During the next several weeks, Qimmia and Balto became very familiar with the town of Nome. Qimmia usually stayed away from that town, though, because of the ongoing racism against her people by the whites; Balto, on the other hand, was always a curious and adventurous animal, as he and Boris regularly visited town to try and interact with the other dogs. But he always got the same answer – getting shunned by everyone, due to him being part wolf. He was also regularly bullied by the racing champion Steele and his three companions – a chubby brown dog called Nikki, a burly blonde husky called Kaltag, and a lanky, accident-prone, periwinkle-gray dog called Star.
One day, in January of 1925, Balto talked Qimmia and Boris into taking him to Nome to watch a dogsled race. "I'll do it today, Balto," Qimmia reluctantly agreed as they left the abandoned ship, "But I have to make sure you and Boris stay out of sight to avoid trouble."
"No problem, Qimmia," Balto grinned, "Boris and I practically know every nook and cranny in Nome. We'll be fine!"
"That's easy for you to say," Boris muttered under his breath.
"What?" Qimmia asked the goose.
"Eh, I said that it'll be easy for you – Balto – to stay out of trouble!" Boris said with a nervous smile.
A few minutes later, Qimmia made out the sight of a crowd of people gathered on the opposite sides of Main Street, ready to see the winning dogsled team. Boris and Balto looked up at Qimmia, and Balto whispered to her, "Boris and I are gonna find a better view."
Qimmia sighed and said, "Very well. But remember – nobody in this town likes to see wild animals running around from what I've experienced!"
"Qimmia, you can count on me to watch over your furry friend!" Boris said to the girl with a salute while Balto walked off. He then turned and saw Balto going up a flight of stairs upon the side a building, and then decided to follow him.
Qimmia just smiled at her friends before she made her way to a crowd of people. "Excuse me," she said as she tried to get a view of Main Street and the finish line, "Pardon me! I just wanna see…"
"What are you doing here, Nate?" a gruff middle-aged man with gray-ish brown hair and blue eyes asked Qimmia, "All Eskimos should watch our dogsled race furthest from the finish line!"
Qimmia frowned and, rather not get into an argument, decided to follow orders and find a place further away.
In the meantime, Balto had made it to a balcony as he saw a flare shoot up in the air, and then the sound of people cheering was heard in town. "It's the three-mile marker!" he said as he brought Boris up to watch with his mouth.
Boris honked before he grumbled, "Get your slobbering mouth off me!"
As Balto released his snow goose friend, he said to him, "Come on, Boris! We can go around the backway and catch the end of the race!"
"No, no, no!" Boris cried out as he stood on the railing and tugged at the wolf-dog's tail, "I'm a delicate country bird! I HATE going into town! Qimmia and I only agreed to take you…"
"Oh, come on!" Balto assured him, "What's the worst that could happen?"
Before Boris could explain, the wolf-dog sprung forward, yanking the goose with him as Boris still held onto Balto's bushy tail. Boris went up into the air until he landed into a pair of pants that was hanging on a clothesline. Balto then used Boris and the pants as a zipline to ride the clothesline and get to the roof on the other side. Once they reached that roof, Boris came out of the pants and wearily asked the wolfdog while climbing to the top of the roof, "Why do you always talk me and Qimmia into these things?"
Just then, Boris slid down the opposite side of the roof, and then landed on a mounted moose head!
Boris wiped some sweat from his forehead as he let out a sigh of relief. But then, a hand stuck out of a window and snatched him! Boris was brought into the butcher's shop as the man slammed him onto a cutting board, and then plucked out some of his tail feathers. Boris angrily got up and put his tail feathers back into his rear, and he was about to tell the man off when the butcher suddenly took out a cleaver and held it up! Boris shuddered in fear and tried to run away, but the butcher blocked him with his cleaver, grabbed the goose by his legs, and held him down on the cutting board. Boris screamed a horrific scream as his fate was cast above him…
And then a familiar wolf-dog grabbed the goose away just in time!
As Balto and Boris escaped the shop, the butcher was heard cursing at the wolf-dog, "Bring that back, you thief!"
Balto still carried Boris in his jaws as he looked over and saw a dogsled team off in the distance. "Uh, now, can you put me down now?" Boris asked inside Balto's jaws, "Mr. Golden Goose Retriever?"
"Whatever you say, Boris!" Balto chuckled as he released Boris from his mouth.
As the two of them climbed up a different building roof, Boris remarked to Balto, "Every time there's a race, you run around like you're in it! You know how Qimmia disapproves – she's only letting you act as her pet to avoid getting in trouble!"
"Well, maybe one day, I will be in the race!" Balto said with a hopeful smile as he slid down a side of the roof before jumping over to a pipe, "Qimmia just needs to fit in with other animals of her kind. Birds of a feather flock together, you know! And then, once she and I fit in and get to know everyone, hopefully, they'll see us as we really are, and that we mean no harm!"
"Here, boy!" Boris called to him as he also slid down the roof, "Boris Goosenov is no spring chicken!" He fell through an open window before he exited out through another window and landed in a pile of snow. More snow dumped on him as he got up and muttered, "I'm no spring penguin, either!" As he tried flying out from the snowdrift, he cradled his wings together and shivered, "Oh, it's cold!" But realizing that he wasn't flying, Boris fell down from the sky; luckily, Balto caught him just as the wolf-dog was balancing atop a pole. Balto and Boris moved with the tilting pole before they went through an open window of a building.
Meanwhile, Qimmia was over by an alley, watching the sky as another flare went up, and a voice in the crowd cried out, "Look! The two-mile marker!"
Reminds me of a whale spouting fire, Qimmia thought to herself. Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw two of her familiar animal friends exiting a part of a building. "Balto! Boris!" she called over to them with a wave.
Balto saw Qimmia – and the two-mile flare – and he said to Boris as the snow goose climbed onto his back, "Come on! Qimmia's waving! We don't wanna miss the finish!"
"Oh, that would be a tragedy!" Boris stated as Balto ran off, leaving him behind in a pile of snow. "I was being sarcastic," Boris muttered under the snow.
Balto reached Qimmia, and the girl said to him, "There you are! What were you and Boris doing?"
Balto sheepishly grinned and said, "Well, let's just say that Boris and I were 'dropping in' a couple of times to find a good place to watch the race." He chuckled a little at his pun.
Qimmia just rolled her eyes with annoyance and gently scolded her wolf-dog friend, "Balto! I really wish you'd be more careful. This is a precarious place for outcasts like us!"
"Sorry, Qimmia," Balto said with an apologetic tone.
Qimmia smiled at him and said, "Well, let's just watch for what we came here for!"
So, the two of them turned around and watched the street, waiting for the winning team to arrive.