The annual Ferntiuktuk dog sled race had just finished with catastrophic results. Two grown huskies, while racing past the home stretch of the race, smashed the ice beneath them (although it seemed as though a contestant that had already passed through had purposely put pressure on the ice), sending the innocent dogs to their doom. Although Jean George was declared as the champion, rumours began circulating of sabotage during the race by the victor. Their devastated owner, Joe Bilson, sadly walked towards his truck when sheriff Ryan came over to him.
"I'm sorry about what happened, Joe" said the sheriff, gravelly. "It's hard to predict which areas of the ice is fragile so we can't really prepare. Better luck next year".
"There is no next year" refused Joe. "I'm giving up dog sled racing, it's not my thing anymore".
He got into his truck and drove back to his house, where his family tried comforting him over the death of his two loyal huskies.
The rest of Joe's team were incredibly dismayed when they returned to the shed, wondering how they would tell Shasta the grim fate of his parents. When they did return, he ran up to them excitedly, expecting them to have won.
"You're back!" he cried. "Did you win?! Where's the trophy? Where's mum and dad?"
Hound looked to Hunter, who in turn nudged Snow, thinking perhaps she could break it down easily. At first, Shasta didn't believe it, thinking it was some kind of joke or something.
"You're lying right?" he shouted, refusing to listen.
"Shasta we- began Growl.
But before he could finish, Shasta ran out through the hole in the shed and into town.
"Go get him!" ordered Snow, as Hunter ran after him.
The small husky looked around the busy town, where many people were talking. Crowds of townsfolk were reading newspaper's, with headlines such as Tragedy occurs in annual race. Dogs were also talking about the news, with profound pain and grief, very few laughed at the news, while others remained optimistic.
"Did you hear what happened?" asked one dog.
"Must've been terribly excited, police say the ice cracked" said another.
"Ol' Joe must be upset, I told him to be careful" one man said to another.
"Two dogs dead after ice cracks during race" another read aloud from the papers.
"Mum! Dad!" Shasta yelled, beginning to get scared that these rumours were actually true and the dogs that everyone was speaking of was indeed his parents.
He spotted one dog that looked similar to his dad, and smiled, thinking it was him. He ran up to the older dog, who in turn spun around when Shasta bumped into him.
"Dad!" he shouted, before realising that this husky's face did not resemble his fathers'. Now that he had turned, his markings were properly revealed.
"What are you on about?!" growled the dog, as Hunter quickly found Shasta.
"Sorry about that, kid's a little confused" apologised Hunter.
"Oh Hunter, I heard about Nanook, my condolences" condoled the husky.
Upon hearing those crushing words, Shasta ran off again, back to the shed.
"Wait!" demanded Hunter, running after him.
"Was it something I said!?" the other dog called after him.
Later in Joe's shed, Shasta miserably turned his attention to the other's, who were grabbing their things, as if they were leaving.
"Well, it's moving day for us, gonna miss this old shed" sighed Hound.
"Yes I sure will miss that wardrobe" snickered Growl, before brushing off his snicker, realising there was nothing to be happy about.
"You guys too?" sniffled Shasta, feeling completely alone now.
"Afraid so, in two days to be exact" said Hunter.
"You can keep my teddy" Hound looked to his old stuffed teddy bear toy.
"I'm sorry Shasta, but at least you still have Adam" said Alpine.
"On second thought, I'm keeping the toy" Hound hugged it while the others looked at him like he was baby. "What, it's cuddly?"
Echo's owner (the Russian man) tried to buy some of the dogs for his team but with no luck.
"I'm sorry, people have already purchased them" Joe told him.
"Oh...can I at least give you my number in case they change their minds?" he asked.
"Sure, if they do, you'll be the first one I call" agreed Joe, taking out a pen and paper.
Perhaps the one who had felt the most pain was Shasta. The death of his parent's had a huge impact on him and although he remained happy whenever Adam was around, he couldn't shake off the sadness and pain he felt.
"It's ok, boy, you still have me" Adam soothed him, guessing why he was not in usual playful mood.
A few days had gone by and Joe had sold the rest of his team to different racers across Alaska. Shasta decided to finally go into town, which he hadn't since the incident. He went over to Deputy Bernie, who was laying outside the sheriff's office talking to Francois and Philippe.
"Did I already mention the shiny trophy?" goaded Philippe. "Oh look here is their little pupsqueak, I can't imagine the pain".
Shasta ignored them and talked to Bernie instead.
"Hey there Shasta, I haven't seen you in a few days now" greeted Bernie. "Are you still feeling blue?"
"Yeah, I'm still a bit down" admitted Shasta, quietly.
"Why is he feeling down?" snorted Francois. "He wasn't the one who raced and died, he just stayed at home with that miserable boy who dreams of being a musher".
"Remember when his dad claimed to be taught by Talon the Great, an old myth?" laughed Philippe. "Or when he said he saw a raptor? What an idiot".
"Don't talk about my dad, he was a much better lead dog than you ever will be!" growled the puppy.
"Is that why we won and he sunk?" snickered Francois. "Did I mention our big, shiny trophy?"
Bernie glared at them, making them stop laughing.
"I would think you two champ's would be an inspiration to the youngsters but here you are bullying them" he scolded.
"We were just remembering our dearly departed friend" Francois put on a fake sad voice, hiding a laugh. "By the way have I told you about out trophy?"
"Maybe I should talk to you later sir" decided Shasta, walking off sadly.
"Now wait a minute- but it was too late, Shasta was gone. Bernie glared at the two laughing dog's who tried their best to hide their laughs upon noticing his glare.
As the husky puppy walked down the road, five adults watched him from atop a snowy hill. One was a lead dog, one considered to be the best around, Echo. They belonged to the Russian man who had just moved in and was eager to start a dog sled team (the same man in Snow buddies). They had previously tried to convince Nanook to give Shasta to them, with no success.
Shasta walked on followed by the two annoying bullies, when Echo and his group appeared in front of him.
"You're father was a difficult dog to beat" he cleared his throat.
"Yes we are deeply saddened to hear of his death" added the white female husky, Alpine. "We all are sad, right Akira?"
"Huh?" Akira asked, not really paying attention. "Oh right, I totally agree.. with whatever you just said".
"I still don't believe it" rejected the large brown husky, Baron.
"Were you there? No; we were, we saw, he died" listed Francois.
"Are you a lead dog?" Shasta asked, noticing the same level of allegiance his father once possessed.
"No he's just a fool who thinks he is" insulted Francois.
"Don't you two clowns have a trophy to rub into every dog in Italy's face?" asked Baron.
"No, we're from Franc-
"Europe?"
"What, no".
"Asia?"
"No, no!"
"Well you should do something with the trophy; you just gonna lick it?" joked Baron.
"Come on Francois lets go, I think our master has finished his trim now" urged Philippe, noticing Jean George exit the barber shop.
"I am glad them two have withdrawn" said the wise, Japanese husky, Anouk. He had been bought by the Russian man from a illegal seller in Fernfield called Selkirk Tanders.
"Now that the clowns are gone I can continue" added Echo. "Greetings, Shasta, I am Echo- a lead dog as you already know- and as you can see we are a five-dog crew. A true sled team requires six dogs in total and our owner used to live in Siberia and is an expert on training dogs to race. I'm sure he could easily make you the excellent race dog your father was, you have the potential to become one of us...maybe better".
"That's doubtful" whispered Akira.
"By the time of next years race, you could be with us racing towards that finish line" added Alpine, softly.
"It will only take about...what five, ten months, I mean can expect no miracles-
"Forget it, I'm not interested!" interrupted Shasta. "First of, I'm not abandoning Adam to join you and second I don't even want to race anymore. I hate that stupid sport!"
"Excuse me?" asked Echo, bluntly.
"I don't believe what I'm hearing" said Alpine. "Every husky in town wants to race, even puppies. I get that your parents died in a race, but that doesn't mean you should give up on it".
"Yeah you should" whispered Akira. "Oh come on, Echo, this is a waste of time! He's just a puppy, what's him or his parents ever done for us anyway? I know, beat my team in a race, forcing my owner to abandon me onto the cold streets?"
"The rules don't specify what age the dogs have to be to enter" hissed Echo. "Besides he's the only dog left in town who doesn't race or have plans to, we can easily persuade him".
"There's a lot of things the rules don't 'specifically' say, they don't say a kid can't enter that doesn't mean they can" argued Akira.
"Shasta, we could make you something great, just like your dad, besides Adam's never gonna race, those are just empty dreams" continued Echo.
"You do not think his dad is going to allow him to after what happened?" contributed Anouk.
But Shasta wouldn't hear it and just ran off, away from them.
"Amazing speech, Churchill, you really reeled him in with that one" taunted Akira. "Anyway, our owner is supposed to be practising with us soon, so...
"You guys go on ahead, I'm gonna have a little one-to-one talk with Shasta, maybe I caught him on a wrong time" decided Echo.
When Baron and Anouk departed, Alpine remained behind and stopped Akira.
"I think we should follow Echo, his persuasive skills aren't always as good as he thinks" she suggested.
"Might as well, plus I don't want to have to listen to Baron's 'jokes' the whole way back" agreed Akira.