Disclaimer: I do not own either the characters from the movie Balto or the novel series The Wings of Fire, only the story. Balto and the characters of the franchise belongs to Universal Studios and The Wings of Fire belongs to Tui T. Sutherland.. I apologize for any errors in grammar and/or if I was not accurate in reference to something. The dragons in this production will be wingless and the size of humans.

Chapter One: Telling the story

It was a beautiful autumn day in Central Park in New York City. The leaves were turning different colors and falling off of the tress. Though the sky looked cloudy there wasn't much of a chance for rain. The Park looked to be empty in most places, with the exception of three: a grandmother, her granddaughter and her granddaughter's Sandwing. They were walking through the park in search of something. But the grandmother, who went by the name of Rosy, seemed to a bit lost.

"It was here…" Rosy said, "someplace."

"But we've already been past here!" Her granddaughter cried. Rosy only chuckles at this and then said, "The trees have grown so big." She tries to remember the last time she was there, "It's been so long since my last visit."

The little Sandwing notices something and gives a small growl. Rosy sighed as she walked back to her granddaughter. The three begin to walk again and the little girl calls out to her Sandwing friend, "Come on, Sunny."

She turned to her grandmother and asked, "Grandma, when was the last time you were here?"

"Years and years ago." She said chuckling at remembering the last time she was here. "Way before you were born, sweetheart."

A few minutes later, when the sun shone through broken clouds, the two had come to a different part of the park. The little girl was excited when Sunny started chasing a squirrel and shouted, "Oh, look! Sunny found a squirrel!"

"Now, just a minute." Rosy asks her granddaughter for some time to think, "I'm trying to get my bearings." She sighed at all they ways to go, "Oh, there are so many paths here! So easy to get turned around." She laughs at lost they might become, "Come on, darling."

"Grandma," The little one complained, "we're in the middle of nowhere."

Grandma Rosy laughs as she says, "We're right in the middle of New York City."

"But you're gonna make yourself tired walking so long." Her granddaughter said. They continued walking through a different section of the park, even though Rosy said, "Nonsense. It hasn't been more than a quarter of an hour. Huh." She sighs and tries to reassure the little girl, "Not much further."

"Sunny is getting tired." Her granddaughter told her. Rosy said, "Oh, I see." Then she laughs. She looks down at the mushers cap in her hands and for a moment remembers something from a long time ago.

"Grandma, what are we looking for, anyway?" Her granddaughter asks as she sits down on a park bench. Rosy was quick to answer, "A memorial." This confused the little girl for a moment as she said, "A me-what?"

Laughing, she explains what she's talking about, "A reminder of a wonderful story…" She takes a deep breath and joins her granddaughter on the bench, "and a place very far away from here."

This makes her granddaughter excited and she asks, "What place is that, Grandma?"

Two quick nods as she remembers the place, she leans a little to her left and said, "Nome, Alaska. It's a small town almost on top of the world." She gave chuckle about where the town was and said, "Hmm. Now, that really was in the middle of nowhere, sweetheart." She began about one particular day, "In the cold winter of 1825… it was snowing hard."

The scene changes to one of land filled with pine and covered in snow. Grandma continued telling of what went on in Alaska, "Back then, the fastest and most reliable way of getting around… was with teams of dragons pulling long sleds." The view of a faraway town came into view as Rosy said, "Races were held every year… to find out the best team." Dragons started roaring real loudly over the snow covered land as she said, "And the competition was very fierce."

The dragons continued roaring as they ran across the icy slopes. Two dragon sled teams raced across the tundra, determined to win the race. As one team ran, the dragon's musher yelled, "Giddap, boy! Hut-ya! Hut-ya!"

As one of the teams kept running in the lead, the second team, lead by the black and white Skywing Flame, started to gain ground. Flame's musher yelled out, "Hyah! Hyah, hyah!"

All the dragons were panting from the exertion they were giving in the race. The Nightfury on the other team looked over and saw Flame starting to pass him. Not wanting to give the Skywing any ground, the Nightfury started to push himself. The mushers keep shouting as they pass two hills of snow. Both teams made their way to an obstacle in the race, a narrow pace that wouldn't give them much room! As the two teams raced to get to the pace first, Flame pulls the team ahead. This causes the dogs behind him to be pulled along with a shout or two. The musher then yells, "Heel! Whoa! Whoa!"

The two teams entered the pass and were now close to each other in the race. The musher yelled out, "Whoa!"

"Flame," Qibli, a small Sandwing tried shouting, "we're not gonna make it!" This earned him a kick in the face from the leader. The two teams keep running to the narrowest portion of the pass. The mushers try and make them slow down, "Easy, now. Easy! Easy! Hold back, hold back, hold back."

Flame looks over to one of the other team's members and an idea forms in his head. Waiting for the right moment, he was going to do something very sneaky. When the opportunity came, he made a lung for the dragon behind its leader and snapped at their talons. This causes the dragon on the other team to jump in fright with a yelp, but when he landed the dragon couldn't get back into running in sync with the other dragons. The dragon falls over and becomes entangled in the harness, which in turn causes the other dragons to slip and stop, crashing the sled. This makes the Nightfury's team lose their lead and possibly the race. Flame's team runs through the pass without any further opposition. It brings a smile to Flame's face as their lead gets bigger with every step. As Flame's team races ahead, the Nightfury's musher gets up, pounds the ground with a fist while yelling, "Ergh! Flame!"

Flame looks back to the pass with a wide grin on his face before turning back for the race and laughed, "Hah!" His musher yelled, "Get in line! Get in line!"

The team then keeps running for the finish line in the town of Nome. On a slope not too far from the course a man stands up and shoots off a signal flare. The flare soars up high, letting the people in town know that the racers were coming.

"It's the three-mile marker." Someone shouts as the crowd starts to cheer.

This is where we see a new face. Standing on the railing of a building, a Mudwing named Clay, which is considered one of lowest and wildest breeds of dragon, had his head lowered trying to pull something up. Clay was a Mudwing with two different shades of brown on his scales, dark brown along the top of his head, his back and parts of his wings and a lighter shade of brown that ran from his nose, to his underbelly to the tip of his tail. The flare started to go out in the sky as he brought the thing up, the thing started squawking and gasping as its head was in the Mudwing's mouth. Clay brought his friend Rodan up on the railing with him, while his head was still in his mouth. Rodan was an old kaiju bird, and didn't take to danger very well. He wasn't very fond of having his face inside Clay's mouth either as he commented in annoyance while trying pull himself out with his wings against Clay's snout, "Get you slobbery mouth off me!"

"Come on! Let's go, Rodan." Clay said when the kaiju got himself out. He started to move to where the crowd was and said, "We can cut around the back and catch the end of the race."

"On, no." Rodan protested as he grabbed the dragon's tail, "No, no, no, no. I'm a delicate country bird." Clay looks back to him, but doesn't say anything as he walks away. But Rodan keeps a firm grasp on Clay's tail as he whines, "I hate going into town."

"Ah, come on." Clay dismisses as he turned back to Rodan, "What's the worst that can happen?"

Just as the pterosaur was about to respond to that, Clay took off with the kaiju still holding on to his tail. Rodan screamed as he was dragged along with Clay as he ran across the railings and over gaps. After the jump Rodan was thrown into the air, but was quickly caught by Clay with his stubby tail in his teeth. Clay jumped over to clothes line where a pair of jeans were strung up. Placing Rodan in the pair of pants upside down, he then jumped and used the clothes line to shimmy his way to the next roof. Rodan muttered as the pants moved with Clay, "Please! Bleh!"

As they reached the other side of the line, Clay grabbed Rodan by the tail again and dragged him up on a snow covered roof. At the top of the roof, Clay let Rodan go from his teeth into the air. Rodan quickly flapped himself down to the roof and questioned the Mudwing, "Why do I let you talk me into these things?"

He rubbed his rump and took a step forward, but he started sliding down the other side of the roof. Sliding and then rolling, Rodan screamed almost fell off the roof but was saved by the antlers of moose's skull. With his foot caught on the antler he was dangling upside down again. Looking around he said, "Aye." Then looking to his left he saw kaiju birds that had been removed of feather's or scales, causing the pterosaur kaiju to scream, "Aaaaah!"

Before he could get away, a human hand snatched him off the moose antlers and pulled him inside. The human put the pterosaur on a chopping block belly down. When Rodan feels the man starting to pluck off some scales from his tail, he gets up and slaps the scales out of the man's hand, causing the human to be confused, "Huh?"

"What the-" Rodan begins to question as he put the scales back on his body, but sees that the man in front of him is a butcher. The butcher then said, "Yeah?" and then brought up the trademark butcher's knife. This causes Rodan to look as if he's about to cry, but instead he tries to make a break for the open window. But the butcher slams the knife in front of him, making him hit the metal face first. This allows the butcher take hold of Rodan again and place him back on the chopping block. Rodan screams a few scales off as the butcher raises the knife, every intention of cutting the pterosaur kaiju's head. Right as the blades shadow is lined up with his neck and comes down, Clay reaches through the window and takes Rodan's head into his mouth and pulls him out. Rodan laughs at the escape.

"Bring that back, you thief!" The butcher sticks his head out the window and angrily yells and swings his knife as Clay was now on another roof. Clay looks back at the butcher before noticing the sled team coming in while Rodan makes a few muffled sounds. Then the Mudwing looks over to where the finish line is. But before he can do more, Rodan with a muffled voice said, "You, put me down now, Mr. Goldenwings."

Clay chuckles as he tosses Rodan out of his mouth and said, "Whatever you say, Rodan."

"Every time there's a race, you run around like you're in it." The pterosaur kaiju said as he balanced himself on the roof. Clay started sliding down the snow covered roof and hopped down to the ground as nimbly and skilled as he could. He then proudly said, "Maybe one day I will be."

"Heel, boy!" Rodan said as he followed Clay down. As he slid down the roof he shouted, "Rodan Pterosauranov is no spring chicken! Aaah!" He slid right into a tilting window. He came crashing through the window, which surprisingly did not break and fell on the window sill. A pile of snow collapsed on top of him. He popped up while saying, "I'm no spring penguin, either."

Hopping out of the snow he exclaimed with a shiver, "It's cold!" He screams when he falls out of the sky. Lucky for him, Clay catches him on his back as he used a loose board to lean to a window. Both fell into the window.

Another flare went up into the air and exploded, making another man shouted, "Look! The two-mile mark!"

Clay and Rodan burst out a door near the ground, and with a short slide in the snow the Mudwing shouted, "Come on. We don't want to miss the finish."

"Oh, that would be a tragedy!" Rodan sarcastically said. He screams as Clay turned and ran in another direction, making Rodan scream and spin down into the snow. The pterosaur kaiju said out from the bottom of the hole, "I was being sarcastic."

In another part of town, inside of a woodman's shop, the woodman had just finished a small dragon sled. He lifted it up and placed it on the ground as another man chuckles before saying, "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

A little girl who went by the name of Rosy was standing next to her father had here eyes closed. When he told her she opened them. When she saw the sled, her face lit up with absolute joy as she giggled, "Oh!" She started jumping up and down with joy. She ran up to it as she said how much she loved it, "I love these rudders! I love this brush bow!" She turned to her parents as she said, "I love this sled!" She turned to her dragon friend Peril as the red and white Skywing grunted happily and the little girl said, "Peril, Peril, you're lead dragon!"

Rosy quickly, yet carefully put the harness around Peril, "Okay, just a minute." Then as she finished, she felt like pretending when she playfully yelled, "Come on, mush!"

Her mother stopped her for a moment by taking something out of her coat and then saying, "Then you'll need this." Rosy felt excited when her mother put a musher's hat on her head, "A real musher's hat!" She then proudly said, "We're a real sled team now. Mush!" Then Rosy jumped onto the back of the sled as Peril took off and ran out the door, with both the sled and Rosy with her.

Rosy's father as he paid the woodsmen, he said, "Mr. Johanssen, the sled is beautiful." His wife then said, "We're very grateful." Rosy then came running back in, very grateful as she said, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" As she hugged two out of three of the adults. Her father chuckled and said, "Rosy's grateful too, huh? Mr. Johanssen chuckled as well and said, "Yeah, so I gather."

Rosy calls out to her parents, "Watch this!" Her mother said, "Coming, sweetheart."

"I don't know, honey." Her husband said playfully as he wrapped an arm around her at the door, "I think we should've gotten her the dollhouse."

Another flare exploded overhead, making Rosy excited as she yelled, "It's the one-mile marker!" Then to her favorite lead dragon she yelled, "Mush, Peril, mush!"

Peril grunted in agreement as Rosy said, "Let's win this race!" She cheered as the two raced past her parents. Her mother said, "I think she'll learn to like it." She then planted a kiss on his cheek.

Rosy and Peril rounded a corner where everyone was watching the race. Rosy lightly gave out commands, "Peril, easy, girl. Whoa!" This made Peril start to slow down as a friend of hers caught up, a little Gronkle by the name of Meatlug as she said as if something important about her should be noticed, "Good morning, Peril. Oughta be a close race don't ya think? Maybe even neck and neck."

Another friend of Jenna's , a Deadly Natter by the name of Stormfly, popped up beside them and with a roll of her eyes, she said, "Say something about her collar before she gets whiplash."

Taking her friends advice as they kept walking to heart Peril then asked, "Uh, Meatlug, what a pretty collar. Is it new?"

"What? This old thing?" Meatlug dismisses at first, then she smiled as said, "Yeah. Do you think, um, Flame will notice?" Her fur frizz's up for a moment at the mention of his name. While Stormfly rolls her eyes at the thought, Jenna dismisses it by saying, "I'm afraid the only way Flame notices anyone is if they're wearing a mirror."

The crowd gets excited as the race starts to come to an end. There were a few shouts, "Watch that corner, son. They're coming!"

The dragons grunted as they ran while the people cheered them on as the team rounded the corner. As Flame ran towards the finish line, he noticed a trio of fan girls were watching from the side lines. This makes him stand tall as he runs while his musher shouts, "Come on, Flame!"

"You can do it!" A female dragon yelled as Clay made his way to a spot where he could watch the race. As he watched the sled dragons come down the street, he heard a voice over the others saying, "Peril! Stay, girl." He looks over to see Rosy and Peril standing by the side of the track. The cheering continues as Peril starts to look around. Clay looks over at her with a smile.

"Peril!" Rosy calls out to her and runs up to the Skywing. She hugs her friend while Peril rubs up against her girl. This makes Rosy laugh as Peril grunts in happiness. Clay watches them with happiness on his face as Rosy takes off Peril's harness. Rosy then took off her hat before shouting, "Bulldog. Come on, Flame!"

Suddenly the wind blows hard, snatching Rosy's hat out of her hand. The little girl cries, "Oh, no!" The hat floats to a distance onto the track. Both human and dragon gasp as the hat is now liable to be trampled by the sled teams. Clay sees their dilemma and then looks to see how close the sled team was. "My hat!" Rosy cried as she tries to go after her musher's hat, but Peril grabs her sleeve with her teeth to protect her. The sled team then rushes past Clay's viewing point at top speed. Taking his time, Clay jumps onto the track after the sled team completely passes him.

Author's Note: I look forward to reading your reviews. Be sure to leave a comment either about if I've done something wrong or if you want something specifically to happen. See all of you next time.