Penny tried to digest everything that they had been told. Her fears regarding Cosmo intensified when she had seen what he did to ChalkZone years ago. And it was unsettling that he was regaining his memories of the location. Just how much more dangerous could he get the more he was able to recall? Would he use the black chalk once again? Would he use it to corrupt Rudy?
Yes, that might have been what he was trying to do this whole time. She had no idea how much he recalled when he connected Rudy to Skrawl. But if the cure was black chalk, it wouldn't be farfetched that he did that on purpose so Rudy would have to use the dreaded chalk to disconnect. And using the chalk easily corrupted artists. If even the sweetest kids could be corrupted, what chance did Rudy stand?
The thought made her shudder. The idea that she could lose her best friend, mentally, to something like that, and knowing that, according to Biclops, there was no way to reverse it, it frightened her. She didn't want to risk losing Rudy to this.
There had to be some other way to free Rudy from the connection that Cosmo had placed on him. She didn't want to believe that only the black chalk was the cure. Maybe if she asked around, someone else could provide an alternative way. She knew she wouldn't be the only one who would love for there to be another way. She glanced over at Rudy as they walked along the grassy field.
Rudy looked pretty down after the chat with Biclops. He hadn't spoken a word since speaking with the giant. She remembered the look of horror he had on his face when he learned about the so-called 'cure'. He looked more terrified than her. It was he who needed a cure, not her.
She silently wished that it was she who was afflicted with this connection, not Rudy. The teenager had done so much for ChalkZone. He had known it for longer than she had. After all his heroics and doing what he could for the people here, she found it totally unfair that he had to suffer something like this.
Yet, that wasn't the only thing on the boy's mind. Biclops was unable to provide a definite course of action for Snap, other than to find him quickly and rescue him. They weren't expecting him to be able to come into the real world, so that didn't bother them. But the fact that he wasn't able to tell them anything that would make rescuing Snap easier was a downer. Then again, it was to be expected. The giant had not encountered Cosmo in years and had no idea what he was like now. Perhaps it had been wishful thinking that Biclops had some kind of master plan they could use to save Snap.
Rudy wanted to go on a walk to clear his thoughts and think of the next course of action. She was happy that he hadn't given up. That wouldn't be like him if he did. He and Snap were like brothers. If Rudy did something so crazy as to give up, she would snap him out of it. After all, Snap was like a brother to her as well. Sure she teased him from to time, but she still cared a lot for him.
It did feel strange walking through ChalkZone without Snap. Every second they took a step, she couldn't help but imagine hearing Snap calling out to them and trying to get them to go on another crazy adventure. And each time she thought she genuinely heard him, she had to resist turning her head, because everytime she did, she would find there was no one there. Disappointment would grip her heart, and she'd have to struggle not to let a tear pass through her eyes.
Penny was about to say something to break the silence when she heard someone calling out their names. She and Rudy stopped and turned to see who it was. They could see Rapsheeba running towards them. She was waving her hand at them to get their attention. She had a terrified look on her face. Something was wrong.
"Rudy! Penny!" Rapsheeba called out.
"Rapsheeba? What's wrong?" Rudy answered as he and Penny took a few steps towards the singer.
"It's...it's..."
Rapsheeba couldn't complete her sentence. She had to stop a few feet in front of the teenagers. She put her hands on her knees and panted a few times. Judging from this and the fact her face was reddened, she must have been running for quite sometime to find them.
This left Penny wondering what could have happened. She knew Rudy thought the same thing. Something had to have spooked or horrified Rapsheeba enough for her to go out of her way to find them. Had she been running the whole time? How long had she been looking for them?
When Rapsheeba caught her breath, she looked at the teenagers and spoke with a tone of dread in it. "Zoners are going missing!"
"What?!" Rudy and Penny cried in unison.
"Blocky, Lars, and Bathub Granny all disappeared without a trace!" Rapsheeba cried in terror. "They vanished into thin air!"
"Vanished in thin air...?" Penny breathed, not believing what she was hearing.
"Yeah! And I heard some other zoners, such as Barney the fuschia velociraptor and Lenny the cheetah and plane crossover, have also disappeared in that same spot!"
"Wait..." Rudy said. "Same spot? Are you saying they all disappeared in the exact same location?"
Rapsheeba nodded her head. "Yeah." She pointed her finger in the direction. "Down that way. I can take you to it. But be careful!" Rapsheeba said, motioning with her hands. "I don't want you to disappear as well!"
"Before you do," Rudy said. "We'll head down to warn the other zoners. I still need to tell them about Cosmo."
Rapsheeba looked at him. "Cosmo? Is he the one behind this?"
Rudy nodded his head. "I am certain it is. He's the one who captured Snap." Rapsheeba's eyes widened. Rudy narrowed his eyes. "And from the sound of it, he isn't stopping there."
Penny looked at Rudy. He had a look of determination on his face. It was clear he was not going to let anymore zoners fall prey to whatever plan Cosmo had in mind. He wasn't able to save Snap or the others. But he still had time to warn the other zoners before it was too late. If they were on high alert, it would be harder for Cosmo to capture them.
The situation got worse from before. It was bad enough when it was Snap who was in danger. The idea that Cosmo went and captured more zoners was nerve rattling to her, and she was certain Rudy thought this as well. What did Mr. Cosmo want with more zoners? What was his big plan? She shuddered to think that he was just going to kill them all off just to show how powerful he had gotten. Or maybe he was going to torture them. She didn't know which scenario was worse.
"I agree." Penny said. "The sooner we tell the others, the more time they will have to prepare in case Cosmo shows up here again."
"But that's just it..." Raspheeba said. "No human has been entering ChalkZone. No one except you two." She pointed at the two teenagers. "And no one here thinks either of you did it. We just know that zoners disappear in the same place. And they never reappeared."
"He never set foot in ChalkZone?" Penny asked, surprised. She found it hard to believe that the zoners disappeared in thin air. She thought Rapsheeba was exaggerating. But if Cosmo hadn't been in ChalkZone, just how were they disappearing?
"Yeah!" Rapsheeba said. "I didn't believe it myself, but I was on a stroll here earlier and I saw Blocky just..vanish. It wasn't all at once. I could see his body slowly fading, as if he were walking through an invisible opening."
Rudy's eyes widened. "Invisible opening?"
Rapsheeba nodded grimly. "I haven't seen him since. I am sure that is how the others vanished as well."
Penny had a dreadful thought. It was almost unspeakable. She didn't know how it was possible. The thought, it was inconceivable. But she wondered if it was, somehow, true. It would explain the disappearances. It would explain why they never came back. And it would all be connected to Mr. Cosmo.
It seemed Rudy had the same thought as her.
"Penny, do you think that..." He started to say. "..that the reason the zoners are disappearing is because of..."
"..because of an invisible portal...? Yeah..." Penny nodded her head slowly.
"An invisible portal? Are you joking?" Raspheeba said, a bit of a hopeful tone to her voice.
"I wish we were..." Rudy spoke softly. "If it's true..." He looked at the others with wide eyes. "We need to warn the other citizens of ChalkZone right away!"
With that, the trio rushed off.
sss
Ms. Saffron stood frozen in the hallway. She could hear the cries of not just one chalk entity, but multiple ones, wanting to get out. Some were frightened, others angered. She guessed there were at least twenty chalk people now trapped, along with Snap.
And it wasn't like she didn't see this coming. She had spoken to Mr. Cosmo earlier, who told her to 'prepare for company'. She didn't understand what he meant at first. But then she started to see Draow dragging off some kind of large sac. She followed him and saw that it was more chalk people, tossed into rooms like Snap had been.
She didn't understand the meaning of this. It was clear that this is what Mr. Cosmo wanted to see her about. He wanted to inform her that Snap will not be their only prisoner. But he never made it clear exactly what he wanted them for. At least with the blue one, she knew that it was to try to convince Rudy to his side. That at least made sense. But this, capturing all these zoners, just what was the purpose behind it? How would Cosmo benefit from this? What had he planned?
Those thoughts bothered her ever since she had found out. She was uncomfortable in the hallway now. She wasn't so much driven by her fear of the mysterious chalk entities. It was more that she didn't know what Cosmo wanted with them. At least, she didn't know, until she had done some snooping herself.
Prior to coming down here, she had found a way to see inside the locked off room. Mr. Cosmo had recently entered, probably to check on the machines that she so often heard rattle through the walls. She had snuck forward, being as quiet as she could, to get a closer look. Mr. Cosmo had left the door partially open. She didn't know if this was accidental or if it was part of a plan. Regardless, she still decided to have a peak. After all, Mr. Cosmo saw her as an ally and was less likely to get upset if it was her who had peaked in.
When she got a look inside, she was horrified. There was a zoner in there, what looked like a large white bear. Mr. Cosmo was dragging it over to the machine. She didn't dare watch the rest of it. She heard the sound of a scream. It was brief, but unsettling nonetheless. She didn't want to stick around. She rushed out of there as soon as she could.
What Mr. Cosmo did to the zoner, while it didn't kill it, she still regarded it as something worse than death. Is that what this man had planned for the other zoners? Was he going to do this to all of them? To Snap as well?
She paused for a moment. Did she really just show concern for Snap just now? She wanted to deny it. He was something drawn. He wasn't alive in the same sense she was...or was he? She felt the doubts returning to her mind. Could she really keep fooling herself into believing he wasn't alive? No one can die if they weren't alive first. No one could converse so dynamically if they weren't alive to understand emotion and to come up with responses that weren't rehearsed or programmed into them.
Or could he simply have been created that way? Rudy could have made Snap be able to communicate like a real person, without being 'real' himself. It was possible, she thought. Mr. Cosmo made it seem like practically anything was possible in a world of chalk where anything drawn comes to life. He seemed to indicate, and even shown in the case of Draow, that an artist can give any purpose, any abilities, any personality just by wishing for it when they create the chalk being.
Was Snap just another biproduct of this? Or was there something more to creating these beings that she thought? Was it possible that, regardless if a chalk entity had a purpose intended for them or not, they could develop their own personalities and still 'act alive'? Or rather, be alive?
Regardless of how she felt, she still felt bad for that white bear earlier. A part of her didn't want Snap to go through the same thing, should he be chosen for it. And the others... She didn't want to think about it.
Although she was not yet scheduled to bring any food to any of the zoners, she wanted to pay a visit to Snap. There was something about him that drew her to him. Something that was confusing, frightening, and yet fascinating. Despite being a chalk being, she found that she, in spite of her beliefs, enjoyed his company more than Mr. Cosmo's. She couldn't quite put her finger on why that was. Maybe it was his more pleasant personality compared to what she has seen Mr. Cosmo do.
She entered the room. She took notice on how Snap immediately got up out of his bed and went up to her, probably hoping for something to eat. Yeah, that had to be it. When he saw she had nothing, he frowned and walked away. It didn't look like anger. It looked more like he was just disappointed.
"Yeah, sorry. No food or drink this time." Ms. Saffron said. "But you can go on for a while longer without it, can't you? Not like you didn't eat for days."
"It might as well been that long." Snap said as he laid on his stomach on the bed. "That food wasn't very filling for me."
Ms. Saffron blinked at this. Just how much did this zoner eat? Did the boy drew him a 12 ft sub or something? She decided to ignore it and pushed it in the back of her mind. That wasn't really an important topic right now.
"I'll bring you more food later. I just..." She wasn't sure how to say it. "..I wanted to visit you."
Snap looked over at her, a perplexed look on his face. "Oh yeah? Why? Was there something you wanted to ask me?"
Although there was still a cautionary tone to his voice, Ms. Saffron noticed that, each time she visited Snap, he seemed to sound friendlier and friendlier towards her. She wasn't sure if it was because he was starting to trust her, if it was because he really didn't see her as so bad, or what. It was still nice, though. His aggressive tone he initially displayed towards her made her feel uneasy and further cemented in her head that zoners were dangerous beings.
But then he started to become nicer. He was still cautious of her, which was understandable. And the nicer he got, the more comfortable she was around him. Before, she wouldn't have dared enter the room without some food with her, as if she were trying to tame some wild beast. Now, she felt comfortable enough around him that she felt safe sitting down next to him without worry of him attacking her.
"Yes...I mean no...I mean..." Ms. Saffron stammered. "I just..don't know what to make of you, Snap. All this time, I thought people like you, made of chalk, weren't real. I mean, you were drawn weren't you? Sprung to life by an artist. How is that any different from an imaginary friend?"
Snap stared at her. She expected him to get angry at her and yell. But he was still calm. He gave a nod of understanding. "Yeah I know where you are coming from. You know, Rudy didn't always view me as 'real'."
This surprised Ms. Saffron. "He didn't?"
Snap nodded in response. "Yeah. He was..kinda like you actually. Well minus the whole 'afraid of chalk people' bit. He was never like that. But yeah, he thought that, because we were 'born' out of being drawn, rather than through...biological means...he thought we weren't really real." He gave a small smile as he continued, "That attitude of his did change pretty quickly, and he came to accept us as people, not as mere 'things'."
"So he mistreated you before?" Ms. Saffron asked.
"No, no, no! Nothing like that at all!" Snap waved his hands in front of him in protest. "He was always a nice kid. He and I were always pals ever since he first ceated me. But he was still so new to ChalkZone he just...wasn't sure how he should view us."
Ms. Saffron said, "I guess that's where I'm stuck at. A part of me wants to see you as real, but the other says I am only fooling myself."
Snap let out a chuckle at this. "Well sometimes you can't think too hard about stuff. Listen to your gut reaction. If you spend too much time trying to understand every little detail, you may miss out on the important things in life." He placed a hand on the woman's hand. "Feel that?"
Ms. Saffron nodded her head. The hand had a chalky feel to it. It also felt warm, something that stood out in stark contrast with the cool air that hung around the room.
"If I weren't here physically, you wouldn't be able to feel that, would you? In order for your hand to react to my touch, there has to be something for it to sense." Snap explained. "Now, you can sit there and question how this is possible, or you can accept reality as it is. That doesn't mean you are being gullible. But sometimes, in life, you have to accept things as they are instead of trying so hard to make sense of whatever you don't understand. You miss out on a lot of life if you do that too much."
The reporter thought about what the chalk...Snap told her. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Should she really let her brain keep asking all these questions? Was she showing weakness by accepting him as real despite the questions plaguing her mind? Could she really ignore how the conversation seemed too 'realistic' for him not to be real, all because her mind couldn't make sense of it all?
Snap wasn't done talking yet. The next thing he said, she wasn't expecting.
"Also, I wanted to apologize about earlier. When I questioned you about Mr. Cosmo. I hadn't meant to anger you. I know you said it was fine, but I still feel a bit bad about it. I hadn't realized I touched a sore spot with you. But please, hear me out." Snap said. He fumbled his two hands together as he thought of the words to say.
"Go on..." Ms. Saffron said softly, wanting to know more about what he wanted to say.
"It was sad hearing how things were for you, before you met this Mr. Cosmo person. However, even though I haven't known you for that long, I think you have more potential than you realize. I don't think you need Cosmo as much as you think. You are smart enough to pull off your work, your job, without his help. And if you start to believe in yourself, I'm sure your life will be much better." Snap rubbed the back of his head. "Okay that sounded a little...preachy I guess...but I hope you understand what I was trying to say."
Ms. Saffron just stared blankly at Snap. She wasn't sure what to think. A part of her wanted to be offended. She had been so grateful towards Mr. Cosmo for so long that the idea of her not needing him in the first place felt frightening to her. Yet, the blue boy's words sounded...encouraging, like she did have more potential than she gave herself credit for.
Then, out of impulse, she did something that neither she nor Snap could have predicted.
Taking care not to hurt him, she suddenly wrapped her arms around Snap and pulled him into a hug. Snap was stunned by this and didn't do anything to wriggle out of the embrace. She held onto him, gently squeezing him as she pressed her cheek against him. All the emotion she was feeling from earlier, the fear of the machines, what Cosmo wanted to do to the zoners, her confusion about Snap, it all manifested in the form of tears, which she tried so hard to hold back.
"I..uh..is something wrong?" Snap said nervously, obviously still in shock. "Did I say something?"
"I..I'm fine..." Ms. Saffron lied in a soft whisper. "I'm fine..." She continued to hug Snap. Though she was unsure of why she was doing it, she continued.