Like it was an art, I leapt from one roof to the other with pin point precision. My dog tags were the only noises I made: I was trained to be quiet even if I was jumping across roofs or running through crusty snow. I paused for a second on one roof and peered around. From one side I could see my sister Roxy walking with the familiar, sleek, blue-eyed silver husky I remembered from puppyhood. Further down the street I could see my brother talking to a few of his friends. I took one last look at the girls but Roxy had spotted me. Roxy scowled and the silver husky made a face but I jumped on to the next roof and took off again. Finally, I jumped off the roof, onto a fence and then onto the ground coated with early fall snow.

“Heyya Scooty!” I greeted with a smile.

The black and white mutt didn’t need to tell his own brother his name was Scooter, but he sighed heavily anyway.

     “Weren’t you supposed to be in the pound?” Scooter frowned.

“Eeh, got boring pretty fast” I mumbled, sniffing around the trashcans for food. 

Scooter’s two friends stared at me in disgust.

“What are you looking at!” I snapped at them. “Beat it or else you’ll find out why they put me in the pound in the first place”

They didn’t need to be told twice and scampered away. Scooter rolled his eyes.

     “Do you need more food?” Scooter sighed.

“If it’s not too much trouble” I replied with a rare bit of humility.

     “Then hurry up. I have to leave on a mail run” Scooter mumbled.

Scooter led me down the street and I followed, not a hint of fear in my step. I didn’t have to be afraid. No one ever bothered me or even thought about bothering me. Scooter didn’t either but that was because he was some human’s goody-goody sled dog. 

My brother led me to his owner’s house and pushed the door open with his nose. 

     “You know the rules. Wait out here and I’ll be back with food”

I nodded and sat down, rolling my eyes. Scooter disappeared inside the house and returned a few minutes later with a metal bowl filled with dog food. 

     “Don’t get caught this time” Scooter said. “I need to go before the team leaves without me”

With that, Scooter left, leaving me to scarf down my dinner. Who ever said strays had to go hungry? As soon as I was done, I stretched and glanced around to see if there was anyone else I could annoy. The frosty streets and old wooden houses were empty and the sky was getting darker and darker. No one was around, so with a little smirk to myself, I trotted right into Scooter’s dog house for a nap. It wasn’t like he was there to use it anyway.

     The spotlight slipped across the snow and crossed over the sign reading CAUTION: K-9 TRAINING BASE. It slid along the edge of the fence and almost missed the figure struggling to squeeze under it. The red and white wolf hybrid just managed to get to the other side just as his handler raced after him with his leash. The dog didn’t waste a second and was off at a ferocious pace. The sound of barking reached the red dog’s ears and he made it into the woods just as the other handlers let a few other dogs off their leashes to catch him. The red dog wove through the trees but paused briefly when he spotted a fallen one. With the agility and cunning he had picked up from his training, he leapt up the trunk and huddled in the dying branches. A dog and two handlers raced by. A few seconds later, two more handlers and another dog ensued. The red dog waited for a while to make sure they were gone and carefully slid down the trunk. With a laugh, he started to weave through the trees again when suddenly, two dogs darted out in front of him, noses to the ground. When their eyes meant, the two other dogs started to growl.

“Asa, Caesar, stand down!” the red dog ordered.

The Doberman pinscher and German Shepherd sat down obediently.

     “Are you running away?” Asa, the Doberman asked worriedly.

“I have to. Staying here would kill me and it’ll probably kill you too”

     “What do you want us to do?” Caesar asked.

“I want you to lead them the wrong way” 

     “But that would get us in trouble!”

“Not with me it won’t, but there’ll be trouble if they catch me. Now as your commanding officer, I order you to lead them away”

They nodded quickly and the red dog gave them a curt nod.

“Good luck then” 

With that, the three split up, and the red dog took off, never to be seen at the base again.

     With a little snort, my eyes opened and I thought about my dream. It wasn’t foreign and although it was a dream now, it was reality not more then a few months ago. I had been that red dog and I had gotten away. Now why would a dog that was clearly the highest ranking want to escape? Because our handlers could make us do anything they wanted. And my handler could control me with his voice commands and I did them by instinct even if I thought they were stupid. Why would you trust someone who could control you? They could easily get you killed. So I left. And now I was in Platinum. With a wide yawn, I rolled onto my stomach and stood up. After I stretched, I headed back into the streets. 

     The first thing I saw when I entered town was my sister Azura. Out of all my siblings, she was the only one I genuinely liked. I could tolerate Scooter, Roxy hated me as much as I hated her but I got along with my youngest sister. She was always happy and smiling but now she was frowning and looked deep in thought.

“Hey Azura! What’s wrong?”

     “Some one called me a filthy mutt” she said slowly. “What’s a mutt?”

My blood boiled. No one messed with my sister.

“Who”

Still deep in thought she got up and led me through some of the back allies. Normal dogs usually didn’t hang out in the back of these allies. Only strays did. Laughter started to reach our ears and Azura showed me to the strays. A few dogs stood howling at some joke. The leader seemed to be a brown and tan Malamute cross.

“Which one of you insulted my sister?” I growled.

The laughter stopped and they exchanged glances. The Malamute stepped forward. 

     “I did! Got a problem with that?”

“Yeah” I growled, bumping my head into his so that we were eye to eye. “And I don’t think you know who you’re messing with”

With a snarl the Malamute snapped at me and I was instantly ready for a fight. I loved fighting. I had never lost a fight and I wasn’t about to start now.

The Malamute lunged at me with his teeth bared and when he reached me, I swatted him across the face. Stunned, the husky fell back. He had underestimated me. But now that he knew what he was up against, he was a bit more trouble the second time he charged. At first, I was a bit worried that his larger size would’ve gotten to me... but my army-dog training started to kick in. 

     “Alright! Now you really asked for it” the Malamute cross sputtered, after he got a hard hit.

Once again, he lunged but I was ready to end this. I charged right at him and just before his teeth snapped shut, I lowered my head and head butted him. He stumbled back, dazed. His two friends froze and looked between the Malamute and me. Still gasping for breath, the stunned mutt pulled himself to his feet. I braced myself for another round but instead, the other dog just grinned. I raised an eyebrow but didn’t let my guard down.

     “That” he said. “Was the best fight I’ve ever been in”

He shook the snow out of his fur and came closer.

     “We could use a guy like you”

“Apologize to my sister” I ordered flatly.

The dog’s darting brown and blue eyes turned to Azura.

     “Well miss… I…am sorry”

Azura smiled and tail wagging, left in the happy mood she was usually always in.

     “Thanks Dallas!” she called over her shoulder.

The Malamute cross stared after her.

“Who is she?”

“No one you’re gonna meet up with again unless you wanna get ripped to shreds!”

     “Easy!” the stray replied lightly, backing off. “I was just wondering”

“Now what were you saying before?”

The dog grinned.

     “First off, I’m Ivan” the Malamute cross introduced. “And I’m the leader of my own group of strays and I was saying that we could use a guy like you”

“No thanks, I’m not much of a group person” I muttered.

     “Then maybe we could have, you know, a kind of alliance”

I thought about it then grinned.

“That would be okay” I replied, quickly adding, “But stay away from my sister”

     After that day, Ivan was probably the closest thing I had to a friend outside of my family. We had each other’s backs. He wasn’t the most trustworthy dog in all of Platinum, but I relied on him more then any other stray. We’d fill each other in about