just caught me a bit off guard really.  Anyway, thanks again for taking me up as a pupil.”

“No problem, it was a pleasure working with your dad!  He was the greatest, the most inspired, the most-!  Well, you get the idea.  Anyway, on to business.”

“Right!”

Dingo took his seat with his head held high confidently, taking on a very military-esque expression of seriousness as Kaltag copied and began to pace back and forth around him to run through the routine.

“Now, did you have a good night’s sleep?  Got your energy up?”

“Yes sir!”

“Did you have a hearty breakfast, one that filled you up but not enough to weight you down?”

“Yes sir!”

“Did you do some practice laps?”

“Yes, last night sir!”

“Alright then.  I’ve taught you everything I know about dog-sledding, and I’ve done this for a while so I know a thing or two.  All that’s left is for you to take what I’ve told you and apply it to the most extensive, the most thorough, the most well planned-!  Well, it’s the tryouts.  You’re going to try out as a Team Dog, a center position just like your brother.  There’s the least amount of pressure from the musher there for you, but you’re in the middle of the dogs so you’ll need to keep a steady pace.  That shouldn’t be a problem for you, you can run and your slim build will help you get out from line snags.  Just keep aware, listen to commands, and do what the outside dogs are doing.”

“Got it.”

“After all, I’ve been prepping my replacement here.  It’s all down to this kid, so get out there and make all that hard work worthwhile alright?”

“Sir yes sir!”

Kaltag then took his own seat in front of him and, as if to complete the ensemble of military discipline, they saluted each other with a front paw placed strongly above their brow.  When it was released, Dingo’s enthusiastic smile returned as he gave a nod of confirmation.

“Alright,” Kaltag concluded, “now get out there!  Make me and your dad proud!”

“Alright sir!”

Dingo turned and broke into a dash back towards the crowd, looking back briefly to his trainer with a smile.  From the absence of his real father, whom everyone just loved to bring up around him in accidental spite, during this training period Kaltag had become his father figure.  It wasn’t difficult for him to get accustomed to this; Kaltag was teaching him and at the same time told him a bit more about Balto.  Dingo got a lot out of this relationship, and now it was all going to pay off.

He very soon disappeared in the crowd, but just as quickly reappeared at Kodi’s side.  Considering their tryout positions, this was right where he should be.  Among the crowd the brothers soon also found their mother Jenna approach them for, like Balto albeit unbeknownst to them, she also wanted to see her children off.

“Hey you two,” she proclaimed as she admired their donned equipment, “look at my boys all in uniform.”

She nuzzled them both for the sake of affection as well as good luck.  Dingo had looked up to her when she approached, even keeping himself up during this display of affection, but he lowered once again in embarrassment after she spoke.  Kodi on the other hand stood prominent and prideful, unintentionally showing off his own present-at-the-time collar while doing so as the sled dog harness wasn’t yet a license of ownership in itself.

“Glad you could come, Mom.  I wish Dad could have been here too.”

“Aww, well don’t sell your father short boys.  He just likes to be mysterious sometimes; he’s probably somewhere watching right now and you just don’t know it yet.”

Dingo’s ears turned to the conversation, soon to be followed by the rest of his head in response.

“Y-You think so Mom?”

“I know so.  Believe me, he wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

Dingo became enticed with this notion, beginning to scan the crowd and open spaces for the father he barely recalled before broadening out his view to the alleys.

“He did wish you good luck didn’t he?” Their mother inquired.

“Yeah,” Kodi answered, “he told me last night.”

“And Dingo?”

“Well, you know how his family is about wolves.”

Dingo couldn’t help but confirm his brother’s remark with a nod as he looked back to them, ears dropping to match his declining good mood.

“Well in any case, good luck you two,” Jenna stated to begin her farewell as she trotted away, “you know I’ll be watching and cheering for you both.”

“Thanks Mom,” Kodi replied, “see ya after the run!”

Jenna just kept her smile as she gradually disappeared into the crowd.

The musher began to verbally usher the crowds away, Balto’s two sons just grinning at each other before the other dogs took their places.  Several varying dogs, all of them dominantly husky, took their places in front and behind, beginning their own introductions.  Two particularly familiar huskies, but not familiar to Kodi and Dingo, turned from their position in front of the two siblings.  One was very built and large with masculinity, with toned down blue fur and an even more toned down variance underneath.  The other was slim, sleek, and feminine in purple faded fur and a more grayish variance underneath as well.  She turned after the previous form, who also spoke first and sounded rather simple-minded.

“Hey there!  You two the big newcomers, the sons of Balto?”

“Oh, yeah.” Dingo replied as he took into account his brother’s excitement turned to anxiety. “I’m Dingo, this is Kodi.”

“Alright, cool!  I’m Ralph, and this here is Dusty.  Dusty, say hello!”

“Alright alright,” the purple husky responded, her voice conveying a certain age that her form did not, “name’s Dusty, but he already told you that.”

“Yeah I did!”

“Nice to meet you guys,” Kodi finally replied as he perked up, “guessing you’re on the team already?”

“Yup!” Ralph replied, first once again and with great enthusiasm. “Same with Dusty here.  We’re the Point Dogs right now, the ones behind the Lead Dog.”

“As you can guess,” Dusty continued from Ralph’s comment, “the lead dog’s been here a while too.”

“Right…” Both Kodi and Dingo replied in some fashion, their glances darting as the obvious was stated for them to really show their place.  Dingo was the first to perk back up and look to Dusty.

“Hey, are we the only ones trying out?  Do we have any competition?”

“Well,” she answered abruptly while looking behind them, “I think we’ve got one more in the back.  Said he was Star’s son or something.”

“Yup, we got him.  He’s all the way in the back by the musher.” Ralph cut in as he began to chuckle. “Could ya believe it, he wanted to be a Wheel Dog!”

“Nearly the opposite of his dad if that’s really the case,” Dusty continued, “considering Star was a Point.”

The brothers turned their glances to the back of the sled, vaguely able to make out a smaller and scraggly dog in the back by the musher.  He was looking rather nervous, without an ounce of apparent confidence.

“He’s not gonna make it,” they heard a new voice ahead of them bluntly state.

They turned to find the lead dog had traveled around the Point Dogs to approach them.  He seemed to be the perfect combination of Ralph and Dusty, both in appearance and personality.  He retained a large burly build but wasn’t as monstrous as Ralph, well fitting a healthy coat of faded brown fur.  His voice emanated the masculinity of Ralph’s, even if abandoning its simple-mindedness and replacing it with the grit of Dusty’s vocals.  His face was round and rugged rather than sharp like the others as well.

“He’s been shaking in his paws all day,” the lead dog continued, “we can’t even be sure that anyone trained him.”

“Wow…”

“Anyway, the name’s Kirby.  I’ll be the Lead Dog for today, as usual.  You’ve already met Dusty and Ralph, our Points.”

“Yeah, I’m Dingo and this is Kodi.”

“Hmm, Dingo and Kodi.  You two are Balto’s kids huh?”

“Yeah, everyone seems to be making a big deal about that…”

“And for a good reason.  You know what he did for this town, right?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Anyway, with that along with your trainers and the positions you’re taking up here, we’ve got high hopes for ya.  Just do what we do and keep up, and you should be fine.”

Kodi and Dingo just nodded in confirmation, after which Kirby began to head back to his post in the front.  The musher came by and checked all their lines, attaching those who weren’t yet and such before taking his own place upon the sled.

“Alright…”

“Hey, they’re starting!”

Balto quickly dashed ahead and into the crowd,