Prologue: A Hero's Welcome

All it took was a few moments for a small town on the edge of Alaska to erupt in celebration. It was the early hours of the morning, and yet the people were wide-awake. All around there was hugging, cheering and crying. Each had their own separate way of showing their joy, for their salvation had arrived. For days, parents had watched while their children slowly and painfully succumbed to diphtheria. They had called for crucial medicine to be delivered, but in the storms, the team had gotten lost. Their only hope had disappeared, and so all they could do was watch as their children slowly suffocated under the grip of the disease.

Then, out of the dark, came a long howl. But this was not a howl from a wild wolf. It was the howl from the leader of the dog team. The medicine was not lost. The people gathered in the streets, and got the biggest surprise of their lives. The team was not being led by the dog they had sent it out with. Their champion, Steele, was nowhere to be found. Instead, the team was being led by another creature the residents knew. It was a wolfdog they had come to call Balto.

Balto was a scruffy, brown hybrid that to most people was a nuisance, nothing more than a stray dog. He belonged to no one for no one would have him. They feared and hated his wolf side. It didn't matter that he also had husky breeding in him; all they saw was a wolf, and that was enough for them to deem him a threat to their safety. But now, this wolf was in sled traces, and had saved many children from a slow death.

"Balto, I'd be lost without you."

For Balto, all this attention was overwhelming. Up until now, people would have yelled at him and chased him off, or tried to avoid him altogether, but now they all wanted to pet him and hug him for his deed. One grown man even broke down and sobbed his thanks to him for saving his two sons. The rest of the dogs on the team were getting their share of attention too. So much, that some of them tried to run away to escape the mob.

The team's musher, who had been knocked unconscious, was carefully lifted out of the sled and taken into the hospital for care, leaving the dogs alone outside. The dogs Balto knew on the team were a tan Chinook named Kaltag, a red-brown Chow named Nikki, and a small, grey husky known as Star. With them were the other dogs on the team that Balto had not been introduced to, along with half of the town's resident dogs. But out of all the dogs in the town, there was one who stood out to him. A red and white husky named Jenna.

She had always had a special place in Balto's heart. She was the only dog in the town that was willing to talk to him. She had even followed him on his journey to find the team, helping him fend off an angry grizzly. For the longest time, they only considered each other friends, due to Balto's outcast status. But recently, they had shown signs that they felt more towards each other. While the rest of the dogs were congratulating each other, Jenna had collapsed into Balto's shoulder, crying out of sheer joy. Her human girl, Rosy, was one of the children who had fallen ill. She meant the whole world to Jenna, and she came very close to losing her, but Balto had come through and saved her, along with all the other children. While she cried, Balto tried to soothe her.

"Shhhhh, shhhh Jenna. Don't cry, it's over. It's all over. Rosy's safe now, she's going to be okay."

"It's not just that Balto. I thought I had lost you as well. I thought I had lost my best friend."

Balto put his paw under her chin and tilted her head so that she was looking into his golden eyes, "Hey, I promised I would come back didn't I?"

"But Steele said you were dead. He said you were all dead!" the rest of the team overheard this and they all stopped in shock.

"He………. What?" Kaltag said.

"When he came back to the town, he said that you had all died………… one by one," a smaller dog named Dixie replied.

"You mean……… he's here?" Balto asked. Soon, all the dogs on the team started growling in anger.

"Yes, he's at the old mill, but why are you all so upset? He made it back too - safe and sound," replied an old St. Bernard known as Doc.

"He won't be for long!" Kaltag shouted. He ran towards the old mill, with the other dogs on the team in tow. Jenna and the others were shocked at their sudden departure, and decided to follow as well. They ran after them with Jenna running side by side with Balto.

"Hey, what's gotten you guys so upset?" Dixie asked

"Yeah Balto, what's going on?" Jenna asked him.

"I'll tell youse what's going on," Nikki cut in, "Where going to that two-timing backstabber and tearings him a new ones."

"Steele tried to prevent Balto from helping us by attacking him, but he ended up going over the edge of the cliff," Star continued.

"And if that wasn't bad enough, he sabotaged the marks I had left to guide us home, causing us to go off course," Balto said.

"He never cared about those kids. He was in it just for the glory, and that almost cost us and those kids their lives!" Kaltag finished, "Oh I can't wait to get my paws on him. And to think we called him a champion."

This was a lot for the dogs to take in. Steele getting separated from the team they would have understood, but if what they were saying was true, then he purposely tried to stop Balto from helping them get home. He may as well have tried to kill those kids himself.

"So, Balto, what do you want to do to him first?" Kaltag asked.

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"Well since Steele had made your life a living hell, I was thinking you'd want to take the first crack at him. You know, get back at him for all he did to you?" Kaltag said.

"You would think that, but no."

"No? Even after everything he did to you, after he made your life a living hell and even after trying to kill you, you're gonna let him go?"

"I don't want him set free, but I won't do anything to him. You can do what you wish, but I won't take any part in harming Steele," Balto looked over at Jenna, " I promised someone a long time ago that revenge would not be my way." She smiled at him, happy that he was not a vengeful dog.

"If that's what you want," Kaltag replied. The pack of dogs rounded the final corner, and stopped in front of the closed door to the old mill.

"So he's in here?" Star asked

"Yep. We left him when we realized he was a fraud," Sylvie replied. Kaltag and Nikki went up to the door and burst it open. All of the dogs streamed in, ready to take down their former leader, but Balto hung back. He didn't want to take part in the messy business that would ensue. At any moment he expected to hear the sounds of fighting start, but it never did.

"Where is he?!" Kaltag screamed. Balto stuck his head in and saw all the dogs had spread around the large room. He walked in and joined the search for Steele.

"Sniff around, he's probably hiding from us," Balto suggested.

"Yeah, he knows he's in big trouble now," Star replied.

"Star, trouble is what you get when you track mud in the house. What Steele did is not trouble. It's treason," Kaltag said.

"Gah, this is useless," Nikki said, "Steele's scent is too mixed up with everyones else's, I can't find wheres he went."

"And he's not in the building," Doc said, "He's run off."

"Coward," Balto growled, "He's not dog enough to take responsibility for what he did," The other dogs nodded in agreement.

On the other side of town, a black and white husky ducked underneath a porch, his large bulk making it a tight fit. He had just made a quick escape, and was gasping for breath after his dash. This was the first time he had felt genuine fear, and he hated it. He hated that he was afraid of the same dogs who, just last week, worshiped him like a god. Now, those same dogs were out for his head, and it was all because of one meddling half-breed.

"You won't get away with this wolfdog. No one makes a fool out of Steele and gets away with it."