Shattered Doll

Chapter 2: Promise

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I know the truth now. I know who you are. And I don't love you anymore!

-Everybody's Fool, Evanescence

sss

Rudy, Penny, and Mint all glared in the direction Skrawl was being dragged off to. They had managed to hold him off long enough for the police to arrive onto the scene. A couple large zoners grabbed the jellybean and started to drag him away.

"You haven't seen the last of me!" Skrawl wailed. He jerked himself from side to side a few times. He cast a glance over at the human children, gnashing his crooked teeth together. "Do you hear me?! I'll be back!"

"Shut it." One of the cops said.

"Don't you dare tell me what to..." Skrawl never got a chance to finish. He was shoved into the police car and the door slammed, muffling his cursing. The cops then climbed into the car and began to drive Skrawl away.

As Penny watched this, her eyes narrowed, she knew that Skrawl was right. He had been successfully captured one time before, about a year ago, and he was able to get away. She had no doubts in her head that he would get away from this. All this did was delay him. He would be back, but they would be prepared for it. He could not take them by surprise anymore.

She would love for a more permanent solution to be set. Perhaps sending him to a more high security prison. It was terrifying to her that Skrawl could escape from what they were told to be tough jails. But surely there had to be some place where he couldn't escape form, right? Boorat, who was physically stronger than Skrawl, still hadn't escaped his prison. Maybe that's where he needed to be sent?

But where Skrawl went was none of their business, so they were told. Despite being guardians of ChalkZone, she, Rudy, and Mint had no authority of where a captured criminal was taken. She recalled Rudy tried something one time, and it had failed miserably.

As uncomfortable as this felt to her, it wasn't like they really needed to appeal anything or persuade the jailers or whatever. She was glad for that. She couldn't imagine what might happen if they had to try to help a falsely accused zoner who had been locked up. If the jailers won't listen to them, it was going to involve a lot of hard work gathering evidence, and even then, some of the jailers may not want to listen to outsiders like themselves.

She pushed the thoughts aside. She shouldn't worry about that right now. A more pressing matter on her mind was Snap. Why wasn't he back yet?

Penny looked off in the direction he ran in. She had only seen a glimpse of it, but she did bear witness to the Beanie Boys chasing her friend down in hot pursuit. With their flying ability, they likely caught up to the zoner very quickly. She hoped that Snap was able to find a hiding place in time.

The longer he was gone, the more worried she got. Perhaps it was time to begin searching for him. The police were done here. There was no need for them to remain. Perhaps they should...

"Penny?" Rudy's voice rang out, ripping her from her thoughts. Penny shook her head and looked over at Rudy. "What's wrong?" The boy gave her a worried expression. "You were kind of spacing out."

"I'm worried about Snap. He isn't back yet." Penny said.

Mint shrugged his shoulders. "It hadn't been that long. I'm sure he's fine."

"Mint's right." Rudy said, doing his best to sound calm and reassuring to Penny. "Just give him a little more time."

Penny wanted to feel comforted by these words. It was true it wasn't terribly long. Yet...still, half an hour..forty-five minutes, that's still quite a bit of time for Snap to be away. She couldn't help but fear that something unexpected had ocurred while Snap was leading them away. There was a number of possibilities that could have ocurred. These images played in her head, flashing in the back of her mind.

What if the Beanie Boys caught him?

What if they hurt him?

What if he was trapped?

What if he got lost?

Penny tried to shake these thoughts out of her head. She was overreacting, she knew. Snap was a capable zoner, and he had been gone longer than this. It wasn't like her to worry to this degree about whether or not Snap was coming back. She began to wonder if she was starting to lose confidence in her friend. The idea was ludicrous. She would never...

Then again, Snap had relatively recently recovered from a spine injury. Mint's attack on Snap had cracked the vertebrate and now the zoner possesses a prosthetic bone to replace an old one. It was strong, but still a weak spot. The Beanie Boys would know about this. If they hit Snap in just the right spot, they might be able to do enough damage to cripple her friend. Without his legs, Snap wouldn't be able to go far.

She soon realized one thing. She wouldn't be able to stop worrying about Snap until he got back safe and sound. Only then would she feel reassured. A part of her felt ashamed, feeling as thought she really was losing confidence in her friend.

"It's okay to be worried, Penny." Rudy said. Penny looked over at him, leveling her eyes with his. "He's our friend. It's normal to worry."

Penny looked away. "But...I'm fearing the worst, even though he hadn't been gone that long, like Mint said. You...you don't think I'm.." She looked over at her friends, giving them a silent question through a worried expression stretching along her face.

Mint and Rudy looked at each other, and then back at her sympathetically.

Mint shook his head. "I don't think you're losing confidence in him. If anything, I think you're just caring about him even more." He rubbed the side of his head. "Which is quite amazing, considering you already had a close friendship with him back when I..." His voice trailed off. Rudy and Penny nodded their heads in understanding.

"Yeah, it's nothing to be ashamed of, Penny. Being worried does not mean you don't think Snap is capable." Rudy smiled for a bit, trying to reassure Penny. Then he tilted his head, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Why would you even think that? I thought that you..."

"I'm not sure, Rudy." Penny admitted, lowering her head. "I don't know..."

All remained silent. Penny kept her head low. She could feel her friends looking at her, wondering what was wrong with her. She wished she could answer. She knew she was being ridiculous and paranoid, and she normally wasn't like this. It was almost like...

...like something in the air was causing it...

But if that was the case, why only her? Why weren't Mint and Rudy affected? And if it was something doing it...then what was it? And where was it?

"Hey guys!"

Penny felt her heart flutter with happiness as she heard the familiar shout of her friend. Her previous worry disappeared completely as she watched her friend rush towards them. She, Rudy, and Mint moved towards the zoner to greet him.

"Snap! You're..." Penny paused, her eyes widening. Mint and Rudy had taken notice as well.

"Snap, what happened?" Rudy asked, his voice a whisper.

Snap didn't look unscatched. He had a couple small tears in his costume and he had some dirt on him. But that wasn't what alarmed the three the most. That wasn't what Snap was so startled about. Parts of his limbs had burn marks on them. Dark, sooty in color. It was possible they were in other areas as well. Even though the burn marks didn't look serious, that didn't mean they were anything to sneeze at.

The burns did seem to have an effect on their friend. The zoner's teeth were clenched, his eye twitching in pain. He looked like he wanted to collapse on the ground and fall asleep. They weren't sure if it was from the pain or from whatever had happened. They felt their hearts twist as they looked at their friend sympathetically. What could have caused this? Did the Beanie Boys do this? It seemed out of their nature, but then, they did create that conconction that would have destroyed Snap had it not been for Rudy drawing the milk...

Snap jumped up and down a few times, waving his hands in the air. "G-Giant j-juicer!" The three of them stared in shock. Snap winced in pain as the three friends waited for him to continue. "D-Destroyed...explosion...!"

Mint took in a sharp gasp at this. "You were caught in an explosion?!"

Snap nodded his head. "Yeah I..." Snap stopped as he looked over at Mint. "What...What happened to you..?" He looked intently at Mint's minor injuries.

Mint looked himself over and then said, "Don't worry about me! What about you?"

Rudy looked over at Penny. "How bad do you think he is?"

Penny walked towards Snap. She made a gesture, letting him know to hold still. She gently grabbed onto him, examining his arms and legs, looking at the burns on them. Upon closer inspection, she realized they merely looked worse from afar. Up close, she could tell that these burns weren't anything too serious. Much of the blackness was just from soot that must have clung to Snap's body as he got away from..whatever had happened. His back looked a little worse, but was not too worse for wear. Whatever explosion Snap had been running from, he had only gotten grazed by it.

But that didn't mean Snap didn't require treatment. Penny believed that Snap should have at least some water-soaked rags put against his damaged skin once in a while to help the burns heal faster.

It also did little to settle her fears. The fact that there was an explosion frightened her, and glancing over, she could see looks of fear from both Mint and Rudy. None of them heard this explosion, and that alone was enough to confuse and terrify her. Just where was Snap that this happened? How come no other zoners were running around, panicked due to being hurt? Why was Snap the only one to come to them like this? Something was not right.

Penny soon realized that Mint and Rudy were still waiting for her answer. "Snap will be okay. Just minor injuries. That's all."

"That's a relief." Rudy said with a smile.

Mint took a step forward. "Just what happened anyway?"

"Yeah, Snap. Can you give us the full story?" Penny said as she drew some first aid items to help treat the minor burns on her friend's body. "We need to make sure this won't happen again, not to you or anyone else."

Snap shivered, clearly still startled by what happened. He was able to calm himself by taking in a deep breath. He nodded his head to his friends. They all listened intently as Snap began his story.

"The Beanie Boys chased me down this alleyway and I fell through the ground and..."

sss

"Hooray for Snap!"

"Thank you, Snap!"

"Snap, you're the best!"

Snap couldn't help but smile as he waved to the small crowd of zoners that gathered around him. He looked left and right, greeted by a bunch of happy, relieved faces. They were all cheering and whistling at him. And behind him, his human friends were looking on, smiling broadly as they witnessed this display.

The small blue zoner hadn't really expected to have so many zoners thanking him at once. When he came away from that explosion yesterday, he was expecting the zoners to pay more attention to that. After all, any one of them could have been hurt. But when he came in today, he and his friends got something different than what they thought.

Some zoners greeted him and began to thank him. Some others asked him if it was scary, and still others asked if he stopped the culprit. He, Rudy, Penny, and Mint were all confused, unsure of what the zoners were talking about. That was when a patrolling officer came to them and explained the situation.

It turned out that the device Snap caused to explode was causing some problems. They were certain this was the device responsible because it wasn't until it was destroyed did the events stop. The officer took his time explaining, telling them about how some electrical stuff, like parts of the local hospital and some security stuff, went haywire. Luckily, no one had been found snooping in the hospital or any other guarded area. But it was still strange. When asked why someone would build something like that, yet not act when they had the chance, the police had no answers.

Snap wasn't too worried. Rudy and Penny offered to look for clues while Mint would look around and make sure that another of these devices wasn't in the works. Snap would also help however he could. Between the four of them, he knew they would figure out what happened and locate the zoner responsible.

Despite his confidence, however, he was worried himself. When he realized that none of the other zoners were aware of the explosion, he realized it must be underground. He had been so busy running away, he didn't realize this. The idea of an underground warehouse was a bit disturbing. Why would someone need to hide a warehouse? Just what was in those boxes that would warrant them to be hidden?

And it being underground meant it could be anywhere. At least if it were a building on the surface, Rudy could draw a plane and they could fly around. With something underground, they would need a different approach. An x-ray scope might help, but they would still need to know what to look for. There might be other warehouses underground, and plus he may not even recognize it. There was also the fact that the person might have cloaked it, so a device would not pick it up.

However, Snap didn't want to worry the zoners around him. They had been scared enough of this mystery device. For now, he had to act as calm as possible. Panicked zoners could cause a lot more trouble than the device itself.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Snap said, closing his eyes and smiling as he took a bow. "It was nothing really. Always glad to help!"

He flinched a little when he realized he used Rudy's classic terminology. He looked over at Rudy, but Rudy just smiled back. He and the others were clapping their hands, celebrating with the zoners Snap's unexpected victory. Snap smiled back and turned back to the crowd, waving to them and trying his best to answer their questions.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the zoners began to leave. The cops came in and ushered them away. They then spoke to Snap, telling him they would like to talk to him later whenever he was available. They could see he had already done a lot of talking and his throat did start sounding a little dry. Snap agreed to a meeting tomorrow, and that he would answer their questions to the best of his ability. The cops thanked him and left, leaving the four friends alone.

Although Snap enjoyed talking with the grateful zoners, he was glad to have some rest from that. He was parched. He needed a drink, and he needed some rest. He looked over at his friends and he approached them. They smiled at him, and also casted a look of sympathy to him. They weren't going to be making him talk much after that, that's for certain.

Rudy looked down at his cellphone. "We have a couple hours left before we have to go back." He looked over at Snap. "Is there anything you wanted to do?"

"Maybe we could buy you something here to eat as a congratulations?" Penny suggested.

Mint gave her a confused look. "I thought we couldn't use money from the Real World here." He raised up his bandaged arm in a confused gesture. "So how..."

Penny smirked at him. "We can draw the money, remember? Some places here allow that."

"Oh.." Mint slapped himself in the face. "I completely forgot about that!"

Rudy turned to Snap. "Is that what you would like, Snap?"

The zoner thought about this. He rested his chin on his hand, using his other to rub his cheek thoughtfully. He wasn't too hungry at the moment, and food wasn't exactly on his mind. But though going to a restaurant wasn't exactly how he would want to celebrate at the moment, it was still nice of his friends to offer. Even if they couldn't eat, even if he didn't want to eat, it still sounded like a good idea. Sitting down with his friends in a chalk restaurant, chatting, spending time with them. Yeah, he'd like that.

"Sure! I know just the place, too!" Snap grinned.

"What's that?" Penny asked.

"It's a relatively new place in town. It's already gained some popularity. The owner, Sandra, she's a great cook!" Snap spread his arms out, a big grin on her face. "Oh it's just a shame you can't eat chalk. You would find her food to be a delicacy!"

"Sandra?" Mint asked, tilting his head.

Snap nodded. "Yeah. She's a sky blue dragon." He cocked an eyebrow. "Why? Do you know her?"

Mint opened his mouth, but he soon shut it. He shook his head. "No..I can't say I have..."

Snap looked at Mint in confusion at this. He quickly wrote it off. Mint probably got the name mixed up with another. It happens sometimes. He resumed his previous smiling expression and grabbed onto Rudy's hand, pulling on him. "Well? What are you waiting for? Let's go! Sandra's Alcove isn't far!"

"Is there any particular reason you want to go to Sandra's Alcove?" Penny asked. "Didn't you eat there just the other day?"

"Yeah, but Sandra promised me something when I came over today." Snap replied. "Now come on! I'm not sure how long she is going to stay open today. She might close early because of that exploding machine!"

"Oh you're right, Snap." Penny rubbed the back of her head nervously. "She's probably worried her shop is next. She'll probably be turning in early and checking her place thoroughly to see if there's any problems."

Rudy put his hand over his pocket, directly where his piece of magic chalk was. "She can always ask me for assistance. I'll be glad to help her out."

Mint leaned towards Rudy, his arms folded against his chest. "Going to show off again I see?" Mint teased, a mischevious smile on his face.

Rudy shot him a soft glare. "I'm not showing off! I just like to help people!"

"I know." Mint raised up a hand, a sign that he didn't mean harm. "I just can't help but wonder if, on the off chance her restaurant is destroyed, you'd draw Sandra a highly detailed, convoluted restaurant much like Snap's beach house."

It was now Snap's turn to glare at Mint. A part of him wondered if it was a good idea to tell Mint that story, of how he had wanted Rudy to draw him a house, but ended up with so many ideas that not only did he drive Rudy crazy, but the house looked pretty silly afterwards. He still treasured the house, since it was a gift from Rudy. He didn't take too kindly to Mint, or anyone, poking fun at it.

"See here, Mint..." Snap started to say.

Before Snap could continue, Mint looked over at him. His eyes were widened, as if he didn't expect Snap to be that upset. He then smiled apologetically, lowering his head slightly while placing a hand on his chest. "I apologize. I didn't mean to upset you guys." Straightening himself up, he looked at the others one by one. "Well, are we going or not?"

"Yeah, let's get going before it's too late." Penny said, waving her hand, gesturing the others to follow. She stopped when she realized something. Smiling nervously, she looked over at Snap. "Where is Sandra's Alcove?"

Snap walked in front of his friends. He looked at them over his shoulder. "This way. Follow me!" He began to lead them down the road in the direction of Sandra's Alcove. As they went, Snap wondered how Sandra was doing. He hoped she was doing fine. If she was frightened of what happened, he and the others would do their best to calm her down. They would ensure nothing like that happened again.

sss

"How may I help you, sir?" Sandra asked, her voice shrouded in painfully controlled anger.

The customer didn't seem to notice. He was looking up at the menu, rubbing his chin as he looked at the different items available. "I'll have the orange strawberry salad, please."

Sandra took the money the zoner handed to her. She placed it in the register, using a bit more force than usual to open and close it. "I'll go get that for you. Please, have a seat..."

Snap winced at this. So much for Sandra doing fine. It was clear she was not in the best of moods right now. She was trying her best to hide it, but her anger was apparent to most of the zoners around here. Nobody spoke up, though, fearful that they might accidentally provoke her more. An angered zoner would be unpredictable and they did not want to make the situation worse.

He wondered what the problem was. Why was Sandra so upset? It had to be bad if she was so concerned about it over an explosion right here in the city. It wasn't even that far from her place, about five blocks down if he remembered the police reports right. For Sandra to not be fazed by that... Yeah something else was clearly going on. Whatever it was, he hoped she would be able to work it out and recover from it. It was sad to see her like this.

He and Sandra hit it off as friends when he offered to help her with her restaurant. She was so grateful and thanked him for all his hard work. He was glad that he helped her get her start, and he had even gotten some zoners to come over and eat during her first week. Sandra was always a nice, friendly zoner, and her amiable aura drew zoners to her.

So to see his dragon friend act differently shook him and others up. For Sandra of all zoners to be upset like this, something serious must be wrong.

But he decided it was best not to make her tell him. That might make the istuation worse. Instead, he would wait until she cooled down before he would try to talk to her about it. He hoped that, whatever it was, he and his human friends could find a way to help her.

"I really wish I knew what was wrong..." Penny asked.

"Yeah. I know she isn't lashing out at anyone, but I know a thing or two about repressing emotion," Mint pointed towards Sandra as the sky blue zoner was bringing a plate of fruit and some lettuce bits over to her newest customer. "And that's exactly what she's doing."

"I'll try to talk to her later." Snap said. He clasped his hands together, his eyes narrowed slightly. "I really don't want to bug her right now."

"Talking would help her feel better, perhaps." Penny said. "But you're probably right. Let's not aggravate the situation more than it needs to be."

"She probably just needs a little time. I'm sure she doesn't want to bite anyone's heads off." At this, Rudy winced for a second. He shifted his gaze down. "That can have some..nasty side effects."

As everyone nodded in agreement, Snap looked at his creator and friend sympathetically. Rudy was obviously remembering the time when he had yelled at Mint, chewing him out harshly, and then wishing harm on him. Even though Mint forgave him, even though Rudy came to terms with it, the boy still felt guilty at times when he thought back to that incident. Snap himself was sometimes a tad shaken up as he recalled how Rudy sounded like back then. But he couldn't blame him, given the situation at the time.

"Good idea." Mint nodded in Rudy's direction. He gave him a small smile, a silent way of telling him it's okay. This was enough to relax Rudy's facial features. Soon Mint's eyes widened slightly as he noticed something. "Sandra's coming."

The other three followed Mint's lead and turned in the direction he was looking. Sure enough, Sandra was approaching. Judging from her expression, she was still upset, but she was putting on the best smile that she could. She had her hands folded behind her back and her tail was raised in such a way that Snap recognized it was a greeting. He interacted her long enough to know this about her.

Snap recalled he hadn't even ordered his meal yet. He didn't have to. Sandra already knew what he wanted, and she knew that Mint, Rudy, and Penny could order nothing here, being human and all. So she allowed them to grab a seat while she took care of a couple of customers that came in around the same time as them.

"Hello, Snap." The dragon stood next to them, her head turning from left to right as she acknowledged the humans. "And greetings to you, too."

"Hi. You must be Sandra." Rudy said, smiling at her. "I don't think we got a chance to meet properly." He held out hs hands.

"Ah yes, the Great Creator." Sandra said, nodding her head. She took Rudy's hand and shook it. "I heard much about you from Snap."

"I tried to get her to ask you for help, but she declined." Snap said.

Rudy looked at Sandra, confused. "Really? How come?"

Sandra shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, I just rather do things myself. That's why I run this place on my own, despite the many customers I have." She placed a hand against her chest. "I don't like asking others for help, so I do what I can." She looked over in what Snap assumed was the direction of her kitchen. "I have some things to help me out."

"That's good." Rudy said. "I'm glad it's been working out for you." He paused, then lowered his head a little. "Still, I would have been glad to help if you just asked. I wouldn't have minded..."

Sandra raised her hand. "Don't worry about it, Great Creator."

"Please, call me Rudy." The boy replied. Sandra nodded in acknowledgement.

"And you must be Penny and Mint. Snap's talked about you as well." Sandra said as she turned her attention to the other two humans. She gave them both a smile as she shook their hands. "It is quite nice finally meeting Snap's human friends. I never directly interacted with a human before. It must feel great being able to draw whatever you want, having it magically appear in thin air..."

"Yeah, but we just use it to help the zoners usually." Rudy said with a smile.

"Or occasionally playing a game." Mint said, grinning. "Like that time we drew those go-karts and drove through a part of the Candycane Forest."

"Yes, Snap did mention that you don't abuse your powers. That's good." Sandra narrowed her eyes a little. "Who knows what kind of destruction could be caused by an irresponsible creator..."

Mint gulped at this, but said nothing. Snap glanced at him. Even though that statement wasn't directed at him specifically, he could understand why it would sting him so badly. Mint hadn't exactly been an angel when he first came. Being reminded of it wasn't pleasant. Snap could understand why, even after all this time, Mint would still feel bad about it. He almost wanted to say something to Sandra, but he held off, knowing that she didn't mean any harm.

"So uh.." Penny spoke up, wanting to change the subject. "Didn't you say you had something for Snap?"

Sandra looked at her, blinking a few times. Then she snapped her feather-like fingers, her expression brightening up. "As a matter of fact, I do!" She looked over at Snap and said, "Did you still want it?"

Snap nodded his head. "After what happened lately, I could go for some of that delicious meat roll you made!"

Sandra's face contorted into confusion. "...something happened?"

Snap's mouth dropped open. His friends were just as shocked. Was Sandra being serious? Did she really not know what happened? They looked at her, waiting to see if she was joking or lying in some way. But all Sandra did was look at them with a continued confused expression. They glanced at each other, gritting their teeth. They realized one of them would have to break the news to her.

Snap, being the only one she could call friend amongst them, having just met his human pals, decided it was best he be the one.

Snap raised up his hand in gesture as he started to explain. "Didn't you hear? There was an explosion that went off not far from here. Many zoners had been talking about it. There's some police reports, and they are attempting to start an investigation."

Sandra's ear twitched. "An explosion? Where?" As the others looked at her in shock, she raised her hand up and said, "It probably happened when I was in my kitchen. The walls are pretty thick there. I would not have detected an explosion."

"Even one five blocks away?" Penny inquired, tilting her head. Sandra stared at her, wide-eyed. Penny nodded, answering Sandra's unspoken question. "Yeah it was that close. Are you..sure you didn't hear anything? Or feel something?"

Sandra stared at them. For a few moments, her eyes bulged, her mouth remaining open. Soon, she raised her shoulders up, shrugging them as she turned her head from one side to the other a couple times. "No..I can't say that I have." She turned to Snap. "Did you?"

Snap shuddered. Images of how close he was to being harmed by the explosion. He had run as fast he could and he still got a little scathed by it. The feeling of the heat hitting his back... He winced at the pain. At least it was just a mild burn. Penny had told him he was lucky enough to gain the distance he had before it exploded. Had he stayed there a second longer, he would have been hurt a lot worse.

"Yes..." That was all Snap could bring himself to say. He looked at Sandra, locking eyes with her. They shared a look for a few seconds before he turned away.

Sandra's ears raised up and then they lowered. "Well I'm sorry to hear that." She lowered her head. "And I'm sorry that I confused you all with not hearing anything. I wish I could give you more information."

"Don't worry about it. We didn't hear anything either." Mint spoke up. "We just thought you, with your long ears, would have heard something around here. We were hoping for a time frame so we could tell the cops."

"I would tell them, but I had no watch with me and.." Snap said. He didn't finish. Judging from the others' expressions, they understood what he was getting at. "I'm just glad it'll be over soon. Soon the police will find out what happened..."

"...and they will arrest whoever is responsible." Mint concluded, giving a firm nod of his head. The others shared his sentiment.

Sandra stared wide-eyed at them. It was clear that she was still startled by the presence of an explosion near her place and she did not hear it. Then she gave a small smile, nodding her head once. "Yeah..."

Snap tilted his head. Sandra still sounded pretty bummed out from whatever happened to her. Her voice didn't sound that sincere. Her mind must be preoccupied with whatever had her upset earlier. As she spoke to him and his friends, they all could tell she was hiding some anger behind her voice. None of them asked what was wrong; instead they waited for her to speak. If she didn't want to, she didn't have to.

Snap hoped that Sandra would talk to them soon. He would love to help her out anyway he could. He wanted her to know that he would be there for her, and if she needed someone to talk to, he would listen. But for now, he would not press the matter.

"So anyway..I'll go get your food." Sandra said. She grinned at Snap. "I'm sure you're going to love it. It might be a little dry since I had to refrigerate it, but it should be fine reheated."

"I don't mind. I appreciate you saving me the food." Snap smiled back at her.

"That was really sweet of you." Penny commented.

Rudy nodded. "We appreciate it."

"If you have any ideas on a celebration, by the way, let us know!" Mint called to her just as Sandra was about to leave. The dragon stopped, turning her head enough so that one of her red eyes could see him. "We're splitting the cost of the...meat roller or whatever you called it, in part to celebrate Snap's success."

"Oh?" Sandra turned around. She folded her arms as she looked down at Snap. "A celebration, eh? Well congratulations, Snap." Sandra waved her hand to the zoner, almost in salution. "I'll bring you a free dessert."

Snap grinned at this. "Thanks!"

"Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back!"

With that, Sandra disappeared into the back.

sss

Sandra pulled out the tray from the microwave. It had just gotten finished heating up. She set it down on the counter and stared at it. She raised her snout and took in a deep breath. The smell of the food hit her nostrils, making her mouth water. She swallowed and tried to keep her attention focused on what she was supposed to be doing. This food belonged to Snap, not her.

She went over to the fridge again. She looked through it, tapping her finger against her chin thoughtfully. What should she bring the zoner? She didn't usually have a lot of desserts, and when she did, they were eaten up rather quickly. Luckily, this time she had some spare ones. After hearing about Snap's success in...whatever it was, she decided she wanted to give him a reward herself. Soon she spotted what appeared to be a cup of pudding with whipped cream. Yes, this would do. She grabbed it and put it on the tray.

As she headed back out to the front of the store, she noticed some of the zoners were looking at her warily. She bit her lip, lowering her ears. She felt bad for not controlling her anger as well as she could have earlier. She hoped that this would not ruin her business. Perhaps Snap or one of her regular customers could convince them that she wasn't going to harm them.

She usually was better at controlling her anger than this. She felt guilty that, despite her attempts, some of her distraught leaked through. The aura had spread through her restaurant. None of the zoners accused her of anything, and none of them looked like they were going to jump out the window. But many of them were looking at her, silently asking her if she was going to snap at them. She took in a deep breath, feeling her heart rate slow down some more. Yeah, she needed to be careful with her temper. Anger can make even the most logical person become irrational.

After all, it was probably just an accident that her machine was destroyed. She did feel a little bad that the explosion caused so much panic among the zoners. She hadn't realized her machine would explode and some distress to the populace here. Whenever she got around to making a new one, she would take precaution to ensure that it would not be damaged easily.

But before she could do that, she would have to get to the bottom of what happened to her first machine. A part of her still thought that someone had knocked it over, but perhaps it wasn't done deliberately. And who was to say that it was even a person? Perhaps some animal zoner got in there and knocked it over, or perhaps the shelf wasn't as structurally sound as she thought. There was a number of things that could have contributed to it. She would launch an investigation of her own. As soon as she found out what happened, she would make sure that a repeat would not happen.

Soon she reached the table where Snap and his human friends were waiting for her. With a big smile on her reptilian muzzle, she set the plate down, along with his dessert and drink. "Here you go."

"Thanks!" Snap said as he picked up the fork. He looked at the meat roll longingly. He licked his lips and said, "This looks delicious!"

Sandra smiled at him, moving a hand towards him in gesture. "Go on, eat up! Tell me what you think after you are done!"

With that, she turned and walked away. As she left, she could hear the four friends speaking to each other excitedly. She smiled at this. She wished she could join in on the celebration, but she wouldn't have time, unfortunately. She needed to devote her time to getting a new machine. Then, if she could think of something, she would provide some help with a celebration for Snap. Of course, it would help if she knew what he had done, but she would ask about that later. Right now, she wanted to leave him alone with his friends.

She moved towards the cash register. She took position behind it. She didn't see anyone coming into her restaurant yet, but she knew at any moment someone would. She had to be here just in case. She hated leaving her customers waiting.

Realizing that her customers were still nervous, she decided to do something to lighten the mood. She knew just the thing. She lowered herself and pulled out a shelf that was located below the register. She lifted up a small device and set it on the counter. It was a radio she had recently purchased. It wasn't big, but it was good enough. She pushed the antenna up and flipped it on. There was a burst of static, and then music began to play.

As the soothing music played, she could see that most of the zoners were starting to look noticeably calmer. She smiled at this. The music was helping her to relax as well. This was just what she needed. Now she'd be able to better focus on her next course of action. As everyone turned back to eating and chatting, Sandra leaned against the counter, her spiked tail swishing slowly from side to side. Her mind began to grind its gears as she started to think of how she was going to prevent her new machine from being damaged.

Perhaps increased security? Better building materials? Maybe she should cave in and hire some night time guards? Nah, she wasn't sure who was trustworthy and who wasn't. She didn't want her secret methods being revealed, otherwise other people would copy them. She prided herself in her technique and it would be such a disappointment if someone else copied her methods.

She didn't have long to think about it, however. As she was deep in thougt, she was brought out of it when the music suddenly stopped. A couple short bursts of static caused her to jerk in surprise and she turned her attention to the radio. All around her, she could vaguely sense that her customers heard this as well and were looking straight at the radio, too. She hardly paid attention, and listened intently as she started to hear a voice coming from the radio.

"Hello, this is Chyrnil of the police department here to give an important announcement. I know some of you already know this, but this is to inform those who may not have heard the news yet. This is being broadcast all over ChalkZone City and neighboring areas. Yesterday, an explosion went off in the underground section of the city. No one has been seriously harmed, and I assure you that I and the police are doing whatever we can to figure out what happened and find who was responsible."

Sandra stared at the radio, listening intently. She was curious about this explosion the others were talking about. The fact that it was underground did concern her. She wondered... Nah, it couldn't be. ...could it..?

The zoner continued. "We were able to find the source of the explosion. An abandoned warehouse which doesn't seem like it's been in use in a long time. The cause of the explosion was a shelf falling onto a strange machine. The machine has been confiscated, or whatever remained of it, for further study."

Sandra's eyes widened at this. The explosion they were talking about was her machine? She had thought it was something else. But wait, if the explosion Snap and the others were talking about was her machine, then, did that mean that...?

She shook her head. She couldn't jump to conclusions like that. No, it wasn't possible. She was just overreacting.

"We all have Snap to thank for this discovery. This machine, we have determined to be the cause of some of the electrical and security ailments that were spreading across ChalkZone, especially the hospital. We do not know why the machine does this, or even if this is what it was built for. One thing we do know is that Skrawl was using this to power his own robotic contraption. Whether or not this mystery machine is his, we don't know. We will give you further update on the detail."

Sandra glanced at Snap. He could see that he and his friends were looking over at the radio, smiling. They grinned at her, looking happy by what the announcer was saying. She did her best to look happy, waving her hand at them. Her smile faded as she looked back at the radio.

"According to our report, Snap is the one who neutralized the machine. It is thanks to him that Skrawl's machine was rendered useless and the ailing parts of the electrical grid are back to normal. But even though the threat is gone, something could surface up again. We advise you all to be careful as you walk the streets and watch where you step. Report any suspicious activity to me or one of my fellow officers. This is Chyrnil signing off."

With a flash of static, the radio went quiet. Then the soothing music returned. Intermixing with that, the sounds of the zoners congratulating Snap could be heard.

"You were the one who stopped it?"

"Were you scared?"

"How did you know to destroy it?"

Snap smiled as several zoners approached him. "Aww it was nothing really."

A tall, thing zoner put his hand on his shoulder. "Tell us the story!"

"Yeah!" A female zoner cried, jumping up and down excitedly. "We want to hear how you destroyed that awful machine!"

"Whoa whoa! One question at a time!" Snap glanced over at his human friends. They chuckled softly, but remained quiet, allowing Snap to talk to the crowd. Snap looked back at them and said with a broad smile. "I'll be happy to tell you what happened!" Snap suddenl jumped on the table, taking on a dramatic stance. "There I was..being chased down the alley by the Beanie Boys. I had to make choice. Left or right..."

As Snap spoke, Sandra was watching him from a distance, from behind the cash register. None of the other zoners noticed her expression. No one was asking her what was going on inside her mind right now. And a part of her was grateful for that.

A torrent of emotions swept through her body. She started to tremble, a chilling heat moving from her hand to her fingertips. It was an unpleasant sensation, feeling as though she dipped them in hot oil. Her widened eyes continued to stare at Snap. Though her ears twitched as she picked up sound, she did not acknowledge them. She didn't hear what the zoners were saying, and right now, she did not care.

The only thing she was paying attention to was Snap.

He..he was the reason her machine was destroyed? He was the one who had snuck into her warehouse and busted the machine? He was the reason that she was going to have to get a new device?

She couldn't believe it. There were a number of zoners she would have suspected first before Snap. In fact, Snap was not anywhere near on her list of suspects. She thought that he would never do such a thing. Snap didn't seem like the kind of zoner to turn his back on someone, or to cause harm to someone else's property, or to anything like that. She had always trusted him. She had felt she could turn to him for help. She had even considered asking him for help with protecting the new machine from harm.

But now she realized just how wrong she had been. If she were to show the new machine to Snap, would he try to destroy that one? Would he come back and do more harm? Was destroying the machine an accident or had he done it on purpose?

She couldn't stop the shivers from moving through her body. She couldn't stop the torrent of emotions eating away inside of her. It was so hard for her to grasp. Snap, the same zoner who had helped her build this place up, was the one who had invaded her warehouse and destroyed her machine. It was him..it had been him the whole time. The one zoner she thought she could trust the most. She could feel her stomach being twisted, feelings of betrayal eating away at her stomach.

It...it could still be an accident. Yeah, maybe Snap didn't mean it. She took a look at his burns, and it did seem like he was just running away. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding. She could talk to him later and...

She gripped her head. Burning anger flooded her mind. No..the way the machine was destroyed..it was a deliberate act. This was not an accident. Snap..he had done this on purpose. She was sure of it. She closed her eyes tightly, gritting her teeth. A few tears moved down her cheeks. It was hard for her to grasp. Snap..he...he was the one who...

Sandra had made a vow to find the one responsible and make them pay. She was not about to go back on that promise, no matter who she figured out was the culprit. And once she makes a promise, she would never break it.

She opened up her eyes, the crimson orbs staring directly at Snap. No one saw her glare at him. No one saw her flash her sharp teeth. No one saw her shaking in angered betrayal. And perhaps that was for the best.

"Snap..." Sandra growled softly. "I...I really don't want to do this... I never wanted to...go after a friend..." She sniffled quietly, a few bitter tears moving down her face. She lowered her head, trying to steady her thoughts. The raging emotions continued to swirl inside of her. "But...I have no other options..."

As the zoners continued to congratulate Snap, as the small zoner answered their questions, as they all laughed, Sandra kept watching them intently. Her narrowed red eyes looked so sharp, anyone who would see them would think she could slice things open with just her eyes. She listened to them, and as she did, she knew what she had to do.

She had to take action. She had to keep Snap from ruining anymore of her plans. And she knew exactly how to do that.

"I'm so sorry, Snap." Sandra curled her lip up, showing off some of her sharp teeth. "But..this has to be done..." Her eyes narrowed deeply. "I promise..you will get what is coming to you."