Meetings 

 Dan woke up, but he kept his eyes closed. He could see some light getting through his eyelids. It was morning. “What a crazy dream”, he thought. Meeting Balto and turning into a dog... That all just sounded foolish now. He tried to get up, but he noticed he was on a wooden floor, and it was a bit cold in the place. He also regained awareness of his own body, and felt his fur, his paws and his tail. He opened his eyes and looked around. It was Balto’s wrecked boat. Dan sighed. It was real. Then he just got up to start his first day as a dog.

Minutes later, Dan and Balto were already up, walking together heading to the small town. Dan had just told the older hybrid about his fame in the future.

- You mean they will make a movie about me? - Balto asked.

Dan nodded. It had taken some time some minutes ago to explain what a movie was.

- Yes, but the weird part is that in the original story, you were a purebred Siberian husky. – the young canid continued. - They even took some pictures of "you". When they made the movie about you as a hybrid, I thought it was just to make the story more interesting. In the true story, there was no Jenna, no Boris, and no Muk or Luk, and you never had pups.

- Why would they do that? - Balto asked, surprised. - I mean, you're seeing me here right now, I am part wolf, there is Jenna, Boris and the others and I did have children.

Dan thought for some moments.

- Maybe people that spread the fact only cared about the image, so they put another dog to pretend to be you, and he took all glory through the world, and someone that knew part of the really true story told it to Universal Studios, which found there a perfect opportunity to make a movie on that! - he said, revolted at the outrage, yet knowing it was just a supposition.

Dan thought that Balto would be shocked, but he was… chuckling?

- Why are you happy? - Dan asked, confused.

Balto turned his face to the other.

- If they had told the true story, they would take me away from Nome in a tour around the world instead of the other dog, and, like you said, I would have died in Cleveland, without ever seeing my friends and family again. – he said, hitting Dan with the fortunate truth.

Balto was right, it was better. But one thing was still not solved: who could know so much about Balto's story and told it to Universal Studios? Surely the director couldn't have guessed or invented all that. Such details only a dog could know, and would have to be very close to Balto. Dan decided to forget that for some time, it was irrelevant in the moment.

The hybrids passed by the totem with the animals from the legend that took Balto and Aleu to their Wolf Quest. "Gee, even the second movie was true", Dan thought. Though, he never really liked that sequel. It was bad-made. They finally got in the town. Dan halted to look at his surroundings. Everything was just like in the movie. The wooden houses and shops, the streets, the persons…

- Hey, Dan, come here! - he heard Balto calling, ahead of him.

Dan stopped his touring, and looked at where his friend was. Jenna and Kodi were there, beside Balto. Dan approached, a little pulled between happiness and nervousness.

- Hi. - he greeted with a smile.

- Hello, Dan. - Jenna returned the greeting, friendly.

- How’s it going? - Kodi greeted as well.

They were the same way he remembered from the films. Both dogs had their fur red and white. Yet, Kodi had some wolf characteristics, like the size and format of his muzzle. Jenna was very pretty, Dan had to admit, and she still had her red bandana. Dan remembered the past night.

- Oh, I wanted to thank you, Kodi, for helping me last night. - he thanked.

- Nah, it was nothing. – Kodi dismissed the thanking, with a friendly smile, but then changed his expression to serious. - But explain me one thing. Dad told me yesterday that you are a human, from the future, and that the northern lights turned you into a dog. Is that true?

- Well… yeah. - Dan answered, unsure of what the huskies would think.

Jenna looked at Balto, concerned.

- Is that true, Balto? – she asked.

Balto nodded. He and Dan explained all details of what happened, and how Dan got to Nome. The two huskies got startled when the hybrids finished, but then they looked decided.

- We’ll help however we can. – Jenna assured.

- Thanks. - Dan smiled.

- Dan wants to see the city. Kodi, could you take him for a tour? – Balto asked to his son, looking to have reminded something. - Boris is mad at Muk and Luk, and I better stop him from doing anything stupid.

- Okay. C'mon, Dan. – Kodi invited, then turning to Jenna. - Are you coming, Mom?

Before Jenna could answer, they heard the voice of a little girl.

- Jenna! Jenna! Where are you, girl? – the voice, that could only belong to Jenna’s mistress, Rosie, called.

Jenna turned back to Dan and Kodi.

- I'm sorry, boys, my girl is calling me. Maybe next time. Good luck, Dan. – she said, giving her last good-bye, and walking to where Rosie’s voice was coming from.

The husky and the hybrid started their tour around the town. Dan was enjoying it; Kodi was a nice guy to talk with, though he was still getting used to talking with creatures that were supposed to not talk at all. He couldn’t believe he was at last seeing Nome. Kodi greeted some of his friends and introduced them to Dan. Some of them looked differently at Dan, noticing his obvious wolf characteristics, but they treated him well, and no one asked too many questions. Practically everyone thought he just came from Fairbanks (a city from Alaska that came randomly to his mind when someone first asked) and that he had lost his parents when he was little. The disguise was perfect, no one would ever suspect of anything, because practically none of them knew anything about that city. And actually, so didn’t Dan. Being part wolf proved to be an uncomfortable fact sometimes. Some dogs and humans would throw him despising or apprehensive glances, and he would just throw back angry ones in the first case and friendly smiles in the second. “Unbelievable, there’s racism even amongst dogs.”, he thought.

- Kodi, will there be any sled race these days? I'm looking forward to see one. – Dan asked, remembering how he was wishing to see one since he first watched Balto's first film.

- Yes, tomorrow. My team against Dad's and Steele's. – Kodi answered, looking to be excited about the race too.

Dan braked, wide-eyed.

- Steele?! – he exclaimed. – Then he’s still here?!