(Author's Note: Be aware that chapters are going to vary in length, sometimes a lot. Such as this one (compared with the first chapter). This is because I plan for each chapter to end with a certain event, and I write as much as I need to in order to get to that event.)


Cryptic investigation

Chapter Two – Sinister Alliance

"So, now that you've told me all this, do you actually have a plan to find a way to get into this world…that will work?" Bob Newland asked, not even looking at Terry but instead looking all around the walls of the now very cramped news van that he, the reporter, and Vinnie Raton were all currently standing in. They had driven to place in Plainville where they knew they wouldn't be disturbed, and Terry had begun showing him all the evidence she had gathered. Bob had been fascinated by everything she'd told him; the idea of being able to bring his creations to life was something he'd certainly never dreamed possible. And if it was possible in some way, he was going to do everything he could to find the world that made it so.

"So, let me get this straight; you don't think we're crazy?" Terry asked as she set the stack of papers she'd been holding down.

"I sort of do," Bob replied, "but I believe your chalk world theory, and I guess that's all that matters! So, what you're telling me is that whatever gets erased comes alive in that other dimension? And that you two have both been there?"

"Yes!" Terry responded. "Vinnie even got pictures of it." She motioned to her companion, who quickly handed Bob a stack of photos. Terry watched as Bob Newland slowly looked through the photos. He had practically demanded to know more about the chalk world the moment he'd left the school that afternoon. She had only been too happy to start telling him all her theories, but the fact that someone else was actually starting to believe her was so surprising that even though he'd claimed to have seen the chalk world portal himself, she couldn't help but be suspicious that he was only listening because he found the whole thing amusing. After all, that seemed like something a person like him would do.

"You have no idea what this means to me!" Bob said as he continued to flip through the photos. "Having people's own creatures come to life is, well…something you'd see in some stupid cliché fantasy book, actually, but this…this is real! This…this is an entirely new way to create works of art! And for people to appreciate it, of course! My drawings becoming living, breathing beings that people could admire? I could create whatever I wanted to. I'd be the most famous artist in the world for discovering this!"

"You weren't the first to discover it," Terry replied crossly. "Anyway, so, are you going to help us?"

"Of course!" Bob shouted enthusiastically. "An entire universe where anything I create becomes real before my eyes? Why wouldn't I help you? I mean, I've always thought my animals were unique and inventive enough to deserve being real, but I never thought it was actually possible! And with this…this, it can be!"

"Okay, good, you're hired," Terry replied absentmindedly. "Now, Vinnie and I have been thinking of ways to get magic chalk so that we can get in. As far as we know, only Rudy has it, but it's possible that Penny might as well."

"Yeah, okay," Bob replied, "so how do we take it from him?"

"I don't think we'll be able to," Terry replied. "At least not for a while. Those kids knew exactly what we were looking for when we came to the school today and I doubt they'll be foolish enough to leave the chalk somewhere we can find it anytime soon. We're going to have to use the chalk world itself to get it. Remember what we told you about Boorat?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Newland replied, giving her an annoyed look. "Well," he began, "from what you told me about how your drawing couldn't find its way back in your world, you're obviously missing something. If you're really so sure that this creation of yours knew your orders upon coming to life in the chalk world itself, there are still any number of things that could have stopped it. Perhaps, maybe, it simply didn't know where to find you?"

"Maybe if we'd known where that portal was gonna be it woulda' been easier…" Vinnie muttered.

Bob thought for a moment. "Well, maybe you should show me, in more detail, everything you've tried so far. But is there somewhere else we can go? This stupid van of yours is far too small." He kicked aside a box of papers near his feet.

"Well, I dunno," Vinnie shrugged. "We can't go where anyone else would be around. They'd think we're crazy."

"Look, I have an idea of what to do about your 'creature not finding you' problem," Newland said. "But first, let's go somewhere where it will be easier to talk about this." He opened the doors in the back of the van and stepped out. "And I think I know just the place."

ooo

That very same afternoon, Rudy and his friends had decided to make use of what time they were going to have before the weekend to wander some of ChalkZone's uncharted areas, knowing that Penny would have to leave for the field trip that Friday. This time, they had decided to wander farther than they usually did in the afternoons after school got out. On this day, their travels had led them to a place that appeared to be some sort of maze-like forest made up of candles, all of them different sizes, shapes, and colors. Many of them towered high over the trio's heads, but there were also several smaller and shorter ones scattered throughout the area. A few of them were even lit, and on some of these candles, melted wax dripped down the sides, which the trio was careful to avoid. The place smelled different depending on what sort of candle they were standing next to, and in certain places it was almost overpowering.

"I don't think we've been to this part of ChalkZone before," Penny stated as she glanced around the surrounding area, pausing to write a few notes in their book. "Either that or it's changed a lot since we have."

"I dunno, Penny, did you see anything like this on the old map?" Rudy asked, stopping to look at what she was writing.

"No," she replied. "But these candles could have started growing here later, so it could be one of the places we've already marked down…" She turned the pages of the book to go back to one of their early maps.

"Hey, Rudy," Snap asked as he walked over to them, holding an ice cream cone that Rudy had drawn for him earlier, "so, what did that art teacher who was at your school today say about your comic?"

"Huh? Oh…" Rudy paused, remembering what he'd told Penny right after school, just before they'd gone into ChalkZone. He had explained to her what had happened when he'd tried to show Bob Newland his Vampire Cannibals comic before Terry Bouffant and Vinnie Raton had appeared, and he realized Snap didn't know anything about what had happened yet. "Uh…well, he didn't like the idea of the comic," he began, turning away to fix his stare on the base of one of the massive candles, "and I'm not sure he liked the art style either. He said it wasn't any good."

"What?!" Snap cried, clearly surprised. "You've gotta be kidding me! He said that about your artwork?"

"Yeah, but, you know, maybe he's right. I mean…"

"What was he talkin' about, Bucko? Your drawings are great! Come on, what does he know? Don't listen to him! He just doesn't know how to appreciate real art!"

"Yeah, but…" Rudy began, "he's a professional and he knows what he's talking about..."

Snap, however, didn't seem to have heard. "He wouldn't know good if it hit 'im in the face," he continued. "Not if he said that about YOUR drawings! I mean, come on! That's ridiculous, huh Penny?"

Penny turned from Rudy to Snap and nodded. "Yes, it is. I mean, he didn't even get a good look at your drawings." She glanced at Rudy, who still didn't look convinced. "But…try not to worry about it now. You can always make changes to it later. And it's not like Mr. Newland knew anything about the story anyway. He was simply judging it based on the cover."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, guys" Rudy sighed. "Plus I can always try again, right?"

"That's the spirit, Bucko!" Snap cried. "If anyone can draw well, it's you. Come on; let's go see what's on the other side a' this forest!"

Rudy let Snap lead them through the candle forest, and since none of them really knew where they were going, nor were they in any hurry to get anywhere, they were content to simply wander around until Penny caught sight of something up ahead.

The forest had thickened out, and it was hard to see anything over the candles, but Penny still noticed something odd…a vertical line marking the start of a darker area up ahead, where the sky was a different color, but unlike NightZone, this one didn't seem very dark. Perplexed, Penny pointed it out to the others and they hurried on toward it.

They followed the twisting pathway between the candles until they suddenly stepped into a darker clearing and realized that they weren't in NightZone at all. They were in a place that looked in between. It was hard to see what lay beyond the forest, so Rudy quickly drew a ladder, which he then set against one of the taller and thicker of the candles. The three of them climbed up and sat on the top, glad that the flame wasn't lit, and looked out over the area they had just discovered.

Gazing ahead, they could see that the landscape before them looked almost like a very vivid sunset painting. Well, a vivid sunset painting with a very odd, in real world terms, landscape. There was a large hill made up of socks near them, and beyond that was a grove of odd looking blue trees that looked to be growing bowls of lime gelatin. Somewhere off in the distance was a random patch of snowy area that stood out starkly from everything else, and in the distance, a range of mountains with very odd rock formations covered in thick forest towered over the land. All this was lying beneath a vivid red and yellow sky that gradually got brighter as it reached down toward the mountains. As they gazed at it, it reminded Rudy of those large detailed chalk paintings some professional artists drew, and he wondered if that was what had created this strange sunset. He'd certainly never seen anything like this in ChalkZone before.

"I've never seen anythin' like this before!" Snap stated, looking at his surroundings in confusion; clearly he was just as much a stranger to this place as the humans were, so Penny figured that the sunset drawing must be a very new addition.

"Wow!" Penny exclaimed. "I never knew there could be a…a SunsetZone…at least, I think that's what it is, in ChalkZone…" She turned back to the DayZone part of the candle forest and noted how the border between them was a straight line, just like the difference between NightZone and DayZone.

"Hm…well, the sunset may be new, but this part of ChalkZone doesn't look familiar either," Rudy mused, staring out over the landscape and the forest covered mountains beyond it. "Let's go check it out!"

"We'll have to hurry," Penny reminded him as they struck off into the more dimly lit part of the candle forest ahead. "We don't have much time left before we'll be missed back at home."

"Yeah, you're right," said Rudy, stopping. Since they'd meandered so far that day, it had taken up a lot of the afternoon just to get to where they were, and he'd lost track of time. "Maybe we can come back tomorrow right after school and explore it then. That way we'll have more time."

"Good idea," Penny replied. "Then we can officially add this area to the map."

Rudy and Snap agreed, and they made plans to spend the next afternoon fully exploring their newly discovered area as they began heading back the way they came toward the place in ChalkZone that corresponded with Rudy's room.

ooo

"You really want us to come up with our new plan in this place?" Vinnie asked skeptically as he stepped through an old wooden door into a very strange old building.

"Of course I do!" Bob snapped. "Don't question me! And anyway, this is the perfect place! No one comes here and it's too far away from most of the town for anyone to bother us. And we needed a place far away, so no one will notice if strange creatures are running around it." He grinned as he surveyed the large, two-story building as he stood in the center of the room they had stepped into upon entering. They could tell at once that the old and decrepit building was hardly in good condition; it was mainly composed of filthy concrete with several old and broken looking wooden doors leading to other rooms, and a rickety-looking wooden stairway leading to the upper floor, which they could see from below, as the room they were standing in was two stories high. From what they could see of them from their vantage point on the lower story, the rooms upstairs looked to be in just as bad a condition. All of the windows they could see around them were disgusting and covered in cobwebs, and everything seemed to have a fine coating of dust. Strangest of all, the building seemed to be filled with all sorts of broken and discarded furniture and other items. From what they could see of the top floor, it looked even more cluttered. It was as if someone had simply come to dump a bunch of garbage and old furniture there and left it. Either that, or all this was what was left of the building's old, battered furniture. When they walked through a door on the other side of their room, they could see into one of the rooms upstairs through a jagged hole in the ceiling. However, Bob was satisfied with their new, as he called it, 'secret hideout'. Like he had said, it was on the outskirts of town, on an all but abandoned street with other disused buildings on either side of it. It was, he believed, the ideal place to put his idea into motion.

"What a dump…" Vinnie muttered, kicking aside a broken skateboard as he passed by the pile of junk. "My brother should have demolished this place long ago!"

"Good thing he didn't," Bob replied. "It's just what we need."

"And why exactly do we need it?" Vinnie asked.

"Are we even allowed to be here?" Terry muttered, seeming almost as skeptical of their new 'hideout' as Vinnie was.

"No one will know," Bob said with a shrug as he walked toward the stairs, then paused to look back at the others. "I chose this place because it's abandoned." His voice, sharp and impatient, echoed eerily, and the other two noted that for some odd reason, the building seemed much larger on the inside than it had from the outside. Bob was certainly right about one thing; a drawing from the chalk world could easily hide here if need be, and Terry had to admit that that was a definite advantage to using this place. "And it would be easy to spot so one of my creations can find us once it gets to our world," Bob continued. "It can stay here and wait for us if it happens to come when we aren't meeting here. And, of course, it'll be a great hiding place for the drawing," he added, saying exactly what Terry had been thinking. "Until we prove the existence of this chalk world, our creations cannot be seen. We need them to bring us the magic chalk, and if anyone saw them, they would likely be captured." He turned back around and headed up the creaky wooden stairs that led to the gloomy-looking upper floor.

The other two glanced at each other and hesitated for a moment before they followed the artist up the creaking stairs and onto the second story of the building. Terry noticed that a long hallway extended the length of the building's interior, rooms along either side of it except for where the big room opened up into the top story, and she also noticed that if there had ever been a rail, along the area where the upper floor met the area with the large room, to prevent people walking the hallway from accidentally falling to the first floor, it had long since been broken and removed. The hallway itself was, as they had seen from below, filled with broken and useless clutter; there was hardly any room to walk without stepping on something. Dirty old carpet lined the floor they were now standing on, and looked as if no one had walked up there for years.

They took a few moments to follow Bob as he looked in all the upper floor's rooms, all but two of which were also filled with clutter and trash. He then proudly announced that he'd found the best one, and led them into one of the two empty, and at least relatively clean, rooms. There were no windows in it, and it was fairly small, but at least it didn't look quite as bad as the others.

"Vinnie, hand me the chalk board," Bob said.

Vinnie, who had been carrying the small chalk board he'd brought from Terry's van, handed it to Bob, who began to set it up on the wall opposite the door.

"So how exactly is this idea a' yours gonna work?" Vinnie asked.

"Well, from what you told me," Bob began, "your creation didn't reach this world even though you're pretty certain that chalk drawings can remember the orders you give them. However, you didn't tell your creature much other than to bring the magic chalk to you, and then you waited around where you thought your drawing might appear. What I think, is that when we make our new drawing, we should tell it exactly where it should go to look for us. You know, give it directions it can follow easily. That way it can come to us whenever it manages to get through the portal. We don't have to sit around waiting for it. We'd only have to come here once a day until it works."

"That's a great idea!" Vinnie replied enthusiastically. "Oh, and by the way, Terry and I have been comin' up with new ideas for creatures. We weren't gonna use 'em, but I figured that since, now, you're helping us-you could see which one ya think would work best?" He pulled out a small notebook from his pocket and flipped through the pages to show Bob some crude sketches of different types of creatures.

Bob gave the designs a look of disdain. "These are pathetic," he muttered. "If we're going to do this right, you're going to need to do a lot better than that. Actually, on second thought," he began, giving his two companions a disapproving gaze, "you two shouldn't be doing any drawing at all. Leave that to me. I'm the expert." He turned to face the chalk board. "This creature has to be something swift, strong enough to fight back if anything tries to stop it…yet small enough to fit through a portal a kid could. Hm…I have the perfect idea!"

Terry and Vinnie both watched Bob expectantly as he proceeded drew a griffin-like creature with a lion's mane, making sure to give it powerful wings, and a curved beak. It had feathered ears, a long tail, and large talons on its front feet. "You know, in case some pathetic creation in the chalk world gives him trouble," he explained. "Heh heh, feel free to slice apart any worthless drawing who gets in your way!" he muttered under his breath as he added a few finishing touches.

"Be careful, though," Terry warned. "We don't want to hurt Rudy, just take the chalk from him."

"I told it to attack the chalk creations that try to stop it," Bob replied, rolling his eyes and turning back to the chalkboard. After he finished the drawing, which, Terry and Vinnie had to admit, was better than anything they could draw, he stepped back and looked at it. "See?" he stated, turning to them with a smug look. "That's a good drawing."

"Well, you'd better give him a name, then," Terry responded flatly, crossing her arms.

"Hm…" Bob began, trying to think of good names as he listed them off the top of his head. He wasn't about to name his creation something simple or normal; it was too unique for that, after all. He'd make up his own name. "Inari, Topher, Dooth…" he muttered aloud. No, he thought to himself, those wouldn't work. He was about to mentally discard those ideas and think of new ones when Vinnie spoke up.

"Dooth?" Vinnie repeated. "That's a stupid name."

Anger flared up inside Bob, and he glared at Vinnie as if daring him to say it again. "It is NOT a stupid name!" he yelled, furious that he would say that about a name he made up, even one made up on a whim. "It's an original name! And what would you know about originality?" Making sure to drive the point home, he added, "You know what? Dooth is actually the perfect name for this creature. And of course you wouldn't realize that…." He turned back to the chalkboard, muttering as he drew a few last finishing touches on the drawing. "Now what?" he asked Terry.

"Just tell it what you want it to do," Terry replied sharply.

"All right," Bob replied as he faced the drawing. He had to admit that he felt quite silly talking to a chalk board; this wasn't something he would have ever been able to picture himself doing, and in spite of what he had seen and the evidence he'd been shown, he had the sneaking suspicion that Vinnie and Terry just wanted to laugh at him. "Okay, then…" he began, glancing at the other two with a suspicious look, but they only watched him expectantly. "Okay, Dooth," he began, glaring at Vinnie as he mentioned the name, "go into that chalk-world, find…uh…"

"Tabootie," Terry stated.

"Right, Tabootie. Okay, find him, get his magic chalk, do it before he can draw anything to stop you, and go back through the portal into our world." He then quickly went on to describe the building's exact location, and added, "Go there when it's night, so it'll be dark, and wait for me, and when I come back, give me the magic chalk. And make sure not to be seen by anyone in this world other than the people in this building, got that? So, find the magic chalk, then as quickly as you can, bring it back here."

"You said that already," Vinnie pointed out, and Bob just glared at him, then turned back to the chalkboard.

"Oh, and…make sure not to fail like their 'Boorat' drawing did," he added another annoyed look at the other two, and erased the drawing. "Now we wait," he stated. "And see if Dooth manages to find us soon."

"Well, we'd better get going; we can come back tomorrow," Terry sighed. "What time should we all come back?"

"At around eight o' clock tomorrow evening," Bob replied as he started to walk down the filthy wooden stairs. "When it's dark. That's when it will be safest for my creation to be on the move."

ooo

Rudy reached his room barely three minutes after he was supposed to be home. He had already taken Penny back to her house through ChalkZone. Just as he was stepping through the portal, he heard footsteps coming toward his room. Quickly jumping to the floor, he barely managed to turn his chalkboard over so that the side with the portal was against the floor before his mother opened the door.

"Oh…uh, hi, Mom!" Rudy said, hoping she wouldn't bother to ask why his chalkboard was knocked over.

"Have you been drawing your comics all afternoon?" she asked, glancing at the pieces of paper on the floor that Rudy just realized he'd accidentally knocked off his desk when he turned the chalkboard over.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" he replied, casting a quick glance at the overturned chalk board. He'd only been half listening, still thinking about the excursion he was planning into ChalkZone tomorrow.

"Well, all right," Mrs. Tabootie replied, "you can work on your comics as much as you want after school, as long as you get all your homework done before you leave for that field trip over the weekend on Friday."

"What? Oh, I'm not going on the field trip," Rudy replied, tearing his gaze away from the chalk board and bending down to pick up some of his half-finished comic pages. "It's optional, and I'm not really interested in science."

"Well…your father and I already signed you up."

Rudy dropped the pieces of paper he was holding. "WHAT?" he cried. "Why?"

His mother seemed surprised at his reaction. "Well, you spend so much time alone drawing, I thought this would be a nice chance to-"

"But…but I wanted to stay here!" Rudy cried.

"Oh, don't worry. It'll be fun," she replied, "not like school. Besides, Penny is going."

"Yeah, I know," Rudy said quietly, "but…"

"You'd be alone all weekend if you stayed here," she pointed out. "Besides, I'm afraid it's too late now-you're already signed up. I really think this field trip could help you raise your grades. Besides, if you really want to, you can bring your drawings and work on them there, so you can still finish your comics."

Rudy glanced down at the papers strewn around his feet. That wasn't why he wanted to stay, and if he did stay, he wouldn't have to be alone…but he couldn't tell his mother and father that.

"Okay…" he sighed. "I'll go…"

ooo

It was a peaceful day in the city, with cars driving leisurely down the street and other Zoners taking walks or exploring the shops, when Bob Newland's drawing materialized on a street corner not far from the Stick Figure Bakery. Luckily, he appeared only a few feet above the ground, so he landed quickly and easily on his four mismatched feet. He blinked against the sunlight, taking in his new surroundings – the bustling streets, the different vehicles, some of them quite oddly shaped, driving down the road, the lines of shops that extended in either direction on both side of the street, Zoners walking in and out of them – and took a moment to get his bearings. He knew where he was. All erased drawings knew. He didn't know this specific area, but he knew, as plain as the DayZone sun above him, that the place he was in was called ChalkZone. And he had been created with a name, an identity. A purpose.

Dooth took a moment to turn his feathered head around, looking at his powerful dark brown feathered wings, his long lionlike tail. The claws and talons on his feet. He then turned around to look at his reflection in a shop's window. He grinned, realizing immediately that, compared to the, in his opinion, quite pathetic looking drawings walking around the city's streets, he was quite well drawn. Of course, he thought, admiring the reflection, considering who his creator was, how could anyone expect any different?

Dooth paused as he realized that someone behind the shop's window was staring at him oddly. He gave the stick figure-like creation a glare and turned away, beginning to walk down the street. After all, he had something to do. Something important to his creator. And if it was important to his creator, then it was very important.

And as he gazed around, adjusting to this new environment, the mission he had been given became clearer in his head…as did the reason for it. Looking around his new home, Dooth could think of nothing better than to have his creator here himself, someone who could vastly improve upon this world, and he, his creator's drawing, could say that he had been the one to help bring about this great change. And thus, it was of utmost importance that he find the item – and the person – Bob Newland had instructed him to.

Dooth immediately decided that it would be best to ask one of the other Zoners for information. Watching them as they strolled along the streets, walked into shops or drove by in their vehicles, they didn't seem threatening; he was sure he could make them talk if they refused. Flexing his talons, he looked around for one that seemed suitable enough to ask. He immediately passed over a silver husky – there was no way he was going to lower himself enough to talk to a drawing of such a common subject as a dog – and ignored a group of young stick figure children who looked too stupid to tell him anything, and then rested his gaze on the next nearest Zoner, a small orange bear drawing that stood on its hind paws that was walking slowly past some shops on the other side of the street, carrying a backpack on his shoulders. "Eh, that'll do," Dooth muttered to himself with a shrug. Sure, this one seemed just as dim-witted as everyone else, but it wasn't a drawing he'd be too embarrassed to be seen talking to, if anyone happened to be paying attention, even though it was obviously drawn by an amateur. And one without much creativity, Dooth thought. Spreading his wings, Dooth quickly glided above the street, coming to and abrupt landing in front of the bear just as it turned from one of the shops.

"Huh?" the other Zoner yelped in surprise, jumping back a pace.

"I'm looking for Rudy Tabootie," Dooth said forcefully, shoving his face right in front of the bear's. "Where is he?"

"The Great Creator?" the stranger replied, and to Dooth's annoyance, confusion – and then suspicion – clouded his teddy-bear-like face. "What do you want to see him for?"

"That's none of your business," Dooth snapped. "Just tell me where he is!"

The young bear started to back away. "No…just…leave me alone-"

"If you know something," Dooth growled, dropping into a crouch and stepping closer, "then tell me!" Thinking that he'd be able to get the drawing's attention another way, he remembered the reason he had been given his large talons, and in one swift movement, he swiped them across the bear's face.

Immediately the other Zoner began howling in pain, his forepaw raised toward his muzzle as he turned and fled, and as Dooth watched, several startled cries from behind him made him quickly whirl around. He hadn't noticed a moment ago, but he now realized that his actions had attracted quite a bit of attention, and there were more city-goers around the shop he was standing in front of than there were before. They were all staring at him, and more were arriving, wanting to see what the commotion was.

"What are you staring at?" Dooth snarled. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"What do you think you're doing?" one of the shopkeepers, standing in the doorway of his store, shouted at him.

"I'm calling the police!" someone else shouted from nearby.

Infuriated by the angry shouts, Dooth arched his wings over his head and lashed his tail. "You can't speak to me like that!" he roared, outraged. "I was drawn by a professional!"

However, it was clear that he had drawn too much attention to himself, for he heard police sirens coming from somewhere down the street. Still indignant, but knowing that staying in this area would be detrimental to his mission, Dooth took to the sky and soared above the buildings until he found a secluded alley to rest in while he tried to think of what to do next.

Keeping an eye out for any police cars, he paced back and forth, knowing it wouldn't be long before he'd be likely to have to find a new place to hide from those Zoners back in the other street. He couldn't just go up to anyone and ask them like that again; these stupid drawings were all on Tabootie's side! Really, he thought, it was pathetic how they had overreacted to him slicing that stupid bear. Why did the bear matter? There were plenty of stupid drawings like him. They shouldn't have cared so much. Then again, he realized, they were just as pathetic as the bear was. Nearly all the drawings here were. This place could definitely use the improvement his creator would bring. He stood up on his hind legs, leaning against the wall of the alley and thumping his tail against the ground. Maybe, he thought, if he could find some place secluded enough to corner one of them…

As he thought more about it, Dooth still had a hard time believing he'd let the other Zoners chase him off. He'd wanted to stay there, to fight them off, but he'd known his creator's mission was more important. He knew that if he could help it, he'd avoid fighting Rudy as well. After all, even though he had been encouraged to attack other Zoners, he had a feeling that his creator did not want him to attack Rudy if he could avoid it. He wasn't sure why this was, but he decided that knowing the reason wasn't important. His creator certainly knew what he was doing.

After a short while of pondering, he decided it was best not to try and force information out of the other Zoners again just yet, at least not in the busy city. Maybe, he thought, it was better to explore the place and get an idea of where he was, and then he could figure out the most likely places Tabootie would visit.

Confident in his ability to perform his new task, Dooth spread his wings and took off again, landing on top of a building next to the alley and surveying the city beneath him. He took to the sky again after a moment, viewing the buildings and streets from overhead and descending whenever he noticed something interesting. However, he quickly decided that searching the large city was far too big of a task, and decided he'd get someone to give him more information on it whenever he had the chance.

Instead, he headed out over the city's outskirts, feeling satisfied when the buildings thinned out and what looked to be an easier place to search could be seen beneath him. Feeling tired, he decided to ignore the urgent thoughts in his head telling him to find Rudy for the moment – after all, the boy might not have even arrived yet - and decided to rest his wings until he'd regained some of his strength and could search more efficiently. However, the thought of his creator's urgency drove him to search anyway, on foot for the time being.

He walked down a quiet, narrow street, passing a large gray building with a massive fence circling some sort of courtyard. Looking closer at both the strongly reinforced fence and the towering building whose windows were barred, he realized the place was a prison. Remembering what some of the other Zoners in the city had said about calling the police, he was about to leave, when he heard something that made him stop.

"It's because of Rudy I ended up back here…"

Dooth stopped in his tracks, his head turning around toward the sound of the voice, and he noticed that a group of prisoners were standing near the fence a little ways away from where he was standing, and further away from the sight of the guards that were standing in the courtyard than most of the others. A hulking figure wearing a gray jacket, who he assumed was the speaker, was turned away from the fence and toward his companions, one of which who was replying, "Well, that's what happens when you run people over with your motorbike right in front of the Great Creator's friends, Butch."

His fears about the police forgotten, Dooth launched himself at the fence, climbing to the top and peering down at the now startled prisoners.

"Did you say Rudy? Rudy Tabootie? What do you know about him?" he demanded, not bothering to try to explain anything. He didn't need to. He just needed information.

The imprisoned Zoners, a short, squarish robot, a panther, what looked like an oven with arms and legs, and "Butch," all turned to look up at him. They simply stared, and Dooth was about to again demand that they tell him what he needed to know, when a police officer began strolling toward that side of the fence, and Dooth quickly flew off the fence and dropped down until he was crouching as low as he could in the tall grass at the base of it.

The griffin drawing waited for the police officer to pass before turning back toward the group of prisoners, who to his surprise had started to walk to the other side of the courtyard. "Wait!" he hissed, gripping the lower bars of the fence. "Come back here!" However, they seemed to have no interest in talking to him, and it wasn't long before they were out of range of his voice. Furious that they had only ignored him, Dooth turned to leave when he heard a new voice speaking to him.

"You're trying to find Tabootie?"

The griffin's feathered ears swiveled toward the sound, and he whirled around to see a drawing that looked like a large gray rat running up to the bars. Dooth would not have thought to approach this Zoner on his own; he looked like a simply plain animal, nothing interesting or original, and had a ridiculous orange fluff of hair on his head. But something about the look in the drawing's eyes as well as his strange curiosity made Newland's creation draw closer. "You know something?" he asked, quickly checking if any officers were near that area before standing in front of the fence and facing this new stranger.

On all fours, they were roughly the same height. The ratlike drawing was covered in gray fur and oddly, its tail was thin and zigzagged, and only a few inches long. But the other Zoner's appearance wasn't important now. Dooth stared into his eyes, demanding the creature tell him whatever it was he knew.

The rat drawing didn't seem intimidated. "What do you know?" he hissed back.

"I have an important mission to find Tabootie in order to bring back something for my creator," Dooth replied. "What I know is none of your business. So don't bother asking me-"

"What?" the rat drawing cried, stepping closer to the bars. "That was my job!"

"No it isn't," Dooth replied, annoyed, "and besides, you don't even know what my job actually is."

"You need Tabootie's magic chalk," the rat stated plainly.

Dooth froze. "What?" he hissed, shocked that this lowly drawing could have guessed what he was after. He realized immediately that his reaction gave away the fact that the imprisoned Zoner was right, but that was no longer important to him as curiosity overcame him. "Okay, then…" he began, trying not to seem too annoyed that someone else wanted what was rightfully his own creator's, "you're right. That's what my creator told me to do. I guess our creators had the same…idea." He was trying to keep his annoyance of the drawing who apparently shared his special mission down to a minimum; he needed information, and right now this creature seemed the best one to give it to him.

"Yes, my creators wanted me to bring it to them too," the other Zoner hissed in a low whisper, also seeming like his curiosity was keeping him talking. "Perhaps we have the same creators?"

"Not likely," Dooth scoffed. "My creator is clearly far more talented than yours were. But…" He paused, as something in his mind, some memory of his brief time after being drawn on the chalkboard but before he was erased, triggered, and he didn't even hear what the rat creature said in response to him, nor did he care. Instead, he asked, "What's your name?"

"Boorat," the creature replied.

"I remember now!" Dooth cried happily, a bit too loudly, he realized soon after, for someone not wanting to attract too much attention to the fact that he was conversing with a random prisoner.

"Remember what?"

"My creator…knows your creators," Dooth continued, a smug grin appearing on his face. "He mentioned you. You were that failed attempt!"

Boorat's eyes narrowed at the words 'failed attempt,' but like Dooth, he was too curious about the other Zoner and the fact that he'd been given such a similar task to dwell on it much.

"Look, you know ChalkZone more than I do," Dooth continued, standing up on his hind legs and leaning against the fence. "You might actually be useful, unlike the rest of the garbage that walks around here. I'll give you a deal. I get you out, and you help me get magic chalk for my creator. What do you say?" He reached taloned "hand" through the bars, waiting for a response. After a moment of hesitation, Boorat nodded and reached out his paw to shake hands. Dooth smiled to himself. He wasn't sure Boorat wouldn't try to run off with the chalk himself in order to give it to his own creators once they got it; in fact, he almost expected him to, but he knew very well which one of them would win in a fight. And he certainly had no qualms with attacking another Zoner.

"All right. So how do we do this?" Boorat whispered.

"I fly you out over the fence, of course," Dooth replied, rolling his eyes at the question.

"We need a distraction," Boorat pointed out, casting a nervous glance over his shoulder.

"Hm…" Dooth began, tapping a claw to his beak as he thought. His eyes wandered to the other prisoners he'd seen upon first arriving near the prison grounds. They were now near a section of the fence on the other side of the courtyard.

"We need some of them to attract the attention of the guards…" Dooth muttered. Then he got an idea. "I know!"

He crept away from the area where Boorat was and toward the group of prisoners he'd briefly confronted earlier. He then took a moment to fly around the surrounding area, spotting a nearby building under construction that was currently unoccupied, and, cutting a long piece of rope off of one of the pulleys, he flew it back toward the jail wall facing his chosen group of prisoners. Sticking his foreleg through a gap in the fence, he waved toward them. "Psst! Over here," he whispered, causing them to look up at him with confused expressions. "I've come to bust you out!" he whispered, making sure that, at the moment, the guards weren't looking that way as he held the rope up and waved it in front of the fence.

The prisoners looked at each other, and the biggest one, Butch, stepped closer, followed by the others who were now all staring at the griffin in confusion. Dooth flew up to the top of the fence, tying the end of the rope around it as quickly as he could and dropping the other end down into the prison courtyard. He then dropped to the ground again. "Make sure to hurry," he said in a warning voice, "or the guards might see you."

One of the other prisoners, the robot, gave the rope a worried glance. "Wait, can't you just give us the rope, so we can go later when the guards aren't-" However, he was too late, for the guards had already caught sight of something strange, and Dooth had already whisked away.

The griffin chuckled to himself at the sound of the guards' angry cries and the prisoners talking loudly, obviously trying to explain what the rope was doing there. He took to the air and soared over the fence, diving down and grabbing Boorat's scruff in his claws and hoisting him into the air. Though the rat was about Dooth's height, Dooth was still stronger, so he managed to summon enough strength to lift him over the fence, and in mere seconds they were both on the other side, Dooth immediately feeling the strain on his wings and opting to drop Boorat the last several feet.

"Argh! Watch it, will you?" Boorat hissed as they sped off across the street and then away from the city, quickly heading past a group of French toast trees that Dooth noted would at least hide them from view from a distance.

"At least I got you out, didn't I?" Dooth panted as he ran, his wings still too tired from lifting both him and Boorat into the air. "Come on, we've got to go somewhere where we can talk in peace." They kept running, sticking to the areas with trees and foliage to help conceal them in case anyone at the prison had realized Boorat was gone yet. Dooth wasn't worried about Boorat running off and leaving without telling him anything now that he was free; he didn't seem interested in any such thing at the moment, and Dooth knew he could force him to bend to his will if he really needed to.

ooo

Hiding in the edges of the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle, Dooth was fairly certain no one would follow them there, if there was any way they'd have known where they were in the first place. They weren't deep enough to attract any unwanted attention from the jungle's inhabitants, and as far as Dooth could tell, none of them were near enough to provide any distractions from this important meeting.

"All right, I don't think they'd follow us here," Dooth said with satisfaction as he surveyed the mass of leaves, vines, and towering tree trunks around them. "So, before I do anything else, I need you to tell me what you know about Tabootie."

"Why don't you tell me about what your creator is doing working with mine?" Boorat responded, clearly annoyed by Dooth's demand.

"How should I know?" Dooth muttered, shrugging. "I have no idea what he'd want with them either, but he must have a good reason!"

Boorat didn't seem convinced, but he didn't try to question him again. "Fine then. What's your name?"

"Dooth," the griffin said proudly.

"Dooth?" Boorat replied, grinning. "What kinda name is that?"

"It's an ORIGINAL name!" Dooth sneered, glaring at his newfound companion. His tail lashed, scattering some of the leaves off the tree behind him. "Of course you wouldn't think so. You don't understand creativity, considering you were drawn without any!"

Boorat just rolled his eyes. "Listen, if you want my help, you're going to have to get me some magic chalk to bring back to my creators too."

"Fine," Dooth muttered darkly, his eyes narrowing. If we can get two pieces… he added to himself.

Boorat went on to explain what he knew of Rudy Tabootie, and Dooth was frustrated to know that it was mostly the same things he'd been told. Did Boorat's pathetic creators not know anything HIS creator didn't? How typical, he thought. "So how did you end up failing this mission of yours?" Dooth asked after a moment.

"Failing?" Boorat cried. "At least I got farther than you did on your own. At least I actually got to the Real World without asking anybody for help."

"Wait a minute," Dooth stated, staring at Boorat oddly. "You made it to the Real World? With the magic chalk?"

"Yes," he went on. "And I was stopped by Rudy's pathetic sidekick! He followed me into the real world and sprayed me with fixative, then brought me back to his pathetic little friends, who then got the police to throw me in jail."

"I bet that was frustrating," Dooth said with a nonchalant shrug. "But this time, I'm here. And I actually know what I'm doing. The stupid chalk police won't be able to stop me. I'm smarter, stronger, and more cunning than any of the other drawings walking around here. Rudy won't stand a chance."

"And just what is your brilliant plan?" Boorat asked, growing increasingly annoyed, but Dooth ignored him.

"We need to know where Rudy enters into ChalkZone. Considering that it's late afternoon, we probably won't see him again until tomorrow. We just need to figure out the area he'll appear from…Hmm…" He absent-mindedly began tearing up a clump of mushrooms with his claws as he tried to think of something.

"Actually, I do know where Rudy might come from," Boorat said crossly, to which Dooth looked up at him in surprise. "I know where the portal materializes."

Dooth was taken aback that Boorat had actually known something he didn't after all. Of course, that was what he had wanted originally, but it still felt annoying to have to admit it. "Okay, then, where is it?" he demanded.

"I'll show you when we're ready to get the magic chalk," Boorat replied, obviously wary that Dooth would decide he had no more need for him and abandon him to steal the chalk for himself.

Dooth, sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine," he muttered. "But remember, if we only find one piece, we take it to my creator first. He knows yours, so he'll share if he feels like it."

Boorat did not reply, but Dooth knew they'd come to an unspoken agreement, even if reluctantly on Boorat's part. He knew that although Boorat seemed wary enough about confronting Rudy on his own to stick with him instead of going off to find the boy, it was possible that he could desert, and if that was what he chose to do, Dooth was going to put a stop to it. His plan was coming together, and his creator would be proud. He was determined to have the magic chalk by the next day and by tomorrow evening would be presenting it to his creator. And no one…no one was going to ruin that for him.

ooo

The next day, Tuesday afternoon, Rudy had already packed his supplies for their afternoon of exploring the Sunset Zone they had planned yesterday. He'd brought food and water for the trip, and, after a bit of thought, grabbed a few extra pieces of magic chalk and hid them in the bottom of his backpack. He had planned to meet up at Penny's house; it was a good way to ensure that his parents wouldn't come looking for him that afternoon, and Penny's mother would be too busy working with the animals she was taking care of to interrupt them. As he stood in his room, just about ready to leave, he realized that bringing along a backpack full of supplies to Penny's house would seem odd, so he drew a portal on his own chalkboard and dropped his backpack down into ChalkZone, making a mental note to stop by that area to pick it up before they headed to Snap's new house. After he set it down on the chalky grass on the other side of the portal, he heard his mother calling him and quickly rushed out the door.

ooo

After arriving at Penny's house, he quickly joined her up in her room. "All right!" Rudy cried excitedly as he began drawing a portal on the side of Penny's chalkboard that wasn't covered in math equations. "Let's go!"

He climbed through the glowing circle and dropped down to the grass below, Penny quickly following. "Where's Snap?" Penny asked, noticing that it seemed odd that their friend wasn't waiting for them there.

"Oh, he'll be at his house," Rudy replied as he began drawing them an electric scooter to ride.

"Uh…which house?"

"His new new house! Right by ChalkZone City. He moved there a few days ago, remember?"

"Did he really have to move just one week after moving into his old house?"

Rudy just shrugged in response as he completed his scooter drawing. He and Penny got on, and he quickly drove toward ChalkZone City, smiling as they passed by some of the familiar ChalkZone sights. However, his smile quickly faded as he realized he still had to tell Snap that he would be gone the entire weekend, just like Penny would be. He'd tried to convince his parents to let him stay home, but it didn't matter; they had already signed him up and paid the fee, and they seemed to think he would somehow be happy about it once he got there because Penny was going, as well as the fact that he could still work on his comics during the trip. He sighed, taking his gaze away from the scenery around them, and focused only on the way ahead of him and the city that they were quickly nearing.

Once they reached it, Rudy easily spotted Snap's new house, which lay on the outskirts of ChalkZone City. Unlike a lot of the houses further into the city, Snap's house had several trees growing around it, and a rocky path that led from the front door to another path that led to the main city. The house itself was somewhat small, especially compared to most of the buildings nearby, but it was away from the noise of the city and faced toward an open field that led down to the Wait N' Sea.

Rudy walked up the steps toward the front door and knocked, and was almost immediately greeted by his other best friend. "Hi, guys!" he said cheerfully, looking excited. "You ready to go?"

"Uh, yeah!" Rudy replied as he and Snap walked back down the pathway toward Penny. "But…there's something I have to tell you," Rudy began with a sigh. "You see, well, my parents signed me up for that field trip Penny's going on, and…"

"Wait a minute, what?" Snap cried, stopping. "But I thought it was just Penny who was going on this-"

"Well, I didn't want to go," Rudy replied, "My parents decided I have to." He sighed. "But don't worry. I'm sure I'll be able to find a way to sneak into ChalkZone at some point during the trip, even if it won't be for very long." He realized that he likely wouldn't have much time to sneak away at all, but he was determined to at least try.

"Well…couldn't they cancel it or somethin'?" Snap asked, looking worried.

"I doubt they'd even try," Rudy sighed. "They've already decided I'm going and paid the fee."

"Well this is just great!" Snap muttered. "How are we ever supposed to go to Chalklantis now?"

"We'll definitely plan to go next week. And I'm certainly going to try to sneak back to ChalkZone whenever I can this weekend," Rudy muttered determinedly.

"All right, I guess that's the best we can hope for," Snap muttered.

"We'd better get going," Penny began, deciding not to mention the science field trip again. She watched as Rudy drew Snap his own backpack full of supplies for the afternoon. "Did you bring the book, Rudy?"

"Huh?" Rudy replied, looking up as he finished drawing the backpack and handed it to Snap. "Oh! Yeah, I did! It's…" He reached for his backpack and paused, realizing that he wasn't wearing it, and then remembering that he hadn't retrieved it after he'd left it by the portal to his room before going to Penny's house. "Oh…I think I left my backpack back at the portal by my house."

"Don't worry, Rudy, I'll get it for ya," Snap offered.

"Okay, thanks, Snap!" Rudy replied. "We'll wait here. I'll start drawing some transportation for us so we can get there faster." He began sketching as Penny sat down on the steps in front of Snap's house as Snap jumped on Rudy's scooter and headed toward the portal.

ooo

Dooth had let Boorat lead him to where the rat drawing had seen Rudy's portal before, and, despite his annoyance at having to be led around rather than simply told, he was feeling quite satisfied that he'd managed to find a Zoner who had proved to be somewhat helpful after all. And so far, he'd shown no sign of deserting, and at least he'd kept to his word and there was no need for any violence that might attract attention.

They hadn't even reached the particular field Boorat had been heading towards when the two chalk animals noticed the distinctive look of the portal, hovering a few feet off the ground in the distance. Dooth was surprised to see it open with no one in sight, and he looked around, expecting to see Rudy around somewhere, but there was no sign of a ten year old boy. He turned back to look at the portal, noting how odd it looked; a random circle of some other world hanging suspended in midair. It was foreign, eerie, yet at the same time, fascinating. Dooth felt a strange longing to explore it and see what was on the other side.

However, that would have to wait. They needed to find Rudy first. Now that Boorat had outlasted his usefulness, Dooth ran up ahead, stopping near the portal and peering through it, hoping to see Rudy, but finding nothing but an empty room. Disappointed, he realized he'd have to wait. At least, after all, Rudy had to come back this way; it was only a matter of time. After taking a moment to look around the interior of the room beyond the portal, he stepped back, and only then did he notice that there was something lying on the grass beneath it.

"Huh, that's odd," he muttered, picking the object, a backpack up, and noting that there was something strange looking about it. He quickly realized what it was when he compared it to the room beyond the portal. This thing looked different, lacking any sort of ChalkZone texture. He quickly realized what the object was.

"Look what I found! It's Rudy's backpack!" he cried, turning around and showing it to Boorat, who had previously been crouching down behind a clump of bushes, obviously trying to lie in wait for Rudy when he returned, or something like that, Dooth figured.

Suddenly interested, the ratlike Zoner left his hiding place and bounded back over the portal as Dooth opened the backpack, finding a couple of notebooks and other random items. He reached his foreleg inside and reached around, and then with a smile pulled out a white piece of chalk.

ooo

Snap was nearing the area where Rudy's portal usually appeared, in a hurry to get it and return so he and his friends could resume their adventure. However, the moment he came close enough to the field to see the portal itself, he also noticed that something strange was going on. He stopped the scooter in surprise, staring.

Two Zoners were standing next to the portal, their backs to him. One of them, who looked to be some sort of griffin, was holding an object in his hands. Stopping in his tracks, Snap looked at the other one, realizing with a jolt of surprise that it was none other than Boorat.

The griffin started to turn around, and Snap quickly ducked behind an eyeball bush, pulling the scooter in with him, and peered through a gap in the leaves. He knew that approaching these two would be dangerous, especially since Boorat would recognize him. The fact that these two were near the portal at all and obviously interested in it was alarming enough, but he also realized that the thing the griffin was holding was Rudy's backpack.

Alarmed, Snap wanted to run over and confront them, but he stopped himself, realizing that it would probably be futile, and at this point it would be best to find out what they were doing before deciding to take action. That, and he wasn't too keen on facing Boorat again, as he was sure to be angry after what had happened in their last encounter, and he certainly didn't want to confront him while he had an ally beside him. Or at least, the griffin had seemed like an ally. However, at the moment, the two seemed to have started some sort of argument. Snap was on the other side of the field, and couldn't make out what they were saying, but from what he could see, it didn't seem like they were fighting over the backpack. At least that was a good sign. If Rudy had any spare magic chalk in there, and they managed to find it, well…he didn't want to think about what would happen.

After a few moments, Snap decided that the best thing to do would be to go back and get Rudy and Penny, and hopefully before the two Zoners decided to wander into the portal. He thought nervously about how Rudy had a magic chalk stash somewhere in his room; and he strongly hoped it was well hidden. Knowing he needed to leave fast and find the others as quickly as possible, he was about to turn away, when something in the griffin's other hand caught his eye.

Snap then realized that the griffin was holding that something out of Boorat's reach, and even from where he was kneeling a small distance away, it took only a split second for him to recognize what it was. A piece of Rudy's magic chalk. His heart skipped a beat, and he didn't dare move from the bushes he was hiding in, but he cast a terrified look at the backpack, which the griffin had now set back down, lying by the two creatures' feet. He knew he couldn't attract attention to it, in case Rudy had brought more than one spare, and after a moment his eyes wandered back to the squabbling animals.

"I said, back off!" the griffin yelled, talking loudly enough for Snap to hear him for the first time. He looked about to attack Boorat, but seemed to decide that getting into the Real World was more important to him, so, still gripping the chalk in his talons, he turned toward the portal. Ignoring the obviously unthreatened Boorat, he climbed toward it, folding his wings close to his body as he balanced on the edge before jumping inside.

Snap wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew that there was no longer any time to fetch Rudy and Penny; if he didn't act now and they got away with the magic chalk, ChalkZone would be exposed its inhabitants put under serious threat. He had no sort of plan, and there wasn't time to think of one.

As Boorat leaped into the portal after the griffin did, leaving the field clear of inhabitants once again, Snap did the only thing he could think of; he bolted from his hiding place and sprinted toward the floating circle, leaping through it and into Rudy's room after them. As soon as he landed on the floor of the bedroom, he realized that the two creatures who had leaped in before him didn't even seem aware that he was there; they were at the other end of the room, near the door, too busy trying to take the piece of chalk from each other to notice him.

"I don't care if it was your job first," the griffin snarled. "I'm taking it back. My creator can get all the chalk he wants for yours when he gets into ChalkZone!" He quickly whisked the piece of chalk away from Boorat with his tail, holding it further out of reach as he tried to shove the large rat creature away from the door so he could get through.

While the two were still momentarily distracted by each other, Snap darted across the room and swiped the piece of chalk from the griffin and ran back toward the portal. He was stopped a split second later as the larger Zoner leaped over his head, landing on all fours in front of Rudy's chalkboard, his eyes narrowing furiously. With Boorat blocking his only other exit, the door, Snap had no choice but to back up toward Rudy's desk.

The two creatures, both larger than he was, were advancing on him, and Snap didn't think there was any way he could get through the portal and erase it in time, even if his escape route hadn't been blocked. His gaze wandered around the room quickly, resting on a glass of water on Rudy's desk. Water. Making a sudden dash for it, he dropped the piece of chalk into the water.

"No!" he heard Boorat shout, and he was roughly shoved aside as the griffin reached for the glass of water and plunged his right hand inside. Almost immediately he wrenched it back out, staring in shock as his talons melted away right before his eyes. As the griffin stared at the glass, Snap noticed as well as this stranger did that the piece had dissolved; being from a mine in ChalkZone, it dissolved much quicker than a normal piece of White Lightning would.

"What did you do?" the griffin cried, slamming the cup back on the desk and whirling around to face Snap, his eyes blazing with anger.

Snap didn't bother to answer; he turned and sprinted straight for the portal, but was stopped almost immediately as Boorat stood in his way. The griffin drawing was now staring at his damaged hand; only the very bases of the talons were left. His gaze flicked upward to look at Snap again, a murderous look in his eyes. Before Snap could react, the griffin grabbed his shoulders, lifted him and then slammed him down against the desk, holding him there with one foreleg.

"Where is the magic chalk?" he snarled. "My creator asked me to bring it to him and I'm going to do that if it's the last thing-"

"It's gone now, Dooth!" Boorat cried furiously. "The water here dissolves drawings!" The two of them briefly glanced at each other before turning angrily back to Snap, their previous disagreement now apparently forgotten.

Furious at having come so close to completing his mission, only to have that victory torn away from him, he leaned closer to Snap. "Then you have five minutes to find a kid named Rudy Tabootie and bring me another piece before I tear you to pieces," the griffin, apparently called Dooth, growled at the smaller drawing, his raised forelegs and look of fury in his eyes making it clear that he meant every word.

Snap stared at the griffin in wide eyed terror. He'd expected them to be angry with him, maybe even try to hurt him, once he thought about it, but he hadn't guessed that this Zoner would be one who would think nothing of murder. He realized that, whether he'd managed to dissolve the chalk or not, he'd likely made a huge mistake in trying to chase after this stranger. "W-wait a minute, hold on!" he cried, his thoughts racing as he frantically tried to think of something to say. He was very sure that even if he did manage to escape back into ChalkZone, he couldn't outrun something that could fly. Not knowing what else to do in his panic, he turned his head toward the portal and called for Rudy as loud as he could.

The griffin slammed his fist down on the desk. "Shut up! Someone could hear us!" he cried, apparently oblivious to the noise he'd just made by striking the desk. "We can not be heard, so be quiet or I'll give you something to REALLY scream about!"

"But...well, uh, that wouldn't solve your problem, would it?" Snap said nervously.

Dooth lifted Snap up and slammed him down again. "I said be quiet!" he hissed.

For all he insisted on being quiet, Dooth certainly wasn't adept at it himself. Snap glanced at the door, expecting Rudy's parents to come and investigate the noise, but there was only silence. He realized they must be away from home; there was no way they wouldn't have heard that if they were in the building.

"Uh, look, can I just say one more thing?" Snap began, making sure to be, as Dooth had requested, quiet, or at least as much as possible while speaking. "Why do you have to do exactly what your creator says? Why don't ya just do what you want; you know, think for yourself instead?"

"I AM thinking for myself! And I'm thinking that my artist being a creator in ChalkZone would greatly improve it. And trust me, it could use a lot of improvement."

"W-wait a minute…what?" Snap gasped, confused. Was this guy drawn by the same people who drew Boorat? No, he thought, he had mentioned a 'creator' while Snap remembered Boorat mentioning two. So was there a third person in on this plan?

"I'll warn you again," Dooth growled, ignoring Snap's perplexed statement. "Keep quiet and don't call for help, or there'll be one less piece of trash some kid dares to call art roaming around ChalkZone. Now, I want you to take me to Rudy Tabootie."

Snap could tell he was serious, and knowing there was no one near at the moment, and that he had no other choice, Snap fell completely silent. This drawing had absolutely no regard for his life at all, and clearly neither did whoever created him, and at the moment Snap was even more at a loss for what to do. There was no way he was going to lead this psychopath back to where Rudy and Penny were waiting. He had to think of something else, something that would get him out alive and keep these two away from his friends and the magic chalk.

"Now," Dooth hissed at Snap, bringing his frantic thoughts to a halt, "are you going to do what I say?"

"Forget it! He won't listen!" Boorat spat, glaring at Snap.

Snap desperately glanced at the still open portal on Rudy's chalk board, seeming quite far away from where he was pinned against the desk. He could only hope Rudy and Penny had noticed he'd been gone for a while – wait, had it been a while? – and were coming to look for him. But he couldn't hear anything from the ChalkZone side of the board.

When he turned back, he noticed that Dooth was looking curiously at the glass of water still sitting on the other side of the desk. Suddenly the griffin eagerly reached toward it. "Well, then, if that's the case…I have an idea," he said, a bit too cheerfully in contrast to the angry demeanor he'd shown previously, Snap thought. "If we can't send him back to find the chalk, he's useless to us, so, heh heh, let's see what happens to Zoners who drink this stuff. Watch him dissolve from the inside-out!"

"What?!" Snap cried, staring at Dooth in shocked disbelief as he approached him with the water. He tried to lean his head back further against the desk as the griffin held out the cup of water disturbingly close to his face. "All right, all right! Just listen! Look, I-I'll get the chalk for ya," he said, his eyes darting from side to side as he rapidly tried to think of some way he could get them to let him back into ChalkZone so he could make a run for it and warn Rudy, "j-just hold on a minute…at least let me explain…" He closed his eyes as Dooth held the glass of water even closer.

But a few seconds passed and he realized he was still alive. He opened his eyes to see Dooth looking confidently at Boorat. "See? I'm persuasive!" He swung his right arm around as he let go of Snap's shoulder and turned toward his 'partner in crime,' carelessly letting drops of the dangerous liquid splatter near the desk and perilously close to his own feet.

"Hm…maybe we could use him to persuade Rudy," Boorat muttered thoughtfully, looking excited.

"Why would he care?" Dooth muttered with a shrug. "Unless you're saying the idiot considers it his job to protect every stupid little drawing-"

Still grinning, Boorat pointed right at Snap. "He is Rudy's best friend! His comical sidekick…"

Dooth turned to look at Snap with newfound interest. "Really?" he muttered. "You are what Rudy comes up with for a best friend? Ahahaha! Why am I not surprised…" He began laughing, once again making no conscious effort to be quiet. After a moment, he straightened up again, facing Snap and glancing at the cup of water he was still holding in his hand. "Eh, we don't need this," he muttered, casually tossing it behind him. Snap heard a yelp as Boorat jumped to the side to avoid it. "You're coming with us," Dooth announced, his voice once again taking on a serious tone. "If Rudy knows our creators have you, he'd surely be willing to part with a few pieces of magic chalk in exchange for your safe return, wouldn't he?"

Upon realizing what his captors had decided to do, Snap was filled with newfound horror; the portal that was merely feet away now seeming further out of reach than ever.

"Well, that settles it," Dooth said, a bit more cheerfully. "Not exactly what my creator wanted, but it's good enough. It's not like he'd be disappointed in me."

"What about my creators?" Boorat growled.

"I'm sure Rudy can bring back enough pieces for them too," Dooth said with a shrug, "if you help me bring him back to the meeting place." As Boorat fell silent, Dooth turned his gaze back toward with Snap. "But listen carefully," he began, stepping away from the desk and leaning his foreleg on Rudy's chalkboard, knowing that that was where Snap was currently focusing most of his attention anyway. "If you do anything to give us away, or to try and attract attention from anyone while we go to find my creator, we forget the whole thing, and instead we leave a nice chalk message for Rudy to read on his blackboard when he comes back…" He traced his claw over the board as if pretending to draw a message, then finished, "…drawn in your own blood! Do I make myself clear?"

"Uh, very." Snap, who'd been thinking of trying to call for help from ChalkZone again – not that he thought anyone was nearby to hear him – immediately rejected the idea. He glanced over at Rudy's door, then looked again at the ChalkZone portal, but Dooth was still standing next to it, his eyes boring into his own, and the ChalkZone area beyond the portal remained silent. There were no signs of any help coming.

"We need a way to make sure he won't run away," Dooth continued. "My creator specified that I must not be seen and once we are outside this house, we're going to have to hide until nightfall."

Boorat suddenly looked excited again. "I know just the thing," he said, in a nastier – or nastier than usual – voice, and bounded out of the room.

Snap had no idea what he had in mind, but he didn't want to think about it. He didn't dare try to make a run for it with Dooth standing so near, so he was forced to wait, his heart beating frantically, until, finally, Boorat reappeared.

He was holding a can of something in his mouth, and as he got closer, Snap realized, with a sickening feeling in his stomach, exactly what it was.

Dooth, however, did not. "What is that?" he growled. "And just what do you think-"

"Fixative," Boorat replied. "And trust me, this will work. Now, step back."

Dooth hesitated for a moment as Boorat approached. He seemed doubtful, but as Boorat got nearer, Dooth exchanged another confused glance with Booat and backed away from the portal, clear of the spray can's range. Snap didn't have time to move out of the way as Boorat sprayed what he knew was fixative right at him.

Almost instantly he felt his whole body go rigid, and instinctively tried to move, only to realize, though not with great surprise, that he couldn't. He wasn't even able to open his mouth to make any noise; only his eyes could move, and his gaze darted frantically around the room as the two chalk animals approached him.

Dooth looked impressed but curious. "What…did you do?" he asked, and Boorat simply handed him the spray can before walking over to Snap.

"Hah! See how you like it!" Boorat grinned nastily and knocked him down on the floor. Snap felt Boorat's foot pressing down on his head, and he couldn't see what Dooth was doing now.

"Well, that'll work," the griffin was muttering. "For now…let's just get out of the house and find a place to hide. The kid's parents might have heard us. I mean, he was making a lot of noise!"

Snap heard footsteps across the room, but at the moment he could still see nothing but Rudy's floorboards. Lying in this position with his face pressed up against the floor was rather painful, but he couldn't have cried out if he'd wanted to. He was still trying to move, in some vain, desperate hope that he'd be able to, but his body remained as still as a statue. His thoughts kept going back to Rudy and Penny, who would be waiting for him, not yet realizing anything was wrong…

Snap felt one of his captors tugging on the backpack he was wearing until he managed to take it off. Still facedown on the floor, he could hear them rummaging through it.

"Look! He brought food."

"Give me that!" Dooth growled, and from the sound of it, he had taken the backpack away from Boorat. "We can bring this to our creators too."

The next moment, Snap was hauled roughly upright again, getting one last glimpse of the portal before he was carried out the door and into the main part of the house. He glimpsed Boorat holding his backpack again. As Dooth carried him down the stairs, Snap still saw no sign of Rudy's parents. Dooth reached the front door and opened it slightly, glanced outside, then stepped out onto the sidewalk.

"This way," he whispered, and Boorat closed the door behind him as they ran along the side of the house, passing some small bushes. Snap only got a fleeting glimpse of Rudy's window-where the portal still was-before Dooth rounded the corner of the house, ran into the backyard, and quickly flew over the fence bordering the back of Rudy's yard and landed in some much larger bushes. Pausing once again, presumably to see if anyone was watching, Dooth whispered, "hurry up!" to Boorat and crawled backwards.

Snap was dragged deeper into the bushes as Dooth and Boorat crouched in the small space beneath the branches, both of them peering through them.

"Why do we need to hide?" Boorat whispered. "We can find your creator now!"

"No!" Dooth growled. "My orders were to not be seen! I know what I'm doing! We leave at night."

"Why night?"

"Because it'll be dark!"

"Dark?"

"That's what my creator told me!" Dooth snapped. "Maybe the DayZone here turns to NightZone when it's nighttime…I don't know! But I'm doing what he says."

Out of the corner of his eye, Snap saw Dooth's long claws flex and gouge the dry earth. Whoever Dooth and Boorat's creators were, they certainly weren't going to have anything good in store for him. From the position he was lying in, Snap couldn't see outside the bush, let alone the window to Rudy's room, which wouldn't have been visible from this place anyway. He hoped desperately that Rudy would be able to trace his path and find him before nightfall, when it would be too late and Rudy would have no idea of where to find him. But there was no sign of Rudy or Penny's voices, no sign that they were looking for him anywhere near the house in the Real World.

Bucko, he thought desperately, where are you?

ooo

Rudy and Penny were sitting on the path by Snap's house, Rudy having completed his car drawing. Penny was quietly looking over some papers with notes she'd written down for things to add to their book, and Rudy kept peering down the road to see if Snap was coming. "What's taking him so long?" Rudy wondered aloud. "He knows where the portal is."

"Well, he could have gotten sidetracked," Penny replied, setting the papers down. "I'm sure he'll be here soon. After all, he's just as excited to explore that Sunset Zone area as we are."

"I don't know…it's been longer than it should," Rudy replied, "and it's not like him to get distracted when we're about to go 'exploriatin'.' Let's go back to the portal and meet up with him. Then we can head to the Candle Forest from there," he suggested.

"Good idea," Penny replied, picking up her papers and her backpack and following Rudy as he climbed into the car. They set off across the road and into the grassy field beyond it and toward the portal's location.

They saw no sign of Snap on their way, and upon reaching the portal and getting out of the vehicle, the first thing Rudy noticed was that his backpack was still lying on the ground beneath the open portal, just where he'd left it. It didn't look like Snap had touched it. "Well, that's weird," he said, picking it up and quickly looking inside to verify that everything he'd brought was in there – their book, his water bottle, his food, a couple pieces of spare magic chalk at the bottom that he'd hurriedly thrown in before leaving – and nothing seemed to be amiss. He then peered into the portal, but his room was quiet and empty. "Snap didn't get here yet," he muttered, his voice tinged with worry. "But then, how come we didn't meet him on the way here either?"

"I don't know, but we'd better go and ask if anyone's seen him," Penny responded, and the two immediately ran back to the car and took off back the way they'd come, following what they were sure was the route Snap must have been taking. As they had left in haste, they failed to notice the scooter still well hidden underneath the bush, and the portal remained open, but the earlier occupants of the room had already gone.


(Author's Note: Big thanks to Flareonwolf for editing this before I posted it. She stops me from doing stupid things like having Rudy and Penny run all over the place when they have a CAR.)