Balto 1  1/2

                                      By Miles

                                    They Meet

    "I'm hopelessly lost."  Aniu said to herself. She had been walking for days, and she was starving. A few minutes later, she walked into a small town. "Nome, Alaska: The Last Frontier." read the sign Aniu was looking at. It was the middle of the night, so she knew that no humans would see her. She saw a trash can and started digging through it. "I see you've found my favorite restaraunt." Aniu nearly jumped out of her fur. "Who are you?!" she screamed. "Shhh! I'm Dingo." he said. "And you are?". "Aniu." she replied.

    "I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new?" Dingo asked. "Yeah.". "Ok, then let me show you around." "Ok" she said. So she and Dingo walked around and they talked and Dingo showed her some of his favorite spots in Nome.

     "And last but not least," Dingo said, "My favorite place in the whole wide world!" He led her into a dusty cellar. Aniu wordered why this was his favorite place in the whole wide world, but she didn't say anything.

     They got to the end of the cellar and there was a bunch of broken bottles under a vent. Dingo started muttering something under his breath, but Aniu didn't understand. "This guy is crazy!" Aniu thought. Just as she was about to run out of the cellar, a bright light blinded her. The light from the vent bounced off the bottles. It was the Northern Lights. "They're beautiful!" Aniu exclaimed. And Dingo said, "Just like you."

                                   The Hunter

      The next day, the two of them went on a picnic in the woods. They talked and ate their food, and then they went on a walk. After a while, they decided to head back home.

      They were halfway there when they knew - someone was watching them. And then they saw the hunter. He started to load the gun and they ran. But they were too late. He aimed and shot - but he missed, and Dingo ran up to him. He jumped and grabbed the gun in his mouth.

     Then Aniu ran and started to attack the hunter also. He somehow threw her of though, but she stood back up and threw a rock at him, and he knocked him out. They ran away as fast as they could.

     "Oh my God. That was a close one!" Aniu yelled. "Yeah." Dingo said. "You ok?".  "I'm fine. You?" "Great."

                                        Dating

      Over the next few months, Aniu and Dingo dated and they really liked each other. They always hang out with each other, and they made lots of friends. But of course, whenever you make friends, you make enemies. Aniu met this one dog that kept teasing her about being a wolf. Her name was Metal.

     And of course, to make things worse, she did everything to make Aniu and Dingo break up. She spread rumors about them. She tried to make them look bad. Stuff like, "Hey, Aniu, I just saw Dingo in the cellar kissing another dog!!!!!" and "Dingo! Aniu was on the beach with a wolf!!!!!!!!!!!".  And she would tell everyone those lies. It drove them up the wall!

     But as hard as Metal tried, they never broke up. They loved each other. They dated for a few more months and then, before long, they had been dating for a year. They were mates. The news travled fast around the dogs of Nome. They went to their house, which was an old abandoned boat on the beach on the outskirts of Nome. Soon, they were expecting puppies.  

                         The Puppies are Coming!

       As soon as everyone learned about the puppies were coming, there was a HUGE fuss. Everyone was asking questions about the puppies like, "Are you guys going to give them away?" and, "If you give them away, can my girl have one because she was saying that we need another dog around the house!".

      But the answer was no. Aniu and Dingo decided to just keep the puppies because the pups would be half wolf, no humans would want them. And it would be better for them to be raised by their parents.

      Weeks went by, months went by and soon, there was only one more month untill the pups came! Dingo was totally freaked out. "What am I gonna do?! I'm not ready!!!" he yelled. "Relax Dingo. It's gonna be ok. You're gonna be a wonderful father.

      It was the day. The pups came, and it was beautiful. Now it was time to name the puppies.

      There were six puppies. Three boys and three girls. Aniu named two girls and one boy, and Dingo named two boys and one girl. Dingo named one boy Kodi, another boy Lightning, and the girl Sun. Aniu named the girls Christina and Jewel and she named the boy Balto.

                               Raising the Pups

      Out of all the pups, the most playful one was Balto. But there was something different about Balto: all of his brothers and sisters looked like Huskies, like Dingo, but Balto looked like a wolf, like Aniu. He and the pups wern't totally aware of that, it didn't matter that much.

      When the pups were 8 weeks old, their parents took them to a waterfall in the woods to play. The waterfall was beautiful. There was crystal clear water flowing through smooth silver rocks and there was a rainbow of butterflies in the air. When they got there, the pups couldn't wait to play in the water and chase butterflies.

     Aniu and Balto raced to the water. They splashed around and then they layed down and looked in the river. Then Jewel came over. They talked  some more, and then Jewel went to chase butterflies.

     "Mommy?" Balto asked. "Yes?". "Why do I look different from all of my brothers and sisters?" Balto asked. Aniu sighed. "I don't know how to tell you this, so I'm just gonna say it. You and your brothers and sisters are half wolf. Your siblings look like huskies, but you look like a wolf. You are a wolf. I just know it." Aniu explained. Balto didn't reply, but he wasn't mad. He just thought about it. And he never forgot that day. After that, it was getting dark, so it was time to go time to go home .

     The puppies went on lots of trips after that. They even went to the Northern Lights Cellar. The pups were thinking stuff like, "What kind of fun are we gonna have in a cellar?" But all that changed when they saw the lights. "OOOOHHH!!! AHHHHHH!!! PRETTY LIGHTS!" 

                                   A Tragic Day

     Then, one day in winter, they went to the mountains in the woods. Since it was winter, the mountains were covered with snow. Dingo told them to keep quiet because any loud noise could start an avalanche. The puppies promised to stay quiet and they went off to play. A little later, they heard hunters. The pups ran to their parents. Aniu said that the hunters were far away and wouldn't hurt them.

     But the puppies stayed beside the mountain with Aniu and Dingo.Then they heard a booming gunshot. The ground started to shake, and everyone screamed. "MOMMY! DADDY!" yelled the pups. The snow started rolling down the mountainside like an ocean wave. There was a panic, and everyone ran. Aniu, Dingo, Kodi, Lighting, Sun, Christina, and Jewel ran to the left. Balto ran to the right. Before he realized that went the opposite way that his family, it was too late. The crashed down, and there was no way to get back to his family. Realizing what had just happened, he sat down and cried. He cried himself to sleep that night. "Mommy... Daddy... *sniffle*".

     The next morning was a much better one. As soon as Balto woke up, he saw a Russian Snow Goose walk by. "Help me!" said Balto.  "What in the world?" the goose said. "How did you get here?".  "I was with my family, and there was an avalanche and we got seperated and..." Balto explained. " You can come live with me. My name is Boris." said the goose. Then Balto asked, "Where do you live?". "Where did you used to live?" Boris asked. "Nome. In a big boat on the beach." replied Balto. Then Boris said, "Well then, let's go!"

                            Journey Back to Nome

     "How?" Balto asked. "We will fly!" Boris replied. "Excuse me, but it sounded like you said that 'we' were going to 'fly'." Balto said. "I did. I'm gonna cary you.".

     "Oh my God! Whoaa!!! Oh my God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". The next thing Balto knew, he was on Boris's back, soaring above the clouds! Balto was mainly quiet during this trip. "Look! Look! There's my boat!'. So Boris landed on the top of it.

     "Ok, then." Boris said. "Let's get some food" "Like what?" Balto said. "Uhhh... like... " Boris looked at the beach. "Like fish!" So they went and got fish out of the ocean. "You know, this is some really good fish!" Balto said. "Yeah!" Boris agreed.

                            And the rest was history