"...Tricia was one of the tiniest hamsters in existence."
“Rhino?” Bolt said, as his best hamster friend, his lady hamster and their teenage daughter Tricia were in the back as well as Penny, who was unconscious at the time.
“Bolt! It’s you!” Rhino bounced up and down in his ball, which was chained to the side of the van. Fenchurch and Tricia, who shared a ball, were shackled the same. “He’ll save us – No!” Bolt and Mittens were shoved into the back of the van by a hooded figure suddenly, and with a cry of, “No, the kids!” they were bashed round the head, and all went black.
*
Onyx was getting worried. Where had Mittens gone? He padded out onto the yard to see Kira being bundled into the back of a lime green van.
“Kira!” Onyx yelled, knowing he’d get great gratitude for saving Bolt’s she-dog. “I’m coming!” He raced up to a hooded man who was handling Kira rather roughly, and couldn’t see his face. Onyx stopped for a moment, and that was all it took.
Onyx was grasped by the back of his mane-like scruff and tossed into the back of the van as well.
“Mum, I’ll go get help, I’m the smallest and he won’t notice me,” Tricia said to her mum, Fenchurch.
“Go find Xeno, and Redmond if he’s there,” Fenchurch said, kissing Tricia on the forehead and twisting the ball open. Tricia scurried across the metal floor and leaped out of the van just as the back doors slammed shut.
Tricia was definitely the smallest. At 6 inches high, and about a quarter of a kilogram in weight, Tricia was one of the tiniest hamsters in existence. But with this in mind, big things come in small packages. Tricia was feisty and tough, and quite a tomboy at heart. She knew how to kick ass in just the way minute hamsters did, and did it well. She was thin for a hamster, and had flyaway shoulder-length tan hair, which was odd for a hamster, but still.
“Xeno, Redmond! Um, the cat Redmond is with!” Tricia bounded through the grass up to them, and they all stared back. Xeno was just up to meeting Hermyone finally, and they were all in the garden together when Tricia tried to tell the news. Of course, Hermyone didn’t know hamsters were friends in this little group, and went to pounce.
“Hermyone, no!” Redmond said hurriedly, but he needn’t worry. Hermyone pounced, got halfway through and collapsed back to the ground, panting.
“This is Tricia,” Xeno said in introduction.
“Nice…to meet…you,” Hermyone said in between breaths.
“And you,” Tricia said cheerily, then went back into panic mode. “All of you, our parents have been kidnapped!”
“What?!” Xeno gasped. “Who by?”
“Some hooded guy, couldn’t see his or her face,” Tricia said stoutly. “C’mon, we’ve got to go get them!”
They all ran back round the front of the house… It was gone. The van had driven away. Their parents had disappeared.
“They’re gone!” Tricia gasped with terror. “The lime green van took off with them!”
“Hold on a minute.” Hermyone’s keen eyes locked onto something on the ground. “What’s that?”
“What is it?” Xeno asked curiously.
“That’s what I just asked. I’ll go look.”
A small leaflet was on the ground, right where the van once was. It was an advertisement the Bolt TV series.
“I thought that got cancelled?” Redmond said. “You know, coz the new Penny quit after the new Bolt died of old age?”
“I get it now!” Xeno exclaimed suddenly. “There’s a new Bolt set being made in New York, isn’t there? If Bolt and Penny won’t act on the show, they’ll be forced to! And they’ve taken anyone who they think will try to rescue them – or so they think they have…”
“New York is a long distance from California,” Tricia said worriedly.
“If Dad could do it,” Xeno said, looking down the road and to the horizon, “then we can.”
They all nodded in agreement, except Hermyone, who wasn’t related to any of them at all at the current time.
“So, if you’re all leaving for New York… Geez, wish I could help you,” Hermyone said, looking away from them with a frown.
“You can!” Redmond said suddenly, taking the hint. “More people is more help, and we need all the help we can get! We’re not just fighting humans… but the Media…” he whispered, and they all shuddered.
“Thanks Redmond,” Hermyone said, lightened by the fact she wasn’t going to be alone anymore.
**********
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