CHAPTER 27: ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES
Since the fall of Rudy Tabootie, ChalkZone has been left without a protector against those who would exploit or destroy the 'Zone, leaving it to learn how to defend itself against such threats. Out of the chaos that ChalkZone was thrown into, the group known as Calcite was formed. Led by the tactics of Biclops, the knowledge of Barney the Encyclocentipedia, and the wisdom of King Mumbo Jumbo, the resistance group quickly rose to prominence in its war against the genocidal Chalk King. With hundreds if not thousands of agents under its guidance, including Snap under the name of Cobalt 99, the small and raggedy resistance group managed to single-handedly bring a stalemate to the Chalk King's quest for genocide.
With victories all across the 'Zone, many would think such a group would be easy to locate, even in a world as chaotic as ChalkZone, as did the Chalk King himself thought. After years and years of searching for their supposed headquarters, however, none had ever even seen so much as a sign of their existence. Then again, if your army all has the collective IQ about as high as your shoe size, such a task comes with an added difficulty. And so, the headquarters of Calcite was left a mystery and a myth to the Chalk King's forces, with no one able to locate it.
With the recent and rapid series of events that led to the discovery of the presumably dead Rudy Tabootie and his acquisition of the Golden Chalk, a chalk capable of creating anything drawn with it real, a streak of luck hit the Chalk King, with the opposite for the members of Calcite. Upon following the humans from their return from the lost city of Chalklantis, the unfinished creation known as Skrawl had located their headquarters: Barney's Impenetrable Forest. Despite a dwindling relationship with the Chalk King, Skrawl chose to share this information anyways, having no one else to call an ally in ChalkZone.
Hoping to have the Chalk King fulfill his promise made so long ago, the two had formulated a plan to take over the forest and destroy Calcite, so that Skrawl would finally get the purpose in his life he so desired. Using a fire truck stolen from the real world, Skrawl launched an invasion on Barney's Impenetrable Forest, using the stolen water to break through the indestructible trees and reach the base within. While met with heavy resistance from Rudy and the agents of Calcite, the fight, while hard-fought and valiant, was quickly met with an end, with Calcite falling before Skrawl and the forces of the Chalk King.
However, while Skrawl managed to capture the members of Calcite and 3 out of the 4 humans in ChalkZone, the prize of the Golden Chalk itself eluded him, as did the 4th member of the humans. Before Skrawl could even stop to think of where the missing human and Golden Chalk were, the answer to both of those questions quickly revealed itself. With the sound of a massive explosion and a streak of golden light in the sky, the treehouse that held the resistance group known as Calcite split open, with a single entity emerging from the destruction.
Looking up in the sky, the surrounding masses all saw the young Carlos flying in the air, the Golden Chalk in his hand. Acting under the control of the Golden Chalk, Carlos' skin turned a solid gold color, with his clothes being changed to a red and blue jumpsuit with a cape, all with a 'C' placed in the middle of his chest; his appearance resembling that of one of the most well-known superheroes of all time.
Looking down on the people and Zoners below him, Carlos sharply focused his attention straight towards the leader of the attack: Skrawl. While the Golden Chalk was known for controlling those who used it, Carlos seemed to have very stable control over his actions, perhaps due to his determination to save his family. Skrawl, not wasting any time simply gawking at the new threat in shock, ordered his Chalk Troopers to attack the figure, hoping that they would be safe from the boy with the Golden Chalk.
"What are you morons doing?! Shoot it! Shoot it!" Skrawl shouted.
As the Chalk Troopers opened fire on the boy, Carlos merely stood in place, leaving those captured by the forces of the Chalk King all gasping and screaming for his safety, especially Penelope. Despite the large barrage of bullets fired straight at Carlos, not a single one even so much as harmed him. The bullets, while made of chalk, still carried the same properties as the real thing, only bounced off his body or crushed under the impact, falling back to the ground.
Even though the Chalk Troopers fired off all the shots that remained in the magazines of their rifles, not a single bullet landed within Carlos nor harmed him, displaying just one of the many powers that the Golden Chalk provided. Having shown what he was capable of with the power of the chalk, Carlos gave a subtle but noticeable smile, something very rare to see with someone as non-emotive as he was.
"My turn." Carlos said.
[Soundtrack Cue: Maximum the Hormone - F]
As Carlos flew straight towards the invaders, the Chalk Troopers began firing their next shots in the vain hope that they would successfully defend themselves. Feeling the power of the Golden Chalk run through his veins, Carlos dodged the open fire of the Chalk Troopers with ease and grace that seemed to show decades of experience, as if the threat of the bullets were never there. Not stopping his retaliation with a simple dodge, Carlos began flying straight towards the army of Chalk Troopers, mowing them all down with his super-speed and super-strength.
The Chalk Troopers, their attitude originally a confident and brash outlook towards the fight, quickly turned into one of fear and terror. Watching the Super-Carlos begin his attack, the Chalk Troopers began moving towards more desperate measures to stop him. Retreating behind their tanks, the Chalk Troopers began firing off several rounds of heavy artillery, hoping that they would have more effect against Super-Carlos powered by the Golden Chalk.
Despite the artillery shells being more than enough to destroy an average building in both ChalkZone and in real life, they also had no effect on Super-Carlos, the explosions setting off against his golden body but not damaging him in the slightest. Continuing his retaliation against the Chalk Troopers, Carlos picked the tanks up and tossed them into one another, the sheer weight of the tanks being nothing compared to the strength the Golden Chalk granted him.
With the fight being brought back in the favor of the Zoners, Super-Carlos' one-man battle with the Chalk Troopers began to bring a surge of morale back to the agents of Calcite. Fighting back against their captors, the agents of Calcite began berserking towards the Chalk Troopers while they were preoccupied with Super-Carlos, turning the tides in their own favor once again. Where the Zoners once stood in defeat at the hands of the Chalk Troopers, the whole of Calcite began taking their victory out from their hands, determined to take it for themselves.
As the fight quickly shifted from a focus solely on Super-Carlos to the Chalk Troopers versus Calcite, Super-Carlos turned his attention back to the reason why he had taken the Golden Chalk: to save his family. Flying back to the captured humans, Super-Carlos used laser-vision to destroy the shackles on their arms, freeing them from their capture. Materializing a full box of magic chalk, Super-Carlos immediately handed the box to Rudy, giving him the weapon he needed to fight with.
"Thanks, Carlos." Rudy said.
"Thank me by fighting." Carlos said.
Before the two could share any longer a conversation, Super-Carlos blasted off to fight the Chalk Troopers again, continuing to drive the would-be invasion away and save the resistance group known as Calcite from its doom. As Rudy took a piece of chalk out of the box, placing the box itself in his pocket, and once again drawing his trust axe.
"Here, you two take some chalk and draw something to defend yourselves. I'm going to help finish this fight." Rudy said.
Upon being handed a piece of chalk each, Penelope and Carol quickly hid beneath the water tanker, hoping to avoid the fight and seek shelter. Rudy, conversely, prepared his axe in one hand and gave it a spin, preparing to face the massive armies of the Chalk Troopers. Rushing through into the hordes of Chalk Troopers, Rudy began ripping and tearing through the masses of armed troopers like toy soldiers, determined to put an end to the invasion and to save the resistance against the Chalk King.
Just as Rudy was beginning his fight against the Chalk Troopers, Super-Carlos continued his streak of destruction against the invading forces of the Chalk King. With his near-limitless imagination at hand combined with the untold power of the Golden Chalk, Carlos used every power he could conjure up to destroy the invading forces. Using his numerous powers, ranging from tying up a platoon of Chalk Troopers with spider webs shooting from his arms, throwing sharpened boomerangs shaped like bats into the weapons of another platoon of Chalk Troopers, materializing metal blades out of his knuckles to tear apart another group, firing several arrows with a bow into the heads of more Chalk Troopers, telekinetically tossing numerous tanks and other attack vehicles into each other, the power of the Golden Chalk proved to truly be the most powerful strain of chalk in ChalkZone, and Carlos one of the greatest creators in the 'Zone for being able to wield it so expertly.
[Soundtrack Cue End]
After using his axe to slice through another Chalk Trooper out of a line of many others, Rudy stopped to catch his breath, never having been in such a large fight for so long. As he had stopped to breathe, Rudy began to reflect on the fight at hand. Not only a few minutes ago, the entirety of Calcite was conquered, with its main heads under the submission of Skrawl and his legion of Chalk Troopers. Now, with the Golden Chalk in the hands of Carlos Sanchez, it seems the tides have turned in their favor once again.
As Rudy reflected on the fight, his mind began to focus on the fact that Skrawl had not been seen since the fight had restarted, leaving him to ponder where the unfinished Zoner had gone. With a shout heard behind him, Rudy finds the answer to that question quicker and closer than he had hoped for.
"Rudy Tabootie!" Skrawl called.
Turning around to the source of the call, Rudy once again stood face-to-face with Skrawl, the unfinished Zoner that had changed his life forever and haunted a good portion of it. More than ready to continue their fight as of earlier, Skrawl now held a new spear in his hands, taking a stance against Rudy.
"Ready for round two?" Skrawl asked.
Answering his enemy's question with a physical response in place of a verbal one, Rudy rushed towards Skrawl with his axe carrying behind him, building up momentum for his first strike. Taking a jump in the air, Rudy swung his axe towards Skrawl, aiming straight for his head, or at least what constituted as a head on a body like his. Blocking his swing with his spear, Skrawl defended himself against the attack, thus beginning the fight once again.
Continuing where the two had previously left off, Rudy and Skrawl attacked each other with drive far beyond passion, their fight seeming to appear less as a simple battle for revenge and more towards a pure, physical need for one or the other to finally die. With a story of regret and vengeance 15 years in the making, the mere sight of each other was more than enough to drive each other on in the fight, continuing on until one or the other would stand victorious.
Skrawl, born into a life without purpose or meaning, had nothing in his life but a hatred for Rudy Tabootie for not properly creating him. With his pain and anger being the only drives in his life, the goal of destroying Rudy Tabootie had been his only reason for existence, like a demented Tom and Jerry cartoon. Rudy, conversely, had suffered the injustice of having his life in the real world taken from him, forced to live a life of torture and exile in ChalkZone at the hands of Skrawl, all for the purpose of having him feel just what Skrawl himself had felt all his own life.
With their lives far too divided for any means for peace, the two can do naught for each other but fight, each hoping for an end to each of their demons. Rather than use any sort of cleverness or creativity, they only choose to use sheer, unforgiving violence. Delivering attack after attack; Rudy swinging his axe and Skrawl thrusting his spear, the two stay locked at a deadlock, neither side making true progress in their fight. Despite this, neither one let their attacks grow weaker or softer, both wanting to ensure that their enemy fell before their hands.
As much as the two were dedicated on their fight, however, both knew that neither could continue their battle forever. Taking a small break from their duel, Rudy and Skrawl backed away from each other, both seeming to have an understanding for a temporary truce.
"Give up already, Skrawl. It's already over." Rudy said.
"You said that just moments before I destroyed your precious forest. Not only are you starting to sound like a broken record, but you play the same wrong note every time. It was I that beat you years ago, and it will be me who beats you once again." Skrawl said.
"And how are you gonna do that? Look around you, Skrawl, half your army is already destroyed, and continuing to dwindle, not to mention you haven't gotten the Golden Chalk. How do you think you're going to win?"
"It doesn't matter how, Rudy Tabootie. All that matters to me is what the Chalk King promised me for that Golden Chalk, and I want it BADLY!" Skrawl shouted.
Finishing his shout with another thrust of his spear, Skrawl brought an end to their temporary truce abruptly with another attack. Rudy, while relaxed with his short break, had not let his guard down, instantly blocking the thrust with his axe. Pushing the spear aside, Rudy took another swing towards his opponent, only to have Skrawl block it with his spear.
Where their truce might have ended prematurely, Rudy was not ready to let their conversation follow suit. With the Chalk King's aforementioned promise mentioned by Skrawl but never fully explained, Rudy grew more and more curious as to what it was, wondering what could possibly drive Skrawl to go to great lengths just to obtain whatever it is he was promised.
"This isn't like you, Skrawl. Years ago, it was just a simple game of you coming up with some inane scheme just to prove that you're better than me, now you're waging wars against all of ChalkZone. Who is the Chalk King, and what could he have promised you to make you go this far?" Rudy asked.
"And why do you ask? Looking to find some sympathy in me, some sort of way for you to show your bleeding heart now that you've finally opened up to those emotions you blocked out of yourself years ago?" Skrawl asked.
"I've got no love for you, Skrawl, not after all this time. All that really concerns me is why you would go this far. What did he promise you?"
"Only something I should have had since the day I was conceived!"
Ending his sentence with a kick to Rudy's chest, Skrawl sent his enemy falling on his back, following suit with a strike of his spear. No longer willing to fall defeated before Skrawl's hands again, Rudy rolled back and dodged Skrawl's spear, standing himself upright once again. With his next moves parrying Skrawl's subsequent attacks, Rudy took the opportunity to open the conversation again, determined to get his answer. Pushing his spear down and holding it tightly between his ankles and axe, Rudy continued his inquiry of Skrawl and his motivations, needing an answer to the question that so drove his mind beyond control.
"And what should you have had when you were conceived, Skrawl? What is it that I didn't give you that I should've?" Rudy asked.
"Please, Rudy, you, of all people, should know the answer to that question. Remember? That little girl's birthday party, you had begun your work on me, only to have my creation plundered and raped by those little brats with the thought process and control of rabid dogs! You left me to become this malformed beast, never to have a reason or purpose." Skrawl said.
"And when I first met you, what was the first thing I did?! I tried to help you, to give you that purpose that you wanted, but you rejected me, and you tried to destroy me anyway. What makes this Chalk King so special, so different?"
"For starters, he's given me a fourth arm to go with the other three, giving me a correct number of hands and feet, something you never thought of."
"So what? He just got Christopher to do it, what's makes him better than me?"
"What? Who's Christopher?"
"Christopher Wolfe, the Chalk King's human helper. It definitely explains a lot, but it doesn't say why you decided to side with him."
"I don't know who you're talking about, but the Chalk King has his own ways of getting in and out of ChalkZone without a need for a human, just like how my life has no need for your worthless babbling!"
Pulling his spear back and out of the hold of Rudy Tabootie, Skrawl again moved forward with his attacks, hoping to end Rudy and put an end to his questions. Rather than try to attack with simple thrusts, Skrawl opted for heavy swings and sweeps, hoping to bring Rudy Tabootie back on the ground. Rudy, still not determined to give up, ducked and hopped over his attacks, effortlessly avoiding his strikes.
Taking a step on his spear just before it completed its full sweep, Rudy stood atop Skrawl's spear, preventing him from using it again. Making a strike with the blunt side of his axe like a tennis racket, Rudy knocked Skrawl to the ground, leaving him at his mercy. With Skrawl no longer able to fight, Rudy stood atop his opponent and held his axe to his enemy's neck, wanting the answer to his question.
"You've got nowhere else to run this time, no one else to help you, and nothing left to fight with, Skrawl. Now, tell me, what makes the Chalk King different?" Rudy asked.
While Skrawl knew that he had no more means of fighting in this battle, laying defeated at the hands of Rudy Tabootie, he still hesitated to answer the question, not sure if doing so would be in his best interest. Having no more options in this scenario, Skrawl let out a disappointed grunt, finally agreeing to answer the question.
"I can't explain what it is that makes him different. He's a Zoner, but he's not like any Zoner I've seen before. He's just so... different." Skrawl said.
"Different how? There's so many strange creations in ChalkZone, what makes him different than anything we've seen before?" Rudy asked.
"I don't know, it's something about the aura he gives. His movements seem to be constricted based on rules, like yours. It's like he exists in the real world."
"So, what? He's half-erased? Like a chalk ghost?"
"No, not like that. He... he almost seems... Oh, forget it! Do you really think that all this can really take my mind away from that which I desire? Who cares if it's you or the Chalk King that gives me my purpose? All I want is a reason to exist!"
"And how bad do you want it?"
"I will do whatever is necessary to get which I need, which I deserve!"
"And did you ever stop to think why you wanted it?"
"Because... Because purpose is what every Zoner has! You made Snap to be your friend, you made Crainiac 4 to stop Crainiac 3, and all of your little tricks were made to stop me or someone else who posed a threat in the 'Zone! Everyone has a purpose that they were created with, but I have nothing! You left me incomplete!"
"Not everything has a purpose, Skrawl, especially not everything that I've created. Blocky, I drew without a purpose. I was young and I just wanted to draw a person. Bathtub Granny, I drew without a purpose. I just wanted to make something funny."
"Then you did create them with purpose! Don't you see, Rudy Tabootie? They have their purpose, but I don't!"
"I never thought about purpose when I drew them, and those reasons never came up in my head. It sounds like you're looking for something that's not there, or you're reading too deep into it."
"Then what are their lives if they have no purpose?"
"They don't have to have a purpose. Not everything has to have purpose. I'm a human being; I don't have any purpose to my existence. I'm just here."
"But you're here to stop me, aren't you? That sounds like a purpose to me."
"Then purpose is where you find it, if you really want one that bad. For years, your only purpose was to destroy me at any cost. You had a purpose because you chose to have one. Take a look around you, and think about what kind of purpose you have now. You've let Barney's Impenetrable Forest be destroyed, and you've nearly crushed the last hopes of the only people that would accept you as you are, and not some dictator that would erase you just for not being part of his vision. Take a good long look and think to yourself if that's the purpose you were looking for. Is this what you wanted?"
Once again, Skrawl hesitated from answering. Rather than sheer pride being the reason to refuse answering as before, this time it was the simple case of not having an answer to Rudy's question. Having spent so much time and energy trying to find a purpose in his life, Skrawl had never stopped to ponder the fact if he already had the purpose he sought out just by fighting Rudy; letting that one goal drive him through and through his life.
Now, having brought war to the heart of the resistance against the Chalk King, Skrawl now realized that what he was fighting for could not be given to him by anyone. By serving the Chalk King, he had taken a purpose, but not one for the better. With hundreds if not thousands of Zoners dead as a consequence of his actions, Skrawl finds himself no longer sure or certain that what he was doing was what he wanted. Having his mentality playing through the war as a means to an end, the desired end no longer has the appeal that he was led to believe.
"The Chalk King played you, Skrawl, but we won't. You can still make this right." Rudy said.
"What are you saying? Even if I believed that what you were saying was truth and not another lie, you, of all people, really think that I can really be saved? After all I've done? All I've destroyed? You, of all people, who I broke and took away your ability to draw, honestly can stand there with a straight face and offer me redemption? Why don't you just kill me and get it over with already?!" Skrawl asked.
"Because I've learned a lot along the quest to get the chalk. Things that I don't think I would have ever learned if I hadn't had what happened to me happen. A lot of people would say what you did was unforgivable, and, a while ago, I would be among those people, never to forgive you."
Rudy extended his hand out to Skrawl, offering in it a chance to redeem himself for all his past sins; a chance to finally have the purpose in his life that he so desired.
"But I forgive you. Since I'm the one who started to draw you, I know that there's part of me in you, and that there's some of my good in you. You have a choice, Skrawl. You can be who you choose to be." Rudy said.
Over the course of his life, Skrawl had gone through many changes; each of them unexpected, and each of them making an impact on him for as long as he would ever live. With the interference of many young hands stopping Rudy from finishing his intended vision of him, never had Skrawl been allowed to live a life as a normal Zoner, now only concerning himself with revenge against the boy who had allowed such a fate to befall him.
Forming his alliance with the Chalk King, Skrawl had finally received his revenge against Rudy, but at a price greater than he could have ever predicted. Having finally obtained his goal of defeating Rudy Tabootie, he was left without purpose yet again, and had been given an offer by the Chalk King to remedy that issue. If Skrawl could obtain the Golden Chalk and bringing it to the Chalk King, he would grant him the purpose that he so desired. For many years, Skrawl had no such luck obtaining the key to his goal, even with all the tools at his disposal.
With the appearance of two new young creators and the reemergence of Rudy Tabootie, that luck seemed to change. Carefully and secretly trailing the humans on their quest for the Golden Chalk, Skrawl waited the opportunity to obtain the aforementioned chalk, more than eager to receive his purpose at last. After falling into the hands of Queenie Beanie, mother of the Beanie Boys, Skrawl's mission seemed to be at an abrupt and anticlimactic end, but this seemed not to be.
Queenie Beanie, being the benevolent being that she was, saw through the evil actions that Skrawl had taken and understood the reason why. Seeing his desire for only to have something that was missing in his life, Queenie Beanie spared the unfinished Zoner, allowing him to find his own path. Stumbling across the secret fortress of Calcite, Skrawl found himself reverting back to his old alliance with the Chalk King, just so he could obtain his purpose, having no other way to obtain it.
However, underneath all this, there still remained one unfaltering fact in his mind. Queenie Beanie could have more than easily executed Skrawl for his crimes against her people, but she chose not to. With this small act of mercy, Skrawl's ever-uncertain mind was left even less in balance, not knowing what path he should take. Now, Rudy was showing Skrawl not only that same mercy, but also something that he never believed he'd have, something completely unheard of in his life:
Forgiveness.
More importantly than the forgiveness itself to Skrawl, however, was who was offering it. Rudy Tabootie had suffered the very worst torture he could endure, all for the sake of showing him what it was like to live as an unfinished creation. And, in all the process, Skrawl took away the one thing that made Rudy what he was: taking away his ability to draw.
Despite all this horror and misery, Rudy still looked past it all and chose to offer forgiveness. If someone like Rudy could find it in his heart to forgive the greatest of transgressors in his life, then could it be so foreign to forgive the person who was his own transgressor? Could, after all this time, Skrawl have finally found some kind of peace in his life?
While Skrawl knew not the answers to these questions, he knew that there was one way to find the answer to those questions: to accept his forgiveness. Taking a risk above all else, Skrawl reached his hand out to Rudy Tabootie's own hand, ready to accept the forgiveness that he never believed nor knew he could ever have. With just a simple reach of his hand, the path that his life was meant to take seemed all the more clear to him now, no longer confusing or unsure. And best of all, all he had to do to obtain it was to simply reach out and take it.
However, before Skrawl could reach the forgiveness he was offered, something very strange and very unusual happened, even for a realm such as ChalkZone. A strange yet familiar scribbling sound was heard in the air, catching the attention of both Rudy and Skrawl. Looking towards the sound of the scribbling, hearing the sound of chalk scratching against stone, Rudy and Skrawl looked to see what appeared to be lines of chalk forming in the air, as if someone were drawing on the other side.
Before the two could question what these lines were or where they were coming from, the lines began to slowly form a rectangle, following quickly with a small circle in the middle-left of the rectangle itself. It was then that it began to occur to them that the drawing was a door, and it was beginning to materialize before their eyes. With the door beginning to come into existence, its color and details filling in, the various other fighters around the battlefield took notice of the miraculous appearance of the door, stopping in their tracks as it began to appear.
Finally, when the door had finished materializing, the doorknob turned with a loud creak, with someone stepping through the other side. Seeing the door open as it appeared on the battlefield, the many Zoners surrounding it could only stop and stare in confusion, all trying to understand what this door was doing here and why it existed out of nowhere. In this particular section of ChalkZone, there existed no chalkboards or surfaces to draw on, making the situation even more baffling to the lot.
As many theories and questions as to what this door was doing here and who could have brought it here, none could have guessed anything even close to what was on the other side, all expectations instantly brought down and destroyed as they saw the being that walked through. Many had heard the name of this man who walked through, but few had ever seen this being in person, and even less than few had ever seen him and lived to tell the tale.
The man stepping through the door was the tyrannical despot known only as the Chalk King, showing himself before the heart of the resistance that sought to take down his rule. Standing before the many Zoners on the battlefield, the Chalk King was a very difficult man to look at; his dark black cloak concealing his face, only his piercing eyes shown out of the shadow, and his arms and legs just barely seen underneath. His movements, just like Skrawl had described, were strict and constricted compared to the rest of the Zoners in ChalkZone, seeming almost real as the humans themselves.
Where the many members of Calcite had talked much evil of the Chalk King, bravely making many claims of grandeur on the day they would destroy the king, none could even find the words to come out of their mouths as they gazed upon the enemy they had sought so hard to destroy. Finally seeing the form of the Chalk King himself was like finally laying eyes on the bogeyman; all knew and feared him in their minds, but to see him in person was another matter entirely.
The Chalk Troopers, just as surprised to see their king appear at this battleground himself, also found nothing to say upon seeing the arrival of their king. The Chalk Troopers were a very unintelligent bunch, following the Chalk King only as a pure tribal and primal desire to follow those with power. To see him in person was as if they were gazing upon their very own god, never having seen him on the battlefield and away from his castle.
The Chalk King, standing before the battle as it laid stopped in its tracks, watched the reactions of the many Zoners who looked upon him, soaking in all of the emotion that the field had provided, basking in the opportunity to leave his castle as it had come to him. However, as greatly as the Chalk King was enjoying his outing on the battlefield outside Barney's Impenetrable Forest, watching his Chalk Troopers in battle with the remaining core of Calcite, the king still remembered why he had come here in the first place.
Taking no chances on the battle or Skrawl's plan, the Chalk King came out of hiding for one simple purpose: to take the Golden Chalk for himself. Having dreamed of it the day he had heard of its existence, the Chalk King could already envision the magic chalk under his control, giving him the power he craved so intimately. Now, having left from his hiding hole, he has come to make his dream a reality.
Having only been briefly described of the Chalk King, seeing the king in person was a landmark of a memory in Rudy's mind, leaving him only able to stand before the Chalk King and gaze upon the enemy that had set up his downfall. As surprising and as unprecedented as his appearance was, Rudy did not falter to fear or uncertainty, taking his axe in hand once again and standing before the Chalk King, ready to fight.
"Rudy Tabootie." The Chalk King said.
"So, you're the Chalk King. I never thought I'd see you in person like this. So, out of all the fights and adventures we've been on, what brings you to this fight here and now?" Rudy asked.
"The answer to that question, Rudy Tabootie, is almost rhetorical in its own context. You know what I have come for. I am here for the Golden Chalk."