Hearing Draow's name mortified Rudy, and he knew his friends felt the same way. He found it hard to believe that, out of all the prisoners, it had to be Draow who got out. Draow, the most vicious of all Cosmo's drawings, and the most loyal to him. Rudy hoped that he misheard, or this was all just some kind of terrible nightmare...but something told him that, this time, it was for real.
Out of all of them, Snap had been the most frightened by the news of the escape. Rudy couldn't blame him. It was because of Draow that Snap suffered so much at the hands of Mr. Cosmo. Draow was the one who viciously attacked him, knocked him out, and dragged him through the portal to deliver him to Mr. Cosmo. And Draow had almost killed Snap by ripping open a hole in the wall and let water spray all over him. Had it not been for Mr. Wilter, Snap would have been washed away.
And even after that failed, Draow had been still determined. He tried to rip Snap from Rudy's hands and crush him in his jaws. He had gotten so close to doing that, with the only thing stopping him being Tsere. According to what Rapsheeba and Wilter told him, Draow had snatched Snap from the hospital and attempted to murder him by dropping him from a great height. It was only by luck that Tsere was able to catch him in time.
Rudy and Penny also had their share of Draow's ferocity. During their first meeting, Draow had menaced Rudy, and in the hallways when they tried to escape, Draow used his glass trick to get closer to them. Rudy's ears sometimes still ache as he remembered how horrible that noise had been. Rudy can still feel the beast's jaws on his arm from when Mr. Cosmo went to take him up to decide on Snap's fate. The sharp teeth puncturing his skin...that was not something he wanted to ever feel again.
And Penny...she had almost been killed by him, too. She had been taken down to Draow's room and nearly fed to him. Well not fed...zoners can't eat humans even if they tried. The fluids would dissolve them from the inside out. But they can still harm humans and Draow was doing all he could to do just that to Penny. He even managed to slice her shoulder open. If it hadn't been for Ms. Saffron, Penny would have surely died.
Rudy winced as he thought of Ms. Saffron. Although it has been over a year, he still feels a pang sometimes when he thinks of that woman. It still hurt knowing that, even though they managed to defeat Cosmo, it still came with a hefty price. Ms. Saffron didn't deserve to die...
Rudy was going to make sure that no one else would fall victim to Cosmo. He was going to make sure that Draow, the one zoner that is most like Cosmo in terms of personality and viciousness, would be unable to bring damage to innocents. He would do whatever he could to capture him and bring him back to jail where he belongs, where he won't be able to hurt anyone. And this time, he would ensure that Draow can never escape again.
They soon came upon the jail. It was sitting on top of a hill. Rudy noted that it looked a lot like the jail that Penny sent Butch to on her first trip to ChalkZone. The major difference was that it was larger and scarier looking, colored black with sharp, hooked spires at the top. The very shape of the jail sent chills down his spine. It looked almost like a fanged skull, glaring at him hatefully. If he didn't know this was just a jail, he'd think it was some painfully obvious hideout for vicious baddies.
When they got closer, they started noticing some damage done to it on the outside. It wasn't a whole lot. They assumed most of the damage was on the inside. On the outside, they could see what looked like a hole in the wall. It was hard to tell how that was put there. Something about it looked...weird. Something wasn't right about it. And when they arrived at that spot, they quickly saw why.
The hole looked too clean. It was a near perfect circle with no rough edges at all. Whoever cut open this hole, whatever they were using was very powerful and efficient. But it also had to have been quiet. If there had been any noise, the intruder would not have been able to get in. The jail's outside weapons would have shot him away quite easily. With Draow's help, he would be able to survive the weaponry, but when he was getting in, obviously he didn't have the bat wolf's help yet.
Rudy could hear a commotion going on inside the building. Arguing it sounded like. Some of the voices sounded worried, others angry, others indifferent or confident. A part of Rudy wanted to stay outside as he wasn't sure if he really wanted to see the damage done to the interior of the place. Yet he knew he couldn't do that. Not when Draow was involved. Cautiously, he and the others entered the jail.
The first thing they saw horrified them. Laying out on stretchers, prepared to be moved, were two zoners. They were clearly dead, their eyes wide with the eerie stare of the lifeless. One of the warden's necks was ripped apart, revealing a red mess. The other one was much more gruesome. Their arm had, for a lack of a better time, burst open. It must have swollen so much that it broke the skin. Blood and green ooze could be seen, and it made them all sick to their stomachs to witness, especially with the rotten bone and muscle exposed to their sights.
In addition to that, they could see clear damage to the interior. Broken bits off the walls. Claw marks in the concrete and brick. Blood stains from where the wardens were attacked. In the distance, in the direction they knew Draow had once been held, they could see smoke pillowing out. They guessed that the intruder must have damaged the controls that kept Draow chained to the wall. Either that, or something else was down there that they weren't aware of, which could be the case.
Rudy found a tuft of light brown fur on the ground. He went over and picked it up. He stared at it closely. His eyes quickly widened. The shade of brown perfectly matched Draow's. There was no one else he knew it could be. He showed the tuft of fur to his two friends, and they were just as shocked.
And if that wasn't evidence enough for them, Rudy could see deep cuts in the walls that were the perfect size for Draow's 'finger' claws. Judging from the position of the lines, Draow had opened up his wings and ran through the hallway, knocking down the wardens as they tried to stop him. Some of the claw marks on the ground could have been made from when he was running to get out the door.
Rudy was about to look a little more when he heard someone shout from behind him.
"How can you let this happen?!" A familiar voice called out. "Can't any of you morons do anything right?!"
"We're sorry! We tried, but Draow..." A surviving warden pleaded.
"Don't give me any of your excuses! I gave you some of the best weaponry money could buy, and even that wasn't enough for you!" The familiar voice snarled.
Rudy, Penny, and Snap looked over at the source of the voice. They didn't see who it was at first because the ambulance were walking in the way. They were getting the two dead wardens out of the prison. It was a surefire thing that the warden with the burst arm would be taken to get an autopsy done to see what had caused that to happen to his arm. Once they had gotten out of the way, they could see who had been talking.
It was Skrawl. He was dressed up in what looked like a warden's uniform, except his outfit clearly marked him as higher up on the hiearchy ladder. He was scowling at the other wardens, who backed away from him like they were afraid they would get hit by his claws.
The trio weren't at all surprised to see him. After Mr. Cosmo's defeat, Skrawl's desires to scheme had diminished. Oh he tried once in a while, but he found he could no longer do it. He found it even harder fighting against Rudy again, especially after all that time helping him to defeat Mr. Cosmo. So, eventually, Skrawl had given up on schemes and instead opted to assume control of one of the jails.
They hadn't known it was this jail, but then again, it seemed pretty obvious. The weaponry built into the jail, along with its overall look, did look kinda like something they'd expect Skrawl to do. Although the idea of Skrawl being in charge of a prison took some time to get used to, Rudy was glad that he no longer had to worry about the jellybean trying to take over ChalkZone.
Rudy and his friends move closer to where Skrawl and the wardens were. Rudy hoped that they could overhear something that would tell him more of what happened, like just who it was that broke Draow out of prison.
"Weren't you paying attention to the cameras?!" Skrawl snarled, pointing a claw at one of the wardens.
The warden backed up a couple of steps. "Well c-certainly! But nothing had showed up on the cameras!"
Skrawl narrowed his mismatched eyes. "Impossible! My cameras detect everything! They would have seen..."
Another warden interrupted Skrawl. With a nervous voice, he said, "With all due respect, sir... He's telling the truth. We were all watching the security cameras. There was nothing on there."
But Skrawl looked far from convinced. He bared his pale yellow teeth at the wardens and advanced on them. The wardens backed up away from him, putting their hands out in front to protect them from the jellybean's wrath. Had this happened before the incident with Mr. Cosmo, Rudy would have thought he would attack. But, given with how Skrawl had changed, he was not surprised when Skrawl stopped advancing and chose to just glower at the wardens instead.
Skrawl opened his mouth to say something, but something made him stop. He noticed something in the corner of his eye. He turned his head. His eyes widened briefly. Then he folded up his arms against his chest and gave what could be described as a non-malicious amused smile.
"Master Tabootie... What a surprise to see you here." He was being sarcastic of course. There was no way Skrawl would be surprised by Rudy arriving.
Rudy and his friends walked towards Skrawl. Rudy asked, "Skrawl, what happened here?"
Skrawl gave him a skeptical look. "You mean you don't know? Someone broke in here and freed Draow!" He cast his gaze on the wardens. "And these idiots not only weren't able to stop him, but they claim that my cameras didn't catch this intruder..."
"Maybe they're telling the truth." Snap suggested, smirking. "Maybe your security cameras aren't all they're cracked up to be." Snap jumped back when Skrawl snarled angrily at him and looked like he was going to rip his head off. "Whoa! Sorry! Man, talk about your bad temper..."
Rudy glared at Skrawl. "You didn't have to react like that, Skrawl. Snap has a point. Maybe something was wrong with the cameras at the time."
The jellybean narrowed his eyes. "Impossible! They're always up and running twenty-four seven!"
"Unless the intruder knew how to disable them." Penny suggested. "Or maybe they figured out a way to get in during a time when the cameras weren't looking at him. I know how much you take pride in your...work Skrawl, but you should accept that someone could find flaws in them, and exploit them."
Skrawl sighed. "Perhaps you are right, genius girl."
"Skrawl, we know the basis of what happened." Rudy said. "What we want to know is do you know anything else? Do you know who freed Draow?"
Skrawl shook his head, a look that showed slight regret on it. "I'm afraid not, chalk boy. They didn't get a good look at him. They claim he was too fast for them to see. The only thing we know is that two of its colors were apparently yellow and red. It possessed claws which it used to tear open one of my wardens' throats, and it is apparently venomous too. That's what happened to that guy's arm if you didn't see that coming in."
Penny shivered visibly. "It was absolutely horrible..."
Skrawl nodded. "It was even worse when I first arrived. Be glad that you didn't see it burst open."
This sent chills down the trio's spine. They already had a feeling that the arm burst open, but to actually witness it... They were glad they didn't get here until now.
The idea of a venomous zoner disturbed Rudy. He wondered how many more zoners would suffer at this intruder's hands. He wondered just how much more damage the intruder could cause now that he has Draow at his side...
He wanted, no, he needed to know, as soon as possible, just who this intruder was and what he wanted with Draow. He couldn't help but think this was some kind of terrifying alliance. He already had an idea on what Draow would want. But, this intruder, he was an unknown variable. Without a clue on what this intruder wanted, Rudy was completely in the dark on what dangers lurked ahead.
The only way he could find out was by investigating. He had to figure out some clue on what the intruder looked like. That would be the first time to finding out how he was. If he could positively identify him, he could ask some zoners if they know anything about him, and get information. Then, once he understood what the intruder was like, he could begin to fight back. He could come up with a plan to get both him and Draow arrested and sent to jail.
Rudy wondered if anyone outside of the prison had seen something. It was hard to miss a large flying wolf bat. Surely, someone had to have seen something. Anything at all. Any tiny bit of information would help them out.
He turned to Penny and Snap. "Come on. Let's get going. Maybe someone..."
Before the trio could get very far, Skrawl blocked their path. He had his hands on his side, balancing himself on one limb with ease. He glared down at them, his mouth contorted into a small snarl.
"Where do you think you three are going...?" He asked in a low, growly voice.
Rudy glared back at him. "Get out of the way, Skrawl! We're going to find out about this intruder!"
Skrawl shook his head once. "No you're not. You three are going to stay far away from this case."
"Why?!" Snap exclaimed. He stared at Skrawl with a mixture of shock and anger. "Rudy just wants to help!"
"I am aware of that. But I will take care of it!" Skrawl said. "I already sent a couple of my best wardens to find out about this intruder. So consider the burden lifted from your shoulders, Master Tabootie. Let me handle this." He pointed a claw at the boy. "This intruder might be more than you can handle. His venom might not be able to hurt you, but that doesn't mean that he's any less dangerous."
As much as Rudy didn't want to admit it, Skrawl had a point there. They didn't know what they were up against. And even though the intruder's venom wouldn't hurt him or Penny, they still had to content with his speed and his sharp claws.
Skrawl took a step towards them. "So do yourselves a favor and stay out of this. I will do whatever I can to get Draow back to jail. You can trust me on that."
But as much as Rudy wanted to believe him, a part of him was skeptical. He knew what Draow was like. So did his friends. Even Skrawl knew. And from what he encountered with Draow in the past, he was not the kind to give up so easily. He was tenacious and ruthless. Even when he was tired, he would still put up a fight.
And now that he is partnered up with a venomous intruder who is able to sneak around undetected...
Rudy knew there was no way they could take this lying down. As they walked out of the jail, he pondered what their next move was going to be. He didn't care what Skrawl did to them. The jellybean wouldn't be able to keep them from working on this case for very long. And he had a feeling Skrawl understood that as well.
"So...what now, Bucko?" Snap asked when they were out of earshot of the jail.
"I'm sure everyone is on the lookout for Draow." Penny said. "We could ask some zoners around here. Maybe they can help."
Rudy was about to say something when he looked at the time on his cellphone. His eyes widened. "Sorry, Penny. We'll have to continue this investigation later. It's almost time for our parents to get back."
Penny looked surprised. "Already? Time really just flew."
Rudy turned to Snap. "We'll be back whenever we can. Inform us, when we return, if you figured out anything new, okay?"
"Okay, Rudy! Will do!" Snap said as he watched his two friends leave.