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Chapter 7: Playing With Mittens

Two arms poked out of the pile of blankets and reached for the sky and a groan came from beneath. Penny worked her tongue in her mouth a few times until it didn't feel like a desert. She turned her head to her right and pushed down the blankets a bit. 7:13, I've got a ton of time before I have to start doing stuff.

The drowsy girl took stock of herself. There was a warm and slightly wet spot on her thigh. She knew what that meant; Bolt had gotten up on her bed and slept with his head on her leg. The girl thought back to the rollercoaster ride that was yesterday, her dog was definitely the focus. Mittens seemed really worried about him all day; I wish I knew where she came from and how she met my dog.

Bolt's miraculous recovery in the afternoon was definitely something she would remember for a long time. He just must have really missed playing; I know how much he loves fetch. Yeah, that's it.

Later that day, Bolt had really wanted to eat, which was lucky because the phone rang just as they went inside. Mr. Longbottom from Trinity private school was calling to reschedule Penny's orientation and interview. After getting the meeting set up for this morning she hung up just before the phone rang again.

It was Dr. Black with the results from Bolt's blood test. He apologized for not getting back to them sooner and said that the first round of tests had given inconclusive results, and some of the results didn't even make any sense, something about very high metal content in his blood. He seemed honestly baffled and said that even after repeating the test multiple times they were still getting strange results. He had insisted that they bring in Bolt, so they can get some proper tests done and figure out what went wrong. Penny told them about what had just happened with Bolt and she didn't think that he needed anymore tests. He was astonished but insisted that they come in, so Penny set up an appointment for right after her orientation.

Penny glanced at the clock again to see that it was now 7:18. She stretched her hand down to wake the sleeping, slobbering mess on her leg. He awoke easily and seemed to appreciate her attention. He got up and meandered toward her face so that he could lick her nose. After a few licks, she decided he'd had enough, but Bolt wasn't done with her. A struggle ensued, and the playful dog ended up lying on his person only able to lick her chin, and she happily stroked his fur.

The noise had woken Mittens and she jumped up on the bed to get some attention. Penny pet her too so she wouldn't get upset with her. I'd better get these two fed before they hassle me.

She pushed Bolt off and dug herself out of the warm blankets followed by Bolt and Mittens. Once she reached the floorboards in the hall she did a quick about face and went back for her slippers. Sufficiently protected she continued downstairs on her quest. I have to get the computer controlled dog feeders set up so that I can avoid these early morning trips. Once winter sets in it'll be really cold out here.

Once her two leeches were fed and watered she headed back upstairs to jump in the shower and get ready for the day.

"Bolty, you can't chase after me today alright? I'm going to leave but you have to stay here, okay? I know you don't like being alone, but you have Mittens and Rhino for company."

Bolt managed to understand that his person was going somewhere, and that he shouldn't follow her. He wasn't happy about it and he kept pushing his head into her arms and whining, trying to get her to stay.

"Oh Bolt, I have to go." Penny hugged his furry body and kissed his head. "You're my good boy."

She let him go and closed the door on his puppy dog face. Bolt sighed.

"Don't worry, Bolt, you've got us to entertain you." As Mittens was talking he went over to the window to watch the van pull out of the driveway. "Bolt you know she had to leave, I told you about school, right?"

"Yeah, I know about school. I just don't want her to get hurt."

"She's a big girl, and she can take care of herself. It's not like she has villains chasing after her. I think we need to talk about yesterday; about what happened. Where did you get all that energy?" Bolt turned away from the empty driveway and sat down to talk to his friends.

"Again, I have no idea. I just woke up full of… I don't know what to call it, power?"

At this Rhino spoke up from his ball, "Bolt is getting his powers back! Soon he'll be able to super bark those pesky birds in the morning!"

"Oh yeah, you think that's cool, I'll melt this door down with my eyes, watch!" Bolt posed, eyes wide and willed the door to open, pushed on it with his mind. He heard and felt an odd buzzing, and then the door swung open of its own accord.

The pets got excited, thinking Penny had returned, but when no one came through, and they went outside to look, they realized that no one opened the door. They looked at each other, eyes wide.

"Bolt… did you just open that door?" Mittens stared at him, looking confused.

"I… I don't know, how could I? I didn't touch anything; did you touch any weird buttons like the one upstairs?" Both of his friends signaled no.

"It must have just opened itself. That is really weird. Now that we are outside, I feel like playing. C'mon Mittens, find a stick!"

After the fifth time Bolt finally got hang of it and stopped breaking the sticks every time he tried to pick them up.

"What the hell is going on Bolt? You never had trouble picking up a stick before."

"I guess I don't know my own strength. I feel really strong today, like I could jump over that thing," Bolt gestured with his nose towards the squat metal shed in the backyard.

Mittens seemed concerned, and considering what just happened with the front door she was right to be. "Bolt, are you serious?"

"Let's find out!"

Bolt lined up for his dash with an apprehensive Mittens watching from the side and an excited Rhino watching from the deck, "Oh yeah, Bolt! DO IT!"

He took off with a tear of grass and what sounded like a battle cry. As the screaming white flash approached the shed, it bounded into the air. He jumped a little too late and his battle cry turned into a scream of surprise as he hit the peak of the shed. He flipped end over end and continued down the other side until he landed on the ground in a pile of battered white fur.

"Bolt! Are you alright!?" Mittens ran over to him and sniffed him, smelling blood. Bolt just groaned.

"Don't move! Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere. It hurts everywhere. Oh god, why was I so stupid…"

Rhino came around from the other side of the shed, eyes wide. "Bolt that was amazing! Sure, your technique needs some work, and your dismount wasn't so hot, but we'll work on that and in no time you'll be leaping over large buildings!"

"Yeah I'm sure he'll be leaping over the house tomorrow, just after we knit his broken bones back together."

"I'm just going to lie here for a minute. Ow, my nose stings."

"Here, let me look at it." Mittens got around him to take a look. On the right side of his muzzle was a short gash, there was some blood leaking out of it. "Ouch, that will leave a mark. I'll wash the blood off of it later."

"I'm bleeding? Great, just what I need, Penny worrying about me."

"Bolt, Penny is the least of your worries now, you just about killed yourself!"

"Don't exaggerate; I'm fine. Actually, I'm starting to feel a bit better." With a grunt Bolt flipped over onto his feet and pushed up into a sitting position. Rhino cringed at his bloody face. "What, I'm not looking so hot?"

"Let's just say you look worse than the day you destroyed Dr. Calico's undersea laboratories." Bolt thought back to that day, the muck and seaweed had taken hours at the spa. But in retrospect that place was probably just the makeup room of the studio.

Bolt favored his left front leg slightly. "Let's just take a break for a bit, alright? I'm not as indestructible as I used to be." The injured dog stretched out his front paws and laid down again.

"So uh," Mittens seemed unsure of herself, "you almost made it over."

Bolt glanced curiously at the building. "I think I would have if I had jumped earlier."

"How is it even possible? Dogs can't jump like that! No animal can!"

"Bolt is a super dog, he must be getting his powers back!" Bolt just stared at this.

"Rhino, I never had superpowers, TV is just make believe, remember?"

"How else can you explain it?"

Mittens seemed skeptical, "I don't know! It must have something to do with that strange sickness you had and with what happened at that school."

"But nothing happened at school; I cut my paw, that's it." Bolt lifted his injured right paw. "Here, take a look."

Mittens lifted it so she could look at the base. "Uh, Bolt? There is no cut here. Are you sure this is the right paw?"

"Of course it's the right paw! I think I know my paws."

"Here, let me take a look." Rhino rolled his ball under Bolt's paw so he could look at it closely. "I don't see anything Bolt, the cat is right."

"Well check this one." Bolt lifted up his other paw.

"Nope, nothing there either."

"It hurt a lot when it happened; it felt like that time I jumped out of the truck with you, Mittens."

"Ah, the memories," she put a fake fond look on her face. "Cuts don't just heal overnight, and it did look bad when you showed it to me yesterday."

"I guess. Let's go wash my face off in the stream; I don't want Penny getting any more worried than she already is." Bolt slowly stood up and started walking away. He glanced back when he realized they weren't following him. "You comin?"

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The long awaited chapter 7 is finally posted. The writing has been going slowly recently, but I've been thinking about the story, and I'm hoping that my new beta reader will help me get chapters out faster.

If you have something to say you can email me questions, comments, criticisms, attaboys and death threats, or leave them in reviews. The link to my email is in my profile. Reviewing also gets you in the list at the start of the next chapter.

And now for the questions: Will Bolt manage to get his face cleaned off before Penny gets back? Will Penny discover their excursion? Will Bolt go crazy? What's going to happen at the vet's? And what's up with these crazy powers?!?!?