said. She headed to the window just to prove him wrong out of fun. ''There's still some time left till...''

But she didn't finish as she gasped him shock, looking outside of the window. The others got even more serious upon hearing that.

''What's happening, Dipsy?!'' Star asked nervously.

''The sunset is here!'' Dipsy replied, getting the words.

''What?!'' Kaltag yelled. He, Star and Nikki, among with some others rushed to the window. Sure enough, the sun was almost set.

''They haven't returned...'' Nikki commented.

''This is not happening!'' Max yelled frantically.

''Why?!'' Molly asked. That response was quite unusual to the others, as she'd mostly tell to her mate to calm down and that everything will be fine.

''Did Steele get them?'' Dixie asked, as her fur was slowly rising.

''Who knows...'' Sylvie commented. ''Maybe he did, maybe he didn't.''

''They said...'' Star muttered. ''By sunset.''

''And they're not here...'' Sylvie replied.

''This might be a big impact to the sled teams...'' Max muttered.

''I... I...'' Molly said, but she couldn't continue because of the grief.

''A big impact to both of the teams...'' Kirby commented. ''How could they not be back?''

''We can't be sure.'' Ralph answered. ''Kodi and Dusty gone, among with thier pups.''

''And it seems that Dingo's team ain't as enthusiastic as we are.'' Kirby said, looking at Dingo's teammates.

''They should have been back...'' Ralph continued.

Every dog in the boiler room was looking on the floor. None of them were sure if Balto and company would make it back home.

However, they weren't the only one who were in grief. Behind the boiler room, two polar bear cubs and two geese weren't looking happy.

Luk mumbled something, as usual. Boris slowly looked to Muk, who ''translated'' Luk's words: ''He said that he's very sad because Balto isn't back.''

''It's just terrible...'' Boris said. He was as sad when he thought that Balto'd not bring medicine.

''He must have meant a lot to you, Boris.'' Stella said, trying to comfort Boris.

''I looked after him ever since he was a puppy.'' Boris said. ''His enemy lured him in the wild and what if the doesn't return?''

None of four of them said anything as the night fell. The boiler room went silent, as no one wanted to talk mostly due to sadness.

But then.

''AAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!'' A loud howl was heard from the distance.

Everyone inside and outside of the boiler room raised their heads upon hearing the howl.

''Balto?!'' Everyone, but absolutely everyone asked themselves.

Another howl was heard, and this time, all the dogs headed out of the boiler room. Muk, Luk, Boris and Stella came form the behind.Some of the light from the houses in the outskirts were turned on.

Then, the third howl was heard, and then everyone started cheering loudly.

There in distance, a sled was seen, with Balto in the lead. Behind him were his sons and sons-in-law, and on the sled were females with the puppies, including Jenna.

''Balto's back!!!'' Everyone yelled in happiness as the saw the sled coming towards them. Then they realized that the sled was going directly into Nome so they made way for them to enter.

Balto noticed that the others were cheering them in happiness. Kodi and Dingo were proudly running in the sled together. Yukon enjoyed running, but he didn't seem to be interested to  be a sled-dog.

Josh, Thunder and Yang were never delivering the mail, but they sure enjoyed the run. Kenai was running without the problem. He was possibly the first wolf to carry the sled.

The females were enjoying their ride as much as they could. They all madfe sure that puppies were by them and with them.

''We're in town!'' Balto yelled. ''And I can see humans on the street!''

But not all of them were happy upon hearing that. Kenai gapsed in shock as he saw humans in the distance.

''Balto!'' Kenai yelled. ''Get me outta here! I see humans!''

Balto, who wasn't thinking about anything else but to return to Nome, realized that Kenai was with them and was going to be seen by humans.

But it was too late to turn around and free him, because the overjoyed humans filled the street.

''It's Balto!'' One of them yelled. ''He found them!''

''All of them.'' The other one said. ''Well done, boy!'' And patted Balto on his head.

Each of the owners found their dogs and were sure overjoyed to see them back. They were thinking that someone kidnapped them, but they didn't know that they were rescuing as well.

''Hey!'' One of them yelled, noticing Kenai. ''This one is not a dog, it's a wolf!''

Kenai backed away as much as he could because he was slowly gaining attention of the other humans. What was going to happen to him now?

''A wolf?'' They asked. ''Watch out, he might be dangerous!''

''Does someone have a gun?'' Someone yelled.

Every dog on the sled gasped in shock. Were they going to shoot Kenai just because of being wolf?!

''Stop!'' An another yelled. Judging by the looks, he looked like an Inuit. ''We don't need a gun!''

''What are you talking about?'' The one who demanded the gun asked.

''Are you people going to be that heartless?!'' The Inuit asked.

''What?'' The others asked.

''This wolf may not be safe.'' The Inuit said. ''But you can't just shoot the wolf! He helped Balto to bring our dogs and puppies home! Maybe he's Balto family!''

The humans were talking to each other if they should show mercy to Kenai or not.

''Balto.'' One human asked. ''Is the wolf... is he your family?''

Balto barked and wagged with his tail, as if he was trying to tell ''Yes'' to the human. The human looked at Kenai, then at the others.

''I think you're right.'' The human said to the Inuit. ''We just can't kill the poor wolf.''

''Why don't you try to pet him?'' The one who asked for the gun said. ''We'll see if he bites or not.''

The Inuit looked at Kenai, who was looking at him with the innocent look. He slowly reached for Kenai, trying to pet him.

Kenai noticed that the Inuit meant no harm to him. Hu supressed his wolf side deep inside him and tried to be nice. He develpoed that personality ever since he had come to Nome.

The Inuit petted Kenai slowly on the head. Kenai winced a bit upon feeling the human's touch, but then he felt the petting as something nice. He started to slowly enjoy the touch.

''So this is how the human touch feels like.'' Kenai thought to himself.

''He's not dangerous.'' Inuit said. ''If you want to see it by yourself, why don't you try?''

The one who demanded the gun slowly approached Kenai. He reached for Kenai as same as the Inuit did. Kenai started to get used to the humans, although he was still afraid.

''Just a question.'' The another human asked, noticing Aleu with her puppies. ''Whose dog with blue bandana her is this?''

The others noticed Aleu. They were surprised to see the wolf wearing bandana. Humans were asking each other to find out whose owner of Aleu is. But at the end, no one was found.

''Hey, boy.'' The Inuit said, releasing Kenai from his harness. ''Is one of these females your mate? Do you have puppies?''

Kenai followed the Inuit to the sled and pointed at Aleu and their puppies. The Inuit felt sorry for them and turned to the other humans.

''Do you really want to shoot him now?!'' He yelled. ''He has a family!''

The humans looked away in shame after realizing what kind of heartless beasts they were before.

''After all, they all returned with the puppies.'' The other humans said. ''They stopped the kidnappers and it means they're heroes!''

''Yes!!'' Everyone yelled.

''And because of that, we must show some respect to this wolf!'' The Inuit yelled. The others agreed then.

Soon enough, everyone took off their harnesses and females got off the sled with the puppies. The humans took the sled to the post office to make it use for mail delivery.

''Well, what shall we do now?'' Kodi asked.

''Let's go to our homes.'' Balto said. ''It's pretty late.''

''Yeah, but I need to tell you something.'' Kodi said. ''It's about the puppy adoption.''

''How about some other day?'' Balto asked. ''Like, we can all gather up tomorrow in the boiler room with the puppies and discuss about it.''

''Deal.'' Kodi said, the others agreed.

''Balto!'' A yelling was heard, and they saw the dogs running to them

''You made it!'' Star yelled, full of himself.

''Is everyone back?''

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