Sinful Behaviors

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 25: TIME WILL BE TICKING AWAY-




Rudy grunted in pain as Lars threw him into the room. The door shut behind before he could even stand on his feet. The mind-controlled bear walked away.

Rudy’s first reaction was to pound on the door. He hit it again and again to no avail. The door wouldn’t budge. It was locked up tightly and he didn’t have super strength or anything to help him open the door. He gritted his teeth. Snap was going to die soon...unless he either freed himself or...or joined Mr. Cosmo...

His gut tied in a knot at the thought. He didn’t want to join that madman. He didn’t want to use the black chalk...He knew it was the only way to severe his connection with Skrawl. But if...no...when he had to use it, if he used it fast, maybe he could avoid corruption...

But then there was Mr. Cosmo. The way he had talked, he sounded insane. He had lost his mind long ago to the black chalk and it clearly showed. He seemed to be obsessed with getting him at his side. Did it have anything to do with him being similar to Cosmo at a younger age? That might be, though the thought caused him to shake. Mr. Cosmo wanted him to use the black chalk...He wanted him to become ëenlightened’ like him...

He knew, without a doubt, if he allowed Mr. Cosmo to win, he could very well end up like Cosmo...or even worse... He couldn’t allow that to happen. He didn’t want to turn his back on ChalkZone. He didn’t want to betray his friends.

....but he also didn’t want to lose Snap...

This decision, which he is being forced to make, was the hardest things he ever had to face. Worse than any school test. Worse than looking silly at some party. Worse than terrible grades.

Snap is his best friend. He couldn’t just let him die...but he also couldn’t betray him. Rudy’s lower lip quivered as he realized just how trapped he really was. There was no way out of this. He was left with two choices.

Either he refuses to join Mr. Cosmo and Snap gets killed in the process...

...or he joins, but becomes corrupted with black chalk and ends up betraying Snap anyway.

Rudy fell to his knees, his body wracked with sobs. He slammed his fist into the ground, not caring how much it hurt. He did it again and again, not bothering to look to see if a bruise was forming. Tears flowed down his face. His nose was getting stuffed up. He didn’t care. He wouldn’t even care if Mr. Cosmo came down and saw him like this.

This couldn’t be happening. It just couldn’t. It just wasn’t fair. How could he be expected to make such a decision? How could Mr. Cosmo give him such a cruel dilemma?

There had to be another way around this. There had to be an option, something he wasn’t thinking about before. He sat down cross-legged on the ground, putting his back to the wall, and began to think about the recent events. Surely, something would come to him, bring him some hope that he could get out of this and still be able to keep Snap, Penny, and the others safe.

The only thing that came to mind that could be of any help to him was that mysterious artist Biclops told him and Penny about. The one that had stopped Mr. Cosmo before. If he did it once, he could do it again. He had been so impressed with what this artist was capable of doing. The battle was intense, but the artist was able to box Cosmo into a corner and ultimately defeated him.

He could really use that artists’ help right about now. He would surely turn the tides in all this. He would know how Mr. Cosmo’s mind worked and be able to counter almost anything he threw at them. And his large pterosaur would give Draow a run for his money. The pterosaur was larger and probably even stronger. And that beak looked like it could be used as a powerful weapon.

But Rudy couldn’t let himself get his hopes up. The odds of that artist returning are slim to none. Biclops mentioned how all the memories of the creators were erased. No doubt that included the mystery artist as well. Even if they could find him....it would mean absolutely nothing. He might still be a great artist, but he would have lost all his battle skills and memory of what Cosmo had done.

And who knew if this mysterious artist was even still alive? Mr. Cosmo, after regaining his memories, might have killed him off to ensure there was no opposition to him when he went forth with his plans. And if that were the case, then that meant he and his friends were on their own with this one.

Rudy hated to admit it, but it seemed like that was going to be the case. And look at where it had gotten them. He had once thought they could defeat Cosmo. Now he was hoping they’d all at least make it out alive. He had never faced a villain this competent before. Then again, none of the other villains he faced were this mentally insane either.

His thoughts trailed back to Snap. He took in a shuddering breath, fresh tears coming from his eyes. He had never seen Snap so scared in his life. He wanted so desperately to get in there, to knock Cosmo away, and get Snap out of there. The way he had looked at him as Cosmo drew closer to him, it tore through his heart. He felt like he let Snap down by failing to get free of Lars’s grasp.

The way Mr. Cosmo just picked up Snap like he was a rag doll and nonchalantly carried him over to the vinegar tank...that image would never leave his mind. Snap’s screams still ringed in his ears. He hoped Snap’s feet weren’t too heavily damaged from the vinegar. The poor guy could barely walk as it is. With burned feet, he wouldn’t be able to stand.

He hoped that, if they could get out of this mess, Snap will eventually return to his old self. Snap had always been an outgoing, outspoken zoner who was really brave when the time called for it. Seeing all that shattered because of what Mr. Cosmo did to him was heartbreaking to think about. And what hurt Rudy more is that he didn’t know everything Cosmo had done. He knew about the nail, but not how it got there. He didn’t know the circumstances he had gotten the cut. He didn’t know if it was a swift slice or if Cosmo, just to be cruel, cut very slowly...

“Enjoying your stay so far?” A cold voice said behind him. “I know it’s not the most...comfortable...but it’s much better than where your friend is right now.”

“You...!” A wave of anger hit Rudy as he jumped to his feet. Through the door’s window, he could see Mr. Cosmo. “What are you doing here?! It hasn’t been an hour yet!”

Mr. Cosmo said as-a-matter-of-factly, “You’re not happy to see me.”

“Of course I’m not happy to see you! Why would I be? You tortured my best friend!” Rudy snapped at him. “An hour isn’t long enough to not have to look at your face!”

Mr. Cosmo laughed. “Oh I’m hurt, really I am...” He folded up his arms lightly against his chest. “And after all the trouble I went through with picking out just the right room for you. I chose Snap’s old holding cell. You should thank me. After all, I did think of you when I picked this one room out of all the others...”

The realization of what Cosmo said hit Rudy hard. He turned around and looked around the room. The dismal, damp room with some water dripping every so often from the ceiling. This was where Snap had been kept? This dingy, dirty place?

His eyes gazed over towards the bed. He could see red on it. Blood...

He turned to face Mr. Cosmo. “What did you do to him...?” He demanded in a low voice.

Mr. Cosmo seemed to know, right away, what the teenager was talking about as he answered right away. “That wasn’t my doing. That was from your friend’s back injury from Draow. Old blood. I had nothing to do with it.”

“You ordered Draow to capture him!” Rudy spat.

A dark chuckle. “That may be...but I didn’t order him to seriously hurt your friend. After all, he was going to be of no use to me if he were dead.” His gaze at Rudy seemed to intensify. “Be glad that I thought he was useful, otherwise he’d be dead right now...”

Unable to take listening to Cosmo anymore, Rudy slammed against the door. He pushed his body against it. He gripped his hand on the door knob and twisted it as hard as he could. Cosmo took a few steps back and watched as Rudy attempted to break himself out.

Rudy pushed on the door again and again. He kept slamming himself against it. He kept trying to break off the door knob. He was trying so desperately to get out. He wanted to close the gap between him and this hideous man. He wanted to punch him, make him sorry for all the pain he inflicted on his friend, make him regret using zoners as his personal slaves.

After one final push, he was exhausted. He panted as he leaned agains the door to rest himself. It was no use. He was not going to get out of here. He wasn’t strong enough to break down the door. All he could do was give a look of pure hate at the man that has caused him and his friends so much grief lately.

“Done with your little temper tantrum little boy?” A glare was Rudy’s response. “Good...” Mr. Cosmo reached for something Rudy couldn’t see. The man lifted it up and held it out to him. “This is an hour glass. Because of its name, the sand will run out in exactly one hour. I will place this on the window with some tape. When the sand runs out, you will be taken back to where your friend is being held, and I patiently await your decision.”

Rudy’s body shaked with rage. “You’re such a disgusting monster...”

“The only reason you say that,” Mr. Cosmo said. He used duct tape to secure the small hour glass against the window so Rudy could see it clearly. “Is because you have not yet been given the gift of knowledge from the black chalk. I am no monster, Rudy. And if you let the black chalk teach you as well, you will come to see things in a whole new light, and you will no longer see me as a monster.”

Rudy backed away slowly. His shoulders were slightly hunched. He looked like he was preparing to lunge at Mr. Cosmo. And Rudy knew there was no doubt that, if it weren’t for the door blocking him, that’s exactly what he would have done.

“Never...” He growled lowly.

Mr. Cosmo simply waved his hand dismissingly. He turned around. “And remember, time is ticking. Tick tock...tick tock...” With that, he disappeared.

sss

Penny tried her best to keep with the woman’s pace. Ms. Saffron had broke into a run as soon as they had gotten out of the building. They almost never stopped, only once or twice to take a breather. Penny was absolutely exhausted, her mouth getting dry from dehydration. But Saffron seemed to have a lot of energy in her and just kept running.

No, it wasn’t energy. It was urgency. Penny felt it too. Though she felt tired, and Saffron did too, they both just kept on running because of what was happening back at the headquarters. Rudy was in trouble..and so was Snap. Wherever Saffron was taking her, she hoped they would get there soon. She wasn’t sure how much time her friends had left.

She still wasn’t entirely sure how trustworthy Saffron was. But at this point, she didn’t have much of a choice. And the woman did help her out. She bandaged her wounds the best she could. She did save her from Draow. And she was the one who gave them a chance at escape when Snap was forced to fight them. There was no other explanation she could think of....other than it had been Saffron who tried to help them escape.

Her heart ached as she thought about Rudy and Snap. Ms. Saffron had informed her on just what Cosmo had planned on doing. He was going to threaten Snap’s life if Rudy did not comply, and if he failed, Snap would die, and if he said yes, he would become corrupted.

Mr. Cosmo...what a horrid man... She couldn’t imagine what Rudy and Snap were going through right now. Terrified, she was sure. Rudy didn’t have the power to use magic chalk in the real world, so he can’t get out of this one. What was Rudy going to do...when the time came to make a choice...? Penny bit her lip at the thought of being forced between a rock and a hard place like he had. Poor Rudy...Poor Snap...

Ms. Saffron had told her something else that sent chills up her spine. She informed the girl about how she had walked by a room and heard a zoner screaming and when they came out, they had a nail in their head. And once, she had been unlucky to witness it when she was looking through the security cameras. She had told Penny about what happened to Snap.

Penny wanted to cry when she heard the details of just how the nail was put in Snap’s head. The details were....horrific. She hadn’t been there, but she could hear Snap’s cries of pain echoing in her head. The idea of such brutality done against her friend, and when he was awake, made her blood boil, her hatred for Mr. Cosmo intensifying. And no doubt, he would do more harm to Snap. If he could do something like that...what else could he do? What else would he do?

She sadly wondered how Snap was going to be after this. It was going to take a long time for Snap to recover both physically and mentally. From what Saffron described, Snap had gotten terrified of Mr. Cosmo, and after what happened to him, she couldn’t blame him. He was going to be traumatized. She could only hope that she, Rudy, and their friends would be able to comfort Snap and help him through.

His physical wounds would take some time to heal. He needed his wounds properly treated and disinfected. The worst wound was the one on his back. Saffron said that, although it was treated, it wasn’t done very well and she was certain it had gotten infected as well. She did hold a lot of regret for not realizing the reality of the situation, for not accepting zoners as real sooner. Penny was upset that Saffron didn’t treat Snap’s wound further, but at least she was sorry for it.

Ms. Saffron expressed great concern for the nail in Snap’s head. Her worry and what she said...it had confirmed Penny’s fears. It really was damaging Snap. Ms. Saffron believed that the reason Snap was conscious while the other nail-controlled zoners weren’t was because of where the nail was placed. The others had the nail placed in deeply, avoiding important functions, so the electricity did not really hurt them; they just moved through the brain’s own neurons to perform functions.

She informed Penny that none of the zoners truly lost all their consciousness. They were semi-self aware to an extent. But they were confused and unsure of what was going on. They could react, but it was minimal, limited mostly to reactions, or preprogrammed behaviors embedded in the nail itself.

With Snap, Mr. Cosmo had not placed it in all the way, just at the very tip. Because of this, the electricity, although it still went into his brain to control his functions, much of the electrical outpout went through other parts of his body. The process was very painful. Ms. Saffron guessed he did it this way so that they would witness him suffering, so their minds would crack sooner.

Because of the improper placement of the nail, a lot of damage was being done to Snap’s neurological system, and she didn’t doubt other areas of his body were being damaged as well. Ms. Saffron believed the damage could be reversed if the nail was removed as soon as possible, or the signal blocked, so Snap could begin a recovery. But if it were used just a few more times before removal, she feared that Snap would suffer some permanent damage.

The biggest concern was brain damage. Unlike the other nail-controlled zoners, where the electrical output was small and contained, only used to make the right movements, with Snap, there was more unneeded electricity and it was likely overloading his brain. If Snap continued to recieve electrical pulses in his brain and throughout his body, a number of things could happen. He could even lose the ability to use his arms or legs.

And that was just one thing that could result from brain damage. Penny knew all too well the whole host of symptoms and disorders that could arise from injury to the brain.

Penny’s heart was wracked with intense emotional pain as she thought about what would happen if they had saved Snap too late. She...she didn’t want him to be bed-ridden the rest of his life. She didn’t want him to be confined to his house, for him to lose a piece of his mind while here... She wanted him to be able to walk out of this in one piece, to be able to explore ChalkZone with them with the same sense of bravery and outgoingness that he always had.

The idea that it could all be over...all because of one horrible person...it made her sick to her stomach.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Ms. Saffron placed an arm out in front of her, gesturing her to stop. Penny looked around and was shocked at just how far they managed to travel on foot. But this...this couldn’t be right. Why would they come here? She thought they were looking for the mystery artist, not coming here.

Penny looked up at Ms. Saffron. “Why are we here?”

Ms. Saffron glanced down at her. “I told you we were getting help.” She stared out at what Penny was looking at. “And we will find it here.”

“Here?!” Penny cried in disbelief. “But this is...”

“I know. This is where he resides.” Saffron explained. “When I read the documentaries Cosmo wrote down, I found one called ëBeware Of Him’, where he had pictures of this one person, and in the documentation, he explained how this one artist stopped his goals from years ago. He even mentioned the name.”

“So you’re saying that...the mystery artist is...” Penny’s voice trailed off.

Ms. Saffron gave a nod, a knowing smile on her face. “Yes.”

Penny couldn’t believe it.

[DarkWolf91]

Aaaah that cliffhanger is just mean
Love it! The action! The drama! The suspense!

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 26: UNFORESEEN ALLY-




Rudy tried to block out the sound of the sand slowly seeping into the bottom piece of the hourglass. He tried not to think about it too much. He tried to keep his thoughts clear, tried to keep himself calm. He tried to convince himself that everything was going to be all right in the end.

But who was he kidding? The sand’s sound still seeped into his ears because he knew that, once he didn’t hear that sound anymore, he would be taken back up to be forced into a decision he didn’t want to make. No matter what he said, he would be disgusted with himself. No matter the choice he made, Snap would be disappointed in him.

He didn’t want Snap to die....but he didn’t want him to suffer at his hands, either. What choice could he possibly make that would help them? He was forced into two. A couple of horrible decisions that he would lose no matter what.

Mr. Cosmo had been smart to do this all in the real world. He never understood how Mr. Cosmo got that real world object into ChalkZone to seal the portal he and Skrawl came through into the classroom in the first place. But given all Cosmo had done, he wasn’t surprised at what this man had accomplished. If Mr. Cosmo were more sane and not trying to conquer ChalkZone, he’d admire that about him. But now, all it did was make him more fearful of the guy, wondering what else he was capable of doing.

He had shown, quite clearly, how little he cared about zoners. He made it clear he was willing to kill to get his way. He knew exactly where to strike Rudy. And it wasn’t on the arm, leg, or anything. No, he struck Rudy where it would hurt the most.

His heart.

The sand continued to scrape along the glass, slowly being squeezed through the tiny opening in the middle of the hour glass. Rudy looked over and stared at the object. He watched as the sand slowly hit the bottom of the hour glass, ever so slightly filling up more and more. By this time, there was a layer on the bottom, roughly 35% he guessed. Not at the halfway point, but Rudy knew it was just a matter of time.

The desperation of what was going on made it seem like time was going so much faster. He still had maybe 45 mintues left, but it felt like he only had 5. Every time he looked at the hour glass, it felt like it was going faster and faster. And before he knew it, it was going to be time to be taken back where Snap was.

And that may be the last time he would ever see him... No matter how he looked at it, he knew that, after he made the choice, he’d most likely never see Snap again. Either he would die, or Rudy would become corrupted, and he might kill Snap after that himself...

And...who is to say Mr. Cosmo would even keep his word...? Mr. Cosmo might still kill Snap anyway, just because he could. Snap was so hurt now, Mr. Cosmo would be unlikely to keep him around. He thought zoners were expendable, so why would Cosmo ëwaste time healing zoners’ when he could just ëhave new zoners drawn to replace him’? Rudy wouldn’t put it past Cosmo to do such a thing.

He thought back to Snap’s cut on his arm, and thought, with a shiver, if Cosmo was going to hurt Snap even more. He had hurt Snap for no reason at all, without him being there. He was such a wicked man... For all he knew, he’d arrive in the room and Snap would have five more cuts on him.

And even if he didn’t cut him, there were other ways that sick man could hurt Snap. He could kick him around. He could pour vinegar on him to listen to him scream. He could control him like a puppet again...

The only comfort Rudy had was that Mr. Cosmo would not kill Snap until he made his decision. So he was assured that he would get to see Snap at least one more time before...the unthinkable could happen. His regret as that he may not be able to comfort Snap. He wanted so much to put his arms around his friend and pull him into a hug. Snap had been through so much...he deserved some comforting.

Rudy stared at the door that kept him locked in. He had felt the bottom to see if Cosmo had placed something to keep Snap in. In the real world, Snap could use his two dimensional powers to slip through cracks. He had seen him use it when Terry tried to capture him. There had to have been a reason why he didn’t do it this time, and he had been right.

There were razor sharp blades there. So sharp that a single touch caused him to recoil in pain. The blade had lightly cut his fingers. Tiny cuts with a little bit of blood could be seen. It wasn’t too much damage, but it was enough to make him very angry.

Snap had already been injured before. If Snap had tried to squeeze through here...just what would have happened to him? Even in a flat state, there was no doubt he would have been ripped to shreds, like he was just a discared piece of paper. He guessed that was how Snap got those cuts on his hand. He must have been trying to escape, but quickly stopped when he realized there was something sharp under the door. If Snap went all the way through...would he still be alive...?

Rudy looked down on the bed he was sitting on. He could Snap’s blood hardened on the sheet. It stood out quite easily from the white colored cloth. The sight of it made him wince. He wondered just how much pain Snap had been in. And he shuddered to think at just how much more pain he was currently in right now.

And Penny...where was Penny? She had been dragged down a hole just before Snap disappeared. He still didn’t have an idea on what happened to her. Cosmo indicated he just let her out but..no..he wouldn’t do that. Penny had seen too much. He was certain she was taken somewhere to be...

No...it couldn’t be... Rudy felt tears well up in his eyes. Had she been...killed...? That was the only thing he could think of that happened. Penny saw too much of what was going on, and if allowed out, she could go inform the police and have an investigation on his hands. He must have had her killed, or her mind wiped, or something to keep her from talking.

The thought that he may have already lost one of his friends...it was heart wrenching. He tried to hold back his sobs. It didn’t work. Tears came pouring down as he cried. Penny...he would never forgive the bastard if he had killed her.

And now he might be losing his other friend as well. This was a horrible day for him. Everything has been going wrong recently. Mr. Cosmo had truly been steps ahead of him. He had planned everything out almost perfectly. He had been making a fool of him since day one. And while Rudy tried to outsmart him, he only played right into Cosmo’s little game constantly. And, in the end, it was going to cost him everything he cared about.

He wondered what he could have done differently. There were a lot of things he thought he could have done different. He could have gone to Biclops much earlier and ask him about Cosmo the moment the man started becoming suspicious. He could have not created that portal in the classroom and took his chances with Mr. Cosmo. He could have stayed with Snap when they faced Draow...maybe he could have prevented his capture...

After the hour glass reached the 65% mark, Rudy knew he had to do something, and fast. He pushed away his depressing thoughts of what he should have done. There was nothing he could do to change the past. But maybe...maybe he could still change the future. Maybe he can change his fate. He could try to open the door again. If he could get out, he could try to sneak back in the room and rescue Snap.

He had to try again...

He got out of the bed and glared at the door. There had to be a way to open it. Maybe if he had a hairpin he could unlock it... Unfortunately, he did not. He had to think of something else. Slamming against the door wouldn’t work. He already tried turning the knob to break it. He didn’t have the strength for any of those.

Then he saw it. He noticed something he hadn’t tried before. The window... Could he break it? The window looked large enough that he should be able to loop his arm around to reach the door lock. He looked around the room, trying to find something he could use to break the window. Something...anything...

Laying on the ground, he could see a food tray, clearly made of metal. At least now he knew that Snap was fed while here, not that it made his situation much better. He lowered himself and grabbed the tray. He didn’t know why he hadn’t noticed it before, but he turned his attention to the door.

He raised the metal tray and started to bang it against the window. It was much harder than he thought. A few more bangs, and there was hardly a mark. But Rudy wasn’t about to give up yet. He hit the window multiple times in the same place. He mustered as much strength as he could with each strike. And soon, his efforts started to pay off. Cracks were beginning to appear.

“Yes..” Rudy whispered with delight. “Just a little more...”

With another strike, the cracks became deeper and spread. Another, the hour glass was getting dislodged from the window. Rudy kept on hitting the window harder and harder. Soon he heard a loud crack and the window gave way. The hour glass fell to the ground and cracked, and he could hear the hissing sound of the sand spilling all over.

Rudy reached out the window. He paid no mind to the sharp glass cutting into his arm. He ignored the pain and the wetness from fresh cuts as his hand found the door knob. He fiddled around with it until he found the lock. He turned it and heard a click.

He was elated that he got the door unlocked. But he couldn’t waste time celebrating. Carefully, he eased the door open and looked in the hallways. He didn’t see anyone. He slowly walked around, walking softly on the ground. He needed to be sure no one heard him walking in the hallway.

He thought about which direction he had come into this place. He remembered he came in from the left. He headed down that way. Trying to remember all the directions he had taken was difficult. But if he wanted to find his way back to Snap, to sneak in and rescue him, he had to be confident in himself. He had only gone certain ways in this building. If he just remembered those ways, then he shouldn’t have much trouble reaching Snap.

But this place was like a gigantic maze, and many paths looked the same. How was he going to be certain he was going the right way? For all he knew, he already missed the way to Snap and was heading towards some unknown place, maybe another hideous room with an equally horrible machine, or some room filled with blood, or some other horrific place.

He didn’t get too far down the hallway. As his hands touched against the wall, he must have triggered something. In a matter of seconds, thick bars rose from the ground, both behind and in front of him. He screamed in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting something like this.

“No..not now...” Rudy whispered in horror. He started to bang against the bars. “No please...” It was no use. He had no way of escaping the makeshift cage that surrounded him now. All he could do now was was wait for Cosmo to come.

And speaking of the monster, it didn’t take long for Mr. Cosmo to show up.

The man looked very amused by Rudy’s attempt at escape. He walked over slowly, nonchalantly, up to the bars. He stared at the teenager with a wicked smile. If the bars were thinner, Rudy would have grabbed Mr. Cosmo by the neck.

“I had a feeling you would try to escape.” Mr. Cosmo said with a smile. “Ms. Saffron managed to get out of that room. So I thought I should increase the security a tad.”

Rudy said, “Ms. Saffron?” His eyes narrowed slightly. “Why did you lock her up? I thought she was your ally...”

“She seems to have been...corrupted...” Mr. Cosmo said with a tinge of fake regretfulness. “It seems all that time chatting and being friendly with your blue pal has messed up her mind. She actually seemed to care for the little runt. So I had her detained here. But I must say...I didn’t know she’d be able to send help so quickly...” He paused for a moment, and his smile broaded as he stared intently at Rudy. “But no matter...I’ll let her have her little fun for a while. I’ll take care of her later.”

Rudy glared daggers at the man, clenching his teeth tightly.

“And as for you...”

Rudy felt his body tense up.

“Since you are so eager to see your friend...” Mr. Cosmo snapped his fingers. Rudy’s eyes widened in horror when he saw Draow walk up behind the man. “My...companion and I will be more than happy to escort you back up. I will await your decision...”

“But...it’s not even an hour yet..!” Rudy cried in horror.

“Oh, but all the sand had reached the bottom.” Mr. Cosmo pointed behind the boy.

Rudy looked over. His eyes widened as he saw the sand spilled all over the place. In a way, Mr. Cosmo had been correct. The deal was that he had to make the choice when all the sand touched the bottom. And it sure wasn’t doing anything but that all broken up and shattered on the ground.

He looked at Mr. Cosmo. “I...I can’t...make this kind of decision...”

“Oh sure you can.” Mr. Cosmo tapped a finger against his head. “You just gotta think real hard, and decide what is more important to you... free will...or your best friend...” He chuckled evilly as he opened the front bars. “Grab him, Draow.”

As Draow stalked towards him, Rudy took notice of something red on his wing claw. He felt his heart freeze. Could it be...Penny’s blood...?

He didn’t have time to question it as Draow grabbed him by his left arm. He bit down hard, drawing blood from Rudy’s already injured arm. He let out a cry of pain as the beast whipped his head swiftly to one side, the force putting pressure on his pained left arm.

Draow dangled Rudy in front of Mr. Cosmo. The man cupped his chin tightly and stared into his green eyes.

“I do know that you will make the right choice.” He said with a smile.

On instinct, Rudy, in an attempt to defend himself, tried to bite Mr. Cosmo’s hand. But he only ended up biting air as the man had pulled his hand back just in time.

“I should be careful. Could’ve lost a finger.” The man said with mock concern. He turned around and began to walk down the hall. “Come, Draow. And don’t let our guest go...”

Draow followed close behind, holding Rudy tightly in his jaws.

sss

Ms. Saffron held onto the hook above the car door. She hung on tightly as the driver made another sharp turn, the wheels squeeling against the road pavement. She heard Penny grunting, and knew she wasn’t having as much luck at hanging on.

She understood they had to get back to the building as soon as possible, but this man could take more care in not driving like a madman. What if they gotten into a car accident? Or went the wrong way? This guy was driving so fast, she was amazed that he was still able to make all the right turns. How long would that last, exactly?

As they went through another four way intersection, she looked over at the man. She had some doubts that this was the artist that they had been looking for. Penny was not the only one to express doubt. But as soon as she mentioned Mr. Cosmo’s name and what he had done...the middle aged man seemed to spring to life.

It was clear that he took all of this very seriously. Even though he wasn’t sure if it was possible Mr. Cosmo really had returned...he wasn’t going to take any chances. They had left almost right away to get back to the building. Ms. Saffron said she knew the building well and that she could tell them which path to take.

Up ahead, she could see the building come into view now. They were almost there. She could only hope that they weren’t too late.

sss

Rudy seethed in pain as Draow dragged him into the room where Snap was being held prisoner. The beast obviously took no care to make sure he wasn’t biting him too hard. He didn’t hear his bone’s break, so his arm wasn’t broken. But it sure felt that way with the way Draow’s teeth were tearing into his arm. His blood kept dripping on the ground, leaving a trail behind as Draow walked.

Mr. Cosmo was walking just in front of them. He kept a brisk pace, like he was excited to hear Rudy’s answer. He paused, letting Draow walk out in front, and turned to shut the door. Draow carried Rudy towards the front of the room and dropped him. Rudy groaned in pain and held his arm tightly.

He could see Snap in the cage. His widened eyes were looking at him in worry and fear. Rudy was grateful that he didn’t see any new wounds on his friend. But that gratefulness soon vanished as he reminded himself of what was about to happen.

He moved closer to the cage. The bars were not far apart enough for him to reach in and comfort Snap. All he could do was stare at his friend with great concern. It was painful for him to see Snap this way, deprived of his personality because of the pain he had to endure. He wanted to speak. He wanted to say something to put Snap at some ease, but what could he say? He had no idea how he was going to get out of this mess.

He finally manage to choke out, “S-Snap...” He didn’t want to believe that this may be the last time he’ll ever see his friend, alive or not.

Snap tried again to get to his feet. He did a little better, but only for a second. As soon as he took a step, he fell to the ground. He cried out in pain as he hit the cold, hard floor.

“Snap!” Rudy cried with tears in his eyes.

He had been wrong. Snap wasn’t in the same condition as he first saw him. He was worse. Before, he could manage to walk, if just barely. Now it seems like even taking one step is too hard for him. Rudy’s eyes trailed to the nail in his friend’s head. Had it...had it damaged Snap enough that he could no longer walk...?

No...it wasn’t the nail... Rudy’s mind flashed back to the vinegar Snap was dipped in. The vinegar had done a lot more damage than he thought. He looked at Snap’s feet and he felt his hearth wrench when he saw the burn marks. Deep red plastered all over his feet. He hadn’t noticed it initially because of the angle Snap was in when he walked in.

Now he could see the burns quite clearly. As Snap laid there, he took notice of his feet twitching in pain. Rudy bit his lip, choking back a sob. He didn’t doubt that Cosmo did that on purpose so that Snap couldn’t try to get away from him this time.

Giving the room a quick look around, he could see the vinegar tank off in the corner. The smell still hung strongly in the air. Before, he never really thought anything of vinegar. It had never been a concern to him. When he did the experiment in school, he never thought that his best friend would be endangered by the stuff. With a pang, he wondered if Mr. Cosmo knew about the experiment and decided to use it for this occassion. If that were the case... Rudy felt horrible.

The vinegar tank had been placed where Snap could easily see it. It felt like a deliberate act, like Cosmo wanted to taunt him on what his fate could end up being. It was no wonder Snap was faced away from that one particular wall. He didn’t want to look at his own death...

Mr. Cosmo opened up the cage door again, the bars vanishing with a sparking sound. Rudy immediately started to rush over, but Draow put his head in the way and snarled at him. Rudy backed up slowly, staring at Draow in fear. Unable to do anything, he watched as Mr. Cosmo went in to fetch Snap.

As Mr. Cosmo got closer to Snap, the blue boy raised his head and started to tremble. Snap’s low cries filled the room, pulling at Rudy’s heart strings. Snap couldn’t do anything to get away. He pressed himself against the ground, as if doing that would keep him safe.

“D-D-Don’t hurt me...p-please...” Snap stammered, holding back a sob. “Don’t...”

Mr. Cosmo knelt down towards the zoner. When he had himself lowered, he turned his head over to Rudy. “Well, Rudy...have you made up your mind...?”

Rudy watched as Cosmo ran his hand lightly along the back of the shivering Snap’s head. Petting him like he was some kind of animal... Rudy growled lowly in anger, but held his tongue. He was afraid if he said anything about that, Cosmo would hurt Snap again.

Snap cringed back, his body tense from the unwanted touch. He didn’t try to scoot away. With his damaged feet, he couldn’t get far. Rudy had a sad feeling that Snap would still lay there even if his feet weren’t damaged. He was frozen in fear, the actions done to him by Cosmo traumatizing him.

“I...” Rudy couldn’t bring himself to say more. He looked away.

“Look over here, boy...”

His mind and heart filling with dread, Rudy forced himself to look back over to Cosmo and Snap.

A twisted smile came onto Cosmo’s face. He started to push a little harder on Snap. Rudy could see the look of discomfort in his friend’s eyes. He saw his hands push against the floor in a weak attempt to get away.

“What do you want more...?” Mr. Cosmo asked slowly. “Your free will...or Snap...?”

In a second, Mr. Cosmo seized Snap again. His fingers wrapped around the blue boy’s throat. He lifted him with a swift motion into the air. Snap let out a strangled cry and started to struggle. He pulled at Cosmo’s hand in an attempt to get free.

Rudy watched in horror. “Snap!”

Mr. Cosmo smirked at the zoner trying in vain to escape. He looked back at Rudy. “It is your choice, Rudy Tabootie...so...” He began to walk over to the vinegar tank. As he positioned Snap over it, he said with a sneer, “..what will it be..?”

In desperation, Rudy cried, “No! Please...don’t do this, Mr. Cosmo! Let Snap go! Please!”

“Oh I’ll let him go all right...” Mr. Cosmo started to loosen his grip on Snap...while he was still hovered above the vinegar. “I’ll let him drop right in here...”

“No!” Rudy’s face was stained with tears. He reached out towards Snap, only to be held back by Draow. “No...please...don’t do it...”

Mr. Cosmo tightened his grip again. He lowered Snap a little closer to the vinegar. “If you want him to live to see another day....you know what you must do...”

“I...I...”

But Rudy couldn’t think of anything to say. Thoughts swam in his mind, confusing him for a moment. What should he do? He could say no, but lose Snap. He could say yes, but he might still lose Snap anyway. He couldn’t win. But it seemed like...he didn’t have much of a choice... He...he wasn’t going to let Snap get tortured and killed like that...and if he wanted him to have a chance at survival....

Seeing no other alternative, Rudy lowered his head in defeat. The tears continued to fall form his eyes. He looked up at Snap. “I-I am so sorry...Snap...please forgive me...” Snap’s eyes widened like he knew what Rudy was about to say. “O-Okay Cosmo...you...you win...” He let out a soft cry. “Just..please don’t hurt Snap anymore...”

Mr. Cosmo grinned triumphantly. “I knew you would come to your senses.” He began to walk away from the vinegar and towards Rudy. “I guess this chalk creature really means that much to you.”

Snap’s struggles increase. “No, R-Rudy...you c-can’t..!”

“Shut up!” Cosmo snarled at the struggling zoner. He pulled out a knife and, with a single motion, sliced against Snap’s right cheek. Snap let out a scream.

Rudy gasped in sheer horror. “No!”

Snap fell silent and began to whimper as fresh chalk blood dripped from the new cut. He turned his head away from the man, closing his eyes.

“Next time, I will take out your eye...” Mr. Cosmo hissed, glaring menacingly at Snap. “So keep your mouth shut...” He turned his attention back to Rudy. “Now...where were...?”

Suddenly there was a whistling sound. Draow’s ears pricked up and looked around for the source. Mr. Cosmo frowned and looked around the room as well. After the whistling, there was a couple of clanging sounds, like something fell on the ground.

Then, a second later, a loud bang. Rudy and Snap cried out in pain. Mr. Cosmo hissed and staggered back, releasing his grip on Snap. Draow howled in agony and swayed from side to side. A strong smelling smoke filled the room.

Rudy struggled to open his eyes. He was starting to feel a little dizzy. He heard a thud and saw that Cosmo and Draow had collapsed on the ground. He looked over to where Snap was laying prone on the ground. The smoke grew thicker. He could see someone picking Snap up, but he couldn’t recognize who it was.

Despite covering his mouth to try to avoid breathing in the smoke, it was a futile effort. Rudy’s body was wracked in coughs. He noticed this mystery person was coming towards him. His mind eventually gave into the smoke and, as he was being dragged out, he fell unconscious.

sss

“Rudy?”

A voice called out to Rudy. It sounded familiar. All Rudy could see was darkness. He felt so tired, so weak. His eyes remained closed.

“Come on, get up! We need to get moving!”

There was that voice again. It sounded less echoy this time. Slowly, Rudy’s eyes opened up and he struggled to sit up. He let out a groan and rubbed his head.

“Thank goodness you’re okay! I wasn’t sure if throwing smoke bombs was a good idea. But I didn’t know what else to do.”

Through Rudy’s hazy state, his eyes started to focus a little. The blurred colors and shadows began to take shape. His mind slowly remembered what had happened. He looked over at the source of the voice. And he couldn’t believe who he was staring at.

“Mr...Mr. Wilter?!”

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 27: ADDING TWISTS TO THE PAST-



“I...I...” Rudy breathed in, trying to take in what had transpired. “You’re...you’re...”

He thought he had to be dreaming. There was no way this could be true. Mr. Wilter....he couldn’t be the artist from the past... He had always ranted and raved about how he hated cartoons. He didn’t know anything about ChalkZone. If Wilter had ever caught him or anyone else drawing on the chalkboard, he would yell at them, or even assign them detention.

He wondered if he and Snap had actually died when the smoke hit them. And this was some sort of afterlife that was just a conjure of random thoughts. No..that would not be very logical. He wouldn’t feel any pain if he were dead. And his head was aching him. Then again, when dealing with a world made of chalk, just what did the term ëlogical’ entail anymore?

He rubbed his eyes a few times. Maybe they were just still a little too cloudy to see clearly. He blinked a few times and looked at the man. No, it was still Mr. Wilter. There was no mistaking him. That large nose, the red suit, the receding brown hair...it was him all right.

Mr. Wilter’s facial features were a little softer than he was used to. He rarely ever saw Mr. Wilter look this concerned and worried about someone before. And especially not directed at him. The man was down on his knees, keeping an eye level with Rudy.

Rudy took notice of something on the ground next to Mr. Wilter. It was a gas mask. That would explain why Mr. Wilter didn’t collapse from the smoke in the other room. Now that he was far away from the smoke, there was no need for the mask anymore.

“I understand your confusion, Rudy.” Mr. Wilter said. “There’s...a lot I haven’t told you...”

“Yeah... I mean...out of everyone, I didn’t think you’d be the one to rescue me and Snap...” Rudy’s eyes snapped wide open. He whipped his head left and right. “Where is Snap?!”

Rudy remembered seeing Snap being carried out with him. But he couldn’t see him anywhere. What had happened to him?

“It’s okay. He’s over there.” Wilter moved aside and moved his hand to point to where Snap was laying down. “He hasn’t woken up from the smoke yet.”

Rudy could see Snap on the ground. He was on his stomach, his head turned to the side. Rudy tried to stand up, but the smoke was still affecting him. He slid back down before he could get all the way to his feet. He began to wonder if the smoke was damaging. He looked up towards Mr. Wilter, who guessed what was on his mind.

“Don’t worry, the smoke shouldn’t cause any real damage. It just incapacitates individuals for a short time.” Mr. Wilter said. “Unfortunately..this means that, pretty soon, Mr. Cosmo will be awake. And no doubt, he will be looking for us.”

Rudy gritted his teeth at the mention of that man’s name. When all was said and done, he wanted that Mr. Cosmo got what was coming for him. All the sorrow he felt earlier about Snap’s condition turned into fiery hate towards the man who caused all of it to begin with.

Before, he wasn’t sure how he was going to get back at Mr. Cosmo for what he had done. Just a short while ago, everything seemed so hopeless, like nothing he did would get them out of this mess. It was distressing, a terrible feeling. He hated feeling so helpless. He wanted to be able to help Snap...Penny...the citizens of ChalkZone. He wanted to be able to defeat Mr. Cosmo like how he had beaten the other bad guys in ChalkZone.

Now, things seemed to be finally looking up for him. A ray of hope was starting to shine. As shocked as he was to see Mr. Wilter, and as hard as it was for him to digest that he was the mystery artist from the past, it was a comfort knowing he was not only still alive, but seemed to remember Mr. Cosmo and had come to save him and Snap. With someone who had faced Cosmo before at his side, they would have a better chance of winning.

Rudy’s mind halted for a moment. Something didn’t seem right. If Mr. Wilter had known about Mr. Cosmo and the danger he presented, then why had he allowed him to come to the school? Why had he allowed him to take Rudy back into the abandoned classroom?

Either Mr. Wilter didn’t really remember every little detail, he was lying and could possibly be working for Mr. Cosmo, or...there could be another factor he wasn’t considering.

As if on cue, Mr. Wilter spoke.

“I do feel regret I didn’t do anything earlier. I was a little suspicious when he sought you out, of all my students. Something about him did feel fishy...” Mr. Wilter said. He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I was a fool. I should have realized that his memories had started to return much sooner. I should have seen the signs. Had I known, I could have helped you sooner.”

Rudy was unused to this amount of sorrow and regret from the person he thought would never become an ally. This didn’t sound like the Mr. Wilter he knew. And that had him wondering. Just how much of Mr. Wilter did he not know of? How much of Wilter’s behavior had been genuine...and how much had been an act to mislead him?

Rudy couldn’t help but feel angry at Mr. Wilter for not telling him sooner. He was right. A lot of things could have been prevented if he had said something. If Mr. Wilter had told him, they wouldn’t have had to try so hard to sneak into ChalkZone. Things would have been a lot easier.

But it was too late now. And at least Mr. Wilter finally fessed up. This was still going to take some time getting used to, though. Mr. Wilter...the man who saved ChalkZone years ago from Mr. Cosmo? If he had been told any of this a couple years ago, he would have laughed at the very idea.

“I suppose you want me to tell you the story, am I right?” Mr. Wilter asked Rudy after a bit of silence.

Rudy replied, “Well...Biclops already told me what happened...”

“There’s some details I am sure he left out.” Mr. Wilter said. He sat down next to Rudy, pressing his back against the wall. “I can tell you more, if you’d like. This tunnel’s security cameras were disabled earlier. Ms. Saffron and Penny took care of that. So we have a little bit of time to talk before Cosmo gets them back up and running again.”

“Penny...?” Rudy breathed. “She’s...she’s alive...?”

Mr. Wilter smiled down at him. He gave a slow nod. “Yes, Rudy. She is. Ms. Saffron rescued her from Draow’s grasp. She’s injured, but not too seriously. She’ll be okay.”

Rudy smiled. He felt so relieved and elated that Penny was okay. He had been so worried about her. He wasn’t sure if she was dead or alive. Mr. Wilter’s confirmation made him feel so much better.

But that smile soon faded when he remembered what he had seen earlier, when Draow went over to grab him. The red on his wing claw...

“So that blood I saw on Draow’s wing...” Rudy whispered. “It really had been Penny’s blood...”

“I’m certain you are right about that.” Wilter said in a regretful voice. “She’s lucky it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Draow is...quite a monster himself. He is the most resilient and dangerous of the zoners Mr. Cosmo has created.”

Their conversation was interrupted when they heard a moan from where Snap was. Rudy watched in anticipation as Snap slowly raised his head. His eyes blinked a few times and looked around. He felt his heart sink when Snap immediately showed fear upon waking up. Not at him or Wilter, but looking around for Cosmo, as if he were just around the corner, waiting for him.

When Snap’s eyes fell on Rudy, there was a moment of silence. Snap continued to stare at Rudy. The look of fear and confusion in his eyes... Rudy wondered if Snap was thinking this was a dream. After all he had been through, he couldn’t blame the poor guy.

“R-Rudy...?” Snap said in a slighlty scratchy voice. “Is...is that really you?”

“Yeah Snap...it’s me...” Rudy said. He smiled. He felt tears starting to form, these of happiness instead of sorrow. “Mr. Wilter got us out of there. You’re safe now. Cosmo isn’t here.”

Mr. Wilter seemed to understand that the two needed a moment. He got up and he moved away. He couldn’t leave them behind though. So he just sat on the other side of the tunnel. It was the best he could do to give the two some time together.

Snap’s face brightened up a little. He still looked worried, but he was still happy that, for the moment, he wasn’t in any danger. He clearly wanted to get closer to Rudy. He started to drag himself over with his hands as his feet were too damaged for the moment to be of any use.

Rudy’s heart tightened as he saw his friend try to crawl over to him. Rudy’s light headedness started to go away. He leaned forward towards Snap, reaching out his hands for him. Luckily the tunnel wasn’t too wide, so it didn’t take long for Snap to get close enough for Rudy to grab him.

Rudy gently grabbed Snap by his uninjured hand. Being very careful, he pulled Snap off the ground and into his arms. This moment felt almost like a dream. After all Cosmo put them through, he had a hard time believing that he was reunited, for real, with his best friend. It was almost too good to be true. But he knew, without a doubt, this was no dream. Sometimes reality is better than dreams...

Snap cuddled up closer to Rudy. He pressed his head against Rudy’s chest and he wrapped his arms around Rudy tightly, afraid to let go. He started to shake and tremble in Rudy’s arms. Tears flowed from his eyes as he started to cry.

“Rudy...it was so horrible...” Snap said, sniffling. “He...he did terrible things to me...he told me that I was never leaving this place alive...”

Rudy’s lower lip quivered as tears of sadness began to drip from his eyes. “Oh Snap...” He cradled Snap gently, minding his injuries. “He won’t hurt you ever again... I promise...”

Although Snap’s shivering and sobbing slowed down, it was clear he was still frightened. Rudy bit his lip, trying to think of something he could do to help Snap feel safer, to provide a sense of comfort for his friend. He rested his chin on Snap’s head, careful not to touch his forehead, where he knew the dreaded nail was.

That’s when Rudy noticed there was something silver taped to Snap’s head. That wasn’t there before. He looked over at Mr. Wilter.

“Yes, I put that there.” Mr. Wilter said, getting the thing of what Rudy was going to ask him. “It will block the signal from Mr. Cosmo’s mind control devices. He won’t be controlling Snap ever again.”

At this, Snap slowly turned his head until he could see Wilter with one of his white eyes. A small, weak smile came onto his face. “Th-thank you...”

Mr. Wilter smiled for a moment. Then he narrowed his eyes lightly and he looked towards the ground. “We still need to get you to a hospital soon to get that...that thing removed from your head. I was able to stop the signal so you shouldn’t get anymore damage. But a lot of harm has already been done to you.”

Rudy’s heart wrenched. “So you’re saying that some of the damage could become...permanent?”

Mr. Wilter winced, then slowly nodded his head. “I am afraid so, Rudy. The damage could still be reversed if that thing is taken out soon. But with Cosmo tailing us, I don’t know how fast we can get to a ChalkZone hospital.”

“So...” Rudy bit his lip, afraid to ask. But he had to know. “...how long does he have before...?”

Snap looked up at Rudy worriedly. He pressed himself a little closer. Rudy responded by hugging him slightly tighter, careful not to hurt him.

Mr. Wilter was silent for a few moments. His already worried expression deepened. Rudy knew that wasn’t a good sign. His heart sped up as he awaited the worst possible news.

“I would say...” Mr. Wilter said regretfully. “About six hours. And that’s a best case scenario.”

Rudy’s eyes widened. He looked down at his injured friend, then back at Mr. Wilter. “Six...hours?”

Wilter nodded his head once. “Yes. Six. The mind control thing he placed in Snap is actually just an upgrade from something he created way back, shortly after his corruption. Biclops told me about the victims, who recovered and who did not.” He took in a deep breath. “Snap has six hours left before the damage becomes irreversable.” He looked at Rudy. “Have you...noticed any neurological problems?”

Rudy took in a sharp breath. He thought back to when he was first brought to Snap. He remembered vividly his friend trying to walk, only to be unable to balance himself and tripping a lot. A tear streamed down his face as he looked at Mr. Wilter.

“Y-Yes...He...he has trouble walking...” Rudy said softly. He stared at Snap’s burned feet. “Even before that monster injured his feet so he couldn’t get away...”

Mr. Wilter’s eyebrows furrowed with concern and regret. “I...am sorry. I wish I could have given you better news.”

Rudy didn’t reply. He just continued to hold onto Snap. The reality of the situation hit him like a sharp stone. He felt his heart being yanked down by tremendous emotion. He felt like he was slapped in the face. He didn’t to believe it. He wanted Mr. Wilter to be wrong, that Snap would be okay when all this was finally over. He wanted to be able to go on adventures with him again, to have fun like they always did before.

The idea that it may never happen again, it tore his heart open. He felt an uncomfortable pain in his chest as he tried to digest what Mr. Wilter told him. Fresh tears strolled from his eyes, wetting his cheeks. He turned his head away so that his tears didn’t land on Snap and hurt him more.

The finality of it all was more than he could bear. He wanted to run, get out of here. He wanted to get away from anything that reminded him of what happened.

It just wasn’t fair. Out of everyone...why did it have to be Snap? He hadn’t done anything to deserve this. He had even helped save ChalkZone more times than he could remember. He shouldn’t have to suffer like this. He should only have to worry about big things, such as dealing with another one of Skrawl’s schemes. He shouldn’t have to worry about something that should be mundane, such as the simple act of just getting around his home...

“B-Bucko...”

Snap’s coarse voice caught his attention. He looked down at his injured blue friend. Snap was giving him a pained smile. “Snap...” He whispered.

“Please don’t cry...” Snap said weakly. “None of this was...your fault.”

“I...I don’t want to lose you.” Rudy choked, his eyes red with tears. “I can’t lose you again.”

Snap let out a soft chuckle. He reached over and touched Rudy’s hand lightly. “You feel that? I’m still here.”

“Snap...” Rudy’s lip quivered. He wiped away his tears and pulled Snap into a tighter hug. “You’re...you’re like a brother to me...” He choked back a sob. “I...I love you...”

Snap’s weak smile broaded just ever so slightly. “Love ya too, p-pal...”

Hearing that made Rudy’s heart ache even more. Now, more than ever, he wanted to make Cosmo pay for hurting Snap. He was not going to get away with hurting who he saw as his little brother. He didn’t know how, but somehow, he was going to get even with that evil man.

As Rudy continued to cradle Snap in his arms, he finally took notice of his arm, the one that had been damaged by Draow’s jaws. Something thick and white covered it, wrapping around like a snake. Bandages.

He looked down at Snap again. He didn’t know why he hadn’t noticed earlier. Maybe he was too muggy and distressed to really take notice. But Snap’s wounds were also bandaged up. Unlike his, the bandages Snap wore were clearly from ChalkZone given their appearance.

There was only one why either of them could have gotten the bandages on them. He looked over at Mr. Wilter.

“Did you do this?” He asked, gesturing to the bandages that were on both him and Snap.

Mr. Wilter said, “Yes. I was able to grab a medkit because I had a feeling I would be needing it, knowing what Cosmo is capable of.” He glanced down at Snap. “When I heard that your friend from ChalkZone was in trouble, I had Penny go into ChalkZone briefly and draw a medkit. It didn’t have to be the best-looking, just so that it worked. I treated you and Snap when you were still unconscious.”

“Where are Penny and Saffron?” Rudy asked.

Wilter replied, “We will be catching up to them soon. They had to go fetch a...friend of mine.”

“Friend?” Rudy looked at him, confused. “Who?”

“You will see.” Wilter said with a smile.

Rudy wondered if he was referring to his pterosaur from years back. But it could always be someone else. Like those child drawings he found in Mr. Wilter’s house. Maybe they were coming to help. Or someone that Rudy hadn’t thought of... But Wilter could be right. He would find out soon enough.

Rudy realized there may not be much time left before Mr. Cosmo woke up. He looked over at Mr. Wilter, biting his lip lightly. There were things he still wanted to know. Stuff that he didn’t fully understand. Wilter may be able to provide most of those answers.

“Biclops...he made it sound like everyone, including you, who had been to ChalkZone...got their memory erased.” Rudy said slowly. “I..don’t understand. How do you still remember? Did you get your memory back or something, like how Cosmo had?”

Mr. Wilter shook his head. “No. I always had them. Although Biclops had little trust in humans, he did let me keep my memory...as a thank you for stopping Mr. Cosmo. He had a...personal grudge against the man.”

Rudy nodded his head, his eyes narrowed. “After what he did to ChalkZone....no wonder he didn’t trust me at first.”

“No.” Mr. Wilter said.

That single word uttered shocked Rudy, even though Wilter hadn’t explained. He stared wide-eyed at Wilter. What was he talking about?

Not bothering to wait for Rudy to ask him a question, Wilter continued, “Biclops disliked Cosmo even before he was fully corrupted.”

Rudy blinked his eyes. “What? I don’t understand.”

“I’m not surprised. Biclops doesn’t like to talk about it. But if there is one thing I am certain he hasn’t told you...” Mr. Wilter paused for a moment. He stared at Rudy, his eyes intense. “Has Biclops ever told you who his creator was?”

What Mr. Wilter was implying disturbed Rudy. No...it couldn’t be...could it? Slightly shaken, he shook his head.

Wilter closed his eyes. “It was Mr. Cosmo...”

“What?!” Rudy cried in unison.

“You’re...kidding right?” Snap said softly, his voice filled with disbelief.

“I wish I were...but I’m not. You see, when Cosmo first found the black chalk, the first thing he drew was Biclops...or Cyclops as he was referred to as back then. Shortly after, Cosmo...started to give into the corruption of the black chalk. You know most of what happened after that, I’m sure.”

Rudy nodded slowly. He was having a hard time letting this sink in. His mind flashed back to when Biclops, when he still had only one eye, had shown him what happened before. The images of the chalk creatures wreaking havoc, made by careless creators...those weren’t just mischevious kids. Those were some of the artists Cosmo had corrupted. And that boy, the one who made Biclops, that had been Cosmo as a kid...

Mr. Wilter’s story was not yet finished. “Cosmo had been unusually intelligent even back then. He’s worse nowadays, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t cause harm back then. During his reign of terror, he had created something as a method of trying to control ChalkZone. A prototype to outright mind control that he’s going with now.”

“What did...he do?” Rudy asked cautiously.

“Mr. Cosmo...is the creator of the red chalk.”

“What...?” Rudy was stunned, his eyes filled with fear. “How..how did...”

“The black chalk.” Mr. Wilter said. “It gave him knowledge on how magic chalk works, on a deeper level than you or me. That is how he is able to create new types of chalk.”

“I...I don’t believe it...” Snap whispered. “I..I knew the psycho was dangerous but...to be able to create chalk...”

Rudy nodded in agreement. This was worse than they had imagined. Mr. Cosmo...the one behind the red menace that is locked away in the Chalk Mine. Rudy’s respect for Biclops increased as he realized the giant had been taking care of his creator’s mess.

“I do apologize for not telling you this sooner, Rudy. But...I had to pretend to not know about ChalkZone, in order to keep it safe.” Mr. Wilter explained. “Even if there was a time when I really wanted to help you, I wasn’t allowed to. It was too big a risk to let too many humans into ChalkZone. No one wanted a repeat of what happened. Though the black chalk is locked away...that isn’t a guarantee an artist won’t find it.” Mr. Wilter sighed. “Just look at what happened to Cosmo...”

Something slowly dawned in Rudy’s head. “So...the reason that you have been my teacher all these years...”

Mr. Wilter replied, “It was to make sure you had a chance at getting into ChalkZone during school hours, if you so needed to. Other teachers would have noticed the strange occurrences. I turned a blind eye so you and Penny could interact with ChalkZone.”

The teacher got up and walked over to Rudy and Snap. He sat down next to them. He let out a breath. He glanced down at the confused boy.

“When you were just a little kid, I saw your potential. You had always been so kindhearted. I knew that there would come a day when ChalkZone would need a new protector. I had spoken to Biclops. He was, understandably, sore at the idea of letting another creator in. But..he agreed to give you a chance, and test you. I placed the last box of magic chalk that I had kept with me for years by the blackboard.”

“You mean...you...” Rudy said, stunned.

Mr. Wilter gave a nod. “Yes. I am the reason you got into ChalkZone in the first place.” He leaned back against the wall, his head tilting upwards. “I know I’ve said I hated cartoons... A part of me does, but that is just bitterness. I didn’t exactly like being kicked out of ChalkZone, despite saving it. But..still..it was for the best, at the time.” He looked down at Rudy. “I’m sorry I’ve been harsh on you at times, like with your chalk and vinegar test. I’ve only been like that to ensure you never give up doing art. Reverse psychology and all...”

The amount of information Rudy was recieving was staggering. But he and Snap had no time to let it digest. All of a sudden, a loud screech could be heard right above them. They all looked upwards, frozen. A second later, another screech and a crash could be heard.

Wilter narrowed his eyes. “Draow is awake... And that means so is Mr. Cosmo.” He got up and gestured to Rudy and Snap. “Come on, we need to get moving. Staying in one spot is suicide.”

Carefully, Rudy slung Snap across his back, just like how Penny had been carrying him. He held onto Snap’s legs while the blue boy wrapped his arms around his neck gently. He followed Mr. Wilter down the tunnel.

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 28: A FEW TRICKS OF MY OWN-




Rudy supported Snap as best as he could as he ran along behind Mr. Wilter. Running was their best option according to the teacher. If they walked too slowly, they could be more easily tracked. At least with running, they could put in more distance between them and Cosmo, in theory. Wilter was not familiar entirely with the building, so he warned both Rudy and Snap that they could end up in a trap if they aren’t careful.

Running wasn’t exactly the best thing to do with Snap on his back. He did his best to keep his grip on him and not letting him slip. He tried not to bounce Snap too hard. He didn’t want to accidentally hurt him. He took care not to touch his feet. He could tell they were still hurting Snap.

But the running made this a little hard to do. Every time his foot pounded the ground, he could feel Snap budge upwards slightly from the force. So far, Snap hadn’t cried out in pain, but he didn’t take comfort in this. Snap could either be faking it, trying to be strong for Rudy, or he could have become unresponsive. His thoughts went back to when he thought he saw him sleeping on Penny’s back. He had second thoughts. What if the reason he was quiet then was because of the damage the nail did to him?

He wanted to talk to Snap. He wanted to get him to show some signs that he was awake. That would have been a bad idea for two reasons. It could weaken Snap further, forcing him to use up more of his strength. And it could draw attention to them. Wilter told them to be as quiet as possible, only to speak in whispers. Draow had excellent hearing and if they spoke too loud, he just might hear them.

Soon they reached the end of the tunnel, only to be confronted by a labrynth similiar to what he encountered on the upper level. He growled in irritation. What was with this man and mazes? Did he construct them so that, in case prisoners escaped, they would have a heck of a time trying to get out? He wondered how many of these paths led to nowhere, and how many led to dead ends.

He wouldn’t doubt they would be boobie trapped as well. Any one of them could have sensors lining the walls, triggering whenever he’d cross them. And if that happened, they’d be trapped in an electrified water cage again...or worse.

Wilter held up his hand. “Stop.”

Rudy stopped in his tracks. “What is it? I thought we had to keep moving.”

“Shh....” Wilter said as he approached the tunnels. “Knowing Cosmo, one singular path would be untampered with, so he won’t get caught in his own traps.”

Rudy didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before, but it made sense. There would be a safe path Cosmo would set aside for himself. If he didn’t do that, than he wasn’t really bright. Rudy silently wished Cosmo really was that dense. He’d be a lot easier to take down.

Wilter narrowed his eyes as he stared at each tunnel. He seemed lost in thought. He looked at the openings in front of him and scratched his chin, foot tapping. Rudy watched and waited, hoping that Wilter could pick the right path for them to go down.

Mr. Wilter’s eyes slightly widened as he stared at the far left tunnel. “That tunnel may be our best bet.” He said, turning his head to face Rudy and Snap. “Its coloration is slightly different from the rest of the tunnels. I am sure Mr. Cosmo altered the coloration of the tunnel slightly so he would remember which tunnel to take.”

Rudy walked up behind Mr. Wilter as they headed towards the tunnel. Though he trusted his teacher’s judgment, he still felt apprehensive. What if it led them down into some unknown danger? He tried to calm himself. He did have Wilter at his side now, which would make things a little easier for him.

They didn’t run right away in the tunnel. Wilter wanted to make sure the tunnel was safe. He walked out ahead first. He took a few steps in. He went in a little deeper. Only when he reached about thirty feet down the tunnel did he gesture for Rudy and Snap to come down. After this, they broke into a run.

This underground place was massive. It had to have encompassed a space larger than the building on top itself. He wondered what this lower section had once been for. He had never heard of a building having such a massive underground labrynth, wider than the building. There were no signs anywhere of what this place had once been. Cosmo really had this place renovated.

He couldn’t imagine how he had pulled it off. It was scary to think about. This man...he had shown a level of intelligence he was not used to dealing with. The only comfort he had right now was Mr. Wilter being with him. He dealt with Mr. Cosmo before. He would have a better idea on how to deal with him.

The running was starting to get to him. They had been running for a while now. He could hear Wilter’s ragged breathing up ahead. He was getting tired too. Rudy tried to keep a running pace, but he found himself unconsciously slowing down into a slow walk. His heart pounded hard against his chest. He hunched over, mouth wide open to take in more oxygen with each breath. His throat was starting to feel dry. He was getting really thirsty. A water bottle sounded really nice right about now.

Mr. Wilter pressed his back against the wall of the tunnel. “We should take a break.”

“But...” Rudy panted. “What about Cosmo?”

“If we wear ourselves out,” Mr. Wilter replied, “We will never get away from him. If he found us while we were exhausted, believe me, he would take advantage of that. We should rest and get some of our energy back before continuing.”

Rudy felt relieved to be sitting on the ground again. He gently put Snap back in his arms again. He was afraid that if he set him on the ground, he would accidentally hurt him some way. Plus he wanted to make Snap feel safe and secure, and he knew he felt that way when he held him. Snap nestled into Rudy’s arms comfortably, laying his head on his chest.

Rudy watched Snap’s eyes start to close a little. They would only remain closed for a second before pain would wake him up. Rudy had been careful not to hurt him, but some of the injuries radiated with pain even without a touch. Despite being treated, he was certain some infection had started to enter his body. With the damage to his neurological system, infection was the last thing Snap needed.

He felt something cold against his arm. He looked down and saw a water bottle. He looked up at Mr. Wilter, who smiled at him as he held his own water bottle. Rudy looked down at the bottle, smacking his dry lips together. Holding Snap with his bandaged arm, he reached over with his right arm and grabbed the bottle. He attempted to open it with his teeth when he heard a low whine.

He looked down and saw Snap staring up at him in fear, eyes wide. No, it wasn’t him he was looking at. It was the water bottle. Rudy knew something was very wrong. He knew water would kill Snap, but he had never seen Snap react this way to a water bottle. He would believe it if someone threatened him with it, but he sure hadn’t done that. Something must have happened to Snap to create this reaction.

His thoughts immediately went to Cosmo. It had to have been him. He did something to Snap with water while he wasn’t there, the bastard...

“Snap, what’s wrong?” He said in a calm voice to his injured friend. He felt bad about wanting to get his friend to talk, but he had to know what happened. It was the only way he could provide some comfort. He set the water bottle down in a place where Snap couldn’t immediately see it. He was still frightened after that. “What did Mr. Cosmo do to you?”

Snap shivered as he looked up at Rudy. “He used water to get this...thing in me...” He used a hand to motion towards the silver thing taped to his head, indicating the nail underneath.

Rudy’s eyes went big. “He used what...?” Was Mr. Cosmo insane? If he wanted Snap alive, why would he risk using water? Unless he was just a psychopath who wanted to cause Snap misery, which he wouldn’t doubt for a second.

Snap spoke in a shaky voice, “H-He s-strapped me to a table...Cut my head open with a s-scalpel...Then he put a drop of water on my head... It hurt so much...” He let out a sob. “He covered my mouth so I wouldn’t s-scream...told me to shut up...”

Rudy felt a lump in his throat as he tried to hold back a sob. Tears filled his eyes as he listened to Snap’s story.

“Th-Then he put the nail in me...He pushed so hard... I...I felt like I was being set on fire..” Snap’s voice broke and he hugged Rudy tighter. “I finally p-passed out...the pain was too much...”

“He..” Rudy choked. “He did that to you while you were awake?”

Snap nodded his head once.

Rudy couldn’t stop the fountain of salty tears that covered his face. He held Snap closer to himself. The nail in his head was cruel enough but did Cosmo really have to do it while he was awake? That was just...brutal and unforgiveable. He never thought he would meet someone who was that cruel and vile...Putting water on a zoner was like putting molten lava on a human. It was absolutely heartless.

“He’s a terrible man.” Mr. Wilter said quietly. He stared at Snap sympathetically. “I am so sorry you had to go through that, Snap.”

Snap didn’t reply, but he gave a knowing nod to the teacher.

“S-Snap...” Rudy whispered. He watched as Snap continued to look at him. He wanted to try to comfort him. He reached down and touched Snap’s uninjured cheek. “Everything will be okay...” He used his finger to gently wipe away Snap’s tears. “I will protect you from Mr. Cosmo...I will not let him anywhere near you ever again...”

Snap gave a grateful smile back.

“Oh? Is that so...?”

Everyone in the tunnel froze. Chills went up Rudy’s spine. He felt his hairs on the back of his head stand up. Mr. Wilter looked just as shocked as he was. And Snap went pale and started shivering in fear. No...it was impossible. Mr. Cosmo couldn’t have found them that quickly, could he? This couldn’t be happening...no...

Slowly, hesitantly, he looked towards the source of the voice. His worst fear had been confirmed. There was no mistaking Mr. Cosmo. He stood several feet away from them, walking towards them with a slow, deliberate pace. He was smiling very calmly, not looking at all upset that they had escaped earlier. He must have been confident that he’d find them before they could get out.

And sure enough, he had.

Mr. Cosmo stopped when he was ten feet away from the trio. He stared intently at Rudy. He folded his arms against his chest. “I would like to see you try.” His eyes fell onto Snap as he said this. He gave a grin and chuckled as Snap gave a quick scream and pushed himself against Rudy to get away.

Rudy shifted his body to try to shield Snap from Mr. Cosmo’s eyes. He glared hatefully at the man. “You are not going to hurt him again...” He said, his voice low.

“Hmph...we’ll see.” Mr. Cosmo then turned his attention to Mr. Wilter. For a moment, his eyes flashed the faintest hint of fear, clearly remembering this man defeated him before. But then, in an instant, his calm demeanor was back. “I must say, dear Wilter....I never thought I’d have to deal with you again. Maybe you aren’t as stupid as I thought you had become...”

“How did you find us?” Mr. Wilter demanded.

“Did you think I left you out of this little equation, Wilter?” Mr. Cosmo said with a sneer. “Admittingly, I didn’t think I was going to need to do this, but hey, it worked out in the end...for me...” He grinned darkly.

Mr. Wilter found nothing funny about this. “What did you do?!”

“I merely took something of yours and gave it to Draow so he could get your scent. He is an excellent tracker.”

Mr. Wilter narrowed his eyes and growled through clenched teeth.

“Face it, you three...” Mr. Cosmo said as he started walking towards them. Rudy took a few steps back because of Snap, but Wilter stood firm. He put himself in front of Rudy. “You have no where to go...”

A low growl caught their attention. They looked behind them. In the only other direction they could go in stood Draow. He walked towards them, snarling, wings spread out. His teal eyes seemed to glow in the tunnel. They turned to look back at Mr. Cosmo.

“You are trapped.” Mr. Cosmo said, his eyes sparking black for a second. He stared at Snap. “I told you, little blue creature...you will never leave this place...alive...”

The way he said ëalive’ sent cold chills down Rudy’s spine. He didn’t take too well to Snap being called a creature. He wasn’t some mindless beast. He was sentient, and the fact that this man refused to see that, or if he did, simply didn’t care, infuriated him. If Snap were in a better condition, he would lunge at the man and punch him in the face.

He watched as Draow got closer. He turned around to face the beast. The blood that came from Penny still clung to his claw. He wasn’t sure just how intelligent Draow was, but he couldn’t help but wonder if Draow kept the blood there on purpose, in an attempt to mess with his mind and show just how dangerous he was.

Snap stared wide-eyed at Draow. His turned his head up to look at Draow’s wing claw. He shuddered, clearly remembering that it was Draow who hit him in the back, that it was Draow who brought him to this dreadful place.

Rudy took a step back and found himself hitting against Mr. Wilter’s back. He didn’t know which direction they should go. Mr. Cosmo was unpredictable. He might have some traps waiting for him. And who knows what else... And Draow’s path was no safer. The huge beast could tear into them easily. With how carelessly he had carried him to where Snap was being held, Rudy knew the beast wouldn’t think twice before tearing into him if Cosmo gave the order.

“So tell me, Mr. Wilter...” Cosmo said, grinning in Wilter’s direction. “Why are you helping that blue runt...? I thought you hated cartoons. That’s what I heard another teacher say when I came by your school.”

Mr. Wilter growled at the evil man. “I am not heartless...not like you.”

Mr. Cosmo smirked at this. “You’re right. You’re not like me...” He took a step back. His eyes glinted. “You...are a fool...”

Rudy glared at Draow was he got closer to him. He was pawing the ground, scraping against it. Rudy winced as the sound hurt his ear drums.

“I admit, I made a mistake of not getting rid of you sooner.” Mr. Cosmo said, smiling darkly at the teacher, prompting a growl as a response. He shrugged it off. He leaned back slightly, his eyes brightening. “But first, let me get rid of some...unwanted weight...”

Something seemed to click in Mr. Wilter’s mind. He whipped around quickly, taking both Rudy and Snap by surprise. He grabbed them in his arms.

“Look out!”

With that, he jumped away just as Draow broke open a piece of the wall. A jet stream of water shot out. Rudy and Snap screamed in horror at just how close the rushing water had been. The two were shaken up, staring at each other in shock. They looked up at Mr. Wilter.

“Thank you...” Rudy whispered, stunned by what had happened. He shuddered at the sound of the water just in front of him. He moved back, getting Snap away from the water. “How did you...?”

Mr. Wilter said, “I know the way this man thinks. It would suit him to set up a trap like that.” He turned back to Cosmo. “When facing him, expect the unexpected.”

The water slowly stopped running. Draow kept back, snarling at the thin wet line that formed in the water’s presence. Great relief hit Rudy and Snap as the sound left their ears. Rudy pressed his chin on Snap’s head. He was shaken up by how close he was to losing Snap for good. Had it not been for Mr. Wilter, Snap would have...died. He choked back a sob.

“Oh you shouldn’t have done that.” Mr. Cosmo said, sneering. “That would have been the less painful way out.”

Rudy’s body started to shake from rage. “You said you wouldn’t kill Snap if I...”

“Considering that you left,” Mr. Cosmo said with a smirk, “That means you declined my offer. And as part of my little deal with you, if you were to decline, your friend there would meet his end...”

Mr. Wilter placed a hand in front of Rudy. “Stay away from them.” He warned.

“Oh I will. It is not I who will be dealing with the blue thing...” Mr. Cosmo said. He raised a hand and snapped his finger. “Draow...kill Snap.”

Rudy held Snap protectively as he glared in Draow’s direction. The wolf/bat beast let out a roar and was walking towards them slowly. His feet were able to step away from the wet stream on the ground. Rudy took a few steps back. He could feel Snap shaking in his arms. He was not going to let anything else happen to him. He made a promise that he would keep him safe, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

He heard a grunt sound behind him. He looked over and he saw Mr. Wilter beind pressed against the wall by Mr. Cosmo, no doubt to leave him alone to deal with Draow. Rudy took another step back as the beast drew closer. Rudy tried not to take any more steps. The more he took, the closer he got to...him... If Draow didn’t get him, Mr. Cosmo sure would.

Draow pawed at the ground. His chalky drool hit the ground as he opened his jaws. He lowered himself on his haunches. His tail swished back and forth in anticipation. It wouldn’t be long now before he would make the lunge.

Rudy gritted his teeth. He tried to weigh his options. He could try to run past Draow, but he could risk getting attacked. That would also put Snap in harm’s way. He couldn’t allow that creature to bite him, not in his state. He looked behind him. He could run towards Mr. Cosmo, but that came with its own risks. Cosmo could have traps waiting for him, or more controlled zoners. Or he could release Wilter and seize Snap. He remembered the knife he had. He cut slit his friend’s throat open...

Things weren’t looking good for him. He was trapped, utterly trapped. There was no way he could go that he knew was safe. His only open was to try to keep Draow away from Snap, but how was he going to do that?

Draow let out a screech. He flapped his wings once, then he jumped at the two, jaws split wide open. Rudy closed his eyes, hugging the whimpering Snap for dear life.

All of a sudden, there was a loud crash. The wall caved in, causing dust to rise from the ground. Something large and green slammed into Draow, pressing him hard against the wall. As the dust cleared, Rudy was shocked to see it was a pterosaur. The same one that helped to save ChalkZone years ago. He watched as Draow struggled to get free, but the pterosaur had him firmly pinned with its body.

“What?!” Mr. Cosmo cried in disbelief. “Tsere? What is he doing here?!”

“Surprised?” Mr. Wilter smirked. “Do you think you’re the only one who has a few tricks up their sleeve?”

“Rudy!”

Hearing that familiar voice, Rudy looked up and saw Penny on the back of the pterosaur. She jumped off Tsere’s back and rushed over to her friends.

“Penny! I’m so glad to see you!” Rudy said with a grin.

Penny smiled back. “I’m so happy to see that you are safe.” She glanced down at Snap. Her eyes widened. “Snap...” She whispered softly.

“H-Hello, B-Buckette...” Snap said, trying his best to smile. “I’m sorry for..t-tossing you down that hole.”

“Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t your fault.” Penny whispered.

“Save your reunion for later!” Mr. Wilter cried. “You need to get out of here!”

With that, he slammed his knee against Mr. Cosmo’s stomach. The reporter stumbled backwards, holding onto his stomach. Before he could react, Wilter slammed against him, pressing him into the ground. He hooked his arm around his neck while the other held one of his arms behind his back.

“Run! Tsere and I will keep these two busy!” Mr. Wilter ordered.

The trio wasted no time. With both Cosmo and Draow distracted, they made a break down the tunnel.

[DarkWolf91]

Heheh, yessss! Way to crash the party, Tsere

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 29: WORSE THAN I IMAGINED-



Snap hung onto Rudy. He didn't grip too tightly because he didn't want to choke his friend. The feeling of bouncing up and down didn't feel good to him. But he understood Rudy didn't mean to and was taking care not to hurt him further. He did his best to ignore the pain and instead let some feeling of relief wash over him. At least he wasn't near...that man...anymore.

Snap didn't say anything to Rudy about the pain. He didn't want him to freak out over him while they were trying to escape. They were going to take him to a hospital anyway. He trusted that Rudy would be able to get him there in time. Rudy had always managed to pull through in the end. He saw the look of determination in the teenager's eyes. He knew Rudy would do anything to help him.

He shuddered as memories began to haunt him of his recent stay here. It hadn't been so bad to begin with. Sure, he was hungry a lot, and he felt that he wasn't fed enough. But the accomodations were much better than what he had to deal with when moved into Cosmo's...torture room as he liked to put it. He felt somewhat glad that Rudy hadn't been there and hadn't witnessed exactly what he was put through in the short time he was stuck there.

He remembered Cosmo's threats vividly. The evil man was talking to him about which way he was going to kill him should Rudy refuse his offer. And he had no choice but to listen, curled up and shivering on the ground. One method Cosmo had considered was forcing him to drink the vinegar, burning and melting him from the inside out. He was thankful that the only amount of vinegar he had to endure was on his feet.

He let out a soft whine as he remembered the pain. His feet still hurt, but not as bad. It was still better than what he'd have to go through if he had drank the vinegar. If he had done that, he wouldn't be able to live for very long. His stomach hurt thinking about it.

Seeing the vinegar tank from where he was placed in the cell was bad enough, and it frightened Snap terribly. It took him a while to shift himself to face away from it. Looking at the thing just brought about nightmares in his head, playing while he was awake. But the vinegar tank wasn't the only horrible thing Cosmo had done during his visit.

He had been tortured, more than what Rudy had known. And it wasn't just the cut. He winced as he remembered the pain of his arm being cut open. Cosmo had done that to make him shut up with his sniveling. Aside from the cut, Cosmo apparently had a backup controller to his mind control nail. He didn't use it often since he had moved away from that plan, but when he did use it...utter pain and torment is what he had to endure.

Everytime he used it on him, electricity coursed through his body. He could feel his brain being fried, his body feeling like it was set on fire. Everything hurt. Everything ached. And that was just when it was activated. There mere act of moving against his will, it felt like his ligaments and muscles were being ripped apart. And the pain from his injuries worsened. He could feel the scabbed areas break open again, fresh blood drip from it, everytime he was being controlled. He could feel the wounds begin to burn, and he was worried they would lose the ability to heal up.

He had been forced to walk near the electrical water bars at least five times whenever Rudy was not there with him. Cosmo didn't go as far as make him touch it, otherwise he'd be dead. But he did torment him mentally with this action. Snap would cry out, beg for mercy, every time he got within an inch of the water. He would fight back against the control, try to move out of the way. But the device's hold on him was too strong and his body would not obey his commands.

Snap didn't understand why he did that, other than to smash his spirit further and to weaken him. He wanted him to be in such a weak state that it would break Rudy's heart. That did make him angry. The idea of torturing someone just to get to another, it was sick.

But Snap's anger had given way to fear and sorrow. He hated Cosmo, but mostly he feared him. The pain he had been forced to endure, it was more than he could bear. He was often afraid to close his eyes now, because all he'll see behind them is Cosmo's face, then the memory of the pain would come flooding back to him.

He did feel a little better having Rudy with him, as well as Penny. Being away from Cosmo also helped. Not having to look at his face or hear his voice...it was a tremendous relief for him. As they ran down the hallway, taking educated guesses with turns, Snap rested his head on Rudy's shoulder. He wanted so much to sleep, but the pain was preventing him from doing so. Instead, he opted to look at his surroundings, seeing where they were.

They seemed to finally have gotten to the end of this tunnel. It opened up to a large room. There were a set of stairs that led upwards. To where, he didn't know. The room had a lot of equipment in it, mostly building machines of ChalkZone origin. Snap briefly wondered if that was how Cosmo built this place.

Suddenly, as Rudy rounded a corner to sneak into the room, Snap suffered another 'episode' as he called it. It happened a few times now. He would blank out...that was the best he could describe it. His vision would cloud over, causing him to become blind. His sense of hearing would get garbled up, and most of the time he didn't hear any voices. His muscles would tingle and he'd no longer be able to move them, causing his eyes to close on their own. He'd become still.

Then..he'd just snap out of it. And some time would have passed. A few minutes usually. In an instant, five to seven minutes could pass as if it were just a second, and he'd have no memory of what had happened between them. His mind had shut down...and that frightened him. The talk of permanent damage didn't help. And he knew that his blanking out was the result of this mind control device; he never suffered from it before.

As if that wasn't scary enough, he was actually having a really hard time moving his legs. His arms still worked okay. But a lot of damage was done to the region that controlled his legs. He could still move them a little, but bending his knees was really hard. And it took a lot of effort to move them at all. Him falling down earlier, part of it was due to the burned feet. But even if they weren't burned, he'd stil have a hard time. Granted, he probably could walk a little further, but he would have fallen down without support anyway.

He was scared by the idea of it being permanent. The six hour limit was a terrifying thing to hear. For zoners, becoming permanently damaged was terrible due to their long lifespans. He had heard some zoners talk about it, even stories of a few that committed suicide because they couldn't handle it. He shuddered at the thought.

He tried to remain hopeful, for Rudy and Penny. He knew he had to at least try. There was still a chance that he could be saved. There was still hope that all the damage done to him could be reversed after the nail was taken out. There was always the chance that, as Rudy told him, everything would be okay.

But he began to wonder, would he really be okay? His spirit took a heavy blow while staying here. Even with Rudy and Penny, he didn't feel entirely like himself anymore. He didn't feel courageous. He didn't feel social. He just felt lost and scared. And he wasn't sure if he would recover. It frightened him. He didn't want all their fun to end because of this. But though he'd often tell himself to be brave, every time Cosmo appeared, all that would vanish in an instant. The same thing happened with Draow. Any amount of courage he had been trying to muster...it'd just disappear the second danger appeared.

He didn't want to change. Not like this. He desperately didn't want to lose a part of himself. His physical wounds may heal, but what if his emotional ones do not? What if he was stuck being such a...such a coward? He didn't want this. He just...he just wanted to go home...He wanted to go home...

Suddenly the world around him went black. It lasted what seemed like a split second. When he had come to, his vision was incredibly blurred and shadowy. As it cleared, he could see Rudy and Penny staring at him worriedly. They both looked like they had been crying for some time.

As his surroundings became clearer, he found they were hiding in the corner, behind one of the machines, of the room they had entered. He thought he heard footsteps around them, but he couldn't tell. They were so faint. He realized he was laying on his back, his arms out at his sides. His head was cocked to one side, and he felt some wetness. Drool? He lifted up his head to get a better look at Rudy and Penny.

"Wh-What happened? Wh-Why are you l-looking at me like that?" Snap asked groggily.

Rudy and Penny looked at each other worriedly. Snap didn't like this. Something was seriously wrong. He could sense it. When Rudy turned to answer, Snap waited in dreadful anticipation.

"You...you had a seizure..." Rudy said, his voice trembling. He wiped away a tear.

"It was horrible." Penny whispered, hugging her arms to herself and shivering. "You were thrashing around so much...convulsing horribly...Completely unresponsive..."

Snap's eyes widened at this. A...a seizure? He had a seizure? He tried to hide the fearful tears that started to form. Of all the times for him to get seizures...it had to be now... Why? What did he...what did he ever do to deserve this?

Penny sniffled. "It must be that thing in your head..." She said softly. "It...it must have done a lot more damage than we thought. We...we have to get back to ChalkZone..."

"Mr. Cosmo is a monster. The mind control, the vinegar..." Rudy grumbled angry under his breath.

Penny's whipped to Rudy so fast Snap could barely register it. "Vinegar?! You mean like your experiment at school?"

Rudy nodded his head. "Mr. Cosmo...threatened Snap with vinegar. He burned his feet with it..."

Penny gasped in horror, holding her hands to her mouth. "Snap..." She looked down at Snap, her eyes watery. Her eyes turned down to his feet and she let out another gasp. "C-Cosmo...did this to you..?"

Snap nodded his head once. He didn't want to remember that moment. He thought his feet were being ripped apart by saw blades. Even when they were pulled out, pain wracked through his body for several seconds before it started to dull down. Even then, the pain never left. His feet still hurt him now.

"C-Come on...we need to get going." Rudy said. He looked around the room. "The controlled zoners are gone..."

"Controlled zoners?" Snap whispered. He sort of remembered Lars, but his mind was so messed up that he could only remember Cosmo's torture of him, the horrifying vinegar, and Rudy's cries of horror for him from that terrifying moment. "H-How many...?"

"We don't know." Penny said regretfully.

"Lars and Blocky are a few we have confirmed." Rudy said sadly. "Lars has a nail in his head like you, Snap. Most of the zoners have bracelet controllers that don't seem to cause as much damage."

It scared Snap to know that some other zoners were captured. He wondered if some of them went through the same torment he had. It was bad enough that Cosmo done all that terrible stuff to him. But it was unbearable to know that a lot of his friends were suffering a similar fate as well.

What did this madman want with all these zoners? Why was he controlling them? Why was he even asking that? He knew why. He thought little of zoners. His words stung as he remembered them, being called a 'creature' and a 'thing', as well as many other derogatory words he used on him, a lot he said when Rudy wasn't even there to hear it. At first, he had tried to retort back, but he had been kicked in the side as a warning. He never tried retorting back after that.

Then a thought crossed Snap's mind. He stared up at his friends. "I-Is...Rapsheeba..?"

Rudy smiled. A weak one, but a smile nonetheless. "She is fine. And you don't have to worry about other zoners being trapped in here. She's taking care of that."

Snap smiled in relief. It was nice to know that at least some of his friends managed to escape. But he had to wonder...how were they going to save the others? He wondered if Rudy or Penny had a plan for that. They couldn't just leave them here. Something had to be done. He..he didn't want them to suffer, the way he had...

Luckily, that seemed to be what was on his friends' minds. The mention of the controlled zoners must have brought it to their attention.

Penny looked at Rudy. "We still need to find a way to get these zoners back into ChalkZone. We'll need to find a way to destroy the machine that is controlling them."

"Which is heavily guarded, I'm sure, and no doubt Mr. Cosmo would use Skrawl's connection with me to..." Rudy's eyes widened. "Skrawl? I forgot about Skrawl... He is still in that cell we were dropped into..." He looked at Penny. "We have to go back for him."

"What? But Rudy, we need to get out of here. Once we stop Cosmo, we can save everyone, including Skrawl." Penny said. "It's too dangerous to stay in here for long. We don't have much time to save Snap."

Rudy winced and looked to the side. "I know..." He looked down at Snap, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. "But..." He let out a soft sigh. "I can't fight effectively against Cosmo while connected to Skrawl. We need to take care of that as soon as possible. And we'll be in ChalkZone anyway. We could drop Snap off at a hospital while we are there."

"Rudy..." Penny started to say. "The black chalk..."

"It is a big risk." Rudy lowered his head. "But it's the only chance we have. And Biclops says it doesn't corrupt right away. So if I use it, then drop it, everything should be good...shouldn't it...?"

Penny didn't sound so sure. "I guess...but I think we should take care of this last. Cosmo is of a more pressing matter, and Snap's time is running out. We need to get him help, and stop Cosmo. Let us worry about the connection later."

"I don't know..." Rudy said, sounding very lost. A moment later, he looked around the corner and said, "We should at least get moving... The controlled zoners are gone for now. If we hurry, we can get through without being seen."

Penny got up, moving towards the corner. She moved up to where Rudy was standing.

"I wonder where they've all gone..." Penny wondered. "Maybe Saffron managed to get to the mind control machine faster than I thought..."

"Let's hope it is that, and not something else." Rudy said with a physical flinch. After a second, he added, "We are still getting Skrawl out of that cell. He would make for a valuable ally in getting to the chalkboard without as much resistance. We'll drop off Snap at the hospital and get back here to take care of Cosmo, and rescue the other zoners."

"B-But...what if he doesn't want to help...?" Snap said, coughing a few times. "He is your archenemy..."

"I know, Snap. But we can't just leave him, and I'm sure he wants to get back to ChalkZone as much as we want to. And besides, if Cosmo gains control of him again..."

Penny seemed to understand. "Then he could be used to stop you..."

"So long as Skrawl is with us, Cosmo won't have that card to play." Rudy said, his eyes narrowed.

At first, Snap didn't understand why Rudy would want to waste time saving Skrawl. But after he explained it, he started to understand. He did make a good point that Skrawl could be used against Rudy. He hadn't known about the connection until now, and it was a frightening thought. Cosmo could simply kill Skrawl, and be rid of Rudy for good. He had no idea how this man accomplished it, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. The man was scary enough. He didn't need another reason to be afraid of him.

It did make sense to rescue Skrawl. They didn't have to severe the connection right away, as Penny had said. So long as they had Skrawl with them, Cosmo would have a harder time subduing Rudy through Skrawl.

Snap wasn't going to be happy to see Skrawl. But right now, he'd rather see the ugly jellybean than Cosmo. Skrawl was much tamer by comparison. He was nowhere near the level of cruelty that Cosmo had displayed. And perhaps having an amusing conversation with the frustrated jellybean could lift his mood, even just by a tiny bit.

"Let's get going, while Ms. Saffron has bought us some time." Penny said.

Rudy nodded his head. He looked over at Snap. He lowered himself down to his friend. "Come on Snap, let's get going."

Rudy gently picked him up. Snap did his best not to wince. No matter how gentle Rudy could be, his back injury was still irritated. The only reason he didn't struggle was because this was Rudy, his best friend, and he knew that he wasn't trying to hurt him on purpose. He liked the feeling of security as Rudy held onto him. It was comforting. Especially after all he had been through.

Suddenly, he realized something was wrong. As Rudy eased him onto his back, something just didn't feel right. Something felt...strange. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. It was like some part of him was missing. But..that couldn't be right. He knew he was entirely there. But then, why was he feeling like something was gone?

It soon dawned him on what it was. The realization sent horror chills down his spine. No, it couldn't have gotten to that point, could it...? His heart started to race, reality slowly sinking in. He didn't want it to be true...

He didn't realize he was crying until Rudy and Penny took notice. He felt Penny touch his cheek, looking at him worriedly. Rudy's eyes were wide with concern.

"What is it? What's wrong...?" Rudy asked hesitantly.

"Does something hurt?" Penny asked, eyeing him up and down. "Is it your back? Your feet?"

"M-My l-legs..." Snap started to say.

"Where does it hurt?" Penny said as she walked alongside Rudy to get a good look at Snap's legs. She gingerly touched one leg. "Right here?"

Snap shook his head. "No...they don't hurt.."

Rudy asked, confused, "Then what is..."

"I..." Snap sniffled, frightened. "...I can't feel them... I can't feel my legs..."

Rudy and Penny gasped in utter horror at this news. Snap closed his eyes and started to tremble.

"C-Can you move them...?" Rudy asked fearfully.

Snap knew he had no choice but to tell Rudy the truth about what he was experiencing with his legs. "B-Barely...It...it takes all my effort to move them just a little...and I think it's getting worse..."

"Oh no..." Rudy started to cry. "No..no...This can't be..."

"The seizure...it..it must have..." Penny wasn't able to finish as her voice started to choke on her cries.

As they continued to flee, an uncomfortable silence fell upon them.

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 30: I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS-



If there was one thing Mr. Wilter never expected he had to deal with, it was Mr. Cosmo for a second time. He had been aware of him becoming a reporter, and how renouned he had become. He had been cautious of him for a time, but reminding himself that his memories of ChalkZone were erased, he thought that danger from him was all over. Oh how he had been so dead wrong.

He was hard enough to deal with as a kid. He had been so inventive even back them, and he created so many competent, powerful zoners to be on his side. He even managed to recruit, alongside other artists, other zoners he did not draw. Others did try to stop Cosmo and his reign of terror. But they all had failed because they were trying to focus on attacking all the enemies. Mr. Wilter succeeded because he, himself, focused on the one person that mattered, Mr. Cosmo. He knew that if he stopped him, he stopped the madness. And it had worked.

That had been many years ago. The memories of that fight were still vivid in his head, however. It was hard to forget the screams of agony as zoners were being hurt, or the ferocious roars of the evil creations Mr. Cosmo conjured up. Things got worse when he had introduced the red chalk and created some crimson colored creatures whose savagery outmatched any zoner of other chalk type, even those who were meant to be nasty to start with.

He wished he had been more suspicious when Mr. Cosmo came to the classroom. The only reason he did not turn it down was because Cosmo had offered to pay him a lot of money, and the principal said they needed that money to help fund the school. When he kept hinting for Rudy, he did try a little to resist, as something about it didn’t feel right.

He realized too late he should have tried harder. He had been working on grading some paperwork at the school when Ms. Saffron and Penny rushed into his classroom. When Saffron told him about Mr. Cosmo and how he was planning to do something with ChalkZone, she immediately had his attention. Wilter felt a pang of guilt when he learned that Rudy and Penny were both captured by Cosmo, and he was horrified when he learned that Mr. Cosmo got his memories back of ChalkZone.

He had no idea how he managed to get his memories back. He thought Biclops said it was permanent. None of the other artists got their memories back. Only Mr. Cosmo. There had to have been a trigger of some kind. It had to be some trigger, but the only thing he could think of was seeing an image of ChalkZone somehow. He didn’t know how that was possible.

The thoughts of the other artists made him worry. If Cosmo could remember again, what would stop the other artists? This was worrying indeed. Though Cosmo was the most dangerous and the ringleader of all this mess, the other artists, the ones that had been corrupted, were no sweet angels either, thanks to the dreaded black chalk. If they remembered, ChalkZone would be in big trouble.

He hoped that Rudy and Penny manage to get out of the building safely. So long as they were in Cosmo’s turf, it was going to be hard defeating him. With his high intelligence and beast Draow, it would not be easy fighting back. Rudy and Penny were just teenagers after all. If they brought the battle to ChalkZone...then things might start to shift in their favor.

And he hoped it was soon. He wasn’t sure how long he could hold out against Mr. Cosmo. He had gotten a little rusty and he hadn’t physically fought in a long time. Mr. Cosmo was a little stronger than he was, which put him at a bit of a disadvantage.

At least Tsere was having a better time. He was managing to keep Draow pinned on the ground. Though the winged wolf-like beast was trying to bite his neck, the pterosaur managed to keep his head raised while holding him down and clawing at him with a free foot. Mr. Cosmo is easier to deal with when he didn’t have Draow at his side. Draow was most of his brute force, and without him, he loses a lot of his power.

At least in the real world. In ChalkZone, he would be more dangerous than Draow as he would draw any weapon he wanted to and use it against his enemies. His personal favorite were the cannons that spewed out hot flames. He was grateful he never thought of bringing real world water to ChalkZone. If he had done that...all would have been lost...

He had his arms wrapped around Mr. Cosmo and kept pushing him into the ground. He only managed to hold him there for a short time before Cosmo squeezed out of his grasp and threw him against the wall. Before he could react, Mr. Cosmo grabbed him by the throat and shoved him further against the hard surface. Wilter struggled with the hand on his throat, making it hard for him to breathe normally.

“You’re a bit out of practice...” Mr. Cosmo taunted. “You should just stick to grading those papers from your idiotic students. You are too old for this.”

Mr. Wilter snarled at him. He kicked Cosmo in the right shin, causing him to stagger a little. He went behind him and used his foot to push him into the ground. Once Cosmo was on the ground again, he jumped onto his back and put him in a choker hold. He pulled back tightly, hearing Cosmo gag a little from the pressure. Wilter struggled to hold on as Cosmo started to squirm.

“What...do you plan on...doing with ChalkZone...?” Mr. Wilter said through gritted teeth.

“Ch-ChalkZone? I g-guess...Ms. Saffron...di-didn’t tell you...” Mr. Cosmo hissed with a ragged breath. “O-Or maybe she for-forgot...Either way...I’m not...telling you...”

Mr. Wilter had been confused by why Ms. Saffron didn’t tell him. At least at first. But given the urgency, he understood that she couldn’t tell everything that happened. She told him enough to have an idea of what was going on, and he immediately left. Well almost; he had Penny create a medkit for him. Then they left. He did drive a little crazy getting there, but they had no time to lose. And he was relieved he got there when he did.

He overheard just a little bit of the conversation. He heard enough to know that Mr. Cosmo wanted something with Rudy. To recruit him for something. His heart froze when he realized that Mr. Cosmo wanted to corrupt Rudy, to make him just like him. Knowing that Rudy was ChalkZone’s main protector, he couldn’t allow that to happen. He didn’t want to think of what would have happened...had he been too late...

“I will beat the information out of you...” Mr. Wilter said in a threatening voice.

This prompted a smile from Mr. Cosmo. “You’re...in no position...t-to do th-that...”

Suddenly, Cosmo grabbed his arm and yanked him off of him. He stood over Mr. Wilter and stepped onto his chest, pinning him on the ground. Mr. Wilter struggled to get the foot off of him. But Cosmo being heavier as well as stronger than him made that impossible. And he couldn’t call Tsere for help while he was dealing with Draow. He glared up at Mr. Cosmo.

“Perhaps I had been wrong about you. Maybe you weren’t as dangerous as I thought.” Mr. Cosmo grinned. “If I had known you wouldn’t put up as much of a fight than I thought, I wouldn’t have wasted so much time reminding myself of the kink you could put in my plans...”

“Don’t count me out yet.” Mr. Wilter said. With that, he swung his foot against Cosmo’s leg, causing him to fall down. Mr. Wilter got up. “I still have a lot of fight left in me!”

He grabbed Mr. Cosmo by his shirt collar and threw him against the wall. This prompted a grunt of pain from Cosmo and he hunched over slightly from the pain. Wilter then slammed his body against his, smashing him up against the tunnel’s wall. He hit Cosmo harder than he thought because the man had screamed.

When he moved back, Cosmo growled and pulled back a fist to punch him. Mr. Wilter managed to step nimbly out of the way. He struck back with his own fist. It made contact with Cosmo’s stomach, causing him to cry out in pain and hold his stomach. His knees buckled and he gritted his teeth tightly. He coughed up a bit of blood and stared up at Wilter hatefully.

“You...I will not lose to you again...”

He lunged at Mr. Wilter and knocked him into the ground. He grabbed his throat and started to choke him. Mr. Wilter’s eyes went wide and he started to struggle frantically. He managed to kick Mr. Cosmo off of him, but he wasn’t free for long. The man slung his arm around his neck and squeezed hard, putting him into a hold.

Wilter pulled and scratched at Cosmo’s arm. It was not doing him any good. The more he struggled, the harder Cosmo squeezed. Having a harder time breathing, Wilter stopped struggling, opting to hang onto Cosmo’s arm. He opened up one eye half way and glared over at Cosmo.

“I...I know about the b-black chalk...” Mr. Wilter said through what little breath he could take. “I know you plan on corrupting R-Rudy with it...”

“So you know that much do you? Congratulations, old ëfriend’...” Mr. Cosmo jeered. Wilter guessed that if he wasn’t holding onto him, he’d be giving him a mock clap. “Well, since you are not going to make it out of this alive..I will see to that...I suppose I will tell you a bit more of my plan...”

“How thoughtful of you...” Wilter growled.

“That boy is going to finish what I started. Since the day the black chalk gave me wisdom, I sought to make ChalkZone a place that benefited the creators in the greatest possible way. You stopped me from achieving that goal. But I see so much potential in Rudy Tabootie...he will make a fine apprentice, and he will help me achieve my goal.”

Mr. Wilter grunted in pain as Mr. Cosmo pushed him against the wall, putting his face close to his. “That boy will have no choice but to use the black chalk. He has been forced into it. He cannot remain connected to Skrawl for long...”

“Wh-Why not..?” Wilter asked.

“Well..let me just say, soon, there’ll be some negative repurcussions. What they are, I will leave up to your imaginaton...” Mr. Cosmo said. He smiled at Mr. Wilter’s widening eyes. “Even if he didn’t agree to join me, his connection with Skrawl will assure my victory. And once I have that boy at my side, I will take over ChalkZone and enslave all the zoners. They will become workers in the real world, where they will be harvested for labor, weaponry, what have you. It will be a glorious future...don’t you think...?”

Wilter couldn’t believe it. So that is what this madman had been up to. And to force Rudy into using the dreaded black chalk, which they both knew was irreversable once its corruption became complete, it was awful. And to use zoners as slaves...that was horrible. The zoners didn’t deserve to be treated that way. Though still a little bitter he was banished, he didn’t want them to suffer like that. He couldn’t allow this to happen.

He opened his mouth and bit down on Cosmo’s arm. This was enough to cause the evil man to loosen his grip on him. Wilter struggled free of his grasp. He gripped Cosmo by his collar and threw him aside. Cosmo stumbled, trying to keep his balance. He looked over and watched as Mr. Wilter came at him at incredible speed.

In a split second, Wilter’s fist punched against Cosmo’s face. He stumbled back against the wall. The fist made contact with his nose. Blood squirted out of his nostrils and he gave a pained cough. He looked over and his eyes widened in fear as Mr. Wilter lunged at him.

sss

Penny had no idea where they were going in this zigzag of a place. She wished Ms. Saffron were here. She’d be able to take them to where they wanted to go. She must know this place well enough to be able to navigate it. But Saffron couldn’t go with her and Tsere. She had to sneak back into the building and try to cripple Mr. Cosmo the best she could. It would only be temporary until Cosmo got it fixed eventually, but it would provide some cover for them.

She hoped that Saffron could keep the controlled zoners busy. She had them all report to the same room, clustered together. In one centralized location, they would be much easier to avoid. And with Cosmo too busy with Wilter, he wouldn’t realize anything was wrong until later on. She hoped that it would be enough to ensure their escape.

Rudy thought he realized there might be a way to find them. He mentioned how Wilter chose a tunnel based on color, and he assumed that all the areas were actually color coded if they looked at them right. Rudy vaguely remembered the color of the room he and Skrawl were trapped in, and he looked for that color. But finding the right shade of the color wasn’t going to be easy. She hoped that Rudy, being an artist, could more easily pick the colors apart.

At least they were on the upper level by now, putting more distance between them and Cosmo. They walked around for a while, taking chances, going down different hallways. She was in awe at how much Cosmo had put in this place, all likely just to disorient would-be intruders. She hoped that they were going the right way, or were close to where Skrawl is. They didn’t have time to get stuck in here.

Stuck...that made her mind go back to when Rudy trapped himself in the temple to stop the red bats from spreading their disease. She truly thought that was the last time she’d ever get to see Rudy. It was a heartbreaking moment for her, and she remembered the huge elation she felt when Rudy was able to get out of the temple after all.

Rudy suddenly smiled and turned over to Penny. “This is the right place!”

Penny strode up to him. “Are you sure, Rudy?”

“Yes. This is the same hallway Lars dragged me down. Skrawl’s cell should be down there.” Rudy said. He motioned with his head for Penny to follow him.

The trio headed down the hallway slowly. Even though Rudy was certain, Penny knew they still had to be careful. Even with the odds now shifting in their favor, something could still go very wrong. She had seen enough of Cosmo to know that he could still pull another trick out of his sleeve. For Snap’s sake, they had to be careful.

She stared at Snap as he rested on Rudy’s back. He had calmed down a little since discovering he couldn't feel his feet. But he was clearly still shaken up and rightfully so. He only calmed down because they had both been there for him and soothed him. He eventually stopped crying and went quiet. He hung onto Rudy a little tighter, pressing his head more firmly against him for comfort.

She was very worried about him. The seizure he had earlier was utterly frightening. She remembered how Rudy let out a panicked scream. They were lucky they didn’t get caught, but she understood why he did it. Snap had suddenly started thrashing. They thought it was because he was in pain at first, but when they saw he was actually having a seizure...that made it so much worse.

They quickly found cover and laid Snap on the ground. They couldn’t call out to him otherwise they risk drawing attention. They were forced to watch him, unable to do anything except stroke his head and cheek, or hold his hand and whisper comforting words to him. They both cried as Snap had the seizure, and then went completely still, catatonic. It was such a relief that he woke up.

But that relief soon turned into a nightmare when they both came to the horrible realization that the seizure might have cost Snap the use of his legs. Not being able to feel his legs at all was horrible. The only good thing that came out of that was not having to feel his severe foot burns. What was just as pressing was the fact he could barely move his legs now. They were becoming paralyzed.

That brought about a stronger sense of urgency in her and Rudy. They really needed to get to ChalkZone and fast. Losing the ability to walk...that was a horrible thing to happen to anyone. And since Snap would live a long time, he’d have to endure not being able to walk until he was killed. She felt tears fill her eyes as she thought about the long, hard road Snap would have in front of him if he had to adjust to life without being able to walk.

To add to her worry, there was that infection. She and Rudy both expressed concerns about it during their walk down these halls. If the infection spread too quickly, Snap would get sick and that would worsen his condition even further. His damaged body couldn’t afford getting sick. If that happened, the disease would do a lot more damage since his immune system was weakened from all the abuse Snap had to endure here.

She recalled what Rudy said about the vinegar, being used as a torture device on Snap to make him crack. She felt her lip quiver as she thought about how horrible that was for the both of them. Rudy must have been so scared and frightened. It must have been horrible having to see something like that done to his best friend. And Snap...poor little guy... She couldn’t imagine the amount of pain he was in, the terrible fear that must have gripped his heart, as Cosmo did all that to him.

She hoped that the man would get what’s coming for him. She didn’t care how long it takes. She just wanted karma to bite him back. And bite him back hard. And if she had to bring it to him, she would be glad to. And she knew Rudy would agree with her.

Suddenly she heard a low whimpering. It was growing louder and louder. She quickly realized it was coming from Snap. His body was starting to tremble and he was hugging Rudy tighter as if he was getting very cold. He started to moan.

Rudy looked at his friend worriedly. “Snap..? What’s wrong?”

Snap didn’t answer. He was moving his head around, like he was confused as to where he was. His eyes were only halfway open.

“Snap...please talk to us...” Penny begged. But like Rudy, she got no response from the blue zoner.

The two of them went over to another corner in the hallway and sat on the ground. Rudy gently held Snap sitting up, careful not to bend his legs in an odd angle. He kept Snap up by gripping his shoulders gently. He made sure that his back wasn’t pushed up against the wall, for fear he would irritate the injuries more.

Penny’s heart skipped a beat as she saw Snap sway his head back and forth, his body moving from side to side. He continued to shiver and groan. He looked up at Rudy and Penny, his eyes filled with fear as if he had no idea what was going on.

“What’s wrong? Please tell us...” Rudy begged, tears filling his eyes. “Snap..please...talk to us...say something...”

But Snap did not answer. To the teenagers’ horror, his eyes suddenly shot close and he became completely limp.

“Snap! No!” Rudy cried. He nudged Snap, trying to wake him. He wouldn’t respond. “No...”

Penny placed her hand on his forehead. She yanked her hand back. “He’s burning up!” She cried in horror. The infection must have spread. A fever was only going to worsen Snap’s already frail condition. She turned to Rudy. “We need to cool him down, and fast!”

“But how? We don’t have any chalk water with us, and real world water would kill him...” Rudy said, his voice filled with worry and sorrow.

Penny shook her head in denial as she slowly looked down at Snap. With him being so sick, they couldn’t risk going back for Skrawl...they had to get to ChalkZone and fast. Snap could burn up before they even get there if they continued on this detour. But if they didn’t get Skrawl, what if Cosmo used their connection against him? He could go as far as kill Rudy if he felt it was necessary...

She didn’t have long to dwell on her thoughts when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around, her body tense. Could it be Cosmo? No..don’t let it be Cosmo..not know. The shadow on the wall came closer, clearly forming the image of a human. She bit her lip. She and Rudy moved close to Snap, shielding him from the person’s sight in case it really was Cosmo.

Much to their relief, it was only Ms. Saffron. She spotted the kids and her eyes flew open. She looked left and right before rushing over as fast as she could. Once she reached the teenagers, she knelt down, looking at them with great concern.

“What are you doing here? Why haven’t you left?” Saffron asked, her voice tense. “I don’t know how long Cosmo can be distracted. I don’t know how long Wilter can hold out against him.”

Rudy answered, his voice shaky, “W-We were going to g-get Skrawl so Cosmo couldn’t use him to s-stop me...”

Ms. Saffron nodded understandably. “I see....I had forgotten about that...I wouldn’t doubt Cosmo would do that if he found you had left back into ChalkZone.” She looked down and gasped. “What happened to him...?”

“I-Infection...it spread...he has a horrible fever and it caused him to faint...” Penny replied, tears blurring her vision. “A-And he can’t feel his legs...he had a s-seizure...”

“A seizure?” Ms. Saffron whispered in horror. “No...that’s not possible...unless Mr. Cosmo used that blasted device more than I thought...”

“What does this mean..?” Rudy asked her tearfully.

Ms. Saffron bit her lip. “It means he may have less time than I thought...” She brought out the medkit Penny drew earlier. She looked at Rudy. “You go on ahead and get Skrawl. Come back here as soon as you can. There are no controlled zoners down that way, so you shouldn’t run into any resistance.”

“B-But..Snap...” Rudy whispered, clearly not wanting to leave Snap’s side.

“We will take care of him. Don’t worry...” Saffron said in a comforting voice. “Right now, you need to get Skrawl out of there before Cosmo or one of his zoner servants get him. You won’t be of much help to your friend if you are incapacitated.”

“I...” Rudy sighed. “I understand...”

“Good.” Ms. Saffron said as she handed Penny the medkit. She carefully scooped Snap in her arms and steadied him. She gave a nod to Penny.

Penny opened up the medkit and got out a small bottle of chalk water that had been in there. She put some on a chalk cloth and squeezed it so that it wasn’t too damp. She placed it on Snap’s forehead. She watched as his eyes clenched tightly, his teeth bared. She listened to the whimpers and low cries coming from his mouth. He was having a nightmare...poor guy...

Though clearly not wanting to leave, Rudy started to walk down the hallway alone. Before he disappeared, Penny heard Saffron say something that she hadn’t thought she would hear from the woman.

“And...Rudy...?”

Stopping in his tracks, Rudy looked behind at Ms. Saffron.

“About what I said at your parents’ house, about you being a...juvenile delinquent..” Saffron winced as she said that. “I’m...so sorry... I shouldn’t have said it.”

Rudy stared at her in shock. Slowly, a weak smile came onto his face. It didn’t stay there long. Worry plastered over his face once more as he turned and walked away, heading down the hallways alone.

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 31: CHANGE IN ATTITUDE-




Rudy couldn’t understand how so many wrong things happened recently. Just a few days ago, there hadn’t been anything wrong. They were going about their days as usual. Nothing was out of the ordinary. He would visit ChalkZone whenever he could, and so would Penny. They would have fun there, especially with Snap. Only once in a while did he have to do with one that meant ill will, such as Skrawl or any number of not-so-friendly zoners. And sometimes other humans, though those occurred even less.

Now, not so long later, everything had fallen apart. He had made a new enemy in Mr. Cosmo, who was intent on corrupting him and everything he stood for. Snap went missing and when he finally saw him again, he was all banged up and being used as a ëbargaining coin’. Many zoners had disappeared and were being used as slaves here. He was connected to Skrawl, which could easily be used against him. ChalkZone was in danger of being exposed and exploited to an even worse degree than Vinnie and Terry had ever intended. A part of him was certain that even they would be disgusted by how far Mr. Cosmo was willing to take things.

Things kept getting worse even after Mr. Wilter rescued him and Snap. Although Snap could no longer be controlled, his physical condition was deteriorating fast. He almost completely loss the use of his legs, which was a frightening thing for him to think about. Losing the ability to walk was a heavy emotional blow to anyone. It would take a long time for Snap to cope with the change, if it became permanent. He was certain that Penny was right and it had been the seizure that ultimately caused Snap to lose almost all control of his legs. It might not have happened right away, but some point after, they were both certain the seizure caused enough damage to numb the legs and weaken any movement.

And it wasn’t just Snap’s legs that he had to worry about. His unresponsiveness was a huge concern for him. He could still just be too tired to reply, but that didn’t seem likely. In the amount of pain he was in, especially from his back which was the most infected, being an older wound, it would be very hard to sleep. He wondered if Snap was just pretending not to feel as much pain as he let on. Rudy bit his lip. If this were the case, and if he hadn’t been sleeping, then...why had he gone into periods of just...doing nothing?

What chilled him to his blood was the fact that his unresponsive states were quite similar to when he had gone catatonic from a seizure. His eyes would still be open most of the time. He’d just lay still. He’d even drool a little once in a while. The only thing different from the catatonic state was, during his unresponsive states, he’d sometimes whimper and tremble. Regardless, the similarity otherwise had him very worried.

And now Snap was suffering from a fever, brought on by the infection he had. His back injury was never treated properly, and neither was the cuts on his hand. With how dirty his cell had been, he wouldn’t doubt that germs had invaded the cut. It didn’t matter that Snap was made of chalk. Germs were highly adaptable and would likely have found a way to ëmake use’ of Snap’s chalky cells.

Him getting sick was proof of that. He and Penny had been so shocked when he just passed out like that. For a second time, too. He was only glad that it wasn’t another seizure. That would have been more frightening. But passing out at all was not normal and a sign that something just wasn’t right. He felt so helpless as Snap laid on the ground, breathing raggedly from the high temperature his body was experiencing.

He had been surprised to see Ms. Saffron. He didn’t think she would be there at that time. He didn’t know what she was doing. Perhaps looking for them? Or locating another room to sabotage?

Either way, it had been a good thing she had showed up. He couldn’t understand why Penny left the medkit with Saffron, but he was glad that Saffron still had it. The cold chalky water would help bring down Snap’s fever, or at least help keep his brain from being burned. His head must have been burning hot to the touch. Penny actually pulled her hand away like she had touched a heated stove pot. If Snap’s temperature was really that high.... Rudy knew fully well just how lethal high temperatures could be.

Rudy tried his best not to cry. He told himself that Snap was going to be okay. Penny and Saffron would keep him safe. They would treat his fever, and hopefully break it before he got back. And when he would come back, Snap would be awake again.

At least, that is what he wished. Reality was not always so kind. For all he knew, Snap could be far worse when he came back...

He shook his head. He had to remain positive. He couldn’t give up. He couldn’t give in to his worst thoughts. They were taking Snap to a hospital soon. They would make it in time. He would be okay. He just had to be okay. He couldn’t allow himself to give into despair. He had to keep believing that they would get him help in time.

Snap was a fighter. He wouldn’t let this get to him that easily. He wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Even in a battered, shaken state, he knew Snap wouldn’t want to completely succumb to this. He would do what he could to fight to stay alive. And if Snap was not giving up, neither should he.

Rudy’s thoughts shifted to Ms. Saffron. He remembered what she said before he reluctantly left Snap and Penny behind to get Skrawl. He had to admit, he was not expecting Saffron to apologize for what she said. The words still stung him. But it was nice to know that she did feel regret for it. It wasn’t going to undo the pain it caused him, but he did feel better regarding that.

She was turning out to be not so bad a person. At first, she had just been one of the enemies, even though she did much less than Cosmo did. He didn’t doubt she had a hand in kidnapping Snap in the first place. When Cosmo mentioned she was being nice to Snap, he was grateful. It was nice to know there was at least one person in this place that was kind to Snap, even if it was just a little.

With a shudder, he remembered something Mr. Cosmo said. Something that he wished he had told Ms. Saffron before he had left. Mr. Cosmo mentioned something about...getting rid of her... His eyes widened at the realization. Why hadn’t he told her? He had the chance....

He tried to calm himself down. There was still time. He would just grab Skrawl and come back. Then he would tell Saffron then.

Speaking of Skrawl, he was getting very close to where he was being kept. It was just a little further down. Despite Saffron keeping the controlled zoners elsewhere, he was still very cautious. Mr. Cosmo could have some tricks left to play, and there might be a nasty surprise waiting for him. He was surprised he hadn’t encountered any traps, but he guessed that Saffron had messed with the whole system. This didn’t surprise him too much. Mr. Cosmo was a bit tangled up with Mr. Wilter right now.

He wondered how his teacher was holding up against him. He did see a flicker in Cosmo’s eyes when he saw Wilter. That did give him some hope that Wilter stood a chance against him. Never once had he ever seen Cosmo display fear. For Mr. Wilter to cause such a reaction, that had to mean something, right?

Tsere was going to be a big help too. He was a little larger than Draow in size, and he looked like he could hold his own against him. Draow was such a vicious beast, so not having to deal with him helped as well. He hoped that Tsere could keep this up against Draow and keep him busy. If he were to get knocked away, Draow could go after Wilter, and turn the odds in favor of Cosmo...

Rudy located the room that contained Skrawl’s cell. He looked around cautiously, making sure there was absolutely no one here. He tested the door knob. It was unlocked. Slowly, he turned the door and swung it open. He walked inside.

He found Skrawl leaning against the pillar, his arms folded and eyes closed. Remembering their connection, he looked at his arm. There were some clear nicks in his chalk outline of an arm and he saw a bit of red. He wondered at first why he hadn’t tried to treat his arm, then he realized that he couldn’t when he was locked up.

Rudy walked up to the electrified water bars. He put his hand on one of the pillars, careful to avoid the sparking watery death lines. “Hey Skrawl? Wake up!”

Skrawl grumbled and opened up his red eye. “Master Tabootie?” He said, confused. His blue eye now opened up. “I didn’t think you would come back for me.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Rudy asked.

“Because you and I are enemies.” Skrawl said. “And it was...because of me all this had happened.”

Rudy blinked at this. Had Skrawl confessed that, if he hadn’t gone after the wolf bat beast, none of this would have happened? He wondered if he had heard him wrong. Skrawl was never the type to say something like that if it wasn’t part of his goal. He would have tried to shift the blame on someone else. For him to just admit it like that...it didn’t sound like Skrawl at all.

He didn’t have time to dwell on that. He knew they had to get out of there, and fast. Time was running out for Snap, and, if he didn’t hurry, not only did he risk letting Snap suffer permanent damage, but other citizens of ChalkZone would suffer horrible fates themselves.

“Of course I would come back for you, Skrawl. You might cause me a lot of grief, but I can’t let you or anyone else be used any more by Cosmo. If I left you here...I’d be just as bad as him...” Rudy said. He looked around the room. “Where is the switch?”

Skrawl got up from the ground and walked over. He pointed towards a corner. “I think I saw something over there.”

Rudy was surprised at how fast Skrawl had mentioned this. It was like he wanted him to help. Again, this didn’t sound like Skrawl. He normally would have resisted, and would only accept help with a bitter tone. He wasn’t sure how to take it, other than Skrawl was so eager to leave, he was willing to work with him right away.

“Thanks.” Rudy said.

Rudy made his way to the corner where Skrawl had pointed him to. He saw a little machine in the corner, blending in so well he would have easily missed it had it not been for Skrawl’s directions. There were a couple buttons on it and a lever. No words were placed on it, and that had him worried. What if he pressed the wrong button?

He tried to pull the lever. He heard a scream behind him. He looked over and his eyes widened as additional water bars began to form, connecting from one side to the other. Skrawl was pressing himself against a pillar, trying to get away from the approaching electric water bar.

“Turn it back!” Skrawl cried. “Turn it back now!”

Rudy quickly turned the lever back. In an instant, the encroaching electrical water bars vanished, returning the cage to how it was before. He heard Skrawl sigh with relief. If the bars had touched Skrawl...he himself would have felt every bit of damage.

“Sorry about that.” Rudy apologize.

Skrawl growled softly. “Next time, don’t try to turn me into swiss cheese, artist boy.”

Now there’s the Skrawl he knew.

Rudy turned back to the controls. The lever wasn’t what he wanted. He looked at the buttons. They looked like they were all the same color. A dull brown. Without labels, how was Cosmo able to tell which one was which?

Then he remembered the halls, how he was able to find this place at all. Color coded... Mr. Cosmo did use color coding, but it was subtle so that intruders would have a hard time picking it out. To an non-artist, all these colors were the same. But to an artist himself, he could tell them apart more easily. It was still a tad difficult, but, through concentration, he could tell the colors apart.

He found two buttons right next to each other. With such dull variances, he guessed that Mr. Cosmo would keep the on and off buttons next to each other. He wondered if Cosmo followed the red is off, green is on analogy, to help himself remember which button was which in case he got them mixed up. It was a possibility.

And if that was the case, and one of these was a representation of red, and another green, which one would it be...?

He thought hard about this. He couldn’t dwell much on deciding which one was the right button, he knew. He didn’t have the time for this. He continued to stare at the buttons. He knew that deciding which one was right was a huge risk. What if he accidentally washes away Skrawl? If he did that, not only would he consider himself a monster like Cosmo, he would die as a result too...

Then he remembered something regarding art. He had used some art programs before. He didn’t use them much. He was more of a traditional artist. But he did recall using the grayscale option before. If he remembered right, grayscale green was darker than grayscale red. And if that principal applied here...

Rudy looked at the two buttons. Through concentration, he found which one was the lighter one. He put his finger against it. His heart started to race, knowing the consequence of pushing the wrong one. He turned away, closed his eyes, and pressed the button, expecting the worst.

Instead, he heard a familiar sound. The same sound he heard when Mr. Cosmo went into Snap’s cell to fetch him. Only this time, the sound was comforting and welcoming. He looked over and smiled when he saw that Skrawl’s cell had been shut down, the water completely vanishing save for some drops forming a line where the bars used to be.

Skrawl walked over to Rudy, careful not to step into the water. He stopped a few feet away from the boy. He stared at him, his eyes narrowed. But oddly, he didn’t look angry. Instead, he looked...confused. Like he wasn’t sure how to act around him anymore, or he was deep in thought, or something.

Finally, Skrawl spoke, “So...what’s the plan..?”

It sounded a little forced. Skrawl looked a bit awkard saying that. It was clear he wasn’t used to being this docile towards him. After years of threatening to destroy him, it came to no surprise to Rudy. It must hurt Skrawl to have to be a little nicer towards him, given the situation. He was glad that Skrawl acted like he was willing to cooperate, even if he had to force himself to.

“We have to go back and get Snap, Penny, and Ms. Saffron.” Rudy said as he and Skrawl headed towards the exit. Skrawl looked at him, confused. “And after that, we’re heading back into ChalkZone. You can leave then if you want, go back to your lair.”

“But...isn’t Ms. Saffron that woman who works with Mr. Cosmo? Why would you want her to come with?” Skrawl asked.

“She changed sides.” Rudy said. “Mr. Cosmo betrayed her. So she returned the favor.”

“I see...” Skrawl said slowly. His eyes narrowed in contemplation. “I know a thing or two about betrayal.”

“Yeah...I know.” Rudy said, somewhat bitterly. He remembered how Skrawl turned his back on his word when he had only tried to help him.

Skrawl flinched a little. “I wouldn’t doubt it.”

Rudy was confused by that expression. Skrawl was acting strangely. He didn’t understand why. Just before he was taken to Mr. Cosmo, Skrawl had been acting like his usual, typical self. But, not even a day later, when he finds him, he’s...not himself. What could have happened that caused this change in attitude? The wound on his arm? No, that wouldn’t seem like Skrawl to change over that.

As they walked down the hallway together, he thought about what he had said to Skrawl earlier. The last thing he tried to talk to him about was...what if they could have been friends if circumstances had been different... But that couldn’t have been it, right? Skrawl had been so adamant about still hating him even if his drawing turned out the way he wanted it to.

But then, what else could it have been? That was the last thing he said to Skrawl before he was dragged off. And Skrawl had been alone all this time, except maybe for a controlled zoner or two. He couldn’t pull off any schemes. He had nowhere to go. He would have had a lot of time to think about what he had said.

It didn’t seem possible, but Rudy had to consider the possibility that maybe..just maybe..he finally got through to Skrawl.

sss

Mr. Wilter managed to dodge another punch thrown at him from Mr. Cosmo. He tried to kick back, but he missed, and nearly lost his balance. He quickly straightened himself up and held up his fists as Mr. Cosmo came at him.

While he was dealing with Mr. Cosmo, Tsere was struggling against Draow. The battle had started to shift a little and Draow was fighting back. He pushed against Tsere and pinned him against the wall. He started to cut into the pterosaur’s body with his claws. Tsere let out a horrible screech of pain. He managed to kick Draow off of him, slamming the winged wolf into the ground.

In a second, Tsere was on the beast, squawking like an angry bird as he started to scratch into Draow’s body with his short but sharp talons. Although Draow let out a few whines, he was not backing down. He struggled to his feet and leapt for Tsere, his jaws gnashing at his throat. Tsere managed to move back and swung a mighty wing against the winged wolf. Draow tumbled across the ground. He shook his head, got up, and ran back towards Tsere.

Mr. Wilter knew that Tsere could only keep this up for so long. Draow was tenacious and wouldn’t back down easily. He was created with a somewhat similar personaly as Mr. Cosmo. He shared some of that evil man’s traits, and one of them was determination. Draow was not going to give up so easily, and could quickly turn the battle to his favor and drive back Tsere.

He continued to fight against Mr. Cosmo, holding his ground quite well. Despite being older and a tad bit out of practice, he was doing better than even he thought possible. Mr. Cosmo had the advantage of being a little younger than him, so he still had a bit of youth on his side. But Mr. Wilter had something going for him and that was he had a little more experience in fighting than Cosmo, which was how he managed to hold his own against him.

Mr. Cosmo grabbed Wilter by the arm and threw him against the wall. Before Wilter could recover, he punched Wilter in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. He then raised a leg and swung it at him. But Mr. Wilter recovered in time and grabbed his leg. He yanked it hard, knocking Mr. Cosmo into the ground.

Mr. Wilter raised a foot and stomped hard on Mr. Cosmo’s chest. His left him breathless, his eyes widened in pain. A bit of blood was coughed out of his mouth. Cosmo let out a groan of pain as he struggled to get back up to his feet. He glared hatefully at Mr. Wilter and kicked him in the side.

Mr. Wilter winced, holding his side. He wasn’t about to allow Mr. Cosmo to get the upperhand. He managed to move out of the way as Cosmo lunged for him. Mr. Cosmo turned around to try again, but before he could react, Mr. Wilter kicked him in the shin with as much force as he could muster.

With a scream of pain, Mr. Cosmo was on the ground. He held his injured leg to himself. He clenched his teeth and seethed in pain. He slowly looked up as he heard the crackle of knuckles. He saw Mr. Wilter heading straight for him, eyes narrowed. An uncharacteristic look of fear plastered over Mr. Cosmo’s face as he realized he was going to lose this fight.

Just then, a voice sounded out, one that sent chills down Mr. Wilter’s spine.

“All systems back online.” A computerized voice announced.

Slowly, Mr. Cosmo’s fearful look turned into a triumphant one. “So my backup generators finally kicked in, I see...”

Mr. Wilter looked down at Mr. Cosmo. “Backup generators? What are you talking about? This place doesn’t have any...”

“Yes, true my newstation is...out of the times without a backup generator...” Mr. Cosmo said with an eerie smile. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t know the use of them. A lot of the machines in here are just to keep this place running. And they were well guarded too. No one but me is allowed near them. Even Ms. Saffron can’t access them.”

Mr. Wilter’s eyes widened as he realized what he was talking about. The stalling with the security system...they had less than he thought...

“Even if the main systems were destroyed, these machines, which suppy back up power to various parts of my base, would eventually kick in when they detect that no signals were being sent.” Mr. Cosmo explained. “My controlled zoners will be returning to their posts, and when they find that Rudy and company got out of their cells...they will ensure they never leave...” He grinned evilly.

Mr. Wilter was shocked. He realized he couldn’t stay there. He had to leave. He had to go back to Rudy and the others and get them out before the controlled zoners could find them. Glaring down at Cosmo, he gave him one last punch, watching as the man cried out in pain and fell onto his side.

Mr. Wilter ran over to Tsere and climbed onto his back. “Come on, Tsere! We have to get going! Forget about Draow!”

Tsere started to fly away, barely fitting in the tunnel’s passageways. Behind him, Draow was running behind him, flapping his wings and trying to bite at him. He only stopped when Mr. Cosmo called out to him.

“No! Let them go!” Mr. Cosmo said. He held his cheek where he had been punched. He slowly climbed up to his feet. “We’ll take care of them later.”

As he took a step forward, he had a noticeable limp. There was a pained look on his face, but he was clearly ignoring the pain as he kept walking. Draow kept close behind him, his head lowered as if prepared to catch his master if he were to fall down.

“We have something we must take care of first...”

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 32-NO LONGER OF USE:



Ms. Saffron stared down at Snap’s limp form with concern etched on her face. She had no idea just how cruel Mr. Cosmo could really be. He had done a lot more harm to Snap in the short time he been alone with him than she realized. He had been just fine when he was in the isolation room, where she was able to converse with him. Even if it wasn’t the cleanest, it was still better than what he got afterwards.

She knew that was the biggest reason for his move. This is what Mr. Cosmo had intended all along. He wanted to break the poor boy’s spirit so he would be an absolute wreck when Rudy saw him. Emotion was a powerful thing, and at times emotional wounds run deeper than physical ones. Even if Snap recovered from his physical wounds, his personality must have suffered a heavy blow. She couldn’t help but feel her stomach tie in knots as she realized she had helped make this possible.

She had no idea how she fell for Cosmo’s lie about just wanting to explore ChalkZone. Up until recently, she thought that was all his plan had entailed. She did question some of the methods that he used, but he had promised he would do no real harm. Why had she believed him? She should have realized that he had been lying to her since day one of this project.

She regretted she didn’t act sooner. As soon as she had doubts, she should have trusted her instincts. She should have looked into this plan of his more deeply. If she had, she could have found out the truth, and what he really had planned. She could have warned Rudy...

Well she did warn him initially at his house. Something about Cosmo’s plan back then didn’t feel right, and she felt like she had to warn him. But Mr. Cosmo put her fears to rest...for a time. And now she wished that she had remained suspicious of him the entire time. She had never wanted anything like this to happen. And now, because of her inaction, she had put a couple of kids in danger. She felt horrible.

And Snap...she felt so bad for the little guy. He had seemed to be a pretty friendly guy. He didn’t come off as dangerous in any shape or form. She had no idea, for a time, how to think of the chalk entities, but she did come to understand how real they were, thanks to Snap. This made her even angrier at Mr. Cosmo for how he had been treating them. Had she known that the chalk creatures were truly sentient, she would have left Mr. Cosmo a long time ago.

She felt like a fool. She had been so grateful to Cosmo for helping her out with her career, for taking her in. But maybe Snap had been right all along. Maybe she was just being used. Maybe he just wanted a crony to do some of the dirty work for him. Maybe, in the end, he was going to dump all the blame on her, or whatever else he could come up with. He had never cared about her, or anyone else. And she had been played for a sap.

Snap was laying in Penny’s arms. The girl had the wet cloth against his head. The blue boy’s eyes were shut tightly and he let out a few whimpers. She didn’t expect the fever to break anytime soon. The cloth would still help at least. She had managed to pop a pill into the guy’s mouth and got him to swallow it. But she wasn’t sure how long it would take to take effect and if it would be enough. It might make him a little stronger. It wouldn’t save him, but a little stronger was better than nothing.

She hoped Rudy would return with Skrawl soon. They couldn’t stay in the hallways for very long. Mr. Cosmo could have found a backup plan. Even though she worked alongside him, it seemed that he was keeping this sadistic side away from her for all these years, and now she isn’t sure just how much she knows about him. She had a feeling he would find a way to get at them soon, though. That much she was certain. But exactly how or when, she couldn’t tell.

As soon as they would arrive, she’d take them down to the nearest chalkboard. But sadly, the nearest one from here was on the upper level. And that would take some time to get to. After they would go into ChalkZone, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do. She had thought about going with them, but she didn’t think she could be of much help. She could stay and offer a distraction, but she already did enough damage to the systems. It should be enough to stall Cosmo long enough to get Snap to a hospital and for Rudy to severe his connection with Skrawl.

After the nightmare was over, she planned on apologizing to Snap. She wanted to now, but he was unconscious still, and even if he were awake, with the damage he sustained, he may not fully understand why she was apologizing. She felt horrible for keeping him in the dark on what Cosmo wanted, and she wanted to say she was sorry. She hoped he would be able to forgive her. She had never meant to betray him like that.

“Ms. Saffron...” Penny’s voice broke the silence.

Ms. Saffron turned her head. “Yes?”

“What made you finally turn against Mr. Cosmo?” Penny asked. “What made you decide to help us instead of him?”

Ms. Saffron paused for a moment. “It was...a couple of things.” She looked down at Snap. “When I saw him yank Snap up by his scarf, hurting him deliberately, I saw just how cruel he could be. I never knew he was like that. To bring more harm to someone with an injury like your friend had, that was just sadistic...”

“His back injury...?” Penny whispered.

Ms. Saffron nodded. “Draow gave that to him. Sliced up his back real good. It was treated, but barely. Mr. Cosmo didn’t care about properly cleaning the wound or anything. He just wanted Snap alive for the time being. And when he grabbed him and shook him like how he had, dragging him, not caring if he hit against the walls...I’m sure it made the injury worse.” She closed her eyes and sucked in a sharp breath. “It was a horrible sight.”

Penny looked at Saffron in horror. “He did that to Snap..?”

Ms. Saffron nodded her head. “I’m afraid so.” She looked at the ground. “Then he locked me up in the room. He guessed I was going to try to mess up his plans. And...he was right. After seeing that, I would have done something.” She looked back at Penny. “I am certain he put Snap in a new place where only he could interact with him, because he wanted to do all he could to crush him. He wanted your friend Rudy to be in such a state of shock when he would see Snap again, that he’d be more easily manipulated...”

Something seemed to click in Penny’s head. “So that visit to his parents’ house...”

“Was all part of the test.” Ms. Saffron said. “He wanted to see how easily...manipulated your friend could be, so he had me call him a juvenile delinquent and tell him the results. He was...pleased that he reacted the way he had. He said that if Rudy would react that way, it meant two things. One, that he really was hiding something and two, and this is the biggest thing, it meant that, if he reacted so negatively to a single phrase, how would he react when something more important, such as a dear friend, is hurt?”

“...oh...oh my...” Penny whispered, her eyes widened. It was clear, from the look on her face, that everything was starting to click together, even more than it already did.

Ms. Saffron narrowed her eyes slightly. “I hated calling him that, but Mr. Cosmo forced me into it. And I’m not great at lying to him. He isn’t as easily tricked as...the rest of us unfortunately. I do hold deep regret that I was involved in this at all. Sometimes I wonder if things would have been different if I never been involved with that man.”

Penny shook her head. “Not much different. He would have found a way to do all this without your help.”

Ms. Saffron nodded her head. “Yeah, he would have. Especially since most of my help was from the sidelines. He did most of the work.”

“And besides, I don’t think you should feel too bad, Ms. Saffron.” Penny said.

This surprised the woman. How could the girl say that? If she had done something sooner, she could have prevented at least some of what happened. If she hadn’t been a fool and listened to Mr. Cosmo, and warned Rudy and Penny, they could have been more prepared, and could have more easily dealt with Cosmo.

There was a lot she could have, and should have, done. She didn’t do as much as Mr. Cosmo, but that was just it. She didn’t do much. And what she didn’t do, it nagged her in the mind. She couldn’t shake off the guilty feeling. Even knowing that all of this would have happened anyway, she still felt like she could have made a big difference if she had done something earlier.

“You didn’t mean for this to happen. And you aren’t the only person in the world who has ever been duped by someone. It could happen to anyone. Don’t beat yourself up for it.” Penny said. “You’ve learned your lesson and you’re trying to make up for it. That’s what matters. Accepting your mistakes and fixing them. You did manage to help us in the end and it made a big difference.”

Ms. Saffron blinked a few times. Then, slowly, she smiled. She started to feel a little better. The girl was right. She shouldn’t kick herself for the mistakes she made. She should focus on fixing them. And that was exactly what she was doing. She knew that she couldn’t rest until Mr. Cosmo paid for his evil deeds and was locked up in jail where he belonged.

“Thank you...” Ms. Saffron said gratefully.

Penny smiled back, but only briefly. Her gaze fell back onto Snap. He was still shivering from the fever and he hadn’t shown any signs of waking up. Ms. Saffron looked at him sympathetically. He was going through so much... He shouldn’t have to endure this.

Ms. Saffron wanted to give Penny a sense of hope, though. In times like this, it was always good to keep a positive state of mind. It helped making dealing with the situations a little easier.

“I’m sure he will be okay. It will take him time to recover, but from what I’ve seen in Rudy, he’ll get him to the hospital in time.” Ms. Saffron said, trying to comfort Penny. “Then you guys can do...whatever it is you usually do when someone like...Mr. Cosmo...isn’t causing you trouble.”

A tear formed in Penny’s eyes. “Everything had been so normal a few days ago...I just couldn’t believe that...all this happened so fast...”

Ms. Saffron looked at her sadly. “It is sad that you and your friends have to deal with all this. I promise you that Mr. Cosmo will get what he deserves in the end, and everything will go back to the way it was. Rest assured, he will not get away with what he has done.”

Penny smiled. Now it was her turn to be grateful. “Thank you.”

Suddenly, a voice sounded out. A robotic voice who delivered a message that sent chills down her spine.

“All systems back online.”

Saffron’s eyes widened at that. How did...how was this possible? She had disabled the system. It should have remained down for a lot longer than this. The only way he could have pulled this off was with backup generators, but she didn’t see any. Did he hide them that well from her? Had he known all along she was going to betray him?

She looked down at Penny. Understandably the girl looked frightened. She couldn’t blame her. They were nowhere near the portal yet. And with Mr. Cosmo knowing where they are now, he could find a way to cut them off and beat them to their destination. He may be sending controlled zoners to their location now.

“I...I thought you...” Penny looked up at Ms. Saffron with wide eyes.

“I did.” Ms. Saffron said, gritting her teeth. “The bastard must have hidden some alternative power... And activated it somehow.”

They heard footsteps down the hall. Saffron had hoped it was just Rudy and Skrawl, but that was too much sound for two people. There were so many footfalls, it could only be a group of zoners coming their way. She looked left and right, trying to pinpoint which way the sound was coming from. To their right, she could see some shadows forming on the wall.

She reached down and grabbed Penny’s arm and tugged gently. “Come on, get up. We can’t stay here.” She said in a low voice. She didn’t want the zoners to hear her and give away their position. “Pick up your friend and be quiet. Come with me.”

“What about Rudy and...” Penny started to say.

“We’ll run into them on the way.” Ms. Saffron said softly. “Now come on, let’s go before one of them sees us.”

Saffron led Penny, who was gently holding Snap, down the hallway. She knew this way. It should cut right into the path that Rudy took to go get Skrawl. She hoped that he fetched the zoner and was heading down the hallway right now. She would meet up with them and they could take another path to hopefully avoid the controlled zoners.

It didn’t take them long to reach the hallway that Rudy had taken. They stepped into it. She looked around. It seemed empty enough. She turned and went in the direction that Rudy and Skrawl should be heading down if they had gotten out of the room by now.

She winced as she suddenly heard a loud screech echoing in the halls. It had to be Draow. That meant that Cosmo was on his way, probably to look at the monitor systems to try to activate some traps. They had to hurry and get out of there and fast. Saffron moved faster down the halls, her mind filling with urgency. She looked behind her to make sure Penny was able to keep up. She didn’t move too fast as she didn’t want Snap to fall and get more hurt than he already was.

Ms. Saffron was happy to see Rudy and Skrawl a bit further down. She quickened her pace to go up to them. As long as no controlled zoners appeared in this hallway, they could make a clean getaway and force Mr. Cosmo to go into ChalkZone, where Rudy would be able to fight back.

As they moved a foot further down, and when she could see Rudy’s face with greater detail, footsteps caught her attention. Oh no..it couldn’t be... Ms. Saffron froze in her tracks and looked behind her. Shadows forming on the walls of a nearby side tunnel. About three controlled zoners it looked like. And they were coming this way at an alarming rate.

She stared at the shadows, her mind racing. There was no way they could make it down the halls without the zoners seeing them. And they could be some of the faster zoners that would catch the kids very easily. Or they could find someway to force them to go down into the wrong hallway and get trapped. This was definitely not good. She had to think of something, and fast.

“Ms. Saffron!” Rudy called out. “I have to tell you something!”

She could barely hear the boy’s cries as she was lost in thought. But the zoners sure heard it. Rudy obviously couldn’t tell zoners were in the hall. He was at such an angle that he couldn’t see the shadows from the tunnel. The zoners in the hall quickened their pace and Ms. Saffron could make out their shapes. A block, a bear, and what looked like a bathtub with a person in it. They would be here very quickly.

Penny took notice of the zoners. She hung onto Snap tighter, like she was afraid he’d be taken away if the zoners spotted her. “What are we going to do...?”

Ms. Saffron had to think of something. What could she do? They couldn’t run now. The zoners would run after them, surely. She could hear Rudy yelling at her, trying to tell her something important. But she couldn’t think about that now. The teenagers had to get out of here, along with Snap and Skrawl, before it was too late.

What she needed to do was find some way to get the zoners to go in another direction. But without control of them, the only way was if...

...was if she was the distraction....

She narrowed her eyes. It was the only thing she could think of doing that may buy them enough time. She stared down at Penny and put a hand on her shoulder. “Go to Rudy and tell him to run down this hallway, all the way to the end, and make a right. There should be a staircase there. Take it and it will lead you back up to the floor above this one. The room with the chalkboard I presume you used to get here should be up there.”

Penny’s eyes widened. “But..what about you...?”

“Just do what I tell you!” Ms Saffron said firmly. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

“But...” Penny protested.

“No buts. Go!” Saffron ordered, gently ushering Penny to ahead to Rudy.

Ms. Saffron turned around and stared down the hallway with the controlled zoners. She knew this was crazy. She knew that it might be the biggest mistake she’ll ever mistake in her life. But she was willing to do it to make up for what she helped cause to Rudy and his friends.

Without hesitation, she raced down the hallway. It didn’t take her long to meet up with the zoners that were coming down the hall. Bathtub Granny, Lars, and Blocky. They were walking in a neat line, blocking anyway to get past them. Saffron didn’t stop running and slammed into Blocky, knocking him down.

Just like she predicted, Blocky turned his attention on her. He tried to grab at her with his hands, but they were too short and stubby to be of much use. Saffron managed to dodge Bathtub Granny’s brush as it was swung at her like a weapon. Lars tried to swipe at her. She ducked and pushed against him, knocking him back a little.

Now that she had their attention, she ran down the hall. Like she hoped, they followed her in hot pursuit. She continued to lead them as far away from Rudy and the others as she possibly could.

sss

Rudy couldn’t believe it. Saffron hadn’t bothered to respond to him before she ran off. Why had she done that? He had an important message to give her. It was urgent she recieved the message. When he saw her quicken her pace, he broke into a run. This seemed to take Skrawl by surprise, but he didn’t pay any attention. He had to warn Saffron before it was too late.

He saw Penny rush up towards him, holding Snap in her arms. He slowed down as they met in the middle of the hallway. Penny looked distressed about something, like she knew something that he did not. He wondered if it had anything to do with Ms. Saffron going down that side tunnel.

“Penny..where did...” Rudy started to say.

“There’s some...controlled zoners...” Penny said. “She is going to distract them for us.”

Rudy’s eyes widened in shock. He had to get to her. She couldn’t fight the zoners all by herself. She was greatly outnumbered. He started to head in that direction when Skrawl grabbed his arm and yanked him back.

“If she is providing a distraction, then it’s for a good reason.” Skrawl said. “We should get out of here while we still have a chance!”

“But I have to warn her about...” Rudy started to say.

“I’m not happy about it either, Rudy.” Penny said, cutting him off. “But..she’s right...we have to get out of here. She told us the way out. With her distracting the controlled zoners, that gives us an opening...”

“And besides, your friend looks like he’s in really bad shape.” Skrawl said as he looked down at Snap. “Saffron’s help would have been all in vain if you didn’t get him back to ChalkZone in time, wouldn’t it?”

Rudy knew they were both right. They couldn’t stay here. As much as he hated to do it, he had no choice but to leave the building with the others. He hoped Ms. Saffron would be okay by herself. She seemed like a capable woman. And she knew this building well. She could find a place to hide quite easily.

He stared down at Snap. He still looked so terribly ill. He tried to hold back his tears. The sight of his friend in such a weak state, it was more than he could bear. And they didn’t have a lot of time to save him. Just a few hours, maybe less if that fever isn’t taken care of and fast.

“Okay...let’s go.”

sss

Ms. Saffron realized too late that she had went in the wrong direction. The tunnel she had went down led her to another tunnel with five more controlled zoners. A couple of stick figures and a couple dinosaur-based ones. They took notice of her and joined in the chase.

She couldn’t fight them. She had no weapons to use, not to mention she didn’t want to hurt them. All she could do was run away from them. She didn’t know how long she could keep it up though. She could feel her heart pounding against her chest, her lungs screaming for more oxygen. Though some of the zoners were slowing down, it was only a matter of time before one of the zoners with more stamina would catch up to her.

As she rounded a corner down a new tunnel, she screamed and skidded to a hault. There were two large zoners heading in her direction, a bear and a bird. She froze, unsure of what to do. She had zoners in front of her and behind her. She looked around, trying to find an exit.

Without much of a choice, she raced down towards the bear and bird. They prepared to grab her. She managed to dodge, but only barely. She grunted as the bear slashed her in the leg. The cuts weren’t too deep luckily. She did her best to ignore the pain as she raced down the hallway.

In a short amount of time, there was practically a horde of controlled zoners coming after her. A part of her was glad. As long as they were after her, Rudy and the others would be safe from them. But something else entered her mind. How was she going to deal with this situation? She couldn’t keep running forever. She would tire out eventually and she would then be caught.

Then she remembered something about a secret door that Mr. Cosmo showed her once. She forgot what the purpose of it was, but it was going to be useful right about now. She recalled it was somewhere down here. As she ran, she looked along the walls, looking for a sign of something else being there. She turned a corner, down to where she believed this hidden area was.

Then she saw it. A very faint line, barely noticeable, forming a round shape. It nearly blended in with the wall all around it. She looked behind her. The zoners were catching up. She could see their shadows on the walls as they drew closer.

She raced towards the wall. She pressed her fingers against it. She recalled it was very hard to open. She struggled with all her might to open it. Slowly, the door creaked quietly open. She jumped inside and shut it as quickly as she could.

The room was very dark, but from what she recalled, it was pretty spacious. Not a lot of stuff in it. Maybe some small objects on the ground. She wasn’t sure what purpose the room really served. She was certain Mr. Cosmo had a reason for it, and that reason could not be good.

She heard the sound of footsteps approaching. She waited and listened. They came closer and soon they walked right by the door. She sighed with relief as they continued down the hall, their footsteps getting softer and softer. They were far enough away from the others that they should be able to get to ChalkZone before the controlled zoners could get to them.

She tried to open the door, but for some reason it wouldn’t work. Oh great, was this room so unused that it got stuck? She wasn’t sure how likely that was, but it was the only thing she could think of. She pulled on it harder, trying to muster up as much strength as she could.

“Leaving so soon, Ms. Saffron...?” A cold voice said behind her. “But you’ve only just arrived...”

Chills went down her spine at that all too familiar voice. The hairs on her neck stood on end. She turned around, and as she did, the lights of the room were switched on. She flinched at the sudden brightness for a second, and then stared in shock as she saw Mr. Cosmo standing in the middle of the room.

He was sitting in a wooden chair, his fingers tapping together. He smiled coldly at the woman, like he was pleased that he had outsmarted her and somehow predicted she’d come here. She took notice that of the injuries he had. Some bruises and small cuts. She guessed he got them from Mr. Wilter. Her eyes widened. Had Mr. Wilter been defeated?

Ms. Saffron took a defensive stance. She didn’t know what Mr. Cosmo wanted with her. She wasn’t about to put her guard down around him. After all he had done, she knew she had to remain wary and alert around him.

“What do you want?” Ms. Saffron demanded.

“Oh only to ask you a question.” Mr. Cosmo said. He leaned back in his chair. “Why did you turn your back on me? I mean, I’ve done so much for you...I can’t understand why you would decide to leave me all dry...”

Ms. Saffron growled at him. Was he serious? Did he not understand why she would turn against him? No, he knew. He was fully aware of what he had done. He was just toying with her, messing with her mind. No matter what she said to him, he was not going to feel one ounce of remorse.

“I am tired of this horrid scheme of yours, Mr. Cosmo. I can’t believe I trusted you...I can’t believe I ever looked up to you!” Ms. Saffron said, her voice full of disgust. Just like she predicted, Mr. Cosmo just stared at her calmly. “I hate the way you treat these zoners, like they’re worth lower than dirt! And don’t bother trying to change my mind! I refuse to work with you any longer!”

Mr. Cosmo was quiet for a few moments. “I am...sorry to hear that. It is...a shame that the blue boy managed to sway you so much. I should have kept you two separated. If I had known...there’d be some complications...I would have taken care of them sooner...”

Ms. Saffron narrowed her eyes. “What you did to Snap was unforgiveable...” She said in a dangerous tone of voice.

“Come now, Saffron...” Cosmo drolled, the calm, cruel smile never leaving his face. “I wasn’t the only one who did him wrong.”

A pang ripped through Saffron’s heart.

“After all, you were the one who kept secrets from him... He did look a little hurt when he found out the truth...” Cosmo said in a thoughtful manner. He scratched his chin. “I wonder how he feels about you now...”

Ms. Saffron glared at the man. “I hate you...”

“And I you... I am glad we are being honest with each other.” Mr. Cosmo said. He got up out of the chair and started to advance towards Ms. Saffron. As he boxed her against the door, he pressed a hand against the door and cupped her chin gently. “I suppose you want to say you’re sorry, don’t you?”

“He deserves an apology.” Ms. Saffron snarled. “He has more humanity than you do.”

Mr. Cosmo let out a soft chuckle. He looked into her eyes and said, “Well...if you hate being here that much...don’t worry...”

Saffron looked at him with a confused look. The tone of his voice changed. There was some...intent behind it...but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.

“I’m letting you go...”

Suddenly Cosmo grabbed her by the neck and shoved her against the door hard. She let out a scream. She started to struggle as Cosmo placed a cold, sharp knife against her throat. She looked at the blade with wide eyes, able to see them in the reflection. Her heart pounded as she looked at Mr. Cosmo in fear.

“And don’t worry...I’ll make sure I give Snap the message...”

“N-N-No...please don’t do this...” Ms. Saffron begged, tears strolling down her face. She struggled to get free, but it was no use. “Don’t...”

“Goodbye...”

Mr. Cosmo pressed the blade harder and, with a swift yank, pulled upwards and to the side. Ms. Saffron’s eyes widened in pain as the blade cut her throat open. She tried to scream, but blood began to choke her. Mr. Cosmo released her, and onto the floor she crumpled.

[DarkWolf91]

Sorry! I was kind of 'out of town on business,' I guess
I intend to peruse these chapters shortly

[DarkWolf91]

Intense! :blink:
Didn't see that one coming, yikes. Poor woman
Hopefully her sacrifice was not in vain... I guess I will have to wait and see.

[DarkHououmon]

Poor Ms. Saffron. : ( I actually did feel bad about killing her off, and have some regrets in doing so. I can't change it now, though.

Btw, I'm working on the sequel to Sinful Behaviors. It's called Play The Game. It takes place a year and a half later.



CHAPTER 33-UNDER SIEGE:



The hallway felt a lot longer than Rudy could have imagined. It didn’t seem like the turn was that far away. But then, eyes have been known to play tricks on the mind, and the side hallway only seemed closer than it really was.

The good news was that they were at least getting closer. They hadn’t found any sign of resistance. Ms. Saffron had done a good job with keeping them away. He hoped that it was good enough. So long as they didn’t run into anybody, they should be able to make it back to ChalkZone before it was too late. Snap still had some time left.

Rudy hoped that Ms. Saffron was okay. He felt so bad that he hadn’t gotten a chance to warn her yet about Mr. Cosmo. He understood that she may stand a chance, given she knows almost as much about the building as he does, but that didn’t stop him from worrying about her. Mr. Cosmo was a dangerous man. For her sake, he hoped that she would keep on her guard around him.

Then again, maybe she already knows. She had been locked up by him, and she has seen the horrible way he treats the zoners. She knew how far he was going to go to get him to join him, threatening to kill Snap. She might know that he would kill her, and had taken precautions.

Although he wished he could have warned her, he was grateful that she had helped them. Her distraction bought them time to get to the portal before Cosmo came. They still had some good distance between them and that evil, disgusting man.

But if they did meet resistance, they did have Skrawl, who did have quite a bit of strength and could hold off a lot of these controlled zoners. Rudy hadn’t spoken to Skrawl about that, but if the jellybean wanted to get back to ChalkZone, he would cooperate.

At least, that’s what Rudy hoped. Skrawl seemed to be more cooperative, but he wasn’t sure how long that would last. Skrawl had shown signs of being uncomfortable with acting nicer towards him. That may be a sign that he wouldn’t keep it up for long, and he’d go back to his usual scheming self. Rudy hoped thtat Skrawl would at least remain cooperative until they got to ChalkZone.

Snap’s condition hadn’t improved too much. His temperature went down, but only by a tad. He was still burning up. He hadn’t woken up since he passed out, and that concerned him greatly. This fever could kill him if it wasn’t brought down soon.

Penny was doing all she could to get his temperature further down. She kept pressing the cold cloth against Snap’s head. Well it used to be cold, but his head was so hot it warmed up. In order to get a cooling effect, she had to remove the cloth and blow on it. The air from her breath against the moisture on Snap’s head created a cooling effect. This wasn’t easy for Penny to pull off running, but she was doing a pretty good job.

Their running was suddenly cut short. A horrid screeching sounded out. Something scraped against a surface that they couldn’t see. The high pitched sound caused Penny to wince and step back. She was unable to cover her ears due to holding Snap. Skrawl covered his head and cried out, the sound permeating in his head.

Rudy was the worst off. Not only did he get to feel the pain on his own, the sound tormenting his ears, but he also got to feel Skrawl’s pain due to the connection. The combined sound was enough to make him drop onto his knees in agony. The only one who didn’t react was Snap, and that was only because he was unconscious.

When the sound finally stopped, everyone sighed in relief. That relief soon turned into horrific realization, and they all realized, in an instant, that they weren’t alone in these hallways anymore. And to clarify that, a set of footsteps came towards them, slow and deliberate.

Draow came around the corner, from the opposite direction they were headed. As soon as he saw them, he snarled loudly and started to quicken his pace. Not too fast, but quick enough that he’d be caught up to them in a matter of seconds.

Rudy was shocked. How did Draow find them so fast? Wasn’t Mr. Wilter and his pterosaur supposed to distract him? That made him realize something. Was it possible that Mr. Wilter had...lost the battle? And if he did, was he still...alive? He flinched at the thought of his teacher being dead. He hoped that he was all right.

Rudy took notice of Draow holding something in his jaws. As the beast got closer, he realized that the object in Draow’s mouth was a piece of glass. Draow was displaying just how gentle he could be with his jaws, as he could easily cut the glass and cut himself. At first, Rudy wondered why he was holding the glass, but then he remembered what Draow did before, when Skrawl was in the tank, and what Mr. Cosmo had said.

“Rudy! We need to get out of here!” Penny shouted. “Let’s run before he decides to fly at us! If he does that, we’ll never get out of here!”

Skrawl was still rubbing his head. He nodded in agreement. “Genius girl is right, Tabootie. If we stay here, that thing will stop us from getting back into ChalkZone!”

Rudy knew they were both right. He took one last look at Draow before he and the others broke into a run.

That lasted all of maybe five seconds. Another screech filled the room. This time, it was louder than before. Penny managed to fight back and got further away. She stopped and looked behind her. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw Rudy and Skrawl were both on the ground.

Feeling their own pain, as well as each other’s, they were incapacitated, writhing on the ground and covering their ears. The sound grew louder. They both let out a scream of pain as Draow continued to scrape along the glass.

“Rudy! Skrawl! Get out of here!” Penny cried in horror. Her voice was filled with pain from the horrid screeching. “Draow is getting closer to you!”

Rudy snapped his eyes wide open. So that is what Draow was doing. That was why he had brought the glass. He knew that, due to their connection, if they both felt pain in the same place, it would cause double the amount of agony. So he was using the scraping sound, the same one was he used on them before, to slow them down. Draow must be immune, somehow, to his own glassy claw scraping, and as he scratched the glass, he would get closer and closer. Soon he’d be close enough to bite them and they couldn’t be able to get away in time.

Draow was...a lot more intelligent than he had thought. He hadn’t been given any orders to do this. Mr. Cosmo was nowhere in sight. He was not the dumb but obedient beast he had initially thought. He was just as sentient as Snap, Blocky, Rapsheeba, Biclops, all them.

....and he was helping Mr. Cosmo willingly...

That realization horrified Rudy. Before, with Draow being like a loyal dog, he could understand. He thought that Draow just didn’t understand that what his master was doing was wrong. But him being sentient, of being fully aware and conscious, and yet still obeying Mr. Cosmo...that left a sick feeling in Rudy’s stomach.

As he glared in Draow’s direction, trying to fight against the pain, he swore he saw the beast smile at them. And that left him wondering one thing. If there could exist a zoner who would willingly work with a madman bent on enslaving ChalkZone, how many more were there? Could some of these controlled zoners actually have given themselves up willingly, because they wanted to work for Mr. Cosmo?

He didn’t have time to dwell on this thought too long. The screeching sound came to a stop, replaced with a howl of pain. Rudy was immensely relieved when Tsere lunged on Draow’s back from behind. His talons dug into the winged wolf’s shoulders, tearing into them as he pushed him into the ground. Tsere squawked at him as he struggled.

Tsere lowered his head, grabbed the glass from Draow’s jaws, and flung it aside. Then he turned his attention back on the winged wolf and started to peck at him with his long, sharp beak. Draow wasn’t giving up willingly and he bit down on Tsere’s leg, trying to rip it off.

Tsere squawked loudly in pain and flapped his wings rapidly. He managed to lift up into the air, despite the hallway’s ceilings not being high enough for him to fly appropriately. He snagged the winged wolf’s tail in his long beak. He yanked hard, causing Draow to yelp as he released Tsere’s foot. Tsere threw Draow into the wall as hard as he could, and then, a second later, body slammed against him. The force was enough to embed Draow into the wall. He struggled to get free, but for the time being, he was stuck.

“Rudy!”

Swerving his head in the direction of that voice, Rudy called out, “Mr. Wilter?! You’re okay!”

Mr. Wilter rushed towards them. He looked everyone with a concerned look. Then he smiled and said, “Oh thank goodness you’re all okay! I was worried Tsere and I wouldn’t get here in time.”

“No, you came at just the right time.” Penny said. Snap was still unconscious in her arms. She looked down at him with concern. “If you hadn’t come just now...”

Mr. Wilter took notice of the stuck Draow. “Indeed we did in the nick of time.” He looked back at them. “We don’t have must time before that thing will get free. We need to move, now!”

Without saying another word, the group continued to run down the hallway, leaving behind an aggravated Draow. Tsere walked on his feet, wings spread out, behind them. He kept a good pace. Rudy guessed that Tsere was attempting to block Draow in case he got free and came after them.

It didn’t take them long to locate the stairs that Ms. Saffron had told them about. Rudy heard a loud roar and he knew that they didn’t have much time left. The group got up the stairs as fast as they could. No one dared to look back, for fear that if they did, Draow would come after them. The dreadful feeling increased when they heard a crash and a roar, and realized Draow had broken free already.

As they hurried into the room with the chalkboard, Rudy froze, realizing something. He looked up at Tsere. He was a pretty large pterosaur...

“Why did you stop, Rudy? This isn’t a time for...” Mr. Wilter started to say.

Rudy looked over at him. “Can he get through this portal...?” He asked with worry. “I don’t want to leave him behind, especially with Draow...”

Mr. Wilter paused for a momet, then smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Rudy. He can get in.” He motioned towards Tsere. “He can wrap himself up really tightly and drive right through.”

As if to emphasize his point, Tsere, at the moment, wrapped his wings around his body, showing a great deal of flexibility. As he finished, he was narrower than before. He pulled his head up, beak pointing towards the ceiling. He really did look like he could fit through the opening now, if just barely.

Relieved, Rudy ushered everyone through the portal. Penny and Snap were first. Then Skrawl, Mr. Wilter, and Tsere dove in after them. Like Wilter said, he fit enough to go through without too much trouble. Rudy started to climb in when he heard footsteps in the hallway. His eyes widened on horror as Draow poked his head into the room, saw him, and snarled.

“Hurry, Rudy!” Penny cried behind him.

Rudy stumbled through the portal. He moved his hand back back as Draow stuck his head through the portal and tried to snap at him. Rudy tried to push Draow’s head back in, but it wouldn’t budge. In retaliation, Draow bit down onto his left hand, prompting a scream from Rudy and Skrawl.

Before too much damage could be done, Tsere slammed his head against Draow, forcing him to release Rudy and pushed him back through the portal. Draow was on his feet in seconds. Before he could get too close, Rudy quickly erased the portal with his uninjured hand. He felt an impact as he erased the last bit and guessed Draow slammed against the portal.

Rudy looked down at his hand and winced as he saw fresh blood start to drip from it. He tore off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around his hand to stop the bleeding the best he could. Not the best, but it would do. He looked over at Skrawl to see how he was doing. He was still clutching his hand and he could see red on it. But as the bleeding on his hand slowly stopped, so did the bleeding from Skrawl’s hand.

He turned his attention to Snap. “We need to get to the hospital...and fast!”

Skrawl said, “There should be one near here. I saw it on my way to...” He paused for a moment. “...to get that winged wolf beast...”

Rudy narrowed his eyes slightly at the memory. But he didn’t have time to dwell on it now. “Can you show us?”

“Yes, it’s...” Skrawl started to say, but suddenly he was interrupted.

“You guys came back! I’m so relieved you’re okay!”

“Is that Rapsheeba?” Penny asked.

Rudy looked behind them and saw Rapsheeba running up to them. She stopped a few feet away. She paused to take a breath. “I did what you told me to, Rudy. Nobody else disappeared!”

“That is good news.” Penny said with a smile.

Rapsheeba noticed Snap in Penny’s arms, unconscious. “Snap? What happened to him?” She said, her eyes starting to glisten.

Rudy bit his lip. “He...was tortured by Mr. Cosmo.”

Rapsheeba’s eyes widened at that name. “Did you just say...Mr. Cosmo?”

Mr. Wilter nodded his head. “Yes. He is trailing behind us. I don’t doubt he’ll get into ChalkZone soon.”

“But how? I erased the portal.” Rudy said, his eyes wide.

Wilter shook his head. “That would only slow him down. I am certain he has magic chalk stored somewhere. He’ll becoming here, so we better get moving.”

“Rudy, you have to get to the Chalk Mine and now!” Rapsheeba cried.

“That’s where we are headed.” Penny explained. “But first, we need to...”

“The Chalk Mine is under attack!” Rapsheeba cried in horror.

A gasp came from everyone, even Skrawl.

Rudy remembered Rapsheeba’s reaction to the name Mr. Cosmo. He didn’t want to believe it was true, but..had Mr. Cosmo done something else that they weren’t aware of? He took a step towards Rapsheeba and asked in a cautious voice, “What happened...?”

Rapsheeba cried, “It was terrible! I was going over to let Biclops know that I managed to warn everyone in ChalkZone about the nearly invisible portal, and when I got there, he had been attacked!”

“Attacked?!” Rudy gasped. “By who?”

“A group of beast zoners! He didn’t tell me their names. He was in too much pain. But he said that they were followers of Mr. Cosmo.”

Rudy couldn’t believe it. So there really were zoners who turned their back on their own people to work with this horrid man, and willingly at that. He couldn’t tell if he was more horrified or angry at the idea of it.

Rapsheeba continued, “They had been ordered to invade the Chalk Mine and destroy as much magic chalk as they can! And that’s not all...” Her eyes widened in absolute fear as she said the next line. “Rudy...they’re using real world water!”

Rudy’s blood froze at that statement. Real world water? Mr. Cosmo...had actually ordered zoners to bring real world water into ChalkZone? He was absolutely horrified. He saw the damage it could do to a zoner in the real world. But in ChalkZone, where everything was chalk, just how much further could real world water be taken...?

Images of dead and hurt zoners, along with destroyed buildings and property, annihilated landscapes, filled his mind. Terror filled his heart and he couldn’t help but shake. How was he going to fight against this? Rapsheeba wouldn’t lie to them... If she said real world water was involved, then it was. But if everything he drew was made of chalk, then...what was he going to do...?

He looked at the others. Everyone else was just as horrified as he was by this news. They all knew the terrifying consequences of bringing real world water into ChalkZone. It was like bringing fire to a forest. The damage it could cause would be tremendous. Infinite abysses could be formed. Huge portions of ChalkZone could easily be destroyed in a matter of seconds.

And if the magic chalk is all destroyed, he would not be able to do a thing to stop it...

Rudy knew he didn’t have much time to formulate a plan. They had to get Snap to the hospital, and now they had to hurry to the Chalk Mine, which was under attack and that made the situation even more urgent than before. The only to do both at the same time was if they split up.

Mr. Wilter seemed to read his mind. He walked up to Rudy and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You, Penny, and the big guy here, head to the ChalkMine. With two of you being creators, you would be better equipped at stopping the intruders.” He looked down at Snap. “Tsere and I will escort Snap to the hospital.”

Although he hated the idea of being separated from Snap again, Rudy knew Mr. Wilter was right. Penny and him were the most capable of handling the intruders. And Skrawl could be helpful, with his size and strength. So long as he was cooperative, the three of them could probably handle these evil zoners easily.

“I understand.” Rudy said.

“Here, I’ll take Snap.” Rapsheeba said. She went up to Penny. Gently, Penny eased Snap into Raspheeba’s arms. Despite not being too much bigger than him, she managed to hold Snap up. She looked at him with concern. She turned to Mr. Wilter. “Let’s get going.”

Tsere lowered him body towards the ground. Rapsheeba and Wilter climbed onto him. He held out his wings and started to flap them.

As they rose up, Rapsheeba yelled, “Be careful!”

“I will!” Rudy called back.

Rudy, though he still felt sad and worried about Snap, was feeling a wave of relief hit him as Snap was finally being taken to the hospital. And on Tsere’s back, they should get there shortly.

He turned his attention to the direction the Chalk Mine was in. In a matter of seconds, he, Penny, and Skrawl, without saying a word, headed off.

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 34-CHALK MINE IN PERIL:



“No...” Rudy whispered.

Penny agreed, her eyes widened in horror. “Oh my gosh...”

Even Skrawl was horrified by what they saw.

When Rudy arrived at the Chalk Mine, he didn’t know what he was expecting. A lot of things could have happened with those evil zoners running about with real world water. But when he came, he never expected to see something like this waiting for him.

There, laying on the ground just outside the Chalk Mine entrance, was Biclops. He was out cold, laying on his back. A clear look of agony was etched on his face. For a brief second, it almost looked like he was just napping, but a reddening pool told them otherwise. There were several cuts on Biclops’s body, most likley from the intruders.

But what had horrified the group wasn’t the cuts. It was something else. Half of the giant’s left leg was missing. Erased by real world water. Signs of where the water hit could be seen on the ground. The droplets sunk into the ground, creating many small, but immensely deep, holes in the ground.

In an instant, Rudy understood exactly why Biclops had passed out. The pain from losing his leg must have been tremendous. The sight of Biclops so helpless and defeated made Rudy feel very guilty. He wished he had been there to help fight off the zoners. He was glad that, at least, Biclops was still very much alive.

Rudy watched as Penny walked up to Biclops’s unconscious form and placed a hand on his huge arm, looking at him with concern and empathy. Rudy swallowed hard. He had a hard time believing that any zoner could be so insane as to bring real world water, and actually use it on another zoner. The idea was also quite suicidal. It could easily backfire on them. Why would the zoners risk using such a lethal method to do all this? Or did they have little concern for themselves?

He wouldn’t doubt it. If they were followers of Mr. Cosmo, then it would make sense they’d think little of themselves. Cosmo may have made them think that way. And exactly how, he wasn’t sure. And right now, he didn’t care. It didn’t matter how they became like that. What did matter was that they were in the Chalk Mine now, causing who knows how much havoc in it. If he didn’t hurry, all the magic chalk would be gone.

Skrawl walked towards Biclops’s fallen form. He looks him up and down. He shakes his head in what Rudy guessed was disbelief. He turned his attention to Rudy. “We should hurry into the Chalk Mine. I’ve snuck in here enough times to get a general idea of the layout of this place. If we hurry, we can find these...followers and stop them before too much damage is done.”

Another clear sign Skrawl had changed. Skrawl had, a few times, tried to destroy the Chalk Mine. He almost succeeded once with a robotic version of Rudy. Even distracting the robot didn’t work. What saved them in the end was Penny finding the control and using it to operate the robot and sending it after Craniac 4 and Skrawl.

But now, he was actively trying to help save the Chalk Mine. Again, Rudy wondered what had gotten into him. He had never been this helpful before. And while it still seemed like it took all of Skrawl’s mental energy to do so, the fact was he was still doing this mostly on his own accord. He could have easily left and gone back home. Instead, he went with them to offer assistance. Rudy hoped that this trend would continue.

But he couldn’t go into the Chalk Mine. Not yet. He had to take care of Biclops first. He couldn’t just leave him there, passed out from the pain. He took out his small piece of magic chalk and started to walk up to the giant. He was stopped by Skrawl, who stepped in his path.

“Skrawl, what are you doing?” Rudy asked, narrowing his eyes. “Get out of the way. I have to help Biclops.”

“We don’t have time for that, chalk boy!” Skrawl warned him. “We don’t know how much of the magic chlak has been destroyed.”

“But Biclops...” Rudy looked over at the giant.

“There’ll be plenty more zoners like him if you don’t do something soon!” Skrawl snarled at the boy.

Rudy growled, gritting his teeth. He understood where Skrawl was coming from. He was right. Every second he spent out here was more time that the evil zoners had to destroy more chalk, or do whatever else they were doing. But he couldn’t completely agree with Skrawl. He had to stay and help Biclops. It wouldn’t even take that long.

Ignoring Skrawl, Rudy brushed passed him and rushed over to Biclops. Penny saw him and moved out of the way to give him room to do what he wanted to do. Readying his magic chalk, he began to draw a distinct shape all around Biclops’s severed leg. Within seconds, the leg regenerated, as good as new.

As soon as the leg reformed, Rudy felt incredibly relieved. The appearance of the new leg should relieve Biclops of most of the pain. He’d still have pain from the cuts, but those cuts were nothing compared to losing a leg. He imagined Biclops would wake up soon. He would have waited for him had he not known about the urgency of the situation.

Penny smiled at this, looking relieved. “Way to go, Rudy!”

Skrawl folded his arms and growled softly. “Yeah, good job. Now can we get going?”

Rudy would have called out Skrawl for not being sensitive, until he realized Skrawl wasn’t used to such a thing. Even the act of saving him, he had a hard time to comprehend. That was why he was uncomfortable with acting nice towards him. He literally has some trouble understanding things like companionship and compassion. Or if he did, he never showed it.

Rudy knew there wasn’t much time left to lose. But his heart made it difficult for him to leave Biclops still. He wanted to make sure he was okay. It was in his nature. He was a kind hearted person and he liked to help out people in need. The sight of Biclops injured made him want to stay and ensure his safety. His mind and heart were in a battle against each other. His mind telling him that he needs to leave to save the Chalk Mine, and his mind telling him he needed to help Biclops out.

“Rudy, Skrawl is right.” Penny said, cutting Rudy out of his thoughts. She walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “You helped out Biclops enough. He will feel much better with his leg repaired. But we cannot stay here much longer. We need to get into the Chalk Mine.”

Rudy stared at her. He turned back to Biclops. He still really wanted to help him. But Penny was right. Making his leg all better would help out Biclops a lot. And there were other pressing matters on hand.

“...okay, let’s get going.” He said.

Skrawl rolled his eyes. “Yes, of course you’ll listen to the genius girl.” He said in a somewhat bitterly sarcastic voice.

“Not now Skrawl.” Rudy warned Skrawl. This was not a good time for Skrawl’s antagonistic behavior to start returning.

Luckily, it faded again. Skrawl hadn’t replied to him after that. Instead, he just glared at him as if waiting for him to say something else.

Rudy motioned for them to follow him into the Chalk Mine. Slowly, cautiously, they entered the cavernous chalky cave. At first, it didn’t seem like anything was terribly wrong. Nothing looked that different. Everything looked the same. If it weren’t for Biclops being injured and Rapsheeba’s warning, Rudy would have thought everything was just fine.

But not far walking into the mine, they realized something was very wrong. The first sign of trouble were the various deep holes in the ground, likely from the real world water splashing all over the place. There were very clear paths of these tiny abyss holes. They formed an almost perfect line down several tunnels.

In addition to that, there were a few piles on the ground of what looked like white mush. Rudy realized, in horror, that it was magic chalk, melted from the contact of real world water. Some damage had already been dealt. Rudy couldn’t tell just how much magic chalk was destroyed. But he had to make sure that the same fate doesn’t befall all of the magic chalk.

sss

It felt weird being back in ChalkZone again. Wilter hadn’t been here in a long time. Well there was the short trip to the Chalk Mine to speak to Biclops, but he had to locate the right area to draw a portal for that. He hadn’t actually walked around ChalkZone at all. He simply went to speak to the giant about Rudy’s potential.

This was the first time that he, well and truly, was going through ChalkZone. Some areas, he recognized from his childhood. But a lot had changed. He wasn’t surprised. Mr. Cosmo caused massive damage to the place when they were kids. Much of ChalkZone had been destroyed. So many places he was once familiar with was renovated, or completely replaced, or even gone entirely. This was certainly not the exact same ChalkZone he knew as a kid.

Rapsheeba had been quiet during most of the trip. She only spoke when she was giving them directions to the nearest hospital. Most of the time, she was holding Snap and speaking softly to him, even though he couldn’t hear her. It was plain to Mr. Wilter that, even though he never met Rapsheeba before, that she was a close friend of Snap’s.

Her worrisome expression made him hope they would reach the hospital soon. It shouldn’t be too far now. Rapsheeba didn’t indicate that it would take too long to reach it. Wilter looked at the horizon, studying the buildings below. He tried to find one that looked like a hospital. With how colorful ChalkZone is compared to the real world, it was a little tricky finding the hospital. But he knew it couldn’t be too hard; zoners need medical attention too so the building should at least pop out a little.

Wilter couldn’t help but wonder how he would be recieved when they finally landed. How many of these zoners would recognize him as the one who saved them years ago? How many would be happy to see him? How many would be enraged he came back? How many even knew him? There was also the possibility that, seeing Snap’s horrid condition, they would not bother questioning why he was there and just focus on getting Snap into the emergency room.

Deciding to try to comfort Rapsheeba, he put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him. He winced as he saw how red her eyes have gotten. “I’m...sure he’ll make it...” That was all he could manage to say to her.

She wiped her tears with her free hand, the other supporting Snap’s body. “I hope so...” She sniffled once before choking out, “What did...Mr. Cosmo do to him..?”

Mr. Wilter flinched visibly at that question. He hadn’t witnessed everything that happened, but he did know at least some stuff Mr. Cosmo had done. And he wasn’t sure if now was a good time to tell her. Rapsheeba was distraught enough as it was. He would feel horrible if he detailed to her just how Snap wound up in this critical condition.

But...she was Snap’s friend... Did she not deserve to know...?

“I...”

He didn’t finish. He heard Tsere let out a squawk. He turned and looked out in front of them. They had arrived at the hospital. He could see zoners scrambling to get away as the pterosaur came down for a landing.

Mr. Wilter turned to Rapsheeba. “I will tell you what I know later. Come on, let’s get Snap into that hospital.”

sss

Mr. Cosmo stared at the blood stains that covered his hand, part of his suit, and the knife. He hadn’t bothered to clean it up. He had other things he needed to take care of first. Getting rid of Saffron had just been one of them.

A part of him felt some regret in killing her, as she had been pretty loyal to him all these years. It was a shame that Snap managed to sway her. He should have seen this all coming from the start. Maybe if he had kept them separated, he could have avoided having to needlessly kill her. He could have made sure that she remained as loyal as Draow still was, or close to it.

He did admire her to an extent. Despite what he may have indicated, he did not regard her as weak. Her actions against him may have caused kinks in his plans, but it did cause him to respect her a little more than he had before. Never before had she put her foot down and taken action like this. That was certainly admirable of her. If only she were to have used that against the enemy and not him...

Cosmo had not completely wanted to kill Saffron. He only did so because he felt that was the only way to ensure his plan was not tampered with any longer. She had outlived her usefulness by betraying him completely. She had to go, no matter how beneficial she could have been later on. And in the end, it had been her loss. If she hadn’t become so blinded, she wouldn’t have had to die.

He pushed thoughts of Ms. Saffron aside. That was in the past. Now, he had to keep focus on the tasks still ahead of him. He had a feeling that Rudy and the others made it back to ChalkZone. He had suspected shortly ago that they would do that. Rudy showed determination, an unwillingness to back down. While he admired that, he also knew that it meant that, despite his best efforts, he may get back to ChalkZone earlier than he had planned.

He came to the room where the chalkboard was. He could see Draow was standing there, stairing at the portalless chalkboard with a peeved look. He could see a bit of a dust smudge on his nose, and he guessed Draow slammed his muzzle against the chalkboard.

Draow swiveled his ears and looked at Mr. Cosmo. He took a step towards him, uttering low, confused growls.

“Do not worry, Draow.” Mr. Cosmo said. “I already have it taken care of...”

Draow looked confused. He turned his teal eyes back to the portal. As if reading his mind, Mr. Cosmo explained what his plan was from here.

“I already sent some...creations...to...greet Rudy and his friends at the Chalk Mine...” Mr. Cosmo said, a grin spreading across his mouth. “I am just...going to let them have some fun before we head in...”

He wouldn’t go back into ChalkZone. Not just yet. He wanted to wait, to give the three he sent to ChalkZone some time to...play with Rudy and his friends. He wasn’t expecting them to defeat them, though that would have been nice.

No, he had something much simpler, but no less sinister, in store for them...

sss

Trying to locate where the intruders had went to was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Rudy couldn’t tell which path was the best one to take. And even just navigating it was treacherous. Some tunnels had been so heavily melted with water that the mere act of walking on the surface could cause it to crack and they’d fall into the endless abyss.

And even if it wasn’t broken up like that, any of the small abyss holes could be dangerous. Who know how steady the chalk around it was? Who knew if the holes won’t grow bigger as they passed by? What was also troubling was if some moisture still remained in the chalky ground. If Skrawl stepped on it...

Rudy flinched at the thought. Dealing with real world water in ChalkZone was dangerous, not to mention tricky. His connection to Skrawl made this encounter just as deadly as it was to Skrawl. If the jellybean where hit by the water, Rudy would get hurt along with him. If either of them dies, the other one will too, leaving Penny alone against the intruders.

This...was going to be one tricky battle...

Penny was walking close to Rudy, her eyes wide in horror at the sight of all the damage these intruders have caused. Skrawl was lagging behind. He looked surprised, as if he never imagined the Chalk Mine would become this damaged.

None of them spoke for a while as they ventured through the mine, trying to locate the intruders. It was almost too quiet. They couldn’t hear any footsteps, voices, not even the sound of running water. It was almost like the intruders knew they were coming and were waiting for them.

Suddenly, Rudy’s eyes snapped wide as he heard the faintest drop mixed in with a crack. All at once, it came to him just what the intruders had been going for this whole time. And he, Penny, and Skrawl had fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.

Penny tapped Rudy’s shoulder. “Rudy...do you hear that...?”

The cracking got louder. The trio looked behind them. Their eyes widened in horror as they saw the ground of the tunnel they had chosen give way, falling into a white abyss below. Never had the color white looked so horrifying to them.

They wasted no time. They broke into a run. Their feet carried them as fast as they could go. Huffing and puffing, they refused to stop, not even to look behind them. The crack in the ground was getting dangerously close. Penny almost lost her balance, prompting Rudy to grab her hand and pull her back.

The crack started to speed up a little. Rudy didn’t know how long they’d be able to run. They wouldn’t be able to outrun this crack forever. They had to get onto more secure land and fast. But he could not see any side paths they could take, and he didn’t have much time to look either. And as each second passed, all three of them were in danger of falling forever. The prospect of dehydrating to death was not a pretty thing for any of them to think of.

“Rudy! Over there!” Skrawl shouted.

The crack got too close and they all started to tumble. Skrawl managed to jump away from the edge. He seized Rudy and Penny with one hand and, in a display of strength, threw them to the side. He jumped after them.

The group tumbled across the rocky ground. When they came to a stop, they realized they were in a dark area. They couldn’t tell exactly where they were. Without any source of light, Rudy couldn’t make out the details, and he couldn’t tell if this was a room or just a corner of the cave.

When he looked over at where the light source was, that answered one of his questions. This was a room all right. But not any he recognized. He didn’t even know this was here. He was surprised Skrawl was even able to see it. The entrance was designed in such a way that anyone looking down the tunnel wouldn’t think anything was there. Even the door looked like it was made out of stone rather than would, likely part of the disguise.

The fact that this place was so well hidden filled Rudy with a sense of dread. If Biclops went through all this trouble to keep this place hidden, then they must be in a not so friendly part of the cave. A horrific thought crossed his mind. Had they gone to...where he thought they went...?

There was only one way to find out.

Rudy got out his chalk and walked a little forward. He started to draw a light. He made it large enough that, when turned on, it would light up most, or even all, of this room. When he finished, he took pressed the button to activate it, and he took a step back as light filled the room.

Skrawl took a step back. Penny put her hands to her mouth, stifling a cry of surprise. Rudy stared, disbelieving, at the room’s contents. He had been correct. This was...not a good place to be.

All around him, the walls were charcoal in color, looking like they had been burned by fire. Dark stagmites and stalactites decorated the interior. It was so dark that even the light Rudy drew didn’t fully illuminate everything. The darkness was still present, casting a foreboding feeling in the minds of everyone there.

And off in the corner, in a couple small bunches, was the black chalk. Unlike other chalk, the black chalk didn’t grow from the ceiling. It only grew from the ground. And the bunches that it grew in splayed out, looking almost like spikes on a pufferfish. It didn’t sparkle as much as white or red chalk, either. Instead, it had an eerie black glow around it, creating a sort of foreboding mist.

Just staring at the black chalk was enough to send chills down Rudy’s spine. He knew black chalk was bad, but he had no idea it would get this kind of reaction from him just by looking at it. Skrawl and Penny’s reactions weren’t much better. Skrawl was disturbed by the black chalk’s ominous appearance. And Penny had pressed herself against Rudy, horrified by the black chalk.

And what made things worse is that Rudy could very well have to use the black chalk. The idea of touching one of these things...it sent chills down his spine. How long would he have before the corruption would start?

He began to have second thoughts. Maybe he should talk to Biclops more about it. Maybe there was another way to severe the connection. Yeah, that’s what he would do. He would find the intruders, apprehend them, then go talk to Biclops. Maybe they could work something out and....

A voice broke Rudy from his thoughts.

“We were wondering when you would get here...”

The trio turned their heads to the source of that voice. Coming from a corner of the room were three chalk creatures. It took them seconds to realize that these were the same ones that attacked Biclops, the very intruders they were looking for. They each possessed large water guns, obviously from the real world, each filled with a large tank of water.

“I was wondering if our little trap to lead you into this room would work.” The same one who initially spoke before told them. “This is one of the two rooms Lord Cosmo told us not to damage...”

“Who are you?” Rudy demanded, getting out his magic chalk just in case he had to defend himself.

“I suppose we can tell you our names. Lord Cosmo did not say we could not.” The first one said. This chalk being appeared to be a cassowary of some kind, although he had hands on his wings, which he was using to hold his water gun. “I am Zeal.”

The second one, a female zoner that looked like a cross between an armadillo and a golden tank, complete with golden armor, said, “I am Shimmer.” Her water gun was mounted on her, and she was clearly operating it via command through her robotic parts.

“And I would be Flame.” A red salamander zoner with yellow spots said, wielding his water gun delicately with his whiplike tail.

Zeal took a step towards Rudy, an evil smile plastered on his wickedly sharp beak. “Lord Cosmo wants us to...entertain you three for a time. He didn’t care how we did it, so long as we kept you alive until he came.”

Flame smirked, “After that, good luck. Pray that he doesn’t decide to...”

“Why are you all working for Cosmo? He’s a monster!” Penny cried. “Do you have any idea what he is capable of doing to ChalkZone?”

Rudy nodded in agreement. “I can’t believe any zoner would agree to work for that guy! Why would you work with someone who is trying to enslave your kind?!”

“...that isn’t our concern.” Shimmer said, her robotic eye glowing a slight red. “Besides, Lord Cosmo will take care of us. So long as we remain loyal to him...”

“But...you can’t do this...!” Rudy cried.

Skrawl snarled at the trio, “Do any of you imbeciles have even the slightest amount of dignity?!”

“Mr. Cosmo isn’t to be trusted!” Penny shouted in desperation. “He is just using you to achieve his goals! Once you complete this mission, who is to say he wouldn’t just wash you away in cold blood?”

The trio continued to smile at them. Twisted smiles that reminded Rudy so much of Mr. Cosmo. Wait...were these...were these more of Cosmo’s creations?

He didn’t have time before the trio decided to attack.

“Get them!” Zeal shouted.

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 35-DO YOU WANT TO TAKE THAT RISK?:



The attack came swift and suddenly. Rudy was able to get out of the way, but not before he felt the whizz of Zeal’s beak as he tried to strike down the boy. Rudy tumbled backwards, nearly losing his balance. To fight back, Rudy got his magic chalk. Considering that their orders were not to damage this part of the Chalk Mine, he predicted that the evil trio would not use the water guns, and were likely still wielding them just to scare them.

When Zeal came back to attack again, Rudy drew a large, sticky net. The cassowary quickly became entrapped in it. He squawked furiously as he tried to get himself out of the net.

With Zeal temporarily distracted, Rudy looked over at Penny and Skrawl. Penny was being boxed into a corner by Shimmer, who was aiming small cannons at her. Skrawl was trying to slam his fist against Flame, but he was too slow for the slippery salamander. Rudy could feel his hand ache every time Skrawl punched the ground.

He looked at his piece of magic chalk. It was the only one he had and it wasn’t too big. It was enough for him to deal with Zeal for a while, but what about Penny? She had no piece to protect her. Rudy bit his lip. He couldn’t bear to see Penny injured. After all the pain and suffering he had seen, especially done to Snap, he’d be damned if he allowed it to happen to someone else he cared about.

Without a second thought, Rudy broke his piece of the chalk and chucked it towards Penny. He shouted, “Penny! Use the chalk!”

Penny grabbed the chalk just before Shimmer could annihilate it. Penny looked at Rudy and said, “But...Rudy...what if...”

“Penny! Watch out!” Rudy cried.

Penny turned around just in time to see Shimmer fire a laser at her from her cannons. She stepped out of the way, but a second too late. The heat beams grazed her left arm slightly, creating a small but very painful burn mark. She cried out in pain and almost dropped her chalk.

Skrawl turned his head over and saw what had happened. Snarling at Flame, he managed to reach over and grab him. He lifted him up by his tail, ignoring the scorching hot skin as Flame heated his body to defend himself. Rudy winced as he felt the heat effect his hand, almost dropping his chalk.

Shimmer sneered at Penny, watching her hold her arm. “Oh so sorry dear. Do you need something to cool that down with?” She steadied the water gun on her back, aiming it at Penny. “I can get that for you...”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror. Weren’t the trio told by Cosmo not to damage this room? What was Shimmer thinking?

He didn’t dwell on that thought for long. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Skrawl had Flame by his tail and was getting closer to where Penny and Shimmer were. What Skrawl did next, Rudy would not have believed it if he didn’t see it. The jellybean threw Flame over Penny’s head and onto Shimmer, making a direct hit.

The impact caused the two to tumble across the ground. Shimmer might be armored, but she could still feel pain, evident by her cries as Flame’s scorching body slammed into her. It didn’t last long as he was able to cool himself quickly. But damage was already done, resulting in a black mark to appear on Shimmer’s armor.

Rudy felt relief when the heat disappeared from his hand. But he was still surprised by how helpful Skrawl was being. He hoped he would remain this way for a while. They were going to need as much help as they could get for this. But he had no time to think about this too much. He had to remain focused.

Zeal wasn’t on the ground much longer. He tore through the sticky neck with his sharp talons. He rushed towards Rudy and slammed him into the ground. Rudy grunted in pain as Zeal pressed his foot on his chest.

“I can see why our creator is so interested in you...” Zeal hissed through his beaky smile. “You really do have potential. The sticky net was a smart idea...sadly it didn’t save you for long.”

That confirmed it. These three really were more of Cosmo’s creations. That would explain why they were all so twisted, so eager to follow what Cosmo said even if it resulted in ChalkZone being destroyed. They simply didn’t care, just like Mr. Cosmo.

Rudy wondered if these were some of the creations that wreaked havoc in ChalkZone years ago. That was a possibility. Mr. Cosmo had created multiple monstrosities as a kid. It didn’t seem so farfetched that these three were just some examples of what he had done. And that worried him. How many more of Mr. Cosmo’s creations remained? And where were they? Destroyed? Detained? On the loose?

Rudy grunted in pain as the cassowary pressed harder. He thought he heard Skrawl express pain, but given the crashing he heard and Skrawl’s roaring, the jellybean was apparently ignoring it to the best of his ability. Rudy glared up at Zeal.

“I will never join Mr. Cosmo!” Rudy said through clenched teeth.

Zeal let out a soft chuckle. “We will see about that.” He lowered his head towards Rudy. His beak almost touched his face. “You know...I haven’t had this much fun since..I don’t know when!”

Rudy brought up his right hand and started to draw. In seconds, he drew a large bat, which he used to strike at Zeal. The bat impacted against Zeal’s neck, causing him to tumble off of the boy. Rudy jumped to his feet, still holding the bat in his hand. It wasn’t the best weapon, but it was the only thing he could think of on such short notice.

But he didn’t have the bat for long. Zeal squirted a small amount of water at him. It hit against the bat and quickly spread down, dissolving it completely. Some little droplets got on the ground, but thankfully it was just a few, so they may not as as much damage compared to what these zoners did to other parts of the Chalk Mine.

Zeal charged towards the boy at incredible speed. Rudy drew another line of defense. With quick strokes of his wrist, he created a large fan, which he turned on. This caused Zeal to fly back and land in a loud thud on the ground. The cassowary looked almost bemused by the whole thing, reacting as if the large fan hadn’t fazed him.

Rudy was deliberately avoiding using methods that would seriously harm. He didn’t want to badly hurt any of these zoners. He just wanted to stop them. But he couldn’t help but wonder if these three served as nothing more than sacrificial pawns. Was their goal to, somehow, force him to use lethal measures? No, that was a bit extreme. Then again, with what Mr. Cosmo had done...

Zeal rushed towards him. He flapped his wings as hard as he could, even though he was clearly a flightless bird zoner. It took him a while given the force of the fan, but when he got close enough, he squirted more water, this time dissolving parts of the fan so it would be dysfunctional.

The fan started to break apart and tumbled towards the ground. Rudy screamed and jumped out of the way as the fan almost crashed on him. He looked behind and shuddered at how close he came to death. He glared in Zeal’s direction.

The cassowary looked a little surprised. “Oops..didn’t mean for it to fall on ya kid. Lord Cosmo would have had my head if you died so early.” The suprised look was quickly replaced with a satisfied smile. “I am glad you did not perish there. Lord Cosmo still sees hope in you.”

Rudy snarled at him. He looked down at his chalk. He shouldn’t have drawn such a large fan. He was almost out of chalk now. He couldn’t fight against Zeal for much longer.

“And, as you know, with your connection to the big, ugly one...” Zeal said.

“I heard that!” Skrawl snarled at him as he was still fighting against Flame.

Zeal ignored his outburst. “We cannot hurt him. But there is no such risk with your girlfriend there...”

Rudy’s eyes widened in horror at this. He looked over at Penny. She was trying to hold her own, but she was not experienced of an artist as he was. She could draw, but her lack of artistic skill compared to him made her more vulnerable against Shimmer, who kept trying to fry her with the lasers. And, like him, Penny was almost out of magic chalk, any and all defenses she draws being melted by the water.

“You leave Penny out of this!” Rudy said in a warning tone. “If you dare hurt her, I’ll...”

“Kill us?” Zeal smirked. “Because, if that’s the case, you are more like Lord Cosmo than you will admit...”

Rudy widened his eyes. “That’s not what I was going to say!”

“No, but you were feeling it, weren’t you, kid?” Zeal said, taunting the boy. “Your anger is starting to get the better of you. And before this day is over, you will give into it. You will taste what true power is...and maybe you will see Lord Cosmo the way we do. As a father figure.”

Rudy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was Zeal really expecting him to start looking up to Mr. Cosmo? How could he even remotely respect that man? He had been nothing but vile the entire time he has known him. He was manipulative, disgusting, needlessly cruel...everything he has done just made him hate the man more. How could he work with someone who put his best friend in the hospital in critical condition?

Snap was in grave danger. Just a few days ago, he was fine. But his physical health deteriorated at an alarming rate all because of Cosmo. Now he was sick with a high fever, and he was having seizures. He didn’t even know if he was still alive.... All he could do was hope that Mr. Wilter, Rapsheeba, and Tsere could get him to a hospital in time and get treated.

If Snap died...it would be all Mr. Cosmo’s fault... And Rudy would not rest until that man got what he deserved.

“Never...” Rudy hissed, taking a step backwards.

Zeal smirked. “Continue to deny it all you want to. But that will be your fate, boy.”

Rudy snarled at Zeal. He was about to let him and his partners get the best of him. But as he looked over at Penny and Skrawl, he wondered how long they could keep this up. Both Skrawl and Penny were doing pretty good, but the odds were being slowly shifted against them. How long could this go on?

sss

Mr. Wilter told Tsere to wait outside. He had wanted the large pterosaur to keep a lookout for Mr. Cosmo in case he came here, and he didn’t doubt he would try something. Tsere wasn’t happy about being left behind, but he listened to Wilter and remained perched outside the hospital doors.

Mr. Wilter tried to ignore the looks he was getting from the zoners as he walked with Rapsheeba into the hospital. Many were confused by his presense. Some moved quickly away from him, as if they were expecting him to attack. Some were curious, obviously not seeing many humans other than Rudy and Penny.

There were clearly some that seemed to recognize who he was. A few zoners pointed at him, their mouths open in awe. They mumbled to themselves, wondering if he had actually come back. A few weren’t entirely happy to see him, but did not react with the hostility that Mr. Wilter expected.

He hadn’t been the only one getting attention. The zoners were horrified by Snap’s condition as he was carried into the building. The room filled with gasps of utter horror. It was so bad that the receptionist at the front desk immediately grabbed the mic and called for a doctor right away.

In seconds, a pair of doctors had rushed out the door. They were very careful as they took Snap from Rapsheeba’s arms and rushed him down the hallway. It happened so fast, Mr. Wilter hadn’t been sure what they were going to do.

Rapsheeba looked devastated as she wasn’t able to say goodbye to Snap, even though he was unconscious and wouldn’t be able to hear it anyway. And the doctors had to have been extremely terrified as none of them said anything to them at first. They had just taken Snap and rushed him down the hallway. Wilter didn’t know which they were going to treat first. His nail or his fever.

Mr. Wilter was frustrated that the doctors didn’t explain to them what they had to do. But there was nothing he could do. Anything he’d try to say, it would have just slowed the doctors down. He would have just wasted their time, which was the last thing Snap needed right now.

During their wait, Mr. Wilter told Rapsheeba of what he knew happened to Snap. He told her how he had been tortured by Mr. Cosmo, how the thing in his head made him do things against his will, how he had tried to kill Snap. Understandably, Rapsheeba was horrified by it all. She couldn’t understand how anyone could be that cruel to someone like Snap. Mr. Wilter could only nod in agreement.

It wasn’t until about twenty minutes passed before one of the doctors came out to them. He appeared to be a cross between a brown bear and a lion. His name tag read Dr. Urso. He stopped a couple feet in front of Mr. Wilter and Rapsheeba. They looked at him expectedly.

“How is he...?” Rapsheeba said, her eyes brimming.

Dr. Urso shook his head. “Not very good, I’m afraid...”

Wilter flinched at that. Rapsheeba gasped, putting a hand to her mouth, slowly shaking her head.

Dr. Urso looked at them sympathetically. “Whatever that thing in his head is...it’s done massive damage to his neurological system. We detected damage to various parts of his brain...” The doctor flipped the paper on the paperclip he was holding. “We’ve also detected high levels of toxicity in his blood, from an infection from those wounds he recieved. They clearly haven’t been treated, and the infection started to ravage his body, resulting in his high fever.”

Wilter put a comforting hand on Rapsheeba’s shoulder as she started to cry again. Her eyes were getting redder and redder from the tears.

“Fevers, in most cases, are good because they kill off dangerous bacteria and viruses. But in Snap’s case, the infection was so massive, the fever ended up spiking much higher than it should have. And while it’s doing a good job at keeping the toxicity from getting worse, it has caused a lot of harm to his immune system. It is so weak now that if he were to get another infection along with the one he already has...” Mr. Urso closed his eyes and shook his head. “The result would be catastrophic...” He looked over at them. “Has he displayed any other symptoms besides that?”

Mr. Wilter shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of.”

Dr. Urso frowned at this. “Are you sure?”

Mr. Wilter nodded his head. “If I knew anything else, I would have told you.”

“Why...?” Rapsheeba asked, her voice choked. “Is there...something else wrong..?”

“I’m afraid so.” Dr. Urso said as he looked at his charts. “The damage to Snap’s brain is suggestive of the first sign of a seizure. I believe he had one recently. It was localized in the area responsible for locomotion. That could be why his legs have little to no relfex...”

“Did you remove that horrid thing from his head?” Rapsheeba asked.

“No, it’s too risky right now.” Dr. Urso said, his voice full of regret. “We need to get his fever down first. Operating on him now with that high fever would only make things worse for him. Once it’s down, we will remove that thing as soon as we can.”

“He doesn’t have a lot of time...” Mr. Wilter started to say.

Dr. Urso cut him off. “I understand that. But he’ll have less time if we don’t act accordingly, and jump in too quickly.” He paused for a moment. “But right now he is stabilized. Fever is still high, but, if you’d like, you may go visit him. I’ll vouch for you. I’m sure your friend would feel better if you were in the same room as him.”

“Is he awake?” Mr. Wilter asked.

The doctor nodded his head. “Yeah, he’s awake. But he is very weak, so don’t try to talk to him too much. And stay calm. Excitement will worsen his condition.”

Mr. Wilter and Rapsheeba thanked the doctor. Together, they walked down the hallway, guided by Dr. Urso, who led them to the room where Snap was staying.

sss

Things had gotten worse, just like Rudy had predicted.

The evil zoners were using their water guns more often than he thought they would. But they were using such small amounts that it was somehow contained to just what they wanted to destroy, which was anything he and Penny drew. And it wasn’t like they were even destroyed right away. Often, the zoners did allow them use of whatever they drew, and only a minute or so later did they erase it. It was like they were buying time, which Rudy wouldn’t doubt they were doing.

Skrawl was holding up a little well. But not as well as he used to. He kept having to dodge Flame’s heated nostril fire. The salamander apparently got tired of just being a slippery little guy and decided to go on the defensive. He did not hit Skrawl once with his fire, but that didn’t mean Skrawl didn’t try his best to dodge. Rudy knew the only reason the salamander wasn’t trying harder to hit him was because Mr. Cosmo still wanted Rudy himself alive.

Penny was doing worse than before. She had been boxed into a corner, further away from Rudy and Skrawl. She was trying to draw something, but Shimmer decided to act a little quicker and squirted her creation the second it materialized. The tank armadillo then charged towards Penny and pushed her into the ground.

“Lord Cosmo has no use for you, little girl.” Shimmer sneered, her robotic eye glowing brighter. “Now be a good little girl and die...”

“Penny, no!” Rudy shouted. He tried to reach her, but Zeal grabbed him in his beak and threw him aside.

“You’re not going anywhere..” Zeal hissed, snapping his beak shut threateningly.

Skrawl tried to get to where Penny was, but he was blocked by Flame. The salamander started to push Skrawl further away, spewing fire towards the jellybean’s feet to keep him from getting any closer to the girl. Zeal, on the other hand, blocked Rudy’s path, keeping the boy from trying to reach his friend.

Shimmer’s cannons started to glow. Penny’s eyes widened in fear. Using the last bit of her magic chalk, she drew a shield and placed it in front of her just as the heat beams hit against it. She winced as the metal heated up, but she held it in front of her side. It did an adequate job of protecting her from the lasers.

“Your girlfriend is pretty quick on her feet too.” Zeal noted.

“Of course she is...” Rudy snarled at the cassowary. “She isn’t as weak as you thought she was.”

“I never said she was weak. Just that I’m a bit surprised that she lasted this long. Especially against Shimmer.” Zeal watched for a moment, amused, as Penny managed to get to her feet and move back away from Shimmer. He looked back down at Rudy. “By the way...did Lord Cosmo tell you what would happen if you don’t disconnect from Skrawl as soon as possible? I am most curious.”

“I know that the black chalk can severe it...” Rudy replied, narrowing his eyes. “And that if I don’t, if Skrawl gets hurt, so do I. And the same applies to him.”

“Yes...yes...” Zeal nodded his head up and down. “But boy, there is a bit more than that. I suppose Lord Cosmo has not told you everything, no?”

Rudy’s eyes widened. Was there something else about this connection he didn’t know about? The way this bird was talking..he didn’t like the sound of it. He already knew the connection was dangerous. He couldn’t imagine how it could become even more dangerous. He took a step back away from the cassowary, staring at him in the eyes.

Zeal apparently took this as a no. His smile broadened. “Well, I’ll be glad to tell you. Lord Cosmo wanted you to know. The connection with Skrawl will get worse over time. The effects will become more exaggerated and dramatic. Soon, you’ll feel twice the pain, then thrice. The damage will increase. What was once just a simple papercut will richochete between you and him, making it ten times worse. And then, the connection will get so bad, that the most minor injury could very easily kill you both...”

Rudy was horrified. He had no idea it was that urgent to severe the connection. He had no idea that it was just going to get worse with time. He didn’t know how long it would take for the effects to start to intensify. Zeal did not give him that detail. But he didn’t have to. Rudy knew it had to have been soon, otherwise it would not be as urgent to severe the connection quickly.

That meant that he had less time than he thought to get rid of this psychic connection. Much less time. He stared at the black chalk around him briefly, their ominous feeling almost goading him to touch them. He shook his head. No, he had to remain strong and wait for Biclops to wake up. He wouldn’t allow himself to be pushed into using the black chalk.

He attempted to whip out his magic chalk to fight Zeal...when he realized there was none left. He looked at his empty hands, horrified. He didn’t have any defense left to fight against Zeal. He took a few steps back as the cassowary started to advance on him.

“Looks like you’re out of luck, Rudy.” Zeal said with a smile. “Maybe you should have grabbed more magic chalk before you left.”

Rudy growled at Zeal and took a defensive stance. If he had to fight bare handed against this evil zoner, then so be it.

But this stance was quickly broken when he heard a scream of terror from Penny. Rudy whipped his head and saw that she was left without her shield, destroyed by the water. And since she was chalkless, she could do nothing against Shimmer now. She was pushed into the ground, the evil armadillo pointing her cannons at her.

“No!” Rudy shouted, reaching a hand out towards her. He couldn’t let her die. He had to do something. But what?

Skrawl had managed to get away from Flame. He kicked the salamander aside, causing him to crash against a single bunch of black chalk, breaking some pieces off. Since Skrawl was immune to the chalk, he grabbed a piece of it and rushed towards Shimmer. Though he couldn’t draw with it, there was one thing he could use it for.

Steadying the black object in his hand, Skrawl slammed it down against Shimmer’s back and knocked her off of Penny. Though Penny looked clearly shocked that Skrawl was the one who saved her, she thanked him anyway and got up to her feet. Rudy felt relief as Penny was okay.

But that relief didn’t last very long. Something happened so quickly, he couldn’t register it. Something that no one would have seen coming.

In a fit of rage, Flame, angry at being kicked away, clearly forgot that he was supposed to be reserved with the water. He sprayed water in Skrawl’s direction. Penny pushed him out of the way...but it had been too late. Droplets of water hit Skrawl in the wrist, cutting in deeply, though not enough to sever the hand.

The effects were felt in Rudy instantaneously. Bloodcurdling screams filled the cave, echoing on the walls. Skrawl clutched his hand, trying to stop the chalky blood from seeping out. And on Rudy, a deep gash appeared in his right hand, cutting him so bad he had a hard time just bending the fingers. Blood poured rapidly out of the wound and he dropped to his knees.

Penny screamed in horror at what was happening. She tried to rush over to Rudy to help him, but she was blocked off by both Flame and Shimmer. They turned their heads to the side so they could keep an eye on both her and on Rudy. A smile came onto both their faces, as if this was part of their plan the whole time.

“So it seems you have been cornered, Rudy.” Zeal said. “You have quite a decision to make...”

As he said this, Skrawl fell to the ground in utter agony, his arm and hand trembling from the pain. And Penny was, once again, forced into the ground, but this time by two zoners.

“Penny...!” Rudy said before crying out in pain from his wrist. He held it tighter, the warm blood flowing faster.

“Your only chance to save your girlfriend and yourself...is to use the black chalk... It will heal you, Rudy. But...you know the risk that comes with, don’t you?” The cassowary smiled as he spoke to the boy. He lowered his head. “You could avoid that inevitable corruption by doing nothing...but you will all die. Blood loss will take its toll on you. And when one of you dies, so does the other...” He looked over at Skrawl. Then he looked at Penny. “And as for her...my comrades will take care of her...”

“No!” Rudy cried in horror.

Zeal sneered at him. “Well...you know what you can do...”

Rudy came to the horrible realization that this is what was planned the whole time. That was why much of the tunnels were destroyed. That was why they had been forced into this room. That was why the intruders cornered and attacked them. It had all been a part of Mr. Cosmo’s plan the whole time. It was a ploy to make him use the black chalk...

Rudy cursed mentally as he realized how clever Mr. Cosmo had been about this. He knew that if much of the Chalk Mine was destroyed, he wouldn’t be able to get to the normal white chalk. He knew that, if he played his cards right, he would be able to force Rudy and Penny to use all the magic chalk, leaving nothing but the black chalk left to use.

And injuring Skrawl...that must have been part of the plan too... Now all their lives were hanging in the balance. And whether or not they live or die all depended on his willingness to use the black chalk. Could he...could he really let himself do that...?

He stared at the black chalk again. He could almost hear its voice talking to him, beckoning him. He shuddered and tore his eyes away from the scene. He stared down at his bleeding wrist. His left hand was getting caked in blood now. The blood dripped onto the chalky ground. He winced. Too much blood could do some damage...and that was the last thing they needed right now...

He looked over at Skrawl and Penny. Skrawl was on the ground, trying his best to stop the bleeding. But he was having trouble. A small pool of blood formed on the ground. And Penny was looking at him, her eyes widened as she stared at his bloody wrist.

“Rudy!” She called out to him. She tried to get free, but she was pushed into the ground by Flame, who used his burning heat to subdue her.

Rudy looked up at Zeal. The cassowary smiled triumphantly down at him, like he knew that he had succeeded in his plan. Rudy closed his eyes, a few tears coming as he realized he really had been boxed into a situation where he didn’t have much of a choice.

He knew...there was no other way... He couldn’t allow anyone to die. He couldn’t let himself or Skrawl die. Who would stand up to Mr. Cosmo? He didn’t know if Mr. Wilter would be able to keep fighting him, especially since he was getting up in age while Cosmo still had some youth to him. He couldn’t allow Penny to die. She was his best friend, too. He loved her. He couldn’t let her suffer the way Snap was suffering.

Rudy let out a sigh. He had made his decision. He looked over at Penny. He gave a weak smile. “Penny..I’m...so sorry...”

“Rudy..what are you...?” Penny asked.

Rudy broke into a dash, blood splattering on the ground as he ran. Penny saw what he was about to do. She started to scream desperately at him.

“No! Rudy! Don’t!” Penny screamed in horror. “There must be another way!”

Rudy approached a patch of black chalk. He stared at it, narrowing his eyes. He bit his lip. This was it. He reached out with his left hand.

“Rudy!” Penny cried.

Rudy wrapped his fingers around a piece of black chalk. He shuddered at the feel of it. Icy cold and almost like grabbing shards of glass.

Penny screamed, “No!”

Rudy ripped the piece of black chalk off. And as he did, the black glow started to wrap around his left hand.

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 36-THE BLACK CHALK:



Rudy felt cold. Unbelievably cold. His body trembled, and he was unable to stop it. The sharp feeling intensified. It really felt like he was cutting his hand open. But anyone looking could see that there was no blood. He really wanted to let go of the chalk, but, for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to let go of the black chalk.

The black glow had started to travel across his body. It snaked around his back and then reached his right hand. It encircled his arm. He shuddered as he felt the chilly, smokey appendage wrap around his wrist. Then it seeped into the cut. Rudy winced and looked away, feeling like his wrist was getting cut up from the inside.

But seconds later, the sharp pain in his wrist was switched with something more...soothing. He glanced down at his wrist and saw that the cut was slowly healing up. He watched as the blood stopped flowing from the cut. The skin started to reattach itself, forming a small scab on his wrist. Then the scab started to get smaller and smaller until it vanished in a puff of black smoke.

Rudy stared, astonished, at his hand. He raised his hand in the air, turning his arm from side to side. It was as if he had never been injured. He looked over at Skrawl to see how he was doing. The jellybean was back on his feet. He didn’t display any signs of pain and there was no evidence that there ever was an injury on his wrist. So Zeal had told the truth. The black chalk really had healed them both. But...did it severe their connection like he had been told it would?

The black chalk almost seemed to read his mind, as right at that second, it activated once more. A stream of black smoke slithered down his left hand and zipped across the ground. It headed straight for Skrawl. Before Skrawl could react, the smoke tendril wrapped around his body and then tightened around himself. Skrawl squeezed his eyes shut and he cried out as if he were being ripped apart. This lasted only for a second before the black smoke released him and came back to the black chalk from wence it came.

This act caused Rudy and Penny to widen their eyes in shock, as neither of them expected the black chalk to be capable of doing such a thing. Skrawl rubbed the back of his head, looking like he was uncertain to make of what happened. At the same time, the evil zoners were just smirking at the whole thing. They were clearly satisfied that they managed to fulfill their mission.

“See...? It wasn’t so bad using the black chalk, now was it?” Zeal grinned, looking towards Rudy. “You will see it is like a drug. Once you start using it, you will not be able to stop. You have sealed your own fate, boy.”

“N-No...” Rudy started to mutter. The cold feeling was intensifying, spreading through his body. He fought against it, refusing to let the chill take him over. “I w-won’t let...”

“Fight all you want to, child. But it is too late now.” Zeal laughed. “You’ve opened up Pandora’s Box, in a manner of speaking, and now it will consume you. Feel it start to take over. Relish in it. Let it guide you with its secrets!”

Rudy bared his teeth. He refused to listen to the cassowary. He couldn’t allow the corruption to take him over. Not now. Not ever. He had to fight it. He didn’t want to end up like Cosmo. He couldn’t turn into someone like that evil man. He had to keep reminding himself of what his morals were, where his loyalty lied. He couldn’t allow the black chalk to scew his perception like that.

The black chalk’s glow started to get a little brighter. It was spreading from his left wrist and up his arm. He could feel the chilling wave coming over him. All over his body, the glow was spreading rapidly. It didn’t take long before it covered him entirely, bathing him in an intense, black glow.

And yet still, he refused to give in. The evil zoners looked amused. It was like they knew he couldn’t keep this up forever. Rudy closed his eyes tightly and tried to shut his mind. He could barely hear Penny yelling for him to drop the black chalk. He couldn’t hear Skrawl’s shouts of confusion. He couldn’t hear the evil zoners’ snickering. The only thing he could hear was a chilling ringing in his head as the blackness closed in around him.

Yet...just how long could he hold out? The sharpness of the black chalk was growing in intensity. He wondered if it was becoming angry that he wasn’t using it to draw anything. Maybe that was how artists became corrupted. It was not just the mere act of touching the black chalk. But using it seemed to give the black chalk strength. Maybe if he just avoided drawing and dropped the black chalk, maybe he could...

Suddenly, something called out to him.

“Why don’t you draw, boy? Draw...and relish in what you created.”

It sounded like a bunch of voices were calling out to him at once. Their voices, raspy and low, echoed as they talked, like they were bouncing off of each other. Rudy looked around for the source, his head turned up towards the ceiling.

Penny looked at him, confused. “R-Rudy...? What are you looking for?”

Rudy could hear the concern in her voice. He wanted to reply, but, for some reason, his mouth wouldn’t obey him. He remained frozen in that one spot, his head tilted up as he tried in vain to find the voice’s source.

“We have monitored your activites in ChalkZone...We are very pleased with your skills... But don’t you want to take it to a new level...? Don’t you want to be able to do more...? We can help you...”

Rudy managed to move his hands. He used them to cover his ears. His body started to shake and quiver. He tried so hard to block out the voices. But they continued to harrass him, trying to tempt him into using the black chalk. They kept whispering to him and they would not leave him alone. He felt surrounded and helpless. He closed his eyes tightly.

Penny noticed his distress. She reached a hand out towards him. “Rudy! Drop the chalk! Now!”

Shimmer turned her head towards Penny. Her robotic eye glowing, she positioned her laser in the girl’s direction. “You be quiet! This doesn’t concern you...yet...”

Rudy had dropped down to his knees. The cold chill was starting to become too much. He just wanted to lay down and curl up. But no matter how much he hugged himself, rubbed his arms, trying to get warm, the chill was too much. And the smoke that entered his body was traveling through, chilling him from the inside out. It felt like his inner temperature was dropping at an alarming rate. He half-expected his skin to turn blue.

When he opened his eyes, he was surprised at how much darker the room looked. It already looked ominous with the black glow coming from the black chalk, and with the charcoal colored rocky surfaces. But now, holding the chalk, it looked so much worse. It was almost like he was looking through the world with a pair of black filters.

And the voices...they were just getting louder. He tried his best to resist them. He tried to block them out of his mind. But as each second passed, it was getting harder and harder to do. He felt his hands start to shake in anticipation, and he realized, in horror, that he wouldn’t be able to fight the urge to draw with the black chalk much longer.

“We only wish to help you... Why won’t you listen...? We only want to teach you...give you knowledge you never could have dreamed about before...Just relax, and let us do the work...”

Rudy clutched his head tightly and shouted, “No! Stop talking to me! I won’t listen! No!”

Flame, who had hardly said anything, spoke in a bemused voice, “Hmph. Kid is a fighter.”

Shimmer gave Flame a sideways glance. “No matter. He won’t last too long. No one can resist the temptation...not even the strongest hearted.”

“How about we give him incentive...?” Zeal said as he turned his head towards the worried Penny. “I’m sure we can be very convincing...”

Skrawl, who clearly didn’t have a full understanding of what was going on, turned to glance at Penny. “What is up with Master Tabootie?”

Penny didn’t bother looking at the jellybean. She had adopted a defensive stance. It was clear she expected Skrawl to turn on her now that he was no longer connected to Rudy. “It’s the black chalk. It completely corrupts anyone who is foolish enough to use it.”

Skrawl raised an eyebrow. “Oh...really..? Well I...”

He didn’t have time to finish his sentence. He was suddenly shoved into the ground by Shimmer. Her hard armor slammed against his soft form. He crashed into the ground with a cry. The side of his head slammed into the cold, unforgiving ground. In a matter of seconds, he had been knocked out cold.

Penny’s eyes widened in shock. “Skrawl!” Before she could take a step, she was instantly cornered by Zeal, who pushed her away with his sharp beak. She turned her head over to Rudy and tried to get his attention. “Rudy!”

That snapped Rudy out of his thoughts, if just for the time being. He looked over and he gasped when she saw Zeal and Flame cornering Penny. And over by Skrawl, Shimmer had her water gun aimed at the jellybean, fully intent at washing him away. Both of them were going to get killed...

...and there wasn’t a thing he could do. His feet wouldn’t allow him to walk. He couldn’t jerk his body around to get anywhere. He was absolutely helpless. The voices continued to taunt him, telling him he would never be able to save them if he continued to deny their help.

The cold feeling was still getting stronger. He couldn’t believe that it was possible. But there he was, feeling like he was standing in the middle of the arctic circle. His body shook so much that he thought that he was going to cause a miniature earthquake. He tried to rub his arms again, but this time, his arms would not move either.

And neither would his head, and his eyes wouldn’t obey. It was like the black chalk took some control of his body...no...his mind...to force him to watch Penny and Skrawl be killed.

No, he couldn’t give into it. He had to force himself to drop the chalk. He tried to force his hand to open up. Slowly, his fingers became unraveled, but before the chalk could slip out, he felt his hand forced shut again. He heard the voices, the black chalk, laughing at his futile efforts to let go.

Zeal turned his head so he could look at Rudy with one of his eyes. “Do you wish to save your girlfriend? Your only choice is to use the black chalk...Use it before she, along with Skrawl, perish forever...You better hurry!” He scratched the ground with his sharp claws, the scraping sound filling the cave room. “I don’t know how long I can keep these tame...”

“Rudy, don’t...!” Penny shouted before having her body slammed hard into the ground by Zeal.

“Shut it, you!” Zeal snarled at her.

Flame came around the other side of Penny. She looked up and her eyes widened in horror as he took a hand, glowing from intense heat, and started lowering it to her, intending to burn her face.

“Penny!”

Without thinking, out of desperation, Rudy managed to force his legs to move. He started to rush towards where Penny was pinned down. He brought out the black chalk and began to draw with it. Black lines filled the once empty space. And once he started to draw, he found it hard to stop.

“There that wasn’t so...” Zeal started to say before his eyes widened at what Rudy drew. “...hard...?”

Rudy couldn’t believe what he had drawn. It wasn’t even what he wanted to draw. But the black chalk didn’t make him draw this. It wasn’t the same feeling as with the red chalk, which would physically yank his hand to draw whatever it wanted. With this, it was him doing it, and yet it wasn’t him. Like...some part of him had surfaced, a side that he had never wanted to see.

It was a similiar feeling he felt when he had wrote that poison pen letter to Michelle. The same horribly disgustingly satisfying feeling, and it scared him. The feeling was starting to overwhelm him as he finished drawing what his subconscious had wanted.

A cannon...

As he got behind it and aimed it towards Zeal and Flame, his green eyes darkened at an alarming rate. A black glow emitted from them, rising from his eyes and leaving behind jagged, smokey trails. As much as he fought it, his mouth started to tick into a smirk as his inner desires started to kick in.

And his desire right now was to make these three pay for what they have done....

“Warning. User corruption at 5%.”

sss

Snap placed a hand on his head. It ached like nothing else. He felt like the world was spinning. No matter how hard he shook his head, he couldn’t get rid of the dizzy feeling. Not that he could shake his head that much to start with. He had never felt this weak before. It was so bad that he was barely able to lift his hand to rub his head with.

He looked around the room. Where was he? What had happened? He searched his mind, trying to find some clue as to what had happened. He recalled being somewhere...big and dark and lit, somehow. He remembered running. Then he remembered heat, and...his mind was drawing a blank.

He let out a groan. How did he get in this much pain? He tried to remember. There was something important that had happened recently. Something that, for whatever reason, terrified him. But he couldn’t remember. He was scared, traumatized, yet he couldn’t think of exactly why that was. And that frightened him as well. Just...just how much had he missed? How long had he been asleep?

He only knew he was not in his home. This place was too white, and the arrangement looked nothing like what he had back at his place. And for some reason, it felt too huge, even though it really wasn’t. He couldn’t think of what it was. Why did it feel so much bigger than it really was?

He continued to rub his head weakly. The headache was tormenting him. His forehead hurt like heck. He consciously avoided it. A slight touch sent wracks of pain through his body. Whatever was in his head that was hurting him....it seemed tied to why he felt so afraid. There was something about this area...something about it he remembered, just enough for him to know he was supposed to be scared.

And he felt so cold. Oh so very cold. Even with the thick blanket over him, he was shivering violently. He could feel sweat beads strolling down his head. He closed his eyes tightly and let out a soft whimper. He was a total wreck. He felt like he was dying. And...as much as it scared him...he wouldn’t be surprised if he was.

He heard beeping next to him. He managed, with all his might, to turn his head over to see what the source was. A monitor was next to him. He looked down at his arm. He only realized, just now, that there was an IV needle stuck into him, putting fluid into his body. This did not settle well with him. Just what was wrong with him that he had to have an IV in him?

He realized, right then and there, that he was in the hospital. But why? Just what had happened to him? Why couldn’t he feel or move his legs? Why was it so hard to move his arms or anything? Why was he having a hard time remembering all this? And why did his back and hand hurt so much? They stung like something ripped him apart. Had that been what happened?

He heard the door open up. Moving his eyes ever so slightly, he could see Rapsheeba walking in. He managed a weak smile. It was nice seeing her. Maybe she could explain what happened. But seconds later, he realized that she hadn’t been alone. And the person who walked in, it was someone Snap never thought he would see in ChalkZone. It was Mr. Wilter.

Snap widened his eyes. What was Mr. Wilter doing here? Had Rudy told him about ChalkZone? Why would he do that? Wait...something was coming back to him. Something about Mr. Wilter made him feel safe. Maybe he...was he the one who tried to help him before? He remembered that...someone tried to take away the pain. It had to have been Mr. Wilter. Why else would he feel a strange sensation of security around this man?

The two walked over beside the white hospital bed he was laying on. There were a couple chairs next to it. Rapsheeba took one while Wilter took the other. Rapsheeba pulled up close to Snap. She reached over and placed her hand on his. She stared at him with a very worried expression. She looked like she had been crying for hours. And Mr. Wilter was very concerned about him as well.

If Snap didn’t realize that he was in trouble before, the way these two people were looking at him confirmed him of it. He felt more afraid now. He really wished he knew what happened. Some bits and pieces were coming back, such as some dark and spooky building, but...not enough for him to know what happened.

“H-Hello...” Snap managed to say. His throat was scratchy and dry. And it took a lot of effort to force words out of his mouth. “W-What happened...?”

“Take it easy, Snap. You’re in no condition to overexert yourself.” Mr. Wilter said in a calm voice. “You’re in the hospital right now. They’re trying to get your fever down before they remove the mind control device from your head.”

Snap struggled to say, “Mind control device...? What...?”

Wilter furrowed his eyes with concern. “You don’t remember?”

Snap closed his eyes and tried to think. The mind control device gave some kind of trigger. Was it important? Was it what was causing him so much pain in his head? He saw images in his head, something putting it in him, but nothing else.

He reopened his eyes and shook his head. “No... I..I don’t remember much...”

Rapsheeba looked at Wilter worriedly. “You...you don’t think he has amnesia, do you?”

Mr. Wilter looked at her for a few seconds. He looked back at Snap. “He may just be out of it. He did pass out from a horrific fever. It must have happened so suddenly that his mind couldn’t cope with it. He’ll remember soon enough, I’m sure.”

“I hope so...” Rapsheeba turned her attention back to Snap.

“W-Where’s Rudy...?” Snap asked when he realized Rudy was nowhere around. “Why isn’t he here...?”

“Rudy is still in ChalkZone. He had to go to the Chalk Mine to fight off some zoners sent there by Mr. Cosmo to destroy it.” Mr. Wilter replied.

Snap’s eyes snapped wide open as the name Cosmo entered his mind. Cosmo...that name sent shockwaves through his body. His mind felt like it was punched by a heavy brick. Suddenly, memories came flooding back to him. The empty voice that was his mind now filled with pictures of what had happened to him.

Draow attacking him from behind...

Being taken to some strange building...

Held prisoner...

Strapped to a table...

Water on the head...

Being controlled like a puppet...

Tortured and used as a bargaining token...

Snap felt his heart start to race. The monitor started beeping faster and faster. His breathing quickened. Tears formed in his eyes as he remembered the threats, the pain, everything. His body’s shaking became more pronounced. His eyes were so wide they looked like they would fall out of their sockets.

His mind started to play for him images of Rudy hurt. He could see Rudy strapped to a table much like the one he was in. He could see an evil man, Mr. Cosmo, torturing him. He saw Rudy writhe in pain and scream for Snap to help him.

Snap started to shake his head from side to side. “No...Rudy..no!”

“Snap! Calm down!” Rapsheeba cried, tearing up as she watched Snap thrash about, horrified by it all. “You’ll make your condition worse!”

“I..need to help him!” Snap struggled to sit up. Adrenaline was rushing through his body, granting him strength. “I have to help him! Rudy!”

Snap was now sitting up. His eyes were wide with fear and determination. He tried to get off the bed. Rapsheeba and Wilter pushed him back down. Snap started to panic, his heart monitor going crazy. It was beeping louder and louder, faster and faster. Snap continued to cry out Rudy’s name as Rapsheeba and Wilter held him down.

Slowly, Snap started to calm down. His body relaxed and he stopped struggling. Wilter and Rapsheeba held him down until they were certain he wasn’t going to try to get away again. As they stepped back, Snap laid down, staring up at them for a few seconds.

Snap started to whimper, tears streaming down his face. “I..I have to help him...why wouldn’t you let me help him...?” He closed his eyes tightly. “W-Why...?”

“Snap...” Rapsheeba whispered. She stroked his cheek gently in an attempt to soothe him. “You’re in no condition to leave this hospital...”

Mr. Wilter nodded his head grimly. “If you want to help Rudy, stay here until you feel better. He will be very worried about you if you left.”

“B-But...” Snap started to say.

“He’ll be fine.” Mr. Wilter said, offering a small smile. “He’s a tough kid. He’ll be able to handle himself.”

For some reason, Snap could not take comfort in those words.

sss

“Rudy..what are you doing...?” Penny whispered, her eyes wide in shock.

Rudy’s glowing black eyes seemed to stare into her soul. It caused her to shudder, a cold chill going up her spine. The black chalk’s voice announcing corruption...it had already started. And even at such a low percent, Rudy’s behavior had already become so unlike him.

She stared, horrified, at the cannon that he had drawn. He had it aimed right for Zeal and Flame. The pair looked shocked at first, but they soon regained their confidence and aimed their water guns towards him to disarm him. For once, she hoped they would hit their target. She did not want to look at that horried rusty red cannon anymore. It wasn’t like Rudy to draw such a terrible thing...

“Sorry, kid, but we can’t let you...” Zeal started to say.

That was all he got out before Rudy fired a cannon ball at him. The ball had flames of blue trailing behind it. And instead of radiating heat, it radiated shere cold. The cassowary ducked to the ground, the ball grazing his back just slightly. He winced in pain.

Shimmer, who had lost interest in Skrawl, raced over to her comrades. She glared over at Rudy. She aimed her heat cannons towards Rudy’s ice cannon. She fired two fiery streams in his direction. Rudy narrowed his black, glowing eyes and fired another ice ball in their general direction.

The cold was so intense that it put out the heat lasers, cutting straight through. Shimmer’s eyes widened and she tried to get out of the way. She reacted too late. The ball smashed into her and she was slammed against the cave walls. There was a horrific crunch and she coughed up blood before dropping down, her eyes losing the spark of life.

“Rudy!” Penny cried in horror. “Stop it! Don’t let the chalk control you!”

Zeal and Flame were just as shaken up. It was clear, from their expressions, this had not been part of the plan. Despite Zeal’s boast about how Rudy would be like Mr. Cosmo if he killed them, he hadn’t planned on Rudy actually carrying out that action. The two were backing away, and Penny could see absolute fear in their eyes.

This lasted a short time before Flame shook his head. He raced towards Rudy, dodging the ice cannonballs using his speed. He got up to the boy and lunged at him, mouth agape. Rudy merely grabbed him, the black glow running through the salamander’s body, clearly lowering his temperature as evidenced by his trembling and skin starting to turn blue.

Rudy looked at the salamander with great contempt before shoving the creature into the cannon. He quickly aimed it at Zeal and he fired. Zeal let out a scream as a battered up Flame was shot in his direction. He managed to get out of the way. Flame crashed into the ground.

Both Zeal and Penny couldn’t stifle their screams of horror when they saw. Flame had been impaled by a sharp rock jetting from the ground. It went straight through his chest, clearly ripping into his heart. He struggled for a few seconds, pulling in vain at the stone spike. Then his body went limp.

Zeal stared at Rudy, horrified. He took a step back. Realizing that he had made a huge mistake, he turned to flee. Rudy didn’t give him much time. He blasted an ice ball at him. Zeal didn’t have time to react. The ball slammed against his neck, breaking it instantly. His body instantly stopped moving and he crashed into the ground. In seconds, he fell quiet and unmoving.

Penny had a hard time comprehending what had just happened. Had Rudy really done what she thought he did? Her body trembling, she took a few steps back away. Rudy had just...he just murdered three zoners... Flat out killed them... This wasn’t like him...

She felt her heart freeze when she saw Rudy turn his attention towards her. For only a brief second, his eyes showed some hint of concern for her. But that quickly melted away, and now he looked at her with just as much menace as the evil zoners he had killed. Penny shivered as she took a step back, looking at Rudy in fear.

“Rudy...please...” Penny begged. She took another step back. “Don’t do this...”

“Warning. User corruption at 25%.”

Rudy turned the cannon towards Penny. She gasped in horror. It was clear what Rudy intended to do with it. She saw him raise his hand to fire another cannon ball...

Suddenly, Skrawl slammed against Rudy, knocking him away from the cannon. The jellybean pressed his foot on Rudy’s chest and attempted to grab the black chalk from him.

“What are you doing?!” Skrawl called out, baring his teeth at Rudy. “You’re better than this! Why are you trying to kill the genius girl? She’s your friend!”

Skrawl didn’t last very long. Rudy drew another weapon, this one a long sword, this one with electricity dancing over it. Skrawl was struck with it, thankfully on the blunt side. Skrawl grunted in pain and tumbled back. Rudy struck again, this time slicing into the jellybean’s side. Skrawl cried out as he fell to the ground. Rudy stood over him, ready to strike down one last time before the jellybean could get to his feet.

“No!” Penny cried. She didn’t want to see another death. She couldn’t bear it.

Penny lunged at Rudy, wrapping her arms around him and sent him and her tumbling into the ground. The two rolled across the floor. Rudy snarled at her and kicked her away. Penny struggled to her feet and looked over at Rudy with determination. He started to advance towards her.

“Warning. User corruption at 35%.”

Penny backed away slowly, her mind racing. Just what was she going to do? She was trapped here. Skrawl couldn’t fight Rudy on his own. He was at a grave disadvantage. And she was no better off. With no magic chalk, how was she going to defend herself?

She stepped on something and almost tripped. She glanced down. Her eyes widened. A white piece of chalk? She then realized that the evil zoners who were gathering the white chalk to destroy could have easily forgotten a piece. They had been waiting for them to come over, and may not have had a lot of time. It made sense that they would forget a piece.

She knelt down and grabbed the white chalk. She looked over at Rudy. She couldn’t believe she was about to do this. But what other choice did she have? If she didn’t do something, Rudy will kill her and Skrawl and who knows who else...

Penny held up the magic chalk, its white sparkle contrasting heavily with the dark glow of the black chalk and prepared to do the one thing she never thought she’d do with Rudy.

Fight him.

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 37: GOING DOWNHILL AGAIN-


Snap couldn’t keep himself completely calm. Every so often, the heart monitor would start to pick up. Stress and fear dominated his mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about what might be happening with Rudy. He really wanted to do something to help. The frustration plagued his mind, increasing his headache, something he didn’t need in addition to the pain he was feeling.

It had taken a while, but the pain from his injuries started to register in his head again. He could feel the pain in his hand now. It felt burning almost. Even though it was bandaged, it still hurt him and he rarely moved that hand. The slightest movement caused him pain. And that wasn’t getting into his back injury. He felt like someone took a rake and slowly cut him open. Laying down on his back really hurt him like nothing else, forcing him to lay on his side to avoid the pain.

And then there were his legs. He had seen there were bandages on his feet but he didn’t know why, at least not at first. As his memories came back, he remembered that his feet were burned by vinegar. He remembered how much pain he was in from that, how much it hurt to put pressure on his feet. For the time being, he couldn’t feel them, but the reason was much worse than a burn.

He could barely move his legs, if it all. Maybe a centimeter to the right or left. And he had no feeling in them. He felt almost like half of him was cut off. He was feeling nothing from his hips down. Not even the heavy blanket that covered them.

The idea of losing the ability to walk scared him. What kind of life would he have if he couldn’t even do the simplest tasks without assistance anymore? He didn’t want to burn someone else into helping him. He wanted to do things on his own. Yet that would become difficult if he loses his legs. And given his condition, that was a very real possibility.

The pain in his head reminded him of the cause of all this. The mind control nail that was still in his head. The signal was blocked, freeing him of the nightmare of being controlled against his will. But that did not undo the damage that was already done. His brain had been harmed by this device, and it was really reflecting in the worst ways possible. Having a seizure was terrifying, but then learning he lost the use of his legs shortly after because of it was even scarier.

His mental state had taken a toll. He tried to fight it, but he still experienced blank moments once in a while, where he would lose all his senses and feel like he was trapped in a black void. It was absolutely awful, and he couldn’t do a thing about it.

His only chance was with this hospital. He had to remain here until they got the thing out of his head, and even after that, he still needed to rest and heal up. There was a deep hole in his skull, put there by Mr. Cosmo. And that had to be fixed up before he was allowed release. Leaving it there would only create problems in the long run, and leave his brain more vulnerable to infection.

As he thought about the possibility of brain infection, he remembered the one he already had. His body was fighting against a deadly infection from his wounds which were never treated properly. They coursed through his body, poisoning his blood and causing his temperature to raise. His body was trying to fight the infection, but the electric torture device damaged his immune system, weakening it to less than half of its original strength.

To even have a chance to fight off the infection, Snap had to be put on some IV fluids, filled with germ-fighting medicine to try to kill off the bacteria that infested his body. In addition to that, they also gave him some medicine to bring down his fever, which was dangerously high, a few degrees above the safe level.

The doctors can’t operate on him until his fever goes down. And they weren’t sure how long that would take. They were worried that it might be too late by the time his fever does go down. That wasn’t the news he wanted to hear, and it only served to make him feel more afraid.

But not just afraid. Angry. He was angry that this had happened to him. He hadn’t done anything to deserve something like this. He hadn’t earned the loss of his legs, or his mind. Along with Rudy, he had been helping ChalkZone, willingly putting himself in the line of fire if it meant saving someone else. That was the kind of person he was. He liked to help people. So how was it that a person like him was dealt such a cruel fate?

And bothering him just as much was Rudy. He didn’t want to remain laying here in bed. He wanted to be there for Rudy, to help him in his time of need. Snap hated feeling useless. He hated that his friend had to worry over him so much, fearing for his safety. Snap wanted to be the one to comfort Rudy. He wanted to be the one who help him out of this pickle.

Yet he could do nothing. Without being able to feel or move his legs...what use was he? He couldn’t crawl all the way to the Chalk Mine. That would be the worst thing he could possibly do, especially in his delicate situation. And even if he tried, Rapsheeba or Wilter would just bring him back. He had a feeling that, if they had to, they would strap him down.

The thought of them being forced to strap him to the hospital bed sent chills down his spine, as it brought forth memories of when the device was put into his head. It was bad enough that Mr. Cosmo wanted to put it in his head to start with. But the fact that he used water...he could still feel the burning in his head as the water cut into him.

If Cosmo wanted to show Snap just how cruel he could be, he did a very good job of it. His cold laughter, him muffling his cries of pain, driving the nail into his already burning head, all this showed just what kind of monster he was. And if he could do that to him without showing any sign of remorse, just what else was this guy capable of?

That was all the more reason for him to want to leave this hospital and go help Rudy. There was no way he could do it, and he couldn’t even begin to try. But the thought was tempting. He was even considering getting on Tsere and having him carry him all the way to the Chalk Mine. Even though he was hurt, he was still one extra person Cosmo had to deal with, and one person could make all the difference.

But Mr. Wilter was right. He couldn’t just get up and leave, not in his condition. If he got seriously hurt hauling himself towards danger, or even killed in the midst of it, Rudy would be absolutely devastated...

And not just Rudy. Penny, Rapsheeba, every one of his other friends...they’d all be heartbroken if he didn’t pull through. He knew he had to listen to Wilter’s advice and stay here and get better. Him recovering would lift everyone’s spirits. It would make them feel better. And while it wasn’t as dramatic as saving Rudy from Cosmo, it would still be impacting.

“Hey Snap...”

Snap turned his eyes to see Rapsheeba walking up to the side of his bed. Mr. Wilter was nowhere to be seen. Rapsheeba placed a hand on his uninjured one.

“Hello, Rapsheeba.” Snap tried to smile the best he could. Smiling through the pain was difficult.

“How are you feeling?” Rapsheeba asked, biting her lip.

Snap flinched and said, “It still feels like my back is being cut up by a sharp stick. And I’m so cold...” With that, he pulled the blankets a bit further up his body in an attempt to get warm. “So in short, I’m still miserable and I don’t feel that much better...”

Rapsheeba nodded in understanding. She sat down on the bed, careful not to aggravate Snap’s injuries. “I was told that...no matter how soon they remove whatever it is in your head...you might still...” Rapsheeba’s eyes started to water.

Snap widened his eyes. “I what? I might still what?” He asked, his voice filled with dread.

“You might still...not fully recover...” Rapsheeba choked out, squeezing his hand tightly. “There’s...so much damage... The doctors aren’t sure if you’ll bounce back, no matter how much time you are given... They’re still...willing to try though...” She attempted to smile at that, obviously wanting to bring some glimmer of hope to Snap.

Snap’s body froze at what Rapsheeba said. He could barely register any attempt Rapsheeba did to make him feel better. The only thing he could hear in his head, over and over, was the possibility that he might still not recover. Even if the device was removed right this second, the damage was so severe already, there might be little to no chance of him recovering...

He felt himself start to shiver harder, and he knew it wasn’t from the cold. The horrible realization, that he may never feel or use his legs again, washed over him heavily. His mind was numb. He couldn’t think of anything, nothing except the fact that he may never, ever recover from this.

It couldn’t be true..no it couldn’t be... He wouldn’t allow it to be... He would...he would recover. He just had to believe it... When the device is removed, he will prove the doctors wrong. He would walk again. He would stop having seizures. He would get feeling back in his leg.

He would be just fine.

Rapsheeba sniffled and wiped away a tear. “I’m...sorry I had to tell you that... The doctors weren’t going to tell you. They were worried that..”

She couldn’t finish, but Snap understood what she was going to say. The doctors weren’t telling him because they feared of his reaction. With all the stress he was under, his weakening physical condition, the news may have made things worse for him.

Yet he understood why Rapsheeba told him. Keeping such a thing a secret must have been horrible for her. Rapsheeba wasn’t the type of person to keep things from other people, especially if it was something so dreadfully important like this. She may have just found out a few minutes ago, when she left with Mr. Wilter a little while ago to use the restroom. And even though the doctors didn’t want him to know, she told him anyway.

He was glad she did. Knowing might be scary, but not knowing was scarier. There was no doubt in his head it was a truly frightening situation. He didn’t know how well he’d just to having no working legs. He couldn’t imagine not being able to have fun with Rudy and Penny anymore. He didn’t want to spend his time pushing himself on some wheelchair when, just a few days ago, he could, if he really wanted to, frolick in the fields like some insanely happy deer.

“It’s...it’s okay Rapsheeba...” Snap said in a soft voice. “I’m..glad you told me. I appreciate it. R-Really..”

Rapsheeba smiled at him. She leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m going to go get a drink of water... I’ll be right back.”

“Okay...” Snap said.

As he watched her leave, his thoughts went back to knowing versus not knowing. His thoughts soon went to Ms. Saffron. He wondered what had happened to her. He had tried asking Mr. Wilter, but he had no clue. The last time he remembered seeing her, he was still in that awful cell, and it sounded like he was getting through to her.

He wondered if she finally believed him when he said he was real. He wondered if she had finally turned her back on Mr. Cosmo and made her own choices. He did want to speak to her again. There was something about her that he liked. After all of this was said and done, he did want to get to know her more.

He laid his head down. He wanted to get some rest. Even though the pain made it hard for him to sleep, he had to try. It would definitely help his body begin recovering if he got some rest.

As he settled down, attempting to get some sleep, he heard the door creak open. He didn’t bother looking. He knew it was just going to be one of the doctors, Rapsheeba, or even Wilter. He kept his back turned to the door, looking towards the window as he slowly closed his eyes. The footsteps came ever closer, and he realized they were too heavy to be Rapsheeba, so it had to be Mr. Wilter.

He opened an eye to see there was a shadow being cast on his body. Must be the position of the lights. Though he couldn’t understand why Mr. Wilter hadn’t spoken a word yet. Wait, why was he wondering that? Mr. Wilter knew he needed rest. He was just checking on him, making sure he was okay.

Snap felt a hand touch his shoulder lightly. He let out a mumble and twisted away from the hand.

“Go away..” He mumbled. “Trying to sleep...”

“Sleep? Now? But why, little boy? It is such a...beautiful day outside..”

Snap’s eyes popped open. That cold voice...No..not here... It couldn’t be... He turned his head so he could look up at the intruder. As soon as he did, a hand clamped down onto his mouth, silencing his alarmed screaming. The heart monitor was going crazy, beeping like an alarm as his heartbeat increased.

This quickly came to a stop, and it didn’t take long for Snap to realize why. Mr. Cosmo had swiftly unhooked him from the machine...as well as yanked out all the IVs that were hooked up to him.

“No no...” Mr. Cosmo grinned. “We musn’t bother the other patients...that would be rude.” He put a finger to his lips and made a shush sound. “Quiet...”

Snap tried to struggle. He started to hit Mr. Cosmo’s hand with his uninjured one, slamming against it in vain. Cosmo responded by gripping his injured hand as hard as he could and pressing it against the bed. The pain was enough to force Snap to let go.

Cosmo leaned forward, putting his face close to Snap’s. “You’re...going on a little ride...”

Snap’s eyes widened in fear as he felt himself being picked up from the bed.

sss

Penny could not believe this was really happening. Never once did she believe she would fight Rudy..not like this...

Sure they had their spats in the past. They argued. That’s what friends do. Friends don’t always see eye to eye. She remembered the robot they collaborated on together, but they had a disagreement on what the robot’s features should be and agreed to separate. They got over it not long afterward.

But this...this was different...

She was not arguing with Rudy. She wasn’t shouting at him about something he did, or disagreeing with his next course of action. This wasn’t some petty argument that they’d get over a few minutes later and everything would be fine and dandy.

No, this was an all out fight. A duel, with her life on the line. Rudy was actively trying to kill her... No it wasn’t Rudy...It was the horrid evil that came from the black chalk. Whatever it was doing to Rudy’s mind...it was horrible... Rudy had clearly lost the fight against it, and now the black chalk was using Rudy as a puppet, just like how Mr. Cosmo forced Snap to fight them.

“Warning. User corruption at 45%.”

Every time the black chalk announced the corruption level, cold shivers swam through Penny’s body. Each time she heard how corrupted he was becoming, the less and less time she had to do something to save him. The corruption was going faster than she realized, and unless she got that chalk away from him..he’d be like this forever...

Yet..yet she could not just take it from him. Doing so risks spreading the corruption to herself. She would risk letting herself be used like a tool, swung around she was just a stick, and attack everyone around her, friend or foe. A zoner could take the chalk no problem, but the only zoner in here was Skrawl and he was injured.

She did draw, really quick, a medkit for him. He was confused as to why she did it as she just wasted a bit of the magic chalk. But she did not consider it wasting. Even though she had a little less to work with against Rudy, she couldn’t let Skrawl bleed to death. The cut in his side was pretty deep.

Penny could draw a zoner to aid her, but...no she couldn’t do that. Not with Rudy being like this. Penny would feel horrible if she created a zoner only for them to be swiftly killed by the possessed Rudy. That would be truly awful. She wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if that happened.

Penny was having a hard time holding out against Rudy. Her not being as experienced an artist was really showing here. She wasn’t as quick with the chalk as Rudy, and found herself being boxed further against a corner. She didn’t give up and she continued to fight back as best as she could, taking care not to cause any injuries to her friend.

She had managed to destroy his cannon with a harpoon, but that was quickly destroyed when Rudy sent a simple-minded robot after it. In relatiation, she drew her own robot, but was horrified at how quickly it was beatne. Rudy was still the superior one between the two when it came to creating robotic designs that worked.

As the robot advanced towards her, she tried to think of something that would stop it. Something did come to mind. If she could disrupt the robot’s power source, she could stop it. Thinking fast, she jumped out of the way as the robot tried to fry her with the lasers. She drew a long, sharp sword. She rushed around behind the robot.

Hoping she won’t miss, she threw the sword as soon as she saw an opeing for the power supply on the back. Just like she hoped, it sliced through, causing the robot to cease functioning. She didn’t feel too bad doing this because the robot could always be revived later. That was the advantage of robots. Rebuild them, and they are fine. But regular zoners..that was a different story...

Rudy snarled at the loss of his robot. He began to swiftly draw something else. Penny couldn’t tell what it was at first. But when he was close to being finished, her eyes widened in horror. It looked like a rocket launcher... Only instead of rockets, the edges were lined with electrical swords. If one touched her, she’d be both sliced and electrocuted at the same time...

Rudy took aim at her and fired. A sword sailed through the air, heading straight for Penny. She managed to get out of the way in time. She felt the sword whizz by her head, barely missing her by a hair. She watched as the sword slammed into the rock, getting halfway through before it became stuck.

She turned her head just in time to see another sword get shot at her. She screamed as she fell flat on her back, the only move she could think of to dodge this one. Just like the first one, this sword barely missed her. She could feel the crackle of electricity lightly graze her skin, and she heard the cracking sound of it getting caught in the wall behind her.

She looked over at Skrawl. He was in no condition to do much to help her. He had already tried to get up, but he would fall back down as the pain in his side clearly intensified. It didn’t help that, in one of Rudy’s previous attacks, he had been injured again. The robot had took aim at him at least once before she managed to stop it.

Penny quickly drew up a shield for herself. A large, thick mirror now blocked Rudy’s path to her, but that did not stop the now insane boy from trying to attack her. He shot sword after sword at the shield, the cracks spreading further and further. And it was clear, to Penny, that he was not going to run out of swords any time soon.

Penny stood behind the shield, looking at Rudy in utter terror. Everything he was drawing, it was for lethal purposes. He showed no constraint anymore. And his drawings were all mostly more high tech stuff, such as the ice cannons, the electric swords, the robots, while she relied on more low tech things, such as the harpoon she used earlier to destroy the cannon. She didn’t know how long she could keep this up. It was only a matter of time before Rudy drew something she couldn’t stop...

She looked down at her hand. She stared at the small piece of magic chalk she had. There wasn’t as much left. She had already used more than half of it. Once she ran out, she would not be able to fight Rudy anymore. She wouldn’t be able to try to hold him back. And she and Skrawl would be completely defenseless against him.

But Rudy...he had all the black chalk he could want. He wasn’t going to run out of ammo any time soon...

“Rudy...please...!” Penny cried as tears began to drip down her face. Even though Rudy refused to speak, she still tried to reach out to him. “Stop this! This...this isn’t you! Please!”

Rudy paused for a moment. At first, it looked like she had gotten through to him. But then he raised up his black chalk. The glow trails in his eyes began to get a little smaller. Penny guessed that once the glow trails disappeared, if he was still holding the black chalk, he’d be permanently corrupted...

“Warning. User corruption at 65%.”

Rudy began to draw.

“No... Rudy...” Penny begged.

She took a step back, holding the white chalk in her fist tightly. She watched, helpless, as Rudy drew another large weapon. This time, it wasn’t a cannon, but instead a couple of large, black-colored grenades. Penny could see the shere cold radiating from them. Cold...the black chalk seemed to enjoy that element.

Rudy pulled his hand back and threw a grenade towards the shield. It clanged on the ground, then stopped as it barely touched the thick glass shield. Penny’s eyes widened in horror as the object started to glow. She looked over at Rudy and shuddered at the twisted smile on his face.

The grenade exploded.

The sound bounced off the walls, causing both Penny and Skrawl to cry out, covering their heads in an attempt to block it out. For Penny, it did more than just hurt her ears. The shockwave swept in her direction, forcing her a bit away from the shield. She opened her eyes and saw that the shield was breaking up, and soon shattered, sending glass flying in her direction.

Penny was swept back and slammed against the wall. She cried out as her back hit the wall with great force. She tried to hold back her shouts of pain as a few pieces of broken glass cut into her body, slicing her up a little. She slide down slowly and soon she lay there in the corner of the cave room.

Penny slowly opened her eyes and looked up. Her eyes widened as Rudy started to walk up towards her, the evil smile still on his face. He was holding the remaining grenades in his hands. Penny slowly got up to her feet, trembling. She held out her white chalk, prepared to continue fighting for however long it would take.

“Warning. User corruption at 70%.”

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 38: PLEASE COME TO YOUR SENSES, RUDY-



Mr. Wilter didn’t have any idea that this would happen. How could he have? This was a hospital. It was supposed to be safe. Mr. Cosmo should not have known he was here. He shouldn’t have been able to come in so sneakily like he had. He shouldn’t have been able to take him and everyone else by surprise.

And yet..that’s exactly what ended up happening...

Mr. Wilter had ran into Rapsheeba a few minutes ago. She was on her way to get something to drink. Mr. Wilter decided to go with her. Even though he couldn’t drink the water in ChalkZone, that was no reason why he couldn’t go with Rapsheeba.

But on their way down, there was a loud explosion. He heard the loud pained screech of Tsere. He rushed towards the front of the building where the explosion came from. He could see Tsere laying on the ground, unconscious. There were several burn marks of where the explosion had hit him.

Horrified, Wilter rushed over to check on Tsere. He checked for a pulse, and thankfully there still was one. Mr. Wilter looked around the damaged waiting room. Pieces of glass now lay on the ground, shattered and ready to slice up anyone dumb enough to go barefoot. The shockwave of the explosion had knocked the doctors in the receptionist area unconscious.

Mr. Wilter had wondered who would attack a hospital. Then he realized there was one person sick enough to do that, and that was Mr. Cosmo. He looked left and right, trying to keep an eye out for the madman. He heard footsteps behind him. He turned around just in time to have a fist slammed against his face. He tumbled down to the ground.

He heard Rapsheeba scream. He opened his eyes and saw as she rushed towards Mr. Cosmo. She didn’t get too far as Mr. Cosmo managed to kick her hard. On the ground she lay, writhing in pain as she held her stomach. She managed to get to her feet, but by then Cosmo had made a dash down the hallway.

As Rapsheeba helped Wilter up, they both realized just what Cosmo came here for. They ran towards Snap’s room, hoping they weren’t too late. Snap couldn’t be taken away from the place that was treating him. He...he might not make it...

By the time they had reached the room, they were too late. Mr. Wilter’s eyes widened in horror as he saw Mr. Cosmo stand on the windowsill. In his arms, he held Snap against himself. Snap was trying to struggle, but his efforts were weak and futile. Mr. Cosmo gave Mr. Wilter an evil smile before he jumped out the window.

Wilter and Rapsheeba screamed in shock and rushed towards the window. They saw that Draow was with him. The winged wolf flapped in front of the window. They realized he no longer held Snap and at first, they feared he had dropped him on purpose. They were somewhat relieved that Draow was holding Snap in his talons, but that did not make the situation much better.

Draow let out a roar at them before he turned and flew off away from the hospital.

Mr. Wilter stared as Draow disappeared into the distance. His eyes widened. He couldn’t believe it. He had failed. Mr. Cosmo was right. He could have saved the hospital from this attack if he had been more alert. And Tsere was hurt because of his neglect...

He shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to feel sorry for himself. He rushed back to the front of the hospital. He went outside, being careful to step over the debris, and went up to Tsere’s head. He placed hand on the pterosaur’s head and nudged him a little. The pterosaur’s eyes slowly opened and he let out a weak squawk.

Mr. Wilter was thankful that Tsere still seemed to have some strength left. Though badly injured, he could still move. He managed to get onto his feet. The dust and debris on his back slide off as he stood up straight. He lowered himself so Mr. Wilter could climb onto his back.

“Hold on!” Raspheeba called out, rushing out the door. “I want to go with!”

Mr. Wilter contemplated this. He knew that she was Snap’s friend and she did have every right to go and try to save him. But on the other hand, she could get hurt again. He didn’t want to be responsible for the accident, or even death, of another zoner. It might be safer for Rapsheeba to stay behind than go with him. But still, she is Snap’s friend.

It took him a while to decide on a course of action. He finally decided to let her come with. It may have been the better call. He could use the extra help. Plus she was a zoner and likely knew where a lot of places in modern day ChalkZone were.

And Mr. Wilter had a rough idea on where Mr. Cosmo had taken Snap.

Mr. Wilter reached down and grabbed Rapsheeba’s hand. He pulled her up onto the back of the pterosaur. She hung onto him for support. Tsere spread out his wings. He ran along the road. Though he faltered due to his injuries, he hadn’t slowed down much. In a matter of seconds, he jumped into the air and started to fly up towards the sky.

Mr. Wilter could not see Mr. Cosmo or Draow yet. They must have gotten much further than he thought. Draow could fly pretty fast if he put his mind to it. That did not mean they couldn’t catch up, though. Tsere was even faster at flying.

The pterosaur’s wings flapped harder, pushing himself through the air faster. Already they were picking up speed. So long as Tsere kept this up, it shouldn’t take them long to catch up to Mr. Cosmo and Draow. He just hoped that they would catch up in time before Cosmo decided to ëdrop some weight’, if he felt he had no other choice.

“Rapsheeba. Where is the Chalk Mine?” Mr. Wilter asked.

The question clearly surprised Rapsheeba. She looked at him with a confused expression.

“Why do you need to know that?” Rapsheeba asked.

“I haven’t been in this area in a while and I can’t tell from where which way to...” Mr. Wilter started to say.

“No, I mean...” Rapsheeba tried to find the words to say. “What makes you think Mr. Cosmo took Snap there?”

“Nothing specifically...but I know him well enough that...” Mr. Wilter narrowed his eyes. He felt the anger start to rise up inside of him as he thought of just what Cosmo was going to do. “He is certain he is close to victory. Whatever is going on in the Chalk Mine, Mr. Cosmo clearly believes that he will win in the end. And he wants everyone to witness it...”

“So he kidnapped Snap to...” Rapsheeba started to say.

“Just to ensure that Snap will be present when it all goes down.” Mr. Wilter said. “Just so that he will be able to witness the beginning of the end... And perhaps also to make sure Snap will be in the immediate area so he can kill him off...”

Rapsheeba gasped in horror. “That’s...that’s terrible!”

“But don’t worry...he is not going to get too far...” Mr. Wilter said with determination.

Tsere began to pick up speed. He moved faster and faster. Rapsheeba had to hold on tighter for fear of falling off. Wilter didn’t bother gripping tighter. He had flown on Tsere many times before and was used to his methods of flying, both slow and fast. He kept an eye out for any sign of Draow. It shouldn’t be long now.

And sure enough, he spotted him. A small dot at first, but it grew rapidly in size. He could now make out the wings of the beast, flapping up and down. Tsere opened his beak and shut it, as if he realized squawking would reveal that he was coming in from behind.

Snap was still being held in his talons. He looked frightened, his arms pinned against his sides by the strong toes. The sharp tips pushed against his body, which caused pain as evident by a few flinches from the blue zoner. Snap tried, a few times, to struggle, but each wriggle only scraped the claws along his body, making his situation even worse.

Tsere started to go lower. He dove down a little. Then he flapped harder, moving faster. Mr. Wilter looked up. So far, there was no indication that either Cosmo or Draow had spotted or sensed them. Tsere was doing an excellent job at keepin quiet. Mr. Wilter smirked a little. Cosmo is not the only one who knows how to be a little sneaky around here.

Tsere darted upwards. Wilter and Rapsheeba hung on tightly, fighting against gravity as Tsere rose at an increasily rapid pace into the air. Tsere flew up in front of Draow, causing the winged wolf to recoil in surprise. Mr. Cosmo was just as shocked by this.

“What the...?!” Mr. Cosmo shouted.

“Hand over Snap!” Mr. Wilter ordered, his finger jabbed in Cosmo’s direction.

Mr. Cosmo blinked a few times. Then he snickered. “Do you really think that you can just get him back....just like that...?” Mr. Wilter growled. “Well...if you want him back...come and get him...”

With that, Draow let out a roar and raced forward. Tsere barely dodged out of the way as Draow flew pasted him. His wing claw cut against Tsere’s wing membrane. The pterosaur let out a loud screech, freezing in midair for a few seconds. He almost lost started to fall down, but he regained his balance and squawked at Draow.

Mr. Wilter watched as Cosmo got Draow to fly even faster. The wings of the beast beat rapidly, pushing himself to go faster. It was still not enough to outfly Tsere, but then Draow would pull manuevers to make Tsere lose his place.

The most common thing Draow would do is move off to the side. Whether Tsere tried to come in from above or below, from the front or from behind, at the last second, he’d move to either the left or the right. The result would be that Tsere would end up overshooting his attack, giving Draow time to fly around him and get in front again.

Draow was better at manuevering like this than Tsere. Although Tsere was a good flyer himself, he was unable to compete with how fast Draow was able to change directions, and because of this, they were no longer able to get close enough to try to take Snap back.

And all the while, they could hear Snap’s cries for help. He knew they were there trying to save them. He struggled in Draow’s talons, even though it was no use. He kept shouting at them to save him. He was eventually silenced when Draow squeezed him hard. This caused Snap to gasp from pain and almost pass out. He went limp in the beast’s claws.

As they continued to fly, trying to rescue Snap, Rapsheeba confirmed what Mr. Wilter had suspected the whole time.

“The Chalk Mine!” She cried. “We’re practically over it now!”

Mr. Wilter narrowed his eyes. “Just as I thought...”

But what happened next, Mr. Wilter did not predict. He thought that Mr. Cosmo would have Draow land, grab Snap, and rush into the cave. He thought that he’d want Snap to witness Cosmo’s victory before he is struck down.

Yet...that isn’t what happened. Mr. Wilter’s heart froze as he realized that he might have made the situation so much worse for Snap by attempting to take him back rather than waiting until they were on the ground before making a move.

“I tire of our little chase...” Mr. Cosmo said nonchalantly. He turned his head and addressed the next line to Snap. “I was going to save this for later..but why not..I’ll give it to you now...you deserve it...”

Draow froze in the air, hovering above the Chalk Mine. They were about thirty to forty feet up in the air. Mr. Wilter hollered for Tsere to move faster, his voice filled with dread as he realized just what Mr. Cosmo was going to do.

Draow looked down at Snap, manuevering his foot to examine his prey with contempt. Snap trembled, staring into the beast’s eyes. Then he opened his jaws, and did something that Snap clearly had no idea that he was capable of doing.

In a dark voice, Draow spoke, “May a rock...crush your skull!”

Before Snap had time to react, the bat wolf released him. Snap screamed as he started to fall down towards the ground below.

“Snap!” Wilter and Rapsheeba cried in unison.

As Cosmo and Draow went towards the Chalk Mine, Tsere veered off and dove down to where Snap was falling. He pressed his wings against his body, becoming a bullet in the air. He fell further, faster and faster, trying to get to Snap before it was too late. Snap was falling towards some jagged-looking rocks. Tsere squawked as he tried to pick up speed.

Slowly, the pterosaur started to catch up to the falling blue boy. But it wasn’t going to be enough. He needed to move faster. He pushed himself harder. Rapsheeba started to cry, thinking that they may not reach him in time. Wilter had faith in Tsere, cheering him on.

Tsere narrowed his eyes. He straightened his neck out, attempting to slice through the air at a faster rate. Now he was really picking up speed. And soon, he was getting close enough to Snap to grab. But instead of grabbing him, Tsere moved down underneath. Then he brought out his wings and started to flap steadily. He remained in place as Snap fell onto his back.

Snap landed in Rapsheeba’s arms. She hugged him gently, minding his injuries. Snap trembled, shaken up by what had happened. As he tried to calm down, Mr. Wilter ordered Tsere to go to the Chalk Mine and land.

Once on the ground, Mr. Wilter climbed off of Tsere. He turned around and helped Rapsheeba down, then Snap.

“Are you okay, Snap?” Mr. Wilter asked as Mr. Wilter asked as Rapsheeba set Snap on the ground, allowing him to lean against one of Tsere’s legs.

Snap was still shaking violently. It was clearly from fear. Snap was making some low whimpers, tears flowing down his fast. Mr. Wilter couldn’t blame him. He was very close to death. If it hadn’t been for Tsere, he wouldn’t have made it...

“Y-Yeah...I’m okay...” Snap said. He gave a small smile to Mr. Wilter. “Thank you...”

Mr. Wilter nodded at him, then turned his attention to the cave. No doubt Mr. Cosmo went in already. Draow was certainly accompanying him. Wilter knew they had to act fast and get in there before Mr. Cosmo could accomplish his goal. He knew that Mr. Cosmo would want to make sure Rudy uses the black chalk, to corrupt him, and would kill anyone he did not deem necessary. And if they didn’t hurry, he just might succeed...

“We can’t stand around here.” Mr. Wilter said. He gestured to the two zoners. “Rapsheeba, take Snap back to the hospital. I’ll go in and try to slow down Mr. Cosmo.”

Rapsheeba nodded her head and picked up Snap. She gently carried him as Wilter headed towards the Chalk Mine. However, neither of them got far as something large flew out from the cave. Wilter realized it was Draow. The bat wolf flew so fast that Tsere could not react.

A screech of pain split the air as Draow bit down on Tsere’s wing. There was a sickening crunch and Draow twisted his head back. Blood spilled the ground. The pterosaur fell to the ground, twitching in pain. Draow placed a foot on his back and roared at him.

Mr. Wilter gasped in horror. “Tsere...no!” He took a step back as Draow turned his attention on them. Wilter turned to Rapsheeba and Snap. “Run! Get into the cave!”

Draow licked his lips as he watched them rush towards the cave entrance. He pawed the ground, spreading out his wings in anticipation.

“Going somewhere?” Draow asked mockingly.

With that, Draow bolted into a run. Using his wings to help him move faster, he quickly gained on the retreating trio. He jumped at them, mouth agape. Wilter, Rapsheeba, and Snap screamed in horror and tried to pick up their pace. Draow landed on the ground just inches behind them, the resulting quake almost causing them to lose their footing.

Draow quickly broke into a run. While the trio managed to get into the cave, it wasn’t going to be enough to save them. And by the look of Draow’s twisted smile, the beast knew this to be the case as well. He picked up the speed and let out a roar. Tensing the muscles in his legs, he jumped through the air, bringing his talons forward to rip the two zoners and human into shreds.

“Puny little things! Prepare to die!”

Before he could reach them, something large swatted him away. He howled in pain as he crashed into the ground. It took Wilter a second to realize who had just saved them.

“Biclops!” Wilter shouted, elated at seeing the giant.

Biclops glared down at the wolf bat creature. Draow shook his head as he recovered from the blow. He stared up at the giant. His ears flattened against his skull and he gave a snarl. He jumped up at Biclops. The giant, being larger, grabbed Draow by his neck and squeezed hard.

Draow let out a screech and began to struggle in Biclops’s grasp. But it was no use. The giant had him with a vice grip. He threw Draow into the ground once, hard enough to daze the beast. Draow let out a whine and struggled even more in the giant’s hand.

As Biclops held Draow, he looked down and saw Mr. Wilter. His eyes widened in shock. “..W-Wilter?! What are you...”

“No time to explain!” Wilter shouted. “Rudy’s in danger! Cosmo is in the Chalk Mine!”

Biclops’s face paled. “Cosmo...he is back...?”

“Yes! And he’s going to force Rudy to use the black chalk!”

“The black chalk?!” Biclops cried in horror. “Then we must hurry!”

sss

When Rudy threw the second grenade, Penny barely had time to get out of the way. She scrambled to her feet. She didn’t get far when it exploded. She winced as she felt the chilling burn against her back, tearing her clothes. She turned around to try to fight back.

Rudy advanced towards her slowly, menacingly. The black glow trails had gotten even smaller now, and his corruption level was much higher already. She was running out of time to free him. But with Skrawl now unconscious and her almost out of chalk, it was beginning to look hopeless for her.

Rudy threw another grenade at her. This time, she did manage get far enough away from it before it damaged her. She looked at what little chalk she had left. She looked back at Rudy. She needed to find some way to at least constrain him. Then maybe she could use the last bit of chalk to create rope, which she could use to pull the black chalk away from his hands without having to touch it herself.

“Warning. User corruption at 85%.”

She bit her lip. There was so little time left. She had to act fast.

She drew a long piece of rope. She then tied one end of it to create a loop. She started to whip it around in the air like a lasso. Rudy just smirked at her, clearly not believing that she’d be able to do anything. He quickened his pace, getting out his black chalk to continue the duel.

Penny threw the rope at Rudy. She managed to get it to go around his body. She pulled tightly. Rudy grunted in surprise as the rope tightened around him, pinning his arms to his sides. Unfortunately, this didn’t last very long. Rudy merely took the black chalk and drew a small knife, which he used to cut the rope. It took hime a little longer due to his arms being pinned, but he still managed to do it.

Then he grabbed the rope. Penny’s eyes widened as Rudy yanked the rope forward. She tumbled towards him. He grabbed her by the neck and, displaying unusual strength for a 15 year old, lifted her off the ground with ease.

“Rudy..please...this isn’t you! Fight it!” Penny begged, her eyes wide with fear.

Rudy threw her against the ground. The force knocked the last bit of white chalk from Penny’s hands. She tried to get at it, but Rudy put his foot down on her chest, pinning her firmly. Penny tried to pry his foot off, but it was no use.

She watched, helpless, as Rudy drew another weapon. This one looked like a spear, only the end was heavily serrated and looked like it could cut through anything. Electricity danced around it, sparking every so often.

“Please..don’t do this...” Penny whispered, tears filling her eyes.

Rudy narrowed his eyes at her. He slowly raised the lightning spear.

“Warning. User corruption at 95%.”

Penny trembled at the sight of Rudy raising the weapon above her, fully intent on killing her with it. His eyes were wild with a mix of fury and disgusting satisfaction. Then Penny heard something that made her blood freeze.

“Emergency! Full user corruption imminent!”

That sent shockwaves through Penny. Tears flowed from her eyes faster. No it wasn’t possible...Rudy couldn’t be gone..no...

She stared as Rudy grinned evilly at her. She could see the muscles in his arms tighten, poised for the strike. She trembled, horrified by what all this had led to. She had...she had lost her best friend. Then, Rudy struck down.

Penny let out a scream and turned her head away. “Rudy don’t! Please! Don’t!”

She waited for the blow....and it never came. Penny kept her eyes closed, trembling. When she realized Rudy wasn’t striking, she opened up her eyes and looked up above her.

Rudy was staring down at her. The black glow was still there, but his eyes were wide in shock. His body was trembling, like he was having a hard time pulling the weapon down. Penny realized, in horror, that the spear was just inches from her head. Slowly, it was pulled further back away from her.

Rudy jerked his body backwards, grunting in determination. She watched as he moved himself away from her. It was clear he was fighting the corruption. He gritted his teeth as he was starting to lose the battle again. But his resistance had bought just a tad bit of time.

And that was all that was needed. Skrawl had gotten up just at that point and was rushing over. When he got up to Rudy, he slapped his hand hard.

“Drop that thing!” Skrawl shouted.

He had hit the hand with enough force that the black chalk was thrown from Rudy’s hand. It hit the ground with a glassy clang and rolled to a stop next to Shimmer’s unmoving form.

Skrawl and Penny watched as the black glow quickly left Rudy. His eyes returned to their normal green color. He stammered a little, shaking his head like he didn’t know what was going on. His breathing became ragged and he swayed back and forth. He almost fell over. Penny was about to catch up, but Rudy managed to plant his feet on the ground.

Rudy stared at Penny for several seconds. His expression showed that was he was confused, at least at first. He looked around, and slowly, it seemed the recent events began to sink into his mind. He saw the damage that he himself had caused. He saw the bodies of the zoners he had killed. He looked at Penny and Skrawl, seeing their injuries.

His eyes widened in horror as he seemed to realize what had just transpired. He put his hands to his mouth, his pupils dilating. His body started to tremble.

“N-No...no...I...” Rudy’s eyes began to stream tears. “What have I done...?”

Penny rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him. Rudy did not react to the hug. His eyes remained wide and he started to cry. Penny held onto him, rubbing his back and whispering comforting words.

“What have I done...?” Rudy whispered in a shaky voice. “I...I couldn’t stop...”

“It’s okay, Rudy...” Penny whispered, hugging him tightly. “It’s okay...it’s over now...Shhh...”

Rudy just continued to cry in her arms.

[DarkWolf91]

Yikes! That was a close one! And poor Tsere
Oooh, can't wait for the confrontation with Cosmo

[DarkHououmon]

CHAPTER 39: YOU ARE A MONSTER-



Wilter, Rapsheeba, and Snap headed down the tunnel that Biclops showed them. The tunnel was a sort of back entrance, though the giant rarely used it. The front way was too heavily damaged to travel far in. Biclops couldn’t even talk in too far without risking breaking the ground and falling down, being much heavier than them and all.

Luckily the back entrance did not suffer as much damage. Biclops gave Wilter a small bag of magic chalk so that it would be possible to fight against Mr. Cosmo. Biclops did not go with them. Instead, he stayed behind to help Tsere. Draow was taken care of, knocked out on the ground. The giant assured them that he will make sure Draow does not get into the Chalk Mine and would watch him like a hawk.

Considering Draow’s intelligence, Wilter thought it was very possible that Draow could still go after them, so he did not put his guard down. It just wasn’t worth the risk, knowing what Draow was truly capable of. With his reveal of the ability to speak, Draow has shown to be quite intelligent and able to make his own choices, and was in fact doing this all because he enjoyed it as much as Cosmo, not because he was some dumb attack animal. This was something Wilter didn’t know until today.

Yes, he had done battle against Draow before, many years ago. Draow had been with Cosmo almost since day one, since it all began. But he had never spoken back then. Never uttered a single word. Why had he been silent all this time? And why had he chosen now, of all times, to speak?

Mr. Wilter shook the thought of his mind, as that wasn’t really important right now. What was important was locating Rudy. Biclops had been helpful and told them which way to go to get to where Rudy most likely was. If Mr. Cosmo wanted Rudy to use the black chalk, then the chances are highly likely that Cosmo would have forced Rudy into one room. The black chalk room, which was in a hidden part of the mine. Ever since the Cosmo incident, Biclops had done his best to hide the place where the black chalk grew from the ground.

Destroying the black chalk was impossible. It would just continue growing from that spot, waiting for an artist dumb enough to try use it. Any artist who remained corrupted long enough not only stay like that forever, but a piece of black chalk stays with them, influencing them throughout their lives. At times, their eyes would flicker black, as Mr. Wilter had seen for himself in his struggle against Mr. Cosmo.

That was another reason why the black chalk would never be gone. It practically implants itself in human artists, wanting to spread its corruption to the real world. Even if the Chalk Mine were utterly destroyed, black chalk artists could easily recreate the black chalk and its effects.

Mr. Wilter was certain that had a hand in why Mr. Cosmo was able to remember ChalkZone. It was the black chalk infection inside of him. It remembered what ChalkZone was. That was where it came from. And it helped Mr. Cosmo remember as well.

That thought was disturbing to Mr. Wilter. If Mr. Cosmo could remember thanks to the black chalk inside of him, then what of the other artists? Would they be able to remember too, if their memories were triggered? Would their black chalk infection be able to remind them of what they used to be, and try to go back to ChalkZone? The thought of other corrupted artists going into ChalkZone was very worrying.

Mr. Wilter decided not to dwell on it too much for now. That was a problem for another time. For the time being, only Mr. Cosmo remembered, and that was who he should focus on. Mr. Cosmo had to be stopped here and now. He must not be allowed to continue with his plans. Now was the time for him to pay for all that he has done.

But just what were they going to do? Amnesia wouldn’t work another time, he didn’t think. And even if they could get him to forget, the scars would remain. It wouldn’t be enough for Rudy and Penny to have the man walk free, even if he was amnesiac and didn’t remember anything that he did. His personality would still be dark and twisted. Rudy and Penny would still remember what he did to their friend. It wouldn’t be fair to them.

There had to be something else that could be done. Something that would put a stop to Mr. Cosmo, and hopefully prevent future incidents. There was one thing Mr. Wilter thought of, but the thought made him shudder. Despite Mr. Cosmo being a cruel man, he wouldn’t want to use this method on him...not unless there was absolutely no other choice.

Wilter was torn from his thoughts when he heard a scream from Rapsheeba and Snap. It wasn’t a horrific scream, but a startled one. And Wilter quickly saw why. He stopped his foot in midair, stairing down in horror. The tunnel floor here had collapsed, leading to an endless void below.

The real world water had done a lot of damage even back here. He could still see some ledges that clung to the sides. But they looked pretty unsteady. He didn’t think he’d be able to get over there. He might break the ledges.

He was about to go down another way, but then he paused and looked at the collapsed tunnel. He recalled Biclops’s direction. Minus the collapsed floor, this did look like the path they were supposed to take to get to the tunnel that had the black chalk room. They were getting closer...but they needed a way to get over this gap. How...?

“How are we going to get across?” Rapsheeba asked as she stared over the edge, carefully holding Snap in her arms.

“I’m not sure...but we need to figure out a way and fast.” Mr. Wilter said. “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get over. The ledges might collapse if I try jumping on them...”

Snap coughed and looked up at Mr. Wilter. “W-What about the magic chalk? C-Can’t you use it...?

Mr. Wilter looked at the bag of magic chalk. Why hadn’t he thought of it before? Of course, the magic chalk would be able to fix this. But...would he be able to use it again? Only human artists could use it, and he hadn’t use the magic chalk in a long time...

Would it allow him to use it? Opening portals was one thing. Magic chalk would let any artist do that. But bringing creations to life? That was something else...

“I’m...not sure if I can..it’s been so long.” Mr. Wilter admitted. He reached into the bag and pulled out a piece of magic chalk. He stared at it and said, “I know I used the magic chalk to open up portals...but...that doesn’t mean that the magic chalk will let me create things again.”

Snap said, “W-Well...you should try. You never know...”

Mr. Wilter frowned, deep in thought. Snap did have a point. He should at least give it a try. He had been a human artist once. Maybe the magic chalk would remember that and let him use it. It was the only chance they had....well the only good chance anyway. If the magic chalk didn’t work, he’d have to resort to throwing Rapsheeba and Snap over, and given Snap’s frail condition, he could not do that.

It didn’t help that Snap’s condition got a little worse due to the aerial fight. Thankfully it wasn’t a drastic change, but still a drop in his health nonetheless. Mr. Wilter found out, not long after they started walking down the tunnel, that Snap’s fever started to rise again. It had gotten down by a few degrees at the hospital, but now it had risen up again. Combined with that was Snap’s numbness starting to spread a little higher, now being as far up as the middle of his stomach.

Throwing him, no matter how gentle, would make it worse, and Mr. Wilter would rather not take that chance. And he couldn’t send them back to the hospital, not with the possibility of Draow escaping, and the fact that other of Cosmo’s creations could be on the loose. They need to take care of Cosmo first, otherwise Snap was never going to get any better.

Mr. Wilter sucked in a deep breath as he went up close to the edge. He lowered his hand and started to move the chalk along. He hoped that it would work...

And it did. Mr. Wilter couldn’t help but smile as new rocky formations formed with each flick of the wrist. As more structure was created, he moved on top of it, making sure it was strong enough to support him. He kept moving forward, getting closer to the other end of the tunnel. When he finally finished, he turned over to Rapsheeba and gestured her come over with Snap.

But they didn’t get too far. Without warning, something large and fuzzy flew at Rapsheeba and Snap. Wilter’s eyes widened in horror. It was Draow...but how? Wasn’t Biclops supposed to make sure he didn’t get in here? Wait...what if something happened to Biclops...? Had Draow been too much for him? Or did Draow simply sneak way while Biclops wasn’t looking?

He didn’t have long to dwell on this when Draow came at him, kicking him with his leg and sending him flying back onto the ground. The magic chalk spilled all over the ground. Mr. Wilter shook his head and got up, and he was horrified by what he saw next.

Rapsheeba had been pushed into the ground. She was trying to get up, but someone was holding her down. Mr. Cosmo...and in his hands, he was holding Snap by his scarf.

“You...” Mr. Cosmo said as he lifted Snap up slowly until he was eye level with him. “I am...surprised to see you. Alive.” Snap gulped and shivered as a response. Mr. Cosmo just smiled. “Ah...no matter... I’ll take care of you soon enough.”

Mr. Wilter grabbed a piece of magic chalk and pointed it in Cosmo’s direction. “Let him go, Cosmo!”

Mr. Cosmo smirked at Mr. Wilter. “If you think you will be able to beat me again...you should really think twice...”

“If you don’t release him now, I’m going to...!” Mr. Wilter shouted.

Snickering, Cosmo said, “Oh, but I can’t let him go. I’m not through with him yet...” He smiled down at the frightened Snap and started to run his hand along the back of his head as if he were just a dog. “Besides... I want him to be there...to witness what will become of his..friend...” He chuckled darkly as he said that.

“N-No...” Snap started to say, turning his head away.

Mr. Cosmo gripped him by his jaw and twisted his head to force him to look at him. “You were so much fun to break... I wonder what it’s going to feel like when I’m finally rid of you...” Snap trembled at this, looking at Cosmo with fear filled eyes.

Mr. Cosmo looked over and saw Mr. Wilter was rushing towards him, wielding the chalk threateingly. He just smirked at him, as if he had expected this kind of response. He simply took a step back, releasing Rapsheeba. But that only lasted for a second. He grabbed her by the arm and picked her up.

Rapsheeba fought back, kicking and punching at his arm. But it was no use. He didn’t loosen his grip. Instead, he went over to the edge, there still being large parts still not covered. He stared at the void below. He gave her an evil smile before he tossed her aside, towards one of the holes.

Mr. Wilter’s eyes widened in shock at what Mr. Cosmo did. Tossing a zoner that had nothing to do with his plans over the edge like it was nothing... He rushed over and leaped towards the edge. He ignored the scraping against his belly as he skidded towards the edge. He reached down and was able to grab Rapsheeba before she fell too far.

Although he managed to save her, he wasn’t able to stop Mr. Cosmo from racing down the tunnel, holding onto Snap. He was about to follow him when Draow stepped in front, holding out his wings and screeching at him and Rapsheeba.

Mr. Wilter gritted his teeth. He needed someway to get the magic chalk to Rudy so he stood a chance at Cosmo. It was their best bet to save Snap and stop that madman for good. But with Draow blocking their path, they might not get there until it was too late.

..not unless they split up. Mr. Wilter made up his mind in a split second. He grabbed the bag of magic chalk, though keeping one for himself, and shoved it into Rapsheeba’s hands.

“Take that to Rudy!” Mr. Wilter commanded. He turned his attention to Draow. “I’ll keep this guy busy.”

Rapsheeba’s eyes widened. “But...”

“Just go!” Mr. Wilter pushed her gently, trying to get her to run. “Run!”

Rapsheeba held the bag in her hands tightly and made a run for it down the tunnel. Draow was about to attack her, but Wilter jumped onto his back and held on tightly. The bat wolf screeched and tried to buck him off.

As Mr. Wilter held on, he watched as Rapsheeba fled. His eyes filled with concern.

“I hope you make it in time...” He said softly.

Draow paused, standing with his head low. His teal eyes looked up at Mr. Wilter. His expression was a mix of contempt and amusement. “Do you really think she can make any difference? Lord Cosmo is already head..She will be too late..”

Mr. Wilter glared at Draow and said, “I have confidence in her.”

“Hmph..confidence huh?” Draow said, swishing his tail back and forth. “Well we shall see if you are right to put your trust in her...”

With that, Draow let out a screech and attempted to throw Mr. Wilter off of his back.

sss

“I’m so sorry Penny...” Rudy whispered, his arms wrapped around the girl. “I didn’t mean to...I’m so sorry...”

“It’s okay...it wasn’t you...” Penny said in a comforting voice to him. “Don’t ever think it was you...”

Tears streamed down Rudy’s eyes. “I’m a murderer...”

Penny shook her head. “No, Rudy. You’re not...you didn’t do anything of this.” She pulled him in tighter. “This wasn’t your fault, Rudy...please don’t blame yourself.”

Rudy’s body trembled violently. Penny still held onto him, trying to calm him down. She stroked his hair, whispered comforting words to him, tried to do whatever she could to relax him. But Rudy was still in a state of shock. He barely registered that she was there. He barely registered Skrawl standing nearby. All he was aware of was that destruction had happened...and he had been the cause of it.

The black chalk was horrible...much worse than he could ever have imagined. It was like his thoughts were being poisoned by an outside source. His beliefs and morals were scewed, twisted beyond recognition. The voices tempted him, whispering horrific suggestions to him.

And he had listened... His mind had not been able to hold the thoughts back for long. The black chalk overwhelmed his mind. And he could feel his mind being twisted, but he couldn’t do anything about it. He fought back..and he lost. And when he had given in...it was the most terrifying experience he ever had to endure.

It felt like he was still in control, and yet he was not. He was moving his own limbs, his body. He was doing all the actions he had done on his own...and yet he did not. The black chalk altered his state of mind, tricking him into believing he wanted to do all this. The sickening satisfaction felt good to him, and he had craved more of it. It wasn’t enough to just kill the zoners..he wanted to kill Penny and Skrawl too...just to get that sick feeling of twisted satisfaction.

He knew Penny was right. It was not him doing all that. Not the real him. It was...a twisted part of him that the black chalk created. And that twisted side was trying to fight for permanent control. It frightened him that he came that close to losing himself entirely to this. It was scary to think that he, the real Rudy, would have been replaced by this violent imposter.

Yet he still couldn’t stop feeling guilty. He should have fought harder against the control. He should have been more strong willed and been able to resist. He should have been able to stop himself sooner. Better yet, he should not have given into the black chalk temptation....No, if he had resisted, they all would have died...he had no choice. But..still..he should have shown more resistance...shoudn’t he have?

Rudy was grateful for one thing. At least most of the zoners did not have to bear witness to what had had transpired. He wondered how that would have effected their view of him. Would they think he was becoming just like Cosmo and shun him? Would they want him to leave ChalkZone forever? He shuddered at the realization of how easily his reputation could be ruined if word of this got out.

That’s when he realized that Skrawl could spread word of this. He could tell the zoners what he had done. Rudy’s heart clenched at the thought. Skrawl would go as far as do that, wouldn’t he? Hmm then again, he had been helpful...and even if he did tell, who would believe him? Other zoners knew he was his enemy. Would they believe anything Skrawl said about him?

Slowly, his heart rate returned to normal. He still cried into Penny’s shoulder. He still hung on tightly to her, afraid to let go. He had almost lost her to the black chalk’s sick desires. And it nearly used him as a puppet to do the killing. And it had slaughtered three zoners, using him as the tool to do so. He felt so sick that he had been used in such a manner. He felt terrified that, for a moment, he had been just like Mr. Cosmo...

“Excuse me.” Skrawl’s voice caught their attention. “But isn’t there something we need to take care of first?”

Rudy realized Skrawl was right. They had to repair the Chalk Mine as soon as possible. But how were they going to do that? Rudy couldn’t get out of the room, and there was no way he was ever going to touch the dreaded black chalk again. He didn’t want a repeat of what happened. He might never come back the second time around.

Slowly, he released Penny. He was thankful that she had been there for him to calm him down. “Thank you, Penny...” He wiped away a tear. “I...really appreciate it.”

Penny smiled back at him. She gripped his hand gently in hers and said, “Think nothing of it...” Then a thought clearly crossed her mind. She narrowed her eyes slightly. “How are we going to get out of here?”

He glanced over to the entrance, seeing the void. There had to be someway to get out of here. A secret entrance perhaps? He looked up towards the ceiling. Maybe if he found a way up there, without touching the black chalk, he might find some place they could use to get out of here and go find some normal magic chalk that had not yet been destroyed.

Penny still had a piece of magic chalk left, but it wouldn’t be enough to get them across the void. Skrawl might be able to crawl along the walls, using his claws to cling, but he may not be able to carry the extra weight. He could be sent out to get magic chalk, but who would say he’d even come back for him? He was not connected to Rudy anymore, so he didn’t have an incentive to save him.

He could try to use the last bit of magic chalk they had anyway and hope for the best. But how far would it get them? Maybe just half way down the tunnel and that was it. They’d have to try to jump to the other side, but that might not even work. They could fall down, and if they did, as Penny had put it, they’d fall down forever.

Rudy knew Mr. Cosmo must have fixed it this way. He must have wanted Rudy to be trapped in here with nowhere to go. Nothing to use except the black chalk. He might have forced him to use it once, but Rudy was determined not to use it again. He was not going to allow Cosmo that satisfaction.

Just then, he heard a rock fall from the ceiling. A little pebble actually. It hit the ground, the clang slightly louder due to it reverberating off the walls. He, Penny, and Skrawl turned their heads up. That’s when they noticed something about this room they hadn’t realized before. There was an upper ledge. At the side, they could see a path sloping down.

They were shocked that they hadn’t seen this before. Why hadn’t they noticed it? It was possible that they were so enthralled in the fight against the evil zoners that they failed to notice this.

Rudy walked up to it, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He turned to Penny and Skrawl. “This might be our way out of here. Come along!”

“Are you sure, Master Tabootie?” Skrawl said, looking at the ledge with skepticism. “For all we know, we may end up in another forbidden room in this joint, trapped.”

Penny nodded her head. “Skrawl may be right, Rudy. We should think before we...”

This was instantly cut off when they heard a dark chuckle echoing through the cave walls. The trio’s bodies tensed up at that sound. They turned their heads up, seeing a shadow casted on the cave walls. Someone was walking towards the edge, and they knew instantly who it was going to be.

Rudy gritted his teeth hatefully as he saw Mr. Cosmo stare down at them. The same calm yet twisted smile was etched on his face. He looked at each one of them, the same smile never leaving his face. He took a look at Rudy, their eyes meeting for a brief second, before he shook his head.

“I see you had a taste of the black chalk my boy...”

Rudy’s eyes widened in shock. How did Mr. Cosmo know he had used the black chalk?

Mr. Cosmo almost seemed to hear his thoughts, as he answered the boy’s unasked question almost right away. “I can see the look in your eyes. You felt the power, haven’t you...? The glory..of the black chalk... I am..surprised that you were able to resist it. No artist ever had before...”

“Well there’s a first time for everything!” Rudy declared.

Mr. Cosmo just smirked at this. “It is disappointing...but no matter. You will use the black chalk again soon or later. The urge is inside you...already the knowledge has taken you... You will not be able to resist using the black chalk again...I can guarantee you that...”

“Never...” Rudy snarled.

Mr. Cosmo ignored him. He tilted his head slightly upwards, his gaze now falling upon Penny and Skrawl. He noticed their injuries and laughed. “I see they have witnessed your wrath...good..good... Perhaps you could have finished the job for me...”

Rudy’s eyes widened at this. What was this guy talking about? What was he implying?

“You see...I decided to...streamline my plans. I feel I have...wasted too much time fooling around with the hideous growling jellybean thing there...”

“Hey!” Skrawl snarled, clearly offended by that comment.

Mr. Cosmo turned his eyes to Penny, causing the girl to glare at him and take a step back. “And I should have dealt with your little friend there sooner. I should not have trusted Draow to do it...no matter...that will be corrected soon. But first...”

Mr. Cosmo took a step closer to the edge. He stared down at the trio like he was about to host a concert or something. He seemed to be deep in thought, as if trying to decide what next course of action to take. And it didn’t take him very long to figure something out. He turned around to grab something behind him.

When Cosmo lifted up a frightened Snap in the air, Rudy’s heart skipped a beat. Snap? Wasn’t he supposed to be at the hospital? No...this couldn’t be... He shouldn’t be here... Did Mr. Cosmo take him? He must have...the monster was capable of doing anything. He would be the kind of person to take Snap at his weakest hour and bring him far away from the place that was going to help him feel better.

Snap’s body was shaking and he couldn’t tell if it was fear or from the fever. He realized, in horror, it had to have been both. He could see Snap’s face had reddened, an effect of the terrible fever gripping him. He didn’t look like he recieved any new injuries, but how long would that last?

Mr. Cosmo held Snap in the air, gripping his scarf tightly. Just to be cruel, he shook Snap once, causing him to gag painfully. Rudy and Penny gasped in horror at this. Even Skrawl was uncomfortable with the sight. Then Rudy noticed him pull something out, long and sharp... A knife...

“I think I will take care of the little blue rodent...” Mr. Cosmo said with a grin.

“Snap!” Penny cried in horror.

“Let him go, Cosmo!” Rudy said, clenching his fists with determination. If he had to go up there and punch Cosmo to save Snap, then he would do it gladly. “If you don’t, I’ll...!”

“You’ll do what? Kill me? I believe that is what you told me...” Mr. Cosmo said as he raised Snap slightly higher in the air. He placed a hand on Snap’s cheek and looked into his eyes. He obviously did this to stress and spook the already frightened Snap. He glanced over at the dead zoners. “And I see you already got the guts to kill... I knew you had it in you...congratulations.”

Rudy snarled at him. This man still believed he would become just like him. He still believed he could convince him to come over on his side. He wasn’t going to fall for it. Not anymore.

“I’ll never be like you...” Rudy declared, taking a defensive stance. “No matter what you say...”

Mr. Cosmo smirked at this and placed the knife onto Snap’s neck. Rudy and Penny shouted in horror and tried to get to him, but Cosmo pressed the knife harder, causing Snap to struggle weakly. But even when they backed down, Mr. Cosmo kept the knife at Snap’s neck. He tensed his arm, as if he were preparing to make the kill.

Rudy, Penny, and Skrawl watched in horror. Rudy wanted to rush up there and save his friend. But...how would he get there in time? He had no chalk to help him... He..he had no options... His body started to shake as he stared into Snap’s terrified eyes.

But then, Mr. Cosmo pulled away. He looked up towards the ceiling with a thoughtful expression. “You know....I am forgetting something... Oh yes...a promise I made to...dear Saffron...”

Rudy’s eyes widened at that name. He felt his heart start to race. Had he....had he...?

“Ms. Saffron is twice the person you’ll ever be!” Penny snarled at the man.

“Oh really? And..just where is she?” Mr. Cosmo asked nonchalantly. “If she is such a good person...why isn’t she here helping you..?”

Penny narrowed her eyes. “She is...probably still distracting those zoners for us. The ones you sent after us. But I’m sure she is freeing them right now. She knows the system almost as good as you...” There was slight hesitation in Penny’s voice, as if she wasn’t entirely sure if what she was saying was the truth. But it was clear she really wanted it to be. “And after that, she’ll go to the police...she’ll tell them what you did to Rudy.”

Mr. Cosmo’s eyes flashed black at that, almost twinkling. “Oh..? You really think so, don’t you..? Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but..see...she won’t be helping you anymore...”

“W-What..?” Penny took a step back. “I thought..she...”

“Oh no...it’s nothing like that at all...” Mr. Cosmo said, an evil smile on his face. “Perhaps...now is the time for me show you my little...gift...”

Mr. Cosmo took a piece of black chalk that he apparently still had with him. The dark glow instantly started to dance over his body. But unlike Rudy, Cosmo was already fully corrupted, and thus did not lose his control to the black chalk. What he was doing was completely of his free will, no matter how sick and twisted it had become thanks to the black chalk’s taint.

He drew an opening in midair right beside him. The glow was a chilling black and it didn’t sparkle like it would have if it had been white chalk. Rudy wondered why Mr. Cosmo was making this hole. He watched as a large rectangle was slowly being formed. When it was finished, it fizzled slightly, and then an opening appeared.

Mr. Cosmo reached in and grabbed something. He stared down at the trio with a sick, twisted smile. “Here...pay your respects!”

Suddenly he threw something at them. Something large and heavy. It landed in a sickening thud in front of them. Rudy, Penny, and Skrawl took a step back, shocked by what happened. They couldn’t tell what it was at first. Whatever it was, it was not moving at all. Cautiously, Rudy and Penny took a few steps closer, their eyes glued on whatever Mr. Cosmo had allowed to drop from that hole.

Then they realized what it was. And when they did, they screamed in horror and took several steps back away. Skrawl winced at the sight, moving even further back away. Penny and Rudy’s bodies trembled, their eyes widened, faces pale, almost white as ghosts. Snap had let out a cry of his own, making it clear he could see for himself what Mr. Cosmo was showing them.

It was Ms. Saffron...no it was her corpse... She wasn’t breathing. And it didn’t take long for him to realize why. Her throat had been slashed. He could see the blood that stained her neck and business suit. Her eyes were still open. They were just as blank as Shimmer’s was, glossed over and lifeless. Her mouth was still open, as if she had been trying to scream.

Penny put her hands to her mouth. Tears formed in her eyes. “Oh...oh my g...no...” She took a few steps back, her body shaking from the shock and horror of it all. “Ms...Ms. Saffron...no...”

Rudy’s mouth was open, his eyes so big he thought they’d fall out. Pupils dilated until they were practically just dots. Sweat strolled down his face as he tried to comprehend what happened. He..had been too late...he...he really went through with it... And he didn’t stop him...Oh no..why hadn’t he tried harder to warn her? Why...? He was too late now...too late...

“No...no...I can’t believe...” Rudy said, his voice choked as he started to cry. “I should...should have... Oh this is all my fault...”

Skrawl took a few steps back, his mismatched eyes staring at the dead body. Despite all the evil plans he had pulled in the past, he was never prepared to see something like this. Never once did he think seeing a dead body would be..like this...

He looked up at Mr. Cosmo and stammered, “I-I thought she was your...”

“Ally? Well she was..until she turned her back on me...” Mr. Cosmo held Snap over the edge, allowing him to see the dead body below. Snap gasp and he froze, his eyes unable to tear away from the sight. “And this blue nuisance is the reason she had to go...If it weren’t for him...she’d be alive..” He held Snap up to eye level. “Here that, you useless piece of chalk dust? It’s your fault she’s dead...”

Rudy was having a hard time thinking as this was going on. He couldn’t look away. He didn’t want to stare at Saffron’s corpse, but he just couldn’t move his eyes away. He had been to late to save her...In that hallway...he should have warned her. He should have forced his way to her and warn her... She would have had a chance if he did...

And now...now she was gone... There was nothing he could do about it... What had she done to deserve it? All she wanted to do was help...

He glanced over at Penny. She was trembling, tears flowing down her face, as she stared at Ms. Saffron. She was shaking her head slowly from left to right, whispering “No” over and over.

Then Rudy noticed something. Her neck...it was bent at an odd angle. But from the look of the gash on her neck, she died from that, but then why was her neck... He gasped in horror when he realized the truth. Mr. Cosmo had...he had snapped her neck after he sliced her throat... Either to finish the job quickly or just out of spite...

He felt a burning hatred rise up inside of him. He slowly turned to glare hatefully at the man. He was going to pay for this...

sss

Snap couldn’t believe it. He just...couldn’t believe it. He had no idea that something like this was going to happen...

He stared down at Saffron’s unmoving, pale form. He was having a hard time comprehending what had happened. Her face..her open mouth screaming face...silently screaming as if calling for help.. And her eyes...staring into nothingness... This was...so different from what the last time he had seen her.

She had seemed like such a nice person. He had liked her. Not at first, but she proved she wasn’t as bad as he had thought. He thought they were making real progress, and it sounded like she did care about him, despite not knowing if he really was alive...

But now there she was. Laying lifeless on the floor. And he had no idea what had transpired..not until now. Ms. Saffron had been helping them. She had..turned a new life. He had gotten through to her. And how was she repaid? By being stabbed in the back...

“You see...this is the fate of anyone who becomes a threat to me...” Mr. Cosmo said with a broad smile, looking like he was proud of what he did. He turned to Snap and said, “And you want to know what else? She actually felt sorry for you...”

Snap stared at Mr. Cosmo. “She...what...?”

Mr. Cosmo nodded his head. “I told her I’d give you the message. And I will. She wanted to say she was sorry. She wanted to apologize for keeping things from you. She wanted to be on good terms with you again. I am certain she wanted to...be friends with you...”

Snap stared at him in shock. Ms. Saffron had wanted to apologize? And she never got the chance to... He stared down at her corpse, his eyes staring to glisten. Poor Ms. Saffron...to be struck down when all she wanted to do was make good with those she had wronged.

“Which is one of the reasons why I killed her.” Mr. Cosmo whispered to the blue boy. Snap turned his attention back to him. “Never being able to apologize...isn’t that quite tragic?” He said sarcastically as he grinned at Snap’s face. The black sparkle came back, and this time it was more dominant. “Oh well...such as life...isn’t that right, you worthless little thing?” Carelessly, he let Snap drop to the ground. He turned his attention to the trio below. “Now..as for you three...I have something special planned for you...”

Snap didn’t hear what the man was talking about. He didn’t hear if his friends responded to him, or if Skrawl had anything to say. All he could think of was what Mr. Cosmo had told him.

He had killed Saffron...largely because she just wanted to apologize to him..? He was certain there were other factors, such as her turning against him. But to use that as a specific excuse to kill her...that was just...inhuman...monsterous. And to rub it in his face? To pit the blame on him...?

Snap stared up at Mr. Cosmo. He still feared him. He still wanted to get away from him. If he could so easily kill like that...to take a life.. He was too dangerous to be around. But..he wouldn’t budge. He wouldn’t move. No, he couldn’t leave. Something was holding him back, keeping him there. As realization began to set in, his eyes slowly narrowed.

Anger began to rise up inside of him. No..not anger...rage... Boiling rage... Mr. Cosmo..had really crossed the line this time... Not only did he kill in cold blood but he had the audacity to show them the body and then act proud about it. He had no heart. No remorse. He was a complete and utter monster..

Snap did something that he thought he’d never do against this man. But as all the pain he felt, all the suffering he had been through, formed together into a powerful rage..he...snapped...

sss

Penny was taken aback when she heard Mr. Cosmo suddenly cry out in pain. She backed a bit away from the ledge so she could get a good look. What she saw, she could not believe.

Snap had grapped his hands around the man’s leg and was biting down on him. Mr. Cosmo tried to shake him off, shouting at him in what sounded like a mixture of anger...and panic. Snap clearly wasn’t letting go. Mr. Cosmo had obviously not expected such a sick and injured zoner to attack him like that.

Then again, neither did she or Rudy.

The two of them, and Skrawl, watched in shock as Snap continued to cling to the man’s leg. When Cosmo realized that he couldn’t just shake him off, he reached down to try to grab him. But this had been a mistake. Snap grabbed onto his shirt collar and pulled him up. Cosmo’s eyes widened in what looked a lot like fear and surprise.

Snap pulled a fist back and punched him, causing the man to lose his balance. On his back, he tried to push Snap away. But the little blue boy was relentless. He slammed another fist against Cosmo, this time on his arm. Mr. Cosmo shifted his body so he was on his stomach, trying to push Snap off of him. But instead, Snap just got on his back and held onto his hair and pulled tightly.

“Get...off of me...” Mr. Cosmo threatened, pulling out a knife in an attempt to scare Snap.

But Snap..he didn’t respond to the knife. At least not in fear. He just glared at Mr. Cosmo and refused to let go of him. Penny had never seen Snap like this. Neither had Rudy. They weren’t sure what to say or think as Snap, despite being weak, continued to fight with Mr. Cosmo.

Mr. Cosmo got up onto his feet, or at least tried to. Fighting with Snap caused him to lose focus of his surroundings. He tripped on a rock and down he fell from the edge. He landed in a heavy thud on the ground. Snap was thrown back by the force, landing a foot or two away.

Penny was about to rush over to Snap when she heard Mr. Cosmo scream bloody murder. The scream was loud and sudden and took everyone in the room by surprise. She looked over and saw that Mr. Cosmo was on his knees, his hand over his eye. She widened her eyes when she saw the knife, now covered in blood. The fall...it must have caused the knife to...

Mr. Cosmo lifted up his face. His hand still clutched his left eye, blood spewing through his fingers. He turned his remaining eye over to Snap, who looked horrified by the outcome of the battle. It was clear this was not what he had intended...

Mr. Cosmo rose to his feet, his teeth clenched and eyes narrowed in anger. He moved at such a quick pace that none of them could have stopped what he was about to do.

“You...little....worm...!”

When Mr. Cosmo came up to Snap, he pulled his foot back and slammed it against his head. Right on the mind control device... Snap screamed in pain and rolled violently backwards, before crumpling on the ground. Snap’s eyes closed and he lay limp on the ground, absolutely still.

“Snap! No!” Rudy shouted as he rushed over towards Snap. Penny followed close behind.

They stared at Snap’s unconscious form. He looked absolutely lifeless. Rudy knelt down and shook him gently. No response. He tried to shake harder, and still nothing. Rudy’s eyes filled with tears. Penny shook her head in disbelief. No...no it couldn’t be true...

“Snap..no..please...get up...” Rudy begged. He pulled Snap into his arms, staring into his unmoving face. “Wake up...wake up...”

Skrawl watched this scene with widened eyes. He was speechless, unsure of what to say or do.

Rudy started to cry harder when Snap wouldn’t respond. “No...come on...wake up, Snap...please...don’t...don’t go..please...” His voice started to break into sobs.

Penny’s lower lip quivered. She didn’t want it to be true. She had to believe Snap was okay. She had to believe he was going to make it. But that kick...right where the...oh no...No.. Her body trembled as she reached down towards Snap’s face. She placed a hand in front of his open mouth, her heart clenching at the thought of him...not making it...

She quickly realized that he was still breathing. A burden felt like it had been lifted. But she couldn’t celebrate. Not now..Snap needed help...and fast...

As she scooped Snap into her arms, she heard someone call out to them.

“Rudy! Penny!” Rapsheeba rushed into the cave room with what appeared to be a bag of white magic chalk. “Mr. Wilter told me to...” Her eyes caught sight of Snap. “..oh no....what happened..? Is he going to be okay?”

Penny took the bag of magic chalk and handed it over to Rudy, but not before grabbing her own piece. She turned her attention to Rapsheeba. “I will explain later. Come on, we need to get him to the hospital..now!”

sss

Rudy glared hatefully at this man. As Penny and Rapsheeba got Snap out of there, he started to walk towards Mr. Cosmo. The man looked at him with a blank expression. He didn’t look angry or upset. He just stared at Rudy as he started to make his way over.

Rudy’s body shook with anger as it built up inside of him. He felt his heart wrench as he tried to cope with it. Mr. Cosmo had shown many times what kind of person he was. But just when he thought this man couldn’t get any worse..he’d prove him wrong. Time and again, Mr. Cosmo had done horrific things...and had gotten away with it.

Well no more... That all ends here and now.

“You know..I used to be afraid of you... I used to fear what you would do next. You had caused me and my friends so much grief in the short time I have known you. You captured my best friend and tortured him, and why? For your own amusement...and to break me... You killed your own co-worker because she started to have a heart. And you know what? She was a stronger person than you will ever be... Because she at least tried to fix her mistakes..but you...I don’t know why I was so afraid of you before.”

Mr. Cosmo just stared at him. His hand was still over his bleeding left eye. His expression was still blank, save for a few twitches of pain.

Rudy continued his rant.

“Because you are the one who is weak. You are a coward. You are so afraid of being wrong...that you resort to killing and torturing to force others into agreeing with you. You are not worthy of any respect that other people have given you. If they found out what you have done...what you are...they will turn their back on you. Not that you’d care, right? All that matters is knowledge and power right...?”

Mr. Cosmo glared at him.

“You have been constantly getting away with doing horrific, inhuman things, Cosmo... You are a monster...a monster that has gotten away with too much... And it all ends here. I will not run from you. I will not hide from you. I am right here. So you want to convince me to join you...? Try to make me...” Rudy said through clenched teeth. “Fight me...and we will see who is right...”

Mr. Cosmo blinked at him with his right eye as Rudy readied his white magic chalk. Then the man smiled through his pain and took out his black chalk.

“Bring it, Tabootie...”