Friends...
Even though Ms. Saffron hadn't known them that long, even though everything at the time was uncertain...
She still called them her friends... She saw them as her friends...
The realization of that hit Rudy hard. And he didn't expect it to. He wasn't sure, at first, why it hurt him so much to hear Ms. Saffron call them her friends. And soon, he realized why. It was a harsh reminder of what they could have been. A reminder of how things might have went, if only a few things had been different. It reminded him about how brave Ms. Saffron had been in her final hours, only for her to be taken away.
Rudy knew there was nothing they could do for her. She had passed on over a year ago. They still visited her grave from time to time, give her some respect. Her death still saddened them, and hearing her voice again and seeing her alive, even though it was in a video, was bittersweet. Because, for a moment, Rudy forgot that she was dead. He had to remind himself of the truth, that the video was old, not recent, that Saffron hadn't faked her death and was hiding out somewhere.
Ms. Saffron calling them her friends had effected Penny and Snap as well. Penny had put her hands to her mouth and he could see tears streaming down her face. Snap was no better. He could see his lip quivering, and he had a feeling Snap was reminded of what he said at Ms. Saffron's grave, about how nice it would have been if they got to be friends. To know that Ms. Saffron already believed him to be one of her friends, it was emotionally impacting.
It was nice that Ms. Saffron had gotten to apologize to each of them. She had realized she might not get a chance to, and made a video ahead of time. She sounded so sincere in the video. He knew she was telling the truth. And although her apology came so late, it was nice that Snap finally got to hear it. Even though Snap knew she was sorry, it did mean a lot to finally hear her come out and say it, even if it was just in the form of a video.
The fact that she knew she was going to day..that was disheartening to hear. She had suspected that she would be killed, and made the video just in case she turned out to be right. And, sadly, she was correct in her assumption...
It sounded like she had accepted her fate. The way she talked about how 'in case I don't make it' sounded to Rudy as if she had accepted that she might die. It wasn't a 'oh well' kind of acceptance either. Ms. Saffron didn't want to die. She just understood there was a chance she might, and yet, she still stuck around for however long she could. She still helped them in anyway she found possible.
And doing that, all while knowing that Mr. Cosmo was out to get her, took courage.
Rudy's mind went to the warning Ms. Saffron had given them. He felt his heart start to race when she told them not to erase the equipment until there was a thorough check. He was upset at first that Ms. Saffron hadn't said anything, but then he realized she was worried that she might slow them down, and there was the fact that Mr. Cosmo might have overheard her.. It was a hectic time and he understood that she didn't have a moment to tell them. Snap's health was in decline, there were the controlled zoners...
He wished he had thought about checking the computers before they went and erased everything. If he had done that, they might have found this computer, found the file, and saw it before any more damage could be done. He felt very guilty when he realized that he was the one who unleashed this dangerous zoner into ChalkZone. He had unwittingly released something that might be a bigger threat than Mr. Cosmo ever was.
This hybrid zoner was more terrifying than he and his friends ever thought. They were already disturbed about the idea of a zoner with white and red capabilities. They already knew that a zoner like that was dangerous. But what Ms. Saffron said...it chilled them to the core. It was far worse than they thought...
A zoner that had a taste for real world flesh? That was utterly disturbing, and the fact that the hybrid zoner might go after humans was rather unsettling. Eating real world food was dangerous for a zoner. The idea that a zoner figured out how to do this without consequence, or at least survive the process every time, it was scary to think about.
And the idea of the zoner being so ferocious that even Draow was afraid...Rudy realized they had bitten off more than they could chew. They were running into this blind and he was realizing just how horrible of an idea that had been. They needed to learn more about hybrid zoners before they were able to proceed. Maybe Barney would be able to tell them something. He knew all about the history of ChalkZone. He might know about hybrid zoners, even just a little bit.
But Barney had been busy lately... He might not have time to talk to them. And he and his friends didn't exactly have the time to go looking through the jungle to find Barney. They still needed to get back to Skrawl and tell them of their discovery. He had to be warned. The rest of ChalkZone had to be warned.
He turned to his friends and gestured with his hand. "Come on...we should head back."
Penny nodded her head slowly. "Yeah. Skrawl would want to know about this." She paused for a moment, and then she looked at Rudy worriedly. "What do you think will happen...if this intruder turns out to be this...hybrid zoner Ms. Saffron warned us about...?"
Rudy flinched at the question. "I...don't know. I never faced something like this before..."
"We can always ask Biclops." Snap suggested. "He guards the magic chalk... He's probabl aware of some way to counteract hybrids."
"But Ms. Saffron indicated that hybrids weren't thought of until Mr. Cosmo came along. And only one hybrid was created in ChalkZone...well on purpose. And the two Mr. Cosmo created on purpose were promptly erased. I don't think Biclops would be able to gather a lot of information from that." Penny said, her voice laced with fear and uncertainty. "It is possible that Cosmo never found any other method in stopping them... Maybe killing them was the only thing he could do."
Rudy narrowed his eyes. "Cosmo killed them because he was a monster... I don't think he would have bothered to try to find another method. You know how he is. If something doesn't go his way, he destroys it." He said with disgust. His mind burned with anger as he remembered the horrible treatment given to Snap. "There could have been a way, but that...madman may have deliberately ignored it and chose to kill the zoners...just in case he did find a way to control them. He would want something that was unstoppable. Something no one knew how to combat."
"You do have a point, Rudy." Penny said. "And the idea that this hybrid zoner is worse than Mr. Cosmo..."
"Please..." Snap cried, his body shaking. "Don't give me any ideas..."
Penny stared into Snap's widened, frightened eyes. "I'm sorry, Snap..."
Rudy looked at Snap sadly. He couldn't blame him for being so afraid. They were all terrified of what this zoner was capable of, if even Mr. Cosmo's cruelty couldn't match him. He wasn't sure what they were going to do when the time came to confront him. Would they even be remotely prepared?
Rudy turned his head, looking out the doorway. "We...should get going now."
Snap nodded his head eagerly. "Yeah. Let's get out of this place. I..don't like it here..."
Rudy cast Snap a sympathetic glance as he and Penny walked out of the room. He began to follow. He paused for a moment. He looked back at the computer. He went towards it and placed a hand on the monitor, taking in a deep breath.
"Thanks, Ms. Saffron..." He whispered. Then he turned and walked away.
sss
"What?! Are you sure?!"
Skrawl looked very shocked. And Rudy wasn't at all surprised. He had a feeling the jellybean would react with such disbelief.
They had just arrived back at the jail. Skrawl was surprised they came back so soon. Rudy wasn't sure if he should be insulted or not. He wasn't sure if Skrawl really did think it would take a while of searching through every computer, trying to find the one file the password went to, or if Skrawl did not have as much faith in their abilities or something.
Skrawl had been in the back with an investigator who was analyzing the scene of the crime. From what they overheard, they were trying to figure out the relative size and some features of the intruder, to see if any of the mess would give them some clues. Having an idea of what the intruder looked like was crucial in finding him and stopping him.
Before Skrawl noticed them, the trio overheard some details from the investigator. The intruder was not very large. He was definitely smaller than Draow. The investigator guessed, judging from the claw marks and the accounts from the wardens, that the intruder, at shoulder height, was about as tall as Snap. He was able to determine, from looking closely at all the slash marks, both on the walls and the machinery, that the intruder had three claws on each foot, pretty large ones, and he was four-legged, not two like everyone originally thought.
The fact that the intruder was only about as tall as Snap didn't bring any comfort to Rudy or Penny. Size did not mean much when it came to threat levels. And the fact that this intruder was able to get Draow to take orders from him, despite being so much smaller, and the fact he was able to get Draow out so easily...it just made him all the more terrifying. If something that small could get something as big and dangerous to follow its orders...
The investigator was able to reveal something else as well. It seemed Penny had the right idea the whole time with the cameras. They were tampered with. The investigator told Skrawl about how images had been taped over the camers so carefully so that no one would notice. Only a few cameras outside the building had them, the point in which the intruder had wanted to enter from. This did explain why the alarm didn't go off until the intruder was inside the jail.
Skrawl was understandably furious and ordered some of his technicians to go fix the cameras. He was going to look into the camera designs pretty soon and change them so that covering them up like that wouldn't work again.
The last thing the investigator said chilled Rudy. He had been talking about the hole in the wall. He mentioned how clean the cut was. It was too clean, and the investigator had doubts that any item in ChalkZone could create such a hole. However, the investigator was able to think of one thing that could create the hole. Something that seemed so harmless, something that Rudy never thought could be used in such a way.
A piece of magic chalk.
The thought horrified him and his friends. Magic chalk could not be used by any zoner; only humans. The only way they could think of magic chalk being involved in this is that a creator had been helping the intruder this whole time. But that made no sense. There was no evidence of any new creators showing up in ChalkZone. Someone would have noticed and said something about it.
There was another way, but Rudy shuddered to think about it. The other way that magic chalk could have worked was...
...was if this zoner could use magic chalk, somehow...
"Is it even possible for such a thing to exist?"
Skrawl's cry of disbelief snapped Rudy out of his thoughts. He gave a quick nod to the jellybean. "Yeah..that's what Ms. Saffron said."
"Ms. Saffron?" Skrawl was confused. "I thought she was..."
Penny nodded her head sadly. "Yeah..she is... She left behind a video for us to find. She told us about some secret experiment Mr. Cosmo had done on the side. He had apparently hidden it very well from us. Until we found that video, we had no idea he had actually done something like that recently."
Snap waved his arms frantically. "And it's not the first time! He created one in ChalkZone years ago, only to destroy it when it 'malfunctioned', as he would say, on him."
Skrawl's mismatched eyes were widened in shock. He looked at the three, as if he were judging them to make sure they were telling him the truth. "A red chalk zoner with the self control of white chalk zoners?" He shook his head in disbelief. "I never thought it was even possible to do that... I had no idea there was someone crazy enough to try to control red chalk."
"Well Mr. Cosmo did create the red chalk, so of course he would want to have control over it." Rudy said.
Skrawl nodded. "Good point, artist boy." He paused for a moment, frowning in deep thought. He looked at the three again and said, "What else were you able to find out?"
"That this hybrid zoner has the potential of being worse than Mr. Cosmo. Ms. Saffron detailed on how the zoner even frightened Draow...which would explain, if this intruder is the hybrid, why Draow so easily decided to work with him. Mr. Cosmo had drawn two hybrid zoners and only let one come alive. And when that one failed, he destroyed it and left the second alone." Rudy explained. With a guilty tone of voice, he continued, "I...erased the second hybrid without realizing it... When I went to erase Mr. Cosmo's equipment, the drawing for the second hybrid zoner was there somewhere...and I erased it."
Skrawl narrowed his eyes dangerously. He took one step towards Rudy, raising a hand like he was about to strike. "You did what?! Are you insane?!"
Rudy held out his hands in front of him. "I didn't know! None of us knew!"
"Yeah, Skrawl. Cool yourself down!" Penny scolded him. "None of us knew about this hybrid zoner until recently. If Rudy had known about it, he wouldn't have been so quick to erase everything. He would have checked and done something to make sure the hybrid zoner never got into ChalkZone."
Skrawl growled lowly, but he took a step back away from Rudy. "I suppose you're right, genius girl... I know Master Tabootie wouldn't knowingly unleash a threat upon this world." His expression slowly softened, but just a tad. He was still scowling, but at least now, his anger wasn't directed at Rudy. "Anything...else?"
Snap nodded his head. "Yeah. Ms. Saffron talked about how this zoner ate the remains of a real world rat."
This caused a gasp to escape from Skrawl's mouth. He swiveled his head in Snap's direction, eyes very wide. "You're..joking...right?"
Snap shook his head. "Afraid not, Skrawly."
Skrawl growled. "Don't call me Skrawly!"
"Well anyway..." Snap said, completely ignoring Skrawl's shout at him. "Ms. Saffron said that Mr. Cosmo documented the zoner eating the remains of a real world rat. There is no way he would have made something creepy like that up. So we can conclude that she is being truthful about this. And there's the possibility that..."
"..that this zoner will try to go after humans." Penny finished, her voice soft and shakey. "There is no record if this hybrid zoner would do such a thing. But if he is anything like the first one, then...we should be prepared."
Skrawl nodded his head. "Agreed. You two are in bigger danger than I thought. I would take you off the case, but if this zoner is as dangerous as you say, it wouldn't matter, really." He paused and thought for a moment. He turned his head towards the crime scene. He then turned back to the trio. "I do not normally do this, but I authorize you two to, just in case, to bring sealed real world water with you."
Rudy's eyes widened in horror. "We can't do that! It's too risky!"
"Yes I know.." Skrawl said. His expression turned into something that Rudy and his friends rarely see from Skrawl. A look of concern. "But at least that way, you'll be safe. The hybrid zoner can't possibly be stupid... If he sees you with some real world water, he would know to stay back. Just..consider the idea, okay?"
Rudy sighed. "Okay, Skrawl..we'll consider it."
"Thank you." The smile on Skrawl's face took them all by surprise. But they weren't shocked when it faded really fast and the familiar glare turned. He turned his head towards his wardens. "I will inform my men of what you have discovered."
Rudy, Penny, and Snap left the jail soon after that. Skrawl had went over to his wardens to tell them what happened. It was getting late and Rudy and Penny had to leave soon to go home. They had told Skrawl everything they found out and they hoped it would be enough. Skrawl promised to get word out to ChalkZone newstations to let them know of the threat. And to top it off, he would send his Beanie Boys out to spread the word.
They were happy to know how serious Skrawl was taking all of this. The same determination he had when he used to scheme still shined now, and this time he was using it for good, not evil. Considering how determined this guy was in the past, they trusted that he would keep his word.
As they walked away, Rudy couldn't help but wonder what they were going to do about the hybrid zoner. He didn't want to resort to real world water. He didn't want to resort to killing... He still was haunted by Mr. Cosmo's death. Even though it wasn't his fault, Rudy still felt somewhat guilty about it. He had never wanted that to happen to the man, even if he thought he was the most disgusting person on the planet.
The idea of having to kill the intruder...it wasn't something he wanted to think about. He understood Skrawl's concern. He knew that, if the time came, that might be what they'd have to do, especially if this intruder so easily avoids capture, and can so easily slip through one of the most secure jails in ChalkZone.
And the idea that he might be able to wield magic chalk... If that was true, if there was a type of magic chalk zoners could use...
Rudy gulped as he realized how big of a threat they were dealing with.
"Rudy?" He heard Penny say. He turned to her. "We should go back home. We need to do some studying for tomorrow's test."
Rudy's eyes widened. The test..he had forgotten about the chemistry test. He looked down to Snap and said, "We'll be back tomorrow."
Snap nodded his head. "Around what time?"
Rudy looked over at Penny, trying to think of an answer. After thinking about what time they'd get off of school, and anything else they had to do... "At around 3:00 PM. Meet us at the portal at our house, okay?"
Snap said, "Okay. See you two tomorrow then!"
"Goodbye, Snap!" The two said in unison, waving farewell. They began to walk away, towards the portal back home.
Unbeknownst to them, hiding away in thick foliage that they were walking by, a pair of bright green eyes was staring at them. They belonged to Bardot. The zoner was hidden in the shadows of the bushes, keeping very quiet. He narrowed his eyes as he watched Rudy and Penny walk, and smirked as he realized they hadn't noticed him.
He turned his head, watching them as they continued walking away. His eyes widened slightly, brightening. A smile spread across his muzzle, his fangs dripping with heated venom.
"Well...at least you got to say goodbye..."
