DAKOTA © KILLERBANKOTSU & CATWHOHAS14TAILS


    It narrowed down to a tie-breaker between two teams. It was a short race around the entire city and whoever won this, won a grand prize. Dakota did not care what the prize was. He just wanted to win. Leading the team was a large red and brown dog who looked a lot like Dakota himself, only older. He called himself Mitya. Dakota was second in line from Mitya, pushing himself as fast as he could go. His chest was heaving, his legs were sore, and his tongue was lolling out of his mouth, which was dry. He didn't dare give up.

    They were getting closer to the team in front of them and were slowly but surely passing them up. Filat, the musher, yelled commands as loud as he could, pushing the sled from behind with his thick legs. At this point, the finish line was in site, and both teams ran faster and faster until they were neck and neck.

    The rivaling musher, who was pushing the sled like Filat, was now beginning to tire, and once he hopped back onto his sled, his team did not go as fast. By that turn of events, Dakota's team crossed the finish line an entire dog ahead of the other team. The crowd cheered loudly, rooting for the winning team. Some even booed them, who were obviously fans of the team that lost.

    Dakota's team slowed to a stop, thrilled that they won. Dakota didn't really care if they won or not, he just couldn't wait to actually stay in one place for once. Filat planned on staying in this town for a short while. After Filat shook hands with the winner of the race (Filat was a courteous man) collected his prize, and put the dogs in a barn nearby where all of the other race dogs that were staying in town were kept. The ones that weren't staying ran to the next town and were more than likely boarding a train.

    The hybrid walked into the barn and rested near his team. He greeted his teammates, all saying they did a good job, and took a spot opposite Mitya. As soon as he lay his head down, he was interrupted by an older, almost throaty voice.

    "That was some pretty nice racing you did out there."

    Dakota opened his blue and gold eyes to an old grey-nosed malamute speaking to Mitya. The malamute was male, and had light grey and dark grey fur, with black fur masking his entire face, not including his muzzle. The malamute looked like he was part wolf due to his eyes glowing bright yellow.

    "It wasn't just me," Mitya corrected. "It was a team effort." He smiled kindly at the old malamute to show no offense to his compliment.

    "Ah yes, it definitely would not be quite the win without the rest of you." He said nodding towards the others, including Dakota, who just made a tiny frown towards the old coot, who just smirked mockingly in return. "Say, this is my last year racing and I've found it rather dull, especially since I'm being forced to stay here. And I was just wondering if you guys would like to take up something I'm offering to spice things up."

    "What are you getting at, old man?" Mitya asked, sitting up to get a better look at him.

    "How about you all and...say, a few members from the other remaining teams, all have an individual, every dog for himself, race?" he paused. "No rules, just brains, brawn, and speed."

    Mitya started turning away, saying "I don't--"

    "And what's in it for us?" Dakota asked, obviously interested in this little game.

    The old malamute grinned and said to follow him. Dakota and Mitya followed, but the rest of the team wanted nothing to do with it. "Look out there." said the malamute, referring to the hole in the closed door. "See the human vehicle with the cage exposed in the back?" The two teammates did. "Look inside of the cage."

    Dakota squinted his eyes, trying to see better in the dark. There was an individual lantern lighting things up a bit, but Dakota could still barely see through the mist of the slight rainfall. But what he could see inside the cage, was a pretty, delicate, familiar red husky. Wait a second...that was Kiona in the cage! What was his sister doing here!? Dakota asked himself. He was concerned about his sister being locked up, but didn't dare let his facial expression change.

    "That, my friends, will be your prize. Quite the catch, eh?" The malamute snickered. Dakota refrained himself from attacking the old bastard.

    "Elaborate on 'prize'." Mitya said, sounding like the idea disgusted him.

    "Either of you win this race, the pretty female is yours, and you can do whatever you want with her." The malamute raised a suggestive brow. "You could...eat her, or otherwise..."

    "Forget it." Mitya spat, walking away. Dakota stayed.

    "So..." he started. "What makes this...female ours to take?"

    "Haha, I knew you'd be interested, pup. My master owns that vehicle, and he was going to take her to a town a few days south of here. He's selling her to a man down there. And...she's quite the escapee. So she will be loose...and all to whoever gets to her first." He explained.

    Dakota cursed to himself in his head, but then smiled at the malamute. "All right, old man. I'm in."

    "Great." he grinned. "By the way, the name's Adolph." He started walking to the back of the barn where his team probably was. "Meet on the south side of town at dawn."

    The young hybrid's smile melted away quickly into an angry scowl. He made his way back to his team and lay down again.

    "I can't believe you're going to run in that godforsaken race, kid." Mitya scoffed. "Have you lost your mind?"

    "Look," Dakota whispered after making sure no one else could hear. "That dog in the cage is my sister, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get her out of there."

    The older dog shook his head. "You're mad." And fell asleep. Dakota guessed he probably was crazy, but that wouldn't stop him from freeing his sister from the clutches of the other dogs racing.

~~~

    Only three hours of sleep and Dakota was still up before dawn. He wanted to talk to his sister before the others got to her, but when he went outside, the vehicle was no longer there. "The man must've left last night." Dakota thought to himself. About a minute later, about five more dogs emerged from the barn, grinning and excited about the race. He was disgusted with them already, and judging by their snickering he could tell how they were more than likely going to race.

    He watched his contenders. Most of them were bigger than he was. One was an off-white malamute, with mud-stained, mane-like fur and dark brown eyes, who called himself Leonti. Dakota found him a bit on the dumb side, but he has been wrong before. Another was a mix between a husky and some kind of other dog Dakota didn't recognize, but he was well-built and his fur was black, blonde, and white with dark blue eyes; he called himself Cobalt. He reminded him of a dog he knew back at his first home named Steele. He even looked as unsuitably self-confident as Steele. The other two were pure-bred huskies, the first one red and white named Benjamin (who looked awfully family to Dakota) and the second one was grey and white named Julius. The name definitely suited him, judging by his size. The last dog was an odd-looking one. It was a mix between a chowchow and some kind of cattle dog. It had long, brown, black-striped fur. His name was Tyee.

    All competing dogs, including Dakota, stood on the outside of town, where Adolph appeared soon before. He explained the rules, which consisted soley of "anything goes." He gave the directions of the race and where it ended. If any of the dogs looked at each other, it was only a menacing glance to not get in their way. Dakota looked at no one and concentrated on his destination. Adolph gave the command to go, and all six dogs ran as fast as they could. Dakota wasn't leading because he wasn't pushing himself too hard. He needed to reserve his strength for the rest of the race because it was going to be a few days before he got to Kiona, but he still made sure he stayed on the tails of the other competitors.

    They all ran in a group until past the first nightfall. The six of them were exhausted and ran all day, never once stopped. Night fell for about an hour before the majority of the group decided to rest. Dakota, Tyee, Cobalt, and Benjamin all stayed behind, while Julius and Leonti kept running.

    "It's pretty dangerous to wander around in the dark out there, you lunatics!" Benjamin called to them before laughing to himself. He lay on the ground by the rest of them. "This race sure is going to be fruitful." He smirked to himself. "So, what are your guys' stories?" he asked.

    "Heh, all I'm really interested in is winning over that little cutie that Adolph character showed me." said Cobalt. "After my mate died, I've been looking for another one. None will ever be the same as her, but hey, it'll contribute to my loneliness." He chuckled, trying not to get emotional. Everyone nodded; Dakota showed no expression. "What about you, Tyee?"

    "What I do with the female is none of your business," he said, rather rudely. "But both of my parents died and I became a sled dog after my master took me."

    "What happened to your parents?" Benjamin asked.

    "They got shot." There was a moment of uncomfortable silence because Tyee decided to break it. "What about you, kid?" he asked Dakota.

    Dakota looked up from his spot. His eyes rested while he was listening in on the conversation, but didn't want anything to do with it. "I just want to win this race. My reason is probably more just than any of yours." he scoffed.

    "Yeah, I'm sure you wanting to win her to force her to become your mate is very 'just'." Benjamin growled. Dakota abruptly stood and snarled at the red husky.

    "Only the sick and twisted would do something as wicked as that!" he yelled. "Or is that how YOUR mind works?" Dakota looked up and saw that the sun was coming up. He felt he rested enough, so he began the race again. He ran until the sun was as high in the sky as it could get, he heard the rest of the dogs trailing behind him. He expected to see Julius and Leonti to be at rest somewhere ahead, but instead he smelled the worst smell he could ever detect. It was the smell of blood and as he ran further ahead, he found the source of the scent, and he stopped.

    Laying in the muck and slush, in puddles of thick mud and blood and water, was Julius. It was no doubt he was dead. His entire stomach was ripped clean, and his fur was sprinkled about the area in salivated chunks. The tracks in the ground were from the two dogs, and a bear. There was not anything Dakota could do about Julius now, and it was best for him to get out of the area as soon as possible so that the bear wouldn't come back for seconds.

    Dakota saw the prints of Leonti headed in the wrong direction, so he knew he had one less competitor to worry about in this race. Or two less competitors, rather. Dakota began to continue running south when he heard the others gasp behind him from the sight. He knew that he should just leave them to deal with the bear if it showed up again and he needed to get the heck out of there that instant.

    Before he got too into the race again, he heard screams coming from behind him. He stopped and whipped his head back to see Benjamin and Tyee running right past him. "Where's Cobalt?" he asked himself. He heard another scream coming from where he saw Julius' dead body and without a second thought, Dakota ran to aid Cobalt. He saw the dog crouching down in the snow shaking, bleeding from his leg, and right in front of him was the bear with blood on it's face. The bear wasn't huge, but it was big enough to take on two dogs.

    "Help me!" Cobalt cried. Dakota ran towards the bear and managed to latch his jaws on the inner thigh of the bear. The animal roared in pain and slashed at Dakota. He got hit, but luckily not with claws. The bear was then after Dakota, who started to run, but stopped after he heard the bear bellow out in pain again. He looked back and saw Benjamin and Tyee attacking the bear. Dakota didn't know why the hell they were doing that, but he didn't ask and joined in the fight.

    Benjamin was hanging onto the bear's throat while Tyee was biting at it's feet. Dakota bit the bear's foot opposite the one Tyee was biting, and pulled. The bear fell, and once that happened, the poor animal ran away in cowardice. At that moment, Tyee and Benjamin ran away, urging Dakota to follow. He didn't right away and looked at Cobalt who was laying by the tree was he originally up against. He approached him.

    "Are you coming?" Dakota asked once he realized Cobalt was still alive.

    "I can't." Cobalt said irritably. "My leg is busted, I can't race."

    "Lemme help you." Dakota offered.

    "No! Get away! Just go!" Cobalt ordered. "I'll make my way back, its not that far." Dakota looked at him, rather puzzled, but did as he was told. He knew when a male had his pride and he wanted to respect that, so he kept running and eventually caught up the Benjamin and Tyee, although he was still lagging behind a ways. He kept his pace until eventually they all stopped for the night. Dakota received no sleep the previous night, so he decided tonight was the night to catch up on it.

    Dakota only let himself have three hours of sleep before he left, and when he woke up, Benjamin and Tyee were still sleeping. He looked at them, knowing he had actually grown close to them without realizing. But he couldn't let them have Kiona, no matter what their intentions were. He couldn't trust them completely, and wouldn't. He turned around, ran as fast as his legs could carry him, and never looked back, even when they caught up behind him. Dakota planned on making it to Kiona that day; that evening at the latest.

~~~

    Even running as fast as he could, Dakota still barely made it to the town by sunset. He snooped around, not caring if Benjamin or Tyee were following, trying to find where his sister was. Slinking through the town, he finally found where she was. It was a little dark to see, but she was inside of the house, looking for any means of escape. He went over to the hinges of the door and lifted a screw out of one of them (a little trick he learned from his father), when he heard two sets of paws walking towards him. Benjamin and Tyee were there, knowing that "their prize" awaited them inside. Dakota got into a protective stance and bristled his fur.

    "Back off! I found her first!" he growled.

    "Ah...but kiddo," Benjamin started. "I believe you've forgotten that the rules were specifically that whoever GOT to her first, wins. And...by the looks of it, it's still a race." He smirked.

    Dakota growled. If it was going to come to him beating the pulp out of both of them to keep their filthy paws off Kiona, then so be it. He wasn't going to let them violate her--

    There was yelling coming from inside the house and the three outside dogs froze. A middle-aged man opened the door and spotted them. He yelled out something in some foreign tongue and whipped out a gun. Tyee and Benjamin bolted, but Dakota didn't until he saw his sister run past the man and out of the house. He followed her. Benjamin saw the two running in another direction, so he followed them too. There was a single gunshot and when Dakota looked back to see who was following them, he only saw the red husky.

    "Run faster!" Dakota yelled to his sister. They made it into the woods, but when they did, Kiona tripped and Dakota tripped over her, landing on top of her.

    "Get OFF ME!" she yelled. There was something different about her voice. It sounded...younger. Dakota stood up and looked down.

    "Sorry, Ki--" The female below him did indeed resemble Kiona in uncanny ways, but...it was not her. "What...? You're not my--" Dakota was tackled off the female by a large body that belonged to none other than Benjamin. Dakota gathered himself and witnessed the husky straddling himself over the female, her struggling to get away, frightened out of her mind. "Hey! Get off her!" Dakota grabbed Benjamin's neck with his jaws and pushed him off her.

    "So that WAS all you wanted her for!" Dakota snarled, teeth still around Benjamin's neck. "You don't deserve to live, you disgusting DOG!" Dakota was so blinded by his rage, he didn't comprehend until it was too late that Benjamin had kicked him off and started biting him.

    "I'm not going to let a stupid mutt get in my way!" Benjamin spat in between attacks. The wolf dog was bleeding, but he didn't let it defeat him. He found an opening for himself to attack and he did, taking a big chunk out of the husky's face. Benjamin cried out in pain as blood splashed from the deep wound across his eye. Dakota took that as the opportunity to get rid of the scum bag. He took a tight grip around the dog's neck and offered to let him go free if he never went near the female again. Benjamin was foolish enough to refuse and Dakota tightened his grip and shook him. The husky did not die, but he was so overwhelmed, he passed out.

    Dakota snorted and went to face the female, but when he looked, she was gone. She had not gone far because he ended up finding her. She kept running from him, though, unaware of his intentions.

    "Wait! Come back!" he pleaded.

    "Just leave me alone!" she cried, stumbling due to her blinding tears. She fell in the snow and her tears fell harder. Dakota sat by her side.

    "Are you okay?"

    "Go away!"

    Dakota looked down at the poor female. She was still scared. He didn't touch her, although he did feel the need to comfort her. "I'm not going to hurt you." he said. She looked up at him and stared at him for a moment. Then she broke down next to him. He put his head on her, but not the rest of his body. She fell asleep, and he kept watch over her, feeling rather embarrassed that he thought she was his sister, but after seeing how she acts, she noticed how she wasn't anything like Kiona at all.

~~~

    The sun rose, and the female husky woke up to find Dakota looking around. She approached him. There was a moment of silence, with the exception of the sound of the trees rustling and the left over rain dripping from branch to branch.

    "Thank you," she said, nuzzling him. Dakota froze up. He had never been touched like that before and he...found that he enjoyed it. The female sighed sadly. "Well...I guess I'll get going." She started walking away.

    "Wait!" Dakota stopped her. "It's not safe for either of us to travel alone...uh...would you like to go with me?"

    The female looked at him, skeptically at first, but then smiled. "Sure. By the way, the name's Rose."

    Dakota smiled at her. "I'm Dakota."

DAKOTA © KILLERBANKOTSU & CATWHOHAS14TAILS