Balto and the Iditarod

Balto and the Iditarod

The second fan fiction by silver_balto

 

Prologue:

It’s been called the Last Great Race on Earth. The Iditarod Dog Race; 1100 km of Alaska’s toughest terrain, unholy weather and the elements nipping at your face and hands. But in Nome, Balto wishes to run this famous race. Little did he know that he’d get his chance sooner than he thought he would.

 

Nome, Alaska, March 25th 1948, 10:54 pm,

 

The town of Nome had a strange buzz in the air today. People were lining up in front of the communications building at the edge of town. The reply from Anchorage had finally come. Everyone listened intently. A crackled voice came over the speaker.

‘’Nome. Nome. Come in. This is Anchorage.’’ The man spoke. The telegrapher answered, ‘’this is Nome. Go ahead Anchorage. We read you loud and clear.’’

‘’The team you sent to be evaluated has been accepted. They will participate in the Iditarod Dog Race.’’

The crowd started to cheer, so loud in fact that Prof. Brent MacWolf could hear their voices in his basement laboratory.

In the old fishing yacht outside of Nome, Balto sat on the bow, leaning over the pulpit. He sighed heavily and continued to stare out at the town. His friend Boris the snow goose dropped his mop and walked over to Balto.

‘’What is with all that racket,’’ he questioned, ‘’is louder than my relatives at our family reunion.’’

Balto sighed again.

‘’The team representing Nome in the Iditarod has been accepted.’’ He softly said. Boris scratched his head.

‘’Boy, a lot has happened since I returned from migration to Russia. But wait, shouldn’t you be happy for the team?’’ Boris asked. Balto nodded sadly.

‘’I am, it’s just that I wish I was running too.’’ Balto sighed once again. Boris nodded.

‘’Is what I thought. Balto, you will get your chance eventually. You just need patience. How do you think I learn to fly, hmm? I practise, and practise, and finally, I learn to fly no problem. Remember Balto, patience always prevails.’’

‘’I guess.’’ Balto answered and continued to stare out at the town, too sad to get some sleep.

 

The next day, 11:34 am,

 

Balto awoke to hear Jenna calling his name. Balto slowly got to his feet and walked to the pulpit of the yacht. There was his wife, the beautiful red husky named Jenna.

‘’What happened?’’ he questioned sleepily. Jenna looked anxious.

‘’The team that was supposed to race for Nome have gotten really sick. The musher has diphtheria, and each of the dogs are in no condition to run.’’ She explained. Balto’s tired face became alert.

‘’What do you mean they can’t race? If those guys don’t run, we don’t have a representative for Nome.’’ Balto exclaimed. Jenna nodded solemnly.

‘’I know. Rosy sounded the exact same as you when she telephoned her parents. Balto, what do we do?’’

Just as Balto was about to answer, Boris came waddling out of the cabin of the yacht.

‘’What is problem here? I try to sleep one wink, and all I hear is voices.’’ He complained.

‘’There’s not time for that right now Boris. Team Nome can’t run in the Iditarod.’’ Balto replied. Boris was shocked.

‘’Am I hearing you correctly Balto? Not going to run?’’ he asked frantically. Jenna nodded.

‘’They became ill and can’t race.’’

‘’Oy, is worse than I thought. We cannot hope to live this down if Nome does not have representative for Iditarod!’’ Boris squawked. Balto then got a brain blast. He jumped from the pulpit of the fishing yacht and ran across the ice. Boris and Jenna gave each other puzzled looks.

‘’Balto where are you going?’’ Boris yelled. Balto’s voice came back faintly.

‘’I’m going to race for Nome!’’

 

Ten minutes later, Balto was at Prof. Brent MacWolf’s front door. He knocked continuously until he heard Brent’s voice inside yelling, ‘’okay, okay, keep your shirt on. I’ll be right there.’’

Brent opened the door and saw his friend panting in front of him.

‘’Balto, what’s wrong? You look like you ran all the way here.’’ He replied. Balto panted heavily and answered, ‘’Team Nome can’t run. I need you to be my team’s musher.’’

Brent stepped back an inch.

‘’What? You want me to be a musher? I’d love to, but we can’t enter with just you as my team. We actually need a team.’’ He explained. Balto nodded.

‘’I know, but I can’t ask every dog in Nome. I need to find specific dogs for the team.’’ Balto bowed his head. Brent put his fingers on his chin and suddenly came up with an idea.

‘’I think I know where we can find some dogs. I just so happened to have brought a VCR and a copy of Balto from the future. If these guys still live in Nome, I think we can get them to run with us.’’

Balto gave Brent a puzzled look.

‘’What’s a VCR?’’ he asked. Brent sighed.

‘’Never mind. Let’s just go get some team mates.’’ Brent muttered and pulled out his Skin device. The Professor changed himself into his dog form and walked toward town, followed by a bewildered Balto.

 

The Back Alleys of Nome, 12:02 pm,

 

This area is what the dogs of Nome call the Back Alleys. This is where some of the toughest dogs in the small town hung out. Inside one specific alley, a poker game was going on. Tons of dogs gathered around the poker table, watching the game unfold. Sitting at the table were five dogs; and the fattest dog at the table was winning.

‘’Ha ha, I win again! A full house, three aces and two kings. Read ‘em and weep. Youse guys lose again.’’ The plump dog snickered as he was pushed a large pile of bones. One of the other dogs at the table then yelled, ‘’you’re a cheater! I quit this game!’’

A large hush came over the crowd. The fat dog got out of his chair and walked up to the dog. He stopped about one centimetre from the quitter’s face.

‘’No one ever quits a game with me unless I says so. Youse got that?’’ he asked. The quitter pushed the fat one’s face away from his and walked away.

‘’I still quit. You will get yourself into a situation one day that will make you think twice about the way you treat people. Think about that, Big N.’’ and with that, the dog walked away. The fat dog they called the Big N snarled.

‘’Mugze! Louie! Take care of our friend dare. I want him brought back to me alive.’’ He answered. The Big N then turned to his fellow players.

‘’The game’s finished for today. Thank youse for playing.’’ With a final bow, the players disappeared. The Big N sat back in his chair and sighed. Suddenly, a noise alerted his senses. The Big N whirled around and stared straight at the source of the sound. Prof. Brent MacWolf.

‘’What do youse want?’’ he asked angrily. Brent was as calm as ever.

‘’I don’t want any trouble. I’m just looking for a dog named Nikki. You heard of him?’’ Brent asked. The Big N calmed down and shook hands with MacWolf.

‘’I’m Nikki. What business does youse have with me?’’ Nikki asked.

‘’Well long story short, Team Nome can’t run in the Iditarod, so Balto and I are putting together a team to race. You interested?’’

Nikki shook his head.

‘’Nah, I gave up racing years ago. Once Steele was shunned, Kaltag, Star and I had nothing else to do. So we went our separate ways and we haven’t seen each other since.’’ He explained. Brent sighed.

‘’Well, what would you do to accept my offer?’’

Nikki gave a small smile.

‘’Well, since I now am a legitimate businessman, I think a small game of Winner-Take-All poker ought to be enough.’’

Nikki grabbed the deck from the last game and shuffled it, while Brent sat down in a chair opposite of the mafia dog. Nikki dealt out five cards and explained the rules.

‘’Okay, here’s how I play. You only get three Drop-and-Draws (where you drop up to three cards and draw the same amount) and the person with the dominant hand wins. Since the normal rules for a Winner-Takes-All game is that the loser dies, I think I’ll just change it for today. If you win, I’ll join your team. But if I win, you will have to do my dirty work for the next three years, assuming you aren’t killed first.’’

Brent gulped and picked up his hand. Already he had three queens, a two and a jack.

‘’If Nikki is just like he was in the movie, he will cheat to win. So I have to win before he cheats.’’ Brent thought as he grabbed his two and threw it down, redrawing a five of clubs. Nikki grinned behind his hand. He had three kings and two aces; a full house.

‘’I’ll stay with this hand. Unless youse can make a better one, I win.’’

Brent took his five

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