Hope: A Father and Daughter Tale

This is my fan fic that I call Hope: A Father and Daughter Tale it is a charming story of adventure, secrets, shock and my favourite, the friendship between Father and Daughter, enjoy!

Chapter 1, The Race

The burgandy coloured male dog lovingly licked his mate, who was a beautiful purplish grey shade of colour. Kodi, the name of the burgandy dog, smiled, Dusty, the grey dog, smiled back. Dusty was pregnant with their pups, and was due any day now. Kodi sighed happily and sniffed Dusty's bulging stomach, his wet nose causing patches of wet, ruffled fur. Dusty wimpered lovingly and said, "Not long now," Dusty followed with a smile.

Kodi smiled back and whispered, "I can't wait to be a father, my father was great to me, and I am going to be the same with mine."

Dusty smiled again and nuzzled Kodi, "And you will."

"Thanks Hun," Kodi nuzzled back, "And you will be a great mother."

Dusty smiled and didn't reply, she just licked his face. She yawned and rolled over on her hearth rug that sprawled beside the warm fire place of the old cabin. Kodi was wearing his special dog sledding harness, because his special race was being held in a couple of minutes, Dusty wouldn't be able to watch, because of her condition and was going to remain in her owner's shabby cabin. Kodi heard the loudspeaker that was calling his name and he nuzzled Dusty goodbye and she licked him on the cheek, "Goodbye Kodi," Dusty whispered.

Kodi smiled and ran out of the cabin door.

His team were angry about him being late but were also happy to hear on how their former team mate, Dusty, was getting on. Kodi grinned and said, "I'm very lucky to have a mate like her," Kodi's grin spread across his face. Then the loudspeaker boomed across Nome to get the musher's dog's harnessed and to wait at the starting line. When Kodi was strapped to the sled as lead dog, his parents, a wolf hybrid called Balto and his burgandy mother called Jenna, came walking up to him. Kodi gave his mother and father a quick nuzzle and they both whispered, "Good luck," into Kodi's pointed ear. Kodi grinned and trotted towards the starting line, the other dogs were all ready and rearing to go. Kodi led his team to a good spot where they would have plenty of room to make a good start for their 3 mile race, it may have been short but was all the same important. Kodi got into his running position, ready to sprint as soon as the gun was fired, his father's words jolting in his head, Start off small and blossom near the finale, Kodi smiled at his father's wise words. When the gun was finally fired, the crowd made an uproar as the dogs teared across the snowy tundra. Kodi, of course, had a magnificent start and took an early lead. He ran very confidently and was not using much speed up, even though he was winning, he was gifted in his blood, since his father Balto was the great hero of Nome. Kodi grinned as a picture of his father flooded through his mind, he was very happy at this time, since soon he would be a father. His teamates ran obediantly behind him as Kodi was concentrating on the race. One of his teamates, Kirby, who was behind him, shouted at Kodi, "Hey, Kodi, they're catchin' up!" as the fat brown dog ran strongly to keep up. Kodi didn't mind, he still had plenty of energy left to run the rest. He let the sled behind him take the lead, the lead dog of the other sled was vastly running out of energy. Kodi ran confidently in second place, the sled in front of him was slowing down and soon they were racing neck and neck. The dark grey dog who was leading the other sled, was panting like he only had a few more breaths left until he would collapse, Kodi only had the pant here and then, he was filled with speed and stamina. Soon the grey dog couldn't take any more and he came to a abrupt halt, causing his teamates to tumble over and the musher was sent flying. Kodi felt a rush of sympathy but he didn't look back, the dog should of waited to the end before sprinting his legs off. Kodi passed a cliff and at the mid part of it stood a man on a ledge. When the man saw Kodi and his team pass the cliff, he nodded and aimed his gun in the air and shot, once, this meant the one mile marker sign. Kodi kept his stamina to a medium, the other sled with a black dog leading was only about one hundred yards away, it was Steele. Kodi bared his teeth at the thought of Steele, he was an old enemy of the family, he was around Balto's age, so he was aging a bit. Kodi speedened up his pace a bit, adamant not to let the evil black dog overtake him. Kirby, Ralph, Pheonix(The dog taking over from Dusty), Yoyo, Earl and Mary, his teammates, looked confused, but followed in Kodi's changed pace. But Steele had none of it, he quickened his pace like he was running from an avalanche. Kodi turned his head and noticed Steele was catching up very quickly. Kodi gasped when Steele was a mere fifty yards away, Kodi was in trouble. Kodi pulled fiercely at his harness and his teammates went flying to keep up with him, they shouted at Kodi but Kodi was concentrating, he couldn't let Steele win, it would be a great disgrace to his father, Kodi thought. Kodi shook his head and slowed down a bit. Soon he and Steele were running neck and neck.....

Balto and Jenna trotted to the finishing line sideline. Balto stared down the long and wide passageway of the final stretch, the teams were due back any minute now, the two mile marker point had gone off twenty minutes ago. They had just visited Dusty, when they arrived she was already having contractions and looked like she would give birth any minute. Jenna had fetched the vet and Dusty was safely taken away to the vets, now Balto and Jenna had to tell Kodi when he comes back from his race. Balto looked concerned at the thought of Dusty giving birth without Kodi knowing, Jenna felt the same too.

A few minutes later, Kodi's team came rushing down the final stretch, neck and neck with Steele. Kodi bared his teeth and was panting like mad, so was Steele. Kodi stretched out his nose and tried to quicken his already, very achy legs, Steele did the same. The very tip of their noses were exactly level and it looked like it would be a very, very close one. Kodi and Steele were soon only twenty five yards away and they were still exactly level. Kodi then felt everything go into slow motion, it was up to him to win. When they were only a few yards away from the line, Kodi used his last ounce of energy and pushed his nose forward. When they passed the line, they saw a flash for the camera and they stopped. There was a massive cheer from the crowd, the results had came back, Kodi had one by half a nose! Kodi was panting like his breaths were his last but he managed a massive grin. All of the dogs were offered a dish of ice cold water and they drank it greedily. Kodi grinned as the envy on Steele's face grew greener, this was a proud moment. Kodi and his team were unharnessed and one of the humans placed a bouquet of flowers onto his neck and handed his musher a trophy. All of the dogs recieved special collars, that were like medals. The crowd was cheering madly and Balto and Jenna had trouble squeezing through the crowd. It wasn't until one of the nurse vets whispered into the musher's ear, was that Kodi had found out. Kodi gasped and ran up to his musher and gripped his teeth around his sleeve and tried to pull him to the vets. Mr. Simpson, the musher, went red and told everyone they had to leave immediantly. Kodi had tears in his eyes, he thrust the flowers on the floor and ran all the way to the vets, his heart hammering in his chest.

When Kodi and Mr. Simpson reached the vet's office, he let himself in and hurriedly sniffed around for Dusty. When Kodi couldn't catch her scent, he stood next to Mr. Simpson, who was speaking to the receptionist, the musher had tears in his eyes. Kodi didn't understand what they were saying but he knew it was bad, but nothing could brace him for what they said next, "Dusty didn't make it, only one survived," ...........

Chapter 2, The Lone Parent

Kodi had burst into tears and they were rolling down his cheeks and dripping onto the wood polished floor, "No no no!" Kodi shouted, "It can't be!" Kodi bared his teeth and ran around the room wildly and sniffing the air for Dusty's scent. His whole world had collapsed, he had nothing to live for now. He suddenly caught a scent of Dusty's sweet and warm scent and Kodi perked up his ears. His musher was drying away his tears with a tissue. Kodi ran out of the room and followed the scent. The scent led him to a room full of nurses and vets, Dusty's nose was hanging off the table. Kodi ran up to the grey snout on the worktable, ignoring the vets shouting at him. Kodi touched the muzzle with his, it was cold. "No no no!" Kodi's tears spilling everywhere, she didn't make it. Kodi lowered his head and flattened his ears, he had lost everything that was important to him. Then he remembered, one had survived. The vets at this point were dragging Kodi by his collar and out of the room. When they opened the door, the receptionist and Mr. Simpson were waiting at the door. Kodi obediantly walked up to his musher, his head still drooping. The receptionist walked up to the table with the deceased Dusty on it. Kodi couldn't come to terms to look at his dead mate on the table, so he passed with a lowered head, the sparkle in his eyes had disappeared. The receptionist led Mr. Simpson and Kodi to a box on a white table, swarmed with rushing vets. The receptionist told Mr. Simpson to sit down while the vets were finished seeing to the puppy. Mr. Simpson said, "Thank you," and then sat down on the old wooden chair, he was wiping the tears around his eyes with his crumpled tissue.