Initiation
Part Nine
--
"Ah, it's… a fine day, eh, Comrade Blocky?"
Fly zipped by her rectangular friend, lazily doing cartwheels in midair, trying to disguise her boredom.
"I don't know!" Blocky lamented. "It's been very dull…"
Snap sat beside the two of them, paddleball-ing with himself, silently keeping track. He was up to nine-hundred thus far… He had begun ever since Rudy had returned to the real world. "Ah, come on! You two are such squares. Can't have a little fun?"
"Funny you should say that, comrade." Fly gestured towards the paddleball.
"What? It is actually VERY entertaining."
Snap struggled to keep his eyes open, watching the bouncy little ball go up-and-down, and up-and-down, over and over again… 911… 912… 913…
"Hey, Snap! Who's that?!" Blocky asked out of nowhere, pointing towards the horizon with one primitive appendage.
Snap took a sideways glance. There were two figures heading towards them from afar. Both were slender, but one was twice the size of his or her counterpart.
The blue boy heaved a shrug. "I dunno. Maybe they're new to ChalkZone. I've never seen them before." His eyes returned to the paddle racket in hand. 929… 930… 931…
Fly was paying more attention - she was desperate for something to do. "Tell you what, Blocky- I will greet these newcomers, and find out a little more about them. In no time, I will be back."
She buzzed off in the figures' direction.
"You do that, SpyFly." 934… 935… 936…
Snap and Blocky sat in silence.
937… 938… 939…
…
963… 964… 965…
…
981… 982… 983…
The blue one was about to nod off when Fly made her return. Her rather frantic return.
"Comrades Snap! Blocky! Do you know who I saw?!"
"Who? Who!?" Blocky blabbed, as if his entire being depended on it.
"Yeah, SpyFly." Snap set down his paddle racket. "Who's got your wings so rattled?"
Fly pointed back to the two approaching figures. Their faces were much clearer now.
Snap gasped. "Holy macaroni… I don't believe it! It's… The globe theatre's saboteur!" He pointed towards the taller of the two.
"…Don't you recognize the other one!?" Fly demanded.
"…Nah-uh. She looks human, though… Freakishly human. Someone with talent must've drawn her."
"She's totally human, Comrade! She iz Lady Kyrene!"
"Oh, brotha! That witch!? …And those two troublemakas have formed an alliance, now, too! Oh, this is just great!"
"I don't recognize them." Blocky whined. "The tall one looks like a lizard, though."
Snap studied its markings… white with red bands.
The globe theatre… Penny's dream… But what is it!?
--
She ignored the odd stares.
Some of them recognized her. But as far as she could tell, no mass panic was ensuing. She continued on her way, totally dignified, with a tall six-foot lizard at her side…
Her most prized creation.
She rubbed its foreleg in an almost slavish fashion.
Kyrene.
The voice entered her mind, but no words were spoken.
"What is it… master?"
Where… where is the boy?
She flinched.
"…He must have left." She stared up at her master's glory; his magnificent beak-esque snout… the cold glare of his eyes…
She had drawn him so perfectly…
Again?!
"I'm sorry."
You can't let him keep escaping like this…
"It won't happen again."
I know… because if it does…
She gulped.
He glared, without using his eyes.
That sort of glare was the most painful kind.
I offer to make you a ruler… but you can't even perform such a simple task…
"Rudy isn't such a bad guy…"
We would rule here. And that boy is the only one standing in our way.
His eyes flashed blue.
"You never told me… What we intended to do with him."
…
There's only one way to deal with someone like that.
"Hey… We're not going to… kill him, are we?" Her voice was small and pathetic.
Millions of your kind… one loss… it would be no great tragedy.
He was so horrible. He was the very epitome of betrayal, her master was. But for some reason… She didn't care.
She clung to his leg.
"There are too many people on Earth. We're a stupid race… And the Darwin Theory states that the weakest will die."
Tabootie is weak. We can do away with him. And not with brute strength, like some of the other morons in this world.
"Skrawl?" She wasn't sure who Skrawl was, but she'd heard his name a couple of times. Not exactly a colleague of her master's.
Skrawl's techniques were old-fashioned… primitive… weak. We will get through to Tabootie… a different way.
She stared down at the ground. Her eyes… "Penny?"
Her own eyes were lined with tears.
She gasped at this realization…
I've observed. That girl… She's his one true weakness. His voice, even telepathic, was spiteful. That's why we need her.
No… "Yes, I understand." She began to rub his ivory scales. They were pure white; but the glow they gave off was a shiny shade of blue.
Retrieve her.
"I will."
Now, Kyrene.
"N-Now?!"
She felt herself being shoved away, with one sweep of his powerful tail.
That was an order.
She ground her feet into the ground.
This is betrayal.
"I don't want to go."
We had a deal.
"You can't boss me around. I'm your creator… You should be respecting me!"
I thought you liked me, Kyrene. I'm your brainchild, remember?!
"I can't get Penny like this! It's a lie. It's betrayal."
She refused to move.
"Why do you want me to do this?!" She demanded.
The response was short and blunt; Why'd you name me Blasphemy?
…
Now go. I'm not giving you an option. You know what will happen… should you disobey…
She nearly choked on the tears in her throat.
"Y-yes… Master…"
Kiki's feet felt numb beneath her as she headed off against her will.
She felt Blasphemy's hard gaze trailing after her.
…Why am I obeying!?…
Though she was ashamed to admit it, she knew she loved her creation. He was her stroke of genius… her precious brainchild. She almost couldn't bear to disobey.
She almost couldn't bear to obey, either.
If only his orders weren't so unpleasant.
…
--
…
It was 11:35, PM.
Most eleven year olds would be sleeping.
Rudy and Penny lay, awake, each in their own separate beds in their own separate houses. By the girl's arm lay a stack of papers… her studies on dreams. By the boy's leg rested a box of his chalk, which he kept a watchful eye on as he went to sleep.
Penny stared up at the ceiling in disbelief. After hours spent researching strange mid-day nightmares… she still came up with nothing. The dream therapist she had found online reasoned that dreams were glances at forthcoming events, and were often triggered by excessive worrying. Well, Penny didn't remember worrying any, before she'd had the dream. And certainly not of any lizard, even since the Globe Theatre had been destroyed. It just didn't make any sense.
The only other explanation was that it had been a random bad dream. Maybe it was nothing to worry over. Or maybe she really was crazy, just as Snap had so rudely insisted…
She shook her head. "That is unacceptable. Penelope Sanchez, you are NOT going insane."
Sitting up in bed, the girl gave herself a quick look-over in the mirror on the wall. A few loose strands of hair ricocheted from her head, astray from its normal style. With one finger, she brushed it back behind her ears, adjusting her glasses while she was at it.
I'm not insane, am I? …I look a little unpresentable, but certainly not mad.
Her mind wandered to earlier that day… "I wonder what Rudy's doing."
He's probably sleeping, duh.
She laid back down in bed, trying to think of something else. Something else that would help her clear her thoughts, and stop pondering of crazy dreams, and Rudy, and whether or not she was losing her mind.
I'm not crazy. Maybe everyone else is crazy, maybe I'm not. Maybe that dream meant nothing. Maybe mayonnaise on a biscuit is truly unfunny. Maybe-
She paused in mid-sentence, sensing something wrong.
The blackboard was shimmering.
Her voice was little more than a stammer. She clasped the dream research behind her back. "Rudy…?"
The portal became fully-fledged, and into Penny's room poked a familiar head. But instead of tawny brown hair, she saw locks of golden-blonde.
"K-Kiki?!" Indeed, it was. But how?!
Penny's breath hitched. She scrunched herself up among the sheets, assuming a defensive posture as if the blonde would suddenly transmogrify into some kind of cobra.
"W-What are you- how did you… Did Rudy give you…?!?"
In less than a second, it seemed, Kiki was seated at the bed beside her, and one of her white hands was clamped across the Hispanic's mouth.
"Rudy, Rudy, Rudy… even now, he's all you can talk about."
Penny tried to relax - it was Kiki, not some kind of demon. So why did she still feel like screaming?
She tried to talk, but with Kiki's hand in the way, the words came out as muffled slurs of speech.
So she tried to scream. But that wasn't too effective either.
"Penny, you have no idea what Rudy's done to you… he's made you… less aware. Dependent on him."
The smarter of the two wrangled her arms up from under her, and managed to pry Kiki's hand a few inches from her mouth. "That's ridiculous!" She declared in protest. "Rudy and I are a team. Kiki, you have no idea-"
The hand came back down on her lips, blocking off speech once more.
"Penny. We haven't spoken for a month. But you HAVE to trust me on this."
The Hispanic felt herself being lifted to her feet, and plundering towards the portal. Kiki followed suite.
Penny felt cold. There was a chilly feeling in her blood…
She was walking to the portal…
Voluntarily?!
But… Huh?
W-What's going on!?
"Mind control. Something else at my disposal… along with the 'forceful inducing of nightmares'." The blonde explained, from somewhere behind her. Her voice sounded hollow and desolate.
Mind control? But… but that's impossible…
"By the way, Penny…" Kiki stared down at the ground, as if her own words were venomous. "There's a friend of mine… who's been dying to meet you…"
--
A/N: I'm tired. And confuzzled. Oh yeah. Go me.