Steele’s shoulder. Steele rolled Balto over and tried to bite Balto’s throat. Balto avoided the bite and kicked Steele hard with his hind legs. Steele fell off him and Balto latched his jaws onto Steele’s back. Steele growled and reached around. He bit Balto’s hind leg and threw him, ripping off a sizeable chuck of his own fur in the process. Balto slammed into the deck rather hard. He didn’t stay down. Steele growled and charged. Balto bit into Steele’s shoulder and used Steele’s momentum to throw him. Steele landed near the edge of the deck and got up. Balto ran forwards and slammed into Steele’s side, sending the larger dog falling off the deck. Balto flinched as Steele hit the ground hard. Balto looked over and saw Steele laying motionless below, his chest still moved with his breaths, Balto was glad he hadn’t killed another dog. "Don’t say I didn’t warn you." he said, breathing heavily. He walked over to Jenna and looked at Tina. "What happened to her?"
"I don’t know, she said the Outsider was talking to her through the link then she just passed out." said Jenna, worried.
Tina’s eyes snapped open and she got up, strangely smiling. "Your plan backfired, you’ve just made me love Balto even more, you should of stopped earlier than that." she told the Outsider through the link, she blocked it out before it could respond.
"What happened?" asked Balto.
"Well turns out I didn’t lose my memories, the Outsider stole them. It was the reason I had that nightmare to my puppyhood, it used the memory to scare me. It tried again just now but it backfired."
"What do you mean?"
"I’ll tell you, you see, it was trying to make me hate you but it backfired big time."

Flashback

Tina’s child self lay were her father left her, badly hurt and crying. "Why papa? What did I do?" she cried.
"Tina? Where are you sis?" called a voice. In a few seconds, a white husky pup moved into the pup’s view, it was her brother Alex. He looked at her and his eyes went wide. "Mom, Tina’s here, she’s hurt." he yelled before running over to his crying sister. "Tina, who did this to you?"
Tina looked at him and cried. "Daddy did this, I don’t know why but he did."
Alex looked rather surprised but he went to help his sister up, not caring that her blood stained his white pelt. "Don’t worry Tina, we’ll get you help."
Tina’s mother and her siblings came over, all quite scared. "Oh no, Tina, kids, help Alex with your sister." ordered the mother. The pups all came to help their hurt sister. The followed their mother back to where they lived.
Tina was quiet for a little bit except for her sobbing. She finally decided to talk. "Momma, why did daddy do this to me?" she asked, confused and upset.
Her mother sighed. "Well you see we’re part wolf, he just found that out and he doesn’t like it."
Tina cocked her head. "Part wolf?"
"Yes, you’re great, great, great grandfather was a half wolf named Balto."
Tina looked angry. "I hate him, why’d he have to be half wolf? Make daddy hate us."
"Don’t say that. You’re father is at fault here. Our ancestor was a dog to be proud of. He saved an entire town in 1925, all out of the goodness in his heart."
Tina’s eyes lit up. "Really? So we’re related to a hero?" she was excited now.
"Yes, it’s a really nice story."
"Tell us please?" Tina wanted to hear it, she was a pup, her curiosity outweighed the sadness and hurt.
Tina’s siblings joined in asking. "Alright." said their mother with a chuckle. "It all started in Nome, Alaska in 1925..."

Flashback end

"So my mom told me my first story about you that night. I wouldn’t have gotten through that without it." said Tina, smiling.
Balto was surprised some. "Glad I helped you" he said with a smirk.
"Tina…was Alex the one that…died?" Jenna asked, cautious not to upset Tina.
Tina nodded. "Yes, we were playing and I got in the road. He pushed me out of the way of a coming car, he saved my life at the cost of his own. I’m not upset about it any more. I blamed myself but I know it wasn’t my fault."
Jenna nodded. "I’m glad of that. Can we head to Rosy’s now?" she asked, she yawned a little, that was a very tiring ordeal…

Balto and The Beast

Nome Alaska, 8 am;

Balto stood in the shed behind Rosy’s house, Jenna slept in her bed, the humans thought she’d spent the whole night there with Balto. Balto couldn’t get it out of his mind how close he was to losing his beloved mate. The Outsider was literally inches from taking Jenna away from him forever. He looked at Tina. "Thank you for saving her Tina." he said.

Tina was looking out the door at the sky. "No problem." she said, not looking at him.

"Something wrong?"

"It’s a cloudy day."

"So?"

"The Outsider might be nocturnal but it can come out on a cloudy day, its near were we found the bear right now."

Balto nodded, at least it wouldn’t attack yet. He had to stop that monster before it hurt anyone else. He thought over his options, pretty much they were, fight or flight. He looked at Jenna, her ankle was a little swollen even though it wasn’t broken. He was so close to losing her, she meant everything to him. He turned to Tina. "I chose fight." he said.

"What?"

"I’m going to fight the Outsider." Balto took off out the door before Tina could argue.

Tina got ready to go after him but looked back at Jenna, she didn’t want Jenna to wake up with no one there ether. She ran over a nuzzled Jenna. Jenna woke rather quickly. "Tina? What going on?" she asked

"Balto’s gone." said Tina, worried.

"What do you mean?"

"He went to fight the Outsider, alone."

A chill went done Jenna’s spine and she got a worried expression. Her nightmare flashed through her mind. "Oh my gosh, we have to go after him." she tried to get up but pain shot through her ankle when she tried to stand and she fell back down.

"Jenna, I’ll go, I know where it is and you’d only slow me down in your condition. No matter what happens, I’ll bring him back."

Jenna wanted to go find her mate but Tina was right, she would just slow them down. "Alright, be careful."

"I will."

"…Can he beat it on his own?"

Tina sighed. "I don’t know, its strong and durable but it isn’t nearly as quick as he is. If he can outmaneuver it, he might win." Tina truly thought Balto could beat the Outsider, he was her hero, in her mind there was nothing he couldn’t do but the scientific side the humans had put in her mind said there was no way on earth he could win.

Balto ran through the snow and ice. One thing was on his mind, protecting what mattered to him most, his family and friends, he wouldn’t let them die, even at the cost of his own life. That was a bet he’d always make, his own life was of little importance if someone dear to him would be saved by his sacrifice. There was no fear in his mind, he didn’t let it, if it was there, he wouldn’t be at his best for the fight he was going to have. "I won’t let it win, that monster won’t beat me." he told himself.

The Outsider looked at the dead bear again, seeing how much it had decayed and such, it didn’t know cold could slow down decay, it documented it to memory. It extended its claw and checked it over, making sure it was free of scratches and such, it didn’t care about the bloodstains. It let out its newly acquired laugh as it looked at the bloodstains on its blades before retracting them. Balto jumped into the clearing and looked at the monster with a growl. It looked back and cocked its head. It identified Balto from the movies Tina had seen, it knew who he was but didn’t make a move. Tina was a threat to it, Jenna had been hunted by mistake but it had started hunting her so it had to kill her now. Balto hadn’t been encountered or attacked it yet, it wouldn’t attack unless he did.

Balto glared into the monster’s eyes, seeing the same evil stare they always had. "You have threatened my friends and family, you almost killed the one that matters to me the most! I’m going to bring you down even if I have to go down with you." he threatened.

The Outsider replied with its sinister laughter, which needless to say, disturbed Balto a little. Traitor, I’m going to crush your pathetic hero and I’ll not give you the privilege to watch it! it told Tina through the link, it then blocked out its senses from Tina’s access, she could sense what was going to happen. It took a fighting stance and let out a piercing roar.

Balto bared his teeth, let out a howl, and charged the genetic demon. The Outsider swung around and tried to strike Balto with its long tail. He leapt over the tail and landed on the monster’s back. He bit down on the back of its neck and began battering it with his paws. The creature didn’t feel Balto’s bite but it felt the impacts of his paws, that was another chink in its armor, blunt force impacts weren’t as defended against as other types of attacks. It growled and brought its tail around, it wrapped around Balto’s torso before tossing him off. The monster turned and snarled. It did a huge jump and tried to land on Balto with its feet. Balto quickly got up and ran out of the way. When the Outsider hit the ground, its impact created a small crater from its great weight. It turned around and let out a roar before charging. Balto met its charge with his own. He tried to leap over its back but the monster expected this and ducked, bringing its tail up and hitting Balto’s shoulder. He fell to the ground with a grunt of pain, it felt like a whip had struck him, he could feel a welt start to rise. The Outsider brought its tail down on Balto’s side a few times with the same result. Balto couldn’t help but let out a yelp of pain. He rolled out of the way of another strike from the whip like tail. He bit down on the tail tip and pulled back. The Outsider let out an agitated snarl and pulled its tail back. Balto’s paws slid but he just pulled back. The Outsider extended its claws and pulled its tail back with great force. Balto went flying towards it. His eyes went wide as he looked at the claws he was speeding towards.

Thunder roared throughout the battlefield. The Outsider instantly retracted its claws and looked up. Balto was