Chapter 6 – Valley
Rhino rolled his ball down the barren streets, the people glancing at him curiously as he passed by them. He gave them not even a glance as he focused on his track. 'Everyone is staring at me.' he thought to himself. 'No time to worry about that, I've got to focus on finding Bolt and Mittens.' Suddenly a smell hit his nose, seeping in from the vents in the crystal ball. "Ohhh that smells good!" he swooned and shook his head again. "No! Focus Rhino!" he told himself and rolled his ball away from the smell. "Mommy!" he heard from across the…street. "A little animal in a ball!" a little boy shouted as he pointed to Rhino and tugged at his mother's sleeve. The clothing seemed to be made from rags, and the women always covered their faces. Without a word, the mother pulled her son away and continued on. "Hmph!" Rhino huffed and rolled his ball even faster. Suddenly he stopped, and turned his head. His mind whirled with ideas, and he glanced around, finding a peddler with what looked to be antique electronics. His mind instantly made a list of every component in the items he witnessed the peddler reveal, and he quickly listed what parts those pieces could easily replaces. He spun his head around, and found that he could name every mineral in the side of a building and the amounts that helped stabilize the rock. Looking back to the peddler, he gawked only for a second, then smiled, "Oh, Rhino you are a genius." he told himself and rolled his ball to the Peddler's tent. Minutes went by as he took his time, moving everything he needed from the tent into a cart, and in mere seconds, turned two used hair driers into a small thrust engines. "He he he he!" he chuckled and switched on the engines. The cart rocketed away as the Peddler looked out from his tent, seeing the blur of the cart as Rhino escaped with his things. "That is the most interesting theft I've ever been a part of." he said. Rhino hollered as he rocketed across the valley, calling out his excitement, "Woooohooooo!" He didn't travel very long, as the two AA batteries he had shortly fizzled out, letting him slowly coast to a stop. "WOW! That was a rush!" he said and turned to dive into the cart, building whatever came to mind.
Mittens appeared as the O-TIP in Penny's Basement shined brightly, bathing the room in its brilliant glow. When the humming finally stopped, she stepped off of the platform, easily making her way up the stairs. The moment she entered the kitchen she knew something was wrong, the table had been destroyed, and the fridge overturned and emptied. The rest of the house was in worse shape, books torn, beds in more pieces than she could count, even the bathroom sink had been forcefully removed from the wall. "What happened here?" she asked herself. "I happened!" she heard from behind her. The shadowed voice frightened her, even to the point that she refused to turn around. Nightmare placed himself between her and whatever exit she had. "I knew you'd come back." he told her, "You had to. Where everyone else is I don't know, but all I want is you Guardians." "What do you want from us?" Mittens asked, fear paralyzing her. "I'm not sure actually, all I know is that I was created to bring you and Bolt to your knees. Then Dr. Catzer sealed me away, saying that I was far too dangerous, that I wouldn't even obey him. And you know what? He was right." Nightmare's breath pushed itself against the fur on the back of her neck, sending frightened chills down her spine as she just stood there, waiting. "But just in case I did escape, he implanted my instincts with one overpowering urge, to find and destroy the three of you." with that, he opened his jaw wide, placing her head between his jaws, and snapped them shut on thin air. Nightmare tasted the air around his teeth, "This seems to happen more often than not." he said and turned to stalk out of the house.
Back in the valley, Mittens opened her eyes, shaking violently as tears traveled down her cheeks. "Mittens. Are you ok?" she heard Rhino ask. Quickly she turned her pointed black ears, and then slowly her head to him. "Rhino?" she asked softly. "That's me!" he said, pride showing in every inch of his pose, "You, alright?" he asked again, worry quickly flooding his persona. Mittens slowly nodded, and looked out to the horizon again. "Where's Bolt?" she asked. "Not sure!" Rhino told her then looked to the GPS he rewired to a boom box, "It looks like he's in Antarctica, near a research base." "Can you take us there?" she asked. "Yah, but I can't get us back. The watch battery in my transporter only has enough power left for one trip." he said pointing her to a black sports watch wired up to a toaster, a radiator, a calculator and a bug zapper. "I don't care!" she said harshly, her tears pouring out even faster, "I just want to find Bolt!" she was just about ready to cry, when Rhino punched in the coordinates on the calculator and closed his ball. "You got it." he whispered, and touched the outside of his ball to her fur, just as the two of them vanished. The moment the two of them disappeared, the machines Rhino had built, literally fell to pieces.
End Chapter 6