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Post by Flowgli on Dec 9, 2008 17:25:14 GMT -5
Chapter Eight: Thunderbolt's Past
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Patch and his family and friends were now at the park, erupting with laughter over the confrontation where the dogs that have been ridiculing Patch got attacked by him.
"Oh, my goodness," said Thunderbolt as he and everyone else started to calm down from laughing. "Patch, you really showed those mutts what you're made of."
"Yes, I sure did, all right," said Patch, feeling proud of himself. "Thunderbolt, I really wanted to thank you for helping me become as good as you. And I wanted to thank my brothers and sisters for showing me a lot of support. If it weren't for any of you, I wouldn't be where I'm at, now."
"Well, you know, we're all just happy to help," Lucky grinned.
All the other pups agreed. Patch then faced Thunderbolt again.
"Thunderbolt," Patch said with a loving sigh, "you are the best friend that anyone can ever have. You've always been there to help me when I need you. We've never been a day apart from each other after the day we first met. And after realizing how close we became ever since I took the job as your sidekick on our show, I feel like you are part of this family."
After what Patch just said, Thunderbolt took a deep sigh and looked down to the ground in sadness.
"Yeah," said Thunderbolt, sulking. "A part of your family. That's something I wanted to tell you after you asked me how I got this scarf."
"Did your pet give you that scarf the day he adopted you?" Patch asked Thunderbolt.
"Sounds like that could've been the case, but no. Actually, this scarf belonged to my father. He used to wear it all the time before he died."
Patch and his siblings gathered around to hear more about how Thunderbolt got his scarf.
"Looks like it's my turn to tell you guys about my past life," said Thunderbolt, smiling weakly. "All right."
Amber, Pongo, and Perdita joined the pups to listen to Thunderbolt's story, as well. Thunderbolt began to look very terrible that he was going to tell his friends the story of his life. As much it hurt him by just thinking about it, Thunderbolt had no choice but to tell his friends all about his past. It was only fair that he did so, after all, since he and the Dalmatian family heard all about Amber's life.
"Well," Thunderbolt began in a low voice, "I was born in the countryside of America with three brothers and two sisters. My mother was very ill, and she died after I was born. I was the youngest pup in the litter. I never knew my mother."
Thunderbolt took another deep sigh before he continued.
"I was very upset when my father told me about the death of my mother," Thunderbolt went on, shaking. "As I grew, there have been many dangers happening in the country. I saw people being rescued from those dangers by others, and that's when I first dreamed of being a real hero. I told my family about my dream, and that I wanted to make it happen so that I can bring my mother back, but they told me not to take such a risk, and that I could get killed if I do. And my father told me that there's nothing that anyone can do to bring back anyone from the dead."
Thunderbolt tried his best to hold back his tears, but a couple of them escaped from his eyes and ran down his cheeks.
"And how did your father die?" Patch asked, now sounding a bit more worried.
"One day, when I was in the woods with my father," Thunderbolt continued tearfully, "a hunter was aiming a gun right at us. I tried to do the right thing and save ourselves by tackling the hunter on my own, but I wasn't strong enough. I was very scared when the hunter aimed his gun at me, but my father saved my life by stepping in and getting himself shot instead."
All of Thunderbolt's friends gasped in horror after Thunderbolt revealed about how his father died.
"I was heartbroken when my father died from that gunshot," Thunderbolt continued, trying hard not to let any more tears come out of his eyes. "When my old pets found my father dead, they gave his scarf to me, since they know how much I loved him. And I have been wearing it all the time after his death. My old pets then found that living in the country was becoming even more dangerous, so they took me and my brothers and sisters away from there, and we all took a boat here to England, where we can be safe. When we arrived here, my old pets told me and my brothers and sisters that they couldn't afford to put our lives in danger after the deaths of our parents. So, what they did was sell us. I was the last one to be sold."
He looked down at Patch.
"And I think you know who adopted me," He said.
"Yes," Patch answered quietly. "It was our producer."
"That's right," Thunderbolt went on, looking up to face Amber and the entire Dalmatian family again, "When he adopted me and took me to my new home, I wasn't used to the new lifestyle I was given. I was cooped up in my home and never let out to see what England was really like, my father's scarf was stored someplace where I couldn't find it, and I felt miserable and alone when I realized that I would never see my old family again!"
Thunderbolt hung his head miserably and sobbed.
"My pet then bought Lightning for me," Thunderbolt went on softly. "At first, Lightning and I got along with each other very well. But when my pet decided to do a show starring me and Lightning, my life had changed a lot. I got all the fame from the show and Lightning didn't, since he wasn't seen much on the show, and he found it unfair. I wanted to tell Lightning how bad I felt for him, but I got so caught up in my career that it made me care less about him. I've been letting all that fame go to my head ever since I took the acting job, and I was too busy thinking only about myself!"
Thunderbolt dropped himself down on the ground, crying.
"And that's how I got this scarf," said Thunderbolt, still crying. "That's how I became a selfish actor."
Thunderbolt sniffed and dried off his tears after he finished telling his friends the story of his life.
"Lucky that I've found this scarf today," said Thunderbolt softly. "I never thought I'd see this scarf again. This was my father's favorite scarf. He didn't want anything bad to happen to it. He treasured it as much as he treasured me. And ever since my father had died, his scarf began to mean so much to me as it meant so much to him."
Amber and the Dalmatian family began to feel Thunderbolt's pain after hearing everything what Thunderbolt had to say. Patch went closer to Thunderbolt to comfort him.
"I'm so sorry, Thunderbolt," said Patch gently. "We all are sorry to hear all that. But things are gonna be okay for you, right? You got me, my family, and Amber as your friends, now. Ever since I took the job with you, I've been treating you like family."
"Thank you, Patch," sobbed Thunderbolt. "But after mistreating Lightning and using you just to keep myself from being written out of the show, I don't think I deserve to be treated like family."
"Of course, you do. You're my best friend. Ever since my family and I have been watching you on the telly, I always believed that you can do anything. And despite your faults, I still believe in you, because you've helped me go through my acting career, and you've helped me do better at being a real hero. After everything you've done for me, you've become more than my best friend; you've become my hero."
The music for a new song started playing in the background.
"And you'll always be my hero, no matter what," Patch assured Thunderbolt.
"Really?" asked Thunderbolt after he calmed down from sobbing.
"Really."
Patch began singing to help Thunderbolt realize how much of a good friend he had been to him:
"You gave me all the strength and all the confidence I need. You lift my spirits high when I am down. You helped me when I need you like a friend you truly are. You made me feel real safe when you're around. I'm thankful for the things you've done for me that made me strong. You always comfort me when I cry. I'm glad that you were with me everytime I feel alone. Now, I will be brave for you. I'll try."
Thunderbolt tried to force a smile back on his face after those lines were sung. Hoping that Thunderbolt would feel better about himself, Patch continued singing:
"Because, in my heart, you're my hero, And I don't want anything to happen to you. You're the one who lights up my world when it's dark, And you'll always be my best friend, 'Cause, in my heart, you're my hero."
After those lines were sung, Thunderbolt felt a glow in his heart as he sat back up. He really was starting to feel better about himself as Patch sang the next lines:
"There are so many dangers that we will have to face, But I can't face them without you, my friend. If I get into trouble, I'll find myself afraid, But you'll be there to help me in the end!"
At the end of those lines, Thunderbolt brightened up completely. Thunderbolt became very happy about who he was now as Patch sang the next lines with pride:
"Because, in my heart, you're my hero, And I don't want anything to happen to you. You're the one who lights up my world when it's dark, And you'll always be my best friend, through and through! Because, in my heart, you're my hero, And you'll always be, no matter what you do. I will always be right there by your side, And our friendship will never end, 'Cause, in my heart, you're my hero!"
As his song came closer to an end, Patch fondly placed both of his front paws over his heart and softly sang the last line to show how very dear Thunderbolt was to him:
"Because, in my heart, you're my hero."
After Patch's song ended, Thunderbolt shedded tears of joy.
"Oh, Patch, that was beautiful," said Thunderbolt, drying off his tears again. "No one has ever done that for me. Thank you. I feel much better."
Thunderbolt pulled his father's scarf off his neck with his teeth.
"Here," said Thunderbolt as he wrapped the scarf around Patch's neck. "I want you to have this."
Patch looked down at the scarf that he was now wearing.
"Thunder, no," said Patch sadly. "Not your favorite scarf. You love it so much. It means everything to you--"
"Shh," said Thunderbolt calmly. "It was never my scarf to begin with. I just kept it safe with me for my father. I don't want my pet to put it someplace where I can't find it again, so I'm giving it to you, my best friend. I'm relying on you to keep it safe for me. My father would love it if I have a friend who would keep his scarf safe with them."
It was now Patch's turn to shed tears of joy.
"Thank you," said Patch quietly, and he and Thunderbolt hugged each other.
Thunderbolt then heard the producer calling him.
"Thunderbolt, it's time to go!" The producer called.
When Thunderbolt rejoined the producer to go home, the producer was surprised to see that the scarf that Thunderbolt was wearing is now on Patch.
"I see you've given that old scarf to our little hero there," the producer chuckled. "It looks big on him, but he'll grow into it."
"I'll see you at work tomorrow, little buddy!" Thunderbolt called out at Patch as he leaves with the producer. "Remember to keep my father's scarf safe for me!"
"I will!" Patch called back.
After Thunderbolt and the producer left, Patch saw Amber looking down to the ground glumly.
"Amber?" said Patch in a concerned tone as he went closer to Amber. "Amber, are you all right? Have you had any luck finding yourself a home and a family?"
"I'm fine, Patch," said Amber in a low voice, not looking up. "But I still have no luck."
"Are you sure you're all right? Because if you want, I'd be more than happy to help you--"
"I said, I'm fine," said Amber sternly, turning around sharply to face Patch.
Patch flinched the second he saw an angry look on Amber's face.
"I'm sorry," said Patch, shaking. "It's just that I have been so worried about you ever since you told us that you've been homeless all your life."
Realizing what she had done to make Patch afraid of her, Amber forgot her anger and showed an expression of regret.
"Patch," Amber sighed, "I'm sorry I scared you. I know how worried you are about me, but I promise you that I'll have some luck getting myself a home and a family. Instead of searching for those things myself, I'll just wait for someone to come to me."
Patch wanted to disagree with what Amber just said, but was afraid that Amber would become very upset with him for it. He already made Thunderbolt upset with him after deciding to quit his job with him; he did not want to have the same thing happen with Amber. So, Patch lowered his head in hopelessness.
"Don't worry about me anymore, sweetie," said Amber calmly. "I'm gonna be fine. Now, go and rejoin your pets; they'll be taking you home in a few minutes. Goodbye."
Amber left Patch and his family to return home to the junkyard.
"Goodbye," Patch sobbed after Amber was out of sight. "And good luck."
Back in the farm that night, Pongo was counting the pups as they went inside the barn to go to sleep. He counted ninety-eight after the pups were inside the barn. He turned around to find the pup not counted sitting at the pond. That pup was Patch. Patch was shedding tears, the scarf that Thunderbolt gave him laying right next to him. When one of Patch's tears fell into the pond, causing it to ripple, he saw the Pongo's reflection in it; he gasped in shock and turned around quickly to face his father.
"Dad!" Patch gasped, drying off his tears as fast as he can. "I just had something in my eye."
Pongo chuckled knowingly.
"Nice try, Patch," Pongo smirked. "You had Amber on your mind again. I know you do."
Patch did not know what to say to get himself out of the conversation with Pongo, so he decided to give up and confess.
"All right, Dad, I admit it," Patch sighed. "I just don't think that just waiting for someone to go to her and adopt her, after living in a junkyard for who knows how long, is actually gonna help her get a suitable home and a family who would love her. What if nobody comes around to adopt her? She could get sick if she keeps up living that way. She could die if she doesn't find a suitable home real soon. Living in a place like the junkyard without a family to take good care of her is not good. She needs help."
"Take it easy, son," said Pongo gently. "Don't worry about her. She'll be able to find a home and a family sooner than you think. In the meantime, you need to focus more on your job with Thunderbolt. Speaking of which, you have work tomorrow, and you need to get some sleep, right now."
Patch hung his head miserably, not knowing what to do to help Amber now that Pongo had brought up Patch's job.
"Okay, Dad," said Patch glumly. "Good night."
"Good night, Patch," said Pongo, and he pushes the scarf closer to Patch with his nose. "Take this scarf with you. It's getting chilly tonight."
Patch went inside the barn with the scarf wrapped around his neck. All of his siblings were already fast asleep. He climbed onto a hay bale and completely wrapped the scarf around his body. The scarf was big enough to keep him warm. He then fell into a warm, deep sleep, still hoping that Amber will have some luck finding a home and a family in the future.
***
End of chapter eight.
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Post by Belchic on Dec 9, 2008 19:54:46 GMT -5
Wow. That...was sad.
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Post by corgi on Dec 11, 2008 12:56:08 GMT -5
I'm sorry if I couldn't read all the chapters yet, Flo, but this last one looks really interesting! I'm quite busy with university works, but when I finish them, I'll read all them quietly. I'll love to read them
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Post by Flowgli on Dec 31, 2008 12:46:06 GMT -5
Chapter Nine: A Visitor At Work
***
Monday morning came. Patch was fully awake and completely focused on what to do at work when he went through the usual morning routine. After the routine, he returned to the barn to find the scarf that Thunderbolt gave him lying around on the ground.
"Oh, my goodness," Patch gasped as he rushed to the scarf and brush all the dirt and hay off it with one of his front paws. "I can't let this old scarf get filthy."
After brushing the scarf clean, Patch folded it neatly, making it look as good as new again. He then looked around the barn to find a good place to hide the scarf, so that it will not get ruined again. But he heard Lucky calling him before he could spot the perfect place to hide the scarf.
"Patch, what are you doing?"
Patch turned around to see Lucky sitting right outside the barn.
"Lucky, I need you to do me a favor while I'm at work," said Patch. "I need you to hide this scarf somewhere in this barn, where it can be safe from getting dirty or torn up."
"No problem," said Lucky. "I think I know a good place in this barn to put it."
Lucky took the scarf with his teeth and went to the back of the barn, where a large haystack hid a crate behind it.
"Perfect!" Lucky whispered in a satisfied tone as he lifted the lid up and dropped the scarf in the crate.
Once the scarf was inside the crate, Lucky placed the lid down and climbed up the crate to guard the scarf.
"Thanks, Lucky," said Patch.
"No need to thank me, Patch," said Lucky. "I'm just glad to help you keep this scarf safe for Thunderbolt."
Patch and Lucky then heard Roger honk the car horn.
"Patch, let's go, boy!" Roger called, and Patch rushed to the car to be taken to work.
Later that morning, back in the junkyard in London, Amber is still asleep; she was having a good dream of living in a beautiful mansion, married to Thunderbolt. While Amber is dreaming, another dog sneaked into the junkyard and quietly approached her.
"Oh, yes, Thunderbolt," Amber said dreamily in her sleep. "I love being your wife. I would love to be with you forever and ever."
The other dog gently stroked Amber's hair, causing her to giggle lightly in her sleep.
"Mmm, come here, you handsome, wonderful hound, you," Amber went on in her sleep.
Now was the other dog's chance to wake Amber up; he did this by slowly leaning closer to her, and gently touching her nose with his own. The touch on her nose caused Amber to giggle again. She then slowly opened her eyes to see the dog next to her, but then blinked in shock and became fully awake to realize that the dog was not the one she was dreaming of. She quickly stood on all fours and confronted the dog, who was not Thunderbolt, but Lightning.
"You!" Amber snarled at Lightning. "What are you doing here?!"
Lightning took a few steps back from Amber, frightened of the way she just confronted him.
"Whoa, there, lady!" said Lightning, shaking. "Take it easy! I was just looking for someone who will help me get to Kent, and I thought you'd be the one!"
"Help you?" Amber responded in disgust. "Why would I help you? I know who you are! You're Lightning, Thunderbolt's former sidekick on The Thunderbolt Adventure Hour! You tried to scam Thunderbolt out of the show and take his place on it and steal all the fame he's got!"
"No, no, no! You got it all wrong! I only did all that to make Thunderbolt realize how much of a friend he hasn't been to me. Ever since he became famous for playing the hero on the show, he's been thinking more about his career and less about me, his friend. That's why I'm asking you to help me get to Kent--so that I can straighten things out with him."
After hearing what Lightning just said, Amber forgot her anger and raised an eyebrow.
"What do ya say, Amber?" said Lightning calmly. "Will you help me get to Kent? Please?"
Amber's eyes grew wider in surprise when she heard Lightning mention her name.
"You--you know my name?" gasped Amber. "But how--?"
"I'll explain later," said Lightning quickly. "For now, just do me this one favor, and I'll do something for you in return."
Amber looked more bewildered. She wondered why Lightning would want to do something for her in return if she helps him get to Kent. After all, it has been only a few minutes since they both first met, and that was not enough time to get themselves to know each other very well and do favors for them after that.
"All right, then," said Amber, giving in to Lightning's offer. "Being a street dog almost my entire life, I know my way all around England. Follow me."
Amber and Lightning's journey to Kent then began. Throughout the trip, Amber lead the way, and Lightning followed. They searched high and low, left and right, through the sewers, and across the streets. Finally, after over three hours of searching, Amber and Lightning made it to Kent and found the studio where Patch and Thunderbolt are working.
"This is it," said Lightning. "This is the studio where Thunderbolt works. I'm going in to talk to Thunderbolt, now. I'll meet you again in the junkyard later."
"All right, Lightning," Amber replied. "Good luck."
Amber left to go back home to the junkyard in London, leaving Lightning to enter the studio and talk to Thunderbolt. Meanwhile, inside the studio, Thunderbolt and Patch were having their break, talking to each other.
"So, Patch," said Thunderbolt, "are taking good care of my father's scarf?"
"It's being taken really good care of, right now," said Patch. "This morning, I asked Lucky to help me keep it safe for you while I'm here at work. So, he hid it in a crate to make sure that it doesn't get lost or ruined."
"Oh, very good."
"Yeah, and I'm glad I'm not wearing it to work, because that scarf is too big for me to wear it anywhere. I might trip over it and have it all ruined. But luckily, it was big enough to keep me warm last night."
Thunderbolt chuckled after hearing what Patch just said. The two dogs then heard the door open. They turned around to see that Lightning had entered the studio. At the sight of Lightning, Thunderbolt looked happy to see him again.
"Hello, Thunderbolt!" said Lightning cheerfully. "It's great to see you again!"
"Lightning, little buddy!" Thunderbolt exclaimed with joy as he rushed to hug Lightning, but then stopped to show an expression of regret and think over what he had done that caused Lightning to try scamming him out of the show. "Well, that is, if you're still really my little buddy."
Thunderbolt hung his head in shame and began to shed tears; this caused Lightning to feel worried about him.
"Thunderbolt, what's the matter?" Lightning asked. "You are not thinking about what happened on the day you first met Patch, are you?"
"Oh, Lightning," said Thunderbolt sadly. "I have been a very terrible friend to you before I met Patch."
Thunderbolt dropped himself down on the floor and started to cry, his front legs over his face.
"I feel so ashamed of myself!" said Thunderbolt, crying.
Lightning went closer to Thunderbolt to cheer him up.
"Thunderbolt, please, don't feel so bad," said Lightning as he gently strokes Thunderbolt's back. "I was the one who stabbed you in the back. I tricked you into believing me that the auditions were held to replace you with another dog, and it got you and Patch in danger with Cruella and her goons. I--I planned all that because I was jealous of you. I was neglected. I lost my friend. I escaped from prison because I wanted to tell you that I just wanted my friend back; I didn't really want to take your place on the show. I'm sorry."
"No," said Thunderbolt, still crying. "I'm sorry. I have been awful to you, and it's all because I let all that fame get to me. So, it was right for you to scam me like that. If I hadn't had such a big ego, then I wouldn't have caused you to do those things to me. I didn't mean to be so selfish. I didn't mean for any of it to happen. And I'm sorry I had you sent to prison. Will you forgive me?"
"Of course, I will. All that fame had put you in a trap and made you become something you weren't before. And that egotistic behavior you've shown was a call for help. I'm glad you've changed your ways when Patch became your new sidekick on the show."
Still crying, Thunderbolt hugged Lightning.
"Lightning, please, don't leave me," said Thunderbolt, crying harder as he held Lightning close to him. "I want you to stay here with me, so that I can show you how much of a good friend I can be to you, this time. I'll always be there for you whenever you need me, just like I'm always there for Patch whenever he needs me. I'll treat you better from now on. I promise."
Lightning began to shed tears after seeing a change of heart in Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt let go of Lightning to dry off his own tears.
"It's all right, Thunderbolt," said Lightning softly. "Don't worry, old friend. I'll give you another chance. And I won't leave you for good again. I'll be happy to stay here with you, but only if you keep me hidden someplace where the rest of the crew won't find me. If I get caught by them, they'll kick me out, and I'll end up having to live the rest of my life on the streets. I don't think they'll ever forgive me for what I did."
Thunderbolt looked around the studio to find a good place to hide Lightning, and he stopped when he spotted a storage closet.
"How about there?" said Thunderbolt, showing Lightning the storage closet.
Thunderbolt opened the closet door. The closet is filled with cleaning supplies, old dog toys, and opened boxes filled with towels.
"I don't know how comfortable you'll feel in here," said Thunderbolt, "but this is the best I can manage."
"Oh, it's perfect, Thunder," said Lightning. "Thank you, my dear friend."
Lightning turned around to face Patch, who was sorrily looking down to the floor. After seeing Lightning renew his friendship with Thunderbolt, Patch started to feel awful about how successful the show was with him as Thunderbolt's sidekick instead of Lightning. Patch remembered the story that Thunderbolt told him the day before; when Lightning had his acting career, he was cared for less by Thunderbolt and found it unfair that he was not seen much on The Thunderbolt Adventure Hour. Just thinking about that part of Thunderbolt's story caused Patch to feel even more sorry for Lightning than ever.
"I know what's on your mind, kid," Lightning said to Patch. "You're probably wondering if you had become as selfish of an actor as Thunderbolt was after you replaced me as his sidekick, and turned out to be better than me. Is that right?"
Not looking up, Patch nodded.
"Oh, don't feel bad, kid," said Lightning. "You should be very proud of yourself. Fame doesn't really matter to me, so I don't mind you taking my place on the show. I was just worried that I was gonna lose my best friend, and I had to do something to have him back. That's why I didn't help you, Thunderbolt, and your family out of those cages back in the warehouse in London when Cruella and the Baduns caught you."
"I know," said Patch gloomily.
"Hey, cheer up, Patch," said Lightning as he gently pats one of Patch's shoulders. "I'm not upset with you for taking my place on the show. You're doing a good job as Thunderbolt's new sidekick on the show, and you and Thunderbolt are doing great at being heroes in the real world while sticking with your careers. Working on the show and doing a lot of real life heroic deeds with Thunderbolt's help gained you a lot of fame; just don't let all that fame go to your head."
Finally, Patch looked up.
"Okay," said Patch, trying to force a smile back on his face.
Lightning smiled back and chuckled.
"Keep up the good work, kid," said Lightning, and he faced Thunderbolt again. "Thunderbolt, you take good care of Patch, now. Don't neglect him like you have neglected me."
"Relax, my little buddy," said Thunderbolt calmly. "I've been taking good care of him ever since the day he was given the job here. And now, to make up for what I did wrong, I'm going to take good care of you, too."
"Oh, Thunderbolt, thank you so much. I'm glad that you're my friend again."
Lightning then turned around to leave the studio.
"Lightning, wait!" cried Thunderbolt. "Where are you going?"
Lightning stopped at the door.
"I'm just going to take care of some unfinished business," said Lightning. "I'll be back later tonight. I told you, I'm not leaving you for good again."
And with that, Lightning walked out the door to exit the studio, leaving Thunderbolt and Patch exchanging confused looks in his wake. Back in the farm that night, Patch's family was making conversation with him at dinnertime about his day at work.
"So, Patch, how was your day?" asked Perdita.
Patch had taken a large mouthful of Kanine Krunchies by the time Perdita started talking to him.
"I had a great day today, Mum!" Patch said with his mouth full, one of the pieces of kibble sticking out as this happened.
Perdita glared at Patch.
"Now, Patch, you know better than to talk with your mouth full," said Perdita.
Patch swallowed all the food in his mouth and was now able to talk.
"Sorry, Mum," said Patch. "I said, I had a great day today. Thunderbolt and I had a visitor during our break."
"Oh, really?" said Perdita, looking pleased. "Well, that's nice."
"Who visited you today?" said Lucky, cutting in.
"Lightning," Patch answered as Lucky took a mouthful of kibble.
After hearing Patch mention Lightning's name, Lucky choked on a piece of kibble, but managed to unstick his throat in less than a second.
"What?!" said Lucky, shocked. "Lightning visited you and Thunderbolt today?! But that's impossible! He should be locked up in prison!"
Lucky gasped in shock when he came to the thought that Lightning could have escaped from prison.
"Unless..." said Lucky knowingly, "unless Lightning escaped, just like Amber escaped from the pound when she was still in America."
"He did," Patch said after swallowing another mouthful of kibble.
"But why would you let Lightning into the studio? He was the one who tried to scam Thunderbolt out of the show and take his place as the star. He was the one who left us locked up in cages in the warehouse in London, nearly having us killed for a canvas by Cruella."
"Lightning only tried to scam Thunderbolt out of the show and left us in the warehouse because of the way Thunderbolt mistreated him. And today, he came to tell Thunderbolt that he just wanted his friend back; Lightning did not really want Thunderbolt's place on the show. Thunderbolt even offered Lightning to stay with him, as long as no one else in the studio can see him there."
"And Lightning accepted the offer?"
"Of course, he did. And Thunderbolt promised that he'll take good care of Lightning, now that they are friends again. I'm telling you, Lucky, Lightning was not a bad guy. And he isn't, now, okay?"
"I don't know, Patch. I still don't trust Lightning. Something's not right."
All the other pups joined in on the conversation.
"Yeah, Lucky could be right, Patch," said Rolly. "What if this was all a trick that Lightning is trying to pull, just so he can keep you and Thunderbolt from finding out that he's really up to something?"
The last thing that Rolly just said caused Patch to think about Lightning telling him and Thunderbolt before he left the studio about having to take care of some unfinished business, which sounded suspicious.
"Well, Lightning did tell Thunderbolt and me that he had some unfinished business to take care of," said Patch.
"Well, that explains a lot," said Lucky, surprised. "It should be enough to reveal that Lightning is coming up with a plot to get you and Thunderbolt out of the show so he could take your places on it."
"I agree with Lucky," said Penny. "This unfinished business of Lightning's must be his chance at getting revenge on you and Thunderbolt after he got sent to prison for trying to take Thunderbolt's place on the show."
"Lightning wasn't seen much on the show," said Pepper, "and, of course, he'll do anything to become as famous on the show as Thunderbolt, even if it means scamming Thunderbolt out of his job."
All the other pups agreed, much to Patch's annoyance. Perdita was not pleased with what Patch's siblings had to say about Lightning, either.
"All right, children, that's enough!" said Perdita sharply. "You're all starting to upset Patch!"
"But Mum, what if Lucky is right?!" Freckles argued. "What if Lightning really is coming up with a plan to get rid of Patch and Thunderbolt from the show?!"
"It could happen, Mother!" Lucky shouted. "Lightning never got famous for playing the sidekick! That's why he's been trying to take Thunderbolt's place on the show as the hero! Why else would he break out of prison to visit Patch and Thunderbolt?!"
"I said, that's enough!" snapped Perdita, and all the pups fell silent. "Lightning would never scam Thunderbolt from the show after they became friends again! So, stop telling Patch that Lightning is trying to get rid of him and Thunderbolt from the show! Nothing like that is going to happen! Do you understand?!"
After Perdita used that furious tone, her pups did not see any point in arguing with her. And without saying another word to their mother, the pups resumed eating their dinner. As the pups continued eating, Patch thought over what his siblings just said to him. He did not know whether to believe them or not, though. His siblings could be right, yet they could be wrong. Patch was now thinking that he had no choice but to find out the truth about Lightning himself at work the next day.
***
End of chapter nine.
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Post by corgi on Jan 1, 2009 8:52:24 GMT -5
Cooool!!! Lightning appeared! ;D ;D ;D I liked a lot this episode, Flo! I'm with Perdie! Lightning is too much good to be... bad ^^
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Post by Belchic on Jan 1, 2009 17:53:46 GMT -5
When will the drama end???
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Post by Flowgli on Jan 20, 2009 15:14:44 GMT -5
Chapter Ten: Dog Dates
***
Later that night, Amber was back home in the junkyard in London, lying down on a mattress that has been torn up while waiting for Lightning to meet her again and offer to do something for her in return. During the wait, she wondered what Lightning would do for her in return, after meeting him in the junkyard for the very first time that morning. She no longer had to wait for Lightning to show up, though; she just caught sight of him now entering the junkyard.
"So, Lightning," said Amber, "how did things go between you and Thunderbolt?"
After trying to get through many piles of junk, Lightning made it across the junkyard to meet Amber.
"Thunderbolt and I were able to have things straightened out," said Lightning. "He apologized for neglecting me, and I apologized for trying to trick him out of the show. We have forgiven each other. And now, we're friends again."
"Oh, thank goodness," Amber sighed in relief.
"Now, let's talk about that favor I owe you. What I'm gonna do in return is help you find a nice home and a loving family."
Amber was surprised to hear what Lightning just said to her. She was now wondering how Lightning knew about her not having a home or a family her whole life. She had revealed about herself to Patch, his family, and Thunderbolt, but never to Lightning. It had, of course, been only a bit over half a day since they both first met, and they never have taken any time to talk about Amber's life as a homeless dog that time.
"Really?" said Amber, looking puzzled. "You'll do that?"
"Yes, I will," Lightning responded as he nodded.
"But I don't understand. You know a lot of things about me before we even met. You know my name. You know I don't have a real home to stay in. You know I don't have a family to care for me. How do you know all these things about me?"
Lightning did not want to tell Amber at first, for he had a bad feeling that she might become outraged of how he actually knew all those things about her, but he decided that he at last had to confess.
"Well," Lightning began cautiously, "I hope you don't mind, but I couldn't help but overhear you mention your life to Thunderbolt, Patch, and his family one day."
Amber's eyes widen in surprise after hearing what Lightning just said.
"You mean to tell me that you've been eavesdropping to know all about me?!" said Amber sharply.
Shaking, Lightning took a few steps back to avoid Amber's wrath.
"Please, don't get mad at me for it," said Lightning, terrified. "I actually just did it to quietly check on Thunderbolt. And when I heard all about your past life and his, I really felt sorry for both of you, and I really wanted to help you two in any way I can. I'm sorry to eavesdrop, but Thunderbolt's my only friend, and I just needed to know what was going on with him."
After hearing this, Amber started to calm down.
"Of course, you do," said Amber. "Thunderbolt is your friend, after all, and I know how much he really means to you. So, how are you gonna help me find a home and a family?"
Lightning took a deep sigh, knowing that Amber was going to ask how he was going to help find a home and a family for her.
"I don't know how much this is going to help," said Lightning, "but the best I can do is give you some advice."
Amber raised an eyebrow, wondering how Lightning giving her advice would help find her find a home and a family.
"I'm listening," said Amber. "What do I have to do?"
Lightning was happy that Amber asked him that. Hopefully, his advice that he was about to give her would turn out good.
"Well," Lightning began, "I know how much you like Thunderbolt. So, I was thinking that you should try getting him to let you live with him."
Hearing this, Amber looked up in surprise.
"Really?" said Amber. "Your advice will help me have a home with Thunderbolt?"
"Of course," said Lightning. "I understand that you and Thunderbolt have been seeing each other on the weekends, and I don't think that's enough for the two of you to get closer together. So, here's what you have to do: spend time with him during his break at work everyday, and the more time you two spend with each other, the closer together you both will become. And soon after you spend enough time with him, he could ask you to live with him and be his wife."
Amber started to like the advice that she was receiving from Lightning, after realizing that she had been seeing Thunderbolt only on the weekends when he and the Dalmatian family came to London for their walks. She did not even bother to ask how Lightning knew exactly which times she had been seeing Thunderbolt, though.
"Really?" asked Amber. "That's all I have to do? Will it really work?"
Lightning nodded.
"Give it a try," said Lightning. "Just spend enough time with Thunderbolt during his breaks at work. And if he ever asked you to live with him, say 'yes'. It's just that simple."
"I will, Lightning," said Amber. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. And don't tell Thunderbolt that I planned this for you. Promise?"
"I promise."
"Good. I'll be at the studio, so that I'll know how your dates go with Thunderbolt. Good night."
After Lightning left the junkyard to return to the studio in Kent, Amber fell fast asleep, feeling excited about dating Thunderbolt starting the next day.
The next day came. After Patch and Thunderbolt began working, Amber arrived in Kent and waited patiently outside the studio all morning for the right time to enter and meet them. During the wait, she felt excited and nervous at the same time; she really wanted to date Thunderbolt enough to make him ask her to live with him and be his wife, but did not know if Thunderbolt would find it a good idea for them to date each other everyday. She was worried that Thunderbolt would never ask her to live with him as his wife, but believed that Thunderbolt seems too kind not to offer her a home with him. She would never know how things will turn out between her and Thunderbolt unless she gave it a try, as Lightning advised her. So, she shook off all her worries and tried to think positive thoughts.
Afternoon came, and inside the studio, Patch and Thunderbolt were feeding some of their lunch to Lightning in the storage closet, where they kept him hidden from the rest of the crew in the studio.
"Oh, it's very nice of you to share some of your food with me," said Lightning thankfully.
"Anything for you, Lightning," said Thunderbolt, and he winked at Patch. "Right, Patch?"
Patch had a troubled look on his face while sharing some of his lunch with Lightning. He was thinking hard about what his siblings said to him about Lightning the night before, yet he did not know if he should agree with them. His siblings might be right, though; Lightning could be coming up with a clever plan to get rid of Thunderbolt and take his place as the star of the show in the process. Patch found it a bad idea to just agree with his siblings and jump to conclusions without first knowing the facts, for it might cause Lightning to feel very upset with him. So, he decided to settle down and talk it out to find out what Lightning was really up to.
"Um...right, Thunderbolt," said Patch, trying to keep Thunderbolt from getting upset with him again, and he turned to face Lightning. "Lightning, last night, I told my brothers and sisters that you visited Thunderbolt and me."
"Oh, really?" said Lightning, sounding pleased. "And what did they say?"
Patch took a deep sigh, knowing that he was going to regret letting out what his siblings thought about Lightning.
"Well," said Patch gloomily, "they were thinking that you're trying to trick Thunderbolt and me out of our show and replace us on it. I tried to tell them that you wouldn't do that after you and Thunderbolt became friends again, but they wouldn't listen. They're still treating you as if you're a bad guy, and they sounded so convincing. Now, I just don't know who to believe."
Lightning felt uncomfortable after hearing what Patch just said. He saw that Patch has a very worried look on his face, and is waiting for him to answer truthfully about himself. He can also feel some sweat running down his forehead. He thought very hard about what to say to Patch. After about five seconds, he was finally able to calm himself down and ready to respond to what Patch just told him.
"Oh, don't listen to them," said Lightning. "Your siblings probably don't know that anyone can change. They have been thinking wrong about me. I'm not planning to replace you and Thunderbolt on the show at all, so don't worry."
Patch became relaxed after hearing what Lightning just said, but he did not manage to force a smile back on his face.
"Okay," said Patch quietly.
Thunderbolt, Lightning, and Patch then heard the door open. They turned around to see that Amber had entered the studio. At the sight of Amber, Thunderbolt and Patch looked very happy to see her come into the studio for the first time to visit them.
"Amber!" Thunderbolt exclaimed in surprise. "How nice of you to come to the studio for a visit!"
Amber blushed and giggled.
"Thank you, Thunderbolt," said Amber, and she looked down to face Patch. "Hello, there, Patch. How are you doing today?"
"I'm doing excellent!" said Patch cheerfully. "And I'm very happy to see you come here and visit Thunderbolt and me today!"
Amber giggled again. She then caught sight of Lightning, who was still hiding in the storage closet, staring directly at her. She remembered Lightning giving her the advice to spend time with Thunderbolt during his break at work everyday, and reminding her not to tell Thunderbolt that he gave her the idea to do so. So, with that in mind, she faced Thunderbolt again and tried to tell him about Lightning's advice to her without mentioning Lightning putting her up to this.
"Say, Thunderbolt," said Amber sheepishly, "I was just wondering--"
Amber laid her eyes back on Lightning, who nodded in an urging manner to her behind Thunderbolt and Patch's backs. She then looked straight back at Thunderbolt to finish what she was about to say to him.
"Yes?" Thunderbolt grinned.
"Well," Amber continued, shaking, "I was thinking that maybe if it's not too much trouble, you and I can spend some more time with each other during your break everyday?"
Thunderbolt stared at Amber as he thought over what she just said for a few seconds. Amber then got the feeling that Thunderbolt may already have the idea of what she was trying to say to him.
"Amber?" said Thunderbolt, now probably getting the idea of what Amber was trying to tell him. "Are you trying to ask me out on a date?"
Amber swallowed hard. She could not believe that Thunderbolt just found out that she was going to ask him to date her. That caused her to feel a bit more nervous.
"Yes," said Amber. "I am. And I hope that dating each other everyday is all right with you. It's just a little something that I came up with, so that I can spend some more time with you."
"Really?" said Thunderbolt, blinking in surprise.
"Yes, really. You see, Thunderbolt, I don't think that spending some time with you on the weekends is enough. So, I thought that it would be a good idea for you and me to date each other everyday when I come here to visit you."
Amber was right. She and Thunderbolt had only been seeing each other on the weekends when latter dog was taking walks with Patch and his family. After those weekends they spent with each other in London, they came to realize how much they are in love with each other. But they never have shown to each other how much they actually love one another. Now would be the time for them to do so, however. Today could be Amber and Thunderbolt's first try at showing how much they truly love each other, if only Thunderbolt would accept to date Amber everyday. After a few more seconds of thinking about it, Thunderbolt found that dating Amber during lunch break everytime she comes to the studio to visit him is a good idea.
"That's a wonderful idea!" said Thunderbolt. "You and me dating each other every visit you make here sounds good to me!"
"Great!" said Amber, now feeling very less nervous than she was a few moments ago. "I just know we'll enjoy every minute of our dates together."
Amber and Thunderbolt then began dating each other. On their first date, they have been sharing a bowl of kibble, played with each other in a field of flowers, and took walks together with Patch in London, much to the producer's surprise. During the date, Lightning stayed behind when Thunderbolt and Patch were taken to London for their walk breaks to keep out of sight from the producer.
Thunderbolt and Amber's first date with each other ended when they and Patch returned to the studio in Kent from their walk in London. Once the producer was out of sight, Thunderbolt, Patch, and Amber met Lightning in the storage closet.
"Hey, you guys!" said Lightning. "How did you date go?"
"It was wonderful, Lightning!" said Thunderbolt. "Amber and I had a great time together on our date."
"We enjoyed every minute of our date," said Amber, leaning herself close to Thunderbolt. "And I'd love to do it again tomorrow."
"Oh, we will do it again tomorrow. I just know that our next date is going to be as good as the one we had today."
Amber nodded.
"Yes," said Amber, "I'm really looking forward to it."
"So am I," said Thunderbolt. "So, I'll meet you again on the same time and place tomorrow."
"All right. Goodbye, Thunderbolt."
Amber headed straight towards the door to exit the studio and return home to the junkyard in London, but then stopped and turned around to face Patch.
"Bye, Patch," Amber said to Patch as she winked at him. "See you again tomorrow, sweetie."
"Bye, Amber," said Patch, winking back at Amber.
Amber giggled at this and left the studio.
Starting on the next day, as Thunderbolt and Amber have been dating each other everyday with Patch joining them, they have become really close to each other as a couple. After having all those dates, they came to realize that they were actually perfect for each other. One afternoon after a walk in London, Thunderbolt, Amber, and Patch were sitting right outside the studio in Kent, with the two adult dogs laughing with each other to show how much of a good time they had on all those dates they had together.
"Oh, Thunderbolt, I enjoyed all the dates we had together!" said Amber enthusiastically.
"So did I," said Thunderbolt. "After going on all those dates with you, I feel that we really are made for each other."
"I was thinking the same thing."
Amber and Thunderbolt spent ten seconds staring at each other in silence. As this happened, Amber waited for Thunderbolt to ask her to live with him and be his wife. She thought that this would be the day that she would finally have a home and a family, which were the things she always wanted. No words came out of Thunderbolt's mouth, however, for it never came to his mind. After the silence, Amber became tired of waiting for Thunderbolt to ask her to live with him as his wife and gave up.
"Well," Amber said with a deep sigh, "looks like this is the end of another wonderful day."
"There's always tomorrow," said Thunderbolt gently.
Amber looked up, trying to keep her hopes up to finding a home and a family.
"You're right, Thunderbolt," said Amber. "There is always tomorrow. Well, goodbye."
She looked down at Patch.
"Goodbye, Patch."
"Goodbye, Amber," said Patch.
Amber and Patch nuzzled noses, exactly as they did on the day they first met each other. Amber giggled and turned around to return home to the junkyard in London. On the way, Amber was thinking about how Patch did not worry about her trying to get a home and a family while she was having all those dates with Thunderbolt. She also had a hard time believing that Thunderbolt had never asked her to live with him as his wife after any of their dates. She finally stopped thinking about it the moment she stopped in surprise to see Lightning appear in front of her.
"Lightning!" Amber gasped. "I thought you'd still be at the studio!"
"I'll be back there in a moment," said Lightning. "I just wanted to check if you had fun with Thunderbolt in those past dates you two had."
Amber knew that she had a great time with Thunderbolt while dating him in those past days, but became a bit upset about the fact that Thunderbolt never asked her to live with him and be his wife after any of those dates.
"I sure did," said Amber, "but he never asked me to live with him as his wife."
Hearing this, Lightning let out a sigh of relief as he looked down to the ground.
"Oh, good," Lightning muttered under his breath.
"What did you just say?" asked Amber, looking down at Lightning suspiciously.
"Huh?" said Lightning, looking back up quickly. "Oh, I mean, there's still a possibility that he will ask you to live with him as his wife."
"Really? There is?"
"Yes. Your next date with Thunderbolt will be very beautiful and romantic. Take a look at that building up there."
Amber looked up at a very tall building that Lightning was pointing to.
"That will be the perfect place for you and Thunderbolt to go on your next date," said Lightning. "The producer will be working very late tomorrow, so you'll get to go on your next date after Patch gets picked up from work instead of on his and Thunderbolt's break. You both can get a wonderful view of the sunset from up there."
"Oh, that really would be wonderful," said Amber dreamily. "I love sunsets. I love watching them every night. They're so beautiful."
"Yes, they are. Just like you."
Amber giggled.
"Now," Lightning continued, "while you and Thunderbolt are enjoying the view of the sunset up there, I want you to give him a very romantic kiss."
Amber was surprised after hearing what Lightning just said, which made her realize that she and Thunderbolt had never kissed each other on any of their dates.
"I get to kiss Thunderbolt on our next date?" Amber asked excitedly.
"You think you can do it?" asked Lightning.
"Well, sure, I can."
"Good. And when you do give him that kiss--"
Lightning paused for a brief moment to show his personality sharply change from good to bad.
"--you will push him off the building!" said Lightning in an evil tone.
Hearing this, Amber gasped in horror. She could not believe what Lightning just said to her about what to do to Thunderbolt on her next date with him.
"What?!" said Amber, shocked. "No! That would be killing him!"
"Exactly!" said Lightning, grinning evilly. "You see, Amber, I had to get you two so close together after finding out how much you two really are in love with each other. That way, Thunderbolt won't be able to notice that you will help me get rid of him!"
Now, Amber definitely could not believe her ears. She is now feeling very upset as she wonders why Lightning had planned to use her to help him kill Thunderbolt, the dog she loves with all her heart.
"So, this was all a setup?!" said Amber, horrified. "You were just using me to help you kill Thunderbolt, the dog I love?!"
"That's right!" said Lightning. "I'm not really trying to help you find a home with him. So, you can forget about thinking of becoming his wife. That dumb hound deserves to die!"
After seeing how terribly wicked Lightning had become, tears started to come out of her eyes.
"No!" Amber shouted tearfully. "I won't let you make me do this! I love him too much to kill him!"
Lightning is now starting to get very angry with Amber after this refusal.
"Now, you listen to me!" said Lightning angrily as he stepped closer to Amber to confront her. "I didn't like it when Thunderbolt had me sent to prison for trying to take his place on the show, and I escaped to get revenge on him. So, unless you do exactly what I tell you and help me kill Thunderbolt, you can just forget about having all those things you wanted!"
Amber now became even more shocked than ever after hearing what Lightning just said.
"That's right!" snarled Lightning. "You won't have a nice home to live in. You won't have a loving family to care for you. And you won't have good food, a comfortable bed, or soothing baths. You can just spend the rest of your life as a lonely, homeless dog that no one will want! You'll continue to sleep in the rain in that big dump in London, with dirt and car parts to sleep on, and no one to look after you if you get hurt or sick! And you'll have a hard time finding any food, because the only thing you'll be eating is whatever you can find from garbage cans! And you'll continue to live that way if you don't help me get rid of Thunderbolt! Do you understand?!"
Fearing that Lightning looked as if he is about to attack her, and not wanting to give up on trying to get what she wanted, Amber shook in fear and swallowed hard.
"Yes, Lightning," said Amber, nodding in fear.
"Good!" said Lightning, and the next thing he said to Amber was through gritted teeth, resulting as a threat. "And don't you dare try to tell Thunderbolt about this, either, or there will be trouble!"
There was now nothing that Amber could do to save Thunderbolt and her wishes at once. She has only one choice to avoid Lightning's wrath, and that was to give in and kill Thunderbolt without telling him that Lightning is putting her up to it. This is something that Amber does not want to do, but has no choice but to do so if she wants a home and a family.
"All right!" Amber cried. "All right! I won't tell! I promise!"
Lightning now started to calm himself down.
"That's better," said Lightning with a smirk on his face. "Now, keep up the good work, and you'll have a home and a family really soon. Too bad you won't have it with Thunderbolt. Good night."
And with that, Lightning makes his way back to the studio, leaving Amber all alone and in tears in his wake.
The journey back home to the junkyard in London was not a happy one for Amber. On her way there, she could not help but look through windows of houses to see other dogs being given a lot of love by their owners.
"Come here, boy!" a little boy called to his Labrador retriever as Amber looked through a window of a house. "You get to sleep on my bed tonight!"
Amber tearfully watched the Labrador retriever happily hop onto the little boy's bed to sleep on it. A warm and comfortable bed was one of the things she wanted.
"Good boy!" the little boy said to the Labrador retriever as he climbed onto bed with him.
As Amber continued to walk home, she looked through a window of another house.
"There you go," an elderly woman said to her collie after giving her a bath.
Amber watched the collie jumped out of the bathtub and barked happily at her owner. A nice and soothing bath was another one of the things she wanted.
"Did you enjoy your bath?" said the elderly woman as she dried the collie off with a towel.
Amber then moved on to peek through a window of another house to see a Scottish terrier eat kibble from his bowl.
"You really were hungry, were you?" a middle-aged man chuckled as he patted the Scottish terrier's head.
Amber watched the Scottish terrier lick his owner's face to show how grateful he was for being well fed. Good and healthy food was another one of the things she wanted.
"You're getting big and strong, there, mate," the middle-aged man said to the Scottish terrier.
Amber then peeked through a window of another house to see a woman in a raincoat bring her sheepdog inside.
"Looks like it's going to rain tonight," said the woman as she removed her raincoat and hung it in the coat rack.
Amber watched the woman hugging the sheepdog warmly in her arms. A suitable shelter to keep out of the rain was another one of the things she wanted.
"You'll have a safe, warm sleep tonight," said the woman as she took the sheepdog into her arms on the way to her bedroom.
Amber then peeked through a window of one more house to see a man and his two kids, a boy and a girl, wrapping a leg of their beagle with bandages.
"Looks like his leg is bandaged enough," the man said to his kids. "I don't know how long it would take for him to recover from that accident."
Shedding more tears than ever, Amber watched the man and his two kids hug their beagle. Someone to look after her in case she gets hurt or sick was one more of the things she wanted.
"I'm sure your leg will get better soon, buddy," the man said to the beagle as he stroked his head.
After seeing how happy the dogs were for how well their owners treated them, Amber miserably continued her way home to the junkyard. Once she finally made it to the junkyard, she dropped herself down on the same ruined mattress where she was waiting for Lightning to do a favor for her after helping him get to Kent on the day they first met. She then let out a shiver as the cold wind blew through the junkyard.
"I can't believe I have to harm someone I love just to get the things I always wanted," said Amber breathlessly, and she started to cry.
Amber was now feeling bad about what she had to do to get a home and a family. She looked up at the stars in the night sky, thinking over what is more important to her. It was either a new home and a family, or Thunderbolt, the dog she loved very much. She did not want to spend the rest of her life homeless, but she did not want to kill Thunderbolt just to get a home, either. She finally made up her mind once she realized that she did not just want any home; she wanted a home with Thunderbolt. Of course, she does care for Thunderbolt more than anything else in the world, next to Patch.
"That's it," said Amber angrily, still crying. "I don't care if I ever get a home and a family anymore. I just don't want Thunderbolt to get killed."
After shedding one more tear, Amber sadly lied her head down and slowly closed her eyes. The blowing cold wind still seemed to bother her as she tried to get some sleep at first. But after letting out another shiver, she finally fell into a deep sleep.
***
End of chapter ten.
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Post by Flowgli on Feb 13, 2009 21:27:47 GMT -5
Chapter Eleven: Lightning's Scheme
***
The next day came. This was the day that Amber dreaded the most, because this was the day when Amber had to kill Thunderbolt after her date with him. She was looking forward to dating Thunderbolt on this day, because they would be on top of a building, getting a wonderful view of the sunset while having a chance to kiss each other for the first time. However, after Lightning revealed that he wanted to have Thunderbolt killed on that date, Amber became less interested in having that wonderful date with Thunderbolt. Amber could not believe that she had too kill Thunderbolt just to get a home and a family; she was too much in love with Thunderbolt to do something so cruel to him. After showing how much she loved Thunderbolt, she decided that she did not want to be adopted into just any family; she wanted to have a home with Thunderbolt and be a part of his family. With Lightning getting her to push Thunderbolt off the top of a building to death without revealing that it was all Lightning's plan, Amber had trouble trying to figure out what to do to save Thunderbolt and herself on their next date.
Afternoon came. When it was time for everyone in the studio to have their break, Thunderbolt and Patch saw Amber enter to meet them once again.
"Hello, there, Amber," said Thunderbolt gently.
"Hello, Thunderbolt," said Amber, feeling uncomfortable about what she had to do on her next date with Thunderbolt. "Hello, Patch."
"Hello, Amber," said Patch, feeling a bit concerned about how uneasy Amber looked when she just entered the studio. "Are you feeling all right?"
When Amber found that Patch had caught her looking very uncomfortable, she tried her best to pull herself together.
"What?" said Amber, trying to straighten up and forget her uneasiness. "Oh, yes, Patch. I'm feeling great today. I was just--"
Amber trailed off when she caught sight of Lightning in the storage closet, glaring warningly at her, which caused her to think carefully over what she had to do to get a home and a family without letting Thunderbolt know that Lightning was making her do it. Amber then turned away from Lightning to face Thunderbolt again.
"Say, Thunderbolt," said Amber, sounding a bit more timid than ever, "I was just wondering--"
"Oh, don't worry about it, Amber," Thunderbolt said before Amber can say anymore to him. "I love going on dates with you. I enjoyed all those dates I had with you. You don't have to ask me out. It's okay for us to go on another date if you want."
Hearing this, Amber shook her head.
"It's not that," said Amber, trying to keep a straight face. "It's just that--well--I was just thinking that instead of having a date on your break, maybe we could have one after your day at work is over?"
After Amber finished her question, Thunderbolt took a moment to think over what she just asked him. As Thunderbolt considered what he just heard, Amber had a bad feeling that Thunderbolt may have already known what she was up to.
"Well," Thunderbolt finally said after he was done thinking, "my pet will be working late here in the studio today, so dating you after work today will be all right. Why d'you ask?"
Amber now felt even more uncomfortable when she glanced at a glaring Lightning nodding to her behind Thunderbolt and Patch's backs in an urging manner.
"I, uh--" said Amber shakily as she faced Thunderbolt again. "I was thinking that maybe we can have a very romantic date today by watching the sunset?"
"Really?" said Thunderbolt, looking surprised after what Amber just said.
After a few seconds, Amber started to feel more relaxed.
"Uh-huh," she said. "I know where we can get a wonderful view..."
She walked closer to Thunderbolt and rubbed her muzzle against his neck.
"...and have our first kiss," she added flirtingly, trying to keep her mind off killing Thunderbolt for Lightning.
Thunderbolt was now really surprised when he heard Amber mention that kissing will be involved on their next date. He and Amber had never kissed each other before. In fact, he had never kissed any girl before. Despite that he had never kissed a girl in his life, he did not feel nervous at all about kissing Amber on his next date with her.
"Well, that really would make a romantic date," said Thunderbolt, grinning sheepishly. "Oh, Amber, I would love to watch the sunset with you after work today. And I would love to have our first kiss together."
"Really?" said Amber, sounding pleased. "Great! I'll be waiting for you right outside the studio, so that I can show you where we will have our date today."
Amber stepped outside the studio, waiting patiently for Thunderbolt to finish his day at work. During the wait, she went from feeling relaxed to feeling very troubled; she just reminded herself that she still had to help Lightning kill Thunderbolt to earn herself a home and a family. Trying to get a home and a family no longer mattered to her, though, for Thunderbolt became more important to her. If she wanted to save Thunderbolt from getting killed, she would have to tell him about Lightning's plan to kill him, but then would also have to suffer the consequences after that.
It was now five o'clock. After Patch got picked up from the studio by Roger as usual, Thunderbolt came out of the studio to meet Amber.
"Well, this is it," Thunderbolt said to Amber. "So, where is the place for us to get a good view of the sunset?"
That was the last thing Amber wanted to hear from Thunderbolt. As much as she wanted to have a very romantic date with Thunderbolt, she did not want to show or tell him the place where they would spend their date. There was no turning back, though; Amber has to take Thunderbolt to the building that Lightning had shown her the day before, and push him off the top of it after they kiss. Amber tried to keep herself calm from all this happening to her.
"Right this way," said Amber, and she lead Thunderbolt to the building that Lightning had shown her.
Moments later, Amber and Thunderbolt were at the top of the building, leaning themselves against each other in comfort while enjoying a beautiful view of the sunset.
"Oh, It's such a good idea to have this date after work today," said Thunderbolt, gazing at the sunset. "You were right, Amber. The view of the sunset from up here is beautiful."
He turned to face Amber.
"Just like you," he said.
Amber giggled, but in an uncomfortable manner.
"Yeah," said Amber dully. "It sure is."
Amber and Thunderbolt stared at each other for a few seconds. This was it. This was the time for Amber to do something she did not want to do. This was the part of Lightning's plan where Amber had to kiss Thunderbolt, and then push him off the roof of the building to make him fall to his death.
"So," Thunderbolt said slowly to Amber, "I guess it's time that we kiss, right?"
Amber knew that Thunderbolt would remind her that it was just about time to have their first kiss with each other. She could not believe that the time to help Lightning kill Thunderbolt had to come so soon.
"Um, yes," said Amber uncomfortably. "Yes, it is."
Here it comes. It is now time for Amber to give Thunderbolt that kiss. She and Thunderbolt slowly went closer to each other to kiss. However, enough was enough for Amber, for the thought of Lightning's plan to kill Thunderbolt had been bothering her too much to make her not want to kiss Thunderbolt; so, she pulled herself away from Thunderbolt as soon as she got close enough to kiss him and took a sigh of regret, for she just could no longer stand that she had to kill the dog she loved just to earn herself a home and a family.
"Oh, no," said Amber, sounding upset. "I can't do this."
"What--what's the matter?" said Thunderbolt, feeling confused and worried at the same time.
"Thunderbolt, I have to push you off this building."
Hearing this, Thunderbolt gasped in horror.
"What?!" Thunderbolt said in shock, wondering if he correctly heard the words that came out of Amber's mouth.
"Look, this wasn't my idea," said Amber quickly. "There's something I need to warn you."
But little did Amber know that Lightning had all along been behind the rooftop door on the same building that she and Thunderbolt were on, secretly listening in on what Amber was saying to Thunderbolt. Lightning could not believe that he just found out that Amber was about to tell Thunderbolt about his plan to kill him.
"Oh, no," Lightning muttered to himself in shock. "She's gonna foil my plans. I have a bad feeling that something like this would happen."
It was now time for Lightning to take some action. He bursted through the rooftop door to stop Amber from revealing his evil plan to Thunderbolt.
"NOOOOOO!" Lightning bellowed as he charged at Amber.
Lightning pounced on Amber, pinning her down on the roof, and holding her muzzle shut in the process.
"Traitor!" Lightning snarled at Amber. "How dare you--"
"Lightning!" Thunderbolt shouted, cutting in. "What are you doing up here? And what are you doing to Amber?"
Lightning quickly turned his head to face Thunderbolt.
"Thunderbolt," Lightning gasped, trying his best to hide the truth about his evil plan from Thunderbolt, "this girl is trying to trick you into falling in love with her so she can easily kill you!"
"What?!" said Thunderbolt, shocked. "No! That can't be true!"
"But it is, Thunder! She planned all this, and she was just trying to accuse me for her scheme!"
Amber was making muffled protests that what Lightning is saying to Thunderbolt was not true. She then wriggled out of Lightning's grasp to tell Thunderbolt the truth.
"No, Thunderbolt!" Amber cried as soon as her muzzle was free. "Don't believe him; he's lying!"
"Quiet, woman!" said Lightning sharply as he holds Amber's muzzle shut again.
"Lightning, are you sure you're telling me the truth?" said Thunderbolt, feeling very desperate to know the truth.
"I am!" Lightning said to Thunderbolt. "When I first met her right outside the studio one day, she told me all about her plans to kill you. And about all those dates you had with her, they were all just a setup to keep you from finding out that she was trying to kill you by pushing you off this building. Please, Thunderbolt, I'm telling the truth!"
His eyes became wide and began to fill with tears.
"You believe me, Thunderbolt, don't you?" he said. "Please, say that you do. I'm your friend, and I'm being very honest with you. Please?"
After seeing the way Lightning's eyes watered, Thunderbolt tearfully stared back at him. When this happened, Thunderbolt thought very hard over the trouble that Lightning caused him, and the reason why it happened. But most importantly, he clearly thought over the renewal of their friendship that he and Lightning had that day when Lightning visited him and Patch at the studio. He did something wrong that caused Lightning to do some wrongdoing back to him, and he did not want something like that to happen again. After his friendship with Lightning had been renewed, he did not want to do something that would cause Lightning to get upset with him again; on the other hand, he did not want to believe Lightning's untrue story about Amber planning for murder, yet it actually sounded true to him after he heard it. He finally took a deep sigh and made his choice of whom to believe.
"I believe you, Lightning," Thunderbolt finally replied.
Amber could not believe her ears when she clearly heard that Thunderbolt had believed everything Lightning just said. This leaves her to feel very heartbroken.
"Oh, thank you, Thunderbolt!" said Lightning, relieved. "Thank you for believing me! Now, hurry! Go home, where you'll be safe! I'll make sure she doesn't try to do anything else to harm my dear best friend! Run, while you still can!"
Thunderbolt quickly went through the rooftop door and down the stairs to leave the building and return to the studio in Kent to rejoin the producer. When Lightning saw that Thunderbolt was out of sight and out of earshot, he lets go of Amber's muzzle and takes a deep sigh of relief.
"Whew! That was a close one!" Lightning sighed as he got off of Amber. "Well, Amber, I am very disappointed. I told you not to reveal my plot to Thunderbolt, but lucky that I stopped you in time before you have done so. With you not following my directions, you're giving up on getting yourself a home and a family!"
"I don't care about getting a home or a family anymore!" Amber snapped as she got back on all fours. "After what you've put me through, I've realized that Thunderbolt is more important to me! I'll never do anything to hurt him, because I love him, and I'm not a murderer! You said that you would help me find a home with him, but you just set me up into killing him for you! You lied! I don't even know why you wanted him killed! I thought you and Thunderbolt had worked things out with each other and became friends again!"
"Ha! And he actually fell for it! You see, Amber, the whole forgiveness thing was just something I pulled off to gain his trust; I had to make him believe that we really were making up with each other so he won't find out that I'm trying to get rid of him! I still don't like the fact that Thunderbolt gets all the fame and I don't, all because he plays the role of the hero on the show, while I was just a useless sidekick! My plan to get him killed would've worked, but you ruined it! Now, I have to come up with another way to get rid of him!"
"Well, good luck on that, because I'm not gonna be taking any part of it! I won't let you use me again! I'm gonna find Thunderbolt and tell him the truth about what you're planning to do to him!"
Amber left the building in a rush to find Thunderbolt. While trying to reach the studio, little does she know that Lightning was right behind her to stop her from reaching Thunderbolt in time. During the chase, Lightning grabbed a long piece of rope from a street corner with his teeth. He lashed out one end of the rope to wrap Amber's hind legs together with it, causing her to take a hard fall to the ground. Amber turned her head back to see Lightning grinning evilly behind her with the other end of the rope between his teeth.
"Going somewhere?" Lightning snarled as he drew himself even closer to Amber's face with fury, causing her to feel even more scared of him than ever.
Lightning pulled the rope to drag the captured Amber across London until he reached an old, deserted hotel. By the time he made it inside the hotel, he continued to drag Amber as he went up the staircase until he reached the eighth floor of the hotel. There, he spotted a room at the far end, containing cracks all over the walls, bugs crawling around hidden places, dirty water dripping from the faucet of the bathroom sink, bedding and curtains all torn up, and air that smells like halibut being leftover for six months.
"Welcome to your new home!" said Lightning angrily, and he lashed Amber from the tight wrapping of the rope, causing her to end up on the bed that is as hard as a marshmallow past its expiration date. "Enjoy your permanent stay at this hotel, because you won't be checking out of here as long as you live!"
And with that, Lightning used the same piece of rope to pull the door shut.
"No!" Amber cried as she jumped off the bed and rushed to the door to make several bangs on it. "Please, let me out! Somebody, help me! Someone, get me out of here!"
"There's no one around to hear you!" said Lightning as he stuck a chair under the knob on the other side of the door. "No one can find you here!"
Lightning quickly left the hotel as Amber continued banging on the door and making cries for help.
The end of another week came the next day, which meant that another episode of The Thunderbolt And Patch Adventure Hour was about to be filmed. Thunderbolt and Patch were in the studio, eating their lunch without even saying a single word to each other; they have, in fact, not said anything to each other at all earlier that day. The reason for the silence from the two dogs was that Thunderbolt had been looking very grumpy all day, obviously after hearing Lightning's story of Amber trying to kill him the day before, which he did not know was untrue; of course, he did not let Patch know about what happened on his date with Amber after work that day, for Patch may never believe it.
Patch could no longer stand the silence between him and Thunderbolt. He just had to talk to Thunderbolt to find out what has been troubling him lately.
"Thunder?" said Patch timidly. "You haven't said a single word all day. Is something wrong?"
"Everything's fine," said Thunderbolt in a low and upset tone of voice.
Judging by the tone in that response, Patch knew right away that Thunderbolt was starting to sound like Amber on the day he revealed his past life.
"Are you sure?" said Patch, still feeling a bit scared that he might make Thunderbolt very upset with him again. "Does this have something to do with the date you had with Amber after work yesterday?"
"Don't you dare mention that name," said Thunderbolt sharply, cringing at Amber's name. "I don't want to talk about what happened between her and me on our date yesterday."
"Why not?"
"Don't ask any more questions! I just don't wanna talk about it, okay?"
Patch flinched back. After seeing how upset Thunderbolt became, he did not want to make him even more upset with him like he did before when he made the wrong choice of quitting his job.
"Okay, then," said Patch slowly. "I'll just spend the rest of our break outside and give you some time alone. Give me a shout when it's time to get our next episode filmed."
Patch stepped outside the studio as Thunderbolt sternly stared after him.
Once Patch was all alone, he started to wonder why Thunderbolt did not even want to talk about Amber herself, let alone what happened on his last date with her. Just thinking about it was all starting to make Patch feel really upset himself; he never believed that Thunderbolt would ever be angry about Amber.
"I just don't understand," Patch said to himself. "What could Amber have done to make Thunderbolt so angry? They always seemed to get along with each other, and from all those dates they had together before that last one, they seemed to have fallen in love with each other. And Amber's always been a nice lady. I just don't know what could've gone wrong."
Patch took a deep sigh and looked down to the ground, trying to get his mind off finding out what happened on Thunderbolt and Amber's last date. There was a complete silence for a minute. Then, there were sounds of a dog panting and pounding its running paws hard on the ground. Patch looked up when he heard the dog running towards the studio, and saw that the dog was Lightning.
"Patch!" said Lightning breathlessly after he stopped in front of Patch.
"Lightning?" said Patch.
"Oh, Patch, thank goodness you're here! Listen, I need your help! I was in London, and I just saw two men there who have dognapped a litter of Labrador puppies! Those men drove off with those poor things, and I tried to run after them, but they were too fast, and I couldn't keep up! That's why I came to you! I need your help to find and rescue the Labrador pups!"
"All right, then. I'll go get Thunderbolt, so that he can help us find those pups."
"NO!" Lightning shouted as he saw Patch reach the door to the studio.
When Patch heard Lightning's desperate shout, it caused him to stop and turn around to raise an eyebrow at Lightning before he can set foot in the studio. The confused look on Patch's face caused Lightning to laugh uncomfortably.
"No, kid," said Lightning as he tried to contain himself to avoid arousing suspicion. "I'm sorry, but there's no time. The dognappers may be back to kill those puppies. We gotta go save those poor dogs, right now! Come on! We'll search the junkyard first!"
There was no time to discuss it any further. Patch and Lightning rushed to the junkyard in London as fast as possible. By the time they made it to the junkyard, Lightning thought of a plan to make the search for the Labrador puppies around the place a bit easier, while Patch wondered if Amber would be here to help him this time around.
"Here we are," Lightning said to Patch. "Let's split up. That would make the search much easier."
"Right," said Patch.
"You take that side," Lightning gestured at his left, and then his right. "I'll take that side."
"Got it," said Patch, and he and Lightning went into separate directions to search the junkyard for the missing Labrador pups.
While Lightning searches for the Labrador pups on one side of the junkyard, Patch tries his best to search through all the large piles of old car parts on the other. During the search, Patch digs through the piles of car parts in hopes of easily locating the Labrador pups. The search was getting worse for Patch, because one of the piles became unsteady when he pulled out some of the pieces from the bottom. Patch then looked up in shock to see the pile tilting toward him after he heard it rattle.
"Oh, no!" Patch cried, and he made an attempt to run for his life.
But it was too late. The large pile of junk had collapsed onto Patch, crushing his body, and knocking him unconscious in the process. Everything was dark and quiet for a few moments after Patch got knocked out by the large pile of junk that collapsed onto him. Patch was lying down spread-eagled on his back. He was unable to feel if he could still breath or move until he heard a voice softly calling his name.
"Patch," the voice whispered eerily. "Patch."
Patch slowly opened his eyes and lets out a weak groan.
"Huh, what?" said Patch weakly. "Where am I?"
Patch then got back on his feet, now completely awake from being unconscious, and looked around to find out where he currently was. He then found that he was confined in a small space with two doors closed on one side, and a small caged window on the other. After seeing those things, he realized that he was confined in the broken down moving van that he hid under on the day he rescued Thunderbolt from the two bank robbers.
"How did I end up here?" said Patch curiously, and he went to the doors to push them open to get out of the van, only to find that the doors were locked with a latch on the outside.
Patch did not know how he ended up locked in the van, but he somehow had to get out and rescue the dognapped Labrador pups as quickly as possible, so that he would be able to go back to Kent in time to have the next episode of his show with Thunderbolt filmed. The van was completely empty, so there was nothing around Patch that he could use to get the doors open. The only thing Patch can do now is bang on the doors as loud as he can, and hope that someone would hear him and come over to help him out of the van.
"Hello?" Patch called as he banged on the doors. "Hello?! Is anyone out there? Can anyone hear me? Somebody, help me! Get me out of here! Please, someone, help me!"
Patch then heard the voice calling him again.
"Patch, are you all right?" the voice said in a clear, familiar tone.
Patch then turned around to see that the voice who was all along speaking came from Lightning, who is now peeking through the small caged window.
"Lightning!" Patch exclaimed in relief. "Oh, it's so good to see that you came for me!"
"I saw all that metal fall on top of you. Are you hurt?"
"I'll be fine. Someone locked me up in this van after I got knocked out. Now, I need you to help me get out of here, so that we can find those Labrador pups and save them from those dognappers."
Lightning lets out an evil laugh, which causes Patch to look very confused.
"Fooled you, didn't I?" Lightning said with an evil grin. "There never were any dognappers, nor were there ever any missing Labrador puppies. I made it up so I can take a step closer to easily get Thunderbolt out of the picture and take his place as the star of the show."
"You what?!" said Patch, shocked at what he just heard from Lightning. "This was all a trick to get rid of Thunderbolt to take his place on the show?! But--but I don't understand! I thought you and Thunderbolt had straightened things out and became friends again!"
"Yes, well, that was all a trick, too. When Thunderbolt and I were forgiving each other that day, I was just trying to make him believe me so it would be easier for me to get rid of him. Yes, even though he has now been a good friend to me, I still wanna have all the fame he has! I had enough of everyone turning me down just because I once played the sidekick on the show! I can't even believe that you, a big fan of Thunderbolt's who couldn't even do his heroic bark right, have replaced me as the sidekick on the show and got all the fame I never had! Not to mention that your name was put into the title of the show when you became Thunderbolt's sidekick, but my name was never put into the title when I was his sidekick! And why? Because you also are a hero in real life! You began to get a lot of fame for that when you saved your family from Cruella and her two henchmen! But now that I have you locked up in there, you'll find yourself less of a hero and more of a helpless little weakling! I'm now one step closer to getting Thunderbolt out of the way. And when I succeed, I'll do some serious real life heroic deeds myself, and I'll be famous and loved as the star of the show by then!"
That did it for Patch. After hearing the truth from Lightning, he became angry with him for the first time in his life.
"How could you?!" said Patch furiously. "After all that you and Thunderbolt have been through, you still want to get rid of him?! I can't believe I trusted you! I--!"
Patch let out a very frustrated yell and ran back to the latched doors to try banging them open again.
"Help! Somebody, get me out of here!" Patch screamed as he continued to bang on the doors.
Seeing the way Patch makes another attempt to get the doors open causes Lightning to have a good laugh.
"You can bang and cry all you want, kid," said Lightning, "but no one will hear you! You're just as good as trapped in there! Now, I just have to get your friend, Thunderbolt, out of the way, and then, I shall take over the show!"
Lightning quickly left the junkyard to make his way back to Kent as Patch continued banging on the doors and making cries for help. Meanwhile, back in the studio in Kent, Thunderbolt was searching everywhere for Patch before getting the next episode of their show filmed.
"Patch, where are you?" Thunderbolt called as he searched for Patch around the studio. "Come on, we gotta get back to work! We've got an episode to get filmed today!"
Thunderbolt stopped searching the studio when he heard the door burst open and saw that Lightning came in. Lightning appeared to be covered everywhere in dirt, and breathlessly dropped down onto the floor by the time he entered the studio.
"Lightning!" Thunderbolt gasped at the sight of Lightning's appearance.
"Thunderbolt," said Lightning weakly, slowly opening his eyes, "I saw that you are looking for Patch for the new episode of your show that you are about to have filmed."
"Yes, and I can't find him anywhere. This isn't like him to just disappear like that. But what happened to you? You're a mess."
Lightning let out a few weak coughs.
"Oh, Thunder," said Lightning, "it was awful. I was taking a nice walk alone in London, until suddenly, I saw a couple of ferocious looking Rottweilers attacking a little Dalmatian pup!"
Thunderbolt gasped in horror.
"That Dalmatian pup being attacked by those Rottweilers," said Thunderbolt, horrified. "Was it Patch?"
"I didn't know who that pup was, at first," Lightning coughed, "but when I saw those Rottweilers throw the poor little pup down to the ground, I took a closer look and saw that the pup had a spot over his right eye. That's when I found out that the Dalmatian pup being attacked was Patch!"
After hearing what Lightning just said, Thunderbolt became even more terrified.
"OH, NO!" Thunderbolt exclaimed in panic.
"And when Patch saw me," Lightning continued, "he cried for my help. I tried to rescue him from those Rottweilers, but those beasts had beaten me up in the dirt and took Patch away! Now, I'm here to ask for your help to find Patch!"
Thunderbolt knew at this point that he had to search outside the studio for Patch. He did not have much time left on his break to do such a serious search, though, for he had to get the next episode of The Thunderbolt And Patch Adventure Hour filmed in just a few minutes; but he could not get the next episode of the show done without Patch, so he was left with no choice but to leave the studio to look everywhere for him as fast as he could and, hopefully, get back to the studio in time for the filming once he found him.
"Lightning, I want you to stay right here and get some rest," said Thunderbolt, "while I go and find Patch before we get the new episode of our show filmed. You'll be all right while I'm away, won't you?"
"Of course, I will," said Lightning, smiling weakly. "Don't worry about me. Go find Patch, and hurry."
"Right. I'll be back with Patch as fast as I can."
Thunderbolt quickly left the studio to look for Patch, while Lightning grinned evilly to show that he was ending a pity play that he had been putting on the whole time.
"Take as much time as you need, old pal," Lightning sneered. "You'll never be able to find that kid in time."
Thunderbolt searched all over London for almost an hour, and he was not successful on finding Patch; he had been calling out Patch's name many times during the search, but did not hear a response.
"Patch!" Thunderbolt called as he continues his search. "Patch! Where are you? Can you hear me? Answer me!"
After searching almost every place in London, Thunderbolt realized that the only place he has yet to search was the junkyard. Knowing that the junkyard is where Amber lives, Thunderbolt was very reluctant to search for Thunderbolt there; after what happened on their last date, he had been very upset with Amber without knowing the truth of why she had to kill him. As much as he did not want to search the junkyard due to the lie that Lightning told him on that date, he had no choice but to search that place anyway, for Patch could have ended up being trapped in there.
"I don't want to go in there," Thunderbolt muttered, "after Amber tried to kill me on our date yesterday, but I had to. Oh, I hope those Rottweilers didn't do too much harm on Patch, because I'll kill them if something really bad happens to him. And I hope that Amber wasn't involved in this in any way, as well."
Thunderbolt hurried into the junkyard and began searching for Patch there.
"Patch!" Thunderbolt called as he carefully searches through the large piles of junk. "Patch, are you somewhere in this dump? If you are, give me a shout! Say something! Patch!"
Meanwhile, back in the van, Patch was lying down and shedding tears long after he gave up trying to escape. He was very upset that Lightning revealed that everything he said were lies to trick Thunderbolt out of the show and take his place on it. To make matters worse, he never heard Amber come to help him out of the van; he found this strange, because he knew that Amber made this junkyard her home some time ago. He never knew that Lightning had done something bad to Amber, though, because Lightning never revealed that to him.
After a moment, Patch dried off his tears and got back on his feet the second he heard Thunderbolt calling for him.
"Patch! Are you here? Please, answer me!"
Patch quickly ran back to the latched doors and started to bang on them again.
"Thunderbolt!" Patch cried through the doors as he banged on them. "Thunderbolt, I'm over here!"
Thunderbolt's ears pointed up in surprise at the sound of Patch's cries.
"Patch!" Thunderbolt called back, hoping that he would receive another call back from Patch to find out where he was. "I hear you, but I don't see you! Where are you?"
"I'm in this van!" Patch cried back. "Please, help me!"
"Don't worry, Patch, I'm coming!"
Patch continued to bang on the doors and make cries for help, while Thunderbolt followed those sounds to the van where Lightning had Patch imprisoned. By the time Thunderbolt made it to the van, he unlatched the doors, causing Patch to burst out after one more bang on them and fall onto the ground.
"Are you all right, Patch?" said Thunderbolt, sounding very worried.
"Yes, I'm fine," said Patch as he got back on all fours. "Thanks for getting me out of there."
"Don't mention it. I just hope that those Rottweilers didn't do much harm on you."
Patch looked confused at what Thunderbolt just said.
"What?" he asked. "Rottweilers?"
"Yes," said Thunderbolt. "Before it was time to film the next episode of our show, I was looking all over for you in the studio, but you were nowhere to be found. Then, Lightning came into the studio, looking all beaten up, and told me that a couple of Rottweilers attacked you and took you away."
Patch could not believe what was going on today. He just found out that Lightning did not only lie to him, but also to Thunderbolt, the dog who did all he could to make up for being a neglectful friend.
"No, Thunderbolt," said Patch, shaking his head. "Lightning obviously lied to you about that. There never were any Rottweilers. He told me that a litter of Labrador puppies got stolen, and he brought me here to find them. Then, I got knocked out by a large pile of metal and locked up in that van by him. When I woke up, Lightning told me that the story of the Labrador puppies being stolen was all a setup to try getting rid of you so he can take your place on our show."
"What?" said Thunderbolt, looking very shocked after Patch had finished telling him what happened. "But that can't be. After what Lightning and I did wrong to each other, we apologized and became friends again. As long as I treat Lightning very well, he wouldn't continue to do anything wrong."
Thunderbolt stopped for a moment to carefully think over everything Lightning said after the day they have straightened things out with each other. Lightning might have lied about wanting to be Thunderbolt's friend again, and that fame did not really matter to him. He also might have lied about Amber trying to kill Thunderbolt; Thunderbolt then gasped in horror at that thought and made a suggestion to himself that Lightning's unfinished business might have been giving Amber a plan to kill Thunderbolt and using her to put it into action.
"Unless he lied about that, too!" Thunderbolt added, now starting to turn angry after taking a moment to go through his thoughts. "Come on! We gotta get back to the studio!"
And without wasting another second, Patch and Thunderbolt made their way back to Kent as fast they could. By the time they got there and reached the studio, they peeked through a window to see that something unbelievable was going on in there; the entire crew was searching all over the studio for the two missing dogs, while Lightning, who was now cleaned up really well from his pity play, was getting ready to steal the spotlight for the recording of the show's new episode. Inside the studio, the crew was arguing with the producer about his idea of replacing Thunderbolt and Patch with Lightning for the recording of the new episode of the show.
"Listen, everybody!" the producer snapped to the crew. "We don't have any time to look for Thunderbolt and Patch, okay? This episode is due today, and we can't afford to have it delayed!"
"Oh, here we go again!" said the cameraman, annoyed. "You're coming up with a plan to replace the stars of the show with Lightning! Something like this was about to happen before, but we got Thunderbolt back in time!"
"Yeah!" the man who played Dirty Dawson on the show agreed. "We didn't have an episode of the show with Thunderbolt being replaced by Lightning as the star, and we don't need that to happen, now!"
"Look, I have no time to argue!" the producer retorted. "I know it's not a good idea to have Lightning replace the stars of our show, but we have to use someone to get the episode done! We can't do the show without a star, and we don't have any time to search places outside the studio for Thunderbolt and Patch! This episode has to be done today!"
"But the name of this show is The Thunderbolt And Patch Adventure Hour!" the scriptwriter shouted to the producer. "We need Thunderbolt and Patch for this show! All the fans of the show will be very disappointed if we use Lightning on the show instead of Thunderbolt and Patch!"
As the entire crew continued arguing with the producer about what to do, Lightning faced his reflection in the mirror of Thunderbolt's dresser and let out an evil chuckle.
"Yes, Thunderbolt is gone, now," said Lightning. "I'm actually going to be the star of the show, and all of Thunderbolt's fans will be attracted to me for the first time in my life! For once, I'll be loved and famous, and I'll continue to go that way from then on!"
Lightning then let out an evil laugh. A moment later, though, the crew's argument and Lightning's evil laughter came into a complete silence when they all heard the sound of Thunderbolt's heroic bark, which sounded as if two different dogs did it at the same time. Everyone in the studio then turned around to see that Patch and Thunderbolt came back just in time for the filming of the show's new episode and did that heroic bark together.
"Thunderbolt, Patch, you're back!" the producer exclaimed in surprise after he caught sight of Patch and Thunderbolt entering the studio. "Where have you two been? The whole crew has been looking all over for you!"
Lightning stared at Thunderbolt and Patch in shock when he saw them return to the studio before the new episode of the show could be filmed. He could not believe that another plan of his to get Thunderbolt out of the show failed.
"LIGHTNING!" Thunderbolt roared as he stomped furiously across the studio to confront Lightning.
Lightning now started to shake and sweat in fear as Thunderbolt approaches him.
"Uh, hello, Thunderbolt," Lightning chuckled uncomfortably. "I was wondering when you'd be back, buddy."
"Don't 'buddy' me, you filthy little traitor!" Thunderbolt said through gritted teeth, his face almost touching Lightning's. "How dare you lie to me and Patch, and try to trick us out of the show so you can take our places on it!"
"Now, Thunder, it's not what you thought it would be--"
"Don't even bother to explain! I thought you were my friend! I thought you said that fame doesn't matter to you! I can't believe that you're still trying to replace me on my show, after we've forgiven each other for what happened in the past!"
"Thunder, please, you don't understand--"
"Oh, I understand, all right! After everything you said to me, I realized that they were all lies! You, mister, are a big, fat liar!"
Thunderbolt poked Lightning's throat threateningly on each of the last three words he said.
"Thunder, no, please!" Lightning begged.
"Get out!" yelled Thunderbolt. "Leave, now! And don't ever come into this studio again!"
Knowing that Lightning was no longer needed for the filming of the new episode of The Thunderbolt And Patch Adventure Hour now that Thunderbolt and Patch are back in the studio just in time for it, the producer turned Lightning out of the studio and shut the door behind him. This caused Lightning to feel miserable and angry at the same time. Lightning managed to keep his temper under control when he took a lonely walk from Kent to the lake in London, which was the place where he, Cruella, and the Baduns ended up on the day Patch rescued his siblings with Thunderbolt's help. By the time Lightning got to the lake, he tried to remain calm as he carefully thought over the failed plans he previously came up with to get rid of Thunderbolt and Patch from their careers.
"All right," said Lightning calmly as he sat down and stared at the lake. "When I tried to get rid of Thunderbolt the first time, I failed and ended up in prison. Then, I escaped and tried to come up with other plans without letting Thunderbolt know what I was up to. I gained Thunderbolt's trust when we apologized to each other for what we did wrong, and that was what I needed in order for my plans to get rid of him to work. I tried to get Amber to kill him, but that plan was foiled just when she was about to tell him all about it. Next, I tried to get Thunderbolt out of the studio by locking Patch in a van in the junkyard and making up a story about how he got taken away by a couple of Rottweilers. That didn't work. Thunderbolt found Patch, and they came back to the studio before I could finally replace 'Blunderbolt' as the star of the show. None of my plans worked. Now, I'm stuck with no other way to get rid of him and his little Dalmatian friend."
Lightning stared even closer at the lake to sadly see his reflection on it; as he did so, he carefully thought over what would happen if he actually took Thunderbolt's place on the show.
"If my plans had worked," said Lightning, "I would become the star of the show. I would play the hero on that show. But what about all of Thunderbolt's fans? What would they think of the show if they saw me on the show as the hero instead of Thunderbolt? Would they have loved me on that show by then, or at least even like me? Would I have ever gotten any fame for playing the hero on that show just like Thunderbolt has?"
Lightning closed his eyes for a moment and thought very hard over what would become of the show and its fans if he had replaced Thunderbolt as the star himself. As he thought that over, he also remembered the one time he got rejected by three female dogs on the day the auditions for a new episode of The Thunderbolt Adventure Hour were held in London, and just thinking about that made him realize that no one would like the show if he was the star instead of Thunderbolt. Knowing all along how just about everyone loves Thunderbolt, he realized that he would never get as much fame as Thunderbolt did, no matter what. All this was enough to make him feel very angry inside. Finally, after getting through all those thoughts, he sharply opened his eyes, looking more furious than ever.
"No," Lightning growled. "None of Thunderbolt's fans will like the show if I took his place on it. No one will ever want to be a fan of mine. They'd all still love Thunderbolt instead of me, no matter how much action I would've shown as a hero on the show. So, that does it! After everything I had to go through while being stuck in Thunderbolt's shadow, I definitely had enough of being rejected because I once played the sidekick! I don't care about being the star of the show anymore!"
Lightning picked up a rock and violently threw it down the lake on the last thing he said. He then breathed heavily as he watched the rock slowly sink to the bottom of the lake.
"That's right!" said Lightning, enraged. "No more Mr. Nice Doggy! Starting tomorrow, there will be no more fans of Thunderbolt, and there will be no more Thunderbolt himself, either! Because I'm gonna kill them all! Yes, I'm gonna make sure that Thunderbolt and every single one of his precious fans all die!"
***
End of chapter eleven.
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Post by Flowgli on Feb 27, 2009 14:29:03 GMT -5
Chapter Twelve: London Is On Fire!
***
Things did not go well when Patch was brought home from work after the filming of the new episode of The Thunderbolt And Patch Adventure Hour; when he tried to tell his siblings what happened to him and Thunderbolt at work that day, they were too busy to listen to him. When all the Dalmatian pups heard Nanny ring the bell for dinner, they rushed to the back of the house to eat from a bowl, Patch eating much quicker than the other pups. Once Patch had finished his dinner, he went from one sibling to another a few times to try talking to them while they were still eating.
Patch tried to remember not to mention Lightning to his family while explaining to them what happened to him and Thunderbolt at work that day, since Perdita did not like what Patch's siblings said about Lightning the other night. He now tried to get the right words out of his mouth as he tried to talk to his siblings.
"Lucky!" said Patch quickly. "There's something I've got to tell you!"
"No time to talk, Patch!" said Lucky after swallowing a mouthful of kibble. "The new episode of your show is coming up tonight, and I got to finish eating to see it!"
Annoyed, Patch went over to Rolly.
"Rolly, I've got to tell you something!" said Patch.
"Not now, Patch!" said Rolly sharply. "Can't you see I'm eating here?"
Patch now went over to Penny.
"Penny, are Mum and Dad home?" Patch asked.
"No, they're not!" Penny answered rudely. "They are taken out for a walk by Roger and Anita!"
"Oh, good, because there's something I really need to tell you--"
"I'm eating, right now! It can wait!"
Patch lets out a loud groan in frustration when he found out that none of his siblings would listen to him.
"Sounds like everyone can't wait to see the new episode of my show tonight!" said Patch, still feeling annoyed.
"You better believe it!" said Pepper. "We're all looking forward to seeing it, and we hope it's a good one!"
Once all the pups finished eating their dinner, they rushed to the television in the living room to watch the new episode of The Thunderbolt And Patch Adventure Hour, with Patch being the last one to get there.
The whole litter watched the show together in excitement for a few minutes, which was when Patch interrupted the show with his loud talking.
"Listen, you guys!" Patch exclaimed. "What I'm trying to tell you is very important!"
"Shh!" a few pups hissed.
"Later, Patch!" said Lucky quietly. "We wanna see how this episode turns out!"
"But you guys," Patch pleaded, "it's about what happened to me and Thunderbolt at work today!"
"Shh!" A few more pups hissed.
"Patch," Penny whined quietly, "will you be quiet and wait until the show is over!"
Patch remained quiet for almost a minute. He did not have any time to watch the new episode of his own show. He could not even sit through just a few minutes in silence when he had some important news to deliver to his siblings.
"Uh, guys," said Patch impatiently, "maybe we shouldn't watch the show today!"
That did it for Patch's siblings. They remembered having to make him be quiet while trying to watch the show on their last night at the flat, because he was about to spoil an episode for them while he was having an identity crisis.
"SHH!" all the pups hissed in annoyance.
"Patch, this episode could be a good one!" Rolly whispered.
Patch did not say another word throughout the rest of the show's episode. He patiently watched the show in silence. Finally, the show came to an end, and all the pups let out a huge cheer when they saw the end of the episode include Patch and Thunderbolt have Dirty Dawson thrown in jail. Patch, though, was the only pup who did not enjoy the celebration.
"Oh, I don't believe this!" Patch groaned as he lowered his head and put a palm over his face in disgust. "It's just plain awful!"
"Awful?" said Rolly enthusiastically. "Patch, you and Thunderbolt just put Dirty Dawson in jail after that attack you just pulled on him, and you called that awful?"
"Come on, Patch!" said Lucky excitedly. "That was a great episode! You and Thunderbolt were fantastic there!"
"No, you guys!" said Patch, feeling a bit more upset. "It's not the episode! It's what happened at work today!"
"What happened?" said Penny. "Is that your last episode with Thunderbolt?"
"Has everyone in the studio treated you very badly?" said Rolly.
"Is the show gonna be cancelled altogether?" said Lucky.
"NO!" Patch cried, and all the other pups fell silent. "Listen, you guys. I had a bad day at work today because of Lightning."
All the other pups' ears raised in shock at the sound of Lightning's name.
"Lightning?" asked Lucky curiously.
As Patch's siblings followed him into the barn for bedtime, he told them all about how Lightning used untrue stories to get rid of him and Thunderbolt so he can take their places on the show as the star himself. All of Patch's siblings looked very shocked when Patch finished.
"So, I was right all along!" Lucky gasped. "I knew that Lightning would try to scam you and Thunderbolt, but it's a good thing that you and Thunderbolt stopped Lightning before the episode we just saw today got filmed with him as the star."
"Yes, Lucky," Patch agreed, "you were right all along about Lightning. I can't believe I didn't believe you guys in the first place."
"It's okay, Patch. You know the truth, now."
"Yes, but what I don't know, now, is what new plan Lightning will be coming up with to get rid of me and Thunderbolt. But you know, it's a good thing that Mum and Dad are not here, right now, to listen to all this, otherwise we would all be in big trouble."
Somehow, Patch soon had to find proof that Lightning was trying to scam him and Thunderbolt out of their careers, so that Pongo and Perdita would know the truth about Lightning's true nature and believe what their pups said about him. Now that Patch had thought about that, he began to show a furious look on his face to show his siblings what he thought on what he was going to do the next time he sees Lightning.
"That's it!" said Patch angrily. "Mum and Dad are gonna know the truth when we go out for another walk in London tomorrow, because I'm gonna look for Lightning and make him confess that he's still a traitor when I find him! I don't know how, but when we get to London tomorrow, I'm gonna find out what Lightning's up to next!"
And with that, Patch climbed onto a hay bale to get ready for bed, while his siblings exchanged concerned looks with each other. The next day came. It was a bright, sunny Saturday, and Patch was taking a walk in London with his family and Thunderbolt.
"Nice day, isn't it?" said Thunderbolt happily. "Not a better weather condition to take a walk with my little buddy and his family in."
He looked down at Patch.
"Right, Patch?" he asked.
But Patch did not respond as Thunderbolt caught sight of him. Everyone was watching Patch move his head around, which looked as if he was looking for someone or something. He was obviously looking for Lightning, but he did not let his family or Thunderbolt know about that.
"Hey, Patch," said Thunderbolt, and Patch stopped his search to face him. "Are you feeling okay?"
"What?" said Patch, and he turned around to see that his family was staring at him strangely. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Why d'you ask?"
"Well, your family and I couldn't help but look at you move your head around. It looks like you're looking for something. Are you?"
Patch wanted to tell Thunderbolt that he was looking for Lightning, but after taking a glance at his family, he tried to keep himself from revealing what he was looking for in order to avoid getting into trouble with his mother. Of course, Patch knew Perdita did not believe that Lightning continued his bad ways after having a friendly talk with Thunderbolt, and she never would believe it until she saw it with her own eyes.
"Uh, no, of course not," said Patch promptly. "I'm not looking for anything. I, uh, I just saw some bugs flying around me. Those things were really bothering me."
"Bugs, son?" said Pongo. "What bugs? I don't see any around here."
"Um, well, I was just keeping an eye out for them. Oh, there's one, now."
Patch moved a paw around in front of him, pretending to shoo away a fly.
"Pesky fly," Patch muttered as he hit a front paw on his nose and flicked the imaginary dead bug off it. "That should take care of you."
Pongo, Perdita, and Thunderbolt continued to stare strangely at Patch, causing him to let out an uncomfortable laugh. When this happened, Patch's siblings managed to contain their laughter by either biting their lower lips or clasping their paws over their mouths. This moment came to an end when Patch felt a scent of something burning. Patch took a sniff to find out what that scent was.
"What's that smell?" said Patch, trying to figure out what was causing the burning scent. "It smells like something's burning."
Thunderbolt and Patch's family also picked up the scent when it came to them.
"I smelled it, too," said Thunderbolt after taking a few sniffs.
"I think we all did," said Pongo as he and the rest of the Dalmatians also tried to figure out what was causing the burning scent as well. "Where is that smell coming from?"
Patch sniffed around to find out where the burning scent was coming from.
"It's coming from over there," said Patch as he followed the scent, and his family and Thunderbolt followed him.
The scent started to become worse as Patch, his family, and Thunderbolt went closer to what was causing it.
"I smell trouble," said Patch as the worsening of the scent happens, and he, his family, and Thunderbolt stopped dead in their tracks when they saw that the scent had lead them to a building on fire filled with people crying for help. "Big trouble."
As the people in the burning building continued crying for help, a little boy quickly showed an expression of joy when he saw Patch and Thunderbolt come to the rescue.
"Look!" the little boy shouted as he pointed a finger out a window at Patch and Thunderbolt. "It's Patch and Thunderbolt! They'll save us!"
"All those people are trapped in that building on fire!" Thunderbolt said to Patch. "We've got to go and help get them out of there!"
Thunderbolt and Patch rushed into the building to save the people in there. During the rescue, Patch lead the people out of the building to safety, while Thunderbolt searched everywhere in the building to find if there are still any people in it. Once all the people safely got out of the burning building, he went back in to help Thunderbolt search for more people who might still be in it.
"Anyone else left in here?" Patch asked Thunderbolt.
"No," Thunderbolt answered. "I think that's about everyone."
"Okay. Let's hurry and get out of here."
Thunderbolt and Patch rushed out of the building as quickly as possible. They did not have time to relax after leaving the building, though, because they caught sight of something that caused them to become horribly shocked by the time they got out; all the rest of London is on fire as well.
"Oh, no!" Patch gasped in horror. "All of London is on fire! What could've caused all this?!"
"I think you mean who, Patch!" said Lucky. "Look!"
Lucky pointed up to show the rest of the Dalmatian family and Thunderbolt that someone was lighting matches and throwing them everywhere from the top of another building. It was Lightning.
"Lightning!" Patch shouted, shocked at the sight of Lightning throwing lit matches all over London. "He's the one who's starting all these fires?!"
"He really is!" snarled Thunderbolt. "Some friend he is! How dare he set London on fire and try getting innocent people killed!"
"We'll go through a test of friendship later, Thunderbolt! Right now, we gotta go up there and stop him before he leaves to try more at having anyone killed!"
"Right! But we're gonna have to try and be quiet as we go up there. We can't let him hear us until we're all up there with him, otherwise he'll see us and easily escape."
Thunderbolt and the Dalmatian family sneaked inside the building that Lightning is in, and quietly went up the stairs to the rooftop door. Meanwhile, Lightning was clearly enjoying himself as he continued to throw lit matches all over London.
"This ought to teach you fans of Thunderbolt to reject me!" Lightning growled as he threw two more lit matches down to another building. "This is gonna make you all wish that you were all my fans instead of his! This is gonna make you wish that you've shown me all the respect I deserved in the first place!"
"Hold it right there!" Thunderbolt called.
Lightning turned around to see Thunderbolt on the roof of the building with him, along with Patch and his family. When he saw Thunderbolt and the Dalmatian family glaring at him, he dropped the matches and began shook in fear.
"Um, hello, Thunderbolt," said Lightning uncomfortably. "I see you've brought your friend and his family with you here."
"You know why we're here!" said Thunderbolt angrily. "We came to stop you from burning London any further! What has gotten into you?! Why are you doing this?! You almost have everyone killed here!"
It was now time for Lightning to confess his wrongdoings to Thunderbolt and the Dalmatian family. There was no escaping by lying, this time. Getting caught in the act like this caused him to look angry himself on the outside, yet felt scared and guilty on the inside. After a few more seconds, he finally gave in.
"Oh, all right," Lightning sighed. "I'll tell you all why I'm doing this. I'm doing all this because of you, Thunderbolt. You have been loved by everyone, while I haven't been loved by anyone, and that really bothered me a lot. It's not fair that you took up all the fame just because you played the hero on the show, while I played the sidekick when I was on it! But when that kid came along to take my place on the show, he got all the fame that I never had!"
"Lightning!" said Thunderbolt, shocked at what Lightning just said. "Have you forgotten that I apologized for being so selfish and neglectful to you? After all that, I treated you like a good friend to make up for what I've done wrong to you! Besides, didn't you say to me and Patch that fame doesn't really matter to you? Or did you lie about that, as well?"
"As a matter of fact, I did. Everything I said to you and Patch on the day you and I apologized was a lie. It was to try getting back at you after you stopped me from taking your place on the show by having me sent to prison. After I escaped from prison, I've been coming up with plans to get rid of you and Patch, so that I would finally become the star of the show!"
Hearing this, Patch's family gasped in shock.
"See, Mother?!" Lucky said angrily to Perdita. "I told you something like that could happen, and it did!"
"Oh, Lucky, I'm so sorry," said Perdita, feeling guilty for sharply denying what Lucky told her about Lightning before.
"Lightning, I had to stop you from taking my place on the show!" cried Thunderbolt. "I didn't mean to have you sent to prison! I said I was sorry! I can't believe you didn't forgive me!"
"Oh, you better believe it," said Lightning. "When I was visiting you at the studio after I escaped from prison, the first thing I had to do was gain your trust by pretending to be your friend again in order for a plan of mine to work. I also tricked that girl dog you like into killing you by promising her that I would help her find a home with you!"
Hearing this, Thunderbolt became very shocked. After getting scammed with Patch by Lightning the previous day, he had a horrible feeling that Lightning would involve Amber in his schemes.
"You what?!" Thunderbolt gasped, continuing to show anger.
"You heard me!" Lightning growled. "And to make sure that would work, I had been spying on her while you were enjoying the view of the sunset with her on that one date you two had together. She was about to warn you then that I made her try to kill you, and that's when it all fell apart. But I stopped her from revealing my plan to you just in time. After you left, I trapped her somewhere here in London."
Patch gasped in shock at what Lightning just said.
"Yes, kid," said Lightning. "That's why she didn't hear your calls for help when I had you trapped in that dump she lives in."
"You really are a bad dog," said Patch hopelessly.
"You know it."
Lightning turned to face Thunderbolt again.
"And when you have stopped me from replacing you on the show again," he continued, "I have realized something that I should have thought about before; all your fans still wouldn't like me if I successfully take your place on the show. So, why did I even bother trying to take your place on the show when I could've just burned everyone here as soon as I escaped from prison? Well, here I am, setting all of London on fire, right now! And now, you know, Thunderbolt, that I don't want to take your place on the show anymore; I just want everyone here, including you and all your disrespectful fans, to die!"
That did it for Thunderbolt. He started to lose his temper and stepped closer to Lightning to confront him, causing him to fall flat on his back and hit his head on one of the roof's raised edges.
"You!" snapped Thunderbolt. "You used Amber to try and kill me, and she tried to warn me that you have set her up?! And after that last date, I became very upset with her for nothing?!"
Patch now had become more shocked than ever. He had been wondering why Thunderbolt had been upset with Amber, and why Thunderbolt did not even want to talk to him about Amber; but after what Lightning just revealed, Patch now knows the truth.
"Now, listen to me, Lightning," said Thunderbolt as he started to control his temper. "You said that you only tried to get me out of the show to make me realize how badly I treated you, and because of that, I've tried to be a good friend to you and done everything I could to make it up to you after we made up for what we've done wrong."
He now started to lose his temper again.
"And how did you repay me?" he asked angrily. "By scamming the dog I love into trying to kill me? By trying to trick me and Patch out of our show so you can take our places on it? BY SETTING ALL OF LONDON ON FIRE AND GET EVERYONE KILLED?!"
"I didn't know what else to do!" cried Lightning. "I had to do something to have at least a few of your fans like me!"
This caused Thunderbolt to get even more angry with Lightning.
"Lightning, I thought you were better than that!" Thunderbolt roared. "You know that scamming me and my friends and having innocent people killed is not gonna get you any fans! Look at you! It's all making you become a monster! Nobody likes a monster! They'll never want to! Never! Is that what you wanted?!"
Now feeling very shocked and terrified, Lightning stared deeply into Thunderbolt's eyes, which revealed large flames of anger. After realizing everything Thunderbolt just said, Lightning finally had some sense knocked into him. He did not want to become a monster, nor did he want to be hated by everyone for it. So, with that, he gave in and started to change his ways.
"You're right, Thunderbolt," said Lightning tearfully. "Everything I did to you and everyone else here was wrong. I don't want to become a monster, but it's still not fair that everyone loves you and nobody even likes me. I still wanted to do something to make your fans like me."
Thunderbolt began to calm down and carefully thought over what Lightning just said. After a moment, he came up with an idea on how Lightning can be liked by others.
"Hold on," said Thunderbolt. "You can be loved by everyone if you will save everyone in London by putting out all these fires."
"No, Thunder," said Lightning, feeling very guilty as he shook his head. "No one has ever loved me, and no one will, now. Not after all those horrible things I did."
"Well, everyone loves someone who does something right and help others. This is your chance to show everyone that you're really a good dog who just wanted to be loved. Trust me. They can love you if you help them."
"Can they, really?"
"Yes, they can. But right now, we don't have time to worry about what everyone would think of you. We need to put out all the fire and find Amber. Where did you hide her?"
Feeling guilty for all the lies he told, Lightning had a bad feeling that no one would believe him if he told the truth, this time.
"If I tell you the truth," said Lightning, "will you believe me?"
"Tell me where Amber is," said Thunderbolt, "and then, I'll decide if I believe you."
Lightning took a deep sigh and got himself ready to tell the truth of what he did to Amber.
"I trapped her in a room in that hotel over there," said Lightning, shaking as he pointed at the hotel where he had Amber imprisoned.
Thunderbolt turned around to look at the hotel that Lightning was pointing directly at.
"What, in an old hotel that looks like some haunted house?" Thunderbolt scoffed. "Impossible. No one has been there for who knows how long. And by the looks of it, it's not even sturdy enough to support itself any longer!"
The entire wall on one side of the hotel fell apart, revealing Amber in one of the rooms backing up from falling off the edge to the fiery ground.
"HELP!" Amber screamed at the top of her voice across the distance between the hotel and the building where she can see Thunderbolt, Lightning, and the Dalmatian family. "Thunderbolt, Patch, help me!"
"See?" Lightning said to Thunderbolt, still shaking. "I told you! Now, do you believe me?"
"Yes!" Thunderbolt cried. "I believe you, now!"
He turned to face Patch.
"Patch, you and I have to hurry and get to that hotel so we can rescue Amber!" He said. "Your family and Lightning will help put out all the fires in London! Let's go!"
Everyone quickly went through the rooftop door and down the stairs to leave the building, and Patch and Thunderbolt took off to the hotel to rescue Amber, while the rest of the Dalmatians and Lightning searched all around London to find a way to put out all the fires before anyone could get killed.
***
End of chapter twelve.
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Post by Belchic on Feb 28, 2009 2:41:39 GMT -5
Nice.
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Post by Flowgli on Mar 21, 2009 9:48:29 GMT -5
Chapter Thirteen: Heroes Save The Day Once Again
***
Patch and Thunderbolt reached the hotel and looked up to see Amber still backing up from falling into the fiery ground.
"Look!" Patch said to Thunderbolt at the sight of Amber in danger. "There she is!"
"Don't worry, Amber!" Thunderbolt called. "We're here to save you!"
One of the floorboards that Amber was on snapped and slowly began to lower itself close to the fiery ground; Patch and Thunderbolt gasped in horror as this happened, because it nearly made Amber slide down from it, causing her to almost fall into the fire. Letting out a loud shriek in fear, Amber turned around to grab on to the dangling floorboard and hang on for dear life.
"Please, hurry!" Amber screamed.
Patch and Thunderbolt found a safe way into the hotel and carefully went up the eighth floor. By the time they got there, they found that all the rooms except one had their doors wide open to reveal that they are empty. The only room with its door closed on this floor was at the far end, and it has a chair stuck under the doorknob.
"She must be in that room over there!" Patch said to Thunderbolt as he pointed at the room's closed door.
Patch and Thunderbolt rushed to the other side of the hotel, removed the chair from under the doorknob, and cautiously pushed the door open.
"Hang on, Amber!" Thunderbolt cried as he and Patch stepped into the room to rescue Amber. "We'll save you!"
"Hurry!" Amber screamed as she continued to hold on to the breaking floorboard to keep herself from falling into the fire.
"Thunder, make a reach for Amber!" said Patch. "I'll look around the room for something long enough we can use to pull her back up!"
While Patch searched the room to find something that could be used to pull Amber back up, Thunderbolt went near Amber, lied down on his front, and reached out one of his front paws to make a grab for Amber.
"Grab on, Amber!" Thunderbolt shouted.
A frightened Amber reached out one of her front legs to make a grab for Thunderbolt, but the two dogs were not even close enough to touching each other's paws.
"I can't reach!" said Amber, straining.
The floorboard snapped again, causing it to lower Amber even closer to the fire.
"HELP!" Amber screamed.
"Thunderbolt, we're in trouble!" Patch panicked. "I can't find anything long enough to pull Amber back up!"
Patch's siblings, who had been using hoses from other buildings to help put out all the fires in London, saw and heard what was going on at the old hotel and stared at each other in horror.
"Things are not going well up there!" said Penny in a scared tone.
"It's hopeless," said Pepper, shaking in fear. "Patch and Thunderbolt working together as a team is not even enough to save Amber from falling into the fire."
"Maybe not, but it might work if we can help them," said Lucky.
"Oh, but we might not be able to help them save Amber if we risk going into that hotel," said Rolly. "Many pieces of that building had been falling off long before it even caught fire."
"We won't have to risk going in there. We can still find a safe way to help them. And I think I just know what we can do. Now, do you guys still have it with you?"
"We still have it securely within us, Lucky."
"Good. We're gonna need it for this rescue. Come on, everybody, follow me."
Together, Patch's siblings went up the stairs to the roof of another building.
"Hey, Patch!" Lucky shouted across the distance between the building and the old hotel where he could see Patch. "I think we have something that could help you and Thunderbolt save Amber!"
Patch's siblings broke up to separate individuals to reveal something to him. It was the scarf that Thunderbolt gave Patch one day at the park.
"Great idea, guys!" Patch called back to his siblings, and he faced Thunderbolt. "Thunder, we can use that scarf to pull Amber back up, just like you used the rope to try to save me at Tower Bridge!"
"WHAT?!" Thunderbolt shrieked in horror after what Patch just said.
Patch knew how much that scarf meant to Thunderbolt; that scarf, after all, once belonged to Thunderbolt's long-deceased father. It was Patch's siblings, not Patch himself, who came up with the idea of using the scarf for this rescue anyway. Patch had no time to feel sorry for all this, though, for Amber was getting even closer to letting go of the breaking floorboard and falling into the fiery ground to her death.
Lucky threw one end of the scarf to Patch, who managed to catch it with his teeth and place it between his front paws. Patch used his front paws to pull the rest of the scarf from his siblings and placed it in front of Thunderbolt.
"Hurry, Thunderbolt!" Patch cried. "Lower that scarf to Amber so she can climb back up to safety!"
"Patch, no!" Thunderbolt screamed. "This is my father's scarf! It means so much to me! I've given my word to keep it safe for him! I even gave it to you so you can keep it safe for me!"
Patch scowled at Thunderbolt for choosing an old scarf of a deceased family member over Amber, the dog who loved him deeply and was now in danger of falling into the fiery ground to her death.
"Thunderbolt, Amber's life is in danger!" said Patch angrily. "Using that scarf is our only chance to save her, and she'll die if we don't do this, now! I mean, your dad would be very proud of you if you saved a loved one from danger by any means, especially by using that scarf! And if your dad was still alive, right now, he would use his scarf to save your life if you were in this kind of danger! Would you have done the same thing if that scarf was yours and your dad was in danger?!"
Thunderbolt's eyes began to water as they stared into Patch's angry eyes; he also thought carefully over what Patch just said as this happened. Thunderbolt had treasured that scarf since his father's death, but it was now time for him to treasure his friends even more. As he had learned when he was a pup, there was nothing he or anyone could do to bring back a loved one from the dead, so the past therefore was gone. Amber was now much more dear to him, as was Patch and others still alive who truly cared about him. After a few seconds, he took a deep sigh and nodded after finally having some sense knocked into him.
"You're right, Patch," said Thunderbolt, finally giving in. "Right now, saving Amber's life is more important. But I'm still worried. What if the scarf catches fire? Amber could fall and die if that happens."
"I know," said Patch, feeling worried himself. "I myself am worried that something like that might happen. But this is the only way."
There was no alternative. Thunderbolt took the scarf into his front paws, looked down at it tearfully, and rubbed it against one of his cheeks.
"I'm sorry, Dad," Thunderbolt whispered to the scarf as he shed a few tears.
Thunderbolt took one end of the scarf with his teeth and lowered the other end to Amber.
"Here, Amber!" Thunderbolt shouted, his teeth closed on one end of the scarf. "Grab on to this scarf and climb back up, fast!"
Amber tightly grabbed on to the scarf with her teeth and paws and tried to climb up it, while Patch and Thunderbolt grabbed it with their teeth to help pull her back up. On her way back up to safety, though, the scarf caught fire, causing it to rip in half and make her about to fall into the fiery ground to her death.
"AMBER!" Patch cried after letting go of the scarf, Thunderbolt still holding on to it as he gasped in horror.
But it was not too late, for Amber managed to grab on to the upper half of the scarf with her teeth and pull herself back up in time. Once Thunderbolt and Patch helped Amber back up into the hotel room, the remains of the scarf fell into the fiery ground; Thunderbolt felt hurt very deep down when he saw this happen, but there was nothing he can do to get the scarf back. His father's treasured scarf was gone forever.
Thunderbolt started to forget about his father's scarf and worry more about Amber when he heard her let out loud coughs due to the smoke caused by the growing flames.
"Oh, no!" said Patch, sounding extremely worried as Amber continued coughing and collapsed to the floor. "Amber isn't feeling well! We gotta hurry and get her out of here!"
He turned to face Amber.
"Amber, get on Thunderbolt's back and hang on to him as tightly as you can!" he said. "He'll carry you while I lead us out of here!"
Thunderbolt lowered himself, allowing Amber to climb on to his back. Amber wrapped her front legs around Thunderbolt's neck to secure herself after Thunderbolt got back up.
"Are you okay up there, Amber?" asked Patch.
"Uh-huh," Amber responded weakly as she let out a few more coughs.
"Okay. And Thunderbolt, are you ready?"
"Ready, Patch," said Thunderbolt.
"All right. Let's go!"
The three dogs left the room together, and Patch started leading the way out of the hotel. On the way, more parts of the hotel fell from a floor above the three dogs and landed in front of them, blocking their path. The three dogs then had to work their way around the obstacles blocking them, and must do it carefully, because the falling parts of the hotel were completely covered with fire. During the escape, Amber's coughs were getting worse, and she started to lose her grip on Thunderbolt.
"Hang in there, Amber!" Thunderbolt cried as he looked back to see Amber about to slip off him. "Don't let go, no matter what happens!"
"I can't hold on any longer!" Amber coughed as she tried to keep holding on to Thunderbolt. "All this smoke and fire is really bothering me!"
"Don't worry, Amber, we're halfway there! Just keep holding on to me, and don't breathe the smoke!"
"Come on, Thunder, hurry!" Patch cried as he looked back to see Amber losing her consciousness due to the smoke getting into her nose and eyes.
As Patch and Thunderbolt tried to make their way out of the falling hotel with Amber, the rest of the Dalmatian family and Lightning finished putting all the fires out everywhere else in London using hoses from other buildings and houses. They all stared at the hotel, looking more worried than ever. This moment was similar to the time when Thunderbolt rescued Patch from drowning with the sinking ship at Tower Bridge; Patch's family and Lightning waited to see if Patch, Thunderbolt, and Amber could altogether make it out of the hotel alive.
"Well, that's about all the fire we've put out," said Lightning, still feeling guilty for what he had done as he stared at the falling hotel. "But there's one place that's still on fire, and there it is."
Using his teeth, Lightning grabbed a hose from a house and dragged it to the front of the hotel.
"It's now time I set things right," he said, and he turned the hose on to put the fire out the hotel.
More of the hotel fell apart as Lightning moved the hose around to put out every fire possible.
"I hope Patch and Thunderbolt make it out of there with Amber before it's too late!" said Lucky, sounding very worried as half the hotel fell to the ground.
"I hope so, too!" said Lightning, horrified. "They gotta hurry! Oh, I feel very awful for what I've done!"
Patch's family continued to stare in silence at the hotel, waiting to see if Patch, Thunderbolt, and Amber could survive its destruction. They shook in fear as they waited to see what would happen. Lightning turned the hose off after putting out every fire possible and quietly watched the disaster with Patch's family.
"Patch, please hurry," said Perdita quietly as she shedded a few tears.
As Patch's family and Lightning continued watching the disaster, the danger for Patch, Thunderbolt, and Amber increased when the rest of the hotel collapsed to the ground. Seeing the entire hotel fall to the ground caused Patch's family and Lightning to gasp in horror, making them believe that the hotel had completely crushed Patch, Thunderbolt, and Amber to death as it fell.
"PATCH!" Perdita screamed after seeing the hotel collapse on Patch, Thunderbolt, and Amber before they could get out.
"Oh, no," said Lightning softly as he and Patch's family began to shed tears. "It's all over. They're too late."
After a moment, everyone looked up when they heard something rising from the destructed hotel. It was Patch, Thunderbolt, and Amber. Everyone was relieved to see that Patch and Thunderbolt survived the hotel's destruction after all. Amber, though, was lying unconscious across Thunderbolt's back.
"Look again, Lightning," said Lucky as he saw Patch and Thunderbolt come to join the rest of the group. "Patch and Thunderbolt are all right."
"Yes, we're all right," said Patch sadly as Thunderbolt gently laid Amber down on the ground in front of the rest of the group. "But I don't think Amber is."
As Amber laid unconscious on the ground, the flower on her head fell off and curled into ashes. Thunderbolt, Lightning, and the Dalmatian family looked down at Amber in complete sadness, seeing that there was nothing they could do to stop Amber from dying.
"She's dying, isn't she?" Patch asked Pongo as he sat next to Amber. "Please, Dad, tell me she isn't dying."
Pongo went over to Amber and laid an ear down on her front to hear her heart. After about ten seconds of silence, he got back up and stared at the rest of the group with a very terrible look on his face.
"Well?" said Patch desperately, waiting for an answer from Pongo.
Pongo took a deep sigh, wondering how Patch would take the news of whether or not Amber would die.
"Her heart is still beating," said Pongo in a low voice, "but very slowly. There's not even a sign of her breathing. I'm afraid she is gonna die."
Everyone became very shocked at this news, though Patch and Thunderbolt were far more shocked than the rest of the group. The two heroes knew how much they really love Amber ever since they first met her; ever since Amber revealed that she had been homeless without a family her whole life, Patch and Thunderbolt grew even more fond of her everytime they met her. Patch then dropped himself down on one of Amber's front paws and started to cry harder than he ever had, and Lucky and Rolly rushed over to comfort him.
"We're sorry, Patch," said Lucky gloomily as he and Rolly gently stroked Patch's back.
Everyone else hung their heads miserably. Feeling very guilty for trying to have Amber and everyone else in London killed, Lightning started to cry with Patch.
"Oh, I feel so ashamed of myself!" Lightning cried. "I nearly had everyone here killed, especially Amber. I scammed her into trying to kill Thunderbolt by promising her that I would help her find a home and a family. All this, and for what? To get all of Thunderbolt's fans to like me? I don't think that's ever gonna happen. Not after all the horrible things I've done. I didn't have anyone like me when I was the sidekick on Thunderbolt's show, and I'm not gonna have anyone like me, now."
Thunderbolt now felt more guilty than Lightning. In fact, he felt more guilty than he ever had. Ever since he became an actor, he never took any time to think about others; later on, though, he began to care more about his friends than he cared about his acting career on the day he first met Patch. In this case, he was feeling very ashamed of himself for caring about his father's old scarf more than Amber, the dog who became the love of his life for some time after the day they first met each other.
"This is all my fault, you guys," said Thunderbolt glumly after taking a deep sigh of regret.
"Thunder, no," said Lightning, shocked at what Thunderbolt just said. "How could you say that?"
Thunderbolt sat next to Amber and looked down at her motionless body.
"I've been expressing how much I cared about my father's scarf when I should've used it to save Amber right away when I got it back," said Thunderbolt, and he began to shed tears. "If it weren't for me being that way, Amber wouldn't be this close to dying."
Thunderbolt hung his head over Amber's body in shame. He never told Amber how much she really meant to him, but now was the time that he confesses his love to her.
"Amber," said Thunderbolt softly, his face peering closer to Amber's as he tried his best not to cry, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get so upset on that last date we had together. You were just trying to warn me that Lightning had set you up into trying to kill me. I was such an idiot for believing everything he said. I thought Lightning would still be my friend. I never knew that everything he told me would be a lie. But I just talked some sense into him, and he has changed; he'll never do anything wrong again."
Now, Thunderbolt could no longer control himself from crying; he had to let it all out to show how bad he felt for not showing any concern for his friends after getting a big ego from his acting career, and that was just what he did.
"I have let everyone down!" said Thunderbolt, now crying harder than he ever had. "Lightning, Patch, my father, and Amber! I'm sorry for all I've done. I mistreated Lightning, I lied to Patch just to keep myself from being written off the show, I had my father's scarf ended up in the fire when I tried to save Amber, I believed in that story of Amber trying to kill me. And I cared more about my father's scarf than Amber when her life was in danger. Some friend I have been! Maybe I didn't deserve to have a friend. Maybe I didn't deserve to have another dog fall in love with me. I've always been thinking too much about myself. I deserve to be lonely, no matter how much I need someone by my side."
Thunderbolt stopped to dry off his tears and think over everything he just said to Amber. He took a deep sigh before he continued.
"Amber, there's something more important I wanted to tell you," Thunderbolt went on, trying his best not to let any more tears come out of his eyes. "You really mean a lot to me, as do Lightning and Patch. If you want, you can come and live with me. You'll live a better life with me; you'll finally have a proper home to live in, and you'll have a family who will take really good care of you, and you'll never have to live in that junkyard again. I'm sure my pet will be happy to have you. He'll take good care of you. I'll take good care of you. I'll always be there for you whenever you need me. I'll always keep you safe. I'll never let anyone harm you. That's a promise I'll keep forever. Just don't die. Please."
Lightning and the Dalmatian family were very saddened after hearing everything Thunderbolt had to say to Amber, and were wondering if this could really be love that he was trying to express to her. To Patch, though, it sounded as if it really was love that Thunderbolt was trying to express to Amber. Thunderbolt sobbed for a few seconds. He then lowered himself to whisper something in Amber's ear, which was something he really wanted to tell her before.
"I love you," whispered Thunderbolt, and he really meant it with all his heart when he said those words to Amber.
After whispering those final words to Amber, Thunderbolt shedded one more tear, which fell onto one of Amber's cheeks. As Thunderbolt dropped himself down to cry with Patch, Amber slowly opened her eyes when she felt one of Thunderbolt's tears fall onto her cheek.
Lightning and Patch's family looked very happy to see Amber still alive when they saw her getting up, but they did not let Patch and Thunderbolt know. As Amber got up to see Patch and Thunderbolt crying beside her, she wiped the teardrop off her cheek using her free front paw and looked at it closely with warmth in her heart; this showed that Amber had been listening to everything Thunderbolt said to her, and feeling his love for her when she was unconscious.
"Patch?" said Amber gently as she looked up to see Patch and Thunderbolt still crying. "Thunderbolt? Please, don't cry over me."
Patch and Thunderbolt stopped crying when they heard Amber's voice and dried off their tears.
"Did I just hear Amber say something?" said Patch, shaking.
Patch and Thunderbolt looked up to see Amber standing on all fours and smiling at them.
"You boys really miss me so much, do you?" Amber asked the two heroes.
Patch and Thunderbolt gasped in surprise when they saw Amber still alive.
"Amber!" Patch and Thunderbolt exclaimed together, relieved that Amber had survived the destruction of the old hotel.
Patch and Thunderbolt ran toward Amber and rapidly jumped all around her, bursting into speech at the same time.
"Oh, Amber, we were so worried about you!" Patch cried.
"Yes, we thought you'd be dead!" Thunderbolt cried.
"Yes, but thank goodness you're all right!"
"We were all very scared for you! We didn't wanna lose you!"
"We love you so much, Amber, we really do!"
Amber shows an expression of concern as Patch and Thunderbolt continued jumping around and blurting out how worried they were about her. She knew how much they care about her, but this commotion from the two heroes was not needed, for she was now safe with those all around her who cared a lot for her.
"Whoa, there, fellas!" said Amber, holding up one of her front paws to calm Patch and Thunderbolt down. "Take it easy. Calm down. It's okay. I love you guys, too."
"Oh, we're very sorry, Amber," said Patch calmly.
"Oh, don't be," said Amber. "Sweetie, I know how much you and Thunderbolt really care about me. But don't worry. I'm all right, now."
She turned to face Thunderbolt.
"Thunderbolt, I heard everything you just said to me," she said.
"I was hoping you would," said Thunderbolt. "And I was hoping you would understand everything I said."
"I did. And I understand that Lightning just wanted to be liked by others, and that you've told him that trying to kill or scam others is not the way."
Amber turned around to confront Lightning, who now felt far more scared and guilty than ever for all the troubles he caused.
"Is that right, Lightning?" Amber asked Lightning, causing him to shake in fear. "You did all those things to get Thunderbolt's fans to like you?"
"Yes, I did," said Lightning, nodding his head as he began to cry again.
"And you do know that doing things like that won't get anyone to like you, don't you?"
"Uh-huh. After discussing it with Thunderbolt and saving London by helping put out all the fire I started, I learned that I will only be liked by someone else if I do something good for them."
"Good. I'll forgive you, but you must promise me that you'll never try to kill or scam anyone again the next time things don't go the way you want them to. Instead, you should just have a nice talk with Thunderbolt. I'm sure he'll do his best to help you out."
"Okay. I promise."
Lightning stopped crying. He dried off his tears and turned around to face Thunderbolt.
"Thunderbolt, I'm really sorry," said Lightning. "Will you ever forgive me?"
"Of course, I'll forgive you," said Thunderbolt. "You are my friend. And it was my fault you've caused all this trouble in the first place."
"Don't worry about it, Thunderbolt. Everything's okay, now. I forgive you, too."
Lightning turned around to face Patch. He was hoping that he would seriously receive forgiveness from Patch for his wrongdoings, this time, unlike on the day of the one visit he paid him and Thunderbolt at work when he tried to gain their trust in order to make his plans to get rid of him work.
"What about you, Patch?" said Lightning. "Will you and your family forgive me?"
Patch and his family looked at each other for a while, thinking about whether or not to forgive Lightning. They all knew what happened after he was forgiven the first time; but now, they knew that he was very serious about it, this time. The entire Dalmatian family then faced Lightning after they came to a decision.
"Yes, Lightning," said Patch. "We'll forgive you."
"Good!" said Lightning, now starting to feel better about himself. "I promise I'll never do anything bad to get what I want again. I'll do a lot of good deeds for others to earn respect from them. You have my word!"
"Okay. I'm glad that we got all that worked out."
"I think we all are glad about that," Thunderbolt said to Patch, and he turned around to face Amber. "Amber, did you also hear me whisper to you that I love you?"
"Yes, I did," said Amber. "Did you really mean it when you said that?"
"Amber, I meant it with all my heart."
Amber felt a glow in her heart after hearing that Thunderbolt really loved her. She went closer to Thunderbolt and leaned herself against him.
"Aw, that's so sweet," said Amber, smiling warmly. "And don't worry, Thunderbolt, I also forgive you. You didn't really know that Lightning would pull those scams on you from the start. He had been really sneaky, but you and Patch found out what he was up to just in time, and you have talked some sense into him to turn him around and get him to help you guys save the day. You're a good dog, Thunderbolt. You deserve to have some friends, despite your mistakes. And just like you're a hero to Patch, you're a hero to me."
"Do you really mean that?" said Thunderbolt, shedding a few tears of joy.
"Of course, I do. In fact, you're a hero to everyone. You're just like Patch. You're a real one-of-a-kind wonderdog."
It was now Thunderbolt's turn to feel a glow in his heart after hearing Amber's words.
"Thank you, Amber," said Thunderbolt softly.
Amber remembered what she wanted to do on her last date with Thunderbolt but never got to do it that time. She wanted to kiss Thunderbolt. When she tried to give Thunderbolt a kiss on that date they had together, she had to stop herself from giving him that kiss, because she was forced by Lightning to kill Thunderbolt by pushing him off a building after kissing him. Amber refused to kill Thunderbolt, and she gave up trying to earn herself a home and a family to save his life. Now that Amber was no longer part of a scam, and Lightning had turned good, this was a good time for the kiss to happen. So, as on her date with Thunderbolt when they were watching a sunset from the roof of a building, Amber went closer to kiss Thunderbolt. When Thunderbolt noticed what Amber wanted to do, he also went closer to kiss her. The two dogs finally kissed.
"Our first kiss," said Amber.
"That was wonderful, Amber," said Thunderbolt. "I'm glad that we've finally kissed."
"Me, too. And I wanna let you know that I'd love to come and live with you. I've been waiting a long time for you to ask me to live with you so I can say 'yes'. Now, I'm about to receive my wish, and my wish is to be with you for the rest of my life."
Those words caused Thunderbolt to blush pink.
"Gee, Amber," said Thunderbolt sheepishly as Amber rubbed her head against him. "I never had anyone make me feel this way before."
Amber giggled and blushed red. Lightning and the entire Dalmatian family were very happy for Thunderbolt and Amber when they saw them lean against each other to show their love in front of everyone in London.
Moments later, Amber was taken to the producer and got adopted by him. As Amber settled down and enjoyed her new home and family life with Thunderbolt as her husband, the producer took Lightning back under his care and promised him more roles on the show. Thunderbolt, Lightning, and Amber started to get along with each other very well as a loving family after Amber got adopted. On top of all that, the producer gave Amber a lavender collar with diamonds around it and a flower hair accessory that is identical to the flower that Patch picked for her. Now that Amber is happy that she got everything she wanted, Patch did not have to worry about her anymore.
The next day in London, Patch, Thunderbolt, and Lightning faced a pair of crooks who had stolen all the dogs in London, which was something the cat-loving dognapper once did. The three dogs worked together as a team to catch the crooks and rescue the other dogs. After their success on their good deed, they, along with Amber and Patch's family, met all the London dogs at the front of Westminster Palace and celebrated their rewarding for their heroics there. During the celebration, Patch, Thunderbolt, and Lightning had their collars replaced with hero medals.
"Let's hear it for the bravest heroes that London has ever had!" a Great Dane yelled excitedly, and the entire crowd cheered.
After the excitement, the crowd looked at Patch in shame for laughing at the way he did Thunderbolt's heroic bark in the first place.
"Um, kid," said a Labrador retriever glumly as he stepped closer to talk to Patch. "Look, we all wanted to say we're sorry for the way we treated you the first time you rescued us."
"It's okay, you guys," said Patch calmly.
"No, kid," said a poodle. "We're really sorry. We shouldn't have made fun of you for the way you did Thunderbolt's bark. You've been saving a lot of lives and fighting bad guys, and you've been doing good at it everytime in both television and real life, and that's all that really matters. For a kid, you're a fantastic hero. You're as good as Thunderbolt, and you don't need a good bark like his to prove that."
"Yes, that's something we should've realized before when Thunderbolt got you to do that bark after you've rescued us from that dognapper who has a love for cats," said a Doberman. "And yesterday and today, you've rescued us again."
"True," said Patch. "And you guys wouldn't need any saving yesterday if Lightning had anyone like him when he was Thunderbolt's sidekick on the show."
After hearing what Patch just said, the whole crowd faced Lightning.
"Patch is right, everybody," Lightning said to the crowd. "I never had any fame and fans like Thunderbolt has. Not being liked by anyone while I was on the show really did hurt me very deep down. After I lost my job, I made plans to get him out of the show so I can take his place on it and get as much fans as he has. None of them worked. I thought scamming him and his friends and killing everyone would fix things for me, but I was wrong. And after I helped put out all the fires I started yesterday and rescued all of you from those two crooks today, I was hoping you all would forgive me and like me."
The entire crowd were surprised at what Lightning just told them. They all hung their heads in shame as they thought over every episode of The Thunderbolt Adventure Hour they have seen; as they thought really hard about it, Lightning thought over the time when he got rejected by three female dogs while the auditions for a new episode of the show were being held in London. After a few more seconds of thinking time, the crowd looked back up to face Lightning again and began to have their say about him.
"Lightning," said a pug, "we're all sorry that you weren't liked as much as Thunderbolt when you were his sidekick on the show."
"Yeah," a terrier agreed. "Maybe it's because the writers of the show didn't put you in enough episodes and give you much to do there to be liked by others."
Those words put Lightning into a shock. He did not even bother to ask why the terrier knew why he did not get any fans when he was Thunderbolt's sidekick on the show, for it was really obvious for everyone to tell that he was not given enough roles on the show to have as much fans as Thunderbolt has at that time.
"Yes, it is," Lightning admitted. "But yesterday, the producer decided to take me back and promised me more roles on the show. So, Thunderbolt, Patch, and I will be a trio of heroes starting in the next season of the show, and I hope I get enough fans by then."
"We're very sure you will," said a sheepdog. "That kid became very successful for his hard work as Thunderbolt's sidekick on the show and as a hero in real life, and we know you'll do just as good on your second chance at fame."
He and the rest of the crowd turned back to face Patch.
"By the way, kid," the sheepdog said, "we all wanted to know how you did on doing that bark. Thunderbolt had been helping you work on it ever since you became his sidekick on the show, right? Has your voice for that bark improved?"
"Well," Patch began, remembering when he received encouragement from Thunderbolt's singing to get his voice to sound good enough to do that heroic bark, "I did sort of feel a change in my voice when I was trying to improve my voice for that bark one day. It did get kinda deeper, but I still have a bad feeling that you will all laugh at me some more if I do that bark again. Even after my voice had changed a bit, you still continued to laugh at me when I did that bark again. I hope you all have learned not to judge me by the way I bark after I attacked you."
"We did, and we're sorry. We'll never laugh at you for the way you do Thunderbolt's bark again."
The rest of the crowd agreed with the sheepdog and apologized to Patch.
"So," said Lucky, stepping in, "your voice did improve after all that hard work on it, did it? That can mean only one thing; it's about time you're able to do Thunderbolt's bark with no problem."
"Lucky's right, Patch," said Rolly. "You've been working so hard on it for quite some time; we all think your voice should be good enough to do that bark by now."
"Go ahead, Patch," said Thunderbolt. "Let's all hear how that bark turns out."
One more time, Patch closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and did Thunderbolt's heroic bark as best as he could. When everyone heard Patch do that bark, they noticed a big change in Patch's voice; his voice when he did that bark sounded much deeper than he expected. After the bark, everyone cheered loudly for his success on having his voice improved for it. Patch then felt very surprised about how his voice for that bark turned out after that.
"Patch, you did it!" said Amber enthusiastically as she and Patch's family went over to hug him. "You've improved your voice! We're all very proud of you!"
"Congratulations, Patch!" Pongo yelled excitedly. "You've achieved your goal. I told you your voice will come out the way you want it if you give it some time."
"You were right," said Patch, now starting to become emotional. "I wouldn't have gotten this far without any support from you, my family."
"Well, Patch," said Lucky, "we may have shown you support, but most of the credit should go to Thunderbolt. He's the one who taught you everything you needed to know to be as good as him."
After hearing what Lucky just said, Thunderbolt chuckled as he and Lightning went over to congratulate Patch for succeeding on improving his voice for the heroic bark.
"He's right, Patch," said Thunderbolt. "I have taught you everything you need to know to be the kind of dog you always wanted to be. And because of that, you have proven the whole world that you really can do anything."
"Yes, Thunder, I have," said Patch, gaining back his pride. "But as long as you're with me, I know I can do a whole lot more. And I know that you, too, can do the same as long as I'm with you."
"See?" said Lightning with approval. "That's what we needed when you and I were friends before, Thunderbolt. Teamwork."
"Yeah," Thunderbolt agreed. "Things didn't go well between you and me back then, Lightning, but now, everything's okay. You, me, and Patch are all now best friends, and I guarantee you that it will always be that way."
"It sure will," said Patch. "As long as we all stick together as a team, we can accomplish anything that will come our way."
"Exactly. Now, tell the whole world exactly why we can do anything together, little buddy!"
Patch faced the crowd, now feeling more confident in himself than he ever felt; Thunderbolt and Lightning followed suit.
"Because we're real one-of-a-kind wonderdogs!" said Patch proudly, and he, Thunderbolt, and Lightning did the heroic bark together with full confidence.
***
End of chapter thirteen.
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Post by Two-Tone on Mar 21, 2009 15:01:47 GMT -5
wow, awesome stuff Flo
can't believe Lightning came up with a scheme worthy of Tic-Tac
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Post by Flowgli on Mar 22, 2009 20:55:37 GMT -5
Epilogue: The Start Of A New Beginning
***
Patch and his family and friends were now in the park, having a lively conversation with each other. Patch, Thunderbolt, and Lightning were now back in their collars.
"Well," said Thunderbolt, "I'm glad that everything went all right for everyone today. Amber and I are married, Lightning is getting another chance at fame, and Patch managed to get that heroic bark done just right. I'm so proud of everyone."
"Perdita and I are very proud, too," said Pongo. "Thunderbolt, I know that you, Amber, and Lightning will have a wonderful time with each other as a family."
"We sure will. Amber is gonna love living with me, now that she finally has a home and family. We'll be taking all our walks together, sharing our food with each other, and watching the sunset every night."
"Have you and Amber ever thought of having any children?"
"Well, no, we haven't. But if we have ever thought of it, we wouldn't be planning to have as much children as you do."
"Hmph. I hope so, for your sake."
Everyone erupted with laughter. Perdita remembered very well that Pongo frequently had to count his pups to make sure he has every single one of them with him, and most of the time would end up losing count of them.
"But seriously," said Thunderbolt as he and everyone else began to calm down, "we really wouldn't plan to have as much as ninety-nine pups. We'll have about one or two pups, but that would be enough. In the meantime, we'll look after Lightning; there are a lot of things we need to go through to help him be more liked on our show."
"Thanks, Thunderbolt," said Lightning, hugging Thunderbolt. "You're a good friend. I knew that someday, I'll get a whole lot of fans on my second chance at fame."
"Of course, you will. Just don't let all that fame go to your head."
Thunderbolt and Lightning chuckled together.
"Say, speaking of fame," Lightning said to Patch, "you, Patch, had done a whole lot more than any other pup had done. You got all the fame and all the respect for playing major roles as Thunderbolt's new sidekick on the show, saving lives in real life, and finally getting your voice right to do Thunderbolt's bark. What more do you want, kid?"
Patch's family and friends then saw a cute Dalmatian girl pup wearing a blue ribbon tied into a bow on each of her solid black ears. Patch turned around to see what his family and friends were looking at and saw the girl pup himself, too. When the girl pup caught sight of Patch looking at her, she smiled and winked at him.
"I think he has found what else he wanted already," said Amber as she and everyone else saw Patch seeing love in his eyes and panting at the sight of the girl pup smiling and winking at him.
"Looks like it's love at first sight for Patch," said Thunderbolt.
"You like her?" Lucky asked Patch.
"Oh, you bet!" said Patch loudly, feeling his heart racing. "She's the prettiest pup I've ever seen!"
The girl pup blushed pink and giggled.
"You wanna go ahead and meet her?" asked Lucky.
"Definitely!" said Patch. "I'm gonna go and meet her, right now! Call me when it's time to leave. I'll see you guys later. Bye!"
Patch rushed over to meet the girl pup, leaving his family and friends with stunned looks on their faces in his wake. After a few seconds, Patch's family and friends once again erupted with laughter; of course, Pongo was the only one who did not bother to laugh with the rest of the group, for he was left confused about how Patch decided to meet a girl just like that.
"I just don't understand," said Pongo, shaking his head in disbelief. "Patch got himself an awful lot of fame and fans for being a hero on Thunderbolt's show and in real life. He just reached his goal of getting his voice right to do Thunderbolt's bark right not ten minutes ago. Now, he's starting to think about girls? I think he and I need to have a serious talk about this, father to son, when we get back home today."
After letting out a scoff, Pongo calmed down, and he settled with the rest of the group to watch Patch and the girl pup play together. This wonderful moment ends the story.
***
The end.
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Post by Belchic on Mar 23, 2009 0:07:58 GMT -5
That was a beautiful ending, Flo. I can't wait to see more from you.
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Post by Flowgli on Jul 10, 2009 13:22:24 GMT -5
I made a change on each chapter of this fanfic. I eliminated all the recaps at the beginning of each chapter, because they just turned out to be nothing but walls of text. But I kept the introduction in to let the readers know how the story starts. Now, you can enjoy the story much better.
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