forever, and, knowing humans, they never wanted a dog with a scar. Not even if it was a tiny one.

“Well, puppies,” Balto sighed as he nosed Bandit to follow him at his side. “Let’s go on the walk.”

“I’m so glad we’re still going, Daddy,” Arianna commented.

“Shut up,” Nikhe muttered.

Arianna was taken by surprise by her brother’s reply. He would never tell his own sister to shut up – he used to have so much respect for her! For both of his sisters, in fact. Arianna was speechless, and said nothing. Balto overheard this, but knew he couldn’t settle everything, and so he just let it be.

On the moonlight walk the puppies had found numerous amounts of interesting creatures, scents they’d never scented before, met some new dogs, and much more. By the time they returned to the shed, it was way past their bedtime, and they fell asleep right away at their designated sleeping corners, which they had chosen by themselves.

Bandit was asleep beside Balto. Balto decided to sleep by his son to ensure Bane didn’t try attack him again that night. Balto looked around at the pups. He loved playing with his puppies, but he knew they were too active for him. Jenna was due back the next day. He would discuss the idea of having a puppy sitter with her. Hopefully she would agree.

Chapter Three

Balto turned around. He lowered his muzzle, letting it graze the snow on the ground. Jenna, who was behind him, barked and told him to go ahead. He turned forward and padded towards a bell, tied to a tree. He sniffed the bark of the tree and sat down patiently to wait for the puppysitter. Jenna joined him in a while. She lay down on the ground and rested her head on her paws, also waiting, with Balto, for the puppysitter.

“She hasn’t been here earlier,” Balto commented. “I sniffed the bark; no one has been to that tree in days.”

“Okay, then,” Jenna replied simply. “What’s her name, again?”

“Michelle,” came a reply. It wasn’t Balto’s. Jenna spun around and came face-to-face with a black Husky, obviously Michelle the puppysitter. Michelle bore a huge grin on her face. A scar ran down her face, from the tip of her right eye to the end of the left side of her muzzle. She smiled cheerfully.

Jenna frowned in obvious dislike. Balto nudged her, telling her to “give the kid a chance”. Jenna never really wanted a puppysitter for her pups; she and Balto could manage on their own, or so she claimed.

Michelle saw the frown on Jenna’s face and the smile vanished from her face. She muttered, “Hey, I’m Michelle. You must be Balto & Jenna.”

“Yes, we are,” Balto said loudly. Jenna snorted, but politely said, “Hi.”

Michelle didn’t feel too comfortable with them, especially Jenna. She definitely could feel Jenna’s dislike for her, and so she kept quiet. She had nothing to say, although she probably would’ve – she wasn’t one to keep so quiet. Balto sensed the uneasiness of Michelle, and shifted uncomfortably. He knew Jenna could be very “hard” at times and she liked things to go her way. She didn’t want a puppysitter, and she made it clear. But what happened a few days ago made her reluctantly agree with Balto, but even so, she clearly disliked this “Michelle”.

The day that terrible incident happened, Jenna and Balto had gone for a walk with Rosy and her family. The puppies were allowed outside, as they were thought to be “old enough to take care of themselves”. However, Balto and Jenna were wrong. The puppies got into huge trouble with Logan and Gwinnett’s new litter of puppies. Logan and Gwinnnett were definitely two Malamutes not to be messed around with. They were harsh to others not in their family, and once even killed another dog for trespassing into their property when the dog was only trying to retrieve its master’s Frisbee.

But anyway, that day, Bandit had been fooling around near the crate of barrels stacked neatly beside their house, pouncing on them while growling and snarling at the same time. Bane had stalked over, with his head high, to the barrels while Bandit was still having a fun time playing on them. Bane had expected Bandit to stop, but of course, Bandit did the opposite. He had no idea that Bane was there and waiting for him to get off. So, naturally, Bane got mad and bared his teeth at Bandit. Bandit, alarmed, turned around and the next thing he knew, Bane’s teeth had sunk into the loose flesh on the back of his neck. Bandit let out a terrified bark, which attracted attention from his siblings. Nikhe sat down and watched the fight with interest – he had no intention of helping Bandit. If he had to help at all, he would help Bane with the stubborn, (what he called) wimpy Bandit. But he knew from experience that Bane wouldn’t need any help at all.

Then, a puppy that none of the five puppies had seen before, entered the alley. He looked like a Malamute, and he watched, like Nikhe, with interest at the two fighting puppies. His tail twitched with excitement as he watched the fight ensue. Finally, seemingly unable to bear the “suspense”, he jumped in and began to fight as well. The two girls, Acacia and Arianna wrinkled their noses and turned their backs to the fight, walking off to find something more interesting to do. They had NO idea how serious this fight was getting, and soon, they were “out of the picture, or, what you’d call “gone to do their own stuff/mind their own business”.

Meanwhile, the three puppies were fighting vigorously (if you could ever do that). Bandit was the one who was most wounded, and blood was already pouring out of a deep cut in his back. His tail was tattered and patches of blood stained the beautiful creamy coat. On his muzzle, the wound that Bane had given him not too long ago was now open again and he was bleeding from there, too. Bandit managed to give Bane a hard bite on the shoulder and crawled out of the “battle”. Bane, thinking it was the Malamute puppy which had bitten him (and not Bandit), bit the Malamute hard on the ear. He thought the Malamute deserved the bite, as it had bit him more than eight times in various places, most of them on the tail. The Malamute snarled in pain and anger, and when Bane finally released his grip on the puppy, its ear was torn to shreds. It hung, limp, by its eye and blood was flowing into the eye, blocking on of the pup’s eyes’ vision for a few minutes. The puppy shook its head, its ear flinging from side to side, and snarled with rage and hatred towards Bane.

Bane whimpered, for once in his life, with fear. The Malamute began barking for his parents, and soon enough, they came. Bane had no time to escape. As soon as the Malamute started barking, he tried to run but felt someone grab him from behind. He yelped and tried to escape, but to no avail. The Malamute’s parents had come.

Bandit growled, and so did Nikhe, to try and warn off the parents of the Malamute, but obviously it didn’t work. The father grabbed hold of Bandit and flung him towards the barrels. With a loud crash, Bandit landed on the barrels. He was now bruised, and bleeding. He tried to get up unsuccessfully. The father then proceeded to grab Nikhe, but this time, tossed him to the side of the house. Nikhe hit the brick wall with a thud, and didn’t move.

Bane snarled angrily upon seeing Nikhe get thrown to one side – and he felt hurt for Bandit, too. The mother of the Malamute pup then threw Bane to the ground and advanced on him. Bane turned over, his legs no under him, and tried to stand and run away, but he was no fast enough. The mother closed her jaws on Bane’s back, and Bane cried out loud in pain. It was a few minutes before the mother finally released hold of Bane.

Bandit, by then, had managed to get up. His breathing was shallow, and he couldn’t make a very long run, but he would try. Just for his brother, or should I say brothers. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the male helping his pup up. Bandit growled to himself, and then charged at the female.

“Gwinnnett! Look out!” the male yelled.

“It’s all right, I can handle two puppies, Logan!” Gwinnnett shouted in reply, dropping Bane and twitching her jaw, ready to snap Bandit’s body in two once it was in her grasp. Bandit knew it was the end of his days once he reached those jaws, and his mind fought for a solution to help him stay alive. Then Bandit remembered. He had learnt it while playing with his brothers, or rather, while they were torturing him. He ran faster, although he could not keep it up for long as he was already gasping for breath. Then at the last minute, as Gwinnnett poised for action, Bandit swung to the left and went around her. Gwinnnett was taken off-guard and snarled angrily. She stalked after the puppy, but could not find him. She didn’t know that he was right beside her, hiding in another barrel stack.

Logan, seeing his mate unable to find the puppy, tossed his head up in frustration. He walked slowly, steadily, and carefully towards Bane. When Logan reached Bane, he raised his head, opened his jaws, and aimed for the throat.

“Logan! Stop!” a sharp voice came from the end of the alley. Logan whirled around. There was Balto. Balto snarled a warning to Logan. Logan growled in reply, but sulkily stepped back. He motioned to his mate to get the puppy, and when she did and was gone, he turned around and said to Balto, “Your puppies shall pay for what he’s done to Jerik’s ear. Especially that cream one with the green eyes.”

Balto then gathered the three puppies and took them home. The girls, Arianna and Acacia, were unhurt. Nikhe had a bad bruise on the side which hit the wall, but other than that, he was fine. Bandit was bleeding severely, and Bane was no better. Bane got a good scolding at home, especially for ripping Jerik’s ear apart. So did Bandit and Nikhe, although they both had done nothing to start the fight. Bane’s tail drooped, and he seemed defeated. Bandit, under normal circumstances, would feel happy at that, but, today, he felt sad… To put it more accurately, he felt