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Mar 1, 2015 17:47:46 GMT -5
Post by Bluedramon on Mar 1, 2015 17:47:46 GMT -5
Chapter 46: Experimentals
Two steps forward. Two steps back. End up where you started.
sss
Inez stared at Dr. Von Doktor in horror. Those words echoed in her head. Over and over, they taunted her. She found herself taking a step back, stopped only by the loud howl of the twister behind her. She turned her head and stared at the twister with wide, fright-filled eyes, and then turned her head back towards Von, the expression never leaving her.
The man couldn’t be serious, could he...? He couldn’t be wanting to...toy with her like that, right...?
The idea was frightening. It was bad enough that she might get experimented on. But if the man was going to go...that route... Or maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he meant something else entirely. But even if that is the case, that still did not do much to lessen the horror of what he had said.
Her heart racing quickly, she found herself looking left and right, trying to find some way to get out of here. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. The twister would grab her for certain. The doors were locked. She was completely trapped. This realization made her shake harder. She rubbed her hands together nervously, staring at the man in fear and horror. She licked her lips nervously and gulped, the man’s eyes twinkling sending shivers down her spine.
“Now come on... put it on.” Von said. The tone of his voice did little to disprove the woman’s initial theory. “We’ve got work to do.”
Inez looked down at the cuffs and collar in her hand. She licked her lips nervously, biting them. She looked back at Von. Her mind flashed with different, increasingly disturbing imagery about what was going to happen to her. She found it difficult to move, and for a few seconds, she remained standing there, not doing anything.
Von didn’t like this. He glared at her, his teeth baring. “I zaid put it on! Or did you want zomezing to happen to your dear little daughter...?”
Inez snapped her head back at that threat. She shook her head rapidly. “N-No...”
“Good.” Von said. He folded one arm against himself, the other arched outward to point at her. “Put on your zingz and follow me. I would like to get ziz ztarted az zoon az pozzible.”
“What are you going to do?” Inez found herself asking.
Von narrowed his eyes further. “Zat iz zomezing you will have to find out on your own. If I tell you...well it might ruin everyzing.” He tilted his head downward slightly. His pupils focused on the collar and cuffs in the woman’s hand. “Az zoon az you put zoze on, we can get everyzing underway.”
“But don’t I get to at least know what you...” Inez started to ask.
Von snarled at her, “No! Now put that ztuff on now before I make you!” He stomped his foot down once to emphasize his words.
The immaturity level that Von was displaying weren’t lost on Inez. But she hardly focused on that. She had little room to really criticize him for acting like a little child. Not while she was trapped in this room, in his clutches, a twister standing behind her, and with so many dark, twisted promises that seemed to shine from the man’s eyes. Unable to think of anything to say in response and not wanting to find out how the man was going to force her to put this stuff on, she unwillingly obligued.
She first put the collar on. She winced when she felt just how tight and snug it was against her neck. Then she put on the cuffs, left one first, then right. She then turned her attention to Von. She lowered her hands at her side and glared softly at him. She didn’t say a word, but with her expression and the way her head was turned, she was giving him a silent message: are you happy now?
And indeed, the man was happy. The frown he had on before was gone. Replacing it was a pleased smile. The sight of it made Inez shudder and she was tempted to move backwards. The only thing stopping her was that blasted twister. If it weren’t around...
“Very nize. Zey look good on you.” Von’s compliment was quite unnerving. “Now we can truly begin. Well...not yet.” Von turned his back to her. He lifted up his hand in gesture. “Firzt, you need to follow me.”
Inez was about to ask him what he planned on doing. But she stopped herself once she reminded herself that Von was not going to answer. The old scientist seemed quite determined to keep it a secret. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe he wanted her to be surprised? Maybe he simply didn’t know?
Though she hated having to submit to this horrid man, she obeyed him and she followed the man, staying close behind him. She had no idea what this man was going to do with her, but she had little choice but to follow him. As he led her towards one of the corners of the room, her mind was filling with multiple questions. They buzzed around her head, refusing to leave her alone. The fact that she could not answer any of them caused her to develop a headache.
Soon, Von had led her to some kind of piece of machinery. She couldn’t really tell what it was. It had some kind of seat, and it looked to have handlebars in the front. There was a monitor in front of her, there were several coils all around that seemed to hook the seat up here, and there were some other details that she found quite hard to describe, even to herself.
Before she had time to really ask the man what this was for, she felt him grab her shoulders and push her into the chair. She let out a grunt as she landed on the seat. She narrowed her eyes briefly. The seat was a little uncomfortable. She tried to adjust herself, but the man had grabbed onto her arms and yanked them forward. She let out a surprised yelp and she shot him a glare. He ignored her as he strapped her wrists to the bars she had seen before. What she found really odd was that they were restrained differently; her left hand was pinned completely while her right had some freedom, but not enough to really be of much use to her.
The man then went for her legs. Inez shut her eyes tightly and grunted as she felt a sting of something cold pinching her skin. Von had applied metal cuffs to her legs. She heard a jingle and she realized that her feet had been chained to this..whatever this thing was. She pulled on her left leg to test out the strength of the cuffs. She didn’t need to tug for long to know that there was no way she was getting out of it.
Inez turned her head towards Von. The man was tugging on the chain on her right as if he wanted to make sure that they would hold. She narrowed her eyes. “Okay then... Now can I find out just what you are going to do? Just..what kind of fun are you going to have with me?”
Von, who was apparently finished, took a step away from her. He went over to her side. He folded his arms behind his back. “Well you zee... I am quite dizappointed zat I couldn’t learn much from your dear daughter.” Inez hissed at this, recalling how the man had strapped her daughter to a chair. “Zo I zink I will try again. But wiz you.”
Inez’s eyes widened at this. Then they narrowed. “Well you’re just going to be disappointed again. If your equipment didn’t pick up anything before, what makes you think that this time is going to be any different?”
“Becauze I’m going to make a few chancez. Before, all I did waz ztrap her in a machine and tried to get her to draw. Well that did not turn up any rezultz, zo ziz time, I’ll try a new approach.” Dr. Von Doktor walked out of the woman’s line of sight. She turned her head as far as it could go, ignoring the pain in her neck as she tried to see him. She didn’t have to stay like this long before the man came back towards her, holding something in his hand. “I zink zat ziz will turn the tidez for me.”
Inez stared at the object in confusion. What was the man talking about? All she could really see was some kind of small box. It didn’t look like anything very special. Why was he holding it like that? Why was he stroking it as if it was some kind of special flower? She resisted the urge to shake her head. She was almost disappointed.
Von cocked up an eyebrow when he took note of the woman’s expression. Inez just stared almost blankly at him. She didn’t say a word. Her expression alone was enough to tell the man how confused she was about the whole thing. Von furrowed his eyes slightly, and Inez wondered if he, on some level, was disappointed himself. Had he expected her to react more in fear?
She found out a few seconds later. The man pressing his finger against one portion of the box, and the affect was as sudden as it was horrifying.
Inez found herself screaming in absolute agony as something swept through her body. Something hot, sharp, painful. It wasn’t electricity. It was...something different. Something that made her twist and writhe against the thing she was strapped to. A few seconds later, the man released the pressure, and Inez slumped against the machine, her body giving a few twitches of pain.
She looked up at him in horror, her eyes wide like saucers. Just what was that? What did the man do to her? She could still feel the sting of...whatever the hell that thing was. She could feel it stretching through her arm, ripping through it like it was nothing. It was almost like someone had stuck multiple tiny knives into her and was slicing her from the inside out. She felt the urge to rub her arms, and she struggled a little to do so, only for the cuffs to grow tighter around her.
Von stared down at her coldly, which only added to the horror of the situation. She took in a few breaths, her mouth dropping open wide as she tried to regain her composure. But how could she do that after...whatever it is that happened...? She wasn’t sure how long it would take before the fear would finally leave her, for her body to stop shaking like a leaf in the wind.
“Zat was a warning.” Dr. Von Doktor said icily. “Do zat again, and I will turn it up a notch.” He leaned in a little towards her. His eyes locked onto hers. “Do you underztand me?”
Inez would have retorted if it weren’t for the situation. She gulped and nodded her head slowly. “Y-Yes, sir...” She found herself saying. The act of calling him ‘sir’ felt so...submissive and compliant. A fact that she hated, but she did nothing to correct it. She didn’t think she’d have the energy for it right now.
Dr. Von Doktor, on the other hand, was rather pleased with her surrender. He leaned away from her, his face changing to something more...friendly she guessed the word would be. He simply nodded his head in approval before taking a step back away from her. He moved his eyes up and down her, regarding her, his mind’s gears clearly turning.
Inez remained silent as she did this. She wasn’t thinking of questions. She wasn’t thinking of retorts. She wasn’t thinking of anything except for the pounding pain still running through her body and the thundering crackle in her head. Her mind raced even after she settled down a little. She began to wonder just how she was going to get out of here now. As she stared over at the man, she couldn’t help but feel raw terror rush through her. What was this man going to do with her?
Von raised up the box in his hand again. He held it out, allowing Inez to see it. Now knowing what it did, the sight of it made Inez shiver in fright. “Did you enjoy zee demonztration? I did. It was quite fun.” He looked down at the device, smirking in an almost prideful manner. “I like to call it neon lightning.”
Inez couldn’t stop a small chortle from escaping her lips. “Neon lightning? That’s a stupid name... Ow!” Inez jolted when the man sent another attack through her body. This one was, thankfully, very brief. She lowered her head and panted a few times. “Er...I mean...it’s...nice...”
“Zat iz more like it... Yez... Ziz iz quite a brilliant invention. Made entirely pozzible by ziz world.” Von looked all around him. He then brought the cube towards himself. His eyes flickered. “Juzt imagine if I could reverze engineer ziz ztuff...”
“Wh-What you’re doing is...wrong...” Inez coughed painfully. She seethed, gritting her teeth. She lifted her head and looked up towards him. “Can’t you see what you’re becoming? You...never used to be like this. Aren’t you...worried about the path you are taking? Aren’t you w-worried about where you’ll end up?”
Von stared at her. For a few moments, there looked to be almost regret in his eyes. But that vanished in seconds when the man merely smiled and shut his eyes. A small chuckle from his mouth answered Inez’s questions instantly. “Oh I know. I zought of zat. A part of mine waz..frightened by the measurez I waz taking. But you know... I zink I quite like ziz. I zink ziz will all be worz it.”
Inez’s eyes widened in horror at this.
“Before, I had been too zoft. I had exerzized reztraint. And tell me, dear Mrz. Zanchez... Where haz zat gotten me?” Before Inez could answer, she let out a help as the man suddenly struck her against the head with the block. She let out a yelp of pain. “Nowhere! Zat’z what! Well no more! If being ruzlezz will get me what I want, zen zo be it!”
Inez gritted her teeth as she stared at him. A part of her wanted to say something, anything. She felt a drive to try to stop him, to calm him down and bring him back down to where he was before. But she could see that it was too late for that. The man was too far gone, and he was descending further into madness. And she was going to be the unfortunate victim to witness it.
“Now zen...” Inez shuddered as the man towered over her. He glared at her with those piercing eyes. “Let uz begin...”
sss
Dr. Von Doktor smirked as he stared down at the woman. He watched as she struggled to get herself free, trying in vain to get out of there. But of course, just like Von predicted, she didn’t get very far. She would have ended up yanking her arms out of their sockets long before she could break these binds that held her down.
One might say he had gone mad. One might point out that his mental state had deteriorated rapidly since he came here. He was well aware of just how far down he had fallen, how he was no longer the same person as he was when he first started. Before, he would have hesitated. He would have had second thoughts on doing experiments on this woman. He’d question the moral stand of it, and perhaps stopped himself.
Now, he was unhinged. A lot of people weren’t usually aware they were insane. But he was. He knew what he was going was wrong, but he did not care anyway. Not anymore. Like he told this woman, him holding back was what prevented him from becoming a success, or reclaiming the reputation that little brat destroyed.
Now there was no holding back. He grinned down at the woman, his smile growing twisted as he silently gave her clues of just what she was in for. The woman could only stare at him in horror. This made the man chuckle. The testing hadn’t even begun yet, and already she was acting so terrified, as if he had spent hours tormenting her. Well she wasn’t far off the dot from there. This was going to involve a lot of pain... well for her anyway. For him, it was just going to be a learning experience.
He had designed a much more...thorough machine to test the abilities of the magic chalk and how the human body can activate it. It would be certainly an unpleasant experience for Mrs. Sanchez. But it will all be worth it in the end. Maybe she will even benefit from it later.... If he is able to keep her together in one piece.
Somehow, the woman seemed to catch his hidden promises, and understood them on a deeper level than he had imagined. The way her eyes widened, her pupils shrinking, it was clear to him she understood exactly what he had in store for her. So there was no need to really explain anything. He just took a few steps away from her and stared down at her, cocking up an eyebrow.
Considering what she said before, it surprised the man very little when the woman appeared to understand what his full intentions where. So when she started to speak, he did nothing to stop her.
“Th-This...is out of..nowhere...” Mrs. Sanchez spoke softly, breathing in and out rapidly. “I-If you know what you’re d-d-doing is wrong... Then why are you... Why all this...? Why me...?”
“Becauze you are new to zee magic chalk. You won’t be able to hide itz capabilitiez from me zo well.” Von said, still smiling at her. How eerie he might look to her. “Penny waz able to prevent me from zeeing juzt how she could activate it. Zat won’t be a problem with you, ma’am.” Von walked around her slowly, his eyes moving up and down as he examined her. “Zee rezultz I’ll get from you will be....more dezizive. More helpful.”
“How long do you plan on doing this?” Mrs. Sanchez asked cautiously. Von stopped by in front of her. He stared down at her with a near blank expression. This unnerved the woman, making her breathe in and out even faster. “I-I mean... You can’t be planning on th-this forever. What are you...”
“However long I need. I will not ztop until I learn how zee magic chalk works. Zen I’ll do more experimentz to perfect my copy of it.” Von replied coolly. “I’ll be needing you for zat, too.”
“What...?” Mrs. Sanchez’s face paled slightly. “B-But you...”
“Oh? Do you zink I am dumb enough to let myzelf tezt zomezing potentially unztable? No zank you!” The man held up his hand as he spoke. “I need to be in good shape in order to zell my product. Unlike you, I will be relevant in ziz new fangled technology. Zey will need my help in working it. You, my little helper... You are juzt the guinea pig. You are nozing more zan blank zlate for me to use.”
Mrs. Sanchez stared at him in horror. Von had expected her to start struggling. To his surprirse, she didn’t. She just stared at him, unable to tear her eyes away from him.
Staring at her like this, it did bring forth some feelings of regret. Von did realize, on some level, just how far he was going with this. He hadn’t even wanted to go in this direction at first. He could feel himself being tugged further and further down this path. He had never intended on using Mrs. Sanchez this badly. Well..now look at where he was now.
But this moment of regret was fleeting, thankfully. No self-respecting scientist should allow something like petty morality get in the way of progress. If Mrs. Sanchez needed to be sacrificed, then okay. He will do it. If he needed to sacrifice those brats in the process, then so be it. Right now, there was nothing that really mattered to him anymore. Nothing except getting back his reputation.
This chalk world and the zoners and the magic, they were all going to help him accomplish that. And if he played his cards right, he could patent the magic chalk, and with only him being the distributer, he’d be able to obtain something he never could in the Real World: power.
And he was not going to let go of this chance.
“Well zat iz enough talking for now, don’t yu zink? I would like to get ztarted. I delayed long enough.” Dr. Von Doktor said. He started to make his way over when he heard the woman call out to him again. He emitted an annoyed grunt.
Mrs. Sanchez shouted, “Do you...do you really think you can get back anything you lost d-d-doing this?! Once the people f-find out, d-d-do you think they will stick by you?! They will turn on you the m-moment they find out what you did to two children! To another fellow sentient person!”
Dr. Von Doktor turned around. He looked over his shoulder and glared softly at the woman. He didn’t speak up yet. He twisted his eye in irritation. This woman was giving him quite the headache.
“Face it, Von! You’re setting yourself up for another d-disaster! This will be much worse than the p-p-perpetual motion incident! You might have had a s-s-slight chance at recovering f-f-from that. B-But with this... You will n-n-never recover!”
“Oh shut up, will you?! I can’t conzentrate wiz you yakking away like zat!” Von snapped at her, gritting his teeth.
“You just don’t get it, do you? I’m trying to warn you tha...”
The woman’s voice was reduced to muffles when Von swiftly tore a cloth from his own lab coat and fastened it around the woman’s head. It was crude and certainly not the best looking thing in the world. But it did the job just fine. The cloth pressed against the underside of the woman’s chin, a tight knot at the top to hold her lower jaw in place, preventing her from opening her mouth.
Now with little more than muffled sounds to worry about, the man turned his attention to the monitor in front. With a smile spreading across his face, he approached it. Finally, after much delay, he could get started.
But what to do first? Which of these buttons should he press? There was a number of them, each one with a different outcome. If he could just figure out what he wanted to, to narrow down the options so he could pick just one... Nah, he was just going to choose something random. He shut his eyes and immediately pressed his hand over a button without looking.
“Hmm ziz iz a good choize.” He said calmly as he peered at the button he had chosen. He looked over at Mrs. Sanchez. “Well...good enough for me, anyway. You...” He pointed at her for a second, and then turned his hand palm up. “..will find it lezz enjoyable.”
The woman’s eyes widened and she started to struggle harder. How pathetic... Well if she wanted to waste all her energy doing that, she could be his guest. She didn’t need much of her energy anyway to begin the experiments. He turned his attention back to the button. With a nasty smirk, he pulled his hand back and he slammed his palm against it.
There was instant screaming. Or at least, muffled screaming. He listened to the woman’s muffled pained cries as the neon lightning went through her body again. This time, it was serving an entirely different function. He could see bits of multi-colored light as it crawled under her skin and snaked around her right arm, almost like a serpent coiling around a tree branch. It soon reached the front and it seized her wrists.
The screams got louder as the glowing got more intense, more vivid. The man could see the colors much more clearly, especially when the neon lightning got into her fingers and began to move them against the woman’s will. He could see Mrs. Sanchez grit her teeth and shut her eyes, clearly in pain from her muscles being manipulated like this. He said nothing and watched coldly, showing no signs of satisfaction, as he waited for the neon lightning to complete its work.
In a few seconds, the neon lightning had settled in the woman’s right hand completely, just like he had designed it. Yes, things were working just as he had hoped it would. If not, even better. He watched as the woman’s hand, despite her struggles to make herself stop, began to move on its own. Her fingers were spreading out as far as they could go, and he could practically see the tension in them. It looked almost as if her hand was about to break, and the pained look in her eyes did little to deter this theory.
The man then initiated the next step. He began to turn the dial on the box in his hand. He moved it slowly and carefully in multiple directions. As he did so, the woman’s fingers began to bend and arch in different ways. This intrigued the man and he kept going, forcing the woman to bend her fingers in increasingly complicated ways.
Eventually, he got the hang of it. He was soon able to bend the fingers and wrist exactly the way he wanted it. He could make her point, flip the bird, form a fist, whatever. He got even better seconds later, and he was able to mimic the movements of drawing.
He did eventually stop once he felt he had gotten the hang of it. When he did, the woman practically slumped forward, breathing heavily from the immense pain she must have been in. He stared at her in the eyes, noting the tears of pain moving down her face. He merely shrugged his shoulders dismissively before turning around and walking away.
He reached the table set not far, where he had placed down what remained of his magic chalk. He turned his head, staring at her over his shoulders. A dark smile spread across his face, a twinkle in his eye.
“Now let uz try zat for real ziz time, okay?” Von said in a dark whisper. The woman could only whimper in response and shiver. The man was about to continue on with the experiment when something caught his attention.
A scraping sound. Footsteps. Hushed sounds. He froze where he was. His smile quickly vanished from his face. He straightened himself up. His eyes narrowed as he looked left and right. He didn’t see anything at first, but he was no fool. Someone was here. He clenched his teeth at this thought.
He turned his head towards the tornado. He wasn’t sure where the thing was looking. Impossible to tell if he was looking at him or at something else. Von narrowed his eyes further as he raised his head up. He looked all around, listening intently to any sound he could pick up. He didn’t hear anything anymore, but he was not going to lower his guard. Again he turned to the twister and gave a curt nod.
“You, guard this area.” He took a moment to again look around. “I have a feeling zat we are not alone in here...” Mrs. Sanchez gave a few confused muffles, causing the man to shoot a glare at her. “And you, try to be quiet. I don’t wish to get diztracted.”
The man’s mind filled with many thoughts. He wondered just who would dare interrupt him, who would follow him in here. Was it those zoners? No... They were blown back. Perhaps there was something else that lived in here? Nonsense, he hadn’t heard or seen any sign of someone else living here. It was completely abandoned. But...if that’s the case then...where were these sounds coming from? Something didn’t seem right.
He didn’t have long to think about this when, out of nowhere, there was a loud crash. Something broke through the ceiling above. Von lifted his head back, and he felt his body being wobbled to the side from the great force of the impact. He nearly fell off his fee. Only when he grabbed onto Mrs. Sanchez’s leg to get his balance back did he look up.
There was a dark shadow up there. He squinted his eyes, trying to see if he could get any kind of view on what it was. He couldn’t make out the shape exactly. The only thing that he could make out was that it was big.
Then he noticed something raising at its sides. Long arms with fists it seemed. They pounded against the top of the shield that he had set up. Over and over, it pounded. Each one sent vibrations through the ground, making it difficult for him to remain standing. He lost his grip on the woman’s arm and he fall onto his back. There was one final slam and then a loud crack resounded through the room. He looked up just in time to feel a huge impact that was enough to make him be lifted into the air for a few seconds.
His eye widened as he took notice of the massive...thing before him. A large beast with unnaturally colored fur. To his shock, it wasn’t as large as he had imagined it being, but it was still bigger than him. It stood up straight and pounded its chest with huge fists. Von crawled up to his feet and stared at the ape-like zone, his mind frozen in shock and unable to do much else.
Then he heard a couple of irritating voices that he hoped that he wouldn’t have had to hear again.
“Let our friend go!”
“Just make it easier on yourself and hand her over!”
Dr. Von Doktor bared his teeth as he looked up at Snap and Rapsheeba, who were perched on top of the hairy zoner’s shoulders. He gritted his teeth and growled at this. Such an inconvenience. He then gave a smile and chuckled.
“You zink I am going to give up juzt becauze you azk me?” Dr. Von Doktor said.
“No, because we demand it.” Snap pointed his rounded hand towards him. “Give up! We have you outnumbered!”
Von tried his best not to burst into laughter. Were these two for real? Did they really expect him to just give up like that? Oh man, this was quite amusing. If he weren’t in such a hurry to get this test done and over with, he would have spent a little time toying with them.
Well...he did need a few zoners for further experimentation anyway. So why not these idiots that decided to come in?
With a nasty smile, he said, “If you would like to join her...” He motioned his hand towards Mrs. Sanchez. He then gave the zoners a sideways glance his smile growing nasty. “I’ll be happy to help you wiz zat.”
“Nah, I don’t think our pack will enjoy it very much.” Rapsheeba said. The man furrowed his eyes in confusion. “Oh, you didn’t know? That creator you have there, she gave us a little...help.”
Snap tilted his head up, a smile creeping along his face. “And they should be here right about...now.”
In that instant, there was a howl and Von was soon in the presence of a small pack of sled dogs. They took position in front of the yeti and were snarling and snapping in his direction. He stared at them wide-eyed for a few seconds, his mind reeling from the realization of just how outnumbered he really was.
No, he couldn’t let himself show fear. He could not let them gain the upperhand. They thought they were so smart. They thought they were clever in coming in here and trying to ambush him. Well, he was going to show them. They would regret coming in here and trying to get a leg over him. He looked over at the twister, noticing it quivering slightly, as if eager to actually take action now. Yes, perhaps now would be a good time for that.
Smirking darkly at the zoners, he raised up his hand for them to see. He pressed his fingers together. He paused for a moment and said, “Juzt remember that you brought ziz on yourzelvez.” With that, he snapped his finger. The twister instantly obligued, and it barreled down towards the zoners.
sss
There was an instant reaction with the zoners. As the tornado headed towards them, Snap turned to Rapsheeba, his furrowed eyes shining a silent message to her. A single nod was all that was needed to confirm it. He then looked up at the yeti, and she knew exactly what to do.
With a single thrust to the side, she got out of the way of the twister, letting it fly beside them. She gritted her teeth and her huge toes gripped the ground as she did her best not to be ripped up by it. It was an incredible and difficult feat, but she managed to keep herself from being knocked up by the twister. Just what Snap and Rapsheeba were hoping for. Her large size would make it a little harder for the tornado to pick up.
But certainly not impossible. This fact was not lost on Snap, and he had taken that into account. As the twister approached, he and Rapsheeba jumped off from the yeti’s shoulders to give her slightly more manueverability now that they weren’t pressing more weight on her. They landed on the ground, their knees buckling from the force. They looked over their shoulders and watched as the female yeti kept the tornado’s attention with her yelling and taunting.
The fact that it was working told Snap just how sentient and aware that twister really was. It made him shiver. He couldn’t wait for that thing to be locked up once more.
But for now, he kept his attention on Von. The evil man was standing beside Mrs. Sanchez. He and Rapsheeba looked at Mrs. Sanchez sadly, noting how frightened she was, and how it looked as if she was in some pain. They then glared at the scientist, both of their eyes holding the same kind of question: what the fuck did he do to her?
And the man was more than happy to explain it to them. “Juzt a little experimentation iz all. She will be fine.”
Snap gritted his teeth at this. “You...bastard...”
Von cocked an eyebrow at this. “Aren’t you a little too young to be using zuch language?” He paused for a moment. Furrowing his eyes and putting his hand to his chin thoughtfully, he said, “Hmm...well you don’t age like uz humanz. Could you be, in fact, an adult and you juzt look young?” Snap and Rapsheeba didn’t answer his question. He didn’t seem bothered by this and simply shrugged. “Well zat iz zomezing elze I can look into wiz more experimentz. I’ll find my anzwer zat way.”
“That is, if we let you...” Rapsheeba said in a lower voice than usual. “Unless you think we’re dumb enough to just let you get away with such an atrocity.”
“We’re not going to allow you to...” Snap started to say before the man’s cold laughter cut him off. His blood heating up, he snarled, “What the fuck is so funny?!”
Von smirked darkly at them. He hadn’t attempted to come forward yet. Snap guessed that was only because of the fact that the sled dogs were standing between him and them. The man had magic chalk but he didn’t seem so keen on using it yet, likely saving it for an experimentation. But despite the fact they weren’t currently in danger from this guy, that didn’t make it anymore comfortable to be around him.
The man’s dark smile did little to help them feel better either. It was so chilling and twisted, and held so many hidden promises. Snap and Rapsheeba felt cold chills when they saw the way he was looking at them. There was no doubt in their minds that the man would love to experiment on them next. It was as if the man had gone mad with power over someone else’s life. It was truly a sickening sight to behold.
Dr. Von Doktor grinned broadly, his eyes shining with a strong hint of insanity. “You zonerz...you want to take away what iz mine, right? You want to try to ztop me? You...you zink you can tell me what I can and can’t do?”
His laughter filled the air. It was rather unnerving to listen to. But it was even more unsettling when he suddenly stopped and gave them a very serious, dark look. Snap licked his lips nervously and he took a small step backwards. He wondered just what the man was going to do now.
“Well you are wrong on zat. I have no intention on going anywhere. Zere iz zo much zat I need to learn. Zere iz much zat needz to be done. I am clinging to ziz one chanze to claim what I deserve. You two.... You have no right to try to ztop me.” The man paused for a moment. The smile returned, softer than it was before. “However, you two will ztill be of use to me. If you zubmit to me quickly, I promize I will not allow you zuffer. Well... at leazt for long.” Snap and Rapsheeba growled and took a step back. “Continue to rezizt like zat, and I cannot guarantee how long it will take before your bodiez will eventually give out...”
Despite the man’s obvious threat, Snap and Rapsheeba refused to comply. They adopted defensive stances as they prepared for a possible brawl with the man. The dogs’ hackles rose up as they snarled at the man. Snap glared at the man, his eyes locking onto his. They stayed like this for several seconds, the tension in the small area rising up tremendously.
Then, after a few moments, the man appeared to get the message that they weren’t going to back down. He folded his arms against his chest, shaking his head in what seemed like disappointment. “Tzk..tzk... I gave you boz a way out, and you declined. How pitiful...”
“We would rather fight than surrender you to.” Snap growled softly. Rapsheeba and the dogs echoed his sentiment.
Von raised an eyebrow. Then he said darkly, “Zen..zo be it...”
Snap and Rapsheeba continued to hold their ground, even as the man started to walk slowly towards them, ignoring the barking dogs. Neither of them had any idea if their plan was going to work. It all depended on if Howdy could succeed in his mission. For now, all they could do was hold up their end of the plan.
They just hoped that it was going to be enough to stop Von.
sss
Howdy struggled to hang onto the scribble creature’s finger. Or whatever it could be called. Right now, it didn’t really matter to him what it was called. The point was, he was having a hard time clinging to it. He tried to hold onto as tightly as he could, feeling his feet slip underneath him.
“Please! Slow down a little!”
Howdy realized the need to keep going. He knew that there wasn’t a lot of time to spare. He knew what the plan was and what it entailed. But that didn’t mean that he wanted this thing to go so fast that he would end up falling down and get crushed from the shere force of the drop. He wouldn’t be of much use if that happened. The fact that he was small did little to comfort him.
He had managed to find this scribble creature faster than he had expected. It appeared to be knocked out, dormant. He wasn’t sure how long it had been there, if it had rested there since the day of the twister or if had wandered and then collapsd. But whatever had happeed, it still resulted in the scribble creature to be found right in that very spot. Howdy was relieved that his search was finally over.
The scribble creature was...really big. Yeah, he was expecting something large. But he didn’t think it would be that huge. It would easily tower above nearly every zoner he could think of. Even Biclops may not be much of a match for this...thing.
And that’s exactly what they needed right now. This creature’s height could be used to their advantage. It wouldn’t be knocked over as easily. Or so he hoped. He wasn’t entirely sure how the mechanics of that worked, or how feasible it was. But with a sentient twister roaming around ChalkZone...what choice did he really have here?
Howdy couldn’t quite recall the circumstances that led him to come down towards the icy cold mountain of Yadda Yadda or whatever it was called. He didn’t bother wasting too much time trying figure that part out. He instead focused his attention on the dogs that he heard barking. They sounded really...desperate. He approached them, hoping to figure out what happened.
And he did. In a short time frame when he got there, he not only found Rapsheeba and Snap, but after he and the scribble creature pulled them out, he learned of what happened. How Mrs. Sanchez was captured, how Dr. Von Doktor was residing in this cold, frigid mountain, how the sentient twister had teamed up with him. Howdy froze in terror for a few seconds as he processed that horrifying information. Just what was the man going to try accomplishing with the tornado?
He didn’t have to fret for long. Luckily, Rapsheeba and Snap had quickly been able to devise up a plan. They would go in there and distract Von for him. Considering the man’s interest in dissecting zoners, he didn’t think that would be too hard to accomplish. While they kept him busy, he would come in with the scribble creature to try to lure the tornado....somewhere.
Okay, so the plan wasn’t entirely completed yet. Snap and Rapsheeba did the best they could. The thing with the twister, that was all up to him. Maybe he could find some kind of room to lock it up in. But wait...it could destroy it with its wind power, couldn’t it? Oh shit, he was going to need diamond, wasn’t he? And there was no way he could even get any diamond unless he found a creator and got them to help. He quickly realized what this was going to mean.
He was going to have to alter his plans a little bit. He couldn’t go after the twister yet. He was going to need to get a hold of Mrs. Sanchez and try to steal the chalk from Dr. Von Doktor. He wasn’t sure how much chalk was left, but whatever was left would have to do. He could only hope that it was going to be enough to lock away the twister.
At least he knew where they were going to be. Before Rapsheeba and Snap wandered off, they had run into the yeti of this mountain. She had been the one to inform them of what was going on. She had given them directions. They were quite simple to follow, too, which was a great relief to the puppet zoner.
He and the scribble creature moved down the tunnels. The scribble creature was moving a little slower this time, much to his relief. He held on tightly as they approached where the chamber was supposed to be. He thought he could detect a strange formation out ahead, off to the side a little. This had to be it, right? He thought he could hear some yelling, and some loud wind blowing and some yelping.
And when they turned the corner, with a raised hand, he got the creature to stop. He stared out ahead, taking note of the large doors, and the comparitively unnatural structure. Yeah, this was it all right.
He stared up at the scribble creature. Despite having no eyes, he could detect just how determined it was to get in there and go after the twister. He raised up his hand and motioned for the scribble creature to calm itself a little. They couldn’t afford to screw this up. They had to be careful. One wrong move, and everyone was going to be done for.
Moving very slowly, they approached the room. Howdy tensed up his body, preparing to take whatever action was going to be necessary. The scribble creature followed close behind. And soon, they reached the door.
Howdy moved in closely towards the door, his eyes focusing on the hinge, where it didn’t completely connect with the wall. It was such a tiny crack, and he could only see a sliver. Peering in, all he was able to detect was moving shapes. Not enough to really tell what was going on. He frowned at this, and moved back, looking upwards. The ceiling appeared to be made of something clear, but not the rest of it.
He focused his attention on the door itself. He licked his lips, his eyes furrowed in contemplation. There had to be a way to get this door open. He imagined it was not going to be very easy. The door must be pretty heavy, and it looked like it was built to withstand a lot of force. If that twister was working with Von, then perhaps Von could have created the door like this so that the twister does not ruin it.
He thought for a moment that maybe if they trapped the twister in here, their problems would be solved. He felt disappointment rise in his stomach when he reminded hismelf of why that would not work. The door itself might be strong, but the rest of the material appeared to be made out of normal rock. Dr. Von Doktor didn’t need to worry about the average zoner breaking down the walls. The twister, however, could. The only thing preventing Von from creating something with stronger walls was the fact that the twister was on his side.
He turned his head and he looked up at the scribble creature. It looked to be almost peering down at him, awaiting orders. It did feel a little creepy, the creature looking at him despite having no eyes. The puppet zoner shrugged off his uncomfortableness and he refocused his attention on the door. He raised up his hand and made a few quick gestures. He could feel the ground vibrate slightly as the scribble creature moved in closer.
“Take the door down.” Howdy ordered. He knew that this wasn’t exactly stealthy, but with all that was surely happening in that room, was it even possible to keep up stealth?
The scribble creature obeyed immediately. It lowered itself onto a knee and reached out with its hand. It gripped onto the doorknob with ease. With its finger hooked around it, it yanked backwards. There was a loud crack sound as it managed to tear the door away completely. Now with nothing blocking his view, Howdy was able to see what was going on inside.
The first thing he noticed was a yeti dealing with the tornado. Howdy couldn’t help but stare in shock as she managed to, though barely, stay a step in front of the twister. This was a spectacle that was difficult to look away from. It wasn’t everyday that a zoner would deliberately taunt and dance around a sentient twister like that. Then again, no one had ever encountered a sentient twister before anyway.
Trailing his eyes over, he could see Snap and Rapsheba talking with Dr. Von Doktor. In front of them were a couple of dogs, barking viciously at the man. The scientist looked pretty peeved and he was approaching the children slowly. Howdy had no idea what the man was goin to do, and though he wanted to say something, he forced himself to stay silent.
And then there was Mrs. Sanchez. He took notice of her strapped down on some kind of machine. Her arms were bound in different ways, and he could see her body was shaking a little. He bit his lip nervously. Was she in pain? Or was this fear? The woman didn’t look hurt, but that didn’t mean something horrible didn’t happen. Von must have put her through an experiment. He shuddered to think of just what horrors the man must have put her through.
He shook his head, realizing that he was wasting time. Thinking back to his own plan, as well as the one that he had formed with Snap and Rapsheeba. With both the twister and Von distracted, now was a good time to get started.
But which plan should he go with first? Which act was the first one he should commit?
For a few moments, the puppet zoner hesitated. He looked from the twister to Mrs. Sanchez. He tried to figure out just which one would be the best to go in, which one would be the wisest.
Should he go after the twister first? Considering its level of threat to everyone, that seemed like the smarter choice. Yeah, there were people in trouble, but if he disabled the twister, that would be one less danger to worry about. Without that twister, Von was weakened.
But what of Mrs. Sanchez? She needed help, and she was a creator. She could help turn the tides. He just needed to get the magic chalk away from Von, free Mrs. Sanchez, and give her the chalk. It was a risky move, but if he pulled it off, he’d be able to prevent Dr. Von Doktor from being able to draw up a defense. The woman could seal the tornado away, and Von could be apprehended when he no longer had any chalk to use.
He bit his lip. He couldn’t spend long on thinking. It wouldn’t take too much time before the sentient torando and the evil scientist to realize that there were newcomers to this ‘party’. Narrowing his eyes, he knew the only route that he could take.
He’d have to go both ways.
Howdy turned to the scribble creature. His eyes furrowed, he gave a stiff nod. “Go! Try to apprehend the twister!”
The scribble creature need no further prompting. It let out what almost seemed like a screech, except it could not really be heard. It was...felt, like a tingle in the back of his head. It was a weird sensation. Almost like infrasound.
That was soon intermixed with the howl of strong wind as the scribble creature collided with the tornado. Despite how the laws of physics should have prevented it, or so Howdy believed, the twister was still knocked away and slammed against the wall. The resulting crash was not lost on the others, and they looked over, their eyes widening in shock.
“What zee hell...?” Dr. Von Doktor said. “You....! What are you doing here?!”
Howdy turned himself around in time to see Von coming towards him. The man wore a look of rage in his eyes. Howdy gulped and he backed away slowly. He did not run, knowing he had little chance of actually outrunning the man.
“What do you zink you are going to do?” Von hissed at him as he ignored the cries from Snap and Rapsheeba. “Of courze, if you came here to volunteer to be my next tezt zubject...”
“No! Get away from him!” Snap shouted at Von.
“Howdy! Hurry!” Rapsheeba called out to the puppet. “Run!”
But Howdy did not run. Not yet. He stared at the man, doing his best to hide his fear. Not exactly an easy feat. His eyes kept darting to the magic chalk that he held in his hand. Then he’d look over briefly at Mrs. Sanchez. His racing mind did what it could to plan a course of action. He was aware of just how badlly things will end up for him if he screwed this up. But..he had to try.
He tried to think of how he could get the magic chalk away from Von. The man was approaching quickly. The dogs hadn’t yet made a move to stop the man. Snap and Rapsheeba grabbed onto him, but the man simply dragged them forward as he approached Howdy. The puppet zoner moved back slowly, his teeth gritted.
If he could just find someway to distract him, or some kind of method that would make him pause, then he could...
Wait..that’s it... He knew what he could do.
The zoner gave the man an almost evil smile. This alone was enough to make the man pause and stare at him in confusion. But Howdy wasn’t yet done. He straightened himself up, doing his best to look like he was a lot braver than he really felt. Then he set up the bait.
“Hmm am I supposed to be afraid of you? The same man who got outsmarted by a ten year old?” Howdy taunted the man.
Von’s eyes widened at this. “You little...” The eyes narrowed into slits. “Do you have a fucking clue who I am?!”
Howdy smirked. “Oh yes. You are the man who apparently isn’t smarter than a fourth grader.”
This made the man seethe, and Howdy could see his face was starting to turn red. The tension in the area grew rapidly, but he still held his ground. “No! I am Dr. Von Doktor! The world’z mozt brilliant zcientizt! I am zee one who iz about to turn your world upzide down! I am zee one whom everyone zroughout hiztory will alwayz remember! I will show zee world juzt how right I am when I zay zat I am never wrong!”
Howdy couldn’t help but feel some slight amusement at how childish the man was acting. But he stifled his laughter, his eye instead looking at the magic chalk that he held in his hand. He had to get that man over here, and he knew exactly how to do that. Or so he hoped.
Clearing his throat, Howdy folded his arms against his chest and turned his body to the side. “Never wrong, eh? Okay then, how do you explain Rudy and Penny escaping your clutches? If you are so smart, then how did they get away? I don’t know, man... I would think that someone of your...calibur would have been able to stop them.” He smiled at Von’s snarl, closed his eyes, and turned away. He gave a chuckle. “Let’s face it, Dr. Von Doktor. For all your brilliance...” He looked back at him. “You still got schooled by two ten year olds.”
“Zat waz juzt luck!” Dr. Von Doktor snapped at him.
“Oh sure it waz. Or maybe you are just so hold, you are losting your touch. What’s next? Are you going to lose to a baby, too?” Howdy found it hard to hold back his laughter at this point. “Now that would be something! You’d be remembered throughout history for that, for sure!”
That was it. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There was a loud snarl from the man, and in a few seconds, he charged towards the small zoner. No words, no yell. Just silent fury.
“Howdy! No!” His friends screeched.
Everything after this started to slow down. Howdy felt as though time was transforming into a mere crawl. He could see each individual movement. He could feel the world spinning around him, and then everything seemed to blur, focusing only on him and Dr. Von Doktor. He watched as the man approached him. He stood there, narrowing his eyes, waiting for the right time to make his move.
He focused intently on that hand that held the chalk. At the moment, the man was making no attempts to hide it from him. That would make it the perfect target. He just needed to wait, his leg muscles tensing up, preparing to make his move. He hunched his body as Dr. Von Doktor got close to him. Then, seconds later, which felt like minutes to the zoner, Von jumped towards him in an attempt to attack him.
Howdy reacted as quickly as he could. Hunching his legs more, his teeth clenching tightly together, he jumped into the air, going towards the man. This act surprised Von, but hardly slowed him down. Howdy, going against his usually good nature, pulled back a fist and he struck the man between his eyes. His eyes widened and he pulled his hand back, shaking it as he felt the pain vibrate through his hand. Man, that man had one thick skull.
The man let out a yelp of pain and he clutched his head. He stumbled backwards, the shock of the attack causing him to lose his footing. This was unexpected for the zoner, as he didn’t think that the man would fell. But this did make his job easier. With the man down, he rushed forward.
His eyes focusing intently on the chalk the man held in his hand, the small zoner jumped forward and he grabbed onto his wrist. He managed to pry it away from the man’s head. He held it against himself, trying to hold it still as the man struggled to bring it back. After a few moments of struggling with the man, the zoner managed to yank the magic chalk away from him. He jumped back and moved a few feet from the man.
“Give zat back!” The scientist demanded. He flipped onto his stomach, his left knee pressing against the hard ground. Howdy merely shook his head and he moved back away from him further. “You little runt! Get back here!” Von pushed himself onto his hands, his face registering pure rage. “I’ll kill you if you don’t give zat back to me! Do you hear me?! I’ll crack your zkull open! I’ll...”
Suddenly the man was silenced when Rapsheeba and Snap jumped on top of him. The dogs came forward. Though they did not bite, they still barked and snarled at the man, attempting to keep him at bay.
Snap and Rapsheeba were holding onto Von tightly. Rapsheeba had one of his arms while Snap had his neck. They pulled on tightly, forcing the man to gag and turn his attention on them. As they held on, they gave Howdy a wide-eyed, terrified look, one of desperation and pleading. And their voices surely matched this.
“Run! Give that to Mrs. Sanchez! Hurry!” Snap cried to the puppet zoner. He wrapped his legs around Von, shutting his eyes tightly, gritting his teeth. “I...don’t know how much longer we can hold...!”
Rapsheeba echoed Snap’s sentiment. “Hurry! While you...still have...a chance..!”
Howdy stared at his friends, biting his lip. He wanted so badly to help them, but he knew they were right. Frowning, he turned his attention to where Mrs. Sanchez was. He looked down at the tiny piece of magic chalk that was still left, licking his lips slowly. Was this even going to be enough...?
Well it was all they had. It was going to have to do. Clutching it tightly, he rushed over to where Mrs. Sanchez was. When he reached her, he stood in front of her, moving his eyes up and down. He bit his lip, feeling his heart skip a beat when he saw up close and personal, just how frightened and how much in pain she truly was.
The woman’s eyes flicked a little when she saw him. She smacked her lips nervously a few times, as if struggling to find what to say. Then, speaking in a weak, soft voice, she said, “H-Howdy...?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” Howdy said. He looked along the woman’s body, glaring softly at the binds that held her there. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of there.”
He wasn’t sure what he could do. He didn’t know how he could undo them. But regardless, he still had to try. Placing the small piece of chalk into his shirt for safe keeping, he began to work on freeing Mrs. Sanchez.
sss
No...no this couldn’t be happening.. Not after all the trouble he went through to set this all up... Not after all the hard work he put into this place...no..
The old scientist had a hard time believing just how much things were falling apart all around him. His eyes darted left and right, looking all around him and seeing what was going on. A part of him wanted to deny this was happening, that it was just some sort of sick illusion or something.
But the more he looked, the more he began to realize just how wrong he was. This was real. He couldn’t deny it. Everything was falling apart. Everything that he tried to arrange was being brought down around him. And it was all thanks to that one zoner. The small puppet zoner that he and Terry both thought wouldn’t have been able to be too huge a threat. Now here he was, ruining everything.
Dr. Von Doktor watched in horror as the puppet zoner managed to free one of the woman’s arms. And then another. No... He couldn’t allow that to happen. He couldn’t allow that zoner to get away with this. He had to stop him before it was too late. He still had time. If he just got over there and...
He let out a grunt and he knelt back down before he had a chance to fully climb up to his feet. Baring his teeth, he swiveled his head over and glared at Rapsheeba, who was still clinging to his arm. He could feel a grip around his neck and he gagged again. He knew that Snap was on his back. He let out a soft hiss at the two zoners, but he knew they wouldn’t let go. No, they were going to hang on until their friend succeeded.
The man’s mind was racing. He felt his breathing increase rapidly. He could feel his body shaking as emotion swept through him. He needed to take action soon. These zoners, they weren’t going to be able to hold him down forever. He was going to see to that.
He glared back at the puppet zoner. That little runt... He should have killed him when he had the chance. That zoner had become a pain in his side for the last time. He swore, once he caught him, he was going to snap his scrawny neck. With his small size, that would be such an easy task to do. If he could only get over there...
There was another click. His eyes widened in horror. The woman... She was almost free... He stared at this in shock for a few seconds. Then he shook his head and let out a low growl. No, he was not going to let that happen. No one was going to take his victory away from him.
Absolutely no one... Not even that little pest.
With the energy of adrenaline moving through him, filling every muscle of his with increased strength, the man shot up from his knees, letting out a yell. The zoners yelped, but struggled to hang onto him. He jerked himself violently from one side to the other. The zoners held on tightly, but it wasn’t good enough. Rapsheeba was launched to the side while the man managed to grab onto Snap. He yanked the zoner off and, without bothering to look at him, he flung the zoner in one direction. He listened to them crash for only a few seconds before he got up and he rushed to where Howdy was.
The small zoner was finishing up undoing the final bind. The man growled at this. He picked up speed and soon he managed to collide with the zoner. He struck him in the side hard, sending him flying across the room, listening to his yelps of pain. Something flew from his shirt, but he paid little mind to it. He stormed off towards Howdy, delivering a kick to his stomach while he was still recovering.
He didn’t bother speaking to the zoner. He just towered over him, glaring hatefully at his shivering, frightened form. The eyes that stared back at him were filled with pain and fear, and the bit of blood dripping down the corner of his mouth complimented that.
“Please....stop..I...” Howdy begged him, the defiance he had earlier completely gone. “I’m s-sorry...” Tears formed in his eyes.
“Don’t you fucking dare tell me you’re zorry! You should have zought of zat before you...” Von seethed through his clenched teeth.
That was it. Von couldn’t speak anything more. The rage had reached a boiling point. He could feel his skin hurting from the inner heat. He needed to strike. He needed to take action now.
He gripped the zoner by his neck and held him down. Forming a fist, he pounded the zoner in the head a few times. Harder and harder he struck, ignoring his own pain and the zoner’s cries. Then, after the zoner had clearly lost consciousness, he lifted him up by his arm and started to pound him even harder. He used as much force as he could, trying so hard to break the little freak’s head and neck.
A feminine voice suddenly rang through the room, making the man lift up his head in shock.
“Get him!”
Before the man had time to turn around, he felt several weights collide with him. He let out a scream as he was knocked into the ground. Several bodies were on him, feeling the painful pressure of clawed paws against him. He felt the teeth start to rip into him and he struggled to fight back.
But the dogs had a good grip on him. He felt pain as the teeth sank into his arms and legs. The dogs held him down, using their weight and teeth to keep him from going anywhere. The man struggled and squirmed underneath them, trying in vain to get free. He twisted himself from one side to the other, trying to get one of the dogs to dislodge. But they remained firm, unmoving, and their jaws clenched tighter on him.
No, this couldn’t be happening... He..he had to try harder to get himself out. He had to get away from here. His legs kicked the ground desperately, scraping the rock beneath them. But nothing was going to get the dogs off. There was nothing he could do to free himself.
And then he felt pressure around his neck. His eyes widened in horror. He tried to scream, but pressure was applied, cutting off his air supply. He gagged as he started to taste some blood in his mouth, his eyes bulging wide open. He continued to squirm and writhe underneath the dogs, feeling his energy rapidly running low.
Suddenly a voice called out. The same one from before.
“No! Stop! Don’t kill him!” Mrs. Sanchez screamed. There wasn’t so much concern in her voice as there was fear. Perhaps she was afraid of getting involved with the police? Probably, yes. “Hold him down, but don’t bite his neck!”
The dogs did as they were told. The pressure from his mouth was gone, but the weight was still upon him. The dogs kept him pinned down, snarling at him threateningly. He didn’t attempt to struggle. For a few seconds, he hardly paid attention to the dogs themselves. He was too busy gripping his throat and coughing and gagging. His mind raced, and his body twitched and shivered from the shock of what nearly happened to him.
He glared up at the woman. He took in a few ragged breaths, his energy levels returning down to normal. He didn’t attempt to try to speak. His throat still hurt him and at the moment, he really had nothing he wanted to say to this woman. His glare at her was all that she really needed to see anyway. It was good enough for her to understand what thoughts were being processed in his mind.
Mrs. Sanchez’s expression at him was... a little hard to identify at first. It was like a mixture of a few different emotions, like anger and fear. But a few strange ones were floating around in there as well, such as sadness.
This woman? Sad for him? What a laugh... There was little reason for this woman to feel sorry for him. Maybe she was just sorry for what he had become, and not him himself. He gave a bitter chuckle at this. Oh she could pit him all she wanted to. That wasn’t going to change what he was going to do, what he had to do. She should consider herself lucky. If it weren’t for these stupid dogs, he would be rushing towards her now, ready to tear into her throat.
Mrs. Sanchez then held up something in her hand. The smile from Von’s face was gone the instant that he saw what it was. He could feel his face losing some color when he saw that she had his magic chalk.
“....what....?” The man breathed in. He started to struggle, trying to get over to the woman. “How did you...?” The dogs snarled at him, prompting him to stop his struggling.
Mrs. Sanchez didn’t answer him. She simply stared down at him, her expression still somewhat unreadable. She then closed her eyes softly, her expression softening up more into something of sadness. She looked down at him and she began to speak. “It is a shame it came to this, Dr. Von Doktor. You did have a good career ahead of you. You really could have been something. Instead, you chose...this path...” She narrowed her eyes, baring her teeth slightly at him. “Of all the things you could have done... Of all the paths you could have chosen...” She shook her head in disgust. “You couldn’t disappoint me more even if you tried.”
Dr. Von Doktor curled his lip up at her. “Oh why don’t you juzt be quiet?” He let out a help of pain as one of the dogs bit him harder. He shut his eyes tightly for a few seconds. He opened up one eye and looked up at Mrs. Sanchez. “Why don’t you juzt kill me already...? If you zink I’m a lozt cauze now... Why not juzt get it over wiz and end it now?”
Mrs. Sanchez folded her arms against her chest. “Oh you would like that, wouldn’t you? If I killed you now, then you could escape justice. You could get away from the system and never have to endure retribution.” She tilted her head to one side. “Well that isn’t going to happnen, Dr. Von Doktor. You have a lot to answer for. Do you really think I am going to allow you to just..walk away like that? Hell no!” She pointed a finger at him. “I’m going to make sure that you rot in prison for this!”
Ah, so the truth is flowing forth now. Of course the woman would say that. He couldn’t exactly blame her, or be all that surprised. He had done quite a bit to her, and her family. He had been quite the monster lately. He would admit to that.
But if being a monster means getting what he wants, then so be it. If they want to see him as a villain, then okay, fine. Then let him be evil. He didn’t care about that. All he did care about was getting results, and getting back what he so richly deserved.
And this stupid bitch was not going to stop him.
“I’d like to zee you try zat...” The man hissed in a low, taunting voice.
Mrs. Sanchez narrowed her eyes as she glared down at him. “You bet your ass I will keep trying!”
Von just chuckled bitterly at this. It seemed to make the woman even angrier, but he didn’t care. He was more interested in trying to turn the tides in back in his favor, where they truly belonged. He looked left and right as he tried to figure out how he was going to get out from underneath the dogs. Without the magic chalk, how was he going to...
Oh wait...the twister...
He shifted his pupils to the side, where he could to see, out of the corner of his eyes, just what was going on with that twister ally of his. Where was that thing when he had needed it the most? Surely, it couldn’t have taken that long to take care of the yeti. And why didn’t it detect it? Couldn’t it have....? No wait...this place was mostly air tight. No wonder the twister didn’t detect them.
At this very moment, the twister was fighting against not the yeti, but against...something different. Von felt his eyes widen in shock and horror at the...scribbled..thing... that was fighting against the twister. It truly was a spectacle to behold. It was difficult to tell who was winning.
Well it didn’t matter now who was going to win. Right now, he needed help getting out of here. Knowing that there was very little the woman or the dogs could do to stop him from raising the alarm, he inflated his chest and, only holding it in for a second, he let out a loud scream.
“Help!”
Immediately, the twister responded. It tossed the scribble creature aside and it rushed towards where Von was being held. Tendrils of air rushed down towards them. It easily knocked away Mrs. Sanchez and the dogs, as well as Rapsheeba, Snap, and the unconscious Howdy. Von, now held up by the twister carefully, stared down at them as they crashed into the ground painfully. They shook their heads and they looked up at them in shock and fear, but still showing some determination in their eyes.
There was a bit of silence at first. Eyes were locked onto each other, not daring to move away. None of them appeared willing to back down. No, instead, they looked like they were willing to rush at him, even with the twister guarding him. He watched as they glared at him hatefully, the dogs yipping and snarling in his direction.
Von found himself smiling at this. This was going to be so much fun. He could already tell. They really did think that they stood a chance against him. They thought that they could beat him. They thought that they could win. Well they were wrong, and he was going to prove that to them in a matter of seconds.
He turned his attention to the twister’s ‘face’, noting how determined it seemed to be to go after them. Perhaps he should give him a more...personal incentive. When he recalled how it had reacted before, he smiled more twistedly. He then looked down at the group below him, his sneer clearly sending chills down their spines. They knew he had something up his sleeve. Now they were going to find out just what that was.
“Hey, twister...? Zee zem down zere?” Von said, his tone rather off and strange. “Zey all played a role in hurting your creator.”
At this, the tornado almost appeared to roar. Its loud howling filled the air. The zoners clutched their ears tightly, as if trying to push out the loud sound, trying to keep their ear drums in tact. Then the tornado seemed to stare at them intently, as if it just entered a silent fury.
And when it spoke, even Von got a chill sweeping through his body. The voice was just so deep and so terrifying. He was glad that the twister was on his side.
“Hurt creator. Must pay.”
Snap was the first one to react. He shook his head rapidly, holding his hands out in front of him. “N-No...we didn’t do anything! You’ve got it all wrong!”
But the twister had no interest in listening to him. It shot out a gust of air, striking Snap in the stomach and chest, flinging him back across the ground. “Lie not! Not lie! Bad! Truth!”
“He was telling the truth!” Rapsheeba called out. “We didn’t do a damn thing to your creator! We...” Rapsheeba gagged as the twister grabbed her by her throat and hoisted her up. It swung her around and around and then slammed her hard into the ground. She let out a few coughs and whimpers as she lifted her head and stared up at it.
“Stop lying!” The twister called out to them, its ‘voice’ becoming more booming than before. It was as if a thunder storm had been absorbed into the thing’s body, enhancing its strength.
Von looked down at Howdy. A nasty smile spread across his face. “Let’z make zem feel what you did. Maybe zey will underztand your pain if we...take zomezing from zem.”
“Agreed.” With that,the twister seized the unconscious puppet zoner. Despite the group’s pathetic attempts, the twister ripped him away from his friends and soon dangled him several feet in the air. “Like this? Enjoy?”
“No! Please!” Rapsheeba called out. “Let him go!”
“Stop this!” Mrs. Sanchez shouted.
“If you don’t, I swear I’ll...” Snap started to say, his teeth clenching tightly together.
Von just sneered at them as he felt his chest become warmer with the feeling of absolute control. Yes...now this was more like it. “If you want your preciouz friend back...you will have to do what we zay. Fail to do zo, and I’m afraid your friend iz going to..have a little...aczident...” He watched with satisfaction as the color rapidly drained from their faces.
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Need
Mar 3, 2015 18:11:37 GMT -5
Post by Bluedramon on Mar 3, 2015 18:11:37 GMT -5
Chapter 47: Brokens
Rage and vengeance make for powerful tools, but also your worst enemy. So be careful when you try to wield them...
sss
“I can’t believe it. I was so close!” Vinnie snarled. He glared at the pillow before him, forming a fist with his hand and punching it hard. “Those stupid doctors!”
Vinnie’s breathing was quick, almost uncontrollable. He found it difficult to calm himself down. How could he be calm at a time like this anyway? How could he relax knowing what Dr. Von Doktor had done, and not being able to tell Terry about it? She deserved to know, didn’t she?
And yet when he tried to, the stupid doctors had stopped him. They had forced him out. He did recall that they had stricter rules there than most other hospitals, but...didn’t they take this a little too far? What was their protocol for when dire information was supposed to be delivered? Or was the hospital hiding a dark secret? Something that he wasn’t fully aware of yet?
He shook his head. No matter. It didn’t really make much of a difference now anyway. He wouldn’t be able to go back there at this point. It was too dark out. And frankly, he detested driving out at night. He wasn’t sure why. Just...something about it made him feel uncomfortable. He would have to wait until morning before he could see Terry. That was his only option.
Well that, and go to the police. He had thought about that, but he couldn’t remember if there was a limit to when he could go or not. He didn’t remember if the police station was open in the late hours of the night. Well he could always go and find out... except that he was none too interested in having another conflict in case he could not. No, he would rather just wait until tomorrow. Then he’d go to the station and talk to them. He might not have the best relationship with them, especially after that one incident, but they would have to listen to him if he brought news of a potential murderer, right? That would surely catch their attention more than his “wreck the park” incident a few months back.
Normally, Vinnie would have reacted to that memory. He remembered how humiliated and enraged he had been when his one chance at getting back into that chalk world was foiled by that kid. He knew those two brats had something to do with what had happened. And in the end, it was he who ended up arrested, instead of those two brats. It was that boy and girl who deserved getting arrested for interfering with his plans on building a theme park. But no one believed him of the children playing him for a fool.
But he digressed. Right now, that didn’t really matter. There was something more important on the horizon that needed to be taken care of first. And he knew those two children weren’t involved with this. Not only did it not make much sense to him, but the last he heard, those two weren’t exactly on good terms with Dr. Von Doktor. If anything, they could be his victims.
This thought gave him pause. Victims eh? He wondered if they were in trouble. And if they were, could he use this to his advantage? Maybe he could...
He shook his head. No, he wouldn’t resort to that. He might not like the kids much. but he still wouldn’t feel it was right to take back what was rightfully his through such a means. He would deal with them later. For now, he needed to do something to take care of Dr. Von Doktor. And that would have to wait until tomorrow, he reminded himself.
Well, now would be the perfect time to go to sleep. He was getting tired and a little groggy. He was not going to be able to think too much now, and his performance would be hindered.
Already in bed, he simply wriggled himself, kicking his legs a few times, and got the blanket to slip over his body. He pulled it and he curled up on his bed. He reached over and he turned the lantern off, shrouding himself in darkness. He closed his eyes and he went to sleep.
sss
The tall woman grumbled to herself. She knew it was late in the night, but she didn’t care. She wanted to get all of this typed up as soon as possible. The quicker she got this done the quicker she would feel more relaxed and be able to settle herself down.
The excitement rising inside of her...it was almost too much to bear. She wanted to jump and down with joy, but no, she couldn’t do that. There was still more work to be done. It was too early to say if all of this had worked. If she got herself overly excited and it all turned out for naught, she could just imagine the level of disappointment that would strike her. She wanted to avoid that.
She was typing furiously on the typewriter. Old fashioned and not really useful save for power outages, but a necessary annoyance. This reduced the chances of anyone finding the papers she was typing. Hand delivering them was even more annoying, but equally important. It was imperative that word of this did not get out to anyone.
She was well aware of what could happen if unauthorized people found out. Not only would she get into huge trouble, but she would be lucky to be simply reprimanded by her boss. However, as long as she was very careful, there shouldn’t be a problem.
And besides, this threat from two ends was not really different from what she had experienced before. This was the same danger she had placed herself in since day one of this operation. If she could handle several weeks of this work, if not longer, then a few more days shouldn’t really be much of an issue for her. The only thing that would screw her up at this point was if she allowed her own fears take her over and she slipped up that way.
So far, progress had been really good. No one knew of her or her group’s involvement with what has been going on. Even Dr. Von Doktor was left in the cold, thank goodness. It would have been more difficult to pull this off with that nutcase involved.
Well, not really nutcase. It did seem that he had been a little more than correct on weird anomalies being possible. She never would have imagined that it was the result of some chalk world. And that rectangular thing... If she and her comrades hadn’t set up the hidden cameras to spy on the old geezer, she never would have believed it herself.
She remembered how excited her boss got. They had spied on Dr. Von Doktor regarding this perpetual motion, to see if he really had been telling the truth. And for months, he was just trying tirelessly to replicate it. Her boss was about to shut down the operation, especially given its illegal status and how they were risking getting caught by the police.
And then came that day... When they had spotted a green creature in the man’s presence...
Ever since then, everything had changed.
Unsurprisingly, her boss wanted to know more about this creature and where it came from. No, not just him. They all did. They all discussed how this could change eveything, how they could find where these creatures came from, take them, turn them into workers. Or experiment or something. It wasn’t entirely decided upon what they were going to do, but that did little to slow down the excitement in the group. Dr. Von Doktor might have discovered it, but it would be they, not him, who would be the first to distribute this discovery to the world.
It would be almost a shame to have to yank the carpet from underneath Dr. Von Doktor. For all his hard work, he did deserve...something right? After all, it was his hard work that, for certain, caused that green creature to show up. Well his and that one woman.
But that was the very reason why he wasn’t going to be included. Before, her boss had considered sharing the discovery with Dr. Von Doktor. He had quickly changed his mind once word about what he did to that redheaded woman got out. Her boss had no intention on making any deal with that man now, especially after how far he had fallen down the insanity latter. So instead, given that they have footage, they will just have him arrested and take over his so-called ‘research’ themselves.
Hmm...but there was still those children and their family.. Her boss hadn’t yet decided what they were going to do with them. They were going to be quite the nuisance if left alone, though, especially given how the boy and the girl seemed so...protective of that world and those creatures. Their folks might be more manueverable, but the children...yes, something had to be done about them.
Well no need to worry about that now. They weren’t yet near that portion of the plan. They could worry about it a bit later.
She hissed when she snagged a finger on the keyboard. She pulled her hand away and shook it. She looked at her nail. She snarled when she saw that she had chipped it. Oh well, another trip to the nail salon for her later. She sucked on the finger for a second and then she returned to typing up her report.
A smile spread across her face. She couldn’t wait until everything had fallen into place. Soon, she and her fellow comrades would be rich and famous. So many people would flock to them. Even the scientists would be down on their knees, begging them for...well whatever came to mind. Nothing would ever be the same again.
sss
Inez glared at the man situated in front of them, wearing an arrogant smile on his face. She could feel her body shaking in anger, her mind swirling with thoughts as she watched them, unable to believe just how far he was willing to sink. To use a small and defenseless creature...er....zoner...or..person..whatever. It was still wrong and that man knew this.
Beside her, she could see Snap and Rapsheeba, both of whom were staring out at the scene in horror. They clearly wanted to rush over and try to help their friend. But they couldn’t leave their current spot without risking their friend.
She gnashed her teeth together, lowering her head and shutting her eyes. Her mind flashed back to how the man had used Penny to try to get some results. And now he was trying to do something similar using someone who looked like a child but was a lot younger and smaller. Did this man have no shame?
Apparently not. His nasty smile never faltered. He never once did anything to indicate that he felt the least bit sorry for what he was doing. All he did was stare at them and smirk, obviously waiting for them to give the answer he so hoped to hear. Inez certainly had an answer for him, but she refrained from saying it only because she knew that this man would certainly overreact and do something drastic.
She shifted her gaze towards Howdy, her eyes softening with concern and sympathy. The poor little guy was dangling loosely in the air, supported only by the twister’s tendril. Howdy’s body was limp and unmoving. She couldn’t even tell if he was still breathing from down here. He was being held so high up... And from that height, there was no way he was going to survive the fall. The twister would most certainly drop him, no...slam him into the ground. Crack his skull clean open...just like how Dr. Von Doktor had tried to do to him...
At this, she felt a wave of heated angere rush through her again. The horrible memory of that mean beating Howdy like that was fresh on her mind, and there was little chance that it was going to go away any time soon. She swiveled her head to Von, her lips curling back into a snarl.
“You...monster...” She hissed, her words cutting through the silence that fell upon them for the last several minutes.
Dr. Von Doktor frowned at this and tilted his head to one side. “Hmm... zat iz not zee anzwer I waz hoping for.”
Inez didn’t say anything. She jsut glared at him, as did Rapsheeba and Snap. When the twister made a slight move, they all flinched and took defensive postures, preparing for a possible attack. The twister, however, did not attempt to strike them, and appeared to have only been adjusting itself or perhaps making a gesture of its own.
Inez bared her teeth as she looked up at the twister. That thing was the only reason why they hadn’t tried to go after Von yet. If that stupid thing were gone, they could make their move. But how were they going to do that?
Von seemed to realize that she was trying to rapidly form a plan, and he laughed at what he would see as ‘pitiful’ attempts. “Whatever it iz you are going to try, I wouldn’t. Remember, I have zee upperhand right now.”
He waved his hand towards the twister. As if on cue, the twister gave Howdy a rough shake. This caused the two zoners to call out after him, begging the twister to stop. Inez watched this in horror, unable to believe this cruelty.
Then Von waved his hand, gesturing the twister to stop, and it immediately obeyed him. Von smirked arrogantly at Inez. “Make a move againzt me, and zat twizter will immediately crush your friend. You will not be able to get here fazt enough. Zo I wouldn’t try it if I were you. Got it?”
Inez hissed at this. But reluctantly, she and the zoners nodded their heads. This made Von smile, but he said not a word. He fell silent and stared at them, his arms folding against his chest expectantly. There was no doubt in their minds that this was the last time that Von was going to be nice enough to give them some time. If they fail to answer appropriately, they imagine that he would give an answer of his own.
She kept her glare on Von, but her mind wandered to the twister again. She couldn’t stop thinking about something that it had said earlier. It seemed to indicate that it believed them to be somehow involved with whatever happened to its creator. She wasn’t sure which creature that could be, but she realized that maybe that’s how they could get the twister away. If they couldn’t do it by force, then maybe they could simply turn the twister against Von.
But first, they would need to find out just who its creator was. She doubted they could do it simply by asking. Still, there was more than one way to get the information they needed.
Slowly, she began to smile. She ignored the confused expressions and questions from the two zoners. She just continued to stare at the man in the eyes, watching as his face softened up into confusion. He tilted his head to one side, frowning at her, waiting for her to say something. She did not disappoint him.
“I’m amazed that the twister had agreed to work with you. I would think that its creator was smart enough to stay away from you. But...perhaps its creator isn’t really so smart, after all.” Inez said. She heard a few gasps, but she didn’t care to look to see where they came from. She paid no mind to the bristling twister as she shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe its creator was some poor senile old person in a hospital. Or maybe an overactive two ear old.”
Von continued to stare at her in confusion. He hadn’t figured out what she was trying to do yet. “What are you doing..?”
But the meaning of what she said wasn’t lost on the twister. “Stupid! Take back!”
Inez turned her head up towards the tornado. She couldn’t stop the cold shiver from going up her spine. But she managed to hide her fear, keeping her arrogant smile plastered over her face. “Oh really now? Gee, then how come you are working with him?” She motioned towards Von. “Did your creator forget that he’s a nutjob? Or were they dropped on their heads when they were a baby?”
“Mrs. Sanchez...!” Rapsheeba hissed through clenched teeth, her hand gripping her shirt. “What are you doing...?!”
“Yeah! Are you trying to get us all killed?” Snap asked her, his eyes wide in horror.
Inez looked down at them. She gave them a reassuring smile. “It’ll be okay. Trust me.”
Snap cast a wary look towards the tornado, licking his lips nervously. “I’m not sure if I can completely believe you...”
Inez understood the zoners’ fears. Angering a sentient twister is probably...no...definitely a very insane and crazy thing to do. Inez knew that she was risking getting crushed to death. She was also risking the lives of the others with her. But she kept moving on with her plan, knowing that, if she did it right, it might lead them down the path of victory.
When the twister did not respond after a few moments, Inez took it upon herself to taunt it some more.
“What is wrong? Are you angry that I spoke the truth? Did I expose your creator for the fraud that they are? Did I reveal to you just how stupid they really were?”
The twister trembled at this. Its grip on Howdy was loosening up, and then it tightened. It began to squeeze Howdy hard, and Inez started to realize that she might have bitten off more than she could chew.
“Take back! Terry smart! Terry better! You nothing!” The twister rose Howdy up into the air, squeezing him even tighter.
“Wait! Stop! Don’t do that!” Snap cried out in horror.
“Please!” Rapsheeba joined in, her eyes bulging. “Y-You can’t...!”
Dr. Von Doktor looked up in shock as the twister was poised to strike the zoner against the ground. “Hey! I did not tell you to do zat yet! Lower him down at onze!”
But the tornado wasn’t listening to him at this point. Its full attention was on Inez. Inez gulped and took a step back, practically feeling it glare back at her despite having no eyes. She could feel her body trembling and her previous faux arrogance was gone.
The two zoners moved in closer to her. They followed her as she took a few steps back. Like her, they did not take their eyes off the twister. Despite that, she could feel their anger towards her, their auras practically burning her from the shere emotion.
“Now you’ve gone and done it!” Snap growled at her. “Way to go!”
Inez would have responded to them if she could. But right now, her mind was on full lockdown, staring at the twister in fear. She wondered if it really had been a mistake. Maybe she should have tried a different method. Maybe she and the zoners should turn around and leave, before the twister....
“Trash! Trash!” The twister roared when Inez remained quiet for too long. It immediately rushed forward, fully intent on tearing them apart. Inez let out a scream and she and the zoners huddled together as they waited for the blow.
Suddenly, there was heavy footfalls, pounding in the ground, some strong vibrations, and then a crash. Inez pulled her hands away from her head as she and the zoners turned their heads and looked over.
The scribble thing from before, the one that Howdy seemed to have arrived on the scene with, had gotten back up and was fighting again. It had slammed against the twister, knocking it back...somehow. Inez wasn’t going to question the logic of that. She could already feel her head starting to hurt from thinking about it.
On the ground, she noticed Howdy’s limp form. Snap and Rapsheeba had both taken immediate action and they raced towards their fallen friend. Von, pissed off by how things were progressing, tried to rush over. Frowning, Inez got in his way, blocking his path to the zoners.
“So...” Inez said coolly as realization dawned on her. “The tornado thinks that we were the ones who hurt Terry Bouffant...”
Dr. Von Doktor nodded his head once at this. “Zuch a brilliant tactic, don’t you zink?”
“It will backfire.” Inez said, her eyes narrowing. “Once that twister finds out it was you...do you think it is going to keep listening to you..?”
The man frowned. “What are you going to do about it?”
“What if one of us told the twister?” Inez asked softly, a tense tone in her voice, daring the man to take action. “What then?”
He blinked a few times. And then he smiled darkly at her. “I’d like to zee you try...”
Without warning, the man suddenly kneed her in the stomach. Her eyes flying open, Inez let out a yelp of pain and she fell down onto one knee. She held her stomach gently. She looked up just in time to see the man’s foot coming at her face. It struck the underside of her jaw. She yelped as she felt her teeth press against her tongue. She rolled back along the ground, skidding to a stop about three feet away.
She set up and rubbed her chin. Ow...for an old guy, he sure hit hard. She opened her eyes to glare at him, only to realize that he wasn’t there. She looked left and right, trying to find him, only to feel something against her throat. Her eyes widened as the man hooked his arm around her neck. She struggled to get free, but the man’s grip was like a vice.
“You really shouldn’t zpill your planz out in zee open.” Dr. Von Doktor hissed into her ear. “But zankz anyway. Now zat I know what you were zinking, I can put an end to it.” Inez flinched when she felt the man grip her head tightly. “Not a word of ziz will come from you.” And with that, the man began to twist her head.
Inez’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to scream. She was silenced as the man tightened the pressure around her neck, cutting off her air supply. She could feel her heart beating faster as she was being strangled and her neck slowly being broken at the same time. She struggled against the man’s grasp, her legs kicking against the ground windly. Her mouth remained wide open as she struggled to do the simple task of sucking in some air.
Her lungs practically felt like they were on fire. Her eyes bulged open wider as she kept trying to breathe. Each time, nothing but a raspy gurgle would come out. She tried to jerk herself from side to side, but as the seconds passed, she grew weaker and weaker. She could feel a sense of tiredness start to come over her, and her struggles decreased more.
The pain in her neck grew as the man continued to push her head at an odd angle. He took advantage of her weakening state and he applyed more pressure faster. Inez tried to fight back, but she was getting too tired and weak now to resist. Slowly, she shut her eyes, her head swirling from the lack of oxygen. She could feel the pain spread through her neck, but her rapidly weakening body made it impossible for her to fight back anymore. All she could do was lay there and wait for the end.
Suddenly, the man let out a loud scream and his grip on her released. The woman immediately lurched forward, holding herself up with her hand as she clutched her throat. She took in several gasps of air, gagging and rasping the whole time. She heard some crashing behind her, a yelp of pain, but for the moment, she hardly paid attention to it. She just stayed there on the ground, rubbing her throat, trying to catch her breath. Then finally, after she felt her heart race return to normal and her lungs’ fire being extinguished, she turned her head to see what had caused the man to release her.
The dogs had recovered from the blow earlier. They had descended upon Von and they were attacking him, just like they had before. This time, the woman, too shaken up by what almost happened to her, didn’t try to stop the dogs. The man’s cries of pain filled her head, but she could not react to it.
However, it turned out she didn’t need to. The dogs had seemed to remember what she had told them before. While they were rougher this time around, with the blood that started to form, they didn’t try to tear his throat out. They just held him there, their eyes staring over at her expectantly, as if they were hoping that she would give the word to kill.
Inez realized, in that moment, just how much she control she had of the situation now. It was like before, only this time, she had more of an opening to actually finish the man off. The idea was tempting... But she still fought back that idea. It would not do her much good. It would just make the twister even angrier at them, and then it would be even less likely to listen to them when they try to tell it the truth about what happened to Terry.
But...since the man was tied up at the moment, perhaps now would be a good time to inform the twister. She was certain it would be rather...interested in what she had to say.
Turning her head to the twister, Inez shouted at it. “Hey you!”
The twister, which had pinned the scribble creature against the wall, shifted its body around. Inez would tell that it was now looking straight at her. The scribble creature was struggling to get free, but it was clear that the twister was much stronger. “What?”
Inez hesitated for a moment. If this creature could shoot fire beams, she knew that she would be toast right about now. She licked her lips nervously. Then, gathering up as much courage as she could, she spoke, “I have something I need to say to you!”
“What for? Why interest? Nothing important.” The twister seemed to almost shrug its shoulders. Well if it had any, that is. “Give reason. Why care?”
Inez narrowed her eyes. “It has to do with your creator.”
The tornado seemed to stiffen at this. “Insult. Kill.” It said in a threatening tone of voice.
“No...I have something even better to tell you.” Inez said. She straightened herself up. “I think you will find it quite interesting...”
“No...Don’t you fucking dare!” Dr. Von Doktor yelled at her. He struggled harder against the dogs’ grasp. “If you do, I’ll....!” The man let out a yelp as one of the dogs gripped his throat, biting hard enough to silence him.
The twister seemed to stare at her for several moments, regarding her with some level of curiosity. It then released the scribble creature and moved slowly towards her. Soon it stood, or rather, whirled, several feet in front of her. It remained there for several moments, staring at her intently. Inez remained where she was, staring back, doing what she could to hide her fear.
The twister then made a motion, and it spoke a single, hissed word. “Tell.”
“It wasn’t us who hurt your creator.” Inez pointed at the pinned man. “It was him. He is the reason that your creator is not here.”
At this, the twister seemed to freeze. It didn’t reply for several moments. It just looked down at her, as if it were trying to process this information. Without any kind of facial expression, the woman was unable to determine if this thing actually believed her or not, or what it was thinking at all. All she could do was stand there and wait, hoping that the twister would take the bait.
She took a moment to cast a quick glance down at Dr. Von Doktor. The man was looking at her with a slighlty horrified, mostly angered, expression. Now his face, she could read just fine. The man was shocked by what she had just accomplished. She couldn’t help but smirk at him slightly. She wondered how the man felt with him beginning to lose control of the situation.
The twister still hadn’t replied yet. Instead, it had begun to circle around them slowly. The winds around it slowed down. Not enough to completely stop. They were still dangerous to get too close to. But the twister almost seemed like it was trying to be as gentle as it could as it moved around them almost like a hawk circling its prey. Inez didn’t say another word. She hardly moved. She slowly turned her head, adjusting it so she could watch the twister’s movements. She gritted her teeth, unable to shake off the tension that started to rise inside of her.
She had to wonder, just what was on the twister’s mind? What was it thinking right now? Was it believing her when she said that Dr. Von Doktor was the one who hurt its creator? Or was it angered that she dare try to suggest such a thing? She wasn’t sure just how close the twister was to Von, or how easily it would turn against the evil man.
Finally, after what felt like an hour or more, the twister stopped its circling. It positioned itself directly beside where Dr. Von Doktor was. Its body bent forward slightly. Inez realized that she no longer felt the sensation of being watched, and she knew that the man must be the twister’s current recipiant of its stare. The man slowly turned his head up, the dog’s jaws no longer on his throat to silence him. There was an unidentified expression in the man’s eyes.
“...True...?” The twister finally said after several moments. “Do that...?”
Dr. Von Doktor didn’t answer for several seconds. He simply stared at the twister, his mouth partially open, breathing in and out slowly. At first, it almost seemed as though the man was going to cave in, realizing that he had utterly lost.
But when he started to smile a little, Inez was taken aback. This was not the expression she imagined the man getting. She bit her lip, wondering what this was going to mean. She casted a wary glance at the twister and then looked back at Von. What did this man have up his sleeve now?
Von shook his head slowly, chuckling despite the pain of the teeth inside him. “Oh nize try, you ztupid woman.” He gave her a sideways glance. “But your little liez are zo...obviouz...” Inez widened her eyes at this. Von looked up at the twister. “Do you really zink she iz telling zee truz? It iz obviouz zat she iz juzt trying to pazz zee guilt onto me, probably to help her feel better about what she did, what she waz involved iz.”
The twister looked at Inez, and back at Von. “Lie? Pass guilt?”
Von nodded his head in confirmation. “She iz lying to you. It waz she who planned zee whole zing.”
“What?! No! I didn’t!” Inez shouted, her eyes wide in horror. “I-I would never do something like that!”
The old scientist chuckled coldly at this. “Zee? Only zomeone az guilty as her would react zat way. She iz trying to manipulate you, get you to turn againzt me.” His dark smile broadened further. “Maybe you should show her what happenz when she mezzez wiz your creator.”
The twister needed no further prompts. It didn’t even speak, a sign of how angry it must be at this point. As it advanced on her, Inez backed away quickly, shaking her head, waving her hands out in front of her.
“N-No..please...I didn’t do it...”
But despite her pleas, the twister did not listen. If anything, they only seemed to make it angrier with her. Enraged by the fact that it believed that she did something that she did not do... Inez knew there was no reasoning with the twister now. Not unless a miracle happened, not unless the twister saw Dr. Von Doktor hurting her creator, there was absolutely nothing that could be done except fight back.
But how was she going to fight a twister? How was she going to stop it from attacking her? There was the scribble creature, but it keeps getting weakened with every fight. She wasn’t even sure how long it would last this time. And the zoners she was with...it was too dangerous for them.
She suddenly snagged her foot on a raised rock. Her eyes widened as she slipped her leg out from underneath her. She instantly lost her balance and she hit against the ground, letting out a yelp of pain. She raised her head up and rubbed it, groaning. She instantly froze in fear when she looked up and saw just how close the twister was to her now. She could feel the dust all around her being picked up as the twister got as close as it could without pulling or pushing her away into the air.
Inez was silent, clenching her teeth tightly, as she looked into the creature’s eyes, or rather, where they would be. She pushed herself back, turning her head to the side. She didn’t bother trying to run; she would not get far.
After a few moments, the twister finally spoke to her. “Monster. Liar. Pay.”
Inez shivered at this statement. She could tell just how serious the twister was about what it said. If it had eyes, they would be glowing right now, bathing her in the wrath of the twister. “Y-You’ve got it all wrong. I-I’m not the one who...”
“Stop lying!” The twister boomed. One of its tendrils, larger than normal, raised above her. “Pay!” The end of the tendril enlargened and formed that the woman could best describe as a large fist. “Die!”
The woman let out a scream. With tears of fear forming in her eyes, feeling trapped, she raised her hands above herself in a pitiful attempt to protect herself from the attack. She shut her eyes and waited for the blow.
This time, there was nothing to stop the attack. Inez felt a shockwave of pain as the twister struck her against her side. The force of the impact knocked her several feet away. She rolled across the ground, skidding a stop. She let out a groan as she smashed against some of the machinery, bending it under the force and ther weight.
She laid across one of the machines, her head lowered. She kept her eyes shut as she whimpered in pain. She felt as though several bones had been cracked. Tears stained her cheeks. She found it impossible to stop crying. The only thing she could do was open up one eye weakly and look over at her attacker.
She watched in horror as the twister began to advance on her. She struggled to get up. The immense pain in her side stopped her, as well as the machinery she was on. The edge, it was too slick for her to get any footing on. Her legs ended up slipping out from under her. She tried using her hands to push, only to call out in pain when the rough edge moved along her side. She froze for a few moments, shuddering in agony. Then she returned her attention back to the twister.
There was no way she was going to get away from this. As she watched the twister prepare another attack, one that she knew she would most likely not survive, she knew that all she could do was wait. She was not going to be able to dodge this. Letting out a weak whimper, she shut her eyes and turned her head to the side.
Suddenly, she felt something grab onto her ankle. She widened her eyes in surprise, but before she could look down to see who or what it was, she was yanked roughly backwards. She let out a shout of surprise as she was flung back and she landed on the ground a few feet away. She heard a rush of air as the twister tried to attack her again, but the first thing that was on her mind was the immense pain.
Having landed on her side, she howled in pain and agony. She quivered on the ground, her feet kicking out as she tried to get away. Some of her chemical burns had gotten worse, having been rubbed raw and bleeding a little now. She shut her eyes, feeling more tears come forth. She opened them and looked up at what was going on around her.
Her relief that Von was still pinned down did little to help her as confusion and fear settled in. The twister was still up, still coming towards her. But this time, she wasn’t alone. One of the zoners, Snap, had rushed to her aid and he now stood in front of her defensively.
But he wasn’t alone. There was someone else there with him. Through her pain, the woman crained her head back to see who it was. She widened her eyes in shock when she saw not Rapsheeba, like she had expected, but instead someone she did not expect.
“T-Tilly...?” She whispered. Then, the pain getting to her, unable to stay awake for any longer, the woman collapsed on the ground, shutting her eyes.
sss
“Inez!” Tilly cried in horror as she stared down at the woman’s unconscious form. She shook her, trying in vain to wake her up. But nothing she did worked. “Oh no...”
Snap cast her a sympathetic glance. He could not blame her for such a reason. He, too, was rather shocked by what happened. He looked down at where the woman was, biting his lip nervously. When he noticed her ribs still rising and falling, he let out a sigh of relief. “Don’t worry, she still has a chance.” He said, reassuring the woman.
Tilly stared at Inez for a few moments. She then turned to Snap nodded her head. “Yeah..you’re right.” She looked over at the twister. “Now...what about that?”
Snap narrowed his eyes at the twister. He took a defensive stance. “Whatever we can...”
Snap wasn’t really sure what they could do against the twister. But he wasn’t willing to just stand around and do nothing. He was certain there was some kind of way in order to turn it against Von. Once the twister saw what Von had done to his creator, like how Inez was clearly planning, he agreed that the twister would not be so keen on helping that man out.
Snap still couldn’t get over the shock of Tilly showing up. He had not expected it, and neither did Rapsheeba, and clearly not Mrs. Sanchez, either. It was such a massive coincidence and stroke of such luck, that if he tried to make sense of how it was possible, he was likely to just get a headache.
So he didn’t bother to question it. Right now, it wasn’t important to know how this woman came here, how she found out where they were, or anything like that. He could always ask questions later. Right now, he was just immensely relieved to have another ally with them. Tilly’s arrival was having a positive effect so far. They were able to save Mrs. Sanchez from being crushed and it opened up an opportunity for Rapsheeba to flee with Howdy to get him to the hospital. She didn’t want to leave, but Snap insisted, telling her Howdy wouldn’t make it otherwise. After some discussion, much to his relief, Rapsheeba did leave.
He casted a worried glance over to the scribble creature. That thing was the only one who could take the sentient twister in a fight, but it was apparently losing. Snap couldn’t recall one moment where it gained the upperhand. He wondered if it would function better if Sophie was here, but..no.. He couldn’t bring that little toddler in this fight.
Though at a loss of what to do, he still remained in front of Penny’s mother, trying to do what she could to shield her from the twister. Even if it meant taking a blow for her to delay the inevitable, he was prepared to do it. She was the mother of one of his best friends, after all. It was the last he could do.
The twister stopped trying to approach them, and instead it froze several feet away. It seemed to regard them with some interest, slowly circling them. It almost gently ripped up some of the machines and moved them out of the way, creating room for itself as it circled them like a hawk. Snap and Tilly tensed their bodies up, preparing for an attack. The twister didn’t try to, however, seeming content on just watching them.
“Involved, too?” It asked in an eerily calm voice. “Hurt creator?”
Snap frowned at this. Even when he and Rapsheeba were trying to treat Howdy and wake him up, the words of that vile man were not lost on him. “No. We did not hurt your creator.”
“Liar too.” The twister hissed softly.
Snap shook his head. “No. We speak the truth.”
“It is Dr. Von Doktor who is lying.” Tilly placed a hand against herself. “We would never do such a thing to her. Yeah..we didn’t like her that muh. But we wouldn’t...”
The twister cut her off. “Not like? Motivation.”
“What? No! It’s not like that!” Tilly cried out. She took a step forward. Her expression changed to that of pleading. “Please, if you let me, I can prove to you that...”
“Enough lying...” The tornado’s voice darkened, moving forward quickly and stopping abruptly. This caused Tilly and Snap to move back quickly, both worried, in that moment, that they were going to be attacked. The twister regarded them again for a few moments. Then it said, “Old man. Not like. But ally. Help me. You liars. You trick. Not fall for it.”
Snap took in a few quick breaths. Despite the fact that the twister hadn’t threatened them in that sentence, he could just feel the intensity of those words, and the hidden meaning behind them. It was clear that this twister was not going to listen to them.
He looked over at Tilly. He couldn’t help but feel some confusion in the mix. Just what kind of proof did she have? How could any of them prove Von’s involvement? He found himself quite curious about this. But he had to resist the temptation to ask. Now wasn’t the time for that.
“C-Come on... At least hear me out.” Tilly begged the twister. Snap could detect the level of desperation in her voice. “I just want to show you something. Why can’t you just...”
“Lies. Not fall.” The twister’s winds seemed to be picking up now. Snap and Tilly tensed up, huddling closer to the fallen vet as they braced themselves. “Take care. Now. Not wait.” The twister growled at them menacingly. Two large tendrils shot out from its sides. They formed the shape of large drills. “Take care now!”
Snap widened his eyes in horror as he watched the twister prepare to strike him and Tilly. He glanced over at her, exchanging a look of fear with her. He then looked down at the unconscious Mrs. Sanchez. There was no way they could move her out of the way in time. He looked over at the twister, watching as it was poised to strike. He gulped nervously, his heard pounding against his chest. Time was running out.
Suddenly, he heard a loud scream from far off to the side. He and Tilly turned their heads over and they would see the dogs had started to get rougher with the man. Snap wasn’t sure if it was because of what was happening with them or if the dogs simply lost their patience. But at the moment, they were biting the man harder, their teeth ripping into his flesh more. The sight of blood horrified Snap and Tilly. They would have told the dogs to stop, but they were too frozen to really think of doing anything.
But the twister seemed to know what to do. It turned its ‘head’ towards the dogs. It remained there for a few seconds. Then, silently, it began to move towards them. Snap sighed in relief that the twister was leaving him and Tilly alone for the time being. But...what about the dogs...?
The twister didn’t bother saying anything to the dogs. It didn’t pause to stare at them. It didn’t even look like it had any sort of plan. It just..moved towards the dogs. Then it stopped several feet away. Now it seemed to just be staring at them, but even then, there was...something off about the way it stood. Snap couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Then there was a sudden rush of air. Snap gritted his teeth as he felt himself being pushed back. He raised his arms over his head, as did Tilly, and he watched through clenched teeth what was going on.
To their horror, the dogs were being swept up into the air. Sucked into a vortex and spun around as if they were in a gigantic blender. The dogs yipped and whimpered as the twister cruelly spun them around. Snap and Tilly let out a shout of shock and disbelief. They begged the twister to let the dogs go. After all, they were just animals. They weren’t involved with this.
As this happened, Snap heard a faint ground. Out of the side of his eye, he could see that Dr. Von Doktor was climbing up to his feet. He took quick note of his injuries. Several bite marks mostly. His white lab coat was a little torn now, stained with blood. Snap narrowed his eyes at this. At least that was going to slow the man down for a little while.
A loud yelp and crash caught his attention. He whipped his head over and he gasped when he saw that the dogs had been slammed into the ground. Tilly was a few steps in front of him, her hand out. She must have tried again to stop the twister. But it was too late... Snap looked down to see the dogs. Or rather...what was left of them.
The dogs were broken apart. The bodies were hardly in tact, with parts having been disconnected from them. There was a ton of blood on the ground, staining the rocks. There were some chunky stuff that he realized was organs. He put his hand over his mouth, resisting the urge to throw up the best he could, the horrible smell and sight taunting him with its gruesome imagery.
Snap could feel his body trembling as he stared at the dogs’ remains, unable to tear his eyes away from it. Despite not knowing the dog zoners for long, he couldn’t help but start to cry for them. The fact that they had been killed so senselessly...
Snap shot a glare over at the tornado, his blood heating up. His previous sadness and shock gave way to the rage he felt inside. Forming fists with his hands, he started to advance towards the twister. He heard Tilly call out for him, but he ignored her. In that moment, he didn’t care about the fact that he stood no chance against the twister. Right now, all he could think of was how angery he was at what the twister had done. He gnashed his teeth together, nearly feeling him start to break.
“You...how could you...?!” Snap snarled at the twister. The swirling wind merely glanced at Snap, staring at him quietly. The lack of an answer infuriated Snap further. “They didn’t do anything to you!” He took a step forward, holding up a fist. “And you...you hurt them! You killed them! You monster!”
The twister gave a shake, as if angered by Snap’s accusation. “They first. Attack first. Aattack ally. React. Defend.”
Although a part of Snap knew that the twister was right, that the dogs had hurt Von, which prompted the attack, in that moment, he didn’t care. He pushed that thought aside as he took more steps towards the twister. “And you accusing us of huring your precious creator.. You won’t even listen to us!”
“Course. Lies. Not fall.” The twister said coldly. “Why listen? Why lie?”
Snap shook his head furiously. “Because we aren’t lying, you monstrous creepazoid!”
The twister quivered at this. “Call me monster? You worse!”
Snap bristled. “We’re not the ones who cruelly smashed...”
Snap getting get a chance to finish. He let out a yelp of surprise when he felt someone grab him from behind. He was yanked up into the air and pressed against something solid and warm. He was so shocked by this, he didn’t attempt to struggle at first. It was only when he heard the voice did he realize that he should probably try to get away.
“Hold it right zere...” Von hissed into his air. “Why don’t you juzt...calm down..?”
Snap immediately began to struggle. He thrashed around in the man’s arms, flailing his hands, struggling to free himself. The man merely hung onto him tighter. Snap continued to strike at him, but that did little to deter the man. It only seemed to make his situation worse. The man’s grip on him was getting tighter, and it got to the point where he was starting to have some trouble breathing.
“Oh no, I wouldn’t do zat if I were you.” The man said to him in a low, harsh voice. “Maybe it won’t turn out zo well for you, right?”
Snap kicked his legs wildly, his eyes bulging, his mouth open as he struggled to take a breath. He grabbed onto the man’s wrists and tried to pull them down. In that moment, he realized why Mrs. Sanchez had a hard time freeing herself. This man, he was quite strong. Snap didn’t know if he could...
“Let him go!” Tilly shouted as she charged forward. Snap felt relief when a weight struck against them, forcing Von to let go. “Leave him alone!”
Snap gripped his throat and gagged a few times. He shook his head and he looked up towards towards the man, who was being held by Tilly. He watched as the woman managed to subdue the man, though just barely. Unlike Mrs. Sanchez, Tilly was clearly more strongly built. Her hands and warms looped around the man’s body, holding him mostly in place.
He flinched when the woman started to use the man’s wounds against him. She placed pressure against an arm wound. Not too much. Just enough to cause him pain; it did slow him down. The man’s knees buckled and soon he was on the ground. Tilly got onto his back and used her weight to hold him down more.
Snap stared at her in shock, unable to believe what she had been able to accomplish. He stared to make his way over, until he realized that he forgotten about the twister.
He was suddenly yanked upward. He let out a scream of surprise as an air current wrapped around him and sucked him up into the air. He soon found himself levitated above the ground. Much like the dogs, albeit slower, he was moving around in a constant circle. Normally, this would make him feel sick, but his fear and shock of what was happening was enough to override that fear. At least for the time being.
“Snap!” Tilly cried out in shock.
Snap looked at Tilly, watching her as he spun around and around. She tried to get over to him, but it was clear she was afraid to let go of Dr. Von Doktor. And there was something else; the twister was raising him a little higher, threatening to smash him into the ground if she dare take a step forward. Tilly froze, looking conflicted on what to do. Then she frowned and she tightened her grip on Von. There was a creepy flash in her eyes, and Snap realized what she was threatening to do.
Snap gulped nervously, his heart beginning to race. He realized that they were both in a deadlocked state. She and the twister had hostages. Both of them were trying to blackmail the other into stepping down. And from the looks of it, both were willing to cause bodily harm if the other did not comply.
But Snap knew that the twister would not back down. There was no way that it would. It would continue to hold onto him tightly, waiting for the woman herself to back down. But Tilly wouldn’t either. She was dead set determined on making the twister be the first one to relent. It took the small zoner only seconds to know what was going on.
They were at a checkmate. An impasse. A blocked off crossroads. Only one will make it through. The only question was...which one was it going to be?
sss
Of course he would be sent out here at this late of night. Of course his boss couldn’t wait. Of course he had to have it all done right now. It wasn’t like his boss liked to wait until a more appropriate time. Like, you know, daylight, when the sun was out and shining. No, it all had to be done right now. No exceptions. There was nothing that he could do to change his boss’s mind.
He didn’t know why he couldn’t have have, dunno, an easier job. Like typing up the report that his sister was working on. Oh she had it so easy. She complained about it, though. He scoffed. If he wanted to trade jobs, he’d be more than happy to obligue.
The man didn’t know why his boss wented to send him here anyway. Didn’t he already send someone here to begin with? Yeah, there was that one woman whom he insisted come here. She was confused as well, but she had obligued and came. Couldn’t she just hadnle this on her own? Why did he himself have to come here?
Well his boss was always for being thorough. Once he had had an idea in his head, it was difficult to make him stop until he got what he wanted. He often sent multiple people on the same mission, hoping that it would, somehow, improve progress, speed it up. He had no idea if it really worked or not, but he was not in any position to question his boss. Due to how sketchy their operation was, and all the illegal stuff they were doing, he couldn’t go against his boss. The police were the least of his problems; his boss would rather kill him on sight than let him have any chance to interact with the law enforcement.
Well he might as well get this over with. His boss had an idea of what was going on, and he wanted him to do something in case it was. It was such a stupid and random thing, and he didn’t know why he had to come here for it. If this chalk world really did exist... Okay so it did. He had seen the footage. But didn’t it work anywhere? Why did he have to come here for...
Oh well, it didn’t really matter now at this point. He was here now and he might as well do what he was told.
Wandering through this building was rather spooky. Darkness everywhere as many of the lightbulbs had finally burned out. Pesky shields blocking his path. It was a good thing that his boss took the liberty of stealing the key combination from Dr. Von Doktor. With that idiot’s code, bypassing the shields became a snap. Now it was just a matter of finding the right room. Now where did that idiot hold those people hostage...?
Ah yes, there it was. He smirked as he walked towards the shut doors. He grabbed onto it and tugged a few times. Stuck. Oh well. That wasn’t a problem. He simply typed in the key combination and it opened up just fine. He slammed it open and walked into the room.
He could smell some weird stuff in the air. He could tell the chalkboard had been used. He could tell the piece of machinery in here had been relatively recently occupied.
Yep, Dr. Von Doktor had been here.
He grimaced at the thought of that wretched man. He couldn’t believe he had to work along side him for a while. Those were rather uncomfortable memories. The man was such a pain to work with. That was part of the reason he was willing to work for his new boss. It gave him a chance to get back at Dr. Von Doktor for all the idiocy that he had to put up with.
He then stopped in front of the chalkboard. He thought back to what was discovered on the cameras. If the truth had been spoken, then anything he drew...it would become real in this other world. The idea was horrifying, but also fascinating. He could feel himself quake in excitement.
Well enough standing around, doing nothing. It was time to get to work. He raised up his magic chalk and he quickly sketched something on the chalkboard. He took a step back to admire it, and make sure he got all the details right. He then shut his eyes tightly, concentrating hard. A few moments later, he erased the object. He coughed a few times as dust kicked up into the air. He then took a step back and folded his arms against his chest, a smirk spreading across his face.
“I’m not sure if this will work or not.” The man whispered to himself. Then he chuckled. “But if it does... I hate to be you, Dr. Von Doktor.”
With that, having his mission accomplished, he turned and walked away, having no fear of security as he had disabled it beforehand. He needed to report back to his boss. He was going to be so pleased.
sss
Dr. Von Doktor couldn’t help but smile at this insane predicament that they were all on. He didn’t even care that he was being pinned down by a woman. He didn’t care that he was in pain, or that this wasn’t first time that he had been subdued like this. The only thing that was on his mind was the fact that they were all in a very interesting situation.
A deadlock between a woman and a twister, and neither of them were budging. It was so amusing, he almost laughed.
It was pretty pathetic how the woman and zoner seemed so determined to prove to the twister that he had anything to do with what happened to Terry. Naturally, the twister rejected what they had said. After what he told the twister, there was no way that it was going to find out what had happened. So there was really nothing to worry about.
However, he did feel some concern at the moment. How was he going to get much done with him being held like this? He needed to figure out something to get himself out of this situation. He needed to regain the upperhand, and this time, actually keep it. At least he didn’t have those stupid dogs to worry about anymore. They were now dead. And the scribble creature hadn’t tried to attack again. He didn’t know if it admitted defeat, if it was waiting, if it was dead, too. But for the moment, he had a chance to pull things back to his side. And he was going to seize it.
But exactly how he was going to do this... He wasn’t entirely sure yet. He would figure out something, somehow. He just...needed time. That’s all. Just a little bit of time.
“Let go. Give back. Or kill.” The twister threatened. It raised Snap up even higher. The small zoner was squirming, kicking his legs about.
Tilly hissed, digging her nails into Von. He let out a small yelp of surprise and pain. “Not until you give back my friend.”
“F-Friend...?” Von found himself chuckling. “Do you really believe zat? You...You hardly know zat little c-c-creature...!” He stopped speaking when Tilly squeezed his neck a little harder. “Waz zat really nezezzary?!” He managed to speak.
Tilly hissed at him. “Call off your tornado! Then I’ll let you go!”
Von stared at her, blinking his eyes a few times. He contemplated saying all kinds of comebacks to her. But he stopped himself. Perhaps this would be a good way to regain the upperhand. Obviously, he couldn’t do much laying around here, behind held by this idiotic woman. Yeah...he should change tactics a little.
Turning his head over to the tornado, he nodded his head once. “Do az she zayz.”
This caused them to stare at him in shock. The woman spluttered, struggling to find something to say, but no coherent words could be heard. Snap was looking at him like he lost his mind. The twister shook once, startled as well by what the man said.
But, as shocked as it was, the twister did not question him. And, slowly, reluctantly, it let go of Snap. The zoner let out a cry as he was lowered, then casually dropped onto the ground. The man, despite his feelings for Snap, couldn’t help but flinch as the zoner hit the hard surface, turning his head away from the sight. He then felt relief as the woman let go of him and rushed over towards Snap, obviously not wanting to put herself back into that checkmate situation.
Von and the twister returned to each other’s sides. They watched as Tilly helped Snap up to his feet. The two looked at each other for a few moments, and then they turned back towards him and the twister. In that moment, the uncomfortable tension returned, and they were back in the face off, each practically daring the other to make a move.
Von narrowed his eyes as he watched them carefully, wondering how he was going to deal with them. He didn’t know how much time he had, how long it would take for the stick figure, if it was still active, to make a move. He didn’t know if there were any other allies he should be aware of. Whatever he and the twister decided to do, they would have to do it quickly, before it was too late.
“Sooner or later, Von...” Tilly said, breaking the silence. “That twister will know the truth of what happened. You can’t keep lying to it forever.”
The twister bristled at this, its body shaking. Von smirked as he stared up at the twister. It still believed his words. It still thought that these fools were the ones who harmed his creator, and it was infuriated by what it perceived as lies. He wondered for a split moment if that was something Terry intended, or if it was a part of its personality that it had developed on its own.
He turned back to the two. He couldn’t help but laugh at their useless efforts to try to lure the tornado away from him. They must know that their efforts will not work. He had seen the look in their eyes. And yet..they still tried. Oh how they tried... But in the end, it all meant nothing. That twister had no intention on listening to them, and he decided now would be a good time to try to twist the knife in further.
“Do you really zink you can come here and lie to uz like zat? Ezpecially after the way you had blinded Terry?” Von told them. He narrowed his eyes at them, pretending to be angry. They glared back, gritting their teeth. He tried his best not to laugh at them. “But zat waz not enough, waz it? You had to zkin her alive, too, didn’t you?”
At this, Tilly and Snap’s faces paled in horror. Whether or not this was them believing his words or being shocked that he’d say that didn’t matter. It still got the desired result from the twister. An angry howl, a rush of wind, and a clear bloodlust in its voice as it spoke.
“What?!”
“B-But...” Snap stammered.
Von cut him off before the shocked zoner could continue. “And zen you dumped her on the zide of zee ztreet. Just laid her zere to die, didn’t you?”
“What?! No!” Tilly shook her head. “Why are you saying such things?! You know for a fact that we...”
“Silence!” The tornado snarled at them. It moved a little closer, its ‘head’ bowed menacingly. “Monsters. Crush. Kill. You pay...”
“Now wait...” Dr. Von Doktor raised his hand up. “Maybe we could use zis to our advantage.” He said as he smiled up at the twister. Noting the twister’s confused movements, he elaborated. “Zink about it. We know what zey did, but the polize in my world doez not.”
“It’s not your world!” Tilly cried out.
Von ignored her. “I know you could do zo much to zem. Well zo could the polize. In fact, zey could do worze...”
The twister paused for a moment. “Point?”
“Zee point iz, we could...” Von turned his head slightly, staring over at Tilly and Snap. “...keep zem in a deadlock. At our merzy...” He gave the twister a sideways glance. “Zat iz better zan zimply killing zem off, wouldn’t you agree...?”
The twister regarded him for a moment. It seemed to switch between looking at him, their foes, and back at him. Von waited for its answer. He knew what it was going to be anyway. He saw little reason for why the twister would go against him. The idea of getting better revenge on them by forcing them into permanent submission... That was far better than just simply killing them off. How could the twister resist?
“Okay then.”
Dr. Von Doktor smiled darkly at this. He knew the twister would agree with him. It was so easily manipulated. Though he still felt a pang of fear at its capabilities, for now, it was puddy under his thumb. He turned and sneered over at Tilly and Snap as he watched their horrified expressions. Everything had fallen back into his hands once more.
But he could not celebrate for long. He needed to take action, before something else could go wrong. He looked up at the twister and then motioned his hand out towards Tilly and Snap. He opened his mouth to bark an order, his eyes narrowed in determination. He was about to speak when something caught his and the others’ attention.
Without warning, a loud static sound swept through the cave. He clutched his head as the sound buzze aroudn his skull, echoing repeatedly. The twister was unaffected, but Snap and Tilly were reacting to the sound as well.
Von clutched his teeth as he tried to ride out the sound. Just what was this? What the hell was going on? He glared over at the scribble creature, but it was still down. He then looked over at Snap and Tilly. He thought, at first, maybe one of them pulled a fast one, but neither of them looked as if they could be responsible for this. But if it wasn’t them, then what was going on...?
Then he saw it. Something was flying towards them. It was small, round, a flying ball of sorts. There were several flashing lights on it. It kept moving forward, creating a futuristic bubbly sound as it did so. It soon stopped in front of him and the twister. It appeared to regard them.
With a loud beep and a flash, it said in a clearly robotic voice, “Target confirmed. Autoplay footage.”
“Autoplay footage?” Tilly said softly. She looked down at Snap. “What is it doing?”
“I think it’s going to playback something for Von, but..I don’t know what.” Snap said, sounding just as confused as the woman. “I don’t think he made this thing. But if he didn’t, then who did...?”
That was something that Von wished he knew. He was so confused, he could not answer the twister’s questioning statements. He just stared at the sphere, wondering what purpose it had here, and who could have sent it.
Then there was a click and the ball opened up. Arms shot out from its side, each ending with a spinning hook. Von let out a cry of surprise and moved back, waiting for it to attack. But instead of doing that, the ball’s hands started to trace a line in the air. Neon light appeared, sparkling and flashing as the bright sheet of green filled the air. Then the ball began to do what it stated it would, and footage began to play on its green screen.
Dr. Von Doktor inhaled a sharp breath, his face losing lots of color shades. He couldn’t believe what was on the screen. He could feel a sharp pain in his chest, his heart rate quickening along with his breathing. He looked up warily at the twister as the footage played, and he took a few steps back.
The footage was of him hurting Terry. No sound, but it was very clear what was going on.
Before the man could get too far, the twister, with a sudden fury, rounded on him. It slammed him against the wall and held him up there. Von struggled to get himself free, but soon he dangled there, staring at the twister in horror, his mouth open and breathing in and out quickly.
“You...!”
“N-No..pleaze...I...” Von begged the twister, cold horror washing through his body. “I-I didn’t mean to...I...”
The twister snarled at him. “You...lied...! You dead!”
The man let out a whimper of fear as he turned his head away, waiting for the twister to make its deadly blow.
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Need
Mar 6, 2015 17:40:48 GMT -5
Post by Bluedramon on Mar 6, 2015 17:40:48 GMT -5
Chapter 48: Avenges
Don’t keep your enemies closer.
sss
Everything was happening so fast. There was little time to react, no time to think. The pressure against his body increased. He shut his eyes tightly, gritting his teeth as he struggled to cope with the pain. Despite knowing it was useless, he tried to grab onto the tendrils and pull them from himself. It didn’t work, naturally, and he was left dangling high above the ground.
“Urgh...pleaze...let me go...”
His voice was raspy at this point. The tornado had applied pressure to his neck. Not enough to silence him or make him unable to breathe, but it was enough to prevent him from talking. His wide, bulging eyes stared at the tornado in fear.
The old scientist kicked out his legs in desperation, hoping that, somehow, he would be able to free himself. But no matter how much he squirmed around, there was literally nothing he could do to get out of the tornado’s grasp. His eyes darted left and right, his mind racing. There...there had to be someway out of here. Someway to get the twister back on his side. Someway to save his own life. That’s what was important right now. And if it meant lowering his dignity, then he’d do it.
But no...there was no way the twister would listen to him now. That stupid machine, it had exposed him for what he had done. It all seemed too coincidental and he realized there had to be someone else working with these guys. Or at the very least, someone who really wanted to get their filthy mits on his discovery. Well he wasn’t going to allow that. So long as he was still around and still breathing, he was not going to allow that to happen.
“They truthful. You lie. You monster! How dare! You hurt creator!” The tornado yelled at him. Von let out a yelp of pain as the tornado shook him a little and slammed him against the wall. Its fist was still raised. The fact that it hadn’t struck yet baffled the scientist. Was it just trying to mess with his head a little? “How could? How could...?!”
Von let out a soft whimper as the tornado increased the wind power around itself. He could hear the sound of creaking, and some of the machines were being pushed away. He also noticed that the others had disappeared. Did they abandon him? No wait, he could see them. They were hiding away somewhere, probably to save their own skins. He furrowed his eyes at this. What a bunch of cowards...
The man let out a scream a second later when the air first struck against the wall, just inches away from his face. He could hear the cracks in the wall, spreading upward. He pulled his head back and stared in horror as the twister put its ‘face’ close to his. He turned his head to the side and shut his eyes, whimpering a little as he waited for the twister to strike him next.
“Pleaze....don’t hurt me...” Von begged, his body shaking, tears forming in his eyes. “I-I’m zorry... I didn’t... No pleaze...I...”
The twister roared at this, causing the man to shut his mouth, his teeth clenching together. Von kept his head turned to the side. A wide, fright-filled eye watched him warily, unable to turn away. He looked the twister up and down, looking for any signs of the twister deciding to free him. But there was nothing. Only aggression, and, despite having no face, he could tell the twister was glaring at him. This twister had a strong desire to hurt him, and he knew that he was not going to be able to get away, no matter how much he begged and pleaded.
In that moment, he felt a sting in his stomach. He realized just how far down the ladder he had truly gone. If he had just stuck to his guns, and just stuck with the original plan, this wouldn’t have happened. If he had kept to that perpetual motion thing, he wouldn’t be in this mess. Instead, he had chosen this path. He had descended further than he had ever intended to go, and he was going to pay the price for it.
He had tried to hurt people, and he succeeded a couple of times. Especially with Terry... Now, more than ever, he wished he could take it all back. He wished he could stop himself from losing control and blinding her. He wished he could undo all the damage he did to Terry. He wished he had kept her around as a partner.
But instead, he had hurt her badly. And that had been his biggest mistake. Now, he was paying for that. This hideous act alone was what was making him subject to the twister’s wrath. If he didn’t hurt her, the twister probably would have still been aligned with him. And he would have been able to get exactly what he wanted. These guys would have been beat. And he’d have won. This....this was all his fault...
And now it was too late to do anything about it. He was the twister’s prisoner now, and he wasn’t counting on the others trying to save him.
He kicked his legs, his body still suspended in the air. He twisted himself from side to side. He could feel his mind racing, panic filling up inside of him. He was realizing just how screwed he was. There was no way out of this. He looked left and right again, trying to find something that he might have missed. But just like all those other times, there was nothing. He was completely trapped.
Having no other choice, he looked up at the twister again. His mouth was partially open. He took in a few quick breaths, his chest expanding and deflating several times. “Please..j-juzt let me go..” He managed to say. “Pleaze..I-I’ll leave you alone if you do... I’ll leave...I’ll go home.. Pleaze...I...”
He let out a cry of pain when the twister slammed him again. He gritted his teeth as he felt the back of his head hit against the wall. He lowered his head and shivered as he felt the grip tighten on him slightly, and he could feel the hiss of the twister being so close to him.
“No more lies.” The twister hissed into his face. Despite the strong winds and the volume of the voice, it still came off as almost a whisper. Such a confusing combination. “So you attacker. Hurt creator. Why?”
“I...” Von’s voice trailed off.
“Why?!” The twister shook the man hard.
“All right! I’ll tell you!” Von cried out as he was hit against the wall a few more times. The twister relented its attack and watched him carefully. “You zee... I..I noticed zat Terry waz acting eratically. She waz trying to poizon the zoner we had in our cuztody. I knew if I didn’t do zomezing zoon, she was going to kill him, and zen we’d have to find anozer zoner to use.” Von said.
The twister almost seemed to glare at him harder. Von could feel the wind around him tighten even more. He struggled a little, but quickly gave up. He lowered his head slightly, his eyes wide in fear. Lifting up his head, he turned his attention back towards the twister.
From how it seemed to look at him, even though faceless, the twister was wanting him to continue. Maybe it thought that there was more to the story than that. Maybe it thought that he wasn’t finished. Though he hated to disappoint it, due to how it likely would react, he knew he’d get it even worse if he didn’t say anything. Gulping loudly and preparing himself for what was surely to come, he continued.
“Zo I lured her into a back room, and I ztrapped her down, and I....took care of her.” Von said. His voice grew soft as he recounted some of the things he did to the woman while she was his prisoner. “I forzed her eyez open and poured a chemical into zem. I zlit her eyelidz. And zem I tormented her by attacking her leg. I wanted her to fully regret trying to betray me. I dumped her in front of a hozpital later. I wanted her to continue feeling that regret. I felt deaz was too good for her.”
There was cold, dead silene in the room. It stayed like this for what felt like several hours. The air around him began to feel thick and heavy. The man felt as though it was so difficult to move. He could feel his body shaking harder. He was unable to tear his eyes away from the twister, wondering what it was thinking right now.
The silence from the twister was horrifying. It was scary enough before, but the moment right now, where it wasn’t really doing anything, that was the scariest part. Not knowing what it was going to do. Not knowing exactlly how it was going to respond to what he said. He couldn’t even tell if it was angry or not. It was just impossible to tell. Oh man...He wished this thing had a goddamn face.
When the twister began to make its response, the man immediately wished that it had stayed silent. The twister’s body began to quake in anger. He watched as some of his equipment was tossed across teh room like it was nothing. He turned his head to the side again, flinching as he heard something heavy crash into the ground. He looked down and saw the mangled piece of one of the computers. Despite it being just electronic, the sight was rather horrifying to see.
“That all?! Hurt her for that?! Monster!” The twister’s voice was raised up, booming, echoing in the man’s head. He shivered as he stared up at the twister, letting out small whimpers. “She not deserve!” Von was raised up higher into the air. “You deserve!”
“What?! N-No..pleaze!” Von cried out, tears leaking out of his eyes. He desperately clawed at the air tendril still holding onto him. “I’m zorry! I’m zo zorry!”
“Too late! Not enough!” The twister tightened its grip on him. “Payback! Payback!”
Von shivered at this. He cringed as far back as he could. He stared up at the twister with one, fright-filled eye. “Wh-What are you going to do...?”
The twister paused for a moment. Then it spoke. Silent, threatening, cutting through his heart. “What you deserve...”
Von shut his eyes and just let the tears fall. He no longer tried to hold them back. Unable to stop himself, he began to let out small, quick, shaky sobs. The realization of just how doomed he was hovered over his head. Unable to escape, he just continued to struggle and cry. There was nothing else he could really do at this point.
He had no idea what the twister was going to do to him. And he knew that begging was useless. The twister would only get angrier the more he tried. His mind raced as thoughts of what the twister had in store for him, each one more horrible than the last one. He tried to pull himself free, failing time and again, just like before. He kicked his legs out wildly, desperation clawing at his core. As the seconds passed, he only grew more terrified at what the twister was going to do with him.
Then, without warning, the twister started to take action. He could feel it grab onto his right arm. The tendrils wrapped around it quicky, securing itself to his arm. The twister then tightened its grip on him even more, as if to steady itself or something. Then, seconds later, horrible pain radiated around the man’s arm as the twister began to pull it.
Von’s eyes widened in pain and he let out a scream. He struggled frantically against the twister as it pulled on its arm, yanking at it harder and harder. He shut his eyes and sobbed in pain as he felt his arm being pulled beyond its limits. He tried to pull his arm back, but the twister was too strong. His legs kicked out frantically, going faster and faster as the pain increased. He turned his head from one side to the other.
Oh gawd...the pain... It was so bad... Please make it stop. Someone, anyone, make it stop. Please... He released a series of screams from his mouth, his eyes shut tightly, hot tears streaming from them and down his face. When will the pain stop? This...this was too much. Too much pain...
It was over in a few seconds. With one powerful thrust, a loud rip, and a horrific echo of agony, the man’s arm was severed from his body completely. He screamed loudly, throwing his head back. He sobbed heavily from the immense pain, feeling his skin crawl with cold when he heard the sickening thud of the arm falling against the ground below him. He didn’t bother to look at the stub that remained of his arm. He just shut his eyes and kept crying, trying to ignore the strong stench of blood filling his nostrils, the warm red fluid pouring from the gaping hole that had been produced.
The man opened up his right eye and he stared at the twister. He could barely focus, the pain being so intense. His lower lip quivered as he sniffled loudly. He tried to cope with the pain, but found himself completely unable to. Oh gawd, the pain... It hurt so bad...
His mind was so swirling with pain that he was unable to hear what the others were saying. He thought he heard them shouting in horror. He thought he heard them begging the twister not to kill him, that there was a better way. He looked down and he could see they were standing there. But he couldn’t tell what was on their minds. His vision was very blurry at this point, the pain and blood loss getting to him.
He hoped and prayed that something will take away the pain. He didn’t care at this point what happened. The anger he felt before, the determination he felt before, it all left him, meaning nothing to him anymore. He no longer cared if he didn’t get to share his discovery with the world. He didn’t care about being famous. He didn’t care about his stupid reputation. He just...he just wanted to live... He wanted to get away from the pain and just...live. That’s all. Please...
Then, without warning, he felt something being pushed into his mouth. The thrust was so quick, his lip was hit and he yelped in pain. He widened his eyes as he almost instantly gagged. He looked down and he felt his blood turn cold when he saw that the twister had shoved his own severed arm deep into his mouth. His air supply was completely cut off.
The man struggled in desperation, trying so hard to breathe. His eyes darted around, attempting to find some kind of escape. His vision at this point was so blurry, he could hardly make out any details. And soon, he didn’t bother trying to look at anyone, his gaze pointing upwards. He tried to pull his arm out of his mouth, but it was stuck in there good and tight. The thrust had been so swift... The twister had been able to force the arm down despite the little room that there was. The man felt his heart pound against his chest when he realized there was no way he was going to be able to get the arm out of his mouth.
And the blood loss... He just kept on losing more and more blood. It was becoming overwhelming. He was becoming weaker and weaker by the second. His struggles began to decrease rapidly. The lack of oxygen started to make his brain feel fuzzy, and his eyes started to droop. So tired...so very tired.... Maybe he just needed to rest...
The last thing he was aware of the twister doing was blowing wind against his gaping hole. Not a gentle wind, but thrusting swift, powerful wind in concentrated spots. He knew that the twister had pumped air straight into his blood vessels. How clever, he thought bitterly. So that’s how the twister was going to....
It took only a few moments before the effects took place. A massive tiredness suddenly jerked upwards through his body and he gave a quick shudder. Then, his eyelids unable to stay open any longer, he closed them. He soon became unaware of anything around him, his world becoming dark and silent.
sss
Snap’s body shook uncontrollably as he stared at the horrific scene. He was unable to look away, despite how gruesome it was. He couldn’t believe what had transpired. His mind raced, his heart beating quickly. He tried to calm himself down, breathing in and out quickly. But it was impossible, and he only ended up breathing in even faster, his heart feeling as though it was going to burst from his chest.
There, dangling high above him in the tornado’s grasp, was the limp form of who was Dr. Von Doktor. His body was twitching, going through its death throes. He shook his head slowly from side to side as he tried to come to grips with what happened. He had wanted that man to pay, but...not like this...
The man’s arm had been ripped from his body completely. He could still see the blood dripping down the hole. The severed arm had then been shoved into the man’s mouth. Snap couldn’t tear his gaze away from the man’s face. The face was pale, white as sheet, and his eyes were wide open, forever staring out in horror and silence, glazed over. His body shook harder as his eyes trailed over the man’s body and watched as his body conitnued to go through the throes of death.
It was hard to believe that, just moments ago, this man had been fine. He was alive, still breathing, still able to speak, just..still there. Now, he was gone. It all had happened so fast.... He and Tilly had little time to react. They had seen it coming. They had tried to stop it. But they just weren’t fast enough, and the twister had taken action.
When the arm as ripped off, Snap realized it was all over for the man. The blood loss that he would have suffered had he been left alone after that would have been too much. He wouldn’t have survived a trip to the hospital; he’d be dead long before. But the twister didn’t stop here. It then began to suffocate the man, and blew air into his body, which Snap knew wasn’t a good thing. These actions killed Dr. Von Doktor very quickly, and now he was no more. The twister emphasized this point by tossing him across the ground like a rag doll. The man hit against the ground with a sickening thud, and he just remained there, limp and unmoving, save for the death twitches.
Snap stared at the body, still having a hard time looking away. As he stared at the man’s pale, still form, he couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him. He had not expected something like this to happen. He never wished this kind of fate upon him. The man’s screaming and pleading and sobbing... Even if it came from him, it was not a comfortable thing to listen to, and it nearly shattered his mind. He closed his eyes and he turned away.
Well...there was nothing that could be done now. The man was gone. It was too late to try to save him. There was nothing that could bring him back. The only consolance is that, well at least he can’t hurt anyone anymore. But...that did leave something else. As Snap looked up at the twister, a cold thought rushed through him.
What about the twister...?
He and Millie watched the twister cautiously, wondering what it was going to do next. It hadn’t made a move against them yet. It was just sort of...hovering around there. It was looking at them, or so they thought. Hard to tell with no face. They watched as the twister just...stood there. Though it didn’t seem like it was going to be hostile towards them again, they were both still afraid and cautious. The thing still seemed to regard them coldly, as if it were debating what it should do with them.
Snap looked up at Tilly. He looked over at the twister for a few seconds, and then back at Tilly. “What do you think we should do...?”
The woman didn’t answer him right away. She just kept staring at the twister. He could see her eyes were furrowed, and it was clear that she was trying to think of something. He remained silent, giving her the time that she needed to think of a move they could make.
She looked from side to side slowly, regarding the area around them as she pondered. She remained silent, save for a small ‘hmm’ now and then. She licked her lips slowly, biting them as her mind’s gears turned rapidly. Snap hoped that she would be able to think of something, because at his current moment, he didn’t know what to do.
“Well...” Tilly said softly. “We could always....”
She didn’t get a chance to finish as a loud roar suddenly swept through the area. There was a rush of air, and they were tumbled backwards. Snap let out a cry of pain as he crashed against the ground, rolling painfully across it. Tilly landed not far, and Mrs. Sanchez’s body was slammed against one of the machines. The zoner shook his head as he pushed himself up onto his hands. He turned his attention back to the twister.
The tornado appeared to almost expand, inflating itself, holding parts of itself from its sides, almost as if to make itself look like it was going to lunge at them. The sight of this horrified Snap and he scrambled to his feet. He held up his fists, clinching them tightly as he prepared for a possible battle.
“Wait...” Tilly said softly as she placed a hand against Snap’s shoulder. The zoner paused and looked up at her. “Look... I don’t think it’s going to attack...”
Snap blinked in confusion at this. He wondered what the woman could be talking about. Of course the twister was...
But when he looked over, he realized that she was right. Not only had the twister not attack them, but it felt as though its attention was no longer on them. The twister had turned its side to them and it was staring intently down the opening to this hand drawn alb. It was as if the twister had forgotten all about them.
But...what was it going to do? Snap still didn’t feel safe around the twister and he kept his body hunched, despite Tilly’s reassuring words. He gritted his teeth, baring them at the twister. He was not going to let his guard down, not after what had happened to Dr. Von Doktor.
Then the twister finally took action. And Tilly turned out to be correct. The twister seemed to have forgotten about them, or at least lost interest, and it sped out of the cave room, leaving them alone.
It didn’t go alone. The scribble creature, apparently not willing to back down, had gotten back up and rushed towards the twister. With what seemed like a roar to Snap, although it wasn’t technically a roar, the scribble creature chased down the twister. In several seconds, the sound of swirling wind and pounding footsteps vanished, and soon, all was silent. Well mostly.
Snap stood there in silence, breathing in and out quickly. He tried to think of what he and Tilly should do next. What should be their next moves? What would be the smart thing to do at this point? What would be the best move that they could make at this point?
Should they go after the twister? Or should they get Mrs. Sanchez, as well as Dr. Von Doktor’s body, back into the real world? Decisions... He wasn’t sure yet which one was better. Mrs. Sanchez needed help but...they didn’t know what that twister was going to do. It..it might do something much worse than what it did to Von. There was nothing about its demeanor that told Snap it didn’t intend on hurting anyone else.
And the twister was quite angry... And he knew how irrational anyone can behave in that state. He might have avenged Terry by killing Von, but what if there was still a lot of anger pumping through that twister? Without a Von to torment, the twister was just going to unleash its fury on the next best thing. Which was, as Snap’s face paled, other zoners.
Snap started to rush forward, knowing what he was going to get himself into but still running anyway, but he was stopped when Tilly seized him by his arm. He struggled in her grasp before turning to glare at her in disbelief.
“What’s the big idea?!” Snap cried out.
“We will have to deal with the twister later. Let’s just focus on getting these guys back on earth.” Tilly said as she stared down at Mrs. Sanchez and Dr. Von Doktor. “I don’t know how much longer Mrs. Sanchez can last...”
Snap struggled to get his arm free. He yanked harder, and eventually he freed himself. He glared at her for a few seconds before he pointed his rounded hand towards where the twister fled. “And what about the twister?! What are we supposed to do about that? Just let it go destroying?! More people could die! Don’t you understand?!”
Tilly nodded her head, looking at him sympathetically. “Yes. I understand how you must feel. But if we don’t get back to the other world soon...” She furrowed her eyes with concern. “This poor woman may not make it...” She looked back at Snap. “You wouldn’t want to disappoint Penny, would you? I mean...what would she think..?”
Snap stared at the woman for a few seconds. He regarded her words carefully. He shook his head. While he understood what Penny might think, there was a part of him that was driving him to find the twister and stop it. This...this was his home. This woman had to understand that, right? If they didn’t stop the twister...then who knows what was going to happen...?
“Look..I-I know... But if we don’t stop the twister...” Snap started to say. His voice trailed off as horrible thoughts swept through his head. His body shuddered as each thought got progressively worse. “Just..please...we have to...” Tilly shook her head. Snap’s eyes widened at this, his mind racing. How..how could she still say no...? Did she not care...? Well they were just ‘chalk creatures’ to her, probably. Of course she wouldn’t care. He glared at her and turned his head away. “I see how it is...:”
Tilly gave a heavy sigh. Snap could hear it from where he was. He ignored her and he started to walk away from her. He could hear something behind him, but he hardly paid attention. He just increased his footfalls, hoping to get out of here quickly. If Tilly didn’t want to help, then fine. He could do this on his own.
Now...which way did that twister go?
He jolted when he felt something grab onto his arm. He was pulled back and raised above the ground. He struggled and thrashed in the air, trying to hit whoever was holding him up. He only stopped when he was able to identify who it was.
“Tilly?!” Snap cried, his eyes wide in shock. He then gritted his teeth and struggled. “Let me go! I have to...!”
Tilly shook her head again, this time more firmly, her eyes narrowing. “Look Snap. You stand no chance against that twister. And neither do I.” She softened her glare as she lowered her gaze and said, “Do you really think I can stop the twister when there’s only a small, pathetic piece of magic chalk left? I can’t do anything. I’m not that smart or that quick or that cunning.” She stared into Snap’s eyes. “Please...don’t do this to Rudy and Penny. They’d miss you if something were to happen.”
Snap gasped at this. He felt a pang of guilt rush through him. He hadn’t thought about that. With him so ill-prepared to face the twister...what good was he going to be at stopping that swirling monster? What if something happened to him? What would the others think of him? Could he really break their hearts like that, rushing into a battle he knew he could not win all for some crazy hope that he could make a difference?
The blue and white zoner closed his eyes and let out a sigh. No...he couldn’t. He mentally shook his head. The woman was right. He was going off on a suicide mission if he tried to stop the twister. He had no plan... What could he hope to accomplish?
Snap lowered his head, his body sagging as he no longer tried to fight back. “...All right then... You win...” He said softly. He felt himself being lowered onto the ground. He kept his eyes closed for a few seconds, and then he looked up at Tilly. “...but...I...”
“It will be fine. I promise.” Tilly smiled at him gently. “Everything will work out. You’ll see.”
Snap wasn’t sure if he could believe her. But something about her words made him believe her. Slowly, he smiled back at her. He nodded his head once slowly, acknowledging her words. “Okay then...” He cleared his throat, straightened himself up, and his eyes furrowed in determination. “What should we do now?”
Tilly paused for a moment. She looked down at where Mrs. Sanchez and Dr. Von Doktor were. She clenched her teeth, sucking in a breath. She looked back. “Do you know of any strong zoners?”
Snap nodded his head. “Yeah...”
“Go get them.” Tilly said. “A few, if you can.” She frowned as she looked down at the two humans. “We are going to need help moving them.”
Snap nodded his head. Not wanting to waste any time, he turned and rushed towards the exit.
sss
The twister continued its away along the field. It didn’t really go any particular direction. It just chose a few random ones, interchanging when it decided it got bored. At this point, it really had no idea what it was going to do. But despite the frustration it was feeling right now, that didn’t stop it from feeling a strong sense of pride of itself.
It had eliminated Dr. Von Doktor. It had avenged its creator. Now that man could no longer hurt its creator. Terry Bouffant would be so pleased with it, it was certain. If only it could meet its creator face to face. Then it could tell her what it had done. She’d be so happy, it wondered if she would reward it in some way.
But there was no going into the Real World for it. It was trapped here. It would have to settle for its own satisfaction, the knowledge that the man could not do anymore harm. And that was perfectly fine with it.
It was quite satisfying hearing the sound of the man’s arm getting ripped off. It was equally satisfying, if not even more so, when it shoved his arm down his throat to suffocate him. It had been quite fun to watch the man’s life fade before it, and when his eyes had dulled, he would have cheered, the task being complete.
It was true what they say. Revenge is quite a sweet dish to be served. It always left such a strong sense of accomplishment.
But now there was a new feeling emerging: confusion.
What was it going to do now? It had already taken care of Dr. Von Doktor. The man couldn’t really be tortured anymore. A part of the twister wondered if it should have kept the man alive. Maybe that would have been the better move. It had wanted to use him for something anyway...
Well the man was using it as well. It had figured this out when the man was dying. There was something in his eyes that revealed this inner motive. This reaction would have made its blood boil if it had any. Yeah, that man was better off dead. It held no regrets for what it had done. Trying to use it... Just what was that man thinking?
Yet that still left the question of what it was going to do. Should it just....stop spinning...? No, it could not do that. It did not want to die like that. Such a stupid thing, and it would dishonor the revenge it had taken for Terry. No, it needed to come up with something else to do. Something that would surely make its creator proud. But what could that be?
Hmm...well...it was created to destroy, was it not? Well not so much destroy, although that was part of its functionality. But rather, to chase. It was created to chase those humans around. But..they were gone. It did not see them. Not Penny or Rudy, anyway. Should it chase those other humans? Nah, it didn’t feel like going all the way back just to do that. So another purpose was required.
Oh how it wished that it could just ask its creator what she wanted it to do now. If it could just meet her face to face... It knew that Terry would have something really special planned for it. She must have had some other purpose intended for it, right? It couldn’t have been created just to chase and destroy. There had to be something else. But the only way to find out was to contact its creator. And how was it going to do that when it was trapped here in ChalkZone?
Wait...the magic chalk... Could that work..? The twister was well aware of the chalk and its properties. A portal could be created, allowing it into the Real World. This would allow it to meet its creator.
But first, it’d need to know where in the Real World she could be. It didn’t really know offhand just where it could find its creator. She could be anywhere. Not to mention, it still needed a human to use the magic chalk. At this point of time, there was only one conscious human left that could take up the mantle of creator. And that human was all the way back in the cave system it had just fled...
It froze in place, pondering what its next move should be. It had been content with just leaving and wandering, to leave the cave alone. But now it was having second thoughts. Perhaps it should go back. Perhaps it should grab that human, who had came out of nowhere, and force her to let it into the Real World and take it to see Terry. Yes...that sounded like a really good plan.
Before it could take any further action or make any more decisions, it heard the sound of a crash behind it. It turned its swirling body around and its visual field met with the sight of that stupid scribble creature. The twister quivered in anger. Did that thing never give up?
“What do here?” The twister asked, raising its body in an arch, showing clear intentions to the approaching creature. “Leave. Not deal now.”
The scribble creature was silent at first. As silent as it always was during their fights. It then spoke. Its voice, in contrast to its own booming voice, was very quiet and subdued, yet still able to portray overflowing emotion. “Not leave. Bad idea. Fight you.”
The twister would have shook its head if it could have. “Foolish. Not want. No fight you. Just leave.” The twister attempted to turn and move away, but the scribble creature got in front of it, moving faster than it had ever seen it move. The twister hissed at this. “I said go!”
“No. Must stop you. My duty.” The scribble creature responded. It raised up one of its hands, forming it into a fist. “Unless you scared.”
“Me? Scared? Ha! Fat chance!” The twister resisted the urge to laugh. This thing seemed to just get more and more pathetic each time it faced off with it. And the fights themselves were getting shorter and shorter. Why did this thing keep on trying? “Go away! Get lost! No need to prove anything to you!”
“Won’t let you go. Come with me.” The scribble figure pointed what appeared to be a finger at it and then pointed it at itself. “Much to answer for.”
The twister bristled at this. “Nothing to answer for! Did right thing!”
“Killed human. Wrong. Also harmed zoners. Also wrong.” The scribble figure waggled its finger in front of its face, as if trying to scold it. “Come with. Now!”
The tornado couldn’t believe just how stubborn this thing was being. Did it really expect that it was going to follow it so easily? Did it really think that it could order it around like that? Just where was it getting this idea?
Instead of responding to this outrageous statement, the twister decided it was best to just take action. After all, action speaks louder than words, right? Spinning its wind around itself even faster, the tornado suddenly charged forward. The scribble creature couldn’t get out of the way in time, and it collided with it, sending it sprawling across the ground.
Instead of running off like the tornado had hoped it would, the scribble creature merely got up to its feet and rushed back towards it. The twister would have bared its teeth if it had any. It let out a hissing wind as a warning, and when the scribble creature did not heed this, it charged again and soon the two slammed into one another.
sss
“So why did you want me to bring some strong zoners with?” Snap asked.
Tilly, who had her back turned to the zoner, responded, “Well we are going to need someone to carry all this diamond, right?” She paused for a moment, as if to realize something. “Well...when I draw it anyway.” She looked over her shoulder. “Diamond is very strong. It could hold that twister, at least for a little while.”
Snap nodded his head. “Yeah, Rudy drew a diamond shield that kept the twister trapped in the Empty Forest.” He narrowed his eyes softly as realization struck him. “Then that creepazoid blew it all up...”
Snap felt a small pang of guilt at what he had called the now dead human. Despite how he felt about that guy, he still felt some level of sadness for the fate that he had suffered. He didn’t want to be disrespectful of him and refer to him by a such a hideous name, even if the man himself was quite ugly in personality.
Tilly didn’t really seem to react to his comment. He didn’t know if this was because she didn’t care or if it was because she was too focused on getting ready to trap the twister. Eh, most likely that second thing. He can’t really imagine this woman being that cold.
“We will need some way to lure the twister there.” Snap said upon realization. “How do you think we can pull that off?”
Tilly frowned for a moment, pausing her walking. “Well...what was the twister designed for?”
Snap shook his head. “I’m not sure. All it did before was chase us, but...I don’t know if it was supposed to do anything beyond that.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m at a total oss.”
“Hmm... Then we’ll just have to improvise...” Tilly said, narrowing her eyes. “At least my daughter’s scribble...whatever should be able to keep the twister from getting too far. We should be able to catch up to it easily after we get more magic chalk.”
“Wait...” Snap’s eyes widened slightly. “How did you know that Sophie had...”
Tilly gave Snap a smile. “A mother always recognizes the work of her own offspring.”
Snap blinked a few times at this. He wasn’t sure if he would ever understand that statement. But he did not question it. He simply nodded his head to affirm to the woman she didn’t need to explain further. No need to waste time on that.
He was about to continue walking when something else entered his mind at the thought of Sophie. He bit his lip for a momenet, and then he looked over at Tilly once again. “How is Sophie doing, anyway?”
“She’s fine. I put her to bed before I came here.” Tilly told him. “She will be fine.”
“Well that’s good. I’d hate for anything....” Snap’s voice trailed off. He realized that there was something he still hadn’t asked her. As they continued walking towards the Chalk Mine, he asked, “Just...how did you get in here, anyway?” He motioned his hand towards her. “And how did you know where to find us?”
Tilly didn’t answer him right away. She just kept walking, as did he. He stared at her in confusion, his mind swirling with thoughts. Just how did this woman get into ChalkZone? How did she manage to create a portal? Or did she find one? Or did something else happen? And how had she managed to find them? And at such the nick of time, too? Was there something else going on that he was not aware of?
The woman eventually stopped at the edge of a hill. She stood there for several moments, peering out at the horizon. Snap frowned when she continued to not answer. Was it really that hard to respond?
Taking a step forward, he said, “Are you going to...?”
Tilly raised her head up and said, “It’s a...very complicated matter. I don’t know if I could explain it to you, even if I tried.”
Snap frowend. “Just try it...”
Tilly shook her head. “No, the details aren’t really important. Let’s just be glad I got here before that man could do anything worse to you guys.” She looked down at Snap, her expression softening up with sympathy. “Who knows what could have happened?”
Snap growled softly, irritated by this woman’s lack of a proper response. But he couldn’t really argue with her. Regardless of how she got here, the result was indeed still the same: she had managed to keep them all alive...well except for one of them.
And she was right. Knowing how she got in wasn’t really all that important right now. He did intend on trying to ask her later, or doing some searching around himself to see if he could find anything. But for now, it was time to climb down this hill and continue their journey towards the Chalk Mine. It wasn’t too far now. He could see it in the distance.
He wondered how Biclops react react to yet another human in ChalkZone. He wondered if the big guy was going to have a heart attack. It was definitely a given that something was going to have to be done after all this was over. Since Rudy’s parents, his aunt, and Penny’s mom now know of ChalkZone, they would need to figure out an arrangement with them. He hoped that Rudy and Penny could convince them all to remain quiet about ChalkZone.
Or if they could...erase their memory...
No, that wouldn’t work. Too risky. They might end up erasing some incorrect memories and... well he could already take many wild guesses about how that would drastically affect Rudy and Penny’s livelihoods, and he had a feeling that most of them would not be too far from the mark.
“Where did you tell those strong zoners to meet you at?”
Snap raised his head up when Tilly’s voice cut him from his thoughts. “I told them to meet me at my house. I gave them this information after we got Penny’s mom and Von back into the Real World.”
“Is it far from here?” Tilly asked.
Snap shrugged his shoulders. “Well, it is a bit of a trek. But...it’s not terribly far. We could walk to it.” He paused at this, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Although...we might need a ride.” He looked over at Tilly. “When we get to the mine, you should draw us some kind of transportation. A vehicle perhaps? Or a copter?”
Tilly nodded in agreement. “With a navigation system?”
“Yes, that’d be perfect!” Snap cried, a smile spreading across his face. “You’re pretty smart, you know that?”
Tilly chuckled at this. “Well I don’t consider myself that smart. But...” She placed a hand against her chest. “I can be full of surprises.”
Snap certainly couldn’t disagree with that. He continued to smile at her as they walked, still feeling grateful for her help. He didn’t say anything more and he and Tilly walked in silence, getting ever closer to the Chalk Mine.
sss
The man frowned softly as he stared down at whom he considerd his underlings. The two were siblings. Twins, the same age, both looking similar to the other, save for a few different features. Some more obvious than the others. They had just got back from their assignments, both of which were successfully completed.
The man couldn’t be more proud of them. They had performed admirably. And faster than he thought, too. He was worried for a second that his whole operation was in jeopardy, but he was pleased to see that he had been incorrect about that. Now they could begin to move onto the next phase of their plan.
Of course, there was still one matter they had to take care of first. And that was how they were going to cover up Dr. Von Doktor’s death.
The man standing before him had sent out a robotic signaler, as he insisted on calling it, and it had recorded the whole thing. When he was on the phone with this underling, the lower ranking man had admitted that Von wound up being brutally killed. While he himself didn’t really care about that man anyway, this still posed a problem.
If they were going to assume control of ChalkZone, they were going to need to figure out a way to explain away that man’s death without linking it to ChalkZone. Destroying the evidence would be a good idea. The people can’t know what went on there, otherwise this world could be destroyed. And that is something he’d rather avoid.
But there were still those people... They might prove to be a problem. If they spread the word of what happened... Okay, sure, no one would probably believe them. And they might not do that, considering their protective nature of this place. Still..something had to be done. It was too risky to let them continue to wander around. What should he have done with them?
The most obvious answer was simply to eliminate them. But that was too messy. Something more simple should surfice. An easier solution that wouldn’t really involve having to take more lives. After all, the act of killing them could come and bite him in the ass later if he wasn’t careful.
But he was at a loss of what to do with them. If not kill them, then what? Hmm...perhaps recruit them? Or maybe placing a hold on them, preventing them from doing anything? Stalemate them? Well, whatever he decided, he’d have to do it quickly, before they could get to the later stages of their plans.
And he believed that he knew just who to call for this job. He did have another underling out on the scene somewhere. She might be able to do something.
“Hey, Agent L. Agent A.” The man said, referring to the two by the codenames he had given them. They looked up at him expectantly. “Call Agent M and inform her that I have a new job for her.”
Agent T said, “But sir, Agent M is busy right now. She is currently on a mission.”
“Yeah. Did you want us to talk to her after she was done?” Agent A asked.
The man nodded his head curtly. “Yes.” His voice was firm and steady. “As soon as you can, make contact with her. I’d like her help with figuring out what to do about those children and their folks.”
At this, the two siblings widened their eyes and looked at each other nervously. They were silent for a few moments before one of them spoke up.
“Sir...do you think that she’d do that?” Agent A asked, his voice a hushed, nervous whisper.
The man smiled at this. “Oh don’t worry. She’ll be more than happy to help...” He narrowed his eyes into slits. “Now get going!” He watched as his two underlings immediately fled the room.
sss
Snap took a step back as he looked up at the angered giant. Tilly was standing her ground, much to the zoner’s surprise. He couldn’t tell if she was brave or just misguided at this point. He watched her for a few seconds before looking back up at the giant, his teeth clenched.
When they came here, it didn’t take them long to run into Biclops. He had actually been on his way out of the cave when they arrived. Upon seeing the, Snap knew that the giant was not going to have a very favorable view on the situation. But he didn’t expect the giant to let out a roar of rage from the fact that there was yet another adult human in ChalkZone. The zoner was amazed that the giant hadn’t attempted to strike the woman yet.
And they hadn’t even attempted to tell him about needing magic chalk at that point. Snap was too busy trying to calm him down and reassure him that Tilly was a friend. An ally. And while Biclops had calmed down somewhat, there was still anger in his eyes. Snap could only hope that Biclops remained rational and didn’t allow his anger to cloud his judgment.
Snap licked his lips nervously. Wanting to break the tension that had settled between them, he took a few steps forward, holding his hand out in gesture. “Well, what do you say, Biclops? Is it a deal?”
Biclops narrowed his vertical eyes at them and shook his head. “No!”
Snap looked at him in shock. “What? But..why not?”
Biclopse looked down at him with one open eye. “I made an exception for Penny’s mom. But I refuse to give any more chalk to anyone except for Rudy Tabootie and Penny Sanchez.” He shut his eyes as he folded his arms against himself. “I am not taking another risk like that again!”
“But...” Snap motioned towards Tilly. “This is Rudy’s aunt! Doesn’t that grant her any...”
“No, it does not.” Biclopse opened his eyes and glared down at the two. “Besides...I don’t trust her.”
Snap spluttered at this. “What? Don’t trust her?”
“Yeah... There’s something about her that I...” Biclopse stared long and hard at Tilly. After a while, he averted his gaze. “I just don’t think I can trust her. I’m sorry, Snap.” He straightened himself up. “I cannot grant her any magic chalk.”
Snap scowled at this. He couldn’t believe that Biclops was choosing to be stubborn. Today of all days... He understood the caution needed when presenting a human a piece of chalk. Being cautious was a good thing. But today was not a good time for this. With a twister still on the loose and no other available creator, Biclops was just going to have to make an exception this time
None of them had any clue where the twister was at this point, or what it was doing. The scribble creature created by Sophie days ago might be able to slow it down for a time. But he doubted it would last forever. For all he knew, the scribble creature has been defeated, or even destroyed, and the twister was now on its way to attack some random town somewhere. And the longer they wait, the more potential damage could be caused.
He just wished that Biclops could see this. Why couldn’t he understand all that he was risking by refusing? He didn’t even need to give the woman that much. Just enough draw a shield. That’s all.
Well, they could go back to that cave. Mrs. Sanchez had a piece, didn’t she? He kind of remembered seeing an extra piece in there somewhere that Mrs. Sanchez must have lost at some point. Or maybe it was just his imagination. Hmm...probably not a good idea to go all the way back there on a simple hunch.
“Look, I understand that you’re upset. I get that.” Tilly spoke up, breaking the silence. She made a gesture towards herself. “I understand if you don’t trust us humans all that much. But please...” She held her hand out in front. “Can’t you make an exception, at least just once more? Please... Rudy and Penny can’t use the magic chalk in their condition, and Mrs. Sanchez is out of commission. I’m the only one who can use it at this point.”
Biclops just frowned at her. “The risk is too great. I know I might be making the biggest mistake of my life by refusing, but.. I’m sorry. I don’t want to risk anything worse happening.”
“I...see.” Tilly said softly as she pulled her hand back. “Well if you want to be that way, I guess we can improvise.”
“Improvise?!” Snap cried. “How?! Where are we going to get all that diamond? How would we transport it? How would we shape it?”
“Good point.” Tilly said, tapping her finger against her chin. “We’re going to need someone really big and really strong and really smart to help us with that. Someone who knows his way around ChalkZone and would more than likely know where we can get the materials... Hmm...” Tilly looked over at Biclops, giving a knowing expression.
Biclops raised an eyebrow at this. After a few moments of silence, he let out a groan and slapped himself in the face. “Oh for the love of.... I have a feeling I am going to regret this.” He sighed and lowered his hand. “Okay then, I can help you with that.”
Tilly smiled at this. “I’m grateful for the help.”
“Yeah sure...” Biclops grumbled, continuing to eye her suspiciously. Snap growled at this. Couldn’t he just knock that off? Biclops said, “So..what did you want me to do first?”
“Well, I...”
Tilly’s voice was cut off when there was a loud crash. The three nearly jumped from their shoes as they turned their heads to see what the commotion was. Upon seeing it, their eyes widened in shock and they all took a small step back.
It was the twister and the scribble figure. They were locked in combat again, restling with each other, pushing against one another with their makeshift arms and hands. They were snarling at one another, shouting insults to each other. They were coming in fast, neither of them really paying attention to where they were going. To their horror, they were getting awfully close...
Then, without warning, the twister picked up the stick figure and slammed it into the ground. The scribble figure let out a cry of pain as it rolled across the ground and landed not far from them. Snap couldn’t help but give off a cold shiver when he saw that it had landed only about ten feet in front of them. He and the others stared at the fallen scribble figure for a few seconds before looking up at the twister.
Biclops narrowed his eyes and he took a few steps forward, glaring directly at the encroaching twister. Despite the fact that said twister was larger than him, the giant was still prepared for a fight. Snap couldn’t help but feel impressed by this.
Biclops looked down at them. “Into the mine!”
Snap blinked in confusion at this. He looked over at Tilly, then back up at Biclops. “But..what about...?”
“There’s no time!” Biclops barked at him. “Just get in there!”
Not wanting to stand around and argue, Snap nodded his head once and he and Tilly fled into the mine.
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Need
Mar 8, 2015 17:16:37 GMT -5
Post by Bluedramon on Mar 8, 2015 17:16:37 GMT -5
Chapter 49: Unknowns
Is it wiser to stick to the more knowledgeable but distorted path, or to go with something more hopeful but risky?
sss
Snap panted heavily as he and Tilly ran further into the mine. He wasn’t really sure exactly where they were going. He didn’t know how long they had been running. He didn’t stop until he snagged his foot on something and he tripped forward. He let out a yelp of pain as he found himself slamming his face into the ground. The force of it caused him to do a somersault and he flipped over before crashing down onto his back.
He felt himself being swiftly lifted up by the woman, who placed him back onto his feet before continuing he running. Snap took a moment to look back. It was ten he realized they had run pretty far into the mine; the entrance was hardly a shimmer of light now. Taking in a few pants, he turned his head to where the woman was still fleeing. His mind too clogged up with thoughts, the zoner simply continued to follow her down the tunnels.
After a while of running, Snap finally had to stop. He didn’t know how far down this tunnels went, except really far, and he wasn’t exactly an expert on this place. Not wanting to get himself lost, he haulted himself, and he called out to Tilly, telling her the same.
As the two of them breathed in and out quickly to try to regain their breath, Snap took a moment to look around at where they were. They were quite far int the tunnels at this point, having traveled through several twists and turns in the tunnels. He didn’t recognize this particular section of the mine, but the one relief he had of that was the fact that they weren’t anywhere near where the red chalk was being held.
Snap leaned against one of the pointy structures coming out of the ground, placing his hand against it to support himself. He looked around again and noticed that, to their right, the tunnel opened up into a small room. He could see sparkling and he knew there was some overhanging magic chalk over there. But since that chalk was back here, and not in the front with the other white chalk, he wasn’t sure if it was the same type Rudy usually used, or another type that he wasn’t aware of.
He then turned his head and looked out where they had come in from. He bit his lip, feeing his heart clench as he heard the sound of crashing and roars. He wondered how Biclops was doing. He felt really bad with having to leave him like that.
As much as he hated the idea of stealing magic chalk, that might be their only option. Even though Tilly hadn’t been given permission to use it, she was the only one left that could take on the twister. Biclops had every right to worry, yes. But it was either this, or the twister remains at large until Rudy or Penny could come back, and in their states, especially Rudy’s, that won’t be for quite sometime. Who knows what kind of disaster the twister would cause in that amount of time?
But first, they needed to strategize. It would be suicide to just rush out there without any sort of plan. He didn’t know the situation yet, or how well Biclops was holding up right now. The last thing he wanted to do was cause the situation to get worse for the giant, not to mention the rest of ChalkZone.
“Tilly, we need to...” The zoner stopped when he realized that Tilly was no longer beside him. His eyes widened slightlly and he swung his head fro mside to side. “Tilly? Where did you go?”
“Over here!”
Snap felt a brief rush of relief through his body, realizing that the woman hadn’t tried to rush towards the entrance without a plan. But when he turned, that relief gave way to shock when he saw what she actually was doing.
Going straight towards the unknown chalk...
“Hey! Wait!” Snap called out, reaching out with his hand. “Don’t go over there!”
“Why?” The woman called out. She didn’t stop running, not even othering to spare a glance back at the zoner. She was about halfway to the room at this point. “We need magic chalk, don’t we?”
“Yes, but we... Oh oy caloy...!” Snap gripped his head tightly. Frustrated and realizing that the woman was not going to stop for him anytime soon, he rushed over after her. As soon as he reached her, he grabbed onto her arm and pulled, attempting to make her stop walking. “Wait! Hold on a minute!”
Tilly finally stopped, but only after they were in the middle of the room. She looked down at Snap, frowning softly. She raised up her arm, causing Snap to be lifted up a foot or two off the ground. Snap held on tightly, his feet dangling a little below him. He looked up and returned the glare to Tilly.
“What are you doing, Snap? We need to go help that...giant...thing...” Tilly stammered with her words near the end. “Whatever his name is...”
“Biclops.” Snap said.
“Yeah, that’s it. Thanks.” Tilly said. She then shook her arm. “Now let go of me!”
Snap grumbled softly and relented. The woman was shaking so hard that if he were to lose his grip, he’d fly off to the side and get a pretty nasty bump on his head. He wasn’t interest in having something like that happen to him. Once he was back on the ground, he turned his head and watched as Tilly started to walk towards one of the clutches. The zoner gave a soft growl and rushed towards her.
What was with this woman? She had never even used a piece of magic chalk before. Why was she so determined to grab a piece from here, especially when she didn’t know what it did? Was she willing to take that risk? Why not use some from the front if she wanted to help out?
Snap was about to say something when he took notice of something about the chalk that was hanging over. It looked rather..different from the ones up front. It was certain to him, even from this distance, that this was not the same chalk that Rudy normally used. There was something...off about it. It might have the same sparkle as white chalk but..no this was not white chalk. When he got closer, he realized just what color it was.
Grey chalk? Yeah, that’s what this stuff was. Grey. It looked close to white, but it was clear hat it wasn’t really white at all, but instead a dull shade of grey. Something that was a bit lighter than the pencil markings on Rudy and Penny’s homework papers.
At first, Snap’s stomach twisted, wondering for a few chilling moments just waht this chalk did. He soon realized when he realized that Biclops wouldn’t allow this chalk out in the open if it was really all that dangerous. But then..what if he just forgot to lock it away? Maybe it’s a brand new type of chalk and...
He shook his head when a loud snapping sound resounded in the air and he saw that the woman had grabbed one of the pieces of chalk and was trying to pull it free. The chalk itself had snapped a little in the middle, but was still firmly gripped in the woman’s hand.
“Stop that!” Snap shouted, his hand outstretched once more. “We don’t even know what that thing does!” He rushed forward as quickly as he could.
“What?” Tilly looked over her shoulder. She glared softly at Snap. “What’s the big deal? Magic chalk is magic chalk, isn’t it?” She turned back to the grey chalk, tightening her grip further. “I mean..I can still create with this, right?”
“Yes, but...!” Snap let out a cry of pain as he tripped again, causing his chin to slam against the ground painfully. He laid there and groaned for a second before picking himself back up. He rubbed his head a little before turning back to the woman. “But the magic chalk does something different depending on its color!”
At this, Tilly froze. Snap let out a sigh of relief, but he remained on his guard, knowing that Tilly might still yank the piece out anyway. “It does...?” She turned her head just enough to give him a backwards glance.
Snap nodded his head quickly. “Y-Yeah it does!” He held out his hand in gesture. “For instance, the red chalk will create evil drawings!” He paused for a moment. “I don’t know what the grey chalk does, but you have to be careful! Who knows what kind of side effects it might carry with it!”
Snap shuddered at the memory of what happened when Rudy used it. He would never forget it, and he knew Rudy wouldn’t either. He had thought it was just an innocent little trip it the mine and he and Rudy didn’t think the red chalk would be too different. Well they did think that it might have a special property, but none of them would have predicted that this particular element was aggression. He did not want a repeat of that incident.
“I see...” Tilly said. Snap looked over at her, hoping that she would release the chalk and come back. But instead, she gave a small smile as she stared at the grey chalk with increased interest. “How very interesting...”
Snap’s eyes widened at this. “Tilly...?”
The woman froze, frowning softly as she bit her lip. She shook her head and said, “I’m sorry, Snap. But we don’t have a choice.”
Snap spluttered at this. “What are you talking about?! Of course we do!” The zoner groaned as he climbed back up to his feet. He shoved his hand towards where they had come from. “We can go back there! We can grab some magic chalk from that first room!”
Tilly shook her head. “The twister might destroy the front part of the mine. I’m sorry, but I’m taking a few pieces from here.”
“No!” Snap shouted. He rushed over as quickly as he could, but he was too late to stop the woman. There was a louder, more echoy snap than before, and soon the woman held a piece of grey chalk between her fingers. He stopped dead in his tracks, shocked by this turn of events. “Oy caloy...” He whispered softly.
Before the zoner was able to recover from his shock, the woman had grabbed two more pieces, and she shoved them into her pocket. She kept one out, held tightly in her hands. She then turned her attention towards where the entrance of the mine was. Without further hesitation, she started to head down that way.
Snap watched her as she left, his mind still in a state of shock. A bit of fear started to well up inside of him. Just what could this grey chalk do? What were they getting themselves into? What was going to happen if the grey chalk was going to end up like...like the red chalk...? The thought sent shivers down his spine. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what that was going to be like. And now the woman was just..walking off with the chalk like it was no big deal.
He couldn’t believe that she didn’t listen to him. She had deliberately ignored him, grabbed the grey chalk, and left. Did she not know what kind of dangers lied in store for him? Did she not realize the risk that she was taking in doing this? Was she really that stupid? He didn’t like the idea of referring to Rudy’s aunt as ‘stupid’, but in this case, he’d make an exception. Okay not stupid..but misguided, too eager.
Realizing that there was no stopping the woman now, the zoner had no choice but to go with her. He propelled his feet forward, and soon he reached the woman. He walked about a foot behind her, not saying a word.
He kept eyeing the grey chalk cautiously. So far, it wasn’t acting any different than white chalk ,but that meant nothing. The red chalk didn’t really do anything different at first either, until Rudy started to draw with it. The grey chalk might be just as crafty as the red chalk and won’t make a move or try to assume control until it was too late. He clenched his teeth, hoping that, whatever effect it had, that it wasn’t anything like the red chalk, and definitely not worse.
They soon reached the entrance of the Chalk Mine. Tilly held her arm straight out at her side, prompting Snap to stop. The two pressed themselves against the wall of the entrance’s opening. Slowly, they turned their heads over, peering out at the side to see what was going on.
Biclops was still facing off against the twister. The sight of it was quite a spectacle. The crashes they were hearing seem to be mostly the twister trying to smash the ground where the giant was. Biclops was quite swift for someone his size and he dodged the attacks relatively easily. But judging from the scrapes and scratches and bruises on his body, it was clear that he wasn’t always so lucky.
As soon as he had that realization, the twister grabbed Biclops and lifted him into the air. Snap and Tilly watched, mouths agape in horror, as the giant was shaken violently from side to side. Then the twister slammed him into the ground, creating a small crater from the force of the blow. The giant let out a scream of pain.
“Oh no... Biclops!” Snap put his hands to his mouth and looked on in horror. “Quick, Rudy! You have to draw....” His voice trailed off, a pang clingin to his heart, as he remembered that Rudy was not here. “I mean...” He looked up at Tilly. In a softer voice, he said, “You have to draw some thing.”
Tilly looked down at Snap sympathetically. She reached down and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Rudy will be fine. I promise.”
Snap nodded his head slowly. “Yeah...I know...” Before he could continue, his eyes bulged as he looked up. “Look out!” He grabbed the woman’s arm and he pulled back.
Seconds later, Biclops’s body crashed into the ground. Snap and Tilly moved back even faster as they heard the sound of cracking and rocks breaking off. The two of them covered their heads as they felt small rocks and pebbles come crashing down, hitting them against the head. They coughed as dust was kicked up and it took them a few moments before they could open their eyes and breathe without irritating their throats.
Snap felt his blood run cold when he saw that Biclops was now unconscious on the ground. He hardly moved, save for a few twitches that told him that he might still be alive. But there was an awfully loud crack... What..What if he...?
Snap growled as he whipped his head towards the twister. He glared angrily at it as the twister started to come towards the giant once more, most likely to finish him off. He formed fists with his hands, shaking them at his side. No...this thing was not going to get away with this... He was not going to allow the twister to do more damage. It had caused enough trouble. Now it was time for it to pay for what it has done.
He turned his head towards Tilly. In that moment, he no longer cared if they didn’t know what the grey chalk did. His burning rage was clouding his judgment and all he could think of doing was making this twister pay.
“Quick! Draw something!”
Tilly needed no further prompting. There was a look of anger in her eyes as well, that nearly mirrored his own. She raised up her magic chalk, glaring intently at the twister. “Hey you! I wouldn’t take one step closer if I were you!”
The twister paused for a moment, appearing to regard her with some interest. It appeared to notice the magic chalk in her hands, and for a moment, it seemed hesitant. But it soon shrugged off its nervousness and it started to come towards her anyway.
Gnashing her teeth, Tilly hissed, “Okay then. Have it your way...”
Snap watched as the woman’s arm tensed up, and then her hand started to flick from one side to the other. Lines began to fill the air. The zoner watched in silence as the lines began to take shape. He took a few steps back, staring at the creation as it was being formed. After a few seconds, the drawing was complete, and the sight of it made even the twister pause.
It was a large vacuum cleaner.
sss
Agent A ignored the screeches along the road, as well as the loud honking, as he sped across the road. He was a bit amazed at how many cars were out here, given what time it was. But he ultimately paid that little attention. He had something else more important to worry about than a few extra cars.
His sister, Agent L, had went off in a different direction. They both agreed it as best to split up. They were going to search a couple of places first, just in case Agent M was back already from her mission. There was a strong chance that she was not. After all, her mission wasn’t something that could be so easily completed that fast. Still, best to split up just in case. He didn’t want to be on their boss’s bad side just in case something got screwed up.
His eyes flickered when he noticed the turn off up ahead. He pressed his foot against the brake to slow down, and then he turned into the road. After he completed the turn and was now going down this new road, he narrowed his eyes softly as he thought about what current assignment was.
A part of him was still in disbelief that the boss wanted to involve Agent M in yet something else. She had been the most busy lately. Did she really need something else added onto her plate? He shook his head at this. His boss was often so determined to get a result that he didn’t really pay attention to who had done what. Despite the fact that Agent M was involved with about five previous missions the past couple days, the boss still insisted that she do this.
The boss believed that she would be happy to do so. And Agent A could kind of see that and understand why. After all, this was a sort of..personal matter for that woman. She would have more reason than the others to want to be involved with this. But still... how was she going to react to be asked out on another mission for the boss? Would she really be willing to do so? Well maybe, provided that the boss keep his promise.
Oh, what was he worried about? Everything was going to be just fine. Nothing bad was going to happen. Despite all their illegal activities and the risks they were taken, they hadn’t gotten caught thus far. Everything had been working out....eh, for the most part anyway. A few kinks here or there, but it should all be good.
He needed to stop worrying. That wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Despite all that he was afraid would happen, things always worked out in the end. He pushed all those anxious thoughts out of his head and he increased the speed of his car, wanting to get to the destination faster.
As he continued to drive, he couldn’t help but have another thought. He wondered just how Agent M was doing on her current mission. He hoped that she was doing all right. It did feel a little strange, worrying about one of the most competent followers under his boss. But he just couldn’t help himself. He wished he could help her, to alleviate some of the stress and all.
Oh well, there wasn’t really anything he could do about it at this point. He would see her again soon enough anyway. He was certain that Agent M was doing well enough on her own, anyway. She was a competent woman and all. Yeah, she will be fine.
sss
Tilly let out a scream when she was struck into the ground by one of the twister’s tendrils. Snap watched in horror as she landed on the ground with a sickening thud. He did feel relief that there was no cracking sound to be heard, but that did not lessen his fear. His feet propelling him, he rushed towards the fallen woman.
“Are you okay?!” Snap cried as he grabbed onto her arm. He attempted to help her up, but she was too heavy. Still, he kept trying, pushing with all his might to help her up.
Tilly rubbed her head, gritting her teeth and looking like she was in quite a bit of pain. “I’m...fine...” She hissed through clenched teeth.
Snap wasn’t sure if he believed her or not. But he did not argue. He soon managed to help her up to her feet. The woman wobbled a little, trying to steady herself. Snap did what he could to help steady her, and soon she was able to stand on her own. She shook her head and brushed herself off. She then turned her glare towards the twister.
“You..you think that’ll keep me down for long...?” Tilly growled at the twister. “Well I’m not defeated yet!”
Snap clenched his teeth. On the one hand, he was glad that Tilly wasn’t backing down. She was the only creator left right now that could stand up to the twister and try to stop it. But on the other hand, he was getting a little worried. The woman was a little too eager to face this twister, and he wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not. He wondered if this had anything to do with what happened with Rudy and Penny. After all, this twister was created by Terry, who had worked with Von for a time and had played a part with some of what had happened.
But after what happened...was it really a good idea for this woman to continue fighting?
Snap turned his attention to the woman’s creation. Or what remained of it. Bits and pieces laid everywhere. The twister had gotten to it before Tilly could even activate it. Darn that tornado and its air tendrils. If they had moved fast enough, then maybe they could have avoided its destruction, and the tornado would have been captured already...
Well that didn’t happen, and now they were left with shattered pieces that laid on the ground in multiple places. They could try again, but now Snap wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. The tornado was onto this plan and would stop them before they could finish the drawing.
He glared at the twister in determination. Despite the severe disadvantage that they were at, he was still not willing to back down so easily. With Biclops out of commission and the scribble creature seemingly down for good this time, it was up to him and Tilly to take on this menace.
Before either of them could make another move, the twister started to speak again.
“Still fight? Nonsense! Why fight? Why not give up?” There was almost an air of arrogance in the tornado’s voice. “You pests. Not worth fighting. Get lost!”
Snap gritted his teeth and shook his head. “Not a chance, pal!”
Tilly raised up the grey chalk once more. “You are too dangerous to be let loose. You need to be contained!”
The tornado seemed to chortle at this. Snap wasn’t really sure what it was doing. The sound wasn’t exactly a laugh, but he didn’t know what else to call it. Whatever it was doing, it was making his blood heat up. The twister was clearly being arrogant and he was having enough of that.
The twister spoke yet again. “Don’t know why you try. Foolish to try. Dumb creatures.” The twister moved a little closer. It appeared to stare down at Biclops. “Bigger fool here. Not be like him. Just leave.” It then looked back a them. “Not waste my time.”
“If we think we are just going to let you go just like that...” Snap growled softly.
Tilly cut him off. “You think that we are just going to back down just because you told us to? No! We won’t! I don’t know what you plan on doing now that your creator’s killer is dead, and we are not waiting to find out!”
The twister’s winds increased a bit at the mention of its creator. “He deserve. If not go away, you deserve too.” The twister’s voice deepened more than it ever did in the past. Snap shuddered at the very clear threat in that message. “Not afraid to. Hurt you bad if you don’t go.”
Snap couldn’t help but shudder at this statement. The fact that the twister’s sentences were becoming a bit more complete than normal indicated just how deteremined and mad this twister was. He took a small step back, but he remained near Tilly, not wanting to leave her alone with this creature.
His mind raced as he struggled to think of what they could do. The tornado would surely stop anything that Tilly tried to draw. Perhaps if there was a way to distract it somehow...
Wait a minute... That just might work. He recalled what Tilly said before, about improvising. What if he were to distract the twister through taunts regarding his creator? A risky move, but... Yeah it could work. So long as he kept the twister’s attention, he might be able to keep it busy long enough for the woman to draw another vacuum, or something else to be used.
Speaking of that vacuum, he had realized that they never did find out what the grey chalk did. Before it was even used, the thing was crushed and destroyed. In the short time that it was around, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it, much to the zoner’s relief. He hoped that this would be the case for whatever the woman decided to draw next.
He turned his head back to the twister. At the moment, it still hadn’t really made another move towards them. But with those raised tendrils, he wasn’t going to count on this for much longer. That twister could strike any minute.
“Actually...second thought..” The twister moved a little closer. This time, it appeared to take its time and tried to be...gentle was the only word Snap could think of to describe it. “Maybe you use for me.” The twister’s body seemed to bend as it began to move slightly around them. “Take me into your world. Meet creator. Want to see her.” It paused and then put its ‘face’ near them, causing them to jump back, the wind blowing hard against their faces. “Take me.”
Snap felt his eyes widen in horror at this statement. He took a step back, unable to believe what he just heard. Going into the Real World... The implications of that... No... This twister could not be serious. Did it not realize the dangers of that?
But it wasn’t the danger posed to the twister that had him most concerned. The twister was only going to be harmed if it happened to rain; everyone else may mistake it for a real twister and people would run away. But the twister could still cause a ton of damage, more so since it was conscious and aware of what it was doing. If it were allowed into the Real World...
“No.” Tilly snarled. From her expression, Snap wondered if she had the same thoughts going through her head. She took a step forward, narrowing her eyes deeply as she glared up at the monstrous force of nature. “Do you really think I’m stupid enough to let you into my world? Where you could rip apart the city to search for your precious creator?” She gave a bitter chuckle. Snap could sense the negative feelings just dripping from her voice. “I think not!”
The twister gave something close to a bitter chuckle itself. “Never said you had a choice. No choice at all.”
Tilly gritted her teeth. “You can’t do anything to me if you want to get into my world...” She clutched her hands tightly, making it look almost as though she was going to break the chalk in the palm of her hand. “If I get killed, then you have no one. Everyone else is unavailable. You have Dr. Von Doktor to thank for that.”
The twister hmmphed at this. “Good thing he taken care of.”
“But you do have yourself to blame for Mrs. Sanchez’s unavailability. You did toss her around a little.” Tilly pointed out.
“Deserved it! Got in way!” The twister’s winds increased slightly. “Her fault! Not mine!”
Snap narrowed his eyes at this. How dare the twister say such a thing.. Mrs. Sanchez never asked for something like that to happen to her. Getting hurt was all this creature’s fault, not hers.
Oh but of course the twister would try to say it wasn’t its fault. Of course it would try to shift blame onto her instead of accepting responsibility. He wouldn’t have expected anything less from the creepazoid. Just like it to say something like that, the coward...
Well enough was enough. No more delaying. It was time to put his plan into motion. He looked over at Tilly. No time to tell her. He needed to act now. He turned his attention back to the twister and began to walk slowly forward. He ignored Tilly’s confused cries as he bravely stood in front of the twister, staring it down.
“What want?” The tornado asked him. “If nothing, move.”
“Oh I just wanted to ask you something.” Snap said, using a somewhat playful tone of voice, confusing both Tilly and the tornado.
“Which is what?”
“How do you feel about having such a failure for a creator?” Snap said with narrowed eyes and a grin.
“Snap...what are you doing...?” Tilly whispered softly, her voice laced in horror.
Snap looked back at her. He whispered, “I know what I’m doing, trust me...” Snap then turned to the tornado, prepared to face the wrath the twister was surely going to reign down on him.
The twister froze at what Snap had said. It almost looked as if it stopped spinning, although Snap knew that this wasn’t the case. The zoner could practically feel the anger rise up in the twister, and yet he did not move. He refused to turn and run. He had made his move. Now there was no turning back.
Even as the twister spun faster and faster, Snap still refused to budge. Even when Tilly glanced at him in horror, wondering what he was getting himself into, the small zoner still stood his ground, determined to fulfill his part of the plan. The plan that he hadn’t really told Tilly about...
“What you say?” The twister said. Its voice was strangely calm for how angry it must be feeling right now. This fact wasn’t lost on Snap, but he did his best to hide his fear. “Repeat. Dare you.”
Snap narrowed his eyes at this. He then curled his lip up into a mimic of a dark smile, with an air of arrogance around it. “What? You didn’t process that? Was I not clear enough for you? Well okay then... I will repeat.” Snap gave a sneer. “Your creator was such a failure...”
The tornado seemed to quake at this. Snap noticed that its tendrils were shrinking in number, forming together to form two large arms. The sight of this made his heart skip a beat. Still, he kept his feet firmly planted on the ground, looking left and right as he mentally prepared some kind of escape route.
But it would seem the tornado was, at least in part, onto what he was trying to do. As the zoner took a step back, there was a loud crash behind him. He turned his head and, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed an extra tendril, one that had been snuck around him while he wasn’t paying attention. The thing looked tangible, but the strong winds swirling inside of it told him that he could not get through. He turned and looked up at the tornado, his teeth clenched in fear.
“No go anyhere. No one talks like that. Not about my creator.” The twister hissed viciously, the calm facade gone from its voice, replaced with nothing but malice. It inched its way closer to Snap, appearing to eye him up and down. “Not smart move. You stupid. More than the rest.”
Snap tried his best to ignore the burning sensation in his stomach when the tornado said that. Now wasn’t the time to be worried about what this tornado said about him, or his own personal feelings. He struggled to keep the smile plastered across his face. “Your creator isn’t so special herself. You want to know what she is in the Real World? A newsreporter. Who reports oh such wonderful things like man hole dedications. Oh! I’m so intrigued!”
The twister parted some of the wind along its ‘head’, and Snap shuddered when he saw the jagged edges forming. True, this tornado couldn’t really bite him with those, but still, the very sight of it was terrifying enough. “Know what you are doing...?”
The tornado began to advance more quickly on Snap. The blue and white zoner started to back away slowly, step by step. He increased his speed when the tornado did. The zoner kept his eyes on the twister, careful not to give into the temptation of looking behind it.
So far, the plan was working well enough. He wasn’t sure what Tilly was doing right now, but he hoped that she was taking action soon. He wasn’t really sure how long he could keep this tornado busy. He’d try what he could, but he could offer no promises to the woman. The tornado was getting angrier by the second. He could feel it. How long would it be before it decided it was finished with toying with him...?
Snap was stopped when he felt something push against his back. The could rush along his back, stinging a little, told him what it was. He looked behind to confirm that it was indeed that one tendtril. Snap flinched when he felt it pressed firmly against his back and he was pushed a little closer to the tornado.
The zoner turned his head and clenched his teeth tightly as the tornado moved in close to him. The rush of air was all around him. Snap tried his best not to cough when he felt the dust swirling around him, making it a little hard for him to breathe. The tornado, seemingly not wanting to end his life just yet, slowed this process down, clearing the air around him, much to Snap’s anxious relief. But how long would it last?
“Clever zoner. Think so smart.” The twister said. Its voice was a strange and disturbing combination of complimentary and insulting. “Insult creator. Got attention. Suicidal. Must wonder something.” The twister appeared to turn its ‘head’ to one said. “Not attached to life?”
Snap gulped. He frowned more deeply. “I-I don’t care what you do to me...” A lie. Snap would be terrified of anything this twister dished out. But still..he’d prefer that than... “If it means stopping you from hurting others...”
“Think this work?” The twister said, speaking in a somewhat casual voice once more. The way it so easily shifted into this was rather unsettling.
“I’ll fight you!” Snap snarled as he held up his fists. “I don’t care if it’s impossible... I’ll still do it!” Snap wasn’t sure how long he could keep the tornado’s attention. Sooner or later, it might remember its interest in the Real World and go after Tilly.
The twister appeared to laugh once more at him. Snap bared his teeth, which did little to faze the gigantic swirling wind. “You? Nothing but ant. Insignificant. Puny.” It peered even closer to the superhero zoner. “What can do..?”
Snap smirked at this. He said nothing, watching the twister seem to quake a little in frustration at his lack of a response. This was quite amusing to watch. The twister didn’t do it for long. Just a split second. The fact that it did it at all was good enough satisfaction for him.
If he were to actually speak up, then here was one thing that he would have said to it. A simple sentence at a glance, with so much hidden meaning behind it.
‘More than you know.’
Just then, before Snap could begin the next stage of his plan, something unexpected happened. He felt the tendtrils squeeze around him tightly, causing him to grunt. He was slowly lifted up into the air. He squirmed in the tornado’s grasp, his legs kicking out in desperation.
“Put me down!” Snap demanded. He tried to fight back the tears of pain as the air began to greatly irritate his skin. It was bad enough to have it just touch him, but now that it was squeezing him...
“Know what you think. Think you clever. Think you smart. Think not guess what you do.” The twister said to him.
Snap glared at him. Was this twister still blaming him and the others for what happened to Terry? The thought boiled his blood. It already knew they were’t responsible, so why was it doing it again? “We didn’t do anything!”
“Liar. Deciever. Not good at it.” The twister replied. Snap could have sworn it narrowed its nonexistent eyes at him. The tone of voice became somewhat playful, and he could almost imagine a dark grin on its face. “I learn fast.”
“Yes..I imagine you’d want to compensate for how easily your creator was defeated!” The blue zoner snapped back. He grunted in pain when he was suddenly squeezed tighter.
“Perhaps. Maybe. But not case. Something else.” The tornado spoke slowly. Snap noticed the twister was turning slightly to the side. Not much, but there seemd to be some kind of deliberance in this action. What was it doing? “Sorry pull plug. Gone on long enough.”
Snap stared at the tornado in confusion. What was it talking about? Just what the hell was it implying? Snap opened his mouth to ask it just that, despite knowing it probably won’t tell him. He hesitated for a moment, and then he managed to speak. “What are you...saying...? What do you mean...?”
The twister almost seemed to smile. It did not reply to him. Instead, without warning, it made a move so fast that the zoner could not detect it all that well. There was a loud grunt, senting a cold chill through the zoner’s spine. No...it could not be....
But it was true. This was proven a few seconds later when Tilly was raised up high into the air, higher than where he was right now. She had been snagged by her left leg and was left to dangle there like she was just a sack of groceries. The tornado moved her slowly from side to side, letting Snap see a nice long look at her, as if to rub it in his face that he really hadn’t been as subtle as he thought he was.
“Surprised?” The twister asked.
“H-How did you...?” Snap breathed softly.
“Creator not stupid. I not stupid.” The tornado sneered at him. “Saw right through. You should try better. More effort.” The tornado turned its ‘head’ to look over at Tilly. It gave a quick chuckle. “Must give credit. Plan was mostly clever. Needs work. But smart still.”
Snap stared at this with clenched teeth, his mind swirling. He couldn’t believe that the tornado was onto what they were doing. How was this possible? Snap never gave any kind of hint, did he? He didn’t give off any subtle signals to the thing that told it what he was doing, right? It was impossible unless..
...unless the tornado had some sort of sixth sense...
Snap felt his heart nearly freeze solid at this. Why didn’t he think of this before? The tornado was made of wind. It would make sense that it would be sensive to other air around it, right? And it would pick up disturbances in that wind and be able to tell what was going on. Essentially, this meant that the tornado had a different sense of sight, and was much broader than he had ever seen in anyone or anything else. That was how it knew what Tilly was up to. It could literally still ‘see’ her behind it. This realization caused the zoner’s heart to quicken its pace.
As Snap started to struggle against the twister’s grasp, along with Tilly, the twister just chuckled at their efforts. It continued to hold them high up, increasing the distance between them and the ground as if to ensure they would die if they got free. This eventually worked and he and Tilly froze, peering down at the far away ground.
The twister peered closely to Snap. The zoner cringed as far back as he could. The stings of pain were pushed into the back of his mind as he watched the twister get uncomfortably close to him. “So where we...”
Without warning, there was a flash of dark colors, a loud thud, and Snap and Tilly found themselves being released. They screamed as they fall into the ground. They crashed painfully, and they both knew that they were going to be badly bruised from this. They looked up to see who had saved them.
Snap couldn’t help but widen his eyes in shock when he saw it was the scribble thing again. The tornado’s utter shock at this was exactly how Snap felt about it.
“You again?! Don’t you ever stop?!”
Yeah...his thoughts exactly.
Snap slowly climbed up to his feet and watched as the scribble creature, despite being weakened, despite being badly injured, fought back against the twister. It held on tightly and shoved it back several feet. The twister struggled, striking against the scribble creature with its tendtrils. But the scribble creature did not let up and just kept coming at him.
Realizing this was the perfect opportunity to strike, Snap swiveled his head towards Tilly. “Hurry! While it’s distracted!”
As Tilly rushed to draw something quickly, Snap turned his attention to the tornado and the scribble creature. He found it impossible to look away and his eyes remained glued to the spectacle.
sss
The scribble being knew exactly what it was getting itself into. It knew the consequences of its current actions. It knew what might happen to it if it failed yet again.
But in this moment, it really didn’t care. All that was on its mind was fighting this thing. It had been pushed around and jossled by this twister for too long. It was time for a little bit of payback. It might have failed the other times, but it would be damned if it failed again.
It kept itself pushed up against the twister. The winds were irritating to it, but it was able to ignore them. Even as more parts of it began to break off and fall, it still managed to hold its ground rather well against this hideous twister. Its feet remained firmly planted, keeping itself in one particular spot, its hands gripping the air despite the illogicalness of it.
This scribble creature glared, or at least it would have if it had properly functioning eyes. It could still see, though. Every part of it, some sort of sense of sight existed. Makes sense. After all, it was literally made up of a bunch of scribbles that had combined together to form one large being. This is what its creator intended, and, despite her being such a little girl, this was quite a clever solution.
Memories of the danger that this twister put its creator through rushed through its mind. The more it thought of it, the more pissed off it got. Now the same twister was trying to harm its creator’s mother, as well as a friend of that creator. Oh no, not on its watch. The scribble creature might not know them all that well, but if they were loved ones of Sophie, then that was more than enough reason for it to defend them, even if it was just to please its creator.
It pulled back a fist and it struck against the twister. It ignored the shockwaves of pain that this caused, watching in satisfaction as the twister was pushed back. It then frowned in disappointment when the twister did not fall over. Perhaps it just didn’t hit hard enough.
Trying again, it rushed over to where the twister had ended up. But upon trying to strike again, the twister seized it by its arm and yanked it forward. The twister moved to the side, letting it sail past. The scribble creature let out a yelp of pain as it was pushed against the ground. This turned into screams when the twister began to strike against it with its tendrils, knocking off more and more pieces of itself.
The scribble creature let out a low growl at this. No...not this time... Sending out signals to its other body parts, some of the scribbles began to repositioning themselves, looking as if something long and black was growing out of it. This stretched out further, raising up to form something of an arch. Then, gathering as much strength as it could, it struck out with this tendril, targeting the base of the twister.
However, this proved to be mostly useless. Yes, it did make the twister flinch a little and make it release it. It allowed the scribble creature to climb up to its feet and back away a little. But it didn’t slow the tornado down all that much. It didn’t even make it trip and fall, although the scribble creature wasn’t sure if that was possible without a significant amount of force against its whole body.
The twister recovered from its attack very quickly. It shrugged it off as if nothing at all had happened. It stared at it for the longest time, neither side making a move. The scribble creature pondered what its next move should be. Whatever it did, it needed to make sure that this tornado monster did not get anywhere near those two.
“Willing to lose? How many times?” The twister said coldly, chuckling. It began to circle it slowly. “Many times, yes? Too many. Bored. Why just stop?”
The scribble creature shook its head. “Nice try. No. Will not. Fight.”
Another chuckle. “You something. Quite special. Brave. Admirable. But stupid still.” The twister then turned itself the other way, arching quickly as it reached the other side of the scribble creature. “Not sure why you still try. You always fail. Always will fail. Why not give up? Go away. Save yourself.”
The scribble creature replied, “Not betray. Will still fight. Win this time.”
“You win? No. You lose.” The tornado struck out with its own tendril. The scribble creature let out a cry of pain as it was slammed against the ground. “Foolish to think otherwise. End this now. Sorry.”
The scribble creature shook in pain as it lifted up its head. It looked into the nonexistent eyes of the twister. It formed a few more long tendrils out of its body before forming them into a singular point. Something large, pointed, and heavy. The scribble creature felt fear rush through its body when it realized just where that thing was pointed. It scrambled to get up, but it was not fast enough.
A loud scream eminated from what could be called its mouth as the twister severed it in the middle. Its legs spazzed out and then stopped working altogether. A pool of blood splattered from the injuries placed upon the scribble pieces. The blood stained the ground, turning it a dark red. The scribble creature trembled in pain, struggling to try to get up despite the loss of legs. It managed to hold itself up on its shaky arms. It looked up at the twister, staring at it in fear as it wondered what it was going to do to it next.
Something caused the twister to pause. The scribble creature wasn’t sure just what that reason was yet. All that it was aware of was its own confusion as the twister suddenly stopped. Then it slowly turned around and its attention was now on something else.
The scribble creature sucked in a deep breath when it realized it was now going after those other two. No... Just a little more time... It just needed a little more time...
The scribble creature began to crawl towards the twister. The twister itself didn’t bother looking behind or stopping, either unaware of what it was trying to do or completely convinced that it was no threat any longer. The scribble creature kept pulling itself along the ground, what remained of it, hissing in pain. It could feel more blood spilling out from the severed parts. It did whatever it could it ignore the pain.
“Hurry up! It’s coming!”
“I’m trying! But I...”
The twister blasted out a gust of wind at them. The two were tossed across the ground, landing in a heavy thud against the wall of the cave. “Think not.” The twister then seized what appeared to be a grey piece of chalk. “Not need this. No more.” It crushed the piece in its tendril.
The scribble creature gasped in horror at this. Knowing that there was little time left, it moved even faster, trying to catch up before it was too late. It felt a thudding inside of it as it watched the tendril grab onto its creator’s mother. It raised her up in the air, leering at her as she struggled in its grasp. The blue zoner called out, begging the twister to let her go. Upon hearing this zoner’s pleas and the cries from the woman, the scribble creature moved faster.
“Now then, let’s..”
The scribble creature took action. It reached out with its hands and grabbed onto the twister. It yanked downward, utilizing all the force left in its body. It ignored the seering pain as it slammed the twister into the ground. The woman was tossed aside, landing a few feet away painfully.
The twister turned its head and sneered in its general direction. “You... Last time interference!”
The scribble creature froze at this, but still held on. It began to drag the twister back towards itself. It heard the sound of scraping, or something similiar to it, and it raised its head to look. The last thing it saw before seering pain was something long, sharp, and pointed.
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Need
Mar 10, 2015 17:07:37 GMT -5
Post by Bluedramon on Mar 10, 2015 17:07:37 GMT -5
Chapter 50: Lines
Just because you’ve good intentions doesn’t mean there is no line that must not be crossed.
sss
The twister’s vision was nothing but red at this point. Emotion swept through its swirling body. It forgot about its desires to go into the Real World. It forgot that it nearly had the human and zoner in its custody. All that was on its mind right now was teaching this scribble figure a lesson.
It had grown sick of its antics, tired of its interference, bored of its stubbornness. And now, the stupid thing dared to try to stop it from taking what was rightfully its. It was time to end this interference once and for all.
It had swiftly formed a hooked arm with its wind. It was shaped like a curved machete. Wide, thin, and very sharp, hooked like the claw of a lion or other predator. It was raised above the scribble figure, poised to strike. The twister stared at it for several moments, watching as it squirmed in desperation. Then, not giving it a chance to react, it struck down.
There was a satisfying slunch sound as the wind blade cut into the scribble figure. It struck through into the chest area. It could feel a clang as it hit against the ground, now all the way through the body. Blood dripped out from the scribble figure. Even with a tendril made of air, the twister could feel it. The scribble figure was gasping in pain, the remainder of the body writhing and twisting. Then, tightening its tendril and gathering up strength, it slashed upward. There was the sound of splattering blood and cracks of what seemed to be bone as it cut through the middle of the neck and head. The twister let go, moved back, and watched the show.
The scribble figure was thrashing around. Its body appeared to be going through what seemed to be death throes. Despite being made up of lots of tiny scribbles, the scribble figure did still seem to have some kind of brain of sorts. With that ‘brain scribble’ gone, the entire body began to die off.
After a few minutes of death throes and small thrashes, the body then began to disintegrate. Little tiny pieces fell everywhere, the scribbles breaking apart as if the support strings had been removed from them. Now, where there were limbs, a body, and a head, just a pile of useless scribbles. It was almost completey undramatic. The twister had a hard time believing that this seemingly worthless pile of scribbles had once been its only matched adversary. It had never met anyone who could take it on as long as it did, and a part of it was going to miss that.
Oh well. No use crying over spilted liquid. The scribble figure was gone now. It was not going to have to worry about it again. Now... What about that human...?
The tornado slowly turned its body around. It looked down at the woman, who was still standing there. She hadn’t attempted to run. The twister did its best not to chuckle. Not a very smart woman, now was she? She could have taken this chance to flee, but instead she just...stayed. Well, if she wanted to try to take it on, then she can be its guest. No wind off of its face.
It did take a few moments to realize the zoner was gone. Hmm..it wondered where it could have gone. When it looked more closely at the ground, it did take notice that there were some indentions, and they were heading off in one particular direction. The twister looked there, then narrowed its eyes. Hmm... It would seem that the zoner was leaving to go find help. It could not see the zoner from where it was, making it wonder just how long ago the zoner had left.
Well, it didn’t really matter now anyway. There was no way that the stupid little zoner was going to come back in time to get his friend away from it. The human was his. To emphasize this point, it wrapped its tendrils around her body. Not touching her exactly, but forming a barrier that she could not get out of.
“Now alone... take me. Your world. Meet my creator.” The twister said softly, dropping all pretenses of being angry. It wanted to try starting fresh, not with its mind clouded with anger and hatred. “Not stay long. Just see creator.”
The woman stared at it wide-eyed. It could see a sense of fear in them. The twister was partially happy with this, as it could mean that the woman would be more willing to obligue. But it could also mean she would be less willing. Well, if she tried to resist, it had ways of making her.
The woman took a glance over at what remained of the scribble creature. There was a sense of horror and shock in those eyes. The twister could make out her pupils darting all around, taking in the sight of a mangled pile of blood and scribbles. Despite it, to her, being a children’s drawing and nothing more, there was a sense of disbelief in her eyes, intermixed with sadness. The twister mentally shook its head at this. Humans. They can be so strange.
When she finally turned her head to it, the twister was taken aback by the look in her eyes. Not so much rage and anger, but disappointment. The twister moved a little back. It wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. It didn’t know what to expect. It remained silent and waited for her to speak up.
“It’s really sad, you know?” Tilly said. Her head was turned to the side, her gaze averted. “I’m sure you wouldn’t know this, but often a mother or father can become disappointed in their child if their skills and life are wasted. I mean...just because someone is naturally talented...” She raised her hand up in gesture. “That doesn’t mean that they will actually lead very successful lives, you know?”
The twister stared at her in confusion. What was she rambling on about? What did this have to do with what was happening?
“I’m sure the same thing goes with you zoners. A creator could have intent and purpose for you, but if you waste them... Well I can’t imagine the creator being so proud of you.” Tilly said. The twister felt its body shiver at this. Was this woman impying what it thought she was? “I mean, yeah, not everyone has good purpose. I’m not talking about those who were created to be...oh say... a serial killer. No, obviously those would need to be stopped. But what about, say, a baker? Or a technician?” She sighed and shook her head. She looked up at the twister. “Does this world have those problems?”
The twister growled softly. “Not sure what you plan. Not fall for it!”
Tilly smiled at this, surprising the twister more. “I’m going to say yes, you do. There are countless creators out there, countless creations coming to life... And I’m sure of those, a large portion will forget their true purpose and get lost on their way. They may do things that their creator would, if they saw them, regret.”
The twister’s mind swirled with thoughts. It stared at the woman in shock, trying to comprehend what she was saying to it. It could feel its body trembling and shaking more. Out of increased anger and frustration, it formed the sharp teeth with its winds once more. But instead of being frightened, the woman just continued to smile at it.
Just what was this woman trying to say to it? Was she trying to tell it that Terry would abandon it? Was she saying that Terry did not care for it? The thought made its mind burn, and it clenched its air teeth tighter. It was so tempting to strike her from where she stood. Amazingly, it was able to keep its cool, and it settled on just staring at her.
Tilly took a step forward. She looked at the twister up and down. There didn’t seem to be a trace of fear left in her. The twister couldn’t tell if she was really unafraid of it now or what, but still it found itself gritting its air teeth. “I understand your frustration. Really. Lots of children have this fear. They think they will disappoint their parents, so some don’t bother trying. Fear of failure and all.”
“Shut up! Not afraid!” The twister snapped back at her. “Shut up and come!”
Tilly raised an eyebrow at that. “Afraid of the truth?”
The twister finally had enough. It lashed out forward. It grabbed onto the woman tightly. The woman let out a grunt, but otherwise, looked quite calm, staring at it almost blankly. The twister growled at this, squeezing her harder and lifting her high into the air.
“Not truth! Not sure what you talking about!” The twister yelled at her. “Know what truth is! You not speak it!”
Tilly just chuckled at this. “So...you honestly think that Terry Bouffant would have wanted this?”
This made the twister freeze. So...was this where this woman was aiming at? Was this what she had been trying to imply? It growled softly at the thought. “You wrong!”
“Well what makes you think that Terry wanted you to do something like this?” Tilly asked coolly. She tilted her head to one side. ‘Tell me, how would you know if she would accept this? How do you know?”
“Cause she my creator! Know all! She would approve! Not get angry! Get proud!” The twister shouted at her. Tightening its grip on her, it leaned in closer. “You not understand! You confused!”
Tilly smiled and shook her head. “I understand completely. You know...I had a bad encounter myself once, though it was with my nephew.” The twister would have blinked in confusion if it could. “I was disappointed in him and I took it too far and I struck him. I am not proud of what I did.” She shut her eyes and shook her head. “So not proud...”
“What point?” The twister hissed.
Tilly looked back up at it. “The point is I’m certain he thought he was doing the right thing in not telling. Not only to keep people like my daughter out of trouble, but also to keep the place he obviously loves a secret. And still, I struck out in anger.” She stared at him it firmly, her eyes narrowing slowly. “The point is that you might think you were doing something your creator would approve of, but you don’t know that, and you might end up screwing yourself over. She did not think your creation through, did she? She only created you to chase, right? She’s probably forgotten you by now.”
The twister felt its internal temperature heating up. “No! She would not!”
Tilly just smiled at this. “Face it. You’re probably just another sketch to add to the pile. You’re nothing all that unique to her. Nothing more than a drabble. And here you think you are something so much more.” She shut her eyes and chuckled, ignoring his snarls and growls of anger and warning. “I just hope you realize that sooner or later, so you can try to do something good with your...life. You might be of some use to someone, do a lot of good. But you waste it.” She chuckled dryly, her partially opening eyes regarding him casually. “How very sad.”
That was it. That done it. Inside, the twister could feel something snap inside of it. It didn’t even bother to speak, or say any kind of warning. The woman may have seen it coming, but it didn’t really care. Tightening its grip around her even more, to the point of nearly crushing her, it threw her as hard as it could across the ground. The woman let out a few cries of pain as her body hit with a heavy thud.
The twister was not yet done with her. It rushed forward at incredible speed. Before the woman had a chance to recover, the twister struck her again, its long tendrils slamming against her. There was a loud crack and a howl of pain as the woman was rolling roughly across the ground. She soon lay crumpled on the ground, her arms and legs positioned a little oddly. Her body twitched and thrashed. The twister didn’t know if these were death throes or not. But just to be sure...
The twister eyed her carefully as it approached. It smirked with its air mouth in satisfaction as it noticed that she was no longer smiling. Her expression was replaced with horror and pain. Her eyes were bulging open and there was blood leaking out of her mouth. Her body looked badly broken and it realized it must have shattered at least two of her limbs, and perhaps more bones. Due to the twist of her body, and how, when she tried to struggle, her legs did not move, told it that her back was broken.
“Should not of lied. Should have help. I not want much.” The twister said. “Find another creator. One that listens.” The twister looked into her terror-filled eyes, listened to her desperate attempts to breathe, but the desire to laugh at her was gone. No more amusement. It just wanted her dead. “End.” Then it closed in for the kill.
Without warning, it suddenly felt something take a hold of him. A strong force that wrapped around him and began to pull it back. It struggled to get free, but the force was too great.
“No..no... No!” It cried as it struggled to keep grip on the ground. Its tendrils dug in deeply, trying to keep traction. But it was useless and it found itself still being ripped up into the air. “No!”
The next few seconds were confusion for it. It was tossed around in a circle. The vision around itself blurred. It started to feel dizzy, something it thought wasn’t possible. It tried to look around to see what had happened. This task proved to be impossible and all it could do was struggle to try to keep its vision from getting too wonky. It hit its ‘head’ against the ground a few times in the struggle, and it let out a loud yelp each time.
Then darkness rapidly descended upon it. There was a strong thickness in the air. Something that it could not describe itself. It could still see a light, however. It rushed upward to try to get to it. But there was a loud shing sound, something sealing up, and it crashed into something solid.
Unable to do anything, it just laid there, its body forcibly stretched to fill in the space of...whatever this thing was. Its minds sped with thoughts as it tried to comprehend how this could have happened.
No..this wasn’t possible... It should have seen... Why didn’t see this coming...? It was impossible. No...
Unable to hold back, it let out a loud, melancholnic roar.
sss
No... Oh no... Please, no... It couldn’t be true. He had to be wrong... Tilly couldn’t possibly be..
Snap stared in horror at the woman’s broken body. She was in a pool of her own blood, the red fluid staining the dirt and rocks underneath her. Snap stood there, his body shaking as emotion swept through him. Despite not knowing her that well, he still felt tears form in his eyes. She was hurt so badly..evident from how her body was twisted, the blood that spilled out, the way her eyes were wide open...
He rushed to her side as quickly as he could. He reached her in a relatively short time and stood next to her. He moved his head from one side to the other, breathing in quickly as he took in the horrific sight.
Her left arm and right leg were clearly broken. They were bent at odd angles and he could see dark bruising from where the breaks were. Her spinal column had been broken as well, clearly snapped in two. Her legs weren’t moving at all, indicating spinal damage. Though half her body was numb, there was still enough agony in her broken arm to make her writhe in pain. Snap bit his lip, looking at her sympathetically.
He moved in closer and knelt down beside her. He reached forward and he touched the top of her head. Tilly looked up at him and sucked in a sharp intake of painful breath. Snap couldn’t stop the tears from dripping down his face. This poor...poor woman... What did she do to deserve this? He couldn’t stop himself from looking deep into her eyes, and bearing witness to all the fears that she had bottled up inside, the raw terror that she was expressing.
He couldn’t help but also think of Sophie. If her mother were dying...or even permanently maimed, what would she think? Would Sophie realize the severity of that? A part of Snap hope she does not completely understand. The idea of a vengeful toddler running around ChalkZone was a rather terrifying one. An adult would show more restraint, but a toddler with unbridled emotional feelings... that was another thing entirely.
Snap stroked Tilly’s hair gently. He leaned in a little closer to her, trying to be as physically near her as possible without unintentionally putting strain on her in any way. “Shhh...” He whispered softly as he listened her cries. “It’ll be okay. You’ll be fine... I promise...”
But deep down, he wasn’t really sure what he could do for her. She was the last person who could use the magic chalk. He didn’t know if there were any portals open, and there was no way to contact Rudy or Penny from within ChalkZone. None of them would know something happened to Tilly until it was too late.
How was he going to get her into the Real World? How was he going to be able to get her the treatment that she so badly needed? She couldn’t go to a hospital here. They might be able to fix her leg and arm a little and stabilize her body a bit, but they wouldn’t be able to do too much. Even the act of minimizing her pain would be impossible, given how their medicine would just dissolve in her body before it could take any kind of effect.
But...there had to be a way, right? It wasn’t possible that she was stuck here forever. If he thought hard enough, he’d figure something out. There...there was always a way. Always a way...
He heard a hissing sound behind him, slight sucking, and he turned his head around. He could see the large vacuum cleaner turning to face him. The sight of this made him uncomfortable. Just what they needed. Another creation that isn’t supposed to be alive, but is. Was this thing going to turn out like the twister? Though he realized he was jumping to conclusions, he didn’t want to let his guard down around it.
At least he had figured out what its power was. But he wasn’t really sure what to make of it, if it was a blessing or a curse.
It could regenerate itself, and rebuild itself from the ground up.
When the twister had been distracted by the scribble creature’s noble sacrifice, Snap had moved around the twister and had found the pieces of the shattered and broken vacuum cleaner. He had barely touched it when the pieces started to pull towards one another. The sight of this had shocked him and he nearly lost his footing. Before he knew it, the vacuum cleaner had rebuilt itself, and was as sentient as he was.
Snap hadn’t even said a word to the twister before it took action. Snap hung back and watched as the cleaning device advanced on the twister. It did...something.... that.. He wasn’t sure. Something about creating a void around it so the twister couldn’t see it. But then...wouldn’t it have detected it anyway with the missing pocket of air? Snap wasn’t sure. He was getting a headache just thinking about it. The point was, the vacuum cleaner was able to get to the twister before the swirling bag of wind was able to realize what was happening.
Snap felt a pang of guilt clench at his stomach. He hadn’t noticed Tilly’s plight until the vacuum cleaner had started to suck up the twister. He had been so shocked by the vacuum’s resurrection that he had hardly paid attention to anything that was going on around him. This resulted in him being unable to help Tilly earlier, and now she laid injured horrifically because of that.
Well, could he have done anything different? Probably not. He was too small and weak to handle taking on a twister. He would not have been able to get her down sooner. Still, he wished he had known earlier so he could have done...something.
The vacuum cleaner had paused. Snap could still hear it sucking up air. It was a low, hissing rumbling noise now. He wondered for a moment if it could even stop doing that. He didn’t try to ask, however, as the thing lowered its ‘head’ to them. The long, air-suckig nozzle came down towards them, making Snap flinch and cringe back. He held onto Tilly and glared fearfully at the vacuum cleaner.
A few seconds later, Snap flinched when he felt the tip of the nozzle head against him. It was a gentle nudge, light enough that it didn’t knock him down, but firm enough for him to truly feel the weight of this thing. He clenched his teeth fearfully, holding still, freezing him in the spot.
The nozzle head moved gently over him, lightly grazing him. The rush of air could be felt as the thing seemed to sniff his head. Snap held completely still. He fought against his instinct to fight back or run, his body trembling. He wasn’t sure if making any sudden movements was going to startle this thing.
Then the vacuum cleaner, after a few moments, moved away from them. Snap turned his had, watching the vacuum cleaner move towards Biclops. It was then that he took notice of just how massive the thing was. Much like the twister, it was much larger than Biclops, and would be able to easily tower over him if it were standing up on its ‘hind legs’. When Snap saw the nozzle head touch Biclops, he felt panic sweep through his body. Just what was this thing going to do?
The thing was so close to Biclops now. The nozzle was so close, practically touching him. What was Snap supposed to do now? Should he take action and save him before it was too late? Or was he already too late? If he tried to take action now, was it going to crush him under its massive weight? Was it going to get the helpless Tilly next?
To his surprise, the vacuum cleaner didn’t hurt Biclops like he had feared. Instead, it pushed its long ‘neck’ underneath his body. It then raised itself up, letting Biclops sprawl onto his back. The vacuum cleaner then turned its attention on back onto them. It moved closer to them once more, this time, taking its time and moving in a slower, gentler pace. Or whatever qualified as gentle with giant, sentient vacuum cleaners.
Despite the fact that the vacuum cleaner did not speak, Snap could almost sense it saying something as it stared at him. It was as if it was trying to say ‘I’m not going to hurt you’. If that is the case, Snap wasn’t sure how much he wanted to believe it.
But staring at the vacuum cleaner parked in front of him, then down at the injured Tilly, he realized there was very little choice. He had no other way of carrying the woman, and while he was still at a loss of how to help her, at least this was something, right?
He allowed the vacuum to pick them up. Instead of being nudged up like with Biclops, he and Tilly were picked up through the suction of the vacuum’s nozzle head. Unlike the rough sucking done with the twister, this was far more gentle. Just enough to lift them up, and then it dropped them gently onto its broad, cool, hard back. Well not so much drop, as set them down lightly.
Snap flinched when he saw that Tilly had been moved a little when lifted and set back down. Now she was on her back instead of her side. He bit his lip. Had there been more damage? Well...at least this way, she could breathe better. She needed that. She was breathing in and out very quickly as she tried to deal with the pain.
Snap gently lifted her head and set it on his lap. She clinched her eyes tightly and shuddered, whimpering in pain. Snap bit his lip and stroked her hair gently. “Shhh...you will be okay. I promise...” He whispered gently to her.
Soon the vacuum cleaner began to move. Snap wasn’t sure where they were going. He didn’t know what the vacuum cleaner thing had in mind. But for now, he hardly thought about that. He kept his attention on Tilly. He continued to whisper soft, comforting words to her as they moved along the landscape slowly.
sss
She knew she was being immature. She knew that she was probaly being paranoid. She knew that she was going to be going too far if she continued with this.
But no..something had to be done. She couldn’t sleep. No matter how late it was tonight, she needed to take action. It was just too dangerous not to do anything. If she delayed this, who knows what will happen? How many people will be hurt if she didn’t do this?
She almost felt sorry for those involved. Though she had a feeling they played some kind of part, or were just simply irresponsible and didn’t pay attention, she did feel bad about dragging them into the punishment. But...sometimes sacrifices had to be made, right? Especially if they’re for the greater good.
Yeah, she was doing the right thing. She told herself that over and over again, reassuring herself that she was doing whatever it took to protect this city. It was nothing personal against these people. She was just doing what had to be done.
Ms. Tweezer was frustrated that no one would help her. Not even Terry, whom should have been on her side swiftly. That woman denied Rudy’s involvement, and had dared to insult her. She gritted her teeth at the memory. If it hadn’t been for that stupid doctor, she would have taught the bitch a little lesson.
Well if Terry won’t help her, she could take action herself. She would do what she can to save Plainsville, even if she had to do it all by herself. She will not allow Rudy Tabootie to get away with what he had done. She knew he was the ring leader in all of this, and to stop the madness, she needed to start with him. And the best way to begin was to eliminate his base of operations. Destroying his house...
...even if his parents were inside. Well it was a worthy sacrifice in the end, wasn’t it?
Holding the canister of gasoline, she continued to spray it along the ground around the large, brown house. The process was a little slower than she had hoped it would be. The can was heavy and the hole much smaller than she had thought. Nonetheless, she continued to walk around the house with the canister, clutching the handle tightly in her hand.
After a while, she managed to form a complete circle around the house. She took a few steps back, looking at the line she had formed. It was hard to see in the dark, but she could detect a slightly darker line going around the house. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a match.
She paused for a moment, staring at it, occassionally looking over at the line of gasoline that she had created. She bit her lip. There was still some doubt on her head. That and guilt. She wasn’t sure how she would really feel about killing two other fellow humans. Especially ones who had nothing to do with what Rudy had done... But still, they were irresponsible at the very least, and they should have kept a better eye on him. Or if they did know and they just didn’t do anything... That thought was more disgusting than them being irresponsible. She gritted her teeth. She hoped, really truly hoped, that it was the first option.
Well enough wasting time. It was time to get started. She placed the match’s tip against the grey stripe available on match packs. She applied pressure and scraped it swiftly. There was an immediate spark and then a small flame formed on the tip. The strong smell of recently lit lighter filled her nostrils. She walked over towards the nearest spot that was wet with gasoline. She took in a deep breath. It was now or never.
A few seconds later, she opened her hand and let it fall to the ground. The match soon touched the gasoline and there was an immediate reaction. Silently, save for a few crackles, the bright flames immediately began to spread around the house, eating up the gasolne and creating a wall of fire around the Tabootie’s home.
Ms. Tweezer took a step back and stared at this for a moment. She stared in shock at first, then she smiled. Now the boy should not be able to do anything to torment her with the unreal again, nor would he be able to assault anyone else, not while his base of operations was in the heat.
sss
Penny had a hard time sleeping. She wasn’t sure how late it was. She was still blind, hopefully temporarily, making it impossible for her to tell what time it really was. For all she knew, it could be three in the morning. But...she just couldn’t close her eyes and go to sleep. Her mind was wandering around too much, her head swirling with several thoughts of what happened lately. With her mind so busy, how could she possibly get any sleep?
She hardly paid attention to the pain that she was feeling. Though there was still an ache that she could feel, she largely ignored it, her mind focused on other things. Besides, the medicine was still working, and her throat didn’t feel as bad as it did previously. She sat up in her bed, leaning her back against the wall carefully, her arms folded lightly against herself.
Things had taken a turn for the worse. Overhearing the doctors, she had learned that her own mother had been brought in. She could feel her heart clenching in horror at this. She wasn’t sure what was wrong with her, but from what the doctors were saying, it was really bad. She wanted to jump out of her bed to go greet her mother, but with no way to see, that wouldn’t have been a very good idea. Besides, the doctors would probably scold her.
But she just couldn’t help herself. The temptation to go to her mother was too great. She wanted to know what was wrong with her. She wanted to know if she was going to be okay. She wanted to know what happened to her.
And what of her friends? Were they in the same boat as her mother? Were they hurt? It was bad enough that Rudy was hurt and hospitalized along with her. But she hoped that Snap and Howdy and Rapsheeba were able to escape unscathed. She also hoped that none of the other zoners got hurt either, nor any other humans in the Real World. She just wanted all of this to end. She wanted everything to return back to normal.
Well, as close to normal as possible. She had to remind herself that there were still some issues, mainly with her mother and Rudy’s folks. They knew about ChalkZone now. There was no changing that. No magic wand to wave to erase their memories. They needed to figure out what to do with this and fast. She wasn’t entirely sure how to go about this, however. With their folks knowing how dangerous the world could be, how would they be able to convince them to keep it a secret? Or to let them keep going in there?
She shook her head and sighed. This was something that she wished they had better prepared for. She and Rudy never really fully discussed how they would handle telling their parents about ChalkZone should the time ever arise. They both had been convinced that they would never need to do this. They had always been so careful, able to prevent anyone from finding out.
But then...they should have still seen this coming. They might have been good for a time, but eventually things had started to work against them. Both Vinnie and Terry found out about ChalkZone because of their carelessness. Well, mostly Rudy’s. And now another human, Dr. Von Doktor, knew about the place...
Cold shivers ran through her body. She held her arms tighter against herself as she tried to warm herself up. It was a difficult an impossible feet, and the fear inside of her just caused her body temperature to feel like it was getting even lower.
Thoughts of what that man could do entered her mind. They assaulted her left and right, bombarding her with uncomfortable, horrific thoughts. Him being a scientist made the whole situation much, much worse. He could do things that Terry and Vinnie could not. He could perform experiments on zoners, learn more about the magic chalk, and maybe even replicate it... That thought sent a freezing chill into her spine and she couldn’t help but tremble. Terry and Vinnie were bad enough, with Terry being a news reporter and Vinnie being so determined. What made Von scarier was his intelligence. He had clearly thought things through and was much harder to aprehend as a result of that. She started to wonder if that man could ever be stopped.
There had to be someway to do it. If they just thought hard enough and long enough, maybe someone would come up with a solution for him. Penny would love to see that man get arrested and sent to jail, where he so richly deserved to be.
But how to achieve that goal... She wasn’t really sure at the moment. She was at a loss and she could feel a sting in her stomach as she struggled to come to terms with that. For the time being, Von was a free man, able to do whatever he wanted to, and the authorities had no idea. The thought sickened her, but trapped here in this bed, unable to see, there was very little that she could do, even if she had a chalkboard and piece of chalk.
During this moment, she could start to hear Terry’s voice in her head again. She shivered and tried to push them away, but she found it impossible. Terry’s voice just echoed in her head.
“What's left for you? Someone who just stands on the sidelines, watching as Rudy works his magic protecting that precious world of yours?”
“You...you're nothing... You are just a worthless little tag along who just waits for Rudy to give you a command and toss you a bone.”
“You're worthless.”
She shook her head, trying to shoo those thoughts out of her. Terry had no idea what she was talking about. Penny had done whatever she could to help protect ChalkZone and help her friends. Even when she couldn’t physically do anything, she still was able to send help in the form of Howdy. Despite not being there, she was certain that this action had turned the tides in the fight against Von.
Despite what Terry said, she was not worthless. Terry had only said that to try to make her slip up and destroy her confidence. Terry didn’t know any better, and it was useless getting upset over it. She took in a deep breath and sighed, slowly feeling at least some of her anxiety leave her.
Just then, before she had a chance to relax more, she heard a loud scream coming from a few rooms down.
“Ahhhhhh!”
Penny jolted at that. It sounded like Rudy. She turned her head towards where she thought the door was, listening intently for any further sounds. She then heard another scream, and her heart skipped a beat when she realized it was Rudy.
But the scream... It wasn’t one of pain. It was of fear and terror. Was Rudy afraid of being in the hospital? Was the pain making him act irrationally? Or was it something else entirely? Something like...
“My house is on fire! I can see the smoke from here! Someone, do something!”
Penny took in a sharp gasp at this. She looked around to try to see the fire when she realized that she could not see. Her body shaking in shock, she kept on listening, trying to learn more about what was going on.
She tried to settle herself down. There was no way Rudy could see his house was on fire right? And even if there was a fire, it could be anywhere. It didn’t mean that his house was on fire. It...it must be some kind of mistake. Yeah, Rudy was just overreacting. That was all. He probably just thinks he’s seeing fire and...
Then again, they were up really high. It could be possible that, from where, looking out the window would allow them to see really far. It could be possible that Rudy really did see something. And even if it wasn’t his house, what if the fire was really close to his place? ...or hers...?
No... It couldn’t be possible. There had to be a logical explanation for Rudy’s outburst. Maybe..just maybe.. He was just dreaming or something. Yeah, and the doctors were just coming in to try to calm him down. That’s all it had to be. But the next shout that came threw that theory completely out of the window.
“Holy sh... The boy is telling the truth! I can see the fire! Somebody, call 9-11!”
Penny felt her blood run cold at this. Her mind sped up, trying to comprehend what was going on. How did Rudy’s house catch on fire..? Oh no... What about Rudy’s parents? Were they going to be okay?
Many thoughts ran through her mind. There was a large number of possibilities that could have happened. And each one was worse than the other. She could feel her heart clench tighter at each thought. She couldn’t believe this horrible turn of events. They had already been through so much. Did this really have to be added onto everything? She couldn’t begin to imagine what poor Rudy must be going through right now. She..she had to try to help him...
Despite her better judgment, Penny started to crawl out of the bed. She flinched in pain, but ignored it as she began to move along the wall, finding her way towards the door. It took her a little while, but she eventually reached it.
However, she didn’t get far when she felt a pair of hands grab onto her. She let out a grunt as she was dragged back. She struggled against their grasp, but it was useless. There was no way a ten year old like herself stood a chance.
“No, you shouldn’t be out wandering there, little missy.” A voice said. She recognized him as the doctor that was helping her before. “You need to stay in bed.”
“But.. Rudy...!” Penny cried out as she tried to struggle more.
“We will take care of it. Don’t worry.” The doctor said reassuringly. He set her back on the bed and Penny could feel the warmth of the covers move over her. “Now stay in here and rest. We will take care of it.”
“But...”
The doctor did not listen to her after that point. He simply walked away and disappeared out of the door. Penny flinched as she heard the sound of the door shutting, leaving her alone in the room. She stared over in the direction of the sound, her closed eyes widening. She then lowered her head and sighed.
sss
Millie woke up to some kind of strong smell. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore it, but the smell was getting stronger. She clinched her eyes tightly and snorted, trying to get the smell out of her head. Her attempts were futile, and it only seemed to make the smell stronger.
She let out a groan and sat up in the bed. Her half open eyes stared out towards the door, which was partially open, letting in some light. She rubbed her eyes and yawned loudly. She looked down at her husband. She was thankful that he was still asleep. At least one of them would be well rested. She just wished she could have gotten more sleep. She probably only slept for about an hour or two, her mind’s mugginess and heaviness being proof of that.
While she did recall what had happened lately with her son and everything, in that moment, she was way too tired to really react to it. To her, it almost felt like some kind of far away dream, distant and unable to be reached.
She did still wonder what the smell was. But she hardly thought about it too much. She just automatically assumed it was coming from the outside, perhaps being from one of the neighbors that decided to have a midnight snack. She yawned again and crawled out of bed. She scratched an itch real quick before she sleepily went over towards the window. She grabbed onto it and pushed it down.
Satisfied, she started to head back towards the bed. She stopped about half way there when she realized the smell was still getting stronger. She frowned softly and let out an irritated grunt. The smell must have eminated in from more windows. She looked back at her husband. She sighed in frustration. Looks like she is going to have to take care of them.
She exited the bedroom and she headed down the hallway towards Rudy’s room. Even though Rudy was not in there, she still found herself moving in slowly, as if to not awaken the boy that wasn’t there. She looked towards his window, but found it was still closed. Heading into the bathroom, she found it was open a crack and she shut it. She then turned to head down the stairs and she caught note of something.
There was some kind of unusual glow she noticed when she looked out of the bathroom window. She frowned deeply at this, her muggy mind catching that something was wrong. She headed back towards the window, her eyes firmly locked onto the window itself.
When she got closer, she noticed there was some kind of heat coming from the window as well. She felt so confused. Why was it so warm here? Granted it wasn’t that cool outside right now, but...it felt like a heatwave was coming in. What was going on here? She soon arrived at the window and she grabbed onto it. She opened it up and she peered outside.
The sight of a wall of intensely bright fire was enough to jolt her out of her sleepiness. Her eyes widened in horror and she let out a terrified scream. Her heart pounded heavily against her chest and she jumped back. She stared out the window, her body shaking in fear and terror. No... Oh no... She turned and she ran down the hallway and back into the bedroom.
“Joe! Joe, wake up! We have to get out of here!” Millie screamed. She grabbed onto her husband and attempted to rouse him from his sleep. When he didn’t wake up, she shook him harder. “Come on! Get up now! We have to leave! The house is on fire!”
But still, her husband did not stir. She took in a few heavy breaths, her eyes wide in horror and mind swirling. This couldn’t be happening... She shook her husband longer, and still he did not wake up. In her panicked mind, she thought he might be dead. She lowered her hand down to his neck to check for his pulse. Though she found one, that did not calm her down all that much.
The questions of how her house caught on fire and whether or not this was a deliberate act weren’t in her mind. Her head was frozen, burning with thoughts of needing to get out of here. The need to survive kicked in and she could feel her legs shaking with energy. If it weren’t for her husband being here, she would be running out of the house by now.
Being as careful as she could, she managed to scoop her husband’s unconscious body into her arms. The man must have been knocked out by the fumes. With a horror jolt, she realized that was the real reason for how muggie and tired she was feeling. She must have woken up just in time. Cradling Joe against her, she started to run down the steps as quickly as she could.
She reached for the door handle and grabbed it. She let out a cry of pain when the intense heat burned her hand. She yanked her hand back and shook it, cursing herself for forgetting one of the most basic fire safety rules. She ran into the kitchen and grabbed her thick oven mit. She used this to open the door. As soon as she did, she screamed in horror at what she saw.
There was a tall wall of fire in front of her. The fire crackled and simmered, bathing in her in its intense heat glow. Millie did her best to ignore the heat as she looked from left to right. To her utter horror, the fire wall spread around the entire house.
She slammed the door shut and backed away from it. She felt her legs grow weak and she collapsed beside the stairs. She looked down at her husband, her rapidly moving mind slowly coming to terms with what was happening. A cold chill went up her spine as tears formed in her eyes. The horrible truth sank in. She and her husband were trapped. There was nowhere to go. No way to escape this horrible blaze.
Intense emotion washing through her body, the woman, trembling, held onto her husband tightly and started to cry against him.
sss
“What did you say was happening, Agent D?!”
Agent D flinched as the voice shouted at him. He turned his head away, putting a finger in his eye and rubbing it. Did his boss really have to be so loud? He understood his frustration, but still...
“I just told you. There’s a fire going on at the Tabooties’ residence. We don’t know the cause of it yet, but...” He was cut off a second later.
“Well hurry it up and put out the flames! We cannot afford to lose that place!” His boss shouted at him.
Agent D growled softly. He tried his best not to become short with his boss. That would be...rather disasterous, to put it mildly. He held himself back as much as he could, glaring softly in no particular direction. He could hear his boss still rambling on over the phone. The guy just wouldn’t quit.
It was a good thing that he wasn’t doing this in his regular office. The other doctors were busy scrambling about, trying to get to patients, handle panicking people, whatever else. Though the confusion may make it hard for any of them to realize what he was saying, he didn’t want to run the risk. Here in the janitor’s office, he was much safer. With only one opening, he would be able to tell if anyone was coming.
His thoughts turned to Penny, Mrs. Sanchez, and Ms. Bouffant. At least, for the time being, they were safe. He had been the main doctor treating all of them. Well under an assumed name that is, in order to throw off suspicion. He hoped they remained safe for however long possible. For this plan to work, they needed as many pieces of the puzzle as possible.
This also included Rudy’s parents. If they were killed... The thought made him grit his teeth. The boy was not likely to be very helpful for a while if his parents perished in that fire. He had no idea just who started the flames, but when he found out who it was...
“Do you hear me?!” His boss snapped at him. “Hurry up and call the police!”
“That’s already been taken care of, sir.” Agent D said in irritation. “They dispatched the fire department and it should be taken care of.”
“Good. Just make sure that it does.” His boss replied. The levels of irritation were still there, strong as ever with no signs of lowering down anytime soon.
“Yes, sir.” Agent D said, doing his best to hold back his frustration. “I will be on my way to make sure that...”
“No, remain where you are. I don’t want anything to happen to those other people. Let the fire depeartment handle things. What I want you to do is make sure that they get here snappy, and when they do, do whatever you can to help the boy’s parents. Do not let them perish.” The man’s voice took on a somewhat threatening tone at the end. “Or else...”
Agent D gulped at this, but he managed to keep his cool the best he could. Even though his boss couldn’t even see him, he still found himself nodding his head slowly. “Y-Yes... I’ll be right on it.” He knew, from the man’s tone of voice, that he was very serious about what he was saying. “I’ll be standing by.”
“Good. Just don’t screw up! You’ve done an excellent job so far. I’d hate to see all that go to waste.”
Agent D gulped at this. Yes, indeed. It would be such a shame. Hopefully he would be able to further impress his boss. If he failed...
He shook the thoughts out of his head. He didn’t need to bring himself down like that. That would only make things a lot worse. He didn’t want to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. He just had to keep on doing his work, keep up the performance, and everything was going to be good.
A thought entered his head. “And how is Agent M doing?”
“That is none of your business!” His boss snapped. Then there was a pause, and then a sigh. “Haven’t found her yet. She must still haven’t gotten back from her assignment.”
“That’s a shame.” Agent D said. There was a slight smirk to his face. He knew Agent M would slip up sooner or later. Perhaps now his boss would realize how more reliable he was.
“I do still have faith in her.” His boss said in response. “Her assignment was not easy, and it didn’t help that some...personal matters got involved with that. So I will give her more time.”
“All right then.” Agent D said, doing his best to hide his disappointment. “Is there anything else you’d like me to do?”
His boss was quick to answer. “You’re doing a good enough job right now. Just keep it up and remember your assignment. Call me back when you have more information.” With that, there was a click and the boss had hung up.
Agent D frowned slightly. He was getting a little irritated at his boss’s seemingly undying belief in Agent M’s capabilities. He was just as good as her, if not even better. Why did he have to promote her and not him? It just wasn’t fair...
Oh well, there was nothing he could do about that. He wasn’t about to let his own anger get the better of him. As much as he would love to take action against Agent M to promote himself, he knew that would just bite him back in the ass. No, he was better off just trying to outperform her and letting herself get demoted. Besides, right now, there were more important things to worry about than his petty jealousy.
sss
Snap couldn’t help but curse at himself. If he had just been more careful, then he and Tilly would have been able to go through the earlier plan. He would have been able to enlist the help of those strong zoners, and then..
No, he couldn’t keep blaming himself. He had done what he could and that’s what mattered. Dr. Von Doktor had been stopped... Well not in the way he would have liked, but still, at least he couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. And the twister was apprehended, trapped inside the vacuum cleaner. No more will it be able to hurt innocent zoners or take any more lives.
He did feel bad about leaving the others hanging. But there was little option for him at this point. He’d have to explain to them later after he figured out a way to get Tilly back in the Real World. He didn’t know how much longer she was going to be able to wait.
He looked out ahead where they were going. The landscape was looking a little familiar. He recognized those particular rocks and those particular rows of hills. And in the distance, he could see ChalkZone City. The sight of it made him sigh with relief. The fact that they were so close to here brought a smile onto his face. He hoped that someone in the city would be able to help. Even though a part of him was telling him the chances of that were unlikely, he still clung onto hope. Surely, someone would know, right?
But...in the end, he knew he may have to face reality. It was not that simple. He couldn’t just go up to any zoner and ask. They may not be able to tell him much of anything. And the one zoner that probably could help was badly hurt. He flinched when he heard Biclops give a groan of pain in his sleep, if it could even be called that.
At least soon, he was going to get the help that he truly needed. He knew the vacuum cleaner was going to the ChalkZone Hospital first. It shouldn’t take that long to get there. He had no idea how they were going to great someone his size, but he had confidence in them. They deal with zoners all the time and some zoners were rather...big. They would have something for Biclops’s size. He shouldn’t worry about that so much.
Instead, he needed to be more concerned for Tilly. He looked down at her sadly. He bit his lip. Poor Tilly... She looked like she was in so much pain. He could see the tears flow down her face. He stroked her hair some more, but he did not say a word. He had already said to her what he could. Right now, Tilly didn’t need comforting words. She needed some real help.
He was so focused on his thoughts that he failed to notice that someone was approaching rather quickly. It was only when he heard loud footsteps and a shout for him that he turned his head and noticed who had been following them.
“Hey! What’s going on?” Lars called out, putting his paws against his mouth to make his voice sound louder. “I thought you wanted us to meet you at your place!”
Snap bit his lip. He paused for a moment, trying to think of how to explain the situation to the big guy. “Well, there was a change of plan. You see...” He rubbed the back of his head nervously. “Things...didn’t turn out the way we had hoped...”
At this, Lars tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean? What happened?”
Snap narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “There’s no way to explain it right now. I’ll do it later.” He looked over at the slumped arm that he knew belonged to Biclops. “Right now, Biclops and Rudy’s aunt need help.”
“What? Are they hurt?”
Snap narrowed his eyes at Lars. Was he really that dense? He wondered if it was just that the polar bear could not see them that well. Or rather, their injuries, at least when it came to Biclops. He hoped that was the case. He didn’t want to think Lars was as dense as he sounded right now. “Yes..they are.”
Lars didn’t take notice of Snap’s tone of voice. Instead, he quickened his pace, his breathing quickening to keep up. “Is there anything I can do?”
Snap thought about this for a moment. He tried to think of what way Lars could help. He couldn’t really think of anything on top of his head, however. He doubted Lars could help with the portal situation, and it wasn’t like he could drag Biclops anywhere. But he didn’t just want to give him nothing to do. He wanted Lars to be able to do something to help out.
Ah, that’s it.
Snap looked down at Lars and said, “Hey Lars! Why don’t you go and ask some zoners around to see if anyone can help Rudy’s aunt get back home! Tell them she is gravely injured and requires assistance!”
Lars nodded his head. “All right then! Will do!” The polar bear gave a quick solute before he dropped down on all fours and raced across the ground.
Snap watched him leave, impressed with how fast the polar bar could move when on all fours. He couldn’t help but smile at this. This was definitely good news indeed. If Lars can keep up this pace and move quickly and ask around the city, then maybe they stood a chance at finding a way to help Tilly after all.
Then he realized there is one particular zoner who might be able to help, but the chances of finding him were very low. Barney the encyclopedia centipede, had a vast knowledge of ChalkZone. If no one else knew of a way, then he might. After all, he had about every event in ChalkZone recorded in his internal database. Maybe he would have information from back when the magic chalk used to...what did Biclops say... go into the Real World.
But what were the odds of finding him now? There wasn’t that much time either. His home was quite far away, and even if he got there, he didn’t know if he would be willing to give information. He had done so that one time because ChalkZone was all in danger. But if the only one at stake was this human, even if he was related to Rudy, would the centipede still be so willing to help?
It became clear to him that there was really no way to call upon Barney’s help. He pushed those thoughts aside and looked over, watching as Lars disappeared into the city. He was their only chance right now. He hoped that Lars would be able to find someone who might be able to help.
He looked down at Tilly, biting his lip as she groaned in pain. He didn’t know how much longer she could go on without help. But judging from her groans of pain, the twitches her fingers were making, he doubted there would be too much time left. They had to hurry.
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Need
Mar 12, 2015 18:48:24 GMT -5
Post by Bluedramon on Mar 12, 2015 18:48:24 GMT -5
Chapter 51: Retributions
Commit a crime. Pay the dues.
sss
Millie's heart pounded against her chest as she pulled her still unconscious husband back. The smoke filled the room much more rapidly than she had expected. She sucked in a sharp breath, struggling to keep herself from succumbing to the smoke that thickened the air around her.
Flames had begun to bleed into the house. The door had been destroyed, reduced to black ashes as it was knocked down. The sound of it falling was enough to startle her and start to pull her husband away. She occasionally would look down at Joe, hoping and praying that he'd be awake. But no luck. The smoke had still had him knocked out, rendering him helpless.
She looked left and right as she struggled to find a way out of here. She tried to figure out if she should rush off into the kitchen or into the living room. The upstairs would not be a good idea. What if the flames burn enough of the downstairs that everything just collapses on top of it? She and her husband would be buried, and who knows how long it would take for them to get rescued?
She soon decided to head into the kitchen, where there was a bit less flammable material in there. She carefully drug Joe towards there, keeping her grip on him good and tight. Despite being on cool, hard ground now, Millie could still feel the intense heat filling the air. The fire was closing in here, too, and she knew it was a matter of time before the fire would rush in through the windows.
In that moment, any training she had years ago about what to do in a fire were gone. Raw panic and terror had taken her over, and she was doing only what she could think of. And in that moment, the only think she could do was just press herself underneath the kitchen table and cuddle up with her unconscious husband.
She looked left and right, her body trembling in fear. She couldn't even get to the phone. Her legs were too wobbly and if she tried, she would fall over. Calling for help was the furthest from her mind. Her primal instincts were telling her that, since she was trapped, she should hide and wait it out.
And that's what she did.
The sound of crackling fire was all around her. She flinched and felt her heart race at each crack and snap she heard. She constantly looked around, watching as the smoke slowly began to thicken. She kept herself and her husband low, knowing that if they were too high, they'd start to choke. She didn't know how long they had, and in her panicked state of mind, she was in no condition to figure that out.
She held her husband to herself, her mind going a million miles an hour. Her body trembled harder, trying to comprehend what was happening to her. Why did this have to happen?
Millie never thought that something like this would happen. She never stopped to think of the possibility that she would be faced with such a disaster. She never prepared well enough. Now she and her husband are likely to die and it was all because of her own stupidity. Oh why didn't she better prepare?
She suddenly heard a loud crash. The ground shook slightly, making her whimper and hold onto her husband tighter. Her eyes darted left and right. Her mind sped up. Many questions started to run through her head.
Was she under attack? Was there something else going on besides the fight? Should she run? Was she and her husband in further danger if she stayed here? Were they going to get killed?
She tried her best to settle her mind, trying whatever she could to calm herself down. Such an act was difficult. Her fear was overpowering her rational side, and she found herself shrinking further onto the ground. She again looked around, her more primal mind fearing that some kind of creature was going to pop out through the window and attack her. The longer she didn't see anything, the more she shivered. Her mind was asking the same question over and over.
When was it going to attack?
It took a while before Millie could calm herself down enough to do something other than cower there. She loosened her grip on Joe slightly, taking in a few deep breaths. She turned her head towards the phone, which she could see from here. Her pounding heart thudded against her chest, creating an echo in her head. She bit her lip, slowly regaining some sense of rational thought.
What should she do? Should she stay here with her husband, or should she try to call for help? She doubted anyone had called. It was so late at night and... She shuddered at the thought of leaving her husband. Could she really do it? She wanted to stay here and be with him but...
She narrowed her eyes. She knew what had to be done. She gently set her husband down. Not wanting to waste time until her mind was overtaken by fear again, Millie got up from the ground and she headed towards the phone.
Moving at a quick pace, she soon reached it. She grabbed onto it and dialed 9-11. Her fingers were so sweaty, she ended up fumbling with the phone and nearly dropping it. She managed to somehow keep a hold of it, and as soon as she heard someone on the other line pick up and speak to her, she immediately started to shout.
"Please help! My house in fire! My husband is unconscious! Please, I...!"
"Ma'am, I'm going to need to speak slower. Please give me the address and I will have someone dispatched to you." The voice on the other end said, their voice calm and reassuring.
Millie took in a few deep breaths, trying her best to settle herself down. It took her a little while, and the person on the other side kept trying to get her to speak her location so she could get the help that she needed. Soon, Millie found herself calm enough to speak. She quickly gave the person her address.
"Okay, help is on the way. Stay right where you are. Don't move." The person said. They then hung up.
Millie returned to her husband. The fact that help was now on the way did little to calm her nerves. It didn't change the fact that fire was now starting to spread into her house. It didn't change the fact that the smoke was growing thicker, and she could feel her throat becoming dry and scratchy. Unable to resist, she started to cough.
She held her husband against herself. She let out a few more whimpers, her body shaking, as she looked all around her. She wanted to flee. She wanted to run. But that was impossible. They were still trapped. All she could do was sit here and wait for the firefighters to arrive.
sss
"Kid! You need to settle down!" The nurse shouted. She gripped the boy's arm tightly, pushing him against the bed. "You will hurt yourself more!"
"No! I need to get to them! I can't let them...!" Rudy fought back. He squirmed underneath the nurse's weight. He struggled hard to get free, ignoring the shouts the nurse was giving him. He couldn't stay here. He had to get to his parents. They needed him. He couldn't...
The nurse, however, was not letting him go. Her grip on him tightened. Rudy flinched when he felt her fingernails press against his skin. "Calm down! You are only going to make things worse! Calm down!"
But each time she shouted that, it only made Rudy feel even more anxious. His struggles increased, his desperation for freedom getting higher and higher. He started to push his hands against her, pushing against her and trying to make her let him go.
His racing mind began to see the nurse as a threat. An obstacle that was preventing him from getting to his parents, who were in trouble. His house was on fire. They were trapped inside. Despite his pain, despite his injuries, he still kicked his legs wildly, still pushed against the nurse, still tried to jump off the bed to save his parents.
"Rudy Tabootie! Stop this right now!" The nurse hissed at him. Her voice was growing louder and more irritated. She was really losing her patience with him, but he didn't care. All he could think of was getting out of here. "I said stop it!"
Without warning, Rudy felt the woman shove him against the bed harder. She leaned forward and used her weight to hold him down. Her right hand gripped his head tightly, pushing it against the pillow. Her other hand gripped his arm, securing him further on the hospital bed. Part of her body covered him, creating a barrier that his body was unable to pass. And here, the woman stayed for the next several moments, her body making it impossible for him to get up.
Rudy's mind started to panic further. The inability to move very well made his mind race faster, and his legs just kicked swifter, trying in vain to strike something, anything, in an attempt to get free. His free arm started to strike against her, his fist pounding against her side. The nurse hissed at this, but nonetheless refused to let him go. Soon, Rudy's loud whimpers and cries started to fill the air.
"Oh don't you dare! You brought this on yourself! If you had just listened, I.."
In blind fear, Rudy bit down onto the nurse's finger when striking her wasn't working. The woman's eyes bulged and she let out a scream of pain. She immediately let him go, taking a step back away from him.
Rudy, panting heavily, looked over at her. The nurse was scowling back at him, her teeth gritted. The sight of this just made him feel more afraid, and he cringed on the bed. The fear of what was happening to his parents was still the most fresh on his mind, and he couldn't help but shiver at the thought of them perishing in the fire. Tears strolled down his face.
"You little..." The nurse growled at him. She stormed back over to him and grabbed him by his arms. Rudy let out a yelp as she pushed him against the bed. "What part of calming down don't you fucking understand?!"
Rudy didn't answer. He just stared up at her, his eyes wide in fear, his lower lip quivering. The nurse didn't give him any sympathy.
"Don't look at me that way! This is your fault that..."
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Another feminine voice called out.
Rudy and the nurse looked over, noticing there was a second nurse standing there. Her eyes were wide in horror, and her hand was to her mouth. The first nurse, the one that was holding onto Rudy, froze, shocked by her intrusion. But soon she scowled at her.
"This little brat won't shut up and calm down!" The first nurse barked at her.
"You need to be gentler! He's just a little boy! Only ten years old!" The second nurse called out to her. "Can't you see he's just scared and frightened? The poor dear has every right to be scared."
"He's just going to hurt himself!" The first nurse said.
The second nurse walked in about halfway into the room. She looked like she wanted to scold the first nurse more, but instead she turned her attention to Rudy. "Please...let me see him. Let me try."
The first nurse growled, but it was clear that she had enough of Rudy. She gave a quick grunt and said, "Oh fine." She released Rudy. "The brat's all yours."
The second nurse glared softly as she watched the nurse leave. She shook her head. "She's going to be in big trouble for that..." She sighed and looked back at Rudy, her expression softening up. "Hey there..."
Rudy looked at her fearfully, cringing back. His experience with the first nurse had shaken him up, and now he couldn't help but wonder if this second nurse was going to be like her. The second nurse came in closer, making him cringe back, his body shaking.
"Please...! Just let me go..! I want to save my parents! Please!" Rudy whimpered at her. "I just..I just want to go home!"
"Shhh... It's okay..." The second nurse spoke. Her voice was much gentler than the first nurse's. She reached out with one hand. Slowly and carefully she moved. "It will be okay."
Rudy wasn't sure if he could believe her or not. He curled up on the bed, shaking even harder. He watched with wide eyes as the hand came closer. Instinct told him to swat it away, and he tensed his arm up. But seeing this nurse, and seeing flashes of that other nurse, caused cold fear to rise up inside of him, and he remained frozen.
Unlike with the first nurse, this nurse did not seem to get frustrated with him being scared. Even as he pleaded with her to let him go, her only responses were soft, hushed whispers, and her movements were very slow and deliberate, not sudden. She soon reached him, and never once did she raise her voice.
Then she laid her hand on him. Unlike the first nurse, this was a gentle touch. She didn't attempt to grab him. Instead, her hand rested on his head. She stroked his hair gently, her other hand gently clasping his hand.
"It will be okay. I promise." The second nurse whispered to him. "Everything is going to be okay."
Rudy looked up at her, tears spilling out of his eyes. "But... my mom..my dad... They're in trouble..." He breathed in and out quickly, fear starting to creep up the back of his spine. "I-I have to help...! I..."
The second nurse shook her head. "No, dear child. You're hurt. But don't worry. Help is on the way. The firefighters will rescue your parents. They will be safe." The nurse moved her hand down and caressed the boy's cheek. "I promise." She raised up two fingers and traced the boy's tears away. "It will be okay. Shhh... It's going to be all right."
The nurse's continuous tranquil nature slowly began to work its way into Rudy. He could feel his heart rate start to slow down and his breathing began to go back to normal. The reassurance in her voice helped to drive away the fear for his parents, knowing that they were going to get the help that they needed. His tears still fell, but his whimpering began to stop.
Slowly, once the nurse realized he had settled down enough, she wrapped her arms around him. Rudy widened his eyes at this gesture, but his eyes soon relaxed as well as his body. He pressed himself against her, his head against her upper chest. The nurse continued to whisper calming words to him, her hand rubbing his back gently. Rudy shut his eyes and he found himself dozing off to the rhythm of her heartbeat.
sss
Terry narrowed her eyes softly as she listened intently. The doctors were all worried about different things. She had grown used to this and had started to fall asleep. She had managed to get an hour or two of sleep. But she was suddenly awoken by the sound of a boy wailing and some panic stricken doctors scrambling about. It was worse than usual, louder, bringing her out of her sleep.
Terry wished she could see what was going on. Her vision was still nothing but blurs and darkness and yellow. Nothing to reveal too much. Just emptiness. Even with her eyes fully open, fighting against the pain, she still saw nothing. She had her head tilted in the direction that she knew the noise was coming from, hoping to get some idea of what happened.
That scream did sound awfully familiar. She knew that voice from somewhere. She thought deeply, furrowing her eyes further. She could feel her head start to ache slightly as she struggled to figure out just who this was.
Then she realized it. Her eyes widened. It was Rudy Tabootie. But...what was that kid doing here? What about that Penny girl? Was she here, too? Were they what she had heard being wheeled in doing the hallway earlier? She had thought she heard Rudy's parents and Penny's mother, even if just briefly.
She narrowed her eyes and shook her head. She wasn't sure why she was concerned about the little brats. It's not like they ever did anything for her. Well except annoy her and humiliate her. Especially the boy. She couldn't help but give a smark. Good. Now maybe the boy will learn his lesson. True, it may not be exactly what she hoped for, but a little rough reality would do the boy some good.
But then... Well what really happened there? What had caused the boy distress? She wasn't sure why she was wondering. She tried to shift it from her mind. Rudy wasn't someone she particularly cared about. Same with Penny. To her, they were just a couple of brats. She wouldn't want them dead of course, but she didn't care too much that they were injured. It just seemed like a bit of karma finally decided to strike them.
Still... a part of her couldn't help but wonder just how they were doing. She couldn't help but wonder just why Rudy had screamed like that earlier, and what caused the doctors to panic. The sounds and voices were too distant for her to make out. She couldn't even get a word in edgewise. Despite the fact that she hated them, she did feel a small pang of sympathy. Fleeting, but still there, in the back of her mind. She couldn't help but remain curious as to what had happened with them. Maybe she could try asking a doctor or nurse if they happened to come in.
Hmm...no, that wouldn't work. The doctors wouldn't reveal confidential information like that. She was just going to have to figure out another way. Maybe if she just kept doing what she did, then she could learn some new information of what had happened. So she settled herself down, frowned softly, and waited.
And so far, nothing. Time moved by so slowly around her. What was really just a few minutes felt like hours. Time just kept on ticking away, just dragging her forward so slowly. She felt her fingertips burning in frustration, making her want to punch the nearest clock, if she could see one, and break it. Oh if only time could just speed up already, if only there was a way to just push the clock forward steadily, forcing people to go faster, allowing her a quicker chance at hearing something important.
But so far, there was no such luck with that. As she continued to sit there and listen intently, nothing was exposed or revealed. It was just...emptiness. Maybe a stray footstep or two, but that was it. The doctors were starting to settle down in this part of the hospital. At least for the time being. There might be another upstart, but that may or may not have to do with whatever is going on with Rudy and Penny.
Maybe she should just give up and go to sleep. Besides, it's none of her business anyway. She should just shut her eyes and relax. A good night's sleep may help her feel better. She...
Suddenly there the sound of doors opening up. She flinched as she heard them crash against the wall. She could hear wheels churning and squeaking, the sound of metal quaking, and she knew that someone was being wheeled down the hallway now. The woman couldn't help but sit up in her sleep, clutching her head as she felt a brief wave of dizziness rush through her head.
Then she heard the sound of doctors shouting.
"What's the status?"
"Their names are Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie! They were rescued from their burning house. The husband is unconscious and is suffering from..."
Terry's eyes widened in shock at this. Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie were here now? Weren't they Rudy's parents? And what did the doctor say? Something about a burning building...? This realization caused her to gasp and she found her hand finding her mouth.
Their house was on fire...
So..that's probably why the boy screamed before. Perhaps he had seen the flames from his window? They were high up, near the top floor. This building was many stories high and they could easily see the houses that were just outside of town, including Rudy's.
The woman's mind swirled with thoughts. The previous glee she had for the boy being here was rapidly replaced with horror. As much as she wanted to teach the boy a lesson, having his house burned down and him nearly lose his parents was not her idea of doing so. That was just...cruel and inhumane. She'd never want to do something like that to anyone, not even to Rudy or Penny.
Her heart clenched when she realized something. It seemed too much of a coincidence that this fire started just several hours after her encounter with Ms. Tweezer. Okay, so maybe she was being paranoid. Maybe she was overthinking things. But she just couldn't help it. Something just felt...wrong about the whole thing.
It didn't help that Ms. Tweezer had been ranting about Rudy and the 'unreal' or whatever how she put it. That woman was determined that the boy was up to no good and trying to brainwash people. As much as she hated the boy, she couldn't give him that much credit. He just wasn't aggressive enough or cunning enough to pull something like that off. Ms. Tweezer was overreacting and was trying to stir up propaganda about the boy that just didn't exist.
But for her to go this far... No, she wouldn't... Would she..? Would Ms. Tweezer really take her obsession with Rudy so far that she would destroy his own house...?
Terry narrowed her eyes. She knew what she had to do. Even if she had no proof of the woman's involvement, even if Ms. Tweezer may not be the culprit after all, she still felt a duty to report it to someone here. She was their only suspect at the moment. If Ms. Tweezer was responsible, Terry didn't want to give that woman a chance to flee for it.
Turning her head towards the door, listening intently for any doctors coming nearby. As soon as one would be near enough, she would grab their attention and she would tell them what she believed happened.
sss
The man scowled in contempt as he gripped the steering wheel of his car. He felt somewhat lucky that he was going out during this time of night. Fewer cars on the road. He could increase his speed, allowing him to move quickly along the road, hearing the sound of wheels squealing along the winding roads.
He had no idea if the tip he had gotten was for real. He didn't know if Terry had been speaking the truth or if this hint she had given him would amount to anything. After all, even Terry herself admitted that she might have been overthinking it and getting upset over nothing. But she still felt the need to tell someone about it, especially after her encounter with that woman.
Agent D bit his lip. He remembered Ms. Tweezer quite well. She had been in the hospital earlier, wanting to speak to Terry. She had attempted to choke the woman when he had arrived and managed to get her away from the woman. Agent D was pleased to see what Terry had been all right, but he had dismissed Ms. Tweezer as some kind of nuisance, but didn't think anything of it. Now, more than ever, he wished he had done something more, especially if she truly had been involved in this.
Agent D couldn't help but growl softly. If that woman was involved with this... Well he would first find out. He would confront her, never mind how dark it was right now. Was this unprofessional? Yes. Was this out of his supposed jurisdiction? Yes. But he didn't care. This woman was getting in the way of their plans and something had to be done before she caused too much harm.
Ms. Tweezer should consider herself lucky that Rudy's parents were still alive, as well as the boy himself. The boss would have been much less forgiving if she did something like that. For the time being, the boss decided he would rather have the children alive. He saw potential for them, and believed that they could help them better understand the chalk world. They would be utterly useless if they were dead.
The man pulled the wheel of the chair sharply towards the right as he turned, swerving to keep up with the curve of the road. He then straightened it out and continued down the road, soon coming towards a four way intersection. He stopped at the red light despite the roads being empty, then he turned onto the left.
It was here that he started to slow down. He recalled that Ms. Tweezer lived around here. He didn't want her knowing that he was approaching. He went as far as turning his lights off, shrouding himself in darkness, to make sure that she wouldn't notice him.
Soon he could see her house. He could recognize the number of the house. Yes, this was it. He stared at it intently. Not very large. A one story building, colored a deep brown with a black roof. It was hard to see in the dark. If it weren't for the fact that one of her lights were on and the street lamp near her house partially illuminated the building, he may have missed this house entirely.
He parked on the road. He secured the brakes and then he crawled out of the car. He narrowed his eyes as he shut the door and walked towards the house. He moved along slowly. The dark blue clothes he wore would help make it hard for anyone to see him, but still, someone might look, so he would have to do this quickly.
He snuck around the back, where the any trees would further obscure him from sight. He looked around, trying to figure out where to go from here. He noticed one of the windows appeared to be open. He stared at it intently, wondering if he should go up there. The window did seem awfully high up... And what if the woman heard him? Heck, that might be her bedroom, then she'd scream and flee... He needed another way in.
Ah yes...the garage. The back door was not locked, granting him access inside. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he opened the door up slowly. There was a slight squeak, making him freeze. But Ms. Tweezer didn't attempt to call out or ask if anyone was there, and he assumed he was in the home stretch. So he walked in and gently shut it behind him. His hands were covered in gloves, which would make it hard for the police to find any handprints. He then walked up the small staircase and stood by the second door.
He peered inside. There was no light on here, though he could see light further into the room. It seemed the living room light was on. He couldn't sell if Ms. Tweezer was in there or not, or if she went to bed early and just left the TV on.
Well, it was now or never. If he just opened up it slowly and carefully...
Amazingly, he was able to get in without making too much noise. Upon opening the door, he realized that the woman had the television blasting. He smiled at this. If the woman was in the living room, she was not going to notice the door opening; the television would drown it out completely.
He moved in slowly, tiptoeing, making sure not to put much weight to each footstep he made. He stared intently in the living room. When he got closer, he started to crouch, arching his body slightly, his fingers flexing in anticipation. He soon got close enough to peer out of the corner of the edge. Barely, but enough for him to see that there was a single long couch, and he could see the woman's head peaking out from the front of the couch. She was busy watching some random show. Good, she was preoccupied. Time to move in.
Agent D was careful to keep his footsteps even lighter than before. He glared intently at the woman. He could feel his stomach burning in disgust for her. The fact that she nearly caused the deaths of some prime suspects infuriated him. Oh how she was going to pay...
Soon he stood directly behind her. Even now, she didn't notice him. At least not at first. He leaned in closer, bringing his hands down. A second later, the woman shifted on the couch, and he could sense the tension rising up inside of her. It would seem she had taken notice that he was there, and she swerved around to see him. Her eyes widened in horror. That was the last thing she did before he lurched forward.
In an instant, his hands clutched her throat. His fingers pressed tightly against her skin, his thumbs pushing hard against her throat. The woman's eyes widened and she started to make gurgle sounds as she struggled to breathe. The man held on tightly as she tried to pry his fingers away. His grip was like a vice and he refused to let go. He glared down at her with contempt, watching as she opened her mouth wider in desperation to breathe.
"You really think you could get away with it, didn't you?" Agent D hissed in Ms. Tweezer's face. "Trying to burn down the Tabooties' place before my boss could make proper use for them... You fucking witch!"
Ms. Tweezer's face just barely registered in confusion. It was mostly dominated by pain. Her eyes began to roll in the back of her head, her struggles weakening from the lack of oxygen.
Agent D curled his lip up into a snarl. "You should count your lucky stars they aren't dead! Otherwise, your little experience with me would be even less of a joy..." He put his face close to her. Slowly, his mouth curled up into an evil smile. He gave a quick chuckle. "At least I will sleep soundly at night knowing that you are no longer a threat."
Slowly, the woman's thrashes began to die down. Her hands loosened their grip on him and they slipped down. Her eyes shut and her head lolled to one side. The man smiled at this, slowly loosening his grip on her and letting her fall limp on the couch. He walked around and pressed two fingers against her neck. A weak pulse. Good, the bitch was still alive.
Agent D's smile spread further, satisfaction swelling up inside of him. Now to prepare this woman for the punishment that she so richly deserved. He reached down and grabbed onto her. This...was going to be so much fun...
sss
Multiple lights flashed in the neighborhood. A mixture of red and blue illuminated the land. Some neighbors who had been woken up by the sirens opened their windows and looked out to see what was going on. Those who looked were greeted by a sight many of them had dreaded to see, and hoped would never happen.
Several police cars were parked around a singular house. A one-story with dark brown as its color. There were at least four police cars parked right out front. Multiple police officers were standing outside. Guns were pulled out and positioned in front of them just in case something were to happen. The officers had narrowed their eyes, and some of them looked ready to shoot at the slightest provocation.
Parked not far was an ambulance. It was blaring its white, flashing lights to the point where it practically drowned out the red and blue lights. The back door was open and some paramedics were standing by.
Two more police officers were near the front of the house. They were placed on either side of the door, their backs placed against it. One of them leaned over and knocked on the door with the back of her hand.
"Police! We have you surrounded! Open up and surrender!"
After a few minutes passed, there was no change in the situation. The female officer frowned at this. She turned to her partner, a slightly taller man, and gave him a firm nod. The male officer, knowing what to do, immediately signaled to the others to come forward.
The male officer used his fingers, pointing them all up and then decreasing them as he counted down. As soon as he was finished, the strongest officer, a large burly man, immediately knocked down the door and rushed in. Perhaps too aggressive for police procedure, but after the call Agent D had given them, how could he blame them for being...well...cautious?
Agent D soon saw the lights of their flashlights moving around. In the now darkened room, he could see them very clearly. He waited in the darkness, waiting for his cue. He had to make this as convincing as possible. He put on the finishing touches. As soon as the police began to round the corner, he took action.
"Oh officers! Thank goodness you came!" Agent D cried. He rushed towards them, his eyes wide in horror. "Come! She's right over here!"
The officers followed the panic-stricken man. He led them over to the bedroom. There, upon the bed, the officers were greeted with a disturbing sight.
Ms. Tweezer laid upon the bed in a pool of her own blood. She was not dead, but she looked like it very much. Some of her clothes were torn and her right arm had been horrifically stabbed. Immediately, two police officers, both female, rushed towards her and began to check her out. As they did this, the head officer turned to Agent D, her eyes frowned slightly.
"You just found her like this?" She asked carefully.
Agent D nodded his head. "Yeah! I had seen her set fire to the Tabooties' house and I was trying to follow her to see if I could see her license number or something. But I saw she was being followed by someone else. By the time I had arrived, the perpetrator had already gotten to her and he nearly killed her. I was able to get him away but..." He shut his eyes and shook his head. "I wasn't able to get any leads on where he might have gone, or who he was."
"Uh huh..." The female officer pulled out a pen and notepad. "Do you mind describing the attacker to us?"
"Certainly!"
Agent D had to pause for a second. He did realize earlier that he might be asked to give a description. But he hadn't thought too much of what he was going to say. For a second, he was frozen, unsure of what features he wanted to give. He had to make them stereotypical, to make it harder for the police to find the person.
Or...or he could target someone who had gotten into trouble with the police relatively recently. After all, who was going to believe a person like that, who had been convicted of being inside or of harassing people?
"All I could tell was that they had a rather short body, legs looked very disproportionate to it, their hair was dark, but I couldn't tell much from it... Oh and they had a large nose."
The female officer completed her writing of that description. She gave a nod of her head and she said, "All righty then. There's a couple of creeps I recognize with that description." She placed the pen back in her pocket. "Thank you for the information, uh..."
"Mr. Dalton." Agent D replied, using a random name as cover.
"Right. Mr. Dalton." The female officer said. She turned to the other officers, who were still checking on her. "Well?"
One turned to her. "She's lost a lot of blood. But her vital signs check out."
"Good." Thrusting her thumb behind her, she added, "Now get her to the ambulance pronto! As soon as she recovers from her injuries, she has a lot to answer for."
Agent D watched as two men, both paramedics that had followed them in here, started to move the woman's injured body gently onto a stretcher. As they began to carry her out, as the police began to leave, gesturing him to go as well, he couldn't help but feel that strong sense of satisfaction. The mission had been completed and without too much trouble. Now he could begin focusing on the next portion of the plan.
Well after a good night's rest, first. Tiredness began to rise up in the man and he found himself yawning. It was time to hit the sack. He exited the house, walked over to his car, and started to head home.
sss
"Keep shooting water at it! Don't stop!" The head firefighter shouted, pointing his finger at the brown house that was up in flames and smoke. "Just keep going!"
The other firefighters didn't hesitate. With two large hoses raised, they continued to douse the house with water. The blaze all around illuminated them in an orange and yellow color, contrasting quite well with the dark blue of the night. Dark grey smoke pillowed out into the sky, increasing as the water was continued to be sprayed.
Not far from the firefighters, several neighbors who had woken up due to the sirens had come out to witness what was going on. Many were whispering words of caution and horror and confusion. A couple children attempted to get closer, only to be held back by their parents, their hands gripping them by the shoulders.
It was a spectacle they had never seen before in this neighborhood. The idea that a house had set ablaze like that so suddenly had shaken up many of them to the core. They looked at one another, each wondering what had happened. Some were automatically assuming arson. Some even began to accuse random people of the horrible deed. Others think it was just an accident, and still a smaller portion think that the Tabooties had made some kind of stupid mistake to result in this.
But whatever the reason, they could all agree that this was still a rather horrible thing to happen. Watching the flames, they all remained silent and in horror. Though a few more tried to get close, a few spare firefighters held their hands up, halting them where they stood.
"Stay back! It's too dangerous!" One firefighter said.
"Go back to your homes!" Another cried. "We will take care of this fire! You have nothing to worry about!"
But the firefighters didn't really expect the people to leave. Yes, a few did, but some stayed behind. Grim curiosity had sunken in, and they started to gain an almost morbid interest in what was going to happen. They remained where they stood, determined to find out. It was clear that they weren't going to leave anytime soon. The firefighters would have tried better to shoo them away, but right now, they had to focus more on putting out the fire. At least the people were smart enough to remain back this time.
"Get out the other hose!" Commanded the head firefighter. "We almost have it!"
Yet another hose was brought up, carried by the two spare firefighters from before. They took aim near the side of the house and released the water. A loud sizzle sounded out, dark grey smoke flying forth, and the flames in this area immediately died off.
The firefighters continued to spray water on the fire. Gallons upon gallons of water must have been washed over the house and flames. How long had they been standing here doing this? A few minutes? A few hours? Nobody knew. They couldn't keep track of the time anymore.
Finally, after what felt like forever, the fire began to die off. The orange-gold flames soon disappeared, darkening the house and the land around it once more, save for some of the street lights. Everyone stood still for a few minutes, making sure that there isn't one speck of flame left. Even something as simple as a tiny spark would be enough to re-ignite the entire house.
Only when nothing happened, only when the smell of fire began to dissipate, intermixed with a more wet, damp smell, did the firefighters start to relax a little.
The head firefighter turned to a small group that was beside him. "Go inside and inspect the damage!"
The group simply nodded their heads. Donning their masks so they could breathe, they went inside the building, utilizing the same amount of caution they would if the building was still on fire.
Everyone outside waited and watched. Among most of them, there was a small prayer spreading through out. The plea that the building wasn't too badly damaged and could be salvaged.
But only time would confirm that.
sss
Snap tried his best to keep up. Or rather, the vacuum cleaner did, as it was the one carrying them. Despite its large size... No..because of its large size, it was having a hard time keeping up with the polar ear in front of them. The bear was on all fours again, and running so fast, it amazed Snap.
The sentient vacuum cleaner turned the gears inside of itself, attempting to move faster. But it was clear that it was not designed to be particularly fast. Instead, it was meant to just move at a slow, graceful speed. It didn't need to be fast to catch the tornado. But this slowness was going to be problematic now. They couldn't afford to lose this zoner. Not while Tilly was...
Snap cupped a hand to his mouth and shouted, "Slow down! You're going way too fast!"
He couldn't tell if Lars heard him or not. The bear didn't acknowledge him or slow down. Snap narrowed his eyes at this. He was tempted to jump off and run towards him but...that would be even worse. He was slower than this vacuum cleaner. He would have even harder time catching up to Lars then.
He couldn't remember how long they had been doing this. It felt like hours ago that Lars came back and said he had found something. He had urged him to follow right away, and did not give him a chance to reply as he started to run. Snap had been shocked by how fast Lars had moved, and he urged the vacuum cleaner to start following him immediately. The vacuum did so, but it was not able to move as fast as he had hoped it would. Snap would have tried to urge it to move quicker, but he knew this was the vacuum's top speed. All he could do was hope that they wouldn't lose the polar bear.
They started to up some hills, through some mud and shallow water, between some tall, thick trees, and soon they entered ChalkZone City. They moved down some streets quickly. Zoners that still happened to be up at this time of night jumped out of the way. A few waved fists at it, causing Snap to grin nervously and call out apologies to them.
Snap was confused. Why were they back here again? The vacuum was just here not too long ago to drop of Biclops. They had then left the city to find Lars, and now they were back again. Snap looked left and right, not noticing anything particularly different about this place. What did Lars see that he and the vacuum cleaner had missed before?
Then they turned onto a different street. This one, Snap hadn't been in before. It looked a little more run down than most of ChalkZone City. He could see the buildings had some dirt and cracks on them, and a few windows were boarded up. He wondered if this section was off limits or something. He didn't see a sign, but there was an air of tension all around. He could only hope that they weren't going to get into trouble for this.
As they continued down this darkened road, Snap couldn't help but look left and right cautiously. There weren't any zoners here looking down at him, but he couldn't let go of the feeling that they were being watched. Usual sights like trash bags and cans, some flags hanging off the sides, awnings sticking out, and old fire escapes did little to ease the zoner as they passed through.
Soon his worries seem to become a reality.
As they reached the end of the street, blocked off by a large, white fence, shadows began to move all around them. The small zoner tensed up, looking left and right as some large, mean-looking zoners began to show up. It was a whole mixture. Mostly beast-like, but some humanoid and item-like ones were among them as well. They came through the doors on the fire escape all around them. They climbed down swiftly and soon had them completely surrounded.
Before the vacuum cleaner had a chance to respond, large, energy nets wrapped around its 'neck', and they were yanked to the sides. This prevented the vacuum from moving too far away, locking it in place. Snap watched this in horror, his eyes widened. He tried to make a move, but two of the humanoid zoners pointed at him.
Lars voice caught their attention. "Hold on! These are the people I told you about!"
To Snap's surprise, the tough-looking zoners immediately began to lower their weapons. The fact that Lars knew these people, and appeared to be on good terms with them, would normally confuse and concern him, but at the moment, he was just glad that he was not being threatened again.
One of the zoners, resembling a pink two-legged unicorn, walked over towards Lars. "Are you sure? They look like bad company."
Snap narrowed his eyes. Despite this guy looking like a piece of cotton candy that had worked out, packed with muscle and sporting a menacing beard and long, sharp horn, he was tempted to go down there and give him a piece of his mind. If it weren't for all the zoners around him, he might have done that.
Lars nodded his head. "Yes, they are good." He pointed a claw up towards the blue zoner. "See? That's Snap."
"Hmm I thought he looked stupid enough." One of the zoners commented, giving a dark smirk.
"Hey!" Snap found himself shouting. The zoners just chuckled at this, but said nothing. Snap glared at them, but he knew better than to try to argue.
"Do you still have the portal that you found before?" Lars asked.
Snap's eyes widened this. A portal? Here? How was that possible? Snap could feel his heart beating quickly. He knew the dangers that an open portal could pose to ChalkZone. And these zoners, of all zoners, had it? He wasn't sure how he wanted to feel about that.
The pink unicorn nodded his head. "Affirmative. We've been saving it for something. But...it's rather useless to us anyway. Hole's too small."
Lars nodded his head. "But someone Snap's size could still use it, right?"
"Well yes. If he can find some place that has a chalkboard or chalk surface." The pink unicorn said in response.
Snap tilted his head in confusion. "What are you talking about? You know that we zoners can't use the magic chalk. What do you propose I do?"
"Hehehe you really are dense, aren't you?" One zoner said.
Another laughed coldly. "I have to wonder how the Great Creator deals with an idiot like him!"
Snap bared his teeth at them. How dare they make fun of him like that.. Did they have no idea who he was? Did they not know that if it weren't for his 'stupid ass', they could all very well be done for?
But despite of his feelings, he did his best not to give into his anger and rush towards them. It would only make things worse. He was not interested in seeing just how strong these zoners were. He would be of little use to anyone if his body were beaten to a pulp and tied in a literal knot. Plus, he didn't want to do anything to get Tilly more hurt, or have Lars get into trouble.
The polar bear didn't seem very amused by the taunts either. He glared at the zoners who spoke, his teeth bared. Said zoners did back away slowly. The sight of this made Snap wonder if Lars was a high ranking member here or something. It would sure explain why these tough zoners appeared to be respecting him.
"Well yes, it's true we can't use magic chalk, but that's only on this side." The pink unicorn said, giving Snap a sideways glance. Snap couldn't help but glare softly, unable to shake off the feeling of the zoner being semi-dismissive of him. "But if you were to use it in the Real World, it should work. Just draw a portal to be bigger and then you're in."
Snap narrowed his eyes at this. "And you expect that to work?"
"Sure." The pink unicorn raised his shoulders in the air. "Why wouldn't it? That's what me and my friends here were going to do." He motioned to the others. They all chuckled and nodded their heads in confirmation.
Snap's eyes widened in horror. "You were going to do what?!"
"Oh relax, won't you? We have no more need for it." The pink unicorn waved his hoof hand dismissively. "You can have it." He paused, then he narrowed his eyes and smiled darkly. "Unless...you no longer want it..."
"I need it! Please!" Snap cried out, his heart clenching, fearing that he may have lost his ticket to getting Tilly help.
The pink unicorn chuckled. A quick glare from Lars made him stop. "Well of course you do." He turned his back to him and raised his hoof hand. He gestured for them to follow. "Come with me."
Snap wasn't sure if he wanted to go in. He had this bad feeling about all of these zoners around him. Even the presence of Lars did little to cheer him up, especially considering he had discovered this polar bear was in with this crowd. The zoner couldn't help but wonder just what kind of things these zoners were up to, and what they had planned to do with the portal if they had gotten it working like they had intended.
But what other options did he have? Lars may have searched high and low to find some way to help them, and this might have been the only one. He didn't want to dishonor the polar bear's help by being rude and dismissing this offer of help. If he were to turn down this offer, then...what about Tilly?
He looked down at the unconscious woman. He bit his lip, feeling his heart twist. She was pale, and though the expression of pain was gone from her face, he could still tell that she was suffering. He had been careful not to move her, but he couldn't help but wonder if there was more damage done to her than he had previously thought. He looked at her damaged back, feeling his heart race. If she didn't get help soon...
Realizing there was no choice, he turned to Lars. Though he was given no prompts or questions, he still found himself nodding his head. The polar bear smiled at him before raising his hand, gesturing him to follow. Snap signaled to the vacuum cleaner and it helped to lower Tilly to the ground without moving her too much. A few of the large, burly zoners held the woman carefully, carrying her gently with them towards an open door not far from them.
Snap followed them, still exercising some level of caution. He looked left and right, gritting his teeth as he stared at the frightening zoners. They barely paid attention to him, their narrowed eyes and tightly shut lips turned towards the pink unicorn, who appeared to be their leader for certain.
Snap then looked up at Lars. The polar bear did not seem the least bit concerned of what kind of company that they were in. He had an air of confidence around him, as if he felt he could easily beat up anyone around here. Snap wasn't sure whether to feel comforted by this or not. Before, it wasn't a problem. But...how did Lars get caught up in such bad company?
The polar bear seemed to take notice of his nervousness. The ursine zoner smiled down at him calmly. "It is all right, Snap. They mean no harm."
Snap gritted his teeth. "I'm not so sure about that..." He muttered, recalling how the zoners had reacted to them earlier.
"Oh don't worry about that. They are just jumpy sometimes." Lars said. "They really do have the best intentions. Please...don't be so nervous around them." The polar bear zoner placed his paw on his shoulder. "Everything will be okay. They will be able to help your human friend. You will see."
Snap smiled the best he could. "Yeah.. I suppose you are right." But as they disappeared, Snap couldn't shake off that feeling. This was one of those times where he hoped that he was wrong.
It didn't take them long to get inside the building. Snap tensed up as they entered a dark room. A few seconds later, with the flip of a switch, the lights were on. Snap found himself in some kind of old warehouse. Rows and rows of aisles and chairs and tables were all around them. It looked like one huge maze. If Snap wandered off, he'd surely get lost in here.
"Come on. This way." Said the pink unicorn, gesturing them to follow him up a long, flimsy-looking flight of stairs. "The portal is up this way."
Snap hesitated. He felt uncertain of climbing that thing. He couldn't help but flashback to when Howdy was being chased. He couldn't help but wonder if he was being led into a trap. But he could see Tilly being brought up there, supporting her weight easily. He couldn't leave her alone, even if it could be a trap.
And he might just be paranoid anyway. He couldn't judge these zoners by their appearance. And he did know Lars quite well and the polar bear was usually never aggressive unless his territory was invaded or stuff was stolen from him. Lars would make sure that nothing happened. Yeah, it was going to be fine.
Though still nervous, Snap felt some part of him start to relax. He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He kept close to Lars, continuing to follow the pink unicorn as he led them to the small portal they claimed to have.
Snap stared over at Tilly's direction. He smiled softly. "Don't worry... We'll get you home soon."
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Need
Mar 14, 2015 15:08:27 GMT -5
Post by Bluedramon on Mar 14, 2015 15:08:27 GMT -5
Chapter 52: Conclusions
And thus, the story came to an end. But nothing ever truly ends at the credits, now does it..?
sss
The next day, Terry was frowning softly. Her non-seeing eyes were pointed downward, her mind taking in the new information that she just got.
“So...it was Dr. Von Doktor, huh?” Terry said softly.
“Yes.” A voice said, which belonged to Vinnie Raton. Its tone was different than before. Less haughty and more with concern and worry. “I couldn’t believe it myself. But...it is true.”
Terry simply nodded her head, confirming that she understood. She didn’t say another word to Vinnie for a while. She was lost in her thoughts, her mind rushing with random memories that popped up when Vinnie gave the news. She was starting to remember bits and pieces, more so than she did before, and now she was getting a more complete picture of what happened.
The realization that Von was the one who attacked her didn’t come as much of a shock to her as she thought. Somehow, she kind of expected it. Von did seem like he was so paranoid and desperate he’d do anything to obtain that fame and fortune that he always desired.
That didn’t lessen the blow too much for her, however. The doctors think that the damage to one of her eyes was permanent, so there was a very real chance she would be half blind for the rest of her life. And even the vision in her working eye may not fully recover...
She gritted her teeth. The realization that she have permanently damaged eyes all because of one crazy man and his stupid desires hit her full force. She felt a burning anger in the bit of her stomach. The temptation of getting up, finding that man, and ripping him apart was great. She wanted to personally ‘thank him’ for his ‘contribution’ as soon as she had the chance.
But she knew she’d never get it. That man may have fled anyway, and she was not going to be able to do much while she was currently still blind and in pain. She could only hope that justice struck that man sometime on its own. She was certain it would. What goes around comes around, right? Sooner or later, his luck would run out.
She couldn’t be mad only at Von, though. She had gotten herself in trouble by working with him. If she had just kept on her own, she may have been able to avoid this whole mess. Or if she had just left earlier, as soon as the man had started to show signs of unusal aggression or paranoia. It was her own fault for sticking around, and she took this as an important, if albeit cruel, lesson.
“Don’t worry.” Vinnie’s voice cut through the air. “He will get caught. I don’t think he will go far.”
Terry smiled at this. “You don’t know him very well, do you?” She turned her head so that she was facing the sound of his voice. “He is...smart. Yes, he might be crazy, but he’s also smart. He was able to get away for sometime with hurting me and he...”
“Not for long. Remember, I was able to find out very quickly.” Vinnie cut her off. “He hardly got away with for...I think twenty-four hours? Maybe a little more, but not much. Trust me, he might be smart, but he wasn’t that smart.” Terry remained silent at this. “I already told the police about it and they are trying to find him now as we speak.”
Terry nodded her head again. “Well, that’s good.”
“Hey...” Vinnie placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder. Terry turned her head back towards him. Vinnie hesitated for a moment. He smacked his lips together once, then he said, “Uh...get well soon.”
The woman couldn’t help but chuckle. She could tell just how nervous he was. It was obvious to her that the man hardly had to be this nice to someone before. Being polite might not be his thing. And the fact that he said ‘get well soon’ as if all that happened to her was that she caught the flu was a little amusing as well.
Still, it was kind of nice that he was doing this. She would have expected him to have left as soon as he gave the news, but instead, he was staying behind. Perhaps there was a part of him that did care.
“You know... If I had my chalk world theme park, I’d offer you some free rides.” Vinnie offered somewhat awkwardly. “But..you know how that is...”
“Yeah, I do.” Terry said softly.
She was slightly amused at the mention of the chalk world theme park. As much as it annoyed her in the past, hearing such a comparitively innocent plan and not being in the evil scientist’s clutches was rather welcome. She found Vinnie’s obsession at the moment more cute than anything, and a welcome change of pace from being tormented by Dr. Von Doktor.
But for the time being, she was done with that chalk world. She would eventually want to go back and try to expose it again. But after all that had happened to her, she wanted to distance herself from it and try to do some other things. The thought of that chalk world made her think of Dr. Von Doktor, and the less she thought about him, the better. Maybe a month would be a good enough time to wait before she took action again.
After she did go back, she might consider looking to Vinnie for partnership. She wasn’t sure yet. She was still a little iffy about his behavior. But..what’s the worse that could happen? At least he wasn’t like Von. And who knows? Maybe she would get some progress with him.
For now, she just wanted to rest. She still had a lot of recovering to do. She won’t be out of the hospital for quite some time. She wasn’t even sure if she would be out here in a month. She was prepared for the long haul, the ‘reward’ she got for being foolish enough to work for Dr. Von Doktor.
“Ms. Bouffant.” A voice called out. Terry heard the sound of shuffling and then approaching footsteps. “It’s time for lunch. Would you like anything?”
Terry didn’t realize it until then, but she was feeling quite hungry. She rubbed her stomach gently, licking her lips slowly. She hadn’t eaten in a while. She skipped out on breakfast. She didn’t think she could skip another meal this time.
“Yeah... Just something simple. A sandwich maybe?” Terry asked.
“Okay, I can do that.” The nurse said. “Any particular kind?”
Terry thought about this for a moment. She didn’t want to spend too much time thinking about what type of sandwich to ask for. So she just said the first thing that came to mind. “Just ham and cheese, please.”
The nurse began to walk away. Terry listened to her footsteps as they faded away. Then they stopped. There was a bit of silence, and then the nurse spoke up again. “By the way, well I’m not supposed to tell you this right now, but... I think you have the right to know.”
“Right to know what?” Vinnie asked.
“Well you’re not supposed to hear this either. But I can’t really wait and I’m not in the mood to try to kick you out. So you get to hear it too.” The nurse said. There was the sound of approaching footsteps, and Terry could practically feel the presence of the woman beside her.
“Okay..so what is it you want to tell me?” Terry asked.
“Your attacker was caught.” The nurse said, her voice practically smiling.
“What?” Vinnie asked, stunned.
“Really?” Terry breathed. She could hearly believe this news. She couldn’t be that lucky, right? Maybe she just misheard. “...when?”
“Well..caught isn’t the right word.” The nurse corrected herself. “More like found.”
Terry felt her heart twist at this, her hope of justice immediately dropping down. Her excitement had vanished and she found herself lowering her head. So Von had been spotted, but not yet caught. It figures. He probably realized the trouble he was in and fled to Timbuktu or however that place was pronounced.
“Well..thanks anyway.” Terry said dully.
Vinnie growled softly, “How is this good news? He’s still out there!”
“No, he’s not. You guys didn’t let me continue.” The nurse said. There was some slight irritation to her voice, as if she couldn’t believe that they had interrupted her. “Anyway, he was found earlier. And to make a long story short, he’s dead.”
Terry heard Vinnie gasp at this, along with her. There was some stunned silence for a while, both of them trying to come to terms with what they had been told.
Terry replayed it over and over in her head. She wondered if this could be true. She wondered if, somehow, she had heard wrong and that this person was sadly mistaken. But..what if it was true? She felt a swell of emotion inside her stomach at the possibility. Although she was not happy with the death of another human, she couldn’t help but feel some sense of happiness if Von really did turn out to be dead. It would mean that she had been right, and that karma did finally strike him back.
But there was something else that she couldn’t forget. However he had died... What if it happened to her, too? What had claimed that man’s life? How far would it spread? She gritted her teeth. She had to know, before she could celebrate. She wouldn’t know right now whether she could truly celebrate, or if she should prepare for something else. Something that might be even worse than Dr. Von Doktor...
“What...what happened to him..?” Terry found herself saying. “Did someone...?”
“We don’t know yet. I don’t want to get into too much detail. I’ll just say it took quite some time to get his severed arm out of his mouth.” The nurse said.
“Yeowch... I know the guy deserved it, but still...” Vinnie said. “That...doesn’t sound like it was an accident.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so either. I don’t think it’s possible to shove your own arm down your own through. But some doctors are wondering if it was some kind of freak accident.” The nurse replied. “But whatever caused it, I’ll be sure to let you guy know, okay?”
Terry nodded her head slowly. “Yeah... thanks.”
Terry went silent after that. She wasn’t sure if the woman was still speaking or not. She kind of drowned her out with her own thoughts. They filled up inside of her head, and she found it difficult to really think of anything else. All she could do was ponder what had happened to Von, and whether or not she might be next.
But..she could at least relax in some way. At least Von could no longer hurt her. He had paid the price for what he had done. And it was all his fault it happened to him. He could have avoided it, but he had dug himself a hole and didn’t crawl out of it in time.
The redhaired woman took in a deep breath and sighed. She no longer had Von to worry about. While she was still concerned about who may have killed him, she could now rest easy knowing that the man was taken care of. Now, finally, she could really begin focus on her recovery. It was going to be a long and bumpy road ahead. It might take longer for her to recover. She might never fully recover.
At least, however, she could try to start the path of healing. Even if she never fully recovered, if she worked hard enough and if she stayed positive enough, she could still at least try to live life to the fullest. That would be better than nothing, right?
She was interrupted from her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She was shaken gently. “Hey..” It was Vinnie. “Are you okay? You kind of spaced out there.”
“Oh...yeah I’m fine.” Terry said quickly. She jerked herself away from the man, smiling nervously. “I was just thinking..that’s all.”
“About Von?” Asked Vinnie.
Terry nodded her head. “Yeah, him.” The fact that the nurse had left so suddenly didn’t bother the woman. Her mind was too focused on other things. “I’m...glad that he can’t hurt me again. But I can’t help but wonder that...” Her voice trailed off.
“That something else might happen?” Vinnie asked, finishing for her. Terry bit her lip and nodded her head. “Yeah, I can see that. Frankly, I’m nervous too. I mean...what kind of sicko severes someone’s arm and puts it in their mouth like that? Yeesh...” Terry could practically feel the man’s shiver from here. “But I’m sure the police will figure out what happened. It will all be good. You’ll see.”
Terry smiled the best that she could. “Yeah, probably. And who knows...? Maybe this killer only wanted to strike once, or maybe they went somewhere else and we won’t ever have to see them again.”
“That’s the spirit, sister.” Vinnie said. “Just think positive.”
Yeah... Vinnie was right. She had to do her best to remain positive. Things would work out in the end. She would be fine. She would recover. And eventually, she would do what she had been wanting to do all this time.
Return to her quest of exposing that world of chalk.
sss
Blocky let out a groan of pain. He struggled to open up his eyes, trying to fight off the darkness that had taken over him. The very act of trying caused his eyes to burn, as if something hot was being poured on them. He flinched and froze for a few seconds, and then continued until his eyes were open.
The small zoner took a moment to look around where he was. Left and right, his head turned, taking in the sights. His vision was quite blurry at the moment, causing him to only see shadows and colors and blurs, intermixed with some lighting. Luckily for him, his vision was clearing up pretty fast, and within a few moments, he would be able to see just fine.
He tried to figure out where he was. This place didn’t look like his bedroom. It was too...white. And large. He didn’t have a bedroom this size. And this bed... It didn’t feel like his own. Too large and too firm and steady. Not his kind of bed. He’d rather something softer than this.
He groaned again as he tried to pick himself up. But a voice, at the moment, distorted, grabbed onto him and gently pushed him back down. As this happened, Blocky suddenly became aware of the pain that was sifting through his body. He let out a yelp and he turned his head to the side. He quivered in pain, struggling to keep it in check. He looked up to see who was holding him down. He could only see blurs of colors, all intermixing together. There was something familiar about this person, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
He struggled to try to remember where he had been before. There was a reason that he was stuck here, but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out just what happened to him earlier. His mind felt muggly, as if someone had put in a clog in the drain to keep the memories from flowing. It was an irritating sensation and he found himself shaking his head from one side to the other. Oh come on, darn memories... Work. Why won’t they work?
He could feel a hand on the top of his head, gently caressing it. He heard the same voice from before, this time softer, more gentle and less urgent. The voice was masculine by nature, and it became even more familiar. But to his frustration, he still couldn’t tell who it belonged to. He bit his lip, nearly drawing some blood.
Then another figure came in. Taller, more white, holding something. Blocky could hear them trying to have a conversation. From the tones he could make out, it was an emotional and informative conversation. Perhaps they were discussing what was wrong with him?
Blocky shut his eyes and let out a groan. He hoped he would be able to figure out what is going on with him soon. The fact that he couldn’t see very well right now and could barely hear was of no comfort to him. Yeah it’s only been a very short time, maybe just a minute, if even that. But to the green zoner, it felt so much longer. He gritted his teeth, nearly feeling them pop in his flat face.
Then, out of the blue, he started to hear something. A familiar word. No...a few familiar words.
“Is he going to be all right?”
That voice... It was Snap...
Blocky found his eyes opening once more. He looked over at where the voice came from. Peering more carefully, he took note of how this figure’s shape was finally settling down, and before long, he recognized the figure that was Snap.
“Snap..” Blocky found himself saying. His mind overwhelmed with emotion, he tried to reach over towards his friend. “Where am I..?”
“Whoa! Take it easy!” Snap rushed over as Blocky tried to get out of the bed. “You’re still hurt! You shouldn’t be trying to get up like that!” Snap gently pushed Blocky back down onto the bed. “Just lay there and stay still, buddy. Everything is going to be okay.”
“Your friend is right.” The other voice said. Blocky looked up and realized it was a male doctor of some kind. Humanoid, with plenty of detail. Clearly drawn by someone with a lot more experience than Rudy. “You need to rest for now. Your body’s suffered a lot of damage.”
Blocky couldn’t doubt that. At the doctor’s statement, he felt a sweeping pain rush through his body. He shut his eyes, feeling tears form in them. His mind raced with thoughts, clouding up inside, making it impossible for him to think of anything else.
Just what was going on with him? What had happened? What kind of injuries did he sustain? Blocky would have looked himself, but a part of him was too terrified to do so. What if he started to have a panic attack and he makes his injuries worse...? No it was better that he just stay put. The doctor would fill him in.
A few moments later, the doctor spoke up again. “At the moment, you are stabilized. We’re monitoring your heart rate and other vital signs, but we will also be needing to do more tests.”
Blocky nodded his head carefully, showing the doctor that he did understand. He looked over at Snap. He noted the zoner’s worried expression, the way his eyes were furrowed. It was a telling look, and Blocky looked back up at the doctor. “What exactly happened to me?”
The doctor looked down at him for a few moments. His expression was a little blank, as if he was trying to think of a good answer to that. The doctor then sighed and shook his head. “Right now is not a good idea to tell you. We are still gathering the information now, and in your state, one panic attack could enough to...well to put it in layman’s terms, complicate things more.”
Blocky narrowed his eyes in frustration. “Hey, I’m the one who is stuck in a hospital bed! Don’t you think I deserve to...”
“Blocky! Relax!” Snap cried. He grabbed onto the green zoner and tried to push him back down. But Blocky wouldn’t have it and he kept trying to push past him. “Blocky, please stop! You’re only going to make things worse!”
Blocky still continued to struggle for a few moments. He pushed against Snap, trying to make his way off the bed and towards the doctor. That doctor was going to tell him what was wrong and that was final. How dare he try to keep information from him.... He wasn’t going to have a panic attack if he was just told. If anything, not telling him would be so much worse.
But as Snap continued to hold him down, the rectangular zoner slowly started to feel his strength fading away. Desperation spread through his head, and fears of what might have happened came to the forefront of his mind. He could feel his body start to shake harder as uncomfortable image after uncomfortable image plagued his head. He slowly began to stop struggling, his energy becoming rapidly spent. He took in several breaths as he felt Snap successfully push him back against the pillow.
Blocky stared up at Snap, his mouth open and panting heavily. He stared at Snap with a pleading expression. “Please...I just want to know what happened... Please...”
“Shh... It’s going to be okay, buddy.” Snap said as he stroked Blocky’s forehead. “The doctor will tell you as soon as they have answers.”
“B-But..they should know now... They’re doctors, right?” Blocky argued back. He found it hard to believe that the doctors didn’t know anything yet. Just how long had he been here? A minute?
“Yes, I can see why you think that.” The doctor said, his voice that of sympathy. “We are simply waiting on the test results regarding your stomach.”
“My stomach?!” Blocky cried.
“I wasn’t supposed to tell you that right now, but...there you go. We detected something might be wrong with your stomach and we are just making sure it isn’t anything too bad. We hope it’ll be something treatable.” The doctor explained.
Blocky could feel his heart rate start to speed up. The beeping of the monitor echoed his thoughts. His bulging eyes darted left and right, and for a moment, he didn’t really notice Snap or the doctor.
Something was wrong with his stomach...? What...what happened...? Did he get kicked in it too many times? Did he swallow something horrible? Did he get poisoned? Did something else happen? Despite his best efforts, the rectangular zoner wasn’t able to fully relax anymore, and he started to thrash on the bed.
“Tell me what happened!” Blocky cried. The beeping became louder and more erratic. “Tell me!”
Snap held onto Blocky tightly, his eyes wide in horror. “Doctor!” He looked over at the doctor pleadingly. “Do something!”
Blocky was unaware of the doctor rushing over somewhere. He barely registered the rummaging as the doctor tried to find something on his desk. All he could think of were the rapid, panicking thoughts rushing throug him, the cold chill rising up inside of him, and his heart pounding in his head. He needed to get out of here. He needed to find answers. He needed to...
He froze when he felt something sharp against his arm. His eyes widened for a moment as he felt something being pushed into his body. He squirmed harder, trying to get away from it. Then the thing was pulled out and he let out a sigh of relief, happy that the stinging pain was gone.
Moments later, he started to feel strange. Not bad, not sick. Just...off. He tried to keep his eyes open, but they were growing heavy. He attempted to speak, but for some reason, he lost the ability to do so. His words were slurred and his head started to nod forward. He struggled to keep it up, but this grew harder and harder as time passed. And his vision... Any sharpness that had came was now gone, and he was back to seeing everything as blurred shapes, hearing everything as distorted words.
Soon he closed his eyes, and his world became dark and silent. The abyss had came to him once more, welcoming him in its cold yet comforting embrace. Any amount of fear was suddenly gone.
sss
“Poor Blocky...” Snap whispered softly. He gently stroked the top of his friend’s head as he watched him sleep. “I really wish he could heal faster...”
“He can’t, I’m afraid. That’s just how things are.” The doctor said solemnly from behind him. Snap nodded his head in understanding, but didn’t bother turning and looking at him. “Well I’m going to get the tests ready. I’ll be back later. I’ll just let you stay with your friend for a while.”
Snap said, “Thanks, doc.” He heard the doctor leave the room, giving him sometime to be alone with Blocky.
It had been a day since Blocky was taken in here. At least. Or had it been two days? With all that’s happened, it was hard for him to keep track anymore. Too much stuff was going on through his head, and the concept of time had become quite blurred.
The only comfort that he had right now is that Blocky was finally safe. He was in a hospital where he can get some help. He no longer had to fear Dr. Von Doktor. That evil man was gone forever, his life taken by someone whom he had taken advantage of. It was quite ironic and almost poetic. The man had been so dangerous and so uncaring, hurting Blocky, threatening others.... And he had been taken down by his own handiwork. He blew up the diamond shield. He tried to use the twister. He revealed too much, and he was killed.
Granted, it was still a rather gruesome death, not something that he himself would ever consider placing against another living person himself. But he couldn’t very well say the man didn’t deserve it. And at least this means that he can’t hurt anyone ever again.
All that’s left now for Blocky was recovering. He watched as his friend breathed in and out, his intakes looking shallow. Blocky was still quite weak from what happened to him. He had been tortured in various ways, and the doctors mentioned they found a lot of internal damage, and some say that Blocky would be in here a long time.
Snap bit his lip at this, feeling his heart twist in his chest. He fought back the tears that formed in his eyes. Poor Blocky... It was still hard for him to believe that, at most, a week ago, Blocky’s birthday was being celebrated and he was one of the happiest zoners he could ever see in ChalkZone at that point. Now he laid here, his face pale, his body weak and wracked in pain... And it was all because of that horrid man...
No, he couldn’t think about Von. Not right now. The man got what he deserved. Right now, what was more important was Blocky. He stared down at him sadly, continuing his gentle strokes. He hoped that Blocky will have a speedy recovery. He hoped that Blocky will soon return to having a lot of fun in ChalkZone, return to being the Blocky he had come to love.
He heard footsteps behind the door, and then the squeaking of it opening. He turned his head and he gave a small smile as he watched Rapsheeba come into the room. She wore a concerned expression as she stared down at him and Blocky.
When she got close enough, she said, “So...how is he doing?”
Snap shook his head. “He was awake earlier, but he got a panic attack and the doctor had to tranquilize him.”
Rapsheeba furrowed her eyes slightly at this. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Snap stared down at Blocky. Tears formed in his eyes. “I just..can’t believe this happened to him.” He paused for a moment. He added, “I can’t believe all that has happened lately, to be honest. I...never thought things would go down like this.”
“Neither did I. But that’s life for you.” Rapsheeba said sadly. “It can be cruel and expected.”
Snap felt a burning sensation in his stomach. He couldn’t argue with that. As unfair as it sounded, he knew that Rapsheeba spoke the truth. Life didn’t always end up the way you want it, and it can take turns you did not expect. This was something that couldn’t be completely controlled. All Snap could do was just take it and hope for the best. Even if it means having to endure incredibly hard times, such as this.
But it wasn’t all bad. Things were starting to recover. It would still take quite some time, but he knew that, with enough time, things would heal. The buildings and the people involved. Things would eventually return to normal.
Well...close to normal. Snap could not forget that more humans now knew of ChalkZone. He could feel the sting returning as he realized he had no idea what direction they will go with this. He couldn’t help but begin to worry about how Rudy’s parents and Penny’s mom would decide the fate of ChalkZone. They weren’t out of the woods yet.
But...he was helpless to do anything about it. He’d just have to put faith in his friends and hope that they would be able to get their folks to agree to not expose ChalkZone. He just needed to give them time. They’ll be able to do it. He was certain they would.
Another thought entering his mind, he looked over at Rapsheeba. Recalling where she had been prior, he asked, “How’s Howdy?”
Rapsheeba furrowed her eyes and shook her head. “Not good. The main concern the doctors have is his head. The skull’s cracked.”
Snap gasped in horror at this, his eyes bulging wide. “Wh-What...?” He knew just how serious a cracked skull was. There were so many possibilities buzzing around his head, and he found it impossible to make them go away. “A-Are you sure..?”
Rapsheeba nodded her head. “I’m afraid so. The doctors are doing what they can, but they warn that he might have permanent brain damage.”
Snap could feel his world shut down at this statement. He stared at Rapsheeba disbelievingly. He could see that she was still talking, but a heavy silence had fallen upon him, and he couldn’t make out anything she was saying. All that he could hear was the deafening silence of his mind and the last three words echoing over and over again.
Permanent brain damage...? Howdy...? How..how could this happen? Why did this happen? Why to him? Howdy never did a blasted thing to that man, and still he...
Snap gritted his teeth tightly, forming a fist with his hand. He lowered his head and clinched his eyes tightly. The implications of what Rapsheeba had just said... They were too horrible for him to think about. Please... Don’t let Howdy be permanently damaged... Please...
“Snap...” Rapsheeba’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. He could feel her comforting hand on his shoulder. “It...it will be okay. I’m sure...”
Snap could hear the hesitation in her voice. He could tell just how uncertain she was, and how could he blame her? Brain damage wasn’t something one could easily bounce back from. But still, he tried to have some sense of positivity in his mind. They wouldn’t know until the time came. Who knows? Howdy might bounce back faster than anyone would have expected.
“Y-Yeah.. Maybe...” Snap whispered softly. He looked down at Blocky sadly. “Just like I’m sure he will.” He closed his eyes, thinking about Rudy, Penny, Tilly, and Mrs. Sanchez. He grimaced at the memories of what happened to them. “I’m sure they all will...”
“Yeah. You will see.” Rapsheeba put her arm around Snap and pulled him into a hug. “Let’s just be there for them. They will need us now more than ever. But they will be fine in time. You’ll see.”
Snap didn’t answer. He simply sniffled softly and wiped away his tears. He pressed himself further into Rapsheeba’s embrace. He could feel her warmth against him and he could feel his own heart rate slowing down as he took comfort in this. He shut his eyes and pressed his head against her. She was right. Everything was going to be fine.
sss
Millie stared down at Tilly sadly. Seeing her in this horrible condition was just too much to bear. But regardless, she still kept herself from running away. Despite her own feelings, she couldn’t just abandon her sister like this. She needed her.
“How are you feeling?” Millie asked carefully, scooting the chair closer to her sister’s hospital bed.
Tilly wasn’t looking at her. Instead, her head was turned to the side, gazing out at nothing. Millie bit her lip at this, feeling her heart twist. Tilly had hardly spoken since she woke up in the bed a few hours ago. Millie had already informed her what she knew had happened, and once Tilly found out she might never walk again... Well Millie couldn’t blame her for shutting down like this.
Millie had done what she could to cheer her sister up, but it seemed hopeless. Tilly just wasn’t responding to naything she was saying. She was lost in her own little world, her mind likely locked onto thoughts regarding how her life was going to be like with no working legs. Millie hoped there would be a chance of recovery, but based on what the doctors were saying, there was little, to no, chance of that.
Tilly didn’t respond to anything that she was saying. She just kept her gaze away, her mind likely thinking about how she was going to take care of Sophie without legs, or how she was going to break it to her daughter that she couldn’t walk anymore and they couldn’t play games like they used to. The thought of it twisted Millie’s heart. She knew that things most likely won’t ever be the same again. She wondered if she would even be able to keep her job, and how was she going to get around now? So many questions clouded her head, it started to hurt.
Well whatever changes may come, the doctors would explain what the options were. Even if her sister didn’t fully recover, she could eventually regain some amount of her life back. She just needed a little bit of time to adjust and all. She did her best to try to stay positive. After all, things could have been so much worse.
Tilly sucked in a deep breath and sighed. This caught the blonde woman’s attention and she turned to her sister. She waited, and after a few moments, Tilly finally spoke for the first time in hours. “How are the others doing?”
Millie replied, “They’re doing a little better. Penny’s starting to regain some of her sight. The infection in Rudy is going away. Mrs. Sanchez is doing better than the doctors had expected.”
Tilly gave a small smile at this. “That’s good.” She paused for a moment. “I wonder how their chalk friends are doing.”
Millie remained silent for a moment, staring down at her sister. She recalled how Snap had somehow managed to get her back into this world. She didn’t know how he did that, considering the situation. But she was grateful for his help.
She hadn’t really heard from him or the others since the otherday. She recalled that Rudy and Penny had wanted to know how they were, but she and her husband couldn’t really give much of a straight answer. Other than telling them Snap was fine, there wasn’t much else they could say. Millie would have loved to tell them more, to reassure them. But unfortunately, that just wasn’t going to happen right now.
She did hope that the zoners were okay. Despite her misgivings of them, in the end, they still helped out her son and her sister. Perhaps they weren’t as bad as she was worried they might be.
“What’s the verdict?”
Millie looked over and she noticed that Tilly was staring at her. Judging from her expression, it seemed that Tilly recognized what was going on inside her head. Millie bit her lip and spoke softly. “About what?”
Tilly frowned slightly. “You know what I mean.”
Something clicked in Millie’s head. “Oh...you mean with the zoners and ChalkZone?” Tilly gave a quick nod at this. Millie turned her gaze downward and rubbed the back of her head nervously. “Well... I’ll be honest... I really don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it.” She looked back at Tilly. “My mind’s kind of been preoccupied.”
Tilly stared at her for a moment, then she nodded. “Fair enough.” She tilted her head to one side, letting out a sigh. “We’ve all been pretty occupied lately. What with that Dr. Von Doktor fellow and all.” She shook her head. She looked back at her sister. “Well, at least he can’t hurt anyone again.”
Millie frowned at this and nodded her head. She had recently gotten word of Von’s demise. She was horrified by the description of it. Arm ripped off and shoved down his throat... But she felt little sympathy for him. That evil man had caused them enough grief. It was about time that someone put an end to that.
“I wonder...have the zoners earned your trust? They have certainly earned mine.” Tilly said, bringing Millie out of her thoughts. “I have to wonder if... if those zoner fellows would be treated the same way Von had treated them.” Her eyes furrowed with concern. She looked back at her sister. “That would be a shame, wouldn’t it?”
Millie nodded her head. “Yeah, it would.”
“So what do you think that you and your husband would decide regarding ChalkZone? Would you keep it a secret?” Asked Tilly.
“Possibly. I mean...our children have been doing just fine for all this time. And they seem to like going there. Maybe it’s not that bad.” Millie said softly. Then, slowly, a frown came over her face as she began to recall some of the less than desirable attributes. “But...it also is a world were anything can become a reality. There may be all kinds of monsters there. Things that would not be here on earth. Weapons that we haven’t heard of. And our children did admit that there are some dangerous zoners out there.”
“Didn’t one of them say how aggressive zoners were the minority?” Tilly asked.
“Well yes. That’s true. I remember that. Something about how most zoners just want to be left alone.” Millie said. “But still... Just...what if something happened? What if that could be prevented if we just...”
“Just what? Lock them out of that world? Cut them off from the one place that makes them the most happy? Deprive them of their friends?” Tilly asked, her tone somewhat accusatory. Millie flinched at it, turning her head away. “I’m surprised at you.”
“I just can’t help it...” Millie admitted.
Tilly frowned at her for a few seconds before her expression softened up into a small smile. “I understand. It is...a rather tough decision to make. But..if you want my advice... I’d say just let them keep going. They had proven it was safe enough, and the two biggest threats, Von and that damn twister, are taken care of.”
Mille was amazed that her sister was still on the foot of letting the children still go. After being viciously attacked by the twister, she would have thought that she would vouch to ban their son. That had been something she and her husband were seriously considering. They only began to have doubts when they saw how much Rudy liked his zoner friends, and how the zoners had been quite helpful. She would feel immense guilt if she were go ban him.
She still had worries about that world. She still wasn’t sure if she could feel at ease knowing that her son goes there every day, interacting with all kinds of creatures, many of which could be dangerous. But...before any decisions were final, she decided it was best to talk to her husband again. Whatever decision that they made, she wanted to make sure it was the best one possible.
sss
“Rudy, are you okay?” Penny asked.
“Yeah...I’m fine.” Rudy said under his breath.
Penny frowned at this. “Rudy... I know when you are lying.” She paused for a moment. Then she pressed on. “Come on. Tell me what’s wrong.”
Rudy gave a soft chuckle. Of course Penny would know when he was lying. They were good friends after all. It was hard to really lie around her. He didn’t know why he bothered to try.
“Well if you must know.. I’m just..thinking.” Rudy confessed.
At this, Penny spoke again, this time, her voice more gentle. “About what our parents might say?”
Rudy nodded at this. “They hadn’t really said anything to us regarding the...status of ChalkZone.” Rudy bit his lip nervously. “They hadn’t even told us if we could still go or not. Not that we can go in this condition.. Well you can...” Rudy looked over at Penny. “But I can’t. Still bed-ridden because of this stupid hole in my stomach.”
Penny stared at him sympathetically. “Snap and the others send their best wishes to you.”
“Tell them I said thanks.” Rudy said. “And I hope they all get better soon. Howdy, Biclops....Blocky...”
At this, Rudy’s voice trailed off. It had been a week since the incident with Von, and there were still people recovering from their injuries. Biclops was doing much better, and he was going to be released soon. Mrs. Sanchez was also doing better, and had actually been released as well, able to take care of her self at home in her present condition. But Howdy and Blocky...
Howdy had some form of brain damage. The doctors still want to wait and see how bad it is. But there’s a good chance that Howdy may not be capable of living on his own anymore, and will require assistance. Snap had already offered to let him stay with him, but the doctors insisted that he go to a professional home. Rudy felt some anger at Snap’s help being rejected, but he could hardly blame the zoner doctors.
Blocky still needed a lot of help. His flesh wounds were healing nicely, but there was still some internal damage. And then there was the mental damage that man inflicted upon him. Rudy could only imagine how scared and frightened Blocky had been. Cooped up in that evil man’s lair for hours all alone... At least things were looking a little up for him and there was hope for his recovery.
His mind momentarily went to the dragon zoner. He recalled Penny telling him that she was diong better, although she is still wary of humans. Rudy couldn’t really blame her, and he hoped that she would be able to live a peaceful life soon after her mind healed some more.
Then his stomach started to sting and twist again. He gritted his teeth as the horrible thoughts came back to him. The idea of not being able to see his friends again... The idea of being permanently locked out of ChalkZone... He fought back the tears that formed in his eyes. He tried to stay positive. He tried to tell himself that things might be better than he thought. But...what if they weren’t...?
Rudy wasn’t really sure what to think or what to expect. This situation could go in any direction. While there was hope that the best case scenario would happen, that was just wishful thinking. His parents might still decide to ban them, or expose ChalkZone, or something. Rudy couldn’t stop the horrible images from crossing his head at what all that would entail.
Penny gently nudged him. “It will be okay, Rudy. Let’s just give our folks the benefit of the doubt.” Penny whispered softly. She leaned in closely, slinging her arm around him to comfort him. “My mother seems to be more on the understanding side. She might be able to convince your parents to leave ChalkZone alone.”
Rudy smiled slightly at this. “Well I’m glad someone is understanding.” He shut his eyes. “I just wish my parents would just say something already...”
Penny looked at him with concern. “They might be having a hard time making a decision. I’m sure they’ll figure something out soon enough and they will tell you.”
“I guess it all depends on what Aunt Tilly tells them.” Rudy said. He couldn’t help but speak in a somewhat bitter tone of voice. This clearly surprised Penny, but Rudy didn’t say anything to respond to her unspoken question.
“Rudy... You know she didn’t mean to break the promise.” Penny said. Rudy didn’t say anything, just turning his head away. “Besides, if she didn’t do that, we would have remained trapped at Dr. Von Doktor’s place. Would you have preferred that?”
Rudy’s eyes widened slightly at that. Then they relaxed, shutting lightly as he shook his head. “No..not really. I just...” He sighed. He looked back at Penny. “I can’t really be that angry with her. She did break her back trying to stop Von. Literally.” Penny nodded in understanding. “And I guess...” He lowered his gaze. “Yeah... I can see where she believed she had no choice. I can’t fault her for that.”
“Give her the benefit of the doubt, Rudy. I’m sure she’ll pull through.” Penny pulled him into a hug. “I’m sure they will all pull through. We just need to have a little faith in our parents. That’s all.”
Rudy nodded his head. He tried to smile the best he could. “Yeah, you’re right, Penny.”
Penny smiled back at this and her hug tightened. Rudy felt her warmth all around him. He pulled her closer, ignoring the pain in his stomach. He needed this right now. They both did. The road ahead was still uncertain, and he still felt nervous, but Penny was right. He had to try to believe in his parents some more. Who knows? They might end up surprising him.
But his happiness was short-lived. Though he still hung onto Penny, there was something else that was of concern to him. Something that he couldn’t just ignore.
What about his house? There had been a fire about a week ago. When he had seen it for himself, he had been horrified. He panicked, wanting to get out and leave. His parents were in the fire and he was worried that something had happened to them.
And he was partially right. His dad had been knocked out from the fumes, and his mother had apparently inhaled some as well. But thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The injuries were mostly minor and his dad was recovering quite nicely, to the point where he didn’t need to be in the hospital anymore.
But while his parents were fine, the house was not. It still wasn’t as bad, considering the circumstances, but parts of it were still destroyed and it was not safe to live in. His parents were staying at one of the neighbors while another neighbor had kindly offered to pay to fix it up, but the nightmare of what happened would still haunt Rudy’s mind. He wondered how many precious memories had been destroyed in the flames. Pictures and photographs that he could never get back now. The incident had humbled him and reminded him of why it was so important to not take his home for granted.
At least that witch responsible, Ms. Tweezer, was going to jail for this....
Rudy couldn’t believe what that woman had done. From what he had been told by the doctors, an anonymous source said that she had set his house ablaze deliberately, showing little hesitation in her actions. Rudy wasn’t sure why she would do such a thing, but he didn’t really care to know the reason. The fact that she did it at all was enough for him.
He hoped that she would get life in prison, or at least many years. He knew his parents felt the same way. She had never bothered them too much before, but her attempted murder of them, as well as trying to destroy their home, that was enough to make both of them hate her. Probably even more than Dr. Von Doktor, though it would be a very close tie.
There was some fear that she would escape justice and be a free woman. Rudy hoped that wouldn’t be the case, but he knew that the justice system can often be unfair. If Ms. Tweezer offered a good enough alibi, she might be able to squeeze herself out of punishment.
Well, only time will tell for certain. He might be getting worked up over nothing. What are the odds of anyone buying her stories anyway? She wasn’t really taken all that seriously, and any ranting she might give against him would be ignored, or just earn her the ire of many a people.
Well the trial was going to be soon. He was going to be there. Same with his parents, hopefully. They would see to it that she got exactly what she deserved.
sss
“This court finds the defendent... Guilty!” The man spoke, his voice monotone and dutiful.
“What?!” Ms. Tweezer yelled in horror. Color faded from her face faster than anyone would have thought. “This is some kind of big mistake! I-I didn’t do any of those things! I...”
“Enough!” The judge barked, slamming his hammer down. “The court has spoken! Ms. Tweezer, for arson, stalking, and attempted murder, I hereby sentence you to fifty years in jail. No bail! You will be sent to...”
At that, Ms. Tweezer felt her mind go numb. She could see the man’s mouth moving, but she no longer heard his words. Everything around here seemed to just freeze solid, darkening up and trapping her in an abyss. She couldn’t believe what had just happened to her. It was like some kind of dream. And she had no way out.
It was hard for her to believe that just a few weeks ago, she had been sitting in her home, watching television after she had completed her justified attack on the Tabooties’ house. But then someone attacked her. She could barely remember what happened at that point, but she knew it was what resulted in her waking up in the hospital, badly wounded. Even now, she can still feel the dull pain of her wounds.
She had been informed that she was to go to trial once she was fully able to. She remembered how her heart froze at that, and she couldn’t understand why. Even when she told them the reason, and how dangerous Rudy and his ilk were, they refused to let her go, and told her that she had no choice.
Well she supposed she couldn’t entirely blame them. After all, to them, Rudy appeared to be just an innocent little boy. And she did know what kind of trouble she could place herself in if she continued on with her task. But still..if they would just listen to her, they would realize that she was only trying to help, and that if she hadn’t taken action, Rudy might have done something really horrible to the city, to everyone. But predictably, they would rather believe the little brat than her.
The only consolence in all of this was that at least the brat’s house was destroyed, far as she knew. Now he won’t be able to bring more of the unreal into the world. He wouldn’t be able to torment anyone with those hideous creatures, those nightmarish things that want to suck out brains and chew on hearts. So in a sense, she still won.
“Come along.”
Ms. Tweezer found herself being picked up by the arm by one of two police officers. She grunted and yanked her arm back. The officers immediately pushed against her and told her to follow them. Having no choice, the woman obeyed them.
She ignored the glares she got from the audience. She ignored any snide remarks they said, the way their eyes bored into her. She knew she had done the right thing. Even if they won’t agree with her, even if they continued to see her as an enemy, she didn’t care. If they won’t believe her that she did the right thing, then that was their problem. At least she will be able to go to sleep at night, knowing that she had prevented a catastrophe from striking the world.
As she was bring brought up the hallway towards the doors, she caught sight of something familiar. She recognized it as the little boy and his little family. They were sitting near the front. The parents were sitting on either side of Rudy, who was looking over at her cautiously.
She couldn’t help but smile triumphantly at the little boy. She could practically see the defeat in his eyes. He had lost and he knew it. Oh it felt so good to win. It felt so good saving the world. She kept her gaze on the boy, continuing to smile at him even as the officers pushed her along. The boy just stared at her warily, his parents huddling closer to him, glaring at her angrily.
The only thing that stopped her from smiling was a strange man near the back. She paused her walking, staring at him long and hard. The officers pushed her again, forcing her to walk. As she exited the building, she couldn’t help but ask herself a single question.
Wasn’t there something familiar about that man?
sss
“Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say.” Mrs. Sanchez said bitterly. No one in the room disagreed with her. “They both got what they deserved.”
Again, there was no disagreement. How could any of them disagree with her? None of them had particularly fond memories of Dr. Von Doktor or Ms. Tweezer. Especially that vile man... Both him, as well as Ms. Tweezer, had caused a lot of damage.
Penny tried her best not to think about them. She tried to push those thoughts out of her mind and tried to focus on other things. But she found it impossible How could she simply forget about them? She felt such burning anger inside of her. Even though they bot had been taken care of, she still couldn’t help but want more. And who could blame her? After all Dr. Von Doktor did...and Ms. Tweezer burning Rudy’s house down...
At that thought, she turned her attention to Rudy and his family. Though Sophie looked as happy as she could be, Rudy and his parents and his aunt were silent. They were eating the food her mom prepared for them slowly, picking at it once in a while, lost in their own thoughts.
She couldn’t help but soften her expression sympathetically at them. Their house was still being repaired. It was looking better than before, but some precious things had been lost, things that could never be replaced. Things like some family photos that were in the living room. The thought of that made her heart twist. It was bad enough that they lost their home, but houses could be replaced. But photographs could not.
Penny felt a bit of anger that, even a week after the trial, the repairs still weren’t finished. But then..it did take a while to repair a house, so she shouldn’t be too surprised. She just had to be a little more patient, like the Tabooties’ were.
She couldn’t help but be amazed. Despite what they were going through, Rudy and his parents were hanging in there. They were handling this quite well, considering the circumstances, and she was impressed. At least they were able to keep a chin up and try to be positive. Yeah, sometimes they still felt depressed, like now, but at least they weren’t curled up into balls and sobbing and acting all woeful, since that would do nothing to help. Yeah, this attitude they were having was exactly what they needed to help cope with the loss of their house. And at least that wasn’t going to be permanent. Ms. Tweezer was not going to win.
Her mom, who had recovered even more from her injuries, especially those chemical burns, had offered the Taooties’ to have dinner with her. She felt it was the least she could do after what had happened. They gladly accepted. Rudy’s aunt and little cousin were also invited to come over. It was a nice change of pace, having dinner together like this. Especially compared to the hell that had occurred lately.
Things were starting to look up everywhere, to be honest. Blocky was doing much better and Howdy’s condition appeared to be improving. Her mother had mostly healed up and she and Rudy were in much better condition, with Rudy finally being able to leave the hospital. Tilly still hadn’t regained use of her legs and likely never will, but she had adjusted to moving about in a wheelchair, and she had even worked out something with her boss so that she could still keep her job. Handling Sophie was still a problem, but then..since when was it not?
ChalkZone was also improving. Not just for the zoners, including her friends, who were recovering, but restoration was underway. Things sped up especially after Biclops, who was recently released from the hospital, came in to help. He normally did not leave the Chalk Mine, but he made an exception. No one was leaving the city anyway, wanting to help repair the damaged buildings. Besides, he did have Snap left there to help guad it.
The twister had been placed in a new diamond shield, this one heavily monitored and guarded. It was located in a further part of ChalkZone, far away from the city and most civilization. There was little to no chance of the twister escaping and causing harm. The vacuum cleaner, having done its job, had been shut down and placed in some kind of storage. She couldn’t remember the exact details, but it was safe.
On the topic of ChalkZone, she found herself raising her head and looking towards Rudy’s parents. Even though it’s been well enough time now, they still hadn’t really said what their verdict was. She understood if they were preoccupied with other things, but..this is kind of very important. Why didn’t they say anything?
Before she could finish her thought, it would seem that this was exactly what was on their minds.
“Rudy, Penny... about that chalk world...”
Rudy lifted his head and stared at them. “So now you decide to bring it up? After what...weeks?” His voice had a bitter tone to it. Rudy’s parents flinched. Penny could not blame him for being upset. They did wait really long. “How did it take you this long to...”
“We’re sorry. We just thought that...waiting until the situation with the house and everything else was...” Mrs. Tabootie’s voice trailed off. She bit her lip nervously, trying to figure out what to say.
Rudy raised an eyebrow. “Better?”
“Uhh yeah..” Mr. Tabootie nodded his head. “We just...didn’t want to add anything more onto the plate.”
“Well by not talking to us, you kind of already did.” Rudy said, narrowing his eyes. “Do you know how little sleep I get at night, wondering just what you and mom are going to say? Do you know how sick I feel knowing that I might not ever see my friends again?!”
Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie cringed at this. The room fell silent after that outburst. Even Sophie wasn’t saying or doing anything, just staring at Rudy. For a while, no one said anything. Rudy’s parents glanced at each other, gritting their teeth nervously. Guilt washed over their faces and they gave a sigh.
After a few minutes, Mr. Tabootie spoke up. “Yeah, you’re right. We should have said something earlier. We’re sorry.”
“Hmph.” Rudy grumbled, turning his head away. It was clear that a simple apology wasn’t going to make him forget what happened.
Mr. Tabootie looked at him sadly, biting his lip. He looked to one side. He turned back to Rudy and said, “Well...we did talk about it a little more. And I think we did finally come up with an answer.”
At this, Rudy and Penny both turned their attention to Mr. Tabootie. His wife and other adults also looked over at him expectantly. Penny wasn’t sure if they all had agreed with this and are just letting him speak, or if Mr. Tabootie decided he was making the final decision and they were just going along with it.
Regardless, they kept quiet and waited for him to speak. Penny could feel her heart twist in anxiety. Days and weeks of tension, of paranoia, of not knowing, it all amounted up to this. With the next words he’ll speak, it’ll make or brea it. It could change everything for the better...or for the worse. Penny felt the cold chill all around her freezing her in place, her teeth clenching tightly. She glanced over at Rudy for a moment, feeling the tension from his rigid body, before looking back at his father. The same question plagued her over and over again.
Just what was he going to say?
Finally, after what felt like forever, the man spoke up. “Well it was hard to figure out what we were going to do. There was enough for us to go in either direction. We weren’t sure, no matter which path we thought of, which was the best. They both have their strengths and weaknesses.”
Mrs. Tabootie nodded in agreement. “That was partly why it took so long. We just...” She looked at her husband, gritted her teeth, and sighed. She looked back at Rudy and Penny. “It was so hard for us to decide.”
“Well me and Tilly here already decided. We both agreed that the world seems safe enough if you two keep going in there all the time.” Penny heard her mother say. The woman held her hand up in gesture. “But we couldn’t say anything for certain because we might be at a stalemate.”
“It all depends on them.” Tilly gestured her head towards Rudy’s parents. “Whatever they say...” She paused. She seemed to want to continue, but she bit her lip and went silent. She looked over at her sister, waiting for her or her husband to continue.
Mr. Tabootie paused for a moment. He stared at the other adults, as well as the children. There was a certain look to him. Something that Penny couldn’t identify completely. Almost like...nervousness, uncertainty, and sympathy all rolled into one. The sight of this made her nervous. Was it possible that he...?
No, she had to try to stay positive. He..he couldn’t do such a thing, would he? If he had spoken to Tilly and her mother, surely he would be faced with more facts about ChalkZone than just the bad side, right?
She and Rudy watched him intensely, ignoring everyone else around them. It felt almost like a dark voice came around them, trapping them all inside. She couldn’t move her eyes away from the man, finding them narrowed and glued to him. When the man opened his mouth, she leaned in closer. This was it. The final decision. What was it going to be?
“We decided to not expose that world. Nor will we ban you from that world. We felt that it meant way too much to you to do something like that, and the last thing we want to do is make you feel worse. Especially with what had happened.”
Penny and Rudy both felt waves of relief strike them at this. They couldn’t help but smile, glancing at each other. The fear and worry that had swelled up inside of them left their bodies through their fingertips. It was a sensation that felt so good, they had to keep themselves from giving off a laugh.
Penny’s mother and Rudy’s aunt both smiled gently at them. There was a sense of relief in their expressions as well. Had they been worried, too, that Rudy’s parents might have made the decision to just outright ban them? Well at least that fear was now gone. But judging from the man’s expression, they weren’t completely out of the woods yet. There was still more. She and Rudy fell silent and waited to see what he was going to say.
“However, I would still like to lay down some ground rules.” Mr. Tabootie said, his eyes narrowing softly. Upon seeing the children’s expressions, he added, “Don’t look at me that way. That world might still be dangerous. So some rules must be set up. It is the only way we can truly feel safe about you two going in there.”
Penny lowered her head at this. She ignored the sympathetic expressions she and Rudy got. She let out a soft sigh, feeling some of the sting return. She should have known that there’d be some kind of catch. She shook her head. Well, there was nothing she could do about it except...well, accept it. Nothing she or Rudy would say was going to change his mind, and she didn’t want to ruin this one chance that they had.
She lifted her head and looked at the man. “And what are the rules?”
“Here is how it’ll be...”
sss
Rudy tapped his toes impatiently. Just how long has it been since Penny went into his bathroom? It shouldn’t take this long to change, right? Well then again, she was female, and Rudy was well aware of how long girls can take in the bathroom.
Nonetheless, he wasn’t able to hold his patience for long and he pounded on the door. “Hurry it up!”
An irritated feminine voice called back to him. “Hold on! I still need to adjust my...”
“You’ve been in there for half an hour already!” Rudy cut her off. “Can you please hurry it up? We don’t have that much time!”
“Okay! Okay! Don’t get your horses tied in a knot. I’m coming!” Penny called back to him.
Yeah, of course she was coming... That’s what she had said the last time he tried to get her out. This time, instead of just standing there and waiting, Rudy felt the need to call her out on it. “You keep saying that and each time you just stay there longer!” He gritted his teeth and rubbed his head. He placed his hand on the door and said, “Don’t you know that we can’t...”
Suddenly, before he could finish, the door was opening up. Rudy let out a yelp of surprise and waved his hands around frantically as he tried to keep himself from falling over. He was soon able to right himself up as he grabbed onto the bathroom sink.
“Oh, sorry about that. I thought you wanted me to get out now.” Penny said. There was a slight tone to her voice, but Rudy hardly paid attention to it. “Are you okay?”
Rudy pushed his hands against the sink, lowering his head over it, and panted. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He put a hand against his chest. “Just a little startled..that’s all.” He turned his head around. “Are you...” His voice trailed off. “Ready...?”
Penny stood there, dressed up in her latest outfit. A white long sleeved shirt accompanied by a deep purple vest, with a slightly lighter purple for a long skirt. Her hair had also been put up. It was hard for Rudy to describe it to himself. He wondered if this was what took her so long. She did look rather...nice. But wasn’t this a bit of overkill? They were just going to...
“Didn’t you say that we were late?” Penny asked, noticing Rudy not moving. “You were in a hurry just a few moments ago.”
“Uh...yeah.” Rudy managed to say. “Well not late. But if we don’t get there soon, they’ll start without us.”
“Right. Sorry it took so long.” Penny put her hands on her hair. “I was trying to figure out how to wear my hair. It took me a while to figure out which look I liked best.”
Rudy looked at his friend up and down. He still couldn’t believe how well dressed she looked tonight, especally for a simple party. Well okay, it wasn’t a simple party. It was quite important and many zoners were going to be there. Besides, it wasn’t like Penny hadn’t dressed up before for other occassions, so he wasn’t sure why he was so surprised by this.
Perhaps it was with what happened lately, with Von, Ms. Tweezer, the house nearly being burned down... It was still a little difficult to get back into a more normal mindset. Rudy had a feeling it would take much longer than this to fully recover.
It had been over a month now. Most things had gone back to normal, but there was still some tension. The boy was still haunted by the memories of the house burning, nearly losing his parents... That wasn’t something one could just bounce back from so easily. No one could blame him, either. So for them to go into ChalkZone on a very peaceful ‘mission’, in this case, a party, it still felt so abnormal, considering what had happened not so long ago.
“Well come on, let’s go.” Penny said as she made her way across the hallway towards Rudy’s bedroom. “Let’s not keep them waiting any longer.”
“Right.” Said Rudy as he followed his friend.
“Going back into ChalkZone, I see.”
The two children frozen in the door way. They turned around and they could see Mr. Tabootie standing there. They smiled up at the man, waving and grinning nervously at him. The man simply frowned at them, his hands on his hips.
“What did we tell you two?” Mr. Tabootie asked, cocking up an eyebrow. “I thought we were quite clear.”
Rudy’s eyes widened and he felt a wave of guilt strike him. He lowered his head. “Sorry, dad. I guess we just got so excited that...”
“We’ll be back in a few hours. We promise.” Penny added, smiling the best she could at the man.
“Well okay.” Mr. Tabootie said, continuing to frown in disappointment at them. “Just remember to tell us next time. You know the deal.”
“Yes we do...” Rudy and Penny said in unison.
“All righty then. Have fun, you two.” With that, Rudy’s father waved to them and disappeared down the stairs.
Penny grimaced at this, a look of disbelief on her face. “I can’t believe we forgot all about that...” Rudy nodded his head slowly, not bothering to look at her. “Well, at least that’s one mistake we won’t make again.”
Hopefully not. Rudy didn’t want to shatter the trust in his parents. They were allowing him to still go into ChalkZone, but under the condition that he tell them when he was going to go. They hadn’t forbade him from going in school time, but only because he hadn’t mentioned that. He didn’t want to limit himself more. But he was glad that, despite the slight restriction, his parents were at least trying to be understanding.
Well it was time to head into ChalkZone. They had delayed going there quite enough. The party was going to start soon, and he and Penny didn’t want to miss out on it. Quietly, the two of them headed back into his bedroom.
Positioned in the middle of it was a brand new chalkboard. The sight of it made him freeze, his eyes widening slightly. He recalled how his original chalkboard was sold by his aunt, and then later damaged, no longer usable. At least the portal was gone and couldn’t be exploited anymore. Still, that chalkboard did hold some fond memories for him and to have it gone..
His aunt did make up for selling it by buying him a new one. This one was a bit larger and looked like it was made of better material. It was quite nice. He hadn’t expected her to do such a thing, but he was glad that she did. She even went out of her way to buy the biggest one they had so that he and Penny could crawl through the portal easily.
“So are you ready?” Rudy asked his friend as he raised the magic chalk.
Penny chuckled, smiling back at him. “Of course! Come on, before Snap wonders were we are.”
Rudy smiled at the mention of his friend. “Yeah, that’s true. He’d never let me live it down if we’re late to this party.”
Without saying another word, Rudy quickly drew a portal. The light shimmered, and soon dissipated as a portal was opened up. He gestured for Penny to come over. He grabbed her hand and gently helped her through the portal. He came in after. Recalling at Sophie was being babysat by his parents, and not wanting her to crawl into ChalkZone like that one time, he quickly erased the portal.
He and Penny then headed towards ChalkZone City, specially the Night Zone section. He could see the lights from here and he and Penny knew that the party was getting started already. Not wanting to miss too much, they quickly bolted.
sss
“Didn’t I tell you this was place was great or what?” Snap said with a grin. He spread his hands out, gesturing to everything around him. “I told you would have a great time!”
“Yeah... I mean, I didn’t think you were lying. But...” Penny took a moment to look around her. “I just didn’t expect it to be quite like this...”
Rudy nodded in agreement. “It’s quite a lot more...expansive than I thought.”
“Well that’s what everyone says.” Snap said, grinning more broadly. “And soon, we are going to see more of it!” Upon seeing Rudy and Penny stare at him in shock, Snap chuckled. “What? You think that one measly firework show was all they were going to do? Peeshaw!” Snap waved his hand dismissively. “They have four more coming! And each will be bigger than the rest!”
“Wow...” Rudy whispered softly. “That’s...quite a lot.”
“I know right? Isn’t it incredible?” Snap put his hands on his hips. “I told you to it was going to be one big spectacular...”
“Yeah, you sure did.” Penny said softly, smiling at her friend. “Well thanks for inviting us. Especially after...” Her eyes narrowed softly and she turned her head. “You know...”
Snap looked at his friend sympathetically. He didn’t say a word, and simply nodded his head in understanding. His friends were still shaken by what happened before. In fact, much of ChalkZone still was, to some extent. Many managed to move on, but the haunting scar still remained. Nearly being exposed, having a few of their own tormented and tortured... It was not easy to recover from something like that, especially with what happened many years ago, with all those creators running around, causing all sorts of trouble.
That was part of the reason for this celebration. Snap had suggested it himself and had done his best to make sure it was as great as it could possibly be. The zoners needed something esle to focus their attention on. What better than a party? Zoners love parties. In fact, who doesn’t? Well except for party poopers. He chuckled lightly at the thought.
He got some help from Howdy. His smile fell slightly as he thought of that zoner. While Howdy was able to communicate with them, he was not fully independent. The blows to his head did cause some permanent damage. His sense of balance was a little wonky, his vision isn’t what it used to be, and sometimes he slurred his words. So an aid came in to live with him to help him out. Snap was glad that he was at least able to retain his mind and memories and the sense of who he was. Howdy had been able to return to as normal life as possible, and he was quite excited for the party. He was even being entertainment, something that, even with his disabilities, he was still happy to do.
Right now, he and his friends were located in an asian-looking restaurant, raised high above the ground as part of a tower. They had seats in the balcony, a few metal bars serving as a railing and keeping them from climbing over the edge. There were streamers and other decorations all around them, and outside, they could hear the cheers and bustling of many zoners playing games and having a good time. The bright lights constrasted well with the pitch black of Night Zone.
“So when does the next firework show start?” Blocky asked.
Snap looked over at the rectangular zoner and couldn’t help but smile. He had made a fully recovery from his injuries over a month ago. He was still more nervous than usual and certain things, like being alone, frightened him. But for what could have happened, this was quite good.
He was glad that Blocky decided to come with them. He was one of the zoners who, out of everyone, really deserved some happiness in his life again. In fact, it was also partly due to Blocky that Snap wanted to arrange this party. It had taken a little while to convince the zoner to join them, and even now, he could detect some slight hesitation. He was still glad that, in the end, he had decided to come with.
“It’ll start in about half an hour.” Snap said. He picked up a spoonful of pork fried rice and ate some. After he swallowed, he said, “We’ll head down once we are done eating.”
Blocky smiled at this. “Can I sit in the front?”
Snap chuckled. “Sure, buddy. Sure.”
Just then, there were footsteps coming in from behind them. They all turned their heads to see that their waiter had come to check on things. “How is everything?” She asked, wearing a small smile on her face.
Snap remembered this zoner. It was that dragon zoner that was rescued before, the one that Von created to experiment on. She had a few scars from her experience, but looked otherwise fine. Her mental state had improved quite a bit since that incident, and she had begun to start trusting Rudy and Penny, but she was still cautious around tall, human-like zoners. Sometimes they would cause her to flash back and she’d freak out, which was why she was on some kind of medication to keep herself calm.
“Yes, everything is going swell.” Rudy said with a grin.
“Hey, do you mind getting me more water?” Blocky asked as he held out his cup.
“Sure thing.” The dragon zoner said. She grabbed it, then paused. She frowned slightly at Rudy and Penny. “And you are certain you don’t want anything?”
“No thanks.” Rudy waved his hands out in front of him. “Penny and I can’t eat chalk food.”
“Yeah, sorry. It’s not that we think your food is bad or anything. But...well..we don’t like the taste of chalk.” Penny said, smiling nervously.
“Oh..” The dragon zoner nodded her head once. “All right then.” She looked down at Blocky and said, “Let me go get that water for you.” With that, she turned and walked away.
Snap watched as the dragon left, and then he turned his attention back to his friends. He and Blocky resumed to eat their food as the celebration continued to go on. They all took a moment to reflect on what happened to them, and how everything nearly went downhill beyond the point of recovery. They all felt chills in their spine as they remembered certain events.
But now, they could relax. They could feel their tension leaving their bodies as they reminded themselves that things were looking up. The happy cheers from the zoners around them served as reminders of that. Their laughter was contagious, and soon they found themselves joking and laughing amongst themselves, their minds pushing back the horrible events as they focused on being happy once more.
Snap took another sip of his drink and stared back at his friends. Things were on their way to full recovery, and soon, all that happened was just going to be a distant memory, nothing more than a scary bed time story to be told.
After Blocky got his drink and after a little more time of talking, Penny called out, cutting them all off. “Hey, isn’t that Howdy?”
They all looked outside the balcony, down on the street were a lot of zoners were gathered.
“It is!” Rudy cried. Smiling, he looked to his friends. “Do you want to down there and watch him perform?”
They all nodded their heads. Wanting to join in on the fun, they all left the restaurant, exchanging grins and laughs as they joined the crowd outside. They stood in the front of the crowd, raising their hands in the air and cheering as Howdy, despite his limitations, did what he could to entertain them all.
Snap turned to Blocky and noticed he was having a hard time getting up. Smiling, he walked over and he grabbed Blocky by his legs. He hoisted him up off the ground, helping him to see.
“Is that better?” Snap asked.
“Yes. Thank you!” Blocky laughed and waved his arms in the air.
Snap chuckled at this, and he joined in the cheering with his friends. The laughter, the fun, the games, the fireworks, the happiness, they all went into the wee hours of the night. It was a party that no one was going to forget any time soon. And after all that had happened to them, that was a blessing.
sss
The boss stared down at the papers set before him. He flipped through them slowly, looking at their contents. He frowned deeply, his eyes darting around, trying to memorize the plans written on here.
A part of him wasn’t entirely sure. This seemed really risky. Then again, why should he be surprised or care? He had done quite a bit of risks himself, especially with the missions he sends his people on. This was really no different. It was on more risky than having something like Agent D take care of Ms. Tweezer for burning down the Tabooties’ place.
But...with how far they had come... With how much they had accomplished, he did not want to ruin anything. They had come so far now... They couldn’t allow any foul ups to bring them back down to zero. If that happened... He could feel his heart twist at the thought.
He glanced back down at the group of people before him. Most of were staring at him while others appeared almost bored, tracing or taping the table or just looking elsewhere. The boss frowned at this and he slammed his hands on the table, startling those not paying attention and forcing them to look at him. He scowled at them, making them grimace and lower their heads.
“Are these the right plans?” The boss said, lifting them up.
“Yes, sir!” Agent A called out, raising up from his seat. “Agent L and I did doublecheck to make sure.”
“And you are positive?” The boss asked, raising an eyebrow in slight suspicion.
Agent L was up next. “Yes, we are positive. That is what Agent M gave us after we were able to make contact with her.”
At this, the man’s eyes widened slightly. The mention of her name caused some murmurs throughout the room. Agent M was quite well known, and she had even earned some rivals, like with Agent D, who scowled at the woman’s mention.
The man looked down at the papers. So...Agent M was the one who made these plans, eh? Well that changed things around. Now he knew one of his more competent agents was responsible for this. But still... He couldn’t help but be a little nervous. This time, it wasn’t so much the plan, but the woman’s...status. He knew how personal this mission was going to be. A part of him wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not to let here get involved.
Well it was too late now, and he was stuck with her being the lead operative in this mission. He was just going to have to trust that she doesn’t allow her personal connections to this case cloud her judgment. All it would take is one wrong move and...
Which reminded him...
“Where is Agent M?” The boss asked. “Is she not here today?”
“Oh don’t worry. I am.”
That voice, slightly cold, but quite firm, sounded out, making the other agents wince and cringe. The boss turned his head towards his back, where the door was open and he could see the familiar dark shadow that was Agent M.
“Ah, Agent M. I’m glad you could make it. Considering your...condition...” The boss was quite careful with his words. “I wasn’t sure if you could come right now.”
“I was able to find the time. You are lucky that they believe that you made accomodations for me. Otherwise, I don’t think they would have been so trusting.”
The boss nodded his head. “Yes, I can see that.” He paused for a moment. He was still recovering from the shock of Agent M being there. He sucked in a deep breath and comed his fingers through his hair. “So, you are still up for this?”
Even in shadows, it was easy to tell when Agent M was nodding. “Affirmative. So long as you keep your end of the bargain and leave my family out of this, I will be more than happy to assist you.”
“Yes, of course.” The boss said. He raised his hand up and gestured for her to come closer. “Come, let’s get started then.”
The other agents, save for Agent D, watched nervously as Agent M came slowly into the room. The shadows moved over her body, the light slowly illuminating her body. The only sound that could be heard was the squeaking of wheels as the woman pushed herself forward, revealing herself to be a woman in a wheelchair.
But not just any woman.
It was Rudy’s aunt, Tilly.
The woman soon positioned herself next to the boss. The man gritted his teeth as she looked at him strangely, almost accusatory. The woman had been working secretly with him for years and, even before her skepticism was shot, she had been quite the efficient agent, able to cover her tracks and her famly was nonethewiser. In fact, it was because she was so good that he felt a little nervous around her sometimes.
Then, after an awkward silence, Tilly gave a sneer, her eyes flashing in the dark, showing some signs of amusement as the other agents showed their fear towards her, if only because of her extreme proficiency.
“Well now...” Tilly said, the somewhat evil-like smile on her face. She looked at the boss with a sideways glance. “Are you ready to proceed?”
The boss nodded. “Yes, of course.” He looked down at the plans. “Tell us what you have in mind.”
“Gladly..” Tilly said as she began to explain.
And that concludes this story.
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