Cryptic investigation
Chapter Eleven – Perilous Escape
Rudy had little time to talk to Penny that afternoon, seeing as her mother had only allowed her to come over to his house for an hour. He hadn't had much of an opportunity to sneak into ChalkZone, either, since his parents had wanted to spend time with him downstairs. Ever since he had gotten back home, he had constantly been thinking about ChalkZone and the Zoners who'd lived in the city. He wondered what they had thought after he, Penny, and Snap had returned from their journey empty handed, not having even come close to finding anything that could help them. Was it possible that they could be ready to give up on him? He had to admit, he was about ready to give up on himself. He remembered what Penny had said about an hour ago, soon before she had left, clearly in his mind:
"Rudy, if they haven't started their full-scale attack yet, I think Newland probably has given the termites about a week…maybe a little less. That does give us a bit more time."
That had made sense, and he knew that Newland, Bouffant and Raton wouldn't want ChalkZone to be destroyed if they could help it, but he knew they were counting on him bringing them the magic chalk, and he was sure they would spitefully have ChalkZone destroyed rather than call off the attack via a message erased from the chalkboard if he refused to give in to them. There was no way to tell if Penny was right about the time being around a week. All he knew about the termites' plan of attack was what the Zoners from the city had observed and told him, but from what it sounded like, there wasn't much time left at all. If he were being optimistic, he'd guess that they had a couple days left at most. However, he couldn't even be sure of that.
Despite his exhaustion, he couldn't rest. After dinner, he told his parents that he wanted to go ride his bike for a while, and to his relief, although it was somewhat late, they agreed to his request and told him to be back by dark. He thought that it would be a better chance to slip into ChalkZone, as he knew that if he did while his parents thought he would be in his room, they could be likely to check there and find him gone, much more likely than usual since they kept wanting to talk to him about the field trip, a conversation he had been trying to avoid. He knew that as he rode through the town, he'd have to look for a secluded place to draw a portal, and be careful, but the thought didn't bother him. He'd done this before.
As he took his bicycle out to the sidewalk, he could see that the sun was starting to set. It certainly wasn't dark, but it was enough to remind him that one more day was almost over; they had little time left. He wouldn't have long to stay in ChalkZone, either. As he got on his bike, he tried once again to think of some idea, some sort of solution they could find to stop Newland's creatures without endangering themselves or anyone else. He knew it wasn't likely he would come up with anything – he hadn't been able to even when he and Penny were together – but he hoped he would at least be able to have a faint idea, some sort of hope, before he met up with Snap again.
He began riding down the street, idly glancing at the houses, yards and sidewalks as he passed them by. Even though children in the neighborhood sometimes drew with sidewalk chalk around there, he knew that this was not an ideal place to make a portal. He thought about heading to the park; at least it would be easy to see if there was anyone there, and there were plenty of sections of sidewalk that had been drawn on with chalk that he could use.
However, upon reaching the park, he could see immediately that there were several children running around and playing, in plain view of all the sidewalks. One thing was for sure: he wasn't going to be able to escape their attention there. Sighing, he turned and rode on.
As he passed a row of shops, he went over all the ideas he had managed to think of that day, each one sadly more hopeless than the last. The worst part of it was that even if he did know exactly what was going on, he was powerless to stop it without some sort of help. The remains of the library Biclops had told them about were simply too far for them to reach, but it was clear that none of the Zoners had any idea what to do, and if they had, they certainly would have done something by now. Yet, he certainly wasn't ready to just completely give up. Maybe one of the Zoners had a lead, like Biclops had. He certainly planned to ask around as soon as he entered ChalkZone, and although his chances of finding anything were slim, he had to try. He knew he wouldn't have much time during his 'bike riding trip,' but he was ready to stay up all night if he had to, and then the next night, even if he fell asleep in class and got detention and wouldn't be able to visit ChalkZone during school. The world he cared so much about was facing a dire threat, and he was going to do everything he could to prevent it.
He pulled his bike up next to a wide, short alleyway ending in a brick wall between two old buildings. Seeing a few words and pictures in chalk scrawled on it, he grinned, riding up to it and dismounting his bike, leaning it against the wall as he took his magic chalk out of his pocket. He quickly glanced out toward the street, but there was no one around to peer into the alley. Knowing that if he left the bike there, it could easily get stolen, he drew a larger circle, lifting the bicycle onto the ChalkZone grass inside of it before hurriedly climbing in and erasing the portal.
Looking around, Rudy could see that he was in another large grassy ChalkZone field, and this one had several exotic plants, including small forests of paintbrushes like the ones he and his friends had come across once when searching for the chocolate chip cookie tree. As he peered around, he quickly noticed the outline of the hotel building he had drawn for the Zoners. Setting his bike against a nearby bush, he quickly drew himself another motorized scooter and zoomed off toward it.
As he approached, he quickly realized that something was wrong. He could hear confused shouts and a few yells of panic, and fear gripped him as a dozen possible scenarios raced through his mind, each more horrifying than the last. Accelerating on the scooter, he reached the building swiftly, looking around at the confused crowd of Zoners gathered at the front of it as he came to a stop.
"What's happening?" he cried, jumping off the scooter and running to the crowd, who noticed him for the first time.
"Rudy!" a voice cried, and he turned his head, relief flooding through him as he recognized it as Snap's.
"Snap, what's happening?" he asked, making his way through the crowd toward his friend. He hoped that Snap knew; he wanted to hear the news, whatever it was, from a close friend he knew and trusted. Whatever the threat was, he certainly didn't want to be up against it alone, and now more than ever he wanted a friend to be beside him as he faced the danger.
"Apparently there's some crazy drawing that's been erased," Snap told him, speaking loudly to make his voice heard over the sound of the anxious chatter. "From what I heard it was attackin' some village a little ways from here, and they all think it's headin' this way." He waved his hand toward the crowd, some of which, Rudy noticed, had started to flee the area, many casting worried glances at the Zoners who still remained.
"Well, why hasn't everyone left then?" Rudy asked, nervously watching them.
"A lot of Zoners were injured when Newland's creatures attacked the city," Snap replied worriedly. "They're sayin' they can't get 'em all out."
"Well, I can help!" he insisted, looking around at the gathered crowd again. He felt a twinge of anger as he realized that no one seemed to be doing anything to try to help the situation, nor did anyone seem to have a fully accurate idea of what was going on.
"Good, 'cause it doesn't seem like anyone else has any idea what to do," Snap replied. "Took me a while just to figure out what was goin' on, and then you showed up and-"
"Well, I'll make sure everyone's safe," Rudy replied firmly, the determination on his face clear. He quickly drew a pair of rockets on his shoes and lifted into the air above the crowd to more easily get their attention. "Listen up, everyone!" he called out. Almost instantly, the talking faded and in a few seconds, all the Zoners gathered outside the building had their eyes on him, waiting to hear what he would say. Confident that he had their attention, Rudy continued. "If there's some sort of danger headed this way, we need to get everyone out of the building and away from here. Now, I want all of you to-"
A sudden scream cut him off, and Rudy froze as the crowd's focus was suddenly completely diverted from him. He whirled around, and his gaze quickly locked on what had obviously stolen the Zoners' attention.
Emerging from behind a large hill was a truly massive golden scaled dragon. On all fours, it stood what looked to be nearly twice Biclops's height, and it likely had a wingspan much longer. Its back was ridged with large spikes and it had a menacing appearance, but its looks weren't what alarmed Rudy so much. The dragon was spewing flame at anything and everything it came across, and was rapidly heading in the direction the building.
Rudy's attention was momentarily diverted to the gathered Zoners as many of the ones who remained started to flee. A few remained behind, some rushing into the building to attempt to warn the ones who weren't yet aware of the danger or to try to help the injured ones to safety. Rudy and Snap were left almost completely alone by the hotel's front doors, glancing at each other in horror.
"We have to find a way to lead that thing away from here," Rudy stated urgently, "they're not going to get everyone out in time."
"Y-ya don't think this is connected with Newland's creatures do you?" Snap asked fearfully as his friend quickly drew rockets on his shoes as well.
"I don't know," he began, glancing up to peer at the creature, which was now a little bit closer. As he did so, he saw that it lacked the level of detail that Newland's drawings had, but that didn't rule out the possibility of it being drawn by Terry or Vinnie. His mind raced as he watched it pace closer, pausing to incinerate plants or abandoned structures. Why was this happening now, Rudy wondered to himself, when ChalkZone was already vulnerable?
Finishing the drawing, he and Snap took to the air and quickly moved over the section of the Amazin' River flowing in front of the hotel, then headed out into the field where the rampaging dragon was currently sending a grove of jagged-looking pine trees up in flame. Having no idea how far the dragon's flames could reach, Rudy attempted to get its attention from where he was, shouting and waving his arms in the hope that it would follow him and he could lead it away. What he would do then, he wasn't sure. The main thought in his mind was getting it away from the injured Zoners in the hotel.
He wasn't sure the dragon would fall for such a silly distraction, but to his surprise, his distraction worked well. Exceedingly well. Upon seeing two living beings in the field it was currently destroying, the dragon seemed to completely forget where it was going or what it was doing, and instead unfurled its wings and launched itself straight for them.
A look of sheer horror crossed Rudy and Snap's faces at the sight of how quickly the dragon moved, and they sped off through the air, heading away from both the hotel and the dragon. The beast followed them intently, and they soon realized that it had started to gain on them; it was at least a bit faster than their rocket shoes, but that was all it would need, and if they couldn't get to safety it would be only a matter of time before it caught up with them.
As they tried to keep a good distance ahead of the gigantic beast and high enough to avoid having to swerve around obstacles, Rudy constantly looked around, veering away when he saw buildings or anything that looked like it could be the home for Zoners who might not have any idea what was coming until it was too late. The dragon didn't seem interested in burning its surroundings anymore, but he didn't want to take any chances. He could see that Snap had realized this too, and was looking frantically around for some area that looked unoccupied. Rudy risked a glance back at their massive pursuer, relieved that at least it wasn't trying to launch flame at them; they had to be still out of range, though he didn't think they would remain so for much longer. He turned back ahead, and the dull, tattered remains of a line of large buildings and skyscrapers came into view. "Snap!" he called, pointing. "Head to the city!"
"What?" Snap replied, giving Rudy a confused look, but Rudy didn't have time to explain his reasoning.
All he knew was that it was the only place he could think of where there was sure to be no innocent Zoners who could get caught in the crossfire if the dragon tried to ignite the area, and he knew that if they stayed above ground, they should be safe from Newland's monsters.
To his relief, they were able to reach the city and, swerving between the buildings, throw the dragon off their trail long enough to hide behind the bulk of a large, tall, and brightly colored shop as the monstrous drawing approached. Rudy had a vain, impossible hope that it would be distracted by one of the termite creatures and try to follow it underground, but as he looked around, he could see the signs that the termite monsters were digging, but couldn't see any of them out of their tunnels at the moment.
He could hear the dragon landing, and chanced a glance around the edge of the building's wall to see it curiously standing in the street behind him, its long, thin muzzle moving back and forth as it observed its surroundings. He moved away from the edge, trying frantically to think of what to do next. The dragon didn't seem like it had any clear purpose or objective, unless, he realized with dread, that objective was chasing after him or Snap. However, it could just as easily chase after anything that moved, he thought, and he wondered just how he was supposed to stop it. If it was in any way connected with Newland, it likely had some sort of nasty surprise, but there was no way to tell if it really had anything to do with Newland's plan or not. Peering around, he tried to make note of any suitable hiding places in case they had to make a run for it. Further into the city, he could see the edges of the corroding mist, and he knew that he and Snap would have to stay close to the outskirts.
"What do we do now?" Snap whispered, hearing the large creature making its way down the street, but not seeming to get distracted by the termite activity underground. They both knew that trying to move to a new hiding place when it was so close would mean risking getting seen.
"I don't know…" Rudy quickly replied. There had been no time to think of any sort of plan; he'd had to lead the dragon away from the Zoners in the hotel as quickly as possible. But now, as he thought to himself, his gaze rested on the damaged potions of the streets, where he could tell there were tunnels near the surface. "Look," he said, pointing them. "If we can stay close to the ground – but not too close – the dragon will have to walk toward us…it's too big to fly between these buildings! If it opens up the tunnels, those termite monsters might scare it off, and then-"
"And then it'll just attack someone else!" Snap responded, and Rudy felt his hope vanish when he realized that his friend was right. He really wasn't sure what he was going to do. If he had more time to think and draw something, he might be able to trap it, but he would need time to draw something that big.
Any further conversation was cut short as they realized that the dragon was quite close to the building they were currently sheltering behind. As quietly as they could, they hovered above the ground and hurriedly darted to another building close by.
They had barely made it to the new building's door when Rudy noticed that the monster had seen them. It lowered its head and stampeded toward them, the street shuddering at its every step. Glancing wildly around, Rudy noticed another building – that looked like their safest option at the moment – a large brick construction near the edge of the city that looked to only have a few relatively small entrances.
Pointing it out to Snap, Rudy headed for it as fast as his rocket shoes would go, Snap following him closely. From his vantage point in the air, Rudy could see that most of the building's lower entrances were blocked by rubble, so he and Snap flew through a window instead, entering a vast room with a very high ceiling. They quickly moved away from the windows and landed on the floor, the flames on their rocket shoes extinguishing and giving way to the near-darkness around them. They waited to see what would happen as they looked around at the walls, hoping they were sturdy enough to withstand blows from a creature that big. Rudy was doubtful about it, especially after the damage the termites must have done, and he realized with dread that the building could be far weaker than either of them realized.
A sudden stream of flame erupted from one of the window openings, lighting up the entire interior of the dark room and showing both of them the large cracks snaking through the brick wall in many different places. The fire was too far away to cause them any harm, and there wasn't much left in the building to burn, but Rudy and Snap still shrank back in fear, glancing around nervously at the rest of the windows.
"We've gotta get out of here," Rudy cried, starting to run toward another window space in the room. He had to stop abruptly as the dragon's flames began to pour from that opening too, and Rudy realized that it was trying to attack from any place it could, and he looked around at the unstable walls fearfully. "Let's try to get to get to the bottom floor," he cried as they raced for the nearest door. "We can sneak out there."
Rudy pulled the door open, revealing an even taller room that encompassed a part of the bottom floor. The staircase that had once led to the bottom was completely demolished, and a large part of the ground level floor was strewn with broken rubble. Landing on the lower floor with the use of their rocket shoes, the two friends looked around, and Rudy held up his magic chalk, scanning the walls for a good place to draw an exit.
"What are you waitin' for, Bucko?" Snap asked worriedly as he noticed Rudy's hesitation growing as he looked from wall to wall.
"I don't want to draw a hole somewhere where the wall can come down on top of us!" he replied, walking to what looked like the sturdiest wall and examining it carefully before drawing a rectangular opening.
Luckily, he had picked a good place, and sunlight streamed through into the darkness. Stepping over the strewn debris, Rudy looked ahead and could see the edge of the city not far from where he and Snap were standing, the Wait N' Sea beyond that.
A massive crash and the sound of the entire building shaking sent Rudy and Snap fleeing out of the newly created exit and toward the edge of the city and the sea, dodging the falling bits of brick that rained down toward them as they cleared the building. They had no real idea where they were going or whether they would escape the dragon's notice, but it had quickly become clear that the city certainly was not going to offer them any more safety than the open field had.
Almost instantly they could hear the dragon moving after them and kept close to the ground, knowing that the creature couldn't hope to catch them if it was flying above the buildings. It didn't seem likely that its fire breath could reach far enough either, considering the height of the buildings they were flying beneath, so they knew it was likely to follow on all fours.
However, Rudy was quickly realizing that there was no way they would be able to outrun the creature once they left the city, nor could they stop it without a plan. They needed a quick escape if they wanted to avoid being burned to death, and a plan to stop it would have to wait until they were out of immediate danger. He only hoped the dragon would stay near the city until he could come up with a way to put a stop to its destruction, because at the moment, he and Snap needed to get to safety above all else.
Then he saw it. A series of random, floating doodles indicating a chalkboard surface. Although Rudy hated the thought of leaving ChalkZone behind, he knew that this was likely his and Snap's only chance, and he didn't plan to leave ChalkZone to that beast for long.
As Rudy headed to the chalk surface, Snap momentarily caught his eye and then veered to the side, attempting to distract the dragon long enough to give Rudy time to create a portal. As the monster's head swerved in Snap's direction, Rudy reached the section of floating markings.
Trying not to focus on what could be going on around him, he tried to draw a circle, staring in surprise when the large glowing curve he made abruptly stopped, and it took him a second to realize that he had been trying to draw a portal that was too large for the board and he'd gone off the edge; this chalkboard had to be small. Readjusting his circle, Rudy completed the portal and started to climb into it.
He had little time to look the room over, though from a quick glance he could see that it was very old and had filthy concrete walls. The room was fairly empty, though he could see the outlines of broken furniture and a cluttered, dirty hallway beyond it.
A cry from Snap sounded from behind him, and a jolt of horror gripped his entire body as he turned around, trying to locate his friend. He didn't see Snap, or even any part of what was going on, as a split second later, the dragon, which had been in the process of following his friend, whipped its tail in Rudy's direction, and the boy didn't have time even to blink before the tail tip slammed into him. His hand loosened and the magic chalk dropped to the ChalkZone grass below as he was sent crashing through the portal. His head knocked roughly against the concrete floor and he slid almost sideways into the wall and came to an abrupt halt. The glow of the portal, now seeming faint and blurry, was off a ways to his left. The last thing he saw before everything went black was a bright stream of flame shooting out of the narrow opening.
ooo
Snap stared on in horror as the dragon tried to force its snout through the small portal opening. Snap was still breathing hard after having narrowly avoided being fried to death, but it had only taken a second for the dragon's attention to switch to the portal, where Rudy had gone. He watched as the creature fired a stream of flame into the hole, then gave up and turned its golden body back toward him.
Snap was nearly too frozen with terror to react fast enough, and he dodged the dragon's burst of flame at the last second. The beast began to unfurl its black-edged wings, but as it took another step toward him, the ground beneath it cracked and crumbled, sending the dragon awkwardly crashing to the ground as the earth gave way, locking its leg underneath. Snap realized that it had stepped on a section of the ground with a termite tunnel close to the surface. He tried to stay at a safe enough distance, from the thrashing beast but it looked as though, by some streak of luck, the dragon's leg was caught firmly, and it didn't look like it could lift off, though it still stood between Snap and the portal where Rudy had entered the Real World.
Watching as the beast tried to free itself, Snap stayed at what he was at least relatively sure was a safe distance as he waited for an opportunity to reach the portal. Luckily the creature was too distracted by its trapped leg to focus on him much, but he wasn't sure what would happen if he got too close at the wrong moment.
Watching as the dragon's head turned again toward the section of collapsed tunnel its leg was trapped in, Snap made a break for it, using his rocket shoes to power toward the portal opening and managing to dodge a swipe of the beast's tail at the last instant. He reached the portal, placing his hands on the edge and nearly gagging as the powerful scent of smoke flooded over him. His heart started to race as he caught sight of powerfully burning flames and wondered what could be happening to his friend inside.
When he dropped from the portal to the floor of the room, it felt like stepping into an oven. The heat was unbearable, and he could scarcely breathe as he looked around, his eyes watering from the smoke. Already the fire had spread; pieces of broken furniture and anything else flammable – including the open door to the room – were aflame, and through the haze of smoke he could see more brightly burning orange flames in the hallway beyond. In the darkness and confusion, it took him a moment to locate Rudy. Thankfully, he was lying away from the blazing pieces of furniture and also far enough away from the portal that he would have been well out of the line of fire when the dragon shot flame into the opening.
Rushing over to his friend, Snap could quickly see that Rudy wasn't moving. "Bucko?" he questioned, gently shaking him as he kneeled beside him, but it quickly became clear that his friend was out cold. "Aw, c'mon, Rudy, ya gotta wake up!" he cried, his voice rising in panic. Looking over his unconscious friend, he couldn't see any blood or other injuries, but the short relief that came from that didn't last long as he noticed the air blackening around them. He glanced back at the portal, knowing that he needed to get Rudy away from the flames and smoke.
Getting to his feet, Snap ran to the small chalkboard hanging on the wall and tried to detach it, hoping that he would be able to move it somewhere where they could get back into ChalkZone safely. His attempt didn't last long before a roar from the dragon made him freeze, and he caught a flash of its teeth as it attempted to attack him through the portal, and he stumbled onto the ground in shock before quickly moving back to his friend and hooking his arms under Rudy's, then starting to drag him to the doorway as quickly as he could. He would have to find another way out, and as quickly as possible.
As he quickly moved past the blazing door and into the hallway, Snap realized with grim astonishment that the layout of the place was surprisingly familiar. It took him another moment before the truth fully dawned on him. They were in Newland's hideout, the very same place he had been imprisoned in for two days prior to their journey.
Newland and the others obviously weren't around currently to be a threat, but the thought that he was once again standing within the place he had suffered terribly in sent shivers down his spine. The piles of junk in the hallway had allowed the fire to spread nearly its whole length, and Snap realized that if the flames were able to reach the wooden stairs, there would be no way for them to get down and out of the building. He moved Rudy toward the left as quickly as he could manage, knowing that that would be the direction to the stairs from that side of the hallway, from what he remembered of the building, but the thickening smoke made it hard to see much of anything. He realized that trying to use his rocket shoes to try to move faster would likely only end up causing injury to himself or Rudy, especially considering how little he could see.
However, Snap remembered that the room that he'd heard Bob, Vinnie and Terry talking in had been close to the staircase, and that had to be the same room they'd come through, since it had the chalkboard. He searched for a clear path through the burning debris, hoping that he would be able to make out the stairs soon and get out as fast as he possibly could. The heat was increasing at an alarming pace, rapidly turning the building into a death trap.
As he pulled Rudy through a clear opening between the debris and toward the other side of the hallway where he knew the opening to the large room that extended from the bottom to the top floor would appear, he found it harder to be sure of where he was going. Even away from the worst of the flames, the smoke was so thick that he was having more trouble breathing than even before, and he leaned down to try to avoid the worst of it, working as fast as he could to drag Rudy away from the danger as well. The small space they were confined in was almost completely dark now, and he knew that the fact that there were so few windows in the building would make the danger even worse.
Yet as he looked around, he was confused. He thought he could see the stairs, but it was hard to tell, he was feeling dizzy; disoriented. He couldn't see much of anything and it felt like he was choking. Where were the stairs? They had to be near. He'd remembered them being close by the room that Newland and his comrades had been lurking in, but at the moment, he had no idea if he was even heading in the right direction.
ooo
Ten minutes earlier:
After her dinner, Penny had attempted to call Rudy, only to find that he had gone out for a bike ride. She wanted to wait for him to return, but she had quickly figured that if he had gone to ride his bike, he was probably looking for a way to sneak into ChalkZone, and that it likely wasn't a good time to do so in his room. Perhaps his parents wanted to spend time with him after the field trip and there just wasn't time. Whatever the reason, she was sadly certain that they might not be able to discuss a way to help ChalkZone until they could sneak through their chalkboards and meet up at night, as they had discussed earlier. She spent the next few minutes thinking over what she and Rudy had talked about, but as before, they really seemed to be stuck without a solution.
Wanting to do something to try to help, even if Rudy wasn't there, Penny grabbed her backpack and a water bottle and took her own piece of chalk, using it to draw a portal on her chalkboard. She knew that her mother was busy at the moment and unlikely to check her room for a little while. After the portal formed, Penny climbed through it and carefully made her way down the pile of numbers beneath the board surface and to the grassy ground beneath it. From here, she could see the nearby city, and the sight of its damaged buildings, some collapsed or barely standing, filled her with dread, and she wished more than ever that Rudy was there with her. She knew that, at the moment, he might be unable to, but she could seek out Snap, and she quickly headed in the direction of the hotel using a scooter that Rudy had drawn for her earlier for when they planned to meet up during the night.
It had only been a few minutes and she hadn't even passed the city when she noticed that parts of the field up ahead of her were aflame. She stopped the scooter in sheer shock, wondering if Newland had launched another attack, as she watched several Zoners attempting to put out the fires. To her relief, they were doing a good job of it, and the sections of flame she could see were small. Alarmed, she looked around for Rudy, wondering if he really had told his parents he was riding his bike to give him time to sneak into ChalkZone, but there was no sign of him.
She heard a furious roar and turned in shock toward the city, speeding up until a group of large buildings passed by and she could see the form of a massive dragon drawing struggling on the ground, firing bursts of flame toward the city in frustration. Its fire seemed weak, however, and its struggling feeble. She then realized that a group of tough looking Zoners were around it, and wafting around the dragon was a strange gas that seemed to make it grow weaker by the second, and she realized it must be a sort of sleeping gas, like the one Rudy had tried to use on the termite creatures.
Startled, Penny's first thought was to go back to the Real World and warn Rudy as soon as she could, but there was no way of telling how long he would be gone, and she couldn't be sure that he wasn't in ChalkZone already.
Then, she noticed something. There was smoke rising from somewhere near the dragon, but it seemed to be rising from thin air, just beyond the massive fans circling the city. There was nothing burning beneath it. Her eyes widened in realization as she took the scooter closer, knowing that she was taking a risk getting so close, but she had to find out if her theory was right.
She didn't have to get very close to the dragon at all to see that she was right about the fact that the smoke was coming through a portal, which could only mean one thing. Desperately, she looked around for any sign of Rudy, but there was none, and she knew he wouldn't have left an open portal in some random place in The Real World on purpose.
Frightened, she moved closer to the city while still making sure to stay beyond the furthest termite tunnels, looking around frantically for any chalk surface she could use to get to the Real World, as it was clear the smoking portal currently there was not safe.
After a moment of searching, she spotted some scrawled chalk lines, tall enough that she realized that it must have been drawn on the wall of an alley, and ran over to it, speedily drawing a portal and stepping through it. She was indeed in an alley, a narrow one between two disused buildings. Quickly erasing the portal, she rushed out onto the sidewalk to find the area completely deserted. However, a few buildings away she could see one that was massive and built mainly of concrete with the telltale signs of smoke rising from its few windows. The sky was darkening as the sun set, and she knew it would make the trails of smoke harder to see from a distance, and the fact that the windows were so small would make it even worse. She wasn't sure how long it had been burning, but she figured it couldn't have been very long at all, seeing as how no one in the town had seemed to notice yet.
She ran back to the chalk graffiti wall, quickly drawing a small portal and using it to draw a phone in ChalkZone before erasing the portal again. Carrying the newly drawn phone, she quickly ran out to see what street she was in. She needed to call the fire department as quickly as possible, and if Rudy was in there…she certainly hoped they would arrive fast enough.
ooo
Snap looked around in a panic, wondering if he had indeed miscalculated and had taken Rudy in the opposite direction of the stairs that would lead them to the bottom floor. He looked wildly around, his terror rising as he realized that all he could make out were flames and blackness. Picking a random direction, he kept moving, knowing that staying in the building much longer would be lethal for both of them.
Snap found the building's stairs by complete accident as he was trying to move Rudy away from the flames, which were now spreading along the filthy carpet. Quite suddenly, his foot landed on nothing more than empty space, and for a terrifying moment he thought he'd stepped over the edge of the upper story and was about to plummet to the floor below, but a second later he had stumbled backwards onto the top steps of the stairs.
The heat was still steadily rising and Snap attempted to control his terror as he tried to pull Rudy down the stairs as carefully as possible, watching as the dragon's flames caught on the top step of the wooden stairs. He needed to get to the door as soon as possible, but he didn't dare try to use his rocket shoes so close to the wooden stairs, and there was still a great risk of injuring Rudy if he tried, not being able to see anything in the darkness. His only relief was that the smoke was far less thick as he edged his way closer to the bottom of the stairs, realizing that at the moment the smoke was still mostly gathering near the top of the stairs and in the narrow hallways and rooms.
He noticed movement from Rudy and turned his attention to him, wondering if his friend would be able to get up and run, or at least walk, with him to the exit. "Rudy...?" he coughed, finding with surprise that his voice didn't sound like his own at all, and barely came out as a hoarse whisper.
"Snap?" Rudy sat up abruptly, looking at his surroundings in sheer confusion. His voice, at least, sounded much clearer and stronger, and Snap realized that since he'd been lying against the floor, he'd avoided breathing in the worst of the smoke while they'd been in the upper floor. However, he still looked dazed, and Snap could tell that the fire was starting to spread along the top of the stairs far too quickly.
"C'mon, Bucko, we gotta get outta here!" Snap cried as he helped Rudy to stand up, quickly moving him away from the stairs and down onto the rubbish-strewn floor below. Even down at the very bottom, it was hard to see much of anything through the blackish-brown haze, but the faint glow from a window that Snap knew had been near the front door pointed the way for him. Still supporting Rudy, he made his way over to it, finding the door handle with some difficulty and opening it, and then rushing out of the open doorway and collapsing on the edge of the street.
Rudy was still trying to piece together what had happened, thinking back to the dragon attack as he looked over at Snap, who was bent over and coughing beside him near the sidewalk. He heard another voice calling and looked to his left in time to see Penny reach them. He had no idea how she had found them there, but at the moment he was too confused about everything else to question it much.
Penny stopped next to them, glancing at the building worriedly before turning back to her friends. "What happened?" she said in a panicked voice as she glanced from one to the other.
"He got knocked out…trapped…" Snap rasped between coughs, casting a worried glance at Rudy, who was shakily trying to get to his feet.
"We've got to move further away," she stated, realizing that at the moment, getting the full story about what happened wasn't important. She and Snap supported Rudy as they moved to a safe distance away from the building, and Penny felt relieved as she heard the sound of a fire truck approaching.
"Rudy, are you all right?" she asked, helping him sit down on the sidewalk once she was sure they were far enough away to be out of immediate danger.
"I dunno!" Snap answered before Rudy could speak. "He was out cold and wasn't wakin' up until-"
"Yes, I'm okay!" he insisted, sounding much more alert than he had previously, though the worried looks didn't leave his friends' faces. "What happened?" he asked, looking from Penny to Snap with a wide-eyed, frightened gaze. "What about the dragon? What-" He broke off, hearing the sound of an ambulance approaching and shot his friends another alarmed look. "Is someone else-"
"When I called the fire department I told them someone might be in there-" Penny paused as she glanced to Rudy's feet, noticing the rockets he'd drawn on his shoes. "We have to take those off," she stated, and when Rudy gave her a confused look, she explained that they couldn't risk someone in the Real World seeing them or what they could do. Luckily she had thought to bring a water bottle on her ChalkZone expedition, having expected it to be longer, and after Rudy and Snap had removed the rockets, she washed them away on the edge of the street.
A shout caught their attention and they realized that someone from the fire department was running towards them. Knowing that both he and Snap were covered in dust and soot from the building, Rudy realized that it would soon be clear to anyone arriving on the scene that they had been inside the building, and there was no way they'd simply be able to say they were fine and walk away. Fear filled his mind at the thought, and he shakily tried to stand up but Penny stopped him, giving him a look that told him that she was very worried, and not about the thought of being questioned by anyone about the situation. He paused to glance back at the building. Even though there was little to see through the small windows, almost as soon as the water from the hoses started pouring in, the smoke and the flames vanished, and he knew with relief that the water would have quickly put out the chalk fire, and none of the firefighters would be harmed searching the building to make sure no one else was inside. That, and the portal was sure to be erased.
"I'll explain what happened," Penny told him, noticing that the worker who was approaching them could tell Rudy was injured in some way and was calling the ambulance over.
"But…" Rudy didn't bother to finish his sentence. He knew that she was only trying to help him. He crossed his arms over his knees and lowered his head. He hoped that she could come up with a reasonable excuse as to why they had been near the building, but he didn't think that finding one was likely in this situation. At least, he couldn't think of one. Maybe Penny could. He didn't know. His head continued to throb as he tried to think back to what had happened before he'd woken up in the building, and he felt tears forming at the corners of his eyes as he realized that once again, their situation had taken a very bad turn, and he felt farther away from being able to help ChalkZone than ever before.
ooo
On the other end of the street, Bob Newland rolled down the window of his car as he stared in disbelief at the smoke and flames pouring from the windows of the tall gray building a moment before the water put it out at a pace he knew to be impossible. Beside him, Vinnie Raton stared equally dumbfounded, and the two exchanged incredulous glances before Bob parked the car and hurriedly got out of it, slamming the door as he walked toward the scene, his associate quickly following.
"What's goin' on 'ere?" Vinnie cried, staring around the entire street ahead of them in complete confusion.
Bob didn't answer; his gazed was fixed on a group of people a few buildings away under the dim light of the fading sunset, and he strode in their direction, not close enough for them to notice him, just close enough to be sure of who they were. His eyes narrowed as he realized that he had been right.
It was Rudy, as well as the girl that he knew was Penny, and Snap, along with a paramedic who was talking with the girl while he checked Rudy for injuries. His gaze flicked to Snap. "Look who survived the rain," Bob muttered through gritted teeth as Vinnie came to stand alongside him. The children were too distracted to notice them standing at a distance, and by now a few other curious onlookers had arrived on other parts of the street nearby. Though Bob stood a ways away, Penny's voice drifted toward him and he could hear a bit of what she was saying from where he was.
"…and Rudy thought he heard someone calling for help," the girl was saying, motioning to her friend. She said a few other things Bob didn't quite catch before he heard, "…he said he hit his head on something and was unconscious for a little while, and my friend tried to get him out…" She gestured to Snap. "…and I tried to call the fire department…" Penny carried on with her explanation, the ambulance workers around her seeming to take her word as truth. He of course, knew it was a lie.
Bob scowled. "Oh…aren't you clever?" he sneered as she continued to explain away their situation. He could tell that one of the paramedics was calling their parents, and he realized that Penny was going to come up with some witty excuse for Snap's lack of parents as well. He watched as another told her they were taking Rudy to the hospital to make sure he was all right, and following that was some sort of brief argument about whether Snap needed to be checked out at the hospital as well. Bob just rolled his eyes at that point, walking away and motioning to Vinnie to follow him. "We've got to find Terry," he muttered. "We-"
"Looks like she's already here," Vinnie replied, pointing to Terry's news van, which had arrived at the scene on the other end of the street.
Bob's eyes narrowed as she got out of her vehicle along with her assistant, and almost immediately began filming, Terry standing a safe distance away in front of the still lightly smoking building as she began to speak.
"This is Terry Bouffant, coming to you live from downtown Plainville where a mysterious fire has broken out in one of the buildings…"
Leaving Vinnie behind, Bob started walking toward her, ignoring Vinnie's confused shout from behind as he passed her van. "Terry, we need to talk!" he snarled. She ignored him, continuing with her broadcast and he sped up, reaching her side. "This is important!"
"Not now!" she hissed, giving him an icy glare before continuing on with her report.
Stepping right in front of the camera, he pointed wildly toward the building. "Did you see the way those flames-"
"Bob!" Terry cried. "I'm doing a report! Now get out of here!" She shoved him out of the way, and her cameraman, who had been simply staring in confusion, resumed filming.
Furious at watching her go on with the report as if nothing had happened, Bob angrily turned around and stomped back to Vinnie, who was looking at him in complete confusion.
"What was that all about-"
"Did you see how fast that fire went out?" Bob snarled through gritted teeth, pointing to the building which now no longer had even the faintest traces of smoke. "Fire doesn't go out that fast. That…" he paused, glancing around him, but everyone near the scene was either far enough away not to hear what he was saying or seemed to be making a point to ignore him. "That was ChalkZone fire!" he hissed. "And there's only one way ChalkZone fire could have gotten into our world."
"You mean-"
"Rudy," Bob finished. "He was right here on the scene. He must have set the building on fire to try and get us to stop damaging ChalkZone rather than hand the chalk over like we said."
"Why would 'e wanna burn the building down?" Vinnie asked, confused. "A concrete building?"
"I don't know," Bob snapped "And I don't care what his reason for this was! Maybe he was just trying to threaten us or something – I don't know – but that's not important! I know what happened here. He tried to set it on fire and got caught in it himself. And you know how he found this place?" He paused, giving Vinnie an angry stare. "Because that little brat Snap escaped, and told him where it was! So he and Snap got the brilliant idea to try and send us a little 'message' in return, and it backfired on them!" Vinnie stared at him in astonishment, and he continued. "They were covered in soot; it was obvious they were the ones who did it. And why do you think Penny was around here, huh? Standing guard outside to make sure we didn't come back while they were the building…that's what she was doing!"
Vinnie seemed too shocked to give a proper response to his comrade's tirade, and instead turned his gaze to the building. "You think the portal's still in there?"
Bob rolled his eyes. "It washes away with water, Vinnie," he replied. "When the water reached that room it would've vanished, and likely before anyone noticed." He looked over to where Rudy and his friends had been, but they were gone, likely taken to the hospital along with Rudy to meet up with his parents and Mrs. Sanchez. "Serves them right," he muttered, and turned back to Vinnie again. "Look, as soon as Terry is done with her stupid news report, we need to talk to her."
"Think she realizes already?"
"I don't know," Bob replied, "but I'll be sure to tell her what I saw. This makes one thing very clear, Vinnie," he continued, giving his companion a look that clearly showed his fury at the situation, "Rudy's not going to give us the chalk. He'd rather risk his life doing something stupid than give up being one of the only people able to access the chalk world. One thing is for sure; I'm not going to wait around for him to give it to me any longer." He turned away, walking back to the parked car.
"What are you gonna do, then?" Vinnie cried, hurrying after him.
"We'll meet up and come up with something tonight," he muttered, throwing another furious glare in the direction of the building before slamming the door.
ooo
Late at night, Rudy still could hardly believe what had happened. He knew now that he shouldn't have tried to go into the Real World during the dragon's attack at all, but at the time…it had seemed like there was no other option. Maybe he could have thought of something else – he wasn't sure what – but it was too late now. There was nothing he could do until the next day.
The past few hours were now a blur to him. Luckily, the doctors at the hospital had confirmed that he was all right, but in spite of his protests, both the doctors and his parents had insisted that he stay overnight, just to make sure he was completely fine. Alone in the dark room, he kept reflecting back on what had happened. Everyone had believed Penny's story, at least, and knowing that he hadn't wanted to talk about it, they hadn't questioned him much. When they had, he was relieved that his answers were satisfactory enough, at least for the time being. He certainly wasn't looking forward to having to talk about it again with his parents later.
Penny had told him that they had run into the issue of someone wanting to interview Snap for a newspaper, to thank him for saving Rudy's life, but luckily he had caught Penny's alarmed look and refused. Now Rudy realized, with a feeling of shame, that he'd never even thanked Snap. He couldn't until the next day; no one was allowed to visit in the middle of the night, and he didn't even have his magic chalk to sneak into ChalkZone with. It was back by ChalkZone City near where the dragon had attacked.
Luckily, Penny had been able to come back a little later to tell him that the Zoners had the dragon attack situation under control, and that they'd put it to sleep somehow while it was trapped and taken it to a secure location by the time she checked that area of ChalkZone again. At least that threat was gone, but the threat Newland held over them was just as strong as ever, and he had no way of knowing if the termites hadn't begun any worse methods of attack in the night, or whether they were spreading the corroding mist to other areas yet. Whatever was happening, he couldn't do anything about it until the morning when he would be allowed to go home.
He shut his eyes, trying to block out the dull room around him as he pulled the covers up closer to his head. He wasn't badly hurt; Penny shouldn't have told the ambulance worker he'd been knocked out. He knew she had been worried, but it had turned out that he was fine after all. Now he knew it would be harder to sneak into ChalkZone. Sure, he would stay home from school the next day, but his parents were likely going to check up on him frequently, leaving little time to try to help the Zoners. He was going to do his best to convince them that he was all right, but he didn't think they were going to believe it. He tried to calm himself, knowing that Penny would be keeping an eye on ChalkZone, as he tried to think of what he would do tomorrow.
He planned to go into ChalkZone as often as possible, even if only in short bursts of time, hopefully draw reinforcements to the hotel or move it to a more secure location, and then…he wasn't sure. He and the others were simply out of ideas. However, he certainly wasn't going to give up. In spite of the dragon incident, he only felt more determined than ever to find a way to help the citizens of ChalkZone and prevent Newland from causing any more destruction. It was his job to protect them, and he was going to find a way…somehow.
It wasn't long before he realized he was getting nowhere with his frantic attempts to come up with a plan, and in the end he decided that all he could do now was rest, and promised himself that he would start to figure something out in the morning.