As the lift travelled closer to the top of the mountain, Sonya stopped daydreaming and quickly explained to Shasta what they need to do.

"Ready for the next part?" she asked.

"Wait, there's more?" said Shasta, confused since they were already so high up.

"There's gonna be two guards at the top, we need to quickly jump off before they see us-the no animals allowed rule".

Shasta was beginning to slightly regret going along with Sonya, as he never wanted to get himself in trouble with local authorities or anything like that. Also this seemed kinda reckless and dangerous.

On top the mountain, the long line began progressing; several people got on the chairlifts that had already gotten up. Two security guards, one large and one tall one, watched over the cue and were responsible for helping people on and taking any belongings left behind on the lifts off and put in the lost and found (also on the mountain top).

"How many lost bags you found?" asked the large one.

"What kind of question is that?" the other, uninterested one responded.

"I'm just trying to make polite conversation, you know I hate this job!"

Number 9 got to the top. As the guards walked towards it, Sonya leapt out of her seat, followed by Shasta.

"It's her again!" the large guard screamed.

"This time I'm gonna make sure it's the last" vowed the annoyed tall guard.

They gave chase, surrounding them behind the lost and found booth. Sonya ran under their legs, while the other guard chased Shasta. He went under Doctor Mitchel's legs, a 50 year old veterinarian/ doctor/ physiologist, and the tall guard hurled a net at him.

"What are you doing?!" he frantically yelled.

"Sorry, doc, but it's that dog, I'm trying to catch that dog!" grunted the guard, running, leaving Mitchel to untangle the net.

Shasta ran towards his female friend, who purposely stood still by the time Shasta had reached her.

"I got em!" both guards screamed. They both simultaneously jumped down and slid on the ground to get them but the two puppy's moved out the way, making the guards crash their heads into one another.


Baron, Anouk and Akira walked up the high mountain, groaning and complaining, whilst tiredly continuing their journey.

"You know it's really dumb offering to train a puppy and it's even more dumb sending one trouble maker with another one!" ranted Akira.

"No paw's should be pointed in my direction, we would be resting easy if this fool hadn't lost the pup" Anouk centred the blame around Baron.

"I lost the pup? I lost the...oh well that's news to me!" Baron retorted.

"Who told him to go sleep in a bear's cave?" Akira reminded him.

"Who said we needed to talk alone!?" shouted Baron.

Akira couldn't argue there, so he silently raised his paw whilst grinning.

"This journey is a test of our strengths, the race will be much harder" wheezed Anouk.

Just then a loud voice interrupted their squabbling. "YOU STUPID, FILTHY, MANGY TOILET DRINKING MUTTS!"

"There up there" huffed Baron, with his head down whilst raising his paw to point to the mountain top. His voice was both annoyed, and also expecting since he kinda figured Shasta out by this point.

"Of course they are, where else would they be?" Akira continued his sarcastic remarks.


On the mountain, the two guards continued chasing the dog's with no success- they just ended up getting themselves even more hurt- until finally they were cornered near the edge of the mountain.

"We got you now!" laughed the large guard.

Shasta was now 100% regretting going with Sonya or even talking to her in the first place, and even she was now a bit worried. Usually these two would be too dumb to catch up but after so many tries, they must've figured out a strategy. He could tell by her sudden scream that she too was at a loss for what to do.

Anouk and the others reached the top and saw this situation.

"Oh boy" he muttered, before charging ahead and biting the large man on the leg.

"AH! More dogs, get rid of them!" screamed the large man, as he tumbled over.

"Shasta, this way!" called Sonya, as she ran towards a chair lift heading down. They both quickly hopped on, surprising Doctor. Mitchel, who was next in line.

"Huh, that was my ride!" he cursed.

Baron and the others were cornered near the edge of the mountain as the two bumbling guards got to their feet.

"Great, now what?" panicked Baron.

Anouk looked down and saw how high they were.

"We're gonna jump" he declared.

"Jump?! Are you crazy, we're like a hundred feet high!" argued Akira.

"It's snow, we'll be fine. Now jump! JUMP!" Anouk repeated himself several times.

Akira closed his eyes and jumped, screaming.

"Jump on the count of three. One, two...just jump" Anouk and a nervous Baron jumped off the edge, screaming.

They crashed into the snow below.

"Huh, that was soft" said Baron, covered in snow.

"Get off me!" Akira kicked him off, him to buried under the snow. "I hate my life".


The two mischievous pup's returned to Emily's house, laughing.

"That was the most fun I've had in ages" laughed Shasta. He hadn't really laughed much since his parent's death and it felt great to get back to his usual mood.

"For your first time on those things, you did great" Sonya praised him.

"I hope Baron and the others are ok" Shasta suddenly stopped laughing to think about his saviours.

"Don't worry, my aunt says they're the fastest dogs she knows, I'm sure they'll be fine" Sonya assured him.

After a while, Shasta asked, "So you know you said pup's can't race...?"

"Well I mean, it sounds cool but...no one's ever done it before, I'm sure it would be awfully great to win one of those races or at least come second" she admitted, saying the part about the race a bit more quietly.

Shasta began to think about that. He could continue training and live up to the legacy of his dad, but at the same time he didn't want to miss out on all the fun that being a puppy was. Those times won't last forever, and having all those responsibilities is hard. But what about Adam, his class bully's him because of what happened to his dad and his only goal in life is to race and win.

"Anyway, thanks for today, it was really fun" he once again thanked his new friend, before walking away.

"Wait" Sonya called to him, making him turn.

"You do want to do this again right...I mean, hang out again?"

"Yeah sure...if you don't mind".

"Of course I don't, anyway see you later you little skunk" she joked, calling him a skunk because of the colour of his fur.

"Just don't kill my eardrums when you scream" he taunted back, recalling when Sonya screamed when the guards cornered them.


A couple days later, Shasta found Echo walking through town. He had tried to remain hidden to keep up with the lie that he was ill.

"Echo, I'm so glad your better sir, I'm ready to start training again, if that's ok" he eagerly greeted him.

"Er...well...hi Shasta" Echo was at a loss for words. He asked a question, he could easily say no. But how could he say no to that face. "Um, yes, I'll go get the others...

Over the next few days, Shasta continued playing with Sonya and training with Echo. Both had bad results, and Sonya seemed like a bad influence on Shasta. He didnt see it that way, in his opinion, she was the perfect friend for someone like him. They both had no parents, were the same age, extremely fast, feisty (especially in Sonya's case) and had a very high stamina. Sonya wasn't too girly but wasn't too disobedient. Although, she did a lot of things that her aunt told her not to and hardly took anything seriously.

The dogs were disliking "teaching" Shasta and got more annoyed as he once again got them in trouble with the bear, that chased them across town. Shasta and Sonya accidentally tripped up Jean George, causing him to get in trouble with the bear when he gave chase. Soon, Paul and Mitchel joined in, remembering how they stole his seat and mayhem occurred. Akira watched this montage play out with disgust.

Paul and LT. Toff's took out their guns and pointed it at the bear. Toffs quickly stared at Paul, who hid the weapon behind his back as he wasn't allowed to possess one. Not that it made a difference, Toffs one was out of ammo and the bear growled fiercely at them, making them run (only the two idiots ran into each other at first then in different directions). Toffs spent the remainder of this montage trying to stand up without slipping, resorting to his Shadow trooper outfit in an attempt to scare the bear.

Shasta finally made it on top of a large hill and when the others followed him up to reluctantly congratulate him, Shasta spied some berries on a skinny tree and went for them. The delicate tree toppled over and Echo and his team immediately switched directions, running down the hill, as the tree tumbled after them. Although hill-running had improved his main problem was ice, and his fear of it.

The bear chased the humans and pup's until they all (including the bear) came to a halt as LT. Toffs walked past wearing the Shadow helmet this time. They all gave military salutes to him (even the pup's put their paws up) but once he walked past them and returned their salute the chase continued. Toffs stood in front of the bear, demanding to know why he didn't give a salute. The confused bear stood up tall on two legs and complied, using his paws, watching the lieutenant walk off with a dopey look on his face. Jean George, Paul, Mitchel, and Toffs chased Shasta and Sonya outside the sheriff's office but (like they did on the mountain) they stood still and the four clowns all fell into one another, tumbling onto the ground as the huskies escaped.

The tree crashed into the fleeing dogs, sending them flying. Shasta guiltily stood over the collapsed huskies, apologising. Akira tried angrily protesting but Echo just stopped him and dismissed the apologies nicely. All the while Akira got more agitated and knew something had to be done.