shook him wildly.

‘’Star, Star! Snap out of it!’’ he exclaimed. Star finally pried Balto off his shoulders and replied, ‘’sorry, I lost control there. It all started when I was on Steele’s team. When we had that accident back in 1925, I was changed forever. Balto, it may not have looked like it, but I was suffering severe mental damage. When we arrived back in Nome, I swore off sled racing for good. And now I’m not sure if I can race again. What if I have another spasm?’’

Brent smiled.

‘’Trust us. Once you start running again, you’ll forget about your spasms easily.’’

Star nodded.

‘’Okay then. I’ll join.’’ He replied. Just before Star left with the others, Dixie handed him a small trinket. It was a small tooth she had strung on a piece of twine. It was her most prized possession, and she was giving it to her husband for good luck. Star kissed Dixie on the cheek and followed the others to the surface.

Once the five reached the surface, Brent knelt down and asked Balto something. Balto nodded and Brent walked off toward the post office. Star turned to Balto and asked, ‘’hey, where’s Brent going?’’

Balto smiled.

‘’He’s going to get our final member.’’

 

The Post office, five minutes later…

 

Brent arrived at the Post Office and walked inside. The building was small, and filled with mail. The attendant behind the desk was lifting bags of mail in by hand that had just arrived by plane. He turned and was surprised to see the professor.

‘’Oh, hello professor. What can I do you for?’’ the attendant asked. Brent cleared his throat and replied, ‘’I’m looking for Kodi. He used to run on the mail team.’’

The mail attendant put his hand on his chin.

‘’Kodi, Kodi, don’t know a Kodi. Sorry pal.’’ He answered. Brent nodded understandably.

‘’Well, thanks for the time.’’ He said and exited the building. Brent then sat down beside a scruffy dog with a letter on his collar. The dog seemed to be on edge, and finally Brent asked, ‘’what’s wrong with you?’’

The dog answered like he’d seen a ghost.

‘’This is terrible. Team Nome won’t be able to run. What if the other towns mock us, or we can’t run in another race, or even…’’

‘’For the love of God, calm down!’’ Brent exclaimed. The dog stopped talking and sat there.

‘’Oh, I’m sorry. Do you know where Kodi is? I need to talk with him.’’

The dog nodded.

‘’Sorry, I always get like that. My name’s Mel. And as for Kodi, he should be running in about a few seconds.’’

Sure enough, Brent saw a red male husky come running in. He skidded to a halt and showered both Mel and Brent with snow. The red husky walked over and apologized for the snow shower.

‘’Hey Mel, who’s the human?’’ the red dog asked.

‘’His name’s Brent. He wants to speak with you Kodi.’’ Mel replied.

Brent cleared his throat.

‘’Kodi, your dad and I are putting together a led team. We were wondering if you’d like to be one of the dogs on that team?’’ he asked. Kodi smiled.

‘’For dad, anything. You got yourself another team mate!’’ Kodi replied.

 

The next day, March 27th, 1948, 7:45 pm,

 

‘’Good luck you guys!’’

‘’Godspeed!’’

‘’Do Nome proud!’’

Hundreds of cheers rang out from the streets and houses of Nome as Balto, Brent, and their newly-formed team boarded a military plane and set off for Anchorage. After a two hour flight, the pilot said, ‘’okay you guys. The Anchorage airstrip is just coming into view we should be landing in a few minutes.’’

The plane gave a small jerk as it touched down on the airstrip. Brent unbuckled his seatbelt and walked out into the cold. He then opened the cargo hatch and let the team out. The dogs took a few seconds to stretch, and then followed Brent to the registration office for the race. Suddenly, a red Norwegian malamute slammed right into Brent. Brent got to his feet and helped the dog up. He didn’t even say thanks before he pushed past the team and walked over to his musher, a middle-aged man with a grey moustache and beard.

‘’Man, what a creep.’’ Nikki whispered. Kaltag nodded.

‘’Reminds you of Steele, doesn’t it?’’ he asked. Brent turned to the two dogs and placed his finger over his mouth.

‘’Shhh, keep it down. You want everyone else to hear you?’’ Brent hissed. Both Nikki and Kaltag stopped talking at that moment. Brent walked into the registration office and leaned on the counter. An Inuit man turned and noticed the musher.

‘’Yes, can I help you?’’ he asked.

‘’Is there any spots left for another dog team?’’ Brent questioned. The man picked up a clipboard and flipped through the many papers. He then stopped on the last sheet.

‘’We have one last spot. You’ll be starting the race last though.’’

‘’I don’t care, just register my team.’’ Brent replied. The man nodded and grabbed a pen.

‘’Team name?’’ he asked. Brent put his fingers on his chin.

‘’Team Nome.’’ He replied. The man wrote the name down.

‘’Number of dogs, and their names?’’ he questioned. Brent turned and counted.

‘’Five. Their names are Balto, Kodi, Kaltag, Nikki, and Star.’’ Brent answered. The man shook his head.

‘’I’m afraid you need six digs to race. You must find one more.’’ He explained. Brent slammed his fist onto the table.

‘’So close.’’ He mumbled. Balto suddenly heard the sound of a wolf howling. He recognized it immediately.

‘’Aleu.’’ He replied and ran out of the office. The man stared at Balto as he ran out.

‘’Did that dog just talk?’’ he stuttered. Brent thought up a quick lie.

‘’No, that was just a ventriloquism trick I did to break the ice. Just then, Balto walked in with another dog. She was a grey and cream half-wolf, and she had both the features of Balto and Jenna.

‘’We have our final dog. Her name’s Aleu. Now register us already!’’ Brent exclaimed. The man stepped back and quickly wrote down the information.

‘’Your name?’’

‘’Prof. Brent MacWolf.’’ Brent answered. The man wrote this final info down. He then put out his hand.

‘’Can I see you Musher License please?’’ he requested. Brent was one step ahead of the guy and presented a small card. The Inuit man examined, and even bit the card to see if it was authentic. He handed it back and pointed out the doorway.

‘’The race is that-a-way.’’ He explained. Brent nodded and walked out of the office, followed by his sled team. On the way, Kodi chatted with his sister.

‘’So Aleu, how’d you know we’d be here?’’ he asked. Aleu shrugged.

‘’I don’t know. I just had a feeling, that’s all.’’ She replied. Both dogs stopped talking when Brent stopped at the race area. There were about thirty or so teams there, all from around the state, and the world. Brent looked around for a sled, but all he found was a broken, ramshackle sleigh. He frowned and walked up to a race official.

‘’Do you guys have a welder and some old metal lying around somewhere?’’ he questioned. The official nodded.

‘’In that old building there,’’ he pointed to an old mechanics garage. Brent thanked the man and told his team to stay put for a few minutes. When Brent disappeared, the team sat down and waited. Suddenly, the red malamute walked up to the team. He smiled smugly at the team.

‘’Well, well, well,’’ he replied in a not-so-Norwegian accent, ‘’what do we have here? A bunch of shaggy-haired mutts who think they can challenge and win against me?’’

Kodi growled.

‘’Watch it, Pal.’’ he answered. The malamute just blew him off.

‘’And what’re you going to do about it, red-mutt?’’ he asked. Kodi was about to attack, when Balto held him back. Kodi backed down as his dad walked forward and stared Inferno right in the eye.

‘’So, you must be the all-to-famous Balto. You don’t look like much. If you must know, my name’s Inferno. And both me and Team Inferno are going to leave you pathetic chumps in the snow.’’ Inferno remarked. Balto took the insult calmly and locked a cold stare right into Inferno’s eyes.

‘’Say on more thing, all you’ll be under our sled as we run you over.’’ Balto them walked past Inferno and turned to his team.

‘’Well, come on everyone, we have to get ready to race.’’

Balto poked his head inside the garage. Brent took off his welder’s helmet and stood back in admiration. He had built himself a custom steel dog sled that was as light as a feather. (Brent had added a few

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