Note: The offical title of this story is "Bolt 2.0" but FFnet doesn't allow periods in titles, so this will have to due.

Chapter 1: The Good Life

Life is goooooooooooooood…

Bolt awoke to that thought and a giant yawn. The mouth open, tongue-curling kind of yawn, complete with paws up in the sky as if he was grabbing a giant bone. Bolt contemplated his life and decided it couldn't be better.

Sure, his person made half hearted attempts to keep him off the bed, but he knew deep inside she didn't have the heart to yell at him for getting on the bed with her.

So, every night they went through the ritual of Bolt whining and putting his head on the bed, Penny pointing to his pillow and Bolt dejectedly lying down. After 5 minutes he slowly gets up onto her bed, one paw at a time. By this time Penny is mostly asleep, but sometimes she'll tell Bolt to go lie down, which he will happily ignore as he cuddles up to her feet.

Last night he had managed to slowly work his way up to Penny's pillow. When she finally wakes up, he's sure she will playfully push him off the bed again. If I'm unlucky, I'll land on Mittens. That would be-

SHOVE!

"BOLT!"

-bad. Yah, the cat is not impressed.

The dog is unfazed as he cuddles into Mittens' pillow, not ready to give up on sleep just yet.

"Why can I never sleep in? Or even wake up quietly…" Mittens walked away grumbling, already starting the day on the wrong side of the pillow. At least it wasn't Rhino that woke her up. Nothing makes her grumpier than loud television first thing in the morning.

Penny was giggling at the sulking cat heading out of the room. Mittens jumped up and pushed the long, flat door button Penny had installed on her room door last week. The door unlatched and swung open a little, Mittens pushed it open the rest of the way with her head and went downstairs to try to get a morning meal out of Rose.

It was Penny's turn to unleash her inner dog, with a yawn that any dog would approve of. She looked down at Bolt, who was still lying on the too small pillow but now thumping his tail and looking up at Penny.

Today was going to be a good day, he thought, as he vigorously attacked Penny's face with licks.

*

Penny yawned again as she finished coming down the stairs.

"Mom!"

"In here honey"

She walked into the kitchen to her mom reading the morning paper and petting a contented looking Mittens.

"I guess she has been fed then?"

"Would she let me pet her like this if she wasn't?" Penny considered that, and realized how pointless her question was, so she gave a short laugh at shrugged. "I suppose not".

"So what are you going to do today Penny?"

"Well I need to get ready for the interview at my new school tomorrow. And there is probably some chores you want me to do aren't there?"

"Aren't you smart!" Penny stuck her tongue out at her mom, who laughed.

Their banter was rudely interrupted by Bolt, who whined behind Penny, obviously wanting something and was tired of the humans talking.

"I think your dog wants some food."

"He's your dog too!" Penny's mom gave her The Look.

Bolt was grateful to get his breakfast. Kibble, the breakfast of champions!

*

After breakfast Bolt wanted to play outside, as always. Today Bolt only needed 2 minutes of whining and pushing around the ball before Penny relented, a good start to the day indeed!

"Go get it Bolt!" Penny hurled the ball as far as she could. It landed somewhere in the long grass with the Super dog hot on the trail. Fetch was easily Bolt's favorite game, and no day is complete without a good game of fetch.

Bolt bounded into the long grass, his favorite place to track down the ball. He bounced through the grass, trying to spot the ball. He smelt lots of other interesting things, and a few birds flew off, but Bolt's mission was far too important to be denied. He caught a whiff of the ball, and took a sharp right. His ears were of course perked up, even though the ball never made a noise. Better to be prepared, Bolt figured.

He spotted the ball under some grass, tried to dig it out then realized it wasn't his ball. "Bring it here Bolt!" I've gotta get this ball back to my person... There it is!

Bolt blasted out of the grass at full speed, happy to be successful in his hunt. He was quite excited and ran around Penny twice before he spat out the now slobbery ball at her feet. Penny laughed at his antics while picking up the ball and wound-up for another epic throw, and Bolt got ready to resume the hunt, barking his excitement.

*

Penny was smiling as she walked up the front steps; there is no better way to start the day then a good game of fetch. Bolt still had boundless energy, but knew he couldn't play fetch all day.

The door slid open as Penny approached, detecting the arrival of Penny's keys on the front porch. She took a quick right into the bathroom off of the entrance. The light turned on automatically, and when she stuck her hands under the tap, water sprayed off her slobbery hands.

"Penny, the fridge is acting up again!"

Penny sighed, always more things to fix. "What is it doing now?"

"It keeps trying to add 20lbs of butter to the grocery list."

Well, that doesn't sound right… "Must be the update from last week, I'll take a look at it later."

"Thanks dear. So is Bolt still following you like a shadow?"

Penny sighed and looked behind her. Sure enough, her faithful companion was sitting in the entrance of the bathroom watching her. Two days ago a neighborhood dog had run up to her barking aggressively. Bolt watched from behind the screen door as the strange dog nipped Penny's legs when she tried to pet it, and he snapped. He quickly scratched the screen and jumped through. The other dog took off running, seemingly scared for his life. Bolt had started to give chase, but came back to Penny when she called him. He sniffed at the small cut the dog had given her on her shin, and whined unhappily.

All day he wouldn't get more than 2 feet from Penny, he even refused to play fetch, and wouldn't eat unless she was beside him. He slept in her arms that night. The next day wasn't any better; Bolt had even poked his head through the shower curtain as she took her morning shower. This never lasted very long as he didn't like getting the water on his nose, but he still stuck his head in a couple of times just to make sure nothing was happening. Penny had laughed at his antics, but it was obvious he was quite upset, even willing to suffer through water on the nose for her.

At least today he seems to be relaxing a bit. He played fetch after a little bit of coaxing, and seems ok as long as he can see her. Penny isn't sure of what will happen tomorrow when she has to go to her placement interview at her new school with the principal. She just hopes he doesn't destroy the house…

"Yah he's still following me Mom" Penny called back to her Mom.

"He hasn't acted like this since before he ran away, and that was months ago. The poor dog probably still thinks he's your hero."

"I think he'll always think that." Penny petted his head with her wet hands. Bolt didn't appreciate that and tried to escape by walking backwards. He shook his head to try to get the water off, and then grumbled his disapproval at Penny. She just laughed and walked out of the bathroom, dog in tow.

*

It has been a good day, Bolt decided as he was getting ready to go to sleep. Penny had done some stuff in the food room with her mom, at first it smelt good, and sometimes it smelt like the stuff they used to wash him last week. Then Penny sat making clicking noises in front of some glowing thing while talking to her mom and playing with the thing with lots of buttons on it. Rhino had called it a remote control, but it looked a lot bigger than the one he used for the TV, and it had its own small TV built into it. Bolt had had no idea what to make of it since it arrived a while ago. Penny seemed really happy when she played with it though, and that made Bolt happy, even if she wasn't playing with him.

Rhino had watched TV all day in Penny's room. Mittens had tried to get him and Bolt to come outside and play, but Rhino had found some show he liked, and Bolt was not going to leave Penny alone, no matter how many times Mittens told him she was safe in the house. She was his person and that was that. Bolt had become lax in his protection duties since he realized he wasn't a super dog, but there will be no more of that. I will protect you from now on Penny.

Now Bolt was lying on his pillow waiting for Penny to fall asleep so he can get up onto his bed. He didn't mind the pillow, but it wasn't nearly close enough to Penny for him to fall sleep on. Penny had picked him up and put him on the pillow when he refused to leave the bed. Bolt knew that if he kept fighting with her she would get angry, so he just relented until she fell asleep.

She sounds like she is sleeping now, and she has stopped moving around. Bolt gets up and puts one paw on her bed to test.

Nothing happens, so he slowly drags his body up onto the bed. He quietly walks around in a circle a few times, and then lies down near Penny's feet.

The once-was-super dog slowly falls asleep with his head on his person's legs. "I'll never let them get you Penny."

***

Well, there is my first chapter ever. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I have most of the chapters already planned out for this story, and a strong idea of what I want to happen when. I already have chapter 2 and 3 started, but not wrapped up.

My biggest problem will be motivation. I know that if people are reading the story (which I can see!) and not reviewing, I won't be motivated to keep writing, and a wonderful story will come to an early end. Even a short note saying that you loved it or hated it is all I ask for, but specific criticisms are always welcome. As one of my favorite podcast authors says "Email with questions, comments, criticisms, attaboys and death threats, or leave them in reviews", the link to my email is in my profile.

If you like what you're reading, pelt your friends with links to the story and make sure they review too!

I am also looking for people to beta read my chapters, and people to bounce ideas off of. So if you are interested in getting chapters days or even weeks early, review and mention that you can help me out and I'll contact you.

But remember, nothing happens unless you review!

I'll be posting the next few chapters in the next few days, but until then, I'll leave you with the nagging questions:

What's going to happen at Penny's new school? What will come of Bolt's newfound separation anxiety? What will Rhino do once he gets hold of this new fancy remote? Find out all this and more, next time...