Chapter 35: Multiple situations

Bolt ran without stopping once until he returned to the group, studying which would be the best way to analyze something and then receive some sort of stimulus that he had previously received. It was a little confusing. When he arrived he found that Beta was missing, besides Kass of course; but he didn't have it any importance, for he wanted to begin as soon as possible.

"Guys!" He shouted from a distance. "I found a way of remembering!"

"Really?" Bolt nodded. "How?"

"Apparently it's a small process, Mega," The shepherd answered. "It seems that first I have to put my head to work, thinking or analyzing a complex problem. Then I have to go through something that has happened before, and with that I will remember something related to that situation."

"How did you get to that conclusion?"

"Kass helped me."

"You saw Kass?!"

Oops, I think I said too much. Think of something, now! "Uh, yeah. I… I bumped onto him while I was thinking. The fact is that I was thinking heavily, and then Kass said that everything would be fine, even if it wasn't. As soon as he said it I remembered that I had said that to Mittens somewhere before. The same thing happened with the claws: The night before I was thinking a lot and then she did something similar to the first time."

"Interesting," Helang said. "It seems to be an effective method."

"Yeah, but it doesn't work completely. I can barely remember some images."

"But you're already remembering things. Put it into practice."

"Sure," Then Bolt's curiosity won. "Uh, where's Beta?"

Meanwhile, at camp…

"Those filthy wolves. They're a nuisance. And the hawk, ha, with his stupid meditation; I never did any of that and…"

"And you ended up tied in a tree," A voice interrupted him.

"Who's there?" The Pitbull growled.

From the trees a Labrador Retriever emerged, with light brown fur. "I am here,"

"What are you doing here? Did you come to tell me a joke or something?"

"You're naive, you're ignorant. You're… are you new?"

"New?" The Pitbull asked.

"Yes, you are. Then we haven't been introduced," Beta made a slight gesture with her paw. "Elite shadow AJ3752; pleasure to meet you."

"Wait a second; are you… one of them? Of the two legendary shadows?"

"Then you've heard of us."

"Of course, no one in the organization hasn't… but we were told that we had lost you."

"Unfortunately, we lost my partner. Flor was purified and her shadow is dead. I, on the other hand, managed to fake it pretty well, if I do say so myself. Everyone on the group thinks I'm with them."

"What are you doing here?"

"They sent me to infiltrate their lines with my companion. I lost communication with the base after I got here, so I don't know any news; I need you to tell me the plan, so I can help you."

The Pitbull was about to talk when he got a doubt. "Wait a second. If you're one of us, why did you attack the messenger?"

"Because I could've blown it if I didn't. That's why you have to be strong to go undercover, you gotta be prepared to hit some of your comrades to be convincing. Now tell me what I need to know."

"Sure. It's a trap…"

"Wait," Beta interrupted and turned around. "They're calling me; if I don't go I could raise suspicions. We'll finish this conversation later."

"It'll be a pleasure to cooperate with one of the greats."

Beta smiled at the Pitbull and ran off to Penny's house. "Poor, hopeful, guy," She muttered as she ran.

The Pitbull stood where he was. "Well, she's a good actress. I really thought she was with them. I can't tell her everything, but a little part."

Beta arrived at Penny's house fifteen minutes later. "What is it, dad?"

"I'm sorry, I know he was about to speak, but apparently Bolt found a way to recover his memory."

"It doesn't matter, he already said that it's a trap; I'll ask him for details later. But regarding what you said, how is he recovering his memories?"

"He's not, not yet. He discovered that if he puts his head to think heavily and then go through something he's already been through, then he remembers a little related to that situation."

"Then we'd have to give him something to think about while we re-live previous experiences."

"The thinking part is already settled. He's already thinking in something, though he didn't tell what. The rest is what you said."

Beta looked around. "That's why neither he, nor Mittens, nor Rhino are here."

"Yep."

"And the others?"

"We've no idea about Kass; Jonathan, Peep and Flor went out with their persons. And your siblings are playing with uncle Helang and aunt Byte."

"Then let's go play with them."

Mega smiled. "Let's go with them."

At the time Mega and Beta joined the others to play three other situations were taking place in three other places. In the park, Jonathan, Peep and Flor were playing with Diego and Fer.

"Go get it, boy!" Diego said as he threw a ball.

"Mine! I… have it!" Peep ran after the ball; he jumped to catch it mid-air, but didn't reach the toy and fell flat to the ground.

"Peep!" Flor ran up to him. The dog had his face into the ground and he was shaking a little. She assumed the little guy was crying, and such was her surprise when he turned around, laughing out loud. "What's the matter? Why are you laughing?"

"Because it… was funny."

"Of course not, it's not fun for you to get hurt."

"No… not hurt," As he said, he wasn't hurt at all. "Besides… laughing at yourself… is good."

"What? Why?"

"Because it relaxes things a lot," Jonathan said, coming closer to them. "Good flight, man, but you should practice the landing." Peep smiled and the Alaskan malamute turned to Flor. "Peep thinks that laughter is a good way to disappear any negative emotion, even if it involves laughing at oneself or at something silly."

"Because… laughter disappears problems… Besides, if a problem… has a solution… then worrying is… a waste of time. If there's no solution… worrying is… a waste of time. Better just… laugh a little."

Peep's smile ended up making an influence, and Flor began to smile, too. "So… if I do this," She pushed him back to the floor.

Peep laughed again for a few seconds before getting up. "I… will do this!" And he did the same to Flor, and then ran off. "Now catch me… if you can!"

Flor stood up and started chasing Peep, both of them laughing as they scampered through the park. Jonathan stayed by the ball and made a serious expression. I will do everything in my power to keep you out of this, my friend. I won't let anything happen to you.

Penny's P.O.V.

I was meditating in my room, I had been doing that a lot recently, I wasn't even leaving for food or water. I guess it's part of what Soul mentioned I could achieve. And speaking of the devil…

"Hi, I hope I'm not interrupting."

"Not really; I think I was able to foresee your arrival."

"Really? That's cool. Unfortunately, what I'm here to tell you is not."

"Oh, no. What happened, Soul?"

"It… looks like we're not gonna be able to help you out of here as planned."

"And why's that?"

"It's… complicated, and long to explain."

"I have plenty of time, Soul."

He let out a sigh, of those he makes when he's going to talk about something he doesn't like. "Well, I was looking at the records among possible futures and I found one that's complicated. I can't tell you what happens in it, but if it happens, you could be here… until after New Year."

"Why are you telling me this?" Those were things I didn't want to know.

"Because I don't want to give you false hope. I really hope that you understand why I'm doing this. However, there are endless possibilities…"

"I don't want to know," I interrupted. "Just leave it,"

"Of course not. I'm going to tell you something I found out along with what I just told you. There's a way for you to override the program without external influence."

"How…?"

"It's not gonna be easy, but you van overload the user interface of the program if, and only if, you release a lot of energy from your mind simultaneously. I can't help you in that area since you're the one connected to the program. If you manage to overload the program, you could wake up at will and get out of here. That last thing would be a little more complicated, but I could lend you a hand there."

"But first I have to get out of the program. How can I release so much energy?"

"You're gonna need to store it first. Meditate as much as you can, and move as little. If you don't 'move', you won't spend energy and it'll get stored. You'll know when it's enough. When that happens, call me before you start."

"Okay, I will"

"Then I won't take your time. I won't bother you until you're ready."

"Wait, what?"

"Trust me, as much as I don't want to, I'll be a distraction for you. If I keep coming you won't be able to concentrate as much as if I don't. That's why I won't come until you're ready. Eleven days, I call."

I was going to protest, but I figured there was a reason why he'd told me all of that.

"Okay. I'll let you know when I'm ready."

"See you then,"

"Goodbye, Soul,"

Meanwhile, Mittens and Rhino had been, since the moment Bolt explained how he was recovering his memories, trying to spark some more. The three of them were in the park, experimenting with different situations that had happened before.

"All right. Bolt, are you still thinking about something?"

"Yes, Rhino,"

"Well, that's great, but then I don't understand why nothing is working. We tried the twig, play tag, bury bones…"

"Maybe we should hit more specific moments, buddy."

"I know! We need a train."

"A train?" Bolt echoed. "Why do we need a train for, Rhino?

"To jump to it, like the first time."

"We did what now?" Bolt turned to Mittens, asking her with a look.

"True, wags," She confirmed. "We told you, remember? Well, rather, you jumped on the train; Rhino was on your paws and I was on top of you."

Rhino nodded. "Totally. In fact, there's where she realized that you were working on a magic box show."

Bolt lowered his head in dismay. "I'm sorry, guys. Sorry for what I put you through and sorry for not remembering things that you told me without memories."

"Come on, Bolt, it's nothing. It was the best adventure of my life. And it's not your fault, we've told you a lot of things about a lot of issues, it would have been complicated for you to remember all of that."

"The rodent's right. Besides, if we hadn't gone through all of that, we wouldn't be here, dog."

That word rang in Bolt's head. "Wait… how did you just called me?"

She looked at him in confusion. "Dog… why?"

"Yeah, I just remembered something!" They both looked at him. "You were in the garden, and you had Rhino, inside his ball, in your paws. I was chasing you and–" Bolt groaned and touched his head. "I can't… remember more. But there's another one. You were on a tree and… I was on the floor. We were… tied to each other. That's all I remember." Bolt frowned and sighed. Then he looked at his two friends, from whom he couldn't remember anything. "Do you really think I can get my memories back like this?"

"Come on, Bolt, you're doing fine."

"But they're only images, Rhino; I can't remember what we were doing, or why."

"But at least you're remembering some things. And in any case, sooner or later the Pitbull will talk, and when he does we'll recover your memories and then sweep the shadows!" Rhino said making a heroic pose.

The last comment didn't please Bolt, since he already knew that shadows shouldn't necessarily die. But he didn't know if he could explain that to them or what would he say if they asked where his idea had come from, so he just nodded slightly and began to think again. However, the dog's bewilderment didn't go unnoticed. "You all right, wags?"

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Totally," Then Bolt remembered something. "Hey, guys? W-What time is it?"

"Well, I don't have a clock, but I suppose it's about mealtime, or at least I hope so, I'm getting hungry. I hope there's cereal in my dish today."

"Time to eat? Already? Oh, no." Bolt ran off back to Penny's, leaving both of his friends confused back in the park.

"Uh… what was that all about?"

"No idea, I guess we better go and find out."

And thus, both of them ran as fast as they could, following the steps of their canine friend. They didn't stop till they reached Penny's house, but there was nothing out of the ordinary there. In fact, there was nothing, nobody was there besides them. Bolt came out of the house through the pet door.

"What happened, Bolt?" The hamster asked as soon as he saw his friend.

The dog had a clear expression of shame on his face. "I'm sorry, guys. It was nothing."

"But 'nothing' of what?"

"Well, I…" The dog paused, as if looking for an excuse. "I had a premonition. I thought something might be happening here; guess I'll have to work harder on that." There was a silence of a few seconds before he kept talking. "But since we're here now, why don't we eat?"

"Sounds good to me," Rhino headed for the doorway, followed by Mittens. Bolt stood outside the door a few seconds after they both entered, paying attention to the surroundings carefully.

Once Bolt entered the house he went straight to the kitchen, where Mittens and Rhino were already eating. The dog joined them and they ate without talking. When they were done, Bolt told them he would be outsi"You'de.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm just going to think under the tree for a while," He answered and, without giving a chance for his friends to ask another question, he left the house.

"He's acting really strange,"

"He's not the same without his memories."

"And you still love him. Soon he'll recover them and everything'll go back to normal. Well, as normal as it gets." Rhino stood beside Mittens and placed a paw on one of hers. "You'll see."

The cat looked at his gesture and smiled a little. "Thanks, rodent."

"That's what friends are for."

Meanwhile, Bolt was already outside and under the tree. Half an hour passed, Mittens and Rhino left him his space and didn't go out, but eventually, three dogs came back from park with their persons. A little later a couple of wolves and a hawk appeared too. Slowly, the group began to gather, with the exception of an orange cat, of course. Bolt spent some minutes with them before excusing himself and leaving the place. Mega was the first one to let his curiosity win.

"Where's he going this time?"

"No idea; he always says he's going to think or walk." Byte told him.

"And is that true?" Mega asked.

"Do you doubt what he says?"

"Think about it, girl. Why does he always go alone?"

Mittens didn't hesitate to defend her beloved dog. "He wouldn't lie to us!"

"The cat's right; Bolt is not like that."

"Bolt was not like that," Mega retorted. "Without his memories a different personality from the one he had might be emerging."

"That's not true!"

"I really don't think that Bolt's personality is affected by this situation."

"Then think again, John. What makes up an entity's personality are the experiences that it has lived. If you don't remember those experiences, you can't expect that being to have the same personality."

"I… I'm waiting… somewhere else…" Peep mumbled.

"Wait, don't go," Alpha stopped him.

"Hey, we're getting nowhere with all this."

"Well, you've got an idea? Then talk, John."

"It's no relevant," Jonathan stated.

"Everything is relevant."

"Shut UP!" Helang ordered in a frequency that made everyone cover their ears. "I think Bolt knows he can talk to us about anything. He also has a right for privacy. When he decides to tell us, if he does, he will. Until then, let him be." And he flew off before anyone could answer.

Mega was, again, the first one to speak. "So who's in favor of spying on him?"

"Nobody. It's about time you start acting more mature. If Bolt finds us spying on him, what will he think of us? Probably that we don't trust him, or we think he needs supervision." Byte scolded him.

"Okay, okay," Mega lifted a paw. "I promise we won't go and spy on Bolt. Although–" He gave an insinuating look. "Don't tell me you're not curious at all."

Kass' P.O.V.

Sleep. That's what I told Bolt I would be doing, but reality was totally different from that. Even before all of this I barely slept; maybe I took three of four naps throughout the day, but that's it. I sat on the roof where I'd spent the day and saw the orange sky. It would be dusk soon. I always liked the color the sky takes when it's dusk. Huh, look who's here.

"What do you want?"

"Yeah, hi. I'm fine, thanks for asking, how are you?"

"Leave that, just tell me why you came, Soul."

"It'll probably soon when you'll have to explain the gray concept to the group."

"Yeah? Well, why don't you do it yourself? You are the master, you have their respect."

"I have to moderate the number of times I come to help. I won't be here forever, they must learn how to do it on their own."

"Then why doesn't the hawk know about this? He's like your deputy; his words would have more acceptance than mine."

"Who said Helang doesn't know about this? I'm telling you that you're the one to expose the idea to the group in general, not that you're the only one who knows about this."

"If you ask me, this is gonna go so, so wrong…"

"Wrong is a relative term. Also, there are some possible futures that come out 'worse' than this."

Since arguing with him had done nothing, I just sighed. "Fine," I said through gritted teeth a few seconds later.

"Thanks, now–" Before Soul finished, I sensed something in Penny's house, and apparently he did too. "Oh, no. I was really hoping this wouldn't happen."

"I gotta run!"

I stood up as fast as I could and ran to the place. The first thing I met was an empty garden. I turned on my special vision and began to see inside the structures. It didn't look good at all. Everyone but Helang and Bolt where hiding in one place or another. What the hell? I sat on top of the girl's house, waiting for anything to happen. I heard the she-wolf mutter to her brother "I don't even know why we are doing this," at least seven times. Ten minutes later I sensed a presence of light and two shadows approaching. Oh, boy. I elevated my ear capacity and heard a little. Bolt was playing with the shadows. Why didn't I do anything? It would probably have been worse.

"You can't catch me, dog!"

"Wait, Bud," Bolt's voice was nervous. "You're going to close to the house."

"Yeah, that's the plan."

"No, Bud, they're all there. W-Where's James?"

I focused my eyes on the distance. There was Bolt, running besides a shadow which disappeared a moment after that. "Bud? Bud, where are you? It's not gun, we're getting into trouble here." Boy, you're right.

"Gotcha!" The shadow shouted with a discretion equal to zero as it jumped on Bolt.

The dog's expression didn't change at all. "Bud, you have to get out of here. James, too."

"Come on, it was a fair win."

"Bud, listen to me. You have to leave. Now."

"Yeah, right. Anyone in your position would say that. Any last words, Bolt?"

Wow. What a talent to say the least appropriate at the worst time. I know the wolves, so I'll say three, two, one…

A thump sound ran through the place. A moment after, Bud was no longer on top of Bolt. The dog immediately stood up to see what had happened. Mega was on top of Bud, who was now trembling. "You again?!"

The scandal caught the attention of everyone, who left their hiding places to see what was happening. For Bolt, it was overwhelming. What were they waiting for? He had warned Bud not to go near the house, but he didn't expect everyone to be there, hiding. Bolt looked at Mega again; James was behind him, with one claw lifted. Then the shadow gave a slash in the back of the wolf, electrocuting him and throwing him to the ground. "Run, Bud!"

The shadow obeyed the order of his companion and left its physical body. Mega got up in a few seconds and was now growling at James. The shadow waited for the wolf. When Mega tried to hit him, but James sink on the ground like a shadow and waited for the wolf to pass over where he was to materialize a leg and kick him from the ground directly to the stomach. The wolf yowled in pain and held the place with a paw. James recovered his body and began to back away without taking his eyes off Mega.

Since he wasn't looking, Byte had no problem on sneaking up from behind and ramming the shadow back into the floor. "Leave it!" Mega ordered. "it's mine."

The wolf approached James, who was still on the floor, slowly. When Mega was close enough, Byte simply let go of the shadow so that Mega could do his thing. The wolf snarled and showed his teeth; then he looked up and around. "Rule number one," He called. "Shadows can't submerge on the floor if they're in contact with an object that can hurt them, like my claws. That's why it hasn't fled yet." The wolf looked at James again. "Rule number two. A good bite into the neck will end its pathetic existence."

Me growled again and prepared to bite James. Being within inches of it, a yowl was heard.

"No!" Before anyone could say who had been, Bolt slapped Mega in his side at an incredible speed, sending him to the ground. He turned to see James, who was still not moving even though he was free. Bud appeared from the ground next to his companion and helped him to his feet. "Are you guys alright?"

Both shadows nodded slowly.

"What are you doing, Bolt? They're shadows."

"I know what they are," The shepherd said. "But they're my friends, too."

No one in the group believed what they heard.

Mega stood up with Byte's help. "Stand aside, Bolt. They're not your friends, we are."

Bolt didn't move, standing in between the wolves and the shadows. "No. They, too, can be, and are, my friends."

Of all them, Mittens was the most confused. "Bolt, why are you doing that?"

The whole group began to make a circle around the dog, not trying to enclose him, rather trying to get close and hear to his reasons.

"T-They are my friends, I met them a few days ago. He's Bud and the other one's James." He explained, pointing to each one.

"That's not true, shadows have no names. Save it and let us finish them."

Bolt stood his ground. "No, Mega. They're also living beings, and they have a right to live."

"W-What? That's absurd."

"When we met, you said that you were on the side of life, and you've repeated it, with or without memories. They are alive, they feel like us. We don't have to kill them, they can be gentle."

"Okay, Bolt, that's enough," Byte intervened. "We can't let them go, they could cause trouble."

"Not them. They're my friends and I trust both."

"You… trust us?"

"Of course I do, James! From the first day." Both shadows looked at each other.

"Bolt, I think that's enough. It's okay to be confused and…"

The glass spilled after receiving so many drops in such a short time. "No, John, I'm not confused! All we've seen so far is 'light's good, dark's evil. WE must kill every existing shadow and not leave a single one' and I'm fed up with it! We listened to your version of the facts and nobody argued about it! I believe there can be peaceful shadows! Is it so hard to imagine?" The dog, angry as he was, looked at everyone in the group. No one looked back. "I thought so. What a pity. I don't care what you believe, they're my friends. James, Bud, let's go." Bolt turned around and pushed his way out of the circle around him, both shadows following him, but before going too far he turned and spoke again. "And it hurts guys; it hurts to know that your friends don't trust you when you did nothing to deserve that." He stared at Rhino and Mittens particularly while saying that.

"That's it, I'll skin him." Mega started to follow his steps, but didn't even make it out of the circle, for he was hit in the head and fell down again.

"Of course not," It had been Kass, standing firmly in his way. "Leave him alone."

Mega got up, quite annoyed and exasperated. "Out of my way, Kass."

"Not today, wolf."

Mega growled. They were in the middle of the circle, as in combat practice. "You've never trainer combat with me, have you? You wanna try?"

"No," The cat said simply.

"I don't care. You've been taking days off, and now you'll have to face the consequences of that."

"Look, I have more important things to do." Kass turned around and took the same direction Bolt had taken a minute ago. "And by the way, it's not right to assume things."

"You filthy little piece of…" Mega ran to tackle Kass, but the cat turned around a few seconds before it happened and let out a powerful roar that stopped Mega dead, either by the impression or its power.

They all opened their eyes wide and looked at the orange cat.

"Enough! Helang, come here, please." The hawk showed up a few seconds later. "That's it. I'm gonna explain how this works, and you," He pointed to Helang. "Are gonna help me." Then he looked up at the sky. "You too, Soul, it's your babies I'm helping here!"

So yeah, things got pretty tense, huh? You'll see, you'll see. Anyway, thanks for reading and following and favoriting and everything. Special thanks to Basbon and his ever present reviews, and to ShadowScare. Thanks, guys. Anyway, guess that's all I have to say, nos vemos luego!