Hey everyone. As promised, here's Part 2! Hope you enjoy. Please do leave feedback! I might just continue this story further if enough people like it.
A Secret Weapon – Part 2
By AMTW03
***
Three weeks earlier
Penny groaned as she slowly picked herself up, still feeling shell-shocked from the blast. She got to her knees and opened the visor of the protective armor that she had on. She coughed and waved her hand in front of her face, as the dust and dirt in the air was still clearing. A bit of a distance away she saw Bolt. She heard him sniff, and saw him rub his nose with a paw and shake his head, still recovering.
He blinked a few times, and finally looked her way, and came running. PENNY! I’m so sorry. Are you okay?
Penny just moaned a bit, and feebly sat down on the ground. When Bolt reached her, he started licking her face crazily and whining. “It’s alright Bolt, I’m fine,” she said, weakly. She looked around at the walls of the canyon that they sat at the edge of; the site of their special training. They were barely recognizable anymore after being blasted so many times.
Bolt turned to look at them as well. He folded his ears down and started to whine again. I’m so sorry, Penny…I really am trying. I just can’t seem to hold them in.
Penny sighed and stood back up. “Listen Bolt, I know I’m asking a lot of you, but we’ve got to keep trying.” She heard him groan as she said this. “I know. I’m sorry to keep putting you through this, but Calico’s seen what your sneezes can do, now. I have a bad feeling that he might try to use them against us. If he tries to make you sneeze at an inconvenient time, it could be catastrophic if you can’t control it. You’ve got to train yourself to stop it on command.”
Bolt just exhaled, and pawed at his nose again. It was becoming sensitive and sore. He was tired of being tortured all afternoon. At first, he had no complaints. This was the most that he had been able to sneeze in a very long time. It felt good to just let them loose without consequence. But, the fact that he had to keep trying so hard not to sneeze was just agonizing.
Penny reached into her pack again, and squeezed the pillow that it contained. She managed to pull another feather free from it, and held it in her hand.
Bolt sighed again, looking at her. Okay, Penny…but I really don’t know if this time will be any different. No matter how hard I try not to, I keep sneezing.
“Tell you what buddy,” Penny said. “Let’s try a different approach. I can tell that whenever I tickle your nose, you’re trying desperately hard not to let it affect you. Instead of doing that, I think you need to just relax and not try.”
Bolt tilted his head, looking at her perplexed.
“Bolt, remember when we first started training to battle Calico? Any time we worked to learn a new skill in anything from combat to stealth, we ended up trying too hard and we’d always mess up. But once we just relaxed and let it come to us naturally, we got it down.”
Bolt perked his ears up and blinked, realizing Penny had a point.
“Just try that same approach with this, buddy. When you feel a sneeze coming, don’t panic. Just relax, and turn it off.”
Bolt smiled and nodded a few times. You know what? That’s actually a pretty good idea, Penny. It might work. Let me try it. He walked back over to the edge of the canyon and faced it. He planted his feet to brace himself and looked back at Penny, indicating he was ready.
“Alright, good boy!” Penny said, as she walked up beside him. She flipped the visor back closed, and knelt at Bolt’s side. She reached out and held the feather in front of his face.
Bolt nodded. Go ahead Penny. I’m ready…
“Okay boy,” she said, “here we go.” She started swishing the feather back and forth over Bolt’s nose, tickling it briskly.
Bolt squinted a bit, and his muzzle started to scrunch as the involuntary response began to kick in. I’m not going to sneeze, he thought to himself stubbornly, and made an effort to keep his eyes from closing.
“That’s it buddy,” Penny said, “Keep it up.” She started swishing the feather faster, and moved it around, tickling all along Bolt’s snout and back to the front of his nose.
Bolt started to sniffle a little as he felt the irritation escalate with Penny’s motions. N…not g…going to sn…sneeze…not…. But as the tickle worsened, he found that his breath was quickening uncontrollably. The urge to sneeze was becoming more and more intense. One of his eyes started to squint, and he whined a bit. N…not….oh no…
“Hihh…iiihhh….ahhhhhh…”
It was no use. Bolt started to build up. The ground began to vibrate, and the wind picked up a little. His eyes closed tight, and his head started to tilt up. But, Penny didn’t stop her incessant tickling. “Just focus buddy, come on! You can do it…stifle.”
P…Penny, it’s too…s-strong…I….
“aaaahhhhh…..AAhhhhhhhh…..AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH…..”
Boulders were starting to fall in the canyon, and the ground was shaking violently at this point. Penny kept on tickling, despite how nervous she was getting. “Bolt remember, let it happen naturally!”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH….”
She saw that Bolt’s snout was scrunched up hard, his mouth was hanging open and tears were seeping out of his eyes. She knew he couldn’t control it. “Aw, GEEZ!” She let go of the feather, and ran behind Bolt, ducking for cover.
The air that Bolt was taking in immediately sucked the feather up against the front of his nose. His nostrils twitched against it, as it brought an even more intense irritation.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…..”
Right when he was about to blow, Bolt reminded himself again of what he needed to do. He immediately stopped trying so hard to resist. Ok, he thought to himself, calming down a bit, just relax…and don’t sneeze…
As if the airbrakes had been suddenly put on, Bolt felt his breath dying down, and his body become less tense.
“AAahhhhh….haahh…heh….”
He breathed hard, but before long managed to get his eyes back open. He blinked a few times as he began to realize…the tickle in his nose still strongly persisting, but somehow, the urge to sneeze was gone!
Penny was still hunkered down behind Bolt, waiting for yet another blast to strike. But when she became aware that it wasn’t happening, she lifted her head and looked in Bolt’s direction.
Bolt looked to Penny, still panting a little, the feather still stuck to his nose. The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds. But then Bolt looked down his nose at the feather. He snorted and it flew off. He stomped it to the ground with his paw, and smiled triumphantly. He had done it. He had managed to turn off his sneeze reflex!
“You did it!” Penny yelled. Bolt barked happily and they ran up to each other. Penny hugged him tight and scratched his head. “Good boy! Good stifle. I knew you’d be able to do it.”
Bolt smiled as Penny praised him. Thanks, Penny. Whew, finally!
“Alright, that was a great start,” Penny said. “Let’s see if you can do it again…”
***
Present Day
Bolt’s nose was still scrunched up and twitching; the thick black powder was everywhere. As his breath quickened, Penny could already feel the building under them begin to tremble.
“Bolt,” Penny said weakly, “come on; remember our training…stifle!”
Bolt barely heard her, completely preoccupied by the horrible tickle in his nose. Can’t…mustn’t….
“Haahh….”
The whole building shuddered intensely with Bolt’s first inhale.
“Bolt,” Penny said, more firmly. “Remember, don’t try so hard. Just let it stop naturally. Turn it off.”
“Haahhhh……aaaahhhhh…”
The buildings all around seemed to sway ever so slightly with Bolt’s next breaths. A few screams could be heard from below. People were starting to sense that something was wrong.
Upon hearing Penny’s words, Bolt remembered their training sessions. With practice, he had indeed managed to repeatedly stop the fiercest of sneezes from overcoming him. Penny had worked to irritate his nose as much as possible, and in the cleverest of ways that she could come up with during training. But, this sneeze seemed to have a strength like nothing Bolt had ever experienced before. It felt like every nerve ending in his snout was aflame! He could only imagine the type of engineering that Calico had put into the sneezing powder. As impossible as it seemed, Bolt knew he had to stop this sneeze at all costs.
Okay, he thought, Don’t force it…just…turn it off…
Penny watched as Bolt appeared to relax a bit. He let his jaw hang open and started taking quick but deep breaths through his mouth. After a few moments, his nostrils slowly flared once…twice…a few more times, but then the flares gradually became less and less frequent. An eternity seemed to pass while Bolt stayed in that trance-like pre-sneeze state, until finally he opened his eyes, still breathing hard. He blinked a few times and looked at Penny assuredly.
Penny took a huge sigh of relief. “Whew, there you go,” she said, smiling. “Good stifle. Gosh, you really looked like you were in agony there, buddy. That must have beeh….heh..WAHHH-SHOOO!!” She was still feeling the effects of the powder herself, even though it had mostly cleared. “That must have been some sneeze that you stopped.” She sniffled and wiped her own nose on her sleeve “Hoo! That powder is some strong stuff.”
Bolt just smiled as best he could through snorts, and half closed eyes. Ugh…thanks Penny. Just because he had stopped the sneeze didn’t mean that his nose wasn’t still tickling and burning like crazy. He could still feel the powder, ever-present in his sensitive muzzle. It was extremely unpleasant, even though it wasn’t causing a sneeze. Ugh…man…. Bolt kept snorting, and licking his own nose, before pawing at it.
Penny saw the torment that he was enduring, and instinctively tried to move towards him. She stumbled a bit as she did so, but she realized that the effects of the net were quickly diminishing. After some struggle, she managed to get to her feet, and knelt next to Bolt. “Here buddy, let me help.” She pulled out a soft rag and a canteen. She poured some water over the rag, and then started gently rubbing and massaging Bolt’s nose with the moist cloth. “Is that better?”
Bolt sighed happily as the tranquilizing cloth came into contact with his nose. He laid his ears back and closed his eyes. Oohhhh gosh, that feels so good. Thanks Penny.
Penny smiled, seeing the look on Bolt’s face. Judging by his murring, she could tell it was helping. “So,” she said, “I was thinking buddy, Calico’s most likely retreated to one of his secret bases just now. It’s probably worth going after him. I think you know why…”
Bolt looked at her a little surprised as he sniffed, and she continued to massage his nose. Yes I do, b-but how are we going to f-find that base, Penny? *snort* We don’t know which way he went.
Penny grinned, as she held up a small digital GPS device in her free hand. The device beeped as a green dot flashed repeatedly on the screen. “I know exactly where to find him. I’ve been tracking him since he took off.”
Bolt looked at her surprised. What!? But…how?
“I didn’t tell you,” she said. “When we first climbed up onto the roof, I had a feeling that Calico might try to escape. So, I planted a tracking device on the helicopter.”
Bolt wagged his tail in delight. You’re a genius, Penny!
Penny smiled back at him. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s move out!”
* * *
Several Hours Later
Somewhere in the Mojave Desert
Calico growled angrily under his breath, a fierce scowl showing on his face. He sat in a large chair at one end of a long table, and all along the sides of it sat several associates of his, ranging from agents, to troops, to scientists. They barely moved, as they sat nervously in their chairs, waiting for him to speak.
The evil doctor continued to stare intensely at the large screen on the wall, at the opposite end of the room. “Why is that city still standing?” he said lowly, as the screen flashed through satellite images of Los Angeles, showing the city still intact.
One of the suited agents spoke up. “Sir, we’ve received the following surveillance footage from the building rooftop in the city.” He pressed a button on a remote, and an image of Bolt and Penny on the roof appeared. “It looks as though the powder worked on the girl, but the dog was able to control himself.” The video looped, showing Bolt making his desperately sneezy expression, before calming down and acting relieved.
Calico watched for a few seconds before snarling and standing up, kicking his chair over. “UGH!! I thought you said that sneezing powder was fool proof!” speaking directly to the lab coated scientists in the room.
They all tensed up nervously as one of them spoke. “Sir, I’m so sorry…I don’t know how it’s possible. We specially designed that powder to directly attack and stimulate the nerves of the victim’s nasal passages. Not a single test subject was able to keep from sneezing, human or animal, during trials. I don’t know how it is that a sensitive canine nose was able to resist the -“
“SILENCE!” Calico screamed, making everyone in the room jump. He slowly turned around and covered his face. “Just get out…all of you.”
The individuals all looked at each other for a second before quietly falling out, and closing the door. Calico just sighed. “Every time….” He said softly to himself. “I am so tired of those two ruining my plans.”
“What’s the matter, Calico?” a smug voice in the back corner of the room said, “You seem distressed.”
Calico slowly turned around and cut his eyes at the handcuffed man sitting in the corner, next to the display screen. “Don’t give me that lip, Professor.”
“Trying to use Bolt’s powers to destroy an entire city,” the man said, “Sneezing powder…really? That was your big plan? You should have known that Bolt would never succumb to something like that. Not with what was at stake.”
Calico stared daggers at the professor, as he briskly walked over to him. “Don’t talk to me like you’ve won,” he said. “You know just as well as I do that I still have the upper hand. Your doggy can’t fight me anymore, now that I have the ability to neutralize his powers. Even if can’t get him to sneeze down a city for me, sooner or later I WILL have him in my clutches, and your daughter as well!”
“I wouldn’t be so sure, Calico,” the professor said, “You don’t know them like I do. You’ll never have your way with them.”
Just then, the screen made a beeping sound. Both men turned to see it switch to some sort of radar display. A large dot kept flashing at the edge of the radar. Calico walked closer and tapped on the dot. A camera image appeared, showing an ATV speeding along through the desert, with two very familiar occupants on board. “Well, well, well,” Calico said, starting to grin, “Are you still so sure about that, professor?”
The man just gasped in disbelief. “No…Penny, what are you doing? Why are you coming here?”
Calico laughed out loud and pressed an intercom button on the wall. “All units, I need you to go on silent alert. Targets approaching. Get the weapons ready…wait for them to get close.”
***
The ATV roared as Penny guided it along through the barren desert, following the signal of the GPS device. Before long, the bright lights of Calico’s secret base came into view in the distance. Upon seeing them, she hit the brakes, and the vehicle came to a screeching halt. She turned the engine off and dimmed the lights. “That must be it,” she said. “In the middle of a desert, how clever a hiding spot.”
She climbed off of the ATV, and removed her helmet, setting it down on the seat. Bolt jumped off as well, and looked up at Penny.
“Okay boy,” she whispered, “You know the plan; let’s infiltrate the base. Be careful, they might have my dad in there. Try to stay out of sight. It’s getting light out.”
Bolt nodded, and two of them bounded forward towards the lights. Several minutes later, they found themselves outside the tall, sand brick wall of the base. The got up against it and shimmied towards an entrance that they could see nearby. It was nothing more than a gap in the wall, which a dirt road passed through.
“It’s not guarded,” Penny said suspiciously, as they neared the opening. “Be alert, it might be a trap.”
Bolt quietly walked beside her. I’m ready for anything, Penny.
They both peeked their heads around the corner, looking through the base entrance. They could see several small buildings and hangars, and all over the place were tanks, aerial vehicles and ground troops. “Calico doesn’t go light on anything, does he?” Penny said softly to Bolt. “Alright…looks like getting in here won’t be easy. I wonder if we can – UGH!!” She suddenly yelled out and fell.
Penny! What happ – OOF! Before Bolt could comprehend what was going on, he was struck down from behind. Immediately he felt that familiar weak feeling, as a red force field surrounded him and Penny. Two armored men walked up from behind, holding a pair of familiar wand-like rods that were glowing red at the ends. It was yet another form of the weapons that Calico had developed to weaken Bolt, and render his powers useless. As this was happening, the attention of all of the troops inside of the base quickly turned towards this scene that was unfolding at the entrance gate. They all came closer, and many pointed their guns at the trapped intruders. After a few minutes, Calico emerged.
“Well!” he said conceitedly, “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
Right behind him, being dragged along by a group of armed soldiers was the professor. “Penny! Bolt!” he yelled upon seeing what was unfolding. “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t have come, sweetie.”
Penny weakly looked up. “Daddy….it’s ok. Trust me, everything’s fine.”
“What?” Her father said, confused. But before he could get anything else out, he was elbowed hard by one of the troops.
Calico spoke again, getting closer. “I don’t know what you were trying to accomplish by recklessly showing up on my doorstep, girl. Whatever you were up to, it’s over now. But regardless, I’m so happy to FINALLY have the whole family reunited!” he said with a laugh, “How quaint. Bring them inside!”
The men guarding the captives switched off their weapons, and the force fields disappeared. Penny and Bolt were still too weak to move, so the men picked them up and started to drag them along. One held Penny by the armpits, the other had Bolt by the scruff. Calico chuckled as they passed. The professor looked at them worriedly. But Penny glanced at him and just smiled, as if trying to tell him something.
He didn’t know what to make of the gesture. Penny…what are you up to?
Penny looked to Bolt, and nodded. Bolt smiled as he nodded back…
***
Two weeks earlier
I don’t know about this Penny, Bolt thought aloud, as he stood at the edge of the canyon. You really think I can do this?
“Bolt, I have nothing but faith in you on this one,” Penny said, kneeling at his side. “You’ve already managed to learn to stop yourself from sneezing on command. That’s no easy task. No doubt, you have great control over your mind.”
Bolt smiled at Penny’s show of approval.
“But anyway like I said, since Calico now has the ability to neutralize all of your powers, except your sneezes, they’re pretty much the only thing that we have left to use against him. That’s why I want to see if you can teach yourself to sneeze on command.”
Bolt looked at her as she spoke. You’re right Penny. That would be handy if I could, but I just don’t know if I can…
“Just try my idea one more time,” Penny said. She held a feather out in front of Bolt’s nose. “Here, now focus on it.”
Alright. Bolt turned his attention to the plume in Penny’s hand. He stared at it intently, narrowing his eyes.
“Here, I’ll do it again,” Penny said. She reached up and slowly dragged the feather along the length Bolt’s muzzle, from the base of it, all the way to the tip of his nose.
Bolt reacted by scrunching his snout and squinting a bit. He snorted a little as the tickly feeling came, and slowly went away.
“Alright,” Penny said, as she held the feather in front of his nose again. “Now remember that sensation as best as you can, and see if you can recreate it with your mind.”
Alright, Bolt thought to himself. Recreate the sensation… As he stared at the feather, he tried to recall in as much detail as he could, the feeling that it gave him as Penny had dragging it down his snout. Seeing the many tiny tendrils along the shaft of the feather, he remembered how he could feel every one of them, teasing him as they lightly drew along his most sensitive organ. The feeling came back to him so vividly that he found himself reflexively snorting and blinking a few times as he shook it off. But when he opened his eyes, he realized. Hey I think it worked! I really felt it!
Penny widened her eyes and smiled, seeing Bolt’s irritated expression, which turned to excitement. “Great job, buddy!” she said. “Okay, do you think you can do it again?” This time, she took the feather away so he couldn’t focus on it.
Even without it, this time with much less effort, Bolt once again managed to recreate the tickly sensation of the soft quill being dragged down his muzzle. His nose twitched hard this time, and he whined a bit as he closed his eyes and pawed at the end of his snout. When the tickle receded, he looked back up at Penny and smiled. Wow, I’m really doing it! You know, if I focused hard enough, I’ll bet I could make myself sneeze.
“Alright, I think you’re ready, buddy” Penny said. “Let’s give it a shot.”
Bolt nodded as he braced himself with his legs. Penny moved behind Bolt, and got down low. She flipped her visor back down. “Okay Bolt, do it…sneeze!”
***
Present Day
As the men dragged Penny and Bolt along, they heard Calico snickering behind them. “This time, you’re not getting away, you pests!” he said, deviously. “You won’t be doing any sneezy destructive getaways this time. I’ll make sure of that.”
Penny chuckled and looked back at him. “Oh, that’s where you’re wrong, you crook…you’re about to see one right now!”
“What?” was the only blurted out response she got.
“You lose, Calico!” Penny yelled, turning to her dog. “Bolt…sneeze!”
Calico let out a laugh. “Ha! How’s he going to do that? You can’t provoke him to sneeze in your current state.”
Bolt just grinned as he stared down his muzzle, focusing all of his attention on it. With hardly any effort at all, he started recreating that familiar feeling of Penny’s feather moving down his snout. He already felt his breath quicken as he repeatedly tickled his nose over and over again with his mind.
The guard holding him stopped and gasped when he realized what was happening. Bolt’s nose was twitching madly, and his eyes were beginning to shut.
Bolt continued to send waves upon waves of irritation down his snout. The tickle was already well beyond what was needed, but Bolt didn’t care. He wanted this to be BIG! Ripples could be seen moving along his muzzle. His eyes clenched tight as he began to heave. Tremors could be felt all around.
The guard let out a yell as he let go of Bolt’s scruff, and ran the opposite direction. Bolt picked himself up, and braced himself just as the irritation reached criticality.
“Haahh……”
The whole area took a horrible shake, and many of the troops stumbled. They immediately became panicked upon realizing what was happening. They all started running, yelling and trying to get out of the way.
“Haaaaaahhhhhh….”
Calico’s jaw dropped. “WHAT!? NO!!! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?!?”
The professor just smiled widely when he realized what was going on. Penny and Bolt had allowed themselves to be captured on purpose, so that Calico would bring them into his secret base, where they could beat him at his own game!
“Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…”
The guard that was holding Penny dropped her, and tried to run, but found it hard as Bolt’s buildup was now causing a full blown earthquake.
Calico motioned to the men around him. “Come on, we’re getting out of here! Bring the professor.”
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH….AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…”
Bolt continued to inhale, allowing the tickle to completely consume him. Buildings all around were starting to collapse, and vehicles were rattling and moving slightly, being drawn towards Bolt with the incredible amount of air that he was taking in.
Calico and a few others managed to climb into a Jeep with the Professor. Once the doors shut, the vehicle’s tires squealed as it took off, fleeing from the danger, opposite from the direction that Bolt was facing. A few other transport vehicles followed behind, with several ground troops trying to escape on foot.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…”
In the midst of the chaos, Penny managed to crawl behind Bolt, and hunker down. She swore that the ground underneath her could have ripped apart, it was shaking so hard. She used her last bit of strength to yell out. “Bolt, I’m clear! Do it!”
Bolt knew what this meant. He had been ready all along to stifle himself if Penny had told him to. But with this signal, he let all of his defenses down and surrendered, allowing the sneeze to take full control. He sent the most intense tickle that he could muster up, down to his nose.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…”
Tears were dripping down Bolts cheeks, and his snout scrunched, trembled and flared terribly. Bolt hoped that this was going to be as enormous as it felt.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!”
As if an extreme hurricane had been loosed, Bolt’s sneeze simply decimated the base as it tore through the area. Everything in the path of the sneeze succumbed to its power. Buildings were ripped from their foundations, and crumbled to pieces. Tanks, weapons and vehicles were tossed into the air, and came crashing down; many exploded. Penny just cowered down as best as she could, as the wind picked up around her. She felt herself get lifted from the ground for a moment, and she went tumbling along for a bit. But once she came to rest, she laid down again and covered her head, waiting for the all of the horrible noises to stop.
Several minutes seemed to pass until all was said and done, and the mayhem finally came to a halt. Bolt just sniffed and opened his eyes to see the annihilation that was in front of him. The base was no more, only a pile of rubble that laid in before him.
Penny crawled to his side smiling and panting. “Good sneeze,” she said. “Nice job buddy. One less base of Calico’s on this planet.”
Bolt breathed heavily and sniffed again. He blinked a few times, wiping his nose. Whew, head rush! It was no doubt his biggest sneeze ever. That was intense. Thanks, Penny. He smiled and nuzzled up to her.
After a moment, they both looked back behind them to the vehicles and ground troops that were retreating off into the distance. Penny sighed. “They got away with Daddy, again,” she said. “I wish we could have saved him too.”
Just then, Penny’s phone beeped. She pulled it out and realized that she had received a new video message. She held the phone up as it started to play.
“Penny,” the professor said, as his image filled the screen, “I wanted to send this to you as soon as I got the chance. While you and Calico were in Los Angeles, I managed to sneak around and gather all of the research that he did on Bolt’s powers… and I know how you can modify Bolt so that Calico’s weapons will no longer have any effect on him.”
Penny and Bolt looked at each other excitedly. “YES!” Penny burst out, “Hear that buddy?” Bolt barked and jumped happily. This was the best news that they had heard in a while.
“I’ll send the information in a separate message,” Penny’s father continued. “Just go to my old lab and follow my directions…oh and, there is one more thing, sweetie.” He moved closer to the camera as he spoke. “I’ve also figured out how to remove the flaw that causes Bolt’s super sneeze.”
Penny and Bolt went silent as they looked at each other again.
“I’ll send you directions on how to do this as well…if you so choose. With this change, from now on whenever Bolt sneezes, it will be a normal canine ‘ah-choo’, so to speak. You don’t have to follow these instructions though if you don’t want to. I’ll let the two of you decide.” He exhaled, and his expression became solemn as he continued. “I also wanted to say, I’m proud of you, Penny. I’m amazed by all that you and Bolt have done together. I know that we’ll be reunited soon. Take care until then, sweetheart. I love you both…”
The screen went blank, and then lit back up, filled with text and instructions. Penny slowly started to smile. “Way to go, Daddy!” she said, as she got up and dusted herself off. “Alright buddy, let’s head to Daddy’s old lab.”
Bolt stood up too and shook off before he and Penny started to walk back towards where she had parked the ATV. The sun was rising now, illuminating the desert all around them. It wasn’t until they reached the vehicle when Penny finally spoke up.
“So Bolt, umm…we can get rid of your super sneeze now if we want…”
Bolt smirked as he looked up at her. Yes…yes we can.
Penny watched him as she continued. “So…what do you think, buddy? Should we do it?”
Bolt just barked and shook his head. Are you kidding? I love being able to super sneeze! It’s the best feeling ever! And now, I can control it and use it on command. It’s a real handy weapon. No, I don’t to get rid of it, Penny.
Penny just chuckled at Bolt’s yapping as she put her helmet back on. “You’re right,” she said, “Why would we do that after everything that happened today? Come on buddy, let’s get out of here.”
The two of them jumped on the ATV and took off into the desert.
***
END
