A small red ball was set on the ground. Green and flat, and seemed to glint in the light. Something cold and metal was placed next to it. This metal thing moved back and forth slowly, deliberately, before it was finally struck. It made a clang sound as it hit against the red ball.

The small sphere was sent flying through the air. It rolled across what appeared to be green hills, although grass was not present. The ground was still fuzzy, but it wasn't plants. It looked fake, synthetic. A little ruffled, yet not enough to slow down the ball. The object rolled easily over the structures as it headed towards what looked like a hole in the ground.

The ball kept rolling until it reached a metal rim. It rolled around in circles for a couple seconds. It was about to roll over into the hole, but then it stopped.

Suddenly, tiny mechanical legs sprang out from a hidden compartment underneath the ball. It stood up and, with the whirring of mechanical parts clanging together, walked away from the hole. It went roughly a foot away. Then the legs disappeared and it dropped back on the ground.

"What?!"

The cry came from Penny, who stood a distance away, holding a put in her hands. She looked absolutely shocked and frustrated by what had happened.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Penny." Snap said. He stood next to her, holding his own golf club plus a blue ball. "Why are you so worked up?"

Penny's eyes were still on the ball. "That ball just...walked away!" She exclaimed, pointing at the small object.

"Uh...yeah. So?" Snap asked.

"That's not how you play miniature golf!" She replied.

Snap shook his head. "Oh, Penny. Of course it's not how you play mini golf. We aren't playing mini golf, remember? We're playing..." Snap walked up to place his ball down. He twirled his golf club with ease, giving Penny a somewhat smug smile like he was showing off, which it was most certain that he was. "Chalk golf! It's way more fun than boring old miniature golf!"

As Snap placed his ball down and got ready to hit it, Penny put a hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes.

"At least 'boring miniature golf' makes sense! I don't know how I'm supposed to play this...chalk golf if the balls just walk away like that." Penny said. "They're supposed to stay put!"

"But that's where the fun lies, Penny." Rudy said. He was throwing his green ball up in the air and catching it repeatedly. He took a stand next to Penny and said, "In chalk golf, the object is to force the balls into the hole, not knock them into the hole. They will do whatever they can to get away from the hole. They are allowed to walk a foot away in any direction. That's where the fun comes in. The challenge. Don't you think that is more entertaining?"

"Hmm well I suppose..." Penny muttered. "But it still doesn't make a lot of logical sense."

"We're in ChalkZone, Penny. Different rules." Rudy reminded her.

Rudy was enjoying spending the day with Penny and Snap. His parents would be gone all day and Penny's mom allowed Penny stay over at Rudy's for a while. Since they had a lot of time, he decided to go into ChalkZone and play a round of chalk golf with Snap and Penny. He had played the game once before with Snap and he found it to be quite fun and challenging. He wanted Penny to have fun with it too, so he had asked if she wanted to play.

Penny wasn't too big into golf, but she did like miniature golfing from time to time. So she agreed. Rudy realized, too late, he should have warned her chalk golf was...different than mini golf. The thought hadn't crossed his mind, and he felt bad for not saying anything earlier. He understood her confusion of the ball walking away. He was perplexed too until Snap explained the rules of chalk golf.

He had thought about playing something Penny was more familiar with, such as chinese chalkers, but he wanted to do something new and different today. It would become boring if they played the same games over and over again. And he knew Penny would have wanted to try something new, so he thought this game would be perfect.

After Snap hit his ball, it was Rudy's turn. He went up to the clearly defined white mark on the ground where the ball is supposed to go. He put his green ball down and prepared to hit it. As he was preparing, he couldn't help but take notice of the golf club he was using.

It was shaped a little different from Penny and Snap's golf clubs. It was a tad heavier and thicker. It was designed to accomodate for his left hand. And one only needed to take one look at his palm to know that something was wrong with it. Although Snap's scars have all but disappeared, for some reason, the scar on Rudy's left hand never completely vanished. To this day, he could still see the reminders of when Mr. Cosmo stabbed him in the hand.

But the scar was not the only reminder. There was no pain, which relieved Rudy, but there was some permanent damage. The knife had done harm to some nerves and tendons there. He didn't notice it at first because of the adrenaline pumping through his body. There was so much going on, he hadn't realized that he could be doing more harm to his hand.

He had lost some range of motion and some strength from his left hand. He could still use it adequently, but he could no longer grasp things as tightly as he used to, nor could he close his hand as firmly. Due to this, if he were to try to use a regular golf club, his left hand would constantly be slipping and he wouldn't be able to muster up enough strength to knock the ball very far.

Rudy remembered how stupid he felt when the doctors told him that if he had allowed his hand to heal and not moved it around so much, the damage would have been less severe. Rudy recalled that he still used his left hand quite a bit in the fight, and he wished he had remembered to take extra care. Snap and Penny didn't fault him for it, though, as the situation handed to him at the time would have made it difficult to not use both hands.

The doctors had been hopeful that he would regain the lost motion and strength within several months. But now, being 18 months since they fought Mr. Cosmo, there was no sign of change in his hand. The doctors declared that it was, most likely, permanent and that he'd have to adjust to it.

For most tasks, Rudy didn't really notice. It was only when he tried to do certain things, such as hold a golf club in the correct manner, or manipulate something small such as a pencil or a piece of chalk. He was thankful for being right handed in this regard. If it had happened to his right hand, he wasn't sure how well he could protect ChalkZone if the task of drawing became too hard for him.

Rudy sometimes still has nightmares about Mr. Cosmo. Sometimes he dreams that he survived, somehow, and was coming back to get him and his friends. Penny and Snap admitted they had similar dreams as well. The man had left such a big imprint on all of them, and as much as they wanted to forget the ordeal, they knew it was impossible.

Rudy put those thoughts away. He didn't want to dwell on the topic of Mr. Cosmo right now. He was supposed to be having fun.

He quickly realized that he had been taking a little too long to swing his club. Penny and Snap were staring at him, eyes narrowed in annoyance. He smiled sheepishly and apologized quickly. He positioned his golf club and swung it.

The trio watched the green ball roll across the flat ground. Rudy's ball almost perfectly blended in, the only thing making it stand out was the fact that it reflected more light and thus was a little more noticeable. It went past Snap's blue ball, which rested two feet away from the hole. It did a circle around much like Penny's did, but unlike hers, his went right in.

"Great shot, Rudy!" Penny exclaimed, giving Rudy a few claps.

"Yeah!" Snap cheered. "Way to go, Bucko!"

"Thanks!" Rudy said, smiling. It was at times like these that Rudy forgot about how weak his left hand was.

Now it was Penny's turn again. She walked over to her red ball. She stood next to it and readied her golf club.

"Now you remember the rules, don't ya, Buckette?" Snap asked, a smile on his face. "Or are we going to enjoy another round of a loud 'what' in our ears?"

Penny glared at him for a second. Her expression quickly softenend and she let out a light chuckle. "No, Snap. I think I got it now."

She stared intently at the ball and looked at where the hole was. She moved her golf club back slowly. Her arms tensed up. Rudy and Snap watched as she did this. She looked like she was having some difficulty deciding what angle to shoot from and with how much strength. Finally, she pulled the club back and swung hard...

"What?! Are you kidding me?!"

The sudden shout caused Penny to overshoot her putt, causing her to stumble forward. She wound up kicking her ball clean out of the golf course and onto the grass. Rudy rushed forward and grabbed her arm to steady her.

"What was that?" Penny asked.

Snap had already found the source. "Over there!"

The trio saw a group of zoners gathered near a small chalky lake, located downhill from the golf course. There looked to be about five zoners, all of the stick figure variety. Most of them were a little shorter than Rudy and Penny, but one was pretty tall, about as high as an average human. And it was clear he was the one who was speaking. He stood in front of the group and made wild gestures with his hands.

Rudy, Penny, and Snap got closer to see what the commotion was. The tallest zoner was excited about something, but from the looks in his eyes, it wasn't anything too good. He looked startled, like something had really disturbed him. The other zoners either looked surprised or skeptical.

"No way, man! They, like, have tight security over there." One of the zoners said. "There's, like, no way something like that could have happened, man."

"I second." Another zoner agreed. "I think it is preposterous to suggest that one of the most refined...rehabilitation facilities...could fall prey to something like this."

The tall zoner shook his head rapidly. "No, you don't understand! This guy, he was fast!"

"He does have a point there." A third zoner commented.

The fourth one nodded his head in agreement. "I don't find it that farfetched that someone could have been skilled enough to pull a job like this off."

"Thank you!" The tall zoner said before turning to address everyone. "We need to be on the lookout! They don't know where he could be! He might be anywhere in ChalkZone by now! We need to..."

"Excuse me?"

Rudy hated to interrupt, but curiosity was getting the better of him. And from how this zoner was talking, whatever had happened was a huge deal. If there was anyway at all he could help, he wanted to do so. He was the protector of ChalkZone after all. Whenever possible, he would take up responsibility and offer aide wherever he could. And this sounded like a time where his help would definitely be needed.

The tall zoner turned his gaze towards Rudy. "Great Creator! Thank goodness! Maybe you could do something!"

"What happened?" Penny asked.

"It was horrible! Absolutely horrible!" The tall zoner cried, raising his hands in the air. "The jail..it had been attacked! And whoever it was helped a dangerous criminal escape!"

The trio gasped in surprise.

"Who managed to escape that place?" Snap asked. "And why would anyone help them get out?"

"I don't know, Snap." Rudy said. If he had to guess, whoever broke out this dangerous criminal must have wanted this criminal for something. But what, he didn't know. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. He turned his attention back to the tall zoner. "Do you know anything else? Anything at all?"

"Yeah! I know who the prisoner was who escaped!" The tall zoner cried.

"You do?" Penny asked.

The tall zoner nodded. "I couldn't believe it when I heard the news. I thought it was impossible. But no! It's true! It's all true!"

Rudy only noticed now, but the tall zoner's frantic cries had drove away the other zoners. Even the ones who agreed with him. He guessed that they were tired of hearing him rant on about the same bit of news. But the zoner didn't really seem to care that they left, since he found someone else he could spew the information to, which was Rudy and his two friends.

"Well? Don't keep us in the dark. Tell us who escaped!" Snap asked.

"It was..." The tall zoner gulped, his eyes widening. "It was..."

"Yes?" Rudy asked, waiting somewhat impatiently for the zoner to spill the beans.

The tall zoner paused, gulping loudly. He looked at the trio in their eyes, his own filled with absolute terror. He finally answered. His voice was but a whisper. But it was enough for the three to hear. And what they did hear, made their blood freeze into ice.

"Draow..."

Rudy's eyes widened in horror at the sound of that name. No..it wasn't possible. It couldn't be. Draow was locked up in a tight facility, secured with the best cell and chains. There was..no way he could be out. Of all the prisoners there, surely he wasn't the one who escaped. No...no it couldn't be..

Rudy backed slowly away, his face going pale. His friends looked just as horrified by the news. They didn't move, just stared at the zoner in absolute shock. Rudy looked in the direction of the prison that Draow had been sent to. If that had been the one that was attacked, and if Draow was really free...

He tried to shake off his shock and turned to his friends. "Come on. We need to check this out."