The Mumbo Jumbo Jungle is a large and dangerous section of ChalkZone. It is frought with hidden dangers and anyone daring enough to go in there had better be prepared. Some of ChalkZone's most dangerous wild creatures lurk there, ready to strike unsuspecting visitors. Creators like Rudy are better armed against it, but even he must be careful when traveling through here.

In a deep part of the jungle, a tall cave structure jetted out of the ground. It was covered in moss and vines. The entrance was completely covered and looked quite solid. Only when a breeze pushed against the moss and vines was it exposed that the entrance hadn't been blocked and was, in fact, hollow.

The rock structure itself looked almost like the head of a rhino. The angular sides looked very sharp and the spike in the front appeared to be broken, as if some kind of poacher mistook it for a real rhino. Most creatures who walked by here paid no mind to this. A few were intimidated, especially when it almost appeared as though the 'eyes' were glowing.

Inside the structure, it was very dark. There was little light to be found. Just a few faint candles on the wall, mounted there via thick nails. Not an efficient way of doing it, but it still worked. There were a few tunnels, but the inside did not look it went very far in. The walls were curved, giving what might be the entrance room a very rounded look.

The place appeared pretty empty. Outside the candles, there was no other source of life, at least not in the initial room. Down one of the tunnels was another room, a bit bigger. This room had all sorts of equipment in it. At a glance, it would be hard to tell what these things would be for. Saws, nails, metal pipes, hammers, all sorts of tools and materials laid scattered on the ground in a big pile. The smell of metal hung heavily in the air.

In this room, there was a bigger source of light. It wasn't much. But on one of the walls, there was a small opening. Anyone who looked through the hole could see the jungle outside. A river flowed behind it, not too far off in the distance. Sunlight shown through the hole, illuminating a small part of the interior of the cave.

A shadow appeared on the wall. It covered up the light source for only a brief second. Then the shadow shifted across the rocky surface, cascading further along the walls. It slowly shrank, and what was once a line of darkness now had a more definite shape. As the howl of an outside animal zoner sounded out, two triangles, clearly ears, swiveled and shifted at the sound. A low growl filled the room.

The light's shining bounced off the form that was creating the shadow, exposing light brown fur, ruffled up and looking almost like spikes. The face, clearly wolf-like, was partially light. But most of it was in shadow. This, combined with the piercing teal eyes, made the individual a very menacing sight to behold. The muzzle contorted into a snarl, pink gums exposed along with razor sharp teeth.

It was Draow. He stood, his wings folded at his sides, as he stared out the 'window', his pupils shrinking as his thoughts were filled with the memories of what happened over a year ago. Rage filled almost every crevice of his mind as he remembered what had happened.

His master, his comrade, Mr. Cosmo...He had been so close to achieving his goals. He was very close to finally conquering ChalkZone. They would have had it all. He would have been second-in-command. He would have won. He should have won. Everything had been planned out meticulously, perfectly. Mr. Cosmo had been prepared for almost everything imaginable. He should have been able to succeed...

But those brats...They ruined everything. And that darn woman. Draow knew she couldn't have been trusted. He knew that Mr. Cosmo should have gotten rid of her much sooner. Ms. Saffron's interference put a kink in his master's plans. If she had been killed sooner...

And he did not forget what Rudy and his friends did. Penny helped snap Rudy out of his corruption, and he and his master lost a valuable ally. Snap sliced Mr. Cosmo's eye, which interfered with the fight. If that hadn't happened, Mr. Cosmo would have had an edge over Rudy.

And Rudy...

He killed his master.

Draow's mind burned as he remembered what happened. It was in the newspapers as well as on the news. Rudy had killed Mr. Cosmo, and hailed as a hero. Draow snarled at the memory. That boy would pay for what he did. So will his friends. He would make sure of that.

Draow lifted up his head as a scent filled the air. He swiveled his muzzle towards the source. He knew who was coming in.

It was the intruder that had saved him from that wretched jail. The intruder promised to deliver to him what he wanted if he decided to help him. Draow agreed, but only because he got something out of it. He knows that he, himself, is not an excellent planner. He would simply just rush out and kill Rudy, Penny, and Snap, without a care of who sees. So long as he gets his revenge, he's happy.

But working with this intruder may be more beneficial. He reminds him of Mr. Cosmo in many ways, and he could smell just how dangerous he was. The venom gave off a strong scent. Draow knew he wouldn't be able to fight the intruder on his own. It would be suicide. But working with him... He smiled evilly as he thought of this intruder biting and injecting Snap with venom. Oh yes, that would be a beautiful sight to witness...

The intruder hadn't revealed too much of his plans. He had confirmed that it will, in some way, involve the three brats that took down his master. Yet he wouldn't say exactly what he had in mind. And all these tools, they suggested he planned on building something. Judging from how much material there was, it was a lot of stuff. Just what did he have in mind? And how long was this intruder going to keep him in the dark for?

The intruder entered the room. The darkness made it hard to see his form. The intruder did not walk in very far, keeping most of his body in shadow. Draow could make out the bright, piercing green eyes barely glinting in the light. A tail was swishing back and forth. A muzzle with lips curled back into an evil grin, the long venom fangs exposed.

"Just as I hoped..." The intruder said. His voice sounded pleasant, almost like Mr. Cosmo's except this voice was devoid of any malice. The intruder hid this part of him well, it seems. "Your escape from jail has caught the attention of those three. They will surely be trying to figure out about how you got out of there."

Draow turned around and began to walk towards the intruder. His eyes narrowed into slits. "You still haven't told me more of this plan of yours..." He paused for a moment. Now he thought of it, there was a lot this intruder didn't tell him, including... "I don't even know who you are."

The intruder blinked once. The smile vanished, replaced with a confused expression. Then the intruder laughed half-heartedly, his green eyes almost brightening. "Oh...silly me, I must have forgotten! My name is Bardot."

Draow said, "Bardot, eh?"

Bardot nodded his head once. "Yes."

Well that got one question out of the way. Draow thought he recognized the name Bardot, but he couldn't remember where he heard it from. The name did ring a bell, but he felt frustrated that he couldn't remember anything about it, other than it was tugging at the back of his mind. There was something he should remember about this zoner.

Well, he will worry about it later. Bardot was offering him a chance at revenge against the three that defeated Mr. Cosmo. Draow planned on carrying on his master's plans after that, forcing Rudy into it. He planned on breaking the boy, just like how his master broke Snap. And once the boy's spirit was shattered, he would force him to do what he says.

Draow didn't plan on killing him and his friends right away. No, he wants them all to suffer for as long as possible. He would keep them alive and torment them. He'd break all of them to teach them a lesson about crossing paths with his master. And by the end of it all, they will be begging him to kill them... He only would kill them once he has had his fun with them.

Draow finally spoke after a while of silence. "You said this plan would involve those three brats... But you did not tell me exactly what you had in mind."

Bardot nodded his head. "Yes, I understand you must be frustrated."

"Especially since we haven't made a move yet." Draow growled softly, folding his ears back against his skull. "We've been hiding for two days now. When are we going to strike?"

"Patience, Draow...patience." Bardot said, raising a hand, the sharp claws glinting in the light. "We cannot move yet. Everything must be set up first. If we act too soon, everything will fall apart. We must let those three play right into our hands. I will tell you when you can move in. If we play our cards right, not only will we have them at our mercy, but they will not have any magic chalk to help them this time..."

Draow watched as Bardot's evil smile returned. Liquid dripped from his jaws. It hit the ground, and he saw a bit of steam rising above it. The venom was more potent than he had imagined. This made him more excited than ever to watch Snap suffer at the fate of the venom.

And the two humans...if Bardot lived up to his promise, and if he gets a chance to, he would make sure that Rudy and Penny regret ever being born...

Draow chuckled evilly, his teal eyes shining at the prospect of what was to come. He was starting to really like this guy. Ruthless. Merciless. So much like Mr. Cosmo... He took a step towards Bardot, unfurling his wings slightly.

"When...do we begin..?" Draow asked.

Bardot simply stared at at the winged wolf for a few seconds. At first, his expression was blank. Then, slowly, a sly grin plastered over his muzzle. The dark shadows on his face seemed to almost intensify, making him look even more frightening than before.

"Soon, Draow..." Bardot replied, chuckling darkly. "Very soon..."

sss

"Whoa whoa! Slow down, Bucko!" Snap cried, waving his hands in the air as he walked alongside Rudy and Penny. "Are you saying that this intruder wants something with us?"

Rudy nodded his head solemnly. He recalled his chat with Mr. Wilter all too clearly. The signs, they all still pointed in this direction, and it scared him. "Yeah, Snap. Mr. Wilter said that Draow would only work with this guy if his plans benefited him."

"But that doesn't mean it automatically involves us." Snap said.

"Snap is right, Rudy. Yeah, Draow would want to come after us, but I don't think we should jump to conclusions just yet." Penny said. Rudy looked at her, confused. "I'm not saying that it is impossible this intruder wants us. What I'm saying is we should look for clues and information about this guy and try to figure out what his real motivations are. If we prepare for the wrong thing..."

Rudy nodded his head. "Yeah, I know."

He remembered when Mr. Cosmo tricked him into going to ChalkZone. He had been so certain that Mr. Cosmo was going to come in with some FBI agents and force him to speak. It was the only conclusion his mind would jump to. And so he left. He thought he had done the right thing to help ChalkZone...but instead, he just fell into that evil man's little trap. He had been played for a fool.

He knew he couldn't afford to make that same mistake here. Even though he was still worried that this intruder wanted something with him and his friends, he knew Penny and Snap were right. He shouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly without much evidence. They knew so little about this intruder or what he wanted. And the things they knew about him were useless in determining his motivations.

Finding out more information was not going to be easy. Skrawl would keep them away from the case the best he could, so they had to be on their toes. Skrawl wouldn't arrest them, but he would make things difficult for them. And he was quite stubborn, too. Even though he had changed for the better, bits of his old personality remained in tact, and that was a bit of annoyance to him during times like these.

Penny spoke up, breaking Rudy out of his thoughts.

"I think checking the cameras was a good idea, Rudy. Skrawl is so prideful of them, I doubt he would have checked them thoroughly." Penny said. "We could get a hold of one and look for any signs of weakness. Something the intruder could have exploited to get past it."

Rudy shook his head. "The only problem is Skrawl is the only one with these types of cameras. And they are all in that jail. We wouldn't be able to check them efficiently, not with Skrawl around."

"Well then, we can check when Skrawl is on his break." Snap suggested. "He usually takes one around noon, where he goes back to his place to relax for about an hour. That would give us some time."

Rudy looked at Snap. "And what of the other guards? Skrawl would probably tell them to keep us out."

Snap waved a dismissing hand, smiling. "Oh don't worry about them! They would be more willing to accept the Great Creator's help! And besides.." Snap moved his hand in front of his head as if he were whispering some deep dark secret. "..they don't like Skrawl very much, so any chance to defy him would make them happy."

Snap did have a point. Rudy wasn't at all surprised the guards didn't like Skrawl. He still had that attitude of his, and he was sometimes pretty hostile towards them. He never did any physical harm, but he was intimidating towards them, perhaps as a way of keeping them all in line. Snap could be right and the guards themselves would be more cooperative than Skrawl.

Then again, there was still the chance that they would still stop him. Skrawl could have them so under control that, even though they don't like him, they would still fulfill his wishes. Attempting to look at the cameras might not do them any good, at least not until they could figure out how to get to them without being seen. But how would they do that? It wasn't like the jail took any time off. It was open twenty-four hours, seven days a week, and the cameras were running that whole time.

No, they needed another course of action to take first. The cameras would have to wait, at least for a time. They needed to go an easier route, something simple. Asking zoners may be their best bet at this point. Someone could have seen something. Draow was large. Surely someone spotted him. Even if it was just a brief glance, an idea on where he want would be crucial.

They find Draow, and they find this intruder...

"There is a thought I had, Rudy." Penny said, snapping Rudy to attention. He looked at her expectantly. The three of them stopped, and Penny started to explain her idea. "There is...one way I can think of the intruder got passed the cameras outside, but not the ones on the inside. It's...tricky. But if this intruder was as fast as the guards say he was, then I don't doubt he could have pulled this off."

"Turned the cameras off?" Snap asked.

Penny shook her head. "That would have alerted the guards. No, he did something else that covered his tracks, but kept himself from being discovered."

A moment of silence, and Rudy said, "Well? What is it?"

"He could have covered the cameras with photographs." Penny said. "If he was fast enough, and I don't doubt he was, if the guards couldn't even get a good look at him, then he could have somehow obtained photos of the area and placed them at just the right spot. He clearly had claws if he was able to tear that guy's throw out." She shuddered at the thought. "So he could have used his claws to scale the building and stay out of sight of the cameras. Then he could have placed pictures in front, taken in such a way that it looks like the camera is still recording what is going on outside the building."

She paused, letting Rudy and Snap take this information in. Their eyes were wide with shock.

"With the cameras blocked this way, it would explain why, even if the intruder walked right in front of one, they didn't detect him. This would also explain why, as soon as the intruder get in, the alarms went off. He didn't have time to cover up those cameras, prompting him to attack swiftly." Penny said. An anxious look was on her face. "That would surely explain why the guards didn't see anything on the outside, no matter how hard they looked at the cameras."

Rudy shuddered at this. The idea that the intruder was so fast and so smart that it could pull something off like this... He was truly going to be one nasty bad guy to deal with. It made him all the more worried about what he wanted. Would he even be able to find out in time? If this intruder was so intelligent, then what would happen if he found out too late, and he wasn't able to do anything to stop him?

He glanced down at Snap. He looked just as horrified. He couldn't blame him. This guy was starting to sound a little too much like Mr. Cosmo. That man had been a great planner, so precise. It took all they had to defeat him. To think they may have to deal with someone else like this...

A horrible thought entered Rudy's mind. His face paled thinking about it. He didn't want to think it could be true. He hoped that he was mistaken. But he couldn't deny that it was a very real, terrifying possibility.

"Rudy?" Penny asked worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"I just...thought of something..." Rudy said, his eyes wide with fear. He looked at his friends, who stared at him, waiting for him to say something. "What if this intruder...is one of Cosmo's creations..?"

He had never seen color drain so fast from his two friends before.