too."

"Don't be so modest Kaltag," one of the dogs said, "You wouldn't have been picked if you weren't up to the job."

"So Kal, how does it feel to be the top dog of your team?" a young border collie asked.

"To be honest, it's the grandest, the most impressive, the most dignified, the most-"

"He loves it!" a small husky sitting beside Kaltag cried out. The whole room burst out laughing and Kaltag affectionately rubbed him on the head with his paw. The husky that cried out was named Star, and he always liked to butt in whenever Kaltag went on a tangent like that. Until recently, Kaltag had never really appreciated how easily Star could sum it up in one sentence.

"Though, with the promotion comes the responsibility too," an old St. Bernard named Doc put in, "After all, you don't want to lose your winning streak do you?"

"Hey, wes managed to get the medicine back through that blizzard without our old lead dog, so wes could easily keep up with other teams," a stocky chow named Nikki replied. Nikki was another one of Kaltag's teammates, and was actually his first friend, dating back to when they were still in training to be sled dogs.

"Yeah, if we could get home from that without Steele's help, then I'm sure that we can win any race," Star put in. The dog that Star was referring to was the former lead dog of Nome's championship team, a purebred husky named Steele. While Steele was quite competent in a race, the conditions for the team's next mission would prove to be overwhelming for him. Shortly after their most recent race ended, it became clear that a recent outbreak of diphtheria was starting to reach critical levels. To make matters worse, the doctor had depleted his supply of the antitoxin used to treat the disease. Ships couldn't travel in the frozen sea, and there was no way to fly the medicine in by air. The closest that the rail lines could get was the town of Nenana, so that left one last method of transport: dogsled.

They would need a team that would be able to make the run to Nenana and back as quickly as possible. So, the fastest dogs from town were put together, and Steele led them on their mission of mercy. They made it to Nenana with no problems, but by the time they were picking up the medicine, a fierce blizzard had started to blow in. Not wanting to waste any time, they quickly set out to return to Nome. However, the storm only grew worse and the driving snow reduced visibility to near zero. Normally when faced with conditions like these, a dog team would trust the senses of their lead dog. The mark of a good lead dog is the ability to navigate in adverse weather, and they thought that Steele would be able to lead them through it. Unfortunately, that was far from the truth. Steele had no idea where he was going in that storm, and ended up leading the team off the trail, causing them to get lost in the mountains. With the low visibility, they ended up sliding down an icy hill and crashing onto a ledge. Their musher was knocked unconscious, and the team had no idea where they were. Unfortunately, Steele made no effort to get the team together and try to find their way home, "That was probably the first sign that he wasn't all he was cracked up to be," Kaltag thought.

"However, it wasn't just us," Kaltag said, "Remember, Balto was the one that led us home that day."

Countless hours passed for the team, when they suddenly heard someone else sliding down the hill. It was none other than Balto, a stray wolfdog that the dogs in town knew all to well. However, his presence would not be welcomed by all of them, especially Steele. Being a half-wolf hybrid was something that most of the dogs looked down on, as they had all heard the stories of violent wolves and wolf hybrids who would turn on unsuspecting dogs, sometimes humans as well. This had led many in the town to distrust Balto at first sight, but at that moment, most of the team were willing to put up with Balto if it meant that they could get home. Balto had left marks on trees on his way out, with the intention of following them straight back to Nome. However, Steele was adamant about refusing Balto's help, and he started to strike Balto to keep him away from the medicine, but his blind actions were starting to endanger their cargo, as Steele knocked over the crate containing the fragile jars of antitoxin on one of his lunges. By now, even his own teammates were starting to plead with him to accept Balto's help, but he didn't listen. On his next lunge, Steele missed his mark and ended up plunging over a cliff.

With no one else to lead them and time running out, the team got themselves together and let Balto take the lead harness, unaware that Steele was not out of the picture yet. He crawled back up the cliff and proceeded to sabotage Balto's marks, causing the team to go off course again, almost losing the medicine and their new lead over a cliff. Fortunately, the medicine survived the fall and Balto was able to pull it back up. The team got back on the trail, but it was soon apparent that something about Balto was different; he seemed to have a greater sense of purpose and direction, "I wonder what changed about Balto? He didn't say anything about it, he just ran." Despite the false trails, Balto was able to sniff out the true path home. The medicine was delivered and the children were saved.

"It was Balto that led us home, as he was able to sniff out the proper trail," Kaltag said, and most of the dogs murmured in agreement.

"Hey, if that's the case, then why didn't your human take him in?" the young border collie asked, "I bet Balto would make a great lead for our championship team."

"I really don't know why he didn't, though I'm sure he has his reasons," Soon, Kaltag was swamped by countless other dogs, all wanting to give him their praise as well. The pressing crowd was starting to make him feel uncomfortable, so he quickly excused himself and trotted out of the mill to get some air. As much as he enjoyed the praise, he could only handle so much at once, "Wow, who knew that little ol' me would become the new lead dog. I guess I never really thought much about my own skill and my accomplishments. Then again, anything I did would always be credited to Steele…"

"Hey Kaltag!" a voice rang out, breaking the Chinook from his thoughts. He turned and saw that it belonged to a smoke-grey husky, who was followed by a few other dogs, including a female Samoyed and a couple of malamutes. Kaltag knew that the husky who had called out to him was Spitz, but he didn't know his friends as well, "Kal, I just wanted to say my congratulations as well. I'm sure that you'll make our town proud," he said.

"Thanks Spitz," he replied.

"Truth be told, I'm happy that it was you who was given the job and not that lobo," Spitz said, "Could you imagine a half-breed like that actually leading our championship team?"

"I don't have to; I lived it," Kaltag said flatly. He knew that Spitz was one of those dogs who still distrusted Balto, all because of his half-wolf breeding, "Is that all you wanted to say Spitz?"

"No, not exactly," Spitz said, "Kal, you're the one in charge now, and while you may want to repay Balto for his great deed, you must remember that he is still a wild wolf."

"He's only half wolf," Kaltag put in.

"Whatever. My point is that I don't think you should jump to trust him so easily," Spitz replied, "Take a little time and see if he really is as great as you think he is."

"I don't have to. I already know that he's a great dog," Kaltag replied.

"If he's so great, then why didn't your owner make him the new lead dog?" Spitz asked.

"I – I don't know," Kaltag replied, "It's probably because he's still a stray, and living as a stray tends to make a dog a little… uncivilized," Kaltag said, "Being part wolf probably doesn't help him out that much either."

"Ah yes, it can sometimes be hard to resist the call of the wild," Spitz said, causing a few dogs to snicker, "Besides, he may have gotten you home, but he didn't run the longest stretch. He only met you part-way on the return trip. It was you guys that ran the most."

"I guess you're right... in a real race he'd have to go much farther than that to win," Kaltag continued, "Plus, there's a lot more pressure as we'd be going up against multiple teams that have the best training. When it comes to racing, he has no more real experience than Dixie," Kaltag said, causing Spitz and the others to chuckle. The thought of Dixie, who was a rather small dog, trying to lead a sled team with her short legs was quite ridiculous.

"Didn't you also say that Balto took you on more than one detour on the way home?" the female Samoyed asked.

Kaltag knew she was referring to the parts where Balto had gone down the wrong trail, and the part where he had taken them into an ice cave. However, the former had been to to Steele's interference, while the latter was to escape from a deadly avalanche, "Well, yeah he did, but-"

"But that's not the mark of a good lead dog is it? Carla here raises a good point; a good lead stays on the path and avoids wasting time, " Spitz said, "Plus, there would still be some of his wolf instincts that you'd have to deal with, such as the urge to chase down prey."

"Yeah, I suppose there is that," Kaltag said, "It would be nuts if he decided to go after something like a rabbit during a race," At this,