"Bolt. Look at me," Mittens instructed as she leaped onto the gigantic billboard. Bolt thought she was going to fall, and he braced himself, but she steadied herself. Bolt gazed up at the board and realized that he was on there, along with one of the evil Englishman, Penny, and Calico. Hostility rose in his belly at the sight of the green-eyed man, and he growled.
"No, Bolt. Stop it. Look at her." Mittens indicated at Penny with her tail. "You think she's real? Huh?" She moved on to the picture of him, using his "strong-stare" tactic. "You think this is real? And this?" She rested her tail-tip on Calico. "You think he's real? And what about Penny? You really think she's being chased by bad guys?"
Bolt flattened his ears. "Mittens this is ridiculous," she growled.
"No, Bolt," Mittens hissed. "Penny is not real. She's not in danger. In fact, she's perfectly fine. You know how Rhino said he watched you all the time when we first met him?"
Bolt narrowed his eyed. "Mittens he's a-"
"No," Mittens repeated. Her tail-tip twitched with annoyance and impatience. "He is not a phantom. You're on a television show, Bolt. Little kids and animals watch you all the time. Penny is not real. She's not Penny. She doesn't really love you. She's using you."
Shock crashed over Bolt like a muddy wave. It made sense about the Rhino part, and that he wasn't a phantom, but his mind swirled at the thought of Penny using him for TV show. He forced himself to not believe Mittens. After all, what did she know? She was just some random everyday alley cat who joined his adventure of searching for Penny. "You don't know-"
"No, Bolt," Mittens hissed for the third time. "You think I don't know humans? They don't care about you. They don't love you. They say they do, but one day they pack up their stuff and take their loved ones with them and leave their lonesome stupid cat behind…" Mittens trailed off, leaping off the billboard and landing softly on the sandy ground. "Wondering… what she did wrong…"
Bolt's heart ached for Mittens, but he still didn't believe her. He stared at the ground, wondering what to say. Silence bounced back and forth between cat and dog. Finally he forced himself to choke out, "I'm sorry, Mittens, but…" he hesitated. "Penny's not like that."
Mittens' eyes narrowed as she focused on the earth floor. Finally she glared up at Bolt, her green eyes blazing with anger and desperation.
"Then go," she growled.
Bolt's head jolted back in surprise. "W-what?" he stammered.
"I said, go!" Mittens snarled.
"But-"
"Just leave me!"
His heart brimming with pain and sorrow, he padded slowly away from her, only to glance back and say, "You take care, Mittens."
Noticing that Mittens did not accept his words, he trailed along, grief making him slow. His eyes watered, but he forced back the tears. He was Bolt. He would stay strong. Noticing a nearby truck parked by a gas station, he charged towards it and leaped onto a sofa on the truck. Hours seemed like moons as he was carried across the highway. Realization spread across him as he spotted the word, "California," and he bounced off the couch, tumbling onto the grassy slope. He raced towards a nearby fence and gazed down a huge hill which seemed like a mountain. Below him stood the familiar city of his destination. He'd made it.
For a moment joy surged through him, only to be replaced by sadness. Mittens and Rhino did not make it with him all the way. Bolt ran along the fence, looking for an entrance hat did not send him tumbling down the hill.
Meanwhile, Mittens stared at the trash lid filled with food, but they looked like rubbish. She wondered where Bolt was by now. She heard the familiar sound of Rhino as he rolled into the huge clearing, mumbling about food heaven.
He stopped mid-way and stared at her, totally bewildered. "Where's Bolt?" he demanded.
Mittens searched for something to say without upsetting the little hamster too much. "He's uh… gone," she replied.
Rhino's eyes widened to as big as a saucer. "Gone?" he repeated.
"Yeah." Mittens stared at the concrete floor of the trash hallway. "B-but before he left he wanted me to tell you that he wanted to travel the rest of the journey… alone."
After a few heartbeats of silence, Rhino's face screwed up in determination. He rolled his way out of the clearing and turned right, declaring something persuasive about how Bolt wouldn't survive and that if there was one thing he'd learned it was to never leave a friend to face danger by his own.
Mittens noticed his mistake and called, "you went the other way!"
And so Rhino came back, still talking, and rolled left. Mittens stared at her make-shift plate once again, gulped down some sausages, and then made her way out of the building, too. She wasn't going to let Bolt travel alone.
