Ch. 3, The Start of a (fake) Journey

Marik: So, how does the defendant plea?

DGL: I'm-

Jaden and Zack: *stand from the benches* Is guilty!

Marik: Agreed.

DGL: Wait what?

Marik: we will be back in one hour to decide your fate.

J, M, and Z: *all leave room trying to figure out final verdict*

DGL: *looks around court (or at least break room made to look like a court) then spots a lab top and turns it on*

Ok with all that outta the way, hopefully I can post another chapter before they get back. I have an hour at best-

Jaden: Woot! I just Final smashed your butt Marik!

Marik: Darn it! Mario's final smash is cheap!

Zack: Oh please, I'm using Jigglypuff and I'm still living

DGL:...maybe I got a little longer than I thought...

The day had not been a good one for the house residence. Currently, the human side of the family, and Bolt, were at the vet at the time, seeing if anything could've been done for Marin, despite the grimness of the situation. The clouds had not let up yet from yesterday's storm, filling the sky with greyness, although it at had least stop raining, despite the somewhat harsh winds that continued.

As for the remaining family, Mittens was on the table near the windows again, noticing how the sky just happened to be gloomy during such an occasion, and Rhino was "busy" again, watching another episode from the Bolt series that had just started. And thus leaves the last of the family, Lightning, who was not doing so well as he laid in the dog bed near the couch.

Don't get us wrong, Lightning was perfectly fine as far as health was. Luckily he only got a scrape or two on his legs from when Marin chucked across half the street and into the patch of grass. Emotionally, however, was a different story. For the entire day since he woke up, what with passing out yesterday from nearly drowning, he's been sulking to himself sadly after what happened. The first thing that bothered him was the fact that he found out his mother was ran over yesterday just trying to save him. The other thing...

*flashback*

"Why didn't you just come back inside?" Bolt barked (literrally) to his son. At the time, Lightning had just woken up a few minutes ago from the whole ordeal. Bolt wasn't yelling at him just as he woke up, what he was yelling at was the fact that Lightning had just explained why he was out so late during the storm, and how he was playing most of the time out there.

What bothered Bolt the most though was how Lightning had promised to come back inside as usual if the storm had gotten worse, but kept playing around pretending to be a superhero, and could've avoided this entire disaster if he had just listened. Even without the use of Bolt's yelling, he was still saddened as he had his ears drooped down from disaster that had taken place, already feeling guilty about it, although it didn't keep Bolt from yelling any less. And at the same time, Mittens and Rhino were watching the conversation in secrecy, from behind the corner of a hallway.

"But...but dad I-" Lightning tried to explain his reasoning behind going across the street, although never got the chance.

"Don't give me any 'butts' ok!" He barked again, causing the trio, Rhino and Mittens included, to jump. "I don't want any more excuses, any more lies got it!" Bolt heaved a bit, but began to let up as he saw Lightning's eyes begin to water as he sniffled. Bolt just sighed to himself, looking to his side for a moment or two, then looked back at Lightning. "Look let's," he paused again as he took in a big sigh, "let's just wait until we get back from the vet, see how Marin's doing, ok?" Bolt suggested in a softer tone. Lightning simply looked at him with a sad expression for a few seconds before just walking past him, laying down on the dog bed without saying anything. Bolt just sighed to himself, not being truely mad at himself, and more towards the whole situation in general. Before anything else could've been said, Bolt looked back as he saw Penny coming over with a leash, attaching it on him as she put her coat on.

"Ready to go boy?" She asked, in a somewhat unhappy tone. She looked back as she saw her mom (ok seriously, does her mom had a name?) coming with Marin in her arms, covered in a blanket. She was breathing a bit uneasily, but at least breathing nonetheless. "We'll be back later, take care of the house while were gone." Penny announced to the rest of the house hold as the family left through the door.

*End flashback*

Thus bring's us back to where we are right now. As the time passed, Mittens took notable glances over at Lightning, who seemed to be awake, but sulking to himself with the occasional sniffle. Mittens just sighed to herself, knowing how nothing that could be said for the time being could cheer him, or Bolt for that matter. It wasn't until a while after she looked at Rhino, seeing him watching the Bolt show, then grew an idea.

"Hey, Rhino." She spoke up, catching his attention. She shifted her head back and forth towards Lightning's direction for a bit. Rhino looked back and forth, trying to figure out what she was doing by this, until it got to him, nodding back to her as he rolled off the couch in his hamster ball, over to Lightning.

"Hey uhhh Lightning?" Rhino said, trying to catch the young pup's attention. Lightning just sluggishly turned his head with half opened and somewhat reddish eyes from the tears. Lightning sniffed before he replied.

"Hey Uncle Rhino." He replied, right before huddling back into a little ball again.

"Ah c'mon kiddo, cheer up. Penny and her mom said she would be ok after the treatment." Rhino said, rolling around to Lightning's side so he was looking him in the face.

"They said she would last until they got to the vet this morning. After that..." Lightning just stopped at what he was saying as he sniffled again. His depression was already making Rhino depressed. He rubbed his chin (wherever that is on a hamster's body) as he looked at him, then back at the TV as he heard another episode of Bolt coming on, growing an idea.

"Hey, at least come watch some TV, your dad's on." Rhino announced. Lightning twitched his ear up at the comment as he quickly turned around to see it was, in fact, his own dad on the TV. He plucked his head out from the bed as he heard the theme music come on. Rhino smiled as he motioned his paw for Lightning to follow.

"C'mon, your gonna miss a good episode! This is the one where your dad faces off against the Green-Eyed Man's superpowered Cats!" Rhino exclaimed, quickly running over to the couch, surprisingly, jumping up to it even with the ball. Lightning tilted his head a bit at this as he slowly got out of the dog bed, walking on over to the couch to see the show that was preforming.

"What episode is this?" Lightning asked.

"It's a One-Hour special primere, and the end of season two." Rhino replied, turning up the volume as the explosion effects got louder. Lightning tilted his again in the other direction as he began to wag his tail, getting a bit excited as he jumped up to the couch to watch from a better view. At the time, Mitten's smiled to herself as she watched this, seeing that Lightning would be fine for a time being.

58 Minutes Later...

"The. End." Is what it said on the TV. Lightning jumped with cheer as the episode ended, being one of the most climatic endings and stories he's ever witnessed; and realizing at this point that watching the action was far better than hearing about the action from Bolt himself.

"That was awsome!" Lightning and Rhino cheered simultaneously.

"Did you see the part where those cats had my dad pinned down?" Lightning began before Rhino added in.

"And then he super barked them both point blank into the Green-eyed Man's labratory?" Rhino commented. Mittens rolled her eyes to the cheering, knowing how she should've expected this from two big time and closely related Bolt fans, then fell back asleep. As the cheering continued, Lightning looked back at the TV as the credits began to play, growing a curious look on his face which Rhino seemed to notice. "Something up kid?" Rhino asked.

"What's with the words on the screen?" Lightning asked. Rhino looked back at the TV before giving off a silent "Oh" to himself.

"That's nothing much, that's just a list of everyone who helped film your dad's awsomeness in action, and where the action took place." Rhino explained, only to cause more confusion in the mind of Lightning.

"Wait what do you mean they filmed the action?" Lightning asked.

"Oh you know, the place that gave your dad the old home, Super powers, fancy Tatoo, the-"

"Woah woah woah back up, what was that last part?" Lightning hastily interrupted.

"What the Tatoo? C'mon, you know your Dad's bolt was just painted, right? I mean he doesn't even have it now, so-"

"No not that part." Lightning interrupted again. "I mean before that, the part about the super powers." Lightning specified.

"Oh, that. Yeah, the the filmers always spotted your dad's action on spot, he's always been filmed in a whole lot of places like Egypt to Africa, and even to New York! For some reason though they always send it to Hollywood." Rhino replied.

"Why's that?"

"Not quite sure, although my cousin Hippo said it was because that's where your dad started his career and stuff." Rhino replied. Lightning blinked to himself in a bit of surprised state at this, before looking back to Rhino.

"Say uhh...where is this "Woodyhall" exactly?" Lightning asked, misprouncing the name.

"It's pronounced Hollywood. Anyway, I don't know much of the details, but we're still in the same state. Mittens might have her map of the world though on how to get there." Rhino added.

"Really..." Lightning mumbled, before his eyes started to appear as if they were heavy. He let out a small drown out yawn, which became contagious to Rhino who soon yawned after. "I think I'm," he paused again for another yawn, "I'm gonna take a nap. It's been a hard day for me." Lightning commented as he jumped from the couch over to the dog bed again.

"Yeah I hear ya, I think I'll get some bit of shut eye too, only reruns for the next hour or two." Rhino said, leaning towards the corner of a couch so he could lie down without moving too much.

"Night Rhino." Lightning said before dozing off.

"Night kid." Rhino replied before falling aleep as well.

Five minutes had passed before Lightning fianlly opened one of his eyes, seeing if Rhino was really asleep. Sure enough, he was cuddled in the ball sleeping soundily. He quickly shifted his eyes over to Mittens just to be safe, also seeing her asleep, her tail tangling over the edge.

"Perfect." He whispered to himself before he slowly crawled out of bed, making his way over towards the hallway and trying to get to Mittens' bed that was in the other room. However, as he neared the couch though, he let out a startled yelp as felt a hamster ball suddenly fall on his back, jumping in fright.

"Gotcha!" Rhino exclaimed in a victory-like-manner.

"No wait I can explain, I was just-" Lightning began, before blinking in a bit of surprise at seeing Rhino swing his arms around in a fight-like-manner.

"Yeah-ha, take that...watch out for that missle Bolt...I'll save you Penny..." Rhino continued to say in slobbish-like manner. Lightning shook his head a bit as he blinked to himself again, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Is he actually sleep-fighting?" Lightning asked himself.

"Look out, tuck and roll!" Rhino yelled, rolling a few feet away in his ball before crashing into a wall, landing on his back as he went back to snoring. Lightning sighed in relief to himself at he quickly crawled back into the other room, making it over to Mittens' bed. He sniffed around it, seeing if he could find some scent of the map, which eventually brought him to under the bed.

"Jackpot." Lightning said to himself with a smile.

1 Hour Later...

"Lightning, Rhino, Mittens were back." Penny said as she opened the front door, unzipping her jacket and hanging it on the coat rack. Mittens let out a drowned out yawn just as Bolt came in through the dog door as well, shaking off what few driplets of water that was soaked in his skin.

"So, whats the uhh...news?" Mittens asked a bit nervously. Bolt just sighed a bit to himself before looking back to her.

"The Doctor's said she may be ok for a few days, but after that it's unknown. We're gonna check up on her everyday as far as Penny's mom told us." Bolt replied as he looked around the room for a bit, then back at her. "Say where's Lightning? I want him to see her again in case..." Bolt just paused there, not wanting to finish the sentence, although Mittens already got it through.

"Oh, no worries, he was sleeping near the couch next to Rhino and..." Mittens stopped as she saw a certain missing hound from a certain dog bed. "That's weird, he was there earlier. We were all just napping before you showed up." Mittens said, turning towards the wall to her left as she saw Rhino still sleeping on his back in his ball. "Hey, puffy, wake up." Mittens said.

"Ak huuuckkkkk huh?" Rhino snorted as he woke up. He yawned as he rubbed his sleepy eyes awake. "Hey guys," Rhino greeted as he yawned again, "what's wrong?" He asked, seeing their somewhat worried expressions.

"Have you seen my son Rhino?" Bolt asked as Mittens left to check the other rooms. "He wasn't outside when we came in and Mittens said he was sleeping with the rest of you." Bolt explained. Rhino scratched his ears in confusion.

"Huh, that was wierd. We watched the Bolt series for a bit then the pup got tuckered out, so we all went to sleep." Rhino replied.

"Well how come no one saw him wake up this mor-" Bolt suddenly paused as he caught onto what Rhino just said. "Wait, what did you say you did before you went to sleep?"

"Oh, we just watched your show again. I gotta admit, the new actors

are pretty good but the plot could use a bit more work with the episodes." Rhino commented.

"I meant about watching my series before you went to sleep."

"Oh that, yeah, the pup was really down from all the yelling you did to him this morning." Rhino started. Bolt felt a slight pang in his chest from hearing that but continued to ignore it. "So we thought the best way to cheer him up was to watch a 1 Hr. Episode. He got better, don't worry."

"Bolt, we got a problem!" Mittens announced as she ran back to the two.

"Ah great, now you ruined the mood."

"What's wrong?" Bolt asked.

"I can't find my world map, I have a feeling Lightning might've taken it." She said worriedly.

"What? No way, how would he even know where the-" Bolt stopped as they both slowly turned their heads to a certain hamster, who blinked in a bit of a confused manner.

"What?"

"Rhino, what exactly did you tell Lightning before." Mittens asked in a serious tone.

"Uhhh he wanted to know about who made the credits, and I told him...Uh oh..."

"All aboard the bus to Hollywood. Please remain seated while the Bus is in drive, or hang onto the rail. We should be there in 6 hours time." The Bus driver announced over the intercom (It's one of those large corss country busses, or in this case cross state). A little girl who was watching this looked next to her as she saw a little puppy with a strange roll of paper in its mouth. The little girl smiled as she pulled on her mother's shirt, catching her attention.

"Hey mommy, look a puppy!" She said in excitement.

"Leave it alone dear, it probably belongs to someone else." The mother replied as she set the little girl on her lap, despite the short moan she gave at not being able to play with the pup. Lightning gave out another small yawn as he curled up, going back to sleep due to having travled a full hour on foot and just recently got to a bus stop. He slowly closed his eyes again with a yawn as he began to sleep.

Next stop, Hollywood...

Well that seems like a good place to stop. Sorry if these stories keep seeming to get short or something, but I've been busy this week with much, and next week i'll be recovering from my wisdom teeth operation. But hopefully since its SB next week, I'll be able to get alot of time to work on either alot of chapters, or one long one., but either way, R n R.

Also, lets speak seriously for a moment here. Does anyone else really think there should be a Bolt 2 sequal? I mean think about it, the first bolt cost 150M to make, yet, made over 300m rev. 2nd, considering the ditch disney is in right now with the Mars needs moms fiasco, i really think they should consider making it, don't you? Anyway, RnR