me in that tone Nuvic,’’ Amber exclaimed angrily, ‘’and I am knowledgeable enough to use more magic on you if you continue to act this way.’’

Brent stepped in and shouted, ‘’who do you think you are anyway?!’’

Amber locked a cold stare into Brent’s eyes, making his body almost freeze up.

‘’I am actually willing to help you, but if you don’t want me too…’’

‘’Help us,’’ Brent spluttered, ‘’how exactly?’’

‘’Well, I can help Nuvic find a mate, and you find your parents. However, it will cost something.’’

‘’Never trust a fox,’’ Brent muttered, ‘’what do you want?’’

Amber pointed to Jenna’s bandanna around Brent’s neck.

‘’I think that would look nice around my neck.’’ She said sexily.

‘’What?! My bandanna? No way, oh no, not going to happen!’’ Brent replied sharply. Amber shrugged.

‘’Okay, have it your way. I guess you won’t need my help.’’ She said and started to walk away. Brent sighed and yelled, ‘’okay, okay. Here’s the bandanna!’’

Brent handed Amber his prized piece of wardrobe and watched as she donned it, with a sly grin on her face. A vixen had just frizzled Brent. Amber then pulled out her Magic Orb.

‘’Unlike most foxes, I keep my word. Look into my Orb and see your goal.’’

Brent stared hard into the orb. Suddenly, a faint picture of Chicken appeared. It was a small town, with about fifteen or so residents. But the picture seemed different. The town looked older than Brent’s parents did. But how could that be so? He was born in 2008, but the picture seemed to be depicting a scene from Chicken during the Great Depression, around 1935 or so. In the background was a cloud of smoke and fire. The picture then faded away, and Amber replied, ‘’unfortunately, I’d get in trouble for showing you more than a ten second spoiler. Okay Nuvic, your turn.’’

Brent walked toward the river as Nuvic stared into the Orb and saw his future mate. The scene was still fresh in the professor’s mind. He was a genius, and he still couldn’t figure out for the life of him why the town was older in the picture. He watched the river flow by and said to himself, ‘’Balto, wherever you are, I hope you’re safe.’’

March 15th 1952, 6:12 AM,

Balto had woken up Ginger and Rapatior’s team earlier that morning to try and find his friend. The team had been running for about a few hours, when they stumbled upon the remains of the cage. They looked down the hill and saw two thick trains leading over the hill. Balto looked over the hill and asked, ‘’Rapatior, is there any way we can get down there without jumping?’’

Rapatior nodded.

‘’Course there is,’’ he replied, ‘’it’s just difficult.’’

‘’I don’t care, I have to find my friend. Too many times has he saved me, and now I have to repay the favour.’’

Rapatior nodded and ran forward. The team arrived at a rocky makeshift staircase and ran down it. Balto and Ginger gripped the sled as it bounced down the stone steps. By the time the team arrived at the bottom, the sled had taken some serious damage. It could still be used, but not as hard. Rapatior looked ahead and gasped.

‘’Hey, I see three people up there!’’

‘’What? Where?’’ Balto asked frantically. Rapatior pointed ahead of the team.

‘’Over there, near the river.’’

Balto squinted and was shocked to see his friend sitting on a rock. He was off the sled and running toward him at full speed. Balto howled, which caught Nuvic’s attention. He got up from his sitting position and blocked Balto’s way.

‘’Hey wolf, go away!’’ he ordered. Balto growled.

‘’Leave my friend alone, bear, before I have to rip you apart!’’ he threatened. Both Balto and Nuvic rushed each other. Brent turned and saw this. He managed to get in between the two before something bad happened.

‘’Hey, knock it off,’’ he shouted, ‘’break it up!’’

Balto and Nuvic backed away from each other and apologized. Brent did the introductions.

‘’Nuvic, this is Balto. Balto, meet Nuvic.’’

Nuvic shook Balto’s paw.

‘’Nice to meet you Balto.’’ He replied. Balto gave Nuvic a friendly nod.

‘’A pleasure.’’ Balto said. Ginger came running up and gave Brent a huge hug. He smiled and replied, ‘’glad to see you too.’’

Ginger then gave her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek. Balto then ran up and hugged Brent tightly. The professor struggled to breathe and remarked, ‘’Balto, you’re strangling me. Let go!’’

Balto released his grip and smiled. Brent then saw Rapatior and his pack waiting with the sled. Balto and Ginger jumped onto the sled and waited. Brent was about to jump on, when Nuvic caught his attention.

‘’Brent.’’ He started. Brent turned and asked, ‘’yeah?’’

Nuvic stuck out his big bear paw and shook Brent’s smaller paw.

‘’I’m not going with you. I’m going to stay in the forest and find my mate. I will always be your friend, and if you are in the general area, be sure to look me up.’’

Brent nodded and jumped onto the back of the sled. As it pulled away, Brent watched as his new friend grew smaller and smaller until he finally disappeared in the darkness.

The team stopped in a clearing to make camp. Balto got to work making the fire, while Brent and Ginger went to find some shelter material. Balto had just started the fire, when he heard a horrific scream. Balto ran to the source of the scream. Balto then finally found the source. Razortail held Ginger at scimitar point. Brent was pinned down by three rats and the weasel Crushjaw. Razortail turned and saw Balto standing, ready to fight. He simply smiled and forced Ginger to turn.

‘’I wouldn’t try that dog. Unless you want to cost your friend his mate here.’’ Razortail grinned evilly. Brent tried to break free, but he was still pinned down. Suddenly, everyone heard a battle cry bellowing from the forest, along with other voices yelling curses and cries.

‘’Light thieves all!’’ was the cry. All of a sudden, a male Irish Setter burst from the forest carrying a sword. Behind him was a small militia of dogs carrying various weapons. Then the fight began. The militia was more skilled at battle than Razortail’s army, so most of it was slain in no time. Finally, Razortail was the last of the army to be standing. He still clutched Ginger tightly, holding the scimitar a twitch away from her throat. The Setter aimed his sword, making Razortail laugh.

‘’Are you a moron? You think you can beat me?’’

The Setter smiled.

‘’Yes.’’ He simply answered and snapped his fingers. An arrow shot from the bushes and struck the rat Chieftain in the scimitar paw, making him drop his blade. Another arrow followed, sinking into Razortail’s other paw, which made his release Ginger, who scampered to safety. The Setter then rose his blade and thrust it downward with all his might. Razortail’s head was cleaned right off his shoulders. The Setter cleaned the blood off his sword and turned to the bushes. A female walked out of the bushes, carrying a short bow and some arrows. Brent got up and shook the male Setter’s hand.

‘’Thank pal. We’d be if you hadn’t shown up.’’ Brent replied. The Setter smiled and answered, ‘’well, we were just lucky, that’s all.’’

Brent then asked, ‘’say, how do you know my battle cry anyway?’’

The Setter reached into a pocket and pulled out a small picture, handing it to Brent. The professor grabbed the picture and examined it closely. It clearly showed the male and female Setter standing beside each other, but with a third younger kid as well. The kid was a German Shepherd no older than two years old.

‘’Hey, that’s me. But how?’’ Brent questioned.

‘’Because,’’ the Setter replied, ‘’we are Andrew and Merina MacWolf, your parents.’’

At that very moment, the void in Brent’s heart was filled with happiness. Brent ran up and hugged his parents, crying as he did so. Ginger then walked up and waved. Brent turned and wiped the tears from his eyes. He walked over beside Ginger and replied, ‘’mom, dad, meet my girlfriend. Ginger.’’

Ginger giggled and blushed as Andrew and Merina shook his paw.

‘’So, I see our son has a real knack for choosing women, huh?’’ Andrew elbowed Brent. Merina shook her head, smiling.

‘’He must have inherited it from his father.’’ She said. Ginger then asked a question that Neither Andrew nor Merina were planning on answering that soon.

‘’Excuse my Andrew, but why are you two Setters? If you’re Brent’s parents, why isn’t he one too?’’

Brent had been wondering the same thing since he was old enough to remember. He had always seemed different