Pain...horrific pain... Blinding agony...

That was the first thing Penny was aware of when she woke up. Fluttering her eyes open, she immediately began to moan in pain. Her mind was a little muggy, but that only lasted a split second. The pain that shot through her body reminded her of what had happened. She felt intense pain from where her right leg was. When she tried to move it, she was instantly paralyzed by the pain, seething through her clenched teeth.

She realized she was laying on her stomach. She pushed herself up on her elbows. Her hair, messy and having some blood caked on it, splayed in front of her face. She used a finger to push her hair away, wincing when she accidentally grazed the gash on her head. Her eyes were barely open, almost completely shut from the pain. She looked around, the room coming into focus now. Her eyes shot open when she saw Rudy on the ground.

Unlike her, he was on his back. She could see his chest rise and fall unsteadily. Each breath was shaky. She wondered if it was from the pain... Yeah it had to be from the pain. She saw his leg. There were deep bite marks in the thigh. She could see nothing but redness from where the skin was torn up. The leg was twisted to the side, broken almost all the way to the hip. The leg rested at an odd angle, further away from the body than normal, cementing the fact that it was broken.

Rudy's face was contorted, like he had wanted to scream when he fainted, but never got the chance to. He looked so...weak and helpless.. She wanted to do something for him. But in her state...what could she do? She couldn't walk. She couldn't move her leg without feeling so much agony.

But seeing Rudy like that...it made her heart ache. What had he done to deserve it? What had she done to deserve this either? Nothing... None of them asked for this to happen. And yet here they were...being tortured and starved to death. The lack of food and water was getting to her even worse now. She would love to sit back and eat one of her favorite meals that her mom cooks.

Her mom... Penny's eyes welled up with tears. She hoped she would be okay. Her mother must be worried sick about her by now. She must be looking everywhere for her. And Rudy's parents...they were surely going through the same thing. She knew they would do whatever it took to find them. Even if it means having to investigate themselves...

...which brought Penny to an uncomfortable realization. A crossroads, and she wasn't sure which path was the right one. If their parents investigated long enough, if they poked their nose in enough places, then they might find out about ChalkZone... The thought was chilling. Penny had no idea how they would react. They could cut off access to ChalkZone, or help expose it, or see it as a threat and want it destroyed. There were so many things that could go wrong from them finding out.

But on the other hand, if they found out, and if they accepted ChalkZone and understood why they kept it a secret, that would be more burden lifted from them. She remembered how much of a relief it was when she and Rudy found out Mr. Wilter had known about ChalkZone this whole time and was just putting on an act to make it seem like he didn't know. When they found out, it was much easier visiting ChalkZone during school hours, and now they had a new ally to discuss ChalkZone matters with.

If their parents accepted ChalkZone, then they no longer needed to hide it from them. No longer would they have to lie to their parents when they went off to visit. No longer would they have to feel guilty about staying late; their parents would know they were in ChalkZone. Maybe they could even bring their parents there. There was so much she wanted to show her mother. And Rudy had expressed the same longing; he, too, wanted to take his parents to all sorts of beautiful and unique places in ChalkZone that he felt his parents would love.

But the risk of what might happen if their parents don't like ChalkZone was too great for them to take the risk. If their parents don't want them going, they would do whatever it took to keep them separated, even going as far as taking away their chalkboards and chalk, cutting off any possible access point into the chalky world. Penny could only hope that, if their parents did find out, they would be understanding.

Penny attempted to shift herself on the ground. She accidentally brushed her leg along the hard floor. She let out a small cry of pain. Although she was scared to look, she still forced herself to glance at her leg and survey the damage that was dealt. She was horrified to see her leg had been horribly twisted and seemed to just dangle there, attached only by whatever skin and muscle hadn't been ripped apart. Looking very carefully, she could see a bit of bone sticking out.

Unlike Rudy's, her leg had been broken at the shin, not the thigh. Not that it really mattered. Her leg was completely useless now. Just a tiny movement sent shockwaves of pain, forcing her to freeze, tears escaping her eyes as she tried to ride out the pain.

She looked back at Rudy. Her eyes trailed along his leg once more. She couldn't believe those bastards still hurt him, even after she pleaded with them not to. They would pay for this. Somehow, someway, they would both pay dearly for what they have done. She shifted her eyes to his other injuries. She could see his side wound, which looked even worse now. It looked like one of those monsters had raked their claws against his side, just to be sadistic. And his wrist...it looked so horrible. The bone in the wrist had been crushed, making it useless. If there was little hope before for his right hand to recover...now it seemed like a complete healing of that hand was an impossibility now...

She knew it was a bad idea. But she still felt like she had to. She began to crawl over towards Rudy. Each movement forward was like crawling across fiery, heated coals. Even using her good leg to try to keep some weight off her broken one, it was still impossible to move without crying out in pain. She was leaving behind a trail of blood, and that was when she realized her leg wound was still bleeding. Yet she paid little attention to that as her mind was focused on Rudy.

When she finally reached him, she positioned herself at his side. She stared at his tightly shut eyes, her lower lip quivering. She wondered if, even knocked out, he could feel the pain. She wished she could take away the pain somehow.

"Rudy...please..." She whispered to him. "Wake up..." There was no reply. She tried again, a little more desperate. "Come on...wake up...please..." A sharp pang spread in her heart when he still didn't move. She reached over and gently shook him, careful to avoid his injuries. "Open your eyes, Rudy... If you stay asleep too long, you could go into a coma...please...wake up...wake up..."

His eyes shuddered. Penny looked at him, a sense of hope welling up inside of her. Slowly, his eyes opened up, and Penny silently rejoiced that he managed to wake up. He turned his head around. He looked up at Penny. He was confused at first, but a second later, pain had registered in his head, and he cried out. He tried to move, but Penny gently held him down.

"No, don't move around too much. You're badly wounded..." Penny said softly.

Rudy's memory had came back quickly, as the next thing he said was, "So...so are you..." His eyes shifted and Penny could tell he was looking at her twisted leg. "I'm sorry...I couldn't stop them..."

"Shhh..." Penny whispered. She reached over and touched his cheek gently. "It's okay...none of this was your fault... Please don't blame yourself, Rudy."

Rudy's eyes shifted up towards the ceiling. He looked deep in thought. Once in a while, he would wince from the pain. It seemed that he could manage it a little better so long as he didn't move around too much. He turned his attention back to Penny. "I'm sure Snap is...almost here by now..."

A shuddered breath escaped Penny's mouth. Rudy sounded so much weaker now. The pain was finally starting to get to him. Yet some hope still remained inside of him...as it did with her. One thing she would fight to keep until her dying breath...

...was the hope that Snap would find them in time.

"Yeah...I'm sure he is too..." Penny said. She gave Rudy a small smile. This only lasted for a second as a shockwave of pain rushed through her leg when she accidentally moved it. "I just...hope it's soon..." She said, her teeth clenched tightly and eyes shut.

Rudy smiled the best he could through the pain. "I'm sure he will..."

Penny let it all sink in. They were both still hopeful that Snap would save them. They both tried their best to hold onto that hope. Yet, she realized, with an icy chill, that just sitting around hoping would not ensure their rescue. As the mental clock in her head ticked, she knew they were running out of time. They were growing weaker as each minute passed by, their bodies starved of food and dried from the lack of water.

And the injuries they just keep recieving...

They had lost a lot of blood already. Her mind was already aching, a side effect from the loss of too much blood. Their bodies would start shutting down soon as energy is not able to reach to the various parts of their body anymore. And as their bodies start to shut down, they would get worse and worse. And that's not even getting started with infection. None of their wounds had been cleaned. Infection would or had already settled in. And with their bodies so weak...there wasn't much to stop the infection.

They were indeed running out of time. They had very little time left. Snap didn't have long left to find them. And even if he did find them with just barely enough time left, he'd still have to face Draow and Bardot. As much as Penny wanted to hope that they could still make it, a part of her was starting to realize that maybe...just maybe...they wouldn't make it out this time...

The realization hit her hard. Suddenly, all the horrific things that happened to them came crashing in on her. It was too much to bear. Unable to stop herself, she started to sob. She pressed her head against Rudy's, slinging her arm across his chest, doing a sort of half hug. Emotion had also overwhelmed Rudy for he, too, started to cry.

As the two teens cried, laying close to each other for comfort and reassurance, they both were thinking the same thing.

They both hoped that Snap would find them in time. And that, soon, this nightmare would be over.

sss

Snap and Rapsheeba leaned against an old tree as they looked at the note for the next game. It was a little longer than the other riddles. They both read it out loud together.

It read:

"Insanity seems to run throughout this world
A story you should know was told
You've been trapped here once before
And it was your friend who had to endure
To reveal a secret that wasn't even there
A new enemy was born that you had to bear
An enemy that wouldn't listen to reason
An enemy that committed treason
In this world, everything is failure and a success
Bizzarre things here you will find in excess"

Just when he thought the riddles were becoming easier to understand, this one baffled him. He looked at Rapsheeba. She looked like she was having a hard time figuring it out. Far as he knew, this riddle involved something Rapsheeba wasn't a part of. The remaining riddles, Snap guessed would be things Rapsheeba couldn't help him with. Just like Bardot to make things harder for them.

He thought about the long riddle. He analyzed each line. They had to be telling him something. They were giving off hints of where the next area was. He stared at the card, rereading each line over and over again. His head was starting to hurt as he thought too hard. Unlike the other riddles, so far, no line here was jumping out of him. None of them were giving him an idea of what was being talked about here.

He started to panic a little. If he didn't figure out this riddle soon, Rudy and Penny would be... He had to keep trying. He kept rereading the riddle. There had to be something he missed. Something he hadn't even considered. But the more he read it, the more frustrated he became, and the harder it was to concentrate on figuring this out.

There had to be something he was missing, something he wasn't considering. He rubbed his head, trying to get rid of the headache that was taking him over. Rapsheeba looked at him sympathetically. She wanted to help him, but it was clear she had no ideas herself.

Snap couldn't give up. As hard as it was to figure this riddle out, he couldn't give up. He had come so far already. After this, there was only three more games left to play. They were over halfway done. They could do it...they could do it... He glanced at the paper again, rereading each line carefully. Slowly and deliberately... Then something caught his eye at long last.

An enemy that wouldn't listen to reason...an enemy that commited treason... There was one zoner Snap thought of that might fit that bill. There was Skrawl, but considering he changed sides, he had a feeling that wasn't what Bardot was referring to. There was still another that fit that description. One that Snap hadn't seen much of lately.

Craniac 4...

After that, everything else came like a lightning bolt in the back of his mind. Suddenly, the rest of the riddle started to make sense. Being trapped there before, yeah he and Penny were captured along with Rudy. But it was Rudy who ended up suffering, being interrogated by Craniac 3, though thankfully he wasn't injured in the process. Things being a success and a failure...that describes the Future Dome in a nutshell. A lot of things there worked but kinda didn't work.

A secret that wasn't there, that must have been referring to how Craniac 3 thought there was a secret to using the magic chalk, no matter how much he was told that only a human could wield it. Treason..when Craniac 4 was created, he immediately trashed Craniac 3 rather than team up with him. And then he, too, wouldn't listen to reason and tried to get Rudy's 'mater materializer'.

The Future Dome...that must be their next location. But it was raised above the ground. Just how were they going to get up there?

Snap turned to Rapsheeba. "Well...good news and bad news."

Rapsheeba looked at him worriedly. "What is it?"

"The good news: I know what the riddle is talking about. Bad news: I have no idea how we are going to get there." Snap said. He shifted his eyes skyward. "The next place is in the Future Dome."

Rapsheeba blinked at him. Her eyes widened a little. "But that place floats high above the ground. How does Bardot think we can...?"

"Maybe he has provided us a way to get up there." Snap said, his voice slightly bitter. "He wouldn't want his little 'game' ruined, so he probably thought ahead, now that I think of it, and provided a form of transport we can use to get up there, into the 'cereal bowl' as Rudy had called it." His mouth ticked slightly into a small smile.

"Cereal bowl?" Rapsheeba asked, looking confused.

"Rudy had a Dumb Dart in him." Snap said. "And oh boy did it work a little too well..." Snap recalled how stupid Rudy got the longer he had the dart in him. As funny as Dumb Dart Rudy was, he was glad they never had to experience that again.

"Oh I see..." Rapsheeba stared out ahead. "So which way is that?"

"It's this way." Snap said. He began to walk towards the left. He waved his hand at Rapsheeba, gesturing her to follow. "Let's hurry up and get there."

sss

"What? What happened?!" King Mumbo Jumbo stared at Skrawl, his eyes wide in absolute horror.

Skrawl knew he was going to react like this. Why wouldn't he? Barney was his best friend. When they were separated for so long, it had been hard on both of them. They missed each other so badly. Poor Barney even though his friend had died after all that time, and he blamed himself for it.

Since Master Tabootie had freed the king, that gave the long lost friends a lot of time to catch up and to spend some time together again. Skrawl had learned that Mumbo Jumbo had started to take care of Barney after he had gone blind, treating his injuries, but, thanks to Bardot, he was forced to believe that they were inflicted accidentally by Barney himself. And no matter what the king said, his friend never told a different story.

Being best friends for so long, Mumbo Jumbo had no reason to believe Barney would lie to him. He trusted his word, and did whatever he could to help him. He was clearly worried about how badly hurt Barney was getting. He kept an eye on him, but, from what Skrawl was told, it seemed any time he was away for a short time, he'd come back and find Barney injured again, sometimes rebreaking his legs or old wounds reopening. It was so bad that the king had suggested following Barney wherever he went, and was confused when Barney had turned it down.

And now, here stood Skrawl. He had just delivered to Mumbo Jumbo the truth of what was really going on. And just like he predicted, the tortoise didn't take the news very well. In fact, he was horrified, his green skin having lost a couple shades of color.

"I...I knew something was wrong... but I..." Mumbo Jumbo stammered, his voice shaky. "I had no idea it was...something like that..."

Skrawl nodded his head. "It came as a shock to me, too. I had never known anyone to seek out Barney to...hurt him like that... And this abuse has been going on for over a year." He shook his head. "Truly disgusting... At least he's safe for now."

"How is he...?" King Mumbo Jumbo asked, his eyes shimmering as tears started to form.

"Physically, he's a wreck. He was found out in the jungle by one of my Beanie Boys, barely alive. I guess Bardot didn't have a need for him anymore and tried to torture him to death." Skrawl said. Mumbo Jumbo gasped at this. "Mentally, he's not that well off. He's very shaken up and terrified by what happened, and I don't blame him. He doesn't want to be left alone for long periods of time. He says he's afraid that Bardot will come back to get him."

That was a real concern Skrawl had for the centipede zoner. He did convince one of the doctors to stay in the room with Barney after explaining the issue. But he didn't think that would be enough. He knew how close he and Mumbo Jumbo were, and the tortoise was a pretty strong zoner...

"I would like to take you to go see your friend." Skrawl said, looking at the king sympathetically. "He needs you right now. You can stay with him and help him feel safe."

Mumbo Jumbo nodded his head. He took in a shaky breath. The horrific news of his friend had affected him deeply. "Take me to him..." He said softly. A spark of anger flashed in his eyes. "And if I see Bardot..."

"I trust that you will make him regret ever laying a claw on your friend." Skrawl said, reading the king's mind.

"Yeah..." The tortoise zoner said, nodding his head. "You can bet on that."

sss

"Welcome to the seventh game. For this, let us go back to a childhood favorite. A simple game of hopscotch...but beware. Things aren't always as they seem. And if you aren't careful, you may lose another."

That was what the card had said. The last sentence terrified Snap. It was hinting, strongly, that in this game, he will lose Rapsheeba, and the remaining games, he'll be completely on his own. He didn't want Rapsheeba to suffer the same fate as Blocky. He would do whatever it took to ensure that Rapsheeba didn't lose this 'game'.

Hopscotch seemed like a too simple of a game. He thought Bardot could do better than that. But then his thoughts traveled to the first game. The scavenger hunt...and how easy the items were to get there... Snap's eyes widened. What if this game also hid a very horrific and surprising deathtrap? Several of the deathtraps came from below. He was careful of where he stepped.

Getting into the Future Dome wasn't too hard. Just like he had predicted, Bardot had left them a way inside. Not surprising. He wanted to continue the pain, the bastard...

The dome was still inhabited. He could still see many zoners living here walking around, enjoying their lives the best they could. But he didn't spend a lot of time looking at them; his mind was focused in reaching the location the next game would take place in. Luckily, none of the zoners here really talked to him or Rapsheeba, too preoccupied with trying to work an invention or crashing into things due to malfunctioning devices.

In the very center of the dome was where they found the card. And not long after reading it, the ground shifted just a little, revealing square shaped indentions that raised up a tad. Lines quickly formed, soon taking the shape of a hopscotch board, looking much like what a kid would draw. This time here was no timer, but the eerie glow of the hopscotch board made Snap apprehensive about starting.

A small rock rolled against Snap's foot. He knelt down and picked it up. He stared at Rapsheeba. "Are you ready to start this, queenie?"

She paused for a moment. Then she nodded. "Y-Yeah..."

With a flick of his wrist, Snap tossed the rock over. As it landed on a square, he went forward. It was hard with his bad leg, even worse since he couldn't use his walking stick to play effectively. But he managed, albeit slowly, to complete the hopscotch all the way to the end. He gestured for Rapsheeba to follow him.

Rapsheeba hopped along, taking care not to touch the square with the rock in it. Soon, she made it to the other side. And now it was time to go back. Rapsheeba went first, and then Snap. He had to fight against the pain as he knelt down to grab the rock without touching the square, and he made it to the other side. Snap wasn't sure how many times they'd have to do this before the deathtrap activated. But he had a feeling he would soon find out.

And he did.

When Rapsheeba tossed the rock and it landed on the dead center of the hopscotch board, something had activated. The whirring sound of machinery could be hard, things twisting and turning under their feet. Walls rose up all around them, blocking the bystander zoners from witnessing what was happening. The metallic ground rumbled and started to give way. With a scream, the two jumped onto the hopscotch board.

The hopscotch board began to break apart and separate, creating tall metal pillars. They each clung to one, barely enough room for them to stand on. They looked around, watching in horror as something began to fill the bottom of the floor up, going halfway. Something bubbling and clearly heated. It wasn't lava; it was the wrong color. It was too clear.

Snap's eyes widened in horror. It didn't take him long to realize what the stuff was. It was acid... Chalk acid but still acid nonetheless. And it was slowly rising...

He looked at Rapsheeba, horror etched on his face as well as hers. They looked at the pillars. They did form an escape route, but they were still so far apart... It would take all their strength and physical prowess, whatever was left of it, to get out of this one. And as Snap stood up, he cried out in shock as a piece of the pillar he stood on broke apart, landing in the acid below him. The sizzline sound sent chills through his body, causing his body to tremble in fear.

He heard cracking all around him. Slow, deliberate cracking... He realized, in horror, that they had a time limit to get out of this thing.

He turned to Rapsheeba and cried, "Hop! Hop for your life!"