it was mostly drown out by the whistle. Brent hobbled his way toward the whistle, and bumped into Hartwell II. Brent felt his way along the train until he found the ladder. He looked up and saw that both Rail Wolf and Balto did not notice his there.

‘’Care to give me a hand?’’ Brent called up. Balto turned and reached his arms through the fog. Brent grabbed them and was pulled upward. By now, the sun had risen above the horizon, and the day was upon the four friends. Hartwell’s paint glistened in the bright sun. Rail Wolf closed the steam vents and got his train up and running once again.

Juneau, three days later…

Balto, Jenna and Prof. MacWolf had been n Juneau for exactly three days since they ran away. Rail Wolf had been giving them updates of what was going on in the town since they uprooted and left. On this specific day, Brent was walking through the large town. He suddenly saw a sled team running in from the north.

‘’How was the run?’’ he asked the lead dog. He shrugged and un-harnessed himself.

‘’It was about average. The only highlight, if you can call it a highlight, was when we nearly got blasted to smithereens!’’ the lead dog replied. Brent gave him a serious look.

‘’What happened?’’ he asked. The lead dog took a deep breath and explained.

‘’Well, my team and I were doing our regular jobs; delivering supplies to the towns in the far North. Anyway, we get to this one town and we see that it’s being destroyed. Whoever or whatever was doing this saw us and nearly blew my team and I to kingdom come!’’

‘’What town was it?’’ Brent questioned further. The lead dog thought for a second, then answered, ‘’Nome, Alaska.’’

Brent was shocked. For the first time since he broke his ankle, the pain was overshadowed by numbness. Brent asked one more question.

‘’What did the thing use to do such a thing?’’

‘’It looked like he was holding a weird-looking gun of some sort. From a distance though, you can’t really make out every detail.’’ The lead dog remarked. Brent’s face went from shocked to dead serious. He thanked the dog and hobbled over to the trio’s hideout as fast as he could. 

Brent burst through the door to the trio’s hideout. Inside were just the essentials; straw beds, a wood stove, and a small garden tap with a bucket under it. Balto noticed Brent come in and replied, ‘’Brent, you look like you’ve seen a ghost!’’

‘’Not far off that Balto,’’ Brent answered, ‘Nome’s been attacked. We have to get there, and quick!’’

All three friends grabbed their stuff and headed for the train station. Sure enough, Hartwell II and Rail Wolf were about to pull out of the station. He saw the three and called, ‘’so, you need another ride do you?’’

‘’This is no time to be funny Rail,’’ Balto cut Rail Wolf off, ‘’innocent peoples’ lives are at stake!’’

Rail Wolf nodded.

‘’Okay, hop in the cabin. Jenna, uncouple the tender from the cars. It’s about time I showed you Hartwell’s true power.’’

Jenna did as she was asked and uncoupled the tender from the freight cars behind. She jumped into the cabin and all three friends watched as Rail Wolf opened a small door in the floor, pulling out a red bundle of fibres. He threw it into the boiler and pushed the throttle to full power. Hartwell II’s wheels slipped for a few seconds, and then the train moved forward at a fast speed, throwing people and dogs backward as the steam rushed out from between the wheels.

Hartwell II was almost at Nome Junction in about two hours. The fibre log that Rail Wolf had fed into the boiler had worked. Rail Wolf smiled.

‘’See? What did I tell you?’’

‘’What was that log made out of?’’ Brent asked, flabbergasted.

‘’It’s my own creation. I call it: The Presto log! It makes the fire burn hotter, thus creating more steam and making the wheels move faster.’’

Soon, Hartwell II was approaching the trestle bridge where Brent nearly met his doom.

‘’Ah ****!’’ Rail Wolf exclaimed.

‘’What’s the matter now?’’ Brent retorted.

‘’The train throttle’s stuck. I can’t slow the train down.’’

‘’And that’s bad…right?’’ Brent asked. Rail Wolf nodded.

‘’You need to move slowly over a trestle bridge or it’ll break.’’ He answered. Brent put up his hand and replied, ‘’wait a second. Are you saying that if we don’t slow this hunk of metal down, we’re going to be in a train wreck that was as big as the Nenana one?’’

‘’Unfortunately, you’re right.’’ Rail Wolf nodded. Brent slapped his forehead.

‘’Like I always say; “we’re all gonna die!’’

‘’Oh shut up Brent!’’ Balto, Jenna and Rail Wolf exclaimed. Brent gave them a snooty look as Rail Wolf tried his hardest to pull the throttle. Suddenly, he gave one final tug. The throttle handle ripped off its housing as Rail Wolf flew backwards. He got to his feet and gave a loud gulp when he realised that he was still holding the throttle in his hand. Balto looked ahead and saw the bridge was getting closer. They were running out of time. Balto took one deep breath and grabbed an adjustable wrench. He tied it to the throttle control and started to pull backward. Jenna held Balto’s thighs and pulled herself.

‘‘Come on, you two,’’ he ordered between tugs, ‘’help us out here!’’

Rail Wolf nodded and grabbed Jenna’s sides, pulling his hardest as he did so. Brent threw down his crutches and grabbed Rail Wolf’s shoulders. All four pulled with all their might. Just then, Balto started to feel the train slowing down.

‘’Keep going guys! We almost have it!’’ he exclaimed. The four friends, now with more energy than ever, pulled until every last ounce of strength was zapped from their bodies. Hartwell II slowed down and stopped just before the bridge. Balto released the wrench and collapsed onto the cabin floor.

‘’That was way too close for comfort!’’ Brent exclaimed. Rail Wolf nodded.

‘’Yeah. A few more inches, and we’d have been in that river!’’

The four then looked toward Nome. There were multiple flumes of black smoke rising above the building, as well as faint screams of terror.

‘’Who would do such a thing?’’ Jenna asked. Balto sighed and then saw something that answered that question.

‘’Klondike.’’ He said without emotion. Brent turned to Balto.

‘’You sure about that Balto? I mean, you can’t make those kinds of accusations without some kind of evidence, either physics or microscopic.’’ He explained. Balto pointed to one of the charred structures. It was Boris’ boat. Luckily, Boris was in Russia, so he was not hurt.

‘’Looks like Klondike thought he’d kill me by attacking my home. Well, we’ll show him. Now would be a good time to get the jump on that villain.’’ Balto replied as Rail Wolf made his train slowly move over the trestle bridge.

A few minutes later, Hartwell II pulled into the Nome station. Rail Wolf stopped his train and jumped out of the cabin followed by his friends. Brent knew that Klondike must have stolen one of his gadgets. And now he was using it to destroy the town. Brent led his friends to his house. Sure enough, the secret lab had been robbed. Brent prayed that the gadget that was stolen wasn’t what he thought. But it turned out that he had thought correct. Brent looked at a safe that lay open in a corner of his lab.

‘’No. Why did they have to take that gadget?’’ Brent asked himself. Jenna walked over and saw the safe.

‘’What did they take?’’ she asked.

‘’Well, when I came to this time era, I brought a small arsenal of futuristic weapons to use only in an emergency. The most powerful was stored in this safe. It’s called the Hyper Gryphon. It’s a powerful handgun that shoots explosive lasers. It has unlimited ammo as well, mostly because it’s solar powered,’’ Brent turned and saw Jenna’s face, ‘’it runs off the power of the Sun.’’ Brent finished. Jenna nodded and told Balto and Rail Wolf.

‘’Does this weapon have a weakness?’’ Balto asked Brent. He nodded.

‘’If we can block the sunlight from getting to the gun, then it’ll run out of ammo. But it’s calling for clear skies for the next two weeks!’’

Rail Wolf thought for a few seconds, then replied, ‘’smoke!’’

‘’What?’’ all three friends asked.

‘’The smoke from Hartwell II is pretty thick. I can’t see the sun at all when I’m looking through it. We just have to make enough smoke to block out the sun for long enough that Balto can get the gun away from Klondike.’’

‘’Brilliant idea Rail Wolf!’’ Brent exclaimed. Rail Wolf smiled. Suddenly, the building shook. Balto and his friends ran upstairs to see