Chapter 10 – Rescue
The voice was high for a male, sort of raspy and full of panic. "What?" Dustin asked as he turned to see what Bolt and Mittens were looking at. "HELP!" the bat called out again. Suddenly, the area behind them exploded, releasing Nightmare from the ground, like he had been digging. The bat never turned around; instead he made a beeline for the facility, "HELP!" he called out again. Bolt dashed out, skidding to a stop before he let loose a shot with his laser vision. The green light slammed into Nightmare, just before he was able to grab the two animals. "Dustin, get ready to catch them!" Bolt said, and Mittens swiped her paw, causing a powerful breeze to curl around the two and push them towards him. Dustin reached out, and let the two animals fall into his chest before wrapping his arms around them to hold them to him. "Get everyone inside, we'll deal with Nightmare!" Mittens said. Dustin did just what he was told, waving his arm to guide everyone into the base for safety. Rhino came rolling out, and the large mech of a hamster emerged from around his ball, "Let's take this guy down!" he said, and made the metal hamster charge while Mittens took to the sky, and Bolt dashed forward, launching several more of his lasers.
"Stop, stop. No, can't stop. Air's to hot, can't stop. It's ice!" Savage mumbled as she let her ship roam the skies. "Oh, dark. What's in the dark? Can't see, need glasses! Glasses? I'm not thirsty! No water on board!" her ranting erratic and the twitching of her body as she tried to overcome her madness increased. "Can't see. Can't SEE! I want to see!" she said as she began slamming one of her fists into the floor of her ship. "I WANT TO SEE HIM!" she called out and found her mind focusing, "I want to see him!" she said in a much calmer tone. "I have to see him again!" she said, and lifted herself up to her feet, looking the monitor straight on. "Take me to Dustin!" she ordered. The ship turned and began heading east; following a trail that only it could see. The pain in its cry echoed throughout the skies, but once again went completely ignored by its captain.
Bolt once again hit Nightmare in the chest with his green lasers, knocking the undead monster out of the sky for just a few seconds. He quickly regained his composure and flew off with Bolt Mittens and Rhino chasing him. Rhino grabbed Bolt by the scruff, spinning around once and tossing him to the creature. Bolt almost missed, until Mittens swiped her claws, letting the wind carry her husband to Nightmare's back. With a quick breath Bolt super barked Nightmare's wings, tossing the villain into a fall. Bolt held on tight as they both tumbled to the ground, Bolt being tossed away as they slammed into the dirt and pavement. "Uh!" Bolt groaned as he stood up. "You' haven't focused!" he heard a familiar voice say from behind him. Bolt turned around just in time to catch a black furred paw to the chin. "I'M BACK BABY!" Dark Bolt called out as he rushed forward, slamming his head into Bolt's chest. Mittens and Rhino slammed everything into Nightmare's new armor as they could, "Remember, all we have to do is stall until he runs out of energy!" Mittens said, and backed up as Nightmare tried to snip her in half with the pincers in his head. "That's going to take a while!" Rhino said as the inside of his ball lit up, "My scans show an abundance of energy, enough to power a small city for a year!" "Wait, how did he get that much energy?" Mittens asked.
Dark Bolt became relentless with his attacks. Slamming his head into Bolt only to push the dog away and strike him with laser vision and then super bark him away. Bolt had almost no time to get back to his feet. "I win!" Dark Bolt growled and suddenly disappeared in a loud blast. "GOOF!" he called out. Bolt, bruised and beaten, looked to the sky, once again seeing the large whale of a ship. "Savage?" he asked himself as Dark Bolt got to his paws. Bolt struggled, climbing to his paws as well, readying himself for another onslaught of attacks, only to hear the launch of a thousand more explosive spores shoot off from the ships open back. "Oh crud!" he said, and dashed to one side, dodging one of Dark Bolt's attacks. Bolt took off, running as quickly as he could to escape the two attacking enemies. The shower of explosives rained down from everywhere, causing Mittens and Rhino to dodge the spores as they fell to the earth. "She's gone crazy" Mittens said as she breathed a stream of fire from her mouth. The spore shriveled up instead, falling to the ground as harmless ash. "BOLT, RHINO!" Mittens called out, "They burn super quick. Fire stops them from exploding!" Bolt and his dark half looked to each other, and turned their heads up, spewing fire from their mouths. Dark Bolt breathed out his green flame while Bolt released a normal flame, red and orange in color, heating the air and cooking the spores in the sky. Dark Bolt glanced at Bolt through the corner of his eye, and lowered his head to let the flames torch his adversary, "HEY!" Bolt shouted as he dodged the attack and stopped his own flame, "I think the spores are more important right now!"
"Nothing's more important than our battle for supremacy!" Dark Bolt said gleefully, and was once again tackled by Mittens. "You just can't stop yourself can you?" Mittens asked as she let Dark Bolt slide away from her and her husband. "That's the first sensible thing I've ever heard you say!" he said to her.
"I can't believe it, there are two of them now!" Savage growled as she watched Bolt fight the darker version of himself. "I can't rest, I have to destroy them both!" she told herself, and pointed to the screen. "FIRE!" she called out. The ship twisted in mid air, and opened its mouth. The scream it let out as the energy built up between the two pincers on its head was the only warning the animals had. Bolt was quickly tacked by Mittens as she used her lightning claws to push him away, and Rhino turned away from Nightmare to run as quickly as the mech could go. The pincers opened, releasing the blast of energy to sail towards the ground. Dark Bolt simply let his ears fold down to his head, "Oh shit, not again!" he said to himself, and turned to run. It seemed as if the ball of energy followed him everywhere he went, and soon slammed into the ground on top of him. "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" was all he said as he faded back into shadows, moving quickly back into Bolt's mind.
The explosion cleared, and all was steady. Savage watched with bated breath as she waited for the dust to clear. Nightmare shot out of the dust, cracks riddling his shell and exoskeleton as he let his wings beat to let him hover there, glaring at the ship. "WHAT THE…" Savage screamed, and let the ship turn around.
Nightmare shot after the ship, chasing it. The two were just as fast as each other. "Once I absorb that ship, I'll be nearly invincible!" he shouted, and raced after it.
"NO!" Savage shouted, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" They continued their chaise, moving away from everyone else.
Bolt groaned as he lifted his head, "Oh, what hit me?" he asked. "I did, to get you away from that blast!" Mittens told him as she pressed the top of her head to the underside of his chin. "Where are we?" Bolt asked. Mittens smiled gently, "I don't really know." she said, "Our battle took us quite far away from the base, now we just have to find Rhino…" Realization hit them both at the same time, "RHINO!" they both called out, and stood up. "Where is he?" she asked. "Where was he when the blast hit?" Bolt asked in response. Suddenly they saw something, waving at them from across the impact point. Bolt picked Mittens up in one of his front legs, and raced off to meet up with whatever was waving at them.
When Bolt and Mittens arrived, Rhino was found, waving the large arm of the Rhinobot as if to tell them he was fine. "Oh!" Rhino said, and let the bot shrink into his ball, "You saw me!"
"Are you ok?" Bolt asked. "I sure am," Rhino said, "I was forced to use the Shortjump Generator in my Rhinobot to escape!" he said. "Short…Jump…Generator?" Mittens asked. "Yah, It's a short rage O-TIP that I installed into the system of my Rhinobot." he told them, "It's still in the prototype phase though, so this was its first real test." Bolt turned his head towards where the ship and Nightmare had flown off to, "Great, now she's being chased by Nightmare, and if he gets his mask on that ship…" he said. "He'll be unstoppable!" Mittens finished. "We can chase them with the O-TIP!" Rhino said in excitement, "OOOOOH! I can't wait. The new model's first test!" Bolt and Mittens turned to the hamster, "New model?" they both asked. "Angelira came up with a new recall system. Anyone it sends can also be recalled if something goes wrong or if they've been deployed with mal intent." he told them, "Just as well, anyone who's touching the one getting recalled can either be left behind or brought with, it's up to the Senshol to decide."
"Senshol?" Bolt and Mittens both asked at the same time. "I can see you two need an update, come with me and explore the wonders of Tarnildra!" Rhino told them and turned to make his way back to the base.
End Chapter 10