Author's notes:
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Real life hurts
by TigressPL
Chapter 4: Return of the real Bolt
After what felt like a thousand years passing in a heartbeat, Bolt regained consciousness. He decided to simply enjoy the silence for a moment. For if leaving the set taught him anything, it was that there is always a worse alternative. But the outer world wouldn't remain calm just because one of its inhabitants wished it to do so…
First, there were voices, silent and indistinct. Then, the surrounding world demanded his attention with heavy sun pressure upon his eyelids. Ha accepted the call and opened his eyes.
And once more felt validity of a rule Mittens told him: "Real life hurts".
Sun hit his eyes, blinding him, while a new, somewhat familiar pain awoke in his forehead. He slammed his eyes shut. Plus, his mouth felt like he's been poisoned… or worse. The taste was simply disgusting. He groaned and noticed that it silenced the voices he heard… for a while.
"Well, well, look who's finally up!"
"What are you talking about, Mittens?" he didn't dare to open his eyes again, but he recognized the voice easily without it. "And why is sun shining so bright? It wasn't a minute ago."
"A minute ago? Bolt, you've been out for, like what, 20 hours?"
"20 hours?!" he opened his eyes to look at her in astonishment and immediately regretted that. "Ow… but why do I feel like I just ate a handful of dust?"
"Ask the hamster," she pointed down from the couch they were sitting on.
"Bolt!" he didn't have to ask. "I thought you forgot what it means to be a hero… But you were fully AWESOME."
"Wait… what happened?"
Rhino smiled mysteriously and put on his favorite narrative voice.
"It all started when an agent of the Green Eyed Man, sent here probably to assassinate you, destroyed the Magic Box. He managed to enrage me with that, so I caught him and he bit the dust. That's when something else caught my attention…"
For unknown reasons, Mittens decided not to interrupt rodent's tale this time, so for over ten minutes Bolt was forced to listen how Rhino got through an impassable maze of Doctor Calico's underground tunnels and fought with a vicious monster, a giant spider called Richard the Destroyer. In the story, super-hamster easily beat the living daylights out of his enormous enemy, found the way out of the tunnel and performed a superjump along with his hero.
"Wait, I remember that… You were about to jump from the air-hole, so I rushed out to catch you mid-air, to prevent you from killing yourself … But what happened next?"
"You slammed into a cabinet with a force of a train," as usual, Mittens was straightforward. "I can't stop wondering two things though: how did you jump that high… and how did you live through that impact?"
"'Well… I jumped, because I had to in order to save Rhino… and I'm still alive as I have a perfect reason to live…" he smiled at her, unsure if he wanted her to understand what he meant. Actually, he wasn't even sure if he meant what he meant…
A moment of awkward silence followed.
"By the way…" she rubbed the back of her head, deciding to break the tension. "That's the fastest healing bruise I've ever seen," she pointed his head.
"A bruise…?" he gasped. "Oh no, we're going back to the studio with Penny tomorrow…"
"Today," she corrected him.
"Perfect," he snapped. "Penny wanted to go back to performing and what does she get from her dog?"
"Nah, forget about it… Make-up will cover everything."
"Bolt!" Penny's voice preceded her by mere seconds. "You're okay!"
She hugged him tightly, then looked at him seriously and asked:
"We're going back on the set. Are you happy with this?" she laughed after he licked her face to express his approval.
"But, honey, will he be okay? He's hit that cabinet really hard…"
"Will you be okay, Bolty?" she asked, petting him. He barked enthusiastically, ensuring her he'll manage to do anything needed.
"I think he's gonna be just fine. When are we leaving, mom?"
"It's only 8 a.m., Mr. Black said we are to start shooting at 10 a.m., so we have plenty of time for a good breakfast… I think we'll be going out at 9.15 – this way we'll be there before time."
Five quarters later…
"Penny, come on, it's time to go!"
"Coming!"
Bolt waited impatiently near the door, wagging his tail in expectancy of the adventures he was about to go back to. Rhino was right next to him, bursting with emotions. Only animal that wasn't completely overexcited was Mittens, lying in a comfortable, sunlit spot on a sofa.
Even though she had her eyes closed, she knew perfectly well what's going on; mostly because Rhino's behavior in the given situation was completely predictable and the others' agenda was explicit. Just as she thought, she heard door opening and everybody coming out.
"Sorry, you can't go with us, Rhino," sounded Penny's voice. Of course, Mittens didn't understand the words, but the message was clear.
A sound of starting engine promised long and peaceful nap. One that could be interrupted only by a certain rodent. And considering he lacked his favorite instrument of torture…
"How can you just lie there when Bolt's gone?" came an accusing question.
"It's really simple, Rhino," she answered quietly, still in the state of semi-consciousness, guaranteeing her immediate and sound sleep as soon as she got rid of the hamster. "I'm enjoying the silence, you know the word?"
"I'm not gonna sit here idly when Bolt's gone for more awesome adventures! I want out!" he screamed. Judging by the sound, she supposed he's hitting the door with his ball.
'It's no use, you stupid rodent… Though I wish you succeeded… I'd have found piece, you – adrenaline,' she thought sleepily. 'Hah, he must have acknowledged he stands no chance to open these door…
Though it's weird, he's silent for over a minute…'
"Rhino?" she called half-heartedly, unsure if she wanted him to answer. But when he didn't…
'Why do I care anyway?' she asked herself, opening one eye and gaining a view at home's front door. They were open. 'Oh, great, he did that. Now I can go back into… What?!' she jumped up, suddenly realizing what she just saw.
"Beatrix must have forgotten to close the door," she muttered, as if she was trying to convince herself. Alas, the thing she needed to find wasn't an explanation, it was Rhino's reaction…
'What could he possibly do? Judging by what I know already… anything.'
"Where are you, crazy rodent?" she called, going out through the doorway. She was caught completely off-guard by the door when it slammed shut right after her, threatening with a heart attack.
'There can be only one culprit.'
"Gotcha!" Rhino exclaimed gleefully. "Now, let us not waste the daylight, cat! We have to go!"
"Considering that I'll mercifully skip over ripping you apart for scaring me to death, how are you going to make me go with you?" she smirked.
"You can't go back," he reasoned, then took on a mischievous smile and added, "Plus, yesterday's weather forecast foreshadowed rain for today…"
This, of course, convinced her immediately.
'I'll get to see Bolt in his element,' she thought. 'Maybe it's not gonna be so bad?'
She sighed with feigned weariness to cover up her secret semi-excitement before setting off in the well-known direction with her annoying rodent companion.
A bleak corridor was thoroughly empty. It looked really repulsive with its walls and floor covered in a slimy substance emitting a repugnant stench. The only surfaces untouched by the filthy mucus were metal plates, about square meter size each, scattered on the floor.
Suddenly, the inhospitable passageway filled with sound of tramping, announcing some lost wanderer, thrown into this hellish hallway by a vicious stroke of fate. Indeed, a second later two figures stormed into, skidding to a halt at the edge of the first slab.
"It looks like that poisonous muck they kept in laboratory," said one of the newcomers, a teenage girl with brown hair. "We need to be extremely careful," she instructed her companion, a mid-sized white German Sheppard. "One touch of this caustic liquid can burn through nearly every matter."
For a while they remained silent, jumping over the plates hurriedly, yet cautiously. Suddenly something sounded from the girl's backpack. She spotted a metal niche on a side of the corridor, providing a firm shelter from the sinister substance. She swiftly jumped inside.
"Guard!" she ordered, kneeling on the floor and taking her rucksack off. She pulled a laptop and opened it, glanced at the screen and smiled contentedly. "My program broke through the code those damned aliens are using to protect their data… and its cooperation with the language database works fine. Now…" she started clicking on the keyboard at a hectic pace.
Bolt, standing in the center of the hallway, was looking at his person with partial interest. Suddenly, his ear twitched as he heard an odd sound. He turned to look down the hallway and spotted a light-blue beam, hovering over one of the metal plates two meters down the corridor. He growled menacingly, but didn't move from his position until the light took shape of a semi-humanoid being. That's when he leapt into the air, flying straight at the luminous creature.
The materializing alien hadn't had as much as a chance to react, as in the very moment it took a solid form, a white blur hit it in the chest. With an indescribable shriek the alien fell back, tumbling into the caustic liquid and annihilating in a flash, unable to resist the destroying influence this matter had on its body.
"I knew that!" Penny's exclamation echoed in the passageway. "We're headed correctly, shield generators are at our fingertips! Come on, Bolt, we have to enter those passwords onto the… Bolt! Look out!" she screamed, suddenly taking on a horrified look.
The dog glanced back, down the corridor. A group of fifteen weird creatures of various size and shape stood there, communicating with sounds incomprehensible for any human or animal. Suddenly all of them started to run over the plates, quickly reducing the distance between them and their supposed prey. Bolt only hardened his expression, then slowly moved his right hind leg backwards, put his left front leg a pace forward, accumulated energy and let out a powerful bark. The mighty sound wave condensed in a narrow passage and blew the hostile beings away, along with a fair amount of the poisonous substance. Result of mixing those two ingredients was easy to predict – soon there was no sign indicating that any alien ever visited this part of the ship.
"Bolt, let's go!" called Penny, jumping back onto one of the slabs and leading her pet down the corridor…
…back onto the set.
Beatrix stopped the car gently at the internal parking of Sovereign Entertainment's complex. They were before time due to minimal traffic. She wondered what Penny must be feeling, returning to the place she almost died in. Being her mother, Beatrix was very anxious, but she understood that it had been an accident and such situation won't probably recur. Plus, Penny enjoyed her job, gained a great opportunity of future employment… and provided the family enough funds for a snug living despite Beatrix's current lack of job.
Penny appeared as deep in thought as her mother.
"Honey… what's up?" Beatrix asked with concern.
"I was just thinking about how our work will look, now that Bolt is no longer thinking of himself as of a hero with superpowers. I mean… the director will undoubtedly want to make the most of the situation and Bolt wasn't trained to…"
"Oh, sweetie… Relax, they are specialists, they wouldn't bother to get you back if they hadn't found a way to communicate with Bolt in this new situation," seeing her daughter smile, she did the same and clapped her hands. "Well, they're not gonna wait for us forever, and we have nothing to do here nonetheless. Let's go back to your and Bolt's world!"
Both of them got out from the car, then Penny let Bolt out from the backseat and whole trio moved in the well-known direction of director's office. They reached it after few minutes, easily finding the way through a maze of studio's corridors and stages. Beatrix reached her hand to knock on the door, but she hadn't have a chance as they opened in the very moment.
"So I can safely assume our brightest stars will honor us with their presence as scheduled?" asked the man, who opened the door, looking in the other direction. His favorite brown suit and unmistakable voice immediately told the family who are they looking at – Sean Tyler, director of 'Bolt'.
"Speaking of the devil," another familiar voice came from inside the office. "Turn around, Sean."
"Mrs. Fisher! Penny!" the director exclaimed upon seeing his visitors. "It is an unspeakable mirth to see you back in my domain, ladies. As well as you," he kneeled to pet Bolt. "Our hero."
"We're glad to see you too," answered Beatrix. "If you don't mind though, we have some questions concerning our return to the studio…"
"Of course, I'll gladly answer all of them, but it's about time I went to stage three… Can we continue our conversation there?"
While they were talking, owner of the familiar voice they heard joined them outside, as Arthur Black, Penny's new agent, emerged from office.
"Come on, Bolt!" the girl called when the adults set off. The director suddenly stopped.
"I'm sorry to put it bluntly, but Bolt cannot go with us, Penny… He could unintentionally corrupt the sound recording."
"Oh… so, uh, where should I leave him?"
Sean was deeply in thought for a while, then suddenly smiled. "Why not stage five? He'll fell homely there, mostly because that's where we left his old trailer."
"It sounds ok," Penny agreed.
When the door to the stage shut behind him, cutting him from his person, Bolt moved back and forth for a while, whining anxiously, but when he understood he was left alone, he slowly relaxed. Having calmed down, he looked about the place he was left in and smiled fondly, spotting what has been his home for most of his life – a trailer with a star and his name upon its door. He came inside, but found nothing interesting – Penny took both his toys and their photos when she left the job.
He was trying to think of something to do now, when he suddenly heard two voices outside.
"Uh, this new 'Bolt' is tiring… The old one could at least converse at a reasonable level."
"Yeah, and he wasn't free to go all over the facility. I already lost over a pound due to all this running whenever he sees us," the other responded.
"Ok, you got a point, that's one good thing resulting from the change in cast…"
"Eh? I mean-"
The voices sounded very familiar to him. Curious, he got out of the trailer to check if he was right and sneered when he spotted two cats sitting by the trailer, completely unaware of his presence, as they were facing other direction. He opened his mouth to say hello, but was cut short by the black cat.
"Look out, it's him!" the feline exclaimed, pointing a random direction. The trick would probably have no effect, but in that very moment the second cat glanced back. His friend's warning immediately combined with the view and with a mighty shriek the obese cat bolted out.
"Take it easy, I was jok-" the black cat froze after unintentionally gazing back… And joined his chubby companion in a flash. Both cats quickly hid behind some decorations, left in the corner.
Bolt couldn't help laughing at their antics. His substitute must have been a real pain in the neck for them. He wanted to tell them to relax… when suddenly a new idea popped to his head as he remembered his acting game with Mittens yesterday.
"I finally got you, you pathetic, degenerated creatures of evil!' he shouted in their direction. "You'll no longer be of any use to the Green Eyed Man!"
"Oh great," the obese cat said silently. "Out of the frying pan into the fire…"
"Hey, Bolt!" the other feline called, trying to sound bold. "There were rumors that someone finally showed you the difference between stage and real life…"
"Don't believe everything you hear, cat. I still don't know my life was fake."
After a moment of silence, the pun sunk in and the more eloquent of the two finally spoke out.
"So… We're cool, right? You're not gonna chase us, or pounce at us, are you?"
"Unless you give me a firm reason to do so… No."
That finally convinced the cats. They both sighed with relief and left their hideout, then approached the dog, still looking a bit unsure.
"So… I guess we should introduce ourselves, as we've never really talked before…" the black one said after an awkward moment of silence. "I'm Ben," he parodied a bow, "and this is Bart," he pointed to his friend.
"Wow," said Bart, looking at Bolt with admiration. "I mean… I never thought I'll have an opportunity to talk with the Superdog… excluding that time six weeks ago."
"Sorry to disappoint you," Bolt replied, "I'm no longer a Superdog, I'm just an ordinary canine now."
"What you're doing here then?" Ben inquired. "I thought you've come to retake your role…"
"Yes, I think so… I just no longer consider myself to be… super. It's only a show, right?"
"Yeah," Bart was clearly not convinced, "but still… You were awesome when you believed it's real, I can't wait to see you in action, when you'll know why you're doin' what you're doin'…"
Unbeknownst for the trio, someone unnoticed was silently watching whole scene…
"Finally, we have arrived… at the belly of the beast."
"And here you promised you won't be a lunatic this time," Mittens sighed.
"You just can't act, cat, can you? Why did you set out with me in the first place if you see no fun in our noble quest?" Rhino demanded.
She readied to talk back, but shut her mouth. Arguments with Rhino had no sense.
"Let's go," she motioned her paw in the direction of the studio. "And hope no human catches us in the process…" she added under her breath.
They easily got into one of the enormous buildings… and their jaws dropped at the view of a corridor with a hundred doors on every side.
"Ok, what now, genius?"
"Don't panic cat, you're with me…"
"Taking into consideration what I've been through the last time I heard those words, I don't want to know what's going to happen now…" she murmured.
"We're looking for Bolt," Rhino reasoned, completely unaware of her comment. "And that means we're looking for a place where action takes place!" he exclaimed, proud of his perfect deduction. "And where action is, there's also much noise!"
She had to admit his logical reasoning could be accurate, but left it without a comment, just following after him as the hamster peeked into the loud rooms at random.
Everything was dark and quiet. Only visible thing was a blurred outline of a chair and a man sitting on it in a hunched position. He leaned his head on his hands, being either asleep or in reverie. After few more moments of silence, a quiet jingle sounded in the room. Simultaneously, a small display lit up high over man's head. Despite its diminutive size, it illuminated big part of the wall it was inputted into and sharpened all visible outlines. The man didn't seem to care, though, sitting still in his inclined position.
In the meantime, bright red digits on the display started to change, starting from zero and going down. When they reached minus ten, the jingle sounded again and a dazzling vertical line appeared on the wall right below the display. A moment later it widened, filling the room with brilliant light, making it impossible to see anything for a moment.
"It is time, professor," a voice with a heavy English accent sounded from the abyss of light. "Everything you demanded has been brought and readied, now the only missing part is a scientist… Shall we then?" he gestured towards the elevator.
Professor didn't move.
"Deactivating Bolt's superpowers, ultimate weaponry, genetic alteration of your cats… When will this end, doctor?" the man was muttering in a hoarse voice, but in the perfect quietness of the room his words were clear. "Are you going to hold me captive for the rest of my life?"
"Do I have to remind you, professor," Calico took a threatening tone, "that I am also incarcerating your precious daughter? I thought we have a deal on this matter."
"And when are you going to release her? Or are you planning to keep her in prison for the rest of her life… or at least mine? That way it's hopeless, my inventions would continuously threaten the world giving me nothing in return…"
"We will deliberate the matter further after the scheduled genetic operation," Calico replied in a commanding tone. "For the time being, let me remind you I can order to pull a certain trigger any second…"
His only answer was a deep, mourning sigh. Nonetheless, the professor rose from his chair. He was moving stiffly and when he looked at the bright light, he immediately squinted, grimacing painfully. Calico let him first into the elevator, smirking evilly at the view of a stubborn scientist being finally broken. His prisoner was hobbling, but the criminal didn't care. The door closed behind them, once more leaving only a thin line of light on the wall, which quickly disappeared when digits on the display started to rise.
For a moment everything was quiet.
"Cut!" along with director's command some lights were turned on. Both actors emerged from the elevator. Every pair of eyes in the room, including both Fishers', rested upon Sean, waiting for his opinion…
"It was great," he said, finally relieving the tension. "Next scene will be shot in fifteen minutes on stage nine."
When the crew started moving indispensible equipment to the indicated stage, the director neared the young actress, her mother and agent.
"Now… I can answer whatever questions you have."
Penny opened her mouth to utter first question, but Arthur cut in first.
"Is that a cat?" he pointed towards the open door of the stage they were on. Everybody looked in that direction to see a black cat, followed by a hamster in a plastic ball.
"Mittens? Rhino…?" Penny bolted out of the room to catch the animals. Both Sean and Arthur looked at Beatrix, unable to say anything, but clearly demanding an explanation.
"If Penny is right… and I believe she is, those were our animals."
"But…" Arthur managed to open his mouth, "don't you live half an hour away from SE? Not to mention, by car?"
"Yes, they must have left right after us… Maybe I forgot to close the door properly?"
"Even though… A dog, I would understand, but a cat… and a hamster, travelling that far? I can't believe it…"
Few seconds later Penny got back, both animals following in her footsteps. That made both the director and agent dumbstruck once again.
"I thought nothing will surprise me after hearing about two animals travelling such distance," Sean stated upon seeing such obedience of the feline and rodent, "and yet you got me again."
"What should we do with them?" Arthur asked. "We can't keep 'em with us during shooting…"
"Why not put them with Bolt on stage five?" Penny proposed.
Everybody agreed.
In the meantime…
"So…" Bolt yawned, stretching his body. "What do you usually do when you're left alone, not needed for shooting?"
"Well…" Ben was in thought for a moment. "Before you escaped YOU were our… or at least MY best entertainment. Since then and until now our whole free time was devoted to running from a damn stupid substitute of yours. Now… actually, we didn't have time to work anything out."
Suddenly, a small shadow left the darkness of the stage's top parts. Loud flapping sounded in the room when the creature descended from those heights and landed right next to the trio. It appeared to be a lean pigeon. Something clicked in Bolt's mind when he saw him, he just couldn't put his paw on it… until the bird spoke.
"Wow, Bolt… There's something, maybe you remember, something I always wanted to tell you if I only got a chance…" he trailed off, seeing large stage door opening slightly. Two small figures entered and the door closed immediately behind their backs. Everyone looked at the newcomers, Bolt froze, mouth agape, staring at them before speaking out…
"Mittens, Rhino? What in the world are you doing here?"
"Ask HIM," sighed Mittens, coming over to them with the hamster.
Ben cleared his throat to catch Bolt's attention.
"Why won't ya introduce us to your sleek friend, Bolt?"
"Sure… let me start from the most recent visitor, this is Billy," he pointed to the pigeon.
"The great Bolt remembered my name!" the bird exclaimed gleefully, but silenced under three menacing cats' glances. "Sorry."
"On with the introduction… those two guys are my fellow actors… Granted, they're another species and another side of the show's conflict, but, as it turns out, they're cool… This is Ben and his rotund friend's name's Bart."
"Hey," the obese cat snapped, slightly – and probably just playfully – irritated.
"Finally, my loyal companions from journey across the world, my best friends and probably closest family I'll ever get… This is Rhino and the beautiful cat here is Mittens."
"However unexpected to come from a dog's mouth, that's undeniably a very accurate statement," Ben smiled semi-seductively at Mittens. Bolt smirked, seeing her blush for the first time since they met.
"If I got you right," Rhino cut in, "you have gathered pretty funny here… Bolt, Bill, Ben and Bart?" he chuckled.
"Yeah, we're like… Fantastic Four B!" Bart joined Rhino's laughing.
"Or rather… fantastic before," Mittens added sarcastically. Everybody burst into laughter.
"What do you think of B-Awesome team?' asked Rhino, when they settled down.
"Hey, that's good… What do you think, Benny?" Bart nudged his companion.
"Penny?" Billy tilted his head in confusion, looking at the two with astonishment. Bart immediately caught at the occasion and started talking in an evil tone, much improved since Bolt's escape.
"Ha! We finally got your precious little Penny, Bolt… And we turned her into a cat, now she's one of our brethren…"
"Hey, Penny is a girl, you can't be her… It'd be disgusting, a male playing a girl?" Rhino interrupted him, looking at both male cats.
"Who's saying I'm Penny? You're looking at the wrong cat, buddy," Ben answered, smiling at Mittens even more seductively than before.
"Hey, don't you even dare to look at here like that, cat!" Bolt screamed, earning two what-the-hell glances from Ben and Bart and one this-isn't-happening from Mittens… Who, by the way, was just experiencing a weirdest inner sensation ever.
The dog endured those looks for a while, then snapped, seeing that they're not going to understand. "Hey, I was acting… aren't we playing such game?" three loud sighs were his only answer. "What, were you all thinking…?"
'Or was I thinking… that?' he thought, suddenly unsure of his own mind.
They were all silent for a moment, after which Rhino charged at the two feline actors with a traditional shriek, resuming the game.
"Die, you barbarous agents of evil! Bolt! I'll hold them off, you save Penny!"
"Why not?" he muttered to himself, smirking at the idea that just popped into his head, then he run up to Mittens. Before she could ask him what was he gonna do, he grabbed her and put her on his back, as if she was unable to walk by her own. She opposed, of course, but stood no chance against a dog his size and strength.
Ben temporarily gained an upper hand in melee fight with Rhino and immediately used the opportunity. "Don't you move!" he yelled after Bolt, who was slowly retreating with Mittens slinging on his back. "The Green Eyed Man rebuilt his machine, that allowed him to drain your powers! Bart, press the button!"
"But… won't there be any victims?" Bart asked.
"Maybe some fried pigeons, but that's even better," replied Ben, making Billy gulp.
"Will do then!" Bart pushed some imaginary button on the floor. Seeing that, Bolt howled and collapsed to the ground, taking on a painful expression.
"Bolt!" Rhino screamed, running over to his beloved hero. "What's wrong?"
"They drained my powers… I'm useless now," Bolt admitted sadly.
"Hey, I know the cure!" Rhino exclaimed joyfully, immediately remembering what happened in eleventh episode of 'Bolt'. "You just need some of this green gas!" he pointed something non-existent.
"I feel my powers coming back!" Bolt laughed, as he rose from the ground, then looked at the hamster seriously and added, "You did it Rhino… You did it. You saved the day… Now, if you'd excuse me, I've got something important to do…"
When he neared the two cats, Ben winced and asked with a slight rhythm in his voice, "Who let that dog out?"
"Who, who, who, who, who?" Bart caught the beat.
"I did!" Rhino exclaimed, standing next to Bolt. "There's no cat that I know that can beat both Bolt and Rhino!"
"Hey!" Bart's eyes lit up. "You're also a live-action poet?"
"It just so happens, cat… But don't thank me for that."
"I wouldn't dream of it, I'd rather throw you in a pit…"
"You'd have to catch me in a trap, but you won't, I'm telling you that!"
"You think you're tough? Be prepared, now it's gonna be rough…"
They went on with a rhyme skirmish. The rest of the animals listened to them for a moment, then moved to another part of the stage, not to interrupt their friends.
"I say, let us go for a trip… I could show you all secrets of this place," this time, Ben's smile was almost lewd. That clearly wasn't right up Mittens' street, as she hissed before answering.
"I may be declawed, buddy, but that doesn't mean I can't bite…" she glanced at Bolt, immediately spotting his reverie. Sighing, she asked, "What is it this time, Bolt?"
"I totally forgot you're declawed… How did you scratch yourself then? Even in a dream?"
Judging by the look, Mittens wanted to tear either Bolt or whole this place to pieces.
"Is whole this dream-and-scratch situation some damn fate's punishment for that I slept with a dog once?!" she screamed.
Ben just goggled at her.
"You did WHAT?"