Chapter 12 - France

“Ugh… jet lag…” Onyx stumbled to her feet as a sharp, white light unfolded over her, চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ and Bolt, who were still sleeping. Some sort of door was slowly opening. How odd. Onyx plonked herself down on the cold, metal floor of the plane luggage cave, squinting to see through the light that was filtering and slowly shining through the gap of a descending hatch door. She looked at Bolt and চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ who were still sound asleep, then suddenly hissed in pain. Falling over sideways, Onyx clasped at her stomach as it growled and rumbled আরো than it had ever done in her life (and that was a real achievement).
“Onyx…?” Bolt yawned, lifting his head. One of his ears was flopped and bent downwards from where he’d been sleeping on it and he blinked wearily. “Whoa… what was that noise? It woke me up.”
“That was me, sorry,” Onyx said, feeling herself going red with embarrassment.
“Was that seriously?” চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ had been awake the whole time, but hadn’t been bothered to get up. Typical Holly.
“That’s the loudest stomach I’ve heard in my life,” Bolt said, blinking sleepily, “and I’ve heard Rhino’s.”
“But he’s a hamster!” Onyx ব্যক্ত pointedly and upon thinking about hamsters, Onyx was instantly starving again.
None of them had realized that a man and a woman were ascending up into the compartment, where Bolt, Onyx and চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ were completely on show.
“Ilona!” the man called to his female assistant. “Un chien et deux chats faire échapper! Rapide!”
“Uh oh…” চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ ব্যক্ত grimly.
“Qu’est-ce que? Oh!” Ilona, as they now randomly knew her, gasped.
“What are they saying?” Bolt said.
“Why are they speaking French?” চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ said.
“Where are we?”
“How are we going to get out of this?”
“Onyx…?”
“SILENCIEUX!!” Onyx yelled at the শীর্ষ of her voice. She was far too hungry and annoyed to answer these questions. Even Ilona and the other man seemed to stop at her wrath. “Je suis vraiment faim, laisser moi seul!!”
Onyx did something then that no one was expecting. With a yowling battle cry, she leaped, hissing and spitting, at Ilona and the man, scratching their faces and bowling them back down the stairs they came up on. Bolt and চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ raced after Onyx as she sped across the new airport বিমানের নির্মিত পথ post of their sudden dramatic escape, looking over her shoulder to see if her sister and idol were following.
Panting, Onyx skidded to the side of the massive airport to sit down and wait for Bolt and Holly. Surveying the area, Onyx was starting to get really suspicious. There was a café on the other side of the terminal with a very unlikely name for Miami. Café de Classe. Huh? Things were all starting to add up here and Onyx had a sudden horrific thought that she didn’t want to voice out loud until Bolt and চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ were there to hear it.
“Bolt… Holly!” Onyx huffed as the two skidded to a halt পরবর্তি to her, breathing fast.
“Onyx - what’s going on?” চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ asked, slightly worried.
“I-know-what’s-happened!” Onyx blurted out in one quick word. “The plane we got on was 616, ya? Well… the plane to Miami was 615.”
A struck silence slapped everyone in the face like a wet মাছ as they realized what had happened, the terrifying and plan-ruining truth that was unfolding before them - they had boarded the wrong plane.
“You’re kidding me?” Bolt gasped. “That’s ridonculous.” (26)
“No, I’m serious, we thought we boarded the plane to Miami and ended up in France.”
“What part of France?” চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ inquired.
“Who knows? Lets go and find out, shall we?”
“No way,” Bolt interjected. “We have to be in Miami. This seriously cannot be happening. No way can I lose Penny again!”
“Paris,” Onyx said.
There was a silence.
“… What? We’re in Paris. Ooh, how cliché of us to end up here, eh?”
“Paris?” চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ whispered. “But… that’s not in America.”
“How do আপনি know?” Bolt inquired.
“Duh! Eiffel Tower? Hello,” Onyx waved her paws round dramatically, “Bolt, where have আপনি been for the last five point two minutes?”
Bolt gave her a sceptical but humorous look.
“What are we going to do?” Holly’s ears folded against her head, concerned.
“Find some food?” Onyx suggested weakly. “C’mon.” Without hesitation, Onyx slipped her way through the terminal and out into the bustling but ever antique and beautiful streets of Paris. Bolt and চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ only followed to make sure she didn’t get killed অথবা run over on the mental French roads অথবা make some poor small restaurant go out of business.
Bolt, চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ and Onyx got right into the হৃদয় of the area, examining a small French market, selling ফলমূল and savoury foods of every kind, as well as CDs, DVDs and media, plush toys and bedding (27).
“Look!” Onyx gestured up to a luxury stall, with bright colours and a playful, childish look about it. “It’s you, Bolt! They sell BOLT stuff in France, too!” Onyx was pointing at the last VOLT (28) plush on the stall with intense desire gleaming in her hazel eyes.
“Onyx, stay on track,” Bolt said, then smiled at her. “But I will admit that I appreciate my biggest অনুরাগী -“
Onyx had disappeared.
“Onyx?” চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ called. “Onyx, where are -?”
“Hey y’all!” Onyx grinned, the VOLT plush now pressed against her chest in a tight hug. “Look what I got!”
“Face palm,” চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ said, placing a paw on her face and shaking her head.
They continued through the market, looking for খাবার they could all enjoy, because দ্বারা now, it wasn’t just Onyx who wanted it. But he was probably দ্বারা far the hungriest of the three of them. Many stalls caught their interest and their noses, but there was always something wrong with each one. Maybe, the stall owner looked far too burly and dangerous to mess with, অথবা they couldn’t access it because it was too high up অথবা to revealing to the stall owner. And then they found the perfect one.
A small, frail-looking woman was stood at a stall selling meats of every kind - sausages, steaks, hams, even Quorn, which was the vegetarian option. She looked very gullible to Bolt’s ‘dog face’ which, Bolt thought desolately, was a trick taught to him দ্বারা Mittens. Man, he missed Mittens.















Chapter 13 - The Heist

Bolt whined pitifully, making the frail lady look down.
“Oh, salut,” she ব্যক্ত in a sweet, caring voice which made Bolt regret exploiting in the plan. His stomach, however, ব্যক্ত otherwise.
Bolt tilted his head ever so slightly down and to the left, slid both his ears down and, to finish the image, looked up with large, pleading eyes.
“Awwh,” the lady said. She turned around, grabbing two sausages from a rack and handing them to Bolt. “Là tu aller.”
While the dear old lady wasn’t looking, Onyx and চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ were at work behind her, dragging meat into plastic shopping bags. Onyx gave চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ a funny look - she wasn’t putting anything but Quorn into her bag.
“Um, hello,” Onyx said, “there’s real meat all around ya - what the heck are ya doin’?”
“I’m a vegetarian.”
Onyx fell backwards off the stall with a short yelp.

Heaving herself back up again, Onyx stared open-mouthed at her sister.
“A cat? Vegetarian??”
“What’s wrong with that? I just feel so sorry for those জন্তু জানোয়ার -“
“Chats! Chats! Descendre!!” The old lady had spotted them. Bolt had tried his best to distract them, but he could not hold her off when she heard Onyx falling off the stall.
“Run!!” Bolt yelled to Onyx and Holly; the old lady shuffled quickly towards them and took a swipe at Holly, who reacted দ্বারা crouching low, coiling up all of her leg muscles, and springing high into the air. She twisted in mid-air, paws ahead of her and feet together to balance trajectory and speed, landing dead-centre two whole stalls away.
Onyx was sprinting past Bolt, while he barked at the lady to keep her at bay. She wasn’t looking where she was going and ran head-first into a large, snarling rottweiler. The beast sniffed; he could smell all of the meat in Onyx’s shopping bag. With a mighty woof which could rival the Super Bark, the rottweiler lunged at Onyx, clamping his huge jaws around her neck and shaking her, making the bag fall out of her paws.
দ্বারা now, the whole commotion had been enough to make a crowd gather round them. The old lady was shouting obscenities in French while Bolt and চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ slithered through the forest of people, desperate to get away. And no one had noticed that Onyx was getting mauled to death.
It was only when Onyx screamed out in pain that Bolt looked around. He saw the blood. He saw the rottweiler shaking around his biggest fan. He heard Onyx’s cries as the dog tried to rip her apart.
“Stop right there!” Bolt pounded over to the rottweiler, leaping into its side and pushing it over. The dog let go of Onyx, who was bleeding furiously from the part where her neck joined her shoulder; where the dog had bit her. She stumbled, dazed, towards Holly, then collapsed at her feet. চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ let out a short sob.
Bolt had the rottweiler down on the ground. It’s ears were back and it gestured for Bolt to take the bag of meat he had taken from Onyx. Like Bolt was finished with him.
“Never,” Bolt hissed at the dog, “touch my Onyx EVER again.” Bolt then placed his right paw forward, his right foot back and dipped his head down and back, a growl forming in the back of his throat. Onyx came round again just in time to see Bolt perform a lighter version of his mighty Super Bark - Bolt barked louder than he had ever done before, just without the special effects team backing it up. He had never barked so loudly and proudly in his life - and it scared the rottweiler to bits. Whimpering, the now powerless dog scampered away through the jungle of people with his tail between his legs.
“Bolt…” Onyx whispered as Bolt sauntered towards them proudly. “You saved my life.”
“And your food,” Bolt ব্যক্ত with a small shrug, handing Onyx the flimsy carrier bag.
“Thankies.”
Onyx stumbled slowly to her feet, began to walk, but thudded to the floor short after - her paw was pretty busted.
“First, my tail, then my face, now my paw…” Onyx muttered irritably, before Bolt walked over to her and started to clean up her wounds with his tongue. A long Awwh sounded from the crowd of French surrounding them.
About half an ঘন্টা later, Bolt, চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ and a slightly limping Onyx were traipsing down a small back alley, finding a quiet spot to sit down and eat. It had gone dark, and they hadn’t realised just how late in the evening they had arrived in France. Onyx looked up at a digital clock in a restaurant’s back window, which read 7.03.
A poodle and a শামুক were, অথবা seemed to be, sat together behind the restaurant, either side of a small dog bowl filled with French dog food. As they walked past, চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ nudged Onyx’s side.
“Do আপনি know what escargot is?” চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ whispered to her sister.
“It’s a French delicacy, apparently,” Onyx muttered back.
“There’s a শামুক over there.”
Onyx looked at চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ with a glint of awkwardness, then snatched the শামুক from where it was sat. চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ flinched as a crunch sounded.
“I can’t believe আপনি did that.”
“Noooooo!!” The poodle suddenly screamed in horror, gawking at Onyx. “Kevin! He’s dead!”
“Oh, sorry, were ya goin’ to eat that?” Onyx said, grinning uncomfortably.
“He was my husband, আপনি fool!”
“Oh, sorry - wait, wha??” Onyx paused, her eyebrows furrowed at the poodle in thought. “…Y’all speakin’ English!”
চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ put her face in her paw.
“So,” Bolt said, waggling her eyebrows at the attractive poodle, “does this mean you’re, um, আপনি know, single?”
The poodle slapped Bolt round the face, then with a curt, “Humph,” she took off, crying.
There was a short silence.
“Oops,” Onyx ব্যক্ত quietly.
They laughed the whole rest of the evening.























Chapter 14 - Falling for Onyx

With her stomach full and her paw on the mend, Onyx was now feeling a bit আরো enthusiastic about what they should do next.
Onyx, চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ and Bolt were back at the airport terminal the পরবর্তি day, after a big ডিনার and a good night’s rest. Hiding beneath a flight of stairs, they observed the huge, lit up timetables hanging firmly from the ceiling for that hour’s flights. Bolt spotted flight 205 - the plane to Miami. The only problem was it wasn’t for another five and a half hours.
“We can’t wait here for five hours!” Bolt complained. He scanned the board further - the closest flight to their time was the 562 - to Moscow, Russia. A little far out from where they were going.
“Russia…” Onyx said, a paw caressing her first chin in thought. “Hmm. Ya know, why do we have to wait five hours? Why don’t we, ya know, just get on the closest flight to us and, well, see where it takes us?”
“Onyx,” চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ ব্যক্ত with a raise of her eyebrows, “there’s raiding a French market to get food, there’s springing me out of Quarantine in Arizona, but this… is really stupid. Well, scratch that last one, অথবা I wouldn’t be here, but really. Get real, Onyx!”
“No, hold on.” Bolt put up a paw. “Why not? It will take a long time for Penny to get to Miami দ্বারা car, we have lots of time to spare…”
“Oh God…”
“We could go all around the world, just gettin’ on the plane that’s nearest the time we’re at the airport, like now!”
Onyx looked up into Bolt’s eyes. “Ya think it’s a good idea, don’t ya?”
Bolt looked down into Onyx’s eyes just the same, those large, hazel eyes he’d gotten so used to seeing, and relied a simple, honest, “Yes.”
“That’s all I need!” Onyx said, wrapping her arms around Bolt’s neck in a tight hug. And to Bolt’s surprise, he enjoyed. Really enjoyed it. There was a fleeting, fast flash of প্রজাপতি somewhere in his middle region when Onyx hugged him that he simply could not explain. This was a feeling he had never experienced before - not when he was on set with Penny, not when he was travelling with Mittens and Rhino - never before.
As Onyx, Bolt and (reluctantly) চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ boarded the plane for Moscow, Bolt didn’t think anymore of the weird, প্রজাপতি feeling. He thought it was a temporary experience and that it would never happen again, that maybe it was purely excitement for this crazy, cat-brained around the world idea.
Little did he know what he was destined to find out.


Chapter 15 - Russia

Onyx awoke feeling very cold. Very cold. A short shiver went up her spine, which then radiated all through her body. It was freezing cold, and that was odd, because Onyx hardly ever felt the cold, being such a large cat. But, there it was, a horrible biting cold surrounding her, inside her, scratching and nipping at everywhere it could. She kept on shivering - and felt something large and long tighten itself around her middle. Onyx looked down in a panic and sighed, it was only Bolt’s arm. Wait - Bolt’s arm?
“Don’t be cold,” a soft voice ব্যক্ত behind her, and Bolt’s head emerged from behind her shoulder to rest on the side of her neck. “I’ll keep আপনি warm.”
“Gettin’ intimate, are we?” Onyx ব্যক্ত with a short grin. It was only short because she wasn’t joking - was it her, অথবা was he starting to…? No, she thought, that’s ridonculous, he’s a dog and I’m a cat. Intimacy’s just plain wrong… And that’s when she reluctantly pulled away from Bolt’s grip, realising this.
“Onyx?”
“No, that’s just wrong…” Onyx shook her head to clear it.
“What is?” Bolt sat up, a look of upset on his face. Onyx hadn’t meant to hurt Bolt, not at all. “I was just keeping আপনি warm. Besides, Onyx…” Bolt hung his head, avoiding her eyes. “Before we got on the plane, when আপনি hugged me… I felt something. A feeling I’d never felt before. I’ve seen it being felt দ্বারা lots of people on other films and TV shows before, but I don’t know what it’s called.”
“There’s two types of it,” Onyx said, catching on. “One is to do with family, like me with Holly.” She looked down at her still sleeping sister. “And there’s the other type…”
“The one I think I feel for you.”
Onyx blinked. A dog, well, simply can’t প্রণয় a cat. Like that. It’s impossible, it’s just morally and physically wrong, in every single way. মার্জার and সারমেয় are stereotypical enemies, born to hate one another, but yet… Here was Bolt, saying he loved her, and Onyx, being his biggest fan… loving him back. In the same way.
“I’m your biggest fan, Bolt,” Onyx whispered.
“I know,” Bolt replied. “And no one else. Not even that Misty one আপনি ব্যক্ত about.” (29)
“You remembered that?”
“Of course. And আপনি ‘showed them the length আপনি would go to for Bolt’.”
“For you.”
Onyx and Bolt moved closer, taking each other’s paws and drawing their faces close.
“That feeling,” Onyx whispered in Bolt’s ear, “the one we’re feeling for each other… it’s called love, Bolt.”
They drew so close, Bolt almost went in first, until -
“What the heck are আপনি two doing?!” চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ gasped. Onyx বিভক্ত করা apart from Bolt quicker than she would বিভক্ত করা with a লেটুস leaf. “You’re not - আপনি can’t, that’s against all the rules -“
“We’re not,” Onyx ব্যক্ত quickly, glancing at Bolt and oddly trying not to burst out into a fit of giggles. Nervous laugh, she supposed.
Out of the plane and into the terminal, all action in the plane was now forgotten - it was so cold in Russia that it could drive all thought from the mind.
Bolt glanced over at a ভান্দার window - and saw his face in it. No reflections অথবা anything. Above it was the word ‘Boлbt’. It must’ve been an advert for his প্রদর্শনী in Russian.
“Oh, oh, oh…” Onyx said, flapping her paws slightly in an excited fit. “BOLT in Russian! Russian!!” Onyx went to run and look, but something else caught her eye. Something brick-red in পশম colour with a large, bushy tail was scampering past the terminal holding a large bun and wearing a tiny পশম coat. While Bolt and চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ examined the Russian BOLT advert, Onyx followed the red thing, down the pavement and into a small little alleyway. At the end of the alley, there was a small patch of soil and grass, possibly artificial ঘাস (after all, it was probably for too cold for real ঘাস to grow), which the thing ran over to. It started digging a hole in the grass. Onyx edged nearer and nearer, wanting to get a closer look at it. Until she spied the bun which it had put down to dig the hole. How odd.
“A scone?” Onyx whispered silently to herself. The thing didn’t notice. Onyx saw that it was already filled with the জ্যাম and cream they were normally stuffed with. Every part of Onyx’s brain was telling her to eat it. But what if the thing gets mad? Well… She couldn’t help herself.
The hole was finished, the thing turned round - and saw a huge, ferocious cat eating her precious scone. It’d worked so hard to get that!
Onyx looked down upon hearing a squeak of horror coming from the thing digging the hole - and came face-to-face… with a red squirrel. In Russia.
“Argh!” the কাঠবিড়াল cried in a very British, female accent. “Olivia! Cat, CAT!!”
“Y’wha?” a tiny মাউস - she swore it was a mouse- emerged out from behind a bin. The মাউস was wearing a কোট too. “Oh, a cat - ARGH!”
Onyx picked up the mouse, অথবা Olivia, দ্বারা her tail and held her close to her face.
“Hey - what’s goin’ on?” she ব্যক্ত to Olivia, who appeared not to be listening.
“Lorem, help!” Olivia cried. “C’mon, try your hardest, I’ll pull your brains out with your -“
“OI!!”
That shut up Olivia.
“Now,” Onyx ব্যক্ত slowly, “explain to me - what are a মাউস and a red কাঠবিড়াল doing in such a place like Russia?”
“Why should I tell you?” Olivia ব্যক্ত firmly, crossing her little arms defensively. “Put me down, then I will tell you.”
Onyx placed Olivia gently down on the ground, then made sure she blocked their escape.
“First, get me a new scone,” the squirrel, অথবা Lorem ব্যক্ত aggressively. “I worked so hard to get that, and আপনি come along, being all with your American accent and your stupid swagger -“
“I do not swagger, আপনি little f-“
“- and আপনি come and eat my scone!” Lorem raised a tiny fist into the air. Was it her, অথবা was Onyx being insulted দ্বারা two rodents? Two, normally very tasty, rodents?
“Oh, that’s it,” Onyx growled, raising to her full height, “y’all are lunch!”
Lorem squeaked in fright at Onyx lunged at her. She was cornered in the alley, with nowhere to escape. Onyx grabbed her দ্বারা the tail and lifted her up, tilting her head back and opening her jaws in the process. Olivia watched, horrified as her best friend was about to be swallowed up দ্বারা this যেভাবে খুশী American cat -
“ONYX!!” Holly’s voice came from the end of the alley. Her and Bolt had come to look for her. “Stop eating the locals!”
Onyx looked round at Holly, a look of disappointment on her face, with Lorem still raised. “Oh… But - Holly, I’m hungry!”
“Tell me what else is new,” she ব্যক্ত sardonically, snatching Lorem out of her lifted paw and placing her on the ground পরবর্তি to Olivia. “You always are, আপনি insatiable idiot.”
“Hey, চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ -“
“We need your help,” Bolt cut over Onyx, speaking to the rodents.
“How could we help you?” Olivia said, less scared of Onyx now চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ was there to restrain her. “We’re just mice and, um, squirrels.”
“You know all about Russia, don’t you?”
“Well, sort of,” Lorem answered. “We’re British, see. We thought we needed a change, better weather, so we tried to get on a plane to Miami with an overseas package. We thought Miami, for it’s glorious Florida weather and for it’s fame. Turns out, the package was for Russia, and we ended up here.”
“You’re going to Miami, too?” Onyx said.
“We were,” Olivia corrected her. “We’ve been here for, oh… How long has it been, Lorem?”
“Just a little over three years, Olivia.”
“Yeah, that.”
“Seriously?” Bolt gasped. “Well, how ‘bout আপনি come with us? We’re going that way, and you’ll still be alive at the end of the journey so long as me and চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ are here…” Bolt glared at Onyx, who grinned. “If Onyx isn’t hungry, you’re fine.”
“You’re doomed, in other words,” চিরশ্যামল গুল্মবিশেষ whispered to Olivia, and to her surprise, she laughed.