Space Cadet

Chapter 5 – Arrival of the Fittest

All kinds of Zoners stopped in the streets to point out the small plane that lingered overhead. Rudy (whose constant worry was affecting his piloting) and a very nervous Snap were both twenty feet above ground level in that two-person aircraft, attracting a lot of attention. No one was quite sure why they were in such a hurry, but they knew that if a creator was distressed, it was probably something very bad indeed. Many of them looked to one another worriedly, afraid of another vaccum attack or something of the sort. 

Rudy tried to stay on-focus. His eyes darted from side to side as he tried to figure out which direction they should take. "Um… Snap? The… messenger bird thing… said Penny was being held hostage at the Dome of the Future, right?"

His distraught counterpart suddenly snapped back to reality. "Huh? Oh… I think so. Good thing you know where it is, because I sure can't remember."

"Yeah…"

It took Rudy a good ten seconds to remember he hadn't the slightest clue where it was either.

"…I mean, uh-oh."

"Uh-oh, what? …Oh great, we're both clueless, aren't we? Maybe we can stop by and ask Biclops, or something."

Rudy shook his head firmly. "That'll take too long! The Magic Chalk Mine is all the way across the map! It'd take at least half an hour to get there. Now, if only I could remember… where exactly the Dome of the Future was…"

"If I recall correctly, while the three of us were being taken there, you had a toilet plunger on your head." Snap sighed, exasperated. "Well, what now?"

"I guess we'll just have to stop for directions. Let's try to find someone we recognize, 'kay?"

Snap nodded, but said nothing.

The plane did a full 90-degree turn and in no time they were well above a populated city, with all kinds of stores and houses and even a few prisons where ravenous monster chalk-drawings were being contained. The duo was in awe, having never seen so much from so high before. Having a birds' (of course, in ChalkZone, just about anything could be capable of flight) eye view of everything for miles around was pretty cool, but they were both two distracted to care to their full extent. Rudy's frantic thoughts were still on Penny, and Snap… well, Snap had just caught sight of…

"Queen Rapsheeba!" He choked, the normally white pallor of his face turning a slight shade of pink. "Rudy! It's Rapsheeba! Let's ask her!"

Indeed, it was the rapping chalk-girl herself, standing outside on the street, watching a living blender go hopping by opposite her, and confusedly, she raised a brow.

"A blender, now, who'd draw somethin' like that?" She demanded to herself, lifting an arm to rub one side of her head. "How weird."

A sudden shadow was cast overhead her, and by natural instinct, her gaze shot upright, looking above to find out what it was.

"Snap! And the little creator dude! How's you two doin'?"

Instantly the latter of the pair burst into a bunch of jumbled speech, while his blue counterpart stared at him, unnerved. All Rapsheeba could hear coming out of mouth was a lot of senseless blah, although she did manage to pick up Penny's name in there somewhere.

"Snap? What's Rudy blatherin' about? I can't make out a word of what he's sayin'."

"What Rudy's trying to say is, Penny's been kidnapped by Skrawl and we need directions to the Dome of the Future." Snap translated smugly, naturally willing to do anything she asked for. "Anything else, Queen? Because you know-"

"Wait-WAIT A MINUTE! Hold everything!" Rapsheeba stopped Snap in mid-sentence. "Penny was KIDNAPPED? By… Skrawl? Isn't he that psycho… bug monster… who created that museum dedicated to you, Rudy?"

Words had been failing the boy, so instead he gave nothing but a feeble nod in response.

"That's terrible!" The rapper exclaimed, eyes wide. "I wish there was something I could do help, but… Unfortunately, I don't know where the Dome of the Future is."

Rudy's face fell upon those words. Immediately, though, his despair turned to unfocused anger, and he bitterly kicked the ground in front of him. "Well, this is just great!" He flopped down on the curb, eyes somber. "How are we going to find that giant cereal bowl?!"

"Cereal bowl?!" Rapsheeba echoed. "The Dome of the Future… is a giant cereal bowl?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Snap replied, taking a seat next to Rudy.

But Rapsheeba persisted. "A giant, shiny, metal cereal bowl with all kinds of weird buildings in side of it?"

"Exactly." Both boys said in unison.

Their company hit herself upside the head. "OOOH! Well, gee! I know where that thing is! I pass by it every day! I can show you. Come on, follow me!"

And with that, she took off down the sidewalk, leaving Rudy and friend in the dust...

"SLOW DOWN!" "WAIT FOR US!" …And shortly afterwards, they pursued after her, trying to keep up.

"Well, if what you're sayin' is true, then there isn't much time." Rapsheeba explained once they were in hearing range. "The Dome of the Future ain't that far away, no it ain't! Just keep the pace, and we'll be there in no time!"

Panting, Snap managed to choke out a response. The furious running was taking a toll on his burning lungs (Er, wait a minute… does he have lungs???) "…You're… really… in great physical condition… aren't ya?"

"Well, I gotta be. I'm a performer, and ain't nobody wants to dance along to someone who isn't physically fit! It's not what they came to see, y'know?"

"Oh, right, of course… Still… think you could slow down a little?"

"What, you boys can't keep up?" She teased, as they were still a few feet behind her.

"…Huh? Of course we can!" Snap strained harder, and soon he tagged along directly to her left. "We will never surrender!"

Rudy, however, wasn't in the mood for joking. If he squinted really hard, he could see the vague outline of the Dome of the Future in the distance, but it was barely visible behind several trees and other miscellaneous objects blocking the view. And without realizing it, somehow he managed to get ahead of the other two, for the sooner he stood before that alleged metal lump in the ground, the better.

"Oh, look, Lenny. The cavalry is coming! And here comes Mr. Knight-in-Shining-Armor Tabootie, coming to rescue his princess from the dragon – that's me – along with his trusty stee… uh, his trusty sidekick… and his trusty sidekick's friend… and… um…"

Penny rolled her eyes as she tried to ignore Skrawl's incessant babbling. She was beginning to think if Rudy didn't hurry, she'd slowly begin to go insane.

"While we wait for Rudy to come and humiliate you again, perhaps you wouldn't mind unveiling your evil plan?"

"Why would I want to do that?!"

"All evil villains explain their evil plans to their hostage while they wait for the hero to arrive. It's common knowledge, you know."

Skrawl blinked, wondering how he could've missed this important detail when he slowly and carefully pieced together exactly what he would do. Supposing maybe the girl was right, he cleared his throat, as, you know, explaining things to the hostage wouldn't be so crucial in the ultimate plan to destroy the great creator.

"Well… all right. I guess that wouldn't hurt." Shrugging, he continued. "On the base level of this dome are Craniacs 1-4, programmed to attack anything that enters. As you can see, the Dome of the Future's been deserted for weeks now, because I've taken leadership over the Craniacs. Probably from our mutual hatred towards your stupid friend…"

With one clawed hand, he pushed a button on the wall. Penny gasped. The floor, wall, and ceiling of the room had become completely transparent. She could see the rest of the Future Dome below her, and indeed, it was vacant and empty, not a single person in sight.

"When Master Tabootie sets foot in this dome, the Craniacs will activate the Disintegrating Beam, which will, sensibly-"

Penny interrupted. "Disintegrate him?"

Skrawl paused. "Uh, not really. See, nothing here actually works. The disintegrating beam actually only paralyzes the enemy, for up to an hour at a time. But it's still pretty efficient." Taking a brief glance at the approaching Rudy, Snap, and Rapsheeba in the distance, Skrawl continued. "And then, once we have both him and you at our mercy, we can simply do whatever we want with you. We could force him to add on to the dome, expanding our quarters… with your life as his motive. Or, we could just brutally destroy you both, using the Paralyzing Beam."

"Which, lemme guess… Paralyzes?"

"No, actually. It disintegrates."

A/N: I don't know.

Sorry that chapter took so long. Writer's block. Mmm-hmmm…