Written by Saberwolf
***JENNA'S HOUSE***
Jenna woke up, breathing heavily, what a dream! She quickly glances over to the left, and Balto was missing still. Jenna sighed, not knowing what happened to her husband. The past few weeks, no just last months, after that encounter with that strange dark wolf, Balto hasn't been the same, he always seemed distracted and was easily agitated. Jenna sighed again, pity party, last thing she needed. Jenna forced her self to remember the good times with Balto, but this was a cumbersome task to undertake. Why is he acting so strange? she would think to herself. At any rate, she was still tired, and she was still parched from the day after running around all over Nome in search of Balto or any clues leading to his discovery.
While Jenna got up to get a drink, she couldn't help but look out the window, as if in that instant, Balto would come to scrape at the window, a sign that he has completed his voyage and is now home again. She leaned her head towards her water biwk and began to lap the water ravenously, but to her surprise, it was quite bitter, almost as if she were driking tonic. She tried to supress a cough, not wanting to wake up her owners. Rosie presence couldn't be found in Nome anymore, she had grown up and gone down to the states. Jenna was proud of her owner and her successes. It was good to have Nava around too his wise words often comforted Jenna, and she manifested her gratituted by offering Nava a place to sleep in the shed. Of course, Nava would just smile and decline the offer.
But how could Jenna blame him? He was all wolf, a canine of character, not a domesticated lap dog, like she was. But she didn't mind being a lap dog, for she was no dog of adventure, that was Balto's job, she was the type that just wanted to curl up on a rug in front of a open hearth, she loved the way fire seemed to dance, in it's own skittish, yet beautiful way. She then thought of her son Kodi, of whom she most proud of.
Suddenly, breaking the silence, alas! There was a scraping sound at the window, Jennna's face lit up like the Northern Lights, but quickly subsided when she realized it was just a squirrel, she growled and jumped at the window quietly, the squirrel took off like a bullet, going down the street and back into the forest. Jenna realized that there was no purpose of sitting at the window like a damsel in distress, so she retired herself back to her basket, snuggled among the pillows, and shut her eyes till morning came.
***BOILER ROOM***
Kodi was panting hard, his muscles were stiff, and so were Kiby, Ralph, Nikki, and Kaltag's. They were all searching for Balto for three hours in a blinding blizzard, when Kodi couldn't even move hardly, then had to call it a night and resumed to thaw at the boiler room. What confused Kodi the most that, while almost freezing to death, there wasn't a scent or anything of his father.
"Kodi, if your dad is out there, he's probably frozen dead!" said Ralph.
"He's not, my dad is around here somewhere" Kodi barked back.
Kodi didn't have a alot of confidence in his answer, and in fact, had great fear that Ralph was right, but who could argue? balto had gone missing for three days! Kodie felt his muscles warmp up, becoming more loose and easier to flex, the snow compiled on Nikki's back was quickly shaken off, by the time it hit Kaltag, it was water, soaking Kaltag. Kaltag growled a little, inching closer to the boiler, the heat evaporating the water right off his coat. Ralph was drying off as he rolled all over a warm carpet and Kirby snuggled close to a boiler.
"But there is always a chance!" Kodi said.
"Sorry old pal, but there aren't much more odds to play with here-" Kirby began to say.
"So that's it? You guys are giving up on him? The one dog that gave himself for use, this town, just so we could have a better life and you turn you're back on him when he needs us the most?!
"Face it Kodi, no dog, or wolf, can survive this, unless they were born into it, and Balto wasn't born into living without complete shelter, I'm sorry, but he can't be alive." Nikki responded.
"Then I don't need your help! I can do this myself! I can't believe I called you my friends!" Kodi shouted, the utmost hatred in his voice.
"Kodi WAIT!" Kirby shouted "Don't do this, okay, you still have a life"
Kodi stopped and paused, Kirby and the rest felt the room grow a bit cold, Kodi turned around very slowly, Kirby, although twice the size of Kirby, struck Kirby into a panic attack.
"A important part of my life is out there freezing, you think I'm gonna JUST LET HIM DIE OUT THERE?! Kodi screamed, getting into Kirby's face. The other dogs froze in terror, this was a new side to Kodi no one had ever witnessed before.
"Hey man, take it easy..." Kirby spit out, scarred out of his life.
"Don't tell me what to do, Kirby, I am grown up now, and don't dare get into my way" Kodi warned very coldly.
With saying that statement Kodi exited the boiler room and headed off into the snow, the blizzard calmed down now to more of a breeze, the dogs looked back at each other, they were all ashamed of themselves, but they couldn't let Kodi kill himself in search of someone that (they thought) was already dead.
"We can't let Kodie go through with this!" Kirby annouced.
"Agreed, but what can we do?" Kaltag thought out loud.
"Not much I am afraid" Kirby replied
***BALTO'S BOAT***
The creaking and cracking of the old beached boat never seemed to bother Boris, and the wind howling made him want to glance over the side, to perphaps seeing Balto come running up to the boat, but he never did. Boris felt awkwardly lonely and scarred. His unrsting soul forced him to look over the stern just one last time for today. Boris sighed, getting back up and looked over the edge, out in the distance, Boris could see something moving, was it Balto? Had he finally returned?! Boris nearly jumped out of his feathers, but when the object came closer, it was acutally Kodi.
"Kodi, what are you doing here?" asked Boris, a tone of disappointment was lurking in his voice.
"I came to find dad, with or without my "friends" help." said Kodie, determined more than ever before.
Boris now saw it, yes indeed, not only Aleu, but Kodi had it too, Boris saw the good old Balto now breathing and living in a new body, Boris could barely keep himself from crying.
"That is great Kodi! Except we have no idea where he is!" Boris said frustratingly.
"Can you recall anything unusual before he dissappeared?"
"That's what I mean, nothing was unusual!"
"Perphaps was he talking about a dream, any ravens been flying over head here?"
"The only bird here is me, no raven, and he usually whines in his sleep, the night he dissappeared, not a whimper or a sound."
"Okay, I'm running out of ideas" Kodie sighed in dispair, if his father left for a reason, then why would he? He was surrounded by love and friends and warmth here. What could possibly drive Balto out into the wilderness, all by himself? But suddenly, there was a SCENT! Where was it coming from? How old was it? Kodi no longer care, his father's scent filled his nostrils, it was coming from the side of the boat, why hadn't he smelt it before?
"Uncle Boris, I have found something! Quick!" Kodi screamed at the top of his lungs. Boris quickly, not even caring if he broke his leg, juped straight off the stern and landed next to Kodi.
"What is it Kodi? What did you find?" Boris asked anxiously.
Kodi smelt the scent get stronger inside the boat, he quickly crawled in through one of the cracks, and found a plank of wood with Balto's blood on it, Kodi carried it out into the twilight of the night.
"No...no..." Boris tried to get the words out, but the way the moon glittered off the blood on that old, weathered plank just seemed to well up emotions Boris hadn't felt since his mother died. Kodi dropped the plank, he gazed at it, the blood wasn't very old, in fact maybe a couple of hours old!
"How is this possible?! The blood on this plank here is only mere a few hours old!" Kodi exclaimed, his father must have been here, but how was he here undetected? While Kodi was formulating possiblities on how his father visited the area under the radar, Boris turned around and looked at the shore, something told him that he would find some answers across this stretch of water.
***UNKNOWN AREA***
He saw light at the end of the long dark tunnel, Balto quickly adavanced towards it, when he reached the light, he found himself to be seeing through his own eyes again, he saw that it was dark and the moon cast a brilliant light unto the unknown landscape. Balto wanted to stop running, but his body seemed to ignore what he wanted, Balto tried once more to stop himself, but his body kept going, suddenly a dark paw grabbed him around the neck, and he was pulled back into the mental dark tunnel, he lost control once again, while his body kept on resuming to run.
***BOILER ROOM***
Kodi and Boris now joined the rest of the dogs at the boiler room, they all sat in awe at the blood stained plank, everyone was speechless, as if the blood somehow stole everyone's ability to speak. The wind howled through the cracks in the boiler room's walls, this caused some of the dogs to shiver, something about what Kodi said made them say perphaps was Balto a ghost?
"Okay guys, I'm sorry, for what I said, but now we have proof, he's been here, and can't be to far away." Kodi began to say, looking for any support from any of his newly befriended, fellow dogs.
"We forgive you Kodi, it's just that, again, I don't how is he alive? His blood is out of his body? Never a good thing! And was there any other blood trails?" Kirby asked with extreme curiosity.
"That's the thing! No other trails! Just one spot!" Kodi said, now more confused than ever.
"I might be able to help you answer that question Kodi" a voice said behind them. Everyone quickly turned and gaped at the sight of Nava, old yet wise, standing in the doorway.
"HEY! Whose the old wolf!" Kirby said out loud in a disrespectful tone. Kodi shot Kirby a glace to basically just shut-up and listen to the "old wolf", this creature was more wise than all the dogs in the room put together. Kirby still held a proud look. Nava realized this of course.
"Drop the pride you dog! And lose some weight!" Nava said, calmly, a bit of heat could be felt in his tone. "Kodi, if you are searching for your father, this is no longer the place to find him anymore, but he has traveled far down south-east." Nava said.
"But Nava, look at this plank! It's his blood!" Kodi said, hoping to prove the old wolf wrong for his father's sake. Nava sighed, looking at the plank of wood, the blood was drying now in the fiercer heat in the boiler room. "Yes, that is his blood, but what you don't realize that it is a couple of days old, the cold-warmer days have kept it strong and fresh." Nava said sadly.
"Well, that sucks, so now what?" asked Ralph.
"I don't know Ralph, but we have to find him now!" Kodi declared.
"What doesn't make sense how there was only one spot of blood, and that's it" wondered Kirby, thinking outloud.
"Kodi, you're father, well, there was this one enemy of our clan ages ago, his name, Bizzaro, a menacing wolf that had nothing else better to do but torment other dogs and wolves, but what he loved more than anything were hybrids, both dog and wolf. I think Bizzaro has escaped and infected Balto somehow." Nava said, more worried than ever.
"Do you know what this, Bizzaro, did to his victims?" asked Kodi, scarred of the answer that Nava would have to say to sastisfy the question.
"Well, with hybrids, Bizzaro would posion his victim, and the posion would infect the thought process of his victim, therefore letting Bizzaro control them, but he's doing something else with Balto besides what I just told you." Nava said.
"Quit dancing around, what is he doing?!" Boris said, fed up with the fancy talk.
"Bizzaro is helping Balto's wolf side over come his dog side, making him become unpredictable and very dangerous." Nava revealed sadly. The room got real quiet.
"How do we free my dad then? There has got to be a way!" Kodi said, begging there would be a way to stop the tide of fate.
"Well, there is only one way to do that Kodi" Nava said, sighing deeply. "You must kill Balto".
Nava exits the boiler room, leaving the dogs and the goose in shock after hearing the news, NAva continues towards the forest, and looks over his back real quickly, after seeing nobody, he cracks his neck, and suddenly, his fur turned black, and his face got younger, it is revealed that he is actually Bizzaro!
"Soon, Balto will be dead!" Bizzaro threw his head back, laughing like a meniac.
TO BE CONTIUNED...