quick, and he managed to hit Klondike. But for some reason, the bullet holes just seemed to fix themselves, as if the metal had a mind of its own. Klondike grinned evilly.

‘’Your pathetic bullets won’t kill me. I am made from a metal that can re-build itself a million times over.’’

‘’How? How can this be true?’’ Balto thought. Klondike smiled.

‘’My creator was a true genius.’’ He said. Balto growled.

‘’Well, who was this creator of yours?’’ he questioned. Klondike grinned and froze the whole game. Balto and Klondike then were sent to a lab. On the table was a robot’s skeleton, and a scientist was fiddling with the internal circuitry. Klondike pointed to the scientist and replied, ‘’that was my creator. Doctor Edmond Fitzgerald, a leading expert in robotics. He built me to have been a robotic counterpart to you mutts. But it was not to be,’’ the background shifted to a scene where Dr. Fitzgerald was laying on the ground dead, and Klondike (full completed and functional) was rampaging around, ‘’I was not a smart idea for the doctor to have added an intelligent AI to my circuitry. But if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have turned out so perfect. Maybe it was destiny.’’

‘’But your perfection came at the cost of human life!’’ Balto exclaimed. Klondike shook his head.

‘’Balto, human life is expendable. Robot will soon rule the world.’’ He said. Balto’s eyes burst with fire. He knew that this metal that Klondike was made of had to have some sort of weakness. Everything does. He then thought of something. Balto pulled out a rocket launcher and aimed it. He fired the rocket and watched as Klondike exploded into pieces. He didn’t re-build himself, so Balto untied Jenna and Aleu. Jenna hugged her husband tightly.

‘’Balto, I thought I’d never see you again!’’ she cried. Aleu hugged her dad as well.

‘’Yeah, we thought we were goners!’’ she added. Balto smiled but then saw the lights go back on.

‘’Let’s get out of here, then we’ll hug.’’ He replied and led his family out of the base. When they got outside, Brent, Kodi, Sasha and Charlie fell from the sky and landed on the ground. Brent got to his feet ad saw Jenna and Aleu standing near Balto.

‘’Good job Balto,’’ he replied, ‘’you saved them.’’

‘’No time for that now Brent, let’s get to that boat!’’ Charlie exclaimed. Brent nodded and looked down the path. There were tons of guards heading their way.

‘’We can’t get past those guards,’’ he then looked at the river, ‘’guess we’ll have to take the scenic route. I forgot my swim trunks, but Here goes’’

Brent grabbed a hollow reed and jumped into the river. Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. They all grabbed reeds and followed Brent’s lead. Under the river, the current was strong. Brent nearly slammed into a rock as he was swimming. The river led down to a small deep pool, and then it continues on. Brent looked ahead and saw the boat sitting in wait for the seven. He swam to shore and spat the reed out of his mouth. As he had told her, Ginger was waiting at the boat with Rail Wolf. Ginger turned and smiled at the sight of the soaked Brent. She ran over and gave him a small kiss. Brent held his cheek and went red. Kodi, Jenna and Aleu then surfaced, followed by Charlie and Sasha. But Balto was nowhere to be seen.

‘’There he is!’’ Charlie pointed to a limp figure flowing down the river. Brent saw this and jumped into the boat. He pushed the throttle forward and headed for Balto. When he reached Balto’s limp body, Brent hauled it out of the water and placed it in the boat. Brent then swung the boat around and headed back to shore. Everyone got on and Brent spun the small boat around again. Balto soon came too. His eyes slowly opened, and he sat up.

‘’What the hell happened?’’ he mumbled.

‘’You nearly drowned.’’ Jenna replied.

‘’Brent saved you.’’ Charlie added. Balto smiled at his friend.

‘’Thank you my friend. I owe you one.’’ He said. Brent shook his head.

‘’You just being my friend is reward enough, buddy. But right now, we have to get out of here.’’ Suddenly, Aleu heard something coming up behind them. She turned and saw Klondike following in another boat.

‘’Crap,’’ she yelped, ‘’Klondike coming up at full speed! Gun it Brent!’’

‘’I would, but this is as fast as she goes!’’ Brent answered grimly. Klondike growled and was soon neck and neck with the escapees’ boat.

‘’I don’t think so buddy!’’ Klondike replied angrily. Brent smiled and side-slammed Klondike’s boat, nearly tipping it.

‘’I wouldn’t say that you overgrown waffle iron!’’ Brent remarked and rammed the boat again. Klondike growled and went to ram the boat. Brent saw him coming and steered the boat toward a bunch of rocks. He trimmed the motor up and jumped off the rocks, leaving not a single hole in the hull. The boat soared through the air and landed. Brent trimmed down and sped forward. Klondike clamped the steering wheel tightly and sped forward. Brent then saw something he’d wished he hadn’t. The sky, which meant only one thing.

‘’A waterfall!’’ Brent yelled and tried to turn around, but it was no use. Ginger held him tightly as the boat and Klondike’s boat plunged over the falls. Just then, the Game Sphere appeared under Brent’s boat and transported them back to the real world. Klondike watched as the machine disappeared and the ground cam up to meet him.

‘’Curse you Balto!’’ he roared as he smashed into the water and was destroyed forever.

Nome, Alaska, January 7th 1951,

The Game Sphere re-appeared in Brent’s secret lab. Everyone stumbled out and sat down. Brent held his head and replied, ‘’I’m not going to play another video game for a long time!’’

Ginger looked around and said, ‘’what a cool place!’’

Brent smiled at her.

‘’I can show you around if you’d like.’’ He offered. Ginger giggled.

‘’Thank you. You don’t by chance have a spare room I can stay in?’’ she asked.

‘’I think so,’’ Brent answered and turned to his friends, ‘’I have to go guys. I’ll see you tomorrow Balto.’’

Balto nodded and smiled.

‘’What about us?’’ Sasha asked.

‘’No offence to your town, but it’s way too cold up here for us. We prefer San Francisco.’’ Charlie added. Luckily, one of Brent’s gadgets could be used a transporting device. Balto had seen Brent use it before, and h replied, ‘’I think this’ll help.’’

Balto picked up the gadget and aimed it. Charlie gave him a concerned look.

‘’Balto, what are you…’’

‘’Trust me,’’ Balto cut in,’ this’ll take you back home. Just hold each other’s hands.’’

Charlie nodded and grabbed Sasha’s hand. Balto aimed and fired the gadget. A yellow beam shot from it and surrounded Charlie and Sasha. They both waved and disappeared in a flash of light. Soon, it was just Rail Wolf, Jenna, Aleu and Balto in the lab. Rail Wolf waved and said, ‘’I have to get back to my train now. I’m a few hours late as it is. And the boss’ll never believe my story. See ya guys!’’

He then walked up the stairs. Aleu was the next to leave.

‘’My pack’s probably looking for me dad,’’ she explained, ‘’I have to go.’’

‘’I know honey.’’ Balto nodded. Aleu gave her father a hug and departed. Jenna turned to her husband.

‘’Thank you Balto.’’ She replied and gave her husband a kiss. Balto smiled and escorted her up the stairs.

Outside, Balto turned to see Brent and Ginger sitting on his new balcony, looking at the stars. He smiled.

‘’I knew he’d find love eventually.’’ Balto thought as he went to spend some time with his wife.

God looked down from heaven and smiled.

‘’Mission MacWolf complete.’’

END

Brent MacWolf and Ginger Clayton are copyrighted by me © 2005. Do not use them in any circumstances without prior approval.

Perfect Dark is copyrighted by Nintendo and Rareware © 1999