Ms. Saffron stopped in her tracks when she heard a familiar sound. Those machines...she shuddered at the sound of them. Her mind briefly forgetting about Rudy and Skrawl, she had to pause and think for a moment.

The machines had always made her feel uneasy. She never even seen them, yet they still filled her with dread. The whole time she worked here, down in this area of the building, she'd hear them come on every once in a while. She didn't know what it was. And that was frightening to her. Working here and not knowing what that sound was.

She had once tried to talk to Mr. Cosmo about it. But he refused to tell her. The only bit of information he'd give her was that it was something important he was working on. He told her not to worry about it and that it wasn't any of her concern. She had tried again to make him elaborate but with no luck.

She had been behind Draow and Cosmo, so they didn't notice when she stopped running. It wasn't like she was really needed. All she had to do was chase Rudy and Skrawl, and they ran right where Mr. Cosmo wanted them to. With a chalkboard inside, they would most certainly head back to ChalkZone. She wasn't entirely sure why Mr. Cosmo wanted them to do that. It didn't really make a lot of sense.

She knew there was a reason for it. As she saw the man walk out of the room with a smile on his face, it was clear things were going the way he wanted them to. It seemed counterintuitive to let the boy and the chalk monster to escape. Why hadn't he just forced Rudy to stay and tell him what he wanted to know? That wasn't something she would have liked to happen, but it made more sense to her than just letting him escape. If special chalk was needed to access ChalkZone...

There were pieces of the puzzle she was missing. She started to wonder, briefly, if Cosmo was purposely hiding details from her. Were there some things he didn't want her to know? Was there more to his plan than just simply exploring ChalkZone and making sure it was safe?

That is what she had been told this whole time. That he simply wanted to go to ChalkZone to help her observe it, see if it was truly dangerous or not. His methods were unorthodox, she admitted, but she had been told, in the long run, it was for a benevolent purpose. Understanding ChalkZone was top priority before she could give out any news of its existence. Understanding was key to making sure, should the two worlds collide, it would be easy to subdue ChalkZone in case of a deadly riot.

But some doubt emerged in her mind when she recalled the conversation Rudy had with Mr. Cosmo. The way Cosmo talked to the boy, it sounded a lot more threatening than it had to be. And the things he was implying didn't sound like mere observation and study like she had been told. Even Draow's behavior seemed off, though Mr. Cosmo stated that he had given Draow a guard dog-like personality to dismiss any feelings of doubt from her.

Nonetheless, Ms. Saffron still trusted Mr. Cosmo. Everything was happening the way he said it would. And any statement he made about ChalkZone had also been right. He had quite the intelligent mind and she appreciated that. She did feel safe preparing this exploration to the world of chalk with him.

She just hoped that the ends truly justify the means. She felt bad for helping trap Rudy. She had pleaded with Mr. Cosmo for another way. He insisted it had to be done that way in order for Rudy to, inadvertantly, open up the next step in the plan. He claimed he didn't like it himself, but the way he spoke to Rudy told a different story. She pushed that in the back of her mind. She would ask him about it later.

Mr. Cosmo walked down the hallway, Draow by his side. He still looked happy, satisfied. He stopped beside the woman and looked at her.

"He entered ChalkZone, didn't he?" Ms. Saffron asked, despite knowing what the answer would be.

"Yes, so he did." Mr. Cosmo confirmed with a nod of his head. "Just like I hoped he would. He is smart, heading for this room first. But...it's also his biggest blunder."

Ms. Saffron shook her head. "I still don't know why you wanted him to go back to ChalkZone."

"That is simple." Cosmo stroked the head of his wolf bat creatre. "It was to open up a gateway for us to use."

Ms. Saffron raised an eyebrow. A gateway? He expected Rudy to open up a gateway for him? She knew the boy would have erased the portal. He was smart, clever. Maybe not to the same degree as Mr. Cosmo. Still, if the portal was erased, how did this man think he was getting into this chalky place?

"But he erased the portal didn't he? I don't think he'd make the same mistake again and leave it open." Ms. Saffron asked.

The man gave a peculiar smile. The one that caused her to shudder, yet at the same time filled her with awe. It was the smile that indicated a lot of things. Plans going the right way, knowing something she didn't, a mischevious 'I can make things happen the way I want to' kind of look.

"Remember when I told the boy that he'd have a chance against me if he knew half of what I did?" Cosmo said slowly. Before Saffron could reply, he took the liberty to answer for her. "Of course you do. Let me explain..."

Mr. Cosmo gestured the woman to follow him. They headed back into the room, the one where Rudy and Skrawl had escaped into. The chalkboard looked the same as it did before, except a lot of the formulas and equations had been erased. Chalk dust covered the metal grooved platform and the ground, probably from the boy so hastily erasing.

Mr. Cosmo walked up to the chalkboard. He pressed his finger against the grooved platform and moved it along. He lifted up his finger and looked at the white dust that collected there. He gave a smile as he turned to Ms. Saffron and showed her.

"See this? Chalk dust." He said.

With a perplexed look, Ms. Saffron said, "Um..yes I can see that. What does that have to do with anything? It's chalk dust. Chalk leaves that behind. It's pretty much a given."

"But it's not any ordinary chalk dust." Mr. Cosmo grinned. He pressed his thumb against his finger and rubbed it back and forth. Particles of chalk fell towards the ground, barely noticeable in the dim light. "It's magic chalk."

Ms. Saffron almost scoffed at that. "Magic chalk? How can that white stick be magical? It's like any other..."

She stopped when Mr. Cosmo pressed his finger against the chalkboard and pulled his finger downwards. Very faintly, she saw a golden glow come from it. Mr. Cosmo pulled away and took a step to the side. He smiled at her shocked expression. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. A glow on the chalkboard? Was it real? Yes, it had to be real. She was wide awake.

She walked up to the chalkboard and placed her hand on it. The glow didn't seem to hurt. In fact, her fingers seemed to sink in a little. She pulled her hand away and looked over at Mr. Cosmo. Was this how he managed to get Draow in the real world? He never outright told her before. She knew there had to be some way, but she didn't imagine it would be something like this.

Mr. Cosmo wiped his palm across the faint glow, stopping it almost immediately. "That, Ms. Saffron, is magic chalk. It is the gateway key between our world...and theirs." He put his hand on Draow's head and gave it a few pats. "And because of this portal, anything from our world can get into ChalkZone, and the reverse is true." He shifted his gaze to Draow. "Including your own creations."

So that was how. Ms. Saffron didn't understand the mechanism of this whole thing. She doubted she ever would. Magic chalk still seemed quite farfetched to her, even when shown its powers right in front of her. It was clear there was something...otherworldly about this particular type of chalk.

Ms. Saffron tried to think of a rational explanation for it. But what was the use? She had a chalk creature standing before her. She had seen another in Skrawl. When chalk drawings came to life, seemingly with their own anatomy and every thing, even capable of speech, what was the point in rationality anymore? None of this was making sense. It was making her head hurt from thinking too hard about it.

She cleared her mind to focus on her next question. "With the portal gone, how do you propose you..."

"Already taken care of. See, you'd be amazed by how much I learned about ChalkZone. That boy must have been visiting that place for years, and still he doesn't know one quite amazing fact."

"And that would be?"

Mr. Cosmo smirked at her. "It is possible to create your own type of chalk, with its own abilities..."

Ms. Saffron took a step back. "You managed to...how?"

"It is pretty easy, but I won't elaborate on that. Let's just say I...had a little help." Mr. Cosmo replied. "The chalk that the boy had taken, it's the same kind he used while in the classroom. Tell me, did you ever wonder how Draow was able to use that portal to carry in...what was his name...Snap?"

Ms. Saffron was silent. She hadn't thought about that. During that time, her job had been to go to Tabootie's place and spray his chalkboard with a substance that made creating portals impossible. This would force Skrawl to stay put in the real world and they would then capture him during the night, which had been a complete success. What wasn't on her mind was how Draow got Snap in the real world.

"Explain..." Ms. Saffron managed to say.

"This magic chalk has an additional ability to it. It's permanent...well kind of. Water can still erase it permanently. But it wasn't like Tabootie was going to figure that out." A dark chuckle. "This magic chalk actually 'comes back' per say. The portals drawn with it, after erased, will come back, but only at about 10% opacity. This makes them practically invisible to everyone unless they took a very good look. Why at such low opacity? It gives us a sort of 'stealth entrance'. This will come in handy as we begin exploring more of this world..."

"But if you already know quite a bit...and I don't know how you do..." Ms. Saffron started. "Why do we still need to explore?"

"There's still things about the world of chalk that I am not aware of, Ms. Saffron. So exploration is still imperative. I know you still want to do that, so you can get an understanding of this place." Ms. Cosmo said.

Suddenly, something clicked in the back of Ms. Saffron's mind. "The connection between the boy and that jellybean creature...I know that was your doing but..did it have anything to do with that chalk?"

"Quite clever." Mr. Cosmo said with an amused tone. "That is correct. An old trick I knew would be useful at some point." He looked at the chalk dust on the board. "Yes, this chalk of mine is truly something. The only weakness it has is that it uses up faster. I guess it can't handle all that ability. Oh well, it serves its purpose just fine."

"Can the connection be undone...?" Ms. Saffron asked cautiously.

"It is...quite hard." Mr. Cosmo admitted. "That is why this chalk should be used with caution."

"Then why..."

Mr. Cosmo gave her a stern look. "When it comes to a world of chalk, you must think intelligently, differently. The way that world works is much different than ours. And so the rules of the world changes, so do the way plans are made."

Ms. Saffron thought about that. It did make sense. ChalkZone was a completely different place, much different than what she was used to. It would be understandable that things had to be handled differently. It brought about a sort of comfort to her, knowing that Mr. Cosmo had reasons for his actions. And they seemed to be intelligent ones at that. Nothing about it seemed truly malicious at the core, although she couldn't say she was entirely comfortable with them.

Then she thought about that plan. He never told her about it. Mr. Cosmo mentioned something about 'finishing what he started'. What had he meant by that? What was this true potential he talked about? Why did he think making friends in ChalkZone was meaningless?

Or maybe he didn't think that way. She could just be misinterpating him again. He seemed to be making it clear he does want to help her learn about this place. He had taken precautions to avoid as much fighting as possible. This thing that he started, it was probably just another exploration trip. He might have thought that getting too 'buddy buddy' with the locals would impede progress. And he may have deemed it meaningless to create friends and rescue people when studying and understanding ChalkZone could bring about a lot more results.

Yeah, that had to be it.

She wanted to ask for confirmation. She wanted to hear it from him. She held back, however. She didn't want to annoy Mr. Cosmo with too many questions. She didn't want to make it seem like she had little faith in him, which wasn't true. So, for now, she just nodded.

"Okay, sir." She said. "I understand."

Mr. Cosmo gave a small smile. "That is good to hear. Now..." He went over to a corner of the room. "Draow was able to bring this to me before the meeting with Rudy started. I am pretty sure it is still good." He pulled out a plate with what looked like a sandwich on it, and a glass of what could be juice but it looked...different. "Take this to our...guest."

Ms. Saffron grabbed the plate and glass. "What is this?"

"Chalk food. Take it to Snap." Mr. Cosmo said. "I don't want him dying on us."

"Can't he just eat and drink something here?" Ms. Saffron asked.

"That would kill him, Ms. Saffron." Mr. Cosmo said. "Maybe eat...but I am not taking the chance. And anything liquid here will dissolve him. Now take it to him. He is still of use to me."

Without another word, Ms. Saffron took the food and drink and headed down the halls.

sss

Ms. Saffron hated coming down here. The sounds of the machines were much louder. She couldn't tell exactly where they were, and even if she wanted to go there, she couldn't. Some passageways were sealed off with a code. Unless she knew what the code was, she couldn't enter. Mr. Cosmo assured her the codes were for security purposes. He thought that it would be best if only one of them knew the code to get in. It didn't make much sense to her, but perhaps he'll tell her the code in time.

The hallway she was walking in was dark and dank. A strong dirty smell filled the air. She flared her nostrils at it and turned her head away for a second. What an awful smell. This place hadn't been completely cleaned up when Mr. Cosmo started using it. Still it wasn't as bad as when they first started. It was amazing how much they managed to clean up in such a short amount of time.

She forgot what this place used to be. Most employees don't even come down here anymore. She didn't know how many of them even knew of this place. Where Rudy had been trapped wasn't entirely unknown. It was a storage kind of room where spare equipment was located. But this room, where she was walking in now, was more secluded. It wasn't even on the map.

It may have been the original basement and storage before a room above it was renovated to take its place. Mr. Cosmo thought it would be a perfect place to do his studies or whatever he did. There were multiple rooms, each of them converted into...she wasn't sure what they were actually. She didn't get a chance to look inside any of them.

Well except for one, but she wasn't sure if this was how the vast majority of the rooms were, or if it was just one special case. And that room was the one where Snap was being held.

It didn't take her long to reach his room. The door was locked. Nothing fancy. Just a simple lock and key mechanism. There was no code required for this. She balanced the food and drink with one arm as she brought out the small key and unlocked it.

She took in a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm. She never truly interacted with a chalk being before. She kept her distance from Draow and Skrawl. This was the first time she'd be in a room, alone, with a chalk creature and she wasn't sure how she should act. What could she expect?

Ms. Saffron walked into the room. It was fairly small and plain. It wasn't too dark. The single light above did prove quite a bit of lumination. The floors and walls were very dry. Mr. Cosmo had spent some time making sure there was as little liquid in the room as possible, and if what he told her was right, she now understood why he had been so adamant about it. The room wasn't completely empty. There was a small bed. Not the best and it looked rather old, but it seemed to suit the occupant just fine.

Snap was laying on the bed with the dirty covers pulled over him. He was twitching in his sleep. He must be dreaming. Hmm, chalk creatures dream? She narrowed her eyes. They apparently also had nightmares. She could see a faint hint of a tear on the blue boy's face. She wondered if he was having a nightmare about Draow.

The wolf bat beast hadn't exactly been gentle with him, evident from the moment he brought him into the real world. Snap was covered in dirt and looked a little banged up. A bit of red clung to Draow's wing claw, not only disproving Mr. Cosmo's previous idea about chalk creatures having no blood, but also showed Draow had used a little too much force. Upon examination, she and Mr. Cosmo found that Draow had struck Snap in the back, cutting pretty deeply and ending at the back of his head.

Even in chalky form, it was horrific to look at. It made her feel some level of sympathy for him. She still wasn't sure what to think of him, but pain was something she definitely understood. Luckily, they were able to stop the bleeding and they were able to wrap bandages around it so the wounds would be protected.

Mr. Cosmo hadn't been happy with Draow and scolded him while she placed Snap in the room. But she wasn't sure if it was because he cared about Snap's well being, or if it was because of something else. The way he said 'of use to him'...did he see Snap as just a tool? Then again, did she see him the same way?

Snap started to stir more desperately on the bed. He was crying bouts of 'No' and 'Rudy', as well as other things, some too mumbled together for her to understand. She let out a soft sigh. She placed the food and drink on the ground and walked over to the bed. She wasn't sure why she was doing this. She didn't know him. She didn't know if he could even be considered real. But something drew her to him.

She placed a hand on his shoulder and gently shook him. "Hey, calm down. It's just a dream."

Snap, slowly, stopped shaking. Ms. Saffron was about to back off when the blue boy started to sit up in the bed. "Oy caloi...what a nightmare..." He said, rubbing the side of his head. "That is the last time I eat spicey honey before I go to bed. Talk about your weird dreams. Some big wolf with wings..."

He stopped talking when he took notice he wasn't in his usual room. Ms. Saffron noted the look of shock on his face, that soon delved into panic. He quickly stood on his foot when he saw her and took a defensive stance.

"Whoa!" Ms. Saffron said, biting her lip. "I'm not here to hurt you!"

"Where am I?" Snap demanded. He hunched over as he prepared to jump off the bed. He stopped when he felt a burning pain in his back. He let out a cry and fell back. "What happened to me? What did you do to me?"

Ms. Saffron felt her heart starting to race. She took a step back from the clearly angry and pained chalk person. Perhaps it was a mistake to wake him up from his nightmare.

"Who are you?" Snap said next when he got no answer. His voice still hissed with pain. "And where is Rudy?"

"I am...Ms. Saffron." She answered hesitantly. "Calm down and I will answer your questions.

Snap stared at her suspiciously. "Okay then, explain..."