years, and he had learned how she fought, how she moved.

So he followed her, the two of them snaking their way through the growling, battling wolves.

Aleu walked into the chamber.

"Gia!"

The silver wolf walked out from a rock, behind Aleu.

Gia growled.

Aleu turned in time to see Gia, right as Gia slammed into her.

Shadow had taken out one of his opponents, he lay to the side, barely able to crawl, much less fight, he was done.

The other however, was being a little more stubborn about going down.

Both he and Shadow were covered in small wounds, that dripped blood on the cool rock.

The black wolf growled at him, and spit on the floor.

Shadow just stared at him.

Then the black wolf attacked.

Shadow moved out of the way and the wolf landed on the rocks behind him, but the wolf recovered and jumped on Shadow's back.

Shadow threw the wolf off of his back, knowing that a neck shot was too easy there.

The black wolf bit Shadow's shoulder and held on.

Shadow thrashed around and threw the black wolf off of him.

The wolf slammed into the wall.

Shadow thought he was out, and turned to help out Aleu, whom he could hear fighting in the next chamber. He was worried about her, for when the children had been born, Aleu had begun to slack off on her training, on the techniques that Shadow had taught her.

Not only that, but Aleu was hurt, and that put her at a severe disadvantage.

He took a step forward, and the black wolf slammed into him, throwing him face first into the ground.

He rolled over, ignoring the scratching and biting wolf, and whacking its head against the wall, again and again, he slammed the wolf's head into the rock.

The wolf finally let go of Shadow, and Shadow threw the wolf off of him again.

The wolf slid dangerously close to the rock ledge.

It was a nearly sixty-foot drop to the cave floor.

The wolf stood up, as Shadow slammed into him, this time.

Shadow felt the wolf start to go over the side, then the black wolf stepped to the side, grabbing Shadow with his claws, and throwing him forward.

Shadow saw the ground far below him, as he turned, and latched onto the edge.

Shadow's belly slammed against the rock as he scrabbled at the wall, trying to work his way back up.

He looked up at the wolf, who grinned at him, then he tried to swipe at Shadow's head.

Shadow looked below him, at the ground far below, then he looked back up at the wolf.

"I'll never make it," he thought, "better to fall, than let him kill me."

As Shadow made his decision, he looked back up at the black wolf, who continued to try to hit him.

A tear came to his eye, as he thought of his children, and mostly of Aleu, of all the times they'd shared together, the time they'd spent in that cave, during the search for Balto and Jenna, the birth of their Children, Sheik and Lima. The adoption of Thunder, and the horror that Aleu had been put through, at that horrible human camp.

All of this and more flashed through his mind, as he stared at the wolf's yellow eye, and let go.

Balto was still fighting the black wolf.

He wasn't fairing too well.

It had been a long time, since he'd been involved in a fight.

Being the town hero had softened him up.

As an outcast, he'd had to defend himself constantly, almost every time he went into town, Steele, or some of his other friends had beat him up pretty good.

He'd become a good fighter, his style was an on the spur of the moment kind of style, trying to outsmart his enemy, rather than beat him by brute force.

Word of his effectiveness had spread, to the point where even Steele didn't fight him openly anymore. This fact had never circulated beyond Steele's circles, and of course, Steele had never told anyone that Balto could beat him, though he could.

Balto could have flaunted his ability, and probably earned the respect of a few of the dogs in the process, but he didn't like to fight, he didn't desire the dogs appreciation if it meant that he had to be like Steele, that they had to be afraid of him.

He wanted to be liked by them, not feared.

Balto never went out looking for a fight, he just defended himself, to the extent that it took to get away, and then he'd run.

He'd actually beat Steele, once, when Steele had picked on him alone.

Balto had taken him, and taken him hard.

Steele claimed that the injuries he'd received had been obtained in a fight with another sled team's leader that was passing through town.

Balto just let everyone believe that, after all, he didn't want everyone to know that he could fight.

After the now famous medicine run, everyone had been nice to him, and he'd not had to defend himself much, so his fighting abilities had slipped.

Balto narrowly dodged another strike, and tried to return it, he connected, but not well.

The wolf just used the impact of the strike to spin around, catching Balto in the side of the head, with his paw.

The impact, threw him to the ground, and the wolf saw his opportunity.

The wolf tried to jump on his back, but Balto caught him with a hasty kick, that just angered the wolf more.

The wolf reeled back, and came at Balto again, as he tried to crawl away, realizing that this was a fight that he was not going to win, and that he needed to just run.

The wolf clamped his jaws down on Balto’s leg.

Balto instantly felt the wolf ripping, tearing into his rear leg, the pain was excruciating.

Balto tried to get away, but no matter how hard, he tried to run away, the wolf just held on, focused on holding Balto back.

Balto finally got his other three legs on the ground, and stood up, trying to run away, but the wolf had a good hold.

“I’m not getting out of this one,” Balto thought, he thought of his son, of his daughter, and of Jenna.

“How did I get into this?” He thought.

The wolf twisted his leg, and Balto heard, as well as felt it snap.

Balto tried to get away even harder now, fear giving him strength now, but it was still not enough.

The wolf turned in a half circle, and threw Balto into the wall.

Balto’s head slammed against the rock, and slid down the wall.

He tried to stand, but fell, his broken leg was kept him down.

The wolf walked over, confident again, and grabbed his front leg, in his jaws, swinging him in another circle, throwing him once again into the wall.

Balto felt something pop in his shoulder, as he slid to the ground once more.

The wolf walked over to him and flipped him over.

Balto could barely breathe, much less resist.

The wolf stared down at him, and opened his jaws.

Balto stared up into the teeth that would end his life, and closed his eyes.

He opened them, as he heard a bark, it sounded kind of familiar.

“Oh no,” Balto thought. “Why didn’t he go home.”

Blaize ran across the chamber, as the wolf turned.

Blaize slammed into him with his head down, throwing the wolf away from Balto.

The wolf hit the other wall, and stood up, surprised at this new adversary.

“Don’t worry,” Blaize said, “I got ‘im.”

Blaize hoped he sounded more confident than he felt.

“I’m gonna get killed!” He thought.

Then he just ran at the wolf.

Balto coughed in response, trying to tell his son to get out of there, but unable to speak.

Blaize hit the wolf again, and the wolf hit the wall… again.

Blaize watched, as the wolf stood up.

“You’ve got me eh dog?” He said, smiling.

“I hope so!” Blaize thought.

The wolf chose that time to leap at him, and Blaize ducked, the wolf sailed over him.

Blaize turned around and ran at the wolf, hitting him, almost the exact second that the wolf touched the ground.

The wolf flew into the wall.

Blaize heard his head crack against the hard wall.

The wolf struggled to his feet.

Blaize ran at him again, and caught the wolf somewhat off guard, as he tried to recover, with a paw to the face.

The wolf’s head cracked against the wall, and he looked back at Blaize, there were three of him now, as Blaize took the opportunity to knock his head against the wall a sixth time.

The wolf had trouble, remaining standing, the world was tilting left and right, and there were now six Blaizes in front of him.

The wolf tried to hit one of them.

Blaize watched as the wolf’s paw sailed through the air about four feet to his left.

Blaize looked back at the wolf, and hit him again, this time, really cracking his head on the wall.

The wolf slid to the floor.

Blaize watched him, making sure that he wasn’t getting up, then he saw the back of the wolf’s head.

Blaize cringed, knowing that he had ended another life, and ran over to his father, who had managed to stand.

“Son that was awesome,” Balto said.

He limped the rest of the way over to Blaize.

“For once,” He winced, and picked up his leg. “For once I’m glad you didn’t listen to me.”

“Come on dad,” Blaize said, “let’s get out of here.”

Balto sighed.

“Son I can’t leave until I know how this turns out, until I see..”

Balto winced again.

“…until I see Aleu, your sister.”

“No, Dad,” Blaize said, “you’re hurt, and hurt bad from the looks of it.”

Blaize had seen hurt dog’s before too.

“Yeah..”

Balto winced again.

“Wow you know this… this really hurts.”

Blaize looked at his father’s leg.

“Yeah it looks broken.”

“It is.” Balto said.

“Well