Chapter 24

Kaltag, Charlie, and Itchy lead their forces and they regroup with Balto's troops at a river. Charlie sees that all the soldiers are looking into the river and saluting. Charlie looks into the river and sees nothing. He also sees the cats are looking into the river as well.

Charlie approaches one of the privates and smacks him on the side of his head. "Why are these fucking cats still alive?"

The soldier turns to face him and growls. "They are alive because their leader fell into the river. They surrendered so they could honor him in his death. And besides, we are honoring our leader as well."

Charlie frowns at him. "What do you mean by that?"

The soldier starts to cry. "Balto fell into the river with their leader as well."

Charlie stops and he felt as if his heart was split in two.

Itchy overheard the whole thing and approaches Charlie. "Do you feel better now? A hero embarrasses you and you nearly kill him and then he dies and you smack one of his men for not killing the cats off. You need to take a vacation."

Charlie turns towards Itchy and growls. "Itchy, shut the hell up! I'm paying my respects to a fallen hero."

Itchy remains silent as Charlie approaches the river to salute his fallen superior.

The Skinner woke up on the riverbed. He looks over and sees Balto is laying face down in the water. He pulls Balto out of the river and drags him towards the trees. He then breaks off some branches and grabs some rocks as well. He places the rocks in a medium sized circle and puts the sticks inside the circle. He searches Balto's vest and finds some matches, but they're wet. He decides to create the fire the old fashioned way; striking to rocks to create some sparks. After about thirty minutes, a spark ignites a branch and a fire starts up.

Balto finally becomes conscious and he sees a fire is built. He stares at it for two minutes before hearing a crashing noise through the trees. He reaches for his knife and pulls it out. After about a minute of the constant crashing noises of branches and sticks breaking, The Skinner emerges from the tree line with a net full of fish.

Balto crawls away from him and growls. "Why am I here? Are you waiting for me to become vulnerable to then kill me?"

The Skinner laughs. "No. I saw that you were drowning and rescued you. I assumed you were hungry so I went fishing and brought them back so we can cook them and eat them."

Balto nods his head. This is actually the first time that Balto looked truly upon The Skinner. The Skinner was a jaguar with a scar over his left eye that went down to his jaw. He had the appearance of a noble leader and the appearance of a warrior.

Balto frowns at him. "What's your name?"

The Skinner starts to laugh. "So now you're trusting. What's yours?"

Balto smiles at him. "What do the cats call me?"

The Skinner chuckles at him. "We don't have a name for you?"

Balto frowns at him. "Why not?"

The Skinner laughs at Balto. "Because we name warriors after things they have done in battle. So far, you dogs have used guns and tanks to crush and rip us cats apart."

Balto starts to laugh. "You should have been in Africa. The cats used tanks there as well."

The Skinner frowns at him. "My brethren are different here than over there. We want to face our enemies face-to-face to prove who the better warrior is. But you dogs don't give us the opportunity as you always use guns and grenades to kill us all."

Balto frowns again. "We only know war by the way the humans did war. They used guns so we use guns. They used tanks and explosives so we use tanks and explosives. We are not use to sword fighting because the humans used guns in war."

The Skinner smiles again. "Then maybe you should read the history books more because before gunpowder, swords and arrows were the only weapons on the battlefield that were used. Horses were like our tanks and catapults were our artillery."

Balto frowns at him. "Where did you say you were from?"

The Skinner laughs at him. "So eager to change the subject. I never said where I was from. But since you want to know, I'm from Houston."

Balto's jaw drops. "You're from…from the United States! What's your name?"

The Skinner smiles at him. "My name is Michael. I was in the UCM military for seven years back when all species were accepted. I approved many recruits, even one of the Airborne named Charlie."

Balto smiles at him. "I didn't know you were in our military. By the way, my name is Balto."

Michael frowns at him. "Balto? Ah, now I know. I approved you as well. You were recruiting for the army. I saw that you had potential and here you are. And by the looks of it, you're a first sergeant."

Balto looks up at the night sky. "How did this war truly begin? How did we end up in the middle of this bloody war?"

Michael frowns at Balto. "This war started when you dogs elected that bastard of a president Nigel. He started this war by convincing the senate to declare that we cats were evil. We made an alliance with the Reptilian Brotherhood, but you defeated them in combat and they betrayed us. And then you defeated all of our other allies until you had the numbers and we were at the disadvantage. You need to know that before Nigel became president, the UCM controlled North America with passion and strength. Now the UCM has become an empire and they are going to conquer the world."

Balto looks back at Michael. "So you're saying that we dogs are evil?"

Michael shakes his head. "No. I'm saying that Nigel is evil. He needs to die. He has to die for the UCM to become what it used to be; the bringers of peace, not death."

Balto frowns in anger. "We dogs are bringing peace. It's the other species that are throwing war around. The UCM will stop all wars, even if it means killing off every other species just to do it."

Michael shouts out, "Then you are no better than Nigel! You can't claim you're an advocate for peace and declare war on everyone who disagrees with you!"

Balto sighs deeply. "I know. We need to get out of this jungle before we end up dead."

Michael smiles at him. "And go where? To the US; they'll kill me. Can't go to my territory because they'll expect me to kill you. So we have to go our own ways. I'll go south and you'll go north. But no matter where you are, I'll always think of you as a friend Balto."

Michael turns and walks through the forest, disappearing from view. Balto stands up and heads north to find the Devil's Domain outpost. He had befriended his nemesis. It would rip Balto's heart in half when the time came to choose sides; his friends or his species.

A/N: Who wants me to kill off Michael? I may or may not send him to oblivion(Damn Washington accent!). Anyway, have fun thinking of the next chapter. It will have betrayal in it XD