Weeks later, Balto was having one of his nightmares again.
"Balto?" Jenna called.
The team and the five of us overheard Balto murmuring her name, but he just continued sleeping. Suddenly he woke up with a gasp.
"Oh, I haven't had that dream for a while." Balto murmured, still not quite awake yet.
We later found out that the raven attacked him just before he woke up.
"Balto?" Jenna called again, a little louder.
"Jenna?" Balto said. "Oh no…."
He then left his den and approached the side of the boat nearest to the water. We soon followed.
"Good morning sleepyhead." Jenna smiled. "Did you forget about watching the pups today while my girl and I go on a picnic?"
"What, me forget?" Balto scoffed, amused, before yawning. "Never."
"Balto you look so tired, what's wrong?" Jenna asked as Balto got closer.
"Oh nothing." Balto replied.
His and Jenna's pups soon crowded up to him excitedly.
"Hey pups, good to see you too…hey watch it now c'mon that tickles." He chuckled as his pups crawled all over him.
We then went onto the beach, causing the pups to leave Balto so that they could greet us. They were especially happy to see Selena and I considering we were like aunts to them…that ended up being an interesting point of view as the rest of the team found out later.
"Say, why don't they spend the night with me and then tomorrow we can all go on a picnic?" Balto suggested, sounding a little excited about the idea.
"Balto don't you remember?" Jenna smiled. "Tomorrow is the day for our pups to find their new homes."
"'Tomorrow'?" Balto repeated. "But Jenna, they're only eight weeks old. What's the hurry?"
"I know how you feel." Jenna said.
Selena, the pups, and the rest of the dogs and I were then playing along the shore – the rest of the team obviously didn't find it comfortable to play in salt water without swimsuits. Boris soon arrived.
"Pupnicks, come to Uncle Boris!" Boris greeted them.
"Uncle Boris!" The pups said randomly, causing Boris to give small scream as they tackled them.
"But it's their time now." Jenna continued. "Well I was their age when I was adopted by my girl."
"I don't think I can let them go Jenna, not yet." Balto shook his head.
"That's tickling me…. Ow! Ow! Ow! My vings!" Boris complained as the pups dragged him through the water by his wings.
"Oh Balto, each of our children have their own lives to live." Jenna explained. "It's our job to love them and then…."
"Let go!" Boris ordered the pups, still being dragged by the wings.
"If we wait until they're older it'll be harder for them to find homes." Jenna pointed out. "You know how humans have a soft spot for puppies."
"Yeah, and so do I." Balto retorted sadly.
"Come on Balto, all their humans will be from around here. Oh, I've got to go meet my girl, now enjoy them Balto." Jenna said as she started to leave. "And watch out, they're teething."
"No kidding!" Boris called back sarcastically.
"Come on now, Uncle Boris isn't a chew toy." Balto smiled, amused.
Most of the pups left, but the wolf-like one, Aleu, was still tugging on Boris's leg.
"Hey, take it easy there tiger." Balto chuckled.
Balto pulled Aleu off, causing Boris's foot to hit him in the face. Balto then set Aleu down, who playfully leapt at Balto's nose until he nuzzled her. Her fur bristled as she growled, and then she left to play with her siblings at one of the posts along the shore.
"Strange," Boris remarked as he left the ocean. "Her brothers and sisters look like dogs, yet Aleu looks just like…."
"A dog." Balto interrupted sternly. "Aleu looks like a dog too."
Well, the team and the five of us certainly didn't approve of this.
"Ha!" Boris laughed. "Funny, but from vhere I stand I see daughter who looks even more volf then father."
"Look Boris," Balto sighed. "I just don't want her to be different."
"But she is different." Boris pointed out before joking: "And viva la de-France!"
"Come on, being different is painful, nobody knows that better than me…"
Balto was suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone clearing his throat. As Balto turned around he discovered that the 'someone' was Danny, who gave him a knowing look.
"…In this world specifically, sorry Danny." Balto added before turning back to Boris. "You know how some of the dogs around here still tease me because I'm half wolf."
"Oy." Boris sighed, agreeing.
The rest of us however were shocked, we thought that Balto's heroic actions last winter stopped that!
"Aleu may look like a wolf but she is going to be all dog." Balto finished.
Aleu stood on top of one of the posts howling.
"I vouldn't count on it!" Boris remarked as Balto looked at Aleu with shock.
The next day, Aleu was still howling, much to the displeasure of one of her siblings who had his paws over his ears. While the pups were in a box in front of a store waiting to be adopted Balto and Jenna were slightly behind the box. The team and the five of us were at the side of the store, obviously wanting to see if there would be a human who would adopt Aleu despite her appearance.
"Daddy, daddy, look at the puppies!" A little girl said excitedly.
"Aleu honey, please don't howl like that." Jenna said gently.
"*Whew.*" The pup with his paws over his ears said, relieved.
"Oh, sorry mama, it just happens when I'm excited." Aleu explained.
"I'm excited too, I can't wait to get a human!" Another pup exclaimed. "And chew on their socks!"
Aleu pounced that pup, and she and her siblings soon got into a playful fight.
"Papa, are you going to get a human too?" One of the pups asked.
Some of us sensed an awkward moment there, but Balto handled it really well.
"Nah, see humans like cute little puppies like you, not old grizzly grownups like me." Balto smiled.
"These are Rosie's puppies daddy," A boy said as he pulled his father toward the pups. "Jenna had 'em. I like…this one."
"I know that human, he'll be a good boy for Dingo." Jenna whispered to Balto.
"Bye Dingo!" The other pups said randomly.
"And my puppy can play with Jenna when Rosie and I play together." Dingo's new owner said to his dad.
Hmm…looks like that boy is a very close friend of Rosie's…OOPS! Sorry, got away from the plot there.
"Mommy, mommy, look puppies!" A new little girl said excitedly.
"Okay." Her mom chuckled.
Time passed as one-by-one Aleu's siblings were adopted. Eventually, there were only Aleu and one last sibling left. A blind boy suddenly approached the box, and we hoped that he would adopt Aleu, but no, he picked the last sibling instead. Aleu and her sibling waved good-bye to each other, with poor Aleu not even knowing that she was the last one for a reason. It soon got very late, with Aleu fast asleep in the box. My team and I wished that one of us could adopt Aleu, but Boss forbid us from that for some reason.
"It's been a long day Jenna," Balto finally said after a long period of silence. "Lets go home."
"But we can't!" Jenna protested. "Well not until a human adopts Aleu!"
"Face it Jenna," Balto admitted sadly. "Aleu looks more like a wolf than me, no human is ever gonna want her."
"That's not true!" Jenna argued. "We'll just have to keep trying."
And they did, in the days, weeks…and months to come.
The next year….
Muk and Luk were finally shown on screen for the first time. Sure they visited the pups and everything last year, but the team and I hadn't been there that often so we often missed each other. This World's timeline matched up with the Main World's timeline, so Selena and I couldn't visit that often. The months always matched up, even though the years were different. However when it got near to autumn 2005 Boss told us to time travel ahead to autumn 2006, since he wanted us to finish this Adventure before the first Reunion started. It made sense, so we agreed.
What Muk and Luk were doing at the moment was sneaking from tree to tree without noticing each other. Eventually Muk and Luk hid at opposite trees, chuckled to themselves, and then started walking backwards towards each other. When they touched backs, they turned around…screamed and fainted.
"Right, who knew a game of hide 'n' seek could be so terrifying?" Muk remarked after he recovered.
Camera would've rolled his eye but he didn't want to make the Superwolf Watchers dizzy.
Muk and Luk suddenly shivered with fear as they heard sudden growling…soon a canine shadow moved around them…the shadow moved along the trees…the owner of the shadow growled as he prepared to attack…he pounced on Muk and Luk and…! It was only the adult Aleu, who howled as she stood on top of Muk and Luk.
"Okay, okay already! Knock off the roughhousing!" Boris said as he appeared.
"*Oh.*" Aleu got off Muk and Luk disappointedly.
"Aleu, how can I baby-sit if you von't sit?" Boris protested. "You don't sit novhere for more than five seconds."
"That's 'anywhere' Uncle Boris." Aleu corrected.
Muk and Luk giggled.
"Vhat's anyvhere?" Boris asked, obviously not getting what she meant. "Don't try to confuse me young lady, I'm your babysitter."
"Uncle Boris since I'm not a baby anymore I don't need a babysitter and you can tell that to my father." Aleu retorted.
"C'mon Aleu you always be my baby, no matter how old you are." Balto smiled as he appeared.
"Oh, you're hopeless." Aleu scoffed as she walked past him. "Lets go." She said to Muk and Luk. "What's going to happen when a human picks me up huh papa?" Aleu added to Balto. "Who are you going to baby then? Come on guys."
Aleu and Muk and Luk left.
"She's a good pup." Balto smiled.
"Good yes," Boris agreed. "Pup no. At more than year old Aleu should have home of her own."
"When the right time comes she'll find a home." Balto shrugged.
"Yes but when right time comes, will you let her?" Boris said.
Balto just walked away without a word.
"Oy, I hope so." Boris sighed as he slumped onto his wings.
Balto stopped walking away when he noticed a white and brown blur suddenly rolling towards him. The blur then passed him and started tumbling about with laughs and giggles. It was Selena and Aleu, who both had gotten into a play-fight when Selena pounced Aleu. Balto smiled at that as the rest of my team arrived until he noticed that I was missing.
"Vhere's Miranda?" Boris asked.
"We don't know, she just disappeared." Brad said.
"Yeah but she didn't leave any of us in charge so she shouldn't be gone long." Ron W added.
Sure enough, when Aleu and Selena collapsed into a laughing heap under a tree Pikachu noticed a familiar looking dark shape up in the tree's branches. The rest of the team smiled a knowingly as the dark shape leapt off the branch and started falling towards Selena and Aleu. Selena and Aleu eventually noticed the shape's shadow forming over them, but it was too late.
"Dog pile!" The dark shape cheered as she pounced Aleu and Selena; obviously it was only me.
Everyone else laughed as the three of us tumbled about with laughs and "Got ya!"s or "Take that!"s. Aleu then suddenly left the play-fight, said something to the team, and walked away. Selena and I didn't noticed because we were having too much fun. We then finally collapsed, tired, in a heap laughing, and that was when we noticed that Aleu was gone. Selena and I went over to the team and asked them where she went and they explained that she left to find Muk and Luk. We followed until we saw Aleu watching Muk and Luk playing seesaw on a log and cheering.
"Ride 'em cowboy!" Muk cheered.
"Yippee!" Aleu laughed before leaping under Muk as he sailed into the air.
Muk came back down confused as he checked under him.
The team and the five of us were about to get closer until we heard cawing. Confused, we looked to our left and saw a raven circling around in the air.
"What's the raven saying?" Daphne asked.
"She's saying 'Warning: hunter'." Eliza explained.
"Hunter…? Jinkies! Aleu!" Velma realized.
The team and the five us ran downhill through to the forest next to the path that Aleu took to the bottom earlier and saw that she noticed the hunter. Unfortunately, instead of running away she just looked at him curious and confused.
"No it's a human he wouldn't hurt me," Aleu said to herself. "Maybe he'll wanna adopt me."
"I so wish Balto had told her about being part wolf." Darwin groaned.
Aleu started running towards the hunter as he prepared his gun!
"ALEU STOP!" The team and the five of us cried.
Unfortunately, Aleu didn't listen, but there was someone who did hear us…. BALTO! He growled as he attacked the hunter, causing the bullet that was intended for Aleu to soar up the hill instead.
"Papa what's going on? Stop!" Aleu said, confused, as she watched Balto fight the hunter.
Suddenly the hunter knocked Balto aside with his gun! But he certainly didn't expect Balto to have backup….
"Goose to the rescue!" Boris said as he swooped down.
He then pulled the hunter's hood over his head, temporarily blinding him. Unfortunately, the hunter managed to knock Boris out of the way with a wild swipe of his gun! The hunter then removed his hood….
"Going for the attack!" Selena growled as she charged at the hunter.
She then grabbed him by the leg, hoping to knock him off-balance, but he recovered and swung his gun at her instead. She grabbed the gun and they started playing tug of war with it. That's when the rest of the team noticed how angry I looked and grew nervous…because it was the same way I looked after Vinnie had 'killed' Penny back at the end of the Aladdin Adventure. To everyone's shock, I ran towards at the hunter, leapt onto his back…and bit him hard at the neck! The hunter cried in pain as blood squirted from his neck! Snowy then looked as if he heard something and looked up the hill.
"Hey!" Snowy barked. "Look out!"
Selena and I looked, along with the rest of the team, and saw Muk and Luk on top of the log they were playing on…only this time the log was rolling down the hill toward us! Selena and I ran away with startled barks as Muk, Luk, and the log crashed into the hunter. The hunter lay dazed on the ground along with Muk and Luk, his blood staining the grass.
"Is everyone all right?" Balto asked.
Muk sat up dazed.
"Right as rain." He said before falling again.
"C'mon we gotta get outta here." Balto ordered as he headed towards the rest of the team. "Aleu, now!"
"What's the matter, you taking a nap?" Boris said sarcastically as he pushed Muk up. "C'mon, hurry up!"
We hid among the bushes as we saw the hunter getting up, confused, and running away.
"I don't understand papa, why did you guys attack him?" Aleu asked, confused. "What if he wanted to adopt me?"
Hoo-boy, awkward moment.
"Uh, guys, could you help me out?" Balto asked the polar bears.
"Oh of course…ow!" Muk was interrupted as Luk pushed him away. "Sorry mate, but a wise polar bear always minds his own business."
"It is my opinion that…*ach!*" Luk had just pulled Boris away by the neck.
"Well?" Aleu insisted.
"Okay, see that hunter was looking for wild animals to kill for food and fur." Balto explained.
"So?" Aleu said. "I'm not a wild animal."
"Well, he thought you were." Balto admitted.
Aleu gasped.
"What? Why?" She said, confused.
"He thought you were a wolf."
Another awkward moment.
"Uh Balto? Maybe we should continue this back at the boat?" Fu-Fu suggested awkwardly.
The rest of us nodded. Along the way, my team noticed that I was gagging on the blood in my mouth, but fortunately a river showed up. I quickly dunked my head in and started rinsing and gargling the blood out of my mouth.
"That's the one thing we've never understood about you." Numbuh One said, shaking his head. "You hate the taste of blood yet you bite your enemies hard enough to draw it anyway."
"I can't help it, its instinct." I said, done cleaning my mouth.
I went over to Rip and he gave me a soda to help get rid of the taste.
"What instinct? The three of us don't do it after all." Harry pointed out.
"You never told them?" Selena said, confused; she wasn't the only one.
"Guess I should now." I shrugged before correcting Harry. "Not Superwolf instinct just plain wolf."
"What?" James said, confused.
"I'm half-wolf." I finally admitted.
Selena, Rip, Numbuh 274, and Rudy and his friends were the only ones who didn't look as if their jaws were going to fall off.
"Wait a minute, you guys knew?" Lily said.
"Oh I've known for years, same with Jack." Rip explained.
"The four of us found out when she told Selena back when they first met during P.E." Penny explained.
"Why didn't you tell the rest of us?" Ron W asked.
"I had a feeling you wouldn't believe me." I said.
Hermione opened her mouth as if to retort, then closed her mouth and smirked.
"You know, if you told us years ago we probably wouldn't have." She said. "But we do now."
"So how can you be half-wolf?" Sam S asked (S stands for 'spy' by the way).
"You know my pet husky Rose? She's actually a wolf and the two of us are connected." I explained. "This means that she's half-human, except she doesn't like to turn into one."
"Why not?" Mandy asked.
"The world where she came from contains an evil race of poachers who think that…well think of animals the way Hitler thought of the Jews."
Everyone, including those from before the 1940s since they already found out, gasped.
"They're like that?" Clover gasped.
"You kiddin'?" I shook my head. "Even the American leader's nickname is Hitler, they take their nicknames from evil people."
"Geez…so which World do they live in?" Billy asked.
"This one."
Everyone's eyes bulged.
"What?" Jackie gasped before noting: "Wait a minute, it's 1926, Hitler didn't become infamous until the 1930s."
"The German Hitler in this world is part of the poacher organization, except he goes by a different name. Sometimes poachers switch names, especially if they're foreign names. I found all this out from the Human Stone God." I shrugged before sighing. "Also…don't tell Balto or his friends but Rose's husband Nava is Balto's older brother."
"WHAT?" Everyone except for Selena, my brothers, Rudy and his friends, and Rip gasped.
"It's true, Rose told me after she found out that Balto's alive."
"What do you mean?" Spongebob asked.
I then explained how Nava and Balto were the only members of their pack who took after their dad, a husky. One day a group of the poachers attacked Balto's old pack. Rose got some sort of instinctive message that she and Nava and their pups should leave. Nava was at first hesitant about that because he didn't want to leave his parents and siblings, but he eventually gave in. At that moment a few of the poachers had his parents and their new litter cornered, which shocked Nava because Balto was one of the pups in danger. He quickly rushed forward and snatched Balto, saving him, but he was still sad because there was nothing he could do for his parents. Even with him helping they were outnumbered.
Nava and Rose quickly ran away with their two pups Mooney and Alaska and with Balto. After a day they thought that they had managed to ditch the poachers, but a gunshot proved otherwise. Shocked, Nava quickly turned around while he was still running and accidentally bumped his head into a large rock. This unfortunately caused Balto to fly out of his mouth and slide down the hill next to them! Nava quickly rushed after Balto, who hit his head on another rock and lost consciousness! Balto fell into the river, and Nava followed, but unfortunately the current made it hard for Nava to see Balto and he soon lost sight of him. Boris just happened to fly by at the time, and even though he spotted Balto he somehow didn't see Nava, so he decided to rescue Balto and take him home. Nava made it to shore thinking that Balto was gone forever.
Everyone was stunned speechless at this story at first, and then Jenny managed to find her voice so that she could ask an important question:
"So, how come we're not allowed to tell Balto?"
"The next day Nava decided to sacrifice himself by leading the poachers away from Rose and their pups, and he got killed in the process." I said sadly. "Rose could barely stand telling me the story, and she doesn't want Balto to see her because it might bring back memories of that day. Balto got a minor case of amnesia when he hit the rock, he doesn't remember Nava or Rose."
The rest of the team looked really sad and sympathetic.
"Wait…if Nava is Rose's husband and…." Tintin started to realize.
"Yes, Nava was also my husband, except I never knew him. I rescued Rose from a poacher trap a week after Nava was killed." I nodded sadly. "Rose's pups are also my pups."
The rest of the team tried not to really process that last bit of information.
"So that's really why you don't want to get married." Hermione realized sympathetically. "You're loyal to Nava."
"Both Rose and I." I corrected. "Yes that's one of the reasons, the ones I already told you are true as well."
Fortunately Balto and Aleu were too far away to hear the rest of us talking. We walked the rest of the way to the boat in silence, which was broken as Aleu finally spoke when we got onto the boat and into Balto's den.
"I knew there was something wrong with me." Aleu said angrily, close to tears.
"There is nothing wrong with you," Balto argued. "You have a proud heritage."
"Oh sure." Aleu said sarcastically.
"You're mother is a purebred husky." Balto pointed out.
"Then what are you?" Aleu retorted.
"I'm the one who's part wolf." Balto admitted.
"How could this happen?"
"Look Aleu, my dad was a husky who had pups with a wolf."
"Great, my grandmother was a wild animal." Aleu said sarcastically. "Did the wolf teach you how to know when a human wants to kill you?"
"Hey! Aleu I know you're upset but try to show more respect!" I said, insulted about the 'the wolf' crack.
"*Hmph!*" Aleu turned her head away.
"I was accidentally separated from her when I was young…" Balto explained, ignoring the argument.
The team and other Superwolves remembered what I said about Balto not remembering his past and shook their heads sadly.
"…So I never spent much time with…the wolf." Balto continued.
I cleared my throat, still insulted.
"Uh…mom." Balto corrected himself. "But I remember that she was white as snow and she had this warm voice that made me feel safe. Well then Boris took me in and after being raised by a goose it's a wonder I don't honk instead of bark."
Boris, swabbing the decks outside, overheard and smiled an amused smile.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Aleu asked.
"Because…I wanted to protect you." Balto explained.
"'Protect me?' From what?" Aleu said, getting angrier. "From the fact that no human will ever want me because I'm part wild animal?"
"Aleu…." Balto tried to interrupt.
"And what about my brothers and sisters?" Aleu continued. "They've got wolf in them too, why did humans want them?"
"Because they don't look it." Balto sighed. "And you do."
"It's not fair." Aleu sobbed. "I hate you!"
Aleu left the boat and started running away in the opposite direction of Nome.
"Aleu!" Balto called, leaving the den. "Aleu come back!"
"Leave me alone!" Aleu retorted.
Not even Balto went after her because we all assumed she'd be back by morning. We didn't know then how far from the truth we were…or the kind of adventure we were about to go through. No, we didn't end up dealing with Voldemort or a clone, the last one was too weak to attack right away, but we were going to deal with someone who was almost as bad…and encounter someone Balto especially would never expect to meet.
