Balto 1 1/2, Part 1:

A New Hero

By C. Brucker "TameWolf03"

Nome, Alaska

Winter 1925

By now, most of the commotion had died down. The celebrations were continuing throughout the town, but the streets were now mostly empty, leaving Balto and Jenna by themselves. The two of them were still mesmerized by the beauty of the lighted mountainside. “I knew you’d come back, Balto,” Jenna finally said.

Balto slowly turned to face her. “Of course I did,” he said with a smile. “I promised you I would, Jenna. I wasn’t about to let Rosie go.”

“You saved the entire town,” Jenna added. She buried her muzzle in Balto’s bosom.

Balto smiled, as he snuggled right back. “I wish I could take all the credit...I couldn’t have done it without you Jenna. You really saved the day for me back at the lake,” he said thankfully. “And also, when I was coming back...it was good to know that you were here, waiting for me.” He pointed to the lighted mountainside with his nose.

“I was all along, from the moment we were separated,” Jenna replied. “I figured you’d need something to help guide you back. Speaking of which, I left that lantern all the way out there. Now that you’re back, I suppose I better go get it.” She started to get up. Balto was a bit surprised she was leaving so suddenly. But, before he could say anything, Jenna turned around, and said to him, “Would you like to come with me?”

“Uh...sure!” Balto said happily, a bit taken off guard. There wasn’t any actual need to retrieve the lantern. Jenna just wanted a chance to be alone with Balto, without any interruptions.

...

Before long, the two of them had reached the outskirts of town. “So,” Jenna started to say, as they walked side by side. “Tell me about your adventures! I’m sure you’ve got plenty to tell about from the trip home.”

Indeed, Balto did. His journey hadn’t exactly been any old sled run. “Well,” he began with a prideful grin, “after we separated, I just moved on following Steele’s trail. I remember a big blizzard hit at one point, and I had to-” but he was unable to continue, as he was suddenly cut off. Balto and Jenna gasped, as they were stopped dead in their tracks by a dark figure stomping down in the snow, right in front of them. As the snow cleared, they looked up in fright to see a familiar angry face glaring at them.

“Steele!” Jenna shouted.

Balto was in shock. This was the last thing that he expected at a time like this. “What do you want?” he asked, angry and scared at the same time.

Steele growled at him. “I think you know what I want, WOLF DOG!” he shouted. “You RUINED me! You just had to get involved didn’t you, Balto? You just had to be the hero.” He was obviously furious.

“Hey! I wasn’t trying to be anyone!” Balto shot back. “I was just trying to help. YOU were the one who had to be the hero!”

Steele was not happy with that comment. He let out a roar, and pounced forward, nailing Balto with a blow to the chest.

“OOF!!” Unprepared, Balto was knocked backwards, tumbling into the snow.

“STEELE! STOP IT!” Jenna screamed.

But, Steele brushed her aside, as he was fixated on his revenge. Balto stood back up, and Steele stared him down intently. Balto tried to maintain his composure, although he was struck with fear by the look in Steele’s eyes. “You had to but in, wolf dog,” Steele continued. “You just had to steal the glory...well, I know you wanted to prove yourself, so here’s your chance.” Balto shuddered as he knew what was coming. “Time we finish this once and for all!” Steele shouted. “You and me, right here, right now. It’s time somebody finally put you in your place, half-breed!”

Suddenly, Steele was interrupted by Jenna jumping right between the two of them. “Leave him alone, Steele!” She yelled. “I’m not going to let you hurt him.”

Steele was surprised by this show of bravery. It almost escalated into a fear, as Jenna showed him her teeth! “Jenna...you stay out of this,” he said.

“Over my dead body!” she said, “Balto’s right, Steele. YOU were being the glory hound! Balto was just trying to do what’s right. And unlike you, he actually has a heart...If you’re gonna take him, you’re going to have to go through me!”

Balto couldn’t believe it! The girl he loved was standing up for him, and was even willing to take a beating for him. With that, he came to his senses, and jumped right beside Jenna, and crouched as if he was ready to strike.

Steele growled angrily at what he was seeing. “So,” he said, “Balto and Jenna together.”

The two of them were a bit lost for words with that comment, but still managed to return Steele’s angry look. “Steele,” Balto said finally, “I don’t want to fight you. But, I will if I have to. If you even think about laying a paw on Jenna...”

Steele was beyond dumbfounded, unsure just what to do. “Fine!” he said finally, “I’ll tear you both apart if I have to,” even though he really didn’t like the idea of attacking the girl he loved.

“Where do you think that’ll get you?” Jenna said quickly. “You think that if you beat us up, everyone in town is just going to take you back, and accept you?”

The look vanished from Steele’s face.

“We’ve had it with you, Steele!” Jenna continued. “I am sick of your boastfulness! I am sick of your lies! We never want to have to put up with you, again!”

“Get out of here, Steele,” Balto added. “You’re not welcome here anymore. Don’t even think about showing your face around here, again!”

Steele knew they were right. Every dog in town now knew that he was a liar, and he no longer had anyone to fall back on. Attacking these two would only make him look worse, and possibly cause the other dogs to want to hunt him down. To add to it, he didn’t want to hurt Jenna, and he wasn’t sure if he could take on two dogs, that were ready to tear him to pieces if he made even the slightest move. He realized he had no choice but to back down. “I won’t forget about this, Balto,” he growled. “Mark my words, I will get you for what you did to me...and you too, Jenna!” His voice seemed to escalate with every word. “And every other one of you manging mutts in town...you’ll pay...YOU’LL ALL PAY!!!!!” Steele’s voice echoed throughout the area, as he dashed away, and towards the woods in the distance.

As he disappeared, Jenna couldn’t help but laugh. “Guess we don’t have to worry about him anymore!” she said with a smile.

“Uh...yeah,” Balto said, a bit of resentment in his voice. It was good to see that Steele was gone. But, he still couldn’t relax. Everything that had just happened kept flashing through his head. Steele’s words, his facial expressions, and just the tone of his voice made Balto shudder. Steele had sworn to get after him, and how could he ignore this threat? Nothing could be more dangerous than someone with nothing to lose. Balto tried to feel the relief of the moment, but he knew that it definitely wasn’t over.

“So, you were saying?” Jenna asked, “Before we were so rudely interrupted?”

“Oh!” Balto had suddenly managed to come back to reality, “Yeah! I’ve got plenty to tell you about,” he said.

“I can’t wait to hear all about it,” said Jenna, “Tell me on the way.” She found herself prancing, as she moved towards the lights once again

Balto leaped forward to follow her, as he resumed his tale.

...

“WHAT!” Jenna screamed, as the two of them reached the lantern. “Are you telling me that Steele attacked you when you found the team, and then after you started to lead them back, he tried to throw you off the trail?”

“’Fraid so,” Balto replied, a bit surprised. He had never heard Jenna so angry.

“OOOOGGHHHH!!” Jenna kicked up a pile of snow, completely ignoring the pain it brought to her still hurt paw. “I can not believe him! I knew he was always a glory hound, but I never thought he would...ugh!” She was furious. Steele had lied! Not only had he tried a dirty trick in attempt to steal the glory, but he did so, willing to allow all of the children to die in the process...and Rosie! He had tried to win Jenna while ignoring the state that her girl was in! How could he stoop so low? Never had Jenna been so enraged.

Balto stood still next to her, waiting for her anger attack to pass.

Soon, Jenna managed to calm herself, remembering that all was well, now. “Well,” she sighed, as she looked back up at Balto, “I’m glad you still made it back. Steele tried to tell us you were dead!"

Balto looked up in surprise. "He did?"

"Yes," she continued. "He gave us this whole story about how you tried to help but, well...I knew he was lying, because the last thing he said was that you asked him to take care of me...and I knew you would never do that,"

Now, Balto was feeling his own rage towards Steele. Never would he