Mint let out a soft groan. As he slowly opened his eyes, he was greeted by a bright white light. He flinched and turned his head away. He kept his eyes shut, trying to cope with what seemed like an intensely bright light. Soon, the bright light appeared to fade and he could open his eyes a little bit. He was greeted by a very blurry world, with some light and shadow dancing around. He could barely make out any shapes and any sounds he heard were warped and garbled.
His head really hurt him for some reason. He reached up with his right arm and placed his hand on his forehead. He let out a soft groan. The world seemed to spin a little bit and for some reason he felt a little weak. He blinked a few times and looked around, trying to figure out where he was. He tried to figure out what had happened to him. His thoughts were a jumbled mess. There were pieces of the puzzle scattered everywhere in his mind, but they weren't coherent enough for him to decipher. All he could tell at the moment was that something happened to him that made him this way. He just couldn't figure out what that was.
He tried to sift through his confusing mind. He attempted to put the pieces together, trying to paint a picture of what had happened. He remembered little details. Something with electricity, a crown, some rocky cave-like place, as well as other random data. Yet he couldn't figure out how they all fit together. His head was swirling with these thoughts, the muggy feeling making it difficult for him to think properly. He kept asking himself how he got here, why his head hurt, and why he felt so strange. It was like he had slept for weeks on end, and he wouldn't be surprised if that is what had happened.
Mint attempted to sit up, but dizziness shot through his head and he was forced to lay back down. As he did so, his vision cleared up a little. As it became easier for him to see, he realized that this clearly wasn't his room. There was too much white here, and it was too clean. Strange smells hung tightly, thickly, in the air. He slowly blinked, each time his vision coming into focus. He looked around the room again. The sounds all became more clear. Beeping, some talking out of the room, the sound of his own breathing. They all intermingled, and did little to clear up his confusion.
It took a few more minutes of his head clearing up to realize he was in a hospital. His eyes widened a little at that, although grogginess still had a hold over him. What was he doing in the hospital? Had something bad happened to him? He let out another groan as he tried to sit himself up. He pushed himself up with his right foot and attempted with his left.
That's when he realized something was off. He tried with his right foot and he could feel it push against the bed. But whenever he tried his left, even though he repeated the same actions, he felt nothing. No indication that his foot was touching the bed. Confusion grew stronger and he tried to reason with himself why this was so. Did he lose some feeling in the foot? No, he'd still detect something. Maybe the foot just couldn't move? Makes even less sense. And now that he thought of it, his left leg did feel lighter than this other...
His eyes shot open in horror as the realization swept through his mind. As his vision completely cleared up, he looked over towards his legs. He could clearly see the raised ridge that was his right foot. But this was completely gone on his left. He shook his head, his body trembling. No..it couldn't be..no... He didn't want it to be true. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. His mind racing, he reached over and grabbed the sheet. His heart pounded as he pulled the covers up, hoping and praying that he was going to see his left foot.
Instead, his fears were confirmed. He let out a small whine as he continued to stare down at his left leg. About half of his calf was gone, along with that ankle and foot. It was just...gone... Vanished. The stump had thick bandaging around it. Staring at it, Mint suddenly felt a shockwave of pain surge through his body, originating from the stump itself. Mint let out a cry of pain and attempted to pull his leg towards him. It hurt too much and he fell back into the bed. The heart monitor started to beep quickly as he tried to cope with the pain and horror of what had just happened.
As he laid there, clenching his teeth from pain and trembling in terror, Mint's mind reeled, playing back images for him of what happened. He remembered it now. Everything... He was in ChalkZone. He was helping Rudy, Penny, and Snap. He was fighting against Skrawl. Then he had...he had... Mint let out a soft cry as he recalled the sword coming down onto his leg. The pain...oh man the pain... The sound of it slicing through his bone and muscle ran in his ears. He didn't think he would be able to get that sound out of his head.
Mint took in a few deep breaths, the reality of the situation crashing down on him. That battle had cost him a leg. And there was no going back. Nothing he could say or do would change it. His heart was still racing. His body still shaking. It was a horrible truth that would take time to accept and adjust to. It was going to be hard, and he was unable to stop the cascade of tears flow down his face. He couldn't believe this happened to him. He never thought, when he went into ChalkZone, that he would come out missing a foot and part of his leg. He wondered what he was going to tell his parents.
His mind shifted to Rudy, Penny, and Snap. A lot must have happened while he was out cold. He barely remembered waking up and Penny was holding him. He thought he heard the clanging of Rudy fighting Skrawl, but he wasn't certain. That was all he could remember from that. Rudy and Penny had gone up against Skrawl while he was unconscious. Penny had come back, and she had helped him. He had a feeling that, if she hadn't done something, he might have died there.
He wondered what happened to Snap, if Penny had come back. Did she send him to the hospital? Did she hide him? Was Snap okay? The last time he saw him, Snap was not in the greatest shape. He definitely needed help. Had they been successful in getting him back to the hospital? Had Skrawl been defeated or had he gotten away? Was Rudy okay? And Ripclaw, was she fine, too? So many questions swirled the boy's mind, making his head hurt a little more. He tried to relax himself. He may get his answers soon enough. He needed to try to calm down a little. There would be an explanation for everything. He was certain of that.
The loss of his leg was not something he would adjust to quickly, and he was going to feel psychological impacts of that. But it wasn't just that. His guilt over what he had done to ChalkZone also was not going to go away anytime soon. It would get better in time, though. If he kept pushing forward, it would get better. And Snap and Rudy had forgiven him. He hoped they would be okay. Snap was badly hurt...and had Rudy been injured as well?
Penny, too... Was she okay? She was there with him, on the battle field. Skrawl might have attacked her. If he did, how far had he gone? How badly hurt was Penny? He hoped that it wasn't anything too serious. As he thought about her, he realized that he hadn't apologized to her yet. Then again, he never had the chance to. It wasn't a good idea to apologize while they were trying to escape. And he wasn't exactly in the best mental state to tell her when he woke up in her arms.
Now he was stuck in a hospital bed and he had no idea when he would get his next chance to speak with her. He didn't know how long he was going to be here. Heck, he didn't even know how long he was here so far. For all he knew, it had been a full year. Okay that would be ridiculous. A year is pretty much an exaggeration. On a more realistic scale, he might have been here, at most, a month. It was so hard to tell with no calender nearby. And he was alone in the room at the moment. If one of the doctors comes in, he would try to talk to them.
Although still shaken up by his leg being cut off, he tried to not to think about it too much. He instead focused on ChalkZone. He wanted to know what happened with Skrawl, Ripclaw, and everyone else. He wanted to know if Skrawl had been stopped for good. He wanted to know if Skrawl had been able to do additional damage to ChalkZone or not. He wanted to know if Rudy and Penny were able to decrease the amount of damage. He really wanted to know what happened. So many questions, so many thoughts, so many ideas on what may have happened. He wanted, no, he needed to know that those two and their zoner friend were fine, as well as Ripclaw. It was not a pleasant feeling laying in this bed, not knowing what had happened.
He wondered when the next time he could go to ChalkZone would be. He didn't know if he was going to get a prosthetic leg or not, and he didn't know how he was going to get crutches into ChalkZone whenever he could go. He started to feel a little depressed. Until he got a prosthetic, if he would, he wouldn't really be able to draw anything. He would be busy using his crutches. The only time he could draw was when he would sit down or have someone else support him.
This meant that he wouldn't be able to draw anything to help in ChalkZone. He pondered if he should hold off attempting repairs until he could possibly walk again without crutches. But that would take a long time. Maybe a few months at best. That would be a pretty long time to wait to act. And he still needed to deliver his apology to those zoners for what he did. He still had to head back. It would be disappointing if he couldn't help, but they may understand when they realize that he'd have to use crutches.
Then again, he did still have those dinosaurs around. He could use them to help. They were still obedient to him and many of them were large and strong. Yeah he could do that. The dinosaurs could help clear the rubble and aid in construction. It wasn't exactly what he had planned, but it was still something. Yeah, he would be using his dinosaurs again instead of doing it himself, but at least this time, they were doing something more noteworthy, rather than just creating havoc.
Mint was interrupted from his thoughts when the door opened up. He turned his head. He expected to see one of the doctors coming in to check on him. Or perhaps his parents, as he was certain they were worried sick about him. But instead, he was greeted by two people he didn't expect to visit him at this time in the hospital.
"Rudy? Penny?" Mint asked. "What are you doing here?"
"To see how you were, of course." Rudy said softly. He and Penny approached Mint's bed. They stopped, standing next to him. Rudy looked down at Mint saidly. His eyes trailed over to his leg. "I..take it you found out...?"
Mint let out a soft sigh. He turned his gaze towards the empty spot where his left foot used to be. "Yeah, I did. It was...quite a shocker."
Rudy nodded his head. He remained silent for a while. He looked at Mint with a regretful expression. "Mint...I never..I..." A few tears formed in his eyes. "I never meant for you to get hurt. I never meant those things I said at the temple..."
Mint looked up at Rudy, confused. Didn't he already apologize for that? Yeah, he did. Why was he apologizing again? Why was he acting like he had done something else wrong? He had already forgiven him for what happened. He shouldn't feel this bad. He didn't ask for Skrawl to cut off his leg.
Mint was going to say something, but he stopped himself. Rudy wasn't done talking.
"I should have controlled myself. I should never have placed that wish for Skrawl to hurt you..." Rudy said in a small voice. "I should have heeded the phrase 'Be careful what you wish for', because now look at you. You're in the hospital with an amputated leg, and it's all my fault... I should have moved faster.. I-I'm sorry.."
Penny placed a hand on his shoulder. "Rudy, it's not your fault. You didn't initiate that attack on Mint. Skrawl did. You shouldn't feel bad about not being able to get to him in time." Rudy looked over at her. Mint could see a few more tears rolling down his cheeks. "Rudy, you've got to get it into your head that this wasn't your fault."
Rudy looked at her. He then narrowed his eyes and looked away. "I never said anything so horrible to someone in my life... And it became a reality.." He glanced sorrowfully down at Mint. He shut his eyes and looked away. "This all might not have happened if I had just controlled my temper and not chased you away, Mint. Maybe if I had allowed you to stay, we could have talked things out and this whole mess could have been avoided." He opened his eyes to look at Mint's nonexistant left foot. "And this wouldn't have happened..." He looked at Mint in the eyes. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
"Rudy...you don't know if that is true or not..." Penny said in a soft voice. Rudy did not answer her.
Mint stared at Rudy for a few minutes. He let his words sink in. Rudy blamed himself for what had happened to him. He somehow thought that him just saying the words sealed his fate. But Mint knew better than that. Penny was right. It wasn't his fault. He had apologized for what he said. There was no need to keep apologizing for it, and there was no need to apologize for what happened to him.
There was no way Rudy could have known if not blowing up at him at the temple would have changed anything. He agreed with Penny on that. In fact, things might not have gone so well if he hadn't done that. Mint's mind was still a muddled mess at the time as he tried to sort out what he had done. Rudy snapping at him, as harsh and terrifying as it was, did help stick it to his mind that he did do something wrong, and helped further cement the fact that, as hard as it was for him to admit at the time, he was wrong. If Rudy hadn't yelled at him, he might not have realized the true extent of what he had done.
Mint gave Rudy a small smile. "Penny is right, Rudy. This isn't your fault. No matter what you said at the temple, that was no guarantee this wouldn't have happened."
"But..." Rudy started to say.
Mint interrupted him, raising a hand. "Please, let me finish." He made a gesture to indicate Rudy. "From what I've seen of you, Rudy, you're a nice kid. I know you'd never mean anything as harsh as what you said at the temple. And even if you hadn't said it, Skrawl still could have done this to me, or worse. Please, don't beat yourself up over it. This isn't your fault."
Rudy wiped away a tear. "Yeah..I suppose you're right..." He gave a small smile. "Thanks." Mint smiled back and gave a nod. Rudy looked down at his leg sadly. "It's still a shame...what happened..."
Mint nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It is." He turned his gaze towards his damaged left leg for a time. He looked back at Rudy. "But we cannot change the past, can we?" Rudy shook his head. "Yeah, we can only move forward. So that's I'll do." He paused for a few seconds. "As bad as it is, me losing my leg, I don't see it entirely as a loss."
"What do you mean?" Penny asked.
Mint replied, "I'll think of it as...retribution. Payment for what my ignorance nearly cost. A reminder to myself of what I almost did." He closed his eyes for a few seconds. He gave a small smile and gave a quick chuckle. He looked back at the two. "It is amazing how much things can change in a short amount of time. Don't you think?"
Rudy and Penny nodded in agreement. Mint smiled at them, and they returned it. Mint turned his gaze to Penny. He attempted to sit himself up. Despite the IVs attached to him, he wanted to be sitting up for what he was about to do next. He struggled to get up. He seethed in pain and fell back down. Rudy and Penny understood what he wanted and they helped him sit up, careful to avoid hurting him or accidentally removing the IVs.
Mint was now sitting up in bed, his back arching forward a little. He was wearing just a hospital gown and he felt a little chilly for some reason not being covered up in the blankets. Maybe it was due to the blood loss. He turned to Penny, his expression softening up a little. Looking at her reminded him of the things he had done to her and said to her. He felt a pang of guilt clench at his stomach. He apologized to Rudy and Snap. It was now Penny's turn to recieve his apology.
"Penny...I..." Mint started to say. He bit his lip. "There's...something I..." He paused. "..there's something I need to say to you."
Penny took a step forward. She sat down on the bed beside him. "What is it you need to tell me, Mint?"
"I'm...sorry for the way I acted... I was a complete jerk and there was no excuse for it. I'm sorry about everything I did..." Mint winced as he recalled how he had acted towards them for the past few days, up until he realized he was in the wrong. "I'm sorry for threatening your friend, Snap. I'm sorry for the damage I've caused to ChalkZone. Wiggie Island, ChalkZone City, all of it." Tears began to form in his eyes. He looked away from Penny. "I'm so sorry about the fire alarm thing... I shouldn't have done it...I'm sorry about all the things I said to you."
He looked back at Penny. She stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. He bit his lip. He felt tears roll down his face. The guilt would still take time to go away and just talking about this reawoken those negative feelings. But he knew everything was going to get better after he apologized. He wasn't going to back out now.
"I was wrong about you two." He fixated his gaze on Penny. "Especially you. I called you an amateur..worthless.." He sucked in a small breath. "And I couldn't have been more wrong. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said those things. I...there was no excuse for it. I was a total asshole to you and your two friends. And there's no reason why I had to act like that."
Penny gave a small smile to Mint. She was about to reply, but Mint wasn't done yet. There was still more he wanted to say.
"And the way I lashed out at you at the Future Dome..." Mint winced as he remembered how crazy he had acted. "The way I attacked you again and again..." He reached out and placed his hand on Penny's cheek, the same one he had punched back at the Future Dome. "I'm so very sorry... I was way out of line when I did that. I...I let my fear control me. I was a complete coward. And I attacked you for no good reason. I'm so sorry, Penny. I'm sorry for everything..." He closed his eyes and started to cry.
Penny's smile broadened a little. She leaned forward and pulled Mint into a hug. Mint pressed his face against her shoulder and cried as she gently rubbed his back. Penny let him cry into her shoulder as the two continued to hug. When they pulled apart, Penny kept a hand on his shoulder, the uninjured one, the other being wrapped up in bandages.
"I forgive you." Penny said in a soft voice.
Mint felt his mouth tick into a smile, feeling a sensation of relief wash through his body. He then remembered there were some things he wanted to ask them about. He didn't know how long he had to speak to them, so he decided to ask now before it was too late.
"What happened with Snap, Skrawl, the artifacts, Ripclaw?" Mint asked. He stared at Rudy and Penny back and forth expectantl. "Is...is everything okay? Is Ripclaw okay? Did Snap make it to the hospital? And what of my parents? What do they know about my leg? Did you tell them anything? What did you say? Did..."
Chuckling, Rudy spoke up, "Whoa, slow down! We'll be glad to answer your questions if you give us a chance!"
Mint smiled nervously. "Yeah..sorry about that."
"It's okay. It's understandable. You have been out for a little while and you couldn't have known what happened." Penny said.
"How long was I out?" Mint inquired, slightly hesitantly.
"Three days." Rudy said. "You lost a lot of blood. They say it was a miracle you survived."
Mint winced at this. Well three days wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be. He thought he was out for much longer. "Can you...fill me in on what happened?" Rudy and Penny nodded their heads. "Thank you."
Rudy was the first one to speak up. "I managed to defeat Skrawl. I was able to get the crown knocked off his head. I was able to get a clear shot after I used a similar trick you used on me, the tiny dinosaur thing. After that, Ripclaw had attacked him and tossed him and herself out the window." Mint's eyes widened at this. Rudy raised a hand up. "Don't worry. Ripclaw is fine, although Skrawl got away unfortunately. Ripclaw was taken to a vet to have her injuries tended to. She will be okay." Mint sighed with relief. "Anyway, I took you and followed Penny to where Snap was hidden. From there, we decided to split up as there wasn't much other choice. Penny took Snap back to the hospital and I took you here."
Mint was glad to hear that Ripclaw was fine. He had no idea just how far she had fallen down. Maybe she avoided serious injury thanks to those wings Rudy drew on her. But he was worried that Skrawl got away. That certainly wasn't good news. He wondered where he could have gotten to.
"It was difficult explaining to your parents what happened. I had to think of a good cover story because, well, I can't exactly tell them that you were in ChalkZone. So I told them I found you in an alleyway like that. And that there was some wild animal attacking you. Your parents were very worried, especially when I told them about..." Rudy glanced down at Mint's leg. "...that. They were in here before we came to check up on you. They really hoped you would wake up before they had to go. Well when they get back here, they're in for a surprise." Rudy said with a smile.
"And the artifacts?" Mint asked.
"They've been confiscated, even the broken crown." Rudy replied with a reassuring smile. "They're going to be taken care of. I haven't heard yet what they plan on doing. Right now, they're in Biclops's company. He'll make sure no one gets them until it's been decided what should be done with the artifacts. Some are in favor of destroying them, but others say that's a bad idea because it might release Atlas."
"It does make sense why they'd have that fear." Penny chimed in, looking at Rudy. "Skrawl was only using less than half the power those artifacts had. Atlas... He would be a far greater threat. I don't know if, combined, we could beat him."
"Yeah..." Rudy said, trailing off. He shook his head. "Well, it's not a problem right now, so let's not worry about that." He looked back to Mint. "The doctors were worried about how much blood you lost, so you had to recieve a blood transfusion. They say you're going to be here a while, and I think I overheard your dad talk about getting you a prosthetic leg."
So he might be getting a prosthetic leg after all. He had been wondering about that.
"After Rudy took you to the hospital," Penny said. She began to fill in the blanks that Rudy could not fill. "I took Snap with me back to the hospital. I used Corgy, my condor I drew back when I was fooling Skrawl. The hospital in the midst of being repaired after Skrawl attacked it. I helped in whatever way I could after Snap was taken back to the emergency room to take care of those gashes. Luckily his spine wasn't further damaged, which is a miracle itself."
"Yeah, I can imagine." Mint said. He winced as he remembered Snap's scream of pain when Skrawl slashed him. He shook his head. "I'm glad to hear he didn't recieve further spinal injury from that."
Penny smiled. "Yeah, we all are." She furrowed her eyes with concern. "That doesn't mean that he didn't suffer damage from that. He lost quite a bit of blood. Not as much as you did, but still an alarming amount. He, too, had to be put on blood transfusions to try to get his blood levels back to normal. His wounds were cleaned and disinfected and those gashes stitched up. He seems to be doing okay. But the doctors are still keeping an eye on those gashes to make sure they didn't cause more damage than initially believed."
Mint was happy to hear that, for the most part, Snap was fine. It was a miracle, as Penny said, that Skrawl hadn't caused more damage to Snap's back. That was the last thing he needed in his state. And it was certainly good that the doctors were able to clean, disinfect, and stitch the wounds no problem. He felt bad for Snap; those gashes were going to add to the pain he already felt from having his back broken. Mint felt a pang of guilt in his chest, recalling how he had struck Snap despite the zoner pleading for mercy.
He wanted to visit Snap again. But he didn't know when he'd be able to do that. He was stuck in a hospital bed with no way to get to ChalkZone. He didn't know if he was going to get the prosthetic before he left the hospital, or if he was going to be discharged for a time and use crutches, now that he thought of it. He knew little of what the doctors had in mind for him. He would have to wait until one of them came in and cleared things up with him.
Mint glanced down at his damaged left leg. He moved it a little, noting how lighter it felt. "I have no idea when I can go back into ChalkZone." Mint admitted with a soft voice. "I'd like to visit Snap again whenever possible...and..." He looked at Rudy and Penny. "I still have to apologize to those zoners...about what I did.."
The two kids nodded in understanding.
"We know, Mint." Penny said, smiling at him. "Rudy and I have been talking about it ourselves. And we think we worked out a solution."
Mint looked at them in surprise. "Really? What?"
Before they could reply, there were footsteps down the hall. They got louder and they soon stopped by the door. The handle was grabbed and it was starting to turn. Rudy and Penny fell silent, looking at the door. With someone coming in, they could no longer talk about ChalkZone.
Rudy pulled something out from his bag he brought with. "We can't explain it here." He said in a hushed, hurried voice. "Take this."
Mint looked at the object. It appeared to be a portable chalkboard. He looked over at Rudy, confused. "What..."
Rudy raised his hand. "No time to explain. Just keep it with you. You'll see."
Mint was still confused, but he did what Rudy asked of him. He placed the portable chalkboard under his pillow, carefully laying the pillow on top of it so that the doctors didn't see it. He had a feeling that Rudy would want him to hide it from the doctors.
After he hid the chalkboard, before he or the two younger kids could say another word, the door had opened up completely. A female doctor walked in, holding a clipboard in her hands. She silently urged Rudy and Penny to step aside so she could speak to Mint. He looked up at her expectantly, bracing himself for any bad news they might have found and for information regarding how long he was going to stay here.
The doctor said, "You're awake I see. You had us worried. Your prognosis is definitely better than it was when you are unconscious." She flipped through a couple pages on the clipboard. "You have a minor infection in your shoulders, it seems. We've got you on antibiotics to take care of that. Whatever attacked you, kid, it really did a number on you. Especially your leg." She shook her head and looked at the boy. "It was a miracle we could get all the infection out of there before it spread to the rest of your body."
"How long will I be here?" Mint asked hesitantly.
The doctor furrowed her eyes. She glanced back at her paperwork. "Some time, kid. Your dad want us to get you prosthetics, but first you'll need to go to therapy to build up strength in what remains of your left leg. When you recover a little more, we will be giving you some crutches to use so you can walk around instead of having to lay in bed all day." She paused for a moment to think. "I'd say, as long as the recovery progress goes over well and there isn't any problems, I think it's safe to say that you may be out of here within two months. Three at most."
Mint let that sink in. About three months in the hospital. That was part of the price he was to pay for his ignorance. And he was willing to accept it, even if it was going to be hard at first. He was going to miss being at home. He was going to miss his parents. They'd only be able to visit him certain times of the day, and he knew Rudy and Penny couldn't visit him that often either. He was going to be alone most of the time here.
But being alone in this hospital wasn't really that bad. Things could have turned out so much worse. He could have been put into a longer comatose state..or he could even been killed... The others could have been much worse off as well. It was good that Rudy and Penny managed to get out of there without being injured too much. And it was good that Snap was also in the hospital and was able to resume recovering. Snap was going to be stuck in the hospital for a much longer time than him, but at least he was going to recover, even if it was going to take a long time.
Although he would have liked to head back to ChalkZone sooner, right now, he needed to rest and let his body heal. He would be able to go back into ChalkZone soon enough. It might not be for a while, but eventually he could go back. Right now, he was grateful that he was still alive, that he still had a chance to fix the rest of his mistakes. He had apologized to Rudy, Penny, and Snap. He still needed to apologize to the other zoners, but that would come in due time. He wasn't sure if they would be as forgiving, but he still needed to at least try to apologize.
Mint heard someone else walking into the room. His eyes widened a little as he saw who it was. And then he smiled. His parents had walked into the room. They looked at him worriedly, tears in their eyes. He had a few tears of his own.
"Mom...dad..." Mint said in a soft voice.
"Oh Mint..." His mother said as she pulled him into a hug. "We're so glad you're okay..."
Mint just smiled and hugged her back.