The journey to the Chalk Mine took longer than expected. A pretty strange thing, considering that it was not like it had moved anywhere. And yet it still felt like it took forever. Perhaps this was because of the tension in the air, the rigidness of everything around them. Time did seem to slow down as they hurried over to the protected mines.

Penny did feel some guilt that she hadn't thought about this earlier. As soon as the attack on Rapsheeba occurred, she should have thought to see Biclops right then and there. But they had been so worked up over what happened and trying so hard to figure out what the heck was going on, that she failed to consider the fact that Biclops would have been willing to help. The giant hardly entered her mind, and she felt a pang of guilt at that.

Oh well, at least they were now going to see the giant. At least now they were going to finally ask him about what had happened. There was no need to inform him; the giant knew what goes on around these parts. Not all of ChalkZone obviously, but the city and the surrounding areas. So he would have caught wind already of what happened to Rapsheeba.

She hoped that he would be able to tell them more of what could have been the cause. Why would a bunch of stick figure zoners do something like this? What would be their motivations? And just.. what were they going to do about this? She gritted her teeth tightly, knowing full well that Biclops might only give more questions than answers. The idea infuriated her, and yet she knew perfectly well that this was a possibility. And if it was.. Well, she hoped that she and her friends would be able to figure out something that they could do about this.

She and Rudy and Snap continued their way towards the Chalk Mine, which they could see in the distance now. They moved over in its direction, increasing their speed, urgency rushing through their bodies. They opened their mouths and panted heavily as their bodies required increasing levels of oxygen to keep moving. Their muscles burned and their lungs contorted, trying to get in more air than they could hold.

To their luck, Biclops just happened to be standing outside of the Chalk Mine. He looked like he was doing a little bit of cleaning. He had a wheelbarrow in his hands and chunks of dead, rotten chalk inside. Penny recalled hearing details of this from Rudy when he told her about the time he and Snap had gone into the red chalk mine. She shuddered at the thought.

"Hey, Biclops!" Snap was the first one to call out. "We need to talk to you!"

Biclops immediately stopped. The giant looked surprised to see the trio rushing towards him. He was so shocked that he nearly tipped over the wheelbarrow. He managed to right himself and he lifted up a hand to wave at them. "Oh hello, Rudy Tabootie, Penny Sanchez, and Snap! What brings you two here?"

"It's Snap White!" Snap folded his arms briefly.

"Come on, Snap. Now's not the time." Rudy scolded his friend.

"Besides, it's not even your real last name." Penny pointed out.

Snap struck a pose. "But it suits me so well!" He immediately blinked at this, realizing what he was doing, and shook his head. "Oh what am I doing..." He looked up at Biclops and started to jump up and down, panic rushing through his body. "Biclops, you've got to help us! It's an emergency!"

Biclops widened his eyes at this.

Penny nodded her head. "I'm sure you know of what happened to Rapsheeba?"

Biclops lowered his gaze, biting his lip. His eyes furrowed in concern. "Yes... Unfortunate. To think that such a thing could happen..." He straightened himself up. "I mean, it is of no surprise. Some zoners are nasty. But... Rapsheeba never did anything to draw attention like that. And I've never seen any zoners around here, aside from mostly Skrawl and Craniac, acting like that." He motioned his hand outward as he continued to speak. "It is certainly worrying."

Rudy nodded in agreement. He rubbed his arm lightly, his hand going up and down in a rhythmic pattern. "I don't even know what I can do to help." He looked down sideways for a couple of seconds. Then he looked back up at Biclops and said, "My friends and I think that what's going on is that these zoners don't like creators. And because Rapsheeba has contact with her creator...sort of... They targeted her."

"I don't even know how they could have found out, though." Snap looked at his hands, motioning them out to the side and inward repeatedly. "We promised we wouldn't tell anyone." He looked at Biclops. "You did not tell anyone either, did you?"

Biclops shook his head. "No, I have not." He pressed a finger to his chin. "It is possible that they happened upon her at her creator's spot." He held his large hand upwards. "Or maybe they just overheard someone talking."

"Yeah, that is true. We don't usually bring it up, but once in a while..." Snap kept his arms folded, his eyes furrowing deeply. "Heh, perhaps I'm the one who caused this. I do have a big mouth."

Penny placed a hand on Snap's shoulder. "The only one to blame for this are those zoners, Snap, and you know it." Snap didn't say anything, but Penny could see clearly in his eyes that he did appreciate the gesture. She smiled at him before she returned her attention to Biclops. "You've been here for a long time, right?"

Biclops nodded his head. "That is true. I've been here..." He paused for a moment. "Definitely a few decades your time."

"So do you have any idea what could have caused the zoners to do this? I mean, those stick figures?" Penny asked.

Biclops blinked. "Stick figures?"

Rudy nodded. "Yeah. We didn't realize it at first, but yeah, they were all stick figures." He narrowed his eyes slightly. "All similar-looking stick figures at that. Nothing really distinguishable about them. It's...frustrating. I don't know who to trust anymore in ChalkZone City." He gripped the sides of his head. "Most of the zoners there are stick figures!"

"Rudy, calm down..." Snap started to say. Penny flinched. That had been the wrong thing to say.

Rudy turned to glare at Snap. "Calm down? How can I when so many lives are at stake?! We don't know when they are going to strike next! And I... Argh!" Rudy struck against the ground as hard as he could. He suddenly stiffened and he let out a yelp, holding his arm to himself. It was at this moment that they were all reminded that he was injured.

Snap reached out towards him, but did not try to grab him. "Bucko..."

Rudy clinched his teeth tightly. "I'm...fine..."

Penny looked at the wound. It didn't look like it was badly aggravated. She still gave Rudy a stern look. "You need to be more careful." Rudy didn't answer. He just gave a stiff nod in return. Penny let out a sigh and she said to Biclops, "Yeah that's our problem. With them being stick figures, taking action is going to be hard. We don't even know any of their names and without recognizable features, it's hard for us to even start asking questions."

Biclops replied, "I agree. I admit, I'm surprised I hadn't noticed they were all stick figures myself. I guess it all happened so fast, and then I had to start cleaning out the mine because...well.." His eyes flickered with a bit of uncomfortableness. "You do not want to know what happens if the mine's rotten chalk isn't cleaned out frequently."

"Yeah I can imagine..." Rudy commented. He cleared his throat and he took a step towards Biclops and he said, "So...do you have any ideas?"

Biclops remained silent for a while. He was tapping his chin lightly, clearly trying to think of an answer. The trio let him search through his mind as he attempted to scope out some kind of answer. He remained like this for a while, and the silence rapidly grew unbearable. They all fidgeted, dreading what the answer as going to be. Yet at the same time, they were drawn in. They needed to know what this giant was going to say.

And finally, he did speak.

"...I believe I have an idea. And it's..not pretty."

When the giant said this, Penny looked over at her friends. She could see the looks in their eyes, the way that their eyes widened. They all had a feeling of what this could mean. And none of them were going to like hearing it. But it wasn't like they could just simply deny it, either. If this information was going to help them solve just what the heck was going on with those stick figure zoners, this was the only way to do it. They needed answers and they needed them now.

Even before the giant continued to speak, Penny couldn't help but let her mind wander a little. Her brain already conjured up several worst case scenario type of deals, and they just got more and more gruesome the longer that she thought about them. She could feel her heart pounding inside of her chest and she tried to control her increased breathing. She felt her eyes widen as she thought of all kinds of conspiracies, hidden threats, all that. She did not mean to think like this. It just kind of happened. Perhaps she was more influenced by fear than she initially thought.

Then again, considering all that can be done in ChalkZone, perhaps she was not being so unreasonable after all. Regardless, she tried her best to be silent as the giant zoner in front of them started to explain.

"Well, Rudy... Do you... remember what I told you about the creators of the past...?"

"Wait, what..?" Penny turned over to look at Rudy. "What is he... Oh, is he talking about those creators who..." Rudy nodded his head. Penny nearly slapped herself in the face. "Oh that's right..." She didn't know how she could have forgotten. It was one of the first things she'd learned when she was new in ChalkZone. She shook the thoughts out of her head. Right now, there was no time to scold herself over something as silly as that. She looked back over at Biclops and said, "So anyway, what about them?"

Rudy nodded his had. "Yeah, Biclops. I recall you telling me about how bad they were..." Rudy held his hands up at his sides. "But just what do they have to do with this?"

Biclops narrowed his eyes deeply. "Oh it has everything to do with this.." The giant shut his vertical eyes, raising a finger up into the air. "With how terrible things had been before, do you really think that everyone would have gotten over that so easily?"

The trio exchanged nervous glances.

Biclops spread his huge hands outward. "Those creators ran amok in ChalkZone! They drew all kinds of horrible creations and ravaged this whole place!" He lowered his hands. "I tell you, Rudy Tabootie and friends, you would not have liked the ChalkZone I had been created in." He rubbed the back of his large, thick neck at this. There were so many emotions flashing in front of his face. A constant whirlwind of internal conflict. "I mean, not all of the creators were bad... But the ones who were..." He shut his eyes tightly. There were hints of tears that streaked down his face. "They would shame Skrawl himself."

That was all that needed to be said for them all to understand the gravity of the situation. They all knew what was Skrawl was like. Even when that guy had hit pretty low, he still managed to come out as one of the most terrifying zoners they have to deal with. They don't know what he would do next, and he would stoop to so many levels. He had even tried to turn Penny against them once...

Penny shuddered to think of that. She still felt tremendous amounts of guilt for what she was forced to do. Even though Rudy and Snap forgave her, she still hadn't fully forgiven herself. She wished she could have done something else that didn't involve recklessly endangering one of her friends' lives. She could have easily killed Snap in her little stunt. If Rudy hadn't reacted quickly enough... Penny knew that she shouldn't let herself continue to be weighed down by this. She did what she had to do. That didn't mean that she had to enjoy it. Tough decisions were...well, tough. At least she was able to get Rudy and Snap to safety.

But she still could not relax. She still had to pay attention to the fact that, as terrible as Skrawl could be, to think that someone out there could be worse... She knew of Skrawl's attempts to destroy Rudy and his creations, to making her side with him, to using a robot that nearly brain damaged Rudy, to brainwashing a large portion of ChalkZone, including Biclops himself... To think that there could be anyone worse than that...

Then again, she could not be all that surprised. After all, humans could be pretty awful. Not that zoners can't be, but humans, creators as zoners called them, could create anything. Whatever a creator wanted, they could get, and she would not put it past some creators to 'toy' with zoners. Not even accepting them as real people on the same level as Rudy and her did. And this realization combined with knowing just what the fuck some children their age do... she could feel her blood turning into ice.

Biclops's voice sliced through the air, ending the uncomfortable silence that had settled upon them. It was something of a welcome. "I have no doubt in my mind that these zoners that you speak of had been wronged by creators and had never gotten over it. They could have been around from that era."

Penny flinched at this. "They have my deepest sympathies in that regard..."

"But let's not forget, they're still causing us trouble now." Snap pointed out, his eyes narrowed. "We shouldn't focus too much on sympathizing with them."

"Yes, I know, Snap." Penny couldn't agree more. While she could understand why the stick figure zoners were angry, if they really were survivors of an era long gone, but that did not mean that she was diminishing the severity of their crimes. What they did was still inexcusable. But it was still nice to get some form of context of this situation. "But this is a tougher case than I thought it was going to be."

Rudy bared his teeth slightly. "Yeah... It was bad enough before, but... How are we going to deal with zoners like these?" Rudy raised his hands up, palms facing upwards. "They already hate creators it would seem. If we intervene, wouldn't that make them feel more justified?"

"Perhaps.. But we still need to do something." Said Penny. "We can't just let them keep running around ChalkZone hurting people like this."

Biclops gave a slow, solemn nod. "That is correct. If someone is causing trouble in ChalkZone, even if another zoner, something has to be done about it." Biclops's vertical eyes furrowed slightly. "It is no that easy maintaining peace across this world. I don't even know what other sections are like. I do my best to help this section remain peaceful. But if some kind of disruption happens like with these zones, and it goes unchecked and it spreads..." The pale yellow giant shuddered as the thoughts crossed his mind. "Egh.. I don't want to think about it..."

The trio agreed unanimously on this. None of them wanted to know what ChalkZone would be like if zoners like these were allowed to wreak havoc. They had mostly known this part of ChalkZone for being peaceful, but they were well aware that some areas of this world were still...not so good. If anything, this was one of the most peaceful spots in all of ChalkZone. They did not want to think of how the zoners would react to a sudden onslaught of violence similar to what other areas suffered from. Granted, most of them weren't as bad as when creators ran free here, but still...

Suddenly, Rudy released a loud gasp, enough that it caused Snap to jump into the air. Penny felt her body shudder quickly at the sound and she looked over at the boy, wondering if he was hurt or something.

"Rudy! What happened?!" Penny cried out. "Why did you..."

"I just thought of something.." Rudy whispered lowly.

Snap brushed himself off. "Does it involve scaring me again?"

Rudy ignored Snap's comment, his eyes filled with horror and realization. The sight of this caused even Biclops to freeze with uncertainty. When Rudy thought of something and he looked like this, it was never a good thing. They waited in silence as the boy turned to them, his voice remaining low and a little trembly. "What if these zoners are angry at how they've been treated in the Real World...?"

Penny and Snap exchanged confused expressions. Biclops looked the same as Rudy, as though he immediately got what the boy was trying to say. But Penny and Snap still remained confused. What was Rudy alluding at?

"Don't you see? I can't believe I didn't.." Rudy put a hand to the side of his head, rubbing his cheek lightly. "It should have been so obvious..."

"What should have been so obvious, Rudy?" Penny asked, raising a hand up.

"Yeah, Bucko." Snap motioned a rounded hand in Rudy's direction. "Care to enlighten us?"

Rudy continued to rub his head, his eyes cast downward. "Well.. Remember that time when I 'corrected' those drawings?" Rudy gulped at this, obviously feeling shame at having to recall something so... Well at least he learned his lesson from that. Penny gave a nod. "Well they seemed to know that I was the one who did that..."

"Yeah? And...?" Snap inquired.

Rudy gritted his teeth for a moment. "You can't see it? If they knew I was the one, then they must have been aware of me being there, changing them. They must have a sense of... 'seeing', in a way, before they're erased. They must be aware, on some level, what the creator intends to do with them. And that means that if a creator had foul intentions, the zoner would know."

Penny and Snap exchanged looks with one another.

Rudy was not yet done. He added in, "And who is to say that these zoners haven't felt the same?"

"Wait, are you saying that these zoners were being tortured by their creators?" Snap tilted his head to one side. "Not that I'm saying that's disturbing as heck, but what makes you think that is the case with these zoners? They're stick figures, Rudy." Snap raised his arms up for a moment. "Don't you creators tend to give them little attention? Why would they..." Snap paused for a moment. "Then again..."

Rudy slowly rotated his head tone side. One of his eyes stared over at his friends quietly, his eyes contorting and widening, showing a variety of emotion. But there was also a sense of submission to them, a look that no one liked to see from the boy. "That's...exactly what I mean..."

There was an overbearing silence that weighed down upon the group at this. If Biclops had been wanting to say something, this thing that Rudy said had made him shut up. The silence rapidly grew uncomfortable as the group stared at one another, wondering what they could say about this. It was a very real possibility and something that they all knew they should have realized earlier.

Not that it never crossed their mind, but they never thought about it as deeply as Rudy just did. And it did not fully click with them until now. It all made sense. What if the reason these zoners were acting out wasn't because of any torture or physical pain inflicted upon them, but instead the lack of attention at all? They had considered something similar before. But now that Rudy laid it bare in front of them...

And even then, what if that was not the full story? What if there was something more? What if there was another angle that they were missing? The idea that something more sinister was going on chilled their blood. And the fact that Biclops was not saying anything to reassure them suggested strongly just how real of a possibility that this was.

Penny knew that something needed to be said. They couldn't just keep staring at each other like this. They couldn't continue letting their fears and horrors get in the way of figuring out what they were going to do about this. Something had to be done, and since no one else here was speaking up, she decided to break the silence for herself. She cleared her throat as she moved towards Biclops, the first person she thought of to go to, in order to ask this question. Once she got the giant's attention, she spoke up.

"What should we do about this?" She asked carefully, a sense of caution still twisting up her stomach. She feared what the answer was going to be, yet she could not look away. "Do you have any ideas on what we can do about this?"

She and her friends looked up at the giant intently, waiting for him to reply. Biclops watched them with almost tired, solemn-looking eyes. Not a good sign... But Penny remained hopeful that Biclops would have something that could be helpful, something that could help turn things around, something like... Well she had no clue. But still, there had to be some way of dealing with zoners like these. There just had to be.

"..I am not certain."

This was like a gigantic slap in the face. None of them wanted to hear that. None of them had wanted a non-answer like that. The emotions that struck them at this nearly knocked them off of their feet. And it provided them with the harsh reminder that there was no easy answer for this. How do they deal with zoners whom looked too much alike, too generic that they can't tell what their names were or who was who? How were they going to confront zoners who already had it out for creators without accidentally reinforcing their beliefs and motivations?

None of that had an answer answer. They did not expect there to be one that easily given to them. But they still wished, still wanted, something that could be helpful. They had all hoped that Biclops, voice of reason in ChalkZone, would provide them with some push in the right direction. If he can't even do that...

Biclops spoke up again, "I would need more information. As you may have already guessed, names are important." Biclops raised his finger at this. "If you are able to bring me back some names, I might have some information that could prove useful."

It was better than nothing, at least. Not like it really helped all that much, though. How were they going to nab names when they don't have a good enough description to go by to even get to one of them? How did Biclops think that they could achieve something like that? Or was he really just as desperate as them and grasping at straws here? Honestly, they bet that it was the second thing.

"Okay, Biclops." Rudy said solemnly. "I... We will do the best that we can with that."

Biclops gave a grim smile. "I wish you all luck."

"Yeah... Thanks.." Rudy turned and exchanged worried glances with his friends. Silent questions were zipped across each other, filling each other up with several unnerving thoughts. Then, taking one more glance at Biclops and each giving off a disappointed sigh, they began to walk away, allowing the giant to return to his cleaning duties.