Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, the Characters, or any Game, Movie, or TV Show content that are mentioned in this FanFiction story. They belong to their respective owners and I honor & respect their great works.
It has been several days since Steele and his team set out for the Diphtheria antitoxin and they were way behind schedule. They were lost somewhere in the wilderness in the midst of the unrelenting blizzard. News of their situation reaches Nome as the telegraph office beeps. Morse, the bulldog, tries to go outside, but he was barely able to squeeze through the dog-door and ends up getting stuck. He barks frantically in morse code, alerting a group of dogs over at a worker's shed across from him. One dog, a Saint Bernard named Doc, looks out the door and saw Morse. Hearing his frantic barking, he turns to dogs in the room. Among the dogs were Dixie and Sylvie.
"It's terrible, my friends. Just terrible. Steele and his team... are lost." Doc says
All the dogs gasp in shock.
No!" A dog exclaims
"Steele!" Dixie gasps
"How come?" Another dog asks
"When?" Another dog asks
"They've missed their second checkpoint. They're off the trail." Doc says
"Can't they send another team?" A dog asks
"It's too dangerous for us and our men." Doc says
"What about... them little ones?" The same dog asks
"The medicine won't be here in time. We're going to lose them." Doc says
Balto, who was in town, overheard the conversation, gazing down at the group of dogs through an opening above the entrance. He was shocked when he heard about the team's situation and he looks back at the hospital, thinking of Rosy.
"Rosy..." Balto whispers to himself
At the hospital, Rosy was laying in her bed, feeling very sick. She was now shivering and moaning. The doctor and Rosy's Father watched helplessly. They were on the verge of giving up hope for the medicine. But then, Rosy's Father came up with an idea that might help her daughter.
"Please, doctor, it's the only medicine we have." Rosy's Father says
"Okay." The doctor says
Rosy's Father opens the door to the room and Rosy's Mother brings in Jenna in her arms. She sets the female husky down and stands with her husband as they watch Jenna walk over to Rosy's bed. She stands up on her hind legs
"Jenna?" Rosy says weakly
Rosy gave Jenna a faint smile before she closes her eyes due to the sickness. Jenna lays her head and upper body over Rosy's lap to at least offer her girl comfort. Outside the hospital, Devon stood at the window of Rosy's room, watching over her and Jenna with a concerned expression.
"Devon?" A voice says
Devon glances back over left-shoulder and he saw Balto approaching him.
"Oh, hey, Balto." Devon says
Balto climbs to the windowsill and join's Devon's side.
"How's Rosy doing?" Balto asks
The two look back into Rosy's room.
"Not good. The sickness is getting worse. Rosy's parents just brought Jenna in to see her. The medicine should've been here by now. Knowing Steele, he probably done screwed up and got himself, the team, and the medicine lost somewhere out there. If that cure doesn't get here soon..." Devon says
Suddenly, the Keyblade Wielder and wolf-dog heard faint hammering that sounded close by.
"Hey, you hear that?" Devon asks
"Yeah. I do." Balto says
"Where's it coming from?" Devon asks
Devon and Balto glance away from the hospital and look over to their right down the alleyway.
"That way." Balto says
Curious as to what it was, Devon and Balto go to investigate. They walk down the alleyway and pass through a broken fence to a workshop with a light inside. The Keyblade Wielder and wolf-dog peek into the building from the doorway and they saw Mr. Johanssen hammering a nail into a small coffin on a table. The carpenter was soon finished and he picks it up and places it up against the wall behind him. Leaning on the wall here was an empty adult-sized coffin, but there were also two small child-sized coffins already made in addition to the one that Mr. Johanssen finished.
Once they saw the coffins, Devon and Balto gasped in shock and they both took a step back. The town was just about ready to give up hope for the children and were preparing to accept the inevitable. Devon places his right-hand on his chest while Balto looks back at the hospital.
"No..." Devon says
"Rosy..." Balto says
As he stared at the coffins, Devon saw something he did not expect. A faint vision of his younger five-year old self laid in the first small coffin. Then, the other two coffins were filled with Rosy and young Kairi's bodies as they laid next to him. Devon's eyes widened in horror and he started panting. Then, Devon's head was filled with agonizing pain and he clutches his head with both hands.
"Aaaaah!" Devon yells
Intense visions rushed through Devon's mind, causing him to wince his eyes shut and grind his teeth. Notably, they were visions of the Celestial Realm's invasion and destruction. All the killings, the chaos, it was all overwhelming. The Keyblade Wielder backs away from the shed and he falls down on his knees, trying to hold himself up with his right-hand while clutching his head with his other hand. It felt like his head was gonna explode. Balto watched all this with a worried expression. He didn't know what was going on, but he clearly saw that Devon was in pain.
"Devon? Are you alright? Devon!" Balto says
As suddenly as it came, the pain immediately went away as Devon heard Balto's voice. He looks up and saw Balto standing infront of him.
"Balto?" Devon says
"Are you okay? What happened?" Balto asks
Devon shook his head and held his temple with his left-hand as he slowly recovered.
"I don't know. I... I saw images in my mind. They were so... so intense. I... I can't explain it." Devon says
Once his head cleared up, he remembered the coffins in the workshop and glances back over his left-shoulder at the building. Going back to the shed, Devon peeks inside and looks at the coffins to see that they were empty again. Devon lets out a sigh of relief. Then, he put on a determined expression.
"I won't stand around and watch Rosy and the kids suffer anymore. I'm going to find that medicine and I'm bringing it back." Devon says
Devon turns around and looks back at Balto.
"Balto? You with me?" Devon asks
Balto nods his head with a similar look on his face.
"Yeah." Balto says
Determined to help save the town of Nome, Devon and Balto left for the outskirts to tell Boris.
Later on, Devon and Balto walked through the snow while Boris followed them, trying to talk them out of going.
"Balto, Devon, please. Don't go crazy on me now." Boris says
Boris falls backwards onto the snow, but he quickly gets back up and climbs onto a hatch above a pipe.
"This is foolishness. You will die like a dog! Oh, uh, no offense." Boris says
The hatch beneath the goose gives way and he falls into an abandoned pipeline, which was empty. Muk and Luk watched Devon and Balto from the shipwreck. They shared glances with each other and decided to follow them. The Keyblade Wielder and wolf-dog jump onto the ice and they slide towards the town.
"You and Devon will be frozen stiff by morning!" Boris says
Boris falls out of an opening in the pipeline and lands on the ice.
"When you are both frozen-stiff statues named Balto and Devon, don't come running to me!" Boris says
Muk and Luk tackle into Boris and they all slide together along the ice. Eventually, they come to a stop at the
"He says..." Muk says
"'Where are they going?' They're going into freezing coldness to find a dog they don't like to bring medicine back to a town that doesn't like Balto!" Boris says
Boris' eyes widened in realization.
"Oh, no! I'm beginning to understand the bear!" Boris says hitting himself with his right-wing on his temple
"Yes! Yes! Count us in!" Muk says
Boris, Muk and Luk follow Balto and Devon into town and they walk through the streets.
"Bears! Dogs!" Boris says
Seeing that Boris needed some convincing, Balto picked Boris up with his mouth and brings him over to the side of the hospital while Muk and Luk followed close behind.
"Balto! Balto! Put me down!" Boris says with a muffled voice
Devon stood at the hospital window as the wolf-dog brought the goose over and set him down on a barrel.
"No brains at all! Might as well be talking to humans." Boris says
"You're talking to me, aren't you? Now, Boris, look." Devon says
Devon, Balto, and Boris look in through the window and they saw Rosy in her bed.
"That's Rosy. She's Jenna's girl and she's sick. Very sick. The medicine is out lost somewhere in the wilderness. And every moment we spend waiting here, Rosy and the kids get sicker. The town's already preparing coffins for her and the other children. We can't just stand around and do nothing. If they don't get that medicine soon, they're gonna die." Devon says
The trio watched as Rosy laid shivering in her bed. Boris looks on with a saddened expression, feeling bad for the human child. Rosy coughs and wheezes from the sickness. Seeing that was enough to change his mind and Boris decides to tag along.
"So, let's go get the medicine." Boris says jumping down from the barrel
Devon and Balto glance back at Boris as he walked up the street.
"Wait a minute. Now you're coming?" Balto says
"Spending days in bitter cold, facing wild animals, risking death from exposure..." Boris says
Boris giggles.
"Is like holiday in old country. Hmph." Boris says
Devon and Balto share smiles with each other, glad to see that Boris was joining them. Walking away from the hospital, they head down the street with Muk and Luk following them.
"Oh! Great! We're goin' on holiday!" Muk says
"Balto, your senses are better than ours. So, we'll need you to track Steele and his team." Devon says
"Right. I should be able to sniff out their trail and find out which way they went." Balto says
And so, Devon, Balto, Boris, Muk and Luk leave the town of Nome and they head out into the wilderness to begin their rescue mission for Steele, his team, and the medicine.
Later that night, Jenna stood outside the hospital having been let out. She climbed up at the window on the side of the medical building, watching over Rosy as she coughs and wheezes in her bed. Jenna rests her head on the windowsill and starts to cry softly, feeling sad and helpless. But then, her nose perked up and she caught whiff of something. There were two scents on the windowsill and around her. She recognized them as Devon and Balto's scents. Looking around, she saw their footprints leading away from the hospital and out towards the forests in the distance.
"Balto? Devon?" Jenna says
It was now daytime as Devon, Balto, and their friends were out in the wilderness, following the trail of Steele and his team. Balto goes up to a tree, stands up on his hindlegs, and claws the bark off it with his claws, leaving scratch marks on the tree as to show the way back to Nome when they find the medicine. Devon helps out by hacking at the tree with two heavy swings from Soul Calibur, creating an 'X' shaped mark onto the bark.
"Good, Balto. You and Devon took on the roughest, toughest, meanest tree in the forest and you won." Boris says
"We're marking the trail." Balto says
"That way we can follow it back to Nome once we have the medicine." Devon says
Devon, Balto, and Boris move on while Muk and Luk look at each other.
"They're marking our trail. Very clever." Muk says
Luk goes up to the tree and gives it a lick before joining the others.
"And here I was leaving bread crumbs." Boris says
The group traveled day and night covering many miles on their journey, not stopping for anything. Thanks to his previous adventures in long distance travels, Devon was able to keep up with Balto and his friends in their trek as they trudge through the snow. They passed through the forests of Alaska and even got to see some mountains here and there. The journey was very monotonous as much of the scenery remained the same. Muk and Luk tried to pass through the boredom by playing 'I Spy'.
"I spy with my little eye something beginning with 'S'." Muk says
During the long walk, Devon told Balto and his friends more of his adventures. The worlds he visited like Berk, the Dragon Realms, Narnia, Middle-Earth, The Pridelands, Twilight Town, and Radiant Garden. The friends he made like Luna, Spyro, Cynder, the Viking Teens and their dragons. Even the new ones he met recently like Anakin Skywalker, Obi-wan Kenobi, Master Yoda, and Padme from Distant Galaxy, and Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Alura LightHeart, and Professor Dumbledore from the Wizarding World. He also talked of his epic battles against the Forces of Darkness like the Battle of Warfang, the Battle for Narnia in the Fords of Beruna, the Final Stand at the Black Gate, even the Battle of 1000 Heartless in Radiant Garden. The Heartless, Nobodies, and Dream Eaters he had fought on his journey. The villains he fought against like Malefor, the Witch-King of Agmar, Sephiroth, Organization XIII members like Xigbar, Xaldin, Demyx, Saix, and Xemnas, Darth Maul, and Voldemort. Balto found it all so fascinating. To hear of Devon's adventures was truly inspiring. He was hoping that if they would find the medicine and deliver it to Nome, then maybe he would be just as good a hero like Devon.
At one point on their journey, Devon spoke with Balto about his wolf-dog heritage.
"You know, Balto, I never knew you were wolf-dog hybrid. Would you care to explain that?" Devon asks
"Well... I never really knew much about my parents, only that my father was a dog and my mother was a wolf. I got seperated from my mother when I was but a young pup, but I slightly remember what she looked like. She was white as snow and she had a warm voice that always made me feel safe." Balto says
Devon looked down at Balto with a sympathetic expression. He felt there was some sort of resemblance between them. He then glances down at his Kingdom Hearts necklace and places his right-hand on it as he thought of his mother, Shara.
"I'm sure your mother was exactly the same as mine. Brave, caring, compassionate, and loving. I guess it must've been hard for you when you were growing up, huh, Balto?" Devon says
"Yeah. It was. But lucky for me, that's where Boris came along." Balto says
"That's right. I've helped look after Balto for as long as I remember." Boris says
"Well, it's always good to have friends who'll help be there for you." Devon says
As he said this, Devon thought back on all his friends who had always been there for him. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Luna, Spyro, Cynder, Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, Stormfly, Fishlegs, Meatlug, Snotlout, Hookfang, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Barf and Belch. Thinking of his friends always made Devon smile.
Soon, Balto stops and sniffs around. Devon walks over to the wolf-dog and kneels down to him, placing his left-hand on his back.
"You got something, Balto?" Devon asks
"Yeah. Steele." Balto says
"Then, we're definitely on the right track." Devon says
Muk tries to imitate Balto by sniffing the air. He soon stopped when he sniffed Luk's fur, which caused him to recoil. Boris looks back at the polar bears in annoyance.
"Hey, bears!" Boris calls
Balto claws the bark off another tree with his claws and Devon chops an 'X' on the same tree.
"Come on. Steele and his team passed this way." Balto says
"Boy is he lost." Boris mutters
Elsewhere in the wilderness, Steele and his team were still lost in the blizzard, trudging through the snow. The heavy snow and winds whipped in their faces, making it hard for them to see where they were going.
"Steele! We're going in circles!" Star exclaims
Steele turns around and growls in Star's face with frustration and anger.
"What?!" Steele snarls
"Gaaa-aaah. Circles is a good thing 'cause they're, uh, circular." Star says with a nervous chuckle
"I know what I'm doing!" Steele says
Steele turned around and looked at his surroundings. All around him was nothing but white. Steele was becoming desperate. He glanced left and right trying to find a different direction.
"It's... This way! Come on!" Steele says
Steele dashes forward into the storm, pulling the rest of the dogs with him. The Alaskan Malamute frantically looked left and right as he ran blindly through the blizzard, trying to find the path back to Nome. His musher called out to Steele for him to slow down, but he ignored him as he kept running.
"Whoa! Whoa, Steele!" The musher says
Suddenly, Steele steps on a patch of ice and both he and the team slip and tumble down a very steep slope. All the dogs yelped and screamed as they slid fast and uncontrollably down the slope. The sled bumped from side to side, knocking the musher into rocks. Then, they ran through trees as the low hanging branches hits the musher directly in the face. Soon, they hit the bottom of the slope in a nasty crash, landing in an area along the edge of a cliff. The dogs were thrown in different directions, flipping over and landing flat on their stomachs. The sled slid on it's side and the musher was thrown off, rolling around in the snow until he stops and lands on his stomach, falling instantly unconscious.
Eventually, Steele got up and shook off the snow on his body, groaning and sputtering. Nikki and Kaltag both emerge from two piles of snow.
"Ohh! I hit my head on something." Nikki groans
"Yeah. My head." Kaltag says
The rest of the dogs got up and they turn their attention to their now unconscious musher as he laid unresponsive in the snow.
"Looks like he's hurt bad, Steele." One of the other dogs says
"What are we gonna do now, Steele?" Star asks in stammering voice
Everyone looks back at Steele, expecting an answer from him, but he said nothing as he sat quiet in the snow, shivering and panting with widened eyes and a shocked expression. No one said a word and no one moved. The team all sat silently in the snow. The musher was out cold and Steele was frozen in shock by the consequences of his hasty actions. And now because of him, they were stranded with no way of climbing back up the slope. The light of the gas lamp on the sled became the only source of light as night time began to descend. The light could be seen for miles among the mountains like a tiny twinkling distress beacon. The winds of the storm whistled and howled as the blizzard kept on it's assault.
On a mountain far off from the team, the Dark Echo gazed down at the now helpless dog sled team as they remain stranded in the snow. With the team now lost and stranded, it would be days before the medicine ever reaches Nome. And by then, the ill-stricken children will be dead and their souls will fall to darkness and into the evil wraith's clutches. Soon, the Dark Echo fades away and vanishes with the snowy wind.
Author's Note: Devon and Balto begin their journey together as they embark on a search for Steele and his team, who are now lost and stranded somewhere in the Alaska wilderness. Will they find the medicine in time? Or will it be too late for the children of Nome? What challenges will they face? Let me know what you guys think. No flames please. Hope you guys like and don't forget to review!