Disclaimer: I do not own BOLT or any of its characters. All I own is the story line.

FOR YOU, AROUND WEEK HAS PAST, BUT FOR BOLT, MITTENS, AND RHINO, MERE MILLISECONDS HAVE PASSED

CHAPTER FOUR: A NEW, YET FAMILIAR, FACE

"HOLD ON" someone yelled as the 3 neared the edge of the falls. Bolt, Mittens, and Rhino all looked up to see a female white German Sheppard running alongside the river's edge. "I'll save you" she yelled as she ran forward to an overhanging branch. She climbed onto the branch and wrapped her legs around it and hung down, stretching her paws down to grab Bolt's collar. As they passed underneath, the female white German Sheppard grabbed Bolt's collar and pulled all 3 animals out of the water mere seconds before they would have went over. She swung them over and tossed them onto the river bank before pulling herself back up and jumping right to their side.

"Throw 'em in and lock the door" Ray said to his brother as they walked into an old abandoned warehouse and pointed to a room on the side. "OK Ray" Hank said as he walked over to the room. He opened the door and threw the bag into the room. He turned around and locked the door before heading back to his brother, "so where is the boss?" Hank asked. "I don't…" Ray said before was interrupted. "Gentlemen" a voice called out from the darkness, "I trust the operation went smoothly." "Sure did boss" Hank said. "Excellent" the voice said, "Now that girl will pay for what she did to me." "If you don't mind my asking" Ray spoke up, "What did she do to you?" "She RUINED MY CARREER" the voice said before walking into the light. "You know what to do" the actor who played Dr. Calico said, petting his cat in his arms.

The phone was ringing in the other room. "Okay" Officer Douglas said as he put on his headphones, which was connected to a device used in monitoring phone calls, "Go ahead and answer it." "Alright" Penny's mom said, picking up the phone, "Hello." "I want to speak to Penny" a gargled voice said on the phone. "Penny, it's for you" Penny's mom said, handing over the phone. "Thanks mom" Penny said, taking the phone from her mother, "hello." "Is this Penny?" the voice asked. "Yes" Penny answered. "This is the one who stole your pets." "What do you want?" Penny asked. "I want 100 million dollars for them within 5 days time or we send them back to you 1 paw at a time" the voice said. "No, don't hurt them" Penny yelled into the phone, "Just tell me what we need to do." "Drive up to the Hilton hotel at Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. Walk up to the front desk and ask for a key that will have been left for you by a guest in room 1049. The key opens up a locker at a YMCA on the American side located 10 miles from the Maid of the Mist docks. Put the money in a brown paper bag and mark it with a large K. Put it in the locker at 5:00 PM on the 5th day or you'll never see the kippens again" the voice said before hanging up the phone. "Did you get all that" Penny asked Officer Douglas, after putting the phone down. "Yes" Officer Douglas said, putting his headphones down. "So what should we do?" Penny's mom asked. "I'll call some men at the Canadian police station and have them stake out the hotel for any sign of the kippens. In the meantime, I suggest we DON'T pay the ransom. If we do, they'll have no reason to contact us" "But what about the kippens!" Penny asked. "They'll be fine" Penny's mom said, "The police will get these men before the 5 days are up. "Okay mom" Penny said, hugging her mom.

"Ow Blaze, that was my paw" Mia said as they were squirming around in the bag. "Sorry" Blaze said, "How is it coming Lightning?" Lightning, who was trying to open the bag, managed to slice the rope tying the bag together with his claw. "Got it" Lightning said as the bag flopped open. "Well done bro" Thunder said. "Now, where are we? Boots asked, looking around the room to see only 4 plain walls, a large steel door, and an air vent. "I don't know" Sun said before turning to her sister, "Moon?" "I have no idea" Moon said. "What do we do?"Mia asked in a scared tone. "Don't be scared Mia" Boots said. Before anything else could be said, the door opened and Ray and Hank stood in the door with food and water. Before the kippens could even move, they put the food on the floor and left the room.

"I don't get it Calico" Hank said. "That's DR. Calico to you" Dr. Calico said, "and what don't you understand Hank?" "Well, if we are going to get rid of the kippens, why are we feeding them?" Hank asked. Ray punched his brother in the head upon hearing this. "Idiot, we need them alive or they won't be worth squat and we'll never get the ransom" Ray said, "Oh and Dr. Calico, I made the call and gave her the instructions." "Good" Dr. Calico said, interlacing his fingers, "Now all we need to do is wait, and hope my associate doesn't screw this up."

"Gross" Moon said to her siblings as they ate the food, which turned out to be stale dog food mixed with stale cat food. "Yeah" Blaze said, spitting out the food he had just taken into his mouth. "We have to get out and find better food then this" Lightning said. "But how?" Sun asked, "the only door is locked, and there is no window." "The air vent" Boots said. "But it's all the way up there" Moon said, "How do we get up there?" "I have no idea" Boots said, looking down. "Well, we have to find a way, or we'll starve" Lightning said. "Wait" Mia said. "What is it Mia?" Blaze asked. "We are forgetting something" Mia said, "Like, why are we here in the first place." "Good point" Thunder said, "What could they want with us?" "Do you think… no, it can't be" Lightning said, the last part to himself. "What?" the others asked him. "Remember what Dr. Kaatz said about us? He said that we are the first set of kids born to a cat and a dog in history. He said that because of that, we're valuable. Maybe they want us for money." "But in order to make money off us, they would have to sell us, and that would mean they would get caught and arrested" Boots said. "Unless" Thunder said to himself. "What?" the others asked. "I remember that once on a TV show I was watching with uncle Rhino, a man held another man's kid for ransom. That way, he could make money" Thunder said. "That could be it" Blaze said. "We have to get out of here now more than ever" Moon said, "Who knows what they'll do to us if we don't." and with that, the kippens sat down together and began thinking of a way to escape.

"Thank you" Bolt said to the newcomer. "Anytime Bolt" the female dog said. "You know my name?" Bolt asked. "Yes I do. Don't you remember me?" the female asked. "You know her Bolt?" Mittens asked, walking up to sit next to her mate. "I don't remember" Bolt said. Rhino, now looking up at the female dog, almost had a heart attack. "It's you" Rhino said, "You're Crystal!" "Guilty" Crystal said. "You know her" Mittens asked the little hamster. "Uh, DUH! Don't you know who she is?" Rhino asked, "This is CRYSTAL. She was a guest on Bolt's show." "Crystal," Bolt said to himself before remembering, "Right." "So you remember me Bolt?" Crystal asked. "Yes" Bolt said, "How are you?" "Fine" Crystal said, "So are you going to introduce me?" "Right" Bolt said, "Mittens Rhino, this is Crystal, we worked together for a while, of course, I thought it was real and she was living with me, of course, nothing happened." Bolt said, adding that last part after seeing Mittens' glare, "Crystal, this is Rhino, my best friend, and Mittens, my mate." "Great to meet… You're mates with a cat?" Crystal asked. "Yes I am" Bolt said proudly, "we've been together about 9 months now and have 7 kids." "He's right" Mittens said, getting closer to Bolt. "Well, the best of luck to you" Crystal said, with a look of disappointment on her face, unnoticed by the others. "So," Crystal said, "where are you 3 headed?" "Our kids were taken" Bolt said, "so we're on a journey to find them." "I'm sorry to hear that" Crystal said, "do you know where they are?" "Yes actually, they're at Niagara Falls" Mittens said before breaking down into tears. "It's okay Mittens" Bolt said, wrapping his arm around her. "Is she alright" Crystal asked. "Not really" Bolt said, "after all, our kids are missing." "Oh, right" Crystal said, "is there anything I can do to help?" "Not that I can think of" Bolt said, "but thanks for offering." "No problem Bolt. It was good to see you again" Crystal said before turning to leave. "Wait" Mittens called out, calming down enough to talk. "Yes?" Crystal asked, turning back around. "We could use your help." Mittens said, "It would be better to have 4 in the group, that is, if you want to join us" "I would love to" Crystal said. "Well," Mittens said, "Let's go." And with that, the group of 4 went on their way.

'I will get you Bolt,' Crystal thought to herself, 'mate or no mate, I will get you'.

SO THAT WAS CHAPTER 4. PLEASE REVIEW. CHAPTER 5 WILL BE UP NEXT SATURDAY/SUNDAY.