The Main Attraction

Chapter 47: In The Line Of Fire

There goes Dr. Sawbones readying his instruments, making sure they're razor sharp!
-Dr. Sawbones, Creature Feature





Penny brought her hands to her mouth as she gasped in shock at what she was seeing. It had all happened so fast, she barely had time to fully process what was going on. There was a blur, a flash of color, and then suddenly, this was happening. She couldn’t believe it. How did...

“Bell?!”

The tone of Mint’s voice indicated that he, too, was quite shocked by all of this and he was struggling to comprehend it as well. Penny looked over at him, noting his expression. She could see the look in his eyes, the way that his mouth had dropped open. Then she turned and looked back, licking her lips nervously as she watched the bull continue his attack.

It had happened out of nowhere. None of them could have seen it coming. The first indication that anything was going on was the blur of a bullet striking against Sandra’s thick skin. The massive dragon shook her head and had turned her head in where the attacks had come from, only to get attacked again.

The sudden appearance of Bell sent shockwaves through her body. Of all the people that they expected to help them, he was not one of them. They had been certain that he was up to no good, that he could not be trusted, that he was one of their enemies to deal with. Why in the world would he be helping them?

Then again...was he really helping them? Or was he just trying to stop Sandra so that he could go forward with his plan? Either way, though, it did provide her and Mint an opportunity to act.

They knew they had to get Haney out of here. Even if he might be able to help, he had been pretty badly injured, and that made him an easier target for Sandra. They would kick themselves if they allowed an injured zoner to stay and risk getting themselves hurt even more. So rather than taking the risk, Penny knew the best thing to do was just...draw something to help Haney get out of here and fast.

While Sandra was busy with Bell, Penny raised up her magic chalk and quickly drew a stretcher. It took a couple moments, but soon it was finished, resting the ground and ready for use. She nodded her head towards Mint, signalling him to help her. Similar to how they had worked together to help Snap all those years ago, they teamed up once more, this time to help another injured zoner.

Working together, they managed to lift Haney off the ground. The dragon zoner hissed and whimpered as they accidentally irritated his wounds, despite how careful they were being. They then set him on the stretcher, laying him out so that his body as as straight as possible. After this was taken care of, they strapped him down, securing him so that he wouldn’t fall over or anything.

Now they just had to figure out how they were going to get him to safety. Penny frowned at this. She had not thought that far. She and Mint couldn’t leave as they were both needed to stop Sandra. But there weren’t any zoners around, so how were they going to...

Her thoughts were interrupted when Bell’s form suddenly landed just a few feet away. She and Mint jumped to the side, nearly knocking into the stretcher. They looked over and saw him laying on the ground, his limbs straight up as though he were a Real World bovine knocked onto his back. He soon pushed himself up with his hooved hands and rubbed his head. He did not stay on the ground for long and he got up to his feet.

And a second later, he was snagged by Sandra’s tail. He let out a shout of surprise as he was hoisted up into the air and brought close to Sandra’s face. The purple dragon appeared to regard him for several moments, her yellow eye gleaming with curiosity. Bell gritted his teeth in response, an obvious attempt for him to look tougher than he actually felt.

Penny and Mint froze at this, wondering what they should do. Should they intervene and get Bell out of there? Or should they focus on getting Haney out? They looked at one another, several questions flooding each other’s minds. Just what were they going to choose? Even if Bell had been an ass to them before, it still did not seem right to just leave him like this, but Haney...

It was decided silently. They had to help Haney first. It was not the easiest decision to make, but Haney had suffered the most injuries so far, and he could not leave this place on his own. Not like this. So, while Bell was temporarily left to contend with Sandra, Penny and Mint turned to Haney, trying to figure out just how they were going to go about this.

“What are we going to do?” Mint asked as he motioned his hand towards Haney’s strapped form. “We have to move him and...”

“I know we have to move him.” Penny replied. She felt a bit of frustration eating away at her fingertips as she struggled to think of something that could be done about this. She folded her arms and tapped her foot in a slightly impatient manner. “I’m just not show how we can go about this... I can’t believe I didn’t think this far ahead.”

Mint stared at her for a few moments, concern plastered over his face. “Well we have to think of something fast. No offense intended for Bell, but I don’t think he’s going to last much longer against Sandra.”

Penny took a moment and stared at where Bell was currently. Still lifted into the air, still dangling in the dragon’s tail. She narrowed her eyes at this, seeing how Sandra seemed to just be toying with him for the moment. She agreed with Mint that this would not last long. Not like Sandra had a personal score to settle with Bell. They only had a very brief window of opportunity.

But she still was not sure how they were going to get Haney to safety. They needed someone to push him, but there were no zoners. She could attempt to draw something but...

She froze at the very thought of creating another life. Her mind flashed as she thought of when she had created Courtney. She could feel her mind flooding with several memories of the giant condor. She couldn’t help but smile for a little bit. She had almost forgotten how much fun that they had together.

And then the memory of finding her skeleton came and...

Penny took in a shap, shaky breath at this. She could feel tears move in the back of her eyes, struggling to come out. She tried to control her breathing, tried to keep herself from crying. But this did not last very long and soon her eyes dripped with tears, falling down to the ground. She could not stop her mind being flooded with burning, chilling thoughts of seeing Courtney’s skeletal remains and... Oh gawd...

Could she really go through with it? Could she really bring herself to create another life that might die at Sandra’s claws? Could she truly attempt to draw another living zoner? Even if it might mean saving a life, would she really consider....

She heard a groan and whimper and she stared at Haney once more. She noted his expression, how much he was in pain, and how terrified he was. The sight of this caused her gut to twist and she bit her lip. The longer she held off on doing this, the more danger she was putting Haney through, she realized. She...had to do something. She could not allow herself to be consumed by her emotions. Not while someone was depending on her.

She narrowed her eyes as she stared at the magic chalk. She lifted it up a little higher, keeping her eyes glued to it. She knew what she had to do. And there was no turning back.

“Penny...?” Mint asked. The look in his eyes suggested that he had a feeling what she had thought of doing. He licked his lips slowly, looking a bit uncertain about the whole thing. “Are you...absolutely positive you want to...”

Penny glared softly at him and nodded her head once. “Yes, I’m sure. I am ready for this.”

“Okay then...” Mint breathed in deeply and exhaled. He took one more look at Sandra and then Haney and motioned his hand towards her. “Proceed then.”

Penny still hesitated. She had not created another living zoner in quite some time, and seeing what happened to Courtney made it more difficult to bring herself to do this. It was still a struggle to force her stiff arm to move. It took her what felt like a minute or two before she could bring herself to move her arm at all.

But once she did, it was smooth sailing...for the most part. Even though she was moving the chalk around and drawing something, some of the lines were still a little jagged. She still could not fully relax enough to make lines that were fully smooth. But the end result should be fine, right? So long that the creation could function....

She tried to keep her mind focused as she continued drawing the new creature. Choosing a form was not that difficult. She needed something that could multitask and who had a strong grip. There were several animals to choose from to base her new creation off of. And there was one in particular that she felt fit the bill perfectly. Mint’s reaction indicated he was not as big of a fan of this, but not like he argued; he knew that the more important thing was to get Haney to safety. And this was one of the best ways how.

Soon all the lines were formed, round and smooth and long with a few sharp ends. In a few seconds, they glowed briefly and the new zoner came into view.

There, standing before them, was a somewhat humanoid octopus. A large bulbeous head attached to a sleek-looking body. Two sets of arms and two sets of legs. A three pointed beak, much like how a squid’s mouth actually was. And the eyes, set far apart, stared at them, the horizontal pupils practically glowing in color.

Penny took a moment to allow the sensation of creating another zoner go through her body. She could feel the energy sweeping through every corner, tingling at her fingertips. It was the first time in a while that she created something and the emotional response that her body was feeling was just...unexpected. She had to take a moment to freeze, allowing these feelings go through, allowing the feelings of disbelief to wash over her. It took her a little while to realize that, yes, she had created a new zoner. She had give birth, in a sense, to another life.

She had to make sure that this new creation did not suffer the same way that Courtney did.

“Penny..you drew an octopus?” Mint whispered softly as he stared at the zoner in disbelief. “I thought you would..”

Penny whirled her head around and glared at him. “We can discuss that later!” She then turned her attention back to her new creation. She licked her lips slowly, and then she started to speak. “Hello...” Penny paused for a moment, trying to think of a name. “...Azrel...” She flinched. That name sounded horrible. But now her creation was stuck with it. “I have a task for...”

“No need to explain.” The octopus raised their hand up immediately, stopping her from speaking further. The octopus motioned their long, tentacle arm in one direction. “You want me to carry that poor bloke somewhere, am I right?” Penny did not speak, looking a little stunned. “You are my creator, are you not? I could hear your intentions for me the moment that I was created.”

“Oh..that is right...” Mint whispered softly. He gently nudged Penny. “Well come on. It looks like Azrel has this under control. Let’s go and help Bell before Sandra turns him into minced meat.”

Penny did not reply to Mint. She kept her eyes focused on Azrel. She did feel a little silly for forgetting about the whole ‘zoners often know what their creators intended for them’ bit. That much should have been rather obvious to her. Then again, she had spent so little time actually creating life herself that it was no surprise if it slipped her mind every so often. Still, she wished that she had better memory.

She shook the thought out of her mind for now. She could worry about that later. Right now, they needed to get started. Mint was right. They now needed to focus on trying to help Bell. With Azrel created and fully ready to get going, that freed her and Mint up to take care of Sandra.

Before she headed out, however, she paused and took a moment to stare over at the octopus zoner. Their eyes locked onto each other. This was a rather strange feeling. Creator looking at their creation in the eyes... Even if she had created life before, this was still a very weird sensation. It was almost uncomfortable, and yet, there was something about this feeling that was just...

“Please, get Haney to safety.” Penny finally spoke, breaking the silence. She motioned over to where Haney was still strapped to the seat. “Get him to the nearby hospital as quickly as you can.”

Azrel nodded their head once. “I am well aware of the situation. Do not worry. I will get the little bloke out of harm’s way.”

With that, Azrel began to move. Penny took note of the squid-like way that they moved. All tentacly, with sunction cups popping as they moved forward. Even when they grabbed onto the stretcher, the way the tentacles wrapped around and held on, and them moving forward... It was quite something to see. It was pretty difficult to turn away from due to how different it was compared to anything else that they had seen before. She don’t think she could recall a moment when a zoner moved quite like this.

She managed to tear her eyes away after a couple of seconds and then she looked over at where Bell was still being held. She narrowed her eyes at this. It did not seem like Sandra was going to make a move against Bell right away, but who knows how accurate this was? Knowing Sandra, she could strike at any given moment.

She looked over at Mint and gave a nod of her head. He exchanged the same gesture to her. No need for any words. They both knew exactly what they had to do. Turning their attention back to where Sandra and Bell were, they began to make their way over, quietly, ensuring that Sandra did not hear them.

So far, Sandra seemed to only be chatting with Bell. She had not attempted to do anything with him. She was just...teasing him for whatever reason. Sandra must be confident that they couldn’t win against her to even try to pull a risk like that. All that did was give Penny and Mint a chance to get at her, and that was an opportunity that they were indeed going to take.

The fact that Sandra was now blind in one eye certainly helped. They kept to her blind side, where she had no capability of seeing them. Her remaining eye was staring solely at Bell, and she was grinning as she continued to mock him. Her words were harsh, but caused a mixed creation. On the one hand, they could see Sandra’s point. Bell had made some poor decisions. But on the other hand, she was being a little too harsh, and she was being something of a hypocrite; not like she was fully innocent herself.

They pushed this aside, though, as they had other things to worry about aside from Sandra being a hypocrite, which they already knew that she was. Keeping to Sandra’s blind side, they moved in closer, moving slowly and deliberately.

Mint looked over at Penny. “We should split up.” He whispered softly. He motioned with his hands, indicating where he was going. “I’ll head over that way. And you...” He motioned over in another direction. “...head over there. We’ll be able to...”

Suddenly, they were interrupted by something large and purple falling down their way. The two teenagers barely had time to jump out of the way before the thing slammed against the ground between them. They fall into the ground, groaning in pain as their shoulders hit against the hard, rocky surfaces. They lifted themselves up and looked between them. It took a few seconds before the smoke cleared and then...

A large tail. Sandra’s tail. Penny widened her eyes at this, feeling thoughts swirling through their head. No... Did Sandra really see them already? Had she been pretending? Did they really miss their chance to...

(It is quite something to see you two trying to sneak around me. Think that a blind eye means I do not notice?) Sandra moved herself over, crouching low and walking closer. (And you are supposed to be saviors of this world? How can you be saviors if you are this easily taken off guard?)

Penny gritted her teeth, taking a defensive posture. How did Sandra figure out what they were doing? She must have smelled them or something, and...

Wait, where was Bell? Penny suddenly realized that he was nowhere in sight. She looked left and right, trying to find him. But there was just...nothing. It was as if the bovine zoner had just up and disappeared. But....what happened?

Penny did not have long to think before she felt something grab onto her.

“Penny!”

The girl could feel herself being lifted up into the air in a swift motion. She grunted as she felt Sandra’s paw tighten around her. She gagged and struggled to keep breathing, Sandra coming close to starting to cut off her air supply. She squirmed about in the paw, unable to free herself. Then she turned and glared at Sandra, her teeth bared.

Sandra just smirked at this, tilting her head to one side. (How about we start a little game? I think it will be quite fun...) Sandra took a moment to peer down at Mint before looking back at Penny. (I see how your two guy friends have something...permanent about them. What about you? Maybe I can help with that...)

“No!” Mint shouted.

Penny could not speak. The only thing she could do was stare at Sandra in horror, her eyes widening as the massive dragon took a good look at her left arm. Penny already had a good idea of what Sandra planned on doing...and it caused her blood to chill.

“N-No...please...” Penny pleaded. “Y-You can’t...” But as much as she struggled, she could not get herself free. She was trapped. The only thing that she could do was stare at Sandra in horror, silently pleading with her not to hurt her.

sss

Rudy froze in his spot, staring at the scene in utter horror. He could not take his eyes off of Sandra, or off of Penny. He could feel his heart skipping several beats as he tried to comprehend the thoughts that raced through his mind. They swirled and swam about, and no matter what he tried, he just could not get himself to relax or to think clearly.

His wide green eyes continued to remain glued to Penny, who had been lifted up off the ground, and now was at the mercy of Sandra. Mint was trying to help her out, but of course, there was very little that he could actually do. He could keep trying to fight against Sandra. He could try to attack her and get Penny free.... But Sandra clearly had the upperhand here. All she had to do was spew flames at them and...

Rudy gritted his teeth. He needed to figure out what he could do and fast. If he didn’t do...something, then his friends were going to be in huge trouble. He couldn’t just sit here and let that happen. He needed to take action. He needed to save them.

The question was...how as he going to do that? He could not very well rush in and strike at Sandra. He was in a wheelchair and he would not be able to move over this terrain so easily. He could try...but he would not have much success or anything. He’d just get stuck and then he might get grabbed, leaving them all in a more vulnerable position.

This realization made his heart clench tightly. He wished that there was a better way of dealing with this. He wished that there was just..some way that they could get out of this mess. But...what were they going to do? What was he going to do? It was so difficult trying to think of a way out of this situation and... He sucked in a sharp breath through his clenched teeth. He just...could not think of anything that he could do to help his friends in this situation.

He needed to draw something. But...what could he draw? His mind was spinning so fast that... He just wasn’t sure if he could think clearly enough to come up with something that would be helpful. He had to try to think of something, but how could he when his mind just felt too...spinny? Too filled with anxiety to do much more than just stare in horror as Sandra threatened Penny...

He shook his head, trying to force himself to unfreeze, to try to move about and try to get himself to take action. Wheelchair or not, he needed to do something to help Penny before Sandra could...do whatever it is that she planned to do with Penny. Rudy had no idea what she was up to, but the way she spoke with what she said to Penny earlier... It was enough to make him shudder in horror. He didn’t want to think about what Sandra had meant. He only wanted to get Penny out of there.

He looked down at his piece of magic chalk. He struggled to think of something to draw. He needed something to distract Sandra long enough for Penny to get away. But...just what kind of thing would Sandra be distracted by....?

Well there’s ‘promise breakers’ and ‘people disrespecting the honor of eating a friend’. But both of those required real zoners. And Rudy could not think to imagine drawing something that was alive for this. No, that would just be way too cruel. He’d never do something like that. There had to be a much better way of handling this. There just had to be something else.

Then he felt something flicker into light in the back of his mind. What if he were to try something similar, but with a nonliving machine? Sandra would not know if it was alive or not; if she were peeved enough, she would not even try focus on the scent and just go after the direction of the voice. Rudy knew that Sadnra would get easily peeved about promises being broken, so if he drew something that would repeat a few certain lines....

Rudy stiffened when he heard a scream echoing across the land. He turned his head over and he could see that Sandra had knocked Mint away. Rudy flinched as he heard his friend slam against the wall. Mint soon laid there, appearing to be unable to move or get up any time soon.

Penny was having a fit. She was screaming at Sandra, being quite bold in her language, clawing and biting at Sandra’s hand, trying to do something to make her let go of her. Sandra did not seem to pay her much mind, though, as she began to make her way over towards Mint slowly, her tail whipping from side to side.

Rudy held his breath as Sandra appeared to begin firing up her white fire breath. His mind momentarily flashed back to a few times recently he had seen the flames in action. He then shook the thought out of his mind and he tried to refocus his attention on concentrating on what to do.

But with Sandra getting so close...

That was it. Rudy could not handle it any further. He could not just sit here and try to think; there was just no time for that. He needed to take action now before his friends were killed by this monster. He picked up his magic chalk and, without thinking or planning more fully, he just started to draw as quickly as he could.

sss

Dr. Crobat’s mouth dropped open, unable to look away from the horrible sight. He struggled to keep his breathing in check, not wanting to do anything to give himself away. This was getting harder to control the longer he watched this horrible scene play out before him.

Taima was not doing much better. He looked like he was ready to rush over, ready to attack... Yet he knew that they could not make a move just yet. They had to wait for the right time, otherwise they would screw everything up. It was too risky to head over there now. What if they ended up getting someone hurt?

Ripclaw was especially restless. Dr. Crobat and Taima had to work together to keep her under control. The massive dinosaur released low growls and hisses, her eyes fixated forward. She would attempt to lurch forward a few times and it took a bit of effort to ensure that she never got that far. Her lips were curled back into a snarl and her eyes blazed and flashed with color and emotion. Drool dripped down from her jaws and her claws flexed eagerly, curling in against themselves and her palms.

Dr. Crobat bit his lip as he struggled to figure out just how they were going to handle this. He did not know how much longer they could even hold onto the dinosaur, and they didn’t know how long they actually had left before they could take action.

He could feel his gut twisting and burning at the feeling of helplessness. He didn’t want to feel like this. He tried to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, that he had already done what he could and he just had to wait until the time was right. But the thing was....he didn’t know when he could take action. Splitting up may have been a good thought at the time, to make it easier for them to act as backup. But trying to figure out just how to play it all out... He was at a loss.

Yet the longer they stood around here, the more likely it was that Mint and Penny were going to get hurt. He could see them out there, being menaced by Sandra. Rudy was nowhere to be seen, and he didn’t know if this meant that something happened to him or if he was just hiding. He licked his beak slowly, wanting so much to shout at them and ask them what the heck was going on, yet not being able to bring himself to do any such thing. He swallowed hard as his grip on Sandra’s feathery body increased.

At the moment, it did not seem that Penny was in any danger of being hurt too fast. Sandra did not seem interested in attacking her too fast. Not that it made the situation that much better. Seeing how Penny was reacting, seeing Sandra’s expression, it was made clear to the bird zoner and his two companions that Sandra was taking her time with this. Slow and steady, taking care to make it as mentally excruciating as she could.

And the way that she kept messing with Penny’s left arm... While it wasn’t anything outwardly serious, she was giving...too much attention here. The way she was behaving indicated that she had...some sort of plan to do with that arm. But just what could that...

Dr. Crobat froze, his blood freezing, when he realized a plausibility. He turned his head to Taima, exchanging a horrified glance with him. The stick figure zoner looked back at him, perplexed, clearly not seeing what he was. Dr. Crobat looked back, his eyes remaining wide open.

Dr. Crobat gritted his beak. It would seem that they had much less time to deal with this than he had thought. If Sandra had truly planned to do what he thought was going to happen... He had already known they had little time, but this only made matters worse. Penny might.... He pushed the thoughts aside as he licked his lips slowly and forcibly took a step forward.

“What are you doing?” Whispered Taima. “I thought you told us we had to wait.” Taima did not sound too scolding in that voice. Which made sense; he was more eager to attack than to wait here for long. Whether this was the result of wanting to redeem himself or not didn’t matter.

Dr. Crobat let out a sigh and nodded his head. “Indeed I said that. But we still have to be careful.” He kept staring out at where Sandra still held Penny. He couldn’t help but flinch as he momentarily looked at Mint, seeing him lay on the ground, shivering in pain. “I just don’t know how we can go about this. We don’t have magic chalk. What if we...”

Taima cut him off. “Do you think that should stop us? Most of us zoners go on without the magic chalk. And there have been a number of zoners who challenged creators in the past, including them. “Taima pointed out at where Penny and Mint were. “We might not have the same capabilities as them...” He motioned to himself. “But we are not helpless.”

Dr. Crobat wanted to feel encouraged by these words. He wanted to take Taima’s words to heart and fuel that desire of himslef to want to fight back. He could feel some kind of warm sensation start to rise inside of him and he could feel himself start to shake slighlty in anticipation.

But that all came to a screeching hault when he realized that the issue Taima was not considering was size. The bird zoner gave a slightly backwards glance at where Sandra was. Even this was enough for him to tell that Sandra was quite large in this state. A massive, bulky dragon that reached twenty...no, over twenty feet long. She was large enough to tear down buildings and had a powerful flame breath, and she now sported long, feathered wings that she could use to create powerful gusts of wind if she really wanted to.

The bird zoner found himself at a loss. On the one hand, he did want to at least try to help. They really didn’t have that much time left to decide. Yet on the other hand, if he made one false move...

“Aaaaahhhh!”

Dr. Crobat was taken aback by the loud scream that rattled through the air. He looked up, his eyes bulging, as he saw Sandra start to yank on Penny’s arm a little. A sort of ‘playful’ gesture, but the sinister undertones were there. Dr. Crobat felt his teeth clenching tightly against each other, and he seethed.

That scream, it reminded him so much of Dr. Gelcro...

His mind froze at the thought of his late friend. He could still see his face in the back of his mind. He could still see him right beside him. He could still hear his laughter, hear his arguments, just...overall feel like he was really here. It was too difficult for him to believe that he was really dead...

But he knew that the human creators would not lie about this. Dr. Crobat had to accept that his dear friend really was gone, never to return. He would never again see Dr. Gelcro. Only at his funeral and gravesite would he ever lay eyes upon him again. He shut his eyes, squeezing his eyelids together, allowing for a few tears to move down his cheeks.

A part of him wondered if this could have been avoided if he did not allow himself to be controlled so easily. If he had just been more careful...if he had strived to keep himself from allowing Bell to use his body like a toy, would he have been able to...

He shook the thoughts out of his mind. In the end, there was nothing more that he could do for his friend. He was dead and nothing was ever going to change that. He needed to refocus his attention on doing something now, doing something to help Penny while he still had the chance. He might be too late to save Dr. Gelcro, but he was not too late to help out Penny. And Mint and Rudy and whoever else was being menaced by Sandra.

He narrowed his eyes into slits. It was time to take action.

“Taima...come with me.” Dr. Crobat spoke, finally breaking the silence that fell between them. He could see Taima shift a little, watching him, waiting for further instructions. “I need you to...”

He didn’t have a chance to finish when he saw some kind of blur to his side. He turned his head over quickly, hearing a few cracks of pebbles as something stepped forward. He could see a shape moving along the fallen chunk of wall situated not far from him and the other two. He narrowed his eyes, unsure if he recognized who this was at first.

Then, from out behind the rubble, a large figure emerged. And it took him only seconds to recognize who it was.

“B-Bell...” Dr. Crobat choked.

Immediately, Taima was on the offensive. “What do you want..?” This question was intermixed with Ripclaw’s hissing, who looked less pleased to see the bull zoner standing before them.

Bell did not speak a word. He just...stood there for several moments, his glaring eyes focused upon them. He seemed to regard them in an almost cold fashion, his teeth gritted slightly as though he were disgusted with them. His whip-like tail moved about from side to side rapidly, as though some kind of wind were pushing it about.

For a while, there was nothing but silence. The tension between Bell and Dr. Crobat and his allies grew. It was like a thickness that just kept getting larger, to the point where he was amazed that they could even still breathe. He found it difficult to move his eyes away from the bull’s gaze, and he thought that he could almost see the aura radiating around him. An aura filled with anger and insanity.

But instead of snapping at them like he expected, instead of attempting to chew them apart or try to go forward with whatever his plans had been, Bell just..remained where he was in silence. There was something else flickering in his eyes as well. Something that did not seem to be that of insanity, but instead...something more like...remorse...?

Dr. Crobat didn’t have much time to think about that before Bell had begun to speak.

“Fancy meeting you here...” He spoke. His voice was low and growly. Yet even then, there was still a tinge of...something on his voice. “Ain’t this my lucky day...?”

Ripclaw bared her sharp teeth at him and let out a loud growl. She snapped her jaws at him, a loud clanging sound giving out. Bell was not fazed by this.

“She is right, you know.” Taima growled. “You are an untrustworthy piece of...”

“Hold it.” Dr. Crobat raised his hand up, stopping Taima before he could continue. Though Taima looked irritated and confused, he did nothing to interrupt the bird from speaking. “Just...why are you here?” He asked carefully, tilting his head to the side. “I would have thought that...”

Bell growled through his clenched teeth. “Look, I know what it might look like. And I know how you must feel about me. But trust me... I did not plan for this.” He motioned to himself. “This is not what I wanted.” He used his hand to indicate where Sandra was. “I did not think that this would have...”

“What, you didn’t think that things could have gone out of control?!” Dr. Crobat found himself screeching at him. “How could you have done something like this?! How could you have taken such a stupid risk?!”

“I know, I know...” Bell nodded his head. “And you have every right to be angry at me. But..” Bell looked over at where Sandra was. “Do you mind scolding me after this problem is taken care of...?”

Dr. Crobat and Taima looked at each other. Neither of them were entirely sure about this. And it was easy to tell that Ripclaw did not sound pleased either. How could they trust Bell with this? How could they give him a chance after what he had done? If it was truly his plans that resulted in all of this...

But at the same time, if he really was trying to make amends, if he was attempting to right at least some of the wrong that he made, then shouldn’t they at least give him a chance to do that? Shouldn’t they offer him a chance to try to make things better? Shouldn’t they at least let him try? If he tried anything funny, they would be right there to stop him. And well, in the end, if he truly wanted Skrawl to rule over this place...

...well, having Sandra cause so much destruction would kind of get in the way of all that, wouldn’t it?

“All right then...” Dr. Crobat spoke. He used a firm tone of voice, a silent way of telling Bell that he had better be willing to cooperate. “Then a temporary truce, then?”

Bell paused for a moment. Then he nodded his head one. “Truce.” He reached forward and shook Dr. Crobat’s outstretched wing hand. Then he took a step back and to the side. “She would like to help as well.”

Dr. Crobat widened his eyes as she saw the small, familiar reptilian form emerge from behind Bell. “Mosaic...?”

sss

Hearing Penny scream was music to Sandra’s ears. She gripped onto her limb even harder, pressing her claws against her flesh more firmly. She gave another swift yank. Not enough to actually tear the limb off or anything. But enough to make Penny scream loudly.

It was quite amusing the way Penny attempted to fight back. She would squirm about in her paw, trying to get herself free. Of course, she was too weak to free herself from her current situation. It was fun just watching Penny try to get herself out. Did she really think she was going to get too far? Did she think that she stood a chance?

(This is all quite fun.) Sandra cooed softly as she tilted her head in one direction. Her tail swooshed around. (You are quite the entertainment. It is just too bad that I am going to have to put an end to all of this. I do wonder..) Sandra lowered her head closer. (How long will you live with a missing limb?)

Penny stared up at her in horror. She squirmed about, twisting from side to side. “No..please, don’t!” Penny cried out to her. “Y-You can’t...!”

Sandra merely beamed at this, as if she had heard the most terrific of all news. (Oh, you are saying I can take off your arm? Oh how very generous of you...) Sandra watched as Penny’s eyes widened further in utter horror. She licked her jaws slowly, anticipating Penny’s scream for when she finally went through with it. (It won’t take that long...)

Sandra listened to Penny’s continued protests as she regarded her tremblign, struggling form. She had spent the last several moments just playing with her. She hadn’t really made much of an attempt to hurt her that badly; she had only wanted to have a little bit of fun.

But she knew that she could not waste that much more time. She had a feeling that Rudy was around here somewhere. She did not believe for a second that Rudy had abandoned his friends. That did not seem like him. He was probably hiding somewhere, waiting to take action. She clenched her teeth tightly. She could not allow him a chance to make a move.

Then there was Mint. He was still on the ground, but for how long? Surely he would get up soon and try to fight back. And with the magic chalk, he would be quite the threat. Unlike Rudy, he could actually run and manuever himself. It would be quite difficult to stop him. She had been lucky to be able to strike him when she did, preventing him from being able to take any further action against her for a while. But how long would that last?

Sandra turned her gaze back upon Penny. This had been a lot of fun, and she wished that she could continue. But...no, she could not draw this out any further. It was time to take the next step in her plan. She gave a quick chortle. She hoped that Penny was ready, otherwise... Well, that would be just too bad, right?

(Little dear Penny... You do not need to worry. I will end this tense situation for you.) Sandra once more tightened her trip on Penny. Her two large claws pressed firmly against Penny’s arm, squeezing it to the point of near breakage. (It will be a simple task.)

“Wait! No!” Penny screamed at her. She tugged at her arm as hard as she could. She flinched at the pain that this was causing her, only to keep pulling on her arm anyway. “Let me go! You can’t do this to me!”

(Such generic little statements...) Sandra teased Penny. She bared her teeth a little, showing the sharp tips. (You sound so cute when you make them. I wonder how long you can keep making them when I rip out your little arm here.)

“No!”

(Oh yes... I imagine it will only take one little tug...)

“P-Please...don’t...”

Sandra just chuckled at this, licking her tongue along her armored mouth. She would love to continue this little game of cat and mouse. She would love to hear more of what Penny said. But... no, it was time to take action now. She could feel her head aching and body partially twitching in excitement for the screams that would surely follow.

(Time for the show to begin.) Sandra raised Penny slightly up and she bent her neck in an S shape. She kept both front limbs raised up, holding onto Penny both gently and firmly. She kept her digits gripped tightly around Penny’s arm. (Are you ready?)

She gave a smirk as Penny shook her head rapidly, pleading with her not to go through with it. Sandra just shrugged it all off and she pretended as though Penny had never said anything. She then turned her focus onto Penny’s arm. She grinned broadly, her yellow eye glinting with anticipation and a bit of insanity. Then, tensing up her muscles, getting an even tighter grip, she began to tug.

Suddenly, there was a loud, booming scream. And it was not Penny making it. To her shock, Sandra herself was the one who had erupted in the scream, a seering pain suddenly shooking through her thick, muscular neck. She swayed her head about to one side and then to the other. She could feel something in her neck, pain radiating from where it all began.

Then she felt something warm.... Something had penetrated her neck.

Her remaining eye widening, Sandra turned her head to one side and tried to look down along her neck to see what had happened. It was difficult as she could not bend her neck far enough to get a good view. But she could see...something sticking out. Some kind of arrow? She clenched her teeth at this. Who had dared...

Sandra turned her head, keeping the arrow in tact, and looked at the direction it had come from. She followed the trajectory in her mind, and she soon focused on the spot where it had to have originated. She narrowed her eyes, her pupil turning into a slit. She began to make her way over, her large feet pounding against the ground.

There was some kind of...thing here. It was quite strange. It did not seem like it was part of the area around it. Indeed, this thing seemed to be made of a different material. Once that she did not see anywhere else around her. It was almost as though someone had just randomly stuck it here for some reason. Though for what reason, she couldn’t really tell.

Then she happened to spot the hole there. A little opening, and she could see the faintest bit of something there. Her eyes widened as she realized that this was where the arrow had been fired. Narrowing her eyes and letting out a growl, she raised her foot up and she stomped down.

In seconds, her foot smashed through the shield, crumbling it into several pieces on the ground. She could hear a shout of horror and shock at this, and the flash of something moving back fast. It had taken her a little while to see who it was, but as the dust cleared, she could easily make out the details of a very familiar looking wheelchair...

(Rudy Tabootie...) Sandra spoke as she glared down at the boy. (Of course, I should have known that it was you...)

“Rudy!” Penny pushed against Sandra’s grasp, forming a fist with one hand and striking against Sandra’s large fist. “G-Get out of here! Run!”

Sandra couldn’t help but laugh. She looked over at Penny with her remaining eye. (Oh but he can’t run, now can he...?)

Penny stared at her in horror, licking her lips slowly. “Please...let him go, Sandra...”

The purple dragon just chuckled at this before turning her attention back to where Rudy laid. She stared at his fallen form, amused by the predicament that he had placed himself in. If he had just stayed out of this like a good little boy, he wouldn’t be in this mess. He had only himself to blame, even if he will act like this is not the case.

Rudy couldn’t go anywhere, anyway. Not like this. The force of her strike had caused him to fall against his side, the wheelchair toppling over. Rudy’s useless legs were bent awkwardly, and it looked like at least one of them was broken. Not like this bothered him; he could barely feel his legs. But it was clear that, with the wheelchair pushing him into the ground, that his shoulder was starting to ache.

Sandra pondered just what she should do. She was half tempted to keep going on with Penny. Or perhaps she should figure out a way to punish Rudy. It was clear that he needed more discipline. That is, if he was going to stick around and be anything more than he already was. There was plenty for him if he just...

Sandra screeched as Rudy was able to pull the trigger to his weapon again. A platform with stretching strings that held a seemingly neverending supply of arrows. She looked down, noting the additional blood that was trinkling down the front of her neck. She looked back at Rudy and hissed, snorting out of her nostrils.

(Is that the way you want to play it? Okay then, fine...) Sandra looked at Penny before deciding to release her. She threw her in the ground as hard as she could, ignoring her screams. As Penny landed in the rubble painfully, Sandra reached towards Rudy. (I can play that little game...)

Even when Rudy attempted to bite her in self defense, it was not enough to stop the dragon from grabbing onto the boy. She yanked him upwards into the air, ripping him easily out of the wheelchair. Rudy flinched and yelped as the belt snapped from the force, likely leaving a bruise behind. She lifted him several feet into the air, watching as he struggled against her grasp. It wasn’t as lively given that he was paralyzed, but still amusing to watch.

Then, without warning, she opened her jaws and she bit down onto his leg. Rudy released a scream, not out of pain, but out of panic. Sandra could taste Rudy’s blood entering her mouth. She could feel it burning her tongue and she was certain some steam was rising out from this. Yet, despite the pain, she still bit down harder, feeling her teeth collide with the bone. She continued to tighten her jaw around her leg until she could feel the bone crack and give way. Keeping her jaws closed around the leg, she gave Rudy one last smirk before she ripped away his leg, a loud snap echoing across the area.

Blood rapidly pooled out of the wound, a bony stub showing where the remainder of the leg happened to be. Sandra then allowed Rudy to fall to the ground in a heap. She dropped his leg down beside him, landing not far away. Rudy looked over and his green eyes instantly locked onto the limb that had once been part of him. He instantly froze.

(Such a shame...) Sandra spoke, acting as if this was all just a casual thing. (Had you only listened to me...)

She didn’t bother finishing. She could hear Penny screaming and rushing over to Rudy’s side. Sandra watched as the girl knelt before Rudy and grabbed onto him, pleading with him to be okay. Sandra merely narrowed her eyes at this and scoffed. It wasn’t like the boy needed that leg to be useful, anyway.

Sandra remained utterly silent as Penny struggled to stop the bleeding. She had quickly drawn a makeshift tourniquet and was securing it around his leg tightly, at the groin where it began. But even as she did this, the blood continued to poor rapidly from the open wound, leaking onto the ground and starting to partially dissolve it. Sandra narrowed her eyes at this. Perhaps she might have gotten a little carried away. The boy wouldn’t be useful if he were dead..

Oh well, she still had two other options. Mint and Penny could make good replacements in case Rudy died. And she only needed one of them.... It was decided. If Rudy died, Mint would be the replacement. And she would deal with Penny shortly after Rudy died. She just needed to take care that Mint would not perish. Having a creator would be quite important if she was ever going to...

Wait, how was she going to work out the feeding thing? She still hadn’t really figured that part out. She had so busy with other things that she hadn’t considered how she would keep her human captive alive. Well, she was certain she would figure something out soon enough anyway. She just had to give it some time. Perhaps once things settled down, she could think more clearly and she would be able to work it out.

She hissed when something struck against her, whizzing past and into the air. She could feel the stinging of something sharp having cut through her neck, feeling more blood drip out of it. She turned her head around, expecting to see Mint standing there, or some foolish citizen trying to stop her.

Well, she got it right the first time. Mint had finally recovered from the blow that she had given him and now he stood there, his fists clenched tightly, one holding the magic chalk while the other had something pointed directly at her. A gun of some sort.

Sandra narrowed her eyes at this, trying to think of what she could do. She turned her head slightly so that she could look at where Penny and Rudy were. She imagined that they were going to be busy for a while. So she could focus her full attention on Mint for a short time. Hissing softly, she began to make her way over towards her creator.

She noticed how Mint stayed firmly planted. Even though he was in some obvious pain, he didn’t do anything to try to back down or anything. He just kind of...glared at her, his eyes narrowed into slits. He pointed the weapon at her, aiming right for her neck. Not that she was concerned; none of the attacks hit anything vital and it would take a lot more before she’d bleed to death. Still, she had to make sure that he didn’t try to harm her too quickly.

And she had an easy solution for that.

Opening her jaws, she released another blast of white fire, this one heading straight for Mint. Just as she had predicted, the teenaged human dropped his weapon in shock as he jumped to the side. He still had the magic chalk, but with the weapon gone, that allowed her to act.

Mint let out a cry of pain when her massive foot struck down upon him. Her weight kept him down, preventing him from getting back up. Mint squirmed about, shouting at her, demanding to be let go. All Sandra could do was smirk at him. It was amusing to watch her creator try so hard to get away.

(My, my... Look at what we have here. I see that my creator had decided to join in the fun after all...) Sandra spoke in a mocking tone. She could feel him thrashin about underneath her front foot. (Hmm, and such a feisty little creator you are. Trying to take me down with your pathetic weapon. Perhaps I need to teach you a lesson?)

Mint looked up at her, his eyes showing some hint of fear, like she had hoped. But then he curled his lips up into a snarl and he shouted, “Fuck you!”

Sandra’s eye widened at this. Then she chuckled. (And what a tongue you have. Maybe I should tear it out?) Sandra motioned one of her digits against his head a little. (Would that hurt you, my little creator? I mean, I don’t think you will need your tongue for creating anything. Is it really that vital?)

Mint looked up at her in utter horror. His squirming about increased. He was now violently thrashing, trying to free himself, letting out loud screams for help. But all he ended up doing was making himself look quite adorable. She licked her lips slowly in anticipation. Then, slowly, she began to lead her head in.

sss

No... No, this couldn't be happening. This isn't what he had planned on. No...

Rudy stared at his severed leg, laying not far from him. He couldn't tear his eyes away from it. Even though the sight of it was causing his heart to race, his breathing to get fast and raspy, there was just...no way for him to move his gaze away. It was almost as if he were entranced by the torn limb, as though his mind were physically glued to it. And no matter what he tried, he found it was impossible to look away.

He was only vaguely aware of Penny holding onto him. He could barely sense that she was there, tying something around his leg to…what...? Stop the bleeding? That had to be it, though his increasingly groggy mind had difficult fully processing this. Only fear was processible, and right now, fear was telling him to flee. To run from the danger...and yet he could not. He could not move his legs. Panic started to spread through his mind at this.

Why did he have to be so stupid...? Why did he have to do something like this...? Why didn't he take better precautions? Why didn't he plan better? Why didn't he...

Even through his pain and fear, he could still register enough to realize that it was his own fault he had gotten into this mess. He should have stuck with his initial plan. He should have just created that distraction device like he had wanted. He should have executed a diversion without drawing attention to himself. He should have been a lot more careful... And yet he had allowed himself to be overtaken by his emotions. He had allowed himself to get drawn into the fury, and he had allowed his anger to get the better of him.

He had seen what Sandra was about to do with Penny. He had seen the way she was treating her. He had seen Penny's fear, Sandra's cruelty. He had heard Penny's screams and the way that Sandra laughed in response to them. The whole thing had filled him up with rage, and he could feel his stomach burning, churning inside of him.

A feeling of nausea had spread throughout his body, clinging to the back of his throat, making him want to open his mouth and empty his stomach contents. He could remember that feeling all too well, like an achey afterimage burn in the back of his mind

And because of that, he had gotten too hasty. He moved too fast. He skipped that distraction altogether He just wanted to stop Sandra. He just wanted to get her to let go of Penny, to leave her alone. And due to that, he was not as cautious as he should have been. His idiocy had screwed this whole thing up...

Now he had lost a leg. He had felt no pain, but he felt the pressure and he could practically hear the blood dripping out from the wound. He could feel his body rapidly growing weaker as his blood continued to seep out. He could feel his heart start to spin faster and faster, the grogginess overtaking him further.

He could feel his vision start to blur. Even the leg before him became more and more indiscernable as time went on. He slowly blinked his eyes, hoping that, somehow, that would correct his vision. But instead, his vision just continued to get blurrier and darker.

He could hear a faint voice calling out to him. Distant and echoy, as though someone from far away were trying to communicate with him. Rudy let out a soft groan as he lifted his head up and looked at where the sound seemed like it was coming from. He blinked his eyes a few times as he could see Penny...or at least, he thought it looked like Penny. At this point, his vision was just so blurred, it looked as if he was trying to see through a wavy glass filled with sloshing water. No matter how many times he blinked his eyes, hoping things would clear up, it just made his vision worse and worse.

He couldn't even made out the words at this point. They were too distorted, too confusing... It was as if Penny's voice had been put through a blender. The only thing that he could make out for certain was that she was calling out in concern. She was clearly worried about him; her tone gave this away easily.

Was she trying to keep him from going to sleep? Yes, that was possibly it. Rudy could not allow himself to fall asleep. His weakening mind, despite the lack of energy, knew this would be a bad thing. But... Ugh...he was just so tired... Could he really stay up for that much longer? Could he really handle going through with staying up? How long would he need to keep his eyes open for? How long until it was safe to go to sleep?

Rudy stared at his leg once more. This time, he could not feel himself entranced or panicked. He could barely make out the details of his leg. It was just sort of...there, like some kind of lost toy. He could feel his lips curling back into a slight smile and he released a bit of a chuckle.

He thought he could hear Penny gasp in horror at that, but for some reason, he didn't care. He just stared out at where his leg was and he lifted up his arm. Slowly he moved his arm out, attempting to reach for his leg, his arm trembling and shaky.

Then he took in a sharp, shuddering breath. He felt a sharp…sensation of some sort sweeping through his body. It startled him at first, but only just very slightly, like it were nothing more than a mere passing brush. He then felt a sharp pain in his skull. Quick yet stabbing, and it caused him to let out a small, subdued yelp, his body stiffening up. He thought he could hear Penny yell at him again about staying awake, but he… he just could not keep his eyes open any longer.

As he closed his eyes, he could feel a slightly burning sensation, as though someone had taken a lighter and put it on fire. Yet somehow, despite that, it still kind of felt...good. Almost relaxing in a way. This was immediately met with a few small tears emitting out of his eyes. He could feel the darkness around him growing stronger, and he could feel his mind start to shut down.

Heh...this must have been what it was like for Mint. This must be what he had gone through when he lost half his leg to Skrawl. This pain, this fear yet growing tranquility, the dizziness, the confusion... All of this is what Mint must have gone through or something similar. And now....it was his turn.

Rudy's body suddenly gave a shiver and just collapsed, going limp in Penny's arms. Her panicked voice just echoed and faded away in the distance. His already dark vision was going black as he lost the ability to see, and everything just because silent.

sss

Penny's eyes widened in horror as she watched Rudy collapse on the ground. She took in several deep breaths, trying to control her breathing. She could feel an icy cold sensation shooting through her, burning at her quivering fingertips. She could feel her heart racing so hard against her chest, ready to just explode. Her eyes stayed glued on Rudy's still form, hoping, praying that he could wake up.

But when Rudy did not move, when he showed no signs of waking up, Penny could feel her heart practically burst open inside of her chest. She laid her hand down on his shoulder and she gently shook him. Rudy's body moved with the movements of her hand, and yet he still did not stir.

He just laid there, like he was nothing more than a sack of potatoes or an oversized doll that she had just found. Rudy just...would not move. His head was turned to the side and his eyes remained shut. His mouth was partially open and it looked as if he was still breathing.

But that was not enough to comfort her. She needed him to be awake. The longer he remained like this, the more likely that he was just...never going to wake up. He had lost too much blood. His body was in too weak of a state. She had secured the tourniquet on him the best that she could, and it did appear as though the bleeding had stopped. But...had she been too late...?

Penny continued to stare at Rudy's unmoving face, silently pleading for him to wake up. Please...he had to be okay... He had to get up...please... But he just wasn't moving, and who knows how long he would be breathing for...

Penny tried to get that thought out of her mind. She tried to be more optimistic. Rudy would be okay. She had to believe that. He would soon wake up and everything would be fine. She just...had to give him time, that's all. That's all Rudy needed. A little bit of time. Then he'd open his eyes and it would be as if nothing at all had happened. She just had to keep believing that...

Penny flinched when she heard a loud scream of pain. She looked over and her gut twisted as she saw Mint pinned to the ground. Sandra had just pushed him down harder, to the point where his back had nearly suffered damage. Penny could feel a wash of burning, cold horror go through his body. She watched helplessly as Mint squirmed frantically underneath Sandra's weight, unable to do anything to get away.

Penny wanted to help. Oh gawd, how she wanted to help. She could not just leave Mint there... But she couldn't abandon Rudy, either. She looked down at his still, quiet form. Rudy was completely helpless here. He could do nothing to escape. If Sandra decided to come back for him...

Penny bit her lip. What was she going to do now? What should she decide on? Should she leave Rudy here with some sort of shield while she went to help Mint? Should she just sit here and pray that Mint can free himself? Should she wait for their backup to come out? They did still have Dr. Crobat, Taima, and Ripclaw. They could come over and assist Mint and...

But what if it still failed? What if they weren't able to stop the dragon? What if they...

Penny narrowed her eyes softly. She realized that a decision needed to be made and fast. She could not stand around and do nothing. Even if they had backup, she was still here and she could take action. And besides, what if something had happened to the others that they could not help? Would it really be all that fair to just..wait and hope that Mint would be fine?

No, it would not. She had the magic chalk. She could do something. And with that in mind, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of magic chalk.

Penny paused for a moment. She realized that she didn’t know exactly what she should draw to help Mint. She gritted her teeth tightly, struggling to think of something that could be used. She needed something that could get him away from that situation while at the same time prevent Sandra from being able to complicate things.

She narrowed her eyes and she studied the area before her. She could feel her mind’s gears turning quickly, attempting to come up with a solution as quickly as she could. She needed to take action soon, before Rudy... She shook her head, struggling not to think about it. She got her magic chalk ready and, without much further hesitation, she began to draw.

She didn’t know how long it took her. Was it just a few seconds? Or was it longer? Either way, she was still rapidly filling the air with lines, just like she had before. But this time, with a completely different purpose. This time, she was a bit more focused, a bit more deliberate. She believed she had figured out exactly what she could do to stop Sandra. Or at the very least, delay her for a time so that Mint could get away.

This time, there wasn’t much guilt. She was not creating a living creature for this. She didn’t think that she could forgive herself if she ever did that. No, instead, she was going to create something to confuse the large, purple dragon. She knew that Sandra did not like being made a fool of, so they would have to leave as soon as possible. But hopefully, this would buy them at least a little bit of time. Hopefully...

Soon she had the device finished and ready to be used. She held it in her hands, staring at it intently. A small copter with a microphone on it and with the ability to camouflage itself. It was small and simple, and it surely could not defend itself against Sandra. But it did not need to; all it needed to do was just distract Sandra for a little bit. All she needed, all her friends needed, was just a few minutes at least. They could draw something to get away with and they could get out of here and...

But what about the rest of ChalkZone City?

Penny frowned softly, realizing that they all couldn’t just leave. She bit her lip, struggling to think of what could be done. She looked down at Rudy. He needed to be taken out of here. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Perhaps if she found a way to get him back into the Real World, then she and Mint could remain behind and fight Sandra.

With this in the back of her mind, she turned to the helicopter and she began to twirl the wing blades around, attempting to get it to start spinning. It took only seconds for the blades to begin spinning at a very rapid rate, a whirring sound filling the air. Penny then moved her pointer finger towards where she could see the buttons. She pushed a couple of them, hearing them click. And then, she let go.

Penny watched as the small helicopter took off into the air. No longer in need of her input, it automatically shifted its color scheme. At first, it was a rainbow of colors flashing rapidly. Then it started to fade and dissipate, and soon the device disappeared completely.

Even if she could no longer see it, Penny could hear it whizzing away, heading directly towards Sandra. Penny hoped that this would be enough to distract Sandra. Keeping her grip good and tight on Rudy, holding his unconscious body against her as the helicopter went about its business, she watched to see just how things were going to play out.

Sandra was still focused on Mint. Her narrowed eyes glared at him intently. It seemed that Mint had said something to upset her. Or perhaps he had managed to throw dust at her face or something. Either way, the large dragon did not look very pleased with him, her teeth gritted and tail swishing about. She looked like she was ready to tear off his head or something, yet something was stopping her from doing so. Penny wasn’t sure why this was, but it did give the helicopter that she drew more time to get over there.

Sandra pulled her head back, snapping her jaws once. Then she kept them open, pulling her jaws apart and exposing her sharp teeth. Drool dripped down from the corners of her jaws. Her remaining yellow eye regarded Mint coldly, nearly giving off a glow. She tensed the muscles in her neck and then she started to move her head forward...

Then she froze, her body stiffening, at the sound of something shouting at her from the distance.

“You give a bad name to promise makers!”

At this, Sandra let out a low growl. She slowly turned her head from side to side. Her face was plastered with anger, but also a bit quizzical as well as she tried to find whoever had said that. (Who is there? Show yourself!)

“You know nothing about promises!”

Sandra let out a loud hiss at this. She clanged her jaws together a few times. She moved her head around, turning her massive neck in one direction. She stared out ahead, attempting to try to find the culprit. But no matter which way she looked, she could not find anyone.

There was obvious frustration in Sandra’s eyes and body language. A lot of tension and shaking, her teeth gnashing together, growls and hisses constantly emitting. She looked ready to just charge at whoever was saying that...and yet, as Penny realized, without an obvious target, it was hard for Sandra to decide when and how to attack. She had a hard time launching an attack on something that she could not see herself.

“You know that there is no honor in eating a friend!”

Sandra shook her massive head at this, her teeth glinting in the light of the Day Zone sun. (And you...whoever you are....have no idea what...)

“You destroy the purpose of promises!”

While Sandra was usually a calculating individual, the moment that her beliefs were challenged in a way, she seemed to lose her abillity to keep herself composed. Penny had seen this in how she reacted to Rudy’s reveal of breaking a promise years ago. And now she was seeing a similiar reaction in Sandra now.

All of a sudden, she just..looked so feral and vicious. She bared her teeth and growled. She looked like she was about to explode. She was huffing and puffing, her chest expanding and deflating rapidly. She snorted heavily, her tail whipping about wildly. No matter what she did or tried, she could not control herself. Then she soon opened her mouth and she released her fury in a single, loud, screeching roar.

“Screee!”

Then, seconds later, Sandra appeared to forget about Mint. Her mind was too preoccupied at the moment, emotions racing through her, momentarily taking away her ability to be rational. Mint was no longer a priority in her mind; finding the ‘filthy zoner who dare defile her beliefs’ took over from that. She raced off in one direction, her heavy footfalls pounding against the ground.

sss

Mint watched in utter shock as Sandra turned her attention away from him, focusing now on trying to find the location of...whatever voice that was. Her massive form disappeared further into the city, knocking over buildings as she tried to get at that voice. Mint licked his lips nervously. He hoped that there was no one in those places...

He then felt a jab of confusion. That voice... It didn’t sound quite normal. Something about it was off. He just...could not pinpoint exactly what it was. It was almost as if it were robotic, spoken through the tape, but..yet not. It was so confusing to try to explain.

But in the end, it did not sound like he would expect. ChalkZone City was filled with all sorts of people and different voices and looks and for him to think that this voice sounded...artificial, that was quite feat. He didn’t even know how he thought it sounded fake; it just did. Something about it just did not seem like the typical zoner voice.

Well, at least she was no longer holding him down. He could feel his fear wash a way a little, a sense of relief striking him. He struggled to get up to his feet, but his body wobbled from side to side. He could feel a bit of dizziness strike him and he had to hold onto his head. It seemed that the adrenaline that kicked in moments ago hadn’t exactly worn off yet; he could feel his body start to tremble hard.

He eventually managed to keep up on his feet at least. He had to use one of the rocky debris nearby to hold himself up. Other than that, he was...fine. Yes, he was fine.. He took in a few trembling breaths as he tried to control himself. In and out his breaths went, exhaling slowly. He turned his attention back to where Sandra had disappeared into.

She was still in view. She had gone several yards away, though the exact distance wasn’t really known. She was still visible from where he was due to her massive form. She had reared up onto her hind legs and started to strike out at whatever she thought she saw or heard.

Mint couldn’t help but flinch. He again wondered if any other zoners were getting hurt. While he appreciated the help of..whoever’s idea this was, he still wished that they hadn’t been so reckless. This could result in a lot more people getting hurt than actually being saved. He didn’t want to think of what might happen if...

“Mint!” He could hear Penny calling out to him. He turned his head over and he could see Penny waving at him. She was still knelt down beside Rudy. “Come on! Get over here while she’s distracted!”

Mint blinked a few times. While she was distracted... The way Penny had said that, it sounded almost as if...she was the one who... No, she couldn’t have been that reckless, right? No way that she would...

Mint’s mental voice trailed off upon looking down at Rudy. He took quick notice that he...wasn’t moving at all. Well he was still breathing, but it was so shallow. Then, upon further inspection, he could see that his eyes were closed. He was.... Oh no.. Mint took in a sharp intake of breath. Had Rudy fallen unconscious? But how...? He didn’t see...

Mint didn’t hesitate any further and he rushed over as quickly as he could. He wobbled and stumbled a little bit along the way. His mind had not yet fully recovered enough to be able to handle such sudden and quick movement. But he didn’t care; he just kept moving until he reached Penny’s side.

“What is it? What’s wrong with Rudy?” Mint called out, his head spinning as he stared down at his unconscious form. Mint could feel his body trembling at the sight of his friend in such a state. “Why is he...?”

“Sandra ripped off his leg.” Penny told him, her voice laced with anger and despair.

Mint could feel his heart twist painfully at this. “What...?” He whispered in disbelief. He shook his head slowly. “Th-That’s not...” Upon seeing Penny frown and point in one direction, Mint slowly, shakingly, turned his head. And he immediately froze in cold horror at what he saw.

There, laying on the ground, was Rudy’s leg. A part of his leg. Judging from the angle of the foot, it was his right one. It had been bitten off in the middle of his thigh, breaking right through the thick bone and blood vessels. The area was adorned with torn flesh and clothing and a few bits of shattered bone. Blood caked around the area, completing the rather gruesome picture.

Mint couldn’t tear his eyes away from this. He couldn’t stop his breathing from rapidly increasing. He couldn’t stop his heart feeling like it wanted to explode inside of his chest. There was nothing he could do to stop the horrific flashbacks from echoing inside of his skull. White flash after white flash, he could see himself on the ground, missing a part of his leg, blood spilling out onto the ground.

And now Rudy was the one who...

Oh no... Oh gawd, no...

Mint licked his lips slowly. “Wh-What do we do...?” He noticed that the bleeding appeared to have been slowed by what looked to be a tourniquet. But who knows if that would be good enough? “What do we...”

“We need to get Rudy out of here.” Penny said sternly. “We need to find some way to secure him and get him to safety.” She looked over at where Sandra was still rampaging. “Before Sandra sees right through my distraction and comes for..”

“Wait...” Mint cut her off, staring at Penny in utter shock. “That was you..?”

Penny looked at Mint, frozen for a few moments. Then, licking her lips ones, she nodded her head affirmitively. “I...had to get her away from you somehow...”

“Y-You...you really had...” Mint whispered softly.

“Mint, I didn’t have much of a choice. If I didn’t distract Sandra, she would have torn you apart!” Penny spoke, her voice taking on a pleading tone. She widened her eyes a little, and Mint could see the torrent of emotions rushing through. “Please...let’s just focus on getting Rudy to safety. You can yell at me all you want later.”

Mint was at a crossroads in his mind. A part of him just...didn’t know what to think. He didn’t know if he felt comfortable knowing that Penny had done that on purpose, that she really had caused such a dangerous distraction. Why couldn’t she have chosen a safer route? Weren’t there alternative options? Didn’t she realize just what she had done? Did she have no clue that she had just endangered so many zoners? Didn’t she...

Then again, did she really have a choice? Mint recalled that he was not in that good of a position before. He wouldn’t have been able to escape on his own. Penny had been fearing for him and they both knew Sandra would have killed him if she hadn’t distracted him. And that would have been one less creator...no, two, counting the fact that Rudy was unconscious.

In the end, perhaps the distraction was for the greater good. As much as it pains him, distracting Sandra like this, even if it potentially could hurt more zoners, was the best path to take. At least there were still two creators who could take her down, and Rudy could get to safety.

Mint breathed out slowly, feeling himself relax. “Y-Yeah.... You’re right..” He spoke softly. He still felt a little bitter about the whole thing, but in the end... Yeah, he knew that Penny was right. He glanced down at Rudy, biting his lip. “So..how do we get him out of here?”

Penny opened her mouth to speak. “I don’t...”

“Allow me to answer that.”

The two humans stiffened at that voice. A wave of emotion rushed through them and they could feel their guts twisting up. No, no him...anyone but him... Slowly, they turned their heads over, and they had to resist growling when they saw Bell standing there.

Mint narrowed his eyes into slits, growling softly. This bull zoner had some nerve showing his face to him. Especially after how he had treated Rudy. What the hell did he want, anyway?

..then again, he had helped them earlier, did he not? He did stop Sandra from attacking them, correct? Even if Mint didn’t really know if Bell had good intentions or not, he was still an ally against Sandra. And honestly, he’d much rather deal with him than deal with Sandra later on. Perhaps he and Penny should give the bull zoner a listen.

“Hello, Bell...” Mint began to speak, noticing that Penny was having a hard time thinking of a response. “What is this answer you speak of?”

Bell stood there for a couple of seconds. His face seemed to shift between uncertainty and something else that he couldn’t quite identify. Then the bull zoner took a small step forward, reaching his hooved hand out. “I will take the cripple to safety.”

Mint and Penny immediately tensed up, their eyes narrowing into slits. “You will do what...?”

“I will take the crip....” Bell stopped himself, widening his eyes briefly. He looked from Penny to Mint and he lowered his hand, placing his hand against his forehead and letting out a soft groan. “I mean... I will take Rudy to safety.”

Mint narrowed his eyes. He moved himself a little closer to Rudy, keeping his teeth clenched. Despite the fact that he did help them before, a part of him just...could not bring himself to fully trust Bell. The bull calling his friend a cripple again..and almost doing so a third time... That just didn’t feel right to him.

“Why should...” Mint started to say, but he never got a chance to finish.

A loud roar filled the air, echoing across the ground. He could feel the floor beneath his feet trembling as something big and heavy came their way. He could hear the sound of something metallic hitting the ground, a small explosion erupting it into flames. He and Penny looked over and they could see the remains of the small helicopter on the ground. Then a large purple foot stomped down upon it.

With a flash and blur of light beige coloration, an echoing of a loud scream, something else fell into the ground. This time, it was a bit of debris or part of a machine. It was Taima and two animal zoners, which were identified as Mosaic and Ripclaw. In a slow motion view that Mint thought he could detect, he could see Sandra ramming her nasal horn against them, causing them to fall into the ground, rolling away painfully. He thought he could hear a sickening crunch.

Then, as Mint slowly turned around, he could see that Sandra had come upon him, her mouth split wide open. It was as if she had connected the helicopter distraction to him. In a matter of seconds, the set of jaws had clamped around his body, blood pouring out, he was lifted up into the air, letting out a scream as Sandra began to violently shake him.

Mint stood there, stunned, unable to move for several seconds. A part of him had trouble believing that this really was happening. It had all occurred just way too fast. Then he managed to shake his head and he lifted up his piece of magic chalk and he rushed over to help.

“Hang on!” He shouted as he began to draw something.

Chapter 49: Out Of Nowhere

You are a chain reaction that never gets old!
-Just Gold, MandoPony





Sandra threw her head back and released another roar. She could feel her heart racing against her chest, threatening to burst through. She struggled to keep control of herself. She tried to force herself to relax. She fought and struggled against herself. She could feel her legs wobbling, threatening to give way and make her fall down. How she even managed to stay up this long, she had no idea.

She was only partially aware of the brats and their stupid allies watching her. She was only a little aware of the fact that they were staring at her as though she were purposely putting on a spectacle. She could very faintly hear confused comments from them.

But she hardly paid any attention to that. She was focused entirely on trying to control herself. She had no idea what was going on. She was not in pain exactly. But it just felt as though she were losing control over herself. She whipped her head from side to side as she fought the best that she could against this. She just...could not fully understand why this was happening, or why it happened so suddenly. It was as though someone had suddenly seized her and...

She suddenly found that she could no longer move at all. Her body was frozen in this present position, one leg raised up and her tail curved. She had her wings partially spread out, hoping to begin flying. Yet she could not take off. Even the act of closing her mouth or moving her eyes became impossible. She had become a living statue.

She could feel her mind exploding in horror at this. She could feel her heart pounding even faster against her stiffened body. She could feel a rush of adrenaline go through, swirling around inside and burning up her internal guts. For the first time since she had gotten this form, she felt...terrified.

She was so stiff and she thought she felt so hard... Would she end up breaking if she were to be toppled over? Such a thing was unlikely to happen, given her weight. But she could not help but fear something like that happening. For some reason, she just felt so light even though this was not truly the case.

What the hell was going on here? Why was she unable to move? Why couldn’t she do anything? Why was she...

“Having trouble, I see.”

Sandra immediately stiffened at this. She would have looked around if she could. She did not notice any reaction from the others, from what she was allowed to see. This only added to her confusion, causing a frustrated sensation to sweep through her body.

(Who is there?) Sandra called out. She ignored the confused comments from the humans and zoners before her. (Tell me where you are! And come over here and fast me!)

“Oh come now, you really hadn’t figured it out yet?” The voie called out to her. There was a bit of cold laughter that followed that. Then they continued, “I would have thought that someone like you could easily have gotten wind of what was going on.”

Sandra clenched her teeth tightly at this, hissing. She could not figure out just who that voice belonged to. It was too distorted and almost faint, despite feeling loud in her head. It was difficult to describe. But regardless, the voice was pissing her off, and she struggled to turn her head to see where it was coming from. The fact that she still could not move only fueld her rage and anxiety about the whole thing.

She noticed how confused her enemies were. They likely could not hear the voice. It must be only broadcasting to her. Someone projecting their statements into her instead of facing her up front. She could feel her head burning and swimming at this realization of cowardice. They should at least have the guts to come up to her and face her.

Then again, she was not much better. Using a giant form to attack everyone... Using something that they could not possibly fight against... And even in her original form, she was not much better.

But eh, oh well. At least she had some kind of goal for the betterment of this world. At least she had an excuse to lean against for any atrocities she had or could commit. At least she had....something, unlike this coward. The one who chose to sit out this fight instead of going up to her and having the courage to look at her in the eyes.

Well if that’s the way they want to play it... If she could just get herself free, she could find them. It would really be so easy. She just had to discern where their distorted voice was coming from. Difficult with mental voices, but not entirely impossible. And once she found them, she would give them a nice little ‘present’. And then she would, of course, go straight back to doing what she had planned for this damned city.

(For the last time, you fucker! Show yourself! Or do I have to tear this place apart to find you?!)

The voice laughed in response. “You? Tear me apart? You can’t even move! How in the world are you going to find me?”

Sandra released a small growl at this. (I will find a way...)

“Oh really now? Hehhehe...I beg to differ. You don’t know how close or far away I am. You don’t know how I am even communicating with you...” The voice stopped for a moment, as if to ponder what to say next. “Though even if I did tell you...you could not do a damn thing to me.”

Sandra hissed, (Don’t underestimate me, you bastard!)

“Oh no... It is you who are overestimating yourself...” The voice replied in a nonchalant way. “Oh if only you knew what was going on... Maybe then, you would not have underestimated...me.”

Sandra would have gritted her teeth at this if she could. She could feel a bout of confusion spreading throughout her body as she tried to make sense of this. The only thing that she could get from this was...whoever this was, they were someone that she had met before.

..this did not narrow things down all that much. She knew a number of zoners here. Though most of them no so personally, of course. But still, there were several zoners that she ran into, many zoners who knew her name... And she could not forget the fact that there were likely many zoners from her original home that would like to tear her a new one, ones that she thought that she’d never have to worry about again.

But first...how was she going to get herself out of his mess? She had no idea how she was even going to free herself. Not while she was unable to move. If this sick bastard had anything to do with it, then she was going to be at their mercy until they decide to free her. Oh of course...

Still, there had to be some way that she could free herself. There had to be something that could be done in order to force this guy to let her go. If physical force did not work, and clearly wasn’t even an option to begin with, then perhaps she should try another approach. One that she felt would get their attention. If they were up for the challenge, that is.

(Heheh...you only keep me here so that you can attack me without me being able to do a thing about it...) Sandra did not get a response from the voice that time. Not that she cared. She knew they were still there, watching her with those arrogant-filled eyes of theirs. (You think you are so tough, don’t you? Keeping me still while you prepare your attack... I can see right through you. How about you decide to show your face to me? How about you release me and we fight mono y mono? We can see who is the stronger one that way.)

The bait was set into play. Now all she had to do was wait and see if it had any sort of affect. Was it going to be enough to entice her captor to release her and fight her in a ‘fair battle’? Or were they just going to laugh the whole thing off and mock her on how they had no reason to release her if it meant it gave them a chance at victory.

At first, there was no response, making her burn up inside. Now they had the gall to keep silent? Why this cowardly little...

“You really think that will prove your point?”

The voice out of nowhere nearly made her jump...or at least, it would have if she were able to move. She didn’t know how long she had been frozen. It was starting to feel like a lifetime. Without the ability to nod, she replied back, trying to be as loud and clear as possible.

(And do you think messing around with me like this, without showing your face, makes you some kind of courageous little fuck?!) Sandra might have been annoyed with these idiots trying to stop her. But at least they had the guts to show their faces to her. This disembodied voice on the other hand... (What do you plan on doing? Starving me to death?!)

“That is a thought...” Sandra felt her heart skip a beat this, though she managed to keep herself from reacting too strongly in fear. She kept herself as mentally rigid as she could as she waited for the voice to continue. “Though of course, that wouldn’t be so entertaining to watch. I would much rather see you fall by your own hands.”

Her? Fall by her own hands? Now there was a rather rich statement. She amused herself with thoughts of just how this disbembodied voice thought she was going to do that. Like hell she would allow herself to fall by one of her own previous actions. She had chosen them carefully, too. There was little that she did that could be turned against her so easily, not to the point of ‘falling by her own hands’.

But she was not going to underestimate this individual. If they cleam this is something they actually see happening, then perhaps she should take it at least a little seriously. She would be able to prevent herself from being taken off guard, if that is what this voice had been hoping for.

(Well...why don’t we see who is correct?) Sandra asked, trying to sound like she was smirking, since the expression was presently impossible for her to do. (Release me, then face me. We shall find out who dominates at the top and who will be left to fall.)

“Are you sure about this?” The voice asked. There was a genuine curious tone to their voice as they asked this, as though making doublely sure that they want to go through with it. “I don’t want you to make this decision unless you are absolutely certain you want to go through with it.”

(And why wouldn’t I?) Sandra chortled mentally. (I’d love to get a chance to prove you wrong.)

The voice made a sound that was...the best way to describe it was a shrug, even though she could not actually see anything happening. “Well..like I said, you will find it difficult to actually fight me. I am still amazed that you still have yet to figure out who I am. Shouldn’t it be rather obvious?”

Sandra hissed at this. She was getting a little sick of this running around. The voice acted as though she should know who they were, even though they weren’t showing their face and their voice appeared to be disguisted. How the hell was she supposed to know who the fuck this coward was? If they weren’t so much of a wuss and if they actually showed their faces or at the very least, leave their voices unaltered...

(Just fucking show yourself, you coward!)

There was a moment of silence after this. Even her enemies, whom she had stopped paying attention to several minutes ago, had gone silence at this shouting. She did not care of course. She just remained there for several moments, waiting for this person who have the guts to at least show their face to her. She waited for them to let her go so they could actually fight.

But they were remaining silent, as though to drive her crazy. If that was their plan, they were succeeding at it. Without her being able to move, it was so easy to get worked up, so easy to lose her mind... It was getting more and more difficult to keep herself silent, to keep herself from going insane. Indeed, it was taking quite a bit of energy to do that.

Yet she succeeded, and she waited patiently in the thick silence of the air, giving time for the voice to reply. Without seeing their face, she had no idea if they were leaning towards releasing her or if they were just going to bide more time and screw around with her. Whatever the case may be, she knew they had to act at some point. And all she could do was just wait for their answer.

Then finally, it came.

“...very well then..”

In that moment, Sandra could feel a strange sensation overcome her. She could start to move again, but only very slightly. But this isn’t what caught her attention. No, instead it was the fact that there was some kind of...crackling sensation inside of her. A feeling that was hard to describe, yet still there. She struggled to keep herself under control, trying to endure this sensation, but it only got stronger, and she could feel a burning and twisting in her stomach, making her feel sick.

She could see, out of the corner of her good eye, Penny and Mint trying to get away, pulling a still unconscious Rudy with them. She was certain that the ones in the tar pit were still there; she could hear them shouting in fear, trying to get away, as if they thought that her massive form was going to crush all of them.

Sandra hissed loudly, opening her jaws as movement returned to them. She let out a loud roar, filled with a primal rage and fear, wanting to tear apart whoever was doing this to her. She attempted to fling herself around, yet this task was impossible given the fact that she still could not move all that well. This only made her try to struggle even more frantically, more desperately.

The weird sensation only grew continuously stronger, spreading through her body at a rather rapid rate. She could feel her vision start to fill up with nothing but a bright whiteness. She could feel her legs wobbling, and, with what sounded like a loud crack of stone, she collapsed into the ground. She found herself unable to move and she had to squint her eyes shut, trying to block out the light that was striking her in the face.

She wasn’t sure how long she stayed like this for. The only thing that she could do was remain here, laying on the ground, waiting for it all to be over. She curled her tail inward when it became flexible enough, providing extra shielding for her eyes. Oh gawd, it felt like someone was attempting to zap her with some kind of large light probe or something...

And that wasn’t even beginning to describe how her body felt. So weak and yet so strong... A strange intermix of contradictory states. She felt warm and cool at the same time, and she didn’t feel like she was shaky and yet at the same time, she did. She struggled to keep herself from screaming, struggled to keep herself silent, to show some sort of dignity. Whoever was doing this to her...she was not about to let them see that they were having some kind of effect on her.

Then suddenly, she collapsed completely in a loud thud...but strangely, she didn’t feel so heavy anymore. In fact, the ground did not even crack at her fall. How strange... Shouldn’t there have been at least a dent? She pushed herself up on one of her hands and rubbed her face and..

...why did her head suddenly feel soft again? And upon opening her eyes, why was her field of vision suddenly larger? What was...

Oh no... Oh gawd no...

Sandra looked down at her hands. She could feel her heart skip several beats, practically turning into ice. She tried to make sense of what she was seeing, but no matter what, she just could not understand what was going on here.

Her hands, they were blue... No longer purple-blue like they had been before. They were blue.. A sky blue, just like her original form....

With that in mind, Sandra immediately looked down at her own body. Sure enough, she immediately realized that she was her old self again. A two legged small dragon. Everything about her had changed. Even her white flame breath was completely gone. She could no longer even spit out a small burning ember or anything. Her mind swimmed at this realization and she struggled to control her breathing.

She looked around her, and she could see that the others that she had fused with were all laying on the ground. They were unconscious, unmoving. Still alive, but still as stone. She knew that none of them could have been responsible.

But there was still someone missing from this picture? Where was...

She shook her head, pushing the thought aside. She did not care at the moment. That coward was here somewhere. They were seeing this, surely. They were probably laughing at her, making her feel like she was such an idiot...

Well, she was not going to be made a fool of. Not this time. She would show them exactly what she was made of. If they were some sort of ally to Rudy, which she was certain that they were, then perhaps she could draw them out of hiding if she were to pay Rudy a little... ‘visit’... Sandra did not bother to think about her actions as she turned and she began to race towards Rudy’s fallen form.

Mint and Penny, in spite of her shere pain and agony, immediately got in her path, outstretching their hands in an attempt to stop her. Sandra pushed past them easily, using her tail to knock them aside. With Rudy vulnerable, she bared her sharp teeth and lunged at him, ready to attack...

...only to get knocked aside. Something slammed against her jaw and she found herself flying to the side. She crashed into the ground painfully. A terrible ache spread through her jaw and she thought for sure she had lost a tooth from that. With her hand against her sore spot, she looked over to see just who had done that.

Her eyes widened in absolute shock. It...It couldn’t be...right..? This had to be some kind of joke or something. There was just no way that...

“Are you surprised to see me, Sandra...?”

Mint whispered the name that Sandra was too stunned to hear on her own. “S-S-Snap...?”

Sandra pulled herself up to her feet, her body bent like a velociraptor’s, hunched down lower as though trying to defend herself. She looked over at Snap, her mouth open, heavily panting. Her swirling mind tried to make sense of what the heck was going on here. What was going on here? What was happening? Why was...

Snap tilted his head in one direction, giving a smirk. “You seriously did not figure it out until now? Oh Sandra...” He gave a small chuckle, shaking his head slowly. “I would have thought you would have figured it out much sooner... Oh you poor, naive little dragon...”

Sandra hissed at this, clenching her teeth tightly. She didn’t know where Snap got this attitude from, but she did not like it. She let out a groan as she pulled herself up, becoming a little straighter. She glared at him right in the eyes, her sharp teeth bared at him. Her tail swished from side to side like an angered feline ready to pounce.

“Y-You...” Sandra growled under her breath. “...how the fuck did you...”

Snap just smirked back at her. “I’d tell you, but I don’t think you’d listen..”

Sandra pulled her head back, her eyes widening in shock for a moment. Then she narrowed her crimson eyes back into slits and she began to make her way towards him. The initial shock of his escape was behind her in this moment, and she did the first thing she thought to do: she lunged at Snap.

sss

Mint watched in shock at what was going on. He found it difficult to look away. He just...could not believe what was happening before him.

Snap was...back? That alone was enough to freeze his mind and make everything around him seem...so dim, so silent. He hardly paid attention to anything around him. He could only stare out in utter silence as Snap jumped away, avoiding getting struck by Sandra.

Many thoughts swirled through his mind. Questions, hundreds of them, clogged up inside of his skull, making it impossible for him to think more clearly. All he could do was allow the thoughts to go through his head, causing it to ache as he tried so hard to sort them out. He bit his lip tightly, pressing his teeth up against the flesh. He struggled to keep himself from falling down from the shere weight of emotion that he felt upon seeing Snap had returned.

It just...didn’t make any sense. Snap had been absorbed into Sandra. How did he...? But it was not just Snap who was back. He did not need to look around too much to know that Skrawl and the Beanie Boys were out of here as well. They were still unconscious and hadn’t moved at all on the ground. Somehow, Snap was still standing and he was right there before them, going up against Sandra.

It took Mint a while to even begin to process what this actually meant. He thought back to what happened before, back at that one place where Sandra originally transformed. He recalled the way that Snap looked at them. The way that he had shunned them, and sided with Sandra. How did he go from that....to this? Could it be that Snap had never actually...

Mint could feel a sting of emotion strike him at that thought. He could feel himself clutching at his heart. To think that he had almost believed that Snap really did betray them... How could he have ever doubted him?

But then...why did he allow all that destruction? Why did he not attempt to get himself free earlier? Or was he just unable to? Was he having a difficult time? Was he just waiting for the right moment? It was difficult to say, and something told Mint that he might not fully like what he hears if he gets Snap to speak to him. He had no idea just how much he had truly changed. Was he still the same Snap? Or did he change for the worst?

His thoughts were pulled away from Snap when he heard a small groan beside him. He bit his lip upon seeing that Penny had collapsed to the ground, no longer able to stand. He had been impressed with how she was able to stand up for as long as she could to help him move Rudy. But now her injuries had finally started to get to her, and she was going to need help fast.

While Snap and Sandra still fought, Mint took this chance to try to help her out. There was not a ton that he could do for her, though. The blood would dissolve any chalk thing that he tried to draw, making using chalk-based bandages useless. He wasn’t about to give up, though. If he just took a closer look at the wound, he might be able to determine what was the best thing to do.

Kneeling before her, Mint leaned in and took a look at her wound. This meant having to pull her shirt up a little. While he knew how awkward this would look to people, when it came to trying to save someone, dignity had no place. Once he pulled her shirt up enough to expose the wound, he sucked in a sharp breath when he saw just how bad it looked.

It snaked along her chest in a rather jagged fashion, almost as if someone had took a knife and cut her very slowly along, taking their time. The gash was quite deep and he thought he could see a hint of bone, though he might have only imagined it. But he knew he did not imagine just how horrific this cut looked, nor the blood that continued to seep along her body, staining it a light crimson.

Upon seeing how bad it was, he really began to wonder if he could even do anything about this. Would it be at all possible for him to help Penny while she was in this state? Should he wait until they got back to the Real World? Or should he try to act now? Would waiting only make things worse?

Mint bit his lip as he watched Penny breathe in and out shakingly. It didn’t seem like waiting was a good idea. Penny was getting gradually weaker. And so was Rudy. He stared down at both of his friends, and he could hear, not only see, their breathing getting rapidly more and more ragged and shallow. If he did not do something quick, they might... He shut his eyes, fighting back the tears. No, he had to believe that they would make it. He just had to...

Mint took out his magic chalk. There was no time to really think of how long this would last or how affective it would be. Time was of the essence here. At the very least, it could slow down the bleeding, right?

So without further ado, he began to draw in midair. Once the cloth came into view, he grabbed onto it. He then turned down and stared at Penny. He paused for a moment, his mind rushing back to how Penny had struggled to save his life when they were still children. She, too, had limited capabilities, being in a world of chalk and him being from the Real World.

Yet she did not give up...and neither would he. If Penny could manage to save him, if she did not give up, then he was not about to give up on her.

Mint took one more look at Snap and Mint fighting before he turned his attention back to Penny. He clutched the cloth tightly in his hand and he began to lower it. In seconds, it contacted against the center of Penny’s chest, where the bleeding was the worst. He held it there, attempting to stop the bleeding.

As he did this, he looked over at where their allies were. Still trapped in the tar, he noticed. They weren’t hurt at least. At the moment, they had stopped struggling, realizing that they just could not bring themselves to yank themselves out of the tar; it was much too thick. They were going to need help. Right now, they were just watching what was going on carefully, either him or the fight.

Mint would try to free them if he could. He wanted to go over there and help them. But right now, he had to help Penny. He needed to stop the bleeding. Then... He would figure something out in due time.

But..what if he couldn’t...?

Feeling his heart sting, he looked back over at Snap. He bit his lip, more firmly than before. He sucked in a slow, deep breath. He hoped that Snap would be able to figure something out. He hoped that he knew what he was doing. For if he and the others could not figure out how to stop Sandra, then...

...it was going to all be on him...

sss

So it had all come down to this. Heh, perhaps she should have seen this coming. Perhaps she had allowed herself to be too...trusting. Maybe she should have realized something was wrong when the fusion had felt so strange and off. Yet she had pressed on, thinking that it was just her imagination.

Oh what a fool she was...

She had to admit, Snap had been quite clever. It was infuriating. It boiled her blood. She practically wanted to strangle the superhero zoner for defying her in such a way. And yet at the same time..she could not help but want to congratulate him on such a clever thing. She never would have guessed that he had been that good at acting....

The sky blue dragon had to pause at that. She genuinely didn’t really know what had been an act and what was not. She did not know how much of Snap’s fear was real and what was faked. Or if any of it had been faked at all. There was still some things about this that she was attempting to understand. Snap had taken advantage of her. That much she knew was accurate. But to what extent he had been tricking her.. That she did not know so well.

She narrowed her eyes, clenching her teeth. It did not really matter now, did it? The point was, he had played her, tricked her, toyed with her mind. He had acted like how she wanted just to lower her guard, and then he took power away from her. He somehow....figured it all out...

Well, that was not a surprise, now was it? It was her fault. She had been so excited that he had finally submitted to her that she divulged more information than she should have. She admitted, she had gotten quite arrogant. Her present situation had been her fault. If she did not give Snap so much information, if she had treated him like a more serious threat, then perhaps this would not be happening.

Well at least now, she was given the chance to... ‘correct’ that little oversight. She would....do something to make sure that Snap no longer defied her. She did not know just what that was yet. But she would figure that out in due time. She just had to...

If only the stupid zoner would just hold still... She had been attempting to grab onto him. But the little white and blue zoner was quite slippery. He continued to dodge her attempts, managing to slip away before she had a chance to even graze him with her fingers. She could feel herself growing more and more irritated. Why wouldn’t he cooperate? Did he have any idea of who he was messing with?

Of course he knew... And yet he was still doing this, anyway. Well if he wanted to be like this, then she would show him exactly what becomes of those who defy him. Perhaps a little more ‘firm motivation’ would be enough to ‘encourage’ him to be more willing to listen to her. Perhaps a strike or two would be enough to deter him, if she aimed well and hard enough.

But first, she had to actually catch the zoner, which was not going to be an easy task to do. Her usual methods just weren’t working. Despite her experience as a predator, Snap was still giving her the slip. Perhaps this was the result of her allowing him in her mind and...

For a split second, Sandra widened her eyes. Is that why Snap had... Was that one of the reasons that he... She gritted her teeth tightly, trying her best to avoid growling. Why that little... She then chuckled to herself. She had to admit, that was really quite a clever move there...

With her mind refocused on the task at hand, she dropped down on all fours and she jumped to one side. Snap almost mirrored her move, minus the all fours thing, moving backwards in a new direction. She narrowed her eyes and she made another leap, this time in a different direction than before. Snap repeated the same process, managing to reclaim the distance between them.

She could feel her body burning in frustration the longer that this wasn’t working. No matter how many times she tried to leap towards Snap, he managed to get away from her in equal distance. He had picked up a thing or two, it seemed. Perhaps it had been a mistake to heal him...

No matter. She would just have to change up her strategy. She had no plans on using her super healing powers on him. She would reserve that for later, for something much more worthy. For Snap, she had something different in mind.

Spreading her hands out, she jumped into the air. Snap looked up at her, wearing an expression that seemed to say ‘oh crap I forgot that she could fly’. Sandra admitted that she liked flying in her large form more, but this would do just fine. She moved her way around, keeping herself out of Snap’s range, but still allowing him to see her quite easily. Her teeth were bared in a twisted, sadistic smile, taking some measure of glee as she rendered his advantage moot. Let’s see how well he can dodge when his opponent was up in the air.

Sandra dove down towards him, the wind flapping against her body. Her ears swayed with the air and she could feel more rush against his teeth, feeling a brief sting that he managed to ignore. She quite enjoyed the look on Snap’s face. For several moments, it really did look as if he was going to be struck...

...then at the last possible second, she diverted her attack. The sky blue dragon zoner ended up striking the ground near him. There was a loud crack, and the resulting shock of what happend caused Snap to lose his own footing. She watched in utter amusement as Snap collapsed into the ground.

“Oh you poor little thing...” Sandra said softly as she shook her head. She extended her hand out towards him. “Do you need some help?”

Snap slapped her hand away. “Fuck off...” He hissed through his gritted teeth as he got up to his feet. “Like hell I would accept help from you...”

Sandra frowned at this. His attitude needed a lot more working on than she had imagined. She wasn’t sure if any of his submissiveness from before had been genuine or not. She was certain that some of it was, yes. But it was clear that, before she could even accept Snap back, before he could be of any use to her, she was going to have to put him through some more ‘training’...

“Heh... I must admit, you were pretty smart back there.” Sandra folded her arms against her chest. “Letting my guard down, tricking me to letting you get absorbed into me... Then flipping everything on its head.” She chortled, her shoulders shaking. “I take it that you never did turn against the others...did you?”

Snap curled his lip back into a snarl. “Of course not.. What the fuck makes you think that I would have done something like that?”

“Oh I don’t know... You did seem willing to let others get hurt...”

Snap appeared to freeze at this, his eyes widening in shock. He couldn’t even get himself to speak. He was just..frozen to the spot.

Sandra chuckled at this, tilting her head to the side. “Oh? You do not recall? I’m sure you must have some knowledge...” She grinned maliciously as she stared over at Snap. Perhaps this would shift things into her advantage. “Take a good look around you... Don’t tell me you forgot what I have done...”

Snap took a small step back from her. There was a slight shaking to his body as he looked around. His eyes appeared to flickere, as though finally remembering what had happened. Sandra could not help but smirk at this. Knowing how Snap was, the superhero zoner was going to utterly fall apart when he realized that he had allowed the promise breakers to get hurt or even killed. And when he was mentally weakened, she would make her move.

But then Snap appeared to shake it off. Sandra felt herself widening her eyes at this. She flinched when she found those eyes glaring right back at her, piercing through her. She tensed herself up, preparing for a potential fight. Not that she wanted to; she’d rather avoid doing too much damage to Snap if she could avoid it. But if he insisted, then...

“You really think that I am going to fall for that one?” Snap spoke. His voice was thick like ice over a frozen lake. It was enough to make Sandra feel uncomfortable. “I knew all along what you were doing... And I did not ‘let’ it happen.” He gave something of a smile to her as he gave a bitter chuckle. “Do you have any idea of what it is like trying to navigate your mind? It was like a maze!” After a few more seconds of bitter chuckling, he looked at her with a sideways glance. “I am just glad that I was able to do anything at all... Seems like I still wound up spoiling your fun, right?”

“I see...” Not exactly the best comeback, but it was all that Sandra could think of at the moment. She had to pause for a moment and try to figure out something else that she could say. Then, in a hope to try to shatter Snap’s demeanor, she said, “But I bet you still feel sorry for yourself, right? You still feel bad that you couldn’t do something sooner.” She motioned her hand outwards. “Many of those pitiful zoners are dead, Snap.” She then indicated the three humans, who were still not too far. “And your dear friends... Look at them, Snap. Don’t you feel just awful about this?”

Surely that would get through to the zoner. Surely that would be enough to click with him, and he would end up being unable to move. Surely that would break his resolve.

Snap stared at her long and hard. He was shaking from the emotion sweeping through him. She could tell that he was about to break. She just grinned at this, looking forward to when he did. It was going to be so entertaining to see. She would love to hear him try to say that it wasn’t true, try to reason with himself, whatever, only to conclude that, yes, this was still his fault in some shape or form.

But when Snap simply smiled, that’s when Sandra tensed up, taking a step back. Why was he looking at her that way? Why was he looking so gleeful? What was going on here?

“You know, it’s pitiful how you use such predictable strategies, Sandra. Why can’t you try to be a little more original?” Snap folded his arms behind his back, pacing from side to side. “Come on, where is the smart Sandra that I used to know? Had she gone on vacation?”

Sandra gritted her teeth, growling softly.

Snap chuckled. “Ah that’s your response to everything, I presume. Oh yes. Something does not go your way or someone points out the truth, and you start to fall apart. I remember before, when you actually had some kind of resolve.”

Sandra formed fists with her hands. “What are you insinuating...?”

Snap shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing really.” He relaxed his shoulders. “I’m just pointing out that your own resolve has gotten pretty weak lately. I have to wonder if you just...can’t handle all of this. Perhaps you are just unable to comprehend what....”

“Shut up!” Sandra snapped at him. She adopted a more aggressive posture. “Why don’t we just get this over with and...”

Snap raised his hand up. “Are you so sure you want to do that?”

Sandra hissed through her clenched teeth. Then she gave a small sigh, forcing herself to relax a little bit. “..not exactly. But if you keep pushing me...”

“Hey, I’m not doing any pushing.” Snap raised his hands up. “It is you who is pushing yourself.”

Sandra flattened her ears at this, letting out a low growl. She was struggling the best she could to keep herself composed. She could not allow herself to lose it and end up doing something to hurt Snap too much.

...then again, she could always heal him right after, so what was she worried about? So long as he still had a heartbeat, she could ensure what he survived and heal up just fine. Even if she spilled out his guts, he could still ensure that he remained alive. There wasn’t much to worry about at all. She smirked slightly at this.

Snap appeared to have noticed this and he gave a dark chuckle, as if he had witnessed the funniest thing in the world. Sandra refrained from glaring back, keeping her twisted smile. For several moments, the two former friends just smirked at each other, practically forgetting where they were or who was around them. They only knew each other, in this moment.

“What do you think you are going to do with me? You going to drag me back to your little pen house for a little ‘chat’? Are you going to try to sway me again with your false promises?”

Sandra snapped her jaws tightly at this. “False promises?!” Sandra took a step forward, jabbing a finger in Snap’s direction. “I never make false promises!”

“Oh no?” Snap rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Oh that is right...” He glanced upward a little. “I do recall that you tend to keep your promises...” He lowered his hand and shrugged his shoulder. “Well you are about to become a promise breaker yourself.”

“How dare you...” Sandra’s eyes blazed.

Snap shrugged his shoulders, hardly paying any attention to Sandra’s growls or her expression. “I do have a question though.” He moved closer to Sandra. If he was afraid, he was doing a very good job of hiding it. It was as though his resolve was thick and near unbreakable. “I was curious about what Haney had said...”

Sandra growled at this. Why would Snap be interested in anying he had to say? Not like her half brother had anything that important to say. He was just a little... She shook her head for a moment and lifted it up slightly. “Oh really now...?”

Snap nodded his head a couple of times. “Yes... I was quite fascinated by what he said regarding what you did to me a few years ago. How you went through with your promise to punish the one who destroyed your machine....” He tilted his head slightly. “...without telling me.”

Despite the fact that she had managed to obtain a resolve before and keep herself from being too affected, Sandra still felt herself stiffening up at this. She could feel her heart twist and yank, and she could taste a bitterness in her mouth. She tried to prevent herself from looking too unnerved. She did not want him to see that it had an effect on her.

But it was too late. Snap was smirking at her, clearly having noticed. “You do remember, don’t you?” He tilted his head to one side. “I’m sure you do...”

Sandra clenched her teeth tightly. “What does that have to do with anything?” Sandra spoke, attempting to shift the topic. “Why don’t we just...”

“Why are you dodging the topic, Sandra?” Snap taunted, leaning himself forward towards her. “Are you afraid? It’s only the truth.” Sandra growled, but could not think of a response. Snap started to walk towards her. “I would like answers, Sandra. Why didn’t you tell me earlier about the whole thing?”

“Not like it would have changed your reaction later on.” Sandra rolled her eyes.

“True, it may not. But still...” Snap narrowed his eyes slowly. “Don’t you think that I deserved the right to know? If you considered me a friend, why didn’t you just tell me why you were doing it? Or did you not trust me enough?”

Sandra spluttered, “Not trust you? N-No...th-that wasn’t it.. Not at the time I m-mean... I...”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Snap pressed on. “Why didn’t you tell me about the promise? Haney was right. I did not know about it, because you never told me. If you had considered me a friend at the time, if you had trusted me at all, you would have told me.” Snap’s voice grew dark. “But you didn’t...did you..?”

Sandra could not think of a reply.

Snap scoffed at this and turned his head to the side. “Of course not...”

Sandra gritted her teeth. She tried to think of a response. She tried to say something...anything. But nothing would come to her mind. The only thing that she could do was just glare at him, trying to at least look a little defiant.

He was wrong. Whatever he was thinking, he was completely wrong. He didn’t fully understand what she was going through. He did not know what her thought processes were. He did not know what she had in mind. She had her reasons for not telling him. It was just...he would not understand. He was incapable of understanding. How could he hope to comprehend something that was a...rather complicated matter?

Or at least, that’s what she keeps telling herself...

Sandra shook her head, feeling emotion stinging through her body. She hunched her shoulders, her tail swishing from side to side. “Do you want to get this over with or not?”

Snap stared at her for several moments. Then he smiled softly. “Do you plan on fighting me?”

Sandra hissed at this. “If you won’t listen to reason...”

“Ohhh... One problem with that.” Snap said.

“Oh? And what is that?” Sandra replied.

Snap lowered his head slightly, staring at her intently. “You promised that I would be safe with you...” Sandra widened her eyes at this. “If I were to be hurt by you...” He tilted his head to the other side, giving her something of a sly expression. “...would I not no longer be safe with you...?”

Sandra froze, lowering her ears as she felt her face lighten up a little in color. She tried to get herself to speak, but all she could was just stare at Snap. She gulped nervously, an unbearable silence falling among them.

What could she say to that? How could she respond? No matter what she thought of to say...it just didn’t make any sense. She didn’t want to admit that Snap had a point, but... what if he did? No, she knew that Snap spoke the truth. She did make a promise that he would be safe with her. And that meant that she could not lay a hand on him.

...but Snap did not have that same kind of restriction...

That’s when she noticed the fist.

sss

Snap could feel himself grinning with a sense of glee when he struck Sandra in the jaw. The pent up rage that he allowed accumulate had finally been released in a nice little punch. He watched as Sandra was knocked into the ground. He remained standing for several moments, his body still shaking with emotion. He took a few moments to comprehend what he had just done before he made his way over, unable to stop grinning.

He did feel a small sense of uncomfortableness about how he was acting. He did not feel fully himself. He felt...a little frightened honestly. It was quite something to see himself do something with such glee that he never would have before. He detested fighting like this...and yet now he was almost craving it.

Then again, would anyone blame him? Sandra had been an absolute monster. Tearing people apart, playing with them, killing them... And all for the name of the ‘sacred promise’ that she keeps rambling on about. It was about time that someone put her in her place. If it meant acting a little out of character, then he was willing to do it. For the time being, fuck being the nice person. He had given her a chance before and she rejected it. So if that wouldn’t work, then maybe force would.

Yes, violence and cruelty were something that she responded to, right? She seemed to love using that to try to control her victions. She had tried to use the ultimate act of violence on him just to make him bow down to her. Well he has some news for her; it was not going to work. Not for long.

He paused, taking a moment to look over at his friends. Even through his current mental state, he could still feel a pang of guilt when he looked over at them. He did still feel horrible about what he had to say back there, back at the laboratory. Even though he knew he didn’t have much of a choice if he wanted his plan to work, it still hurt just thinking about it.

He shook his head. Now was not the time to be too upset by that. He did what he had to do. He can explain it to them later, after he took care of Sandra. He turned his head and glared off back towards the dragon, his teeth clenched tightly, growling lowly.

At this point, Sandra had already gotten back up to her feet. She shook her head, taking on a dinosaur-like posture and growled at him, her tail swishing about, her hands held in that dinosaurian posture. She and him paced around each other slowly, not saying a word, waiting for the other to make a move.

But just like he had predicted, she had become...hesitant. He knew that she would become like this. He knew her all too well. And now he was going to use that to his full advantage. After all, she might have become suddenly limited in what she could do to him...

...but he did not.

Snap did not waste any time. He suddenly bolted forward, pounding his feet against the ground as he ran. He bared his teeth, clenching them tightly. His eyes narrowed in determination. He watched as Sandra cringed from this and froze, looking utterly confused by what she should do. She looked as if she was going to use her powers on him, but something held her back. With his fist pulled back, he struck her again.

Snap glared down at her fallen form, a cold and smirking expression on his face. “You...have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that...”

Sandra coughed a little, tiny specks of blood coming out from here she had lost one of her back teeth. She looked down at her lost tooth before glaring back at Snap. She picked herself up slowly, wiping the blood of of her face. “I don’t see why you have to be so unreasonable...”

Snap tilted his head to one side. “I am the one who is unreasonable? Let me remind you of what the fuck you have done...” Snap narrowed his eyes into slits as he took a step closer to the blue dragon. “You lied to people. You killed people to feed to others. You attacked my friend and crippled him for life over something that had already been forgiven. You attack the city and you captured us. You...did that to me... You tried to control me and the others. And you had the audacity to attack and kill so many zoners of this city, and then try to claim that you are innocent...”

Sandra widened her eyes as Snap struck her again, this time under her jaw. Sandra stumbled back, yelping in pain and holding her mouth, as though she had bitten her tongue. The new blood flow seemed to indicate this. She looked back at Snap, her eyese filled with shock and anger.

“So don’t you fucking dare tell me that I am being unreasonable!” Snap told her, forming fists with his hands. His eagerness to attack her further was getting stronger, but he held himself back, knowing that he needed to pace himself. In a forcibly calm voice, he said, “So...how is that for you?”

Sandra gritted her teeth. She stayed silent for several moments. Her body trembled, her legs a little wobbly. Her piercing red eyes looked as if they wanted to strike through his very soul. The only thing keeping her from doing that was not anything physical, but mental. The one thing that she had thought was a strength, but now Snap was using as her greatest weakness.

“You...why don’t you just lay down?!”

Sandra’s voice had taken on a different tone at this point. It was sort of slightly pleading, and yet not. It was hard to describe. But it was a tone that he had recalled her using before, years ago when she attempted to say him to her side.

“You just don’t understand! Please... Why don’t we just stop this silly nonsense now and head back and I’ll be glad to explain more if you’re confused.” Sandra’s posture was still tense. But she had held her hand over towards him, as if she expected him to grab it. “We can deal with them later. This can wait. You are just confused. I can explain..”

Snap struggled not to scream at Sandra when she said this. He was not really all that surprised that she said it. In fact, he had fully expected it. That did not change just how infuriating it was for him to hear. Even after all this time, she still would not say from the ‘sanctity of the promise’.

Which of course, brought him to something else...

“You never did tell me why you never explained to me why you hurt me before.” Snap’s voice may have sounded calm, but even he took note of the chill in his own voice. He struggled not to shudder at it.

“What do you mean?” Sandra panted a little. “I told you everything! I...”

Snap shook his head. “Maybe after you already hurt me... But why didn’t you tell me before?” He took a step forward. “You never once told me before that you saw promises were so important. Perhaps I might have been more understanding if I knew before hand. Still angry, but more willing to see that it was just your way of seeing things. I imagine things would not have been much different and yet...” He lowered his head slightly. “..wouldn’t you have preferred things that way?”

Sandra took a step back. She fumbled her hands together, looking as though she was having a hard time deciding what to say next. She looked left and right, her mind’s gears obviously turning. Then she said, “W-Well...you might have sh-shunned me and...”

“And hurting me and ostracizing me from society wouldn’t have done that?!” Snap briefly lost control over himself, and he could not stop himself from yelling. “Your disgusting actions weren’t going to make people shun you and yet admitting how you saw the world was?! What kind of...” Snap gripped his head, seething. He forced himself to relax, feeling the energy go through the tips of his hands. “Look, all I am saying is... I do not get why you did not tell me. I don’t think you even have a good reason either, do you?”

“I...” Sandra could not speak any further.

“I thought not.” Snap said in a grim tone. He remained silent for a moment. He took a few more steps towards her. Sandra tensed herself up, showing him her sharp teeth. That had no effect on him. “I’m afraid I don’t have much of a choice...”

Sandra lowered her ears. “What are you going to do, shrimp?” She attempted to straighten herself up, trying to look larger and tougher. Like that was going to intimidate him to stop. “Are... Are you going to fight me? You know you stand no chance!” Sandra arched her head a little, pulling her lips back enough to show her sharp, pointed teeth. “You know I could take you on easily... You know what I am capable of.”

“Oh yes, I know. I did not forget.” Snap gave a slightly twisted smirk. “Of course, you can’t really do a thing about it, remember?” Sandra looked at him with a perplexed expression. “Oh don’t tell me you forgot already...” Snap raised his head up slightly. “You made a promise that I would be safe with you...”

Sandra paused for several moments. Then she gave a smirk right back at him. “Yes, but that does not mean that I cannot hurt you...”

“Perhaps not...” Snap had expected this reply. Which was why he had thought of another. He looked at his hand, twisting it around and examining the back of it. “But I do recall that, before my friends arrived, that you said that I would no longer be harmed. You promised that...” He looked back at her. “..didn’t you?”

Sandra froze at this, her eyes widening.

Snap simply smiled in response to this. “You may have the advantage...usually. But tell me, Sandra. How are you going to fight me if you promised I would not get hurt? How are you going to restrain me?” He gave a quick, bitter chuckle. “And here I am, having no such restrictions...”

Sandra yelped when she was punched yet again, this time square on the nose. She managed to dodge another attack, jumping away from Snap. She kept her hands on her snout, rubbing it carefully. She looked back at Snap, her expression looking somewhat wild. “S-Stop this at once! Y-You can’t...!” She was cut off yet again with another blow. Her head was tossed back and she found herself hitting against one of the sharp chunks of debris that she herself had knocked down. How ironic... She hissed as she clutched against her bleeding shoulder as she glared back at him.

“If you wish to stop me, then you will have to fight me.” Snap hunched his shoulders, raising up his fists. “But you promised that you would not hurt me anymore. So I wonder...what are you going to do now, Sandra?” He grinned almost viciously at this, feeling the need to avenge his friends, and himself, grow even stronger. “I’d love to see how you can wriggle your way out of this one...”

Sandra hissed at this, jumping up into the air. She hovered above him, holding out her talons towards him. “Don’t make me do this, Snap!” She called out to him. “Don’t make me go against my word!”

“Why? Because you will feel filthy if you do? Maybe you will learn a thing or two...” Snap hunched his legs, feeling the muscles winding up inside. “Maybe you will learn that, sometimes, promises really do have to be broken...”

Sandra’s face paled slightly, her ears lowering a tad. “Snap...please..”

Snap just gave a quick ‘heh’ at this before he charged towards her. Sandra was so stunned and conflicted on what to do that she did not attempt to fly any higher. Snap jumped up onto the nearby debris, giving him more leverage. Then he launched herself towards Sandra, colliding with her, wrapping his arms around her body. The two crashed into the ground painfully, and they soon began to wrestle with each other for control.

Around and around, they rolled about. They gripped each other’s shoulders, baring their teeth at one another. They tossed and they turned, constantly somersaulting around. They paid no attention to the dizziness this gave them, nor did they pay attention to what anyone else around them was saying. Heck, they could not even recall just who was still around and who may have left. Right now, their attention was only on each other.

Snap grunted as he struggled to get Sandra down. This was not an easy task; Sandra was larger than he was, a little heavier to boot. They seemed pretty equal in strength as well, but he knew that if he just allowed his adrenaline to pump through, he could be even stronger.

And that’s exactly what he did. Managing to turn on his adrenaline was not hard; it automatically did when his brain sensed that he was in an extreme and dangerous situation. He gripped Sandra’s shoulders more firmly and he began to push back even harder. Sandra gritted her teeth as he fought back. But Snap had already begun to get the upperhand. It did not seem to take too long before, at last, he managed to pin her down.

Snap stood on Sandra, using his weight to hold her down. Well whatever weight that he had available that is. Sandra glared up at him, panting heavily, likely trying to figure out just how she should handle this situation. Snap merely glared back at her, gritting his teeth, growling softly.

There were so many thoughts going through his mind right now. A part of him wanted to keep attacking Sandra. A part of him wanted to shout at her. Yet another part just wanted to understand why she did what she did, even if she had already explained it. In the end, he was reduced to just breathing through his clenched teeth, seething.

Then his thoughts began to burn when he recalled the most heinous act that she had committed against him. It caused him to freeze and he sucked in a sharp breath. He tried hard not to let the tears show. He shook his head slowly before glaring back at the disgusting zoner down below him.

“Get off of me right now, Snap! You are making me very angry! Get off!” Sandra called out to him.

Snap hissed at this. “Why don’t you just make me? Come on... Strike me if you dare!”

Sandra stiffened up at this. “You know I can’t do that.” She formed a fist with her hands. “I can’t break a promise!”

Snap chuckled darkly at this. “Then I guess you will just have to sit there...”

Snap did not hesitate to pull his fist back and strike her against her lower jaw. She let out a yelp as her head was tossed to the side. She laid there for several moments before she looked back up at him, her red eye widened in shock and confusion and even a little horror, her teeth partially bared, showing more of how she was feeling.

“And take it!”

Snap proceeded to start punching Sandra. Again and again, he hit her, harder, more ferociously. He ignored her screams of pain, her attempts to make him stop. The only thing on his mind was making her pay for what she had done. So multiple times, he struck her against her jaw, her cheek, her head, whatever he could strike. He could see that she was becoming a bit covered in bruises and a bit of blood trickling down her face. Still he did not stop.

Sandra attempted to push back against him. She was careful not to hurt him, likely remembering her promise. She hissed and growled, clenching her teeth tightly. She turned her head to the side, back and forth, trying to avoid his attacks. She let out yelps of pain when she kept getting attacked. She looked as if she was starting to panic, evident by the look in her eyes. She did not give up, however, and she kept fighting back.

Sandra looked up at him with a mixed expression on her face, clenching her teeth tightly. She managed to stop his next attack, her hand gripping around his fist tightly. She held him still, her eyes bulging a little wider. “Please stop this...” She spoke, her voice practically a begging tone. “It doesn’t have to be this way! Please don’t force me to...”

Snap refused to listen to her. Why should he, after all what she had done to him and everyone else? With an angry snarl, he struck at her again. And when she tried to speak another time, he merely just hit her yet again. Eventually Sandra just stopped trying to speak and raised an arm, hoping to try to block his attacks.

Snap was relentless, however. Despite her continued pleas, though silent, he still attacked her. A part of him realized that he was going a little too far, but he just could not stop himself. His desire to stop Sandra was strong, and he just continued attacking her.

All the while, he could tell that Sandra was getting a little antsy. Her body was tensing up and shaking. She let out a series of snarls and confused noises. She looked continuously frustrated, wanting to bite him but being unable to due to her promise. She looked as if she wanted to let out a loud scream of frustration, anything, whatever she could to release herself.

Then, eventually, Sandra made a move. Despite her efforts to stop herself, her body could no longer hold back. With her leg placed into position, she suddenly struck forward, ramming her foot against Snap’s stomach. The force of the impact was enough to knock the air out of Snap’s lungs and he rolled across the ground painfully. He soon picked himself up and glared back at her, panting heavily to refill his lungs.

Sandra was on her knees and hands, her eyes wide in utter horror. She had her mouth wide open and she breathed in and out heavily, struggling to cope with what she had done. She looked back at him, her eyes telling so many emotions at once, like he was looking into some kind of void.

“L-Look at what you made me do, Snap...” Sandra spoke up.

Snap opened his mouth to speak, but he stopped when he felt a bit of pain in his stomach. He looked down and he saw that he had a couple of puncture marks from Sandra’s claws. He must not have noticed the pain until now. Suddenly, the pain caught up to him and he clutched his stomach, dropping onto one knee. Upon hearing chuckling, he looked back at Sandra.

The dragon zoner’s red eyes had taken on an almost insane look. Her muzzle was stretched into a broad smile. It looked almost happy, yet the slight things that were off made it look unbearable to see. Her body trembled as she continued to laugh, the chuckling getting louder by the second before she was practically cackling.

“Look at what you made me do!”

Snap gulped at this, realizing that he had just made a huge mistake. He could feel his color fading fast and he was struggling not to throw up. Why did he have to do something so stupid? Why did he have to go down this dangerous path? He had to do something, before...

Sandra’s smile turned vicious. Though her corners were still upward, her snout had gotten all wrinkly and twisted. Her face looked like the perfect fusion of giggling happiness and uncontrollable rage. She soon dropped down on all fours, the look completing her feral disposition.

Just like how she had gotten all those years ago... The memories flooded back to him now, flash after flash. How she had grabbed him, how she had sliced him open, how she had eaten him alive...

And now it looked like it was going to happen again. That realization was enough to fill him with burning, chilling horror.

“Are you happy, Snap?! You made me go against what I believe in...” She lowered her head, her eyes narrowing further. “Now it’s time for me to break you...”

Snap cringed back, lifting up his arm, as Sandra suddenly broke into a run, keeping herself in her four-legged posture. Snap did not have time to react before he felt Sandra’s teeth sinking into his arm.

sss

Sandra didn’t want to do this. She really didn’t want to do this. She wished there was another way. She wished that she could have done something different. Please, there had to be another way...

But there wasn’t, was there? As much as she wished she could do something else, as much as she could beg and plead for another way, it would only result in this. Forced into a situation where she didn’t have a choice. A situation where she was at a crossroads, stuck between a rock and a hard place.

She had only two options: either let Snap continue to beat her up, or to break her own promise. And neither of them she was interested in doing. But how the fuck was she supposed to choose..?

She soon realized that it was no contest. There was really only one thing that she could do. Despite the fact that it went against everything that she stood for, she had no choice but to break her own promise. There was no way that she was going to allow Snap to get the better of her. She was not going to let him win...

...and yet that’s exactly what she did by breaking her promise. No, it wasn’t just that. No matter which way she want, Snap would have one in some way. She had been forced to choose between going against her beliefs or letting him hurt her. Either way, Snap wins. The thought burned her mind.

The very idea of breaking her own promise about not hurting him.. She could feel her gut twisting up inside. This was one of the hardest thingts that she’s ever had to do. She knew there was no other way, if she wanted to survive that is. But still, why couldn’t there be another way?

“Sometimes promises have to be broken, Sandra.”

Her blood ran cold at this. Even when she was biting into Snap’s arm, shredding it, despite how feral she looked, she was still fully able to register the horror of what was going on, and the horror of the sentence that just echoed in her mind.

She breathed in shakingly, ignoring the taste of iron blood in her mouth. She had been told so many times that there are conditions where a promise had to be broken. And she would always fight back. She would always insist that it wasn’t true, that so long as you stay determined, you could keep any promise. That was the right thing to do.

Now she was being forced into a situation that made her want to vomit. The very idea of her being...wrong, the idea that there were indeed times when a promise had to be broken, it was more than she coud handle. It was a fucking miracle that she didn’t collapse at the moment. Her mind and her chest were filled with a torrent of twisting emotion, and she struggled to keep her breathing under control.

Then all of those emotions began to be focused against Snap. Her horror replaced with rage. She knew full well that it was his fault that this had happened. It was his fault that she was being forced into this. It was his fault that she had to break the sanctity of the promise. Now she was cursed. She had become a sinner. She was no better than those promise breakers in the city.

And it was all Snap’s fault...

Sandra released Snap when he struck back at her, his fist colliding with her head. She moved her head to the side, glaring at him with gritted teeth, her single red eye staring down at him with blazing anger. She took note of the horror in his eyes. Yes, he should be afraid.

Sandra knocked her head against him, throwing him aside. Snap rolled painfully across the ground. She adopted a hostile stance, her hands spread out. She kicked the ground with her feet, her claws scraping along the ground, her tail wriggling behind her. Snap struggled up to his feet and he shook his head, coughing a little. He looked back at her, still looking as terrified as before.

Sandra couldn’t help but smirk. Well, there was one good thing that came out of this. Now that she had broken a promise, Snap could no longer use that against her. She was already a loose cannon before, but now there was absolutely nothing stopping her. Snap had just sealed his own fate.

Without hestitation, she bolted straight towards him, her hands still out, helping her to move even faster. Her feet struck the ground with heavy thudding and she hardly stopped for breath. The only thing that she cared about was getting to Snap. She gritted her teeth for a moment, and then opened her mouth, panting with her tongue hanging out. Her eyes blazed and she thought that she could see the glow against the ground.

When she had gotten up to Snap, Sandra raised her foot up and she kicked against him. She felt a bout of pain in her chest, the horror of having to do another attack. But it was soon replaced with a sense of glee, a sense of wonder, a sense of..relief.

Perhaps breaking a promise was not so bad after all...

Sandra jumped on top of Snap. She could hear him scream in terror. She could feel him try to struggle to get away. She gripped onto his squirming body tightly, her talons digging deep into his body. She could feel his blood starting to spill out and she could smell the crimson fluid in the air, her nostrils flaring.

She smiled down at Snap twistedly, giving a few chuckles. She opened her jaws and then she closed them around Snap’s head. The zoner screamed as her teeth raked along his face, tearing up the thin and fragile skin. She jerked her head back, tearing off a part of Snap’s face with it.

She looked down, almost grimacing at the sight of her own handiwork. She had to admit, she did not expect to do that much damage to him. She could see the bones and muscles, exposed in the gash that she had created. Snap’s eyes were shut and tears spilled out rapidly. Some of them began to move onto the open wound, stinging him horribly. She could hear him whimper in response.

Might as well not let him die that fast. She might still be able to use him. She let the mark on her forehead glow, healing Snap up in a matter of seconds. That did not do much to stop his whimpering, though. The pain must still be echoing through his mind.

Sandra reached out and she grabbed onto Snap’s lower chin. She smiled down at him darkly, giving a series of dark chuckles. “I must thank you, Snap... Thank you for helping me overcome my fear of breaking a promise. Now you have nothing to hold against me... And now I can properly punish you for what you have done...”

Snap shook his head. “W-Wait... Th-That’s not what I...”

“Oh don’t be so modest! This was all your idea! Aren’t you proud of me, Snap?” Sandra twisted her head to the side, her eyes widening, her pupils nearly vanishing. A twisted grin plastered over her face and she was unable to stop herself from laughing. “This is your handiwork, Snap! Aren’t you proud of me?!”

Snap attempted to squirm away from her. He pushed back against her, his hand placed against the side of her head. Just to amuse herself, she allowed Snap to push her head to the side, her teeth exposed in a disturbing smile. “Please..st-stop this... I-I didn’t mean to...”

Sandra cut him off by striking him across the face with her hand. The slap’s sound radiated in the room, echoing for a few seconds. Snap kept his head turned, his hand placed against his cheek, looking up at Sandra in utter horror and fear. “Well it’s too late for that, isn’t it?! You wanted me to break a promise, and now I have! You have shown me the way! It is all thanks to you!”

Snap shook his head, his body trembling. “I just wanted...” He gulped nervously. “I-I just wanted you to leave me and my friends alone...”

“Well I’ll be doing plenty of that after I tear that fucking soul of yours apart, now wouldn’t I?!”

Sandra let out another laugh as Snap’s eyes widened in horror. She then raised her tail up, the spikes glinting in the light. She positioned them near Snap, the muscles in her tail tightening up, fully prepared to attack. She lifted her tail up slightly and then she proceeded to strike down.

...only to suddenly to be knocked back by a strong blast of energy. She released Snap as she fell into the ground. Groaning, she picked herself up, holding onto her head. She shook it a few times, and then she turned to glare in the direction of the attack. Who had dared...

“Don’t take another step or I will shoot you again!”

Sandra paused at this. Seconds later, she saw Mint standing there, his eyes narrowed at her, holding some kind of laser pistol straight at her. Sandra froze instantly.

sss

Mint stood his ground the best that he could. He tried to hide the fear that raced through his body. He struggled not to let himself give into fear and run. He forced himself to remain put, his gun lifted up and pointed directly at Sandra. His whole body trembled and yet he managed to remain standing, his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot at any moment if she gave him any reason to.

Everything at that point had come to a stand still. It was quiet... Oh so quiet... Not a sound was being made. No move was being attempted. He was just...glaring at Sandra, ready to shoot. And she stared back at him, an eyebrow raised, looking like she was ready to attack, and yet she could not bring herself. Not unless she wanted to get herself hurt as well.

Part of the reason it was so quiet didn’t have anything to do with something bad. While Sandra and Snap were fighting, Mint had gone to work figuring out how to get the others out of here. Some protested and he realized they had a good point. But still, he didn’t want them getting hurt and he would rather they take Penny and Rudy far away from here where they couldn’t get hurt. Even if that left him to be the only creator left to stand up to Sandra...

He was certain that Sandra must think he was stupid. Even if she did not say it, the look in her eyes and the wild grin suggested that she was fully aware he was lone here. The only human left who could defy her, and if something happened to him... And it didn’t help that he was already injured to start with...

Well, it was a good thing then that he had come up with a plan, now wasn’t it?

Sandra gritted her teeth tightly, the skin still wrinkled up like how one would see on the face of a tiger. “Nice of you to join, my dear creator.” She tilted her head to one side. “Did you come to join death? I will be happy to take you there.”

Mint narrowed his eyes at this. “You would have to try to catch me first. And I can promise you, Sandra, it is not going to be easy.”

Sandra let out a series of dark chuckles at this. “Promises, promises... Don’t you get sick of them?” She raised her hand up in gesture, walking in a rather strange fashion. “Why don’t you throw something better at me than promises...” Her eyes glinted. “Like actions...”

Mint did feel a sharp sense of shock upon hearing this. Was he interpreting it right? Did Sandra just more or less say that she...no longer cared about promises...? He turned his head towards Snap, silently inquiring with him about this. When he saw the terrified and guilty look in his eyes, it all clicked in.

Oh gawd... Mint gulped, feeling something heavy in his stomach, feeling a sharp twisting sensation. He was fully aware that the main thing holding Sandra back, her one moral code that could stop her from going too far, was promises. She had been all about promises. Keeping them, ensuring that whatever she promised was never broken... And if she decided that they were no longer of use to her...

Then what the fuck was going to hold her back now...?

Mint did not have time to think about that when Sandra suddenly launched herself in his direction. He barely had time to move his hand away to keep her from getting a hold of it. He let out a cry of pain when her sharp teeth sank into his arm. He struggled to keep himself up, but he found himself falling into the ground with a loud thud. He grunted as he attempted to push her back, trying to kick her from his body.

But Sandra was relentless. She snarled wildly, her expression making her look like she was some sort of wild animal or something. It was one of the most terrifying things he’s ever experienced with her. The way that she was looking at him...

Mint did not give up, however. He struggled and he writhed along the ground. Even without Snap’s help, who was still frozen in fear and shock at what he felt like he caused, Mint was able to, finally, kick Sandra away. His foot slammed against her stomach and she was knocked backwards. Her form landed heavily in the ground, and she tossed and she rolled across before landing on her stomach. She let out a small groan before she lifted herself up a little, one hand on the ground and the other holding her head. She glared back at him, releasing a loud, primal roar.

Mint stiffened up his body as Sandra got back up again. She adopted a velociraptor-like stance, reminding him that he had sent Ripclaw away, too. He gritted his teeth, feeling stupid for doing that. He didn’t have time to finish his thought before he had to jump to the side. He winced when he felt Sandra’s claws graze beside him, ripping into his clothes and just barely cutting the skin. Though largely bloodless, he could still feel the sting radiating through that part of his body.

Once he gotten far enough, he turned himself around and glared back at Sandra, being quick enough to witness her lower her foot in the ground, the tips of her talons possessing small bits of clothing torn from him. She remained standing, back parallel to the ground, for several seconds. Then she turned her head and looked over her shoulder. She gave him a broad, gleeful smile.

“Isn’t this fun, creator?” Sandra cooed. “I think we’re having a lot of fun...”

Mint gritted his teeth, taking a small step back. It was clear to him that Sandra had gone off the deep end now. She had already lost it before yearsa go, and when she returned... but now it was worse. Now, with promises no longer meaning anything to her, there was just no leverage anymore. Nothing to make her stop...

Well, nothing of course, except fighting back.

Mint raised his laser pistol when he saw Sandra coming at him yet again. She adopted a more feral stance this time. All fours, like he had noticed her using on Snap a little earlier. She rushed towards him as quickly as she could, her teeth clenched tightly, her mouth split wide open. Mint took aim and waited for her to get close enough.

He was not at all surprised to see that Sandra did not stop, even when he clearly saw that he had his pistol aimed at her. He positioned the weapon towards her, and when she got a certain distance from him, when she got ready to lunge, that’s when he fired. With a single pull of the trigger, there was a bright flash of light and a rush of energy. In a matter of seconds, the blast struck against the dragon zoner, causing her to scream and fly backwards, landing in the ground rather painfully.

Not like that stopped her for long. The dragon zoner was soon back on her feet, looking at Mint with that same wild expression from before. She licked her lips slowly, looking rather insane for a few seconds, before she raced towards him yet again, once more taking on an all four legged approach. Mint raised his gun yet again and pointed it at her, fully prepared to shoot her again if it meant stopping her.

This time, however, Sandra was more prepared.

Before he had a chance to pull the trigger, Sandra jumped to one side and whirled herself around. Mint looked around frantically, trying to see where the dragon zoner had gone off to. Sandra moved in from behind and he could feel her shadow on him, her breath hitting against his leg. He had only a split second before the shere agony came.

Mint let out a scream and he fell to the ground. He could hear Snap calling out to him in horror, but he did not respond. He laid on the ground, his laser pistol having fallen to the side, and tried to fight back against Sandra. He grabbed onto her head, his fingers splayed across her forehead and eyes, and pushed back.

Yet Sandra refused to let go. She let out a series of dark growls and snarls as her teeth raked further into his skin, ignoring her own pain she was causing herself. Mint felt tears of pain stream down his face as he struggled to cope with it, his teeth clenched tightly, seething through them. He continued to push as hard as he could, and in an act of desperation, used as much of his strength as he could muster and yanked her head down.

That had been a terrible mistake.

Sandra’s mouth slipped along his leg, causing her teeth to be dragged with it. The sharp, pointed fangs raked along his flesh, tearing it up. Mint couldn’t stop his loud, bloodcurdling scream from escaping his throat, blood spraying everywhere. He tried to keep himself standing, but the pain was too much for him and he found himself collapsing against the ground, releasing a loud grunt of pain as he did so.

Mint laid on the ground, shivering and quivering in pain, releasing a series of soft whimpers. He shut his eyes tightly, squinting his eyelids together firmly, struggling to control his own breathing. He sucked in shaky breath after shaky breath, doing whatever he could to control his swirling mind. He looked back up at where Sandra was standing, her mouth stained with his blood, steam rising up from where it was burning her skin. The sight of it made him feel even more uncomfortable than he already was.

“Oh my dear little creator... That was not a very intelligent move, now was it?” Sandra spoke, her voice dark and hoarse. Even her chuckling sounded a lot darker than usual, deep and rumbling. “I could keep you around, still. You still have some use to me. Why don’t you just lay down your arms and...”

“N-Never... I would rather die than...” Mint paused for a moment. He could see the glint in Sandra’s eyes, realizing that she was more than willing to go through with wish. He forced himself to continue, “B-Besides... d-do you really think that I am...going to do whatever you...want me to do?” Mint panated heavily a few times as he tried to cope with the pain.

Sandra straightened herself up at this, tapping a feather finger against her jaw. “Hmm... Well I hadn’t really thought about it..” She folded her arms behind her back, giving a small smirk as she tilted her head to one side. “But I guess I can figure it out later. Whether you live or die that is...” Mint snapped his head back and growled at this. Sandra just chuckled. “Oh no, darling. No need to be afraid. It won’t be that bad...”

Mint half expected to hear her say ‘I promise’, but he was not really all that surprised when she did not say it. It was as though she really had fully given up on promises. And due to that... how could he trust anything that she said?

Mint tried to get himself to stand up, but he ended up slipping back into the ground. He tried to grab the pistol to shoot Sandra again. The dragon zoner was quicker, however, and she kicked it out of his hands. Mint let out a yelp of pain and clutched his hand to himself, trembling. He looked down at his hand for a moment before looking back up at Sandra, trying his best to look defiant.

Sandra just smirked at this. She was upon him in seconds, lunging towards him and pinning him against the ground. Mint let out a grunt of pain as he felt her hands gripping his shoulders tightly. She sneered down at him, letting out several dark chuckles. Her teeth flashed to him, and he could see how misshapen some of them looked from the blood, and he could see a light pinkish stain on several others.

“Now, how about we...”

“Leave him alone!”

Sandra turned her head, hissing in rage as Snap jumped at her. She grunted as his body slammed against her, his arms wrapping around her body. She fell into the ground about two feet away, giving Mint time to climb up to his feet. He stared down in shock for a few moments while Snap struggled to hold onto Sandra, trying to keep her from getting away.

Then he took action. He could not let Snap hold Sandra on his own forever, not with those jaws of hers snapping wildly in his direction. So, thinking fast, he jumped on top of Sandra as well, using his weight to hold her down. Then he and Snap worked together to try to keep Sandra down.

sss

Sandra growled in frustration as she attempted to push these idiots off of her. Did they really have no idea what they were doing? Did they not know who they were dealing with? Well, she should show them...

Sandra pushed herself up to her feet. She could not get that high up due to their weight trying to pull her down. Not that it was too much of a problem. She merely just started to throw herself from side to side, her body swaying about. She continued to do this for several seconds, doing whatever she could to ensure that her enemies could not hold onto her for very long, her teeth clenching tightly.

Then finally, with one more jerk to the right, she could feel Mint slipping off of her. With his heavier weight off, she could feel more freedom in her movements, suddenly feeling a lot lighter than before. She then turned her head to where Snap was and she grabbed onto him with her fangs. She ripped him away from her, causing him to lose his grip on her. Then she jerked her head to the side, throwing him against Mint.

Sandra hunched her body, holding her hands against her chest, her tail wriggling about, as she turned and looked at her two fallen enemies. She said nothing, remaining silent and merely watching, while Mint and Snap struggled back up to their feet. She watched as they staggered a little from the pain that was sweeping their feet, wobbling from side to side. She couldn’t help but chuckle at this. It was so amusing seeing them try to keep themselves standing when they were both pretty hurt.

And they were about to get even more hurt. Sandra knew that she had to convince them to stop. If they were going to be of any use to her, then she wanted to end this fight and take them with her before anyone else could show up. They were alone now. She had time to make a move to stop them.

And she did.

It was so satisfying seeing them start to scream in pain as she activated her powers upon them. She listened to them as they screamed loudly, collapsing into the ground as she grabbed a hold of them physically without even touching them. They clutched their chests tightly and she was certain that they could feel their hearts beating faster and faster. Sandra just smirked at their horrified expressions as she twisted her hand and lowered it stiffly, causing them even more pain and agony. They collapsed against the ground, writhing continuously as they tried to fight to overcome the pain.

Mint was the first one to get back up to his feet. Or at least try, based on how much he was trembling, his whole body unable to remain standing still for long. He let out a few loud moans of pain, his breathing having become quite shallow. He clutched his chest even tighter, his eyes bulging wide open. He looked as if he was losing a lot of his coloration. Sandra wouldn’t be surprised if he passed out at any given moment.

Snap was having a harder time getting up. He was rolling about on the ground, groaning as though he were being put through surgery while awake. His eyes were watery, tears staining his cheeks. She could hear him whimpering and crying softly. Mint was also doing this, though he was doing his best to fight against it, as though to look brave.

Sandra did feel a level of impressment as she noticed how they were both still attempting to stand up even in spite of the pain. It was clear to her that they were still willing to fight back, despite the fact that they were obviously too hurt to be of much of a threat to her. Just what did they expect to do with her anyway? Not like they stood much of a chance against her.

Well still, it was something that she could respect. They had guts, that’s for sure. Too bad that it was not going to do much to get them out of this situation. If they really wanted the pain to end, then they would stop struggling so much and just...

Suddenly, before she realized that it was happening, Snap appeared to have finally broken free of her hold. Well not completely; he was still being harmed by her powers. But he was not letting that stop him. He started to charge towards her, ignoring the pain that swept through his body. Sandra growled at this and tried to increase her hold on him, trying to avoid making his heart beat too fast as she did not want it to burst.

But that did not stop Snap. Before she had time to even say a word, Snap’s fist had slammed against her forehead. She threw her head back and let out a cry of pain and she held onto her head, seething at the horrible throbbing from where her powers originated from.

Through her blurred vision, she could see that the two idiots have been broken free of her spell. She watched as they rubbed their chests, leaning against something and trying their best to catch their breath. They then turned and glared at her, having recovered enough to take action against her.

Sandra hissed at this, baring her teeth. She made the attempt to activate her powers on them. But the moment that she did, she felt a sharp pain in her forehead and she yelped. She clutched her forehead tightly, seething at the horrible pain that swept through it. Oh of course... How could she forget that this area was very sensitive and any attempt to use her powers after her triangular mark was hit could result in unbearable pain...?

No matter, she could still take them on. She struggled up to her feet, preventing herself from falling down, keeping her claws pressed up against the floor for traction. She smirked in their direction, letting out a series of dark chuckling, trying to make it look as though she was not in as much pain as she really was. Mint and Snap did stop their advance, but they did not run away, remaining put.

Sandra gave a smirk of amusement at them. “You two will not give up, will you? So determined...”

“We will not let you harm another innocent, Sandra!” Mint declared, forming fists with his hands. “If you want to go forward with your disgusting plans, you will have to go through us first!”

“Aww isn’t that sweet. You are willing to defend these worthless people.” Even in spite of coming to realize how useless promises really were, Sandra still did not let go of her hatred for the citizens of ChalkZone City. “Well I’d have to break it to you two, but nothing you do will stop me...” She took a few steps towards them, hunching her back. “You think that a measley little prison will stop me? Need I remind you that I escaped the toughest one?”

At this, Mint and Snap’s eyes widened in horror. They glanced at each other worriedly before looking back at Sandra. They still took on defensive postures, but they clearly looked pretty nervous.

Sandra just smirked at this show of bravado, being able to see the true fear that hid underneath their faces. “So... if that little strategy didn’t work...” She tilted her head a little, letting one of her ears flop down. “...what makes you think anything will? Heheheh... I think your best option is just to surrender. Trust me, it’ll make things go a lot more smoothly if you...” She took a moment to look around the city, noticing all the destruction she had caused in her larger form. She smirked, feeling a sense of pride swell up in her chest. She then looked over at Mint and Snap with one eye. “...let me have my way with this place...”

That was it. She had one. There was no way around it. Mint and Snap would have to accept the fact that, even if they stopped her now, she would come back. The toughest prison could not hold her. Sure, it stopped her for a few years, but she was still able to come back. And any other prison she’d go to? She’d get out of them faster.

Really, they were indeed better off just letting her do her thing. Let her get it done and over with. They were only delaying the inevitable. Why won’t they just accept fate? Besides, it would work out better for them, too. At least she was willing to spare them and let them join her. Wasn’t that ultimately a better fate than just simply dying off?

“I will let you live with me. I will save you from being killed when I turn this place upside down. You will be safe with me.” Sandra placed her hand to herself, attempting to sound as sincere as possible. “I see hope for the two of you. And I mean that. So come on... Don’t you two want to keep benefiting this world? Why not help me? I care as much about it as you.”

Sandra was not at all surprised by the look of disgust on their faces. She had expected that to be honest. The two of them were still a little hopeless. She couldn’t help but shake her head. Well, she had time to make sure that they properly learned.

But since they did not seem so willing to go with her on their own, then perhaps she had to put them in a situation where they would have to listen. As they were now, they could still make a break for it. But what if she were to rectify that...?

Sandra snarled softly as she dropped down on all fours. She wanted as the two of them tensed up, moving closer together, watching her warily. Sandra grinning maniacally, swinging her tail wildly in prepartion of an attack. Then, without hesitation, she bolted towards them.

Mint and Snap looked like they were trying to move, yet their brains would not let them. They were frozen in that spot, their feet glued to the ground. They were likely frozen from the sudden fear that gripped their hearts. They knew that they could not outmanuever her. They knew that they stood no chance of dodging her attack. And in a matter of seconds, she was upon them. She shifted her gaze to Snap, smirking darkly. Then she prepared to jump towards him....

Suddenly she froze. She sucked in a sharp breath as something struck against her. She could feel something long, thin, and sharp press against her back. No, three things. Sharp, almost needle-like in how they felt. They pushed into her back, ripping through the flesh, warm blood already spilling out.

A few seconds later, she could feel something burst inside of her. Her eyes burst wide open and she struggled to breathe, her mouth opening wider. She could feel blood start to leak out of her mouth. She quickly realized, as the metallic taste filled her mouth, that it was her own blood. It trickled out of the corner of her mouth, dripping to the ground. She looked over at Mint and Snap. While the blue and white zoner looked horrified, there was a glint in Mint’s shocked ones that made it seem like he knew this was coming.

Sandra struggled to breathe, her body trembling. Each breath became harder and harder to make. No matter how hard she pumped her remaining lung, she still could not breathe in enough air to satisfy her burning chest. And when she felt her attacker lift her up into the air, she let out a strangled scream as the wave of agony shot through her body, paralyzing her.

She then felt something break inside of her, and she struggled to cope with the shere agony. She allowed tears to spill through her red eyes and she let out a series of whimpers, lowering her head. Upon opening her eyes, she could see, in utter horror, that the claws had pierced through her chest... That was when she became aware of a horrible pain in her heart, yet the damage to her lung made it near impossible for her to express how she was feeling.

Slowly, she turned her head over, trying to see just who had dared to attack her. Her eyes widened, seeing a familiar green color even through her blurred vision. Through her raspy, almost airless voice, she said, “S-Skrawl...”

The jellybean glared at her, his eyes reflecting a wavelength of hatred towards her, burning as bright as the sun. In those eyes, she could see images of all the terrible things that she had said and done to him. And she could also see the promises he was silently making of making her pay for it. She could feel her face pale at this, not just from blood loss, but from fear.

Skrawl seized her by her neck, wrapping his claws around the flesh firmly. He yanked his claws out of her back, causing her to screech weakly in pain. He then lifted her up into the air, letting her body hang limply. She could not attempt to strike against him; her body ached too much to even think of moving. She just kept her eyes shut tightly, her teeth clenched, as she stared down at him with one eye, silently begging him to let her go.

Skrawl’s response to this was a snarl, contempt radiating on every etch of his scowl. The jellybean didn’t even try to speak. It was as though his rage had filled him up too much and he was no longer able to form words. Knowing how talkative the jellybean usually was, for him to be too angry that he couldn’t talk...

Sandra attempted to activate her powers to save herself. Skrawl, however, had seen what she was about to do and he took action before she could get too far. The feeling of the long, thin claw pressing against her forehead and tearing into the flesh was excruciating. Sandra widened her eyes to the point that they nearly fell out of their sockets. She let out the loudest scream that she could, dry and raspy as it was.

Then, with her source of her power ruined in a horrifically painful way, Skrawl then, in a show of his absolute disgust of her, pressed his claws against her stomach and, without hesitation, pulled his hand down. Sandra gasped loudly as she felt the claws rip open her stomach. It was so excruciating that she couldn’t even bring herself to scream.

In a matter of seconds, her intestines had spilled out. She looked on the ground, trembling hard as she saw her own steaming pile of innards, standing the ground with her blood. She looked over at Skrawl, tears streaming down her face.

“...p-please....st-stop...”

Skrawl just growled in response to that. He placed her quivering body against him while his hand grabbed onto her snout. He held her mouth shut, ignoring her muffled whimpering, and pulled it upwards. Sandra shut her eyes tightly as Skrawl began to pull her head back beyond its limits. And when she heard a loud, sickening crack in her neck, she couldn’t even scream. Her body stiffened up, and then suddenly her body went limp and numb. That was when Skrawl let her go.

As Sandra laid there, unable to move, she began to realize that...this is what Rudy had felt. This is what he had been put through thanks to her. A life without a working body... She let out a quick, strangled chuckle. Funny the way life was...

She did not finish her sentence before the blood loss rapidly got to her. She felt weakness surging through her body, causing her to shake and quiver even more. She could feel her mind rapidly fading and the darkness consuming her. She took a moment to look up at Skrawl before she finally collapsed competely. She barely registered her mind begining to go through the throes of death before everything went dark and silent.

sss

It was over... It was finally over...

Snap stared at the gruesome scene before her. He hardly paid attention to Skrawl, as though he was not really there. His solid white eyes were instead focused on the thrashing form of Sandra on the ground. He could not tear his eyes away from her as she went through death throes, the body using up the last of its energy, before it gradually become more and more still.

A series of emotions swept through Snap’s mind as he watched this. A part of him just...could not believe it. Never in his life would he have dreamed that something like this would have happened. Never in his life would he thought that this is how everything would have ended. He had imagined Sandra going back to jail or something, but to be killed by Skrawl...

With that in mind, he turned his head to where Skrawl was...only to see that he was gone. It seemed that Skrawl did not want to stay any longer than he needed to. Perhaps he didn’t want to be thanked for his actions. Maybe he didn’t want to be seen as some kind of a hero, and just decided to leave with his Beanie Boys.

Snap could not help but smile a little at this. Despite the fact that Skrawl was their enemy, and will always be their enemy, he was still grateful for the help. He was still grateful that the jellybean was able to see that, in this moment, it was better than he worked with them rather than fight against it.

He had to admit...perhaps it was better that Sandra be killed. He glared down at her now completely still form. She was right; she would have broken out of any jail that they put her in. Placing her in one would have indeed delayed the inevitable. She would have come out and they would have suffered more. In the end, they should have killed her in the first place. If they hadn’t locked her up five years ago, she wouldn’t have been here today, hurting so many people...hurting him and his friends...

But still, despite that, it didn’t make it any easier watching her die. She was still a living person at one point, and he hated seeing anyone getting killed. Skrawl was absolutely brutal to her, and he struggled not to throw up at the sight or smell of her disemboweled body. He had a feeling that the smell was going to take forever to clean up and even longer to be bleached from his mind.

But still, at least it was done and over with. At least they didn’t have to worry about her anymore. At least...

Suddenly he heard a grunting sound behind him. Snap turned himself around and he stared at Mint in horror. He saw that he was clutching his hand to himself. Snap limped his way closer to him, keeping his eyes on his hand. What happened? What was going on?

“Mint!” Snap called out to him. He reached his hands out towards him. Mint hissed and backed away from him. Snap looked at him with concern. “Mint...what’s wrong..? Why are you...”

Mint hunched his body, clenching his teeth tightly, seething through them. “M-My h-h-hand... Hurts so...so b-b-badly...”

Snap looked down at Mint’s hand, watching as it trembled and ached with pain. Licking his lips nervously, he reached out towards him. “Let me see...”

Mint shook his head. “No..! It... Gah!” He raised his hand up, looking at it with wide eyes, a panicked expression etching onto his face. “What the hell is g-g-going on?!”

Snap was about to respond, but something caught his eye. He turned his head to stare at Mint’s hand.

And that’s when he saw the light....