Chapter 29: Progressing Slowly

Back in the barn, Mega was finishing up telling Bolt some of their recent adventures and feats. Alpha, Delta and Flor had joined in, while Beta and Kass were with Jonathan and Peep inside this last one's house.

"Then I aimed at the truck and shot before it went any further. It was on fire moments later and exploded after that. We had to run, and fly, away from there."

"True. The next day Rhino showed us that through the news. By then I still had my… companion inside my head." Flor remembered.

"Well," The wolf stood up, with Rhino on his head. "I think Rhino and I have some memories to find. So, we're going."

"Yes, we're going!" The hamster said enthusiastically.

The wolf and the rodent both left the barn, moving towards the city.

"Mittens," Byte called as they left. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," She answered, getting up.

Both moved a little away from the rest, without leaving the barn.

"Well," the she-wolf began. "We know that for those two to find the memories it will take an eternity."

Mittens nodded, and then they both heard Mega complain, "Hey, a little faith won't hurt you."

Byte ignored the comment and continued, "But it's not the only way we can get your puppy back. If we get him to fall in love with you again and you give him a proof of your love strong enough, like a kiss, his heart will impose on his mind and he'll remember everything."

"How does that work?" The cat asked curiously.

"Well, Master always dealt with the three skill steps. First one is the brain. It's guided by logic and reason, as well as relying on the five basic senses. It's a good one, but not the best option. Cheating the brain is extremely easy, just like cheating the senses. Surely Rhino must've seen a couple of T.V. shows that prove you that, and play mind games with you. Also, its calculations may fail. Second and third complement each other. They can work independently but do so much better when together. The second is your nonphysical mind. Very skillful, and all of the extraordinary things come from here, or they start here, but it can be like a small child: If you don't keep it occupied with something, it can get distracted very, very easily. It can take a whole lifetime to calm the mind, which is said to give inner peace, but that's for later. The third step is the heart; not the organ itself, but rather all the things associated to it. Most of the premonition lies here, like a permanent memory. The peak of someone's ability is defined by the heart, by how you let yourself be guided by your positive feelings. Bolt's memories were erased from his brain and mind, but not from his heart. That spark is still there, and it's our job to revive it."

"But there's something you're not considering, Byte," Helang intervened from the top of a beam. "The spark is there, but for something to burn it needs fuel, otherwise the slightest draft will turn it off. Bolt's memories of Mittens are that fuel."

"Then we'll make more fuel," Byte replied. "Ready to re-teach your loved one how to be a normal dog?"

Mittens smiled. "Sure, it'll be fun."

"Let's go then," Byte smiled too.

"Don't go away from here." Helang told them.

"We won't."

Byte and Mittens approached Bolt.

"Bolt?"

"What is it, Mittens?"

"Could you accompany me outside?"

"Sure," Then he stopped. "But, uh, Helang told us not to leave the barn."

"That's why I'm going with you," Byte spoke up.

Bolt nodded and stood up, then followed both girls out of the barn.

"Very well, Bolt, we're gonna teach how to be a normal dog."

"Haven't we gone through this before, Mittens?"

"Yes, but we've decided that until we get your memories back this is the best thing to do."

"O-Okay," Bolt said a little doubtful.

Soul's P.O.V.

This could be getting out of control. I don't want to judge the skills or wisdom the pillar possess, but things are pretty screwed there, so I'll just… see what I can find.

As usual, I asked the superior beforehand.

"Hey, sorry to ask but…"

"Not this time. No matter what you say, the answer is no." He answered immediately. A silence formed and I even considered the possibility of leaving before he said something else. "The answer is in the records."

"Yes, I know as much. But for that answer I have to know the identity of whoever's leading that organization. I need to know who it is, why did it fell into the shadows. I need that information!" You know, it's said that you find a lot of peace when you die… but I was getting really, really frustrated.

"Your physical friends hold the answer you seek."

"How?"

"You know two females that worked for him. If you ask the right question, you'll have access to the records of the dark being that your team is facing."

"That's not possible; Beta has told me a million times, the stranger's always covered. Nobody knows his identity, not even what species he is. For the love of… He could be a mosquito! A mosquito! The greatest dark mind of our times could be a mos-qui-to!"

"Well then, go find your mosquito." And after that he just cut off communication with me.

Great, the most helpful conversation I've had since I got here.


Meanwhile, Mega and Rhino were looking around for a shadow in the city.

"I never imagined seeing so little shadow activity in these days. By now I expected something like a burning store or an… attack of some type."

"Are they that crazy?"

"It's like they get injected with sugar, Rhino. Dark sugar. The move like drunks, like crazy and don't stop… Oh, look." Something had caught Mega's attention and he approached an alley. "Hey, here's where I met Bolt… or where I made contact with him."

"Really?" Rhino asked. "How was that?"

"Well, Bolt came out that morning tracking our scents and ended up here, he was probably hungry so he entered the alley and…"

"Hey! What are you doing in my alley?!"

"And this guy showed up."

Mega turned and found the Pitbull, still with the scar he had caused. However, something seemed different in him. "Look, buddy, I don't want to punch you again, we were just passing by."

The Pitbull chuckled somberly. "Maybe you won that time, but this time I've got a power you'll never understand and…"

"Let me guess, 'that will give you eternal glory without the need of rigorous training, with guaranteed results at the moment you wake up'? Yes, I've heard that propaganda." Mega stepped into combat position. "The thing is, buddy, that stopping animals that are foolish enough to believe that, like you, is what I do for a living."

The Pitbull growled and his eyes began to glow in dark tones, then he threw himself at Mega. "Rhino, we've just found our shadow. No we only have to get it to talk." Mega moved out of the way quickly and bit the Pitbull's tail, making him howl in pain. The wolf then gave him a blow in the head, leaving the dog stunned and almost knocked out. The Pitbull got up a few seconds later, his eyes brighter now.

"Fine, we'll do it the hard way." The dog made a shrill noise that forced both of them to cover their ears. A few moments later a couple of shadows appeared in the entrance to the alley. "Now meet my friends."

Rhino began to focus his energy to help Mega in battle, but to his surprise the wolf ran off, jumping over the shadows blocking the entrance.

"What? Mega, what…?"

"We promised to leave if there was more than one, remember?"

"Too bad, I was getting my sphere ready…"

"Wait!" Mega stopped dead. "Don't stop. We have to make sure they don't follow us." Rhino nodded and placed his paws near each other. "At least it wasn't a total waste of time. We now know the unfortunate shadow that will tell us the location of Bolt's memories."

Mega began running again and Rhino loaded the first sphere. He turned back and saw both shadows following them.

"Taste… the fury of Rhino!" He threw the sphere to one of them, who didn't seem to care until it was lying on the floor, immobile.

"Good shot, one more, Rhino!"

"A moment, please…" The hamster began to charge again. This time, however, the shadow moved out of the way when he shot. "Damn it!"

"Got out of the way?"

"Yes,"

"Typical. The first one won't care, the second one will, and dodge. Okay," Mega reached a corner and turned right, slowing down in the process. Then he whispered, "When it reaches the corner and turns to follow us, you shoot."

Rhino charged a sphere and kept quiet. A few seconds passed before the shadow turned in the corner still in persecution.

"Now!" Mega shouted.

Rhino wasted no time and shot. The shadow was so close it had no time to react and fell flat to the ground.

"Well, let's go notify Helang of this. We've found our talking shadow, heh; I bet the girls are not progressing so fast." Mega said before running off to the barn.

When they both saw Penny's house in the distance, they could also appreciate that Bolt was outside in the garden along with Mittens and Byte. There was a branch in the floor near them, so they supposed the girls had been reminding Bolt how to do common things. Mega began to hum as she approached her sister, who was talking to Bolt.

"Hi, girls," He waved when they were close.

They both turned to see him and answered the greeting. "Hi," Then Byte spoke. "Back so soon?"

"Let's say that we found someone to interview. But he wasn't alone and we made a promise to Helang. And by the way, we have to inform him." Mega headed for the barn, still with Rhino on his back, and began humming again.

Byte stopped him. "Wait a second, are you humming?"

"Yeah, something wrong with that?"

Byte's eyes widened. "I can't believe it, you're nervous!"

"What? Of course not!" Mega defended himself.

"Yes you are! That's the song Master sang to us, you only repeat it when you're nervous about something."

"Not true!"

"Yes, it is."

"Fine, say whatever you want. I have the right to hum and sing whenever I want to." Without saying more, Mega hurried into the barn.

"Why would he be nervous?" Bolt asked.

"I guess it's just the pressure. We don't know anything about the whereabouts of your memories, and even if they found a shadow to interrogate, it could be weeks before he did so." Byte paused. "Well, as I was telling you, it's the heart the one that guides you to reach your true potential. When you don't know what to trust, you can use your heart and listen to it. Mittens told me how you reacted when they told you about your adventure."

"Yes," The dog recalled. "I had a lot of doubts about all of that, but there was something inside of me telling me it was true."

"It is true, and you two are inseparable."

Bolt turned to see Mittens, who smiled at him. The dog began to get lost in those green eyes and blushed slightly, without saying anything. She didn't look away either and slowly began to move towards him. When they were inches away, she suddenly embraced him, and he corresponded such gesture, still with his cheeks red.

"We're back," Mega's voice sounded suddenly nearby. "What's up?"

The two of them parted quickly. "Nothing," Byte responded instead of them. "What did Helang tell you?"

"Well, in two days, we'll go shadow-hunting. Then we'll make it talk and get Bolt's memories back." The wolf announced proudly.

"So it is; we'll recover those memories or my name's not Rhino the superhamster."

Meanwhile, in a building almost totally abandoned, four young shadows were working with someone's memories.

"So…" Bud was saying. "Are you gonna move those memories for the dog to think we're on his side?"

"Not only that," Shade replied. "We'll move a couple other things too. But first we have to access them."

"We can't change anything at the moment," Alex went on. "I know we asked for month and a half, but I was expecting to unlock them in no more than a day."

"Why is it so difficult?" James asked.

"I'm not sure, I guess it has something to do with… luminosity or lightness or something like that. The dog is very affiliated with the light, it'll probably take us half a week to actually unlock them…"

"The good news is that, once we do, we can turn all that light into darkness, right, Shade?"

"Oh, yeah."

Both Bud and James went silent, since the brains were Alex and Shade, they couldn't make many comments on the topic. "Well, I would prefer to directly attack the group. I haven't fought well in a while."

"Actually, I think a stealth attack would do best."

"You say that because you're not good at fighting." Bud said.

"You're only good because of your complexion! Look at you! You're a giant shadow, you'll win in combat 'cause you're bigger. It's better to be stealthy, cautious…"

"Blah, blah, blah; To hell with stealth, James, I could go and crush them."

"Well, I could get close and steal information without them realizing."

"Can you both shut up?" Shade interjected. "You are just like our mentor and his companion, fighting for any stupid thing."

"But you're right,"

"Who's right, Alex?"

"You three," He replied.

"What?" The all asked.

"Well, the important part of this is altering the memories, but we could go further than that. When he gets them back, his friends will try and stop him from doing anything stupid. That's where our ideas come in, we need a method to ensure that the dog will arrive to this base with his memories altered inside."

"Well then, that's why your name's Alex."

"What does that has to do with anything, Shade?"

"Don't you know who Alexander the Great is?" They all shook their heads. "Ush, forget it! But Alex is right. If we go further, we could impress our mentor and his partner, and win like a promotion or something."

"I like the way you guys think,"

"Yeah, I'm in too."

"Okay, but let's keep working for now."

From the outside of the room, both shadows were watching the younglings work.

"The kids have a skillful mind, I never expected them to come up with those ideas, not one of them."

"I know, I haven't thought about it either. Should we help them?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I've just decided that this will be their test. Their performance in this task will decide their position within the organization."

"And when did you decide that?"

"Half a minute ago."

"Let me see, you've just decided that you're gonna evaluate my students in an assignment that's not official and give those reports to the boss?"

"Totally." The shadow stared at its partner with a look of displeasure. "What? Don't tell me you like the kids."

"No, but they've just finished their training. They can do other assignments before being tested."

The elite shadow thought for a moment. "Fine, but I'll still record their methods and progress. For register only."

"Whatever," The shadow moved towards the exit, but before it could leave someone came in running.

"Sir!" The stranger knocked down the shadow and stood on top of it. "I have something to report!" It was the Pitbull.

The elite shadow began to burst out laughing, while the other one was underneath the dog. "Okay… but get off."

"What? Oh, sorry, sir." The Pitbull moved away from the shadow and let it get up. "I have important news."

"What did you find?"

"The wolf and the rat, both of them in my alley a few hours ago… but they ran away when found I wasn't alone."

"Cowards, then…" The elite shadow sentenced.

"No, you idiot. They're aware that today we have the upper hand, that's why they left."

"Do you know what they were doing in your alley?" The elite shadow continued, ignoring its companion.

"No, sir, but they weren't planning to stay there. They moved from one place to another, as if…"

"Looking for something." The shadow finished. "They must be looking for one of us."

"And why would they do that, pea brain?"

The shadow stared angrily at its companion. "They're probably looking for someone who can tell them the location of the memories."

"What shall we do about it?" The Pitbull asked.

The elite shadow smiled darkly. "Well…"


And it's up to here for now. One week, just one week. And I still dare say the best is yet to come. Thanks for reading, thanks for following, favoriting, thanks for supporting, my special thanks to Basbon and his ever-present reviews, and to tOSdude too. Thanks guys, I really appreciate your support. Anyway, guess that's all I have to say right now, nos vemos luego!