So, this was the first sneeze story I ever wrote (originally posted on SneezeFurs). It features the Disney character Bolt the dog, and his human sidekick Penny…yeah I know, Bolt’s not an OC or an anthro character, but I’m actually kind of surprised that no one’s stepped up to the plate and drawn or written about him yet (to my knowledge). He’s so adorable. :)

I’ve always loved the movie, and the way that Bolt looks…and I’ve always wanted to see him sneeze, especially since he has superpowers (or so he thinks). Sadly, he never did in the movie, but I’ve always thought, what would happen if he did? So, I decided to write my own story exploring this possibility.

This is just Part 1. No actual sneezing in this one, but you can find Part 2 here. The story obviously takes place before Bolt discovers that his world is fake, and he still thinks that he has superpowers. Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy!

Thumbnail artwork by the now retired, pollenplover.

***

“Bolt, keep running!” Penny yelled. The two of them were in full stride, on the run from the tightly pursuing forces of Dr. Calico. Bolt and Penny panted heavily, as they weaved as quickly as they could through the jungle trees and past various ruins of an ancient Mayan city. This mission had gone all wrong…terribly wrong. Things were not looking good. They could hear nearby yells of ground soldiers gaining on them, the hum of ground tanks from behind, and the whopping sound of Calico’s choppers overhead.

Penny let out a groan as she continued to run, wondering how she had managed to get the two of them into this mess. She had been following a lead that Calico might have been hiding her father in an ancient city in the Yucatan jungle. But it appeared that it was a trap, and Calico’s men were expecting her and Bolt. In mid-run, she suddenly screamed and Bolt yelped, as pieces of a structure next to them started to explode and fly everywhere. Shots from the gun of a chopper behind them had hit it, just missing them. They stumbled a bit, but managed not to break stride. Penny could feel her heart beating against her chest now, and Bolt was starting to whimper. Bullets, lasers and shrapnel were all whizzing past them, and tearing through the stone ruins and the thick leaves of the jungle. It was a terrible sound. “Oh…if only the terrain weren’t so rough...” Penny cried, “And if there weren’t so many trees, I could take out my scooter and you could ‘zoom zoom’, Bolt…or if we could just get far away enough for you to ‘speak,’…” but she knew it was hopeless. “Oh Bolt, I’m so sorry! This is all my fault that we’re in this mess.”

Bolt looked up at her sadly. Don’t worry about it Penny, it’s not your fault. Let’s not worry about it right now. We’ve got to get out of here.

Penny seemed to understand, hearing Bolt’s low whimpers. She kept sprinting with all that she could. “Oh no!” she suddenly cried, as the two of them skidded to a stop. A second set of forces were breaking through the trees in front of them…they were trapped on all sides. Penny frantically looked around, and Bolt crouched down and started to growl. No! You can’t have Penny! I won’t let you hurt her…I won’t!

“Bolt look!” Penny suddenly gasped, and pointed. Almost as if it had been placed there for them, there was a fairly deep depression in the earth in front of them. Without hesitation, they ran forward and hopped down into the hole, landing rather gracefully on their feet. To their surprise, they found a small, narrow cave-like tunnel at the bottom of it. Bolt whined a bit, urging Penny inside. Penny ducked down and started to crawl on all fours, Bolt leading the way. The two of them hoped that maybe they could make a getaway through this passage, but alas, they quickly reached a dead end. “No…” Penny said regretfully. She bowed her head and started to cry. She heard Bolt whimper and felt his nose push up under her chin, as he tried to comfort her.

“YOU ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED!” A voice boomed from directly above, over the ever growing sounds of tanks, and choppers.

Bolt immediately growled and took a few steps towards the entrance to the tunnel, and crouched down.

“YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS TO SURRENDER BEFORE YOUR LOCATION IS FIRED UPON! YOU CANNOT ESCAPE, AND YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE!” The sound of arming turrets and cannons and the clicking of guns filled the air above. Bolt turned his head to look back at Penny. They just stared at each other sadly…silently. Bolt folded his ears down. After all that they had been though, was this finally the end?

“TWENTY SECONDS!”

Bolt whipped his head back towards the entrance and growled under his breath. I can’t let them win…I swore that they’d never get my Penny…I can’t let them…I CAN’T! He panted slowly and heavily, trying to think. But he knew that there wasn’t much time. He didn’t have any other choice. Slowly, he stood up as tall as he could. He planted one of his forepaws on the ground in front of him, and took a step back with a back paw, bracing himself.

“Bolt what are you doing?” Penny asked frantically. “No! Not under here. It’s too dangerous…”

Bolt looked back at her. It’s the only way Penny…I know it’s risky, but I’ve got to try…

“TEN…NINE…”

Penny sighed lightly, knowing he was right. “Okay boy,” She said, hunkering down as best as she could, and covering her ears, “Do it…speak.”

“SIX…FIVE…”

Bolt closed his eyes and bowed his head as he began to muster up as much strength as he could. He could feel the power billowing up inside of him as he began to growl.

“THREE…TWO…” Gun turrets were heard spinning up above them.

Bolt’s growl grew louder, and he whipped up his head, aiming as straight upward as he could. “YAAARRRPPP!!!” The super bark was deafening in the confined space underground. As if everything were in slow motion, the darkness of the tunnel vanished, and light rained down upon the two of them as the earth disappeared from above. Calico’s forces were helpless. The ground beneath them had suddenly come alive, bulging incredibly, and erupting like a giant volcano. Tanks, choppers and ground troops were thrown into the air like child’s toys, and were heard crashing and smashing down, over and over again a great distance away. Penny and Bolt stayed hunkered down for what seemed like forever, until finally all of the noise faded away.

They slowly opened their eyes, and came to find that they were standing at the bottom of what was now a giant crater that Bolt had blown open from underground. It was littered at the edge with the crushed and mangled remains of the massive army that was threatening them, just moments ago. All of the vehicles had been destroyed, and the surviving ground troops were now retreating; Bolt and Penny were safe. The sun was very dim as an incredible amount of dust and dirt was falling all around them.

Penny coughed and slowly got up into a kneeling position, observing the wreckage. She dusted herself off as she panted, relieved and dumbfounded. “Whew,” she said, turning to her dog, “that…was too close for comfort…you did real good buddy. I thought we were goners for sure. That was very brave, and I’m glad that you-” but her relieved expression quickly disappeared. Something was wrong…

Bolt had started to smile back and nod lightly, but he had suddenly stopped. The side of his muzzle was scrunching up, and one of his eyes was slightly squinted. The dust and dirt in the air was apparently too much for the canine’s sensitive nose. He felt a teasing tickle making its way up the length of his muzzle. He snorted a few times, and licked his own nose in a very dog-like way, trying to dismiss the irritants, but to no avail. He felt the tickle getting worse; his eyes fluttered and squinted tight and he started pawing at his nose, and whining. Oh gosh…no…g...gonna...

“Oooohhhh dear,” Penny said, in a panicked voice. She rushed to Bolt’s side, and squatted next to him. “It’s okay boy,” she said, trying to stay calm, reaching a hand out to massage Bolt’s large, black nose. “You’re ok…easy there…slow, deep breaths through your mouth…”

But, it didn’t seem to be working; Bolt’s mouth suddenly snapped open as his breath hitched. “Heeaahh…” The entire ground shook violently with just that one inhale.

In a fit of desperation, Penny clasped her hand over Bolt’s nose, and pulled him in close in a sort of reassuring embrace.

Bolt stood there silently for a few seconds holding his breath, his eyes squinted, his snout in the air, his mouth hanging wide open, but before long, he slowly started to relax. Penny felt him become less tense, and he exhaled lightly. He snorted a few more times through Penny’s hand, and she moved it enough to allow him to lick his nose, but eventually he opened his eyes, and gave Penny a reassuring look. He apparently had expelled the irritation on his own. It also helped that the dust and dirt in the air was starting to clear. Whew…that was close. I almost couldn’t hold that one. Thank you Penny.

Penny slowly let go of his nose, and lightly smiled at him. “There you go. You’re fine…whew!” she said, standing up for the first time, “Don’t scare me like that! That’s twice today I’ve been really frightened.”

Penny did indeed have a good reason for becoming alarmed when Bolt was feeling sneezy. The two of them had discovered not too long ago that Penny’s father’s alterations on Bolt had a flaw. Unbeknownst to him, when he had given Bolt his superpowers, including his super bark, doing so had also given him an even bigger super sneeze. Penny and Bolt found this out the hard way one day when they were doing a training exercise together in a big field with a set of obstacles. Bolt had rounded a corner too quickly, and smacked his nose very hard, into a rock. The result was an enormous buildup to a massive sneeze that even surprised Bolt! The sneeze had simply obliterated the ground in front of him, and did an alarming amount of damage. He had blown open a nearly twenty foot deep crater that stretched for more than half a mile. Penny was lucky to have been behind Bolt when it happened, but even still, the sneeze was so strong that the damage had in fact stretched to the area behind Bolt where she was as well. It was nowhere near as bad, only pulling up a layer of sod from the ground. But it still had enough strength to blow Penny back several feet, and send her tumbling for a great distance. To Bolt’s relief when he came running to check on her, she was not harmed, other than a few bumps and bruises. But since that day, they had decided that it was a good idea not to let Bolt sneeze again, often to his own dismay. There were times when something was bothering his nose so badly, and all he wanted to do was let out a sneeze. But, he knew that it would be be too dangerous to do so. His sneezes were just too strong and unpredictable. He had actually shown great self-control so far. He and Penny had found ways as such, to stop him from sneezing if he felt one coming. They had had a few close calls, but no incidents since that day.

Penny started to walk, Bolt following her as they made their way through the crater. But she stopped after a few steps, and put her hands on the outside of her pant pockets. “Oh,” they didn’t seem full enough. She looked back at the spot where they were just standing, and sure enough, a small group of objects were strewn out on the ground. In the midst of all the chaos, a handful items had slipped out of her pockets. She walked back over and crouched down to pick all of them up, which included a couple of small gadgets, a set of keys, and oddly, a rather prominent looking white feather. “Can’t leave all of this here…ha-ha, my lucky feather!” She brushed it under her chin and smiled at Bolt. “Can’t lose this, can I? Ever since I found it when we got away from Calico’s base in Alaska, I’ve kept it with me. Seems like we’ve always have good luck since, just like today, eh Bolty?” She laughed and Bolt smiled and panted, wagging his tail. Penny placed the objects back into her pockets, and stuck the feather into a special hidden compartment on the back of her shirt. “Come on Bolt, let’s get out of here.” She stood up, and the two of them started to walk once again towards the edge of the crater. “What a waste. I really thought we were going to find something here. Guess we’re back to square one,” she said. “You know…” she thought aloud, looking at Bolt, “I’m starting to wonder why Calico keeps carrying out the same battle tactics, over and over again. It’s so predictable, and you always just end up getting them with your superpowers, Bolt.” Bolt gave her a smile. “You’d think that after so many of his forces keep getting destroyed that he’d learn…” She continued to walk, still pondering the idea, but eventually shrugged it off. “Maybe he just thought that we wouldn’t try something like this if there was such a big risk involved…hmm, oh well.” She gave Bolt a pat on the head as they made their way back in the direction from which they came. Neither of them noticed a small camera lens that had suddenly poked up through the ground behind them, much like a tiny periscope, watching them, and observing them…

End Part 1