CHAPTER 35: THROW OUT THE BATHWATER

Resting in a secluded location in Nightzone, the maniacal human-turned-Zoner called the Chalk King has made his home and fortress of doom, giving himself a watchful eye over all that is in ChalkZone, all that he wishes to have control over. Taking influence from the real-life Castle Frankenstein that helped craft the renowned book 'Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus', the castle took after said book's bleak and nightmarish tone and the real castle's grand and towering appearance.

In the German language, 'stein' means 'stone'. Where 'Frankenstein' would translate to 'Stone of the Franks', the name of this place would mean something like 'Stone of the Chalk'. The chalk in question, of course, refers to the Chalk King himself, having long since abandoned his humanity and identity as Christopher Wolfe.

The king of this castle, having sustained an injury to his eye left behind by his prisoner of Penelope Sanchez, has placed himself in a washroom, tending to his absent eye. As the Chalk King had turned immortal from his transformation from human to Zoner, he no longer had any true need for sleep; sleep being a luxury rather than necessity to Zoners. Therefore, he had no master bedroom, and, by extension, no master washroom.

Choosing this simple washroom to tend to his erased eye, the Chalk King took the instrument needed for his self-treatment in his hand: a piece of chalk. While he may have destroyed the magic Chalk Mine many years ago during his first years of conquest, he made very sure to collect and stash himself plenty of chalk, allowing himself to heal himself when necessary, like in this instance.

Taking the chalk in his hand, the Chalk King carefully took the stick to his empty eye socket, preparing to fill it again with the organ that was once there. Carefully moving his hand ever so slowly and gently to ensure that the eye was its correct shape, looking in the mirror to both observe his actions and use his remaining eye as reference, the Chalk King made good use of his prodigious artistic skills to repair the damage to his face.

While he might be a Zoner, and Zoners do not have the ability to use chalk to create anything other than markings as if it were in the real world, the Chalk King, once being human, is a special case, still retaining his ability to make his drawings real. The reason why this is so is not very clear, though it might be speculated that it requires a true human soul to have the ability to draw, as an artist's drawing is an extension of the soul itself.

After many small and careful strokes with his chalk, the Chalk King's newly-drawn eye materialized in his eye socket, the nerves to it connecting with his brain and functioning just like his former eye. As the connections made their way and heal the damage, his eyesight returned to him in his empty socket, once again giving him full vision. The experience of having vision lost and returned back again was an eye-opening one (no pun intended), realizing how valuable the feeling and sense of full eyesight truly is.

Having restored his missing eye back again, the Chalk King placed his mask back on his face, covering the rest of his head with his cloak, no longer showing his once-human face to the world, continuing to keep it hidden away from others. More importantly, the Chalk King wished to hide his former face from himself, no longer considering the man within the cloak and mask to be his true self any longer.

The neglected boy and twisted man that was Christopher Wolfe is dead.

Now, there is only the Chalk King.

As the Chalk King continued dwelling on the past that once was his life, trying his best to sweep it from the corners of his mind, an unexpected interruption came to his moment of solitude. This interruption came in the form of one of his own Chalk Troopers, appearing before the Chalk King and bringing with him news to share about the safety of himself and the castle.

"Uh... Hey, boss? I got some bad news." The Chalk Trooper said.

"Worse than bad news, I hope, for the sake of yourself. I am sure that you know of the consequences of coming to your king unannounced?" The Chalk King asked.

"Yeah, yeah, but, like... This is a real emergency. We've got word that Calcite's formed some kind of attack on Castle Chalkenstein led by Rudy Tabootie, and they're all headin' this way."

"A ground invasion? Rudy Tabootie, you truly are more pathetic than I thought. Exactly how could you have been called 'The Great Creator'?"

"What?"

"If that stupid human Rudy's leading the remnants of Calcite here on foot, then he should know that they'll all be shredded to pieces. Your formations are surrounding the castle walls as I ordered, are they not?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then exactly how is this an emergency?"

"Because, uh, they ain't goin' on foot."

"Oh, really? Underground, then? Exactly how do they know they're even going in the right direction?"

"No, boss, they're flyin'."

"They... Th... They're what?"

"From what we've been hearin', they're all flyin', and they look like they've gotten some kinda superpowers, like in them comic books."

"Then that means... Damn it! I suppose I have underestimated Rudy and those humans. Very well. We work the backup plan. Tell your men to initiate Plan W."

"Uh... What's Plan W, again? I forgot."

"You idiot... Arm yourselves with the water guns."

"But, ain't that dangerous to us, too?"

"Perhaps, but, is it as dangerous as me personally throwing you into a bucket of water myself?"

"Uh... No."

"THEN STOP WASTING MY TIME AND PREPARE FOR BATTLE AT ONCE!"

"Whoa, okay, okay, chief, I'm goin'!"

Following the orders of his commander and sovereign, the Chalk Trooper returned to his fellow comrades, sharing his orders to change out their weapons for their reserve of water guns. With little time on their hands to prepare for the coming battle, the remaining forces of the Chalk King's army of Chalk Troopers rushed to change their weapons out, needing more efficient and effective weaponry to defend themselves from the now superpowered Zoners of Calcite.

Trading out their standard chalk rifles for water guns, many opting for rifles with large water tanks, some taking squirt pistols, some taking water balloons, and others choosing more obscure and niche designs for water guns, all the Chalk Troopers were armed to the teeth with their new weapons, more than ready for battle. How strange that such a simple and innocent toy used by children for fun could easily be used as a weapon here, and how sad that even the most innocent of inventions can lead to death.

Now having been armed and readied with their new weapons, a commanding Chalk Trooper gave specific orders to his troops, having another commander as an assistant.

"Now, remember, guys, this stuff's the most dangerous substance here in ChalkZone, so, it can hurt the enemy pretty well, but it'll hurt us, too. You gotta make sure that doesn't happen. Remember, the best way to use these things is to hold 'em tight, keep your gun pointed away from you, and just pull the trigger, that way you don't get hit, and the enemy does." The commanding Chalk Trooper said.

While giving his demonstration, the commanding Chalk Trooper pointed the gun to his assistant, giving a more visual explanation how to safely use their weapons. As he concluded the demonstration, however, he forgot to remember that his weapon was armed, and that he was pointing his water gun at his assistant.

As a result of his absent-minded decisions, the commander's assistant was instantly erased by the shot of water, reduced to a puddle of chalky water; the water continuing to burn into the ground until it was soaked up by the chalk of the castle. While the sight of one of their own being accidentially murdered by their weapons was disheartening, the commander of the Chalk Troopers quickly came up with a proper positive spin.

"And, as you can see, my assistant has just given his life to prove that our weapons do, in fact, work when used as such. So, let's stop sitting around here and beat these Calcite goons once and for all!" The commanding Chalk Trooper said.

With their simple and dull minds easily swayed by their commander's words, the Chalk Troopers gave an eager shout for battle, feeling more than ready to take on the attacking Calcite force coming to their Castle Chalkenstein. Holding their rifles and guns high in the air, the Chalk Troopers gave a hearty cheer for battle, proving that their military strength still outweighed their low intelligence.

Forming their efforts together in only the span of an hour, the Chalk Troopers heavily fortified themselves around the walls of Castle Chalkenstein, more than ready for the battle to come and prepared for however long the battle may take. The Chalk King, looking upon the fortification that his Chalk Troopers had set up, gave something of a smile behind his mask, standing in full belief that the invasion of Calcite would fail and he would finally be victorious.

"Prepare yourself, Rudy Tabootie. This is the end of ChalkZone." The Chalk King said.


Not too long later, the forces of Calcite made their way towards the fortress known as Castle Chalkenstein, resting themselves just outside the towering mass before they made their final approach. As tempting as the option was to simply rush in attack headstrong, the forces of Calcite had come too far and fought too hard to allow such any room for failing or foolish tactics. Now, they took their time to scope out the battleground, choosing to seek out the best battle strategy possible before making their move.

Making use of his new flight powers and natural acute vision enhanced by his new superpowers of X-Ray and telescopic vision, Carlos decided to make a scouting view of the castle, making eye of all threats to be faced within and outside the castle. Just as soon as Carlos took off and made his observations, he returned to the group just as quickly, bringing back his report of the battleground.

"How's it looking, Carlos?" Rudy asked.

"At least 10,000 Chalk Troopers. Armed with water. Mommy inside the castle in a dungeon. Chalk King at the top." Carlos said.

"Armed with water?! Rudy, we'll be reduced ta puddles out there!" Snap said.

"I agree with Snap. While you might not be stopped by water, it is more than deadly to us Zoners. We'd be erased instantly." Barney the Encyclocentipedia said.

"No, we must keep our faith in Rudy Tabootie. It is he who has gotten us this far, and it is he who has a plan to get us through once again. Right, Rudy Tabootie?" Biclops said.

"Well, I'm working on it, that's for sure. I know you can't withstand water, but me, Carol, and Carlos, all can. Maybe we can work on something on that front." Rudy said.

"Wait, 'that front' as in 'we all fight them ourselves'? As in, we go alone?" Carol asked.

"No choice. Can't risk any lives." Carlos said.

"I'm afraid he's right. We can't just sacrifice the Zoners needlessly. Besides, we don't have to take them on ourselves, all we need is to get them to lose their water. If they don't have any water, then we'll have a far better chance of winning this fight." Rudy said.

"Then what should we do?" Carol asked.

"I have an idea. Carlos, did you see any sort of tank or anything that could hold more water?"

"Why?"

"Squirt guns don't hold that much water. With weapons like those, they'd have to reload constantly, especially given how trigger-happy they are. If we take out their ammo supply, they'd be out of water and we'd have a better fighting chance."

"Saw some big trailer tank in the center. Probably their ammo supply."

"Okay, then. We take that out, we'll take them out. Easy."

"Yeah, but what are we gonna do with the tank? If it gets damaged, it could burn a hole straight to the center of the Earth. Er... of Chalk-Earth, or however it works here." Carol said.

"Then let's see where we can put it."

Taking his miniature chalkboard out, Rudy drew a portal to the outside world, looking around for a place to put the tank to place it out of harm's way. Looking through his portal, Rudy saw that the surrounding area in the real world was a road in the middle of the city; not too busy, but far from uninhabited.

"Looks like there's some people in the real world around here. I don't want to hurt anybody, but it looks like we don't have much choice to get that tank out of here. If we don't, everybody here could suffer for it." Rudy said.

"I'm in any which way. Just point me where to go." Carlos said.

"Well... I want Mama to be safe, so whatever you think's best to save her is fine by me. If it's good with Carlos, it's good with me." Carol said.

"Then we'd better get started. Carlos, point us to where you found that tank." Rudy said.

Obeying Rudy's directions, Carlos took to the sky, heading straight for the tank. Rudy and Carol, flying right after him, stayed closely behind to make their presence in the sky as small as possible. Following Carlos' lead, the young boy led the two right to the tank, just as he had found it.

Still continuing to take their time, the three cautiously watched the Chalk Troopers in the area, noting all their positions and fortifications around the tank. While many of the Chalk Troopers were surrounding the walls of Castle Chalkenstein, there still remained 2 guards outside the water tank, ensuring that it would stay protected. Most importantly, both guards were given garden hoses attached to the tank, effectively making them the guards with infinite ammo against any attackers.

"Just as I guessed. They've got guards around it, and they've got hoses hooked right up to it." Rudy said.

"So what? If they hit us, nothing happens, right?" Carol asked.

"Costumes made of chalk. They'll be erased, no more powers." Carlos said.

"Crap. Well, then, how are we supposed to- Wait! I've got an idea."

"What? What are you thinking?" Rudy asked.

"I drew this suit to give me some mind-control powers. If I can use them against the Chalk Troopers guarding the tank, I can get them to walk away, or, better yet, attack everyone else. We'd have no problems getting in at all."

"Okay, I like that idea. Go for it."

Focusing on the mind-control powers that she had granted herself, Carol focused all of her mental attention towards the Chalk Troopers guarding the water tank, trying to get a lock on their minds. Using all of her concentration... well, all the concentration that a 9-year old girl can muster, anyway, Carol tried every possible way to attempt to make the Chalk Troopers move or act under her will.

Trying different techniques from imagining the Chalk Troopers doing what she wished them to do, mentally speaking to the Chalk Troopers through telepathy, and just simply clenching the muscles in her skull as tightly as she could, Carol quickly found that her mind-control powers were not working. Not understanding Carol's struggle nor the fact that her face gave them the impression that she was constipated or suffering some sort of mental breakdown, Rudy and Carlos questioned the delay.

"What wrong? What's taking so long?" Rudy asked.

"Ugh... I can't get them to move! How's this supposed to work?" Carol asked.

"You drew mind-control powers and don't know how to use them?" Carlos asked.

"I thought I'd just instantly know how to use them. Why didn't it work?"

"Remember when we agreed to not draw things we don't know how to use?"

"Yeah, so?"

"You don't know how to use mind-control, so you can't use it."

"Oh, real smart answer, Carlos, do you know how to use mind control?"

"No, but I didn't draw it, either."

Realizing that her mind-control powers were useless in this situation, Carol gave an annoyed groan, realizing that she had wasted her efforts and chalk drawing herself a power she had no idea how to use.

"Okay, fine. So what do we do now?" Carol asked.

As one Chalk Trooper below the three humans began to grow bored without any battle to fight just yet, the trooper let out a yawn and gave a stretch to his arms, leaning himself backward to stretch out his back as well. While the Chalk Trooper was only truly trying to simply get a stretch to prevent himself from getting stiff, his action had involuntarily informed him about the three humans above him.

"Hey! Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... Oh, no, wait a minute, I forgot my glasses..." The Chalk Trooper said.

Upon taking his glasses out of his pocket and placing them over his gas mask, the Chalk Trooper then realized what was actually in the sky was not a copyrighted caped superhero, but the three humans. As such, the Chalk Trooper carefully and calmly informed his fellow colleagues of this interesting news, believing that it was a fact worth of sharing, purely for the sheer amusement of it.

"IT'S THE HUMANS! THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE GONNA ATTACK! EVERYBODY GET READY!" The Chalk Trooper said.

Realizing that their short-lived cover had finally reached its end, Rudy, Carol, and Carlos immediately began flying around the castle, avoiding the gunfire of the troopers below. No longer having the element of surprise, the group quickly formulated themselves a plan to take out the water tank.

"Okay, Plan B. Carol, you keep the Chalk Troopers busy. Carlos, you go make me an opening in the real world. I'm gonna take that tank and throw it through." Rudy said.

While Rudy and Carlos were quick to scramble to their own tasks, Carol found herself slow to approach hers. Not knowing how to handle the task of distracting the Chalk Troopers, Carol immediately began panicking under the very idea of performing the task on her own.

"Uh, guys? What was that about distracting them? Guys?!" Carol asked.

Unfortunately for Carol, she received no answer from her brother or Rudy. Rather, the closest qualifier for a reply she received was a blast of water from the Chalk Troopers below, completely soaking her from top to bottom. While she was not harmed, her costume was gone, along with her ability to fly, and, as a result, quickly plummeted to the ground.

Upon getting up from the ground after she harshly landed on it, Carol found herself surrounded by Chalk Troopers, all pointing their water guns directly at her. Knowing that there was no use for her chalk here, meaning that she could not draw anything to attack with, Carol realized that she could not fight back.

"Nice try, sugarplum. Youse ain't gonna be usin' that chalk against us." One Chalk Trooper said.

"Yeah, just give yourself up an' the Chalk King'll probably be nice to ya." Another Chalk Trooper said.

Upon hearing a strange warbling noise in her pocket, Carol pulled its contents out to investigate the source of the noise. After taking a look at the only item within, Carol concern for the Chalk Troopers was instantly gone, instead switching to a far more personal loss.

"MY PHONE! YOU KILLED MY PHONE! IT'S ALL SHORTED OUT!" Carol shouted.

Feeling an unholy, godlike wrath brewing within herself, there was now nothing else within the mind of Carol. There was no concern for the mission, no concern for the Chalk Troopers or the Chalk King, no concern for ChalkZone, not even a concern for her family, at least not right this second.

There was only the loss of her beloved phone.

Unable to withstand the loss of her phone, Carol's feral intincts for war and rage began to surface, wishing for nothing but death to the Chalk Troopers for their unholy crime against her. Looking to her side to find two automatic water guns, both fully loaded and ready to fire, Carol found the answer to grant her wishes.

Grabbing the water guns and aiming them directly back at the Chalk Troopers akimbo-style, Carol's face of rage and fury found itself complimented with a twisted and wide smile; a face worthy of the Grim Reaper.

The Chalk Troopers, while they once had a firm grasp on the situation at hand, suddenly realized that they had made a fatal error in judgement.

"Uh... sorry?" One Chalk Trooper said.

[Soundtrack Cue: D.R.I. - The Five Year Plan; Starting from 1:03]

Pulling down the triggers to her water guns with the grip of a vice, Carol unleashed the blue fury of Hell straight towards the Chalk Troopers, beginning her revenge against her destroyed phone. Unable to defend themselves against a human being using only water guns, the Chalk Troopers could do nothing against the angered Carol; only hope and pray that their deaths would be quick and painless.

Their prayers were answered with a sharp 'no'.

Firing her water guns on the Chalk Troopers, Carol laid waste to the dozens of Chalk Troopers standing before her, letting out devilish and maniacal laughs as she continued her handiwork of death and mayhem. Where the Chalk Troopers were the backbone of the Chalk King's army, mighty in numbers and just as deadly, they now only existed as standing targets for Carol to let out her wrath with.

With one Chalk Trooper not being lucky enough to be erased right away, only having his leg erased, the amputee Chalk Trooper attempted to escape from the bloodthirsty 9-year old girl by crawling along the ground, hoping he would go unnoticed.

He didn't.

Taking notice of the crawling Chalk Trooper, Carol flipped over the amputated soldier and placed her water gun directly to his face. Having a good look at the fallen angel of death that was more than ready to take his life, the Chalk Trooper stared into the angered Carol's face; seeing her bloody red eyes wide open and her smile reaching from ear to ear, and hearing her breath pump in an out of her lungs so hard her nostrils nearly tore themselves with each effort.

"No... Oh, please, god, have mercy!" The Chalk Trooper said.

"Your god's not here, little man." Carol taunted.

Firing both her water guns directly towards the Chalk Trooper, the remainder of the soldier was immediately erased by the fury of dihydrogen oxide blasting straight through his body. Continuing her rampage of murder and mayhem, Carol continued laughing loudly and maniacally, calling for more and more death all around her.

[Soundtrack Cue End]


As Carol continued her rampage, keeping the Chalk Troopers occupied from the water tank, Rudy made his move towards the water tank, ready to take it away from the defending forces and leave them defenseless against Calcite. Moving towards the water tank, drawing his ever-trusty battle-axe, Rudy prepared to dispatch the Chalk Troopers from the tank.

While the other Chalk Troopers were preoccupied with the rampaging Carol, the two guarding the water tank had not left their position, still keeping watch over their precious ammo supply. Also having the advantage of having their weapon being fed their ammo directly from the tank itself, being conservative with their ammunition was not concern. As such, the Chalk Troopers let loose their their weapons, more than ready to destroy the Rudy's weapons and powers.

With a simple jump into the air using his own ability of flight, Rudy dodged out of the way of the water streams, narrowly avoiding having his costume and weapon erased. Landing between the two gunners, Rudy laid down on the ground, tricking the Chalk Troopers into firing upon each other and erasing them both.

Although Rudy may have handled the easy part of their task, the hard part was far more complicated than he had thought through. After drawing a belt around his costume, then drawing a chain attaching the belt to the tank, Rudy prepared to take off with the tank, but found that he could not. As the tank weighed too much to carry under his own weight, Rudy quickly thought of ways to make his flight possible.

Taking his chalk in hand once again, Rudy began drawing several rockets, jets, and other methods of propulsion all over himself, attempting to gain more force to pick up the tank. While he could draw out his ideas just as fast as he could come up with them, his ideas were not coming fast enough to pull the tank off the ground.

"I sure hope you're having more luck than me right now, Carlos." Rudy thought aloud.


Although his hopes for Carlos' efforts were high, his luck proved to be far too low to result in any good results for his assigned task. While he may have had the miniature chalkboard to eye out the surroundings for a good spot to dump the water tank, he could not quite find a reasonable place to put the tank, having too many innocents in the way of its path.

In that building? No, it's a pub, still open. Too many people.

In that one? No, a hair salon. Too small a space.

How about that one? No, a general store. No space.

Having no building nearby to put the tank in, Carlos then opted for a more drastic but workable location: the street. While it may block traffic and raise questions regarding its origin, there were no cars presently on the road, and the road itself was plenty large enough for it; perfect conditions to hold the large trailer tank.

Although he was not fond of the idea, he still found himself opening a portal to the real world, using the wall of a nearby building as his drawing board. As he worked quickly with his drawing skills to muster up a large enough portal for the tank to fit through, he spent half his thoughts on his drawing, spending the other half towards Rudy and his efforts.

"Hope you're having more luck than me, Rudy." Carlos thought aloud.


Sharing his concern for Rudy just as Rudy himself was sharing concern for Carlos, Rudy still struggled to get the water tank out of the battlezone, still unable to get it off the ground. While he managed to draw more than enough propulsion to move it from the ground, Rudy still found the task difficult; only managing to scrape it across the ground a few feet.

After thinking of another way to get the tank moving, Rudy came up with another solution. Moving behind the tank and beginning to push it instead, Rudy gambled whether this would manage to get the tank off the ground, not having any more options. Fortunately, Rudy found much more luck with this method, finally managing to move his target.

Having placed himself behind to push the tank rather than pull it, Rudy found that the exaggerated amount of propulsion that he had added to himself had all kicked in at once with his simple change of direction of energy, sending the tank moving towards his target faster than he had planned. Trying as hard as he could to properly maneuver the tank to the portal-to-be, Rudy continued holding onto the tank while also holding onto his hopes, hoping that Carlos would still get the portal open in time.


Still working tirelessly to get the large portal ready to fit the tank through, Carlos continued his work on said portal, using his chalk to scratch the lines across the edge of his selected building and complete the portal. With a limited amount of canvas to work with against the building, and little visibility of where to lay the lines of his chalk, the usually-simple task of creating a portal to ChalkZone proved to not be as easy as before.

As difficult as the task was, Carlos quickly found out it was to have an added challenge, as if his troubles were not great enough. Turning over his shoulder to see Rudy approach quickly with the tank, Carlos realized that his limited timeframe had just significantly reduced itself. Reacting accordingly to this news, Carlos worked faster on his portal, adding the last lines to be drawn on the gateway to the real world.

Finally, with Carlos' efforts being expedited, the portal to the real world had been completed, becoming finished just in time. Just as the portal materialized, Rudy approached with the tank in his hands, sending it straight for the portal.

"GANGWAY!" Rudy shouted.

Just barely moving out of the way of his flightpath, Carlos dodged the approach of the water tank, watching Rudy throw the trailer through the portal and out of the reach of the Chalk Troopers. Having removed the tank from the equation, Rudy and Carlos then quickly erased the portal, sealing away all access of the Chalk Troopers to it.

"Well... that went great... but where'd you open the portal?" Rudy asked.


A few seconds earlier, in the real world, another party was involved within the disposal of the water tank. Where Rudy and Carlos were the party most directly responsible for its removal, this party would unwillingly be the ones to see firsthand where the tank was placed.

Continuing on a road trip spanning from county to county, state to state, three punk rockers hailing from New York City were making their way to Los Angeles, looking to find a better life in the sunny land of California and escape the nihilistic suburban nightmare of New York. With the money saved up by one of the group, the three have nothing left to lose but the life they never cared for.

Where one of the group worked his way through a high, munching on a box of dog biscuits, the other two shared a conversation up front, trying to work their words over the stereo loudly blaring the closest resemblance to a punk rock channel that they could find.

"Hey, look at this map. Did you guys know that there's a town in Arizona called 'Mohawk'? I outta retire there." The first punker said.

"Wait, we're in Arizona? Hell, man, we're, like, way off. I thought we were in Minnesota." The second punker said.

"No, no, we're in Minnesota, I was just lookin' at the map."

"What for? You think I don't know I'm going?"

"No, man, I'm just bored. Tell me again why we're goin' to L.A.?"

"'Cause I'm sick of waiting for the world to end, man. I want more outta life, and Hollywood's the way to go."

"But why not, like, Ocean Shores? That's where those Rocket Power guys hang. Or, since we're talkin' superheroes how about Hillwood? I bet those guys got a great punk scene."

"Are you nuts, man? NYC's like Reptarland compared to Hillwood. It was hard enough dealing with all the crime back there. Besides, the punk scene's in L.A.'s way better. It's the home of Black Flag, X, Fear, Circle Jerks; you know, all the best bands."

"Yeah, but, do half those bands even still play?"

"I don't know, one sec."

Turning his attention away from the road to the second of his affiliates on his road trip, the first punker tapped the intoxicated third punker in the back, needing his question resolved regarding the status of said bands. While taking one's attention away from the road while driving is not an advisable choice, the roads were abandoned during this late night to make too large of a negative impact.

"Hey, biscuit boy, you know if some of L.A.'s finest are still playing?" The first punker asked.

"Ungh... What?" The third punker asked.

"You're the one who keeps up with tour dates. Black Flag, X, Fear, Circle Jerks. Are they still playing or not?"

"I don't remember, man. I think half those guys broke up."

"And why the hell are you eating dog biscuits? They're, you know, for dogs?"

"They're good for your teeth, man. Besides, they taste really good. Here, try one."

"What? No, man, I don't want one."

"C'mon, just try one."

"No, moron, I said no."

"C'mon, you'll really like it."

"Dude, what is wrong with you? I said-"

Before the fight could go on any further, a giant water tank trailer somehow appeared out of nowhere, landing within the middle of the road. While the first and third punkers continued their fight between each other, leaving the first inattentive to the road, the second punker took notice of the miraculously-appearing trailer, frantically shaking the driver to warn him about said obstacle.

"Dude, dude, dude, dude, dude!" The second punker said.

"What? What is it?" The first punker asked.

Upon seeing the obstacle that laid in front of the direction of their car, the driving punker found that there was no need for his question to be answered, as his answer laid bare in front of him. Fearful of the collision that was destined to come to them, the two front-seated punkers shouted in fear, holding onto whatever parts of the car they could to brace themselves.

Taking the steering wheel and giving it a sharp turn to the right, the first punker sent their car tumbling down the road, severely damaging the vehicle and leaving it sitting upside-down. Despite his poor attentiveness to the road leading to this situation, the driver did manage to save himself and his friends from colliding with the trailer, a feat worthy of resting to.

"So... Why are we upside-down?" The third punker asked.

"Because you distracted me, idiot. Now our car's wrecked." The first punker said.

"Oh. Well... You want a biscuit?"

"NO!"

"Hey, are you guys gonna call AAA or what?" The second punker asked.


"Nowhere important." Carlos answered.

"If you say so. Well, then, that's one part done, where's your sister?" Rudy asked.

Returning to the location where Carol was last seen, the two had found that she had done more than her share in the task she was assigned with. Where she was simply asked to distract the Chalk Troopers, Rudy and Carlos quickly found that there were no Chalk Troopers to distract. Instead, there was only a maniacal Carol standing atop a pile of half-erased Chalk Troopers, two water guns akimbo, breathing heavily with bloodshot eyes.

While the Autistic mind of Carlos was not too easily scared, the sight of his sister in such a terrifying position was something that not even his nightmares could conjure. Trying his best to overcome this fear, Carlos approached his sister to calm her down from her trance, attempting to get her back on the task at hand.

"Carol? You okay?" Carlos asked.

Snapped out of her trance of death and destruction, Carol instantly turned back to her normal self, her eyes returning to normal and her mind catching up with what had just unfolded.

"Huh? What? What happened?" Carol asked.

"You tell me. What did you do?" Carlos asked.

"I... Uh... I don't really remember. Last I recall, my phone broke, then... then you two showed up. Did I distract them?"

"None left to distract."

"Oh. Well, did you get the tank?"

"We got the tank, it's all been taken care of. I'm guessing you need a new suit?" Rudy asked.

"Oh, yes, please, thank you."

Taking his chalk in hand, Rudy re-drew Carol's costume back the way it previously was, restoring all her powers and abilities as they once were. With the team now fully re-armed again, the battle seemed to be halfway over, leaving nothing left but the Chalk King to fight.

Stepping from the balcony of the watchtower of Castle Chalkenstein, said entity made his presence known to the three humans, gazing down upon the attackers of his kingdom. With his cloak flying in the wind and his arms rested behind his back, the Chalk King's attitude to his supposed defeat seemed to be a relaxed one; not taking the losses he had suffered seriously.

"Rudy Tabootie and company. Come for your wench?" The Chalk King asked.

"And to stop you once and for all." Rudy replied.

Confident in his ability against Rudy Tabootie and the other humans, the Chalk King gave out a hearty laugh, not convinced that Rudy or the children could pose any sort of threat to him.

"You've quite the confidence, Rudy. If only you'd had that fire in you when Skrawl was first torturing you, then perhaps I'd have a little more amusement watching you squirm and writhe in pain like the pathetic little child you were back then." The Chalk King said.

"You're acting like you've already won. I don't know if you noticed or not, but, all your water's gone, and your Chalk Troopers are erased. What do you have left to fight with?" Rudy asked.

Responding to Rudy's question, the Chalk King pulled from his cloak something that Rudy himself had all too much experience with: the Red Chalk. While Rudy had much experience in his years as an artist in ChalkZone, the spectacle he was about to witness was nowhere near close to what he had accomplished as an artist.

By waving his chalk into the air, as if drawing on some canvas directly in front of him, the Chalk King began drawing more Chalk Troopers with his Red Chalk, creating more dangerous and more vicious versions of the Chalk Troopers than before. These new Red Troopers, created by the deadly Red Chalk, instantly showed much more aggression right at the instant they materialized, more than eager to begin the fight.

"Hey, man, I can't wait to rip these stupid humans to shreds! I wanna see all their stupid little guts laying across the ground!" One Red Trooper said.

"You're tellin' me, man, I wanna eat their chalk-damn brains out of their chalk-damn skulls!" Another Red Trooper said.

"I'm gonna cut them all piece by piece and piss on the pile!" A different Red Trooper said.

Seeing how much more fanatical and violent these Chalk Troopers were, along with the new armaments of rifles, grenades, tanks, and other such weapons, the confidence of the humans began to drastically drop. Seeing the morale among his enemies drop, the Chalk King gave a smile, still not content with the new army he had created.

"And that's not all. I assume you will recall this individual?" The Chalk King asked.

Waving his Red Chalk one last time, the Chalk King recreated a past foe that Rudy and the group had to face in their trials for the Golden Chalk, one of the most dangerous and violent human beings on the planet, now cloned as an immortal being in ChalkZone and fueled by the rage of the Red Chalk:

Lars Rodriguez.

"Hey, asshole, remember me?!" Lars asked.

"Now, Rudy, I'm sure you've given yourself plenty of nifty little tricks with those costumes of yours, and I'm sure you could come up with even more with your chalk. Now, I could make this easy and request you simply hand over the Golden Chalk, but I already know you're not going to do that. So, now, I simply ask, exactly how do you plan to fight my new army all by yourselves?" The Chalk King asked.

Indeed remembering the past drawing of Lars Rodruguez and the threat that he posed to the group at 'Open' Mike's, Carol and Carlos cowered behind Rudy, seeking some shelter away from the mass-murdering maniac for their own safety.

"Rudy, what are we gonna do?" Carol asked.

While the children were visibly terrified by the new army of Red Troopers to be faced, continuing to hide behind the closest adult, Rudy was not faltered in his confidence against the Chalk King. Taking his chalk in hand, Rudy began drawing the next tool that would increase their odds of winning.

"Simple. We're not gonna fight them alone." Rudy said.

Drawing in his hand a small flare gun, Rudy fired the gun up into the air, sending a signal to the members of Calcite waiting outside the edge of the battle. Now having their signal to move in, the armies of the free Zoners of ChalkZone began making their approach towards the castle, beginning their approach with a simple march.

With their forces comprising of the surviving members of Calcite following the Battle of Barney's Impenetrable Forest, the populaces of Frightzone and Futurezone, and the escaped prisoners of Chalkshank Prison, the sheer numbers of the approaching Zoners was a sight to behold already in and of itself. Seeing each member of the group possessing untold abilities of power granted to them by the humans only made it all the more extravagant; no doubt a red-letter day in the history of ChalkZone to be told again and again for all time to come.

Now, with the two armies face-to-face, the true battle seemed to be all but inevitable; both parties staring one another down and readily stanced to begin fighting. While both armies held polar opposite affiliations, all shared one common destiny. Both armies shared the fate of ChalkZone.

On one side, one fate represented a dark path for ChalkZone; reduced to nothing more but the playground for the Chalk King's sick fantasies.

On the other, one fate represented hope and peace for ChalkZone and all Zonerkind.

"What? You seriously forgot that we were all coming?" Rudy asked.

"Of course not. I knew how much you wished to make this moment much more dramatic, and I allowed it for my own entertainment. Once this campaign is over, I intend to begin anew to find my next amusement, so I might as well get as much as I can out of this one now." The Chalk King said.

Holding his right hand up to the Zoners of Calcite, the Chalk King prepared to deliver his final orders to the Red Troopers; beginning the final battle for ChalkZone and determining who would truly be dominant in the 'Zone.

"My loyal troopers..." The Chalk King started.

The Chalk King clenched his hand into a fist, representing the coming destruction of Calcite as he so desired.

"...do what you were drawn to do." The Chalk King finished.