Need

Chapter 32: Hiddens

Hidden rooms are so cliche...and yet so affective.

sss

Rudy winced as his eardrums felt as though they were about to explode. He reached for the controls, trying desperately to turn the thing off. But how did he do it? What button did he press? Oh gawd, the noise... It was making it impossible for him to fully concentrate. It buzzed around in his head like an angry beehive, making it possible for him to truly think about what he was doing.

His hands flailed with the controls. He pulled on the levers, pressed the buttons, whatever he could. But he wasn’t able to do anything about the sound. Nothing he did was working, and the more he tried to work at this, the harder it became to do anything.

Soon, the sound got to him. He couldn’t take it any longer. He pounded against the machine, which did little to it. Not even a spark. He couldn’t try again, however, and all he could do was slip down to the ground. He dropped down onto his knees, his hands touching the floor. The horrible pain in his stomach increased tremendously, making him whimper loudly in pain. He remained like this for a few seconds, opening his mouth and panting. Then, seconds later, he dropped onto the ground.

He curled up into a ball. He covered his ears, trying to drown out the sound, even attempting to hum over it. But the pain in his stomach... More often than not, his humming became pained, briefly transforming into sobbing and whimpering than actual humming. He wanted to hold his stomach, but any time he moved his hands away from his ears, he was blasted by that horrible sound, prompting him to grab onto them again.

All he could do was lay there. He was being assaulted from more than one side. His stomach was ripped into with ease by that blasted doctor, and the dull constant pain washed over him. His ears felt like they would burst any second. The sound penetrated his skull, bouncing off the bony interior in rhythm to the washes of pain in his pain, originating from his stomach. It didn’t take a genius for him to realize that he was helpless. Trapped here, unable to move or get away, forced to endure this horrific sound.

What was he going to do? He couldn’t just lay here forever. But..how was he going to get away from it? His head, the dull ache, it was getting stronger. He felt like a migraine had invaded his head, forcing him to endure the horrific pain, forcing him to lay here like a sitting duck.

Raw fear swept through him as this realization struck him. He was out in the open. Nowhere to hide. If Von came in here, he would see him and he’d be free to do whatever he wanted to him. Von would know that Rudy had tampered with his equipment, and he knows that he would not be happy about it. Rudy could hear the echoes of this sound in the hallway, and he knew, from how loud and obnoxious it was, that he had to have disrupted the man’s plans to some extent.

He had no idea what the condition of his friends were right now. All he could do was hope for the best. They were smart and capable. He was certain they figured a way out of this.

But...what if they didn’t..? He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if that were the case. There was no way he’d go on with life without regrettin ghis actions. He wanted his friends to all be safe, and if any of them were lost... He had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to recover so well.

He had to get up. He had to get out of this room. He had to leave and go find the others. He had to help them in any way that he could. If he continued to stay here, and continued to just stair out into nothingness, or hung around in his head, he was not going to make anything better. He had to get to the others and fast. They might need his help. For all he knew, right now they were all held up at gun point and he was the only one who coud stop the scientist from doing the unthinkable.

He attempted to climb up to his feet again. Maybe if he moved quickly and covered up his ears, that would give him the opportunity that he needed. He pushed his feet on the ground, trying to get himself up. He could do this. He just had to try hard enough and...

He fell back down. He repeated this a few times, keeping his hands pressed against his head. He kept struggling to get up, his feet kicking out at the side, slipping along the hard surface. But any time he tried to get up, he ended up bending in such a way that caused him to lurch forward and fall down again. He would grab onto his stomach for a few seconds only for the blaring sound to penetrate his skull, prompting him to grab onto his head once more. After a few more tries, he gave up and he just laid there, his body shivering from pain.

How was he going to do this? He couldn’t get up onto his feet like this. The wound in his stomach prevented him from letting him make affective use of his legs. Not without bending in certain ways, which, unfortunately for him, meant that he was going to irritate his wound.

The only way he was going to be able to get up was if he...let go of his head and used his hands for help. But that wasn’t going to work either. It was hard enough trying to deal with the sound as it was now. But if he removed his hands from his head, even for a split second, it would send pain wracking through his head, nearly destroying his ear drums in the process.

So what was he going to do? There had to be someway he could get out of this room without causing himself more pain. He turned his head towards the door, gritting his teeth. It was still open. The hallways still looked empty. No shadows on the wall. No indication that he had been followed. The door way wasn’t even that far. If he could just make a run for it quickly, maybe he could get out without triggering too much pain for himself. But after what he had just experienced, somehow, he realized just how difficult this task was going to be.

He realized there was another option he could try. It wasn’t exactly the most well thought out idea he’s ever had, and in essense, someone might think that he was, well, stupid. But he had little other choice.

It was either this or he remained stuck in this room with the blairing siren that would not shut itself off. And he knows which he would rather choose.

The young boy, keeping his arms against his body, his hands pressed against his head, began to roll sideways on the ground. Such an act took more effort than he thought and each roll irritated his injury. But it was nowhere near as bad as trying to get up, so he was able to concentrate better. He kept rolling, inching his way closer and closer towards the door. Slowly, but surely, he made his way towards the door. It woudln’t take him long before he got outside.

He knew that he still wouldn’t be able to get up even in the hallway. The sound was still ringing off the walls there, too. It wasn’t as bad, but it was enough that he wouldn’t be able to uncover his ears for a while. All he could do was keep rolling and hope that Von doesn’t find him. But if Von does... Well, he will have to hope that he could get on his feet quick enough and run despite the sheering agony that would strike him in that moment.

He was soon in front of the door. He stopped for a moment and panted. His head felt swirly and muggy from all the rolling around. His muscles also ached and he felt a few sore spots in his shoulders. He needed a bit of time to rest and think about what he was going to do once he was out of the room.

He realized this was going to be a rather inefficient way of getting to his friends. He couldn’t believe how weak he was being. Blocky endured more pain than this, and yet he was acting as if this was the most debilitating thing that has ever happened to him. Yes, his stomach hurt. Yes his ears hurt. But right now, there were more important things at hand. He needed to grow a bit of a spine and get to the others before he was too late. All this rolling around... What good was it going to do him? All it was going to do was slow him down.

And time was not something he could afford to waste.

He jerked his body from side to side, trying to use as much strength as possible. From left to right he turned, each time going further, getting closer to his goal. Soon he was able to flip himself onto his stomach. He stifled the yelp of pain that wanted to push its way out of his throat. He rested there for a few seconds before he continued.

He struggled with his legs, trying to get them into the right position. He pressed his foot down at his side and he pushed himself up. Again, he felt the horrible sting in his stomach, but he fought against his tears and the urge to scream as he continued to climb up to his feet. He staggered forward, struggling to keep his balance.

Altough he made it up to his feet, he didn’t quite have his balance back yet. He ended up rushing forward quickly, rapidly bringing his feet forward as he struggled not to fall over. He let out an involuntary cry as he nearly crashed against the wall in the hallway. He kicked his feet in desperation, trying to ‘activate the brake’ before he hurt himself more. When he did manage to stop, he wobbled back a few steps before relaxing, letting out an immense sigh of relief. Wow..that had been so close...

Now that he was standing, he took a moment to turn his head and examine his surroundings. He didn’t see anyone in the hallway, but he knew that didn’t mean that he was in the clear just yet. He needed to choose a direction and head down, taking extreme care not to get spotted or make much noise.

Then again, with all these speakers around him, he knew that was going to be a problem. He snarled at the closest speaker, practically seeing the loud sounds just oozing out of it.

He couldn’t believe just how poorly this all turned out. He had botched up his chance to help his friends, potentially. Yeah he might have created a distraction but that wasn’t what he wanted, or hoped, to do in the first place. He wanted to send them a message, but as soon as he tried, that happened. He had no idea if this was the result of Von thinking much further ahead than he imagined, or just a stroke of bad luck. Either way, it resulted in this.

He stared down the right corridor. It seemed like a good enough place as any to go. He did need to back track after all, try to find where the others were and try to help them. He started to go down that way before he stopped and looked down the left. There was something...odd about it.

The left corridor did look like the right in every way... Except for one thing.

There was some kind of odd glow. Faint, but still there. And the corridor did appear darker for some reason. He stared at it, tilting his head in curiosity. He had to figure out what this was. Maybe there was something there that could help him and his friends.

Slowly, he began to move down the hallway. His hands still pressed against his ears his body still hunched, still limping from pain, he headed down the hallway carefully, doing his best not to get spotted. He didn’t see anyone down here, but that didn’t mean that Von wasn’t hiding somewhere, or had a hidden camera set up here or what.

And he could be lying about not having any other allies. Maybe he just said that so that they would lower their guard. He might have someone hidden in this hallway, ready to take him down at a moment’s notice. He was not going to give them that chance.

So far, though, he didn’t see anything unusual. At least, no cameras and no signs of anyone having been here. He saw that most of the lights were broken, which would explain why it was darker and why the glow was noticeable at all. At least one light was flickering, but it was faint and could hardly be seen. It would take Rudy a lot of concentration to truly notice all the flickers.

But the glow... It was still unusual. It didn’t seem like it was just a room with the lights all turned on. This seemed...different somehow. He just couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Then he saw it. A door that was partially open, and the light that came out of it. The glow. This room... It had to be it, right? He quicked his pace, moving in even closer, taking care of where he stepped. He entered the room slowly, moving the door open gently enough as to not trigger any possible trap. Even as he stepped in, he looked left and right, making sure there were no hostilities in here.

The room was mostly empty. He only saw a single table in here. It was overturned and appeared dusty. There was a strange smell in the room as well. Mostly dank, which fit in with the dust that covered much of this room, including the chalkboard that was on the wall, a green surface instead of a black one.

It took Rudy a little while, but there was something else in the room that he nearly missed. It was in the back, against the wall. He didn’t see it at first because of the darkness. Much of the room, especially in the back, was dark, making it hard to make out the details.

But there was something else. Something that was a bit hard to spot at first. But as he got closer, his eyes glued on the ground, he could see it. Just barely.

There was a light on the ground. A sliver that stretched along the ground, reaching the outside. This was what was causing the glow that he had noticed before. He stared at it, his eyes tracing it back to the thing in the corner. He began to move towards it slowly, cautiously, wondering what it was.

When he got close enough and his eyes adjusted, he could see that it was rectangular in shape, as well as flat, and hard. It looked as if it were split off at the sides, appearing almost like a primitive mouth, gaping, ready to bite someone’s head off. Well it would appear that way if it had rows of sharp teeth sticking out at the rims.

Rudy attempted to examine it further, but the horrible ringing sound, the pain in his head...oh this was going to be harder than he thought. How was he going to...

Then he realized something. There were no speakers in this room. Well mostly. He did see one. But it appeared part way ripped from the wall and just sort of dangled there. It swung slowly from side to side, hanging on by just a few wires. He turned his attention towards the door. If he could shut it, he could block out most of the sound and be able to walk....well less hindered than before.

He went back towards the door. Once he reached it, he lifted up his foot. Balancing on one leg, even just for a few seconds, without use of his arms for balance was a challenge. But he soon managed to kick the door shut, causing it to click shut. Rudy realized, with a twist of his heart, that he might have trapped himself in here. But for now, he needed to concentrate on investigating that glow. He went back over.

He reached out with his hands carefully, grabbing onto the item. It wobbled a little from his touch, and appeared to be pretty light. He walked around it partially, his eyes scanning it up and down. It looked like one of those things in school. He couldn’t remember the name of it, but he had usually seen them being used to punish students, or to give them somewhere somewhat private for study or doing work.

He frowned at this. Why would Dr. Von Doktor need something like this? Perhaps this was a training room? It was possible. But this seemed like an odd place to put it. It was practicallly against the wall. How would anyone get behind it?

His eyes widened in realization. He wondered...

Rudy grabbed the thing and pushed it out of the way. He let it drop onto the ground, ignoring the sound it made. Wasn’t like the scientist was going to hear that over the ringing that was still spreading through the building. His eyes locked onto that the thing had apparently been used to cover up.

There was some kind of door on the ground. A latch that reminded him of outdoor cellars. It even had those...metal things.. Gah, he can’t remember what they were called. But he’d recognize them anywhere; a family member of his had this at their farm.

The sight of this caused some confusion, but mostly shock. Why would this kind of door be here? It didn’t even fit in with everything around it. It wasn’t streamlined. It looked almost photoshopped in. The door was made out of dirty, chipped wood, which looked completely different from the surrounding area.

Rudy stared at it long and hard, wondering why it was here in the first place. He looked left and right, consciously wondering if he was being watched. His eyes soon returned to focus on the door. He knelt down, laying his hand on it. He shivered at the cold metal of the handle, and ran his hand along the door itself. It was definitely in bad shape and appeared as though it would fall apart any second. If he applied enough force, he could get it open.

He could see light coming out. There was a small crack in the door that allowed light to escape. But it wasn’t as bright as it initially appeared to be. It was like a failing light, one that was about to go out. While this didn’t tell him much, it was enough to convince him that this room was still in use for some reason. What was Dr. Von Doktor using this room for?

He soon realized that he wouldn’t need to force the door open. The latch appeared to still work. He grabbed onto it and pushed on it. He could hear cranking as it was pushed upward, and was secured away, granting him access to whatever was down there. He opened up the floor doors and peered inside.

The very first thing he noticed was a blackness. Shadowy, hard to tell what was down there. It didn’t take him long to find the steps. Small, squeaky, and again out of place. The light that he had seen before was coming from here. There was a single row of lights, most of them busted while the remaining were either flickering and about to go out, or were very dull and barely emitted any kind of light.

He lowered himself further, doing his best to ignore the pain in his stomach. He peered underneath, his eyes shifting from side to side as he tried to see what was down there. He didn’t see much outside of the tunnel leading quite a ways down.

He remained there for a few moments, trying to think of what the best move was. Should he go back and find his friends or should he investigate this? This was going to be a tough call.

On the one hand, this might lead him to something that could help in someway. Maybe there was something down here that could turn the tides for them all. Or maybe there was something here that would draw Von’s attention and he could force a deal out of him.

But then..it could also turn out to be a gigantic waste of time. Maybe he would end up ruining everything for himself and for his friends. He might screw things up pretty badly if he didn’t leave now to find the others. There might not be anything down here, and if Von found out he was here, he could have him arrested for trespassing, despite all that the man had done.

Rudy realized that he was going to need some time with this. He couldn’t just rush into this. He needed time to think. But..he also couldn’t waste too much time either. He didn’t have all day to make the decision. He could either leave this important discovery to find his friends...or he could take the chance and go in here, and maybe find something that could help.

The decision, however, was made for him.

Before he could think too much on what he was going to do, he heard some kind of sound coming from the tunnel. It was faint, kind of echoy, and it drew his attention. He stared at the tunnel, narrowing his eyes slightly. He moved down the steps, ignoring the creaking, doing his best to subside the pain, as he listened intently to the sound. When he got close enough, he stopped when he realized he recognized the sound.

It sound so much like Mrs. Sanchez. At this realization, he stopped, staring ahead in shock and horror. His mind raced, trying to make sense of this.

“Mrs. Sanchez...?” He whispered softly.

What was Penny’s mom doing here? He..he must be mishearing this. Maybe it was something else. Maybe he... But the sounds.. He couldn’t get them out of his head. It was moaning and groaning, and he thought he heard some screaming and crying. He couldn’t tell if she was trying to speak, he could not make out any words she might be trying to say, but he could hear the inflexion on her voice. He could hear just how terrified she sounded, how fear filled she was, how she wanted to get out.

Rudy felt his heart pound against his chest. His mind flashed back to Dr. Von Doktor. He had said that he let Mrs. Sanchez go. He had ‘confirmed’ to them that he kept his end of the bargain, and released her so she wouldn’t be tormented further. And now he was hearing something that confirmed for him that this had all been a lie.

Why was the man keeping her here? Why hadn’t he let her go? What purpose does she serve to him? Maybe he was keeping her as a bargaining chip just in case? But then..why down here? And why was she in pain?

Rudy narrowed his eyes. He had to go down this tunnel and see for himself what was going on. Without further delay, he continued down the tunnel, treading carefully, lightly.

The first thing Rudy took notice of was how the walls were quite uneven, as if the whole place was just dug out with cheap equipment. The walls themselves were made of twisted metal and other stuff. He could see bits and pieces laying at the sides, danging there all useless. The hole itself was circular, like he were in an underground cavern. But he knew that wasn’t right. He was on a higher level. So this place, it was somehow wedged in the structure of the building. But how did this man manage this?

That was just one of many questions that swept through his head. Another one, just as prominent, was the question of what the smell was. It was even stronger now as he headed down the tunnel. He felt a sense of nausea, but thankfully, it wasn’t very strong and he was able to handle himself pretty well.

The tunnel was a little longer than he thought it was going to be. But he did soon reach the end. He stopped and staired in confusion at the sight. How was this even possible to maintain in a building without causing severe stability issue? Was this a testament to how smart Von was? Or one of the many ways indicating how insane he truly was?

There was some kind of... well husk wasn’t the word he’d use, but that was the closest thing to describe it. It was kinda round mostly, but still retained a kind of squarish look. It was wedged between two floors, the mesh of the building encircling around it, except for the path he was in, that is. It was isolated away from everything else, and looked large enough to be able to house multiple individuals.

He noticed there was a door. Just like the one he came in before, this was wooden and old, making him wonder if this was part of a lost floor level, although he couldn’t grasp his mind how this was possible. Then again, it had been a while since he had been here and...

No, it was still strange. He hadn’t been gone that long. This just felt so...off.

He pressed on, moving towards the door. He could still hear the woman’s cries on the other side. And now that he was close enough, he could hear what she had been saying.

“Someone! Please! Help me! I-I don’t now how long I can...” Then a scream and a thud.

Rudy’s eyes widened, his heart skipping a beat. He ran towards the door, covering the remaining ground in seconds. As soon as he reached it, he grabbed onto the doorknob and turned it. He pushed it open quickly and stepped into the room...

..only to coil back when he nearly stepped over the edge. There was very little ledge here, not much room to move around. He noticed the ledge was narrow but still long, and when he noticed, along the side, there was a ladder laying there. It was pushed against the wall as far as it could go, as if to prevent usage from...

“Is someone there?”

Rudy turned his head at that voice. Now that he could hear it even clearer, no longer garbled by the walls or anything, he could definitely confirm its owner.

Slowly approaching the edge, he said cautiously, “M-Mrs. Sanchez? Are you...”

“Rudy?” Mrs. Sanchez called out. “Is that you..?”

Rudy peered over the edge. It was a little hard to see her, but there was no mistaking her. Even in this weak light, he could tell who it was. “Yeah..it’s me.”

Mrs. Sanchez let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness!” She placed a hand against her chest, a shaky smile spreading across her face. “I-I had no idea if I...” She stopped herself, flinching in pain. “Oh gawd... The pain...”

Rudy took a moment to look at the room he was in. The smell had gotten even stronger now. It was almost overpowering, and he found himself covering his mouth, trying to cope with it. That’s when he noticed there was something coming into the room. He could hear something wet and sloshy. Water? What was water doing in here? But wait... water doesn’t supposed to have a strong smell... What was...

“What you’re smelling is a dangerous chemical.” Mrs. Sanchez wheezed, holding her chest tightly. Rudy looked down at her, wide-eyed. “Something is pumping it into this room. I tried to get out.. I ended up getting hit by it. It hurts... It didn’t always smell this bad, but now as more of it is getting in, it’s...” She stopped and held her nose.

Rudy didn’t need her to finish to know what she was going to say. The smell was making her sick. There was no way he could argue with that; he could feel his own headache coming on.

“We need to get out of here...” Mrs. Sanchez wheezed. “B-Before we...”

“Don’t worry.” Rudy said, interrupting her. “I’ll do what I can.” He looked towards the ladder. Before he grabbed onto it, he turned his head back to Mrs. Sanchez. “How did you get here?”

Mrs. Sanchez shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I just woke up here, and...” Her eyes widened in terror. “Someone is trying to kill me...”

Rudy’s heart clenched at this. He realized just how much of a liar that filthy man truly was. He never intended on setting Mrs. Sanchez free. He was going to kill her. Why, he wasn’t sure. Maybe he felt she had seen too much?

But he sure picked the perfect spot to annihilate her in. A hidden floor with no obvious way in. How clever.... Of course, this may not have been too much of a deterrent as someone with the right equipment could find this...which made Rudy realize why this man went with this chemical. He..he must be trying to ‘destroy the evidence’...

Not wanting to waste more time, Rudy shook his head to recollect his thoughts, and he grabbed onto the ladder. He pushed it over, listening to it outstretch itself and clang against the ground. He made a few quick gestures with his hand, trying to get the woman to move.

“Come on!” Rudy cried. “Get up!”

Mrs. Sanchez’s eyes flickered in relief when she saw the ladder. She looked behind her, the expression briefly flickering back to horror as she saw the rising chemical. She then moved towards the ladder as quickly as she could and began to climb up it.

“The bastard who did this must have some kind of pipe connected in here. I don’t know why he..or she...would do this. I..”

Rudy realized that Mrs. Sanchez was still disoriented from being knocked out. He decided to fill her in as she continued her ascension of the ladder. “Dr. Von Doktor did this to you. I suspect that he wanted to get rid of witnesses or something.”

Mrs. Sanchez gasped at this. “Dr. Von Doktor...?”

Rudy nodded his head. “I’m afraid so.” He turned his head to the side, grimacing. “He’s been a thorn in our side lately. I’m..not sure how much you remember.”

“I...” Suddenly, something caught the woman’s eye. She stared at Rudy in confusion and concern. “What’s..what’s wrong with you?”

Rudy was confused at first. He wasn’t sure what the woman could be referring to. He then realized that she must have seen his flinch of pain. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to hide much for her, since she was a doctor, he decided to give her a very brief rundown. “Dr. Von Doktor stuck something through me.”

“What?!” Mrs. Sanchez’s eyes skimmed down Rudy’s body, and then she spotted it. “Oh no... We need to get that looked at.” Her face paled slightly. “I-Is that a rusty nail...?”

Rudy flinched and nodded his head. “Y-Yes.”

It took only seconds later for Mrs. Sanchez to reach the top. Now that he could see her, he noticed how her clothes were slightly tattered, likely from her futile attempts to climb out of here. There were several chemical burns on her body, and he thought he saw a bit of bleeding in a few places. The woman’s expression, in midst of the horror and shock, did not hide any of the pain she was feeling right now. Rudy hoped that the chemical burns did not cause too much damage.

Mrs. Sanchez approached him, staring at the nail. “Here...let me look at...”

“No.” Rudy raised his hand up. The woman stared at him in shock and confusion. “Sorry, but we need to get out of here. There’s a situation and Penny...”

Mrs. Sanchez widened her eyes in horror. “Is she okay?”

Rudy bit his lip. “I’m not sure... But I have a strong feeling that, unless we get there quickly, she isn’t going to be.”

The vet stared at the boy in silence and horror. Soon she narrowed her eyes. “Then let’s get going.”

sss

“Zat blazted noize...” Dr. Von Doktor hissed softly, holding a hand against his head. “At leazt here, it’z not az loud. Oh my head...” He shut his eyes tightly and rubbed his hand against the side of his face. “I’m going to need zome medizine zoon. Zuch a migraine.”

“Serves you right.” Penny said bitterly, glaring at the man.

Von shot the girl a look. He didn’t say a word. He simply gave her a warning look, letting her know that she should keep her mouth shut if she wanted to continue to remain unharmed. The girl appeared to listen, but that didn’t stop her from frowning at him like he was the devil or something.

Well perhaps to the unenlightened and those like these two brats, then yes, he was the devil. But to anyone with actual knowledge, then all he was...just a mere man who had made a discovery and he wanted to learn more. That’s all. Was that so wrong?

He honestly never thought he’d see the day when he would have a human test subject. That wasn’t something he had ever intended. Well okay, so this wasn’t the exact same as a test subject. More like cooperation. However at the moment, he did have Penny cuffed up and secured, and he did have something hooked up to her arm. So it kind of counted. Just cooperation, right? Not a lowly test subject.

Anyone who came in here would be reassured that she had volunteered for this, and he was only monitoring. Nothing more, nothing less. He just wanted to see how well certain things were functioning during the magic chalk usage. That didn’t count as....

Oh who was he kidding? This was test subject material. The main difference was that he wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize Penny’s life. With what he wanted to do, it would be a rather simple task and wouldn’t take that long. But in the end, regardless of how little pain she would experience, regardless of how quick and simple this was going to be, Penny was still his current test subject.

For a moment, he wondered if he should be horrified. He had never dreamed of such a prospect before, and he wondered just how legal this was. What would happen if he were caught?

He quickly shoved those thoughts aside. He smiled inwardly, reminding himself that Penny volunteered for this. If anything happened, she had herself to blame. After all, she would have resisted and said no, but instead, she gave herself up to him in order to protect her friends. A trade-off: he let the zoners go and Penny would go with him willingly. Seemed relatively fair.

He had a thought up his sleeve, however. A way of getting more of what he wanted. But for now, he would keep that thought aside. He kept his attention on the glaring girl, smiling at her meek attempts at a struggle. The machine was uncomfortable for her. Oh well. She can suck it up.

“It would be very interzting to finally know what activatez zee magic chalk.” Von said coolly as he walked around Penny. He circled her a few times, eyeing her up and down almost like a predator. “Onze I find out, I can try to replicate zee rezultz and use zat to manufacture my own magic chalk.” He chuckled. “Zeemz like a perfect trade off, am I right, Penny?”

“Go suck on a rock.” Penny hissed at him, turning her head away.

Von would have commented on that, but he decided to pretend he didn’t hear it. There were more important matters at hand, and his feelings weren’t exactly one of them.

He shifted his gaze around Penny, taking note of her current situation. The girl had been forced down into a metal chair, smoothly cut with some rounded edges, like on the arms of the chair, but also some sharp points like on the back of it, where Penny leaned. Attached to it was some metal bars, with bent sideways, and then up. Attached to the front was a flat monitor. Right now, its screen was black, but the flickering light indicated that it was indeed turned on; it just had no feed right now. The wires that had been hooked into Penny, wrapping around mostly her right arm, would provide that information once they got started.

He hoped that this machine would give him clues to how the chalk worked. Perhaps if he saw the way the muscles and tendons moved as she wielded the chalk, he could understand the activation mechanism and use that, combined with a deep analysis of the magic chalk itself, to create his own. He smiled at the thought of that.

Oh sure, Terry Bouffant did talk about how he could simply make a trip into ChalkZone and grab some. That was where the boy got the chalk, he was certain. But...why waste time doing that if he could make his own? If he could create the magic chalk, he could modify it, change it, had specific features to it, and then sell it. He wouldn’t need to worry about making trips in and out of that world. And best of all, if Rudy and his friends manage to kick him out of ChalkZone, he would still have magic chalk he could use to get back on, and still manufacture them even without the use of a trip into the chalk world itself. It was fool proof.

His eyes trailed along Penny’s body, focusing on her hand and wrist. If he weren’t used to seeing needles and such, the sight of Penny’s wrist being penetrated by multiple needles would have bothered him. He simply brushed it off, moving his eyes towards the magic chalk he had given her for the experiment, and then his eyes moved towards the monitor itself. He then turned his gaze to face Penny directly.

“Are you comfortable?” He asked in an almost sarcastic tone.

Penny tugged on her left arm. She glared at the man, showing no signs of fear. Just anger and annoyance. “What do you think?” She spat. “Why don’t you just get started? Get this over with!”

Dr. Von Doktor smirked at this. “You’d like zat, wouldn’t you? But you know...I zink I will prolong ziz a little.” He placed his hand against his chin, tilting his head to one side, his smile growing bigger. “I juzt want to...zavor ziz moment a little while longer.”

Penny stared at him in confusion, her frown still intermixed with anger. “Why? You already have me cuffed down! I can’t go anywhere! You’re free to learn whatever you want! I can’t even let go of the chalk!”

Von glanced down at Penny’s hand. He took note of the rope he tied around the fingers to ensure they would remain a gripping hold on the magic chalk. He just continued to smile as he lifted his gaze and stared back at Penny.

“Why are you wasting time? For all you know, Rudy could be on his way down here to help me!” Penny called out to him.

Von shook his head slowly. The girl obviously didn’t get it, did she? Oh that’s right, she didn’t know what he did to Rudy, did she? Yeah... She was still unaware about that little detail. He hadn’t exactly told her yet. Maybe he should...fix that.

No, not now. He would find the time. He just wanted to prolong this a little. This was one of the two brats that ruined everything for him all those months ago. He wanted to take some time to ensure that she suffered for it. Sure, before he didn’t want to waste that much time on revenge, and focus on getting information so he could redeem himself. But now that he was here, now that he had Penny trapped, he deserved a bit of that, right? A little ‘reward’ for himself.

“I wonder how you muzt be feeling right now, Penny. Trapped? Defenzelezz? Ztupid? Wishing you had zought of anozer way?” Von asked in a taunting voice. He reached out and grabbed Penny’s chin. “Zis all would never have happened if you and your friend hadn’t intervened wiz me back when...”

Penny opened her mouth and tried to bite him. Slightly alarmed, the man yanked his hand back. He looked down and examined his hand, making sure that the girl didn’t even graze it. He glared softly back at her. Quite a bold move, considering her position. Nonetheless, he couldn’t allow that to happen again.

“Do zat again, and I will make sure you will regret it.” Von warned her.

“Oh please! Do you really think that I believe you? I know you woud hesitate to actually seriously harm me, because you know what would happen if you dare try! You can’t frighten me with false threats!” Penny shouted at him. She glared at him in the eyes, and he could feel the intensity of her emotions quite well. He remained quiet, listening to her continue to rant at him. “Besides, you are just a lyre bird, always repeating the same thing over and over. Are you seriously still on that subject of what happened months ago? Are you still angry about that? Get over it! It was your fault for..”

Von, feeling his blood start to boil over, did something he never thought he would do, especially to a child.

He punched Penny.

The resounding sound of his fist colliding with her jaw practically echoed in the room. Her head was tossed back roughly and she let out a cry of pain. The whiplash was so bad that he almost thought that she would have some form of brain trauma from this.

Fortunately that didn’t seem to be the case. The girl looked over at him, her eyes filled with pain and shock of the attack. Von glared down at her, his lip curled back into a snarl. His breathing was in the form of seething through his teeth, which were clenched tightly. His fist remained raised, and it tightened as he lifted it up slightly, a silent threat.

“How dare you... I told you two bratz what I had been zrough, why I have every right to zeek juztize against you two. You ztill dare tell me zat it was my fault?” Von snarled.

“W-Well..if you didn’t...” Penny tried to say.

Although it was against Von’s better judgment, he punched Penny again, this time making her head toss to the other side. He then grabbed her head and yanked it back, pulling on her scalp. She let out a cry of pain in the process, her eyes clinching shut tightly.

“Don’t you dare try to tell me it waz my fault! All I did waz try to share a dizcovery wiz zee world! It waz you and your friend who refuzed to cooperate! It waz you two whoze selfishnezz caused me to lose almozt everyzing zat day! If it weren’t for you two, I would have been hailed az one of the greatezt dizcovererz of all time! Who knows where society could have been going if your ztupid friend had actually done zee right thing and shared the knowledge inztead of hogging it like a zelfish brat zat he is! But then, you two are juzt ten years old, so what should I expect from you two? Too young, naive, and ztupid to know or care about anyone but yourzelvez!”

He pulled Penny’s hair even tighter, bringing out another cry of pain from her. He put his face close to hers. The girl flinched, feeling his hot breath against her face.

Von snarled, “Zo don’t you dare try to pin the blame on me. I did nozing wrong. I don’t want to have to repeat myself.” His eyes narrowed further. “Do you underztand?”

At first, Penny was quiet. She merely looked at him with widened eyes and clenched teeth. He couldn’t tell if she was truly afraid of him or if he was just confusing the heck out of her. Though there was at least some apprehension, her eyes looking at the fist that he still had formed in his other hand. So there was at least that.

He hoped the girl would learn her lesson. He hoped that she would realize that she was the one who was pushing blame onto others. What the heck had he done wrong back then? He had a warrant. He wasn’t hurting Rudy. He wasn’t trying to unleash some diabolical scheme. He just wanted to share a discovery with the world. It was Rudy was uncooperative. It was he and Penny who came up with that horrid plan that ruined everything about him.

It was their fault that he was such a mess. It was their felt that he had to endure taunt after taunt for months since the incident. It was their fault he lost his staff and reputation. And it was most certainly their fault that he had been forced to do this. If they had been cooperative from the start, none of this would have happened. Well what could he expect from a couple of selfish brats?

Well he did waste enough time chatting with the girl. It was now time to get started with the experiment. A part of him wanted to kick himself in the head for wasting so much time, but the other simply didn’t care. Penny needed to be put back in line before she did anything she would regret.

Well time to get started. He knew it was best to do it now before the ringing in the hallways, which still went on and on, drove him insane. The dull ache would...distract him from his work.

The first thing he did was make sure that the girl could move her hand enough to make affective strokes. There was nothing in front of her. He figured it was not necessary. Surely the magic chalk would register it was being used, and the results would show up on the monitor.

After he made sure of that, he walked around and doublechecked the equipment. He didn’t want there to be a malfunction during this. That would not be all that...pleasant, to say the least. He checked the wires as well, making sure they were hooked up properly and in no change of being popped loose.

He then walked out towards Penny’s front. He positioned himself in front of her. He narrowed his eyes, looking at her up and down. He noted her expression. There was some fear, but the girl was back to glaring at him. He noticed slight bruises where she had been punched. Just more injuries to add to the others. He let his eyes trail along her body, looking at the bandages. He wondered what happened to her, but he soon shrugged it off. What caused those injuries weren’t important. So long as she could still use the magic chalk, that was all that mattered.

“Okay now, Penny...” Von swung around behind her swiftly. He positioned himself directly behind her, standing very close. He placed his hand on her shoulder gently, his eyes staring intently at the monitor. “Begin.”

sss

Millie watched as her husband paced back and forth in front of her and her sister. She had never seen him this worked up before. She had tried to settle him down, but nothing she said would get through to him. He would just keep pacing back and forth. It was to the point where she thought that he was going to leave an indention in the ground.

He had been at this for a while. His arms remained folded behind his back as he walked to and fro. The frown on his face indicated just how deep in thought he was. Occassionally, he’d look over at them, but then, just when they would think he’d speak, he’d turn away and continue his pacing.

She had never seen him this worked up before. She recalled how it was usually her, and not her husband, who’d be fidgeting and being worried, while her husband would be the one trying to be reasonable and calm. Now the roles had reversed. Now it was her trying to calm down her husbadn, although nothing she said had really done much. If anything, it seemed to just make his worrying even worse.

Biting her lip, Millie said, “Joe...can you please settle down? I’m sure everything will be fine.”

Joe turned his head towards her. He narrowed his eyes softly. She flinched. She could see the reflection of immense concern in those eyes. More than she thought she’d ever see from him. “Millie, they didn’t answer the phone.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.” Tilly said. She kept Sophie on her knees, an arm slung over her. “Maybe they’re just busy.” She held her hand out in gesture. “Rudy and Penny did have a nasty fight. Maybe it’s just taking longer than usual to make amends.”

Joe narrowed his eyes at this. He then turned his head and faced down. “That is possible... But I’m not so sure.” He turned his head away, staring out into the distance. He sucked in a breath and exhaled slowly. “Something just doesn’t feel right.”

Millie didn’t know what she could say to that. How could she comfort her husband when she herself wasn’t so sure of the situation? She wanted to stay positive and did a good job of it. She had gotten the call from Penny’s mother, so it wasn’t like she didn’t know where Rudy was. Inez was a diligent mother, and a very responsible person. She wouldn’t allow anything to happen to her daughter, or to Rudy.

But she couldn’t lie to herself and ignore the fact that she felt a little worried as well. When Joe made the call earlier and no one answered, they had assumed that they just couldn’t get to the phone in time. But five calls later and still no answer... What was going on?

“Maybe she decided to take them to the store?” Millie found herself suggesting hopefully.

Joe frowned thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. “Well, that’s also a possibility.” He shook his head once. “But still, wouldn’t she have called to inform us?”

“Probably not. I don’t see why she would feel the need to tell us, unless she thought were going to come over.” Tilly said.

On her lap, Sophie wriggled around a little. Millie watched as her sister held onto the girl more tightly. “Rudy...?” At this, Millie felt her heart tighten. Poor Sophie... She must miss Rudy.

Tilly pressed her daughter against herself. She stroked her hair gently and whispered, “Shh... Settle down, Sophie. You’ll see Rudy again soon.” She paused for a moment, sucking on her lip. “I-I promise.”

Millie couldn’t help but flinch at the crack in the woman’s voice. She wondered if Tilly felt some ounce of guilt over Rudy’s disappearance. The idea was ludicrous, and she hoped it wasn’t true. But at the same time, it wouldn’t surprise her; if Rudy and the others were indeed missing, they would all feel guilty, and then waste their time wondering ‘what if’...

Millie hoped to avoid that as much as possible. Wondering what could have been would only be a waste of time. If her son was in danger, then the best thing to do was take action. Inform the police and make phonecalls and hope that someone had information on where they were, hoping that someone would have seen them. Taking a trip to Inez’s house would come first, of course, to see if they were indeed there. She didn’t want to have them go through all this and it turned out they were at home all along.

Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. She hoped she was wrong about this. She hoped that Rudy wouldn’t do such a thing. But what if he did? What if he went and...

She tried to shake the thought out of her head, but it was useless. There was nothing she could do. Now she felt her heart twisting and tightening at the thought of Rudy doing the one thing that he had been forbidden to do. Despite precautions being in place, something could still happen. Rudy was smart. He could have found a work around, she was certain.

She glanced over at her sister, licking her lip nervously. Her sister caughter stare, and she furrowed her eyes with concern. Millie then looked over at Joe, who was still pacing around worriedly.

“J-Joe..?” The man stopped and looked down at Millie. “Do you..do you think that Rudy...snuck away to get a chalkboard?”

Joe froze at this. He stared at her, disbelievingly. “But..Rudy’s always been good at following the rules. Why would he...?”

“You know how he can get sometimes, Joe.” Millie recalled how Rudy acted the times that he had gotten really upset. Despite Rudy’s civil nature most of the time, the large woman had to remember that Rudy was still a child, a little boy. He was still prone to outbursts and reckless actions. “And you know how much he loves his art.” Indeed, Rudy spent hours drawing at a time. “He probably tried to sneak a chalkboard in despite there being a five day limitation, and maybe Inez and Penny are trying to find him and that’s why they aren’t home.”

Silence fell upon the room, except for the occassional ‘Rudy’ from Sophie. Millie flinched slightly from the way her husband was looking at her. She wanted to say something more, but she felt that she had said enough. Whether or not her husband believed her, it was up to him.

But regardless of what he says, she still thought this was a possibility. Rudy knew his way around town well enough and he had walked alone there a few times without problem, sometimes accompanied by Penny. Their neighborhood was relatively safe, so no one bat an eye on the subject of two kids walking in town alone. There’s even been a few times where Rudy walked to school on his own. It wasn’t like Plainsville was as big as, say, New York City.

It was possible that Rudy felt gipped about not being able to use his chalkboard for a few days, and left to get another one that he could sneak with. Why he didn’t just use the portale one that he was still allowed to use, she wasn’t sure unless he wanted to draw something really big and he needed all of that space for the drawing itself. Sometimes artists just want something bigger to have ample space to draw whatever they want.

It was possible that Rudy left, and Inez realized he was gone and she and Penny left in a hurry, without bothering to try to grab her cell phone in the process. Although she realized, they hadn’t tried that yet...

Her eyes wide in realization at this realization, she said, “Have you tried her cellphone, Joe?”

Her husband stared at her for a few seconds. He then raised his shoulders up in a shrug and shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I guess I just..didn’t think about it.”

Millie pointed her finger at her husand. “Well try it. Let us know if you get anything.”

“I’m on it.” Joe stopped his pacing as he went towarsd the phone.

Millie and her sister watched in silence. They gave each other a concerned expression. Neither of them knew what this phone call was going to lead to. Neither them had any idea what to expect. All they could do was sit here and hope that the man’s call was going to lead to something better. Maybe he would get a hold of the woman and they could find out what was going on.

Millie hoped so. She wanted to believe that everything was fine. She wanted to believe that her son just took off to get a chalkboard, or that they were at the store looking around, or what. This...this couldn’t be that serious. It...

Millie felt her heart freeze, hearing her sister give a gasp of horror, when, after a few minutes, Joe returned to them, a solemn look on his face. He shook his head slowly and the woman felt as though her world came crashing down.

“I couldn’t get a hold of them. The cell phone is turned off.” Joe said regretfully.

“What?” Tilly said, her eyes wide in shock as she struggled to keep herself from dropping Sophie.

“No...” Millie whispered. This could only mean one thing.

Rudy, along with Penny and Inez, they were...missing.

Chapter 34: Threats

It is amazing what you can make people do with a few simple words...

sss

Rapsheeba froze when another siren sounded out. The zoners in her group, including Howdy, froze in their tracks. They looked left and right, trying to find the source of the source of the sound. It was echoing in all directions, as if it were some omnipresent individual.

“What is this?!” Howdy shouted, trying to keep his voice high enough for the others to hear.

“I don’t know, but it’s so loud!” Called one of the zoners.

“Yeah! Blocky is lucky he doesn’t have to hear this!” Called the zoner that was holding onto Blocky’s unconscious form.

Rapsheeba wasn’t sure if she would call Blocky being unconscious ‘lucky’. The poor guy was running into the danger of being comatose, and there was nothing good about that. But she could see why the zoner would say that. This noise was rather irritating and she felt as though her ears were about to pop. They thought that they were out of the woods with this, since the last set of sirens stopped a while ago. Now they’re back.

Well, sort of. These sirens were of a different pitch and had a different pattern to them. They weren’t long and outstretched. Instead, they were slightly higher pitched and they were brief. Almost like a click-click-click kind of sound.

Either way, its sudden appearance was irritating, making her want to cover her ears all the time, lest they start bleeding out from ruptured eardrums. The zoner who had to hold onto Blocky was in a less than amusing position. He had to hold onto Blocky with one arm, so he only had one free. He could over one ear, but the other, he had to use his shoulder. Not very affective. Rapsheeba couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

Despite the noise, however, she, Howdy, and the two other zoners, along with the unconscious Blocky, continued their trek down the hallway. They had quickened their pace, hoping that they would get away from the sound faster, or the sound would die off sooner or later.

But just as with the ringing before, this seemed to last for quite some time. There didn’t seem to be any end in sight, much to their dismay. They kept on going, however, knowing that standing around would do them no good. Maybe if they kept on running, they would find the portal, or some kind of exit that would grant them reprive from that horrid, ear-destroying sound.

However, it seemed fate had another idea. As they turned around the corner, without warning, there was a loud shing sound and they were instantly greeted by a large, grey door. They all let out screams of surprise and they attempted to skid to a stop. They weren’t able to in time, however, and they smashed against the large, cold surface. They let out yelps of pain as they stumbled back, holding onto their faces.

It took the zoners a few seconds to fully realize what kind of situation that they were in. They looked left and right, realizing that they were trapped.

Immediately, there was a rise of tension in the air. Rapsheeba did her best to remain calm, and it appeared Howdy was trying to as well, although he still looked around nervously. The other zoners looked more worried, and the two smaller zoners were starting to hyperventilate. They began to run around, slamming against the wall, trying to claw at it to escape. They acted very much like trapped wild animals. Rapsheeba would have told them to stop, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to get through to them. She took a moment to look around where they were stuck at

The trap was pretty simple. Just a wall in front and behind them. She imagined this wouldn’t be hard to install, especially for a scientist. Though she couldn’t help but wonder what this was for, what benefit the man had to this. She pushed those thoughts aside, knowing that she would not get any useful results out of it. Instead, she refocused her thoughts on how they were going to get out of here.

“What are we going to do?!” Wailed one of the zoners. “We’re trapped!”

Rapsheeba tried to tune out the screaming and running of those two zoners as she walked towards one of the walls that had appeared. She placed her hand against it, wincing at how ice cold it was. She moved her hand down a little, and then formed a fist. She pounded against it a couple of times. She frowned deeply. “It’s solid as a rock. It won’t be easy breaking this down.”

“Trapped like animals!” The other panicking zoner shouted.

The first terrified zoner clutched his face, digging his fingers into his skin. His teeth were clenched. His face looked as though it lost several shades. He looked left and right, rubbing his cheeks up and down. “This is bad... Really bad! We shouldn’t have left the others! Should have stayed with them! We’re helpless now! We’re...”

The large zoner that held Blocky snorted at them, clearing his throat to get their attention. The two zoners hunched their shoulders, looking up at him worriedly. “Oh shut up, you two! I’m sure we can find a way out of this!” He turned and looked at Rapsheeba and Howdy. “Isn’t that right?”

“Well y-yeah!” Howdy said, his voice having a slight crack of hesitation. He smiled the best he could, an attempt to reassure the two panicky zoners. “We just have to think hard enough and we’ll find a way through!”

The two zoners looked at each other nervously. They bit their lips, showing no signs of improvement. They were still hesitant, uncertain. It didn’t seem like anything could get through to them. They looked as if they were trying to find some kind of exit for them to bolt out of, like a rabbit getting away from a hungry hawk.

The zoners soon looked back at Howdy, their eyes having a very slight shimmer of hope in them. “You are sure?”

Howdy nodded his head. “Absolutely!”

While Rapsheeba could tell that Howdy was not sure of his own words, she was glad that he was doing what he can to cheer up the frightened zoners. They all needed to remain as calm as possible before they could begin to think of a proper solution to this. She was well aware taht they wouldn’t be able to function all taht well if they stood around, allowing fear to take a hold of them, clouding their minds.

Fear would hinder their judgment. Being too afraid would make them jumpy. It was fine to be cautious, but if they were too much on the cautious side and let fear rule them, they would never get too far. They needed to think logically and rationally with this, not allow their own internal worries govern them and make them jump to conclusions.

There had to be some way out of here. She had a feeling there was some kind of flaw or weakness in this type of trap. She looked around and so far didn’t spot anything that could be useful to them. But still, she refused to give up. There was some way out of here; she just had to keep thinking and figure it out. That was all she could do. That was all any of them could do. If they simply gave up, they’d never get out, and Von would have won. That wasn’t something she felt any of them would willingly allow.

Her eyes fell upon Blocky’s unconscious form. She bit her lip, feeling a pang in her chest. Poor Blocky had been through so much lately. And those injuries... She knew they would only get worse if they weren’t properly treated. She didn’t want to imagine just how bad it might get. She didn’t want to think of the possibility of her friend being changed for the worse, or permanently damaged in some way. He certainly didn’t deserve that. The sooner they get him to a hospital, the better.

But first, they needed to find that darn portal. And they can’t do that if they were trapped here. She glanced over at Howdy, giving him a worried expression. The puppet zoner looked back at her, mirroring the look she was giving. Their eyes shared a silent message of mutual understanding, and of equal worry and determination.

Rapsheeba leaned against the wall of the hallway and slid down. She folded her arms against her chest, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully. Howdy approached hers lowly and he positioned himself next to her. Rapsheeba watched the corner of her eye as Howdy sat down next to her. She heard the puppet zoner give a worried sigh as he started to think of a way out. She said not a word, keeping herself focused on her own thoughts.

There had to be something they could do. There had to be a way out of here. Rapsheeba did what she could to tune out the zoners before her. She tried to ignore the grumpy large zoner’s comments, and the panicky words from the other two zoners. Such a task was rather difficult, but she still managed to pull it off as best as she could. Soon all she was aware of was her own thoughts, her eyes shut to make herself feel as though she were in a black void all by herself. With the distractions minimized as much as possible, she began to think of possible solutions.

Was there something that they had missed? Was there a path to getting out they hadn’t thought of yet? It seemed hopeless, for certain. Yet she couldn’t help but feel as though something was overlooked, dismissed under the assumption it was useless. After a few seconds, she realized what that was.

They hadn’t made sure there were no exits here.

Sure, they couldn’t go back or forward. But was there another pathway? Was there a door that they had missed? She didn’t recall seeing any and if there was a door, wouldn’t the panicked zoners have realized this and headed out? Or were they so worked up that they were constantly missing the obvious?

Rapsheeba opened her eyes and took a look around. Aside from the large zoner face palming at the panicked antics of the two zoners, she didn’t really see much. She turned her head from right to left, hoping to find something. But so far, no luck.

Howdy had taken notice of this and he inched his way closer to her. “What are you looking for, Rapsheeba?”

The singer zoner answered, “To see if I can find a way out.” She tilted her head up slightly. “I’m certain that there is a way, and I thought that maybe we just overlooked.” She sighed and she looked over at Howdy. “So far, though, I’m not seeing anything.”

The puppet zoner looked up at her sadly. “That’s beause I don’t think there is anything.” He took a moment to look all around before turning his gaze back to her. “The walls are blocking all the paths. Unless we can bypass through the walls themselves, I don’t think we’re going anywhere.”

Rapsheeba frowned at this. She had hoped it wouldn’t come down to this. She was hoping that maybe they missed something. It was still possible, but all directions led one way, and that was to being trapped. The area they were stuck in wasn’t very large, and nothing was really obstructed, save for areas blocked by the other zoners, and even then, it didn’t seem like they could block something as important and noticeable as a door.

“Yeah, perhaps you are right. But..I have to keep looking. There’s a way out. I’m sure of it.” Rapsheeba said, doing her best to sound hopeful.

“Well I’m glad you are being rather optimistic.” Howdy lowered his head. “Because I don’t know how long I can be hopeful.”

Rapsheeba stared at him sympathetically. After what Howdy had been forced through, she wasn’t surprised by this attitude. She wished she could say something to cheer him up, but nothing would come to mind. She could only place her hand on his shoulder in a comforting way, smiling at him the best that she could. He returned it, but she noticed how shaky and uncertain it still looked.

Rapsheeba was about to try to say something to Howdy when something caught her eye. She lifted up her head and leaned it towards the side. Her eyes were glued on something in front of her, just beyond the backside of the large zoner.

“What is it?” Howdy whispered softly, his tone of voice tripping with curiosity. “What do you see?”

The female zoner didn’t answer him. She instead focused her attention on what she had spotted. There was something strange on the wall. A formation she hadn’t seen before. A slight bulge that she could have sworn wasn’t there before. Without thinking, without saying a word, she got up to her feet and walked over slowly.

She stopped in front of the wall. She looked at it up and down. Her eyes focused on the indention she saw before, and then trailed her eyes around, trying to see if there was anything else she hadn’t noticed before. It took her a few seconds to notice that there appeared to be some kind of outline. Up and across. It was slight, barely there, but she could see enough that she knew something was different about this thing.

Her eyes soon widened. Could it be..? No, it couldn’t be that easy, right? There was no way that their answer would be presented to them so quickly. There had to be a kind of catch somehow.

Only one way to find out. The singer zoner took a step closer and placed her hands on the wall. She moved them around, trying to feel what was underneath. It was then she noticed that the wall bent inward, and she thought she heard a tight tear. She continued to have her hands explore the wall, or what was taking the form of a wall. She soon felt around the bulge she saw before, and after some pressure, there was a louder tear and she felt her fingers wrapping around something cold.

It felt cold and hard and...round? Her eyes flickering with realization, the singer zoner grabbed onto the fake wall and tore it down some more. The sound of tearing filled the air, making it almost sound like it was someone’s birthday, and they were opening the presents. She kept ripping at the wall, which she realized was some kind of thick paper, and soon she was greeted with a sight she did not expect to see.

How was this possible? It couldn’t be that easy, right? There..there was no way that...

But it was. As she continued to stare at it, there was no way she could deny what was before her. She turned her head and looked back at the others. Everyone, including the worryworts, had stopped speaking, and were staring in stunned silence at what she had found. They glanced at each other, their eyes filled with shock and uncertainty.

She could hear them murmuring, each asking each other if this was true or not. Multiple questions were asked, but she could hardly hear any of them. Their voices were mumbled and her attention was solely on what she had found. Not even Howdy’s voice got to her, nothing more than part of the background noise. She did not move her eyes away from what she had found, not even as she felt Howdy grab onto her arm.

“Rapsheeba... D-Do you think...?” Howdy whispered softly.

Rapsheeba did not respond to him. She just kept staring, her head filling with several questions. How could this have been hidden? Why didn’t they see it before? How did Von manage to do something like this?

But there was one question that she knew the answer to. She knew exactly what this had been placed here for.

It was to block the door that she had uncovered.

sss

Rudy stared at the man, wide-eyed. He felt as though his heart stopped beating. He could hear the man’s words echo in his head over and over. He had a hard time believing it, wondering if the man was just trying to scare them.

But those sounds from before... The loud thuds, the clangs.. There was no way that was faked. He thought back to what the man said. And when he let it all sink in, he could feel a cold chill rush through his body.

“None of you will be leaving now.”

Rudy realized, swallowing hard, that the scientist must have had a backup plan. There must have been something he did while none of them were looking. He had set something up and now he had triggered it. And judging from what the man said, it was nothing good. He found himself taking a step back, looking at the man with wide eyes. Just what did he do...?

Rudy flinched as he heard the loud siren go off, echoing in the hallways right outside the door. Even though most of the volume was blocked, it was still loud enough to make his ears start to ring a little.

Not far away from him, he could see the two large zoners on the ground, the ones that he and Mrs. Sanchez ran into in the hallway, having been scattered from the others. They were hunching their shoulders and clenching their teeth as they tred to handle the loud sound. The injured zoner was still holding onto his arm, blood still seeping from the wound.

He looked over at Penny and Mrs. Sanchez. At this point, Penny had been freed from the machine. Penny was holding onto her mother, the two joining together in a tight hug. Rudy wondered just what Von had put her through. She looked so frightened and shaken. What startled him more was that, when he and Mrs. Sanchez first arrived, Penny didn’t look as scared. But as soon as she was freed...

Rudy gritted his teeth. Just what did that monster do to Penny? What did he do that had frightened Penny so much? And just what did he do? Was it exactly what he said, or did he lie and he did something worse?

He wanted to do something, but the pain stopped him. He realized there was little that he could do against Von outside of verbal banter. The nail was still in his stomach, and even now, regardless of how much he tried to ignore it, pain radiated through it, the throbbing being felt through his clothes. Just how much luck was he going to have against this man when his own ability to move was hindered?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the man give a quick chuckle. One that signified not just mere amusement, but haughtiness and arrogance. He glared at the man doing his best to hide his own fears. The man locked eyes with him. He shivered at the sight of the eyes themselves, the pupils having been shrunk. There was a gleeful look in those eyes, something that he never wanted to see from them.

The man straightened himself up the best he could. He gave Rudy a triumphant smile, his teeth bared in the grin. He held his hands behind his back and carried himself as if he had accomplished something amazing. He stared at Rudy as he paced back and forth inf ront of him. Rudy held still and watched him, glaring softly.

“What do you zink of me now, boy?” Dr. Von Doktor said, his teeth flashing, his head tilting slightly up. “Not bad for a lunatic, am I right?”

Rudy simply hissed at him, keeping himself positioned in front of the Sanchezes. He turned his head and looked behind him. He noticed that Penny had stopped hugging her mom and was looking at him. He recognized the silent question in her eyes and he answered swiftly by shaking his head. He didn’t want her leaving her mother’s side. He knew Von hated him the most. He would keep him away from them.

He watched as the man continued to pace in front of him. The man kept giving him a sneer and a scrutinizing look. The fact that he had gotten the upperhand, something that horrified him, was quite clear, written on the man’s face for everyone to see.

“You zought you could make me into a fool again. Well you were wrong.” Von sneered at him, his smile gaining something of an eerie edge to it. “I do have to wonder what you’re zinking right now. Do you feel like an idiot? Do you feel like you should have paid more attention?” He paused for a moment, as if he expected him to answer. The ten year old simply narrowed his eyes. “Well good! Now you have a tazte of zome of what I felt!”

Rudy gritted his teeth and took a step back. The man’s demeanor had changed slightly. His eyes narrowed, although the man didn’t seem angry enough to attack him. For now, he just simply looked annoyed and confused, as if he couldn’t understand the reasoning behind anything Rudy had done. Of course not.

Then, with a snort, the man threw his head to one side. His lip curled up, partially exposing his canine tooth. “Do you really zink I waz going to let you turn me into a fool again? Did you zink that I didn’t have zomething in mind to prevent that? Do you zink I’m ztupid?”

Although he knew it was a bad idea, Rudy gave the man a bitter smirk and said, “Why are you insulting yourself, Von?”

The man spluttered for a second, but soon appeared to calm himself down. “Funny little boy.”

“What exactly did you do?” Rudy heard Penny say behind him. He looked behind to see her, and then looked back at Von.

Von said, “I merely activated my zecurity zyztem.”

Rudy and the Sanchezes looked at one another. They exchanged worried looks with each other. They then turned back to Von, noting that his expression turned back into the gleeful, almost prideful look.

“...security system...?” Rudy found himself breathing out. “And what exactly does that entail?”

“Well I did tell you zat you won’t be leaving here. But I zuppose you mean you want a bit more dezcription.” At Rudy’s nod, the man continued. “Well it iz zimple. I push ziz button here...” He pointed at the metal box with all the switches and such on it. “Az long az ziz iz turned ziz way, exactly like ziz, hidden wallz and barrierz will drop down, zealing off hallwayz and roomz. All exitz are blocked.”

Rudy’s eyes widened at this. “What...?”

“Oh and don’t even zink about touching ziz.” Von said with a growl. He motioned towards the box. “Do zo, and I will ensure zat you will regret it.”

Rudy stared at the metal box again. He looked from it, to Von, and back again repeatedlly. A part of him wanted to rush over and flip the switch, but he knew that wasn’t an option. Even if the man wasn’t standing there, he couldn’t tell which one was the right button or lever. There were so many and they weren’t labeled. He couldn’t remember which one it was. Taking a gamble wasn’t something he could afford. He didn’t want to end up doing something insane like gasing everyone to death. He had no choice but to listen to the man’s request to step down.

“Zat’z a good lad.” Von said with a smile, all pretenses of anger vanishing. Rudy just growled at him. “Firzt, let me get rid of zat nazty ring.”

Rudy, Penny, and Mrs. Sanchez gave a quick sigh of relief when Von’s button pushing caused the siren to die down. They all hoped that would be the last loud sound they would have to contend with.

“Now zen...to begin...” Von walked over towards Rudy. “Zince Penny waz uzelezz...” Rudy glared at him.

“No! Get away!” Penny cried. Her mother grabbed onto her, preventing her from getting too close.

“Ztay out of ziz!” Von snarled at her. Mrs. Sanchez moved closer to her daughter, glaring at the man despite her pain. He chortled at ziz before looking back at Rudy. “Anyway... Penny waz too uncooperative. But you’re a zmart little boy, aren’t you?” He held up the magic chalk that he had wrenched from Penny’s hand earlier. “Maybe you can help me.”

“And why would I do that?” Rudy growled.

Von tapped the tip of the chalk against his face thoughtfully. “Well...I could juzt...push ziz button right here.” Von hovered his finger over one of the buttons. At this, everyone, including the two zoners, looked at him worriedly. “Truzt me, you don’t want to know what ziz button would do.”

The two zoners gasped loudly. They attempted to move forward, but Von produced a large eraser from his pocket. This caused the zoners to freeze. They took a few steps back, their bodies shivering in fear.

Rudy exchanged a look of horror with Penny and Mrs. Sanchez. The two female humans looked as though they wanted to say something, but they found it difficult to get the words out. After what the man said, he couldn’t blame them. He was having a hard time himself. His mind was flooded with different thoughts on what the man was entailing. There were so many possibilities, each one darker and more twisted than the last.

Rudy’s heart nearly turned to ice when he looked at the eraser, noting the blood on it. His mind flashed back to what happened to Helga. That image would forever be etched into his head. Even now as he closed his eyes, he could still see it. Her wide open eyes, her open mouth, the look of agony and horror... It served to remind him of just how insane this man had gotten, and he gave a shiver at the thought of the man potentially doing something worse.

Rudy was at a loss. What should he do? What would be the right thing to do? He looked over at Mrs. Sanchez and Penny, but they appeared to be at as much of a loss as him. They looked to him, and they eyed each other hopefully, each wondering if the other thought of something. There was a noticeable flash of disappointment in each other’s eyes as they realized they were stuck.

The zoners weren’t of much help. The sight of the eraser had greatly unnerved them. Rudy could see them backing away even more, their heads shifting around as if to find an exit. The fact that the zoners were thinking of abandoning them did hurt, but Rudy pushed those thoughts aside for the time being, focusing his attention on Von and trying to figure out what he was going to do. Besides, could he blame the zoners for being so terrified after seeing Helga, arguably the bravest among them, get killed?

It didn’t take him long to come to realize there wasn’t much of a choice here. The man stood next to the box, fully prepared to press or pull any lever. The scientist knew this box, but he did not. If he made one wrong move, the man could push a button and, for all he knew, it would kill any zoner that was still in the building, including his friends.

He wondered briefly why the man didn’t think of using this system before. He soon realized that the man may ahve forgotten all about it. It was possible that he was so worked up over the perpetual motion thing and being mocked that he had just pushed that into the back of his thoughts. It made Rudy wonder if the man had something else up his sleeve, if there was any other hidden things that he needed to worry about. He clenched his teeth, feeling a cold shiver. If that’s the case, then...

Rudy hated the idea of giving into this man. He looked at Mrs. Sanchez and Penny. They looked at him, waiting for him to give a response. He bit his lip and looked away from them, feeling a sense of shame come over him. He couldn’t believe what he was about to do, but he had no choice. It was either this, or several people could potentially get hurt, even die. He had to buy them some time.

“All right then, Von...” Rudy said softly. He lowered his head slightly, a way of showing some level of submission towards him. “What do you want me to do?” He glared at him, showing Von he was still not pleased with him.

“Ah, I knew you would do zee right zing.” Von commented. He looked quite happy with Rudy’s choice, a thought that brought nausea to Rudy’s stomach. “I won’t azk much of you. I...”

“No! Rudy! You can’t!” Penny cried out. She struggled against her mother’s grasp. Though she never got free, she continued to jerk herself from side to side. “If he figures out how the magic chalk works, he’s going to produce his own! Do you have any idea what that’s going to do?!”

At this, Mrs. Sanchez shot a horrified look at Rudy. “I-Is that bad...?”

Dr. Von Doktor cut off Rudy before he could respond. “Why good heavenz no!” He placed a hand against his chest, smiling. “It will juzt give me the meanz of taking back my reputation.” He then held his hand out in gesture. “And of courze, it will alzo allow me to better zpread zee word of ziz world. Going back and forz would be time conzuming. But...” He raised a finger up. “If I could make my own...”

The man fell silent, smiling at everyone. He was letting them sink this into their heads, letting them get the full impact of what he was implying. The zoners and humans looked at one another, and then back at the scientist. Their eyes were wide in shock and horror and surprise. Well except Penny, who must have known more about the man’s plans than they did. Rudy stared at her sympathetically, wondering what she must have felt like when the man tried to get her to help him do this.

He glared back at Von, baring his teeth. Although he realized the situation was still dire, though he knew he didn’t have a choice, he felt the strong urge to resist. This was worse than just merely letting him have the magic chalk. If he could produce his own...

...then it mattered not if they kick him out of ChalkZone or not. If he learned how to make them, if he figured out whatever secret was behind the magic chalk, then he could just make a new stick and come back in. He could make as many as he wanted to, and share it with the world. He might even share the recipe, allowing for more people to create magic chalk.

And they coud alter the recipe. They could create new types of magic chalk if they wanted to and tried hard enough. They might be able to create something more dangerous than the red chalk. The thought caused ice to shoot through his veins.

Mrs. Sanchez broke the silence. “You would do something so careless?”

Dr. Von Doktor sneered at her. “Zere’z nozing carelezz about it. I am zimply sharing a dizcovery with zee world. Everyone dezervez a chanze in...”

“You have no idea what you’d be doing!” Penny cried. “What about the zoners? The people who already live there?”

Von scoffed at this. “Zey can learn to adapt.”

“And the humans? What if someone drew a dangerous weapon and brought it into the Real World?” Rudy asked, raising an eyebrow. “How do you suppose we deal with that?”

Mrs. Sanchez’s eyes widened in horror at this. “What?” She looked back at Von and said, “You’re willing to let that happen? Do you feel fine with a potential mass murder on your hands?”

A dark chuckle and a snort. “I zink you are all overreacting.” Von stared at the piece of magic chalk. “Zeze zingz can be neutralized by water. If anyone getz out of hand...” His smile broadened. “Zey can juzt use water and problem zolved!” He lifted up his head and looked over at Rudy. “Zo, wiz zat reassuranze, shall we begin, boy?”

Rudy shook his head. “It’s too risky. I can’t let you get that information.” Von frowned at this. “If I allow you to have that kind of data, and it spread, who knows what kind of damage would result from that... As the protector of that world, I forbid you from other gaining that knowledge.”

Von burst out into laughter. “What? You forbid me?!” He bent his knees slightly, slapping one thigh with his free hand. “You...you zeriouzly zink you can order me like zat?!’ After a few more laughs, the man started to settle himself down. After a few quick intakes of breath, he sneered at Rudy. “Oh how you are going to regret zat...”

Rudy formed a fist with his left hand. “I would regret it more if I agreed to help you..”

Von snorted at this. “Iz zat zo? Well zen...” He took a step forward. His shadow seemed to almost cover Rudy as the man straightened his back more, an attempt to show some dominance over him. “Let me azk you a question...”

Although Rudy could feel the tension rising up, he stood his ground. “Oh yeah? And what is that?”

Von gave a quick laugh. He then suddenly stopped and narrowed his eyes at Rudy. “How much blood do you zink you will lose if I were to...remove zat...?”

Rudy’s face paled at this.

“What?! Are you crazy?! Do you have any idea what that will do?!” Mrs. Sanchez cried in horror.

“Oh yez, I am quite aware.” Von said in a darkened voice. “All zee more reason for zee boy to lizten to me.” He sneered at the woman, smirking at her horrified and angered expression. He then looked back at Rudy. He took a step forward, holding his hand ou towards the boy. “Zo tell me, Rudy. What do you zink iz zee bezt zolution? Would you really be willing to give up your life for zee zake of zome chalk drawings?”

Rudy felt his heart freeze at this. He stared at the man in fear. He felt his body start to shiver. He tried his best to stop, but it was useless. He only shook harder as emotion filled up inside of him. The realization of what this meant struck him hard.

“Great Creator! What are we going to do?!” Called out one of the zoners.

“Rudy!” Penny’s voice was filled with terror. “Leave him alone, Von!”

“I’ll be glad to... Provided zat he givez me what I want.” Replied Von.

“That’s not fair! You’re threatening an innocent chi...” Mrs. Sanchez was not able to finish her sentence. It was cut off when the man gave a quick, cold and bitter-laced laughter.

“Innozent?! Do you honeztly zink I’m zat ztupid? Are you zat delusional? Ziz boy iz not innozent!” Dr. Von Doctor said. The smile faded away mostly from his face, reflecting the true anger that laid beneath it. He glared from the woman, to Penny, to the zoners, and then back to Rudy. Still addressing the others, he said, “Ziz boy haz been zuch a zorn in my zide. I have every right to defend myzelf.”

Penny growled at this. “You aren’t defending yourself! You’re threatening a little boy! It doesn’t matter if Rudy ruined your reputation or not!” At this, Von snarled. Rudy shot Penny a look, silently begging her to stop. But the girl went on. “You are still going too far! What do you think will happen when word of this gets out? Do you think that we will keep quiet about it?!”

Von was silenced at this. He stared at Penny, his mouth pressed shut. Rudy glanced at the man, and then back at Penny, his eyes wide in shock. He couldn’t believe he didn’t think of that before. Why didn’t think of trying this? The man does not want to go to jail; that was evident by how stunned and uncertain he seemed right now. Perhaps there was a chance that they could turn things around after all. Maybe they could convince Von that his quest simply wasn’t worth it and get him to back down.

As much as Von hated him, there was no way the man wasn’t aware of how much more damage being in jail would cause. It was one thing to be considered a lunatic. People would simply crack jokes at his expense. But if he ended up convicted... If word got out about what he had done to other human beings... Well, people certainly would not be joking anymore. They would treat him like a legitimate threat and have him hunted down if he tried to escape justice. And even after, or if, he gets bailed, he would find his freedoms stripped down and he would find it much harder to locate any work or job. As soon as he even tried to pull off another scheme, someone would be there to stop him. He would have nowhere to run.

Realizing that they may have finally reclaimed the upperhand, Rudy smiled at Von. The man frowned back at him, but he made no attempt to speak. He guessed the man must have come to realize how screwed he was, how he had been boxed into a corner. Even the zoners smirked, obviouslly feeling confident that things were going their way again.

“We would like to make a deal with you, Dr. Von Doktor.” Rudy said coolly. He turned to smile at Mrs. Sanchez and Penny. They smiled back at him and nodd their heads, gesturing for him to continue. Rudy turned his head so he could look at Von again. “You can give up your ridiculous quest. You can go back to the way things were before. You can go back to trying to figure out perpetual motion. You can let all of us go, including my zoner friends, and give back the magic chalk and never try to set foot inside ChalkZone.”

The man narrowed his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but Rudy raised his hadn up. He was not yet done with him.

“And we promise not to leak a word of this the authorities. No one will ever have to know about your involvement in what happened to us.” Rudy glanced down at his own wound, flinching slightly. He looked back at Mrs. Sanchez, looking at the chemical burns on her body. He narrowed his eyes and looked back at Dr. Von Doktor. “But if you attempt to break our little deal...” He turned himself more so he could fully face the man. He puffed his chest up slightly to make himself look bigger. "We will make sure that everyone knows what you did. Even if you stop me and my group here..." The boy make an effort to swing his arm towards Mrs. Sanchez, Penny, and the zoners. "There's still someone out there who will be able to tell the authorities what you did." He smirked as he continued, "You're not exactly above the law, now are you? I know you must be quite smart and intelligent, but even you are no match against the authorities if word of this gets out."

Dr. Von Doktor growled at this. His teeth were bared and he took a step back. Rudy just smiled at them, giving him a look that told him how screwed he was. The man was going to have no choice except surrender. There was literally nothing else that could save him now.

He might think that he had them all trapped, but there was one person he had not taken account for. And that was his aunt. As frustrated as he was with Aunt Tilly, her cautiousness about ChalkZone would come in handy if she realizes he was gone for a while. Although odds were against him that she'd trace him back here, it was still something. A trump card the man hadn't seem to consider.

For several moments, there was nothing but silence. He heard some chuckles from the zoners, who had resumed their defensive postures. The injured one was doing his best to ignore the pain, staring at the man with gritted teeth. He looked ready to pay the man back for what he had done. Mrs. Sanchez and Penny had gotten a little closer, their narrowed eyes focused directly on the man. Rudy had no doubt in his mind that they would take action should the man charge forward and try something.

After what felt like several more minutes of silence, of Von glaring angrily at him, his fist tightened against his body, Rudy folded his arms against his chest, giving him a mischievous smile. "So Dr. Von..." He tilted his head to one side. "What shall it be?"

Rudy watched as the scientist's eyes narrowed further. He watched as his teeth clenched and he noticed his face turning red. Rudy felt his heart skip a beat this. He knew full well how dangerous Von could be if angered enough, especially since he had the most reason to go after him. Still, he did not move, not willing to show submission towards this madman. He would not allow him to get any kind of edge over him. Now it was his turn to make the tough decision. It was him who had been pushed into submission. No amount of anger will change that.

But as the seconds passed, as the man's body shook harder, his eyes narrowing further, Rudy couldn't stop the tension and fear from rising up inside of him. The man looked enraged, like he was about ready to attack. Rudy found himself taking a step back, but still holding his ground. He kept his arrogant smile on his face, doing his best to hide his fear and nervousness.

Suddenly, the man's body relaxed. All signs of anger just washed away in a few seconds. An eerie smile plastered over his face. The sudden change was so creepy, that it caused everyone to take a step back, their looks of determination replaced with confusion and uncertainty. Then the man chuckled, and they all looked at one another, wondering if the man had completely lost it.

The man laughed for several seconds, his hand against his chest. Rudy noticed what appeared to be a tear in the man's eyes. But not one of pain or sadness or fear. But one of extreme happiness or amusement. Rudy couldn't help but frown at the man in confusion. Just what was he finding so hilarious? What brought this on?

After the man was finished laughing, he looked back at the others. The eerie smile that was etched onto his face caused shivers to go up and down their spines. Even more unnerving was the fact that the man was still angry. There were still hints of anger underneath that smile. If the glow in his eyes didn't give it away, then his slight shivering did. The man was barely holding himself back. This was barely a few percentages of the anger he was feeling. Rudy bit his lip. A part of him wanted to say something, but the other was too scared to do so.

The others weren't doing so well either. The confidence had rapidly faded from the zoners. They were back to being terrified, and he watched as their bodies hunched, preparing to defend themselves in case the man rushed towards them. Mrs. Sanchez put her arms around her daughter protectively. She glared at the man, giving him a silent warning to stay away. Penny looked at Rudy worriedly. The look in her eyes told Rudy to get away, but the boy's feet would not obey his commands.

Then, after a long, tense silence, the man began to speak.

sss

"Zat'z funny. Zat is really funny. You really had me going zere. You almost had me believing zat you zought you had zee upper hand. You zought you could box me into a corner, zat you figured out all zee loopholes and you left nozing out. I'm sure you are all juzt zelebrating inzide zoze headz of yourz, commenting about how ztupid I am and how I would never figure away out of your little deal."

Dr. Von Doktor sneered at the humans and zoners that had confronted him in this room. He couldn't wipe the smile on his face. It just kept ticking wider and wider, amusement overpowering, making it hard not to laugh.
It was amusing how Rudy thought he had figured it all out, that he knew exactly how to stop Von and prevent him from going forth with his plans. He had to give the boy some credit. He and his little pals did think quite thoroughly with this. It was true that the authorities would be quite a hindrance. The boy was smart to think of using that as a threat. However, the boy didn't take into account just how smart he himself was, and how clever he could be. Soon he was going to regret not being careful.

The man felt anger boiling in his blood. He could still feel its chilling effects on his mind, causing several shivers to go up and down his spine repeatedly. There was seemingly no end in sight. But despite that, despite the urge to rush towards the boy and give him what he deserved, the man kept himself still, resisting the temptation to attack. That would get him nowhere. However, quite often, words were more powerful than action. The boy was going to learn this the hard way.

He smiled at them, looking at their confused and shocked expressions. He paced back and forth in front of them, eyeing them up and down. He looked for any sign of resistance, anything that would tell him one of them began to speak. But it was nothing but dead silence. His smile broadened at this. Good. Seemed he was getting somewhere now.

"I zink you should all reconzider your...idea. I have zomezing even better." Dr. Von Doktor said. He placed a hand against himself. "And truzt me. You will love ziz." He narrowed his eyes slightly, his mouth remaining ticked into a smile. "How about I give you a deal of my own? You tell me what I want to know. You help me find out how zee magic chalk workz. You help me create zome to begin the mazz production. Izn't zat a much better deal?"
Rudy gritted his teeth. "Why should we do that? What kind of hold could you possibly have over us?"

"Well..none on her." Von wasn't sure what the vet's stance on this was, or how far she was willing to go. But Rudy and Penny, they were different stories. And the zoners too, especially. "But you two..." He pointed at Rudy and Penny. The two children exchanged glances with each other before glaring back at them. "Zay...how much do you care about zem?" He pointed at the two zoners. "And zee ozerz?"

This got the desired result. He watched their faces drained of some color, their eyes darting around at each other and then back at him. He watched as fear began to watch over their faces, causing him to smirk broader. He didn't have to say it for him to know they realized the balance of power had shifted again, this time, back to where it belonged.

"What...what are you going to do...?" Penny asked, her voice edged with fear.
Dr. Von Doktor just smiled at this. "Oh, nozing much. I could just, I don't know, flood the hallways wiz water."

At this, there was an instant clamor. The zoners both let out a scream of terror. They immediately ran off, trying to find an exit out of the room. Mrs. Sanchez looked a little shocked, but just as he had predicted, she was the least worried of them. But Rudy and Penny... Their reaction was the most satisfactory. The screaming zoners were one thing, but it was obvious they were just trying to save their own skins. Rudy and Penny, however, cared about that world on a deep level, and they seemed to have a number of these zoners friends. His threat...it hit them on a deeper level than even the zoners themselves.

Rudy and Penny immediately began to plead with him not to do it. They begged with him to reconsider, saying how horrible of an idea that it was and asked him if he knew what he was doing. He just sneered at them, listening to them banter at him, begging him to not go through with that idea. Ah, this was music to his ears. In his triumphant glee, the man was completely unaware of just how insane he had gotten.

"It wouldn't take too much. If I were just...pull ziz zing here..." Dr. Von Doktor went towards the wall, towards the fire alarm that hung there. He motioned his hand towards it, putting it dangerously close to to the lever. "Zee alarm will activate, and the zprinkler zyztem will go on." He looked at Rudy and Penny's horrified eyes when he said this. "I know zat you two will be unharmed. But I have to wonder about your friendz." He sneered at the two frightened zoners. "Juzt how lucky will zey be?" He looked back at Rudy and Penny. "Do you want to find out?"

"No!" Rudy and Penny cried out in unison. They took a few steps towards the man, reaching out towards him as if they hoped to grab him and stop him.

"No? You don't want zat?" Dr. Von Doktor said, feigning sadness. "Izn't zat a shame?" He raised an eyebrow when he looked at Penny. "I zought at leazt you would be interezted."

Penny shook her head, gritting her teeth nervously. "Please, Von! You can't do that!"

Rudy said, "Please.. don't do it. You have no idea what you're doing. Please.."

Dr. Von Doktor raised an eyebrow. "I promize you. I am well aware of what I'm doing." He tilted his head to one side. "Zee true queztion is do you know what you'll be doing? I will give you all a choize and I do hope zat you will take zee time and zink over it well."

The man went silent for a few moments. He wanted to relish in this victory. He wanted to prolong this. Rudy and his friends really did think they had the upper hand, and now he was going to tear all of that down. He was going to make sure that they never got a chance to get away with their threat. He would leave them boxed into a corner, letting them feel just how helpless they really were.

No one was going to outsmart him this time. No one was going to keep him from obtaining what he truly deserved. No one was going to be able to stop him from obtaining the information he so desired, from spreading the word that everyone had the right to know. The two brats might have gotten away with being stupid and selfish for a while, but all that was about to end. And he was going to start it off by rendering their threat completely useless.

"If any of you call zee polize on me, if you even zink about it, zen I will pull ziz lever here." Von placed his hand on the lever, his fingers wrapping around it tightly. When he spoke again, his voice darkened a little, showing them just how much intent he had with what he was about to do. "I do hope that your zoner friendz can zwim."

Everyone in the room froze in horror, staring at him wide-eyed. Their faces paled, even Mrs. Sanchez's, as the full meaning of the man's threat impacted them. Von merely sneered at them, waiting for the answer he knew they were going to give. As he waited, he couldn't help but feel a warm sensation of pride in his chest, making himself straighten his body out, showing just how dominant and in control of the situation he was.

Oh yes, he was certain he had the upper hand this time. Nothing was going to stop him. There was no way that they were going to be able to worm their way out of this one. And when he saw the children bow their heads slightly, he grinned, knowing that he had won.

"Please, Von..why do you have to do this?" Mrs. Sanchez spoke up after being silent for a while. "Can't you see how much you're upsetting them? Why do you have to be this way? Can't we..."

Dr. Von Doktor shook his head. "I had given zem plenty of chanze. Zey were the ones who dezided to ignore my attemptz at being negotiatable. I am giving zem one more offer, but if zey refuse..." He turned to glare at Rudy and Penny. "All betz are off."

Rudy bit his lip nervously, looking at his friend. They appeared to be trying to find answers with each other, but neither of them appeared to have any ideas. They glanced at the zoners, who were pressed against the wall, as far away as they could go, watching fearfully. They looked back at Von, their eyes wide and pleading. Von merely smirked at them, folding his arms and staring at them expectantly.

When Rudy opened his mouth to speak, Von leaned in, eagerly awaiting to hear Rudy's terms of surrender. He wondered just what pitiful words the boy would speak, any final begs and pleads he might have. He was going to enjoy this.

"Von, I..."

Here it comes.

"You have to understand. We..."

Suddenly, before the boy could get another word in edgewise, there was a series of clangs and screams and thuds. It was coming from right above them. They tilted their heads back and looked up towards the ceiling. They moved their heads as the noise seemed to dart from one side to the other, as if something was being tossed around over and over again, as if in a sling shot. Then there was a louder clang, the sound of something snapping and breaking, and then a loud scream filled the room.

Von had no time to react when something heavy hit against him. He was pushed into the ground with full force. His chin slammed against the floor, and he yelped when he bit into his own tongue. There was a small choir of moans and groans before he fell limp for a few seconds, just laying there as his stunned body came to the full realization of what just happened to him.

After a few seconds and riding out the initial pain, the man lifted up his head and looked up at what had impacted him. His eyes widened, just as shocked as everyone else was.

It was Snap and his friends.

Chapter 36: Reveals

Sometimes the best way to help someone is to betray them.

sss

No.. It couldn’t be true. It wasn’t possible. Tilly sifted through her thoughts rapidly, trying to think of something else that made sense. Anything else that would be more comforting.

But no such thing happened. All she was left with was this...this horrid conclusion. She couldn’t shake the thoughts out of her mind, of what if, of what she could have done to prevent this. There was so much that she could have done, so many ways this could have gone that wouldn’t have resulted in this... But still it happened, and there was nothing she could do to reverse time and fix it.

Rudy, Penny, and Inez were all...missing.

She felt a lump in her throat as the thought repeated itself in her head over and over. She wanted it to be some kind of mistake. She hoped that someone would bring her good news, and show her that they were all right. Yet no such thing happened.

She, her sister, and Joe had all journeyed to Inez’s home. The decision was made after some more time passed with no word from them. Further attempts to contact the vet otherwise were useless, leading to no results. They had also tried to call some of the neighbors up, but they reported not seeing the woman leaving, indicating she was still home.

When they arrived, these claims seemed to be correct. Inez’s home did not look abandoned at first. The familiar yellow vehicle was still there, parked in the driveway. But when they got closer, they began to see signs that something wasn’t right. Or rather, hear it as well.

The animals were worked up. They were quite energetic and came up as far as their enclosures were allowed. They were staring at them expectantly. She and the others realized that the animals were very hungry and thirsty, and looking at where these supplies were kept, there was no indication that they had been fed at their regular time at this hour. This was strange; Inez was usually right on top of this and was quite strict with her schedule. It wasn’t like her to miss out on it.

And it wasn’t like she was late coming home. The vehicle was still here. She couldn’t be at the store like they had thought. And she surely wouldn’t walk to town either. Not with all those animals she had to take care of. They couldn’t imagine her letting Rudy and Penny walking to town on their own either; she would keep them at her place.

Fear already rose up inside the three humans. Thoughts raced through their head as they looked at one another, realizing what this probably meant. But they didn’t want to jump to conclusions yet. Maybe something else had went on. Maybe everything was still all right. They kept looking.

Tilly, Millie, and Joe searched the house from top to bottom. They looked around at each room, scowering through the building for any sign of them. They called out their names, cupping their hands to their mouths to raise their volume. Even Sophie tried as hard as she could. She sometimes would see her daughter running around, zipping by as she desperately called out for her cousin. Each cry grew more and more sad, making Tilly’s heart twist as she realized what this had to mean.

After about an hour of searching, double checking and rechecking, they all realized that they had to face facts. There was nothing else that it could be. The horrible truth was that their loved ones were missing, and they had no idea where to begin to look.

Tilly sat in the couch next to her sister, her body leaned back, head tilted upwards she stared at the ceiling. Her mind raced as the full realization of what had taken place struck her. She was unable to keep her mind clear, and she was constantly bombarded by multiple questions. She kept asking herself how she could have let this happen, why didn’t she do something sooner, why didn’t she try harder, and many more.

She searched her mind for something Rudy said. She tried to remember anything that he told her that might be helpful. But unfortunately, the terror of what happened pushed much of what he said out of her mind. If he had told her anything important, then the fact that she didn’t take it seriously enough at the time made it easy for her intense emotions in the moment to overwrite it. She feared she would not regain those bits of memory, and she could only work on what she knew.

The one thing that she was able to remember was that the reporter, Terry Bouffant, had been obsessed with ChalkZone. The very same world that her nephew had been going to. The same place that she had promised him she’d never tell his parents about.

The fact that Terry was interested in this world likely made her an enemy of Rudy, who had been protecting it. While Tilly did not fully understand why her nephew would do this, she decided it was best to respect his choice. But she knew that Terry would hold no such reservations; she had little reason to care about Rudy. And didn’t she try to ‘interview’ him and Penny a few times in the past?

She shook the thoughts out of her head. No, Terry wouldn’t do something like that. She was greedy yes, but not to the same degree was, say, Vinnie Raton, nor was she stupid. She wouldn’t jeopardize everything just for the sake of hurting or kidnapping one child, let alone two, and a woman. And even Vinnie wouldn’t go that far.

But what else could there be? Who else would have the motivation and the intelligence to pull off the kidnapping? She couldn’t think of anyone else. Terry did have reason enough to go after Rudy and try to force the information out of him. And with how she had been acting lately, and some of the crazy things she said, would it be that much of a stretch for her to become desperate enough to try to pry information out in a less....legal way?

And yet... She couldn’t help but doubt Terry’s involvement on some level. Something about it just felt...wrong. She was smart, she can give her that. But still, something felt...not right. She found it hard to believe that Terry would be smart enough to pull a kidnapping of this calibur, of taking three people without anyone noticing.

So what would have happened? Who else could have been involved? Oh if only she could remember something Rudy had told her. But she still couldn’t remember, and she wasn’t even sure it was because Rudy did tell her and she forgot, or if he didn’t tell her this and she was trying to conjure up a fake memory, which was possible. But the fact that she didn’t know caused a headache to form and she found herself clutching her head, gritting her teeth.

Her sister took notice of this and swiveled her head over. “What is it?” Her voice was cautious, laced in sadness. “Did you think of something?”

Tilly let out a sigh and shook her head. “No... I thought I did, but I...” She closed her eyes and turned her head way. “No. I’m sorry.”

Millie’s face contorted in more sadness. “It’s...all right. We’re all stumped.” She lowered her head and closed her eyes. “I just..can’t believe that this happened.”

“It’s okay, Millie. We’ll find them.” Joe said, trying to be as comforting as possible. “You’ll see.”

Millie smiled up at her husband, but she didn’t look all that comforted. She let out a sigh and lowered her head once more. Her eyes faced towards the ground, but it appeared as though she were looking at nothing. Her eyes had something of a vacant look in them. Well not fully vacant. Tilly could still see the spark of haunting in them. A look that only those who had lost a child could truly understand.

Tilly gritted her teeth as she looked away. She shut her eyes tightly, unable to fully let go fo the guilt she had started to feel. She knew she was purposely withholding information from her sister. Information that could help her better understand what happened. It was a terrible truth that she wished she could change. But she had promised Rudy that she wouldn’t say a word. She couldn’t betray his trust. She...

But what of her sister? And Joe? Was it really right to hold this information back during this time? With what was happening? It would be different if nothing big was going on and they were all at home, going about their lives as normal. But now? When they were all missing? And her sister and her sister’s husband had no idea who would have taken them? That didn’t exactly bode very well.

She looked down at her own daughter. Sophie was laying against her. The usually cheerful girl looked depressed. Occassionally, she’d look up and stare out hopefully, likely waiting for Rudy to show up. But when he didn’t, she’d just say and lower her head.

The sight of Sophie like this made her heart twist. Tilly could tell just how much her daughter was hurting from not seeing Rudy. She had all but forgotten about their little spat earlier, and now all she wanted was to have Rudy back, to be with him, to play with him. Now he wasn’t here, and she couldn’t understand why.

Seeing her daughter reminded her of how she would feel if she were missing. It reminded her of a parent’s love and how much they’d worry if their child were gone. It was because of that, she had started to have doubts of withholding such important information.

Only Tilly understood the most likely reason. Only she could deliver the news that may help them take further action.

She narrowed her eyes. There was no choice. She knew what she had to do. She could only hope that Rudy would forgive her when they find him. Or if they find him...

Tilly turned her head towards her sister. She placed her hand on her shoulder and gently shook her. Her sister let out a soft sniffle as she turned her head. Tilly felt her heart twist further when she saw the tear stains on her sister’s cheeks. Her sister had tried so hard to keep her emotions in check and now that was failing.

Joe didn’t look much better. Though he hadn’t cried much yet, she could still see a strong sadness in his eyes, and she could see just how hard it was for him to keep himself composed. As with his wife, he stared at her, waiting for her to speak.

Tilly hesitated for a moment. She wasn’t sure how to go about this, or how to word anything. A part of her feared what Rudy might think of her should he ever find out. But...this had to be done. He was in trouble, and his parents had the right to know what might be going on. Taking in a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for whatever backlash she might get, whether from her sister or nephew or from Joe, and she began to speak.

“I..I have something I need to tell you guys...”

At this, Joe and Millie looked at each other. They stared at one another in confusion, and then looked back at Tilly.

“I just...hope that you two will understand.”

Joe and Millie frowned in confusion. For the time being, their sadness had faded away as uncertainty took over. They stared at Tilly in silence for a few seconds. Tilly paused, feeling a stronger sense of guilt when she saw the looks in their eyes.

“What..what do you mean?” Joe asked.

Millie stared at her sister in the eyes. “What are you talking about?”

Tilly closed her eyes and looked away. “Well..you see...”

She began to recount Rudy’s story.

sss

Penny stared at Rudy sympathetically. She watched as he squirmed on the ground, trying in vein to get away from the agony. Even with Snap and Rapsheeba holding him down, he was still managing to move a little, his head jerking from one side to the other. It was an uncomfortable, horrible sight to behold, and unfortunately, there was little they could do about it.

Her mom hadn’t been able to find any useful chemicals in this room, and what she did find was not labeled. She was not about to take chances and risk hurting Rudy move. So she refused to use them. This meant that Rudy had no painkillers to help soften the blow, and he was forced to lay there in shere agony. At least the tight bandages helped to allievate some of the bleeding. But still...

“Ahhh! Make it stop! Please!”

Penny whipped her head around when she heard Rudy screaming. Her pupils shrank as she watched him writhe more violently on the ground. He had managed to toss Snap away and Rapsheeba was now laying across him, trying to use her weight to hold him down. This didn’t last very long and Rudy kicked her away.

“Rudy! Stop!” Penny shouted as she started to rush over. “You’ll...!”

Her mother beat her to the punch. The woman closed the gap much faster. Just like before, she grabbed onto the boy’s shoulders and pressed him down. She kept holding him even as the boy screamed and cried, his arms flailing at her in desperation. One of the hands struck her arm, the nails making small, but painful cuts. Her mother flinched, but still held on.

When Penny saw him try again, she immediately rushed over, resuming her charge. She grabbed onto the boy’s left arm. She held on tightly, pushing it into the ground. She applied more pressure, but then suddenly she was stopped when Rudy let out a scream and his thrashing increased.

Penny realized that she had accidentally applied pressure to the bite wound. A wave of guilt rushed through her as she realized this, and her grip on the boy loosened up. This turned out to be a mistake when Rudy pulled his arm free and struck her across her face. She let out a scream as she was knocked back.

“Buckette!” Snap rushed to her side and knelt down beside her. “Are you okay?!”

Penny let out a soft groan. “Y-Yeah...I’m fine...” Penny pushed herself up with one hand, rubbing her face with the other. She felt a slight indention from partially torn skin. She looked down at the wound. Thankfully, it was quite shallow, and there were only tiny specks of blood.

Penny turned her attention back towards her mother. The woman was still holding down Rudy. The way her eyes were narrowed and her teeth were bared tightly suggested that she was having some trouble with the boy. This didn’t at all surprise Penny. Rudy’s thrashes were getting worse.

And how could she blame him either? The wound in his stomach might be treated, but the pain was still present. The boy was trying so hard to get away from it, and they could not help him with the pain. There was no medicine that they could give him. The poor boy was going to have to suffer through the shere agony of it all, with no hope of escape. The mere thought of that chilled Penny’s blood. There’s...there’s got to be some way that they could help him.

Penny turned her attention towards the door. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at the locking mechanism. That was the one thing holding them back. That was the only reason they couldn’t get out of here. If Von hadn’t locked them in, they could take Rudy to another room with the right supplied and better treat his injury. Instead, they were stuck in here, and she had no idea when Von would come back. Or if he would come back...

It wasn’t just Rudy who was in danger either. The zoners in ChalkZone were in danger as well. Blocky, too. He had been taken by that horrid man, dragged with to wherever the man decided to take him. She had no idea if the man was going to do more experimentations on Blocky, if he planned on killing him, if he planned on using him as bait... The only thing that she did know for certain was that he didn’t take him just to let him go.

They all had to get out of here and fast. The longer they stayed in here, the closer they were letting Dr. Von Doktor get to victory. If they allow him to succeed, then it was only the beginning of the end for ChalkZone. The horrible things that would follow.... She didn’t want to imagine them.

But how would they get out with the door locked? Rapsheeba, Snap, and Howdy might be able to get out in 2D mode, but even then, they couldn’t open the door once they were out. And leaving them out would only make them vulnerable to Von. Even the act of trying to find that chalkboard with the portal was too dangerous. What if Von were expecting them and was waiting for them? Or set up some kind of trap for when they attempted? It wouldn’t be that hard to set up a water-based trap for them. Not much need for caution since water did not hurt him.

But Snap, Howdy, and Rapsheeba... They wouldn’t be so lucky..

“Whoa! Hold on!” Howdy’s cry brought Penny out of her thoughts. The puppet was hanging onto Rudy’s head, which was jerking even more. “Please hold still! Calm down! Everything will be...”

Penny flinched when Rudy jerked his head to one side, using enough force to knock the zoner away from him. Howdy let out a scream as he sailed through the air and hit against Penny. She cradled him in her arms, staring down at him with concern.

“Are you okay?” Penny asked.

Howdy rubbed his head and shook it as if to regain his bearings. “For the most part.” He looked over at where Rudy was. “What are we going to do? He won’t calm down.”

“Pain makes it hard for anyone to relax.” Rapsheeba said. Her eyes held nothing but sympathy for Rudy. “Poor kid...”

“I wish there was something we could do help him. Oh if only we had some kind of medicine... Even a few over-the-counter painkillers would do wonders for him.” Snap said sadly.

Penny nodded in agreement. “The only way I can see us reducing his pain is if we knock him out with a rock. But that would not be a good idea.” She shook her head slowly. “That would only make his condition worse.” She stared at her friends and then looked at Rudy. “As much as I hate the idea, all we can do now is wait it out and hope for the best.”

A loud scream from Rudy chilled their blood. They stared in horror as Rudy’s eyes bulged open wider, Penny’s mom doing what she can to hold him still. Penny and the zoners looked at each other nervously, their hearts twisting up inside their chests.

“I don’t know how much I like the idea of waiting...” Snap said, biting his lip.

“Me neither...” Howdy spoke softly. His body shook from the emotion all around him. “There has to be something that we can do...”

“It seems about all we can do is comfort him.” Said Rapsheeba.

Penny nodded her head. Rapsheeba was right. Even if they couldn’t stop the pain, they should at least try to comfort him. This meant getting close to his thrashing body, but they didn’t have a choice. They needed to be close to him, to be able to touch him, comfort him. He needed them right now. He was always there for them. Now they needed to do the same for him.

The group of four walked cautiously over towards Rudy. Penny watched as her mom continued to hold the boy down. His legs were kicking out frantically, and his hands were pushed against her arms, his nails digging in. Penny saw a look of pain in her mother’s eyes, but still she held on. She and her zoner friends took position by Rudy, each in a different location.

Penny was the first one to speak.

“Rudy, I know how much it hurts... But please, don’t squirm around like this. You will only make it worse. Please Rudy, it pains us to see you like this. Please...please try to relax. You’ll be okay. We promise.”

Penny reached down and rubbed her hand along Rudy’s arm gently. She was careful to avoid the bite wound that was on the arm. She then gently grasped his hand and pried it from her mother’s arm, pulling back the digits as she did so. She allowed Rudy to grab her arm. She flinched, but held her ground. She merely used her other arm to continue to caress this one. She listened to his helpless whimpers, feeling her heart clench.

“Shh... It’s going to be okay, Rudy.” She whispered softly as she stared down at him. Rudy opened up one eye and looked at her. She nearly gasped when she saw just how pain-filled it was. “You’ll be fine. I know it hurts. But you’ve got to relax. It’ll only hurt worse the more you struggle. Shhh...it’s okay...”

She and her friends did what they could to comfort Rudy. They spoke as gently as they could, even as the boy let out a few more screams of pain. They kept speaking softly to him, working together to try to calm him down.

sss

“You...you what...?” Millie whispered softly.

“How could you do that?” Joe was just as shocked.

Tilly lowered her head in shame. She would have loved to tell them otherwise. Alas, she could not. All she could do was stare at them sadly and nod her head slowly. “I’m not proud of it...”

“Well I should hope not!” Millie hissed, anger laced on her voice. “How could you hurt my son?! Your own nephew?!” Joe didn’t say a word. He simply shared his wife’s glare, staring at Tilly with a great intensity she rarely got from him.

Tilly had been recounting the story of what had happened. She had only wanted to tell small bits, but other things flowed out of her mouth, even when she didn’t mean for them. And one of them was confessing to her sister that, after she discovered Rudy’s secret, she had slapped him out of anger. Needless to say, the reaction her sister gave was expected and understandable.

She hadn’t even fully explained her discovery yet. She did not give full details of ChalkZone. She had only mentioned she found something very strange on the chalkboard and that she had confronted Rudy about it, and that he had been hiding it for a long time. She had started to get into what it was to help them get a better idea of just why she reacted the way she did. But she didn’t get very far when her sister and her husband blew up in her face.

“We trusted you, Tilly! We let you stay here because we thought you would be able to take care of our son! But you hurt him... You struck him and hurt him!” Millie snarled at her sister. Her expression was filled with hurt and betrayal. Tilly looked at her sadly, not bothering to speak up. “And what makes it worse, other than the fact that you’re my sister, but you have Sophie there too!” She held her hand out to gesture to the little toddler. “You wouldn’t do that to your own daughter, would you?”

“What?!” Tilly wailed. She shook her head rapidly. “No! Of course not!” How could her sister even suggest such a horrible thing?

“Then why did you do it to our boy?” Joe asked, narrowing his eyes. “You once told us that he was like a son to you.” He folded his arms against his chest. “Well you’ve got a funny way of showing it...”

Tilly sighed softly, lowering her head in shame. She couldn’t blame them for being angry. They had every right to be. She had hurt their son. It may have been an accident, but that didn’t really change much. She was the one who lost her temper. She was the one who initiated the attack. She should have been more careful. She should have controlled herself more. Instead, she let her emotion get the better of her and she just...hit Rudy. She could still see his hurt look staring back at her...

She tried her best not to dwell on it too much. She had apologized to Rudy and he had accepted her apology. They had mended things between each other the best that they could. She would continue to remain guilt-ridden for a while, but at least she knew that Rudy had forgiven her.

Right now, she had to focus on continuing the story. There was more that she needed to tell them. More that they needed to know. She hadn’t even gotten the more important parts of her story yet. She still had to tell them about ChalkZone, despite her promise to Rudy. They needed to know so that they were better able to find him and help him. Perhaps there was another way, but in the moment, she could not find one.

“There’s still more I need to tell you.” Tilly said. “So can you please let me continue?”

“Why should we? Do you think we want to listen to more of you beating up our son?” Joe snarled, baring his teeth.

Tilly felt her heart twist. “N-No... That’s not what I...” Her voice trailed off as she stared at Millie and Joe. Their harsh glares made it difficult for her to say another word. She wished they would give her a chance to explain more. She wished they wouldn’t let their anger get the better of them. There were more going on than they realized. They...

“I should report you for child abuse.” Millie said, her voice icy cold.

Tilly’s heart froze at this. She stared at her sister in shock. She tried to speak, tried to respond, but no words would come out. All she could do was mumble desperately, trying in vain to say something. But there was nothing more than silence.

After a few long, tense moments, Millie gave a sigh. She shut her eyes and placed a hand over her face. “But...you’re still my sister. I don’t know if I would be able to do that to you.”

Tilly smiled. “I...”

“But I could.”

Both women turned to Joe. The man’s harsh glare never left Tilly’s sights. Tilly shuddered. The man’s glare felt like the closest thing to a laser beam being shot out at her. It felt as though something was weighing down on her, preventing her from moving.

Her sister, though still having a frown on her face, was looking at her husband with some instance of surprise in those eyes of hers. She didn’t say a word just yet. She just looked at Joe as if he had lost his mind. The man gave no such indication. He looked ready to run towards the phone to dial the number for the police. In fact, if Millie weren’t holding onto his arm, she was certain that’s exactly what he would do.

“Joe...” Millie started to say. “Don’t.”

Joe turned to glare at his wife. “Are you kidding me?! She attacked our son! Aren’t you..”

“Angry? Yes, I’m furious. She’s my sister. Don’t you think I feel hurt discovering that she attacked our only son?” Millie said. She glared over at Tilly, causing ice to go through her heart. She then gave a sigh and her frown lessened. “But she’s still my sister, and I’m sure she’s really sorry about what she did.” She looked back at her sister. “Aren’t you?”

Tilly didn’t waste any time and nodded her head. “Yes, of course I am. I never meant to hit him. I let my anger gain control of me, and I am disgusted by that. I broke down after I realize what I did, and I apologized to him. He forgave me. We patched things up. Trust me, Millie and Joe. I would never ever do something like that on purpose. I will see to it that it won’t happen again.”

Sophie, who had a little understanding of what was being said, held onto her mother. “No go! No go!”

Millie’s expression softened up when she saw Sophie cling to Tilly. Slowly, half of her mouth ticked into a very faint smile. “Oh sweetie... It’ll be okay.”

Sophie didn’t look like she believed her. Tilly grunted as Sophie jumped further into her arms, pressing her head against her. She held Sophie close to her and whispered soft words to her. She did her best to reassure the little girl that everything was going to be okay. She looked over at Joe.

The man stared at her intently at first. The glare was still on his face. Then he looked down at Sophie. As he stared at the little girl, it seemed to get into his mind just how Sophie might feel if he jailed her mother. Slowly, his expression softened up, his facial muscles relaxing. He continued to stare at Sophie for a few more moments, his mouth partially open. Then the shut his mouth tightly and turned his head away.

“Okay, fine...” Joe growled softly. “I won’t call.” He turned his attention back to Tilly. “Go on... Continue your story.”

“Thank you.” Tilly said as she smiled at the two parents. They did not smile back. Her own faded away and she cleared her throat. “Now, as I was saying, Rudy wanted me to keep it a secret. But I..”

“Whoa whoa...” Joe waved his hand frantically in front of him. “Promised not to tell us what?”

“I don’t think you got fully into that detail yet.” Millie pointed out.

Tilly lowered her gaze. “Oh yeah...” She looked back at them. “I was just getting to that detail when...”

“Oh just tell us already!” Joe snapped at her. Tilly cringed back. Mille shot a glare at her husband. The man flinched at this. He made an effort to speak more softly. “I mean...can you please tell us...?”

Tilly couldn’t believe what she was about to do. She couldn’t believe that she was really going to betray Rudy like this. She told herself over and over again she had no choice. He was in trouble and she needed to tell her sister and her husband about it. If she didn’t, they would never understand any of her suggestions, and may write them off as nothing.

The next words she would say would either shatter what they knew about the world or make them even angrier. She sucked in a deep breath, preparing to deliver the statement and await their reaction.

“Do you remember Terry Bouffant’s rant about a fabled chalk world?” Tilly asked. At their nod, she continued. “Well...it’s real.”

“What...?” Millie asked softly as her and her husband’s eyes widened in shock.

“And Rudy has been going to it for two years.”

sss

Blocky couldn’t stop shivering. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the man standing before him. The man looked so twisted, the accent of the light increasing this, casting dark shadows on the man’s face and different parts of his body. The small zoner would have struggled if he could, but he was too frozen in fear to do anything.

He had a hard time wrapping his mind around this. How could this have happened? How did he get here? How did he not remember being carried away by this vile man? Blocky had little to go on, and at the moment, it didn’t really matter to him exactly how all of this had happened. Right now, he was more interested in one thing: getting away.

But how was he going to get out of this? His body was too wracked in pain, his mind too frozne in fear, to do much of anything. He could also feel some cold shackles against his arms and legs. He had little room to manuever, and twisting around wouldn’t help too much.

And now, there was yet another obstacle getting in his way. Something that took him a little while to realize.

They were now in ChalkZone.

A part of him was elated. He was glad to finally be back on familiar territory. Even the act of breathing ChalkZone’s air was enough to help him feel a little better. But that faded away quickly when something else dawned on his mind. Since this was ChalkZone, it meant that he could not use his 2D powers to escape.

But it also meant something else. And it caused his blood to turn to ice. He hoped that this man would never know of this, but if he had taken him into ChalkZone, then chances were...he already knew...

The man could draw whatever he needed now. He could create any kind of torture device and use it on him if he so wished. On top of that, the man was now free to use any kind of fluid on him. This meant that he could test certain chemicals on him by drawing a bottle filled with the stuff and forcing him to drink it. He could also perform exploratory surgery on him after rendering him unconscious. The possibilities were endless.

And so were the horrors that swept through his mind and body. He could feel his shivering increase as he stared at the man in fear. He hoped and prayed that this man wouldn’t go that far. He hoped that the man would be at least sensible and not do anything that would endanger his life, or the lives of any other zoner that he may decide to trap.

“P-Please...why are you doing this...?” Blocky knew it was pointless to ask. Through his pain-ridden mind, he recalled that the man cared little about the pain that he caused to a zoner. Still he felt like he needed to ask. “Why can’t you just let me go...?”

Dr. Von Doktor approached him. He circled the platform that the zoner was strapped down into. Blocky tried to lift up his head to look, but he wound up irritating his wound, causing him to yelp and he stopped trying. He moved his pupils around, doing what he could to keep an eye on him. A few times, the man went out of his sight range, and his body tensed up at that.

It wasn’t much of a relief when he could see him either. He kept looking at him, waiting for him to make a move against him. Waiting to be struck, waiting to be hurt, waited to be experimented on.

Then at last, the man stopped circling him, and positioned himself behind him. The green zoner struggled to look at him. He squirmed on the platform, ignoring the pain as he twisted himself from side to side just to get a good look at the man. All he was able to do was make out some color and blurred shapes in his peripherial vision. That did little to help him feel better. Then he felt pressure around his shoulder and he jolted. He quickly realized that the man had grabbed onto his shoulder.

“Please...what do you plan on doing with me...?” The rectangular zoner asked. A few tears formed in his eyes. “What are you going to do to m-me..?”

This time, Von responded. “Oh not much, really. For now. I haven’t yet dezided what I want to do.” The man’s grip on his shoulder tightened slightly. Blocky winced at this. “Now zat we are in ChalkZone, zere’z zo much more I can do wiz you. You know, my draztic fleeing really did pay off. I should have come here much zooner. I no longer feel zo...limited.”

Blocky felt his heart skip a beat this. He let out a few small whimpers as he watched the man walk out to his side. He towered over him, sneering down at his small form. His eyes, it felt like he was staring straight into his soul. Those eyes, they were filled with so many hidden promises, and none of them were good.

His mind raced when he saw the man lift up a the magic chalk, the ends sparkling. Normally, he didn’t mind this, but the fact that the chalk was being wielded by someone who wanted to hurt him, that made the sparkling look much more ominous, foreboding. A warning to what was about to come.

“Here..juzt imagine what I could do. I wanted to ztudy your body in full, and here I can.”

Blocky’s face paled at this. He wanted to speak, but he could only manage more whimpering. Please no... He didn’t want this... What did he do to deserve this...?

The man’s smile grew more twisted. “I could inject you wiz zomezing zo I can prozeed wizout problem. I could tezt all kindz of ztuff on you. I have abzolutely no limits here.” The man tilted his head, tapping his chin thoughtfully with the chalk. “I wonder what I should do firzt. Should I vivizect you, zee your internal organz? Should I do more extensive tezting of your skin? Should I figure out your digeztive zyztem?”

Blocky tried to shake his head. “N-No...please...”

“Zorry, but you don’t get to decide. I do.” Von said with a sneer.

Blocky whimpered at this. He shut his eyes and awaited the pain. At least if he had his eyes closed, he could try to partially block out what was happening. He braced himself for whatever pain the main was going to inflict upon him.

But when nothing happened, he felt a pang of confusion. He opened up his eyes and looked up, seeing that the man hadn’t moved from his spot. At the moment, he was rubbing his chin, his eyes pointed upwards in a thoughtful manner. Blocky clenched his teeth. What was the man up to?

After a few moments, the scientist said, “But...I zink I will keep you alive longer. I don’t really need to use you anymore for my experimentz.” He stared at the magic chalk, his eyes flashing with something that Blocky could not explain nor enjoyed. “Wiz ziz, I can create my own zpecimenz..”

Realizing the full impact of what this meant, Blocky couldn’t help but gasp in horror. The man was going off the deep end now. Rudy, Penny, Snap, the others... They had to hurry.

sss

“What? Are you crazy? We can’t do that!”

“Why not?”

“It’s too dangerous!”

“Well do you have any ideas?”

Rudy let out a soft groan as the voices plagued his head. He turned his head to head side, gritting his teeth. He couldn’t see anything, but that’s to be expected with his eyes shut. But he couldn’t open them. He was just too tired for some reason. He was so exhausted and he didn’t know why.

He tried to block out the voices. He tried to concentrate on sleeping. But that became a difficult task, if not impossible. He continued to hear them spout out words over and over. Sometimes they would make sense. Other times, they were just so darn confusing. It was as if they were speaking a foreign tongue. Complicating matters was how echoey the voices seemed at times. The thought would have chilled his spine if he were more aware of what was going on and where he was.

All that he was aware of was being in a room with lights that seemed, for some odd reason, too bright for him. He wasn’t sure why. The lights were preventing him from getting a good look around. That was just another reason to add onto his overall tiredness, giving him more of a reason to just go to sleep.

But something was preventing him from doing so. He wasn’t even sure if he could explain it. There was something in his mind telling him not to sleep, that he would be in a lot of trouble if he did. There was some kind of weird sensation in his stomach. He wasn’t sure what was causing the burning. The feeling was familiar, as if he had felt this way before. And it was rather unpleasant.

Yet, despite that, he was not able to identify the emotion. It was as if his mind was too tired to be bothered with it. As a result, he was feeling something rather unusual, perplexing, almost scary, yet he was unable to appropriately react to it.

And he didn’t find anything strange about this at all. He just wanted to sleep.

“Look I’m telling you it’s the only way! Otherwise we’ll be trapped here and who knows what Von is going to do once he gets there!”

“You mean if he gets there!”

But the voices certainly weren’t going to help. They kept echoing in his mind, bantering back and voice. Odd thing was, the voices sounded the same. They were so distorted and warped, it resulted in this. For Rudy, it sounded as if the same person were speaking and arguing amongst thesmelves. All fine and good, but did they really have to be so loud?

Rudy attempted again to block them out. He curled up on the ground and pulled his arms over his head, attempting to block out the sound. His hands pressed against his ears firmly, hoping to try to filter out at least some of the sound so he could sleep.

“Well I... Oh no, Rudy don’t do that!”

Rudy opened up one eye. He looked over at where the voice came from. A blurry shape amongst the bright light was heading towards him. He couldn’t tell who it was, if it was anyone that he knew. He recognized some hint of concern on the voice, but it was so distorted and distant that he couldn’t tell.

“You’re going to hurt yourself if you do that!”

“Please!” Another figure came into view. This one seemed shorter, though not by a whole lot. “Get yourself onto your back! You can’t lay on your side like that!”

Rudy wasn’t sure what the voices were talking about. He was feeling just fine. He just needed to curl up and....

Suddenly, without warning, there was an unusual sensation creeping along his side. It was gradual, moving as though it were some kind of snake or serpent. He thought it was strange, but didn’t think anything of it at first. He ignored the frantic voices and began to shut his eyes.

That only lasted a few seconds. The sensation rapidly grew more distressing, uncomfortable. His eyes could not remain closed and he ended up lifting his head. The sensation was rapidly growing more and more unbearable, then it became sharper, and he seethed through his clenched teeth.

And then came the screams.

“Ahhhh!”

“Hold him still!”

“Oh man, I thought we had calmed him down already!”

“Do it again!”

Oh gawd, the pain... Where was it all coming from? Why was his stomach feeling as though it was on fire? Why did it feel as though someone took a sword and stuck it through there? The boy found himself squirming on the ground, unable to stop. He turned his head from one side to the other, constantly letting out screams and cries of pain. He was still unaware of his surroundings. He still didn’t know who was here with him. All that he knew was that he was in pain and that he had to get out of here now.

Then to add to his fear, he felt something grabbing onto him. Something warm yet firm. His limbs were being pinned down at his sides. He let out a scream of terror. It was then he realized what he was feeling before. It was fear and apprehension. Was this the reason why?

He felt something brush up beside him. With his arms restrained, instincts told him to use the remaining thing available. Rudy struck out with his head blindly, snapping his jaws at whatever was closest to him. He hit something. Weird texture but fleshy. He bit down hard.

“Ow! Rudy! Stop! It’s me, Snap!” The voice cried. “Stop biting me, please!”

Snap? He didn’t recal Snap sounding this distorted. But then, the voice did appear to have an accent that time. One that did sound a little like his friend...

Rudy didn’t have time to react. He felt someone grab onto his head. Something gripped his lower jaw and applied pressure. Rudy squeezed his eyes shut from the pain, the fingers causing irritation to his jaw as it was being forced down. He fought against it, turning his head to one side. It didn’t help him for long and soon his mouth was pried open. Whatever was in his mouth slipped out with ease.

“Now, Rudy, I need you to...”

Unable to control himself, his mind overwhelmed with pain, terrified of not being able to move his arms, Rudy slammed his jaws onto the fingers that had been opening his mouth against his will. He heard a screech and he knew he hit his target. He bit down hard, unwilling to let go.

“Rudy! Let go! You’re only making this worse! Rudy, I.. ow!”

“What are we going to do?!” One voice called out, sounding terrified. “He’s gone mad with pain!”

“We tried comforting him, but I don’t think that’s going to work. I think Von hit a very sensitive nerve there!”

“How are we going to stop him now?”

Rudy felt a loud thud in his head. It was the agony. It was coursing through his body, swimming like some kind of massive lizard that got inside, constantly trying to claw its way out. The imaginary sharp talons were raking on his side, trying to rip it open, desperately trying to claw its way out. The more it struck, the more pain invaded his mind, the harder he bit down.

The voices around him grew more frantic. At this point, he stopped listening to what they were saying. He still didn’t know who they were, but he was having doubts that they were his friends. Even in his confused, pain-ridden mind, he could remember that his friends would never restrain him like this. They must be imposters. They want to use him for something. They must have been the ones who actually hurt him.

Yes...that’s where the pain was coming from. They were hurting him right now. They were trying to hold him still so they could hurt him more. Well not today. He was not going to let them get away with this.

He began to struggle harder. He used as much energy as he could. He tried to pull back his arms. His legs, he noticed they were still free. He began to kcik with them, trying to hit against those that dare to hurt him. He would make them pay for this.

He hit one of his targets.

“Ouch! Rudy! What’d you do that?!”

Rudy merely let out a scream, muffled partially by the finger that was in his mouth. One that was not just tinged in pain, but also anger. He did not speak. His wide, bulging eyes could not register the pain of the light. All that he knew was escape and survival.

“Rudy, let go!”

Rudy felt something hit against his head. He merely growled, tightening his grip, hearing his attacker cry out in pain. Again and again he was hit in the head, yet he refused to release his grip. There was no way that he was going to let them go. Not until they let him go.

“Wait! I think I found something!”

“What is...where did you find that?”

“It was over there! Do you think it’ll work?”

A pause. “It might, but we will need the right dosage.”

Right dosage for what? Rudy’s mind began to fill with some curiosity.

“I’ll go get the needle.” Said one of the voices. “I’ll make sure it’s the right about. You guys just focus on holding him down.”

Rudy’s eyes widened at this. Realizing that he might be in terrible danger, he let go of the finger and he began to scream loudly. Not just out of fear, but also an attempt to scare away his attackers. It was sort of like how a cat would hiss or a dog would snarl.

Then, finding his voice, he began to scream words.

“Don’t you fucking dare touch me you monsters! Don’t come near me! I’m warning you! I’ll rip you apart!”

“...oh, Rudy... How can you say that...?” One of the voices said. They sounded distressed, but Rudy did not care.

“I swear, if any of you dares to touch me, I’ll bite off your finger!” He tossed his head from side to side. “Don’t think I’m joking either! I’ll do it! I fucking swear I will do it! I...”

His voice went silent when he felt something cold and sharp in the side of his neck. His eyes bulged and he took in a sharp intake of breath. The needle pushed further into his skin and he thought he could detect something cold his body.

His eyes bulged. What were they going to do with him? His struggles increased. He tried desperately to get free. He had to keep trying harder. There’s got to be someway to get out of here. There has to be. This couldn’t be happening. No... Rudy let out a series of screams as he tried to get away, tried to get up and run. His attackers held him down, preventing escape. He cursed them out, trying his damnest to bite or hit them.

They tried to trick him. They tried to tell him it was going to be all right. Such filthy liars.... He would get out of here. He would escape. He would make sure they paid for what they did. He...

Suddenly, he started to feel really tired. His eyes started to flutter shut. His anger and his fear began to melt away as exhaustion started to take him over once more. He smacked his lips together slowly. Oh man, he was so tired... Had he ever gone to sleep recently? He wasn’t sure, and he found it harder to keep his eyes open.

Then came the darkness and calmness. Rudy never felt more at peace before. He looked around, and the dark figures that had been restraining him no longer seemed so frightening. They seemed more...inviting. Rudy rested his head on the ground and let out a sigh of contentment.

sss

“Wait! I’m not so sure about this!” Tilly called out.

Millie shot her sister a glare. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. But if you cared at all about Rudy...”

Tilly snapped her head back at that. “I’m not saying I don’t. I just think we should think this through more. What if we accidentally make things worse?”

Joe sighed at this. “I...suppose I understand. But Tilly, we can’t just let this go.” He held his hand out in gesture. “I’m not even sure if what you’re saying about this chalk world is the truth. I know your daughter seems to believe it...” He glanced down, watching the little girl clutch against her mother. “But that doesn’t mean we have to. But that doesn’t even matter right now. If that guy has our son...”

“I hope you understand why we have to go, Tilly. I’m sure you do. You have a daughter.” Millie said. “If she were in danger, you would do whatever it took to help her, right?”

“Well, yes, but...” Tilly began to say.

“Then you know why we are going.” Millie finished before she could get another word in edgewise.

Millie stared at her sister, her gaze unwafering, showing her that she meant what she said. She had no idea if her sister spoke the truth about this ChalkZone. The idea was rather shocking, and the idea of Rudy keeping it from them was unsettling. She didn’t want to believe her own son would lie to her about this. A part of her just wanted to label her sister a lunatic and have her sent somewhere to get help.

But she couldn’t do that to Sophie. Who would take care of her? Well she supposed she could, but would Sophie even understand what was going on? Would she realize she was the reason her mom was gone? Would she grow to resent her for it?

Besides, there was a more important matter at hand. Right now, Millie didn’t care if her sister was crazy or not. She did just give them enough information to give them a lead.

If this Dr. Von Doktor guy thought he could get away with this, if he thought for one minute that she was going to allow him to hold her son and friend hostage, he was going to have another think coming. She didn’t care if her sister would help her or not. She and her husband would do what they could to get Rudy back, with or without her help.

“I’m sorry, Tilly.” Millie said. “But this is the way it has to be.”

Tilly looked at her sister sadly. “Please... It might be too dangerous. I...”

“You don’t have to come with us. We would never ask that of you. You have someone to look after.” Joe looked at Sophie a second time. He looked back at Tilly. “Millie and I will go to Dr. Von Doktor’s place on our own. If our son is there, we’ll get him back.”

Tilly stared at them, her eyes wide in desperation and uncertainty. Millie felt a pang of guilt. She had never seen her sister look at them this way before. She wanted to tell her something to help her feel better, but she knew that wasn’t going to happen. They had made up their minds. Even if it turned out to be a false lead....

It was all they had.

After a few moments, Tilly seemed to accept that she wasn’t going to be able to stop them. She sucked in a deep breath and sighed. She whispered two simple words.

“Be careful.”

“Don’t worry.” Joe replied. “We will.”

Chapter 38: Reunions

Let us all come together.

sss

Snap kept his back hunched up slightly as he and Penny walked down the hallway. It was so dark and it was so difficult to see. The zoner kept close behind Penny, one hand on her shoulder, the other towards his chin as he looked left and right, trying to make sense of where they were in the building.

The damp smell did indicate this was a basement of some kind. Or at least, it seemed like it was. It was difficult to tell. There were no maps here and even if there were, it was way too dark to see anything.

“Buckette?” Snap asked. “Can’t you draw a light or something?”

Penny nearly stopped in her path. “Snap, you know I can’t do that in the Real World.”

Snap felt like an idiot. Of course it wouldn’t work here. “Oh...right...” He grinned nervously, unable to believe just how much of an idiot he had been.

Snap was not used to adventuring in the Real World, if it could even be called adventuring. He had grown used to the magic chalk’s help, and often relied on Rudy and Penny to be able to draw whatever it is that they needed. He never thought he’d see the day when they would be needing to explore something without the help of the magic chalk. It was so foreign and strange. He might as well be with a bunch of zoners, cause it felt like that.

He wasn’t really angry with Penny or anything. He couldn’t blame her for the situation. Until they got into ChalkZone and they got some magic chalk, there was little that they could do when it came to getting what they needed. He hoped they would be able to find something soon.

Seeing the damp areas on the ground made him nervous. The wet places were likely the result of some old pipes starting to crack a little. There were only a couple tiny puddles on the ground and they were all up against corners. They rarely saw them. But that didn’t lessen his nervousness whenever they came close to them. Snap could feel his heart beating faster everytime they passed on, and his grip on Penny would get tighter.

“Snap, please don’t do that. You’re hurting me.” Penny said.

“Sorry.” Snap said quickly. He relinquished his grip on her and held his hands towards himself. Teeth clenched nervously, he turned his head from right to left, his eyes sweeping the area, using whatever scrap of light was available to see whatever that he could.

The sight of the small puddles reminded him of what happened with those zoners earlier on. He shuddered as he remembered how they were all washed away, their bodies melted, burned, faded away from existence from a mere clear fluid substance. He would never forget the sight of their melting organs, their distorted muscle and bones....

To make it worse, they hadn’t been the only ones who got hit. He knew the zoners fleeing must also have gotten hit as well. Unless they were lucky enough to head into the ventilation system, or got outside somehow, they were all dead. The mere thought of that sent cold shivers up and down his spine.

The advice from Biclops had been of little help. The zoners seemed to all but forget about it as soon as they confronted Von. Their anger and hate towards the man caused the giant’s advice to slip from their minds.

And when Helga was killed... That just made things even worse.

The death of Helga, their toughest leader, had shaken the foundation of their confidence. It had sent shockwaves of horror through their bodies, and many of the zoners lost the will to fight. Seeing Helga die like that broke something inside most of them. While a few remained that tried to be brave, that wasn’t enough.

Add to the fact that Arnold was also murdered, and that would have broken whatever was left of their confidence. It had reduced most of the zoners into scared, ‘wild animals’ as Von would have put it, and as soon as they were given the chance, they ran off, desperately trying to save themselves.

A part of Snap felt sorry for them. He knew what it felt like to be so scared. He got a taste of that when he was trapped with Blocky and Howdy. But he knew that Howdy understood better than him. He was trapped longer. Then there was Blocky..

The poor rectangular zoner had been trapped for several days, likely not having much to eat, tormented by experiment after experiment, his mind clouded with a shroud of pain... If any of them understood what it felt like to be terrified, afraid, helpess, it would be him. Snap could hardly begin to imagine just what the poor zoner had felt during his stay.

But the blue and white zoner could not feel only sympathy for the zoners that fled. There was also anger there.

As much as he didn’t want to blame the zoners for their own demise, a part of him just couldn’t help it. The zoners had been warned how dangerous Von was, and they were still so blinded by their desire to stop him that they just cast aside that logic. They should have stayed home and let him and his friends handle it. Perhaps then, they would at least still be alive.

Well there was nothing that could be done about that now. With a pang in his stomach, he knew those zoners were gone forever. Nothing would bring them back. All he could do now was focus on stopping their killer from harming more zoners. It was going to be difficult, but if it wasn’t done soon, then...what was going to happen to ChalkZone...?

He and Penny continued to move through the hallway slowly. They took their time, the darkness preventing them from seeing many things until they were much closer. They had passed by a few rooms, but the doors were shut and stuck there, likely from rust as this portion of the building seemed more in neglect than other parts.

He and Penny thought about entering the rooms, but decided to pass it up. Finding where this led to was more important. Perhaps there was an exit somewhere. If they could at least find their way out, then they could get away from here and get help somehow.

Something soon caught Snap’s eye. As they had turned with the corridor, there was a door far down that appeared to have some kind of light in it. It seemed this place had some kind of power available to it. He wasn’t sure how much, though. Maybe just from a generator for all he knew.

“Do you see that, Penny?” Snap asked, his eyes focusing on the room further down. There was a dull glow there. Not very noticeable compared to, say, a brand new fluorescent light, but still visible nonetheless.

“Yeah I do.” Penny whispered softly. She stopped in the middle of the hallway, staring at the light. “Do you think we should go check it out?”

Snap paused for a moment. A part of him just wanted to continue looking for an exit. If they were to just explore any random room, they might just end up in bigger trouble. Von might be in one of these rooms, if he didn’t head into ChalkZone first. He might also have set up some traps just in case. If he and Penny got stuck out here, then how would they be able to tell the others?

Then again, these rooms might contain items that they could use for their escape. This room might have something that they could possibly need. And if that’s the case, then perhaps it was worth the chance to check it out and see. Just a quick look wouldn’t hurt, right?

“Yeah, it might have something that can help us.” Snap said as he started to cautiously walk forward.

Penny followed suit. “Just be careful, Snap. Don’t just go around touching anything.”

Snap smirked at this. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

The two friends headed towards the open door slowly. They took their time, just in case Von got crazy with booby traps here. They were careful to watch out for lasers and pressure points. So far, they didn’t find anything, but they were still on the alert just in case.

Soon they reached the room. They stared inside. They didn’t see anything that looked like a trap. But they weren’t stupid. They would still treat this room with the utmost caution. They looked at each other and frowned, nodding their heads to send silent messages to one another. They then looked back towards the room. Slowly, they began to enter it.

The room appeared to be some kind of lab. Another one. Not that it surprised Snap or Penny. They both assumed that this place would have several labs, considering what it was used for. It looked similar to the room that they had been locked up in, save for a few changes, such as a distinct lack of that chair.

There appeared to be a large chalkboard in this room. The smudge marks and dust that collected on the board indicated very recent use. Maybe a few days at most. There were some symbols on the board, but Snap could not make heads or tails of it.

Penny, however, could. At least a little. “This is some kind of formula...” Penny whispered softly. She stood in front of the board, her eyes scanning it up and down. “I bet Von was trying to figure something out. Perhaps perpetual motion. None of this data looks like what would be associated with chalk.”

Snap replied, “I still can’t believe that he remained obsessed with perpetual motion for all this time. You’d think he would have moved onto better things.”

Penny nodded her head. Then she turned her head to do a quick, visual sweep of the area. “Let’s look around for a little bit. Maybe we might find something. But be careful.”

“Careful is my middle name!” Snap said with a grin.

“Of course.” Penny said before she began to look around. Snap glared softly at her for a few seconds, unsure if she was being serious or not. He then looked away and he began to look as well.

The room didn’t seem to have much that was interesting to them. Von appeared to have cleaned this room out. Well mostly. A few items remained, but none that they could use for an escape, and certainly no maps or anything regarding the building itself or a security system. Snap guessed that Von decided to change rooms after he found out about zoners. It certainly did seem like this place was abandoned swiftly.

Snap dropped down onto his knees and began to look around. He turned his head from right to left, looking for any items that may have fallen down. Paper, tools, anything. But no, there was nothing. Just the coldness of the ground, some dust, not much else.

There weren’t too many things to look at here, and it didn’t take long before he and Penny searched most of them. They had even checked for the possibility of a back exit in the room. A fire escape of some sort. No, nothing like that here. This room was just a dead end, a waste of time. The only thing they learned from here was that Von was really a nutcase about writing formulas for perpetual motion. Perhaps it was time for them to leave and....

Wait, what is this? What was that over here, sitting in the cabinet?

Snap noticed something familiar about the object. It was hard to tell what it was at first. It was obscured by the shadows, and yet, there was still something about it that seemed so...familiar. Curious, ignoring Penny’s questioning statements, he walked over.

His eyes were glued on the object as he approached. Even as he got closer, it didn’t seem to get any clearer for him. His eyes trailed up and down, looking for any kind of clue as to why this object was so familiar to him. It was box-shaped..kind of. It stretched out and he saw some other structure to it. It didn’t seem to remarkably stand out, but...oh why did it seem so familiar to him? Just what was it about it that caught his attention?

“Snap? What is it?” Penny asked as she walked over to where her friend stood. “What do you see?”

Snap shook his head and shrugged his shoulder. “I’m not sure, Buckette. But...” He pointed his rounded hand at the cabinet. “Isn’t there something familiar about that thing in there?”

Penny turned her head to look. “What is? Oh you mean that square-ish thing?”

Snap nodded his head. “Yeah. Doesn’t it seem to ring a bell?”

Penny stared at him for a moment and then turned her attention back to the object. She reached forward and grabbed onto the doors of the cabinet. She attempted to open it, but the doors would not budge. “Hmm...it’s locked.”

“Allow me.”

Snap never did this before, but it was worth a shot. He saw it in movies before. Maybe it would work? He reached his hand gainst the cabinet. Concentrating hard, he was able to turn just that portion of him flat, and in went his 2D hand and arm. He stretched it in as far as he could go and soon he found the lock. He began to pick at it, trying to grasp the..whatever they were called, and repositioning them for it to be unlocked.

Soon, much to his surprise, there was a click. His eyes widened slightly. It had worked? He turned to Penny. She looked as shock as he did. A few seconds later, he smiled broadly. Well of course it worked. Why did he ever have any doubts that it wouldn’t?

“You’re welcome!” Snap cried triumphantly as he pulled his hand out. “Please, no pictures!”

Penny gave him a quick, playful push. “Cut it out, Snap. This is serious.”

“I know.” Snap said, still smiling at her. That smile soon faded as a look of contemplation came over him. He looked at the object that had been stored in the room. “What do you think it is?”

“I’m not sure.” Penny opened up the door and began to reach for the object in side. “But maybe if we pull it out and...oh!” Suddenly Penny froze, her hand positioned only about half way to the target. Her eyes widened in shock. “D-Did he...?”

Snap looked up at his friend worriedly, biting his lip. “P-Penny...? Are you okay? What’s going on...?”

Penny withdrew her hand from the cabinet. She stared at the object long and hard. Then she turned to face Snap, taking in a few slow breaths, as if she were trying to clear her mind and figure out what to say. The longer she stared at him like this, the more his heart clenched. Just what did she see?

“Snap...” Penny whispered. “I-It’s that device Rudy drew on that day. The machine that made bobble-headed yous.” She paused for a moment. Then she said, “The one that he was convinced was capable of perpetual motion.”

Snap gasped at this, taking a step back. “What...?”

They didn’t get a chance to finish their thoughts when a loud clamor caught their attention. They swiftly turned their heads. Their hearts nearly froze in their chests when they saw a shadow forming on the wall. They turned around to face the door and they took a few steps back.

Snap couldn’t believe it. Did Von know that they would be coming here? Did they fall for one of his traps? Did they just come here at the wrong time?

Regardless of the reason, that didn’t change what was going on right now. Von was coming into the room and they had no place to hide. There wasn’t anywhere in this room that was sufficient enough to hide the two of them. He gritted his teeth, his body tensing up for the inevitable fight. He turned to look at Penny, and he saw just how scared she was. He then turned his attention back to the door and took a few steps forward.

“Snap, what are you doing?” Penny whispered softly.

Snap didn’t answer her. He continued to move forward until he positioned himself in front of Penny. If that creepazoid wanted Penny, he’d have to go through him first. The only way that the man was going to have any access to her was if he went through his dead body. He didn’t want to die but if it came to that, if it meant buying some time for her, then he was prepared for it.

The tall shadow began to grow shorter, indicating that the man was getting closer. It didn’t seem like he was carrying anything at first. But then another shadow emerged. It was so close to the first shadow, and so long... Was it a gun?

The thought sent chills through Snap’s body. He never thought that the man would go as far as trying to shoot them. His body trembled at the thought. All it would take was one shot of that gun to him or Penny and the situation would rapidly become much worse than it had been before. He hoped he was mistaken, and that it was something else entirely. Maybe a broom or something.

He still stood his ground, not moving further away from Penny. When the shadows got even closer, and he began to see the shapes more distinctly, knowing what they were about to arrive in the room, he spread out his arms, waiting for the man to come in and try to make his move. He was not going to make things easy for him.

Then the figure arrived in the room. Snap tensed his body up, his adrenaline fully prepared for an attack. Unable to hold it back any longer, he began to rush forward, letting out a yell.

“Snap! Stop!”

The sudden shout from Penny wasn’t what stopped Snap. He skidded to a stop and stared out in shock when he saw not Von, but Rudy’s parents walking in.

He hunched his body forward, his arms dangling down, as he stared at the two shocked adults, just as surprised as they were. Many questions ran through his mind. Just how did they get here? Where did they come from? And why were they covered in dirt?

Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie stared down at the blue and white zoner in shock. They were silent for several moments, their eyes filled with so much shock, Snap thought they would burst open. He took a small step backwards as he watched them. Uncertain of what to expect, he kept his eyes on them. He had no idea how they were going to react to meeting a zoner.

Mrs. Tabootie was the one who spoke first. “Snap...? But I...I thought you were just a...”

“We thought you were a creation of Rudy’s.” Mr. Tabootie finished, his voice soft, filled with so much shock. He raised a finger and pointed it at Snap. “Did Rudy base the character off of you?”

Snap shook his head. “No, I’m the real deal.” Snap clenched his teeth tightly, realizing what a mistake it may have been to say that. He could just feel Penny’s glare on him.

“How is that...” Mrs. Tabootie started to say, overwhelmed in emotion. Then she stopped and turned her head. “Penny...? Are you okay? Where is Rudy? Where’s your mother?”

Penny didn’t answer right away. She just stared at Mrs. Tabootie, still clearly rearing from the shock of running into her so fast. She stared at Snap, as if she thought that he would have any answers. All Snap could do was shrug and look back at the adults. The questions that bombarded their heads made it difficult for either of them to formulate words.

Mr. Tabootie appeared to understand. He gently nudged his wife and spoke softly to her. Snap and Penny couldn’t understand what was being said, but they guessed that he was discussing something with his wife. He then looked back at them, giving an apologetic expression.

“We’re sorry if we surprised you so much. We’re...rather surprised as well.” Mr. Tabootie rubbed the back of his head. “We weren’t expecting to see you guys here...” He backtracked. “Well in this spot.”

“Neither were we.” Snap managed to say. He licked his lips and swallowed hard. A cold thought came to his head. “You...weren’t captured, were you?”

Mr. Tabootie shook his head. “No, we came here.”

Penny took a step forward. “How did you get in?”

Mr. Tabootie said, “Through one of the doors. It was still open.”

Penny’s eyes widened slightly at this, and then she swiveled her head towards Snap. “Did you hear that Snap? One of the doors is still open. We can get out!”

“Yeah, but..where is it?” Snap held his hand out in gesture. And just how did you get here?”

Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie looked at one another, and then back at them. All their expressions held the desire to gain more information, to answer confusing questions, but also to share information as well. They had some catching up to do so they could all fully understand the situation that they were in.

Snap hoped that the two adults were able to find something that could help them. An open door was nice, but if there was no path to get there, it was useless. Still, this was a chance at possible freedom, and if they can help, that would bring them a step closer to stopping Von.

But first, so much confusion had to be taken care of and gotten out of the way. Things needed to be straightened out first. Hopefully they will be able to do that very quickly. They didn’t have all the time in the world.

“Well you see... It all started when...” Mr. Tabootie began to tell his story.

sss

Dr. Von Doktor felt a rush of energy surge through him. He couldn’t wipe the smile from his face. Everything that had happened lately... It just filled him with a sense of accomplishment. He couldn’t help but suck in a deep breath and releasing a loud, content-filled sigh. Today had just been marvelous. Better than he had expected.

For him anyway. He imagined that his ‘guests’ felt differently. Both the ones he trapped in the Real World and Blocky, whom he now had tied down on a surgical table that he drew. Yeah, they were definitely not enjoying this. But he didn’t care. It was all about him, after all. Not them.

He wondered if they were going to escape. He had made sure that they couldn’t, but there might have been a flaw or two that he had overlooked. Well if that were the case, well, not much he can do about it now. Besides, even if they were to get out, they wouldn’t know where to find him here, and they would not be able to sneak in either. These walls, he drew them to be one-way, allowing him to see out but no one in. That would make it much harder for them to try to get in without him noticing.

He turned his attention back to Blocky. The small zoner was squirming against the binds, ignoring the pain that he was in. Normally, he would want to try to settle him down. Before, he didn’t want Blocky too badly hurt as he wanted to experiment on him. However, with that restriction removed, it no longer mattered to him. He can make his own test subjects now. Blocky was not needed anymore. It didn’t matter if he died.

But Blocky still had a purpose to him. A use. If he really wanted to, he could perform a dissection here, or a vivisection. He could run tests on Blocky, and any future test subject, that he was unable to in the Real World. He would be able to learn their bodies on a much deeper level.

There was a tingle sensation in his chest as he felt so excited. No one had ever done this before. No one had ever studied chalk animals like this. He was the first. It was so lucky when a scientist got to study a new animal. He felt like the luckiest of all. How much chance did he have to get the opportunity to study a new species made out of material that no one had ever thought possible for a living creature? Oh he was going to be famous!

He could feel his heart thumping with excited desire. He had come to close to obtaining his dignity back and the thought of him gaining so much more was just irresistable. He couldn’t wait to see the looks on those scientists’ faces. They will rue the day that they made fun of him. Everyone would be sorry.

But enough about the petty stuff. He will have his revenge soon. Right now, he needed to focus on the task at hand. He still had a lot more studying to do, and he had his test subject all strapped down and ready to go. His smile broadened as he stared down at Blocky.

As the zoner shivered and whimpered in fright, he began to think of what he should do. What should be the first test to try? Should he test a chemical reaction on him? Should he cut him open to get a glimpse of how his insides look? Should he force feed him some kind of poison?

“P-Please...don’t do this... I-I beg of you...” Blocky whimpered as he stared up at the man in fear. “Please...why does it have to be this way? Why can’t you use an x-ray machine or something?”

Von smirked at this. He turned his head to one side. “Well I could. But zorry.. It’z juzt not good enough for me. I need a more...perzonal view for myzelf. I’d get more data out zat way.”

Blocky began to struggle harder against his binds. He let out a few yelps of pain as his attempts were in vain. Even as he clearly was losing strength, he still struggled, trying to break himself free and get away. Von couldn’t help but smile at this. It was incredible how much energy he still had despite what he had gone through. Maybe he will discover the secrets of that through his cutting up the zoner. Maybe it can be applied to humans somehow.

“No! Come on! Let me g-g-go! Please!” Blocky wailed. He pulled harder on his legs, the small shins banging against the metal cuffs that held him down. “There has to be another way! Please!”

“Oh why don’t you juzt zettle down, Blocky? I hadn’t even begun yet.” Von began to circle Blocky. His mind ran with different thoughts of what he could do. There was so much he could try and it was so hard to choose just one. “Juzt zink of all the benefitz you may bring to zoziety. Zink of how much zings will improve. Izn’t that worz zomezing?”

Blocky did not reply. He merely let out a scream as he kept pulling on his limbs. Adrenaline was really kicking in how. If he had a heart monitor hooked up to him, he’d imagine the zoner’s heart would be racing, pounding against his chest.

The man continued, holding up his hand in gesture. “I can juzt zee it now. Maybe I could make a profit off of zelling your meat.”

“No!” Blocky cried in horror.

“I know it won’t do anyzing, but zome culturez do believe that eating animal partz helpz zem heal from dizeazez and zuch. Who knowz?” Von’s eyes gleamed as he stared down at the frightened zoner. “Maybe zome of them will zink that zoner meat can help zem out. I’m sure many people will flock to purchaze ground or powdered zoner. Wiz what you guyz are made of, zat shouldn’t be too hard to make.”

Blocky tried to shake his head in protest. The metal bar across his forehead prevented that. “No! Please!”

Von chuckled as he watched the zoner squirm. It was almost comical to him how the zoner still tried to escape, despite his condition and his predicament. Did he still really think that he can get away that easily? Did he really think that he would be able to break his binds if he just struggled hard enough?

He decided to leave the zoner alone for the time being. He still hadn’t figured out exactly what he wanted to do with Blocky, and some of the experiments he thought of doing couldn’t be performed on him, partly due to his injuries. He needed a fresh subject. One that has been untouched. At this, his smile spread further. Yes..he knew exactly what he could do while he tried to figure out what will be done to Blocky.

Without saying a word, he turned and left the zoner alone. He ignored the zoner’s confused cries as he headed down the hallway. There were more rooms in this place. He didn’t design it with just one. He had a feeling he might need some other areas, and this was one of those times that proved that.

The place was structured similiar to the building he had in the Real World, only much smaller. He had only made a few rooms because this was simply an experiment. He would need to test a few subjects out first before he expanded on something bigger.

It didn’t take him too long to reach his destination. There was a room on the far end of the hallway. He turned into it and walked inside. He immediately shut the door behind him. Despite the fact that he didn’t expect anyone to find him, he locked the door anyway.

The room looked similiar to the room where he had tried to test out his perpetual motion ideas. Only this room would, later on anyway, have more supplies and more tables. This was to be one of his major dissection and vivisection rooms. Soon, the shelves will be stocked full of different chemicals and jars and needles and scalpels. It was going to be incredible.

He walked up to one of the tables. He noticed the super strong straps he had drawn. Designed to hold down tons of weight, it should make it easy for him to subdue his test subjects. Especially if he drew them first. He could prevent them from being too strong, ensuring that they would remain subdued.

He pulled out what remained of the magic chalk. He frowned slightly. He had used up so much of it. Oh well, there was still enough for him to do what he wanted. Gripping it tightly, he began to draw.

Lines rapidly filled the air, twisting around, forming a distinct shape in the area. He added a sharp turn here and there, then a swirl and soon he was finished. As soon as he stopped, color filled in the empty void, and flesh materialized in an instant, just like the building and everything else had. He was fascinated by how similiar the process was, and just how quickly and easily he had practically given birth.

Here, standing before him, was a brand new zoner. One that he had created. This realization gave him a sense of power over this particular life form. This zoner, which looked like a cross between a zebra and a peacock, was his property. He was free to do whatever he wanted with this zoner.

And he knew just what he wanted to do.

“Hello there. It’s nice to meet you.” The zoner said in greeting. He bent down on one hoof and bowed to him. “I’m so glad to meet my creator.”

Dr. Von Doktor flinched slightly at this. The zoner spoke like... Well it was hard to explain. Almost like a child and a foreigner strung together. There was emphasis put on the wrong words at the wrong time. Was this what happened when he didn’t concentrate hard enough on the personality and behavior of the zoner?

Oh well, this will have to do. After all, he did not create this zoner to study his vocalization and grammar. No, he had something much more...interesting in mind for him.

Von grabbed onto the zoner’s arm and tugged him. “Come on.” He spread his hand out towards the table. “Please...take a seat.”

The zoner stared down quizzically at the table. He tilted his head to one side. “What is this for?”

“Oh it’z a game.” Von said with a smile on his face. “A game of knowledge. And you’re going to help me get it.”

The zoner stared at Von for a few seconds. Von wondered if the zoner understood what he meant and if he was going to try to get away. Instead of looking horrified, the zoner looked excited, an energy rushing through him as if he were just a little child. Well he was new to the world after all.

“Really? When do we get started?” The zoner asked, his voice high-pitched and energetic.

“Climb into zee table and you will zee.” Von said. He again motioned to the table, this time with more force, indicating to the zoner exactly what he wanted.

The zoner nodded his head. “Okay, creator. Sure, I’ll do it!” Immediately the zoner climbed into the table. With a motion from Von, he turned himself onto his back, spreading out his arms and legs as if he were about to make a snow angel. “How’s this, creator?”

“Perfect.” Von said. With a snap of his finger, the cuffs activated. The zoner let out a yelp as the cuffs strapped in him down. A few more appeared, holding down his body and his head. “Zank you for your cooperation.”

The zoner began to struggle. A nervous smile spread across his face. “Creator? This...this is kind of tight...” He gave a quick chuckle as he stared up at Von. “Is this part of the game?”

Von’s smile grew twisted. “Yez, it iz.”

The zoner’s face paled at the sight of this. It was almost amusing to see this child-like zoner experience fear for the first time. If the zoner thought this was bad, the true fun had not yet begun.

“B-But...creator... I-I thought we were going to have some fun together...” The zoner whimpered, sounding so much like a frightened little child.

Von chuckled at this. “Oh we are. I plan on having zo much fun wiz you.” He leaned forward, putting his faced close to the zoner’s. “Now I would appreciate it if you didn’t zcream. Ziz will go more zmoozly if you didn’t diztract me.” Von quickly began to sketch.

“B-But I...”

The zoner was silenced when Von drew a muzzle and slipped it over his mouth. He tightened the straps and buckled them down, securing it against the zoner’s face. This prevented the zoner from talking or screaming. The only thing that he could do was whimper and whine.

The zoner tried to shake his head in a vain attempt to get free. After a few times, he appeared to realize it was futile and he fell almost limp against the table. His chest rose and fell rapidly and he looked up at Von with wide, innocent and frightened looking eyes. There was a strong question of ‘why’ in them. The zoner reminded him so much of Blocky.

Well..it was time to get started.

“Juzt cloze your eyes, little one. It will be over before you know it.” Von cooed to the scared creation of his. A short while later, the room was filled with the muffled cries of his test subject.

sss

Joe was still surprised by what had happened. He certainly wasn’t expecting this turn of events when he and his wife explored around this area. He was so confused and a part of him hadn’t fully recovered from the shock.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy to see Penny. It was just...he didn’t think she’d be out over here. He and his wife thought this part of the building was abandoned. He didn’t think that Von would use any part of this area, and would have instead focused on the areas that looked more functional. That seemed to make the most sense to the man.

He and his wife had traveled through the ventilation system, which hadn’t exactly been a real joy. It was dirty in a few places, and some areas were rusted and sharp. Going across them was tricky and dangerous. They had to be extra careful as they moved through the vents. It was a little roomier than he thought it would be at least, so it made it a tad easier. He wasn’t sure just how long he and Millie had been traversing through the metal tunnels. It could have been anywhere between just several minutes to an hour.

After a while, they did discovery a hole in the elevated tunnels that they could not cross. Evidence of neglect from Von. They had no choice but to get out. They both climbed down from the vents, which wasn’t easy, with the jagged opening and moist ground there and such. But working together, they did manage to get down and then they were able to explore around a little and see where they were.

He and his wife were convinced that the area was left abandoned by Dr. Von Doktor, so they searched around unhindered, not expecting any kind of trap from the man, or being worried about getting caught.

When they came over to this room, they had realized there was someone there. They thought they could hear voices, and they were immediately put on edge. They had glanced at one another, and asked each other just what was happening. They both thought that perhaps it was Von or Terry. Who else could it have been? They knew of no one else who could be likely culprits to have taken their son.

They approached the door, prepared for a fight. Joe had taken position in front of his wife. His eyes had narrowed when they got closer. Their bodies remained tense, expecting Von or Terry to jump out at any given moment. Although they were both afraid, they were also both very determined to save their son from this...this madman.

But when they had turned the corner and they got to see just who it was that was here, they were both taken aback, neither of them expecting Penny to be there, staring them in shock.

Penny wasn’t alone. There was some else with her. A blue and white figure that had rushed towards them, only stopping when he seemed to realize they weren’t who wanted. When the person stopped, he and his wife were taken aback when they saw that it was Snap, Rudy’s star in his comic. His appearance filled them with so many questions, especially after Snap asserted that he was real.

He and his wife had liked Rudy’s work, and he recalled how popular Madcap Snap was. He never would have dreamed that Snap would be real, though. He thought that Snap was just a made up character. To see him standing before them, it was hard to take in. They both began to wonder if it was just a really good costume or something.

But the shock of seeing Snap being real was pushed in the back of his head when he realized that they really needed to catch up. To better understand their situation, they needed to exchange knowledge with each other and tell one another just how they gotten to this point.

Joe and Millie had told their story first. They did their best to explain everything, from how worried they were that Rudy hadn’t come back, how they tried to contact Penny’s mom, going to her house and finding them all missing. During the explanation, Penny looked a little guilty, confusing the two adults. They weren’t sure why Penny felt so bad. Maybe she was just guilty for contributing to them worrying; she was missing, too.

Penny and Snap both looked horrified when they brought up ChalkZone and the silly story Rudy’s aunt Tilly said about it. Joe was confused by their responses, and the way they looked at them... He had glanced over at his wife and she didn’t have any idea of what to make of it. Their reaction made it seem as though...they had learned something they shouldn’t have...

But..it couldn’t be true, right? ChalkZone couldn’t possibly be real. Tilly was just a little crazy, perhaps watching Terry too much. There was no way that such a world could exist. It violated too many laws of physics. It was..impossible...right...?

But Penny and Snap’s expressions suggested otherwise. These expressions held no deception, and they couldn’t be mistaken for anything else except shock and worry about their discovery.

He and his wife had gone silent for a few moments upon seeing their expressions. They had looked at one another, both exchanging a look of confusion with each other. He and Millie then continued their story, moving on from the subject of ChalkZone. They told the two about how they had found a way in and how they had been searching through the building to find any evidence of Rudy, Penny, and Mrs. Sanchez being held captive here.

And their hunch appeared to be correct, considering Penny’s presence here, and how she and Snap seemed defensive in the first split second they had shown up in the room. Snap’s reaction suggested that they had been waiting for a fight, and he knew it couldn’t possibly have been with him or his wife.

Now it was time for Penny and Snap to tell their story.

“We told our story. Now it’s your turn.” Joe said sternly, folding his arms against his chest. There’s several unanswered questions that he and his wife really needed to know. “Tell us, how did you get here?”

Penny and Snap looked at one another. Joe and Millie stared at them expectantly, not making a move to rush them. It was clear they had a lot to say, and they would need a little time to organize their thoughts. Joe hoped that some of the stuff they would say would reveal whatever happened to their son and just what Von was up to.

Speaking of Von, he wondered where he was. Joe turned his head from left to right and repeated this once. He didn’t see any sign of Von in here, and he and his wife didn’t even hear him or find any signs that he was here. While he expected that in this more abandoned area, why was the parking lot devoid of any cars except his own? Where was Von? Was he even here? Was he hiding from them? He tensed up, prepared for a confrontation with him.

He turned his attention back to Penny and Snap. Hopefully, they can answer that question. Right now, he didn’t care if Snap was a chalk creature or not. He didn’t care about the chalk world. That, as amazing as it sounded, was irrelevent at the moment. What mattered more now was finding Rudy and their friend, Inez.

“We’ll have to tell you later.” Snap said at last. Joe and Millie stared at the little guy in shock. “We don’t have time right now.”

“We had time to tell you what happened.” Millie said, narrowing her eyes as she held out her hand in gesture. “What do you mean you can’t tell us your story? How isn’t there enough time?”

“Is Von up to something?” Joe said, interjecting. “Is he doing something really horrible right now?”

“Look we’ll tell you all later.” Snap waved his hands out in front of him. “Right now, we need to...”

“No, you listen here!” Joe glared at the chalk creature. He didn’t care if he was Rudy’s creation at the moment. He didn’t have the authority to tell them when they’d get the information. They were going to get it now. “Millie and I are worried sick about Rudy and Inez! And if you’re not going to tell us, then...”

“It’s not like that at all!” Snap cringed away from the man, grinning nervously. “It’s just that...”

Joe narrowed his eyes dangerousy as Millie folded her arms against her chest. “It’s just what?” Snap was quiet and after several moments, Joe said, “What’s with you, Snap? Don’t you even care?”

Snap’s eyes widened at this. He frowned as though he had said some great insult. “Of course I do! Don’t you dare say such a thing!”

Millie growled. “Then why aren’t you...”

“Because we really don’t have time! We need to head to the hospital!”

This caused the two adults to freeze. They stared over at Penny in shock. The hospital? Was someone hurt? They looked at Penny’s arm and they felt their hearts skip a beat when they saw that she had several puncture marks in her right arm. They stared at this for several moments before looking back at Penny. They took in a few quick breaths, finding it hard to speak at first.

“Penny...” Millie was the first of the two to regain her voice. “What happened to you...? Did Von do this?”

Penny looked at her arm. She then nodded her head. “Well yes, but I’m not the one who needs the most help.”

Joe felt hesitant to ask. But he knew there was very little choice. He and his wife, they both needed to know. “Who....who is it...?”

Penny and Snap looked at one another. They then looked back at them. Joe and Millie felt their hearts start to race when they saw the looks in their eyes. Their faces held gazes of utter sympathy. After a few seconds, Penny was the one who responded.

“It’s Rudy.” Penny whispered softly. Joe and Millie gasped in horror at this, putting their hands to their mouths as their eyes widened. “He’s hurt.”

Joe took in a deep, sharp breath, his mind swirling with thoughts. He could hear his wife gasp in horror. They looked towards each other, both exchanging looks of horror with each other. Hearing the news confirming that their son was injured caused them both to freeze, making it hard for either of them to say something, or even move. Their heads ran with many questions.

What happened to their son? How bad was it? Did Von do it? Did someone or something else do it? How long would he be in the hospital? Was the wound fatal? Had they gotten here in time or were they too late to do much to help him?

Joe finally found the strength to turn his head and looked back towards Penny and Snap. He breathed in and out slowly, his eyes moving from left to right. Then he said, “What..happened to him...?”

Snap narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “Dr. Von Doktor impaled him, the bastard...” The chalk creature’s voice was filled with venom.

Millie took a step back, tears forming in her eyes. “He’s been what?!”

Joe, his eyes wide with alarm, took a step forward swiftly. “Where is he now?!”

Penny quickly mothered with her arm. “He’s over this way. My mom and two other zoners are looking after him.”

Joe and Millie didn’t bother with asking what the term ‘zoner’ was, or trying to remember if they heard the word before. Right now, their only focus was getting to Rudy. They immediately followed Penny and Snap as they led them down the hallway to where Rudy apparently was being kept.

They were both grateful that Inez was with him and looking after him. That helped to drive away some of their worries. But it didn’t help them to fully relax. How could they when that evil, vile man had impaled him? The thought sent chills up and down their spines. Their minds filled with all kinds of horrific images at that thought.

The fact that he was impaled was horrifying enough, but there was still the matter of what he was impaled with and where. They both knew that there were all kinds of complications that could..no..would arise from this. They could only hope that the object in question missed all or most of his more important body stuff. And that wasn’t getting into the infections and whether or not this could affect him for the rest of his life.

The two parents pushed those thoughts aside. They could speculate more once they had seen Rudy and could assess for themselves what was necessary. The group of four disappeared down the hallway, towards where Rudy, Inez, and more of those zoners awaited.

Joe formed a fist as they went down, his thoughts growing dark. If Von did anything that horrible to Rudy, if his son was going to be permanently crippled because of this....

...well he hoped the man had really good insurance.

sss

Rudy let out a soft groan. He tried to open up one eye, but found that he could not. He never felt so weak in his life. Just..what had happened ot him? Why did he feel this way? Why did his mind feel so muggy and tired?

He would have tried to figure this out if he didn’t feel so tired and sleepy. A part of him just wanted to go right back to sleep. He wanted to close his eyes and allow the darkness to overtake him again, bringing him back to that peaceful slumber he had been in earlier. He didn’t remember how long he had been out, a short time or a much longer time, but he hardly registered any concern with that. Right now, sleep...

He felt himself being moved around. He could feel something underneath his body, and he could have sworn he was suddenly floating. He looked around to figure out what was going on. But his vision, it was so blurred, he could hardly make anything out. He struggled to try to make any sense of the blurred mess of colors and shadows all around him, but nothing worked.

Normally, if he were more awake, he’d be worried, panicked, something. He wouldn’t just lay here and act as if all was right with the world. Right now, however, he hardly had any care about what was going on. Being lifted up by, as far as he could tell, was air felt....nice. Yes, nice was the word he’d use. Very calming and relaxing. Then he began to move through the air, which felt even better. It reminded him of the car rides with his parents. He remembered on long ones, how he would just fall asleep in the care, the movement along the road just so relaxing, especially on sunny days.

Rudy could feel his eyelids grow heavy. He wasn’t sure how long he could stay awake. Not much longer, he knew. He had a feeling that, within a few moments, he would pass out, returning to the slumber that he had so desired for.

He did stop for a moment to look around him, trying once more to at least figure out where he was. He could start to recognize some shapes and at least tell there were people around. They seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite identify them yet. He noticed some white dots of fuzzy blobs, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d say that they were looking right at him.

Then one large fuzzy thing filled his vision. Pale peach color with yellow mixed into it. Compared to the other shapes, this one was large and...either muscular or just hefty. He wasn’t sure which. His eyes flickered when he saw more peach coming towards him, and for a split second, he wondered if he should move.

Then, seconds later, he felt something against his cheek. He jolted in surprise, not expecting the blob to touch him. He thought about jerking himself away, but...no... This felt nice. He let out a soft sigh and pressed his head against the thing. He could feel it moving along his cheek, caressing it gently. Yeah, he liked this. He wanted it to do more. Then the thing moved up to his head, and he could feel his scalp come alive with pleasure. Slowly he shut his eyes and leaned even further against the blob, letting out a sigh of contentment. He didn’t care if he had no idea who or what this blob was. All he wanted was for it to continue, for a lack of a better term, petting him.

But sadly, it didn’t last very long. When the thing withdrew, Rudy let out a frustrated groan. He opened up his eyes again, staring towards the blobs, giving them all a longing look. Won’t one of them touch him like that again? Please...?

Then after a while, he started to get his vision back. Well more of it anyway. Not all, but enough that he could now start to make out details. He stared up at the blob that touched him, and he started to see the face. He tilted his head to one side, his eyes frowning in confusion.

“M-Mom...?” He whispered softly.

The blob responded, but the voice was so distorted and echoey that he wasn’t sure what to make of it. He was certain that she at least said his name, and possibly how he was.

Although he had no way of knowing for certain, Rudy still replied to what he percieved to be his mother’s question. “I’m...fine.. Tired... Just want to sleep...” He began to close his eyes.

He was stirred when his mother, or was it his father, shook him. He let out a groan, but did not open his eyes. He shook his shoulder to one side, jerking himself free of their grasp. It wasn’t that he was unhappy to see his parents. It was just...he was too tired. His head ached from the lack of sleep, or too much there of. He needed to rest.

His eyes shut completely, and he curled up into a small ball on the ground. He thought he felt something nick him in his stomach, but he was so out of it, he didn’t really notice.

“Sleep time...good... Sleep...” Rudy mumbled under his breath as he closed his eyes completely. It didn’t take long for the voices to rapidly fade away, and he was overcome by the darkness. Yes, all he needed was some more nice, peaceful sleep.

sss

“Rudy! Wake up! Please!” Millie called out to her son. No..this couldn’t be happening. Not her little boy. No...

But no matter how hard she shook him, Rudy wasn’t waking up. He just remained still, unmoving. She refused to give up at first, and she kept trying. But soon she had to face reality. Slowly her shaking stopped and she stared down at her completely still son. Reality sank in, weighing down on her shoulders.

Her son had...passed out. Succumbed to whatever internal bleeding was going on. The only thing that kept her heart from shattering into tiny pieces was the fact that his chest still rose and fell, albeit shakingly.

Despite the bloody spot on his chest, still visible despite the bandages, there was no expression of pain in the boy’s eyes. It was just so...peaceful. The look of it made the large woman shudder. It was such a contrast, seeing such a bad wound and seeing her son look so peaceful. He was even smiling, something she didn’t expect him to do if he was in so much pain. She wanted to lift him up and hold him in her arms, but she did not want to make things worse.

She looked over solemnly at her husband. He looked over at her sympathetically, reaching out and touching her shoulder. It took all of Millie’s strength not to pull her husband into a big hug and cry into his shoulder. She kept telling herself that everything will be okay. They just need to get out of here and get Rudy to a hospital.

Inez had told them what she could, about Von’s actions. Each thing she had listed made the woman and her husband feel more and more hatred towards the vile man. Neither of them thought he’d go this far, do something this horrible. Him trying to murder Inez, experimenting on Penny, and impaling Rudy... He crossed the line three times over. Well they would make sure that he didn’t get a fourth chance with them.

And then there was his torture of these...zoners... Millie wasn’t sure how sad she should feel for them. She wasn’t sure how to take them or view them. But regardless, even she felt a pang of disgust when she learned how this Blocky character was treated. If he was sentient, then shouldn’t he have been treated with some amount of dignity?

But for the moment, she couldn’t concern herself with the zoners. Her son was more important right now. She knelt down beside him and stroked his hair gently. She wished that he would wake up. Him sleeping made her very nervous and she kept fearing he would not wake up again, despite reassurances from the others.

Seeing her son like this was just horrible. She and her husband had a feeling something might have happened. But..neither of them thought it would...be something like this.

Their son had been impaled through the stomach, right below his ribcage. It did not pierce his aorta at least, but there was likely other things it ripped through. The fact that the man had ripped out the rusty nail horrified them, as that would have caused extra damage on its way out. And rusted.... Millie found herself imagining all kinds of diseases that would come from the rust of the nail. She did her best to try to remain calm, but..how could she with all of this?

But...at least the worst of it appeared to be over. Rudy’s wound was bandaged up and she and Joe were here. They knew a way out and they could take him through there. They could get their son to a hospital where he can be treated.

And after that, they could take care of Von. They could report to the police what they had found out and this place will be searched. She was confident that the police would be able to find evidence linking the man to the kidnappings. Then there was no doubt in her mind that the man would be locked away for a very long time. There was no doubt about that.

“There...this should do it.” Inez said, cutting through the silence. She took a few steps back, staring at her handiwork. “It’s not the best, but it should help you carry Rudy out just fine. Just be very, very careful. He may have suffered more damage than we thought.”

Joe nodded his head. “Thank you. We..can’t tell you how much we really appreciate this.”

Inez smiled at them. “Don’t worry about it. Just concentrate on getting him to the hospital.”

“And don’t forget, we will be helping you.” The zoner named Rapsheeba said. The other two, Howdy and Snap, smiled and nodded in confirmation at this. “Rudy is our friend and we will do whatever we can to help.”

“Me too.” Howdy said.

“Rudy is my creator. I’d never abandon him.” Snap said.

Penny took a step forward. “Working together, we should be able to pull this off. We can get out of this wretched place and get Rudy the help that he so desperately needs.”

“Then we take care of that creepazoid.” Snap snarled, slamming a fist against his palm.

Penny glared down at him. “Only after we secure Rudy’s safety.”

“I know.” Snap said as he looked up at her. “Come on, we better get going.”

“Agreed.” Penny said.

Millie didn’t attempt to say anything. Neither did her husband. Now wasn’t the time for discussions. Now was the time to help Rudy. She watched as Inez and her daughter carried the item over towards them. The item in question was a roughly made man-powered transporter. Well whatever it was. She had seen them before, but the name of them evaded her for the moment. The vet lowered it towards the ground and motioned to the parents to put Rudy in it.

She and Joe were as careful as they could. They gently lifted Rudy into the air, Joe holding his front and her his legs. They did their best not to move his body around too much, keeping him as still as possible. As they carried him over, Millie couldn’t help but stare at his face. He might look peaceful now, but her heart twisted when she realized that, once the drug completely wears off, he was not going to be so relaxed anymore.

They lowered Rudy down onto the transporter. There wasn’t any straps, so carrying him was going to be difficult. Especially going through the ventilation shaft, which they had no choice but to do. At least they had more help this time, but that still didn’t make the task any less daunting.

Working with her husband, they hoisted Rudy up into the air. They steadied him as best as they could. They then turned their attention to the others.

“It’s this way.” Joe said.

Without saying another word, they all headed down the hallway. Millie still wasn’t sure exactly how they were going to handle the ventilation system issue, but she was certain they’d figure something out on the way there. Only time will tell.

sss

Dr. Von Doktor took a step back and smirked as he looked at his handiwork. This experiment turned out better than he had thought. Other than it took longer than he hoped. Oh well. The important thing was it was a success. He had wanted to see the anatomy of a zoner and he finally got to do just that.

It was a little difficult with his creation squirming around, whimpering like a little baby. The muzzle did little to completely mute him. The zoner thrashed around wildly. If the muzzle were off, he was certain that he would have tried to bite him. The straps, though thick, almost appeared ot nearly break as the zoner struggled violently to get free. Perhaps he had made him too strong or the straps too weak. He will have to fix that later.

At least right now, it was nice and quiet. He stared down at the unconscious form of his creation. Well sort of unconscious. He was still breathing, but there was no way he was going to survive for long after this. He was definitely dying, on his last legs. Even if he were to get to a hospital now, there was no way he’d live.

And the experiment wasn’t even done yet. He was maybe half way through. There was still so much more he wanted to do. So much he wanted to know. He had learned a great deal already, but he knew there was more to learn, more that he should be excited for. He couldn’t wait.

He looked down at the tray filled with sharp instruments. Most of them had bleed on them. Most of them had been used to cut open this zoner’s body, allowing him to see his insides. Quite fascinating, they were. He had removed a couple non-vital organs for further steady. He had made sure to use clothespins to stop major bleeding. He wanted his victim alive for however long he could make him last. It was a way to test endurance and see how much a zoner can take before even assistance won’t help them anymore.

He let out a sigh of disappointment when he saw that most of the sharp tools had dulled. He was going to need to draw some more. He didn’t have a lot of magic chalk left and he needed to conserve them. Perhaps he could figure out where he could find more. Blocky might know. He smiled. Yes, the little run would tell him exactly what he wanted to know. But first, he needed to finish his exploratory vivisection. He turned his attention back to his strapped down creation.

The zoner had all but stopped struggling. The only movements that he made were some faint, shaky breathing and he saw a twitch or two. The zoner’s eyes were partially open, but they were glassy and unseeing. His nostrils flared wildly as he struggled to breathe, each breath signalling just how much pain and agony that he was in. A quick look at his body made it easy to tell just what caused this expression.

The zoner’s chest and stomach were completely open. The skin was stretched and pinned at the sides and the sternum was cut in the middle and opened up. The abdomen wall had been sliced and stretched apart. The internal organs were exposed, in plain sight. And it wasn’t just that. One leg and one arm had been skinned, and some of the exposed muscle was cut up. The scalp had also been partially removed, letting him see the bare skull of his creation. He was going to wait until he died before he would do anything with the brain.

As to be expected with something like this, there was blood everywhere. He did his best to keep it clean. He didn’t want the heavy stench of blood to distract him from his work. No, he certainly wasn’t interested in that.

He stared down at the dying zoner. He listened to his pitiful breathing, the way his gasps of air sounded raspy, like someone was trying to scrape against something. It was a rather pitiful sight, causing him to narrow his eyes deeply. Despite the fact that he knew that zoners could always be redrawn and that death didn’t matter to them, he still felt some pang of sympathy for him.

After all, he was simply a child. Well, child-like. The zoner was clearly an adult, but he had a child-like mind to him. Everything had been brand new and he was ready to explore the world. Yet he had been born only to die a short time later. His only experience in life was pain and agony. He felt almost sorry for the little guy.

Oh why should he care? It didn’t matter. The zoner wasn’t really suffering as much as it looked. He needed to remind himself of the immortality these zoners surely had. One death would be like the nine lives with cats thing. They can just be redrawn like nothing happened.

But..would it really be right to keep the zoner alive for the rest of the experiment? He would just be depriving himself of going in much further. He really wanted to look at that brain and there was also the heart and lungs he wanted to look at as well. Besides, the zoner was going to die soon anyway. Why not just speed up the process?

Von took one of the scalpels and he pressed it against the zoner’s neck. He pierced it with ease, despite the dulling tip. The zoner was so weak, he barely gave out a whimper as the knife pierced his flesh. The eyes looked up at him, trying to see him but failing. Von froze for a second, feeling another pang. He shook his head, gritting his teeth as he sliced the zoner’s neck open with a quick flick of his wrist.

The blood gushed out quickly, dripping down the table and over the side. He had made sure to slice both major blood vessels located in the neck, allowing for the quickest death. The zoner gave a few small twitches, a few small death throes, and then just passed away. The eyes closed and his head turned to the side. The still chest and the fact that he could see his heart wasn’t beating anymore told the scientist that he was dead.

It wasn’t much of a show. The zoner had died rather unspectacularly. A part of him couldn’t help but be disappointed. He had hoped for something more...satisfying than that. Oh well, it didn’t really matter that much. Time to continue cutting the zoner up.

As he proceeded to use the saw to cut into the skull to expose the brain, his thoughts wandered a little. He started to think of what zoner he should draw next, and what he should do with it. Chemical testing perhaps? Yeah, that sounds really good. After he studied this body a little more, he would have more data to work with. Then he really could experiment with all kinds of chemicals and see how they interact with the zoners.

Soon the saw cutting was finished, and he could feel the skull plate wobbling slightly in his hand. He lifted it up and gently set it on the bloodied table. He stared down, taking in the sight.

There was the zoner’s brain.

It was pretty large, with a lot of grey matter and wrinkles. It looked similar to a human brain, except a different shape and slightly smaller. It was pretty impressive overall. Picking up the sharpest scalpel he had left, he proceeded to remove the brain from its boney casing for further study.

Chapter 40: Surprises

To be prepared, is it not always wise to prepare for the least likely?

sss

Ms. Tweezer doublechecked to make sure she got everything that she needed. She didn’t want to miss a thing and have to come all the way back here. That would waste time and that’s not what she wanted to do. So she made sure she had everything, like the paper and pens, the camera, anything else that she felt she could use.

She wanted to go see Terry. Yeah, Terry did explain already what she knew. But Ms. Tweezer had a strong hunch that she was hiding some information, perhaps out of fear. She wanted to go over there and reassure her that everything would be fine, and ask her for more information regarding her attack. The more information she got, the better. She needed as much information as possible if she was going to try to counter the unreal and the unthinkable.

Ms. Tweezer wondered if Terry was frightened into slience by Rudy. That boy, he was definitely the cause of all of this. Who else could it be? He was the one who paraded with those unreals, let them into this world.

Yes...she remembered it all now. It had all come back to her. She had been trying to help Rudy understand why the unreal was so bad, and he had dished out unreal against her. She didn’t understand why he’d do that. She had only tried to help him become a more model civilian, and he bit her back with that...wretched imaginary stuff.

All kinds of them had jumped out into the world, preparing to infest it. All kinds of creatures that shouldn’t exist...and they taunted her, surrounded her.. She was so lucky that they didn’t try to eat her, or worse, infect her with some kind of virus to make her act differently. She ran off before they could do anymore. She didn’t stop running until she had reached her home, and she got into her bed and hid underneath the covers.

Her life had been suck a wreck since then. People had mocked her and told her she was just making it up. Normally she’d agree and think it was a nightmare. But no... It had happened, and Rudy was behind it all. He had made the unreal physical and he was trying to poison the world with it. Well, not anymore. She was going to put a stop to that.

But first, she needed to speak to Terry. She was likely Rudy’s latest victim. She would have the most memory of the attack. She’d be the one to talk to when it came to trying to figure out what the boy did and how to stop him.

She hoped that Terry would be cooperative. She’d understand if it was hard to speak at first. After all, being blinded was a really traumatizing experience. But regardless, she still needed to speak to her. She needed to share her experience so everyone would know the threat. News must be spread. Ms. Tweezer was aware that the news station wouldn’t air something like this, but she didn’t care. If they weren’t going to spread the news, then she would find a way to do it herself. She’ll put up flyers if she had to. She would make sure that little brat didn’t get away with this.

Soon she had completely packed her bags. She tied the knots tightly, and made sure the straps were secure. She buckled it in the back seat of her car to make sure it didn’t go anywhere. Then she turned the keys in the ignition and off she went.

She wondered where Rudy was right now. Probably out scheming with this unreal friends, the little sneak. Her blood boiled ad the mere thought of that. She couldn’t wait to see the look on the boy’s face when his plans all come crashing down. He would soon taste the bitterness of defeat and find out exactly what she and Terry had felt.

Then there was the unknown factor. Penny herself. She had been mostly a good student in her one day art class. But she was still friends with Rudy. She reminded herself of this over and over again. She might be in cahoots with him. She needed to be monitored for any suspicious activities. A part of her hoped that Penny would be the good girl she had thought her to be and be more sensible. But there was still that chance that she wasn’t all that she appeared to be and she was actually helping Rudy in all of this.

There was also the fact that other children might be infected by this. She had to make sure to stop it, before it spreads any further. If she failed to do that, if she failed this town...

How could she keep the world from falling victim?

She soon pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. She stretched herself up, feeling her back crack. Then she proceeded towards the double doors leading inside.

Along the way, she spotted something. She turned her head, noticing a rather short, round person walking by in such a hurry. He was mumbling to himself and it seemed as though he was...flustered she guessed was the right word. Or something close to that. Curious, she walked a little closer. She soon recognized who it was.

Vinnie? What was he doing here at the hospital? Was he visiting Terry? She recalled that Vinnie was one of the people had spoken to about the ridiculous chalk world. Though she saw little sense in him visiting Terry, after all, he did not know her that well, she still did not want to dismiss that possibility.

Ms. Tweezer felt her stomach twist and turn in disgust when she felt she got a little too close to him. A smell of his cologne was enough to make her feel sick and back away a little. She plugged her nose, trying her best to ignore the smell. It reminded her way too much of just how crazy this man was. Like Terry, he believed in this fake world of chalk, and he had been determined to create a ‘chalk world theme park’ or something like that. This man was clearly infected and she could not risk getting caught up in it. She mustn’t fail in her mission.

She was about to walk away when the man called out to her.

“Hey! Why are you following me for?” Vinnie shouted. “Do you need something?”

“I...” The woman looked back at him. She clenched her teeth, darning her eyes from one side to the other. Oh, what was she going to say to him? And would he even begin to understand? She swallowed hard and managed to speak, “D-Did you see Terry Bouffant in there?”

“Terry Bouffant?” Vinnie asked. He took a step forward. The woman immediately recoiled, moving back. “Well...yeah she is. Why are you asking?”

“I...” Ms. Tweezer struggled to find the words to say. How would she explain the situation to this man? How would she be able to get him to understand? “I just..need to talk to her, okay?”

Vinnie frowned slightly. “I see... Well visiting hours are still open.” He turned around, pointing his shoulder at her. “If you hurry, you may be able to see her before they shut the doors completely on visitations.”

Ms. Tweezer watched as the man walked away. A part of her was feeling relief to have that man be as far away from her as possible. She did not want to risk catching any of the unreal and corrupt her pure essence. But still...she couldn’t help but feel curious regarding what Terry wanted with Vinnie. She had to wonder if Terry shared any secrets with Vinnie. She had to find out.

“Hey, wait!” Ms. Tweezer called out, holding out her hand. The man stopped and looked at her. “Do you mind if you answer a few questions for me?”

Vinnie stared at her for a few moments. He then narrowed his eyes. “Why should I?”

“Please, it won’t take very long.” Ms. Tweezer said.

Vinnie shook his head slowly. “Sorry, but I need to get started. Terry gave me an assignment and...” He stopped as he stared at Ms. Tweezer. His eyes widened slightly when he realized he had given a bit of informatio naway. He then quickly said, “Look, I need to leave now. I can’t stay. If you want answers, go talk to Terry.”

Ms. Tweezer narrowed her eyes as she watched the man split. He got into his car and drove away, leaving her in the dust. How rude... How dare he treat her that way... How dare he ignore her like that... He could have had the descency to answer at least one of her questions instead of just running off like that.

Well, at least she wouldn’t need to deal with his idiocy anymore. She supposed she could be grateful for that. She turned her attention back to the hospital. Time to go see Terry. If Vinnie was right and visiting hours were almost over, then she had little time to spare. She walked over and entered the hospital.

sss

Snap stared out at the portal, his eyes wide. A part of him had a hard time believing that they had finally made it here. A part of him was worried that they would never get here, that he and his friends were going to die in the Real World. He had imagined that they would get captured or killed long before they even got this far. But here it was. The portal, right before them. Just waiting to be used. It was almost too good to be true.

He turned and glanced over at his friends. They were just as as happy and shocked as he was. They looked over at him, and they gave him a smile. One that spoke volumes of what they felt without actually saying anything. Snap couldn’t help but smile back at them. He was so overwhelmed with emotion, he wanted to go jump up and down and hug his friends. All their effort...it had finally paid off.

But no..they couldn’t do that yet. Snap turned his head back towards the portal. He narrowed his eyes. They still had some work to do. Things weren’t over yet. He looked back at his friends, his eyes still narrowed, and nodded his head once. They did the same thing in return. They turned back to the portal. It was time for them to return to ChalkZone, and take the steps necessary to try to counter Von. They were all aware that he was still a threat and they needed to do something about him, before he could expose ChalkZone and let in who knows how many creators into this world.

Snap was about to go through when he realized that Penny and Mrs. Sanchez hadn’t approached the portal yet. He wondered why. He turned his head and noticed that Mrs. Sanchez was staring at the portal with wide eyes, filled with fear and uncertainty. Penny looked as if she was trying to reassure her mother, but nothing she was saying was getting through.

“Mom, it’s okay. You will be fine. You just step through the portal and you’ll be in ChalkZone.” Penny said, making a few gestures with her hand as she explained it to her mother.

Mrs. Sanchez bit her lip as she stared at the open portal. She took a small step back, shaking her head once. “No, I... I am not sure if it’s safe...”

Penny widened her eyes at this. “Not safe?! Mom, I’ve been using these portals for a while now! I can guarantee you that they are safe!”

“Yeah...” Rapsheeba said. “It’s just a portal.” She spread her hands out. “It’s not like it’s going to hurt you or anything.”

“I went through the portal multiple times before. And I haven’t gotten ripped apart by it.” Howdy pointed to himself as he spoke.

Penny stared at the zoners, and then looked at her mother. “You see, mom? It’ll be fine!” She grabbed onto her mother’s hand and started to pull. “Now, why don’t we just...”

Mrs. Sanchez grunted as she yanked her arm back. She looked down at Penny, her eyes still tinted with that fear from before. Snap wasn’t sure if he was imagining it or not, but it almost seemed as if she had gotten more afraid, more determined not to go.

Snap narrowed his eyes slightly at this. What was the woman afraid of? Just what did she think the portal was going to do to her? How could the portal hurt her? It was just air. Nothing more. Well okay, it was more complicated than that. Still, it was more like walking through a door or crawling out of an open window. It wasn’t like the portal had sharp teeth and was going to rip her to shreds or anything.

He tried to calm himself down. He reminded himself that Mrs. Sanchez was new at this. She didn’t know what to expect. She didn’t know how these portals worked, or just what was waiting on the other side. He couldn’t be angry at her for that. Not everyone is so adventerous and willing to just jump out at something they never seen before.

Snap took a few steps towards the woman. He stared at her sympathetically, his narrowed eyes relaxing. “Miss...” Penny stopped talking while she and her mother looked down at him. Snap did his best to smile at the woman. He set his anger aside for a moment. “The portal isn’t going to hurt you. All you have to do is step through it. That’s all.”

“What about the dimensional travel? How does that work?” Mrs. Sanchez replied. “What about any side effects? Anything that could go wrong?”

Snap shook his head. “You just step through. There’s nothing there. No wall or anything. You just...step through.”

Mrs. Sanchez stared at him for several seconds. Her eyes widened, and the narrowed. She tilted her head slightly to one side. “You’re...kidding, right? It can’t be that simple...”

“Oh it is.” Snap folded his arms against his chest and smirked. “Trust me on this.”

Mrs. Sanchez put a hand to her head. Her eyes were wide and almost wild. Her head might as well have smoke coming out of it as her thoughts raced. This clearly went against everytihng she knew. She darted her eyes from left to right. “It...can’t be... That would...”

Penny put a hand on her shoulder. “Mom, he’s right.” The woman stared down at her daughter. “I’ve used a portal plenty of times. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah...” Rapsheeba said as she and Howdy walked over towards her. “You will be okay. Trust us.”

Howdy nodded his head, smiling the best he could. He held his hand out towards her. “If we knew the travel was dangerous, we wouldn’t even ask you to go.”

“So can we please stop wasting time and go?” Penny asked. “We don’t have time to just stand around here.” She focused her attention on her mother. “Please, mom. Let’s just go. Don’t be difficult like before. Just step into the portal and you will be fine.”

The woman still appeared reluctant. Not like Snap could really blame her or anything. This was clearly a new thing for her after all. This might be normal for him and Penny, but that was only because they frequented portals more. Well more so Penny, but Snap had used them a few times himself. He knew they were safe, and he knew if the woman would just try it, she’d know this as well.

Snap narrowed his eyes slightly when he thought about what Penny said. Yeah, they really couldn’t stand here for long. He looked at Mrs. Sanchez. He hoped that she would at least give it a try. He didn’t think Penny would feel comfortable with leaving her mom behind, and forcing the woman to go through this building alone would have been cruel. And what if the cops show up and think she was in cahoots with Von? That would be horrible.

But still the woman stayed. For the past two minutes, she did nothing but look at the portal. It felt much longer than that, as though time itself was stretching out, making the minutes feel like hours. It was getting to the point where Snap felt it was best to just grab her and shove her into the portal. The temptation was too great. He took a step forward.

As soon as he did, the woman finally made a move. She straightened herself up as she looked at the chalkboard. The opening was staring back at her, the light from Day Zone shining on her face. She took a step towards it. She paused and looked back at them.

“You are sure it is safe?” Mrs. Sanchez asked.

“Yes, it is! Now go through it before Von discovers us here!” Snap said to her sternly. He hadn’t meant to be that loud with her. But they really did have to get going. If Von caught them there...

Mrs. Sanchez bit her lip. She looked at the zoners, and then to Penny. They all watched her, waiting for her to make her move. She looked back at the portal. She eyed it up and down slowly. Her teeth gritted in nervousness. She took a small step back, causing Snap’s stomach to swell in frustration. They didn’t have time for this. They...

Then Mrs. Sanchez let out a sigh, causing Snap to freeze, stopping what he was about to say. “All right then...” She said. “Let’s...get this over with.”

The woman sucked in a deep breath. She moved closer to the portal. She stared at it intently. She looked back at Penny and the zoners. Then she returned her gaze to the portal. She licked her lips nervously as she lifted up her arm and moved it towards the portal slowly. She turned her head away, shutting her eyes tightly as she moved her hand slowly towards it, as if afraid she was going to hurt herself.

Soon her hand went into the portal. The woman nearly tripped when she realized there was nothing solid there to keep her steady. She whipped her head around, stumbling forward as she struggled to keep her balance. Her eyes widened when she saw her hand through. Her eyes seemed to shine of many different statements as she moved her hand in and out of the portal, as if to test it and retest it.

Then, giving them one more glance, she turned to the portal and she climbed into it. After Mrs. Sanchez went through, they all followed suit. Soon, they were all in ChalkZone, standing next to one another. Penny turned, grabbed an eraser, and destroyed the portal. Only empty air remained after she erased it.

Snap noticed the shocked, almost horrified look on Mrs. Sanchez’s face as the portal was erased, but he didn’t pay too much attention. Instead, he focused on what was around him. In a cave, the portal facing towards the entrance, fragmented light shining through the sharp trees. Outside, they were to be greeted by a rather disturbing land, where even the ground hisses. The Pencil Sharpener was a spooky place and normally, he’d rather be as far away from it as possible.

But today, he was just glad to be back in ChalkZone. He took in a sharp breath, smelling the chalk air all around him. He smiled softly, feeling elation build up inside of his stomach, resisting the urge to jump up and down in joy with his friends. Being back home felt wonderful.

But he did not celebrate. He reminded himself of what needed to be done. He turned to the others, watching as they proceeded to leave. He looked back at the space where the portal had been. Then he followed his friends as they began to trek into The Pencil Sharpener.

sss

Tilly stood there in silence. Her heart practically stopped beating. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She was tempted to pinch herself, to try and make herself wake up. This..this couldn’t be real, right...? This was some kind of sick joke or something, wasn’t it? No way that Rudy could have been...

But her eyes were telling her different. She looked down at the hospital bed, seeing Rudy lay there in silence, save for a couple ragged breaths he’d give once in a while. She looked over a little higher, seeing that Rudy’s parents were there. They were huddled together, Joe’s arms around Millie as they watched their son sadly. The sight of this not only twisted her heart, but made her realize just how real this truly was.

She looked down at her daughter. She watched as Sophie tried to nudge Rudy gently. She was trying so hard to wake him up and play with her. She could hear her daughter constantly shout at him to get up out of bed. She felt so bad for her. Sophie clearly didn’t understand the gravity of what happened.

When Sophie started to climb up into the bed, Tilly immediately reached. “No, dear! Don’t do that!” Tilly grabbed her daughter and pulled her away.

Sophie squirmed in her arms. “Why not play? I want play!”

Tilly held her daughter to herself as Joe and Millie glanced over sadly at them. Tilly cradled Sophie gently in her arms. She whispered softly to her, “No...Rudy can’t play right now.. He’s hurt...” Tilly said softly. She closed her eyes, feeling a few tears form. “He needs to recover first.”

Sophie looked at her mother with slightly widened eyes. “He covered in owies?”

Tilly nodded her head. “Yes, dear. And these owies are going to make it hard for him to move around for a while.” She said gently. “So you will have to be gentle with him from now on. If you are too forceful with him, he might...” Her voice trailed off. She found herself unable to finish. She could only stare sadly at her daughter.

Sophie seemed to get the gist of it. She looked over at Rudy. She bit her lip and reached out towards the boy. “R-Rudy...?” Tilly’s heart nearly shattered at the little squeak her daughter gave. She looked up at her mother and she latched onto her.

Tilly held onto her daughter tightly, rubbing her back gently as she rested her head against her hair. She could feel Sophie cuddling close to her and begin to tremble. She could hear her daughter start to cry softly, and she realized that Sophie finally understood what was going on. Hearing her daughter cry like this stung Tilly’s heart. She wished she could do something to help her feel better.

As she held her daughter, she thought about the circumstances that led her here. It had been a short time ago that she recieved a call from these two. She had been so surprised and happy to hear their voices. Never more before did she went to jump through the phone than at that moment.

However, her elation was quickly shattered when she was informed that something terrible had happened to Rudy. He was hospitalized with a hole in his abdomen. As soon as she heard that horrible news, she took Sophie and rushed to the hospital.

As soon as they had arrived, she practically ran to the room where Rudy was being held. She spoke with Joe and Millie on what had occurred. When they told her that he had been attacked by Von, her heart nearly stopped and turned into ice. And the nature of the attack they described made it even worse. Tilly put a hand against her chest, feeling it thump. She couldn’t believe that such a thing had happened. And when she learned Penny was hurt as well...

Perhaps it was a good thing that she had told Inez, Joe, and Millie after all. If they didn’t know about this, Rudy and Penny might still be trapped with that awful man, with no way out. With Rudy so badly hurt, and Penny injured as well, how would they have gotten out? Suddenly, she no longer felt bad about spilling the beans.

But this was still not over yet and she knew it. She looked over at Rudy. She watched as he took in shaky breath after shaky breath. Bandanges were wrapped around his body. He had a pale complexion to him. He looked so sickly and weak, and yet somehow...peaceful.

“When I get my hands on that scientist...” Millie growled softly. She clutched her hands tightly, making a twisting motion. “I’m goin to wring his neck!”

Tilly and Joe stared at the woman in shock. Normally, she wasn’t a violent type. In order to get her into that state, one must try really, really hard to tick her off. And Von succeeded in just that. By harming her son, he had crossed the line.

Joe put his hand on his wife’s back, rubbing it to try to comfort her. “Now, Millie.. That won’t do us any good. All it will do is land you a trip into prison. And I know you don’t want that. Rudy will need you and if you’re in jail...you can’t provide for him.” He held up his hand in gesture as he listened to his wife’s snarls. “Come on, Millie. Let’s let the police handle it.”

Millie turned to glare at her husband. “But Joe... look at what he did to our son.” She motioned her hand towards the sleeping child. “Don’t you think he deserves to pay for that?”

Joe nodded his head. “Absolutely! And he will. Don’t worry.” Joe moved his hand until it touched her face. He gently caressed it back and forth. “He will pay for what he has done. I promise you that.”

Millie’s face softened up at this. She let out a soft sigh, lowering her head. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry that I..”

Joe cupped her chin, gently tilting it upwards. “No need to apologize, Millie. I understand.” He leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss. “Everything will be fine. You’ll see..”

Millie smiled at her husband. It didn’t last long as the two adults looked back at their son. Worry filled their eyes as they pressed against one another. They watched their boy, their only child, and waited for him to wake up.

The sight was very sad, and Tilly found it hard not to cry with Millie and her husband. Rudy may not have been her son, but she still loved him like one. Rudy didn’t deserve what he got. He had always been such a good kid. Okay so he screwed up once in a while, but that was okay. He was still so young, had so much to learn...

And yet that disgusting man still came and hurt him. He had took a rusted nail, of all things, and pushed it through his body. Then he had the gall to yank it out, causing more damage. Thanks to that awful man, Rudy was probably going to be stuck in the hospital for a long time. He was going to be cut off from his friends and family and just being a kid, and had to just lay here while the doctors treated him the best that they could.

The only thing that consoled her and prevented her from going on a rampage was the fact that the man would indeed get what was coming to him soon. He could try to run and hide from justice, but it would catch up to him soon, and it would force him to face the consequences of what he had done. He was not going to get away with this. She swore it.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door open and the sound of footsteps filled the air. She turned her head and there she saw the doctor standing. He was holding a clipboard in his hands as he approached them slowly and somewhat cautiously.

“Hello. I hope I’m not intruding.” The doctor said.

Almost right away, Millie spoke up. “How is he, doctor?”

The doctor furrowed his eyes and shook his head. “Not too well. The good news is that it could have been a lot worse. But considering what is going on...that might not seem like much.” He held up his clipboard, looking at the pages as Tilly, Millie, and Joe waited eagerly and hesitantly for the answers. “Rudy has massive infection in the wound itself. We’re doing our best to clean it out and disinfect it. But I’m afraid that some of the germs already spread too quickly, and we will have to keep him on antibiotics for a while to try to counter any development of disease.” The doctor looked down at the boy sadly, shaking his head. “There’s also been some puncture in at least one of his organs, from what we were able to find so far. His liver and part of his colon had been punctured. We’re going to need to perform surgery on him to mend the damage. But he’s going to have to stay here so we can run more scans on to be sure that we didn’t miss anything.”

Millie put her hand to her mouth in horror as she listened to the details of what happened to Rudy’s insides. She took a small step back, a few tears moving down her face. Joe didn’t look too much better. He swallowed ahrd and tried his best to keep his composure. He was trying to be brave in front of Millie, but Tilly could tell it was taking all of his strength to do so.

“Do you know how long he will be here?” Joe asked softly.

“We aren’t sure yet.” The doctor replied. “We need to gather more information before we can decide what course of action is best. I can promise that he’ll be in here for a long time, especially with that colon injury.”

Tilly bit her lip at this and looked over at Millie and Joe. She watched as they lowered their heads slightly in sadness. She felt so sorry for them. She wished she could say something to cheer them up. But what could she say? There was really nothing any of them could do...except just accept what fate had given them.

The idea of surgery was terrifying. So much can go wrong there. Something could happen and Rudy’s condition might worsen. Or worse, he might wake up during the surgery and... She shuddered at the thought. She tried to calm herself, reminding herself that such a thing might not happen as the chances of waking up during surgery were so remote.

Yeah, Rudy was going to be okay. He might be stuck here for a while, but after all was said and done, and after everything was taking care of, he’d be able to come home and everything will be fine.

But Von was still out there.... Something needed to be done about him and soon. She clutched her hand into a fist, shaking it. She turned her head and peered out of the window. As the doctor continued to speak with her sister and husband, she just stared, looking at the city below them. Von was out there somewhere, probably laughing his ass off at what he had gotten away with. That would come to an end. She was sure of it.

sss

Blocky struggled against his binds. He twisted his body left and right as he tried to get away. He looked up at Dr. Von Doktor in horror. The man was sneering excitedly down at him, coming ever closer with that tube.

Blocky had no idea what was inside of it. But judging from the man’s expression, it couldn’t have been good. He jerked himself from side to side as he tried to do something to loosen the cuffs that held him down. Unfortunately, nothing was working, and he was left still strapped to the table. He pulled one of his limbs too hard and he let out a yelp and collapsed onto the table.

He shivered as the man now stood next to him. Blocky would have tried to speak to him, but he was too afraid. He gritted his teeth as he looked up at the man, waiting to hear what the man had in store for him. He had nowhere to run or hide. This fact caused adrenaline to rush through his body, desperate to get away. What was the man going to do with him now?

He had no idea how long he had been strapped down here. He had no idea where the man had been recently been or what he was up to. He thought he heard some noises before. Thumps and possibly grunts, and some squishiness, which made his skin crawl. The look on the man’s face made him not want ot ask what he was doing.

“Are you hungry, little one?” Dr. Von Doktor asked. That same, creepy smile remained on his face. “I do have zomezing for you. If you’re ztarving, let me know and I will give it to you.” He raised the tube up slightly at this.

Blocky rested his eyes on the tube. He couldn’t tell what it was from here. The tube was kind of opaque. Clear, but not enough to tell what color the stuff was inside. It was dark, but that’s about all he could tell from that. Well that, and it had a sort of...chunky texture. Soup, perhaps? But then...why did it have a strange odor to it? It wasn’t horrible, but it was...strange and unusual.

Blocky looked back up at the man. He knew he was going to regret this. But curiosity finally got the better of him. He sucked his lip for a second and then said, “Wh-What is that...?”

“Oh juzt zomezing I zink you will enjoy. You probably didn’t have ziz before, but...zere iz a firzt time for everyzing, right?” Von tilted his head to one side, his smile ticking slightly wider. The sight of it made Blocky cringe back, turning his head to the side, or rather he tried to, failing miserably. “Zo open wide....”

Blocky watched as the man leaned in even closer. The man’s hand reached down and touched him on his head, gripping his jaw tightly. Blocky immediately squirmed, trying to get away. His limbs banged against the metal bands violently, his desperation increasing with each second.

He tried to bite down on Von’s finger, but the man’s strength was too much, and he successfully kept the zoner’s mouth pried wide open. The tube was brought ever closer. Blocky’s eyes were glued onto it, watching as the mystery substance was brought ever closer to his opened mouth. He let out grunts and whimpers of protest. This just made the man chuckle harder and the tube was brought over at a swifter pace.

Soon it was right in front of him, above his mouth, and slowy it was tipped over to allow its contents to spill out. Blocky’s eyes widened in horror when he realized that the stuff was red in color. Very dark, but still having a reddish hue in it. The smell was stronger now, and it made him start to feel sick. And the chunkiness... At this close up angle, staring at it, he could tell what it was now.

Raw flesh.

His whimpers soon turned into loud, albeit distorted, screams. His struggling increased in vigor, each movement even more desperate than he was before. The tip of the tube now touched the top of his tongue. He tried to shake his head as he stared up at the man pleadingly. But all the man did was continue to smile as he tilted the tube up even more, and soon the bloody, gruesome contents touched his tongue.

He immediately screeched in horror, the sound muffled by the man’s hand. He could feel the horrid tasting stuff fill into his mouth. His taste buds went on fire as the iron blood, intermixed with small pieces of what he guessed was bone or cartiledge and pieces of flesh, lathered over his tongue.

Then the man closed his mouth. The zoner let out a series of whimpers, tears flowing down his face, as the wretched, disgusting chum-like substance sloshed around in his mouth. He tried to spit it out, but Von held his mouth shut tightly, preventing him any chance of forcing the flesh out of his mouth.

Blocky whimpered loudly. He looked up at Von, begging him silently not to do this. The taste rapidly filled his mouth, making him feel sick the longer it remained in his mouth. He wanted to throw up so bad.

Unable to do anything, Blocky succumbed to what the man wanted him to do and he swallowed. He nearly gagged as he felt the the liquified flesh slide down his throat and into his stomach. Only when he had completely swallowed the flesh soup did the man let go of his mouth.

Immediately, Blocky opened his mouth and started to cough and splutter and retch. He spat out as much of the flesh contents still remaining as he could. He wanted to scrape his tongue off in order to get rid of the taste. He wanted to rush to the nearest toilet and vomit up his contents, forcing the flesh out of his mouth, where it didn’t belong. He stared up at the man in confusion, letting out a series of whimpers.

How could he do something like that? How could he force him to eat another zoner? How could he murder a zoner just to fefed it to someone else? Blocky wanted to yell at the man as anger rose up inside of him. He wanted to chew the man out for what he had done.

But he couldn’t. Emotion weighed down on him, and as the reality of what happened struck him in full, all he could do was allow tears to fall down his face. He closed his eyes and started to cry softly. His body trembled hard as his cries filled the air. Nausea swept through his stomach, his noise getting stuffy, and his cheeks stinging.

“I zee you enjoyed your meal. Zat iz good! I knew you’d love it!” Dr. Von Doktor said, his smile still there, looking more twisted to Blocky the longer that he stood there. “It waz a good zing zat you ate it all, Blocky. It wazn’t eazy getting zat prepared for you. Removing a portion of the leg waz difficult, and don’t get me ztarted on zee blending.”

The man took a moment to grimace, as if remember something rather unsettling about the whole process. This shudder only lasted a second and the turned back to grin at Blocky.

“I zink it waz worz it in zee end, don’t you zink zo? I’m sure zat waz juzt deliciouz!” Von said as he listened to Blocky’s whimpers. “Tell me, what did it tazte like? Were you completely zatizfied? Waz it better zan you ever hoped?”

Blocky didn’t answer. He just closed his eyes and started to cry. How could the man be this cruel? Forcing him to eat flesh from one of his own, and then act like it was something that he had enjoyed? Did he not notice his distress? His gagging? Possibly, but he was obviously ignoring it.

He felt a cold shudder move through his body as he wondered if the man planned on feeding him more of that stuff. If he did... No, he couldn’t be. No.. That was just.. His body’s shaking increased, his mind racing with thoughts of the poor zoners that would surely be targeted by this cruel man if he did go through with that. Tears streamed down his face at the thought of more zoners dying because of this man’s sick desires. And knowing that he himself may be forced to consume more zoner flesh just made him feel all the sicker.

Dr. Von Doktor tilted his body back. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I wonder... Zinze you enjoyed ziz ‘zoner zoup’ zo much, maybe zelling zoner flesh would be a great idea.”

Blocky tried to shake his head. “N-No...” His voice cracked at this. “Don’t..please...”

Dr. Von Doktor stared down at him. The fact that he was still smiling after all this was eerie. “Don’t worry. I might not do it anyway. Zoner meat would tazte like chalk anyway, right? I don’t zink too many of my future clientz would want that.” Blocky let out a sigh of relief, but he did not relax, knowing that the man probably had something else in store. “Bezidez, zere iz anozer reazon I gave zat ztuff to you.”

Blocky licked his lips nervously. “A-And what is that?”

Von’s smile broadened, his eye brow raised up slightly. “I am curiouz to know if you zonerz are like humanz, and cannot digezt raw flesh wizout the rizk of infection. The lack of zertain...enzymez zat kill zee germz. Tell me, Blocky. By eating the raw flesh, are you at riz of getting a disease? Are you going to get zick? Let me know. I’m really curiouz.”

Blocky’s face paled at this. “What..” His voice trailed off, his body shaking in horror.

Von tilted his head slightly. “If you can’t anzwer, zat iz quite all right.” He gave a chuckle. “I zuppoze I can juzt wait until it takez effect.” He took a step closer. “Time will tell me.” He reached forward and touched Blocky on the face.

Blocky let out a yelp as the man started to caress his face. All Blocky could do in response was close his eyes and start sobbing.

sss

Inez followed closely behind Penny and the three zoners. She looked left and right, taking everything in. She hunched her shoulders up nervously, her body filling with tension as her mind struggled to take all of this in.

She found it hard to believe just where she was right now. A part of her mind thought she was just dreaming. But countless attempts to pinch herself proved otherwise. Yeah, this was real, no matter what her scientific-mind was telling her. The land she was walking on, the air she was breathing, the things she was seeing..it was all real. As much real as she and her daughter were.

This world..it really messed with her mind. The way it looked... It was clearly drawings. Children drawings mostly. She looked from left to right. In spite of how spooky the previous place was, or how beautiful and alive these plains and rolling hills were, they still looked like 2D drawings that she'd find on a chalkboard. And yet they still retained a 3D essence and still looked real and they still looked as though she could reach out and touch them.

This..this was so foreign to her. She wasn't sure what to make of it. Her brain was sending her multiple signals and her mind was aching. She rubbed her head from side to side, trying to fight off the confusion. She wasn't sure what to make of this place and she wasn't sure how long it would be before she could get used to this.

Her daughter didn't seem to be as affected. In fact, she was walking through as if nothing was wrong. This did not surprise her. Penny had been coming here for a time, right? She knew this place better than she did. She knew how this world worked and what to expect. Of course she would not be as frightened.

But if there's anything that Inez had learned from being in...what did they call it... Pencil Sharpener, she knew that not all places in this..ChalkZone were so pristine and safe. Even Penny admitted there were dangers.

Inez had to wonder just what other dangers there could be. What else could this world be hiding? She looked left and right, half expecting some hungry animal zoner to jump out and try to eat her. Even though nothing has happened in the fifteen minutes they had been walking, she did not want to take that chance. She had a feeling that there could be some really dangerous animals here, capable of things that no Real World animal was. The thought was terrifying.

A small part of her did find some comfort in Penny being rather calm. Her daughter did know this place well and had apparently visited much of it. While Inez was nervous about the unknown, Penny was not since she had more knowledge. So logically, if Penny wasn't nervous about walking through here, neither should she.

But still, Inez couldn't help but be fearful. Didn't Penny tell her about how this world are things that are erased from a chalkboard? She was certain she mentioned that as they walked through the dark and twisted forest. This meant that ChalkZone was unpredictable. One minute, a land would be open, empty, peaceful. The next, it could be transformed with a huge gladiator stadium filled with dangerous beasts.

The thought was certainly unnerving, causing the vet to remain cautious, despite Penny's reassurances. It was hard for Penny to comfort her for something even she could not predict. How could Penny know when something is about to be erased?

And just how were the zoners themselves? How would she know for certain if there wasn't going to be any unfriendlies on the way? Penny and her zoner pals did reassure her that most zoners were peaceful and would leave her alone. But they did also say that some of the zoners would be more dangerous, but that they were a small percentage.

That did little to comfort the woman. Especially given the fact that zoners could be created with special abilities that test and go beyond scientific expectations, she couldn't help but remain terrified of what they might encounter.

What if they met a zoner that could melt their guts from the inside out? Or a zoner that could shoot lasers from its eyes? Or a zoner that could crush them easily under its massive weight?

"Mom, it will be okay." Penny said, probably for the third time since they had gotten out of the forest. "I'm taking you to where the hospital should be after we stop by the Chalk Mine to get a new piece of chalk."

"Didn't you say it was guarded by something?" Inez asked, her voice wavering on caution.

Snap nodded his head. "Yeah, Biclops. A giant." He spread out his hands as he said this.

Inez widened her eyes in horror. "A giant?!"

Snap chuckled lightheartedly. "Oh don't worry about him. He's pretty nice." Snap waved a dismissing hand. "The only thing he wants is for you to stay out of the Chalk Mine. The only humans allowed in there are Rudy and Penny." He paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well that's mainly because...they're the only humans Biclops permits in ChalkZone..."

This did not sit well with Inez. She couldn't stop the horrible images of a giant zoner running after her and trying to crush her. She shivered, unable to stop herself from imagining such a scary scenario.

And if Rudy and Penny were the only ones permitted in ChalkZone, what was the giant going to think of her? How was he going to react? Even if he didn't chase her, she'd still be terrified of him. Would he be upset with Penny? It was possible. Would he turn against her? Chase her, too?

Penny seemed to almost read her mind and spoke up. "Don't worry, mom. He won't hurt any of us."

"Yeah, that's not Biclops's style." Rapsheeba said.

"He might have done that years ago, but after he met Rudy and saw how nice he was, he had mellowed out quite a bit." Howdy said, giving her a reassuring smile. "He will be upset, but he wouldn't try to hurt you or anything."

"So just relax. He'd be more suspicious of you if you act too nervously. Just be calm and relaxed and he would be more open to you." Said Penny.

Inez attempted to relax. But it was a difficult thing to do. How could she fully relax with the idea of a giant being present? One that would not be very happy to see her? One that could easily crush her if she so much did anything that would upset him?

Before she could completely regain her bearings, Penny made a shout to caused them all to stop for a moment.

"We're here!"

Inez immediately looked out ahead. There was a slight dip, and down further, she could see a river that curved and moved around a large, rocky structure. She could see a large opening in it, and darkness within. There was some kind of sign that said 'Magic Chalk Mine'. Yeah, they had arrived.

Inez watched as Penny and the zoners started to head forward. She thought about going with, but she hesitated. No, it would be best if she stayed back here and waited. She didn't want to screw anything up. She didn't know how to act around the giant, and she didn't want to cause any misunderstandings. So she waited and watched as her daughter headed towards the cave structure.

She took a moment to look at it in full, tilting her head up. The whole place seemed to set on an island, or a near island. From this angle, she couldn't tell if the water ran all the way around. The cave itself had a purplish tint to it and appeared pretty jagged. Almost foreboding in a way.

She couldn't tell if the cave systems headed downward, but that was a possibility. And if it did, she wondered how far down it went. Would Penny get lost going through? How many rooms did it have? What else did this mine contain? Several questions ran through her head.

Then she felt a slight vibration in the ground. No shaking, but..something that kinda moved. Enough to let her know something was there. She could see a shadow coming out of the mine, stretching out to cover Penny, Snap, Rapsheeba, and Howdy. None of them tried to run away or showed any signs of fear. Yet Inez herself couldn't help but bite her fingernails nervously.

And then she saw it. The huge zoner had made his appearance. Moving slowly, staring down intently at the group of four children, the giant stood. The sight of him made Inez cringe in horror. Even from this distance, she could practically feel how massive he was.

The giant was pale yellow and wore a green scottish outfit and had curly red hair. His eyes were unnaturally positioned. Vertical instead of horizontal. His mouth was huge and looked like he could easily swallow them all in a single gulp if he wanted. His arms and hands were large and she couldn't help but imagine him crushing them easily under his massive power that he must possess.

Inez felt her body shaking, her mind racing. So much of her wanted to run down and get Penny out of there. Despite the fact that her daughter said that Biclops wasn't dangerous, a part of her still wanted to save her and get her out of there. How could she just stand around while her daughter was a few feet from a giant monstrosity?

But..no..she had to stay put. Despite her better judgment telling her otherwise, she had to take the risk and stay here. Penny had told her it will be all right and she had to learn to trust her. So against her will, she managed to keep her feet firmly planted as her daughter conversed with the giant. She waited there for her daughter to return. And then it was off to the hospital.

sss

"Penny Sanchez? What are you doing here?" Asked Biclops as he stared down at the girl. "I thought you were grounded from coming here."

"I was, but there's been a change of plans." Penny said. She took a step forward. "I need some magic chalk. May I have a couple pieces?"

"Sure but...where's Rudy Tabootie?" The giant inquired.

Penny felt her heart sting at this. She wasn't prepared for it. She should have known that Biclops would want to know that. She lowered her head slightly, shutting her eyes as she remembered the boy's screaming and writhing. She shook her head from side to side. "I'm afraid he isn't coming..."

Biclops's eyes widened slightly at this. "What happened...?"

"We don't have too much time to explain everything. So we'll have to be quick about it." Howdy said.

Snap took up the mantel of explaining. "A long story short, your tips for us didn't work because the zoners acted rashly and on their own, and all of them except us got killed by Dr. Von Doktor." The giant gasped in horror at this. "Then the creepazoid tried to experiment on Penny so he can create more magic chalk on his own, and he impaled Rudy and he tried to kill Penny's mom before he skedaddled away with Blocky."

"In other words, Dr. Von Doktor is in ChalkZone and I need magic chalk to try to stop him, and Rudy is unable to help because he's in the hospital." Penny said.

The giant was silent at this. He looked down at them in utter horror. The idea of another human in ChalkZone was unthinkable, especially one that had proven to be dangerous. Penny could only imagine what the zoner was thinking right now.

And Rudy being in the hospital, not able to do a thing to help ChalkZone, that would certainly scare a lot of zoners. Not that they didn't trust her or anything, but it was often Rudy they looked up to, and if something happened to the Great Creator, their morale can drop dramatically. She needed to get Von out of here quick, before he could do any major damage.

She had thought about informing the giant about her mother being here, but unless it comes up, she decided it was best not to tell. With Von being here, the last thing Biclops needs to hear is there being yet another human in ChalkZone. At least it will only be for a short time anyway.

"So all those zoners are...dead?" Biclops whispered softly. As in..not alive anymore..?" Biclops whispered softly. Penny and her friends shook their heads solemnly, their heads bowed in sadness. Biclops lowered his own, his eyes averting away. "I see..." He closed his eyes and sighed. "That's exactly what I was afraid was going to happen. Some zoners just don't listen and they..." His voice trailed off. The group stared up at him silently, their eyes shining in understanding. "Unfortunately, we can't do anything about it. We have only one option and that is moving on and doing what we can to prevent another tragedy."

At this, Penny nodded in agreement, as did Howdy, Snap, and Rapsheeba. It was true, what the giant said. They could only keep moving forward and do what they can to help the ones that were still alive. They might have failed to save those other zoners, but they still had a shot at helping the ones still alive.

Hopefully, they will be able to pull this off with as little casualties as possible. They realized that the odds of them pulling this off without anymore deaths was low. It would be unrealistic to think that way. So lessening the body count would be the next best thing. But first, they'd have to figure out where Von was hiding.

"I'll go get the magic chalk for you, Penny Sanchez." Biclops said in a solemn, quiet gone. It was clear he was still shaken by the deaths of so many zoners. "I will be right back." He turned and began to walk away.

"Hey, wait!" Penny reached out towards him. The zoners looked at her in confusion. Biclops stopped and stared down at her. "Did you happen to see anything strange around here? Anything out of the ordinary?"

Biclops turned his body a little and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. After a few moments, he shook his head. "No..I can't say I have."

Just what Penny thought he was going to say. Disappointing, but she could hardly blame him. "Thanks anyway."

So they were going to have to figure this out on their own. As Biclops turned to go down the caverns, she turned to her friends. They would need to discuss how they were going to do this, and just where they would most likely find Von hiding out.

"What do you guys think we should do?" Penny asked.

The three zoners looked at one another. Their expressions held uncertainty, their teeth gritted to show this. Penny remained quiet, watching as they silently communicated with each other, trying to figure out a plan.

"Well..we could always..." Rapsheeba started to say when something caught her attention. She turned her head. "Your mom is coming, Penny."

"What?" Penny whispered, her heart clenching. She swerved her head over and indeed, there was her mother coming over quickly. Her feet pounded the ground, her mouth open as she took in heavy breaths.

Questions ran through her mind. What was her mother doing? Why was she coming over? And why did she look so panicked? The sight of her mom's horror-filled eyes made Penny hunch her shoulders and look left and right. Had Von launched a sneak attack on them?

A few moments later, her mother reached them. She stopped in front of them. Her hands were placed on her thighs and she bent forward. Her eyes were wide in fear as she took in more heavy, raspy breaths. She almost looked like she had seen a ghost.

"Mom? What is it?" Penny asked.

"Yeah, why did you run over here so fast?" Snap asked, curiosity spilling out of his voice, along with confusion. "I thought you were going to wait back there for us." He used his hand to point at the spot where the woman had been just shortly before.

A part of Penny was worried about how Biclops will react to seeing her mom here. He was likely not going to be too happy about it. But right now, she was more worried about what had her mom so spooked.

What had frightened her so much that she would rush all the way over here? It must have been something terrible or something incredibly important to make her do something like that. Her mind tingled uncomfortably at the thought of what it could be.

Her mom began to speak. "Z-Zoner...found...me..." Her speaking was heavily hindered by her trying to catch her breath. "Told me...that...they..." She stopped for a moment. She held onto her chest and breathed in and out quickly. "Important news..."

Penny stared at her friends when her mom said this. The tone her mother used was urgent, but not necessarily terrified. Perhaps her mom was breathing heavily due to being excited or anxious, not necessarily terrified. "What news would that be?"

Her mother's wide eyes stared at the group. Her mouth stayed open and she breathed in a few more times. She then swallowed hard and said, "They had seen where Dr. Von Doktor had gone."

Penny's eyes widened at this. Her friends did likewise. Then they all narrowed into slits, determination filling their core. With a voice more stern than she was used to, Penny said, "Where is he?"

sss

The small, rectangular zoner didn't seem to be showing too much change. Outside of the whimpering and crying, he didn't really do much else. Although expected, it was a little disappointing. He had hoped for something to happen that would be worth noting. Writing about how the zoner pleaded and cried did not suit well with him.

But what else could Dr. Von Doktor do? What else could be done? He couldn't just speed up the effect, especially if he didn't know there were going to be any. He could only stare at the zoner and wait for any side effects from eating fellow zoner flesh. He was curious to see just how durable their stomachs were, and to see if they would be able to digest raw meat or if they, like humans, would get sick in the process.

So far, nothing has really come up. Blocky cried a whole lot, a few times asking him why he did this. Von would ignore him and just sit there and wait for something to happen. He had pulled up a chair and was currently sitting down on it, his head resting on his hand as he stared with an almost bored expression on his face.

He was glad that he had chosen a more underground location this time. He had lied to Blocky about where they were. He was able to do this since Blocky had been unconscious for a time while they were in ChalkZone. Why he lied to him, especially since he can't get out, he didn't know. Perhaps it was the feeling of control that he got with it. Should Blocky escape, he'd be in for quite a surprise.

Being underground also meant that, even if he allowed his test subjects to scream, they would not be heard that far or wide. The thick walls of the caverns would prevent them from being heard.

This was also a good location for another reason. It wasn't just a cave. There were hallways, not just tunnels. There were actual rooms here, like in a building. This place almost felt like a hybrid of a house and a cave then a full on either of them. This made it easier for him to travel through and designate different areas for different things.

He had rather enjoyed the dissection of his first creation. A little messy, but he felt it was worth it. He had gained some knowledge of zoner anatomy. The brain especially was quite fascinating. He never knew that zoner brains were constructed so... uniquely and yet similar to human brains. He looked forward to creating another zoner for more anatomy study, as well as some chemical and poison as well.

But first, he wanted to complete this experiment. He needed to know how well their stomachs could handle raw flesh. Depending on the reaction, he could use that and apply that to one of his next test subjects.

He wasn't sure how many he wanted to experiment on. It did feel a little awkward creating zoners just to experiment with them, but it was easier than just capturing them. And it did help him keep control. He could keep designing the zoners with child-like minds, using that innocence against them, making them want to do what he asked of them. Then by the time they realized anything was wrong, they were strapped down and ready to go.

But the zoners' screaming...he could do without that. Good thing he thought of the muzzle. Despite the fact that nobody would hear them, he still did not want to be distracted from his work. Of course the loud whimpering and crying did get annoying, but at least that was more manageable and he could ignore it better.

"How are you feeling?" Von asked after a few more minutes of silence. He was getting tired of waiting. "If you're hiding anyzing, don't bozer. Juzt tell me."

Blocky shut his eyes and bared his teeth in an almost defensive manner. This display was almost amusing to Von, but he didn't have time to waste.

"Tell me right now, Blocky. Are you feeling zick? Nauseouz? Anyzing?"

Still the zoner did not answer him. Blocky just kept giving him the silent treatment, holding his mouth shut tightly. Von narrowed his eyes at this. He thought about striking the zoner or tearing off a piece of his skin to make him talk. He thought better than that and he refrained from the gruesome act.

Perhaps Blocky was just trying to be brave and defiant in what might be his final moments. How admirable... Maybe he thought that by not telling him, he believed that he would deprive him of gaining any information that he could use to his advantage. A noble attempt, but alas, it would not work.

Even if Von didn't get any new information from him verbally, he will always be able to figure something out visually. He can just simply watch Blocky and wait for anything to change. Blocky could not hide his bodily functions that well. All he'd have to do was stand here and wait for something to happen. If nothing happened and the zoner keeled over from his wounds, both present and future, he can just dissect him and look at his stomach for any signs of food poisoning.

Yeah, Blocky was not going to be able to hide anything from him. No matter how hard he tried, somehow, someway, Von would get exactly what he wanted.

Still, he kept trying to pry information out of the zoner. He hated sitting here in silence, waiting. He didn't want to leave and start another experiment until he figured out how Blocky was feeling.

"Come on now, Blocky. You can tell me." Von said in a calm tone. "All I want to know iz how you are feeling. Zat shouldn't be too hard to tell me, right?" Blocky, despite his fear, shot him a glare. Von raised an eyebrow at this. "Zat izn't going to work on me, zoner. I know very well zat you cannot hurt me. Even if you were free, you're too weak to do much of anyzing."

He got up from the chair and walked towards the table. He listened to the zoner's soft, pitiful yet desperate growling. He thought he heard a groan or two of pain, but it was difficult to tell.

He circled the zoner slowly, eyeing him up and down. The zoner tried to follow him the best he could. With his head strapped down, he could not turn his head to see where he was going. He could almost sense some panic in the zoner's groans when he went out of sight.

As he continued to circle him, he said, "Come now, Blocky. Don't be ziz way. I juzt want to gazer zome information zo I know more about you and your kind." When the zoner still didn't reply, he held his hand up in gesture. "Zink of it ziz way. If I knew what you were feeling, zen I would know I cannot feed ozer zonerz raw meat. Zee more I learn about you all, the more knowledge I could zpread, and the more protection you zonerz could rezieve."

"H-How...?" Blocky managed to say, his voice cracking. "How would..that..help us..?"

"Quite zimple. I can make sure zat nobody doez anyzing zat would cauze great harm." Von wasn't sure how willing or how well he could keep that promise. But perhaps if he tried to butter up a little to the zoner's better side, he could get him to be more cooperative without having to use violence. "Doezn't zat zound fair?"

Blocky gritted his teeth at this. "How do I know you won't turn your back on your word?"

"Good point. But..do you want to take zat chanze?" Von stopped on his right side. He looked down at the zoner, his face likely unreadable to the little guy. "Zink about it, Blocky. Even if you don't tell me, I can juzt wait until you die and get zee anzwer myzelf." Blocky's eyes widened at this. Von smirked. "Don't you zink it would be better if you juzt tell me now and get it over wiz?"

"I..." Blocky fell silent. His lips pressed together as he sealed his mouth shut. He turned his eyes away, the only thing he could do to avert his gaze.

Von narrowed his eyes at this. He disliked the lack of cooperation. He would have thought that the zoner would find possible protection for his species to be something of interest and worth getting. But instead, he was choosing to remain stubborn. How foolish. Perhaps he should figure out a bigger incentive.

But what was he going to do? How could he get the zoner to speak? The only way he could think of was to leave this hideout and grabbing a zoner that knows him, or going back to the Real World science facility and taking Snap back with him. Blackmail would most certainly work, he'd imagine. But it was a little risky. Maybe something else would do.

That's when something come to his mind. Something that he couldn't believe he didn't think of before. It was perfect. It should do the trick. But first, he was going to need to run another experiment. He was going to need another zoner.

This made him frown in concern. He didn't have that much left. So perhaps a smaller zoner would do for this one. His last zoner was a little large. He had come up to his shoulders and that required a bit of chalk. He'll make a zoner smaller this time.

He wouldn't have to clean the table off. He already took care of that. He washed down the blood and sterilized it for his next test subject. Save for the small part he had sawed off, the rest of the body had been placed in a thick, black bag for later transport. He would have used Real World water to clean it off, but that would have been a disaster. The last thing he needed was to create an abyss here. And there was no way he was eating dusty old chalk.

At least a smaller zoner should be more easily taken care of. He just needed to make sure he didn't do anything that was incredibly messy. He didn't want to have to waste time and chalk drawing another bag and having to clean up another gore-riddled mess. The last time he had to use up, the better.

Just when he was about to turn and leave, he heard the sound of retching. He turned his head to look down. As his eyes settled upon the zoner, he took notice that Blocky's body was convulsing. He was jerking up and down, mostly in the stomach area. His face looked pale, and his eyes were wide in terror. The man stared in confusion at this for a few moments, and then he smiled.

"Ah I zee..." The man said callously as he watched the zoner whimper and writhe. His mouth opened up and then closed a few times as the zoner was fighting against the inevitable. "Zo the rezultz are now finally showing up." His eyes narrowed slightly as a twinkle came off of them. "You cannot eat raw flesh...can you?"

Blocky did not reply. He just continued to wheeze and lurch and retch as he struggled to keep himself from vomiting. He was trying so hard. He could see the zoner's face practically turn a mixture of red and white as he struggled with all of his strength.

But the attempts were all in vain. The zoner's cheeks began to puff up slightly as his esophagus was struggling to get everything out. A bit of drool began to spill out from his lips, a signal of what was about to come. Von merely watched and smiled as he waited. And soon it happened.

With a loud retching sound, the zoner reluctantly opened his mouth and his stomach contents spilled out. It was mostly a diluted red color with some bits of chunks here and there. With no where else to go, it began to ooze down the sides of his mouth rapidly, a bit of it getting on his chest. Some of it started to go back into his mouth, making the zoner whimper and cough. Von, not wanting the zoner to choke on his own vomit, went over and unstrapped his head. He lifted it up, allowing gravity to relieve Blocky of that unpleasant situation.

After a few seconds, the zoner had stopped vomiting and he soon laid there, coughing and crying softly. The man just stood there, staring down at him, listening to his raspy breathing. Well that answered that question. Zoners, at least sentient ones like him, could not eat raw flesh. One more weakness he needed to keep note of.

Well now seemed like a good time as any to begin a new experiment. He wanted to try out his idea he had a few moments ago. He quickly cleaned up Blocky so that his own vomit didn't stick to him or the smell overwhelm him to make him want to throw up more. Then after he was done, he bid Blocky farewell for the time being and left him alone. He walked down the hallway, disappearing out of the zoner's sight.

sss

No...no this couldn’t be happening... Not again...

The rectangular zoner stared down at his strapped down body, noting the stains that still remained. He could still smell that wretched odor, and it made him lick his lips slowly in anticipation. He expected that, at any moment, he’d throw up again.

Thankfully he didn’t, but that did not stop the feeling of nausea from filling up inside of him. He tried to push it back, but each time, he kept failing. Waves of chills moved up and down his body, making him shiver in response. It felt almost as though the temperature had dropped dramatically, but he knew that wasn’t the case.

Blocky couldn’t believe that he had thrown up again. The memory of it filled him with horror and he was unable to get the image out of his head. The vomit, it tasted so awful. He could still taste the after bit of it. And just what was in it was enough to make him want to throw up again.

As much as he despised emptying his stomach out for the second time today, at least this got out any possible germs that were in that meat. His stomach still hurt him, but at least the worst bit of it was over. He took in a few ragged breaths, coughing a few times. Trapped here, all he could do now was lay down and rest and hope that his stomach feels better soon.

Not a chance. After throwing up twice, his stomach felt as though it was on fire. He wondered if he did any damage to it. Probably not, yet he couldn’t help but remain paranoid over the idea.

He struggled a little, hoping that the cuffs had somehow loosened. How, he wasn’t sure. But he still felt as though he should try. He tugged on it once. He let out a yelp and stopped. He had no idea why he felt compelled to keep trying to free himself after he had proven to himself time and again that he was not going anywhere. These cuffs were too strong and he was too weak. Even if he were at his full health, he would stand no chance to get himself free. All he could really do was lay there and hope that the man slipped up and he was able to get out.

The odds of that were slim. Dr. Von Doktor was not a stupid man. He was not going to take any chances with him. That was why he had him strapped down and secured, rather than just letting him roam around in a cage or a locked off area. He was not underestimating him. He might be injured, but Von was treating him as if he were healthy and able.

Blocky was still in pain. It hammered in his head and it radiated like a beating drum. At this point, he had learned to live with it and move with it, allowing him to better able handle the pain to some extent. That didn’t mean that he didn’t feel the pain in full still, and he still flinched and winced and seethed in pain. He did his best to hide it around the man, but he knew he was hardly fooling him. He knew the man could see right through his pitiful attempts to disguise his pain.

Blocky felt his stomach twist and this time, it wasn’t because of the nausea. It was guilt. Even though it wasn’t his fault, he felt a sense of guilt for throwing up in front of the man. He felt as though he had given the man information that he shouldn’t have gotten.

He didn’t believe the man’s words for a second that he was going to use this information to prevent patrons from accidentally hurting zoners. He knew the man was going to use it for himself, to hurt zoners that were disobeying or becoming rowdy, whose definitions would definitely change to suit the man’s wants and needs.

That man had no concern over zoners. He didn’t care what happened to them. All he cared about was making a quick buck. And he was going to try to do that as soon as he exposed ChalkZone.

Whenever that day came, it would be rather dark indeed.

The zoner let out a soft whimper as he recalled all the horrible things that would happen whenever the man did unlock the gateways into ChalkZone. In his pain and agony, he couldn’t help but imagine zoners being put through torture and hell all just to satisfy some sick creators. His lower lip quivered and he started to shed tears.

He felt so useless. He wanted to do something to help stop Von. Despite his fear of the man and despite the pain that he was in, he realized he had to do something to try to stop him. But...what could he do? What could he possibly accomplish against that horrid man? There wasn’t really too much that he could do.

But...he had to try something. Maybe there was a way out of this contraption that he wasn’t thinking of. He attempted to lift up his head, but just like before, he couldn’t. The man had put the strap back on, partly because his hands were pretty much attached to his head. Keeping his head unstrapped would pretty much mean leaving his hands free.

He looked left and right, struggling to see something, anything in the room. He moved his eyes until he could feel them begin to ache in his sockets. He could see nothing of great interest. Mostly just ceilings. And looking left and right didn’t do him much good. If only he could turn his head a little, then maybe he could find a way out of here.

But no matter what he tried or what he thought of, nothing seemed to work. He continued to only being able to lay down on the table, unable to move.

No, there had to be a way out of here. He just..he just had to think harder. Maybe if he tried to pull his hands and arms a different way, twist them around, he could get one of them free, and then begin to remove the cuffs off his other limbs. Yeah...that could work...

Blocky wasted no time and he attempted to free himself. He jerked himself to one side only. He twisted his arm around, trying to get it to pull out from the tight cuff.

sss

“Hold ztill, you little pieze of shit!”

The zoner muffled a terrified response. She shook her head from one side to the other, her eyes shut tightly as tears flowed down her face.

Von snarled at this. “If you hold ztill, it will go faster!” But still the zoner did not comply and just kept moving her head whenever he attempted something. The man resisted the urge to strike her, not wanting to cause any more damage than necessary. “You are really trying my patienze...”

The female zoner, who was dragon-like in appearance with ears, merely hissed at him before turning her head and baring her sharp teeth. Not like she could do much to him. Her jaws were sealed shut with the muzzle. But her head, he had forgotten to strap it down and now any attempts to bring the drill over were fruitless. She was squirming around too much, he feared that he’d cause too much damage. Perhaps that is what she wanted?

Regardless, he was not going to let her get out of this that easily. He had drawn her specifically for this test, and she was going to fulfill it. He just needed to drill a hole in her head for it to work. It was a very delicate procedure, and if she would just hold still, there wouldn’t be any sort of problem.

But no, she just had to be difficult. He growled to himself. Well he should have strapped down her head when he had the chance in the first place. Well perhaps now is a good time as any to take some liberty into that. His experiment can’t continue unless he did something about her thrashing head.

Setting down the drill, he grabbed her mouth and held it down. She still turned her head and it was difficult fighting against her strength. He slung his arm around the mouth completely, encasing it in the crook of his arm, and he steadied it so that her snout was facing straight up. He grabbed the strap for the head and stretched it over so that it pressed against her forehead, right above the eyes. With a click, it was in.

He took a step back and looked at his captive. He folded his arms against his chest and smiled in pride. He had to hand it to himself, he was a pretty good artist and an excellent planner.

The zoner he had drawn was quite pretty. Shiny green scales and something like hair growing down her ack. Her body was a little long and her wings, which took the place of her front legs and currently cuffed down, was curly. Her overall design had an innocent charm to it, reflecting the child-like mind he had given her.

He watched her try to free her head. She jerked it from side to side, whimpering loudly, in desperation. He could only smile down at her, satisfied that she was unable to get her head to turn a sigificant distance either way. A part of him wished that he had brought some kind assistance with. If he had kept Terry around, maybe she could help hold this dragon more still for him.

He shook his head. No, Terry was too much trouble. She had tried to poison Blocky without his permission or say. He was better off with his original plan that he had went with, and got rid of her. Blinding her should definitely make the lesson stick to her head. She would never forget it.

He approached her again, moving slowly and deliberately. She looked up at him with wide eyes, whimpers of protest filling the air. She shook her head in desperation. He could hear her try to speak to him, begging him for the answers of why he was doing this to her. He just smirked down at her, his expression showing her a window of the cruel intentions he had in store for her.

“I need to tezt ziz zing out. I need to hook it up to you firzt.” Von said. He raised the drill up for her to see. “Ziz will only zting for a little while. Zen, it’ll be over, and we can really begin.”

The dragon zoner tried to shake her head rapidly. It was no use. She could barely move it a centimeter, the straps being on so tightly. The man began to move the drill closer to her. He watched as she tried to squirm harder, tears raining down from her face. She stared up at him pleadingly.

He hesitated for a brief second, his eyes widening. He again wondered if he should do this. He mentally slapped himself in the face. He shouldn’t let some little sad expression stop him. He grunted, showing his teeth as he moved faster. He aimed the drill in the center of her head. It made contact, and he immediately turned it on.

The sound of a whirring, tube-like blade and muffled screams and bone beginning to give way filled the air. It was absolutely bone-chilling to listen to. But he pressed on. It took only a second for blood to ooze from the woudn. He kept pressing down, the drill sinking in as if it were a hot knife on butter. He didn’t attempt to speak, as the loud drilling sounds would muffle out anything he tried to say.

The zoner squirmed wildly, letting out constant, muffled screams. Her body twisted and trembled in pain, and as the seconds past, these grew stronger. The drill was still part way into her skull. Just a little more and he would have gotten through, to the point where he wanted it to be. Just a bit longer...

Out of nowhere, there was a sudden force against his jaw. Something firm and yet soft. He let out a scream of pain as he was suddenly jostled to the ground. He landed against the hard surface on his face. The drill dropped down beside him. It sliced into his arm, creating a long gash. He let out a scream of pain and held his arm against him. He could feel the blood spill down his arm. He turned his eyes towards who had attacked him.

His eyes widened in shock. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It couldn’t be possible, right? “Y-You...” That was all he managed to say as he climbed up to his feet.

Chapter 42: Shatters

And so sayeth the enemy and the friend, “I will keep on trying!”

sss

Dr. Von Doktor never stopped running. Not for a long time. He didn’t care what turns he made. He didn’t care what corridor he had run thrhough. He didn’t care that his lungs felt like they were on fire. Right now, there was only one thing he truly cared about.

And that was escape.

He pushed himself to his limits. His feet pounded the ground, his mouth split open wide, heavy pants escaping from it. His eyes were wide with a mixture of emotions, seemingly swelling up even more the longer that he ran. He wasn’t even sure if he was being chased. That didn’t matter to him. All that did was finding a new place to hide out, to backtrack on his plans and figure out what he’s going to do next.

He didn’t even realize he had gotten out of the network of caves until it was far too late. When he started to notice some zoners left and right, he realized that he was out of the caves and running in the open. But none of the zoners made a move, possibly too shocked by the presence of an adult human to do much of anything.

The man ignored them in regard. There was little he could do against them. He had used up the remaining of his magic chalk. All he could do now was run and hope he would find shelter, and a rogue piece of magic chalk.

Never before had he felt this afraid and vulnerable. Before, he didn’t bat an eye with this place. But that was when he had the magic chalk. Without it, he was at a disadvantage. Without it, the zoners could easily crush him if they so saw necessary. His heart clenched and raced as the emotions tangled around it, tightening around like some kind of rope. And this only seemed to get worse the more he continued to flee.

Up and down the hills, he ran, through the forest, through parts of the city, all the name of getting away. After a time, some of the zoners did attempt to catch him, but many shouted words like ‘leave him alone’ and ‘he might be dangerous’ halted most of the attacks.

How ironic... Normally, he’d say those words were true, that the zoners should fear him and stay away from him. But now, today, it was so the opposite. Yet he couldn’t speak this out loud. If word gets out to these zoners that he was vulnerable...

The only thing that made him stop was when he suddenly collided against something large and hard. He let out an ‘hmph’ sound as he stumbled backwards. He groaned and rubbed his head. He could feel an ache spread through it, making it feel as though a drill had been placed against his head. He shook it and he looked at what had stopped him.

His eyes widened as he pulled his head back and stared up at the structure. It was massive, much larger than any individual building he had seen, here or in the Real World. It shined in the light of the sun above, glinting, the sharp edges twinkling. Pale white in color, with a hint of blue. It was both something he had never seen before, and yet was very familiar with. His mind had a difficult time wrapping around this, but there was no way he could deny what he was seeing.

It was some kind of huge diamond. It looked as though it grew out of the ground, the grass and dirt seeming to indent around its shape. The diamond appeared to be upside down, with the broader part stuck in the ground while the sharp tip pointed towards the sky. He had to turn his gaze away when the tip almost seemed to glow, almost poised to strike anyone to dared to look at it for too long.

He looked left and right, taking note of just how out of place this diamond appeared to be. He thought, at first, maybe it was part of the landscape. Maybe this was the land of huge diamonds. But when he looked around, there was nothing. Just open fields and hills, some sparse trees. But no other huge diamonds like this one. It was all alone.

How strange... This seemed to be rather jarring. Well this was ChalkZone. Maybe something like this was considered...normal? Maybe random stuff like this was just part of the norm and no one really paid attention to it. This seemed to make the most sense to the man and he would have left it at that, if it weren’t for another thought.

If it was so normal, then...why weren’t there any zoners nearby..?

It took a little while for the man to fully realize this, but..there wasn’t anybody around for miles. It was dead silent here. Not a single zoner was here, not even in the skies. It was as if this whole place was abandoned, like it held some kind of terrible secret or something.

This, alone, made the man feel nervous. Despite being willing to perform experiment on others, he himself didn’t want to be part of one. He was not interested in getting himself injured, and if the zoners were afraid of something, of some location, then perhaps he should to. He began to move a little aways from the huge diamond, darting his eyes around as he half-expected some kind of monster to jump forward from it.

Then he paused. He stared at the diamond for a few seconds. His mind raced, and soon one particular thought came to the forefront.

If the zoners were afraid of this place, what would happen if he were to..make use of it? What if he were to harness this place and use it to provide himself some protection? If the zoners wouldn’t dare touch it, maybe he could use parts of the diamond to guard himself. Maybe the diamond was enchanted or something. ChalkZone and all.

He frowned at this. If it was...would it be safe for him to use it? What if he cursed himself? Or..then again...maybe he would be immune to it. The curse might only afflict zoners. If so, he could transform himself into his own security system.

His mouth ticked into a smile. Without any way to defend himself, this was exactly what he needed. He walked over towards the diamond and placed his hand along it. He could feel how cold and strong it was. Oh, if only he could take parts of this out and fashion it into a set of armor... Then he’d feel safe.

But first, he was going to need something to cut away parts of the diamond. He wouldn’t be able to do it himself. His spit would take way too long and it wouldn’t be very preferable. He was going to need another piece of magic chalk. He turned his head towards the direction he ran and frowned deeply. Maybe if he found the location of where all the magic chalk typically came from...

His body suddenly gave a jerk and froze. He turned his head and stared at the diamond with wide eyes. Was that a roar he heard? Or a loud crash? It sounded was if there was something on the other side of this diamond wall, just waiting for him...

He shook his head. Nah, it was probably nothing. Just a trick of his mind. He turned his head away and stared back off into the distance. He had more important things to worry about anyway.

sss

Penny panted heavily as she exited the building..or cave, whichever. That detail didn’t matter to her. That didn’t change the fact that she was standing outside the man’s short-lived hideout, her eyes wide and mouth open as she panted. She had to stop and catch her breath as she looked out ahead, looking for any signs of the man. But there was no one.

The girl felt her chest sting in horror as she realized that they no longer had any idea where Von could be. The man ran quite fast for an old man. She was frozen in shock when he ran, but only for a few moments. She bolted off towards the direction he ran, ignoring the pain radiating in her arm from when the man grabbed her. She didn’t know if Snap or any of the other zoners followed her. She only paid attention to what was ahead of her. Just walls, rock, places to turn, and now light.

And when she had become enveloped in it, as she stepped out and was in the open, she was able to look around and see if her efforts had been worth it, if she could catch up t othe man and stop him before he went too far.

And now that she was here.. She couldn’t help but feel the sting of disappointment. She lowered her head, her eyes narrowed and fists clenched tightly. She wanted to slap herself in the face. She would have kicked herself if she could. How could she have let him get away? He was right there. She could see them much of the time when she was running. And yet..she still failed to catch him. She had failed.

Now all she could do was just stand there, staring out in the distance in shock. Her body trembled, the news of her failure hitting her hard, making her want to scream at the sky. Her body was overwhelmed with emotion, evident by the shaking and by the tears starting to form.

She realized it was pointless being this way. She knew that if she allowed emotion to take her over, she would not be able to do what was necessary to stop Von. But she just couldn’t help it. The self-pity still managed to get a hold of her, and keep her in its grasp for a few moments. It took a little while before she could push those thoughts aside, and try to refocus them on what was important: figuring out a new plan.

She realized she shouldn’t be shocked at herself for reacting this way. It was inevitable, with all the stress, with what happened between her and Rudy, with the threat that Von posed, her mind could only take so much. Perhaps a bit of that negative spell she was in did her some good.

Rechanneling her thoughts, she straightened herself up and looked out into the distance. Her eyes narrowed as she stared ahead, her mind rushing around as she tried to think of just which direction the man could have gone in.

There were a number of directions that he could have gotten to. So many opportunities, so many things he could have tried... It left Penny with little idea on where to start first. The only thing she was certain of was that he’d likely run off somewhere that he could hide in. But just where could that be? Where would Von end up? Where would he hide? Would he choose a place that was rather obvious, such as a forest? Or would he choose a more...unexpected route? Like the city?

Penny clenched her teeth in frustration. She didn’t know if the man still had magic chalk or not. She didn’t know what kind of threat he still posed for the moment. If he did have magic chalk, then what was he going to do with it? Would he preserve it, or attack with it? And if he didn’t have magic chalk...

...would he go out and try to get some? Would he go and try to find it going as far as try to interrogate the zoners to...

Maybe not. It was possible that Von would try to avoid the zoners if he had no magic chalk. After all, he would be vulnerable, unable to do much against them. So maybe he would just hide out and bide his time. That would give her and her friends some time to find him.

But ultimately, in the end, it was difficult to say. There was no absolute certainty, and he could still strike back without warning, regardless of what he did. It was crucial that she and her friends find him.

But where could they even begin to look?

“Penny!”

Penny nearly stumbled forward when she heard her name called like that. She managed to regain her footing and she looked over to see Snap rushing towards her. She looked around and noticed that it was just Snap that followed her. Rapsheeba, Howdy, and Blocky were staying behind. Snap himself had a look of fear on his face as he ran towards her.

Soon, the zoner was right in front of her. He stopped, having to take a breath for a few seconds before he could actually speak. Penny listened to the wheeze of his breath and she felt her heart sting. Had he been chasing her the whole time? Had he really been trying that hard to catch up to her?

Snap at last opened his mouth. Even after catching his breath, his voice still sounded a little raspy. “P-Penny... Did you catch him...?”

Penny narrowed her eyes slightly at this. Did Snap really not notice that there was no one around here? Then again, he had just arrived onto the scene. She shouldn’t be too surprised with this question. She turned her head away. “No... I’m sorry. I couldn’t catch him.”

She waited for Snap’s reaction. She waited for him to ask why she couldn’t catch him, or show signs of anger or frustration towards her failure. She had failed to catch a dangerous...criminal. He deserved to get angry with her. She should have tried harder to stop him. She kept her head lowered in shame as she waited for him to speak up.

But instead of being scolded like the more worried half of her was, she was greeted by a warm hand on her shoulder. She looked down, staring at Snap in surprise and confusion. The zoner merely looked up at her, giving a soft smile of comfort.

“We’ll catch him somehow.” Snap said. “Don’t worry.

Penny felt her mouth tick into a small smile in return. A part of her felt so foolish for being afraid of what Snap would think of her. He was her best friend. Of course he wouldn’t waste time being angry at her at a time like this.

But she couldn’t remain smiling for long. Regardless, they still had a crisis on their hand. Von was out there somewhere, hiding, waiting to strike. If they didn’t catch him soon, who knows what kind of disaster will befall ChalkZone? Who knwos what kind of dangers that evil man will unleash upon this world? He was more dangerous than Terry. More brutal, more calculating, more threatening. If he so decided to, he could find a way to eliminate them as an obstacle.

Penny had never felt this afraid of anyone before. Not even Skrawl resulted in this kind of reaction, not even when he had her kidnapped. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest, threatening to rip out and spill onto the ground. She clutched her chest, feeling each beat grow stronger and stronger as the time passed. At least Skrawl was a zoner and could be easily countered, but Von... He was a human, another creator... Any attempt to go up against him was going to be a rough ride. And he was a scientist, and an older human at that. How much of a chance did they stand against him?

She could feel her legs grow weak and she wanted to collapse. She wanted to drop down and let out her rage and her emotion...yet she did not do it. The only amount of emotion that she allowed to crawl to the surface was a frown, a formed fist, and a slight bearing of teeth.

Snap stared up at her, his eyes shining with sympathy. He nodded his head slowly, having been silent most of the few seconds they were standing there. And when he did speak, he only further reflected on how she felt.

“I understand, Buckette. I’m just as angry as you are that he got away. But let’s not waste time standing here. What is the plan?”

Penny stared down at him, her eyes widened slightly. She stared into his eyes, and she could see just how serious he was. The fact that Snap put so much faith and trust in her was both heartwarming and confusing. She felt as though a ton of burden was being placed upon her shoulders, and she felt like she had grown several pounds. She had to wonder if this is what Rudy often felt when he tried to do his job as ChalkZone’s protector. Rudy could no longer pull off that duty. Now it was up to her.

But could she do it? Was she competent enough to do this on her own? She normally didn’t try to self-doubt herself too much. She had been able to pull off some pretty impressive things, like stopping that taffy, and fooling Skrawl.

Yet that fear of failure still remained. It grew in the pit of her stomach, twisting around, making her feel sick. She struggled to keep it under control, but it was a difficult and stubborn emotion to get rid of. She could practically feel it crawl along her back and spread along her skull, filling her with an incredible chill. She again had to wonder if Rudy put up with this all the time.

“I’m...I’m not sure...” Penny felt ashamed to have to admit that. But she didn’t have much of a choice right now. How could she tell Snap the plan if she hadn’t developed one yet? “I’m...still working on it.”

Snap nodded his head once. “Well don’t take too long.” His eyes narrowed as he looked out at the fields and trees that lay before them. “We need to stop that creepazoid...before he..”

“I know... Don’t you think I’m aware of that?” Penny spoke up quickly. Snap looked up at her, surprised by her tone of voice. Penny let out a groand and she gripped her head. “Look, I’m...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to..”

“It’s okay. You’re just frustrated. So am I.” Snap paused for a moment, as if realizing he had made a mistake. “All of us.”

Penny stared down at Snap and couldn’t help but smile. She was glad that he was being so understanding during a time like this. With all the stress that this was providing, it was very easy for tempers and tension to boil over, reaching a climatic point. And yet Snap remained in control of himself in spite of the tension she could detect in his body language and tone of voice. She was grateful for that.

Snap continued, “But we will figure something out together. I’m sure of it.” He turned his head and looked at where they had run out from. He bit his lip for a second, his eyes flashing with brief guilt of having left his friends behind. He looked back at Penny. “What do you think we should do? Should we head back to the others, or should we go after Von?”

Penny thought about this. She couldn’t figure out at first just which way would be correct. They could go after Von now, and try to catch up to him and capture him, but..how much would she and Snap be able to stand up against him? How long would they last before something woud happen, and their luck would run out?

On the other hand, they could go back and speak with the others, even help the injured zoners get to safety. Blocky and that dragon zoner both needed help, and the sooner they got to the hospital, the better. She wasn’t sure how long they had before complicatons would arise, and Blocky would certainly have less time. But was it really a good idea to leave now, to let Von get away and they end up losing track of him? Was it really right for her to tend to two injured zoners while countless others might get hurt?

Decisions... They were often so hard to make. She clutched her head tightly, gritting her teeth. Her head started to hurt as she struggled to figure out the answer. Which path should she take? Which one would make the most sense? Which one would result in the least collatorial damage?

She reopened her eyes, narrowing them into slits. There was only one answer she could come up with now. She just hoped that the others would forgive her for it.

“Come on, Snap.” Penny said. Snap looked at her expectantly. “We’re going after Dr. Von Doktor...”

sss

“So...this is where Terry mentioned she had been last... I hope this is worth my time.”

Taking in a deep breath, exhaling slowly, Vinnie tilted his head back as he stared at the large facility before him. It was so late at night, and he had little reason to believe that it would be open. But Terry had insisted he go right now to figure out if anything here could help lead to the discovery of what happened.

The short man struggled to keep himself from rolling his eyes, from criticizing the red-haired woman’s choice of working with Dr. Von Doktor of all people. He had never liked the man all that much, and he coudln’t fathom any reason for Terry to get involved with him. But oh well. Whatever floats her boat, he guessed. He took in a deep breath and he moved towards the building.

It was a little eerie, coming here when it was so silent. Going to any place that’s too quiet sometimes left him with a nervous feeling. Maybe it was because he was used to the loud and ‘obnoxious’, used to communicating with someone. The idea of being somewhere that had a distinct lack of people was not something he endured often, and it was almost foreign to him.

He was also rather nervous about potential trespassing. If there was someone here, that would be different. He could just knock on the door and ask if he could come in. But with no one here, the only way to get in was to trespass. Considering his stance with the police after the incident with that bag, he’d rather not give them another reason to arrest him.

The memory of that stupid bag made his stomach burn, his teeth clenched. He had been so close to getting access into that chalk world... He was so fucking close... But that stupid fucking kid just had to ruin it all for him.

The man had no idea why the boy was so defensive regarding that place. He didn’t know why he had tried so hard to keep him out of there. Didn’t Terry suffer the same thing, too? He thought so. He remembered her mentioning it once. And just like with him, Rudy hadn’t bothered to explain to Terry just why he wanted her out. He just..expected her to surrender without any kind of explanation.

The thought filled him with rage. How dare that kid act this way.. What gave him the right to hog that world all to himself? What gave him the right to deprive the people of being able to enjoy it like they should be able to? He did his best to try to keep himself calm, but the realization of just how far this kid was willing to go to keep that place a secret just burned him up on the inside.

He had thought about trying to talk to Rudy, but he never found the time, and if Terry couldn’t get him to speak in an interview, what luck did he have? He’d probably just lie or tell him to get out of his face and walk away. Him being a kid made things a lot more difficult, and it prevented him from being too forceful.

He did still wish the kid would at least give some kind of reasoning behind his actions. If he could just understand the why, maybe he could try to figure a way around it. If there was something troubling the kid, he could try to better negotiate. He normally hated such things, but if it meant getting his chalk world theme park, then he’d swallow his pride and do it. It would make him rich in the end.

But for now, Rudy wasn’t talking and he was left in confused frustration, wondering just what was going on in that kid’s mind. He growled softly, his lips curling up. He swore, sooner or later, he would figure out a way to open that world up to the public, with or without Rudy’s help.

He shook the thoughts out of his head, realizing that he had wasted too much time on them. Staring out at the building in front of him, he took in a deep breath and he started to quicken his pace.

The building did look as if there was no one here. He didn’t see any lights, but maybe there were some on, deep within the building itself. There were no cars here, but maybe some peope walked to work. He wouldn’t know unless he went inside.

And a few moments later, that’s exactly what he did. Or at least, tried to. He pushed against the front door, only for it to remain firmly planted where it was. He took a step back and growled softly. He looked at the door up and down. It didn’t seem locked. The door knob turned like it normally would. But it wouldn’t budge. Something was preventing it from opening. A security system perhaps?

Vinnie hissed in frustration. He was tempted to just turn around and leave, and just tell Terry he couldn’t find anything out. But a part of him was still compelled to look, to try to break in and find whatever information that he could. Although he hid it really well, he was genuinely shocked by Terry’s condition, and he was worried it could happen to him. So the sooner he figured out what happened to Terry, the faster that he would be able to defend himself from whoever was on the prowl.

He looked towards the side of the building. He narrowed his eyes softly. Perhaps this place had another way in? He began to walk around the side of the building. He headed down the side, his eyes scanning the side for any sign of a door. This didn’t take that long, and he was soon able to confirm that two of the other three sides had no door, and he ran out of hope that there would be one. But turning around to the third side, he was in for a delightful surprise when he saw there was a door there. His eyes widened slightly, he rushed over quickly.

He looked at the door carefully. Was this one going to be bolted shut as well? No... Upon closer examination, it was slightly open. His eyes twinkled and a smile spread across his mouth. Finally, a way into the building.

He didn’t go in right away. He paused for a few moments, trying to figure out if he really wanted to do this. Was he going to risk getting arrested all just to try to find information that might not even be here? There was no proof that anything happened to Terry while she was here. This was just the last place she recalled being in before she woke up in the hospital.

He narrowed his eyes. If he wanted to keep himself from getting hurt as well, there was little choice. As he reached for the door, he knew there was no going back. He gripped it and, with a single thrust, he yanked the door wide open. He stepped inside, letting the door bounce back as he headed down the hallway.

As he headed in deeper, he couldn’t help but feel some kind of weird sensation in his stomach. He turned his head from one side to the other. There was something wrong with this place. Well it was Dr. Von Doktor after all. But...just what was causing this feeling?

He recalled that the man was obsessed with perpetual motion. Most people left him because of this, right? Just what had that man been doing since then? Doing more experiments? Had he been here all by himself doing that? Is that why he had the front door barred closed? The scientist was already creepy enough before, but to do all this in the name of something that does not exist...it was quite eerie.

And when he tried to open up one of the doors into one of the roms, realizing it was locked, he could feel his heart do a sharp twist, skipping a beat. He took a step back, staring at the door. Just what was Von up to?

There was only one way to find out. It was against his better judgment, but he just...he just had to figure out what was going on. He had no idea if Von was at all involved with what happend to Terry, but he was doing something, and he had to figure out what it was.

He turned his head and looked down the corridor. In the distance, he noticed that there was some kind of wall blocking further entry. He narrowed his eyes into slits as he realized that this wasn’t normal. Something was going on here. And he had to dig in deeper to know what it was. If there was a chance that the man went off his rocker and...

Vinnie didn’t waste anymore time and he rushed down the hallway.

sss

Sometimes it was amazing just how one could have such a big stroke of luck without expecting it. It wasn’t everyday that anyone would accidentally stumble upon something that was not just flammable, but would cause an explosion as well.

Setting it up wasn’t too difficult. It looked to be a stereotypical bomb. Only larger. Each of the tubes, attached together by coils, were about three and a half feet long, and weighed...oh he wasn’t sure just how much. Maybe ten pounds, but he might be way off from the mark.

But once he got past carrying them to where he wanted them, setting them up was quite easy. He just had to make sure they were placed properly on the ground as he did not want to spread the blast out too much. They needed to remain focused on one part. All he needed was to blast away some of this diamond, and then he was in business.

Once he was finished, Von took a few steps back to admire what he had been able to accomplish. He couldn’t help but smile as he stared at the coils and tubes filled with explosives. His eyes moved up towards the diamond shield that covered the ground. Surely diamond wouldn’t be able to withstand the force of enough TNT, especially in a single, focused location. Now all he needed was some kind of lighter.

Unfortunately, he didn’t find any. While he searched around, he did find a few things, though most were useless to him. He was lucky to have found that zoner transporting the TNT. Chasing him off was a snap. But surely that zoner was rushing to get help, so he had to make sure he got this done before the zoner brought back help. He was almost ready. If he could only just find some kind of match or lighter...

There was nothing around here. He could see some sticks, rocks, dirt, and grass. That was about the extent of the variation in this spot. He couldn’t just get up and walk away either. If he did, some zoner might snag the bombs and get away. No, he would need to find something in the immediate area to help him. He just had to wing it. There was always multiple ways of looking at a problem. He just had to come at it from a new angle. A way he didn’t think of before.

He looked down on the ground. His eyes scanned around at what was near him. He soon focused them on the sticks that laid, unmoving. He narrowed his eyes in determination. Yeah...that just might work... He did attend scouts when he was a wee little lad. He could just reapply what he learned and then he would be back in business.

He lowered himself to the ground and grabbed a long piece of stick. He broke it in half and he started to rub it together. He kept doing this for several moments, applying more pressure, trying to get the friction to heat up and catch the stick on fire. He kept going, kept rubbing. Almost there... Just a little more...

Suddenly there was a snap sound. His eyes widened as he stared down at what remained of the stick. He took in a few breaths, staring at the shattered stick in disbelief. He shook his head slowly, unable to believe how quickly bad luck had descended upon him. He slapped himself in the face and scolded himself for using too much pressure. He tossed the useless sticks away and tried another, this one thicker and more durable. He repeated the process.

As he did this, he took a moment to look out at the horizon, scanning it for any sign of activity. He hadn’t taken notice of anyone coming, but that didn’t mean there was no one there. Someone might be sneaking up on him, waiting, ready to strike.

Then there was that girl...

He didn’t know if Penny chased him or not, but he knew she would be the one obstacle in his way. The one person who could stop him. Mrs. Sanchez was comparatively less of a threat if only because of her lack of knowledge of this world. But Penny...she knew this world much better and likely has a lot of allies. Rudy might not be a threat anymore, but he could not discount Penny.

He wished he had done something when he had the chance. He should have tried to do something against her to make sure she couldn’t interfere with him. Even just injuring her leg would be enough to make it harder for her to come after him. But breaking her arm would have been the more sensible choice...

He turned his head back down to the sticks. He couldn’t do much about Penny for now. But as soon as he blasted this thing open...

His eyes widened as there was a flicker, a spark, and then a small flame appeared on the sticks. He started at them, a smile spreading across his face. At last, he had a flame. Now to put it to good use.

Moving quickly, not wanting the flame to spread to his hands and burn him, he rushed over to the TNT. He lowered his arms and reached over towards the fuse. He hovered them there and waited for the fuse to catch on fire.

“Stop! Wait! Don’t do that!”

Von’s eyes widened as he gave a sudden jerk. The shock of the unexpected voice caused him to loosen his grip. The sticks flew out of his hands and landed on the ground in front of him. A split second later, the flames on the sticks began to spread, setting the ground in front of him on fire. Von’s eyes filled with horror and he began to back away from the growing flames.

Von stared at the flames for a few seconds. Then he swerved his head around to see what dolt had caused him to drop the fiery sticks.

With his eyes growing big with contempt, he hissed out, “You...!”

He hunched his shoulders when he saw that it was Penny and Snap that was rushing towards him.

sss

Penny ran was fast as she could. She opend her mouth and started to pant heavily. She wasn’t sure how long she had been running. It felt like forever. Her lungs were burning, striving for oxygen. She could hear her friend panting beside her as he tried to keep up.

They had run quite a distance. Across a few landscapes and through the city, and now back out in the open again. Penny didn’t bother to look around and see if this territory was familiar in any way. All she was concerend about was running fast enough to catch up to Von. She and Snap had no idea just how far away he was. The faster they moved, the better.

And now here he was, out in the open and plain for anyone to see. He was glaring back at thim, his body hunched defensively, his hands forming into fists. Penny’s eyes immediately darted around, looking for any sign of a piece of magic chalk. She felt some relaxation when she saw there was none. But that calmness only lasted a fraction of a second. Her pupils shrank whe nsomething more urgent caught her eye.

The flaming sticks that Von held had fallen into the ground. Now, racing through the field were lines of flames, growing as it fed on the vegetation. In a matter of seconds, the ground was set ablaze, smoke rising high into the air. Penny froze at this, grabbing onto Snap to stop him from going any further. The two friends took a moment to look at the increasingly tall flames, and noticed how dangerously close the man was standing to them.

Although Penny still hated the man, she couldn’t help but take in a sharp breath when she realized just how close he really was to the fire. She puth her hands to her mouth and called out to him. “Get out of the way! Run!”

While the man did move, he didn’t run away in a random direction. Instead, he was running towards her. Penny, at first, thought he was just trying to get away from the rapidly spreading heat. But instead, as she came to realize seconds later, he rushing in towards her with the full intent on actually attacking.

Snap quickly realized this a few moments before her. He jumped in front of her and spread his hands out. “Stay way from her!”

Von did not listen to the zoner’s warning. Penny raised her chalk to try to draw something. But the man was too fast. Before she and Snap had time to react, the man gripped the blue zoner by his cape. The zoner gagged as he was hoisted off the ground. He was tossed away like some kind of bag of trash. Then he gripped Penny by her shirt collar. The girl let out a grunt and tried to push the man back to no avail.

“Do you have any idea what you have done?!” Von yelled at Penny. He put his face close to hers, his glasses giving an ominous glint. “Ziz iz all your fault!”

“My fault?!” Penny cried back. She started to struggle harder, her feet kicking at the ground, scraping it almost like a bull ready to charge. “You should talk! You’re the one who thought it was a bright idea to try to blow up....”

Von shook Penny hard before she had a chance to finish. “Who azked you?!” Von mustered up as much strength as he could in his arm. Penny could see, for a split second, his arm muscles bulging slightly even through the cloth of his scientist uniform. He then threw her into the ground. “I wouldn’t have dropped it if you hadn’t ztartled me!”

Penny let out agrunt as she hit the ground. She moaned as she crawled back up, her hands placed firmly on the ground. She felt a rush of air go by her as Snap, who had recovered from the fall, attempted to hinder Von. She widened her eyes and reached out towards him, trying to call out for him to stop. The man reacted before she could even begin uttering the word.

As soon as Snap jumped into the air to grab onto Von, the man grabbed onto him. With his hand holding onto Snap’s arm, the man yanked him upwards with a quick, swift motion. Penny couldn’t help but gasp in horror as the man brought his leg back and slammed his knee against Snap’s stomach. The zoner let out a screech as he was sent flying across the ground, landing in a heavy thud. Snap started to push himself back up slowly, and immediately began to wheeze and cough as the smoke grew heavier.

“Snap!” Penny started to rush towards her friend. She didn’t get far before she was jerked back, a hand wrapped around her wrist and twisting it painfully. She shut her eyes and hissed as she found herself uncomfortabley close to the vile fiend. “Let me go!”

Von curled his lip back into a snarl. “You come here and try to zet me on fire and you dare demand zat I releaze you?!” He shook her hard once. “Juzt who do you zink you are?!”

Penny struggled against his grasp. “I didn’t try to murder you! If you hadn’t had that stupid fire stick in your hand, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“And if you didn’t try to ztop me,” Von hissed back. “I wouldn’t have dropped it in zee firzt plaze!”

Penny didn’t bother trying to reply back. What was the point? There was nothing that she could say that would convince the man to let her go. There was nothing she could tell him that would make hi msee reason. All she could do was struggle and hope that she would be able to untangle herself in time. She placed her hand against his shoulder and pushed back.

The two began to wrestle with each other. The old man held onto her, doing what he could to subdue her. Penny pushed back. She jerked herself a few times, trying to muster enough force to get free. The man couldn’t hold onto her forever. If she could just get herself enough leeway and squirm enough, the man would be forced to let her go. From side to side she went, twisting herself around almost violently, her teeth clenching tightly from the effort.

Then, after twisting herself around some more, loosening the evil man’s grip on her, she managed to yank herself free. She winced as she felt the man’s fingernails graze along her skin. Without the man’s grip, she tumbled over and fell into the ground.

She lifted up her head and looked over. She could feel the heat of the flames against her face as she saw how close the orange and yellow fire was getting to her. She was about to draw something when she realized that she didn’t have the magic chalk with her. Her heart pounding, she immediately sat up and looked around for it. The smoke got ever closer, and she accidentally began to inhale of it. She coughed, detecting the taste of burnt chalk in her mouth. This prompted her to search faster, her hands grazing along the grassy ground.

A second later, she soon saw the magic chalk on the ground. It had been broken into two pieces, laying a little ways apart. She jerked herself, turning her body around, until she was now on her knees. She pushed herself forward and tried to grab onto the chalk. She managed to seize one, but when she tried to reach the second, a sudden weight came down onto her arm.

“Ahhh!” Penny felt pain spread through her arm as Von slammed his foot down onto her arm, putting pressure once again on her bite wound. She thought she felt something burst inside of her and she could feel some blood start to flow from that wound. She looked up, her eyes meeting Von’s narrowed, anger-filled ones.

“I’ll be taking zat!” Von reached down and grabbed onto the second piece of the chalk. He pulled it to himself as he started down at Penny with contempt. “Maybe I should do zomezing about your interferenze!”

Penny flinched when the man lifted up his own magic chalk. She desperately tried to free her arm, but the man simply applied more pressure. She hissed in pain and shut her eyes. She did the only thing she could do at the moment, and that was wait and struggle.

Suddenly, the man’s foot was lifted from her. Confused, she opened her eyes and looked over. She widened her eyes at what she was seeing.

Snap, who had recovered from the blow earlier, had jumped onto the man’s back. With his legs wrapped around him, the zoner grabbed his neck and yanked backwards, applying pressure. This caused Von to stumble backwards, coughing and struggling to catch a breath. The man’s grip on Penny was removed as he turned his attention on Snap.

After a few moments of struggling, the scientist was able to grab onto Snap’s leg. He thrust him into the ground. There was a sickening thud as Snap crashed into the ground, letting out moans of pain. Von raised up the magic chalk as he advanced on the zoner.

“You juzt don’t know when to quit, do you?” Dr. Von Doktor growled softly. He tilted his head to one side. “Perhapz I should give you a better reazon?”

Snap scrambled up to his feet and started to back away. “N-No...please...” The zoner’s eyes widened like saucers as he turned his head and looked at something behind the man. “We need to get going! The fire! It’s getting closer!”

Von and Penny both swiveled their heads and looked behind them. Sure enough, the fire had gained a lot of ground, some of it arching around them in a circle. This caused their eyes to widen in horror, both realizing that they only had a matter of moments to get away before the fire would get to them. But that wasn’t the only thing that worried Penny. There was another detail that just made this situation much more dangerous and lethal.

The fire had gotten to to the explosives that the man had set down.

Penny took in a few quick breaths at this, her heart racing against her chest. No.. Oh no... Not this... No... She turned her head to the man and her friend. She opened her mouth and screeched out a warning.

“Run!”

Seconds later, as they tried to run away, the flames ignited the TNT tubes. Then, only a fraction of a second later, there was a loud boom. The ground shook, and the three were pushed away along the ground. Penny let out a scream, which was cut short when her skull crashed against the ground.

She soon laid there, stunned. She looked around at what was going on. Her vision was blurred, and confusion settled on. She was unable to identify the sensation caressing against her, nor the strange orange and yellow shapes dancing all around her. She coughed a few times, but made no real attempt to get away. Then darkness descended up on her and she shut her eyes.

As she shut her eyes competely, before she completely fell into the darkness, her ears registered the sound of something shattering.

Chapter 44: Awakenings

Final rule: Do not dwell on the past, for that is how you repeat your mistakes.

sss

Mount Yadda Yadda. One of the coldest places in ChalkZone. A place where the air can get so cold, that your own mucous could freeze inside your nose. Where your breath is always visible even at the lightest puff. Where you had to keep moving, otherwise you would freeze to death.

Most zoners avoided this place. It wasn’t that it never could be traversed. Some days were better than others. But these times were few and far between. Most zoners saw it best to just avoid the place completely, to run and hide at the very suggestion of going. Those who dare to venture here were considered insane.

Well, Rapsheeba would have to consider herself among one of those zoners.

She didn’t like the idea of coming here. She had actually initially wanted to say behind. She had never been here, but she had been told stories of the place. Snap had been here in the past, but his tales didn’t really help her, save for eliminating her fear of the yeti that lives in this place, one of the few zoners equipped to handle the extreme cold. But it wasn’t really the yeti that Rapsheeba feared the most, even if she were actually dangerous.

The weather was quite dangerous here. Freezing air everywhere, with almost no end in sight. Even the interior of the caverns were cold, barely any better than the outside. She knew that if they weren’t careful, they could all die here. This would become their grave site.

But she still opted to come with in the end, despite her reluctance. She felt that Penny’s mom and Snap needed her help. It only took one person to explain to Penny what happened when she woke up, but defeating Von, and the twister, would take more that just one individual. Even with a creator at their side, they knew it was going to be incredibly hard. They needed to exercise extreme caution when approaching.

She, Snap, and Mrs. Sanchez stopped as they reached the start of the path. There was an extreme shift in the weather. Nice, warm, sunny where they were currently, and then extreme cold and darkness as soon as they crossed this line. It was such an immediate shift that it was almost mind boggling.

And it certainly was for Mrs. Sanchez. The female zoner could see the look in her eyes, and tell that she certainly was not used to something like this. She was certain that extreme climate shifts were not common in the Real World as they are in ChalkZone.

“Okay..” Snap took a step forward. His foot barely crossed the line when he immediately reacted. He immediately wrapped himself in his own arms and shivered hard. “Yeah...” He jumped back to get back in the warm. He turned to Mrs. Sanchez. “Now would be a good time for those warmer clothes.”

Mrs. Sanchez nodded her head and she quickly drew two small yet warm outfits, made out of thick cotten and fur, and handed it to them. Rapsheeba felt really hot wearing this thing, but she knew she would be grateful for the warmth once they stepped into the frigid area.

Mrs. Sanchez was about to draw herself one but she soon hesitated. She stared at the chalk, biting her lip. She looked down at them. “Would it work for me?”

Snap nodded his head. “As long as you don’t get it wet with your spit, you’ll be good.”

The woman grimaced at this. “Are you saying I’m going to drool on it?”

The small zoner shook his head. “No, not really. Just letting you know.”

Rapsheeba pulled her head over her head. It was a nice, snug fit. She then slipped on her gloves and made sure to change her shoes into the thick boots the woman provided for her. She looked over to make sure that Snap was getting ready as well. She was pleased to see how quickly he had gotten all dressed up.

She then looked over at Mrs. Sanchez. A few moments after Snap had reassured her that it would be fine, she drew herself a fur coat similiar to what she had drawn for them. Except, of course, resized for her to use. The woman soon zipped it up and put her hood and gloves on. After that, she turned to them and nodded her head. She and Snap returned to this.

The group looked at the frigid cold in front of them. They hesitated for a moment, mentally preparing themselves for entering one of the most notoriously cold regions of ChalkZone. They sucked in a breath, exhaled slowly, and then they moved forward.

Rapsheeba immediately jerked forward when she felt the frigid cold strike her. Even with the thick coat on, although it made it a little better, she could feel the cold air seep through and practically turn her skin to ice. She took in a few shuddering breaths, rubbing her hands together frantically as she struggled to keep warm. Her movements became jerky and slow as she struggled against the blasting wind.

Snap and Mrs. Sanchez weren’t having too much luck either. They trekked through the snow slowly, each step taking more and more effort out of them, making them shiver harder. Rapsheeba felt so horrible for them. She could practically see just how much they were suffering when she looked into their eyes. The only comfort they had was the knowledge that they were all in this together.

A blast of cold air made them all yelp in surprise and move a little faster. Their minds’ desperation to find some warmth drove them to use more of their strength and energy, and they started to increase their pace. Their feet slipped a little as they walked towards the tall, white mountain. Rapsheeba let out a scream when she nearly fell into the snow. Snap was able to catch her. She gave him a quick, grateful smile before moving on, going further down the path.

Rapsheeba recalled how worse this place had gotten since another creator had taken over. The cold got worse, the storms became more frequent, and it had transformed into an all over worse place to be. It was hard to believe, but it was true. She looked at the slightly windy path, stretching so far it nearly went over the horizon, and then looked at the tall, pointy mountain, shrouded in the cold mist of the snow, and she took in an involuntary gulp. She hoped that there was some place warmer inside, somehow. Perhaps Von made a fire place or something. That sounded really good right about now.

They continued to walk, lowering their heads and turning them slightly as they tried to fight against the strong wind current. Some snowflakes hit their faces, hitting close to their eyes and making their skin sting with cold. Their teeth became bared as they used all their efforts to keep moving against the winds, getting ever closer to to the mountain.

After around ten minutes of walking, they all had to stop to take a rest. They dropped into the ground after Mrs. Sanchez drew them a bit of shelter from the wind. They huddled together, sharing one another’s body warmth. Their breaths were very shaky at this point, teeth chattering uncontrollably. The wind howling around them was nothing compared to their visual signals of how cold they were.

“S-S-So... D-Do you g-g-guys think we should k-k-k-keep g-g-going?” Mrs. Sanchez asked. Upon seeing the shocked and almost angered look she got from Snap and Rapsheeba, she quickly added in, “I-I-Is there a-a-a-a-another way?”

Now understanding what the woman was talking about, the two zoners looked at one another. Their eyes held a silent message to each other, both hoping that the other had some kind of idea on what they felt should be done. They did have very little choice, but there was still some option left. They could either continue going on foot, or they could figure out another solution.

But what could they do? The woman had already used some of her chalk to draw them some winter outfits. But despite her best efforts, these were still almost no match for the chill of this place. The temperatures were just too low. They needed something else, but what?

Snap rubbed his chin thoughtfully. The movements were slightly shaky, and it took a trained eye to see them. “W-W-Well, we c-c-c-could draw some f-f-form of transportation.”

“Transportation?” Rapsheeba stared at Snap in surprise. How did they miss such an obvious answer? “L-L-Like wh-what?”

Snap held out his hand in gesture. “E-E-Easy. B-B-B-Bucko told me about th-th-the r-r-r-races up in that place c-c-called A-A-A-Alaska. M-M-Mrs. P-P-Penny’s m-m-mom...” The blue zoner, who seemed to be getting more blue due to the cold, turned to the tall woman. “D-D-Do you m-m-mind drawing us a s-s-s-sled with d-d-d-dogs?”

Mrs. Sanchez said, “O-O-Okay. I’ll d-d-do my b-b-best. I a-a-am not g-g-g-g-good with d-d-d-d-dogs.”

“A-A-As long as th-th-they can r-r-r-r-run fast,” Rapsheeba gritted her teeth and shut her eyes as another strong wind struck. “I-I-I-I’m not c-c-c-complaining.”

Mrs. Sanchez didn’t waste any time, something that the zoners were grateful for. They watched almost longingly as the woman rapidly filled the land with lines, which arched and curved and straightened as she formed the sled. Then she went on working on the dogs. The canines rapidly came to life, whimpering and yapping as one by one they were formed. Then, after a few minutes, the woman was finished.

Rapsheeba took delight in that Mrs. Sanchez didn’t merely just draw a normal type of sled, but instead had drawn something more like a carriage. Small, but almost cozy-looking, and shielded from the outside. It looked so welcoming that she found herself moving towards it right away. The human and her friend had the same idea, and in a few moments, they were all inside. She sat down and leaned back, her legs feeling such relief after getting off the ground.

Mrs. Sanchez took the front, where the reigns where, while Snap positioned himself in front of Rapsheeba. The nice curve shape of the carriage made it that much more comfortable leaning back and relaxing, smiles plastered over their faces as they felt much warmer in here than they did outside.

But they did not smile for long. Their eyes frowned in determination as they turned their heads to look out the windows the woman had drawn for them. As the woman mushed the dogs and they started to journey forward once more, moving at a swift pace that they could not have accomplished on their own, the two zoners’ minds were rapidly filling with thoughts of what they were going to do once they arrived.

Or how they would even arrive. That was another issue they needed to address. Looking into each other’s eyes, they both could tell that the other thought the same thing.

“I wonder how we are going to get in there.” Rapsheeba said softly as she stared out at the landscape. The rolling hills and plans covered in white were almost beatiful, but they did little to hide just how dangerous this place was. “I mean, we know that it’s at the base of the mountain, but the opening might not be there. For all we know, it could be at the top.”

“Then if it comes to that, we’ll climb the mountain and then locate the network of caves and travel down.” Snap replied. “Or maybe have the yeti help us. She might know that place better than us.”

“That’s true. Unless something happened to her...” Rapsheeba’s voice trailed off.

Snap stared at her wide-eyed for a few moments. He shook his head slowly, giving a small smile of confidence. “I doubt it. She knows that place inside and out. She’d find a place to hide long before that man ever catches wind that she’s there.”

Rapsheeba hoped Snap was right. The last thing she’d ever want is for another zoner to be injured by Dr. Von Doktor. Thoughts of Blocky entered her mind and she gave a shudder. She would not wish that fate upon anyone else.

Turning her head back out towards the landscape, squinting so that she could see the approaching mountain coming towards them, she said, “Maybe we should search around the base first? Maybe we’ll find some kind of secret entrance?”

“Maybe. I’m not so sure if that’s a good idea, though.” Snap folded his arms against his chest, his eyes furrowing. “There might be...”

“I know it may not be safe. But it might be our best option. Do you really think we should spend all our time traversing through tunnels, hoping we’ll find the right one?” Rapsheeba lifted up her hand and gestured towards Snap. “We don’t even know if the yeti would have a clue if the twister and Von are there.”

“With all that howling, I’d be surprised.” Snap muttered, giving Rapsheeba a sideways glance.

The singer zoner let out a soft sigh. It was clear that this was something they needed to discuss later. They had to get an idea of what the base of the mountain looked like before they could get an idea of which path was safest. She crossed her arms and leaned back. She and the others remained quiet as the dogs continued to pull them towards the mountain, their barks and yips filling the air.

sss

It felt strange, giving information to something that, by all means, shouldn’t be alive. If anyone saw him now, they would really think he had gone off his rocker.

But the old man knew better. He couldn’t simply shun this twister away, even if it was a bit odd. He would have loved to study it more, to figure out exactly how it could exist in such a way. There had to be some kind of laws of physics in ChalkZone that enable this.

For now, he wanted to establish a relationship with it. The twister could be of some use to him. It was obvious that this twister was going to use him anyway. So why not return the favor? There was much that this twister could do for him. It could be the key he needed to unlocking his victory. He just had to make sure that the twister would never decide to align itself with his enemies.

Given what he had told it, however, this did not seem very likely. Though the tornado’s voice never seemed to register much, if any, emotion, the way it moved and behaved seemed to change, sometimes subtly, sometimes more extreme. He believed that these subtle changes were what gave away what kind of emotion it was feeling. If he was guessing right, then his words really had the tornado riled up.

“I do apologize for laying ziz on you. I juzt felt zat you had zee right to know.” Dr. Von Doktor said. He did his best to keep a calm, though remorseful, tone. Presentation was everything. “If you wish to zeek revenge on zem for what zey have done, you will need my help. I know zem better zan you. I know how you could get even wiz zem.”

The tornado’s body seemed to almost quake. Von could not tell if it was out of desire or rage. “Hurt creator. Hurt them.”

“Yez, I know you want to get zem back for what zey did to Terry. It iz zuch a shame what happened to her.” Von shook his head a few times, tsking. “I can promize you zat zey will not get away wiz zat. I, too, would like to get zem back for zat.”

“Go now. Find. Attack.”

Von narrowed his eyes softly and shook his head. “I’m zorry. But we need to plan firzt.”

“No plan. Time gone. Revenge. Pay.”

Von noted that the twister’s motions seem to be a little more aggressive now. The twister almost seemed to spin faster at that statement. The twister’s winds were so swift that if it tried to go towards one of the walls, it would more likely than not tear through it, shattering it into pieces. If that happened, Von would need to be as far away as possible.

He needed to think of something fast. He could not allow the twister to get too riled up. If he did, then the twister might go on a rampage without him. He did not want to kill his enemies. Not yet. He wanted to first thing if there was anything he could do with them. Some kind of data input or something. He realized it might be a bit too wasteful to just kill them off.

But exactly what could he do with them? With zoners, he at least had some ideas. Not so with a human. The only thing he could think of was further study of a human using magic chalk. But he wasn’t about to test that on himself.

He furrowed his eyes at the memories of Penny. He had her in his custody, and he had the opportunity to study right then. But the little girl did not cooperate. She had chosen not to activate the magic chalk in order to hide what happened. She must have used the magic chalk for so long that she had learned how to hide the activation process. If that is the case, then he was going to need someone who did not have such ability. Someone who was still so new that they did not completely figure out the process for thesmelves. But where could he find such a person without resorting to going back to the Real World?

That’s when he took notice of the change in demeanor in the twister. It seemed to almost hold still, save for the swirling wind. Its ‘head’, if it even had one, almost appeared to be looking to the side, or towards the ceiling. It seemed almost hyper aware of something. Judging from the few quivers that it had, he could guess what it was.

“One of zem are approaching...” Von said softly. He tilted his head to one side. “Aren’t zey?”

The tornado bent its body forward and then back. Perhaps its way of nodding. “Two zoners. One creator. Big. Possibly adult.”

Dr. Von Doktor’s eyes widened at this. “An adult, you say...?” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He pressed on. “What gender? And what build, if you are able to determine that?” He guessed that the tornado being air meant that it could use air in general as a way of detecting things close by.

“Female. Thin.”

“Ah... So Inez Zanchez haz come to play, haz she?” Von said with a small smirk. Yes, she would make the perfect test subject. She didn’t know much about magic chalk, now did she? She would be unable to hide anything. “Let’z pay her a visit, shall we?”

sss

“Look, I don’t care what kind of evidence you have. I’m not buying it.” Terry said with a grumble. “Now why don’t you leave me alone? I’m expecting someone.”

“I seriously doubt he’ll be here in time before visiting hours are over. Besides, you know how much trouble that Tabootie kid is. He is a menace and you know it.” Ms. Tweezer said, growling softly.

Terry would have rolled her eyes if that didn’t cause her pain. She would have glared at the woman if she was able to actually see her. Instead, the only thing she could do to show her disgruntlement of the woman was a curled up lip.

This was not something she wanted to deal with right now. She already had a lot to worry about, concerning what had happened to her. She was more interested to know how she had gotten hurt than she was about any grand scheme Rudy was up to. She could care less what that boy was up to right now. Not like she could do much to him anyway, blind and all. The little brat would likely take advantage of her condition. She could not allow him the chance at that.

So here she laid in her hospital bed. Leaning back against it, head tilted, just waiting for whatever. Her eyesight to come back. The pain to go away. For more bad news. For some good news. Whatever awaited her. That was all she could do.

“Oh come on! You must be at least a little interested!”

Terry hissed softly as she heard the woman’s irritating voice again. Ms. Tweezer was really determined, wasn’t she? Most people would lose enthusiasm at some point after realizing the person they are talking with had no interest. But not this woman. Oh no... Instead, she seemed to only become and more excited about going after Rudy, and was desperate in trying to get her to come along with her.

Well okay, not literally. Terry was blind at the moment and would be of litle use in this woman’s crazy brigade. But she was interested in any information she could provide her. This woman hadn’t said exactly why yet, but she had thought that she would be able to tell her something regarding Rudy. What exactly she thought she was going to say, she wasn’t certain.

And right now, she could care less. She just wishe dthat Ms. Tweezer would see that. The woman knew that she was in pain, that the very act of moving her eyes was painful, and yet it was something she could not avoid. It was quite hard keeping her eyes still, and once in a while, she found herself moving them from side to side.

Terry was aware of just how insane she would sound to someone whenever she ranted on about the chalk world. But Ms. Tweezer was even crazier. Compared to her, she was normal.

Rudy trying to bring forth an army of the unreal? Kids rebelling with the unreal? The unreal taking over everyone? That sounded more insane than any story she could possibly cook up with the chalk world. Terry could only imagine the headlines of that unreal stuff with Ms. Tweezer, and the names she would be called. She mentally shook her head in shame. The female artist would never be able to live that down.

“Look, you need to tell me exactly what happened.” Ms. Tweezer’s irritated voice said. “If we don’t take action soon...”

“What do you mean ‘we’? I’m not going to involve myself in your kooky plans!” Terry snapped.

“Kooky?! Well look who is talking! You’re the one who rants on about some unreal location! I should have known that you would try to...”

“Oh shut up!” Terry bared her teeth. “Right now, I’m not even thinking about that chalk world! I was attacked! Don’t you get it?! I was attacked by someone and I need to know who did it! Right now, that’s way more important to me!”

There was a bit of silence. Then a soft hiss. “I see then.... I can tell you have problems with your priorities.”

Terry felt a sting in her heart at this, and she could feel a wave of anger come over her. She took in a deep breath and forced it out slowly. She repeated this until her temper went down. No, she was not going to waste time being angry at this woman. It would do her no good. There were more important things to worry about than petty anger.

Such as learning the name of her attacker....

She hoped that Vinnie Raton would be able to find such information. He had been gone a long time, longer than she imagined it would take. But maybe he was just having a hard time finding out. She wouldn’t be surprised. There was probably hardly even a trail for that man to follow.

But he wouldn’t give up. That was one thing she liked about him. He had such a strong determination. He would not likely give up, even if the trail seemed cold. His obsession with the chalk world theme park was proof of that. Even after his initial encounter, he had still kept on holding onto the hope that he would find his way back into that chalk world.

So she entrusted him to use that same determination to find her attacker. She knew he’d do it, especially if he himself could be in danger. He would not give up until he found some kind of clue. She just hoped that whatever he found would be good enough to locate her attacker and bring him to justice.

“I don’t know why you’re ignoring me! You know you want to...”

Terry turned her head in the direction of the voice, despite the fact she could not see her. Maybe with her eyes open, but they were presently shut and she dare not open them due to the pain. “You know, I’m getting really annoyed with you. Why don’t you go and find someone who cares?”

A loud hiss, breath seething between clenched teeth. “How fucking dare you... I come here, wanting to help you after what Rudy did to you, and this is how you repay me?!”

“What?!” Terry’s eyes widened, the eyelids still covering them. “You think Rudy did this to me?!”

“Well who else?” The artist replied, speaking in a matter-of-factly voice. “The little brat has every motivation to hurt you. He obviously needed some kind of guinea pig to test out his plan, and who better than you?” A pause, and Terry imagined that she was narrowing her eyes further. “The same woman who had been a thorn in his side when you kept on trying to ‘interview’ him?”

Terry let out a hiss. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Look, I hate Rudy Tabootie, yes. I think he’s a selfish brat who is trying to hog this discovery all to himself. But, if there is one thing I can say about him, it’s that he would not resort to something like this.” She pointed her finger at her face, where her injured eyes were. “Rudy is hardly a violent kid. He might annoy me. He might make me bald. But he’d never hurt me. Neither would his stupid friends, Penny and Snap.”

Terry never thought she’d see the day when she would be defending Rudy. But she just couldn’t help it. She could not bring herself to believe that Rudy would do this willingly to her. And it shocked her that Ms. Tweezer would even consider such a thing. What made her believe that Rudy would be violent? She could see causing a riot at worse, but actually hurt someone the way she was? She could not see it in the boy.

“Go away.” Terry hissed softly. “I’ve had it with talking with you. If you want to find someone else for your crusade, be my guest.” She turned her head away. “I’m having none of it.”

“Why you...bitch!” Ms. Tweezer yelled at her. Terry could hear her foot steps rapidly coming over towards her. “I am sticking my neck out for you, and you just...”

“Yes, I understand your irritation. But perhaps you could try to understand my situation. I’m blind, I’m hurt, and you don’t think I want to know what happened?” Terry growled.

“Rudy was the one who attacked you!”

“No he did not!”

“Why the fuck are you defending that boy?!”

“Because he is innocent! If you’re going to blame a little boy for what happened to me, then you deserve all the mocking you have gotten over your ‘unreal’ freakout stunt!”

There was a bit of silence. Terry could only hear the woman breathe. She wondered if she was angry, or if she was in shock. At first, it was difficult ot say. Without being able to see, it wasn’t lilke she could prepare properly. But then she heard the low growling, and, with a heart skip, she realized what she was in for.

It took only seconds for the woman to reach her. Terry barely had any time to react when she felt hands around her throat. She gave a choked gasp and she struggled. She pushed against Ms. Tweezer the best that she could, her hands flailing out blindly.

Terry was unaware of how long this had taken place. Though Ms. Tweezer never attempted to actually choke her, she still held her down, shouting profanities to her, going as far as condemning her to rot in hell. Terry realized, in horror, that she may have just awoken the demon with those words she spoke. She realized that she should have been more careful, and now it was too late to take back what she said.

A few moments later, she could hear a doctor shout in horror. She heard the stomping of footsteps as multiple people came in. She wasn’t sure how many. Perhaps three? Four? More? At the moment, she didn’t care. All she wanted was for this woman to be taken away.

She got her wish when she felt the woman’s hands slipping off of her when, as she would imagine, Ms. Tweezer was yanked from her. The woman must be struggling really hard. She could hear loud grunts in the air, which faded slowly as the woman was, presumably, dragged down the hallway.

Then she heard a softer, more gentle voice. “Are you okay, Ms. Bouffant?”

Terry took in a few shaky breaths, unnerved by what had just happened. “Y-Yeah... I am..” She managed to say in a soft whisper.

“Don’t worry, she won’t get you again. We’ll see to that.”

Despite the doctor’s reassuring words, Terry couldn’t help but remain nervous. She knew that something could always go wrong, and that she had to keep an eye out for that deranged woman. Or ear out, specifically. She would never know when or if that woman would show up again, or what she might do, given her current state of mind.

But for now, at least she could try to relax a little. She took in a few slow breaths as she felt herself start to relax again. Though still shaken by what happened, at least now she could try to be calmer. Soon her shaking stopped, and she laid back on her bed. The doctor asked if there was anything she could do, but she declined, instead just wanting to be left alone for a little while. The doctor obligued and he walked out of the room, leaving her alone to think.

sss

Penny shivered as she was surrounded by cold. Freezing darkness shrouded her, giving her nowhere to run, nowhere to go. Left and right, she turned, trying to find a way out of here. But there was nothing. Just blackness everywhere she looked. Seeing no obvious place for her to turn, she began to move forward slowly.

Each step felt like it took a ton of effort just to make. She could feel a strange heaviness in her legs. It made her nearly trip over a few times. It was so stiff and she felt her hiss each time she walked, and yet she could not feel any pain. How very strange...

Where was she? And how did she get here? Where was everyone? Why was she all alone?

She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to comfort herself with her own warmth. She sucked on her lip as she headed down. She shifted her gaze from side to side nervously. She wasn’t aware of just how long she had been here. Only that she had been walking for a while now. She wanted to see something, anything, that would indicate the end of her jouney. Even something as simple as a small light. Yet, there was nothing.

She could not even tell if she was indoors, if she was in a cave, if she was blind, or if he was out during the night on a new moon, and the stars were all blocked by the thick, dark clouds of the sky. This lack of information filled her heart with dread, and she began to flip through her mind as she struggled to figure out just what was going on here.

Nothing around her was helping. There was no indication of what was going on. Nothing to help guide her out of here. All she could do was keep in moving, hoping and praying that she would reach something that was familiar.

Eventually, out in the distance, she began to see something. She paused and put her hand over her eyes, squinting as she stared out. She looked around that small area, taking in all the details that she could.

A few shapes... Kinda roundish... Just floating there... They almost looked like...

Her eyes widened, and she felt her mouth tick into a smile. It was them. It was the others. They were here. Her mom, and her two friends Snap and Rudy, they were here. How did they get here? How did they find her? How long had they been looking for her?

She didn’t waste too much time on asking those questions. Right now, the only thing that mattered was getting to them. Once they regrouped, they could work in finding a way out of here. The fact that she could see them indicated they had some kind of light source. So at least that would help them out a little in finding their way out of this place. If she could get a visual on this area, and just what kind of landscape it was, she could then use that to figure out what to do to get out.

Penny quickened her pace. Her smile remain plastered on her face as she ran towards them. She reached her hand out, happiness and glee practically overflowing from her face. Never before had she been so happy to see her friends and mother.

“Guys!” She squealed with excitement. “It’s you! I’m so glad to see you! How did you guys get here?”

Strangely, they did not answer her. Heck, they didn’t even move. Penny did find this rather odd. It certainly wasn’t like them. They must have heard her. She wasn’t that far away. So why aren’t they answering her?

She dismissed it as perhaps they were just too busy trying to figure out some times. They were probably just as lost as she was in this black pit of darkness. She couldn’t hear anything, but they were probably just whispering to each other. Maybe there was some kind of heated debate going on between them. She imagined her mother and Snap fighting a little.

Yeah, it was nothing serious. Just some kind of discussion going on between them and they were just too distracted to really hear her. She would try again when she got closer.

As soon as she was within about ten feet, which should be close enough, she tried again. “Hey guys! What’s going on here? Where are we?” But just like before, there was no answer. Penny immediately became confused and her eyes softened up, her mouth turning into a frown. “Guys...?”

The heads turned towards her. Penny gasped and slowed down and soon she came to a complete stop. The eyes staring back at her... It wasn’t filled with the warmth and welcoming that she expected. Instead, white dots stared into her soul, filled with a coldness similar to what she was feeling before. She could feel a shiver go up and down her spine. She found herself hugging her arms against herself, rubbing her arms up and down, trying to warm herself up.

Those eyes, that expression... It was almost accusatory. Penny bit her lip and gulped. Why were they upset with her? What had she done to deserve those looks? She...she never did anything to... She didn’t know why that... She shivered and took a few steps back.

And all the while, they would just stare at her. It was almost as if they were trying to guilt her, trying to get her to confess in some unknown crime that she could not identify. She bit her lip again, driving her teeth into her fleshy lip. What was going on here? What did they want from her? Penny wanted to speak to them, but she remained frozen where she stood, unable to think of anything to say.

Then the heads just turned away from her, as if they trying to ignore her. Penny felt her heart sting at this. Why were they ostracizing her? What had she done to them?

Then came the voices.

“Oh great, she is here.”

“Why did she come here? She has no value to us.”

“Useless. Just like Ms. Bouffant had said.”

Penny took in a few shuddering breaths. Her chest inflated and deflated quickly as those words buzzed around her head. She shook her head slowly, unable to believe what she was hearing.

No..they wouldn’t think that about her... No, her friends and family loved and cared for her. Rudy stood up for her. There’s no way that they would think any of this stuff. It...It had to be an illusion right? Yeah, she just had to ignore it and...

“Why is she still here? Why won’t she just disappear?”

“Why can’t she see that she’s not wanted anymore?”

“Go away, you useless bitch!”

“Run! Abandon us like you did before!”

“Leave us alone! We don’t want you anymore!”

Penny clutched her head as those horrid words buzzed around her mind. She shut her eyes tightly and put her hands over her ears. She tried to block out the voices. But they kept bombarding her, breaking through her defenses, forcing her to listen to what they had to say.

“Looks like she’s trying to ignore us. Stupid bitch! Stop trying to run away from your responsibilities!”

“You could have helped us stop Dr. Von Doktor, but instead you chose to let yourself get beaten! Ms. Bouffant was right about you! You are a worthless piece of shit! Just go on and die for the sake of everyone!”

Tears flowed down Penny’s face. She took a few more steps back. Despite her best efforts to ignore the voices, it was just no use. Her body trembling like a leaf, her mind swirling with rapid thoughts, she turned ands he began to run away. She didn’t look back. She just kept running, tears flying behind her as she started to sob.

Beside her, she could see flashes of color, and familiar faces glaring harshly at her. She didn’t dare look at them. She could not bare to look into those cold, hateful eyes from the ones that were supposed to be her loved ones. She shut her eyes and kept running, their terrible words echoing heavily in her mind, forcing her to listen to their cruel chanting over and over again.

“Liar! Deciever! Bitch! Useless!”

Penny cried harder at these. Her efforts to try to keep her sanity by reminding her that her loved ones would never talk to her this way was useless. Her emotions creeped to the forefront, spilling out in the form of warm, salty tears.

She didn’t know where she was going. She still didn’t know where she was. Right now, that did not matter to her. All she wanted to do was get out of here, to get away from those voices. She could hear them continuing to chant to her, her brain aching from the overcrowding of those words. She could feel her heart clench so tightly, she thought it would stop beating altogether. The weight of what they said pushed down onto her back, and her legs felt wobbly and weak. She was amazed she could even keep going.

After a few minutes of running in the darkness, she tripped on something hard. She let out a yelp as she fell into the ground. She tumbled across the ground a few times. She landed in a thud on her stomach. She lifted up her head and shook it. She then stared at the faces above her.

They looked just like her loved ones, only they were sneering coldly at her, laughing at her pain, and she could practically feel the hatred glowing off their faces. She curled up in a ball and sobbed hard, shutting her eyes in a weak attempt to block out what was happening. Darkness consumed her and she dared not to open her eyes.

That is, until one voice struck out through the thickness of the taunts.

“Penny?”

This voice was much more soothing and gentle. Penny opened up one eye and looked up. “H-Hello...?”

“Penny! Please, wake up!”

Wake up...? What...?

Penny didn’t have a chance to make sense of that. Almost immediately, everything darkened up even more than what it was now, a feat she did not think was possible. A dark cloud swirled around her. She straightened herself up, holding her hand out, trying to get out. It was useless. In a matter of seconds, she was consumed. And then a bright flash of light struck through, illuminating the landscape in a powerful boom.

sss

Penny let out a soft groan as she lifted herself up. She was suddenly aware of light all around her. Through her eyelids, she could detect it. She attempted to open them up, only to be greeted by a sharp, intense pain. She immediately shut them, letting out a soft whimper as she did so. She lowered her head, her brain feeling as though it was spinning from the events that had occurred. She gritted her teeth and seethed.

Realization struck her hard. It had been just a dream... A horrible nightmare... But still just a dream all the same. She took in a few slow breaths, in and out, her mind finally realizing that the harsh words spoken to her had not been given to her by her real loved ones. A sense of relief hit her, but her body was still so full of energy, and she couldn’t stop her shaking.

“Penny...what’s wrong?” That voice again. Now it wasn’t so distorted anymore, or far away. She recognized that voice. She couldn’t help but smile. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“Y-Yeah... But I’m fine now. Thanks.” Penny said. She turned her head in the direction she heard the voice. She did not try to open her eyes, not wanting to hurt herself again. “Hey, Howdy... Where is everyone?”

Howdy seemed to hesitate for a moment. Penny briefly feared that this meant something serious, but maybe the little guy was just trying to figure out exactly how to tell her. “Well, they headed out to try to find Von and that tornado.”

At the mention of the tornado, Penny’s eyes widened in horror, the lids still covering her visual orbs. That’s right.... Her mind flashed white several times as she recalled the incident not so long ago, where there was an explosion, and then sharp stuff, and then some strong wind...

She could feel her heart tighten in cold, icy fear when she realized that it was that twister from before. The same one that Rudy had managed to lock away under a shield of diamond. Whether or not Dr. Von Doktor had known that and had intended in freeing it was not of her concern. It didn’t matter. What did matter was the fact that they now had not just a creator to worry about, but a sentient tornado, which might be capable of holding a grudge.

So many terrifying thoughts swept through her mind at that thought. Just what would such a twister be capable of? What would it do? Would it take sadistic pleasure in destroying homes? Would it try to come after Rudy or her or the others that it had encountered that day? There were so many terrifying possibilities, and she found herself clutching her head, trying to get her mind’s thoughts to slow down.

“This is bad...” Howdy whispered softly, echoing her thoughts. “What are we going to do? Rudy was lucky that he was able to stop that twister. How is he going to...”

“I’m not sure.” Penny felt her heart sting at just how terrified Howdy sounded. “Rudy and I both aren’t in any condition to try to stop the twister ourselves. Rudy is hospitalized and me... well...” She waved her hand in front of her face. “My eyes hurt right now. I can’t see a damn thing. How can I draw anything if I can’t see?”

Penny felt her heart drop when she let the full realization of that strike her. The horrible words in her dreams came back. Worthless...useless... She really were those things right now. She couldn’t do anything to help. Without her sight, what use was she? She lowered her head in shame, feeling great remorse for not being able to help out her friends.

She could practically feel Howdy’s stare on her. She couldn’t tell if it was accusatory or not. She would have tried to open her eyes and see, but she was afraid of not just the pain, but what she might find. Would Howdy blame her, even just partially, for this? Would he begin to scold her and tell her how she should have been able to help them in their time of need? Would he blame her for their misfortune?

She turned her head away. She let out a shaky sigh. “I-I’m sorry...” She wasn’t sure why she blurted it out. But there it was. There, she said it. She waited to hear Howdy’s angered response, his ‘how dare you try to apologize’ statement.

But what she got instead was something completely different.

“Why are you sorry?” Howdy asked. “There is nothing to apologize for.”

Penny would have stared at the zoner in shock if she could. The shock value was not lost on her voice. “Howdy...I should have been more careful. I should have not allowed myself to get hurt. I should be out there, helping them find and stop Von and the twister! And yet here I am, cooped up in this place, unable to do a damn thing!” She could feel a few tears form in her eyes. “I-I’m such an idiot... I...”

A soft growl. One out of frustration. She never thought she’d hear a sound like that coming from Howdy of all people.

“Now what kind of attitude is that?!” Howdy snapped at her. “You know for a fact that none of this is your fault! Don’t bring yourself down like this, Penny! Don’t waste your time on the what-ifs! This isn’t like you!”

Penny kept her head turned in the puppet zoner’s direction for several moments, her shocked mind processing what he was saying. She remained in stunned silence before guilt again washed over her. She gritted her teeth for a second and she said, “I still could have done something different. I could have moved faster...I could have gotten out of the way quicker... I...”

“Well you didn’t! And you know what? There’s nothing you can do about that now! So stop whining about it!” Howdy said with a slight snarl.

Penny flinched. It certainly was not very comfortable listening to Howdy speak in a way that she was not used to. Maybe he was just tired of all the shit that was going on. He was forced to work for Von and Terry for a short while, and in that speck of time, he had seen some really horrible things. It did make sense that the zoner got tired of that and wanted to focus more on taking action.

But she wasn’t sure if she could really believe in the words he was saying. She didn’t know if she could believe that it wasn’t her fault. She still could have done something, right? She could have tried harder to...just do something else, other than let herself get caught up in the explosion. If she had just taken better action and stopped Von, then none of this would have happened. It..It is all her fault...

Howdy spoke up again. “Look, I know you are feeling quite bad about what happened. But Penny, what will feeling sorry for yourself do? How will we be able to stop Von if you continue to beat yourself up over this? Let’s just move on and think about what we can do! Come on, I know you can do this!”

Penny wasn’t so sure. What could she do in her current position? What was she going to be able to accomplish when she could not see anything? She would be lucky if she would be able to draw simple shapes without being able to see the lines and their locations. She would not be able to do much against Dr. Von Doktor or the twister. She would not even be able to see what was coming. How could she be of any help?

In her condition, about the only thing she could draw were scribbles. And what fuck good were they going to do? Was she going to draw a bunch hope that they clog up whatever Von and the twister were doing? Even if they weren’t working together, that still meant nothing. She...

The scribbles.... Her eyes would have widened if she could. Her mind flashed back to what happened when Rudy and the others, including herself, were faced off against the twister. She recalled that Sophie had drawn a ton of scribbles, and it had formed into some kind of creature and...

That’s it. That’s what she could do. She shifted her head towards where she last heard Howdy’s voice.

“Do you know what happened to the scribble creature that Sophie had drawn here before?”

Howdy was silent for a few seconds. “I... I don’t know. I...”

“Go find out!” Penny said, her eyes narrowed deeply. This just might be the one chance that they had.