let them go? Why do you not have a strong desire to kill them?” Draow asked, lowering his ears.

Bardot tilted his head to the side. The expression he gave him was pretty eerie. There was something practically glowing in those green eyes of his. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Draow took a step back. Bardot didn’t move from his spot. He continued looking at Draow with that expression, his head tilting a little further, giving his expression an even more unsettling look.

“I may not have a strong desire to kill them...” Bardot said, his throat taking on a slightly growly edge. “But I never said my desire to bring them harm has lessened...”

Draow didn’t understand this. If Bardot was still willing to hurt them, why had he done almost nothing to them when they were here? That didn’t make any sense. If he were in his paws, he could have slashed them with his claws. But other than that one cut he gave Snap, he hadn’t drawn any blood. If Bardot thinks he caused them harm by giving them the information they wanted, he was sadly mistaken.

He began to wonder if this environment had gotten to him. Maybe two years in one of the hottest places in ChalkZone, if not the hottest, had wore down his mind a little. That would explain why he didn’t act like he would have expected him to. Though even that was a bit of an exaggeration, as they had grown used to this environment. Not as big of a chance of it messing with their minds if they had grown used to it.

“What do you mean?” Draow finally managed to ask. His voice was a little lighter than usual, confusion heavily laced in his voice. “You did nothing to torment them.. Well almost nothing.”

“Oh sure I did... Remember when we mocked them about being worse than us?” Bardot asked. Draow nodded his head once. “I know it was complete crap, and I’m sure you do, too, am I right?”

Draow blinked a few times. He slowly nodded his head once. “I...suppose so...”

Bardot reoriented his head back to its original position. “Heh... I thought so. You see, I might not be able to lie outright, but I can still twist things to say something I know isn’t quite so true. That ability increased when I had my red chalk half subdued. Still can’t outright lie, but I can twist things even more than I could before. So I used that to torment them a little, make them angry. That was pretty fun...”

“Still not as fun as tearing into them...” Draow grumbled under his breath.

“Of course not.” Bardot commented. “I would expect that from you. I am certain you still wish to make them sorry for sending us here. While I might have hinted at it before, it’s a...bit of an exaggeration... You see, unlike you...” He placed a paw on his chest. “I know I landed myself in here by my own actions. So I am stuck here, and I accept that. That is why I do not have such boiling rage to get revenge on them like you do... My desire to still want to hurt them doesn’t really stem from them sending me here... It’s more just a part of my..personality...”

Draow shook his head. “You still let them go. You still gave them the information they wanted.”

“Yes I did...” Bardot mused. “But..not out of the goodness of my heart, as you can well imagine...”

“I know that. So...why did you relinquish the information then?” Draow asked, twitching his ears.

Bardot gave him a sinister smile, one that made Draow feel uneasy again. He took another step back. Despite knowing that Bardot no longer has his venom, he had come to respect him enough and felt it safe not to mess with him, especially when he was like this. Even before Bardot spoke again, Draow realized, in that moment, there really had been a darker motivation in giving the trio that information.

“Killing them would have been too easy for them. A bit too quick...” Bardot said, that sinister smile growing larger. His sharp teeth were exposed as well as a part of his gums as his lips were pulled up. “Death would have been an act of kindness. Especially considering the situation Rudy is in. So yeah, I gave them the information, but not because I wanted the best for Rudy. Oh no... It was to prolong his pain...”

Draow’s eyes widened. “Did you...?”

Bardot shook his head. “No, I didn’t twist my words when giving them the information. I spoke completely..straight if that’s the right term...” He lifted up his paw, glancing at the sharp tips and flexed them. “Giving them a way to let Rudy live longer... Well...” He turned his attention back to Draow, tightening his paw into something of a fist. “That would give Rudy more time to suffer in pain as the disease progresses. That would be satisfying enough, don’t you agree?”

At this, Draow’s ears pricked up. Now it does make sense why he decided to help them. While not entirely out of vengeance, his act, the way he described it, did seem particularly cruel. To allow the boy to live longer just so he could suffer through more pain. Draow wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought of it before. But now that Bardot mentioned it, yeah, it does seem more satisfying. Not that they’d ever find out if the boy died or not, unless someone comes to tell them. Still, it was particularly enjoyable knowing Rudy was in a lot of pain, and would remain like that for a while.

It was times like these that Draow remembered how twisted Bardot really was. There was a reason he had decided to follow him to begin with. His twisted ways went beyond that of Mr. Cosmo. It was to the poitn where Draow sometimes thought that, had Bardot been there during the war, he would have almost surely ensured victory, as his dangerous venom and ferocious tenacity would have killed almost all opposition.

“Yes..I believe I understand now. Yes...” Draow said, a small dark smile on his muzzle. “An act of ‘cruel kindness’. How delightful.”

Bardot nodded his head. “That, to me, is more satisfying than just killing him outright. Oh..and one more thing...”

Draow looked at him expectantly. “What is it?”

“I do know the cure.” Bardot said plainly.

Draow gave him a shocked expression. “You...what?!” Bardot gave an affirmative nod, simply smiling at the winged wolf. Draow looked left and right, stumbling upon his words. “B-But..you can’t lie outright.. And you said that you couldn’t help them...”

Bardot chuckled at this. “Yes I did. But I never said why. I... said I couldn’t help them..not because I didn’t know...but because I..didn’t want to.”

“So...you withheld information?” Draow asked.

Bardot nodded his head. He gave Draow a wide sneer, baring his teeth. “Come now, Draow... You know I’m not that nice...” He gave a dark chuckle.

Draow stared a the chuckling Bardot for a few seconds before he, too, started laughing evilly. He swiveled his head in the direction the trio went. He no longer felt disappointed. He no longer felt like it was a waste of their time. No, now it seemed like the ‘visit’ had been quite eventful. He gave a sneer of his own, baring his sharp teeth, glinting in the red light of this zone.

“Rest in pieces...you murderer...” Draow said in a low, gravely voice.

sss

Rudy, Penny, and Snap had immediately headed over to Snap’s treehouse after the Beanie Boys dropped them off. Before they left, they did give Skrawl a quick overview of what happened. He didn’t show it outright, but from the tone of his voice, he did seem happy that they made it back okay. They couldn’t stay long, though, so they waved goodbye to him and went towards Snap’s treehouse so they could look more at that diary.

As they headed over, Penny’s thoughts replayed the recent events in her mind. She wasn’t sure just how trustworthy Bardot was. He did have a habit of twisting his words to either cause trouble or to mask information. He was quite manipulative, and she had no idea if they had fallen for any of his tricks or not. He seemed perfectly honest when he told them about consuming something else to help Rudy get some water and food into his system. But that didn’t mean that he still didn’t fool them somehow.

But they couldn’t afford not to take his words seriously, as they were the closest to help they had gotten for Rudy so far. It didn’t sound particularly dangerous, especially if they found something thick enough that could temporarily coat Rudy’s stomach in a protective layer, buying him some time to eat some real world food and water. And Bardot’s suggestion to look through the diary did make sense. Cosmo might have written about the cure somewhere in the diary...provided he had developed the disease during the timeframe that book was written in.

Penny realized that there was a chance that the diary did not encompass the entirety of Cosmo’s reign over ChalkZone many years ago. He may have stopped writing in it at some point, especially if the fighting got so intense he was unable to write much in it. She hoped that wasn’t the case, as that meant that there would be a lot of information about those times they would not get. She knew that Cosmo would not write about his defeat as he was kicked out of ChalkZone after that. But there was still a lot more he could have written.

But whether or not there would be information on a cure, Penny wasn’t sure. He might have written it elsewhere, or told his fellow black chalk comrades the cure orally. Her blood chilled at this thought. That was a very real possibility. Cosmo had shown to be quite prepared when they had encountered him three and a half years ago. He might have not written down the information on the chance that infected white chalk users would try to look for it. Cosmo was not stupid and he would have known that if he wrote the cure anywhere, his enemies would try to find it relentlessly. So he may have taken a precaution and not write it at all.

This would have meant that the secret ‘died’ with the black chalk users when their memories were wiped. That is, except Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek, all of whom have their memories back. They would all know the cure. The realization that they may have to try to interrogate those three for the information despite knowing how uncooperative they’d be gave Penny an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

Another cause of concern for her is what Bardot said just before they left. He had handed them a weapon. It appeared to be some kind of sword, but with several lacerations and curves in it, lots of points and very spikey. She guessed that Bardot and Draow hide weapons like this under the ground so they can use it to kill in case their prey was larger than they had thought. She imagined that it would take them a while to forge such a weapon. She wondered why Bardot would even give them the weapon at all. Maybe it was just to scare them into thinking this ‘upcoming thing’ was a bigger threat than it really was.

Bardot never did imply what he felt was coming. He never elaborated or gave any hints. Any attempts to get him to talk more were met with mere shrugs, sometimes accompanied by a ‘I told you all I believe you need to hear’, which to her was just another way of saying ‘I told you all I want you to know; I will not relinquish anything else’. So Bardot might know a little more than he’s willing to let on about this upcoming threat. As angry as she was about him witholding information, she would expect that from him.

Whatever this upcoming threat was, and whether or not it’ll be a minor or major one, Penny hoped that they would find out soon. She hoped that they wouldn’t be taken off guard like they had been before. At least this time, they were somewhat prepared as they knew there was a danger of some kind lurking around. They still didn’t know what that danger was, so it wasn’t like they were really that prepared, and they could still be taken by surprise.

Right now, she tried to focus her mind on what she and her friends were doing now. They were all sitting around in Snap’s treehouse, which had been repaired since Ghadir’s attack. They sat close to each other on the floor in somewhat of a circle. She and Snap sat on either side of Rudy while he had the diary open. They hadn’t spoken much since they sat down. Rudy slowly flipped through the pages, all their eyes skimming for something, anything, regarding the disease Rudy head and if there was a cure.

“Do you think the creepazoid would really write about the disease?” Snap asked. “I don’t want to sound like a downer, but it doesn’t seem like something he’d do.”

“I know, Snap. I’ve had the same doubts myself. But we can’t afford not to look.” Penny sad, nodding in Snap’s direction. “If there is a chance that Cosmo did write something...then we should at least look, right?”

“We should remain hopeful that there is information.” Rudy said firmly. Penny wasn’t surprised by the way he sounded. After all, he was the one infected with a life-threatening illness. Or in his case, life-taking, since it was always fatal. “There’s...gotta be something in here..somewhere...”

“Well even if we don’t find the answers there, I’m sure there’s...other places we can look.” Snap said, smiling the best he could under these circumstances. “We won’t give up, Bucko.”

Rudy smiled. “Yeah I know..” He looked down at the diary. Seeing that this current page wasn’t telling them anything, he flipped to the next. Then his smile faded, a frown overtaking his face. “There is something else that is bothering me too...”

“What is it?” Penny asked.

Rudy leaned himself back a little. He let out a soft sigh. He looked at Penny and Snap. “I...I think I know who Bardot was referring to when he told us about ‘something big is coming’.”

Penny said, “You do? What?”

“Yeah. What do you think he was talking about?” Snap asked.

Penny and Snap cringed back when Rudy looked at them slowly. His eyes were wide with fear. At first he was quiet, just looking at his friends with that terrified expression. Just what did Rudy think of? What did he think Bardot was referring to?

When Rudy finally found his voice, he said in an unusually quiet voice, “Do you remember when Blocky insisted on seeing me when I was still at the hospital?”

Penny and Snap nodded their heads and waited for Rudy to continue. When he did not, and just stared at them intently, his words started to sink in. Their eyes grow big at the revelation. They gasped in horror, Penny covering her mouth in shock. They didn’t want to believe it. They did not want to consider the possibility. But they knew, deep down, this may very well be what the problem Bardot mentioned was.

The anti-creator group.

Penny couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of that possibility. She recalled when Rudy gave her the uncomfortable information. At first, she thought it was ridiculous and wondered if it was just an exaggeration. Then she told herself that Blocky wouldn’t exaggerate something like this, and Rudy surely wouldn’t either. And thinking back, it was very possible that some zoners would gain a hatred for creators. Heck, Biclops himself used to have such a belief not long after Rudy first came to ChalkZone. It would make sense that he wasn’t the only zoner who felt this way.

She had a feeling that this group won’t be as easily swayed as Biclops was. While the giant grew to trust Rudy and her, as well as their family members, the anti-creator group had become more extreme. From what Blocky said, they even want to kick Rudy out, despite knowing the good he does for ChalkZone. So far, they hadn’t really done anything outside of protests, at least according to Blocky, but there was a chance that they could make a move soon. When, she wasn’t sure, making the situation even more dangerous. She didn’t even know what to expect from these guys. Just how far are they willing to go to segregate the real world from ChalkZone? How much blood are they willing to shed to fight for what they may see as justice?

What was also very concerning is just how widespread this mindset could get. So far, it was just a small group. But it could get larger. And if they are manipulative enough, persuasive enough, even allies could be turned and used against them. The idea was frightening. If the anti-creator group got more active and managed to kick them out of ChalkZone for an extended period, that would give the black chalk users ample time to attack the place, and this time, there would be nothing that would save them. Even more disheartening is that, even if she and Rudy found a way in, the anti-creator group may not act thrilled or grateful when they are rescued and may proceed to attack them the first chance they got.

“Yeah...you’re right, Rudy.” Penny said when she found her voice. She cast her eyes downward. “That..that would be a definite possibility...”

“Just what we needed.” Snap raised his hands into the air. “More problems!”

“I know how you feel, Snap. We all do.” Rudy said in a somber tone. He pushed through a couple more pages of the diary, still not seeing anything of interest. “I’m...I’m not sure what we’ll do if it gets to that point. I can’t fight them...they might take that as proof that all creators are bad.”

“Rudy...” Penny placed a hand on his shoulder. “If they threaten you or anyone you care about, you will have to go up against them. If they want to take it as you being an ‘aggressive creator’, then that’s their problem. Anyone who actually knows you, like Snap and I, we will know you are doing it out of defense.”

“Yeah.” Snap nodded. He leaned against Rudy. “You don’t have to worry. Most of the zoners will and do understand.”

Rudy gave a small smile to his friends. “Yeah.. I...” Then he paused. His eyes widened. Penny and Snap looked at him worriedly. Had he thought of something else regarding this group? Did something else come to his mind? They noticed Rudy’s eyes were glanced downward, and then he spoke. “Look at this...” He pointed his finger down on the current page.

Penny and Snap took a look. Although they didn’t read far, there was one particular thing that they almost immediately took notice of. On this page, it clearly mentioned something about a transformative substance. They looked at each other in shock, and then back down at the paper. Did this page contain the information they needed? Only one way to find out. The three friends grew quiet and stared intently at the paper. They began to read it in their heads.

“August 10 at 2:00 PM-

Horace is still proving difficult to sway. Even after I explained to him countless times of ChalkZone’s true potential, he still refused to go along with me. I never really quite understood this. The guy’s father is an active anti-cartoonist. In that kind of environment, he should have been instilled with some level of hatred for cartoons. I came to the conclusion that he is allowing himself to be disillusioned with these chalk drawings being sentient. He hasn’t learned to look beyond that. I will have to do something about that later.

Oh well, I do not need to worry about that now. Right now, Jenny and I are working on some kind of discovery. I am glad I chose her as my partner and not Horace. She has always been cooperative, even before I enlightened her with the black chalk. It was almost like I didn’t have to, but she was still a little hesitant before, so the black chalk exposure became necessary. She has proven to be a valuable ally. Intelligent, resourceful, determined. All fine qualities to have for the new order I will be placing on ChalkZone soon.

We have discovered a substance mixture with some very interesting properties. We haven’t yet named it. We found that this substance could be intermixed with the ingredients to create a new type of chalk. I revelled in the idea of creating new chalk. The idea sounds intriguing, powerful. I had an idea of a new type of chalk which would create superstrong vicious zoners to do my bidding. Jenny had warned me that making the red chalk out of the ground up bodies of those tiny red bats might not get me the result I wanted, but it has to be better than the failure regarding Cyclops.

This substance we managed to create has the power to turn flesh into chalk. It was an amazing, shocking discovery. At the moment, we don’t know what we will do with the substance other than create some kind of chalk with it. We don’t know yet that all the properties it will have and what use it will be to use. But I have a feeling that we will find a great use for this new type of chalk. Turning flesh into chalk, that had some kind of potential to it.

Jenny had the idea of using it as a type of weapon. Her idea is that the substance could be used to create some kind of disease, and the chalk could be used to spread said disease. A biological weapon of sorts. Yes, I like that idea. Of course, it was just one idea, and I don’t know what we will ultimately do with it. Creating a biological weapon right now may not be necessary. Horace hasn’t activately went against me yet, and there isn’t been much resistance from the nonblessed chalk users yet.

Then again, I haven’t made any too major moves just yet. Time will tell if this substance would prove handy as a biological weapon. I do look forward to when the time came to test it out, though. If we do decide to turn this thing into a weapon, I want a test subject. But I want it done in private. I will not have those inferior white chalk users to catch wind to what is going on. So if we decide to create this disease, I will personally capture one of the white chalk users myself. I think I will go with John. I’ll him to a secluded area and lock him up and subject him to the disease. I will monitor the results.

I will update on this in a few days. I will need to talk with Jenny for a while before we ultimately decide what to do with the substance. I do believe Jenny has the right idea of using it as a weapon, though. There may come a time when we will need it, especially if the white chalk users become too unruly. I believe I can sway some of them with the black chalk, but any that refuses, including my dear friend Horace, they will have to be killed if they prove to be too much of a problem. Quite unfortunate, but sometimes, a few must suffer for the needs of the many.”

The three friends looked at each other with horrified expressions. That whole journal entry was just unnerving. They weren’t surprised by the bit about the biological weapon, but still, reading about it... It chilled their blood. They already knew that Cosmo was a monster even as a kid, but reading things that he wrote, it added a sense of dread to the whole thing.

The idea of a human test subject was just awful. It was unsettling knowing that Daniel and Michael may not have been the only victims of the disease. This had them wondering. If Cosmo had infected more than just those to...just how many creators died because of this disease? How many more suffered and perished? Had any of them survived?

The threat of going after Wilter.. They were glad that Cosmo never got that chance. Even if it took a few tries, Wilter did manage to beat him and send him packing. They were glad that Cosmo never got the chance to use his infectious chalk on any of them during his short stay in ChalkZone. That would have been disastrous, especially if Wilter didn’t know what the cure was, which was a possibility.

They decided to read the next diary entry. There may be more information written about this disease. Hopefully the cure is mentioned on this next entry. It has to be in here somewhere. They didn’t want to believe that Cosmo refused to put in an entry about it.

“August 20 at 5:20 PM-

A lot can change in such a short time span. It seems that the inferior white chalk users have decided to be more active against us. Horace still fights by my side, but only because I have a hold on him at the moment. I will maintain that hold for as long as I can. Even if I can’t convert him with the black chalk, he is still a useful ally to me, even if he is unwilling.

Jenny and I have decided to use that substance we created, which we decided to call gelxeno, to make that biological weapon I mentioned in the previous entry. For added fun, we decided to keep the chalk white, to fool any white chalk user to thinking that it is safe. This would ensure they would grab it, enabling it to absorb into their skin and go to work. Once we were able to create one gelxeno chalk, we went to work trying it out.

It was easy weeding John out from the group. I grabbed him before the others could see and dragged him off to the isolated area. I locked him up in an enclosed area and threw in the chalk. Of course, he was fooled into thinking I slipped up. He talked about how he was going to make me sorry I ever messed with him. I didn’t bother replying, though. I knew the little idiot was going to regret those words very quickly. Just as I predicted and hoped, he grabbed the chalk. With a snap of my finger, the substance responded and it absorbed into his skin.

It had taken a long time. A little too long for my liking. My parents would think I was missing, but I didn’t care. I could always come up with an excuse later. Right now, this research was very important. Despite taking a long time, it was still entertaining for me to watch. I took careful note, writing down symptoms that John suffered through during his time trapped.

It didn’t happen right away, but John did eventually suffer from a high fever which caused him to collapse on the ground. He did eventually wake up, but it was clear the fever was still there. He seemed to be hallucinating and acted like there were monsters all around him. The result of the high fever I am sure. Then he began to complain of stomach aches. This actually took a couple of days to occur. Soon it seemed like everything hurt him, and he collapsed on the ground in a fetal position, crying for his mother and father.

Needless to say, I found the whole thing very amusing. Watching one of my enemies suffering like that was quite enjoyable. I especially loved it when he started to vomit up blood. That was what he got when he refused to join the black chalk users. If he had decided to join, this fate would have been averted. His loss, I suppose.

When he finally expired was quite gruesome. Part of his skin had started to turn to chalk as well. From under his chest down across his belly, I had noticed a dark red line forming. Then it suddenly happened. The chalk skin, due to the internal fluids eating away at it, broke and his internal organs spilled out. They didn’t have their solid shapes. Many of them were warped beyond recognition, some even completely liquidated. It didn’t take long for John to die from that. I wrote down the results and I decided to consult Jenny. I will deal with the body later.

Like me, she was pleased with the results. Although using it as a weapon now was tempting, she and I both agreed more testing needed to be done. Getting a few more test subjects and trying different things with the gelxeno was important, and we also needed to see if it interacts with other ingredients. Before I can even use it, another important thing was a cure. I do not want my comrades infected by this disease. No, the only ones I want to suffer from it are the white chalk users who refuse to listen to reason.

There is something else I thought about working on. I have something that can turn real world flesh into chalk flesh, but it does not affect fluids. They remain real world. I am hoping to find something that can change chalk liquid into real world liquid. Then I would proceed capturing zoners and experimenting with it on them. If done right, the disease should cause them to bleed internally from the inside out as their own internal fluids turn against them. I may need something like this for the future, to give me and my fellow black chalk users a strong footing in the full on war I know is coming.

But for now, this one particular disease should be good enough. Once Jenny and I have tested it more and perfected it, we will unleash it among the white chalk users and infect them all. Well any that don’t willingly join us that is. If we discover a cure, we wil keep it from them. After they are taken care of, we can continue working on our plans for ChalkZone. I haven’t had as much time on that, I’m afraid. The white chalk users are too much of an annoyance. I must have them taken care of before I can continue.

I have heard of this unusual type of chalk, the chartreuse chalk. It is said to provide some healing capabilities, which I cannot allow for this. But it may have an interesting reaction to the gelxeno. I am aware that it may slow down the disease at most, but, based on what I heard of the chartreuse chalk, it may do something else. I must find out what it is. My next subject, I will throw in the chartreuse chalk and record what happens, since I don’t think I can keep my parents from worrying if I disappeared again.

And I know exactly who will be my next subject. I have recently found out that one of my black chalk comrades had defected. I do not know how she managed to break free, but I will not tolerate traitors in my group. I will have her dealt with as soon as I can, and this will be a finishing punishment for her.

Oh yes, dear Ms. Sanchez, you will not go unpunished.”

Chapter Text

The treehouse fell completely silent. Nobody spoke a word. The three friends stared in shock at what was written before them. They slowly leaned back away from the diary. Though they had planned on reading more, this new revelation..it left them so stunned, they didn’t think they could read anything more. What they had discovered was shocking, truly unbelievable. They weren’t sure what to make of it. What could they say about it? None of them had expected something like this to happen.

What made them fall silent wasn’t the gruesome death John had suffered. But that part still freaked them out. It was eerie how happy Cosmo sounded to watch another little kid die like that. They winced at the description of his organs falling out. Rudy consciously clutched his stomach and clenched his teeth, imagining his organs falling out like that. Was that the kind of fate that was in store for him? His entire belly just ripping open like that? A terrifying thought...

He wondered how John’s parents found out about his demise. He felt so sorry for them. He guessed that Cosmo would have disposed of the body in ChalkZone, so in the real world it would seem like John was kidnapped. And his parents would never find out his true fate. That left a sickening feeling in Rudy’s stomach. How many children had died like this? How many did Cosmo kill in private just for this sick experimentation of his? He knew Cosmo was cruel but...to actually enjoy watching another child suffer like that? That was low, disgusting.

Rudy realized something. He recalled what Penny and Snap told them regarding what Barney said of his condition. He never mentioned anything about this. The idea filled him with an uncomfortable sensation. Had...had Barney withheld information from them? Why would he do that? Rudy started to feel a little betrayed, though he knew there had to be a good reason why Barney wouldn’t tell them everything regarding this disease. Maybe he actually did know the cure, but was prevented from telling what it was. The centipede had knowledge of all of ChalkZone history and the only way he wouldn’t know the cure was if there wasn’t any, which he started to see doubts in.

Perhaps they should pay Barney another visit and try to get the truth out of him. Rudy didn’t want to be angry with him. But..there had to be a reason for all of this. There had to be a reason why he would lie about how many victims there were and what the cure was. Another unsettling thought entered his head. Had he told a little fib about the chartreuse chalk as well? Or refuse to say something about it?

He looked down at the piece of green chalk still strapped around his neck. He hadn’t dared to remove it as it was the only thing making the pain bearable. He was always in pain, but with this, he could at least manage it and function throughout the day without collapsing. But was there more to this chalk than previously thought? Rudy remembered that he didn’t suffer from any stomach pains from eating....until he started to wear the chartreuse chalk...

His eyes widened in horror at this. Did the green chalk actually...make things worse somehow? Did it interact with this infectious chalk in a way that made it seem like it was helping, but it was really moving things along? The thought was terrifying, but he wasn’t sure how well it fit. John’s insides turned to chalk and he wasn’t using the chartreuse chalk. But Cosmo did say that the gelxeno and the chartreuse chalk might have an ‘interesting reaction’... What was going on? Maybe the next journal entry would explain that more.

But though he wanted to turn the page, he, as well as his friends, were frozen in shock not just by what Cosmo did, and the revelation that the chartreuse chalk may not be what it seems, but by what the last page had said. That name that was listed, the person that Cosmo chose to experiment on next, out of pure spite...

....it was Penny’s mother...

The shock of this news nearly caused all of their strength to leave them, making them practically motionless. They couldn’t even bring themselves to speak. They didn’t know how this was possible. Thoughts swirled through their heads, refusing to leave them. Their bodies trembled a little from the shock of this information. It...it changed a lot of what they thought they knew about Penny’s mother.

Mrs. Sanchez had been into ChalkZone before. She was one of the black chalk users. And she...somehow escaped its grasp. She...she was the artist who got away... The first one who did it. How was she able to do this? How long was she under Cosmo’s command? Did she commit any horrible acts as a black chalk user? How had she managed to escape the fate that Cosmo had tried to bestow upon her? One particular question that hung over their heads was...how did she not remember ChalkZone when she came in? How did she not revert back to her black chalk state?

It puzzled them, and to an extent, scared them. This was a part of Mrs. Sanchez they never knew about, and finding out this way...it was very unsettling. Something different happened to her that caused her to lose her memories of ChalkZone, something different enough that, whatever black chalk may reside in her, couldn’t reactivate. It was like her brain got fried and those neurons were damaged to the point where they couldn’t be used anymore. Rudy wasn’t sure if that made sense, but it was the only thing he could think of.

Mrs. Sanchez did not recognize ChalkZone before and there was no reason for her to lie. Had her memories been wiped by Biclops, the moment she would set foot into ChalkZone, the mere sight of it would have triggered the black chalk to reclaim control over her. And she would have become whatever she was like while under its influence. That, of course, didn’t happen. Black chalk wasn’t that subtle. It had been two years. It would have made a move by now, if it had been reactivated at all.

Rudy glanced over at Penny. Understandably, she was the most shocked out of the three. She was staring blankly ahead, her mouth partially open from the shock of what they had learned. It must be so uncomfortable for her to come to terms with this. It was definitely scary for her to find out because not only did she find out that she is the daughter of a former black chalk user, but the same one that managed to break free of the control, which may make her a target of the black chalk users at some point. And add to that the fact that she almost came to not existing at all. Her mother was targeted by Cosmo for this experiment, which she wouldn’t have survived. If her mom hadn’t made it...

Rudy tried not to think about it. It was too horrible of a thing to consider. He couldn’t imagine going through his life without her, and neither would Snap. Thinking back on their past adventures, from the minor ones to the more dangerous, a lot of them, he didn’t think they’d be able to make it through without her. She was important to the team, and knowing that they almost didn’t have her...it made him shudder.

After a while of silence, Penny finally spoke. “I...I am going to go talk to my mom...”

Snap turned his head towards her. “You don’t want to read more of the diary?”

Penny paused as she was getting up. “I will... after I talk with my mom. You guys can continue reading it if you want. Fill me in when I get back.”

Penny was on her feet now and heading towards the door to Snap’s treehouse. Rudy watched her go. He wanted to say something to her, anything. But he found himself voiceless as she opened the door and left without so much as saying a goodbye to them. This filled him with some sadness. For Penny to not even say goodbye... The impact must have been deeper than he thought. He looked down at Snap and shook his head slowly.

“I hope her conversation with her mother goes over well.” Rudy said softly. “And I hope Penny doesn’t jump to conclusions that her mother’s been lying to her.”

“Oh don’t worry about it!” Snap said, trying his best to smile. “I don’t think Penny thinks that at all! I may not have known Mrs. Sanchez for as long as you guys, but from what I’ve seen, she seems to be an honest lady. I don’t think she’d keep something like this a secret unless she didn’t know about it herself.” He cast a sad glance at the door. “I do feel bad for Buckette, though. To find out that she is the daughter of someone who used black chalk...”

Rudy nodded in agreement. “It must be awful for her.” He paused for a moment. “I wonder something...” Snap gave him a curious look. “If she is the daughter of someone who used black chalk, then does this affect how black chalk interacts with her? Is she less susceptible, or more so?”

Snap rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Well I dunno, Bucko...” He pointed his hand at him. “But it does make sense. I wonder if this means Penny does have black chalk in her after all.”

Rudy shook his head. “Unlikely. Remember what Biclops said? The light of Solar Pillars would have triggered a reaction in her.”

“True...” Snap said. “But maybe there needs to be enough black chalk for a reaction? And maybe what’s in her blood just isn’t enough for...” He trailed off. He rubbed the side of his head. “Yeah, that doesn’t make much sense, probably. So Buckette doesn’t have black chalk in her. That’s good to know.”

“But I still wonder if there’s still some kind of negative consequence. Mrs. Sanchez might still have black chalk in her. That might have affected Penny’s DNA structure in some way, making her either resistant or more vulnerable to the black chalk...” Rudy said softly, his eyes cast downwards. He had already closed the diary up and set it aside, not really wanting to read another page right now. “I...I don’t know what to make of this... We read the diary to try to find a cure. We didn’t find it yet, but we found something like...this...”

Snap placed a hand on Rudy’s arm. “Hey, don’t worry. We’ll figure some way to sort everything out.”

Rudy gave a small smile. “Yeah, I know we will. Like we always have...”

“That’s the spirit!” Snap gave a small grin. He got up to his feet and tugged on Rudy’s arm. “Come on, let’s go with Penny. I’m sure having her friends by her will make talking with her mother easier.”

“Now hold on, Snap.” Rudy gently pulled his arm way, making Snap let go of him. Snap looked at him in confusion. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“What? Why?” Snap’s eyes were wide.

“Because this is personal, between her and her mom.” Rudy looked over at the door where Penny left out of. “I think it is best for her to talk to her mother alone. If she wanted us to come with, she would have said something. I’m sure she’ll do fine on her own. It’s her mom we’re talking about here. Let’s give them some time to themselves. When Penny’s done talking, she’ll come and find us and let us know how it went.”

Snap stared at Rudy. Then he nodded. “Okay, then Rudy. If you feel that is for the best.”

Rudy would have wanted to go with Snap’s suggestion. He did want to go follow Penny to confront her mother. But as he told Snap, he felt that was a personal, family manner. He felt it would be more respectful if he let Penny speak to her mother alone, and then she can tell them about it when they meet up again. Yeah, information provided by Mrs. Sanchez may come in handy, if she is able to reveal anything worthwhile. But it’s not like he is going to be without that information for long. It wouldn’t take too much time for Penny to speak to her mom and come back. He’d say sometime later today, tonight at the latest.

He went over and sat down the pile of his blankets. He missed sleeping in his own bed, in his own house. He had hardly been in the real world due to how painful it was for him. He missed his parents, even though they do come visit him. He knows they miss him. He wishes he could go back home, but for now, he can’t. He doesn’t mind sleeping with Snap for the time being. He just wished he wasn’t forced to stay in ChalkZone by this stupid disease, given to him by some crazy woman who thinks he killed Cosmo.

He wished he could talk some sense into her. He wished that she would listen to reason. But who was he kidding? She was a black chalk user. Of course she wouldn’t listen to reason. She ignores anything that she does not accept, and replaces it with her own twisted reality. That was how all black chalk artists were it seemed. There was no changing them...not unless there was a way to destroy black chalk completely. Then there might be a chance that...

He shook his head. That would be too easy, wouldn’t it? He shouldn’t get his hopes up. It would be nice if they found a way to destroy the black chalk completely, and it would definitely be nice if, by doing so, any person infected with black chalk will have it removed from their systems completely. Wishful thinking, yeah. And Rudy knew not to get too excited over something that may not happen. But it was still nice to hope a little, wasn’t it? It wouldn’t hurt to be a little hopeful for something like that, so long as he does not cloud his mind too much.

He glanced back down at the diary laying on the floor. He thought about if he wanted to read more of it now or not. He would rather read it with Penny here as well as Snap. But he didn’t really need to worry about reading it without her; Penny did say that they could read more of the diary without her if they wanted. Yet Rudy wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to read more of the diary without her. It was just...easier reading it in the company of both of his friends, he found. They all drew strength from each other, so having both his friends with him as they read the horrible diary made it easier to bear.

He knew it was important to see if there was anything written about the cure. He knew the wisest choice would be to keep reading while Penny was gone. It was a life or death situation. He couldn’t afford not to know anything about what might be able to cure him. But for now, he couldn’t bring himself to read more. The revelation of Penny’s mom being a former black chalk user was shocking enough. He was still reeling from that. He could only imagine how Penny must be feeling. He hoped that she and her mom will be able to talk things over.

He turned his head to Snap. He realized something. Somehow, he had forgotten about Snap’s cut. It had stopped bleeding by now, leaving a dark red across his cheek from where Bardot scratched him. He wondered if he should have let Snap go with Penny and have Mrs. Sanchez treat that cut. It didn’t seem very deep, but he didn’t want to take chances, especially with him being sick. Rudy never thought about it before but...just what would happen if Snap managed to catch his disease...? He shuddered to think about it.

Perhaps going into ChalkZone City for medicine would be a good idea. Plus, after that disturbing discovery, he could use a bit of a walk. A walk would relax his mind a little, reduce stress. He definitely needed that after all that’s happened recently. And he did want to get Snap some kind of medication for that cut. Probably some aloe ointment will do, and some bandaides. He would feel better knowing he got something for his friend to help with his cut, even if the cut isn’t that deep and already clotted.

He was about to get up when something else dawned on him. He had been meaning to visit Biclops in the hospital. After Blocky told him what happened, he had been meaning to visit the giant, but circumstances have made it pretty hard. He had tried once, but he was still knocked out, so he wasn’t able to speak to him about what had happened to him. Knowing what happened to Biclops was very important. Blocky thinks it was the anti-creator group, and if it was, Rudy really had to know as soon as possible. If there was another group of danger out there, they needed to be prepared for the worst.

There was a chance, though, that, in this case, the anti-creator group wasn’t responsible. Maybe it was Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek. Maybe they ambushed Biclops. For what, he wasn’t sure. Information probably. It would definitely be just like them to leave Biclops locked up like that for days and letting him go hungry and thirsty. Whoever had done that to Biclops... Rudy was going to find out somehow, someway. He clenched his fist. Biclops never did anything to deserve that. As soon as he found out who did it, he would do whatever it takes to prevent another incident like that.

Rudy got up to his feet. He took a few steps towards the door. He looked over at where Snap was. The zoner was laying down on his stomach on his beanbag chair. The zoner looked up at him, locking eyes with him. Rudy stopped and said, “I’m heading into ChalkZone City. I want to get you some medication for that cut.”

“My cut?” Snap placed a hand on his cheek. He winced a little and withdrew his hand. “It’s not bleeding anymore. I think it’s fine.”

Rudy shook his head. “I’m not going to take a chance. Bardot has been living in that fiery place for two years. Who knows what kind of things he stuck those claws in... I doubt they are very clean.”

Snap thought about this for a moment. “You do prove a good point, Rudy.”

“I’m also going to try visiting Biclops again. I need to talk to him about what happened to him. I... we need to know who attacked him. Knowing who will help us better prepare, and to try to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Being left in the dark will leave us vulnerable. If Blocky was right...”

Snap shook his head. “I don’t think it was that anti-creator group, Rudy. Right now, their numbers seem too small to...”

“They may have more members than we realize.” Rudy said sternly. “I’m not going to take that chance. I’m not going to rule them out as a possible suspect.” He turned his attention back towards the door and started to walk towards it again. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Wait here for Penny, okay?”

“Wait!” Snap jumped up from the beanbag and headed towards Rudy. “Why don’t I come with you? I could go to one of those destinations for you.” He stopped about a foot in front of Rudy. “You could could draw a specialized phone for you, me, and Penny and leave a note for her in case she does come back while we’re gone. We can use the phones to meet up with each other again so we can head back to the treehouse.”

Rudy didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of that idea before. Usually, he wouldn’t be entirely concerned about leaving without telling Penny since she could easily find him in ChalkZone, though he still preferred letting her know where he’ll be so she didn’t have to wander all around ChalkZone to find him. But with that anti-creator group around, and with that leg injury of hers, he didn’t want to risk it. He didn’t want to chance Penny being targeted while she was alone. He and Snap could still run well and they could get away from the group, but Penny would have a hard time. She still had the magic chalk, but if that group gets it away from her, she was in big trouble.

One chilling thought that entered his mind was...would this group be willing to kill Penny? Would their hatred for creators be so great that they’d take a life? The thought sent ice through his veins. No, he couldn’t allow that to happen. Leaving a note, like Snap suggested, would definitely help. It would make Penny less likely to be targeted if she was heading straight for a certain destination, and the phones would help, too. Rudy didn’t want to risk Penny being separated from him and Snap for long as her leg injury would make her a prime target if this group turned out to be violent.

Snap would also be in trouble. Without the ability to use the magic chalk, if there were enough members in this anti-creator group, more than he realized, they could gang up on Snap, beat him to a pulp, whatever horrible things they could think of. He didn’t know the full extent of where they were willing to go. And that was frightening to think about. The anti-creator group could turn out to be mostly nonviolent, and he hoped that was the case. But if he was wrong, and if this group was willing to resort to violence, just what would they do to Snap if they caught him?

An uncomfortable memory entered his mind. He recalled the time that his Madcap Snap comics caused a slew of Snips to be created, and everyone in ChalkZone blamed Snap for it. At one point, Snap was surrounded by a mob and they had chased him down relentlessly all the way to the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle. Rudy had no idea exactly what they would have done to Snap, but with how determined they were to get Snap, he guessed it wasn’t going to be anything that pleasant. And what of this anti-creator group? The mob that chased Snap might not have done anything too terrible, but this group...how far would they be willing to go with Snap?

From what Blocky said, the group was spotted making protests in ChalkZone City, which was where the hospital and the store were. The hospital would be the first thing they’d reach when walking down the street. Perhaps he should send Snap to the hospital to speak to Biclops. That would be a safe place for him to be. There was little chance the anti-creator group would be in there causing trouble. With Snap unable to use the magic chalk and no blue chalk in sight, that would be the safest option for him. Rudy knew that venturing the rest of the way might be dangerous and he might have an encounter with the group, but he would rather be the one attacked than either of his friends.

“Okay then, Snap. Sounds like a plan!” Rudy said, giving a small smile to his friend. He pointed a finger at him. “You can go talk to Biclops in the hospital. I’ll stop by a pharmacy further down the street and grab some medicine for you. Okay?”

Snap nodded his head. “Got it!”

sss

Rudy and Snap walked down the streets of ChalkZone City. Snap looked around, watching the different zoners moving by. So far, he and Rudy hadn’t really run into any trouble. He hadn’t seen any signs of any zoners acting up or being unnecessarily aggressive. They also hadn’t heard any protests yet. He wondered if the anti-creator group went to sleep or if they were further in town and they just weren’t close enough to see or hear them.

If they do run into them, Snap did hope that they weren’t violent. He might have said that their numbers were too small, but he could be wrong. He hadn’t seen the group at all, not even when Blocky mentioned them. Maybe he was just looking in all the wrong places or they were out during times that he wasn’t. But if they did end up encountering them, he hoped they were peaceful protestors and not some angry mob that would chase him and Rudy all the way across ChalkZone to the nearest portal to kick them out of. He hoped that they weren’t the ones responsible for what happened to Biclops. If they were, it frightened him to think of what else they could be capable of.

Snap did feel bad not knowing more than he should. The only things he knew about this group were what Blocky had told them. Without encountering the group himself, he couldn’t make any judgments of his own. The group might turn out to be harmless. Just a bunch of cranky zoners complaining for the sake of complaining. But what if they weren’t so harmless? Zoners might be overall a nonaggressive species, with only a small percent of particularly bad eggs, but even some of the more docile zoners can get nasty if they were frightened enough. And in a group...

He tried not to think about it. He tried to focus on walking with Rudy until they got to the hospital, where they would separate. He didn’t want to show that he was afraid. He was afraid that he might attract some unwanted company. Not knowing how this anti-creator group was was scary. He had no idea what to expect from them. Would they hurt him and Rudy? Would they go after Penny, too? Just would they do? As much as Snap wanted to get those thoughts out of his head, he just could not.

He and Rudy soon came at a turn. At this point, they’d have to separate. The road Snap had to turn onto lead straight to the hospital. He could see it up ahead. The pharmacy Rudy wanted to go was down the street some more. They stopped at the turn and remained standing there for a few seconds. They remained quiet before either of them spoke.

“I’ll head down to the pharmacy now. I’ll get your medicine and meet you up in the hospital, okay?” Rudy said to his friend. “I won’t be gone that long. It should only take about five, six minutes.”

“Okay.” Snap nodded his head. He paused for a moment. “What if Biclops is not available, for whatever reason?”

“Then just wait for me in the waiting room and I’ll meet you there.” Rudy replied. “I won’t be gone very long. I promise.”

“I know Rudy.” Snap said. His voice was laced with worry, and Rudy caught this.

“I’m worried about that anti-creator group myself, too, Snap. But I don’t think they’ll try anything here. There’s too many zoners out. I’m sure you and I will be fine.” Rudy smiled reassuringly at his friend, gently squeezing his shoulder. “I promise...I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’ll run down to the pharmacy, grab the medicine, and come back. I’ll probably be back before you even reach the hospital.”

Snap was still unsure. But he did trust Rudy’s judgment. He did his best to smile at his friend. He tried his best to mask his fear, though he knew Rudy could still detect it. He couldn’t hide his emotions that easily. “All right then, Bucko. I’ll see you soon!”

“I’ll be back soon!” Rudy shouted, waving at Snap before turning around.

After waving at Rudy, Snap turned and started to walk down the street. He only got a few feet when he heard something. A thud, a clash, and what sounded like a muffled scream. Snap’s heart immediately sped up, his eyes widening in horror. No...it..it couldn’t be... Snap swung his head around. He didn’t see Rudy, but he would expect that as Rudy may have already walked far enough to be hidden from view due to the buildings. He rushed down to where he and Rudy were standing just a minute ago.

Snap’s mind filled with dread when he saw that Rudy was nowhere on the street. He didn’t see any sign of him anywhere. His body trembled. He took a few shaky steps forward, his mind trying to process just what happened. He paid no attention to any of the zoners moving through the city. He didn’t notice if they acted like they saw something or not. His eyes were focused on the street where Rudy should have been, but was not.

Snap ran forward, moving down the street, looking left and right, trying to find any sign of Rudy. He couldn’t see anything. He bumped into a few zoners, but at the moment, he didn’t care. He stopped in front of the pharmacy that Rudy was supposed to go to. He hoped that, by some miracle, Rudy just figured out a super fast way of getting here, regardless of how ridiculous that would have been. He peered in the window, but to his horror, he could not see Rudy there. He took a few shaky breaths and moved back. Gritting his teeth, he looked around.

Suddenly his mind was assaulted with the horrible memory of when he learned Rudy and Penny were kidnapped. He remembered when he stumbled upon Rudy’s room and how there was blood everywhere from the attack Draow unleashed upon them. Now Rudy was missing again, and this time, there wasn’t even a blood trail. It was like he just never was really there. What...what happened to him...? Where was Rudy...? His body shaking harder, Snap let out a cry.

“Rudy!”

sss

Rudy had no idea how he got here. It all happened to fast. One minute, he was talking with Snap, and saying goodbye to him. The next, someone hits him from behind, covers his mouth, and drags him away. And then, without warning, it was all dark and he had no idea what happened. And when the lights finally came back, here was.

Well lights would be an exaggeration. There was really just one light and it was so dim he could barely make out the details of where he was. At first, he couldn’t tell if he was in ChalkZone or the real world. But when he realized that his pain hadn’t increased tenfold, he knew he had to be in ChalkZone still. He would have drawn a light so he could explore this place a little more, but he didn’t know if his captors were here or not, and he didn’t have his magic chalk with him. He felt one of his captors wrench it from his hands.

He wondered just who had taken him. Was it the anti-creator group? That was a possibility. But it also could have been Ghadir, Jenny, and Tyreek. They would have seized a chance to grab him whenever they saw fit. He concluded it was most likely those three, as the anti-creator group appear to be pretty vocal. There was a chance that they couldn’t sneak behind him and drag him off like this, especially not to another part of ChalkZone. That wouldn’t make much sense for this group. If they wanted him out of ChalkZone, they would have forced him to draw a portal.

Rudy looked around, wondering where Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek were. Were they still in the room with him? Were they watching from the darkness? Or had they left him all alone? Yeah, that did seem like a very real possibility. They could have locked him up somewhere isolated where no one would find him and just let him slowly die. Without access to the hospital, he wouldn’t be able to eat or drink and he would die, quite unpleasantly too.

He didn’t have to wait for long. The room did suddenly light up more as a few torches hanging on the wall were lit. With the room now more illuminated, Rudy could see he was located in some underground cellar. The walls were clearly made of stone slabs set tightly packed together, and there was a wetness feeling along those walls. He guessed he was below ChalkZone City. The room was pretty small and circular, with only one exit. A small tunnel that headed down straight. He could see a bright white light, and concluded that was probably the exit to a street in ChalkZone City.

Standing in the path, blocking his way out, was the trio he had believed to be responsible. Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek. With evil smiles, they approached him slowly. None of them had their black chalk out, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have any. Although defenseless without the magic chalk, Rudy took a defensive stance, glaring at them. They soon stood in the room, Tyreek standing in front of the path to make sure he didn’t get any ideas about leaving.

“Why did you bring me here?! Let me go!” Rudy demanded, clenching his hand into a fist.

“So sorry...but we can’t do that...” Jenny sneered. She took a few steps towards Rudy. “You see, we were going to just let the disease take you down, but we wanted to have a little fun with you...”

Rudy growled lowly. “You already had your shot at me.”

“True...but I want to do more... Besides...” Jenny flicked her head, indicating Tyreek and Ghadir. “They also want another bone to pick with you. You see, we are still not very happy about what you did to Cosmo.” Rudy’s eyes widened. Of course they would still be on that subject. “And we thought we would...return the favor. Don’t worry, we won’t kill you. But when we are done with you...” Jenny gripped his shirt collar and yanked him forward. “You will wish we had.”

Rudy yanked himself away and took a few steps back. He looked at the three black chalk users, trying to find away to get past them. It was no use. The room was too small. He couldn’t find a space big enough for him to squeeze through. Maybe if he were still Snap’s size like when he was a little kid, then maybe. But right now, as an eighteen year old, he was just too big. Trapped, all he could do was move back as the three evil creators boxed him into a corner, their eyes glowing with dark intent.

“It’s not my fault Cosmo died!” Rudy cried, his voice laced in anger and disbelief. “I don’t see why you keep blaming me for it! I didn’t want to kill him! I would never have killed him! No matter how evil and vile he was, I would not have killed him! You have to believe me! I didn’t kill him!” The trio didn’t look impressed by his words. They narrowed their eyes into slits. “I’m telling the truth! It was an accident! He killed himself with his own deathtrap! He didn’t get out of the way in time!”

There was a long and eerie pause. Rudy wasn’t sure if his words got through to them or not. He had his doubts he did. He didn’t think this group was someone he could reason with. But he had to try. Without his chalk and trapped, he had to find some other alternate way of getting out of here. Trying to talk his way out may not work so well, but what else could he do? Maybe he could make them see some reason. Maybe if he could convince them he wasn’t responsible for Cosmo’s death, they would at least reduce their hostility towards him at least a little. He didn’t expect them to stop going after him and his friends, but a little less hostility would be a welcome change.

Jenny was the one who spoke up. She leaned a little towards him, a dark smile on her face. “Oh...we know it was an accident...”

Rudy’s right eye widened. “Y-You do?” Jenny nodded her head. “How...?”

Ghadir took a small step towards him. She pressed her hand against the wall. “We..had a little chat with that giant friend of yours...”

At this, Rudy’s heart clenched. The realization washed over him like a waterfall. Without them saying anything to confirm, he knew, without a doubt, these were Biclops’s attackers, not the anti-creator group. So that mystery was solved. But that did him no good while he was trapped down here. He pressed his back further against the wall, ignoring the wetness.

“You were the ones who went after Biclops...” Rudy said in a soft voice.

“Yes. We were.” Tyreek confirmed, sneering at Rudy. “The traitor finally got a little retribution for what he did to us.”

“Traitor?” Rudy questioned.

“None of your business.” Jenny snapped. She reached out and grabbed Rudy by his chin. She lifted it up and twisted his head from one side, then the other, as if examining him. “You should worry more about yourself right now, kid. You have no idea what we are going to do to... And trust me, we’re going to have a lot of fun with you.”

Rudy tried to get free, but Jenny’s grip was like a vice. She grabbed one of his arms and twisted it. He seethed in pain. “But..but if you know it was an accident...why do you still blame me? Why do you still want to hurt me for something I didn’t do?”

“Why? Because in the end, it was still your fault.” Tyreek replied, gritting his teeth angrily. His eyes glowed black for a second, sending a chill through Rudy’s spine. “If you hadn’t refused Cosmo’s generous offer, he would have been fine. If you hadn’t shoved him against the wall like that, if you hadn’t interfered with his attack to get rid of the traitorous giant, he would have been fine. You helped send him to his demise, so therefore, you should still be punished...”

“Y-You’re insane!” Rudy struggled harder. “He wouldn’t have died if he hadn’t lost control of his temper like that!”

“But he also wouldn’t have died if you hadn’t been so uncooperative.” Ghadir hissed, slamming her fist into the wall and startling Rudy. “I am going to so enjoy pummeling you into the ground.”

Rudy’s heart began to race. His right eye looked all around, trying in desperation to find a way out. His mind filled with dread, feeling a cold wave of fear washing over his body. What was he going to do? How was he going to get out of this? He was trapped with no magic chalk. His body started to shiver from fear. He had to try to get out. He had to do something. He couldn’t just stand here.

Seeing some of a space by Tyreek, Rudy mustered as much strength as he could and wrenched himself free of the evil nurse. He pushed himself along Tyreek and managed to get pasted him. But he never made it into the tunnel as Tyreek had grabbed him and slammed him against the wall. Rudy let out a soft groan as Tyreek held him by his neck against the stoney wall. Tyreek kept his grip on him as Jenny moved in closer and reached her hand out towards him. Rudy turned his head away and winced as he felt Jenny lightly touch his cheek.

“I know you might think of this as unfair...but remember Rudy...” Jenny said. “Cosmo was a very dear friend of ours. We know what friendship is like. You know how you’d do anything if your friends were in danger? Well think of us as the same way, with other black chalk artists of course. Cosmo was...very dear to us...”

“And you were responsible for him ‘disappearing’...” Tyreek growled. Rudy winced as the man’s breath hit his face.

“You must pay the price for that.” Ghadir said, smirking.

“I am afraid that we cannot let you go unpunished. We are not satisfied yet.” Jenny said, a twisted smile spreading across her face. “And we won’t be until we see you crawling on the ground, begging for mercy!”

Rudy had no warning when Tyreek’s fist made contact with his cheek. He let out a pain-filled cry as his head was violently jerked to the side. Tyreek pulled his fist back and punched him again. Tyreek picked him up and threw him across the small room, causing him to slam against the wall. Rudy staggered forward, almost losing his balance. He was caught by Ghadir. She held him up and she delivered a punch to his stomach. His right eye widened and he fell down to his knees. Ghadir lifted up her foot and kicked him in the chest, knocking him onto his back.

Jenny knelt down beside Rudy. She grabbed him by his hair and roughly pulled it up. Rudy flinched in pain and looked up at her. “This little beatdown you will recieve should speed up that disease a little bit. Spill some internal blood...” Rudy’s right eye widened in horror at this. Jenny reached down towards the green chalk around his neck. Before he could protest, she yanked it off of him. “I don’t think you’ll be needing that.”

Rudy watched helplessly as Jenny tossed the green chalk over to Tyreek, who proceeded to crush it into dust with his hands. Rudy’s body shook a little harder at this. The effects of removing the green chalk were already becoming apparent. Without the green chalk to slow down the disease, the pain he was feeling was increasing. His right eye grew wild with pain and he started to writhe on the ground, feeling his internal fluids start to eat way at his insides.

Jenny looked down at Rudy with a satisfied smirk before she lifted up her foot and slammed it down onto his side. Rudy let out a screech of pain, his right eye bulging wide, and he gripped his side. Another kick, this one on his back. He slammed against the stone wall, his face smashing up against the rocks. His tongue was cut on one of his teeth and he could taste blood in his mouth. Jenny grabbed him and lifted him up, showing a surprising show of strength. Smiling evilly, she kicked him between the legs twice as hard as she could. Intense pain overwhelmed Rudy and he crumpled to the ground, writhing in agony.

Ghadir nudged Rudy until he was on his back. She began to stomp on his stomach as hard as she could. Rudy was overwhelmed by pain. Each time she stomped down, it was more and more agonizing. Soon blood poured from his mouth and he coughed painfully. He tried to speak, but he was interrupted when Tyreek body slammed into him, driving his elbow to his already bruised stomach. Another spray of blood and a loud scream of pain, and then Rudy coughed pitifully. The coughing quickly turned into whimpers as tears flowed from his right eye.

“Please...s-stop...” Rudy begged them, taking in shaky, pained breaths. “Please let me go...”

“Not a chance kid.” Ghadir sneered.

“This is too much fun.” Tyreek said, chuckling darkly.

“You’re going to be with us for a while. We have just gotten started.” Jenny said. She laughed when Rudy looked up at them in fear. “So hold on tight. You are in for one bumpy ride...”

Through some miracle, Rudy did manage to stand back up again. Pain wracked through his body, and he couldn’t stop shaking. The pain was becoming increasingly unbearable as time passed. He didn’t know how long he would be able to last before he finally passed out. He didn’t want to pass out. He had no idea what would happen to him after that. He couldn’t leave himself that completely defenseless.

Although he knew there was hardly a chance for him to win at this rate, he had to defend himself somehow. Raising up his fist, he went for the nearest target, which was Jenny. He took a step towards her, glaring at her hatefully, and slammed his fist against her face. She let out a surprised scream and staggered back. She looked at him in surprise, like she wasn’t expecting him to fight back that badly injured and in that much pain.

Rudy tried to make a run for it, but Ghadir and Tyreek gripped his arms and slammed him against the wall. He didn’t try to struggle. He moaned in pain, some more blood dripping from his mouth. He let out a few small whimpers as he tried to cope with the agony that gripped his body now. He had to force his right eye open to see Jenny walking towards him with what seemed to be a needle. His heart pounded. What..what was she going to do to him...?

“This should make it easier for us...” Jenny said as she jabbed the needle in Rudy’s arm.

Rudy felt something cold being injected into him. It took a few seconds and soon the whole thing was inserted into him. Seconds later, he could feel the affects already settling in. He felt strength leaving him rapidly. His limbs became harder and harder to move. Despite being fully alert, he soon found it impossible to move his arms or legs. He could still feel everything, though. His heart raced even faster, his breaths becoming quick and shallow.

Now completely unable to move, Rudy could do nothing to protect himself as the trio continued beating him up. He was thrown across the room. He was slammed against the hard ground and the stone wall. He was kicked. He was punched. He was body slammed. More than once, they kept him on his back and they repeatedly attacked his stomach, but sometimes they focused on his chest. Agony increased rapidly as the seconds passed. It was becoming too much for him to bear. His screams filled the room, echoing off the walls. He started to cry and sob as his limp body was relentlessly attacked.

Suddenly, while he was on his side on the ground, he felt Jenny grab his head and turn it so he was looking up at her. She forced his mouth open and shoved something inside. Something that he realized was...sharp... He let out painful whimpers as Jenny shut his mouth and forced him to swallow. With Jenny keeping his mouth shut, he couldn’t scream as the sharp object cut his esophagus. He could only weep, tears flowing from his right eye.

The pain...oh man the pain... Rudy’s body trembled in agony. He wanted to defend himself. He wanted to get away. But he was completely immobilized. He couldn’t even scream with Jenny holding his mouth shut like this. He looked up at her, and he shuddered under those cold blue eyes. He began to wonder just how he was going to get out of here. His mind filled with dread as he wondered if this would be the fate for his friends as well.

Then the pain finally became too much for him. At least, mercifully, he passed out.

Chapter Text

The mercy of the darkness did not last very long. Rudy’s right eye fluttered open. Though his mind was muggy and confused, it took him seconds to realize where he was when a swift kick to his stomach sent shockwaves of agony through his body. Het let out a loud groan of pain and looked up, seeing Jenny and her two lackeys standing over her.

“Ah, good thing you woke up...” Jenny said in a cold voice. She held up a needle in front of him. “Otherwise, I was going to inject you with this.”

Rudy stared at the needle, but didn’t attempt to respond. He could feel the affects of the drug earlier start to wear off, but by this point, it didn’t matter. Though still muggy on some of the details, the pain told him that he had been hurt badly. He felt pain everywhere, and all he could do was let out whimpers and cries. He looked up at his attackers, his eyes shining with the question of ‘why?’. He couldn’t understand why they would do this. How could anyone do such a thing like this?

But then, he shouldn’t be surprised. He had to remember these were black chalk users. Cosmo had killed children when he himself was a child. No doubt these three black chalk users would be the same way. Although he recalled Jenny said she wasn’t going to kill him, she might as well do that now, with all she and her lackeys have done to him. He let out pitiful whines as he started to close his right eye, waiting to be attacked again. He might as well just accept fate. He was going to die here and there was nothing he could do about it.

“No, don’t you dare pass out again!” Ghadir hissed as she yanked him roughly off the ground, not caring about aggravating his injuries. “You little fucker! You don’t deserve to pass out! You will feel every bit of pain we’re about to inflict on you!” She threw him into the ground and he let out a cry of pain.

Tyreek gripped him by his neck and lifted him off the ground, pushing him against the wall. He held him up there. Rudy opened his right eye part way, staring at Tyreek with clenched teeth. “We want you to suffer through this whole thing. If you pass out, then that means there’ll be portions of pain you won’t feel, and we can’t have that. So we waited for you to get up. Now that you’re awake...” He put his face close to Rudy’s. “It’s time to dance again.”

Rudy let out a scream of pain as Tyreek delivered a punch to his face. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take. His body was wracked in pain. He must have a lot of massive internal damage, especially in the stomach, which was a frequent target. He didn’t know how he was going to get out of this. He didn’t know if, even if he did somehow manage to get away, if a hospital in the real world or ChalkZone would even help him. With his body transforming the way it was, both places now may be useless. How was he going to heal from this?

Tyreek raised his knee and smashed it against his stomach, making him let out a loud cry of pain. Blood sprayed from his mouth. Tyreek released him and Rudy crumpled to the ground. The kick caused his stomach to lurch and he started to cough violently and painfully. More blood came from his mouth as he continued to hack. Then, after a few violent coughs, something came out. Rudy looked at whatever had come out of his mouth and he realized what it was. The object that Jenny had shoved into his mouth.

A broken piece of sharp glass.

His right eye widened at this and he immediately clutched his stomach as the drug’s affects had less of a hold on him. He let out more coughs, blood coating the inside of his neck from the cuts that piece gave him. He lifted up his head and looked pleadingly at the black chalk trio. He silently begged them to let him go. But their only response was to smile evilly at him and crack their knuckles. A whimper escaped his throat as he realized they still weren’t done with him. But what more could they do to him? He was already down to his last leg. Were they going to keep pushing him until he was on his last toe?

Struggling against the pain, Rudy tried to get up onto his feet. He grabbed onto the wall and pulled himself up. His legs were shaky and wobbly. He stumbled forward, trying to make his way towards the tunnel. He never made it that far. Jenny grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him into the ground. Rudy watched, terrified, as she laid her body across him, keeping him pinned onto the ground. Her hands kept his arms firmly on the ground. She lowered her face close to his until her forehead was pressed up against his. Rudy tried to wriggle free, but he was in too much pain and had too little strength to get her off of him.

“I love seeing you squirm like this.” Jenny said. Rudy shuddered as he looked into her blue eyes. They perfectly matched how cold she really was. “It makes me feel so...” She spoke in a low whisper. “...excited!”

Tyreek and Ghadir stood on either side of Jenny. They looked down at him, smiling evilly. Their arms are folded against their chest. They were clearly amused by what was happening. They didn’t make a move. They instead hung back and let their leader do whatever she wanted to Rudy. And Rudy had no choice but to take it. It wasn’t like he could defend himself very well while in this condition. Even as Jenny released one of his arms, he still couldn’t really lift his arm that well with the pain he was in.

Jenny reached over and gently stroked a few strands of hair from his face. Rudy shuddered at this. It was unnerving to feel Jenny touch him so lightly after she had spent time helping to beat the crap out of him. He couldn’t stop his trembling, watching her in his wary right eye, as her fingers lightly traced across his forehead before moving along to his hair. Her fingers combed through his strands of hair a few times before she rested her hand on top of his head.

“This was always my favorite part..” Jenny said, chuckling. Rudy looked at her, confused. She moved her hand along his face and caressed his cheek gently. “Petting my victims like this. Being gentle, especially after I hurt them... I love playing with their minds. I know I could just continue hurting you, and I will, but...” She traced a finger along the back of his ear. “..it’s so much more fun psychologically doing it this way..screwing with my victims’ minds...don’t you think?”

Rudy tried to get away. He tried to get up. He tried to at least lift a leg up and kick her. But it didn’t work. He had lost a lot of strength in this sudden assault. He was at their complete mercy, and he knows he wasn’t going to get any. He watched, his right eye wide, as Jenny sneered down at him. She knows she has full dominance over him right now. And it was unlikely to change anytime soon. He couldn’t do anything to stop Jenny as she yanked off his eye patch, exposing his injured left eye.

His left eye had healed some. The scab wasn’t as big as it was before. He still couldn’t open the eye and Mrs. Sanchez says it might not be for a few days before he could. The eyelids still need some time to heal. Rudy realized he might be in for a longer recovery if Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir decided to attack his eye.

To his horror, it seemed like they did read his mind. Jenny’s eyes were glued on his injured left eye. There was a nasty grin on her face. Rudy let out whimpers of pain and fear and he tried to squirm. Jenny’s bodyweight kept him pinned down. She reached over with her hand and grabbed his face roughly. She twisted it to the side, staring intently at his left eye. Rudy weakly kicked his feet against the hard ground as Jenny lightly traced a finger along the cut and across his eye. He shuddered in pain.

“This scar... Looks so much like the one Cosmo had in his final moments.” Jenny said softly. She continued to rub her finger against the eye, applying pressure as she went. Her smile broadened as Rudy started to sob from the pain of having his injured eye messed with like that. “Too bad you helped to snuff the life out of him...” She pushed even harder, prompting a scream from him. Then she pulled her hand away.

Tyreek gave a cold laughter as he watched Rudy weep. “Look at the ‘Great Creator’ now... Reduced to a whimpering little child. How amusing!”

“Oh how the mighty have fallen.” Ghadir’s voice was laced in sarcasm. She took a step forward, but Jenny held out her hand. Ghadir looked disappointed. “We want to play with him more.”

“Don’t worry, you will.” Jenny said, a dark smile spreading across her face. “I just have to...take care of something first.”

With Rudy’s head twisted in this manner, it was hard for him to see what Jenny was doing. He could feel her roughly manipulate his face, particularly the left side of it. Her fingers grabbed at his left eyelids. She stretched them. He let out a cry of pain as he felt the tender skin getting pulled and stretched. He thrashed weakly on the ground. This time, Jenny got help from her two comrades, who knelt down and held down his limbs so he couldn’t struggle.

Jenny kept pulling on his left eyelids until the scab that held them together broke. He let out a pained scream and winced as sudden light entered his left eye, which hadn’t been in much use for a few days. His pupil dilated and he looked around. Now able to see Jenny, he could see what she was up to. And he wished he hadn’t known. She lifted up a knife, and it was positioned straight over his left eye. Knowing exactly what would happen next, Rudy tried again to struggle, squirming with all what remained of his strength.

“N-No...please...don’t do this...” Rudy pleaded with them. It was very painful for him to talk. He coughed a few times, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth. “P-Please..I-I beg of you...Don’t...” He was silenced when Jenny slapped him across his cheek.

“Oh shut up, you little crybaby! This won’t even hurt that much.” Jenny snarled at him. “I am just going to make a simple modification to your face...”

“N-No...” Rudy’s pleas fell on deaf ears. As he watched the knife come closer to his left eye, all he could do was shut his right eye tightly, grit his teeth, and wait for the pain to come.

Suddenly, a voice rang out in the tunnels.

“Get the fuck away from him, you monsters!”

In seconds, before Jenny could react, something blue slammed against her cheek. She let out a startled, pained cry as she was thrown off of Rudy. The teenager took in a sharp intake of relief as the weight was lifted from him. He rolled onto his side, letting out moans of pain. He opened his injured right eye and looked to see what was going on. He widened his right eye, not believing what he was seeing.

Snap... It was Snap... How did he find him..? Rudy had no idea how the zoner managed to locate him this fast. And right now, he didn’t care how. Relief swept through his mind that someone, against the odds, was able to find him before he wound up killed by this three. A small, faint smile tucked at the corner of his mouth. Maybe...maybe there was a chance he was going to survive after all.

The pain and blood loss made it difficult for Rudy to keep his right eye open. He refused to open his left eye due to how painful it was. But now his right eye was hard to keep open due to the loss of strength. Most of what he saw was blackness. But sometimes, he did manage to keep his right eye opened and watched the scene play out before him. It didn’t look like Snap was going to back down, even though he was up against three black chalk users. He still kept going. Rudy forced his right eye to remain open for a little while.

Rudy watched as Snap fought against the three black chalk users. He knocked Ghadir onto the ground. He managed to kick Tyreek in the shin, making him go down on his knees. Then he delivered a punch to his head and knocked him back. Jenny tried to get him, but Snap jumped out of the way in time. He used his small size to his advantage in this small space. He lunged at her and managed to knock her into the ground. As he started to punch her, Tyreek came from behind and tried to grab him. Snap got out of the way and Tyreek ended up colliding with Jenny instead.

Ghadir was on her feet by now and she grabbed Snap by his scarf and held him up. Unlike before, when this posture would have rendered Snap helpless, Ghadir had made the mistake of holding him too close. He brought his fist back and punched her in the jaw. She let out a yelp of pain and released him. A bit of blood trickled from her mouth, a result of her tongue being bitten. She snarled at him and raced towards him. Snap managed to trick her into running into the pile on the ground that was her two other comrades.

Rudy’s right eye couldn’t stay open for much longer. He closed it, the eyelid feeling unusually heavy. He managed to reopen it but only for short times. He managed to see a few things, such as Snap kicking Jenny in the stomach, and him landing on top of Tyreek and causing him to slam against the wall. Most of the time, even more so than before, it was just blackness Rudy could see. He did hear all the noises, though. Snap’s shouts of anger. The black chalk’s shouts of frustration, some of pain. He heard clangs, grunts, and slams. This lasted for what seemed like several minutes.

Then, eventually, the slamming and the attacking seemed to stop altogether. Rudy kept his eyes closed, listening intently to what was going on. He heard panting, not just from Snap, but from the three black chalk users as well. Then he heard a couple of footsteps, heading away from him and towards the tunnel. Tentative footsteps, like they didn’t want to leave, yet weren’t sure if they wanted to stay.

“That....that thing is...going to be a problem...” Tyreek said, panting heavily. “We...we should have brought...the black chalk with us...”

“Too late..for that now...” Ghadir hissed. She took a step back.

Jenny said, “Let’s get going... We can’t get to the boy now... Not with that blue thing in our way.”

“But we’re..so much bigger than him...” Ghadir said in protest. “We could crush him...”

“Not while he’s in that..state...we can’t....” Jenny growled in pain, seething. “We didn’t account for...the temper of a very angry zoner..especially when we’re without our...black chalk... We’ll deal with them later... For now, we retreat...”

Rudy heard footsteps rushing down the tunnel. They were getting faint as the seconds passed by. He forced his right eye open. He could see Snap standing there protectively in front of him, his back turned to him. He had taken on a fighting stance, hunched forward and fists clenched. He took heavy breaths, seething and growling in anger. In front of him, Rudy could vaguely see Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek rushing down the tunnel, soon only their shadows on the walls being seen.

“S-Snap...” Rudy managed to stay in a weak voice.

At this, Snap turned his attention towards him. Rudy could see Snap suffered some injuries as well, but at the moment, the zoner hardly noticed them. Snap’s expression changed swiftly, from anger to worry. “Bucko...”

Snap rushed over to Rudy’s side in an instant. He knelt down beside him and gently lifted up his head. He placed it on his lap gently and looked down at him worriedly. Rudy tried to smile at him, but he started to cough pitifully. He let out whimpers of pain, agony still sweeping through his body like a tidal wave. Snap gently touched his cheek and stroked it, his lower lip quivering.

“I-It’s okay, Rudy... You’ll be okay...” Snap said softly, obviously wanting to try to soothe Rudy. “I’ll get you help...”

Help...who could help him at this point? Rudy wasn’t sure who could help him while he was in this condition, his body changing into..something different. But he didn’t want to crush his friend’s hope. He managed to smile at him and he reached up and he touched his friend’s cheek. Snap had a few tears flow from his face as he raised his hand to touch Rudy’s.

Knowing Snap, he may find a way to help him. He might know something he doesn’t. Maybe he had something arranged. Maybe there was more zoners coming this way. Maybe his friends and family, too. He couldn’t see or hear anything of the sort. Maybe they were on their way. But he had his doubts he could stay up long enough to see it. He could already feel his strength waning to the point where it was hard keeping his right eye opened. Against his will, it started to flutter a little. His arm, too weak, fell to the ground.

“No, Rudy, stay wake! Please....don’t fall asleep...not now...” Snap begged, sucking on his lip. “Keep your eyes open...please...”

“S-Snap...it’s...so painful...it hurts so much...” Rudy whimpered. His body trembled. The internal pain was becoming harder and harder to bear. He had no idea of the extent of the damage, but from the pain he was feeling, there was no way it could be anything but major. He let out a few more coughs, blood spraying onto his chest. “They wouldn’t stop...”

Snap lifted Rudy’s head up slightly. He pressed the side of his face against his gently. “Shh... It’ll be okay Rudy... You’re going to be okay..”

Rudy continued to tremble from pain. He tried his best to stay awake for his friend. He tried to fight against the blackness that was starting to creep into his mind and the corner of his eyes. But he knew fighting it was useless. He had lost too much blood internally. His mind was not going to be able to stay alert for much longer. He let out a small whimper as he looked up at Snap with his half-opened right eye.

“Everything will be fine....You’ll be fine...” Snap said in a soft voice, gently stroking Rudy’s hair. “Stay with me...please...” He begged Rudy. With his face still against his, he nuzzled him gently, an attempt to comfort him. “I-I love you...”

Rudy let out a weak, pain-filled cough. He said in a soft whisper, “I....love you, too...” His voice trailed off as darkness started to come over him. Snap’s panicked cries for him to stay awake became warped and distorted, and soon he lost all touch with reality.

sss

“It...it has to be a mistake...” Mrs. Sanchez said softly.

Penny shook her head. “No, it’s not. It clearly said Ms. Sanchez. And don’t try to tell me it’s a common name around here, because it isn’t.” Penny tried her best not to sound angry. “Please...just tell me... Have you been hiding..anything? Did you...lie to me...?”

Penny knew that was a pretty harsh thing to ask from her mother. And she did feel a pang of guilt when her mom looked at her with a hurt expression. But she really had to know the truth. She had to know if her mom really had been keeping secrets from her, if she remembered anything at all about ChalkZone before the Bardot incident two years ago. She didn’t want to sound like she was accusing her mother. She just...really had to know what was going on.

She was completely taken aback by that diary entry. The realization that her mom was once a black chalk user... It was shocking. She still hadn’t gotten over it. Her mind was still reeling from it. Since she found out, she had been determined to learn more. There had to be a reason why her mom didn’t seem to remember ChalkZone...why she didn’t react when she ended up touching Rudy’s blood those few times... She had to know just...what had happened to her...and she wanted to find out from her mom.

When she came to the ChalkZone hospital, where her mom was helping to further analyze Rudy’s blood for any possible cure, she didn’t confront her right away. She had to wait until the other doctors, especially Dr. Raiden, had left. Even after that, working up the courage to confront her mom about this...it was difficult. She tried to come up with the words to say, how she would phrase things. Her mom may not be alone for too long...she had to take this chance to talk to her.

And she did. Her mom reacted just the way she had expected her to. She was just as horrified by the discovery found in that diary. She had hardly spoken for a few minutes when Penny told her what she and her two friends had found out. She told her mom about the horrific experimentations Cosmo did, and how he had specifically targeted her, Mrs. Sanchez, or Ms. as she was referred to in the journal, next. She had been identified as ‘the one who got away’.

Penny had thought that Rudy was the only one who got away from the black chalk. But she was wrong. They were all wrong. Her mom was the first one to do it. But how? She really had to find out. And she tried to get her mom to talk. Unfortunately, things weren’t as eventful as she hoped, because there was one aspect she had almost forgotten about herself. It was clear her mom did not remember anything. Nothing she mentioned with the diary, nothing she said about her being a black chalk user, none of it clicked with her. And since she clearly did not remember ChalkZone, this made sense.

Still, she was hopeful that, somehow, maybe her mom had some kind of repressed memory. Something...anything that could provide a clue. But at the same time, did she want to trigger the memory? Was there, against the odds, still black chalk in her? If memories were triggered, would she revert to how she was years ago? That entry was the first time her mom was even mentioned, so she had no idea how her mother was as a black chalk user...but then again, they did skip a lot of entries when trying to find something regarding the disease.

“I’m...I’m sorry, Penny, but I really don’t remember anything about that...” Mrs. Sanchez said. She leaned back in the chair she sat in earlier. Her hand was on her forehead and she gently rubbed it. “I...don’t know what to make of this... I would have remembered working for Mr. Cosmo.”

“You remember nothing? At all?” Penny asked. Her mother shook her head. “Are you sure?” She realized how forceful she sounded there and she immediately backed off. “I’m sorry... It’s just that.. I can’t believe this... You, a black chalk user.. It’s so hard to comprehend.”

“Yeah I know.” Mrs. Sanchez looked down at her hand and flexed her fingers, like she was imagining what it was like to hold the black chalk. “I can’t imagine it either. I wish I could remember something...anything.. But I don’t. And what’s strange is that..none of the zoners seemed to react negatively to me when I arrived.”

“Maybe they just didn’t recognize you, or maybe you weren’t that bad when you were a black chalk artist.” Penny suggested as she tried to make sense of the whole thing. At the comment of ‘not being that bad’, she got a look from her mom. She backtracked. “Okay, so that last part didn’t make a lot of sense. Every black chalk user we’ve encountered has been downright awful and monstrous. I just..can’t imagine you being like that.”

Her mom tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Well there’s always the chance that I wasn’t under its influence for long.”

“Yeah...true...” Penny said. She sat down in a chair next to her mom. She rested her elbows on her thighs and then her chin her hands. She sighed. “I just wish there was a way to find out exactly how you did it. Maybe Rudy could that information to purge what’s left of the black chalk from his system.”

“That could work.” Mrs. Sanchez narrowed her eyes slightly. “If there was a way to get me to remember.” She paused for a moment. “..without triggering any negative side effects.”

Penny didn’t need her mom to explain that. She knew exactly what the negative side effects she was talking about were. She was not the only one who was worried about possible reverting back to the black chalk personality. Her mom was worried about it, too. Even if her mom wasn’t entirely certain if she was the Ms. Sanchez Cosmo was talking about, it was clear she did not want to take that chance, in case it really was her. If awakening her memories also causes her black chalk personality to resurface, what were they going to do? They’d have to find a way to help bring her back to normal, but how?

There had to be a safe way to do this. A way to look at her past without triggering any unwanted side effects. Penny searched her mind, trying to find something, anything that could help them out. At first, she just drew a blank, and her head started to hurt. But then something came into focus. Something that she couldn’t believe she hadn’t even considered. There was a way she could see her mom’s past without worried about triggering the black chalk half of her mom, if it still existed at all.

She could go see Biclops. The giant had been forced to work for Mr. Cosmo for a time. Surely he would have seen something about this and have it stored in his mind somewhere. He might be able to show her what happened. Maybe he would even know how she broke free. If Biclops knew anything about that, then Rudy could use the information to get rid of the black chalk inside of him. But then, did he know at all? If he did, why wouldn’t he tell them? Unless what happened was very rare or just shere luck and there was little chance of it working again...

Still, she had to find out. It was too crucial not to know. Biclops was one of the few zoners nearby who could provide her the information she needed. There were other zoners around at the time, but Biclops had worked closely with the black chalk users. Not of his own accord of course. But he would have the most inside information regarding them, with the exception of Barney, who stored information in general, not just what he sees. She decided that, as soon as she went back to meet up with Rudy and Snap, they were going to go see Biclops about this.

“Hey...” Mrs. Sanchez said. Penny looked at her mom in confusion. The woman put her arm around her daughter and gently held onto her. “I hope that..whatever you find out about what I was like before...you won’t think less of me...”

Penny gasped in shock. How could her mother think like this? She looked at her face, noticing her mom’s forelorn expression. She thought she could see a tear in the corner of her eye. Penny got up from her chair and moved in front of her mom. She stared at her for a few seconds and then placed a hand on her mom’s.

“Why would you think I would do that?” Penny asked in a calm voice. “Why..why would I do that?”

“Because...you saw how Cosmo was. You can see how Jenny, Tyreek, and and Ghadir are now. You’ve seen what black chalk artists do. And I know you hate them.” Mrs. Sanchez replied, casting her eyes downward.

Penny bit her lip. “But I don’t hate you.. And you’re nothing like that now, and that’s what matters. Please, mom...don’t be upset. I won’t hate you no matter what I find out.”

“What if I killed someone?” Mrs. Sanchez asked.

“It wouldn’t have been you. Don’t you get it? The black chalk controls people. I already explained this to Rudy before. He blamed himself for the death of three zoners. He thinks he killed them. But he didn’t. It was the black chalk, using him as a puppet. It’s the same thing with you.” Penny said, doing her best to reassure her mom. “Whatever you did while under its control...it wasn’t your fault...”

Penny knew this to be true. This included Cosmo, Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir. Cosmo was once like Rudy, until he was possessed by the black chalk. She didn’t know exactly what Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir were like before, but their original personalities were erased when the black chalk took them over. But she wasn’t about to cut them any slack. Those three needed to be dealt with. Cosmo may have died years ago, but these three were still around. And they were still controlled by the black chalk. Just because she acknowledges that the black chalk is really what’s behind all this doesn’t mean she is dismissing the threat those three pose right now.

She put her arms around her mother and pulled her into a hug. She felt her mom hug her back. The two embraced for a few minutes, hugging and comforting each other. She rested her chin on her mom’s shoulder and gently rubbed her back. They stayed like this for a little while longer before they finally broke apart. They kept her hands on each other’s arms and looked into each other’s eyes, smiling.

“Thank you...” Mrs. Sanchez reached up and placed a hand on her daughter’s cheek. “I love you.”

“Love you too, momma..” Penny whispered as she cuddled close to her mom again, feeling comfort from her arms wrapped around her.

Suddenly the door was swung open, banging against the wall. Penny and her mom are startled and jerked back from the sound. They looked over to see what it was. Standing in the doorway was a zebra zoner doctor. His eyes were wide in fright. Penny’s heart filled with dread. Just what happened? What had this zoner so spooked?

“Dr. Sanchez! Quickly!” The zebra zoner cried. He rushed over towards the woman. He grabbed her by her arm and started to yank her forward. “We need your help!”

“What happened?” Mrs. Sanchez asked as she was being dragged towards the door.

“It’s Rudy Tabootie! He’s in trouble!” The zebra replied, his voice panicked. Mrs. Sanchez’s eyes widened in horror and, in response, she started to move along with the doctor.

Penny gasped at this. She felt her heart skip a beat. Rudy was in trouble? Just what had happened to him? Feeling her heart pound against her chest, she rushed forward and soon caught up with the zebra doctor. “What happened to Rudy?”

The zebra doctor cast Penny a sideways glance. “Your blue friend, Snap is it? He dragged Rudy into the hospital in horrible condition. He says that Rudy was attacked by those three black chalk creators!”

Penny’s eyes widened in horror. “How...how bad is he...?”

“Very bad... We don’t know the full extent of the damage yet. He needs to go into ER now, or he won’t make it!” The zebra doctor cried out fearfully.

As soon as the doctor said this, there was a stretcher that suddenly rushed past them, being pushed by Dr. Raiden and another doctor. Penny could see it was Rudy. Her blood froze as she saw just how terrible he really looked. He was covered in bruises. Blood coated his chest. From how bad the bruising was, she knew there had to be massive internal damage. Her body froze and she stood and watched as her mom and the zebra doctor followed the stretcher down the halls. Her mind become numb as she tried to comprehend what she just saw.

Rudy... Tears formed in her eyes. What did he do to deserve this? He was...he was just fine before. Okay not fully fine. But he was doing a little better. And now there was, unconscious, beaten to a pulp, and, for certain, there was a lot of internal bleeding. With that chalk disease, that was the last thing he needed. Her body trembled and she started to feel weak. How could this have happened? Oh why didn’t they just come to the hospital together? Why did she decide to just leave on her own? If she hadn’t left, maybe she could have helped prevent Rudy from suffering this fate. Rudy..he had to be okay..he just had to...

She dropped onto her knees next to the door to the room she had spoke with her mother in just seconds ago. She ignored the pain in her bad leg as she did that. She felt more tears flow from her eyes. Her body shaking harder from emotion, she started to cry. She put her hands against her face and just sobbed. She couldn’t believe this had happened. Rudy was brutally attacked, and judging from the doctors’ reactions, the way they were rushing him into the emergency room, it was clear that this was a life or death situation. Just..why would those three do this? What did Rudy do to provoke them to do such a horrible act? Then again, they were black chalk users... They couldn’t be reasoned with.

She soon heard the footsteps of someone else coming down the hallway. She didn’t bother opening up her eyes. She didn’t care who saw her like this. She just stayed on the ground, trying to get her thoughts together. She didn’t respond when the figure put a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t look up when the figure shook her a little. She did open her eyes, but she kept them downcast, her vision blurred by her tears.

“Penny...”

Penny’s eyes widened a little, and she turned her head. It was Snap. He looked a little banged up himself, but nowhere near as muc has Rudy was. She stared at him in shock. Then, without warning, she lunged towards him, pulling him into a hug. She felt the zoner hug her back and the two stayed like that for a few minutes.

When she pulled back, she stared at Snap in the eyes and said, “Snap, what happened..?”

Snap was fighting back tears of his own. “R-Rudy and I were going into ChalkZone City..and I was heading towards the hospital, and he went off in a different direction to go get me some medicine..then there was a strange sound and I looked and he..he was gone!” Penny gasped at this, her mouth dropping open. “I-I managed to find him...using the signal from the phones I had him draw.. The black chalk artists.. they were beating him up.. I managed to chase him away but..he..he was so hurt...I should have moved faster..I...”

“Shh..it’s okay..” Penny caressed his cheek gently. “He’s in the hospital now.. They’ll help him.. Don’t worry. Rudy will be fine..”

“I hope you’re right.” Snap whispered softly. He pressed the side of his face against her upper chest. “I really hope he’ll be okay.”

Penny pulled him closer, resting her chin on his head. More tears dripped from her face. They intermixed with Snap’s chalk tears on the ground, sucking it up. “He’ll be fine, Snap. He’s in good hands..” Penny did her best to smile. She wasn’t sure herself if Rudy would be okay, but she wanted to remain hopeful, especially for Snap. She continued to hug him gently and rubbed his back in an attempt to comfort him. “My mom will make sure he’ll pull through...”

“I know she will...” Snap said softly, his voice choked with emotion. He looked up at Penny, wiping away a tear. “We..we should tell Rudy’s parents...”

Penny felt a pang in her chest. This was going to be some very hard news to break, but they did have a right to know. She nodded her head to him and released him. Snap moved back and Penny climbed up to her feet. Though she had managed to walk somewhat okay without a cane, it was still a pain. Her right leg was still difficult to use for walking, but she hadn’t bothered getting another cane yet. Right now, that was the least of her worries. She had to get to the real world and talk to Rudy’s parents.

Snap went up beside her. He stood on her right side and grabbed onto her arm. Like before, he let her use him as support. She smiled gratefully at him. This must be a hard thing for him to do, as he was smaller than she was. But he was still strong. She was amazed at how well he could support her despite not being that big compared to her. With Snap helping her, it did make it easier to head down the hallway.

“I..I do hope we find out about the cure soon..” Snap said softly as they continued down the hallway.

Penny looked down at Snap. “I’m sure we will Snap. Somehow..someway..we will...I promise..”

Snap glanced up at her. “Do you think Cosmo has it written in his diary somewhere?”

“He might..I sure hope so.” Penny replied. She bit her lip. “If he doesn’t...it’s going to be a lot harder finding the cure..”

“And it might be too late...” Snap said, his expression forelorn. He shook his head sadly. “I..I know there’s a cure. There must be.. But to find it... It just seems like everytime we try to find information, we’re just sent through a hole, and come out with little more than what we knew previously.”

Penny nodded her head. “I know, Snap. But we’ll find something. I know we will.”

“It would be so much easier if someone knew the cure..or at least..a little bit about it...” Snap sighed softly. “But nobody does.. And that creepazoid may have kept it a secret from everyone...but the black chalk users...and the secret may have died with him...”

“Or it would have..if I had died along with him.”

Penny and Snap froze at that voice. It couldn’t be, could it? Where did he come from? How did he get here? How did they not notice him earlier as they headed down the hallway? Penny wondered if they were just hearing things. Maybe they were so hopeful for things to look up that they just thought they heard this particular voice. But when they looked out in front of them, she realized that hallucination wasn’t the case. There was no mistake of who this person was.

It was Mr. Wilter.

Chapter Text

“Mr. Wilter?!” Penny cried out in surprise. Snap looked just as shocked to see him. “How..how did you get here? I thought you were...”

Mr. Wilter nodded his head. “My recovery was faster than they had expected it, especially with what happened to me.”

Penny nodded her head. “You were attacked by Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir, weren’t you?”

“Used like a punching bag was more like it.” Wilter grumbled under his breath. He winced and rubbed the back of his head. “I’m still sore in a few spots, but they hadn’t slowed me down much! I..” When he took a step forward, he had to stop and flinch in pain. He straightened himself up and there was a slight crack in his back. “Okay, so maybe they slowed me down a little. But at least I can still walk.”

Penny eyed Wilter up and down. He did look a little banged up. There was some bruising from there he was attacked. Some scabs from where he was slashed were visible as well. But other than that, he seemed mostly okay. She wasn’t sure if he should be walking around like this, though. He might aggravate his injuries. It’s only been a few days since his attack. A week has it been? Depending on how massive the internal injuries were, he’d need more time to recover. Why would he risk coming into ChalkZone right now?

And how did he know she was going to be here? Maybe he asked some zoners. Yeah, that could be it. Maybe he heard news regarding Rudy and wanted to come see him. That was a possibility. Penny sometimes forgot that Wilter occassionally keeps a piece of magic chalk with in case. So it shouldn’t surprise her whenever he decided to show up in ChalkZone. She guessed that, since he was injured, she just wasn’t expecting him to show up this fast, so she was genuinely surprised by his appearance.

Whatever brought him here, and whatever enabled him to do so, it didn’t matter too much at this point. The point now is that he was here and she and Snap could speak to him about this cure, as it sounded like he knew something about it. She hoped that he knew more than what Barney claimed to know. Any new information was something, and would bring them one step closer to helping Rudy. She wondered if he may also know something about her mom being a black chalk user. Mayb he’d be able to provide information or at least clues as to how she managed to escape the black chalk’s grasp. He was around at that time. He’s gotta know something, doesn’t he?

“I am glad to see you’re doing better.” Penny said, giving her old teacher a small smile. He nodded his head and smiled back at her. Penny then frowned and looked from side to side. “So what brings you here? How did you know I was going to be here?”

Wilter took a few steps forward. “After I was released from the hospital, I knew I had to get into ChalkZone as soon as possible. If Jenny is back, then there was no doubt in my mind that something was going on in ChalkZone, and it seemed I was right.” He sighed and tilted his eyes towards the ceiling. “I’ve seen some devastation... Nothing as big as when Cosmo was around, nothing to draw a lot of attention. But it’s there. I came here when I overheard some zoners talk about Rudy being hurt...” His eyes furrowed with concern. “Is that right?”

Penny and Snap looked at each other sadly. They turned back to Wilter and nodded their heads slowly. Wilter’s eyes widened at this and he clenched his teeth a little. He looked down the hallway, where Penny and Snap had been glancing down earlier. Something seemed to dawn on Wilter. He turned back and looked at them again. Just like before, they nodded affirmatively.

“They took Rudy down that hallway.” Snap explained. He kept his grip on Penny’s arm, continuing to be a support for her. “He was ambushed earlier by Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek. They dragged him off somewhere and started to beat him nearly to death. I did manage to stop them, but they already did a lot of damage to him.”

Wilter winced. “Sounds like he was put through the same thing I was. Or close to it.” He looked down the hallway. “Did they say how he was?”

Penny shook her head. “Just that he needs to go to the ER...or he won’t make it.”

Wilter shook his head. “Those bastards...” He sighed and looked at Penny and Snap. “I’m sorry that happened. I would have warned you two about those three before, but...”

Snap raised his head. “Don’t worry about it, big guy. We understand. You were in no position to tell us anything.” Snap gave him a small smile. “At least you’re here now, and if there’s anything you need to tell us, you can. Those three creepazoids are nowhere near the hospital.”

Penny wasn’t as sure as Snap about that. The evil trio could be laying in wait nearby. After how Cosmo attacked the hospital to grab Snap, there was no reason for her to believe that Jenny and her lackeys wouldn’t do the same thing. They would attack this place if they saw fit. If they really wanted to kill Rudy, they would, and she knows they do want to kill him at some point. The black chalk trio may be around here somewhere, biding their time, but she knows they wouldn’t just make a move whenever they felt like it. There was reason to believe that, for now, they’d keep quiet.

But she did feel Snap was right about one thing. Wilter can talk to them now. Even if the black chalk users rush in soon, that still gave Wilter plenty of time to tell them at least one thing that is going on around here. There were two important things that she hoped Wilter knew about and that was the cure and what her mom’s status as a black chalk user really was, and why she was able to break free from it. She had hope that Wilter could provide the information that they needed. He had to know something.

“So...Wilter...?” Penny asked, taking a step towards her teacher. Snap helped her. “You indicated earlier that you knew the cure, right?”

“There is only one cure I’m sure you’re talking about. When I was coming down the hallway, I overheard you mention black chalk users. There is only one disease I know of that they created. Their own biological weapon. The gelxeno virus.” Wilter said. He looked at them intently. “That’s the one you’re talking about?”

Penny nodded. “Yes. Rudy was infected with it.”

Wilter stared at her blankly. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open a little. “How long as he had it...?”

“...a while now... A week I think. So much has happened and the days and nights are getting muddled together..” Penny said, stumbling over her words. “Well anyway, the disease has already done some progress with him. His insides are starting to change to chalk...”

“Yeah, and those creepazoids did a lot of damage to him...” Snap said sadly. Tears formed in his eyes. “A lot of internal bleeding.. I-I can’t imagine that that’s going to do to him...with his organs turning to chalk like that...”

Wilter looked horrified by this. “It’s going to get worse.” Penny and Snap looked at him horrified. “When his organs heal, if it wasn’t chalk before, it will become chalk. The damage areas will heal back as chalk. But if he’s bleeding internally, then he won’t heal, and he’ll continue to bleed out.” Penny and Snap gasped at this. They looked at Wilter fearfully, hoping that he had at least some bit of good news for Rudy. Wilter continued, “They’re going to have to stop the bleeding. Any and all bleeding.” He glanced down the hallways. “And that won’t be easy with the condition that he’s in...”

“Is there a chance, though?” Snap asked hopefully. “Can they still save him?”

Wilter looked at Snap and then at Penny. The two of them stared him with wide, hopeful eyes. They silently begged Wilter to tell them some good news. Something to give them reason to be hopeful. He bit his lip and he looked away. “....it’s possible... But it’s going to be very hard...”

Penny felt a sinking feeling in her heart. That wasn’t the kind of news she wanted to hear. She had wanted to hear something definite, more positive. But the way Wilter said that, it sounded like the chances of Rudy being able to recover from this were slim to none. Despite that, she wanted to remain at least a little hopeful. He was in a hospital now, and she knows that her mother, Dr. Raiden, and the other doctors would see to it that Rudy was fine. He would recover, even if it may take him a while.

Hoping that Wilter’s knowledge of the cure would be more along the lines of good news, Penny asked, “Do you know anything about the cure to this disease? Anything at all? Whatsoever?” She and Snap looked at him with hopeful expressions. “We’ve been running around in circles trying to find any information about the cure, and we have turned up nothing. Please, if you know anything...please tell us...”

Wilter stared at them for a few seconds. He looked at their expressions. Penny had a feeling that he could practically feel their desperation radiating off their bodies. They looked at him intently, hoping, praying, that he knew something that could help them. His words earlier indicated that he did know. She hoped that they didn’t mishear. She hoped that they didn’t misinterpret what he said. She hoped that, whatever he knew, it was going to help them, even if just in one small way.

If Wilter knew the cure, and if he could provide information where it is, Penny didn’t care where it was. She didn’t care if it was some hostile environment. She didn’t care if there were a ton of enemies she’d have to face. She didn’t care how hot it was, or how cold it was. She didn’t care how treacherous the terrain was. She didn’t care if she had a bad leg. As soon as she knew what the cure was and where to get it, she would go find it. She would go get it, even if it means putting herself in danger. And she knew that Snap would feel the same way, and he would be with her no matter what. They would get the cure, and they would bring it back for Rudy.

After what seemed like several minutes, Wilter finally spoke up. Penny and Snap stood quietly, listening to what he had to say.

“I know something of it, yes.” Wilter replied. At this, Penny and Snap’s eyes brightened. “I don’t know entirely what it is, though.”

Penny’s smile faded. “What...? You don’t...?”

“But we thought...” Snap started to say.

Wilter raised his hand to silence them. “True, I don’t know the cure myself. And for good reason. Cosmo, at this point, didn’t trust me enough with the knowledge. He was afraid I was going to go around telling just about every white chalk user about it. And he was right. I would have done that. He made sure I never found out what the cure was, no matter how hard I tried.” Mr. Wilter gave them a small smile. “But he wasn’t able to stop me from finding out something regarding it...”

“And what is that?” Snap asked.

The old teacher replied, “The location of it.”

At this, Penny and Snap moved closer to Wilter. “The location?” They asked in unison, their voices filled with more hope than they had been the past few days.

Wilter gave them an affirmative smile and nodded his head once. “Or rather, locations. The way Cosmo hid the cure was..rather convoluted. I was lucky to have found out at all. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and he was talking with Jenny about where he was going to hide the cure. To get to it is ridiculous and requires a lot of skill, but Cosmo believed that any black chalk user can do it with ease, while any white chalk user would perish.”

Penny and Snap gave a quick glance at each other. Yeah, this did sound like Cosmo alright. It sounded like the black chalk users in general. It would be like them to hide the cure in some ridiculous fashion so that only they can get it. They wouldn’t put it past the black chalk users to put the cure somewhere where it was really dangerous and convoluted just to get to. But one thing was for certain. She and Snap would still go find the cure, no matter where it was. It could be in the middle of the Fire Zone, and they’d still go there, even if they had to fight Draow and Bardot to get it. She’d get into a fist fight with Draow if she had to.

“From what I heard Cosmo say to Jenny, the cure is actually twofold. Two things you must get in order to cure Rudy of the disease.” Wilter explained. “And both are in completely different places. Well they’re sort of different places, but sort of the same, too.” Noticing the perplexed expressions on Penny and Snap’s faces, Wilter smiled. “I would have expected you to react like that. What I’m about to say may get a little confusing, so I’ll try to keep it as simple as I can.” He drew in a deep breath. He looked at them intently, indicating that what he was about to say next, he was going completely serious. “The cure is spread across two dimensions.”

It took a few seconds for this to register with Penny and Snap. And when it did hit them, their eyes widened in shock. They leaned back away from Wilter. Their mouths dropped open. They stood there, unable to move or speak. They stared at him, waiting to hear if he was joking or not. But when he didn’t, they had to accept reality. Mr. Wilter did just say dimensions... But..but how...? How was this possible?

“What? Two dimensions?!” Snap cried, his eyes growing bigger. His body trembled slightly from the shock. “You...you mean like...alternate dimension..?”

Wilter nodded his head. “That is correct.”

“But..that’s impossible...” Penny whispered softly. “There hasn’t been any proven method of going to an alternate dimension..or that they even exist.”

Wilter stared at Penny with a somewhat smug expression. A rare look she got from her teacher. “Sanchez, need I remind you that ChalkZone is an alternate dimension?”

At this, Penny flushed with embarrassment. “Oh yeah...” She didn’t know how she could have forgotten that. Maybe it was from the fact that she was so used to traveling to ChalkZone and back and how it was part of her life that she never once really thought about how it really was an alternate dimension, and the portals they use were interdimensional gates. “So dimensional traveling isn’t really all that impossible thing..”

The man shook his head. “No. Cosmo took it a step further and he managed to locate two dimensions with their own version of ChalkZone. He indicated they were mostly the same with very few differences. He chose them as the locations for the cure, and he kept them well hidden, according to what he said to Jenny. He kept it a secret even from his alternate selves in those timelines.”

“This is quite fascinating information but...” Snap rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Just how are we going to get to these alternate dimensions? And if you don’t know what the cure is, than it won’t help us much just going to these two alternate worlds. We wouldn’t know what to look for!”

“Snap is right. Knowing where the cure is, well that’s nice and all, but...are you sure you don’t know anything more?” Penny asked. She and Snap took another step towards Wilter, their eyes locking onto his. “Are you sure you don’t know the identity of the cure? What to look for? Anything?”

Wilter furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. “I’m sorry. If I did know anything about that, I would tell you. All I know is what Cosmo mentioned. The cure is split in half and kept in two different dimensions. I would imagine that, whatever machine he used to enter those alternate dimensions, it would have information about where the cure is specifically located, and what it is.”

“What if he kept the identity of the cure oral?” Penny asked, biting her lip. “That was a worry we all had... What if Cosmo never wrote down the cure anywhere? Not even in this computer system?”

“Unlikley.” Wilter shook his head. “I can imagine him keeping it mostly oral, but with all that was going on, Cosmo knew there could come a time when one of his comrades would need the cure but not know what it was, and everyone would be so busy fighting they couldn’t just tell them. So he would have written the cure down in at least one location, but password protect it. The machines that control the access to the two other worlds... they would be the ones to have that information, I’m sure.”

“Do you know where these machines are?” That was Penny’s next question. Even if they decided to jump in blindly to find the cure, they wouldn’t be able to do so if they didn’t know where the machines were.

“I used to have an idea of where they were... But ChalkZone has changed so much. There used to be a place called Tavern Town, but I forget its location. I believe that is where the machines are hidden.” Wilter replied. “That’s all the information about that I can give you. But I do hope that it’ll still prove useful to you.”

“I’m sure it will. Any information we can get a hold of is good.” Penny said. “Thanks for telling us.”

“You’re welcome.” Wilter smiled.

Still leaning on Snap for support, Penny thought about what their next course of action was going to be. They now had an idea of where to look. These alternate dimensions.. If they were alternate worlds, both with their own ChalkZone, she wondered how dangerous they would be. Wilter didn’t sound like he had been to these places, so he of course wouldn’t know what it was like in those dimensions. Penny had no idea if she should expect a completely different ChalkZone or one that was mostly the same. She didn’t know if the zoners were going to be more aggressive, more timid, or what.

Then again, Wilter did say that Cosmo confirmed there wasn’t much different about these ChalkZones, and that they should be relatively the same as they one they are in now. But there was a problem with that. If she knew anything regarding alternate dimensions, it’s that different choices would be have been made to result in that world, and those different choices would continue. The two other ChalkZones might have once resembled the one she was in now, but who was to say that would last forever? They could have changed dramatically since then. They could have become dangerous.

It would have been nice if Wilter knew the cure. But then she shouldn’t be surprised. Wilter was never a black chalk user. Cosmo and Wilter may have been friends once, but the black chalk drove a wedge between the two, and they had become bitter enemies. Even before Wilter had enough and took a stand, it would be understandable that Cosmo would not want Wilter to know anything about it. So he would have kept it a secret from even his former best friend. Unless Wilter started to use black chalk, Cosmo would never tell him, and Penny knew there would have been no way Wilter would have used the dreaded black chalk.

But at least they had an idea of how to find out what it is. If Wilter’s assumption is correct, and if Cosmo did put the information on those computers, they could always look there, if they ever find them that is. She had no idea where to start. She had never heard of Tavern Town. It may have been a place that used to exist in ChalkZone, but was destroyed by Cosmo.... No that didn’t seem right. Why would Cosmo destroy a place that had his computers hidden in it? There had to be something else. Maybe he had built something else around it on one of his final days? Or someone else had done it for him? That was a possibility.

As soon as she got the chance, she would speak to Rudy about it. She hoped that she would be able to get into the room without Dr. Raiden trying to get her out. She understood the need for rest, but she wished that Dr. Raiden wasn’t so strict about visitors and understood that she wasn’t going to do anything to cause damage. Well her mom sometimes managed to reason with the cheetah and got him to let her through. Maybe luck would be on her side this time. She wouldn’t go in anytime soon. She knew that, to treat his injuries, it would take a long time, especially given the nature of his condition.

But whenever she could, she would talk to Rudy. She would tell him what Mr. Wilter told her and Snap. Then they could decide where to go from there. The wisest thing would be to go find this place as soon as possible and get the cure, and just have her and Snap go. It would be too risky to take Rudy wish. But she had a feeling that Rudy would still want to come along with anyway. He was devoted to his friends and he would want to be there to protect him, no matter how poor of condition he was in. Even if he were on his last leg, he’d still try to do something to help, even if it ended up being too insignificant to make a difference.

She admired that about Rudy. His selflessness, his eagerness to help others even at the cost of his own needs. But in this case, she hoped that he would listen to reason and try to lay down and rest. He can’t afford going on any big trips while he was badly injured. He needed to stay here and recooperate. Going into one alternate dimension without knowing what’s waiting for them on the other side was bad enough. But two? She wasn’t going to allow him to get himself potentially hurt by dragging his injured body along. She would have to make it clear to him that he must stay and recover. She hoped that he would understand.

Rudy... She hoped he would be okay. She glanced down the hallway where he disappeared to. She hoped that, with her mother’s and Dr. Raiden’s combined efforts, they would be able to save Rudy. She looked down at Snap. He also glanced off in that direction, a worried expression on his face. She understood what he was feeling. She felt the same. That attack came out of nowhere. None of them had expected Rudy to be ganged up upon like that and attacked so viciously. He had already been stricken down with an illness. Did he really need something like this added onto him?

She couldn’t believe the nerve of those black chalk users. Rudy was suffering already with his insides turning to chalk. Did they really have to aggravate his body’s ailing condition more by beating him up like that? The whole thing made her blood boil, and she knew Snap was angry about it, too. Even if he didn’t say anything, the way he talked earlier showed he had some anger in him. Anger towards the black chalk users who put Rudy in this condition. The next time she saw them...she wasn’t sure what she would do... But one thing was certain. She would make sure that they never hurt Rudy like that again.

The thoughts about the black chalk artist made Penny remember that there was still something else they wanted to know from Wilter. Though she and Snap had been quiet for a while, Wilter never left. He seemed to know, seemed to sense, that they wanted to know more. And he was waiting patiently and politely for them to speak up.

Penny was a little hesitant to ask. A part of her was afraid to find out. But the other told her she needed to know this. She had to know the truth. And Wilter might know more about this than the cure. He might be able to provide important information to her. She was still afraid to know. The thought was still frightening to her. Yet if she didn’t find out, then she would be left wondering for the rest of her life. And she didn’t want that. Plus, the information Wilter could provide might be used to help Rudy.

“Do you know anything about my mom being a...black chalk user..?” Penny asked hesitantly.

Wilter blinked in surprise. “Where did you hear that?”

“From Cosmo’s diary.” Snap said.

“You found his diary?” Wilter was again surprised. He stared at Snap in shock. “Where? I was looking for it, and I never found it anywhere.”

Snap gestured with his hand outward, indicating the relative location of where they had gone before. “It was on top of Solar Pillars.”

At this, Mr. Wilter paled. His eyes widened. He took a step back. Penny and Snap had never seen the man look this shocked before. “Y-You went there..?” Penny and Snap looked at each other, then back at Wilter. They nodded slowly, solemn expressions on their faces. “That place is dangerous... Ever since that big explosion, that horrific attack by Cosmo, no zoner went there, except for the brave and the stupid.”

Snap glared at him. “I can tell you I’m not stupid.”

“Never said you were, Snap.” Wilter said apologetically. He cleared his throat. “Well since you went there, I assume you know what Solar Pillars was used for?” An affirmative nod from the two was all he needed. “Okay, good. Then I don’t have to tell you more about it.”

“Solar Pillars is one creepy place...” Snap commented, a shudder going through him. “I hope we don’t have to go back there again.”

“Be careful what you wish for, Snap.” Wilter said, his voice a warning tone. “There might come a time where you may have to venture there again. Solar Pillars served more functions than just a weapon.” He folded his arms against his chest. “It’s main function was the base of the black chalk users. It was where they ‘recharged’ so to speak. Though ‘recharge’ may not be the right word. Strengthen I suppose. The light of the pillars not only helped corrupt anyone with a small amount of black chalk in them, but it also helped strengthen fully corrupted artists. It gave them energy. Fighting them there was nearly impossible as the black chalk was stronger while under those lights.”

“Yeah, Biclops told us about that.” Penny said, nodding her head. “We went to him about it and we told him how Rudy had a reaction while under the light.”

Wilter’s eyes widened. “So he hadn’t purged the black chalk completely?”

Penny shook her head. “No, it’s still there. It’s not enough to corrupt him on its own, but under that light, he froze, and according to Biclops, he would have been corrupted if he hadn’t moved.”

“That is correct.” Wilter nodded his head. “That light is very good about bringing the worst of black chalk if they stay under too long. Your mom was the reason why they added that function, actually. After she managed to break free, Cosmo had those lights modified to strengthen black chalk. He was determined not to allow another of his comrades to break free of the black chalk’s control.”

“Just how did Mrs. Sanchez break free anyway?” Snap asked.

“Yeah, and just what did she do when she was a black chalk user?” Penny questioned Wilter. “Biclops never told me anything about this, so...could it be that whatever she did...it wasn’t that bad?”

“Or maybe she just wasn’t controlled for long?” Snap pointed out.

Wilter stared at them. He shook his head slowly. “I’m..afraid it wasn’t like that at all...”

Penny and Snap’s eyes widened in shock at this.

“Wh-What do you mean?” Penny’s voice was shaky.

Wilter gave Penny and Snap a serious expression. One filled with regret and sadness. He bit his lip. From the way he looked at them, the way his eyes shined with regretfulness, the two knew that, whatever he was about to say next, it wasn’t anything good. They felt their hearts clench, pounding in anticipation, waiting for Wilter to speak up.

“Penny, your mother...when she was a black chalk artist, she...” Wilter paused, glancing at the ground with narrowed eyes like he was trying to figure out how to say it. He lifted up his head, his expression softening, looking at Penny with sympathy. “..she was a monster...”

Penny never felt her blood run so cold so fast in her life. She staggered back, almost losing her balance. Snap was shocked, and had a hard time helping keep her from falling. Wilter took a step forward and grabbed the two of them. He managed to steady them, keeping them from falling donw. Penny and Snap looked at each other in shock, trying to comprehend what they had just been told. Penny rubbed her head. It was not the kind of news she had hoped to hear.

“Your mother was no different than the other black chalk artists. Cruel. Insane. Nasty. The last person you ever want to meet.” Wilter explained as he looked at Penny and Snap sympathetically. “I know it’s hard to digest this information, but what I’m telling you is true.”

Penny looked at Mr. Wilter. “But...but if she was a monster...why have no zoners freaked out at her?”

“Yeah. The zoners here remembered you even after all this time, somehow. So they would have recognized Mrs. Sanchez.” Snap pointed out, gesturing with his hand. “Wouldn’t that be an indication that she wasn’t as bad?”

“That is a good theory, Snap, but I’m afraid it’s false.” Wilter shook his head solemnly. “I was there. I know what Mrs. Sanchez was like as a kid, as a black chalk user. And she was just as nasty and vile was the rest of them. The reason why the zoners don’t react badly to her is that she was never sent out on any missions against the white chalk users. She had her own function, kept separate from the others.”

“And what was that?” Penny asked. She and Snap were afraid to now, but still, they had to find out. They needed to know what her mom used to be like, and how she managed to escape.

Wilter took in a deep breath and started to explain.

“Penny, when your mom was a black chalk user, she was placed in an underground section of Solar Pillars. She was Cosmo’s... mad doctor, so to speak. But a more accurate term would be torture doctor. Even as a child, she had some understanding of anatomy. All that studying really paid off, but in this case, it paid off in the worst possible way. She was in charge of torturing captured white chalk users, tormenting them until they broke and agreed to be corrupted by black chalk, or she’d kill them if they refused to comply. She never laid a hand on any zoner. But she did torture and kill a large number of kids. I had been unfortunate enough to witness a few torture sessions... She was absolutely insane...”

Penny stared at Wilter, her body shaking. She couldn’t believe it. She had a hard time letting this information process. Her mom did all that? But she was one of the nicest people she knew. It was hard to imagine her being anything but. She knew that it was still the black chalk controlling her, making her do those things. But still..it was her mom they were talking about. To know that she had been like that once, even if it may not have been for long, it was frightening to think about.

Looking down at Snap, she could tell he was just as horrified by this news. She glanced down the hallway. The knowledge that her mom had once been a torture doctor, a doctor that, instead of trying to end the pain, would inflict it, it send cold shivers down her and Snap’s spines. It was scary, frightening. Her mom was nothing like that now. She could see that. But now that she knew what she was like, she had disturbing images in her head, of her mother doing all this horrific stuff to other children. Just what kind of torture did she use? Did she even want to know?

And now did she manage to escape? What did her mom do that freed her? What would she have done? If she was just as insane as the rest of them, how did she manage to break free of the black chalk’s influence? What had she done that completely purged her of it? There had to have been something she did. Something that was different than what Rudy did. Her mom was completely corrupted by the black chalk and yet she managed to get free. That there did bring a sense of hope. This means that the corruption was not permanent after all. She had to know how her mom escaped.

Snap seemed to read her mind. In a shaky voice, he asked, “H-How did she manage to escape the black chalk? What happened to her?”

“She was torturing her latest victim... Ashley I believe her name was. I watched out of the room. This was before I started to fight, Cosmo, just so you know. Anyway, Mrs. Sanchez had been using electric torture on Ashley to try to break her. Unlike the other victims, Ashley was tough and refused to give in. She managed to break free and the two were fighting. Mrs. Sanchez tried to kill her using an electric sword Cosmo had given to her, but Ashley shoved her away. But Ashley didn’t watch where she pushed her, and Mrs. Sanchez ended up crashing against the electric bars that made up one of the prisoner’s cages.”

Penny and Snap looked at each other, their eyes widened in horror. They looked back, having a good idea of where this was going to go.

“The electricity from both the sword and the cage bars surged through her body. I never heard a scream that loud and that distressing before. I opened the door to go inside. Ashley backed up in horror and ended up running out of the room screaming. I didn’t bother trying to stop her and I rushed in to see Mrs. Sanchez. She had collapsed on the ground, her body twitching from the electrical shock. Knowing that she needed some help, I helped her to her feet and let her use me for support. We headed outside to go to the light where I knew she would gain some extra strength for the trip back to the real world. But to my shock, nothing happened.”

“The light wasn’t having an affect on her?” Penny asked.

Wilter shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. It was like she never had black chalk in her. Her personality changed, too. Before, if I or anyone tried to help her, she’d get snippy and push people away. But with me, she seemed willing to let me help her. She just hung onto me and didn’t say a word.” He gave a soft sigh. “I knew that once Cosmo found out, he was going to try to kill her. I had to get her out of there and fast. On my way on taking her out, making sure that no one saw me, I also noticed that she lost her memories as well. That electric shock gave her amnesia.”

“That would explain why she didn’t remember ChalkZone.” Snap said.

Wilter nodded his head. “Exactly.”

“And why the act of coming here did not trigger any memories. If the black chalk was fried out of her system...” Penny started to say.

“Then there was nothing in her body to activate when she came back into ChalkZone...” Snap concluded.

“I don’t know yet just how that electric shock did it. I am guessing it was the combination. Electricity from the sword and electricity from the cage bars. They weren’t lethal doses, just enough to cause pain. In her cage, they may have concentrated and done enough brain damage to wipe her memory, and to purge her system of the black chalk.” Wilter explained. “However, I do not consider this a true cure for it. It’s too risky and I don’t want you two trying that with Rudy or any of the black chalk artists, okay?”

Penny and Snap nodded their heads once. Penny said, “Don’t worry, we would never try to do something stupid like that.”

“Yeah. We want to help Rudy, not turn him into the next barbecue.” Snap said.

“Wait...” Penny just realized something. “If my mom got amnesia because of that incident, but she wandered in ChalkZone...wouldn’t she have still remembered?”

“No. Her memory was damaged for a short time. Her brain did not store information of anything she experienced that day. For her, it never happened.” Wilter said to Penny. There was a moment of silence. Then Wilter said, “Oh and one more thing...” Penny and Snap looked at him expectantly. “I have to get going soon. I am late for an appointment, but I will leave with this little tidbit of information. I know about the anti-creator group.”

“You do?” Penny asked.

Wilter nodded. “Yes, I do.” Wilter folded his arms and closed his eyes. “They’re an old group. I don’t know too much about them, not even their name. But what I do know is that at least some members are descendents of survivors of the village that was in charge of guarding the black chalk. The incident had, understandably, left them with a bad taste for creators.”

“So some of those zoners survived?” Snap asked, surprised.

“We thought everyone died...” Penny’s voice trailed off as she remembered what Biclops had told them.

“Most of them did, but a few apparently escaped before the light hit. Those zoners became the first zoners to outwardly hate creators. Biclops shortly followed, for a time, until he learned to trust a few creators, such as me and Rudy.” Wilter explained. “I wish I could tell you more, but there isn’t much more I know. Except this..” He stared at Penny and Snap intently. “What I’m about to tell you... You must heed my warning.”

“We will.” Penny and Snap nodded their heads affirmatively and waited for Wilter to proceed.

Wilter spoke, his voice low. “Beware the zoner with the metal finger. He is not to be trusted.”

Chapter Text

After Wilter left, Penny and Snap remained in the hallway, hardly moving from where they stood. They both were letting the information Wilter gave them sink in. In that short visit, there was quite a bit that they learned. And that information was sinking in slowly, and it felt like something was standing on their shoulders, weighing them down. Penny was not surprised. This was a lot to take in.

The alternate dimensions was definitely a big thing. She hadn’t thought it was possible, before, to travel to another world, another version of the world she was in. She had thought it was impossible. Sure there was ChalkZone, but that was different, at least for her. ChalkZone and the real world were linked together, so to her it felt like it was the same dimension, even if she knew, deep down, that it wasn’t. She and a select few people knew about how it was possible to travel to ChalkZone using the magic chalk. It was their gateway to this other world, where things drawn in their world appear here, fully realized, and even alive if it was meant to be.

But whole other dimensions... That was something she never dreamed possible. Even if there were multiple timelines, where everything that could have happened did, she didn’t think there was anyway to access them. She would have thought that the multiple timelines would have been kept separate from each other, a barrier between them so that no one can cross.

It seemed that believe was false. The black chalk artists had figured out a way to cross these barriers, and they used this to their advantage. Cosmo had hidden the cure, or cures to be more accurate, in these dimensions. She wished that Wilter had known what the cure was, but it did make sense that he didn’t know. Cosmo would not have trusted him enough at that point to be given knowledge of the cure. Even though he couldn’t given a lot of information, what he could tell them was still helpful.

Now that they know where the cures are, the task comes in how to find them. They need to locate this Tavern Town and look for those machinery, the ones that would have powered the interdimensional thing Cosmo surely would have created to access these other dimensions. Those machines may have information regarding what the cures are, so they know what to look for. But the question was...just where was Tavern Town?

They weren’t going to be able to do much of anything if they had no idea where to start looking. The place wasn’t destroyed. As Wilter pointed out, he wouldn’t destroy his machinery. He would have wanted to keep access to these alternate dimensions. Wilter did make a good point. She didn’t know what ChalkZone was like years ago, but from what Wilter told her and Rudy, a lot had changed, a direct result of the devastation caused by Cosmo. She was certain that this magic chalk war played a huge role in why ChalkZone changed so dramatically since her teacher’s childhood.

She came to the conclusion that if Tavern Town was not destroyed, then it may have gotten built over. Perhaps sometime shortly before the final battle that got Cosmo kicked out, he had drawn something over Tavern Town, or at least one portion of it, to keep it safe. A disguise of sorts. Yeah, that may have been what he did. If he made Tavern Town look like it was destroyed and then drew something in its place....yeah. But even if that is what happened, she still faced the problem of not knowing where it was. Mr. Wilter may not remember. There was a good chance that he hadn’t been to Tavern Town enough to pinpoint its exact location.

Maybe some of the zoners around here would know more about it. Maybe Biclops would know, or maybe some of the older zoners. There had to be someone around here who knew. There were zoners around here who were hundreds of years old. So someone, maybe roaming around ChalkZone City, had to know about Tavern Town. It was just a matter of looking around and trying to find someone willing to talk. If the zoner was around long enough to know about Tavern Town, they might also remember Cosmo, and not be too willing to talk, depending on how traumatized they were of him. Or they could try the library, and finding old maps. That might also help them.

She was surprised that the anti-creator group was so old, dating back all the way to what that horrid machine, Solar Pillars, was used against them. She couldn’t blame them for hating creators after that. Their whole home, and so many zoners, were destroyed all in one go. But what confused her was why were they so quite for all this time? If they hated creators so much, why didn’t they try to chase her and Rudy out before?

The only thing she could think of is that it may have been a similar case with Biclops. The giant was not so fond of creators at first, and had tried to get Rudy to leave when they first met. But after Rudy gave him another eye, and kept coming back to ChalkZone, the giant had kept watching him, and came to the realization that Rudy really wasn’t going to hurt zoners. Maybe the anti-creator group had, for a time, made an exception for Rudy and her when they saw that they weren’t trying to do harm to ChalkZone.

But recent events, such as the appearance of more black chalk users, may have broke the camel’s back, and now the group was getting restless. She recalled Wilter said that some members were descendents of the survivors, but she wondered if he actually meant to say something else. Zoners don’t die of old age, so he may have just meant the survivors of the attack, not descendents. It did make sense he’d make that mistake since he hadn’t been in ChalkZone for so long. But regardless, it was a scary thought that the group was starting to act up now.

She wasn’t sure if talking to them would be a good idea, at least at the moment. They might not be in the mood to speak to any creator. After what happened to them, she wouldn’t really be surprised. She couldn’t blame them for hating creators. She just hoped that they didn’t do anything drastic. So far, they didn’t. Just protests. Still, just how far were they willing to go? Would they soon resort to violent tendencies to get them to leave? Time would tell, and all she could do was wait and hope things won’t turn out that bad.

The zoner with the metal finger.. She did wonder who Mr. Wilter meant by that. A name would have been nice. But Wilter had to leave. He had turned around to leave just as Dr. Raiden came down the hallway. The cheetah zoner came up to her and Snap and informed them Rudy was stabilized, but he still needed some more treatment. He turned to walk away but left them with the message that he would be back to inform them when they may visit their friend.

Penny was grateful Rudy was stabilized. She hoped that whatever damage was done to him was mended and that he would be able to recover soon. She hoped that the damage wasn’t too severe and that Rudy wouldn’t be in too much pain for long. Whenever they got to visit him, she was going to inform Rudy of the information Wilter told them, provided that he was awake that is. There was a chance that he’d be asleep still from whatever surgery they surely had to perform on him. If he was passed out when they saw him, she wouldn’t try to wake him up. He needed his rest. He needed to recover from that vicious attack.

Her mind momentarily went back to the warning Wilter gave them before leaving. She hadn’t seen any zoner around with a metal finger. She thought that, at first, he meant a robot zoner, but he didn’t say robot zoner, and that would have been too vague of a description. The way he said ‘the metal finger’ made it sound like that this particular zoner had a robotic digit of some kind that stood out. Something that a zoner normally didn’t have and wasn’t present on any other zoner. She could conclude that this zoner was two legged and had a special finger. That wasn’t much to go off of, so she and her friends would have be careful and watch their backs.

The news about her mom had been horrifying. A torture doctor? She could never picture her mom being like that. Listening to Wilter describe how her mom used to be was terrifying. Torturing and killing all those kids, having no remorse, being psychotic and insane... It scared her. She wasn’t sure if she should tell her mom about what she found out. Yet, she knew, if her mom really did want to know what she used to be like, it might be best to tell her instead of letting her find out on her own. Self discovery might be more shocking.

At least she wasn’t like that anymore. As awful as it was what happened to her, Penny was glad that it happened, since it resulted in her mom being free from the black chalk’s control. The electricity obviously didn’t cause much life threatening damage, as her mom was still here with her. And it did nothing to hinder her intelligence, as shown by her doctoring skills, which were now used to really help people, not torture and maim like how she used to.

She realized that she and Snap still haven’t gone to Rudy’s house to tell his parents about what had happened. They didn’t mean to neglect to do that. Wilter’s appearance came as a shock, and what he said sent them both in a petrified state of surprise, they found it hard to move. At least Wilter said he would inform Rudy’s parents when he got back to the real world, so that solves that. She imagined that they would be here soon to see Rudy. Tilly and Sophie would most certainly come as well.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she and Snap heard footsteps down the wall. She immediately knew who it was. She came to recognize that soft padding of feet hitting the ground. She looked over and, sure enough, it was Dr. Raiden. He walked slowly over to them and stopped a few feet in front. He gestured with his hand to follow him. Without saying a word, Penny and Snap followed Dr. Raiden down the hallway.

Minutes later, they came to Rudy’s room. The door was closed and they could see a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign up, as well as some information about how he was just in major surgery. Dr. Raiden came up to the door and opened it up. He stepped aside to let Penny and Snap through.

“I’ll give you some time alone with him. Please be quiet. He’s just gotten some surgeries done on him and he needs rest.” Dr. Raiden said in a soft voice. “I’ll assume that the boy’s parents will be arriving shortly, so I’ll keep the door partially open for them. I’m going to meet up with Mrs. Sanchez and speak with her about Rudy’s condition. We’ll inform you of any updates.”

“Okay.” Penny said, keeping her voice low. “Thank you.”

Dr. Raiden nodded his head. “No problem, kid. Anyway, I’ll get going now. If you need to contact me or the staff for anything regarding Rudy, there’s a ‘Help’ button right by his bed.”

With that, the cheetah zoner turned and walked away. Like he said he would, the zoner doctor kept the door partially open. As he left, Penny and Snap turned their attention to Rudy. Their hearts sank as they saw what kind of condition he was in.

Rudy laid on the bed on his back. His right eye was closed softly, his left covered in a bandage. Rudy had multiple IVs going in his arms, providing his body with well needed nourishment. The sight of this was something of a relief to Penny and Snap as it told them that enough of his organs and insides were still real world, so the liquids, clearly real world by nature, could properly nourish him and not hurt him.

In addition to the IVs, there were some monitors hooked up to him, such as his heart. They heard the steady beating of his heart. It was slow, but it was stabilized and it wasn’t alarmingly slow. Rudy’s chest rose and fell slowly at a steady rate. His body was covered in some bandages. Thick ones covered his stomach where he most certainly had surgery. If there was anything else done to him, they couldn’t see it because of the blanket and hospital gown. She wasn’t sure if they wanted to see everything.

Rudy’s face was pale, almost as white as the sheets that covered him. He looked so sickly, like he had caught the flu or something. And the thing was, he was ill. He was stricken with an illness that was slowly killing him, and she and Snap had no idea how to exactly stop it. They had some ideas, but... Even if they did get to the alternate dimensions, would they be able to get the cures on time? Penny stared at Rudy’s unmoving face, partially covered by the breathing mask. She bit her lip. Rudy had to be okay.. He just had to...

She sat down in a chair next to Rudy. She looked down at Snap sorrowfully. She reached down and gently picked him up. She cradled him in her arms as they stared sadly over at Rudy’s unconscious form. She held Snap tightly to herself, tears flowing down her face, as they hoped and prayed that everything would be okay. Snap cuddled up against her, his arms wrapping around her tightly. The two friends held onto each other, their minds swirling with thoughts of what they were going to do.

One thing they weren’t going to do, for certain, was give up.

sss

Jenny grumbled softly to herself. Their trip into ChalkZone hadn’t turned out exactly how she had hoped. She and her comrades should have taken the black chalk with them, but they didn’t think it would be necessary. With how she had everything planned, it wouldn’t have been needed. They had the ambush all set. They had the location all ready for use. They knew exactly what they were going to do. It should have all worked out just fine.

They had grabbed Rudy before anyone could see him and dragged him off. They had taken him to a dark room underground, below ChalkZone City. They had him without magic chalk. He was defenseless against them. There was no way he could have fought very long against them, and they quickly gained the upperhand. They beat him up. They pummeled him into the ground. They kicked him and punched him. It was a glorious moment. Jenny remembered how happy she felt when she got Rudy reduced to a whimpering little brat. Served him right for what he did to Cosmo. Accident or not, the boy was still responsible and he needed to pay the price for it.

She and her comrades did whatever they could to maximize the damage. Forcing him to swallow that broken piece of glass was her favorite part. She loved the look in Rudy’s eyes as the sharp object sliced against the interior of his throat. The pain in those eyes, yesh, she wanted to see more of that. She wanted to see him suffer. They wanted to keep hurting him, and so they did. They wanted to keep beating him up until he was near death, for no other reason than just to make him pay for helping to cause Cosmo’s death. Of course, speeding up the disease by causing internal bleeding was just the icing on the cake.

She wished she could have messed with him some more. She enjoyed tampering with his left eye, watching him squirm like that on the ground. His legs quickly kicking at the ground to try to get away, his whimpering, his shaking, it made it all the more exciting for her. She enjoyed pushing her finger against the damaged eye, seeing how badly he reacted to it, especially when she began to apply pressure, making him cry out in pain. She wished she had thought about targeting that eye earlier. If she had, she could have taken the step that she had wanted to.

She wanted to gouge out that eye. She wanted to take that knife and slice it into his eye. She wanted to hear him scream as she destroyed his eye and ripped it out. She wanted to see his reaction when she showed him the remains of his left eye. Oh yes, that would have been truly a delight to see. Perfect retribution, she would say.

But of course, that Snap zoner just had to come in and ruin everything. He came in just before she could jab that knife into the eye. She hadn’t been expecting anyone to come, so she had moved it slowly and deliberately, just to further torment Rudy psychologically. Mentally torturing her victims was just as fun as physically hurting them, and it was even better when inflicted on Rudy. But she realized too late that she should have just jabbed him right then and there. And because of her foolishness, she missed her chance to permanently half blind Rudy.

Snap fought surprisingly well. She hadn’t expected him to be that good, especially up against three creators. But without their black chalk, the playing field was a little more even. Snap attacked them with such ferocity. His devotion to Rudy really showed there, the way he kept punching and kicking them, making sure they didn’t go anywhere near Rudy. If they were armed, they could have taken care of him easily. But Jenny was no fool. Without the chalk and with Snap in such a state of fury, she knew it would be a terrible idea to fight back, and they had no choice but to collect their losses and run.

Ghadir was especially disappointed by that turn of events. She could tell that Ghadir would have rather eaten Snap and continue to torture. Rudy. She would have let her do that, too, had they brought anything with them to subdue Snap with. That bottle of water may have worked. Putting him in some pain and then grabbed him would have been beneficial. Oh well, this was what she got for not thinking things completely through. She should have realized that Snap would have found Rudy and tried to stop them. She should have taken him into account and set a trap for him so he couldn’t stop them from hurting Rudy.

Maybe she would let Ghadir eat some of Snap should they encounter him again. Maybe cut off his arm and hand it to her and let her snack on it, while forcing the zoner to watch. That would definitely teach the inferior little creature not to intervene again. Or maybe she’d go with Ghadir’s idea, and making his friends eat a part of him. That suggestion was so twisted... Jenny loved it. Knowing that Ghadir was twisted and disturbed like that made her all the more happy that she recruited her by her side.

Although the trip into ChalkZone wasn’t as they had planned, it wasn’t too much of a loss. They still managed to deal a lot of damage to Rudy. That would surely speed up the disease like they had planned, giving the brat less time of recovery. She would have just killed him, but she and her comrades didn’t want to give the boy the luxury of a quick death. No, she wanted to drag this out for as long as possible. She wanted to watch him squirm.

She, Tyreek, and Ghadir sat down together in her living room. The television was shut off. The single light overhead had been flipped on. The room was dark, considering it was nightfall now. Everything else in the house had been turned off and all the curtains pulled down. It was not necessary to have things set up like this, especially since no one would see her. And even if they did, they wouldn’t really be able to do anything about it. They might even think she’s just crazy. After all, who would believe in a world made of chalk? Oh they’ll start believing soon, but by then, it would be too late to stop her and her comrades from achieving their goal.

They needed to discuss what their next move was going to be. She hadn’t yet decided just what they’d do. She had thought about doing something with Penny and Snap, but she wasn’t entirely sure yet what. Well she had ideas for Snap, just not how to execute them. Penny... The daughter of Mrs. Sanchez, the first black chalk user to get away... Yes, she’d have to do something ‘special’ for her. She and her comrades had thought about going after Mrs. Sanchez herself, but since she doesn’t remember being a black chalk user, they decided it wouldn’t be that much fun torturing her. Her daughter on the other hand...

Yes, torturing Penny instead of Mrs. Sanchez would be much more delightful and satisfying. If she knew what her mother used to be like, that could be used as a form of mental torture. They could tell her, in detail, everything her mom did while under the black chalk’s control. Yes, her reaction to that would be most amusing indeed. And the fact that she is connected to Rudy, being his best friend, that gave another reason to torment her. Anything that caused more pain for Rudy, physical or mental, was a great idea in her book.

“We were so close!” Tyreek snarled, forcing Jenny out of her thoughts. “If that little blue rodent hadn’t intervened, we would have....!”

“Oh please don’t remind me of that little blue creature...” Ghadir grumbled. She tossed a pillow at Tyreek, hitting him in the face. The man growled and at her. Ghadir shrugged her shoulders. “Hey, I’m getting hungry.” She gave him a sideways glance. “The talk of that blue zoner is making me feel starved. I wish I had a chance to take a bite out of him.”

Tyreek shook his head. “You’ve got other prey options in ChalkZone. If you were so hungry for chalk, you could have just eaten a small zoner before he took position behind that building.” He leaned back in the couch, closing his eyes. “It’s not our fault that you failed to do that.”

Ghadir snarled. “Hey, I didn’t have time to grab a zoner to eat. You two were hurrying me along!”

“Because we only had a small window of opportunity to seize Rudy. You knew that.” Tyreek retorted.

Jenny shook her head at this. Of course these two would be arguing. They didn’t argue that much, but when they did, it was annoying, and she wished they’d shut up. They were only going to waste time if they spend too much time fighting with each other. And plus, she did agree with Tyreek. Ghadir did have a chance to eat something. If she wasn’t so keen on eating only living zoners, she could have grabbed some chalk rocks or something and ate those to satisfy her craving.

But no, Ghadir always insisted on eating live prey. She only wanted to eat chalk beings, never chalk rocks, or chalk plants, or chalk food. Just zoners themselves. When asked why, Ghadir said she just loved the thrill of the hunt, and to torment her victims as she killed them slowly. Jenny couldn’t argue with that logic. She and Tyreek felt the same way when they took on white chalk users, and they all felt the same way when they went after Rudy. Still, her insistance on only eating zoners was sometimes annoying, especially when it could interfere with their plans. They’d have to keep an eye on her addiction.

“Oh pipe down you two! Let’s not squabble. We’re all on the same side here.” Jenny said, clapping her hands a couple of times to get their attention. “There is no use crying over spilled milk. Besides, we had our little fun with Rudy.”

“Not as much as we wanted.” Ghadir grumbled.

“True, but we still did damage to him and that’s what counts.” Tyreek said. “That’s all that matters in the end. The little fucker got hurt, and he deserved all of it.”

“Right.” Jenny smiled, glad that Tyreek at least understood that they didn’t suffer a total loss. She turned her attention to Ghadir. “I know you’re still upset, but please calm down. We’ll have another shot at Rudy, as well as his friends, later. For now, let’s discuss what our next course of action will be. We need to plan our next move.”

“I know...” Ghadir grumbled. She muttered something about how she wanted to eat Snap in front of Rudy. She did speak up again, but this time, she kept on topic. “As for what we could do next... Well I know we’ve been doing those small attacks around ChalkZone to stir up some trouble.”

“Yes, those were fun.” Jenny said, reminiscencing in her head some of those attacks. The way the places burned down, the way things fell apart, the way the zoners ran away screaming. It all filled her up with positive feelings. “Perhaps another attack is called for?”

“Maybe...but we could probably turn it into something more.” Tyreek said. The two other black chalk users turned to him. He leaned forward on the couch, resting his hands against his legs. “I had overheard that the attacks we were delivering had...stirred up a certain old group that caused us a bit of trouble years ago. You know, the group that has been trying to kick out creators for years?”

Ghadir and Jenny looked at each other in surprise. They both knew exactly what group Tyreek was talking about. They were in shock. Was that group still around? After all this time? But they had been so quiet... Why would they be quiet for all this time?

Tyreek continued, “There’s been word that the Luminos group, the anti-creator group, has started up again. Or rather, they stopped being silent and they’re back to protesting on the streets.”

Ghadir smirked at this. “More protesting... I’m guessing the Luminos freaks really haven’t learn their lesson. They are not going to drive us out just because they ask us to.”

“Oh no...they know that.” Tyreek said, gesturing with his finger. “Apparently, they have decided to use more...extreme measures of getting what they want. They are willing to resort to violence this time, as they believe it may get them the results they want faster. They hadn’t tried it yet, but unlike years ago, they are more willing to go that route...” He turned his attention to Jenny. “...should circumstances call for it...”

“Hmm...” Jenny scratched her chin thoughtfully. “Very interesting... Perhaps the Luminos...could be of some use to us...”

“Like what?” Ghadir asked, curious. “I don’t think they’ll just take orders from us.”

Jenny shook her head. “Of course not. I don’t expect them to. But...” She gave an evil smile to Ghadir and Tyreek. “They would still respond to an attack, would they not? And if they really are considering using violence, like Tyreek said...” She tapped her fingers together menacingly, her eyes darkening. “Let’s give them a reason to use violence...”

“Are you suggesting that we attack them?” Ghadir asked.

“That seems like a brilliant move. Attack them, provoke them into taking action. And it wouldn’t really matter if we try framing Rudy or not. The Luminos would see that as a reason to start going up against any and all creators. They would go after Rudy the next time they see him.” Tyreek grinned darkly. “That would be most amusing to watch.”

“Yes, quite. The Luminos are quite resourceful. I’m sure, over the years of keeping themselves hidden and silent from creators, they would have developed ways of fighting even armed creators. They would attack Rudy or Penny or even their family members. This should keep them busy long enough to let my plan come into full fruition. With Rudy and his friends unable to focus on the disease as the Luminos attack them, by the time it’s all done, it will be too late for the boy...” Jenny said, her dark sneer spreading across her face. Tyreek and Ghadir shared the same expressions. “Let us not waste time.” Jenny said as she got up to her feet. “Let’s...give the Luminos a little...surprise...”

Jenny was not stupid. She knew that provoking the group would also make things harder for her and her comrades. The good news was, though, is that it would also makes things harder for Rudy, his friends, and his family. With more enemies to deal with, they were going to find it harder focusing on trying to find the cure to Rudy’s disease. Even if they did figure out they were in alternate dimensions, they would never find Tavern Town in time, not while the Luminos gives them problems.

Jenny didn’t really mind fighting these zoners if it came to it. They were fully prepared to deal with them. Unlike Rudy and the others, she and her comrades had a better idea of what to expect from this group, and what kind of weaponry they may have. They might not be able to get to Rudy for a while once this plan is in motion, but they can still watch from the sidelines as he deteriorates further. Oh yes, for once, the Luminos group, the anti-creator group, they were going to be put to some good use...

sss

Terry sat down in the kitchen, resting on the chair. Or rather, she was hooked to it. Vinnie attached a pair of cuffs to her leg to keep her from wandering off. He had given her a plate of some food. Nothing too fancy. Just some meat and vegetables. He had also changed her bandages beforehand. He was mostly gentle, but it was obvious he was still angry with her, and he had hurt her a few times, though nowhere near as bad as when all of this started.

Terry barely moved her gaze from her plate. Her movements were slow, almost robotic. She forgot how long she had been stuck here. Not that long, but too long for her taste. She hadn’t been able to find a way out yet. So far, she found nothing in the bathroom that would help her. It was almost like Vinnie knew she’d look there and combed through beforehand. So for now, she was still trapped here, unable to leave. She scooped up some peas and chewed on them slowly and deliberately.

She didn’t bother lifting her head. She didn’t bother looking at the other side of table. She knew Vinnie was there. She could feel his gaze boring through hers. He was eating as well, slow and steady. His eyes never changed direction. Any time they ate together at the table, he’d keep an eye on her. If she looked up at him, he’d sneer at her, looking either angry at what she had done or satisfied that things were going his way for once.

She hadn’t spoken to him that much during her stay. She was still in disbelief that her own brother did this to her. Sure, they had an estranged relationship and hadn’t been that close in years. But they were still family. She thought that Vinnie wouldn’t go that far if it was his sister he was trying to get information from. She thought he wouldn’t go that far at all...but he had certainly changed, and in all the wrong ways. And now, she was trapped with him and it didn’t look like he was going to release her anytime soon.

“Well I think that’s all I’m going to eat...” Vinnie said. He pushed his plate away and he got up out of his seat. “So you finish up so I can put you back in your room. I need to prepare for bed now. I have to wake up early tomorrow so I can be ready.”

Terry glared at him. She swallowed slowly, stared at him with her angered expression and then looked back down at her food. Vinnie narrowed his eyes at this and moved towards her. Even when he slammed his hand against the table, shaking it, Terry still didn’t spare him a glance. She just let out a soft growl before continuing on eating. He had already done so much to her. The least he could do was let her finish eating.

But it seemed that he wasn’t going to be that generous. Angry that she wasn’t listening, he grabbed the plate from her and yanked it back. He practically slammed the plate on the table and Terry was shocked that it didn’t break. Even then, she still didn’t look up. She only did when she felt Vinnie grab her by her chin and forced her to look up at him.

She stared into his eyes, her teeth gritted and eyes narrowed. She didn’t bother trying to wrench herself free, as uncomfortable as she was right now. Vinnie was too strong for her. It didn’t help that he hadn’t been feeding her too much in order to make her even physically weaker. It wasn’t a dramatic change, but that missing bit of strength did make all the difference. She found it hard to resist him now whenever he grabbed onto her, whether it be by her arm or by her face, like what he was doing now. She refused to show fear towards him, and just continued to glare back.

“I told you, sister. I need to get ready and I am not going to leave you out in the kitchen unintended. I know you are going to try to escape.” Vinnie growled at her. Terry hissed back. “Now don’t be that way with me, Terry! You brought this upon yourself when you turned your back on all we had worked for. And for what?” He rubbed his tembles as a way of expressing his disbelief. “For that boy from the chalk world?! I still can’t believe you’d betray me like this, Terry!”

Terry growled, “I...didn’t betray anyone... I just...did what was right...” It was a little hard to talk with Vinnie holding her jaw like this, but she still managed. “If you..listened to...reason, you would see..I made the...right choice...”

At this, Vinnie gripped her harder and slammed her head against the table, narrowly missing hitting the plate. Terry let out a cry of pain and bared her teeth. Vinnie lowered his head and spoke harshly into her ear. “You’re a fool! I’m the only one seeing sense now! I don’t know why you let that boy trick you like that. I don’t know what he did, but I’m not going to let it happen to me!”

He released her and lowered himself to unhook the cuff chaining her leg to the table. He then grabbed her roughly by the arm and yanked her from the chair. He started to drag her down the hallway. He didn’t care if she tripped over her own feet. He continued yanking her roughly down the hallway towards the room where she would be locked up.

There was nothing Terry could do to resist. She had no choice but to let Vinnie drag her to the room like he always had. It hurt her, the way her feet tripped or she hit the wall. Her injuries hadn’t healed that much and even knowing that, Vinnie wasn’t very gentle with her. He was less gentle now since he was quite angry with how she acted to him today.

Once they reached the room, he glared at her, holding her arm tightly. “I don’t want to hear another peep out of you tonight, sister! I have a big day tomorrow. I have a meeting with the news station.”

At this, Terry’s eyes widened a little. “You...what...?”

“Oh don’t worry, you little traitor. I’m not showing them anything yet.” Vinnie waved his hand dismissively. “I just..need to confirm an appointment...” He sneered at her and reached out and gently cupped her chin. “You see, sister... I was able to sneak into the Tabooties’ house and took what I wanted.” Seeing Terry’s shocked expression, Vinnie let out a dark chuckle. “That’s right, Terry... I have the ChalkZone evidence. And in a few days...” He leaned in closer, staring into her terrified eyes. “...it will be broadcasted all over Plainsville!”

“No..wait...you can’t...” Terry tried to say.

“Shut up!” Vinnie growled. Mustering up as much strength as he could, he shoved Terry into the ground in the room, uncaring if he aggravated her injuries or not. He quickly shut the door before Terry could get out. He locked it. “Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to hop in the shower and after that, it’s time for bed. I suggest you get to sleep, too. Not like you have anything else you can do right now.”

With that, Vinnie gave a quick, dark chuckle, and he disappeared down the hallway. Terry could hear his footsteps as he headed towards the bathroom. She heard the door open and close, and then the wound of water turning on.

Terry pounded at the door. She twisted the knob. She tried to do whatever she could to get out. But the door wouldn’t budge. She wasn’t strong enough to get it open. No matter how hard she slammed her body, no matter how much she pushed and pulled, no matter how much she twisted that blasted knob, she was not going anywhere. She had to think of something soon. If she didn’t, then ChalkZone was going to get exposed.

But the question was...how was she going to get out of here...?

Chapter Text

Rudy groaned in pain as he rested on the beanbag on the ground. Snap helped him lay down. It was difficult moving much without having to rely on his friends for support. Gently, Snap helped him settle down on the beanbag. He only released him when he was certain he was on the beanbag chair. He took a few steps and stared intently at Rudy, his eyes shining with worry.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay, Rudy? Taking you out of the hospital now was a big risk...” Snap said softly.

“I know, Snap. But I feel more...comfortable sleeping here, than at the hospital. Besides..I feel..okay..” Rudy said. He forced himself to smile. As soon as he did that, there was a wrack of pain through his body, causing him to clutch his stomach and hunch over in pain.

Seeing this, Snap said, “No, you’re not okay.”

Rudy didn’t respond. He wanted to, but his mind was too clouded by pain. He laid on the beanbag chair, curled up as he held onto his stomach. It was still wrapped up in bandages and the skin didn’t heal too much. He let out a whimper of pain, tears forming in his eyes, as he tried to cope.

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you talk me into taking you here.” Snap’s voice was firm. He moved closer to Rudy, reaching down with his hands. “Come on, I’m taking you back.”

“No...” Rudy said softly. He squirmed a little away from Snap, preventing him from grabbing him. He managed to sit up. He stared at Snap with a smile on his face. There was a twitch of pain in his eye, and his teeth were clenched. But Rudy did his best to look like he was fine. “It’s..nothing... Don’t worry.. I’m okay...really I am...” He let out another grunt of pain.

Snap shook his head in disbelief. “Rudy, I’m not blind. I can tell you’re not okay. Come here now...” Snap grabbed onto Rudy’s arm and tugged at it. “We are going back to the hospital. I’m going to tell the doctors we changed our mind and you are staying there for the next few days.”

“But Snap...” Rudy started to protest.

“No buts, Rudy..” Snap said. He pulled on Rudy a little harder. “You suffered a lot of internal damage from that attack. You’re in no condition to not be in the hospital. You need to go back.”

Rudy shook his head. “No...I don’t want to... I’ll go back for my checkup and IV fluids, but that’s it. I’m not spending another night there.”

“I don’t see why you don’t want to. I get it, you don’t want to be alone, but Rudy...” Snap stared at Rudy in desperation. “Please... I want you to get better. It was a mistake of me to help you all the way out here in your condition. I know the doctors said it was okay. I know you feel more comfortable here than in some strange hospital. But in your condition, Rudy...”

“Please just let me stay here...for one night?” Rudy pleaded. “I promise I’ll go back tomorrow, if you let me stay here another night. Please, Snap..?”

Rudy and Snap stared at each other for several seconds. They didn’t look away. Their eyes bored into each other. Rudy’s pain-filled eyes locking onto Snap’s worry-filled ones. For the next several moments, there was nothing but silence between the two. Then, slowly, Snap, who seemed to understand that Rudy was not going to go anywhere, released his arm. He didn’t look very happy by this, but Rudy was glad that he listened to him.

“...okay then...” Snap said softly. “I do not like doing this, Rudy. But if you insist on staying here, fine I won’t stop you. But...” He raised his hand on the air to get Rudy’s attention. He narrowed his eyes at the eighteen year old and spoke in a firm voice that reminded Rudy of his parents. “The first sign of you being in agony, and I am hauling you back to the hospital. I don’t care if I have to carry you with one arm. I’m taking you back. Do you understand?”

Rudy nodded his head. “Yes. I understand, Snap.”

“Good.” Snap said. He moved over to the other beanbag chair and pushed it close to where Rudy was. He settled down on top of it. He glanced over at the television, then at some of the board games that were piled up in a corner nearby. “So...what would you like to do to pass the time?”

Rudy did feel bad about getting Snap to help convince the doctors to let him leave. Rudy knew it wasn’t a good idea. It had only been about three days since he was treated. That wasn’t a lot of time to recover from surgery. He was still in a lot of pain. But he just really wanted to spend some time with Snap. He felt that he recovered faster when he was around his friends and family. Sure, they visited him during the day, but they couldn’t do that so much at night. He felt lonely at night. Hardly anyone spoke to him at that time. The doctors only came in to check a few things and that was it.

His parents, as well as Tilly and Sophie, had been horrified by what had happened to him. They visited him as soon as they could. He remembered their first visit and how heartbreaking it was. He was in too much pain to really talk to them that much, so Penny and Snap answered any questions they may have had. Rudy recalled how badly his heart clutched when he watched his family members stare at him like that, with those tears in their eyes. He wished he could have done something to help them feel better, but he could barely move at the time.

His family as well as his friends visited him often throughout the day. He enjoyed their company when they were around. When he could speak the next day, he tried to ask them if they could stay the night. He felt uncomfortable at night. He wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe it was the pain. Maybe it was being in an unfamiliar place. Maybe it was the fact that he was injured and in a lot of pain. Yeah that might be it. A psychological thing. Anyone who was injured would rather be close to their friends and families at all times. But..something was different about this, still. After all, he didn’t try sneaking out of the hospital when he and Penny were rescued from Bardot.

He came to the conclusion that it might be a side effect of the disease he was suffering from. Maybe it was messing with his head a little, making him act a little different. Despite knowing that this might be the case, he couldn’t really fight the urge to leave the hospital at night and be with Snap. He knows, deep down, it was not the brightest move. It was hard convincing Snap to let him come. Heck, it was harder trying to convince Snap than it was trying to convince the doctors. By comparison, the doctors were quite easy to get them to agree with him. Dr. Raiden was the one who permitted him to leave, provided he came back tomorrow for his checkup and IV fluids.

Despite this odd behavior in spite of knowing that he was making things worse for himself by traveling around this badly hurt, Rudy was not entirely concerned. If anything bizarre or dangerous would happen, he was certain his friends would be there for him. They would get him out of whatever situation he put himself in and get him to the hospital. He had a lot of trust in them. And there was his family, too. If they were with him and saw him in trouble, they could definitely help in any way that they could.

This made him remember that his family had almost never used the magic chalk before. There was Sophie, but the adults hadn’t used the magic chalk that often. He wondered if there would ever come a time when they would all have to learn how to use it more efficiently. He sometimes wondered, these past few days, if there’ll be another magic chalk war. He shuddered to think about it. If the war years ago resulted in so many casualties, both human and zoner, would he lose one or more family members should another battle start up?

He hoped it wouldn’t come to that. He hoped that a secondary war can be avoided. It probably could..if he is able to stop Jenny and her lackeys before it ever came to that. And then there was this anti-creator group. They still hadn’t really been causing any problems lately. But even after he gets Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir out of ChalkZone, what about this group? How far widespread was this train of thought? What would this group do? Would they still try to kick him out even after he took care of the real bad guys?

Another thing that had him concerned is the warning Mr. Wilter gave his friends. Penny and Snap had relayed the message to him, as well as everything else Wilter had to say. As much as it startled him how Mrs. Sanchez used to be, that isn’t what concerned him the most. She was not like that anymore, and he knew she would never become like that again, so he didn’t really feel afraid around her, even knowing what she did.

No, what concerned him was this business with the zoner with the metal finger. He had not seen any such zoner like that. Ever since Wilter gave them that message, they had been on the look out, trying to identify any zoner with a metal finger. So far, no luck. That was all Wilter had told them. Without much information to go on, it was hard for him to try to pinpoint just how this particular zoner was. Wilter never even told them why they should beware of this zoner? Were they involved with the anti-creator group? Were they another Cosmo creation that somehow escaped jail? Were they part of some new enemy faction that they’d have to take care of?

The questions piled one on top of another on Rudy’s shoulders, making him feel like a burden was weighing down on him. There was so much going on. So much had happened. It seemed like everytime he turned around, there was a new problem. He wondered just how things could get any worse. He refrained from saying that out loud, though. He didn’t want to tempt fate and suddenly they have a new problem to worry about in addition to the ones they were already facing.

One thing was for certain. He and his friends had a lot more to worry about this time around than they did in the past. Things were going to be more complicated than the time they were locked up in Cosmo’s underground maze of a building. More was going on than the time when he and Penny were kidnapped and Snap was forced to go through those ‘games’ Bardot had set up. This time, there were more players. A lot more was on the line. And this time, he wasn’t sure exactly how they were going to get out of this mess.

Still, he did his best not to allow hopelessness take over. He felt this way before in the past, and they still managed to get out. Somehow, someway, they would make it through this. He just wasn’t sure exactly how they would manage to get out of this mess. They had three black chalk users to deal with. They had alternate dimensions to travel to in order to cure him of this disease. They had an anti-creator group who would want to try to kick him out of ChalkZone. None of these problems will be easily dealt with.

But he knew he had to try.

Realizing that he had been silent a little too long and seeing Snap looking at him, confused and waiting for an answer, Rudy said, “Well..” He looked at the television. “Maybe some TV? Is there anything good on?”

Snap lifted up the controller and pointed it at the black box. “I’m not sure, Bucko. Let’s take a look.” With that, he pressed the power button on the controller. There was a blip and the TV began to glow as the screen came in.

At first, there was just static on the television. The roar of the static caused Rudy to wince and he covered his ears. Snap quickly turned down the volume. He gave Rudy an apologetic look before he began to flip through the channels. Rudy caught glimpses of several types of shows, such as a cooking one, what looked like a crime drama, and even some live action movie that looked like it was several years old. But none of them really caught his attention, and judging from Snap’s expression, he wasn’t digging any of these shows either.

Snap did stop on one particular channel. He and Rudy stared at the screen. It was on a commercial, so they didn’t know what was on this channel. Seconds later, the commercial was done and it went back to the programming. Another movie. This one looked a little newer. It appeared to be an action movie of some kind. He gave a small smile. Yeah, this would do. Snap looked content by it as well. He liked action movies, and this one seemed to deliver. Lots of car chases and what not. The two friends settled down and began to watch the movie. Snap turned the volume up a bit so they can hear.

On the screen, it appeared to be some kind of car chase. One zoner driving a car was being chased by another. Even though they had just started watching and they had no idea what was going on, Rudy and Snap were pulled into the action. As the car seemed to be chased towards a wall, with nowhere to go, the two friends leaned in, waiting to see what would happen next. The aggressor drive in and looked intent on smashing them. They got closer and closer. Rudy and Snap’s eyes widened, wondering what was to become of this poor zoner.

Suddenly, as soon as the aggressor driver smashed against the victim driver, there was a loud bang. At first, the two friends thought it was just the television, but a second bang and a shake of the tree proved them wrong. They immediately got up to their feet. As soon as they did so, a third explosion rocked the tree house, sending it yanking to the side, throwing them. Rudy and Snap smashed against each other against one of Snap’s windows.

More explosions rattled through the treehouse. They could feel the wood splintering. They could smell the scent of burnt tree. The two friends scrambled up to their feet. Rudy let out a groan of pain. The fall aggravated his stomach and he clutched it tightly. He coughed a few times. Thankfully no blood this time. Snap, looking at him with great worry, helped him up to his feet.

“Do you think it’s Ghadir again?” Snap wondered out loud.

Rudy looked around, trying to see if he could see a glimpse of their attacker. But at this angle, he couldn’t see anything except the sky. “I’m not sure, Snap. I don’t know if it would be her. I don’t think she’d try the same thing twice.”

“Well you never know.” Snap said. There was a slight shiver to his body. “She did seem intent on eating me...”

“No one’s going to eat you, Snap.” Rudy said to his friend, giving him a reassuring smile. After Snap smiled back, Rudy turned to the door, now located at an upward angle. He frowned. “Come on. We better see what’s going on.”

They began to make their way up towards the door. Getting there while the treehouse rattled with explosions was not easy. Debris flew everywhere. He and Snap were nearly hit by some sharp glass and splittered wood. Despite nearly losing their grip several times, they managed to continue climbing upward. Rudy used his magic chalk to help draw a rope and anchor to help them continue climbing up. Even with it, it was not that easy climbing up. The explosions were hurting his and Snap’s ears and he was amazed they didn’t go deaf by them yet, though there was some ringing in their ears.

When they were more than halfway to the red door, he started to smell something. He looked behind him and realized, in horror, that the treehouse was on fire. He could see flickers of orange flame peaking out through the wood. Then the wood started to give way and the fire began to burn, spreading through the ground at a rapid pace, turning the wood a charred black. The smoke soon filled the tree house, clouding their visions. Rudy and Snap began to cough and wheeze, the smell of burning wood filling their nostrils.

Using this as ‘inspiration’, Rudy quickened his pace. He helped pull Snap up, aiding him in his escape. They moved as quickly as they could towards the door. Rudy’s head started to swim, feeling whoozy from the smoke inhalation. He and Snap coughed harder, getting to the point where it was getting painful. The treehouse continued to rattle and shake as they climbed. He could feel the wood all around him begin to give way to the attacks. He could hear the cracks of wood splittering from many directions. If he and Snap didn’t get out soon, they were in big trouble.

Then, finally, they reached the door. Anchoring himself with the rope he and Snap were using, Rudy opened up the door. He grabbed onto Snap and the two of them climbed out of the treehouse. He set Snap down and now they stood on top of what remained of the treehouse. He could see that much of it had been demolished and the tree torn down from the explosions. As they stood there and looked around, they quickly saw just who it was that attacked the treehouse. And one thing became apparent very quickly.

It hadn’t been Ghadir. Instead of that crazed lunchlady, standing all around the tree...were zoners... Five of them. All armed, and all angry.

Rudy and Snap’s eyes widened in horror. Only seconds were needed for them to know exactly who these five zoners were. They were members of the anti-creator group that they had been warned about. They were shouting phrases such as ‘go home creator’ and ‘creators are monsters’. They practically chanted this as they continued attacking the treehouse with their weapons, which Rudy and Snap quickly saw as two small rocket launchers and three flamethrowers.

“Look! There he is!” One of the anti-creator zoners, a humanoid one, shouted, pointing his finger up at the downed treehouse. “Let’s get him!”

The other zoners shouted in agreement and they pointed their weapons directly at Rudy. The eighteen year old let out a scream of fear as a torrent of fire was shot in his direction. Snap jumped at him and pushed Rudy out of the way. Snap let out a hiss of pain as the flames singed the edge of his scarf, but other than that, he was fine.

“What are you doing?! He’s injured!” Snap called out angrily at the group, waving his arms up and down. “Leave him alone!”

“If he didn’t want to get injured, he should have stayed home!” One of the zoners, an anthro dog, snarled. He aimed his rocket launcher at Rudy. “Now...prepare to taste rocket, you filthy little human....!”

Rudy stared in horror at the rocket launcher. The dog zoner followed through with his threat and pressed the trigger. Thinking fast and not having enough time to draw anything, Rudy, ignoring the pain he was in, grabbed onto Snap and jumped down. He crashed into the ground not far from the anti-creator zoners. He got up to his feet and began to run. Snap looked at him with concern. Rudy held onto Snap and continued to run, not bothering to look back. Even though he was in the most pain, his determination to keep Snap safe from this crazy group overrid the needs he had.

No doubt this group would go after Snap next. He was not going to give them that chance. Holding Snap tightly, he continued to run. But eventually the pain started to getting to be a little too much for him. His legs startled to wobble and he started to stammer around. He panted heavily as he kept trying to push himself. He couldn’t slow down. Not now, not with that crazy group behind him. He could hear their shouts. They were getting closer. He turned his head. He could see them catching up. He could see the angry looks on their faces. The shere determination to get him... He turned and started to move forward again.

“I knew I should have taken you back to the hospital!” Snap cried. He held onto Rudy as he watched the group coming towards them. “Come on, Rudy! Draw something!”

Rudy flinched in pain as he reached down with one hand. He fumbled around in his pocket, looking for a piece of magic chalk he knew he put there. He grabbed it and pulled it out. “I got it!”

“Okay good! Quickly, draw something that can fly or something!” Snap shouted frantically. “They’re getting closer!”

“Okay!” Rudy raised his hand to start drawing, despite the pain he was in.

Before Rudy could draw anything, his foot snagged on an raised root in the ground. He let out a cry, mixture of pain and surprise, as he fell to the ground. The force of the fall caused Snap to be thrown to the side. Rudy watched as his friend rolled across the ground. Rudy called out his friend’s name and tried to get up to his feet, but by then, it was too late. The five anti-creator zoners had already caught up with him. He was not able to react when the dog zoner jumped onto his back, pushing him back into the grassy ground.

Snap looked up and he let out a terrified cry when he saw Rudy being mauled by the dog zoner. The dog’s claws cut into his skin. His jaws started to tear his shoulder open. Rudy was leaning up as straight as he could, his arms flailing as he desperately tried to get the dog zoner off. Rudy still had the magic chalk, but when he tried to use it, another zoner with them, this one a bird of some kind, slashed his wrist, blood splattering and causing the magic chalk to fly off away from Rudy.

“We will not allow you to create anything, you monster!” The bird zoner squawked as she started to peck at his head. Rudy let out cries of pain as the sharp beak hit against his head. In an attempt to defend himself, he raised his arm again and struck at the bird zoner, knocking her back. “Going to hurt me, monster?” The bird zoner growled.

“P-Please..stop...” Rudy pleaded with them. He tried to get the dog zoner off. He felt the claws ripping away at him, tearing off the bandages that were placed on him before. The dog’s teeth were shredding his shoulder. He could feel blood pouring down his arm. “Let me go! I didn’t do anything wrong! Why are you hurting me?!”

The humanoid zoner from before growled, “You’re a creator! You’re just like the rest of them! You are the enemy! You must be stopped!”

“Rudy!” Snap cried. He rushed over towards Rudy.

The bird zoner turned her head towards Snap. “Here comes his accomplice! Get him!” She shouted.

Another anti-creator zoner, this one an anthro crocodile, rushed over and body slammed Snap into the ground. Rudy, through his pain, watched in horror as Snap was pinned on the ground. The crocodile took him into his jaws and shook him a few times before throwing him against a nearby tree. Rudy struggled to get off the ground, determined to go help his friend, but the dog zoner on him kept him on the ground. His claws dug further into his skin and by now most of his bandages around his stomach had been ripped off.

Snap tried to fight back. As the crocodile zoner held him down, he delivered a punch, hitting against the crocodile’s face. This did little to deter him, though. Instead of making him back off, it made him snarl angrily. He lifted up Snap with one thick arm and slammed him into the ground a few times before holding him by his leg upside down in the air. Snap, though obviously in pain, snarled at the crocodile zoner and continued to try to fight back, swinging punches at him.

“Leave my friend alone! He never did anything to you guys!” Snap cried out in anger. He continued to try to punch the crocodile zoner. “Can’t you see he’s injured?! What kind of sick, twisted zoners are you, attacking someone when they are injured?!”

The crocodile snarled at this, baring his sharp teeth. “Monsters? I’m afraid you got us mixed up, little dirtbag.” He raised Snap higher into the air. “He’s a creator, and all creators are monsters. He would destroy you the first chance he got, and here you were, running around with him. For shame...” He gave Snap a look of disgust before throwing him away like he was nothing more than some trash bag.

Snap rolled across the ground and got up onto his knees. He placed a hand on his head and rubbed it gently. He looked over and saw the crocodile zoner walking over to where Rudy was. “Rudy! No!”

The dog zoner finally got off of Rudy. At this point, he was in too much pain to get up. The dog zoner did a number on his back and shoulder. That, combined with his old injuries, made it impossible for Rudy to get back up to his feet. He was unable to make much of a protest when the crocodile zoner, the largest and clearly the strongest of the group, bent down and grabbed him by his neck. With little effort, Rudy was hoisted off the ground.

The crocodile zoner was not very gentle with him. His thick fingers pressed against his neck painfully, making it hard for him to breathe. Rudy grabbed onto his hand and tried to pull it off. The zoner refused to let go. Rudy kicked his legs weakly in the air, trying to struggle to get free. But the dark green zoner’s grip was like a vice. Slowly, Rudy opened up his right eye, staring down at the crocodile zoner in fear.

The crocodile snarled at him, baring his crooked, sharp teeth. He lifted up his hand in the air. Rudy’s right eye widened in horror. Snap called out and rushed towards him. Rudy heard the flap of wings and a grunt of pain from Snap and he realized that his friend was knocked into the ground again. His right eye remained glued on the raised paw. Then it came down. Rudy shut his eye and turned away. The paw collided with his face and instantly Rudy let out a bloodcurdling scream.

The zoner had struck him on the left side of his face. His claws slashed against his injured left eye, ripped off the eyepatch and leaving gashes on the left side of his face. He couldn’t tell if his left eye was really injured this time or if he had been lucky enough to have that eye missed again. Agony swept through his body and he let out a few more screams as blood poured down his face. He opened up his right eye, twitching, and stared at the crocodile zoner with a silent question of ‘why?’.

Suddenly, without warning, there was a loud screech overhead. Everyone froze, their bodies becoming still. They all looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. Then another screech, this one louder than before. There was a shadow that casted over everyone. The anti-creator zoners looked up and soon there was a flash of green and another screech. Something big and heavy landed on the ground. Something solid hit against the crocodile zoner, knocing him back and hitting him against his allies.

Standing before them was Tsere. The large pterosaur stood protectively over Rudy. He opened up his beak and let out a loud, warning screech at the anti-creator group. The four members that looked at him in horror were backing away slowly, so terrified that they forgot they had weapons with them. The pterosaur turned his head over and hit his beak against the bird zoner that had Snap pinned down. The bird zoner joined her comrades and they all stared in fear as Tsere opened up his wings and let out a loud squawk at them.

The anti-creator group backed up slowly, moving a few feet away. Tsere looked down at Rudy and gave him a gentle nudge. Snap rushed over to him and helped Rudy to his feet. While Snap helped Rudy up, the anti-creator group seemed to remember about their weapons and began to fire at them. Tsere let out started screeched as fire narrowly missed him. As soon as Rudy and Snap were on his back, the pterosaur was off, running across the ground with his wings out to gain momentum.

Behind him, the anti-creator zoners were rushing towards them, shooting their weapons frantically at them and shouting curses and insults at them. Tsere continued to run. Rudy held on as tightly as he could, trying his best to ignore the pain. Tears of agony streamed down his face. Snap held onto him, pressing himself against him. Tsere started to flap his wings as they came to a cliff. Then, as soon as the pterosaur reached the cliff, he launched off of it, kicking up dirt with his claws. He dove downward.

The anti-creator zoners stopped at the edge, waving their weapons in the air threateningly and shouting angrily at them. They watched them, anger burning in their eyes, as Tsere rose up into the air and started to fly off into the distance, carrying Rudy and Snap with him.

Rudy took in a few shaky breaths. “Th-That was close...”

“Yeah, you can say that again...” Snap said, wiping his brow in relief. “Good thing Tsere showed up when he did. I don’t know what would have happened if he didn’t save us!”

“Yeah...” Rudy suddenly let out a cry of pain and clutched his injured left eye. He pulled his hand away and stared at his blood-covered palm in horror.

“Come on, Bucko...” Snap said, looking at Rudy with concern. He placed a hand on his injured shoulder gently. “Let’s get you back to the hospital...”

Rudy did not protest. “Okay...”

Chapter Text

“Rudy, what were you thinking?!” Mrs. Tabootie cried, a few tears moving down her face. “You were lucky it wasn’t as bad as it could have been!”

“What in tarnation were you trying to accomplish, Rudy?” Mr. Tabootie scolded his son.

Tilly nodded in agreement. She glared down at Rudy, trying her best to fight back her tears. “You should have just stayed in the hospital!”

Rudy lowered his head in shame, his eyes downcast. He couldn’t blame his family for being so upset with him. He had made a huge mistake by leaving the hospital. He should have listened to Snap and stayed here. He would have been safer if he just stayed at the hospital like he should have. Three days wasn’t a long time for him to heal, and now he got even more injuries. His mom was right. He was lucky that it didn’t turn out worse than it already was. The anti-creator zoners were vicious. They could have done a lot more to him if they had the chance.

“I tried to get him to stay, but...” Snap started to say.

“And what why didn’t you?!” Mrs. Tabootie snarled in Snap’s direction. She formed a fist with her hand and raised it up a little. “We were counting on you to keep him safe! But you let him out of the hospital, and now look at him!”

Snap cringed at this. He opened up his mouth to speak, but no words would come. He hunched himself over and gave Mrs. Tabootie a guilt-ridden expression. He took a few steps back from the angry woman.

“Now Milly...” Mr. Tabootie put a hand on his wife’s arm and pushed it down. “This isn’t the time to be pointing fingers. “Snap did say he tried to stop Rudy, and besides, we aren’t going to solve anything if we just stand around pointing fingers.” He moved his hand up to squeeze his wife’s shoulder gently. “The important thing is that Rudy’s back at the hospital and he’s being treated.”

Mrs. Tabootie’s expression softened up and she gave a deep sigh. “Yeah...you’re, right, Joe.” She looked over at Snap. The zoner looked at her apprehensively. Looking guilty herself, she said, “I’m sorry, Snap.”

Snap stared at her, then gave a small smile. “It’s quite all right. I...I understand why you were upset.”

Listening to this made Rudy feel even guiltier. He wished he hadn’t gotten Snap to agree to stay with him. He wished he had heeded the warning and stayed in the hospital. Now, because of his stupidity, he got even more injured and Snap got hurt in the process. If he had just listened and stayed like he was told, none of this would have happened.

And of course, he had tried to lie about his condition. Blatantly lie... He told Snap at the treehouse that he was feeling ‘okay’. Yeah right... He was feeling far from it. He knew Snap could tell that he wasn’t fine either. Yet he still said it anyway. He didn’t know why he did it. To comfort Snap? To delude himself to believing things were okay now? He shook his head. He shouldn’t have tried to lie. He was just making things harder on himself by doing so.

His first encounter with the anti-creator group had been a truly terrifying one. He hadn’t expected it to happen that suddenly, that swiftly. Now they burned down Snap’s home, leaving the poor guy homeless, at least until he drew him some other place to live. But now long would that last? Would the group go after him again? Was Snap also a target of this group? It was a possibility. That bird zoner called Snap his ‘accomplice’, so they must think Snap goes around helping Rudy ‘wreak havoc across ChalkZone’, even though that’s not what he’s doing. But this anti-creator group...they must hate humans so much that they refuse to see reason.

They did attack him while he was injured, after all. They clearly didn’t care that he was covered in bandages. They didn’t care that he was already hurt and weak. They still treated him like he was a maximum level threat and they hurt him. Rudy wasn’t sure if they were going to kill him or not. The way they were acting, it seemed like a possibility. Or maybe they were trying to send a clear cut message to him. Whatever they were doing, it scared Rudy that they still hurt him while he was hurt. If they were willing to go that far...just what was this group truly capable of?

They were interrupted from their thoughts when they heard footsteps coming call the hallway. They turned their attention towards the door. Seconds later, Dr. Raiden, Mrs. Sanchez, and Penny came walking into the room. They each had a concerned expression on their faces. Dr. Raiden was holding some charts while Mrs. Sanchez held some medical supplies. Penny was navigating down the halls using yet another cane that was given to her. They approached Rudy, who sat on the edge of his hospital bed.

Almost immediately, Mrs. Sanchez went to work treating the wounds. Penny set the cane against the bed and assisted her mother however she could, which wasn’t easy given her bad leg. Rudy did his best to hold still as his fresh new wounds were washed. Keeping still while the disinfectant was sprayed on him was not easy, but he managed to pull it off. As Rudy’s injuries were cleaned and bandaged up by Penny and Mrs. Sanchez, Dr. Raiden stood next to him and was flipping through his charts. Rudy and the others watched him expectantly, waiting for him to give him his prognosis.

“Well, the good news is that it doesn’t seem this group did a lot of harm to you, Rudy. It looks worse than it really is.” The cheetah zoner turned his amber eyes and glanced at Rudy’s left eye. “Especially in the case of your eye. The eye itself appears to be largely undamaged, but it’s going to take longer for it to heal now.”

“So he’s going to be fine?” Mrs. Tabootie asked, her voice hopeful.

Dr. Raiden replied, “Well, there’s still some hurdles. We need to look him over some more to make sure that he didn’t aggravate his internal injuries. There’s a good chance that the Luminos may have caused more harm than we initially believed.”

“Luminos?” Tilly asked. “Sounds like the name of a game my daughter might come up with.”

“Well I’m afraid the Luminos are not some game.” Dr. Raiden said. He grabbed the edge of a page and flipped it over. He gave Tilly a sideways glance. “They’re a dangerous group whose goal is to keep all creators out of ChalkZone. They had been quiet for some time, but...” He clenched his teeth a little. “I wonder what caused them to stir up now. Well, it doesn’t matter now anyway. The point is, they’re active again, and no doubt, they’d come after Rudy again.”

At this, Rudy’s parents and Tilly gave a gasp of shock. Penny, Snap, and Mrs. Sanchez also looked worried, giving the doctor an uncomfortable expression. Rudy felt a shudder go through his body. He couldn’t imagine what the Luminos would do to him if they were to get a hold of him again. If their first attempt at kicking him out failed, just what were they going to do a second time? He couldn’t leave ChalkZone without being in great pain.... Just what was he going to do?

He definitely needed some place he could be safe. Right now, the hospital may be his best bet. He had doubts that the group would attack this place. And with so many zoners here, they probably couldn’t get through anyway. But if the hospital turned out to not be too safe, or if the doctors say it may still be dangerous, then there was another place he thought of. Penny and Snap told him about the Gem Desert. That isolated area deep underground...that would be a good place for him to be. There was almost no chance that the Luminos would follow him there. It would be too risky of a move for them.

He was glad that Tilly did not bring Sophie into ChalkZone today. He did miss his little cousin. He did want to see her again. But with the Luminos roaming about, ChalkZone would be too dangerous for her. He hoped that Tilly could convince Sophie not to come here for a while until things were cleared up. Sophie might be able to hold her own, but Rudy would rather she not take the risk and stay out of ChalkZone. After what happened to him, he saw no reason to believe that this group would be gentle with the eleven year old.

Rudy winced as he felt Mrs. Sanchez start to clean his eye wound. He cringed and hunched over slightly as he tried to cope with the pain. He let out a small whimper was the woman carefully cleaned the cut and then went to apply the disinfectant. Rudy let out a cry of pain as the disinfectant stung him, but soon the pain gave way to relief and he calmed down. Mrs. Sanchez then started to apply new bandages to the damaged left eye. While she did this, Penny was taking care of the wound on his right hand. She washed the wound, cleaned it, which stung, and she wrapped a bandage around his hand, making sure it was good and tight.

As they were finishing up bandaging him, Dr. Raiden spoke up, addressing everyone in the room. “Rudy will have to stay here for a while. It is too dangerous for him to wander around ChalkZone with the Luminos out there.”

“But what if the group attacks here?” Mr. Tabootie asked.

“Yeah. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the hospital is exactly well armed to deal with this sort of thing.” Tilly pointed out.

“Don’t worry. He’ll be safe.” Dr. Raiden said, his voice filled with confidence and certainty.

“How can you be so sure?” Snap asked, pointing a hand in his direction. “I’m not trying to be a downer. I just don’t know how you can be so certain that he won’t be attacked.”

“Trust me...” Dr. Raiden’s voice was a little forceful when he said that. He stared at Snap intently. His eyes narrowed slightly, reflecting his level of confidence. “The Luminos will not try to attack him here...”

Snap took a few steps back. “Well okay... That’s good to hear.”

Dr. Raiden stared at Snap for a few seconds before he turned his attention back to the charts. He flipped through them some more, his amber eyes skimming through the paperwork. Then when he was finished, he closed it up and placed it in the crook of his arm. He held it against his chest. His attention was then shifted to Rudy, who was finished being bandaged up by Penny and Mrs. Sanchez.

“I trust that you will stay here for the next few nights.” Dr. Raiden said, his voice calm.

Rudy nodded his head. “Yeah... I will..”

Dr. Raiden gave him a small smile. “Good, good...” With that, he turned and started to head towards the door. He stopped and then turned his head so he could see Rudy with one eye. “It may be even safer for you if you didn’t leave the hospital at all. But if you need to, just make sure to come back soon, and don’t stay out too long. The Luminos would surely nab any opportunity they see fit to get you.”

Rudy nodded in understanding. He watched as the cheetah zoner headed out of the room. He turned his gaze towards the ground, his mind filling with memories of recent events. The attack on Snap’s home, the Luminos members attacking him, being ambushed by the black chalk users earlier.. So much was going on and he was getting more and more hurt as time went on. He did have a piece of green chalk again, thankful that Barney gave them more than one. But what if this was taken, too? What if the Luminos or the black chalk artists attack him again? What if they go after his friends and families next?

Rudy glanced sadly over to Snap. The poor guy lost his home because of him... If he had just listened to the doctors and stayed home, Snap’s treehouse wouldn’t have been attacked like that. Now Snap was currently homeless. He was certain that Blocky or Rapsheeba wouldn’t mind taking him in, and Rudy can always redraw his home. But Rudy still couldn’t help but feel guilty about it. Knowing Snap, the blue zoner wasn’t going to hold this against him. Snap would care more about his well being than some tree house that could just be recreated. But that didn’t help Rudy much to shake off the feelings of guilt.

Dr. Raiden’s warning did send a cold chill down his spine. Was he really not that safe going around ChalkZone anymore? What of Penny? Their parents? Tilly and Sophie? Wilter? Would they be attacked as well, if the group manages to get them alone somewhere in ChalkZone? Rudy had his doubts he could stay at the hospital the entire time. He would want to leave. He would want to see what else has been doing on lately. He didn’t want to sit around and do nothing.

But Dr. Raiden was still right. The group would attack him the next time they got. Depending on how desperate they were, they might go after him even if there were a dozen zoners surrounding him. The hospital was, by comparison, safer than just wandering around outside on his own. He still didn’t like it, though. He couldn’t remain cooped up here the entire time. He can see staying here at night where he could rest in peace, but with the black chalk users still causing trouble, and with the potential dangers posed by the Luminos, he needed to do something to help keep ChalkZone safe.

Rudy’s thoughts were interrupted when his parents came over. Penny and Mrs. Sanchez made room for them on the bed. They sat down next to their son. Worry shined in their eyes and they gave him a group hug. They were careful not to hurt him further. Rudy didn’t move. He just froze as they hugged him tightly, afraid to let him go. He couldn’t blame them for being this way. They did almost lose their son to a vicious zoner attack.

Not long after, Penny, Snap, Tilly, and Mrs. Sanchez approacheda s well. Like his parents, they gave him a hug, a way to comfort themselves and him, to spread reassurance among the group that everything would be okay. Rudy felt grateful for this. Reassurance was something they definitely all needed.

Suddenly, the door opened up again. Everyone looked, expecting to see one of the doctors, but instead it was someone that they hadn’t really expected. Instead of a doctor, it was Skrawl. He stood in the door way on two legs. He stared directly at Rudy. He had something of a frown on his face, but Rudy could tell there was some concern in those eyes as well. The jellybean took a few steps towards him. He stopped a few feet away.

“Chalk boy.” Skrawl said. He eyed Rudy up and down. “I take it you had a run in with some trouble?”

“Yes.” Rudy said.

Rudy noted the expression on his family’s faces. Although he had told them about Skrawl, they still felt a little wary around him. It may have been due to Skrawl’s social skills, or lack there of. Even two more years wasn’t enough for Skrawl to learn some proper etiquette. He would have spoken up as he watched his parents and his aunt watch Skrawl warily, but there wasn’t really much he could say to help them feel better. And it wasn’t like Skrawl was bothered by it anyway. He would just ignore them.

Skrawl took a more steps forward. He glanced at Rudy’s family members for a few seconds. He ignored the looks they were giving him and he turned his attention to Rudy. “I still can’t believe you took that risk.”

“You know about that?” Snap said, his eyes wide in surprise. “But..how would you know if...”

Skrawl raised his hand. “If you think I’m psychic, Snap, think again.” He pointed at Snap, narrowing his eyes, before turning his glance back at Rudy. His voice was still directed at Snap. “I spoke to the doctors when I came in. They told me what he did. And I must say, Master Tabootie...” Skrawl shook his head, now fully addressing the eighteen year old. “I am quite disappointed in you.”

“Hey now...” Mr. Tabootie spoke up. He moved up to the jellybean zoner and stared him directly in his mismatched eyes. “At least Rudy’s in the hospital getting treated now.”

“Yes..and that almost didn’t happen.” Skrawl leaned forward, causing the man to take a step back. “If he had just listened to the doctors, this wouldn’t have happened...”

“I know that, Skrawl. I know I screwed up.” Rudy growled, glaring at Skrawl. “What’s the point in making me feel worse?”

“You aren’t helping, Skrawl.” Penny said, her eyes narrowed.

Skrawl let out a soft growl. Just when they thought he was going to snap at them again, he let out a soft sigh. “Yeah I know.” He sucked in a breath, attempting to calm himself down. Rudy felt glad that Skrawl was at least making an effort to control his temper. There were times when he could still be pretty nasty when he lets his temper control him. When Skrawl spoke again, this time he was definitely a lot calmer. “I just came to give you quick news regarding that anti-creator group.”

“Oh?” Rudy asked, his voice laced with curiosity. “What did you find out?”

“Any good news?” Mrs. Tabootie asked hopefully.

“Or nothing that bad, if it’s not so good news?” Snap inquired.

Skrawl stood on one leg. He folded his arms behind his back. He stared at the humans in the group, as well as Snap. He paused for a few moments. Rudy guessed it was so that he could gather his thoughts and form some coherent sentences in his head so he could properly convey what he wanted to tell them. Whatever he had to say about the Luminos group, it had to be important enough that he’d come all the way to them to deliver the message himself, instead of just letting his Beanie Boys do it.

Skrawl said, “My Beanie Boys and I have detected some activity from the group, outside of what they did to you. It seems they are fighting with the black chalk users in less populated areas of ChalkZone. The anti-creator group has also caused some forms of vandalism. It isn’t just the black chalk users causing trouble. This anti-creator group is as well. We have attempted to arrest them...” His expressioned softed as he cast his gaze towards the ground. “But so far all efforts to arrest them have failed. They manage to escape our grasp.” He lifted his head back up. “But rest assured, we will do what we can to apprehend them. In the meantime, all you humans best watch your back.”

“They’re escaping arrest...?” Snap spoke softly, casting a wary glance over to Rudy.

“If they’re doing that...” Penny said in a low voice. “...they must be pretty resourceful.”

“I wonder just how they’re managing to get away.” Tilly wondered out loud. “I mean...to evade police that easily?”

“Especially flying police officers...” Mr. Tabootie pointed out, reminding them that the Beanie Boys can fly.

Mrs. Tabootie said, “Well maybe their luck will run out soon? No one can run from the police forever.”

“I quite agree, miss.” Skrawl said, giving a nod towards the large woman. “Which is why my Beanie Boys and I will continue to try to get them. But we will use caution. I have an idea of why they keep evading us.”

“And that is...?” Rudy asked cautiously, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

Skrawl furrowed his eyes with concern. “I have sent two groups of five Beanie Boys to apprehend some members at two different times. One was two days ago. And another was last night.” He paused. The silence was uncomfortable. Then he spoke. “They never returned.”

A cold chill went through everyone’s spines. Eyes were wide in horror. The Beanie Boys never returned? Ten of them just...vanished? They all had a feeling of what happened. An uncomfortable sensation that chilled their blood. It was something they didn’t want to think about, but they couldn’t just ignore it. There was no way they could. And the way that Skrawl said they never returned...how his voice sounded...that lead them all to the same conclusion.

The Beanie Boys had been killed... The Luminos had murdered them. This fact sent a realization through Rudy’s head. Not just his, but they all came to realize this. The Luminos were more dangerous than they had realized. They were willing to go against the law to get what they want. They were okay with killing if they felt it served the ‘greater purpose’. They were not afraid of shedding blood. Thanks to them, ten Beanie Boys were dead, or at least missing. Even if they weren’t dead yet, there was a chance they would be soon, considering how vicious their attack against Rudy and Snap were.

Rudy felt his heart rate speeding up. Things have just gotten a lot more dangerous. An uncomfortable thought tugged at the back his mind. Something that he was not able to ignore, especially now.

Just how could things possibly get any worse?

sss

Terry hoped this would work. Come on..it just had to work.. She was running out of options. This was the only thing left that she could think of doing. Come on, please work...

The realization that Vinnie not only had ChalkZone evidence, but that it would be shown soon sent ice through her veins. Had this happened years ago, she would have been excited. Now, the same thing was frightening her, in much the same way she was certain it would scare Rudy and Penny. She had promised Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie that she would not let the ChalkZone evidence be aired, and she wasn’t about to break that promise.

She had tried to talk Vinnie out of it. But he was determined to show it. He said he wasn’t going to let her control him anymore. He had followed her advice when it suited him. Now that she was no longer interested in exposing ChalkZone, he saw no reason to listen to her, and now he has taken the reigns. He hid the ChalkZone tape somewhere and locked it up. Even if Terry did manage to get out of the locked room, she’d still have to find the tape and she’d still have to find a way to open it up. Or she could just take it with her, wherever she ended up going.

Or at least, she would have at least tried, had Vinnie not decided to take another step. He told her yesterday that he had brought the evidence over to the network producers. Her heart had clenched at this, and she only calmed down when Vinnie said they would not look at the footage until the day of the broadcast. It was supposed to be tomorrow, but it ended up being delayed for another couple days. Three at most. Terry was relieved by this news as it gave her more time, but still, that wasn’t a ton of time to try to fix things before Vinnie would make the biggest mistake of his life.

About an hour ago, she had been taken into the bathroom. During this time, things started to look up for her when she found something laying on the ground. Vinnie hadn’t been as thorough as he would have liked. Perhaps he was in such a hurry to keep himself cleaned up that he had missed a spot. Whatever the case, she had managed to find a needle laying on the ground. It wasn’t the best choice to pick locks with, but it was better than having absolutely nothing to use like was the case before.

She didn’t try picking the lock right away. She had to wait. She overheard Vinnie talking on the phone, stating that he was going for another meeting to the news station, probably to secure the time slot and to discuss matters with the executive producers. She wondered if he would outright tell them about ChalkZone, or if he was going to be smart about it and keep it hush hush until the evidence was broadcasted.

When Vinnie left, that was when Terry made her move. She started to pick at the lock. She had been on it for about half an hour now. She knew she didn’t have that much time. There wasn’t a large window of opportunity for her. The news station wasn’t terribly far away and she had no idea how long the meeting was going to be for or when Vinnie would be back. She had to hurry as quickly as she could. Keeping the needle in the lock, she continued to twist it and push it up and down, hoping that, somehow, someway, it would give in and the door would unlock.

But as another half hour passed, and still no luck, she started to feel her hope sinking. If Vinnie came back before she could get this open, or even just as she got it open, she was in trouble. She didn’t know when else she’d have a chance like this. She couldn’t try at night as Vinnie was a light sleeper, and she might accidentally wake him up. She stared at the keyhole with determination, her teeth clenched, and she continued picking at the lock. Despite her hope waning, she refused to give up.

Then, finally, she heard something she never thought she’d hear. A click... She stared at the doorknob, her eyes wide in shock. She looked at the needle and then back at the door. She didn’t want to get her hopes up. She didn’t want to get excited over nothing. She reached down towards the door cautiously. She gripped the handle and pushed against it. Her more cynical side expected it to remain still, but to her amazement...she really had done it. The knob was turning...

Terry didn’t waste any time. She turned the door and she pushed it open. She winced as it squeaked. She had to remind herself that Vinnie was not back home yet. She moved cautiously out of the door. She looked left and right, confirming that she was indeed still alone. She crept through the house. Even though she was alone, she was still as quiet as she could. Vinnie could still return at any time and she had to be prepared to rush towards her room as soon as possible.

Terry did manage to find her cell phone, shoved in a dresser in the living room. She shoved it into her pocket and headed towards the door. She opened it up slowly and peaked her head out, looking left and right to make sure Vinnie was not coming. She went through the door and before she knew it, she was outside. At long last, since her kidnapping, she was finally outside. The sun hurt her eyes, forcing her to look away. She put a hand over her eyes and looked around, trying to figure out which direction she should go in.

She did not stay much longer there. Knowing that Vinnie could come back any second, Terry got a move on. She could be recaptured at any time. Vinnie could see her and catch her before she got far. She had to start putting distance between his place and herself. She had to get moving. And she knew exactly where she was going to go.

The Tabooties’. She knew how to get there from here. She had to tell them what was going on. There wasn’t much time left. She couldn’t stop for anything. Even though her wounds were bleeding in a few places again, even though she was in pain, she still pushed herself. She knew it was imperative she got to Rudy’s place as soon as possible. She would have called, but her cellphone ran out of battery, not being charged during all this time.

Without hesitation, and limping the whole way, Terry walked in the direction where she knew Rudy’s house was going to be.

sss

Reggie grumbled to himself. He couldn’t believe he was stuck doing some errands. Yeah, they didn’t have school today, but that didn’t mean his dad still had to turn it to business somehow and make him go on these errands. All Reggie wanted to do was say home and play some video games. The weekend was usually the only time he got to do that. When today’s school day was cancelled, though he forgot to reason, he was ecstatic and thought he could enjoy a day home alone while his dad worked.

Well that turned out to be a dud. His dad gave him some assignments. There were a few stores he had to go to, where he had to pick up a few things. His dad expected him to get all of these things and be back before he came home. A couple of the stores, he wasn’t really even picking up anything; he was just checking a few things, such as their car which was in shop. They were currently using a rental.

Reggie didn’t know why he had to do this stuff. The car wasn’t even his. His dad was just letting him use it for school. It really belonged to his dad. So why doesn’t his dad do all this? Why should he have to? Yeah, he did use the car, but only to get from home to school and back again. It wasn’t like his dad let him drive that far out anyway. This was especially true lately when he told his dad that he got a speeding ticket trying to take Rudy to the hospital. His dad really didn’t like that and had gotten stricter on his vehicle access.

Reggie would have put the blame on Rudy if he were in better condition. Truth is, Reggie felt a little guilty about trying to shift the blame on him when he was very sick. He had no idea how Rudy was. He hadn’t seen him in days. He thought about visiting his parents and asking him how he was, but he never got around to it. It wasn’t like Rudy to be gone this long. He wondered if it was because of the disease or if something else was going on. The more he thought about it, the more he was certain it was because there was more going on than he or Penny were letting on.

He was well aware of ChalkZone. Not that he really told anyone about it. They’d all think he was crazy. But Rudy and Penny knew he wasn’t nuts. Reggie remembered all too well the incident when he was ten and he ended up in ChalkZone with that red chalk. He knew it was no dream. He had pretended all this time to believe it was, but he was not a fool. Sure, he was not the brightest student on the block, but he could discern reality from fantasy. And he knew ChalkZone was real.

He hadn’t been very happy about getting tricked out of ChalkZone like that. He had been trying to find a way back in, but he never had any luck. He could have confronted Rudy and Penny about it, but he never did figure out how he could do that without drawing a scene. Besides, maybe they had good reason to kick him out. He hadn’t exactly been the nicest guy when he was there. Sure at first, he wasn’t that bad, but then the red chalk started to make him feel powerful and then the Chalk Mine, throwing trash around...

The giant had shouted something about the red chalk taking control of him. That wasn’t entirely true. Reggie was never controlled by it. He acted out because, for the first time in his life, he felt powerful, completely in control. And he wasn’t about to let anyone take that away from him, especially not Rudy. He started acting out because it was the best way he could express himself at that time, and he admitted that it was not exactly the best move he could have made.

He had mixed feelings about the whole thing. He hadn’t said anything about ChalkZone, but not because he was certain of the consequences; it was because no one would believe him. He wasn’t sure how to feel about it, if he should try to speak up anyway, if he should consider Rudy and Penny’s perspectives. He was still sore at Rudy for kicking him out, and he had thought about forcing him to let him back in. But not now. He wasn’t going to take advantage of Rudy being sick to get back in. He had mellowed out over the years and he was no longer the same bully they had come to know.

He had confessed to Penny that he knew about ChalkZone. So she knows. Maybe he could try to speak to her again, whenever he had the chance to. Maybe she would let him in ChalkZone. He just had to avoid the darn red chalk. He wasn’t really in the mood to be dragged all the way to the Chalk Mine again.

Reggie wondered just what ChalkZone was. There were a lot of drawings there...zoners he believed they called themselves. Everything was drawn. Everyone looked like it came out of a coloring book. He wasn’t sure what to make of them. Were they alive? Was it all an illusion? There were so many questions about that place he had, but he never got a chance to ask any of them. Perhaps if he confronted Penny, she’d answer. He was certain she’d be willing to speak if he threatened to tell people about ChalkZone. Yeah, a dirty trick, but it would still get results, would it not?

As he drove down the street, going to his next destination, he noticed something on the side of the street. Something that was moving, but quite oddly so. He narrowed his eyes in confusion. He looked left and right to make sure there were no cars coming. He started to slow the car down and pulled up to the sidewalk. He shifted his stick to park and he lowered his window. He peered out and had a look around.

It took him a few seconds, but he did eventually see someone on the sidewalk, the person he spotted from the corner of his eye. He instantly recognized the person as Terry Bouffant. He let out a gasp of horror. Just...just what had happened to her...?

Terry looked pretty bad. She was limping horribly, constantly tripping over her own feet. She looked like she had a lot of crude bandages wrapped around her. He could see stains of red all over her clothes, a lot of torn marks and a few stabs. Her hair was dirty and messed up and it appeared to be heavily matted. She looked pale, like she was a little sick or frightened to death. Judging from her face contorting, he could tell she was in a lot of pain and it must be taking her a great deal of effort just to move.

Knowing he couldn’t just leave her there, Reggie opened up his car door and got out. He rushed over to Terry. He managed to catch her just before she fell forward. Being quite strong, he managed to hold her up no problem. Terry let out a few moans of pain as Reggie supported her, slinging her arm across his shoulder.

“Ms. Bouffant! What happened?!” Reggie asked her, staring at her with wide eyes.

“T-Take me...to Rudy’s...please...” Terry said, her voice weak and pain-filled.

“What happened to you?” Reggie asked again. “Who did this to you? I’m taking you to the hospital!”

Terry raised her hand and protested meekly, “No... Tabooties’..now...”

Reggie had no idea why Terry was rejecting medical attention. She needed help now. Why was she insisting on going to Rudy’s place? Couldn’t it wait? Whatever it was, he was certain it could wait. He carried Terry over to the car. He went over to the passengers side and opened it up. He helped her into the car and buckled her down. Then he went back over and got into the diver’s seat.

He put the key in the ignition and turned it. As the car roared to life, he turned his attention to Terry. She leaned back against the chair, looking absolutely exhausted. Just how long had she been wandering outside like that? What happened to her? Who attacked her? He’d have to find out later. He had to get her to the hospital. He knows that she wantes to go to Rudy’s place, but that would have to wait. His errands had to right. Right now, getting this woman to the hospital was more urgent.

Reggie pulled away from the curb and he headed in the direction of the hospital.

Chapter Text

It had been a few hours since they got the news from Skrawl. Penny recalled just how frightened she had been when the jellybean told them that law enforcement hadn’t been able to stop the anti-creator group, which Raiden told them was called the Luminos. What chilled her even more were the disappearances of those ten Beanie Boys...

Skrawl believed they had been killed and their bodies disposed of. He had sent multiple search parties to find the missing Beanie Boys, but so far, none of them turned up anything. Penny didn’t want to believe that the Luminos had killed them, and in her mind, she tried to search for other possibilities. Maybe they just got lost. Maybe they were being held hostage... No neither of those made much sense. If they were lost, the other Beanie Boys would have found them by now. They were pretty good at searching for members of their own species. And what motivations would the Luminos have in holding them hostage? If they want to kick creators out, that wouldn’t be a way to do it.

Skrawl may have already thought of this, Penny realized. He was a generally smart zoner, even if he did have his dumb moments at times. He may have thought of different outcomes, and believed the only rational one that made sense is that they were killed. Penny still wanted to believe that something else happened to them. The idea of the anti-creator group being so hostile that they would kill another zoner just to send a message, or just because they treated creators with kindness, it was downright terrifying. She hadn’t even met the group yet and already she could feel their hatred radiating off of them.

She was going to have to be careful when wandering around ChalkZone alone. Although most zoners don’t seem to share this anti-creator mindset, she had no idea just how widespread it is. She wasn’t even sure if the Luminos members would be vocal around her. Maybe around random zoners, but maybe they got quiet if they saw a human, perhaps watching them...waiting to see when they could strike... She shook the thought from her mind. She was getting a little carried away. If she wandered around a public place, the Luminos couldn’t make a move on her, could they? They would have to avoid the prying eyes of other zoners who do not share their hatred of humans.

Penny had decided to go for a walk. After what they learned at the hospital, she felt like she needed to get out and walk around for a little. She needed to clear her head so she can think of what next move they should make. She promised Rudy, who wasn’t keen on her leaving on her own, that she would be back very soon. She was just going to walk around ChalkZone City. It wasn’t like anything bad was going to happen. Plus she was armed. If something happened, she would be ready.

Besides, it wasn’t like any of the zoners here would bother her. The Luminos wouldn’t dare risk a move in public, would they? At most, she’d probably just hear them protest. Other than them, most zoners were relatively peaceful and wouldn’t bother her. Oh there was Boorat, who had gotten out of jail sometime ago. But he hadn’t been causing any trouble lately, and the worst he’d do is probably demand the magic chalk. She wondered, half-amused, how he’d react when he found out one of his creators, Ms. Bouffant, didn’t want to expose ChalkZone anymore. That would surely confuse him.

Speaking of Ms. Bouffant, she wondered what happened to her. She hadn’t seen her on the television news lately, and she hadn’t bumped into her anywhere for the past few days. It was a little unusual. No..it was quite unusual, she corrected herself. She could see not bumping into her for days. It wasn’t like Terry went to all the same places they did. But to not be on the news? Terry wasn’t one to get sick that easily, and she was usually on to give at least one report. But she hadn’t been on TV at all.

She hoped she was all right. They weren’t exactly friends, but they had been on friendlier terms since she stopped trying to expose ChalkZone. Penny was surprised how amiable Terry could be when she wasn’t obsessing over ChalkZone like she had years ago. She and Rudy had gotten to know her more unpleasant side during those times. Her scheming, trickster side, and she hoped she never had to deal with that again. So far, she was getting her wish. Terry had been honest when she said she won’t try to expose ChalkZone anymore, and for the past two years, never once did she lift a finger to do such a thing.

Penny sensed that something was wrong when Terry no longer showed up on TV. She thought about calling the news station and see if they know where she is. She hadn’t gotten around to it, but then, she didn’t have to. The news anchor did say something about her being sick, and normally this would satisfy Penny, but..there was something wrong about it. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. There was something about that statement that didn’t make much sense to her.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized just what it was that bothered her. The news anchor had stated he got the news from someone named Vinnie Raton. It had taken Penny a little while to recognize that name, as it had been a while since she last ran into that crazy man. It wasn’t that she thought Vinnie was heartless, but he and Terry weren’t exactly on the best of terms lately, or so she guessed. Since Terry stopped trying to expose ChalkZone, she had little reason to interact with that dog man. Their relationship was like that of partners, and once Terry pulled out, she guessed all communications would have stopped.

At first, Penny had thought nothing of it. But when she really thought about it, she realized that something didn’t make sense. Why would Vinnie be the one to tell the news anchor that she was sick? Wouldn’t Terry be the one to do that? And why would Vinnie care if she was sick or not? They were just partners, right? Or ex-partner in this case. Vinnie had little reason to interact with Terry. There was no way that he would go visit her since they’re no longer partners, right? The only reason he had ever worked with her was because of the whole ChalkZone fiasco thing. After that, there was little reason for them to associate with each other anymore.

Penny began to wonder if Vinnie had anything to do with Terry’s disappearance. Her heart clenched at the thought. Vinnie had never been particularly violent. Well there were those crazy barks he’d give, but he was all talk and no punch. He hadn’t tried to hurt them, or if he had, it was so far between she hardly remembered.

But then again, he was desperate to get that chalk world theme park going. He really wanted to go into ChalkZone and build an amusement park for people to enjoy. He wanted to make all that money, to be a millionaire. He made that intention of his quite clear. He didn’t try to hide it. If he was desperate enough, would he resort to violence? Blackmail? Would he go as far as kidnap Terry and try to force her to relinquish the information? Penny knew she was getting ahead of herself right now, but her mind kept swirling with these images. If Terry was in some kind of trouble, shouldn’t she try to do something about it?

Yeah, they weren’t really friends. On good terms, but not really buddy buddy or anything. But it would be wrong of her to just sit around and do nothing if she really was in trouble. Penny knew she had to do something, but with no leads, there wasn’t really much. And she couldn’t leave ChalkZone without telling Rudy and Snap where she’d be. With the Luminos group roaming about, they would think something terrible happened to her. She wouldn’t want to worry her friends. And her mother... She didn’t want to worry her either.

Her thoughts turned to Rudy. She was so worried about him. She wasn’t the only one. Rudy’s family, Snap, her mom, they were all worried about Snap. Sophie would be too, once she was informed about his condition. Rudy seemed to be getting worse and worse lately, and it wasn’t his fault. So much stuff was happening to him that he hardly had any time to recover. Just when things start to look up, something else happens to him. It filled Penny with sorrow thinking about it.

Rudy had the disease going on. It was spreading, according to Dr. Raiden, and slowly getting worse. For now, Rudy was able to handle the pain, partially thanks to the chartreuse chalk she gave him. It was doing the job just fine, keeping the pain at bay. But it wasn’t going to bide him much more time. It had been several days. The disease had progressed through his body and gotten worse. They needed to find the cure for the disease and fast, before his body literally melts from the inside out.

There was the concern about the alternate dimensions as well. How were they going to get there anyway? They needed knowledge of where to find the machines. Tavern Town...just where was that place? How was she or anyone going to find it? Perhaps a visit to the library would do her some good. She could go in a local library in ChalkZone City that wasn’t too far away. It may have knowledge in there on how to find Tavern Town. She could find out if it was buried under something new, and where that place was.

And once the place’s location was pinpointed, they could prepare for the trip and go there. She had a feeling their family members would want to go with them. She would have to convince them to stay behind. As much as their help could be used, she didn’t want them getting hurt. Plus, they had to stay behind to keep an eye on things with ChalkZone. The black chalk wielders might try something during their absence. Someone had to stay behind to make sure they don’t try anything. Their parents weren’t experts at using magic chalk, but they were good enough to hold off those three. She would feel better going off to alternate dimensions if her mom and the other family members were staying behind, keeping an eye on things.

Penny wondered what these alternate dimensions would be like. She wonders just how different they were. From what they were informed, there shouldn’t be a major difference, but that was years ago. She wondered how the small differences back then would add up to reflect how the dimensions were now. Did they stayed relatively the same? Was there really going to be almost no difference between the dimensions? Or was there going to be some great, dramatic changes brought on by vast, or even subtle, differences in the way the timelines had functioned?

She had no idea how long they would be in said dimensions, so it would probably be important to pack a lot of things for the trips. They had to be prepared for anything. Without knowing how these dimensions were, they had to realize anything and everything was possible. And just what would they say to their alternate selves should they run into them? Would they understand the situation? Would they even be allies at all? Since anything was possible, she had to consider the uncomfortable idea that their alternate selves might be the bad guys in at least one dimension they go to.

She hoped that wasn’t the case. Hopefully their alternate selves would remain helpful and aid them in finding the cure in each dimension. At this rate, they could use any and all help they could get. And if their alternate selves would help with that, great. She would welcome the gesture. Hopefully it won’t take them long in both dimensions to find the cure and get back. Rudy still had some time left, but not a lot.

She realized that it wasn’t going to be easy getting to the alternate dimensions. The black chalk trio would likely try to stop them somehow. No doubt they would figure out they know where the cures are located and they would try to cut off their access. Jenny wasn’t stupid. She’d figure out, somehow, that they know about the alternate dimension machines and would try to come after them before they reached them.

And it wasn’t just them they had to worry about. The Luminos might try to stop them, too. She wasn’t entirely sure if they would or not, but it was a possibility, especially if they got to the point where they’d attack any human on sight. She reminded herself of what they did to Rudy. That there served as proof that this group was dangerous. They may try to ambush them as they try to get to the machines. It was better safe than sorry and they would have to assume that the Luminos would also try to stop them.

They were getting attacked by two sides. Two groups that both equally hated them, equally wanted to get them, though for different reasons. The thought sent ice through Penny’s veins. How were they going to deal with this double threat? It was hard enough just trying to deal with Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir. Now they have the Luminos to worry about. It was going to be harder getting through this than it was to deal with Cosmo and Bardot. At least at those times, there was just one threat. Now there was two.

Or possibly more... There was Vinnie, and whatever he was doing with Terry. If it was related to ChalkZone, and she wouldn’t doubt it was, then they had that to worry about. She had no idea how successful Vinnie would be, but if he was getting steps closer to exposing ChalkZone, that was reason to be alarmed. And in addition to him, there was the metal finger guy Wilter had warned them about. If he was his own side, and didn’t align himself with the Luminos, then that, in addition to Vinnie, gave them four threats to deal with.

Penny saw she was getting close to the library. She tried to push those thoughts out of her head. She needed to focus on looking through the library, the same one she and Snap were in before, and try to see if there is any information on Tavern Town. Surely one of the books there would have information. She could ask the front desk if they had anything.

She wished she had brought Snap with her. They did make a good team the last time they were here, helping each other try to find that one book. She hadn’t thought about asking him to tag alone, and now she wished she had. She didn’t feel too unsafe wandering about ChalkZone City since there were a lot of zoners walking by. But it still would have been a good idea to ask Snap to come with her. She wouldn’t have asked Rudy. With his injuries, he shouldn’t be moving around too much.

Well she’ll have to make do. She was already getting close to the library. She didn’t want to run all the way back to the hospital and then come back when she could just go in the library now and look around. Once she was able to find the information regarding Tavern Town, she could then head back to the hospital and give Rudy and Snap her word. Whenever their family members came back, she would tell them as well.

Penny opened up the door to the library and headed inside. It was just like how she remembered it. Bustling with life. Zoners moving ever which way to get books or to chat with each other. The high ceiling, the lights above. Yes, it was exactly how she remembered it. She made her way to the front desk. There were a couple of zoners in front of her, but she didn’t mind waiting.

The line was moving pretty quickly, so she didn’t have to wait too long. While she waited in line, she took another look around. She had to admire the beauty of this library. Whoever had drawn this, they did have good taste and style, and their skill levels were quite good. Judging from how this place looked, she guessed it was the work of a professional architech, or at least college level.

She didn’t have much longer to really look at the scenery around her. The line had moved faster than she expected. Soon she found herself at the front desk. She went up to it and put her hands on it. She looked up and she could see the librarian, some kind of horse, standing there. The librarian looked down at Penny, chewing on something. Probably a piece of gum. In a voice that was a little gruffer than Penny was used to hearing from females, the librarian spoke.

“Yes? May I help you?”

“Yes.” Penny said, pushing her hands a little more firmly on the edge. She leaned forward a little. “Do you have any books about Tavern Town?”

The librarian stared at her for a few moments. Her chewing became slow, deliberate. She blew a bubble and it popped loudly in Penny’s face. Then the librarian shifted her gaze towards the computer. Penny could hear the tapping as the librarian began to type something on there. Penny waited patiently to see what the librarian would say next.

After a few minutes, the librarian turned to face her. “Yes, we have one copy of some old book. Old World ChalkZone. It’s not in the greatest shape.” The horse zoner leaned forward and pushed her arm out, pointing her hoofed hand in a general direction. “If you go over there by the maps, you may find it. I don’t know if it’s checked out or not, and I don’t know what kind of condition it is in. I hope it suits your needs.”

“Okay, thanks!” Penny called out to her, waving at her.

With that information in mind, Penny headed in the direction the horse zoner indicated. She soon came upon a couple of shelves lined with a few dusty books, a large map sphere that spun on an axis, and several maps that laid on the ground. There wasn’t a lot of books here. Probably up to ten. It shouldn’t take her long at all to find the book the horse librarian told her about. She moved over to the shelf and began to sift through the books.

Sure enough, it really didn’t take her a long time to find it. She could see the title on the thin book spine; Old World ChalkZone. She pulled out a large book with a lot of dust on it. She narrowed her eyes. She took in a deep breath and blew on it. She coughed as the dust was kicked up, getting in her face. She waved her hands to get the dust away. She took off her glasses and cleaned them of the dirt that now clung to it. She put them back on her face and she glanced down at the book.

This book definitely looked quite old. She couldn’t see a date on it anywhere, even when she opened it up. But judging from how yellow and warn the pages were, and how dusty it was, she guessed it might easily be over forty years old. She knew that if any book was going to have information regarding the location of Tavern Town, this was going to be it. She opened it up and began to look through it.

The page she opened up to was a large map of ChalkZone, or rather, how it used to be. She was amazed at how much things had changed in all this time. ChalkZone looked almost completely different. Some areas did not exist, such as the Amazing River. Other places, such as Twisted Slopes, she didn’t recognize. It may have been one of the places the black chalk users destroyed, or it was turned into something else. And still some places she still recognized, such as the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle, but their sizes and overall appearances were completely different.

Her eyes shifted as she moved them along the page, trying to find Tavern Town. It had to be here somewhere. It existed back when Cosmo was around. Wilter wouldn’t lie about that. So it had to be here. She continued to look. Her eyes were starting to hurt from the thorough checking, but she kept pushing herself. She wasn’t going to give up. She had to find that place. She had to figure out where this Tavern Town place was located.

Soon her eyes came upon something. She had almost missed it. In one part of the map, almost center, she could see what looked like a small settlement. And when she looked close enough, she could see the words ‘Tavern Town’. It was quite smudgy, but that is what it read. Penny double checked to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. Now that she was able to confirm that this was indeed Tavern Town, she had to figure out where it was in relationship with the modern ChalkZone.

She wished she had thought to bring a map with her beforehand so she could compare the differences. But then she remembered that, since this was a map section, there was bound to be a more up to date map here somewhere. She went over to the maps laying on the ground and picked on up. She took a look at it. After determining that it was only a few years old, she dragged this new map over and laid it down next to her. She flattened it out so she could see the map of ChalkZone and looked at it.

Carefully, she compared the two. She glanced at the old map, and then the new one. She did this for a while until she could start to note connections. She was able to see the changes between some locations, how they got bigger or smaller. She could see what areas had become comething else, or disappeared completely. She could even tell what areas were more or less unchanged all this time, though those were very few, very far between. Almost everything had changed in some shape or form.

Then, eventually, she was able to locate what she wanted. It took a while, but she soon found where Tavern Town correlated with modern day ChalkZone. Her eyes widened a little. She flipped back and forth between the two areas, trying to see if she made a mistake and to make sure she was accurate. And the more she looked, the more she realized that this was indeed correct.

According to these maps, Tavern Town used to be located right here... Well not this particular spot. But where ChalkZone City now stood, once there was Tavern Town. So somewhere around here lay the ruins of Tavern Town...

At first, she was confused. She would have thought that Tavern Town was just not on the map anymore, hidden by the black chalk users so no one can find it. For it to be located here, in what is now ChalkZone City... Wouldn’t that require it being torn down? Hmm probably not. Maybe the parts of it that stored the machines were just paved over, hidden passageways built to get to them. That was a possibility. She could imagine the black chalk users doing something like that. The machines could be located under something that was reinforced and somewhere not so conspicuous, making it less likely someone would come along and find it.

Now that she had a relative location of where Tavern Town is, she could report back to Rudy and Snap. They could then try to figure out exactly where in ChalkZone City was the remnants of Tavern Town. Their best bet, she guessed, would be to look underground. There was the sewers down below. As disgusting as the thought was, somewhere down in the sewers could be a hidden passageway to the machines that were located in Tavern Town over forty years ago. She had tried to get a more accurate location on the map but she found it difficult.

No longer requiring the book, she got up and put it back on the shelf. She folded up the map and set it down where she had grabed it. She made her way towards the door. Next stop was the hospital. She was certain Rudy and Snap were waiting for her, so she moved at a brisk pace. Out of the door she went and she began to make her way down the street, heading in the opposite direction she had come.

She began to make her way down towards the hospital. It was about fifteen minutes walking. She would call using the phone that Rudy had drawn for her, him, and Snap. But she wouldn’t take that long to get there. She’d probably make it back before the fifteen minutes are up. So there was really no need. She continued to head down the street, looking all around, admiring the beauty of the city around her. Definitely better than what they had in the real world.

She knew that Rudy and Snap were going to be happy when she brought them some good news. They were a step closer to finding the cure for Rudy for that horrid disease. Now that they knew the relative location of where Tavern Town was, that reduced the search radius greatly. ChalkZone City was huge, but it wasn’t endless. They should be able to find something relatively quickly. They just had to figure out what areas would be the best place to start. The sewers, as she thought before, would probably be the best place to look first.

Although there may be other places, better candidates, that they could try first. The sewer was a dangerous place for them to go with all those toxins and wastes... And with Rudy’s injuries, they shouldn’t risk it. And Snap still had those burns. The toxins might irritate his healing skin. Yes, perhaps another place would be best. Hmm...there were some dark alleyways in ChalkZone City no one really used. Maybe one of them could be hiding a secret passage. Or maybe one of the abandoned buildings around ChalkZone City could be the place.

Penny guessed that the location of Tavern Town would be in one of these places, where not many zoners go anyway. Cosmo and the black chalk artists wouldn’t want the zoners going around, destroying their equipment. So best guess is that it was located somewhere the zoners either don’t know about, or couldn’t get to, or would leave alone. The dark alleyways, the abandoned buildings, and the sewers were the best places for them to look first. She’ll talk to Rudy and Snap more about it. Maybe one of them could have a suggestion on where they could go first.

As Penny moved down the street, she suddenly felt movement behind her. She froze and she turned to look behind her. She didn’t see anyone. She looked all around. She didn’t see anyone. She saw some zoners, but they were moving about their own business. After looking around for a bit and seeing absolutely no one, Penny shrugged her shoulders and continued down the street.

Then she heard the noise again. Footsteps. Several of them. And they sounded very close... Penny froze again and looked around. She still couldn’t see anyone. She wondered if she as just hearing things. Maybe her imagination was starting to get the best of her and she was imagining someone following her. Yeah, that was probably it. She needed to calm herself down and focus on getting back to the hospital. Rudy and Snap were expecting her back soon. Doing her best to remain calm, she resumed her walk back to the hospital.

She never got that much further down. As she passed by an alleyway, she felt someone grab her. Her eyes widen in shock, realizing this was how Rudy was captured by the black chalk artists a few days ago. She tried to scream, but a hand covered her mouth and she was dragged off. She quickly realized that it wasn’t Jenny, Ghadir, or Tyreek as the hand that gagged her was furry. She tried to struggle, but the hands grabbing her were too strong.

Once she was dragged several feet from the road, deep in a dark and abandoned alleyway, she was shoved against the wall hard. Her throat grabbed and her back pushed roughly against the wall, Penny opened her eyes to see who had grabbed her. Standing before her were three zoners. There was a crocodile one matching the description Rudy gave, a jaguar zoner, who was holding her by the neck, and some kind of unicorn zoner. They all gave her such hateful glares. She shuddered as she looked at them. They were so icy...

“You are coming with us, creator.” The jaguar zoner said with a cold voice.

“Where are you taking me...?” Penny asked, trying her best not to look afraid.

The jaguar zoner’s lips curled up, showing great contempt for her. “You are being taken back to that wretched portal where we will put you back where you belong. And if you know what’s good for you, you’d stay out of ChalkZone...” His voice gained a growly edge as he said this. He put his face close to Penny’s, his breath hitting against her face. “You are not to come back in.”

Penny tried to get herself free. She had to get to the hospital, and fast. Her legs kicked wildly against the wall, trying to land a hit on the jaguar zoner. But each hit she did manage didn’t really faze him much. If anything, it just made him angrier. Penny looked around, trying to find something, anything to help her. She had magic chalk with her, but right now, she couldn’t even use it against these guys.

The jaguar zoner clearly got tired of her struggling. His grip on her tightened and she nearly gagged. The jaguar zoner raised her into the air and smashed her harder against the wall. Penny let out a cry of pain. The cane that she had been using was now being held by the crocodile zoner. He was hitting it against the palm of his hand, looking fully intent on beating her with it if she didn’t behave. But Penny couldn’t give up. She had to get free. She had to get out of here. She had to at least try to call for help. But she couldn’t get her phone, or the chalk, as the jaguar zoner had smashed his body against her, pinning her arms effectively.

Penny pushed back as hard as she could, trying to get the jaguar zoner to back off a little. “Let me go! I need to go help Rudy!”

At the sound of Rudy’s name, the zoners growled softly, hatred clearly showing in their display of contempt. The crocodile’s teeth were bared, like he remembered when he had Rudy in his hands, only for him to slip away when Tsere had intervened. The unicorn flicked his head in agitation, giving a snort of anger, pounding a foot into the ground. The jaguar’s ears flattened against his face and Penny could have sworn his tail poofed up a little in anger.

The crocodile zoner took a few steps forward. The jaguar opened his mouth to speak, but the crocodile zoner beat him to it. “Now listen here, you filthy little human!” The crocodile zoner put his face close to Penny’s, his yellow eyes boring into hers. “We do not like watching you monsters roam around ChalkZone like some kind of infestation! You bring about nothing but destruction whenever you are here! If you really want what’s best for ChalkZone, then...” His voice grew low and very scratchy. “...get out and stay out....”

Penny struggled, trying to free her arms so she could get the magic chalk. “B-But...Rudy...”

“Rudy Tabootie is nothing more than a lost cause.” The unicorn snorted, his voice a little higher pitched than Penny would have expected. He walked over a little, his clopping sound a little pronounced with how thin this alleyway was. “Besides, we see no reason to help monsters like him.”

“He’s not a monster! Not all creators are bad! Why can’t you see that?!” Penny snapped at them, her eyes narrowed. She let out a grunt of pain as the jaguar zoner tightened his grip around her neck. It became very clear to her that these Luminos members were not going to listen to reason.

“We have seen two paths that he would take. And he is a monster in both!” The jaguar zoner snarled at her. “All creators are the same! They either become corrupted and violent, or they think they know everything and they began to take over!”

Penny looked at the zoner with a confused expression. What was he talking about? What did he mean by ‘two paths that Rudy could have taken’? It didn’t make any sense to her. Was this zoner psychic? Could he see visions of the future? Or...had he seen these alternate dimensions...? She didn’t have time to question it for long. Right now, she had to get free. She couldn’t ask them any questions. They would not answer her. From how they were glaring hatefully at her, it was clear they were not in the mood to talk.

Penny squirmed in the jaguar’s grasp. She twisted herself left and right, trying to make the feline zoner let her go. She eventually managed to get her arm free, and she was able to pull out the magic chalk. The anti-creator zoners’ eyes widened at this. The crocodile and unicorn took a few steps back, but the jaguar still refused to let her go, despite his eyes being glued to the sparkling white stick.

The jaguar’s eyes slowly shifted to the girl’s. “You’re going to try to destroy me...ain’t you, creator? Go ahead then.. Show everyone in ChalkZone exactly what creators do...”

Penny hesitated at this. She stared at the jaguar with wide eyes. She realized that he was right. If she did do anything to defend herself, she might risk coming off looking like a monster. These three Luminos members could use this to their advantage, use it to spread lies about creators and to bring more to join their cause. She had to do something else, but what?

She realized too late that she shouldn’t have hesitated. The unicorn zoner trotted over to her while she was trying to think of something she could do to get out of this mess. The unicorn placed his horn near her throat, causing her to pull her head back. She looked at the unicorn with wide eyes. He moved himself even closer, the tip of his horn nearly grazing her neck. Slowly, Penny lowered her hand. She still gripped the magic chalk, but she no longer wielded it. The unicorn only pulled back when he saw that she wasn’t going to try to draw anything with it.

“Why won’t you let me go?” Penny asked them. “Why won’t you let me help Rudy? He’s in trouble... He’s sick. He’ll die if he doesn’t get this information... Please... let me go. He might die...”

The three zoners stared at her. It was clear they did not care about what happened to Rudy. They narrowed their eyes further, their teeth bared. The jaguar zoner put his head even closer to Penny, his ears so flat against his head that it was almost like he didn’t have them at all.

“Good... We hope he does die.” The jaguar hissed.

Penny’s eyes widened in horror at this.

“That will be one less creator to worry about.” The crocodile zoner added, his thick tail moving from side to side along the ground. “We would deal with him ourselves right now, but we’ll settle with you.” He pointed at the wall next to Penny. “Draw a portal there.”

Penny looked at him. “What?”

“Draw a portal. Go through, and don’t fucking come back.” The crocodile zoner said in a growly voice. To emphasize his point, he raised a clenched fist into the air, wielding her cane like a weapon. “Draw a portal now before I beat your fucking face in!”

Penny stared at the three zoners, trying to weigh her options. She could do what they said and leave ChalkZone. She can always come back later. ChalkZone City wasn’t really too far from where she and Rudy lived. She can just head back to her house and get another piece of magic chalk, should she lose this one. But that would just delay the information she needed to give to Rudy. As much as she was afraid, she couldn’t let these Luminos zoners control her. She had to stand her ground.

Penny narrowed her eyes and raised the magic chalk in her hand slightly upward. “No... I am not leaving until I speak to Rudy...”

“You will speak to your...friend... after we capture him and get him out of here.” The unicorn zoner said, baring his teeth at her. “You can wait until then. Whatever you have to say to him, it’s not that important.”

“But it regards the illness he has!” Penny cried, her eyes wide. “That’s a life or death situation!”

The unicorn flicked his head to one side. “As I said, not that important.”

Penny narrowed her eyes at the unicorn. She felt anger begin to rise up inside of her. “How dare you...” She would have said more, but the jaguar silenced her by holding her even tighter, nearly choking her.

“How dare us? How dare you, and your kind, coming into ChalkZone, drawing all your fancy creations, destroying the place! Don’t you dare try to say we’re monsters when you creators have caused a lot more trouble. You do nothing but rip ChalkZone apart!” The jaguar’s voice was laced in hatred and anger. “It’s about time someone stood up to you monsters!”

“And since you seem so...intent on staying...” The crocodile zoner moved over towards her. He hit the cane against his palm threateningly. “Perhaps we should give you an incentive to leave...”

Penny’s eyes widened as she watched the crocodile zoner look at her that way, wielding her cane in such a manner. She struggled harder, trying to get free. She attempted to draw something, but the jaguar zoner pushed her into the hard ground. Her face scraped along the edge of the building. The jaguar zoner, with the help of the unicorn zoner, held her on the ground. She struggled to get free, but she was unable to get the zoners off of her.

She heard the crocodile zoner move in behind her. She twisted her head, trying her best to see him. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see his dark green body as he positioned himself beside her, right by her right leg. He lowered himself down. Realizing what he was about to do, Penny tried harder to get free. She couldn’t stop the crocodile zoner from grabbing onto her right leg with his hand. She winced as he felt her claws dig into her ankle.

The crocodile raised the cane into the air. Penny’s eyes widened at this. Then she shut them tightly, waiting for the pain to come. Down came the cane. Penny opened her mouth to scream, but the unicorn zoner covered her mouth instantly, muffling any sound she tried to make. Her eyes widened and tears of pain formed in her eyes as the crocodile zoner beat her leg with her own cane. Again and again, he struck down on her leg, deliberately targeting the bruises that were still there. Penny tried to get free, but the two zoners holding her down were too strong.

Then, after a few moments of the crocodile zoner beating her leg with her cane, he dropped it. At first, Penny thought he was finished, but he apparently still wanted to do more to her. He grabbed her ankle with one hand and her shin with his other. He started to twist the leg painfully. Penny tried to let out screams, all of them muffled, as the crocodile zoner started to twist her ankled horribly. He only stopped when he heard a slight crack before he released it.

Penny’s eyes snapped wide and she let out a muffled scream. The crocodile zoner...it felt like he had popped her ankle out of place. She attempted to move her leg, and though she could, it was so painful. A few tears of pain streamed down her face. She looked up at the anti-creator zoners, getting no looks of sympathy from them. She tried a few more times to struggle, but the pain in her leg, especially in her ankle, was making it hard for her to do so, in addition to the zoners holding her down.

The crocodile zoner lowered his head close to hers and whispered harshly into her ear, “I will do much worse to you if you don’t draw that portal and leave...”

Penny’s mind swirled with thoughts, trying to think of what she could do. She wanted to fight back. As frightened as she was, she didn’t want to back down. It wasn’t in her nature to give up. But right now, she had to get out of here. As much as it hurt her mentally to leave ChalkZone without telling Rudy and Snap about what she found, she realized that her best option right now was to leave. She had no choice but to cut her losses and get out. She can always find her way back into ChalkZone.

Penny, her body shaking from the pain, raised her magic chalk and pressed it against the wall, just like the anti-creator zoners wanted her to do. She slowly drew a circle. There was a flash of light, and she could see that it opened up in some alleyway in the real world. She didn’t have time to get up. The anti-creator zoners hoisted her off the ground themselves. They threw her through the portal. She let out a cry of pain as she crashed against a garbage can.

“Now erase the portal...” The jaguar said, narrowing his eyes. “And don’t ever come back into ChalkZone.”

“If you do...” The unicorn added, his voice a warning tone.

The crocodile zoner bared his razor sharp teeth. “We will kill you...”

Penny’s eyes widened in horror at this.

Chapter Text

Penny winced in pain with each step she took. She was glad that the Luminos zoners were ‘kind’ enough to toss her cane out with her before forcing her to erase the portal. She was surprised they didn’t try to take the magic chalk from her. But with how crazy they were, logic may have slipped them. Plus, this did mean she could get back in, if she could find a way to sneak in without running into any of the Luminos members. But to do so...she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be easy.

Pain radiated off her ankle and all through her leg. The crocodile had done a pretty good job with beating it. He had caused additional damage to the leg, reinjuring areas that had started to heal. Her ankle wasn’t broken but it was sprained due to the twisting the crocodile did. Just merely touching the ground with her injured foot was enough to cause her to cry out in pain. Walking was impossible without the cane, and with it, it was just barely manageable. Each step, it felt like she was dragging herself through hot coals.

Oh why did she have to try to stand up to them then? She should have just left first thing instead of trying to defy them. She could have just found another way in. While it was true she could still do that now, before, if she had left without struggle, she wouldn’t have had a reinjured leg. Now it was difficult for her to move around, and if she tried coming back in without coming up with a plan, she was in big trouble. The zoners had threatened to kill her... and she wouldn’t be able to do much to defend herself when she can barely walk. How could she even run from this threat like this?

She took a few more steps and her body swayed from side to side, pain sweeping through her leg. She had to stop and lean against the wall of a townhouse. Supporting herself against it, she shut her eyes tightly and gritted her teeth. A few tears of pain moved down her face. Her breaths came in quick and sharp. Even though the zoners hadn’t done as bad as they could have, even though the crocodile hadn’t broken her leg, it was still very painful to wlak. Her limp was worse than before and now it was going to take longer for her leg to heal, and all because she just had to try to stand up to them instead of leaving like they told her to.

Her mind swirled with thoughts of what she should do. The most important thing that came to her head is that she had to get to Rudy and Snap and fast. And currently the only way to do that was to head back into ChalkZone. Rudy cannot leave ChalkZone at all in his condition. In order to get to ChalkZone, she’d have to find a blackboard, or some surface that she could draw on with chalk. Then she’d have to make sure it was safe. She had no idea when those Luminos zoners would show up and where they would be. She had a feeling that there may be some lurking around the areas where she and the others usually enter ChalkZone from.

With her leg this bad, she realized she couldn’t risk jumping right back into ChalkZone. Even if the group doesn’t follow through with their threat and they don’t kill her, they could still hurt her badly again. They could go as far as break her leg, or even tear it off. Then she’d really be in trouble. She would have to figure out something else. Another way to deliver the message. Only after her leg heals some would she try to get back into ChalkZone. Not being able to see Rudy or Snap for sometime would make her said, but a delay would be better than not seeing them at all, as her bad leg could easily get her even worse off, even killed.

Despite her fears, even though she was afraid of the Luminos group, she knew that, somehow, she had to get a message to Rudy. Even if it meant risking her life going through ChalkZone alone...she still had to find a way. She couldn’t just give up. She couldn’t allow the group to control her this much. She was afraid, yes. She knew it was now dangerous to go alone in ChalkZone. But she also knew that delaying the important information she found may cause more problems, or worsen the ones that already exist. She had to figure out a way to get a message to Rudy as soon as possible.

A thought came to her head. There was a way she could send a message to Rudy...provided the Luminos zoners don’t try to shoot it down. She could draw a homing beacon and have it deliver a message to Rudy. She could have it tell him about the attack and that she may not be able to back to ChalkZone for a while. She also could have it tell him about the location of Tavern Town, that it is somewhere in ChalkZone City. At least then, he and Snap would know what happened to her and the information she had found out.

She couldn’t draw the homing beacon right away, though. She had to wait. If she drew it now, the Luminos zoners might see it and try to destroy it. She would have to do it elsewhere. Somewhere that was a good distance away from where she was attacked, in relation to ChalkZone that is. For the moment, she had just been wandering the streets of Plainsville. There were a bunch of houses and apartments, but so far, no stores. But if she kept walking this way, she would eventually run into something, she knew.

As she limped down the street, a few people noticed her. Most of them didn’t really say much to her. They whispered to each other about her injury and they wondered what happened to her. But so far, none of them really offered to help her. Penny did her best to ignore the looks she was getting from the people walking up and down the street. A few times, she almost tripped, taking a misstep and nearly twisting her ankle further. She did manage to catch herself, but jsut barely. Even when she nearly fell, no one really offered to help her. Not that she minded too much; she was making pretty good progress despite her injured right leg.

Then, as Penny raised her cane to take another step, she miscalculated. The cane slipped on the ground and she lost her footing. She let out a cry as she fell forward. She shut her eyes, prepared to smash face first into the ground. But instead of that happening, she landed against something soft and warm, and then she felt herself being lifted up and steadied back onto her feet. She reopened her eyes to see who had helped her.

She didn’t recognize who the person was. Some kind of tall man with blonde hair. He still had a hold of her and was looking at her with concern. Penny placed her cane on the ground to support herself. The man slowly let her go, taking a step back. His blue eyes watched her carefully, making sure that she didn’t trip over herself again. Penny did wobble a little and the man instantly brought his hands forward to catch her just in case. This time, Penny did manage to steady herself before she fell down again.

Penny glanced up at the man and said, “Thanks...I think I got it now.”

“Are you sure?” The man asked with concern. “You almost took a bad spill there.” He glanced down at her leg, quickly taking note at how difficult it was for Penny to move it. “Just...what happened to you?”

Penny knew she couldn’t tell this guy she was attacked by zoners. In fact, telling him she was attacked at all might lead to some problems. He may try to drag her off to the police station and she’d have to describe her attacker and come up with this whole story and...well it wouldn’t be worth the trouble. Plus she could forget details of her own story and she could get in trouble with the police for lying to them. So instead, she had tell this man something else, which would be just as believable.

“I hurt myself.” Penny explained. She took a few steps forward, managing to do so without slipping this time. She winced in pain for a second and said, “I was moving too fast and I fell down. Twisted my leg up pretty badly. It was my fault. I should have heeded my doctor’s warnings and not move too fast. I had suffered a fall previously that made it hard for me to walk on this leg. I just made it worse.”

“I see...” The man glanced at her leg for a second before looking back at her. “Did you want me to escort you to the hospital? It might be a good idea to get that leg checked out, be sure there isn’t too much damage.”

Penny shook her head. “No...no I’m good. My mom is a doctor... She would be able to look.”

“Are you absolutely sure? It’s no problem. I can take you the hospital no problem. It’s not a big deal. And you should get your leg professionally treated and...”

Penny shot the man a glare, silencing him. “Are you saying my mom isn’t a professional?”

The man raised his hand up, looking apologetic as he realized he may have touched a sore spot. “No, of course not! I...” The man fumbled his hands together, sucking on his lip. He looked at her leg again. He then glanced at her. “I just want to help. You’re injured and you need to get help. So please....how can I help you?”

Penny wanted to just brush past the man and continue on her way. She didn’t really want to spend much time making conversation with him. She had to get back home. She had to use her chalkboard to create a homing beacon. The more she stood around here speaking with this man, the longer the message will be delayed.

But she couldn’t just ignore him either. She didn’t want to be rude. She didn’t want to just walk off without saying anything. It wasn’t like this guy knew he was delaying anything important. He just wanted to help her. There was nothing wrong with that. Besides, maybe she could use his help. On her own, there was no way she was going to be able to get home within the hour. It may take her three hours if she continued at this pace, or longer. If this guy was willing to help her, then perhaps she should take his extended hand.

True he was a stranger and she should exercise caution. But when she looked at him again, she eventually realized she did recognize him from somewhere. Mr. Longhorn, one of her neighbors. He was the one that often gave out the most candy on Halloween. She had visited him from time to time. He was such a nice guy. What luck it is that she ran into him. So accepting his help shouldn’t be a problem. Plus, the faster she got home, the better.

“Sure... Mr. Longhorn is it?” Penny asked.

The man’s eyes widened slightly. “You recognize me? People sometimes don’t know who I am when I’m not wearing that ridiculous oxen costume.”

“It certainly fits your name well.” Penny smiled at him.

“Yeah, true.” Mr. Longhorn said, rubbing his chin as a smile spread across his face. “Plus, it makes the children laugh...” He shook his head, as if realizing what they were originally talking about. “Do you want me to take you to the hospital?”

Penny shook her head. “No... Just take me home. I told you, my mom can take care of it.”

“I still think the hospital would be a better option.” Mr. Longhorn said, his eyes narrowing slightly. “It’s closer, too. Right down the street over there and...”

“Just...please...” Penny said, raising her hand to silence the man. “If you want to help me. just take me home. Please... It’s..it’s important I get home as soon as possible.”

Mr. Longhorn stared at her with a confused expression. It was clear that he didn’t understand why she felt going home was more important than going to the hospital. Under other circumstances, Penny would have agreed and gone to the hospital. But not this time. She had to get home and deliver that homing beacon. She couldn’t delay it. If she head to the hospital, she may not be able to get the message out for quite some time. Sure, it may not be too much of a delay, but getting the information out as soon as possible was important.

“Look, if it makes you feel better,” Penny said, realizing that Mr. Longhorn may not agree to take her unless she came up with some sort of satisfying compromise. “I’ll have my mom take me to the hospital if my injuries turn out to be untreatable at home.”

Mr. Longhorn remained silent for a moment. Then he said hesitantly, “Well..okay then...”

Penny smiled, happy that they had reached some kind of agreement. “Where’s your car?”

“Right over here.” Mr. Longhorn replied.

With that, Penny followed Mr. Longhorn down the street. She was able to keep her balance pretty well, no longer tripping like she was before. She took care to avoid any dips and dents in the sidewalk so her cane didn’t get caught on something. Mr. Longhorn walked out in front of her, but never strayed too far. Once in a while, he’d stop to make sure she could catch up to him.

In a matter of a few minutes, they reached his car. A black one with a red flame front. It easily stood out against the other rows of cars lining the street. Penny realized that they were standing not far from the entrance of Vinnie’s mini mall. She looked over but saw no sign of Vinnie. She felt a bit of disappointment. If Vinnie had been there, she could have tried to ask him questions regarding Terry, but then, with a damaged leg, would that have been such a wise decision? Probably not, the more she thought about it.

Mr. Longhorn pressed a button on his key chain and there was a click sound. The car’s lights turned on just for a second. He unlocked the doors and moved around towards Penny. He guided her over to the passenger’s seat. He opened up the passenger door. He helped her into the car, keeping her steady as she stepped into it. The man then went over towards the driver’s seat and climbed inside.

Once Penny was situated and had her seatbelt on, and Mr. Longhorn did as well, the man turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. The car pulled out of the parking lot, and, in a matter of seconds, they drove down the street, heading in the direction of where Penny lived.

sss

The Mumbo Jumbo Jungle echoed with the sounds of animal cries. The different species that lived there sometimes clashed together, making it dangerous anyone to venture in alone. However, that apparently didn’t stop some from going in there today, as today, it wasn’t just the animal cries and nature sounds the jungle came alive with. Intermixing with all that were the sounds of explosions, shouts, and screams.

One explosion rattled the base of a tree. A bird that had made its home there let out a startled chirp and it wasted no time in flying away. Another explosion, and the tree was knocked downward. That wasn’t the only tree that was destroyed. As more animals fled, more and more trees were felled. Some foliage was burned to the ground. And mixing in with all their cries of fear and shock, a cold laughter. A series of it, from more than one person.

Stepping through the foliage, bending it to the side, were the black chalk artists. Ghadir, Jenny, and Tyreek each held a weapon, all the same. A bomber, which the projectiles having trails of fire behind them. Laughing cruelly, they continued their destruction of Mumbo Jumbo Jungle. At the moment, about twenty five percent of it had been destroyed, and it was increasing rapidly. At this rate, if they keep it up, the whole place would be leveled to the ground within the hour.

Tyreek was glad they finally could cause some more major destruction. What they did before, it wasn’t really a whole lot. Just enough to stir some trouble and draw attention. Even when they had attacked the Luminos before, they hadn’t done too much too them. They injured one member and that was it. Jenny said it wasn’t required that they cause too much harm. Attacking one or more members would have been enough to get the effect that they wanted.

Sure enough, she turned out to be right. He had been in charge of keeping an eye on things for a while and he had kept out of sight. He was pleased to see that some of the Luminos members had done exactly what they hoped they would do. They had attacked Rudy. It was so satisfying seeing Rudy try to run from the very beings he claims to want to protect. Now they were trying to hurt him. He half wondered if this would help the boy see sense and realize there’s no reason to protect zoners, especially ones that don’t want his protection. Then again, Rudy was a stubborn boy. The Luminos attack may not knock too much logic into him.

Oh well, if the boy was too stupid to see how wrong he was to protect these things, then he deserved to get hurt the way he was. There was only so much he and the black chalk artists could to make Rudy, as well as Penny, see things their way. If they choose to ignore them and decide to continue on their fantasy world, well that was their choice. Besides, it wasn’t like it really mattered if they agreed with them or not. Rudy was going to die from the disease soon. Jenny estimated about two weeks, at most, he had left. Why should they waste time recruiting someone who was dying?

True, they could give him the cure, but how could they trust him? Rudy could find a way to trick them into believing that he’ll join them, only to turn his back as soon as he could and attack them. After the way he took down Cosmo... Yeah it was best not to cut this teen any slack. It was important they got rid of any and all obstacles. After that, they could then begin to transform ChalkZone and use it to its true potential, just like Cosmo had wanted to do years ago, before his plans were cut short by Wilter.

Tyreek’s blood boiled at the thought of that man’s name. He wished they had just killed them when they had the chance. But Jenny had refused to let him or Ghadir deliver the final blow. She wanted him to suffer some more. While he understood why she felt that way, he still believed it would have been better if they killed him. Wilter could have given some crucial information to Rudy by now. They should have kept a better eye on him, and now they had no idea if he did say anything, and if he did, just what he revealed.

Good thing Cosmo had the sense not to tell Wilter the exact identities of the cures required to negate the disease Rudy had. That would have caused them a lot of trouble if he had done that. Tyreek felt they should have gotten rid of Wilter a long time ago. They could have won the war if they had. Tyreek was not the only black chalk user who didn’t like having Wilter around. But Cosmo insisted on keeping him on their side for some reason.

What was strange is that Wilter was a white chalk user. Tyreek and the others thought that Cosmo would have corrupted him. That would have kept him on their side for certain. But Cosmo, just in the case for Wilter, used blackmail to make him stay. Plus the other white chalk users had regarded Wilter as a traitor, so it wasn’t like he could easily defect over to them anyway. Tyreek wasn’t certain why Cosmo treated Wilter differently, using blackmail instead of outright corruption to control him. He wasn’t sure if it was just out of spite, or if it had to do with the fact that Wilter was once his best friend.

Either way, Wilter did ultimately betray them. He had defected to the white chalk users, even if it was difficult for him to pull off, and he fought against them. Knowing their weaknesses did give the white chalk users the advantage. It was still a close fight, but ultimately, thanks to Wilter, they had lost the battle, and the white chalk users won. After that, everyone was kicked out of ChalkZone and their memories wiped.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Tyreek did his best to focus on the task at hand. It didn’t matter now what happened years ago. The point was they were back in ChalkZone, and they could set things right that went wrong. They could put ChalkZone to good use, finally, at long last. They were not going to miss this opportunity. They were not going to allow Cosmo’s ambitions to go to waste. The past was not going to repeat. This time, they were prepared. This time, they weren’t going to take the same big risks they did before.

He and his comrades continued to attack Mumbo Jumbo Jungle. Flames burned the ground. Smoke filled the air. The sky darkened all around them. The screeches of zoner animals filled their ears, making them all smile. Watching these animals flee their burning home was fun. It was even more fun as they threw more bombs and watched the trees being uprooted as the projectiles exploded.

“This is so much fun!” Ghadir shouted. She aimed her bomber up towards a large feral bird that was trying to get away. She took careful aim and fired. The bird squawked loudly as it narrowly dodged the projectile, and it flew away faster. Ghadir snapped her fingers and growled in frustration. “Darn it.. I almost had it!”

“Better luck next time.” Tyreek said to her, a smirk on his face. He aimed his bomber at a tree and fired it. In seconds, the tree exploded into flames. There was a crack, and the tree fell down. “Next time, try to aim at something that doesn’t move. We’re here to cause destruction, not play target practice with the local wild animals.”

“Yeah I know. I was just trying to get a little more enjoyment out of it. I wanted to hear them scream.” Ghadir said, mumbling something else under her breath. Tyreek guessed it was a few curse words.

Before either of them could say another word to each other, there was a loud explosion right next to them. They both let out a cry of surprised and covered their ears. They looked over and they could see Jenny standing there. She had targeted a small patch of trees, clearing the way and leaving behind a burnt mark in the ground. She twirled her bomber in her hand with ease and she smirked at the two.

“Enough with your bickering.” Jenny said. “Just continue with destroying this place. With our luck, we should have visitors...very soon...”

Tyreek and Ghadir nodded their heads. They both knew exactly who Jenny was taking about. The whole reason they attacked this place wasn’t just because they could, although that was a good enough reason in their heads. No, it was because they wanted to draw the attention of some Luminos members. To help further cement hatred of creators into their minds, Jenny thought it would be nice if they played with a few members for a bit. But first, they would have to capture a few. Once that was accomplished, they could take them back to Jenny’s place in the real world where the real fun would begin.

Jenny had decided that capturing two members would do just fine. She had thought about upping the stakes and going with five, but she ultimately decided that it could cause more trouble than it was worth. Two seemed like a good enough number as any. And after they were done toying with the two zoners, they could drop their corpses back in ChalkZone, somewhere where they knew the Luminos members would be. It would send a message to them, and it would increase their hostile activities. Even though these acts also put themselves at risk, they didn’t care, so long as the affect they wanted was achieved.

At this rate, there would be little time for Rudy and his friends to find the cure. Even if they figured out where it was, the Luminos group’s increased activities would make it next to impossible for them to proceed to it. They would attack them on sight, and the Luminos group had been gaining a few new supporters as of late. The biggest clincher was the metal finger zoner, whom worked for the Luminos group, a high-ranking member specifically. They had detected activity from him recently. He was being subtle, unseen, which meant that when he did make his move, it was going to be quite entertaining, especially seeing Rudy’s reaction to the whole thing.

Another few explosions. More trees torn down. More cries of fleeing animals. More burning smells filling their noses. Yes..it shouldn’t be long now. Pretty soon, the Luminos members should be here. At least some of them. There was no way that they could ignore this. They wouldn’t turn a blind eye to this kind of destruction, even if it were far away from any zoner settlements. He, Ghadir, and Jenny refused to stop their attacks, knowing that sooner or later, something’s got to give and the anti-creator zoners would have to show up.

And sure enough, they did.

The first sign they were here was a whizzing sound of something being shot towards them. The trio looked up and saw what looked to be a dart with a tiny ground thing, flashing red, coming towards them. They jumped out of the way just as the dart exploded on contact. The explosion wasn’t very large, but it was enough to send a lot of dirt and dust into the air. The three coughed and waved their hands, trying to clear away the smoke.

Then they heard footsteps all around them. They heard the clicking of weapons, snarls of frustration and anger. As the dust cleared, the trio looked all around them and found that they were surrounded by six angry zoners. Luminos definitely. From the way they were threatening them with the weapons, they way they were looking at the, these were indeed members of the Luminos group.

He, Ghadir, and Jenny remained where they were. They stood close together, acting like they were trapped. They didn’t bother trying to fight back. At least not yet. That time would come soon. Instead, they looked around and pretended like they didn’t know what they were going to do. They wanted to give the Luminos members a somewhat brief illusion of control. It was more fun that way than attacking outright.

“What are you humans doing here? Don’t you know that you aren’t allowed in ChalkZone?” One of the zoners, a standard stick figure that was very common in ChalkZone. He readied his weapon, a small rocket launcher much like the ones used against Rudy and Snap. “If you know what’s good for you, you’d get out.”

“Face it, you three. You are outnumbered.” A stegosaurus zoner said. Her tails swished from side to side, the spikes glinting in the light of the day zone sun.

A dog zoner, the same one that mauled Rudy, took a step forward. His sharp teeth were bared. “There are six of us, and only three of you. We can easily tear you apart...” He steadied his rocket launcher, aiming it at them. “Trust us when we say we aren’t afraid to do it. If spilling your foul blood will keep ChalkZone safe, we will do it.”

Tyreek took a moment to look all around to see what they were up against. In addition to the stick figure, stegosaurus, and dog zoners, there was another humanoid zoner, this one looking more like a person instead of the generic stick figure commonly associated with little kids’ drawings. There was what appeared to be a lioness zoner with a pair of wings coming out of her back and some kind of rocky serpent for a tail. And the sixth and final zoner was some feathery serpent with wings attached near the head. It kind of reminded him of some kind of mythology he heard once.

All six zoners took a few steps closer to them, closing in the gap and clearly trying to block off any and all escape routes. Their weapons were raised, aimed at them. Despite this, he and his comrades weren’t afraid. Why should they be afraid of these idiots? They had no idea just what kind of position they put themselves in by being here. Oh well, they were going to find out soon enough.

The feathered serpent was the next to speak. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either you come quietly with us, and leave on your own accord. Or we can drag your kicking, screaming bodies to a portal ourselves.”

The humanoid zoner leveled his rocket launcher with them. “It is your choice, creators.”

“We suggest you comply.” The winged lioness said. Her rock tail let out a loud hiss, an indication that she was prepared to attack. “Otherwise...things may get rather...unpleasant.”

Jenny let out a dark chuckle. “Unpleasant eh...? That’s funny...” Jenny turned her head, looking at each of the zoners with an eerie expression. The Luminos members readied their weapons, fully prepared to attack. Jenny motioned with her hands, indicating all of them. “That just about describes what’ll happen to you. We...quite adore it when things get...unpleasant for our targets.”

The stegosaurus zoner slammed her tail against the ground, the loud thud sounding out. She formed a fist with one of her thick hands and took a step forward. “Now you listen here, creator! We have seen what you did here, and we are not going to let you get away with it! You’re better off just surrendering now, or do you want to taste some metal?”

The stegosaurus’s threatening words did nothing to scare the black chalk artists. The only response they gave was a smirk. The trio made it very clear that they weren’t afraid of them. Even outnumbered, Tyreek knew they could take them all on. They stood no chance against them. And in a matter of moments, they were going to have some fun with their little ‘visitors’.

“We are so glad you came. You see...it was getting a little boring bombing this place.” Jenny said in a rather casual voice. She made gestured with her hand and took a few steps towards the Luminos zoners. They aimed their weapons at her and bared their teeth, but she acted like she was doing nothing wrong, as if she were just talking about the weather. “It is a shame you didn’t get here earlier. For some zoners claiming to be protecting ChalkZone, you did a very poor job of it.”

“Yeah, I mean. Look at this place!” Ghadir spread her arms open, indicating the destruction all around them. “If you had been here earlier, the damage wouldn’t have been nearly as bad. So you let this happen. I wonder...does that make you..just as bad as us...?”

“Why you little...!” The stick figure zoner snarled.

The dog zoner rushed forward and stopped about a foot in front of Ghadir. If his mock charge was an attempt to scare her, it clearly hadn’t worked on her. Ghadir just smirked at the dog zoner as his lips were curled back into a snarl. His floppy ears flattened further against his head and the fur on the back of his neck stood on end.

“We’re nothing like you filthy monsters!” The dog zoner’s voice was intermixed with growls. Drool dripped from his jaws. “If you try to compare us to you...when we are just trying to do what’s right for ChalkZone while you are trying to abuse it...” He reached up and grabbed Ghadir by her shirt collar. He tugged on it. “I am going to kill you...do you understand?”

Ghadir stared at him. Then, slowly, she smiled. “Oh crystal clear, little doggy. Now allow me to offer my rebuttal...”

Ghadir suddenly grabbed the dog zoner by his arm. She lifted him up into the air and, displaying a show of strength, threw him into the ground. He let out a yelp of pain as his head and shoulders smashed into the ground. The sudden attack prompted the other Luminos members to take action. Wielding their weapons, they rushed forward to help their fallen comrade.

Jenny and Tyreek immediately started to attack. They sent out projectiles towards the oncoming group of zoners. The bombs exploded next to them, causing the zoners to scream in pain and fly back, hitting against the ground hard. Despite being a little banged up, the members still got up to their feet and they aimed their weapons at them. Jenny and Tyreek did not back down. As the rockets were launched at them, they managed to keep out of the way. Experience in the chalk war years ago helped out immensely here, and they were able to get out of the way with less injuries than the group did.

Ghadir fought with the dog zoner. The enraged canine attempted to bite her. She punched him in the face a few times, knocking him back. She then struck him as hard as she could with her weapon. The dog zoner was one the ground. She immediately jumped onto him and pinned him on the ground. Clearly wanting to taste him, she bit down onto his ear. The dog zoner’s eyes widened and he let out a how of pain as Ghadir worked on tearing at his ear.

“No!” The winged serpent cried, his eyes widened in horror as he watched his dog comrade getting attacked. “Someone! Help him!”

Tyreek managed to seize the winged serpent in his hands. He knocked the weapon out of his curled tail and grabbed onto his wing. “But who is going to help you?” Before any of the Luminos members could do anything to help, Tyreek pulled on the wing as hard as he could until he felt it snap out of its socket. The winged serpent let out a screech of pain, his feathers ruffling.

“Don’t give up! Don’t let them get away with this!” The humanoid zoner shouted.

The stegosaurus zoner raised her first into the air. “Let’s show them what happens when you mess with the Luminos!”

Tyreek smirked as the Luminos zoners came closer, desperate to attack, desperate to get their friends back. Yes, all going according to plan. And by the end of it all, they were going to be down two members. When one of the zoners, the stick figure, tried to attack him, he whirled around and seized him by his throat. He slammed him against the tree and put his face close to his.

“This is all so amusing to us...” Tyreek said in a low voice. He held up his weapon close to the zoner’s face. He smiled as the stick figure zoner realized he was in trouble, his eyes widening in horror. “Now hold still...”

Chapter Text

Maalik stood in the middle of the cave. He turned his head up, watching as the water dripped from the ceiling. This cave, one that he and his followers had found, it was pretty well hidden. Anyone who came this way would have no idea there was a cave here. If there was some good the hybrid zoner, Bardot, brought them, it was a hideout that even other zoners would not think to look in. And this one was guarded. Maalik knew better than to keep it out in the open.

He looked around, noting all the tents and small shops that were set up in here. It wasn’t that big, but it would have to do. With the unfortunate events going on recently, he just couldn’t afford letting anyone out in the open. It was just too dangerous. Although many headstrong zoners here wanted to go help, he knew it wasn’t worth the risk. He didn’t want to risk losing too many zoners. Their numbers had dwindled enough as it was. He was not going to let it keep happening, not if he could do something about it.

He took in a deep breath. He remembered how things used to be. He was an old zoner himself. A two legged lion wearing a robe. He was drawn somewhere in Africa, and his whole appearance was that of a stylized lion. Due to his age, he was considered to be one of the wisest zoners among them. He thought that way about himself as well. He had taken up the mantle as leader when the black chalk artists forty years ago had struck. The had been an unfortunate day for everyone involved. The day that they lost their village to the vicious creators.

He had loved that village. He had many friends there, those he considered even family. The village was well populated and everyone got along...for the most part. That all changed when word got out that the black chalk artists would attack. At first, Maalik had a hard time believing it. He never thought any creator would go that far. They had caused some trouble before, sure, but it was always small scale. He had dismissed the warning as hearsay. And he wished now, more than ever, that he had listened to the warning signs. What a way to be proven wrong... with bloodshed.

The explosion came swift and fast. The ground shook. Screams filled the air. Maalik barely missed getting hit. The only reason he did not was that he had been out in Tavern Town at the time, getting some food to bring back to one of his friends, Sthir, who had fallen sick the day before. When he had come within about a mile, he was nearly blinded by the bright light as the creators’ weapon was activated. He stood there, in horror, as the whole village was obliterated, replaced with almost nothing but a void.

A few others had survived. Not many, but at least some zoners survived. Maalik had taken it upon himself to go find the survivors and gather them together. The incident had changed them all, himself included. No longer would they take the threat of creators lightly. No longer would they dismiss them as just mere annoyances. After what had happened, they all knew that they had to take creators seriously, and they had to do something about them.

And for a time, something was done. Maalik remembered how much of a relief it was when Biclops, or Cyclops as he was known as at the time, helped to usher the creators out of ChalkZone, and for decades, no creator had set foot into ChalkZone. Maalik had felt safe during that time, although time couldn’t erase the scars of what happened. Sometimes, he would go by the remnants of the village, and his heart would sink, remembering how things used to be, and just what had happened to bring things to this.

But when Biclops started to permit a creator back into ChalkZone, Maalik couldn’t help but feel betrayed. He knew he wasn’t the only one. The other survivors, and supporters who came to join them, they all shared his viewpoint. After the incident with the light weapon, Maalik had thought that all zoners, especially Biclops, would agree that letting any creator in would be disastrous. He couldn’t understand why Biclops, of all zoners, who had been abused by the black chalk creators for some time, would even think of bringing in another creator.

Yes, this creator was white chalk, and Maalik knew that white chalk creators were typically more stable. But still, the little boy was a creator and he had to be kicked out of ChalkZone. Things got worse when another creator came in. Maalik wanted to do something about it. He had wanted to confront Biclops about this. Seeing the two creators roaming around ChalkZone reminded Maalik too much of what happened years ago. The magic chalk war, the casualties that followed... An uncomfortable feeling, anger mostly, settled in his stomach, and he felt burning anger whenever he saw the two creators, Rudy and Penny as he came to know them as, roaming around ChalkZone.

They hadn’t caused much trouble, at least not on purpose. The boy made some stupid decisions that did jeopardize them, but he always seemed to fix them. But that didn’t really matter so much to Maalik. He wanted them both gone. He was not going to take the creators lightly anymore. He would not underestimate them. He was not going to lower his guard around them. He was not going to permit another Solar Pillars incident, not if he could still do something about it.

He couldn’t just outright confront them, though. Other members of his group, the Luminos, they didn’t see it fit to attack Rudy or Penny if they weren’t causing trouble. Some of the Luminos were soft in Maalik’s eyes. He wasn’t suggesting that they hurt them, but Rudy and Penny could have been easily dealt with when they were children. Had they made a move back then, they could have gotten them out no problem, and ChalkZone would have been safe. Maalik wouldn’t have really wanted to hurt them, especially if he could avoid it. But now, since they are older, it was going to be harder to get them to do anything without being forceful.

And now there were multiple creators in ChalkZone. Mostly older ones larger than Rudy and Penny. Maalik narrowed his eyes at the thought. They were going to be tougher to deal with. Oh if only they had made a move earlier and taken care of this nearly a decade ago. None of this would have happened. He was the leader of the Luminos. He should have put his foot down. But it was hard for him to convince the other Luminos to do anything about Rudy and Penny. He had supporters, but even then, it was hard to do anything, especially since there was rarely a place the two went where they’d be alone.

Maalik was well aware that his viewpoints weren’t shared by many zoners. He was hoping to change this. He was hoping to enlighten the zoners about the dangers of letting creators in ChalkZone. He hoped that, eventually, they’d come to understand what he was trying to do and embrace his ideas. Some of the zoners already have, and they agreed to keep an eye on things. Maalik had eyes and ears all over ChalkZone. There wasn’t as much ground covered as he would have hoped, but he still had knowledge of what was going on in different places. Zoners that sympathized with him and offered assistance were able to inform him of current updates, and it made it easier to plan their next moves.

Maalik had been hoping to do this relatively peacefully. He wasn’t really one for violence. The lion zoner had rarely shed blood himself, no matter how angry he got. He had to remain calm and collected. It was hard to do so whenever he saw a human wandering ChalkZone. Anger always welled up inside of him. His mind would start to get clouded with hatred as he recalled what humans had done to ChalkZone. But, no matter how angry he got, he managed to keep himself from lashing out. He did not want to become a monster. He had to show everyone he was better than the creators by not resorting to their level.

After he sent Nile, his crocodile friend and one of the survivors of the Solar Pillars attack, as well as two other zoners, out to scout ChalkZone City for any humans, he had been worried. He had seen how Rudy and Penny were with the magic chalk. He knew they weren’t to be trifled with. Then there was the worry about their parents. While the older humans hadn’t really done much creating, they were still more knowledgeable than Rudy and Penny and this might reflect whenever they would create. Maalik was worried that something terrible would happen to his friend and comrades and he remembered how he paced back and forth near the entrance of the cave, wondering if they were going to be okay.

He remembered how immensely relieved he was that they came back safe and sound. Not a scratch on them. He was happy to know that Penny had been deal with, at least for the time being. Maalik was no fool and knew that Penny wouldn’t just stay out. But at least she got a message sent to her and she knews they mean serious business. If they kept this up, then they may be able to keep the creators out of ChalkZone for good. Next time, when they throw Penny out, they would have to be sure that she does not have any magic chalk with her when she goes out. That would keep her from finding a way back in.

Using violence still wasn’t something Maalik wanted to consider. Many other members of the Luminos, after the recent increase of violent events committed by creators, had been stirred up, riled, and they believe using violence was the best solution. Fight fire with fire. As much as Maalik didn’t want to get too aggressive, he understood his comrades’ point of view. And he understood that, at this rate, it was probably best to start using violence. The return of the black chalk users certainly warranted this. It would be hard to deal with them without getting violent.

Getting Rudy out of ChalkZone had been less of a success. The boy was injured and weak and it should have been easy. Their metal finger comrade had known where Rudy was going to be, and he had reported the news to them. Like usual, the metal finger zoner did not made a move of his own, other than reporting. That was typical. He usually didn’t like getting his paws dirty unless there was a reason to. But Nile was happy that the metal finger zoner wasn’t doing anything. He wanted to get a little action himself. So he was sent with other zoners, including a relatively new member, a dog zoner who called himself Hagar, and a rather impulsive female bird named Dameka.

Maalik believed that the plan would have been more successful if they had been able to control themselves a little more. He understood the anger they felt, especially seeing another zoner treat a creator with such kindness. Snap was not very well liked among the group as, out of all zoners, he was the most amiable and buddy buddy with the enemy. Still, controlling their tempers should have been a priority. Destroying his treehouse, Maalik had to admit, was a step a little too far and it may have cost them their victory. They should have just dragged the two out, as attacking like that bought the two time to get out of there.

Now Rudy was located in the hospital. No matter. It’s not like they can’t get to the hospital and weed Rudy out. It’s just going to be tougher now, since Rudy was in a public place. They were going to have to be careful about this. Maalik knew how they could do it, so long as cooperation was taken seriously. They won’t be able to get Rudy out of ChalkZone if they did not listen to his orders. It was important they did not let their anger get the best of them. Killing Rudy and Penny...that wasn’t something he himself had in mind, although he knew that some of his comrades, like Nile, felt it was the only way to keep ChalkZone truly safe.

Maalik did not entirely agree, but he did not entirely object either. At this rate, he felt himself getting desperate to free ChalkZone of creators. It had been such a blessing when there were no creators around. And now that more are cropping up, he knew that they had to be dealt with as soon as possible. Death was an extreme punishment, but for the sake of ChalkZone, he was willing to go that route, so long the other Luminos members did not become to obsessed with it. They could not taint themselves too much. They could not allow themselves to be corrupted like the creators. They could not become the monsters.

Maalik took his time to look around the cave again. He saw all the zoners here. He saw his friends and comrades, a handful that are survivors of that incident over forty years ago. He couldn’t help but smile. Everyone here was safe and happy, hidden away from any creator or traitorous zoner that might happen upon them. They were safe here. They had everything they could ever want here. Rarely did they ever have to leave the safety of the cave to go get something. And when they did, they were always armed, just in case a creator would try to give them trouble.

Some of the Luminos zoners went out on their own to protest. Maalik didn’t like the idea entirely as they were leaving themselves vulnerable. But they always came back unharmed, and their words of wisdom were drawing some more members. They hadn’t swayed a lot of zoners, but Maalik was confident that, with the right words of persuasion, they would be able to bring over more and more zoners to their cause. Once enough zoners sided with them, they could then proceed to drive out any and all creators from ChalkZone. The humans wouldn’t dare enter ChalkZone again if they gave them a strong enough reason not to come back.

He heard the footsteps of a group of zoners coming their way. The way this cave was set up, they could easily hear anyone coming. A defense mechanism to keep everyone safe. At the sound of approaching feet, most of the zoners stopped what they were doing. They turned their attention to the entrance of the cave, covered in thick vines, and waited patiently. Being the leader of everyone, being responsible for their safety, Maalik approached. The lion zoner walked forward, his tail swishing from side to side in an agitated manner. He narrowed his golden eyes at the vines, fully prepared to attack and defend the other zoners if need be.

He was immensely relieved when it was just the group of zoners he had sent out earlier. They had recieved word that Mumbo Jumbo Jungle had been attacked, and he sent out a group to go stop the creators, whom he knew had to be responsible. Only a creator would be cruel enough to do such a thing.

He watched as the small group approached him. A stick figure named Johnzer, a humanoid zoner named Layton, a stegosaurus named Diamond, and a winged lioness named Azure. They all looked exhausted. They were all injured, but at least they were all okay, and coming home safely. That’s what mattered in the end. He guessed that they must have been able to deal with the threat, even if just barely. He gave them a smile and took a few steps towards them to greet them. But when they gave him that look, he realized something was wrong.

As soon as he saw those sorrowful expressions, Maalik was suddenly reminded that the group was down by two members. His heart filled with ice. Where was Hagar? He was sent with the group. And Quet... Where was he? What happened to them? Feeling his body tremble, the lion zoner looked around behind them, hoping, praying, that the other two would come through any second. After about thirty seconds, seeing no one, he turned his attention back to the group, his eyes searcing theirs for any sign of hope. But he found none.

“We are sorry, Maalik....” Diamond said, her voice filled with sadness. Tears formed in her pale blue eyes. “We were not able to save them.”

It felt like a brick fell on his head. A wave of emotion swept through Maalik. Even though he hadn’t known Hagar or Quet that long, they were still a part of his group and they were like family to him. For them to be just...gone like that... An overwhelming guilt washed over him. He shouldn’t have sent them. He should have chosen someone else, someone with more experience.

“What...what happened...?” Maalik finally got himself to ask.

Johnzer shifted uncomfortably under the leader’s eyes. “We confronted the creators that were destroying Mumbo Jumbo Jungle... The black chalk users. We...we tried to get them to surrender without a fight...”

“But they refused to listen.” Sky said. “They attacked us viciously. We...we tried to do what we could, but the black chalk users were too strong for us. We barely made it out alive.”

“I know it doesn’t look like much, but it’s worse than it looks...” Layton said. He took a step forward, wincing. Maalik could tell, just by looking at him, he really was hurt was than it seemed. “Believe me...”

“Hagar and Quet then....?” Maalik’s voice trailed off, his eyes widening with emotion.

Sky’s ears folded down and she shook her head sadly. “They were taken from us. We tried to save them, but...”

Johnzer picked up from where she left off. “They were strangely prepared. They managed to get away before we could stop them.”

“When they were taken, they were both gravely injured.” Layton said with sadness laced on his voice. “We can only guess the worst happened to them, and add their deaths to the list of casualties. Then we move on, and try to save whoever else is left. That is...what they would have wanted...”

Maalik let this all sink in. He stared at his comrades in shock. He wanted to deny it all. He wanted it to not be real. Anytime someone from his group vanished, it was like someone yanked out his heart and tore it in half. After losing almost everyone he loved to the black chalk users, he did not want the same thing to happen again. He clung onto whatever friendships he could, and treated everyone in his group like a close friend. He formed a deep bond with almost everyone, including Hagar and Quet. And to know they’re gone...

He felt his heart being to beat faster. Anger, disappointment, guilt, sadness, it all mixed together and weighed down on his stomach. He felt an uncomfortable nauseaous feeling. He swallowed hard, his mind trying to make sense of what happened. He knew he had to do something soon. He turned his head and looked at the other zoners, who had all stopped and looked at him for support, for direction. The lion knew he had to make a decision soon on what their next move would be.

It was too much of a risk to go find Hagar and Quet. Layton was right. It was best to assume they didn’t make it. They could not change the past, but they could take the steps required to move forward. He had to come up with a decision and fast. He had to come up with a plan to make sure that everyone else remained safe. Everyone here was counting on him to make the right decision, the one that would help protect them and ensure no one else became like Hagar and Quet.

He heard heavy footsteps towards him. He didn’t bother turning around until he felt a had squeeze his shoulder. He turned his head and he could see Diamond standing there, giving him a sympathetic look. “What shall we do, Maalik? I know what we were going to do...but...with two members taken...what shall we do?”

Maalik stared at her. He glanced at the other Luminos members. They all, small and large, old and new, male and female, stared at him, waiting for a reply. They all counted on him. They all looked up to him. He looked back at the group of now four members he had sent earlier. They looked at him sorrowfully, tears in their eyes as they silently mourned the loss of two dear comrades.

Maalik turned his head down, looking towards the ground. He gritted his teeth, his eyes darting back and forth. He knew what he had to do. It was a risky move. They could easily slip up. But with two members gone, he couldn’t afford to go light with their next move. They had to increase their efforts to get the creators out of ChalkZone. And right now, the easiest human target they had was...

...Rudy Tabootie... the so-called ‘great creator’...

Maalik looked at the four zoners he sent out earlier. He gave a nod of his head and made a motion with his paw. They understood what he was trying to say and they moved towards everyone else in the cave. That way, Maalik could easily address everyone. He cleared his throat and spoke as loudly as he could, making sure everyone could hear him.

“All right everyone! I am going to need volunteers! In order to deal with Rudy Tabootie, and get him out before anyone else...disappears... we need to prepare our...plan.. I trust you all know what I’m talking about.”

There was murmuring among the group. Some looked excited, others uncertain, some confused. Among the chattering, Sky spoke up as loudly as she could, trying to be heard.

“You...you mean you’re going to...?” Sky asked.

Maalik gave an affirmative nod. “Yes... Our...metal fingered member...will be called upon. I am going to need his help with this one. And I know he’s been wanting to make a move for a while.” The murmering continued. Maalik looked around. He let everyone chat for a while. He knew that making such a move now, in such a public place, was risky. But for the chance at protecting those he cared about, he felt it was worth the risk. “He will detain Rudy, and I will select a group of five to go fetch him. We will discuss this. We cannot afford to slip this up.”

As the other zoners talked among each other, some arguing against the decision, some for it, Maalik turned his attention towards the cave entrance. Thoughts of the recent events swirled in his head. His eyes slowly narrowed in determination. He was not going to lose anymore members to those wretched humans. He would see to that.

sss

Mrs. Tabootie stood in the kitchen, making lunch for her and Joe. She had to be careful whenever she made any meal lately. She would almost make something for Rudy before she reminded herself that Rudy was stuck in ChalkZone and, at the moment, couldn’t really eat much of anything. The house did feel empty without her son, and she wished she could take him out of that ChalkZone hospital, but she understood the importance of it.

She and her husband were so worried about Rudy. Ever since Rudy fell ill, she had nightmares, and each time she woke up, she had to remind herself it was just a dream, that it didn’t happen. She was certain Joe had similiar nightmares. How could he not? She could even see him crying at night sometimes. Rudy was in trouble, and they were both helpless to do anything about it. The condition Rudy had was something that couldn’t be treated by either ChalkZone or real world medicine. This wasn’t like when he and Penny were hurt by Bardot and Draow. They couldn’t just rush him to the hospital. It wasn’t that simple anymore.

She was confident that the cure would be found soon. She had seen just how capable her son and friends could be. Penny and Snap wouldn’t give up on him. They would work together, Rudy would also offer to help in whatever way he could, and find a way to reverse the disease. She was certain that they could do it, but despite that, she still worried so much for her son. What if this was the one time where nothing could help him? She shook the thought out of her head. No, she couldn’t think like that.

Mrs. Tabootie thought back to when her son came back on top of that pterosaur zoner... what his name..Tsere, yeah that was it. He was so badly hurt, and all because he had decided to go Snap’s place instead of staying at the hospital like he should have. She couldn’t believe that the doctors had okayed him to leave. In his condition, after being attacked, she felt they should have been more stern about him staying. Joe tried to reason with her, but nothing he came up with made much sense to her.

She remembered being so angry that she lashed out at Snap. She hadn’t meant to. She wasn’t even that angry at him. She was just angry in general that such a thing happened, and she couldn’t do anything about it. Still, that was no excuse for how she acted and she should have controlled herself more. She apologized to Snap, but she still felt guilty about it. It wasn’t his fault this happened, and she should have made herself realize that before she lashed out.

This Luminos group had her very worried. So far, she and Joe hadn’t run into them, but she wasn’t sure if it was because the zoners don’t want to mess with adults right now, or if they were so focused on their son and his friend that they were just ignoring them. She couldn’t really understand how anyone, zoner or not, could do what these zoners did to Rudy. There was Bardot..and his accomplice, Draow. They were vicious and nearly tortured Rudy and Penny to death, but most zoners weren’t like them. And now there was a whole group who was willing to go as far as badly hurt Rudy, and for what? He never did anything to them.

At least he was safe in the hospital for the time being. Dr. Raiden had assured them that he would be safe there. She recalled how uncertain she was that he’d be safe, but Dr. Raiden explained it the best way that he could. Attacking the hospital would be an act of desperation. The Luminos wouldn’t want to risk hurting any patients unless they knew what areas to target that would lead to little to no injuries or casualties of zoner patients. Such a thing would require an inside job, someone who was part of the staff. Dr. Raiden had assured them that the Luminos had no such member in the hospital. Not yet anyway, and Dr. Raiden claimed that he would know if there was a member hidden.

That was of great relief to Mrs. Tabootie. So for now, Rudy was safe in the hospital. The Luminos won’t try anything, not yet. She didn’t know how long he’d remain safe there. She didn’t know how long it would take before the Luminos decide to make a move on him in the hospital. But for now, at least he was safe and they could figure out a course of action to take. She was grateful for Dr. Raiden’s help. Though sometimes a little gruff, he was doing a good job at keeping Rudy safe. And not just him, but Mrs. Sanchez too, they helped to keep Rudy as healthy as possible while he was suffering from that horrid disease.

With lunch now finished and the smell of pasta filling the air, Joe, who sat over at the table, took a few loud whiffs. He looked over at her, and when he spoke, it was enough to bring Mrs. Tabootie out of her thoughts. “Lunch smells good, Milly! What did you make?”

“Just some pasta, Joe.” Mrs. Tabootie replied. She got two plates ready for her, almost forgetting not to grab a third, and moved over to the table. She set a plate down on the table in front of Joe. She then set down one for herself. “No meat, though. I hope that’s okay. I forgot to thaw out the meat this morning. It was supposed to have chicken.”

“Oh that’s quite all right. We all had other things on our mind.” Her husband replied, giving her a reassuring smile. She knew he was referring to what has been doing on with Rudy. “But everything will turn out okay in the end. You’ll see.”

“I know, Joe... I hope you’re right.” Mrs. Tabootie said.

The large woman made her way over to the drawer where she kept the forks, knives, and spoons. She opened it up and pulled out a couple of forks, one for her, one for Joe. She then grabbed a couple of glasses and filled them up with ice cold water. She headed back to the table. She handed a glass of water to Joe and kept one for herself. She pulled out a seat and was about to sit down.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. She and her husband froze. Who was coming over? They certainly weren’t expecting any kind of company. Maybe it was Mrs. Sanchez. Yeah that’s probably who it was. Pushing the chair back, she gave a quick glance to her husband before she headed towards the door. There was another knock. She noted it sounded almost...desperate. She hesitated for a moment, and then she reached her hand over and grabbed the door knob, turning it slowly.

When she opened up the door, she couldn’t believe what she saw. There, standing before her, was Terry Bouffant. The large woman’s eyes flew open wide, staring at the thinner woman in horror. Terry looked absolutely horrible, covered in red marks and torn, tattered clothes. There was a look of pure agony on her face, and she looked like she hadn’t been able to clean herself up in days.

“T-Terry...?” Mrs. Tabootie whispered. “What happened...?”

Terry didn’t answer. Her body trembled from what she guessed was pain, perhaps fear too. Her body swayed as she took a few steps forward. Then, without warning, Terry collapsed forward. Letting out a scream of surprise, Mrs. Tabootie reached over and grabbed onto the woman, supporting her. She heard the sound of footsteps approaching. She looked behind her and saw the horrified look of her husband.

“Milly? What’s going on?!” Joe called out. He immediately saw how bad off Terry was. “Ms. Bouffant?!”

“Help me get her on the couch, Joe!” Mrs. Tabootie shouted.

Her husband did not waste any time. He rushed over. He lowered himself and grabbed onto Terry’s legs while Mrs. Tabootie held onto her arms. Working together, they carried her over to the couch. They gently placed her down. Terry’s head flopped to the side, her eyes closed. She was taking in weak, shallow breaths. Mrs. Tabootie sucked on her lip, staring down at the weak woman. Just what had happened to her....?

Knowing that she needed some kind of doctor, and fast, she turned her attention to Joe. “Quick! Call Mrs. Sanchez! Tell her to come over here immediately!”

sss

Skrawl couldn’t believe that kind of discovery he had made recently. He wasn’t expecting to find anything like this during his reading up on the Luminos group. He had known to expect some bizarre things with them, but this wasn’t something he was prepared for. He couldn’t even remember how he made the discovery. A newpaper clipping? Word of mouth? Criminal records? Whatever it was, he at least knew it, and it was hard for him to believe.

If he had made the connection earlier, he would have told Rudy and Penny about it. They could have been more prepared. They would have known about the Luminos group much earlier. But he made a mistake. He didn’t look more into it earlier, and now things have gotten more complicated than before. It may not really matter if they knew now or not, since the guy was locked up in jail. But then, he could be bailed out, and with this guy’s history, he couldn’t afford not to tell Rudy and Penny about him.

He had always wondered why his guard from before, Xenos, would work for Bardot. Yeah, Xenos was not always the nicest guy. He wasn’t as much of a coward as he had let on before. Skrawl learned that after he found out the truth about him. But what he found out was only half the story. He knew Xenos worked for Bardot. He had helped the hybrid zoner into the prison. He had helped Draow escape, all while standing on the sidelines. Skrawl, for so long, never did figure out why he did it, what kind of benefit he would have.

But now...now he knew exactly why. He had no idea why he didn’t do the research before. He didn’t know why he neglected to do more research on Xenos to fully understand his motivations. He had only found out recently the truth about this guard that he had hired.

Xenos...was a member of the Luminos. All this time, from when he was able to figure out just what kind of zoner he really was... Skrawl had been working with a member of an extremist group.

The more he thought about it, the more Skrawl realized how Xenos’s motivations now make sense. True, Bardot wasn’t out to ban creators from ChalkZone. But the fact he was tormenting two creators, how he was going after creators in the real world, killing them and eating them, Xenos may have been interested in taking part in that, in some shape or form. The Luminos hated humans, and judging from how Rudy was treated, that was plainly obvious. The members were willing to resort to violence to get what they want. Similar to how he used to be.. He grumbled softly, trying his best not to think about his past self. He focused on Xenos.

Xenos must have heard about what Bardot was doing. It was possible that Xenos was one of the more extreme members of the group. He may have hated humans so much that the chance of helping another zoner kill a large number of them may have been an opportunity that he just could not miss. And so he met up with Bardot and helped him out with his plan. Skrawl realized that some of Bardot’s plans may not have worked without Xenos’s help. He wondered what more Xenos had helped out with. How much more had that person he trusted as a guard accomplish?

The guy might be locked up in jail right now, but if the Luminos were extreme enough, they may try to get him out. And if he got out, and if he rejoined the group, then... Skrawl had to tell Rudy and Penny about this. Even if Xenos was just one of many zoners that were in the Luminos group, the more they knew, the better. He had worked with Xenos, unwillingly of course since he didn’t know his true motivations, and he had an idea of how this guy’s mind worked. This revelation, that his own guard was a member of the Luminos, that he had helped in what happened to Rudy and Penny, it was too important not to say anything.

Skrawl raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Almost immediately, two Beanie Boys came floating in the room. Once they got close enough, Skrawl got up out of his seat. He walked up to them, his eyes narrowed in determination. He picked up a piece of paper, where he had wrote down the information regarding Xenos.

“Go to the hospital and give this to Master Tabootie.” Skrawl said. “He needs to know about this.

Without hesitation, the Beanie Boys saluted their leader and they were off. Skrawl watched them leave the room, his arms folded behind his back. He still felt a pang of guilt that he hadn’t realized Xenos’s involvement sooner, but at least now, they weren’t in the dark anymore about that. And when the Beanie Boys arrive at the hospital, Rudy will know as well.

Chapter Text

The two Beanie Boys never made it that far.

As they passed over one of the first hills, a good distance away from the prison, what looked to be a couple of dark lines shot through the air. They headed straight towards the Beanie Boys. They went right through. There was a sickening crunch, a gargled cry, and the Beanie Boys stiffened up, dropping the note that Skrawl gave them. Then, seconds later, they fell to the ground.

When they hit the ground, there was a loud thud. Their bodies laid next to each other. Their eyes were wide open, but there was a glaze to them and they were completely unfocused. Their mouths were partially open and blood slowly leaked out of it. Their bodies stopped rising and falling. It was clear, to anyone who came by, that these Beanie Boys were dead.

Standing nearby, hidden in a tree covered with meanie leaves, were their attackers. A couple of sharp shooters, both holding a bow and several arrows. Both of them were clearly humanoid, dressed up in camouflage so they wouldn’t be seen. They stared down at the fallen Beanie Boys, keeping their arrows aimed at them just in case they decided to move. After a few minutes and still no movement, the two realized that they were indeed dead, and they relaxed a little.

“That takes care of them.” One of the sharp shooters said. He placed the bow on his back and he turned his attention to his partner. “Let’s go report this to Maalik.”

“Yes. He will be pleased we disrupted a little communication for those...creators...” The second sharp shooter said. A dark smile was spread across his face.

“First though...” The first sharp shooter started to climb down the tree. He put his arms around the trunk to steady himself and, being careful, went down the bark. When he got far enough, he jumped onto the ground, landing on his knees. He looked up at his comrade and waved his hand. “Let’s dispose of the bodies. If any of the creators find this, they could use the traces of the weapon to find out where our hideout is.”

“That’s ridiculous!” The second sharp shooter cried. “I don’t think they’d be able to do that!”

The first sharp shooter growled at up before walking towards the dead Beanie Boys. “I am not willing to take that chance. Besides, you know Maalik. He wouldn’t be very happy if we just left these Beanie Boys out in the open like this. Now...” He looked back at his comrade. “..help me carry them somewhere where they won’t be found.”

The second sharp shooter stared at them. Then he shrugged his shoulders. “Well okay then.” He jumped out of the tree and ran over to join his comrade. He stared at the two fallen Beanie Boys and then looked at his partner. “I get the smaller one.”

sss

“What?” Rudy breathed softly, his eyes widened.

Dr. Raiden, who stood before him, nodded his head solemnly. “I’m afraid so.” He lifted up his head, his short muzzle pointing towards the ceiling. “There have been attacks on zoners lately by this Luminos group. Thankfully not many were injured, but...the ones that were, they must be hospitalized.”

Rudy couldn’t believe it. He let this information sink in, as uncomfortable as it was. He hadn’t expected something like this to happen, and so quickly. Just what did these zoners do to warrant such an attack? Dr. Raiden had told him the victims’ names... and none of them ever did anything that horrible. He had no idea what the Luminos were trying to accomplish, attacking innocent zoners like this. Weren’t they supposed to be trying to protect ChalkZone? They were doing a poor job of that if they believe acting like the black chalk artists was going to get them anywere.

Rudy had enough on his mind already. This sort of news certainly was the last thing he needed. The anti-creator group was already causing problems. Once, they were just in the background, and he hadn’t heard a peep out of them. And now, they were becoming prominent, a true threat. They were making moves now and they could no longer be ignored or pushed in the back of his head. They were a direct threat and he and his friends would have to figure out a way to deal with them. Now, they didn’t have just the black chalk artists to worry about. Now there was the Luminos. He couldn’t even tell which group was worse.

“The staff is doing what they can to help them.” Dr. Raiden said, his voice low and sympathetic. He stared at Rudy in the eyes and said, “If you want to visit them, you may. They are stabilized now and should be fully conscious.”

“Okay...” Rudy replied softly. He still held a look of disbelief in his eyes. It was hard to believe that this really happened. He had a hard time accepting it. He had a hard time believing that a group that wanted to protect ChalkZone would go as far as do something like this. “Do you...do you know why the Luminos would attack these zoners? None of them did anything wrong... I mean...” Rudy put his hands on the sides of his head. “What would have been their goal?”

Dr. Raiden stared at him for a few seconds. The doctor’s eyes narrowed slightly. He sucked on his lip and, for a moment, Rudy could see a hint of his sharp teeth. “I’m guessing it was because they were nice to creators.” Rudy’s eyes widened at this. “I believe you already suspected this, and I will confirm it. The Luminos regards any zoner who was particularly nice to creators as traitors. They view such zoners lowly, almost as low as they do humans.” Dr. Raiden turned his head to the side, furrowing his eyebrows. He closed his eyes and said, “Your friend Snap is the zoner they hate the most.”

Rudy felt his heart clench. “S-Snap...?” He took a step back.

The cheetah doctor nodded his head. “I’m afraid so.” He turned his attention back to Rudy, straightening himself up. “No doubt he may become a target soon. If he knows what’s good for him, he will not be wandering ChalkZone alone. The Luminos are willing to kill, and I wouldn’t put it past them to try to kill your friend.”

Rudy felt his heart start to beat faster. His breaths came in quick and sharp. Kill Snap...? The Luminos may try to kill Snap...? He knew the group was dangerous. He knew that they were willing to sink so low to get what they want. But what they’re doing lately...hurting innocent zoners, possibly try to kill Snap...those were just low moves. He couldn’t believe how deluded this group is. If they really think they are protecting ChalkZone by acting like monsters, they need a reality check.

“Now I have to go check on something.” Dr. Raiden said, cutting Rudy from his thoughts. The boy shook his head and looked at the cheetah zoner. “Not sure how long I’ll be gone, but...” He raised his paw in the air. He pointed a claw down the hallway. “As I said, if you would like to speak to a couple of the zoners who were attacked, they are down that way. Perhaps you could use this opportunity to find out more information.”

“Okay. Thank you, Dr. Raiden.” Rudy said.

“No problem, kiddo.” With that, the cheetah zoner turned and walked away, leaving Rudy alone in the hallway.

Rudy didn’t begin walking right away. Instead, his mind was swimming with thoughts of what recently happened. He was already in a confused and worried state before. Dr. Raiden’s news of some zoners being attacked, just for being nice to creators at that, just made him feel worse. So much was going on lately, and it felt like, just when things couldn’t get worse, something else happens on top of everything else. He would wish for things not to get any worse, but then, he may just jinx himself.

Only a short while ago, he had gotten a homing beacon from Penny. It was crudely drawn, but it served its function just fine. It looked like it had a few small holes in it, like the Luminos were trying to shoot it down. He was glad that they failed, otherwise, he never would have found out about Penny until much later. He had been wondering why she hadn’t returned to the hospital when she said she would. He thought that maybe she was busy trying to figure something out, but when he got the homing beacon, he knew that idea was completely wrong.

He was horrified to learn what had happened to his friend. Assaulted in a public alley like that? Attacking Penny on her already injured leg with a cane, just to send a message to her? The Luminos really were crazy. It was a low, dirty move to target her bad leg like that. And when he was informed how one of the zoners twisted her leg like that, Rudy remembered how badly his blood boiled. He was relieved when he foudn out her leg was broken, but still, now she was suffering a far worse limp, and all because of some jerks who ambushed her when she was alone.

Hearing about Penny’s attack made Rudy realize one thing. It was not safe to go alone in ChalkZone anymore. He did feel relatively safe in the hospital. Dr. Raiden assured him nothing would happen, not without a spy which he claims he would have noticed. But outside the hospital? Yeah, not a good idea to wander alone. He hoped that Penny would be able to deliver the same message in the real world. But knowing Penny, she would, so their family should be aware of the situation now.

The beacon did mention that there were some copies floating around, likely informing their other zoner friends about what was going on. So Snap likely got the news as well. Rudy’s heart began to beat quickly when he thought of his friend. The fact that he may be a target of the group was really worrying. He hoped that Snap would stay with another zoner friend, like Blocky or Rapsheeba. It was dangerous for him to travel alone as well. He didn’t want what happened to Penny to also happen to Snap as well.

At least the beacon wasn’t all bad news. Penny had managed to locate where Tavern Town is, or was. He was shocked to learn that it was somewhere in ChalkZone City. That did narrow down their search, but Penny was right when she said it could take a while. This city was huge, stretching on for quite some time. It would be difficult trying to figure out exactly where to start looking first. He did agree with Penny that there had to be hidden passages somewhere, leading up to some old section where the machines were still hooked up.

The fact that ChalkZone City was built right over Tavern Town didn’t entirely surprise Rudy. It made some sense. In a way, it was almost like wiping Tavern Town off the map, but without ruining the machinery. Cosmo and the black chalk artists would have wanted it to remain hidden, and thus may have drawn some parts of ChalkZone City to cover it up. Or maybe some kid drew this and...Rudy wasn’t certain how it all came to be. What he did know is that Tavern Town used to be here, and they had to start looking for it soon.

But just where should they start? The sewers were a risk with their injuries. With his disease, that was certainly the last place he should be going right now. And Snap and Penny were hurt, too. The sewers could give Snap a nasty infection. Penny may be immune to chalk germs, but there were other dangers lurking in the sewers, such as some particularly unfriendly zoners. And there was no telling if any of the Luminos zoners were hiding in there, waiting to strike.

Searching the alleyways and abandoned buildings for passageways may be their best bet. He still wasn’t sure exactly where they should start, though. There were so many places they could start looking. ChalkZone City was massive. They needed a way to figure out where to start looking for those hidden machines. Maybe he could try finding a particularly old zoner, one that may have been around for the construction of ChalkZone City. Surely one of the older zoners might have an idea of where Tavern Town was hidden.

Rudy looked down the hallway. As much as he wanted to try to figure things out now, he knew that he would need Penny and Snap’s help. He hoped that they would both be able to get to him without any trouble. They needed to talk about this together. In the meantime, Rudy knew he needed to speak to a couple of the Luminos attack victims. He needed to get a bigger picture of what was going on, and talking with these two just might help him get that.

Rudy was horrified to learn that a couple of the attack victims had been Barney and King Mumbo Jumbo. He had thought he misheard and he asked Raiden to repeat himself a few times. After a few times, Rudy had to accept the truth. These two, who had been hiding in the Gem Desert, had been sought out and attacked. He wasn’t sure if they were assaulted in the desert or if they had come out. Either way, the result was the same. They were both attacked, and now they were both hospitalized.

He clutched his hand tightly in a fist, feeling his blood temperature rise. He started to move down the hallway, towards where those two were resting. He couldn’t believe the nerve of this group, attacking two innocent zoners like that. What did Barney and Mumbo Jumbo ever do to them? Nothing. At worst, Barney might be a jerk, but he never did anything to provoke an attack. And Mumbo Jumbo was just all around pleasant, unless his friend was threatened. The only thing these two did was be nice to creators, in this case, him and Penny mostly, as they hadn’t really met their family for too long. And if that was the reason they were attacked, just because they are nice to creators, well that was just sickening.

He was glad to learn that both of them were going to be okay. They did suffer some pretty bad injuries. Mumbo Jumbo’s shell was cracked, his right leg was broken, and he had a long, deep gash along his arm. Barney had a few broken legs, his face slashed, wings torn, and had several bruises on his body. But no major organs were damaged, and the wounds they did get were manageable. He was glad to hear that. At least it wouldn’t take them long to recover.

He soon reached their room. He recognized this room even before opening it. It was the same one that held once held Biclops. He had managed to speak to the giant, who explained what had happened to him. Rudy was a little disappointed that Biclops was not able to give him any information that he didn’t already know. But he did wish he had gone to the giant earlier. Biclops was aware of the disease that he had and what it was doing, and he had been wanting to tell him. He hadn’t been able to because the black chalk artists trapped him in his own cave.

Rudy felt guilty about not going to Biclops sooner and seeing he was stuck. The giant held no hard feelings, though he, too, was disappointed. Not in Rudy, but in himself. Biclops wished he could tell him more information, but the cure was kept secret even from him. Even though Rudy didn’t really learn anything that could help him and the others with this disease, he was glad to see that Biclops was doing better. He had been released from the hospital recently and went back to the Chalk Mine.

He had heard that Biclops had become more vigilant around the Chalk Mine. He was more cautious and more wary. He had also become a little more protective, confronting anyone who approached the Chalk Mine with an air of distrust and a little hostility, though no outright lashing. Rudy hoped that this behavior didn’t last too long, but he could understand why Biclops wold be like that. He had been trapped in his own cave by Jenny and her comrades. It was understandable that he would, at least for time, become more guarded. He was certain that Biclops would calm down soon once he realizes the incident wasn’t going to repeat itself.

Rudy put his hand on the door knob and slowly turned it. He pushed it open and stepped inside. He took a moment to look around the room. Since Biclops used to be in here, there were some differences in this room that weren’t present in the other rooms. For one, it was much larger, with a very high ceiling compared to other patients’ rooms. The room was quite long, too, more than enough to accomodate the gentle giant. On the wall with the window, there were some lines that Rudy knew made up the door that opened up. This was how Biclops was put into this room, since he was too large to come in through the usual way.

Other than these differences, everything else was the same. White walls, desks with tools on them, a flatscreen television, the smell of medicine in the air, the usual. This room had one large bed where Biclops was, but then it had a few beds on the side. It looked like multiple beds had been laid next to each other, but considering the fact that Barney was a centipede, this made perfect sense.

Speaking of Barney, there he lay. He was the closest one to the door. His legs were all casted and so were his wings. His body was bandaged up, covered in thick cloth. He could see some dark areas where he suspected the wounds started to bleed again for a time. Barney’s long body was positioned over several hospital beds, making sure that none of his body sections hung off the edge.

Laying on the last bed on the far end of the room was King Mumbo Jumbo. The tortoise was laying on his stomach, probably due to his broken shell. Several bandages wrapped around his body, mostly on his shell and around the arm that was slashed. His foot was in a sling. Rudy had to admit to himself that it did look a little weird, seeing someone with a broken leg lay down on their stomach and have their leg elevated while in that position. But he understood the need for it.

Rudy took a few steps into the room. He cleared his throat to announce his presence. The two zoners lifted up their heads and stared at him. They blinked a few times, as if they were confused and surprised that Rudy was here. Then they smiled and nodded their heads, gesturing for Rudy to come in further.

“Hey...” Rudy said. He bit his lip as he looked over the zoners’ injuries. “How...are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better. But don’t worry...” Mumbo Jumbo hissed in pain for a few seconds, but he managed to keep the smile on his face. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“Not so bad?” Rudy stared at him in shock. “You call this not bad?!”

“It could have been worse if we didn’t escape.” Barney explained. He raised up a hand and gestured towards Rudy. “It wasn’t easy, but we did manage to give those Luminos zoners the slip.” He winced in pain as he accidentally aggravated one of his injuries. “And at least now we’re in the hospital. The doctors say we should recover in about a month or so.”

Rudy glanced down at the casts that adorned the zoners. “But...”

“Oh these?” Barney glanced down at one of his broken legs. “These breaks are minor compared to what Bardot did to me...” He gave a quick shudder as he mentioned that name. “The doctors say they shouldn’t take as long to heal.”

Rudy noticed how frightened Barney looked when he had just mentioned Bardot’s name. He felt bad for him, still being afraid of Bardot even after a couple years. That made sense. He was tortured for a year and a half. He wished that Barney would understand that Bardot was banished forever and could no longer get to him. The hybrid zoner was incapable of leaving the Fire Zone. The high elevation and the forcefield helped with that.

Rudy had thought about informing Barney and Mumbo Jumbo of his and his friends’ visit to the Fire Zone, and what they learned regarding his disease. But he decided against it. Bardot hadn’t revealed that much anyway, and considering how frightened Barney was just of the mere name, he didn’t want to distress him further by staying on the subject of Bardot. So he moved his attention to something else, still of importance.

“How...how were you attacked?” Rudy asked cautiously.

King Mumbo Jumbo’s smile turned into a soft frown. “We were leaving the Gem Desert to find you.” Rudy’s eyes widened. Mumbo Jumbo nodded his head to confirm. “Yes, we were looking for you. We needed to talk to you. There was something important Barney here wanted to tell you.” The tortoise shifted his gaze over to the centipede.

“Yes.” Barney said, picking up from where his old friend left off. He gave Rudy a sorrowful look. “There was...something important you and your friends needed to know. Something I...didn’t tell your friends.” He closed his eyes for a moment, and Rudy could see just how much shame Barney felt. “Jenny had...threatened me...”

“Jenny was in the Gem Desert?!” Rudy cried out in shock.

Barney nodded his head. “Yeah...she was. She made sure I didn’t tell your friends a little something about the chartreuse chalk. She said if I gave out one crucial information, she was going to kill Mumbo Jumbo...” Rudy stared at him in shock. Barney’s antenna curled up in sadness. “I’m...sorry...”

“It’s..okay...” Rudy said, trying to find his voice. “I just..can’t believe she’d threaten to do something like that. Then again...” Rudy lowered his head, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “She did threaten Biclops and Wilter into silence with that Solar Pillars thing.”

“...it was a lie.”

Rudy’s eyes widened. He looked over at Barney. The centipede looked at him. With a look that serious, Rudy knew that he was telling the truth.

“A...lie...?” Rudy mouthed slowly.

“Yes.” Mumbo Jumbo answered this one. “Barney told me all about it. The bit about Jenny stating that the Solar Pillars would activate using a distant voice signal, in this case, just talking about her cooperation...it was a lie. She said that just to mess with their heads, to be sadistic.” The tortoise’s eyes narrowed, reflecting a rare anger that Rudy did not see often from the old tortoise. “The Solar Pillars would never activate like that. Someone must be present.”

“Indeed. Biclops and Wilter could have told you about Jenny’s involvement, but with that threat, well...” Barney shook his head. “They couldn’t afford to. Jenny had done a lot of horrible things. It just..wasn’t worth the risk in saying anything.” He looked at Rudy. “Believe me. They would never have withheld that information if they were certain they could tell you without consequence.”

Rudy let this information sink into his mind. All this time, it was a lie. Solar Pillars hadn’t activated at all. It was just a lie Jenny said to try to keep Wilter and Biclops in line, to keep them from giving out said information. But why? He had to agree with Mumbo Jumbo. It was probably just to be sadistic. Jenny liked messing with people’s heads. That was a common trait among the black chalk artists. He recalled, with a cold chill, how she had ‘petted’ him, as she put it, just to screw with his mind a little more.

But as much as this news angered him, that Jenny was messing with them like that, it did bring about a sense of relief. The Solar Pillars was not a current threat after all. It was still dormant. But then...how long would that last? How long would it take before Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek would reactivate it? Had they reclaimed it? And what about that writing on the wall? He knew it had to be important. They had to figure out what it said. And the only way to do that...was if he stood in the light and risk corruption...

Could he really do that? Could he risk turning himself into a monster and potentially damage ChalkZone to read the words? In the end, he knew he had to do it, eventually. It was important that those words were read, to see what they say. If the words were hidden in that manner, then Rudy knew one thing. Whatever was written on there, it had to be very important.

“To continue our story,” King Mumbo Jumbo said, interrupting Rudy’s thoughts. “We were headed out of the Gem Desert when we were suddenly surrounded by four zoners, all of them were pretty large and muscular. They claimed to be a part of the Luminos group and they attacked us viciously.”

“When we asked why they were doing it, they said it was because we are amiable towards you.” Barney said, pointing a finger at Rudy.

“That’s what I was informed.” Rudy said softly. He tried his best not to let his anger towards the Luminos show. “How did you manage to escape?”

“Well luckily for us, the Luminos weren’t very aware of just where they were. They had done a number on us, as you can tell, but they never got much further because a crystal slither had attacked them.” Barney explained. “It seemed their weapons were shiny enough to draw their attention. We managed to slip away while the four Luminos zoners were busy righting the crystal slither.”

The crystal slither... Rudy recognized that name. He recalled Penny said that she and Snap were attacked by one when they were trying to find the Moonlit Gardens. She had sacrificed her piece of magic chalk in order to make the invisible creature attack the black chalk artists. She hadn’t been overly proud of what she did, as putting others in danger was not in her nature. But Rudy understood the need for it. It was either that, or they both died.

“It wasn’t easy moving ourselves along with these injuries, as you can well imagine.” King Mumbo Jumbo said, making a hand gesture to indicate the wounds he and his insect friend had.

Rudy took a moment and looked at the two of them. “Yeah...” That made him wonder something. “Just how did you guys make it to the hospital?”

“Well luckily for us, some zoners, who weren’t part of the Luminos, found us. They helped us to the hospital.” Mumbo Jumbo explained, a small smile on his face. “If it weren’t for their help, we may have gotten in bigger trouble.”

Rudy nodded his head in agreement. Yeah, that was lucky they ran into those zoners and got help. There was no way they could have made it to the hospital this fast with broken legs. There was also the chance that they could have been assaulted by the Luminos members if they had stuck around there for too long. With broken legs, they wouldn’t have been able to make it too far before the group would have attacked them again.

Rudy then remembered something. There was something Barney wanted to say about the chartreuse chalk. Judging from the tone of his voice when he said that, it had to be something important. Rudy glanced down at the green chalk strapped around his neck. It was doing a good job at keeping the pain at bay, but is there something more going on than he realized? He looked back at Barney, biting his lip.

“Hey...” Rudy said in a cautious voice. “What..what did you need to tell me about the chartreuse chalk?”

Barney’s eyes widened a little. He stared at Rudy, locking eyes on him. Then he lowered his head a little, looking like he had done something horrible. “It’s...it’s a trigger.” He said in a soft voice.

“What...?” Rudy stared at him in confusion. What was he talking about?

“I’m sure Biclops told you this diseae has triggers, right?” Barney said.

“...well yeah..” Rudy did recall Biclops mentioning something about that. “But...but he never said a word about the chartreuse chalk!”

“He might not have known, or with how weak he had been, he might not have been thinking straight.” Mumbo Jumbo said.

“But..the chartreuse chalk...” Rudy’s breathing quickened. He glanced down at the chalk, the same one he thought had been helping him. “It..it is keeping the pain from being so bad... It..it can’t be a...” He found it hard to believe. The chartreuse chalk...a trigger...? But how? That was impossible, wasn’t it? It had made his condition better, didn’t it? Just what was going on? “It..it can’t be...”

Barney’s antenna curled up even tighter. “I’m afraid so, Rudy. You see... the chartreuse chalk, in pure stick form like what you have, yes, it can help keep the disease at bay, slow things down. But it is a double edged sword. You see, though Cosmo didn’t know this right away...” Barney pointed a finger at the green chalk around Rudy’s neck. “...the gelxeno, which I’m sure you know about, a key ‘ingredient’ in that was a substance that the chartreuse chalk is made out of. This substance does heal, but it has the side effect of turning real world to chalk, which makes sense when you get right down to it. It can’t create new real world flesh, but it can with chalk, so when it heals someone of the real world, the flesh is turned to chalk.”

Rudy stared at the green chalk he still wore. He grabbed onto it and lifted it up. He stared at it, his hand trembling in horror at this revelation. “So...any time this thing heals me...”

“It changes more and more of your body to chalk.” Barney concluded. “It is the ingredient that causes real world to turn to chalk. It is the trigger that causes this symptom. As the disease was nearly ‘finalized’, the green chalk’s portion was removed by mistake. Cosmo did come to realize what the green chalk really did, and in one of his final experiments, tested it out on a white chalk user. The white chalk user did fall ill, but he did not suffer any transformative properties of the disease until he used the chartreuse chalk.”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror. His mind reeled back, thinking of what had happened to him several days ago. He recalled how he felt before he used the chartreuse chalk. He was ill, but he didn’t really suffer a lot of internal pain. He didn’t even start having problems such as stomach aches and internal bleeding....

...until he had the chartreuse chalk around his neck. The realization sent ice throug his body. He stared at the chartreuse chalk with a new sense of dread and terror. All this time, he had beene wearing something that only acted like it was helping him, but in the end, was the key player in his suffering. Jenny removing it earlier... It was an act... She was trying to trick him into believing it was helping him, and while he did feel better wearing it, he realized just how much worse off he was wearing tihs. But was it too late now? Would removing it make a difference?

“If you’re thinking of removing the chartreuse chalk...” Barney said. Rudy stared at him in shock. Had he read his mind? “..don’t bother. The chalk already did enough damage. A part of it is now inside of you. Even without it around your neck, the transformative properties are still there. Just slower, but each time you suffer an internal wound, or any wound for that matter, the chartreuse chalk, either itself or the portion that’s in your body right now, will heal it by turning it to chalk. Going to the real world will just aggravate it, as your body will recognize the chalk as a foreign substance there and try to fight it off, reopening any and all internal wounds you suffered.”

Rudy gulped at this. “Any?”

“Yes. Any wound you suffered, any wound that did not heal before the chartreuse chalk was introduced...” Barney said sadly. “They will all reopen. That is why it hurts so much for you to be in the real world, Rudy. The wounds were starting to reopen.”

Rudy couldn’t believe it. He had a hard time digesting this information. The chartreuse chalk had been causing more problems than it was solving. It was an ingredient of the gelxeno, the substance used to create the disease. After all this time, he had made things a lot harder on himself. They...they should have thought things through more. They should have read more about this disease. They should have tried to get more information.

But now it was too late. From what Barney said, the green chalk already did enough damage, and it would continue doing damage as he got more and more hurt. The disease would continue to spread. The only way to stop it now was to find that cure, spread across two different dimensions. He hoped that they would be able to find them in time. He hoped that no one else would become a target of this terrifying disease.

Before Rudy could say anything else, there was a shout from down the hallway.

“Rudy! Time for your IV fluids! Meet up with me as soon as you can!”

Rudy recognized the voice was Dr. Raiden. He sighed softly. Why did Dr. Raiden have to interrupt him now? He was busy speaking with Barney and Mumbo Jumbo on an important matter. Then again, he knew how Dr. Raiden was about giving him his IV fluids. Plus, he did need them to remain functional. He had hardly been able to eat or drink anything without feeling pain, and right now, the IVs were the only thing keeping him from starving and dehydrating to death.

He can always come back later and speak to these more. It wasn’t like they were going anywhere. And the hospital was relatively safe. The Luminos weren’t going to attack it. And even if they were, it won’t be for quite sometime, as it would take careful planning. He decided not to make Dr. Raiden wait much longer. If he didn’t get over to that room now where the cheetah zoner was waiting, he could expect to find escorts coming into the room and dragging him over there.

“I wish I could stay but...” Rudy started to say.

“Oh don’t worry about it.” Mumbo Jumbo raised a hand. “We understand. We told you pretty much everything we needed to anyway.”

Barney nodded his head. “Quite. We’re just...” He lowered his head in shame. “..we’re just sorry we didn’t get it to you sooner. If we had...then you wouldn’t have that thing around your neck and you wouldn’t be as sick as you are. Sorry.”

Rudy gave a gentle smile to Barney. He moved over and placed a hand lightly on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Barney. It wasn’t your fault. Please, don’t blame yourself.” Barney looked at Rudy, a little uncertain. Then he slowly smiled, prompting Rudy’s smile to increase a little. “I’ll come back later and speak to you guys some more, okay?”

Barney said, “Okay then. We’ll see you later.”

“Bye!” Mumbo Jumbo said, waving his hand.

Rudy waved goodbye to the two zoners. He then turned around and began to walk out of the room. He gently shut the door behind him. He started to head down the hallway, towards where Dr. Raiden and the other doctors would give him his IV fluids.

Unbeknownst to him, a dark figure stood at the far end of the hallway, several feet away. With how the figure was standing, he was avoiding the security cameras, standing in a blind spot. The shadows casted over him, keeping him completely dark. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he watched Rudy head towards another room further down the hallway.

Growling softly, the figure took what looked like a small radio and placed it against his head. Teeth exposed in something that was a cross between a grin and a sneer of contempt, the figure spoke, “Time to make our move...”

Chapter Text

Penny was grateful for Mr. Longhorn’s help. If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have gotten home when she did. Mr. Longhorn did offer to stay and help some more, but Penny declined, stating he had already helped her enough. She promised to call him if she ever needed his help again. Mr. Longhorn gave her his phone number and wished her to have a good day. Then he left, leaving her behind in front of her house.

She hadn’t really talked to Mr. Longhorn that much outside of Halloween, but he was, from what she had seen and heard, a genuinely nice guy. He might be helpful later on, if the time called for it. She wasn’t sure yet what he could do that wouldn’t risk exposing ChalkZone. But there was a feeling in the back of her head that, somehow, he would prove handy later on. She would keep the number somewhere safe and call him if she realizes she does need his help again.

They might be able to gain an extra ally in Mr. Longhorn, hopefully without exposing ChalkZone at that. He was genuinely concerned about her when he found her limping, and he did like helping people. Yeah, he would definitely make a good ally. She just had to figure out what he could do that didn’t involve revealing ChalkZone to him. She couldn’t just walk up to him and tell him about that place. He might be nice, but people’s reactions to ChalkZone was always unpredictable. It was too much of a risk, no matter how trusthworthy the person might be.

She didn’t waste any time. As soon as Mr. Longhorn left, she rushed into her home. Her mother was home and she noticed she was talking on the phone. She didn’t stay long enough to hear what it was about or if it was anything important. She instead ran straight to her room. She went to work drawing those homing beacons, giving them all the information she needed to send out. She drew about five of them, increasing the odds that at least one of them would get a message out.

She would have drawn more homing beacons, but her mom called her downstairs. She put the magic chalk she had into her pocket. She went down the stairs, which took some time considering her bad limp. When she got into the kitchen where her mom was, her mom looked like she was about to say something, but upon seeing her leg, she was horrified and asked her what happened.

Penny explained the situation as her mom treated her leg. Her mom was relieved that Penny wasn’t hurt worse than she could have been. The fact that she was cornered in ChalkZone City by these zoners and beaten up like she was, definitely cause for alarm. Her mom was thinking the same thing, that they shouldn’t go into ChalkZone alone anymore. It just wasn’t safe. Her mom agreed they need to get back in, but they would have to be careful of where they choose, and be cautious when they wenter. The Luminos group might not be large, but they had no idea just how widespread they were.

After Penny’s mom finished bandaging her leg, she informed Penny that there is another alarming situation. That was when Penny learned that Terry had arrived at Rudy’s place, all beaten up. Penny was horrified by this and she wondered if it was Vinnie’s doing. It seemed to make sense, although she wasn’t entirely sure if he would go as far as beat up Terry like that to get what he wanted. Still, the possibility was still there. She couldn’t deny that.

They left for the Tabooties’ place. Her mom had been called down there. Terry needed help and fast. She had been brought over by Reggie, whom she was told was still there. Penny felt a wave of anxiety rise up inside of her. She was concerned for Terry. From what she was told, she was in awful shape and covered in cuts and wounds. Whatever happened to her, whether it be by Vinnie’s hands or someone else, it must have been awful. A part of her was worried that maybe she was assaulted by the black chalk users. It was a possibility, and if that were the case, how many more would they attack?

She hoped Terry would be all right. Penny couldn’t fathom why anyone would do that to her. She didn’t do anything to deserve it. Even when she tried to expose ChalkZone, she never crossed the line so far that she deserved getting beat up like that. Whoever turned out did it, Vinnie or whoever else, she hoped that they would get arrested and convicted. Whoever did that to her, they deserved to be sent to jail.

Reggie being there also concerned her. She knew that he was aware of ChalkZone. She thought, after all this time, he would have forgotten. She thought that Rudy managed to trick him into believing it was just a dream. How he managed to make the connection that it was real, whether or not the dream trick even worked, Penny wasn’t sure. It didn’t help that she had no idea how trustworthy Reggie really was. Would he try to blackmail her into exposing ChalkZone? She hoped that wasn’t the case. She hoped that he would remain helpful, or at least quiet, about the whole thing.

But just what was she going to say to him? She was not fully prepared to speak to him about ChalkZone, and she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to. Chances are, she won’t be able to squeeze her way out of it, depending on Reggie’s behavior. If he knew enough, then he could really blackmail her and get her to try to talk more. Whenever Reggie wanted information, he knew how to get it. This case would not be any different. But handling this was still going to be difficult. It was a precariously delicate situation, and one wrong slip up would spell disaster. How was she going to inform Reggie of ChalkZone and at the same time, try to drive it into his head that speaking about ChalkZone is a big no-no?

Well she didn’t have a lot of time to think about that. They had arrived at the Tabooties’ place faster than she had expected. She had gotten out of the car and followed her mom. She had never felt this much anxiety going to her friend’s place before. She had always felt comfortable coming here. But today, it was different. Today, due to the vastly different circumstance compared to how it usually was, each step was forced, and the closer she got, the worse she felt. She knew each step was bringing her closer to the inevitable discussion she was bound to have with Reggie, to seeing up close and personal just what happened to Terry.

At least she was prepared, in a way. If she had come here and suddenly saw those two, it would have come as a bigger shock. That was a small bit of mercy. When her mother opened the door, the shock of seeing Terry on the couch how she was, though still unnerving, did have less of an impact on her mentally than if she had come in not knowing. And she didn’t feel much surprise when she saw Reggie sitting nearby.

“Oh we’re so glad you came!” Mrs. Tabootie called out. She rushed over to Mrs. Sanchez and took her over to the living room where Terry was. “She really needs your help!”

Penny watched as her mom approached Terry. The woman, at the moment, was unconscious, likely passed out from her wounds. Her mom lifted up one of Terry’s arms, grimacing at the deep cuts that were in it. She then lifted up her other arm and noted more injuries there. Her mom gave Terry a quick overview, flipping her over when she needed to and examined the extent of the damage. When she was over, her mom’s face was furrowed deep with concern.

“I will do what I can.” Mrs. Sanchez said.

“How bad off is she?” Mr. Tabootie asked, coming up from behind his wife. “She has so many cuts on her body..”

Mrs. Sanchez lifted up Terry’s hand and checked her pulse. “Her heart beat’s a little weak. I need to get these wounds treated and stop the bleeding wherever it is occurring.” Mrs. Sanchez took out the kit she had brought with her. She opened it up and took out some thick cloths. She gestured with her hand. “Bring me a bucket of warm water! These wounds need to be cleaned!”

Penny was the one who took action first. She rushed into the kitchen. She opened up the sink cabinet and pulled out the large grey bucket she’s seen Mrs. Tabootie use when mopping the floor. She filled the bucket with warm water. Once the water was about half way up, she went into the living room where her mother was waiting. She set the bucket down next to her.

Mrs. Sanchez gave her a quick smile of thanks before she went to work treating Terry’s injuries. Putting a cloth into the water and wringing it out until most of the liquid had dripped off, Mrs. Sanchez started to carefully rub it against the cuts that adorned the woman’s body. With each cut she cleaned, she used disinfectant to kill any infection that may have settled in. And after that, with each new cut she took care of, she wrapped bandages around carefully, making sure the wounds were properly covered.

Everyone was quiet while her mom did this. She went through each cut and stab wound that she would find. Every one of them was cleaned. There were so many... Penny couldn’t believe how many there were. The sight of all of them horrified everyone in the room. She knew they were all thinking the same thing. Just how had Terry survived these vicious attacks? Who had done this to her? Would she be okay? How much blood had she lost? As soon as Terry woke up, that’s what they were going to ask her. As soon as she was capable of talking, they’ll ask her what happened. They needed to know. And the sooner, the better.

Soon, her mom was finished. All of Terry’s wounds, even the harder to get to ones, were properly cleaned up to the best of her ability and patched up. Bandages adorned Terry’s body, covering up the wounds she had recieved. Penny winced as she saw how many bandages there were. Terry had so many wounds, it looked like she was dressing up as a mummy for Halloween, which she knew just wasn’t the case. And she knew that, even though the wounds were treated, Terry might still be in trouble. They had no idea if she had any internal wounds or not, or if she had any poison or infection running through her body.

Her mom closed the kit and turned to face everyone in the room. “I’ve done what I can to help her. But we need to get her to the hospital and make sure nothing else happened to her.”

Reggie spoke up at this. His voice was laced with guilt. “I...I wanted to take her to the hospital. I tried to, but she insisted on coming here.”

Mrs. Sanchez turned to look at the teenaged boy. Her eyes were wide with shock. “She wanted to come here?”

Reggie nodded his head. “Practically demanded it, actually. She wouldn’t take no for an answer.” He looked down at her prone form. “I don’t know why it couldn’t have waited. If she had been taken to the hospital, she wouldn’t be this bad off.”

“Don’t worry about. You did what you could.” Mrs. Tabootie said quietly. Her eyes focused on the still form on the couch that was Terry. “At least she’s getting help now.”

“I wonder why she wanted to come here, though.” Mr. Tabootie wondered. “Perhaps she has important information for us?”

“That could be. We’ll have to wait until she wakes up before we can find out.” Mrs. Sanchez said. She took a few steps towards Rudy’s parents. “I need to discuss something with you.” She turned her head and gave a quick glance to Reggie. “We can’t discuss it in front of the teens. Let’s go up to your bedroom.”

“Okay.” Mr. Tabootie said, nodding his head. He turned to Penny and Reggie. “We’ll be back, you two! Keep an eye on Terry for us, will you?”

“If she wakes up, let us know! Oh and make sure she doesn’t try to walk out of the house in her condition!” Mrs. Tabootie added.

“Okay, will do!” Penny said as she watched her mother and Rudy’s parents walk up the steps. She waited until they were all the way up the stairs and she heard the door close before she turned her attention to Reggie.

She winced when she saw the look in his eyes. A knowing smile... Not one that was genuinely evil. Not one that told her that he was going to do a lot of horrible things. Just a simple smile that was delivering the message ‘yes I know’. And nothing more. The smile still creeped her out nonetheless. She wished Terry would wake up soon so she could avoid a converstation with Reggie. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to him. She had no idea what to expect from him.

Yet she knew she couldn’t run from this. She had nowhere to hide. Reggie knew about ChalkZone, and she would have to accept that. And perhaps it wasn’t as bad as she thought. She realized, thinking back, if Reggie had known this entire time, he had never once said anything about it to anyone. Was it because he, somehow, knew the dangers of exposing ChalkZone? Or was it because no one would believe him? Whatever the reason, evidence seemed to point in the direction of Reggie not saying a word. After all, if he did say something, she would have found out by now...wouldn’t she?

The silence was uncomfortable. She didn’t like being in the same room as Reggie right now, alone. The boy never stopped smiling at her. He never stopped creeping her out, even if that wasn’t really his intention. He looked like he wanted her to speak up, to say something to him. But what could she say? She kept glancing at Terry, trying to get her mind off the fact that Reggie was in here with them. She wanted Terry to open her eyes. She wanted to have a conversation with her, so she wouldn’t have to speak to Reggie.

But she realized that would have been quite selfish. Terry had been badly wounded. She couldn’t just use her like that, to avoid a conversation with Reggie. That would be rude and thoughtless. And it was not like her to deliberately ignore someone who clearly wanted to talk to her. Deep down, she knew she had to speak to Reggie about this. They had to talk things through. Maybe Reggie wasn’t going to do anything bad to ChalkZone. Maybe he wasn’t going to become another ChalkZone enemy. She would never find out if she just hung back and tried to avoid chatting with him. Things won’t get better until she spoke.

She took in a deep breath. She made her decision. She had to speak to him. She had to get this over with. She turned her head and faced Reggie. The boy shifted himself, crossing one leg over the other. He interlocked his fingers and leaned forward. He definitely looked prepared to talk. Penny knew there was no backing down. They had to speak, and now was the best time to do that.

“So....you know...?” Penny finally asked, her voice barely audible.

The smile on Reggie’s face disappeared, replaced with a more serious expression. He gave a slow nod of the head. “Yes, I do.” He leaned forward a tiny bit more. He looked towards the ground. “I’ve known for quite some time. Ever since I found that red chalk....” Penny winced at this, recalling the incident as described to her by Penny and Snap. “I do apologize for taking so long to confront you about it.”

Reggie had known that long? Ever since he got the red chalk? But that was when he was ten years old. Did this mean that, for eight years, he knew about ChalkZone but never said a word about it? Penny wasn’t sure if she should feel amazed that he knew this long but never told anyone, or horrified that he had been harboring this secret this whole time, and yet pretended like he didn’t know anything.

The whole thing was quite unnerving. She and Rudy always thought Reggie wasn’t too bright. By no means that stupid or anything. But not exactly the most intelligent either. The fact that he had acted in such a convincing way... Penny couldn’t stop the shudder from going through her body. This was quite an uncomfortable discovery and she couldn’t believe she had no clue about this until now. Reggie...had outwitted them all. He had fooled them with a very convincing act. And they never found out until years later, until now, when he decided to break his vow of silence regarding the incident and speak to them about it.

What were his intentions? What did he plan to do with ChalkZone? What was going to happen? These thoughts swam through Penny’s mind. She felt even more uncomfortable in the living room with Reggie than before. A part of her wanted to go away, to stop this conversation right now, but the other knew she had to go through with it. She had to figure out what Reggie wanted, and what he planned on doing. Maybe she could convince him to remain quiet about ChalkZone. Maybe she could convince him to see reason.

Soon, pushing herself to speak, Penny broke the silence. “What..what do you want to know about...ChalkZone...?” She stared at Reggie, her eyes wide with worry. “You’re not...” She shook her head slowly. “...you’re not going to tell anyone...are you?”

Reggie stared at her blankly for a few seconds. Then he tilted his head a little to the right. “That would depend...” Penny felt her heart clench at this. “What can you tell me about ChalkZone? Can you give me a good reason not to say anything about it?” He got up and made his way over to Penny. Once he reached her, he placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’ll make you a deal, Penny. If you can tell me what I want to know about ChalkZone and in the process, convince me why it’s not a good idea to say anything about it, then sure... I can keep a secret...”

“And what if I don’t convince you...?” Penny asked, biting her lip nervously.

Reggie leaned in close, narrowing his brown eyes into slits. Penny was uncomfortable with how close he was getting to her. “Then I see no reason why I can’t just tell my dad about the place.”

“Your dad wouldn’t believe you.” Penny said quickly.

Reggie just smiled at her. “Do you really want to take that chance, Penny?” Penny couldn’t say anything. She gulped and leaned back away from Reggie. His grip on her tightened. “Now...” He pulled her close, a little rough, and his breath hit against her face, making her turn her head to the side. “...talk...”

Penny stared at Reggie in horror. From the way he spoke, it really did sound like a threat. It didn’t help that the way he was looking at her was so...unnerving. She wasn’t sure if he was just saying this stuff to make her speak, or if he would really follow through with the threat. She knew she couldn’t chance it. She couldn’t just keep quiet about it. Seeing no alternative, Penny did the only thing she knew she could do.

She would have to tell him the truth.

“...all right then...” Penny said, her voice somewhat defeated. “Let me go, and I will tell you the whole story.”

“A quick version. I don’t want to sit here for hours.” Reggie said sternly.

“I’ll try to condense it down.” Penny did her best to ignore Reggie’s rude comment. Slowly, Reggie released her and moved back, giving her some space. Penny cleared her throat. She faced Reggie and took in a deep breath. Well, here goes nothing... “Okay, Reggie. You want to know about ChalkZone. I’ll you about it. I’ll start from the beginning...”

sss

Rudy leaned back in the chair. He looked down at his arm. An IV was stuck in it. He could seel the cool liquid being pumped into his body. It was almost finished. Just a few more minutes, and he could be off the machine.

He didn’t really like taking the IVs. He didn’t like having his skin constantly prodded and poked. But he understood the need for it. He couldn’t eat or drink much of anything without being in pain. He needed the IVs to keep him alive for the time being. Although he would love to eat and drink something through his mouth, to taste something, for now, he would have to deal with the IVs. If it weren’t for these IVs, he would have dehydrated days ago. They were keeping him alive. He couldn’t argue with that.

Dr. Raiden was going to come back and get him soon. He had to leave to do something. He never specificed what it was, but knowing him, since he is a doctor, it was probably just to speak with the other doctors or to check his charts to make sure nothing else was going wrong. Rudy was grateful for the doctors’ help here. Dr. Raiden especially had been helpful. He had helped hook him up to the IV machine, which Rudy wouldn’t have been able to do on his own. Rudy wanted to talk to Dr. Raiden a little more regarding his condition. He wanted to know if the cheetah found anything else. He would talk to him first chance he got.

Rudy looked at the IV bag hanging by him. The liquid was almost all the way down. Pretty soon, Dr. Raiden should be returning to unhook him from the machine. He found it was always best to wait. Removing the IVs on his own, with how long the needles were, wasn’t easy on his own, and he would rather have one of the doctors remove it.

As he waited for Dr. Raiden or some other doctor to come in to unhook him, his mind went to Barney and Mumbo Jumbo. He was still shaken up by what he had discovered. The chartreuse chalk had actually been hurting him this whole time... If he had known that before, then he wouldn’t have... It was too late for that now. He couldn’t really be that angry at Barney for not saying anything. Jenny would have followed through with her threat. He was certain of that. Rudy couldn’t force Barney to turn his back on his old friend. He understood why he agreed to her little ‘deal’.

If he was mad at anyone, it was himself. He should have been more vigilant. He should have been suspicious of the green chalk when he first experienced that horrible pain. He should have questioned it and tried to find out more about it. But he and his friends and family...none of them suspected the green chalk was causing him any problems. Now it was too late to go against that. The green chalk already did enough damage. If he removed it now, he would still suffer from the pain. It might even get worse.

And all these internal injuries he now had... All healed with chalk... The second he stepped into the real world, he was going to be in absolute agony. He may collapse on the ground, lose consciousness, because of the pain. His body would fight what it percieves as an infection. His wounds would start to reopen. He would have no idea if it would be a close process or a quick one. He just knew that the pain was going to be excruciating.

After the IV fluids were finished, Rudy knew what he was going to do next. He was going to go back down to Barney and Mumbo Jumbo’s room and talk to them more. They might know more about this disease. They might know the cure. They might know at least something that would be beneficial to him. Maybe they might even know some way to go up against the black chalk users. They needed help now more than ever. And these two just might be able to provide the information they needed.

He hoped Barney would understand why he’d want to ask him so many questions. He knows Barney isn’t comfortable with constant questions. It wasn’t just the fact that he had been annoyed by so many zoners. But his encounters with Bardot hadn’t been so pleasant, and Bardot came to him for information. Rudy would have to be careful with how he asked the questions, and try to be cautious with him. He needed to be gentle with Barney and not scare him.

Poor zoner was still scarred from the Bardot incident. Rudy hoped that he would be able to conquer that fear at some point. He didn’t expect anytime soon. But he did hope that, one day, Barney can hear Bardot’s name and not freeze up in horror. Bardot can’t hurt him anymore, and even if he did escape the Fire Zone, Bardot was genuinely afraid of King Mumbo Jumbo. After what the tortoise did to him, there was no way Bardot would want to come within three feet of Barney.

Suddenly, Rudy was violently ripped from his thoughts when there was a sudden, loud explosion that rattled the building. The lights flickered rapidly. Rudy let out a cry of surprise, ripping his seat tightly. The building shook for a few seconds and then settled down. His heart beating against his chest, Rudy looked around slowly. Then, seconds later, there was another explosion, and the building shook violently underneath him. The lights in his room suddenly went out.

Then he heard the sound of zoners screaming and shouting. Some were patients, others doctors. He couldn’t make out much of anything except phrases like ‘we’re under attack’ and ‘help us’. A third explosion threw Rudy from his chair. The IV ripped out of him. He let out a yelp of pain and clutched his harm. He looked at it, noting the blood that started to flow through. He grabbed a piece of cloth and pressed it against his arm, trying to stop the bleeding. He got up to his feet, his body a little sore, some of his wounds aggitated from the fall. He looked all around.

He could smell smoke. A part of the hospital must be on fire. His heart clenched. Just how had attacked the hospital? Was it the black chalk users? It couldn’t have been the Luminos...could it? No, it couldn’t have been. Dr. Raiden had told him they wouldn’t attack unless they knew where they could without harming too many zoners. That would require an inside job, and Dr. Raiden hadn’t notced any spies anywhere in the building. But then...what if he was wrong...and...?

Rudy tried not to think about it. Right now, he had to get out of here. He moved towards the door and opened it up. It was a little stuck, so he had to be a little more forceful. He slammed his body against the door, ignoring the pain he was in. He managed to get it open, knocking the door against the wall. He took a few steps out into the hallway and he immediately could tell something terrible went down.

Smoke filled the hallways. They entered his nostrils and he could smell burned brick. He coughed violently, covering his mouth and trying his best not to breathe in the smoke. There was a sudden fourth explosion that nearly knocked him to his feet. He could hear panicked cries from doctors and patients all around him. He needed to help these patients in whatever way he could. But the hallway was so thick with smoke, he couldn’t see where he was going, and he couldn’t tell what direction to go in.

With yet another explosion causing the building to shake violently, Rudy was thrust against the wall. He let out a cry of pain as his injured shoulder smashed against the wall. He let out a cry of pain and froze there, his body trembling from the pain as he clutched his shoulder. Gritting his teeth, he looked around, his right eye wide, as he tried to find a way out of here. But he couldn’t see anything, and the attackers...what if they could? How could he defend himself, or anyone, against them?

Rudy walked down the hallway further, trying to figure out which way was which. Debris had fall everywhere. Many rooms were blocked by pieces of the building that had cracked and fallen from the explosions. He could smell more smoke the further he went down. His blood froze as he realized there must be multiple fires started in this place. With no power, the sprinkler system wasn’t on, and the fires won’t be put out. On top of that, the emergency lines that would automatically send information to the fire department...they weren’t going to get the signal that this place needed help. Rudy had to do something...and fast...

Suddenly, when Rudy made a turn down onto another hallway that he could just barely see, he slammed into someone tall and furry. He rubbed his head and looked to see who it was. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Dr. Raiden.

“Rudy?!” Dr. Raiden cried out, his eyes wide with concern. He immediately moved over to Rudy and looked him over. “Are you okay? The explosions...”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Rudy said. He rubbed his shoulder gently. “A little banged up, but no new injuries.” He heard another explosion, this one more faint than the other one. He had no idea if it was from a weaker explosion or one that was further away. Rudy looked left and right as he heard more parts of the hospital start to crumble. “What’s going on here? What’s happening?”

“The hospital is under attack.” Dr. Raiden said. He cast a worried glance down the hallway. “We didn’t see who the attackers were, but we’re suspecting it was the black chalk artists.”

“I had my thoughts it was them.” Rudy said. His voice was slightly embittered. “Only they would be cruel enough to do something like this...”

Dr. Raiden nodded his head. He then grabbed onto Rudy’s hand and started to move down the hallway. “Come on... I know a secret passage we can use to get out of here.”

“But...” Rudy stopped himself. Dr. Raiden paused and looked at him. “Shouldn’t we try to help the other patients? They’re in trouble. I..I need to help them!”

Dr. Raiden shook his head. “I’m sorry, but all the passages down there are blocked. You won’t be able to get to them.” Rudy was about to bring up the magic chalk, but Dr. Raiden seemed to read his mind. “Yes I know you have the magic chalk. But it is imperative we get you out of here before the black chalk artists show up! Once we are outside, then you help the other patients!”

Rudy was still reluctant to go. He cast a worried glance down the hallway. He could hear the screams of the other patients, calling for help. He couldn’t leave them like this, could he? He looked back at Dr. Raiden, giving him a pleading expression. “Please...I have to help them...”

“They will be fine! Trust me! The other doctors are working on getting them out!” Dr. Raiden said to him, his voice raised a little. “Now let’s get out of here!”

“But...” Rudy started to say.

Dr. Raiden put his face close to his. His eyes narrowed. Rudy froze, seeing how intense those golden eyes were. “Trust me..” Dr. Raiden’s voice came, filled to the brim with confidence. Rudy could practically feel the confidence pour from every word the cheetah spoke. “They will be fine... Now come along with me. I don’t know how long the passageways will remain open.”

Seeing no choice, Rudy nodded his head. “Okay...” With that, he followed Dr. Raiden.

The cheetah, still holding onto his hand, took Rudy down the hallway. They moved at a relatively brisk pace. The building shook a few more times, but thankfully, the explosions stopped and he didn’t have to worry about falling down anymore. It was still difficult to see. His right eye could barely focus with all the smoke filling up the room. He was glad that Dr. Raiden was helping him. Being a cheetah and having whiskers, he could navigate the hallways no problem, despite it being filled up with smoke.

Soon, they reached a door at the end of the hallway. Rudy could tell it was the staircase. The sign for it was just barely visible in front of his face. Dr. Raiden opened it up and they stepped in. Rudy let out a sigh of relief when he found that the staircase was clear of any smoke. He took in a few breaths, happy to breathe in something that wasn’t dusty or dirty. By this point, Dr. Raiden did let go of his arm, no longer seeing the point of holding onto him when he could see himself now. The two of them raced down the staircase.

They didn’t stop going down the steps until they reached the basement of the hospital. Rudy had never been down here before. The place was a little dank, but otherwise was mostly clean. He noticed that Dr. Raiden wasn’t running anymore, so they must be in a secure place of the hospital. Rudy winced as he heard more explosions above him and the faint cries of patients all around. Dr. Raiden’s ears would twitch and fold back in response to these sounds, and Rudy could tell, from his expression, he was worried as well.

They walked for about five minutes through this underground section. The lighting was somewhat poor, like no one had bothered to change the lightbulbs here for sometime. A few of them flickered, either in response to the explosions or they just plain needed to be changed. Rudy realized that the presence of the lights being on meant that the hospital must have some kind of backup generator. He wondered why it hadn’t kicked on, or if it had just turned on itself. He decided to ask Dr. Raiden.

“Is there a backup generator down here?” Rudy asked.

Dr. Raiden looked at him for a few seconds before looking away. “Yes, but it’s not fully functional. It has some problems.”

“I thought so... It is strange that just the basement appears to be lit...” Rudy said softly as he continued to follow close behind Dr. Raiden. “Maybe I could fix it for you guys after....”

Dr. Raiden suddenly raised his gloved paw. “Shhh!” He said in a somewhat harsh voice. “The black chalk artists might still come down this way. Be quiet and follow me... We’re close to that secret tunnel I told you about...”

Rudy nodded his head in agreement. He moved along behind Dr. Raiden. He took his time to look around the place as they went down. Unlike the top portions of the building, this place looked like it was made with old wood. Still mostly clean, but it looked a lot older than the rest of the building. Some kind of strange smell filled his nostrils and he snorted. This place didn’t smell as clean as he thought it was. He wondered just how often this part of the hospital was even used.

They continued walking down the hallway. The smell grew a little stronger, then weaker, then stronger. It confused Rudy, and he tried not to pay much attention to it. At least the place remained decently it the further they went down. If it had gotten gradually darker, he would have drawn some kind of flashlight. A few times, they did make a turn, taking them down a new hallway. They walked for sometime. Rudy had no idea where this secret passageway was, but if it required having to go through hallways a certain way, he could see how no one would be able to find this secret passage.

Just then, Dr. Raiden raised his paw. He looked over at Rudy, giving him a quick glance. “We’re here.”

Rudy noticed they had stopped in front of a large door. It was a little dirty, and it blended in well with the walls. If Dr. Raiden hadn’t pointed it out, he would have walked right by here. This door was so well hidden... He would have just thought it was part of the wall itself. Dr. Raiden dusted off a raised part of the wall next to the door. Rudy quickly saw it was some kind of keypad. It seemed almost out of place in this wooden section of the hospital. He heard beeps as the doctor crunched in a number, and a loud screech as the door opened up.

The two of them walked in. Rudy had to pause and take a look around the place. It was unlike anything he had seen before. The way this room was constructed...part of it seemed to be part of the hospital itself. But other parts stuck out like a sore thumb. It was almost like this section of the hospital needed repairs, and to do so, they brought in parts from another city and stuck it in here, with no rhyme or reason. It was like a meld of two places at once.

Rudy wondered why this room was like this. He would have stood there and tried to sort things out in his head, but he felt a tug on his arm and he knew Dr. Raiden wanted to get going. He couldn’t blame him. Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek... If they were indeed the ones responsible for the attack, then it wouldn’t take them long to come searching down here for him. They had to get out of here as soon as possible. Then they could think of a counterattack and fight back, drive them out of the hospital.

They walked through the large, somewhat rounded room, until they got near what looked like another door. This one appeared to be much smaller. It probably led to that underground passage Dr. Raiden told him about, or it could be a secret exit. Dr. Raiden moved up to it and started to push the buttons. There was a beep, but it was different than the others he’s heard. It was weaker, and more jittery. Dr. Raiden’s face furrowed with concern. He tried the combination again, and still the doors would not open.

“That’s strange...” Dr. Raiden said softly.

“What is it?” Rudy asked as he moved closer to him. “Why won’t it open?”

Dr. Raiden shook his head. “I don’t know...” His eyes widened a little with worry. “I wonder if it’s because it’s so old the circuits blew.. This place is hardly used that much.”

That did make sense. It would explain why this place didn’t look as clean as the rest of the hospital, why it looked a little dirty. It could be that this place is only really visited by very few people, and they might not see a reason to keep the circuitry working one hundred percent, especially if they don’t use the tunnel behind that door.

Rudy got out his magic chalk. “I can help get us out of this.” He offered. “If you don’t mind.”

Dr. Raiden shook his head. He motioned with his gloved paw. “I don’t mind at all.. Go on.”

Rudy moved in front of the doctor. He held up his magic chalk and stared intently at the door. He tried to figure out exactly how he was going to do this. He needed to decide what course of action to take. He could try to repair the door, or just draw a circle. Both had problems. Repairing the door would take a little while, thus leaving them vulnerable to the black chalk artists. Making a hole would be faster, but he had no erasers with him, and even if he did cover up the hole, there may still be a mark that would tell the black chalk artists he did come down this way.

Rudy ultimately decided drawing the hole was still the best choice he could make at the moment. He raised up his magic chalk. He brought it over to the door. He could hear more explosions...more loud screams... He had to hurry. He and Dr. Raiden didn’t have that much time to get out. Slowly, he began to draw a circle on the door.

Suddenly, without warning, there was a horrific pain in his shoulder, the one that was injured by that dog zoner. Rudy’s body straightened up, stiffening, as a shockwave of pain swept through his body. He let out a bloodcurdling scream, his eyes shut tightly and tears pouring from his eyes. Then he dropped down onto his knees. He clutched his shoulder tightly, whimpering in pain. He dropped his magic chalk and it rolled out of the way. What...what happened...? And what...was he feeling...?

Slowly, Rudy removed his hand from his shoulder. His right eye widened in horror when his hand was caked with blood. He looked down at his shoulder. It was bleeding... He could feel the hot blood dripping down his shoulder, stinging pain radiating off of his shoulder. Confusion and fear swept through his mind. How had this happened? Slowly, he turned his head and looked at Dr. Raiden with his right eye.

Dr. Raiden stood there with his right paw raised. Rudy took quick notice that his glove on that hand was off. There was something on his hand. Something that seemed a little strange. Rudy’s right eye widened a little when he saw it was blood... His blood... And the finger the blood was caked on... It was not like Dr. Raiden’s other fingers. This finger was a little thinner, a little longer, and was clearly made of...metal... Rudy’s right eye widened further as the words echoed in his head. What Penny told him about Mr. Wilter’s warning...

“Mr. Wilter told us be wary of this metal finger zoner guy. He is not to be trusted.”

Rudy stared at Dr. Raiden. At first, the cheetah zoner did nothing but stood there. But, as if to confirm what was swimming through Rudy’s mind, the zoner slowly smiled, his eyes narrowing as his golden eyes focused intently on him. As soon as Dr. Raiden gave him that look, it felt like a lightning bolt flashed in the back of his head. A cold realization swept through his body, making him tremble.

“Y-You’re...” Rudy stammered as he attempted to climb up to his feet. “You’re that...” Dr. Raiden tilted his head to the side, his smile broadening, sending more ice through Rudy’s blood as his mind tried to come to grips with what was happening. “You’re the metal finger zoner... The one that works for the Luminos...”

An uncomfortable pause. Then Dr. Raiden spoke, this time, his voice devoid of any concern or kindness he had displayed before. “Congratulations...” Dr. Raiden took a few steps towards Rudy. He glanced over at the blood covered metal digit. He took out a piece of cloth and wiped off the blood. “Though I thought you would have figured it out sooner.” He lowered himself and reached out and grabbed Rudy’s chin. “How do you think the Luminos knew where you would be that night? With your friend, Snap?”

Rudy’s right eye filled with horror at this. He didn’t answer as the realization pulled at the back of his head. Dr. Raiden smiled at his lack of a response and gave a cold chuckle. The cheetah zoner folded his arms behind his back and began to pace around him, much like a vulture waiting on dead prey. Rudy watched him warily, his breathing shaking, his heart pounding.

“And I am certain you must know I was responsible for your nightmare that one time, right?” Dr. Raiden asked, his voice chilling the air all around them. “Did you think it was from the fever? No..I put something in your IVs... No reason, just to mess with you.” Rudy couldn’t answer. He was too frozen in shock to speak up. Dr. Raiden went on. “And this attack on the hospital, I take it you now know it wasn’t the black chalk users....” He stared at Rudy, his smile broadening slightly. “All part of the plan...”

“You...” Rudy started to say. He winced from the pain in his shoulder. Just what had Dr. Raiden done to him? It felt like his shoulder was being sawed apart.

“You see, I had to make sure you stayed at the hospital until I could make my move. I had to make you believe the hospital was safe for you...” Dr. Raiden continued to circle Rudy. His tail flicked from side to side like a cat ready to pounce. “And you fell for my little lies.” His golden eyes widened slightly, a nasty grin spreading across his face. “You actually believed I cared about you. All of you believed me. My acting was flawless, don’t you think?” He made a gesture with his paw.

Rudy’s body trembled a little harder. He managed to climb up to his feet, but he didn’t try to run. Slowly, his eyes narrowed. “I’ll..I’ll stop you...”

“Oh contrare, filthy creator..” Dr. Raiden said. Rudy winced as he heard this doctor, the same one he thought had been helping him, speak to him in such a derogatory manner. “You will not be going anywhere.” He raised up his paw and snapped his finger.

All of a sudden, Rudy found himself surrounded by electrified water bars. He realized, in horror, that he had been standing right on the outline of such a cell. He realized, too late, that the structure of this spot was the same as what Mr. Cosmo had in his own hideout. Rudy looked all around him, his breathing quickening. Electricity danced menacingly along the bars. The crackling sound reminded Rudy of just how lethal it would be for him to try to get out of here, especially when he didn’t have the magic chalk.

“You are going to remain here for a while.” Dr. Raiden said. He walked up to the electrified water bars. He stared down at Rudy, his teeth exposed in the nastiest grin Rudy had ever been on the recieving end of. “My comrades will come down here and pick you up. They will be here shortly.”

Rudy narrowed his right eye and bared his teeth. He wasn’t going down without a fight. “I’ll fight back! I will make you pay for this! You lying snake!” Rudy was silenced when Dr. Raiden pointed his metal finger at him and it shot forward, becoming long and thin. Rudy moved his head back as the sharp tip of the extended claw nearly hit him in his right eye.”

“If I were you, I’d hold my tongue.” Dr. Raiden said, his eyes narrowed dangerously. After a few seconds, he pulled his digit back, returning it to its original size. “Oh, and just to make sure that you don’t try to escape...” He gave Rudy a sideways glance, a sneer on his face and golden eye brimming with evil insanity. “I poisoned your IVs.”

“You what...?” Rudy cried in horror.

Dr. Raiden waved his paw dismissively. “Oh don’t worry. It won’t kill you. It’ll just..render you unconscious for a little while. Enough time for you to be..collected.” He grinned.

Rudy was about to say something when he suddenly felt a whoosh of lightheatededness hit him. He grabbed onto his head, his right eye shutting tightly. A powerful headache took a hold of him. He gritted his teeth, trying to cope with the pain. He opened up his right eye and he watched as Dr. Raiden grinned down at him. Then his vision began to blur and distort.

“I will come back down with my comrades shortly.” Dr. Raiden turned and began to walk away. He paused and turned his head to look back at Rudy. “Sweet dreams, creator...” With that, Dr. Raiden continued to walk away.

Rudy tried to fight against the darkness creeping in the back of his mind. His world began to spin. His stomach churned painfully. His body trembled, strength leaving him rapidly. His heard pounded against his chest as he looked around, desperate to find some way out. The crackling of the electric bars was becoming too loud for him and he had to cover his ears. Soon, he was not able to take it anymore and he found himself on the ground, barely able to hold himself up.

Rudy felt fear fill his mind. He looked around, his right eye wide in terror. “S-Somebody...” He whimpered softly. “H-Help me...” Then he collapsed on the ground, unconsciousness winning the battle as his right eye shut.

Chapter Text

Snap’s mind whirled with many thoughts as he felt the ground beneath him quake. He was able to keep his footing. The shaking wasn’t that bad. But he knew that whatever caused it, it was nothing good. He was quickly proven right when he got close enough to hear what sounded like a loud explosion. Panicked thoughts raced through his head as he bolted off in the direction of the explosion.

He had recently arrived in ChalkZone City, not just ten minutes ago. He was on his way to the hospital to see Rudy. He wanted to know how he was doing, and he wanted to see how his injuries improved. He had been worried about him and he wanted to see how well he was doing in the hospital. Rudy had been beaten up by the black chalk users and assaulted, shortly after, by some Luminos members. He must have suffered multiple new injuries and he must be in a lot more pain.

Snap was grateful for the doctors’ help, especially Dr. Raiden. The cheetah zoner might be stern, but he had been one of the most helpful doctors at the hospital, offering the most aid to Rudy. He was confident that, with that cheetah’s help, Rudy should have made some improvement today. Snap wasn’t expecting a miracle by any means. But he was hoping that Rudy made some kind of improvement, at least compared to how it used to be. Rudy deserved some time to recover after what had happened to him.

But before Snap could even see the hospital, the ground shook. Slightly, but it was still there. And it didn’t take him long to realize it was from explosions. To Snap’s horror, as he continued racing down the street, he realized that some place was being attacked. He couldn’t tell just where yet, though. The sound seemed to come from almost every direction. He had to stop a few times and listen carefully to try to figure out which direction to go next.

At this point, he forgot exactly where he was. His mind was so focused on finding the source of the explosions that he couldn’t tell if he was still headed for the hospital or if he was going off in a new direction. The thoughts running through his mind told him he had to get to where these explosions were, and fast. Someone was in trouble, or more than one person was...maybe a lot. It wasn’t in his nature to leave behind those in need. Rudy was safe in the hospital. Rudy would understand why he didn’t show up if he told him about the attack. Knowing Rudy, as soon as he found out, he’d want to help, in spite of his condition.

Snap raced further down the street and soon he saw movement. Quick, bright and red... He looked over and he could see what appeared to be flames shooting out somewhere. His heart raced as he realized, whatever place was being attacked, it was on fire. He heard another loud explosion and the ground shook. He could hear the cracking of brick, crumbling of rock. It was so close...

Then, as he moved down the street, he caught a glimpse of a sign. He nearly missed it. As soon as he saw it, the blue sigh with a white H written on it, he felt his blood freeze. It took him only seconds to realize what the target was...just what place was being attacked..

..it was the hospital...

Snap’s eyes widened in horror. Oh no...Rudy... He was in trouble... Snap’s heart beat faster as he moved down the street, picking up the pace. He could feel the organ pumping against his chest, fueling his arms and legs as he pushed himself to the limit, in spite of his own pain, and raced towards the hospital. The closer he got, the louder the explosions got, and the more visible the destruction. Soon, he was so close that he could feel the heat of the fire, and he could smell the thick smoke that hung thickly in the air.

Then he heard the screaming. Snap just barely made it onto the parking lot for the hospital when he saw a massive crowd of zoners. They were moving quickly out of the doors. Many of them wore uniforms.. Doctors, and they were helping the more able-bodied patients out of the front door. He then saw movement off to the side. There were large sliding doors, and he saw more zoners come out that way. These patients that were being ushered out were either too injured by the attack to move on their own, or they already were incapable of getting out and needed assistance.

Seconds later, before Snap could take a step forward, loud sirens blared and the blue zoner turned his head to see a fire truck coming over. The zoners hopped out and aimed their hoses at the burning building. Water shot forward and began to bathe the building in water. As this went on, Snap realized that the explosions had stopped completely. He looked around, and he could see dent marks and crumbled pieces from where the explosions had struck. He couldn’t see just who or what had done this. Was it the black chalk users? The Luminos? Some other third factor they hadn’t considered?

Snap didn’t have to wonder for very long. He heard footsteps and he saw that, among the crowd, were Rapsheeba and Blocky. Snap was horrified at first. Had they been hurt? How long had they been here? But when they got closer, he could tell that they weren’t hurt. He let out a sigh of relief. That was definitely welcoming news. But his heart was still clenched. What about these other patients? Were any of these zoners hurt? And what of Rudy? Where was he? Snap’s blood ran cold when he realized he must still be inside...

“Snap!” Blocky called out, waving his arms frantically.

“There’s been an attack!” Rapsheeba shouted, racing along with Blocky towards their blue friend.

Snap said, “Yeah..I suspected as much...” He looked at his two friends, his eyes widening with worry and fear. “What happened here? Did you see what happened?”

Rapsheeba nodded her head. Taking in a few deep, quick breaths, she pointed up towards the building. “You know that Luminos group you told me and Blocky about?” Snap nodded his head slowly. “They were the ones who did this! They came in wearing jet packs, and they started to bomb the building!”

Snap let out a sharp gasp. “What?!” He turned his head to the side, his eyes darting back and forth. “I...I don’t believe it...”

Blocky nodded his head. “It’s true! We saw the whole thing!” Blocky moved closer to Snap. He reached forward and grabbed him by his shoulders. “You’ve got to believe us!”

“I do believe you! I do!” Snap cried as he gently pushed Blocky away. “I just mean that..it’s so hard to believe...” Snap turned his head and looked at the burning building. There was another burning question on his mind. He turned to his two zoner friends. “Where’s Rudy?”

At this, Blocky and Rapsheeba looked at each other. Their expressions became forelorn. They glanced back at Snap. They hung their heads and shook them slowly, raising their shoulders to indicate they had no clue. Snap felt his heart freeze at this, a sickening feeling rising in his stomach. Rudy was in trouble, and they didn’t know if he was even okay or not. He looked back at the building. He couldn’t just stand here. He had to do something. Rudy needed him.

He started to move forward when he felt an arm grab him. He was yanked back roughly. He let out a cry of surprise. At first, he thought it was Rapsheeba or Blocky trying to prevent him from rushing into the burning building. But it instead turned out to be one of the doctors, one that Snap was quite familiar with.

“Dr. Urso?” Snap asked. He glanced down quickly at the bear paw that was wrapped around his arm, keeping him from going any further. He looked back up at the bear. “Let me go. I have to go help Rudy.”

Dr. Urso narrowed his eyes and refused to let go. “No. I can’t allow that. You go in there, and you may get burned alive!” The lion bear zoner tightened his grip. “You must stay out here! We already have zoners at work getting everyone out and to manage the situation. Stay out here!”

Snap yanked back his arm and glared at Dr. Urso. “But my best friend is in there! I can’t just stay here and do nothing!” He turned his head towards the burning hospital. The screams from patients and doctors alike filled his ears, making him shudder. He looked at the zoners rushing out and he could tell Rudy was not among them. He turned back to Dr. Urso. He spoke in a softer voice. “Please... Let me try to help him.”

Dr. Urso stared at him. His glare did slowly disappear, but he did not release Snap. He started to push Snap back, using his hands to usher Blocky and Rapsheeba to follow suit. He kept moving them back until they were on the sidewalk that lead to the hospital. Only then did Dr. Urso release Snap. When the blue zoner attempted to move around him, the lion bear managed to catch him before he got much further.

Snap was getting frustrated. He did know the risk of going into the burning building. He knew that it might be a big mistake to just rush in. But Rudy was in there. He couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. He had to get in there and help him. Rudy might be trapped somewhere, desperate for help. There was no telling if anyone else was with him, and even if there were, if they could even help Rudy. Judging from the bad shape of the hospital, Snap could tell there was a lot of internal damage. Rudy might be blocked off somewhere.

It was imperative he find a way to get in there as soon as possible. He had his doubts Dr. Urso would let him in there. The lion bear zoner seemed intent on keeping him from entering the building. The doctor kept his position in front of them, and looked as though he was prepared to stay there for a long time if need be. He was making it crystal clear, without saying a word, that he was not going to let themp ass.

“I understand your concerns.” Dr. Urso said. He reached over and placed a hand on Snap’s shoulder. “But we are doing what we can to manage the situation. Everyone is being evacuated.”

“And what about Rudy?” Snap asked, his voice tinged with emotion. “What about him?” He made a gesture with his hand to indicate the zoners rushing out of the damaged hospital. “I don’t see him among them! Do you?”

The lion bear zoner shook his head, his ears lowered sadly. “I’m afraid none of them have seen him. He was probably located in one of the least populated sections of the hospital...” His eyes slowly widened. “...the same areas that were attacked...” His voice came low and soft as realization seemed to strike the lion bear zoner.

At this, Snap gasped in horror. “What?!”

Rapsheeba and Blocky rushed over to their friend. They held onto him and attempted to calm him down. Snap’s body trembled with emotion, his eyes widening in horror. He stared at the lion bear zoner, hoping, praying that he didn’t hear right. But when the doctor kept giving that horrified expression, Snap knew that he wasn’t mistaken. Rudy was very likely located in the same spot that the building was attacked in. And if he was that close to the explosions...

No.. Rudy was okay.. He had to be. Snap shook the thought out of his head. He knew Rudy well. He...he would have gotten away. He was a smart human. He had gotten himself out of terrible situations before. Maybe he had seen the attacks coming and gotten away before they did anything. Yeah, maybe Rudy was hiding somewhere outside the building and...

Snap felt his heart freeze when he realized that couldn’t be the case. Rudy did have the magic chalk, but he did not have psychic powers. If his room was the one attacked first, he would not have had time to draw a defense before it was too late. Even if he did manage to get away, the other problem laid in the fact that...Rudy would have come up to him by now. He wouldn’t just sit around and hide. He would try to find him. Or, another very likely scenario, he would have been trying to help the doctors. The only way he wouldn’t do this is if he...was not able to...

Snap felt tears form in his eyes as the possibility of Rudy being badly hurt or even...killed... hung over his mind. He took in a few shaky breaths, sniffling. He looked at Dr. Urso, noting the lion bear’s forelorn expression, the ears lowered. The doctor said and did nothing that gave him a sense of hope. He looked at his friends. They stared at him sympathetically. Snap turned his head towards the ground. He couldn’t believe it...Rudy couldn’t have...no... No, he refused to believe it. Rudy was okay. He just had to be.

“Please...” Snap asked, trying not to sound so demanding this time. “Let me go in and try to find him... If he was caught in the explosion, I...” He bit his lip. “I have to go find him...”

Dr. Urso shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, Snap. But no one is allowed back in the building.” In a clear attempt to comfort him, Dr. Urso gave a small, barely noticeable smile and said, “I’m..I’m sure one of the doctors found him by now. They’re doing a full sweep of the building.”

Snap wanted to take comfort in those words, but for some reason, he couldn’t. Even as his zoner friends offered their sympathy, just as worried about Rudy as he was, it did little to remove the painful feeling in his stomach. He couldn’t just stand here and do nothing. He stared at Dr. Urso and slowly, took a few steps back. The doctor had released him at this point and just looked at him sadly, clearly wanting to give him better news but not being able to.

“I’m going into that building.” Snap said, his voice firm. “And you can’t stop me.”

“Snap...please...” Dr. Urso said, reaching his hand towards him. “Don’t do it. You could get hurt.”

“We’ll go with him.” Rapsheeba said. Dr. Urso looked at her in surprise. “He’s our friend, and so is Rudy. We’ll do whatever it takes to help them.”

“Yeah. We’ll make sure they both get out safe and sound!” Blocky said, offering the best determined smile that he could.

Snap smiled at his friends. He was glad to have their support. He knew he could rely on them for help. With their help, they would find Rudy and get him out for sure. They would be able to do it. They worked well as a team when Bardot kidnapped Rudy and Penny, forcing them to play his ‘games’. He knew, with them by his side, Rudy would be safe. They’d find him and get him out.

Dr. Urso didn’t say a word. He stared at the trio, sucking on his lip. He looked very uncertain. It was clear he didn’t want them going wandering in the burning building. Snap could understand why. It was a dangerous move, and they didn’t know if the Luminos were still there or not. Some of them may have gotten into the building. They could be wreaking havoc now. Still, Snap knew something had to be done. Rudy was in danger..he could sense it... They had to save him.

The doctor opened up his mouth to speak, but there was a shout from behind them. The group turned their heads to see another doctor rushing towards them. This doctor was humanoid in appearance and was a little shorter than Dr. Urso. The humanoid doctor was covered in burnt marks and a few cuts, suggesting that he had just escaped the burning building.

“Dr. Varrick?!” Dr. Urso cried in shock. He looked at the doctor up and down when he got close enough. “What...what happened...?”

Dr. Varrick coughed a few times, wiping his mouth. “Barely..escaped... Hallways collapsing..” He breathed in quickly, his chest inflating and deflating at a rapid pace. “So...close... Almost..didn’t make...it...”

Snap was horrified by this. He could hear gasps coming from his friends. This doctor just confirmed what Snap suspected all along. There was collapses going on inside the building. Rudy..he was in big trouble.. He had to help him... He had to go in there and help him...

Dr. Urso almost seemed to read Snap’s mind. His attention on the humanoid zoner, he said, “Did you happen to see anyone else coming out of the building? Did you see the Great Creator at all?” The humanoid zoner stared at him. Dr. Urso pressed on. “He was in the hospital too! Did you see him or anyone else?”

When Dr. Urso asked that question, Snap felt his head turn in the direction of the humanoid zoner. So did Rapsheeba and Blocky. If this doctor knew anything...anything at all.. They needed to hear it. This doctor would, if he knew anything, provide important information that they could use to get Rudy out of there. Snap hoped that this zoner knew something, anything, even if it was just something minor.

“Yes...I did.” Dr. Varrick said.

At those words, Snap felt a strong sense of elation sweep through him. He took a few steps towards the doctor. “You did? Where is he? How is he?” He asked, his voice filled with emotion, his talking pace a little faster than usual. “Please tell me what you know!”

“Well, I could barely see, but I did notice that he was with Dr. Raiden.” The humanoid doctor said. Snap gave a sigh of relief. At least Rudy was with someone who could help him. “They were headed down the east corridor.”

At this, Dr. Urso gave a gasp of shock. This filled the air with tension. Snap didn’t like the sound of that. As if to confirm, Dr. Urso said in a soft voice, “The east corridor...? Why would they head off in that direction?”

“I guess it was the nearest one?” Dr. Varrick suggested.

Dr. Urso shook his head. “No... From where Rudy should have been, the nearest one would have been the northern corridor. That would have led them out here.” He made a sweeping motion with his paw to indicate the large gathering of zoners in front of the building. He looked at Dr. Varrick in the eyes and said, “You are certain they went down the east corridor?”

“Affirmative. It looked like they were headed towards the staircase there.” Dr. Varrick said. “Maybe they were going to a different exit?”

The lion bear put a hand on his head and took a few steps back. Horror swept through his face, becoming clear as day. Fear welled up inside of Snap. He really didn’t like where this was going. What was going on?

“Dr. Urso...?” Blocky asked hesitantly.

“What..what’s wrong?” Rapsheeba’s voice was shaky.

Dr. Varrick furrowed his eyebrows with concern. “Yeah...what’s wrong?”

“The stairs at the end of the eastern corridor...” Dr. Urso said. He stared at the group with wide eyes. “They’re off limits... They had been for years...” He looked left and right, panic seeming to overtake the lion bear zoner. “But...but... Dr. Raiden should have known that...” He looked back at the group. A mixture of horror and confusion practically radiated off his eyes. “Why would he take Rudy down that way? He should have known... He knows the procedure.. He knows that place is off limits.. He knows that the northern corridor was their fastest way out. Why would he...?”

Horror and dread filled the group of five zoners. Ice shot through ther veins, the horrific realization sweeping through their minds. There was only one reason they could think of...one reason why Dr. Raiden would deliberately go the wrong way. They looked at each other uneasily.

“Snap...” Rapsheeba breathed. “You...you don’t think...?”

Snap’s body trembled. Was...was Dr. Raiden a...traitor? Had he been an enemy this whole time? Snap’s mind flashed to when Dr. Raiden spoke to him so sternly about the hospital being safe. Why hadn’t he caught it sooner? Dr. Raiden was being a little too forceful..like he wanted Rudy to stay so he could... Oh no... Snap couldn’t believe it. And just how did the Luminos know where Rudy was? They could have found out on their own but...what if Dr. Raiden told them...?

Another flash entered his head as he recalled the incident with Mr. Wilter. He had been warning them about a zoner with a metal finger. He had no idea if Dr. Raiden was the zoner, but he recalled how Wilter stopped speaking almost as soon as Dr. Raiden showed up.. He and Penny dismissed it as him needed to go somewhere else quickly. But..but what if Wilter left...because he knew Dr. Raiden was a bad guy somehow...and he hadn’t been able to warn them because Dr. Raiden would have done something awful if he had...?

Snap felt his body shake harder as the horrific realization tugged at his mind. Dread, horror, and anger welled up inside of him. They had...they had trusted Dr. Raiden... And the idea that he may have been playing them for saps this whole time... It boiled his blood, and filled him with a strong sense of dread. If Dr. Raiden did work for the Luminos, and Rudy was with him... His eyes widened in horror. They needed to get in that building, and they needed to get in there now.

Before Snap could speak, he felt something being pushed into his hand. He looked up and he saw Dr. Urso standing here. Looking at his hands, he saw that the lion bear zoner had given him his ID card. Snap looked at him, waiting for him to speak.

“Take this and go around the back. There should be a small door that will grant you access to the lower part of the hospital. That is where the eastern corridor’s staircase leads to.” Dr. Urso explaiend. “If Dr. Raiden did take Rudy there, you should find them somewhere down there. Just keep quiet and stay out of sight.”

Snap stared at the ID card and then back at Dr. Urso. He gave a small smile and nodded his head. “Thank you...” He turned his attention to his friends. He motioned with his hand. “Come on!” With that, they rushed over towards the back of the hospital.

sss

Reggie sat down and listened intently to Penny’s story. She told him everything, from how Rudy found out about ChalkZone, to many events that happened during the years of them guarding ChalkZone, to what was going on now. She managed to keep it condensed, despite all the information she was telling him.

Some of the incidents, Reggie remembered. He recalled things like a giant frozen...thing, crashing in a dumpster, the time that a drawing that kinda looked like himself just magically appeared out of nowhere, despite Rudy not having a piece of chalk at the time, and he definitely recalled the time when his foot was stuck in the ground and he felt all sorts of weird sensations. He felt a sense of anger well up inside of him when he realized it was that blue boy he encountered years ago, who embarrassed him on the playground.

When he found out he was, what Penny called, a zoner, he wasn’t sure if he should be surprised or not. Reggie hardly ever bought the Greenland story. He just went along with it. Something about the story never added up, but considering his low intelligence, no one would have believed him if he did try to explain. He knew enough that Greenland was far away and that it didn’t make sense that the teacher wouldn’t know about this foreign exchange business. But if he were to bring it up, someone would come up with an explanation, and he himself was not very good at coming up with those on the fly, especially at that young age.

Now that he knew more about this ChalkZone, things did start making more sense. Why Rudy and Penny would disappear out of nowhere, reappear out of nowhere... All those strange events he had noticed... the voice that nearly drove him insane that one time... And among many other things. And now that he knew, he had to decide just where he should go from here. Now that he knew more about this place, this ‘world of chalk’ as he heard Terry and Vinnie call it a few times, it was time for him to decide what he would do with this information.

He did feel bad about forcing Penny into revealing the information he wanted. Blackmail was not exactly the route he wanted to take. Maybe as a kid, but he had matured a lot since then. He was just so desperate for answers, he had to get the information. He wouldn’t have really followed through with his threat, and he did feel bad about scaring Penny like that. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to do, though.

Penny did give him good reason not to reveal it. She explained the disasters that would take hold of ChalkZone if just anyone was allowed in. She reminded him of how unscrupulous some people are, who greedy people can get, and they could use ChalkZone just for mere profit. Such people wouldn’t care about the condition of ChalkZone. Since anything can be drawn, these people may view ChalkZone and zoners that live in it as expendable.

Reggie wasn’t entirely sure, at first, if he should believe the zoners were ‘real’, in a sense. They were just drawing, weren’t they? Sure, they could walk around, speak, whatever else, but if they were drawn to life, didn’t that mean they were just creations and nothing beyond that? Did they really have a sense of individuality? For a while, Reggie really did question the worth of these chalk beings, and whether or not it was worth protecting them.

But then a realization dawned on him. He had interacted with the zoners before, that one time. They seemed to react...realistically. Just like any person in the real world would... They showed kindness, fear, panic... They reacted like they really were in trouble when he started to through garbage around. The panic that they displayed when he was being a jerk, it did feel quite genuine. It didn’t seem like something that was merely ‘programmed’ into them, so to speak.

And that blue kid... Snap his name was... He was walking around in the real world just fine. Even though he was a drawing, he was able to interact with the world around him. He had touched him, grabbed him and threw him in his desk. He felt so real... He really did feel like he was there. And the interactions with him felt genuine. Nothing about that encounter screamed ‘fake’ to him. Snap interacted him like any sentient person would. So perhaps he really was real...

That would explain why Rudy and Penny were so desperate to keep the place a secret. If these zoners were real, were sentient, and any evidence he found supported this claim, then it was understandable why they wouldn’t want anything to happen to them. Reggie himself would be unnerved by the idea of enslaving and entire race. Sure, in his youth, he picked on kids and made them give him their lunches or lunch money, but he would have never gone as far as try to turn them into slaves, especially not to the same degree Penny implied would happen to the zoners.

He made his decision. He could see Penny staring at him, a worried look on her face. She was waiting for him to give his answer. She finished telling her story. She finished her side of this whole thing. Now it was his turn to speak up.

Reggie cleared his throat. “That’s...some story.” He casted his eyes downward. “So that’s where you and Rudy had been slipping off to..”

“Yes.” Penny nodded her head slowly. “We had been protecting it for years...” Her voice trailed off. She bit her lip, her eyes filling with more worry. “And now that you know...what are you going to do?”

Reggie looked up and stared at her. He remained quiet for a few seconds. He could sense the tension in the room rising as he kept quiet. The longer he stayed quiet, the more anxious Penny seemed to get. Then he spoke, “I’m not entirely sure if these zoners are real... It seems like they are, but a part of me..isn’t so sure.” He folded his arms and he narrowed his eyes. “I’m not sure if there would really be any irreversable damage if I were to blab anything to my father.”

“No! Please!” Penny cried out. She moved forward and gripped Reggie by his arm. “Please..you can’t let word of this slip out! Please! I...”

Reggie gripped her hand and pushed it off of him. “You didn’t let me finish.” He waited for Penny to move back. He could see her breath is quickening, staring at him in fear. “Like I said, I don’t know if I can completely believe these zoners are sentient, and if it is really as dangerous as you say to expose this world of chalk, but...” He raised a finger before Penny could get another word in. She stared at him expectantly. Reggie remained this way for a few seconds, before he gave a small smile and made a gesture with his hand. “...I’ll give your story the benefit of the doubt. If you don’t want me to tell anyone about this place, then...okay. Your secret’s safe with me.”

Reggie was not prepared for the hug he got after that. As soon as he gave his word he won’t expose ChalkZone, Penny have wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. He froze, unsure of what to do. This was the first time Penny had ever done this to him. Had he really made her this happy when he said he won’t blab anything? ChalkZone must mean a whole lot to her then. Slowly, he hugged her back.

“Thank you...” Penny whispered under her breath. She clung onto Reggie a little tighter. “I cannot tell you how much that means to me...”

“No problem...” Reggie said, somewhat hesitantly. He really wasn’t used to situations like this.

Eventually, Penny let go. She moved back from Reggie, giving him some space. That smile was on her face. Reggie couldn’t help but return it. He could see her open her mouth to speak. He waited to hear what she had to say.

“I...”

But she never got further than that. There was a loud groan that caught the two teens’ attention. They turned their heads over to see Terry shifting on the couch. She let out groans of pain as she pushed herself up, obviously ignoring the pain she was in. Soon she sat up and she rubbed her head. Almost instantly, Penny rushed over to her side.

“Terry!” Penny cried out. She moved next to the injured woman and helped to support her when she nearly fell over. “What happened to you?”

Terry looked at Penny. Reggie noticed how confused she looked. The woman looked all around her, her eyes slowly blinking. It was clear she did not remember where she was or how she got here. She didn’t seem panicked, just confused and a little slow taking everything in. She rubbed her head some more with her free hand, her other arm being held by Penny, supporting her.

Terry did soon seem to regain her memories. Her eyes widened a little and she turned her attention to Penny. She opened up her mouth to speak. At first, she just took in a few breaths, as if she lost a lot of strength, which Reggie did not doubt. Then after that, she spoke, her voice weak and almost thready sounding.

“V-Vinnie... ChalkZone.... has..evidence..” Terry said, her voice quiet and soft.

Penny’s eyes widened. “What..? Are you saying that..Vinnie has evidence of ChalkZone?!”

Terry managed to nod her head once. “Y-Yes... He kidnapped me...tortured me... Got the evidence.. I just..managed to escape now...” She let out a groan of pain, her body stiffening up. Reggie had never seen so much pain reflecting in one person’s eyes before. “He’s..going to show it...on television...news station..”

Penny shot Reggie a terror-filled look. Reggie felt a sense of dread well up in him. He didn’t know why. He wasn’t as devoted to ChalkZone as Penny was. But something about that look she was giving him, the way she looked so panicked... He couldn’t help but feel the same way, too. This reaction alone gave him reason to believe that ChalkZone must be real enogh to warrant such terror at the idea of it getting exposed.k

“When...? Do you know when he’s going to show it..?” Penny asked.

Terry looked around the room. Confusion seemed to overtake her again. Her pain-filled eyes looked left and right. “I..I don’t know... I forget...could be today...tomorrow...” She stared intently at Penny. “Got to..get to Vinnie’s place...he hid the evidence...there somewhere...”

Penny did not hesitate. She got up and turned her attention towards the stairs. She started to make her way towards it. Reggie got in front of her, stopping her. Penny looked at him, confused.

“What should I do?” Reggie asked. Penny stared at him. Reggie pressed on. “I...I would like to help too. I don’t know why..something is compelling me to help. What should I do?”

Penny stood there for a moment. She glanced over at Terry. The woman, by now, had collapsed on her side. Her eyes were closed, but it was clear she was still conscious. Penny furrowed her eyes with concern. She looked back at Reggie.

“You go upstairs and tell my mother and Rudy’s parents about what happened. Tell them what Terry told us. Go with them if you’d like to help more. Help them get that evidence back from Vinnie.” Penny said. She took out her piece of magic chalk and looked at it. Reggie noticed the sparkling and his mouth opened in awe. “I will go into ChalkZone and inform Rudy about the situation. He needs to know about this. Snap, too.”

“Why can’t I go with you in ChalkZone?” Reggie asked.

“Because stopping that evidence from being aired is of top priority. I can go alone in ChalkZone and tell Rudy. But to stop Vinnie, that may require all the help they can get.” Penny said sternly, her eyes narrowed in a way that showed Reggie just how serious the situation was. “Reggie, it is imperative that the evidence that Vinnie has of ChalkZone is never seen on a public scale. Go with them, Reggie. Help them keep that evidence off the air. Okay?”

Reggie paused for a moment. Then he slowly nodded. “Okay..I will try my best.”

“Thank you.” Penny said, giving a quick smile before the two teens took off up the stairs, each with their own destination and mission in mind.

Chapter Text

Ghadir couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction when she walked into Jenny’s basement and saw the whimpering feathered serpent zoner laying on the ground. Quet she believed his name was. That was the name called out when the dog zoner, whom they learned was Hagar, was dragged out. All the while Quet was shouting his name, desperate to try to save his friend. If Ghadir didn’t know better, she’d say that these two were pretty close, which may have been the case.

Hagar had been strapped down and slowly tortured. There wasn’t much of a reason. It wasn’t like the dog zoner had any information they really wanted. Well they did manage to get some interesting facts out of him, such as how they planned on an ambush at the hospital to get Rudy at some point. Hagar was not able to tell them exactly when this would be carried out, but it didn’t matter. Jenny was satisfied enough that their plan was working.

The large woman smirked as she recalled the zoners’ reactions when they found out they had been used. Needless to say, they weren’t very happy. They talked about how no filthy creator can tell them what to do and how they can’t be controlled like some objects. She and her comrades mocked the two, revealing to them that the attacks against them were to get them to respond like this, going after Rudy. The zoners were informed that they did exactly what the black chalk artists wanted all along. Despite their claims otherwise, they really had been used as tools.

Not long after the black chalk artists revealed this to the Luminos zoners, amused by their reactions, Jenny decided to get rid of the dog. Ghadir was happy about this as she wanted to taste the dog zoner. Even though she already ate a sandwich earlier, her craving for chalk was getting stronger, and the dog zoner would satisfy that. So the trio began to kill Hagar, slowly, painfully. His death howls echoed throughout the room as they used scalpels to cut him up until he finally died. Quet had cried out his name during this whole thing, watching it in horror.

Then Ghadir ate Hagar. Not all of him. She got too full for that. But she did enjoy eating portions of him, all the while making sure Quet got a good view of it. The zoner soon got sick, nausaeated by the sight, and threw up in his cage. After Ghadir was finished eating her fill, she, with the help of Jenny and Tyreek, ripped the body apart and stored pieces in containers for later consumption. She went upstairs to put them in the refrigerator to keep them fresh.

Now she had returned. The whole experience clearly traumatized the feathered serpent zoner. He was curled up in a ball, his broken wing laying limply at his side at an odd angle. She could hear the low whimpers emitting from his mouth. She could see the tears flowing down his face. She just smiled at his sobbing, licking her lips as she imagined what he must taste like. She went over towards his cage, all the while the zoner never looked up at her, like he didn’t hear her approach.

She stood in front of his cage. Still he remained in his curled up position. Still he was crying, chalky tears dripping from his eyes. Once in a while, he would move his unbroken wing to readjust himself. But mostly he just laid there. His body trembled with emotion. His teeth were gritted. Ghadir couldn’t tell if it was from emotional pain or physical pain. Probably both, now that she thought of it. She had no doubts the wing hurt him still, and if she was as close to that dog zoner as she thought, then it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to think that he was still mourning his death.

Quet did finally take notice of her. He lifted up his head and as soon as he spotted her, his feathers ruffled up in irritation. He still cried, but now his eyes shined with a different emotion. Ghadir could tell that it was anger. She just smiled as Quet emitted a low growl, his long, thin teeth bared as he lifted up his shaky head off the ground.

“You...what do you want...?” Quet asked, his voice low. “What..what more can you take from me...? You took me from my home. You took my best friend away from me. Tell me, monster... what more can you do?”

Ghadir just smirked, refusing to answer. She paced a little in front of the cage, looking at him up and down. She noted his fluffed up feathers, his eyes glowing a little in anger. Despite his bared teeth, she knew he wasn’t going to try to bite her. With his broken wing and damaged spirit, he didn’t have the guts to do so. He was such a coward without his weapon, without his comrades there to help him. He couldn’t even fly away from her. He was trapped.

Yet here he was, still trying to at least be brave around her. As she paced around the cage, trying to judge which part she wanted to taste first, Quet never took his eyes off of her. Ghadir’s eyes followed the flow of his body, and in her mind, she mentally dissected him, much like the cuts of meat from a cow or pig. She had a feeling Quet knew exactly what he was doing. The more she looked at him like he was food, the angrier he looked, the more defiant he seemed to act. When she heard a low hiss from him, she stopped and stared at him, that same smirk from before still on her face.

“I know you want to eat me... I know you do... So why don’t you? Get it over with.” Quet growled under his breath. “But know this. No matter what you do to me... my comrades will avenge me. We, the Luminos, will free ChalkZone from you wretched creators. It will be safe once more. You’ll see...”

Ghadir’s smile grew twisted at this. “If you say so.” She shrugged her shoulders, acting dismissive of the serpent’s words. “You zoners really do have a knack of keeping hope long after you should have thrown it away.” She looked at her fingers. Noticing a bit of chalk dust from Hagar still on there, she slowly licked her finger. She grinned nastily at Quet and said, “It is really quite amusing how such...expendable things can be so defiant...”

“We’re not expendable!” The serpent raised his unbroken wing in an act of anger. “Every chalk life is precious! You have no right to...!”

Ghadir laughed coldly at this. “No right to what? Let me remind you that if it weren’t for us creators, none of you would exist. We draw you. We give you life.” Quet bared his teeth at this. “So wouldn’t it be fair if you put yourselves to real use and...served us..?” Ghadir scratched her chin thoughtfully for a second. “Yes... That would be most delightful. You things are mostly worthless but...labor..yes.. You are meant to serve us.”

“No! No! No!” Quet shook his head, his ruffled feathers shaking. “You’re wrong! Zoners...we’re not meant to serve the likes of you! We’re meant to be free! Free to make our own lives! We are not bound by a creator, and never should be!” Ghadir remained quiet, listening to the zoner rant a little more. “You creators...are such monsters... Going around, destroying everything...trying to claim what isn’t yours! You...you think that just because you can create, bring things into existance, that you are so much better than us!”

At this, Ghadir took a step forward. She tilted her head slightly to the side. “Oh? And what makes you zoners so special? You are weak compared to us humans.” She began to pace around the cage again. She smiled in amusement at the continued display of anger from Quet. “You melt if you touch almost any liquid in the real world. A bucket of water and that’s it. You cannot create even in your own world. Even in the real world, you can’t do this. A human could take on many zoners at once with creation ability...but what can you zoners do? Hard to fight against what are essentially gods...am I right?”

“You..” Quet growled under his breath.

Ghadir cut him off. “A human life is more precious in comparison to that of a zoner. You zoners live long lives. So long as you stay healthy, you can live forever. Humans do not have that luxury. Each time a human is born, they must wait years to gain knowledge, social skills, what have you. But you zoners are ‘born’ with that instantly. Twenty humans die? Must wait many years to get that number back. Twenty zoners die? Just drew twenty zoners to replace them.”

Ghadir moved in front of the cage. She stood a foot in front of it. She smiled at the growling zoner, clearly amused by the whole thing. Quet was getting angrier by the second. His tears still flowed down his face. She could still hear his sobs, mourning the loss of his dear friend. His body was trembling and he looked like he really did want to attack her. But it wasn’t like he was going to get far. He wouldn’t be able to squeeze his head through the cage.

“So perhaps you should change your tune a little when you try to tell me that zoners are ‘precious’. No, they’re that. You’re all nothing...just pieces of chalk that can move around. Well whoop de doo...” Ghadir twirled her finger a little and her voice was dripping with sarcasm. “You wouldn’t even be here without the help of us creators. You’re trying to drive out the very things that bring life to your pathetic little world. Yet here you are, trying to defend your kind, trying to make it seem like what you do is worth something. Unless you are doing work for your creators, which you should... Then whatever you do is worthless.”

“You’re wrong...” Quet growled. His voice had gotten weaker, and it looked as if her words had shook him up a bit. Being alone and with no support must be starting to take a mental toll on him. Still, he wanted to remain defiant. “The Luminos will show you how wrong you are.. Kill me...but you will never win.”

“Oh no..I don’t plan on killing you.” Ghadir said. Noting Quet’s somewhat confused expression, she continued, “Not yet anyway. We do have plans of capturing more zoners and dragging them here...to satisfy my..craving...” She licked her lips. “I want you to bear witness to the whole thing.” Quet’s eyes widened at this. “Oh yes... Think of it as punishment... Even after I kindly explained to you why you creatures of chalk should obey your creators, you still remain defiant. So why should I give you the luxury of death? When there’s so much worse I can do...?”

“You’re a monster!” Quet cried, his feathers ruffling more. His pupils shrank into dots. “A complete monster!”

Ghadir laughed at this. “Yes, I suppose I am. However...” She took a few steps towards the flying serpent. She smirked as she watched him raise his head, looking like he was getting ready to strike. She made sure to stay a good distance away. She sneered down at the crying, angry zoner. “If being a monster means doing some rather...deplorable things... then the Luminos are just as guilty.”

“Don’t you dare compare us to your kind, creator!” Quet snarled, snapping his jaws once in warning. “We’re nothing like you!”

“Oh no? I seem to recall that your group assaulted Rudy and Snap in a treehouse.. Not I care what happens to them of course, but...” Ghadir folded her arms behind her and leaned forward. The sneer plastered across her face spread, almost ear to ear. “You attacked them unprovoked. Even though you knew they didn’t do it..your people still attacked them. Ruthlessly at that. I heard Rudy needed some more bandages. So tell me...how are you better when you resort to the same kind of cruelty and violence me and my comrades do?”

Quet fell silent at this. He stared at her in shock, his eyes widening. Ghadir smirked at this. It seemed the little snake was starting to realize just what she was telling him.

“You say that you are just trying to protect ChalkZone, and I suppose that is a brave act, considering what you’re up against...” Ghadir drolled, shrugging her shoulders in a dismissive manner. “But if you try to tell me that you aren’t ruthless like we are...then you are just deluding yourself.” She turned her back to the zoner. “After all, if you were to open your eyes, you would see that, when you attacked Rudy so viciously, you’d realize just how much like me and my comrades you were acting.” She turned her head and gave Quet a sideways glance. “It is quite amusing that, for a group claiming to just want to do the right thing, how much like your enemies you act, despite claiming being nothing like them. Tell me, Quet... Can you really sit there and act like you and the rest of your Luminos buddies haven’t done anything others would consider wrong?”

“I...I...” Quet couldn’t think of a response.

“I thought not...” Ghadir chuckled darkly. “You Luminos have gotten so blinded by your...perception of justice...you have unwittingly become the very thing that you hated.” Ghadir watched as Quet’s eyes widened more and he lowered his head, his eyes darting left and right as if he were contemplating what she said. “You’re more like us than you are willing to admit. Look in the reflection, and you will see us shining back...”

With that, she made her way towards the stairs. She slowed down so she could hear Quet break out in denial. She heard him scream a few times that it wasn’t true. She could hear his sobs of anguish increase. Her smile broadened as she listened to the serpent zoner weep, collapsing in a heap on the ground. Then she opened up the door and shut it behind her, leaving the zoner alone.

sss

“Are you sure this is it?” Mrs. Tabootie asked as they stood outside a door.

Terry, who looked a little better from before, nodded her head. “Y-Yeah..this is it...” She took a step forward, reaching her hand towards the door. “This is my brother’s place.”

“I still can’t believe Vinnie is your brother and we never knew.” Mr. Tabootie commented softly. He shook his head. “Well it doesn’t matter now anyway. Let’s just get in there and get out before he comes back.”

Reggie watched this scene unfold before him. He couldn’t believe they were breaking into someone else’s home for some other dimension. Well it must be important enough to them to take this risk. And Vinnie did torture Terry, his own sister, so it didn’t really bother Reggie too much that they were breaking into his place. It wasn’t like the guy was innocent or anything. He just hoped that the police don’t catch them trying to break in.

That turned out to not be much of a problem. The door was unlocked, much to Reggie’s surprise. Maybe Vinnie hadn’t come back yet. That was a possibility. He heard the squeak of the door opening, and he and the adults walked inside slowly. They were cautious, looking left and right to make sure that Vinnie wasn’t there. If he caught them just walking onto his property, he could have them arrested, and that was the last thing they needed right now.

“Do you know where he might have hidden the tapes?” Mrs. Sanchez asked.

Terry shook her head. “I-I’m not sure.. Vinnie brought a copy over to the network.. Won’t be shown for a while... We have to get the copies so he has nothing left to show..” She winced, obviously still in pain from her wounds. Reggie didn’t understand why she didn’t just stay back and let them to the work. “Do a...full sweep of his home. He has to have..the copies somewhere..”

“Not to start anything but...” Mr. Tabootie said as they started to disperse a little. “...couldn’t you have looked for the tape beforehand?” Terry looked over in the man’s direction. “Why didn’t you do that?”

Terry paused for a moment. She looked like she was having a hard time trying to think of why she didn’t do that. Then she said, “I..I wasn’t thinking clearly..” She sucked in a sharp breath of pain. “Look, at least we’re...here now... Let’s just look for that blasted evidence...”

No one argued against that. Silence fell upon everyone. Reggie could tell how seriously the adults were taking this. He did his best and began to look around. They did a sweep of Vinnie’s home, looking in every room they could find. Dressers, drawers, underneath stuff, the bathroom, all of them were explored thoroughly. Every nook and cranny they came across was searched.

But after a while of searching, no one turned up anything. Reggie looked as hard as he could, but he found nothing. He tried to look for something small that could be locked. He imagined that was where Vinnie would hide the evidence. Terry said the evidence was a video of some kind, so he also looked for something like that. He guessed it would be marked as well. So he tried to find a marked tape, but with no luck. He looked around at the adults, and they were having as much of a hard time as him.

Then it seemed Terry found something. She stood frozen in the living room, her eyes widened in horror. This worried Reggie and the adults, as whatever she found, it couldn’t be anything good. They all approached her slowly. She was holding up what appeared to be a piece of paper. What frightened Terry was what was written on it. What did it say? They had to find out.

“Terry?” Mrs. Tabootie asked gently. “What is it? What does it say?”

Terry looked at them, her eyes wide in terror. The sight of them made the others take a step away from her. She turned her attention back to the note. She began to read it, her voice trembling the whole time.

“So you thought you could just get up and leave me, eh sister? Well you should know that I am not so stupid. You know me. I’m your brother. You should have expected something like this from me. I saw that you managed to escape. I saw you get in that kid’s car. I know you got away. So I took the liberty of taking the copy of the evidence with me. And just to teach you a lesson, I managed to convince the network to show that footage today. If you wish to try to stop me, you have about four hours, but by the time you get back to my home, it may already be too late, right? I placed a timestamp on this message to give you a little helping hand. See you later, sister!

-Vinnie Raton”

Silence fell upon the ground. For a while, no one said anything. Then, Mrs. Sanchez spoke up.

“How much time do we have left?” Her voice came soft and quiet.

Mr. Tabootie looked at the timestamp and then he glanced down at his phone, flipping it open so he could see the time. His eyes widened in horror. “Two hours...”

Reggie had never seen so many faces go pale so fast in his life.

sss

Penny struggled against her captors. She tugged left and right, trying to make them let go. But they refused and just tightened their grip. She hissed in pain as she felt their claws dig into her skin. She glared at them, gritting her teeth. How could she have let this happen?

“Hold still, creator.” The crocodile zoner she came to know as Nile said. “Or do you want me to beat your leg again?” Penny growled at this, but said nothing.

The stegosaurus, Diamond she believed she was called, snorted at her, a nasty grin on her face. “You should have stayed home, creator. You were warned of what would happen if you dared to set foot in her. You’ve got no one else to blame but yourself.”

“I had to come see my friend...” Penny retorted, narrowing her eyes further. “Rudy can’t go into the real world without being in a lot of pain...”

“Hmph..” Diamond said, flipping her head back and pointing her snout upwards. “Not our problem.”

“No..of course not..” Penny muttered under her breath.

Nile tugged her a little hard, nearly causing her to trip over her own feet. “Enough talking, creator. If you want to see your friend so bad, well that is where we are taking you.” The crocodile zoner said, his voice coming as a low hiss through his teeth. Penny’s eyes widened in shock at this. “He has been detained. You will be locked up with him. Your fates will be decided soon.”

“See? At least we’re giving you a kindness. You’ll suffer the same fate as your friend together.” Diamond said, swooshing her tail from side to side. She gave Penny a look of pure contempt. “That’s more than I can say for you creators...” Penny winced at how much venom was laced across each word in that sentence.

Penny should have been more prepared. She should have had Reggie come with her. She knew that traveling in ChalkZone alone was not a good idea. She had just discussed that with herself in her head. She shouldn’t have gone alone. But she wasn’t thinking straight. She was so determined to have that footage taken away from Vinnie that she had Reggie go with the adults to stop him. She had been so sure that she would make it to the hospital without incident. Oh how wrong she was.

She hadn’t been in ChalkZone a minute before she was attacked. The Luminos set up a few guards in that spot. Diamond and Nile were two of them. They had been waiting in that spot, knowing that she might try something. As soon as she did, they were clearly prepared. They attacked her without warning and she barely had time to react. In that moment, she wished she she had brought over reinforcement. Even just one other person, zoner or human, would have helped her out immensely. But she was alone, and she paid the consequences of that.

She was beaten up again. They knocked her in the ground. They punched her. They kicked her. She tried to draw, but these zoners clearly knew how to deal with creators. They never gave her a chance to draw. They knocked the chalk out of her hands and crushed it in under their feet. Without a means to defend herself and with her leg still hurting her, Penny couldn’t get out of the way as she was ruthlessly attacked. They only stopped when she surrendered, and submitted to them. Only then did they let up on the attacks and pull her to her feet.

Penny’s body was wracked with pain. Bruises covered her, some deep, some light. Aches spread through her body. She could taste blood inside her mouth, a result of her being punched in the face at least once. Two of the Luminos volunteered to take her somewhere to be held up, and it was these two. They seized her arms and began to drag her. And now here she was, still being dragged by these two zoners, having no idea where she was being taken.

The fact that Rudy was captured as well filled her with horror. She thought that the hospital was safe. That’s what Dr. Raiden said. He had been confident that the hospital was not going to be attacked because it would require an inside job. Then again, there was a chance that Rudy had decided to be brave and ventured outside into ChalkZone City. Yeah, that was a possibility. He could have been attacked there, just like she had.

She hoped that Rudy wasn’t hurt much. These Luminos were pretty vicious in their attacks. She can feel the hatred they had for humans radiating off their bodies any time they so much as just glared at her. And she could definitely feel it when they would hurt her, either through a punch, kick, or slash. The Luminos had shown no mercy to them. The crocodile zoner had slashed Rudy’s already injured eye, and he had beaten her leg, which was already injured. He deliberately targeted their injuries. Just how low were these guys willing to sink?

She didn’t bother trying to speak to her captors again. What was the point? They wouldn’t listen to her. No matter what she told them, they wouldn’t care. They wouldn’t see reason. They saw her as a creator, and in their deluded minds, all creators were dangerous. How can she reason with the unreasonable? The only thing she could do was follow them, meeting up with Rudy when she was tossed in the same cell as him, and hope that they could think of a way out of there. She knew they had to get out of there as soon as possible.

She soon found herself being guided through ChalkZone City. She noted that they were taking back routes, avoiding being seen by other zoners. Diamond and Nile warned her to be quiet, or they would hurt her. Penny did her best to be quiet, even as they yanked her roughly and hit her against the wall as they dragged her through some pretty tight spots. Penny didn’t attempt to struggle, worried not just for herself, but for Rudy if she didn’t comply with them. A few times, a zoner would almost see them, but she’d be yanked back, her mouth covered, and warned to shut up.

She couldn’t tell exactly where in ChalkZone City she was being taken. Without using the main streets, there was no way she could tell where they were. None of these areas looked familiar to her. She would have asked her captors where they were going but she knew that, even if she asked, they wouldn’t tell her anything. They would just tell her to shut up and to continue following them. So she did just that. She kept quiet and followed, doing her best to ignore the pain in her arms as they were twisted roughly. She would find out sooner or later where they were taking her.

And sure enough, she found out. She caught a glimps of the hospital as they headed in that direction. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the damage done to it. She wondered at first if it was Jenny, Tyreek, and Ghadir. But she soon realized, judging from the expressions that Diamond and Nile were giving, this must be the Luminos’s work. Penny felt her heart speed up, worried about Rudy and other patients being injured in the attack. She knew the Luminos were crazy, but...attacking a hospital...?

Penny felt anger rising up inside of her. The Luminos have been saying that creators are monsters, but they had done some despicable things themselves. They were such hypocrites. They probably don’t see the attack on the hospital as anything wrong. She growled softly under her breath. Oh how she wanted to give them a piece of her mind... How she longed to give them a long speech about how they were acting like the monsters they despised. But she held her tongue, knowing that she might put herself in a worse situation if she talked back, even if she would be speaking the truth.

The two zoners took her around the back. Penny didn’t recognize this part of the hospital. They headed off to the side, a little further back from the hospital. Nile knelt down and, with his free hand, pushed something hidden in the bit of foliage there. Penny noticed a small hatch opening up. Her eyes widened. A secret entrance? Since when did a hospital require a secret entrance? She didn’t have time to think about that when she was yanked roughly and she began to follow the two zoners through the secret passage.

The tunnel was rounded and looked like it had been dug out. The walls were made of clearly dirt and she could feel how moist the place was just by looking at it. The tunnel was lit by some small white lights. Much of the tunnel was still in shadow, but what was visible seemed to have an almost shiny surface, made easily seen by the small lightbulbs on the low roof of the natural-looking corridor.

Diamond and Nile took her through what she guessed was an underground section of the hospital. The place looked a little dirty and much of it didn’t look like it belonged to the same building. Curiosity increased and she began to look around, turning her head left and right as she tried to make sense of where they were. She didn’t get to do much sight seeing as the two zoners increased their pace, as if they wanted to get her to their destination as soon as possible.

Penny was able to see enough that she deduced that the hospital was built over something. This section just..didn’t look like it belonged. It made sense that the hospital was built over something else. This place looked like it still served some kind of function, albeit not very often. She saw a staircase in the corner, and she guessed that the hospital staff still had access to this place. She wondered what it could be used for. It clear that it was rarely used. She wondered why this area wasn’t just blocked off completely. Why keep access to a room that isn’t going to be used?

Soon, after a few more minutes of walking, they came to a large door. The stegosaurus zoner, once they got close enough, reached over with her tail and, showing a feat of nimble and dexterity, she was able to crunch in a number. The door opened up with a loud hiss and Penny was dragged inside. Her eyes widened in horror at what she saw near the far end of the room.

There was an electric water cage, very much like the one Cosmo had used...and then later Bardot. It chilled Penny to the bone to see it again. She had no idea how the zoners here managed to recreate it. There was a chance the water was made of chalk instead of real world, but with the electricity dancing and sparkling around it, she couldn’t tell. She’d have to touch the water, and she wasn’t about to do that. In the end, it didn’t matter if it was real world or not because there was no way she could get past the bars without getting electrocuted.

That wasn’t the only thing that horrified her. Something else caught her eye, something that made her heart skip a beat. There, laying in the middle of the cell, was Rudy. He had collapsed on his stomach and his face contorted in pain. She took in a few quick breaths, shock and worry rushing through her system. Just what had these zoners done to him? He was so still...except for his breathing, he wasn’t moving at all. And was that blood she saw? From his shoulder... Had he been attacked again?

Penny was dragged up to the front of the cage. Diamond pressed a button, causing some of the electric water bars to disappear. The two zoners released her. Penny barely had time to do anything when Nile grabbed her by the back of her shirt collar and lifted her up. He curled his lips back and glared at her in disgust. He then threw her in the cage with Rudy. Diamond tossed her cane, which he had been carrying in a sling around her large waist, in as well. Nile quickly pressed the button and the bars reappeared, trapping Penny inside with Rudy.

She looked down at Rudy, biting her lip as she saw how bad he looked up close. His shoulder had been ripped open again. Someone used something sharp to tear through the bandages and now there was a gaping hole in his shoulder. Fresh blood still poured from the wound, leaking on the floor. Tears flowed down her face. She wondered just what kind of person would be sick enough to do something like this. Wanting to do something to help her friend, she tore off a piece of her clothing and pressed it against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

She didn’t have much time to stop the bleeding when she heard more footsteps. These footsteps, unlike the others, was lighter, more fleety. Whoever was approaching, they weren’t very heavy. Penny tried her best to ignore whatever zoner was approaching. She knew it was a member of the Luminos. She was in no mood to speak to them. She did her best to keep her mind focused on helping Rudy.

“So I see we have a twofer today... How wonderful.”

Penny froze at that voice. It was so cold, so chilling...so uncomfortably familiar. No, it couldn’t be.. No.. It had to be a mistake. It just had to. Her heart pounded against her chest as she slowly turned around. Her mind screamed at her that she just misheard, that it wasn’t who she thought it was. But when she turned around completely, there was no denying it. There was no mistaking this zoner.

It was Dr. Raiden...

Penny stared in horror at the very doctor who seemed to have tried to help them in the past. He had always acted so concerned for Rudy. He had done whatever he could to help him. He had worked with her mother, doing whatever possible to aid Rudy and to figure out what needed to be done. This doctor had been the most vocal in talking with them regarding Rudy’s condition, and he always looked so sad whenever he had to give them bad news.

But now, here was the same doctor, the same zoner that had helped them, that had shown so much worry, standing before her. Instead of the usual worried, caring expression he’d give, he had an evil smile plastered across his face. His golden eyes shined not of kindness, but of contempt and disgust. There wasn’t an ounce of friendliness in the zoner that stood before her. Penny thought, at first, maybe he was an evil twin, but she could see his nametag clearly. This was Dr. Raiden. Realization sank in, chilling the back of her head.

“I take it you are surprised to see me. Well Rudy was surprised as well. I suppose I can’t fault you. After all...” Dr. Raiden raised a finger up into the air. “I did put on a very convincing show. Even my fellow doctors believed me. I played everyone for saps, and it was quite fun, too.”

Penny noticed that one of Dr. Raiden’s fingers was made of metal. Her heart filled with cold ice as horror spread through her body. This zoner was the metal finger zoner that Mr. Wilter had warned them about. Her mind reeled back as the realization settled in the bottom of her stomach, making her feel sick. They had been working with the very zoner they were supposed to be wary of. They had trusted this zoner, and he had played that trust like some kind of instrument. And here he was, looking all amused by it.

Penny couldn’t believe it. How could they have trusted this zoner? Why didn’t they see the signs earlier? His overconfidence, his willingness to let Rudy leave despite being injured badly, his forcefulness... Why didn’t they realize that something was wrong with this zoner? They had dismissed it as just a part of his personality. They hadn’t realized he was hiding some dirty little secret. He had been helping them all this time, or so the thought. Penny felt a cold chill sweep through her as the truth came forth. Now when she replayed those images in her head, of Dr. Raiden being helpful, disgust filled up inside of her, realizing that they had been fooled all along.

Dr. Raiden took a few steps towards the cage. He smirked down at Penny, his smile made of unwelcoming ice. “I am so amused that you all believed that I cared for the little monster.” His golden eyes casted on Rudy. “Oh how much I wanted to kill him... How much I wanted to get rid of him so that ChalkZone had one less zoner to deal with...”

Penny’s body shook in rage. The anger from having trusted this disgusting zoner at all rose up inside of her. Unable to hold back, she snapped, “We trusted you! You disgusting, decieving monster! We trusted you! Rudy was dying and we trusted his life in your hands! And you lied to him! You lied to all of us!” Dr. Raiden narrowed his eyes slightly. “How could you do such a thing?! How could you toy with us like that?! You’re a monster!”

Dr. Raiden’s lips curled up in a snarl. “I’m not the real monster here...” Penny panted a few times, still glaring at him. But she said nothing. Dr. Raiden lifted up his head slightly, staring down at the eighteen year old girl. “You creators have done far more harm than I have.” He lifted up his metal finger and pointed it at Penny. She watched in horror as it got a little longer and thinner, the tip glinting in the light. Once it got double the lenght, Dr. Raiden stopped growing the digit and said, “Besides, it’s not my fault you were so easily fooled. You were all so naive... Had you noticed the signs earlier, maybe you could have prevented this.”

Penny growled softly. She stood up, her body still trembling in anger. “Don’t you dare try to pit the blame on us. We didn’t ask for this to happen. You did all this! You horrid beast! You lying serpent! We trusted you and you played us for fools!”

Dr. Raiden’s golden eyes flashed rage for a second and a deep growl exited his mouth. The sound of it chilled Penny’s blood and she instinctively took a step back. “I didn’t cause the death of thousands of innocent zoners... That was your kind, you dirty little human...” Penny didn’t respond to this. Dr. Raiden folded his arms behind his back, straightened himself up and said, “But at least now you are being properly dealt with. More of my comrades will arrive, and you will be given your punishment.”

“What are you going to do to us?” Penny asked softly.

The cheetah zoner gave a nasty grin, one that chilled Penny to the bone, as if this room’s temperature had dropped by several degrees. His teeth were bared and she could see the sharp tips of his fangs pressed against his furry lips. “Execution...” Penny’s eyes widened in horror at this. “Tomorrow, after everything is...set up... You and your boyfriend there will be taken to a special room, where you both will be given the death penalty.”

“What?!” Penny cried in terror, her heart racing. It felt like her heart was going to burst from her chest. She couldn’t stop the fear and dread from filling her body, replacing the anger she felt before. Her mind felt numb. “Why?!”

His smile fading, replaced with a sneer of anger and hatred, his eyes narrowing into slits, Dr. Raiden said, “For the crime of coming into ChalkZone...” Penny shuddered under the cold, intense glare from the cheetah’s amber eyes.

Chapter Text

“This place is like a maze...” Blocky grumbled under his breath. He looked all around their surroundings. “I can’t tell if we are even going the right way...”

“Shh!” Rapsheeba warned him. “We’re in enemy territory! Keep it down! We don’t know if there’s any Luminos zoners still down here!”

Snap turned and growled softly at them. “Both of you be quiet! Do you want to get caught?!”

Blocky and Rapsheeba stared at Snap for a few seconds. Then they put on guilty expressions and lowered their heads in a silent apology. Snap softened up his glare. He didn’t mean to snap at his friends like that. It was just that they were on an important mission. They couldn’t afford getting caught. They were in an unknown place, having no clue if there were any enemies lurking about. The last thing they needed to happen was to get caught. They had to be careful.

The three of them were moving through the dark and wet corridors. There were some lights, but many of them were flickering and some were out, making it a little harder to see. Snap noted that this place did seem like it was built out of different material. He wondered momentarily if there used to be another building over where the hospital used to be. That would explain the different material and why this place wasn’t really in use.

Something did confuse Snap. If this place was forbidden and wasn’t in use for years, why did the lights still work? And if this place hadn’t been visited in years, why did it look clean? Well sort of clean. The place was obviously still dirty, but it did look a tad cleaner than he would have expected. He wondered just how long this place was used in secret and how Dr. Raiden and his Luminos buddies were able to keep its use from being discovered. Maybe the walls here were thick enough to block the sound or something. Maybe the Luminos really don’t use this place that much and they were just using it now because it was convenient.

The thought of Dr. Raiden’s name boiled Snap’s blood. To think that, after all this time, they were working with an enemy... One that had been plotting Rudy’s demise all this time... He couldn’t stop himself from shaking in anger. He couldn’t believe how that doctor had played them all like saps, toyed with their emotions like that. Snap wished he had seen the signs earlier and done something. He wished Mr. Wilter had been able to warn them about this guy beforehand. If they had just done something earlier, they could have prevented this.

Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. All he can do was try to help Rudy. If Dr. Raiden took him down here, he would run into him eventually. Snap hoped that Dr. Raiden didn’t hurt Rudy further, or try to kill him. He hoped Rudy was still alive. He had to find him, and help him get out of here. Snap had recalled he had a piece of magic chalk with him he nearly forgot about. Rudy was going to need it, he was certain. He kept the piece hidden, just in case the Luminos find them. He wouldn’t want them to know he had magic chalk with him, otherwise they would destroy it.

Snap, Rapsheeba, and Blocky continued to make their way down the tunnels. They just kept going straight, looking all around, trying to see if they could figure out which way Rudy could have been taken. There were multiple paths they could take. Snap realized that this place was reminding him a lot of Cosmo’s hideout. He wondered if that was a coincidence or if there was a possibility that at least some of the Luminos had an encounter with Mr. Cosmo himself.

He couldn’t focus on that right now. He tried his best to ignore staring at the architecture itself and tried to focus on looking for a plausible direction Rudy would be in. But this place all looked so similar and he couldn’t see any evidence of Rudy being dragged. No marks on the floor. He guessed that Dr. Raiden played with his trust to get him to follow willingly. Snap grumbled to himself. He kind of wished Rudy had been dragged. With this kind of floor, that would have left a mark he could follow, even if just faint. But then, Dr. Raiden may have known that could happen and took measures to prevent it.

So far, they didn’t run into any Luminos. That was a relief. Snap wasn’t sure how they were going to go up against them. If he had blue chalk, he could draw some kind of shield. But he didn’t have any with him, and depending on how many Luminos they run into and how strong they were, he and his zoner friends might get captured. Regardless of not seeing any Luminos, Snap knew they could not take any chances, and they kept to the shadows as much as possible, moving at a slow, deliberate pace to avoid making sounds.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of footsteps. The three of them froze where they stood, their bodies becoming stiff. They moved back towards a corner they just turned from and pressed themselves against it. They were as far back in the shadows they could be while still being able to see. They looked at where the sound was coming from. They could see what looked like a large door that cranked open, and coming from it were two zoners. A stegosaurus and a crocodile.

Snap’s eyes widened. He recognized the crocodile zoner. He was the same one that was in that Luminos group that attacked him and Rudy at his tree house. Snap made a motion for Rapsheeba and Blocky to remain quiet. They huddled a little closer to the corner. They leaned with their heads to one side and tried to listen in on the two zoners’ conversation.

“I still can’t believe that pitiful human thought she could come back into ChalkZone unpunished...” The crocodile said under his breath. A low growl escaped his long snout. “But then, she did seem desperate...”

“Well of course she did, Nile.” The stegosaurus said, shaking her head from side to side. “Humans look out for each other. Which is why it’s best to pick them off when they are alone.” She paused for a moment. “But for now, we don’t have to worry about them. They’re locked up. They cannot hurt ChalkZone anymore.”

“Quite...” Nile said, a dark smirk on his face. “You are perceptive sometimes, Diamond. Targeting Penny when she was alone did work out better than she had if she had help from her little boyfriend.”

“Soon we won’t have to worry about them anymore.” Diamond chuckled lightly.

“I can’t wait for the execution.” Nile said, giving a soft laughter of his own. “Some proper justice being served will be oh so nice...”

“Now if only we can get that wretched blue boy...Snap...” Diamond’s voice was filled with contempt for that name. “Then it will be satisfying...”

“Oh don’t worry. We’ll get him eventually. He can’t run forever.” Nile stated.

The two zoners fell silent after that. They moved down the hallway. They walked past Snap and his friends, just barely missing seeing them. The trio held their breath as the Luminos zoners walked away. They held still, afraid to move, afraid that just one single movement would give them away. Luckily, the Luminos zoners didn’t appear to notice them, and they moved down the hallway. Snap, Rapsheeba, and Blocky dared not to move or breathe until after the two zoners turned a corner and headed down a new direction.

Snap felt a wave of horror wash through his body. That whole conversation had been unsettling to listen to. The Luminos were planning on killing his friends... Why? They hadn’t done anything wrong... What had they done to deserve such a harsh sentence? They were trying to protect ChalkZone. He wished that these nutcases would see that. He wished that they would open their eyes and see just how hypocritical they were being, just how much damage they were doing. But logic seemed to have left these guys a long time ago.

Snap was unnerved that they wanted to go after him next. A cold shiver went up his spine as he realized just how much they hated him. Why? Like Rudy and Penny, he hadn’t done anything wrong. Were they going after him just because of his closeness to Rudy? If so, that was really disgusting. Rudy and Penny were his best friends. He’d do anything for them. And for the Luminos to get angry about that... Snap tried not to think about it.

But as scared as he was of the Luminos finding him, he was much more worried about what would happen if they don’t find Rudy and Penny in time. Were they badly injured? He had no idea how they have been treated. The realization that Penny was captured too didn’t settle well in his mind. He knew Rapsheeba and Blocky were just as horrified. They gave him a look of sympathy and, shining in their eyes, he could see determination. Like him, they were determined to get the two humans out of their predicament. Snap knew that, if they worked together, they could accomplish a rescue.

Snap glanced at the large door. That had to be where Rudy and Penny were being kept. He turned to Rapsheeba and Blocky. He raised up his hand and made a shush sound. He then gestured for them to follow him. Slowly, looking left and right to make sure no one was nearby, they walked towards the large door.

sss

Rudy let out a soft groan. His right eye slowly opened up. His vision was blurred. His head was wracked with pain. He had no idea where he was. He looked all around as his vision started to clear up a little. He could see some colors, mostly browns and greys, intermixing together. Nothing was in focus. He recognized no defining shapes. Slowly, he pushed himself off the ground.

He realized just how weak he felt. He didn’t know if it was just from waking up or if something else happened. Why did his body ache? Why was his head spinning like this? Where was he? What happened? He blinked a few times and shook his head, trying to clear up his muggy mind. He felt like he had been sleeping for days. His eyes felt heavy and his brain was screaming at him to go back to sleep. Yet a part of him knew, somehow, that was not a very good idea. He shook his head again, trying to clear his mind at least a little so he could see where he was.

His vision did start to clear up, and as it did, he started to feel a dull ache in his shoulder. He winced, wondering if he smashed it against something hard. Instinctively, he reached over with his hand and clutched his shoulder. Almost immediately, he let out a cry of pain and released his shoulder. The sudden wave of sharp pain was enough to snap him back to reality. With his vision suddenly cleared up, he glanced down at his shoulder and he was horrified to see that it was wrapped up in what appeared to be a piece of clothing and there was a large dark red stain on it. Pain radiated from the wound.

“Rudy?” He heard a familiar voice say. “You’re awake!”

Rudy looked over and he saw Penny laying down next to him. She moved herself closer to him, a smile on her face. Rudy looked her up and down. She looked like she had been attacked again. She looked a little banged up, but didn’t seem too worse for wear. He glanced down at her leg and saw that it didn’t look like it was attacked again. Off to her right, he could see her cane, which looked like it had taken some damage.

Penny reached over and grabbed onto Rudy gently. She pulled him up some more and helped him keep his balance. Rudy couldn’t sit up straight for long. Feeling a wave of pain sweep through him, he lurched forward, using his hand to support himself. He let out another groan and he looked at Penny. For a few seconds, his vision blurred again. It quickly came back into focus and he tried his best to fight back against the tiredness which still tugged at the back of his head. He rubbed the back of his head and stared at Penny with a somewhat unfocused right eye.

“What...what happened...?” Rudy grumbled softly.

Penny lowered her gaze. Rudy could have sworn he saw anger flash in them. “Dr. Raiden happened... He fooled us all, Rudy.”

At the name Dr. Raiden, Rudy’s right eye snapped open wide. Suddenly, images flashed in the back of his head. Running into Dr. Raiden in the hallway... Following him down here... Attacking him from behind... Trapping him... Poisoning his IVs... It all came flooding back to him in a series of white flashes in his brain. As the memories came rushing back to him, he looked around and he realized where he was. He remembered now.

They were in a lower part of the hospital. A place that didn’t seem like it was in use that much, and Dr. Raiden had took him down here... He locked him up in this cage with bars made of electrified water. All around him, he could hear the loud humming, sparkling sound of the electricity as it flowed through the water. Dr. Raiden planned on keeping them down here until his comrades take them somewhere else... But to where and for what purpose, Rudy wasn’t certain.

Almost immediately, as he remembered what happened, the anger he felt before, upon learning the truth about Dr. Raiden, came to the surface. He found himself narrowing his eyes and clenching his teeth tightly. Penny did not act surprised. She was feeling the same anger as him. The doctor they thought had been helping them had been a bad guy this whole time, plotting against them. Rudy couldn’t believe they had trusted this zoner. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen the warning signs before, and now he and Penny were trapped, an unknown fate awaiting them.

Rudy thought back to his final conversation with Dr. Raiden before the cheetah revealed his true colors. His heart clenched tightly, filling with both anger and fear. Dr. Raiden had told him that Snap could be targeted...no, not could... Rudy realized that Dr. Raiden was actually confessing that the Luminos would go after Snap. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when. And now, thinking back, knowing the truth about this cheetah zoner, knowing he was the metal finger guy Wilter tried to warn them about, Rudy recalled the words Dr. Raiden said regarding Snap and he realized just how much his words had been laced with contempt. Not much to avoid suspicion, but they were there.

Anger and disbelief filling up inside of him, his body trembling from the emotion, Rudy clutched a fist tightly and he slammed it against the ground, ignoring the pain. He let out a shout of frustration and anger. Penny hung back, looking at him sympathetically. Rudy turned to look at her. She looked at him sadly and reached out and touched his injured shoulder. At her touch, Rudy found himself being able to calm down a little. Slowly, he relaxed and he stopped shaking. But the anger was still there. That would not go away from a while. This sickening feeling in his gut...It would be with him for some time. And he knew the same thing was true with Penny.

“I can’t believe it... Dr. Raiden lied to us, and we believed everything he said...” Rudy said, clenching his teeth, trying to hold back his anger.

“None of us could have known. He was..very convincing.” Penny said sadly. “And he didn’t lie about everything.”

“Well he lied enough that it fooled us, and we trusted him...we believed him..” Rudy tilted his head up. His right eye looked around, taking note of where they were, watching the electric bars with a feeling of dread. “Now look at where we are... If we had just..known earlier..we could have..”

Penny placed her hand on Rudy’s, interrupting him. He looked over at her. She shook her head slowly. “Dr. Raiden would have found a way to capture us anyway. Even if we knew the truth, he would have found a way to get us in here.”

Rudy stared at Penny. He realized she was right. If Dr. Raiden was patient enough to control himself all this time, waiting for the right moment to strike, then he would have been patient enough to figure out a backup plan in case this worked. Dr. Raiden would have found a way to trap them. If not through the method he used on him, then some other one, perhaps a more violent and forceful effort. Dr. Raiden had shown he was willing to use violence, evident by how he sliced his shoulder open.

“Yeah...you’re right...” Rudy breathed. He shiftd himself a little, his legs aching. He suddenly winced and he glanced down at his shoulder. He noticed some bright red blood and realized it was bleeding again. He let out a soft whimper and lightly pressed his hand against his shoulder, only to pull it away and seethe in pain.

Penny looked at the shoulder with great concern. She moved closer, reaching her hands out towards it. “Let me see it, Rudy...”

Rudy glanced at her. He held his shoulder protectively, ignoring the pain. He shifted himself, trying to move his shoulder away from Penny. “No...it hurts too badly... Don’t touch it..” He said in a low voice, his right eye wide.

Penny narrowed her eyes at him. “Please, Rudy.. Don’t be like this. Let me look at your shoulder.” She moved even closer. Her hands were getting closer to his shoulder. “Your shoulder was badly damaged. Let me look at it. Let me help you..”

Rudy moved even further back. He knew Penny was just trying to help. But the agony in his shoulder was making it hard for him to hold still. He recalled how it felt when Dr. Raiden stuck that claw into him. He didn’t want to feel that pain again. As Penny moved closer, he moved back, desperate to stay away from the pain.

“Rudy...” Penny said. She let out a soft sigh. “Please cooperate... I don’t know what happened to your shoulder, but it needs to be looked at. I did my best to stop the bleeding, but my efforts were clearly not good enough. Please..let me look at it...”

“N-No.. Hurts too badly...” Rudy whimpered, trembling in pain. He glanced down at his shoulder. “Dr. Raiden..ripped it open...”

Penny’s eyes widened at this. “Dr. Raiden did this to you...?” Her eyes glanced at Rudy’s torn shoulder. She bit her lip. “What..did he do?”

Rudy said in a pained voice, clenching his teeth, “He drove his metal finger in my shoulder when I had my back turned...”

At this, Penny let out a sharp gasp of horror and brought her hands to her mouth. “He used his metal finger on you?!” She cried in disbelief. Rudy nodded his head slowly. “Oh my g... Rudy let me look at it! It could be infected!”

Rudy stared at her. His right eye widened. He hadn’t thought about that before. Somehow, he had forgotten that being cut with metal was dangerous and could lead to a worse infection, especially if Dr. Raiden didn’t clean his metal claw beforehand. He glanced at his shoulder worriedly, and then back at Penny. He could see tears of fear forming in her eyes. As much as he didn’t want to, as much as he’d rather stay away from the pain, he knew that he had to be cooperative.

He recalled the time he and Penny were prisoners of Bardot and Draow, and how Penny wanted to look at his side wound, but he wouldn’t let her. He realized he was acting irrational again. Yes, he was in pain, but Penny was his friend and he should know that she was only trying to help him. Sighing softly, he moved a little closer to her and turned his injured shoulder towards her. He removed his hand, exposing his bloody, bandaged wound.

Penny reached over and gently undid the cloth that covered the wound. Lifting it away, she could see the wound, visible from the torn opening in Rudy’s sleeve and shirt collar. Rudy glanced down and he winced at just how bad the wound looked.

Dr. Raiden really did a number on his shoulder. In addition to the bitemarks he got from the dog zoner, there was a gaping hole in his shoulder. Dr. Raiden had driven his metal claw straight in him and twisted it around, creating a deep tear in his tissue. He could see straight down in it and the sight of it made him shudder. Fresh red blood was pouring from the wound. He thought he could see a little bit of discoloration in the skin as well. And the pain...oh man the pain... Just the lightest touch was like agony to him.

Penny reached down and gently touched the shoulder, careful to avoid his wounded area. She leaned in close and inspected the wound. Rudy held completely still for her. Though at times, Penny accidentally irritated his wound, he stifled his screams and was able to keep himself from jerking away. After looking at his wound, Penny’s eyes furrowed with concern.

“This looks bad...” Penny said in a low voice. “It looks like infection is already setting in...” Rudy’s right eye widened at this. She shook her head. “And we don’t have any disinfectant to help with this. The best I can do is try to stop the bleeding and cover the wound up. We have to get to the real world to get this wound properly cleaned up.”

“What about the...” Rudy stopped himself, realizing that he had nearly forgotten the hospital was attacked. “Nevermind...” His voice trailed off.

Penny tore off another piece of her clothing. A long piece that would easily wrap around his shoulder. To help her out, Rudy tore off a piece of his shirt. He handed it over to her. She took it and then glanced at his shoulder. She gave him an apologetic look and Rudy knew what was about to come. Penny gripped his shoulder and moved the piece of cloth over towards the wound. Rudy flinched and turned his head away, preparing for the pain.

Rudy was not able to stifle his cry of pain as Penny pushed the torn piece of clothing against his shoulder. The pain radiated all around the wound, shooting down his arm and throughout this body. Despite the agony, despite his trembling of pain, he remained as still as he could for Penny. He kept his head turned away, his eyes shut tightly, gritting his teeth in pain. He could feel Penny applying pressure as gently as she could. She kept the cloth pressed against him and held it there, trying her best to stop the bleeding.

This went on for a while. It wasn’t too long, but to Rudy, with all that pain he felt, it really did feel like it took much longer. After a while, he could feel Penny start to do something else. He felt ever changing pressure. He looked over and saw that she had managed to slow down the bleeding and she was wrapping his arm up with the new piece of clothing she had ripped earlier. She tied it as tightly as she could. She leaned back, looking at the bandaged shoulder and then looked up at Rudy.

“I’m sorry. This is the best I can do...” She said softly. “If we had some disinfectant and real world water, I could have been more thorough.”

“It’s..okay...” Rudy winced, his shoulder still stinging him. “You..did your best.” Penny gave him a soft smile at this, and he returned it. But his smile didn’t last long. He took a look at their surroundings, narrowing his eyes with concern. “How are we going to get out of here?”

“I don’t know. But we need to get out of here, and fast.” Penny said. Rudy noticed there was a sense of urgency in her voice. And it didn’t take him long to realize just why that was. “Dr. Raiden is going to have us executed.”

Rudy gasped in horror. He felt a cold chill sweep through his body. “Wh-Why...?” That was the only thing he could bring himself to say.

Penny lowered her gaze. “He is having us killed...just for being in ChalkZone...” Rudy looked at Penny in horror, not believing what he was hearing. “He..he said that a creator just..being in ChalkZone..was a bad enough crime worthy of the death penalty..”

“He..said that?” Rudy breathed. Penny nodded her head to confirm. Rudy looked away, still having a hard time coping with what was revealed. He and Penny were to be executed? Just for being in ChalkZone? Just...just what was wrong with these zoners? What was wrong with Dr. Raiden? How could they think that was a fair punishment? “I...I don’t believe it...”

“Well believe it. That’s what he said.” Penny said bitterly. At first, this stung Rudy, but then he realized it wasn’t him she was angry with. It was Dr. Raiden. And he couldn’t blame her for that. “Tomorrow, he will have us relocated. If he plans on taking us somewhere before then, he didn’t say.”

“And where will he take us?” Rudy asked.

“Some place ‘special’, as he put it, where we will be killed. He didn’t say exactly where. It could be another hidden room. It could be in a public place.” Penny replied, the same bitterness in her voice clinging to the edge of her words. “I’m certain that monster is going to oversee the full thing...”

“I wouldn’t doubt it.” Rudy muttered. Wanting to think about something other than the lying snake that was Dr. Raiden, Rudy looked around the cage, trying to find a weak spot of some kind. “There has to be away out of here.” He turned towards Penny. “Have you checked to see if there’s any weak spots in the cage?”

Penny shook her head. “I’m sorry, Rudy. I already looked. I didn’t see anything.” She looked over at one part of the cage. “There is a button out there that opens the cages. I tried to reach it with my cane, but it’s too long and I couldn’t get it at the right angle. I almost electrocuted myself trying to get it open.” She lowered her head. “Sorry...”

“Don’t blame yourself, Penny. We’ll...we’ll get out of here..somehow..” Rudy said, trying to bring about some sense of hope.

“I shouldn’t have gone alone. I should have brought someone with me.” Penny’s voice was low, barely a whisper. “And now look at where we are. If I had brought someone with, I wouldn’t have been captured.” Rudy opened his mouth to speak, but Penny interrupted him. “But..you’re right.. There has to be away out of here. I just..don’t know what that is yet...”

Rudy wasn’t sure himself how they were going to get out of this mess. He knew there had to be a way. There was always a way out. But at the moment, he couldn’t think of anything. He looked all around. It really did look hopeless. They couldn’t reach the button that unlocked their cage. They had no means of contacting Snap or anyone. He couldn’t even be sure that anyone knew where they were. Knowing Dr. Raiden, he might be telling lies to the other doctors about their whereabouts.

They were trapped. Completely and utterly trapped. Without any magic chalk to defend himselves with, what could they do? He was certain Dr. Raiden crushed the chalk he had with him, or at least hidden it. Penny didn’t seem like she had any magic chalk with her, otherwise she would have not been so worried about them not getting out. She could have used the magic chalk to get them out.

What were they going to do? Rudy tried to think of something, anything... They didn’t have a lot of time to get out. Once Dr. Raiden comes over and orders them to be relocated.. They...they were going to die... He had no idea if it was going to be a slow death or a quick one. He didn’t know just how merciful the cheetah would be with them. Considering his hatred for humans, he doubted that their death will be pleasant. Rudy shook his head, trying his best not to think about it. But he couldn’t fight back the dreadful, chilly sensations rushing through his body. They had to get out of here...and fast... But..but how..?

Just then, there was the sound of footsteps. Rudy and Penny looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. They looked left and right. The footsteps were getting closer. Rudy’s heart was beating quickly when he noticed the footsteps were coming their way, heading from the door Dr. Raiden took him in from. He and Penny looked at the door, which was still open. They could see, even from this distance, shadows moving along the wall. Terror filled their hearts when they realized what was likely happening.

The Luminos were coming to fetch them. Had it already been a day? Was it tomorrow now? Did Dr. Raiden change his mind and decide to kill them off now? The two teenagers huddled close together, holding onto each other and watching as the zoners approached them. They begged silently for this not to be the end. They hoped that something, somehow, would save them. A miracle...any one...even a small one...

The zoners got closer. He still couldn’t make out exactly what they looked like. The zoners were covered in shadows, but he could tell there were three of them. They seemed a little small, but he remembered the Luminos were often armed with dangerous weapons, so these three likely had some kind of weapon to keep them under control. He and Penny continued to hold onto each other, continued to watch as their captors approached. Although they wanted to be brave, they continued to shiver in fear, knowing that their end was coming and they may not be able to escape it.

Suddenly, a voice rang out.

“Rudy! Penny!”

At this, the two teenagers’ eyes widened in shock. They moved closer to the bars, careful not to hit themselves with it, and stared towards the approaching zoners. They had gotten close enough at Rudy and Penny realized who was actually approaching. It wasn’t the Luminos, it was...it was...

Snap... And the other two with him were Blocky and Rapsheeba...

A wave of relief struck Rudy and Penny. Elation welled up inside of them and they couldn’t help but smile. They hadn’t expected anyone to find them. They hadn’t expected Snap to figure out where they were. And yet here he was, approaching them quickly, warily, with Rapsheeba and Blocky in tow. The three zoners rushed over towards them, smiles of relief on their faces when they saw that Rudy and Penny were still alive.

Soon the trio stood in front of Rudy and Penny, separated by the electric water bars. At first, there was silence. Smiles on everyone’s faces, looks of concern, relief, and worry. Then Snap broke the silence.

“Bucko...Buckette... Are you two okay?” Snap asked, looking at his friends worriedly.

“Could be worse...” Penny said softly, wincing in pain.

“I’m..” Rudy was about to say ‘okay’, but he stifled himself. He wasn’t going to try to lie to Snap again. He could see plain as day that he wasn’t okay. He glanced down at his shoulder. “Dr. Raiden ripped my shoulder open...” Snap’s eyes widened at this.

“I can’t believe he did that...” Rapsheeba said softly.

“He attacked me from behind... He poisoned my IVs...” Rudy said, recalling the horrible events that happened to him recently. He stopped when he felt Penny’s hand on his shoulder.

“We can talk about this later. We have to get out of here.” Penny said.

“Right.” Rudy nodded his head. He looked back at the three zoners. “There should be a button around there somewhere. It should open this cage up. Look for a...” He turned to Penny for assistance.

“Small round button.” Penny said. “You can’t miss it.”

“Okay.” Snap said. He started to look for the button. “Don’t worry.. We’ll get you two out of there...”

Rudy and Penny fell silent as the three zoners looked for the button Penny described. They did a full look around, checking every part of the cage that wasn’t made up of water and electricity. Then, after a few moments, Snap seemed to have located the button. His eyes flashed in realization and he quickly pressed something. There was a click, and then the blip of water bars disappearing.

Now with a way out, Rudy and Penny climbed up to their feet. Snap, Rapsheeba, and Blocky rushed in and helped them up. They guided them out of the cage and held onto them until the two could regain their balance. Once Rudy and Penny could stand on their own, they all looked around, trying to figure out which way to go to get out of here. Rudy had a feeling they all knew a path to get in here, but, with the Luminos roaming about and this place like a maze, could they really find their way back without getting caught?

He knew they had to try. Looking around and knowing the enemy could be lurking around any corner, he made a gesture with his hand for his friends to be quiet. They all nodded in understanding. They then started to move out of the cage and towards the door where they come in here from.

They never made it that far.

They had barely moved a few feet towards the door when someone else came into the room. Rudy’s eyes widened in horror when he saw who it was.

“What are you doing out of your cage...?” Dr. Raiden said, standing in the middle of the door way. His eyes were wide with anger, his fists clenched and shaking. He took a few steps towards them, pointing his metal finger at them menacingly. “Get back in there, or I’ll...!”

Snap moved in front of his friends, spreading his arms out protectively. “You want them? You have to get past me first!”

“Snap!” Penny cried in horror.

“Get back!” Rudy shouted, knowing full well what might..no what would happen if he were caught by Dr. Raiden. Blocky and Rapsheeba, though not knowing just how much the Luminos hated Snap, were just as horrified as he and Penny were.

Dr. Raiden’s eyes slowly widened when he saw Snap standing there. His face softened up briefly, showing genuine shock. “Snap...?” Then his eyes narrowed dangerously, his teeth bared. “You...”

Dr. Raiden’s voice was a deep growl that permeated everyone’s soul. It chilled the room, making them all feel cold. Rudy couldn’t believe just how much hatred was laced in Dr. Raiden’s voice when he said ‘you’ to Snap. Before, Dr. Raiden had treated Snap with a level of civility, but that was only because he was trying to hide his true intentions. Now that his true colors have been shown, the cheetah saw no reason to hide behind the facade anymore, and they all could hear, from the tone of his voice, just how much he hated Snap.

“I am going to kill you!” Dr. Raiden’s voice.

Suddenly, without warning, he charged towards Snap. The blue zoner, realizing he was in trouble, tried to back away. Rudy, Penny, Blocky, and Rapsheeba tried to shield him from the enraged cheetah zoner, but he was too swift and nimble for them. He managed to dodge their attempts to block him, knocking them out of the way. Then, when he got close enough, he shot his metal finger towards Snap, elongated it to the point where it sliced through Snap’s scarf. With a shout of surprise, Snap was pinned against the wall, the metal claw dangerously close to his neck, much to Snap’s horror.

“Snap! No!” Rapsheeba shouted. She rushed towards the cheetah zoner, only to get knocked back by his free hand. She slammed against the wall. Blocky rushed over and helped her up.

Snap struggled against the enraged cheetah. He looked at Dr. Raiden in the eyes. His body shuddered under the glare of those hateful eyes. He clenched his teeth in fear, his eyes moving from the sharp metal claw that had him pinned, then towards Dr. Raiden, his face contorted in uncontrollable anger and hatred.

Without warning, Dr. Raiden grabbed onto Snap’s face. The little zoner cried out in pain as the claws of the cheetah’s left hand dug into his skin. Blood started to drip as Dr. Raiden tightened his grip. Seeing this caused Rudy, Penny, Rapsheeba, and Blocky to cry out in fear and horror.

“Snap!” Penny cried out. She tried to rush forward, but she cried out in pain and buckled towards the ground. Rudy looked at her and he realized that her leg must be hurt worse than he thought. Looking back at where Snap was, Rudy rushed forward.

“You little traitor!” Dr. Raiden shrieked, his voice boiling in rage, his pupils dilated. “I am going to tear your fucking face off!” With that, he started to pull. Snap let out a cry of pain.

“No!” Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Rudy mustered up as much strength as he could and slammed against Dr. Raiden. He was able to knock him back enough to make him let go of Snap. The blue zoner fell down and rubbed his head. Rudy continued to push back against Dr. Raiden, gripping the cheetah’s arm tightly. “Leave my friend alone!”

Dr. Raiden bared his teeth in disgust. “Let me go, you filthy creator!” The cheetah yanked his arm back, forcing Rudy to let go. He then struck forward with his left paw, narrowingly missing hitting Rudy. “If you want to be executed that badly, you should have told me! I would have been glad to obligue!”

“Rudy, I have magic chalk!” Snap cried, rushing over to Rudy. At this, the cheetah’s eyes flashed in horror, and then replaced with anger. “Quick! Draw something!”

Rudy took the magic chalk just as Dr. Raiden lunged at him and his friends. They managed to jump out of the way in time. The cheetah’s tail swished from side to side in irritation. Dr. Raiden growled at them, going down on all fours and walking around like he were a feral animal. His ears flattened against his head and he let out a loud hiss, baring his sharp teeth. They kept an eye on him, moving around slowly, waiting for him to lung.

Rudy’s mind swirled with thoughts on what he could do. He needed away to slow down Dr. Raiden, but he couldn’t hurt him. If he did, that would just fuel his hatred for humans. It would make him further convinced that creators were monsters. Instead, he needed to do something else. He turned his head towards the door that Dr. Raiden said was locked up. It was their nearest exit. They had no idea where this was going to lead them, but right now, they didn’t have much of a choice.

Dr. Raiden suddenly lunged forward, going towards Blocky and Rapsheeba. He struck out with his metal claw, scraping the ground as they dodged. The agile cheetah twisted his body around and went for Penny. He pinned her on the ground and tried to slash her throat open with his metal claw. He didn’t get that far when Snap jumped on his back and pulled on his ears. The cheetah let out a hiss of pain and threw his head back, tumbling backwards.

Rudy took this chance to draw a barrier around the fallen Dr. Raiden. With the shield in place, when the cheetah tried to lunge at him, he just slammed against the barrier instead. Rudy knew this wasn’t going to last very long, especially when Dr. Raiden began to scratch out a hole in the barrier to get through. Rudy turned to his friends.

“Through that door! Quickly!” Rudy shouted, making a gesture with his arm.

The group followed Rudy towards the door. Using his magic chalk, Rudy drew a large hole, big enough for them all to go through. Since he had the magic chalk and could defend himself, he gestured for the others to go through first. They didn’t argue, knowing they didn’t have much time. One by one, they all went through. As they passed through, Rudy kept a wary eye on Dr. Raiden. When it was his time to go through, Dr. Raiden had gotten out, having created a hole in the barrier he had been trapped in.

Then, just when Rudy thought they couldn’t get in more trouble, more zoners came in. About three Luminos, and he heard more footsteps. His eyes widened in horror as Dr. Raiden climbed up to his feet and pointed his long, metal claw towards him.

“Get them!” Dr. Raiden shouted.

Rudy didn’t waste any time. He quickly covered up the hole he created to buy them a little time. As they heard the shouts and insults from Dr. Raiden, the angry cries from the other Luminos members that came through, Rudy and his friends raced down the tunnel.

Chapter Text

Unlike the other sections of this underground maze beneath the hospital, the tunnel Rudy and his friends ran through led to a singular tunnel that twisted and turned, but ultimately there was only one way they could go. They followed the tunnel, which appeared to be a little cleaner than the area they were in before, and more brightly lit. Some strange smells filled the air and they couldn’t tell if it was smoke or something else.

They did their best to ignore the smells and continued to run. Rudy hoped that they would find a place they could hide in soon. Being a singular tunnel like this, they were in trouble. Dr. Raiden and his comrades would soon be upon them. The barrier he put up was not going to last them long, and Dr. Raiden being a cheetah did not exactly help their cause. Rudy and the others continued on their way, hoping that they would reach some area with some doors. Even a single Y intersection would do them some good and throw off their chasers.

Rudy hoped they would find something soon. He knew that they would all get tired eventually. Penny could only move so fast with her cane and he was still in pain from his beatdowns, and his torn shoulder wasn’t doing him any favors. Even if the pain didn’t stop them, their physical stamina would eventually. They could only run so fast so far before they have to slow down. And if they did that while in the tunnel, then sooner or later, Dr. Raiden and his comrades would catch up to them. They couldn’t afford to stop. They had to keep moving.

But so far, they were having no luck. The tunnel seemed to go on forever. There were no signs of anything around here. He was beginning to wonder if this tunnel was some kind of trap. Maybe it looped around in a constant circle to slow down anyone who wandered in it. But then he realized that didn’t make a lot of sense. If it did do that, they would have went by the entrance already, which they haven’t. So there has to be at least one exit around here somewhere. But where? And when would they get to it?

Rudy and his friends shuddered when they heard pounding of feet in the tunnel. They knew it was the Luminos. And they were approaching fast. The group tried their best to pick up the pace. They noticed that the tunnel was getting smoother and the composition seemed to be changing. Rudy hoped this meant that they were approaching some kind of door or at least some place where they could hide and think of a plan to escape. With how loud the footsteps coming after them were sounding, it wouldn’t take long before at least one of the Luminos would catch up to them.

“I think I see light!” Snap called out. He pointed out with his round hand as the others looked at him briefly. “Up ahead!”

Penny turned her head to see what Snap was talking about. A few seconds later, her eyes widened and she shouted, “He’s right! We’re reaching the end of the tunnel!”

The others looked over. Just like Penny said, they were approaching the end of this hallway. They could see what appeared to be bright light. The hallway was finally exiting into another large room, or hopefully outside. Rudy hoped that, whever this led to, it would give them some places they could hide or multiple directions they could go off in, reducing the chances of Dr. Raiden or the other Luminos to find them.

They were fast approaching the room or whatever this tunnel emptied to. From this distance, it was hard to tell if the area they were approaching was outside somewhere or if it lead to a new room. The light was blinding, blocking their view of the place. Rudy wondered for a moment if where they were running was even safe. Well he didn’t have time to ponder that now. Dr. Raiden and the others were coming in from behind. He tried his best to pick up the pace. The others did likewise. They had to try to put in more distance between them and the anti-creator zoners.

Just then, they heard a growling shout behind them.

“You aren’t going anywhere, you disgusting little monsters!” Dr. Raiden’s voice echoed in the hallway, chilling their blood. “I am going to get you! You are going to wish you stayed in your little world!”

The group turned their heads to look behind them. Coming down the hallway, barreling towards them, was Dr. Raiden. He had dropped down on all fours again and was racing towards them. His tail was poofed in anger and raised high above the ground. His ears flattened against his skull. His neck fur was standing on end. He bared his teeth, exposing his sharp fangs at them. He was coming in at an astonishing speed, no surprise considering he’s a cheetah.

Rudy and the others picked up the pace the best they could. They tried to run faster, ignoring the burning sensation in their lungs. Their legs were getting tired. Rudy could tell they would not be able to keep this up for long. If they could just get into that opening before it was too late... But Dr. Raiden was closing the gap quickly. Rudy realized, dread flowing through his blood, there was no way they were going to get through before Dr. Raiden got to them. He realized that, just like before, he had to slow the psychotic doctor down again.

He raised his magic chalk, but he didn’t have time to draw anything. By this point, Dr. Raiden had caught up with them. With a yowl of anger, he lunged at the nearest target, and that was Rudy himself. Grabbing the boy’s arms, Dr. Raiden thrust him against the wall. Rudy let out a grunt of pain and kicked his legs in the air. Dr. Raiden put his face close to his and snarled at him.

“Rudy!” Penny cried. She started to limp over towards them. “Let him go!”

Dr. Raiden turned his head, giving Penny a look that told her and the others to keep back, or he would hurt Rudy. “I will deal with you later...” He said to Penny before shifting his gaze to Rudy. He smirked darkly as he watched the boy struggle. “You think you’re so clever... Well look at where your plan brought you. You know, you really should have just let yourself be executed. The method I chose was a lot less..painful...”

“What did he do to deserve being executed?!” Blocky cried angrily.

“They never did anything wrong!” Rapsheeba shouted. “Let them go!”

“You two...I know you... More zoners that associate with the beasts..” Dr. Raiden said, disgust laced across his voice. “I will deal with you later...” One amber eye sought out Snap. Another growl of contempt. “Right after I deal with...him....”

Snap shuddered, but he didn’t back down. He clutched his fist tightly and took a step towards Dr. Raiden. He would have approached more if the cheetah hadn’t twisted Rudy’s arm, causing the boy to cry out in pain. “I swear if you hurt him, I’ll...”

“I know very well what you’d do, Snap. You dirty filthy traitor.” Dr. Raiden retorted. A dark, nasty grin spread across his muzzle, his ears pricking up partway. “As soon as my comrades get here, and they will be here shortly, I will have you captured and executed as well, along with your friends. Now doesn’t that sound fair?”

“You’re horrible!” Penny cried, narrowing her eyes angrily at the cheetah. “You’re such a hypocrite! You’re no better than the black chalk artists!”

His ears flattening against his head, Dr. Raiden growled, “I am nothing like them, and you best not compare the Luminos to those fiendish humans.”

“She’s right.” Rudy spoke. Dr. Raiden swerved his head and glared at the boy, his eyes wide with at Rudy thought was surprise. “You think you’re better than the black chalk artists, but you’re not. You caused destruction like they do. You’re willing to kill two humans who did nothing bad to ChalkZone. You’re focusing all your energy on destroying us... and in the end, does that really make you better?”

Rudy was about to speak more, but Dr. Raiden gripped his throat with his left hand. Rudy’s eyes widened as he felt the hand tighten around his neck. The claw tips pressed against the skin, threatening to break through it. Rudy tried to push Dr. Raiden’s paw away, but his grip was like a vice. He opened his mouth to speak, but all he could produce were strangled cries.

Dr. Raiden snarled in the boy’s voice. “Need I remind you that if it weren’t for you...creators... The magic chalk war would never have happened? Do you have any idea how many lives were lost?” He put his face close to Rudy’s. “Do you..?”

“Put him down!” Snap shouted, taking a fighting stance.

Dr. Raiden responded to this by tightening his grip on Rudy. Rudy’s eyes widened and he struggled to take in a breath. Dr. Raiden smiled almost psychotically as he began to strangle Rudy. The boy struggled frantically to get free. He opened up his right eye partway and stared at Dr. Raiden pleadingly. He got no sympathy from the cheetah. He looked over and saw his friends, watching the whole thing in horror.

His friends wanted to make a move. He could tell. But Dr. Raiden could see them out of the corner of his eye. If they made a move towards him, he would hurt him more. He could kill him. He had them all under control. No doubt that he would snap his neck if they dare take a step towards him. He had to do something and fast. But what can he do, pinned like this? His lungs were crying for oxygen now, and his mind was starting to get muggy. If he didn’t get out of this situation soon...

Then something happened that clearly took the cheetah by surprise. His focus was so much on Rudy that he hadn’t been paying attention to the others as much as he thought he was. Penny, Snap, Rapsheeba, and Blocky had taken action. They rushed over to the cheetah and grabbed onto him. Then they pulled him back. The surprise move startled the cheetah and he released Rudy. Working together, the four managed to push him into the ground. They moved back just in time to avoid getting slashed by his long metal claw.

Penny and Snap helped Rudy to his feet after he fell to the ground. Rapsheeba and Blocky stood their ground between them, glaring in determination at the feline zoner. Rubbing his throat as he took in a few breaths to fill his lungs, Rudy looked over at Dr. Raiden. The zoner was on all four, his back arched up like he was ready to lunge. His fur stood on end. His tail swished back and forth in an agitated fashion. He started to circle around the group, a low growl emitting from this throat.

A dark smile spread across the cheetah’s face when shouts echoed down the tunnel. His eyes brightening with cruel intentions, he looked at the group in the eyes and said, “My comrades are here... You will all pay for your injustice soon enough. I promise you that...”

“Rudy! Do something!” Snap cried, waving his arms frantically. “Draw a hammer and bop this guy or something! We need to get out of here!”

Rudy knew he couldn’t attack this zoner. As he came to the conclusion before, doing so would just make the situation worse. Dr. Raiden could use the attack to incite a riot among the other Luminos. So instead, he opted to do what he did before. A barrier was their only chance at getting enough time to escape, even if it hardly slowed down the cheetah. Holding up his magic chalk, he rushed forward.

Dr. Raiden took quick notice of what the boy was doing. He paced back and forth, still on all fours, and watched with an amused look on his face. “You think that will hold me back for long? You tried your little barrier trick. You should know it won’t work.”

“It’ll work long enough!” Rudy shouted as he finished drawing a glass barrier, keeping Dr. Raiden at bay for the time being. He turned to his friends. “Come on! Let’s go!”

With that, without sparing the evil doctor another glance, the group rushed down. Dr. Raiden’s pupils dilated and he let out a loud growl. He raised up his metal claw and he began to scratch out a hole for him and his comrades to use. The sound of the claw echoed throughout the tunnel, forcing Rudy and his friends to hold their ears, the sound irritating their eardrums. They knew as soon as that sound stopped, it meant that Dr. Raiden finished creating a hole in the glass barrier.

As much as Rudy wanted to look back and make sure that Dr. Raiden hadn’t broken through already, he knew that would be a bad idea as that would just slow them down. They ran as fast as they could down the tunnel, straight towards the light. Closer and closer they got. And soon they went through the end of the tunnel.

The group had to stop and look around, taking in the sight. The area they were in was quite large, with some kind of round roof made of thick stone. The whole internal structure looked like it was made with a mixture of glass and metal. It looked pretty. Whoever had designed this place, they had an eye for architecture. Rudy looked around as did his friends. The place had a rounded kind of appearance. He then soon noticed that some places did stick out like a sore thumb. Bits and pieces were made out of wood, like the area they had been in before. These sections really didn’t look like they belonged, and Rudy wondered why this place was built like this.

Knowing they didn’t have a lot of time to be sight seeing, the group moved through at a brisk pace. They looked all around, trying to find anything that could help them. A door, another tunnel, anything that would buy them some time. But so far, nothing. The room looked largely empty. It went on for a while, almost like a medicine capsule that had been enlarged and stretched across. Rudy felt his heard fill up with dread. They didn’t reach a deadend, did they?

“Hey, you guys...” Rapsheeba said. They looked over at her and saw her standing near the wall. “Look at this.”

The group approached, staring at what the zoner was pointing at. They quickly saw there was what looked like a rectangular sign that was tilted and looked old and dirty. It was covered in thick metal. They thought they could see part of a letter. They knew this was a sign of some kind. But for what? And how long had this been here?

“I wonder what it says.” Blocky said. “And why would it be here? It doesn’t seem like something you’d find in a hospital.”

“Well you wouldn’t find underground passages like this in a hospital either.” Snap pointed out. “And yet here we are.”

“Hold on. I’ll check.” Rudy said, drawing everyone’s attention. “I’ll just make an opening here...”

Rudy reached forward with his magic chalk. He pressed it against the metal. Slowly, he draw a circle, large enough to dislodge the wooden sign. Seconds later, it fell to the ground, making a loud thud as it crashed against the metal ground. Rudy bent down and picked it up. The sign was covered with dirt. He used his sleeve to wipe off the dust. Then he held up the sign for them all to see. They were shocked by what it said.

“Welcome To Tavern Town...?” Blocky asked. He scratched his head. “Why would they take a sign from a town and put in here?”

“I don’t know.” Rapsheeba said, shrugging her shoulders. “Maybe they ran out of building material?”

Those were good ideas, but Rudy came to a different conclusion. He looked at Penny and Snap, and from their expressions, they came to the same thought he did. There was a reason this sign was here, and it wasn’t because it was taken from somewhere else and placed here. No, the sign was here due to a very different reason, one that sent shockwaves through his body.

“This...this was Tavern Town...?” Rudy said, his eyes widening.

“Come again?” Rapsheeba asked.

Penny answered, turning her head to Rapsheeba. “I don’t think this sign was taken. I think this is where it always been.”

“What? But...” Rapsheeba looked around. “Why would they place a sign here?”

“Because, queenie, this place used to be the location of Tavern Town, before ChalkZone City existed.” Snap said, his voice filled with awe. “I can’t believe we actually found it...”

“Neither can I.” Penny said. She moved closer to Rudy, staring at the sign as if she expected it to be some kind of hallucination. She placed her hand on it. “Looks like it was a good thing we used that tunnel.”

“Yeah...” Rudy nodded his head.

It truly was a miracle that they came across this place. Rudy could have tried to go another way, and they would have been struggling to find the old remnants of Tavern Town. Now here they were, due to circumstances they couldn’t control, they wound up in the very place they were hoping to find. Now realizing that this place used to be Tavern Town, suddenly the structure of the place made sense. The hospital had been built over whatever was left of Tavern Town. The pieces of wood that looked out of place..it really was. Concrete and whatever else was poured over whatever remained of this town, making room for the hospital.

Since this was the ruins of Tavern Town, then that must mean the machines were around here somewhere, the ones that would take them to the alternate dimensions and allow them to find the cures he needed. But the question was...just were the machines? Nothing down here was marked, and so far they didn’t see any doors. Maybe if they looked further down, they could find something. This place looked like it was kept a little well, suggesting that the Luminos must have had some use for this place. He wasn’t sure what for, but right now, that didn’t matter. What did matter was finding those machines before the Luminos caught up with them. He couldn’t keep drawing shields forever.

“I wonder where they would put the machines.” Snap wondered out loud, looking around the place.

“Maybe if we follow the wiring, we could find them?” Blocky suggested. He pointed upwards, and the others quickly saw a black cable with little lights on it. It looked like it was powering something. “I’m sure this cord would take us directly to...something at least.”

“Hopefully somewhere we could hide and prepare a counter move.” Snap said, looking over his shoulder warily. “I think I hear the Luminos coming.”

Rudy listened and realized, in horror, Snap was right. He could hear the pounding of footsteps and shouts from the tunnel. Dr. Raiden and the others would be upon them soon. They didn’t have much time. He looked at his friends and shouted, “Come on! Let’s see where this wire leads us!”

The group ran through the room, their eyes hooked on the line. They followed it through the area, turning and changing direction whenever the wire did. It took them down a long path, winding path, similiar to where they were before. As they ran, they did come across some doors, their shapes wobbly, matching the curviture of the walls. They skipped these doors, deciding to go to wherever this wire was. Rudy guessed the wire, due to its appearance, was important, so the machines they were looking for must be down this way somewhere.

They could hear footsteps behind them now, pounding, getting closer. Dr. Raiden was getting closer again. They could all hear his frustrated yowls and spews of insults. Rudy and the others, despite being tired, picked up the pace. The wire seemed to go on forever, but finally, just when they were about to collapse from exhaustion, they finally saw where the wire went. They stopped as they came to where the wire finally seemed to end, though they knew better.

There was a door in front of them. Barely visible, but still there. This one was different from the others. Round in shape. Not a perfect circle, more like an oval. It had a lever instead of a door knob. Rudy wasn’t sure if there was a practical purpose for that or if it was just designed this way so that the Luminos would know whatever was behind this door was different than the other rooms here. The wire that they followed went downward a little and then through what appeared to be a small opening.

From the other side, they could hear the sound of humming. Something was definitely running on the inside. A machine of sorts. Whether or not it was the one they needed, Rudy wasn’t so sure. But hearing the sound of Dr. Raiden fast approaching, hearing the shouts of angry Luminos members coming in tow, they couldn’t just turn back and check the other rooms in case they were wrong. They had to go through this door. If they hurried up, maybe they could slip through without Dr. Raiden noticing which way they had gone.

Rudy rushed past everyone and grabbed onto the door lever. He started to pull it. He winced and grunted. The lever was quite tight. He gripped it with both hands and started to push and pull, but it wouldn’t budge. He turned to the others and made a gesture with his head to help them. Penny, Snap, Rapsheeba, and Blocky grabbed onto a part of the hand. Rudy took in a deep breath and he counted. As soon as he said three, they all began to push the lever upwards.

Slowly, but surely, the lever began to move up, creaking loudly as they went. Soon it was straight up and locked in place. The door opened up a little, allowing them a small view of what was inside. They looked behind, hearing the Luminos getting even closer. Moving as quickly as he could, Rudy pushed the door open. Like before, he ushered the others in first just in case Dr. Raiden got there before they could all get through. Once the others went in, Rudy followed suit. Once he was on the other side with his friends, he and the others pulled the door shut. It made a loud thud sound, making them wince and hope the cheetah doesn’t realize which room they went in.

Rudy knew they had to by some time. The door opened inward, so if he put up a barrier, it should buy them time in case Dr. Raiden realizes this is where they went. They could hear the shouts of the frustrated Luminos and it sounded like they were beginning a search. Hopefully this won’t be the first room they’d look in. Rudy went up to the door and drew a large metal lever, placed in front of the door, which would keep it from opening very easily. He then put up another barrier, this one made of thicker glass to slow down Dr. Raiden.

Once the blockade was in place, the group of friends began to look around the room. It was kind of small, but still felt roomy. It was very rounded, not a single angular section to be found. It appeared to be made of a mixup of metal and glass. Not like what they saw out there either, which had parts of metal and parts of glass. This looked like it was a perfect blend, a mixture of the two. The surface was a shiny silver and they could see their distorted reflections quite well. A series of lights lined the walls, illuminating the room for them to see.

Along the walls, they could see a series of machines. Odd machines that they had no idea what the functions of were. The machines were twisted and oddly shaped, looking like some kid drew them without any concept of what they should look like. Some machines were angular. Some were more rounded. Some were just...hard to describe. Wires, some coiled, some straight, laid across the ground in a big mess, making it easy for them to trip over, especially Penny who had to use a cane to walk, if they weren’t careful.

The strange smell they detected before was very strong hear. They realized it was coming from these machines. Whatever they were doing, it was producing a weird smell. They walked further into the room, looking all around and trying to figure out just what this room was for. What were these machines? What were they used for? Why did the Luminos try to hide them behind a barely visible door?

“Perplexing...” Penny said. She hobbled over to one of the machines, one of the more angular was. She used her free hand to move it across the surface, lightly feeling the buttons that adorned it. “I’ve never seen machines like this before...”

Snap craned his head and looked all around. “I can’t even tell if these machines really work or if they’re failures of some kind.”

“I would think they had to serve some kind of function. They wouldn’t keep useless machines clean, would they?” Blocky asked.

Rudy shook his head. “I don’t think so, Blocky. You’re right...” He walked a little further down, looking around. “These machines have to serve some kind of function. But what?”

“Well maybe they’re used to power that big machine over there.” Rapsheeba pointed out, using her finger to indicate where she was looking.

Rudy and the others looked over and saw a large machine positioned practically in the wall itside. It was on the far end, set in some grooved wall edges. The machine was in different parts. The largest one looked almost like a pinball machine, but in shape only. Everything else about it was different. It had a series of buttons and a small screen. A kind of computer it seemed. Then further back, they could see what looked like a round pad with a small opening. A second piece that looked like it would fit in snugly was above it. A capsule of some kind.

It didn’t take them long to realize that the wire they had followed hooked up to this machine. It curled around in the back and appeared to be stretched tightly. The five friends walked over slowly to the machine, hearing the beeping sounds it was making, the humming that filled the room. They eyed it up and down and then looked at each other. They couldn’t tell what this machine did, but if that shiny wire they followed hooked up to this machine, then it must be something important.

Suddenly, a realization popped into Rudy’s head. He took another look around the room, noting the machines, the way some of them looked. Then he looked back at this machine. He took in a few quick breaths and took a step back. The others took notice of his behavior and looked at him with confusion and concern.

“What is it, Rudy?” Rapsheeba asked.

“Yeah. You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.” Snap commented.

Rudy looked at them with wide eyes. His eyes focusing on Penny and Snap, he asked, “Don’t these machines look...familiar to you guys?” Penny and Snap looked at each other and they shrugged their shoulders. Rudy looked at Rapsheeba and Blocky. He got the same answer. He sucked in a breath and said in a low voice, “Some of these...they’re just like the machines Mr. Cosmo had...”

At this, Penny’s eyes snapped wide open. She took another look around. Her eyes sparked with horrific recognition. “You’re right... I had almost forgotten what his machines looked like.” She took a few steps away, looking at the machines around her in dread. “These machines... Mr. Cosmo’s machines... why would the Luminos be using them...?”

Snap’s body shook at the mention of Cosmo’s name. “That guy sure has a way of coming back.”

Blocky approached one of the machines, a smaller one off to the side. He walked around it, looking at it up and down. He appeared to have spotted something. “Hey, come look at this!” When the others approached, he used his hand to indicate something that he had seen. “There’s something written on here.”

Sure enough, they all could see Blocky was right. Rudy had to lean in really close to see it, but he could soon tell there was something kind of emboss. Someone or something scraped into this machine. Not deeply, but enough so that something could be written. It took a few seconds of looking for him to tell what was written on it. His eyes widened when he saw what name was embossed on this machine.

“Raiden?” Rudy said softly. He looked up at the machine. “This is...Dr. Raiden’s work...?”

The realization sent shockwaves through them. These machines... They were built by Dr. Raiden? He didn’t seem like someone who knew machinery, but then... That would explain the electric water cage Rudy and Penny were stuck in before. It was possible Dr. Raiden had built it. It was just as likely that someone else made it, but, after seeing this, Rudy began to wonder if all or at least some of these machines had been built by Dr. Raiden himself.

Rudy thought back to Mr. Cosmo’s hideout. He knew the machines were made of chalk. Because of this, he knew that the machines had to have been created in ChalkZone. He thought that maybe Mr. Cosmo made them and dragged into the real world. But looking at these machines, seeing how similar they were to Mr. Cosmo’s, seeing Dr. Raiden’s name written on one of them, he began to wonder if Mr. Cosmo really did enslave some zoners to build stuff for him. It would have been easy for him to draw willing servents, but knowing the man’s derogatory attitude towards zoners, it was just as likely that he would force zoners to build the stuff for him.

“I bet Mr. Cosmo made Dr. Raiden build this stuff.” Snap said as he looked at the machines uneasily.

“That’s a logical conclusion.” Penny agreed. “Mr. Cosmo would certainly do something like that.”

“If that’s the case...” Rudy said, his right eye widening in realization. “That would explain why he joined the Luminos.”

The others nodded, indicating they, too, came to the same conclusion as he did. If it was true, that Dr. Raiden had been forced into labor by Mr. Cosmo during the incident three years ago, it would definitely explain why he hated humans so much. Mr. Cosmo was a nasty person, cruel and twisted. He may have done all kinds of terrible things to Dr. Raiden, perhaps anyone he cared about as well, to make him build these machines for him. Rudy couldn’t really blame Dr. Raiden for being mentally scarred from the experience. It must have been traumatic.

At the same time, he couldn’t let him off the hook either. While he understood why Dr. Raiden would be upset with humans after that incident, he was taking things too far. It did not excuse the way he was acting now. Rudy could feel sympathize with Dr. Raiden as he, too, had experienced just how cruel that monster could be. But that sympathy only spread so far, and if Dr. Raiden was willing to hurt others to get what he wanted, then he had to be stopped.

Suddenly, their thoughts were interrupted when they heard footsteps just outside the door. They froze and listened intently. They were afraid if they moved, they would be heard and the Luminos would begin to break the door down. At first, they heard a few footsteps around the outside, but not much else. Then silence. At first, they thought that they didn’t have anything to worry about after all. Then they were quickly proven wrong when Dr. Raiden’s voice rang out.

“They’re in here! I can smell them!”

Rudy and the others froze in horror.

“Break the door down!”

Then, seconds later, the room began to shake and vibrate as something, a large zoner perhaps, began to knock up against the door, slamming it as hard as they could. The group looked at each other, fear etched on everyone’s faces. The barrier was only going to hold up for so long. And as it already started to crack, they knew there wasn’t much time.

As the Luminos pounded against the door forcefully, Rudy rushed over towards the pinball shaped machine. “Come on!” He called out. “Let’s see what this machine does!”

The others rushed over towards Rudy as the room continued to shake, each slam against the door getting loud and louder. The Luminos were hitting against the door with increased force. Angry shouts could be heard, some of them insults, some of them shouts for them to come out and face them.

“You creators and your accomplices can’t hide in there forever!” Dr. Raiden’s voice boomed through. “As soon as we get through, we’re going to rip you into shreds!”

As the barrier started to crack, Rudy knew they didn’t have much time.

Chapter Text

Terry had never driven this fast before, especially while injured. She did realize she should have listened to Mrs. Sanchez and let someone else drive. But she felt responsible for Vinnie getting a hold of the tape and she wanted to set things right. She also knew the fastest route to the news station Vinnie went to, and it was easier for her to drive herself rather than try to guide. She knew she was going to regret driving on her own, but at least this way, they could get there pretty fast.

The others were buckled down. She was a little unsure about letting Reggie come with. She didn’t want to be responsible for a teenager getting injured due to her own reckless driving. Terry was passing a couple of red lights and turning at the wrong time, narrowly missing getting hit. Her passengers were screaming and yelling at her to slow down or to let someone else drive. She did make an effort to try to drive more safely, but urgency was on her mind now, and she knew the others felt the same way. Well she wasn’t sure about Reggie, but he might feel the same way as time goes on.

The news station was not too far away. If she kept going at this speed, they should get there very soon. When they would get there, Terry had to think of how they were going to do this. They couldn’t just barge in. She might be able to as she works at this station. But the Tabooties, Mrs. Sanchez, and Reggie..she had some doubts they’d be allowed to just walk in, not unless she could think of a good story to tell the people there of why they were coming with.

And even if they got past that part, they still have to figure out just where Vinnie was. The news station was not small by any means. Despite being local, there were a few levels and several rooms were they record and air stuff. It didn’t help that there was more than one video room, making it even trickier to locate Vinnie before it was too late. And then, when they find him, there was the challenge of getting the tape from him. Vinnie was not just going to hand it over because they asked, but they couldn’t force him to hand it over either. They would be in a public place. They’d have to be careful.

Terry wished she had done something earlier. She should have tried to find the copies of the tapes earlier. From how Vinnie’s note read, it seemed like he did keep the copies, or originals, of the ChalkZone footage somewhere in his apartment. He only took them after she left and he noticed her. She should have taken the time to look around and grab the copies before she went outside. Now because of that, they would up getting less time to stop him and wasting about half their time trying to look for the footage.

Well there was nothing they could do about that now. They had to get to the news station before the tape aired. They still had some time, unless Vinnie lied to them and the tape actually aired... No she knew that wasn’t possible. If the ChalkZone footage aired, she would of heard it on the radio, which was currently playing some low music. A discovery as major as an alternate dimension would likely spread like wildfire. Every channel, radio station, whatever else, in the local area would be disrupted. It would become public news later on. If they could stop it before it becomes local news, they might have a chance.

She could see the news station coming up. As she slowed down a little so she could prepare to turn in, she could see Vinnie’s car. Unless he walked somewhere, he should be in the building somewhere. She turned on her turn signal and spun the wheel, moving into the parking lot. She drove around until she found a parking spot and pulled into it. She put her vehicle on park and turned it off. She looked at the others.

“Come on!” Terry shouted.

Mr. Tabootie rubbed his head. “Next time...let someone else drive....”

“I think I’m going to be sick...” Mrs. Tabootie said, wobbling from side to side a little. “I can’t believe you drove that fast.”

“It was either that or the two hours would have been up!” Terry said, folding her arms.

“This place wasn’t that far away!” Mrs. Sanchez snapped. She then forced herself to relax. “But yes, you’re right. There isn’t that much time.” She unbuckled herself and climbed out of the vehicle. She gestured for the others to follow. “Come on. We don’t have much time to get that tape back.”

Reggie climbed out of the vehicle and stood next to Mrs. Sanchez. He stumbled a little, obviously affected by Terry’s insane driving. He put his hand on the vehicle and leaned against it. He put his hand on his forehead and shook his head. “This is...the right news station, right?”

“Well of course it is!” Terry said. She took a few steps towards the building. “Now come on!”

The group started to head towards the double doors that led into the news station. Terry got a few feet towards it when she suddenly stopped and stiffened up in pain. She attempted to take another step, but that just aggravated her injuries. No, not now... She tried her best to fight against the pain. She couldn’t afford to have her wounds slow her down now. She tried to push the pain in the back of her head, but it just wasn’t working.

She almost fell forward when she felt someone grab her arms. She looked to her sides and saw that Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie had come up to her and grabbed onto her arms. They held her up, allowing her to use them for balance. They looked at her with concern. Terry clenched her teeth and shut her eyes in pain for a few seconds. Perhaps she shouldn’t have driven after all. She aggravated her injuries more than she thought. Pain erupted throughout her body, making it hard for her to move.

She would have wanted to rest and try to let the pain pass, but she knew she couldn’t do that. She had to come with to help these people get in to stop Vinnie. She had to do something to help as well. She felt compelled to. If she hadn’t given the information Vinnie wanted, this may not have happened. Despite her agony, she had to keep pushing herself forward. She came this far and she wasn’t about to back out now. Leaning on Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie for support, she started to walk towards the building, Mrs. Sanchez and Reggie in tow.

“We knew we shouldn’t have let you drive.” Mrs. Tabootie said in a stern voice. Her eyes were narrowed, not in anger but with worry. “You might have hurt yourself more, with the way you were driving.”

“Well we had to get here fast...” Terry said, flinching in pain.

“We know, but we could have found another way to do that without you pushing yourself too far.” Mr. Tabootie said.

Mrs. Sanchez sped up her walking so that she walked close to Terry’s side, positioned so she could see her despite Mr. Tabootie being in the way. “We understand it is important to get that tape back. Don’t think we aren’t so worried. But by pushing yourself like that, you ended up slowing yourself down more.” Mrs. Sanchez eyed Terry up and down, noting how slower she was walking due to the pain. “You should have let one of us drive.”

Terry growled softly at this. She didn’t know why they had to start guilting her like this. Or maybe she was just overreacting. They were just concerned about her after all, and they were right. She should have listened. But she didn’t and she was moving at a slower pace. She realized, unless she could pick the speed up a little, they might not get there in time. She had no idea if Vinnie aired the tape or not. As frustrated as she was with these people reminding her of her mistake, she couldn’t fault them and she knew they had to stay focused on getting the tape back.

“I know..I know...” Terry said softly. She gave a sharp hiss of pain and nearly staggered to the side. The Tabooties held onto her tightly, making sure she didn’t fall. “But right now we need to focus on getting that tape back...”

“Should one of us go out ahead?” Reggie suggested. “I could rush over and...”

“No... they won’t let you in..” Terry said. “Not unless you have an ID.”

“Well don’t you have one?” Mrs. Sanchez asked.

“Yes I do, but...” Terry started to say.

Mr. Tabootie interrupted her. “Maybe you could give it to Reggie or Mrs. Sanchez. They could go in and try to slow down Vinnie.”

Terry shook her head. “I don’t think that’s going to work. None of you look like me. I don’t think they’ll let you in just because you have my ID, and how am I supposed to get in?” She looked at the others, waiting for one of them to speak. When they did not, she let out a soft sigh. “I had a feeling that was going to be the response. Look, that is a pretty good idea, but I’m afraid it won’t work. I’ll...try to move faster.”

Mrs. Sanchez bit her lip as she nervously glanced at the news station’s doors. They were still a good distance away. With Terry in so much pain, it would still be a little while before they got through the doors. She turned back to Terry. “There has to be something we could do...”

Terry looked at her sadly. “I’m afraid not... The only way to get in is...” She flinched. “..is if I go there first and let you guys in. Taking my ID won’t work... They’ll just think you stole it...”

As much as she would have loved that plan to work, Terry knew it would not. Things didn’t work like they did on TV. They couldn’t just use her ID to get in. This building did not operate under just the whole ‘scan the ID to get in’ routine. There were people on the other side who check everyone who comes in. A security measure. They check all IDs and there was no way they were going to mistake any of these people with her for her. Even if they were somehow fooled, she and the others would then be locked out.

The only way they were all going to get in was if she dragged herself over there. As slow as she was being, it was their only option. She could open the door for them and when they reached the guards, she could explain some kind of situation to warrant the need to take these people with her. From there, they could figure out where Vinnie was, which was easier said than done. They could locate him and then confront him. Hopefully this was going to be easier than she thought. She hoped that it would be an almost in and out thing. But things were never that easy, she knew. She had a feeling she would have to prepare herself for the worst.

Suddenly, she felt someone wrap their arms around her. Before she could say a word, she was hoisted off the ground. Confused, she looked all around, trying to figure out just what happened. Then she looked down and she could see that Mr. Tabootie had picked her up into his arms. Despite not being the most muscular guy around, he still managed to lift her up.

“I’ll carry you to the door.” Mr. Tabootie said.

“Good idea, Joe!” Mrs. Tabootie said. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”

“Yeah...I don’t know why I didn’t either...” To keep her balance, Terry grabbed onto Mr. Tabootie. She did feel a little upset about holding onto Mrs. Tabootie’s husband like this, but the woman didn’t seem to mind. Terry turned her head towards the door. “Let’s get going.”

Being carried by Mr. Tabootie definitely made things a lot easier. The group walked over towards the door, their pace increased since she was no longer slowing them down. She wished she had thought of this sooner. If she had, they would have been to the door by now. Well, at least someone came up with the idea, and they were moving at the door at a faster rate. It didn’t take them long to reach it.

Now that they were at the door, Mr. Tabootie carefully set her back on her feet. Terry winced at the pain in her legs, but managed to keep herself steady. She hoped that the guards won’t slow her down when they see her bandaged areas. They had to keep moving. They couldn’t afford to slow down, not while Vinnie still had the ChalkZone evidence at his disposal. She took out her ID from her pocket and walked up towards the white-colored device on the wall. She held it up until she heard a click. She opened up the door and gestured for the others to come in quickly.

Then, after they were all in, she moved towards the second set of doors waiting for them. Again, she brought up her ID card. Another click, and then they were all in. But they couldn’t go anywhere yet. Standing not far from the doors were two guards, dressed in blue. They took immediate notice of them and they walked forward, glares on their faces.

“What are you folks doing in here?” The first guard asked.

“You need an appointment to be here.” The second guard said sternly. “If you have an appointment, give us the confirmation number.”

“No appointment. They’re with me.” Terry said, stepping in front of the group. She held up her ID card for the guards to see.

The first guard reached out and took the card. He looked at it for a bit before handing it to his comrade. The second examined it, narrowing his eyes, and then he tossed it back to Terry. The two guards looked a little suspicious. Terry wanted to groan. They didn’t have time to waste. Why won’t the guards just let her through?

“Terry Bouffant, eh? We were told you were sick.” The second guard said.

“Sick? Who told you that?” Terry said. She immediately realized, when she asked, who would have told them that. “It was Vinnie Raton, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. He called the boss and told us you were feeling unwell. He said he was looking after you.” The first guard said, folding up his arms. “He told us you should be in best resting, and that if we saw you, then we should make sure you go back home to rest.”

“I wasn’t sick.” Terry said. “Vinnie was keeping in his apartment against my will.”

The second guard chuckled at this. “Yeah right... Vinnie isn’t smart enough to do that.”

“It’s true!” Terry growled at them. “Tell me where he is! We need to speak to him!”

“Terry is right. She was held captive.” Mrs. Tabootie said, taking a step forward. “We can all vouch for that. She was badly injured. Don’t you see the bandages?”

The first guard tilted his head to the side. “She could have given them to herself.”

“How?!” Mrs. Sanchez cried in surprise. “What did you think she did? Take a bath in a bunch of knives or something?!”

The first guard smirked at this. “We wouldn’t put it past her. She had done some pretty crazy things before.”

“Yeah.” The second guard said. He pointed a finger at the woman. “Wasn’t she the one who used to blab about that chalk world?”

Terry narrowed her eyes at this. “I hadn’t talked about that place in a long time... I have been keeping focused on actual stories. You two should know that!”

“Yeah, but it only takes one time before everyone thinks you’re a loon!” The first guard laughed.

The group glared at the two guards. None of them could believe how they were treating Terry. Well Terry herself wasn’t surprised, but she knew the others were. She had to deal wtih this from time to time. Even after she had went back to ‘real’ stories, some people at the studio still made fun of her for her ChalkZone exploits. They would talk about her behind her back and call her names. Some weren’t that bad. Others...she cared not to remember.

These two guards were no exception. She often suffered a little mental abuse from them. They wouldn’t let up on her and usually said at least one derogatory thing to her. She had hoped that, this time around, they’d be more cooperative when they saw she had company. Well she was apparently asking for too much and the two just couldn’t keep their mouths shut. They hadn’t even moved out of the way for her and time was running out. As much as she’d love to chew these two out, she knew they had to focus on getting past them and finding Vinnie. If these two weren’t going to tell them where he was, they’d have to figure out themselves.

But the question was how were they going to get past them? The guards were blocking their path. She looked left and right. Nope, no way to get past them. She didn’t like the idea of making conversation with them, but it seemed she had no choice. Maybe if she kept talking to them, she could convince them to let them go through. These two were so surprised to see her instead of staying back, and if Vinnie really did tell them to make sure she went home, she needed to figure out a plan and fast.

“Look...just tell us where Vinnie is, and we’ll be out of your way.” Terry said. Her teeth were clenched and it took all her effort not to snap at the two men.

“Sorry. We can’t do that. We did promise Vinnie to send you packing if you showed up here.” The first guard said.

“Though we would love to tell you were he is. After all...” The second guard said, a somewhat twisted smile on his face. “...you freaks have to stick together, right?” Terry and the others narrowed their eyes as the two guards laughed. “Hey, just calling them as I see them. It’s not our fault you went off the deep end years ago, Ms. Bouffant.”

“Yeah. I mean, how stupid did you have to be to think that anyone would buy that chalk world story of yours?” The first guard said in a taunting voice. “Did you honestly think anyone would take you seriously?”

“Hey knock it off!” Mr. Tabootie said, pointing a finger at them. “You’re not acting very professional!”

“Sir, our job is to keep people out and to check to make sure whoever comes in is a staff member or has an appointment.” The first guard said, folding his arms. “We are not here to sugarcoat anything, or be very nice.”

“Yeah, besides, Ms. Bouffant here had it coming.” The second sneered at Terry. “That’s what she gets for being such an idiot.”

Fist clenched and shaking, Mrs. Sanchez moved towards the guards, putting herself in front of Terry. She pointed an accusatory finger at them. When she spoke, her voice was filled with more venom than Terry ever heard her speak in. “Now see here, you two! You’re acting like little children! You think you’re oh so much better than Terry just because you don’t believe in a chalk world? She’s not the one calling people names and acting all superior just because she disagrees with someone! People like you are disgusting! You feel so insecure about yourselves that you take it out on others! You should be ashamed of yourselves!”

Terry and the others, even the guards, stared at Mrs. Sanchez in shock. None of them expected her to snap like that. None of them were expecting outburst from her. Though it looked as if the Tabooties and Reggie wanted to give the guards a piece of their mind as well, Mrs. Sanchez had beaten them to the punch. And she said what was on their minds. These two guards were disgusting with the way they were acting. Terry couldn’t argue with that.

But as much as she appreciated the defense, as much as she appreciated Mrs. Sanchez standing up for her like that despite not being exactly friends, she doubted her words would sink into these guards. As shocked as they were, the next day, they would be back to their usual behavior. They wouldn’t change. Right now, her feelings weren’t what mattered the most. They needed to get that ChalkZone tape back, and if that meant putting up these two and what they say about her, she’s willing to do that.

Terry took in a deep breath. Her eyes set solely on the two guards, she moved towards them. She stopped when she was a foot in front of them. The two guards stared at her, their eyes still wide in shock at Mrs. Sanchez’s outburst. It took them a few seconds before they changed their expressions, their eyes narrowing a little. Terry glared back and folded her arms. She ignored the pain she was feeling, a burning sensation in her stomach as she knew time was running out. These two would move, or she’d make them move, somehow.

“Get out of our way. We need to see Vinnie.” Terry said in a stern voice.

The first guard glanced at his comrade before looking back at her. He shook his head rigidly. “No. We have our orders.”

“Vinnie isn’t your boss!” Terry growled.

“Or are you telling us he got a job here?” Mr. Tabootie asked, cocking an eyebrow. “I have my doubts he’d get a high ranking job like that.”

“No...” The second guard shook his head. “But we did get orders from our boss not to let you in until you felt better, Ms. Bouffant. We can see that you are...well...” The word ‘well’ was emphasized in sarcasm. “But the boss doesn’t want you in here..not today.” He took a step towards Terry and put his face close to hers. “Now..get out...”

Terry narrowed her eyes. This didn’t bode well for them. She had to figure out a way around them, but how? She thought about tackling them, despite her pain, but that wouldn’t turn out so well. She could easily hurt herself if she did that. She was covered in injuries. And judging from how these two acted, they probably wouldn’t think much of hitting her to make her stop. And, for struggling with them, they could have her arrested. They needed a...distraction of some kind...

She turned her head to the others, hoping that one of them had some kind of idea. Mr. Tabootie, Mrs. Tabootie, and Mrs. Sanchez just looked at her sadly. They did seem angry with the guards, but none of them appeared to have any ideas on what they could do next. The guards were determined to keep her back. They completely blocked their path. Terry realized they may have a better chance to retreat and think of another plan, but with so little time left... No, that would not work. They needed something else.

She then realized something was off. There appeared to be a member missing from the group. Terry looked all around. Where had Reggie gone? Did he go back outside? No..she would have heard him. These doors were quiet, but they weren’t that quiet. She would have seen him, or at least heard him, as the doors were opened. But then, where was he if he wasn’t outside or with them? She soon got her answer when they heard a sudden shout from the guards.

“Hey you there!” The first guard shouted, pointing down one of the hallways. “You’re not allowed in here! Get back!”

“Oh yeah? Why don’t you make me?” Reggie said in a playful tone.

Terry and the other adults stared in shock. Somehow, while they were all distracted with each other, Reggie had taken action. He had moved out away from them and headed down the hallway. She had no idea how long he had been standing there. She didn’t know how he even managed to get there without being seen. But what they all did know is that he was down there, and he was taunting the guards.

“Come here, boy!” The second guard yelled, slamming a fist against his palm. “Or do we have to make you?”

“Didn’t you hear me?” Reggie folded his arms against his chest. “Make me! I don’t work here. I don’t take orders from the likes of you!”

“Why you little...” The second guard growled. He turned to his comrade. “Come on, let’s reel him in!”

Reggie made a quick glance at the group. He nodded his head once, indicating that they should go on without him. He then turned his attention back to the guards. He backed up quickly, smiling mischeviously at them. Then he turned and started to run. Terry and the other adults watched, their eyes wide in shock, as Reggie rushed down the hallway, the two guards running after them. They stared in silence for a few seconds before Terry snapped back to reality.

“Come on, let’s get moving!” Terry shouted, motioning with her arm. “We don’t have much time!”

With that, the Tabooties and Mrs. Sanchez nodded their heads. They rushed down the opposite hallway, following close behind Terry. Though still in agony from her wounds, Terry’s mind was able, for a time, block out at least some of the pain. She had a new focus now. Get that tape back or suffer irreversible damage. Her wounds would always heal. ChalkZone never would if it were exposed. But to stop the damage before it started, they’d have to find Vinnie.

And where Vinnie was, Terry had no idea. They would have to check every room in this place and hope for the best. He was here somewhere. They just had to keep looking. Sooner or later, they’d find them. But whether or not they’d find him before it was too late... Terry gritted her teeth. No, they would make it in time. They just had to keep moving...keep looking. They would get that tape back and she would make Vinnie pay for what he had done.

It was just a matter of finding him.

sss

“This blockade of yours is not going to last forever, filthy creators!” Dr. Raiden snarled. “Sooner or later, it’s going to come crumbling down! Your magic chalk will only last you so long!”

Penny shuddered at the hostility laced in Dr. Raiden’s voice. His voice still sounded so chilling. She knew, from how he sounded as he spoke, he meant every word he said. If they didn’t get out of here soon, they were going to be in big trouble. There was no other pathway to get out of this room, and from the sound of it, Dr. Raiden had a large number of Luminos with him. Rudy was the only one with magic chalk. He couldn’t hold all of them off forever, especially if the Luminos target him specifically to get the magic chalk away from him.

Their only chance of escape now rested in these machines. She had a feeling that one of them had to be important. One of them had to have some kind of ability that would help them. But even then, it was just a shot in the dark. It could turn out none of these did anything that could help them. They could be trapped with nowhere to go. And as she heard the cracks of the barrier start to give way, knowing that, sooner or later, Dr. Raiden and the other Luminos would break the door down, she knew they were running out of time.

She and the others had rushed over towards the pinball-like machine. Out of all the machines, this one stood out the most. This would be the first machine they’d inspect. Something about it was drawing her to it. There was just something about the design that was intriguing. Something told her that this machine just might be the one they were looking for all this time. She glanced over at the door, watching it wobble as the Luminos kept slamming into it. She turned her attention back to the machine. Yes, this machine had to be helpful in some way.

The others moved aside for her as she went up to the monitor. She stood in front of it, staring at the black screen. She reached over and pushed a button on the side. Seconds later, there was a beep and she could hear the machine make a sound in addition to the beeping it was making already. The screen light up. Even though this room wasn’t necessarily dark, the light of the monitor did hurt them a little, forcing them to look away. When their eyes adjusted, they looked back.

Penny’s eyes widened at what she saw. The others looked at her, noting her expression. They moved a little closer, waiting for her to say something. Penny’s eyes remained locked on the monitor, not entirely sure how to make it out.

“What is it Penny?” Rudy asked.

“What do you see?” Snap inquired, leaning a little closer.

Penny stared at the monitor. “I...” Her voice trailed off, unsure of what to say next.

The monitor displayed something rather strange to her. It almost reminded her of a time machien. There were multiple slots, similiar to what she’d see in movies whenever a time machine was involved. But this wasn’t a time machine. The slots here appeared to be for longitude and latitude, but it also had options for other things. Just what, she couldn’t tell. The symbols were pretty weird-looking as well.

In addition to this, there were a few on screen buttons that appeared to have some kind of function. She decided to try them out. She checked them, but most of them did not work. She didn’t know if it was because this machine was not complete or if it was because she did not put in some kind of...data or whatever this machine needed to function. Out of all the buttons, only one appeared to work and it brought up a list of some kind. She used a pair of keys to scroll through, looking at what was listed. She was very confused. There was something clearly written here, but she couldn’t understand what it was saying.

Then she realized something. These symbols...they were just like the ones they saw at Solar Pillars. The exact same. But unlike those, these were visible without the foreboding light touching them. She knew that the light here was safe. Rudy was not getting a bad reaction to it. But knowing what these were was not going to help them. There was still the issue of reading them. Rudy can’t, not without that light, and they had no means of getting access to that light. They had to figure out a work around.

Penny rubbed her head, feeling a headache coming on. They didn’t have much time to figure this stuff out. The others were counting on her. She was the one, out of all of them, who would have the most knowledge when it came to machines. Rudy had some knowledge as well, but she was the best candidate to figure this stuff out. She continued looking through the machine, hoping to find some kind of clue as to what this thing did.

Another loud bang. A loud crack. The group looked over, their eyes wide. The door was dented by this point. It was still holding up. They still had time. But not as much as they thought they did. They had to hurry up. Their hearts pounded against their chest as they could the angry shouts of the Luminos on the other side. They sounded so hostile and aggressive. Murder was definitely on their minds. No doubt they would show no mercy once they broke the door down.

“They’re going to break through!” Rapsheeba cried out, her hands to her mouth.

“We have to get out of here!” Blocky shouted, waving his arms in the air. “There’s no way we can hold them off for long!”

Snap stared at Penny with fear-filled eyes. “Please tell me you figured this stuff out, Buckette...”

Penny clenched her teeth. She looked around the screen, her heart racing. She punched through the lists, the buttons, whatever she could find. Panic spread through her mind. “I’m trying, Snap! But I..I can’t figure this out!”

“I know you can do it, Penny! Just keep trying!” Rudy cried. He turned his attention to the door. He narrowed his eyes and held up his magic chalk. “If they break through, I’ll try to fight them.”

Penny looked at him in shock. “You’re crazy! You can’t fight all of them at once! Let me help you, I...”

Rudy held up his hand to silence her. “No, Penny. You’re the only one here best suited to figure out how this machine works. It might be our only chance out. If they take you, then what will happen to Snap, Rapsheeba, and Blocky? We’ll all get caught.” Penny opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn’t think of the words to say. She fell silent. Rudy gave her a smile. “I’m willing to hold them off, even if I end up captured in the process. Just please...work on that machine.”

Penny nodded her head slowly. “Okay Rudy..if you feel that is the best..”

Penny didn’t like this idea. She didn’t want Rudy sacrificing himself like this. She wanted him to be okay. She wanted him to stay safe. But she knew, in the end, he was right. It was imperative that she figure out how this machine worked. She was the best one for the job. If she and Rudy both fought, they could both get captured more easily. At least this way, one of them had a chance to escape. She could rescue Rudy and any other of her friends captured if she managed to get away. If Dr. Raiden captured anyone she cared about, any innocent person or zoner, she would do whatever it took to save them.

She turned to the monitor, narrowing her eyes at the screen. She looked through the display again, trying to find some kind of clue as to what this thing did. She pressed the buttons, looking through the list of odds words. Finding nothing, she tried to see if she could activate one of the other buttons, or locate one she hadn’t seen before. As she scanned the monitor, she did take notice of something she missed before. A small round button in the corner. She pressed on it.

A small window popped up. In the center of it was some kind of sphere. Blue, with some green and brown. She realized it was earth. At the bottom of the screen were arrow keys. She pressed them. Each time, the picture changed. Either it was a slight change, maybe some different colorations and patterns, or it would be more dramatic, with earth looking quite different, though at times, similar at the same time.

As she continued to look through, two in particular stood out among the others. One sphere looked like the earth she knows, but it appeared darkened. There was some kind of red coloration on it, with some black. It looked absolutely foreboding. She couldn’t help but feel her heart skip a beat just looking at this. The others around her appeared unnerved as well. The second one appeared more welcoming. It was one of the more dramatic spheres, but this one was more brightly light. Not terribly, but it had a golden glow that made it appear more inviting, a definite improvement from the dark and dreary world she just looked at before.

Both of these had one thing in common. Well two actually. They were the only two that had additional information on the screen. Both worlds were circled by some kind of marking. It was faint, but still there. The marking zoomed in and out slowly, as if trying to get their attention. Then, at the bottom, there was a little icon with what looked like a pill symbol on them. She bit her lip and she pressed on it, bringing up a new window.

The window was small and was fixated in the corner. There was no information, instead just pictures. One of them appeared to be some kind of chalk. It was white with black stripes, much like a zebra. Unlike the black chalk she and the others saw before, the black on here didn’t look dangerous. It looked rather calm and soothing, almost like it had been tamed by the white. But, thinking back to Bardot, she knew to be wary of it regardless. The other image displayed appeared to be some kind of potion, and yet wasn’t. It was hard to describe. It didn’t look like it was edible, yet was stored in a glass bottle like the stereotypical potion in games. It was clear-colored except for some rainbowy shininess in some places.

Suddenly, her eyes filled with realization. She looked at the screen, her mouth dropping open in awe. She had a feeling she knew exactly what this was. The different versions of earth, the ones that looked so different, different ChalkZones no doubt... And those items... They..they had to be the cure.. The worlds circles..they must be the alternate dimensions that Mr. Cosmo hid them in. Her heart filled with emotion as this realization swept through her mind. She whirled her head to the others so fast, she startled them.

“I think I know what this does!” Penny cried out.

“Really?” Snap said excitedly. “What is it?”

“What did you find out?” Rudy asked, taking a few steps towards Penny. “Is it going to help us?”

“I think so!” Penny looked back at the machine. “I...I think this is the dimensional machine we were looking for!”

Rudy’s eyes widened. “You really think so?”

“How did you find this out?” Rapsheeba asked, her voice filled with curiosity.

Penny pointed at the screen and said, “All these spheres this machine displayed.. It has to be alternate dimensions! They’re all of earth, just different colors. Some of them looked drawn.. I bet those are chalk earths! And these items here...” She turned to face Rudy. “I bet they’re the cures mean to reverse your condition, Rudy.”

Rudy’s eyes stared at the screen, his mouth partially open. He slowly reached forward and touched the screen, over one of the supposed cures being displayed. He took in a deep breath and he looked back at Penny. “Then...what are we waiting for?”

“Yeah, let’s get to those dimensions and find those cures!” Snap said, a smile on his face. “Let’s show those black chalk artists they can’t keep us down for long!”

Penny narrowed her eyes and bit her lip. The others looked at her, their eyes widening in worry. “I...don’t know how yet how to work this.” She looked back at the screen. She looked down at what was displayed, then glanced at the controls. “I need to look at this more before I....”

“Penny, do you know why Dr. Raiden would keep this machine if he knows it’ll help me?” Rudy asked, interrupting her. His eyes were wide in fear. “You...you don’t suppose he might...”

“..use it to teleport humans into any random location he wanted?” Penny finished, the same thought crossing her mind. “I wouldn’t doubt it. I have a feeling he might have turned this into a weapon. Maybe, for some humans, he’s going to teleport them to some place hot and inhabitable, just because he can. He’s a monster.”

“That’s an understatement.” Blocky growled under his breath. “I can’t believe he refuses to see reason.”

“That’s how all the Luminos appear to be.” Penny said, a sad tone to her voice. “But we’ll deal with them later. Right now, we have to get those cures. I’ll work as fast as I can to get this machine running.”

As soon as she said that, there was a loud bang. An explosion rocked the room, sending dust and debris flying everywhere. Penny and her friends covered their faces and coughed, trying their best to breathe. Once the dust cleared up, they looked over to see just what had happened.

Much to their horror, the Luminos had resorted to using weapons. Penny recognized them was the rocket launchers Rudy and Snap described that were used to destroy Snap’s house. The good news was they appeared to be empty as they were dropped on the floor. The bad news, the Luminos were still not completely unarmed. Through the smoke, they could see the shapes of many zoners coming towards them, some kind of weapon still in hand. Then, seconds later, Dr. Raiden appeared, a furious expression on his face.

The group gasped in horror when they saw just what the Luminos were wielding now. Guns... Laser guns to be exact, as the overall shape was not like that of a conventional gun. Behind Dr. Raiden were about six other zoners, some of them big, some smaller, and all of them were holding a laser gun. Dr. Raiden was not, and instead was pointing his metal claw towards them in a menacing manner.

Then came the order that chilled their blood and filled them with dread.

“Attack!” Dr. Raiden ordered the other Luminos. “Shoot them! Kill them! Leave none of them alive!”

At this, the other Luminos took position beside Dr. Raiden. They raised up their weapons and pointed them at the group of two humans and three zoners. Although clearly outnumbered, Rudy narrowed his eyes and moved in front of his friends. He held up the magic chalk and prepared to fight.

Before the Luminos could begin shooting, Dr. Raiden raised his hand. “Leave Rudy to me... I want to be the one to spill his blood... I’ll take care of him. The rest of you, slaughter his friends. I don’t care how you do it. Just do it!” With that, as the Luminos turned their attention to Penny, Snap, Rapsheeba, and Blocky, Dr. Raiden went down on all fours and raced towards Rudy, tail flying back behind him. “I’m going to skin you alive, creator!”

Rudy took a fighting stance. “Bring it on!”

Chapter Text

Rudy had to react fast. His friends could not defend themselves against the barrange of bullets. There wasn’t that many places to hide in here. And with Dr. Raiden barreling down towards him like a wolf chasing its prey, he had to think of something and fast. Being a cheetah, Dr. Raiden would be upon him in a matter of seconds. He had to do something to slow him down, even if just briefly.

Rudy quickly started to draw with his magic chalk, his weaker left one tightly clenched in a fist as he glared in Dr. Raiden’s direction. Lines filled the air and soon he had drawn a long pole. It wasn’t much, but it would help him out enough. He held it in his hands, gripping it as tightly as he could. He pulled his arms back and waited for Dr. Raiden to get within striking distance. He then swung the pole, slamming it against the cheetah and sending him flying to the side. Although he had not wanted to outright attack Dr. Raiden since it would just give the cheetah reason to hate him more, it was either that or he let his friends die. And there was no way he would let that happen.

With Dr. Raiden temporarily down, Rudy rushed over. His friends were trying their best to dodge the laser bullets. The energy shots bounced off the walls a few times, narrowly missing them, before they ran out of energy and disappeared. He could see his friends hiding in some of the only places they could. He could tell they wanted to fight back, but there were too many bullets and they had no weapons or shields of their own. Soon the Luminos noticed him and now they began to shoot at him.

Rudy had a hard time dodging the bullets as well. They came in from nearly all directions. The laser guns appeared to shoot many small bullets at a time, but these bullets were made out of heated energy. Rudy seethed as one just barely grazed his arm. Looking at his friends, he could see they all suffered at least one grazing themselves. At one point, he had to twist his body in a way he never thought he could to dodge a payload of light bullets heading his way.

Turning to his friends, he shouted, “Over to the machine! Quick! I’ll draw you guys a shield!”

Penny looked at him worriedly. “But what about you?”

“I’ll hold them off! Hurry!” Rudy cried as he rushed towards the machine. He looked at his friends, who were hiding behind the little spaces the machines provided. “Get over here! Quick!”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay, Bucko?” Snap called out. He ducked as a bullet almost grazed his head. “Maybe one of us should stay out of the shield and help you...”

“No! I’m the only one with the magic chalk and I’m not about to let you guys get hurt! Get over here!” Rudy realized that sounded like a command. And he did sound a little harsh. But he couldn’t help it. He was just really determined to keep his friends safe. He knew he was taking a huge risk taking on the Luminos on his own. But he was willing to do it if it was going to keep his friends safe. “There isn’t much time! Hurry!”

Although his friends were clearly reluctant to do what he says, even though they would rather stay and try to help him instead of letting him go and do this on his own, they did eventually comply. They rushed over to where the machine was, dodging the bullets the best they could. A few cries of pain revealed that some of them got hit. Snap got hit in his arm, Rapsheeba her shoulder, and Blocky his side. Thankfully, they were only hit with one light bullet and it didn’t cause as much damage as it could have had multiple shots hit them.

Rudy raised his magic chalk and drew a shield for them. Though he knew that he could have just broken his piece in half and given one to Penny, he knew that would not have been a good move. She was the only one who may be able to figure out how to work the dimensions machine. If she could figure it out, she could activate it, and they could get out of this situation. Her figuring out how the machine worked was their best chance of survival.

Soon the shield was up. Another thick glass shield, like the one he drew earlier, before it was shattered by the explosion. The bullets hit against it and they just ricocheted off. Rudy was happy to see this. Even though he knew the shield wouldn’t be able to last forever, at least his friends were safe. Now standing outside the shield alone, he stood in front of his friends, raising his magic chalk and prepared to face off against the Luminos.

“The creator has made a shield for his friends! But it won’t last forever...” One of the anti-creator zoners said, a sneer on her face.

“We can tear it down easily!” A clearly overconfident anti-creator zoner said. He looked at the zoners and human in the shield with cruel intent flickering in his eyes. “I wonder how much I can make the girl creator scream...” At this, Rudy growled.

“Yes...but first...” Another one said, raising his hand up. “Why don’t we see how well the ‘great creator’ can dance.”

Another female anti-creator zoner laughed at this. “That will be fun.” She raised her laser gun and aimed it at Rudy. “I would love to see that.”

Rudy narrowed his eyes and took a fighting stance. He readied his magic chalk. If these Luminos zoners want a piece of him, he wasn’t going to run. They can try to get him if they wanted. But they were clearly underestimating him if they thought he was going down that easily. When it came to protect his friends, he would do anything to keep them safe.

He didn’t get very far in attempting to attack. Then again, neither did the Luminos. At that moment, Dr. Raiden was on his feet again, on all fours and rushing towards him swiftly. He rushed in front of the other Luminos, commanding them in a growly voice to not shoot. Rudy didn’t have much time to react as Dr. Raiden reared onto his back limbs and struck down with his metal claw. Rudy swiftly lifted up the pole he drew earlier and prepared for the impact.

Dr. Raiden’s metal claw slammed against the pole. The force nearly knocked Rudy to his knees. He gripped the ends of the pole as tightly as he could, though it was hard with his damaged left hand. He planted his feet firmly on the ground and started to push back, gritting his teeth. He stared at Dr. Raiden, watching as the cheetah bared his sharp teeth at him. The cheetah pushed harder on him, the tip of his metal claw between Rudy’s eyes. Rudy could feel his arms starting to get tired as the claw got closer to his face.

Then, mustering up as much strength as he could, Rudy pushed back against Dr. Raiden. He managed to make the cheetah step back. Then, when Dr. Raiden was just in the right position, Rudy seized this chance and shot his leg out along the ground, knocking Dr. Raiden onto the floor. The cheetah let out a shout of pain as his leg bent at an odd angle. Rudy knew the leg was not broken, and soon Dr. Raiden was back on his feet. Though Dr. Raiden was not on the ground for long, that did give him time to move back and put a little distance between him and the homicidal cheetah.

The other Luminos attempt to rush forward to get Rudy, but they are stopped by Dr. Raiden. The cheetah raised his paw up and turned his head to face the other Luminos. His eyes were narrowed, a warning that they better obey him. The Luminos, though clearly wanting to get Rudy for pushing down a fellow member of their group, had no choice but to obligue. Rudy could tell that Dr. Raiden had earned a lot of respect from the other Luminos members and was clearly a feared and high ranking individual.

“I want to be the one to slay Rudy.” Dr. Raiden said, venom coursing through his words. “You six go after his friends. Shoot down the shield and kill them all. I will keep Rudy away from them so he can’t help.” He bared his teeth in a nasty grin.

“Sure thing!” One of the anti-creator zoners said in a gleeful tone. They rushed over towards the shield and the group began to open fire.

Rudy watched this in horror, knowing that, with all of them concentrating their fire on the shield like that, it would not hold up for long. He couldn’t do anything about it, though, as Dr. Raiden jumped between him and the shield. He did a mock rush at Rudy, moving so fast that Rudy ended up stumbling backwards, nearly falling down on his back. He managed to keep himself balanced and he glared at the cheetah.

Rudy steadied the magic chalk in his hand, watching Dr. Raiden warily. He knew that, if he weren’t careful, the cheetah zoner could leap at him and rip away the magic chalk. His eyes never left the cheetah zoner as he, his hands folded back his back and body arched forward, began to pace around him, circling him, treating him like prey. He couldn’t help but shudder when the cheetah zoner licked his lips slowly.

“I want to taste your blood in my mouth, creator...” Dr. Raiden said, his eyes filling with insanity. Rudy’s right eye widened at this. He held his ground, gritting his teeth. Dr. Raiden just looked further amused by his determination. “I am going to rip out your heart and show it to you as you die.” Rudy took a step back at this. The cheetah let out a cold chuckle. “Yes...I think that might be a suitable death...”

“For what?” Rudy asked, watching as the zoner continued to circle him. “I didn’t do anything wrong! Why are you so intent on killing me? My friends?”

Dr. Raiden’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “You came into ChalkZone... That is bad enough that death is the only way for you to atone for you sins.”

“What sins?! We weren’t the ones who caused that horrible tragedy forty years ago! That was Cosmo!” Rudy shouted, gritting his teeth. “Don’t you see how much like him you are acting?! Cosmo would do something like this!” Rudy stopped talking when Dr. Raiden suddenly put his face very close to his.

Dr. Raiden growled, “Oh how I despise it when you try to guilt me...comparing me to that wretched human, Cosmo.” He began to advance on Rudy. He put his face so close that Rudy had to arch himself back to put some space between him and the cheetah. “But of course, I expect nothing less from you...humans... You do not understand what we are trying to accomplish. We just want to free ChalkZone from disgusting creators like yourself, who roam around, do whatever you want, thinking it has no consequence.”

“B-But that’s what you’re doing!” Rudy cried. “You’re going around like you own the damn place, hurting zoners who don’t agree with you and trying to drive out creators even if they hadn’t done anything wrong! Your stunt on the hospital may have resulted in death and injury, and I’m sure it has! You don’t think that is a consequence?!”

A dismissive wave of the paw. “Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good.”

“Greater good?!” Rudy coudn’t believe this guy. Was he really trying to justify these atrocities like this? “You think hurting fellow zoners would constitute as the ‘greater good’?!”

“If it means getting one step closer of freeing ChalkZone from you creators...” Dr. Raiden’s voice was a low growl. “Then yes.”

Rudy’s right eye widened. He took a few steps back. Dr. Raiden moved closer to him. A dark smile was spread across the zoner’s face. He looked so amused by this whole thing. Rudy felt a sickening feeling in his stomach. The idea that this guy was so prejudiced against humans that he was willing to go to extremes to get what he wanted... It was deplorable. This guy has no idea just how much of a hypocrite he was. He was trying whatever he could to justify his terrible deeds, and he had the gall to say it was for the good of ChalkZone.

This guy was disgusting. He had to be stopped. If he wasn’t, what more harm can he do? He was willing to have a hospital attacked..just to get at him. A hospital full of innocent patients... And Mumbo Jumbo and Barney.. They were attacked, and for what? Just for being nice to creators? These guys were a bunch of prejudiced bastards. They reminded him of the black chalk artists, who did horrible things to zoners under the guise of ‘wanting to improve humanity’. When he compared the two, at their core, there wasn’t too much separating an anti-creator zoner and a black chalk artist.

Rudy clutched his hand in a fist, holding his chalk so tightly he thought he was going to break it. “You’re a monster! You hurt innocents just because you wanted to get one creator out of ChalkZone! You’re despicable!” Rudy took a step forward. “You’re no better than the black chalk artists! You’re just like Cosmo!”

At this, Dr. Raiden let out a loud yowl of anger. Rudy felt his heart freeze at the sound of it, his blood running cold. He took a few steps back as Dr. Raiden’s face contorted with more anger than he had ever seen him display. Dr. Raiden struck out with his metal claw. Rudy moved back, narrowly missing getting hit. Again and again, Dr. Raiden tried to hit him with his metallic digit. Eventually, he got a hit, slashing across Rudy’s chest. The boy let out a cry of pain. Then, seizing this chance, Dr. Raiden lunged at him and knocked him into the ground.

Rudy struggled to get up, but the cheetah had a tight grip on him, pinning him on the ground. The pole had been knocked away, laying off to the side. Rudy still had the magic chalk but he couldn’t use it right now. He felt dread rise up inside of him. Was the cheetah going to take it away from him?

Luckily, the cheetah didn’t seem to have his mind on the chalk right now. His hate-filled amber eyes were solely on him. His hands gripped his arms tightly, his claws poking against his skin. Dr. Raiden put his face close to Rudy’s. His teeth flashed, showing off just how sharp they were. Rudy turned his head and looked up at the enraged cheetah in fear. He could see Dr. Raiden’s body was trembling in anger, and those dilated pupils, they were so uncomfortable to look at.

“How fucking dare you... miserable piece of shit!” Dr. Raiden growled at him. “I should have given you a stronger poison and watch you convulse as you die! By comparing me to...Cosmo...you deserve to die in the most painful way possible! How dare you compare me to that monster!”

Although afraid, Rudy replied, “But you are like him... If you just open up your eyes, you’d see that.” Rudy let out a cry of surprise when the cheetah lunged his face forward, almost hitting him in the head. He turned his face to the side, looking up at Dr. Raiden with his undamaged left eye.

“Shut up! You’re wrong!” Dr. Raiden took in a few quick breaths, emotion hanging off the edge of each one. His lips curled up slightly and his eyes glinted in a mixture of rage and hate. He moved his head until it was positioned next to Rudy’s ear. Dr. Raiden spoke into hit. “You dirty little human... You really don’t understand the magnitude of your accusation, do you? You don’t understand that I am protecting ChalkZone...because you want to keep coming here so you can exploit it.”

Rudy couldn’t believe the accusation that Dr. Raiden threw at him. He would never exploit ChalkZone. Why would this zoner think this way? Just what had he done in the past that indicated he would do such a thing? But then, the Luminos weren’t exactly known for being logical. If they think they can do horrible things and still be better than the black chalk artists, then they could not be reasoned with.

Dr. Raiden spoke some more, his bared fangs so close to Rudy’s skin. “Zoners cheer you...call you their hero...but I know the truth... I know about those incidents in the past that you caused...” At this, Rudy stared at him in shock and confusion. Dr. Raiden smirked, enjoying the expression on Rudy’s face. “Oh you don’t remember? Well let me remind you of one of my... ‘favorite’ incidents... Do you remember when you nearly wiped ChalkZone out of existance with that vacuum cleaner?”

Rudy realized instantly what he meant. “I-It was an accident! And I fixed it!” Rudy shouted in defense. “I didn’t deliberately try to destroy ChalkZone!”

Dr. Raiden chuckled darkly. “Keep telling yourself that. There’s more incidents than that too...of you doing something that jeopardized ChalkZone...”

“How would you know all this?” Rudy asked.

“I’ve been around a while, kiddo. I’ve seen a lot of stuff.” Dr. Raiden replied.

“Then you must know I protect ChalkZone!” Rudy shouted. He tried to struggle to get free, but to no avail. “Why are you doing this?!”

Dr. Raiden laughed, his warm breath hitting against the side of Rudy’s face. “Because..in the end, if you hadn’t been in ChalkZone again...those terrible things wouldn’t have happened. So I am going to take care of that right now.” He opened up his jaws and slowly licked the side of Rudy’s neck and face. “Flesh is so fragile... Allow me to show you just how fragile...” With that, he opened up his jaws, preparing to bite Rudy in the neck.

Rudy’s right eye widened as he felt Dr. Raiden’s jaws close around his neck. He could feel the fangs press against his skin. Slowly, the cheetah was increasing the pressure. Rudy grunted and shut his eye, pain increasing each second the cheetah bit down harder on him. The teeth hadn’t broken his skin yet, but they were putting pressure on his windpipe and Rudy realized he was having a harder and harder time breathing. He attempted to struggle, but the cheetah’s grip was like a vice. And soon, he could not take a breath at all.

He could soon feel blood start to trickle out of his neck. A small river moved down his neck, warm and sticky. Rudy’s brain started to swirl as it was being deprived of oxygen. Panic swept through his body. He had to get out of this situation and fast. Dr. Raiden increased the pressure even more and Rudy could feel the teeth slice further into his skin. At the moment, it was not life threatening, but if Dr. Raiden continued increasing the pressure just a little more...

His mind starting to panic, his right eye wide and wild, Rudy started to kick his legs in desperation. He managed to land a blow against Dr. Raiden’s stomach. The cheetah let out a grunt of pain, but did not let go. Despite his mind started to go, Rudy was still rational enough to realize that he did still have a clear shot of Dr. Raiden’s underside. He brought his foot back and hit it against the cheetah’s stomach again and again. He used as much force as he could, desperate to get free. Then finally, on the last kick, Dr. Raiden staggered back, releasing him.

Rudy took in a few quick breaths, filling his lungs with much needed oxygen. He grabbed his neck, feeling the blood dripping down it. He was lucky that Dr. Raiden didn’t bite down much further. He nearly severed his jugular. He kept his hand pressed on the wound, despite the pain, and attempted to stop the bleeding. With his right eye, twitching in pain, he looked over at Dr. Raiden.

The cheetah had gotten back onto his feet already. He was hunched over. The fur on the back of his neck was stiffened. He had his left paw on his stomach, holding it. Rudy realized he had kicked him a little too hard when he saw a little blood in the corner of the cheetah’s mouth. His right eye widened slightly at this. He may have made a mistake in doing that. No doubt, Dr. Raiden would use that an excuse to justify his irrational beliefs. The cheetah’s tail twitched from side to side in an agitated fashion. His gleeming amber eyes bore through his sole. Rudy felt dread rise up inside of him when Dr. Raiden pulled his lips up to show off his glinting teeth.

Rudy raised his magic chalk, preparing himself for a fight. He watched Dr. Raiden as the cheetah’s body stiffened up, a few shakes of rage being among the only movements noticeable. As Dr. Raiden glared at Rudy, the teenager took a chance to look back behind him. He needed to know how his friends were holding out.

He was happy to see the shield was still up. He could see his friends inside, clearly unharmed by this barrage of light bullets. They were working on the machine, trying to activate it. Rudy trusted that Penny would get it working soon. She was smart. She’d figure things out. But he wasn’t sure how long the shield would hold. There were multiple dents in it already. Just a little more and it would break. He needed a way to slow down the Luminos to buy his friends more time. He tried to think of something, but his attention was shifted when he heard a loud growl behind him.

Rudy realized, almost too late, that the cheetah had crept up on him when he had his gaze turned away. The feline zoner was now racing towards him at full speed. Rudy let out a scream of surprise and he dodged out of the way just in time. Dr. Raiden slammed against the ground with a loud thud. He shook his head and, with a loud yowl, turned his attention towards Rudy. Rudy attempted to draw with the magic chalk but Dr. Raiden was too fast for him. He jumped at the boy again, swiping at him with his metal claw.

Rudy didn’t know how long he could keep dodging Dr. Raiden. The cheetah zoner clearly had a of energy to him. Rudy, however, he had been injured from multiple incidents. He was not in fighting shape. He was at a disadvantage. It didn’t help that Dr. Raiden was stronger and faster than him. It was just shere luck he was able to stay out of his way for the time being. But he knew his luck would run out soon. He had to come up with a plan and fast.

“I don’t know why you keep trying to hide from justice, kiddo.” Dr. Raiden sneered. He stopped trying to jump at Rudy and stood up straight, his arms folded behind his back. He stared at Rudy, their eyes locking. “I could keep doing this all day if I wanted and wear you down. But why should I waste effort on that? If you would just surrender, I promise I’ll make your death swift. That’s a bigger act of kindness than I see you creators display.”

“Then you obviously haven’t been seeing as much in ChalkZone as you claim!” Rudy retorted. “If you have, you would have seen that Penny and I have done a lot for ChalkZone!”

“Oh really?” Dr. Raiden asked coldy. “Then why don’t you explain it to me?”

Rudy shuddered under the gaze of this cold cheetah. The fact that Dr. Raiden was taller than him didn’t settle well, making the cheetah look even more intimidating. Rudy only came up to the middle of his chest, forcing him to turn his head upwards. Rudy instinctively took a step back, unnerved by how the cheetah was looking at him. But he didn’t run. He planted his feet firmly on the groudn. If Dr. Raiden wanted an explanation, he’d be glad to give it to him, not that it would really matter. He doubted his words would go through, but here’s to at least trying.

“We saved ChalkZone when the balloonemia epidemic returned! We could have just left ChalkZone to its own devices, but we didn’t, because we cared about ChalkZone and we went through so much trouble to save it, because to us, it was worth it!” Rudy exclaimed.

Dr. Raiden did not look impressed. “If I recall...you unleashed the tiny red bats. You brought the epidemic back.” He tilted his head to the side. “The way I see it, you only saved ChalkZone because, without it, you have nothing to mess with.”

A sharp sting in Rudy’s heart. He let out a soft growl. “You’re wrong! I would never use ChalkZone!”

“Oh no? What about that science experiment? Didn’t you use ChalkZone to cheat?” Dr. Raiden asked. “And didn’t that cause some scientists to try to figure out how you did it, leading them to nearly discovering ChalkZone?”

Rudy’s heart clenched tightly. The teenager took a step back. “How did you know about that?”

“I told you, creator. I’ve seen a lot.” Dr. Raiden raised his right paw and flexed his fingers. His metal one glinted menacingly in the light. “It also helps that I’ve spoken to some zoners who witnessed what you did, or overheard conversations. Believe me, child, I’ve seen enough to know that you’re just as much of a threat to ChalkZone as those wretched black chalk artists.”

Rudy took in a shuddering breath, trying to think of what to say. He couldn’t fall for Dr. Raiden’s mind games. He couldn’t allow himself to start to feel he really was a threat. This guy was insane. He was twisting events of the past to make it look like he did those things on purpose. He couldn’t allow this cheetah’s twisted words get to him like this. He would prove him wrong. Somehow, someway, he would show Dr. Raiden just how much of a hypocrite he was being.

But for now, he had to figure out a way to slow him and his fellow Luminos down. He glanced over at the shield. Soon it would be down. He had to slow them down further, buy his friends more time. But how? He looked back at Dr. Raiden. The cheetah was sneering at him, his teeth exposed. He had his metal claw pointed in his direction. Knowing that the cheetah could make the digit longer or shorter, he knew he had to think of something before the cheetah attacked him.

Rudy waited too long. The claw shot forward, becoming longer, lankier. Rudy moved to the side, wincing as the claw barely grazed his other shoulder. In the few seconds that passed, Rudy’s mind had filled with many thoughts, rapidly thinking of what he could do. And upon looking at the metal finger and at the Luminos shooting at his friends, his mind quickly thought of a solution. It was a risky move, but there wasn’t much else he could think of doing.

As he heard a crack behind him, knowing that the shield was going to crumble down, Rudy grabbed onto Dr. Raiden’s metal finger before he could yank it back. The cheetah’s eyes widened. He was so startled he didn’t attempt to yank his metal finger back. Rudy pulled on him as hard as he could, swinging him around and towards the other Luminos. Rudy released him and watched as Dr. Raiden slammed into the other Luminos. They crashed into the ground, laying on top of each other, and let out soft groans.

Just seconds later, the shield that Rudy drew had fallen down. His right eye widened in horror as he watched his friends shield themselves from the falling glass. Perhaps he should have chosen a different material to use as a forcefield. He turned back to the anti-creator zoners. Thinking fast, he rushed forward towards the anti-creator zoners, drawing a long line with his magic chalk. Soon, how holding some rope, he rushed around them as fast as he could. Once the rope was wrapped around them, he made a tight knot, securing the group together.

Rudy moved back and watched as the Luminos tried to free themselves. They struggled and squirmed, using their teeth and claws to start to saw through the rope. He knew it was not going to hold them for long. He stood his ground, preparing to fight them whenever they got free. He casted a wary glance over to his friends, hoping that he didn’t accidentally hurt them when he created the glass shield for them. They seemed okay, but he couldn’t tell from this distance. Hearing a loud growl, he turned his attention back to the anti-creator zoners.

“You fucking worm!” One of the zoners shouted. “We’ll get you for this!”

“Yeah! Don’t think you won’t go unpunished!” Another yelled.

Yet a third one called out, “We’re going to rip you into shreds!”

Dr. Raiden let out a primal yowl. This silenced the other anti-creator zoners. They looked at him, fear and respect shining in their eyes. Dr. Raiden glared at them and said, “I told you..only I will deal with him. Do what you please with his friends. But Rudy is mine...” He paused for a moment. “But come to think of it...I want to deal with Snap too... I would love to skin him alive in front of his...creator...”

Rudy took a step back, his right eye wide in horror. “I..I won’t let you do that!”

“Oh but I will...trust me.” Dr. Raiden jeered at him. He extended his metal and placed it against the rope. Though his arm was bent in a way that made it difficult to move it all that much, Rudy was horrified when he saw that the zoner could still saw his claw back and forth, slowly cutting through the rope. “As soon as I get out of here, I am going to slowly cut away your friend’s skin and then rip off his limbs one by one...! He’s just as bad as humans..a zoner that sides with creators.. That is unforgiveable!”

Rudy’s body shook in both fear and anger. He was not going to let this cheetah zoner hurt his friend. Snap never did anything to deserve what Dr. Raiden was going to do. This guy was a total nutcase. Rudy had no idea how the other doctors never noticed his depravity, his willingness to do horrible things to other zoners, who did nothing to deserve it. The actions from this cheetah and his group had caused a lot of damage and he knew zoners had been injured as well. And yet he was treating it like it was for some ‘greater good’... He was a monster.

He was about to say something back when he heard a shout from where his friends here. He looked over. He saw that they were looking at him, waving for him to get closer. Rudy took one more glance at Dr. Raiden and the other Luminos zoners, making sure they were still trapped, before he rushed over to his friends. Once he reached them, he noticed that Penny was working by the screen, her hands moving at a fast pace.

“I figured out how to work this!” Penny shouted once she seemed to sense that Rudy was there with them.

Rudy looked at her in shock. “You did? How?”

“It’s too complicated to explain.” Snap said, his voice on edge as he looked at where Dr. Raiden was. Rudy looked at him sympathetically. No doubt he heard that Dr. Raiden planned on doing to him. The small blue zoner looked up at him and said, “Penny is setting everything up now. Hurry, let’s get in that pod thing before the anti-creator zoners get free!”

Suddenly there was a loud beep. Rudy looked over and saw that Penny had left the screen. “It’s all set up!” As she said that, the machine was getting louder. “It’ll take us to one of the two dimensions listed!”

“Which one?” Rudy asked.

“The black and red one.” Penny answered. Upon seeing Rudy’s horrified expression, she added, “I figured we should try to do the hardest one first and get it out of the way.”

Penny did have a point. Though there was no way to know for certain which world would be hardest, the black and red one did seem like it’d give them the most trouble. It was the most foreboding of the two dimensions. It looked like it was going to be hell on earth. He was prepared for the worst when they arrive there. Knowing they didn’t have much time, he rushed over towards the pod, climbing inside of it. Snap and Penny followed suit.

Blocky and Rapsheeba started to come over, but then there was the snap of rope. They all frozen in cold terror as the anti-creator zoners jumped back to their feet, aiming their laser weapons at them. Their eyes wide in horror, they looked back at Rudy, Penny, and Snap before turning their attention back to the anti-creator zoners. Swallowing hard, they did something that the trio did not expect them to do.

They moved in front of the machine, taking a fighting stance. Rudy’s right eye widened in horror at this. What were they doing? They couldn’t possibly stand a chance against the anti-creator zoners. What were they thinking? They had to get out of there and fast. Why won’t they just come with them? It would be safer.

“Rapsheeba! Blocky! Come on!” Snap called out, waving his hand frantically for them to come over. The pod they were in was already starting to glow. “This thing is activating! Hurry! Or you won’t be able to come with us!”

“I can’t stop the activation! Hurry, you two! If you come over now, you’ll still have time to make it!” Penny cried out in desperation, watching with fear-filled eyes as the two zoners stood their ground in front of the Luminos zoners.

Rudy took in a few shaky breaths. The lights around them grew brighter, the machine’s humming increasing in volume. “Please hurry! Before it is too late!”

Rapsheeba and Blocky looked over at them. The trio gasped as they saw their expressions. Smiles, but ones filled with sadness. No...they couldn’t be thinking of... No..

“We’re sorry... We have to do this.” Rapsheeba said sadly. There was a hint of tears in her eyes. “We need to slow them down. If we let them get to the machines, they could destroy it, leaving you stranded. Or they could send you somewhere else.”

“But you don’t know if they can do that!” Penny cried.

“True.” Blocky nodded his head. “But we cannot take that chance. You two need a distraction while you’re in those other dimensions. Rapsheeba and I will be glad to provie some for you.” He turned his head to the anti-creator zoners. “We’ll keep them as far away from the machines as we can. You can count on us.”

“But...” Rudy started to say.

“It will be okay. You can trust us.” Rapsheeba said. The top part of the pod started to come down. “So long.”

“And have a safe journey.” Blocky said.

“No!” Rudy shouted.

“Please! Don’t do it!” Snap yelled in horror.

Penny tried to pry the pod open. But it shut all the way. The last thing she and the boys saw of Rapsheeba and Blocky before the pod closed completely were the two rushing towards the anti-creator group, preparing to fight even though they didn’t have any weapons to use. “Please don’t!”

The trio shouted the names of their friends as light started to fill up the pod and heavy trembling shook them from side to side. A series of lights flashed all around them and it felt like they were being pulled in all directions. As they cried out for their friends one last time, they were suddenly stretched and yanked off in one direction. Then they disappeared completely, leaving behind a trail of smoke.

Chapter Text

Penny could hardly comprehend what was happening. She was figured out how to work the machine, mostly by figuring out what a few of the symbols possibly meant and going from there. They had activated the machine...and now this was happening. Everything was going by so fast, she could hardly tell what was going on.

She couldn’t even see her friends. She could hear them, but their voices were faint, distant, echoing. All around her, she was surrounded by a vortex of pale-colored clouds. They swirled around her, creating something like a twister. She was being yanked in one direction. She couldn’t even turn her head that much. That was how strong the pulling force was. She had her eyes partway open, the force irritating them if she had them completely open.

She noticed that the color of the clouds and the light that shined through was getting darker. It was gradual at first, but then it increased rapidly. The clouds soon became a pitch black. The light that shined had shifted to a red color, and its overall appearance became more menacing. The very sight of it caused her to shudder in fear. She had a very bad feeling about whatever dimension she was going to. She hoped that it wasn’t as bad as she thought it was going to be.

Soon the force became stronger to the point where it was painful. She shut her eyes, trying to cope with the pain. She held onto her cane tightly. This was getting increasingly difficult as the force increased. It was almost like it didn’t want her to take the cane with her. Still, she refused to let go. She managed to lower her head a little as the speed she was going at increased. The clouds around her seemed to almost howl. She didn’t know if it was the remnants of her friends’ voices or if it was the clouds themselves. Suddenly, she heard a loud crack, similar to thunder. She forced her eyes open to see what it was.

Up ahead, she could see what looked like a black circle floating in the air. The black clouds and red light were swirling around it. It kind of reminded her of how planets orbit a star. It looked like the clouds were anchored in this hole and she guessed that this place might be the source of all these dark clouds and red light. She was pulled in at an even faster pace. Knowing that she was about to make impact, she shut her eyes again and turned away.

The impact sent shockwaves of pain through her. Sparkling electricity flew everywhere, engulfing her body. She let out a loud scream of pain. She was being pushed through something. She couldn’t see, unable to open her eyes. But it was stiff and almost sharp. It was a strange sensation and she didn’t like it. The electricity and the pain lasted a few moments. The whole time, it felt like her skin was going to tear off. Then, at least, she felt instant relief when the strange pressure stopped. She opened her eyes and looked around.

She didn’t have much time to take in her surroundings. She realized she was above the ground. Down below her, she could see what looked like a rundown alleyway. She screamed as she fell towards the ground. At this height, there would be some kind of damage once she hit the ground. She shut her eyes and waited for the impact.

Instead of hitting the hard ground, she landed on something soft and warm. There was a grunt sound, and though she still ended up on the ground, whatever softened her fall made it so that she wasn’t hurt by the impact. She slowly sat herself up and rubbed her head. She looked down to see what had broken her fall. Her eyes widened when she saw it was Rudy. She was sitting right in top of his chest. Giving a sharp gasp of surprise, she quickly got up and took a step back.

“Sorry, Rudy!” Penny said apologetically. Steadying herself with her cane, she reached over with her other hand and grabbed onto Rudy’s, helding him up to his feet. “I didn’t mean to...”

“It’s quite all right.” Rudy said. He stumbled forward a little and rubbed his chest where Penny had landed. “I didn’t want to see you getting hurt. That was some fall.”

“How did you manage to avoid getting hurt?” Penny asked.

“I was released on the ground. The worst that happened to me is that I rolled around for a bit.” Rudy said. He looked at Penny sympathetically. “Nowhere near as bad as what might have happened to you.”

Penny realized that the dimensional machine must have dropped them off in random locations. That would explain why she was dropped off elevated above the ground while Rudy was released right on it. Her mind filled with dread at that realization. If they were dropped off at random places...where was Snap? Could it be possible that the dimensional machine took them to random places on this planet? That meant that Snap could have been dropped off somewhere far from here...somewhere dangerous... She hoped that wasn’t the case.

They had to figure out where Snap was, and fast. She looked all around. There wasn’t much to see around this alleyway. It was pretty dark, too. She couldn’t see any lights and she could just barely make out the walls. She was able to see Rudy just fine, though. Maybe this building was just darkly colored, thus making it hard to see its shape. Yes, that had to be it. She could see some faint light over at one side. Pale pinkish in color, partially illuminating the corner edges, but not much else.

“Come on, we have to find Snap.” Penny said.

“I thought I heard him down that way.” Rudy replied. He started to make his way over. “Let’s go.”

The two of them started to walk over towards the pink light. As they got closer, Penny noticed it seemed to get a little darker as time passed. A little more chromatic as well. She did her best to keep up with Rudy. It was hard to avoid random obstacles on the ground, since she couldn’t really see too much of what was on there. But she did a pretty good job and almost tripped only once.

But when they traveled only a few feet, Rudy’s right eye suddenly widened and he let out a groan of pain. Penny watched, horrified, as he dropped down onto his knees. He held onto his stomach and his body started to shake in pain. She rushed over to his side, almost tripping over a rock in the process. She lowered herself too him and put her free arm around his shoulder. Just what had happened? Did Rudy hit against something sharp that they didn’t see? Did someone shoot him with some kind of weapon before they were able to notice?

Rudy let out a few whimpers, his right eye shut tightly, his teeth gritted. He held his stomach tighter. Then he started to wretch. Penny watched in horror as he started to cough and gag. His mouth opened up wide and the wretching sound he made broke her heart. Then, much to their terror, Rudy vomited up a small glob of blood, just like he had when all this had started. Penny stared at it, her eyes widening. Her mouth dropped open in shock, snapping her head back. She looked down at Rudy, panic sweeping through her mind.

Rudy’s reaction was no better. He stared at the glob of blood, his body trembling in fear. His right eye widened, his pupils shrinking to mere dots. He took in shallow breaths, quick and ragged. He reached out towards the blood, almost as if he couldn’t believe it was real. Penny watched as he dipped the tip of his pointer into the blood. He reached up and examined it in his fingers, rubbing the two digits together. A few tears started to move down his eyes and Penny could sense the fear radiating off of them.

Penny looked at her friend sadly. “R-Rudy...”

“Penny...I...” Rudy’s voice was filled with pain. He winced and cringed back.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but he only ended up throwing up more blood. Instead of a glob, this time he threw up a small puddle of blood, more runny and less thick. To Penny’s horror, the blood was a brighter red this time, indicating it was fresh blood. She gently rubbed his back, trying to soothe him as Rudy started to sob from the pain. He kept down on his knees, holding his stomach. A little more blood came out of his mouth as he let out a few painful coughs.

Rudy turned his head and looked at Penny, his right eye wide. Penny was horrified to see runny blood dripping steadily from his mouth. It was almost like he was drinking some kind of red fluid, put too much in his mouth, and decided to try to speak without swallowing any of it. That’s what it reminded her of. She could see his mouth was coated in blood, the blood that he was throwing up.

Penny didn’t understand why this was happening at first. Rudy hadn’t been struck. She had looked him over and found no injuries. And looking all around carefully, she could tell that there was no one around here. If there were, then she could have seen any attack they tried to pull. There would have been some mark. She found none on Rudy.

Then she realized something. She took another look around. She peered at the ground beneath their feet. She reached down and gently touched it. She rubbed it back and forth, feeling its texture. She knew, from experience, that things in ChalkZone usually had a slightly different texture from their real world counterparts, an indication of them being made of chalk. She felt around the ground, and a horrific realization came to her mind.

They weren’t in ChalkZone. They were in the real world. But if they were in the real world, then that meant that the chartreuse chalk was no longer dulling the pain for Rudy. It meant that he was now feeling the full impact of the pain the disease he had causes. It meant that his body was no longer protected from the disease. She stared at Rudy in horror and held onto him. She pulled him close to her, trying to soothe him as he continued to cry in pain.

“We’re in the real world, Rudy.” Penny said in a soft voice.

Rudy looked up at her in fear. “The...the real world? But I thought that machine would have...” A wince of pain. “..taken us into an alternate ChalkZone... Wh-Why would it...” A whimper.”..take us here?”

Penny thought back to the machine. She remembered how some of them looked different. She had come up with the theory that some of them were real world, and others were alternate ChalkZones. When she had selected this world, she recalled it did not look drawn, and so thought it would take them into the real world. Yet she wasn’t so sure about that. She didn’t think the machine could really take them into the real world. She had considered the possibility of the different looks indicating something else, such as how hospital the place or how dangerous it might be.

It seemed her initial idea was right. The spheres that looked like they were drawn must have been alternate ChalkZones. And the ones that looked...less drawn, they were alternate earths. She recalled that this place had a more photographic look. An indication it was going to take them into the real world... Her stomach twisted in knots at this realization. If she had known it was going to take them into the real world, she would have done something to help Rudy. The chartreuse chalk had no power here, and she was witnessing this impact as Rudy writhed in pain. There had to be something she could do to help him. But what?

Using her cane to brace herself, she looped her hand around Rudy’s arm and helped him up to his feet. Rudy staggered, almost losing his balance. Penny held on as tightly as she could. It wasn’t going to be easy walking, but they had to find a portal surface somewhere and get him into ChalkZone. Keeping Rudy as balanced as she could, she started to guide him out of the alleyway. Rudy leaned on her for support, whimpering from the pain. It was hard for him to walk in such agony, but he managed to do it, slow and steady.

“I wish the chartreuse chalk worked in the real world.” Penny said. She bit her lip as she looked at Rudy with worry. “We have a time limit here, but I don’t know how well you’ll manage with all that pain...”

“How long...?” Rudy asked in a shuddering breath.

“About two and a half hours..if I was able to set it up right. We could be here longer.” Penny saw they were getting close to the exit of the alleyway. Soon they were going to be able to get a good look around where they were. “Hopefully we can find a place to create a portal soon. Do you still have the magic chalk?” Rudy nodded his head. “Good. We can head into this dimension’s ChalkZone and you can heal up there a little bit. Or even wait there while Snap and I try to locate the cure. The machine seemed to indicate it is going to be in the real world.”

Suddenly, Rudy gave a sharp gasp. Penny shot her head towards him, her eyes wide in fear. It sounded like he just got into worse pain. From his expression, however, it looked more like he realized something. Though she calmed down a little knowing that it wasn’t pain that caused him to react this way, her mind was still filled with worry. Rudy’s expression was filled with fear. He turned his head towards her and she could see how scared he was.

“Rudy...?” Penny asked in a soft voice. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I..I almost forgot to tell you...” Rudy said, sucking nervously on his lip. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Penny’s voice was filled with urgency.

“I...I spoke to Barney earlier... There was..something he didn’t tell us about the chartreuse chalk.” Rudy looked away as Penny’s eyes filled with dread. “Jenny had..threatened him into silence if he told the full truth about the chartreuse chalk. She was going to kill King Jumbo Jumbo if he blabbed a word while you and Snap were there picking it up.”

Penny felt her heart start to race. What did Jenny force Barney to conceal? What bit of information was so important that Jenny wouldn’t want them to know? An uncomfortable sensation settled deep in her stomach, making her feel sick. It somehow didn’t surprise her that Jenny had set up a trap for them, that she wanted them to take the chartreuse chalk with only half the knowledge.

This missing piece of information...just what was it? How bad was it? From the look in Rudy’s eyes, the information Barney was forced to conceal was very important. She could feel an uncomfortable pang in her chest. Just what was this bit about the chartreuse chalk that they didn’t know about? How much of a difference does it make? Is it really that important? Well of course it would be. Why else would Rudy look so worried? Why else would Jenny threaten Mumbo Jumbo to force Barney to stay quiet about it?

“What is it? What couldn’t Barney tell us?” Penny asked, her voice low. Her feet were firmly planted on the ground, not wanting to walk further until she learned more about the charteuse chalk. Rudy just stared at her sadly. “Please, Rudy...tell me. I-I..I know it must be hard. But you’ve got to tell me.”

“I know I do. It’s just...difficult.” Rudy turned his gaze downward. “It’s..going to make things complicated...” He winced in pain.

Penny pulled Rudy a little closer to her. “Rudy...”

Rudy turned his gaze back to his friend. He took in a shaky breath, and he spoke with a voice laced in fear and dread. “Penny... The chartreuse chalk...makes things worse.”

Penny felt a cold chill rush through her spine. “I-It...it what..?”

Rudy said, “Barney told me how it does heal, but it heals with chalk, not real world flesh. It is the major component in the disease I have. It initates the ‘flesh-to-chalk’ part.” A few tears strolled down his cheeks. “He..he said that in the real world, the reason why I’m in..so much pain...” He flinched for a moment, seething in pain. Then he forced himself to talk more, pain hanging off every word. “...it’s because my body is recognizing the chalk portions as..foreign...and it’s attacking them... Penny... My internal wounds are being..reopen...”

It felt like her blood just turned to solid ice. Her mind was jolted with a sudden stabbing pain at the horrific realization at what Rudy just said. She couldn’t think of anything except those horrible words. She was suddenly unaware of her surroundings. Everything seemed to go dark and all she could see was Rudy. Her body started to tremble with emotion. Her lower lip quivered. She couldn’t believe what she just heard. She stared at him, hoping for him to say it wasn’t true. But he just looked at her sadly.

Penny couldn’t believe it... It wasn’t possible.. No, he couldn’t be..no... She looked at the way he was hunched over, the way he was clutching his stomach. His internal wounds were...reopening? No... She found herself shaking her head in denial. A part of her wanted to run away, not able to handle the overwhelming emotion washing through her right now. But the other knew she couldn’t abandon Rudy. Not now, not when when he needed his friends the most. There had to be something she could do...anything... She couldn’t allow his internal wounds to reopen. He could..he could die...

Penny felt tears flowing from her eyes, unable to hold them back. Cries wracked through her body, her lip quivering even more. She tried to stop her crying, but it was impossible. Negative emotion consumed her. Her mind swirled with thoughts. Why hadn’t they figured this out sooner? If they did, Rudy might have been okay. They could have helped him out sooner. But now, because of Jenny, Rudy had a lot of internal wounds that were going to reopen. And judging from the sound of his voice, all of them were going to reopen.

The harsh reality of the situation really hit home for her when Rudy coughed and sprayed blood on the ground. He stared at the blood and whimpered. He cuddled up closer to her, pressing his face against her shoulder. She tried her best to comfort him. But what could she say? She had no idea where the cure was located, or how long it would take to get it. She didn’t know how much time he had. Internal bleeding was more serious than external. Harder to control. He could bleed to death if he lost enough blood fast enough. Penny never felt so helpless before.

But she couldn’t give up. Rudy needed her. He needed Snap. They had to find Snap quickly and devise some kind of plan to help Rudy. He needed it now more than ever. There had to be something they could do. The only thing she could think of was that they had to locate a surface they could draw a portal with. That was their only chance. In ChalkZone, the chartreuse chalk could stop the bleeding. She did feel anger well up inside of her at the thought of that wretched green chalk making things worse, but at least it would be of some use in ChalkZone. They had to stop the internal bleeding as soon as possible.

Penny gently pulled on Rudy, urging him to continue walking. “C-Come on Rudy..let’s find Snap.. We’ll find a way to help you. I promise.”

Rudy managed a weak smile. “I know you will.” He smacked his lips a little as some more blood trickled from his mouth. “I..I think I saw Snap land somewhere over there.” He raised a hand and pointed a trembling finger in one direction. “Let’s go see if he’s there.”

Penny nodded her head slowly. Helping him keep his balance, the two friends continued to walk out of the alleyway. They were getting closer to the light. She imagined, once they exited the alleyway, she could get a good look around and hopefully figure out where to go from here. She glanced worriedly at Rudy. Their pace was very slow but she understood why. Rudy was in great pain, more than she initially thought before. They had to get him help and fast.

Soon, they were out of the alleyway. But suddenly, the two froze. It wasn’t because someone stopped them. Instead, something did. The shere sight of this place and the horror that accompanied it. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Eyes wide in shock, they slowly looked around, taking in the horrible sights all around them.

This place looked like hell on earth. They were in some kind of city. Plainsville perhaps, but it was barely recognizable. The buildings...most of them were charred black, like something hot hit against them. Many were cracked and broken. Large chunks of debris laid on the ground. The road they stood on was heavily discolored and cracked. Looking behind them, Penny suddenly saw why they couldn’t see much of anything in there. The alleyway they were in was actually part of a shattered building. A broken piece laid overhead, blocking the view of the light. Penny could see the small opening she ended up falling through.

There was a constant wind here. Not very fast, but it was chilling to the touch. It gave this place an even stronger sense of foreboding. Penny shuddered when she turned her head in such a way that the wind hit against her face. There was a horrific smell that entered her nostrils. The smell reminded her of rotting flesh and bad meat. The realization that the scent of death hung strongly in the air frightened Rudy and Penny. They didn’t see any corpses laying around, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.

They could see smoke rising from some of the damaged buildings. No fire or anything, just smoke. They realized something had to have struck this place, and it must have been recent. The fire was out, but they could still feel some sensation of heat. The smoke that pillowed out still had a strong burning smell to it. Looking up further, they could see the smoke dissipating against the sky. They realized, with a cold shudder, the sky wasn’t its usual blue, but instead had taken on a blood red coloration. The clouds in the sky were black, adding to the eeriness of his place.

Penny remembered the dimensional machine, and how there was a red and black hue to this place. Now she could see why it was colored like that. The red sky sent chills through her spine. At the moment, she couldn’t even see the sun, making the place seem even scarier. Just..just what had happened here? Why was this place torn apart? It looked like some kind of twister hit the place. Something terrible had happened in this dimension, and she had a feeling that, during their stay, they were going to find out sooner or later just what that was.

Without saying a word, she and Rudy forced themselves to start walking through the ripped up Plainsville. She knew this is what the place was. Off in the distance, she could see the shattered remains of their elementary school, where they went when they were ten. The building had a large hole in the center and the playground appeared cracked. Then, much to their horror, they could see, barely, the remains of a skeleton. They shuddered and they looked away, trying to focus on the cracked road.

“What...what happened to this place..?” Rudy asked as he and Penny continued to walk down the road. “This place looks...awful...”

“I don’t know.. I think a bomb may have went off here.” Penny looked around uneasily, noting the burn damages and the pillowing smoke. “I don’t think anyone survived...”

Rudy’s body gave a shudder at that. She heard him sniffle. “I..I hope our parents weren’t...” His voice trailed off at that.

Penny looked at him sympathetically. She couldn’t blame him for having that kind of reaction. Even though their parents of this world weren’t really their parents, they were their dimensional counterparts, it would still hurt knowing that they were killed in some kind of fiery explosion. Penny felt a sickening sensation rise up inside of her as she thought of her mother in this dimension suffering some kind of horrible fate. If that happened, she wondered how her counterpart was taking it.

Despite her growing anxiety, despite being afraid of running into what caused all this disaster, she knew they had to press on. They needed to find Snap. This place may have lurking danger and there was safety in numbers. She hoped that Snap was okay. It didn’t seem like there was any current danger present, but they hadn’t looked around this place for long. Despite looking horrific, that didn’t mean there was danger. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t. They had to figure out where Snap was and reunite with him and fast.

Rudy and Penny continued their trek down the frightening remains of Plainsville. They walked in the direction Rudy had indicated before, stepping over any debris they came across. They could hear some cracks, and they did their best to move quickly. Some of the collapsed buildings appeared to be unstable. Some of these buildings looked more intact, some with a couple large holes but not much else. But realizing there was some instability, Penny knew they couldn’t afford to be careless. They had to tread lightly.

Penny soon saw something stuck on the ground. A piece of paper wedged between two large rocks. It was flapping in the wind. Curious, she made her way over to it. Rudy walked along with her, not wanting to lose his balance and also curious about the piece of paper himself. Penny reached down and grabbed it. She pulled on it, yanking it from between the rocks. There was a slight tear, but it was more or less in one piece. She unfolded it and took a look. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

“Rudy..I think I figured out what happened...” Penny said, her voice low.

Rudy looked at her worriedly. “What is it?”

“Look...” Penny held out the paper to him.

Rudy looked at it. It took him seconds to realize what it said. “A...a weapon..?”

“Experimental, too...” Penny said sadly.

Though much of the paper was smudged, there was enough left on there for her to know what it was talking about. There was some kind of experimental weapon. Maybe more, she had no idea how many there were. But this one particular weapon may have been the cause of devastation in Plainsville. This version of Plainsville anyway. And that wasn’t all the paper talked about. It also made mention of some kind of war. The idea of a war causing this much damage from what may have been a single attack....it was a chilling thought.

A war broke out here. That much was clear. She didn’t know if it was still going on.. She guessed that it was. Why else would the damages here look so recent? Suddenly, she and Rudy felt even more unsafe. This place was foreboding enough with the red sky and the crumbled buildings. Now they had to deal with an unknown type of weaponry. They didn’t know how powerful it was, when it would be shot next, if they’d even survive... Now they really had to find Snap before it was too late. While Penny knew that the dimensional machine, so long as it remains unharmed and operational and provided she used it correctly, should send them all to the next dimension, allowing them to potentially escape danger, they still needed to be together.

Suddenly a voice called out to them. A familiar voice. Realizing who it was, Rudy and Penny looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the sound. Then, looking in one direction, they could see a shape moving towards them quickly. It was hard to make out due to the figure being in a shaded part of the torn city, but soon they got close enough and they recognized instantly who it was.

“Snap!” Penny called out, elation on her voice. She couldn’t help but smile, relief washing through her, as Snap hurried over towards them, looking relatively unharmed. “You’re okay!”

Rudy took a few steps forward, tugging Penny a little. He reached out with his arm as Snap approached them. “Snap!” When Snap got close enough, he put hooked his arm around the zoner and pulled him into a hug. “We’re so glad you’re okay...”

Snap hugged Rudy for a few moments and then moved back. He looked at his friends, a wide smile on his face. He was very happy to see them. “I’m so glad I finally found you guys! I didn’t see where you ended up and I had to do a little exploriating...” He gave a shudder as he looked around. “I...wish I could have had a nicer place to exploriate though...”

“Yeah...” Rudy said in agreement. He clenched his teeth. “This place is one big war zone...literally...”

Snap’s eyes widened. “That would explain all the corpses I ran into...” Rudy and Penny gave a sharp gasp at this.

“You ran into some dead bodies?” Penny asked fearfully.

Snap nodded his head slowly. “Yeah... It wasn’t pretty...” He was clearly shaken up by the things he had seen when he was trying to find them. His body trembled from fear. He tried his best to smile, though it was crooked, clearly hiding the fear inside of him. “Well at least I found you guys, and you’re safe. I-I was worried that...” His smile vanished. “..that something happened to you.. This place... It doesn’t feel safe...”

“I know. I...” Rudy clutched his stomach and nearly fell down again. Penny held onto him and helped him steady himself. Rudy’s body trembled in pain. Once he was steady, he looked over at Penny and said, “Thank you...”

“Rudy? What’s wrong?” Snap asked worriedly. Rudy opened his mouth but instead of words, just blood came out. Not a lot, but enough to tell Snap something was seriously wrong. The zoner jumped up in alarm. “Rudy! Bucko! What happened?!”

“The short answer is that the chartreuse chalk is what is turning his flesh to chalk, and now that he’s in the real world, his body is fighting against it and any and all internal wounds he suffered are reopening.” Penny said solemnly, her eyes filled with sadness and pain.

Snap let out a terrified shout. “Oy caloy! We’ve got to get him into ChalkZone then!”

“If we can find a suitable place...” Penny looked all around them. “These areas are too heavily damaged for a stable portal. We need to find some place less...cracked...”

“Well we better find something fast!” Snap called out. He rushed over and grabbed onto Rudy’s other arm. He aided Penny in helping Rudy keep from falling down. “If all his internal wounds are opening, then that means...”

He never had a chance to finish that sentence. There was a sudden loud boom and a loud cracking sound. The trio looked over to their side. Their eyes widened in horror when they saw a tall building they stood next to start to topple down. It was heading straight for them. They let out terrified screams as they rushed away as fast as they could. Rudy cried out in pain as his friends dragged him to safey and Penny winced as she forced her bad leg to keep moving.

The trio just barely got out of the way in time as portions of the building collapsed just behind them. They could feel the rush of air as the debris hit the ground. The force of the impact knocked them into the ground. Penny cried out in pain as her leg was twisted a little. Snap hit his arm, the one that was shattered years ago by Bardot, at an odd angle and he let out a cry of pain. Rudy hit his stomach against the ground and he vomited some more blood, whimpering in agony.

Dust was kicked up into the air, making it hard to breathe. The trio, coping with the pain, coughed as the dust filled their lungs. They looked over at the scene before them. Now where they were standing was pieces and debris of the building they were standing next to. Dust and smoke pillowed upwards and spread out, giving the area a sort of hazey look. They all wondered just what had happened. Why had the building suddenly collapsed?

They soon found out why.

There some kind of shadow overhead. It landed in front of them. Hidden in the smoke and dust, they couldn’t make out just what it was. Just that it was large and menacing looking. Its body moved through the dust. The trio instinctively moved back, wondering just what this was. They then heard low growling, confirming that whatever this thing was, it was alive and breathing. The growl sent chills through their spines.

The wind that swept through the torn city began to push the smoke and dust away. Not all at once; it was slow. But soon, seconds later, the top portion of the smoke had been cleared away enough, and the thing turned enough for them to see what it was. Or rather, who it was. Their eyes widened in horror at the realization of just who this was.

It was Draow. There was no mistaking him. As Draow turned his head more, they could see the wolf-like head, the same one they became all too familiar with. As more dust cleared, they could see that he was equipped with some kind of weaponry. They realized, in a cold chill, Draow had destroyed the building in an attempt to crush them to death. And now, seeing that it didn’t work, he was coming in to kill them himself.

His head turned to the side, Draow glared at them with one teal eye facing them. He bared his sharp teeth and opened up his jaws. A loud screech rumbled through the air, sweeping through their heards and filling them with terror. And as Draow turned to face them completely, the laser cannons mounted on his body aimed at them, Rudy, Penny, and Snap had just one thought running through their minds.

Run away fast.

Chapter Text

Rudy couldn’t believe his rotten luck. Of all the denizens of this dark world, of all those they could have stumbled across that might still be alive, the first one they ran into just had to be Draow, or rather, this universe’s version of Draow. All he and his friends could do was run. Magic chalk does not work in the real world. It was either run away and try to find a way to lose Draow, or they stand around and wait to get shot. The choice was very obvious. No need to stop and think about it.

Draow in this world looked, at first, like the Draow they came to know and hate. He was definitely the same size, towering over them quite easily. He did notice he looked a little more thicker than the Draow they ran into in the Fire Zone. He considered this being due to the fact that this Draow likely had access to more food, and thus didn’t go hungry as much. He was a little heavier, too, as his feet caused more vibrations in the ground than he recalled their Draow being able to do. Despite being heavier, this Draow was still very fast and he was gaining on them.

Trying to dodge his attacks was not easy. Unlike their Draow, this one, as they noted as soon as they could tell it was him, had weaponry attached to him. At first, Rudy thought that it was fused with him, as if Cosmo in this world wanted Draow to have more firepower initially. He soon realized this wasn’t the case. Draow here was simply mounted with the weapons. His body had some armor on it, such as on his chest and on his thighs. Strapped around his shoulder were laser cannons, two twin barrels pointing at them. And if that wasn’t bad enough, on Draow’s helmet, there were what appeared to be two very thin cannons, and they shot out smaller but no less dangerous lasers at them.

Running away was very painful for Rudy. Snap had the easiest time running, but he too was having some problems due to the pain in his arm. While it had healed, that arm occassionally did get a little sore, since the break there was very bad. And that blow to it moments earlier irritated that arm. Penny was fairing no better. She had a hard time running fast with her cane. It was a miracle that they were able to get this far without getting attacked. Rudy was impressed with how well Penny was managing to keep up despite having a bad leg, but he didn’t know how long that would last. Their luck would only run so far.

Rudy was trying his best to keep running. Out of the three of them, he was in the worst pain, he was certain. He had gained several internal wounds while in their dimension. Because of the chartreuse chalk, all of his internal wounds were healed up with chalk. Now that was starting to break down because of his body’s own reaction. All of the internal wounds he had suffered, they were all going to split apart soon and he would bleed to death. And all this running certainly was not going to make things any better. Indeed, he could feel horrific pain as his internal wounds were aggravated by the running. But it wasn’t like he had a choice in the matter.

The winged wolf was pounding along the ground behind them. He could hear him roar and snap his jaws wildly in the air. Soon, he was going to reach them unless they could figure out a way to lose him. He was glad that, at least for the time being, Draow hadn’t resorted to flying. He deduced that the cannons strapped on him made it hard for him to stay aloft for long. A price to pay for the weaponry he supposed. Draow didn’t seem to mind not flying, and being on the ground meant he had closer targets, and he’d have an easier time hitting them.

So far, he hadn’t attempted to use the cannons again, but that didn’t make this chase less urgent. Rudy and his friends had to keep moving. They couldn’t stop. Despite being in pain, despite them starting to run out of stamina, they had to keep pushing themselves. Their panic, fear...it filled their minds, and their need for survival outweighed the pain they were feeling. It didn’t make their agony go away, but their brains were focused on getting them out of there. Their hearts beat faster, blood pumping through their bodies at a rapid pace. Adrenaline rising in their guts, they pushed themselves harder and managed to put a little more distance between them and Draow.

But how long would this last? Draow was not going to give up that easily. He would continue to chase them down. He would continue to hound them, try to kill them. He looked like he was in better shape than them. They knew that he wasn’t going to run out of energy any time soon. He was clearly designed to be durable. It would take a lot to wear him out. Rudy knew they could could not afford to try wear down Draow, knowing that he was still full of a lot of energy. So they needed to lose him. But how?

They couldn’t keep this up forever. Draow was going to catch up to them soon. And if he decided to use his cannons on them, they were in bigger trouble. The terrain was very hard to navigate, and it was slowing them down. Often they had to run between and over some debris, and even duck down. This entire city was a mess, very difficult to get around here. Draow, on the other hand, was having no problems. He merely jumped over the debris or even slammed through others, being strong enough to break through them without slowing him down much. This made Rudy realize their situation was more dire than they had imagined.

Just then, off to their right, Rudy saw something that might prove useful. There was another pile of debris, like they had been seeing before, but this lead to what looked like a reinforced building, made of thicker material than standard buildings. Rudy couldn’t tell what the building was once used for. The sign was completely blown apart and there were no features distinguishing enough for him to know. But regardless, it was still standing and it looked the least damaged out of all the buildings they came across thus far.

The debris that laid in the front had a small opening. The rocks and chunks of building that made the tunnel looked relatively secure. They may hold up pretty well. If they could get in there and get inside the building, they could slow Draow down. Rudy had a feeling that Draow would be so intent on getting them, he wouldn’t think of flying around to the back and ambusing them there. Draow was not stupid, and he had a feeling this one could talk just like theirs could. But Draow was impulsive and, on his own, made some very rash decisions.

Yes, that building was their best chance of putting some distance between them and Draow. Hopefully it would buy them enough time to get away. Maybe they could lose Draow in the process and then try to find a piece of ground they could use the magic chalk on to escape into ChalkZone. If they run into anyone else, he hoped they would be a friendly face, or at least not chase them down like Draow was. Rudy had no idea how long they could keep this up.

Rudy turned to his friends. “Let’s go over there!” He pointed towards the debris he was looking at seconds ago.

Penny flinched as she forced herself to move faster with her cane and bad leg. “Are you sure, Rudy? What if Draow tears through the building?”

“It looks thick enough. It would take him some time. We can go through that opening there.” Rudy pointed to the twisted tunnel opening in front of the building. “Then we can go out through a back entrance.”

“But wouldn’t Draow just come around the back?” Snap asked, panting heavily. “He isn’t stupid, you know.”

“But he is impulsive, remember?” Rudy said. He looked behind him briefly. Draow was getting closer now. They had to get moving fast. “Trust me, he will be so focused on getting at us, he won’t even think about going around the back!” His friends still looked unsure. They casted nervous glances at each other. “Well what can we do? We have to change course or Draow will catch up!”

They all knew he was right about that. They could only keep going like this for so long. Dodging and moving around the debris laying scattered on the streets, avoiding the deep cracks, it was getting harder by the second. They were lucky that, so far, they hadn’t tripped up and slowed down that much. But how long would that luck last? If they kept going like this, then sooner or later, Draow would catch up. Or he would think to use his cannons and block their route of escape.

In the end, both Penny and Snap knew Rudy was right. Rudy could tell, by their expressions, they did realize that his idea was their best chance for survival. They were in the real world, after all. No magic chalk, so they could not defend themselves. And Draow having weaponry attached to him was going to make things much harder. They were unable to fight back, especially when they were all injured to some degree. Rudy felt his head start to feel a little whoozy. They needed to put some distance in and fast. They needed to find a more secure place to hide so they could rest.

“Let’s hurry up, then!” Snap cried. “I don’t think Draow is going to hold back on those cannons for long!”

“Snap’s right! We have to hurry! The moment he uses those cannons..” Penny started to say.

“Then let’s get going now!” Rudy cried.

Rudy realized that blabbing their plan out in the open may not have been the best move. Draow may not have heard them as he was making noise trying to get to them. His pounding of the feet, cracking the ground behind them, his growls and hisses that he was making, there was a chance that he didn’t hear them. But what if he did? If he did, then he could do what Snap said, and go around the back. Or he could start to use his laser cannons on them right now, cutting off their escape route.

But in the end, what choice did they really have? They couldn’t speak telepathically; they had no choice but to discuss the next mode of action in the open. He just hoped that, against the odds, Draow doesn’t show indication that he heard them and continues to be impulsive. If he heard them, if he reacted according to that, they were in trouble. But at this point, they really didn’t have a choice. It was either go into that building and get a chance of getting away at least for a time, or they risk getting killed by Draow.

As they came up to where the twisted opening was, they all shifted to the right, heading towards it. The hole was not very smooth and going through it was very hard, especially for Penny. The surface was not very cane friendly. She ended up hitting the cane or her leg against a raised portion of the ground, nearly tripping over. Rudy and Snap did their best to support her. Rudy fought against his pain as he helped Snap get Penny down the tunnel faster. Luckily for them, the tunnel wasn’t very long. It curved uphill, which was hard to navigate, but at least it was short and soon they made it to the other side.

They made it out of the tunnel and into the building just in time. There was the loud clang of claws hitting against the debris and a loud frustrated shriek by Draow. The three friends watched for a few moments as bits of the tunnel started to collapse as Draow desperately tried to get at them. Rudy realized that his belief of Draow being so impulsive that he’d just keep going after them head on was correct, at least for now. Draow may realize what was going on and come around the other side.

They took a brief moment to look around the building they were in. It was largely empty, like it had been abandoned for years. They could see multiple levels up above them, not seperated by ceilings. In fact, the ceiling itself was very high up. The building looked square-ish on the outside, but in here, it started to become a little more round as it went up, and then at the top, sort of a point. Rudy realized that this shape may have been caused by the internal damage, as this place was not unscathed. The floors were cracked around here, the walls twisted and mangled, and whatever was in here, such as a lonely desk in the middle of the room, was cracked, broken, and dusty.

He and his friends did not have a lot of time to look around, let alone rest. They stood there for a few seconds, panting and trying to catch their breath. This didn’t last long as suddenly, there was a loud boom and a crack. The building they were in shook violently. They screamed when a large chunk of the ceiling came down and they moved out of the way as fast as they could. The piece of ceiling landed just inches way from their feet, making their hearts run cold with fear. They had to get out of here and fast.

More pieces started to fall down. Rocks, cement, and dust began to pour down on them from above. The building shook more, making it hard for them to stand up. They didn’t waste any time. They started to get a move on, barely dodging all the falling debris that came down towards them. They had to find the exit to this building and fast. They could hear Draow shooting it with his lasers. He kept hitting it again and again. Rudy realized that, though this building was reinforced, it would not stand up to Draow’s laser attacks forever, and would soon come crumbling down. If they were still in the building when that happened...

Rudy, Penny, and Snap pushed themselves as hard as they could, trying their best to ignore the pain they were in. They moved through the mangled building, heading down one of the hallways that led to the left. They had no idea if it was the right way, but they didn’t have time to sit there pondering choices. They kept heading down the hallway, wincing in fear, hearts running colder, as the building wracked with destructive blows. The sound of creaking, of cement and support beams giving way to the laser attacks filled the air, making their sense of urgency and dread fill up inside their stomachs. The horrible feeling made them almost want to throw up.

They continued to run, not wanting to look back, fearing that if they did, they would get caught in falling debris. They navigated what debris already was in the building. Luckily, this debris was a little easier to get around, possibly due to this building being more durable than the other buildings and not suffering as much damage. Rudy wasn’t sure how long they could keep this up, but at least Draow was still attacking that one side. He wasn’t going to be fooled for long, though, and the intelligent wolf would soon come around to the other side to attack them, or perhaps blow a hole in the building and fly in through there.

Just then, they came up to a two way intersection. They could either go down left or right there. They stopped and looked down both ends. The hallways looked more or less the same. Both were filled with debris and appeared difficult to navigate. But they couldn’t head back now. Not while Draow was still attacking the building. They didn’t have a lot of time to figure out which way they should go. They looked down both tunnels, their minds racing, trying to figure out which way was the best.

Penny’s eyes widened suddenly. Rudy and Snap took notice of this. They looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to speak. Her gaze was fixated down the right tunnel. She must have seen something very important down there. But what? The two boys didn’t have to wait very long to find out.

“Let’s go down that tunnel!” Penny pointed down the hallway.

“Why?” Rudy asked, wincing in pain as a sharp jolt went through his stomach. “Is there...a reason you chose this direction? How is it different from...the others?”

Snap opened his mouth to say something. But then his eyes widened as well, clearly noticing what Penny head. He pointed his hand towards the right tunnel and said, “Buckette is right! I can see an exit sign down there!”

Rudy looked and saw it as well. It was difficult with the debris in the tunnel blocking and obscuring the view. But he soon saw what his friends were pointing out. There was a sign down there. With no electricity, it didn’t stand out very well. But he recognized the coloration and overall shape. He could barely make out the words that were written on it. But there was no mistaking it. The word ‘Exit’ was displayed on the sign. The back exit was down that hallway. Without saying another word, he and his friends headed down that hallway.

The building shook even harder, nearly knocking them off their feet. Then, when they were half way down the building, another violent shake wracked through the building. This time, they fell to the ground. Rudy let out a cry of pain as his damaged shoulder slammed against the hard rock. Penny hit her arm hard against a sharp rock, nearly causing her to drop her cane. She looked down at her arm. Thankfully there wasn’t a gash in it. Snap had been thrown face first into the ground. Rudy winced as Snap lifted up his head and he could see a couple of scrapes on it. Rudy made a mental note to himself to get Snap to the hospital and checked for brain damage after all this is done. All these head injuries...

The three friends climbed up to their feet. They helped each other maintain balance, preventing each other from falling down. Once they were able to stand up well enough, they continued down the tunnel. They could hear a loud roar from Draow, laced with venom, anger, and frustration. It didn’t seem like he was going to continue attacking that spot for long. He would eventually fly around back, or attack from a new angle to try to surprise them. Knowing that they were running out of time, they pushed themselves harder, making their way through the debris, heading towards the exit sign.

Soon they reached it. The building made a loud crack and they could hear it start to crumble. They had to get out of there and fast. Rudy grabbed onto the doorknob and started to turn it. Much to his horror, the knob was stuck. He turned on it as hard as he could. Seeing him struggle, Penny and Snap went over and offered their assistance. Their hands all grabbing the doorknob together, they began to push and turn the knob as hard as they could, twisting it, trying to get it unstuck.

A loud boom shook them violently from side to side. They managed to hang onto the knob and continued to turn it. Then, seconds later, as an other explosion tore through the building, the door was knocked from its hinges due to the force of the blow. Rudy, Penny, and Snap fell forward, hitting against the ground. They coughed and winced in pain. They looked up and saw the building they were in was starting to come down. There were heavy cracks everywhere and pieces were now starting to fall off. They climbed to their feet and they rushed out, managing to get a good distance away before debris started to crash into the ground.

Rudy, Penny, and Snap stared at this, their eyes wide in shock, realizing just how close they came to getting crushed to death. They looked at each other, their eyes filled with relief that they had, against the odds, made it out of there without getting badly hurt. They took one last look at the building before they headed down the street, making the first turn they saw in hopes of losing Draow.

They continued to run, their hearts skipping beats every time they heard Draow roar in anger and frustration. Eventually, he was going to realize they were out of the building and come find them. As much as they hoped that he would continue to remain focused on the building even after it crumbles all the way down, they knew that their luck wouldn’t be that great. Draow would have to be pretty stupid not to pick up their scent and come after them. Hopefully, they would have put enough distance between him and them that they could find a hiding spot long before he reached them.

Things were never that easy, which they found out very quickly. As they heard a loud crash, knowing the builing they were in crumbled, they could hear heavy footfalls coming in from behind them. They dared not look back. They continued to run down the torn street, moving as fast as they could. The footfalls were getting closer, and a roar of anger filled the iar, chilling their blood. After a few moments, Rudy took a chance and he turned his head to look over his shoulder, his right eye widened in fear.

He couldn’t see Draow, at least not directly. But he could see his shadow casted on the walls. He could see the rocks and dust being kicked up as he was getting closer to them. He was going to be upon them soon. Rudy realized, with dread, that going the way they had didn’t slow down Draow that much. They might have gotten a little further if they had moved faster...until he realized that Draow’s sense of smell was strong, stronger than he had initially realized...and with the direction they came out of, the wind was blowing the scent straight towards Draow. Rudy realized, in horror, they would have been in trouble even if they made it through the building faster.

He wished he had realized that sooner. He wished he had taken notice of which way the continuous wind was blowing. If he had, he would have realized that their scent was blowing straight to Draow, telling him almost immediately where they were. But there was nothing they could do about that now. All they were able to do now was run away. He hoped, prayed, that they would find some route of escape they could use. A tunnel, a cave, anything that they could use to try to lose Draow.

Rudy soon realized that he didn’t hear Draow’s pounding feet anymore. This would have brought about some relief, but instead, it just scared him. He and his friends knew that if they didn’t hear the pounding feet, that meant only one thing, at least in the case of Draow. He had taken flight. They turned their eyes upward, scanning the blood red sky for any sign of Draow. They didn’t see him anywhere. They soon realized that, with all these buildings around, Draow could be using them to zigzag his way to them without being seen. There were so many places he could be hiding.

Then, without warning, a building they were running next to suddenly collapsed. Smoke and dust kicked up into the air. Rudy, Penny, and Snap stopped in their tracks as Draow’s head and part of his front body poked through. His jaws were split wide open, his gums and teeth exposed. He let out a screech as he turned his head towards them. His gleaming teal eyes never leaving them, he squeezed his way through the hole in the building he had just made. The three friends stared at him in fear and backed up a few feet. Then they turned and started to run, doing their best to ignore the pain they were in. In seconds, there was a loud crack and they knew that Draow had gotten through the hole.

Draow rushed behind them, only a few yards separating them from him. He snapped his jaws wildy in the air, trying to snag one of them. He started to move faster, his wings spread out to the side to make him a little more agile. Rudy and his friends screamed in fear as they felt the beast’s hot breath on them. Draow nearly grabbed them a few times, especially during the moments were they were slowed down by a chunk of rock or debris that was difficult to get around

Rudy’s heart pounded as Draow continued to chase them down. He looked all around, trying to find someway to slow down Draow again. There had to be a way out of this. There just had to. Then he saw a particularly torn up road to their left. He bit his lip. This road might be their best chance at slowing down Draow some more, but then, it would also slow them down. What were they to do? They could take the chance and get further away from Draow, or even trap him in there for a time, or they could make it easier for Draow to get them. Both were possible if they chose that road.

In the end, what choice did they have? They didn’t have much where else to go. If they didn’t make a turn now, Draow was going to get one of them in his jaws. Once that happens, it was game over for them. There was no way they could get themselves out of Draow’s vice grip. At least the torn road, running between tall buildings that seem a little close to each other, would provide them a chance to get away. Not saying a word, just using hand gestures, Rudy ushered his friends to go towards the severely ripped up road.

Getting through the debris in this road than it was getting through the debris elsewhere. There was low hanging debris everywhere, and a lot on the ground as well. They had to duck and crawl through the crumbled portions of the ground. It slowed them down greatly. They felt their hearts beating faster, their stamina going down further, as they crawled and navigated through the twisted metal and large chunks of rock all around them. There was hardly a piece of ground that was flat, much of it bent and twisted at odd angles.

But the rubble also slowed down Draow. Unlike the other chunks of building he made his way through, this one was mostly metal, not as much rock or concrete. That made it much harder for the bat wolf to just charge at them. It took him more effort to get through the twisted metal. He didn’t try shooting at it with his lasers. Rudy guessed it was because the lasers might not be able to cut through the metal as well as it could rock and concrete, and it had a chance of bouncing back at him. Choosing this way was more helpful than Rudy thought, but for how long? Draow would not be held back forever.

And, to his horror, he was proven right about this. As he and his friends made it out of the street, and onto the next one, Draow, with a loud roar, had taken up to the sky. They looked up, watching in fear as the beast’s body, casted against the read sky, making him look more frightening, came towards them. Rudy, Penny, and Snap turned and started to run away from Draow. There was another street they could turn on down there. If they could just get to it...

It was too late. Draow had fired lasers in their direction, hitting against the ground in front of them. The three friends let out a scream and they turned around. They looked just in time to see Draow, hunkered towards the ground, beginning to fire more lasers from his large shoulder cannons. The lasers were pale pink in color with white twisty things around them. The beams shot towards them. Rudy, Penny, and Snap panicked and looked around, trying to find an escape route.

They realized that Draow hadn’t actually been aiming at them. There was a loud crack behind them, and the sound of crumbling as the laser struck the buildings around them, slicing through the rock, brick, and concrete like they were nothing. The trio moved back as the buildings crumbled down, the chunks of rock completely blocking their escape route. They looked all around, trying to find some way they could go. But all the streets around here were blocked now, debris and bits of twisted metal laying down. They couldn’t climb this, not fast enough to get away from Draow.

Slowly, they turned around and stared at Draow. He was blocking their only viable escape route. He had moved in close enough that the street they had came here was behind him. If they wanted to get there, they’d have to get through him first. And in their current state, they couldn’t do that. Rudy flinched as he felt more blood drip from his mouth. His body wasn’t going to be able to handle this kind of abuse for long, and he didn’t think his friends would last much longer either. They were completely trapped, the realization turning their blood to ice, their bodies shaking in terror.

Draow licked his lips slowly, his teal eyes glinting in eagerness and hate. He pawed the ground and, mustering as much strength as he could, he made a dash towards them. Rudy, Penny, and Snap watched in horror as Draow pounded the ground, leaving slight indentions behind, his jaws split wide open, his sharp teeth glinting in the red light all around them. With nowhere to go, they backed up against the debris behind them. They huddled together, putting their arms around each other. They glared defiantly at Draow, despite knowing they were trapped. If they were going to go down, at least they would go down together.

Suddenly, there was a shape that came out of nowhere. A figure, clearly human, without warning, came at Draow and struck against him. The figure moved so fast that Rudy and his friends could barely register it. Draow staggered to the side a litte and shook his head. He turned his attention to the figure and let out a loud roar. The figure stood in front of Rudy, Penny, and Snap. Before the figure made another move, they were able to get a good enough look at this newcomer.

The figure was pretty lean. A little muscular, but not overly so. They were a full body armor, complete with a helmet that covered their head. The armor was colored silver with some dark blue on the chest, arms, and legs. The armor looked very smooth, lightweight, and flexible, noticeable by how the figure was able to move around so easily in it. The armored figure wielded what looked like a long pole. Not a simple one, but a more fancy-looking one, complete with grooves and decorative things. They noticed it was adjustable, too, as the figure changed the length of the pole as they charged towards Draow.

The scene before them was intense. The figure ran towards Draow, completely unafraid of him. Draow let out a roar and attempted to attack the armored person. He snapped his jaws at them, narrowly missing them. He tried again and this time, the figure grabbed his mouth and forced it closed. They pushed him back a little and jumped out of the way before he could try again. The figure came around and struck Draow in the head. He let out a screech of pain and he backed up a few steps, but he did not surrender. His pupils dilating, he let out a loud roar of anger and rushed towards the figure again.

The figure rushed forward. Using the pole to aid them, they leaped into the ear, sailing over Draow and landing on the other side. The figure came rushing back and struck Draow in his leg before he had time to turn around. His eyes widening, he let out a painful screech before whipping his body around. His ears folded back and he bared his sharp teeth. He lunged forward and managed to snag the figure in his jaws. Rudy, Penny, and Snap watched in horror as the figure was lifted high into the air. Despite their pain, they started to move forward to help, but soon realized that was not necessity.

The figure shrank their pole’s length and, once it was only about a foot long, struck against Draow’s eye. This caused the beast’s fur to stand on end in agony and he let go of the figure. He staggered back, pulling his wing close to his head as if to try to rub his eye. He shook his head a few times and turned to face the figure. By this point, the armored person had gotten close enough to jab their pole against Draow’s lower jaw. Draow’s eyes widened and he let out a pained screech as his head was flipped back. He moved back a little from the force before recovering and coming at her again.

The trio were amazed at just how nimble and fast this figure was. They were keeping one step ahead of Draow. Despite the bat wolf being larger and more powerful, this figure managed to keep him at bay. They kept dodging his attempts to bite them and landed several blows, most of them concentrated on his head and neck. Once, they struck him in the chest, causing him to cough and gag a little as some wind was knocked out of him. The trio had never seen a human take on Draow like this before. It was incredible. But how long would it last?

The figure pulled their pole back and hit against Draow’s flanks. Draow threw his head back and let out a cry of pain. Then, before the figure could react, Draow struck his wing down and hit the figure against their chest. They flew back and hit against a building. They let out a soft groan of pain as Draow advanced towards them. Draow’s tail swooshed from side to side and he suddenly charged forward, giving little time for the figure to react. Rudy, Penny, and Snap watched in horror as Draow split his jaws open and snagged the figure in his jaws. He started to bit down harder, preparing to crush the figure in his jaws.

Suddenly, another shape moved in towards Draow, moving at astonishing speed. The second figure dove down towards Draow and landed on the back of his neck. As the second figure grabbed onto Draow’s ears and yanked them back hard, the trio realized, in shock, just how this second figure was.

It was Snap...another Snap.. An Alt-Snap... The second Snap had some distinguishing characteristics that separated him from the Snap they knew. He wore some armor. Not as much as the human figure did. It was closer to what Draow was wearing. His costume had several rips in it and looked dirty, dust and dark red marks covering it, indicating that Alt-Snap had been through a lot of fights. The jagged scars visible on his face was more proof of that.

Alt-Snap continued to pull back on Draow’s ears, making the beast wince and roar in pain, trying to swing his head to force him to get off. Using this distraction to their advantage, the figure lunged forward and drove the pole against Draow’s stomach, causing him to bend his head downward and stagger. His mouth opened wide as he tried to catch his breath. Clearly taking this as a cue, Alt-Snap jumped into the air and twisted his body around so he could drive his fist towards Draow. The fist made contact on the side of Draow’s head.

Draow let out a screech of pain, the force enough to make him stumble to the ground. He didn’t stay on the ground for long. He got up to his feet and he stared angrily at the two blocking his way to the trio. He roared threateningly at them, his fur standing on end. But Alt-Snap and the figure refused to back down. He charged towards them, splitting his mouth wide open. The figure suddenly thrust their hand forward, sticking their pole into his mouth. Draow’s eyes widened and he pulled his head back. He shook it from side to side, his jaws tightening around the pole, trying to get it out. Soon it would break. Rudy, Penny, and Snap wondered how the figure would be able to continue fighting when they just put their one defense in the beast’s mouth.

Seconds later, Alt-Snap lifted up his weapon. Some kind of small device attached around his right wrist. He leveled it up with something next to Draow. The trio realized he was aiming for the building. He activated his weapon, sending out a thin, broad yellow laser at the building portion above Draow. The pieces of rubbled started to crumble down. As Draow managed to crush the pole and regain use of his jaws, he was too late to escape. He looked up, his eyes widening in horror, as he saw the debris coming towards him. He started to run, but he waited too long.

Draow was soon buried under the rubble. There wasn’t a lot and most of the pieces were small. But it was clear that the chunks of rock and metal that fell on him, covering much of his body now, hit him with enough force to knock him out. The bat wolf laid on his side now, his eyes shut tightly and his mouth open up, his tongue flopped to the side. Rudy and his friends stared in shock at what had happened, hardly believing what had just transpired here.

The figure and the alternate Snap looked back at them. For a while, the two groups just stared at each other, unmoving, unblinking. Tension filled the air for a few moments as the two sides studied each other, uncertain if the other was a threat. Then, cautiously, Rudy took a few steps towards them, followed by Penny and Snap. The figure and Alt-Snap did likewise, looking at each other up and down. Alt-Snap stared at them with some degree of suspicion, but made no hostile gestures.

“Th-Thank you...” Rudy managed to say as he found his voice. “We would have been goners if it weren’t for you.”

“You aren’t from here, are you?” Alt-Snap asked. Rudy was taken aback by his tone. He didn’t sound as friendly as the Snap he knew. But then, giving the situation, he couldn’t blame him. “If you did, you would know it’s not safe wandering these streets, even in a group.”

“Hey it’s not like we had a choice!” Snap said, taking a step forward. He glared at his counterpart. “It was either that or we all died!”

Alt-Snap narrowed his eyes and gave something of a dark chuckle. “Oh really now? And just what could you have been running from that was worse than Draow?”

“The Luminos.” Penny said. From the tone of her voice, she didn’t like this alternate Snap’s attitude either. “They ambushed us. Escaping here was the only way we could have survived.”

“The Luminos?” Alt-Snap made a confused expression. “That’s a really weird name. How do I know you didn’t make that up?”

Rudy spoke up. “Because we didn’t! Why are you accusing us? We aren’t your enemies! You saw us nearly mowed down by Draow!”

Alt-Snap opened his mouth to speak, but he stopped when the figure next to him put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at up, his expression softening as the figure had their head turned towards him. “At ease, Snap. I don’t think these three mean us any harm. Cool your temper, okay?”

Alt-Snap let out a soft sigh. “Okay then...” He gave a sideways glance at the trio. “Sorry...” From the tone of his voice, it was hard to tell if he was sincere or not.

“Thanks again for saving us.” Penny said, her focus now on the armored woman, her voice clearly giving her gender away.

“No problem.” The armored woman said.

“Who are you anyway?” Rudy asked, eyeing her up and down. “You sound kind of like someone we know...”

“My name is...” The figure reached for her helmet. She undid the straps that held them down. With a click, the helmet became loose on her head. She slowly lifted her helmet up and then placed it in the crook of her arm. Rudy, Penny, and Snap let out a gasp of surprise and they each took a step back, not believing what they were seeing. “Ms. Saffron.”

Chapter Text

It was hard to believe. Even though Rudy and his friends knew they were in an alternate dimension, though they knew that things happened different here, obviously, it was still hard for them to believe this. After three years, three long years, none of them had been prepared to see something like this. After what happened...none of them expected this.

Rudy couldn't help but stare at the woman that stood before them. Part of him wanted to say it was an illusion. Part of him told him that this wasn't real, that it was some kind of dream. Yet he knew for certain...this was not a dream. What he was seeing here was reality. He kept telling himself it was an alternate dimension, that he should expect differences. Yet, somehow, this one different..it was parking the most confusion in his mind. Maybe it was because he saw her corpse. Maybe it was because he had visited her grave.

Whatever the reason, Rudy had a hard time believing that the person in front of him really was Ms. Saffron. After all this time, to see her alive again.... It sent mixed thoughts through his brain. His head started to hurt as he tried to cope with what he was seeing. He rubbed his eyes a few times, staring at the person in front of him. Could it really be her? Maybe it was just someone taking up her name?

He looked over at his friends. They, too, were just as shocked as him. They weren't expecting this woman to be Ms. Saffron. He couldn't blame them for being so shocked. The last time they had seen this person in real life, and not through some video or picture...it was when Cosmo had tossed her corpse at them. He still remembered that... The vision didn't leave his head. Her pale form crumpled on the ground, her head twisted to the side. A gruesome sight that was permantly etched into his mind.

Now here, standing before him, was the same woman. Sort of... an alternate version. But still Ms. Saffron nonetheless. They hadn't heard her voice in two years. There was a familiar ring to it. But it wasn't just her voice that was familiar to them, even if just vaguely. The way her face looked...just like the Ms. Saffron they knew. They recognized those dark green eyes. There was no mistaking that hair style, and the coloration, a dark blonde, yes, just like the Ms. Saffron they had come to know.

Yes, no matter what they thought, no matter how they sorted their thoughts, there was no mistaking it. This really was Ms. Saffron, this world's version of her. Here she was, standing before them, alive and well. This realization caused a wave of emotion to sweep through the trio's bodies. It hurt them, and yet it also made them feel...relieved. Seeing Ms. Saffron again brought about jabbing pain, remembering how their Ms. Saffron had died. It also brought about happiness. This Ms. Saffron not only survived, but, based on what they've seen, she was activately fighting against Mr. Cosmo...unless Cosmo was gone here and Draow was running the show.

Rudy felt so confused about how to feel. He was happy, yet he was sad at the same time. He was angry. Their Ms. Saffron shouldn't have had to die. She didn't deserve it... And now they were in an alternate world where she did survive. How, he was not certain, but she lived... Now this Ms. Saffron was stuck in what appeared to be a hellhole. He had no idea how much of the earth was like this, and he had no idea how Ms. Saffron was even surviving here. There didn't seem to be a lot of food around. Rudy had a feeling that, somehow, Mr. Cosmo was tied to this, or at least Draow. The realization that this Ms. Saffron could also die, all because of them, just like before....it filled him with a painful feeling in the pit of his stomach. Anger tingled the back of his head.

Seeing Ms. Saffron alive and well there...it reminded Rudy of his failure back in their dimension. He should have warned Ms. Saffron... Even though Ms. Saffron already knew she was going to die, or at least had a hunch, Rudy still felt like he could have done something. He felt that he should have spoken up, that maybe if he had, the woman would have had a chance to escape, to survive. Now she's gone... He had no idea how this Ms. Saffron survived. But if it was because his counterpart managed to warn her in time...he knew it was going to hurt. That meant that his warning really could have made a big difference.

After staring at Ms. Saffron for several moments, each of the trio lost in their thoughts, Penny was the first one to find her voice. She took a step forward, her eyes widened.

"M-Ms. Saffron...? You're..." Penny said, her voice a little shaky. "...you're alive..?"

At this, Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap gave confused expressions. They looked at each other. They looked back at the trio. The same confused looks remained on their faces. They stared at Penny like she had grown an extra head. It was clear they had no idea what she was talking about.

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm alive!" Ms. Saffron replied, incredulous. "Why wouldn't I be?" The woman fell silent for a few moments. Her expression softened up as if a realization had struck her. "Oh...I see..." She turned her head to the side and took in a deep breath. She looked back at the trio. "How...did it happen?"

Rudy realized that Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap probably guessed already they were from an alternate dimension. The fact that they weren't freaking out or confused told him that perhaps they've seen so much shit going on here that nothing surprises them anymore. Indeed, Rudy felt the same way. He never thought he would ever see something like this happen to Plainsville. He never thought have thought that Draow would be patrolling the city armed with cannons. Heck, he was surprised that it was even possible to travel to alternate dimensions.

At Ms. Saffron's question, there was unease spreading through the group. The details of their Ms. Saffron's death was not something they could easily discuss. Even though they had come to terms with Ms. Saffron's death, it was still a difficult subject to talk about. They had been devastated by her death. She had been making a change, and going on to be such a good person...and then Mr. Cosmo snatched that all away from her. The whole thing still stung them horribly, even after all these years.

Rudy forced himself to answer. He didn't feel comfortable, but he couldn't keep the two individuals in front of him hanging. He spoke in a soft voice, cracking a little with emotion. "Mr. Cosmo...killed her..."

Ms. Saffron's eyes widened at this. "...he did?"

"Yes..." Penny nodded her head sadly. A few tears formed in her eyes.

"And that's not all." Snap rubbed his arm nervously, gritting his teeth. He turned his head to the side when Ms. Saffron looked at him. It was clear he was having a hard time coping with this whole thing. "He...showed us the body.

Ms. Saffron put a hand to her mouth and gasped. She looked at the trio before her, looking at each one. Her wide eyes were silently asking them if this was correct. The trio nodded their heads slowly. Ms. Saffron looked more horrified. Alt-Snap did look disturbed by this news, although he didn't look quite as shaken up as Ms. Saffron did.

"Yeah..." Rudy said, his eyes downcast. "He just...tossed her body at us like she was just some rotten sac of potatoes. I'll...I'll never forget the look on her face, those lifeless eyes..."

There was silence for a few minutes. The only sound that could be heard was breathing. Rudy could have sworn he heard the thumping of heart beats as well. Then Ms. Saffron let out a soft sigh. She looked at them sympathetically. The same kind of sympathetic look the woman had given each of them at least one time. It was comforting...and yet it stung at the same time. Alt-Snap's own expression softened. He didn't look quite as sympathetic, but Rudy could tell he did feel bad for them.

"I'm...I'm sorry..." Ms. Saffron said apologetically.

"It's..all right." Rudy said softly. "It's just..difficult for us to come to terms with it. I feel like I could have done more to help."

"It wasn't your fault, Bucko." Snap said sympathetically. He walked over towards Rudy and put a hand on his arm. "Please don't blame yourself. You...you never asked for something like that to happen to her."

"Yeah, Rudy. And at least the Cosmo that killed her has been stopped." Penny added.

At this, Ms. Saffron's eyes widened. She took a step forward. "You mean you stopped him?"

"Yeah." Penny affirmed, nodding her head. She looked around, wincing at the damage all around him. "I take it you guys haven't?"

"No, of course not. Why do you think this place has gone to hell?" Alt-Snap said in a bitter tone. The trio looked at him, still surprised and unnerved by his tone. He certainly didn't seem to be as friendly as their Snap. Had the war that went on here really affected his personality that much? Or was he always like this? He shifted his gaze towards Snap. He gritted his teeth. "And you...don't use the word 'Bucko' in my presence."

"Oh yeah? Why not?" Snap asked, his eyes narrowing. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Alt-Snap growled, "Yes..I do..."

Snap folded his arms against his chest. "Well touch luck. You can't tell me what to do. You're not the boss of me."

Alt-Snap started to walk towards Snap. The pace was slow and deliberate. Rudy didn't like where this was going. There was some kind of hostility present in this Snap. It wasn't much, but it was there. The way he was looking at Snap.... Rudy knew he meant business. He and Penny wanted to step in and try to stop them. But when they moved forward, Alt-Snap shot them a look. It caused them to freeze and they found it difficult to make themselves take another step. The look he had given them was a silent warning for them to stay back.

Alt-Snap didn't stop walking over until he stood directly in front of Snap. The two zoners locked eyes onto each other, glaring at one another. Neither of them were backing down. Rudy and Penny found this hard to watch. It was so confusing... Even though their personalities and appearances were different enough that they could tell them apart, the fact that there were two Snaps facing down each other... It left them with mixed feelings. It made Rudy remember the whole Snip incident years ago, but at least none of the Snips had been actively hostile towards Snap. This was...nothing like how the Snips were.

Ms. Saffron didn't do anything to stop Alt-Snap from confronting Snap. Rudy wondered if it was because she knew Alt-Snap well enough to know that he wasn't going to hurt Snap. Yeah, that had to be the reason. Ms. Saffron hadn't shown any signs of hostility towards them, and she was able to control Alt-Snap earlier, even got him to apologize. That was the only bit of comfort Rudy and Penny had during this whole confrontation thing. They were still worried that something might go horribly wrong. Would Alt-Snap lose his temper and attack?

Alt-Snap and Snap continued to glare at each other. Minutes passed by. It felt like hours to Rudy and Penny. Ms. Saffron watched the scene in silence as well. She had taken a step forward, perhaps a sign she was getting a little worried that things might escalate. So far, the two zoners hadn't tried to hurt each other. Rudy and Penny knew their Snap wouldn't have attacked. He wasn't like that. But Alt-Snap..they don't know how much he had changed, how much of their friend was still in him.

Then, after a couple more minutes of what could best be described as an intense staring contest, Alt-Snap took another step forward, leaning towards Snap. Snap blinked once and gritted his teeth. He moved away from Alt-Snap, bending himself backwards as Alt-Snap leaned over him, glaring down at him with the most embittered eyes any of them had ever seen on a zoner they were used to being friendly and playful. Snap, clearly unnerved by the prolonged glare he was getting from his counterpart, took another step back. He soon found himself lowering his head just a tad, a subtle sign of submission.

In that moment, Rudy and Penny learned something about this alternate Snap, and they didn't even have to ask. He had an iron will, one that was so strong that his friendlier side had diminished. There was definitely an aura of hostility to them, and the two friends realized that this version of Snap would more quickly resort to violence to get something done. Whether or not he would have hurt their Snap, they weren't sure. But Alt-Snap seemed like the kind of person who took no jokes, and was willing to do whatever necessary to accomplish a goal.

The fact that he was able to make Snap back down simply by staring at him was telling. Snap had a strong will of his own. Perhaps his mind was conflicted by the fact that the person staring at him was basically himself. That might have had something to do with why he backed down. The other explanation was that Snap sensed what they did, that Alt-Snap wasn't quite as kind as him. Perhaps it was also because they were technically on the same side and Snap did not want to cause any trouble.

Then, slowly, Alt-Snap's expression softened up. It was like he realized what he was doing and caught himself before it went any further. He exhaled slowly. He stared at Snap. Though his expression was relaxed now, there was still that iron will behind those eyes, filled with intent. No doubt that the zoner was still bitter and grumpy. Thinking that it might be safe to approach, Rudy and Penny took a step forward, only for Alt-Snap to look at them. Again, they froze. Just what was it about those eyes that made him stop?

Turning his attention back to Snap, Alt-Snap said, "Please...don't use the word Bucko around me...okay..?" His voice was laced in passive anger. He spoke calmly, but there was still a lot of emotion packed in what he said. The way his body trembled was another give away of the emotion he was holding back. "Just please..don't..."

Snap looked at him, confused. His own anger appeared to have disappeared. Rudy couldn't see a hint of anger anywhere on his friend. Snap stared at Alt-Snap for a few seconds. He then spoke, his voice a little softer from before. "Does this include Buckette too?"

"Yes!" Alt-Snap cried, his voice filled with emotion. His eyes widened, looking surprised by his own outburst. He cleared his throat and said in a more controlled voice, "Yes.. Please. I..I would appreciate it..."

Rudy's eyes widened. That was the friendliest this Snap had sounded in the short time they knew him. He could detect sadness in this voice. He immediately made the connection. Something bad must have happened to the Rudy and Penny of this dimension to invoke such a response from Alt-Snap. Rudy felt his heart clench. Just what had happened to themselves here? He glanced over at Penny. He could tell she looked worried as well. As much as it scared them, they...they had to know what happened.

Then Rudy noticed something he had almost missed. Tears... Alt-Snap was shedding tears. Not a lot of them. They were small, faint, barely there. But he could see them. The armored zoner was holding them back. Rudy know, right away, they had touched a sore spot. They didn't tread lightly where they should have. It made him wonder, even more, just what had happened here to make this world...like this... He had to ask..he had to know. He and his friends had to know. But could they even bring themselves too ask? What if it was too touchy a subject, and Alt-Snap..well..snaps at them for asking?

"I.." Snap broke the uncomfortable silence. It was clear he was confused over the whole thing, yet at the same time, his sympathetic expression did show that he understood there was most likely a good reason for Alt-Snap's odd request. "Okay then...I don't know why, but..okay.."

Alt-Snap nodded his head slowly once. "Thank you." His voice was soft, and lacked any kind of anger he had displayed before. A few more moments of silence and he turned his head where Draow still laid unconscious. Rudy had almost forgotten about him. "I think it's best we get moving, Ms. Saffron. I don't think Draow will be out for long." He looked up at Ms. Saffron. "Let's take them somewhere...safer, and we can discuss matters further there."

Ms. Saffron nodded her head. "Good idea." She turned her head to the trio. She made a motion with her hand. "Come along with us." She and Alt-Snap began to walk away. "We'll take you to one of our safe spots."

"One of them?" Penny asked.

Ms. Saffron paused and turned her head. "Yes. Snap and I have many of them. In this world, the more places you can hide in, the better." She turned her head away and waved her hand in the air. "Now come along. Draow won't be down forever. We best leave before he wakes up."

Rudy, Penny, and Snap looked at each other. There were so many questions they wanted to ask. So much that they wanted to know... But they knew that Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap were right. This wasn't the time or place to be asking questions. Draow would eventually wake up. And if he did while they were there, they could be looking forward to another fight. And this time, they might not win. Best to leave now before the bat wolf woke up.

They didn't waste anymore time. They looked at where Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap were. They could see the two were waiting for them to catch up. It was clear that they did not want the trio to be alone while out here, and after the chase with Draow, they could understand why. The trio moved forward to catch up with them. They cast a wary glance at Draow as they went by. Soon they got past him and joined up with Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap. Without saying a word, the group began to make their way through the ruined city.

sss

Getting to this one safe spot was a little difficult. It involved navigating some of the more crumbled parts of town and going through some twisted tunnels. But compared to some of the things they been through before, it wasn't too difficult to get in here. It made sense too, as in this world, where food was likely scarce, Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap couldn't afford to waste too much energy.

The room they were in was part of an already crumbled building. They were deep underground. The chill of the air reminded them of that. There was some light, provided by small torches that Ms. Saffron had on the walls. The room was jagged and had no real defined shape to it. There wasn't a lot here either. A few places to sit down and a few other small things, but not much. Just the bare minimum to survive effectively. The place wasn't even that big, which also made sense. Smaller hiding spots were more difficult to find than something more massive.

When they got here, it was Alt-Snap and Ms. Saffron who started to ask questions. Multiple ones, so many it was hard to keep track of them all. Rudy decided, instead of answering each one one by one, especially since it was hard to remember them all and he didn't want to make the two denizens keep repeating themselves, that it was best that they tell the whole story, leaving in as many details as they could. He and his friends took turns telling the story, from how they encountered Mr. Cosmo to what led them up here.

It was a long story, but they were able to tell it without stumbling over their words or getting confused. Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap stayed quiet and listened to the whole thing, never interrupting. They told them about how Rudy was being confronted by Mr. Cosmo, how he nearly lost himself to the black chalk, how he had managed to defeat Mr. Cosmo. They told them of their 'adventures' with Bardot and how Rudy and Penny were tortured by him, and how Snap managed to beat him, only to nearly lose his life. They told them about the current situation with the black chalk artists and the Luminos.

"And that's what led us up to here." Rudy said, concluding their story.

There was a long silence in the room. Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap stared at them, their eyes unblinking. Rudy wasn't sure if they believed them or if they were shocked or what. It was hard to read their emotions.

Finally, Ms. Saffron spoke. "That's...some story..."

"You don't believe us?" Snap asked, his eyes wide.

Ms. Saffron shook her head. "No it's not that. We believe you." She looked upwards a little. "After everything that's happened here, nothing surprises us anymore."

Rudy thought the same thing. And now it was confirmed. The reason these two didn't look overly startled to see them in their world was because so much had went down here, it just didn't take them by surprise that much. They had still been confused as to how they got into their dimension and why they came. But, after their long story, they should understand now. Rudy was willing to answer any additional questions in case any popped up.

Now that they told their story, Rudy knew it was time for them to tell theirs. They needed to know as much as they can about this dimension and how it got to this state. They were going to be stuck here for a while, and the more they knew, the better. Otherwise, they could end up killed here, not knowing what kind of dangers lurked here. They were not expecting to have such a nasty run-in with Draow like that. If there were any more horrible surprises, they needed to know about it and fast.

Alt-Snap spoke up. "I know I'm going to ruffle a few feathers here... But I have to say.." He folded his arms against his chest. "You guys are lucky."

"Lucky?!" Snap cried. "After all we been through?!"

"It hasn't exactly been a cakewalk for us." Rudy said. He did his best to remain calm. He understood why Alt-Snap felt that way. This place looked much worse than where they came from. But he wished he would be more sensitive.

"I know..." Alt-Snap said. He casted his eyes downward slightly. "I'm sorry if I upset you. It's just that.. Compared to what happened here, you guys really were lucky." He paused for a moment, and then he said. "No you really were lucky. Your story matches ours...up to a certain point. This world went to all..all because of one small deviation. One that was close to happening in your world. It really was luck that you didn't have to endure what we had to here."

Sitting with her legs crossed, Penny leaned forward and asked, "Would you be able to tell us what happened here?"

"Yes. You told us your story. It's time we told you ours." Ms. Saffron said. She opened up her mouth to speak more, but Alt-Snap held up his hand to silence her.

"But first..." Alt-Snap took a few steps towards Rudy. He stared at him intently. "You say this Jenny person did something to you and what not and you're currently suffering internal bleeding because your body was...is healing with chalk?" Rudy nodded his head solemnly. Alt-Snap narrowed his eyes a little. "Hold on."

Alt-Snap walked over to a corner of the room. Rudy, Penny, and Snap watched him curiously. He stood in front of what looked like a crude, make-shift dresser. He pulled out a small drawer and reached into it. From the sound of it, there wasn't a whole lot in there. He pulled something out. It looked like a small bottle that was filled with some kind of black material. Liquid, very thick. Alt-Snap examined it before he walked over to Rudy.

"Here, drink this." Alt-Snap said, holding the bottle out to him. "It should help."

Rudy took the bottle and examined it. "What is this stuff?"

"Due to..circumstances... I spend most of my time in the real world. Finding ways to heal myself when there's little access to ChalkZone can be problematic as you can imagine." Alt-Snap gestured to the bottle. "That there stuff is a special concoction Saffron and I came up with. It's no magical healer, but it does help protect chalk wounds, and even aid in some healing... It's complicated. In short, it'll help mend your wounds a little. Go on, drink it."

Rudy looked at it, hesitating. He looked over at Ms. Saffron. She gave a soft smile to him and nodded her head.

Ms. Saffron said, "He's telling the truth. It'll take away some of the pain and keep your wounds from reopening all the way. It is not an instant healer. Those things don't exist. And if they did, life would be a whole lot easier." She leaned back a little. "But it will help you. It should bide you enough time to whenever you head over to the next dimension."

"Okay..thanks..." Rudy said, turning his gaze down towards the black liquid.

Rudy stared at the black liquid that Alt-Snap and Ms. Saffron assured him was medicine. It didn't look like any medicine he's seen before. The black coloration was making him feel a little at unease. It was the same shade as black chalk. Part of him wondered if this stuff was made from that... No, it couldn't be. He was not getting the same chilly feeling he usually did when very close to a lot of black chalk. And there wasn't really much of a reason for these two to lie to him, especially since they appeared to share a common enemy.

Rudy opened up the bottle and took a few sniffs. It didn't have any particular smell to it. He put the opening of the bottle to his lips and let the liquid flow into his mouth slowly. When the black liquid hit inside his mouth, his right eye went wide. He immediately jerked the bottle away, his lips pursed as the foul-tasting liquid rested in his mouth. He forced himself to swallow, and he coughed a few times. He wiped his mouth, trying to clean as much of the black stuff from him as possible.

Alt-Snap gave a few quick chuckles. "Yeah, it doesn't taste great. But trust me..." He pointed his hand towards him. "It'll help you feel a little better. If you're in as much pain as you say, you'll appreciate that bitter medicine."

Rudy smacked his lips, unable to conceal the disgusted look on his face. "I'm sure I will..eventually..." After a few moments, he said, "So...just..what happened here? Why is everything torn apart? Why can't you access ChalkZone?"

Snap said, "Yeah. How did everything go to hell here?"

"It is..a long story." Ms. Saffron said solemnly, a tinge of sadness on her voice. "We'll try to condense it down as much as we can, and give you the important details."

"Okay, that sounds fair." Penny said, nodding her head once.

"You say all this happened because of one thing that could have just as easily happened in our dimension." Rudy said. Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap gave an affirmative nod. "Just...what was that? What happened?"

Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap looked at each other, a nervous expression on their faces. They looked back at Rudy. They stared at him sympathetically. Rudy felt his body temperature lowering as dread churned in his stomach. This was not a good sign. He didn't like the way they were looking at him. Penny and Snap looked nervous as well. He could tell they caught on that, whatever these two denizens were going to say, it was not good.

Ms. Saffron spoke up. "Do you...remember how you told us that you were forced to use the black chalk? And how you nearly lost yourself to it?"

Rudy could feel his body start to tremble. He could feel his friends' fear filling the atmosphere, giving an uncomfortable aura. Unable to speak a word, dreading what was going to be said next, Rudy managed to nod his head rigidly.

"Well...that part of your story didn't have a happy ending here." Ms. Saffron said sadly, lowering her gaze.

Alt-Snap spoke, his voice shaky with emotion. "Your counterpart...our Rudy... He was permanently corrupted by the black chalk..." He shut his eyes. A few tears formed in his eyes. "He works for Cosmo now. He is his partner, his ruthless enforcer." Alt-Snap tilted his head back and spread his arms out, indicating not just the hideout, but anything outside of it. "He...helped Cosmo do all...this..."

It felt as though the room reached the freezing point, a cold chill rushing through the room. Even the warmth of the tortures seemed to fade away instantly the moment the trio heard just what had happened here. Horror filled their minds, making their bodies tremble slightly. They couldn’t believe what they had heard. Rudy...corrupted by the black chalk... It was..a horrific thought, one that had frightened them for some time. They all wondered what would have happened if Rudy hadn’t been cured in time; nightmares were common as well.

They never thought it would have been like this.

Rudy took a look around the small room. Though he couldn’t really see outside, he could picture it in his head, his mind panning through the streets as he recalled just how torn up the place was. The idea that the cause of all this was...himself.. It was truly terrifying. He couldn’t believe that his counterpart here had been corrupted. Just...just what happened that made a difference? As their story panned out, at what point did a small deviation lead up to him getting corrupted?

Rudy found it hard to stop shaking in fear. His mind swept through many thoughts of what his alternate counterpart was like. He had some memories of what he was like when he was controlled by the black chalk. Is that how he was here? Alt-Snap did use the word ‘ruthless’ to describe this other Rudy, this Dark Rudy. Rudy wasn’t sure if he should feel lucky they didn’t run into him, or horrified because there was a chance he did see them and he was just staying out of sight, waiting to strike.

He looked over at his friends. Their eyes were wide in horror, mouths dropped open. They looked just as terrified as him at this horrific news. He couldn’t blame them. They had almost lost him as a friend years ago, and to know that, in another dimension, this happened as a result of him being corrupted..it was frightening to think about. They huddled a little closer to each other for comfort. They kept quiet, the uncomfortable information having a hard time being digested in their minds. This was difficult news to swallow, and they had a feeling it wasn’t the only thing they would find a hard time accepting.

Now knowing what had happened to his counterpart in this dimension, Rudy’s mind flashed to earlier, when Alt-Snap wanted Snap to not use the word ‘Bucko’. Rudy hadn’t understood why back then, but now it made sense. He knew the word must have hit some kind of sore spot, but he had no idea it was that bad. Rudy had almost thought his counterpart was killed, but to know that he had been permanently corrupted by the black chalk...that was a fate worse than death. Alt-Snap had to go on the rest of his life confronting his now evil friend, who still remembered what he was like beforehand but no longer cares. Alt-Snap had to fight against someone he had considered a very close friend. No wonder he was so bitter about the word ‘Bucko’.

Rudy realized he also didn’t want them saying ‘Buckette’ either. Another touchy subject. He wondered if the Penny of this dimension had been corrupted or if something else happened. Something must have occurred that made Alt-Snap not want to hear ‘Buckette’ either. He reacted with the same level of emotion, making Rudy realize that, whatever happened, it was horrified. Rudy felt his heart clench. Just what had happened to Penny here...?

“I-I..” Rudy said, finding his voice. “I..I mean, my countepart..did all this?” Alt-Snap and Ms. Saffron nodded their heads slowly. “What else happened? What about Penny? Mr. Wilter? ChalkZone? What happened to them?”

“Yeah...exactly how did everything get like this?” Penny asked, her voice laced in fear. “What happened that caused your Rudy to get corrupted?”

“And what happened after that made the world look like this?” Snap asked.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Ms. Saffron was the first one to speak up. She cleared her throat. She glanced down at Alt-Snap. He flinched a little, but nodded his head in understanding. Ms. Saffron turned back to the trio. She took in a deep breath and then proceeded to explain.

“Okay, here’s what happened; the gist of it I mean. Three years ago, of course you know that Mr. Cosmo reared his ugly head and started to formulate a plan to profit off of ChalkZone. And you know that you three were affected by him, with Snap getting captured, trying to coax Rudy to the ‘dark side’, Penny nearly killed by Draow. So I don’t need to go into detail about that. The point at which our story diverges is when the black chalk had taken a hold of you, Rudy. In our dimension, Penny was not able to save you in time. Skrawl had been killed by Draow beforehand, so she had no assistance in knocking out the black chalk. So the corruption became permanent.”

Rudy and his friends’ eyes widened at this. So that’s how it happened... Rudy remembered that Skrawl was the one who knocked the black chalk out of his hand. Penny couldn’t have done that. She would have risked getting the corruption in her as well. And Skrawl getting killed... He felt a strong pang in his stomach. He considered Skrawl a friend now and knowing he was slaughtered here, even if it wasn’t the Skrawl he knew, it still affected him.

“After that, victory was assured for Mr. Cosmo. With Rudy now fighting on his side, he was able to drive back what little remained. Mr. Wilter stood no chance and was horrifically injured. Penny and I had tried to fight back...” Ms. Saffron lowered her head. “...but it was no use. Despite our best efforts to stop those two from exposing ChalkZone, they ended up winning...and Penny was lost to us.”

“Wh-What happened to your Penny...?” Penny’s voice was shaky.

Alt-Snap, a few tears in his eyes, spoke up. “She was killed by Draow...” He looked at them sadly as they all gasped in horror. Alt-Snap narrowed his eyes and averted his gaze. “Rudy...our Rudy..ordered the attack. Draow and Penny fought and though Penny was able to hold up well, Draow ultimately got the best of her. He...ripped her apart. Literally.” He closed his eyes. Tears flowed down his cheeks. “I’ll never forget her screams...”

Terror struck through the hearts of the trio, a horrible pang making them feel nausaeous. They looked at each other with wide eyes. They huddled even closer to each other, horrified by just how close they really had been to losing each other. If things had happened slightly differently, then this was the world they had to look forward to. This hell hole, with a destroyed earth where surviving is the only way of life. They really had been close to losing it all.

Penny’s body was trembling. Rudy looked at her sadly. She was the most shaken up by this news, because it was her that had been killed. Well her counterpart anyway. Rudy and Snap were horrified as well. They each put a hand on Penny, pressing close to her to comfort her and themselves. As horrified as Rudy was that he was corrupted here, word of Alt-Penny’s death was more horrific for him. Penny was his best friend, and to think he could have lost her..it filled him with more pain than him losing himself to the black chalk.

Now it made sense why Alt-Snap didn’t want to hear the word ‘Buckette’ either. Just like ‘Bucko’, ‘Buckette’ was a painful reminder of what he once had. He used to have two close friends, whom he held so dear. But he lost them both, and under two circumstances. The Rudy of this dimension was corrupted and became his bitter enemy...and Alt-Penny..she had been slaughtered before his eyes. The two people Alt-Snap cared about the most were ripped away from him in equally horrific ways. Now it started to make sense why he was so bitter.

“Mr. Cosmo did try to kill me, in much the same way he did in your dimension.” As if to prove her point, Ms. Saffron tilted her head back, revealing a pale scar across her throat. “He slashed my throat. I survived because I managed to fight back before he could cut my throat too deeply. I was able to treat the wound. After it was treated, I went to join in the fight, only to find that I was a little too slow and Rudy was already corrupted. And then, after our Rudy and Cosmo won, after Penny was...killed... Snap and I fled, eventually finding a place we could hide for a while as we tried to come up with a plan.”

“All our efforts ended up failing, as you can see. With Rudy by his side, Mr. Cosmo had no problem with exposing ChalkZone to everyone in the world. Soon afterwards, Mr. Cosmo killed Biclops and took control of the Chalk Mine. He was able to supply the military, the army, the navy...everyone who was willing to pay a high enough sum, some magic chalk. Zoners did try to fight back, but with Mr. Cosmo’s efforts and Rudy’s help, that ended pretty quickly, and all of ChalkZone was enslaved. Just like Mr. Cosmo said in your dimension and in ours, what he promised to do..he fulfilled that. He turned zoners into ‘expendable labor’.” Alt-Snap said. He closed his eyes and took in a shuddering breath.

Realizing that Alt-Snap didn’t want to continue just yet, Ms. Saffron continued after him. “Mr. Cosmo and Rudy were able to convince the world that zoners were less than human, that they weren’t really fully sentient. The world believed the zoners were just ‘programs’ in a sense, and most people believed that zoners should serve their creators. There were attempts to fight for zoner rights, but they were quickly shot down, silenced.” Ms. Saffron shook her head sadly. “Life for zoners was hell here...still is. They have zero rights and because more can just be drawn, hardly anyone cares if they starve or dehydrate to death here. They are not even allowed back in ChalkZone. They’re forced to toil away here, in a world where they can easily be killed...”

The description of how this world was terrified the trio. The idea of zoners being enslaved... It was horrible. They couldn’t believe just how badly zoners were treated here. It was the same thing they had feared would happen when their parents found out about ChalkZone. Here, though, it really happened. Their worst nightmare had happened, and it was just as bad as they thought it was going to be; in some ways even worse.

Rudy felt his heart starting to beat faster as his mind played through horrible images of zoners being beaten, starved, overall living in a hell. Zoners that he had promised to protect... It was made worse by the fast that his counterpart had helped all of this happen. That added an extra level of terror in his heart.

Alt-Snap cleared his throat, regaining his voice once more. “ChalkZone itself has been destroyed. There’s still a few patches of land left, but it’s mostly an endless void now. Dark and depressing... The only land left are areas where zoners are ‘farmed’ more or less. When more zoners are needed, these areas are where they are drawn and then dragged out immediately for work.” He paused for a moment. He seemed to notice Rudy opening his mouth to speak, and as if he read his mind, Alt-Snap added, “Yes there is the case of people drawing things on chalkboards and erasing them. However, Mr. Cosmo and Rudy have placed exterminators in ChalkZone. These are men armed with real world water, whose job it is to keep any new land from forming and any unwanted zoners from appearing. Now anything or anyone that appears in ChalkZone that wasn’t drawn by a ‘licensed artist’ per say is destroyed almost immediately.”

“Wh-What...?” Rudy breathed, his right eye wide in terror. “I..don’t believe it... That’s horrible..”

“I knew things would have been bad if Cosmo won. I never imagined it would be that bad.” Snap lowered his gaze, his body shaking from the shere shock of learning what happened. “All those zoners...gone...”

Penny took in a shuddering breath. “How can anyone be so cruel...?

“Cosmo and Rudy can.” Alt-Snap said with a very bitter tone. He took a quick glance at Rudy and his expression softened up a little. “Sorry...I didn’t mean you.”

“I know you didn’t.” Rudy said, nodding his head in understanding. Knowing more of what Dark Rudy had helped to accomplish here, Rudy cold see why Alt-Snap adapted that harsh glare of his, the one that made them freeze. It was a byproduct of all the horrors he was forced to face here. “Wh-What else happened...?”

“Well after zoners were enslaved and forced into labor, countries who wanted to initiate war with other countries saw ChalkZone’s potential as a weapon. Horrible weapons of mass destruction were produced. Massive wars began, with chalk weapons wielded and creating horrible damage... And enslaved zoners were forced to fight, many of them being killed by either the chalk weapons or water.” Alt-Snap explained.

Ms. Saffron continued, “The wars got out of hand. The weapons became more and more destructive, and it ripped through the world. Most of the world is now devastated by the chalk weapon wars that had occurred. All the damage you see was the result of some chalk weapon being wielded in battle. It was like a nuclear war went off here...” She shut her eyes. “So much has been destroyed. Much of humanity was wiped out due to these chalk-based wars.”

“Those monsters don’t care either. They patrol this city like they own the place.” Alt-Snap growled. “They have shown no remorse. Mr. Cosmo still believes that he was benefiting society. He thinks it is humanity’s fault that they nearly blew themselves into oblivion, even though he never made an effort to control the humans that were producing weapons more destructive than they were worth. And now because of that, earth here has become hell... The red sky you see is a byproduct of the horrific weapons produced.”

“That’s what happened here.” Ms. Saffron said, concluding their story. “The gist of it, anyway. More had happened, but this bit of information we told you should be enough.”

The trio was completely silent. Horror, fear, and dread occupied their minds. They tried their best to digest the information they were given. Their hearts clenched tightly, filling with an uncomfortable feeling. The description of what happened here, the terror that gripped this world, it left them feeling sick. This almost was their world. If things happened just a little differently, this was the reality they would have faced.

It left them all feeling uncomfortable, a cold sensation sweeping through their bodies. They all felt some pang of guilt, a survivor’s guilt in a sense, because their world avoided that fate, and there they were, wandering around in a world ripped apart by war. They wondered if that was part of the reason Alt-Snap didn’t treat them entirely friendly. Though he had mellowed out, it was clear that he might have some level of resentment for them, and after hearing what happened, how could they blame him?

The guy, and Ms. Saffron, were both trapped in a world where both dimensions were dangerous. ChalkZone has been taken over and turned into nothing more than a factory of sorts. It was constantly redestroyed so that there were no safe zones left. Zoners were enslaved and forced into labor, even battle, with no rights whatsoever. They were treated lower than dirt, and any effort to help them was stopped. Rudy was corrupted and joined Cosmo and Penny was slaughtered, as well as many others. War tore through the real world, making it nearly uninhabitable. Every day must be hell for them. It reminded them of the Fire Zone, only this world looked like it would be even arder to live in.

With all this disaster weighing down on his head, it was no wonder Alt-Snap acted the way he did. Seeing so much death and destruction, and the loss of close friends, that would mess up almost anyone, a severe blow to the psyche. Rudy was convinced now, more than ever, that Alt-Snap really had been like their Snap once until the apocalypse pretty much happened. Alt-Snap had become guarded, but he didn’t completely lose himself. Rudy was happy that, despite all the terrible things that happened, Alt-Snap still retained some parts of their friend in him, evident by when he was willing to help him with his wounds despite being his Rudy’s counterpart.

Being permanently corrupted by the black chalk, losing Penny, these things still horrified Rudy, and his friends were still frightened by the news as well. Everything they were told, it chilled them to the bone. All the gruesome details...they clung to their mind like glue, freezing their blood. It didn’t help that all this nearly happened in their world. Now they all fully understood why Alt-Snap said they were lucky...because he was right. Despite all the hardships they had faced, all that was mild compared to what happened here.

“Now you know what happened...” Alt-Snap said in a firm voice. “Now you know why I was so shocked that you were out on your own here. I know I’ve been hard on you, but I’ve got good reason to be.” His expression softened up. “I really am sorry about the way I acted. It’s just that, in these dark times, one cannot take chances.”

“We understand...” Penny said, a small smile on her face. “After what happened here..that’s understandable.”

“Yeah...” Snap nodded his head.

Rudy said, “We won’t hold it against you.”

Alt-Snap smiled, a genuine one that wasn’t mocking or hiding any intent. Then he looked over at Penny and Snap and looked them up and down. “We should get your wounds treated, too. I know they’re minor compared to Rudy’s, but here, any wound can be a death sentence.” Alt-Snap got up and started to head over to where he got the black stuff for Rudy.

He never made it all the way through.

Suddenly there was a loud explosion. The room shook violently. Pieces of debris fell down all around them. The group barely dodged them. They looked around, trying to find the source of the attack. Then there was another explosion and a rush of air hit them, sending them all rolling back across the ground. Rudy, Penny, and Snap coughed and wheezed as they breathed in dust once more. They opened their eyes. They saw that there was now a bright light, pale red in color, indicating it was light from the outside. There was a figure standing there, but they were obscured, in shadow.

Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap climbed up to their feet. The trio followed suit. Their legs were wobbly and they almost tripped over. But they managed to keep their feet planted on the ground. They all stared over at the opening as the figure began to walk closer to them. Ms. Saffron took a defensive stance. Alt-Snap adopted a slightly more aggressive stance, looking like he was ready to tear into whoever was approaching.

“You...” Alt-Snap said, his voice laced in venom. “You’ve got some nerve showing up here...”

“Ah Snap.. So glad to see you..” The figure said. At the voice, Rudy and his friends widened their eyes in horror. That voice..no..it couldn’t be... The figure chuckled darkly, almost like he sensed their dread. The figure continued to walk forward. “But you really should know there was no way you could have hidden from me long.”

“Fuck off!” Alt-Snap snarled, aiming his weapon at him.

“My my...what a temper on you. Really, Snap, are you not that happy to see me?” The figure asked mockingly. “After all...”

Rudy, Penny, and Snap watched as the figure stepped into the light of the flames. They gasped in horror at who it was. There, standing before them, was Rudy..another Rudy... Dark Rudy. The counterpart stood in front of the hole he clearly had created, his arms folded against his chest, giving the cruelest smirk they’d ever seen from Rudy.

“I am your creator.” Dark Rudy finished with a sneer. Alt-Snap just snarled at him. Dark Rudy took a few steps forward, clearly not noticing the other three in the room, his attention solely on Alt-Snap and Ms. Saffron. “Now..why don’t we have a little bit of...fun?”

Chapter Text

Penny stood next to her friends in silence. Her wide eyes stared at this newcomer in shock. Her body trembled, unable to fully believe what she was seeing. Yet she knew this was not an hallucination. As much as she wanted it to not be real, she knew, deep down, this was reality. A terrifying reality that chilled her to her core.

Standing not far from them, his eyes focused intently on Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap, was Rudy. Not the Rudy she knew, but Dark Rudy. The eighteen year old doppelganger of her friend looked so much like him, and yet so different. He stood up straight, making it easy for her to tell what kind of figure he had. He was thinner than Rudy, like he doesn’t eat much, but he was not emaciated either. He looked like he was a tad more muscular, too, likely the byproduct of working for Mr. Cosmo.

His brown hair was unkempt and a little longer than Rudy’s hair. He wore a full body suit complete with a few spikey armor pieces, most noteabley on his knees and elbows. He had some kind of pair of leather straps going across his chest and on his back, she could see he had some kind of weapon, a sword perhaps, or a laser. His face had a couple of small scars on them. Nothing too standout-ish, but she imagined he had a lot of scars all over his body after living in a place like this.

When he talked, his voice was chilling, sounding very much like her friend’s. Dark Rudy’s voice had a bit of a scratch to it, like he had a terrible cold. She could soon see why. There was a scar on his throat, similar to what Ms. Saffron has. She wondered briefly how he got that scar. Her mind immediately shifted elsewhere. She took notice of the boots he was weathering. Black leather, and at the tips, she could see a set of twin blades coming out of him. These boots were clearly meant to be used as weapons.

She, Rudy, and Snap remained frozen at the sight of this twisted version of the ‘great creator’. Cold ice swam through their veins, making their bodies shake even harder. They couldn’t tear their eyes away from him as he took a few steps towards Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap. Sometimes, Penny had to glance back at Rudy for her to realize that there was indeed two Rudys. She had to remind her brain that Rudy had not turned evil, and that Dark Rudy was a different person, one who was taken down a different path in life.

Dark Rudy’s mere presence was enough to make the room feel chilly. The wind that blew in, threatening to blow out the torches, added to the atmosphere. Penny and her friends wanted to move, yet they could not. So far, Dark Rudy hadn’t spotted them. Or at least, he didn’t act like he did. He was focused on Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap. How long this would last, and just what was going to happen, she wasn’t sure.

“I must say, it was fun tracking you down. I knew that, sooner or later, I’d find you in one of your hiding holes. But playtime is over.” Dark Rudy said, a small smile on his face. He reached behind his back and grabbed the handle of his weapon. “I’m tired of all this running around, you two. I really don’t get why you don’t just lay down and let me kill you. It would be so much easier that way.”

Alt-Snap held up a fist and shouted, “We won’t surrender that easily!”

“Just what I like to hear.” Dark Rudy sneered, his teeth exposed in a grin. “Nice to see that you are still as stubborn as ever, Snap. I suppose that’s one thing about you that would never change. A little surprising, seeing how you lost your innocense, too. I wasn’t the only one.”

Alt-Snap growled at this, but didn’t say anything. Dark Rudy smirked, staring intently at Alt-Snap. He slowly pulled out his weapon. They all could see it was a long sword. The blade itself was a little thin, but it looked incredibly sharp. It reminded Penny of a japanese katana, though the blade looked like it was more reinforced and sharper than she’d expect from a traditional katana.

“Do you really think you can stop us that easily, Rudy?” Ms. Saffron asked, narrowing her eyes at the intruder. “We managed to allude you before. We can do it again!”

“Ah just what I’d expect you to say, Saffron.” Dark Rudy’s voice was full of contempt. He glared hatefully at Ms. Saffron. “Too bad my master failed to dispose of you. He was right when he realized you would become a threat. Of course, maybe if you had seen reason and joined up, I wouldn’t have to...”

“Oh be quiet!” Ms. Saffron snarled at him. She took a step forward, forming a fist with her hand. “Do you think I’d want any part of this?! Look at this place! Everything is destroyed and it’s all because of your precious ‘master’!” She took in a few heavy breaths as she and Dark Rudy locked eyes on each other. “Why the fuck would I want to help him destroy the planet?!”

Dark Rudy stared at her, gritting his teeth. Slowly, he smiled. The change, how fast it occurred, was disturbing. The smile he gave could chill blood. He moved towards Ms. Saffron slowly, making his way over. Ms. Saffron kept her defensive stance, fully prepared to protect herself if need be. “Stubborn as always as well, Ms. Saffron. The little blue rodent has made that much of an impact on you.”

Alt-Snap looked visibly hurt by that comment, but his expression gave way to anger. The blue rodent insult also shocked Penny. Never before had she heard Rudy say something so demeaning about someone who was supposed to be his best friend. Seeing the way this Rudy and this Snap interacted, feeling their hate for one another, it was a jarring, stark contrast to how her Rudy and her Snap would behave towards each other. Even though they knew this was an alternate dimension, it was still unsettling seeing this display go on.

Rudy and Snap glanced at each other sadly, their eyes brimming with emotion. Penny watched, her expression solemn, as Rudy and Snap gave each other a reassuring hug. She couldn’t blame them after seeing this horrible display in front of them. They needed comfort, the knowledge that they would never turn on each other like that. Penny moved closer and joined in the hug, wanting to provide some support for them. After their hug, they turned to watch what was going on.

By this point, Dark Rudy was getting very close to Ms. Saffron. A dark smile was on his face, his eyes flashing black for a few seconds. Ms. Saffron didn’t move. She continued to glare at Dark Rudy as he made his way over. The only thing that stopped him was Alt-Snap, who jumped in his path and held his arms out protectively. Dark Rudy paused, looking mildly surprised by this, but mostly amused.

“So you want to challenge me, Snap? Okay then...” Dark Rudy lifted his long sword. He held it in front of him, a clear attempt to threaten Alt-Snap. The armored zoner’s image reflected off the sword, showing his face contorted in anger. “I’ll be happy to obligue...” Dark Rudy sneered, his voice and eyes overflowing with cruel intent. His teeth bared in a hideous smile, he steadied his sword in front of him, preparing to attack.

Alt-Snap stayed in his fighting stance. He held up his laser, preparing to shoot. The two former friends looked at each other, fully prepared to fight. Dark Rudy was about to make his move when he suddenly froze. The evil smile was replaced with a look of genuine shock. Alt-Snap looked confused, but then his eyes widened in horror, as if he realized what Dark Rudy had spotted. Ms. Saffron put her hand to her mouth, realizing the same thing. Dark Rudy stared in shock at his sword before he turned his head to the side.

Penny felt her heart freeze when Dark Rudy set his sights on her. They locked eye contact and she could practically feel something sharp burrowing though her sole. Dark Rudy’s expression didn’t change as he stared at her for several seconds. Feeling at unease, Penny took a few steps back. Rudy and Snap took position beside her, watching Dark Rudy with wary, wondering if he was going to suddenly attack.

Dark Rudy kept staring, mouth agape, at Penny. Then, after a few more moments, he finally spoke. “P-Penny...? How is this possible...?” Then his face contorted in anger, the rage practically boiling on his skin. “You’re supposed to be dead!” Twisting his body around faster than anyone thought possible, the dark version of Rudy put his sword in front of him, aiming the sharp tip at Penny. “I’m going to kill you! And this time, you are going to stay six feet under!”

Penny let out a surprised cry as Dark Rudy suddenly charged towards her. He moved at astonishing speed. He held his long sword at his side, his arm muscles contorting as he prepared to strike out with the sharp object. He aimed at Penny’s stomach, clearly preparing to disembowel her. Penny took a fighting stance, bracing herself for the chance to fight back. If Dark Rudy wants to kill her, he was going to have to fight her first. She would not go down easily. Despite being terrified, she would stand and fight.

Suddenly, when Dark Rudy almost got close enough to attack her, Rudy charged in from the side. He slammed his body against his evil counterpart and pushed him back. He was clearly in pain, his teeth gritted and a few tears moving down his face. Penny saw that he had pushed his injured shoulder against Dark Rudy. Still, he did not stop until he smashed Dark Rudy up against the wall. He gripped his counterpart’s hands and pushed them against the wall, denying him the ability to use his sword. As Rudy held his evil counterpart against the wall, everyone else stared, stunned by this sudden turn of events.

At first, Dark Rudy did nothing but stare in shock at Rudy. Rudy’s right eye glared with hatred at Dark Rudy, his teeth bared tightly. Dark Rudy’s chest inflated and deflated at a rapid pace, and Penny could have sworn she could hear his heart beating fast from over here. It was clear that the appearance of another Rudy had shaken him up. Then, eventually, Dark Rudy’s expression changed to a frown. Not one filled with anger, but one that indicated curiosity.

“Another me?” Dark Rudy asked in a soft voice. Rudy didn’t answer and just continued to glare hatefully at him. Dark Rudy looked back over at Penny, and then he noted Snap. “And another Snap...” He turned to look back at Rudy. “You’re from another dimension...aren’t you?” Amused by Rudy’s lack of a response, Dark Rudy smirked. “Oh this is too precious.” He gave a sideways glance to Alt-Snap and Ms. Saffron. “I see you tried sending for help, but I’m afraid you made a mistake bringing these three in. They’re weak.” He tilted his head a little. “And they will be easy to dispose of.”

Rudy pushed harder against Dark Rudy, forcing his counterpart to grunt. “You won’t be disposing of us! I’ll see to that!”

Dark Rudy stared at him. He sneered, “Oh really now? That would be pretty fun. I must admit, though...” He gave Rudy a sideways glance, a nasty grin on his face. “I never would have imagined my weak white chalk counterpart would be able to hold me against the wall for this long.” Rudy growled at this. “But of course, you can’t keep it up for long.”

With that, Dark Rudy pulled his foot back and kicked against Rudy. Rudy let out a howl of pain and staggered back. Penny and Snap cried out in protest and horror. They watched as Rudy fell down to his knees, holding his stomach. Upon closer inspection, Penny could tell that the blades did not penetrate his skin, which was a relief. But the kick to his stomach was still going to cause trouble. Dark Rudy took a few steps towards him, chuckling as Rudy coughed in pain, bits of blood spraying on the ground.

Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap took a few steps towards them, but they froze. Their eyes were wide with fear and shock. Penny guessed they were worried that Dark Rudy was going to do worse if they came closer. That caused cold dread to fill up inside of her. Just how far was Dark Rudy willing to go? How dangerous was he? She and Snap also wanted to help, but Rudy cast them a glance to stay back. Penny and Snap watched the scene in horror, both of them thinking the same thing. They had to figure out a way to help Rudy and fast.

Dark Rudy knelt down in front of Rudy. He grabbed his chin and lifted it up. The two of them locked eyes onto each other. Neither of them said a word. Rudy stared at his dark counterpart with an expression that was a mixture between fear and hate. Dark Rudy just smiled, clearly amused by this whole thing. He tilted Rudy’s head, as if examining him, and stared intently at the eye patch strapped to his head. Dark Rudy reached down and grabbed onto it. Despite Rudy’s efforts to turn his head away, he wasn’t able to stop Dark Rudy from pulling off his eye patch.

The scratch marks given to him by Nile were still healing. Red marks indicating where he slashed him were clearly visible. They were raked across the cut that Jenny gave him prior. If it hadn’t been for that crocodile zoner’s attack, Rudy’s left eye would have healed sooner. Now, with those new gashes, Rudy still couldn’t open his left eye. Penny wondered if it was going to be permanent, with all these eye injuries he was getting. She and Snap watched in horror as Dark Rudy lowered his hand to Rudy’s injured eye.

Dark Rudy placed his fingers against Rudy’s eye very lightly, running his fingers along the injury. Rudy winced in pain. Dark Rudy was surprisingly gentle, never pushing too much to make Rudy cry in pain. He continued to touch the wound gently, putting his face close and examining the mark. After a while, he moved back and smirked down at Rudy.

“Your scar, it kind of reminds me of the one my master has.” Dark Rudy said. “But of course, he can still use his left eye. Then again, so can you...am I right? Why don’t you open your left eye for me? I want to see it.”

Rudy growled at him and pushed his hand away. He took a defensive stance, preparing to fight. “Why don’t you fight me? I know you want to.”

“Sure, I do...but first..” Dark Rudy hunched over a little. “I want to see your eye!”

Dark Rudy charged forward and knocked Rudy into the ground. Rudy let out a cry of pain as his back hit the hard surface. The others cried out in shock and rushed over to help him, but Dark Rudy pulled out his sword and placed it against Rudy’s neck. He glared evilly at every one in the room, silently warning them not to get any closer or he’ll slash open Rudy’s throat. Reluctantly, everyone froze where they stood, watching in horror at the scene playing out before them. Dark Rudy looked down at Rudy.

Rudy’s right eye looked down at the sword pressed against his neck, his image reflecting off the sword. He looked back up at Dark Rudy, his right eye filled with fear, his teeth clenched. He looked like he wanted to try to push his evil counterpart away. The only thing stopping him was the fact that the sword was pressed so hard...just one wrong move, and he was going to get his throat slashed open. Dark Rudy leaned himself closer to Rudy, a smile filled with dark intent spreading across his scarred face.

“Turn your head to your right so I can take a closer look at your left eye.” Dark Rudy said in a somewhat pleasant tone. Rudy shook his head, determined not to expose his vulnerable eye to this beast. Dark Rudy narrowed his eyes. “You seem to think you have a choice here...” He pressed his sword harder and Rudy let out a yelp.

“Rudy!” Penny called out.

“Let him go!” Snap shouted, holding up a fist.

Dark Rudy looked over at them, sneering. “Oh don’t you worry. I’m not going to kill him. I just want to check his eye is all.”

“I know what you’re going to do...” Alt-Snap snarled, baring his teeth. “And if you do that, I’m going to...!”

“Oh shut up, you pile of chalk dust!” Dark Rudy said with a cruel tone to his voice. He gave a heartless smile to the zoner who was once his best friend. “If you don’t want an...unfortunate accident to happen to your...ally here.. I suggest you shut your mouth.” Alt-Snap growled angrily at this, but did not speak another word. Ms. Saffron was about to speak, but Dark Rudy halted her. “The same thing goes for you, toots. If you, any of you, speak another word, I will slice your friend’s throat open.”

This threat sent cold chills through everyone. As much as they wanted to do something to help, at the moment, they were unable to. They had no choice but to abide by Dark Rudy’s ‘wish’ and remain still and quiet, forced to watch what he was going to do to Rudy. Clearly satisfied by the fact that they weren’t going to move any closer, Dark Rudy turned his attention back to Rudy, smiling evilly down at him.

“Turn your head for me, and keep still.” Dark Rudy said. When Rudy still didn’t comply, Dark Rudy put his face close to his, pushing his sword a little harder against his throat. “I will cut your throat open if you don’t do as I say. Turn your head.” He narrowed his eyes and shouted, “Now!” Staring at him in fear, reluctantly, Rudy complied and turned his head so that his left eye was facing towards Dark Rudy. “Good boy...Now hold still...” He put his fingers against his eyelid. “This will hurt a little.”

Dark Rudy started to pull Rudy’s eyelids apart. He let out loud screams of pain as his eye was messed with like that. Penny felt her blood chill as she watched in horror. Her face was etched in terror and she wanted to do something, anything. Rudy’s calls of pain sent pangs through her heart. It made her want to rush over and help him. Snap wanted to help. His body was shaking in fear and anger. He wanted to rush over and knock Dark Rudy away. But neither of them could move. With the sword against Rudy’s neck like that, they couldn’t rush rushing over, not without a plan.

Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap, even though they didn’t know their Rudy as well, they wanted to help, too. She could see the look in their eyes. They were telling her the same thing. They didn’t like being forced to stay back. They were in the same pickle as her and Snap. From their angle, they weren’t able to move without Dark Rudy noticing. But then..right now his eyes were focused on Rudy. As he continued to pull Rudy’s eyelids apart, his dark chuckling filling the air and intermixing with Rudy’s loud whimpers and whines, Penny thought of a way to get Dark Rudy away. If she could just sneak around along the wall, maybe she’d stand a chance.

Slowly, she moved towards the wall. She didn’t stop until her back was against it. The other three saw what she was doing. She raised up her hand and put her finger against her mouth, urging them to be silent. They obligued and averted their eyes. Penny knew this was because they did not want to accidentally draw attention to her. They instead focused on the uncomfortable scene before them. Penny felt her heart tighten even more as she watched Rudy kick his legs and crying in pain as Dark Rudy tugged harder on his eyelids, trying his hardest to break the scab.

Suddenly, without warning, Dark Rudy gave a very hard pull. There was some kind tear sound, something breaking, and Rudy let out a loud scream of anguish, tugging at the heartstrings of his friends and horrifying Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap. Dark Rudy just smiled in satisfaction, staring down at Rudy’s left eye. He had successfully pulled his eyelids apart, exposing the eye itself. Rudy’s left eye moved around and then stared up at Dark Rudy, his pupil shrinking in fear. He tried to close his eyelids, but Dark Rudy’s grip was tight. A little bit of blood started to pour from the reopened wound, moving along the side of Rudy’s face.

“What a..pretty eye you have...” Dark Rudy said, his voice uncomfortably pleasant. Rudy’s face contorted a little in fear. The comment had clearly unnerved and frightened him. “A shame you had it closed for all this time. Well now you can open it up again.” Dark Rudy said. He released Rudy’s eye, watching him as he blinked his left eye a few times. “There, isn’t that better now?”

With both eyes open, his left eye quivering in pain, Rudy looked up at Dark Rudy, his teeth still clenched in fear. “I can’t believe I turned into such a...such a monster...”

Dark Rudy narrowed his eyes at this comment. “And I can’t believe you’re still weak. I would have thought that, by now, you would have embraced the power of the black chalk. But I guess you’re still brainwashed...no matter...” He moved his face so close he nearly hit against Rudy. “I know just how to fix that..”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror at this. “No! I won’t become like you!”

“Oh but little boy...” Dark Rudy laughed. “It’s your destiny..”

Before Rudy or Dark Rudy could get another word in, Penny had managed to sneak up behind Dark Rudy. She looked her arm around Dark Rudy’s throat and yanked him back. The dark version of Rudy let out a cry of surprise as Penny dragged him back. She then pushed him against the wall, keeping him pinned there. She glared hatefully at him. Dark Rudy was not pleased with her interference and struggled to get free. Penny managed to hold him, but barely. She was going to lose her grip soon, and she knew he was going to attack her with the sword, but she refused to back down. She was not going to let this monster turn her friend into a killer. No, she won’t allow it.

Snap rushed over to where Rudy was. He knelt down and reached his hand out towards him. Rudy took Snap’s hand and the zoner helped him up to his feet. Snap looked at Rudy worriedly and looked at him up and down to make sure he wasn’t hurt. Alt-Snap stared at this. His eyes were narrowed and his fists clenched and shaking. The sight of Rudy and Snap still getting along must be like feeling salt being poured into an open wound. He only calmed down when Ms. Saffron put a hand on his shoulder. Relaxing, he turned his head up to her.

“We need to get them out of here.” Alt-Snap said, his tone brimming with urgency. “If Rudy is here, our Rudy, then that means that Mr. Cosmo might not be far behind. If he shows up...”

“I know. We’ll be in trouble.” Ms. Saffron said. “Especially if he brings Draow...” She turned her attention to the others. She watched as Rudy and Snap rushed over to help Penny pin Dark Rudy to the wall. Ms. Saffron bit her lip. “They’re not going to be able to hold him back for long.”

“I know.” Alt-Snap said.

Ms. Saffron pointed at where the others were. “Go help them.”

Alt-Snap shook his head. “No.” When Ms. Saffron gave him a shocked expressio, he continued, “Not yet I mean. I need to wait until the right moment. If I attack Rudy too soon, he might hurt one of them.” Alt-Snap took position, his body hunched. “But as soon as I see an opening...”

Penny pushed against Dark Rudy’s shoulders, keeping him against the wall. Dark Rudy had tried to attack her, but Rudy grabbed onto his arm and pinned it. Snap had a hold of the other arm. Working together, they kept Dark Rudy pressed against the wall. The evil counterpart was struggling to get free, jerking back and forth. Penny couldn’t believe how strong he was. He didn’t look like he’d be this strong. Even with all their efforts combined, even working together, it was taking as much as their strength as possible to keep this guy from getting away.

Dark Rudy growled in frustration, clearly not happy with being pinned against the wall like this. He pulled himself from side to side, trying to squeeze his way from them. Rudy, Penny, and Snap did no let up. They were determined to make sure he didn’t try to get away. They had to keep him restrained. They couldn’t allow him to escape. They only met him for a short time, and they already knew he was too dangerous to let go.

But as Dark Rudy struggled harder, as they started to lose their grasp, Penny wondered just how long they could keep this up. Rudy still had the arm with the blade pinned, but that won’t last long at this rate. Something was going to give soon. If Dark Rudy got his arm free, all it was going to take was one well aimed strike and it was over. Out of the corner of her eye, she cold see Alt-Snap taking position. If they could hold him long enough, maybe Alt-Snap and Ms. Saffron could launch an attack at Dark Rudy, something that could knock him out and he could be taken to...whatever custody constitutes in this world.

“Release me! You filthy mongrels!” Dark Rudy snarled. He twisted his body around. “Unhand me at once!”

“No way, pal!” Snap said, the word ‘pal’ said in sarcasm. “You’re not going anywhere!”

“You’re too big of a threat for us to just let go! You’re going to surrender and you’re coming with us!” Rudy shouted. His voice was laced in pain.

“Yeah!” Penny held on tighter. She put her face close to Dark Rudy, causing the black chalk artist to snap his head back. “There’s no way we’ll let you continue wreaking havoc on this world!”

“So struggle all you want to.” Rudy said. “We’re not letting go!”

Dark Rudy let out a loud shout of frustration. His eyes widened in anger. His eyes began to glow black. The sight of them was chilling. Penny felt her heart fill up with ice. She had a feeling that things were about to get bad..very bad. Dark Rudy’s struggles seemed to get more violent when his eyes glowed black. He jerked back and forth with more force than he had ever exhibited before. Rudy, Penny, and Snap held on tightly, having a difficult time in restraining him.

Then, with a few more violent twists, Dark Rudy managed to get one of his limbs free. He jerked his arm hard, tossing Snap into the ground. With one of his arms now free, he grabbed onto Penny’s throat, squeezing so hard she couldn’t breathe. At this, Rudy shouted her name and moved in to help. This ended up causing him to loosen his grip on Dark Rudy’s other arm. He pulled his arm back and pushed Rudy away. This didn’t stop Rudy for long and he rushed back. Penny struggled to get free, her mouth open up, gasping for air.

Snap rushed over. Dark Rudy glared down at him. He kicked him away. Snap let out a howl of pain as one of the spikes slashed across his stomach. Blood spilled from his wound and stained the ground as he crashed down. He struggled to get up to his feet. The pain caused him to fall down. Rudy watched this in horror. Before he had time to do anything else, Dark Rudy, who had dropped his sword at this point, seized him by his neck and, like with Penny, he started to strangle him. Rudy let out choked gasp as he tried to free himself.

Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap rushed to Snap’s side. They helped him up to his feet. Ms. Saffron held onto Snap’s arm, using herself as support so he won’t fall over. Alt-Snap gazed at Snap’s wounds and shook his head solemnly. Snap looked at him with pain filled eyes.

“This looks bad...” Alt-Snap said, biting his lip. “He’s going to need medical attention...” He looked over at where Dark Rudy was. He took a few steps towards him. “But first, we have to stop him. We can’t treat anybody as long as he is here.” The word ‘he’ was said with strong emphasis.

Ms. Saffron continued to hold onto Snap. She looked at Alt-Snap with worried eyes. “Please...be careful.”

“Don’t worry.” Alt-Snap turned and gave her a smile. “I will.” With that, he rushed over at where Dark Rudy was.

Dark Rudy tightened his grip, holding Rudy and Penny at a distance so they had less of a chance of hitting him to get free. He let out a growl. The glow from his eyes intensified. Penny struggled harder, trying to get herself free. But it was no use. She couldn’t tell if this strength was natural or if it was being supplied by the black chalk. Either way, she and Rudy had to get away somehow.

Before she realized what was happening, Dark Rudy yanked her and Rudy away from each other, holding the two of them far apart. Penny barely had time to see Dark Rudy’s smirk when he suddenly threw them together. Penny’s eyes went wide as she felt her skull collide with Rudy’s. Horrific pain swept through her head and she and Rudy let out cries of pain. Dazed and confused, the two teenagers, Dark Rudy no longer gripping them, fell to the ground. They laid on top of each other in a heap.

Penny’s sensories were all jittery. Her vision was a little blurry. Her hearing a little echoey. She was confused, not entirely sure of just where she was. She did regain some of her senses, enough to know that she and Rudy were in trouble, that Dark Rudy was coming towards them with a sword. She looked up just as Dark Rudy held his sword over his head, an insane smile on his face. Penny, unable to get out of the way in time, put her body over Rudy to shield him. She shut her eyes and waited for the blow.

Dark Rudy never had a chance to strike them. Without warning, Alt-Snap jumped onto Dark Rudy’s back. He grabbed onto his hair and pulled. Dark Rudy let out a cry of pain and stumbled back. He tried frantically to get Alt-Snap off of him. The little zoner refused to let go. Unable to see Alt-Snap, Dark Rudy was not able to land a hit on him, nor could he risk it unless he wanted to get hurt as well.

As he held onto Dark Rudy, Alt-Snap turned to Ms. Saffron. “Get them out of here! I’ll keep Rudy here busy!”

Ms. Saffron didn’t waste any time. Holding Snap with one arm carefully, she rushed over to where Rudy and Penny were. She used her free arm to help them up to their feet. Rudy and Penny took a little bit of time steadying themselves. A pounding headache spread through their skulls, and they were still a little disoriented from the blow. Penny rubbed her head, wincing as she touched the sore spot from where her head collided with Rudy’s. She looked over at him sympathetically. She hoped that he didn’t have a concussion. That was the last thing he needed in his current state.

But she knew they didn’t have time to look at any of their injuries. They had to get out of here and fast. Once she and Rudy got enough of their bearings, they immediately started to follow Ms. Saffron. She could hear shouts of anger and frustration behind her, and she knew that Alt-Snap was doing all he can to keep Dark Rudy from coming after them. She hoped he would be able to hold him off long enough for them to escape.

Holding onto Snap, Ms. Saffron guided Rudy and Penny down through a back tunnel. It was longer and a little thinner than the entrance they took before, the one that Dark Rudy had destroyed. There was a little bit of debris in this tunnel, but thankfully they were easy to dodge. Penny was relieved. She was still a little wobbly and she didn’t think she could handle much fancy footwork to avoid larger obstacles.

After some running, their hearts pounding against their chests, they reached outside. Penny flinched as she saw the foreboding red sky again. She looked over at Ms. Saffron. She looked left and right, likely making sure the coast was clear or to figure out which way was the nearest hiding spot. She turned to Penny and made a gesture with her head. Without hesitation, she and Rudy rushed after her. They moved around the debris the best they could as they headed towards a row of destroyed buildings. There appeared to be a makeshift path between them.

They didn’t get that far when they heard a loud scream and a crash. They whipped their heads around. Their eyes widened in shock and horror when they saw Alt-Snap falling from a height. He crashed into the ground and rolled over. He shivered in pain and climbed up to his feet. It didn’t take long for Penny and the others to see how this had happened.

Dark Rudy had climbed through the ceiling. His sword..it must have been sharp enough to cut through the twisted metal and he was able to climb his way out. He had thrown Snap from his current position, which was high above a piece of debris. Thankfully it wasn’t a terribly high drop, but Penny knew it had caused some damage, especially when she saw Alt-Snap stagger and limp. Dark Rudy turned and looked at Penny and her group. His mouth ticked in a vicious smile and he jumped down. His knees buckled a little, but he managed to keep himself from falling down.

“Do you really think you can escape?” Dark Rudy taunted. He moved over deliberately to the group. “Perhaps it’s time you three..outsiders...learned why Mr. Cosmo had chosen me to be his partner...”

“G-Get away from them...” Alt-Snap snarled. Dark Rudy paused and stared at him blankly. “Fight me instead! I’ll take you on!” He leveled his laser at Dark Rudy. “Come on!” He shot at the ground, narrowly missing Dark Rudy’s feet. Dark Rudy moved back but his expression hardly changed, remaining blank. “You want a piece of me?! Come get me!”

Dark Rudy stared at him for a few more moments. Then he smiled evilly. He slowly turned around and began to walk over towards Alt-Snap. “With pleasure...”

Chapter Text

“Come on! Let’s go!” Ms. Saffron called out to Rudy and Penny. “Let’s get going before Rudy comes after us!”

But Rudy and Penny remained frozen, their feet firmly planted on the groud. They stared at the scene before them in shock, uneasiness sweeping through their legs, making them shake. Even though Rudy knew this wasn’t him or Snap, even though they were alternate versions in a future that never happened for him, it was still very unsettling to see any version of him and Snap acting like this towards each other.

Rudy had a hard time believing that this had ever happened. He never thought that there would have been a timeline where he would have become like this, to treat the zoner who was supposed to be his friend like garbage. The way Dark Rudy talked about Alt-Snap was horrible. Calling him names, speaking to him mockingly, being an overall jerk to him. It made even more sense now, seeing this, why Alt-Snap acted like a jerk. At least he apologized; Rudy had doubts that Dark Rudy would have that same kind of decency.

He felt Ms. Saffron grab his arm and pull him back. He forced himself to tear away from the sight and he looked over at the armored woman. She looked at him, her eyes wide with worry. He watched as she tugged at Penny’s arm, getting her attention as well. Ms. Saffron didn’t need to speak a word; just the way she was looking at them was enough for them to know that she is confused as to why they weren’t coming with her, and she really wanted to lead them to safety. Rudy stared at her before looking back at the fight.

“Do you...think he’ll be okay?” Rudy asked in a hesitant voice.

“He will be. Don’t worry.” Ms. Saffron said with a smile. “He’s taken on Rudy before. He’ll escape and regroup with us. He knows how to find me.” Ms. Saffron glanced down at Snap, whom she still had cradled in her arm. Snap’s face was contorted in pain and one hand was on his injured stomach. “We need to get somewhere safe so we can do something about your friend’s wounds.”

“Yeah.” Penny looked at Snap sadly. She reached out and stroked his head a few times. “Do you have enough supplies?”

Ms. Saffron replied, “Not a lot. It’s hard to come by medical stuff here.” She looked at Snap briefly, sighing sadly, and looked at Rudy and Penny. “But at the hideout we’ll be going to, there should be something we can use to at least cover the wound up. Hopefully the next dimension you’ll head to will have more medical supplies.” She glanced at where Dark Rudy and Alt-Snap were fighting for a second, then said, “Come on, let’s get going.”

Though reluctant, Rudy and Penny started to follow Ms. Saffron down the street, towards the buildings they were going to before. They could see the makeshift path as they drew closer to it. It looked like it had been melted by something. Perhaps Alt-Snap did this, or maybe Draow and Alt-Snap and Ms. Saffron were just using it to their advantage. There was some kind of burning smell coming from it and it made him wonder just how recent this makeshift path was. The idea of it being quite old and still smelling like that worried him. Was it going to be hot to the touch still? And if so, just what kind of weapon was used on this that it’d still be heated?

When they got close enough, Rudy could see that the pathway itself was not very smooth, just like he would have expected. The ground was uneven and warped-looking. It was definitely going to be difficult to navigate, especially for Penny. She could handle a short time walking without her cane, like when she tackled with Dark Rudy, but going through here, it was going to be hard, with and without her cane. The makeshift tunnel headed upwards, and looked pretty smooth, almost like a slide.

It seemed like they all were going to have a hard time climbing up this hill. The ground was not exactly good for walking, but maybe that’s why Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap chose this way. Less of a chance of them being followed. Rudy knew Ms. Saffron will have trouble as she was holding Snap and only had one free arm to help her traverse the warped terrain. And Rudy himself was still in pain and his head hurt from when Dark Rudy smashed his skull against Penny’s. The headache he was experiencing just added to the pain he felt in his stomach. It did lessen a little since he drank the medicine, but the pain was still strong and it was going to make careful navigation a little difficult.

The group started to climb up the path. It was just as hard as Rudy thought it was going to be. He kept nearly tripping as he tried to find a foothold. He did manage to push himself up slowly, but it was still difficult. Penny was having a hard time. Her cane was hardly of help here. She did use it, once in a while, to help steady her, but it wasn’t as useful at getting her up at a quick rate. Ms. Saffron had the easiest time, maybe because she was used to climbing this. She kept urging Rudy and Penny to hurry and move faster. Rudy tried his best to speed up the pace, but he only ended up tripping and hitting against the side. He let out a loud moan.

Penny stared at him in shock. She planted her cane against the torn ground made of wood and metal, and she reached her hand down towards him. He reached out for her. They took each other’s hand. Gripping him tightly, Penny yanked Rudy up as hard as she could. She managed to pull Rudy up a little behind her, and didn’t let go until Rudy was able to keep his balance on his own. He looked at Penny with a grateful expression before he and her hiked their way up towards here Ms. Saffron waited. The woman had stopped a couple feet in front of them and awaited for them to catch up to her.

They continued their way up. The difficulties didn’t seem to decrease for Rudy or Penny. Trips and slipping, nearly rolling back down the hill, that was still common place. They tried to make it happen less. They tried to be more careful. But their injuries and pain made hit hard to do so. Ms. Saffron had much less trouble, even though she was holding Snap, because she was not in as much pain as they were. Rudy and Penny couldn’t really be frustrated with her urging them on, though. They weren’t exactly at the beach or anything. Dark Rudy was nearby and he would kill them if he got the chance to. They had to get away and fast.

Soon, they reached the top of the hill. Rudy looked down and saw that it looked just as slippery going down. The path seemed to go into a dark alleyway. It looked difficult to navigate and he wondered how they were going to avoid obstacles. Getting their legs twisted and broken isn’t on their to-do list, and he’d rather avoid that as much as possible. With the very little light that shined in, he could make out an overall shape, enough to see that there was a sharp turn to the right, and he guessed the path was a little windy.

“The hideout is located along this path. It’s hard to see. I’ll let you know when we’re almost there.” Ms. Saffron said. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, we do.” Rudy said, nodding his head.

“Good.” Ms. Saffron said with a small, faint smile. She looked down at Snap. “I’m going to try to go down as carefully as possible so I don’t aggravate your injuries. If I do something to hurt you by mistake, I apologize.”

“Don’t..worry about it.” Snap said, seething in agony. “I’ll understand...” He opened up one eye, the eyelid quivering. “I’ve...been through...worse...”

Ms. Saffron looked at him sadly. She turned to Rudy and Penny and made a gesture with her head. “Come on, while we still have time!”

Rudy and Penny looked at each other and then back at Ms. Saffron. They watched her start to head over the edge and towards the dark tunnel that laid before them. They started to follow behind her. Penny used her cane to steady herself as she made it over the edge. She took a step down. She didn’t go any further. She looked over at Rudy and nodded her head. She was waiting for him to follow behind her. Rudy started to make his way over the edge, careful not to aggravate his internal injuries.

Suddenly there was a loud scream. This startled the group, bringing about shouts of surprise and shock. Rudy looked over at where Dark Rudy and Alt-Snap were. He gasped in horror when he saw that Alt-Snap had been thrown into the ground, Dark Rudy heading towards him. Penny, who had climbed back over to his side, had her free hand to her mouth, her body shaking. She and Rudy watched this scene in horror, unable to move or look away.

Ms. Saffron came up to join them. She grabbed Rudy by his shoulder and shook him. She did the same thing to Penny seconds later. When the two of them didn’t respond, she tried again, this time with more force. Still the two friends wouldn’t move, their eyes locked onto the battle taking place below them.

Frustrated, Ms. Saffron grabbed Rudy’s arm and yanked him back. “We need to get going! We don’t have much of a window of opportunity here! Move it!”

But Rudy couldn’t move. He was not able to tear his eyes away. He could tell neither could Penny. Normally, they would be running. They would be trying to get away. But this time was different. They were watching a version of himself, going up against his best friend..ex-best friend in this case. That struck a nerve in Rudy, and it made it much harder for him to look away. As horrible as it was for him to watch, he just could not look away. His eyes were locked on the battle, and Ms. Saffron was not able to make him or Penny look away.

It was hard for Rudy to believe what he was seeing. He...he would never treat Snap this horribly. He’d never turn on him like this. And to see that, in this world, seeing those two act this way to each other, so starkly different from what he would have expected, it stung him horribly. Even though he and Snap reassured each other that this wouldn’t happen, that they’d keep their friendship and not turn into how Dark Rudy and Alt-Snap were, Rudy still had that fear. Seeing the way Alt-Snap and Dark Rudy were fighting did not help anything either. Another scream, and Rudy and Penny watched in horror at the scene playing out before them.

Alt-Snap was kicked. Thankfully the spikes didn’t slice him, but the way he rolled across the ground was rather uncomfortable to watch. He pushed himself on his hands and glared up at Dark Rudy. He jumped to his feet and, despite being in pain, he ran around Dark Rudy and managed to deliver a punch to Dark Rudy’s side, making him stagger. Alt-Snap used his small size to his advantage and managed to get out of the way when Dark Rudy tried to kick him again.

“You worthless piece of chalk! Hold still!” Dark Rudy snarled. He lifted up his sword and struck down. The metal clanged against the ground. Dark Rudy growled in frustration. “Lay down so I can kill you!”

“Not a chance! I won’t let you get the best of me!” Alt-Snap shouted back. He jumped up at Dark Rudy and delivered a kick to his face. He watched as Dark Rudy stumbled back, his hand on his face where he was struck. Alt-Snap glared at him hatefully. “It’ll take more than talking to make me go down!”

Dark Rudy growled at Snap. There was a flash of black in his eyes. He took a few steps towards Alt-Snap, his body tense like he was going to strike him. Then, suddenly, he stopped. His expression slowly changed into a smile. Dark Rudy went from being angry to being calm. A swift mood change very much like Cosmo. His sword lowered to the ground. When he walked forward, the tip of it scraped along the ground, the sound irritating anyone who listened to it.

Soon Dark Rudy stood in front of Alt-Snap. The zoner moved back and took a fighting stance. His fists clenched, he glared at Dark Rudy with bared teeth. The two stared at each other. As Rudy watched, an uncomfortable feeling welling up inside of him, he realized that this staredown was similar to what Alt-Snap did to Snap. That same glare was back. But this time, it seemed that it was Dark Rudy who was winning. Alt-Snap shown signs of uneasiness and moved away from Dark Rudy. He did not run, though, and was clearly prepared to fight.

“Oh I know how you can be, Snap. You always were stubborn...so willing to fight even when there’s nothing left to fight for.” Dark Rudy sneered. He took a moment to glance around the ruined city. He gave Alt-Snap a sideways glance. “Tell me, Snap. What left is there for you to defend? Even if you somehow managed to beat me and Cosmo...a lot of damage was already done...”

“I can’t just stand by and watch as you ruin the world! With all that you’ve done, you and Cosmo deserve to be taken down!” Alt-Snap replied, his teeth gritting so hard it looked like they would crack in his mouth.

Dark Rudy’s smile slightly broadened at this. “As I said, you’re stubborn. And that has made you..something of a pest now. I know I used to admire that trait...” He paused. Then he lowered his head, his green eyes staring intently into Alt-Snap’s eyes. “After all, we used to be...friends...” At this, Alt-Snap’s eyes widened. Dark Rudy grinned, as if he got the reaction he wanted. “Remember, Snap? Remember the fun we used to have?” He began to circle Alt-Snap. “Ah yes, I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember when you used to call me ‘Bucko’.”

By this point, Ms. Saffron stopped trying to get Rudy and Penny to leave. Her eyes were locked onto what was going on as well. Her eyes were wide, her body tense. From how she was acting, Rudy could tell that Alt-Snap was a close friend of hers here and she wanted to see him pull through. Despite being confident that he would make it, it was clear that she really didn’t want to leave him behind, and she joined in with them, watching the scene unfold.

Rudy and Penny watched with wide eyes as Dark Rudy circled around Alt-Snap, much in the same manner Cosmo did to Rudy. Snap was watching as well, as Ms. Saffron had moved closer so she could get a good look. His wide eyes were fixated on the scene playing out down below. Tension and uneasiness filled the air around them. They couldn’t move. They couldn’t speak. All they could do was watch. Despite how disturbing it is, considering who those two down there were, it was nearly impossible to look away.

Dark Rudy taunting Alt-Snap about the friendship they once had...that left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. It was such a low blow, a deliberate kick to the heart. Alt-Snap’s expression had changed to that of hurt. They could have sworn they saw a hint of a tear in his eyes as he watched Dark Rudy walk around him like a vulture. Dark Rudy was enjoying his taunts and how Alt-Snap was reacting. Rudy felt his stomach lurch forward as he watched this. To think that this was almost him...almost what he had become... He shuddered to think about it.

“We used to exploriate together. We used to discover new places in ChalkZone. We used to have...a lot of fun...” Dark Rudy mocked, sneering down at the mentally hurt Alt-Snap. “Oh yes...those were some...good times, wouldn’t you say, Snap?” Alt-Snap did not answer. Dark Rudy chuckled at this. He stood behind Alt-Snap. He lowered himself and gripped his shoulders. Alt-Snap did not move, Dark Rudy’s words having a deep impact in him. He spoke into his ear. “But of course...all things must come to an end at some point, don’t you think?”

Alt-Snap looked at Dark Rudy with one eye, not daring to turn his head. “It only came to an end because you used the black chalk. It corrupted you.”

Another chuckle, and Dark Rudy released Alt-Snap and walked out in front of him. He looked down at his sword, examining it a little, and then looked over at Alt-Snap. “Corrupted me? Oh no, dear Snap.” He turned around so he was facing the zoner. “It enlightened me. It showed me the truth, that Mr. Cosmo was right about everything. The black chalk woke up my true potential.” He pointed his sword at Alt-Snap, but did not charge him. “It showed me how I was using my talents incorrectly, and it gave me a chance to do something about that.”

“It turned you into a monster.” Alt-Snap said in a low growl. “You’re nothing like how you used to be.”

“Of course not. Why would I want to go back to being...soft?” Dark Rudy sneered. “Why would I want to go back to thinking that you were something more than a mere expendable chunk of chalk dust? Oh yes we used to have fun..but now that I know the truth, I sometimes find it hard to believe I considered you a friend.”

Rudy’s eyes widened in shock at this statement. His body trembled. Had his counterpart really said that? Penny and Snap looked uncomfortable by the whole thing as well. They looked on in disbelief. The fact that Dark Rudy sounded, more or less like Rudy though with a scratchy voice, didn’t help things. Rudy cast a glance over at Snap. They locked eyes onto each other, a few tears forming in their eyes. Ms. Saffron stared down at the scene with unease plastered on her face.

Dark Rudy’s words clearly hurt Alt-Snap. Even from this distance, the group could see a few tears moving down his face. The zoner took a few steps back away from Dark Rudy, clutching his fists tightly as his body shook. Despite how clearly upset Alt-Snap was by those words, Dark Rudy showed no signs of remorse, no indication that he was going to apologize. Instead, he just continued to play with Alt-Snap’s emotions, all the while a dark smile was on his face.

“I wonder how it feels... Now that our counterparts are here, and you can see how well they get along..how does it feel?” Dark Rudy taunted. “Does it remind you of what we once had, you filthy little dirtbag? Does it make you think of the fun we used to have?” Alt-Snap’s body shook harder, his eyes widening further. Dark Rudy kept striking against this clearly sore spot. “I’m sure it does... I wonder if you keep dreaming of the way it used to be... I wonder if you keep wishing that I would return to your definition of ‘normal’. Well I hate to break it to you, dear Snap. But that won’t happen.” Dark Rudy reached out and touched Alt-Snap’s cheek. “But of course..we could have some kind of relationship again..if you’re willing to join me.”

At this, the anger Alt-Snap displayed before returned. He swiped Dark Rudy’s hand away and glared at him. “I’ll never join you...”

Dark Rudy smirked. “I figured you wouldn’t. You’re weak...” Dark Rudy turned his head. Rudy and the others felt their hearts freeze when Dark Rudy spotted them. He stared at them for a few seconds before chuckling darkly. “Just like my white chalk counterpart there....”

Alt-Snap’s eyes widened at this. He turned his head and he looked shocked that Rudy and the others standing there, watching. “What the...?” He took a step towards them. “What are you still doing here?! Run!”

Dark Rudy stepped in front of Alt-Snap, blocking his view of the group. With an evil grin, he stared intently at Rudy. “Of course..he does have the potential of...becoming strong. After all..” He closd his eyes and laughed. He reopened them, his eyes glowing black for several seconds. “He is me.”

Rudy flinched and he took a step back. Dark Rudy’s eyes bored into his. It was like looking in the mirror, some twisted mockery of a mirror. Rudy found it hard to move. And as Dark Rudy began to make his way towards him, he felt panic sweep through his body. Adrenaline started to grip him, yet he was unable to move. In the corner of his eyes, he could see Penny and Saffron taking position next to him, an attempt to protect him from Dark Rudy. Snap’s eyes were narrowed, looking determined to fight as well if it came to that.

Dark Rudy did not advance much further. Without warning, Alt-Snap had jumped onto his back again. He held onto his neck and yanked backwards. Dark Rudy let out frustrated yells and tried to yank Alt-Snap off. The others watched with wide eyes as the two former friends struggled against each other. Dark Rudy soon lost his footing and fell into the ground. Alt-Snap grunted in pain from the force, but refused to let go. Dark Rudy rolled onto his stomach and tried to get up, but Alt-Snap’s interference made this difficult.

Alt-Snap looked over as Dark Rudy attempted to grab him. He jumped out of the way and landed in front of him. He took a fighting stance, glaring hatefully at his former friend. The two glared at each other, hostility between them rising to the point where it almost looked like there was a glow. After a few seconds of intense silence, Alt-Snap spoke up.

“You..are not going anywhere near them!” Alt-Snap shouted. “I promise you that!”

“I wonder if you can keep your promise.” Dark Rudy wondered, tapping a finger against his chin thoughtfully. “I mean after all..” He took a step towards Alt-Snap. “You aren’t very good at keeping promises.” He watched as Alt-Snap’s eyes widened very slightly. Dark Rudy tilted his head to he side. “Remember?”

Alt-Snap clearly knew what Dark Rudy was talking about. His body shook and his eyes widened further. But soon he managed to get a hold of himself, pushing back against Dark Rudy’s mental attack tactics. He aimed his laser at Dark Rudy and said, “You are not going to put them through the same thing we endured! They don’t deserve that kind of ending.... And I’ll make sure you don’t give it to them!”

The dark version of Rudy cupped a hand to his ear and leaned to the side. “Ah, is that an echo I hear?” He lowered his hand and jeered, “Why..I believe that’s the same thing you said to Blocky and Rapsheeba.” Alt-Snap gritted his teeth and growled. “Yes I remember it. How Cosmo and I ambushed them as they were part of the resistance. You told them you’d protect them, but you failed to stop me and Cosmo as we oblitered the place they were in. They both died, all because you couldn’t protect them. Now isn’t that a shame?”

Rudy and the others felt their hearts twist in knots. Alt-Snap had lost Blocky and Rapsheeba, too? How horrible... Anger filled the pits of their stomachs as they turned their glances toward Dark Rudy, who was taunting Alt-Snap this whole time. No look of sympathy could be found, no ounce of understanding in any bone of his body. Rudy formed a fist with his hand. He...he was going to make his evil counterpart pay... Somehow, someway, he would.

More tears flowed down Alt-Snap’s face. His mind must be swimming in thoughts of Blocky and Rapsheeba, what happened to them. The zoner shut his eyes, allowing more tears to move down his cheeks. He reopened them and glared at Dark Rudy, his eyes practically glowing in anger. His body continued to wrack in trembles, some of it due to the anger, and some of it due to a sob or more that came from him. Dark Rudy’s words had torn a hole in his heart, and Rudy didn’t doubt that he had been doing this any time they confronted each other.

“You’re...you’re a monster...” Alt-Snap growled deeply. “I know I used to love you. I used to care about you. You were my friend...but not anymore.” He made a somewhat of a dismissive gesture with his hand. “I no longer recognize who you are, Rudy.” His eyes narrowed into slits. “Or should I even call you that anymore?” A sniffle. “The black chalk butchered your mind, turned you into the opposite of who you once were. Yes, sometimes I wish you’d change back, but it is too late for that now, isn’t it?”

Dark Rudy did not answer. He just smiled at Alt-Snap as the zoner continued to speak. He was amused, and found this whole thing funny. How truly disgusting...

“I used to blame myself for what happened to Rapsheeba and Blocky. But thinking back..I know it wasn’t my fault.” Alt-Snap’s voice grew darker, shakier, laced in anger. “It was yours..and that master of yours. You were the ones who collapsed that building! You were the reason that they were crushed to death! It was because of you that I lost two of my remaining friends! And now...” His body shook harder. He shut his eyes tightly. “You...you want to inflict that kind of pain on those two over there... You want them to experience what happened to us.” He reopened them. “You’re sick!” He yelled.

Dark Rudy stared at him for a few seconds. Then he said, “I only wish to let him experience the power...” He tilted his head to the side. “After all, it is not fair only I get to know the knowledge of the black chalk. I wish for him to learn, too. I want to be...generous.” He lowered his head a little, staring intently at Alt-Snap. “Is that so wrong?”

“..yes. Because you want to twist his mind, just like how Mr. Cosmo twisted yours!” Alt-Snap shouted at him.

Dark Rudy pulled his head back, staring down at Alt-Snap with a look of complete contempt. “Mr. Cosmo has more knowledge than you could ever hope to have, you failure of a hero.” Alt-Snap winced hurtfully at that and took a step back. “He knows more about how to...properly harness talents. I do hope that my weak self over there realizes that and comes to his senses soon. Otherwise, his skills are being wasted on nothing.”

Rudy’s eyes widened at this. He found himself taking a step back, nearly tripping on a piece of debris. His body trembled, Dark Rudy’s words reminding him so much of what Cosmo said to him. His dark counterpart had become a lot like Cosmo himself. In fact, when he looked at his counterpart, he hardly saw himself. He mostly saw Cosmo. The behaviors were rather similar. Even the mannerism of which he spoke was similiar to Cosmo. Dark Rudy’s whole behavior, the way he treated his former friend, the way he was acting to them earlier, it frightened him deeply.

He felt someone grip his hand. He looked over and he saw Penny. She gave him a sad look. Her eyes were shining with determination, showing Rudy that she would do whatever it took to protect him. He looked over to his other side and saw Snap looked at him with the same expression. Though Saffron’s eyes were still locked on what was going on, Rudy had a feeling she would protect him as well, as she had seen what would happen if he were corrupted by the black chalk.

“You leave them alone. They have nothing to do with what happened here.” Alt-Snap said, his voice low. “They have their own problems to deal with. They don’t need you complicating things.”

Dark Rudy laughed. “Of course! I’m sure they’re having plenty of trouble in their candy-coated dimension!” Alt-Snap growled at this. “What?” Dark Rudy shrugged his shoulders dismissively. “I’m just calling it as I see it. I mean, it’s obvious that they hadn’t been through hell.. I seriously doubt they’d be strong enough to deal with the dangers of this dimension.” He tilted his head up. “Which is why it’s best that they surrender now...avoid all that pain.”

“Oh screw you!” The armored zoner snapped at him. “You’re just as deluded as your fucking master!”

Dark Rudy’s eyes widened in anger at this. “Don’t you dare speak about my master like that, you blue rodent..”

Alt-Snap raised his laser at him. “And what are you going to do about it? It’s not my fault that your master is too stupid to admit his own mistakes, and since you hang onto every word he says...” Alt-Snap’s mouth ticked into a slight smirk. “Just what does that say about yourself?”

Dark Rudy’s body trembled. His eyes grew wide, the black glow returning. “Why you little fucktard! I’ll kill you!”

At this, Dark Rudy rushed over to Alt-Snap. He lifted up his sword and brought it down. Alt-Snap dodged to the side, the sword clanging against the ground next to him. Alt-Snap ran around Dark Rudy, holding up his laser weapon. He began to shoot at Dark Rudy. He wasn’t aiming to him; instead he was trying to trap him by knocking off some chunks of rock. Dark Rudy caught onto this and he jumped into the air, avoiding a piece of cement before rushing over to Alt-Snap.

The zoner moved to the side when Dark Rudy attempted to throw a punch. The fist sailed past him, narrowly missing his face. Alt-Snap grabbed onto the arm and pulled him hard, causing Dark Rudy to stumble forward. He moved behind him fast and delivered a kick to the back of his right calf. Dark Rudy let out a grunt of pain and went down on his knees. He didn’t stay there for very long. He whirled around and managed to grab Alt-Snap’s leg. He dragged him back and lifted him off the ground. Alt-Snap aimed his laser at him, but before he could use it, Dark Rudy began to slam Alt-Snap into the ground. He smashed his former friend against the ground a few times before he threw him aside.

Alt-Snap struggled to his feet. He looked over just in time to see Dark Rudy rushing at him at full speed, wielding his sword threateningly. Alt-Snap gritted his teeth and began to shoot at the ground. This time, he was clearly aiming to hit Dark Rudy’s legs to try to disable him. Dark Rudy managed to dodge for the most part, but soon one of the lasers grazed his side. He stopped and winced in pain. He looked down, seeling a little blood move down his legs. He stared at this in shock for a second, and then he looked at Alt-Snap with a rage-filled face, his pupils dilated into dots. Clearly ignoring the pain, he rushed over, his hands tightening around his blade, preparing to strike.

Alt-Snap rushed forward, his arms out at his side to gain speed. He moved to the side as Dark Rudy struck his sword down. He jumped up and slammed a fist against his stomach. Dark Rudy let out a cry of pain and he stumbled forward. Dark Rudy glared hatefully at Alt-Snap and kicked him, this time, one of the spikes slashing his side. The zoner howled in pain as he crumpled to the ground. He looked down at his bleeding side, his hand pressed against it. He glared up at Dark Rudy, his eyes shining with not just anger, but fear.

Dark Rudy slowly advanced on him, dragging his sword along the ground, making that same scraping sound. “You little worm... You have no right talk about my master in such a despicable form. It is time you learned some manners.”

Dark Rudy raised his sword and struck down. Alt-Snap rolled out of the way just in time. He pulled his foot back and kicked it against Dark Rudy’s shin. With the black chalk user temporarily distracted by the pain, Alt-Snap got up to his feet and drove his fist against the underside of his chin. Dark Rudy yelped in pain, blood from his mouth indicating that he had bitten his tongue. He staggered back awards. He shook his head and turned his attention to Alt-Snap. He let out a yell of anger and attempted to strike him again. The blade made a small gash in Alt-Snap’s side, making the wound worse. Alt-Snap screamed, but did not back down.

Alt-Snap took aim and shot a laser at Dark Rudy. The laser hit against his wrist, causing him to yell in pain and drop his sword. Now that Dark Rudy was without a weapon, Alt-Snap lunged at him, slamming his body against him and causing him to fall to the ground. He pulled his fist back and punched Dark Rudy in the head a few times. He then put his fists together and slammed them down against Dark Rudy’s chest, knocking the wind out of him.

Dark Rudy glared at the zoner and grabbed him by the neck. He yanked him off of him and threw him to the side. Now back on his feet, he grabbed his sword and ran towards him while he was still on the ground. He struck out with his long sword. Alt-Snap let out a scream as a part of his back was slashed, chalky blood dripping down from the wound. Dark Rudy then kicked him in the stomach, causing him to cough up blood and skid across the ground. Growling, anger still clouding his mind, Dark Rudy approached Alt-Snap. He pressed his foot against him and raised his blade to finish the job.

Rudy couldn’t take it any longer. He couldn’t stand watching this fight, and not doing anything. He couldn’t just stand idly by. He had to do something, anything, to buy Alt-Snap some time. Without thinking, focused only on helping Alt-Snap, Rudy rushed down towards the fight. Penny rushed down after him. Ms. Saffron, still holding Snap, followed them, standing not far behind.

“Hey!” Rudy called out. “Leave him alone!”

Dark Rudy stopped and turned around. Upon seeing Rudy, his angered expression swiftly changed to that of amusement. Alt-Snap’s eyes were wide in shock, clearly horrified that the group not only didn’t run to get out of there, but that they had come out into the open. Dark Rudy glared down at Alt-Snap like he was some piece of garbage and kicked him in his injured side, sending him sprawling on the ground. As Alt-Snap struggled to get back to his feet, Dark Rudy turned his attention to the group.

“Ah, coming to surrender I see. You know..you really should have listened to Snap here and run.” Dark Rudy sneered. “After all, it’s not like this sword is my...only weapon...” As if on cue, there was a loud screech. Dark Rudy tilted his head upwards. “Ah..right on time.” He grinned at the group. “Draow has..such a way of making an entrance..”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror. He looked all around, trying to find the source of the roar. He and he others didn’t see Draow, but they did not let their guard down. They all knew that if Draow showed up, it was going to make things more complicated. Dark Rudy was touch enough to handle, but if Draow joins with him, how much of a chance would they stand...?

But Rudy knew they couldn’t back down. Not now. Not while Alt-Snap needed their help. Dark Rudy would surely kill him if they didn’t do something and fast. They had to find a way to restrain him quickly, but how? It wasn’t like they could draw rope, and if Draow really was approaching, he doubted they would get very far. Still, he wasn’t willing to give up. Alt-Snap needed their help, and whether or not he wanted it, he was going to get that help.

“Leave him alone.” Rudy demanded.

“Oh?” Dark Rudy asked, taking a few steps towards him. “And do you think I’m going to listen to you just because you made a demand? How pathetic. But I expect nothing less from my weak white chalk counterpart.” He took a few more steps. He paused when Penny moved in closer next to him. His dark grin broadened. “Ah, dear Penny... How nice it is to see you again, sweetheart..” Penny growled at this statement. “Maybe it is a good thing you other dimensioners came in.. A second chance is always good. Maybe you’ll..see the light...”

“We’ll never join you!” Snap shouted. He struggled against Ms. Saffron’s grasp. The woman tried to hang onto him, but soon she released him. The injured zoner ignored his pain as he limped over to stand with his friends. “If there’s..enough of the Rudy I know still left in you..you’ll know that we don’t back down easily...”

“We’re a team!” Penny took a step forward. “And together, we will defeat you..and your master!”

Dark Rudy shook his head, laughing shaking his shoulder. “Oh you three really are something! I can’t believe I was really this deluded!”

“You shouldn’t underestimate your enemies, Rudy.” Ms. Saffron said, gritting her teeth. “You never know when it will land you in hot water.”

“Oh please, spare me the lecture, you old hag.” Dark Rudy sneered. Ms. Saffron snarled at him. “I know very well what I’m up against. I remember what it was like being on...that kind of team...” Dark Rudy held his sword out, the sharp tip facing them. “And I know exactly how to tear it down...”

Snap took a step forward, his hand tightened in a fist. “We’d like to see you try!”

Dark Rudy looked down at him. “Oh really now?” He suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Snap by his scarf and hoisted him off the ground with ease.

“Snap!” Rudy called out.

“Put him down!” Penny shouted.

Ms. Saffron’s eyes widened in horror. “Release him at once!”

The three of them started to make their way over. But they didn’t get that far when Dark Rudy placed his blade against Snap’s throat, threatening to slash it if they got any closer. They froze, watching the scene in horror. Dark Rudy’s face contorted into a twisted smile. He looked at Snap, watching as the zoner’s eyes widened in terror.

“I know you aren’t the same Snap as from my dimension.” Dark Rudy sneered evilly, exposing his teeth in a nasty grin. He put his face close to Snap’s. “But it’s still going to be fun putting my sword through you...”

“No!” Rudy and Penny shouted in horror, reaching their hands out towards Snap.

“Don’t do it!” Ms. Saffron cried, horror plastered over her face.

Dark Rudy chuckled at them and then looked down at Snap. The zoner looked clearly frightened and struggled to himself free. His efforts proved useless. Rudy was forced to watch as Dark Rudy pulled his sword back, preparing to plunge the metal blade through his friend’s stomach. He wanted to do something, anything. But he didn’t think he’d be able to make it in time. It would only take a second for Dark Rudy to slice his friend open.

No... they couldn’t just stand around. They had to take action. His body shaking in anger, he began to move towards Dark Rudy. Penny and Ms. Saffron followed close behind. Dark Rudy moved back away, watching them chase him in amusement. He jumped onto a higher ledge and held Snap out to them. He placed his blade against his throat and began to apply pressure. Snap let out a cry of pain as the blade started to cut into his neck. Rudy, Penny, and Ms. Saffron watched this, their bodies shaking in terror.

Suddenly, before anyone could make a move to stop this horrific act, Alt-Snap rushed forward and slammed against Dark Rudy. The force was enough to make Dark Rudy let go of Snap. The zoner fell into the ground and rolled down the small, debris fill. Alt-Snap shot a laser at Dark Rudy’s chest, hitting square on his armor. Though the beam reflected, the force of the impact knocked him back more. When Dark Rudy tripped and fell, Alt-Snap rushed down and picked up his counterpart with some difficulty and carried him down away from the debris. He rushed him over to his friends and set him down.

As Rudy knelt down to pick Snap up, Alt-Snap made gestures with his hands, trying to shoe them away. “Get out of here now! Ms. Saffron, take them away! Please!”

“Come with us! Rudy’s distracted! Now is our chance to go!” Ms. Saffron yelled, her eyes wide in fear.

What happened next, none of them saw coming. None of them had seen Dark Rudy rush down the hill, grabbing his sword. None of them had seen him angle around in a circle, going for a surprise attack from behind. None of them realized what he was about do...until it was too late.

Rudy, Penny, Snap, and Ms. Saffron let out a surprised cry when they were suddenly shoved aside by Dark Rudy. They staggered, almost falling to their knees. Then, what happened next froze their blood, a sharp, uncomfortable feeling swelling up in their stomachs. They didn’t have time to react. They didn’t have time to do something about it. All they could do was stare in horror as the unthinkable happened.

Alt-Snap had time to just get a quick look at the blade before Dark Rudy jabbed it straight through his stomach. His eyes widened and he started to cough up a little blood. Then Dark Rudy lifted him up into the air. This irritated Alt-Snap’s wound and he let out a few cries of pain. Dark Rudy stood there, holding Alt-Snap above his head. The zoner looked down at him, his eyes wide in fear and pain, any amount of defiance in him earlier gone. Blood poured from his mouth. He gripped the blade, slicing his own hands in an attempt to get himself free. He cried, tears flowing down his face.

The sight of this sent ice through Rudy’s veins. His body trembled and he took a step back. He could hardly breathe. He couldn’t tear his eyes away. His eyes traveled from the blood moving down Alt-Snap’s wounds, down to the floor where the blood was collecting in a small, dark red pool. His mind nearly went numb, unable to process anything else going on. He couldn’t hear Ms. Saffron’s cry of disbelieve, Snap’s scream of horror, or Penny’s gasp of shock. All he could see was his counterpart holding Alt-Snap up, sword going through through his stomach.

Dark Rudy kept Alt-Snap elevated above the ground for several seconds, his face at first showing nothing but disgust for Alt-Snap. Then he started to smile twistedly, baring his teeth. Showing no remorse, Dark Rudy thrust his sword with as much force as he could. Alt-Snap was released from the sword and he crashed into the ground. Blood splattered everywhere, leaving behind a trail as he rolled across the ground. He came to stop on his back. He whimpered and cried in agony as he struggled to get up. He looked over at Dark Rudy, his eyes staring up at him in fear, silently begging him to leave him alone.

Dark Rudy knelt down, smiling evilly at his former friend. “Well..looks like this is the end, eh, old friend?” Alt-Snap tried to speak, but he started to choke on his own blood and he coughed pitifully. His body trembled from fear and pain. “Such a shame it had to end this way, Snap.” He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “Oh well... Let me grant you at least one kindness. I’ll end your pain for you..now..”

With that, Dark Rudy hooked an arm around Alt-Snap’s neck. He then grabbed his head with his other. Mustering as much strength as he could, he started to twist Alt-Snap’s head, bending his neck beyond its normal limitations. Alt-Snap’s eyes went wide and he let out a scream. This only lasted a few seconds as Dark Rudy made a sharp jerk and there was a resounding crack that seemed to echo. Alt-Snap’s body stiffened up at this, taking in a reflex gasp. Then his body went limp, his glazed eyes remaining open. Dark Rudy released him and took a few steps back. He smirked down at the dead body of his former friend before he turned his attention to the group.

“Now..where were we..?” Dark Rudy asked.

Rudy, Penny, and Snap’s minds were frozen in shock and terror at what they just witnessed. They were in absolute shock, their bodies trembling. They were only broken out of their thoughts when Ms. Saffron, tears in her eyes, grabbed onto them and pulled on them.

Ms. Saffron shouted in a cracked voice, “L-Let’s get out of here..now!”

Although they didn’t have time to fully register what happened, though they were still in shock, Rudy and his friends knew that they couldn’t stay there. They had to get moving. Ignoring their pain and trying to fight back against the cold shock that gripped them, they started to follow Ms. Saffron towards the next hideout. They moved as fast they could, their stunned minds not looking back at the gruesome scene.

Dark Rudy smirked at this. There was a flap of wings behind him, and he turned to see Draow. The bat wolf growled lowly as he approached Dark Rudy. He lowered himself to the ground, letting Dark Rudy climb on top of him.

“Come on, Draow..” Dark Rudy said evilly as the bat wolf rose up to his feet. Dark Rudy adjusted himself so that Draow’s cannon weapons would not bother him. “Let’s go have a little fun with our.. ‘guests’...”

With that, Draow let out a screech. He pawed the ground, kicking up dust. Then he charged forward, going straight towards the fleeing group.

Chapter Text

Rudy didn’t look back. He didn’t stop. He could feel his chest burning as he continued to run. He didn’t know how long he was going to be able to handle it, but he couldn’t stop. Not now. Neither could the others. He could hear their heavy panting, their feet hitting the ground. Even as they headed up the debris hill and through the uneven ground, they still didn’t slow down.

A few times, they would nearly trip as pieces of rock and metal were stuck above the ground. It didn’t help that they were going in some place pretty dark and not very well lit. He could barely see what was in front of his face. But he had no choice but to keep running. He had to get moving. None of them were safe here. They were never safe, and seeing what happened earlier, that just cemented that belief. They had to get out of here as fast as they can, despite how tired their bodies were getting from the running, from the dodging.

Rudy’s mind was numb. Even though a lot happened just a short while ago, the fight, the trash talk, the blood, the death... None of that fully registered in his mind right now. His mind was a blank, and the only thing that he could think of doing now was run. His body was pumped with adrenaline. His legs felt like they were on fire. He wanted to sit down and relax. The danger present prevented him from doing this. He had to keep moving, despite his body roaring at him to slow down.

He hardly registered that Penny, Snap, and Ms. Saffron were with him. He knew they were there. He knew that he was not running alone. But his mind barely took notice of them. Just enough that he knew they were there. But he still hardly noticed them, his eyes mostly seeing just a vague interpretation of where he was running. The shock value of what he had just witnessed was the cause of this. His mind was still reeling from witnessing what Dark Rudy had done to Alt-Snap. It was an unexpected and shocking event, a part of his mind was in denial.

He heard a loud roar behind him. His heart pumping faster, he pushed himself harder. Then there was the scrape of claws and Rudy felt a rush of air behind him. Without looking, he knew that Draow had just tried to grab him. It was shere luck that he had been able to dodge the claws. Rudy dared to look behind, and his mind suddenly snapped back to reality when he saw Draow and Dark Rudy heading right for him, preparing for another attempt to grab him. This time, Draow was leaning his head forward, his jaws split wide open. Rudy realized, in dread, that he wouldn’t be able to get out of the way in time.

Before Draow could grab him, he felt Penny pull him to the side. The jaws slammed shut right next to him. He winced at teh sound of teeth clanging together with such shere force. He looked at Penny, giving her a shocked but grateful expression, and they picked up the pace. He and Penny followed Ms. Saffron, holding Snap, down the dark tunnels. They were grateful that she still wore the armor; the slight glint to the metal made it easier for them to see her as they navigated the dark tunnels.

Unfortunately, this also meant that Draow could still follow them. Not that he couldn’t follow them before. Being part wolf, his eyesight in the dark was better than theirs. Even without the glinting armor, Draow could still follow them. And follow, he did. He kept chasing them through the tunnel. At least he couldn’t fly in here. Not enough room. But that was of little comfort to the fleeing group as the beast got closer, hearing shouts from Dark Rudy for him to hurry up and get them. Rudy had no idea just how they were going to shake off Draow and Dark Rudy.

Draow slashed the ground as he tried to grab them. He fired his smaller lasers, trying to collapse the tunnel. It almost worked at one point and the group nearly got trapped with those two on their tail. Luckily they were able to get out of the way in time. Draow then started to fire at them, specificially their feet. This made Rudy realize that Dark Rudy wanted them alive. But why? It didn’t take him long to realize what that was. He wanted to take them back to his master, Mr. Cosmo. At least, him, Penny, and Snap. He did seem to indicate earlier that he wanted to get them to join him.

Draow let out a roar of frustration. The roar echoed throughout the tunnel, causing small pieces of debris to fall down. Rudy wanted to cover his ears so much, but he had to focus on running. He then heard another shout, this one from Penny, followed by a loud thud. He stopped and he turned. His heart froze when he saw Draow upon Penny, opening his gaping maw to seize her up.

“No!” Rudy shouted. He rushed over, picking up a piece of twisted metal. He slammed the piece against Draow, making him jerk his head to the side with a painful screech. “Leave her alone!”

Draow shook his head. He glared down at Rudy, baring his sharp teeth. He raised his wing claw and struck forward, hitting Rudy in the chest. Rudy let out a grunt of pain and backed up. He looked at his chest, seeing a line of red across it. He held onto it and stared at Draow and Dark Rudy with one eye. He didn’t stand there for long. He turned to Penny, grabbed her arm, and pulled her up to her feet.

“Are you okay?” Rudy asked.

“Yeah I’m fine...” Penny steadied herself with her cane. She looked back as Draow spread his wings as far as he could, the fur on his back ruffling. “Let’s get out of here!”

The two friends started to run towards where Ms. Saffron. The woman had stopped and seen that they had fallen behind. A horrified look was on her face as she watched them being chased down by Draow. The bat wolf pounded his feet against the ground, getting closer to them. Ms. Saffron didn’t start running again until Rudy and Penny caught up with her. Once more, the group ran together down the dark tunnels, Ms. Saffron leading the way.

Rudy had no idea how they were going to shake off these two. The lasers were making this complicated. If they get trapped behind a collapsed tunnel, what were they going to do? Only Ms. Saffron had weapons and she can’t take on both Dark Rudy and Draow. Rudy, Penny, and Snap were all injured and would have a tough time fighting back in their current state. No doubt those two would take advantage of their wounds and target them. They needed another way to get out of here. But how?

Without warning, there was a rush of air behind them, a dark shadow casting over them, and before they knew it, Draow slammed onto the ground in front of them, causing the ground to shake and crack. The group screamed and skidded to a stop just as Draow slammed his jaws in front of them, narrowly missing Penny. Dark Rudy smirked evilly at them as Draow spread his wings once more, not to fly, but to block any attempt for them to run around them. The group froze, and moved back as Draow started to advance on them.

“Give it up, you four.. I have you trapped.” Dark Rudy said. A snort from Draow caused him to add, “We have you trapped... You have nowhere to go. You could try running the other way, but then...” He snapped his fingers.

At this, Draow pointed his cannons up towards the ceiling of the tunnel behind them. He snapped his fingers and, seconds later, the laser pummeled through the ceiling. Pieces of metal, wood, and concrete came crashing down on them, kicking up dust and causing them to cough. Rudy and the others took a step back and they saw that the tunnel had collapsed. Not completely; there was still a way out. But it was so difficult to get to, and by the time they’d get there, Draow would have grabbed them already. They looked back at Dark Rudy and Draow, their breaths quickening as Dark Rudy hopped off of Draow and started to approach them.

“Nowhere to run to now. You can either try to run, but get captured...” Dark Rudy said. “..or you can do the sensible thing and just surrender now. We’ll go easier on you if you come with us willingly. Won’t we, Draow?” Dark Rudy turned his head to Draow. The bat wolf gave a low growl, but nodded his head once. The corrupted teenager then looked back at the group. “See?” He used his hand to gesture. “Now..come along...”

Rudy looked around, trying to find a way out of this situation. With them trapped, it didn’t seem like they had anywhere to go. They could try fighting back, but how well would that go? Ms. Saffron might be able to hold her ground, but for how long? Dark Rudy could easily kill her, just like he had with Alt-Snap. Running away wasn’t going to work in here, though. Those two monsters were blocking their paths. They could surrender and be able to live long enough to form another plan, but...that may not work. Whose to say that those two won’t cripple them so they can’t fight back?

Rudy felt so confused. He wasn’t sure what they could do to get out of here. He moved back with the others. They pressed their backs against the debris wall behind them. Ms. Saffron had set Snap on the ground and took position in front of them. She held out her new long pole, fully prepared to fight. This just amused Dark Rudy and he continued to approach them. Rudy looked all around once more, trying to find any kind of weak point, any place they could escape to, or any kind of weapon they could use to slow down Draow and Dark Rudy. Dark Rudy got closer. Draow moved in and snagged Saffron, holding her so that Dark Rudy could continue walking towards the trio.

He wasn’t able to think of anything before Dark Rudy stood in front of him. It was unsettling having his counterpart this close to him. It gave him chills looking at this boy’s eyes, seeing them so full of hatred and evil...no ounce of kindness in them. Rudy felt his stomach lurch a little as he stared at the person he had almost become a few years ago. The person standing before him was him...and yet he was not. It gave Rudy conflicting feelings as Dark Rudy still more or less sounded and looked like him, yet his personality was more like Mr. Cosmo’s. This Rudy was not the kind-hearted person he was, but instead he was a manipulative monster. It was scary seeing just what he would have become had Skrawl not been there to knock the black chalk out of his hand.

“Hard to believe I used to be so weak...” Dark Rudy said, eyeing Rudy up and down. “I feel almost sick looking at you, because all I can see is wasted potential.”

Rudy growled at this. “And you are all I never wanted to be. I’ll never join you.”

“Not like you have much of a choice. You see, after I take you to my master’s, the first thing he’ll do is drag your sorry ass into ChalkZone and make you use the black chalk.” Dark Rudy sneered, folding his arms against his chest. “After that, you’ll make a fine assistant...”

“I won’t let you do that!” Penny snapped at him, moving up next to Rudy to offer support. “You’re not going to use him like that!”

“Oh I know..it’s not just him...” Dark Rudy stared intently at Penny. He reached out and cupped her chin. “I’ll convince Cosmo to...initiate you too, sweetheart. I do so miss your company at times.” Penny’s eyes widened and she gritted her teeth. “Yes...Your intelligence was of..most useful asset. I’d love to have that back.”

Penny pushed his hand away. “I’d never help you!”

“Yeah! Why would anyone help a loon like you?” Snap shouted at him, showing him his fist.

Dark Rudy stared at him for a few moments. Before Rudy or Snap could react, Dark Rudy reached over and grabbed Snap by his scarf again and yanked him forward. This time, he didn’t try to lift him up. He just held him in place, refusing to let go. Snap grunted and tried to make Dark Rudy let go, pushing against his hand. Dark Rudy put his face close to Snap’s. He glared at Rudy and Penny, silently telling them he’ll hurt Snap if they made a move. Then he looked down at the zoner.

“Ah...Snap.. I’m sure you’ll be more useful than my Snap.. He never saw the light. He never understood progress...” Dark Rudy reached over with his other hand and gently ran it along Snap’s head, from the top and to the back. “But perhaps you will be different. Maybe you will be of some use to me.”

Snap turned his head to the side, growling. “Why would I help you?”

“Oh, no reason...” Dark Rudy said in a calm voice. Then when he spoke again, his voice was suddenly deep, the scratchiness adding a whole new level of creepiness to the sudden shift of tone. “...except I’d hate to be responsible for the death of another future servant!” With that, he suddenly threw Snap into the ground, causing the zoner to cry out. Dark Rudy pressed his foot against his back and held him down. “And besides...I don’t think you’d want anything to happen to your...friends, now do you?”

“Wh-What do you mean?” Snap asked, his eyes widening.

Dark Rudy grinned evilly. “Well, Snap, you see...”

He didn’t have time to finish. There was a sudden scream that echoed through the air. Everyone looked over to see what was going on. It didn’t take them long to see that Draow had released Ms. Saffron. He staggered back. The way he was limping back suggested that Ms. Saffron had used her pole to smash against his right foot. The sudden pain the bat wolf experienced caused him to release the woman. Once on her feet, she whirled around and smacked Draow in the head again. Draow shook his head and roared at her. In seconds, he charged for her.

Ms. Saffron rushed over to where Dark Rudy was. Rudy looked at her, confused. What was she doing? Why was she running towards Dark Rudy? Rudy soon noticed that his counterpart also looked confused and hadn’t tried to hurt Snap more. Had Ms. Saffron never done something like this before? Did it really take Dark Rudy by this much surprise? Either way, this temporary distraction is just what he and Penny needed. The two of them lurched forward. Penny grabbed onto Snap while Rudy shoved his counterpart away.

Dark Rudy stumbled. When he regained his footing, he looked over and saw that Penny was holding onto Snap protectively. The trio were all glaring at him. Rudy had taken a fighting stance. Dark Rudy growled angrily at this. He took a step forward but then stopped as he felt something brush by him. He looked to see it was Ms. Saffron. Dark Rudy’s eyes widened, as if he remembered what happened seconds ago. He turned around, but by then it was too late.

Draow, in a desperate attempt to get at Ms. Saffron, had lunged forward. His teal eyes widened in shock when he realized he was heading for the wrong target. It was too late to stop the attack. Before anyone knew it, Draow had slammed against Dark Rudy, crashing into the ground. Dark Rudy let out a cry of pain as one of Draow’s claws accidentally cut into his side. Shouting in anger and pain, Dark Rudy started to slam his fist against the side of Draow’s head, prompting grunts of pain from the large zoner.

“Get off of me, you fleabag!” Dark Rudy snarled. He punched Draow in the head again. “I said off!”

“I’m trying!” Draow called out. “But my legs...” At this, there was scraping sound, Draow’s feet trying to regain their footing. “They’re at an odd angle..I can’t get up!”

“Draow, sometimes you’re worthless!” Dark Rudy hissed as he tried to wriggle his way out from underneath the bat wolf.

Ms. Saffron took a stance by Rudy, Penny, and Snap. The trio were watching this scene in shock, not expecting something like this to happen. They only moved when Ms. Saffron tugged at Rudy’s arm. The boy looked up at her, his eyes still wide from what he had witnessed.

“Come on! While they’re distracted!” Ms. Saffron shouted.

Rudy, Penny, and Snap looked at each other. They then looked at Dark Rudy and Draow. For now, the two were still more or less tangled with each other. Draow’s feet were angled too far to the side. It looked painful, but Draow was hardly reacting to it, probably due to the fact that his attention was on Dark Rudy, who was hitting him. Rudy could see his counterpart trying to get out from underneath Draow. The beast’s chest and stomach laid across him, his body weight pinning him down.

Rudy had no idea how long this was going to last. As soon as one of them got free, they were in trouble. He turned to Penny and gave her a nod. They looked over at where Ms. Saffron was running. Without wasting anymore time, they headed out in her direction, rushing past Draow and Dark Rudy and continuing on their way. Penny cradled Snap in her arms while they ran. Rudy ran along behind Penny, determined to offer protection to his friends and Ms. Saffron in case Draow or Dark Rudy got free and came after them. So far, though, they remained trapped on the ground, but that wouldn’t last long, he knew.

They continued to rush down the tunnel, noting how much darker it was getting. It got to the point where they could hardly see the glint of her armor. This worried Rudy. What would happen if they went further and they could no longer notice her? Rudy really wished that she had set up lights down here. Or maybe this place wasn’t used that much and she saw no need for lights? Rudy tried to ignore what might go wrong, and instead focused on following Ms. Saffron the best that he could. He could still see Penny in front of him. Noticing her limping, he moved closer to her.

Now running along her side, he gently touched her arm. When she looked over at him, he made a gesture with his hands. Realizing instantly what he wanted, Penny moved her arm over, the one that she had looped around Snap’s body as gently as she could. Rudy took Snap into his arms. Now that Rudy had Snap, Penny had an easier time with moving. Then, after getting Snap onto his back, the zoner holding onto his neck for support, Rudy went over and grabbed Penny’s arm. Using himself as support, Rudy helped get his two friends away from the danger faster.

They soon heard a loud roar and they knew that Draow was back on his feet. This thought was proven correct when they heard the pounding of feet heading in their direction. Their eyes widening in horror, they pushed themselves to go faster. Ms. Saffron then veered off to the left, a sharp turn. Rudy and Penny nearly stumbled off to the right, but they soon regained their bearings and headed to the left where Ms. Saffron disappeared to.

They froze and looked around. Where did Ms. Saffron go? They looked left and right, but saw nothing. It was so dark now. Had it gotten so dark to the point where the armor no longer glinted? The thought chilled Rudy’s blood. How were they going to get out of this if they didn’t have any idea where they were or how to get out? Draow’s footfalls came closer, accompanied by a lighter pair. Dark Rudy was coming towards them as well. Rudy, Penny, and Snap looked at each other, unsure of what they were going to do.

Then something happened they did not expect. The side of the tunnel opened. A hatched was lifted and there was bright light. The sight of this caused the trio to gasp and turn their heads, the bright light hurting their eyes after being in the dark for a while. Then a dark shadow formed from the light. They were startled at first, but soon relieved when it was just Ms. Saffron. There was some strange movement with the shadow, and they realized she was gesturing for them to come on in. Hearing Draow and Dark Rudy shouting behind them, they rushed over.

The trio entered through where Ms. Saffron was. Seconds later, as the entrance closed, they heard the sound of scraping and footsteps. They all froze, waiting to see what would happen. Rudy was very worried, and so were the others. They all watched, tension rising in their hearts, hardly breathing. Draow had a great sense of smell. If he caught whiff of them, then he might...

Just then there was a loud beeping sound coming from the other side of the ‘door’ they just came in from. Not a loud one, but one that was constant, continuous, and kind of reminded them of a ring tone. The footsteps stopped and they heard the sound of clicking.

“Hrm...” Dark Rudy said. There was another click, like he was shutting something. “We’ll have to call off the hunt for now, Draow.”

“Why is that?” Draow sounded very disappointed.

“The master wants to see us. I am guessing he has, somehow, become aware of our... ‘guests’. He must have noticed them coming in or something. You know how he tends to notice things we don’t.” Dark Rudy stated. Footsteps. He was walking over to Draow’s side. “Let’s get going. We can always get them later.”

Draow let out a frustrated sigh. “I still can’t believe Mr. Cosmo put you in charge of this instead of me.”

Dark Rudy laughed. “There’s a good reason he chose me, Draow. You’re too impulsive.” A low growl from Draow. “Now quit your complaining and let’s get going. You know how the master does not like it when we are late to return.”

“Yes, oh wise one.” Draow said, his voice laced in sarcasm. There was the sound of footfalls, and then, as seconds passed, nothing.

The group remained frozen where they were. They weren’t sure yet if it was safe. Something could still go wrong. Draow and Dark Rudy could still come back. They remained still, quiet. Their breathing was very slow and calm, trying to make as little noise as possible. Their eyes were glued onto the ‘door’, waiting, half expecting Draow to suddenly tear through it like it was nothing. Then, after a few minutes, and with no sign of Draow or Dark Rudy, the group have a small sigh of relief.

Now knowing that they weren’t in danger anymore, Rudy took the time to look around the room they had come into. This one had a large light. He noted the chalky outlines and realized this was made in ChalkZone and brought in here. This room was a little larger than the other hideout they were in. The large light, in the shape of a cylinder, was located in the center, and the room itself was a ring around it. There were a few places to sit and a couple of dressers where he guessed their supplies went. Then he noticed something that made his heart stop.

There was a small desk on the other side of the light. He walked around slowly, staring intently at it. He saw that there were two chairs there. Just two, one for Ms. Saffron, and the other... Alt-Snap... The realization made his stomach nearly lurch out of his chest. Alt-Snap...he was gone... He looked over at Ms. Saffron. She was standing away from them, leaning her back against the strangely smooth metallic wall that surrounded them. Rudy would have taken the time to admire at how well constructed this place was, if he wasn’t full of sadness over what had happened with Alt-Snap.

Rudy glanced at his friends. They had taken notice of Ms. Saffron’s expression, as well as the desk, with the one chair that would never be used again. Tears pushed against the back of his eyes, and he did his best to fight them back. Both Penny and Snap looked remorseful for what happened and he couldn’t blame them. They had just witnessed the death of someone, a version of Snap, right before their eyes. He had died in such a horrific manner, and the fact that the one who broke his neck used to be his friend...a version of Rudy himself...that made the situation all the more horrific.

Out of them, he imagined Snap probably felt the worst. He was the one that Alt-Snap saved right before he was killed. Dark Rudy had tried to kill Snap, but Alt-Snap kept that from happening. Then, seconds after that, Dark Rudy managed to skewer Alt-Snap like he was nothing more than cubed meat for a barbecue. Snap might be blaming himself for what happened. Alt-Snap pretty much gave his life for him. If it hadn’t been for that risky move, Snap wouldn’t be here. Rudy wished he could have thanked him for that.

As much as Alt-Snap acted like a jerk, he really wasn’t such a bad guy. Sure he rubbed them wrong way and was pretty rude a few times. But he had good reason to be like that, and he did apologize to them. He was helpful to them, offering them aid. Rudy stared at the black liquid that Alt-Snap had given him. This might have been the last bit of medicine he had, and he had given it to him... Rudy felt the tears start to move down his face as the realization started to hit him. There really was some of the old Snap left in Alt-Snap. It was a shame that this had to happen to him.

As he sat Snap on the ground, helping him maintain balance, he could hear footsteps. He looked over and saw that Penny was walking over to where Ms. Saffron was standing. It took her a while, her limp causing her to move more slowly, irritated from the run they were forced to go on earlier. Soon she reached Ms. Saffron’s side. She reached up and touched the woman on the shoulder. It took a little while for Ms. Saffron to register this, and she looked down.

“We’re...we’re...” Penny bit her lip, her voice laced in sadness. “We’re so sorry for what happened to your Snap...”

Ms. Saffron’s eyes watered more, and from this distance, Rudy could see her tears. “I-I know...” Ms. Saffron wiped her eyes. “I know..” She sniffled and she looked up towards the ceiling. “I-I knew our luck would run out someday.. I just never imagined it’d be like this...”

“I feel awful.” Snap lamented, his gaze facing downwards. “I-If I hadn’t been so stupid..if I hadn’t put myself in danger, he..he wouldn’t have...”

“Don’t blame yourself, Snap.” Ms. Saffron spoke up, her voice cracked with emotion. She took in a shuddering breath and continued, “Y-You didn’t nothing wrong...”

“I still wish we could have...” Rudy said, biting his lip. “I mean..if we had acted faster..maybe...”

“Please don’t try to guilt yourselves. No matter what you did, our Rudy would have..found a way to kill our Snap eventually.” Ms. Saffron said. She shed more tears as she turned her head to look at Penny, and then back at Rudy. She wiped her runny nose and cleared her throat. “We...we can’t let ourselves fall into despair...that’s what they would want us to do... We need to focus on getting that cure for you, Rudy. There isn’t much time left to get it.”

Rudy and his friends, though they knew how devastating Alt-Snap’s death was, even more so to Ms. Saffron who had known him better than they did, understood that the woman was right. They didn’t have a lot of time to grieve about what happened. As hard as it was, they had to keep moving forward. They needed to locate that cure. If they didn’t have it when they were flung into the next dimension...they weren’t sure what they were going to do.

Ms. Saffron walked over to one of the dressers. She opened it up and pulled out what looked to be a dirty, torn map. Rudy, Penny, and Snap approached, looking down with looks of a mix of sadness and curiosity. Ms. Saffron wiped her eyes and sucked on her lip. She was doing her best to fight back her tears and focus on the task at hand. Rudy, Penny, and Snap were doing the best they could to control their tears, but they found it impossible. Poor Alt-Snap... The only comfort any of them had was that his death blow was at least swift. He didn’t suffer for long. But they’ll never get his death scream out of their heads, or that sickening crack...

“Okay..” Ms. Saffron’s broken voice spoke up, catching their attention. She pressed her finger against the map. “We are located here.” She moved her finger along towards the right. “Mr. Cosmo’s stronghold is here. A few miles away.”

Rudy looked carefully at the map. He noted that the stronghold wasn’t in the same spot as Mr. Cosmo of his dimension was. This one was located a little further out of the city. He wondered if Mr. Cosmo decided to build his own place of operations instead of using that one news station.

“The cure you seek, the zebra chalk, it’s located somewhere in there.” Ms. Saffron said.

“In there?” Rudy asked, looking at the flat details of the stronghold. Just looking from this, he knew the place was going to be massive. “How do you know this?”

“Because Snap...” Ms. Saffron paused, staring blankly for a few seconds. Then she forced herself to continue. “...and I overheard some of the zoner slaves who used to be around here talk about it. There was some mention of Mr. Cosmo receiving it from an anonymous source, but we didn’t hear much else. We knew, from the start, it was important.” She looked at Rudy. “It wasn’t until you arrived we realized just how important it was.”

“Just what is the zebra chalk anyway?” Penny asked.

Ms. Saffron said, “From what Snap and I were able to find out, based on what we heard from zoner slaves and from listening in on Mr. Cosmo’s conversations with our Rudy and Draow, the zebra chalk is made up of purified black chalk laced with white chalk.”

“A hybrid chalk?” Snap asked, his eyes wide. Ms. Saffron nodded her head. “I..hope it isn’t dangerous.”

Rudy and Penny looked at each other with unease. They understood what Snap was talking about. The last time they had encountered hybrid chalk, it was with Bardot. The zoner was part red and part white. He was a very nasty zoner, one of the most terrifying individuals they ever met. Would the zebra chalk create something similar? Did it have the potential of creating mentally unstable zoners like that?

Ms. Saffron looked at them sympathetically. “I’m aware of your encounter with Bardot, the hybrid zoner.” She said solemnly. She closed her eyes. “With that kind of encounter with hybrid chalk, I can see why you would be so hesitant with the zebra chalk.” She reopened her eyes. “But far as I know, the zebra chalk isn’t quite so dangerous.”

The trio looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

“I do not know the actual function of it, but there as never any talk from Mr. Cosmo or our Rudy to use it. If the chalk had some kind of dangerous function, believe me, they would have used it, perhaps in the war that tore both the real world and ChalkZone apart. But I do know that the black portions of this chalk are harmless. Being wrapped around and fused with white chalk like that, it makes the black portions more stable, less poisonouss.” Ms. Saffron explained. “In otherwards, black chalk that won’t corrupt you.”

Rudy’s eyes widened at this. Black chalk that wouldn’t corrupt him? He never thought he’d see the day. This didn’t make him want to go and use the zebra chalk. He was still quite wary about it and for good reason. He had nearly lost himself to it, and he had seen what he would have become had it used it too long. Still, the idea that the zebra chalk contained traits of non-corrupting black chalk that wouldn’t drive him insane...

His thoughts were interrupted when Penny spoke up.

“So the white chalk ‘tames’ the black chalk?” Penny asked. “Fascinating...”

“It sounds a little too easy to me.” Snap said under his breath. “Nothing is ever easy for us.”

“You’d be correct on that.” The trio looked back at Ms. Saffron. “The zebra chalk is very rare because combining the two types of chalk is very difficult, so I’ve heard. The white chalk is able to tame the black chalk by absorbing...something... You see, the black chalk has the potential of being rather harmless, just giving some new level of knowledge to aid chalk users without driving them into madness. But there’s something in them that makes them this way. The white chalk simply removes that.”

“So the white chalk can be used to cure black chalk users?” Rudy asked. It was a sudden, out of the blue question. But it needed to be asked.

Ms. Saffron shook her head. “It’s not that simple. The black chalk keeps a strong hold on its..victims...” She leaned back and folded her arms. “The only real way to revert the change is to destroy the black chalk. Combining it with white chalk isn’t practical on a large scale. The black chalk is in multiple places, and it would be hard to find them all. Obviously ‘taming’ one area of black chalk is not going to help.”

Rudy nodded solemnly, understanding. It would be too easy if they could just go to one spot and ‘cure’ the black chalk of whatever gave it its corruptive side. Of course if one area of black chalk were changed, it wouldn’t affect the other areas. So there goes that plan of stopping the black chalk. But it still gave him some level of hope. Now there was potentially another way of stopping at least more corruptions. And he still believed there was a way to stop the black chalk for good. He refused to believe that there wasn’t.

Rudy turned his head to Ms. Saffron. “So...how are we going to get the zebra chalk?”

Ms. Saffron looked at him. “The only way...is to get to Mr. Cosmo’s stronghold.” She stared at the three intently, her eyes narrowing slowly. “And unfortunately, there’s only one safe way to do that.”

“And that is?” Snap asked hesitantly.

“Well, let me put it this way.” Ms. Saffron said. “If we mess this up, we could all die.”

Horrified silence fell upon the room.

sss

Dark Rudy grumbled to himself. He was so close...so close to bringing in more allies to Mr. Cosmo’s cause. So close...but it was snatched away from him. And why? All because of his own stupidity. If he hadn’t been so easily distracted, he would have succeeded. Those idiots had nowhere to go. He should have remained more vigilant. He should have realized what Ms. Saffron had been doing and gotten out of the way. He could have made her little plan backfire and have Draow hit the dimensional hoppers instead.

Then again, Draow was also to blame. He shouldn’t have chased after Ms. Saffron like that. If he hadn’t, he would have stood a better chance at forcing the trio to come with him. All of them were trapped with nowhere to go. They were so close to nabbing them... And just where had they snuck off to? They seemed to just disappear into thin air. He would have spent more time trying to find them, but when Mr. Cosmo calls, he has no choice but to answer.

Ah well, there was always next time. As angry as he was at their escape, he convinced himself he could always go after them later. Draow, as much of an idiot as he could be, could always track them down later. There wasn’t a lot of hiding spots left for those dimensional hoppers and Ms. Saffron could go. They would be found sooner or later. And when they were... Dark Rudy smiled darkly. They would not escape this time. He would make sure of that.

Plus, their little encounter hadn’t been all in vain. He had finally managed to get rid of one of the two pests that had been standing in his and Cosmo’s way for sometime. He had dreamed of this moment. He replayed the moment over and over in his head. The way he grabbed onto the zoner, how he twisted his head until his neck snapped. Oh yes...that felt good. Finally, Snap was no longer going to pester him. A part of him was a little sad as he had enjoyed mentally tormenting him. Oh well, all good things must come to an end.

He held onto Draow was they flew over the ruined city. The smell of smoke was constantly in the air. This had taken sometime to get used to, but now the smoke and smell of it no longer bothered him. It was almost comforting in a way. It reminded him of Mr. Cosmo. A lot of this destruction, in a way it was his work. Indirectly, of course. Mr. Cosmo never intended something like this to happen. Not that it matters anyway. Mr. Cosmo wasn’t really to blame for this. It was those idiots who blew themselves into oblivion.

Besides, this ripped apart world could always be rebuilt. They had assumed control of ChalkZone. The zoners were all under their command. They can rebuild this world, but they would rebuild it right. The black chalk would help with that. The black chalk held the knowledge they needed to recreate the world as something more worthwhile. No longer would the weak exist. Only the strong. Yes, it would be a remarkable new world.

He did still recall the times when he used to hate Mr. Cosmo. The thought made him feel at unease. He was not comfortable with thinking about those times. It made his stomach twist in knots. At least the black chalk showed him the right path. It showed him that he was wrong about Mr. Cosmo, and now he seeks to help him in any way he can. He loved Mr. Cosmo now. The man had taken him in, gave him a new home, after he completed his first task and killed his parents. Yes, to some that would seem strange, willingly going with someone who ordered them to kill their parents. But Dark Rudy understood it was necessary. They were going to be in the way anyway, and sacrifices must be made sometimes. His white chalk self would have felt disgusted by the act, but he, enlighted by the black chalk, felt no remorse when he sliced his parents’ throats open.

He could see his master’s stronghold now. Among the broken, shattered trees and charred landscape, he could see the large grey building. It stuck out like a sore thumb. It was large and rectangular, made of solid silver. It rose high above the ground, having many levels to it. There were multiple windows, barely visible, but they were there. The top part of the building became a little more rounded and smooth, and a few sharp spikes rose from the edges of the building.

All around, there were bright white lights, making it easy to spot the place. With no fear of resistance, it didn’t matter how noticeable Mr. Cosmo made this place. It wasn’t like anyone was going to come over and break in. Still, there were some measures of security. A row of lasers were positioned all around, ready to shoot down any unwanted intruders. They took aim at him and Draow. But after doing a quick scan, the lasers lowered themselves and turned off. Not long after that, he and Draow landed in front of the building, facing a tall, thin door, just barely wide enough for Draow to fit through.

The two of them entered and they walked down the long hallway. The inside of the building was sort of like a palace crossed with a dungeon. It looked pretty, but it was warped and twisted, with some dirty spots and chains hanging. The inside was also made of silver, mixed in with some brick and metal. He and Draow made their way into the large room. It was sort of like a throne room, but this was not where Mr. Cosmo hung out. This was just a place where he kept some of his records. Nothing too important; he wasn’t dumb enough to keep important documents laying about.

Behind this large, square-ish room, there was a long, twisting staircase, looking like it was made of marble and lacked a hand rail. He and Draow made their way up. It took them a few minutes, but they soon reached the top level. They were now in another hallway. The silver glinted as they walked down it. Despite being a little heavy, Draow made little to no noise. Dark Rudy knew why that was the case. He did not want to upset Cosmo. The man disliked it when Draow made too much noise walking down here. Dark Rudy never understood why. Maybe it distracts him or something. He never bothered to question it though. His master has reasons for what he did, and he felt it was best not to pester him too much.

They soon reached Mr. Cosmo’s door. It was square-ish at the bottom, but like the building itself, it rounded at the top. Dark Rudy reached up and grabbed the metal handle on the door. He pounded it against the door a few times. He took a step back and he waited. Slowly, the door creaked open, granting him access to his master’s main room where he hung out in most of the time. Draow slowly walked behind him, his head low in submission.

The room was long, cylinder-shaped. There were rows of books, computers, and other equipment around them. There was one corner that was stashed to the ceiling with magic chalk, mostly black, for whenever they needed to rendevous with the destroyed ChalkZone. Up ahead, there was a desk made of black wood, and a tall spinny chair. Dark Rudy approached until he was a few feet in front of the desk.

“Master, I have returned.” Dark Rudy said. He lowered himself onto one knee and lowered his head in submission. Draow did the same, hunkering down. “I came as soon as I got your message.”

“Ah..Rudy...Draow.. my faithful servants.” Mr. Cosmo said. Dark Rudy could not yet see the man, but he knew he was there. He lifted up his head a little, just enough to barely see the chair. Slowly it spun around. “I am glad see you both returned faster than I would have expected.”

Dark Rudy could now see his master. Mr. Cosmo wore a dark green business suit like he always had, accompanied by a pair of dark blue jeans. In addition to that, he did wear some armor. He didn’t always sit up in his stronghold. He did take action, and that armor helped to protect him. Rudy could see his weapon of choice behind him, a long sword equipped with a laser function. Mr. Cosmo had a scar on his left eye, an aspect that made him, somehow, more intimidating.

Dark Rudy did not dare lift his head up any further. He waited for further instruction from Mr. Cosmo before he got up. He did not want to be rude, and he knows what happens if he upset his master. When he saw Mr. Cosmo motion with his hand, only then did he get up. Slowly, he rose to his feet. He still kept his head turned downward, a sign of submission. He heard Draow take a few steps back, settling back further behind him.

Mr. Cosmo tapped his fingertips together, a broad smile on his face. “I take it you two ran into the...dimensional hoppers...?”

Dark Rudy nodded his head. “Yes, we did.”

“I knew you would at some point.” Mr. Cosmo turned his head, his grey-blue eyes staring out the window, towards the broken city. “They landed in one of the most exposed parts of town. I saw them as they fell. I couldn’t believe it...but then again, many bizarre things were accomplished here, so..should I be surprised?” Mr. Cosmo shrugged his shoulders. “I think not...” He paused for a moment. “I take it you weren’t able to catch any one of them?”

Dark Rudy shook his head, a look of regret on his face. “No, I’m afraid not.” He hated bringing his master bad news. He did not want to be a failure to him. Then he remembered something else. He smiled and said, “But I still bring some good news. I finally gotten rid of that zoner pest, Snap. He won’t be causing us trouble anymore.”

Mr. Cosmo tilted his head. “Oh really now...? You got rid of him?”

Dark Rudy nodded his head affirmatively. “That’s correct. I managed to catch him offguard and mortally wounded him. And when he was in that weak state, I snapped his neck in two. He’s dead as a doornail now.”

Mr. Cosmo stared at him for a few seconds, and then smiled darkly. “Excellent...now we just have to take care of..dear Ms. Saffron... Then there’ll be no resistance left.”

Dark Rudy smirked. “Give me the word, and I’ll take care of her.”

“Not now.” Mr. Cosmo said. “First...I want to..meet these dimensional hoppers, these other versions of the people we knew. The other you...the other Snap...the other Penny. They might prove useful to us.”

So it seemed Mr. Cosmo came up with the same idea. It did not surprise him. His master was intelligent, after all. It would make sense that he’d come to the same conclusion as he did earlier. At first, he thought about killing the trio, but thinking about it, he had realized they could serve a practical purpose. They all had some kind of potential. Even though there was little resistance, having more people join them would be a good thing. And who knows? Maybe their potential allies could convince Ms. Saffron to give herself up to the black chalk. After all, just how long does she think she can still fight, after she had lost so much?

Mr. Cosmo got out of the chair. He walked around the desk and headed towards Dark Rudy. He reached over and touched him on his shoulder. Dark Rudy once would have pushed his hand away in disgust. His weak white chalk self would have done that. But now, he welcomed his master’s touch. He stared at the hand for a few seconds, and then looked up at him. Mr. Cosmo usually only did this when he had an important task for him to complete.

“Let us give those...newcomers..a proper greeting, shall we?” Mr. Cosmo asked.

Dark Rudy gave a dark grin.

Chapter Text

Reggie’s distraction worked well, at least for a time. As the teenager had raced down the hall, prompting the two guards to go after him, Terry, Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie, and Mrs. Sanchez head down the opposite hallway, moving quickly so they wouldn’t be in their line of sight when they turned around. Terry knew there wasn’t much time so they hurried as fast as they could. Despite her injuries, she managed to lead them pretty well down the hallway, which would be confusing to anyone who didn’t work here.

The first place Terry thought to check was the newscaster room, of similar design and appearance as the one where she almost exposed ChalkZone years ago. She imagined Vinnie was going to be there, waiting to get on the air. She hoped that he had the tapes with him, or at least the tapes were near that section of the building. If not, there were a few other places they could check. But it would take them a while, decreasing the odds of them finding the tape in time. She tried not to think about how little chance they had, and just focused on keeping moving.

They did a pretty good job, so far, of not getting caught. There were a few people, but none of them stopped them. Terry was a little confused at first. The two guards near the front stated that Vinnie wanted them to keep her out, and she was positive they mentioned her boss as well. She still found it hard to believe Vinnie swayed them to their side, but then, should she be surprised? He can be quite manipulative when he wanted to be. He probably found a way to blackmail them or something.

But it was still odd that no one else in the building, at least none that they ran into, really said anything. There were a few word exchanges, just the typical ‘hello’ kind of thing. Some of them did express concern, but most people going through the hallway were in a big rush and didn’t take time to notice she was hurt. She wondered why they were all in the hurry. There was talk of ‘it is almost time’ and ‘hurry we need to do this now’, types of conversations that Terry would associate with a really big news report.

Whatever the cause of everyone’s rush, Terry couldn’t really stop and think about it for too long. With the other adults in tow, she moved quickly down the hallway. Fast, but not too fast as she did not want to draw too much attention to herself. There was a chance that these people were ordered to kick her out if she showed up and the only reason they didn’t was because it just didn’t cross their minds. Running would look suspicious and they might realize who she was and get her out.

Up ahead, she saw that there were two ways she could go. She looked up, noting the signs. She could see one for the news room. That is what she wanted. She gave a small smile when she realized they had gotten close. They turned down that way and headed down. While they did, Terry hoped that Reggie would be okay. She had no idea how long he would be able to stall the guards. And though there was the chance that the guards would just go back to guarding after getting Reggie out, they might take notice that her news van was there and realize she was in the building. If they sounded the alarm...

She and the adults moved closer to the news caster room. She could see the double doors ahead. She was happy to see that the ‘On Air’ sign was still turned off. That meant that they still had time to get that footage back. All they had to do was confront Vinnie, hopefully alone, and get him to agree to give the tapes back. It was easier said than done, but they had to try. She could not break her promise to Rudy and Penny.

But when the adults got close enough, that was when things went from bad to worse.

They had managed to get to the door. They opened it up and entered it. There wasn’t much people there yet. She saw a few people making some preparations, but of course, there was no audience. All the seats were empty. That was another good sign. There was a little more time than she thought to get the footage back. She hoped that her conversation with Vinnie would go pretty smoothly. With these people there, there was that chance that the others around her would get suspicious if she acted up too much. And just talking about ChalkZone..it was going to be hard with these people around, even if there wasn’t that much.

They weren’t in the room for long before they spotted Vinnie. The billionaire-wannabe was sitting in a chair next to a round table. He was leaning back, relaxing before the airing would begin. Not far from him was a chalkboard, no doubt to demonstrate the use of the magic chalk. The sight of this panicked Terry. Had Vinnie also gotten the magic chalk? Or was it for a completely unrelated purpose? She tried her best not to fill her mind with too many questions and she and the other adults had approached Vinnie.

Terry was not at all surprised when Vinnie reacted poorly to her arrival. He hardly really paid attention to Mrs. Sanchez or the Tabooties. His eyes were soley on hers. He said that the guards should have kept them out. Terry would have been amused by his temper if the situation weren’t so dire. She and the other aduls tried to get him to give the footage back. Vinnie, of course, was not very cooperative and outright refused.

But they didn’t give up that easily. Ignoring the other people around, the adults ganged up on Vinnie, trapping him in the chair he was sitting in. He looked around, wondering outloud what they were going to do to him. They made it clear they don’t want to hurt hi. As tempting as it was, Terry wouldn’t allow it. She did not want to sink to his level. The pain she was in right now, she wouldn’t wish it on anyone, not even someone as nasty as her brother. All she wanted was the footage. Still, Vinnie refused to hand it over. He made it clear he had no intentions on screwing up this chance of a lifetime.

Terry and the adults tried to reason with Vinnie. They tried to tell him of the consequences that would happen if ChalkZone were exposed. The man simply brushed them off. He didn’t really understand the concern since the zoners were just 2D drawings. He admitted he wasn’t even sure if they were really alive or not, but that it wasn’t really a big concern to him if they were. He was interested in making money and ChalkZone was going to make him rich. He talked about how everyone was going to want to come to his chalk world theme park and he could charge them through the roof if he wanted to. It was clear he cared little of the well being of the zoners, and only cared about making as much money as possible.

Realizing this tactic wasn’t going to work, they tried another angle. They tried to get him to understand potential consequences for the real world if ChalkZone was exposed. Since anything drawn in ChalkZone becomes real, and since this means new types of weapons could be drawn, crime rate in the real world might start to rise, since access to firearms and other types of weapon would become very easy. There was also the chance of the more dangerous zoners finding a way into the real world and attack out of retaliation. Whatever came to their mind that would make ChalkZone seem too dangerous to expose, they brought it up.

This did not have the effect they wanted. Vinnie, who had been in ChalkZone before, knows just how not dangerous it was. He was also aware of water being able to neutralize any zoner, so any that would cause problems could be dealt with swiftly. He also said that if ChalkZone was really a danger, then he could just have the whole place destroyed, horrifying the adults. It was clear that this plan was not working. Their only other choice was to be forceful.

But they never got a chance to do that. Not long after, the other adults in the room took notice of them. They came over, wondering what Terry and the other adults were doing there. Terry couldn’t really answer any of their questions because her boss had come in. He shoed the others way, and then he noticed Terry. Terry would have tried to explain to her boss that Vinnie grabbed the wrong tapes or something and that they were trying to get them out. And they did try that angle, but her boss didn’t believe her. And the reason was shocking.

It turned out Vinnie had talked with her boss before about the footage, as well as those two guards, which Vinnie hand selected due to their dislike of Terry. Vinnie revealed to her that he formed a partner ship with her boss and those two guards if they helped him keep her away from the news room, preventing her from stopping him from showing the footage. He had known that there was a chance that she would be able to get here, and he had a feeling that she might have found a way to get past the guards. So he had taken an extra security precaution.

Terry and the adults were horrified by this news. They tried to plead with Terry’s boss, tried to explain to him why he shouldn’t listen to Vinnie. But the boss had apparently seen the footage and he, too, wants in on it. Terry realized that was why the guards didn’t care about her being injured. Their main goal at the moment was keeping her out. Her being injured was not on their list of ‘things to care about’. If anything, it just made their job of keeping her out a little easier. If Reggie hadn’t been there, she wouldn’t have made it past them. And then making fun of her for believing in ChalkZone...it had just been an act to conceal their true intentions.

Then after that terrifying reveal, of her boss and the guards being in cahoots with her brother, the door opened up and she and the adults turned to see Reggie. They were shocked to see he had been injured. Not horrifically, just a few bruises. But still, the idea that the guards attacked the child was terrifying. Terry wouldn’t doubt they dragged Reggie somewhere where no one would see them and started to beat him up a little as punishment for messing with them. They dragged him into the room, each holding onto one of his arms.

Her boss told Terry that he was not going to allow her to screw this up. They needed higher ratings and this chalk world was going to get them those ratings, that money that they needed. He expressed disappointment that she didn’t want to be a part of it, as she had been so gun ho about it before. He tried to coax her back to his side, promising fame and fortune if she did so. But Terry, and the adults who were also offered a position, declined. The boss sighed regretfully and snapped his fingers.

In seconds, a couple of other guards, these larger and stronger than the ones that taunted Terry, showed up. Terry, the adults, and Reggie were escorted down the hallway. Terry quickly realized they were being taken to the storage room in one of the hallways furthest from the news caster room. They did try to escape a few times, but all escape routes were cut off, and they were forced to continue walking with the guards.

Soon they reached the storage room. When the door opened up, they could see it was filled with maintenance supplies, mostly cleaning stuff, like a few brooms, some soap, and a couple of mops. There was one light, pretty dingy and flickering constantly. There was a strong chemical smell in the room from the cleaning supplies that surrounded them. The room itself was pretty small, and with all of them in there, it felt cramped.

Her boss told her that they’ll be locked up in this room until after the airing. Terry tried to stop him, but before she could reach the door, it was shut on her. She tried pounding on the door, demanding to be let out. But it was no use. The footsteps became fainter and she knew they were left alone here. She tested the door knob and it was locked.

And that was where they still were after twenty minutes had passed. Or maybe it was more. Terry wasn’t sure. Her phone was been shut off and she hadn’t asked the others what time it was. She knew a considerable amount of time passed, but she knew it couldn’t have been time up yet. She did not hear anyone coming down the hallway to set them free after the tapes were aired. Unless Vinnie and her boss planned on keeping them in there for an extended period of time for some reason, them not showing up was indication that the tapes weren’t yet aired. They still had time to get out, but not a lot.

Terry had kept quiet. The other adults, as well as Reggie, were discussing plans on getting out, but from the sound of it, they weren’t having a lot of luck. And even if they did get out now, Terry realized the odds of getting to the other side of the building without getting spotted was going to be tough. Who knew how many people here were in on the little secret? They couldn’t risk it. They needed an easier option, which Terry was busy trying to figure out.

Then a thought entered her mind. Why didn’t she think of this before? It would have been the easier option instead of going to find Vinnie. She recalled, somewhere down this part of the building, was one of the video rooms. Although the odds of this video room having the footage, let alone being the one to play them for Vinnie when he goes on the air, were slim, it was their best shot at this point. And the video room was much closer, so it would be easier to get to without worry of resistance.

But the only problem was...they needed to get out of here first. She thought about trying to get the door unlocked, like she had at Vinnie’s place. She still had that item she used before that let her unlock the door. But the problem was she didn’t have that much time. The picking of the lock might take a while. They had to get out of here now. But how else were they going to do it? There was no other door here, no window either. This door, the one she stood a few feet away from, it was their only way out.

An idea hit her. She looked over at Reggie. He looked pretty well muscled, more so than Mr. Tabootie. He might have enough strength to him to get the door open. He could body slam against it a few times. He might be able to generate enough force to break it down. Yes, the act could, most likely would, draw attention to themselves. But the video room wasn’t that far, and they could make a break for it and get there before anyone catches them. There was still the matter of getting into the video room, which wasn’t that easy, but she’ll think of what to do when they get there.

She did feel bad about asking him to do this while injured. The injuries he recieved didn’t look bad, but him slamming against the door might irritate them. She could ask Mr. Tabootie, but he might not be strong enough to break the door down. Maybe if he and Reggie could work together...yeah that might work better. They all couldn’t work on the door at the same time. There wouldn’t be enough room. But Reggie and Mr. Tabootie, who might be the physically strongest people here, they might be able to break the door down if they worked together.

Terry walked over towards them. As she got closer, she could hear their hushed conversations.

“We have to get out of here somehow!” Mrs. Tabootie said.

“I know we do, dear. But...how?” Mr. Tabootie asked, his voice solemn. “The door is locked.”

Mrs. Tabootie looked at her husband. Her eyes were wide with concern. “We have to do something, Joe! We..we promised Rudy we wouldn’t...”

“I know, Milly...I know...” Mr. Tabootie said, lowering his gaze. “I don’t want to fail Rudy either.”

“And I don’t want to fail Penny.” Mrs. Sanchez said. “Which is why I’m not giving up.”

Reggie looked over and took notice of Terry coming over. “Well it’s about time you joined us.” The other adults looked over, noting Terry walking over towards them. “I assume you were in the corner over there, figuring out a plan?”

Mrs. Tabootie stared at Terry and said, “If that’s the case, we would love to know if you thought of anything.”

“Did you come up with any plans? We haven’t been able to so far.” Mrs. Sanchez said.

Reggie shook his head. “Nothing that makes sense anyway.”

Terry paused, thinking about what she was going to say. She could feel all the eyes on her, staring at her, waiting for her to speak up. She could feel the pressure, realizing that it might be all up to her now. The others hadn’t thought of a way out. And now they were dependent on her finding a way. She had no idea if her plan was going to work..but at this point, it was the only chance they had.

Terry cleared her throat and said, “Okay, listen. Here is what we have to do. It’s going to be difficult, but I think we can pull it off.” She moved closer to the adults and began to tell them about her plan.

sss

Sophie struggled with all her might to get free. She kicked her legs. She punched wildly in the air. Nothing she did would land a blow on Ghadir, who held her tightly. She tried jerking herself left and right, but that did nothing to change her current situation. She went as far as try to bite her, and that still didn’t make the woman let go, although it did earn her a slap on the head.

Sophie could hardly believe this was really happening. How did this happen? How could she let it happen? She could feel a sore spot on her head, dull and achy. It wasn’t where Ghadir struck her either. It felt like she was hit in the head with something hard. She hardly remembered what happened recently. She recalled she was out with her mom at a local fitness store. They were picking up some kind of health drink her mom wanted to try. Then they left then..this.

She had no idea where her mother was. When she woke up, she was being carried through this large house by Ghadir. Too stunned to speak, she had immediately tried to struggle. It didn’t work out so well for her. She still struggled, hoping that, somehow, she could get herself free. Nothing worked. Ghadir held a tight grip on her and continued to carry her through the house, heading towards a dark-colored door.

Sophie smelled something strange beyond that door. It was hard to describe to herself what the smell was like. It was sort of familiar, sort of not. It did smell foreboding, making her heart pound as they approached the door. Sophie began to struggle even harder, hoping that she would, somehow, force Ghadir to let go of her. She thrust herself left and right, only to be rewarded with Ghadir squeezing her hard against herself. Sophie’s eyes went wide and she soon stopped, unable to breathe well. Only when she became completely relaxed did Ghadir loosen her grip.

“I recommend that you hold still from now on, little girl. Besides, we’re almost there.” Ghadir said, a dark smile on her face.

Sophie looked up at her fearfully. “Wh-Where are we?”

“That is none of your business, little girl.” Ghadir answered. “I will say this. No one will find you here...at least...not before our next plan is in motion.” She chuckled evilly. Sophie’s eyes widened in fear. “Oh yes..I do have to wonder how your dear cousin will react to this...”

At the mention of Rudy, Sophie let out a gasp. She realized she hadn’t seen Rudy in a while. She recalled that he was very sick and had to stay in ChalkZone. She had known about Rudy getting assaulted in ChalkZone, but last time she checked, he was doing better. From what this woman indicated by the tone of her voice, was it possible that...Rudy got into worse trouble...? Her heart clenched in fear at this. She looked up at her captor, wondering if she had anything to do with whatever else happened to Rudy.

Had he been captured? Was he hurt again? Was he..dead...? Uncomfortable thoughts swirled through her head. Her body started to shake from the emotion. She had to know what happened to Rudy. She just had to. She swore, if this woman and her lackeys did something else to him, she would find a way to make them pay. She knew she couldn’t do much considering her small size, but she was willing to try something. She...she couldn’t just allow them to get away with this.

Her struggles were renewed. She twisted against Ghadir more violently than before. She managed to scratch at her. She started biting her again. She did whatever she could to cause Ghadir pain and loosen her grip. The lunchlady was annoyed but this. Sophie continued trying to get herself free, ignoring any warning sign from Ghadir to slow down. This time, the slaps against her head did nothing. Soon, she managed to make Ghadir let go of her, at least one of her arms. With another twist of her body, Sophie managed to touch the ground.

She tried to run, but had forgotten that Ghadir still had a hold of her. Yanking her arm, Ghadir pulled Sophie back and lifted her up off the ground. She held her up and glared angrily at her. Sophie returned the expression, making it clear she was not going to submit so easily to her. The only thing that stopped her from glaring back is when Ghadir slowly smiled in the most twisted fashion she had seen. At this, Sophie’s expression slowly changed into confusion and fear.

“You know...if you want to struggle so much, go ahead. But...” Ghadir lifted her up a little higher. “..I don’t think mommy is going to appreciate it..”

Sophie’s eyes filled with horror. “M-Mom...?” She felt panic rise up inside of her and, out of desperation, struggled, her body twisting back and forth in the air. “What have you done with her?!”

Ghadir shook Sophie hard and then slammed her against the wall. The eleven year old let out a cry of pain before becoming still in the air. She slowly looked up at Ghadir, a few soft cries emitting from her mouth. “So far..nothing. She is a guest here...though she will be staying elsewhere. She might prove of some use to us. However...” Ghadir put her face close to Sophie’s. “If you continue struggling like a bad little girl, we may just give her the same fate we are...considering for Horace Wilter.”

Sophie gasped. “What are you going to do to him...? To my mom...?”

“Well your mom might be lucky and get out of this situation...provided you cooperate.” Ghadir said. She moved closer to the dark-colored door. She stopped a foot away from it. She kept her attention on Sophie. Her expression showed she was enjoying this mental torment, prolonging things just to watch her squirm a little in uncomfortable anticipation. “So if you be a good little girl, we won’t hurt your mommy. She’ll just be in our...custody for a little while.”

Sophie spoke in a stammering voice, “Wh-What about Wilter...?”

At this, Ghadir narrowed her eyes hatefully. Sophie could tell this hate was not aimed at her, but at the old teacher that still taught Rudy and Penny after all these years. “That little pest has meddled in our plans too much. We know he told Rudy about where those cures are hidden. He just doesn’t know how to stay out of these things... So..” Her eyes twinkled black. “...we are coming up with a more...permanent solution to our problem.”

Sophie couldn’t believe it. She stared at Ghadir with a terrified expression. The black chalk artists were going to..kill Mr. Wilter? No..they couldn’t do that... He..he didn’t deserve that. She had to warn him somehow. She also had to find a way to get her mom out of here. She had no idea if Ghadir was being truthful or not. What if her mom was horrifically injured?

And if what Ghadir said was true, then maybe Rudy was looking for them. If that’s the case, she had to figure out something on her own. Rudy might not make it back in time to save her, her mother, and Mr. Wilter from the black chalk artists’ wrath. There wasn’t much window of opportunity. If she could just get free now, then maybe...

The door opened up. She was lifted higher off the ground. They went towards the door and walked into it. Sophie immediately gasped in horror at what she saw. A large cellar, but the way it was constructed, with the blood platforms, chains, cages..it looked more like some kind of twisted jail crossed with a torture chamber. The smell was much stronger now and she looked all around. Seeing the stains of blood, she realized it must have been that she was smelling. She realized it didn’t smell like blood, though. It smelled...different somehow.

She was taken down the flight of stairs, which had a little bit of rust on them, making the place appear older than it really was. Aside from the blood and dirt stains, the place looked pretty new and polished. Kind of...it was hard for her to explain just how it looked. One word she could definitely use to describe it was ‘terrifying’. The whole place gave her a creepy vibe. The smell was just one of the factors in that.

When they reached the bottom step, Ghadir carried her over to what looked like a cage, but with water and electricity for bars instead of metal. Sophie noticed there was already an occupant. She couldn’t stifle her gasp of horror when she saw it was a zoner. Some kind of feathered snake with wings. He was laying in a curled ball, one of his wings at an odd angle. She realized it had to have been broken. She put two and two together and realized that the black chalk artists must have been kidnapping and torturing zoners, and this one was their latest victim.

Before she had a chance to say anything to Ghadir, the woman pressed a button on the side of the cage. With the front bars gone, Ghadir threw Sophie into the cage. She let out a surprised cry as she smashed into the ground, landing dangerously close to the back electric water bars. She looked at the bars, hardly five inches from her face, and backed up. She looked behind her just in time to see Ghadir press the button, effectively locking her in the cell with the zoner.

Ghadir folded her arms, staring down at the little girl. A dark smile coated her face, made of ice. “You will stay with us until we decide to make our next move. It may be a while. But we are willing to wait.” Sophie’s eyes widened slowly at this, her body shaking. “You and your dear mommy will be our guests for now. As for what we want you two for...” A dark laughter. “Oh you’ll find out eventually...” She tilted her head slightly, her eyes brightening with anticipation. “I simply can’t wait.”

Without saying another word, Ghadir turned and walked away. Sophie watched as she headed up the stairs and disappeared out the door, leaving her alone with the zoner. As the door shut and the sound echoed off the walls, Sophie realized just how dire the situation was. What was she going to do? She can’t get out of this cell, and the zoner here was injured. She didn’t even have any kind of cell phone with her to call out, or any small object to push the button to free themselves.

Perhaps this zoner could be of some help. She looked over at him, watching him as he slept. She moved a little closer to him. She soon took notice of what appeared to be tears. She bit her lip. Had this zoner suffered mentally? Considering how the black chalk artists could be, she wouldn’t doubt that. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for the zoner. She hadn’t even met him yet and already she could tell he suffered, and she wanted to do something to help him feel better. She made her way closer to the snake-like zoner.

When she got close enough, she reached out towards him. Being very gentle as to not disturb his slumber, she pulled him up off the ground. She set him in her lap, careful to avoid aggravating his wing injury. With the feathered snake zoner in her lap, still sleeping, she ran her hand along his head a few times, an attempt to comfort him even though he was still sleeping. She lifted her head and stared towards the ‘door’ of the cage. Somehow, someway, she had to get out of here. There was a way out, she was certain. And she was going to find it. She couldn’t afford to just sit here and do nothing.

A life...possibly more than one, were on the line if she didn’t escape.

sss

Terry’s idea was a success. At first, the others were reluctant, considering that it could draw attention. This had been Terry’s concern, but she managed to convince them that it was necessary to get out as soon as they could. She knew the fastest way to the nearest video room and it won’t be very likely that they’ll run into much resistance between this room and that. Knowing what was on the line, the others did eventually agree, especially since they had so little time left.

Reggie and Mr. Tabootie worked on the door. They smashed against it, using as much force as they could. Their shoulders were starting to ache. Still, they kept pushing themselves, applying as much force as they can to get the door down. Working together, they did eventually succeed. With one final push, the door came falling down, smashing against the ground. They all winced as the clang sound echoed down the tunels. Knowing that someone must have heard that, Terry gestured for the adults and Reggie to follow her right now.

The group rushed down the hallway, following Terry. The red-haired woman looked left and right, looking for the sign for the video room. She knew it wasn’t that far. Her memory was a little fuzzy on just the precise location, but she knew it was in this general area. She knew it wasn’t that far.

As they ran, she heard shouts from behind them. She cursed under her breath. Just as she feared. Someone had heard them. She wouldn’t doubt it was some lackeys her boss sent to stop her. She and the others moved faster, not daring to look back. She came to the hallway she knew they had to be on. With a sharp turn to the left, their hearts pumping in their chests, they headed down this new tunnel. She could hear footsteps behind them, then some sliding. She knew their pursuers hadn’t been shaken off yet. She would try to come up with a strategy to deal with them, but they didn’t have time.

She ran down the hallway, the adults and teenager right behind her, not far. Heavy breathing filled the air. She could have sworn she heard everyone’s hearts beating quickly, almost like they were going to burst open. The angry shouts from their pursuers was getting louder. She quickly realized, from the insults thrown at her, that it was the guards from before. She mumbled under her breath. She would be glad to deal with anyone but them right now. And Vinnie. If she ran into him, she had no idea how they would get out of their situation, especially since he seems to have her boss and some people here twirling under his thumb with the promise of fame and fortune.

Soon, up ahead, she could see the sign for the video room. They were so close. They just had to keep running for a little while. Almost there...

Suddenly she was yanked back. The guard that grabbed onto her arm sneered at her. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Terry pulled, trying to get her arm free. “Let me go!”

“Oh I’m afraid I can’t do that. You see...my partner and I...” The guard gestured with his head. Terry looked over and saw that the second guard had a gun out, typical of security. He had it pointed at the other adults, threatening to shoot if they moved. Reggie was included. Terry looked back at the first guard. “..we have our orders. You are to come quietly with us, or we will shoot. Our boss gave the okay.”

Terry looked at him in horror. Her own boss said that these two could use deadly force? He had never issued something like that before. She realized just how desperate he must be to get that footage on air if he was willing to have one of his employees and a couple of civilians killed for it. She had to find a way out of this. She head to get that video room. Who knows how much time they have left? Vinnie might have it air earlier and...she just had to get a move on, fast.

“Please..you have to listen. You can’t...” Terry started to say. She shut her mouth when the first guard pointed his gun at her.

“If I were you, I’d shut up.” The first guard said with a sneer. He leveled the barrel to her forehead. “I have the permission to shoot your brains out if you resist. You are not to interfere with the broadcast. If you dare set foot inside that video room...” He laid his finger on the trigger, threatening to pull it. “I will shoot you.”

Terry felt her heart beating fast. The others looked worried and terrified. She had to think of a way out of this, and fast. She turned her head towards the door. She could tell it wasn’t that far away. Just a quick bolt over there and that’s it. She looked back at the first guard. She needed some kind of distraction. As terrified as she was, she wasn’t going to let that get to her. She knew the consequences if she stood here doing nothing, if she allowed this guard to scare her.

She didn’t have a lot of time to come up with a brillian plan. She had to do something fast. She knew it would end up being impulsive. She didn’t like to be that way. She would rather plan things out more. But with Vinnie having that ChalkZone footage, there just...wasn’t that much time remaining. Anything she decided to do, it had to be done swiftly, within seconds. The sooner she got to that video room, the better. And there was really only one thing she thought of in that time frame. A risky move, but it wasn’t like she had a lot of options.

Terry pulled her leg back and, as swiftly as she could, kicked the first guard between the legs. The man’s eyes bulged open and he let out a pained grunt. He dropped down to his knees. Terry grabbed his gun from his hand and, without thinking, hit him with it against his head. Down the security guard went. She had a feeling she would get into huge trouble for this later, but she decided to worry about that later.

The commotion she caused from kicking and hitting the first guard caused enough of a distraction for Mr. Tabootie to tackle the second guard. Terry watched as he grappled the second guard, pulling the gun away from him. The second guard lunged for him, only to be punched back by Reggie. The man hit against the ground, too dazed and confused to get up. Reggie looked surprised, as if he did not mean to punch him that hard. Terry didn’t dwell on that for long and she turned her attention back towards the door.

Terry rushed over to the video room door. Not bothering to wait for the others, she turned the door and she rushed into the video room. There were two people in the room, both sitting in chairs and heaving headphones on. There were monitors everywhere, and in a few, Terry could see the news caster room Vinnie was in. She could see him standing there, and now there was an audience. Time was almost out...

Terry rushed forward, holding her hand out. “Wait! Stop!”

The two people looked over at her, looking confused. One of them appeared to be doing something with his hands, but from this angle, she could not tell what that was. The tall chair obscured her view. Neither of them answered her as she rushed over towards them.

“Please don’t air that tape!” Terry pleaded with them.

Still no response. Terry realized, with dread, that they must be listening to music. They might have been told to air the footage at a certain time, provided that they were the ones with the footage. She moved closer towards them, trying to get their attention. They just looked at her, confused. They were clearly not expecting her and didn’t know how to respond. She tried to get them to remove their headgear. Either they didn’t understand or they were ignoring her.

She realized that’s what it was. They were ignoring her. Her eyes widening slightly, Terry had a feeling that this was indeed the right room. She looked over at the person who was moving his arm before. He must be preparing the tape. She had to stop him. She rushed forward, preparing to lunch at the man. She was not going to fail. She had to stop him. She just had to.

Then, out of the blue, there was a click. Terry froze as she heard the sound of a machine whirring. She stared at the two people in the video room, watching them as they gave an eerie smile. This not only confirmed that Vinnie did have more than just her boss and guards under his control, but it made her blood freeze to solid ice. Her breath quickening, becoming shaky, she looked up at the monitors, the one where she could clearly see Vinnie.

She became aware of the other adults coming into the room. She could feel them near her. She could hear their gasps of horror, cries of disbelief. She could hear a few shouts of ‘no’ and ‘it can’t be’. Terry...she herself remained quiet. She could hardly think or move. It felt like the world around her froze. She felt her mind going numb in shock. Her wide eyes remained locked on the monitors, wishing she wasn’t seeing what she was.

The videos showed them shocked reactions from the audiences, look of shere disbelief, some of horror. A few people in the audience were jumping out of their seats. Vinnie looked pleased, and he looked like he was explaining something to them. There was no sound at all, but that didn’t really matter, for Terry and the others didn’t need to hear what Vinnie was saying to know what he was showing them. The middle monitor revealed it all.

There, on that monitor, showing Vinnie with a screen behind them, they could see footage of ChalkZone. There was absolutely no denying it. It was ChalkZone that Vinnie was showing them, the various footage that Terry had found two years ago in Bardot’s lair. And now, that same footage was being played back for the audience, showing different sections of ChalkZone, the zoners, all the unusual and bizarre wild life...

The world around Terry felt like it broke in half and weighed down onto her shoulders. Feeling heavy, her legs wobbled and she fell down to her knees. She felt a cold chill rush up her spine, her body trembling. This was the moment that she had once wanted to do...and now the same thing did nothing but fill her with horror. Her breathing became shaky, her body unable to hold still. Emotion welled up inside of her, and she was unable to fight back the tears that formed.

Around her, she heard gasps of horror from the other adults. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see them shaking their heads in disbelief. Mrs. Sanchez had her hands over her mouth, her body trembling. Mrs. Tabootie and Mr. Tabootie held onto each other tightly, whispering soft pleading words, begging for this to not be real. Reggie stood here, horrified, unable to move. None of them could move from their spot. None of them could believe what just happened.

Terry couldn’t believe it. She shook her head in denial. No..this did not just happen... No..impossible... Terry didn’t want to believe it was true. She didn’t want to believe that this really was happening. Maybe it was some bad nightmare and she’d wake up soon. But the longer she stayed in this room, frozen, the more she realized it was no dream. It was a nightmare, yes, but it was a reality nightmare. This was happening, and that realization caused her to shiver as a cold sensation swept through her body.

Terry turned her head, looking at the others. Besides Reggie, she could tell the other adults were crying. The wave of emotion must have been too strong for them, too. She couldn’t blame them. They had all suffered the same fate today. They had all made a promise...and they had not been able to upkeep that promise. Now, the one thing they all dreaded was happening before their eyes, and they were helpless to stop it. Even if she pulled those two video people out of the way and destroyed the tape...the damage was already done. There was no denying it. Terry could not lie to herself. Her heart clenching, she had no choice but to face the harsh reality.

Terry lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Rudy...Penny...Snap...I-I tried...” She fell silent, letting tears stroll down her face, crying along with the others. They failed... They all had failed. That realization hung heavily in the air, stinging their hearts. The unthinkable had happened.

ChalkZone...had been exposed.

Chapter Text

Ms. Saffron stood outside the entrance to the hideout and looked around. After a few seconds, she looked back at Rudy, Penny, and Snap. She made a gesture with her hand. “Follow me. And stay close. You don’t want to get lost here.”

“Yeah, I would imagine.” Rudy said as he looked around cautiously. He took a few steps forward, his body slightly stiff. “I’m going to guess that Draow is not our only worry.”

“You’d be correct on that.” Ms. Saffron confirmed, nodding her head. She looked out at the ruined landscape before them. “There are a number of zoner slaves we need to be careful around as well. Some of them are implanted with a mind control nail, similiar to what your Snap and mine had to endure years ago.” She noted the looks of horror on the trio. “The more disobedient slaves are given these. Some even have their personalities and emotions...well not wiped, but suppressed, so they’re pretty much drones for the time being.”

“Have you been able to free any of them?” Penny asked cautiously.

Ms. Saffron shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. We do not have the means of removing the nails. We could block them, but material for that is scarce.” Ms. Saffron started to walk down the debris hill. Rudy, Penny, and Snap followed close behind. “As much as I would like to help them, I just simply don’t have the means to.”

Rudy looked down. “That’s...that’s awful...”

“I know...” Ms. Saffron said. “I know.”

Penny looked at Ms. Saffron sadly. She felt so sorry for her. Trapped in a world where it seemed nothing would ever go right, a world that seemed doomed now. Even when she had Alt-Snap’s help, things looked hopeless. Penny would normally try to look on the bright side of things. She would try to figure out a way out of a mess, no matter how hopeless. But there were times when things just seemed....too hopeless. And this was one of those times.

Both ChalkZone and the real world were more or less destroyed. The real world might have had the least trouble compared to ChalkZone, but there was still so much damage, so many people having died. With all this chaos and destruction, it seemed only a miracle could save it. Even if Mr. Cosmo was stopped here...there were still other unscrupulous people in the world. With ChalkZone now accessible, there were people left in the world that would use and abuse it. She wouldn’t be surprised if there were some people out there right now trying to grab control of ChalkZone right from under Cosmo’s nose and use it for their own gain. And these people might, just might, turn out worse than Cosmo.

And what of ChalkZone? With all that damage, it would take a very long time for it to recover. But it won’t be able to recover so long as Cosmo, and whoever else who might resume control later, still has ChalkZone under his iron fist. With those exterminators out there, washing away any ‘unauthorized’ zoners, items, and landscape with water, for the time being, ChalkZone stood no chance of recovery. The only way it could is if somehow it is freed again, but that would require a massive effort, and people who care about the zoners. She had a strong hunch there was a severe lack of that in this world, based on what Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap had told them.

This was truly a twisted and frightening world, one that she and her friends nearly encountered years ago. It was hard to believe that the biggest thing that led to all this was whether or not Rudy would have been corrupted by the black chalk. The thought chilled her. Rudy really did make a huge difference. She could see why the black chalk was so interested in him. It must have tasted his potential and wanted more of it.

She thought back to Nurse Jenny’s foreboding words.

“Oh dear Penny...You honestly don't believe your friend is any different, do you? The black chalk has planted its seed in him, just like it had with me. It is...just a matter of time. All the pieces will soon drop into the fray, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.”

She had tried to push that thought aside, tried to focus on helping Rudy and the others stop the black chalk users. Now, after seeing what Rudy could have been like if he were corrupted, Jenny’s words came back to her, buzzing around her head like angry bees. She hadn’t fully understood what Jenny meant at first. She still didn’t fully understand why she took her blood either. There had to be a reason. She might have been told, but with all that happened, she couldn’t really remember.

But after coming here, witnessing what she had, she started to understand what Jenny may have been talking about. She thought back to the nightmares Rudy informed her about. The black goo, the dragons, the black chalk talking about him. Then she thought about how Dark Rudy was, how twisted and vile he became. She thought about how much damage and destruction was caused when he was the one corrupted. And it all seemed to click with her.

Jenny was basically saying that the black chalk’s main plan now was getting Rudy back. Something that they were already familiar with, but there was a point or two that she nearly missed. She only took notice when she reanalyzed what Jenny had said to her. The black chalk’s planting of the seed...talking about the black chalk still inside his blood. Could that be the seed? And seeds grow, stretch... The black was living inside Rudy, biding its time until it can get its strength back, and when she thought about what Rudy said regarding Ghadir’s words, how it was Rudy’s blood that brought back Jenny and the other two....

Suddenly it all made sense. Now she felt she understood a point that Jenny had been trying to make to her. She had been giving her a warning, one that she nearly missed because she did not think hard enough. Jenny pretty much confessed, more or less, that this was part of the black chalk’s plan. The black chalk had created a gambit, one that it would win, no matter which outcome came. The thought made her body shake and she wanted to be wrong. But the more she thought about it, and Jenny’s words, the more she realized that...it was true. They had been ‘playing a losing game’ this whole time.

The black chalk must have sensed Rudy’s potential right from the beginning. Didn’t Rudy say something about the black chalk saying that it was watching him? How did the black chalk manage to do that? Penny realized there was definitely more going on with the black chalk than she first realized. However it had managed to monitor Rudy...it was able to determine that he was a skilled artist, and they wanted him on their side. But unlike the others, Penny theorized they did something different with him.

His corruption seemed to have been done a little different. Unlike other black chalk artists, Rudy still had black chalk in his blood. She deduced this from the fact that Jenny went to him for his blood, rather than using her own, to awaken Ghadir and Tyreek. The black chalk was able to find a way to keep a hold of Rudy, possibly due to a different way of corrupting him, which might explain why he had a violent outburst, but Mr. Cosmo did not appear to have suffered from the same thing. This created a gambit that was unwinnable no matter which way they chose. Either they left Rudy corrupted and this world happened, or they free him, but the black chalk remaining in his blood would remain and recorrupt artists who had been touched by the black chalk before.

Rudy’s two fates were either he become a slave or the pollinator...

The realization that this is likely what Jenny meant slammed against Penny like a freight train, filling her with horror. She quickly realized that, if they were going to beat the black chalk, they might need to change strategies. If the black chalk was able to think ahead like this, and form strategies... The black chalk wasn’t simply a corruptor. It had an agenda, and it was going to use Rudy to accomplish that. She believed...no, she knew..that the black chalk didn’t plan on Rudy becoming just a servant... The black chalk wanted him to be the spreader. It wanted control of not just ChalkZone, but the real world as well.

Maybe she was making some wrong guesses. But considering this is black chalk she was thinking of, and seeing what happened to this world, she had little doubt in her mind that the black chalk had a big agenda. It was bigger than simply controlling a few artists...it was wanting to spread this corruption further. Now, more than ever before, they needed to stop the black chalk. They needed to beat its gambit and stop it from succeeding. She was not going to allow it to use Rudy or any other artist like that. The black chalk would be stopped..somehow...

She was torn from her thoughts when she noticed where they were now. Out on the street, and she saw where Ms. Saffron was walking towards. Penny felt her heart ache as Ms. Saffron knelt by the prone form of her former comrade, Alt-Snap. From this distance, Penny could still see how pale his face was, those lifeless eyes. His head was twisted at an odd angle, looking very loose. His mouth was open in an eternal scream. A pool of blood surrounded him. Ms. Saffron pulled his eyelids shut and scooped him up into her arms.

Penny wiped her eyes as she watched this. She heard a sniffle beside her. She turned and she saw Rudy and Snap watching the scene sadly. Snap, who had been bandaged up with whatever supplies Saffron had left, had tears flowing down his face as he watched the woman hold his counterpart. He leaned against Rudy for support. The teenager wiped away his tears and lowered himself. He wrapped his arms around Snap and gave him a hug to comfort him.

Penny moved towards her friends. She joined in the hug, wanting offer them her support. She thought about telling them about what she believed she discovered, but decided to put it off for now. Now wasn’t the time to be discussing what the black chalk might be doing. Now was the time to get moving. They didn’t have much time left to get that zebra chalk and move onto the next dimension. She continued to hug her friends for a few moments, before pulling apart from them and turning her head to the sound of Ms. Saffron’s footsteps.

The woman gently cradled the dead body of who was probably her last friend in this torn world. “He deserves a proper burial...” Ms. Saffron said sadly, sniffling. She ran her hand along the back of Alt-Snap’s head. “Once we hit the forest, we’ll find a place out sight and bury him.”

Rudy nodded his head slowly. “Y-Yeah...that sounds good.”

“Wouldn’t want to leave him to rot out in the open.” Snap said, wiping away a tear. “He doesn’t deserve that.” The blue and white zoner stared at his counterpart’s unmoving face. He bit his lip and was fighting back tears. He didn’t do a good job of it. “Th-Thank you...for saving me...” He whispered in a soft voice.

Penny moved closer. She reached out and placed her hand on Alt-Snap’s cheek. She shuddered at the touch. It felt so cold, like ice. “It is...sad that things turned out this way...” She looked up at Ms. Saffron. “We’re still so sorry... We wished that things could’ve been different.”

“So do I.” Ms. Saffron said, closing her eyes. She took in a shuddering breath. “But there’s nothing we can do about that now. All we can do now is move on. That’s what Snap...my Snap...would have wanted me to do. I’m not going to let his death go in vain. I’ll keep fighting until my dying breath.” She held Alt-Snap a little tighter and she looked out in the direction Mr. Cosmo’s lair. “Let’s get going. Time is of the essence.”

Not saying another word, the group began to move through the torn city. Penny couldn’t help but still give a shudder or two at how bad this world looked. The longer she was in it, the worse it seemed to become. All around her, nothing but destroyed buildings, cracked roads, pillowing smoke, a foreboding red sky... It was like they all landed in hell. This place might as well be called that. Because that’s what it pretty much was. A hell created the black chalk for some nefarious purpose.

Penny winced as she heard sounds all around her. Rudy and Snap flinched at those sounds, too. Ms. Saffron did not. She must be used to hearing them. All around the trio, they could hear distant roars, screams, pleadings. Faint, but there, with a bit of an echo. The constant wind that swept through carried some of those sounds over, making them a little clearer. The sound of creaks and cracks were every where, and small explosions occurred. Far from here. Penny wouldn’t be surprised if some of the explosions were due to the rusting and poor maintenence of household construction.

The depressing sounds, mixed in with the chilling wind and the uneasy sights, it all combined to make the trio very uncomfortable as they moved through the city. They felt more at ease underground, where they didn’t have to see all this stuff. But they knew they couldn’t hide from it. If they did, they would screw up their chances of getting the zebra chalk. And if they hid from these problems, how were they any better than this world’s version of Cosmo, who did not take responsibility for his actions? True, it was not their problems, but they still couldn’t hide from them, even though they did not cause this to happen.

They continued to move through the torn city. They moved around the debris that stood in their way. They moved through houses and other buildings that had fallen apart. They jumped over gaps in the ground, deep crevices that spread for miles. They headed across what appeared to be a manmade river. Ms. Saffron cautioned them not to touch the water. Not just Snap, but Rudy and Penny as well. This gave the water, if it was water, a foreboding aura to it. They jumped over the river. Rudy had nearly lost his footing, but Penny was able to grab onto him and pull him back.

As they pushed their way through some dead tree debris located in the middle of the street, Ms. Saffron explained to them about how the rain around here was highly acidic due to the weaponry used the past few years. The river that formed here was sort of manmade, but not deliberately. The dent that the water flowed through was from a weapon; the rain simply used it, in a sene, to form an acidic river. Contact with the skin caused severe burns. Ms. Saffron informed them that this acidic water was often used to keep not just zoners in line, but also any human civilians that Mr. Cosmo might have enslaved and stationed somewhere.

The realization that this Cosmo also assumed control of some humans, and not just zoners, chilled the group’s heart. They were relieved when Ms. Saffron assured them that most humans did not suffer this fate. They were still horrified by the few that were, and they wondered who they were. Ms. Saffron didn’t say, and when they asked, she asked them to be quiet because they were getting close to the forest and they couldn’t afford making much noise.

Penny could see the forest ahead of them now. A little obscured by the shattered buildings. But it was there. She winced at how horrible it looked. Many of the trees were knocked down. The grass was hardly green in some places, even dried up. Some of the vegetation was still alive, but the green was more faded, like the plants were sick. With the acid rain, that came as no surprise and was expected. Some areas looked charred, like they had been attacked, and the ground in some places appeared so dry, it was cracked. Some of the dead trees standing looked like lighting had struck them, and at least one was split down the center.

It was an uncomfortable sight to see. Even the areas still green looked morbid and devastating. It was a testament to how bad off this dimension was. It made the situation for this world seem even more hopeless. Maybe there was still a way to turn things around, but as Penny looked around, her eyes scanning the forest as best as she could from this distance, she knew that it was going to be a very difficult task. Nature would recover...eventually. But how much it would recover, she wasn’t sure.

She did want to do something for this world. She did want to offer some form of help. But what could she do? What could she and her friends offer this world? And what could they do with the limited time they had here? They only had an hour left if she remembered right. As much as it pained her, even if she found out how to help this dimension, there was nothing they could do. An hour wasn’t much time. Heck it might be barely enough time to get the zebra chalk. All she and her friends could do was hope for a miracle for this dimension.

Suddenly there was a rush of wind. It came without warning, out of nowhere. The wind, coming from a different direction than the constant wind, hit against them. It was so sudden that they stopped in their tracks. Then there was a dark shadow that moved over them. The group looked around, trying to find the source of that wind. At first, nothing else happened. They still remained frozen, knowing that something just wasn’t right.

Ms. Saffron looked around, her eyes scanning the skies. “We better get moving, quickly...” She turned to Rudy, Penny, and Snap. “I don’t doubt that was one of Cosmo’s zoner slaves. He must know we’re here. We best get a move on before...”

She never had a chance to finish. Out of nowhere, a dark shape slammed into her, pushing her into the ground. Saffron let out a cry of pain as a heavy clawed foot pushed against her. She looked up and her eyes widened in horror. Rudy, Penny, and Snap looked in, watching in dread as Ms. Saffron was pinned down by Draow. He pushed so hard against her that he was causing some blood to ooze from Alt-Snap’s corpse and cover her in it.

“Ms. Saffron!”

The trio rushed over to Draow, prepared to fight him to get him off of her. Draow looked at them and let out a loud screech. He fired a few of his lasers at their feet, causing them to jump back. They looked on in horror as Draow swatted his foot against Saffron, sending Alt-Snap’s body crumpling across the ground. The bat wolf then grabbed onto Saffron’s arm and held on tightly. He lifted her up and sneered at her before turning his sights to Alt-Snap.

Rudy, Penny, and Snap, not wanting Alt-Snap to suffer any kind of cruel post-death fate, tried to rush for him again. They didn’t get very far. A bright ball was fired at them and there was a bit of an explosion. Suddenly a large wall of ice formed, blocking their attempt to get to Draow. Through the ice, they could see Draow lowering his head towards Alt-Snap. He sniffed him a few times before snagging him in his jaws and lifting him up.

“We can’t let him take them!” Snap cried. “We have to do something!”

Rudy and Penny nodded in agreement. They knew Snap was right. They had to stop Draow from taking Saffron and they had to make him let go of Alt-Snap’s body, too. He might be dead, but whatever Draow was going to do to him, it would be disgraceful. They weren’t going to let him defile Alt-Snap like that. Penny looked around trying to find some kind of exit to this place. The shield didn’t go on forever, and she could see where it ended. Pulling on her friends, they headed in that direction.

“Oh I don’t think so...” A cold chilling voice said, freezing the group. “I’m afraid you’ll be...staying here for a little while..”

Suddenly, the ice shield glowed and it spread further. Panicking, the trio started to run, trying to get out of the shield before it finished. Seconds later, they slammed into something solid, but soft and warm too. They took a few steps back when they realized it was Dark Rudy. The evil teenager smirked at them, aiming some kind of fancy-looking gun at them. The trio, having no choice, moved back a little. They were forced to watch as the ice made some kind of crinkling sound as the shield completed, trapping them inside with Dark Rudy.

They heard a grunching sound and a horrified scream. Dark Rudy smiled evilly as the group rushed back over to see what was going on. What they saw horrified them. Though the ice made their vision a little wobbly, they could see clearly what was going on. The sight caused them to get sickening feelings in their stomachs, making them want to throw up. It also filled them with anger, that such a fiendish act was committed. Snap slammed his fist against the ice angrily, only to recoil from pain.

Ms. Saffron had her hand reached out. Her eyes were wide with terror and anger. “No! Don’t do it! Please!” She was shedding tears rapidly. “If you can grant him any kindness...please just let me bury him! Please, he doesn’t deserve this!”

Draow looked down at her. With Alt-Snap’s body still in his jaws, he couldn’t speak. He did, however, respond to Ms. Saffron by smiling nastily at her and chuckling. To Saffron’s horror, as well as the trio, Draow had started to crush Alt-Snap’s dead form in his mouth. Blood, some coagulated, some still liquid, oozed from the corpse. Then, without hesitation, Draow tossed the zoner’s body into the air. Alt-Snap moved like a limp ragdoll and came falling back down. He landed inside Draow’s mouth.

Draow moved his jaws from side to side for a few seconds. The sound of crunching and grinding could be heard. Bones snapped and bent under the pressure. Then the bat wolf swallowed loudly, gulping down Alt-Snap’s body hole. He licked his lips and sneered at Ms. Saffron. Alt-Snap’s blood still stained his teeth. He put his mouth close to hers, causing the woman to look away.

“What’s the matter?” Draow snarled at her with an evil smile. “You can’t handle the sight of blood? I thought you would have been used to it by now.”

“You sick monster...” Ms. Saffron growled back at him.

“Me? A monster?” Draow feigned surprise. He pulled his head back and pricked his ears up straight. “I am afraid you are mistaken. How can I be a monster when I didn’t kill your little friend? I merely...ate his corpse.” He licked his lips slowly, as if he were enjoying the taste. “Is that so wrong? It wasn’t like he was alive..he certainly was not going to use that meat of his anymore.”

Ms. Saffron growled at this. “Don’t you have any respect for the dead?!”:

“Hmm...” Draow scratched his ear with his wing claw thoughtfully. He shook his head. “Nope.” He put his face close to hers, tightening his grip. “Now..let’s go for a ride.”

With that, Draow grabbed onto Saffron’s other arm and took off into the air. The trio watched, unable to do anything, as Draow carried Saffron towards the direction of Cosmo’s lair. Soon they disappeared completely, leaving them alone with Dark Rudy, completely trapped. They turned and looked back at Dark Rudy. Their bodies shook with a mixture of fear and anger as they watched him approach.

They could not believe just how disrespectful Draow was. Eating Alt-Snap’s body like that...how disgusting...despicable and vile. That poor zoner deserved a proper burial for his bravery, and instead he ended up as Draow’s lunch. Draow truly was as much of a monster as Cosmo. He didn’t even have the decency to honor the dead. They couldn’t be that surprised. They remembered who his creator was. And they know how his creator can be.

Dark Rudy stopped in front of them, that evil smile still on his face. The gun was still pointed at them, ensuring that they didn’t try anything to escape. They continued to glare at him hatefully. Their minds swam with thoughts of escape. There had to be a way out of here. They had to get out and help Ms. Saffron. They had to escape and get to Cosmo’s lair. They could not allow Dark Rudy to hold them like this. They could get out of this mess, somehow, someway.

“Do you like my fancy weapon?” Dark Rudy asked, chuckling darkly. He pointed it at the ground. He pulled the trigger. A small stream of freezing cold ice hit the ground. Rudy, Penny, and Snap jumped back as a large mound of ice formed. “One of my favorite weapons...courtesy of ChalkZone. Doesn’t it..look familiar to you?” Dark Rudy addressed Rudy, staring at him. “Even just a little...?”

Rudy stared at the gun and he let out a gasp. “Isn’t that my freeze ray?!”

“You mean the one you used to stop the garbage from destroying the Chalk Mine?” Snap asked.

“Oh yes it is.” Dark Rudy sneered, taking a step forward. “I remember that day. Yes..I stopped the Chalk Mine from being destroyed with this thing...but now I found a more..practical use for it...” Dark Rudy aimed the freeze ray at them. “It’s much more fun using it as a weapon, don’t you think?”

Rudy growled at this. “You’re twisting my creations!”

“Uh uh..our creations..” Dark Rudy said, emphasis on the word ‘our’. He waggled his finger. “Remember, I am you, and you are me. Whatever you drew as a kid...” He placed his hand against his chest. “..I did as well. The only difference is that, unlike you, I am not wasting my talents. The freeze ray had more...potential than just saving the Chalk Mine.”

The trio glared hatefully at him and took a defensive stance. Despite being at a disadvantage, they weren’t going to just roll over for this corrupted version of Rudy. Even though it would be hard, they would stand and fight. They had to. They couldn’t just leave Ms. Saffron captured.. They just had to help her. She helped them. Now it was their turn.

Just then, they heard some kind of gushing sound behind them. They turned around and watched as some kind of figure, obscured by thick, white steam, entered the ice shield. They noticed the ice itself was melting in this one spot, forming an opening for this new figure to walk in. The figure was nothing but shadow at first, but when they took a few steps closer, coming into view, the group felt like their blood temperature dropped by tens of degrees.

Penny couldn’t believe it. She found herself shaking, unable to stop. Rudy and Snap were terrified as well. Snap was whimpering and he moved behind Rudy and Penny for protection. Rudy’s eye were wide in horror, his mouth open. He tried to speak, but no words would come out. Penny could feel the airs on her neck stand up, sending a cold chill up and down her spine. They wanted this to be a dream, an illusion, anything, but they knew they weren’t that lucky this time. Even though this person was long dead in their world, it was still a shock seeing him here, alive.

There, standing in front of them, was Mr. Cosmo...

Seeing him again after all these years frightened the trio. The sight of him caused memories to rush back at them. They remembered his labrynth of a lair. They remembered all those zoners he had captured and controlled. They remembered how he had trapped them in the real world and they were powerless to do anything to stop him. All the horrific things he had done...it all came back at them like an avalanche, and they remained frozen where they stood.

The emotional wave that hit them caused them to tremble harder. Their minds went almost numb. It was hard for them to comprehend that this was Mr. Cosmo. A different one, but still Mr. Cosmo. He had his arms folded behind his back and he gave them a cold smile. His expression, so much like the one their Cosmo gave them. He appeared to have a calm demeanor as well, similar to theirs. Everything about this Cosmo reminded them of the one that they defeated years ago. Now, despite all their efforts, they had to face him again...

Penny managed to move her almost completely frozen neck towards Snap. Out of all of them, he was having the worst reaction. Rudy was scared, like her, but Snap was outright terrified. He hid behind her and Rudy, his body shaking like a leaf. She could hear soft whimpers escape his mouth and tears of fear were welling up in his eyes. She and Rudy could both feel their hearts break at this sight. Snap had been tortured by this man, or at least a version of him, and now he was standing right before him again. It was as though he came back from the grave.

Cosmo smirked at Snap’s reaction, folding his arms against his chest. “I take it my counterpart in your world did what I did to our Snap.” His voice was as cold as the ice around them. “I wonder how easy it’ll be to break him again.” He grinned.

Rudy and Penny put her hands in front of Snap protectively.

At this, Cosmo just laughed. “Oh of course you’ll have that reaction. I’m not surprised.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Sure, it’s been a while, but...” He leaned in a little, his teeth bared in a grin. “I remember quite well how you two are...protective of that little thing.”

Rudy’s eyes widened, then they narrowed dangerously. “He is not a thing!” He shouted through gritted teeth.

“Oh relax.” Dark Rudy said, taking a few steps towards them. “It’s not an insult.” Rudy, Penny, and Snap looked back at him, turning their heads. Dark Rudy shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “He is just stating the facts.”

Rudy growled angrily at his counterpart, but did not respond. He turned his attention back to Cosmo. He stood in front of Snap protectively. “If you hurt him, I’ll...”

“I do remember this.” Mr. Cosmo said, interrupting Rudy. He gave a small smile, pushing his head back a little. “Yes, it’s all coming back to me now. I remember how protective you two are of the little blue creature. It’s...strange seeing all this again, but then, since you three are from an alternate dimension, I shouldn’t really be surprised.” Mr. Cosmo took a few steps towards the trio, blocking their only way out. He said, “However..I do not plan on making the same mistake as before.”

Penny narrowed her eyes. She knew Cosmo was up to something. He always was. That’s one thing they learned about him. Cosmo was always thinking, always planning. She could see the glint in his eyes. Yes, there was something he wanted. She had a feeling she knew what it was. She was not going to allow that to happen. She took a few steps forward, putting herself in front of both Rudy and Snap.

Mr. Cosmo cocked an eyebrow, looking at the girl. He didn’t seem confused. Just mildly surprised. His smile faded for a short time, but then it returned, especially when Penny took a fighting stance. Despite being at a disadvantage due to her bad leg, she was willing to fight if it meant keeping Cosmo from corrupting their Rudy. She knew that is what he wanted to do. She couldn’t allow that to happen because, if he did that, they lose no matter what. Either they lose Rudy to this dimension, if the transport doesn’t work, or they end up with a corrupted Rudy in their dimension, or the other dimension. She did not want to lose Rudy to the black chalk. Not again...

“You’re not going to corrupt Rudy!” Penny snapped at him. “If you’re going to try, then you’ll have to get through me first!”

Despite his fear, Snap spoke up. “And me!”

Dark Rudy laughed at this. “Oh give me a break!” He tilted his head to the side, grinning nastily. “You think you stand a chance at stopping my master? You have no idea what you’re dealing with here! You...”

Mr. Cosmo raised up his hand. “Silence.”

“Yes, master.” Dark Rudy fell silent. He went onto one knee and lowered his head submissively.

Mr. Cosmo turned his attention back to the trio. A calm smile was on his face. He moved closer to them. The trio remained frozen where they stood. He came up to Penny, who was the closest to him. He reached out and grabbed her chin gently, tilting it upwards. Penny looked into his grey-blue eyes and shuddered at how intimidating they looked, even when Cosmo was more or less calm.

“Such bravery...yes...I can use that.” Mr. Cosmo said. Penny’s eyes widened at this. “As I said...I am not going to make the same mistake as I’m sure my counterpart also made years ago...” He released Penny and walked around behind her. The female teenager shuddered as she felt him wrap his arms around her and pulled her into an unwelcoming hug. His chin rested on her shoulder.

“Penny!” Rudy shouted. He and Snap moved over to try to help Penny, but they were stopped when Dark Rudy, jumped in front of them, pointing the freeze ray at them.

“Do not interrupt my master.” Dark Rudy said in a low, threatening voice. “Or I will make you wish you were dead.”

Unable to do anything, Rudy and Snap looked over at Mr. Cosmo, watching with wide, horrified eyes as Mr. Cosmo played with Penny a little. He continued to hug her, holding her tightly against him. Penny struggled, feeling her heart racing against her chest. What was Mr. Cosmo doing? Why was he acting this way towards her? Their Cosmo never did this to her. She could feel his breath against the side of her face, making her struggle harder.

Mr. Cosmo refused to let her go, much to her dismay. She looked over at her friends, her eyes wide in fear. They watched her, horrified, unable to help. Dark Rudy smirked at them, pointing his gun at them so they wouldn’t be able to help her. Penny gave Cosmo a sideways glance. She could see his twisted smile. She felt him move one of his hands along her arm gently. The hand soon moved up to her hair and he stroked it playfully, giving a dark chuckle. Then he gripped her shoulders and spun her around. He put his face close to hers.

“I don’t want just Rudy this time, dear Penny.” Cosmo’s voice was low. “I want you, too.” Penny snapped her head back. She heard her friends gasp in horror, a cold laughter from Dark Rudy. “You see, I was too...hasty in letting my Rudy kill your counterpart... You have...potential.. Intelligence..” He placed his hand on her head again. He gently squeezed it a few times. “Yes.. a big brain like yours would come in handy.” He turned his gaze to Snap. “And I’m sure I can find a...place for your friend there...”

Penny struggled against his grasp. “We will never join you!”

“Oh but you have no choice.” Mr. Cosmo sneered. “You have nowhere to go. And besides...I learn from my mistakes. I know how you three form a...formidable team. So...” He chuckled. “I figured...why not get the whole package? All three of you would be beneficial to me.”

Penny twisted herself left and right. She tried to get herself free. Cosmo just tightened his grip. She winced as he grabbed her a little too hard. She narrowed her eyes, trying to hide her fear. “We would never serve you! We will find a way to escape and we will beat you!”

Cosmo smirked in amusement. “I’m sure you would..if I allowed you. Yes...you are quite intelligent...” He put his face even closer to Penny’s, putting his forehead against hers. “I can see why Rudy finds you...attractive...” He turned his head and looked back at Rudy, smirking. He turned back to Penny. “Perhaps I should...toy with his heart a little before he’s corrupted. This should be fun..to watch...” Then, without warning, Cosmo did something shocked the trio. Even Dark Rudy looked surprised by it.

Cosmo put his hand behind Penny’s head to hold it steady. He pressed his lips against hers. Penny’s eyes went wide at this sudden kiss. Rudy and Snap gasped and tried again to get to her, only to be shot at by Dark Rudy. Penny tried to get herself free. Cosmo pushed on her head harder, making her unable to turn away. He continued kiss her, keeping his lips firmly pushed up against hers. Then, several seconds later, he parted. He smirked as he looked at Penny’s horrified and disgusted look.

“I thought you might have that look.” Cosmo commented. He looked behind and saw Rudy and Snap both looking very angry and revolted by what he did. This just made him smile more. “Ah...you responded just as expected as well...”

“You sick twisted bastard...” Rudy snarled.

Snap raised a fist into the air. “How dare you toy with our friend like that!”

Mr. Cosmo chuckled at this. He turned back to Penny. He licked his lips slowly. “That was fun... But I had my fun with you...” With that, he pushed Penny back towards her friends. She stumbled, but managed to keep her footing despite having a bad leg, her cane helping to support her. Mr. Cosmo took a few steps towards the group, outstretching his hands in what could be interpreted as a welcoming gesture. “I’m going to so enjoy getting you three on my side. Well, Rudy and Penny of course. As for Snap, well...” He grinned evilly at him. “I think my mind control devices will make him most...obedient.”

“Never!” Rudy practically roared at him. “We will never be obedient to you, you monster!” Penny and Snap nodded their heads in agreement. “No matter what you do, there’s nothing that will make us want to join you! You’re a sick, twisted monster! We stopped you before and we’ll do it again!”

Dark Rudy chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Oh please...”

Mr. Cosmo folded his arms, tilting his head to the side. “I must admit, you are pretty stubborn..determined... I know you will fight to the end to try to keep yourselves from being...converted. But you’ll soon see the light soon enough.” He stared into Rudy’s green eyes. His own eyes twinkled, brightening as if he saw something that made him excited. “I do look forward to having two Rudys at my side...” He leaned his head back a little. “One is good, but two would be great. Oh the potential...!”

Dark Rudy glanced over at Mr. Cosmo. His expression was...strange. It was hard for Penny to pinpoint. It looked almost like a mixture between sadness, worry, and anger. She and her friends didn’t understand why he had this expression. Wasn’t he all gun ho about them joining him earlier?

Mr. Cosmo looked at Dark Rudy, noticing his unease. He smiled and said, “Oh don’t worry, Rudy. You will still be my favorite.” At this, Dark Rudy seemed to relax a little.

The trio looked confused. Favorite? Just what did he mean by that? The only thing that they could think of was that Dark Rudy wanted to remain second in command or something, a higher rank. It might mean something else, but if it did, they were at a loss of what that was.

But they couldn’t dwell on that now. They had to focus on getting out of here and fast. There was an opening in the ice. They might be able to get to it if they figure out away around Mr. Cosmo, a way to get out before Dark Rudy shot them. They had to fight back. They could not allow themselves to be turned into monsters. They could not give into the corruption. They had to get out of here, save Ms. Saffron, and get the cure. And they had less than an hour to do that.

The trio took a fighting stance. This amused Dark Rudy and Cosmo. They flinched at their cruel laughter.

“How amusing...you three want to fight us?” Dark Rudy chuckled. “This should be easy...”

“Do not underestimate them, Rudy.” Cosmo said before looking at the trio. “So..you three are issuing us a challenge? Okay then...” He pulled out his own weapon. A long sword... “Rudy and I will be happy to obligue.”

Chapter Text

Rudy had no idea why they issued a challenge without thinking things through. He didn’t know how he and his friends were going to be able to fight back when they had no weaponry of their own. This might be one of the biggest mistakes they made since they got here. He should have thought things through more... Oh why didn’t he do that...?

Yeah he did want to go help Ms. Saffron. He didn’t want to fail her, like how he felt he did their Ms. Saffron. He didn’t want her to suffer the same fate as her counterpart, or Alt-Snap. Mr. Cosmo was blocking their only way out, so fighting seemed like the only thing they could do. It wasn’t like Cosmo would just step out of the way for them. He’d remain there, making sure they didn’t get through.

But in the end, remaining to fight was a mistake. He realized this the moment Mr. Cosmo charged at them with the sword. Even though he knew he wasn’t going to kill them, that was still a terrifying sight to behold. After witnessing Alt-Snap get impaled, Rudy and the others reacted quite negatively to the sight of the sword. They did manage to dodge the initial blow, listening to the sword clang against the ground. But they knew the only reason they didn’t get hit was because Mr. Cosmo and Dark Rudy weren’t going to kill them. They were going to hurt them, yes, but not kill.

Rudy realized they were screwed.. How could they fight back? His counterpart had a weaponized freeze ray. Just one hit of that and they wouldn’t be able to move. They might even die if he wasn’t careful with it. Mr. Cosmo had that sword that he kept swinging around. Even if he wasn’t trying to deliver any fatal blows, just one mistake and they could accidentally get hit. They all had to be very careful as they did their best trying to get away from the attacks.

Things were further complicated by the fact that they were all injured. Penny could not move very well with her bad leg. And her cane made for an easy target. If she lost it, she could still walk but she would be greatly hindered further. Snap’s stomach wound made it hard for him to move as well. He wasn’t able to get as much medical attention as would be required for such a wound, and as such he sometimes nearly collapses in pain. He does try his best to keep himself standing, but from the look in his eye and the way he held his stomach, Rudy knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep standing like that forever.

Rudy himself was having problems. The medicine that Alt-Snap gave him did lessen some of the pain, but he was still more or less in constant pain. His stomach hurt the most and if he were to be hit in his stomach, he would be crippled with the pain. His intestines were also starting to hurt him, a confirmation that the disease he had was spreading. He didn’t know how long the medicine Alt-Snap would last him, and he didn’t know what he would do should Dark Rudy or Cosmo give him an injury that reopens an internal wound or creates a new one. And since he was in the most pain out of his friends, it would be hardest for him to hide his agony, and if the enemy sees that he’s the weakest...

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Mr. Cosmo’s sword suddenly came crashing down towards him. The sword clanged next to him. It was so close he could feel a rush of air was the sword sailed past him. Rudy stared the weapon in shock, his wide eyes staring at his reflection. He looked back at Cosmo, who was smirking at him. Rudy took a few steps back, adopting a fighting stance. As Cosmo raised the sword again, in an attempt to fight back, Rudy rushed at him.

Rudy slammed his body against Mr. Cosmo, causing him to stagger back. The evil reporter hit against the ice wall, but that didn’t seem to slow him down all that much. He chuckled at this, like all it did was amuse him. He held up his sword again and pointed the tip at Rudy. He started to advance on the boy slowly. Rudy backed up against the wall, narrowing his eyes, trying not to show fear. Mr. Cosmo pressed the tip of the sword against Rudy’s chest, pushing in a little and causing the teenager to wince in pain.

“You and your friends certainly dodge well...” Mr. Cosmo said.

At this, Rudy looked behind Cosmo and he could see his friends dodging Dark Rudy’s attacks. His counterpart was not as careful as Cosmo and those blasts he tried to shoot them with did look fatal. His heart wrenched when Penny’s shoulder was grazed by a blast of the freezing ray. It tore through the close and he could see where her skin turned blue and a bit of blood that came from it.

Snap didn’t have better luck. Though he could move a little faster, he was still at a disadvantage. He ended up tripping and hitting his injured stomach. He cried out pain and remained on the ground. He attempted to get up, but the freeze ray was fired at him, slicing along his back. He let out a yelp of pain before Dark Rudy grabbed him by his scarf and threw him into Penny, knocking the two into the ground.

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror. “Penny! Snap!”

Mr. Cosmo put his face close to his. “But you aren’t very good at fighting.. How disappointing..” He said, ignoring Rudy’s outburst. He pressed his sword even harder, causing Rudy to yelp. “If I had known that my associate there and I wouldn’t have had too much of a problem beating you, we would have just skipped this whole thing and just captured you. It would have saved us so much time.”

Rudy looked at the sword. Even though he knew it was not a good idea, he grabbed onto the sword with his hands. He winced as he felt the blade start to cut into his palms, feeling warm red liquid ooze from them. This action did surprise Mr. Cosmo. It was enough of a distraction that Rudy was able to push the sword away. In a couple of seconds, he pushed the blade far back enough that he was able to get out of the way. Mr. Cosmo watched him, not moving, as Rudy moved over to the other wall.

Rudy stared at Mr. Cosmo. The man was not advancing on him, at least not yet. He turned his gaze over to where his friends were. He was horrified to see that Dark Rudy managed to freeze Snap’s foot to the ground. He was struggling to get free. Dark Rudy lifted up his freeze ray and was about to hit Snap when he was knocked to the side suddenly. Rudy felt relieved and surprised when Penny had managed to limp over to him and use her cane as a weapon. Dark Rudy was on the ground now and Penny pinned him down, using her body weight to hold him down.

He looked over at Mr. Cosmo. The reporter had noticed this turn of events, but he did not look the least bit worried. He started to move back towards Rudy, leveling his sword up. Rudy stared at the sword, fear rising up inside of him. It was incredibly sharp, much more so than he had expected. He looked at his hands. Both his palms were sliced up. The cuts weren’t too deep, but there was a lot of blood coming out, and it hurt him to close them into fists. But in this situation, did he really have much of a choice?

Mr. Cosmo charged at him and brought his sword forward. Rudy noted the trajectory of the tip would slice into his shirt. Mr. Cosmo was going to try to pin him so he could go and help Dark Rudy with subduing his friends. Rduy moved to the side, reacting just in time as the blade sailed past him and hit against the wall of ice, cutting through a small portion. Then, just as Cosmo turned to face him, Rudy ignored the pain he felt and punched Mr. Cosmo in the face.

The man let out a pained cry and he staggered back, releasing his sword. This shout caught Dark Rudy’s attention. He stopped struggling against Penny and he looked over to see what happened. The sight of Cosmo on the ground with a bloodied nose, Rudy standing over him, filled Dark Rudy with anger. Growling lowly, Dark Rudy grabbed onto Penny’s bad leg tightly, making her scream in pain as he irritated her injury. He twisted her leg and forced her off of him. Penny held onto her leg, trying to cope with the pain, as Dark Rudy rushed over towards Rudy.

“How fucking dare you!” Dark Rudy snarled as he lunged for Rudy. Rudy did not react in time and he felt his counterpart slam against him. The two of them hit the ground, landing on his back. Rudy’s eyes widened, but it wasn’t from the shock of being pinned down. Dark Rudy grabbed onto his shoulders, effectively holding him down. “I’m going to teach you a little lesson!” Dark Rudy pulled his fist back in and was about to punch his counterpart when Rudy managed to pull his leg back and kick him in the stomach.

Dark Rudy went flying onto his back. He laid there for a few moments, groaning in pain. He slowly climbed up to his feet, rubbing his stomach a little. He looked over at Rudy, glaring hatefully at him. Rudy sat up, but hadn’t tried getting back up. At first, Dark Rudy stared at him in confusion, clearly wondering why he didn’t get back on his feet yet. Then, Dark Rudy’s eyes widened in realization when he saw Rudy do something unexpected.

Despite his best efforts not to let it show, Rudy held onto his stomach, his body shaking in pain. He let out a few faint whimper, his eyes wide as he tried to fight back the pain. A little bit of blood trickled form the corner of his mouth. He looked up at Dark Rudy. Slowly, his dark counterpart’s face contorted into an evil smile. Rudy felt his chest and stomach freeze when he realized that his counterpart had figured out his weakness. Dark Rudy chuckled evilly and started to advance on him, his freeze ray raised up, ready for use.

“Oh ain’t this too precious? You’re injured!” Dark Rudy sneered. He now stood in front of Rudy. When Rudy attempted to get up, Dark Rudy kneed him in the chin, forcing him on his back. Dark Rudy pressed his foot against the boy’s stomach, pushing down hard. This caused Rudy to struggle, tears of pain moving down his face. “I know this anywhere...” Dark Rudy stared intently at the blood coming out of Rudy’s mouth. “I am certain my attack couldn’t have caused the internal bleeding, so the only other logical explaination is you have..that disease...”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror at this. “Wh-What..?” He grabbed onto Dark Rudy’s foot and tried to push him away. This prompted Dark Rudy to push a little harder. “Get..off..of...me...” Rudy demanded.

Dark Rudy shook his head. “Oh now...I’m afraid I can’t do that. You see...” He leaned down a little, pointing the tip of his freeze ray at Rudy’s face. “My fingers might slip, you see... This won’t kill you, but I guarantee you will be in a lot of pain if I shot you in the head with this. And if I don’t unthaw you in a minute or two, you’ll die anyway.” His smirk increased in size as he watched his counterpart’s eyes widen further. “So I suggest you hold still...unless you don’t mind if I accidentally pull the trigger...”

Rudy stared at his counterpart in terror. His mind raced, trying to think of how he was going to get out of this. His counterpart knew about his internal bleeding. He knew that he was in a lot of pain. And he was going to use that to his advantage. He wanted to kick him away again, but would that work a second time around? No...he could see Dark Rudy sometimes moving his eyes down to look at his legs and arms, making sure he didn’t try to make a move against him. Rudy was stuck on the ground unless he could think of another way out.

Looking over, he could see, behind Dark Rudy, Penny managed to get up to her feet. Snap was still trapped. He felt his heart clench as Snap kept trying to pull his let out, only to cry out in pain as he tugged too hard and ended up bending his leg at an odd angle. He didn’t hear a crack, so the leg wasn’t broken, but it was clear there may have been some minor damage as he could see tears in Snap’s eyes.

He attempted to get up to help his friend, but Dark Rudy lifted up his foot and stomped down on his stomach once. Eyes bulging wide, Rudy let out a strangled cry as a wave of unimaginable pain swept through his body. A spray of blood came out of his mouth, covering a part of his chest. He coughed a few times, trying so hard to breathe. He could feel blood in his mouth and the back of his throat. He took in several shaky breaths, a wet, sloshy sound being hard as he inhaled and exhaled.

His mind clouded by pain, he hardly paid attention to what was around him. His vision blurred a little. He stared up at Dark Rudy with unfocused eyes, letting out a few soft whimpers. The pain he was feeling crippled him, making it hard for him to think. He could see a second figure coming into view. Taller, older...it had to be Mr. Cosmo. Rudy made a weak attempt to get away, only to cough out more blood and groan in pain. Mr. Cosmo lowered himself, bringing out what looked to be some kind of rope. Rudy closed his eyes, his mind becoming muggy.

“Oh don’t worry...” He heard Mr. Cosmo say. “We won’t let you die... We’ll take you and your friends somewhere to be treated. You’re of no use to us if you die here.”

Suddenly, there was a shout of pain and surprise. Rudy opened his eyes to see Snap, who Penny had managed to free, jump onto Dark Rudy’s back. Dark Rudy moved back away from Rudy and tried desperately to get the little zoner off of him. Snap held on tightly, determined not to let go. Penny slammed her body against Mr. Cosmo. The man stumbled back, but remained standing. He smirked at Penny in amusement. Penny glared at him before turning her attention to Rudy. Limping over, she lowered herself to him.

“P-Penny...” Rudy managed to say through his pain. He was shocked to hear just how scratchy his voice was. He coughed a few times. “Wh-What....”

“Shh...” Penny said. She looked at him up and down, briefly examining him. “We need to get you out of here...”

“But...” Rudy gasped. “Wh-What about...?”

Penny glared in Mr. Cosmo’s direction. The man took a few steps forward, clearly showing his intent on not backing down. “I won’t let him near you.”

“How noble..” Mr. Cosmo said. He started to pace from side to side in front of Rudy and Penny. He watched with amusement as Penny pulled Rudy into her arms and glared hatefully at Cosmo. His grey-blue eyes looked into Rudy’s. Recognition flashed in his eyes. “So I see the disease gripped you... Well I can...help you with that. I certainly don’t want you..expiring on me.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I mean...whatever will I do with your corpses?”

Penny snarled at him. “If you take one step closer....”

“Oh my..such a fiery one you are... It makes me wonder what you’d be like once the black chalk touches you.” Mr. Cosmo pondered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. Penny gritted her teeth at this. “Yes...that would be quite a spectacle.”

Rudy wanted to do something, anything. His mind did start to clear up a little, but he was still a little too out of it to think properly. He couldn’t think of anything he could do to get Cosmo away. All he could do was lay there in her arms, coughing pitifully. He had no choice but to wait for this bout of pain to be over..if it would be over. More blood moved from his mouth and he felt some of his strength leave him. He didn’t know how much blood he lost, but he was aware enough that he was losing too much. The bleeding had to be stopped and fast.

But how was he going to get out of this mess? Snap was busy with Dark Rudy. He could hear shouts of pain and frustration. He had no idea if Snap was winning or not. He couldn’t see at the angle he was at. Even if he turned his head, he couldn’t really notice for certain. Penny was with him, but she had a bad leg, and Cosmo, though without his sword, was bigger and stronger than she was. He could take advantage of her injured leg and make her crumple to the ground if she wasn’t careful. And him... That stomp to his stomach reopened part of his stomach wound, he was certain. The same one that was burned through when he drank the real world water. He was in too much pain to get up and fight.

If Snap is able to beat Dark Rudy, they might stand a better chance. That would be a difficult task to pull. Snap was injured, and now had something of a bad leg too. Maybe not as bad as Penny’s, but it was still going to cause him problems. His stomach was injured from an earlier attack, and if he were deliberately attacked there, Snap would be temporarily disabled by the pain as well. And if he did manage to beat Dark Rudy, would he be able to stand up to Mr. Cosmo? Even with Penny’s help, that would be no easy task.

Rudy, even in his muggy mind, knew they couldn’t give up. He was unable to formulate a coherent plan in his head. He could feel his world start to spin, the pain inside his stomach increasing. The blood flow..it wouldn’t stop. He didn’t know how much longer he would be able to stay awake. For now, he was doing a good job, but as his vision blurred a little more, how long would that last?

Mr. Cosmo came up to them. He reached down towards them. Penny, growling, swatted at his hand. Mr. Cosmo pulled it away, faking surprise. He reached forward again. This time, when Penny tried to swipe him, he grabbed her wrist. She let out a grunt of pain as he twisted it.

“Let me go!” Penny cried, slamming her fist against his arm.

Mr. Cosmo winced at this, but refused to let go. “Oh dear Penny... If this is the best you and your friends can do...you never stood a chance...” He pulled her back, ripping her away from Rudy. Penny looked in horror as Rudy’s head hit against the ground from the sudden pull. Cosmo put his face close to hers. “But then...I should have known you three wouldn’t stand much of a chance while injured..and while I had some...help.”

As if on cue, there was a loud cry of pain. Rudy and Penny’s heart filled with terror as they recognized whose scream that was. The realization was enough to break Rudy out of his muggy mind, making him more aware of his surroundings and what was going on.

The scream came from Snap.

“You filthy little creature!” Dark Rudy’s voice boomed through the icy room. Rudy and Penny saw that he gripped Snap by his leg. Judging from a bruise on his face, they deduced that he must have slammed the zoner against the wall. That must have been what caused their friend to scream. “I’ll make you cry!”

With that, Dark Rudy slammed him against the wall again, prompting another cry. Rudy, horrified, attempted to get up. He managed to get on his knees, only to fall forward into the ground. Penny cried to wrench herself free of Cosmo’s grasp, but he bent her arm roughly, forcing a scream from her. He then kicked her injured leg, forcing her onto her knees. Unable to get to their friend, they were forced to watch as Dark Rudy continued to hurt their friend.

Dark Rudy grabbed Snap by his throat. The zoner thrashed and threw punches at him. Though they landed, Dark Rudy was too enraged by the fact that Snap ‘dared’ to fight back, his eyes glowing black, to care. He grabbed Snap’s legs, holding them together. Then, mustering up as much strength as he could, he brought his knee up, slamming it against Snap’s stomach. The zoner screamed in pain before being thrown into the ground. The pain was so intense that Snap ended up passing out on the ground. Dark Rudy stood over him, glaring down at his prone form, before swiftly, and eerily, calming down.

“Well..that was easy...”

“S-Snap...no!” Rudy called out before giving into a coughing fit.

“How dare you!” Penny cried. She attempted to struggle against Mr. Cosmo, but it was no use. His grip on her was iron tight. “I’m going to..!” Penny’s voice was suddenly silented when Cosmo put a hand over her mouth.

Cosmo, holding Penny down and keeping her silent, save for a few muffles, said, “Calm down... Not like we’ll kill him. And why bother fighting..? Look all around you, little girl... You and your friends lost... You were in way over your head. And now...you will be coming with us...”

Dark Rudy smiled evilly at Rudy and Penny. He grabbed onto Snap’s scarf and started to drag his unconscious form on the ground, uncaring of how roughly he handled him. Rudy and Penny looked appalled by this harsh treatment of their friend, but Dark Rudy did not react to their glares with anything except a broader smile. When he reached them, he lifted up Snap higher into the air, holding him like he was nothing more than some old ragdoll.

“I think you should...consider coming with us. I mean..” Dark Rudy gave a smirk to Snap’s knocked out body before giving a sideways glance to Rudy and Penny. “Not like any of you will get far...not in your condition. Why don’t you let us..help you?”

“Because you will just use the black chalk on us!” Penny snarled.

“Oh that is right...” Dark Rudy said, resting his hand on his chin for a few seconds. Raising his arm up in a half shrug, he said, “Of course, the..only way we can do that is...going into ChalkZone... And we...don’t have plans on doing that yet.”

“Quite... First we want to treat your wounds...” Mr. Cosmo said calmly. “All three of you need some type of treatment.”

“The black chalk...can cure...” Rudy said, coughing. Mr. Cosmo and Dark Rudy stared at him. “I-I know it...it c-can... I remember...” He managed to push himself off the ground with his hands. His body trembled in pain. He looked up, his eyes locking onto Mr. Cosmo’s. “I don’t believe..for a second that you would...treat us first, then use the b-black chalk... It healed me... I know you’ll take us into ChalkZone...force us to u-use the black chalk..”

Rudy realized too late that the black chalk only healed once. And since it already healed him three years ago, it was not going to do that again. Even given the fact that this is an alternate timeline, he was still Rudy, and technically the same person as Dark Rudy, just on a different path. The black chalk would not heal him.

But that didn’t matter. That hardly was in his mind at all. Because in that moment, as soon as he let it slip that he had touched the black chalk, both Mr. Cosmo and Dark Rudy looked incredibly shocked by this. Then, chilling his blood, their faces contorted in anger. Mr. Cosmo still looked tranquil, even with that glare on his face, and he never made a threatening move. But Dark Rudy... His body was shaking with anger, his face reddening. Rudy could see him grinding his teeth and he realized, too late, he had just made a huge mistake.

Dark Rudy’s eyes turned black again. There was a stream of black energy eminating from them. His fists were clenched tightly, shaking even more than his body was. A low growl escaped his throat. Constant, threatening. He slowly advanced towards Rudy. Unable to tear his eyes away from the sight, Rudy watched, fear gripping his heart, as his counterpart approached them, hostile intent made very clear.

Her eyes widening in horror, Penny opened her mouth and bit down onto Mr. Cosmo’s hand. The man let out a cry of pain and pulled his hand away. As soon as her mouth was free, Penny shouted, “Rudy!”

Mr. Cosmo, still glaring from what he learned from Rudy, turned his attention to Penny. He reached down with his hand and gripped her on her shoulder. He squeezed it tightly and there was a slight crack. Penny’s eyes went wide and she fell to the ground, unconscious. He looked down at her form, watching her take a breath in and out, before looking over at Rudy.

The boy had seen this and was horrified. Rudy couldn’t believe it. Now both of his friends were knocked out and helpless. He can’t do anything to help them. If these two fiends were to hurt them badly, there was very little stopping them. He couldn’t even get up, and when Dark Rudy reaches him, he was certain he was going to get a crippling injury that would make it even more impossible to help his friends. Hearing a growl, he slowly turned his head to face Dark Rudy.

Rudy couldn’t help but tremble in fear at the sight of this angry black chalk user. His glowing eyes bored into his. Rudy felt his body freeze, no movements other than shaking. Curling his lip back in a snarl, Dark Rudy knelt down and gripped Rudy by his shirt collar. He roughly pulled him up off the ground, showing a feat of strength. In too much pain, all Rudy could do was stare at Dark Rudy with one eye open, blood still dripping form his mouth.

“So... you mean to tell me that you have experienced the joy of black chalk...” Dark Rudy’s voice was quiet at first. Seconds later, it suddenly boomed, filled with unbridled rage. “And you dare swat its hand of knowledge away?! How fucking dare you! You piece of shit! How dare you!” Dark Rudy shook Rudy violently, his teeth clenched tightly. “How could you turn down such a golden opportunity, you little fucker?!”

Rudy winced and turned his head, finding it hard to stare at Dark Rudy in the eyes. It was so..unsettling seeing what was essentially himself yelling at him. Even if the voice was scratchy, it was still uncomfortable to listen to. He flinched when Dark Rudy roughly grabbed his chin and turned his head so he was forced to look back at him. Dark Rudy had anger practically radiating off his body, and he was clearly expecting an answer.

Rudy, his vision still blurry, his head still aching, stammered, “I...I...c-couldn’t...let it...control me...”

Dark Rudy’s eyes widened in rage. “It doesn’t control you! It helps you!”

“It was..t-turning me into a monster...” Rudy said, his own eyes narrowing a little, showing at least some defiance. “If it was..going to turn me into something l-like you...I would rather d-die...”

“If that is how you feel...” Dark Rudy placed his freeze ray against his head. “I will be happy to obligue.” Rudy looked at the freeze ray in horror and then shut his eyes, waiting for the blow.

“Wait.”

Dark Rudy lowered his weapon and looked over at Mr. Cosmo. Confused, Rudy opened up his eyes and saw Mr. Cosmo walking over to them. He still looked angry, but his expression had softened up considerably. One arm was folded behind his back. The other was raised, his hand flat and straight up. A sign to halt...and Dark Rudy obeyed that very well. Rudy wondered, disgust on his mind, if he would become as devoted to Cosmo as Dark Rudy was if he were to be corrupted by the black chalk as well.

Dark Rudy looked at Mr. Cosmo in confusion. “But, master, he...”

“...is just naive still.” Mr. Cosmo said, cutting him off. “But...” He stared at Rudy in the eyes. An evil smile spread across his face. “I’m sure a little bit of our..hospitality...will change his mind..”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror at this. He attempted to struggle, only to be violently shaken by Dark Rudy. This irritated his stomach injury as he was pushed back and forth constantly. Rudy felt his stomach lurch and he vomited up some blood. Dark Rudy just smirked at this, satisfied.

“Do not hurt him too much. Remember, I need him alive.” Mr. Cosmo said.

“I know. I just wanted a little fun with myself..” Dark Rudy said, laughing cruelly as Rudy whimpered in pain.

Mr. Cosmo took out some rope. He went over to Snap. He bound his arms behind his back and tied his legs together. He then went over to Penny and repeated the same process. One both Penny and Snap were tied up, he turned his attention to Rudy. Unable to get away, Rudy couldn’t stop Mr. Cosmo from pulling his arms behind his back, securing them there. He could feel the rope pressing against his body. In too much pain and growing weaker, he offered little to no resistance.

Once Rudy was secured, Mr. Cosmo took a step back and stared down at Rudy. “You and your friends are coming with us. We will fix some of your wounds so you won’t croak on us. You will remain locked up until we set up an...appointment..for you to be...enlightened.” Mr. Cosmo narrowed his eyes. “And since you managed to escape the black chalk before...we will make sure you can’t do that this time. You will be ours, other Rudy.”

Rudy’s eyes widened at this. He wanted to protest. But his mind suddenly got very lightheaded. He looked around. His vision blurred more. He could see Dark Rudy and Mr. Cosmo watching him. He couldn’t tell what their expressions were. The colors and shapes, they were mixing together. Confusion clouded over his head and his vision was darkening. He couldn’t remember where he was, and all he was aware of was that he was in pain. A lot of pain.

Then, moments later, he blacked out.

sss

Sophie didn’t expect the zoner to start to stir this quickly. She had thought he was in too deep a sleep to really wake up now. A part of her was sad, as it meant that he was going to become aware of the pain he was in moments. But another of her was a little happy, as she could talk to the zoner and figure out just what had happened to him. She already had the gist of what happened, but she was interested in the full story. She felt that, if she got that, she might get more of a hint of what the black chalk artists were up to.

The feathered snake zoner groaned, moving his head a little. He opened his eyes a little. They were unfocused and clouded. Sophie doubted he could see very well right now. Though he looked up at her, he did not give any indication that he could see her. He let out another moan, this one more pronounced. The pain in his wing must be registering in his brain now. She bit her lip, feeling sorry as the zoner started to writhe a little in pain.

“N-No...Hagar...please don’t do it to him...” The zoner said in a whimper, his eyes widening slowly. “Hagar...is my friend..please don’t do that to him..please...” Suddenly the zoner’s head shot straight up, straightening his body so he was looking the opposite direction of Sophie. “Hagar!” He took in shaky breaths, his eyes remaining wide open.

Sophie looked at him sadly. This outburst did help her get a better understanding of what happened. She guessed Hagar must have been tortured, even killed, and right in front of him, too. Poor guy. He was clearly shaken up by it. His body trembled and she could see the tears streaming down his face. She wanted to comfort him. She reached over and ran her hand along the back of his head. This motion startled the zoner, his body giving a jerk.

“It’s okay...” Sophie started to say.

What happened next, she did not expect.

The snake zoner looked over at her. He stared at her blankly for a few seconds before he opened his mouth and let out a hiss. Her heart skipping a beat, Sophie immediately pulled her hand back and recoiled from the zoner. The snake zoner let out another hiss and spread his unbroken wing out in an attempt to make himself look bigger. A low growl emitted from the snake’s throat, his long, sharp fangs exposed. He lowered his head and coiled his body, looking prepared to strike.

Sophie didn’t understand why the snake zoner was doing this. Her breathing quickened. She now began to wonder if the zoner was one of the more hostile aggressive zoners that Rudy told her about. If so, she was in trouble. Fear welled up inside her chest and she backed away from the zoner. The zoner glared at her, his eyes practically glowing in what she identified as hatred.

“Filthy human...stay away from me!” The snake zoner growled. “I won’t let you hurt me!”

“Hurt you...?” Sophie asked, tilting her head. “I wasn’t going to hurt you..”

The snake zoner flipped his head to the side, staring at her with one eye. “Don’t lie to me... All you humans are the same! I bet you were tossed in here so you can push me against the water..” He raised his head a little higher, now towering over Sophie. “Isn’t that right, creator?”

Sophie shook under the glare of this zoner. She could feel waves of his hatred all around him. She didn’t know why he hated humans so much. Bad experience perhaps? Still, regardless of his hate, she still wanted to do something to help him. In spite of his attitude, she cold tell he was just really scared. She needed to help him somehow, even if he wasn’t so keen on getting that help based on his attitude. She reached her hand out toward him, only to pull back when he snapped at the air.

Sophe looked down at her hand, making sure it wasn’t bit. Seeing no wound, she looked back at the zoner. “Why are you acting this way? I’m a prisoner here, too, you know.”

The snake bared his teeth. “You’re just trying to put my guard down. You humans are a sneaky bunch... Well I, Quet, am too smart to fall for that!” Quet ruffled up his feathers, making them appear poofy. A clear warning sign for Sophie to stay away from him. Sophie leaned back, gritting her teeth in fear. If the snake decided to strike... “It was a good thing I woke up now, before you could have done anything to me...”

“But I was in here for a while...” Sophie said in a soft voice. “If I had wanted to hurt you, I would have done so...”

Quet stared at her. He looked confuse at first, but this did not last long. “You’re just wanting to put my guard down...”

“Please...I’m not going to hurt you.” Sophie said. She needed to get this zoner to understand she won’t harm him. She needed to get it through to his head that he was in no danger around her. “I want to help you get out of here.”

Quet blinked, but nonetheless kept his harsh gaze on her. He moved a little closer. Sophie flinched and cringed back, expecting the snake to bite. Instead, Quet just put his face close to hers, their eyes meeting. It felt like he was staring into her soul, judging her. Sophie felt intimidated by this, but she did not move from her spot.

Quet said, “....why would you want to help me? You’re a creator...”

“I want to help because it’s the right thing to do.” Sophie said quietly. “Please...I just want to help you. I’m not going to hurt you...”

Quet looked far from convinced. He curled up into a tight ball in front of her. His eyes stared intently at her. His body shook from a combination of fear and anger. “Just stay away from me, creator...”

Seeing she had no choice, Sophie obligued. She nodded her head once and leaned back in the cage, careful not to touch any of the electrified water bars. She could tell she was not going to make much progress with this zoner right now. If she rushed things, she could make her situation worse and she could risk making Quet even more hostile towards her. For now, she had to keep away from him, like he told her to, and wait. Maybe, if she spent some time with him, she could help him build some kind of trust.

She just had to remember to be patient.

Chapter Text

When Snap woke up, the first thing he was aware of was pain. Horrible pain, mostly concentrating in his stomach, radiating all around. He soon became aware of aches and pains all over him. He couldn’t remember, at first, just what happened. He couldn’t recall just how he got this way. Why was his stomach hurting? Why was his body so sore? Just..what had happened to him? He tried to remember, but when he thought too hard, his head hurt, and he felt as though the room spun a little.

As his heavily blurred version started to come into focus, Snap became aware he was in some white room. Pretty bright white, too. Wait..how did he get here? Groaning softly, Snap felt some of his memories return. He remembered being out in the open. No...he was in something...so were his friends. Some place cold, yet they could still feel the heat of wherever they were. A city? Oh why can’t he remember? Maybe he sat up and tried to wake himself up, he would start to remember.

He attempted to shift his body. That was when he noticed he did not budge. Strange.. But he didn’t find it odd at first. He thought that maybe he slept on one part of him wrong and it became paralyzed. It happened to him a few times before. Not a big deal. He could just use his other side instead. So he attempted again to adjust himself. Like before, this had no effect. Still muggy, Snap did not yet realize what was going on. His eyes blinked open and shut slowly, more memories coming back. Not a lot. He thought he remembered something about chalk and a cure. The memories were pretty hazy.

Snap tried to move his arms. No response. He tried with all his might. They just wouldn’t budge. His legs gave no response either. They were as still as stone. Snap shook his head slowly, groaning some more. Just what was going on? His vision started to clear up more. He had to turn his head to the side and winced as he became aware of a bright light hanging over him. Clenching his teeth, he felt his mind start to clear up even more, allowing him to think more clearly. He turned his head to his right arm. It was laying down next to him, a little out to the side. He wasn’t strapped down. He tried again to move the arm.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing. It just laid there, still like it were just a piece of stone.

Trying to move his arm and seeing it not move caused lightning strikes to explode in the back of Snap’s head. Flashes of what happened, the fight, Mr. Cosmo, Dark Rudy, Alt-Snap’s death, the horrific world they were in, they all flooded back to him quickly. So fast they came that Snap’s heart quickened at such a rate he thought it was going to burst. His eyes snapped open wide, nearly bulging out of their sockets. He looked all around, panic rising inside of him as he realized he still had no idea where he was or how he got here.

He looked over at his other arm. He tried to move it. Like his other arm, this one didn’t budge. He attempted to move his legs and felt cold fear rush through him as they wouldn’t move an inch either. What was going on here? Why couldn’t he move? He could still feel his limbs. He could still tell they were there. But they just wouldn’t budge, despite not being strapped down. He attempted to lift up his head to look around, but, though his neck and head was still capable of movement, anything at his shoulders down was completely paralyzed, resulting in him not being able to lift his head that far or adjust his body in any way.

The only things below his shoulders that could move was his ribcage and diaphragm. He could see it inflate and deflate at a rapid rate as his heart beat faster and faster as time went on. He looked left and right, trying to make sense of where he was. Where was Rudy and Penny? He didn’t see them anywere. Did they get away? Snap became aware he must have been captured. That was the only thing that made sense. It was the only thing he could think of that happened to him. Why else would he be laying on some cold table paralyzed from the shoulders down?

He hoped that Rudy and Penny were okay. He might have gotten captured, but perhaps his friends got away somehow. Yeah, they were smart and capable. Surely they managed to escape their captors. As frightened as he was that he was trapped, he would be even more terrified if he was certain his friends were caught as well. He couldn’t imagine the torment that Dark Rudy and Cosmo would be putting them through right now if they were caught. Unable to move yet capable of feeling everything... He didn’t want to think about it.

Unable to move anything but his ribs, diaphragm, head and neck, all Snap could do was lay there until someone came. He did look around the room a little more, as best as he could with a mostly paralyzed body. In addition to noting a white room, a light above him, and him laying down on what appeared to be a large table, Snap took notice of some tools, like scalpels, bandages, and medicines. He could see a cabinet to his right, filled with empty jars, needles, gauges, and other things. To his left, he could see another table, though this one was empty, a small round window and right by it, another cabinet. This one had what appeared to be paperwork and x-rays of some kind.

He realized he was in some kind of hospital ward, or a room built to be like one. This, at first, confused him. Why would Dark Rudy and Mr. Cosmo bring him here? It didn’t make a lot of sense. Wouldn’t they try to kill him instead? Then he remembered something? Didn’t they say something about wanting them to join them? Yes...they did say that, didn’t they? So they must have taken him here to be treated.

The realization brought him little comfort. Even if he turned out to be right and those two were just going to treat his wounds, if they hadn’t done that already, he still couldn’t dismiss the fact that they’d probably still torture him. They could mend his wounds but that didn’t mean they had to be very gentle about it. They could still be really rough with him, hurting him as they took care of his injuries. They probably won’t even treat his injuries very well, just barely enough to allow them to heal. And he didn’t put them past them not to give him any kind of anesthetic, so he’d be forced to feel the whole thing.

After a few minutes of silence and fearful waiting, the time finally came. He could hear footsteps heading in his direction. He turned his head left and right. He didn’t see anyone. He realized the door was behind him. He let out a soft whimper at this realization, unable to see his captor directly. He tried pushing his headback to get an upside down view, but he couldn’t move far enough. He could see a shadow on the wall, but nothing else.

Then someone came up to his side. He moved his head so he could identify who it was. It took him less than a second to recognize Dark Rudy. It was terrifying for Snap to see someone who looked so much like his best friend...and yet so different too. He looked into this teenager’s eyes and got none of the warmth and kindness that he would from Rudy. And that spiked armor he still wore...it made him look terrifying, even in just shadow.

Snap watched him warily as he walked a little closer to him, leaning forward, towering over him. That dark, twisted smile, it sent shudders through his body. Or it would have if most of his body wasn’t paralyzed. He wanted to speak, but he felt frozen, more so than he already was, as chilling terror swept through his limbs. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from those cold eyes. It frightened him to see what was essentially Rudy’s eyes, only all warped and twisted by this universe’s sick actions.

“I see you are awake.” Dark Rudy smirked. “Good... I don’t have to worry about waking you up. I was hoping you’d be conscious during this.”

Snap felt his heart race as he saw Dark Rudy walk over to grab some tools. “Wh-What are you going to do with me?”

Dark Rudy picked up a few items. He held them in the crook of his arm. He turned his head back, giving Snap a sideways glance. “Oh relax, Snap. I’m just going to treat your wounds. Mr. Cosmo wouldn’t want me to kill you, as much as I’d love to.”

Snap had a feeling that was the case. Like before, he didn’t feel comforted by it. There was some kind of cruel intent in Dark Rudy’s eyes. He knew, without a doubt, that his experience was not going to be a pleasant one. And he wasn’t able to even fight back. Dark Rudy could do anything to him right now, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was helpless, completely at his mercy. And knowing Dark Rudy, he would be getting none of that from him. He watched as Dark Rudy approached him.

Once he reached him, Dark Rudy dropped the items he grabbed on the table in front of him. Snap strained his head, trying to see what they were. He could see what looked like disinfectant, some cloths, a small thing of what he guessed was water, and a few other things. He couldn’t see everything, though, and that scared him. What more did Dark Rudy bring over? All the items were chalk, but the only thing that assured him of was that the water was not going to dissolve him. His mind raced, wondering if Dark Rudy brought over anything sharp.

“It is a shame that my master won’t let me kill you. Oh how I would love to experience snuffing your life out.” Dark Rudy chuckled. He positioned himself right behind Snap and reached down and stroked Snap gently on the head. The zoner let out soft whimpers of fear. As Dark Rudy ran his hand along Snap’s head, moving down to his cheek, caressing it, he said, “I know what you’re probably thinking. I already killed my Snap. Why should I worry about killing you, too? Well you see, Snap, I enjoyed finally ridding myself of my Snap to the point where..well...” Dark Rudy lowered his head until his forehead touched Snap’s. “I want to experience it again..”

Snap let out low whines as Dark Rudy’s evil eyes were so close to his. So close he was, that was all he could see. Nothing but eerie green, with some black tinge to it. Snap wanted to struggle, but the only thing he could manage was moving his head from side to side. Dark Rudy found his attempts at struggle funny, and he gave a cold laughter that helped to further cement to Snap that he was in trouble. Dark Rudy was going to do more than just ‘bandage him up’.

Dark Rudy pulled away. He closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. “But I can’t. A shame...but I can at least have a little fun with you.”

Snap’s breathing quickened. “Wh-What did you do to me?” He jerked his head from side to side. “Why can’t I move?”

Dark Rudy smiled twistedly at him. “A special thing my master created. Selective paralyzation. We injected you and your friends with it so that you can’t move your arms or legs...but you can feel everything...” He moved around Snap swiftly, appearing at his side. “And I do mean everything.”

Snap felt horror swell up inside his body. Terror gripped his head, refusing to let go. Not only was his fear confirmed, and Rudy and Penny were not only caught, but in the same position as he is, but Dark Rudy practically announced that he had plans on hurting him. What he done so to Rudy and Penny? Had he hurt them? Was he going to hurt them? Anger mixed into the emotion dish his panicking mind was conjuring up. He better not have hurt them...

Despite his fear, Snap narrowed his eyes up at his captor. “Did you do anything to them?” He asked through clenched teeth.

Dark Rudy shrugged his shoulders. “Why does it matter if I tell you?” He grinned down at Snap. “You will find out sooner or later. So for now, relax. You’ll be reunited with your friends soon.”

Snap’s face shifted back into horror when Dark Rudy reached down and looped his hand underneath his back and lifted him up. Dark Rudy worked on undressing him. His mask, shoes, and gloves were the easiest things to remove. The evil teenager used his head to keep Snap up while he worked on removing his scarf. He left Snap for a moment, letting the back of his head hit against the table, as he carried the articles of clothing over to a small stool nearby and dropped them on there.

Then Dark Rudy worked on getting his leotard off. It was difficult, and Dark Rudy had to shift Snap around once in a while, but he soon managed to get the leotard off, leaving Snap in nothing but his pants. Dark Rudy then laid Snap back on the table, the same position as before. Snap’s wide, fear-filled eyes watched as the evil version of his friend went over to his right side. Snap panicked when he saw Dark Rudy reaching for a scalpel. He tried so hard to move his body.

“Relax, I’m just going to remove your bandages.” Dark Rudy said. “They need to be changed anyway.”

Dark Rudy went to work cutting through the bandages wrapped around Snap’s stomach. Once they were completely sliced, Dark Rudy pulled the wraps off from him and dropped them on the ground nonchalantly. He then placed his hand on Snap’s chest and peered down, looking closely at the wound. Snap lifted up his head to see what he was doing. Snap noticed the cut on his stomach and winced at how bad it looked still. Dark Rudy narrowed his eyes, as if he didn’t expect the cut to be this bad.

Dark Rudy reached over to the supplies. He grabbed the thing of chalk water and placed the cloth into it. He dipped it in a few times and wrung it out. He turned his attention to the wound. Snap stifled his cries of pain as Dark Rudy started to clean the wound with water. It hurt...oh man it hurt... Dark Rudy wasn’t being very gentle either. Snap turned his head from side to side, trying to cope with the pain. When Dark Rudy pulled away, that did offer some relief, but it was short lived. The evil teenager took the disinfectant and sprayed it on the wounds. Snap let out screams at this. Dark Rudy smiled, amused by his pain. He sprayed a couple more times, each one prompting another cry from Snap. Then he set the bottle down.

“I don’t know why you overreact to the spray, Snap. Not like it is going to damage you.” Dark Rudy said, smirking at Snap’s tears of pain. “You should be thanking me. That wound needed to be properly cleaned. You were lucky you didn’t get much of an infection from it.” Snap let out a few whimpers and stared at Dark Rudy with fear-filled eyes. “All that’s left is bandaging it up. I’ll check to see if there’s any other wounds that need to be treated, then you will be taken to where your friends are being held up.”

Snap felt his body being lifted again. Dark Rudy steadied him and, using one hand, he grabbed the cloth bandage roll. He started to wrap it tightly around Snap’s body. Like before, Dark Rudy made no attempt at being gentle. Snap cried out in pain as his wound was aggravated. He couldn’t stop his tears from covering his face. He shut his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth. Around and around the cloth went, squeezing tightly against his stomach wound. Then when Dark Rudy was finished, he released Snap and cut the cloth. He used surgical tape to hold the bandaging in place.

“There...” Dark Rudy said. “That wasn’t so bad, now was it?”

Snap glared at Dark Rudy, looking at him with one of his eyes twitching in pain. “It..it felt like my stomach was being set on fire...”

“Oh you’re just a big crybaby.” Dark Rudy rolled his eyes. He trailed his eyes over Snap’s body, looking for any other wounds. “I’ll have to give you an examination to see if there’s any other wounds I can treat. I did have an x-ray done of you while you were still out. My master will examine them and see if you require any internal treatment.” Dark Rudy lifted Snap, sitting him up. “Now, let me look you over...”

Snap could only whimper in fear as he felt Dark Rudy’s hands move over his body as he examined him for further external injuries.

sss

Penny looked at her surroundings. Dull, grey-black, very gloomy. All those words, and more, described the kind of situation she and Rudy were in. Though it took her a while to regain her memories of what happened, once she did, she knew that she and Rudy were in big trouble.

They were no longer outside, no longer under that ice shield or in some kind of hideout. She did not see Ms. Saffron anywhere. The first thing she became aware of when she woke up was the pain in her shoulder. It felt like someone had stabbed her there. She reached over and gently rubbed it. She got a good look at her surroundings and she knew, as her mind cleared up, that she was not in the middle of the torn city anymore.

Instead, she and Rudy were located in some kind of dark room. Well it was sort of dark. There were a few black lights that offered some illumination. But for the most part, it was hard to see. She wasn’t sure why regular, brighter lights weren’t used, but, seeing her surroundings, she knew she was in no position to argue about the lights. The bars that surrounded her and Rudy, the same electric water bars that she and her friends grew to loathe, surrounded them from three sides. The water itself was black and the electricity red. Behind them, a dark grey-black wall to prevent them from escaping.

It was clear she and Rudy were prisoners there. And she knew their captors had to be Cosmo and Dark Rudy. The realization made her shudder. Just what were they going to do with her and her friends? She was aware of them wanting to bring them over to their side. And she knew the black chalk would be an easy way to do that. Still, she couldn’t help but be fearful of their possible fates here. Those two might do more to them before the corruption, just to have a little fun with them.

She recalled this wasn’t the first time she woke up here. She woke up earlier, but with her arms and legs paralyzed. Mr. Cosmo started to examine her. He had begun to remove her clothes, causing her to panic. But he never went that far, did not remove all of them, much to her relief. He stated that the removal of most of her clothes was necessary so he could examine her for injuries. Penny was forced to endure what felt like, to her, an hour, of Cosmo looking her over and treating any injuries he happened to find, including a couple she was not aware of. He did put her clothes back on right afterwards.

Penny was glad that was over. His treatment was pretty rough and painful. He certainly wasn’t very gentle with what he was doing. After he was finished, he carried her over to this cell, where she saw Rudy laying prone on the ground. Cosmo explained he already examined Rudy and did what he could, although the internal damage wasn’t something he could fix without surgery, and with that chalk disease, even that wouldn’t help him. He also informed her that Dark Rudy would be treating Snap and that he would return with him shortly.

Penny had mixed feelings about the whole thing. On the one hand, she was happy that she and her friends were getting treated. They definitely needed it after all they went through. They were going to be in this dimension for a little while longer. If they were going to endure the second dimension, best to get treatment as soon as possible. But on the other hand, she knew the reasoning for their wounds being mended was nothing good. Dark Rudy and Mr. Cosmo.... they weren’t doing it from the goodness of their hearts. No, they were doing it because they want to use them. They want them on their side, and as soon as their wounds were all treated...

She hoped that the dimensional machine would activate soon. She hoped that she set the coordinates right and figured out how to work the timer. If not, they were in trouble. She had no idea if this dimension even had a dimensional hopper of its own. If it didn’t, it would take a while to invent one, especially with so little resources. And though, if it does work, they’d be out of this mess soon, she still wanted to get Ms. Saffron out of here and they still needed to get that cure. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to endure another trip to this dark dimension. They had to get that cure now.

She was horrified to learn that they had just a half hour left to grab the cure. They wouldn’t be able to get it while they were like this. Rudy still hadn’t woken up yet. If he didn’t wake up soon, she would have to try to shake him awake herself. Then there was Snap. Where was he? Cosmo said he was being treated and that he’d be here shortly, but could she really believe his words? He could have just gotten rid of him since zoners can’t be corrupted by the black chalk. She could only guess where he was now, if he wasn’t being brought over here like Cosmo claimed he would be.

She heard a moan behind her. Some elation entered her body when she turned her head and saw that Rudy was raising his head up off the ground. She limped her way over to him. Though her leg had been fitted with a brace by Cosmo, it was still painful for her to walk. Once she reached Rudy’s side, she lowered herself the best she could, steadying herself with her cane until she was on one knee. She reached over and placed her hand on Rudy’s cheek. The boy looked up at her.

“Penny...?” Rudy whispered. He attempted to sit up. Seeing he was having trouble, Penny reached forward and grabbed his arm. She pulled him up carefully. Rudy let out a groan of pain. She could see the pale red spots from when the blood came out of his mouth. “Where..where are we...?”

Penny looped her arm over his shoulder and pulled him against her. “We’re stuck in Cosmo’s lair. He’s locked us both up.”

Rudy’s eyes widened at the realization that they were captured. He looked around, his eyes filling with panic when he noticed something else. “Wh-Where’s Snap...?”

“Your counterpart is treating his wounds.” Penny said solemnly. “Just as Cosmo treated ours.” She lowered her gaze and looked at the strong, metal brace that Cosmo outfitted her with. She looked back at Rudy. “He said that your counterpart should be bringing Snap over soon. It shouldn’t be too long.”

Rudy stared at her. His eyes gazed at the brace on her, then traveled up to note the bandages on her. Then he looked own at himself, and quickly noticed he really had been treated. Penny watched him, sadness in her eyes as Rudy was clearly trying to digest what was going on. He looked so confused and frightened. She couldn’t blame him. She felt the same way as well. It did feel so weird being treated by who were supposed to be their enemies. Her mind wasn’t entirely sure how she should take it.

She was glad to see that Rudy was regaining some of his strength. He sat up and was now sitting on the ground, his legs crossed. He reached up and rubbed his head a little. He took a look around the cage, like he was confirming for himself that she was speaking the truth. He let out a soft sigh, shaking his head. He glanced over at her sadly before gazing downward. She moved closer to him, once again pulling him into a partial hug. He jerked from her a little, and she realized she was irritating one of his injuries.

Penny pulled back and looked at him apologetically. “I’m sorry, Rudy.”

Rudy glanced her and looked away. “It’s okay.” He fell silent for a while. He looked up towards the ceiling, almost like he was hoping there was a gap up there they could climb. “Do you think Snap and Ms. Saffron are...okay?”

Penny wasn’t sure how to answer that. She bit her lip, her mind reeling to try to work out a reply. Snap, she had some idea of how to reply, but what of Ms. Saffron? She had no knowledge of her whereabouts, or even if she was still alive. Cosmo never told her about that. She turned her attention back to Rudy. She had to think of some kind of answer. She couldn’t just remain silent about this, even if she wasn’t sure of an answer.

Penny lowered her gaze, breaking eye contact with Rudy. She felt him shift a little, and she could feel his eyes boring into her, like they were trying to draw the answer out of her mentally. She looked back and said, “I...I don’t know.. Mr. Cosmo said that Snap was being treated, like I already told you. But...I don’t know if your counterpart still hurt him or not. I don’t even know if Cosmo was telling the truth. He...might have been lying to us.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it..” Rudy said in a quiet, somewhat bitter town. “Cosmo has a way of decieving people.”

She nodded in agreement. “As for Ms. Saffron...I fear the worst for her. I mean, Cosmo and your counterpart might have gotten rid of her so she ‘doesn’t interfere’. Cosmo never once mentioned her when I woke up earlier in a medical room.” Upon seeing Rudy’s confused expression, Penny said, “Yeah, I woke up in a medical room, unable to move. Cosmo was treating my injuries. No doubt Snap was put through the same thing.”

“I remember something like that. Waking up, couldn’t move, my wounds being treated...” Rudy’s voice was low and quiet, his eyes filled with realization. “I..I had no idea it was Cosmo doing that. I just thought I was really tired and was hallucinating, but...” He glanced at Penny and shut his mouth. Whatever he was going to say next, he either forgot or decided not to say it.

Penny said, “I do hope Ms. Saffron will be okay.” She sighed softly. “Unlike you, me, and Snap, she won’t be coming with us to the next dimension. I hope we’ll have enough time to at least free her before time runs out. If we go before that, she’ll be trapped here...alone.”

Rudy flinched at this. “That..would be awful.”

“I know... which is why I hope we can prevent it. If we can just get out of here...” Penny looked at their surroundings. She clenched her teeth. “But we can’t go anywhere with these stupid bars in the way. And we have, at most, half an hour to find that cure, too.”

“Half an hour...?” Rudy sounded horrified by that. Penny nodded her head solemnly. “Half an hour...that’s not much...”

He never got a chance to finish. In that moment, there was a loud clang sound. Something heavy hit up against something solid. The two friends looked over. In the small room they were in, to the left of their cage, they could see a double door with a rounded top. One of the halves was open, pushed up against the wall. Then, seconds later, the other half opened up as well and they winced at the loud sound that they made.

They could see two figures walking in, both appearing to be carrying something. As they stepped into the barely lit room, the black light bouncing off of them, creating a dark purplish illuminations, Rudy and Penny could see it was Dark Rudy and Draow. Dark Rudy was walking out in front of Draow, the bat wolf being positioned a little far behind him. The two walked through the door, Draow just barely fitting through, even with his wings folded up against his body.

In Dark Rudy’s arms, they could see Snap. The zoner was unconscious, laying limp in the evil teenager’s arms. Rudy and Penny looked him up and down, and noticed he didn’t seem to have any new injuries on him and that Cosmo was being truthful when he said that his wounds were being treated. They looked over at Draow. He was carrying an unconscious Ms. Saffron. She had been stripped of her body armor, revealing her torn blouse and long skirt underneath. Draow held her by the back of her blouse, moving very slowly like he was making sure he didn’t kill her. She, too, had been treated.

Dark Rudy smirked at Rudy and Penny as he stood in front of the cage, holding Snap in his arms. He ran his hand along the back of Snap’s head playfully and said, “Ah so you two are awake as well. How..delightful.. I am sure my master will be pleased...” Rudy and Penny didn’t answer. They just glared hatefully at him. This just made Dark Rudy’s smirk broaden.

Draow set Saffron on the ground. He turned his canine head towards Dark Rudy and said, “Did you want to go inform Mr. Cosmo?”

Dark Rudy shook his head. “No, you can go do that.” He gave Draow a sideways glance. “Remember what he said? He wanted me to watch them until we can set up an...appointment for them to be corrupted.”

“And what of Snap?” Draow’s teal eyes glared directly at the unconscious Snap, his sharp teeth bared. “The black chalk cannot be used on him.”

“Not to worry, you oversized fleabag.” Dark Rudy waved his hand dismissively. Draow snarled at the insult. Dark Rudy ignored it and continued, “Mr. Cosmo will just turn him into a drone. Mindless, emotionless, completely obedient, courtesy of the mind control nails. He’ll be just like any of our current zoner slaves.”

Draow’s ears straightened a little at this. “Good...” His smile spread across his muzzle.

Rudy and Penny were horrified by this. The idea of their friend being stripped of who he was...turned into nothing more than some mere ‘object’ to be wielded and used.. It was horrifying to think about. Memories of what happened with their Cosmo came flooding back. The sight of all those zoners, barely reacting to anything, moving autonomously...

They couldn’t allow that to be Snap’s fate. They couldn’t allow these..these monsters to do that to him. He didn’t deserve it. It would be a fate worse than death. Snap would still be alive, yes, but would his life even be worth living if he was stripped of all sentience and turned into nothing more than a mere machine, activated by words? The idea of seeing their friend like that horrified them. It reminded them of how Snap was forced to attack them. But this would be worse. At least when he was forced to fight, he could respond and react to their voices and the pain. But if he were stripped of all emotion and sentience...

They were ripped from their thoughts when the ‘door’ keeping them in was opened up. Dark Rudy threw Snap into the cell first. Rudy and Penny were horrified by just how roughly he was tossed in, like he was just a bag of garbage. Then Draow assisted with Saffron. The woman was thrown so hard she hit against the wall. Rudy and Penny winced at just how loud the thud was, and she came crumpling to the ground. A second later, the ‘door’ was shut, trapping all of them inside.

Dark Rudy waved a hand at Draow. “Now get going. Inform him that two of our guests are awake.”

“And if the others wake up before we get back?” Draow asked, flicking his ears once.

“A pleasant surprise.” Dark Rudy stated. “Now go on. I’ll remain here and guard them. They might be trapped but since the boy there is...me... I will not underestimate him. I’m sure he and his girlfriend there were working on a plan of escape.” The evil teenager looked over at Rudy and Penny and sneered at them. “Weren’t you?” Rudy and Penny growled, prompting the evil boy to chuckle darkly. He looked back at Draow. “I promise you, they will not be going anywhere.”

Draow looked a little annoyed. Penny deduced it was because he was the one who wanted to guard. She was kind of glad it was Dark Rudy instead, as Draow would have been harder to get away from, with his larger size, more firepower, and his impulsive nature. Draow said in his dark voice, “Very well then...” He turned and started to walk way. He gave Dark Rudy a sideways glance. “You know the consequences if you fail...”

Dark Rudy waved a dismissive hand. “I do not intend to fail, dear Draow. If you think I will, then you do not know me very well.”

Draow snarled. “Whatever...” With that, he disappeared out of the room.

Penny watched as Dark Rudy took out his long sword. She could still see the chalk blood on it from when he stabbed Alt-Snap with it. Dark Rudy looked at the sword, examing it, and then gave a nasty grin to her and Rudy. He did not say a word, which she was glad for. She was not interested in speaking to this monster. He instead just turned aroud, putting his back to them, and stood guard there.

Getting out of here was going to be even tougher. Not like they wouldn’t have had problems before. The electrified water bars were going to be a problem. But now that Dark Rudy is there.. If they made any attempt to escape, he would stop them. He might not be able to kill them, but he could still hurt them. A lot of pain can be caused by even minor injuries. Just the right blow in just the right spot, and they would be crippled by the pain.

She knew there had to be a way out of here. Figuring it out was going to be tough. Ms. Saffron might have some ideas, but right now, she was knocked unconscious. She didn’t think she would wake up anytime soon, which would prove problematic for them. Without that cure...

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a moan. She looked over and saw that it was Snap. She immediately got up and started to move towards him. Rudy had already gotten by his side. She watched as he sat him up, careful not to hurt him. Snap’s eyes opened up slowly and he let out a few coughs. She felt her heart ache as she listened to him cough like that. And those groans of pain... just what had Dark Rudy done to him? Did he really just treat him, or had he done something else?

Snap’s unfocused eyes looked around the room. They soon locked onto Rudy’s. The eighteen year old smiled gently at his friend and reached over with his hand to try to soothe him. But instead of accepting Rudy’s comforting touch like he normally would, Snap did something completely different and unexpected.

He let out a terrified cry and jumped back. He moved away from Rudy, his body shaking like a leaf. His mouth emitted low whimpers. Rudy and Penny watched, horrified confusion sweeping their minds, as Snap went a few feet from Rudy and curled up in a ball.

Rudy and Penny felt their hearts break at this. Why was Snap acting this way? Didn’t he recognize them? Didn’t he know that he was with his friends? His eyes were wide and alert, yet there was still something about them that was off. The way he looked at Rudy.. It wasn’t the way he usually would. Snap wouldn’t look at Rudy with a face filled with terror like he was now...unless something was very wrong with them.

Immediately, their thoughts went to Dark Rudy and Mr. Cosmo. Anger started to swell in their guts. The most logical conclusion they could come to was that Snap must have been hurt by them. They must have done something to him while he was being treated, something that caused him to react in such fear to them, or rather Rudy. He was looking at Rudy like he expected him to hurt him. He wasn’t paying attention to anything else, just Rudy. And when the boy tried to get closer, Snap’s whimpering grew louder.

“No..please..don’t hurt me again!” Snap cried, tears flowing down his face. “P-Please don’t...”

Rudy looked at Snap, his eyes wide with confusion. “Why would I hurt you?”

Snap’s body trembled harder. “Why wouldn’t you? I’ve seen what you did... To my counterpart... You want to do the same thing to me...” More tears. “J-Just please..let me go...” He sobbed, closing his eyes. “I just want to be back with my friends...”

Rudy and Penny instantly realized what the problem was. Snap mistook Rudy for his evil counterpart. An easy and understandable mistake. Dark Rudy was the one who ‘treated’ his wounds, so his mind would partially still be on that when he woke up. And it was quite dark in here. Snap likely couldn’t see the full details of Rudy’s face, easily mistaking him for his counterpart.

The sight of Snap weeping in fear like this, acting terrified of Rudy, it was a horrible sight to behold. They never thought they would see the day when Snap was afraid of Rudy, even if it was through mistaken identity. They had to show Snap that it was just Rudy and that he was back with his friends. They had to calm him down. Snap needed their comfort right now. Wordlessly, they began to approach him.

Snap scrambled to get away, but he was so distraught, he tripped over himself and landed on the ground. He looked up and he saw Rudy moving his hands towards him. Snap let out another terrified shriek and shielded his eyes, crying harder. Rudy paused, biting his lip, his own tears staining his face. Then he continued to move forward slowly, carefully, not wanting to frighten Snap more. Penny moved in close, moving to Rudy’s side. Snap did not notice her, his eyes locked on Rudy.

“Please...why do you insist on hurting me?” Snap whimpered softly. “Why won’t you l-leave me alone?”

Rudy said in a soft voice, “Snap..it’s me...”

Snap turned his head away. “Just go away..please.. You hurt me already...why do you want to do it again...?”

Rudy grabbed onto Snap. The zoner let out a scream of terror and struggled frantically to get away. Rudy held on tightly, refusing to let go. Penny was heartbroken as she watched Snap try to get away from Rudy, looking so terrified that it was his counterpart. Rudy wrapped his arms tightly around Snap and hugged him, placing his chin on his head. Snap twisted and writhed in his arms, trying to get away. He wailed and shivered, his eyes wide in fear.

“No! Let me go!” Snap shouted.

“Snap..it’s me! Rudy!” Rudy said, his voice cracking with emotion. “It’s me! I would never hurt you!”

“Yeah Snap...” Penny said as she moved in closer. “It’s okay...you’re with us...”

Snap took notice of Penny. His eyes widened with shock and confusion. His panicked breathing started to slow down a little. He looked at her up and down. “P-Penny..?” Penny nodded her head, smiling gently at him. Snap turned his head up and looked at Rudy. He said, “R-Rudy...? Is that really you...?”

Rudy smiled at Snap. “Yeah...it’s me...”

Snap stared at Rudy in shock. Slowly, his shaking decreased, his fearful cries slowed down. A small smile ticked on the corner of his mouth. He took in a few shaky breaths, staring at Rudy in disbelief, and then, without warning, he dove further into Rudy’s arms. The boy wrapped his arms around his frightened blue friend. Snap cuddled up against Rudy for comfort, crying softly.

“Oh Rudy...I’m so sorry...” Snap whimpered. “I-I didn’t know it was... I thought you were...”

“Shh...it’s okay. I understand...” Rudy said softly, running his hand up and down Snap’s back gently. “Calm down..we’re here for you...”

Penny moved in closer. She gently ran her hand along the back of Snap’s head. She watched sadly as he buried his face in Rudy’s shoulder, crying. “Yeah..it’ll be okay...”

Snap just continued to whimper and cry in Rudy’s arms. It was a heartbreaking scene to watch. He looked and sounded so frightened.. And the way he reacted to Rudy before.. No doubt about it. Those monsters had hurt him somehow. They didn’t see any injuries on him, but they did something to him. As they did their best to comfort Snap, engaging in a group hug, their minds swam with thughts of what they were going to do. One thing was for certain. They would not let Dark Rudy get away with whatever he did to Snap.

Penny still wasn’t certain how they were going to get out. They needed to get out very soon. They had little time to formulate a plan. They needed to get out of the cage, but how, with Dark Rudy there? Maybe if they distract him, make him leave.. She wasn’t sure how they were going to pull that off. What could they do to make Dark Rudy leave them be for a little while? They couldn’t just ask him to leave; that would be too convenient and stupid. They could try pressing the button while he’s not looking, but that would be too risky. Just one touch and they would die...

She refused to give up, though. There had to be a way out of this mess. She just had to keep thinking. She looked over at Ms. Saffron. She bit her lip. She wished she was awake. Ms. Saffron knew Dark Rudy better than any of them. Surely, she would know how to handle this boy. She might know how to get him to leave his post long enough for them to try to open the door.

But for the time being, the woman was unconscious. No doubt Draow did a number on her. And during her treatment, she had little denial that they hurt her. Why else would she be knocked out like this? She saw no indication of pain on Saffron’s face, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t injured in some way. She thought about trying to wake her up, but if she were knocked out, she wouldn’t have much luck in waking her. They would have to wait and hope she woke up soon. She really hoped she did. Not only did they need her help at getting the zebra chalk, but they just..couldn’t leave her locked up alone after they left. It just...wouldn’t be right.

Just then, she heard a groan. She quickly noticed Ms. Saffron’s eyes fluttering open, another groan escaping her throat. Rudy and Snap turned their heads to see the source of the sound. The three friends watched as Ms. Saffron sat up slowly, rubbing her head. Penny felt relieved. Ms. Saffron was awake now. They could check on her, update her on their situation, and figure a way out of here. She might be able to help them think of something.

sss

Rudy’s eyes widened in shock. He couldn’t believe what Ms. Saffron just said. He wasn’t sure if she was crazy or not. The idea..it was risky. Why would she even suggest something like this? He looked over at his friends. They weren’t too crazy about the idea either. Of all the ideas they had heard of, this was one of the craziest they’ve been told of recently.

Ms. Saffron hadn’t been awake too long. It did take a little time to get her bearings. Thankfully, with what little time they had left, she was able to realize their situation pretty quickly. But because of how recent she got her bearings, Rudy half wondered if this idea was the result of that. Maybe she just wasn’t thinking clearly and suggested something so insane...But if that were the case, why wasn’t she correcting herself? Maybe still too much in the confusion to realize what she was saying? Possibly.

Ms. Saffron’s expression never changed. They all had huddled close together in the back. They kept quiet, making sure that Dark Rudy never heard them. If he turned around and saw them, Rudy had no doubt he would figure out what their plans were and stop them. And they whispered lowly, not raising their voice no matter how shocked they got. The less Dark Rudy knew, the better.

“I know...but it’s our best shot.” Ms. Saffron said in a whisper. She looked at the three people in front of her, noting their shocked and wary expressions. “I am not saying this because I am confused and desperate for a solution. I am saying this because it really is our biggest chance of escape.”

“But..purposely angering your Rudy...” Penny began to say, her voice trailing off.

Snap whimpered softly. “I don’t think I want to see what his temper is like...”

The blonde woman nodded in understanding. “I know, Snap. He can be terrifying if pushed far enough. But...” She closed her eyes. “He is rather impulsive when he’s angry, very much like Draow.” She reopened her eyes and turned to look at the trio. “If you were to anger him enough, he would unlock the door and head in. When that happens, you have a chance of escape.”

“But my counterpart would be blocking the entrance.” Rudy pointed out. “If we went forward, he might...no he would attack. How could we get past him?”

“Ah, that’s where you come in.” Ms. Saffron said. She looked intently at the boy. “You would be the one to anger him. He would come after you. While you two fight, me, Penny, and Snap can escape. I’ll guide them through and get the zebra chalk for you. We’ll come back as soon as we can. The zebra chalk isn’t too far.”

Rudy wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about this plan. On the one hand, it might be their best chance of escape, like she said. And if Dark Rudy pays attention to just him, then he would focus on just him, especially if he were as impulsive as Saffron said he was. This did bring him some level of relief as it meant that his friends and Saffron could get out unharmed. But on the other hand, it was still dangerous and risky. There was no one hundred percent guarantee that Dark Rudy would only target him. He might hit one of the others back in a fit of rage.

But at this rate, there was little choice. They hadn’t been able to think of any other plan. The only one that seemed to have a chance of working was this one. Ms. Saffron’s plan might be risky, but it did offer their best chance of getting out of here. He could handle his counterpart. He believed that he could hold him off long enough for them to be the zebra chalk. He would make sure that his counterpart did not try to get at his friends or Saffron.

Rudy made his decision. He watched as his friends looked at him with unease, wondering what choice he was going to make. He then looked at Ms. Saffron. He paused, then gave her a single nod. “..Okay then.. What do we do?”

Chapter Text

Rudy replayed the plan over and over again in his head, making sure he got all the details correct. He needed to be sure he got it all memorized. Ms. Saffron told them a few times so they wouldn’t forget. It was a pretty simple plan, but even these kinds of plans can be easily foiled if one minor detaile was forgotten. Penny and Snap were also lost in thought, no doubt remembering what their move was going to be when the time came.

Rudy had the important job of not only instigating a fight with Dark Rudy by angering him, he also had to make sure he did not notice the others leaving. He also had to make sure he kept Dark Rudy angry so that his focus stayed exclusively on him. So long as Rudy managed that, the evil teenager would not notice that the others had slipped away. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to keep the boy’s attention on him, and he didn’t know if he could manage to keep fighting against his evil self for that long. But he was willing to try.

Penny and Snap’s task was much simpler by comparison. It would still be hard, though. They had to follow behind Ms. Saffron and keep themselves quiet. They would have to make sure that they don’t make a sound, which isn’t going to be easy considering they also had to move quickly. While he kept Dark Rudy busy, they would be able to, so long as they don’t make a sound, slip away and escape.

Ms. Saffron was going to take them to where the zebra chalk was. The first part of his cure... She said it was located nearby, locked up tightly. She needed help getting it out. Once they were able to get it, she would bring it back and give it directly to him, or if she doesn’t have time, to either Penny or Snap.

All this had to happen within a short time frame. Penny said they were down to twenty or less minutes. That wasn’t a big frame of time. They would need to move quickly. They couldn’t sit around here and try to discuss why this Cosmo had the zebra chalk locked up, if he had any use for it, or anything like that. Even though the information might prove useful, they just didn’t have the time. They had to act now if they were going to be able to get out of here. They needed to get a move on.

Rudy knew his time to make his move was coming up. He looked over at Ms. Saffron. She was going to give him the signal of when to start to pester Dark Rudy. She told him that one of the easiest and fastest ways to piss him off was to insult Mr. Cosmo. Dark Rudy cared about Cosmo and was fiercely loyal to him. Any insult, even a minor one, would be enough to anger him. Rudy had taken notice of this earlier, so it came as no surprise to them. Rudy had a little bit of time to figure out exactly what he was going to say to Dark Rudy. As soon as Ms. Saffron gave the signal, it was show time.

He was nervous about this. It was going to be a frightening experience. Purposely invoking Dark Rudy’s temper...it was going to be terrifying. Based on what Ms. Saffron said, he was truly scary when he was angry, even more so than what they had already seen. Rudy was going to have to be very careful around him. He needed to anger him, and then he was going to need to defend his life, as Dark Rudy would get so angry, he’d blindly attack, forgetting about his orders to keep him alive.

Rudy hoped that Mr. Cosmo was not going to show up anytime soon. If he did, they were in trouble. He would ruin their plans for certain. He wouldn’t be able to keep both Dark Rudy and Cosmo busy. And if Cosmo sees what’s going on, he would likely unleash his zoner slaves. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to prevent Cosmo from showing up. All he could do was hope that Mr. Cosmo stays..wherever he is, until they manage to get what they needed. There was the chance that they would not be able to get the zebra chalk before Cosmo came back... He hoped that wasn’t going to be the case. He hoped that, for once, luck would be on their side.

Rudy looked over at Ms. Saffron. He waited patiently for the signal. With twenty minutes and counting left, she would have to make the signal in the next minute or so. Less, preferably, if they were going to do this in such a short time frame. Once in a while, he case a wary glance on his dark self. Dark Rudy wasn’t looking their way. His back was still turned to them. He shuddered at the sight of that sword. This was going to be one huge gamble. If he wasn’t careful, he would get skewered..just like Alt-Snap did...

Ms. Saffron gave the signal. She flicked her wrist in the way she said she would when it was time. Rudy took quick notice. She stared at her, his eyes widening slowly. He gulped. It was time to start. He couldn’t hesitate. He couldn’t afford to waste any time. Looking at at Dark Rudy, he started to make his way over. He could feel his heart racing. He was about to do something that, normally, he would consider stupid, at least in his predicament. But he knew he had to do it. It was the only way they could get out of here.

Rudy took position near the ‘door’ of the cage. He looked directly at Dark Rudy. He couldn’t help but trail Dark Rudy’s blade with his eyes, noting the blood stains still on it. The sight of that made his blood chill. He knew that blood could quiet easily be his. The only thing that comforted him was knowing that Penny, Snap, and Ms. Saffron wouldn’t have to suffer the same kind of fate. He was willing to put himself on the line if it meant keeping others around him safe. He hoped that his distraction was going to be good enough.

Swallowing hard, Rudy cleared his throat. It was time to begin. The moment that would kickstart their plan on getting out and obtaining the zebra chalk. It was a terrifying moment, but he managed to control his fears and made himself speak.

“Hey!” Rudy said sternly. He was surprised by how much force he was using. He didn’t mean to sound like this. “Hey you! Turn around!”

Dark Rudy turned his head. He gave Rudy a sideways glance. He gave a small, evil-filled smile. “Oh if it isn’t my weak self.. What do you want? Going to beg me to let you go?” He chuckled darkly. “I know that’s what you’re going to do, and let me save your breath. It isn’t going to work. My master ordered me to keep you in here and that is exactly what I’m going to do.”

“Oh really? If your master told you to jump off a bridge, would you?” Rudy asked in a somewhat playful tone. Dark Rudy cocked an eyebrow, looking a little confused, yet intrigued by what he said. “Oh, what if he told you that you don’t exist anymore and you’re just some ghost wandering around? Would you believe him then?”

Dark Rudy’s eyes started to narrow. Rudy could tell he was starting to provoke him. He would need to keep this up, try to say other things. A part of him felt guilty about doing this. He didn’t like being the bully. He hated instigating fights and mocking others. Sure, if an enemy angered him enough, he would push back. But in this case, he was the one starting things, and he wasn’t too proud of it. But it had to be done.

Rudy folded his arms against his chest, giving a smirk to his dark half. Dark Rudy tilted his head a little. Rudy’s behavior was atypical right now and Dark Rudy was taking notice of that. Rudy felt a pang in his chest. If Dark Rudy saw through what he was doing now, their plans might be ruined. He tried his best not to show fear, any indication that he was worried about something.

“Let’s face it. You are just a mere puppet to him. He pulls the strings, and you do all the work.” Rudy said. Dark Rudy’s eyes narrowed a tad further. Less confusion and more bits of anger started to show. He was on the right track now, but he had to go further. “You know, it is a shame that you work for him. I mean...” Rudy held his hand out in gesture. “..if you’re going to sell your soul to someone and hand them your free will, couldn’t you do it with someone who is...I dunno...competent?”

Dark Rudy growled softly. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Rudy shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Am I?” He asked in an innocent voice.

The evil teenager furrowed his eye brows and gritted his teeth. “If you’re trying to imply that my master is incompetent..”

“Hey, you said it. Not me.” Rudy said playfully, smiling at Dark Rudy despite of his fears. He could see the evil teenager’s body start to shake from anger. Rudy continued, “I mean, after all, if Cosmo really were as good as you say, how come he doesn’t do a lot of the work? Why doesn’t he put himself on the front line? Oh, that’s right! It’s because he’s a coward and prefers making others do his own dirty work.”

Dark Rudy growled deeply. His eyes started to flicker black. “Take that back...”

Rudy could tell he was really getting him angry now. That was good. He just had to keep this up. He just had to keep acting like a jerk and give him no indication of what he was really trying to do. That was not going to be too easy, since his dark self is pretty much him. Dark Rudy would have knowledge about how his mind works and if he thought long enough and hard enough, he would realize what was going on. So far, the plan was working well enough.

Now he just had to continue mocking Cosmo. More insults, more jabs at his capabilities. He prepared his body for the assault that would eventually come. He could see, out of the corner of his eyes, Penny, Snap, and Saffron positioning themselves to the side. They were prepared to run as soon as they had an open shot. They were counting on him in giving them that open opportunity to get out of here. And he was going to deliver. He was going to get them out of here.

“Why should I?” Rudy asked calmly, pacing in front of the ‘door’. His eyes locked onto Dark Rudy’s. He flinched a little at the sight of the black glow, but nonetheless remained calm, at least physically. On the inside, his heart was pounding. “After all, just what has Mr. Cosmo done that didn’t involve blackmail? Or making someone else do the work? Sometimes I wonder why I worry about him so much. Not like he’s really as competent as he believes he is. Without anyone to back him up, he is just a pushover. If it weren’t for you and Draow, I’m sure Mr. Cosmo could be stopped by a ten year old child.”

Dark Rudy hissed at this. The glow trails from his eyes increased. His teeth were bared in anger. Dark growls constantly emitted from his throat. He pointed his sword in his direction. The blade itself wobbled as Dark Rudy’s body shivered with negative emotion. “You uncultured swine! You don’t know what you’re talking about! How dare you speak of Mr. Cosmo with such foul words!”

Rudy watched as Dark Rudy continued to seethe in anger. The plan was working. Just a little more...

Dark Rudy continued to rant. “If you think for one minute I am going to sit idly by and let you insult my master like that, you’ve got another think coming! Cosmo has more value in one finger than you do in your whole body!”

“Oh I’m sure he does...” Rudy said. “..if by value, you mean failures.”

“Why you...!” Dark Rudy’s body shook harder. He gripped the sword so fightly, Rudy thought he was going to crush the handle. He instinctively took a step back away from the ‘door’, but he still faced Dark Rudy and he still kept giving him a mischevious smile. This did not suit well with Dark Rudy. “Mr. Cosmo is giving you the opportunity of a lifetime! And you dare to deny that?! Do you know how lucky you are that he is considering training you?!”

Rudy forced a laugh at this. “Lucky? If you mean unlucky, yes, I do agree.” Dark Rudy gritted his teeth at this. “I mean, really, what should I expect from someone who isn’t smart enough to realize what the word ‘no’ means? I bet he can’t even figure out how to execute one of his own plans without the help of an assistant, despite him supposedly being the leader of all of this.”

Rudy knew that what he said wasn’t true. He did not really believe Cosmo was that incompetent. His experience with him proved otherwise. But if he was going to anger Dark Rudy, he had to keep this up. He had to lie, say these things about Cosmo, to piss off Dark Rudy. Seeing the evil teen’s face start to turn red, he was on the right track.

“How dare you!” Dark Rudy snarled at him. “If you keep this up, I’ll..!”

“Or you’ll what? You’ll bring Cosmo down here and hope that he somehow can make it all better?” Rudy said in a mocking tone of voice. “Really now..is that where you will go anytime there is trouble? Up to Cosmo? Hope that he can fix things for you?” Rudy tried his best not to shudder at the sound of Dark Rudy’s growling. He tried not to react at his contorted face. Rudy said, “Well sorry to break it to you, but your master is nothing but a phony. He only pretends to be smart. But really, he’s just an idiot when you get right down to it.”

“Shut up!” Dark Rudy yelled.

Rudy chuckled at this. “Why should I? Are you afraid to hear of the truth?”

“You’re lying! You don’t know anything about my master! You’re just jealous that you don’t have his talent!” Dark Rudy yelled at him. His voice rose in volume. “If you dare speak another derogatory word about my master...” He clenched his teeth tightly, growling softly. “You..are...going...to...regret..it...”

It was clear to Rudy that his counterpart was trying to control his temper. He was starting to lose it. He was being pushed over the edge. He was getting so close. He was doing a good job at hiding his fear, keeping his counterpart in the dark of what was really going on. He just needed to think of something to break him, something would cause him to snap. And he believed he knew just what to say to him. A bold move, very dangerous, but it should work.

Rudy gave a sneer, his grin broadening. “Regret it eh? Well if I were in your shoes, I’d regret working for Cosmo. I’ve encountered him in my dimension, too, you know. And let me tell you, he was a pushover.” A lie, but a necessary one. “I couldn’t believe I was ever even afraid of that guy. I mean, why should I be afraid of someone who was so stupid, that he ended up killing himself?”

Dark Rudy’s face went into complete shock. His eyes bulged open wide. His mouth dropped open. He shook his head a little and he spoke in a small voice, “Y-Your Cosmo is..dead..?” There was no hint of anger there. Just confusion.

Rudy nodded his head. “Yes. He was so consumed with trying to kill me, that he ended up getting crushed to death by his own death trap. He was trying to crush me, but I got away.” Rudy folded his arms again, smirking at his counterpart. “If he hadn’t done something so stupid, he would have lived. But hey, I guess we all can’t be so intelligent, right? Plus, maybe Cosmo did himself a favor. He no longer has to be around to listen to his own stupid advice.”

Dark Rudy stared at Rudy in shock for a while. He was completely still, the only movement being his eyes blinking a few times. Rudy was worried that maybe he took things the opposite way. Dark Rudy didn’t appear angry, just shocked. That was not going to work for their plans. He waited, hoping to see some kind of outburst. Rudy did still bad with the way he was acting. He normally would not speak that way. But he acknowledged it was necessary.

Then, slowly, Dark Rudy’s eyes narrowed into slits. His body started to shake, harder than before. He let out a roar of anger as he straightened himself to look threatening. His teeth were bared, clenching tightly against each other. His eyes were wide, wild with rage. Rudy took another step back, unable to stop his eyes from widening. Had he done it? Had he provoke him enough to make him snap? He watched as Dark Rudy raised his sword and pointed it in his direction once more. Rudy took that as a yes.

“You...you little fucker! I am going to make you regret those words!” Dark Rudy snarled. “I will show you why my master picked me as his second in command! I will show you what he has taught me!” Dark Rudy took a step forward, his black eyes boring through Rudy’s. “You, my pathetic weakling self, will learn the very definition of pain... You will regret ever speaking out against my master...”

“Y-You really are touchy aren’t you?” Rudy mocked. He was not able to hide the emotional crack in his voice. “I can’t blame you. Sometimes the truth is more painful than a lie. That’s why some people like to hide behind comforting lies.” His smile broadened. “I bet that is what Mr. Cosmo does. Too much of a coward to face reality.”

Dark Rudy let out a loud yell, one filled with more hatred and anger than Rudy had ever heard anyone muster up before. It was enough that it chilled his blood. He gave a quick glance at the others. They, too, looked frightened by the sudden battle cry that Dark Rudy emitted. Rudy heard the sound of clicking, and he looked over just in time to see Dark Rudy rushing at him, his eyes wide with anger. Rudy didn’t have much time before Dark Rudy slammed up against him, pushing him into the ground.

Rudy struggled on the ground, kicking his legs wildly. He twisted his head from side to side. Dark Rudy had his sword pressed up against his neck. Rudy looked at the blade in fear, seeing his reflection. He gritted his teeth as he looked up at Dark Rudy. He shuddered visibly as he looked into those eyes. They were so uncomfortable to gaze into. He could feel the hate radiating from them, joining in with the black mist that came out of those eyes. A look of cruelty...something that he hoped he would never have.

Rudy started to push back against Dark Rudy. He tried to get the sword away from his neck. He grabbed onto Dark Rudy’s arms and pushed hard. His evil self was stronger than he thought he would be, and he wasn’t able push him back that far. He closed his eyes tightly, straining to try to keep the sword a little away from his neck. It took him seconds to realize that, in his anger, Dark Rudy might forget that he is not supposed to kill him.

Rudy opened up one eye and looked up at Dark Rudy. No look of mercy from him. The dark teenager pushed harder, trying to push the sword against his throat. Rudy’s legs kicked on the ground. He had to get this guy off of him. He wasn’t going to last much longer at this rate. As the sword pushed harder against his neck, he could feel his heart quickening. Just one slash from this sword and it was all over. Pulling his foot back, he kicked against Dark Rudy’s stomach. Dark Rudy grunted in pain and held his stomach. With this distraction, Rudy managed to slip out from him, causing the teenager to fall forward into the ground, no longer pushing up against him.

Dark Rudy shook his head and snarled in Rudy’s direction. He was still caught in his own rage. Before Rudy had a chance to get up, Dark Rudy, dropping his sword, charged him. Rudy was on his hands and knees when he was tackled a second time. He let out a cry of pain as he was pushed back into the ground. Dark Rudy laid on his back. He gripped his shoulders and pushed him into the ground. Rudy struggled to get free, but Dark Rudy refused to let go. Suddenly, without warning, Dark Rudy started to punch him in the back, between his shoulders.

Rudy couldn’t tell if the others got a chance to leave yet or not. Dark Rudy was hitting him in the back hard, each one prompting a cry from him, no matter how much he tried to hold back. Dark Rudy snarled and hit him again and again. Rudy couldn’t concentrate on what was around him. All that was on his mind now was the pain. He let out a soft whimper as Dark Rudy continued to punch him. Then he suddenly stopped. Rudy was confused. This lasted a few seconds. Dark Rudy gripped him by his hair and yanked him back. The sudden pull of his hair and scalp made Rudy scream loudly. It felt like Dark Rudy was going to rip off the skin completely.

Rudy looked at Dark Rudy, whimpering softly. Tears of pain started to move down his face. Dark Rudy growled, taking in open mouthed gasps slowly and heavily. He yanked Rudy’s head forward and glared at him in the eyes. After an uncomfortable stare that lasted a few seconds, Dark Rudy proceeded to lift Rudy up by his hair with another rough pull. Rudy cried out in agony and tried to yank his counterpart’s hand off of him. He didn’t have time to when he was suddenly gripped by his arm with his counterpart’s other hand and dragged over to the wall.

Dark Rudy released his arm and then sneered at him as he tightened his grip on his head. He smashed Rudy’s face against the wall and pulled it down slowly. Rudy could feel the rocky surface scrape against his skin. Dark Rudy pulled his head back and smashed it up again. There was a crack and Rudy realized his nose was broken. He swiftly became aware of a horrible pain emitting from the middle of his face, and there was a warm liquid pooling out of his nose. Blood...

Dark Rudy threw Rudy into the ground. He glared down at him for a few moments, watching him hold his nose in pain. Then he knelt down and, before kneeling down and grabbing him by his shirt collar. He yanked Rudy up off the ground. Rudy let out a cry of pain as he was forced off the ground and slammed against the wall. Dark Rudy sneered at him, an evil smile spreading across his face. Rudy twisted his head to the side as Dark Rudy pressed his body against him. He pushed his face against Rudy’s, their cheeks touching each other. Rudy was very uncomfortable with this and tried to get free, which resulted in Dark Rudy pushing up against him even harder.

“Oh you poor naive fool... You thought you could get away with saying those things that easily...?” Dark Rudy said with a jeer. He grinned, his breath hitting against Rudy’s face. “Well I’m sorry to disappoint you, weakling, but life isn’t always fair...”

Rudy struggled to get free. His counterpart’s face this close to him, it frightened him. He grabbed onto his counterpart’s shoulders and pushed back against him. He managed to make Dark Rudy take a few steps back. With this window of chance, Rudy dashed off to the side, freeing himself from Dark Rudy’s grasp. His counterpart didn’t look disappointed he didn’t have a hold of him. He just advanced on him again, slowly, deliberately.

“Don’t worry..I won’t kill you...” Dark Rudy said in a calm voice. “I’ve managed to tame my temper. But..you still need a little lesson...”

Rudy moved back, standing dangerously close to the electrified water bars. He couldn’t go back much further. He felt his heart race faster as Dark Rudy got close to him. If he got too close and ended up pushing into the water bars, he would be electrocuted. He realized that he may have just made a wrong move. Running over here was a potential death sentence. He tried to ease his way out of it, but Dark Rudy adjusted his body so that he couldn’t move away from the elecric bars no matter which way he went.

He realized, in horror, that Dark Rudy was deliberately keeping him there. He knew how dangerous the electricity in the water was. He knew full well what would happen if he touched it. And now he was boxing him near it so that he would constantly be close to death. And with him in the front, someone who was capable of hurting him, willing to kill him if he so got the word, it made it clear just what he was doing. Psychologically torturing him... Cutting off his escape route while keeping him pressed near a lethal weapon. No matter which way he went, he was in trouble.

Dark Rudy advanced on him. He moved until Rudy had his back pressed against the ground, parallel to the water bars. Dark Rudy pinned Rudy down, gripping his shoulders tightly. Rudy struggled, but soon stopped, not because of Dark Rudy, but because of the electric bars. He was dangerously close to them. Oh why didn’t he think this through more? He stared up at Dark Rudy in fear, wondering what he was going to do to him.

“Now...prepare for...” Dark Rudy stopped suddenly. His head raised up. Rudy looked at him, confused, wondering what got his attention. Dark Rudy looked around slowly. Rudy realized, dread rising up in his stomach, just what Dark Rudy came to notice. His counterpart looked down at him, his eyes wide in shock. “Where are the others..?”

Rudy didn’t answer him. He just stared at him, silently, panting heavily. He didn’t even need to answer for Dark Rudy to finally make the connection. The realization that he had been tricked dawned on him. His eyes widened further, his mouth dropping open wide. Dark Rudy stared at him in disbelief. That disbelief soon contorted into anger. Growls emitted from his throat. Rudy gulped, realizing that he was in worse trouble than before.

“You little bitch! You tricked me!” Dark Rudy shouted. He grabbed Rudy by his throat. He started to squeeze tightly, strangling him. “Where are they?! Tell me!” He increased his pressure, causing Rudy to gag. “Tell me now, you soft-hearted waste of space! I’ll break your neck if you don’t tell me!”

Rudy opened his mouth wide to breathe. He took in small breaths, all that he could manage. He looked up at his counterpart pleadingly, silently begging him to let him go. Dark Rudy growled, his face contorting further into rage. It was a terrifying sight. Saffron was not kidding when she said that Dark Rudy was scary when he was angry. Rudy had a feeling that Dark Rudy was so angry he was not going to let go on his own.

Pulling his foot back, he kicked against Dark Rudy’s stomach once more. The force of the kick was enough to get Dark Rudy off of him, flying onto his back. Rudy scrambled up to his feet. He looked over to the open door. He gave a few pants, and then rushed over towards it. He ran as fast as he could. He didn’t get far. He felt his arm being gripped and he was suddenly yanked back. He screamed as he was thrown against the wall with tremendous force.

Before he had time to react, Dark Rudy advanced on him and delivered a kick between his legs. Rudy’s eyes bulged wide and he held onto that spot protectively as he collapsed on the ground. Tears of pain flowed from his eyes. Of course his counterpart would make such a low, underhanded blow. He looked up as his counterpart stared down at him, smiling evilly. Using his foot, Dark Rudy gently pushed against Rudy until he was completely on his back. Then he pulled his leg up and it came down with great force.

Rudy let out a cry of pain as the foot smashed up against his stomach. Blood sprayed from his mouth from the stomp and he let out groans of pain. Dark Rudy left at this and stomped down on his stomach again, forcing more blood out of his mouth. Then he gave one more, bringing down his foot as hard as he could. Rudy screamed in pain and put one hand on his stomach, rolling to his side. He curled up in a ball and started to sob in agony. He vomitted up more blood, a small pool forming on the ground in front of him.

Pain..so much pain... Rudy found it difficult to move. He wasn’t able to think. All that was on his mind right now was the pain. His body trembled, blood still leaking out of his mouth. He opened up one eye and stared up at his counterpart. He let out a few pained whines as Dark Rudy sneered at him and prepared another attack. He lowered himself to the ground and gripped Rudy by his shirt collar again. Rudy stared at him fearfully as he balled his hand up into a fist. He pulled it back. Rudy shut his eyes and looked away, preparing for the pain.

It never came.

Rudy was confused when there was a shudden shout of surprise and he felt Dark Rudy let him go. He opened his eyes completely and looked over to see what had happened. His eyes widened in shock at what he saw.

Penny...It was Penny.. She had come back to help him. The female teenager had Dark Rudy in a headlock and she was pulling him away from him. Dark Rudy was struggling against her, but was having no luck in dislodging the angry teenager. Penny’s teeth were bared and eyes narrowed in anger. She gripped Dark Rudy’s other arm and then she forced him into the ground. Rudy managed to sit up and he watched as Penny kept Dark Rudy on the ground, unable to get himself up.

Dark Rudy struggled underneeath her. “Let me go at once, you bitch!”

“No!” Penny snarled at him. “I won’t let you hurt my friend anymore!” Penny tightened her grip on him. She used her body weight to hold him down. “I don’t care if you technically are a version of my friend. You’re a monster and I won’t let you get away with hurting him!”

Dark Rudy glared up at her, looking at her with one eye. “You are going to regret this! Just wait until I report this to Mr. Cosmo! If he finds out...!”

“Oh shut up! Enough with Mr. Cosmo! I don’t care what your master thinks! Do you think I give a rat’s ass about that?!” Penny snarled at him, twisting his arm and prompting a cry of pain from Dark Rudy. “You sick little monster!”

Rudy’s eyes widened when he noticed something that Penny did not. He pushed himself onto his hands. He opened up his mouth to speak. He couldn’t at first. Blood just poured out of his mouth. He gave a few coughs. He tried again, this time managing to let out a wet, strangled cry, “P-Penny! Look out!”

Penny looked over at Rudy, confused. “What...?”

It was too late for her to react. She did not see Dark Rudy reaching over and grabbing his katana, which was nearby. She did not see him raise it up..until it was too late. Penny let out a cry of pain when the blunt part of the katana was thrust against the side of her head. She stumbled into the ground. Dark Rudy instantly climbed up to his feet. Glaring angrily, he pressed his foot against Penny’s chest and pointed the blade down towards her, the tip touching her throat. Penny’s eyes went wide with fear.

“Penny!” Rudy struggled to his feet. He slipped a few times and he had to pause due to agony. He soon managed to get onto his feet. He stumbled forward. He had no idea why Penny came back, but now wasn’t the time to question that. “L-Let her go!”

Dark Rudy looked over at him, giving him an unimpressed look. “Why should I..?”

“Because if you d-don’t...I’ll make you pay!” Rudy shouted. He started to cough and he held onto his stomach. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Dark Rudy looked at this with an amused expression. “It seems right now you need to help yourself. And besides...” He pushed against Penny harder, making her grunt in pain. He pressed the blade further against her throat. Penny squirmed, wanting to push the sword away but afraid to make any attempt to do so, fearful that she would end up getting herself hurt. “I don’t think you’ll want her to get hurt, now would you?”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror. “Don’t you dare...”

“Don’t dare what? I won’t do anything...” Dark Rudy said. “So long as you stay there and wait for my master to come down. Surrender yourselves.” He smirked down at Penny. “If you make one move, I will hurt your dear little Penny. I’ll slice her throat just enough to take away her voice.” Rudy and Penny’s eyes widened in horror at that. “Oh wouldn’t that be lovely? Imagine, not being able to hear her sweet voice anymore.” Dark Rudy stared at Rudy with a twisted smile on his face. “I could also break her back...make her not able to walk.. Would you like that..?”

Rudy’s body shook in a mixture of pain and anger. He felt his blood start to boil. He glared hatefully at Dark Rudy. He growled softly. All instincts told him to ram this guy. But he couldn’t do anything, and that made him angrier. He wanted to rush into this guy. He wanted to make him pay for hurting Penny. But he knew he couldn’t do that, not while she was pinned down like that. He was stuck. He had no choice but to stay where he was. As much as he hated to admit it, Dark Rudy was running the show now.

“Tell you what.” Dark Rudy said with a sneer. “I’ll let her go...if you tell me where Ms. Saffron and your Snap went.” Rudy opened his mouth to respond, but Dark Rudy held up his hand to stop him. “..and one more thing I’d like you to do after that...” He pointed out of the cage. “You see that?”

Rudy looked over. On the ground near where Dark Rudy was, there was a bottle of water. He hadn’t noticed it before. He looked back at Dark Rudy, his heart clenching. “Y-Yes..”

Dark Rudy gave an evil smile. “I want you to drink it.” Rudy and Penny gasped in horror at this.

“Wh-What?!” Rudy cried, his eyes wide in terror. His heart pounded against his chest.

“You want him to do what? B-But..that would...” Penny started to say.

Dark Rudy laughed evilly. “I know it would...”

“Why...?” Rudy asked, his breath quickening.

“Just for a little entertainment...” Dark Rudy chuckled. He pushed the sword a little harder against Penny’s throat, causing her to cry out in pain. “Either tell me where your two comrades went and drink that real world water, or I will hurt your friend here. It’s your choice, Rudy.”

Rudy looked at him in horror. He then stared at Penny. His mind swirled with thoughts, trying to think of what he could do. He couldn’t allow Penny to be hurt. Even if she won’t be killed, the thought of her being crippled like that..it was too much for him to bear. He loved her. He would never want her to be hurt like that. He looked back at Dark Rudy. He realized that he truly was boxed into a corner.

He couldn’t rush forward. That would only ensure her getting hurt. No matter which way he came from, Dark Rudy would be able to slice Penny’s throat before he could reach him. He couldn’t run away either. He would never abandon Penny like that. She needed his help. She was his best friend. If he left her...just what kind of friend would he be? A terrible one... And if he left, not only would he be a coward, but Dark Rudy would hurt her anyway.

In the end, he knew there was just one choice he had. As much as he didn’t want to, Dark Rudy had him by the arm, figuratively speaking. He had no choice but to give into Dark Rudy’s commands. With Penny threatened like that...what over choice did he have? He couldn’t get her out of that situation, not with her pinned down and at Dark Rudy’s mercy. He looked over at Penny. He gave her a sad, regretful expression.

“I’m...sorry Penny...” Rudy said softly. Penny’s eyes widened. He looked over at Dark Rudy, glaring at him, before bowing his head in submission. Dark Rudy grinned at this.

“That’s a good boy...” Dark Rudy said. “I knew you would see sense.”

Rudy turned and quietly walked away. He headed straight over to where the water bottle was. Penny took notice of this and tried to struggle.

“No, Rudy! Don’t do it!” Penny cried out in desperation. “Please! Don’t!”

Dark Rudy glared down at her. “Be quiet, you. This is between him..and me...” Dark Rudy turned his attention back to Rudy. He smiled evilly as Rudy walked back over, holding the water bottle in his hands. It was about halfway full. “Good, good... Hmm you know..I changed my mind..” Rudy looked at him in confusion. “You don’t have to tell me where Saffron and Snap are... Instead, just drink that..” He pointed at the water bottle. A nasty smile on his face. “All of it, too.”

Rudy stared at Dark Rudy in horror. Was he serious? Drink all the water? He looked at the water bottle. Despite being halfway gone, there was still a lot of water in there. If he drank the whole thing, he might... He looked back at Dark Rudy, who was giving him an evil smile, baring his teeth. He remembered that the black chalk does not require a living host, so even if Dark Rudy killed him, his body could still be used.

Rudy looked at the bottle. He let out a whimper, remembering just how painful it was when he drank a little bit of water at the hospital. Now he had to drink this...and possibly die... He looked over at Penny apologetically. Then he gripped the bottle and started to twist the top off.

Penny cried, tears flowing down her face. “Rudy! No!”

Chapter Text

Quet rested on the ground, curled up into a ball. He was tired, still a little groggy from having woken up just a short while ago. He had almost forgotten how he came to be here. One look at his surroundings, seeing the electric water bars surrounding him, it came rushing back at him like a tidal wave. Unpleasant memories resurfaced.

He and a group of his friends, all part of the Luminos, they had ventured into Mumbo Jumbo Jungle. They had detected creator activity and they set out to neutralize the threat. They realized they were up against the black chalk creators, the more aggressive type. They knew, right off the bat, it was going to be a dangerous move. They knew what they were risking by going up against them. But they had no choice. They couldn’t allow those despicable humans ruing Mumbo Jumbo Jungle. They had to fight.

And fight they did. They stood their ground well at first against the creators. Quet had thought that, if they were careful enough and planned their moves, they would gain the upperhand and drive the humans away. All they really had to do was get the magic chalk from them. Without it, the creators were helpless. They could then force them to leave, or threaten to leave them stranded in ChalkZone if it came to that. Humans couldn’t eat or drink anything in ChalkZone, so that would have been a death sentence for them. Granted, it was a pretty terrible one, but after what humans did to ChalkZone, they deserved it.

They weren’t able to hold their ground for very long. And eventually, he and Hagar were captured. They were plucked right from the field and taken to this forsaken place. He was trapped in the real world, which might as well be hell for him. The liquid in this world would kill him. Any liquid, slow or quickly, always painful. These bars surrounding him, they would keep him in here. He might not be one of the largest zoners, but he could not fit through these bars.

That large human, Ghadir he believed her comrades called her, she had tortured his best friend right in front of him. It was a horrific sight. His eyes watered as he recalled all the gruesome details. The cutting of his skin... The ripping of muscle... The blood pouring out of the wounds... His friend’s screaming in agony... It haunted him, swirling in his head, refusing to let him go. Quet lowered his head and fought back the tears.

“A-Are you okay..?”

Quet snapped his head up and looked at the source of the voice. He let out a low hiss when he saw the human girl looking right at him. She seemed so...confused. He wasn’t sure why she was looking at him like this. But he didn’t care. This was some kind of torture, he knew. They tossed a small creator in with him just to torment him. He didn’t know what the girl was capable of doing, but he wasn’t going to give her that chance.

When he woke up, he couldn’t believe that he was stuck in this cage with a human. She could probably get out at any time. She might be their little minion, here to torture him mentally by pretending to want to help. Well he wasn’t going to fall for it. The creators might be wanting to make this place even more of a hell for him than it was before. But this little trick was dependant on whether or not he’d be dumb enough to fall for it. If they think he would just lower his guard just because this girl acts nicely towards him, they were in for a big surprise.

Quet said in a low, growly voice, “That’s none of your business, human.”

The little girl gave a sigh. “I don’t know why you’re acting like that. We’re both in this predicament together. It would be easier if we just...”

“Shut up!” Quet hissed, ruffling his feathers a little. “I’m not going to let you get my guard down! You hear me?” He lowered his head in a threatening manner, like he was ready to strike. “I’m onto you. I know you’re just trying to put my guard down so you’ll wait until I fall asleep and you hurt me!”

“I don’t know why you think I’m going to hurt you.” The girl said, sounding confused. “How could I hurt you? I am unarmed and in case you still haven’t noticed, I’m a prisoner here too.”

Quet growled at this. Very convincing. The larger creators must have told her to put on a convincing show, to act like she was a prisoner. Good thing he saw right through this ruse. Who knows what kind of trouble he would have been in if he didn’t realize what was going on. This girl probably has some kind of hidden weapon somewhere, out of sight and ready to be used once he lets his guard down and she could take him by surprise.

Very clever of them to choose a child to do this. Children human were, overall, less threatening, at least at a glance. They did have more active imagination and they had more energy, so in fights, they lasted longer. That was part of why the magic chalk war was so devastating; the fighters were energetic children. But they were also more vulnerable without the magic chalk. Adult humans have some chance of fighting back well enough, but children...not so much. Not that they can’t fight back, but their small size and overall being physically weak did make it hard for them to stand up against zoners that were larger than them.

This girl, on the other hand, yeah she was small, but then so was he. They were pretty well matched. If it came to the point where they would fight, he did feel assured that he at least stood a chance. He was swifter than this little girl. He could wrap himself around her before she had a chance to strike. Perhaps if he got a hold of her, her comrades would do whatever he said. He could get out of this terrible place and try to find his way back into ChalkZone. He had to report to Maalik about what happened. Maalik.. His heart clenched. He must think he’s dead...

“I don’t understand why you won’t let me help you.” The girl said, her eyes narrowing in what Quet guess was feigned confusion. “Don’t you think we stand a better chance if we work together? We both have one thing in common. We’re both trapped here against our will. They’ve hurt both of us.”

Quet shook his head. “Your acting is getting a little old now, human.” He stared at her intently. “I thought you would have learned by now..I’m not that stupid. So why don’t you drop the act already and tell me what’s really on your mind.” He spread his wings a little more. “You want to eat me...just like that large creator at my friend!”

The girl’s eyes popped open in horror. Her hands flung to her mouth. “She did what?!”

“She ate him...” He lowered his head, his body trembling in emotion. “She just...killed him slowly..and ate him...” Tears moved down his face as he shook his head slowly in denial. “Forced me to watch the whole thing...” He then opened his eyes and shot a hateful glare over at the girl. “Which is why I am not going to fall for your tricks, filthy human! I will make sure my friend’s death is avenged! You will rue the day you messed with the Luminos!”

The girl was silent for a little while. Quet briefly wondered if his words got through to the human and she finally realized that her tricks and lies weren’t going to work on him. He hoped this was the case. He was sick of talking with this human. He was tired of trying to explain to her that her job in the plan was not going to be fullfilled. He was not going to allow her to trick him like this.

Then, after a few moments, the girl opened her mouth to speak again. Quet growled softly, irritated that she would dare speak again.

“But... I was not responsible for your friend’s death.” The girl said. “Why would you be taking it out on me?”

“All you humans are the same...” Quet growled soflty.

“How can you judge all of humans based on the actions of a few?” The girl asked, tilting her head. “Doesn’t that seem...too judgmental? What if one of us humans decided that all zoners were overly aggressive jerks just because one of them that we met was a bit on edge?”

Quet narrowed his eyes. “That would be different.”

“How?” The girl asked, her voice a little forceful. “How would it be different?”

“Zoners know the difference between right and wrong.” Quet said in a deepened voice tinged with anger. “Unlike you humans...who just roam around and do whatever you want to ChalkZone. The Luminos will put an end to your reign of terror. Even if I’m gone, their legacy will continue. The Luminos won’t rest until all the humans are out of ChalkZone.”

The girl stared at him for a few moments. Her eyes were still filled with confusion. She lowered her gaze to the ground. “...I see..”

So it seems this girl finally realized that her lies weren’t going to work. Good. Maybe now he could finally get some truth out of her. Maybe if he were a little...persuasive, he could get her to let him out and tell him how to get back into ChalkZone. He could even try to force the plan out of her mouth. She was part of their team, so she should know what they planned to do, right? Yes, she wold know...

“So you’re a racist.” The girl stated simply.

Quet’s eyes widened at that. “What did you say?”

“You’re a racist.” The girl repeated. There was some mixture of anger and disappointment in her voice. Quet stared at her, wondering what she was tallking about. “You’re prejudiced against creators. You’re so spiteful, you made up your mind about an entire species, just because of what a few did to you. I can understand being cautious but...to go after any human you see in ChalkZone, even someone who was defenseless....”

“Oh shut up!” Quet snarled at her, baring his teeth. “You have no idea what you’re talking about!”

“Oh no? And you do?” The girl said, cocking an eyebrow.

“Yes! I know all about you humans! I know you want to take over ChalkZone and exploit it! All of you do! You see zoners as just mere tools! You want to control us!” Quet shouted at the girl. The girl flinched and moved back. Quet moved a little closer to her. His feathers ruffled further, making him appear larger than he really was. “You...you and your kind disgust me! Thinking you can rule a species like that...” His body started to shake in anger. “At least soon...ChalkZone doesn’t have to deal with such monsters...”

“Like yourself?” The girl asked in a bitter tone.

Quet snapped his head back. “What the fuck did you just say to me?!”

The girl glared at him. There was clear anger being those eyes. Not a rage, but still noticeable. He watched as the girl got up to her feet. She glared at him, her finger pointed accusingly at him. “You heard me! You...your Luminos...based on what I heard, you’re monsters too! You go after humans even if they did nothing and you try to drive them out! You generalize an entire species! You’re willing to hurt just to get your way! Listen to the way you’re talking to me! I didn’t do anything and here you are, acting like I just sank a ship full of your friends!”

Quet narrowed his eyes into slits. He positioned himself into an S formation. He tensed his body up. This girl was getting on his nerves. If she kept it up...

“Look, I’m sorry about your friend, okay? I wouldn’t want anything like that to happen to anyone. I am sorry for your loss, and I can understand why you’d be so shaken up after that.” The girl said, her voice soft at first. Then it grew in volume after the short pause and her eyes narrowed again. “But that doesn’t excuse your behavior! I didn’t do anything wrong! I am innocent! I was not involved in those creators that hurt you! You’re threatening someone who never did a damn thing to you!”

“Isn’t that what creators do..?” The snake zoner asked, sneering at her. “You creators attacked innocent zoners before....”

The girl snarled, “I guess that’s one thing you Luminos have in common with creators.”

Quet’s eyes widened at this, then narrowed into slits. That was it. That was the sentence that broke the camel’s back. The little brat had gone too far. Quet’s body shook viciously, anger sweeping through his feathered body. He tried to control himself. He tried not to let anger get the better of him.

But he was not able to.

Without warning, Quet unleashed his fury in one, single strike. He shot himself forward at lightning speed. The girl moved back in shock, but she was not able to get out of the way in time. Quet slammed his jaws shut around her arm, close to the wrist. The girl let out a scream of pain. Quet bit down hard, drawing blood. He released her when he realized the blood was starting to hurt him. He pulled back from her.

Quet glared angrily at the girl. He watched as she clutched her hand, her body shaking in pain. The blood dripped from the wound, staining the ground. She was down on her knees. Quet could see the deep gashes he made near her wrist. He took in a few heavy breaths. Maye now, the little brat would respect. Maybe now she would understand that her lies and deceit weren’t going to work on him.

Slowly, the girl looked up at him. He was a little surprised by what he saw in those eyes. Fear, pain, a silent question of ‘why?’. Quet didn’t quite understand. Anger still ruled his mind. He still glared at her hatefully. But now there was a new emotion. A new feeling. Confusion. The girl moved back from him, emitting small whimpers of fear and pain. Quet glared at her while she stared back with those wide, distressed eyes.

Quet’s expression started to soften a little as he started to calm down a little. Striking the girl helped him unleash a huge amount of his anger, and now he was able to calm down, the emotion no longer overflowing in his body. His teeth remained gritted, the breath being sucked in and out raggedly. He glared into her eyes. He waited for her to say something, anything. He knew that she wanted to give some kind of retort, perhaps a rant on how the humans were going to win this war. It was going to happen sooner or later. He just needed to wait.

That never happened. Instead, the girl just moved further way from him, trembling in fear. He looked on in confusion. This fear...it was looking pretty genuine to him. He moved a little closer. The girl leaned back, gritting her teeth fearfully. He stared into her eyes. That look... It seemed...so familiar.. He raised his head up and he thought back to Hagar. This look was the same one that his friend had given him before he....

Quet shook his head, moving a little back from the girl. He took notice of the water behind her. He could see his reflection in the water. As he stared, he thought he could briefly see not himself, but Ghadir staring back. And, a second later, those words she spoke, echoing in the back of his head...they resurfaced, gripping him tightly.

“You're more like us than you are willing to admit. Look in the reflection, and you will see us shining back...”

Quet snapped his head back, his eyes wide in horror. He let out a surprised yelp and moved back away from the girl, away from that distorted reflection of his. He curled up in a ball on the ground and stared at the girl, his breathing quickening. No, it wouldn’t be... He thought he purged his mind of those thoughts. He thought he managed to get over Ghadir’s little mind trick...

He wasn’t like the human. He couldn’t be. No, he was just defending himself. This girl..she brought it on herself. She shouldn’t have been involved with these black chalk artists. If she had just stayed home and did..whatever it is humans do when they weren’t tormenting ChalkZone, she would have been fine. She chose this path. She had the bite coming, didn’t she? She could have just told him the truth, but no, she decided to lie to him. She should have seen this coming. It was her own fault she got hurt.

But the longer he stared at her, the more he started to see less of the girl and more of Hagar. That look, the same one that he made when he was being hurt. He had tried pleading for mercy, to no avail. He was so scared..so frightened.. It hurt Quet to see him like that. He wished he could have helped him. He wished he could have done something to save him from that terrible fate... And now here, laying before him, was a human with that same look, one fille with fear and dread. And no matter how he looked at her, she still looked so much like she was...afraid of him...

That was impossible, wasn’t it? Yes...yes it had to be. Maybe he was reading too much into it. Creators weren’t afraid of zoners. They were afraid of getting hurt, yes, but zoners themselves? No. They weren’t because they know they have an advantage over zoners in both worlds. Water in the real world...magic chalk in ChalkZone... This girl was just a very good actor.

Or was it even acting...?

Quet didn’t have much time to think about it. In that moment, the door swung open, hitting against the wall hard. He and the girl snapped their heads in the direction of the sound. They could see someone coming down the stairs. This person was clearly not Ghadir. They were too thin. It wasn’t Jenny either. The figure was all wrong. That left just one person, and that was Tyreek.

Sure enough, that guess was correct. Tyreek made his way down the stairs, a blank expression on his face. He moved towards the cage, his arms folded behind his back. He stared at the two, his eyes filled with some kind of intent. Quet hissed lowly and coiled back, prepared to make another strike. This time, he would aim for something a little less...non-vital... The neck would make for an excellent target. His teeth would rip right through it. Yes, human...get close enough...feel the pain of the fangs...

Tyreek stood in front of the cage. He was quiet for a few moments. Then he started to smile a little. “Breaking your mother is going to be fun...” He said in a cold voice. “As soon as she wakes up, we’ll have some fun with her. Making her join us.. She’ll make a perfect replacement for Mrs. Sanchez...”

The girl’s eyes widened in horror. It was like she forgot about her pain when she stood up and moved towards the front of it. “No..please don’t do that!” The girl pleaded with the man. “Please let my mom go... Please..”

Tyreek’s eyes twinkled. “I am afraid we can’t do that. You see...she’ll be of some use to us...” He smirked evilly. “I’m sure she will be happy to obligue... when she sees who you’ll look, she will sing to our tune.”

“No...” The girl whimpered.

“Now, now little Sophie..” Tyreek waggled his finger. “No need to get worked up. We might decide to corrupt you, too. A family reunion is in order, don’t you think?”

“Fuck you!” Sophie shouted, her eyes blazing with anger for a few seconds.

Quet watched this scene in confusion and shock. He hadn’t expected the girl, Sophie, to react like that. He didn’t understand why she was still putting on a show. Did they really want to be that convincing? And why was she so offended by her mom being corrupted? They were human. Didn’t that mean they were already corrupt by default? He had seen the way humans act in ChalkZone...

He watched as the two humans stared each other down. It was quite a contrast. A pretty small on, not much larger than himself in size. He was quite long, but not very big himself. Tyreek, the human who broke his wing, was much larger than the girl. Not the tallest human he’s seen, but still towering over the girl. He still thought that this was just acting, that maybe they wanted him to believe that Sophie was in danger so he’ll lower his guard around her. A good way to get in a sneak attack.

“What a naughty little girl... Perhaps I should have some fun with you.” Tyreek said in a cold voice. He tilted his head to the side. “I mean...after all.. I do need to pass the time, and you do need to learn some manners.” Sophie’s eyes widened and she took a step back. “I see your little snake companion there hurt you. Well don’t worry...” His eyes flashed black. “After what I do to you, I doubt you will notice that little mark.”

What happened next, Quet did not see coming.

Tyreek opened up the door. He reached in and seized Sophie by the arm. After she was yanked out, the door was shut again before Quet could try to get out. He watched as Sophie was dragged towards a table, the same one that Hagar had been tortured on. All the while, Sophie was screaming and shouting, pleading with him not to hurt her. Tyreek did not listen to her and she was forced on the table.

Quet’s eyes were glued on the scene. Tyreek strapped Sophie down to the table, just like Hagar was. She tried to move. She tried to fight back. No matter what she did, she remained strapped on the table. Unlike with Hagar, there was no nail driven into her body somewhere to hold her down. But that didn’t make the scene any less pleasant to watch. Quet’s eyes widened as he saw Tyreek lift up a scalpel.

Okay...this acting was getting a little too realistic. If he didn’t know better, he’d say this was real. He knew they would want their acting to be convincing to him, but..wasn’t this going a little too far? He watched as Sophie struggled, trying to wrench herself free. Side to side, she twisted, becoming more pronounced when the scalpel was brought over towards her. Quet’s eyes filled with disbelief when Tyreek made the first incision on Sophie’s arm. A loud scream echoed through the room.

Quet watched this in horror. He curled up into a tight ball, his body trembling. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He tried to convince himself it was just acting. But all the blood he was seeing, the screaming...no it wasn’t acting. This was..real... He shut his eyes tightly, trying in vain to block out the screams.

sss

Penny couldn’t believe what was happening. How could this have happened to them? How did they let it come to this? This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. It was all planned out. But now..it was falling apart right before her eyes. This...this wasn’t accounted for. None of them had realized this might be something Dark Rudy would do. None of them realized that he would come up with such a sick, twisted plan.

She had ignored Saffron’s orders and ran away from her and Snap, back to where Rudy was. It had been a good thing she did. She had stopped the evil teenager from hurting her friend. But now she was in a predicament herself. And Rudy..he couldn’t do anything to help her. Dark Rudy had her pinned down effectively, his katana against her throat. She could feel the coldness of the blade against her skin, the sharp edge just barely cutting the very tip of her body. If Rudy made a move towards her, she would be hurt.

Now she was forced to watch, her eyes wide in horror, as Rudy took the water bottle. Dark Rudy..that sick, twisted, vile monster... He wanted him to drink the full thing. He wanted him to more or less commit suicide. That was what was going to happen if Rudy drank that. His stomach would dissolve and blood and acid would pour out, burning and melting him form the inside out. That was Rudy’s only way of keeping her from getting hurt. Dark Rudy threatened to maim her permanently if he did not comply.

And now there he was, holding the bottle in his hands. The cap was already off. He was staring at the water right now, his teeth clenched in fear. She could see the terror radiating from his eyes. He did not want to drink the water. He did not want to feel that pain again. But Penny knew Rudy was willing to put himself through hell if it meant keeping his friends alive. Her eyes widened in horror as he pulled the bottle closer.

“Rudy! Please! Don’t do it!” Penny cried, tears moving down her face. “Please..I don’t want to lose you...!”

Rudy paused and looked her. Slowly, he smiled. “I know you don’t...” His smile faded as he looked down at the drink. “But I have no choice...” He gave her a sideways glance. “I’m..I’m sorry...” With that, he started to put the tip of the bottle against his lips.

“No!” Penny shouted, her voice laced with desperation.

Suddenly a loud voice rang through the room, startling everyone in it.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

Penny looked up and she could see the look in Dark Rudy’s eyes. She had never seen his face go that pale that fast before. She had never seen him look so frightened since they got here. His body was trembling. She looked and, with one eye, she could see just what had frightened the dark teenager so much.

There, standing in front of the cage, was Mr. Cosmo...

The man’s eyes were wide in shock. No, not just shock, anger. Practically overflowing...his body shaking with the emotion. His eyes were glowing pitch black, more intense than Dark Rudy’s ever did. His hands formed into fists, trembling. His eyes focused on the water bottle that Rudy was holding in his hand. He then looked over at Dark Rudy, noticing him pinning down Penny with the sword against her throat.

Mr. Cosmo stormed over towards them. He came up to Rudy. He reached over and ripped the bottle of water away from him. He snarled at the bottle and he threw it aside. Water splashed all over the ground. He gripped Rudy by the shoulder and shoved him aside. Rudy stumbled backward. He regained his footing and he looked over, confusion plastered over his face. Mr. Cosmo began to approach Dark Rudy, his teeth clenched in anger.

Penny watched was Dark Rudy’s body trembled hard. She could have sworn she heard him whimpering in fear. His eyes stopped glowing completely, and she could see his pupils dilated. He seemed to forget all about her as he dropped his katana and started to move back away from Mr. Cosmo. His body continued to tremble like a leaf. This sight...it was so confusing... This behavior..it wasn’t like what she would normally seen out of this teenager.

“You impulsive little whelp!” Mr. Cosmo shouted. Dark Rudy looked hurt by this, but mostly terrified. “Do you have any idea what you almost did?!”

“I...” Dark Rudy started to say. He cringed when Mr. Cosmo raised a hand in the air like he was going to hit him. “Please I...”

“I did not tell you to kill them! I told you specifically you cannot do that!” Mr. Cosmo shouted, his eyes blazing with anger. “And you deliberately disobeyed me! I would have thought you’d known not to defy me after all these years!”

“But I...he...” Dark Rudy tried to explain himself, but he just kept stumbling over his own words. “They tricked me...the others escaped..and I...”

“So why didn’t you just go after the others instead of trying to kill our potential allies, you idiot?!” Cosmo shouted at him. This caused Dark Rudy to cringe back further. He pressed himself against the wall. Cosmo boxed him up against it. He gripped Dark Rudy by the throat, causing the boy to let out a surprised cry. “And now because of you, two prisoners are missing and not accounted for! Who knows where they are now?! If they get that chalk...”

“I-I’m sorry master...” Dark Rudy whimpered, lowering his head. Tears flowed from his eyes. “I’m sorry..I..I promise I won’t do it again...”

Mr. Cosmo narrowed his eyes dangerously. “You better not...” He put his face close to Dark Rudy’s. “..for your sake...” With that, he released the boy.

At this point, Penny had gotten up to her feet and rushed over to Rudy. Mr. Cosmo yelling at Dark Rudy provided a good distraction. Though it was hard for her to tear away from it, she managed to force herself to move. She rushed over towards Rudy and now was standing in front of him. Rudy’s eyes were locked onto what was going on as well. His eyes were wide in shock, his mouth dropped open. The shock of seeing Cosmo come in out of nowhere stunned them both. Out of all people to save them from death, they did not expect it to be Cosmo, even if the intentions were not that good.

Mr. Cosmo still had Dark Rudy pressed up against the wall. He was still yelling at him. Rudy and Penny couldn’t believe just how angry this man was. Rudy himself had seen Cosmo angry, and, judging from the way he was reacting to this, it wasn’t quite as bad as this. Dark Rudy was reduced to tears, whimpering, clearly frightened for his life. A part of them felt a little sorry for him, as they both understood how Cosmo could be. Rudy himself had been a victim of Cosmo’s rage. But their pity for him could only go so far; he did try to kill Rudy just moments ago.

Penny turned her attention to Rudy, trying her best to block out the nasty things that Cosmo was saying. She grabbed onto Rudy’s arm, getting his attention. He turned to look at her. “Come on, Rudy. While they’re distracted with each other.” Penny gestured her head to the side, indicating the way that Saffron and Snap had gone. “Let’s get out of here.”

Rudy nodded his head shakingly. “Y-Yeah...good idea...”

Without hesitating, without sparing another glance at Cosmo and Dark Rudy, the two friends rushed through the open door where Saffron and Snap went and headed down the hallway.

“And further more, I....!” Cosmo snapped. He stopped when he noticed Dark Rudy pointing at him. He narrowed his eyes and growled, “What do you want?!”

Dark Rudy, eyes wide in shock and fear, kept pointing at something behind Cosmo. “M-Master...they’re getting away...”

Cosmo’s eyes went wide. He turned his head and looked behind him. Upon seeing that Rudy and Penny were indeed gone, he snarled angrily, gritting his teeth. He shot a glare back at Dark Rudy, causing the boy to cringe further against the wall, moving his hands over his face like he thought he was going to get hit.

“Now look at what you’ve done!” Mr. Cosmo growled angrily at him, his eyes shining an even darker black. He took a few steps back, glaring at Dark Rudy. “Well? Don’t just stand there!” He grabbed onto Dark Rudy’s arm and pulled on him hard, practically throwing him towards the ‘door’ of the cage. “Go get them!”

“Y-Yes, master!” Dark Rudy whimpered as he started to race out of the door.

Chapter Text

Snap followed Ms. Saffron closely. He kept close to the back of her legs, his body hunched over in apprehension. He looked all around, left and right, as if he thought something was going to grab him from behind if he didn’t remain very close to this woman. Even though Saffron had a weapon out, he still felt afraid. She was injured...so was he. If they ran into danger, would they be able to get out of it?

They were headed down a somewhat dark hallway, complete with black lights on either side. This made the hallway difficult to navigate. The sight of the purple illumination made him think back to the cage he was recently trapped in. He flinched as he recalled how he had thought Rudy was his counterpart and he freaked out. He hoped he wouldn’t make the same slip up again. Rudy was his best friend. He should know better than...

There was a sound, something of a footstep. Snap froze, clinging to Ms. Saffron’s leg. She put a hand in front of him protectively, her narrowed eyes surveying the corridor. She looked down at him and grabbed him by his hand. She yanked Snap to the side, against the corner of another tunnel that intersected with this one. She pressed her back against the wall. Snap did likewise, his eyes wide in fear. He hoped that they hadn’t been spotted by the enemy.

He could hear the footsteps approaching. Two of them. They were pretty light. He couldn’t tell if it was because whoever was walking was light or if they were just being very careful. One did sound slighlty heavier and he thought he heard some kind of clang accompany it. He did not dare look, though. If he looked over the edge, that would risk...whoever it was..spotting them and coming after them. He looked up at Saffron, and she made a shush gesture. He nodded in understanding. Wasn’t like he was going to make noise anyway.

Soon, moments later, the figures appeared in plain sight. Snap took quick notice of two zoners. One appeared to be some kind of feathered dinosaur, complete with long spines coming out of its back, and walked on four legs. The other one walked on two, and they were hunched over. They appeared to be some kind of kangaroo, although their feet were more dinosaur-like than kangaroo. The two of them walked close together. No sound from them at all except for an occasional groan and their feet hitting the ground.

Snap was horrified by their condition. Though it was hard to see, he could see enough. He couldn’t tell if they were mind controlled or not, but they were very emaciated. Their bodies were horridly thin. He could see their ribcage very well, as well as their general skeletal structure. Their bodies were covered in bruises and cuts, which he had no doubt came from either Mr. Cosmo or some other nasty human, or from whatever horrible job they were forced to perform. The way they were walking indicated they were very weak, as if appearance alone wasn’t enough to confirm. Their gait was uneven and wobbly. It looked like they would fall over any second.

For a brief moment, Snap thought that perhaps he and Saffron should put these two out of their misery. It was a fleeting thought, one that froze his blood. Did he really just have a thought about killing two zoners? Taking two lives? He shook it out of his head. No, that wouldn’t be justified. Then again, did these zoners really stand much of a chance? Even if they were free, there was nowhere for them to go to get treatment. Killing them would be an act of mercy, freeing them from the old Cosmo put on them.

Snap looked up at Ms. Saffron. Even in the darkness, he could see that her face was forelorn. She was watching the zoners with great sympathy, biting her lip. Her face held a tinge of horror to them. The way she looked at them...it felt as though she had seen other zoners like this. This wasn’t a ‘what has Cosmo done?’ type of look, but more of a ‘so he has done it again’ instead. The woman looked down at him. He remained quiet for a few moments before he broke the silence in a hushed whisper.

“Do...do we...?” Snap asked.

Ms. Saffron appeared to understand what he was going to say. Her eyes widened for a moment, then they closed. She turned her head away. “That would be the humane thing to do...” She said solemnly. She shook her head once. “But we don’t have time for that right now. We have to keep moving. We’re almost there.”

Snap nodded. He waited until the starved zoners were gone before he followed close behind her, continuing on their way. It still frightened him that he had considered killing two zoners, his own kind. He kept telling himself that it would have been an act of mercy. Those zoners were suffering. Even if they weren’t reacting, their brains were still registering the pain and the weakness. It would be far crueler to just force them to live like that for the rest of their lives.

But Ms. Saffron was right. They didn’t have a lot of time. They didn’t have the luxury of stopping to do something else. Though it pained him to leave the zoners to continue their miserable lives here, he had a mission, a goal, and so little time left. He needed to stay focused on the task at hand. He followed Ms. Saffron as they continued to move their way down the corridor. Luckily those two zoners appeared to be the only ones in here as the rest of the journey was uneventful.

Two minutes of walking down the tunnel and Ms. Saffron suddenly stopped. Snap looked up at her in confusion. She just stood there quietly for a moment. Then she turned to the right. She stared at what looked to be just a blank wall. Snap tilted his head, wondering what she was doing. Why was she looking at what was clearly a metallic wall, nothing of particular interest anywhere on it. She put her hands on the wall and moved them around.

“What are you doing?” Snap asked in a whisper. He pointed his hand on Ms. Saffron. “There’s nothing there.”

“Shhh!” Ms. Saffron hissed at him. “I need total silence for this.”

Snap narrowed his eyes at her. What did she need total silence for? All she was doing was...touching a wall. But he did what he was told and kept quiet. He folded his arms against his chest and watched as the woman continued touching the wall, feeling around for something. He didn’t know what she was going to find. It was just a wall. There was no indication that there was something there. Then, moments later, Ms. Saffron started to hit the wall. She pounded against it. Not heavily, but enough that the sound was pretty clear. What was she doing?

Then, when she hit a certain spot, the sound was different. It was hard to explain. A little more...echoey? Whatever term was appropriate, the sound really was different. As soon as Ms. Saffron heard that sound, her eyes widened in realization. She kept her hands pressed against the wall, moving them around in a singular location. Snap took a step forward, watching with great interest. A few seconds later, Ms. Saffron pushed in on the wall. Snap was about to question her when he saw that a piece of the wall started to sink inwards. His eyes widened at this.

Ms. Saffron took a few steps back. Snap could hear the sound of something turning, grinding, and then a piece of the wall just...started to revolve like it was some kind of door. He stared in disbelief at this. Soon, where there was once just a standard, metal wall, now stood what looked kind of like a long freeze door, standing a little taller than Ms. Saffron. The open door revealed some kind of lit area, the lights here being much brighter. A white instead of the black that they had been running into before. Snap didn’t understand the use of black lights as they were poor illuminators, but he didn’t have time to think about that now.

Ms. Saffron gestured to Snap to follow her. He moved up to her and they headed into the open door. They were in a thin, rigid-looking corridor. There wasn’t much room to move around here. There was so little space that he had to stay behind Saffron. Not that he wouldn’t have done that anyway, but he was not able to get in front front of her. In fact, he could hardly see what’s in front of him at all. Her legs were blocking the view. He kept following her down, unsure of where this tunnel was going to lead them.

Luckily the tunnel wasn’t too long. They soon reached that looked like a round room. No, not round. Hexagon-like. It looked kinda round, but he could see the multiple rectangular flat surfaces, placed against each other to form something of a round shape. The room wasn’t too big, the size of a simple bedroom. There were multiple cabinets here, pressed against the wall and curving a little to fit the shape of the room. Most of the cabinets were pretty tall, too, nearly touching the ceiling. A single bright white light hung at the top, making it easy to see everything.

Ms. Saffron walked across the middle of the room, continuing straight. She went up to one of the cabinets. This one was a little different than the others. A little wider and with about two less ‘doors’ that pulled out. She reached over and grabbed the bottom one. She pulled it out slowly, revealing its contents. Snap could see there was a bunch of stuff in there. Multiple items, all locked away together.

“So this is where he keeps his stuff?” Snap asked.

Saffron shook her head. “Well not entirely... You see...” She reached her hand into the cabinet. “This is where he keeps things he isn’t entirely sure about. He isn’t sure what use the zebra chalk has for him, and he keeps it in here to throw intruders off.” She turned her head and gave Snap a sideways glance. “You would think he’d keep the zebra chalk with him. He knows enough that it has purified black chalk. Logic would dictate that he’d keep the zebra chalk with him for study, right?”

Snap nodded slowly. “Yeah, that does make sense.”

“Correct. However, he is aware that, sometimes, his place will be broken into, and so he keeps the zebra chalk here. These items, they all hold possible potential, and if there’s one thing he hates so much, it’s not figuring out what an item can do before it’s taken away. Especially if said item could help him out in his conquest of the world.” Ms. Saffron explained. She continued to rummage through the cabinet. “He has taken precautions with his ‘figured out’ stuff as well. More tight security, but it’s kept far away from this stuff. He knows not to keep all his weapons and what not in one place. They’re scattered.”

Snap nodded his head. Yeah that did make sense. Mr. Cosmo never struck him has someone particularly stupid. He always seemed so well prepared. Keeping his stuff scattered was a good strategy. He had a feeling that the madman had this whole place memorized, so it wasn’t a problem for him. Keeping things scattered meant that anyone who broke into the place would have to know where to find the items. They would need a good idea of the layout and everything. Going to the wrong place meant not only wasting time, but it also meant increasing the odds of them getting captured.

Ms. Saffron pulled away from the door. She held up an object in her hand. Snap gave a small smile when he saw it was the zebra chalk. He looked at it intently, noting the sparkling white stripes and the glow of the black stripes. Finally, at long last, they had one piece of Rudy’s cure. Now all they had to do was get back to the others and prepare for their trip to the next dimension. They were so close now to getting Rudy cured of this horrific disease. So close... He hoped that the next dimension wouldn’t be as difficult to handle as this one was.

He was glad that Ms. Saffron knew where the zebra chalk was. If she hadn’t, they would have been looking all over the place for it, and they might have ended up going to the next dimension without it. That would have caused them to have to come back here, and who knows how difficult that would have been a second time around. Ms. Saffron had been a real help. Knowing the layout of this place enough to know which way to go, where the zebra chalk was hidden...

...wait...

...how did she know that this was where it was going to be...?

She just said that the items were scattered. Located in different spots... Just..just how was it she knew this was where the zebra chalk was? They would have more likely ended up in the wrong place. While she did know the layout better, it was unlikely that she would have located the zebra chalk but then did nothing with it, especially if she knew it was important.

He thought about this for a while. They were in one of Cosmo’s storage areas. They had somehow managed to get the zebra chalk on the first try, even though the odds were against them. Saffron had acted completely sure of this location; she knew this was where the zebra chalk was. But in order to know, she had to have visited this stronghold more than once and found it...and if she found it before, why didn’t she try to take it? Could..could it be possible she..?

He shook his head. No..no it wasn’t possible. Ms. Saffron wouldn’t do something like that. She must have found out someway before they came. Maybe she was captured before and she learned that way. Yeah...that had to be it. He shook the thoughts out of his head. He knew that they were running out of time. They had to keep moving. He looked over at Ms. Saffron and opened his mouth to speak. He quickly shut it at what he saw.

Ms. Saffron was staring at him. The expression she gave was...regretful. Snap felt his heart clench, remaining quiet. He watched as Ms. Saffron put the zebra chalk in her pocket slowly. She continued to look at him sadly. She took a step forward. “I’m...I’m sorry Snap..”

Snap felt a cold chill sweep through his body. He moved back a few steps. “Ms. S-Saffron...?” He watched as she reached behind her back. “Wh-What are you doing...?”

Ms. Saffron grabbed something behind her back. Snap’s eyes bulged wide as he saw her hold up what was clearly a can of Fix-It. The same stuff that he had used on Boorat to freeze him many years ago...and now Ms. Saffron had the same stuff in her hands, and the nozzle was aimed right for him.. His heart pounding against his chest, he moved back away from the woman.

“Please...” Ms. Saffron said, her voice laced with remorse. “...don’t make this any harder than it has to be...” With that, she pushed down on the bottle’s button.

Snap let out a yell and he jumped to the side. He narrowly missed getting hit with the spray. He looked up at Saffron with a horrified and confused expression. Why was she doing this? How could she do this? He thought she was an ally. How could she suddenly turn on him like this? She attempted to spray him again, prompting him to jump out of the way again. He tripped, falling into the ground. He turned and he saw her rushing towards him with the can of Fix-It. Reacting quickly, he jumped into the air, climbing up one of the cabinets.

Ms. Saffron rushed over and grabbed onto the cabinet. She started to climb up it, holding the can of Fix-It in one hand. Snap watched, petrified, as she made her way up the cabinet. His mind was overwhelmed with fear and dread. He couldn’t understand why Ms. Saffron was doing this, especially after what they had been through with her earlier. His mind and heart were filled with ice, numb, frozen in terror. When Ms. Saffron got too close, he did the only thing he thought he could do.

He positioned himself at the edge of the cabinet. He crouched, mustering up energy, and then he jumped. As he sailed over her back, twisting his body around so he was facing her, he took quick notice of something. It was brief. He almost missed it. But it was there, plain as day.

There, on the nape of her neck, close to the base of her skull, was a nail... A mind control nail... No, he corrected himself. A body control nail..

Snap landed on the ground, his feet hitting against it with great force. He stared in shock at Ms. Saffron. She turned around to face him, again still looking so sad, so regretful. He realized, with a cold shudder, that her body was being controlled. This...this must have been a backup plan Mr. Cosmo came up with. He must have known that they might escape, and he...

Realizing what kind of danger he was now in, Snap clenched his teeth in fear and he started to back away. Ms. Saffron clearly didn’t want to do this, but the nail was sending the commands now. The nail, and whatever instructions were being given to it, they were what dictated her actions now. Whoever was behind the controls was of little interest to Snap at the moment. Right now, what mattered the most, was getting out of there.

Saffron spoke, her voice cracked with emotion. “Just hold still, Snap. It will be less painful that way.”

Snap shook his head slowly. He watched her, staring into her remorse-filled eyes. He had to get out of here and fast. But he also needed to get that cure from her. If she was being controlled, there was little chance that she was going to be able to hand it over. Though it was probably not a smart thing to do, he had to try. He took a defensive stance, then he rushed over towards her, running at full speed.

The woman attempted to spray him with Fix-It again, but he collided with her body, slamming it with his own. She let out a pained grunt and she flew backwards, hitting against the cabinet. It fell over to the side, clanging against the floor. The contents spilled everywhere. Ms. Saffron laid on her side, groaning and attempting to get up. Snap took this chance and rushed at her again. He knocked the can of Fix-It out of her hand and then proceeded to yank the zebra chalk out from her pocket. She tried to grab him, but he moved out of the way, jumping back away from her.

Without hesitation, he started to run down the corridor they came in from. He could hear Ms. Saffron chasing him, closing in from behind. He knew she used the spray again. It barely missed hitting him. He pushed himself harder, trying to gain distance despite his pain. Soon, he exited out of the room and was back in the darker, barely lit hallway. In a panic, he wasn’t sure which way to go. So he went the first way he thought of, which was left. Seconds later, Ms. Saffron emerged from the hole in the wall and she came after him.

His heart, filled with cold fear, sped up, adrenaline rushing through his body. He had to get back to Rudy and Penny fast. Things have just gotten worse. Oh so much worse. As the body controlled Ms. Saffron continued to chase him down, Fix-It in her hand, his mind rushed with so many thoughts, bringing about a headache. Noticing her gaining on him, Snap had a dreadful thought rush through his head.

What if this was Cosmo’s plan? To separate them? If he had intended on at least some of this happening, then wouldn’t that mean that... Oh no.. He shuddered, a cold rush in the back of his head and middle of his chest. Rudy... Penny... He picked up the speed, hoping, praying, that he was going the right way.

sss

All that blood.. All that screaming... The smell of the blood lingering in his nostrils...

Quet found it hard to believe just how much could happen in a short time frame. Tyreek had not had Sophie strapped down for long. Maybe five, six minutes at most. Although the thought chilled him, he wondered why he would torture another person for just a few minutes, instead of indulging in it for a longer period of time, like they had with Hagar. The only thing he could think of was that they wanted Sophie alive for a while.

Quet had kept himself curled up in a ball when Tyreek tossed the girl’s bleeding form back into the cage. She had let out a cry of pain and was sobbing, her tears mixing in with her blood. He took quick notice that only her arm had been cut. He had forced himself to look away during the brief but still horrifying torture, so he was not aware if Tyreek had attacked her anywhere else.

Moving a little closer, around in a partial circle, he got a better look at the arm. A little hard to see as Sophie laid on the ground, on her right side. Her body pressed against her good arm, which was pressed up against her butchered arm, her left one being held against her as she laid there in a weeping, shivering ball. Her left arm had several deep lacerations in it. Some were long and some were short. All of them were deep. He guessed a few had hit the bone. Blood kept pouring out of the cuts, staining the ground. The girl hardly seemed to notice her injury on her right arm, which was nothing more than a prick on the skin compared to what Tyreek had done to her.

Quet couldn’t understand why Tyreek would just barge in here and torture for a short time. What was the point in that? And why would he do it to Sophie, and not him? She was a human, the same species as him. He was a zoner. Not that he would have wanted it, but shouldn’t he have gone after him instead? What was the point in hurting someone who should have been his ally? This wasn’t a punishment, and if it was, it was a rather bizarre and cruel one. Sophie hadn’t really done anything, and yet here she was, with a sliced up arm, crying from the pain she must be going through.

The sight of this gave him fixed feelings. He wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about this. He could feel some part of him being somewhat satisfied, as at least now, it was a human and not a fellow zoner that was in pain. But at the same time, something about this just didn’t feel...right. Seeing the girl crying on the ground, remembering her cries of fear, pain...fruitlessly trying to plead for mercy and yet never getting it... It caused a new, unexpected feeling to arise inside of him. Something he thought he would never feel regarding a human.

Pity.

A part of him felt disgusted with himself. How could he feel pity for such a monster? Humans were bastards... They had done so much to ChalkZone... Why would they deserve such pity? It wasn’t like they would do the same for them. No, this human girl didn’t deserve pity, especially after the way she insulted the Luminos by daring to compare them to humans. That bite she got was her own fault, and well deserved as well.

Yet...he could not fight off this feeling of pity and sadness for her. It wasn’t an overwhelming feeling or anything. But it was enough to throw him off unexpectantly. He couldn’t understand how he could feel sorry for the little beast. He wished some of his group members were with him. They would help him through this tough time. They would reassure him and help him feel better. If only Hagar was still alive... He would be a big help here. He would help him remain strong and not fall for the humans’ tricks. He would help him not to make the mistake of feeling sorry for Sophie. Yes, Hagar, out of all zoners, would have been a great help.

But now he was gone... Tortured to death and eaten by that vile human, Ghadir. He was all alone here. There was no one here to help him cope with this. There was no one to aid him in fighting off against the humans. There was no other zoner here. It was just him. If there were other zoners, they certainly weren’t here in the room with him. A part of him almost hoped there were no other zoners here. He wouldn’t want them to suffer the same fate as he was here.

Quet continued to try to make sense of what had happened. Why had Tyreek tortured Sophie like that? He thought, at first, it was part of his plan. But no, that torture was actually real. There was no way that could have been faked. Those screams, those wounds he could see plainly before him, they were purposeful attacks, true pain. That couldn’t have been planned. He had seen enough pain and fighting to recognize real screams, and what Sophie made definitely qualified. He replayed those screams over and over again in his head, feeling a shudder rush through at just how chilling they really had been.

Tyreek couldn’t have done it to get at him. Tyreek knew about his distrust and hatred for humans. The man would not have hurt Sophie as a way to mess with his head. If the man had messed with one of his zoner friends, that would have been one thing. But this human? Even if Quet were to believe something as silly as not all humans being bad, he didn’t even know this girl. Hurting her would not have had a strong profound impact on him, besides making him recoil in horror.

Sophie continued to lay on the ground, crying softly, her body writhing a little in pain. Quet wanted to look away and go into his own corner of the cage. But his eyes...they couldn’t tear away from the girl. They remained glued, watching her as she sobbed in agony. He wondered what the girl had done to earn the wrath of Tyreek. He pondered what kind of action she took that caused the man to turn on her like that and slice up her arm like it was just a piece of deli meat.

Maybe she had said something to him earlier while he was knocked out. She might have insulted him or something. A similiar situation to when she insulted the Luminos. The memory brought about a burning anger. He stared intently at the bite, blood still leaking out of it slowly. He trusted that she would not dare do something like that again. If there was any injury she fully deserved, it was that bite. She provoked him. It was her own dang fault she got bitten. If she had just shut up, that wouldn’t have happened to her.

A fleeting thought swept through his mind at that instant. Was it really her fault?

He shook his head. He couldn’t believe the denial that entered his head. Of course it was her fault. He wouldn’t have bitten her if she hadn’t pushed him over the edge. He growled at himself for even considering that question. He stared at her with narrowed eyes, convincing himself that she was still the enemy and that he shouldn’t feel sorry for her. The little brat was responsible for the bite, and why should he care why Tyreek hurt her like that?

The more he looked at her, the softer he felt his expression become. In the midst of his anger, he started to feel some kind of sensation in the back of his head. Staring at Sophie brought about something else. Something that he did not expect to happen. Seeing Sophie like this...it was starting to remind him so much of his friend, Hagar. The crying, the shivering of pain, it was similiar to how Hagar looked before he died...

He shook his head at the realization. Sophie was going through the same thing his friend had in his final moments. He listened to her pitiful cries. He watched her as she convulsed in pain. It dug away at his mind, picking apart the anger and hate he felt, replacing it with more pity...sympathy... It horrified him that he was feeling sorry for a human. A human of all species... But he just couldn’t help it. The sight of this human in such suffering brought about these new emotions and feelings. It forced him to sift through his thoughts and ask himself something that he never thought he’d ask.

Had he been wrong..? Was it possible that Ghadir’s taunts...and Sophie’s accusations...were right?

He shook his head. No. That was impossible. He knew exactly what humans were like. They were vicious, merciless, willing to hurt anyone to get what they wanted. They destroyed so many homes...attacked so many innocent zoners. They were disgusting monsters that needed to be dealt with. They didn’t know right from wrong. They just did as they pleased, not caring who got hurt in the process. He had known humans from long ago attacking zoners in their homes... Zoners who had not done a damn thing to provoke them.

A cold chill swept through his head. Isn’t that the same behavior the Luminos displayed? No, it couldn’t be... But the words of those two humans echoed in his mind. Thinking about what they said, watching Sophie weeping on the ground, seeing her bloody arm, it forced him to think back to a particular attack not too long ago. And not just think of it, but view it with a different perspective. Something that he had never wanted to do, for fear of losing his way, the way that the Luminos had helped guide him on.

Fighting back against the anger, Quet recalled the events of that night, as reported by Hagar and Nile. Maalik had sent out the group to attack Rudy and Snap. This had been after a vicious assault had been made against them. Maalik wanted to start ushering humans out of ChalkZone and Rudy was the easiest target. So they went after him. They attacked the treehouse and forced the two to flee. A pterosaur zoner had saved them, much to the anti-creator group’s annoyance. Maalik hadn’t been too happy with that news, as he recalled. Quet himself had been angry and wished that he had gone on the mission with them.

He had considered the attack an action of justice. The Luminos had finally started to take some real action against the tyrannical creators. They were finally showing them what happens when ChalkZone is messed with. So many of them had wanted to start to fight, and some of the most eager were sent on that trip, as Maalik felt they would be tenacious. But now, thinking back to it, he found himself wondering something. Was it truly an act of jusice like he wanted to believe?

A feeling of dread welled up in his head when he realized just how similar the attack was to the creators’ attacks. Rudy had been innocent, at least in that case. He hadn’t been the one to attack, and they knew it. He and Snap never did anything directly to them, and yet, despite that, they still attacked them anyway. Wasn’t that very much like what they accused the humans of doing? Attacking innocents that weren’t involved with them?

The realization that he might have been wrong this whole time hit him like a ton of bricks. He had wanted to continue to deny it, but who was he kidding? Even if he found a way to continue to believe that all humans were bastards, how could he stare at Sophie, how she is right now, and consider her to still be a threat? She was hurt. She was scared. She was trapped here. He realized that, in the end, they really were in the same predicament together. He winced as he looked at her arm, looking at all that blood. His mind echoed with her tortured screams. Human or not, he came to realize she hadn’t really deserved what she got.

And the bite... Had she deserved that, too? Could he really say it was her fault? He felt a cold chill in his stomach. It twisted, making him feel at unease. Victim blaming... It was something he would expect from the black chalk artists. How could he, someone who was supposed to bring justice, sink to the same level? He had always prided himself in being a quick learner, to adjust fast. And here he was doing the same thing, but in a way he never thought would happen.

Feeling some sense of guilt and pity for the human, Quet decided to do something. Letting out a soft sigh, he started to make his way over towards the human girl. He still felt hatred towards humans. That bit never changed. But now, it felt like his mind was opening up a little, and helping him realize that perhaps, not all humans are bad. And right now, with Sophie, he didn’t see a monster, but a victim. And he felt compelled to go over to her.

He slithered over to her until he positioned himself behind her. She seemed to know he was there, but was in too much pain to really react to his presence. What he did next, he never thought he would do with a human. He cuddled up towards her, pressing his body against her back. He draped his unbroken wing on top of her, being gentle so that he did not irritate her wounds. Her body stiffened a little at the touch, but quickly relaxed.

Quet raised up his head and looked down at her. He noted her tear stained face. Looking at her like this, it made him think of not just his friend, but himself. He had been in this same mental turmoil before. He clenched his teeth for a few moments. Then he lowered his head down and rested it on the girl’s shoulder. His long tail curled around her, draping across her legs. As he rested against the human, he said something that even surprised himself.

“I’m sorry for biting you.”

Sophie’s eyes opened up. With one eye, she looked up at his direction in shock. Then her expression softened up. She closed her eyes, tears dripping from them. “I forgive you.” She breathed before silence fell upon the room.

sss

Rudy and Penny rushed down the hallway. They hadn’t gotten too far when they heard footsteps pounding behind them. They spared a quick glance to see that it was Dark Rudy. His previous fear was gone, replaced with anger. He was rushing towards them, his teeth clenched and eyes narrowed into slits. Rudy and Penny had to try to lose him, but in this place, would that even be possible? They could only hope they find Snap and Ms. Saffron soon, before Dark Rudy caught up to them.

Where was Mr. Cosmo? Rudy realized that he hadn’t followed them. It was Dark Rudy, and only Dark Rudy, who was chasing them right now. There was no sign of Draow either. They didn’t even hear the screech of the beast like they would have expected in a situation like this. His mind ran cold as he realized that Mr. Cosmo probably went to get Draow and was having him be exceptionally quiet to avoid detection. There might be little time left to get to the other dimension, but a lot can happen in a short time. If they allow themselves to be killed...

He tried to focus on running. He couldn’t confuse his mind with these thoughts. There were a lot of things he wanted to know and didn’t understand. But right now, despite his fear and growing pain, he had to keep running. He had to focus his mind on that. Even if Cosmo wouldn’t let Dark Rudy kill them, if they were badly injured... They didn’t even know what the next dimension was going to be like. If it was anything like this one, he could practically hear the death sentences already.

When they came to an intersection in the hallway, Rudy’s heart froze. He realized he had no idea where to go. He didn’t know the path that Snap and Saffron had taken. But he couldn’t just stop and try to think of which way to go. Not while Dark Rudy was catching up to them, his eyes promising a world of pain once he reaches them. He needed to decide now which way to go. As they came to the intersection, he went the first direction his mind thought of, which was right.

The turn was sudden and sharp, causing Dark Rudy to actually run past them before he regained his senses and came after them. Rudy and Penny continued running down the hallway. It was filled with black lights. Rudy grumbled to himself. He had no idea why Cosmo insisted on these black lights. It made it so hard to see where they were going. He wondered if Dark Rudy was going to have a hard time following them, since his vision was likely darker. He might not see obstacles as well as they could. It was not like he had the help of the red electricity, which provided a little more light.

But as they ran down this hallway, barely dodging obstacles that laid in their path, he and Penny realized something chilling about Dark Rudy. He was not only dodging the stuff as well, but he was doing it better than they were. A chilling thought entered his mind. What if the black chalk was helping him see in the dark? Or maybe it was something special about this light? Perhaps the black chalk allows its users to see in black light more clearly than other people? If that were the case, that would explain why Cosmo would choose this type of lighting for his building.

Rudy let out a cry of pain when he slammed against something cold and solid. He was so lost in his thoughts, he wasn’t fully paying attention to where he was going. He hit against the wall because he did not realize that there was a two way turn here, and a dead end for the middle path. Penny had took off to the left. She realized that happened and he could see her, barely, rushing back at him.

“Rudy!” Penny cried.

Rudy didn’t have time to answer when he felt something slam against him. He cried out in pain as Dark Rudy crashed him against the wall, holding him there. Rudy struggled, jerking himself left and right, trying to get free. Dark Rudy gripped his shoulders tightly, sneering into his face.

“End of the line for you, little guy!” Dark Rudy taunted. “You’re mine!”

Rudy glared at him, gritting his teeth. Seeing Penny in the corner of his eyes, he called out to her, “No! Stay back!” He didn’t want her to get hurt. He wasn’t going to allow Dark Rudy to harm her.

“But...Rudy...!” Penny called out.

“Just go find Snap and Ms. Saffron!” Rudy called to her. He turned his attention to Dark Rudy, glaring hatefully at him. “I’ll keep my counterpart here busy!”

Penny looked reluctant to leave. She remained standing there, her feet on the ground, firmly planted. Rudy shot her another look, his eyes filled with desperation. He silently begged her to leave. He didn’t want Dark Rudy to have a chance at hurting her. Slowly, Penny nodded, seeming to understand the situation. Though it was clear she did not want to leave, she turned and headed down the tunnel.

Dark Rudy watched her leave, his eyes narrowing. He gave a quick snarl of annoyance, clearly disappointed that she left before the ‘fun’ would begin. He turned his attention back to Rudy. “She won’t get far, I guarantee you that.” Dark Rudy said in a deep voice. “She’ll be recaptured and corrupted...” His shoulders shook as he laughed. “Just like you will be.”

Rudy narrowed his eyes and twisted his head away. “I’ll never be like you!”

“I used to think the same thing when I used to be like you.” Dark Rudy mused. “I never thought I could go as far as Mr. Cosmo does. But the black chalk has away of...changing things.” He leaned in closer to Rudy. “You might have escaped the black chalk one time, my dear counterpart...” His eyes narrowed as he suddenly gripped Rudy’s hair and yanked on it, twisting his head painfully to the side. Rudy let out a cry of pain. Dark Rudy leaned in close and spoke harshly into his ear. “...but you won’t be able to do it a second time...”

Rudy growled at this. He gripped onto his counterpart’s shoulders, mimicking the way Dark Rudy was holding him, and began to push back against him. He managed to make Dark Rudy take a few steps back, but Dark Rudy was a little stronger than he was and he couldn’t move back too far. The two boys pushed against each other, trying to dominate the other. He wasn’t going to let his counterpart win. He just couldn’t.

“I don’t see why you fight... The end for you will come..” Dark Rudy said in a sinister voice. “Well your innocense anyway. Such a useless thing...” He pushed against Rudy as hard as he could, causing them to fall into the ground. Dark Rudy pinned Rudy down, sneering evilly at him. “Struggle all you want to... This little story will have the same ending. You and your precious girlfriend becoming our..allies...whether you want it or not.”

Rudy pushed against his counterpart, his legs kicking against the ground. Dark Rudy smirked at this and punched him in the stomach. Rudy froze, screaming in pain. His body started to tremble as blood poured from his mouth. He gave several painful wet coughs, blood spraying from his mouth. He felt his attempts to fight back weaken as the pain overwhelmed his mind.

Dark Rudy laughed at this. “You little fool... You thought you could challenge me with such a disadvantage? You’re bleeding internally... You have the disease...” He put his face close to Rudy’s. “You thought you could win when all it took for me to disable you is a small punch to the stomach? You really are pathetic!” Dark Rudy reached down with his finger and rubbed the underneath of Rudy’s right eye, wiping away some of his tears. “You know, it wouldn’t have to be so painful if you just surrendered yourself.”

“Screw..you...” Rudy said, gritting his teeth at him and speaking through the pain. “Y-You’re the one that should surrender...”

Dark Rudy threw his head back and laughed. “Oh? And why?”

“Because you are making a huge mistake underestimating me..” Rudy warned.

Dark Rudy tilted his head to the side. “You really are something! You know..tell you what... I won’t corrupt you..yes... I’ll force you to watch Penny get corrupted first..and then we’ll have her torment Snap a little.” Rudy’s eyes widened in horror at this. “Wouldn’t that be delightful? I can just imagine the screams... We won’t have her kill Snap, but...” He whispered close to Rudy’s face. “...we’ll make sure that she beats him up so bad he will wish he were dead..”

Rudy couldn’t believe it. His counterpart was so..twisted and vile.. Corrupting Penny and then having her hurt Snap like that? That was cruel... And forcing him to watch it? Rudy didn’t know if he could bear the sight of Penny beating on Snap, especially when they were supposed to be friends.. What had they done to deserve that kind of fate? Nothing... And this monster..he was going to force them into a terrifying situation. A nightmare..only it was reality...

Rudy felt his body tremble harder. This time, it wasn’t from pain, but anger. A boiling rage, sizzling his blood, rose through his body, making his arms and legs feel warmer all of a sudden. He was not going to allow Dark Rudy to torment his friends like that. He was not going to let him use them like toys. He would never let him get away with that... Dark Rudy was vile... He never wanted to be like him...The idea of him becoming like him..it twisted his stomach into knots.

Feeling his rage boil over, Rudy pulled his fist back and punched Dark Rudy in the head. Dark Rudy’s head was knocked to the side and he let out a cry of pain. He was pushed a littl aways from Rudy, but still had him pinned down. Rudy did not hesitate to deliver another blow, this time to the boy’s stomach. This caused Dark Rudy to stagger back, holding his stomach tightly. Dark Rudy’s eyes shut and he clenched his teeth, seething in pain. Opening his eyes, he only had time to see Rudy rushing at him. For a brief second, his eyes widened in horror.

Rudy slammed against his body. The two teenagers flew back. They crashed into the ground. They began to roll across it. They wrestled with each other, gripping each other’s arms and shoulders. They continued to grapple with each other, trying to pin the other one to the ground. Rudy refused to give up. He was determined not to allow Dark Rudy to win. Then again, his counterpart was equally as determined. Clenching his teeth tightly, Dark Rudy kept trying to force Rudy on the ground.

After a while of wrestling, Rudy managed to get Dark Rudy on the ground. His counterpart looked genuinely shocked that he was able to pull it off, despite having severe stomach pains. So shocked he was, that he hardly made a move to get out from underneath him. He just looked at Rudy, eyes widened with surprise. Rudy glared at him, panting heavily, doing his best to ignore the pain he was feeling.

“You...you are the most disgusting person I ever met! I’ve met a lot of asshole in my life, but you are the worst! And the most terrible part about it is...you’re me...” Rudy snarled at Dark Rudy. “You’re supposed to be the good guy! You’re supposed to be helping others, but instead you turned yourself into a monster! I would..I would...” Rudy’s shoulders shook with emotion. “I would rather die than become like you! You’re a disgusting person and you deserve to rot in prison!”

Dark Rudy stared at Rudy in shock, his eyes widening further at the outburst. But this did not last very long. A sneer spread across his face. “Well then..I hate to disappoint you, but sometimes..life can be...disappointing...”

Rudy put his face close to Dark Rudy, managing to startle his counterpart again with just how hostile he was being. “Shut the fuck up! Don’t pull that crap on me! Bardot tried to pull something like that on me and Penny and it didn’t work! Don’t fucking try to do the same thing on me now because you’re wasting your breath!”

Dark Rudy stared at him for a moment. Then he turned his head to the side. “...I see... Well then...” A dark smile spread across his face. “..perhaps instead of fighting, I just tell you a story...”

“I’m not in the mood to listen!” Rudy shouted at him.

“Oh but you’ll love this one...” Dark Rudy said, chuckling evilly. “It’s about how I killed my parents...or rather, how ‘we’ killed ‘our’ parents, since we are technically the same person.” Rudy’s eyes widened in horror at this. “Oh yes, Rudy... our parents are dead in this dimension...thanks to our hands...”

Rudy’s body started to shake, his anger washing away into terror. “N-No..it cannot be...”

“Oh yes it is... They were so easy to kill... They were..too trusting...” Dark Rudy taunted.

“No...” Rudy shook his head slowly, a low whimper escaping his throat. “Y-You’re lying...”

“I assure you I am not.” Dark Rudy smirked at him. “Oh I wish you had seen it...the looks in their eyes... Yes..oh poor mommy and daddy... taken out by their own child...” He laughed cruelly as he watched Rudy’s face pale at this. So distracted was the boy that Dark Rudy was able to turn the tables and pinned him down to the ground. Rudy looked up at his conterpart in horror and fear. Dark Rudy lowered himself and whispered softly. “Why don’t I tell you the story...?”

Chapter Text

Rudy twisted his body left and right. He stared up at his counterpart in horror. Dark Rudy was going to be telling him a story..no a nightmare...and there was nothing he could do to get away from it. He wouldn't even be able to block it out. Dark Rudy was so close... Those green eyes with the faint black glow, he just couldn't look away from them.

Dark Rudy gripped his arms tighter, his fingernails pressing up against his skin. Rudy winced a little, but he paid little attention to the mild physical pain. His mind was filled with dread. He stared up at Dark Rudy right fear-filled eyes. He couldn't believe what Dark Rudy had told him. He couldn't believe that he would be so..cruel and twisted as to do something like this... It wasn't only the fact that he did it, but now he was going to flaunt it, like it was some kind of huge accomplishment.

"Why are you trying to squirm away, little boy?" Dark Rudy chortled. He tilted his head to the side, his grin broadening. "You don't have a little bit of time for a story...?"

Rudy didn't answer. He just jerked himself from side to side, trying in vain to free himself. Another hit to the stomach and he froze in pain. He let out a cry of pain, a bit of blood spraying from his mouth. He then laid still, his body trembling in agony. He let out soft whimpers, tears moving down his cheeks. He felt an unwanted warmth against his cheek. He opened his eyes and saw that Dark Rudy was caressing his cheek. His eyes moved up to meet his, and Rudy could see no remorse in them.

"I don't see why you're...so hesitant... After all, not like that they are..your version of your parents." Dark Rudy mused, moving his hand along Rudy's cheek before moving it up to play with his hair. "So come on...stay a while...let me tell you the story.. You'll get a real kick out of it.."

"N-No..." Rudy stammered. "Please..I..I don't need to know the details..."

"Oh yes you do." Dark Rudy grinned. "After all...aren't some of the most exciting stories the ones that are most..personal..?" He tilted his head to the other side. "So..there I was.. Coming home from school.."

"No..."

"I had just gotten assigned that task. I knew that my parents would be home, so I had..already planned everything out." Dark Rudy said. "They were my parents..so it was very easy for me to get them...in the position I wanted..."

Rudy turned his head from side to side. "No..."

"Oh yes..." Dark Rudy leaned in closer. Rudy winced as he felt the boy's breath against his face. "Dear mommy was the first one to go... I asked her to come into my bedroom. I told her that I wanted to put on some new necklace I got for her. And of course..mom being mom..she trusted me and she came up. I told her to stand still and I went around to her back. I slung the necklace around her..." Dark Rudy's eyes glinted. "Do you want to know what happened next?"

Rudy shook his head.

Dark Rudy laughed. "Well too bad!" Dark Rudy's smile grew more twisted. "I pulled on it as hard as I could. I used the window sill to provide an advantage point. I kept pulling. Oh you should have heard her. Calling out my name...asking me to stop...pleading when I kept pulling harder. She was so frightened and confused. She had no idea what was going on. She pleaded with me to let go. She told me I was hurting her..but I just kept going...and going..."

"No...please..." Rudy begged him. He didn't want to hear anymore of this. He had heard enough. "No more..please..."

"Oh but I'm just getting to the good part! I can't stop yet!" Dark Rudy exclaimed, his eyes wide with glee. He put his forehead against Rudy's. "I pulled harder..and then, with one swift yank, I broke the necklace. It sliced deep into my mom's throat. She crumpled to the ground..and I stood over her, smiling, letting her get a nice good look at her son. I wanted her to know that I was the one who killed her. She looked horrified...hurt...betrayed..." Rudy's eyes widened in horror. "She died of blood loss seconds later."

Rudy felt more tears move from his eyes. Even though it wasn't his mother who was killed, but his counterpart's, the graphic visions he was getting of his mom dying were too much for him. And the fact that it was his counterpart that did it... His body trembled hard. It made him wonder just how many of his loved ones his counterpart had slaughtered, and how many of them were area it was him who did it.

Dark Rudy kept his forehead pressed against Rudy's. "Then came dear old dad..." Dark Rudy rubbed his head against Rudy's in an almost affectionate manner. Rudy let out a whine. Keeping his cheek pressed against Rudy's, Dark Rudy said, "I guess he heard the thud as my mom fell, so he came running up the stairs. He asked if everything was all right as he came into the room. He was horrified, to say the least, when he saw my mom laying on the ground, dead. He rushed to her. He saw me and I acted scared. I told him I slipped and that happened...and of course he believed me... He told me to rush downstairs and call the police. I left the room. I went into the kitchen and got a butcher knife. I snuck back upstairs. My dad never saw me coming in from behind..."

Rudy struggled. "No...no.."

"I moved in closer, and when I got close enough, I stabbed him as hard as I could in the back. I think I must have done more damage than I thought, because he came crumpling to the ground. His legs weren't moving. I assume they were paralyzed, or he just decided not to move his legs. Oh well." Dark Rudy shrugged his shoulders. "I went over and when he saw I was the one who stabbed him... Oh you should have seen the expression he made. Truly a sight to behold! He kept asking me why I did it, how could I betray my own parents, shit like that. I didn't bother answering any of them. With a smile, I knelt down..."

Rudy thrashed, trying to get himself free. Dark Rudy tightened his grip on him.

"I placed the butcher knife against my dad's throat..." Dark Rudy said softly, his voice but a whisper. Rudy shuddered as he felt his counterpart's breath against his hear. "And I sliced it open. I cut slowly, listening to his screams of pain, his crying. I made sure to slice both of his jugulars. Oh you should have seen the blood. There was so much of it..." He moved back and looked at Rudy in the face. "He died shortly thereafter too. Both their eyes remained open, forever etched with the look of betrayal."

"Y-You...monster..." Rudy cried softly. He could taste tears in his mouth. His lower lip trembled. "I-I can't believe y-you..."

"Oh believe it, Rudy. I killed them because, well, they were of no used to me. I needed to begin training as Mr. Cosmo's..apprentice... And being with my parents...I just complicated things. I just merely...removed them as a factor..." Dark Rudy grinned. He reached down and lightly traced his fingers over Rudy's quivering lip. "I don't see why you're this upset, little boy. I gave them more or less quick deaths, didn't I? At least I showed them that kindness."

"How could you do that...to your parents..?" Rudy growled at him, his eyes narrowing slowly. He managed to free his arm and he pressed it against Dark Rudy's upper chest. He forced him back a little. Dark Rudy offered no resistance. "They loved you...they trusted you... And you betrayed them.. You killed them for some madman...! You're a despicable monster!"

"Yes..I suppose I did." Dark Rudy said nonchalantly. He shrugged like it was no big deal. "That's just the way the coral crumbles. They had to go, otherwise, I couldn't begin effectively training. In the end, it was worth it."

"Worth what?! This world?!" Rudy snapped at him. "This place is destroyed!"

"But it can be rebuilt." Dark Rudy said. "A new world can arise from this one. A better one...with no weaklings.." He moved his face a little close. His black aura eyes stared into him, piercing his soul. "No one like you will be allowed to live in our new world."

Rudy stared at Dark Rudy in horror. He knew he was crazy. He knew he was insane. But his place...it was just...evil...diabolical... He and Cosmo were trying to reshape the world? Was that why Cosmo allowed the humans to just go crazy with the weaponry? That..was truly disgusting. He would expect nothing less from him. What made him even more furious is that his counterpart was going along with this idea. His counterpart was helping Cosmo do all this. That made it even more unbearable. He'd...he'd never want any of this.

A part of him wished that they had come to this dimension sooner. He wished that he had been able to stop his dark half before things got this far. He wished he had saved the zoners from being killed, enslaved, and tortured. He wished he had been able to save ChalkZone from being exposed, exploited, and destroyed. He wished that he had gotten here sooner so that Cosmo could have been stopped earlier and the chalk-based wars never happened. To an extent, Rudy felt like a failure. Even though this wasn't his dimension, he still felt as though he let everyone down, and he wished there was a way to reverse all this damage.

Rudy growled angrily, "You're sick..."

Dark Rudy chuckled. "And you're weak."

Rudy narrowed his eyes. He opened up his mouth to speak, but he didn't get a word in edgewise before suddenly, Dark Rudy made a gag sound. He was pulled back roughly. Rudy leaned up off the ground and he was shocked by what he was seeing.

"Penny?!"

Penny had come back...again. She had managed to get behind Dark Rudy and pulled him back. Now she had him in a headlock, struggling to keep him still. Dark Rudy was thrashing about, trying to force her to let go. She held his neck as tightly as she could in the crook of her arm. Her other hand held onto his arm tightly, trying to hold him steady. The two of them moved about in the hallway, each trying to pin the other.

Penny glared hatefully at Dark Rudy. She kept her grip on him, holding on no matter how hard he struggled. She wrestled with him as they moved around in circles. Dark Rudy attempted to slam against the wall, trying to make her let go. Penny grunted in pain, yet her grip on him remained. The two of them continued to thrash against each other and eventually they fell into the ground. Rudy watched this, his eyes wide, unsure of what to do in that moment.

Dark Rudy and Penny rolled across the ground, wrestling, just like he and his counterpart had before. To his horror, despite Penny having caught him by surprise, that was about the only bit of luck she really had. Dark Rudy was stronger than her and he was able to pin her down pretty quickly. He had a furious expression, looking insulted that she had dared to intervene with their fight. He looked like he was about ready to choke her. But he did not. Rudy guessed that the only thing keeping him from doing that is the fear of Mr. Cosmo's temper.

"You little bitch! You really love tempting me, don't you?!" Dark Rudy hissed. He gripped Penny by the throat and tightened it. Penny gagged. Rudy was relieved she was still breathing, but it sounded so horrible. "You're lucky that Mr. Cosmo won't let me kill you..!" He lowered his head. A sneer, mixed in with anger and dementedness, spread across his face. His eyes glowed with insanity. "Or I would break your sweet little neck...Just like how I did with my Snap.." He put his face a little closer. "Maybe, if Cosmo lets me...if he decides your Snap is worthless, too... Maybe I will break his neck in front of you and your dear friend...."

Rudy's eyes blazed in anger. He was about to say something, but soon saw that Dark Rudy paid the price for what he said. He heard his counterpart scream as Penny slammed a fist against his jaw. Dark Rudy let out a cry as he staggered back away from Penny. Rudy rushed forward and he looped his arms around Dark Rudy, pinning his limbs against his body. He pulled back on him, attempting to force him to hold still.

As he held onto him, Penny got off the ground and brushed herself off. Rudy gave her a quick glance to make sure she was all right. Seeing that she was fine, he turned his gaze back to Dark Rudy. He gritted his teeth and tried to hang on. Dark Rudy twisted his body left and right. He finally forced Rudy to let go, knocking him back. Dark Rudy took several steps away from them. He narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth.

"Why don't you surrender now?" Rudy asked.

Penny said, "Yeah. You're out numbered two to one. Do you think you stand a chance?"

Dark Rudy jeered, "Like I will surrender to the likes of you..." He raised his head, tilting it upwards slightly. He spoke with clenched teeth. "I will enjoy beating the shit out of you..."

"Your precious master won't let you." Penny reminded him.

For a brief second, there was a look of fear in Dark Rudy's eyes. But that dissipated almost as quickly as it came. His smile grew darker. "Not as long as I don't cause too much damage..." He hunched over a little. "Now why don't you hold still...? It'll go smoother..."

"Fuck you..." Rudy growled. "Now way we'll bow to you..."

"Very well then.." Dark Rudy chuckled. He narrowed his eyes. "Bring it on then..."

Dark Rudy adopted a fighting stance. He glared intently at the duo. Rudy and Penny adopted a similiar stance as well, hunching their bodies a little and raising their hands up to prepare to fight. They took position on either side of Dark Rudy, in front of him, and, seconds later, they rushed at each other.

sss

Dr. Raiden's lips curled back into a snarl. He stared at the scene before him, unable to believe what he was seeing. How...how could those two...filthy traitors do something like this? There were only two of them.. Just two...and yet somehow..this had happened.

He and his team of fellow Luminos zoners had been battling against Rapsheeba and Blocky ever since the humans and zoner accomplice escaped into the alternate dimension. As pissed off as he was that they got away, Raiden did realize that it could work to his advantage. He could of done away with them right then. Messing with the controls was easy. It was his machine after all. All he had to do was walk right up to it and push a few buttons and that was it. It wold be easy to either trap them in that dimension, whichever they went to, or send them elsewhere. A more hostile environment would have worked oh so nicely...

But he couldn't get anywhere near the machines. Despite having no control over the dreaded magic chalk or any weapons of their own, Blocky and Rapsheeba had been able to hold their ground well. Granted, they were still hurt. It wasn't like their shots had missed or anything. They were clearly doing damage to them. Both the zoners had several lacerations where the laser bullets hit them. There were also scrapes and bruises as well, and they both limped a little. They certainly were not going to leave this fight unscathed...if they survive at all.

Yet..they were still standing their ground and pushing back against them. They were better fighters than they had imagined they would be. They were nimble and quick, especially for zoners who were injured. They never went far from the dimensional machine. And they never let them anywhere near it. They couldn't shoot at the machine; the resulting explosion would kill him and his comrades. They had to get up to it, but those two zoners wouldn't let them. When they try to shoot at them, they manage to dodge. He couldn't understand it... How were they able to last so long against them?

Dr. Raiden wasn't sure how long his patience was going to last. He had hoped to have taken down the traitors by now. It should have been such an easy task. These corrupt zoners had to be dealt with. Their poison should not be allowed to spread any further. If only he could land a blow on them. One that would do something more damaging to them, like breaking their leg or something. But he hadn't made a move, at least not yet. For the time being, his comrades fought against them...for a while.

Rapsheeba and Blocky managed to take out his comrades. Not in the sense of kill... They didn't do that. But they did manage to knock them out. As furious as Dr. Raiden was, he had to admit, that was pretty impressive the way they managed to land those blows on them. In the right spots at that. The more Luminos zoners they knocked out, the more they were able to push back. They never took any of their weapons either... They just punched them out, aiming either at the back of the head or the front. After a Luminos zoner was knocked out, Rapsheeba and Blocky left them alone. Why, Raiden didn't know. Maybe they were going to save them for whenever the two creators came back. He snarled at this. Disgusting..

And now here he was, alone. His comrades were defeated. It didn't happen all at once. One by one. But his comrades fell, unconscious, and after what he guessed was hours, Blocky and Rapsheeba stood triumphant...for now. He would deal with them. Oh yes, they would pay.. But he needed to be careful. They were tired and weak now, having exerted energy on the fight. But they were now surrounded by weapons. They could use that to their advantage. If they got it in their heads to shoot at him, they could. He needed to figure out a plan to kill them.

He could feel his cheetah mind begin to turn the wheels, his mind churning for a plan. He might not be 'wild', as some would put it, but he still had the mind of a predator. His eyes focused intently at what he currently saw as his quarry: Rapsheeba and Blocky. His mind began to dig up different coures that he could take in order to take them down. Those two...they may have gotten lucky, insanely lucky, and had been able to defeat his comrades. But they would not escape him. No...he could see to that.

Dr. Raiden took a few steps close to them. He raised his metal finger. The tip glinted in the light. He pointed at the two, his amber eyes shining with hatred. "You two....I will not allow you to get away with this! You filthy traitors!"

"We aren't traitors, Dr. Raiden." Rapsheeba said sternly. She leaned against the dimensional machine. "You..it's you who is the traitor.. You and the Luminos!"

Dr. Raiden's ears flattened against his school. That stupid bitch... How dare she accuse him of such treachery.

"We weren't the ones who attacked the hospital and hurt all those zoners. We weren't the ones who bombed this place. That was you...you and your comrades. So how is it okay for you to bomb a building, but it's not okay for creators to be in ChalkZone? Tell me...is a human standing in ChalkZone really more damaging than you ordering a building to be practically leveled?!" Blocky cried, anger laced on his voice, trailing off the tip of each word he spoke.

Of course these two wouldn't understand. They were both brainwashed. They were beyond hope. If he had found them earlier, he could have broken them free of the creator's hold. He could have saved them. But now it was too late for that. The creators had already lured them to their side. Their only chance of being cured was just to be killed. It was what they deserved.

He thought back to Snap. Out of all the zoners, he was the most corrupt...the most evil...the most vile. He needed to be stopped. He had chosen to side with Rudy and Penny...with the creators... He was the one who brainwashed Rapsheeba and Blocky, as well as many other zoners. It was his fault that the poison of trusting creators had spread so far. The zoners had lowered their guards, and because of that, they were vulnerable to attack. He could feel his blood boiling at the thought. Snap...that little monster was going to get what was coming to him.

Dr. Raiden had so many thoughts of how he was going to kill Snap. So many ways, all so suitable.. It was hard to choose which one. Breaking his neck was a good choice. Cracking his skull open...ripping off his face...tearing his stomach open and letting his intestines fall out...tearing his limbs off and letting him bleed to do death.. And that was just a few of the thoughts he had. His burning hatred for Snap was quite strong, to the point where, the next time he saw him after he and his human accomplices came back, he would likely attack him out of a rage again. Sinking his teeth in the biggest traitor of all would be most delightful.

"I really wish I could cleanse you too... I do admire your skill. It takes... a lot of talent to beat armed zoners, especially when you weren't doing so hot.." Dr. Raiden said. He took a few steps towards the two zoners, who quickly adopted a fighting stance. "But I'm afraid that you've become too..toxic. Your line of thinking is dangerous, and I will not allow it to fester in ChalkZone any longer." His tongue moved across his furry lips slowly. "Sometimes sacrifices must be made. And you two will be perfect for it.."

Although the two zoners did look afraid by what he said, they still did not back down. They glared at him, holding their fighting pose. Despite being injured, despite not being able to move as well or as quickly as he could, the two zoners were still prepared to fight him. This amused Dr. Raiden. It really is a shame that they chose to side with creators. He would have loved to have that fighting spirit for the Luminos. Oh well...it was too late for that now. They were corrupted by the creators...by that filthy zoner, Snap, and there was no turning back for them. All he could do now was put them out of their misery.

Dr. Raiden lowered himself to the ground. He stood on all fours. In this stance, he felt more like a predator. His calculating, killer mind worked best on this state. His pupils became slits, very thin in the middle of his amber eyes. His long limbs held his body up, his back arched. His tail swished excitedly from side to side. He began to pace side to side in front of Rapsheeba and Blocky. He let out a low growl, his teeth gritted. He eyed them, trying to look for the perfect place to strike where they'd have little chance of escape.

"I hope you two don't take this seriously..." Dr. Raiden grinned. "This is just business...that's all... It's something I must do for the safety of ChalkZone."

Rapsheeba snarled, "How is destroying a hospital for the good of ChalkZone?!"

Dr. Raiden narrowed his eyes. "The destruction of this hospital is nothing but a simple statistic on the chart. So long as most of ChalkZone is safe...I'm willing to make the sacrifice... Humans have caused more damage than I have. If you think that this measly hospital and the 'small' number of patients here really holds a candle to what Cosmo did with the Light Pillars, and all the zoners that ended up losing their lives and dhe destruction..." Dr. Raiden shook his head. "You really are delusional."

"You're a monster!" Blocky shouted.

Dr. Raiden sneered at him. "Oh...if only you weren't deluding yourself.."

“How can we be the delusional ones when you are unable to see just how hypocritical you are being?” Blocky asked, his eyes narrowed. “I mean, look around you! Look at what you’re doing! How can you say that this destruction is okay...when it’s the same kind of destruction that the black chalk users would do!”

Rapsheeba spoke up, pointing a finger in Dr. Raiden’s direction. “This attack...it’s not so different from when Cosmo attacked! You...you’re becoming just like him!” Dr. Raiden let out a low growl at this, but the female zoner still continued. “You seem to think that just because you’re doing it for what you think is the ‘greater good’..that doesn’t make the act any less heinous! It doesn’t make you any less like Mr. Cosmo was!”

Dr. Raiden’s fur rose on end. “You better not be implying what I think you are...”

“Face it, Dr. Raiden.” Blocky said. “You are just like Mr. Cosmo! You’re just too blind to see it!”

Although the cheetah growled louder, warning the two to stop it with the Cosmo comparisons, they kept going.

“That’s right! You are deluding yourself, Dr. Raiden! If you would just open your eyes, you’ll see just how much like Cosmo you really are! You had a hospital bombed...a hospital! And all for what..to get one person?” Rapsheeba snarled, her eyes wide with anger. “Mr. Cosmo did the same thing three years ago! How can you not see the parallels? How can you not see just how much like him you really are?! Are you that afraid, Dr. Raiden? Are you afraid of being seen as a monster, so you delude yoursef?”

“That would be a cowardly thing to do if that were the case. There’s nothing wrong with admitting that you made a mistake. But look around you, Dr. Raiden. Your lies, your self delusion...it’s just making things worse! Open your eyes, Dr. Raiden! Open them!” Blocky shouted.

Dr. Raiden’s eyes snapped open wide at this. His jaw slacked, his mouth hanging open. His body became stiff, frozen there. His pupils shrank and he became quiet. Rapsheeba and Blocky stared at him, looking confused as to why he suddenly stopped moving or making noise. They still hung back, a smart move. The cheetah could still see them. His rage had boiled over, but he couldn’t react much. His mind was locked and suddenly, he was unaware of his surroundings for a moment.

Memories...horrible memories...they all came flooding back to him. All around him, he could see images of his past. He tried to block them out. He put his hands to his flattened ears tightly, shutting his eyes and gritting his teeth. He tried to snap himself out of it, but it was useless. The flashbacks came to him, flooding his mind with horrible details of what happened to him. The images floated all around him. And as hard as it was, his mind’s eye couldn’t be shut. And he was forced to look at these horrible images. Memories that he wish he had forgotten, wished that he could block out.

Him being captured by Mr. Cosmo...dragged from his home...

Being brought into the real world and fitted with a painful shock collar...

Forced to build machine after machine with no rest...

Being whipped and beaten whenever he disobeyed Mr. Cosmo...Given no food or water...no breaks...

Unable to look away as his captured friends were given similar treatment, some of them even being killed...

And that voice...that horrible voice... The way Blocky spoke suddenly brought Dr. Raiden back to a horrific incident while he was still Mr. Cosmo’s slave. He could see it in his mind, unable to make it go away. He was so lost in his mind that he didn’t realize that Rapsheeba and Blocky were looking at him all confused, noticing his body was trembling now. His wide eyes, pupils the size of tiny dots, remained staring blankly ahead as his mind rapidly churned.

In the memory he was unable to stop from entering, he was chained to the wall. He didn’t have his outfit on him, completely naked. He was covered in cuts and bruises and dirty fur. His head hung low, his eyes shut, teeth gritted in pain. He felt something press against his chin and it was lifted up forcefully. He could hear Cosmo calling out to him. But he did not listen. He ignored Cosmo, not wanting to open his eyes and see the horrific reality in front of him.

But Cosmo did not like this. As Dr. Raiden tried to ignore his voice, tried not to look, Cosmo started to hurt him badly. Kicked in the stomach, cut along his arm, punched in the face...and he couldn’t do a damn thing to defend himself. He could hear his voice in his head now, echoing in his mind.

“Open your eyes, Dr. Raiden... I’m growing impatient... Open your eyes... I said open your eyes, Dr. Raiden!”

Then came the cattle prod... Dr. Raiden screamed bloody murder as the electricity coursed through his body. He still remembered that horrific pain. His body had convulsed wildly against the chains and he tried to get free, tried to get away from the pain. But he only ended up hurting himself more. He soon fell limp and just laid there. Mr. Cosmo again demanded that he open his eyes, and this time, Dr. Raiden did open his eyes. One eye, teeth still clenched. He stared at Mr. Cosmo. He raised the prod to his face. Both his eyes opened to stare at the sparkling blue electricity in horror.

Mr. Cosmo had called him a good kitty and told him that as long as he is obedient, he won’t have to hurt so much. Dr. Raiden still tried to be defiant. Mr. Cosmo had tried so hard to break him, going as far as making him one of the only zoners he never mind controlled; he controlled him using abuse. And it had worked...

But no longer. Dr. Raiden tried to fight back in that moment. He tried to bite Mr. Cosmo. And it turned out to be the worst mistake he ever made. Mr. Cosmo punished him for that, in an unusually cruel way. He electrocuted him with the cattle prod, but in two places. First, he targeted the sensitive area between his legs, a low blow. Then he pushed the tip into his mouth and held his jaws shut. Both were incredibly painful and he wasn’t able to move right or talk for weeks.

The flashback finally disappeared, but he remained frozen where he stood. Still on all fours, his tail rested on the ground. His expression was that of horror, and he looked around the room, like he nearly forgot where he was. Rapsheeba and Blocky and taken a few steps back, staring at him in confusion. If they were calling out for him earlier, the cheetah did not hear them. Cosmo’s voice still echoed in the back of his head for a while, fading slowly into the back of his mind, and soon disappearing altogether.

That incident..that horrible incident... That left a deep scar in him. It was bad enough how he was treated before that, as well as his friends. But electrocuting him...like that.... That is what finally broke him. That was what made him decide that Maalik’s views were right after all. Before then, Dr. Raiden had some questions regarding Maalik’s ‘all humans are evil’ believe that was dominant for the Luminos. But after that, he saw that Maalik was talking about.

He finally noticed Rapsheeba and Blocky again. The sight of them caused anger to resurface, forgetting about his previous fears. They weren’t the ones who were tortured... They weren’t the ones forced to watch loved ones being controlled by that human... If they had witnessed what he had..if they had experienced what he did..they would sing a different tune. They would realize that the Luminos are more right than they’ll ever be. Humans were all bastards... And he was not going to let one hurt him again..ever...

His tail whipped up into the air, poofing in anger. His pupils changed into slits. He growled, staring intently at the two zoners. These two traitors... They will pay for their heresay. They will not get away with siding with the filthy creators. He was not going to give them the change to help creators hurt more zoners. They will be punished for their sins... He will see to that...right now.

Dr. Raiden let out a loud yowl. “Fucking human-loving filth! You’re both traitors to zoner society! You’re a threat and you must be dealt with!” His fur raised on end threateningly. His teeth glinted in the light. “And I will make sure that you both get your just desserts...” He raised his back legs up, hunching, preparing to dash towards them. “Hold still...this will only hurt more if you struggle.”

Dr. Raiden rushed towards Rapsheeba and Blocky. His feet pounded the ground and he dodged his fellow Luminos and the weapons as he got closer. The two zoners were not able to get away in time. They barely had enough time to even realize he was rushing at them. With his cheetah speed, it only took him seconds to reach them. He slammed into them as hard as he could, sending them flying backwards. He watched as they rolled across the ground. He charged them again, giving them no time to get up.

When he reached them, he attacked Rapsheeba first. He seized her by the leg and bit down hard. She let out a scream of pain as he crushed her leg, the bone cracking under the pressure. He swung her back and forth in his jaws violently before he released her, sending her crashing into the wall. He then turned his attention to Blocky. He slashed him through his side, doing out the other end, with his metal claw. He lifted him up, listening to his screams of pain, before flinging him mercilessly towards Rapsheeba. He crashed into her and the two let out soft groans of pain.

Dr. Raiden watched them, letting out soft growls. He paced back and forth in front of them. He watched as Blocky ignored the pain in his side to try to tend to Rapsheeba. The female zoner was clutching her leg. The flesh had been torn and it was bent at an odd angle. Blood leaked out both of both zoners. Blocky had a hard time moving his body, Dr. Raiden could tell, due to the gaping hole he had given him.

He smiled in twisted satisfaction. With those wounds, they would not be able to fight back well. Rapsheeba can’t get up with a broken leg, and Blocky would defnitely be inhibited by that wound in his side. Dr. Raiden got into position, swishing his tail side to side in an excited manner. He licked his lips slowly. All he needed was one well placed blow...and that would be it. Tearing out their throats with his jaws would be an easy task.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, he rushed at them. He smiled darkly as he watched them cower in fear. Rapsheeba let out a scream of terror. Blocky held onto her protectively. Dr. Raiden just laughed at this futile bravery. All it did was make things easier for him. When he got close enough, he lunged into the air, his jaws split wide. Soon he would be tasting their flesh and blood in his jaws as he ripped them into pieces. They screamed and shut their eyes, looking away.

Suddenly, he felt something slam against him. Dr. Raiden let out a yowl as he was thrown into the ground by something thick. He bounced along the ground until he finally crumpled down. He let out a soft groan. He lifted up his head, rubbing it with his left paw. He looked over to see what had happened. His eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in anger.

“Dr. Urso...what an unpleasant surprise...” Dr. Raiden hissed.

Dr. Urso stood in front of Rapsheeba and Blocky protectively. His bear had was contorted in anger, his teeth exposed. He stood on four legs, just like he had before. His fur was poofed up. His pupils were dilated, looking almost like dots in his eyes. His lion tail was waving back and forth. His long, bear-like claws scraped against the ground.

“How did you find this place...?” Dr. Raiden asked, his ears lowering. “No one outside of the Luminos is supposed to know...”

“You were spotted going down the forbidden corridor. It was easy to deduce that you’d be here.” Dr. Urso snarled at him.

Dr. Raiden chuckled bitterly. “Oh so you’re clever now eh?” He said sarcastically.

His ears flattening against his head, Dr. Urso said, “I can’t believe we trusted you.”

“Join the club. Both Rudy and Penny said the same thing about me.” Dr. Raiden said with an evil smile on his face. “But that’s their own fault... They never bothered to look at the signs.”

“Oh shut up! What you’ve done is inexcusable! Now come along with me...” Dr. Urso pawed the ground. “Or I will make you come with.”

“Oh dear me, is that a threat?” Dr. Raiden asked, pointing his metal claw at the lion bear. “Do you think I’ll just bow down to you just because you asked?” He laughed cruelly. Dr. Urso snarled at this. “Well...how about this. If you win a duel against me, I’ll go quietly. But if you don’t...” He thought about a possible outcome. “You become my prisoner... Deal?”

Dr. Urso hesitated for a second. “Deal.”

“What?” Rapsheeba and Blocky cried in unison.

Dr. Urso turned his head to them. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this covered.”

Dr. Raiden laughed at this. “Oh poor naive fool... You have no idea what you’re in for.”

Dr. Urso shot him a glare. “Shut up! And let’s get started...”

“Gladly...” Dr. Raiden sneered.

With that, the two zoners rushed at each other, claws poised to strike, teeth prepared to slice. Rapsheeba and Blocky held onto each other as they watched the two collide, and soon the room was filled with yowls, growls, and howls of pain and anger and fury.

sss

“Hurry! Let’s get a move on!” Snap cried.

“But..where do we go?” Penny asked, clutching the zebra chalk in her hand.

Rudy looked all around. “Anywhere but here!”

“Sounds like a plan, Bucko!” Snap shouted. He looked behind him. “But let’s try to pick up the pace, okay?”

Penny couldn’t believe just how much happened in a short time frame. It was unbelievable... It took her a while to fully realize that this all really did happen. She never expected it to. How could she predict something like this? No one could have. Even if she were really good at guessing what would happen in the next few minutes, she would not have been able to guess something like this.

She and Rudy had been fighting against Dark Rudy. Working together, they had been able to hold him back pretty well,..for a time. Dark Rudy was getting desperate and his actions and movements became more unpredictable and wild. When this happened, fighting him, even together, became much harder. And soon, they were suffering blows and were being pushed back. The fact that Dark Rudy could handle the two of them at once was frightening.

Still, they did not give up. They kept fighting back. They helped each other out, had each other’s backs, while Dark Rudy had no one. That was the one advantage that they had, and they were using it to their full potential. Dark Rudy might have the upperhand in strength and not having as many injuries, but he was still just one person. Working together, Rudy and Penny eventually turned the tables on him again and managed to force him back a little.

Suddenly and without warning, Snap came running down the hallway, right at them. He wasn’t stopping and his face was filled with that of terror. He shouted about something with Ms. Saffron being controlled and how they had a run-in with Cosmo, and the man had knocked her out... There was so much that the zoner spewed at them in a frantic voice, she couldn’t remember it all. What was clear to her was that now Snap was running at them with Draow, Cosmo riding on his back, chasing him down. Rudy and Penny wasted no time and they began to run away as soon as Snap joined them.

And now here they were, running down the corridor, trying to get away from Draow. Now it wasn’t just Mr. Cosmo riding on his back; Dark Rudy joined him as well. They could hear shouts of anger, profanity, whatever else. They weren’t even sure at this point if they were still going to keep them alive, especially with Draow firing lasers at them. But one thing was for certain. There was no way in hell they were going to stop running now. Even if they had no idea where to go, the machine would activate soon, and they would soon be out of here. They just had to stay alive for a little while...just a little while...

Penny dared a glance behind her as they made a sharp turn. She watched as Draow nearly slipped on his feet trying to turn. It would have amused Penny if she did not realize what kind of situation they were in. The bat wolf was not fumbled for long and she could hear his thundering footsteps as he rushed at them again, letting out screeches of anger. She felt glad that they were indoors and the ceiling in this place was a little low. Draow was not able to use his flight to his advantage.

...until they reached the end of this hallway. To the trio’s horror, they ended up in a large, open room with a very heigh ceiling. As soon as they entered it, they knew they were in trouble. When Draow came into the room, he did exactly what Penny thought he would do. He spread his wings and he flew overhead. He went over them and landed in front of them. He lowered his body and roared in their faces, causing them to skid to a stop. Rudy, Penny, and Snap stared at Draow in horror before taking a few steps back. Draow advanced on them.

“So you thought you could get away...?” Mr. Cosmo sneered. “And after I gave you a generous offer.. Well..ain’t that just too bad?” Soon, Draow had the trio boxed up against the wall. He spread his wings out, making it harder for them to get away. “I thought I might be able to use you...but if you choose to run, I guess I have no choice.” He lifted up a small tac-like object, examining it briefly. “I used something like this on dear Saffron...” He looked down at the trio. “I think I’ll use it on you two...”

“B-But I thought...” Rudy stammered, his eyes widened in horror.

“Yes, I know...” Mr. Cosmo said. “But after what you did...well... I want a more painful way of you being my servant. And body control works wonders, don’t you think?” He smiled twistedly at them. “And besides...it’ll be quicker. It’s a little hard getting into ChalkZone as you can very well imagine. But something like this tac here...can be installed in both of you in a much shorter time frame.”

“We won’t let you do it...” Rudy snarled, eyes narrowing.

“We would never join you...” Penny said. “We would rather die...”

Mr. Cosmo’s eyes twinkled. “Is that so...? Well don’t worry. That is an option...” Draow opened his jaws, flashing his sharp teeth at them. “But let us not be too hasty...”

“Perhaps we should give them an incentive to join, master.” Dark Rudy suggested, a sadistic smile on his face. “Perhaps something similar to what you did to me...before I was enlightened..”

“I usually don’t agree with him,” Draow spoke, his own smile across his muzzle. “But he’s talking sense this time. I’m sure they would join if we....” His teal eyes glinted with malice. “..push the right buttons...”

Rudy, Penny, and Snap looked on in horror. They huddled close together, looking at their enemies in fear.

Mr. Cosmo rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm...yes...that sounds like a good idea...” He pointed his hand forward. “Draow. You know what to do.”

Draow walked over even closer to the trio. He looked down at them, growling lowly. Then, before Penny or her friends could react, Draow lashed forward. He swung his muzzle and hit Rudy first and then Penny. The force was enough to knock them into the ground. Snap rushed to his friends, but he did not get far. Much to Rudy and Penny’s horror, they looked up just in time to see Snap snagged in Draow’s jaws. Rudy reached for him, only for Draow to raise Snap higher and taking a few steps back.

“Let our friend go!” Rudy demanded.

“Oh, but why should we?” Dark Rudy sneered. “After all..he still has a function for us.”

“Indeed. You see, we really could use the help, and if you aren’t willing to just join us...” Mr. Cosmo gestured to Draow. “We will give you a reason to join.”

With that, Draow tightened his grip on Snap. Rudy and Penny stared at the scene in shere terror, their eyes wide. Snap was struggling frantically in the bat wolf’s jaws. His teeth hadn’t punctured his body yet, but Penny knew it was just a matter of time. She felt her heart clench tightly, a feeling of nausaea coming over her, as she and Rudy watched Snap slowly being crushed. The little zoner’s face was etched in pain and he was frantically struggling in vain to get free.

“Release him!” Penny cried. “Please stop hurting him!”

Draow bit down harder, causing Snap to scream in pain.

“Snap! No!” Rudy cried, tears flowing down his and Penny’s faces.

“If you want his safety...” Mr. Cosmo said. “Join me. Agree to become my slaves. And I will let your friend go. Otherwise...” He snapped his fingers. Draow shook his head, mercilessly shaking Snap. The blue zoner shrieked in agony, much to his friend’s dismay. “...your little friend will soon be in pieces.”

“No..please...!” Rudy begged. “Stop hurting him!”

“Stop this!” Penny shouted. “Please!”

“We’ll stop...” Dark Rudy started to say.

Mr. Cosmo finished for him. “...if you say yes.”

Rudy and Penny were frozen. They watched as Snap was continuously hurt by Draow. Shaking and being crushed, Snap was crying and screaming in pain. In the midst of his cries, they could hear him shouting at them not to do it. He didn’t want them to surrender. He wanted them to resist. That was so like Snap. To want them to be defiant and stand up for what’s right rather than being forced to give regardless of the pain that he himself would be put through.

Penny couldn’t let him suffer, though. She couldn’t let Snap be torn apart by Draow. He didn’t deserve that. She didn’t want to disappoint Snap by giving in, but she and Rudy really didn’t want to see him getting hurt. He was their best friend. If they let him get ripped into shreds..they would never forgive themselves. There was really only one option they had...

They couldn’t fight Draow. Not now. They had no weapon, and even if they did, he still had their friend in his mouth and he could easily crush him. All it would take is a signal from Mr. Cosmo...and that was it. No, the only way out of this that she and Rudy could see...was something that sickened the two of them. Their stomachs twisted in knots thinking about it. But there was only one way they could help Snap now. One way that they could see. They could only hope that Snap would forgive them after it was all over.

“Mr. Cosmo...we...” Rudy started to say.

He never had a chance to finish. No one had a chance to say or do anything else. For in that moment, a sudden bright white light shot through the room, enveloping the whole place before concentrating on Rudy, Penny, and Snap. Mr. Cosmo, Draow, and Dark Rudy watched in absolute shock as the trio suddenly vanished without a trace.

Chapter Text

The room was filled with cat-like yowls and the roars of a bear. They intermixed together, bouncing off the walls all around. The two doctors clashed against each other and became nothing but flying fur, their colors swirling around each other as they wrestled and snarled. Although in horrible pain and their bodies feeling like they wanted to pass out, Rapsheeba and Blocky found it hard to turn away. They watched the spectacle with widened eyes.

Dr. Urso didn’t really understand the motivations behind Dr. Raiden’s sudden turn. He had always been a calm and respectful doctor. That was how he knew him as. He had trusted him as a comrade, but now after seeing this, he felt disgusted with himself. He had seen what he did to Rapsheeba’s leg and how he ripped into Blocky. Both such despicable acts. He was glad that he got here before the cheetah could do anymore damage.

When he came here, he didn’t know what to expect. A part of him was appalled with the idea of Dr. Raiden being a traitor. He didn’t want to believe it. He had worked close with him before and he seemed like he was a reasonable guy. It was definitely a shock to his system when he finally saw Dr. Raiden for who he really was. A monster...a jerk...and a hypocrite. The real Dr. Raiden was someone so horrible, that Dr. Urso thought he was a completely different zoner. A part of him wished that was the case.

As furious as he was with himself with Dr. Raiden, at least now he could do something about it. He managed to stop him from doing something worse to Blocky and Rapsheeba. The other Luminos were still knocked out...for now. He would still have to keep an eye on them, though. It wasn’t really so much him he was worried about, but the two injured zoners. They wouldn’t be able to fight well in their condition, especially Rapsheeba and that broken leg of hers.

He and Raiden wrestled across the ground. They dug their claws into each other and used strength to try to pin the other down. They rolled across the floor, snarling and shouting angrily at the other. Each called the other a ‘traitor’ and a ‘threat to zoners’. This banter of anger against the other went on as they fought with each other. Raiden managed to bite down on his ear, blood dripping from it. Urso ripped his head away and bit down on Raiden’s jaws, his teeth slashing across them and making him yowl in pain.

Their claws dug into each other. He could feel his claws ripping into Raiden’s body. He could feel the cheetah’s claws doing the same thing to him. He winced in pain and did his best not to release the cheetah. He gripped down hard on his arms and yanked on him, putting him on his side. He attempted to pin him down, but a swift kick to his stomach sent him staggering a little. He did not release the cheetah and sent a fist slamming against his back. Raiden howled in pain, his eyes widened big. Then the feline zoner managed to rolled himself on his back and pull his feet into position. The feet slammed against Urso’s head, knocking him down.

Dr. Raiden jumped up onto his feet, all fours. He paced around the fallen Dr. Urso for a bit. Dr. Urso grunted and raised himself up, rubbing his sore head. He opened up his eyes in time to see Dr. Raiden rushing at him. His eyes widening, the lion bear zoner had little time to react as the cheetah slammed against him, pinning him into the ground. He winced as the cheetahs sharp claws punctured into his skin once more, tearing into his flesh. He looked up at Raiden, noting his hate-filled eyes. He returned the glare.

“So this is what it’s come down to, Dr. Raiden?” Dr. Urso asked bitterly, his teeth partially bared as he spoke. He turned his head to the side. “Once you were one of my closest colleagues and now..you’re doing this. Do you feel proud of yourself?”

Raiden did not bother to answer that. His face contorted into a snarl, a low rumble from his throat. He lifted up his right paw and lowered it down towards Urso’s left arm. He pressed the tip against it. Then, seconds later, he activated his claw and it began to swiftly rip through the arm. Urso howled in agony before striking Raiden off of him with his bear-like paw. The cheetah rolled across the ground and shook his head. When the two of them got up, Urso could see the blood clinging to the metal finger. He snarled and winced as he placed his left arm on the ground.

Dr. Raiden smirked darkly at this. Dr. Urso knew that the cheetah was going to use his injured arm to his advantage. But despite being wounded in this way, he was not going to give up. The lion bear knew the consequences if he allowed the cheetah to have his way. He would stand his ground. Though it hurt him to put pressure on the left leg, he still remained standing. His arm was thick, too, so though there was a lot of pain, the damage wasn’t as bad as it would have been if the same thing happened to Raiden.

The cheetah zoner paced around him slowly and then broke into a run. Urso’s eyes widened in horror at this. The cheetah became a blur of black and gold. He ran around him, going so fast that Urso could hardly see him. It was clear that the cheetah was attempting to disorient him, make it hard for him to attack back. Urso looked left and right, trying to get a good view of the zoner. But he moved so fast...one second he were there, and then another second, somewhere else. He felt his heart racing when he knew, at the time, Raiden could attack from any angle and he wouldn’t be able to defend himself.

And he quickly learned how right he was. Suddenly, without warning, Raiden struck him on his right side. He yelped in pain as he felt the metal claw slash across his shoulder, knocking him into the ground. As he laid there, slowly getting up, the cheetah came around the other side and slammed his body against him, making him fall back a few steps. Then he attacked again, his metal claw tearing open a small part of his left side. Finally, Raiden struck his metal claw across his back, making the lion bear throw his head back and howl in agony before falling to the ground.

“Dr. Urso...no!” Rapsheeba said through clenched teeth.

Blocky’s eyes widened in horror. “Please get up! He’s coming back!”

The two of them froze when Dr. Raiden stared at them. His intense golden eyes bored through their souls. Blocky and Rapsheeba gulped in fear and huddled close together. Dr. Raiden stared at them for a couple more seconds befoer turning his attention back to Dr. Urso laying on the ground. With a calm smile, he walked over to him and began to pace around him like a vulture around a kill. Dr. Urso looked up at him and growled softly.

“Ain’t this a shame?” Dr. Raiden said. He pushed himself up onto two legs, walking in a hunch. His arms rested behind his back and he glared down at Urso like he was studying him. “I remember what it was like working with you, Dr. Urso. I would regret having to kill a fellow doctor. But if you’re going to side with those traitors..” Dr. Raiden briefly cast a glare at Rapsheeba and Blocky. “..then perhaps the best thing to do is euthanize you. Can’t have you spread the poison or let you be further damaged by the brainwashing.” He shut his eyes and gave a light smile. “Yes, death would be merciful.”

Dr. Urso snarled at him. He pushed himself on his hands, ignoring the pain in his body. He lifted up his head and made sure that the cheetah could get a good look at his sharp teeth. “You’re despicable... Doctors are supposed to help people, not kill. You’re...you’re a mockery to this hospital.”

Dr. Raiden blinked and then smiled. “Oh but dear Dr. Urso...” He slowed down his pacing a little and drew himself closer. He spoke again, his voice lowering in volume, becoming something of a hiss. “I am helping people. I am helping ChalkZone by getting rid of threats.”

“Blocky and Rapsheeba did nothing to deserve what you gave them!” Dr. Urso snapped at him.

“Oh I can see why you’d say that. You’re poisoned by the creators as well.” Dr. Raiden mused, partially baring his teeth in a smile. “Such a shame...”

Dr. Urso flattened his ears against his head. “The only one poisoned around here is you. You’re just like Mr. Cosmo.” Dr. Raiden shot a glare at him. Dr. Urso did not back down. “Yeah, you heard me. You’re the zoner equivilant of Mr. Cosmo. Both of you are the following: racist towards the other species, willing to harm innocents to get your way, think you are doing what is best for everyone, attacking hospitals to get a select target...”

“Shut up! You understand nothing!” Raiden bared his sharp teeth. “Humans are dangerous! And so is anyone associated with them!”

“But why?” Dr. Urso asked, narrowing his eyes. “How can I be a threat when I am not plotting anything against ChalkZone?” He gestured towards Rapsheeba and Blocky. “How can they be a threat when they have never committed any crimes against ChalkZone?”

Dr. Raiden snarled. At first, it looked like he was puzzled as to how to answer that question. But he soon said something. “You all befriended humans...”

Dr. Urso said, “And...?”

Dr. Raiden raised his head a little. His golden eyes flashed. “And that means you could be plotting against us! Y-You..you could be preparing some kind of plan with the creators..an invasion...a sudden attack..anything!” Urso noted the slight stammer in Raiden’s voice. “I-I-I won’t allow it!”

“Oh come now... Do you really believe that?” Dr. Urso asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Do you really think that anyone who ‘sides’ with the humans is going to plan some full scale invasion or something?”

“You never know...” The cheetah zoner flattened his ears against his head. “When it comes to the safety of ChalkZone...one cannot take chances...” He took a step forward. “Don’t you remember what happened with Mr. Cosmo, Dr. Urso? Don’t you remember what he did, both in his return and what happened many years ago?”

“Of course I do. I would never forget.” Dr. Urso replied. “But unlike you, I don’t use that incident to generalize all humans. They are varied like we are, and you are a fool to think them all the same.”

Dr. Raiden narrowed his eyes at this. He dropped down on all four. His tail swished from side to side. He turned himself around and started to circle Urso in the opposite direction. He moved around in a circle, Urso keeping his eye on the cheetah, anticipating a sudden attack. Raiden did not speak for a few minutes. Occasionally, he’d turn his attention to the injured two zoners, and Urso was worried he’d make a sudden break for them. But he always returned his attention to the lion bear.

Dr. Urso prepared himself. He had no idea when the cheetah was going to attack. At any moment perhaps. He bared his teeth and hunched himself. His muscles rippled through his body, preparing himself for an attack. His claws flexed on the ground, tapping against the hard metallic floor. His eyes leveled with the cheetah’s, keeping lock on him for as long as possible, only breaking when the cheetah zoner disappeared behind his back, only to reemerge at his side. He had no idea how long this circling was going to last, and he felt adrenaline start to tug at him in anticipation for the attack.

“A part of me wishes that I didn’t have to do this. But you left me with no choice. As soon as more of my comrades arrive...” Dr. Raiden smirked when Dr. Urso widened his eyes. “Oh yes, didn’t you know? I contacted my leader. He and some reinforcements will be arriving shortly. They were coming for Rudy, but you traitors will do just fine...” He tilted his head a little. “And now you will suffer the same fate that Rapsheeba and Blocky will. A punishment you all so richly deserve.” His eyes widened slightly. “Death...” He said with a grin.

Dr. Urso widened his eyes at this. Did Dr. Raiden really think that was a just punishment? Death? For what? None of them did anything to deserve that. This cheetah really was more twisted than he thought. He couldn’t believe that he once thought of him as one of the most rational of the doctors. He was anything but that. His logic didn’t make any sense. He was twisting everything and doing horrible things, and for what? To keep ChalkZone safe? How could he keep it safe when he himself was a threat?

Dr. Urso pressed his claws against the ground. He thought they would break, but he ignored the uncomfortable sensation. He watched with eyes blazing in anger as the cheetah paced around him. Soon, the cheetah stopped and stood in front of him. The two stared at each other. Dr. Urso snarled at the taller zoner. There was silence for a few minutes as the zoners glared at each other. Neither turned away. Neither backed down. Then, Urso finally broke the silence.

“How exactly do I deserve to die when all I am doing is preventing you from killing two innocents?” Dr. Urso asked, his voice forcefully calm.

Dr. Raiden shook his head. “They aren’t innocent, you idiot. They were helping the creators to escape!” He raised his paw and pointed his metal finger at the lion bear. “That is why they must die! They are working with the enemy!”

Urso turned his bear-like head to the two zoners. He could see them huddled against the wall, clearly in a lot of pain. They were frightened, staying closed together. He took quick note of their injuries before looking back at Raiden. “When I came in here, they were the ones who were injured. Not you. They were at a disadvantage. I can see they are weakened and hurt, not just by you, but I’m assuming your Luminos comrades did a number on them as well.” Dr. Urso’s head tilted to the side as a perplexed expression came on it. “So tell me...how are they guilty again?”

“They were helping the enemy! I just told you!” Raiden snapped at him, his tail twitching violently. “Did you not hear me?!”

“Oh I heard you of course.” Dr. Urso waved a paw somewhat dismissively at him. “But what I didn’t hear was a reason. A real one. If they were helping the ‘enemy’ to escape, I’m going to assume they were going in self defense. Were you not the one who made the first move? It’s obvious they hadn’t gotten a move on you. And even your comrades don’t look as badly hurt as them. It seems to me that they were on the defense...and you are the aggressor.”

Raiden replied, “Well yeah we made the first move...but we had no choice! They were a threat! We...”

“And how were they a threat? Tell me that, Dr. Raiden.” Dr. Urso asked, his teeth bared. “Tell me what did they do that was so bad that they deserved that? What did Rapsheeba do to deserve having her leg broken? What did Blocky do that made him deserve having his side ripped apart like that?” He took a step forward and stared intently into Dr. Raiden’s amber eyes. After a couple seconds of silence, the lion bear snapped, “Tell me!”

Dr. Raiden opened his mouth. No words came out, not at first. The cheetah looked like he was struggling to find some kind of response. He looked left and right, his eyes darting around. Dr. Urso watched him as he struggled to find something to say. He narrowed his eyes a little more. Just like he thought. Dr. Raiden didn’t have a strong argument. Here he was, trying in vain to justify what he had done.

What he did eventually say caused the lion bear’s blood to boil.

“Does it really matter...?” The cheetah’s voice was ice cold as he said that. “They were asking for it. They could have redeemed themselves by joining us sooner. But they chose this path. They brought it on themselves.” A dark sneer spread across his muzzle. “It’s their own blasted fault this happened to them. If they hadn’t, then I wouldn’t have...”

Dr. Urso struck Dr. Raiden as hard as he could across his head. The cheetah let out a yowl as he was thrown into the ground. He laid there and groaned in pain. He shook his head and looked up at Dr. Urso. His eyes were filled with a mixture of anger and shock. Across his face, he now adorned four slashes courtesy of Dr. Urso’s claws.

“Fuck off!” Dr. Urso boomed, his pupils shrinking from the anger. “Telling them it’s their fault.. That is bullcrap and you know it! You decided to attack them! You initiated the fight! It was your fault that happened, not theirs!” His ears were flattened so much, he doubted anyone could see them. “And here you are, trying to say otherwise.. You’re disgusting!”

Dr. Raiden climbed back onto all fours, his back arching upwards. “They..they had the gall to judge me...when they did not experience what I had!”

“So whatever happened to you gives you the right to do terrible things to others?” Dr. Urso asked. Dr. Raiden clenched his teeth, but did not reply. “Your past is not an excuse for your present actions, Dr. Raiden. “I understand that you went through a lot of pain when you are Mr. Cosmo’s prisoner. But for you to use that justify your own horrific actions...” He shut his eyes and turned his head away. His teeth, bared, pushed against each other so hard he thought they would break. He leaned forward and his eyes widened suddenly. He shouted, “You’re a sick little monster!”

Dr. Raiden snarled at this. He wagged his tail in agitation, the fur on it starting to poof a little in anger. His pupils became slits and he showed his sharp teeth at the lion bear. “You know nothing...” He pawed the ground. “And I will prove it to you..”

Without warning, the cheetah dashed towards the lion bear. A collision, and Dr. Urso shrieked in pain as his side was torn into. Blood splattered everywhere. He rolled across the ground and hit against the cold hard floor. He could hear Rapsheeba and Blocky’s cries of terror for him. He turned his attention to them for a second, his eyes telling them to stay there. He did not want them to get more hurt than they already were. He then looked over at Dr. Raiden. The cheetah paced around him slowly, eyeing him up and down like he was his prey. Then he started to run around him, just like before.

Dr. Urso tried his best to remain standing. Even as he was hit again and again, he refused to back down. He knew that, if he was careful enough, he could gain the upperhand in this fight. He might not be as fast as Raiden, but he was much stronger than him. Raiden’s body, being a cheetah, was lanky and thin, devoted to speed, not strength. And even his speed had limits; his endurance was not as pronounced, while he himself could use his strength for a longer duration. If he could get a hold of him, he could turn the tables on this fight.

His eyes focused, watching the whirl of fur go around him. If there was one thing he was good at, it was spotting details. He watched the way Dr. Raiden was moving, and noting how he looks when he starts an attack. His mind swirled with thoughts as he processed this information. He could not slow down time, but he could still have lightning fast reflexes when he put his mind to it. With Raiden moving this fast, no way he could stop himself in time once he launched his attack. He closed his eyes for a few moments, listening and waiting for the right time. Then, when he heard Raiden’s body shift just a minute way, he made his move.

Dr. Raiden’s eyes widened in shock when Dr. Urso suddenly bit down on his leg. His body lurched violently forward and he slammed into the ground due to his momentum. His face smashed into the floor and he let out a groan of pain, his teeth clenched. He lifted up his head and looked over. Dr. Urso’s jaws clamped tightly around his right leg, blood pooling out of the injury. Dr. Urso tightened his grip, causing a cry of pain from the cheetah. He lifted him up into the air and then tossed him aside.

Dr. Raiden crashed up against the nearest wall. He slid down and rubbed his head. He attempted to get up, but the bite. Dr. Urso gave him sent shockwaves of pain through his ankle and leg. He let out a cry of pain and he fell down to one knee. He raised his head up and he saw the bear barrelling down towards him. He only had mere moments before the bear jaws crushed down onto his shoulder. His eyes widened in agony as he shrieked, his mouth as far open as it could go. Blood stained his shoulder as his shoulder was ripped up. Dr. Urso forced him into the ground.

The cheetah struggled to get free. Dr. Urso just tightened his grip on him. After a while, Dr. Raiden finally stopped struggling and just laid there. He stared up at Dr. Urso, panting heavily. Then, as the lion bear’s eyes intensed, a growl emitting from his throat, Dr. Raiden, realizing in that moment he was screwed, widened in his eyes in absolute horror, his ears lowering.

sss

Rudy let out a soft groan of pain as he sat himself up. He rubbed his head, his eyes remaining shut. “Dimensional traveling is painful...”

“You can say that again, Bucko.” Snap said. Rudy forced his eyes open and looked over to see Snap laying on his back, a look of pain etched on his face. “I don’t know if I want to go for a third ride.”

Penny, who was further off from the group, pushed herself up on her hands. “At least this time we managed to stay close together.”

“At least there’s some kind of upside.” Snap hit the side of his head. “And it got us away from...those three...” He gave a shudder.

Rudy furrowed his eyebrows as he thought back to what happened just a short time ago. They were in that dark dimension, trapped by Dark Rudy, Mr. Cosmo, and Draow. They had Snap in the beast’s jaws, and they were threatening to kill him if they didn’t join. They had no way to defend themselves. They couldn’t save Snap...except if they agreed. Thinking back, he realized that Mr. Cosmo might have had Snap killed anyway. He was not very trustworthy.

He felt relieved when the time finally ran out. And just in the nick of time, too. They were sucked away from that horrible place. Even though he had no idea just how safe this dimension was, he was still happy to be away from...that dimension. He did feel bad about leaving Ms. Saffron behind. He wished they could have taken her with somehow... Maybe they could work on that later. He..he didn’t want to leave her in that world. She deserved better than that. Though it might not be the best idea to drag her into another dimension, he felt that she deserved a more proper place to live.

The dimensional traveling was the same as when they first entered. The only difference was that, instead of getting darker, it just got lighter. Even more so than when where they came from. It was...welcoming, comforting. It said nothing about how dangerous it was, if it was safe or anything. But all in all, it was a more comfortable ride compared to the first trip. And soon, he was let out into the world. Even the friction of entering didn’t seem quite as bad, or maybe he was just a little used to it from the first dimensional hop.

He was glad that, this time, he was with his friends. He wasn’t sure what he would do if he were stuck in this world and he had no idea where they were. It was scary when he arrived in the other dimension and they had all scattered. Now, this time, they landed close together. They can focus their initial energy on getting their bearings and trying to figure this place out instead of exploring an unknown land for each other.

Rudy looked around, trying to get an idea of just where he was. So far, the only thing they could really take notice of was that they were in ChalkZone this time. He remembered the waves of relief that went through his body as he realized where they were, at least in regards to real world or ChalkZone. He could feel the pain in his body lowering as the chartreuse chalk went to work. At least, now, he did not have that to worry about as much. He still had the medicine that Alt-Snap had given him. He would keep it safe, just in case he needed it.

He and his friends were relieved when they took a look around and saw ChalkZone still standing. It was certainly nothing like what was described in that horrid dark dimension. ChalkZone here was still fully in tact. He hadn’t yet recognized where they were. For now, he didn’t care too much about that. He just stood there and looked around, happy to see that this ChalkZone did not suffer the fate of the other one.

It looked peaceful, like it always was. He could see some zoners off in the distance. They were barely noticeable, but he could tell they were happy. He could see some flying zoner animals overhead. The day zone sun shined brightly. The grass, the trees, it all looked so beautiful.. Nothing at all like the war torn world of the dark dimension. He deduced that if this ChalkZone was fine, the real world most likely was as well. A wave of relief hit him as it dawned on him that his parents, anyone else he cared about, must still be alive and well, not having suffered some horrific fate.

The way Dark Rudy killed his parents... Those horrific details... Those images that nagged him in the back of his mind...

Rudy felt his body shiver before he forced the thought out of his head. He couldn’t think about that. Not now. He had to focus on what was happening right now. They had to first figure out just where they were, and go from there. He wished he knew their relative location. He wasn’t sure if this was a new area or this ChalkZone was structured differently or what. Part of it looked familiar. He saw a spot that looked kind of like the area where he’d come in from at home. But even that just vaguely reminded him of it; it still looked so different.

“I wonder which way ChalkZone City is.” Penny wondered out loud. “I would draw a GPS, but without knowledge of this place...”

“Yeah we know. It wouldn’t work.” Snap said, pointing his head in Penny’s direction. “It was still a good idea though.” He turned his attention Rudy. “What about you? Any ideas?”

Rudy scratched his chin thoughtfully. He looked over at the zoners. On the hill he stood on, it flowed down ward and went into a wide open flat area with some few sparse trees. It reminded him of some of the fields Snap and Blocky liked to play in. His eyes followed the invisible ‘trail’ down further, and he could see that, off in the distance, he could see some faint mountain structure. But other than that, there didn’t appear to be anything, at least not in this direction.

He looked in other directions, and he could see a forest that was nearby. It kind of reminded him of the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle, except the predominant color of the leaves here was red, with some speckles of orange. It was almost like a fall setting. If some of the leaves were on the ground, that would complete the image. He looked around another way and he could see, off in the distance, a river of some kind. It was pretty straight and looked much wider than the Amazing River back in his dimension.

And still, nothing looked familiar. Standing around here, there was no way they were going to find out if this place just had a different overall look or if they were in some new part of ChalkZone. They would need to go exploring a little. As much as he loved doing that, he knew they wouldn’t have much time. So he hoped that, somewhere along the way, they would find someone that could help them. And after that, they could begin to search for one particular person he believed could help them find the second cure.

“Our best chance is to get a vantage point.” Rudy said. He looked up towards the sky. “If we draw some kind of flying machine, we could use it to scale the area above. We could locate ChalkZone City with it.”

“That sounds like a great idea, Rudy!” Penny said, smiling. “We could also draw a simple map...you know, just in case we need it.”

“Yeah, that sounds good!” Rudy said before looking at the area all around them. “Now if we could just figure out which direction to go first...”

Snap walked over to Rudy. He gently grabbed his arm to get his attention. Rudy glanced down at him. Snap pointed with his hand down to the right. “How about we go where they are going, Bucko?”

Rudy looked down and he saw a large group of zoners all going in the same direction. They stayed close to each other, chatting away and laughing. He watched them as they walked off into the distance. He turned back at Snap. “Yeah, that should work. Smart thinking, Snap!”

Snap smiled at him. He then looked over at Penny. “Hey, Buckette! What kind of machine do you think would be best for us to use?” He rested his head against his hand, thinking. “I don’t think we want anything that will disturb the locals...” He pointed a hand at her. “..especially the last dimension.”

“Yeah, you’re right Snap. We can’t take that risk.” Penny said, looking at her two friends. “Even though this place isn’t one giant war zone, we don’t want to risk alerting any possible enemies. Stealth would be an excellent tactic.”

Rudy nodded his head. “Hopefully it won’t take us long to find my counterpart.” Penny and Snap looked over at him somewhat nervously. He understood why they looked at him like that. His other counterpart wasn’t the nicest. But surely, this place...looking at this place..it can’t possibly be that bad. The zoners were happy. Nothing was destroyed. Yes, this was one peaceful place. “Yeah, I know... But my counterpart here wasn’t corrupted by black chalk.” He turned and motioned with his hand. “See? Nobody here seems frightened or enslaved.” He looked back at his friends. “So if my counterpart wasn’t corrupted by the black chalk, then he must be a lot like me.”

Penny thought about this. “That seems like a logical conclusion.”

“It would definitely be a nice change of pace from...” Snap shivered a little. “...that other Rudy...” He closed his eyes for a few seconds, letting out a small whimper of fear. He reopened them and said, “Yeah, I bet everyone here is more pleasant. It’d be nice to see another kind Rudy for once. It was so..confusing seeing someone that looked and sounded like you...act so cruel and heartless...”

Rudy looked at his friend sadly. He nodded his head slowly in understanding. “Yeah, I know, Snap... It was scary for me, too.” He raised his head up. “But at least we don’t have to worry about that anymore.” He smiled the best we could. “Now let’s go ahead and try to find my counterpart here. I’m sure he’ll be glad to help us when he explain the situation.”

“Right.” Penny said. She gestured for her friends to come closer. “And I think I know what kind of machine we should draw that would draw the least amount of attention but would give us good speed.”

The friends began to disuss their next move.

sss

Mr. Longhorn walked down the street. He looked over and he could see the sun was starting to lower. It was late afternoon and the land was bathed in the golden light associated with this time of day. It was his favorite time to go out for a walk. Even long walks like today, where he was out further from town than he usually was. The air during this time was nice.

Yeah, it was getting chillier out due to the time of year, but he didn’t really mind. He had a nice thick jacket on, so the chilliness around him, especially when the wind picked up, didn’t bother him. He felt warm no matter how hard the wind blowed. And his mind was at peace. He hadn’t felt this peaceful in a while. It was a nice change of pace since his encounter with that Penny girl earlier.

He wondered how she was doing. He didn’t know her too well. Yeah they were neighbors, but they really only spoke during Halloween usually. So he didn’t know enough about her to know where she could have been. The injury she had did startle him. What could she have been doing that caused that? Where had it happened? And how long as she limping like that? She didn’t tell him a whole lot, much to his frustration. He wanted to know more, but he decided not to press the subject further.

He wasn’t sure why she insisted on going back home. He kind of knew her mother, and he was aware she took care of pets. So he didn’t doubt her story that her mom could have helped her. But with that bad of a limp, he would have thought she’d want to go to the hospital to make sure it wasn’t serious. He didn’t think her mom had any kind of x-ray...or maybe she did. He just wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, and he had been bothered by it for a while.

He did start feeling a little better about it now, and he felt his mind relaxing. He was going to check up on Penny, but first he decided to go for a walk. He wasn’t going to be gone long. He had a few hours left to go visit them before darkness would set completely. Four, five, give or take. That was plenty of time for him to get back. Even though he didn’t know Penny that well, he was concerned for her, and he still wondered just what had happened to her. He hoped that, whatever it was, it wouldn’t happen again.

He started to pass by one particular house. He looked over at it. It was a nice house, a pretty white color with some decorative designs. The edges curled and in some places were sharp-looking. The house had at least two levels, maybe more. It looked very new, practically shined even in the evening light. There were a lot of nice houses, but something about this one drew him in. He had a thing for architecture, and this house made great use of that.

He paused and stared at the house for a few seconds, admiring its structure, and then he turned around. It was about time he started to head back. It wouldn’t be good if he got stuck way out here without little to no lighting. At least Plainsville wasn’t that far away. He would be back into town within about twenty minutes, and then back home in an extra forty minutes, if he did the math right. Taking one last look at the house, he began to walk away.

Suddenly he heard something. Faint, barely audible... He listened to it intently, trying to pinpoint what it was. His eyes widened as he realized it was a scream of some kind. He looked around, trying to find the source of the sound. Where was the screaming coming from? There was hardly anything out here except...

...the house...

Mr. Longhorn looked over at the house. He stared at it, and then, slowly, walked toward it, exercising caution. He moved along the grass and walked up the short hill that the house was situated on. He kept listening to the faint screams. They were getting louder as the seconds passed. As he listened to them, he quickly realized that this house, indeed, was the source of the screaming. He felt his heart tighten, and he wondered if anyone in there needed help, or if it was just some dumb TV show or something that they kept up too loud.

The screams kept getting louder as he walked around the house. He kept his head low, not wanting to be seen. He followed the screams until he located where he believed they were coming from. There was a small window above his crouched body. He slowly raised himself up, being very cautious. When he raised himself up enough, he could tell that the blinds were raised up, but not by much. He listened intently and he could tell that this was the source of the screams. Wanting to know what was causing the distress, he peered inside, making sure not to make any noise. What he saw horrified him.

There were two people in the room. Both of them were woman. One of them had wavy blonde hair and what appeared to be a nurse’s outfit. She looked like that one nurse he saw go to the school..maybe she was the same one? The second woman wore a sweat outfit, for exercise most likely, and had hair that was shorter than the blonde’s, and it was colored brown. He recognized the brown-haired woman as Tilly. He had met her once before during a festival, and again during a Halloween thing.

Tilly was chained up against the wall. Her arms were tied together and strung over her head. She had several bruises and cuts on her. She looked like she was crying and pleading, but the blonde was whipping her so hard that she couldn’t get a coherent word out. The nurse just kept hitting her and from how twisted her smile was, how real the tears on Tilly looked, this was not acting.

Mr. Longhorn lowered himself to the ground and pressed his back against the wall. His mind raced at what he had just seen. What was that nurse doing? Why was she whipping Tilly? Why did she capture Tilly to begin with? He looked up at the window again and then looked away, biting his lip. That was the most horrible sight he had ever seen. He had...he had just witnessed someone being tortured. What should he do...?

Going to the police would be a good idea, but..what if they don’t get here in time? He had no idea if that nurse was going to keep Tilly alive. He had no reason to suspect that she would. Though he could be blowing things out of proportion, in this case, he felt that overthinking it and believing it’s something serious was the best course of action. His mind swirled as he tried to think of what he should do. He looked back, listening to Tilly’s screams. They were chilling to listen to.

He soon decided. Though it might be dangerous, he felt the best thing he could do was to try to help. Going to the police might be a smart thing to do, but he was here now and he felt like he should do something. As long as he was careful and didn’t allow the nurse to see me, he could probably sneak into that room whenever she leaves and get Tilly out of here. He was worried that the nurse might off her before the police, if called, could arrive. At least if he tried to intervene, Tilly had something of a better chance of getting out of here.

Slowly, he began to make his way around the house and towards the back door. All the while, he listened to Tilly’s screaming. Each one made him flinch, made him move faster. As he moved along the house, he hoped that he would reach Tilly in time.

Chapter Text

Trying to figure out a mode of transportation was pretty difficult. Penny wanted something that could fly, as she said earlier. But figuring out just what kind of flying machine was a little hard. She wanted something that was pretty silent and wouldn’t leave a trail behind. Something that would be able to move at considerable speed since they had so little time here, but also something that would not make too much noise.

She and the others agreed that stealth was their best option. They really had no idea what this dimension was like. She did understand Rudy’s enthusiasm that it may be better than the last one. And she did have similar thoughts. This place wasn’t torn apart nor do the zoners they see look unhappy. So it might not be too bad. But she didn’t want to jump to any conclusions yet. There might still be something wrong with this world and the last thing they needed was to draw attention from the bad guys. If any existed here... she would assume there were. No way this place would be completely devoid of unscrupulous zoners.

She originally thought of a hot air balloon. But they were pretty slow. Though she thought of ways to speed it up, no matter what she thought of, the hot air balloon would likely still be pretty noisy. She tried to tweak in her head, making some mental changes, but nothing seemed to work out. So the hot air balloon was definitely out of the question. She felt disappointed as she thought it would have been the best way to get into ChalkZone City without revealing themselves.

So she had to try to think of something else instead. A hovercraft was another idea. They could easily draw one with a stealth feature that would hide them. There would be more space for them as well and they would have more control of where they would go. A hot air balloon would have been harder to navigate with. But Penny realized a hovercraft might not be the best option. either. If they weren’t careful, they could run into someone or something and the locals would be alerted. Plus she didn’t think there was anyway to muffle the sound of the hovercraft’s engine.

In the end, after she, Rudy, and Snap discussed things, they settled on the rocket shoes. They were generally pretty quiet and they were pretty quick to draw. Though Penny and Snap did not have as much experience with them, they were both confident that they’d be able to use them just fine. As for invisibility, Penny suggested they could try wearing a device similar to what Skrawl had. He had used a cloaking device to bypass Bardot’s insane security system to get to his hideout.

Though Rudy was muggy on the details, he was able to draw what Penny had asked of him and they now all sported that silly outfit Skrawl had to wear and some rocket shoes. Penny was glad they decided to go with this option. It was the most lightweight decision they could have made. It would be easy avoiding detection in this manner. And the cloaking devices strapped to their bodies would definitely help avoid the zoners from seeing them, at least until they could explain things, if possible.

“These straps are irritating me.” Snap muttered. He attempted to move the straps around to try to get more comfortable. But he was having a hard time to. It seemed, no matter what he did, he looked like the straps were bothering him. “Is there anyway to adjust them?”

Rudy said, “I’m sorry, Snap.” Rudy held out his hand in gesture. “But that is the most practical way to have it strapped on you. Otherwise, if you move around too much while in the air, it might slip off of you and expose you.” His eyes furrowed a little. “...does it really bother you that much?”

Snap nodded his head. He looked down at the straps that went across his stomach and shoulders. “I think I can manage it though.” He winced slightly. “Do you mind drawing me some painkillers perhaps?”

Penny’s eyes widened. “It’s hurting you?” Snap looked over at her and nodded his head. Penny bit her lip. “Well..we can’t take it off of you otherwise you’ll be spotted...” She thought for a moment. “We’ll just have to find this world’s version of Rudy faster then.”

“Yeah that sounds like a good idea, Penny.” Rudy said, nodding his head slowly. “We can find my counterpart, then we can stop in some area away from the zoners to take off our cloaking devices.” He turned back to Snap. “Can you handle wearing that for that long?”

“Yeah I think so.” Snap replied. “But...about that pain medication...” He added with a small smile.

Rudy gave a small smile. “Sure, Snap. I’ll get right on it.”

Penny looked at Snap sadly. When they had arrived in this dimension, before they decided what kind of device they’d use for traveling, they did treat Snap’s wounds the best they could. He had several puncture marks from where Draow had bitten him. They managed to stop the bleeding. She wasn’t sure if there was a lot of internal damage, but overall the damage wasn’t as bad as they feared. It still wasn’t very minor, though, and they had to disinfect and clean the puncture wounds. Once they had, they wrapped up the wounds in bandages.

Penny was glad that Snap brought something up now before they took off. It would have been hard fixing this if they didn’t know until they were hovering over the city or something. Though they tried to adjust the straps so they wouldn’t irritate the wounds, based on what Snap told them, that wasn’t going to be a possibility. Their best bet was that the pain medication that Rudy gave him would kick in soon. She’d hate to see Snap in so much pain. He certainly didn’t deserve it. She was glad that this dimension, so far, seems pretty peaceful; it would be horrible if they landed in another war zone and they all risked getting hurt further.

Soon Snap finished taking the medicine, swallowing it down with the water. He wiped his mouth and smiled at Rudy. “Thanks, Bucko. I think that’ll help.”

“I hope so.” Rudy looked in the direction the zoners had gone off in. “Anyway we should get going now. We can’t waste time standing around. We should find my counterpart and ask him about that cure. Hopefully he’ll know something about it.” He paused for a moment. He closed his eyes and sighed. “...then again, he might not... I don’t think Mr. Cosmo would have left it somewhere that my counterpart could get to it.”

“...yeah I almost forgot about that. If the Rudy here wasn’t corrupted by the black chalk...yeah...” Snap said, his eyes widening a little in realization.

Penny bit her lip. This wasn’t good news. There was a chance that Rudy’s counterpart here did not know. And if he didn’t know, then they had no leads on where to go. It wasn’t like the last dimension where Ms. Saffron there had known where the cure was. In this dimension, it was very likely that this Rudy would not know anything about the cure. Heck, they didn’t even know if there was a Rudy in this world. What if he had been killed, or unable to come back into ChalkZone?

Those thoughts disturbed her. The idea that they might have no leads in this dimension was unnerving. If they had to leave this dimension without the second cure...just what were they going to do...? They would have to come back here, but would she even be able to succeed a second time? Would the machine be destroyed afterwards? She hoped that they would be able to find the cure in this first trip. Attempting a second one would be risky and dangerous. They might not even have the chance to, not while the black chalk artists and the Luminos zoners were at large.

Speaking of the Luminos...just what were they going to run into when they got back? She had no idea how Rapsheeba and Blocky were doing. The machine is still functioning. That much was true. But she didn’t know how bad off those two were or how long they’d be able to stand up to Dr. Raiden and his minions. She hoped they were doing well. She wished she could help them, but they wouldn’t be able to get back for another couple of hours. That did give them time to prepare.

A part of her was worried that there might be an ambush waiting for them. Not knowing what was going on in their own dimension was scary. For all she knew, the Luminos secured the machine and were just waiting for them to pop out. They could try to be prepared for that, but even then, it might not be enough. All she could do was speak to her friends about it and hope that they can take the appropriate steps to prepare for the return trip. And they’d have to keep the cures safe just in case the Luminos tried to get them, or if the black chalk artists showed up.

“Well I’m sure we’ll figure something out.” Penny said, trying to cheer her friends up. “We won’t find anything out standing around here, so let’s get going.”

Rudy nodded his head. “Yeah, you’re right. And even if my counterpart doesn’t know anything, someone else around here might.”

“That’s the spirit!” Snap grinned in spite of his pain. “Where there’s a will, there is a way!”

Rudy smiled at this. He turned his attention in the direction the zoners were going. He watched it for a few seconds, noting more zoners going in that same direction. “Let’s go ahead and follow them. I’m sure that, even if they aren’t going to ChalkZone City, wherever they’re going has someone or someplace that can help us.”

“I hope so. I hope it’s not going to be just some kind of club or something.” Snap said. “Not that I don’t like clubs...but we can’t afford to waste time at one here. At least not until we find that cure.”

“Yeah...” Penny said, nodding in agreement.

“Come on now.” Rudy waved his arm to his friends. He activated his cloaking device, disappearing from view. “Let’s hurry up and take off before they get too far.” A few seconds later. “Are you guys coming or not?”

Penny and Snap looked at each other. Then back at Rudy. It seemed that there was a bit of a bug with their cloaking device designs. Penny couldn’t believe she didn’t foresee it. Now they were going to be delayed further so they can correct it. There was no way that this was going to work. They needed to be able to see each other while navigating. If they can’t, then they could easily lose each other in ChalkZone City and that certainly wouldn’t be good.

“We need to change these devices...” Penny said as she slipped hers off.

“But we don’t have time!” Rudy cried. “Why do we need to change them?”

Snap stared at Rudy. “Bucko, we couldn’t see you.”

“Well that’s the point! We don’t want anyone to see us! That’s the point of these cloaking...” Rudy’s voice trailed off as realization set in. “...oh...You couldn’t..see me...”

“Yes, that’s right, Rudy.” Penny said. She lifted up her device and looked it over. She tried to see if there was anything she could adjust in the settings that might be able to help them out. “We want to be able to see each other. Otherwise, we’ll be yelling at each other and that is going to attract attention to us.” She gave a small smile to Rudy. “I’m sure you don’t want have us following you by having you sing that one song you did during the balloonemia incident, when you were with a de-informationized Barney.”

Rudy’s eyes widened and he immediately blushed. “You...you heard that..?”

Penny put a hand on her hip and gave a sly smile to the boy. “Rudy, I could hear your voice over the radio that Barney used to talk to me to. You weren’t that soft-spoken.” Snap giggled a little at this.

Rudy stared at his friends, looking embarrassed. He then shook his head and cleared his throat. “...okay yeah, let’s fix these devices before we head out.”

Penny examined her cloaker more closely. “I think we might be able to spread the cloaker’s radius if we adjusted the controls..then all we have to do is stay within each other’s range, and we should be able to see each other. But no one outside the radius can see us.”

“So let’s not pick up any hitchhikers, okay?” Snap joked.

Penny smiled at this. “Oh don’t worry, we won’t. As long as we’re careful, it should be okay.”

Rudy gave a quick glance behind him. “Perhaps we should draw shelter her so no one sees us?”

Snap’s eyes widened slightly at that. “Good thinking, Bucko! I almost forgot that we’re out in the open here.” Snap looked around them. “No one spotted us so far, but that could easily change soon. Best to cloak ourselves while we work on this.”

“Yes, that seems like a reasonable solution. Maintaining stealth here is important, at least until we can figure out if this ChalkZone is safe or not.” Penny said. She sat down the cloaking device and raised up her magic chalk. She turned to Rudy. “Let’s go ahead and draw something quick.

Rudy took out his chalk as well. “Yeah.”

Working together, Rudy and Penny began to draw up a shield. Penny started on one side, and Rudy the other. Using their rocket shoes, they flew around, creating lines in the air that soon interconnected with one another. After a few moments, the shield began to take form. In a flash, the shield became real, surrounding them in what looked like clear glass. It blocked anyone from seeing on the inside, but they could see out, just in case that was necessary. Though they were completely sealed inside, they would be able to take the shield down afterwards.

Now that they were cloaked out in the open, they could begin work on fixing the cloakers. Penny believed the solution should be pretty simple. Though they could just redraw the devices, that would take a little while and she felt that a faster solution was necessary. Fixing them to change their radius was a better option and it should be easier. She just had to change a few things in the device itself. Once she figured out what it was, she could then work on doing the same with Rudy and Snap’s cloakers as well.

As she and her friends worked on the devices, she was not aware of a set of eyes staring at her. She was not aware that someone had spotted her and her friends before the cloak was set up. There, standing far away from them, between two trees that crisscrossed each other, was a tall, stick figure zoner. His small eyes stared at the now cloaked spot, his eyes brimming with contemplation. Then he lifted up something. A radio. He pressed a button and he held it up to his head.

“Hello? Tell our leader that we have company.” The stick figure said. After a few seconds, his face frowned. “Oh trust me. He’s going to be interested in this...” With that, the stick figure turned the radio off and then stared at the cloaked spot. He narrowed his eyes a little. “I wonder where you three are headed...”

sss

“Ow!” Quet hissed, pulling his body back. He bared his sharp teeth. “That hurt! Don’t do that!”

Sophie narrowed her eyes. “If you would just hold still, it wouldn’t hurt so much.” She moved in closer. “Now let me see that wing. I just want to...”

“No!” Quet coiled on the ground, glaring at her. He moved his broken wing away from her. “Don’t touch it!”

“Come on. Don’t be like this. That wing needs to have some kind of support put on it, or it could get worse.” Sophie explained. She took another step towards Quet. She paused when he gave a hiss at her, his feathers ruffling, but she took a few more steps. “I know I’m not much of a medical expert, but I know enough that a broken limb that’s not mended as soon as possible can easily get worse. So please..let me help you. I promise I’ll be gentle.”

Quet growled softly at her. His eyes narrowed not in anger, but in pain. He lowered his head and moved it back, a fearful response. “Don’t touch me...”

Sophie sighed. She wasn’t getting anywhere with this feathered snake. She wanted..no she needed to do something about his broken wing. It needed to be mended, even just a little. If it was left like that.. She shuddered to think of the possibilities. She wished Penny were here, or Mrs. Sanchez. They’d not what to do. She didn’t have very much skill when it comes to this sort of stuff. So her plan was pretty simple; just try to tie the wing against the snake’s body.

Unfortunately, just touching the wing hurt him. The break was horrible, even dislocated out of its socket. Much of the wing was tender and could only be touched certain ways. The snake zoner immediately shrieked and recoiled when she just barely touched the spot that was broken by mistake. He didn’t want her to come anywhere near her. He was in pain and he was trying to get away from it. She kept going after him because she knew something had to be done, otherwise it could get worse. But Quet was not very cooperative. At least he hadn’t attempted to bite her again. That was a good step in the right direction.

She was glad that Quet was at least more willing to speak civilly with her. The only reason he was acting aggressive now was due to the pain he was in, not because of the hatred he had for her earlier. Quet still seemed apprehensive with her, but he was getting a little more open minded and calmer. He had even apologized to her for biting her earlier. That was nice of him to do. Though still cautious with her, he did let her get close enough to touch him and he was overall friendlier in his conversation.

But now he was being uncooperative again, and this time it was because of a more serious reason. His wing was giving him problems and she was trying to mend it, at least a little. But she can’t, not while he kept scooting away from her. She was glad that he was still cooperative enough that he wasn’t trying to bite her. She still wished that he would settle down and let her treat his wing, though. Even if she couldn’t do much, she’d feel better if it was bound against his body so that it wouldn’t be budged and moved around so much.

“Quet, please let me look at your wing. I will be gentle..I promise.” Sophie moved closer. Another hiss made her stop, but she kept going. Soon she was just inches in front of Quet. “I just want to help you. You don’t want to go around dragging that wing behind you, do you?”

Quet stared at her. He glanced down at his injured wing. He shook his head. “No...I don’t..”

“Then let me try to help you.” Sophie said. “Before it gets any worse. I know it’ll hurt, but..please let me do something for you...”

With that, she reached out towards his head. He snapped his head back and growled softly, but she still moved her hand towards him. The zoner stared at her hand long and hard. In seconds, her hand touched the top of his head. His eyes widened for a moment, and then relaxed. Much to Sophie’s surprise, he pushed his head against her hand in an almost affectionate manner. This was the first time he’s done this.

Then Quet pulled away. He stared down at Sophie. He had a glare return to his face, but it wasn’t harsh. He tilted his head to one side and said, “You’re not going to stop bugging me until I let you do this, are you?”

Sophie gave him a smirk. “Nope.”

Quet sighed and turned his head away. “I figured..” He gave her a sideways glance while he seemed to contemplate what choices he had. Finally he moved himself to the side and said, “Oh all right.. Fine. I’ll let you look.” He made sure the side with his broken wing was to the girl. “Just..try to be careful, okay...?”

“Don’t worry. I will.” Sophie said as he moved up closer to the snake zoner.

Sophie reached over and lightly touched the broken wing. She heard the zoner let out a sharp hiss. This time, he did not recoil or try to get away from her. He remained as still as he could as the girl examined his wing gently. Sophie could see where the wing started to bend the wrong way. Luckily the break didn’t seen to be too bad. It was at least staying under the skin and the wing didn’t appear to be very loose. She guessed the fracture might be more hairline than anything.

She deduced that most of the pain the zoner was feeling actually came from the dislocation. The whole first section of the limb, including where the fracture was, she knew it was sore from how he was reacting, and she guessed that when Tyreek dislocated his wing, he tore some ligaments and muscle, making most of the first joint painful to the touch. Popping the limb in place was the best thing to do, but she didn’t trust herself with that. So she would instead just focus on immobilizing the wing.

She looked around, trying to think of something she could use to hold the wing. At first, she couldn’t think of anything she could use. It wasn’t like she could leave and find some medical supplies, and she didn’t have anything with her other than her clothes. She looked down at what she was earing. She quickly decided on using her socks, as that was the easiest option. She took her shoes off and then slipped off her socks.

Quet took a few sniffs and turned his head away. “You’re seriously going to use that?!”

“Well you got any better ideas?” Sophie asked. The snake zoner did not reply. “I didn’t think so. Now stop complaining and hold still.”

Sophie went over and grabbed onto the wing. She gently pushed it, guiding it into a folded position. Quet let out a few whimpers, but managed to keep himself from screaming. Sophie went as slow and as gentle as she could. Soon the wing was folded against his long, thin body. Quet’s eyes were shut, a few tears flowing down his face. Sophie felt bad about doing this to him, but it was preferable over having the wing be dragged around limply like it had been. What if it hit against the electric water bars by mistake?

She took the first sock and wrapped it around the wing. She was careful to avoid the first joint, instead tying across the uninjured second joint. She tied it as tightly as she could. She didn’t think that would be enough support, so she took out the second sock. She tied it a little closer to the first joint. Once it was secured, she leaned back and looked at what she was able to do. The wing was secured against the zoner’s body. The two socks seemed to be enough, so long as Quet did not do any rigorous moving around. She doubted he’d do that anytime soon.

Quet opened his eyes and turned his head. He looked down at his dislocated wing now strapped to his body. He tilted his head from side to side as he examined it. He then looke over at Sophie. He opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated. He turned his head away, an unreadable expression on his face. Then he managed to get himself to speak.

“..th-thank you...” Quet managed to make himself say.

Sophie gave him a smile. “You’re welcome, Quet.”

Silence fell upon the room. No one spoke. No one said a word. Sophie didn’t like the silence. It always made her feel uneasy. Now it reminded her of when she and Snap were kidnapped by Tyreek and how they were tortured. She could still hear Snap’s screams as he was sprayed with that gawd awful water bottle. She had hoped that Quet would speak more, but he had gone silent, turning his head away from her.

She tried to think of something to say to him. She wanted to talk to him about something. Anything to get rid of this dreadful silence. She didn’t think Quet liked it either. Every time they head a small sound, they’d get jumpy, apprehensive. Talking would get both their minds off of what was happening and help relax them a little, even if, in the end, it wasn’t really going to help them get out of here. It was still something at least. They could focus more easily when their minds weren’t so filled with anxiety. Who knows? Maybe they could figure out an escape plan after this.

Then something came to her mind. There was something she was curious about regarding this zoner. She knew it was none of her business and she’d understand if Quet would not tell her the story. But she didn’t see any harm in asking. She moved a little closer to him. He noticed her and turned his head to face her. His eyes narrowed in confusion.

“What is it?” Quet asked.

“There’s...something I’d like to ask you.” Sophie said. “...if that’s okay with you.”

“Hmm... It depends on the question.” The snake zoner raised his head a little. “What is it you wanted to ask, crea.... Er...” He shook his head. “I mean...Sophie...”

Sophie smiled briefly at this. It was nice that the zoner was starting to use her name, instead of just calling her ‘human’ and ‘creator’. And it was definitely a nice change of pace from ‘filth’. She said, “Just...how is it you came to work with the Luminos? What...drove you to join it?”

At this, Quet’s eyes went big. He looked at her in surprise. At first, she thought she offended him, but he didn’t seem angry. Just surprised she asked that. She wondered if it was because no one ever asked him that question before. For a while, he did not say anything. All that could be heard was the breathing from the two people inside the cage. Then, slowly, Quet’s expression changed. He shut his eyes and he looked away from Sophie.

“My family was attacked by that one black chalk user...Jenny I believe?” Quet asked.

Sophie nodded her head. “You...were drawn with a family?”

Quet nodded his head. “Yeah... I don’t know if they’re alive or not. I hadn’t seen them since the attack. But then Jenny came after me. She chased me down and she cornered me in an alleyway.” He paused, biting his lip. Sophie could see a hint of tears in his eyes. “That was when Hagar appeared. We were already good friends before this. But that rescue...it brought us closer. He offered to take me to the Luminos. He said I would be safe with them.”

“And you joined?” Sophie knew that was a redundant question.

“Yeah..I did.” Quet said quietly. He turned his head away from her. He stared out ahead. “I know I haven’t been part of the Luminos for long, but they’re...very persuasive. For any new members, they give long speeches on the dangers of creators. It works.”

“Long speeches?” Sophie inquired.

“Yes. Constantly fed to us...er...them...” Quet said. Sophie was surprised by this. Did he just indicate that he was no longer a member of the Luminos? She decided not to question it for now and let him speak. “Unless they changed it so fast, each member must report to the meeting, where another speech is made. None of us are allowed to perform any missions until after that. With some exceptions of course.”

Sophie listened to this, her eyes widening slowly. From what Quet was saying, it really sounded like the Luminos zoners were brainwashed. Whether or not the zoners had a previous hatred of creators was something she couldn’t be too sure of. But she guessed that was the case with many of them, and the brainwashing just made them hate creators even more. That would explain how Quet became so anti-human even though he hadn’t been in the group for that long. She had to wonder just how this was pulled off. Whatever it was, she could tell it was potent. She had to tell Rudy and Penny as soon as possible.

She thought about what Quet just said. Something else did catch her attention. Did he say something about exceptions to the brainwashing? That didn’t surprise her. Some of the zoners must have already hated humans and the brainwashing just made things worse. She found it hard to believe that they all were neutral or okay with humans before joining up and getting brainwashed. This cycle of hatred had to have started somewhere.

“Who are the exceptions?” Sophie asked.

“Well...some of the zoners are survivors. You see, when Mr. Cosmo was a kid and that war was going on..” Quet explained. “He destroyed large sections of ChalkZone. Some of the Luminos are victims of that. Many of them lost everything. So as you can imagine, they started to have bitter tastes for humans.” Sophie nodded in understanding. “I already had some lingering dislike of humans based on what I heard of that incident. So I was easier to...mold...when I joined up.” He sighed softly. “Some of it still sticks with me. As I told you, they’re quite persuasive.”

“Do you still agree with what they say?” Sophie asked.

“Some of it...yes...I admit. Hard to just snap out of it. And they made some good points.” Quet said. “The room that we meet in to hear the speeches, it might have something to do with how we are easily swayed. There might be something in its design I suppose. I dunno. I’m confused about the whole thing.” Quet sighed in frustration. “Raiden might know.”

Sophie was confused by this. “Raiden? You mean..Dr. Raiden...?”

Quet nodded his head. “Yes. He was in charge of designing that room. He and the leader of the Luminos, Maalik, they’re good friends.”

Sophie felt her heart clench. Horror swept through her body. Dr. Raiden...that was the same doctor that was part of the team that was helping Rudy. Had he..had he been a bad guy this whole time? Was he plotting Rudy’s demise? Just what was he going to do with Rudy? She couldn’t believe it... Someone they had trusted Rudy’s life with...had been toying with them this whole time. Suddenly some of his behavior, such as not letting them see Rudy that much, made sense.

Quet continued his speech. “Dr. Raiden is not just a doctor. He’s a talented inventor was well and can make all kinds of machinery. He was responsible for a lot of what Mr. Cosmo had years ago. Maalik wanted him to use his skills for ‘good’.”

“And let me guess.” Sophie said, fighting to get over her initial shock. “By ‘for good’, you mean helping to recruit Luminos members?”

Quet nodded his head. “Yes. Dr. Raiden is a major part of the Luminos, even more so than Maalik. Yes, Maalik is the leader and he hates humans just as much as Raiden. Maalik is the founder and the one that guides everyone and usually plans all the missions. But Raiden....” Quet shut his eyes. “Raiden is the backbone of the whole thing. He is the bite to Maalik’s bark. If it weren’t for Raiden, the Luminos likely would not have obtained as many member as it does now, at this rate.”

“So Raiden is the second in command?” Sophie asked.

“More or less, yes. He is more impulsive than Maalik, but he can be very patient and controlled when he tries hard enough. I heard that he is so skilled with getting the job done that Maalik has him set aside as a...how you humans would say..trump card.” Quet explained. “And when those two fight together...with Maalik’s strength and Raiden’s speed...”

“..it’s a slaughterhouse...” Sophie finished, her eyes widening in horror.

Quet stared at her. Then he said, “...pretty much, yeah. If that’s how you want to look at it.”

sss

Penny made sure to keep herself steady as she flew close to her friends. She instructed them about how close they should fly to each other to hide themselves without bumping into each other. So far, they were doing a pretty good job of it. And thankfully, the fire coming from their rocket shoes wasn’t making too much noise. None of the zoners they flew high over seemed to notice them.

The trio followed the zoners they spotted earlier. There was a good number of them, all heading in the same direction. She didn’t know where they were going. They couldn’t see anything yet, but they guessed that something was going to show up soon enough. She hoped so. She had no idea how long the rocket shoes were going to last. Rudy assured her that they would last a long time, but a part of her was still worried that something might go wrong. Perhaps she was still anxious from their experience in the last dimension and how much bad luck they had there.

The trio kept their distance from the zoners. They flew pretty high up, but not too much. They needed to stay close enough so they could see the zoners clearly. They didn’t want them obstructed by anything. They were getting close to a somewhat forested area. Several trees, although they were not too densely packed. They followed through. They lowered themselves and followed close behind, zigzagging along the trees, careful not to brush up against anything or make themselves known to the zoners.

Penny felt bad about following them like this and so did Rudy and Snap. The way they were behaving reminded them of villains they faced in the past, such as Bardot, and how he had all those cameras. They knew that sneaking around like they were would make themselves appear suspicious. But they just couldn’t take any chances. They needed to figure out if this place is safe first before they just wandered around aimlessly looking for Rudy’s counterpart. Speaking of his counterpart, she hoped that he was more sane than the last Rudy they met. She had some lingering fear that this Rudy might be dangerous on some level, but she did reassure herself that it was an unlikely possibility given that the Rudy here wasn’t corrupted by black chalk. And even if this Rudy was somehow still dangerous, he couldn’t be nearly as bad as Dark Rudy was.

As they came out of the trees and then noted the zoners turning direction, heading down a small hill, Penny took notice of something about their behavior. They still looked happy, no doubt about that. They seemed almost excited about something. But they were moving in a single file line. Not the whole way; just here they suddenly started to do that. She couldn’t help but be confused by this. It didn’t make her suspicious or anything. The behavior wasn’t dangerous or evil or diabolical. But she still couldn’t shake it off. And the way the zoners’ level of happiness seemed to change...from happy to even more happy.. Something about it didn’t seem right...

Oh well, she’s probably overthinking it. Rudy and Snap didn’t seem so worried. Or maybe they just didn’t notice or weren’t focusing on it right now. She hadn’t really noticed much else odd, so maybe it was just how things worked in this dimension. There could be different rules here on what zoners could or could not do. That didn’t really mean there was danger. Yeah, things were going to be okay. She shouldn’t get too worked up over this.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed that Rudy and Snap had suddenly stopped. She stopped with them, making sure she did not go out of range. She looked at them, confused as to why they stopped. She stared at them intently and then noted where their eyes were fixated. She turned her head and tried to look at what they were. She soon spotted it, and she too was in shock.

There, not far from them, was ChalkZone City. They instantly recognized it from the tall buildings that were pressed close to each other. Just like theirs, it was huge, stretching as far as the eye could see, and so wide, they couldn’t see any edges to the place. It looked very much like the ChalkZone City they knew, only it seemed..even larger and more active. Some of the buildings seemed different, like there were different businesses in place or something. Cautiously, they moved into the city to take a look around.

This was definitely a contrast to what they saw in the dark dimension. In this dimension...this light dimension, things definitely seemed a lot better. They could tell that before, but seeing this, it seemed to confirm their suspicions. The light dimension, so different from the dark dimension, was teeming with life. They could see countless zoners below them, looking like they were having a great time. None of them were in strife. None of them were being hurt or tortured. They were all just..happy and enjoying each other’s company and having fun.

They took notice of some zoners going into clubs. They could hear the music booming out of the building. The zoners that came in looked excited while those who exited were calmer but looked very happy like they enjoyed themselves. Looking to their other side, they could see some zoners having some kind of party. A zoner blew out a candle and they all cheered happily. And still further away, they could see what looked like an indoor playground, something they don’t recall their ChalkZone City having. They could see many zoners in there going down slides, using a swingset, monkey bars, a merry-go-round, and see-saws.

Penny noticed that the zoners here seemed...happier than the ones back in their dimension. This made her forget her earlier confusion of the single-filed zoners and what the Rudy of this dimension was like. Now her mind was on how happy these zoners seemed. She wondered if that was because the Rudy of this dimension was just..better at keeping ChalkZone safe. If that were the case, she hoped that Rudy wouldn’t get too jealous of his counterpart. They can’t afford any hostility on this trip. They needed to get that cure before time ran out and head back to their dimension.

She would have spoken, but she had warned her friends against talking, even though they all had the temptation. Talking was most likely going to give them away and they couldn’t do that until they met the Rudy of this dimension. That reminded her, she had no idea where she was going to find this dimension’s Rudy... Light Rudy. She assumed he was going to be around here somewhere. Perhaps they should turn in a different direction. The center of ChalkZone City might be a good place to start. It seemed like it was the most active area. She could hear the cheers and shouts from over here.

Penny waved to her friends to get their attention. They looked over at her. She motioned for them to follow her. The trio turned and they went down towards the center of ChalkZone City. As they went, they took notice of more and more happy zoners. They hardly saw anyone that was upset and everything seemed a little more orderly. It brought them relief. It was definitely good to see ChalkZone in tact and organized compared to being destroyed and controlled by some corrupt man.

When the trio reached the center, they were shocked by what they saw. There was a huge gathering of zoners in this spot, positioned a little more to the left. They were surrounding something that they knew was never in their ChalkZone.

It was a statue of Rudy.

The statue was huge, about as big as Biclops. The statue of Rudy looked heroic and was holding a piece of magic chalk up into the air. It wasn’t made of stone either, but it wasn’t made of chalk. It was some kind of device made to look like magic chalk. It had a glowing tip to it. The light that emitted from it was intense. But unlike the light from the Solar Pillars, this was more..welcoming and calm and tranquil. It drew them in, but it was nothing like what the Solar Pillars did.

Then, not far from the statue, they took notice of something else that certainly wasn’t in their dimension. It was some kind of castle-like structure. It was tall and very long. It was colored grey, but instead of being made out of stone bricks, it was marble-like in structure instead. It looked so smoothly cut and constructed. Whoever made this, it must have been very hard for them to do. They took note of the wavy top, the way it sometimes creates a point in some of the structures. Decorative designs ran along in a few lines around the castle. There were very few windows and there appeared to be at least two balconies where whoever lived there could come out.

In the middle, they could see a tall tower that had a round top with a tip, like a raindrop almost. The tower looked a little twisty as it spiraled up into the air. A single dark window was visible. And it wasn’t the only tower. There was another not far from it, looking exactly the same. The front of the castle had no draw bridge, but instead large spikes that appeared to act as the ‘door’. Despite the weird shape, it, like the statue, didn’t appear menacing, but rather inviting.

The appearance of a castle in the middle of ChalkZone City was confusing. They weren’t really sure if this ChalkZone was somehow ruled.. The castle didn’t really prove any of that. Maybe a kid in this area in the real world drew the castle and it just happened to plop in here. That was a possibility. Still, it was strange and such a sharp contrast. The castle really didn’t look like it belonged here. The zoners didn’t seem to mind, though. And after seeing a zoner leave the castle, they guessed it was in good use.

The trio decided to get a closer look. They flew down together, staying close to one another, and landed on the ground. They pressed themselves against the wall and made their way over towards the entrance. They looked over at the statue again and noticed that the zoners seemed to be paying tribute. They guessed that Light Rudy must have done something incredible to save ChalkZone. The thought made Penny smile. This was definite proof that this Rudy had his morals straightened out.

They soon reached the entrance. The spikes were already going up. They rushed in as fast as they could, making it in before the spikes shut all the way. They brushed themselves off and took a look around. They found themselves in a huge, high-ceiling corridor. A red velvet carpet laid outstretched before them, going straight down. They paused for a moment, and then they started to follow the red carpet slowly.

Pictures of various things, not just of Light Rudy but of others like this world’s Penny, this world’s Snap, other zoners, some that appeared to be accomplishments and other things. They guessed the zoners that lived here admired Light Rudy and wanted to add more tribute to him here. Round lights hung over their heads as they continued down the corridor. There was a wave of warmth that hit them. Penny wasn’t sure if that was emotion or if this place was heated for some reason.

Soon the corridor emptied into a large open room. It looked much like a medieval throne room, with large flags hanging off the side with all sorts of decorations and a large throne situated on a raised platform, stairs reaching up to it. The red carpet ended at the edge and a golden carpet was situated underneath the regal chair. The throne was tall and gold in color and very decorative, complete with a red cushion with golden tistle hanging off the sides. There were a few mosaic images on the walls, most of them related to Light Rudy in some way. And hanging over head was a large white chandalier made out of what appeared to be magic chalk. The sparkling confirmed that they were indeed magical.

Suddenly, a voice spoke up.

“I know you’re there...” The voice sounded familiar, and yet still different. Nothing aggressive, but still a little strange. “You may turn off your cloakers now.”

Then, up ahead of them, they could see something flicker on the throne. The trio realized that whoever lived in this castle must have known they were coming. He must have used his own cloaker to keep himself invisible. But why? Maybe to see who they were first...Yeah that was probably it. Seconds later, the person’s cloak went down, and they instantly recognized who it was.

It was Light Rudy.

After a few seconds, Light Rudy got up from the throne and stared down at the trio. He then raised his hand and beckoned them to come forward, wearing a smile. “You might be invisible, but I know you’re still there..my counterpart. Don’t be afraid. You and your friends are welcome here. I don’t know why you traveled all this way, but there must be a good reason, right? Well let’s talk.”

Chapter Text

Rudy, Penny, and Snap stood still, frozen where they were. They stared at Light Rudy in shock. None of them had anticipated that he’d be there. None of them realized that he might be there waiting for them. It never crossed their minds. They thought that no one would see them coming. They were invisible, and Light Rudy confirmed it. So...how had it known that they were there?

“I said you can remove your invisibility cloaks.” Light Rudy said. His eyes seemed to sparkle in realization. “Oh! You are probably wondering how I knew you’d be here. Well, simple really.” He raised a hand up in gesture. “One of my enforcers saw you arrive. He had delivered the report, so I knew you were here. I had a feeling you might arrive here, so I prepared.”

Silence for several moments. Then Rudy worked up the courage to speak. “H-How did you know we were in here? We weren’t making any noise I thought..”

Light Rudy put his hand to his ear. At first, the trio thought that it meant he couldn’t hear them that well. But then they soon realized that he was just making a gesture to show his point. “You might walk lightly, but I can still hear you. These walls and floor, they’re made of material that makes it easy to detect even the lightest footstep...if you listen carefully of course.” He smiled softly at them. “I am going to presume you’re from an alternate dimension. No other explaination for why another Rudy would show up. So why don’t you join me...come closer. Let’s talk.”

The trio hesitated for a few moments. They weren’t sure what to do. Light Rudy seemed friendly enough. He didn’t act outwardly hostile towards them. He didn’t lash out or try to have them captured. He seemed willingly to be diplomatic with them and speak to them. That was very much like how Rudy himself would be. He would rather talk, not fight. Light Rudy appears to be the same way. He was definitely a nice change from Dark Rudy. They shuddered at the memory of that twisted version of their friend.

Then they started to walk forward. They knew they couldn’t just sit around and do nothing all day. They had to get a move on. They had to make contact with this guy. They came all this way to find him, and here he was. They couldn’t allow themselves to be so hesitant. He seemed like he’d be willing to help them, or at least try to. There was a chance that he might not know about the cure, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask, right? The worst he could say was ‘no’.

They continued to move forward until they were about five feet away from Light Rudy. He stared at them and he gave them a quick nod of the head, motioning for them to turn off their cloakers. The trio looked at each other, and then, seconds later, they pressed a button. In a flicker, their cloakers went down, exposing themselves to Light Rudy. This prompted Light Rudy to give them a smile, and then motion to them to follow him. They headed down towards where the throne was.

As they walked down, Rudy looked at his counterpart up and down. He didn’t look menacing like Dark Rudy did. Light Rudy did have what appeared to be a cape on that dragged on behind him. A regal-looking one; something he’d expect a king to wear. He did not have a crown on, but he did have some rings on his arms and a couple on his fingers. The statue outside did not have this, so they wondered if Light Rudy just liked to dress up; maybe there was a party or something. But looking around this place, that didn’t seem like a possibility.

Overall, though, Light Rudy wasn’t very intimidating. It struck them as odd that he would wear this stuff, and be here. And the whole thing with ‘enforcer’...it made them believe there was something more to this place than they thought. But nothing about it seemed overtly dangerous or anything. Things were likely just run differently here. Rudy knew they couldn’t just jump on the ‘it is dangerous’ bandwagon right away. They needed to learn more about this dimension first. It seemed so much better than the last dimension they were in.

He was still confident that his counterpart here was not going to be too dangerous. He was not corrupted by the black chalk. This was quite clear from his behavior. There was no black flicker in his eyes, nothing that indicated something was wrong with him. It did kinda disturb him the way he knew they were there, but the explanation he had given the trio made sense, and he relaxed himself.

His counterpart being helpful just like him, that was a definite step in the right direction. He imagined that they were going to have much better luck here than they did in the other dimension. He knew not to let his guard down, so he tried his best to remain on alert. Still, he couldn’t really see anything overtly dangerous about this place. Just how bad could this place be? Everyone here seemed so happy and everything so organized and light-hearted. If there was anything wrong, it had to have been pretty minor.

Light Rudy raised a hand, gesturing to them to stop. They were at the base of the steps. Light Rudy walked up them slowly and then went into the throne. He sat down on the throne and adjusted himself. He stared down at them with an intense but still somehow calm expression. He rested his arms on his lap and tapped his fingers together. The trio stared at this, realizing that perhaps this really was Light Rudy’s castle. But what would he need a castle for?

Light Rudy gestured with his hand, beckoning the trio. “Come on now. Don’t be shy. I won’t bite.” His voice was stern, yet gentle. “I am here to you help you. Please, tell me what it is you need from me. Why did you come here?”

Rudy tried to think of what to say. He was having a hard time, which confused him. He thought it was going to be easy since his counterpart here appeared to be helpful. So why was he having a hard time thinking of what to say? Maybe it was because he was not expecting Light Rudy to be helpful this fast. Maybe it was because he had expected Light Rudy to offer a little resistance, like he was confused or something. But no, he was, right away, willing to listen to them.

A part of Rudy felt relieved. The sooner they could talk, the better. It was a nice change of pace to be able to talk instead of being forced to run and hide. This place, overall, was quite peaceful and they hadn’t seen an ounce of hostility while they were here. Even in the big crowd, not one zoner appeared to be aggressive. A little odd since in their dimension, there was always that one zoner who was at least complaining. But here? All the zoners were quite happy. A little too happy, but nothing that suspicious or anything.

Although Rudy couldn’t think of what to say, Penny had figured something out and began to speak.

“It’s quite a long story. So I’ll cut to the chase.” Penny said. “We need to find this...potion.” Light Rudy cocked an eyebrow. Penny made gestures with her hands to show how big the thing was and what shape. “It’s kind of like this...and it has a rainbow..ish.. kind of aura to it. That’s the best way I can explain it.” She reached out a hand toward Light Rudy, her palm facing up. “Have you seen anything like that?”

Light Rudy moved his right hand towards himself. He rested his chin on his knuckles, gazing upwards in thought. It took him seconds to reply. “I can’t say I have. Sorry.”

Rudy felt his stomach twist in knots at that response. It was the kind of response they were dreading. If Light Rudy was being honest, then finding the cure in this dimension was going to be much harder. Rudy tried his best to stay positive, though. They still had a chance to find it. Light Rudy was just one person. They could always ask someone else. Surely Penny or Snap’s counterparts here might now, or some of the zoners. Someone here had to know about the potion, right? They couldn’t all be oblivious to it.

Still it was a shame that Light Rudy did not know about the potion. If he did, that would have saved them a lot of trouble. They didn’t have that much time to find the potion. If he didn’t know, they were going to need to talk to as many locals here as possible until they find someone who did know. And even that might go over the three hour limit they had here. Less than that now since it took a little while to get here. A part of him wished that Penny managed to allocate more time for them. But the other was thankful for that limit; if she had put in just a few extra minutes, who knows what would have happened to them in the other dimension? Snap might have been hurt worse and they might have been corrupted...

“So you really don’t know about this potion?” Snap asked, pointing his hand in Light Rudy’s direction. The teenager shook his head. “Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yes, I’m positive.” Light Rudy said. There was slight irritation to his voice, but nothing too prominent. “I am sorry that I cannot provide you with more details on that.” He leaned back. “However, I will try my best to assist you. The three of you are welcome to stay here. It is quite safe here. No danger. I have a guest room you can stay in do any sort of..planning you might have to do.”

Rudy gave a small smile. “That’s very kind of you.” A thought crossed his mind. “Say..earlier, what did you mean by...enforcer?” He gave Light Rudy a perplexed look.

“Ah yes. I see that is one difference between your dimension and mine. You see...” Light Rudy leaned forward a little. “I wanted to find a way to help keep ChalkZone safe. It had almost suffered a great tragedy, which was narrowly averted. I needed a way to make sure I could keep an eye on things.” He spread his arms out to indicate the castle they were in. “So I created this place and became the authority for ChalkZone. I and my enforcers just help keep the peace here. And so far it is working out well. You can see for yourself the effects of this.”

Though the trio weren’t too sure how they felt about the idea of Rudy being in charge of ChalkZone, they could not deny the effects all around them. The zoners did seem happy. There didn’t seem to be any chaos anywhere. It seemed very peaceful and calm here. And Light Rudy didn’t sound like he was abusing his power. His words indicated that they were just more akin to police officers than an actual ruler or anything.

It did seem a little weird to them. Rudy never once thought about becoming an officer of sorts in ChalkZone, especially one dressed like a prince or a king. But then again, it didn’t strike him as ominous either. If this ChalkZone did narrowly avoid a horrific fate, then he could understand why his counterpart would be very worried and do something to try to help avoid such things in the future. Becoming the police, sort of, didn’t seem too bad. Still strange, but at least he was just helping to enforce the rules, and he seemed to be doing a good job with keeping everyone safe. No crime or anything in sight.

“Yes..” Penny said, looking around. “This place does seem very peaceful...”

Light Rudy nodded, a small smile on his face. “I am glad you think so.” He paused and then narrowed his eyes a little. “I take it you’re still having trouble with your ChalkZone?”

Rudy nodded his head. “Yeah there’s some things going on right now. The Luminos are causing problems in our dimension and then there’s the black chalk artists...”

Light Rudy raised his hand to silence him. “I assure you three...you have nothing to fear from the Luminos here. They are my enforcers.”

The trio looked at him in shock. Light Rudy’s enforcers were...the Luminos? How? Did he convince them that they were wrong and they became willing to help him? Were the Luminos here formed for a different reason? While they were comforted to know that the Luminos may not harm them here, they were still apprehensive, knowing what happened the last time they faced the Luminos.

Snap was the most visibly shaken. He did manage to keep himself under control. He looked at Light Rudy, his eyes a little wide, and he said, “The Luminos work for you?”

Nodding his head, Light Rudy said, “Yes. Their leader, Maalik I believe his name was, he was killed by...either Draow or Bardot. I forget which. Anyway, they had launched a surprise attack on the group and many of them were killed. Draow and Bardot were both arrested and I helped out the surviving Luminos. They, despite being anti-creator, were thankful for my help and they became loyal to me. So I decided to give them a chance to truly help ChalkZone, and they are now my most trusted enforcers, with my Penny and Snap being my advisors.”

Rudy, Penny, and Snap listened to this intently. They were shocked by what they had heard. It seemed the Luminos here were just as anti-human as the ones they knew, but they..still joined up with Rudy? Out of gratefulness? That struck them as odd and unexpected. They never would have thought that the Luminos would ever do something like that. Though a nice change of pace, they weren’t entirely sure how to feel about that.

Upon hearing that Bardot and Draow had attacked them, they realized that the events after Cosmo was killed must have been quite different. They weren’t sure at one point their histories became altered. But it was clear that Bardot’s plans when breaking Draow out were different. Something attracted him to the Luminos and that is who he had attacked. They were glad to hear that he and Draow were captured, so they don’t have to worry about running into either of them here.

“Judging from your reactions, I’m going to guess that the Luminos are still a problem for you?” Light Rudy asked, stating the obvious. The trio nodded. “Yes, they were...pests at first I admit, but they did see the light and now I don’t know if I could keep ChalkZone safe without them.”

Rudy felt a sharp pang in his stomach. Pests? The way Light Rudy said that word, it seemed so..off... He never thought he’d hear himself say it, even in an alternate dimension. Dark Rudy he could see saying it due to being corrupted. But Light Rudy? Why would he use that word? And why would he speak it in that manner? He gave a quick glance to his friends. Though they did their best not to show it, he could tell they, too, weren’t sure what to think and were confused like him.

But he might just be jumping to conclusions. Light Rudy here might have seen some things that made him a little more bitter than him. Yeah, that was it. He seemed pretty pleasant, even when he said that word. He seemed so willing to help out... Yeah he’s probably just stressed. Keeping this place safe..he imagined that would be difficult to pull off, and very stressful. He decided not to question Light Rudy on his questionable choice of words.

“As for the black chalk artists... I am going to presume you mean Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek.” Light Rudy said.

Snap nodded his head. “Yeah, those are the creepazoids all right.”

“We still haven’t managed to stop them...” Rudy said in a somewhat bitter tone, recalling all the terrible things they managed to do and get away with. “Jenny injected me with a chalk virus that’s turning my organs to chalk.”

Light Rudy’s eyes widened at this. “And your internal fluids?”

“They remain real world.” Rudy said solemnly, lowering his head.

“You see..” Light Rudy turned his attention to Penny, who was speaking. “That is why we were hoping you’s know where this potion was. It’s the second part of the cure that our Rudy needs to survive. As we speak, his internals are changing and he’s in constant pain. We need to give him the medicine very soon, otherwise, he’ll...melt from the inside out, to put it simply.”

Light Rudy looked genuinely horrified by this news. He leaned back in his chair, a hand to his mouth. “Oh my, that is serious. It makes me wish I did know something but...I’m sorry.” He shook his head solemnly. “I really don’t know.” He stared at the trio with a regretful expression. Then his eyes brightened. “But I do know someone who might be able to help. I’m sure my Penny and my Snap would know something. They aren’t my advisors for nothing.”

With a snap of the finger, two figures came into the room. Rudy, Penny, and Snap watched, waiting for these two new counterparts to show up. In the seconds that they weren’t there, the trio wondered just what these two were like. Though they had different thoughts on what they would be like, the only way to find out was to wait for them to show up.

The first one to show up was Penny’s alternate.. Para-Penny. Her outfit wasn’t as ‘flashy’ as Light Rudy. She did wear a pretty necklace around her neck, but her outfit was of simple colors. Dark and long, fitting the form of her body, looking very much like how they’d expect an advisor to look. Her expression seemed a little hardened, reminding them of Alt-Snap. But it didn’t seem..hostile at all. She just looked a little more serious and she regarded them with great interest.

The next one to appear was this world’s Snap. Para-Snap... When he came in, they were in the shock of their lives. He looked pretty much the same as their Snap. Para-Snap wore his usual blue superhero outfit. He looked as serious as Para-Penny did. The only thing he wore that was different than their Snap was a pair of gold braces encircling his arms, clearly decorative as they served no other purpose. His reaction to them was different than Para-Penny’s. Instead of looking curious, he looked shocked, and then a little angry, his eyes focusing on their Snap’s. And they quickly saw why.

Para-Snap...was in a wheelchair.

The sight of this sent shockwaves through their bodies. It brought forth memories of what happened to their Snap three years ago. They all remembered those days, when they thought Snap could never walk again. It was a terrible feeling, a fear that they had dreaded. Snap had not done so well for a while. The thought of not being able to walk had crushed his spirit, and though he tried to feel better, the pressure and negativity of it all caused him to shut himself out from his friend and spiral backwards emotionally.

It was such a huge relief when Rudy and Penny were able to cheer Snap up and brought him back to his old self, in spite of being in a wheelchair. And things got even better than Snap had started to get feeling back in his legs and he could walk again. Snap had been so happy, and he certainly didn’t take walking for granted anymore. They were glad that his fate wasn’t as cruel as they thought it was going to be. Snap really had been lucky.

And now, seeing this, they realized just how lucky he really was. Here, before them, was another Snap, who had suffered the same fate as their Snap, but this time, the effects were more permanent. It was a chilling sight, reminding them of what almost became of their Snap. Granted, it was a better fate than what happened to Alt-Snap, his neck breaking, that sound still echoing in their minds... But it was still a horrific sight, despite being bloodless. The idea of Snap being permanently paralyzed here.. It made them wonder just what wrong.

Para-Snap’s eyes locked onto Snap’s. The zoner took a step back, and Rudy noticed a shudder. He looked back at the paralyzed zoner. The expression... The way he looked at him... It wasn’t as harsh as Alt-Snap. If anything, it looked more...sad.

In a calm, somewhat defeated tone, Para-Snap said, “...so I see you got your legs back...” The tone was slightly bitter, hinting strongly at jealously and envy. Rudy could not blame him for that. “Heh. Lucky you.” He forced a smile on his face. “Glad to see that some version of me was able to get out of there unscathed...”

Para-Penny nodded her head. “Yes, that was indeed lucky. The chances of getting your legs back were...astronomically marginal.”

Light Rudy looked at the two with a somewhat regretful expression. “I think it was probably in the timing. Maybe they just got him help faster.” He turned to look at the trio. “I hope you three don’t mind explaining to us your story...what happened and how you got here.”

“We would love to hear it.” Para-Penny said, her voice clearly expressing interest.

“We will but...” Penny said, biting her lip. Their counterparts looked at them, waiting for her to continue. “I..” She looked left and right nervously. “I hope you don’t mind us asking this, but...”

“Go on.” Light Rudy said. “You can ask us anything.”

Penny hesitated, then she said, “..how did he...” She stared at Para-Snap. “..how did he lose his legs permently...?” She winced, clearly worried if she sounded too insensitive about asking.

But their counterparts didn’t seem offended at all. Rather, they looked like they had expected that question. Rudy realized he shouldn’t have been so surprised. Seeing one of their counterparts in a wheelchair was a stark contrast, and it would be understandable that their counterparts would have expected such a question. If anything, Penny’s question just brought sadness in them as it would have made them remember what happened.

Para-Penny was the one who replied. “Well I’m going to guess that your Snap suffered that dreaded mind control nail thing, right?” The trio nodded. “Well same thing with our Snap. Mr. Cosmo here, just like yours, tortured our Snap with it and eventually paralyzed his legs. Then he...kicked him...” Her eyes closed and she appeared to be fighting back tears as she remembered.

“Right on my head.” Para-Snap raised his right hand and placed it against his forehead. He gently patted it. “Twice, too.”

“Twice?!” Snap cried in horror. Para-Snap looked at him and nodded his head.

Rudy and his friends were horrified by this revelation. Para-Snap was kicked twice? It was bad enough to be kicked once. That alone had caused a lot of damage to Snap and delayed his healing. But to be hit twice? They couldn’t fathom it. Just how did Para-Snap survive such an ordeal? How did he not go brain dead after that? The thought terrified them when they realized their Cosmo had the same opportunity to kick Snap another time. And yet he didn’t... The realization that it would have been so easy for Snap to suffer the same fate...it was terrifying to think about.

They guessed..no..they knew that was the reason this Snap never regained use of his legs. Para-Snap was kicked twice...more damage had been given to him. Fate had been crueler to Para-Snap, completely stripping away his ability to walk. Now he was trapped in a wheelchair... They could only hope that he managed to cope well and adjusted to his new life. He didn’t seem too sad. He was clearly upset that their Snap could walk, but he didn’t break down or anything.

“But do not fear, you three.” Light Rudy said. The trio looked up at him. They noted that he had a smile on his face. But something seemed a little...off about it. And the way he was speaking... Something about it was strange, but they couldn’t quite put their fingers on it. “Mr. Cosmo...” A twinkle in Light Rudy’s eye. “..is no longer a threat here.”

sss

Skrawl narrowed his eyes as he glared at the entrance of this forsaken place. He never thought he would come back here, especially under these circumstances. And alone, too. Normally he would send his Beanie Boys, but he knew that would have been a horrible mistake, especially with what was happening lately.

The jellybean was aware that his Beanie Boys were being killed. At first, he didn’t, and thought they were getting lost or something. But as more disappeared and none of them returned, the conclusion he eventually came to was...they were being killed. Thinking back to what he learned about Xenos and the Luminos, he quickly made the connection. If the Luminos were as anti-creator as he suspected, then they must be behind the deaths of his Beanie Boys. Those that remained, he ordered them to stay at the jail.

He decided to put his self-flying chair to good use. Penny had drawn it for him before so he didn’t have to use his Beanie Boys. But he never got around to trying it out. Now was a good time to use it. He also made use of those cloakers that he had on when he went to go to Bardot’s hideout. He guessed that his Beanie Boys were being killed with stealth as he had not heard any reports from any zoners about witnessing any deaths, or even finding any bodies. The Luminos must be pretty thorough and he couldn’t take a chance of them seeing him.

He knew about the attack on the hospital. The thought of such a vicious attack being planned out and executed, it horrified him. He wasn’t sure exactly why the hospital was attacked. Were they going after Rudy? That might be why. He knew Rudy was sick and was being cared for at the hospital. It would make sense that the hospital would be targeted. The damage report...it was so much worse than when Cosmo attacked the place. There were no death reports yet, but with all that debris and how big the hospital was...

Skrawl wanted to offer some help. He knew the rubble was already being cleared away, but the more help, the better. They needed to get the remaining patients and doctors out of that hospital. It needed to be checked more deeply to ensure that there wasn’t anyone still left in there. It was a huge hospital so there was a chance that not everyone got out. Anyone who died...they needed to be found and accounted for. They definitely could use the help and he was certain they would appreciate it.

Skrawl’s idea of how to help, though, may not be so welcomed. He was prepared, though. He knew what he was going to say and do. And he was certain that things would go his way. He was always a great planner and strategist. He knew how to guide things to play out how he wanted. If he played his cards right, this plan should work.

If Master Tabootie saw him here, he would think he was nuts. Calling upon these zoners...out of all of them... It was probably not the smartest move he could make. But they were perfect. Once he convinced them to help, they would be a great asset. Their abilities would help them clear the debris and find any survivors or anyone who died. Yes, it was a risk, but with what he planned to do, there wasn’t too much danger to it. He just needed to be careful and stick to his perfectly thought out plan.

Skrawl stared at the entrance one more time and then he entered the torn up zone. The red sky, the large amount of heat, the volcanic activity, it all gave away just where he was. A place that was feared among many zoners. A place that most sane zoners would never venture to.

The Fire Zone...

Skrawl looked all around, taking note of all the lava, the burnt-looking trees, and the swirling clouds. All of it made this place very foreboding and threatening even from a distance. The occasional lightning flashes and the loud rumbles added to that effect. Still, he did not show fear. He walked calmly through the land, looking left and right. He knew what he came here for. And it shouldn’t take him long before he would find it. All he had to do was be quiet and listen.

Skrawl looked all around, taking note of all the lava, the burnt-looking trees, and the swirling clouds. All of it made this place very foreboding and threatening even from a distance. The occasional lightning flashes and the loud rumbles added to that effect. Still, he did not show fear. He walked calmly through the land, looking left and right. He knew what he came here for. And it shouldn’t take him long before he would find it. All he had to do was be quiet and listen.

And soon enough, he found what he was looking for. Looking off in the distance, he could see two forms moving across the ground. They were chasing after something. Possibly their prey. Skrawl narrowed his eyes and he, still sitting in his flying chair, headed in that direction. He picked up speed, careful to avoid any lava that shot out of the ground. As he got closer, he could make out the features of the two he was going after, as well as what they were chasing. Some kind of bear-like zoner that looked badly hurt.

Although he could just watch the chase and see how it ends, he didn’t have time for that. He needed to speak to those two now. He raised up his gun that he brought with. He took careful aim and he shot forth an arch of electricity. It twisted and turned in the air as it went towards the two zoners giving chase. He could see their eyes widen in shock as the electricity formed around them, trapping them in an electric cage. They let out growls of frustration and tried to find their way out. The prey that they were chasing didn’t stop and just kept on running.

Skrawl lowered himself down in front of the cage. He swifted off his cloaker. The two zoners inside looked at him in surprise. They took a step back. Then the biggest one narrowed his eyes and growled at him, while the smaller one just looked at him curiously. Skrawl narrowed his eyes in disgust. If it weren’t for the severity of the situation, he wouldn’t have called upon these two.

“Draow...Bardot...” Skrawl said in a stern voice. “I bet you are wondering why I am here.”

Draow’s ears folded against his head. “You put us here, you little fucker...” He spread his wings a little. “Open up this electric cage and I’ll...!” Draow was silenced when Bardot drove his claws into his thigh. Draow let out out a yelp and lowered his head a little.

Bardot shook his head at Draow, looking like he was disappointed in his behavior. He then turned his attention to Skrawl. “So nice to see you.” Skrawl snarled at the fake friendliness that Bardot displayed. “Yes, we are...rather curious why you came here.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this...” Skrawl said, rubbing his head for a few seconds. “But I came to get you out.”

Draow’s ears perked up. “You’re setting us free?”

“Well let’s not be so hasty. I meant that I am getting you out so you can be of some use.” Skrawl explained. His eye narrowed. He held up his gun, showing that he was still in control here. “I know you two have a history of...terrible things. But I think now, you can use your abilities for something actually beneficial.”

“Oh really now?” Bardot tilted his head to the side. “And what might that be?”

Skrawl said, “The hospital in ChalkZone City has been attacked. Reports say that the attack was far more devastating than what Mr. Cosmo had managed three years ago.”

Draow smirked evilly at this. “That must have been one spectactular sight.”

Skrawl glared at him, but decided to ignore his insensitive comment. He should expect that from Draow. He continued, “They need help there. That is where you two come in. Draow...” Skrawl stared at him intently. “You are a large zoner and you have a lot of strength. You would be perfect to help clear away the rubble. Tsere will assist you.”

At this, Draow’s eyes widened in shock. “Tsere?!”

“Yes. You two are to work together as a team.” Skrawl said, glaring at him. He turned his attention to Bardot. “And you...” Bardot gave him a smirk. “You are small and nimble. You can fit through the debris and search for survivors. Any you find, you can guide them to safety.”

Bardot scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Very thoughtful, Skrawl.” He held his paw out, bottom up. “But there is just one small problem.” Skrawl narrowed his eyes at him, silently asking him to proceed. “Just..how do you think you will get us to do anything like..that...?”

“Yeah.” Draow asked, baring his teeth in a grin. “What makes you think we will help any of those worthless zoners?”

Skrawl just stared at them. He was not surprised by this attitude. It was typical of these two. If they had accepted to help right away, he would have been suspicious. After a few moments of being silent, he spoke up.

“Because I have an offer I don’t think even you will be able to refuse...”

Chapter Text

"Okay, I trust you two will do what you're supposed to." Skrawl said after he explained the situation to the doctors and patients that stood outside of the damaged hospital. "And remember: you are both wearing shock collars. Try to do anything to harm another zoner, and you will be zapped."

"Oh goodie..." Draow said, rolling his eyes. "How can we forget that?"

Bardot just smiled. He looked at the frightened doctors and patients. They clearly knew who they were. A shame that he can't have a little fun with them. Oh well, watching them be afraid of him was enough. As he focused on them, he found himself subconsciously licking his chops, anticipating what they must taste like. Oh yes, they must have a nice flavor...

He was brought out of this trance when something suddenly hit him on the head. Bardot let out a yelp of pain. He rubbed his head and looked up, narrowing his eyes. Skrawl had just bopped him. Bardot bared his teeth in annoyance at the jellybean zoner. If he weren't wearing the shock collar, as well as the purple collar, he would be teaching this misshapen zoner a thing or two of why one shouldn't mess with him.

"You are here to save the zoners inside, Bardot, not eat them. If you find any bodies, drag them out here. Do not consume them." Skrawl told him, pointing a finger at him. "Eat any of the bodies in there, and believe me, you will get your well deserved punishment. Do not desecrate the dead."

Bardot smirked at the zoner. He found it amusing how Skrawl thought he could control him. The only reason he was even listening to him was because of the shock collar he put on him, as well as that deal he made. It was pretty unexpected, and he was right; it was hard to resist it. He and Draow agreed to do this only for that deal. They felt it would be worth it in the end. Although they were both hungry, they felt they could wait until after this was all finished. It shouldn't take that long, right?

Bardot still found it hard to believe that Skrawl came to them, of all zoners, and asked for their assistance. He didn't know if he had gone mad or what. Skrawl knew full well who they were and what they did. He was the one who had them arrested. He was the one who took them to the Fire Zone where they spent the last two years in. To have Skrawl take them out, even for a short time, and then expect them to offer assistance..it was really quite amusing. Standing here, Bardot was interested in doing a lot of things, and helping these zoners wasn't one of them.

But, encouraged by the offer and influenced by the shock collar, he decided to do what Skrawl asked of him. Besides, maybe he will see something interesting anyway. Theere might be dead zoners he could come across. He could still eat them anyway. It's not like Skrawl was going to know. The shock collars wouldn't activate unless he hurt someone, and it was impossible to hurt the dead. A shame he won't be able to torment any injured zoners, though. The shock collar would prevent that.

"Of course, Skrawl..." Bardot said in a calm voice. "Whatever you say..."

Skrawl narrowed his eyes, not appreciating his tone. He then turned towards Draow and pointed a finger at him. "You! Begin to clear the rubble! Tsere will be here any moment!" He put his hand on his hip. "I expect you to be on your best behavior. I do not want you two to be fighting!"

Draow growled angrily, "Can't I at least do this on my own? Why does the beak face need to be a part of this?"

Skrawl gave him a wry smile. "Because it'll be fun to watch..." Draow bared his teeth at him. "And you both are large, strong zoners. Tsere has agreed to be civil with you. I expect you to return the favor. Do you understand?"

The wolf bat nodded his head. "Yes, I do." He said begrudgingly. "I'll...cooperate." He looked away, a moping expression on his face.

"Good, good..." Skrawl said, giving something of a smile to him. "Remember. Work together. No fighting. Clear the rubble. Don't attack any zoner. And if you do what you ask...well...remember that offer I have given you." With that, Skrawl turned his back and walked away. He didn't leave though; he just stood with the other zoners, his mismatched eyes facing them. He gave a single nod of the head and they knew what that meant.

Bardot watched as Draow walked over to a collapsed part of the building. He looked at the rubble, eyeing it up and down. He started at the top. He flapped his wings just enough to hover above the ground. Using his powerful jaws, he began to remove the rubble. He then took it to a spot beside the hospital and dropped the piece there. He kept doing this, slowly clearing away the debris. Bardot deduced that it would take him a little while to clear it all up, even with the help of Tsere and whoever else came to assist.

Bardot moved forward, knowing that Skrawl may activate the shock collar if he did not get a move on. He moved up to where Draow was. He looked at the rubble and debris laid out before him. Large chunks of rock and metal laid on top of each other, tightly packed in some places. But he could see areas with dark openings, which he knew led to the inside of the building. Skrawl had been right about him regarding one particular thing. He was small and he could slip through this rubble with ease.

He climbed up the rubble, seeking out the biggest hole available to him. It was pretty small, but it was enough for him to slip his body through. He pulled himself through, his claws scraping against the rock. The twisted tunnel was not comfortable and he almost bent his wrist at an impossible angle. Using his claws, he scraped away, tearing small areas of rock so he could go through. Within about a minute, he had managed to worm his way through. Out of the rubble he came and into the hospital. He fell down with a thud. He coughed and looked around.

The hallway here was a mess. Large portions of rock and metal laid in his path. Signs were on the ground or crooked on the wall, most of them shattered. There was absolutely no lighting here. The hallways weren't too dark considering this was a day zone hospital, but it was still a little hard to see. Dust hung heavily in the air, making it a little harder to breathe. He sneezed a few times as the dust irritated his nostrils.

Bardot looked left and right, trying to figure out which way was the best path to take. Both hallways had collapsed sections. Both looked difficult to navigate. And in front of him, he might as well forget it. The debris collaps here was so tight there was no way he was going to be able to fit through any of this. He finally picked a direction, which was right. He turned and began to walk slowly and cautiously. He looked overhead, making sure that more debris wasn't going to fall on him, either by structural damage or by Draow's idiocy.

He made his way through the crushed up parts of the hallway. He squeezed through the holes left there by the debris, crawling through the chunks of stone and rock. The damage continued down, stretching to about halfway down the building. Eventually, he came to the end of the twisted rubble and finally into a more clear spot he could move around in. He moved about three feet away from the rubble and stopped. He shook his body, throwing off the clumps of dirt that clung to his yellow fur. Then he continued to move down.

Bardot was amazed at the level of destruction of this place. It was almost beautiful, but it didn't spark too much interest in him. Building damage such as this isn't what interested him. Rather, it is the damage done to living things that intrigued him more. Even with his red chalk half subdued by the purple collar, his twisted personality was still more or less in tact. He wasn't as prone to violent outbursts, but his sick fantasies still reigned. And he loved it. A twisted smile spread across his face as he started to smell blood from injured, maybe even dead, zoners. Maybe he'd get lucky and see a corpse or two before he had to rescue one of these zoners.

He wondered if any of these dead or dying zoners would give him a thrill like how Snap did after he ripped the zoner apart and injected him with venom. Bardot remembered that. Oh how he enjoyed it so much. The feel of his claws ripping into flesh, the blood that spilled out onto the ground, his screams, finally sinking his teeth into him... Yes... If it weren't for the fact that the enjoyment of killing wanes after he already successfully did it, even if it was just temporary, he would have taken the chance to kill Snap again, not because he had any strong desire to, but because of his predatory instincts and how good it felt to satisfy them.

Bardot soon came to the next hallway. Only one way to go. He turned left and headed down. He almost immediately came to a dead end. Another pile of tightly packed rubble. He snorted at this. He hoped that most of the hospital wasn't like this. He didn't know how Skrawl would react if he came out too quickly and without any zoners, dead or alive. He might get shocked, and he was not interested in that. He glanced down the wretched collar on his neck. He couldn't even try to get it off unless he wanted to get shot full of lightning.

Bardot was about to get a move on when he heard soft whimpering. His ears pricked up with interest. He moved along slowly, keeping his body low to the ground. A sneer spread across his face when he happened upon a dying zoner. The zoner did not see them and he made sure not to be heard. The zoner was trapped under the rubble and there was a pool of blood underneath them. He watched with great satisfaction as the zoner struggle weakly to get free, causing more blood to spill. Seconds later, a piece of debris was dislodged and it fell down on the zoner, killing them via crushing the skull.

He couldn't help but let out an amused chuckle at this, laced with darkness. He took a few steps forward. He could have prevented this tragedy by pulling the zoner out, but he decided not to. If Skrawl asks, he would say he found him like that. The purple collar had given him the ability to lie, something he kept secret from others. Skrawl won't know he's lying. He had thoughts of playing that jellybean for a fool, but decided that visiting a hospital of dead, injured, and dying zoners was too fun to pass up. He can be patient and toy with Skrawl later.

He stood in front of the bloody, crushed corpse. He could hardly see the zoner except for their arms. He licked his lips and lowered his head. He ran his tongue along the ground, tasting the savory blood. He spent a minute lapping at the blood, satisfying his thirst for it. He raised his head and turned to one of the arms. He walked over and bit his jaws down on it. Like he thought, the shock collar didn't activate as this zoner was already clearly dead. He ripped off a chunk of flesh and at it. He consumed about half the arm, coating his face in blood.

He sat down on his haunches and started to lick his paw and clean his face. That small meal would satisfy him for a little while. It was nice tasting some civilian zoner flesh. He hadn't been able to eat that in quite some time. The flesh of the native creatures of the Fire Zone was fine enough. They had a nice flavor to them. But nothing could compare to the savory taste of civilian zoners, such as Snap. And human flesh...that was a delicacy that he hoped to one day return to. If he played his cards right...

He smirked evilly as he continued on his way through the hospital. He gave one last look at the corpse before moving on. Yes, there was a very good reason why he should remain locked up. The jury made the right choice with sending him to some place like the Fire Zone. He did deserve to be locked up forever, because if he were free, he would resume his gruesome butchering work. Nothing would ever change that. He would forever hurt others, so he should forever be banished.

He went up the staircase. Surprisingly it seemed to be more or less in good condition. It was a little wobbly, but, other than that, it was fun. He made his way up the steps, going slowly so he wouldn't fall down, especially if the idiot Draow slipped up and caused some kind of cave in here. That was the last thing he needed. He was relieved when he reached the top level and could get off the wobbly staircase.

In this new hallway, it seemed relatively intact, at least compared to where he had just come from. He moved along it slowly, looking left and right to make sure nothing was about to fall on him. To his disappointment, he didn't smell any blood here, but maybe he would if he moved down further. There was some dust here, but it was clearer, so taht was a relief. His nose was definitely happy with that. So far, he did not hear or see any zoners here. He put his nose up in the air and sniffed. He did not smell any zoners here, so he pressed on. There was a chance that the zoner smells were being inhibited by the burnt smell and the smoke. They might still be there if he looked hard enough, but he decided not to. Again, Skrawl is not going to know just how thorough he looked here.

Besides, if there were any zoners here, they are good as dead anyway. There might not be much collapse in the tunnels, but he could tell, from the way the hallway walls were warped, that the rooms around here had broken down. Any zoners still inside were either dead or they were dying. No point in trying to rescue them. He moved along, bypassing the rooms. At the end of the hallway, he turned left, the only way he could go due to airtight collapse on the right. The left side was still damaged, though, and he had to worm his way through the small openings in the debris.

After he got through the collapsed portion, he came to another dead end. The hallway here had a huge tear in it, and sunlight shined through the opening. He could see outside, with parts of ChalkZone City perfectly in view. He looked down and saw that he was a little higher than he thought he was. He could see the floor down below where he was at just a little while ago. He could also take note of at least one more level between him and the bottom floor. He raised his head and looked out ahead. The hallways after this seem to be mostly clear. He lowered himself and prepared to jump.

Bardot stopped when he heard something below him. The sound of someone walking. There was someone alive down there. Bardot narrowed his eyes and peered down, trying to see who it was. He couldn't tell from up here. He would need to travel down further. He studied the gap, trying his best to gauge how he was going to get over there. He placed himself on the edge, using his front feet to steady while he pushed his back feet against the edge to prepare to jump.

In seconds, he pushed with all his might, sending himself falling downward to the next lower level. He let out a cry of pain as he collapsed on the ground, smashing his scarred shoulder against the hard rock and metal. He got up onto his feet and shook his head. He could hear the footsteps had stopped momentarily, and now they were headed back in his direction. As they did, he caught a familiar scent in the air. He couldn't quite place why he recognized it; the smell of dirt and what not made it hard to pinpoint just what this smell was.

It didn't take him long to find out why he recognized it.

"...Bardot....?"

The hybrid zoner froze at that voice. It couldn't be, could it? His luck couldn't possibly be that good, right? Of all the zoners he could have run into, there was no way he would be fortunate enough to run into this particular zoner...wasn't there? He took a few steps forward, and as the dust cleared, he could see, much to his shock and delight, he had really been that lucky to find this particular zoner here.

Standing a few feet away from him was Barney. Ah, Barney.. his favorite victim... Yes, his target two years ago was Snap, but out of all the zoners, it was Barney who suffered at his claws the most. He recalled how much fun it was when he first encountered Barney. The zoner had no idea just how dangerous he was, and when he started to break his legs, slowly crushing his spirit... And then ripping out his eyes... He could tell that Rudy had fixed that, and he felt glad for it. Now he could see the look of fear etched on the centipede zoner's face as they stood only a few feet apart.

Bardot tilted his head to the side, giving a twisted smile to the frightened zoner. "Hello, dear Barney... Did you miss me...?" He gave a dark chuckle. He couldn't hurt Barney, but the zoner didn't know that. He could toy with him for a little while before he dragged him outside. "It's...been a while, hasn't it?"

Barney's antennas curled up and he moved backwards, cringing as the yellow zoner got closer. "P-Please, don't hurt me..." He whimpered, his body trembling.

Bardot just chuckled coldly as he continued to advance on the zoner. This was fun. He remembered doing this to him before, although back then, he could not see. Perhaps it had been a mistake to rip out his eyes. Seeing the fear shining in them..yes, that made this moment even better. Soon he had Barney boxed up against the wall. The zoner curled up in a ball and whimpered as Bardot moved closer to him.

He stood in front of Barney, flashing his teeth viciously at him. It would be so easy to rip him apart. If it weren't for this stupid shock collar, he could do all kinds of things to this zoner. Unspeakable acts...incredible violence... His red chalk half might be subdued, but its influence was still there. He could still sense his wilder side, his predatory side. And seeing Barney like this, backed up against the wall, that brought that part of him out even more.

Bardot licked his lips slowly. "I do miss our torture sessions, Barney. I miss hearing you scream.." He lowered himself, his haunches raised and tail swinging from side to side. "I wonder how easy it would be now.. I wonder if it will be how I remembered it..." With that, he moved closer to Barney.

"No! Please don't!" Barney put his arms and hands in front of his face in an attempt to defend himself. "Don't hurt me, please!" Barney had some tears move down his face.

Bardot reached out and placed his paw against Barney's cheek. The zoner's eyes widened, his pupils turning into dots. Bardot moved in closer, putting his forehead against Barney's. He grinned, his fangs and gums exposed. His green eyes glinted with the bit of sunlight that shined on them. Seeing the fear upclose... Yes, he was enjoying this. He was glad he took Skrawl's offer.

"I missed you, Barney. I'm sure you missed me." Bardot said, smiling cruelly at him. He rubbed the side of his face against him in an almost affectionate manner. With his head still pressed against him, he said, "Maybe after we get out of the hospital, you and I could...play together, just like old times. What do you say...?"

"Get the hell away from him!" A loud voice boomed.

In that second, there was a look of relief on the centipede's face, and Bardot's own eyes widened. He knew that voice anywhere. He turned his head and he could see King Mumbo Jumbo rushing towards him, his eyes blazing in anger. Bardot stared at this, his eyes wide and mouth dropping open. Cold fear rushed through his body. It took a few seconds for him to react.

When Mumbo Jumbo got close enough, Bardot let out an animal-like screech, fear flowing off of it, as he jumped into the air. His fur stood on end, his tail poofed up, and his crest raised up straight. He looked much like a startled cat in the air. His dilated pupils froze on Mumbo Jumbo. When he came back on the ground, he immediately jumped back away from Barney, putting space between him and the angered tortoise zoner.

Bardot stared at Mumbo Jumbo with a horrified expression. He took in a few quick breaths, trying to control his increasing heart rate, pounding against his chest. His ears flattened against the side of his head, his crest pressing down, becoming nearly unnoticeable. He crouched down low with his tail tucked between his legs. He moved back a few steps, his body trembling in fear. If there was one zoner that could strike terror in his heart, it was King Mumbo Jumbo, and for good reason. He had no advantage over him. He was defenseless against him.

"What are you doing here?!" Mumbo Jumbo growled, taking a defensive stance in front of Barney. "And did you forget what I said I'd do if you dare hurt my friend again?!" His voice was dripping with venom.

"I-I-I didn't forget.. I d-didn't hurt him..." Bardot said in a shaky voice, taking in quick breaths. "I was just p-p-playing with him is all.. I-I wasn't going to hurt him I swear..." He could tell the king did not look convinced. Gulping, looking left and right, Bardot said, "I-I can explain why I'm here.."

Mumbo Jumbo narrowed his eyes. "Explain then..." He folded his arms. "This had better be good."

“And that is pretty much how it all went down.” Penny said, the story finally concluded.

She and her friends watched their counterparts, noting their expressions. They had been quiet the whole time, never once interrupting. They listened intently as the trio explained the story of how they got here. Just like with Ms. Saffron and Alt-Snap, they included details of how they defeated Cosmo, the issue with Bardot and Draow, the black chalk users, the Lumino, all of that. They also added in details of the dark dimension, describing the twisted world and how different it was from this place.

As she, Rudy, and Snap explained to them, Penny did take notice of something a little odd with Light Rudy. He seemed strangely calm... Okay not completely calm. He still had reactions, like shock and disgust at the appropriate parts, like when they told him how Bardot killed her father and ate his arm in front of her. She guessed that he was calmer than she thought he was going to be because he might have seen a lot of gruesome things... She didn’t know the history of this place and it was possible that Light Rudy was a little more used to it.

But then...that doesn’t explain why Para-Penny and Para-Snap reacted worse. There was more fear and terror in their expressions, much like how she would have expected from Light Rudy. They would have seen the same horrible stuff as Light Rudy, right? They helped to protect ChalkZone, right? If that were the case, shouldn’t Light Rudy also be just as horrified as them?

There was still a chance she was overthinking things. Maybe Light Rudy was horrified but just didn’t react to the same degree as Para-Penny and Para-Snap. She not only didn’t know the history of this world, but she didn’t know about his either. And it wasn’t like he had no reaction; that would have been even more eerie. No, he was reacting appropriately, just not with the same intensity as she thought he was going to. She wasn’t going to judge him harshly. After all, he may be a valuable ally in this light dimension.

“That was an interesting story.” Light Rudy commented, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Dimensional hopping...I didn’t know it was possible.”

“It is. Believe us, it is...” Rudy said, rubbing the back of his head. “I can still feel the twists and turns as I was yanked down what was essentially a giant drain...”

Light Rudy gave a chuckle at this. “I can imagine. At least you don’t have to worry about it again...for a while I mean. You say you have a couple of hours here?”

Penny nodded her head affirmatively. “That is correct. We need to find that cure in the meantime.”

Light Rudy frowned at this. “I still wish I could tell you where it is.” He rested his chin on his hand and slowly shook it. “But I really don’t know where it is.”

“You told us that already.” Snap said, folding his arms. “Can you please stop saying that? It’s rather discouraging.” Penny noticed Para-Snap’s eyes widen a little at this.

“Yes, my apologies. I didn’t mean to remind you.” Light Rudy said, tilting his head slightly forward. His expression was soft and regretful for a few moments. Then he straightened himself up and looked more confident. “However, I do offer my assistance. I’ll do whatever I can to aid you in your quest.”

Rudy smiled at this, as did Penny and Snap. Rudy took a step forward. “Thank you. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate it.”

Light Rudy smiled back. “Don’t worry. I can tell how much it means to you.” He motioned a hand towards Para-Snap and Para-Penny. “They will escort you to a guest room where you can get your bearings and speak to each other about what you’re going to do.” At this, Para-Snap started to move his wheel chair over and Para-Penny walked alongside him. As they reached the trio, Light Rudy said, “I trust you will find these accomodations...better than what you experienced in that twisted dimension you told us about.”

“I’m sure we will.” Snap nodded his head.

“Yeah.” Rudy said. “Thanks.”

Light Rudy’s smile broadened a little. He made a motion with his hand and seconds later, Para-Penny and Para-Snap began to escort them down the hall. They didn’t get too far when Penny realized there was something they forgot to discuss. She stopped in her tracks. The counterparts looked at her, confused, while Rudy and Snap tried to say something. Penny didn’t give them a chance to. She looked back at Light Rudy and started to speak to him.

“Before we go, would you mind explaining to us how this dimension got this way?” Penny asked. Light Rudy looked at her a little confused. “I’d like to know, and I’m sure my friends do, too, right?” She looked over at Rudy and Snap. They looked at each other briefly and nodded their heads. Penny looked back at Light Rudy. “I know it’s..personal and...

“Why do you want to know?” Light Rudy asked, abruptly cutting her off. “Is there any reason you need to know?”

Penny was a little taken aback. Had she really upset him that much? No, he wasn’t upset. Just confused. But the tone was a little off. It was...a little different than the tone Rudy would usually use. She looked left and right and she said quietly. “Well...we told you our story, so I guess I thought...” She couldn’t think of an explanation. She felt stupid. She should have thought this through more. “I’m sorry.”

Light Rudy’s expression softened up. “No, I’m sorry. I am just...not used to such questions is all.” Penny nodded in understanding. Light Rudy stared at her and her friends for a few moments, as if contemplating what he should say. “It’s not important right now anyway. We can’t focus too much time telling each other stories.” He turned his head to the side and gave a dismissive wave of the hand. “Take them to the guest room now. Make sure they are comfortable.”

At this, Para-Snap and Para-Penny nodded their heads affirmatively. When Penny returned to the group, the two got behind her. They turned back to Light Rudy. Penny wondered if they were expecting another order from the teenager. And it turned out that thought was correct.

“After that, report back to me.” Light Rudy said, his eyes narrowed just slightly. “We need to discuss some things. I also would like to prepare a tour for those three.”

“A...tour?” Para-Snap asked, his voice a little quieter and less energetic than Snap’s. “For what reason...?”

Light Rudy stared at him for a few seconds, and then responded with, “I just want them to get a taste of what I was able to accomplish here. Interact with the locals a little. Besides...” He tapped his fingertips together, a small smile on his face. “I’m sure...one of them might have heard about this potion that we were told about.”

“A logical conclusion.” Para-Penny said, her face somewhat blank. “So many zoners come here, so it would make sense that one of them would know about this potion they speak of.” She turned her attention back to the trio. “Come along now. The room isn’t too far away. Let’s get you there so you can finally relax.”

The group started to move. They headed down the hallway, around the corner from where the throne was. Para-Penny and Para-Snap stayed close behind, guiding them as they moved through the castle. As they moved, Penny thought about the things that had happened. She still felt bad for asking what was probably an insensitive question. Even if Light Rudy didn’t seem overtly mad at it, she could tell she may have struck a nerve with him. She would be more careful with her questions in the future.

She was a little confused by that tour thing. Was it really necessary? True, they might find a zoner that knows about the cure, but they didn’t need to go on a tour for that. They could just go around, asking zoners on their own. A tour just seemed...unnecessary. But from the tone of his voice, Light Rudy was insisting on it. Maybe he was just excited and wanted to show them what he was able to get accomplished here. Considering how peaceful this place was, she could see that.

Still, that didn’t sound like the Rudy she knew. He wouldn’t boast like this. He wouldn’t take saving people and protecting them for granted. But then, she had to remind herself that Light Rudy wasn’t the same Rudy she knew; there were going to be differences, like how her counterpart seemed a little colder, at least in terms of when she talks sometimes, and Para-Snap was quieter and more subdued than their Snap, from what she had seen. So she shouldn’t really be surprised that he’s acting a little different here.

Snap spoke up, breaking her out of her silence.

“You are certain this place is safe?” Snap asked nervously. “There isn’t going to be some large armored zoner popping in and shooting the place up?”

Penny looked at him sympathetically. He must be still affected from when Draow took him in his jaws and nearly crushed to death. She couldn’t blame him. That wasn’t the only time he had been in the beast’s jaws. She recalled when she told him how Draow of their dimension nearly got him that way. After experiencing it again, she could tell why he would be so apprehensive about it happening again.

Rudy put a hand on Snap’s shoulder to comfort him. He then looked over at Light Rudy. “Yeah, this castle is well protected, right?” He paused for a moment, and then said, “You claim it’s safe. Just..how well protected is this place?”

There was a flash in Light Rudy’s eyes. Nothing hostile or aggressive, but still unexpected. The teenager slowly rose from his throne. Para-Penny and Para-Snap watched him with expressions that Penny best could read as apprehension. That worried her. Did they offend Light Rudy?

If they did, Light Rudy did not react in anger. When he came within a few feet of them, he just stood there. His expression was still soft and gentle, nothing like what Dark Rudy had given them. He slowly smiled, staring intently at them. “Don’t worry...we have everything under control here...” There was a twinkle in his eye, something like Dark Rudy had, only..not so ominous.

Rudy stared at his counterpart for a few seconds, and then nodded his head. “Thanks for the reassurance.”

“No problem.” Light Rudy said, nodding his head once. Then he frowned. “Now get going. You don’t have that much time to plan. And if the Luminos in your dimension are as bad as you say they are, well, I wouldn’t want you losing your opportunity to get the cure here.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Rudy said, before turning around and starting to walk away. He raised his hand up. “We’ll see you around.”

The trio then resumed walking down the hallway, guided by two of their counterparts. The hallway soon curved and they were out of sight of the throne room. Now they headed into an area with a tall ceiling but walls pretty close together, forcing them into a single file line. Para-Snap had the hardest time due to his wheelchair, but he managed surprisingly well in spite of the difficulty.

The castle was pretty. It felt elaborate and yet so simple. It was nothing like Cosmo’s stronghold in the dark dimension. This felt easier to navigate, with the design similar to an actual medieval castle. There were even maps that they passed by that showed them where they were, and how to get to certain places. That was definitely different from what they experienced before. A nice change of pace.

The castle seemed to be made mostly of marble. Some of it was still stone, but large chunks of it were clearly marble. They could tell from the swirl designs and the shininess of it. The hallway they entered had some more pictures. This time, it was less of Light Rudy and more of ChalkZone itself. Some were maps of how things used to be and changed, then there were some layouts and designs... Penny guessed that some of this was Light Rudy’s work and he was just so proud of what he did that he hung them up, or maybe he wanted to preserve history or something.

The torches that hung on the wall were pretty to look at. There was already lighting here so the torches were not necessary. They seemed more..decorative than anything. They were too small to be of good illumination. The color was a cross between purple and blue. It was hard to tell which color it seemed more like. As they walked down the hallway, past these torches, Penny could hear a little crackling from the fire. Despite the flames being pretty close, despite feeling the heat, she didn’t feel afraid of the fire, as if she somehow knew it wasn’t going to harm her. It was somehow soothing. Maybe it was the color?

Penny decided to try to make a little conversation. Though they didn’t have far to walk, from what they were told, she didn’t think it would hurt to talk a little with their counterparts to pass the time. Plus they could take this chance to learn a little about this dimension.

“So...you two are your Rudy’s advisors?” A stupid question, and Penny felt silly for asking it. “I-I mean...” She tried to correct herself, but she couldn’t think of what to say.

“Yeah we are.” Para-Penny said in a simple tone. She did not sound like she was upset, or if she was, she hid it very well. “We help him make many of the decisions here.”

Para-Snap spoke up. “Of course, he is allowed to veto anything if he decides he does not agree.”

“Veto? That doesn’t sound like...” Snap started to say.

Para-Penny cut him off. “We are his advisors, meaning we advise things to him. He does not have to listen to us.”

Snap stared at her and then nodded his head slowly. “Oh..okay. Sorry, I misunderstood.”

“Understandable.” Para-Penny said.

Then more silence after that. Penny wondered why these two weren’t too talkative. Light Rudy spoke more than they did. She thought, at first, it was because Light Rudy didn’t want them interrupting their discussion too much. But now that they were away from him, she would have thought that they would speak a little more. But they were still quiet, at least in comparison to Light Rudy. She had to wonder why they were quiet. Just their personalities...or something more?

She shook the thought out of her head. She didn’t want to be suspicious of anything if she didn’t have anything really strong to go off of. This dimension, so far, had not given her strong reason to be suspicious. She glanced at her friends. Though they still had their guard up, she could tell they were starting to relax a little. Despite a few strange things, this place was more or less safe compared to the dark dimension.

Snap started to speak. “Say...what is with those things on your arms?” Para-Snap looked at him. Snap’s gaze was on the golden braces on his arms. “Why do you wear them?”

Para-Snap stared at him. For a second, his eyes widened. Snap gave a puzzled expression. Para-Snap turned his head away. “I-I just like them, okay?”

Snap cocked an eyebrow. “Okay then...”

Penny’s previous relaxation was interrupted when she heard the tone of Para-Snap’s voice. That was the most emotion he put into any of his talking. He sounded...frightened almost. But why? Was there something more to those braces that met the eye? Maybe they were sentimental to him and reminded him of a horrific tragedy maybe? It didn’t seem like he couldn’t take them off, so she doubted he was being forced to wear them. Yeah, that must be it. He wears them because they remind him of something in the past. A past mistake perhaps?

Snap did look sorry for bringing up the gold braces. He had clearly struck a nerve with Para-Snap. He hadn’t meant to. Penny knew he didn’t mean to upset him. He wasn’t the type of zoner to deliberately cause trouble like that. She could hear him give a soft-voiced apology as they continued on down the hallway. Para-Snap’s previous expression changed back to what it was before, a relaxed one.

Soon enough, they reached the room. It was a tall door with something of a point at the top. A double door at that. Para-Penny moved over and she pushed the door open for them. She stepped aside and she motioned with her hand for them to go on. She and Para-Snap both smiled. Small, not very energetic, but they were still there and they appeared to be quite genuine. Definitely better than the eerie, psychotic smiles they got from Mr. Cosmo and Dark Rudy.

“You may go in. If you need us, there’s a bell in there. Ring it and one of us will come up.” Para-Penny explained as the trio walked into the room.

Para-Snap nodded his head. “Don’t be afraid to contact us. We’re here to help in anyway we can.”

With that, the door shut behind them. The trio listened as the footsteps and wheel sounds disappeared down the hallway, leaving them alone in the room. They turned and looked around.

The room they were in was quite nice. It was large and spacious. There was a large bed, the kind that had curtains around it for privacy. It was big enough it could hold all three of them comfortably. There was a dresser to store stuff in if they needed to, a table, and like Para-Snap said, there was a bell on the wall for them to ring. Directly across from them was a large window, allowing them to see into ChalkZone City down below. In front of the window was a sill like what Rudy had, big enough that they could sit on it without trouble.

They walked in further into the room, continuously looking around. It was definitely a nice room, prettier than they would have expected from a guest room. They guessed Light Rudy really wanted guests to fell at home here. Perhaps the zoners around here use them at times? That would make sense. No way Light Rudy would spend all of his time here. That would make no sense; he’d starve to death without access to real world water and food.

The group walked over to the window sill. They sat down on it, keeping close to each other. They looked out the window, admiring the beauty outside. They could see the zoners down below. They appeared to be having a great time. They didn’t know what they were celebrating, but it seemed like every zoner wanted in on it. They smiled at this. They were glad to see a place where the zoners were happy, and not enslaved like in the dark dimension. They deserved to be happy, not locked up like wild animals.

“This place is nice.” Rudy said, breaking the silence. Penny and Snap stared at him as Rudy glanced out the window. “My counterpart must be doing a great job of protecting ChalkZone here. I mean, look at how happy everyone is here. They’re singing, dancing, playing... They’re even happier than in our dimension.”

Penny could detect a hint of..not jealously, but sadness? “Rudy, are you upset about something?”

Rudy looked at her. “Well..I just wish I was doing as good of a job as my counterpart is here. I mean...” He looked back outside. “I want our ChalkZone to be as happy as this one. I want to be able to be the person they can count on to fix things.”

“Bucko, our ChalkZone already sees you as that.” Snap said, pointing his round hand at Rudy. “You saved ChalkZone before. The zoners there already trust you to be able to help them. You don’t have to be upset that this place is happier.”

“Snap is right, Rudy.” Penny said, putting a hand on Rudy’s shoulder. “You’re doing a great job back in our dimension. Don’t change your habits just because of how this dimension is, okay?”

Rudy stared at his friends, and then slowly nodded his head. “Yeah, I know. It would be silly of me to be upset.. You’re right..” He looked out the window again, and then back at his friends. “I hope finding that potion in this place won’t be difficult.”

“I’m sure it won’t be.” Penny said. She wanted to do her best to stay positive. In spite of them not knowing where the cure was, they couldn’t just give up. “The Rudy here is willing to help us, and there doesn’t appear to be any bad guy close to here. I think this might be a smooth ride.”

Snap nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’m sure, with our counterpart’s help and no interruptions, we’ll find that cure in a jiffy!”

“Yeah... We might be able to operate more smoothly in this dimension, we...” Rudy started to say.

Suddenly, something interrupted them. Something that they did not expect and couldn’t comprehend. Tearing through the air, there was a faint sound. They couldn’t tell what it was, but it was very unpleasant and uncomfortable. They could barely hear it, but what they did here sent chills down their spine, and then it was gone almost as soon as it happened. They stared at each other, horrified expressions on their faces. They all had the same thought rush through their heads: What did they just hear?

Chapter Text

The uncomfortable sound rang in the back of Rudy’s mind, refusing to let up. It had been faint and barely audible, but he knew it was there. No mistaking, it was definitely there, and it chilled him to the bone. Just what was that sound? Why was it in the castle? Was someone hurt? Was it some other unknown sound? His counterpart must have noticed the sound, right? Maybe he could explain what it was.

Rudy couldn’t tell if the sound was even from a sentient person or not. He couldn’t tell if it was a scream, a yell, a roar, something else... It might not even been from a living thing. But the sound was so...frightening, especially with the way it just appeared out of nowhere. It was amazing how a faint sound could change the whole feeling of a group. One minute, they were more or less relaxed and enjoying the view. And now, they were stiffened up in fear, looking around to see if there was some kind of attack or something. They half-expected one of their counterparts to burst through the door and warn them of danger.

But that never happened. As the minutes passed, the sound never came back, and there was no indication of anyone coming down the hallway. Whatever it was, it must not have alerted their counterparts. Rudy found that strange. Why wouldn’t they be alarmed by this sound? Surely they must have heard it, right? Yeah, if they could hear it, faintly, in here, then their counterparts would have definitely heard it.

Maybe they did react to it. Maybe they took care of the problem and that was why they didn’t hear anything else. Maybe it was some zoner who was stuck and needed help, or maybe it was some kind of machine that malfunctioned. There could be multiple reasons for the sound. Reasonable ones that didn’t involve some kind of malice, trickery, or weaponry. Rudy did not want to jump to conclusions so easily. The sound was probably nothing they had to worry about too much. Yeah, probably just something that malfunctioned or a zoner that needed help but now got it.

But the chilliness of the sound... There was no way Rudy could just write that off. The way that the noise sounded like... It certainly was not a cheerful sound. It was almost foreboding in nature, and caused him to shudder. Even though he had no idea just what exactly the sound was, there was something about it that made him feel uncomfortable. He couldn’t shake it off, no matter how hard he tried. There was just...something not right about that sound.

“Wh-What was that...?” Snap asked, his wide, fearful eyes darting around. “It sounded like a scream...”

“Or broken machinery...” Penny added, her wary eyes scanning the room as if she was hoping to find the source of the sound. “It sounded like it came from below us.” She looked down towards the ground with a cautious expression. Rudy and Snap did the same. “Do you think that they heard?”

Rudy nodded his head once. “I have no doubt about that.” He turned his head towards the bell. “Maybe now is a good time to use that bell. We have to talk to them about this.”

“Good idea, Rudy. They might know what that sound was.” Penny said. “Maybe it’ll turn out to be nothing serious.” Penny smiled the best she could. Rudy could tell she was struggling to do so and she could see more worry than any genuine positive feeling in that smile she mustered. “I hope they don’t mind us calling them this early.”

“No I don’t think they would.” Snap waved his hand to the side. “Why else would they give us a bell if they don’t want us to use it?”

“Well you never know.” Penny said.

Rudy made his way over to the bell. He could feel his friends watching them. They started to walk slowly behind him, taking their time. Rudy reached the bell. It was gold in color and there was a string attached to it. He bit his lip and then reached over. He grabbed the string and he started to pull it downward. The bell itself started to shake and the ring of the bell sounded out. He kept pulling down until he could do it no more, the ring lasting as long as he pulled the string.

He released the bell and he took a few steps back, along with his friends. The ring didn’t sound abnormal and yet there was still something about it he didn’t like. Maybe the tone? It was just..off somehow. He couldn’t quite place it. He stared at the bell intently, as if he thought it was going to jump out at him. He only tore his eyes away from it when he heard footsteps approaching the door. He and his friends backed away to make some room.

One of the doors opened up with a creak. They made quick notice of there being only one person coming in and they recognized immediately who it was. It was Light Rudy. The teenager walked slowly into the room, his arms folded up behind his back. Silence fell upon the room. The only thing that could be heard is the sound of Light Rudy’s robe dragging along behind him. Rudy still found the robe cape thing to be strange and he wondered why his counterpart took to wearing it.

After Light Rudy made his way about halfway into the room, he stopped and turned aroud. He faced the trio, a small smile on his face. He didn’t look very upset that they called someone up so early. In fact, it looked almost like he expected it. Maybe he did know something about that noise. Maye he would explain to them what it was, if that were the case.

“May I help you?” Light Rudy asked in a gentle voice.

“Yeah..” Snap said. Light Rudy turned his attention to the small zoner. “What was that noise?” He spread his arms out. “It just came out of nowhere!”

Light Rudy tilted his head to the side. “Noise? What noise?”

The trio looked at him with perplexed expressions.

“Oh come now..don’t tell me you didn’t hear it!” Snap said, his eyes widened. Light Rudy leaned himself back and shrugged his shoulders. “It just happened..just a few minutes ago! Right guys?” Rudy and Penny nodded their heads. “See?”

Rudy told his counterpart, “It was an eerie sound. I can’t quite place what it was.” He used his hands to gesture, trying to get his counterpart to understand what he was talking about. “It was faint and it came from down below. It was almost a moan but it wasn’t...” All the while, Light Rudy just stared at him like he didn’t know what he was talking about. This frustrated Rudy. How could his counterpart not know? “Oh come on! You can’t be serious that you didn’t hear it! If we heard it up here, then you should have heard it..”

Light Rudy narrowed his eyes a little. Penny, likely sensing that Rudy might be starting to go a little far, placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder. Rudy froze and looked at her. Then he looked back at Light Rudy. He winced a little. He could see now that he was upsetting Light Rudy a little. He didn’t seem outwardly furious or anything. But, for a brief moment, his eyes were uncomfortable to look at.

Rudy took a step back and lowered his head slightly. “Sorry about that.”

Penny looked at him sadly, and then turned her head towards Light Rudy. “He didn’t mean to raise his voice like that. He’s just confused...we all are. I mean...” She raised her hand up, a perplexed expression on her face. “Are you really serious that you did not hear the noise?”

Light Rudy stared at the group. The glare remained on his face. He looked at them, like he was studying him, maybe trying to judge and see if they were telling the truth or not. He folded his arms against his chest, his glare never softening. At first, Rudy wonder if his counterpart was going to scold them for making him come up for ‘nothing’. Though Rudy would feel bad about wasting anyone’s time, he would also be upset if his counterpart thought them to be liars. His counterpart would know he wouldn’t do that...right?

Light Rudy’s expression slowly softened up. He turned his gaze downward slightly. He gave a sigh. “I do apologize if I confused you.” He took a step forward and spread his hands out. “As for that noise, it’s nothing really. Just some zoner having a little too much fun. It happens occasionally here. My friends and I are used to it.”

The trio looked at each other warily. Just some zoner having fun? Though the thought did cross their minds, the more they thought about it, the more they began to think it was something else. That sound..it was too eerie to be some zoner having fun. There was...something more chilling and sinister about that sound. If something terrible was going on nearby, Light Rudy would need to know about it.

Rudy realized that something sounded a little odd about the ‘zoner having too much fun’ explanation. He didn’t want to accuse his counterpart of lying or being crazy, but if that sound was from zoners having fun...how come they never heard it before? They didn’t hear it when they were outside. Nothing like it. Cheers and whistles, yes. But this sound? No. Nothing even remotely like it. And if it was from the zoners, shouldn’t they have heard more? The zoners were pretty noisy outside. There should have been quite a bit of that noise...and there wasn’t. Something didn’t add up.

“That...doesn’t seem possible.” Penny said. Light Rudy shot her a look. She took a step back, fumbling with her fingers. “I-I mean...I’m not trying to insult you or anything, but..” She looked left and right, trying to think of something to say. “It just doesn’t seem logical that...”

“It is nothing, okay?” Light Rudy said firmly. He turned his gaze towards the window. “Take a look outside and you’ll see there’s a bunch of zoners having fun. They aren’t far from the window.” He deepened his frown. “Do you think it’s too much of a stretch that the noise came from there?”

“Well..I suppose..but...” Penny stared to say.

Light Rudy cut her off with a wave of the hand. “Then it’s settled then. I told you once, and I will say it again.” He leaned forward a little, his eyes staring intently into Penny’s. “We have everything under control here...” He said with great emphasis on ‘everything’ and ‘control’. He tilted his head to the side. “Do you understand?”

Penny nodded her head once. “Yeah..I do..”

“Good.” Light Rudy said, his smile returning to his face. “I am glad we could get that misunderstanding sorted out.

Rudy stared at his counterpart, a confused and faintly angry expression. He couldn’t believe the way he spoke to Penny. It was almost like he was scolding her like she were his daughter. That wasn’t right. Why would he treat her like that? Did he treat his Penny like this? A second later, and he gave a small sigh. He was probably just looking too much into it. Maybe he just felt a little insulted or something. Didn’t excuse his behavior, but he didn’t want to make a scene. Penny didn’t seem as upset about it as he was.

It was still strange, though, the way he talked to her. He put so much emphasis on those words, especially control. He had done the same thing before, when Para-Penny and Para-Snap were taking them up here. Why did Light Rudy focus so much energy into that one word? Was he trying to drive it into their heads that everything was organized here? Though Rudy was glad that this place hadn’t fallen into chaos, he couldn’t help but feel a little unnerved by the whole ‘control’ thing.

To him, it almost sounded like his counterpart was..obsessed with control. The thought was unnerving. Again, he didn’t want to accuse his counterpart of anything. Maybe there’s an explanation for it later on. Maybe a little more control was how he managed to keep things orderly and keep ChalkZone safe. A little more control wasn’t going to hurt anyone, and from how the zoners were acting outside, it wasn’t like his counterpart stripped them of their rights or anything. Maybe he was overthinking things. He shouldn’t get too worked up over what might be nothing.

Rudy managed to keep himself calm. The last thing that needed to happen is him snapping at Light Rudy and causing some kind of disagreement. If Light Rudy won’t help them, then they were in trouble. They didn’t know this world as well as he did. They were going to need his assistance. Best to try to keep things as civil as possible.

“I hope we don’t hear that noise again.” Snap said, looking uncomfortable.

“You might...” Light Rudy warned him. “Just try to block it out, okay? I’m able to do it, as well as my friends. I’m sure you’ll be able to. And besides..” Light Rudy’s smile broadened a little. “At least you don’t have to worry about it for too long. Just a few hours.”

The trio nodded in understanding. Light Rudy was correct on that. They didn’t have to endure that uncomfortable sound for too long. They still had doubts that it was some zoners having fun, but it might turn out to be nothing. Besides, they had little time to investigate everything odd going on here. They had to remain focused on getting the potion first. After they nab the cure, then they could go around trying to investigate that sound.

Rudy, despite what Light Rudy said, was interested in trying to get to the bottom of it. He wasn’t sure that it was just nothing and he couldn’t help but doubt it was some zoner outside. The more he thought about it, the more he doubted that Light Rudy’s assumption was correct. If something sinister was going on, he felt it was only fair that he try to figure things out. Maybe help his counterpart fix the problem so that it didn’t get any worse. He was certain Light Rudy would appreciate the help.

Light Rudy suddenly clapped his hands together twice. This caught their attention and the three friends focused their gaze on him. Light Rudy still wore a smile, the friendliest he had ever given them. His eyes were filled with intent, but none of it seemed like it was negative intent at all. Rather, it was inviting, warming. Nothing about his gaze suggested anything like that Dark Rudy’s eyes promised them. And that helped them relax more.

“How about that tour?” Light Rudy suggested, rubbing his hands together. “After whatever scared you, I’m sure you all want to wind down now a little, don’t you?”

Rudy looked at his friends. They gave him a quick nod. He turned his gaze back to Light Rudy. “Yeah that sounds good.” He paused for a moment. “When will the tour begin? We don’t have much time and...”

“Now.” Light Rudy said. Noting their perplexed expressions, he added, “It doesn’t take me long to work things out.” He continued to smile at the trio. “Trust me, after a couple of years of helping to run this place, I get used to squeezing in some..unexpected detours of sorts.”

“Well..if it’s not too much trouble..” Rudy said.

Light Rudy raised his hand much like how he had with Penny. He closed his eyes. “Oh it’s no trouble at all!” He reopened his eyes, the same smile still plastered over his face. “I would be delighted to push aside what I had planned and take you on a brief tour.” He walked over to Rudy and put his arm around Rudy. This act surprised Rudy and confused Snap and Penny. “I very much would like you to see some of my...work. I’m sure you’ll love it.”

Rudy wasn’t sure how to react to being held by his counterpart like this. He could feel Light Rudy pulling him against his body. He was pressed so close, he could feel his warmth and his breath as he breathed against him. He didn’t squirm. Despite being confused by this act, he did not resist, afraid that he might offend Light Rudy if he did try to get away from him. It was just a partial hug after all. Nothing sinister.

True, he had seen Penny get hugged by Cosmo, even kissed by him. He shuddered at the thought. But he knew Cosmo was the enemy, an evil man with a vile ambition. Light Rudy did not display these same traits, and his goal was to keep ChalkZone safe. He had to be so far removed from Cosmo, right? Yeah, he was just being friendly was all. He managed to smile back at his counterpart.

“I think I’d like it, too.” Rudy said.

Light Rudy grinned. “I knew you would!” He gently patted Rudy on the shoulder and walked towards the door. He stopped and gave them a sideways glance. “I will wait for you in my throne room. Come down and meet me in a few minutes. I’ll give you a little bit of time to prepare. But be quick. There isn’t a huge window of time.”

With that, Light Rudy walked out of the room, leaving the trio behind. They looked at each other, each thinking about what had happened. They were still freaked out by that noise they heard earlier. They could all still hear it in their heads, echoing, tugging at them. It was almost like a warning, like someone or something was trying to tell them something sinister was going on. Maybe some bad guy they didn’t, or even Light Rudy, knew about. Or someone that Light Rudy didn’t want them to know about. But he wouldn’t lie about something like that, could he?

Rudy knew his counterpart was not corrupted by the black chalk. He kept telling himself that over and over. There was no way his counterpart could do anything too questionable when he was not tainted by that horrible black entity in the form of chalk. Rudy knew what he was like without the black chalk. He would never hurt anyone and his counterpart must be the same way. If he, uncorrupted by black chalk, would not lie about an enemy existing, then neither would his counterpart, who was also not controlled by the black chalk.

Suddenly, the memory of a voice came to him. Something that was told to him recently that he nearly forgotten about. In the back of his mind, he could see the vision of the black chalk dragons, the dark cloaked beast with bright white light inside it. He remembered the inverted version, the white dragon with a pitch black inside as it opened its maw at him. The screeches filled his head and he remembered how they circled around him menacingly.

Then he remembered something the black chalk told him.

“You will not escape, not even in the light. For you see, even in the brightest of light...There lies sometimes the cruelest of the dark. Even as a hero, you may hurt.”

Rudy could not suppress the look of horror on his face as those words echoed in the back of his mind. He didn’t want to believe it. The black chalk, it was just taunting him, wasn’t it? It was putting ideas into his head so that he would start to doubt himself. The black chalk wanted him to believe that he could be a vile person without it. The black chalk wanted him to give into his inner darkness so he would be easier to control. He..he couldn’t allow it.

Then something else flashed in his head. The destruction he had seen in the nightmare... his body trembled as he realized something horrific about it. Recalling the details of the nightmare the best he could, he realized, with a cold chill going down his spine, that the destruction eerily matched what he had seen in the dark dimension. And the destruction of the hospital he was in...it reminded him of what happened when Raiden had ordered an attack on it.

Rudy tried not to, but he couldn’t help it. He started to tremble in horror as he realized that the black chalk may have known that these things were going to happen and it was giving him a warning. And if what the black chalk was doing was giving him a premonition, then that thing about intenst cruelty laying in the light, not just the dark, then...then was it possible that...?

“Rudy?”

Penny’s voice snapped Rudy out of his trance. He looked over and he saw that Penny and Snap were looking at him worriedly.

“You okay, Bucko?” Snap asked, his eyes filled with concern. “You really had us worried there.”

“Yeah, you were spacing out. Is something wrong?” Penny asked.

Rudy shook his head to get the thoughts out of his mind. He stared at his friends. He knew it was not a good idea to lie to them. But at the moment, he didn’t want to think about what he recalled in his mind. He’ll tell them later. Right now, he just wanted to clear his mind.

Reaching his hand up and rubbing his head, Rudy said, “Y-Yeah...I’m fine.” He stared at his friends, who didn’t look too convinced. “Let’s just get going. My counterpart is waiting for us...”

With that, he started to walk towards the door. Penny and Snap looked at each other, concern etched on their faces. They then started to follow close behind Rudy. The three friends disappeared down the hallway.

sss

“Oh come now...” Jenny said, a nasty grin on her face. “Do you really want to keep resisting? Why don’t you make easier on yourself?”

Tilly let out a scream as the whip hit against her face. She snarled at the woman. The blonde must be crazy to think that she would bow down so easily. “Go fuck yourself...”

Jenny’s eyes widened a little at this. “I wonder if you are the one who taught Rudy the foul language.” Tilly did not answer. Jenny’s smirk returned, and she tilted her head a little, lowering it in a menacing manner. “Very well then. If you won’t join willingly...I have other ways of doing so...”

Tilly narrowed her eyes. “And just how do you propose you’ll do that?”

“Oh you’ll see...” Jenny said, chuckling evilly, her shoulders shaking. “You will see, dear...”

Tilly watched, her eyes narrowed, as Jenny turned and walked away. As soon as the blonde woman left her alone in the room, Tilly hung her head, her thoughts swimming with what happened recently. She still didn’t fully remember how she got here. It was all a haze. What she did recall was that she woke up cuffed to this wall and told that her daughter was being held captive. The black chalk artists made it clear from the get go that they planned on corrupting her.

Horror settled in her stomach as she recalled the bits of their plan that they revealed to her. They wanted a spy from within the family, and so they singled her out. Maybe it was because they thought she would be the easiest target. Well they were right about one thing. She had been easy to capture. One minute she was doing..whatever it was. Shopping maybe, and then the next she wakes up in here, completely defenseless, well except for her words and her resistance. Occassionally she ended up pleading with Jenny stop, but she’d find her inner strength again and start to resist once more, much the woman’s chagrin.

They did not say just what they planned to do with Sophie. She bit her lip, her mind filling with dread. Just what had they done to her? They didn’t say if she was okay or not. They didn’t say if they were going to try to corrupt her as well. She hoped they would let her go. Her daughter didn’t deserve this. What did Sophie do to deserve being locked up like some wild animal? She had a feeling they weren’t even going to feed her. They were just keeping her in the basement so that she would crack.

She still resisted. She still did her best not to give in. Sophie would be disappointed in her if she gave in. She had to remain strong, no matter what. Yet the fear still lingered there. Not just of Sophie, but for herself too. What would happen if the black chalk artists did corrupt her with the black chalk, like Jenny said they would? She would become a threat to her own loved ones. Her body filled with terror as she realized she might end up doing horrible, despicable things to Sophie, Rudy, her sister, anyone else she cared about... She didn’t want that. She didn’t want to partake in such horrible things.

But what was she going to do? Jenny had just assured her that they had ways of making her give in. Were they going to hurt Sophie? Were they going to force corrupt her? Was there something else she had in mind? All she could do to find out..was sit here and wait. The idea was very uncomfortable. She had to sit here and wait in complete and utter silence until Jenny got back. Or Tyreek or Ghadir if they decided to show their faces to her anytime soon.

The realization that she might be turned against her loved ones caused a few tears to roll down her face. She recalled when her sister, Millie, told her about what happened with Rudy, how he was almost corrupted by the black chalk. The idea frightened her. Rudy couldn’t control himself. He was not able to stop his horrendous actions while he was controlled. Was it going to be the same for her? Was she going to be forced to...harm those she cared about? The more she thought about it, the more tears that came.

She lifted up her head at the sound of footsteps. She looked over and she could see Jenny returning to the room. A part of her was relieved that Jenny was at least merciful enough not to let her wallow alone, wondering what she was going to do to her. The other was furious that she did not give her enough time away from her. Two very conflicting views, and it ended up giving her a little bit of a headache.

Jenny walked in front of her. She was holding a small bag in her hand. Even though it wasn’t opened up, Tilly could see the black glow eminating from it. She knew right away what it was, even before Jenny pulled it out. Jenny waved the piece of black chalk in front of her tauntingly, knowing full well all she had to do was press it against her skin and the black chalk would take a hold of her. Tilly watched, her eyes glued to the black chalk, dread rising up inside. She did her best not to show her fear, but Jenny seemed to have caught it.

“I take it you know what this is, right, Tilly?” Jenny said, grinning darkly. “And I also can guess that you know what will happen if I touch you with it, right?”

Tilly stared at her. “What are you going to do with it?” There was a bit of a crack in her voice, despite her best efforts not to show fear. “Corrupt me with it?”

“Well that is a tempting thought, and part of the original plan.” Jenny said. She looked at the black chalk, twisting it around as though she were examining it. “But I have another idea.” She looked over at Tilly, her eyes twinkling black for a second. Tilly cringed, knowing that Jenny had something horrible planned for her. “I’m going to make you beg for it...”

Tilly’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “You’re a fucking idiot if you think I would want that!”

Jenny chuckled evilly. “Oh, dear Tilly...you don’t know what I’m capable of.” Tilly watched as Jenny paced back and forth in front of her, watching her warily. “You see, the black chalk’s effects are...kind of like a drug. You take a little, you don’t like it, but constantly exposed, you’re not addicted yet, but you start to crave it.” She looked at the black chalk and then gave Tilly a sideways glance, a nasty grin filled with hidden dark promise. “All I need to do is constantly subject you to short bursts of this stuff...and you will eventually beg me to keep it on you.”

“No...I’d never do that!” Tilly shook her head, doing her best to glare at Jenny. “You can’t make me!”

“Oh we will see about that...” Jenny smirked as she moved the black chalk towards an exposed part of Tilly’s left arm. “I wonder how many times it will take before you want the corruption to stick with you... Trust me, it’ll end up feeling good. You would want it to come back. You’ll be pleading for it to envelop you...”

Tilly closed her eyes and looked away. Not able to hold back her tears anymore, they started to drip down her face. “No...”

Jenny’s eyes widened, a black shine to them. “Oh yes... And I am going to enjoy it so much...” She brought the black chalk closer. In seconds, it would make contact with Tilly’s arm. “Now..hold still...”

Tilly, helpless, could only stand there and wait as the corruptive black chalk was about to touch her skin.

Suddenly, there was a set of footsteps rushing towards them. Without warning, a male voice cried out.

“Hey, bitch!”

Both Tilly and Jenny’s widened in shock at that. They turned their heads to see what was going on. As soon as Jenny turned her head, she was suddenly sized by her shirt collar by what looked to be a man. Tilly didn’t recognize him at first, but it certainly was not Tyreek. The man in question, snarling at Jenny, pulled his fist back and punched her in the face. Jenny staggered back, her nose bleeding.

Then the man looked over at her and asked, “Are you okay?”

Tilly recognized who the man was. “Mr. Longhorn?!”

sss

Penny did feel relieved about being able to walk through ChalkZone City rather than having to fly over it in stealth. The brace Mr. Cosmo fitted her with was doing well in helping her walk on the ground. She had almost forgotten she was wearing the thing. The only sign that there was anything wrong with her leg was a slight limp. Some of the zoners took notice, but said nothing, likely because she seemed to be doing just fine.

It was definitely nice not having to worry about making noise. The locals were now aware of their presence, and they took it rather well. A quick introduction from Light Rudy and the locals were relaxed around them. A few even attempted to speak with them before having to run off doing something else.

The zoners here seemed genuinely happy. At first, it was hard to tell from the window and from above, but seeing it upclose, the happiness seemed genuine. There was nothing about it that seemed fake. The zoners were welcoming, waving and smiling at them, and just having a good time. There was still something a little off about it, but she wasn’t as worried as she was before. Neither were Snap or Rudy. They had all forgotten about that strange sound from before, their minds relaxed. They looked around and took in the sights all around them.

Zoners playing games, like hopscotch, jumprope, and chess. Other zoners were walking together, either as friends or on a date. Other zoners were helping to clean up the streets. Zoners greeting each other or inviting each other inside. It was all pretty to look at and caused happiness to swell inside Penny’s chest. Seeing these zoners look and behave so happy... It was a wonderful sight to see. It reminded her of their own ChalkZone back at home, though as they constantly noted before, the zoners here were just..happier.

She wondered just what was making these zoners so happy. Maybe it was the cleaner city. It definitely looked shinier than their ChalkZone City. Maybe it was the larger space and more places for them to go, more things to do. Maybe it was the zero crime and no hostility. She did not see a single hostile zoner, not even someone who was just a bit of a jerk. There was no crime, no matter how small, not even something simple like jaywalking. Perhaps they should speak to Light Rudy after this and get an understanding of just what made this place like this, how he succeeded in making everyone so happy.

She, her friends, and Light Rudy continued to walk through the city. Light Rudy was taking them along a set path, marked on the ground. She guessed that taking zoners on a small tour of ChalkZone City, at least some of the busier parts, was common. Light Rudy might take in new zoners just recently erased and show them around. Maybe he helps them find a place here in ChalkZone City, much like how Snap does in their dimension, what with the tours and all he tends to do while she and Rudy are at home or at school.

“Hey I have a question.” Rudy asked.

Light Rudy, who was in front of them, turned his head to give Rudy a sideways glance. “Yes?”

“What is your Skrawl like?” Rudy inquired. Light Rudy gave him a strange look. “Yeah, I know. An out of the blue question. But..I just couldn’t help but ask.” He looked all around him. “None of these zoners seem...angry in anyway. I was wondering if Skrawl here is..happier than ours.”

“Yeah, the guy might have turned over a new leaf, but he still has an attitude problem.” Snap pointed out.

Light Rudy nodded his head once. “Yes, my Skrawl was like that at one time. Especially before the events of Mr. Cosmo.” He stopped walking, causing the trio to pause as well. They watched him as he closed his eyes and turned his head towards the sky. He took in a deep breath. “But I assure you, he has been given a...useful purpose. I gave him a position that will assure he can give a good message to everyone in ChalkZone.”

“Well that’s good.” Rudy said, giving a small smile. “I’m glad to see that he’s changed sides here, too.”

“Better than him going back to being a criminal, that’s for sure.” Snap added.

Light Rudy gave a chuckle. It caused the trio to freeze. Not because it sounded cold, but because it was sudden, unexpected. Light Rudy gave them a wide grin. “Rest assurred you will find no criminals here. Any and every criminal is accounted for.” He moved his head to the side, turning his gaze to the zoners around them. “And these civilians don’t need to worry about them anymore.”

Penny wondered just how Light Rudy kept the streets so free of criminals. He did mention that all the criminals are ‘accounted for’. What did he mean by that? Did he mean that he has tabs on all criminals? Did he have all of them arrested and sent to jail? This version of Rudy did seem even more devoted to ChalkZone than her Rudy, and that was saying something. Perhaps it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think that Light Rudy spends more time looking for criminals and having them pay their dues.

That was definitely an admirable trait. She liked that Light Rudy was so dedicated in keeping ChalkZone safe, even if it meant potentially depriving himself of sleep coming in here and patrolling the city to make sure that no one was breaking the law. He had mentioned he did that, but only if he had time. Usually the Luminos were the ones who did that. The thought of the Luminos made her shudder. She reminded herself that they were not dangerous in this dimension. Light Rudy had assured them of that.

Suddenly she heard a thump sound. She and her friends looked out in front of them and they could see that a human sized zoner, a bit on the short side and only coming up to Light Rudy’s chest, had bumped into the counterpart. The zoner in question was female and appeared to be a two-legged very cartoonified horse. What happened next confused the trio.

The horse zoner had a brief look of fear in her eyes. It was quickly replaced with shame, her ears lowering. She bowed down and backed away a couple steps from Light Rudy. “I-I-I am so s-sorry..I didn’t mean to... I-I didn’t see y-y-you...” The horse zoner’s voice was shaky and filled with emotion. “I a-am sorry! So sorry!”

Rudy, Penny, and Snap looked at each other, confused by this. Why was the horse zoner so nervous around Light Rudy? What exactly did she think he was going to do? Light Rudy, even now, didn’t even look all that hostile. He looked mildly annoyed, but that was it. He stared down at the horse zoner, who moved back a couple of staps and acted like Light Rudy was going to shoot her full of lightning. A very odd reaction...

And it wasn’t just her. Looking all around them, some zoners had stopped what they were doing and were staring at Light Rudy and the horse zoner. While some of them were still smiling, most of them weren’t doing that anymore. Instead, they wore expressions of shock and even some worry. This lasted for a few seconds before Light Rudy gazed at everyone. His expression was soft, like they would expect from Rudy. A simple stare from him caused the zoners to revert back to their previous behavior. Then he looked down at the horse zoner.

“Don’t worry about it.” Light Rudy said in a gentle voice. He lowered himself to try to put himself at eye level with the horse zoner. “Say, these nice people here...” He flicked his head once. “They are curious about a potion that gives off a rainbowy kind of glow.” He tilted his head, narrowing his eyes at the little zoner in curiosity. “Have you seen something like that?”

The horse zoner stared at him, still looking frightened. Had she really been that startled? “N-No I haven’t...”

Light Rudy stared at her, and then nodded his head. “Okay then.” He stood straight up. “You may go now.” The horse zoner didn’t waste any time getting out of there.

Penny and her friends were confused by what just happened. Why did the zoners, including her, look at Light Rudy that way? Why did a glance from Light Rudy cause them to go back to their own business? Why was there, for a moment, suddenly tension? Something was definitely going on here. Penny tried her best not to jump to conclusions. There was probably a logical explanation for why that had happened.

But she wasn’t so certain she could keep pushing it off. She could see the looks on her friends’ faces. They weren’t sure either. They looked a little wary, much like how she was certain she looked. Confusion started to fill their minds as they tried to make sense of what happened with the horse zoner. Rudy was a sweet person and a zoner pumping into him wouldn’t anger him. Surely it must be the same for Light Rudy, right? It was just an accident. Why did the horse zoner react like that? Why did the other zoners freeze and look at them with something similar to worry?

The tour continued, but now things seemed a little different. The zoners still acted the same, but after that display, after seeing the zoners momentarily pop out of their happiness, Rudy, Penny, and Snap began to notice something...subtly different about the zoners. Their behavior had altered just a tad. Now, though they smiled, they looked more..forced. Everything looked forced, as if they were trying so hard to remain happy. And any time the zoners would look at Light Rudy, that was when they’d try even harder to be happy.

The whole thing was becoming unnerving. Penny’s gut began to twist in knots, making her feel unwell. She didn’t want to believe that something was wrong with this dimension. She wanted to believe that everything was fine and that she was overreacting. But then...how could she explain those bizarre reactions? They never got anything like that back in their dimension. The zoners’ behavior was definitely off and there was no way she and her friends could deny that.

As they passed by more zoners, some of them started to act even friendlier, to the point where it was creepy. They would ask them things like how were they, offered some help, even offered to give them some supplies or gifts. And all Light Rudy had to do was raise his hand, not even speaking a word, and the zoners backed away, some of them lowering their heads in submission. This act was disturbing, causing the friends to look at each other with wary eminating from their eyes.

Penny spoke up, “Wh-Why are the zoners acting this way?”

“Yeah...why?” Snap looked around, shuddering at the sight of the behavior of the zoners around them. “It’s creeping me out.”

Rudy nodded his head in agreement. He bit his lip. “Yeah...and why are they acting this way around you?”

Light Rudy, at first, ignored them. They continued walking down the street, moving past some more zoners, some of which had the same odd reaction to Light Rudy, and others obviously fake happy. Light Rudy did eventually stop and turn around. He stared at the trio, his arms folded behind his back. Nothing about his expression suggests he was worried about any of what was going on. He didn’t even look sad, angry, or anything. He was just...blank.

Then, slowly, Light Rudy smiled. The smile was still warm and welcoming. The same as always. But given in the context of what was going on now, it seemed almost like it dropped a couple of degrees. “Oh don’t worry about it. They’re just nervous about some upcoming celebration. I admit I’m kind of a stickler with how things go. They’re just worried that I’ll be upset with them over some minor details. That’s all.” He turned around and said, “Let’s continue the brief tour, shall we?”

The trio paused for a moment. They looked at each other, then back at Light Rudy. They soon followed close behind them. As they did, they, again, glanced at each other nervously. Though they had tried to hide it before, though they tried to bury it in their minds, not wanting to believe it, after seeing what was going on now, they didn’t think they could deny it to themselves any longer. Their gut instincts were taking over, and they were all thinking the same thing.

There was something very wrong with this place. And it had something to do with Light Rudy.

Chapter Text

King Mumbo Jumbo...

Of all the zoners he could have run into in here, it had to be King Mumbo Jumbo...

Bardot stood frozen in place. His body was low to the ground and his tail between his legs. His ears and crest were still flattened against his head as he looked up at the tortoise in horror. Barney was positioned behind him. The centipede wasn’t smiling, but he looked satisfied that his friend was there to protect him. Bardot only gazed at Barney for a few seconds before the tortoise, snarling, got in his vision, that reptilian face of his overflowing with the threat of harm if he dared to take a step closer.

He remembered his encounter with Mumbo Jumbo all too well. He had been arrogant at the time and believed that no zoner alive could hurt him. This tortoise had proven him wrong. Bardot couldn’t believe how foolish he had been, thinking the old tortoise would be of no match to him. He had forgotten about his thick skin and his hard shell. He allowed himself to become too egotistical. And Mumbo Jumbo had brought him back down to earth.

He could still feel those blows to his body. He can still feel the aches and pains from everything the tortoise had done to him. His left ear, which was ripped in half by the tortoise, twitched a little in nervousness as he remembered the terrifying details. Bardot learned not to mess with Mumbo Jumbo that day, and he had hoped he’d never have to run into him again. He would take spending the rest of his life in the Fire Zone in a cage and slowly starve to death, than to be within striking distance of this tortoise.

But then here he was. Fate was cruel not just to the innocent, but to the offenders as well. And today proved that. Here, standing before him, was the turtle. His eyes, glowing with anger and hate, bored through him, making his body shake and tremble. He realized that he must look like how his victims tend to when he is taunting them. On anyone else, it’s amusing. But now here he was, feeling the same thing they were. And he was not enjoying it. He took a few steps back, putting in a little distance.

“I-I didn’t come here to h-h-hurt anyone!” Bardot exclaimed, his eyes wide with fear. “I was s-s-sent here by Skrawl...to get any s-survivors out!”

Mumbo Jumbo cocked an eyebrow. “Why is it I don’t believe you?”

“I-It’s true I swear!” Bardot raised himself up higher. He lifted his head and looked directly at Mumbo Jumbo. “I am not allowed to hurt anyone! If I do, I’ll be shocked with this collar!” Bardot lifted up a paw and tapped his pale colored claw against the black collar that encircled his neck. “Skrawl put this on me so I could not attack anyone. He sent me in there because my small size allowed me to squeeze through the debris, and I’m supposed to search for survivors and bring them out...”

King Mumbo Jumbo folded his arms, glaring at him. It didn’t look like he was convinced. This did not surprise Bardot in the least. After what he’s done, he expected the tortoise to not be so receptive to his words. He would need to prove to him that he was harmless to them. Normally, he would hate to do this as he did not want to be harmless to anyone. Pretend to be harmless? Yes. Actually be harmless? No. But he made an exception with Mumbo Jumbo. He would rather the tortoise see him as harmless than someone who could cause trouble as it meant that he was less likely to get pounded by this guy.

Barney still remained behind his friend, looking at him somewhat curiously from behind the tortoise. The fear was still there. Bardot could detect it from his quick glances at him. Now there was curiosity mixed in that fear. Barney kept looking at him with a perplexed expression, obviously confused of his talk of ‘rescuing survivors’ and all that. Of course he should be confused. He, out of all zoners, was the last one any zoner should trust with a job like this. But sometimes, weird things do happen.

“After all you have done...” Bardot turned his attention back to Mumbo Jumbo as the tortoise began to speak. “...you expect me to believe that you’re here to help?” Bardot clenched his teeth and turned his head a little to the side. “Just how stupid do you think I am, Bardot? Do you really think I am going to buy that bullcrap?”

Bardot cringed back. “It’s the truth. I swear! I’m just here to guide you out!”

Mumbo Jumbo looked down at Barney before turning his glance back at Bardot. “Yeah, I’m sure tormenting my friend here counts as ‘guiding him out’.” His voice was laced with angry sarcasm. He took a step forward, forming a fist with his right hand. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t pound you into next week for that!”

Bardot’s fur poofed up in terror for a few seconds and his body trembled. “I can p-prove it to you! I can show you that I c-c-cannot harm your friend!”

Mumbo Jumbo glared at him harshly, his fist raised in the air in threat. Then, slowly, he relaxed a little, lowering his right hand down. He then gave a smile. Not a friendly one. Not an evil one. But a more...eerie and creepy one. Bardot shuddered at the sight of it. He briefly wondered if this was how his victims felt when he tormented them. Yes, this was exactly how they felt, and now he was getting a taste of it.

“Okay then...” The turtle folded his arms against his chest. “Show me. Try to attack me.”

“A-A-Attack you?” Bardot’s eyes were wide in fear. “B-But why you?”

“Because you might be lying and are just trying to get a free pass at my friend here.” Mumbo Jumbo put his arm around Barney in an attempt to comfort his friend. Barney trembled when he looked at Bardot and cringed back further behind his friend. “You and I both know your attacks can’t hurt me, so whatever you do, it’ll just bounce right off. And besides..” He leaned forward and gave a sly grin to the yellow and red zoner. “..it’ll be fun for me.”

Bardot stared at him in horror, his mouth dropping open. He stood there for a while, trying to weigh his options. If he didn’t attack the king, then he risked entering a world of hurt. The king was not going to be satisfied without physical proof. He did not want to get beaten up a second time, but he also could not leave without him. If he did, and they got out, they could report him and the deal would be off.

He felt as though he was in a lose-lose situation. He was stuck with a zoner he’d rather be far away from. This zoner, this tortoise, was the only thing that could make him terrified. He hated the idea of being so close to him. But at the same time, he had no choice but to stick with him due to that deal. He couldn’t force Mumbo Jumbo into silence like he could with Barney. Even without his venom, he could torture Barney, but nothing he does would faze the tortoise.

The longer he stared at the tortoise, the more impatient the reptile zoner got. His eyes narrowed slowly. He clenched his beak in a warning manner. Bardot could see his hands tightening, and he knew hat if he didn’t do what the tortoise told him, he might get hurt. To follow up further, the tortoise took another step forward, lowering his body a tad as if he were getting ready to charge. Bardot’s eyes widened and he cinged back some more, the front part of his body low to the ground.

Seeing that he had no choice, Bardot crept over towards King Mumbo Jumbo. He kept his body low to the ground, his tail still between his hind legs. Once he got close enough, he paused. He glanced up at King Mumbo Jumbo. The king stared at him and then nodded his head once firmly. Bardot lowered his gaze and stared at the tortoise’s left leg. He lifted up his paw, his claws glinting in the little sunlight that shined through. He hesitated, and then struck forward.

Just before his claws could even graze the leg, the shock collar activated. Shockwaves of electricity flowed through his body. Bardot let out a screech of pain and jumped back away from the king. The electricity coursed through his body, arching over his yellow and red fur. When it finally stopped, Bardot laid on the ground in pain. His eye were shut tightly and, for the first time that he can remember, tears of pain moved down his face. He took in a shuddering breath and wiped away the salty liquid. He looked up at King Mumbo Jumbo.

“N-Now do you believe me?” Bardot asked. His body twitched once from the shock of the collar. “That happens...a-a-any time I try to do harm.”

King Mumbo Jumbo smirked at the hybrid zoner, looking clearly satisfied. “Yes, I believe you now...” He gave a lighthearted chuckle. Nothing cold or icy; just amusement, like he was enjoying seeing Bardot get some more comeuppance for what he had done in the past. “Well...since you came all this way to get us out of here...” He said, gesturing with his hand. “Why don’t you lead the way, dear Bardot?”

Bardot flinched at that. “Y-Yes, sir...”

“And...” Barney finally spoke up. Bardot stared at the orange centipede in surprise. He hadn’t expected him to work up the courage to speak. “I..I have a question...” He had his arm raised up, his finger pointed up as if to draw attention. His body still shook in fear and Bardot could detect the terror lingering off of his voice. “A-A-After this, and the shock collar is t-taken off...you’re not going to try to g-get me?”

Bardot stared at Barney for a few moments. He slowly raised his body off the ground. He straightened himself up, his tail swishing from side to side. He tried to hide his fear now, enough to make it seem like he was relaxing now. He even managed to give a small smile to Barney, causing the insect zoner to move back in fear. Though satisfied by this, Bardot could do nothing to follow up on it.

Sitting down on his haunches, Bardot said, “Of course not, Barney. Not with this thing...” Bardot put his claw against the shock collar again. He gazed up briefly at King Mumbo Jumbo. He shuddered once under that gaze. He tilted his head a little to the side. “And I won’t make a move with your friend here...” He placed a paw on his torn left here. “I am not interested in a matching set.”

Barney still looked nervous, but he appeared to relax a little as he realized that Bardot could not hurt him. Mumbo Jumbo stared at him in satisfaction, a smirk on his face. Bardot stared at them with narrowed eyes. How frustrating it was that he had to do this. If it weren’t for the stupid deal Skrawl made, he would be out of here, or he would have killed Barney before his shell friend could reach him. Oh well, nothing he could do about it, and he might as well suck it up.

He started to walk forward. He kept close to the wall. Barney cringed back as he walked by him. Bardot spared him a quick glance before walking further out in front of them. The hybrid zoner looked left and right. He put his nose in the air and sniffed, trying to figure out which why those two had come from. Determing they came from the right, he decided to go left. He looked back at them and made a quick gesture with his head, urging them to come with.

Bardot was soon walking down this new hallway, ripped up and shattered, and he was doing it with Mumbo Jumbo and Barney. The two of them were close behind him, making sure he didn’t try to runaway or leave them behind. He kept his body low, trying to look nonthreatening, for fear that he might do something to anger the tortoise.

As they moved through some of the rubble, they came across a room. Part of it was blocked by debris but there was a hole in it, large enough for him to squeeze through. They were about to pass it when small whimpering could be heard. Bardot’s ears pricked up and he turned his head over to the door. Whoever was in there sounded like they were in a lot of pain. He gave a faint smile. No doubt the zoner was probably going to die soon anyway. He turned and continued on his way.

This only lasted a second. Suddenly King Mumbo Jumbo stomped his foot down in front of him. Bardot let out a surprised screech and jumped back. He looked up at the tortoise. Those narrowed eyes bored through his own. He watched as the king lifted up his right arm and pointed a claw at the door. Bardot looked at it for a few seconds, then at King Mumbo Jumbo. Seeing that he had no choice but to listen to his unspoken command, Bardot began to slink over to the door.

When Bardot reached the door, he was taken by surprise when the tortoise walked over close behind him. He reached forward and gripped onto the door, which was off its hinges. With a great show of strength, he yanked the door out of the wall, exposing what was inside.

Bardot could see a small room. It appeared to be filled with medical supplies. Syringes, needles, bottoms of medicine, gloves, just about anything imaginable for First Aid treatment was strewn about the floor, likely from the impact of the bombs that went off here. He could see a zoner, one of the doctors, laying on the ground in a pool of blood. He stared at him and for a moment, bloodlust started to settle in.

He was snapped out of this trance when King Mumbo Jumbo bopped him on the head, much like Skrawl had, only with a little more force. Bardot shook his head and rubbed it, staring up at the king in fear. King Mumbo Jumbo put his hands on his sides and tapped his foot impatiently. Lowering his ears in submission, Bardot began to, reluctantly, walk over to the fallen doctor to offer his...he shuddered at the thought, assistance...

sss

“There’s something really wrong with this place...” Penny said softly.

“I know what you mean.” Snap gave a shudder. “There’s these..weird vibes this place is giving off... And the way everyone is acting..”

“I want to say that you’re both overreacting.” Rudy said. The two of them looked at him, slight frowns on their faces. Rudy gave a sigh. “But I know you’re right. Something just doesn’t add up about this place.”

The three friends were back in the guest room after the ‘tour’, if they could call it that, was over. Their minds rushed with the thoughts of what happened. More zoners acting strangely...more being overly happy or generous...more acting a little nervous around Light Rudy... Yes something was definitely wrong here. And the way Light Rudy acts like it was no big deal... Something about that just didn’t feel right. It was...too strange.

Sitting on the window sill, the three friends looked outside, down below. The zoners were still acting happy as always. Before, when they felt joy at the sight of this, now fear and apprehension replaced that. Now that they had seen what these zoners acted like around Light Rudy, they could start to see the fakeness shining through. Their behavior...it really did seem like it was forced. They no longer looked genuinely happy. They looked as though they were hiding something.

In fact, as they watched their behavior a little more closely, they noticed some subtle things about the zoners they hadn’t seen before. Things that gave away that not all is as it appeared. They could see quick, nervous gestures, glances over the shoulder, wary looks, small things that they had never seen before. Before, they thought that these zoners were happier than the ones back at home, but now they’re starting to see that perhaps this was wrong...perhaps these zoners weren’t happy, but rather frightened.

“I still want to give my counterpart here the benefit of the doubt. I mean...” Rudy said, fumbling with his fingers. “He wasn’t corrupted by the black chalk.. It’s hard for me to fathom the idea that he might have..done something terrible here...” He closed his eyes. Penny and Snap looked at him sympathetically. “Because...because if he could do something awful when not under the influence...” He looked at his friends. “..does that mean I’m capable of something as well?”

“Oh don’t think like that, Bucko!” Snap said, putting his hand on Rudy’s arm. “This isn’t your future, remember? This isn’t the path you chose. No matter what your counterpart may have done...” He gently rubbed Rudy’s arm while holding up the other one, his palm facing up. “..that doesn’t mean that’ll be something you’d do.”

“Yeah, he’s right, Rudy.” Penny said. She moved closer to Rudy to offer her support as well. “You’re still you. Your counterpart is just a version of you, created from different circumstances. He might be you but at the same time, he is not you. He has his own path and so do you.” She placed a hand on Rudy’s shoulder. “Don’t let anything your counterpardt does, whether it be positive or negative, make you feel bad about yourself, okay? No matter what, you’re still you, and I know you won’t go down any dangerous paths.”

Rudy stared at his friends. Slowly, a smile crept onto his face. He was starting to feel a little better now, with their support. He could always count on them to break him out of his depression, his self doubt. He wanted to hug them. He wanted to show how much their words meant to him. But he was frozen where he sat. Though he smiled at them, though a part of him was relaxing, there was still a side of him that just wasn’t so sure.

They didn’t even know if Light Rudy had done anything here. They didn’t know if he had done something awful to this place. The zoners’ reactions to him suggested that, and if that were the case, just what did he do? The thought of a version of himself doing something so horrific that practically every zoner feared him sent cold chills down his spine. There was a lot that his counterpart could have done. About the only thing he knew that he didn’t do, aside from destroying ChalkZone, was exposing it. He saw no other humans here, and Light Rudy seemed determined to keep this place safe.

Yet despite that determination, which Rudy admired, was it possible that Light Rudy was hiding something...much more sinister under those sleeves of his? The zoners’ reactions did suggest something darker was at work here. The way the zoners behaved was definitely not right. They never acted like that around him back in his dimension. He thought back to the noise he and his friends heard. Did Light Rudy really not hear it...or had he lied to them?

He still didn’t want to jump to conclusions, despite all the suspicions plaguing his mind as well as his friends. There was a chance that they were overreacting. Light Rudy’s explanation of them planning for something and are just nervous made sense. Light Rudy had confessed of being strict and maybe the zoners were just nervous of upsetting him. And depending how much time they had to set up for this celebration that Light Rudy had talked about, the zoners being jumpy and fidgety would make sense.

“We do agree that this might just be one big misunderstanding.” Penny said in a gentle voice. Her hand remained on his shoulder. She stared at him with a sympathetic expression. “We know that jumping to conclusions would be a terrible idea, and we cannot go around accusing any of our counterparts of anything, especially not without evidence.”

Rudy nodded at this. What Penny said was true, and it was the same thing he was thinking. He would feel like a total asshole if he just waltzed up to Light Rudy and started spewing accusations left and right at him. That wouldn’t be fair or a wise thing to do. Regardless of Light Rudy’s actions, accusing him like that would likely end in pain.

Penny bit her lip. “But..we shouldn’t let our guard down.” She released Rudy and leaned back. She placed her hands on her lap, her fingers crossing over one another. “We need to stay cautious. Don’t let them know that we’re wary. That would complicate things. Just smile and pretend like nothing is wrong...at least until we can figure things out.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, Buckette.” Snap said. “We can just lay low and act like nothing is wrong. We can keep an eye on our counterparts and see if they do anything suspicious.”

“And if they do...” Penny said. She paused for a moment. “Well, we could talk to them about it. We still shouldn’t be confrontational. We can’t be too forceful or we might end up in trouble. We don’t know everything about this dimension. We don’t know how our counterparts would react if we’re too blunt and confrontational with our questioning.” She turned her head and peered out the window. “Everything might be fine here. This might be a truly peaceful place.” She closed her eyes for a second and then turned back to Rudy. “But still...we can’t let our guard down.”

“I know, Penny...I know.” Rudy nodded his head a couple of times. Using one eye, he glanced out the window. He could see the zoners down below. He could see how happy they were...or rather, how happy they were acting. “I just hope that my gut instinct is wrong...and this place isn’t so bad...”

Snap nodded his head. “We hope the same thing, too.”

Silence fell upon the group. This lasted for a few minutes. The three friends looked at each other, and then out the window. They stared at the zoners outside, watching as they moved about with...whatever it is they were doing. They could hear the sound of the zoners outside. Faint, but still there. Although they tried to tell themselves that they could be wrong and this place could be safe, they could not help but notice just how fake everything looked now. Even the cheering and happy shouts no longer sounded as genuine as they originally had.

As they sat there in silence, Rudy’s mind churned with memories of that tour. He can still remember that horse zoner, the way she reacted to Light Rudy. She was...not just nervous. She was terrified. Rudy had seen enough of that emotion to recognize it. She was terrified. But why? Light Rudy had insisted that she was just trying too hard to prepare and was something of a perfectionist. But that reaction...that didn’t seem like anything Rudy would have expected if it was just from something like that. Something was off about that reaction and the more it dwelled on Rudy’s mind, the more chills that went through his body.

Then something else came to his mind. Something that made him freeze as soon as he thought of it. Just..what was the purpose behind the tour anyway...?

Light Rudy had said it was to help them get more familiar with the area, to let them see if there’s any changes from their dimension, and to see if any zoners knew about the cure. They had taken opportunities to ask some zoners, but they either didn’t reply, going off to do whatever they were doing before, or their answers were quick and they’d move on. It felt almost like they were..forced to give those kinds of answers, or the idea of talking about the potion frightened them. Was it because of Light Rudy or were they afraid of the potion itself?

And couldn’t they have done that without some kind of tour? Yeah, they could have. Light Rudy didn’t have to go with them. He didn’t have to lead them around the way he had. They could have just gone outside, staying close to the castle, and speak to the zoners. Rudy wondered if they would be more receptive if Light Rudy wasn’t around or if they were going to get the same responses.

In the end, that tour had been one giant waste of time. Luckily they still a good amount of time to find the cure. But they would have had more time if Light Rudy hadn’t insisted on taking them on a tour, which wasted about thirty to forty minutes of their time. They had little time to be here; they had to find that cure, and Light Rudy knew that.

A disturbing thought entered Rudy’s head. Was it possible that Light Rudy was...deliberately delaying time? The thought caused his heart to freeze. There was no proof. He had no way of knowing if this was true or not. But...the evidence seemed to add up to that. Light Rudy had been a little too...insistant on the tour. There was really no point to it, in the end. Unnecessary and not very beneficial. So why had Light Rudy wanted to take them on it if it wasn’t required? The only thing that Rudy could think of was...to waste time.

The idea was disturbing. The thought of his counterpart wasting their time like that.... If that is what he was doing, then what was his motivation? Light Rudy knew Rudy was dying.. If he had the cure, surely he would have given it to him, right? What was the point in just keeping it hidden and letting him die? Was there something else going on that they didn’t know? If Light Rudy was doing this on purpose, was there something that they had that he wanted?

Regardless, Rudy couldn’t let Light Rudy know they were suspicious. Despite all this, there was still a chance they were just overreacting. There was still a chance all of this could be easily explained. They couldn’t jump to conclusions. Yet at the same time, they could not let their guard down either. Something was wrong here. He and his friends were certain of that. They could not ignore their gut feeling.

Suddenly, the sound they heard from before came back. Their bodies stiffened, widening in horror. They looked around nervously, trying to find the source of it. The sound grew louder, chilling their blood. The same horrible sound...the one that they could not identify.. It moved through the room, growing louder and louder.

They stared at each other and then around the room. The awful sound echoed in their ears. It quieted down and then it just got louder. Now it seemed like there were multiples of that sound, intermixing in a haunting choir. They kept looking around for the source of the sound. What was it? Where was it coming from? And how could Light Rudy not hear this? Or Para-Snap or Para-Penny for that matter? None of them seemed worried at all... How could this horrible thing be normal?

Then, as they listened intently, as the sound grew louder and sharper, they soon realized what it was. Fear and dread shot up and down their spines and they shivered in response. As soon as they were able to identify what the sound was, their suspicions of this place started to shoot through the roof.

It was a scream... No, not just a scream. Many of them, intermixing together. And along with that...loud groans, sobbing, even faint pleading. That was why they couldn’t identify the sound before; it wasn’t just one thing. It was a lot of things, combining together in a terrifying chorus of pain and terror. This went on for a couple minutes before there was the echo of a crack, a multitude of what sounded like loud whimpers, and then nothingness.

Instinctively, the trio huddled close together. They looked at each other in fear and horror. The realization of what the sound was...and that it came from below them somewhere, frightened them. Just what was going on? There was no way those were zoners acting happy. There was genuine pain in those sounds, definite distress. It was clear now, more than ever, something was going on here. If they weren’t cautious about this place before, they definitely were now.

What was Light Rudy hiding from them? Why was he ignoring these sounds? There was no way he couldn’t have heard them. Were they really that normal here? Rudy’s body shivered at the thought. If this was normal here, then this place wasn’t as peaceful as he thought. He didn’t know if Light Rudy was responsible, though. There was a chance that something else was going on and maybe, by some miracle, he didn’t have anything to do with it.

He and his friends had to figure out what was going on. They couldn’t just sit around here anymore. Though they knew focusing on finding the cure was top priority, they couldn’t just ignore this either. They had to figure out what was happening around here. They had to figure out what those sounds were. Light Rudy might not answer them. He might dismiss it like he had before. So they had to go with another option.

Para-Snap and Para-Penny might be more helpful. Neither of them seemed to be as forceful or insistant as Light Rudy. One of them must know something of what was going on. Rudy looked over at the bell. He looked at his friends. They gave him a single nod. They needed to speak to those two, and without Light Rudy around. They needed answers. Some real ones. And those two might be the ones to be able to provide that for them.

Rudy walked over to the bell and he gave it a ring.

sss

Dr. Urso let out a roar of pain and stagged back when Dr. Raiden drove his metal claw into his shoulder. The lion bear put his paw on his shoulder, feeling the warm blood pour through it. He growled in Raiden’s direction, showing his sharp teeth. Despite the successful blow, the cheetah did not look victorious, his face still etched in fear.

Dr. Urso barreled down towards him, mouth agape. He jumped at him, attempting to clamp his jaws around him. Dr. Raiden jumped out of the way, landing a few feet away from him. Despite having an injured leg, Dr. Raiden still had a bit of speed to him, enough that he was able to dodge his attacks. Dr. Urso shook his head, getting off the gorund. He turned his direction back to Dr. Raiden. His ears flattening, he took off after him again, ignoring his pain.

Dr. Raiden stared at him in horror, arching his body in defense. Then he narrowed his eyes and bared his sharp teeth. He rushed at him and the two collided with each other. Wrapping their arms around each other, digging their claws into each other’s body, they wrestled with each other. They rolled across the ground, the other fighting for dominance. Their yowls and screeches and roars echoed in the room.

Soon, Dr. Urso managed to pin Dr. Raiden on the ground. He gripped the cheetah’s shoulders and pushed against him, keeping him down. Dr. Raiden struggled like he had before, and quickly stopped. He took in a few breaths and stared at up Dr. Urso in fear. Dr. Urso glared down at him, his teeth still bared. A low growl emitted from his throat. As he continued to stare down at the cheetah, his mind swirled with burning thoughts of the past.

Their trust in Raiden... Letting him near patients... Letting him near Rudy and the other humans... How could they have been so naive? How could they have been fooled by this..this monster? Dr. Urso had blamed himself for a time, but that faded when he realized everyone else had been duped as well. Dr. Raiden was a very good actor. Any time he had expressed concern for Rudy...It really had felt so genuine..real... Dr. Urso had truly believed that he was a calm, determined doctor willing to do the right thing.

But he had been so wrong. His stomach stung horribly, twisting in knots, as he witnessed what this cheetah was really like. A monster, cold and calculating, a short temper, blaming the victims, acting like his past justified the means... These were things that he never thought was possible from Dr. Raiden. He had never suspected that he was capable of such atrocities...

Well no longer... He was not going to be fooled by this monster again. He was not going to fool anyone. His mask that he had glued on so tightly, it had come off, exposing the true horror that laid underneath. And now that he had exposed himself for what kind of monster he really was, no one was going to trust him again. Well no one except that Luminos group of his. Dr. Raiden was not going to be able to pull another cruel stunt like this.

“Y-You really have no idea what you’re doing!” Dr. Raiden cried in desperation, his eyes wide. He jerked from side to side, trying again, in vain, to get free. “Y-Y-You’re welcoming the enemy! Please..don’t do this... I beg of you!” He stared up at Dr. Urso, his ears lowering a little. “I really don’t want to hurt you... I have too much respect for you. Please stop this! Try to see sense!”

Dr. Urso curled his lips back in a snarl. The nerve of him...trying to make him join him. That was disgusting. Dr. Raiden should know that he would never involve himself with something as dangerous and illogical as the Luminos. “I used to respect you, Dr. Raiden. But after seeing what you have done here... I can say all that respect flew out the window. You’re disgusting, and you dare try to pull me into your twisted logic?!” He yanked Dr. Raiden up and put his face close to his. Dr. Raiden turned his head to the side and looked at him in fear. “It’s not me who needs to see sense. It is not me who has been corrupted. It is you!”

Dr. Raiden stared at him in fear. His chest inflated and deflated at a rapid pace. His eyes, wide and wild, looked around, as if he were trying to find a way to escape the angry lion bear’s grasp. In response, Dr. Urso squeezed his shoulders harder, making it clear to the cheetah that he was not going to let him go. Dr. Raiden gritted his teeth. He stared at Urso a few seconds before his previous snarl returned.

“I am sorry you feel that way, Dr. Urso...” The two animal-like zoners stared at each other in the eyes. It was an intense moment, tension rising up between them. Pupils dilated. Teeth were bared. Fur was raised on end in anger. Dr. Raiden narrowed his eyes into slits. “I need to get rid of the corruption...And I will not allow you to stop me!”

With that, Dr. Raiden suddenly freed his arm, slashing Dr. Urso across the face with his metal claw. The lion bear roared in pain as the cheetah squeezed from underneath him. He shook his bloodied face and turned his head. His eyes widened in horror at what he saw.

Dr. Raiden was running, or rather limping as fast as he could, over to Rapsheeba and Blocky. His eyes were wide and feral, blazing in hatred. Dr. Urso started to run towards him, but the cheetah had gotten so far, he didn’t know if he could make it in time. His heart clenched as he heard the two injured zoners cry out in terror, the deranged cheetah coming after them with wide open jaws. It would be over in a matter of seconds.

Dr. Raiden let out a yowl as he stood in front of Blocky and Rapsheeba. He focused his eyes on Rapsheeba, the most helpless of the two. He swatted Blocky away several feet and then prepared to strike Rapsheeba. The female zoner looked up at him in fear, watching as he raised his paw up. Dr. Urso’s eyes widened and he pushed himself harder. Dr. Raiden positioned his paw above Rapsheeba’s neck and chest, fully intending on killing her. Then, much to everyone’s horror, he struck down...

...only to suddenly freeze. Blocky looked at this in confusion, trying to drag his injured, bleeding body over. Rapsheeba had her arms above her to protect herself. When she realized the blow wasn’t coming, she looked up. Her eyes widened as Dr. Raiden stood there, frozen. Even Dr. Urso was in shock at what happened, slowing his running down and moving in a wide arc to see what had happened.

Dr. Raiden’s paw had stopped moving when it was just about to hit Rapsheeba. His face was contorted in a mixture of confusion and horror. His eyes had a far away look in them. Dr. Urso wondered, briefly, if he was having some kind of flashback. Dr. Raiden moved his paw a little, only to grit his teeth and move back, the same terror-filled expression on his face.

Urso didn’t waste any more time. Though confused, he took this opportunity to get Raiden away from the injured zoner. He rushed forward and he slammed his body against him. Raiden let out a screech as he rolled across the ground. He got up and he shook himself. He stared at Urso in shock. Then, as the horror of whatever entered his mind before left, Raiden narrowed his eyes and lunged towards Urso. He collided with Urso, knocking him to the ground. Urso let out a roar of pain as the cheetah’s jaws clamped on his shoulder, tearing into his flesh.

Urso managed to knock him off, his bear-like paw striking against Raiden’s torn shoulder. A loud screech and Raiden was on the ground. He got up and, staying on all fours, started to move away a little. He glared hatefully at Urso, letting out a roar of anger and frustration. Urso roared at him, louder than he ever had before. The sound echoed off the walls. Raiden’s face paled a little and his ears lowered against his head. He moved away more when Urso started to stalk towards him, growling lowly.

Dr. Raiden’s body trembled. Then, as the cheetah realized he had been defeated, he turned and ran away. Dr. Urso’s narrowed eyes watched as the injured cheetah scampered off out of the room. He could hear his footfalls fade as he rushed down the hallway. Once he realized that Dr. Raiden was not coming back, he turned his head towards Blocky and Rapsheeba.

Taking in a few breaths, Dr. Urso asked, “Are you two all right?”

“Y-Yeah...” Blocky said. He winced as he pressed his hand against his wound. “Thanks for the help...”

“I’m okay...” Rapsheeba said as she tried to sit herself up. She accidentally hit her leg a certain way and she cried out in pain. She fell back down to the ground. “My leg...” She whimpered, letting out a few tears.

Blocky looked at her sadly. He moved over, wincing in pain from the rip in his body. “Rapsheeba... That...that cheetah nearly ripped your leg off.” When he got to her, he lowered himself and grabbed onto her arm. He pulled her up, letting her put her weight against him despite his pain. “We need to get you out of here...”

Dr. Urso watched this with sadness. Seeing this made him hate Dr. Raiden even more. What had these two done to deserve what they got? They were both innocent, and Dr. Raiden just tried to murder them both. Because of him, Blocky had a gaping wound and Rapsheeba’s leg was twisted and crushed horrifically. He had to get them to safety where he could examine them. He might not have access to his tools, but he could still help in other ways.

Dr. Urso walked over to them. Once he reached them, he said, “Come on, you two.” He lowered himself to the ground. “You can ride on my back. I’ll be gentle. I promise.”

“Are you sure?” Blocky asked.

“We...” Rapsheeba winced in pain. “..don’t want to be a burden.”

“It’s no trouble.” Dr. Urso said. “Now hurry up and get on. We need to leave before Dr. Raiden’s reinforcements...”

Suddenly there was a loud roar. One of feline nature. It wasn’t Raiden’s roar. This one sounded deeper, a little bigger, more ferocious. It was echoing down the hallways. It sounded angry, feral, and dangerous. Blocky and Rapsheeba’s eyes widened in horror, pressing themselves up against Dr. Urso in fear. The lion bear’s eyes were wide in shock. That roar...he knew who it belonged to. His heart started to beat faster as he realized their situation just got worse.

The roar belonged to the leader of the Luminos, Maalik.

Chapter Text

Rudy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Neither could his friends. They stood there in absolute shock, unsure of how to take what they were just told. They wanted to believe that it was some kind of sick joke. They wanted to believe that their counterparts just had a twisted sense of humor. They wanted to believe they would actually get an answer out of this.

But instead, they just stood there, mouth agape, as they stared at their counterparts. At first, it had just been Para-Penny and Para-Snap who arrived. They were, at first, happy about this as it meant they could speak to them alone. They thought that they had some time speak with them now that they were alone together again. But that was shattered when Light Rudy showed up behind them. The three of them had walked into the room together, not sparing each other a glance. They were looking intently at them.

Light Rudy had been the one who urge them to tell him what the problem was. He claimed that he would do whatever he could to help. Though the trio knew what happened the last time they brought this up, they did so again, seeing no choice. They explained to Light Rudy, Para-Penny, and Para-Snap about what they had heard. The trio could have sworn they saw the tiniest bit of a reaction from Para-Snap and Para-Penny, but hardly anything from Light Rudy. It was the same as before.

And he responded the same way. That it was just some overly excited zoners that didn’t know how to lower the volume. The way he said it...there was something about it that was a little chilling. They couldn’t quite figure out what it was, though. Just something...unsettling about it. What made it even more disturbing was the fact that Para-Penny and Para-Snap backed up Light Rudy’s claim, nodding their heads and adding comments about how things had been like that for a while and that it was common.

Rudy had a hard time believing that. There was nothing normal about what he and his friends heard. He had a hard time thinking that these light counterparts of theirs could have...just not heard that. There was no way they could have missed it. It was louder than the sound they heard earlier. They...they must have heard it. Why were they lying about it? What were they trying to hide? What did they have to hide here?

“I’m sorry if that’s not the answer you want.” Light Rudy said, bringing Rudy out of his thoughts. “But that is the way it is here. I can assure you that you heard was not what you think it is.” He took a step forward. He clasped his hands together, his welcoming smile on his face. “It might have sounded like a scream, but trust me....” He leaned forward, a slight narrowing of the eyes. He shook his head slowly. “...it was not a scream. It was just excitement...”

Penny’s eyes, widened in disbelief, cried, “You expect us to believe that?!” She paused, and turned her gaze down. She hadn’t meant to yell like that. She cleared her throat and spoke in a calmer voice. “I mean... That was not cheering. We know what excitement sounds like. What this noise was...it was anything but cheerful.”

“I could clearly hear begging...” Snap mentioned, putting his hand to his mouth nervously. “It sounds like some zoners were trapped nearby...and they’re calling for help.” He pointed his round hand in Light Rudy’s direction. “Aren’t you going to help them?”

The trio looked at Light Rudy expectantly. To their surprise, so did Para-Snap and Para-Penny. Their expressions, though calm, still had a tinge of something to them. Rudy glanced at them more closely and he realized that what he was seeing was nervousness, apprehension. That fueled his belief that something wasn’t right, and it seemed it all connected to Light Rudy somehow. Just..what had his counterpart done here, if he did anything at all?

Light Rudy stared blankly at Snap for a few moments. An uneasy silence fell upon the room. Snap bit his lip and took a step back. There was something a little unsettling with the way Light Rudy was looking at him, even though he was still smiling. Light Rudy lowered his front half, putting his head close to Snap’s. He gave him a sideways glance. His smile broadened just a little bit. His green eyes stared into Snap’s solid white eyes.

“No...” Light Rudy’s calm response came. Snap’s eyes widened at this. Light Rudy quickly added, “...because there is no one to help. Trust me. If any zoner were in danger, I would know about it. I have everything under control here. Not much gets by me. Rest assured that I’ve got the zoners’ backs here.” He straightened himself up, still staring down at Snap. “So don’t worry so much. Don’t let that sound bother you...” He looked at Rudy and Penny. “Or you two for that matter. It is nothing really of concern.”

Para-Penny nodded her head. “That is correct. Everything is fine here.” She held out her hand in gesture. “Either you three were just hearing things or you just misinterpreted what it was.” She noticed the expressions she was getting. “I don’t mean to insult you or anything. But our Rudy is telling the truth. You are safe here.” She used her hand to gesture to everyone in the room. “We are all safe.”

“Greatly spoken, Penny.” Light Rudy said. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “You always did know what to say.” He patted her a couple of times before he headed over to Para-Snap. He walked behind him, his arms folded behind his back. “And what about you, Snap? Do you have...anything to add?”

Rudy looked at Para-Snap. He noticed the nervousness from before came back, but it was still faint, subtle. Para-Snap kept his eye on Light Rudy and then he smiled. The smile didn’t seem completely genuine but it didn’t look fake either. He watched as Light Rudy put his arm around Para-Snap, sort of hugging him. Para-Snap seemed startled, but it was brief and barely noticeable.

“No not really...” Para-Snap said. He motioned a hand at Para-Penny. “She pretty much covered it all.”

Light Rudy nodded his head. “Okay, that’s all I wanted to know.” He gently stroked the top of Para-Snap’s head. Rudy took notice that Para-Snap, though smiling and calm, didn’t seem like he entirely enjoyed Light Rudy’s touch. Light Rudy walked away from him and back towards the trio. He straightened himself, as if to make himself appear taller. “I know that my answer is not satisfying you. And I am sincerely sorry about that. How about we...turn to a more pleasant conversation?”

Rudy gritted his teeth and took a step back. Dodging the conversation...and earlier that outright lie about what they heard not being a scream... Rudy knows what screams sound like. He’s heard them enough in the past. Light Rudy is acting as though nothing is wrong. And maybe that’s true...maybe nothing is wrong and he’s getting worked up over nothing. That was a possibility. This castle was big. The sounds may have been warped...

...but no, that couldn’t be possible. The sounds were clearer this time, sharper. He could distinctly hear crying and shouts of pain. Faint, distant, but he could still hear them. There was no way he had misidentified those... There was no way his friends had misheard it. Somethig was wrong and Light Rudy was going to tell them, one way or another.

“I don’t believe you...” Rudy said, his voice as calm as he can make it.

He could not believe the effect that it had on their counterparts. Para-Penny and Para-Snap’s eyes widened. They took a step back. They looked at Light Rudy. This time, their nervousness was more prominant. They seemed almost afraid. Light Rudy, on the other hand, was staring intently at Rudy. His eyes were also wide, but he didn’t look afraid like his comrades did. Instead, Rudy could see a different emotion in his eyes.

Anger.

Light Rudy, his eyes slightly narrowed, anger noticeable in his gaze, walked up to Rudy slowly. Rudy felt some air of tension now. He hunched his body like he was preparing to run. He stared intently at his counterpart, gritting his teeth. He took a step back as Light Rudy positioned himself in front of Rudy. Though they were the same height, Rudy felt shorter as he looked at Light Rudy’s gaze. Light Rudy stook there for a while, staring at Rudy, the anger clearly shining in his eyes.

Then, Light Rudy spoke. “Excuse me..” He tilted his head to one side, and gave Rudy a sideways glance. “Are you calling me a...” He leane a little closer, his pupil staring directly at Rudy. “..liar?”

Rudy found himself taking a step back. His eyes narrowed slightly. “I know what I heard. And it wasn’t what you claim it was.” He pointed a finger at him and said, “Now why don’t you try telling me the truth? I’m sorry if I’m offending you, but I will not stand here and be blatantly lied to.”

Light Rudy’s eyes sparkled. “So you are calling me a liar...” He forced a chuckle. “Well then...” Para-Penny and Para-Snap exchanged looks as Penny and Snap watched the scene in confusion. Light Rudy walked around Rudy. Any apparent sense of anger was gone, but the tension was still there. “I am sorry you feel that way. I don’t mean to come off as..someone less than desireable...”

Rudy realized that he may have made a mistake. He had nearly forgotten that, earlier, the whole idea was to be a little stealthy about this. Before their counterparts came, they had discussed to each other how they were going to do this. They weren’t going to accuse them of anything. They were just trying to get answers. They needn’t be forceful. But here he was, being confronted by Light Rudy. He may have...no he knew he offended him by calling him an outright liar. That was not going to help things. He may have cost them a potential ally.

Still, he did his best to remain calm. Light Rudy wasn’t acting outwardly aggressive. He might be angry, yes, but anger does not mean hostile. Light Rudy hadn’t made a move against him. He hadn’t tried to hurt him. He might just be confused by his accusation. Maybe he was telling the truth... Rudy shook his head, reminding himself that it couldn’t be the case unless Light Rudy thought they were talking about something else.

“Look, if it’ll make you feel better,” Light Rudy said as he put his hands on Rudy’s shoulders. “I will look into this...screaming you claim you heard. And if I find anything, I will let you know, okay?”

Rudy stared at this counterpart, wondering if he could completely trust what he’s saying. He turned his head away, his eyes narrowing in contemplation. He looked at his friends. They weren’t sure what to make of this either. He turned his gaze to Para-Penny and Para-Snap. They were nodding their heads, making slight gestures as if encouring him to accept what Light Rudy was saying. This confused him, and made him more suspicious.

“Oh...okay...” Rudy finally said, lowering his head a little.

Light Rudy’s expression softened up and he moved away a few steps from Rudy. “Alrighty then. I’m glad we could get that settled.” He looked at the trio and then added, “I think we should discuss this...cure thing..don’t you?”

Rudy had mixed feelings about the somewhat sudden change of topic. On the one hand, he was a little relieved. Light Rudy didn’t go apeshit on him or anything. That was good. He certainly didn’t want a repeat of what happened in the dark dimension. On the other hand, he was annoyed by it. It felt as though Light Rudy was dodging the topic, which he didn’t doubt. His friends looked a little miffed by the change of topic as well, but none of them complained. The cure was an important thing they needed to talk about anyway.

Para-Penny said, “Yes. You said it was a potion with a rainbowy color, right?”

Penny nodded her head. “Yeah, that’s correct.”

“Why?” Snap asked. “Did you find it?”

“We believe we have..or rather..” Para-Penny adjusted her glasses a little. “..one of our comrades thinks they found something like it. You see, we sent word out to the Luminos about the potion and they had been searching for it since you got here.”

“We weren’t expecting them to answer back so quicky.” Para-Snap added quietly.

Light Rudy nodded his head at Para-Snap. “Indeed, it did come as a surprise.” He looked at Rudy and his friends. “I cannot guarantee if this is what you are looking for.” He took in a breath an exhaled. He gave the trio a small smile. “I suppose we will find out soon enough, right?” The trio looked at each other, not answering. Light Rudy continued, “I will have them bring it over as soon as they can. I imagine they would be here before your time is up.”

The trio was silent at first. Then Rudy spoke up.

“What if it’s not the cure?” Rudy asked.

Light Rudy paused to think for a moment. He tapped a finger against his chin, his gaze upwards. Then he nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. “Then I guess it just isn’t it.” He held his hands at his sides, his eyes closed. He was still smiling, as if he didn’t find it any big deal. “And we’ll just have to look elsewhere.”

“But..we can’t afford to waste time!” Penny cried. “We don’t have that much time left, and Rudy needs that cure!”

Light Rudy nodded his head. “I’m quite well aware that he does.” He turned his head to Rudy. His smile was still so soft and gentle, no sign of malice or anger in it at all. It was like he had forgotten so quickly about Rudy’s accusation from before. “You can trust my comrades. They’re good at finding things for me.” He turned his head so that he was looking at the entire trio. “I assure you that chances are remote that they didn’t find the potion you speak of. They are fetching it as we speak.”

Para-Snap said, “Yeah. Don’t worry. You’ll get it.”

“The Luminos will bring it here shortly.” Para-Penny added.

Light Rudy took out his magic chalk. The trio instinctively took a step back even though Light Rudy didn’t make an aggressive gesture towards them. They watched as he whipped his wrist up and around, creating some kind of shape in the air. When he was finished, a gold watch materialized. It fell into Light Rudy’s outstretched hand. He fiddled with it, winding something on it. Then he walked towards the trio. He reached over and seized Rudy’s wrist. He yanked on him a little, causing Rudy to come forward. Light Rudy placed the watch in his palm and forced the hand closed over it.

“I set this watch to go off when they said they’d be here.” Light Rudy said. “I imagine that you three want to go around town on your own and ask about the potion, just in case the Luminos didn’t actually find it. Am I right?” The trio’s eyes widened at this. Light Rudy smiled. “I’m good at reading thoughts sometimes..not a literal tone of course.” He pointed at the watch Rudy now held in his hand. “Keep that with you. That way, if you’re still in town when the Luminos get here, you can come back as soon as you can.”

“Okay...thanks.” Rudy said. He glanced down at the watch. He put it in his pocket. “Yeah we would like to walk around town if that’s okay by you.”

“Sure, go on!” Light Rudy said, giving a dismissive wave of the hand. He walked over to where his comrades were. He pushed passed Para-Snap and Para-Penny. He stopped in the doorway and looked back. “Just...try to stay close, okay? If you’re too far off, you might run out of time by the time you get back.”

“Try to stay within the town square.” Para-Penny said, raising a finger. “That’s the area right outside of the castle. There’s plenty of zoners to talk to out there.”

“I’m sure there are. We talked to a bunch already.” Snap said. “They didn’t know anything about the potion, though.”

Penny looked down at him and said, “Well maybe we’ll have better luck this time. Someone has to know about it, right?”

“I wish you the best of luck, you three.” Light Rudy said. He turned his head around, facing the hallway. “I do hope that you’re able to find what you need here. It would be a shame if you came all this way, only to leave empty-handed. Anyway, I’ll leave you three be for now. I’m certain you want to discuss what you want to do next, so see you around soon.”

With that, Light Rudy walked out of the room and down the hallway. They could hear his footsteps as they grew fainter in the distance. As soon as he was gone, Rudy, Penny, and Snap glanced at each other, trying to think of what to do. Rudy did want to go outside to talk to more zoners. They might get more answers now that Light Rudy wasn’t there. They’d be able to see for themselves if Light Rudy was the reason they were quiet, or if there was something more going on.

He then glanced at Para-Penny and Para-Snap. They were still in the room with them. Perhaps they should talk to them instead, before they left. The way they acted around Light Rudy, even if it was brief, was strange. Especially Para-Snap’s. Out of the two, he looked the most afraid, even if there wasn’t that much noticeable fear. Though he might have been just nervous because Light Rudy was a ‘stickler for details’, Rudy couldn’t shake the uncomfortable vibe that something really was wrong. And he knew his friends, who saw the same thing he did, felt the same way. With Light Rudy gone, now was the chance to ask.

Rudy, Penny, and Snap quickly noticed that the counterparts were starting to leave, likely to join up with Light Rudy. They rushed over and went in front of them to stop them. Para-Snap and Para-Penny were surprised by this. Para-Penny took a few steps back while Para-Snap pushed on his wheels, guiding himself backwards to give them some room.

“Can we speak to you two for a moment?” Penny asked. “Before we head out?”

Para-Snap and Para-Penny glanced at each other. They looked back. They hesitated for a moment, and then they nodded their heads once in almost perfect unison. Rudy had no idea how far they would get with these two. He didn’t know if they could get any information from them, or if they would continue to hide it...if they were hiding information at all. But they had to try. They had to make the effort to try to learn more about this dimension. Something was wrong and he bet that these two know something of why that is.

“We’ll each ask a question.” Rudy said. “And please...try to answer. We would appreciate it. We aren’t trying to be hostile. It’s just that...”

“..any information you can give is may prove helpful.” Snap finished.

“Yeah...” Rudy said. He glanced at the counterparts. “Do you understand?”

“...sure.” Para-Snap answered in a soft voice. He made a gesture with his hand. “Go right on ahead.”

Para-Penny narrowed her eyes slightly. “But do make it quick. We don’t have that much time. Our Rudy will not be happy if we don’t join up with him soon.” She glanced down the hallway. “And if he has to come back and get us, we’ll never hear the end of it.” She turned her head back. “So whatever it is you want to ask us, please hurry up.”

Rudy could sense a bit of urgency in her voice. He bit his lip in response. He looked at his friends, who gave him each a nod. He looked back. Not wasting any time, he and his friends each asked their question. They each hoped that they would, somehow, get the answers they were looking for.

“Why are the zoners acting the way they are? When we were out with your Rudy, the zoners seemed to act a little...” Rudy tried to think of the word. “...too happy, like it was forced. And they seemed quite nervous around your Rudy, a little jumpier. Just..why is that?”

Penny asked her question next. “Why are you two lying about the screams we heard? We aren’t stupid. We know exactly what we heard. And you two, as well as your Rudy, you keep saying it’s nothing. But we know it’s not. Why are you trying to lie to us about that? I sure hope there’s a good reason, because I can’t think of anything that could justify lying to us about something like that.”

“And what was the purpose of the tour? We don’t have a lot of time in this dimension. I don’t understand why your Rudy made us go on it. All it really did was waste time! Can you tell us why he would want us to go on it?” Snap asked, delivering the third and final question.

The room fell quiet after the three friends each asked their question. They stared at their counterparts, waiting for them to reply. For a few minutes, the counterparts said nothing. They just looked at them. Their expressions were unreadable. They looked kind of blank, but they all could detect some kind of emotion in there. They noticed Para-Penny’s pupils moving a little, like she was scanning the room. But why? Did she expect something to be in here? Para-Snap might have been doing the same thing, but without moving his head, it was a little hard to tell.

Then finally there was a response.

Para-Penny said, “We will answer your questions in the order you gave them to us, okay?” The trio nodded their heads once. “Okay then. Let’s get started.”

Para-Snap nodded his head once. “..yes... We’ll answer to the best of our abilities...”

Para-Penny addressed the first question. “The reason why the zoners act the way they do..well that is simple really.” She folded her arms behind her back and straightened herself up. She looked almost like a professional intelluctual from some important meeting or something. “The zoners here tend to be a little jumpy at times. It’s almost the anniversary of a recent horrific attack that our Rudy saved this place from. Ever since then, the zoners are quite nervous around this time. They usually aren’t like this. If you had come around at an earlier time, you would see that they wouldn’t behave so strangely.” She paused and held out her hand in gesture. “Well strange for you...” She twisted her wrist around. “Not so much for us, as we’re used to it. But does that make sense?”

Rudy paused and thought about this. It did make sense, kind of. If the zoners were nervous about another attack, then he could see them being a little jumpy around this time. Still, he didn’t think it fully explained the reactions they saw. It didn’t seem to explain why the zoners reacted the way they had to Light Rudy. If being nervous of an upcoming attack is what is causing this, then why were the zoners acting so strangely around Light Rudy?

Rudy soon gave his response. “I suppose... Not sure if it explains everything, but yeah, it kinda makes sense..”

Para-Penny nodded her head, smiling in response. “I’m glad you think so. Now for the next question...”

Para-Snap answered this one. “We aren’t lying about those sounds you heard.” His voice was a little forceful, and for a moment, he had the same level energy as Snap did on an average day. A second later, he seemed to realize this and he quieted down a little. “...we aren’t lying. It’s just that...” He looked all around. “...the castle here can warp sounds sometimes...and it makes you think you hear things...” He paused for a moment, biting his lip for a second. “Just...try not to worry about it, okay?”

Penny looked left and right. Rudy could tell she was not convinced of this story. And the way he was talking, Rudy could detect slight hesitation in his voice. It seemed obvious to him that this zoner was hiding something. He seemed a little too nervous to be just worried about some kind of celebration. No, he was certain there was more to it than that.

Penny did not answer Para-Snap. She gave him a confused expression and slowly took a step back. Rudy could tell she was having a hard time thinking of what to say. It didn’t surprise him. What Para-Snap said...it just seemed to make it too obvious that he was lying, or stretching the truth a little. They didn’t want to become too obviously suspicious. They weren’t sure how trustworthy any of their counterparts here were, and until they had something more to go on, they couldn’t outright accuse them of anything. Rudy had nearly slipped up before. He would not do that again.

Para-Penny spoke up, breaking the silence. “And for the final question, regarding that tour, well...you see, our Rudy likes...formality I guess is the word I’m looking for. He likes giving newcomers a quick tour of the place. He just didn’t want you to feel...left out.”

“We know what you might be thinking. Since you aren’t going to stay, why give you the tour?” Para-Snap said in a soft voice. The same small smile still spread across his face. It broadened a little, as if to try to convince them that he was genuinely relaxed. “Well, our Rudy is a stickler for tradition, so even if you weren’t staying here long, he’d still give the tour. He just didn’t want to be rude. That’s all.”

“Correct.” Para-Penny added. “Besides, it’s been a while since this dimension had any other-dimensional visitors and our Rudy wanted to...” She stopped and her eyes widened.

“Wait...” Snap said, realization hanging off his voice. “I thought your Rudy said you guys didn’t know about dimensional hopping...”

“Yeah...Do you care to explain?” Penny asked, turning her head to the side a little.

Para-Penny stammered, “I-I...we...”

Rudy knew it. He knew it was going to happen sooner or later. They slipped up. Para-Penny’s expression clearly indicated shock and something like fear, like she was worried she had accidentally told them something they weren’t supposed to know. He watched as the two counterparts gave each other a quick glance, both their eyes widened in worry. Rudy narrowed his eyes slightly and took a step forward. They couldn’t deny it any longer. They were hiding something, and he and his friends were about to find out what it was.

“We know you’re hiding something. Don’t try to deny it.” Rudy said, staring at them with a stern expression. “I told you before. I’m not going to sit here and be lied to..” He noticed the two counterparts flinching once at this. It was like they expected him to...hurt them... The realization chilled him and his expression softened up a little. “Just please..tell us what is going on here. Please...we...”

“We promise we won’t tell your Rudy you said anything.” Penny said in a gentle voice.

Snap added, “Your secret is safe with us!”

Para-Penny and Para-Snap looked at each other. The fear in their eyes became more prominent. It was becoming clearer as the seconds passed that something really was wrong, and they were afraid of something. Was it Light Rudy? Was there something else going on? Whatever it was, it had these two on edge. They started to back up a little. Rudy noted their gait. It was...a little submissive, something he would expect to see from someone who was..a slave...

At this, Rudy’s eyes widened. He glanced at the golden braces around Para-Snap’s wrists. His mind thought back to how he reacted when Snap questioned him about it. He had acted strangely, and he seemed nervous. He thought at first that they were just sentimental, representing a disaster that he wanted himself to remember. But now he was having second thoughts. Was it possible that the golden braces represented something...far more sinister?

Para-Penny glanced over her shoulder, her eyes still wide. “I-I think I hear our Rudy calling for us.” She looked back at the trio. She was talking so fast, clearly in a hurry. Her voice had a stronger tinge of urgency on it than it did before. “Sorry to leave you so suddenly. We can talk later, okay? Bye!”

With that, she rushed behind Para-Snap and grabbed onto the handles. She turned him around and the two of them hurried down the hallway, leaving behind a confused and disturbed trio. A cold chill settled on the room, making them shudder. Suddenly, they no longer felt so welcome...or safe here.

sss

Terry couldn’t believe it. She wanted this to be some kind of bad dream, a nightmare she would wake up from. She wanted to open her eyes and find that she was in her bedroom the whole time. Or even still at Vinnie’s, before he had taken the tapes here. Her body shook with emotion, and she did her best to control it. Yet she was not able to hide her shivering, something that the others around her noticed.

She could feel their eyes on her, looking at her sympathetically. She knew they were giving each other those same looks, and she knew they were trying to comfort each other. Today had been a horrible day, one that she had wished never would have come. Sure, years ago, she had dreamed of something like this. She had wanted to do this for a long time. But now that it has happened, after she knew more than she had in the past, she no longer wanted it. And now, instead of bringing her happiness, it brought her fear.

ChalkZone had been exposed... They had tried to stop it. They had rushed over as soon as they could. If only they had moved faster... If only they had thought about how to escape sooner... They could have prevented the tragedy. And now the audience was probably questioning just what they had seen. No doubt her brother was explaining to them everything that he knew about ChalkZone. She didn’t have a doubt in her mind that he was going to rile up the audience to want to go, perhaps as a way to encourage research to try to find a way to tear a hole in the dimensions and get into ChalkZone.

She wondered if her brother was going to force her to give him magic chalk. He already had her on a leash before, and he could do it again. But now, he had not just her, but the other adults, too. He might know of a way to control them, as well. He was smart when he wanted to be, and he could dish out threats to force them into submission. Rudy’s parents and Mrs. Sanchez both likely have magic chalk somewhere. And if Vinnie knew...he could find a way to force them to...

...wait...

Did he have to do that...?

Terry’s mind was suddenly invaded by a memory of the recent past, something she had almost forgotten about. Didn’t Vinnie say he broke into Rudy’s house to get the footage? If that were the case, then didn’t that mean that he might have also found magic chalk...?

Her heart froze at the thought. If that were the case, then Vinnie could have brought that with him. The chalkboard...was that the reason he had the chalkboard? To show the audience that ChalkZone was real? She could feel her heart pounding as the realization swept through her like a cold chill. The idea that Vinnie would have brought undeniable proof of ChalkZone’s existence was terrifying. They had to do something...and quick. But what?

She and the other adults sat together quietly in the empty room. After they saw that ChalkZone was exposed, they fled. Though hours had passed, they dared not leave the room. They were trying to cope with what happened and tried to figure out what they were going to do. She had no idea if the audience was still there or not. She was certain that, if they had left, changes are they still didn’t have access to ChalkZone even if they were convinced it was real. Vinnie certainly wouldn’t give up the magic chalk, if he had a piece, since he would want access himself.

So far, no one in the building had found them. She knew that her boss...former boss..was looking for her and the group she was with. She didn’t hear anyone in the hallways yet, but that didn’t mean they weren’t coming. This room was used quite a lot, so it made for a good hideout. Her boss would suspect her of going somewhere that was not in use too much, a more obvious place to hide. She and the other adults, as well as Reggie, pressed themselves together on one side of the door, so that when it opened up and her boss did a quick look around, he wouldn’t really notice them so easily.

That didn’t mean they were safe. They would still need to remain cautious and alert. She hoped that someone, her or the others, could figure out what they could do. At the moment, they were trapped in here, unable to get out. To her horror, practically everyone in the news station was against them. Vinnie had rallied them to his side, and now they were fighting a losing battle. They could still win, she was certain. But it was going to be a lot harder than before. They had to be careful, and be wary of what moves they make.

Terry glanced at the parents, looking at them sympathetically. Though they had calmed down a little, not too long ago, they were beating themselves up over the exposure of ChalkZone. They felt as though they let their children down. She couldn’t blame them. Terry felt like a failure as well. They had done their best to comfort each other. Even Reggie had some things to say to try to cheer them up a little.

Though they were all still upset about failing Rudy and Penny, they all knew that they couldn’t dwell on that anymore. They couldn’t keep beating themselves up over what had happened. They had to get to work on trying to fix things. There may still be a chance of protecting ChalkZone, but they would have to hurry. Now that the secret was out, there was little time left to act. They had to make sure that the footage does not go viral or nation wide. It would be much harder to fix if that happened. So long as it remained local, they may still have a chance.

But..just how were they going to fix it? The footage had been aired...at least to the audience. This was all prerecorded stuff. No doubt they were preparing it now, or will be soon, for an official airing on TV. They needed to destroy that footage as soon as possible. But to do that, they would need to get to the footage room where they were before, and try to find it there. Or in the other video room in case they took it elsewhere. With everyone in here against her, that was not going to be an easy task.

And what of the audience? They needed to be accounted for as well. Even if no one believed them, that didn’t make the audience harmless. Some of them might be as determined as she was in the past. She recalled the things she did to get access to ChalkZone. The idea that there would now be multiple people acting like that..it was frightening. Even more so if it turned out that some of the people in the audience were more tenacious and determined than she was.

Her mind thought back to the first time she tried to expose ChalkZone. It had been the same day she had kidnapped Snap and dragged him to the station in hope of proving the existence of ChalkZone to Mr. Riverera. It hadn’t worked, and she recalled how she had found out she had magic chalk and tried exposing ChalkZone that way. But then when she thought she succeeded, Snap came and started to perform and act and...she was not very happy. Even now, she was not happy with the wiggie that ate her hair.

But thinking about what happened did give her an idea. She recalled that the audience had seen Snap come out of the chalkboard, but none of them thought ‘world of chalk’. Instead they were rather entertained by him and thought it was a magic trick. If the audience could be fooled into believing that so easily, then perhaps they had a chance in covering up ChalkZone if they did something similar. Perhaps make them thing it was movie? Yes..that might work...

It would be easy to believe, too. ChalkZone was such a bizarre place and already had a child-like look to it. With the right adjustments and right moves, she and the others could convince the audience that what they saw was just some movie. A computer animated one probably, or a classic 2D one. All it would take was some careful planning, and once they’re convinced that it was just a movie, they could then work on trying to do something about her brother and the news station. She turned her head to the others and opened her mouth to speak.

But she did not get very far. Suddenly, the door burst open. The group screamed and jumped back, nearly crushed by the door. Terry realized what a mistake it was to sit so close. And soon they heard footsteps and, before they knew it, Terry’s ex-boss stood in front of them.

“M-M-Mr. Pierce!” Terry stammered.

Mr. Pierce narrowed his eyes angrily at the group. The parents moved close together, standing in front of Reggie due to him being the youngest there. A parental instinct, even if he wasn’t their child. They moved back, with Terry in the front, her arms outstretched in a protective manner. She narrowed her eyes at her boss, wondering what he was going to do.

“I am surprised you are so upset by this, Ms. Bouffant. This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” Mr. Pierce asked, tilting his head a little.

“Not anymore!” Terry spat at him.

Mr. Pierce narrowed his eyes. He ran his hand along his black hair, smoothing it out. “Well I’m sorry you feel that way.” He gave a small chuckle. “I was going to offer you a position regarding this ChalkZone business...but...” He shrugged his shoulders. “..if you don’t want it...”

“You can’t do this!” Mrs. Tabootie called out. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?!”

Mr. Tabootie joined his wife. “You don’t know what you’re tampering with here!”

Mr. Pierce looked at the parents, silencing them with his stare before they could say anything else. A creepy smile spread across his face. He looked at Reggie, who was giving him a glare. Mr. Pierce shook his head and turned his attention to Terry.

“I really don’t want to do this. But you left me no choice, Ms. Bouffant. You see...” Mr. Pierce licked his tongue across his teeth in a menacing manner. The group in front of him flinched and took a cautious step back. “Our ratings were getting...low... And this world of chalk business, it’s going to make us a fortune. I’m not going to allow you or anyone else jeopardize this chance.”

“And I won’t let you get away with this!” Terry declared. She pointed a finger at her ex-boss. “You’re making a huge mistake! But then you don’t care, do you? You’re a...a.. greedy bastard and I can’t believe I signed up to work for you!”

Terry’s eyes widened slightly. she couldn’t believe she said that to Mr. Pierce. Boss or ex-boss, it wasn’t a smart move. Mr. Pierce looked surprised by it. Then he slowly smiled. It was an eerie smile with hidden promise. Terry watched as the man reached behind his back. Her heart skipped a beat as he took a few steps forward, menacingly walking towards them. He shut the door behind him, blocking their only escape route.

“Well then...” Mr. Pierce said. To everyone’s horror, he lifted up a gun and pointed it at them. “Fuck you, too.”

“Wh-What are you doing?!” Mrs. Sanchez cried.

“I will not allow you to interfere with..the plan...” Mr. Pierce said. He closed his eyes and took aim at Terry. “Now hold still...” He put his finger on the trigger.

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you don’t know anything?” Penny asked, her voice conveying some tinge of desperation. “If you knew anything at all, you’d tell us, right?”

The zoner that stood before them nodded his head swiftly. “Y-Yes, of course I would!” He grinned broadly at them, his teeth exposed. “Why wouldn’t I tell you? You guys are guests here, and we’re here to help you feel welcome!”

“Yeah we know that. But why are you acting like that?” Snap asked, staring at the zoner up and down.

“Acting like what?” The zoner’s grin faltered just a tad, but he kept it up. “Nothing is wrong! Everything is fine!”

Rudy, Penny, and Snap looked at each other. They weren’t sure if they really believed the zoner. It didn’t sound like he was being one hundred percent truthful. Something about the way he was talking and acting...it just didn’t add up. He sounded too nervous and anxious. Even though he was smiling at them, it didn’t feel genuine and was overall creepy to look at. This zoner was doing the same thing that they noticed Para-Penny and Para-Snap doing. They were hiding something.

This wasn’t the only zoner they spoke to, either. They had attempted with a couple other zoners. They all acted perpetually happy and grinned the whole time they spoke to them. They had offered to help like the others had in the past. They were overly friendly and welcoming. But as soon as they bring up any topic even remotely related to Light Rudy, they’d act even more nervous than usual. That told them at least one thing. The strange behavior was linked to Light Rudy. They already suspected this before, but now they were certain.

None of the zoners treated them like they did with Light Rudy. They were still creepily happy and it made them nervous. But they weren’t quite as creepy as when Light Rudy had been around. The zoners didn’t seem as...panicked, if that was the right word, around them. They seemed more relaxed and calm, even if their behavior was still off. Occassionally, they would even notice them looking around briefly, as if they were looking for something. They had noticed Para-Penny and Para-Snap doing the same thing. What were they looking for?

“Anyway I have to get going.” The zoner said, raising his hand up. “I’m sorry I didn’t have any information regarding that potion.” He gave them an apologetic look. He raised his head and looked over at a female dog zoner standing on all fours nearby. “She might know something.” He said, pointing at her.

The trio looked over. The dog zoner wasn’t too far from them. She was standing near the statue of Light Rudy. She had some kind of bag strapped around her neck and she appeared to be waiting for someone. It didn’t seem like she was standing there for long, and the trio believed if they hurried, they could catch her and talk to her before she had to go. They turned to the zoner they were just talking to, but to their surprise and confusion, he had already taken off and was already mixed in with the crowd around them.

Snap was confused. Not just by this, but by everything. He had been in ChalkZone City in his own dimension many times and the zoners never acted this way. It felt so strange for him to be in a place he considered home, almost, only to find it utterly transformed...and yet still kind of resembling the ChalkZone City he knew. There were many similiarities, especially in structure. But also so many differences, too. Small ones, mostly harmless, and yet still somehow unnerving.

Why had that zoner run off like that? He understood if he needed to be somewhere quick, but he had practically bee lined away from them. He had never known any zoner to move that fast. Well except for Bardot. If he wasn’t suspicious before, he was really suspicious now. The behavior was just too strange. All these zoners all around them, there was something off about them. Their behavior was getting faker and faker the more he looked at them. If it had just been that one zoner acting strange, that was one thing. But they were all acting like this.

It was worrying to him. He knew that, in order for the zoners to act this way, there had to be a good reason for it. They wouldn’t just one day behave in this manner. What had happened to these zoners? Why were they acting this way? What were they so jumpy about? Snap bit his lip as thoughts rushed through his head. Different scenarios played in the back of his mind. There could be a number of things to bring about this behavior. And he had a feeling that Light Rudy was the key player in all of this.

A part of Snap hoped that wasn’t the case. He didn’t want to have to deal with another evil Rudy. He wanted this Rudy to be as kind, or almost as kind at least, as his Rudy. He wanted an ally, someone who could help them find that cure. He wanted to believe that their suspicions were unfounded and that they were overreacting. After all the trouble they went through in the other dimension, he thought it would be nice if this one didn’t give them as much trouble. But alas, sometimes things just don’t work out that way.

For Snap, the biggest alarm came to him when he and his friends saw how their counterparts behaved earlier. The way Para-Penny and Para-Snap suddenly looked so nervous and afraid. That was a major hint to them that something really was wrong with this place. Snap had a sinking feeling in his stomach that something terrible was going to happen soon if they weren’t careful. He hoped that, somehow, one of these zoners could clue them in on whatever is wrong. A small hint, a gesture, anything.

He, Rudy, and Penny walked over towards the dog zoner. Noting her thin frame, elongated nose, and her streamlined ears, Snap could tell she was a greyhound. A little stylized as she seemed a little too thin to be a healthy greyhound. But she did look pretty healthy. Around her neck was that bag, made of leather. Her front paws had a thumb and he guessed that she is able to manipulate objects with them.

“Hey! Can we talk to you?” Rudy asked, holding out his hand. The pale grey and white dog zoner looked over at them. “I’m sorry if we’re cutting into your time. We would really appreciate it if you could answer a question.”

The dog zoner stared at them. Her eyes narrowed slightly as if in contemplation. Penny took a step forward. The dog zoner looked over at her.

“Yeah, it’ll be quick. We promise.” Penny said.

“Well okay then.” The greyhound said. Her voice sounded kinda like one of those stuck up stars and she held up her head with a sense of self-absorbed dignity. But she didn’t speak or act that rudely to them, nor did she sound annoyed by them approaching her. “Make it quick. My partner is coming over and I need to take these posters.”

She gestured her head down. The trio took notice of something peaking out of the back strapped around her neck. Snap couldn’t tell what they were. He thought about asking the zoner if he could have one, but decided to hold it off until they asked her a more important question. The posters could wait.

But there was something about them that...drew him to them. Though he could only see a corner piece, the colors and the way they were arranged were eye catching. He was curious about what they were and a part of him did want to just take it. But he knew that would be rude and they didn’t want to upset any of the zoners here. They looked like something was bothering them enough; they certainly didn’t need anything else to get upset about.

“Okay, here’s the question.” Rudy said quickly, in a tone that told Snap that he wanted to ask the question quickly before they ran out of time. “Have you seen any potion with a rainbow aura around here?” The dog zoner cocked an eyebrow. “We asked a few other zoners, but they claimed to have not heard of it.”

Penny nodded. “We were hoping that someone here, perhaps you, could give us more information. Like...where it could possibly be or any legends or something...?” She added.

The greyhound tilted her head. She stared at the trio as if they had gone crazy. There was a glare on her face. Not one of anger, but one of confusion. It was clear from her expression that she did not know what they were talking about. This was not a promising sign. Perhaps if they reworded the question a little or provided something else...

“You do a lot of walking around and traveling, don’t you?” Snap said. When the greyhound looked at him, he added, “You look like someone who has been to a lot of places.”

The greyhound raised her head up a little. “Well I’m glad you noticed.” She gave a small smile. “It comes with the job. I’m one of Lord Rudy’s messengers. I travel around bringing news mostly.”

“L-Lord Rudy?” Rudy asked, his eyes widened.

The greyhound looked confused. “Well of course I’d refer to him as that. What else would I call him?” From the sound of her voice, Snap and his friends could tell that she did not see anything wrong with using the term ‘lord’ to refer to Light Rudy. “Most of us messengers refer him as that. It’s customary. Tradition if you will.”

“Okay...” Rudy said, nervousness tinging on his voice.

The realization that this messenger worked for Light Rudy was unnerving. It was not something any of them expected. Now they were worried if they would even get that far with this zoner. If Light Rudy was up to something, and this zoner worked for him, then would she even tell them anything, if she knew anything at all? The trio could not shake off the uncomfortable sensation that they might have gotten themselves into trouble.

Now they had to be very careful with what they asked and said. If they acted too suspicious, would this zoner inform Light Rudy? They wouldn’t doubt it. The way she spoke, the way she said the name, it sounded like she revered him, in a way. Or at least was comfortable around him. Unlike the other zoners, she did not seem as nervous talking about Light Rudy. Not to the same extent anyway. If something really was up and if she caught wind they were suspicious, then what would happen to them? What was Light Rudy capable of doing, if he was the reason the zoners were acting strangely?

Snap knew what the answer was. A lot. There was a lot of things Light Rudy could do. This wasn’t like if Skrawl were running the show. Light Rudy was human. He could create things. If he wanted to do something...questionable, he had the means and the firepower to back it all up. He didn’t even need the help of Para-Penny or Para-Snap. If he was as good at protecting ChalkZone as he claimed, he could bend the zoners to his whim on his own...if that is what he wanted to do anyway.

“Well anyway...” Snap said as he tried to get back to what they were going to ask. “Has your Rudy mentioned anything about a potion? Or in your travels, has anyone talked about it?”

The greyhound raised a paw up and pressed a claw against her chin thoughtfully. “Well..no...” She shook her head. “I can’t say I have heard anything like that in my traveling. Lord Rudy hasn’t mentioned anything to me either.” She held out her paw in gesture. “In fact, this is the first time I even heard of this potion you speak of. I’m guessing it’s important?”

Penny nodded her head. “Yeah... We really do need it.” She glanced sorrowfully at Rudy.

“Our friend is sick, and he needs that cure.” Snap added. He shuddered once as he remembered the gruesome details about what will happen to his friend if he did not get the cure in time. “So any information we can find would be beneficial.”

“I would imagine so.” The greyhound gave Rudy a sympathetic expression. “I would love to give you more information, but I’m afraid I don’t really have any.” Her ears pricked up and she turned her head to one direction. “I can’t stay here any longer, though. I must get going.” She gave the trio a sideways glance. “Good luck trying to find help here.”

As the dog zoner took off, the trio stood there, watching her leave. The last thing she said, about good luck finding help, they didn’t think much of it initially. But as it echoed in their minds, they noticed that it sounded a little..ominous, like a warning. Was the dog zoner trying to tell them something? Was she, subtly giving them a hint that something is wrong with this place? It did seem possible. The way she said that last sentence was unnerving, and a little sarcastic. It was like she knew for certain they weren’t going to find any help.

And she might be right on that. As Snap replayed the recent events, he took notice about how no one seemed to be willing to help them. The zoners acted too nervous, too uncomfortably happy. They kept leaving quickly or dodging the question or giving answers that weren’t helpful in anyway. The only zoner that could give them any information that they didn’t know or made some kind of sense was that dog zoner. And the only thing they managed to get from her is a newfound ominous feeling regarding Light Rudy and the fact that finding help here might be hopeless.

He didn’t want to believe it was hopeless, though. Someone here, anywhere, had to have information that they could use. There has to be a zoner here who wouldn’t be afraid to give them information. There had to be a zoner brave enough to do that for them. If they kept looking around, they would find something. They just had to keep looking. Where there was a will, there was a way, right?

“Let’s try looking over there.” Snap suggested, pointing in the direction of a new street.

Rudy looked over. Giving it a quick glance, he nodded to Snap. “Yeah, that looks like a good place to continue.”

“Someone there might be able to help.” Penny said. Snap could tell she was trying to sound hopeful, but was having some doubts herself.

The three friends were about to walkd over when something caught Snap’s eye. He raised up his hand, halting his friends. They looked at him with a confused expression. They tried to call his name, but Snap paid no attention. His eyes and mind were focused on what was on the ground. He walked over to it slowly. And as it came into sight, he realized what it was. It was one of the posters that was in the greyhound’s back. It must’ve fallen out when she ran.

Snap bent down and grabbed onto it. He flattened it out and picked it up off the ground. His gaze fell upon it, and in seconds, his eyes widened in shock at what he was seeing. He felt his body freeze. He looked over at his friends. They stared at him, wondering what was going on. He gestured for them, almost robotically, to come over. They took a few steps and soon the same look of horror was exchanged between them. The three friends stared at the poster, a sinking feeling in their gut as they pondered if this was real or not.

The poster looked very much like a propaganda poster they would see during a war. The colors, orange and white, looked both professional and flashy. There was a stylized image of Light Rudy on it. He looked...downright menacing on the poster. Whether or not that was the actual intention, they weren’t sure. It might have been accidental, but what wasn’t accidental was what was written on the poster itself.

“Don’t fret, precious. I’m here. I’ll shield you and protect you from the other ones, the evil ones.”

The message seemed, at first, like a message of hope and encouragement. The poster was saying that Light Rudy would protect them. That, in itself, wasn’t bad. And it was something they would expect. Rudy was the protector of ChalkZone after all, it seemed like Light Rudy also was. And yet, despite this, the message still sent chills down their spine, and it wasn’t the message itself, but the wording of it.

No matter how they looked at it, the wording was just...off. Unsettling. And it being on what was clearly a propaganda poster... That made it even more eerie to them. The message did not send any kind of hopeful feelings. It instead sent a sensation of fear and dread. The way Light Rudy looked on the poster, too... The way he was looking up... It almost felt like he was...watching them...

At this, their eyes widened in realization. The back of their minds flashed with mental white lightning. The way the zoners were looking around... Para-Penny and Para-Snap doing the same thing... Was it possible that..that...Light Rudy had a way of..watching them...?

The realization send cold chills down their spines, freezing their blood in horror. If Light Rudy really did have a way of watching them, then did that mean that he..knew they were suspicious? Did that mean that he could see what they were doing now? Or had spies that told thim everything they saw? Was the dog zoner would to inform Light Rudy?

And now Light Rudy’s message of ‘everything is under control’ came back full throttle, hitting them with the force of a train wreck. It had sounded strange then. But now, with this new revelation, it sounded downright sinister and foreboding. They looked all around them, watching the zoners. Were they being...controlled somehow? Para-Penny and Para-Snap...were they under some iron grip? The way they were acting before...so nervous...looking around like they thought Light Rudy was going to come out and get them... It was all adding up now.

The three friends exchanged nervous looks with each other. This world was suddenly less inviting. They could feel the walls closing in around them. It was almost like they were trapped. The land itself didn’t change. It wasn’t like some shield had suddenly formed. But they still felt an ominous force pushing in all around them. And they each began to ask themselves a question.

Just what had they gotten themselves into...?

sss

Sophie narrowed her eyes at the approaching man. Tyreek sneered down at her, cruel intent shining forth from those eyes. She gritted her teeth, keeping away from the ‘door’ of the electric water cage. She had hoped that Tyreek would let her have at least a little time to herself. But she guessed that was just too much to ask. Of course Tyreek wouldn’t leave her be for that long. She did not display surprise when she had heard him walking down those steps.

Tyreek hadn’t even said a word and already she could tell he intended to do harm. Just what he was going to do, she wasn’t certain. She backed up a little as he got closer to the cage. His sneer froze her blood, but she did her best to hide her fear. She positioned herself in front of Quet out of instinct. Even though Tyreek was likely not going to bother him, that she was a bigger player in what he and his comrades wanted, she didn’t want to give him the chance of going after the injured zoner.

Tyreek stood in front of the door, his arms folded against his chest. His dark chuckle seemed to lower the temperature of the room. Sophie felt herself shivering harder. Yet she did not back down. She narrowed her eyes at the man. She kept caution about her. She had no idea when he was going to open the cage and just yank her out. She glanced quickly at her injured arm. The bleeding had stopped, but for how long? Would this evil man reopen those wounds, or give her more?

Getting tired of the silence and sick of waiting for Tyreek to say something, Sophie said, “What is it you want?” Her voice was embittered, devoid of any sign of fear.

If Tyreek were disappointed that she wasn’t acting afraid, he sure as heck didn’t show it. Instead, he merely look amused and straightened himself up. He stared down at her and said, “It seems your mommy is a little hard to...persuade...” Sophie’s eyes widened a little at this. “So I thought that maybe she needs a little help. We could use her assistance, and you can help with that.”

Sophie felt her heart clench up tightly. She took a step back, a little bit of fear starting to come through despite her best efforts to hide it. “What are you going to do?” She asked with as much defiance as she could muster. Despite trying her hardest, she couldn’t stop a little bit of emotion from choking out.

Tyreek raised his head up, sneering down at the eleven year old. He looked downright terrifying in this position, especially with the way the lighting bounced off his face, keeping much of it in darkness. “Well I’m certain you dear old mommy will agree to join us..” He leaned forward, folding his arms behind his back. “...if you were threatened with the same fate...”

Sophie’s eyes widened in horror and she took a few steps back. Tyreek was going to do what? He was going to..use her to get to her mom? No, she couldn’t allow that. She shook her head in denial. She narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth. She took a defensive stance as Tyreek opened the ‘door’. There was no way she was going to go down without a fight. She was not going to let herself be used like this.

In seconds, Tyreek reached out for her and seized her by the arm. He twisted it roughly, making her wince in pain. He started to yank her forward. To defend herself, Sophie started to pound her fist against his arm repeatedly, as hard as she could. This did make Tyreek wince slightly, but he continued to drag her forward, not caring if she tripped over herself or not. She started to pull back, trying to yank her arm free. In desperation, she bit down on the arm, but that had no effect except for Tyreek growling and giving her a swift yank.

Suddenly, a blur swift past her and hit against Tyreek. The man’s eyes widened and he let out a cry of pain. He released Sophie and staggered back. Sophie could see lacerations on the man’s hand. Red blood dripped from the wound and onto the ground. He held his hand to his chest and seethed in pain. He glared back at Sophie, looking at what, or rather, who, had caused the injury.

Sophie was surprised when she saw Quet next to her. His long body wrapped loosely around her. His undamaged wing spread out wide. His head hung in front of her, his blazing reptilian eyes glaring in Tyreek’s direction. His mouth was open, revealing his sharp teeth. A low hiss exited his mouth. Tyreek glared at him and took a step forward. Quet responded by lashing out at him, slamming his jaws shut near his hand and prompting Tyreek to move back. The two glared at each other, hostility rising.

Quet said in a low voice, “You want her...you have to get through me first...”

“Quet...” Sophie said, her eyes widened. She hadn’t expected Quet to help her like this. And she certainly didn’t expect him to stand up to Tyreek, a larger, stronger human, the same one who injured his wing.

Tyreek stared down at his injured hand. He looked back at Quet. He snarled angrily. “That can be arranged...”

Tyreek moved forward, this time his focus was on Quet, not Sophie. He reached out with his uninjured hand, preparing to seize Quet. The snake zoner hissed at him again and, without warning, lunged at Tyreek.

Sophie’s eyes grew wide. “Quet! No!”

sss

Maalik watched in satisfaction as Dr. Urso, Rapsheeba, and Blocky were tossed in the electric cell. The door was secured. The traitors weren’t going to escape any time soon. He had thought about using a regular cage, but decided to go with an electric one so that they didn’t have any change of getting out. The lion bear could use his claws to saw through the metal if he tried hard enough. While there was a chance he wouldn’t do that, he couldn’t offer him that opportunity.

He had gotten Dr. Raiden’s distress signal, calling for more backup. When that happened, Maalik felt his heart clench. Raiden was a dear friend of his and he knew him very well. Raiden would not call for help unless he absolutely needed it. Horrific images had ran through his head as he and some of the other Luminos had rushed over to offer their support. As they approached the back entrance of the damaged hospital, he hoped and prayed that he would not be too late.

When he did find Dr. Raiden, he was running down the hallway before he finally collapsed from exhaustion. Maalik was horrified by his appearance. He was bloodied and battered. Someone had attacked him. At first, he thought it had been Rudy. But he quickly found out he was wrong. As Dr. Raiden was helped up to his feet, the cheetah told him that it was one of the doctors who attacked him. Dr. Urso was his name. Maalik remembered that name and his blood boiled. So Dr. Urso decided to side the humans, did he...?

The fight with the lion bear was quick. Maalik was physically stronger than him, and Urso had already been injured. Taking full advantage of this, he attacked his weak spots, where he was already injured, and he had managed to subdue him quickly. He pounded the lion bear into the ground, tearing open a wound on his leg and nearly breaking his arm. He would have attacked more brutally if there wasn’t a more urgent matter at hand.

He had learned from Raiden, as the cheetah was being treated by a doctor Luminos he had brought with, that the creators and the wretched traitor Snap had went into the alternate dimensions. Something about finding the cures he was certain. Raiden had mentioned that Cosmo told him a little bit about it when he was still his prisoner. Maalik knew this was going to complicate things as they could not go after Rudy now. He had dimensional hopped and, at first, he had no idea when he’d be back.

Maalik knew about the alternate dimensions. All of the Luminos had. They had used the machine once, though he had long forgotten the reason why. They weren’t in the dimensions long...but it was long enough that they learned some horrific things. And Rudy in those dimensions... Maalik’s mind boiled with rage as he recalled what both of them were like. This fueled his determination to take down Rudy before it got that far. Everyone here saw him as a hero, but Maalik knew the truth. He knew some terrible things, and while many zoners might condemn him and his people’s actions, in the long run, they would thank him for it.

He glanced over at the three traitors. They were still conscious, awake, and all of them were injured. Maalik thought about giving them some form of medical attention as he didn’t want them to die before justice was served. But he decided not to...at least for now. They deserved to be in some pain for what they did. Helping creators... The thought made him furious. And the lion bear hurting Raiden...unforgiveable. He was going to make sure Urso paid for that big time.

He heard footsteps approaching him. He looked over and his expression softened up as he saw Dr. Raiden walk over to him. He was bandaged up and was walking with a limp.

“Raiden...” Maalik said, his voice soft. “Are you okay now?”

Raiden winced as he put pressure on his damaged leg. “I am..okay.” He took a quick look around the room, studying it. He looked back at Maalik. “So what’s the plan now? What’s next on the agenda?”

Maalik looked over at the dimensional machine. “We need to get Rudy back.”

“We can just wait for him.” Raiden said, taking a tentative step forward. Maalik’s heart ached as he watched his best friend wince in pain. This made him even angrier at Urso. “There’s a timer.. When it’s up, they’ll all return.”