Our heroes are recovering from the ordeal with Bardot. But a new foe arises when the black chalk in Rudy rears its ugly head. Now a war must be fought while Rudy, Penny and Snap must find a cure for Rudy's black chalk poisoning. And to find it, they may have to travel to other universes where familiar faces hide horrible realities… Written by DarkHououmon.
Can be read here
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Catch a Brief Reflection provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: The main reason for Light Rudy's increased aggression is because a car accident caused his parents to suddenly treat him horribly, abusing him both physically and mentally.
- A Fate Worse Than Death: Comically induced when Nihilanth is finally stopped. He is stripped of his power, reduced to an adorable chibi version, and trapped inside a thick glass where he will forever be an attraction for zoners, the same species he had previously tried to annihilate.
- Played much more seriously with Mr. Wilter. Having been lobotomized, Mr. Wilter is forced to stay at a hospital where, even five years later, he is still recovering his mental abilities.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Rudy struggles throughout the story to stop the black chalk and its artists from taking over ChalkZone. Thanks to Nihilanth, he ends up becoming the thing he fears the most.
- Anyone Can Die: A number of characters die in this story, more so than in the previous incarnations. The main dimension has enough death, but coupled with what happened in the alternate dimensions, and you have yourself a gigantic blood bath of unprecedented levels.
- Vinnie is killed by Mr. Pierce when he tried to stop him from killing the parents.
- Terry is also killed by Mr. Pierce, who them uses her as a way of framing Mr. Tabootie for murder.
- Both Blotz and Zibble are killed painfully by Ghadir, who proceeds to eat them.
- The Atoner: Light Rudy, upon realizing his horrible mistakes and breaking out of the shell he had formed for himself, does what he can to try to make amends for his horrible actions. It is him who ends up being responsible for Howdy surviving later on, when he sends Jacko into the main dimension.
- Jacko of the light dimension is also this to some extent.
- Big Bad: Jenny.
- Big Bad Ensemble: A ton more here than in the previous stories. There's Jenny and her crew, Draow and Bardot, the anti-human group, Luminos, and that's not even getting into the alternate dimensions or the appearance of Nihilanth.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Jenny. Believed to be a harmless if eccentric school nurse; really Mr. Cosmo's partner and Love Interest who's as bad if not worse as he was.
- Bittersweet Ending: Rudy's left eye is useless, Sophie's lost a leg and had to get a prosthetic, Snap is missing an arm, Howdy is wheelchair-bound, Terry is dead as are numerous zoners and Penny requires a cane but Mrs. Sanchez and Mr. Longhorn are happily married, Dark World zoners as well as Dark World Mrs. Saffron are settling in nicely, the remaining black chalk-users are behind bars, Mr. Wilter is slowly recovering from his lobotomy and Chalk Zone is safe.
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Ghadir loves the taste of chalk and enjoys eating zoners.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Oh hell yes. While "Sinful Behaviors" had disturbing imagery and "Play The Game" had the torture scenes with Rudy and Penny, as well as Bardot ripping Snap apart, this story is littered with graphic depictions of violence and lots of death.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Nihilanth might be trying to destroy the world, but he really does believe that doing so would help him create a new world with no pain or suffering, where everyone is strong and the weak no longer exist.
- Light Rudy believes that so long as he maintains complete control and domination of ChalkZone, they'd never have to worry about another new threat coming in.
- Body Horror: Rudy spends a portion of the story infected with a chalk virus that is slowly changing his internal organs into chalk. If left to continue, it will cause his internal organs to be melted by his own internal fluids.
- Character Development: Bardot undergoes massive character development throughout the story. In the beginning, he is his usual, cruel, sociopathic self. Then later, after being kidnapped and tortured by Jenny and used like a battery, his attitude starts to change. The author says the reason for this is because Jenny's torture of him causes Bardot to slowly lose his red chalk half, and thus his feral side is, more or less, dying. Near the end of the story, not only does Bardot willingly help out, but even saves Mr. Wilter's life, something he never would have done before.
- Dr. Urso seriously upgrades in this story. In the past two stories, he was relegated to just being one of the doctors. This story? While he starts off as just one of the doctors, when the Luminos raises their ugly head and Dr. Raiden is proven to be one of them, Dr. Urso doesn't hesitate to do what he can to help stop them. His efforts save Blocky and Rapsheeba and later on, Rudy, Penny, and Snap. He also has some encounters with Dr. Raiden and shows the reality of being a bear/lion hybrid.
- Black Chalk Rudy returns in this story as Dark Rudy. In the first story, he was just a near mindless, violent puppet that the black chalk was corrupting. Come this story, and he's upgraded into a calmer, more calculating villain, though not to the same extent as Light Rudy.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Several examples in this story. To name a few:
- Jenny, Ghadir, and Tyreek torturing Snap with water and Sophie with a knife.
- Jenny using Bardot as a literal battery.
- Dr. Raiden inducing severe mental torture on Snap by telling him his friends were dead. He does the same to Rapsheeba and Blocky by telling them Snap was dead.
- In Nihilanth's mind, Barney is tortured by Corrupted Rudy, which includes having his wings destroyed.
- Light Rudy forcing a zoner to drink real world liquid, namely vinegar.
- The Corruption: Unfortunately the black chalk is still in Rudy…and it's getting stronger…
- Dark Fic: Considering what it's a sequel to, this shouldn't be a surprise.
- Dark Is Evil: The black chalk. Also Dark Rudy and Nihilanth's black side. His white side is no better, though.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Dark World Snap and Mrs. Saffron are extremely battle-hardened but goodhearted.
- Doorstopper: This story is massive, easily over twice as long as the past two stories combined. It is a million and a half words long.
- Easily Forgiven: Averted. While Light Rudy is given the chance to atone for his crimes, it's clear he's not forgiven yet and it will take a long time before anyone trusts him, even his former best friends.
- Enemy Mine: The red chalk agrees to help the heroes fight the black chalk. Although its motivations aren't exactly noble...
- Et Tu, Brute?: Light Penny and Snap call their Rudy out for abusing them and crippling Snap since they're supposed to be his friends. It's one of the things he's most guilty about after his Heel–Face Turn.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Bardot might be a serial killer who loved to torture his victims, but even he finds the idea of destroying all of ChalkZone as horrifying.
- The red chalk thinks the black chalk takes things way too far.
- Evil Me Scares Me: To say Rudy was disturbed by Dark Rudy and Light Rudy is an understatement.
- Eye Scream: Rudy's left eye is a frequent target in the story. It all began with Jenny slashing it with glass, and it just goes on from there. The story ends with all of this adding up and Rudy suffers partial visual loss in that eye.
- Fantastic Racism: The black chalk artists really hate zoners. A trait purposely given as the black chalk is dissatisfied with them.
- The Luminos are a reverse, as they hate humans. They also hate human-loving zoners by extension.
- Freudian Excuse: Light Rudy wants to dominate ChalkZone so that he doesn't lose further control of his life after his parents suddenly began to abuse him.
- From Bad to Worse: This story has a habit of having the characters seem to be on the brink of something, only for the carpet to be yanked out from underneath them.
- Greater-Scope Villain: For a time, Nihilanth and the black chalk was this, being responsible for the black chalk artists' existence, including Mr. Cosmo himself. They upgrade to Big Bad during the later duration of the story.
- God Is Evil: Nihilanth created ChalkZone. Now he wants to destroy it.
- He Who Fights Monsters: In a fanatical effort to keep ChalkZone safe, Light Rudy managed to slowly turn himself into one of these.
- Heel–Face Turn: Bardot, of all zoners, undergoes this.
- Dr. Raiden, and then soon after, all of the Luminos, undergo a shift.
- Light Rudy, upon realizing the error of his ways.
- Horror Hunger: Ghadir's taste in chalk is portrayed rather horrifically.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Ghadir mainly targets sentient zoners because she finds it more fun.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: After significant character development, Bardot rescues Mr. Wilter from being killed by Ghadir. He manages to impale her with a large hook which incapacitates her for the rest of the story.
- Kick the Dog: Both alt!Rudies have at least one moment of this trope.
- Dark Rudy murdered his Penny prior to the story and proceeds to taunt Dark Snap about it before killing him as well...and messily at that.
- Light Rudy arrests a zoner for a Felony Misdemeanor and forces them to drink vinegar that then dissolves them from the inside out, which is implied to be a common punishment. He's also incredibly emotionally abusive of his Penny and Snap (with physical abuse heavily implied given how terrified they are of upsetting him) and crippled the latter, with the affects heavily implied to be permanent.
- Kill the Cutie: Dark Rudy had absolutely no qualms about killing his former friend, impaling Alt-Snap with his sword before breaking his neck and is stated to have been responsible for killing Alt-Penny before the events of the story.
- Lack of Empathy: The black chalk artists hold no real concern for anyone other than each other.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Dark Rudy turned against his friends and family, killed everyone he ever cared about, helped to bring about the destruction of ChalkZone, helped to enslave the zoners, and has a strong loyalty to Mr. Cosmo. Near the end, Mr. Cosmo decides he's not needed anymore and orders Draow to kill him. While Dark Rudy does realize his folly, unlike Light Rudy, it's too late for him to make amends and he ends up dying before he even has a chance.
- Light Rudy has spent a few years ruling ChalkZone with an iron fist, tormenting its citizens and even his friends. He's a power hungry tyrant who won't settle for anything less than total control. He ends up having all of this bite him back in the ass in the end when the tides slowly turn against him. This does serve as a wake up call, however, and he eventually changes his ways.
- Throughout much of its history, Nihilanth has tried to wipe out ChalkZone to create a new world. By the end of the story, he is completely trapped and powerless, rendered as nothing more than a cute attraction for the beings he had deemed inferior.
- Light Is Not Good: Light World Rudy and the Light World itself. Also truly sentient white chalk.
- The Solar Pillars. The light around it causes a slow corruption in Rudy if he steps into it, and the light used in the large beam weapon decimated the land around it to the point where the only ground left is so thin that it's see-through.
- Lobotomy: Mr. Wilter suffers this courtesy of Jenny.
- Oh, Crap!: Sophie has this reaction when Jenny pulls out a spray bottle with real world water in it after she and Snap have been kidnapped.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Nihilanth wants to destroy both ChalkZone and the real world.
- Poisoned Weapons: Thanks to special properties of the black chalk, Jenny creates a dart of poison, which causes Reggie to die.
- Sadistic Choice: Jenny imposes a rather cruel one on Snap. Either he stabs himself and Sophie in the stomach, or they both die.
- Later in the story, Nihilanth forces Rudy to choose between either stepping into the light and being corrupted or watching his friends perish.
- Self-Made Orphan: Dark Rudy killed his own parents on the behest of Mr. Cosmo.
- Ship Tease: Ironically, a very touching version shows up in a return to the Light World where Light Rudy is being permitted to cuddle with Light Penny, who is treating him very gently and seems to be pleased with the progress he's making.
- The Villain Knows Where You Live: Played horribly straight. Jenny, the main villain, is the school nurse.
- They Died Because of You: Jenny blames Rudy for Mr. Cosmo's death when she finds out about it.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Bardot becomes much nicer throughout the course of the story, mostly thanks to the loss of his red chalk half and increased mental understanding and newfound remorse for his past actions.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When Mr. Cosmo in the dark dimension sees fit to 'start over' with a new corrupted Rudy, he quickly disposes of Dark Rudy.
- Would Hurt a Child: Jenny. Best demonstrated when she kidnaps Sophie and Snap and has Ghadir torture Snap with a water bottle spray to make Sophie tell her where she got the magic chalk.
- Definitely Ghadir. The fact that she hunted and killed two little children is proof of this.
