Chapter 5 – Desert
Mittens felt herself heat up quickly every time she went out into the sun. She ran as quickly as she could to the next shaded aria she could find and planned her next move from there. "Uh, what I wouldn't give to have my ice fur again." she said to herself, and remembered how it happened in the first place. "I can't believe simply thinking about the colder climates made my fur act up like that, it really saved Bolt and myself." she said, and looked to her paws, seeing no ice form around them. "Figures it isn't that easy." she said, and darted out to the next rock. The shade cooled the air down about twenty or so degrees, enough that she could feel it as she entered in from the sun. The rattle snake on the other hand, she could do without. "Jussst what doessss an animal like you think you're doing here?" the snake asked. Mittens looked at the snake in shock, quickly she shook her head and answered, "I'm trying to get through the desert before all of the hunters come out." The snake at first looked at her in surprise, and then laughed, "Good luck with that!" he said, and lifted his head, "The desssert isss three hundred milessss in every direction from here." Mittens chanced a look out from the rock, and quickly glanced out towards the direction she was headed, though she was smart enough to lift her paw and extend her Crystal claws right as the snake was about to strike. "I wouldn't." she warned and slowly looked to him. The snake had his mouth open wide so that his fangs were extended, and his eyes were in complete shock. "You!" he said as he came out of his stupor, "You've been here before." and dipped down to circle her. "What are you talking about, who are you?" she asked as she kept her eye on his head. "We've met before right here in the Ssssahra Dessssert, remember? And thesss time there'ssss no mangy armor furred dog to save you isss there?" "Wait? The Sahara Desert? I'm in the Sahara Desert?" Mittens asked in surprise, "Then that means…" she tried to think, but was forced to focus on the rattler when he tried to strike at her. Quickly she used a paw to swat him away and she backed up, when he struck again, she swatted him again this time with a bit of claw poking out. "Gyaaa!" he called out and reeled back for a strike. Mittens inched backward, trying to fine an escape route, only to find that she had been encircled by the reptile. "Nowhere to run and no dog to ssssave you." the snake said, and lunged forward. Mittens shut her eyes tightly and reached out with one of her paws, trying to use her claws as a last defense, but the snake never struck, instead when she opened her eyes, the reptile was merely inches away, his mouth opened as wide as it could go, and he was completely encased in ice. When she looked down at her paw, she found a white haze coming from her claws, and a familiar icy look to them. Instantly she felt cooler as her fur began to steam from the difference in temperature as well. "My claws." she whispered in disbelief. When the sand beneath her slowly began freezing, she jumped a little, and watched as the ice made its way out to the sun, where it stopped and turned into water that soaked into the ground, or instantly evaporated. Cautiously she crept to the thinnest part of the snake, and jumped over it effectively freeing herself from the hunter's grasp. Slowly reality struck, and she smiled just the same, "I can make it," she whispered to herself, and glanced around, "I can make it home!" she told herself, and took off in a dead sprint, never once retracting her claws in fear that they might not come back for a while.
From one of the highest sand dunes she could find on her trip across the desert, Mittens gazed around for something she could recognize. "Come on, that cave and oasis have to be here somewhere!" she said, and placed her paw above her eyes, shading her eyes from the sun. "Come on Mittens, where is the cave." she said to herself and looked around again. The steam the rose from her fur and claws drew attention from every kind of creature she could find, even a scorpion decided that staying close to her wasn't the best of ideas. She growled in frustration when she didn't find what she was looking for. "GRAAAA!"she called out, letting her scream travel across the desert floor. "Hey!" she heard a harsh whisper from below her, "do you want to attract attention you stupid…whatever you are?" Mittens jumped off of the sand dune, and circled it a bit, finally finding a decent sized cave. "Uh…Who's there?" she called into the cave, "Shhhh!" the voice said, "The children are asleep!" "OH!" Mittens whispered, "Sorry about that." From out of the animal sized cave, crawled a tan furred desert fox. "Just try to keep your voice down alright?" the fox asked. The voice was female, obviously the mother. "I'm sorry, I was just looking for an oasis." Mittens told her, "By the way, I'm Mittens." "Candice!" the fox replied. "And by now even an oasis would be dried up sweetie, sorry." "What do you mean?" Mittens asked. "The rain hasn't fallen for a while here, everything's been dried up." Candice said. Mittens dropped her ears in worry, "Oh no!" she said, "I won't be able to find my way home now." "Oh, don't cry!" Candice said trying to keep Mittens' hopes up, "Where did you say you were from?" Mittens sniffed once as she held back her tears, "Texas." she answered. Candice looked a little confused, "Is that what you call your cave or something?" "No," Mittens said, "I don't live in the desert. My husband and I used to come through here doing missions to stop a madman from dominating the world." Candice's eyes widened a little, "Oh wait, is your husband a small white fox with a thin tail?" she asked. "He's actually called a dog, an American shepherd to be exact, but yes that's him." Candice soon smiled brightly, "He saved me and my family from becoming that madman's next experiments, and gave my husband a good talking to about 'loyalty to your wife'." she said and looked to the sky. "The sun will set soon and all the big time predators will come out, why don't you stay here for the night, I promise that you'll be safe. You are that 'dog's' wife after all." she said and turned to disappear back into the den. Mittens sighed, and crawled into the cave herself, emerging in a much bigger area than she thought she was going to be in. In front of her she could see three sleeping fox pups, the mother, Candice, and a male fox standing to the side. "I'm Arthur." he said, "Candice tells me you are the wife of that animal that saved us." he said quietly. "Yup, that's me." she said nervously, "Mittens the cat." Arthur turned to Candice, "I thought you said that Bolt was a dog?" he asked. "That's what she said he was." Candice admitted. "It's kind of a long story, but yah, I'm Bolt's wife Mittens." she said and looked around. 'Why does this place seem so familiar?" she asked herself. Arthur stiffened his lip a bit and stood up to approach Mittens. Mittens didn't move, instead she let him approach her, and wasn't surprised when he sniffed her fur. "Yah, that's him, I'd remember that smell anywhere." "So she's telling the truth?" Candice asked. "I believe her, what with that speech he gave me about loyalty and all." Arthur said and turned around to go and lay down next to his pups. Candice turned to Mittens and whispered, "He's been such a big help after Bolt gave him that talking to, I just don't think I can survive without him now."
"I know the feeling, Bolt was the same way when I had our first litter." Mittens said. Candice looked to the cat in shock, "You and Bolt had children?" she asked. Mittens smiled, and turned to her, "The superpowers we got made us compatible with each other. We've been taking care of the Kits for around eight years now." she said and looked at the family that was curled up on the brush covered machine. Mittens' eyes opened wide as she realized just what they were laying on. "Is that…" she asked and walked up to the device. Arthur growled a little as she approached, but never once attacked her. Instead he watched her closely as she walked around the family examining the ground beneath them. "I don't believe it," she whispered, "it's the TIP!" she said with a smile? "TI…P?" Arthur asked in curiosity. "This is the machine Bolt and I used to go between here and our home, it hasn't been used in more than seven years." she said, and looked up at him, "I'm very sorry, but you'll have to move your sleeping area." "Give me one good reason why?" Arthur growled. "How about cause I said so!" Candice spoke up. "Candice…" he tried to argue but was instantly interrupted, "Arthur, Mittens is trying to get back to her family, and like you, she will do anything to get there. As a fellow mother, I can understand just how far she will go. The least we could do is help her, as thanks to her husband." Candice said. Arthur was dumb struck, he had nothing to say. Instead he sighed, "Uh alright. There's no changing your mind when it's made up is there?" he asked and nudged his children, who popped up instantly and laughed as they tackled him. "You little rascals!" he laughed and shooed them off.
It took some time and teamwork to get the TIP cleared, and Mittens hoped to heaven that it still worked. "Let's see." she hummed to herself. Arthur looked over her shoulder as she tried to figure it out, "First I punch in the coordinates of receiving TIP, then I…Start the energy transfer, that's right." she pulled a small lever and when it hummed to life, Mitten smiled in excitement, only to let it fall, "Or was it the other way around?" she asked herself and glanced at the board, "Yup, start her up then coordinates." she said and typed in her destination. "Huh, this thing doesn't seem overly complicated." Arthur said, and Mittens turned to him and his family. "I wish there were something I could do for you." she said, only to have Arthur shake his head, "Don't worry about it, just let us know if you need anything, we'll keep this thing in shape until you need it again." As Mittens climbed on top of the TIP, no one noticed as her claws changed from an icy clear blue to a deep flowing blue. "Alright," she said, "Just push the big button to send someone." she told him, and that is what he did, he used his paw to push the button. "Goodbye and thank you." Mittens said as she disappeared. "Wow," the pups said as she vanished completely, "Can we do that?" "No!" was the answer that came from their mother. Candice glared at the three, letting her final decision be known to them. When the pups looked to their father, he just smiled, "Mother knows best." was all he said. "AWWW!" the pup all cried, and curled up in their new spot only to hear what could be considered as rain start hitting the ground. "Would you look at that?" Arthur said as he stuck his head out the cave door, "Looks like helping her was good luck after all." What he didn't see, was an oasis not far from the cave that filled itself to the brim within seconds, much faster than the rain fall.
End Chapter 5