Do You Remember?

Chapter 73:




Thankfully, or not so luckily, Blocky and Howdy did not have to wait too long in their cell before the werewolf had come back. The extra set of footsteps was enough to tell Blocky that he indeed had brought someone else with him. Judging from how heavy the footsteps were, it was something that had a bit more mass than the werewolf did.

“I still can’t believe you talked me into this...” Grumbled the new zoner, a female. The voice sounded familiar and Blocky wondered if this was one of the night zoners that had helped to capture him. “They are the enemy! We already discussed what we were going to do! Why can’t we just stick to that plan?!”

“Because I thought of one even better, and it would ‘kill two birds in one stone’, so to speak.” The werewolf replied.

A low growl eminated from the female’s voice. “Oh get off yourself, Tranquil. You know that’s bullshit and you know it. We should just get rid of them now and then worry about Skrawl!”

“Oh come now. You can’t possibly believe that.” Tranquil replied. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what he was feeling. No way to know if he was really being sincerely shocked or if it was sarcasm. “Skrawl is a bigger priority. It was he who blotted out the sun and made it hard to tell if...”

“And he is a day zoner, is he not?”

A part of Blocky was glad that he could not see the female zoner’s expressions, or her face. The tone of her voice and the words she spoke already made her intimidating enough. He could already see images in the back of his mind of some imposing, tall zoner with long sharp fangs spewing out harsh, toxic words. He could picture himself cowering before her, begging her not to hurt him, only for her to swipe at him like he was some kind of toy.

He could already tell just how viciously she viewed day zoners. From that one remark of how Skrawl was a day zoner, it all clicked into place quickly. Not only that, but he soon came to understand just how the night zoners had blamed them for all of this from the start. Skrawl being a day zoner must have been the clincher. It wasn’t just the fact that they couldn’t venture out of the Night Zone very easily anymore; it was because Skrawl was a day zoner, and many of them had started to judge day zoners based on that. Not really fair, but at least now they had some kind of context their line of thinking.

Tranquil gave a soft growl of irritation. A soft thud suggested that he must have slapped himself in the face, or had placed his hand against his head and was shaking it. Either expression would certainly fit what the werewolf zoner must have been going through right now. “You are being a little unreasonable, Marble. You obviously don’t see the...”

“Will you just listen to yourself?! These are fucking day zoners we are talking about! They can’t be trusted!” Marble shouted. She struck the ground with a foot, a loud tapping sound revealing that she had long, sharp claws. “Don’t you get it?! They’re working for Skrawl! All the day zoners are the same!”

Tranquil was getting further irritated. Blocky could tell from the tone of his voice. The soft, uncertain sound coming from Howdy further clinched this. “Sometimes, you can be so ridiculous. I would think that you’d know that Skrawl is hated amongst most zoners, including day zoners. Don’t you see that we would have an advantage if we temporarily work together?”

Marble let out a long, soft growl at this. Blocky tensed up, expecting to hear a string of shouts and insults from the female night zoner. When that didn’t happen, he was still confused. Yet he still remained tense just in case something were to happen. Something could change at any given moment. As he listened to the female zoner’s growling, he was tempted to say something. Perhaps a statement that could help stop all this shouting and arguing. But what could he say? He would only end up making this worse, he was certain.

Not to mention, he can’t speak with a torn tongue...

Soon, Marble let out an exasperated sigh. It felt as though she had pushed out all the pent up energy that she had through her mouth, and Blocky could almost imagine her body slumping forward as she did this. She took in a few slow breaths before she finally spoke up once more. “Okay then, fine. I’ll give them a chance if that makes you so fucking happy.”

“Thank you.” Tranquil said. There must have been some kind of smile on his face. “I am sure that you won’t regret it. Cooperation is...”

“Save your lame speeches.” Grumbled Marble. I will tolerate them for however long you see fit. But they are not my friends and they never will be. Do not expect me to act so friendly towards them.”

“I understand.”

“Good.”

There was a bit of silence that followed after this. Blocky wasn’t really sure what was going on. Didn’t Tranquil want to speak to them? Then why wasn’t he talking some more? Did he want something? Was it possible that he and Marble had decided to whisper to one another about a further plan, or was he just being paranoid? He didn’t hear any worried sounds from Howdy, so perhaps it wasn’t anything too serious. Still, he wished someone would say something quickly. He was getting so tired of waiting.

Finally, he could hear something. No speech or anything. Just some light thudding. Ah yes, they were being approached. The night zoners were coming closer to the door. He could feel Howdy moving closer to him, making this action even more obvious. He struggled to motion himself closer to where he could feel Howdy, and he turned his head to face the noise. He struggled to ignore the pain he was still feeling to focus on the night zoners before him. Despite being promised not to be further hurt, he couldn’t help but remain worried.

The cell door opened. He could feel Howdy jerking a little, as if he were trying to see if he could escape through the door. But a low growl from the night zoners stopped him from even trying. Then the door clicked again and Blocky knew that it had been closed. He clenched his teeth tightly, ignoring the still oozing blood from his mouth as he huddled even closer to Howdy, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

After a few moments of mostly silence, save for some shifting on the ground as the night zoners got themselves positioned in front of them, they could hear the werewolf zoner clear his throat before he began to speak.

“So...perhaps we should start with a question, right?” There was some uncomfortableness in his voice. Whether it was from a bit of guilt of having harmed them just a little while ago, or if it was from having to actually communicate with day zoners instead of attacking them, it was hard to say. “I’ll start off, since talking with you two was my idea.”

“Okay then. Shoot.” Howdy said slowly. “What do you want to ask first?”

“The first question that comes to my mind is, well, since you day zoners can run around in any zone, and theoretically, you should have been able to get closer to Skrawl than any of us...” The night zoner paused for a moment, as if to collect his thoughts. “...so, be that the case, do you know anything about how Skrawl got so powerful?”

At this, Howdy was shocked. And so was Blocky. “What?! You don’t know? I thought you did... We all thought you did.”

“You’t think we’d know, right? Well, we don’t. We don’t venture out of our Night Zone sections without protection. We weren’t there when Skrawl first unleashed his power. We weren’t there when he even first obtained it. We don’t even see him all that often.” Tranquil explained. He began to tap the ground with his claws. “So perhaps you could fill in the void for us and help us understand how this all came to be.”

“Yes. That would be...wonderful.” Marble was clearly straining to sound polite to them. “We had some ideas, but nothing was fully confirmed. So...mind helping us with that?”

“Well...I can tell you this much..” Howdy replied. “It’s kind of a complicated story.” He paused for a moment, and then he said, “But I can shorten it up. I don’t have to tell you everything. Just what you need to know.”

“Okay. Then talk.” Replied Marble.

“Well, he gets his powers from the geomites. The red ones to be exact. He had somehow obtained their power. The details are a little fuzzy. But if you ever wondered why he now has that crimson stripe around his body, well that’s why. If he were to lose his main geomite, or red chalk piece, whichever it is, which I am sure he has stored in his castle, he would lose his power.”

Silence fell upon the room at this. Blocky wasn’t really sure how long it was going to last. He could almost taste the shock that these two zoners must be feeling with this new information. He wondered if any of them felt shocked or embarrassed by this. He wouldn’t be surprised if they did. After all, they had spent so much time hating on the day zoners that they never bothered to learn and confirm exactly what had been going on this whole time. Instead, they resorted to rumors, theories, and propaganda, all of which in the end only ended up hurting them more than it helped. He wondered just how shame-filled they felt right about now.

Well if they felt anything, he doubted they were going to show it. These night zoners are likely too proud to admit what they had done, and would much rather move on than dwell on the fact that they had been wasting time tormenting day zoners than focusing on a solution to the problem. And frankly, Blocky didn’t really care about that right now. As much as he would like something to be done about how he and Howdy had been treated, focusing on Skrawl was much more important.

And it seemed that the night zoners agreed to that.

“I see... Well I suppose it should have been more obvious to us. We had seen Skrawl before and...” Tranquil paused for a moment, seething slightly through his possibly clenched teeth. “Well anyway, so it’s those ‘geomite’ things you mentioned that are giving this jellybean more power?”

“Yes.” Howdy said.

“If that is the case, why did you mention red chalk as well?” Inquired Marble. She sounded like she was a little suspicious of that statement. “It does seem strange to say that it was a geomite...whatever that is...but then backtrack and say red chalk.”

“Hmm...you do have a good point there.” Tranquil’s voice darkened up slightly. “Why did you backtrack like that, day zoner?”

Blocky gritted his teeth. It seemed that already things had started to fall apart. Thankfully, Howdy was quick to respond. “I should have been more clear. There was a correlation between the geomites and the red chalk. The details are fuzzy, but I recall that they have something to do with one another. Skrawl has been using both.”

“I see... Well I suppose that makes sense then.” Tranquil sounded a little satisfied, although Howdy wouldn’t put it past him, or Marble to still be suspicious of them.

At least Howdy had been able to quell them...for now. There was still a chance that everything could fall apart again quickly, and if that happened, he wasn’t sure if he or Howdy could recover from it as quickly. It was only shere luck that Howdy knew what to say to settle them down before things escalated. What would have happene if he had frozen up for too long? Would they have just killed them and forget about any sort of truce?

“Well, since we know about that...” There was a grunting sound, suggesting that the werewolf was probably getting up from the ground. There was a bit of popping and Blocky wondered if he was cracking his back. “...I think it’s time that I spoke to the others. Let them know what has been going on.”

“You sure they would believe them?” Howdy inquired. “We are just ‘day zoners’, after all.” There was a tinge of bitterness to his voice. Not that anyone seemed surprised by that. He had every right to be upset.

Tranquil gave a soft chortle. “Oh don’t worry... It will be fine. They will listen to me.”

Blocky wasn’t entirely sure how much he could believe the night zoner. But he did nothing to show disagreement with that statement.

“Marble!” The werewolf shouted. After the couple of seconds that it probably took Marble to look at the werewolf in the eyes, he said, “While I address the rest of the pack, why don’t you take Howdy to see our doctor and...mend his wounds?”

Blocky stiffened up at this. He could feel Howdy’s body push against him further in protest at this statement. Blocky could feel his body shivering in fear as he imagined all that would be done to him. His experience with the night zones had taught him to expect nothing but pain and misery with these night zoners. The idea of being taken away from familiarity...

“Look, I’m not going to hurt your friend.” Marble said, irritated. “Just hand him over.”

Howdy, however, would not relent that easily. “And why should I trust you? After all that you have done...”

Marble let out a groan. “Look, if it makes you feel better, you can come with me.” After a little bit more of silence, Marble added, “I’m sure you don’t want him to die of infection or anything, now do you?” Blocky gasped at this. “He needs to be treated, and you are not doing him any favors by keeping him here.”

Howdy paused for a moment. And then he said, “Well...fine...”

“Good. Now, come along.”

sss

Getting away from the other Beanie Boys was a little easier than he had thought it would be. He had expected there to be more of a struggle. He had thought that at least one of the Beanie Boys would realize he was moving away from them and then try to stop him.

But instead, all that happened was the Beanie Boys continued their fighting. Even down the hallways as he left, he could hear them arguing. Man, they really took the job title of general really seriously, huh? He had been right when he thought earleir about how being general was one of the few things that could drive them Beanie Boys apart.

But no matter. He couldn’t focus on that right now. He needed to keep moving. He might have gotten out of the castle, but he still wasn’t finished yet. He still had to be careful; who knew when the other Beanie Boys would realize that he was gone and come after them? He didn’t want to take that chance. It was just too risky. He would seem way too suspicious and he knew that they wouldn’t be so gentle with him after the way that he had tricked them all.

At least he had managed to get a head start in front of them all. That would allow him to be able to keep putting distance between him and them. This would give him more time and make it harder for the others to try to find him. True, it would not last forever, and they were all pretty fast in the air, so the distance would matter less and less as the seconds passed during a chase. But it still would do him some good. The more time he could have towards this, the better. He hoped that he would be able to achieve his goal quickly, and move on with the next step.

But the thing that Alpha didn’t really figure out just yet is...how was he going to do this...?

Trying to find Rudy and Penny to offer aid did seem like a really random thing to do. In the past, he would have thought that this was a crazy thing to try to accomplish. Out of the blue, making little sense and having little context. There was little reason why he should care about those guys, and it would have been better off that he went his own seperate way.

And yet here he was, going through the city to try to find them. It seemed unprecedented... And yet, in his mind, it made total sense. He wouldn’t be able to get even with Skrawl and his abuse of his species on his own. No, he was going to need help with that...

And who better than Rudy and Penny? Skrawl’s sworn enemies? They would want him gone as much as he did. They would want to make him pay for all that he has done. There was no doubt about it. It might be hard for them to trust him at first, and he was certain that he’d feel the same way about them. Spending so much time fighting one another did have a habit of putting a permanent mark on the psyche. But despite that, he was certain that they could put their differences aside and work together on this.

He continued moving through the ruined city. He didn’t pay attention to any of the decay around him. Any citizen that spotted him who screamed and ran away, he did not even give them a passing glance. None of this stuff around him mattered, anyway. Who cares about this city? Who cares about those pathetic zoners? He was after something far better than any of this. After all, his plight was much more important than anyone else’s. Everyone else can just go fuck themselves for all he cared.

He looked left and right as he examined the ruins of the city all around him. There had to be some sort of sign of where they were. Some kind of indication. Anything... At this height, he should be able to spot them easily. Those miserable little humans and their friends had to be running around here somewhere, scurrying like the vermine they were. If he wasn’t so desperate to do something about Skrawl, he wouldn’t even bother to do this.

So far, he wasn’t having too much luck. He could only see debris and leaning buildings and screaming zoners no matter which way he tried to go. Everything looked relatively the same. Even the color was so similar, it was difficult at times for him to know just how much progress he really made. He looked left and right several times, feeling his head ache as he struggled to find something useful. Oh come on...they had to be here somewhere...

Despite the difficulty, however, he kept on moving. Sooner or later, he would find them. It was just a matter of time and patience. They couldn’t be that thorough in hiding themselves. Eventually, they would have made a mistake and that would enable him to find that mistake and figure out where they were, or where they had been. And once he ofund them, he would be able to track them down and seek their help. They might not be so willing at first, but perhaps if he were to persuade them with some kind of offer, they would...

Yet it would still be unpredictable. Unlike these buildings and torn parts of the city all around him, there was really nothing to suggest that the encounter with Rudy and Penny would be as predictable. It would be much more dynamic and could go in any direction. If he wasn’t careful, he could end up messing everything up for himself, and make the situation much worse. He would have to take care to ensure that this doesn’t happen.

Hostilities would still occur, he was sure of that. He just had to make sure that they didn’t get out of hand. The last thing he wanted to happen during their ‘friendly’ discussion is for Skrawl to be attracted by the noise and...

Oh crap.

Speaking of Skrawl...

Alpha wasn’t sure how he didn’t notice before. He must have been so lost in his thoughts that he did not notice Skrawl moving along the ground. Not his usual transportation of choice lately, but the fact that he was here at all did cause him to stiffen. He turned his head side to side quickly before he eventually moved himself behind one of the buildings. He bent himself to the side a little and peered down, his eyes scanning along the ground until they located Skrawl, and they watched him carefully.

So far, the jellybean didn’t seem to have noticed him. But that was the thing with Skrawl. He liked to toy with his prey. If he had seen him before, then the reason that he didn’t say anything was likely due to the fact that he might be trying to put him in a false sense of security. Then he would wait for the right moment to strike and... Alpha shuddered a little. It was a fun thought if someone else was involved. But with him...

At least Skrawl was continuing on in the same direction as before. He was headed back towards the castle. Upon seeing this, Alpha did press his hand agains this chest and let out a huge sigh of relief. If that was where Skrawl was headed, then he didn’t have much to worry about.

...unless he gets in there and realizes that he was gone...

Upon realizing this, Alpha quickly resumed his searching. It wouldn’t take Skrawl long to reach the castle, and once he did, he would soon find out that he was missing and he would have the other Beanie Boys search for him. He wouldn’t stand much of a chance escaping them, given their shere numbers. Even if he were to zip across the land quickly, it would be very hard for him to dodge them the whole time. His best bet was to move lower and continue his search for those fugitives.

But just where could they be? He had searched for a while now and it didn’t seem like their location was going to be revealed anytime soon and..

Oh of course. Why didn’t he think of it before? They wouldn’t be outside; they’d be in the buildings. Oh great...that would give him more places to look and he didn’t search any of the buildings behind him. It would be a huge risk going back there, and he might end up wasting his time if he tried to go back.

Then again...Rudy and the others wouldn’t have stayed in the Day Zone portion, would they? No, they would have gone into the Night Zone. The place that wasn’t as heavily monitored as Day Zone. They may have come to this conclusion and thus headed there for safety. Yeah, that’s where they were. No doubt about it. Without further hesitation, the Beanie Boy picked up the pace and headed straight for the nearby Night Zone.

sss

Rudy gritted his teeth as he struggled to figure out just what they were going to do now. It was good that Penny was awake and all, but...what next?

He didn’t want to go the route that Thoughtless had suggested. Getting up and moving around might not be the best thing to do right now, especially considering that Penny was still hurt. And what of Rapsheeba? Despite her being so quiet, he did not forget that she was still here, and she was still in a lot of pain. Would moving her around with that broken back really be a good idea?

Yet the memotrice was quite insistant on this plan. It kept telling them that moving on now would be better than just sitting here like targets. It explained that staying here only increased the chances of Skrawl locating them. And once he did, they stood very little chance. They couldn’t move quickly with two injured folks. It was smart enough not to suggest the idea of leaving them behind, although Rudy could tell that was a thought that crossed its mind at least once.

But no one else, including himself, agreed this was smart. The fact that Rapsheeba and Penny were hurt gave them enough reason to stay here. While Penny might be able to walk around a little, her throat injury was going to be a problem. Would heavy breathing from running do any harm? Possibly...and then Rapsheeba’s broken back may not be able to take the strain of all that dashing around. And what if they ran into someone? What if a Beanie Boy showed up out of nowhere? How would they be able to fight? Not to mention, they could all end up badly injured, or even killed.

None of this seemed to get through in Thoughtless’s mind, however. He wasn’t sure if it ever would. The memotrice was so lost up in its own thoughts, he wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t even considering what they were saying. It was just blocking ou what they said in favor of its own thoughts. How simple minded...and yet something that he would expect from someone like it.

But there was one thing that Thoughtless said that he had to agree with. They couldn’t just sit here and do nothing forever. They could not stay in this spot forever. The key was figuring out just when they should make a move, and when they should not. He did not think moving right now was a good idea, but sooner or later, they would have to leave this spot and do something. Even if Skrawl did not come after them, there were still zoners out there who needed their help. Zoners that have been abused, starved, even killed all for the entertainment of this monster.

Upon thinking about that, Rudy was suddenly reminded of the fact that he and Penny hadn’t eaten in a long while. He could feel his stomach growling and churning, and he smacked his dry lips together a bit. When was the last time that they snacked on anything? They had been so busy running around and dealing with trouble that they had forgotten about their increased hunger. Well, now that they were in a quiet spot, perhaps now was a good time to get something to eat.

But when he reached over to his shoulder strap, he realized that it wasn’t there. He stiffened up, his eyes widening. Images flashed in the back of his mind. He recalled all the hardships that they had while they were trying to get to safety or deal with their foes as they tried to get them. In all that time, being tossed around, they must have lost their backpacks. This realization made his body shake a little, hunger sweeping through. His body started to feel a little weak and he leaned himself against the nearby torn wall.

Well, at least it hasn’t been that long. He still had enough strength to get through this. So long as he and Penny don’t take too long, they could handle this lack of food and water and fight against Skrawl. They just had to be really smart about how they did it. They needed to be less confrontational and more strategic. Especially considering that they had no magic chalk with them right now.

But what would happen if they could not beat Skrawl in time? What if they took too long and they got weaker? They would eventually slow down and Skrawl would pick up on this and take full advantage of it. Without any magic chalk, they could not even return home and no doubt Skrawl would ensure that it stayed this way. Perhaps this was part of his plan? To weaken them so he could finish them off? It was just the sort of cruel thing that he would expect someone like Skrawl to do. And he was certain that this would be only if they were lucky. Skrawl might have something much more vicious in mind for them if he manage to catch them.

He realized in that moment just how urgent the situation was. He and Penny were on borrowed time. There wasn’t as much time as he thought to defeat Skrawl. Not that he thought there was a lot of time, either. But still, there was far less time to work with as he fully realized that they had no food or water and no magic chalk. No way to get home. They needed to act fast if they were going to take down Skrawl and end his reign of terror over ChalkZone.

Perhaps... Perhaps it was a good idea to take up Thoughtless’s idea after all. Maybe they should get going now so they could...

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Rapsheeba speak up.

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea. We need time to come up with a plan, you know. We can’t do that if we are too busy running for our lives!”

<Statistics show that moving does improve thinking.>

“Oh shut it with your statistics! That doesn’t help us squat here!”

<Yeesh. You’re such a....>

Rudy turned his head and glared softly in Thoughtless’s direction. “Knock it off, okay?” He looked from Thoughtless and then to Rapsheeba. “We don’t need to waste time arguing, unless you are both content with drawing attention to ourselves and we all get caught.”

Rapsheeba lowered her head at this. “I’m sorry.”

Thoughtless narrowed its eyes. <Whatever.> Thoughtless swung its head to the side, staring up towards the sky. <Not like we are going to have the luxury of being free for much longer. Sooner or later, something is going to come up. And we are all going to regret it.> It turned back to the others, ignoring their glares. <I’m telling you, we should have left a while back. Instead you...> It motioned its wing towards Rapsheeba. <...you decided that it was best that we stay here and you wouldn’t even listen to me!>

Rapsheeba narrowed her eyes. She gritted her teeth as she pushed herself up with one arm. “Oh yeah? Well at least I actually care about everyone here! You don’t care at all!” She pointed an accusing finger at Thoughtless, whose eyes widened and its head pulled back sharply. “You’re just using us like some kind of tool!”

“Will you two please knock it off?!” Rudy shouted at them. His loud voice was enough to make them cringe a little at the sound of it and they bent their heads backwards a little. They stared at him in shock, their eyes widened. Rudy was surprised at how loud he had sounded there, but he did nothing to apologize for it. He wasn’t exactly in the right mindset for that. He needed to get it through their thick skulls that now was not the time for fighting. “Why can’t you two just....”

Suddenly, movement caught his eye. Rudy stopped what he was saying and clenched his teeth shut as he tilted his head back. There was something moving up in the sky, located between a couple of the buildings. Rudy ignored the confused calls of Thoughtless and Rapsheeba, and he did not look at Penny in the eyes as he moved out a couple of feet. He raised his hand up and placed it over his eye to try to see what was coming towards him. There was something awfully familiar about it...

Oh no... It couldn’t be... How could this have happened? Rudy bared his teeth tightly and took a few steps back, cringing slightly.

“Rudy? What’s wrong?” Rapsheeba called out to him, her voice tinged with worry.

Rudy did not answer. All he could do was just stare at the incoming individual, getting larger and larger as the seconds passed. He licked his lips nervously and swallowed hard. His chest clenched tightly and he could feel his heart racing against his chest.

As much as he wanted to deny what he was seeing, there was just no doubt who it was. Nothing to suggest to him that it was anyone else, anything else. And the realization caused his blood to chill.

It was a Beanie Boy.

sss

Well that had gone splendidly. Biclops fell into his whim much faster than he had expected. The fact that his mind was already manipulated by Thoughtless really helped things along. It made his mind that much easier mold, since it was already still pudding pretty much. He just needed to mold it correctly, twist and turn it until Biclops was exactly how he wanted to be.

Well at least for now. He was well aware that these mind alterations, these memory changes, could only be temporary before the conflicting memories would clash in with one another. Biclops might believe once more that Rudy was the enemy. But considering that this was the second time that his mind was altered, there was a good chance that this would last even shorter.

It would still be more than enough time to find those brats, though. With his intelligence and the Beanie Boys, the fugitives would be located and apprehended long before Biclops would regain his true memories. And there was the fact that, even if those brats manage to get to the Chalk Mine before he caught them, they would still need to handle Biclops. Yes, this was going to work out just fine.

He approached his castle with a smile spread across his face. His Beanie Boys were still standing in there, waiting for him to give their new orders. As soon as he gave a snap of the claw, they would be out, scowering the city for those children. They might have failed before, but now that he knew where they might be, things were going to be different. So much more different...

They thought they were so clever, didn’t they? Heading into the Night Zone and hiding in there, thinking that he would never come there. It was such a smart move, but alas, it only sealed their fate. He had enough Beanie Boys to circle around that Night Zone completely and have they come in towards the middle, thoroughly searching through everything in the process. Rudy and Penny had doomed themselves going in there. It was going to be so delightful to see the looks on their faces when they were dragged back ot his place and they were forced to confront the fact that they had been so foolish.

He pushed the thoughts aside for now. At the moment, he needed to focus on getting into the castle and informing the Beanie Boys of the plan. They had been sitting patiently long enough, and he had to commend them for their patience. But they wouldn’t remain still forever, so he best give them their new orders before they started to seek him out for what they were supposed to do.

With a smile on his face, he went over towards the door to his castle and pushed it open. He continued down the hallway, returning to where the Beanie Boys were. His smile spread further as he thought about what he had managed to accomplish so far. And all the things he is just to accomplish.

The smile on his face was instantly wiped off when he came into the hallway and saw just what had happened in his absense. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as he stared at the scene before him. He couldn’t even get himself to react out of anger. That’s how badly the scene before him had shocked him.

The Beanie Boys were....fighting.

Left and right, he looked, watching as the fighting continued. He could see how the Beanie Boys were wrestling with one another. He heard their growls, sneers, and grunts. He could hear some of them crying out in pain as punches and kicks were delivered. Even some nasty biting was going on, making this look more and more like a brawl amongst wild animals rather than his own Beanie Boys. None of them had even noticed that he had walked up to them. They were too busy fighting with one another.

Skrawl only watched this for a few seconds before his emotions got the better of him. He could feel the top of his head burning, his antennas feeling as though they had been set on fire. He growned his teeth tightly, forming a fist with his hand. He soon leaned his head back and raised his hand into the air and gave a loud shout that was enough for them all to hear.

“What the hell is going on here?!”

Immediately, the fighting and brawling ceased. All the Beanie Boys became silent as they turned their heads and looked over at Skrawl standing before them. Almost immediately, expressions of shock and fear came over their faces. A series of gasps of horror could be heard, and he could also hear a little bit of whimpering as the Beanie Boys prepared themselves for a harsh reprimanding.

Skrawl glared at them one at a time, looking at everyone that was in the hallway. His eyes were filled with anger, but most of all, disappointment. Not one of these Beanie Boys had avoided the fight. The cuts and scrapes and bruises showed that they were all involved in some way. And this only made him all that much more disappointed in them. Even Psi, the one he had assigned to be the new general, was involved, having pinned another zoner on the ground. The whole scene was utterly disgusting and he couldn’t help but rub his forehead tightly.

He just couldn’t believe it... He had entrusted these Beanie Boys to be able to handle themselves on their own. And they had always done a good job before. He thought he could turst them with this again. Well it seemed that he had been wrong. He wasn’t sure just what had gotten into them, but he would mae sure that this never happened again. Perhaps it was time that he did something to remind them of who was in charge.

But first, there was one thing he needed to know. As he clenched his teeth tightly, seething through them, he growled out a calmer, but no less intimidating, demand. “Could one of you please explain to me what the heck had gone on here? I told you all to wait here, not to fight. How dare you disobey me...”

The Beanie Boys flinched at this. They looked at one another nervously. None of them seemed to have the courage to speak up. This only further disappointed Skrawl and he narrowed his eyes into slits. If none of them could even have the decency to tell him what had gone on...

“I can tell you.”

Ah, that was more like it. Skrawl turned his head towards the source of that voice. It was Psi. He had let go of the Beanie Boy he had tried to strangulate and was now facing him. He had taken a more dutiful expression, almost like a soldier. Skrawl gave a small smile at this, although it did little to lessen the anger that he had felt inside of his chest. “Okay...proceed...”

Psi cleared his throat. Then he said, “Well, I recall the whole fighting had started because Alpha wanted to know who would be general.”

“Oh really now?” Skrawl tilted his head to one side. “He said that?”

Psi nodded his head quickly. “Yes, Grim Reaper. He said that.” He raised his hands up in the air. “I’m not sure why he wanted to ask there and then, but he still did. It was after that, when the rest of us started to fight. It started off with just two, but then more and more joined in and...” He shut his eyes and lowered his head in shame. “I do apologize for not realizing what was going on sooner. I would have left to tell you and...”

“Liar!” One of the Beanie Boys called out, pointing a finger in his direction. “You were suspicious of Alpha before! Don’t you dare pretend that you didn’t see this coming!”

“Perhaps...” Psi narrowed his eyes. “And what about you?”

“I...”

Skrawl waved his hand frantically. “Hold on! Hold on!” Psi and the other Beanie Boy fell silent as they turned their heads and stared over at him expectantly. “I just want to make sure I got this straight. Alpha was the one who had decided to ask this question?” The Beanie Boys nodded. “And it was after this that you all started to fight?” Another nod. Skrawl narrowed his eyes into slits at this. He growled for a second and then shouted, “Alpha! Come here!”

But strangely enough, there was nothing. The Beanie Boys, perplexed, looked around to try to find Alpha. Judging from their expressions, they clearly didn’t see him. Even Psi could not locate him.

That lazy little... Skrawl turned his head in another direction and tried again. “I mean it, Alpha! Come here, or you will get punished!”

Just like before, there was just silence. Nothing to indicate that he was even there. Everytime Skrawl or the other Beanie Boys tried to call out for Alpha, they were greeted with nothing but silence. It didn’t matter how loud they shouted or anything. Alpha just was not coming. He was not amongst them. Not anymore.

Skrawl widened his eyes at this realization. Alpha had left the building. He had left the other Beanie Boys. He had left him. He...he could not believe it... How could he do this? He had always been a good Beanie Boy. Why would he suddenly abandon him now? What had possessed that Beanie Boy to do such a stupid thing?

Soon, his shock had melted away into anger. He gritted his teeth tightly and let out a low growl. It didn’t matter why that Beanie Boy left. All that did was that he had turned his back on them. Alpha was no longer part of the team. He had given that up the moment that he had left. He didn’t care what kind of reason Alpha had in doing this. As far as he was concerned, he had betrayed them all. And he was going to have to face the consequences of that.

Motioning his clawed hand towards the Beanie Boys, he shouted, “Spread out, Beanie Boys! Go and search for that little traitor and bring him back to me!”

In an instant, the Beanie Boys took off. Skrawl watched them with his eyes narrowed deeply. Oh just wait until he got his claws on that treacherous Alpha...

sss

At the end of the school day, most of the students had gone home. Many wanted to go to the mall or to some other store. Or they wanted to play video games, eat candy, or watch TV. Otheres wanted to get on their computers to check their email and chat with a couple of online friends. And the remaining simply wanted to go outside and play some outdoor games, or search around for stuff.

But not two particular children.

Bobby was well aware of how strange it must have been to his parents that he didn’t want to go for his usual routine. When he wasn’t beng a slave to Reggie, he would normally return home to watch his favorite show before playing a single round of games with his younger brother. Today, however, he had something else in mind. His parents thought he was sick, but he assured them that he was all right.

At least they didn’t give him too much trouble. He was able to slip away outside and head over to Harvey’s house. It was agreed upon that they would meet there. The reason was quite simple. First off, Harvey had no brothers or sisters, so there was less of a chance of someone walking in. And second of all, Harvey was the only one of them two who had a chalkboard. Bobby had never seen the use in them and thus never asked for one. It would be strange to ask his parents for one now, especially since it wasn’t his birthday.

Harvey was a little uncertain about all of this. It had been a little difficult getting him to agree to do this, but it just took a little bit of talking, and he eventually caved in. Bobby was glad that he had agreed to do this. He wasn’t sure how else he was going to pull this off and he did feel better knowing that someone had his back, even if it was a little bit reluctant.

He did understand, on some level, why Harvey was a little bit reluctant. He didn’t want to do anything that would get him into trouble. Their experiences with Reggie had taught them to be extra cautious about what they did. So it became a bit of a forced habit to try to avoid danger if at all possible. So Harvey’s uncertain reaction was understandable.

At the same time, it was still frustrating. Reggie was one thing. He was not some unknown factor. They knew what to expect from him. They had gotten used to being constantly bullied by him and falling under his whim. Reggie almost never did anything different, and they had gotten so accustomed that Reggie almost never actually scared them anymore. But this chalk world....that was something different entirely.

What could they expect from it? How should they react to it? They knew so little about it, and that’s what was so frightening to him. He thought about what the woman had said, and he quickly understood the potential that world had, and just how dangerous it truly was. How could he sleep at night knowing that such perilous creatures existed just beyond a shield of fabric of time and space? How could he have any sweet dreams tonight when he was aware that, somewhere so far, and yet so close, laid a world where bizarre and abhorrent creatures existed? How could he feel safe any longer knowing that such a place was really there?

That was why something had to be done. He was not expecting Harvey to go through with it. If he did not want to, then okay, he didn’t have to. He just...wanted him to be there with him when he himself took action. He wanted to feel as though he got his support and approval. Just him being there would make this process so much easier. The sooner they got this over with, the better things would turn out to be.

He lifted his head up a little higher, forcing himself out of his deep thoughts, when he realized he was about to walk over the sidewalk. He stopped himself and he turned his head left and right. After a few moments, he pushed himself forward and continued to walk down, his eyes focused on one particular house not far down the street, located on his left side.

He stopped in front of the only blue house in the neighborhood. He peered up at it, taking a note of its size, which always impressed him, and then he began to walk up the wooden steps. He went up to the door and pressed his finger against the black bell button. He pushed it and he heard a loud ‘ding dong’ sound. He took a step back and waited for Harvey’s mother to get the door.

Unfortunately for him, although not too much of a setback, it was Harvey’s father instead. That man never did like him all that much. Bobby never understood why, and while it was tempting to ask, this man’s opinion of him didn’t matter at the moment.

“H-Hello..I’m here to see Harvey. He’s expecting me.”

The father glared down at him for a few seconds. With a soft grunt, he stepped to the side to make room for him. “He’s in his bedroom...” He grumbled under his breath.

“Thank you.” Bobby bowed his head quickly in respect and quickly scurried up the steps before the father changed his mind. He felt relief wash over him when he was out of that man’s range of sight and up the steps.

Bobby moved down the small hallway towards the end. He stopped at the second to the last door on the left side. He turned himself around and raised his hand to knock. Twice, he did so, keeping it only loud enough for Harvey to hear, but not enough to draw attention from the boy’s father. He could hear a ‘Coming!’ call from Harvey as the boy headed towards the door. The doorknob clanged a little as it was turned, and there stood his friend.

Harvey widened his eyes a little and bit his lip. “Oh...you... I didn’t think you’d show up so soon...”

Bobby narrowed his eyes at this. “I told you I would come at...” He put his hand against his hand and shook it. Did he really forget about their little meeting today? Well, no matter. At least he was here now. “Nevermind. May I come in?”

Harvey nodded his head quickly. “W-Well sure you can! Please, come inside.”

Bobby walked into the boy’s room. He motioned for the door to be shut, as this was to be private meeting. He took a moment to look around the room. Such a neat and tidy room, so different from his own. It looked as though it had been cleaned thoroughly by his parents, but he knew that Harvey himself was responsible for this. He was always a bit of a neat freak at times, and there were moments were this drove him insane.

Well, a clean room would work better for this, anyway. With nothing on the ground and the bed and shelves pushed against the wall it, it would be pretty easy to push the chalkboard into the middle of the room so it can be utilized.

However, they wouldn’t be doing that just yet. First, they still had to discuss just what they were going to do. It was still a bit open ended on how they were going to handle this. He did have his own plans, but even he wasn’t entirely sure how they were going to pull it off. They were going to need to talk about this a little more first, and then they could figure out the best course of action. So long as they did do something about that world, then their mission would not be in vain.

He placed himself on top of Harvey’s soft bed. He crossed one leg over the other and he turned to face his friend. He paused for a few moments, and then he began to speak.

“Well...this is it, isn’t it?”

Harvey nodded his head slowly. He had his head turned to the side, his teeth gritted a little. He rubbed his arm up and down nervously and said, “Do...do we really have to do this...?”

Bobby widened his eyes at this. Despite understanding part of why Harvey was acting this way, another small part of him still could not believe just how reluctant he was being. “Harvey...you know this has to be done. Think about the dangers that world could pose to us! To our families!” He raised his hands up. “Come on, you know that some action needs to be taken if we want to insure that everything will be fine.”

“But..this world probably existed for a long time, maybe for all our lives and...n-nothing has happened...” Harvey looked over at him, his eyes filled with worry. “Do...do we really need to risk infuriating those chalk drawings and get them to invade our world? Maybe we should..”

“But they’ve already invaded our world!” Bobby raised his hands up into the air, watching as his friend flinched. “Don’t you get it?!”

Harvey nodded his head up and down slowly. “Yeah, I do. It’s just that...I don’t think we should take an unnecessary risk if we don’t have to. M-Maybe there’s another way.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“Well...we could just...let it alone. We could just pretend we never heard of this place and move on....just as we did before.”

It took all of Bobby’s will power to keep himself from doing or saying anything further than slap himself in the face and shake his head in disappointment. He thought he had explained this more clearly to Harvey. He thought he got the boy to understand on some level why this needed to be done. He couldn’t believe that he actually thought that sitting around and doing nothing was a good solution. Then again, considering this was Harvey here, perhaps he should not be surprised.

He didn’t snap at his friend, however. Even if he did feel a little bit of irritation at his words, he had to keep himself calm. He did not want this meeting to go sour all because of his own insecurities regarding this chalk world. That would only set them back, and create further issues down the line. And that was something he’d rather avoid.

“It’s just too risky. We can’t keep going and pretending that this world does not exist. And we certainly cannot pretend that it’s friendly. Remember those mutant toad things?” Bobby could feel a cold shiver go up his spine as he remembered that horrid day. “Or the time when those parents got hypnotized by that chalk water that Ms. Bouffant had mentioned?” Harvey stared at him for a moment before looking down. Bobby made a quick motion with his hand. “Who is to say that something worse wouldn’t come out? We can’t take that risk!”

Harvey clenched his teeth tightly, refusing to look up at him. “I know, but still...I...” He turned his head to one direction, staring out at nothing. “Well, if Reggie is right, and they do disappear into this world, well if it was dangerous, wouldn’t Rudy and Penny have....”

“They’re just a couple of freaks.” Bobby hissed at him. “Rudy wastes his time with those stupid comics and Penny is just a giant nerd. Who cares what they think?” He leaned forward on the bed. “They obviously don’t know what they are talking about or what they got into. They’re too stupid to realize it. And now it is up to us to fix their mistake before it gets out of hand.”

“I...suppose you’re right. I..” Harvey paused for a moment. He rubbed the back of his head as he stared over at the closet, likely where the chalkboard was located. “Couldn’t we give it a little bit of time? We....We don’t have to do anything right now...”

Bobby let out an exasperated sigh at this. Of course Harvey would chicken out at the last minute. That certainly seemed like him. He couldn’t help but feel utterly disappointed in him. Yet at the same time, he could understand the reluctance. And perhaps the boy was right and they did need to consider this plan more. And well, he was already planning on talking about it anyway, so this fit in perfectly with that.

Still, a part of him felt some level of disappointment. He had wanted to take action now. He wanted to show that world what he was made of and teach it a lesson on invading his world, his planet. He wanted those inhabitants to know that he and the others meant serious business and that they weren’t going down without a fight. He had looked forward to seeing the looks on their faces when they would try to come here, only to walk into a trap.

Well patience was a virtue, and rushing into things was not always the best idea. Yeah, he could wait on this. Sooner or later, it was all going to pay off.

“Okay, we can wait.” Bobby said, raising his head up as he stared sternly at his friend. “But I will only give it twenty-four hours. Tomorrow, same time, we will take action. Do you understand?”

Harvey hesitated for a moment. Then he slowly nodded. “Y-Yes.”

sss

Mrs. Sanchez couldn’t believe she was actually here. After the trouble she went through, after all the people she had to talk to before she could even get here, she had finally arrived at her destination. She had to take in a deep breath and exhale slowly, taking a moment to realize that, yes, this was indeed reality, and that she had, in fact, arrived here. This was not some kind of dream nor was she hallucinating.

She was standing before the home of Ming Long. There was no doubt about it. The oriental look to it, the beautiful red coloration that she would expect in this part of town, the decorative dragon emboss on her door... But what was really the clincher was the fact that her name was on the door. Yes, this was indeed Ming Long’s home.

And yet she still hesitated. Mrs. Sanchez had started to raise her hand up to knock, but she still found herself hesitating. She lowered her hand back down and she sighed softly. Could she really do this? She had come all this way, and she did not intend on leaving so quickly. But...oh why couldn’t she get herself to knock? She was not going to accomplish anything if she just stood there and did nothing.

It was still so difficult, though. She wasn’t really sure what to expect of this woman. She had never met her before and her only experience that she could recall was witnessing that incident earlier, with Terry being tricked like that and arrested. A part of her couldn’t help but regard this woman with some level of caution and respect. This woman may be adept at art, but it was clear that she was quite cunning as well. She did not want to do or say anything that would cause that woman to turn that cunningness on herself. What if she decided to do something really horrible to her? Yeah, it was unlikely and maybe she was just overreacting. And yet..she still couldn’t help herself.

She forced a slow sigh out of her mouth. She couldn’t stand here forever, doing nothing. SHe needed to take action. She was told a time frame she was allowed to be here and she couldn’t spend most of that standing out here and staring at the door. It didn’t help that she could feel some of the neighbors staring at her suspiciously. She swallowed and tried her best to ignore them as she raised her and and knocked on the door.

She could see a shadow moving along the bottom of the door. She could hear footsteps approaching, the click of leather against ground quite easy to detect. Then the door knob wobbled a little bit and, slowly, it opened up.

“Hello, may I help you?” Came Ming Long’s calm and gentle voice as she stood in the door way.

Mrs. Sanchez waited a couple of seconds before she attempted to reply. “Y-Yes...I wanted to talk to you, if that’s o-okay.”

“Okay. I guess you spoke to...?” Upon seeing Mrs. Sanchez’s nod, the artist woman sighed. “Yeah, they can be strict at times. Well, come on in, then.” Ming Long began to walk away, using her hand to motion to Mrs. Sanchez. “We can speak in the living room, if that’s not too much of a problem.”

Mrs. Sanchez shook her head. “Not a problem at all.”

As Mrs. Sanchez found herself being led closer and closer to the living room, a part of her wished that she had brought along company. She could feel her heart clenching and her beating rate increasing the further she came into this woman’s home. Despite rehearsing inside of her head, she was still worried that she might accidentally offend this woman or do something else that she would regret. Oh why didn’t she take one of the Tabooties with her?

It was because she had decided it was best only one of them came. She had thought it would be better if the Tabooties stayed at their home and waited for their children while she went here to try to deal with Ming Long, to ensure that she was not a threat. A part of her wished she thought of something better, but then, there were few options, weren’t there?

“Please...” Ming Long said as she motioned towards the couch. “Have a seat.” She lowered herself into the recliner. “Get comfortable. And don’t be shy. I won’t bite.”

Mrs. Sanchez wasn’t really sure how much of that she believed.

“Why have you come here? I don’t get visitors that often. Please, tell me what is on your mind.” Ming Long said as she crossed one leg over the other.

Mrs. Sanchez sat down in the couch. She could feel its firm softness against her, and it did elicitate a small feeling of comfort. It wasn’t too much, but it was enough to help calm her down a little, especially when she leaned against the couch, enjoying more of the softness. She was momentarily in shock at just how nice this couch was. Just how much money did Ming Long make as an artist?

However, she didn’t let herself remain silent for too long, and she addressed Ming Long. “W-Well..I...” She cleared her throat at this. She tried to sound a bit more professional, clear, and calm when she continued, “I do understand that it’s not any of my business, but...I was....” She struggled to think of a lie. “I was just walking along and I happened to see you at the school, and then Terry Bouffant...and then police when I came back and...”

Oh man, this was more difficult than she thought. She must sound like a total nutcase to this woman. But she couldn’t give up. She had to press on, especially when Ming Long cocked her eyebrow in suspicion.

“I was just wondering, if you don’t mind telling me..what happened with you and Terry Bouffant...?”

At this, something seemed to click in Ming Long’s mind. Mrs. Sanchez had never seen anyone’s eyes darken as fast as hers did. “...what...?”

Mrs. Sanchez felt her gut twist in knots at this. She found herself stammering a little, and it took a few moments before she could answer the artist woman. “W-Well, I...” She rubbed the top of her head in a nervous fashion. This was not going as well as she hoped it would. “I was just...I’m just...confused and I was wondering what...”

“You want to know what happened with Terry Bouffant because....” Ming Long tilted her head to one side. “Exactly what can you gain from that knowledge...? What is it that you’re trying to do?”

Mrs. Sanchez wasn’t entirely sure how to continue this conversation. She could already hear the agitation in the woman’s voice. Despite her slightly elderly look, Ming Long’s features were quite hardened, making her look more like some kind of tough security guard than a kind-hearted woman. A part of her just wanted to get up and leave before this conversation got any worse.

But she couldn’t leave now. She wouldn’t get another chance like this. She had to push against her own fear and finish this. Regardless of how angry Ming Long got, at least she could leave here saying she tried. And who knows? Maybe she would get some information from her. Perhaps even something that she and the Tabooties could use to help their children. Unlikely, but a part of her still hoped for that.

“I’m just...worried about my daughter and Rudy...” Mrs. Sanchez spoke softly. She lowered her head her mind swirling with worrying thoughts about those two. She wondered how they were doing now. “They are...kind of in a pickle now and...”

“And you are blaming me for it? Is that it?”

Mrs. Sanchez stared at the older woman in shock, surprised by her harsh words. She quickly shook her head. “N-No...that’s not it! I...”

“Save it!” Ming Long raised her hand up quickly. “I don’t want to hear another word from you!” She narrowed her eyes further. The anger could almost be seen radiating from those darkened eyes. They were enough to make Mrs. Sanchez slighlty cringe, her heart skipping a beat. “I can’t believe you....” She growled through her clenched teeth. “You come all this way just to accuse me of hurting your children! Why, I’ve never been so insulted in my life!”

There was something about this that felt like an act. As if the woman was exaggerating how she felt to put on a show. Maybe the woman was hiding something herself, which made her even more suspicious in her eyes.

That did not do much to lower Mrs. Sanchez’s anxiety, however. Seeing this woman, or anyone, yelling at her and looking at her this way was still pretty scary. She quickly realized that she had pushed all of the wrong buttons on this woman and if she did anything else, she might get something worse. It was best to do as she said and keep quiet, despite all eagerness to clear up the misunderstanding and inform her of what she actually meant.

However, if there was one thing that she got from this, it was the discovery that Ming Long was not exactly the most stable person. This, in of itself, made her feel that perhaps there was more to the Terry Bouffant incident than she initially thought. And just how trustworthy was she with that chalk world, or their children? How much of this angered response came from simple offense and how much of it was the result of pent up emotional problems?

“Get out!”

Mrs. Sanchez yanked her head back in shock at this. “Wh-What..?”

“You heard me!” Ming Long got up from her recliner and pointed towards her door. “Get out of my house! I don’t want to see you anywhere near here again!”

Though Mrs. Sanchez was a little tempted to try to stay longer and try to talk down the woman, she ultimately felt it was best to just do as the woman said and get going. She did not want to risk causing any further problems, anyway. She had worked this woman enough as it was. Best not to push her luck too much.

With a nod of her head, she got up from her seat and, after whispering a soft apology, she headed towards the door. It didn’t take her long to reach the outside, her feet pressing against the wooden floor once more. She turned herself around to see Ming Long once more standing in the door way. Unlike before, she did not wear any friendly expression and instead she just glared at her coldly.

“If I see you on my property again, I’m going to call the police!” Ming Long snapped at her, her voice a little venom-like, a sign that she meant what she said. Then she slammed the door hard, causing Mrs. Sanchez to flinch and turn her head away. Well...so much about that.

sss

“How can I be sure that we can trust you?” Rudy asked, raising up an eyebrow. “You might just be trying to trick us and...”

“I know how you must feel about me. But I’m telling the truth. I want to help you.” Alpha insisted, holding out his hands in front of him. “If you just give me a chance, I...”

Rapsheeba cut him off. “We have little reason to believe you. After what you’ve done, how can we trust anything that you say?”

Rudy was surprised at the current turn of events. Never before did he imagine that Alpha, of all zoners, would show up to them. When he said that he did not mean any harm, he had been taken aback and he wasn’t really sure how to interpret this. It just didn’t make any sense. How could a Beanie Boy go from trying to capture them to wanting to help them? Where did this shift happen, and when? Just what did they miss in that time frame?

It was a little difficult keeping Thoughtless from doing anything. He could tell the memotrice wanted to take action, but now was not a good time for that. He had to argue with it a little and even physically push it back despite knowing what it could do to him with those claws. But he was eventually able to quell Thoughtless enough for Alpha to explain why he was there. Though that only brought more confusion.

Why would Alpha even want to help them, anyway? What did he hope to gain from it? There was pretty little that this zoner could accomplish here. Very little that could be achieved from aiding them, unless he wanted to get in trouble from Skrawl from his failed efforts. There was no way that he and his allies were going to fall for any tricks so easily.

And surely Alpha must know of this, right? He would have known that his lies and tricks weren’t going to work so easily on them. He should have known that attempting something like this was not going to yield much results, especially considering their past interactions. Surely, Alpha would not have thought this would have been an easy task.

So why was he here to begin with? Why does he want to help? Why did he turn against Skrawl? These questions and more hadn’t yet been answered. At the moment, Alpha was too busy trying to get them to agree to help him. He hadn’t yet taken the time to explain more of his position and any time they tried to ask, he’d just bombard them with more statements and questions. They were getting nowhere with this. It was time that Alpha explain.

“I’m sure that we could be of a great help to you, and you to us.” Rudy said after a few moments of silence. Then he said, “But you haven’t even explained to us why you want our help. How can we even begin to cooperate if you don’t tell us just what you want?”

Alpha hovered in front of him. He positioned himself so that he was eye level with the boy. They glared at one another long and hard. For the next several seconds, they were only aware of each other. Rudy could detect something in Alpha’s eyes, although he couldn’t quite pinpiont exactly what it was. The one thing he did know was not in there, however, was patience. And this reflected in the zoner’s next statement.

“Can’t we just skip that and begin working together? We both have a common goal. We both want to stop Skrawl.” Alpha motioned to them, spreading his hands outward. “Isn’t that enough to warrant some cooperation?”

Thoughtless shook its head. <Not until you tell us exactly why you are here.> Tilting its head to one side, it said, <Exactly what made you decide to turn against Skrawl? Considering how you were all pro-Skrawl before, it does not make much sense that you suddenly decide to switch.>

“Yeah... I have to admit it, I’m pretty curious myself.” Snap’s voice chimed in.

Rudy turned and stared at his friend. He recalled that Alpha did not come alone. He had apparently run into Snap on his way over here, spotting him overhead somewhere. It was a shame that he did not see Howdy or Blocky, but to have Snap back was still good. The superhero zoner did not appreciate being carried the way Alpha had, and it was almost comical to watch. If they weren’t all in danger, he would have laughed a little.

That amused thought immediately dissipated when he remembered what had happened afterwards. Not long after Snap was put on the ground, the blue and white zoner had rushed at him and told him about what he had found. Rudy remembered just how sick he felt upon hearing that, he recalled the looks on the others’ faces, especially Penny’s. Although it was still good to find out just what had happened with Blocky and Howdy, to hear the news of where they were still chilled his blood.

Snap did not know of all the details, but apparentlly Howdy and Blocky had been taken by the night zoners. He had also described the blood that he saw, and it was a given that this blood had come from their friends. There was no doubt about it. Their friends were in big trouble...

Rudy swallowed hard at the memory, feeling a lump in his throat. It was quite difficult keeping himself composed during this. He wanted to get up and do...something to help his missing friends. Yet at the moment, there was nothing he could do. He didn’t know the full details of what happened, and if Snap’s statement was to be believed, then they couldn’t even get to them without having to figure out how to scale a wall undetected.

That was when Alpha gave a suggestion.

“We can always get more magic chalk.” He said. The others turned and stared at him, surprised that he’d be the one to suggest that. “That’s what you’d all need, right? A piece of magic chalk and then the tides could turn into our favor.”

Rapsheeba and Penny narrowed their eyes at this. Rapsheeba said, “We did not say you were part of the team yet.” She immediately stopped herself from saying further arguing with the zoner. She turned her head down and she frowned softly. “But...I admit, that does sound like a good idea.” She turned to Penny. “What do you think?”

Penny opened her mouth to speak, only to remember that she could not. She instead resorted to just nodding her head up and down slowly.

“So it’s agreed, then?” Alpha clasped his fingers together. “Are we going to head out now to get the magic chalk?”

<She didn’t say that we are going to go to the mines. She said that you had a good point.> Spat Thoughtless.

Snap nodded his head. “How do we know you aren’t working with the night zoners and you are just trying to keep us away from them?”

“What a ludicrous statement! Why would I be involved with them?!” Cried Alpha.

“Well, you were involved with Skrawl for so long.” Rapsheeba narrowed her eyes deeply. “And now you come crawling to us, asking for our help, asking for teamwork. Did you really think that this was going to go that smoothly? How did you think we were going to react?”

Alpha let out a frustrated growl. “Look, I know. I told you before, I understand how we feel about each other. But can’t we just..set aside our differences and work towards this common goal? Sheesh, are you all really that...”

“Shut it, Alpha!”

Rudy had really been trying his best to keep his anger under control, but Alpha was really pushing his buttons. That Beanie Boy just kept going on and on and he wouldn’t even try to stop. He wasn’t taking the time to stop and consider the situation more deeply. Oh sure, he says he understands, and on some level, Rudy was aware that Alpha did realize this himself. But the zoner’s desperation for help just seemed too.... Eager he supposed was the right word for it. After all, why was he so desperate to get a move on? Something felt...off about this.

But this was going on long enough. The pent up emotions were only to create more problems. A part of him just wanted to chase Alpha away so they could focus on each other. He wanted Alpha to just leave them alone so they could continue their own ideas and discussions. Having him around only made him feel even more irritated.

But...no, enough of that. He was sick of the fighting, and he would much rather try to find a compromise than continue this song and dance. He didn’t want to hear any more arguments from the others. Not from Alpha, not from his friends, not from Thoughtless. Not from anyone. They had wasted enough time as it was, and if Blocky and Howdy were in danger... He struggled to keep his emotions under control as he approached Alpha slowly.

“So...you really want to help, do you?” Rudy spoke somewhat darkly. Despite his attempts, he still could not find himself easily trusting this guy. From the mutual look in Alpha’s eyes, the Beanie Boy did not seem surprised by this. “Well if we agree to help,” He spoke, trying to sound as diplomatic as possible. “...are you going to tell us exactly why you want to help us?”

Alpha paused for a few moments. The awkward lasted for a few seconds. But then, slowly, the Beanie Boy nodded his head. “Y-Yeah... I will.”

“Okay then, it’s decided.” Rudy stated. Upon hearing the protests from the others, he whirled his head around and glared at them. They all become silent, although Thoughtless still murmured for a little while before it, too, became quiet. “Enough fighting. Let us focus on what’s really important, okay? Two of our allies are missing, and we do need all the help we can get to get them back.”

This was something the others understood immediately. Although there was still some hesitation, the realization of the need for cooperation did seep into their minds at last. They glanced at each other, and then at Alpha before turning back to Rudy. They didn’t hesitate to give their nod of approval, even if they did not fully agree with it. Rudy was glad to see that they had decided to cooperate rather than keep up this fighting. That did make everything so much easier.

He then turned his attention back to Alpha. He considered his earlier mention about getting more chalk. That did sound like a better plan than what he had in mind. Perhaps that is what they’d end up doing.

But first, before they could even start to discuss that, there was another matter that needed to be tended to first. And that was figuring out just what Alpha’s deal was. Before this truce could become official, they all needed to know and understand Alpha’s motivations. He did not want to risk any sort of misunderstandings. So he gave the Beanie Boy a simple command.

“Talk, Beanie Boy...”

sss

Howdy wasn’t sure how long he had been stuck in this waiting room. Or if it could even be called that anyway. It was just a few chairs and a tiny room. Not much to look at. It didn’t even look comfortable to sit down in, and when he did settle down one of the cheap chairs, this feeling only increased. He wished that they could have provided him with a more comfortable place to sit. But considering the ‘racial’ situation and the hostilities, he should consider himself lucy that he even got a place to sit at all.

He still did not like the idea of allowing those night zoners work on his friend. They were the ones who put him in that position. He could only imagine how poor Blocky must feel. There was little reason to believe that the doctors here would go gentle on him. They were probably trying to make the experience as painful as possible. This caused his blood to both chill and boil at the same time. He wished he could be in there to help Blocky through this. He wished he could enter through those doors and tell him that it was going to be okay. But he could do nothing except sit here and wait.

He let out a soft sigh at this, feeling a sting in his chest. He had never felt so useless in his life. Well this wouldn’t be the first time. But now it’s really grown strong. He had vowed to ensure that nothing bad would happen to Blocky, and yet it had. And now he was trapped in a room filled with night zoner doctors and no friendly company. The poor guy must be going out of his mind right now.

And what made this situation worse was... he only had the word of Marble and Tranquil that nothing bad would happen. And they hadn’t exactly been the most trustworthy of zoners. Tranquil especially had caused a lot of trouble and he had confessed to being the one to rip out Blocky’s eyes. This alone made Blocky hesitate about trusting him. He had only given him a chance because he didn’t have much of a choice himself. That didn’t mean that he didn’t have his suspicions and he occasionally looked around, expecting a blood bath to start at any moment.

It felt like forever when the door had finally opened up. The loud squeak immediately caught the puppet zoner’s attention as he lifted up his head and looked out at where the door was. Then, seconds later, he could see Blocky walking out of the room, or rather, limping given his previous injuries. Upon seeing him, Howdy immediately jumped from his seat, but managed to hesitate before he latched himself onto his friend.

He could see that the night zoners indeed hadn’t harmed him. This caused him to breathe a sigh of relief. That didn’t mean that he trusted them any further. But he was still glad that they were at least capable of keeping their word. Despite being night zoners and all.

Blocky had several different bandages on him. Most of them centered around his head. A thick cloth covered both of his eyes while some cloth appeared to be in his mouth. Howdy wasn’t really sure if these were necessary or not, but he wasn’t complaining. They must have been put there to help stop the bleeding, and he imagined that Blocky would have to...urgh...come back here to have them further treated. But at least the bleeding was stopped and his friend was allowed to move around at least for a little while.

He could see the expression on the rectangular zoner’s face and he could see the fear etched onto his face, even without his eyes. The sight of this made Howdy’s initial smile fade. He had to wonder just what happened to make Blocky have this expression. Was he just frightened from the whole experience? Or had something happened to him during the procedure?

He tried his best not to think about it too much. He didn’t want to point fingers. He did not want to be like the night zoners. He tried his best to focus on going over to Blocky and comforting him and being there for him. There was so much he wanted to say to Blocky. The first and foremost thing was...he still hadn’t apologized to him.

Well, sure he apologized to him when he was still unconscious. But he hadn’t even heard that one. How could he have? He was not awake to hear it. Well, now he was fully awake and he could hear everything that he said. Perhaps now was a good time to apologize to him for real.

Just then, he heard footsteps coming from behind him. He turned himself around and he narrowed his eyes at the sight of the female dragon zoner coming up towards hi. She did not look very happy to see him, either. And yet, judging from her expression, she was doing what she had to do, even if she hated every second of it. Even if she would rather slither away, as Howdy recalled, she had been ordered to come get them after Blocky had been finished.

“I see your friend is all patched up.” Marble said calmly. There was a slight venom to her voice, but not as much as there had been before. “Well...that’s good at least....”

Howdy glared at this. There was no sincerely in her voice. “Yes. It is...” He said bluntly.

Marble nodded her head up and down slowly. She took a moment to look over at Blocky. The rectangular zoner was staring off at her, or at least in her general direction, with wide eyes. He knew that she was there, but he was not able to maintain eye contact with her. This seemed to amuse Marble as she gave a small smirk. This faded as quickly as it came before she stared down at Blocky and then turned her attention back to Howdy.

“Come with me. Tranquil wants to see you.” She said in a voice even more blunt than what Howdy had mustered. “And no running off. You know what will happen if you try to flee.”

Howdy did not need to be reminded. Tranquil had been quite clear with him about the consequences of doing something like that. He had no intent on disobeying them and having to deal with...that punishment. So with a stiffening back and a glare, Howdy began to follow Marble down the hallway, holding Blocky’s hand so the blind zoner wouldn’t get lost.

Marble led them down a narrow hallway, whose structure seemed just as jagged as the walls that surrounded this place. Up and down they went in a constant pattern, doing very little turning. It was mostly a straight shot down and almost everything looked the same. If it weren’t for the occasional rise and fall, or a picture, or a different positioned light source, Howdy would think that they were going around in circles, doomed to repeat the same cycle over and over again.

As he continued to follow the dragon down the hallway, he started to wonder if recruiting their help was really a good idea after all. He had agreed to it before, but only because he didn’t think there was a choice. But now that there was some quiet time and he could think more clearly, he was starting to question this idea.

After all, why would Tranquil suddenly change his mind about killing them or using them as bait? Something must have happened which resulted in this. He didn’t know exactly what that was. And for all he knew, it might be something working in his favor. But at the same time, it might not be. What if it was someone who was determined to take him down? His friends down? What if it was some sort of trap? All of a sudden, he felt even less comfortale around these zoners than he did before. And that was quite a feat.

Despite his fears, however, he still continued on the trek, not daring to do anything to try to run away form Marble. Despite his growing fear, he was still on the same track as her, and he was drawing closer to their destination, just like she was. He still prepared himself for the worse as they got closer.

He could see a set of double doors just ahead. He narrowed his eyes a little as they drew closer towards it. The dragon zoner was the first one to enter it, and then not far behind, he and Blocky went through. They both hesitated a little before entering, both realizing that they could be heading straight into a trap. Even as nothing happened to them and they continued further down into the large room, they were still uncomfortable and uncertain.

The room they were in was large, wide, and rectangular. It reminded Howdy so much of the gym that Rudy had taken him into when he was first created. Well except that this roof was a lot lower and the area a lot wider and unlike the Real World gym he had been in, this area was mostly empty. There were some chairs scattered along with some tables, and he was certain that he could see some refreshments, although they were too far away for him to know for certain. Though not like it mattered; he doubted the night zoners would be kind enough to let them have any of it.

Marble quickened up her pass, giving a growly order to them to hurry it up. They quickly headed down towards the center of the room, where a large blanket had been laid and a large individual was sitting there. No...there were two of them. One, Howdy recognized as Tranquil. But the other, while he recognized him immediately, he just couldn’t believe it.

Jacko..? He was...still alive? But...he thought that he had...

Realizing that Jacko was here did help Howdy feel more comfortable. Jacko was the one who had tried his best to keep the truce between day and night zoners going. If there was one night zoner that Howdy knew he could trust, at least on some level, it was Jacko. Although it was still best to excercise caution around him.

The two individuals immediately took notice of them. Motioning with his hand, Tranquil prompted them to get closer to them. Though hesitant, Howdy still pushed himself forward, gently pulling Blocky along with him. Marble had snaked her way from them and was now positioned beside Jacko on his other side, sandwiching him between her and the werewolf zoner. Howdy continued forward and soon stopped a few feet away.

Jacko was sitting on the ground, his legs bent up and his hands wrapped around them. He stared intently at Howdy, his glowing eyes practically piercing into his soul. It reminded him of how feared Jacko was amongst many zoners. Not to the same degree as Skrawl, but there was a reason why there was some fear and respect garnered towards the skeletal zoner. Rudy had explained to him the story about how Jacko had tried to kill him all over a bride, and had even threatened to bury Snap and Rapsheeba alive. This was enough to make the puppet zoner swallow nervously and approach with more caution.

After a few moments of unbearable silence, Jacko finally decided to break it. He cleared his throat a little as he straightened himself up and looked at the two zoners before him. His narrowed eyes moved from one zoner to the other, examining them. He curled his lip up, as if he seemed disgusted or, more likely, disappointed.

“These are the two that want to help us?” Jacko raised his boney, clawed hand in gesture. He motioned towards them one at a time. “They aren’t fit to lead an army!”

Howdy widened his eyes in shock at this. He stared over at Tranquil. Just what did this werewolf tell Jacko they were going to do? There was never talk of any army. What was Tranquil thinking? Or did Jacko simply misunderstand?

That certainly seemed to be the case when Tranquil chuckled a little and said to Jacko, “I never said they were leading an army. I said that they were interested in offering aid.”

“Aid? That’s all?” Jacko placed his hands on his hips. “We have plenty of aid, you know. What we really need is some strength and smarts! And apparently...” He glared at the two zoners harshly. “...we are lacking some of that around here...”

“So they are worthless to you?” Marble said with a smile. “Shall I...do something about them?” Howdy widened his eyes and moved closer to Blocky.

Jacko shook his head. “I know that witch zoner, whatever her name is, would allow for that. But around me, you will do no such thing. I do not want any blood shed.” Jacko placed his hand against his head and rubbed it. “We can’t cause a scene and besides, we do need numbers.”

Marble looked disappointed that she couldn’t do anything about the day zoners. She lifted her head up and stared at him wide-eyed. “But that’s not... They’re not even...!”

“That is enough!” Jacko snapped at her, causing her to shut her mouth. “I don’t want to hear another word from you!” Marble grumbled at this, but took a step back and lowered her head. Satisfied that she wasn’t going to speak again, Jacko turned his attention to Blocky and Howdy. He gave them another look up and down before giving off a soft sigh. “So...how is a puny runt and a blind flat guy going to help us?”

Tranquil bent his body inward, pointing his muzzle towards Jacko while his eyes were staring at Howdy and Blocky. “They know of how Skrawl got so powerful.”

Jacko raised his eyebrow at this. “Oh really now? It’s not related to that ‘geomite’ bullcrap, is it?”

Though he wasn’t sure if it was his turn to speak or not, Howdy still opened his mouth to speak. “Y-Yes, sir...” The night zoners stared down at him expectantly. Howdy paused for a moment, noting their harsh expressions. He swallowed hard, finding it difficult to continue. He did soon find his voice again. “Skrawl got his powers from the red chalk and the geomite. They’re related. It’s..” He raised his hands up in a partial shrug. “...It’s hard to explain...”

Jacko stared at him long and hard. A disbelieving look graced his face. It was clear that Jacko had little reason to trust what he said. Howdy could understand why, as Jacko rarely leaves a Night Zone and he doesn’t have as much varied knowledge regarding chalk and the situation at hand. In fact, this might be why the night zoners did not know about the geomites and red chalk. Jacko had probably refused to tell them about it.

“I...see....” Jacko stared at him for a few more seconds before he shut his eyes and turned his head away. “Well if that is true, that does...change things.” He reopened his eyes and glared off at nothing. “Tranquil, did you inform the others?”

Tranquil shook his head. “I was going to, sir. But I got a little sidetracked talking with you first.”

A chortle escaped Marble’s throat. “Of course it did...” Tranquil growled at this and was about to speak before Jacko interrupted them.

“Enough, you two.” Jacko stood up from the ground. He motioned a hand outward and said, “Both of you, go tell the other night zoners of the new plan. Tell them they are not to leave this building. No more going out and ‘questioning’ day zoners like that witch has you all doing. We all need to be on the same page. Skrawl is more important than your pride. Got that?”

The werewolf and dragon zoners nodded their heads quietly. None of them said a word. They glanced over that the small day zoners. Though they seemed disappointed, the dragon much, much more so, they did not disobey Jacko’s orders and they kept their distance. They merely stared at them for a few seconds before looking over at Jacko and waited for him to give the signal.

Jacko gave it to them quickly. He motioned his hand out to the side and pointed. Upon seeing this gesture, the zoners immediately got up and left, leaving Jacko alone with Howdy and Blocky.

Howdy couldn’t help but feel a level of intimidation staring up at Jacko. He kept his body hunched and he struggled not to shiver. He kept himself close to Blocky just in case something happened. He couldn’t pull himself away from the glare of this zoner. Even though he appreciated the fact that Jacko helped them out, he still could not get over the fact that this was still Jacko and he was still capable of doing cruel, nasty things.

“As for you two, you are coming with me.” Jacko stated. He motioned for them to follow him. “Come along now. We have much to discuss.”

Howdy hesitated, but he was still able to push himself forward. His legs were shaky and stiff, and Blocky wasn’t that much better. But slowly, surely, they were able to move forward, concentrating on reaching their new destination, wherever that might be.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion. It shook the ground all around them, causing them to lose their balance and fall down. They managed to get back up to their feet and they stared at one another in shock, unsure of what to think of what had happened. They looked in the direction they heard the sound in and they could hear another explosion. Or some other loud sound that kind of reminded them of an explosion. They managed to fight against their stiffness and they immediately ran in the direction of the sound.

Soon they entered and exited another hallway, which emptied into what Howdy guessed was the front. This was proven when he could see the stars up ahead and noticed how many night zoners were in here. None of them were looking at him or Jacko or Blocky. Instead, their eyes were glued on something happening somewhere away from them.

“What is going on here?!” Jacko howled.

None of the night zoners had bothered to look at him. They were staring at something that Howdy and Jacko could not see. At first, Howdy thought there was something in front of them, but he soon realized the formation that the night zoners had done. It was a circle shape. They had surrounded somebody. Or something... But what was it? Or who was it? The night zoners were too heavily crowded to allow for any visual cue on who it was.

Swallowing his fear, Howdy released Blocky and rushed over towards the crowd. He pushed himself through the crowd, using his small size to his advantage as he squeezed between the spaces and continued his way forward. He could tell that these night zoners were obviously quite shocked due to how silent they were. None of them tried to attack or insult him; it was like he wasn’t even there.

Soon enough he reached the front and he looked out what the zoners were staring at. His eyes widened in shock, unable to believe what he was seeing.

“R-Rudy...? Guys?!”

sss

So far, trying to find Alpha turned up no results. Skrawl clenched his teeth tightly in irritation as he listened to each of the reporting Beanie Boys’ statements. None of them really varied all that much. They had searched around the Night Zone section of ChalkZone City, but so far, they hadn’t been able to find any sign of Alpha. It was as if he had vanished.

But Skrawl knew better than that. He knew that Alpha didn’t simply vanish from existence. He was in that Night Zone. That much he was certain. The Beanie Boys hadn’t looked hard enough or long enough. True, they didn’t exactly diddle dally as they were in there. And it had been at least an hour since they had left and come back. So some thorough searching was performed. But in the end, it wasn’t good enough, now was it?

Well Skrawl wasn’t about to give up so easily. He wasn’t going to allow that little traitor to get the last laugh on him. Oh no... He was going to pay for his treachery. He would make sure of that. He just needed to find the right...method of dealing with him.

In the meantime, he ordered his Beanie Boys to keep looking for Alpha. They had all been given walkie talkies and they were to report to him as soon as they found anything interesting. Skrawl did not expect an answer back from them for a while, but who knows? Maybe they would up and surprise him. Yeah that would be nice. With all the stress that he’s expreienced lately, some good news would definitely be a welcome thing.

For now, he kept himself in his throne room. He was positioned in front of that pedestal from before, with the swirling smoke on it. He stared down intently, constantly scanning around for any sign of Alpha. It was hard to look in the Night Zone. While Day Zone had gotten quite dark, the Night Zone was even worse, and harder to look around in. It was amazing just how much of a difference a few shades made when it came to clarify and being able to see.

He still saw the same old stuff. He mostly saw the ruined buildings, most of which were caused by him himself. He had fond memories of a lot of them and he couldn’t help but smile at them. However, he did not allow himself to become too entrance by these memories and he continued on looking. But other than the ruined buildings and the occassional frightened zoner, he was not able to see anything worth his while. He narrowed his eyes at this.

Of course he wouldn’t see anything. He hadn’t really expected to all that much. Alpha would be hiding in one of the buildings. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to hang outside of it. There were multiple places for that little vermin to hide. Unless luck was on his side and Alpha exposed himself somehow, perhaps making a mistake and leaving a hiding spot too soon, he was not going to have much luck finding him here. But it didn’t hurt to have an extra eye in the sky. All the little bit counted.

His Beanie Boys were hard at work, struggling to find that traitor to bring him back to him. He could see how thorough they were being. They were looking through every building. Zizagging, flying around in circles, even rechecking some spots. He couldn’t really say that they were doing a horrible job. That would be a lie. No, they were doing a fantastic job. Despite the fact that they had already searched some of these areas, they were still willing to look at them over and over again, obviously operating under the belief that Alpha could have just hidden himself really well in there and they had missed him the first few times.

But Skrawl was fully aware that the Beanie Boys couldn’t keep up this searching forever. Sooner or later, something would have to give in. The Beanie Boys could not possibly hope to keep this up for long. They were going to get exhausted, especially with the rate of their searching. A couple Beanie Boys already were showing some signs of exhaustion.

He narrowed his eyes at this. He was going to have to figure something else out. He would have the Beanie Boys keep searching for now, but he needed another plan. He pressed his clawed hand against his chin and gently rubbed it from side to side. He raised one eyebrow up as he looked down at the swirling cloud with the wavy picture floating on top of it. How was he going to get this done? What else could he do?

He could feel his blood start to heat up a little from frustration. It wasn’t just Alpha he needed to locate. There was also the fact that the fugitives were still missing. And like Alpha, he was certain they, to, were hiding in the Night Zone. It was the most logical place for them to go, where it would be harder to find them. They weren’t going to just walk out so easily and he imagined that they would be very cautious about where and when they moved. For all he knew, there were underground tunnels in that place that he could not see from where he was. And if that is the case, he’d need to think of another way to flush them out.

But how was he going to do that? He’d need some kind of lure or bait, but Alpha and the fugitives didn’t have the exact same wants or needs. The magic chalk was not going to do Alpha much good, for example. He’d need something more...universal. Something that would cause them all to look at and realize ‘oh shit’ or something along those lines. Something that they would all see as a threat, no matter which side of the spectrum they were on. Something like...

...like fire...

Skrawl widened his eyes at this, his mouth dropping open. He allowed this idea to float around in his head for a few seconds, the realization of what it meant slowly dawning on him. Fire... That was it... He didn’t know why he didn’t think of it before. It was so...perfect. Almost everyone runs away from fire.

With that in mind, Skrawl immediately moved himself away from the swirling clouds and headed towards the door. As he exited it, he pulled out his walkie talkie. He held it up in his hand and he pressed one of the buttons with his long, thin claws. He could hear static, and soon he heard a voice say ‘hello?’ to him. He immediately recognized who that was. Good, just who he wanted to speak to.

“Psi! This is Grim Reaper, issuing an order!”

Psi must have stiffened up at his as he didn’t answer right away. And when he did, his voice was shaky. “Wh-What is it, Grim Reaper?”

Skrawl didn’t hesitate to bark the order. “Get yourself and the other Beanie Boys out of that Night Zone!”

“What? But...why? I thought you wanted us to look for...”

“Yes I do!” Skrawl snarled into the walkie talkie. “But I have something much better in mind to find them! And quite frankly, by the time you guys find him, or the fugitives for that matter, you’d be too worn and exhausted to drag any of them off to me. So..” Skrawl raised his hand up in gesture. “Think of this as a small break.”

Psi said, “Well...okay.” He paused for a couple of moments. Then he said, “What did you have in mind...?”

Although Skrawl knew he could not see it, a broad, twisted smile stretched across his face. “Fire..” He said simply. He looked down at his flexing claws, enjoying the glint of light off the tips of them. “We are going to drive them out of the Night Zone.”

sss

Hmm, now this was quite interesting. He hadn’t expected things to turn out this way. Then again, should he be too surprised? After all, things have been going downhill lately, with nasty surprise after nasty surprise. Perhaps he should see this as a sort of...blessing by comparison. It was a surprise he hadn’t expected or really wanted for that matter. But at the same time, it was also not really a curse either. And now knows? Maybe it is a blessing in disguise.

He sure hoped so. He didn’t like the idea of this....this little brat being anywhere near his home. Not after the way he had screwed things up in the past. Not after how he had stolen his wife... He quickly managed to keep his anger under control. No, now wasn’t the time for such petty anger.

It had been a complete mystery how Rudy and the others had even gotten here. From what witnesses stated, they had flown from the sky. Jacko knew this couldn’t be the case. They had to have been tossed, or they fell somewhere. He had a difficult time picturing what kind of event would have caused this. But nonetheless, he would find out eventually what had happened.

He ordered the night zoners to take the unconscious newcomers into a holding chamber where he would go in and talk to them. He wasn’t really sure how cooperative they would be, especially if Howdy and Blocky were to tell them things that would make them less willing to speak to him. Although perhaps Howdy would ensure that they’d listen; after all, the whole reason he had sent him in with them was so that he could explain to them when they got up that they, the night zoners, were willing to work with them to stop Skrawl.

That had been fifteen minutes ago. There was no guarantee that they were awake now, and he garnered that they were still unconscious. But maybe a miracle happened and they were up and about now. Who knows? He hoped that they would have stirred by now. They all had questions to be answered. Especially that Beanie Boy. It was quite confusing why that Beanie Boy was with them and Jacko was interested to know just what he wanted.

He began to head down the hallway slowly, taking his time. He was in no rush. There hadn’t been any other strange events besides them falling from the sky, and he had many of the night zoners on guard duty. He had also reprimanded the witch, who had stopped by a few minutes ago. He reminded her that she is not the true leader, and that she should have came to him before trying to torment the day zoners. Of course, he and her had always clashed on this and he doubted that this was going to change any time soon.

He pushed the thought aside for now and he headed down towards the room at the end of this long, narrow hallway. He grumbled about how they should make these wider; he could barely fit in some of these parts. He flinched when he felt his claws accidentally scrape the walls a couple of times. But it all paid off when he did arrive at the room quicker than he had imagined. He opeend it up and stepped inside, shutting the door behind him.

To his luck, they were all awake. He took a moment to look around, taking note of everyone in there. There was quite the number. Rudy and Penny, he recognized immediately. There was also Rapsheeba, who looked like she had seen better days. Of course Blocky and Howdy. Oh and Snap, too. There was that Beanie Boy and then there was that memotrice he had heard so much about, Thoughtless.

The silence that followed upon his arrival was pretty awkward. Not that he was too surprised. It was difficult trying to think of just what to say. What could he say to them anyway? Given what they had been through together in the past, could he really expect them to help? Even Howdy seemed a little reluctant. Was it because of him or how the night zoners had been treating them? Or both?

Well, he’d at least have Rapsheeba on his side. He had spoken to her several times and made all kinds of deals and negotations with her in order to keep some sort of truce. Well for the most part. He was aware that some night zoners, like that witch, violated this truce for whatever reason, which irritated him. There needed to be a way to keep things much more strict, but he didn’t see that happening anytime soon. He’d just have to live with it for now. As annoyed as he was by this, he was much more annoyed with Skrawl. Or rather, the Grim Reaper.

The thought of that boiled his blood, making his bones ache. The title of Grim Reaper was sacred among the night zoners, and only those worthy of the title can get it. What Skrawl was doing was just sick and wrong. Oh how he’d love to get his bony claws in him...

But for now, one step at a time. He would eventually get his chance against Skrawl. Just not today. But soon... Oh so very soon...

Jacko cleared his throat, deciding to break the awkward silence. “I am not going to waste time with introductions or anything. I just want to know one thing right off the bat.” He took a step closer. He watched as they looked at him suspiciously. Especially Rudy who had started to cringe back a bit. “Just how did you get here?”

There was a bit of silence as they stared at one another, gritting their teeth. He didn’t speak a word, allowing them as much time as they needed in order to answer. Considering that they might have just woken up, it might be hard for them to recall what took place.

Indeed, it took several minutes before Rudy seemed to remember something. “We were....going towards the Chalk Mine...”

“To get more magic chalk?” Jacko didn’t know why he asked. No surprise, the boy nodded his head. “And after you got some?”

Rudy shrugged his shoulders. “I....don’t think I took any magic chalk.”

Jacko raised an eyebrow. “I thought you said you went there for magic chalk.”

“I did.” Rudy said, his voice a little more stern than before. “But...I don’t know. Something happened and I...”

Jacko let out a small sigh. He did his best not to lose his patience. He tried to remind himself that Rudy is still trying to remember more of what happened. He just needed to give him a little bit of time and he would remember. He was certain of it. Just be patient. He was patient when he took his revenge on the boy. He can summon some of that patience for here as well.

“I-I think something happened with Biclops.” Rudy finally said after several moments of silence. “I don’t remember what, but something seemed...different about him.”

At this. Jacko blinked a few times. “...different?” He turned his head and he looked over at Thoughtless. “You mean like after what it would do?”

Rudy looked over at Thoughtless and paused for a moment. Then he said, “Yeah...though not from it. No..this was...different. It felt different.”

Snap nodded in agreement. “I think I remember a little more.” He rubbed the top of his head for a few seconds, his eyes furrowed. “I remember he was..I think angry to see us. But I’m not sure why. A-And I think he...might of tossed us or something? I don’t know.”

Jacko sighed softly. He realized in this moment that they were going to need more time to rest and recover. They weren’t going to be of much use if they couldn’t even remember what happened to them. They were going to need this information if they were going to go to the Chalk Mine. Rudy was useless without the magic chalk. But if something was wrong with Biclops, tthan he had to know quickly.

He was glad that he had come in here alone. He had a feeling that some of his less...patient comrades would have been harsher with this group and resorted to more violent means of getting them to talk. And he knew full well that would only have made things so much worse. He would much rather avoid such unpleasantaries.

He was about to get up and leave to allow them more time to recover when a scraping sound caught his attention. He stopped himself and he turned towards the source. He could see that Thoughtless had started to make its way towards him. Jacko did stiffen up a little and watch the memotrice in worry. He knew what this thing was capable of doing. He did not let his guard down, watching the memotrice carefully as it approached him slowly.

<I remember what happened.> Thoughtless stated.

“Okay then...” Jacko folded his arms against his chest. “Then proceed.” He raised one arm up part way and motioned towards the memotrice to start.

Without hesitation, Thoughtless began to explain. <We had arrived at the Chalk Mine to get some chalk for that boy.> It motioned towards Rudy for a second. <But when we went in there, something was wrong. There were dead Beanie Boys everywhere. The smell of death and decay was all over the place. And then we saw Biclops. He was blood stained and looked pretty feral-looking. He didn’t look like he recognized us at all.> It paused for a moment to give a shudder. This was echoed by the looks of worry from the others as they seemed to start remembering what happened. <He chased us away.>

“What happened next?” Jacko inquired.

<Well, I believe he had some kind of weapon.> It rubbed its wing underneath its chin thoughtfully before it raised both wings outward. <He chased us for a while before he thought to use it. Sent us flying over here. I’m amazed we are still alive.>

“So am I.” Jacko nodded his head. He didn’t bother questioning the story. He did believe he knew what kind of weapon this was. But he’d have to see it first. And there was only one way to do that. “I suppose we will have to go back to the Chalk Mine then.”

“What?!” Several of them cried out in shock.

Jacko nodded his head, narrowing his eyes into slits. “We will need to head there to get magic chalk before we can continue. I’m sure that’s something we can all agree on. Or am I wrong?” He did not get any protest at this. He gave a small smile. He thought so. “Come on, then. Let’s get going. We will be safer in numbers.”

He knew he was speeding this along. He knew that he probably should take more time to figure out a better plan. But he was tired of waiting around all the time, and sooner or later, action needed to be taken. He could not just sit here and dow nothing for much longer. The time to make a move was now. While Skrawl still hasn’t set foot in the Night Zone, he needed to get a move on and get this taken care of so they would have a better chance.

What were the odds that they’d get a better chance than now?

Of course, it didn’t seem like any of them wanted to come with. Many had widened eyes and were looking around nervously. They were still not fully recovered yet, their minds now locked in a more emotional state. They would come to soon enough. He just needed to give them a little more time.

However, to try to ease their fears, he said, “Do not worry. I am going to bring along another of my banshees. He will be able to provide some cover for us.” He saw the looks in Rudy and Snap’s eyes and he quickly realized what they were thinking. Turning his head to the side and waving his hand dismissively, he stated, “Oh and not to worry. He isn’t vulnerable to the light like that last one was. He’s like me. More resistant.” He formed a fist with his hand and punched against his chest. “He’s made of sterner stuff!”

“Okay...” Rudy spoke up as he took position beside Thoughtless. “How are we....”

He wasn’t able to finish when a sudden shout filled the air. Everyone in the room froze, looking left and right, trying to find the source of that scream. Jacko soon spotted a night zoner rushing into the room, having knocked down the door seconds later after they heard the sound. His eyes were wide in horror as he approached Jacko quickly.

“Quick! There’s an emergency!”

At this, Rudy and the others immediately looked nervous. Jacko was a bit unnerved as well, but he struggled to keep himself under control. Without raising his voice and trying to be as calm sounding as possible, he said, “What’s going on?”

What the zoner said next chilled his blood.

“There’s a fire! The Beanie Boys...they’re setting everything on fire!”

Chapter 75:




Oh no.. No...this couldn’t be happening... He had to fight back. He had to do whatever he could to keep himself from falling under its control again. He couldn’t allow himself to be used like a...a puppet, like before. He stiffened up his body and gritted his teeth tightly as he struggled against himself.

That same sensation from before, that he felt before he and Penny were knocked out for a month, it was coming back. He could feel it crawling up inside of him. It didn’t have an origin and it didn’t have an end. It was just...engulfing him, its strange and terrifying energy moving through him as if he were some kind of torch being lit.

He was aware of the others looking at him, all terrified-looking. He was aware of some of them trying to speak to him, although he could hardly understand what they were saying. His hearing echoed inside of his skull, rattling it, becoming distorted. He clutched against his head, struggling to regain his senses. Yet he was not able to stop the dizziness from spreading across his skull. He tried to shake his head a few times, but there was nothing he could do to prevent himself from dropping onto one knee.

He could feel something start to close in all around him. In every direction, that sensation grew stronger and got ever closer. It felt as though some large hand was being squeezed around his body. He thought he could feel something start to touch him, and this sensation only grew increasingly stronger. No matter how hard he shut his eyes, no matter how tightly he curled up on the ground, this did nothing to weaken this sensation.

How long was he going to be able to keep this up? How long would it be before he’d have to give into this sensation completely? There was no way that he could fight this off forever. And the others must have known this as well. Although he could not see them at the moment, he knew that they must be backing away from him right about now, keeping their distance from him. He hoped that they would get smart and try to run...but just where were they going to run...?

But they had to try. They weren’t going to be safe around him for much longer. He could feel the red chalk inside of him growing stronger by the second. He felt his body tremble as the heated energy rushed through him, creeping along his muscles and tendons. As much as he tried to keep himself on the ground, he could feel his arms and legs start to move a little on their own. He still had enough control over himself to keep himself from doing too much. But how long was this going to last? Not too long. He could feel himself losing the battle.

He started to feel something else as well. A burning sensation in the back of his mind. He hissed and flinched as he felt his creep along, being more ‘ripply’ than the other feeling. He found himself pulling his head back as he struggled to cope with this weird new sensation. He could hear the others try to shout at him once more. But he still could not understand them.

But he could understand something else.

“Well....isn’t this so sweet...? You’re trying to fight back... I like that. You are so full of spirit...”

Rudy was shocked by the sudden presence of this voice. He forced one eye open and started to look around. He couldn’t see anything in particular. Just blurry shapes and colors that he assumed were the others. Could it have been one of them...? No, impossible. None of them sounded like this.

The voice chuckled at this. “No...I am not one of them. I am something more. And you should know this as well, Rudy Tabootie.” As if sensing his question, the voice contined, “Yes, I know how you are... We know who you are... We’ve been watching you and your little female friend. And I think it’s time we put you to better use.”

Rudy realized in that moment that this was the red chalk speaking. This instantly made him freeze, a cold sensation rushing through. Feeling it intermix with the hotness in the back of his mind was incredibly painful, but not as much as the realization of what the red chalk intended to do.

No... It couldn’t harm his friend... It couldn’t use him like this, nor her. It just wasn’t fair. The zoners did nothing to deserve this. He and Penny did nothing to deserve being used as a puppet. While he could understand the red chalk’s plight, considering that he and Penny learned about it, that still didn’t excuse the red chalk’s behavior. It had no right to take out its aggression like this. It was not doing itself any favors and this would only increase the need of keeping it locked up.

Not like it was going to listen, though. The red chalk was made up of children. Nasty, destructive children who already had no heed for zoners. They wouldn’t care what kind of damage their actions would do, and right now all they cared about was revenge.

But what could he do about it? He couldn’t fight this forever. Already, he could feel his mind being pushed down as something stronger started to take a hold. He felt a tingly, burning sensation in the back of his mind and it was only getting stronger. He clinched his teeth tightly as he struggled to cope with it. He curled his fingers against the ground, gripping at it as tightly as he could. He ground his teeth together, nearly breaking them. He just had to hold on a little while longer...

“Bucko!”

Rudy opened up one eye as that single shout, albeit distorted, graced his ears. He stared over at Snap. It was hard to tell what he was going other than standing there. His posture gave away the fact that he wanted to rush over towards him and help him. Rudy let out a groan before he managed to shake his head a little.

“G-Get away...” Rudy croaked as he strained to keep control of his voice and mouth. “R-Run out of h-h-here... G-Get Penny.. B-Before...”

Rudy let out a yelp of pain as he felt a shockwave move through him. His body stiffened up, his hands quaking and trembling as the sensation zipped along his body. He sucked in a sharp, shaky breath before he collapsed down onto his side, his arms giving out.

“Why don’t you just give in? You cannot fight this forever and you know it. Just give in. It will be a lot easier on the both of us.”

Rudy growled at this. He gave a shake of his head as he placed his hands on the cold ground once more. He pushed himself up a little. His body shook even harder and he could feel his arms wobbling. Despite the fact that he knew the red chalk was right, he couldn’t give up. He needed to give the others enough time before he...

Suddenly there was a sharp pain in the back of his head. A thin line of pain where his head connected to his neck. He stiffened up at this sensation. It felt like someone had taken an axe and struck him there. His eyes bulged open, his mind becoming overtaken by this agony. Intermixing with that was confusion, which made the pain feel so much worse. Then he felt something ‘break’. Not bone, but something less tangible. It took him seconds to realize that the red chalk had broken through...something in his mind. And with this realization came a new sensation.

Tiredness.

He was getting so...so tried... He wanted to open up his mouth and yawn. He wanted to curl up and sleep. That burning sensation started to feel more and more like he was just tired. He had been asleep for a month. Maybe just a little longer would do him some good.

“No! Stay up!” He heard a voice cry out to him. “Don’t give up! Rudy!”

Rudy let out a grumble as he raised up his head and looked around. Who had said that? And just where was he? He thought he had remembered, but now, it was just...nothingness. He could only draw a blank in his mind. He couldn’t even remember that voice anymore. Just who did it belong to?

“Do not listen to him, Rudy Tabootie. Just close your eyes and go to sleep. It will all be fine...”

Sleep...? Yes, sleep sounded so good. That’s all he needed right now. Just some sleep. He let himself collapse on the ground as his eyes began to flutter shut, becoming too heavy for him to keep open. He could hear more voices shouting at them. But they started to fade, and that soothing voice continued to echo in his mind, lulling him into sleep. Soon he became aware of one last sting before everything faded into nothing.

sss

Snap couldn’t stop his legs from shaking. He couldn’t stop his eyes from widening in horror. He found himself stepping back slowly, staring at the scene before him. His mind swirled with many thoughts, unable to clear his head. The thoughts just continued to fill up inside of him, refusing to leave him alone. He could feel a headache coming on, and he gripped one hand against his head.

This...This couldn’t be real, right? This couldn’t be happening... This was all just some sort of bad dream. Soon he would wake up and everything would be back to normal. He just needed to lay down and it was all going to be good. Yeah, this was just a nightmare. Just...a nightmare...

But a cold laughter that echoed in the room, chilling everyone’s blood, forced him to face reality. His eyes grew wider and he took a small step back as he stared over at the source. He licked his lips nervously. He wanted so much to believe that it wasn’t real, and yet he could not deny what his eyes were telling him. Nothing was happening to reveal this to be just a dream. Nothing he did or thought changed what was going on all around him. And no amount of denial would change what his eyes were seeing right before him.

Never in his life did he ever think that Rudy would hold a piece of red chalk. Not after what happened before... He recalled how horrified Rudy was of the red chalk after his first encounter with it. He remembered how the red chalk had used him like he was some kind of toy. It drug him around, forced him to draw what it wanted...and it was an all around control freak. Rudy had never felt so scared of himself in his life, and he sometimes feared that something similar would happen again. Snap just never thought it would have happened so quickly.

Rudy stood near a clutch of red chalk, his head tilted up as he stared at the sparkling red chalk that grew all around them. He wore a hideous smile, twisted beyond its normal boundaries. His eyes had a red glow eminating from them, a sight that was not present the first time he had used red chalk. Snap knew instantly that this meant something else was going on. It wasn’t just a simple matter of Rudy using the red chalk. It was much deeper than that.

He looked back at the others, noting their stiffened stances. Howdy looked like he was ready to run, Alpha looked curious, as if he recognized something about this, and Jacko was definitely poised to attack, his hand a little raised. The one thing they were all doing like him was staying put, however. No one had tried to make a move.

Snap wanted to do something. He didn’t want to just stand here and watch as Rudy handled a piece of red chalk. It was eerie enough watching him collapse before, only to rise up like nothing happened. To see him holding red chalk, examining it like this, he couldn’t help but imagine him drawing something truly dangerous and attacking them with it.

But...Rudy wouldn’t do something like that... would he? He would never try to deliberately harm them.

But the red chalk would...

In that moment, something flickered in the back of his mind. Suddenly, Rudy’s behavior had started to make sense. And as it did, he could feel a burning anger rising up inside of his stomach, making him feel sick. He could feel his body shaking harder. The others appeared to notice, but he did not pay attention to them. If they didn’t figure out what was going on by now, they would in about a second.

Taking a step forward, Snap held up a fist and shouted, “What have you done with Rudy, red chalk?!”

At this, the others widened their eyes. It was hard to say if it was from shock or from the fact that he yelled at someone wielding red chalk. It didn’t really matter, though. That wouldn’t have changed the red chalk’s amused reaction. Snap struggled to keep his expression from quivering when he heard that chuckle coming from that mouth. And when he turned to face him, those piercing red eyes... Snap thought he could feel his heart stop beating.

Yet he did not run. There was no way that he could run. Not now. The others weren’t moving, either. They all understood that they still had to face this guy. Not to mention that, if they tried to run now, they would only reach a dead end. This place had been sealed up by the red chalk. They were utterly trapped. And now it even managed to do that... Snap had to wonder what other tricks the red chalk had picked up.

“I do not know why you are sticking around.” Rudy, no...the red chalk spoke. His voice was an eerie combination of calmness and energy. It was too hard to describe, something one wouldn’t believe unless they heard it themselves. “Aren’t you all cowards? Running away hiding as soon as one measly human gets a piece of magic chalk?”

Snap gritted his teeth. It took all his energy not to snip something back at the red chalk. Doing so would only make things so much worse. Keeping quiet was not that easy, however. Especially with the arrogant grin that the red chalk was giving. It was enough to make him want to bop his head or something.

The red chalk took note of his anger and smirked, but said nothing. He then began to walk towards them slowly, arching around as if it was about to circle them. It only walked about part way before it stopped completely. He looked at them up and down, looking almost genuinely curious about them. It was hard to say just what was going on inside his mind, but Snap wasn’t really sure if he wanted to know. Something told him that some things were better left unsaid.

Not like the red chalk was going to remain quiet for long. His eyes had brightened up a little more, especially after seeming to realize they had another human with them, even if she was not here right now. There was some kind of flicker that suggested that he had realized Penny was not like the others; she was human. Just like Rudy. Immediately realizing what the red chalk might have in sort, Snap found himself getting in front of this creepazoid, forcing the red chalk to see him as well. There was a brief widening of the eyes, as though the red chalk did not expect this. And then a dark smile returned.

“Ah, a zoner being friends with a human. How amusing. But so much lying...” The red chalk shook his head, Rudy’s head, from side to side. “You zoners have always been so good at..pretending, haven’t you?”

“Wh-What are you talking about?” Howdy spoke up, trying his best to sound brave. “You red chalk have been...”

“Please,” The red chalk twisted his head to one side. “Do not call me that. I’d prefer being called Rory.”

“Okay...Rory...” Howdy took a step back, the red glow upon him as Rory moved in closer. “I don’t know what you mean by...zoners pretending. You and your kind are the ones wh-who had tricked Rudy, and us.”

Rory blinked his eyes a couple times at this. Then he smirked. “Ah, someone with some level of ignorance. I like that. I never get tired of telling this story.” Rory straightened himself up, bending his back a little. A loud crack rang through, making the others shudder. “But I do believe now isn’t a good time. I would bore you zoners have to death. And as amusing as that would be..”

“Oh just can it and let our friend go!” Snap demanded, cutting off the red chalk. He had no interest in hearing this thing’s lies or rants. All he wanted was his friend back. And if he had to attack him for it, then so be it... “If you don’t, I will...!”

“You will what?”

Snap froze as Rory addressed him, his eyes piercing through his. Snap remained quiet, his mouth partially open. He struggled to think of a response. But nothing could come to his head.

“You will try to punish me? When I haven’t done anything to you?” Rory raised up his hand in gesture. “I did nothing wrong. Are you going to attack me, little zoner? Are you going to prove to that foolish girl just how little you zoners can be trusted?”

Snap gritted his teeth. “Did nothing wrong, huh..?” He pointed a rounded hand at the fiend. “You stole my friend’s body!”

“Stole is such a harsh word.” Rory made a few gestures. “I want to say...borrowed... I’ve been wanting to use this form for a long time, and since Rudy first used the red chalk, I knew he’d be perfect.”

At this, Snap let out a gasp. His mind flashed back to that day, when the red chalk had started to act up. It hadn’t taken long for its true colors to be revealed. It not a day he would ever forget, especially when Rudy realized that he could not let go of the red chalk. It was in that moment that Snap had realized something about that day.

“That was....you...?”

Of course, the others didn’t seem to know what he was talking about. They just stared at him in confusion, their eyes widened or narrowed. If they tried to ask him anything, he could not hear them. His eyes were focused only on Rory standing before him. Though his eyes still held anger, they now held something else that was not there before. And that was recognition. Could this have been the one responsible for what happened to Rudy back then?

“Well of course. I needed some kind of body to use. Well not just me, but all of us.” Rory motioned his hand all around them. As he did so, the red chalk seemed to sparkle even faster, more frequently. It was as though it was trying to talk. But being just chalk, no mouths, they were just silent. This made this seem all the more eerier. “We have no more bodies, thanks to that wretched Biclops. Oh how satisfying it will be...making him pay for what he has done...”

“And you think that will work?” Asked Jacko as he raised his hand up in gesture. “Do you think that’ll help improve your current sorry state?”

At this, Rory let out a low growl. Howdy let out a shudder as he stared up at Jacko. “Don’t make him angry. We are not in any position for...”

But it was too late. Jacko’s words appeared to have set something off in Rory. It was...terrifying just how much one seemingly little statement from Jacko was enough to make Rory’s eyes glow brighter. Snap wanted to scold Jacko, but at the moment, he could not take his eyes off of this guy. He took a few steps back as his blood began to chill quickly. What was going to happen...?

“Perhaps I should...up the stakes a little bit...” Rory said in an eerily calm voice before he lifted up his head and looked at the other red chalk. “What do you say...? Shall we..give it to them...?” The red chalk seemed to sparkle in agreement. Letting out a cold chuckle, Rory turned and looked back at them. “Then...so be it...”

Snap and the other zoners stiffened their bodies as they waited for Rory to take action. At first, he did nothing. But then, as he took a step forward, there seemed to be a brief flash of crimson, and then a loud ringing sound that was both there and not there. Snap covered his ears, his mind constantly asking one thing:

What the hell was this guy doing?

sss

Psi let out a growl as he rammed his body against one of the flying zoners. He felt the satisfying thud sound as he sent the zoner sprawling through the air. The night zoner’s long, spindly legs barely managed to right its own body. It soon turned its head back towards him and let out a roar before charging towards him. Psi merely sighed and rolled his eyes at this pitiful attempt to fight back. He held out his hands, his fingers curling eagerly, ready to meet it half way.

For what felt like the tenth time, Psi found himself colliding with another of these night zoners. He gripped onto their shoulders tightly, gritting his teeth at them. He managed to overpower them easily and he moved himself around in a circle before releasing them. The force of his throw caused them to fall towards the ground.

As soon as he did this, he felt something else hit against him. He felt a sharp pain in his side and he let out a loud cry of pain. He clutched his side and saw the blood that dripped from it. His eyes bulged in horror and then they narrowed into slits. He turned his head to try to find the zoner that was stupid enough to attack him from behind like this. It didn’t take him long to find the culprit. It was a small night zoner, looking like some sort of owl. It was a shock that it had been brave enough to attack him. But if it’s a fight that it wanted, then it was a fight it was going to get.

Psi dove down towards the night zoner, forming a fist with his hand. He struck the smaller zoner across his face, his fist colliding with his jaw. The force of this strike caused the smaller zoner’s head to twist painfully to one side. Psi almost thought he heard a cracking sound. It wouldn’t really surprise him; this zoner was so small... It would be easy to cause it a lot of damage. Not that he cared; he had too much fun watching the zoner spin through the air as if it was doing nothing more than performing aerial moves at some kind of stupid circus.

He barely had time to rest when another flying night zoner dove towards him. He let out a cry as he felt their small teeth piercing into his shoulder. He grabbed onto its neck and pulled it forward. When the stomach was exposed, he elbowed it as hard as he could, knocking the wind out of the zoner’s body. As he did this, he then formed another fist and struck it in its throat. As the night zoner gagged and struggled to take in a breath, Psi pulled out his shard and shot out a bolt of electricity towards it. The bolt crashed against the chest of the zoner, causing it to spasm and then plummet down towards the ground.

He smirked at this for a few moments, but he could not rest. There were still other night zoners to take care of. He turned his head and looked at the others. So many night zoners... He still had no idea where they had all come from. But at least they were being taken care of now.

He wasn’t sure how long this had been going on. It seemed like over an hour ago that all of this had started. It might not have been that long, but it certainly seemed that way. He and the other Beanie Boys had no idea something like this was going to happen. How could they have predicted that a bunch of night zoners would have confronted them like this? Well they were burning down their home..maybe he should have seen this coming.

Well regardless, the situation was being taken care of now. Most of the night zoners had been subdued. They were either on the ground well below them or they were too injured to put up much of a fight. There were still a few that remained that would be a threat. But they were just too little in number. There was little concern that they would be able to turn the tides too much. They might last longer, but they would be outnumbered and subdued. Then there would be nothing left to worry about from them.

Well, unless they decided to continue putting up a fight, which he wouldn’t be surprised about. These zoners just didn’t know when to quit. He wouldn’t be surprised if many of them kept going even when they were on their last legs. They just didn’t know when they were beat and they were going to pay the price for that sooner or later.

He hoped that this would be taken care of soon. As much as he was enjoying tormenting some of these zoners, he wanted to get back to work. There were still more areas of the city to burn and he hadn’t yet seen that traitorous Alpha anywhere. He wanted to find him and wring his neck. He wanted to bash his skull in. There was so much that he wanted to do, he could feel his body shaking in eagerness. He wished that Alpha would just show himself so he could get this over with. But...Alpha wasn’t stupid, was he?

He let out a soft, irritated sigh as he glared at the group of night zoners that were glaring at him. This was just a tiny handful of what remained. There were other night zoners around. His comrades were taking care of them. All around him, he could hear shouts and cries as they fought and he could see them struggle in the corner of his eyes. He tried not to let himself get too distracted by it as he focused on the night zoners that laid before him.

He curled his lip up into a snarling smile. “You...you’re all so annoying, aren’t you...?” He smiled at their expressions. Such bravery... Too bad he’d have to strike it down soon. “How long do you think you can last like this before something caves in? You and I both know you can’t keep this up forever... So why don’t you just surrender now? It will go a lot easier on you if you do...”

“Fuck you.” One of the night zoners stated simply.

Psi widened his eyes at this. He couldn’t help but feel a bit of shock that this zoner had actually said that to him. Perhaps it was a bit more brave than he had imagined. He couldn’t help but smile at this, letting out a low chuckle.

“Oh how amusing... A little night zoner that thinks it can take on a Beanie Boy...” Psi lifted up his shard, smirking at it, his eyes focused on its tip. “You should really pick your fights better. Look at what I’ve done to your friends.”

The night zoner’s ears flatted against its head. “You’re pathetic!”

Psi tilted his head to one side. “Oh? Am I?”

The night zoner nodded quickly. “Y-Yeah! You think you’re so tough, but that’s only because you have that shard!” The night zoner gave a smile of its own. “I bet you would be nothing with it. Yeah, try to face me without your precious shard and see how well you’d do!”

Psi raised his eyebrow at this. He recognized this kind of verbal trap. This zoner was attempting to trick him into laying down his weapon because of something like ‘honor’ or whatever the term that they used. This zoner was attempting to make him fight fairly, and Psi knew quite well that he may not stand as much of a chance. No way in heck was he going to give up his weapon just to satisfy this zoner’s bet. If it wanted to believe that he was a coward for doing this, then so be it. Not like its opinion mattered all that much.

Psi gave off another chuckle. He bared more of his teeth in a nasty grin. The sight of this appeared to unnerve that night zoner as he watched it move a bit away from him, its body going stiff. Psi looked over at his shard once more, giving it a couple of strokes, before turning his head and eyeing the zoner sideways.

“I’m not a fool. If you think for one minute that I am going to fight you ‘fairly’, when I could fight you this way and take care of you....” He turned himself around completely. He gripped the shard tightly, his hand nearly breaking it. “You would have to be dumber than I thought you were. Then again, I don’t expect too much less form you night zoners.”

The night zoner trembled in anger. “Wh-Why you....” It gritted its teeth tightly, grinding them. “W-We’ll show you!”

“Oh you will?” Psi placed his hand towards himself, mocking a shocked expression. “Oh my, maybe I should run for the hills then!” He laughed as the zoners’ frowned at his obvious sarcasm. Then he leaned in, motioning with his finger. “Why don’t you come over and try? Don’t worry, I won’t try to run. Attack me.”

The night zoners seemed to hesitate a little at this. Psi just smirked. Of course they wouldn’t be brave enough to face him. They were just all talk and no show. They were just trying to intimidate him into a weaker state so they’d have the upper hand. Now that they could see that this didn’t work, they began to move back a little. They did not flee, however, and they still looked willing to fight. Well that was good at least. It would be a bit too boring if they ran away too easily.

Still, he hoped this wasn’t going to last too much longer. He wanted to get away from them and try to find Alpha. He was more of a top priority to him than these guys. The other Beanie Boys could take care of them anyway. There were still so many Beanie Boys around, it would be impossible for these night zoners to overwhelm them all. At this, Psi took a moment to look around and see how his fellow Beanie Boys were doing.

They were doing quite well right now. So far, they were handling the other night zoners. Striking them, breaking their backs, even severing their heads if they had to. The night zoners tried their best to fight back, but they were easily overwhelmed. They might have managed a few blows against the Beanie Boys, but the shere numbers allowed the Beanie Boys to flank them easily, surrounding them and striking them until they fell from the sky. He did flinch a little at some of the cracking of bone, but he couldn’t feel bad for them. After all, these zoners had it coming when they decided to challenge them.

He turns his head to face the small group of night zoners. He smirked, curling his lip back. Now it was time to take care of them. And he had just the idea of what he was going to do with them. He raised up his shard, pointing its tip towards them. The night zoners tensed up, preparing for an attack. It was so amusing to watch.

“Now, let’s...”

Before he could finish, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his arm. He stiffened up in the air, his body feeling almost like it had been turned into a hardened statue. His wide eyes stared out into nothingness. The shocked and horrified looks on the night zoners’ faces suggested that they weren’t responsible for what was going on. But then...what was happen..? Slowly he turned his head down to his arm, the source of the pain.

He noticed immediately that his shard had started to glow. The energy was creeping into his arm. As it did so, the pain increased. It felt like someone had shoved a knife into the flesh and was dragging it upwards slowly. He watched as his arm began to glow a blood red and the muscle and flesh began to bulge and quiver as if it was being turned into liquid. The sight of this caused his heart to skip several beats and he was not able to stop a loud scream from coming out of his mouth. He clutched his arm to himself, cradling it tightly.

He tried to let go of the shard. But no matter how hard he tried, it just wouldn’t be released. His fingers were too stiffened and hard at this point. The muscles and tendons in his arm wouldn’t move to allow for its release. The only thing his attempts seemed to do is increase the agony that he was in. He let out another scream as he began to thrash about in the air. This was soon joined by more screams. To his horror, the other Beanie Boys began to be affected as well.

What...What was going on here...? What was happening to them? He tried to think of what could have caused this, but his mind was too clouded by pain. The agony kept him from thinking straight enough and he just continued to scream and writhe, trying to get away from the misery that had its grip around his body. He didn’t care if the night zoners watched. He didn’t do anything to stop his tears or cries, nor was he above pleading.

“P-Please..stop! S-S-Somebody..help me!”

Of course, none of the night zoners came to his aid, and the other Beanie Boys were too locked in their pain to do anything to help him. The only thing he got in return were more choirs of screams, intermixed with the occassional plea. He kicked out his legs in desperation and kept pulling his arm back, his fingers struggling to pry open his hand so he could throw away the shard. Yet his attempts just kept failing and he found the pain increasing.

As he struggled to cope with the pain, a thought crossed his mind. As he stared at his arm, watching it bulge and bleed, he quickly thought... Maybe this was what happened to Rho.. Maybe it really hadn’t been Rudy or Penny all along. Maybe he had been harmed by the shard....

It was too late to realize this mistake. Far too late. Psi knew that, even if all the Beanie Boys now knew this, the shards were not going to allow them to get away. This was proven when he felt an increased shockwave of agony sweep through his body. He felt a blinding flash in the back of his mind as his body gave a jerk, the pain becoming too much. Then, closing his eyes, he began to plummet down.

sss

Thoughtless had no idea how this had happened. It had all happened so suddenly. One moment, it was busy facing off against Biclops. Then the next, it was on the ground, struggling against a sudden loud sound that nearly popped its eardrums. It could feel its body shaking as it struggled to climb up to its feet. But that sound, that horrible, wretched sound... It took a while before it could even hope to regain its footing.

And when it finally came up to its feet, its confusion only increased. Where Biclops stood, now it could see that the giant had changed posture. It took quick notice of the giant being down on one leg, pressing his knee against the ground. His large hands covered his head and he looked like he was struggling to fight against the loud sound. This was enough to reveal to Thoughtless that he wasn’t involved with this loud sound like it had initially thought. But if it wasn’t him, then...

Who was it...?

Thoughtless then heard some rustling not too far away. It shifted its head over, staring at where Penny was. She seemed to also be reacting to the sound as well. But in a completely different way. She looked almost...transfixed by it. The sight of this was enough to confuse the memotrice even further. Just what was going on?

Penny had her head tilted up towards the sky, her eyes wide and almost dull and yet very emotional at the same time. It was an odd combination that it didn’t think was possible. And yet, here it stood, witnessing such a weird fusion of two polar opposites. Penny straightened her body, flattening her arms against herself, tilting her head back even further. It was as though she was trying to answer some kind of invisible calling, if that made any sense. Something had caught her attention. That much was certain.

But what could it be? Thoughtless struggled to think of an explanation, but nothing would come to mind. All that it knew was what was going on before it. Penny had suddenly gone quiet and turned into this. From being scared yet determined, to being quiet and mysterious. Her eyes had a strange dilation that didn’t make any sense in this lighting and her mouth was open as though she wanted to saw something, or that she saw something quite beautiful or terrifying or something.

Then, as soon as Penny closed her eyes, there was a flash of bright, crimson light coming from the Chalk Mine’s entrance. It rushed out like an explosion, but not really. Thoughtless raised its wings up to shield itself. The material passed through it and it hardly felt a thing. But at the same time, it felt everything. It was the strangest thing, which only added to the perplexion of what was going on. Just..how was it supposed to interpret something like this?

Then, before its mind could even hope to start settling down from that strange occurence, something else happened that caused Thoughtless’s blood to run cold.

Penny had started to move her head. But it was so jerkingly... It was like she was trying to fight it, and at the same time, she had embraced it. And it looked so unnatural... When she looked over at it, it was not just those piercing eyes that got to it, but also the tilt of her head, and how it was turned so far to one side. It was all enough to tell Thoughtless instantly that something was very wrong. Thoughtless found itself jumping back, spreading its wings out at its sides. It took a few steps back, keeping an eye on her.

What was happening to her? This was not the Penny that it remembered. It couldn’t even try to use its powers on her; that would not tell it what happened. That would not reveal the origins of that red glow. All it could do was stare at her and fight with its thoughts as it tried to figure all of this out.

Then it noticed the red glow in her eyes. Red glow... Just like the red chalk... At this, Thoughtless slowly widened its eyes. That was it. This was the red chalk’s doing.

But...how..? Just..how could this have happened? It had thought the red chalk had gone dormant or something. And it wasn’t like the others were trying to find red chalk. How did they end up in the red chalk chamber? How did they not find any white chalk? What happened in there?

Remembering what it had read about this crimson menace, it kept its eyes on Penny. It narrowed its eyes into slits and gritted its beak. It needed to be careful. The red chalk, and its vengefulness.. It was a force to be reckoned with. One wrong move, and it might as well call itself a roasted turkey. Whatever moves it decided to use, it needed to make sure that it planned them out well and didn’t rush into them. Not with Penny eyeing it like some kind of predator.

At least she had no magic chalk with her, so that was good. She wouldn’t be too much of a threat like this. At least, it hoped she would not. If the red chalk were truly behind this... Thoughtless recalled the powers of the geomites and how the red chalk is associated with it and... It felt a pang of horror as it realized that Penny might still be a threat without a piece of chalk in her hands. With that in mind, it took a small step back, although its gaze never left her.

This was quite bad. It never thought that things would have turned out this way. What was it supposed to do know? It needed to...

...or was it so bad...?

Thoughtless felt its body giving some lax as realization swam through its mind. Maybe...maybe things weren’t as bad as they appeared. After all, there was always a way to turn things around. This just might be the break that it had hoped to get. The moment where things could turn around and it could take advantage of it. For awhile, it had waited for a moment like this, and now that it had finally come...

Yes, it could certainly work this into its favor. It would need some time first, of course. But...since it had failed so hard with Skrawl, perhaps a new partnership was in order. After all, while Skrawl only ever cared for world domination for treatment that he more or less brought on himself, the red chalk had a legimate reason to be upset. And if it played in those favors...

Its thoughts were interrupted when Penny suddenly charged at it. Thoughtless let out a screech before jumping to the side. It flapped its wings hard so that it could gain a bit of distance before coming back into the ground. It watched the girl carefully as it kept itself away from her. Penny glared up at it, giving it a look that told it that, yeah, this might take some time. Perhaps it needed to hide somewhere for a little while to allow for some thinking.

Just then, it could hear a loud, thundering sound. Turning its head, it could see that Biclops had gotten back up onto his feet. The giant was not paying attention to it anymore. He was focused entirely on Penny. Without hesitation, the zoner began to march towards Penny swiftly, showing no intention on slowing down.

Unlike before, Thoughtless made no attempt to stop this confrontation. It had helped out Penny before only because it felt like it was going to need her and Rudy in the future. This time, the tides have turned. Biclops had no idea what he was getting himself into, but Thoughtless did.

And that was going to make this all the more entertaining to watch.

sss

How could this have happened? This was not what was supposed to happen... Oh how could things have gone wrong so fast...?

Then again, why was he even surprised? Rudy had a knack of ruining everything. He was the one who stole his bride. He was the one who tricked him into marrying a bowling ball-headed statue. Why should he be surprised that Rudy had brought this upon him as well?

Well okay, so he didn’t mean it. He doubted Rudy had meant for something like this to happen. But in the end, it was still him to caused this. If Rudy hadn’t been stupid enough to fall for this obvious trap...

Jacko realized how much of a hypocrite he was being there. After all, he and the other zoners didn’t realize it was a trap. Sure, he could just say the others were ignorant fools. But he would have to say the same thing about himself. If he had known this was all some kind of trap, then he would have done something about it sooner. Instead, he had fallen for this, hook, line, and sinker. And he didn’t have any one else to blame but himself.

Not like he would ever admit that, though. It was too easy, and much less harsh on himself, to push the blame onto someone else. And how fitting that it would be Rudy. That boy always did find ways to annoy him. A part of him was even starting to regret helping him. He should have minded his own business and let them do whatever the heck they wanted. He had his own problems to take care of, after all.

Well too late to worry about that right now. He was trapped with this problem at the moment, and the only thing he could do was fight to protect himself. Rudy was his problem now, whether he wanted it or not.

His thoughts were interrupted when there was a loud crash, a resounding crack filling the air. This had been accompanied by a brief flash of red. Jacko turned his head upon hearing Snap screaming. At first, he thought the blue zoner had been struck. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of a large, burnt area. A dent with smoke coming out of it. And Snap standing not too far away, staring it in horror. It took only seconds for him to deduce what had happened.

Jacko didn’t have much time to think about this before he saw another flash in the corner of his eye. A crimson color that was growing in size rather quickly... Oh no.. Jacko turned his head just in time to see a lightning bolt headed his way. Gritting his sharp, pumpkin teeth, he jumped out of the way just in time, barely missing getting struck. The lightning still grazed him a little, causing a brief bought of pain. But otherwise, he was okay.

But it wouldn’t be like that for long if he didn’t do something quickly. Rudy was coming towards him now. Or Rory, as the red chalk preferred to be called. With the red chalk raised, the tip glowing, Jacko realized that unless he made another dodge and soon...

He was taken aback when he saw Snap rushing at Rudy, er, Rory, at full speed. He knew that zoner could be quite brave, but this.. He wouldn’t have thought that Snap would so something so stupid like this. And yet at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel at least, on some level, a little grateful. That blue zoner’s act of jumping against Rory, knocking him to the side, was enough to allow him to get back up onto his own feet. He examined himself quickly, making sure that he didn’t have too many injuries, and then he looked back at where Snap and Rory were.

Snap’s brave act didn’t stop Rory’s antics for too long. Now the blue zoner found himself locked in a crimson coil, raised off the ground and high into the air. Rory glared up at him hatefully before he flung him to the side like he was nothing more than a sack of potatoes. Snap let out a cry as he crashed into the ground, rolling painfully across it.

To Jacko’s amazement, Snap did not go down so easily. Despite the attack, the zoner had quickly gotten back up onto his feet. Snap only hesitated for a brief moment before, gritting his teeth, rushing over to Rory, his hands formed into fists at his sides, his eyes narrowed in determination. It was as if something had, for the lack of a better term, snapped inside of his head, prompting him to keep going when he really should be considering an escape plan. After all, who knows how long he would last in here? Or any of them?

Not that Jacko was too surprised. Snap was one of Rudy’s closest friends. Seeing someone using him like this would indeed have triggered something inside of that thick skull of his. Snap might not be saying anything at the moment. He might be wordless, but those growls that he was making, that glare that plastered over his face, that was more than enough to tell Jacko, as well as Howdy, that Snap meant business.

Jacko watched as Snap continued to fight against Rory. The red chalk kept trying to strike at the zoner, either with his fist or with another bolt of electricity. Snap merely danced around him, dodging most of the attacks. And any attack that did hit him, Snap shrugged it off before continuing his assault. Pulling a fist back, the zoner struck against Rory’s side, causing him to cry out in pain. When Rory attempted to strike him with electricity once more, Snap jumped into the air and grabbed onto Rory’s arm. In an act of utter fury, he opened his mouth wide and bit down onto Rory’s arm, causing him to scream and Jacko and Howdy to flinch.

This proved to be a mistake, however, as the act of biting had motivated Rory enough to strike Snap in the back of his head. The zoner’s eyes bulged and his body went partially limp. In a dazed state, he slumped a little. Rory took advantage of this and grabbed onto his arm and swung him into the ground. It was a wonder that this didn’t break any bones. Snap groaned and looked up. There was a flicker and his mental state had been restored. But it was too late and the claws had come down...

They never hit their mark, however. Rory was given a reminder that there was more than just one zoner here. Howdy, who had managed to regain some of that courage he had before, had rushed over towards them. He latched onto Rory’s leg and he gave it a bit. Howdy’s nip caused Rory to bend his body, or rather Rudy’s body, backwards as he struggled to grab onto the puppet zoner and yank him away. It wasn’t too hard to grab onto the puppet zoner’s collar and yank him up. But doing this only enabled Howdy to deliver a punch to his face, which caused him to let go, allowing the puppet zoner to crash into the ground.

Snap had used this momentary chaos to slip away from Rory. He ran around Rory while he was still recovering from Howdy’s punch, and then, once he reached the right spot, he jumped forward, his hands outstretched. He latched onto Rory’s arm and reached his hand out. It took Jacko a few seconds to realize that Snap was trying to grab onto the red chalk to disarm Rory. But his attempts were futile as Rory simply swung his arm to the side, causing Snap to crash into the ground once more.

“Disgusting zoners...” Rory hissed. Unlike before, his voice no longer sounded like a distorted version of Rudy’s. Instead, it now sounded like a mixture of all kinds of voices. Both male and female, representing the various other children who had been ‘wronged’ by Biclops and ChalkZone. “You are only delaying the inevitable. Sure that sounds cliche...but it’s oh so true.” Rory narrowed his eyes into slits. “We have been trapped in this wretched world for far too long. But with the addition of Rudy Tabootie and Penny Sanchez...we will be able to finally leave this place, and take control of our own destiny!”

Snap let out a disgusted growl at this. “All you want is to run away from the problems that you yourself have created.”

“What was that?” Rory turned to glare at Snap. “You’re trying to say...that this is our fault? That we had asked for this to be put upon us? That we asked to be trapped like rats while the rest of you zoners fucking celebrated? Is that it?”

Snap did not falter. “Well, you were the ones who were tormenting ChalkZone first.” He motioned his rounded hand at him. “If you hadn’t done that, if you had treated this place with more respect, than this never would have happened.”

Rory growled. “How dare you...”

“But it’s the truth, isn’t it? Don’t you think that...if you had more self control...” Howdy started to say. He stopped when Rory shot him a death glare. He cringed back slightly, although he did not run off.

“Oh what do you know, you stupid little puppet...? Not like you are real, anyway. At least, not in the true sense of ‘real’. ChalkZone is nothing more than a little playground for us. All we were doing was using it in a way that it was meant to be used. Is that so wrong?”

“You were hurting innocent people!” Cried Howdy. “How could you even...”

“It doesn’t matter what you say. You know that he would never listen.” Growled Snap. “It was no wonder Biclops had to banish them.”

Rory’s eyes flickered at this. “If by ‘banish’, you mean trap us in this hellhole of a world, then yes. He did banish us.” Rory formed a fist with his hand, nearly breaking the red chalk that he still had in his hand. “All we ever wanted was fun...and we ended up stuck here...where we could do nothing except just sit there... with no idea of how much time had passed or what was going on... It was truly hell...” Then, just as suddenly as it happened, he stopped shivering and turned to look at Snap and Howdy. “Well, it was a good thing that Rudy decided to come into the red chalk chamber that day...”

Snap narrowed his eyes at this. It looked like he was ready to attack, but he held himself in place. Rory gave a chuckle at this, and then a realization seemed to strike him.

“No...wait... That was you, wasn’t it?” Rory said with a smirk. Snap widened his eyes. “Ah yes, you led him down into the red chalk chamber.” Upon seeing Snap’s expression, Rory smirked. “I’m right, aren’t I?” When Snap did not answer, Rory made a mock bow in Snap’s direction. “Well then, I must..thank you, zoner. Thank you for allowing this to be possible.”

Jacko stared in shock at Snap. There apparently had been more to the story than he recalled. He was never informed of Snap being the one to take Rudy there. Why on earth would he do that? Was he just unaware of what laid beyond? Yeah, that had to be it. Snap wouldn’t deliberately harm his friend like that. But that still did not ease the shock that swept through his body.

Then, after a few seconds, Jacko took notice of something that he hadn’t before. Rory was not paying attention to him. He was looking at the two zoners over there. His back was turned to him. He was...vulnerable...

So many thoughts ran through Jacko’s mind in that moment. So many possibilities awaited for him. If he were to make a move while Rory was too busy focusing on Snap and Howdy... This was the first chance to strike. Rory could not defend against something that he could not see, now could he? Striking from behind might be labeled a cowardly move, but it was a smart one, nonetheless. Why take the risk of getting hurt if he did not have to?

He looked down at his hands. He looked at his sharp claws glinting in the crimson light all around. He watched as he flexed his hands. These claws were capable of doing so much... In this moment, he could get rid of their current problem, but most of all, his own. He could finally get that child back after all that he has done to him. He had told Rudy in the past that he was going to ‘get him’. Now was his chance to take that to its logical conclusion. It wasn’t like anyone could stop him after all; even Snap and Howdy were not paying attention to him. He could make a move so easily, and they would never notice.

Yes... That’s what he would do. As he stared back at Rudy, more thoughts came into his mind. Burning thoughts as he remembered what happened on those fateful days. He felt his body start to shiver, the tips of his hands tensing up, poised to strike. He needed to strike now, before he missed this golden opportunity.

Jacko found himself rushing forward. He moved gracefully, so fast and yet so quiet. He came right up behind Rory. He was in reach now. Yes, this was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for. Jacko raised up his hand further, tensing up his arm as he prepared for the lethal blow. All it would take is a few more seconds and...

Suddenly, Jacko felt something grab onto his wrist. He felt himself being jerked back a little, a sudden stop. He stared down in shock when he saw that Rory had whipped himself around and grabbed onto him. How could he have known what was going on? How could he have heard him coming? These questions and more filled his head as Rory tightened his grip on his wrist, his glare piercing into him, a twisted smile spreading across his face.

“Oh that’s not fair... Trying to take me down while I’m not looking...” Rory shook his head in disappointment. “I thought you were better than that... I would have thought that if you wanted to kill me, you would have done so while I was facing you. What, are you afraid of looking me in the eyes when you snuff out my life..?”

Jacko just growled at this. He then looked over and saw how Howdy and Snap were looking at him. Howdy had a shocked expression on his face. Eyes bulging open and mouth wide apart. He looked like he wanted to ask him questions and yet he could not bring himself to say anything. Snap, on the other hand, while shocked, was mostly furious with him. There was a sense of betrayal in his eyes, as if he could not believe that he had actually done that...

Not that Jacko cared too much. He merely snarled at them before glaring back at Rory. There was really no way of knowing if Rudy could be freed from Rory anyway. Would it not be better to just finish him off? They would remain trapped here otherwise, so...

He did not have time to finish his thought when Rory, without warning, shot him full of electricity. Jacko felt a rush of pain through his body, burning up his insides. He gritted his teeth tightly as he struggled to cope with the pain. The jolt did not last too long, but he was still left with a convulsing, twisting body. The pain still echoed through his body even after the source had been ceased. Jacko still let out a sigh of relief nonetheless, and he focused on trying to get away.

Yet even that was short-lived. Rory showed an incredible feat of strength when he managed to throw him into the ground. Jacko yelped in pain as he smashed his shoulder against the ground not far from where Snap and Howdy were. He seethed, his teeth clenched tightly. Neither Howdy nor Snap tried to help him up. They just stared down at him, doing nothing. Jacko glared at thim before he pushed himself back up.

“Thanks for the help...” Jacko hissed at them. He didn’t really know why he bothered to say that. He knew exactly why they didn’t help him. Should he be so surprised?

“You tried to kill him...” Snap growled at him. “You idiot! We’re supposed to disable him, not destroy him!” He paused for a moment and then his eyes widened in realization. “This is about that stupid bride, isn’t it?!”

Jacko froze, and then gave a bitter chuckle at this. “Maybe... But be honest, Snap...” He looked down at the blue and white zoner. “Do you or Howdy see any way of freeing Rudy from this..? Do you...?”

“I...” Howdy started to speak, but his voice trailed off.

“We will find a way soon!” Snap said, trying to sound confident. “We just need to stall for time and...”

Jacko couldn’t help but laugh at this. “Are you really that naive, Snap? Are you really going to....”

Just then, there was a loud thud that shook the through. Everyone in the chamber froze at this. The ground beneath them vibrated, as if some kind of large force had stimulated it. The sound was muffled and yet at the same time, booming. It was like a thunderclap, and yet not. They turned their heads over at where the sound came from. After regaining their bearings, they were quickly able to realize just where that sound truly came from.

The Chalk Mine entrance...

While this sound unnerved the zoners, including Jacko, Rory on the other hand looked rather pleased. He stood there, hands behind his back, his head turned to one side. He looked off in a direction behind him, towards where the sealed door was. “Ah...looks like things are finally going to get more interesting...”

“What do you mean?”

Rory tilted his head at that inquiry. “Did you think that my previous action was..just for show...? Oh come now, you couldn’t have possibly thought that, right?”

Jacko and the other zoners were confused by this at first. They didn’t recall exactly what Rory was referring to. They did fight him for a little while and he had tried taking action against them several times. But none of those seemed so special outside of being just attacks. So what could he have been talking about?

Then they remembered something else. Everything had happened so fast, they had almost forgotten about that burst of electricity from before. The way he had stiffened himself and then that red stuff exploded outward... How it had both hurt them and spared them at the same time. An unusual combination that was unprecedented. Rory never did reveal just what he had done, and they had assumed that he was just trying to intimidate them or power himself up or something. But...could he have been referring to something else?

Well, it did look like he was giving off some kind of signal. With the way he looked so concentrated, and with how the things just kept shooting out like rings, reminding him of a broadcasting system... Maybe Rory had been...

In that moment, he froze. He shook his head in denial. Oh no...

Without warning, they could hear the sound of pebbles rolling across the ground. They clanged against the floor loudly, echoing in the chamber despite how faint the sounds had been previously. A shadow loomed over them, coming from an entrance that they could not see. Just how many entrances did this chamber have...? Then came a flash of color, a blur, and a thud. And slowly, rising up off the ground, was an individual that they all recognized.

Penny Sanchez.

Jacko took a step back as he stared at her, refusing to take his eyes off of her. He gritted his teeth tightly, his mind racing inside his skull. Snap and Howdy might not have noticed it yet, but he could tell right off the bat that something was very wrong with her. Those eyes...that red glow...

Jacko gulped at this and he found himself taking a step back. He could feel his body shaking, his teeth clenching even tighter. He could feel his blood temperature lowering as the situation had went from bad to worse. He couldn’t even take another step back; he was glued to his spot, as though someone had drove nails into his feet. He could do nothing except stare at Penny, whom managed to chill him even without doing anything.

As he stared at her, as Snap and Howdy, ignorant of the danger, tried to communicate to her excitedly, a thought rushed through his mind.

Where was Biclops?

sss

Skrawl wondered how Biclops was doing. He had left the giant to take care of a couple more things regarding his Beanie Boys. And now that he was finished with that, perhaps now was a good time to go to the Chalk Mine and check up on the big guy. And besides, he looked forward to seeing the looks on those children’s faces when their large ally had been turned against them again. He chuckled. Oh the looks on their faces would be priceless...

The only reason he hadn’t left yet to go see this was because he wanted to make sure that his Beanie Boys were able to succeed with their plan. They could not see him from where he was, but he had chosen a nice spot to remain at and watch them as they burned down the city. He couldn’t help but smile as they went about their way. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. They were doing a splendid job. No way Alpha would be able to hide for long.

Indeed, that little traitor, and the fugitives, were somewhere in that inferno. He was certain that he saw at least Rudy and Penny escaping, but the others, he was most certain that they were in the flames. It was a little disappointing that Rudy and Penny weren’t amongst the fire. But at the same time, he did really want to see their looks of despair as their last chain of hope was yanked out from underneath them.

He remained for a little while longer, watching the flames as they burned through the buildings. He listened to the wondrous screams of the zoners as they all tried to get away. He cupped a hand to his ear so he could hear it all better. His smile spread further as he continued to listen.

It was strange that he could no longer see the Beanie Boys... But then again, ChalkZone City, even the night section, was quite large. He imagined that they had traveled further down, venturing deeper into the city to burn more places. He smiled at this. They had done a fantastic job here anyway. The fire would not die any time soon. It would continue to spread, and bringing with it more chaos and destruction. Yeah, now was a good time for him to turn around and leave. Rudy and Penny required his attention.

As he headed over towards the Chalk Mine, he started to imagine just what was going on over there. If those two had made it, were they locked in combat with their former friend? Or had they been chased or hurt? A part of Skrawl hoped that not too much has happened just yet. After all, he wanted to see their looks of despair. It would be fine retribution for all the trouble that they had caused him.

But at the same time, he hoped that Biclops hadn’t went easy on them. Those brats didn’t deserve it. Just for coming back into this world and trying to take away what was rightfully his, they deserved to have all kinds of things done to them. If he could vote for just one thing to happen to them, he hoped that their dominant arms had been snapped. Or even better, ripped off from their bodies. He’d like to see them squirm on the ground as he got closer. Yes, that would be delightful...

Whatever had happened, he would see to it that they wouldn’t become a threat any longer. He wasn’t really sure what he’ll do with them. Either kill or capture... Well he supposed it depended on what kind of condition that they were in when he arrived onto the scene. Either way, it didn’t really matter. Just as long as they couldn’t bother him anymore.

Then after them, he’d take care of the rebellious zoners. There were several that he knew were still trying to fight back. It was not just the fugitives. He knew the night zoners hadn’t fallen completely to him yet, and there were still day zoners that wouldn’t listen. It was time to kick things up a knotch. He was not going to rest until he succeeded in wiping out the remaining ‘competition’. Then he would have finally secured his place as controller of this world. He would succeed. After all, he was the Grim Reaper.

Ah, there was the Chalk Mine up ahead. He had already arrived. A bit surprising. Perhaps he had been more lost in his thoughts than he thought he was. Well at least he was here now and that’s all that mattered. Clearing his throat, he increased his pace, getting ever closer to the Chalk Mine.

So far, all he could see was the top of the small mountains that he knew made up the mine’s exterior. But soon, as he could come over this small hill here, he would be able to see the Chalk Mine itself. And, hopefully, Biclops taking care of those two children. He was getting so close... He could already imagine the horrified state those two were in. With a grin, he quickened himself even more.

But something was wrong. There was no sound. He could not hear anything. He paused for a moment, looking left and right. What was going on here? Why couldn’t he hear anything? He wondered if the fight had been brought into the mine. That was possible. In that case, he might have to intervene to ensure that those two brats didn’t get a hold of any magic chalk.

Soon he manged to climb up on top of the hill. He stood there, his claws pressing against the dirt ground. He tilted his head down to stare at what was going on below. His mismatched eyes widened as they darted from side to side. This...isn’t what he thought he would see.

There was no Rudy...or Penny. He couldn’t see them anywhere. They were just...nowhere in sight. But where could they have gotten off to? What could have happened to them? Biclops couldn’t have done anything that terrible. Not only could he see no blood on the ground, but he could see that the giant had collapsed against the dirt. He was completely unmoving and he had several burn marks all over him. The sight of this was enough to make Skrawl freeze for several moments before he even tried to take action.

The jellybean immediately rushed down the hill and towards the large giant. He didn’t particularly care for his well being of course. But he still relied on this giant in helping this plan succeed. To find him unconscious like this... He needed to figure out what happened quickly, before things could spiral further out of hand. Luckily it shouldn’t really be too difficult for him to deduce what had happened. At least...he hoped that would be the case.

He walked around the giant slowly, his different colored eyes scanning around his body, looking for any signs of what had caused this. Those burn marks looked like what he’d expect from the shards he gave the Beanie Boys. But that wasn’t right. Unless this was Alpha’s doing... Where could these marks have come from...?

He stared long and hard at the giant. He watched his mouth and chest carefully. He needed to see the full extent of the damage, and he knew of one way he could do this. As soon as he saw slight movement, he was able to deduce that this giant was indeed still alive. This did not really relieve him too much; it only informed him that the attacks weren’t fatal. Whoever did this to him seemed to only want to go into the Chalk Mine; they had little reason to stay behind and do anything about him after he was no longer a threat.

But just who could have done this? And what happened to the others? He couldn’t see Rudy or Penny anywhere. Did Biclops take care of them before this intruder came? Or did something else happen to them? Did this mysterious attacker get at them, too?

Suddenly, he heard a loud scream coming from the Chalk Mine. He nearly jumped out of his skin when this happened. He whirled himself around to face the mine’s opening. He watched it carefully as he took a few steps towards it. A few seconds later, he could hear another scream, this one shorter and more clear. He recognized that scream. It had come from that night zoner, Jacko. What was going on?

Then another scream, though this one was far more angry-sounding. This one, he recognized as Rudy Tabootie. His eyes immediately bulged and his mouth fell open. Realizing what must have happened, the jellybean found himself bolting inside the cave.

Chapter 77:




Skrawl let out a low growl as he lowered his head and charged forward. He turned himself to the side as Rudy tried to strike out towards him, his red whip lashing outward. Skrawl flinched for a brief second when he heard it collide against the ground, cracking its surface. The jellybean whirled himself around once more, dodging to the boy’s side. He struck out with his long, sharp claws. But he missed the boy entirely, much to his irritation.

Of course Rudy could not hold stiff. He just had to keep being a pest about this. He wouldn’t just hold still and take the blow with dignity. Then again, since when did this little brat have any amount of dignity? That boy probably didn’t even know what that word meant, the bastard.

As he tried to attack again, Rudy jumped backwards, just out of reach of his claws. Skrawl opened his mouth and let out an angry yell at the fleeing child. He moved forward more quickly, slashing and slicing through the air, struggling to attack the little brat. But his attempts were in vain. The boy was moving back faster than he could hope to keep up. Not while he was in this kind of condition. While Rudy... while he had been injured before, the red chalk was making him oblivious to his injuries. This, of course, was going to be a problem.

Nonetheless, Skrawl still tried his best to attack. He moved forward more quickly, constantly striking at the air, hoping that at least one of them will land against this stupid little kid. He just needed to knock him out, or better yet kill him, and the red chalk wouldn’t be able to use him anymore.

..or would they?

Skrawl pushed aside the uncomfortable thought as he managed to get closer than before to the fleeing little runt. He took this chance to try to strike out at him. He positioned his claws and, his wrist tightening up, he struck down as hard as he could.

He hit nothing but air. Rudy had waited until the last possible moment before he jumped back away from the jellybean. He gave him a sideways sneer before he struck out with his whip again. The tip of it cracked against the middle of his face, creating a long, thin gash there. Skrawl let out a howl of pain at this before he clutched his face tightly, staggering backwards.

He did not have much time to react with anything, not even a ‘curse you’ shout, when there was another flash of pain, this time across his body. He found himself nearly losing his footing. He flailed his arm to avoid falling down. When he finally settled, he looked down at his body, his eyes going over the new long red mark that he now adorned. A darker shade of red than the glow that snaked around his body, and looking quite horrifying even in spite of it being pretty small. He lifted up his head and glared over at Rudy.

“How pitiful... I thought you would have put up a better fight. I see that I was wrong.” Rudy raised his hand up in gesture, his teeth exposed in a grin. “Or did you need a bit of extra leeway? Shall I put on the kiddie gloves for you, Skrawl?”

Skrawl snorted at this, feeling the hot, boiling air exit out of his face, imagining it burning off that arrogant smile off that brat’s face. He knew exactly what he was trying to do. That stupid kid was trying to bait him. Make him angry enough to lash out at him. Well he was not going to fall for it. He was not going to allow this to happen. “Go fuck yourself...” Skrawl growled before he took off after him, racing as quickly as he could.

Skrawl let out a loud yell as he raised up his hand and struck down. His claws slashed along the ground, grazing it only slightly. He paused for a moment and growled in frustration when he saw that he did not hit anything. He turned himself around and attempted to strike out towards Rudy. He did not get too far when he found himself being whipped yet again. His head was turned to the side his body following in pursuit. He dropped onto the ground, using his hand to hold himself up. He grunted and growled as he laid there, his body wracked in emotion and pain.

Skrawl struggled to think of just what he was going to do. He could see Rudy preparing for another attack. He had to think of something and fast, or else he was going to get knocked away again. He didn’t know how much more of a beating his body could take before he’d get too slow to move out of a more lethal attack. He was certain that the red chalk could do so much worse, but it was deliberately holding itself back. Why? The answer was simple. It wanted to delay this process for however long possible. It wanted him to feel as much pain and suffering as it could muster for him. And then when it was done, it would finish him off.

Well, he was just going to have to be smarter, isn’t that right? He just needed to keep himself one stop in front of this guy, watch his ‘borrowed’ body carefully for any sign of movement. Then, once he could figure out what the boy’s next move might be, he could counter with something of his own. He just needed to make sure he moved quickly enough, otherwise this was not going to work.

His eyes remaining glued to the boy, watching him carefully. He did not attempt to push himself up, although he did prepare his body to jump up off the ground when the time was right. He glared in the boy’s direction, his eyes flashing with hatred, letting him know that he was not yet beat. He could act submissive, but frankly, that would be more suspicious to the red chalk than him simply pretending to give up. Best to stay true to his ‘character’.

Rudy looked amused by this. He hadn’t yet made another move towards him. He had stopped with whatever move he was doing and just stood there. He examined the jellybean carefully, from the safety net of the distance between them. The boy’s eyes seemed to pierce his as he seemed to scrutinize him, examining each part of him carefully. Skrawl struggled not to say anything as he watched him carefully. Quite frequently, his eyes went over to the boy’s whip. Even though it remained at his side, unmoving, Skrawl refused to let that thing out of his sight for too long. He didn’t know exactly how long he had before the boy would start to use that against him again.

“I see what you are doing.”

Skrawl stiffened up a little at this. How could he have...?

“You must think I’m stupid.” Rudy shook his head. “I see the way you are looking at me. Waiting for me to slip up... I’m an observer, too, you know. I would bea ble to tell what you were doing just by looking at you. Of course, I can be a sport at times and let you try to fight. All just to make this a lot more...interesting...” Rudy looked down at his whip, examining it for a moment before turning his attention back to Skrawl. “But...you seemed upset the last time I tried to be sporting with you. So..should I go in the opposite direction, zoner?”

Skrawl, now back on his unsteady feet, hunched his body forward and glared directly at the small human before him. He took in a few slow breaths as he struggled to think of a response. It was tempted to just say ‘fuck you’ to him like before and swipe him aside. But another part of him didn’t think that would be wise. He did not want to tempt fate. He had to remain smart about this, otherwise he may end up getting too badly hurt.

Not like Rudy gave him much of a chance to respond, of course. He could see the boy’s eyes glinting as he raised up his whip...no, the other one. His empty hand. He was confused at first. That is, until he felt something tingly in his chest.

“I see you really do want me to play ‘hard ball’. Okay, I won’t disappoint you. How do you like..” Rudy formed a fist with his hand and twisted it to one side. “...this?!”

Before Skrawl could react, Rudy gave a snap of his finger, the sound seeming to strangely echo across the area. As soon as this snap occurred, he felt a tightness around his body. He looked down and he could see that the red stripe around his body had started to glow more brightly, intensifying as the seconds past. And as it intensified, so did the pain.

Blinded by agony, Skrawl screamed and jerked his body wildly around. He twisted himself left and right, whatever he could to try to free himself. Nothing he did worked, and it only seemed to worsen the pain that he was entrapped inside of. This did not do much to slow him down, however, he continued on shouting and struggling, whatever he could to try to get away from the pain.

The red stripe continued increasing its size, spreading further across his body. It snaked along, threatening to wrap around his body even more. Once this mark filled him with pride and the feeling of power. Now it had become the source of his pain and misery. He jerked himself from side to side, but nothing he did reed himself from this horrible situation. He looked down at the mark, growing more and more horrified by just how much bigger it was getting. He gritted his teeth tightly, struggling against it the best that he could.

He could feel tears start to form in his eyes. Oh no... Not now... He was not going to show weakness in front of this guy. He was not going to allow his tears to overwhelm him. He would not let weakness show. No, he was going to remain strong and fight back. He forced one of his eyes open and he glared off at where Rudy was.

That arrogant little punk... Did he think he was going to get away with this? Did he think this was going to last forever? He would show him. As soon as he managed to push aside the pain, he would rush over to him and rip out his freaking guts. He would make him sorry that he had ever messed with him. He was the master of everything around him. He was the one who was fully in charge here. The red chalk should be bowing down to him, not using him like some kind of toy. Just who did it...they...think they were?

Despite the horrible agony sweeping through his body, he started to move forward slowly. His body trembled with each step, wracking through like he was moving through a thick yet soft wall. He felt a sharp pain jolting through him several times, and he could feel himself freeze a couple of those times to try to cope with it. He still kept himself pushing forward, eager to get his claws on that boy, on that red chalk. Rudy looked almost amused by his attempts, which infuriated Skrawl even more.

“I see you’re still trying to put out the effort. I am impressed.” Rudy raised up an eyebrow. “Where do you find the energy?”

“Sh-Shut up! Just shut up right now!” Skrawl shouted at him. He tried to quicken his pace, although this was pretty difficult. He found himself relegating himself to only a slight increase in speed, and more jerkiness. “I’m going to kill you! Do you hear me?! I’m going to rip you apart!”

“Then try.” Rudy raised his hand up in gesture. “Go ahead and try to use your oh so ‘special powers’ on me...”

Skrawl growled at this. He knew that the boy was trying to trick him. He was no fool. He would not try to use his powers here, not against him, and not now. Not while his body was being ripped apart internally by the mark that gave him his power in the first place. Or at least, one of the things that gave him power.

“So you’re not even going to try... How pitiful.” Rudy shook his head slowly. “Then again, I’d expect this from someone like you.” He narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Using another to give you strength and then cowering when you don’t have their back up anymore... It’s a wonder that you even survived this long, Skrawl.”

“If you are so unthreatened by me, then why don’t you just let me go and I will...”

“Because I’m not stupid.” Rudy interrupted him. “I’m not going to just let you go. Not after....” Rudy paused for a moment. He shut his eyes and seethed through his clenched teeth. He reopened them and glared daggers in Skrawl’s direction. There was a noticeable shift in the way his eyes were glowing. Something that seemed more...foreboding. “Perhaps I should..”

Suddenly, there was a loud cry not far from the two of them. They whipped their heads over to where Penny had been. What laid before them was quite different from what they remembered going on. The shift was so jarring, both of them were left in a state of confusion.

Where before, Penny had been able to control Howdy and Snap, now the roles had been reversed. It seemed that the two little zoners had decided to fight back, trying again to restrain her. But there was something different about how they were doing it this time. Something much more...primal was the only word that Skrawl could think of. It took him a few seconds before he realized just what was going on.

It wasn’t just they were trying restrain her. They were outright trying to attack her.

Skrawl noticed just how much more feral they looked, wearing expressions that they did not before. This was not how things were just moments ago. It was as if something had been flipped inside their head. Like...they no longer saw Penny as an ally, but as a threat to their survival. But how could...

Thoughtless...

Skrawl widened his eyes at this realization. He knew full well what Thoughtless was capable of, and he did recall just how different Snap behaved while under its control, how much he hated Rudy and Penny. Could this be its handiwork? If it is, well, Skrawl would probably thank it... if he still wasn’t angry at the memotrice for its betrayal. Oh well, at least it was doing something useful for once.

While Rudy had his back turned, Skrawl, the pain dissipating from the red chalk’s stunned state, and he knocked the boy into the ground. He stood over him, opened his mouth wide, and let out a roar, spreading his hands out and brandishing his claws.

sss

Thoughtless watched in amusement as its handiwork unfolded before its eyes. It had taken a little while to perform. Working on two minds was such a hassle, especially in this type of environment. It had to work extra hard to even get anywhere, and it could not let up on its mental state, even when Skrawl let out some screams that it wanted to see. But at least, in the end, it was all starting to pay off quite nicely.

The effects of its powers became apparently quite quickly after it finished. With their minds filled with new, painful memories, their love for Penny had been diminished. Like how Snap used to hate Rudy just a month ago, now a similar level of hatred was being geared towards Penny. The same thing with Howdy. Those memories they now adorned were so painful, they both pushed aside their pain and fear to get at her. The one they believed to be the source of their misery and suffering.

Thoughtless didn’t really know how long this would last. It didn’t have an inkling of when Snap might break through its powers like he had before. But at least this would keep things interesting enough. Now all it had to do was stand up here and wait for things to play out, and then choose a time to step in.

It watched the scene down below it, watching as all of its little players began to dance to its whim. Jut as it suspected, Snap and Howdy remained focused on Penny. The poor mute girl didn’t stand much of a chance against them. Her powers were still fledgling and she hadn’t fully realized them yet, it seemed. She did well against them before, but the fact that she had more than one opponent, and the fact that they were fighting much more ferociously was clearly giving her problems. The zoners were landing more blows against her now, causing her to cry out in pain and struggle to fight against them.

Then there was the situation with Skrawl. Thoughtless turned to stare down at the jellybean. It watched with a partial smile how the large zoner was struggling to fight against Rudy..., no, Rory. The class was quite entertaining to watch. It couldn’t help but feel amusement as it watched Skrawl continue to try to struggle against the memotrice, trying to gain some kind of upperhand, despite the fact that it was utterly hopeless. Skrawl was already weakened from that little trick Rory performed earlier. How did he hope to have a chance to win in that condition? He was nothing more than an oversized target now.

Not that it expected anything less from Skrawl. Always so stubborn. Always unwilling to cave in what he really should. This would prove to be his own downfall one day. Thoughtless was certain of it. When, it didn’t know. Maybe today or tomorrow, or another day. But sooner or later, everything for that jellybean would break apart. And it would be there to look at the shattered pieces of the pathetic mess that was once Skrawl, the Grim Reaper.

Grim Reaper... What a joke. Skrawl did not understand the full powers the Grim Reaper, a real one, was capable of. He made a mockery of its profession, taking the easy path to achieve that status and never bothering to learn everything. Skrawl was so pathetic, and his work undermined what a real Grim Reaper was all about. Perhaps one day, it should show Skrawl just what a real Grim Reaper was capable of...

For now, though, it opted to just settle down on the ground, pressing its wings against its body. It was not yet time for it to make its move, and it wouldn’t be for a little while. It needed time for everything to fall into place. If it tried to make a move now, all it would do was make things worse for itself. It could not allow this plan to fall apart. No, everything had to be just right. If it was going to make the red chalk believe that it was on its side, it needed to make a move at just the right moment, when the red chalk was in danger or something similiar. Then and only then could the red chalk possibly believe that it was an ally.

Its eyes soon fell upon Jacko’s unmoving body. Thoughtless narrowed its eyes into slits. A shame that this zoner was not awake. He could probably make for a good backup option. It had sometimes wondered how this zoner’s mind ticked ever since it first heard about him. It would have been nice to get that chance. But...no, it would save Jacko for later, if it needed to. Jacko could make for a good trump card, but for now, Snap and Howdy and Skrawl were doing just fine on their own. Now all it had to do was wait.

The struggle lasted for a while. Thoughtless watched as they clashed against one another, striking, kicking, whatever else. It was really quite fun to watch, it had to admit. A bit more than it expected it to be. The open area here was just utterly animated with all kinds of movement and colors and blurs. It wasn’t really sure how long this was going to last. But a part of it hoped it would be at least for a little while.

Things seemed to be taking a definite shift. It noticed that Penny was apparently losing against Howdy and Snap. It appeared that her fledgling powers were no match for their anger and hate and ferocity. It was almost comical to see a comparatively larger human fall down under the might of who should be must weaker than her. Especially that puppet, and yet it seemed that this puppet was kicking her ass more than Snap was. Quite a shock, to say the least. An amusing shock.

Skrawl, on the other hand, was still struggling a little bit. Not that he was utterly losing. But the playing field got a little more even. Skrawl had managed a few more blows against Rory, causing the boy to be pushed back. But Rory did not give up, and he continued to fight back. Thoughtless watched with utter curiosity. Just how long was this going to last? Who would come out on top?

Would it be Skrawl? Or would it be Rory?

It was hard to say at this point which one was going to win. One moment, it seemed like it would be Skrawl. And another, Rory seemed the victor. The only way to know for sure was to sit here and watch this play out.

Then again, it’s not like it had time for that. It didn’t intend on sitting here and pretending to be some kind of referee. No, it had something much more important in mind. It needed to remember it had to watch for an opening, not for who was ending up on top. It had to time itself carefully and the only way to do that was to keep watching and waiting. An opportunity would present itself to it soon. It just had to wait for it, and be patient.

Patience was a virtue.

sss

Well, it seemed as though things were finally turning in his favor. Skrawl had never imagined how much of a difference two additional runts in a fight would make. But here he was, witnessing it for himself. True, those little punks weren’t too much to look at, but they were still holding their ground quite well. Whatever Thoughtless had done to them...he couldn’t help but applaud mentally. And it wasn’t everyday that he did this for someone who wasn’t him.

That didn’t mean that he could rest, however. He still needed to keep up the best that he could. He might still be capable of fighting. Bu his body had been weakened by the attacks. He could feel the pain sweeping through him, causing him to flinch and freeze a few times while he did his best to dodge the attacks. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever. He had to do something before Rudy gained the upperhand once more.

Wait, gain the upperhand? That was a laugh. No, Rudy already had the upperhand. Skrawl was the one who was struggling. No, what he needed to do was reverse this whole thing. He wasn’t entirely sure yet how he would be able to accomplish this. But he wasn’t going to let this uncertainty stop him for long.

However, he did hesitate a brief second when he thought about Thoughtless once more. He looked left and right and he began to realize something. Thoughtless...wasn’t showing up. He would have thought that the memotrice would want to dive in at the chance of getting to the two human creators. Didn’t it want them for something? Well apparently not. Or perhaps it was just waiting this whole thing out before diving in. Yeah, that would have been the smart thing to do anyway. Thoughtless’s powers would not work here on these guys and, no offense to the little rent, but it would not last long in this kind of fight. Yeah, best that it stayed out of the way so it wouldn’t get in trouble.

He was still angry with Thoughtless, though. He would not forget who it used him, and how it defied him. That was still unforgiveable. While he was willing to give it a little pardon for helping him out, Thoughtless still had to continue answering for what it had done. And it would keep doing so until he decided that it’s had enough. That wouldn’t be for quite a while.

He gritted his teeth as he raised up his hand and allowed the whip to hit against his wrist. He let out a yowl of pain as it stung for a moment. The force of the attack allowed it to wrap around around his wrist tightly, securing it in place. He stared down at it for a few seconds before he turned his head and looked over at where Rudy was. The boy was giving him a twisted smile, breaking in and out quickly.

“I...got....you...!”

Skrawl simply stared at him before he gave his own smile. “It certainly seems that way...doesn’t it...?”

Rudy was confused for a moment. But something about Skrawl’s expression seemed to cause a click to flash in his mind. His eyes widened in realization and he began to turn himself around to try to stop whatever Skrawl was about to do. But it was already too late.

Skrawl formed a fist with his hand and, with a mighty jerk, flung his arm upwards. The whip was yanked along with him, and in the process, so was Rudy. The body’s body sailed through the air, arching upwards and then down, plummeting back towards him, his legs straight out, his red eyes wide in shock. Skrawl waited until the boy got close enough before he raised up another fist and struck down against the middle of his back, causing him to crash painfully into the ground.

Skrawl watched as Rudy coughed and spluttered and picked himself off the ground. Skrawl let out a low growl as he raised up his newly acquired weapon, the whip that Rudy, or rather the red chalk, had been using against him. But despite the fact that he was momentarily disarmed, Rudy did not show any fear towards him. Just a snarl as he took on a more defensive stance.

“How very clever... It seems that you learned a few new tricks.” Rudy commented coolly. “I’m surprised. I didn’t think you would find a way out of that one.” The tone was mocking and not sincere. Skrawl narrowed his eyes at this. “Of course, you are still quite low beneath me in this fight. I wonder how long you will last before you are flat on the ground.”

Skrawl let out a low growl at this. “Nothing but words. Why don’t you try to back them up?”

Rudy chuckled at this. “I guess you forgot what kind of position you are in.”

Skrawl immediately realized his folly and he took a step back, gritting his teeth. He watched as Rudy raised up the piece of red chalk. He resisted the urge to slap himself. Of course Rudy was still a threat. How could he have forgotten about that red chalk? He was too busy basking in the glory of his accomplishment. That was why. And now he was coming face to face with that mistake as Rudy aimed the red chalk at him like it was some kind of gun. He did not attempt to move, knowing that any sudden motion may make things worse for him.

“I see you finally remember. How brilliant. I wonder if you will be able to think your way out of this one...” Rudy taunted him. The small boy took a step closer to him, causing Skrawl to take a step back. This caused Rudy to chortle once before tilting his head to one side. “Come on, big guy... Aren’t you going to try to face me? Do you have the guts? Or did you leave them behind?”

Skrawl hissed at this, feeling anger burning through his body. But as much as he would love to wipe that stupid grin off that stupid boy’s face, he still could not bring himself to move forward. He remained where he was, his hand clutched tightly into a fist. He knew that Rudy was just trying to taunt him into attacking so he would slip up. No matter what, no matter how angry he got, he could not allow himself to fall for this little boy’s trick. He could not let the red chalk manipulate him like this.

He heard a crash to his side and he turned his head. It seemed that Snap and Howdy were having some trouble themselves. Despite working together and being quite agile, they were having a hard time keeping themselves from getting hit by the red electricity. Skrawl scoffed at this and shook his head. Thoughtless might have been able to motivate them, but it was clear that it could do nothing for their fighting skills.

Hearing a chuckle, he turned his head to face Rudy once more. He clenched his teeth tightly, allowing them to glint in what light there was here. He could see red marks all over Rudy, and it was impossible for him to know which ones were from the attacks he had given him and which ones were the result of the light shining off his body. He looked so smug... Skrawl felt like striking him and ripping off his face, nevermind the fact that he himself is also pretty much quite smug himself.

But at least he was willing to admit his own faults....to himself, anyway. He would never let anyone else know. But Rudy...this red chalk controlling him... It was clear just from looking at him that he truly believed he was all that. And that was going to be his downfall. All he had to do was wait until the right moment to strike. A time when he was not paying attention. A time when he would not expect an attack.

A time like now, when he had backed away, when he only had a mere whip in his possession, when Rudy had the capability of drawing whatever the hell that he wanted to. All it would take is one right move and...

Narrowing his eyes, he took another step back, hunching his body a little. He continued to watch Rudy, eyeing him up and down. The boy smirked up at him as he raised up the red chalk once more. His wrist tightened, indicating that he was getting ready to draw. And yet he still paused, opting to instead just watch him for a little while, perhaps taking the moment to savor this.

“I guess you ran out of those stupid ideas, have you...?”

Skrawl bared his teeth at this. “You wish...”

“Oh now...?” Rudy turned his head down a little, letting out a quick laugh before he looked up at him. His eyes faced upward, focusing on the jellybean that stood before it. “If you are out of ideas...then why are you backing up like a coward?” He raised his arms at his sides, turning partially to the side as he looked at Skrawl with a tilted head. “You are not up to your usual standard. I would have thought you’d do better than this. Even Biclops put up more of a fight than you are. Even they are.” He motioned to where Snap and Howdy were still fighting.

“Yeah yeah...well I suppose they are, aren’t they?” Skrawl commented as he watched the two smaller zoners continue to try to take on Penny. It was hard to say at this point in time which side was going to win. But it was apparent that, whoever it was going to be, the victory wouldn’t be for a while. He turned his head and looked at Rudy with one eye. “I guess we should get back to our fight, correct?”

“Hmm...I don’t know... I have no idea if you are even worth it.” Rudy commented. He closed his eyes and lowered his head slightly. “I had hoped for a better opponent. But you are just a sad sack. A pathetic loser who is so desperate in trying to prove his worth that he ultimately amounts to nothing. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother trying with you.”

At this, Skrawl could feel his blood start to boil. He clutched his fist tightly, shaking it. He glared at Rudy, feeling his vision around him turning redder than normal. How dare he say such a thing... Did he have any idea who he was speaking with? Who he was dissing? Oh how he was going to make him pay for such insolence. He...

Wait, that might be just what he wanted. For him to lose his control over his emotion and try to attack without planning, exposing him to another move. No, he would need to be more clever about this. Gritting his teeth, he took another step back. He curled his claws together, feeling them press against his palm. He all but forgot about the whip in his possession. All that he was aware of was Rudy before him, and his struggle to keep himself from attacking too quickly.

Rudy turned his back to him and took a few steps away from him. He stared out ahead, staring at nothingness. Or did he have his eyes closed? It was difficult to say. Not that it mattered to Skrawl. The moment that boy turned his back to him, he started to formulate a plan inside his head.

“I see I really have wasted my time with you... No matter. I can rectify that...” Rudy turned and appeared to be watching Snap and Howdy’s continuing struggle against his ‘partner in crime’, as it were. His body shook a little, as though he were amused by this. “Yes, I will show mercy on you. We will not allow you to suffer the way these two will.” His hand raised up and though Skrawl could not see it, he certain that he was making some kind of dramatic gesture. “You might even thank me if...”

Skrawl took this chance to move towards the boy. He would have rushed over quicker, but he could not allow his noisy feet to give him away. He knew this could be seen as a cowardly move, but he did not care. This was his moment to strike. This fool turned his back on him, and he was going to regret it. He raised up his hand, fully ready to strike him down as soon as he got close enough. His mouth ticked into a half smile. Yes...this was it...

Skrawl widened his eyes when Rudy suddenly spun around and struck him against his stomach. His eyes bulged and he grabbed onto his belly. He hissed and flinched at the sudden attaack. He opened up one eye and saw that Rudy held a large boxing glove, the ends topped with diamond plates. So that’s what he was doing before.

“Oh how foolish... You really thought you could best me? Did you think I was stupid?” Rudy took a few steps towards the shivering jellybean, his think arm still clutched against his stomach. Rudy stopped directly in front of him, shaking his head from side to side. “How pathetic. Even when you are given a chance...you still screw up.” He sighed as he looked at his boxing glove. He stared intently at the diamond edges. “And to think, I actually considered you a big enough threat to give you special attention...”

Skrawl hissed deeply through his clenched teeth. Again with the dismissal attitude... He couldn’t try to move just yet, however. The shockwave of pain in his belly hadn’t yet ceased. If he tried to do anything right now, he would only end up irritating his injuries further. He merely kept quiet as he glared up at Rudy, his body shaking a little from the pain that still dominated him.

“Well, might as well get this over with.” Rudy stared down at him, his eyes narrowed deeply. “You want to say anything? Eh, probably not. I imagine you will have nothing interesting to say in your final moments.” Rudy tossed aside the glove he used to strike him before and then whipped out the red chalk. “Let me draw something more...appropriate for this occassion.”

Skrawl watched as Rudy began to draw something. He soon took note of something. Rudy’s eyes were focused entirely on the red chalk...and not on him... Narrowing his eyes, Skrawl took this opportunity to take action.

Ignoring the pain inside of him the best that he could, he lurched himself forward, moving faster than even Rudy seemed to think was possible. He reached forward with his hand, pulling it to the side a little before striking it down upon him. His claws made contact with the boy’s palm, causing him to yelp and clutch his hand as the chalk was tossed from him and rolled across the ground. Skrawl took in a few quick breaths before he jumped out of the way in time, narrowly avoiding getting struck by a jolt of lightning.

Rudy might be disarmed, but he was still a threat. That darn chalk and its ability to use electricity.... Once he had admired this trait. But now it was just going to be problematic for him. He would need to take care of this as soon as possible. Gritting his teeth tightly, Skrawl rushed forward towards the boy. His body limped as he went, and he found it difficult to keep moving from side to side. It was a miracle he could dodge at all.

But it was working. He was getting closer and closer. Rudy could not keep attacking him like this. He continued to try, of course. But it was clear that his momentary startlement with Skrawl being able to attack at all was still getting to him. Skrawl took full advantage of this as he continued to charge forward, grinning maniacally as he prepared for another strike.

Rudy formed a fist and struck outward, but Skrawl managed to move around it completely. He hissed as he felt it graze against his body. But that did not stop him for too long and he just continued on his way, pounding his feet as he rapidly closed the gap between them.

Suddenly, electricity struck him, waving through rapidly, moving up and down. Skrawl paused at this, letting out a cry of pain. He could feel the electrictiy rushing through him, burning his insides. He could feel his vision start to waver a little, becoming blurry. Despite that, however, he still pushed himself forward and continued his charge, albeit shakingly. Rudy hissed at this, gritting his teeth and increasing the voltage. This did not stop Skrawl from getting up to him and, raising his hand up once more, slashed across him.

Rudy let out a loud scream of pain as blood splattered everywhere. Skrawl watched as the red gashes on his arms formed, his claws having ripped up the flesh with ease. The boy staggered back from the blow, holding his arms to himself tightly. He looked down at his injured limbs for a few seconds before staring at Skrawl. Even with this attack, the boy still did show any fear towards him. Nothing more than just shock.

Not that Skrawl was surprised. This guy was quite arrogant. But it didn’t really matter now, did it? At least he landed a blow against him, and there was no way Rudy would be able to unleash another attack against him. Not while he couldn’t even lift up his arms. The jellybean smirked at this. Now all he had to do was...

His eyes bulged when he saw that Rudy was lifting up his head towards him, his mouth opening up. He could see the sparks of electricity inside his mouth, threatening to shoot out and strike him. Skrawl took in a few shaky breaths and stepped back. He tensed himself up, preparing for the blow.

Without warning, he felt something solid slam against him. He cried out in pain as he smashed against the ground not far away. He shook his head and he lifted up his head. He looked over and his eyes widened in shock.

“Thoughtless?!”

Skrawl stared at the memotrice as it stood there, wings outstretched, its brown eyes glinting in the light. So many thoughts raced through the jellybean’s head. The most prominent one was why Thoughtless waited until now to take action. Well, at least it was here now. Skrawl had never been so happy to see his former partner.

“Well you chose a perfect time to show up.” Skrawl commented. “But now that you’re here, you..”

Thoughtless immediately whirled around to face him, its wings making a quick flap or two while it stared him down. Skrawl’s body tensed up and he took a step back. He stared down at the memotrice with wide eyes and a shocked expression. What was it doing?

Oh no...it couldn’t be...

Skrawl bared his teeth at the memotrice. “You...traitor!”

sss

“You...traitor!”

Thoughtless swiveled its head and stared over at Skrawl. It let out an amused chuckle. <Did you really think I came back to help you?>

Skrawl bared his teeth at him, his body trembling in emotion. Despite the fact that they broke off partnership over a month ago, this jellybean still found offense in the memotrice’s actions. And this was a source of amusement for it. Did Skrawl really think that it would come crawling back to him after what he did? How pathetic...

Thoughtless didn’t waste much time on Skrawl. Not like that jellybean was going to get up anytime soon. Not with how hard his body was shaking. So it turned its attention to Rudy, or Rory as the red chalk called itself. It softened its expression only slightly before it took a few steps towards the red chalk-dominated boy. It stopped only when the boy gave out a low warning hiss in its direction.

<Calm yourself. I only wanted to know if you were all right.> Thoughtless stated.

“J-Just get away from me...” The boy growled, clutching his shaking arms to himself. The blood continued to seek down his arms, staining them red. “S-Stay away, you chalk freak!”

<Says the one who is pretty much just a chalky stick.> Retorted Thoughtless. <But if you want me to leave you alone and would rather not acknowledge that I am trying to help your ass, then go ahead.> Thoughtless slowly turned its head back to Skrawl. <I don’t need your approval to help you.>

Thoughtless didn’t bother listening to or checking out what the boy’s response to that comment was. It just focused its full attention on Skrawl, who had by now gotten back up to his feet. The jellybean staggered forward a little, struggling to keep himself from falling down. Thoughtless was a little amused by this and wondered if Skrawl had any inkling of what he was getting himself into, or if he was just pushing aside his pain in favor of the anger he was sure feeling. It couldn’t help but smile at this. This outta be fun.

Skrawl narrowed his eyes into slits. An intimidating gesture...if it had come from someone who was actually a threat. It had very little to fear from Skrawl in this state. The injured zoner moved forward slowly, clutching his side tightly. He breathed in and out quickly as though struggling to over come his pain. Yes, it seemed that all the attacks delivered to Skrawl were finally coming to a head. It was just so amusing how Skrawl continued to come forth, even when faced with these difficulties. Oh how disappointing it is that it would need to get rid of him.

Thoughtless didn’t attempt to say or do anything yet. It decided to give Skrawl a little bit of a sporting chance. It would enjoy playing with him a little while before making the final blow. It would be so satisfying to do this after what that jellybean had done to it. It struggled to keep its heated blood under control as it gritted its teeth at the memory. It managed to shake it off before assuming a semi-friendly smile.

<It is a shame it had to be this way. You could have made a fine partner if you just rolled over and did as you were told.> Thoughtless tilted its head to one side, its smile turning down as a small frown appeared. <Yet you continue trying to do things your way instead of letting another take the reigns... Did you really think that you are the only one who can think?>

“I’m the only one who can come up with a brilliant plan...” Skrawl hissed.

Thoughtless struggled not to laugh. That puny remark was just Skrawl’s pathetic attempt to respond; it had almost nothing to back it up. <And I suppose you are thinking of a ‘brilliant’ plan now? What do you say? You going to share with me what you plan on doing? Or are you just going to lay there like the vermin that you are?>

“How dare you...” Skrawl said in a low, growly voice. “After what I’ve done for you...”

Thoughtless blinked at this. <You mean, to me.> It tilted its head to the other side. <Are you really going to try to ‘lighten up’ what you did to me, by pretending like you did me a favor by letting me out?>

“You’d be nothing without me!” Skrawl slammed his fist against the ground. “I freed you! You should be grateful to me! You were the one who betrayed me! The one who saved you! I...”

<Yet I did not need to be saved.>

Skrawl paused at this. His eyes widened, but still had a glaring look to them.

Thoughtless continued, <Yeah, you heard me. I did not need your help. I could have gotten out at any time. I only agreed to work with you because I thought I could...benefit from you.>

“That’s not true! You were trapped! I saw you!”

<Did you forget that those stupid helmets did nothing to stop me? I was only playing with them. You know that. I was just waiting for the right time to get out. Play up the drama and all. I did not expect you to show up. Trust me, Skrawl. I never needed you. But it seems that you needed me...>

Skrawl’s body shook in anger. “I don’t need anyone!”

<Then why do you hang around the Beanie Boys...?> This question caused Skrawl to freeze. Thoughtless smirked as it seemed to have struck a chord with the jellybean. <I almost never see you without them. Why is that? If you are so big and mighty...why don’t you just ditch those losers and go on your own? Or is it because you are so weak that you need a couple of idiotic minions to do your dirty work for you? Are you, Skrawl, actually...dare I say...powerless?>

No sooner did it say this did Skrawl let out a yell and start charging towards it. Thoughtless jumped back a little, startled for a brief second. Then it settled itself down and watch the pitiful jellybean come over to try to attack it. Skrawl was limping a little, staggering, wobbling to the side. But nonetheless, he was still coming towards it at a pretty impressive speed for his wounds.

Skrawl attempted to strike out at the memotrice. But Thoughtless was too quick for him. Tightening the muscles in its legs, it pushed itself to the side, dodging the attack with ease. Skrawl’s pained stumbling made it easy for it to swing itself around and then strike him with its tail. Skrawl grunted at this before pulling his foot back and kicking at it. Once more, Thoughtless dodged him, and soon perched on one of the raised rock formations, giving Skrawl a twisted smirk.

<Oh come now... You can try better than that, can you?> Thoughtless sneered at him. <Or am I right and I didn’t have much expectation from you?>

“You ignorant little slime ball! I should have killed you when I had the chance!”

<Then go ahead and try, big boy.> Thoughtless taunted the jellybean. <Or are you caught up in your little world to...>

It moved its head to the side when Skrawl struck down towards it. His claws nearly grazed its skin. Thoughtless jumped back away, spreading its wings out in the process. It swished its tail from side to side, its hardened narrowed eyes focused on the jellybean. Well that was rude... Oh well, not that it would expect less from Skrawl. Well if Skrawl wanted to resume the fight, then so be it.

Thoughtless, gritting its beak, charged forward quickly. Skrawl widened his eyes and then attempted to fight back. Again and again he struck forth with his hand, trying to rip up his flesh. Thoughtless merely danced around him, racing around Skrawl in a circle. It occassionally snapped at Skrawl, its beak slamming shut near Skrawl’s hand. Thoughtless managed to keep this up, although it soon slipped, allowing Skrawl to back hand it, causing it to slide away. Thoughtless shook its head and glared at Skrawl.

Thoughtless watched as the enraged jellybean let out another yell and tried to attack it once more. The pitiful littlefool... He had no idea just what he was getting himself into. Not that Thoughtless was at all surprised by this. Nothing Skrawl did surprised it anymore.

As Skrawl jumped at it, his hands opened up and trying to slash it, Thoughtless ducked underneath and charged forward. It could feel a whoosh of air as Skrawl sailed over its body, crashing into the ground behind it. Thoughtless then whirled itself around and took this chance to charge towards Skrawl. Tightening the muscles in its legs, it jumped forward and it clamped its sharp beak around Skrawl’s leg. This caused the jellybean to cry out in pain. Skrawl struggled to make Thoughtless let go, but the memotrice only twisted its grip, ripping up part of the jellybean’s leg flesh, making Skrawl scream once more.

Thoughtless could not hang on for too long, however, as Skrawl did manage to free his leg. The blow from his leg caused Thoughtless to sprawl across the ground painfully. It gave a few coughs before it shook itself and stood back up. Thoughtless glared back at Skrawl before charging again.

sss

Skrawl finally managed to get back to his feet after that last attack. He shook himself off and turned to glare in the direction Thoughtless had went. He narrowed his eyes deeply, letting out a low growl.

He watched as Thoughtless faced off against Howdy and Snap. If he wasn’t so furious with the zoner, he would take notice of how impressive this fight was. The memotrice was dancing around them, baiting them, and getting in attacks before they had a chance to make a move against it. It was quite something to watch. It was especially humorous with how Snap and Howdy tried to fight back, only for their efforts to be easily trampled over like they were nothing.

But he could not spend too much time enjoying this. He had his own needs in mind. He didn’t care how impressive this fight was. The only thing that he cared about was getting his revenge on Thoughtless. The fact that had swooped in, pretending to be an ally at first, only to swiftly turn on it... that was just desplorable. Unforgiveable... He was not going to stand for it.

As Thoughtless had its teeth in Snap’s body and was shaking them, as it had Howdy pinned down by one of its feet, its talons pressing into his flesh, Skrawl took this chance to attack. Thoughtless was not looking, nor would it expect an attack. Curling his claws against his palm, tensing up every muscle he could think of in his body, Skrawl let out a small growl before he erupted into a charge.

However, his progress was a bit slow. His past injuries were slowing him down. He moved as quickly as he could. But, even with fuel from his anger, it was going to take him a little while before he had a chance to get over there. It didn’t seem like Thoughtless was going to turn around at any point, however, so he had a chance to get over there before that stupid memotrice realized that he was coming.

As he made his way over, he took notice of what Thoughtless was doing with Snap and Howdy at this point. It was slamming them into the ground with its tail. Skrawl thought he heard some cracks, but he could not tell if this was because of damaged bones or if it was due to the ground itself. Either way, the force of the impact had caused the two zoners to fall unconscious, unable to take the pain any longer. With them limp in its tail, Thoughtless squeezed them tightly before it slammed them into the ground as hard as it could.

Even after that beating, the two somehow were still alive. He could tell this from their ragged, shallow breathing. Thoughtless approached them slowly, deliberately. Its brown eyes were narrowed into slits, determination radiating off of its body. It took a glance over at Penny as though to make sure she was all right, and then at Rudy, before it turned its attention back to the two zoners on the ground. It quickened its pace and soon it stood right over them, its feet on either side of their fallen bodies.

Thoughtless placed its foot down on one of their small bodies, holding them down in place. It then raised up its foot, its claws flexing, glinting in the light. Using its tail to help itself balance, it lowered its other foot towards Howdy, the one that it had pinned down. It gripped onto his head tightly. Skrawl was confused at first, but then it saw the zoner’s leg tighten and its foot starting to turn one way.

It was breaking Howdy’s neck.

Seconds later, a loud crack filled the air as Thoughtless managed to twist Howdy’s head beyond its point. His body gave a quick jerk and then fell limp entirely. The sight of it was enough to give Skrawl pause, but he soon continued over. As Thoughtless was about to do the same to Snap, Skrawl had gotten close enough to attack.

Launching his tension filled body into the air, Skrawl rammed against Thoughtless. The startled memotrice let out a loud, shocked squawk as the two of them rammed into the ground painfully. They wrestled and rolled across the ground until Skrawl managed to pin the bird-like zoner down.

He immediately took a hold of its neck. He grabbed onto it, pressing his claws against it. Thoughtless opened its mouth to try to breathe better, causing Skrawl to squeeze a little harder. He glared down at the zoner, his teeth clenched tightly, his eyes practically glowing with anger. Thoughtless kicked its legs out from underneath him, as if it were trying to make him let go. But Skrawl refused, keeping his grip on Thoughtless was he unleashed all his fury into trying to strangle it to death.

“You miserable piece of shit! I’m going to rip off your head and use it as a basketball!” Skrawl shouted as he tightened his grip. He could feel Thoughtless struggle underneath him, a sensation that was both irritating and wonderful at the same time. “I’ll make sure you never walk again!”

Thoughtless managed to slash across Skrawl’s face. This caused the jellybean to scream and loosen his grip. This allowed Thoughtless to slip out from underneath him and jump back. Skrawl didn’t have time to grab onto it. The little monster managed to get out of his grip and land a few feet away, its tail swishing from side to side rapidly. The two of them stared down for several moments before it started to say anything.

<And what, pray tell, did I do to deserve your wrath?> It stated as it panted heavily to catch its breath.

Skrawl growled at this, forming a fist with his hand. “You know full well what you did! You used me, you piece of shit! Then you have the gall to try trick me again and then try to get the red chalk on your side! You made your final mistake, you little...”

Thoughtless threw its head back and let out a few laughing clucks. Hearing it so suddenly caused Skrawl to give pause, his eyes narrowing slowly into slits. Just what did this little idiot think was just so darn funny? What did it hope it could accomplish? It couldn’t do anything against him. Even its powers were useless; he had been able to resist them the last time that it tried to use it on him. And he was larger than the puny creature. A fight would not last long between them before he would quickly win. What chance did it stand against him?

And yet here it was, standing there all arrogant and smirking, as if it had some kind of fool proof plan. Skrawl knew that it had no such thing, and that it was just trying to trick him, making him think that it had some kind of big plan going on. The arrogant little creature... Skrawl held out his hands and flexed his claws. If only he could use his powers again, he would electrocute this mutated turkey.

<You’re angry with me? You are blaming me for all of this?> Thoughtless placed its hand against itself, an eerily calm smile on its face. Something about it unnerved the jellybean and he took a small step back. <You think that you have a right to be angry?> Without warning, the memotrice gritted its beak and its feathers fluffed up in anger. <What about you?! Look at what you have done! You have ripped apart what I intended to be a better future! You are the sick, twisted one! It is you who must pay for his misdeeds!>

“Like you’re one to talk.” Skrawl rolled his eyes. “You just want a chance to kill whatever zoners you’d like in your sick little game.”

<Don’t be such a hypocrite, Skrawl! What you’re doing is much worse!>

Although Skrawl did realize the hypocrisy of his statement, like hell he was going to admit to it. He simply continued to frown at the smaller zoner before him, curling his lip up into a snarl. “That’s different...”

Thoughtless swished its tail from side to side. <Oh really now? Just how would you think so?> It tilted its beaked head to one side. <Not like you can come up with an answer, can you, punk? Just like you to say such things without backing them up...> Thoughtless pressed its talons into the ground. <You twisted my ideals and I am not going to let you get away with it any longer!>

Skrawl tried his best not to scoff. He didn’t know exactly what Thoughtless thought it was going to do. Use its powers? Did it forget that he could fight back now? Try to fight him? He would eventually overwhelm it physically. It might stand a chance for a while, but no matter how hard this thing tried to fight him, it would end in failure. The thought of it thinking that it stood any kind of chance was quite amusing.

Thoughtless slowly arched its head back. There was a slight change in its expression that Skrawl just barely noticed. <I think it’s time I...did something about that. I will make sure that you will not longer be in a state to resist me.>

Skrawl hissed softly. “Oh what are you going to do? Try to break my leg? Go ahead and try you, punk!”

Thoughtless shook its head. <I was thinking of something more...mental.>

It took a second for Skrawl to fully realize what Thoughtless had said. For a few seconds, he froze in shock, his eyes widening. Though Thoughtless did not elaborate after that, already flashes appeared in the back of his mind as he imagined all kinds of things for what this thing could do to him. And none of them were pleasant.

But he did not allow himself to show fear. No, he could not allow this zoner to frighten him. He just brandished his claws, allowing this zoner to get a nice, long look at them. If this zoner was going to try anything against him, it was going to take a lot more than a mere threat to get to him. It would take more than its puny attempts to attack him to finally make him crack. Thoughtless would not gain the better of him. He would see to that.

Before Skrawl could think to react, however, Thoughtless had charged towards him. Its feet pounded the ground heavily. Skrawl thought he could hear some scraping as well, but he couldn’t tell what it was. At the moment, he didn’t really care about it, either. He focused on trying to get back away from the zoner, attempting to dodge. However, Thoughtless was quite fast, and he could feel it ram against him. The force of the impact was enough to push him against the ground, forcing a grunt to escape his lips.

<It is a shame it had to end this way, Skrawl.> Thoughtless’s mental voice was still that same level of calm, despite the irritation Skrawl knew it had for him. <But it is apparent that this never would have worked out. We are simply not meant to be.> It lowered its head slightly. <And something must be done about that.>

“You going to try to alter my memories again?” Skrawl hissed softly. “You know what will never work!”

Thoughtless shook its head. <No...I am thinking of something more...> It gave a dramatic pause. There was a frightful glint in its eye that caused Skrawl to freeze. He could feel his blood nearly stop flowering upon seeing that expression. It finished its thought in a growly mental voice. <...permanent...>

A sharp pang swept through the jellybean’s chest when he saw Thoughtless raise up what was making the scraping sound before: a large piece of sharp rock, possibly a stalagmite. It raised it over his head. Skrawl tried to scramble to attack, but Thoughtless struck down. His world exploded in powerful pain.

Chapter 79:




What the...? How in the world did this happen? Jacko was certain that he had told the banshee to wait. He thought that the banshee would have stayed behind and waited for his command. And yet here it was, standing there, wielding its long, sharp claws, the skeletal horse rearing up onto its hind legs and letting out a loud neighing sound.

Jacko didn’t know who or why this happened. He didn’t understand how the banshee could have realized that he needed help. Did it hear his screams? Did it just sense something was up? Was it instinct? Either way, a part of Jacko was glad to see it. But on the other...

“What are you doing here?!” Jacko called out. He struggled up to his feet, straining to keep himself from falling down. He soon managed to stand up completely, although it was quite difficult keeping himself from falling down. He had to hold his arms out and keep himself pressed up against the wall. He didn’t quite remember how he had fallen a few moments ago, but he was pretty keen on preventing it from happening a second time.

He focused on the banshee, keeping his eyes on it, watching its movements. It hadn’t done much outside of ramming through the wall like that. He could see the blue tinged zoner facing its head towards Thoughtless and the two children. Its misaligned jaw was opened partially to expose its teeth, glinting in what light there was. A low growl eminated from its mouth before it let out a loud shriek, the same one that the first banshee did when he ordered it to go after Rudy.

And just like that, the banshee was off. Before Skrawl could even process what was going on, the banshee made a dash towards Thoughtless. At first, all Jacko could do was stare. But a moment later, he felt a rush of horror, and he immediately shook his head.

“Wait, stop! Don’t!”

But his cries fell on deaf ears. The banshee ignored him completely, focusing all its attention and time on Thoughtless. Jacko could do nothing to stop it. He just cringed, pulling his hands up and gripping his tall hat down tightly. He watched in nervousness as the banshee drew ever closer to the one zoner that could alter its memories, change its mind that it once had, turn it into something it was never meant to be.

To his surprise, Thoughtless didn’t even try. He wasn’t sure if this was because Thoughtless didn’t know what it was going to do, or if it was unable to for whatever reason. Whatever the reason, it did fill him with a sense of relief. He was glad that Thoughtless wasn’t getting a chance to harm his banshee. But he knew that his banshee was not out of the woods yet. If the others decided to attack as well...

So far, Rudy and Penny hadn’t even started to make a move yet. Jacko wondered if the banshee’s surprise had shocked them as well, freezing them on the spot. It certainly seemed that way. The red chalk apparently didn’t expect to see a skeletal zoner holding a monstrous zoner on its back bursting through the walls like that. Their startled state wouldn’t last too long, however, and Jacko hoped that it would get a move on and fast, before those two got wise and tried to do something.

A few seconds later, Thoughtless’s loud squawk filled the air, catching his attention. He turned his head just in time to see the banshee having rammed into the memotrice before it had a chance to make a move. The skeletal horse had grabbed onto it by its sharp teeth and swung it around a little before releasing it. Thoughtless’s feathered body rammed into the ground a few feet away, dust kicking up into the air.

Slowly, the memotrice did attempt to get back up. But it was not fast enough to stop the banshee from attacking it a second time. Before Thoughtless had time to even react, the banshee had raised its hand up and struck down hard, slicing its claws deep into the zoner’s side, tearing up another gash for it to match the one he gave it. He honestly didn’t know which one looked worse. What he did know is that it still caused the memotrice a lot of pain and its body ended up rolling across the ground and it soon landed on its back, wings spread out.

Rudy and Penny had finally tried to take action. Penny raised up her hand, preparing to shoot electricity, while Rudy raised up his red chalk in hopes to try to draw something. The banshee took notice of this, but it showed no fear towards them. Jacko honestly wasn’t really sure whether to be impressed by this lack of fear, or horrified.

Either way, he could not stop the banshee from attacking them. He did try to, reaching his hand out and trying to call it off, trying to get it to flee, but he was too late. The zoner immediately dashed down towards the two children, the loud clopping filling the air. The banshee waved its hand back and forth, brandishing its sharp claws at them. The two children showed no fear themselves, and just gritted their teeth as they prepared to attack. All Jacko could do was watch, waiting in tense silence just what the outcome was going to be.

The first clang that ran through the air caused his body to stiffen up and he took a step back. At first, he thought that his banshee had been struck, especially since he heard that loud scream eminate from its mouth. A few seconds later, he realized that it was not the banshee who was actually hurt; it was Rudy. Its claws had made their mark against him, slashing across his chest and knocking him against Penny. The two fell into the ground painfully, Rudy’s red chalk rolling from his hand from the force of the impact.

The banshee’s horse then lowered its head and rammed into them, sending them flying backwards, hitting the ground painfully not far away. Jacko winced when he heard a few cracks. It didn’t seem like any leg bones were broken, but there was a good chance that the two had just lost a couple of their ribs. Not as lethal, but still so quite painful.

They remained on the ground for a few moments, shivering in pain. They didn’t stay on the ground too long, however, and they did began to climb back up. As they did so, Jacko could see the burning expression in their eyes. The way that they glowed bright red... He knew that some shit was about to go down, and if he didn’t get in there and get his banshee away, things were about to get a whole lot worse.

Thankfully, he didn’t even need to do anything. The banshee, either sensing that it was in trouble or having planned to stop there anyway, did in fact turn to run. Well almost. It did run around Thoughtless once more and kicked it into the children to offer a little more time. But other than that, it still turned away from them and rushed right back towards him. There was no fear in its eyes, as if it did not have any regret in what it just did. Jacko wanted to scold it so badly...but right now, just getting out of here was way more important.

As soon as the banshee had gotten close enough, Jacko grabbed onto its arm. He felt himself being lifted up into the air and placed on the skeletal horse’s back. He wrapped his arms tightly around the banshee and raised his hand to give the command to flee...

...until he remembered the others.

He turned his head and looked at the other zoners here. The ones that were injured, laying on the ground, in need of help. Two of them, presently allies, and the other...an enemy... Jacko narrowed his eyes as he stared at them. What should he do with them?

On the one hand, he didn’t have as much of an aversion to helping Snap and Howdy. They were in dire need of help, their wounds more than likely getting infected as he thought about this. Howdy especially needed help, and if something wasn’t done, he might very well die, if he wasn’t already dying. Snap’s injuries weren’t as bad, but he knew that didn’t mean much of he got a bad infection and died. And he didn’t care to lose too many more allies if he could help it.

Skrawl, on the other hand, he had mixed feelings about. He still wasn’t entirely certain if he was going to help him or not. It would be so satisfying to just leave him behind in that state, leave him to whatever fate decided to bring him. Good riddance he’d say. But at the same time, what if Skrawl made for a good ally? He might still be useful, after all. The idea may sound grim, but, provided Skrawl remained this way long enough, what if they could use him somehow, like as bait? Yeah, that could work. Why not?

Then there was Alpha who....

He took a moment to look around. All of a sudden, he realized that Alpha was not here. What the fuck...? Where did that little fucker go? He thought he was here just a few moments ago. What had happened to him? Did he sneak off before all this happen? Did he somehow plan all of this? The thought irritated him greatly.

But there was nothing that he could do about it now. Best to just push himself forward and get this taken care of first. While he had a chance to grab the others and a chance to get away, he might as well take it. Without thinking, he gave the order to the banshee to grab the others so they could get out of here.

sss

Thoughtless let out a low hiss, gritting its teeth. Of all the rotten luck... Of course something else just had to go wrong, didn’t it? Something else just had to fall out of its favor. That seemed to be the story of its life, wasn’t it? Just a constant string of failures...

So perhaps it shouldn’t be all that surprised that Jacko managed to get away. Perhaps it shouldn’t be all that alarmed with how Jacko somehow managed to trick them all, biding time for the banshee to come along and attack them before they had a chance to form a proper attack response. The banshee was so wild, so untamed, their usual methods of dealing with zoners did not work. They could not simply plan; they could only react, and the banshee was just made of reactions. The way it had managed to knock them around like that... it was as impressive as it was infuriating.

And now, because of that stupid banshee, they had escaped. They had gotten away from them, runing outside, making a clean getaway. They could try to go after them. They could get up and run. And yet, for some reason, they all still remained here. And it was not difficult to see why.

The pain that wracked through their bodies kept them still for several moments. The banshee’s attacks had been quite brutal, despite the fact that they were rather brief. The banshee was quite precise in its attacks, quick and yet calculating. More so than it would have thought possile for something like that. Maybe the banshee was a little smarter than it was giving it credit for...or it could just be really lucky. It was betting the latter.

Thoughtless swished its tail from side to side in irritation. It had even lost Skrawl. It had no idea why Jacko would take him. Not unless Jacko wanted him dead too...but then why even keep him alive at all? Jacko could have easily just killed the jellybean and leave. What was the point in keeping him alive?

Jacko was up to something. It just knew that he was. It wasn’t entirely sure yet, however. And it might take a while before it could fully understand. But sooner or later, it was going to figure out what that something was. And then it was going to...

“Well...hello there...”

Thoughtless froze at that voice. It whipped its head around and it could see the two children now approaching it. Thoughtless felt something cold inside of its body as it remained still and quiet, watching as the children drew closer. It didn’t try to say anything, not wanting to upset the red chalk in any manner.

The two children had neutral expressions on their faces. This didn’t mean they weren’t feeling anything. But it did make it harder to gauge what emotion was running through their minds at the moment. Were they particularly angry about what had happened? Or were they simply curious about something? It wished it had a beteter idea so it knew how to respond. In the meantime, all it could do was just remain silent, gritting its teeth tightly. It hoped that their intentions would be made clear soon enough; this was unnerving it.

Thoughtless watched in silence as the zoners continued to approach it, slowly, steadily. It kept its body tense, uncertain of what to expect. It mentally prepared itself to run just in case either of them made a move against it. Even if there was a chance that they wouldn’t...it needed to remember that there was always a chance that they would.

After what felt like forever, Rudy had finally decided to speak.

“We are not happy with you.”

Thoughtless felt its body give a quick shake. It tried its best not to say anything too loudly or quickly. Just a soft, <What do you mean?>

“We mean...if it weren’t for your interference, we might have had this in the bag. Everything was going fine before you showed up.” Rudy’s scolding voice said.

Thoughtless couldn’t help but smirk bitterly a little. <Yeah, you were doing real fine when Skrawl was kicking your ass...> It realized too late what it said. It widened its eyes and took a small step back. <I...>

Rudy raised up his hand, silencing it. “Oh, we understand. Do not worry. We understand where you are coming from. And we can see your point.”

<You do?>

Rudy nodded his head quickly. “Sure. We might not fully agree, but there are some things that do make sense. Maybe we were getting a little cocky and that allowed for Skrawl to gain an upperhand. Maybe we should have thought more carefully. Maybe we should have considered things a little more.” He folded his arms behind his back, straightening himself up. “It is a shame that it took us a while to figure all of this out. But well..here we are.”

<...so...what are you going to do...?> Thoughtless asked, slighlty hesitant. It didn’t want to sound too damanding. It didn’t want them believing that it was trying to trick them into helping it or anything. This had to be done carefully. <What would be your plan?>

Rudy and Penny stared at one another for a few moments. It took notice of how they gave a nod to one another. The expression that they were giving to each other, something was up. There was a silent agreement among them, a silent statement, and this caused it to feel a sensation move through its body. Slight fear... What if they were planning on doing something with it? Or to it?

But so far, the two hadn’t tried to harm it. Perhaps this wasn’t going to be so bad? Perhaps they were genuinely interested in some kidn of partnership? It didn’t seem all that likely. It did seem like it was just pushing its luck. But in the end, that did seem to be the case when both Rudy and Penny began to smile at it. Genuine smiles, or at least as genuine as the red chalk could muster. Or were they genuine? Thoughtless decided to remain tense, just in case this isn’t what it was paving itself out to be.

“First...tell us why you want to ally with us.” Rudy stated. His voice was clear and slow, but still expressing genuine interest.

Thoughtless blinked for a few moments. For some reason, it hadn’t really expected this kind of question. At least not this fast. The memotrice cleared its throat and replied immediately. <I understand what you are going through. It is not easy being separated from the rest simpl for being who you are. I know that falling.> It placed a wing against its chest. <I hate the idea of cages and being locked up. That has happened to me. And I know you are all children locked in this world, unable to lave. But as much as I wish I could help restore you, I cannot.>

It shook its head slowly. It made itself look quite sad and miserable. Enough to strike a cord with the red chalk here, trying to win it over. It needed to keep this as convincing as possible...although admittingly, some of the feeling was quite genuine.

It really was disgusted, even if it didn’t admit it to itself earlier, about the children being locked up in the red chalk.

<Instead of the freedom I know you desire, I can offer you the next best thing.> Thoughtless raised its wings out at its sides. <Control. I can help you gain back control of this world. If you cannot leave, surely you deserve some control here, don’t you?>

Rudy and Penny clearly looked interested by this. Despite frowning, he could see a glint in their eyes. Oh yes, it had managed to seal the deal. Or at least, the beginnings of it. There was still much more talking that needed to be done first. But so far, things were going quite well.

Rudy took a small step forward, holding his hand up in gesture. “And why would you help us gain control of your world? Wouldn’t you try to fight back?”

Thoughtless shook its head. <I feel you deserve it. I did mean that. And besides...> It tilted its head to one side. <The zoners around here needed to be taken care of on some level, don’t you think? A bit of population control is in order.> It raised its head back, forming an S shape. <Real population control. Nothing like that pitiful Skrawl was doing. And unlike him, I will not use you. This is not just for me, but it’s also for you, as well.> It lowered its head slightly. <I wish for us to become allies.>

There, it said it. It said what it needed to. Now all it can do was wait, and see if it managed to seal the deal or not. Would Rudy and Penny, or rather the red chalk, accept its offer? Would the red chalk believe its words and agree to let it join them, or would they just laugh it off and try to kill it? Only one way to find out.

The silence that followed was quite unbearable and it gritted its teeth at it. It swished its tail in irritation, trying its best not to say anything. It kept quite, giving enough freedom of response to these two as it could. It looked like they needed a little bit of time to figure out if they wanted to trust it or not. As much as it would understand if they had a difficult time believing it, at the same time, it really did hope that they took its offer seriously. They really could benefit from a partnership with one another.

Right now, all it could do was wait for that fateful answer. The one that just might change...everything...

sss

Rapsheeba tried her best to ignore the hushed whispers and agitated statements from the night zoners all around her. She tried to ignore the comments that they made, all the worries and all the anger. She tried to set aside the emotional tension that had risen up all around her. The air was so thick, she could barely breathe, let alone speak any kind of words. Not that she’d have any words for this kind of situation, however. What could she say to these guys?

She was still unwelcome here. The night zoners had made it clear that they’d never accept her..or her friends. They were only allowed here because Jacko had made them. If it hadn’t been for him, she and Blocky would have been ripped apart by now. She could see it in their eyes. They didn’t like the fact that she was here. They would have loved to do something about her, make sure that she and Blocky were made into ‘examples’ for all day zoners to see.

But fortunately for her..but also unfortunately, that wasn’t who they were focused on anymore right now. Instead, their full attention was on something else. Something that Rapsheeba herself hadn’t expected. And it didn’t seem any of the night zoners believed this would happen, either.

They didn’t expect Jacko back so fast. They didn’t think that pumpkin zoner would have arrived so suddenly. When he had first landed, there was a loud thud that frightened so many in here, and they honestly thought they were going to be attacked. When Jacko had managed to get in, it was a relief, but also so confusing as well. They didn’t know how or why he had come in through the ceiling...until they saw the banshee. Well that would explain a bit of that, now wouldn’t it? Still confusing, however. Like, why did they come through the ceiling instead of one of the tunnels?

There was a sudden fear that they had been followed. The night zoners scrambled around, preparing to fight something that might be approaching. It was so bad, it actually took several attempts from Jacko to assure them that no one had followed him; it was just him, the banshee, and the others. This seemed to be good enough to calm them down...

...until they saw Skrawl...

The moment that Skrawl was plopped onto the ground, there was an immediate recoil. The night zoners had all scrambled, trying to get away. It took them a while to realize that he was in a dazed condition. Once they noticed this, there was less fear, and more agitation. They immediately began to circle Skrawl, growling softly, their teeth gritted together. It took interference from Jacko to ensure that they didn’t try to hurt the jellybean, much to their irritation.

Jacko explained about what had happened. And when he had relayed the information, everyone was quite shocked. The trip to the Chalk Mine did not go as planned. And that was putting it mildly.

They were all informed of how Biclops had been ‘altered’, if that was the right term to call it and how he had attacked them and they got separated. Penny staying behind to try to distract the giant while the rest of them went inside. They were caught in a trap and Rudy got possessed by the red chalk. A fight ensued and, long story short, Penny also got possessed, Howdy nearly got killed and there was a chance he will die anyway, most of them got badly hurt, Thoughtless joined up with the red chalk, and Skrawl got his brains bashed in.

There wasn’t too much sympathy for some of the injured, especially Skrawl, especially considering what he had done to them in teh past. But there was a lot of alarm and concern for Thoughtless joining the red chalk. They tried to figure out what this could mean. None of them have any clue what kind of road this was all going to lead them down.

Jacko’s story also explained what happened with the Beanie Boys. It seemed that Rudy, or Rory as the possessed boy called himself, had sent off a ‘signal’ of some kind. Rapsheeba theorized that this may have triggered something in the geomite shards that hurt the Beanie Boys. There was some murmurings around her on whether or not there were even any Beanie Boys left, or if Skrawl had lost all of them. Not that it was much of a tragedy to them of course. But still, knowing about the Beanie Boys would certainly help.

Rapsheeba had realized there was little said about Alpha. Jacko realized that the Beanie Boy had disappeared, but he admitted he had no idea where he went off to. Rapsheeba was not at all surprised by this. That Beanie Boy probably planned this whole thing and wanted to make a clean, quiet getaway. And he succeeded; no one knew where he was.

Rapsheeba pushed that thought out of her head as she refocused on the horrors of the other news. They all jumped on her at once and it was hard for her to focus on any of them independently. They all just kinda rushed in together, forming a sort of ‘cloud’ in her mind. Hanging over her in a constant, swirling action.

She could not believe what had happened to Howdy. When she had seen her friend with his head bent like that, she was horrified. Terrified beyond words. She really did think he was dead at first until Jacko assured her he was still alive. Some of the night zoners expressed a desire to ‘end his misery’, but Rapsheeba knew it was just a hateful comment due to him being a day zoner. Thankfully, Jacko would not let them near. But a part of her really did start to wonder if Howdy was better off dead or not. How could he live a full life when he was...almost totally paralyzed...?

She was also of course worried about Snap. He didn’t look all that great. It was like he had gone to hell and back. He was still, thankfully, in a much better condition than Howdy was. Jacko had no idea just how Howdy’s neck got broken, but somehow, Rapsheeba had a feeling that the same nearly happened to Snap, and that he was only lucky he had gotten away with what he did.

But the situation with Rudy and Penny...that was far worse for all of them. A loss or two was upsetting, yes. And she was not diminishing the importance of her fellow zoner friends. But the loss of Rudy and Penny...that would likely lead to worse consequences, and quite fast.

With those two now under the control of the red chalk, they not only lost their two human allies... They had also gained two human enemies. Even if Rudy and Penny were doing this unwillingly, even if it was the red chalk controlling them, they were still their enemies now. They would still have to do whatever they could to fight back. They had no choice. Even if they were all terrified of the idea, it was either this or they get killed.

But how could they possibly hope to take on two creators? How could they possibly believe that they had any kind of chance against them? They were, and she hated to think this way, just zoners. They did not have any kind of special powers to go up against humans. They simply had no way of defending themselves against armed humans except by numbers, and even then, Rudy and Penny, and any creator for that matter, could simply draw zoners loyal to them to ‘even the odds’ a little.

And they all remembered what red chalk zoners were like...

But she knew they did not have a choice. She did not think they stood much of a chance, despite some of their overeagerness to get at them. But she would not protest any attack against them. She did not want to see Rudy and Penny hurt and she wished there was another way. But in the end, something still had to be done. A painful truth, but a truth nonetheless.

She could only hope that something could be done soon. She didn’t have much hope at the moment that they could turn things in their favor. But she would be damned if she just let herself give up like this. It’s not what Chalk Dad would have wanted...or any of the other fallen. She had to keep moving forward, no matter how tough it would be. It was only through trying that they might, just might, find a way out of this.

The question was...how and when?

sss

Alpha wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep up this flying. He had been going on for so long now, that he completely forget just...how long it’s been. The only thing that he was aware of was his pounding heart, ready to burst open.

But he couldn’t give up. After all that trouble going around, looking for an exit, then finally finding one, and fleeing down the tunnels, he couldn’t stop now. He had to keep going. Despite how his body was feeling, despite how messed up his mind was getting from seeing all the dead Beanie Boys, he still pushed himself forward.

But eventually, it was all worth it. He could see light up ahead. A small opening. A tiny back exit out of this place. He moved himself over more quickly, his heart racing hard against his chest. He was almost there..just a little more... He was going to make it. He just had to push himself harder, and keep this up, and then...

He felt himself ram against something hard, and then there was a loud crack. He could feel the wall giving in a second later, and it all crumbled down. As soon as it did, he could feel the bright sunlight shining in his eyes. He recoiled immediately, causing himself to lose the rest of his energy for a few moments and he crashed into the ground.

But regardless, he still made it. He was free.

Alpha laid there for several moments, not attempting to move. He didn’t even dare to open his eyes. He was just too busy staying on the ground, allowing the reality of what happened to sink into his mind. It was all too much for him to take in. He could feel his body shaking from the emotion of the past events. He struggled to control it, but the more he tried to, the harder it became. He clenched his teeth tightly and took in a few shaky breaths. He just...couldn’t believe what had happened.

He had never suspected that Rudy would fall under the control of the red chalk. He never would have dreamed that Skrawl would be...reduced like that. He remembered how he had hidden from the situation very quickly, and watched from afar as things started to go down. A part of him did think about helping. But most of him was too frightened, too stunned to do anything. So he just clung for awhile, watching. It was only upon seeing what happened to Skrawl did he try to take action.

He had searched around frantically for an opening. He didn’t really expect to find one. At least not one large enough for him. Yet he still looked, still clinging onto some hope that it would be okay, that he’d find a way out.

Eventually his persistance did pay off. He remembered how he saw some kind of opening on the ground, between two large rock structures. It was not large, but still out of sight of the others. It had taken him a while to go through it, but eventually, he succeeded. He moved his large, round body through the opening, heading downward, turning every which way. Something about this seemed...familiar, but he kept on going anyway. It didn’t matter what it was. So long as it took him out of that horrible place, he was fine with it.

He soon managed to get out of there, and once he was free of the thin, vein-like structure, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. He had immediately collapsed into the ground, the bright lights all around him.

And that brought him here. He still couldn’t move, couldn’t budge. He could only lay there for what felt like several minutes. He tried to calm down his racing heart. He tried to calm down his swirling mind. He opened his mouth and took in a few slow breaths, a desperate attempt to calm down his heart before it exploded inside his chest. It took him several more minutes before he could even settle down enough to take a look around at where he was.

Holding himself on one hand, he took a moment to look around slowly, trying to get an idea of where he had ended up. Left and right, his eyes moved. It took some time. He didn’t really recognize this area for quite a while. It seemed so unfamiliar, and yet familiar at the same time. It was a weird combination.

Then it suddenly struck him. The reason why this place looked familiar. His eyes widened and he felt his heart nearly leap out of his chest. He recoiled back, his arms pressing up against his chest. He looked around once more, making sure that he wasn’t just overthinking things, that maybe he did end up somewhere else and he was just overreacting.

But no.. There was nothing else this place could be.

It was an underground section of their old hideout.

Alpha took in a few quick breaths, trying once again to calm himself down. He knew he had no reason to be afraid of this place. But...at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel quite unnerved. Realizing that he was in an area that had a red chalk vein coming through, a small ‘garden’ of the crimson demons of sorts... After what he had experienced, this isn’t exactly what he had hoped to run into.

The first thing he noticed, after he managed to recover from the initial shock of coming here, was just how quiet it was around here. He looked around, left and right, but he couldn’t think of where he was or where he was going to head. He couldn’t even remember where everything was. He only recalled a few tunnels, none of which were close by. And wasn’t this place collapsed in a few areas? It was not going to be all that easy to find his way out of here if he didn’t even know where to start.

Yet he could not just stay around here forever. He needed to get going. This place might be deserted, but he would never know when there was something waiting for him, trying to get him. There might still be an unseen danger here. Ridiculous? Yes, but he could not take the risk.

Slowly, he rose up into the air, his propeller spinning round and round rapidly. He continued to look around for signs of anything, not wanting to take the chance of missing something. All he could see were what remained of the red chalk growth and empty hallways, and of course some of the damages of what happened here a month ago. Once he was triple sure that there was nothing else here, he slowly began to move forward.

His mind went back to the others. A part of him wondered if they would be all righ. Another part tried to dismiss it. Although he had hoped they would remain allies for a while, there was still a part of him who didn’t particularly care about them. At least, not enough to want to go back there and try anything. So he just continued his way through here, slowly moving along, hoping to find his way out of here. He would eventually go and find them again. He still wanted to have some allies against Thoughtless. But when he would get to them, it all depended on when he managed to get out of here.

That is, if he got out of here. Without any ideas on where he was going, it was all a hit or miss. But he still had to try, didn’t he? There was no way he could figure out if he could leave unless he just...tried.

And tried he did. He went along down the tunnels, going through him as quickly and carefully as he could. He wasn’t really sure how long this was taking him. He didn’t recognize most of the places he was going. But that didn’t stop him. He continued to go up and down and all around, whichever pathway he could find. Any place he thought could lead to an exit, he tried, only to be disappointed when he was a deadend or led somewhere completely different.

He continued trying, however, refusing to give up. Eventually, he would run into a place that was familiar, right? Surely, if he kept on trying, he’d think of something. He just..had to keep this up. Keep going..and he would soon be rewarded. He just had to keep trying, never give up, never give in. It was through persistance that he was as good of a Beanie Boy before. It was that same persistance that would get him out of here.

Soon, he came upon something. While it was not where he had hoped it would be, it was still a familiar place where he could get reoriented. He had rather mixed feelings about entering Thoughtless’s guest chamber. Seeing the nest there filled him up with heated blood, recalling of how Thoughtless had used them all. But at least it was some place that he knew, so he could hang around here and figure out where...

He winced when he sat down on the next. A part of it felt so hard. He immediately got up, rubbing his butt a little as he stared down at the straw. Why did it feel like that? It didn’t make any sense. Unless...wait... What was this?

He pulled out something hard from underneath the hay. A book? He did recall Skrawl figuring this stuff out, but..this was hidden a bit deeper than the others. Like a secret book of some kind. He had to wonder...what else was Thoughtless trying to hide from them? Could this book help them in any shape or form?

Without thinking, without hesitation, Alpha sat it down on the hay nest. He noticed the cover of it was blank, no title. That did strike him as a bit odd. And it only added to his suspicion that something was going on here. He opened it up and immediately he could see the title of it.

His eyes widened immediately.

sss

“Sir! You can’t be serious!” One of the night zoners cried out.

“He’s just too dangerous!” Another shouted. “Surely, we could just...”

“Enough!” Jacko shouted as he raised up his hand, stopping them from speaking further. The zoners around him stared at him in shock at his sudden raising of voice. He took in a few quick breaths to settle himself down before he reopened his eyes and gritted his teeth. “I know you don’t like the idea. Frankly, neither do I. But this is our best option.”

“No, no, no...surely you...no..” A third zoner walked up to him.

Another zoner motioned with her hands, her wide eyes clearly showing her attempts to comprehend his decision. “What if he tries to...?”

Jacko let out a soft sigh. He looked over at where Skrawl was. Presently, the jellybean was still situated in his cage. Even after all this time, the jellybean hadn’t yet tried to make a move or even talk to anyone. He was just kind of..there. It was like a part of him was gone. The Skrawl he knew was no more. At least for now. Maybe Skrawl will recover somewhere down the line. But for now, he was just...like a helpless baby. Not that he planned on showing him much mercy later on, but given this fact, why would this zoner, or any of the other zoners, have to be concerned about him?

Jacko slowly turned back to where the zoner stood, his eyes remaining sturn, his teeth clenched tightly. “What..exactly do you think he’s going to do...?” He tilted his head to one side. “Afraid he is going to drool on you?”

“No...”

“Then shut up!” Jacko’s voice grew harsh as he lifted his head up. “I have made my decision! And I am not going back on it!”

“But..sir...”

“That’s enough! We will discuss this no further!” Jacko raised his hand up quickly. The sudden motion caused his cape to move outward to the side, flapping slightly. He glared at those around him, his eyes narrowed dangerously. He made it clear, just through his expression alone, that he was in no mood to keep arguing with them. The zoners around him eventually got it and they backed away slowly.

But he knew that wasn’t going to stop them from constantly pestering him. They might leave him alone for now. They might understand that he does not want to speak with them further on this matter. But he was also aware that they were not going to take this laying down for too long. They were going to keep bothering him about this later on. It was clear that most of them were not happy about this, and wouldn’t take it sitting down.

Not that he could blame them. Skrawl had caused them so much grief. There was little reason to keep him alive. And now that he was in a more helpless state, they could easily just off him. It wouldn’t be that hard, either. Skrawl would offer no resistance. He would just kind of lay there and take it. And there would be absolutely nothing that would stop someone from trying to, say, wring his neck or something. Or crack his skull open, or rip off a limb. He would scream, yes, but he would no longer have the mental capacity to even fight back.

But despite all desire to want to do that, despite wanting to get back at Skrawl for all that he’s done to them, Jacko still refused. He didn’t think killing Skrawl, at least now, was a very good idea. He thought it would be best if they kept him around.

It was not out of the goodness of his heart, though. He held little sympathy for Skrawl in this condition. A part of him felt that he deserved what he got. No, the reason why he wanted to keep him around was because Skrawl could be used. Specifically, he could be used as bait. If they were to drag him out somewhere and leave him out in the open, they just might be able to draw Thoughtless and the red chalk out of hiding.

And why wouldn’t it work? Skrawl had rubbed them both the wrong way, from what he understood. He made enemies with both, and based on what he saw back in the Chalk Mine, they both wanted to get at his throat. So why not ‘offer’ Skrawl to them, and then trap them when they were upon the hapless jellybean? Sure, some may call this plan appauling... But if it meant a chance at freedom for ChalkZone, he was willing to do it.

He had thought about dwelling on this decision a little first, but he eventually decided that the sooner they acted, the better. He didn’t want to waste much more time and risk more zoners coming in to try to stop him. He half expected even Rapsheeba joining in and trying to convince him otherwise, even though she was dead silent on the issue earlier.

Yes, the sooner he acted, the better. Once he got this taken care of, they could then move onto the next part of the plan to free ChalkZone. Any delays now would only cause more delays for them getting their freedom back. And that was not something he wanted to do.

“Marble! Tranquil!” Jacko called out. He watched as the werewolf and dragon zoners walked towards him slowly, looking at him and waiting for orders. Jacko immediately pointed his finger towards Skrawl. “Take him to the outskirts of the city and wait nearby. When or if the red chalk and Thoughtless show up, give the signal. Understand?”

The two zoners nodded immediately.

“Good.” Jacko stated. He motioned his hand forward. “Now get going!”

They didn’t need to be told a second time. The two zoners immediately turned and went towards the cage holding Skrawl. They opened it up and grabbed onto the jellybean roughly, uncaring of how they handled him. They then began to make their way towards the exit of this hiding spot and to where they were told to take him. Jacko watched in silence, his arms folding against himself. There was still some worry that this would not work. But at the same time, he was confident that this would eventually turn things around.

Or perhaps he was just being too hopeful.

sss

“Okay... It’s a deal.”

Thoughtless wasn’t really sure what to think at first. Yes, it wanted to form a partnership with the red chalk, but a part of it had thought that it would have taken a lot longer than this to accomplish that goal. It thought that the red chalk would take a lot more convincing. But to have it agree so quickly..

Well who cares? They agreed, didn’t they? Now that the partnership thing has been sealed, they could begin taking the next steps. There was still much that had to be done, so much more that had to be planned. It wished it could tell them right off the bat all that it wanted to do. But frankly, it would take a little while. And here may not be the best place for it. They were alone, yes. But perhaps they should go somewhere much more...comfortable.

Thoughtless was about to speak when it noticed Rudy come up towards it. Thoughtless remained still, waiting for him to get closer, wondering what he wanted from it. The memotrice hoped that there wasn’t going to be a major compromise in this deal. It had enough fo that with Skrawl. But at the same time, it was willing to make a bigger exception for the red chalk if it meant keeping their secured partnership.

“While we agree to partner up with you, there is something that I want to get clear right off the at.” Rudy stated. His voice darkened up a little, and his teeth bared. Thoughtless stiffened up slightly, half expecting to see a bolt of electricity to shoot out of the human’s hand. Even when it didn’t happen, it still remained on edge. “I want to make sure you are clear on this.”

<Clear on what, exactly?> Thoughtless asked carefully, making sure to ask in a ‘gentle’ way so that the human, the red chalk, didn’t lash out at it. <Tell me what your terms are, if you don’t mind.>

“Hmph.” Rudy turned his head to the side, his eyes narrowed. He looked over at the zoner with one eye, letting out a soft growl. “I want you to be certain that we, the red chalk, will be calling all the shots here. If we decide something should or should not be done..” He pointed a finger at the memotrice. “You best listen...got that?”

Although Thoughtless didn’t like the idea of playing second banana again, it decided it was best to go along with what he said anyway. It knew that Rudy would do something if it tried to resist his statement, and Thoughtless was not interested to know what Rudy’s move would be. So it just decided to stay quiet about this and made no attempt to protest. It simply bowed its head slightly, showing submission to the red chalk.

<All right then. I accept.> It looked back up at Rudy. <I will do as you say...if you have anything to say.>

Rudy stared at Thoughtless for several moments before he slowly smirked in satisfaction. “Good...” He folded his arms against his chest. “It’s nice to get stuff like this out of the way, don’t you think?” He tilted his head to once side. “And now... let’s get down to business.”

Penny gave a nod at this. She didn’t try to speak, however, due to her throat injury. She did stare at Thoughtless, her eyes saying enough for Thoughtless to know what she was thinking. She, too, was interested in getting started, her eyes glowing a brighter red as though she were getting increasingly excited about this.

And honestly, so was Thoughtless. It had hoped that this partnership would commence, but it was still worried that it wouldn’t go through. It had worried that its dream of a more proper future for ChalkZone would never happen. But now, since these two had agreed to work with it, since the red chalk agreed to become its partner, things seemed to looking in a much better direction. Now there was hope for this world. There was a chance to make things right again. And Thoughtless would ensure that this chance did not slip from its talons ever again.

“What did you plan on doing?”

At this, Thoughtless immediately stiffened. It had almost forgotten about the fact that it really didn’t have much planned at this point. And the red chalk was going to want some kind of answer, didn’t it? It couldn’t just stand around, saying nothing. If it did that, then the red chalk might reconsider its partnership with it. What bad luck that would be if it managed to lose its partner already, before they had even tried to do anything.

But what could they do? It would take time to figure out exactly how it would help bring the red chalk above the others. It would need time before they would get even close to figuring out exactly how this was going to come into play. It couldn’t just say something right off the bat. It didn’t plan that far out yet. It didn’t even know it would get this far.

Still, it wasn’t about to remain silent the entire time. It did need to figure out something to say and fast. Something that, while not necessarily helping in any strong way, but would still not be totally useless either. Something that could help at least establish something before they could get down to the nitty gritty. Something like...

Ah yes, that just might work.

Thoughtless gave a small smile as it raised its wing up and motioned it towards the two. <I think we should start by heading back to Skrawl’s castle.> It motioned its head to the side. <I think I overheard something being in there that you might be interested in.>

Rudy frowned slightly at this, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Yes...I do recall this host body’s memory recalling something there that...” He raised his hand up in gesture. “Okay, sure. Why not? Let’s get going.”

With that, the group immediately began to trek towards the entrance of the Chalk Mine.