Balto (New Adventure)
Chapter 1 – The Beginning of Mystery
“I wonder where I will be going now….”
A female wolf was sitting at the edge of cliff, thinking of something that would lead her into the next place. Her white fur was blown gently by the wind and her blue eyes were looking far down to the surroundings, covered with snow.
As far as she could see, the white colour was the dominant than anything else. It created a perfect silent in the forest while the wind kept blowing trees, making a little sounds of it.
But, that silent was disturbed by the sounds of footsteps. It became louder and louder, even it came directly from deep down of the forest to her place. The creature began to show himself to the female wolf who was sitting at there.
“Sorry for keeping you at there…”
A male wolf with silver fur came out from the bush, showing his black eyes to her. He began to walk closer to her, hoping that he could know what she was doing while he went out.
“Is there something that bother you?” he said, “You were so calm back then.”
The female wolf just shook her head and smiled.
“I’m just thinking of where we will be going now,” she replied, “We can’t keep walking everyday.”
“I know, Lani,” he answered, walking into distance, “We just have to walk and find some safe place to rest.”
The female wolf, known as Lani, began to move closer to him, seeking some answer from him.
“Fine, then why you always went to somewhere each time we stopped walking?” she asked. “There must be some reason about it, Alex.”
Alex, the male wolf, began to chuckle for hearing this question.
“I was just walking around,” he answered with smile. “There is nothing to worry about it.”
Lani became confused after heard the answer, but, she knew maybe it was the best that he could give to her.
“So…,” she asked. “Where we will be going now?”
Alex moved closer to the edge of cliff, his eyes were full of determination of one place that they would go.
“Nome…,” he answered with confident, “We will be going to Nome right now.”
Meanwhile at Nome, the storm was coming directly and hit everything in there. Every door was closed and every window was lid down. It looked like there would be no one who was hanging around in the middle of this storm. Still, there was one creature that was in outside now and he was running in full speed to find some shelter nearby. A dog that looked like a wolf was in there, running while searching someplace that he could rest from the rage of storm.
“Balto…,” he thought, “You should come home quickly back then if you didn’t want to get trapped in this storm.”
A wolf – dog, known as the famous Balto, was still running to his boat, a place that he usually stayed and called as home. As far as he kept running and running, the boat then became closer and closer until it was in front of him. Despite on how he looked now by the time snow had buried him, he jumped straight to it and began to walk to the dock, a place that he could rest from it. Unfortunately, there were some uninvited guests at there.
“What the…,” he thought, disbelief on his face, “Who they are? And what they are doing in here?”
What he saw then was a pair of wolves that was laying down in there. One was a male with silver fur and black eyes, and the other was a female with pure white fur. It looked like the female was sleeping now while the other one was still standing there. The male looked deep down on Balto’s eyes.
“Well…, I didn’t mean to disturb you, but…,” he glanced at them, “Could you tell me at least why you are in here?”
The male looked at Balto for a moment, thinking of something.
“So, this is Balto…,” he thought, “The son of Great Aniu.”
There was a moment of silence before the male wolf came to speak up.
“Sorry for disturbing your place…,” he answered gently, “But I and my friend have to find some shelter from the storm.”
“Oh…,” Balto looked surprised at this, “I thought you were intruder because there was no one to visit me, except my family.”
The male wolf began to smile for hearing the reason.
“I understand,” he said, “It was my fault that I come here.”
“No, you just do the right thing,” Balto replied, shaking his head, “Beside, I can spare my room for you two until the storm calm down.”
“Thank you,” he said with smile, “By the way, my name is Alex, and my friend is Lani. Glad to meet you.”
“I’m Balto,” Balto said, “Glad to meet you too, Alex.”
Alex then moved closer to the outside, looking for the storm that became heavier than it was.
“So, why you are in here, near to the town?” he asked, “I thought wolves weren’t accepted in here.”
Balto was trying to smile due to what Alex was talking about.
“Yeah, it was a complicated thing, but…,” he explained, shrugging, “Now, I’m welcomed in here, whether it’s just for some people.”
Alex seemed not surprised by the answer, just remained calm by the time.
“So…,” he started, “Could we stay in here too?”
Balto was startled by the words that flew from Alex, the wolf that he just knew for a little while. He tried to think, hoping that he would find some answer for Alex’s question.
“I don’t know it would be good to you…,” he answered, “Beside, why you want to stay here instead your pack?”
“Because…,” Alex started to answer, “It was complicated to explain right now.”
Balto was a little surprised at his answer, never realizing that he would get a company to share and stay soon.
“Okay, if you say so…,” he said, “But, I must warn you to not come near the human. You know how human still don’t like the wolves.”
“Of course,” Alex answered with smile on his face, “I will stay far from them.”
“And, if you don’t mind…,” he said, laying down,” I want to get a rest now.”
Alex just gave him a smile across of what he said.
Later, they were just waiting until the storm passed down by the time, day became night. And soon without anyone realized, the night became a beautiful morning.
Nome in the morning was so excellent and perfect where many people were hanging around, doing some job or anything else in the middle of society. Soon, it was full of crowd, not the silent that had filled it a little while ago.
Balto, who still didn’t believe of what was happened yesterday, was going to Jenna’s home. Instead of taking an ordinary way, he took a shortcut to avoid a lot of people that walking around. When he reached it, he began barking through the window.
“Balto…,” Jenna said, still yawned from her decent sleep while looking through the window, “Is there something you want to talk?”
“Yeah, of course…,” he answered, looking on Jenna, “I want to hear about your opinion?”
“My opinion?” Jenna looked confused, “Do you have some problem now?”
“Maybe yes…,” he said, “But, maybe not too…”
“Okay,” Jenna finally decided, “Stay there. I will come out now.”
By the time Balto was waiting, Jenna came outside to meet him, revealing her beautiful face.
“So, what’s your problem now?” Jenna asked, “Is it connected to our children?”
“No, Jenna. They are fine,” he answered, “Actually, it’s about someone else.”
“Well…,” Jenna said, trying to think of who Balto was talking about, “I will listen.”
Balto took a deep breath before he continued it.
“Yesterday, when I was coming back to home, I saw two wolves in it,” he explained, “One was a male and the other was a female. They just came there due to the storm and then, the male wolf asked me to stay in there with me. He just said their reason to stay was complicated to explain. So…, what do you think of it?”
Jenna looked surprised at this, and then, she just gave him a smile.
“I will say that…,” she moved closer, nuzzling him, “You are too kind too them. Why you didn’t say no to them?”
“Because…,” he started, “I guess they seemed troubled by the way, and they didn’t look like a bad one.”
Jenna was laughing when she heard that.
“Okay, Balto. I know how you feel,” she said, “Well, you can explain them more to me in the way.”
Balto just smiled. He knew Jenna would understand his feeling, an unexplained thing that only he knew by the instinct.
Back at the boat, Lani began to wake up after having some sleep back then. She opened her eyes slowly, glanced at around to find that she was alone.
“Where is Alex?” she thought, “Why he always go somewhere alone?”
Instead of thinking it, she decided to stand up and went out to get a fresh air in the morning. She slowly walked down from the boat to the land below, raising her head while taking some fresh air as much as she could get.
“I wonder what I will do while…,” she thought, but cut off when she heard something behind her, “What is that?”
Not so far from the boat, some dogs were running forward to the beach. It looked like they were heading the boat.
“Hey, Kodi!” Ralph shouted, “Slow down, it’s still morning, you know.”
“Yeah…,” Dusty added, “What’s the hurry?”
Kodi looked behind him, still running at the distance.
“I just want to talk to my dad,” Kodi shouted, “He must know this good news.”
“Good news?” Kirby looked confused, “It’s just a race for tomorrow. Beside, you haven’t become the winner yet.”
“Oh, yeah,” Kodi said, looking at back, “I will prove it tomorrow. You just wait and see that I will…”
The moment he said, he crashed hardly to something that was blocking in front of his way. He rolled to the side of the boat while the other that he had crashed, rolled and landed at the pile of snow, not so far from Kodi.
“Owww…,” Kodi said in dizzy, “My head is hurt.”
After a while, his friend came to him, checking that everything was fine.
“Kodi,” Ralph said, “What was happened to you?”
“Yeah, I just saw that you crashed something…,” Kirby added, “And then, you are here now.”
“I don’t know,” Kodi answered, still in dizzy, “I didn’t see what it was…. Maybe just a rock.”
“So…,” Dusty started, “Our lead dog seems must pay attention in front of him or he will get stumbled.”
Kirby and Ralph began to laugh. They had to admit that it was true at all.
“Very funny, Dusty,” Kodi said, trying to stand up, “Now, could anyone help me out?”
While they were trying to help Kodi, something that not so far from them was moving slowly, trying to stand up too, just like Kodi did.
“Hey, guys,” Dusty said, looking in the direction, “What is that?”
“What?” Kirby asked, “I don’t see anything.”
“It’s there, Kirby…,” Dusty answered, pointing to it, “There is something moving right behind it.”
True of what Dusty had said, something was moving. It wasn’t clearly what it was until it came and stood up. There, a beautiful white wolf with blue eyes was shaking her head, trying to get a clear vision from the collision before.
“It’s a wolf!” Ralph shouted, “What is she doing here?”
“She is kind of suspicious,” Kodi said, still looking at the female wolf, “Maybe we should ask her.”
Then, they were walking and moving closer to her, seeking some answer of the reason of why she was here.
“Hey, you!” Kodi asked, looking thorough to her, “What are you doing in here?”
“Yeah,” Dusty added, “This isn’t a place for wolves for hanging around.”
The female wolf just remained silent, looking at the other direction in order to find some answer through her mind.
“Excuse me, I’m asking you…,” Kodi said, impatient of the answer, “What are you doing in here?”
“Nothing,” she answered softly, “I was just walking.”
“Just walking?” Ralph asked, disbelief on her answer, “Are you sure? It’s kind of strange that there’s a wolf walking at here.”
The female wolf just glanced around and back, looking to Kodi and his friends.
“So, what if I was…,” she said, “It’s my business anyway.”
“Perhaps…,” Kodi replied, “Or there was something behind it. You even look more suspicious to me now.”
The female wolf, from patient became impatient due to what Kodi had said to her, making her to be such an investigate thing.
“What’s the matter with you?” she snapped back, “Just leave me alone here.”
“I can’t!” Kodi replied, looked angry at her, “You might do something terrible if I just left you here. Beside, I can’t trust the wolves.”
“Oh, yeah! And I can’t trust you too,” she said, gazing sharply to Kodi’s eyes, “Humans and dogs are just the same. They can’t be trusted very well.”
There was a moment of silence until Kodi began to show his teeth, assuming an attacking stance, his friend were just doing the same thing too. While they were ready, the female wolf was just looking them patiently, stood up and remained calm.
“So, this is it…,” she thought, “I must defence myself now.”
By the time she had been thinking, Kodi started to run and leapt to her, using a full power to knock her down. Instead of attacking, she just avoided his attack quickly by moved her body to the right and span around, using her paws to pinned down him. As a result of this, Kodi now was laying on below her while she still stood up and pressed her paws to Kodi’s back so that he couldn’t move.
“Don’t move!” she shouted, forcing his friend to stop, “Or your friend will be in danger.”
His friend by the way, stopped and shocked when they looked at her, beating Kodi easily for less than a second without any fierce fights.
“Hey, let me out of here!” Kodi shouted, struggling to release himself, “You can’t do this to me!”
“Of course, I can!” she said, pinning Kodi back off, “Beside, you attacked me first, didn’t you?”
The situation became complex now, Kodi and his friend were struggling to finish the problem while the female wolf was just wanting to end this pathetic fight. Eyes were gazing eyes, as much as everyone prepared the next move. It clearly became uncontrollable until someone shouted at the distance, far away from them. The voice that would finish it off.
“Stop!” someone shouted from the distance, “Stop this entire nuisance!”
When they all looked at the direction, they were seeing Balto, came down from the hill with Jenna at his side. The female wolf began to release Kodi from her grip, moving back from him.
“What was going on in here?” Balto asked to everyone, “Why you were fighting?”
Kodi started to stand up, glanced at the female wolf and back to his father.
“It was her fault, dad!” Kodi said, pointing to the female wolf, “She did it all.”
“Yeah,” Ralph said, trying to support Kodi, “She was pinning down Kodi and warning us to not get closer.”
“Is that true?” Balto asked, “You did all of it.”
“They were just asking too much. It made me feel uncomfortable,” the female wolf answered, looking to them, “Beside, he attacked me first. I just defence myself by pinning him down.”
“What?” Kodi snapped back, “It was you that…”
“Kodi!” Balto shouted, “Stop it! Just go back to the town and I will explain the entire situation by then.”
“But, dad…,” Kodi pleaded, “She was…”
“Kodi!” Jenna held him off, “You heard your father, now just go back to the town.”
Kodi looked irritated by the words, but finally, he knew he must listen to them.
“Okay,” Kodi said, began to turn around, “Bye dad, mom.”
With it, Kodi and his friend were going far from them, away from the trouble.
“So,” Balto said, taking a deep breath, “At least, nobody hurt.”
Then, the wind began to blow coldly, making them to shiver. They started to go back to Balto’ boat, a place that they could talk and shared everything in their mind, and to get a warm.
“I’m sorry for making such trouble,” the female wolf started, hesitated in her voice, “I was just looking my friend. Maybe, he is somewhere now.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Balto said, started to chuckle, “Kodi always looks like that.”
The female wolf began to smile too, looking around to find something.
“Well, if you don’t mind…,” she said, started walking away, “I’ll leave now.”
“Wait, Lani!” Balto shouted, stopping her, “I thought you were staying here now.”
The female wolf startled by the words. She didn’t know why he had already known her name, and why he thought she would be staying there now.
“What?” Lani replied, looking to Balto, “How do you know my name? And why I have to stay in here?”
“Your friend, Alex,” Balto explained, “He told me everything. He asked me if he and you could stay in here due to complicated reason.”
“Oh…,” Lani said, beginning to understand, “He did it.”
Balto just nodded.
“Thank you very much,” she said, looking at Jenna, “By the way, who is your friend?”
“I’m Jenna,” she said, introducing herself, “I’m Balto’s mate. And you have met Kodi, he is our son.”
“Mate?” Lani looked confused, “I thought dogs and wolves were having some significant different.”
Balto, for hearing this, was just laughing.
“I know that,” he answered, “We have found our similarities too. It’s love.”
“Balto,” Jenna became shy, “You don’t have to tell it.”
“But I did it!” he said, smile on his face.
They began to chuckle and nuzzled, showing that they really loved each other. Lani just stared to them, and then she decided to go out, taking sightseeing.
“Excuse me…,” she said, “If you don’t mind, I want to take a walk, just see the surroundings.”
Balto and Jenna became embarrassed, knowing that they lost themselves in the middle of love.
“Oh, okay,” Balto said, “We will see you later.”
Lani gave a smile then, climbed down and went out once again to the outside.
“Dogs and wolves,” she thought, shaking her head, “So, the world has changed.”
As far as Lani went out, checking around, someone was watching from far away, out of the distance. It was Alex, who was still looking around, examining something while standing at the cliff.
“Looks clear…,” he thought, “I thought they would be here first before me.”
He began to climb down, watching every step he took to get down from the cliff. When a shadow appeared above him in a sudden, he quickly jumped down, glancing at it.
It was a wolf, male with brown fur on all of his body, except black on his four legs. His eyes were black as same as Alex, but in vicious way. Alex himself could tell that this wolf wasn’t an ordinary wolf.
“Don’t be afraid!” the male wolf said, an evil grin on his face, “I’m not too dangerous.”
Alex scanned him, still looking him at the top of the cliff, giving him a summary of who he really was.
“I don’t think so,” Alex replied, beginning to serious, “You look more dangerous than what you had said before.”
“Well…,” he said, beginning to chuckle, “It seems you were cleverer than I thought.”
“So…,” Alex started, “You were sent here to kill him.”
The male wolf just shook his head, pretending it was wrong.
“Don’t say that…,” he said, his eyes became vicious, “I was sent to eliminate, not to kill. Kill is crueler, you know.”
“It’s same,” Alex answered him, “Beside, I can’t let you to do it.”
“Oh, don’t worry…,” he replied, starting to climb down to the place where Alex stood up, “Today isn’t the day. I just spy the situation first.”
Alex still remained calm, not wanting to be distracted by him. There was a moment of silence before the male wolf started to speak again.
“By the way,” he began, positioning himself in attacking stance, “How about do some exercise? I want to know how good you are.”
By the time he said it, he leapt forward to him, lashing a paws without wasting a time. Alex, instead of attacking, he chose to avoid it by jumping back, evading his paws that were so close. Then, he took a chance that his enemy had made, using his own momentum to tackle him, but his enemy was faster too. He blocked the attack just by using his paws.
“Good,” he commented, still in attacking stance, “You were better than I thought. You aren’t an ordinary guardian.”
At the moment, they were still facing each other. Then, he leapt forward again in a sudden. Instead of going straight, he jumped passing Alex to the rock behind him and pushed himself by using his legs, giving him more speed to lash his paws by the momentum.
“What the…,” Alex thought, glancing at him.
He knew he had a less time to avoid this one, so he jumped away from the enemy behind him. Instead of stumbled, they met in the midair. His enemy, by the way, still kept lashing his paws, almost hit Alex on his muzzle. Luckily, Alex spun himself while still in the midair, using his own paws to make a scratch to his enemy face.
Then, all they knew was the situation became silent again. No sound was heard. Still, two wolves were standing from what was happened before, gazing at each other. His enemy face started bleeding a little.
“Interesting,” he said, starting to lick his own face from the blood, “You’re so powerful. I guess this job won’t be an easy one.”
“You have already known that,” Alex said, “Now, leave and never come back!”
“Sorry, I can’t do it,” he replied, “Beside, my job is far from done.”
They still stood up until the attackers turned around, leaving an evil grin and vicious gaze.
“I’ll be back soon,” he said, “Goodbye, Balto’s Guardian.”
Without wasting a time, he quickly ran and disappeared by the time that snow was beginning to fall down. Alex was still thinking about it, that someday he would come back to finish his job.
“Whatever you do…,” he thought, deep in his heart, “I will be right here. I will protect Balto, even I must lost my own life.”
Then, he started to go back, trying to forget of what had happened while still struggling to overcome it.
To be continued…
Alex - Lani @ Silverion
Any similarities in this story are purely coincidental and not intended.