Cryptic Infiltration

by Racingwolf

A series of strange events occurring throughout ChalkZone prompt Rudy and his friends to investigate, but this soon leads them into the middle of something much bigger, and much more sinister, than they'd ever imagined.

2. Trail of Signs

Cryptic Infiltration

Chapter Two – Trail of Signs

Rudy had realized that he and Penny were running out of time before they had to be back home in the Real World. It was close to dinnertime, and he knew their parents would be soon to check on them, but he tried to put the thought out of his mind for the moment as he approached the looming entrance to the Magic Chalk Mine. It had taken them longer than he'd hoped to get back from the kingdom, and he knew they only had around a half an hour, at most, before they would for sure need to return to the Real World.

He paused to look up at the mountain as he approached, noting with a small bit of satisfaction, despite the pressing situation, that it looked good as new. Even though it had been a month since it was damaged, he could still picture the torn open entrance he'd discovered after Bob Newland and his accomplices had broken into the mine nearly every time he arrived there. He shivered at the thought of someone else from the Real World getting their hands on the chalk again, and he could only hope that whatever had infiltrated the mine was not another creation of Newland's, or Bouffant and Raton, for that matter.

"Biclops?" Rudy called as he walked toward the entrance with Penny, Snap forced to follow at a slower pace. Hearing no immediate reply, Rudy hoped that Biclops hadn't come to any harm. As he entered the main cavern, he glanced around it warily, not sure what to expect, but nothing looked damaged or out of place. He knew that after the attack was reported, there had to have been other Zoners investigating the incident, and he relaxed a little, telling himself that if Biclops had been harmed in any way, he would already be receiving help. He still felt a little nervous as he waited to see if the mine's guardian would appear. The thought that the incident could be another ploy to bring magic chalk to someone in the Real World plagued his mind again, and though he certainly couldn't imagine what a random Zoner would want with the Chalk Mine, he really hoped a random Zoner was all it was.

He halted in the center of the cavern, Penny and Snap coming to a halt behind him, and immediately peered around for Biclops, feeling that the quiet and stillness of the place was somewhat eerie, considering the situation. However, a few moments later, they heard large footsteps, and Biclops appeared from the back tunnels, and Rudy breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Rudy?" the giant asked, looking a bit surprised to see him there. "This isn't a good time, but if you need magic chalk, you can-"

"What happened?" Rudy asked, realizing that Biclops probably had no idea they'd already learned about the Chalk Mine being invaded. "We heard that someone broke into the mine," he quickly explained in order to banish any confusion. Once again, he briefly thought back to Terry Bouffant, Vinnie Raton, and Bob Newland, and he felt a rush of terror as he imagined that they had somehow managed to find a way back into ChalkZone and taken magic chalk, but quickly decided that was irrational, as he knew they wouldn't dare to do such a thing while he still had footage of them breaking into his house.

To his surprise, Biclops remained completely calm after he realized what Rudy's concern was. "Do not worry," he replied, "no magic chalk was taken or damaged."

Rudy's momentary panic left him, but he still felt on edge. "What did happen, then?" he asked. "Did whoever break in the mine attack you?" He recalled what Snap had told him about the newscast reporting attacks on Zoners, and was glad that Biclops didn't seem at all injured.

The giant shook his head. "I was not in the mine at the time this Zoner entered it," he replied. "In fact, I was only gone for a short time before…they, whoever they were…decided to infiltrate the mine."

"What exactly did they take, then?" Penny asked, her voice sounding nervous.

"Nothing," Biclops replied, earning him confused glances from the trio.

"What?" Rudy responded, confused. "You mean, they just…came in here and looked around?" He suddenly wondered if the culprit was no more than a newly-erased Zoner who'd gotten lost, and felt even more silly for jumping to conclusions.

"They were looking for something," Biclops continued, his tone a bit more serious. Instead of elaborating more, he indicated one of the tunnels in the back of the mind and beckoned them to follow.

Rudy and Penny exchanged confused glances, but Snap immediately recognized the place as the one leading to Biclops's living quarters. He had been there during the one and only time Biclops had asked him to guard the mine while the giant had been participating in a race. "Did they want somethin' of yours?" he asked, giving the guardian of the mine a confused frown.

"I'm not sure," Biclops replied, but said nothing more as he once again indicated that they follow him into the tunnel.

They were led into a room none of them had been in before, and immediately they realized what Biclops had meant. The cavern was strewn with debris and toppled furniture. All of the belongings Biclops had kept in the room were now scattered over the floor, many of them broken or torn. Rudy could see a few large books that had been carelessly tossed aside, and as his gaze traveled around the room, he also noticed a smaller one. Recognizing it instantly, he quickly ran over and picked it up, Snap and Penny reaching his side as they noticed it as well. It was the book they'd brought back from their journey a month prior to find what remained of the ancient ChalkZone library's hidden stash of books. It was a rare and valuable object, but it had been carelessly tossed aside like everything else. Rudy watched Penny flip through the pages, seeming like she was checking if any had been taken out, but everything was intact and she quickly concluded that, whatever the Zoner who had broken in the mine had been after, this book wasn't it.

Setting it down against the wall, as she couldn't reach up to the shelves along the wall, Penny turned to Biclops. "How long were you gone when this happened?" she asked, watching as Rudy and Snap continued to throw confused looks around the room.

"It couldn't have been more than twenty minutes," Biclops replied, straightening a chair that had toppled over. As he did so, it suddenly occurred to Penny that whoever had invaded Biclops' home had to be someone very strong, considering they were able to leave the furniture toppled over, or, in at least one case, looking like it had been thrown against the wall.

"I'll help you fix all this if you want," Rudy offered, holding up his magic chalk.

Biclops shook his head. "I don't think there's anything too badly damaged," he replied, "and the intruder targeted only this room. There's nothing disturbed anywhere else."

"You don't think this intruder could have navigated into the deeper tunnels?" Penny asked worriedly.

"I don't think so," he replied. "There's no sign they went that way."

Looking around the floor, something caught Rudy's eye, and he walked over toward a massive toppled bookshelf, reaching down to pick up a tiny object that stood out starkly against everything else. It was a small fragment of lime green chalk, the last, as far as they knew, of its type left in the mine, as the rest had been destroyed by Newland's red chalk dragon. He realized that although he would have thought it to be the most valuable thing in the room, to a Zoner it was useless. Realizing that such a small thing could easily get lost amid the wreckage, he hurried over to Biclops and carefully handed it to him.

"So are you sure they didn't take anything?" Penny was saying, not having found anything else of immediate interest in the room.

"No, everything's here," Biclops replied, still sounding confused about the situation himself as he looked at the shelves, where Rudy realized most of his books had already been replaced after the incident.

"Well that doesn't make any sense," Snap muttered.

Rudy couldn't really imagine why the intruder had snuck into the mine if they weren't going to take anything, and he thought back to his theory of it being a newly-erased drawing. However, that didn't explain why it trashed the room, and that one room in particular. If it was looking for Biclops, it wouldn't have had to go through the trouble; it would have known Biclops would return to his living quarters in the mine. He began to think that, whatever it was, it must have been a separate event to the strange attacks reported elsewhere. As his thoughts turned to those incidents, he promised himself that the next day, he and his friends would try to find out more about what happened, or even simply lend a hand to the Zoners in those areas if he could. Considering that tomorrow was a Sunday, he knew that he and Penny would have a lot of free time.

Though they stayed as long as time allowed, in the end, they could find no trace of who or what the Zoner who had caused the damage could be, but Biclops promised them that he would be on high alert from then on. He'd also told them that the police from ChalkZone City had investigated the incident already and would be on the lookout for the culprit. Knowing there was no more they could do about the matter, the three friends left the mine, heading back to the small plane Rudy had drawn before heading toward Snap's house, Rudy and Penny planning to hurry to Rudy's portal immediately after.

"Tomorrow we'll go to those other places and try to get to the bottom of this," Rudy stated after they'd landed in front of the towering building.

"I'll try an' find out what I can, Bucko!" Snap stated, knowing that even while Rudy and Penny were gone, he could still make himself useful by finding out anything the Zoners in ChalkZone City might have known or heard about the three incidents, or anything else strange going on.

"Good idea," Rudy stated as he and Penny headed back to the plane. He knew they were cutting it close time wise, so it was important to get back to the Real World immediately. Though the thought of the Chalk Mine being broken into for any reason had shaken him a bit, he was already starting to feel more confident. "We'll figure this out!"

ooo

The following day, the three were headed into the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle. Though Snap had failed to find out any more important details about the recent incidents, Rudy was determined to help out if he could, as well as find out anything else. Surely, he thought, the jungle Zoners could tell him something.

The lights of Rudy's small jeep cut through the darkness of the jungle where tall foliage and a thick canopy above them blocked out most of the light. The uneven terrain was at many times difficult to drive over, and the three were almost constantly jarred as the car frequently encountered rocks, roots, or thick undergrowth. Even though it was a Sunday, Rudy was a bit worried about the slowness of their journey, wanting to make sure he had enough time to visit the park where the other incident had taken place before they had to go back. He still wasn't certain there wasn't something more sinister going on, and it was possible the Zoners there would need his help.

Even though Rudy had drawn the car to be small, they ended up constantly having to backtrack to find wider trails when they stumbled upon areas where the trees grew too close. On other occasions the road was simply too uneven to drive over and they would have to turn back and find a smoother path. Rudy realized that it would be much easier if they could simply walk to King Mumbo Jumbo's new temple and take a shortcut straight through the jungle, but he hadn't been able to think of a good way to help Snap properly while they traveled, so he had opted for the vehicle. He contemplated drawing it limbs to move over the ground with instead of wheels, although he knew that wouldn't solve the issue of the car being too wide for the paths, but they soon came across a wide path that looked like it had been made by some large jungle animal. They decided to simply follow it for the time being, knowing that it was headed in at least roughly the right direction.

"I don't get it," Snap mused as he peered over the side of the vehicle, "What would someone attack King Mumbo Jumbo for? Or that other Zoner? Especially if they didn't do anythin' else. Seems like they just vanished an' no one knows where they went."

"I have no idea," Rudy replied, peering ahead into the gloom. He hoped they were going in the right direction to King Mumbo Jumbo's new residence; his memory of the place the tortoise now lived was fuzzy. "I guess all we can do is try to find out more, and whether these attacks are connected."

"I don't know what the likelihood of that is," Penny began. "They occurred in two vastly different areas, plus there was the infiltration of the Chalk Mine. If it's true they all occurred at the same time, it is strange, though until we have more information, I'm not sure we should assume they were closely related unless the evidence points that way."

"Well, from what that news report said, they were all reported to have happened at the same time," said Rudy. "That is a little weird, but the Zoners who saw these things happen could have made a mistake. I just want to make sure nothing's wrong. Something doesn't feel right about this."

"You got that right," said Snap. "If someone's after somethin' in the Chalk Mine, you know there's trouble."

"I know," said Penny, "Perhaps we should have continued to search for information on that matter."

"We will," replied Rudy, "as soon as we make sure that whatever happened in these other places isn't connected to it. And remember, the Zoners might need our help too."

"I suppose so," said Penny, "but I'm sure king Mumbo Jumbo has plenty of Zoners to help if anything goes wrong again. I think the Chalk Mine incident is what most needs further investigation."

"I know, but I still want to help," said Rudy. "We'll get to the bottom of what happened to the chalk mine as soon as we can figure out what happened in the other places, and make sure everyone's okay."

"You're right," Penny replied, turning to look worriedly out into the jungle. "I just hope no one was hurt. If there's-"

She broke off, for suddenly their vehicle had come to a halt, and as Rudy peered more closely at the ground ahead, it was easy to see why. He'd driven into a deep pit of mud while he'd been distracted, the thick foliage making it hard to see. Frustrated, he backed up, and after a few moments when the car refused to move, and he wondered if they were stuck, the machine slowly edged back out. He sighed as he shook his head. "Guess we're not going this way."

Snap gave a disappointed sigh. "Why don't you two carry on by foot then? I'll just…stay here, I guess."

Rudy could hear the reluctance in Snap's voice, and he knew his friend wanted to help, but with his injured leg, Snap wasn't bound to get far trying to walk through the jungle. However, he knew that it was likely a better idea if he and Penny took a more direct route, and had to admit that Snap was right. They needed to save time if they wanted to be able to investigate the incident in Canyon Park as well. "Well, okay…" he replied, not liking the thought of leaving his friend behind, as he opened his door and lowered himself to the ground.

He paused as they heard some sort of commotion up ahead. The three friends froze, the idea that whoever the attacker was or were was still around suddenly dawning on them. As the noise grew louder, Rudy grabbed his magic chalk and readied himself to draw a defense before something massive crashed through the undergrowth a short ways in front of them.

Upon realizing what it was, Rudy relaxed, but confusion crept across his face. The large animal in front of him was a massive brown three-headed dog, one he recognized easily as a creation of Vinnie Raton and Terry Bouffant. He was no threat to the trio, as he had become loyal to Rudy after he and his friends had stopped Newland's dragon in the Chalk Mine. Cerberus had since become part of ChalkZone City's police force. Rudy was unsure what the dog could be doing there, and a moment later he noticed a few different Zoners, all in police uniforms, stepping into the path Rudy and his friends had been following, but beyond the muddied spot.

As Rudy and the others looked to them in surprise, Cerberus, who had all three of his noses to the ground as if he were tracking something, lifted one of his heads and wagged his tail at the sight of them. The other two heads looked up as well and made a few sounds of excitement. The canine clearly wanted to run over to them, but obediently stayed put near the officers. Almost immediately one of the police Zoners called to him and he lowered his head, focusing again on the scent he was tracking. None of the officers seemed at all focused on Rudy and his friends.

"What are you doing here?" Rudy asked, curious about why police officers from the city were investigating something that happened in the jungle.

"We're helping to track the Zoner who tried to attack King Mumbo Jumbo," one of them, a German shepherd with a police hat clearly indicating him as an officer, stated clearly. "Please stay out of our way."

Rudy knew that if the police from ChalkZone City were getting involved, there had to be a good reason, but he still didn't clearly understand why the inhabitants of the jungle couldn't handle it themselves, if no one had been harmed, as far as Snap or anyone in ChalkZone City knew. "Wait a minute," he began, clearly confused. "What's going on? Is there something-"

"Yesterday at approximately six fifteen PM, this Zoner attempted an attack upon King Mumbo Jumbo," another officer replied, skirting the mud pool and walking toward Rudy's vehicle as he held up a sheet of paper that Rudy realized was a sketch of the attacker.

It was a Zoner that Rudy and his friends had certainly never seen before. It was a cube shaped robot with four clawed appendages that, according to the smaller sketches beneath the main one, the robot could use to move on all fours or choose to stand on two legs and use the others as hands. The officer, a stick figure like drawing, though one with more detail to his design, explained, "This Zoner is an escaped criminal from three years back. He attempted to steal a valuable artifact, and in the process, damaged it, and severely injured the officer who tried to apprehend him. The criminal spotted in this recent attack fits his description perfectly, and even mentioned his own name. This concerns us as well as the inhabitants of the jungle."

Rudy just stared in confusion as the police officer then turned to look at his companions, who seemed to have found a trail. As the Zoner joined them, Rudy cast confused glances to his friends. He wasn't sure what to think.

"This doesn't add up," Penny muttered as she watched the police having a quick discussion amongst themselves. "Why would a criminal wanted for something he'd done years ago suddenly attack a well-renowned Zoner unprovoked for? You'd think he would realize that was a sure way to get arrested, and he certainly wasn't successful in his attempted attack, so it must have been poorly thought out. It just doesn't make any sense."

"Who knows what goes through the heads of Zoners like that," Snap muttered, shaking his head.

"It is weird," Rudy replied, "but at least the police know exactly who they're looking for." He watched as Cerberus and the police forest crashed off into the jungle, Cerberus looking excited, as if he'd found a trail. He glanced toward the path the large three headed dog had made through the jungle, and realized that although it might be a bit difficult, he could maneuver the vehicle through it. And it would lead them straight to the new temple; that would have been where Cerberus would have first picked up the trail. He smiled; though it seemed like the police were doing a good job on their own, he was still glad he could at least check up on the Zoners there.

They carried on through their path in the jungle, sometimes having to duck low to avoid overhanging branches. However, Rudy was sure he was going in the right direction, now that they no longer had to follow the confusing switchback trails they had been forced to take before. He considered drawing rockets on his shoes and using them to see over the canopy to make sure the new path led where he thought it did, but before he acted on that plan, he noticed the trees thinning out up ahead and knew that they were likely in the right place, and if not, they would soon see.

They headed into the clearing, which was about as wide as Rudy and Penny's schoolyard and fringed by many palm-like trees and tropical looking plants, a large cluster of which created an overhang that shaded a large part of the area. It was here that King Mumbo Jumbo was building his new temple, and it was clear that they were not the only ones there.

Several Zoners were gathered near the entrance to the new temple, which was made of tan colored stone and built into the side of a large hill and looked somewhat small and plain compared to the old one, where Rudy knew the red bats were still sealed. The Zoners gathered there were either conversing with each other or examining areas around the temple entrance that Rudy realized must contain traces of the culprit's presence or give them a clue about the situation. No one paid them much of any attention as they stepped down from the vehicle and looked around.

Leaving the car on the path, Rudy and his friends headed into the small crowd, passing a group of Lollipopians who seemed to be quite agitated, but did not acknowledge them. All the other Zoners in the area were also jungle inhabitants, each of them looking confused, worried, angry, or a mixture of all three.

As Rudy was trying to figure out who to ask, he suddenly caught sight of King Mumbo Jumbo himself by the wide entrance to the new temple, talking with a few of the other jungle residents, and he, Penny, and Snap quickly headed over to him.

"King Mumbo Jumbo?" Rudy called as he came to a halt, Penny and Snap right beside him. "What happened? Did whoever attacked you hurt you? Was anybody else injured?" He glanced quickly around, interrupting King Mumbo Jumbo as he tried to speak when he again met his eyes. "Did you see who attacked you? Or where they went afterwards?"

"Woah, slow down!" the tortoise advised, sounding, to Rudy's surprise, fairly calm about the situation, though it was obvious from the looks of everyone else that he was taking the incident very seriously. "Please, I can't answer so many things at once."

"Oh, sorry," he quickly apologized, as if not realizing he had posed so many questions at once. "We were in another city earlier and Snap saw on the news that the Magic Chalk Mine was targeted and that Biclops was attacked. Then it said that you were also a victim of an attack in the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle, so we came here to find out if you're okay." He glanced to Penny, who nodded in agreement. "We thought you could use some help...and wondered if you could tell us anything about the attacker."

"Look," he began softly, "I know you want to be a good protector to ChalkZone, but I assure you we have everything under control here. You and your friends can go on back; you look like you need a rest."

"Well, we just want to find out as much as we can about what happened," Rudy explained, unsure how much the jungle Zoners would know about news that was easily spread throughout cities, but less so in places like these. "There's been more than one attack recently, and well, if they're connected in any way, I think we should try to get to the bottom of it."

"Well, we don't need help here, and I assure you, everyone's fine. The perpetrator didn't even make it inside the temple. He was not very dangerous and was stopped immediately when he arrived, and fled into the jungle after being confronted." His face looked thoughtful as he added, "I'm not exactly sure that what he was doing was meant to be an attack, but I did hear about the attack on that worker at Canyon Park. I think that if you wanted to help, they'd probably need more help than we do."

Rudy realized that the tortoise king obviously had some way of hearing the news, and it made him feel a bit better after hearing that the 'attack' wasn't as bad an incident as he'd feared it was. Although the Zoners here were obviously worried, he knew the police force and others were out tracking the intruder, who from the sound of things, wasn't a big threat, especially against the police force. He still wanted to help out, but he knew that tracking through the jungle in their vehicle would prove too difficult, and he and the others would find it hard to track on foot, even without Snap's injury. He had to admit that there wasn't much more they could do here.

"Yeah, well let's hope they catch 'im soon," Snap muttered, glancing at the jungle around him. "That's all we need…more trouble."

"I assure you that the temple will be securely guarded from this point on," King Mumbo Jumbo continued, "and the Zoners living here will be protected. You run along now and see if those at the park need your help. We'll be fine."

"All right," Rudy said with a nod, walking with his friends back toward the truck. Instead of getting into it, he told a nearby group of Zoners that it was free for anyone to use, and instead worked on drawing a small plane. As soon as it was finished, they got inside and lifted off above the treetops. Rudy headed to ChalkZone City, knowing they'd need a map to get to the park.

"Maybe we were overreacting a bit," Penny murmured as they flew over the landscape. "I mean, the news report did seem to be blowing the whole thing out of proportion only because the incidents happened at the same time. But you're right, Rudy. We should probably check on the Zoners at the park."

"Yeah," Rudy agreed. "The sooner we investigate, the closer we come to figuring this out."

ooo

Luckily, it was not long before the trio arrived at Canyon Park, which was luckily not located far enough away from ChalkZone City to take more than a half hour or so by Rudy's plane. Rudy and the others had never seen the place before but it was clear that it provided a great opportunity for Zoners to explore and look at some fantastic scenery. From what they could see from above, the park was a very large space of desert land covered in rocky sand-colored mountains and canyons, many of the mountains sporting incredible looking rock formations. Rudy had decided to land the plane at the front entrance of the park rather than inside it, in case the Zoners didn't approve of he and the others showing up without first going through the front gate. He also wasn't sure if the park cost money to enter.

After they landed, they noticed that the air around them was dry, but the temperature was pleasantly cool, not at all searing hot like Rudy would have expected. The ground was mostly hard-packed earth covered in a thin layer of sand, and the mountain formations up ahead were composed of bare, jagged stone that formed itself into strange shapes. Larger mountains towered over them in the distance, forming ridges and canyons that no doubt were the park's most widely known attractions and the reason so may Zoners came to visit it.

Rudy briefly wondered what the trails and areas for exploring were like in this place, as he was quite sure it was bound to be more exciting than Real World hiking trails. He thought it might be nice to explore it with his friends sometime, when Snap's leg had healed.

Sand and grains of rock crunched under the trio's feet as they came to a flat sun-baked area beside a parking lot that clearly existed to accommodate for buses. Rudy led his friends up to the front gate, which was more like a decorative wall set up in front of an area that Rudy couldn't see clearly, but was close to the base of some of the mountains, he tried to analyze what was before him. From his position, he could only really see a mound of craggy rock beyond the wall. There was a line of Zoners in front of them and Rudy stood on tiptoes in an effort to get a better look.

He couldn't get a good view of where one was actually meant to enter the park due to the crowds, and he wondered again if Zoners had to pay to get in. He realized that Snap probably hadn't brought any money and was preparing to draw some when suddenly the line moved and they could get closer, where he could see that the person at the ticket booth built into the wall was merely handing out useful things such as maps as well as renting them rock-climbing and hiking gear for free.

When the line finally moved on and Rudy and his friends reached the entrance, the Zoner manning the booth, a colorful looking toucan, offered him a map as he held it with his wing. "Welcome to Canyon park, aark!" he croaked as Rudy took the map. "For more information on the trail tours we run, check the back of that map I gave you. And have a nice day! Aark!"

Rudy blinked a few times, finding his odd tendency to squawk a little distracting. "No…we're not here to go on the trails," he quickly explained. "We just want to talk to the Zoner who was attacked here...and see if we can help."

"Aark, I don't know a thing about that, mister. Far as I know, only one Zoner was harmed, but I couldn't tell you who. As for the attacker, well, he or she is long gone." He squawked again as he shook the feathers of one wing, eying the next, rather impatient Zoner in line.

"Well, maybe we could help in another way," Rudy replied. "We could make the park more secure if you wanted us to." Though he was starting to severely doubt the attacks were at all connected, he still felt like he should help out the Zoners who were affected by it, especially if this threat could be the beginning of more to come. He figured that since it was such a popular spot and many Zoners went there all the time, his help could definitely be used.

Rudy understood, but decided to pursue any leads about the attacker before anything else. Just as the toucan thought the boy and his friends were about to move along, Rudy asked, "Do you know the name of the Zoner who was attacked?"

"Sorry, no," shrugged the toucan, chirping again. "But you can probably ask the employees inside. They might know more about it."

"All right," Rudy stated, and as he passed through the gate, he jolted when the toucan released another unpredicted squawk. When he regained his bearings, he glared at the bird behind him, who was already serving another Zoner. He sighed and turned back to his friends, Penny taking the map from him out of mere curiosity and looking over it as they continued on to the next area.

Only a very small part of the region beyond was touched with sunlight before the overhanging rock blocked all light. They could see that underneath the overhang was a wide rock tunnel with a low ceiling which was clearly part of the trail. It cut through the small mountain, and they could see the other end from which light streamed through, guessing that it probably led to another open area. They quickly joined the group of Zoners walking through it, moving toward the side to allow others to pass them considering Snap's leg reduced the speed at which they could travel. The air was cool inside, and even though they could see light up ahead, it was pretty dark where they were.

Walking underneath the immense stone structure, the light was almost instantly reduced, making it difficult to see much of anything despite the bright exit a ways up ahead. As they passed through it along with the other group of Zoners, they could hear water trickling from somewhere overhead, but when they looked upward, it was too dark to tell where it was coming from. Occasionally they'd feel a drop of water.

"Do you think there are caves around here?" Penny wondered aloud.

"There could be; who knows!" Snap stated as he tried to peer around through the darkness.

"It would be interesting to study," Penny went on. "ChalkZone caves, even here, could vary greatly from Real World ones." She thought back to the gigantic crystal cave they had discovered on their journey to find the lost library books as she said it. "I wonder if the park has any books on these caves that we could look at." Snap just shrugged in response.

While his friends conversed, Rudy could not help thinking about the previous attacks on the Magic Chalk Mine and King Mumbo Jumbo. He found himself revisiting questions he posed before, which presented him with no more answers than before. Unable to keep it to himself, he confessed, "I don't understand why someone would attack a worker at the park either." He kept his voice low so only his friends could hear. "Unless the attack was just random, but..."

"I don't think it was," Penny replied, completing his thoughts. "With so many Zoners around, it wouldn't be easy to get away with such a thing. The Zoner who did this had to have had a reason for targeting this place specifically, and possibly, that person."

"Maybe they were trying to get one of the staff members to do somethin' for 'em?" Snap pondered.

"Maybe," Rudy replied after a string of thoughts led his mind in a circle. Snap's theory was plausible, but Rudy still felt oddly uneasy about the whole thing, as if there was more to it than any of them could put their finger on.

They emerged into a very large open area flanked with mountains and small rocky outcrops on all sides. There was a large canyon in the center of them up ahead that cut into the mountain range, but beyond that there just seemed to be trails leading up the mountains or hills of rocks. There were several stands set up, each seeming to sell different things. They stepped into the sunlight, looking around at the scenery and the Zoners who were walking in small groups. Penny took a moment to empty the dirt, rocks and other grit out of her shoe, already irritated with the sand.

There were groups of Zoners reading maps or heading toward the start of hiking trails by the mountains, some of them eager to travel while others lagged behind. Some had set up picnic rugs and began to serve food to their hiking companions, and a few were seen using their rented gear to scale the side of the tunnel they had just passed through.

"So where do we go now?" Snap asked, looking around, but the few employees seemed to be occupied either answering questions or ensuring those who began to scale rock walls were safe.

"Well…I guess we should look for available staff members," Rudy suggested, beginning to survey the area. The few employees who looked less busy than others that they encountered were quickly snatched up by Zoners with more concerns and queries, stealing them away every time Rudy hoped to approach one.

Just as Rudy was growing frustrated with their inability to find help, Snap piped up. "Why don't we ask one of them?" he questioned, pointing toward a group of a few Zoners wearing the same park uniform they'd seen others wearing. They were huddled behind a small cluster of rocks that had previously been out of Rudy's line of sight, which explained why they had gone unseen before.

"Good idea," Rudy replied with a sigh of relief, seeing that the small group, which consisted of a short elephant, a blender with arms and legs, and a giraffe, didn't seem too busy with anything or anyone else. He and the others walked toward them, but as they approached, it was clear that they were too focused on talking with one another to notice him. "Uh, excuse me?" he began, having to repeat himself another time before the Zoners looked to him. "Do you-"

"What trail are you going on?" the elephant asked him before he could finish as he looked Rudy and his friends over. "What do you need?" His eyes paused on Snap as he muttered, "You don't seriously expect to hike here, do you? Well, sorry, but we aren't offering dinosaur rides up the mountain today."

"Look, buddy, we aren't here to go on any hikes," Snap responded, irritated that yet another Zoner didn't seem to want to bother with listening to them. "We're here on an important mission to figure out what's-"

"If you're not here to hike, then I can't help you," the elephant replied. Unlike King Archie's tendencies, he didn't at all seem to care what their 'mission' was, rather than just ignoring or selectively not hearing it. "You can't take the dinosaurs up today. Their handler was attacked, and-"

"Wait a minute," Rudy interrupted, "can you tell me where that Zoner is, or…at least what happened?" he asked. "We're here to try to investigate what happened here."

The elephant was about to speak up when the giraffe butted in, speaking instead. "Oh, yes, that would be Alyssa," she said, sounding entirely more helpful and willing to listen to them than her coworker. "You must be Rudy. I've heard about how you've helped ChalkZone. Are you here to help us catch the Zoner who threatened our staff member?"

"What's he supposed to do about it?" the elephant muttered as the blender Zoner, who seemed entirely uninterested in the conversation, busied himself with getting water from a cooler set out on a table nearby for the visiting Zoners. "You expect a kid to track that creature down when not even the police can?"

"You do understand what he's done for ChalkZone before, don't you?" the giraffe protested.

"If you don't mind my asking," Penny interrupted before the two could start arguing, "but what exactly was it that got into the park and attacked someone? If you can tell me what you've learned from its behavior, I'm sure we-"

"We didn't see it," the giraffe responded. "Not even Alyssa did… She was in one of the tunnels alone with one of the dinosaur guides when it happened. She said she saw a silhouette run into the tunnel that led out of the park, but that area's been closed down just in case."

"Oh," Rudy replied, acknowledging that the information, although likely the best they were going to get, wasn't very helpful. Piecing the findings from the three incidents together, it didn't seem at all like they were related, but at the same time, he wanted to at least make sure that the Zoners in this part were safe. "Well, could we talk to Alyssa then?" he asked, before something particularly unsettling occurred to him. "That is…if she hasn't been badly injured by it…" he completed with accompanying worry.

"No, she wasn't," the giraffe answered, shaking her head as if in gentle dismissal. "She's working at the books stall today. It's over in that direction." She pointed back toward the tunnel and gave them directions from there. They soon comprehended her guidelines and realized that they would have to head back toward the crowd of Zoners, then thanked her before leaving.

When they returned to the crowd and progressed to an undercover area housing scores of stalls, with a few smaller ones scattered outside the roofed area, that saw that the book stand was, ironically, the only one that was unoccupied except for the worker. She was a human-like Zoner who stood about twice Rudy's height and had short light blonde hair. She was busy organizing some books on a stand, not having spotted them yet. Rudy noted with a small amount of surprise that her arm was bruised, which was likely a result of the attack she suffered earlier.

As the trio headed toward the book shop, Snap releasing a small groan as his leg continued to ache with each step, Penny told Rudy to go on ahead while she would walk slower with Snap and avoid the surrounding Zoners. Rudy nodded and set his eyes on the book stand, which was little more than a large stand set up with a small selection of books covered in pictures of various places in the park, presumably providing information about the trails, natural wonders, or when elements of the park were drawn or formed. He briefly wondered if it contained information on when park itself was founded.

The Zoner seemed to be busy placing more books on a small shelf by the stand when she noticed them, quickly moving back behind the makeshift counter as she saw them approach.

"Oh, hello!" she began in a very fresh, alert manner. Rudy gave a small smile as he reached the stand, peering up at her. She began to move backwards, raising her arms to showcase some of the guide books on wire-thin holders. "Would you be interested in…" She paused for a second before a frown shadowed over her head. She seemed interested in the boy before her and he furrowed his brow a little, wondering if he had something on his face. "Are you all right?" she asked.

Rudy was only confused. He blinked repeatedly as he stared at her oddly. "Uhh…"

"Oh…oh, sorry! You just seem a little tired." She drew back a bit, focusing again on the guide book. "As I was saying, would you be interested…"

Her focus was suddenly removed as Snap and Penny arrived, at first producing a smile. "Hello," Penny responded to her greeting, but as the Zoner went to greet Snap, she froze again. Snap looked at her oddly.

"Dear me!" she exclaimed, concern riddling her face. "I hope you're okay!"

"Uhh…" Snap began. "Yeah. I'm…fine."

"Are you sure?" she prompted, inspecting his arm from afar. When she noticed his leg, she looked almost as if she was about to faint from worry. The others only frowned with confusion. "Do you need any help?" she wondered, then feeling as if she should get clarification. "How hurt are you? Is it really painful?"

The trio was rather stunned and Snap again tried to reassure her that he was fine. "I told ya, I'm fine. It all happened over a month—"

"No, no!" she shouted, extending a hand over the stall's counter as her eyes filled with something close to fear. "Don't talk! You don't have to talk, it's okay. Don't try to talk," she advised, somewhat misunderstanding the situation. Snap immediately stopped, his eyes wide as he hesitated to even breathe. "I'll get you something, okay? I'll get you…" She bent over and began frantically searching the shelves beneath the counter before a customer approached, pointing to a shelved guide book on Alyssa's left.

"Excuse me," the customer, a hotdog Zoner, began, but there was no response. He cleared his voice and spoke up, repeating his words. He waited for a few seconds a she rummaged through her things, Rudy tossing looks of sympathetic confusion to his friends. When she shot up, the Zoner waiting to be served tried again. "Ah. Can you please—"

"So sorry; so sorry!" she shouted at Snap, who cringed a little. "I don't…I don't have any bandages here. Do you need bandages? I think you do." Her eyes again scanned his form, and she began shaking her head, face clouded with worry. It was as if the customer was not there at all.

"Hello?" he questioned, clearly annoyed. "I want to buy a guidebook."

Alyssa was not on the same level as her customer, however, her thoughts in another place completely. She looked up from being in deep thought. "I-I can go home to get the bandages." Immediately she had decided, and was already scrambling for her car keys.

"W-wait!" Rudy called, unable to keep up with her.

"Yes…yeah, you'll have to wait here," she told them somewhat solemnly, slipping out from behind the stall's counter and around to them. The hotdog Zoner took this opportunity to approach her, but she only told him that she was busy. He gave a full-body sigh and left in a huff. "I hope you don't mind waiting, uhh…an hour? And then I'll be back with the bandages!"

"What?" Snap questioned, still extremely confused. He couldn't follow her either. "I don't wanna wait a whole hour! I don't even need—"

"Oh, you're right," she quickly interrupted. "You need to rest, don't you? Aww, you poor thing…" She clenched her jaws together as she again cast a ray of sympathy onto him. Penny was about to interject when another string of words travelled from the blond Zoner's lips. "Oh wait, wait, no…no, I can't leave the stand." She glanced over her shoulder. "But…I want to help you. Oh, fiddlesticks!"

"Look," Snap started again, this time intending to speak over her before she could overpower him. However, he only got a few words in until he lost his sentence, hers trampling all over his.

"Maybe, well, maybe I could help you some other way. If you can't have bandages and I don't have medicine then…then I could help you go all around the park today! Are you going on a tour? Have you been on a tour?" she questioned, a little enthused before she slipped back into her state of concern. "Oh, but that's also leaving the stand… Maybe…" her mind works as her eyes flickered back and forth. "I could carry all the books with me! Yes!"

Rudy and Penny slammed palms to their foreheads, and Snap only shook his head.

But as soon as she whirled around and the amount of books she had struck her, she drew the conclusion that her so-called "solution" was not much of a solution at all. "That…that won't work…unless I can get someone to cover for me…but that's not likely to happen." She returned her eyes to Snap. "But…I don't know if you should be walking so maybe you could…stay here? Until you're feeling better? First I should get you something comfortable to sit on, though…" She cringed again at his wounds as if she was feeling them herself. "You poor thing! You must be in so much pain. If only I could get you some ba—"

Snap shook his head instantly and took a step forward, silencing the blond Zoner at the shock that he could actually move. "Woah! Just calm down, lady… I'm fine, really! I don't need help, I don't need to stay here and I don't need…bandages." He whispered the last part, sick of hearing that he needed them.

After finally taking in the information he told her, she waited a moment. She seemed hesitant to believe him and looked to weigh her options. She did not seem like the type to take risks. "You know what?" she began, and the three looked at her, hoping she would finally agree to settle down. "…I should call the hospital." She turned around and headed back to the stall.

The three of them all groaned incessantly at that, gaining her attention once she returned behind the stall.

"What's wrong?" she wondered, looking concerned for all of them now.

"No! No, don't do that," Rudy growled, ready to pull his hair out.

"That won't be necessary," Penny added, emphasizing her words to example how impractical and illogical her solutions were.

Alyssa, however, seemed only a little confused by their words, as if she was being misled and knew it. Before she could reach the phone, she had paused to listen to them. "But…he clearly needs medical attention."

"I've already had medical attention!" Snap growled.

"You're not fit to assess your own condition," she insisted, but Snap was a little baffled.

"You told me a minute ago to move around when I'm feeling better!"

The contradiction did not seem to complicate things for her. "But you need taking care of! Just look at you."

"I promise, he's not dying," Penny told her, stepping closer to the stall.

Finally silence danced between the few as Alyssa's mind worked to comprehend what seemed to be some sort of impossibility. Rudy and Snap were hopeful that she was finally changing her mind.

"…Are you sure?"

"Oh, come on!" Snap blurted, clearly agitated. Alyssa only looked more uncomfortable.

"It's very nice that you're so concerned for our friend, but can we ask you some questions?" Penny wondered, trying to change the conversation's direction. The human-like Zoner took a moment to focus.

"It's about the attack reported on the news," added Rudy, trying to change the subject as best he could.

"Oh, okay," she answered, still seeming concerned.

Rudy drew and handed a small notepad with a pencil over to Penny as she asked, "Can you tell us what happened?" She readied her pencil and kept her eyes on the Zoner.

She blinked a couple of times as she mentally went back in time, trying to focus on her memory. "I'm not sure why I was targeted… I'm the caretaker for the guide dinosaurs who take the tourists and their luggage along the trails leading up to the mountains. Some of the dinosaurs take supplies up there. The thing that attacked me…" She gave her head a flick, a frown bunching her brow as she eyed the ground. "I didn't see it properly, but it was an animal…on four legs." She looked up at them, a little apologetic. "That's all I can really tell you."

Penny scribbled down notes as the blond Zoner talked. "Were you harmed in the process?" She could clearly see the bruising on her right arm and the other scrapes along her shoulder and forearm, but wanted to identify if she obtained them from the fight or not.

"Only a little," she answered while flashing her glance on her arms. "But my dinosaurs… I was so worried that the animal creature would hurt them!" The trio glanced to one another, wondering if she realized how physically powerful dinosaurs of their kind were, as they could see them displayed on the front cover of one of her laminated paperback books. "You see…it attacked us while we were in the dinosaur stables, which is…rather wide, dark cave with only one entrance. It is not easy to get to, either, and yet it targeted us anyway. And because it was so dark, it was difficult to make out any of the creature's detail. I was so worried, though…" she whispered, shaking her head as she thought back.

"No kiddin'…" Snap agreed. "I'd be worried for my life too."

The Zoner only continued to shake her head, but this time in disagreement. "Not for me; for the dinosaurs! They could have been…badly hurt…"

"Uhh…" Penny changed uncertainly to Rudy, and then back, clearing her voice. "Was there any particularly odd behavior from the creature? Anything you distinctly recall as unusual or unique?"

The Zoner thought for a moment before replying, "I admit that…it seemed to be after me more than the dinosaurs. It waited until I was apart from them before attacking me. But it didn't get much further than pushing me over before one of the dinosaurs scared it away… I'm so thankful he didn't get hurt for doing that for me."

"Has this happened before?" Penny wondered.

"No, this was the only time," the Zoner's responded.

"Well, that's…odd," Penny muttered to Rudy, who agreed. They left the conversation there and thanked the blond Zoner for her time. She seemed happy to share her story with them, but it left each of them with more questions. "That is very peculiar."

"Sure is," Rudy agreed.

As they departed the book stall, both walking slowly for Snap's sake, each of them had new thoughts on their minds. "Isn't it strange, though, that this intruder would attack someone working in such a secluded place?" Penny wondered as they began to head away from the stand and the crowds. "It doesn't sound easy to get in there by accident. There's definitely something not right about this." Unlike how she had felt in the jungle, this story unnerved her a lot more for some reason. She wanted to get to the bottom of it largely because it was the first of such an attack and did not sound like the work of an aimless, less intelligent creature.

"It's weird they'd attack someone in this park at all," Rudy mused, a little uneasy. "Alyssa said the dinosaur stables were in a hard-to-reach place, and there would have been plenty of Zoners it could have run into before then…so she had to have been the target from the start."

Snap frowned a little as he hobbled along with his crutch. "Yeah…somethin's fishy here."

"For sure," Rudy muttered determinedly. He held out a palm and dropped a curled fist into it. "And we're going to find out what it is."

Though the results of the attack had been mild, Penny was inclined to agree with them. There was something simply…off about the situation, and she couldn't help but have a bad feeling about it. Snap nodded eagerly, clearly as determined to resolve the situation as Rudy was, especially considering how good of a person Alyssa seemed. Even though her overreaction to his state was completely unnecessary, she had been extremely concerned for him – a complete stranger – and he could only assume that she was frequently that caring. Such kind Zoners were rare.

"So what are we gonna do now, Bucko?" Snap asked after his thoughts replayed a few times over. He looked to his friend curiously, who took a moment to return the glance.

"I'm not sure," he admitted with a sigh. "Maybe there's someone else who saw something, but I'm not betting on that…" He raised his eyebrows and kept his eyelids at half-mast as if in indecision. "Apart from that, I just don't know."

"Well..." Penny started, remembering what Alyssa had mentioned about the dinosaur stables including only one entrance. "If we can get a better look at the premises, perhaps we can determine which exits the criminal could have taken."

Thinking that Penny's idea was a good one, he drew rockets on his shoes and took to the air, wobbling a little as he tried to adjust to the startling height, and peered out over the landscape. He had to climb fairly high to see over the tops of the mountains, although they were fairly small, and as he did so, he observed that many of the twisting turns of the canyons and tunnels were impossible to see clearly from above, many of them shielded by more stone. He told himself that he may be able to follow the naturally-formed roads to navigate around and possibly encounter clues about the attacker's chosen escape path and began to consider it as their next course of action. He was about to head back down to tell his friends as he wondered if he would be allowed by the park rangers to draw Snap some sort of transportation to take on the tours when he noticed something in the distance.

It was a series of very large buildings, the biggest ones clustered together with several others surrounding them, lying on the flat desert plain quite a distance from the mountains of the park. Smoke spewed from the structures in the center and he figured that they each had to be part of some sort of factory. The landscape it lay in was fairly empty otherwise, and there was a large fence set up close to the edge of the park itself, part of it standing about fifty yards away from one of the rock piles surrounding the section they had been prior to visiting Alyssa, where the trails began. Though he wasn't sure the place had anything to do with the strange Zoner, it seemed a bit too guarded for him to be completely unsuspicious. He thought that it would be a good idea to investigate, and headed back down to the ground to talk with his friends.

"Did you see anything useful?" Penny wondered, Snap too looking interested.

"Yeah…" Rudy started with a frown. "Not much, but there were these factories in the distance that somehow seemed a little suspicious and out of place." He gave a small shrug, indicating his confusion at their random placement.

"Maybe they like the view?" Snap considered, as if he may have been one such Zoner.

Rudy moved his mouth to the other side of his face in thought. "I'm not sure, but…I kind of want to find out a bit more about them…" He began to rotate around, again searching for park employees.

Before his friends could protest, the boy headed back toward the entrance to the park, where he was sure he could find a way to speak to management, or even just a few workers. Penny and Snap looked at each other and silently conveyed to one another that they were unsure that Rudy's plan was necessary through a particular expression and a small shrug or two. As Rudy's endeavor led them to countless workers who consistently had no answers for him, the two grew even less sure that his plan was a good idea.

Penny fought to catch Rudy's eye as he searched through a crowd he had approached, and when she did, he turned to her somewhat impatiently. "I want to get a better look at this place," she informed him, and mentioned that she would likely take Snap with her. He nodded and returned to his task while she glanced up at the rocky walls and formations near where they were and beyond.

She led Snap toward the rock walls on the other side of the tunnel and told him that she would inspect them. She glanced about before slipping closer toward it, noting with a small frown that there was a break in the rock if it was looked at from a certain angle. Surprised, and knowing it would lead in the direction Rudy had said the factories rested, she indicated for Snap to come over to her.

When he did, she notified him of the gap's presence and pretended to be talking of something unrelated as a few Zoners passed by. When they were gone and all others in the area were occupied by their own affairs, she told him to pass through it. Snap figured that it would be best if he went through first and eagerly worked his way between the rock walls, one of them rather thin while the other was much thicker, as it was the entire formation. When he was through, Penny carefully passed into it and popped out in a surprisingly clear area. As they rounded a large formation before them, walls either side of it, they came face-to-face with a smallish fence.

"What the heck?" Snap began with confusion in his voice. "I thought this place was much bigger than this." He glanced to the left and right to gauge the length of the fence, noting that the large walls of rock ran alongside the fence, making the path of following the fence a narrow one.

"I don't understand it either…" Penny remarked quietly, and they both decided to take the left path. It proved to be as narrow as they thought, but thankfully Snap's crutch had no trouble with helping him navigate through.

It was not much longer before they came to an unexpected gate in the fence. Curiously, Penny verified that it was safe to go through, and opened it for Snap before she entered herself. The area beyond the fence stretched for a short while before another fence, one that was considerably more high-security and at least three times the other fence's height, bordered what was clearly the factories Rudy had spotted from above. With wide eyes, Penny and Snap began to approach it when suddenly something caught their eye.

From behind one of the many clusters of rock, which were clearly abundant even outside the park, a bulky mass of shiny metal reflected sun into their eyes. Both squinted and held up their hands, Snap having to lean on his crutch before doing so, realizing that the metal was the hide of a large, silver robotic big cat. It was a cross between a leopard and a panther, but had the face of a cheetah and the tail and a small mane of a lion. It approached from the direction of the fence, stalking with smooth movements as its wheels, which replaced legs, rolled it toward Penny and Snap. The robotic Zoner seemed to scrutinize them as he neared, and although Penny and Snap had both never seen this Zoner before, they knew that he was aware of who they were.

"What are you doing here?" he bellowed, his voice sounding low and mechanical. "This is private property, and I'd suggest you stay within the park grounds."

Snap gave him a look of annoyance and then glanced over at the fence, which had to be at least fifty yards away. "Uh…the fence is over there," he muttered. "We're not even close to it, let alone touching it."

"We're just looking around," Penny explained. "If we could talk to someone who knows more about those factories, I'm sure-"

"You need to talk to someone?" he mocked in a condescending voice. Shortly after, it altered immediately to one of intimidation. He rolled closer, watching as the two before him tensed. "You're talking to someone right now." He left the comment in the open before grunting, "You can't go any further than this."

At this, Penny grew annoyed. "We aren't within the fence's perimeters. As far as I'm concerned, we're well within our rights to be here."

"Yeah," Snap agreed. "C'mon, Penny, let's get a closer look."

As he turned to the fence, the robot wheeled his way in front of him in an instant, startling him a little. "You want to get closer?" he growled, and without warning, he leaned forward and grabbed the crutch Snap was holding, tearing it out of his hand so quickly that he barely had time to emit a cry of protest before toppling over. Taking the object in both paws, he snapped it in half, throwing the pieces at Penny and Snap's feet. He sneered. "Well, now you can't."

With a growl of anger, Snap stood up, keeping his weight on his good leg. "What is your problem?" he shouted. "We-"

"You're leaving. Now," the robot interrupted with an unrestrained snarl. There was a moment of tension before he lashed out and clamped his large paws onto both of their arms and lifted them. Immediately there was a reaction of terror mixed with anger in the form of shouts and cries, but he ignored them as his wheels drove him toward the park's small fence. Penny was a little surprised how far up they were while they were being carried, but the Zoner was tall, so at the same time, she knew she should have expected it. She was afraid to struggle in case she was dropped. That did not stop her from vocalizing her displeasure, however.

"Let me go!" she demanded in vain, Snap spouting similar requests and minor insults.

He ignored them, and they were taken quite unceremoniously back to the rocks, where he lowered them over the fence and tossed both of them to the ground. Snap gave a shriek and Penny a shout of discomfort before eying the robot. "Get back in there and stay there," he muttered, turning away.

Snap, amid his feelings of rage, looked ready to argue. Penny knew that doing so was pointless, however, so she helped him back up onto his feet as they watched the metallic Zoner slowly roll away. She hardened her frown and advised that they leave, which he reluctantly agreed to, and hobbled alongside his friend parallel to the fence, planning immediately to tell someone of authority, even just Rudy, what had happened.

After they had disappeared past the large rock structure that led to the gap from which they came, the robot pulled a chalky talky from a compartment in his left arm with his right. As soon as he heard the voice on the other end respond, he muttered, "You'd better alert the boss. There's something I think Serilda ought to know…"

ooo

"Have you decided yet?" that strange, smooth voice on the other end of the phone line rang in Serilda's ear.

"Yes," the bear replied casually. "The answer is 'no.' I'm not selling it." The voice was quiet, and Serilda had to admit that she found his silence amusing. "I've come to the decision that it's simply not worth the money. The machine itself is of far greater value to me."

"…I see…" the voice replied, an edge to his voice that irritated the grizzly. "But I think you need to consider-"

"Good bye," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice, hanging up the phone. "Well, that takes care of that!" she stated to herself. A moment later, a knock on the door interrupted her, and after her word, it opened to reveal an anthropomorphic red squirrel Zoner.

"There's something I need to report," he explained, looking a bit nervous as he faced her. "A few things, actually."

"What, Franky?" she asked, preparing to note his concerns while a look of displeasure and impatience spilled across her face.

"Well, Archie has…just informed one of the other supervisors, that…well, he's cancelling his next order."

"What?" Serilda spat. "Why? Did he give up on his stupid project already?"

"No," Franky replied, "he was having…Rudy Tabootie draw the parts."

"He…what?" she snarled, her face a mask of pure rage. In a fit of anger she reached out toward the wall and raked her claws across it, slicing not just through the floral wallpaper, but a few inches into the wall itself. "Little brat! Why is the Great Creator messing about in those parts?" She snarled and looked toward the damaged wall. "Get someone to fix that!" she snapped, then rested her head in her paws. "I suppose it was only a matter of time he started meddling in my business. Maybe if we could get the new machine working properly we could produce things more cheaply and get more clients. We wouldn't need Zoners like that pompous-"

"The machine?" the squirrel questioned. "Weren't you going to sell it?"

"No, I am not going to sell it!" Serilda growled. "In fact, I just told that nosy windbag who wanted it 'no.' The price he offered for it isn't worth a new machine. Like I said before, I'm looking to get it fixed."

"Well, you know I don't work in that building," he stated, careful not to agitate her. At the same time, he always made an effort to wear a calm expression. "I haven't actually…seen your new machine. What exactly is wrong with it?"

She gave a short sigh. "It seems...I believe...to have been designed by an artist whose only purpose for it was to be...well, as dangerous as possible," she muttered, bobbing her head in annoyance as she pursed her lips. She did not bother to meet his eyes. "I believe that it was meant to be the setting for some silly dramatic story, or comic, or movie that they were planning. Essentially...it does what it's meant to do, and does it very well...until accidents happen. And they happen...a lot." She shook her head as she spoke, clearly disapproving. When she lifted her gaze and rested it on her employee's face, her eyes darted about a moment, as if inspecting his fur. "There are no safety precautions on this thing and it is extremely hazardous to work with. The last time we tried to use it, one of the workers got pulled into the machinery and well, let's just say the room ended up looking like someone had just died from Balloonemia in there. The machinery was jammed up and it took two weeks to fully clean it." She sneered at the memory, heavily resenting it for the time and money it cost her. She looked away from him and approached her desk, where she neatened a pile of papers. "What I'm saying is, it needs safety measures implemented, desperately. Right now it's practically all but useless, but if we could make it safe, it could produce parts at a far faster and more efficient rate than any other machine in the factories."

"I…see," he replied. "In that case, good on you for telling that buyer off." He paused. "Do you know who could fix it?"

"Not yet…" she hissed. "I'm still wondering how we're going to find the funds for it now that Rudy's messed it all up." She stood up, moving past the other Zoner and out of the room.

"Rudy…does help ChalkZone," the squirrel stated as he followed Serilda through the hallway.

"Well, he should stick to saving it and not to messing with my clients," she growled.

"But I was thinking," he continued, looking at her warily. "Maybe Rudy could fix your machine."

Serilda slammed her fist against the wall, whirling around to her comrade with anger. "Are you insane?" she growled, her volume rising. "Do you know what would happen if that nasty little brat caught wind of what goes on in those factories? Do you know what he'd do? At best, he'd get the whole thing investigated. At worst, he'd put a stop to it entirely and land both you and I in prison."

"He's just a kid," the squirrel said with a shrug. "He doesn't need to see anything, and if he does, I'm sure we can-"

"I don't think you fully understand what he and his friends are like," she continued. "These are not ordinary kids. They're not helpless or stupid. And Rudy…he has power over something we don't, that magic chalk of his. I know what's happened to Zoners who've underestimated them. Let's just be glad he's never come around here."

"Actually," he continued, "that's part of what I wanted to tell you." Serilda looked to him expectantly, widening her eyes to hurry him when he didn't speak immediately. "Rudy and his friends are at Canyon Park… Ironveer spotted them, and…told me that they wanted to look at the factories."

"What?" she cried, her eyes widening. "Who told them-"

"I don't think they know anything…" he said quickly, backing away a bit. "They just seemed to want to have a look, and they were stopped by the worker patrolling the fence, so…"

"Listen, this won't be like keeping the park rangers out," Serilda snarled. "The brat goes wherever he pleases and I won't let him or either of his little friends set a foot inside the factory grounds!"

"Well, we can have someone else patrol as well…"

"Not good enough," she retorted, drawing back her lips to reveal long fangs. "They'll find a way around it if they really want to." She moved closer. "Listen, I want you to find those three kids, find out whatever it is that they're looking for and give them a false trail…lead them away from my property. I want them out of here!"

"All right, all right!" Franky muttered quickly. "I'll go over there and see what they want."

"You'd better," the bear growled. "And make sure your story is convincing."

ooo

Rudy had assigned himself to the task of visiting the dinosaur stables and creating a stronger protection system to defend against intruders, or to simply direct those who strayed in another direction. As well as that, he increased its concealment through a series of more rock clusters about the place, close to the entrance. He had finished by the time Penny and Snap found him back through the tunnel and near the park's entrance, and he was about to discuss with them the fact that no Zoners around had been a help to their case; they either saw nothing, knew nothing about it or knew only as much as what he had already been told. He was beginning to realize the whole thing seemed hopeless and it might be better to simply fly over to the factories and investigate on his own.

"Unacceptable. That was unacceptable!" Penny mumbled, repeating it louder the second time. Rudy furrowed his brow.

"Penny? Snap? …What's wrong?" he asked, assessing the concern, anger and fear intermingled between their faces. He was surprised it took him until then to notice that Snap's crutch was missing, which he quickly tended to with a few waves of his magic chalk.

"Some bozo told us to get lost, and when we didn't, he chucked us back over the park fence!" Snap leaned on his crutch as he rubbed a sore spot from the landing.

Penny sighed. "We followed a trail to the edge of the park, and after we went through the gate, there was another fence about fifty yards away…and some robot Zoner treated us poorly."

"What?" Rudy cried. "Why would the park allow-"

"He wasn't from the park," Penny informed him somewhat snidely, although her attitude was directed to the unprofessionalism of the Zoner she spoke of. "He was working for whoever owns those factories."

Rudy's brow knotted with concern and interest. He was only growing more and more suspicious of these factory lots, especially since nobody seemed to have much information on them. His mind stirred with questions he craved answers for, but had to live with the knowledge that his curiosity would not be satiated until the matter had been properly investigated; he briefly considered notifying the police of this, although he did not have enough evidence to claim suspicious activity…yet. Suddenly he felt anger sweep through him at the appalling treatment of his friends. "I won't let whoever did this get away with it," he proclaimed, chopping a flat hand diagonally through the air in a gesture of defiance. He began to storm off without proper directions.

"Wait a minute, Rudy," Penny began, darting forward and grabbing his arm. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea. We should probably approach this differently…instead of head-on."

"Why?" he questioned, unable to see her reasoning.

"This robot Zoner was not an ordinary citizen, Rudy. He was…very strong and seemed to think he had a lot of authority. He might be expecting retaliation."

"…Maybe you're right," Rudy sighed. "But if they're that worried about making sure nobody passes, there's probably something going on there that isn't meant to be going on. Maybe if we could-"

"Rudy?" a friendly sounding voice called, and Rudy, not expecting a visitor, turned around to see a Zoner he didn't recognize: a furry red squirrel that stood on his hind legs and was nearly twice Rudy's height. A fancy purple vest hugged his torso, striped vertically with wire-thin strips of gold and onyx buttons down the center. "It's an honor to meet you. I'm a fan of yours indeed!"

Rudy smiled, somewhat used to similar attention. "I'm glad to hear that," he said heartily—or as heartily as he could manage, given the situation.

"Anyway, I'm sure you don't mind skipping the pleasantries." Rudy shook his head. "My name is Franky and I think I know why you're here."

"Really?" Rudy wondered, highly doubting that the Zoner would know. Penny and Snap had similar thoughts.

"Yes, and I think I can help you."

"Do you know where we could find out what happened with the creature that attacked a Zoner here?" Penny stepped in, and the look on the squirrel's face brightened.

"Yes, yes, as a matter of fact, I can," he replied, his voice filled with confidence. "In fact, based on the description of this…creature…I believe I know where it lives." His tone conveyed the opportunity for enticement as he smiled, gesturing with a single hand to Rudy and then Penny. "I'm sure you two could find it and put a stop to it."

"Wait, wouldn't it be dangerous to try to confront it in its own home?" Penny questioned, a little wary.

"Not if we lay a trap for it," Rudy considered. He brightened up a little, addressing both Penny and Snap. "This could be the lead we were looking for. It's going to help the Zoners here prepare in case this happens again, and don't worry. We'll be careful."

"Are you sure about this, Bucko?" Snap asked, jabbing a finger over his shoulder at the squirrel, who was standing a few feet behind. He did not seem as convinced as Rudy. "I mean, we don't even know who this guy is."

"Well, he's the only lead we have. If he thinks he knows where this creature is, we have to take the chance that he's right." His friends stood, Snap leaning on his crutch; they clearly did not like the situation. He sighed. "I know it seems a little unlikely that this could lead to anything, but we might be able to determine whether or not the three attacks were all connected or not." He gave a shrug. "We don't have anything to lose in capturing a wrongdoer anyway, even if it's not the same one who attacked King Mumbo Jumbo and the Magic Chalk Mine." He stood there a moment longer before they relented.

"Well, all right," Penny sighed. "I suppose it sounds reasonable."

"It is," Rudy confirmed, and looked back to the red stranger. "So…can you show us where it is?"

The squirrel grinned. "Certainly."