Terry parked her news van on the side of the street, not far from where she had seen Snap. She stepped out of the van and locked it, placing her keys in her pocket. She got out her umbrella and opened it. It was still raining. She walked slowly over towards the house. She looked it up and down. It looked more worn than she thought. She wondered just how old this house was and why it hadn't been torn down yet. Maybe no one just got around to it yet.

She walked up towards the door and peered inside through the window. She didn't see much of anything. It was a little dark. She turned the door handle and went inside. She made sure to shut it behind her. She closed her umbrella, shaking off some of the water onto the ground. She took a bit of time to look around the building.

It was quite dusty, with cobwebs everywhere. She didn't know why any sane person would want to come in here. Some wood was rotting in a few places. Some areas looked like they were falling apart. The house, surprisingly, overall was holding up better than she thought. Some of this stuff could easily be repaired, though she thinks it would be better if it was just destroyed. No one had attempted the buy the house for decades, and it just looks out of place in this part of town.

She took a few steps further inside. Her hands on her hips, she looked around. She tried to figure out where Snap could have gone to. There had to be a chalkboard around here somewhere. One with a working portal. There was no other reason why Snap would have gone into this building. If he had just been wanting to escape the rain, he would have went into the nearest building; he skipped it in favor of this one.

She knew that, sometimes, zoners left smudge marks in the real world. They weren't common, and she didn't know of many incidents where this occured. She knew the school bully, Reggie, mentioned about Snap White leaving blue markings on his paper work. Maybe, with how much of a hurry he was in, Snap left markings on the ground here. She looked down and tried to find them.

She soon saw a little bit of blue. Narrowing her eyes, she kneeled down and touched it, collecting it on her fingers. She lifted her finger up and stared at it. The blue coloration seemed to be the right shade to be from Snap. She rubbed her two fingers together, feeling its texture. Yeah it was chalk all right. Definite proof that Snap was in here, not that she needed it since she saw him run into this old building.

She looked around on the ground some more and found more blue smudges. She smirked when she saw there was a bit of a trail. She followed it, letting it lead her to wherever Snap had gone. It lead her up some rickety flight of stairs and into what she guessed was an old bedroom.

Upon entering it, she could tell that this room had belonged to an artist. There were some art supplies on the ground. Not a lot, but enough that told her, whoever had lived here, spent some time painting. And sitting in the corner, she could see a blackboard. It looked pretty dirty. The edges looked almost moldy. The artist who lived here may have done some chalk drawings as well, or they used the blackboard to work on formulas...though that didn't make much sense.

Oh well, it wasn't of her concern. What she was more interested in was what was on the blackboard itself. Her smile broadened when she saw what she had been hoping to see. Just like she had predicted, there was a portal into ChalkZone.

She was a bit confused by the blue outline. She hadn't seen that before. Oh well, probably a different type of chalk. She didn't have doubts there'd be other types of magic chalk in that world. She wouldn't put much past a world where anything drawn comes to life.

Terry walked up to the chalkboard, staring at the portal. She looked through it. She could see it was definitely ChalkZone it lead into. She felt excitement rise up inside of her. She now had proof of this place's existence. All she had to do now was get a broadcaster to see thsi. She would have another chance to show Plainsville, the world, that she wasn't crazy. She would prove to them that she hadn't lost her mind, that she had been speaking the truth all along.

She grabbed the chalkboard and started to lift it up. Then a thought came across her mind. She set it back down. No, she couldn't take this thing with her. If she did, she would move the portal around. If Snap saw it move, or if he saw it was in a new location, he would know something was up. And since she had no magic chalk, she couldn't erase the portal. She couldn't go into ChalkZone to get magic chalk because she wouldn't know where to get some. So she had no choice but to leave the portal here and bring a broadcaster over.

But what if the blue boy did try to erase the portal? She wasn't sure of the likelihood of a zoner erasing a portal, but she didn't want to take that chance. She had to find a way to keep this portal open, at least long enough for her to get a broadcaster to come to this place. She looked around the room. Maybe the artist who lived here had something she could use.

She soon found something that she found useful. Some kind of thick, heavy cloth. She wasn't sure what it was called, but she's seen it before. Some artists use it to cover their art, maybe to protect them from the elements or something. She placed the cloth over the chalkboard. She grabbed some sharp artist tool she found on the ground and cut along the glow she knew was ChalkZone's day light. She removed the cut piece and took a step back.

She stared at what she did. Yes, this would do nicely. She had made sure the cloth was secured tightly around the chalkboard, ensuring that Snap wouldn't be able to move it that easily. It was no guarantee it'll buy her enough time, but it would certainly make things a little easier for her. And the cloth was a bit on the heavy side, too. She doubted Snap would have an easy time removing it.

Now all she had to do was contact someone from a news station. A broadcaster that would listen to her, and give her a chance. All she would have to do was show them this portal, and everything would be set. There was no way they could think she made something like this up. As soon as they stepped into ChalkZone and saw just how real it truly was...yes they would definitely believe her then.

Terry stared into the portal. She narrowed her eyes slightly. She knew that this world had something to do with those disappearances. And once she exposed ChalkZone, an investigation would be underway. Detectives would be sent in, and they would find where the missing citizens have gone to. And their families would find out what happened to them. They deserved to know the truth, and it angered her that Rudy and Penny had tried so hard to keep it a secret. At a time like this, it was best not to keep secrets such as this.

She did still feel bad for them, though. She had never wanted them to disappear like the other victims. She would never have wished this fate on them. Although it made things easier for her, with them out of the way and all, a part of her still hoped, deep down, that they would be okay.

A lightning bolt flashed, lighting up the room. Terry nearly jumped up into the air. Her body shaking, she took a few steps away from the window. Another flash and she started to move out of the room. She could hear the sound of thunder rolling across the skies. She heard the ran fall harder on the ground. She needed to get out of here and back home before the roads became too water logged to be driven on.

It had been raining since she saw Snap rush into this building. Hours of rain, and it never let up. She heard a report there was going to be a flash flood warning. And Plainsville was due to have a few severe thunderstorm warnings as well. Horrible weather... She hated it.

As she left, she didn't notice that the window in the bedroom had a crack in it. She didn't notice a bit of lightning had struck it, breaking off a piece. She was unaware of the rain pouring into the room. Along the window's edge, water rolled over and onto the hard floor. The rain collected into a small puddle and started to spread...

...towards the chalkboard.

sss

Snap wasn't sure what to make of this. He wasn't sure if Bardot was quite serious about this, or if he had somehow, made a mistake. He took a look around. Something about it didn't seem right. Was this really the right place?

Snap, Rapsheeba, and Blocky stood on the outskirts of the playground, one Snap had played in from time to time a few years ago. He hadn't come here that often, but it's not like a lot changed. Maybe a few additions here or there, but it was still overall, the same playground. It didn't look like it was anything too special, at least not something he felt would have caught Bardot's eye. If this was supposed to be one of his dangerous games...he wasn't getting it.

He had read the riddle to Blocky and Rapsheeba. It took them a while to answer it. Maybe ten minutes. When Rapsheeba suggested playground, Snap almost laughed. The riddle itself didn't seem like it had anything to do with a playground. But Blocky agreed with her. Confused, Snap asked them to explain. They described, in detail, why they came to that conclusion, and when they had spelled it out for him, it really did make sense.

With nothing else to go on, Snap decided they should go to the playground. Where else could they go? They had to at least try. They didn't have all the time in the world to find Rudy and Penny. They had to get started on these...games that Bardot had set up, somehow without anyone realizing what was going on.

The playground was completely empty. He wasn't sure why at first until he saw a sign on the edge. 'Warning: Closed'... Bardot must have put that there. He must not have wanted anyone else to interfere with his games. Perhaps he was worried that someone else might 'ruin his fun'... Snap growled at that thought.

He, Rapsheeba, and Blocky walked around the playground for a bit, looking for anything out of place or suspicious. After a few minutes, they didn't find anything. Not at first anyway. But soon, Blocky came running towards him and Rapsheeba. There was something in his hand that he was waving back and forth frantically. It was a piece of paper.

"Hey guys! Look what I found!" Blocky shouted. He stopped in front of his two friends, holding the piece of paper in his left hand.

"Well, don't leave us hanging." Rapsheeba said. "Tell us what it says!"

Blocky unfolded the paper and looked down at it. "Welcome to the first game. Your task here is a scavenger hunt. Locate all the items on this list, but it must be done in order. Go out of order, and you lose the game. The final item will have a card attached to it with a riddle to the next time. Good luck."

Snap looked at him, perplexed. "Are you sure that's what it says?"

Blocky nodded his head. "If you don't believe me, here it is." He handed Snap the card.

Snap looked over it, wondering if Blocky misread a sentence or overlooked something. To his surprise, he did not. What Blocky said was exactly what the note had read. The only thing after it was a list of items to locate.

Snap couldn't understand it. He thought that these games were supposed to be life threatening. Bardot certainly made it sound like it was going to be that way. He would have expected something like avoiding gunfire or being breathed on by a fire spewing dragon. But not a scavenger hunt. That was...pretty harmless. All they were doing was looking for items, eventually finding one that would take them to the next game. How dangerous could that be?

He soon realized that maybe..it was designed to make him lower his guard. Perhaps the items they'd have to find would be dangerous. Or maybe he would be tricked into not giving it his all, and by the next time, he would be killed in the first ten seconds. No, despite his confusion and disbelief, he couldn't allow his guard to be lowered. He had to take this seriously and approach with caution.

He was ripped from his thoughts when the ground started to shake. He and his friends looked over and watched in utter shock as a large timer rose out of the ground. The time on it flashed 5:00. This game was going to last five minutes. And there was a lot of items on the list they would have to find. Second later, the timer started to count down.

"Okay, what's the first thing we have to find?" Rapsheeba asked, turning to Snap.

Snap looked at the list. He scanned his eyes up and down, trying to find where the top of the list was. When he found it, he stared at it for a few seconds. "Okay, first thing one list is...a tire."

"A tire? But since when would a playground..." Blocky started to say.

"It must be talking about the tire swingset!" Rapsheeba said. She made a motion with her hand. "Come on!"

The trio ran over to the tire. Sure enough, when they got there, the tire had some kind of mark on it. It was the same mark that was written next to each item. This was definitely one item they had to find. But there was something strange about this tem. There appeared to be a button underneath it. He looked over at the timer and noticed some empty dots along the sides of the numbers. Maybe he was supposed to press it.

Cautiously, he pressed it. The tire began to glow a little. And when he looked over at the timer, one of the dots filled in. Perhaps that was what he was supposed to do. He figured, as he would find each item, and pressed each button, it would fill up the timer and then it would stop when they were done. He guessed that it was from the deactivated timer that they would find the clue to the next game.

Snap looked down at the list. "Okay...next thing is the swingset."

"Well that's pretty easy to find." Rapsheeba said. She headed over to the swingset. She took notice of the button. She looked over at Snap. "Should I push it?"

Snap nodded. "It seems like we are supposed to."

She did so. Same thing happened before. The swingset began to glow a little and, up on the timer, another dot filled up. Though something did look a little off about the timer. He could have sworn it, too, started to glow. Maybe he was just seeing things.

Before they continued to the next item, which was the monkey bars, Snap let Rapsheeba and Blocky look at the list as well. He let them study it. Both of them had good memories, and there weren't too many items on the list. So it was easy to remember what order they were in. Snap felt it would be easier this way so they could all go and push these buttons in less time.

Snap looked at the list once more. All of the items were in plain sight, now that he thought about it. Nothing was obscure or hidden. Was this really one of Bardot's games? Because he would have thought he'd put more effort into it. Listening things that are out in the open doesn't really count as a scavenger hunt. Usually the items would be a bit harder to find. But listing obviously seen things like the swingset? Really? That was the best this guy could come up with?

He looked over at the time. Then again, with just five minutes total for them to find everything, perhaps it was best that the items were easy to find. They would be able to find everything pretty easily in that amount of time, and all the buttons would be pressed, which he assumed that's what they had to do. Then this game would be won and they would be one step closer to finding Rudy and Penny.

He had a feeling things were just going to get worse later on. He suspected that this game was nothing more than a mere warm up. In video games, he knew that it started off pretty easy and only got harder later on as the player learned more skills and got the hang of it. Bardot's games may be just like that. Easy, and then increasing in difficulty.

As they continued the scavenger hunt and found more items on the list, as more buttons were pressed and the circles on the timer filled up, Snap started to get suspicious. The timer really was glowing now. A whitish yellow. Something told him that wasn't a good thing, but it wasn't like he could stop. If he didn't finish before the timer ran out, he would have lost the game, and Rudy and Penny would die. But still, something about this whole thing just didn't feel right to him.

And the whole thing was just...too easy. He wanted to chalk it up to being a 'beginner' kind of level. But ultimately that didn't make much sense to him. Bardot didn't seem to be the kind of guy to make things this easy. He thought about his earlier concerns about him lowering his guard. Perhaps...perhaps that's what he was doing.

Snap took a look around. He took note of the items they had found, the way they were glowing. He looked up at the timer, which had the same glow as the items they found. He looked back and forth between them. Slowly, something clicked in his mind. He wondered if they were playing right into a trap.

He watched as Rapsheeba and Blocky worked through the remainder of the items. They, in the proper order, went to items such as the slide, the merry-go-round, and one of those horse-things that kids like to play on. More items glowed. And the glow on the timer just increased more.

"There's just one more item left." Blocky said, running up to Snap.

"And what would that be?" Snap asked. He tried to hide his worry from before. Maybe he was just overthinking this.

Rapsheeba pointed over to what appeared to be the center of the playground. "The pole right there. I'll go take care of it!"

Snap watched as Rapsheeba rushed over to the pole. He got that bad feeling again. He looked around the playground again. The way the objects were positioned was odd. And why was the timer glowing so brightly now? Snap tried to figure out what was going on. The buttons, the glowing, the positions of the objects...they had to mean something.

He stared at the pole. Rapsheeba was almost to it. In a few seconds, she would press the button. Then this game would be over.

...or would it?

Snap looked around the playground again. He took a few steps back so he could get a better view. It was only by moving back that he started to notice something strange about the floor the playground they were standing on. There were lights shining, and they looked like they were connecting the objects together, in a sense. And the items...they were arranged in a circle. And the pole was in the dead center of it all.

Horrific realization struck Snap. He had a feeling he knew what was going to happen if Rapsheeba pushed the final button. He started to run towards her. A confused Blocky rushed after him.

"Snap, what's wrong?" Blocky asked.

Snap ignored him, his attention focused on Rapsheeba. He reached his hand out, calling out to her in desperation. "Wait! Don't press it!"

But it was too late. As soon as he said it, Rapsheeba had already pressed the button. She turned her head over to him, looking confused.

"What? I thought I was supposed to press it." Rapsheeba said. She was going to say more, but a low rumbling silenced all three of them. They looked around at what was going on.

Their eyes widened in horror. The timer's glow had gone a blood red, and they swore they heard a distorted and drawn out version of Bardot's voice sounding out from a timer, and they had a sickening feeling that they would hear this every time a game was completed. But the red glow and unexpected laughter weren't the only things that have them scared right now.

Snap's suspicions turned out to be right. There was something wrong. Very wrong, and he had realized it too late.

The glow he thought he saw from before brightened, and now it was clear as day. The items that were glowing also shifted to a red color. They started to shake a little, and then they heard the rumbling below them grow louder. It felt as thought something large had been turned on. Then the ground started to shake violently.

The trio gave a scream when the shaking got so bad they fell to the ground. Snap struggled to his feet, but was horrifed when his leg started to sink into the sand. He looked all around them. The ground was...it was being sucked down. The playground equipment started to break apart. The pole had already sunk down below. And they were being pulled closer to the center. Snap tried to push himself away, but the force of the sand was too strong.

Rapsheeba let out a cry of terror. "Snap! Blocky! Look!"

When Snap looked in the direction she was pointing, he felt his heart freeze. The edges of the playground, they were...not normal. It looked as though the playground was cut out by a giant saw. He looked down at the pole, and it took all his strength not to scream at what he saw. The sand had parted, exposing a black abyss below, only it wasn't empty. There was something down there, twisting, churning, and chopping. Some large machine, and it was sucking them all down...

Gravity was also at work. The three held onto some objects, which were secured to the playground floor when this area was created. But they were still being lowered towards this machine. They were descending faster and faster. Snap looked all around, realizing in terror, that it looked as though they were going down a waterfall, only with sand instead of water. And instead of rocks, they were going towards a machine that could easily crush and grind their bones. They needed a way to get out, and fast.

He then saw the monkey bars. They were still pretty close to the edge. If they could just get up there, they could survive this.

"Blocky! Rapsheeba! Quick!" Snap started to jump from item to item, the ones that hadn't already fallen down to the grinding machine. He winced as he heard the metal being easily ripped apart. "Get to the monkey bars! We can pull ourselves out!"

Rapsheeba and Blocky wasted no time. Working together, they jumped from object to object. They slowly scaled upwards, along with Snap. With each object they landed on, they had to climb up as high as they could go, then muster up the strength to jump to the next one. And it wasn't always easy doing this. But they still managed to, slowly, scale upwards.

Then they got to the monkey bars. Blocky was the first one to jump up onto it. Despite having short arms, he was able to keep a pretty tight grip. Snap jumped up and grabbed onto his feet. Blocky swung himself back and forth and was able to thrust Snap high enough to reach over the edge of the pit.

Rapsheeba was next. She jumped up and reached for Blocky's feet. She grabbed on. Like with Snap, Blocky swung her back and forth, gathering up the energy to throw her. When he did, Rapsheeba flew over the edge and crashed into Snap. The two fell to the ground.

The two of them returned to the edge. They looked down, horrified, as Blocky started to go closer to the machine. They called out to him, encouraging him to climb up. They reach their hands down towards him, beckoning him to come up faster. Blocky looked like he was having a hard time climbing the monkey bars. He was trying, but he found it hard to keep his footing and he slipped. And as each second passed by, he was getting further and further away.

Finally, when he made it to the front of the monkey bars, he looked up. He was still a good distance away. And it looked as though he wasn't going to make it. But Blocky wasn't one to give up that easily. Narrowing his eyes, Blocky tightened the muscles in his legs. He took in a deep breath, and he jumped into the air.

Time seemed to freeze for Snap as Blocky jumped towards him and Rapsheeba. They pushed themselves closer to the edge, reaching out as far as they could towards him. Then Blocky started to lower before he got to them, and Snap was worried they weren't going to be able to save him.

"Gotcha!" Rapsheeba said as she grabbed onto one of Blocky's arms.

"Me too!" A relieved Snap said as he managed to get Blocky's other arm.

Working together, they pulled Blocky out of the pit. Then all three of them collapsed on the ground, taking in quick breaths, trying to calm themselves down. Their minds swirled with thoughts of what just happened. Their bodies started to shake as they realized just how close to death they had been.

And what was worse...was that this was only the beginning. Game one. That's it. The death pit plan that Bardot clearly implemented...that was only for the first game. The thought scared all three of them. It was then that they realized just how dangerous these games were going to be. Each one was going to have a death trap for them to avoid. Something that could kill them if they weren't careful.

Snap grew nauseated as an unsettling thought crossed his mind. If this was the death trap they had to survive for the very first game...

...then what was the next death trap going to be?