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Tommy and Katie find themselves in a unique predicament, when they run into Bolt and Penny of Bolt™ fame. Or is it Bolt and Penny who run into the twins? Much fun, confusion and adventure is to be had, as the team all use their unique powers to escape adversity.

There may be a part 2 of this if people are sufficiently interested...

Thanks as always to my edit-husky tempo321

_ Note: This is a re-submission of the story I posted on April 1st as part of my little joke. I wanted to re-post it to give people a chance to comment on the story in its own right, and to draw a line under the affair which not everyone was too happy about. _

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The red haired girl stood in the vacant film set parking lot, her mouth open in a quite uncharacteristic gape of astonishment. "W-w-what are you??" She pointed with a quivering finger. Her white dog kept close to her side, low and growling.

Standing there were two leopards. Not the kind on four paws; these ones stood up on two legs. One of them tossed her head to the side in a dismissive gesture, then shook her head. "What are you, stupid? I'm a girl. He's a boy." She pointed to the leopard beside her, then stared back at the human. "Do you know that you're a girl too? I mean, it seems pretty likely, but you seem to be having some problems grasping reality."

The finger kept trembling, ever so faintly. "B-but you! You're... You're a leopard!" She stared openly, her dog glanced up at her for reassurance.

"Huh." The leopard looked over at her companion, grinning self assuredly. "Did you hear that Tommy? We're leopards! Did you ever hear such a stupid thing?" Before he could answer, she stared back at the human girl, her words dripping with sarcasm: "Of course we're leopards, dummy! I mean, hello? I guess the spots clued you in, huh?"

She began to frown. She didn't like frowning. "Hey now, there's no need to be rude; I was just asking. I mean, I've never seen walking talking leopards before. I'm a human, animals don't talk, huh boy." She glanced down at her dog for reassurance and he gave a short yap.

"W-what's your name?" Tommy asked meekly, "My name is Tommy; this is my sister Katie--"

She interrupted like he hadn't spoken: "Oh, she knows she's a human too!" Katie smirked at Tommy, and regarded the human unkindly. "Let me make this real simple for you. Yes we are leopards! Sheesh! We talk too, but our words make more sense than human words, I guess."

The girl glared at Katie.

She continued: "I will admit one thing though. You are the first human I ever met. I mean sure I heard about them, I read about them, in history books. They didn't talk about how dumb they could be." Katie betrayed a little fear as she took a few steps away from the strange pair.

The red haired girl's hands balled into small fists and she glared, anger simmering like her ex-agent had just walked into the room. The leopard glared back, rising to the challenge, an insecure smirk on her muzzle. A dangerous energy crackled between the two girls and silence abruptly descended.

Tommy crouched down on the ground and patted his knees, making eye contact with the dog, putting on his best friendly face he usually reserved for King. "Here boy." The small white German Shepherd glanced at him, glanced at Katie, his hackles raised. "Aww c'mon; I won't bite. What's your name boy? I know a dog a bit like you; his name is King and he's a German Shepherd." Tommy declared proudly. The dog glanced at him again, looking a little unsure; the girls were still glaring intensely at one another and didn't seem to be going anywhere... Tommy patted his knees a second time, coming right down onto them. "C'mon, pleeeease?" He put on his best smile.

The canine gave a little whimper, looked up at his person for reassurance. Nothing. The two girls had become like statues of rage. He looked at the small leopard boy... Well... I guess the situation merits a little reconnaissance. Cautiously, he lifted his head a little and took a few halting steps towards him.

"Yeah! That's a good boy! C'mon, that's it; I'm friendly I promise." The dog edged nearer, sniffing the air; this boy smelt so strange. Like a boy, like a human, but like something else... A little bit like a cat, but that wasn't it. It was something dangerous, something predatory, and yet... He was just a boy. Another step. Tommy held a paw open in front of him, claws sheathed in a friendly gesture. The dog edged nearer still, sniffed the proffered paw, and then took a step back. Tommy watched him with a smile. "Yeah, there; you see? I'm friendly." He glanced up at his sister, imagining for a moment he could see the air between the two girls shimmer with energy, then gave the dog another smile.

He sniffed again. The boy seemed okay, and so he took another step, and another, keeping his body tightly sprung; ready to act if necessary. Eyes widening, he watched very warily, as that paw turned and slowly approached the top of his head. The white dog tensed, narrowed his eyes. Tommy tilted his muzzle in joy and petted the dog nicely between the ears. "Yeah! Aww what a good boy, c'mon, come here." He continued petting, and the dog relaxed, closing his eyes. He was friendly after all. The canine enjoyed the gentle petting for a moment, bemused at the odd feeling of a paw instead of a hand, and then looked at Tommy. With no more preamble he trotted up, stood up on the boy's knees, and begun investigating him in the normal canine way.

"Yay! Hi! What's your name?! My name's Tommy!" Tommy grinned at the dog with inane glee, petting all down his muzzle and ears with soft leopard paws.

The dog softly spoke, a little hesitant: "Umm, my name's Bolt. But you can call me Bolty if you want." He wagged.

The red haired girl nearly fell over, breaking eye contact and staring at the two. "WHAT???" Those thirteen little words blasted through her mind like a hurricane, staggering; she staggered again and this time did fall over.

"Penny!" Bolt spun around instantly. "I'll save you!" With a soft yelp he bounded towards her, the strange leopard boy forgotten. Concern blazing in his loving brown eyes, the dog skidded to a halt and came up next to his person's face. She was laying there in shock, mumbling about leopards and talking dogs, staring into the sky. Her eyes locked onto his. There was no more time for words, and he began doggishly licking her face.

It took a moment to register, but then the girl started to splutter, half-heartedly fending him off. She sat up; what had just happened? Besides these insane creatures appearing out of nowhere, that is. Had Bolt just...? She looked down at her boy. He looked back at her with paws on her knee, worried; she rubbed her head.

"Bolt?" Out of habit she reached to gently pet his ears.

"Penny?" He stared earnestly at her but she froze and gently trembled.

Tommy sidled over to his sister and she glanced nervously at him, betraying a little fear. "Do you think she even knows we're still here, Tommy?" He shrugged.

Penny stared, her mouth open, her world reeling; she started whispering, "How is this possible? How can you... How can I...?"

The friendly dog tilted his head patiently, watching his person, still a little worried about her. "How can you understand me?" She swallowed and nodded. Bolt thought about that for a moment, glancing down briefly before smiling at her. "I don't know. I mean I've always talked to you, you know, my whole life. But this is the first time you've seemed to really hear my words."

Penny started to blink rapidly, softly petting her boy's ears. "But, but this is... You're really Bolt, my Bolt, my good boy?"

Katie started to say something, but Tommy took her paw. She stared at him crossly, but he just shook his head.

He paused. That was fair. He needed some way to confirm his identity to Penny. How would she know he wasn't an agent of the green eyed man otherwise? He chuckled to himself; was this just one fantasy on top of another? Those old times were gone, and yet...

"You're right. I need to verify my identity. Let's see... There's Mister Carrot. He was always my favourite toy, you know?" He glanced away shyly for a moment. "And even more, just lately..." Bolt cocked his head. "And that spot just under my chin you scratch me; the spot I love best, when it makes me close my eyes and hang my tongue out."

Penny blinked as she fought back tears, not entirely succeeding as she stared at this gentle white dog that was speaking to her. She tried to speak and failed, stroking down one side of his muzzle.

Bolt's eyes suddenly went wide, filled with urgency; he put one paw up on her leg. "Penny? I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to say this ever again, so I mean..." He shifted a little. "I love you. I never meant to run a--" The dog yelped as Penny squeezed him in the tightest hug he'd ever known.

Hot tears ran down her face and spilled onto his; she hugged him and wouldn't let go, still trying to speak. "B-B-B..." She tried to compose herself and start again. "I... L-love you. S-s-so. Much!"

He whined, and tried to press even closer against her, whispering, "Oh, Penny..."

Tommy swallowed, blinked, felt Katie squeeze his paw.

After some time, the white dog and his person finally broke the hug and looked at each other. Really looked at each other. Penny stared into her boy's gentle brown eyes, so full of love. Bolt stared back, smiling his doggy smile, regarding his person with open adoration.

"I love you, Bolt. I missed you so m..." Her words stuck in her throat and she coughed, blinking, trying to hold back the tears.

Bolt licked her on the cheek. "I've always loved you, Penny. Ever since I was a pup--" He yelped as she squeezed him into another tight hug, and then eventually, reluctantly let go. The two sat embracing like long lost lovers, lost in each other's eyes.

Katie glanced at Tommy, looking a bit awkward. "Why are we even here?" He shrugged, wiping at one eye with a paw.

Penny composed herself, wiping down her face and then down Bolt's soft muzzle. "Bolt?" He nodded, eager to please. "Where did you go?" She touched one of his paws. "I mean... When you just disappeared. For weeks. I thought... I thought I'd lost you." The girl started choking up again; Bolt nosed her comfortingly.

After considering the question a moment, he sighed, looking uncharacteristically anxious; maybe even guilty. "I don't know. I thought you were in danger; I was trying to find you!" He panted a little. "The green eyed man had kidnapped you! I had to save you!"

The young girl gently squeezed his paw, gave him a slightly guilty look herself. "Um... Yeah... About that. You know that wasn't real now. Right?"

Bolt nodded, looking away. "But I thought I had to save you. I escaped, ran everywhere, looking, and then... I guess I blacked out. When I woke up, I was somewhere else. Mittens says it was on the other side of the entire Earth."

"What, Fiji?! Or Australia?" She looked incredulous. "And who's Mittens?"

He tipped his head curiously. "Mittens. That black cat I came home with. At first, I thought she was aligned with the forces of evil, but it turned out she wasn't so bad."

Penny blinked, nodded after a while, a realisation dawning on her.

"And, um, Fiji? Australia? I don't know where those are... But I was somewhere far away; everything was big, really big! Buildings that Mittens kept telling me scraped the sky! There was this big green lady holding a torch; she--"

"Whoa whoa whoa... You were in New York??" Penny's jaw dropped; Fiji seemed insane. But New York?! Almost as bad. "You were in New York! That's the other side of the entire country!"

Bolt looked confused, then nodded after a moment. "That's the name of that place? Mittens was always better at navigation than me." He looked a bit embarrassed. "We had this map of the whole Earth. Or, I guess, the whole country... I was right over the opposite side of it from home; that's right." He looked at her earnestly. "I knew I was lost. I knew I had to find you. There were these pigeons... Useless pigeons..." The dog's mouth quirked in a wry smile. "But they helped me find..." He glanced away, guiltily. "That is, I found Mittens, the cat. She was lost too, but I don't think she's had a home for a really long time. I forc... I persuaded her to show me how to get home. With the map."

Penny blinked, all these facts slowly sleeting down on her. Oreo... No, Mittens... She came all the way from New York too?

"My superpowers stopped working; I thought it was temporary." He blushed a bit, ears going pink. "Mittens had to knock some sense into me; I've got the bumps to prove it." He paused, looking down at his paws before looking up at Penny. "I had to find you. You were in danger, and you're my person, so I had to. We travelled all the way from..." He paused, searching for the new words, "All the way from New York towards home; it was... It was hard."

Penny was trembling. She couldn't see any more, because those tears had turned on again, and Bolt started to lick her face. She did her best to speak. "You... You came all the way across the entire country... The entire c-continent, to find me?" A sob found her chest and she covered her mouth, the sheer enormity of it hitting her like the night Dad left forever. "I-I-I... had no idea..." Another sob and she tried wiping the tears away.

Her dog looked at her with some concern now, standing up on her chest with his forepaws, nuzzling against her stricken face. "Oh Penny... Shhhh... Please. Please don't cry. I found you, didn't I?" She sobbed harder, but petted him, nodding desperately.

Katie sat down and got out her iPhone, struggling to maintain interest.

Tommy wiped his eyes again and stood up, awkwardly finding his voice, "Hey guys... Guys? I don't... I don't know what's happening here, but we should try and figure it out. I don't even know where we are right now. Where are we?"

Bolt spoke up quickly; it was going to be a long time before he got lost again. "Los Angeles!" He smiled down at Penny. "And we were supposed to be going to a reunion with the old crew; right?"

"W-wait, what? We're in America?" Katie looked up from her iPhone and then looked back, paying more attention to the screen, to some tiny letters which read 'ATT'. "Bloody hell, we're in America! When did this happen?!"

Penny wiped her eyes, slowly composing herself, hiding her face in fur as she pulled Bolt into a doggy hug. "That's right. I'm gonna guess you leopard... people are British? Am I right?"

Tommy nodded; Katie looked offended.

"Huh." Penny sniffed, then pretended to clear her throat. "Are all leopards British then?"

"Of course not, dummy!" Katie looked away, acting less confident than she sounded.

Tommy gently squeezed her arm; she glared at him. He whispered, "Why are you being like this?" Louder, he said, "We are leopards from the United Kingdom. But leopards live all over the world. Err. Where we come from."

Katie pulled away from her brother, glaring at him and the interloper girl and her dog, trying to keep a good distance from the latter.

Tommy regarded the white canine again, ignoring Katie for the minute. "Hey Bolt." The dog glanced at him. "So you have super powers, huh?"

Bolt glanced again, after checking Penny was alright. "Umm, that is information is class-- Oh. Well, I used to. Well, I thought I did. But it was just pretend." He looked away, scratching himself distractedly, embarrassed.

"Whoa cool! I guess. I mean what was it like? What were they?" Tommy persisted.

"You mean you've never seen the TV show?" The canine looked amazed and relieved.

Tommy shook his head. "Whoa, you were on TV?! I never saw it on the telly. I guess maybe they don't have it where we come from." He glanced at his sister. "They do have dogs though. Talking ones like us, but also four-leggers like Bolt, who, um, don't normally talk."

Penny stood up and grinned wistfully, still a little shell-shocked. "Yeah, tell me about it..."

Bolt contemplated all this for a moment, before grinning. "Well, on the TV show, I did have a few super powers. Like heat vision." He looked a little embarrassed.

The leopard's enthusiasm would not be dampened. "Oh wow! Like Superman!"

The dog nodded again. "Uh-huh; all I had to do was stare really hard at something, and it would burst into flames and melt. Or so I thought... Like this." Bolt turned and locked eyes on a nearby water tower in the studio. Without warning, twin collimated beams of energy burst out of the dog. The water tower exploded. Everyone flung themselves to the ground, and it began to rain.

"Bolt!!" Someone screamed. The rain of water was soon mixed with a hail of wood and small metal fragments; they struck the ground in a terrifying cacophony.

"Penny! I'll save... Um." Bolt stammered, becoming conscious of his own clichés. "What the..." The rain of mist and debris quickly abated. Everyone was crouched around, cowering, human and leopard alike. Nobody appeared hurt. Everyone was staring at him. "Um... What just happened?" Their mouths were gaping open. Bolt shifted and shook some small bit of debris off his back. It fell to the ground with a deafening crash, and the dog turned and stared at the steel I-beam several hundred times his size. He gulped.

Penny found her feet and came running over at last. "Bolt..." She stared in wonderment, hesitating a moment before coming down on her knees to stroke him all over. "You're... You're..."

"Super!" Katie came up slowly, her brother in tow, holding his hand tightly. Her expression was fearful, nervous. "Is he... Is he safe?" She edged a bit nearer, wondering if this strange dog might make anything else explode with his eyeballs.

The teen girl scowled, pulling her dog into a cuddle, smoothing his ears down. "He's a good boy. You'd never hurt anyone, would you Bolt? He's just, um..." She twirled a finger in her hair. "Today is working out kinda weird."

Bolt looked embarrassed. "I didn't mean to... Whatever I just did. I think. Penny, I think I got my powers back. For real, this time." He turned and looked into her eyes.

She stared back, shocked, but truth was stranger than fiction today. "I..." Penny stammered, "...Leopards." She pointed at Tommy and Katie. "If they're here, then why shouldn't you have superpowers, huh? Hah. Haha."

Katie frowned uneasily at the redhead. "You know, you're the weird ones in this equation," she pointed out.

Tommy piped up. "What other super powers do you have, Bolty?" His grin was infectious.

Penny's eyes widened. "Shh! It's too dangerous! We don't even know what might--"

Bolt carried on like he hadn't heard. "Well I have the--"

"Shh!"

"But it's the--"

She went to cover his muzzle. "Stoppit!"

Bolt tucked his tail apologetically; he couldn't help himself. "Superbark."

Penny slumped and sat down next to her super-dog. "Great."

Tommy started dancing from one paw to the other. "Whoa!! A super bark! What does it do? What does it sound like? How many times can you do it? Is it dangerous? Can I--"

Katie softly slid a paw over her brother's muzzle, finding unexpected commiseration in this strange human girl.

"I'm sorry about my brother... Sometimes he doesn't know when to button it, either." She winked.

Suddenly, a squad of fearsome looking dark figures burst around the corner. Agents of the Green Eyed Man. The twins took one look at them and began to wave.

Penny glanced at them, at Bolt, caught his look and jumped to her feet. "Run!!" She'd seen that look enough times to never doubt it. Not wasting a second, Penny snatched the backpack from her shoulders, unsnapped the fasteners and liberated a compact shiny object that was all tubes and curves. With the flick of one wrist it telescoped out in one direction, then a second, and was soon a brightly coloured motorised scooter.

Tommy and Katie froze, looking from the strange figures in skin-tight suits, to the teen and her dog and their scooter. Who were scooting away onto the main road as fast as their wheels and legs could carry them?

Penny glanced back at the twins as she thumbed the launch control for the towing cable. It fired out from the scooter and Bolt caught it in his mouth, picking up the pace. She glanced back again. "I mean it, you guys, run!!"

A terrible crackling resounded through the air; one by one the henchmen primed their terrible weapons, searing bolts of energy dancing between their gloved fingers. Tommy and Katie looked at each other in fear, and finally began to run. Not the clumsy bipedal way of these strange humans, but as nature intended, down on all fours and tearing at the ground with sharp claws. They ran, and the minions of the Green Eyed Man followed, climbing onto their fearful motorcycles. It was short work to catch up with Penny and Bolt, and soon the twins were trotting amiably alongside, panting lightly as they sped between the traffic.

Penny's eyes glimmered; she glanced at the twins. "Bolt?" He looked back over his shoulder at her with an earnest expression, the grip of the tow cable firmly in his mouth. She smiled. "Zoom zoom." The dog seemed to pause for a split second, a rising hum of energy quickly reaching a crescendo. The towing cable made an audible whiplash crack, and then just like that, girl and dog accelerated off at a fantastic speed into the distance.

Tommy whispered between panting, "Whoa..."

"No time for that, come on!" Katie picked up the pace and started to really run, her brother close behind. They were fast, but they couldn't keep up this kind of sprint for long. Far in the distance there seemed to be receding cloud of dust hugging the road, weaving in and out of traffic, those two strange beings keeping incredible speed. Behind them, the sound of crackling and of motorcycle engines was getting nearer and louder; not for the first time today, Katie felt afraid.

Tommy kept looking back; she ran close beside and nudged his shoulder. "No time for that, silly!" She was panting hard now. "Can't believe they left us behind!"

The cubs found themselves weaving in and out of traffic too; there was nothing for it, and it seemed a lot of it had stopped in the wake of something very fast barrelling through just moments earlier. It was too much. They'd have to break their sprint soon, and then... A large parking lot opened up ahead. Two lone figures were standing on the far side; a fiery haired girl and her dog. They were waving frantically.

The twins ran faster, claws sparking on the tarmac; something was wrong. Why were they just standing there? Why weren't they running? Just a little further; the mysterious henchmen weren't far behind. The dog was crouching in a fearsome pose; it was Bolt. They were nearly there; panting and gasping, the leopards ran their all.

Penny crouched behind her dog and prepared to stand back.

He whined quietly. "Are you sure? I mean, we don't know exactly what might happen, it could be dangerous, it could be--"

She stared defiantly into the distance. "Bolt: speak."

He saw her look and took up his stance. Two leopards crashed past them in a spotty blur. A growl began deep in his throat, it quickly got louder, and then it happened: "Ka-WOOF!"

The ground in front of them immediately fractured. An almighty roaring shockwave spread out in concentric waves, pulverising cement and tarmac like brittle crackers. As everyone watched, the car park exploded, tossing cars, street furniture, henchmen, up into the air like toys. One truck burst open, disgorging cardboard and clouds of pink packing material. The ground rumbled and shook as the destruction continued spreading off into the distance. Two panting leopards crept up behind, softly cowering in awe, flinching at every new crash and bang from the wasteland which used to be a car park. The henchmen were gone.

Tommy was first to speak, "Oh my gosh! I mean that was so cool!" He panted. "That, was your superbark?!"

Bolt nodded meekly, a little shy, a little overwhelmed.

"Cool cool cool! Can you do it again! I wanna see it! Please please please please please--"

Katie's paw slid over his muzzle once more, and she gave a tired smile to Penny, starting to feel less fearful of the strange human and her stranger dog. "Boys... What can you do with them, eh?"

Before the girl could respond, Bolt whined up at them. "Actually, um, whew; I'm feeling, kinda--"

"Bolt!!" Penny threw herself to the ground as her dog suddenly collapsed in front of her. "Bolt!" She repeated, "Are you okay? What's happening? What is it? What's this stuff on your fur?" She plucked off a few styrofoam packing peanuts; blown in from the destroyed truck.

"Wooh... That styrofoam is wicked stuff." He lazily blew another piece off his paw, and then slumped unconscious in Penny's arms.

"What the... Styrofoam?! Bolt?! Bolt answer me." She gently shook his limp body. "Bolt! What is it, boy? You gotta wake up, please..."

Tommy and Katie looked on, helplessly. Suddenly there was a click of cold metal behind all of them.

"I think that's quite enough." A voice dry as dead winter leaves spoke up.

Penny immediately spun around, jumping straight into a fighting stance and finding herself looking straight down the barrel of something terrible and deadly. She didn't let go of Bolt, and stood tall and true. "I won't let you hurt him."

The tall stranger regarded her coldly, never wavering his aim for an instant. "Oh no my dear; it's not him we want."

Penny stared, her sense of reality slipping away, trying not to let her fear show.

His green eye glinted, and he gestured at the two leopards. "I'll be taking the both of you too; you'll make fine specimens for my laboratory. That's it; be good boys and girls and nobody needs to get hurt. Your father--"

"My father is dead!" Penny yelled, her shock of crimson hair flying back in anger. "You're not real! You're just a creepy British actor who won't even talk to anyone off-set. Your name is--"

"Oh come now," he crooned, just a tiny flicker of annoyance betrayed through his eyes. "Is that any way to speak about your old man?"

A wind began gently blowing; Penny stared with cold fury.

"Is he real?" The man gestured at the unconscious bundle of white fur and limbs cradled in her arms. "Your talking dog? Yes... Don't look so surprised. He's dying. And the only way to save him, is--"

Suddenly the leopard twins, the girl, her dog, began to sparkle as if suffused by stars. A hum filled the air, penetrating, invading, saturating the senses. It intensified; the figures gently dissolved, and then vanished into thin air.

The lone figure stood alone, and he stared up at the sky in disbelief. A wretched scowl filled his face and he tossed his weapon to the ground in disgust. "Aliens..."