CHAPTER 39: KILL THE KING, PART 1

Imagine you're a simple kid who likes to draw, with no real friends. Then, you find a magical world where anything you draw comes to life. Then, you meet a girl that likes science, something you don't particularly care for, but you kind of like this girl anyway. So, the two of you, and your best friend (who you also drew) adventure for many years together in this strange chalk world.

Imagine if, after all that, you get your talent for drawing taken away and you become stranded in this chalk world, unable to return home and without anyone to help you. So, fleeing from your oppressors that took away your talent, you survive on your own in the harsh wilds of the chalk world.

Imagine if your that girl you liked had two kids of her own, both who found you and took you home. Then, after all that, you, the girl, and her children all accept a quest to find a piece of chalk that turns anything drawn with it real. Not only that, but you have to get it before the person who took away your talent does, and uses it to destroy the chalk world.

Imagine if you actually got the chalk, found your talent to draw again, and got the girl you liked back, but all your friends and everyone who lives in the chalk world are dead. Now, you're standing before the person who not only killed all the chalk people, but also the same person who took away your talent, trapped you in the chalk world for 15 years, and made your life a living hell, and, after getting rid of his minions by singing a cover of an old blues song, you are ready to stop him once and for all.

If you consider your life relatively normal in comparison to others, then you probably would never have this happen to you. However, despite all the odds, this is all the life of Rudy Tabootie, that same boy who grew to be a man during his years in ChalkZone, and who now stands before the evil Chalk King.

After dispatching his minions, the absent-minded Chalk Troopers, Rudy now stands face-to-face against the Chalk King himself, ready to end the war that he had started so long ago, destroying most of ChalkZone and murdering all of his friends and people who would stand against him.

While Rudy would be more than happy to create a weapon to disintegrate the Chalk King where he stood, or maybe something to blast him into a million pieces, or make something to eat him alive, there was one obstacle standing in the way of that goal. The Chalk King had shot the last piece of chalk Rudy had, preventing him from drawing any means of fighting back.

"Your little music tricks don't work that well on me, Rudy Tabootie. And, now that you've got nothing to use against me now, you're going to realize you made a grave mistake in playing games with me." The Chalk King said.

"So, what? Are you going to make another threat to us to hand over the Golden Chalk?" Rudy asked.

"Nope. The Golden Chalk can wait. Now, I'm just going to kill all of you. Very, very painfully. Then, I'm going to use the Golden Chalk to re-draw you over and over again until I get bored of killing you all."

Knowing that he could not allow such harm to befall Penelope, Carol, or Carlos, Rudy prepared to take on the Chalk King himself, needing to protect his family from him. More importantly, however, there still remained a part of Rudy that called for revenge against the one who had trapped him in a complete hell for 15 years, and it saw this as the perfect opportunity to gain that which it craved for.

Needing to keep the Golden Chalk out of the hands of the Chalk King, Rudy pulled the chalk out of his hand and gave it to Penelope, trusting her to keep it safe.

"Penny, I'm going to stop him, once and for all. You hold on to this and stay safe. Whatever you do, keep the it out of the Chalk King's hands." Rudy said.

Finishing his words with a kiss, Rudy forced his lips against Penelope's. As this may have been the very last time his lips would taste hers, Rudy made sure to savor it as much as he could, as did Penelope. Following his directions, Penelope took her children and retreated to the back of the warehouse, protecting them from the fight to come.

With his family safe for the moment, Rudy turned his attention to the Chalk King. The Chalk King, now delaying his desire for the Golden Chalk, only cared for the death of Rudy Tabootie, and awaited this death patiently as he stared down his victim through his mask.

"You want to kill somebody, Chalk King? I've had nothing but hate for you ever since you made Skrawl a pawn in your plan to stop me. If you're going to kill anyone, you start with me... if you can." Rudy said.

"You intend to beat me without any chalk, in the real world? I guess you really do want me to kill you, although that last remark makes me wonder if you really think you're getting out of this alive. How do you plan to fight me without any chalk?" The Chalk King asked.

"I don't need the chalk to beat you. The chalk's just a tool. What I have is my creativity and imagination, and I've had 15 years to come up with plenty of ways to beat you."

"Okay, then. Show me."

Gladly obliging his request, Rudy charged to the Chalk King, wielding nothing against the tyrant but his bare fists. Throwing one of said fists towards his enemy, Rudy landed a hook straight to his face. Unfortunately, the Chalk King's mask proved to be far stronger than his fist, leaving the attacking Rudy with a pained right hand.

Rudy's attack was not beginning to a promising start, but the Chalk King's was only just beginning. With his fist reinforced by the metal drawn onto his armor, the Chalk King returned Rudy's punch to the face in full favor, repeating the same exact method of attack.

Taking in the full impact of the Chalk King's punch, Rudy was sent flying back into one of the wooden crates resting in the warehouse; his back being greeted with a hard landing against solid wood. While he was only starting to recover from this punch, the Chalk King made sure that Rudy did not recover any further.

Grabbing his opponent by the neck, the Chalk King lifted Rudy into the air, keeping his grip tight and driving his fingers into his throat. Showing only his eyes through his mask, the Chalk King gazed directly into Rudy's eyes with a hateful, murderous intent, wanting nothing more than to finally end his life. Tossing Rudy across the room into another pile of crates, the Chalk King again landed a heavy blow to his enemy, leaving him unable to recover and fight back.

Having landed his head against the solid brick wall this time, Rudy felt a heavy daze cloud over his mind, making him unable to think or plan his next move. Taking a look to his right, however, he quickly found something to attack back with, leaving him not needing to think.

Laying next to him was an open crate filled with gallon jugs of water, all stockpiled and preserved perfectly. No doubt, this was how the Chalk King managed to distribute an erasive substance like water in ChalkZone so he could use it as a weapon. Now, Rudy finds that he can use this weapon for himself.

Grabbing a jug out of the crate, Rudy tossed the plastic container towards the Chalk King, adding as much force to the throw as he could muster. Fortunately, with enough force put into his throw, the gallon jug burst open on the Chalk King, completely drenching him in water.

While the expected effect of a Zoner being covered in water was well-known, especially after witnessing it first-hand with his friends as the victims, what Rudy saw was completely new and foreign to all things he had seen in ChalkZone. While the Chalk King was indeed a Zoner, he was not erased from the water. Rather, the water began erasing only his cloak, revealing a full suit of metal armor underneath, not unlike that of a knight's armor.

"Nice try, Rudy, but you'll see that I've thought ahead for that. I heard the tale of how you dealt with the Boorat, using chalk fixative to preserve it. I wasn't looking to paste myself solid to become waterproof, but it gave me an idea. Make a suit of armor, coat the plates with fixative, and, now, I'm waterproof. Yet again, I benefit from your ingenuity, and once again, I thank you. Sadly, you won't be around to appreciate my thanks for much longer." The Chalk King said.

Knowing that he could not attack the Chalk King directly with his suit of armor protecting him, Rudy thought of an alternate means of attack. Instead of applying his own force against the Chalk King, Rudy instead opted to use the Chalk King's own force against him.

Allowing the Chalk King to make his first punch, Rudy stepped out of the path of his fist, allowing it to swing past him and collide with the wall. While the punch landing against the wall had certainly caused some damage to the armor itself, Rudy's plan was not to simply trick the Chalk King into destroying his own armor. Planting his foot against the Chalk King's, Rudy swept his foe to the ground, sending him to land face-first.

Not finishing with a knock to the ground, Rudy pushed a nearby stack of crates to fall atop the Chalk King, clobbering him in wooden crates. As the crates were subsequently sent flying in all different directions, the Chalk King proved to be more physically capable than Rudy had found himself in for.

"Good little trick, Rudy, but you'll find that I'm not so easily stopped by brute force. I'm a Zoner now, which means I no longer possess any of the weaknesses of being human. Like I said, I have no more sense of touch, so I can't feel pain. I'll miss not being immune to it after using the Golden Chalk, but I can forgive that little inconvenience. Your interference, on the other hand, I can't forgive." The Chalk King said.


As Rudy and the Chalk King continued their fight, a fight that was only really a punishment being inflicted upon Rudy, Penelope and her children were forced to continue watching from the sidelines. Unable to join the fight, respecting his wishes for them to stay out of the battle, the remaining group of the humans grew anxious and worried for Rudy, fearing that he would not win this battle.

"This is awful. How can we just sit here and watch him die?" Carol asked.

"He won't die, Carolina. He's doing this to protect us. Besides, he needs this above all else. He's had too much burden on himself because of the Chalk King." Penelope said.

"But he's not winning. There has to be some way to help him."

As a result of the Chalk King knocking away the crates that covered him over, one stray crate made its way to the humans, knocking against a wall and shattering upon impact. The 3 were fortunately unharmed with the crate just missing them, but their fortune had been more abundant than they had expected, finding the one most important element that would change the course of the fight:

Chalk.

There was some brief skepticism as to whether or not this was the magic chalk, but, as soon as Carlos picked up a stick, the glowing aura that soon appeared confirmed it. Now once again having chalk, the group all began to think up their ideas on how to help Rudy, now having a way to fight back against the Chalk King without endangering themselves.

"Chalk! The Chalk King must've stockpiled a lot of it in the crates. Well, I guess now all we have to do is give Rudy the chalk, then he's good." Carol said.

"That won't help, we're in the real world. The chalk doesn't work here." Penelope said.

"Oh... crap. Well, we've got a door to ChalkZone at the other side of the warehouse, if we make it, we could make some kind of weapon to fight the Chalk King with, or maybe-"

No longer having tablet nor his speech collar, the initial attack from the Chalk King resulting in the latter's erasure, Carlos was once again forced to resort to primitive measures of communication. Interrupting his sister with a few grunts, Carlos waved the chalk in front of Carol and Penelope, demonstrating his plan to help Rudy.

Taking his chalk to the ground, Carlos drew a small square on the floor, turning the ground into that of ChalkZone's. Continuing with his small section of ChalkZone, Carlos pretended to draw four lines going from the corners to the top, and pretended to draw a top to the imaginary lines, mentally creating a small building.

"So, your plan is to... draw a building?" Carol asked.

Shaking his head at his sister's guess, Carlos pointed to the imaginary building, the walls of the warehouse, and then his own chalk, which he waved in the air while onomatopoetically imitating the sound of chalk scratching against a chalkboard.

"So, you're saying that if we draw along the walls of the building, then Rudy can draw again?" Penelope asked.

To answer that question to explain his own idea, Carlos pointed to each of the group, including himself, and pretended to draw in the air again.

"He's saying we can all draw and fight. If we take the magic chalk and draw the all the walls of this place into ChalkZone portals, we'll be in ChalkZone, and we can fight against the Chalk King." Carol said.

"But so could he. Rudy can't draw, but neither can the Chalk King. If we bring the warehouse in ChalkZone, the Chalk King could draw something even worse." Penelope said.

"It's worth a shot, Mama. Don't you want to help Rudy?"

"Of course I do, but I don't want you getting hurt, either. Not to mention, if we're in ChalkZone, then he could use the Golden Chalk, and who knows what could happen then?"

"If we don't do anything, the Chalk King could kill Rudy and get it anyway. At least we'll have a chance this way."

Knowing that her daughter's logic was sound, Penelope permitted the plan to take effect. Taking a piece of two pieces of chalk off the ground, Penelope handed Carol one and kept the other for herself.

"Then let's take that chance. You and Carlos take the other end of the warehouse, I'll get to work here." Penelope said.

Following their mother's instructions, Carol and Carlos began tracing their chalk across the warehouse floor, etching their lines against the corners of the walls. Penelope, keeping her place against the back wall of the warehouse, traced a line across the floor where she stood.

As Carol and Carlos drew their lines across the walls, the two met together on the wall adjacent from their mother, completing the 4 lines and creating the first portal to ChalkZone. With the portal reaching its completion, the gray concrete floor turned to the bright ground of ChalkZone below, completing the first part of their plan.


While their plan was moving along quite smoothly, it did not go unnoticed by the two battling parties in the center of the warehouse. The Chalk King, having once again tossed Rudy into a wall, took notice of the ground beneath his feet changing. Although the strangeness of the event had thrown his attention away from Rudy for a brief moment, allowing him a moment to heal, the Chalk King's attention was immediately brought to what was causing this change.

Looking across the warehouse to see the children meeting at the end of the wall, the Chalk King still did not fully understand what exactly what their plan was, but understood enough that they were seeking to assist Rudy Tabootie in some way, an interference that he could not allow. Temporarily placing his concern for Rudy aside, the Chalk King began approaching Carol and Carlos, aiming to eliminate them from his list of problems.

"I should've guessed you'd use my stash of magic chalk. I don't know what you're looking to accomplish by turning the ground into a portal, but I guarantee you won't get much further than that." The Chalk King said.

As the Chalk King began approaching the children, the two began panicking to try to find a means to defend themselves. Having the ground beneath them as a makeshift drawing ground, Carol took his chalk and began sketching a means of defense against their attacker.

Drawing a spear on the ground, the spear materialized on the ground, which Carlos picked up and armed himself with. Carefully wielding the spear in his hand, Carlos tossed the spear towards the Chalk King, aiming to pierce through his armor straight to his chest.

While Carlos' drawing skills were unquestionably high and incomparable, his creation did not prove to be much use against their attacker. Catching the spear in the air, the Chalk King snapped the spear in half against his leg, displaying the broken halves in his hands. Due to Carlos having only 2 dimensions of drawing space to work with, the spear came out completely flat.

"Your drawing has no depth. Rookie mistake." The Chalk King said.

Occupied now with the children, the Chalk King's attention towards Rudy was taken just enough to allow him a sufficient recovery time, allowing him to get back on his feet once again. Unable to allow Carol or Carlos to fall victim to the Chalk King, Rudy scavenged his surrounding for a makeshift weapon, knowing that his bare fists were not helping against solid metal made of chalk and just as tough as the real thing.

Finding a pipe laying against the wall, Rudy grabbed the it firmly in his hand, now having a means of fighting back against the Chalk King. While this simple pipe was nowhere near the effectiveness of his axe, it would be more than enough to get the attention of the Chalk King away from the children.

Not allowing even a second for the children to face any sort of danger, Rudy bashed the pipe against his head. Unable to simply stand and take the force of the cold steel of the pipe bashing against his metal suit, the Chalk King fell to his knees, trying to pick himself up from the sheer force that knocked him down.

Rudy, intent on defeating his opponent, did his best to ensure that he never got back up. Still continuing to hold the pipe in his hand, Rudy bashed and bashed against the Chalk King's head; the metal mask around his head beginning to dent under the stress. Beginning to shake off the kinetic force keeping him on the ground, the Chalk King prepared to stop Rudy's attack and put his weapon against him.

The next swing of Rudy's pipe did not meet with the Chalk King's head, but, rather, the palm of his hand, giving himself a grip over the makeshift club. With both of the enemies still holding the club, the outcome of this struggle would fall on which had the superior strength. In mere seconds, the answer was revealed to be the Chalk King.

Still continuing his hold on the pipe, the Chalk King bashed Rudy's end of the pipe in his face, causing him to release his grip and cover his face in pain. Now having complete control of the pipe, the Chalk King bashed Rudy in the stomach, then sent a whack to his face, sending him flying across the room and onto the floor. While Rudy was already severely injured from the blow, the Chalk King was not yet finished with his counterattack.

Approaching the downed Rudy Tabootie, the pipe still in his hand, the Chalk King prepared to continue his attack, intent on putting a brutal finish to his strike. Taking the pipe in his hand, the Chalk King delivered several pummeling blows to Rudy, his many blows matching in brutality as well as speed.

Unable to rise from the ground with the blows being put upon him, Rudy was left to suffer the punishing blows of the Chalk King, losing his ability to defend himself or even move away from harm. Taking every blow of the Chalk King's attack, Rudy felt his very body breaking under the stress of the beatings; his bones beginning to break and give way. Even with a body as hardened as his, Rudy would not be able to stand the assault of the Chalk King much longer.


Still working tirelessly to turn the warehouse into a place where the magic chalk could be more effective, Penelope made sure that not a second of her time would be wasted, as any wasted time would mean more harm to Rudy. Having nothing to assist Rudy battling the Chalk King but a far-fetched plan concieved by her son, the idea was put to use as quickly as she could manage, needing to help Rudy win the fight.

With the ground turned into a portal to ChalkZone, the magic chalk could now be used, which she did to create herself a ladder to reach the ceiling. While the ground being a portal only allowed the chalk to create two-dimensional items, this proved sufficient enough for the creation of a ladder.

Climbing up the ladder, tracing her chalk around the edges of the warehouse's walls, Penelope's rush to complete the lines was moving along efficiently and effectively. However, standing at an elevated position on the ceiling, she caught eye of something that detracted her attention from the task at hand.

Watching the fight between Rudy and the Chalk King continue, Penelope found that the fight was not going in the direction that she had wished it would. Seeing the Chalk King continue to beat Rudy with the metal pipe, viciously beating down his opponent and severely damaging his body, any lack of intervention would surely mean his death, rendering her efforts with the chalk useless.

While she was only able to draw items that were two-dimensional, Penelope, using her imagination to solve this dilemma, found that there were plenty of items that she could still draw with only two dimensions to work with. Sliding down the ladder, Penelope took to the ground, creating the first item to fight back against the Chalk King with.

Taking her chalk to the ground, Penelope drew a strip of flypaper. Normally, this item is traditionally used for catching and killing houseflies, but, with the imagination of anyone who has spent enough time in ChalkZone, this could easily be used as a weapon. Taking the flypaper in her hands, careful as not to get her fingers caught on its stick, Penelope threw the flypaper over the Chalk King's mask, covering his eyes and temporarily blinding him.

Not able to see his enemies or make any effective means of fighting back, the Chalk King was forced to drop his pipe and stop his beating, now needing to get the flypaper off his face. Trying to get the flypaper off his eyes, however, the Chalk King found that he had yet another challenge in completing that goal: Upon trying to get the flypaper off, the Chalk King had gotten his own hands stuck to the flypaper, now leaving his hands stuck over his face with the flypaper caught between and keeping the two fused together.

Not stopping with the simple trick of keeping the Chalk King blind, Penelope drew a strip of duct tape, further completing her subjugation of the Chalk King. Placing the tape strip around his leg, Penelope ran around the Chalk King to wrap both of his legs together, causing him to fall to the floor.

While the Chalk King struggled to get the flypaper off his face and the duct tape off his legs, Penelope helped Rudy off the ground, carrying him to a concrete pillar. Leaning Rudy against the pillar, Penelope began drawing some bandages, wrapping his open wounds a tightly as she could. Unfortunately, while the bandages did indeed have a tight grip, Rudy's blood erased the bandages, eliminating any use they would have.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine." Rudy said.

"'Fine'?! Rudy, you're hurt!" Penelope said.

"I've been worse than this. I don't remember it hurting this badly back then, though."

Within his own joke, Rudy found the answer to his own dilemma. Remembering how he was unable to feel anything upon blocking out his emotions, even pain itself, Rudy had found a way to regain his strength and continue his fight against the Chalk King. However, this method would not come without its sacrifice, and Rudy made Penelope give him a promise to ensure that his emotions would not be gone forever.

"Penny, I can pull through this, but I need you to promise me something." Rudy said.

"Anything, Rudy, anything at all." Penelope said.

"I can pull through this, but I need to block out my emotions again, like I did when I was alone."

"But that would cost you your ability to draw!"

"Doesn't matter now, we're in the real world. Besides, that's why I'm asking you this now. I'm sure that I can snap back to normal, but, if I can't, I want you to promise me you'll help me get it back again. I doubt I'll put up a fight like last time, but a little help couldn't hurt. Just promise me you won't give up on me if it comes to that."

Reinforcing her strong faith in Rudy, Penelope gripped his hand tightly, giving him one last positive emotion to hold on to.

"I never did." Penelope said.

"Heh. Right. Now, please, leave me here for a minute. I need to concentrate. Please." Rudy said.

Obeying his wishes to be alone, Penelope left Rudy where he laid. No longer able to tend to Rudy, Penelope continued her work back on the walls of the warehouse, changing the rest of the warehouse into ChalkZone, believing that her efforts here would make a good backup plan if Rudy's gamble did not work.

As Penelope continued her work on the walls, Rudy retreated out of the fight and into his mind, seeking a way to shut down his emotions as he once did before. While he lived a good number of years without them, Rudy was only a teenager when he relinquished his feelings, no longer able to remember how he once did it before. Seeking deep inside his mind and his memories, Rudy once again sought the answer.


Putting himself back on the wheel of pain, forced to complete pointless physical labor for entertainment on the courtyard of Castle Chalkenstein, Rudy found the pain that he had lived with during his imprisonment, unable to think about any future past the next day.

Here, Rudy found hopelessness and oppression; feeling only pain and misery without any dreams or even sleep.

Finding a way to break the chains that held him bonded and imprisoned, Rudy found a sliver of hope for himself on this day. Mustering up the as much saliva as he could from the dry mouth he had suffered for years, a result of eating food made of chalk, Rudy spat upon the chains keeping him down, erasing the chains and breaking the bonds under Skrawl and the Chalk King.

Here, Rudy found the hope and freedom that he sought for years; feeling levity and liberty.

Making his way into the harsh woodlands of the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle, Rudy took to the trees and foliage of the jungle, making his new home among the flora and fauna of the jungle, and making a meal out of some of it. No longer able to flee from the jungle out of fear of being found once again by Skrawl and the Chalk King, Rudy chose to remain here in the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle, knowing that none of the Beanie Boys or Chalk Troopers would come after him.

Here, Rudy found a place of asylum that served well for his protection; feeling a slight sense of security under paranoia.

Surviving in this jungle for a long period of time, Rudy made good use of his environment; feeding off many small plants and creatures, and even managing to hunt down and eat larger and more dangerous animals; a testament to his newly developed survival skills. While his fears of Skrawl and the Chalk King began to fade and fade, new feelings regarding the cause of his exile in ChalkZone began to surface.

Knowing that Penny was his one and only friend in the real world, Rudy began to ponder why she had never returned for him, or made any means of rescuing him from ChalkZone. With the isolation he had lived through taking a toll on his brain, Rudy could not find the logical way to think through the reason to this issue. Rather, his mind could only come to the conclusion over and over again that Penny forgot about him, or perhaps never really loved him in the first place. Even though the thoughts circled around his mind daily, the bracelet that she had given him as his birthday present had contradicted that fact each and every time.

Here, Rudy found the place he had made his home quickly becoming a prison; feeling only confusion and despair.

Finally, one day, Rudy pushed all his thoughts and emotions aside, no longer concerning himself with the worries and pain that he had lived with for so long. Having nothing in his heart anymore but pain, confusion, and suffering, there was nothing left for him on the area of emotion that he could explore or express, especially not with his talent for drawing being lost. Unable to stand the agony he had to live with daily, being distracted from simple tasks and goals like survival, the choice to rid himself of all these notions was all too easy, leaving him nothing more than an animal of a man; focused only on surviving to the next day.

Here, Rudy found emptiness in his heart; feeling absolutely nothing at all.

Here, Rudy found exactly what he needed to move on.


With the pain of his body being pushed out of his mind, Rudy made his way off the floor once again, finding the strength to continue the battle. Rising up from the ground once again, he gave his knuckles a crack as well as his neck, preparing himself for the next fight to come. With his shirt being left ripped and bloody, Rudy tore it off, revealing his sweaty, bloody muscles underneath, each fiber containing more than enough strength to face his enemy once again.

Said enemy, the Chalk King, finally began making his way out of his makeshift bondage. Finally managing to get the flypaper off his eyes and hands, he also ripped the duct tape from his legs, giving himself full use of his limbs again. Needless to say, the Chalk King was less than impressed with his treatment and seemingly easy subjugation by Penelope's hands.

"So, that's how you prefer to win this fight? Having your harlot fight for you, using cheap tricks?" The Chalk King asked.

"Nope. I've got another way to win this. You know what you and Skrawl did to me all those years ago, making me your little playtoy for your games?" Rudy asked.

"All too well and fondly."

"With all that pain and torture, you broke me down, and you took away my talent, but you know something else? You were right about something. Take away all that, and there's a cold, unfeeling part of me left; a part of me that doesn't feel anything, not even pain. And right now, I let that part of me back out."

"How amusing. Is it because you seek to make your death a little less painful?"

"No. It's so I can kick your ass."

With the two brought back once again into mortal combat, Rudy and the Chalk King began the second round of their battle, now with the rules completely changed. Before, Rudy attempted to face against a being without any senses, especially none of pain, where he still held those emotions and feelings. Now, Rudy brought himself to the Chalk King's level, fighting him on his own ground.

Allowing the Chalk King to make the first punch, Rudy grabbed his fist before it could connect a punch, twisting it back on his wrist. While the Chalk King was now a full Zoner (albeit one who could draw), his body was still based on that of his human body, and therefore followed its same rules. The Chalk King, feeling the full pain of his wrist being pushed back, fell back to his knees, his armor not able to help him in this situation.

With his opponent kneeling down in pain, Rudy grabbed the Chalk King's armored head, forcing it into his knee in a powerful kick. Feeling his face collide with the front of his mask at a force carrying several joules of energy and pain behind it, the Chalk King was once again harmed by Rudy's attack, his mind going temporarily numb from the pain.

Falling face-down to the floor, the Chalk King stopped his decent by placing his hand on the ground, just barely saving himself from a full fall. While his actions had managed to save this minor fall, he had only propped himself up for a suitable kicking position for Rudy to take advantage of. With his shin being sent straight to the Chalk King's stomach, Rudy's opportunity was quickly found and exploited.

Picking himself up off the floor once again, the Chalk King quickly understood that this fight was no longer progressing in his favor, and the opponent that he faced once before was no longer the same enemy. Now, he realized that the man he was fighting was different and ready for battle, the Chalk King no longer wished to play and toy with his enemy, but aim for the most efficient kill as quickly as possible.

Reapproaching the changed Rudy Tabootie, the Chalk King proceeded to throw more punches towards his opponent, doing everything in his power to land some means of defeating him for good. While a few of his punches did make their way to his target, Rudy proved to be more versatile and harder to down in his new dispassionate state.

Many of the Chalk King's punches found themselves missing their target as he dodged these blows, where a good number of them also found the arms that carried them in the hands of Rudy Tabootie, and at the Chalk King's mercy. With his fixated armor not able to defend himself from this attack, Rudy Tabootie took the Chalk King's arms and broke them like mere twigs, leaving him no longer able to punch back.

"You feel that? That's how I felt when you set Skrawl against me 15 years ago and you changed my whole life. 15 whole years!" Rudy shouted.

Taking the Chalk King and pushing him against a wall, Rudy mercilessly bashed his fist against his face, his bare knuckles impacting against cold steel over and over again. While the pain from punching metal would be so great that even someone as numb as Rudy could feel it, his awakened primal side needed nothing more but pure revenge and catharsis, the rage driving him to continue his punches.

"Do you know what it was like for me?! You say you can't feel anything after becoming a Zoner, but you had nobody to blame for what happened to you but yourself! YOU took it all away from me! You had no one who cared about your sorry self, nobody who loved you anymore! I had everything! I had a friend! I had a family! I had love! I had a future! I had a LIFE! And you took it from me! YOU TOOK IT ALL FROM ME, YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" Rudy shouted.

Eventually, after all his ranting and punching, nothing is left of Rudy's hand but raw, wet, bloody bones. He doesn't feel it, not because of his emotions being blocked out, but because another one took precedent over all others: Retribution. After all his years of being left tortured and isolated, having his very life taken away from him, Rudy finally found some sort of resolve to these emotions; having let them all out at once in one maddening rant and beating.

However, while his rage was all released and gone, another part of Rudy began to leave as well. No longer having his inner rage and torment to drive his most basic feelings of anger, Rudy's primal side began to gave way; his ability to block out his emotions leaving alongside it. As such, the pain of his own injuries began to return, all moving in stronger than before.

With his emotions returning sooner than expected, Rudy found himself collapsing to the ground, his injuries proving to be too great to withstand any longer. Watching the Chalk King lay on the floor inanimately, Rudy finds some solitude and justification for his pain, permitting himself to rest.

His reason to rest, however, does not last very long.

While the Chalk King had suffered many heavy blows and attacks from Rudy Tabootie, the latter of these two subjects found that the former was not defeated just yet. Rising from the ground, the Chalk King extended his broken arms forward, loudly cracking them and adjusting his bones back into place. Although the Chalk King still was based off human rules as a Zoner, he was still able to break and bend many of those rules with enough cartoon logic.

The worst he had suffered, out of all things, was merely his mask. With Rudy's brutal beatdown being let out on his face, the metal mask that protected the Chalk King's face was left bent and bloody from his attack. No longer able to see effectively out of the mask, the Chalk King removed it and dropped it to the ground, revealing his true face for Rudy to see at last.

Upon seeing the Chalk King's true face, what disturbed Rudy most was not the impeccable detail that resided in his face, so much that no artist could possibly recreate it if they tried, but the fact that a perfectly human face could remain behind the mask of the Chalk King.

Seeing the face of Christopher Wolfe unveiled from the metal mask, a deep unsettling feeling came over Rudy. Never before had he ever heard of the concept of a human becoming a Zoner upon dying, but the fact that this faceless monster behind the mask could seem perfectly normal and human. His hair, his face, and, most importantly, his eyes were all just as they appeared in the vision Biclops had offered him, showing the face of Christopher Wolfe immortalized in chalk and perverted in horrendeous misdeeds.

"You know, if it wasn't for Penny, I never would've guessed that you used to be human, but I still can't believe that you were ever human at all. You're one sick bastard, and you don't deserve ChalkZone. You used to be a good creator, but you went real bad." Rudy said.

"Yes, you've made that abundantly clear. If there's one thing I've learned about you 'hero' types, it's that you're so disgustingly repetitive." The Chalk King said.

"That's another thing, Christopher, you always talk in such a composed and debonair way, acting like you're better than everybody. You're not better than anybody. In fact, you're a lot worse than all of us. You're a bad egg, Christopher."

Unable to stand hearing the name of his former human self, the Chalk King smacked Rudy across the room, angered and beginning to lose his focus with rage.

"Christopher Wolfe is dead! That boy blew his own brains out! I am and always will be the Chalk King! Do you understand?! There is no Christopher Wolfe! This face is no longer his!" The Chalk King shouted.

"I said the same thing about myself, thinking that the person who I used to be was long gone, but Penny and her kids proved me wrong. I never went anywhere, I just needed a little help getting to who I used to be. You, on the other hand, I think were always like this; wanting to live in some kind of fantasy where you had total control, where you were supreme and untouchable, but you only made yourself all alone and more sad than before. So, you decided to go after the Golden Chalk to give yourself some kind of purpose again, hoping it would fill that void you made for yourself. News flash: It won't. Oh, and speaking of Penny and the kids..." Rudy said.

While Rudy's speech was beginning to strike many places in the Chalk King's heart, places that he either thought no longer existed or no longer wanted them to exist, it was his final words that completely redirected the Chalk King's attention. Having neglected Penelope and the children for the majority of the fight, wishing to concentrate mostly on Rudy, he never stopped to think what they could do on their own, and Rudy subsequently revealed it.

Looking to the ceiling, the Chalk King watched Carol and Penelope slide a ladder with Carlos standing atop, who was drawing a line around the warehouse's ceiling. Completing the last line in the ceiling, the final part of his plan came into effect, changing the entire game of the fight altogether.

With Carlos completing the final line to the portals he had set up around the warehouse, each wall around the building began to turn into a portal to ChalkZone. As all 4 walls, the roof, and the ceiling were made into ChalkZone portals, this began Carlos' gamble that creating 6 ChalkZone portals in an enclosed space would allow the usage of the chalk here.

Tossing a piece of chalk to Rudy, this gamble was about to be tested. Catching the chalk, Rudy began sketching his next weapon in the air, giving himself a proper means of fighting back against the Chalk King. Once again, Rudy drew his trusty battleaxe, the weapon that had served him so well for so long.

As Rudy began moving his chalk in the air, sketch lines began appearing where the strokes of his hand left, proving Carlos' gamble true, and allowing him a new means of defeating his opponent. With his pain and emotions returned to him, Rudy did not push them aside again, but began channeling them for his art, ready to use it against the Chalk King.

Now, rising from the ground, Rudy wielded his axe in his right hand and his chalk in his left, ready to battle once again. Giving his neck a crack, Rudy stared down the unmasked Chalk King, determined to defeat him once and for all.

"Okay. Let's try this again, shall we?" Rudy asked.