The Winds Of Change
Chapter 8: The Race To Fairbanks
"Here's your mail, Mr. Harris." Mr. Roberts said as he handed a mail bag to Harris who loaded it onto the sled.
"And good luck to you and your dogs, you're going to need it." He added.
"Thanks Mr. Roberts." Harris said.
Roberts then turned to the crowd.
"Attention! Attention everyone! The sled team and the Stearman 4 have received their mail bags, and the race will begin shortly. The winner will be the first one to deliver the mail safely to the town of Fairbanks and returns to Anchorage with the new bag of mail." he explained.
The crowd then applauded and cheered.
"All right, everybody..."
"On your mark..."
Togo's heart began to race as he and the sled dogs got in their running positions, while Buck climbed to his cockpit and put his helmet on.
"Get set..."
Togo inhale and exhaled deeply.
Here we go... He thought.
Roberts then pulled out a pistol and fired it into the air. The sled team immediately took off running as fast as their paws could carry them.
Buck put his flying goggles and he fasted his seatbelt, and then turned the key to start his plane...nothing. He turned the key again...nothing.
"Come on old girl don't quit on me now!" Buck muttered to himself in frustration.
After twelve futile attempts Buck turned the key really hard and The Northern Flyer's engine sputtered as its engine roared to life. The plane began to slowly move, and began to pick up speed.
Once it was moving fast enough, Buck pulled back on the throttle and The Northern Flyer's wheels left the ground as it began to take off. A few seconds later The Northern Flyer was soaring through the air like an eagle.
It didn't take long for the plane to catch up to the sled team due to how fast it was.
"Hey that's cheating, the race just started!" Herby shouted angrily.
"Ow, ow, ow my toenail is killing me!" Mac cried dramatically from behind.
"We gotta slow down!" He added.
"Oh heck no! We need to keep up the pace if we're going to catch up with the Stearman!" Dani shouted to him.
"That's IF we can catch up with the Stearman!" Herby corrected her watching the Stearman soar through the sky.
Togo turned and glared at Herby.
"Nevermind..." He said.
Two days later...
It had been two days since the race to Fairbanks had started, and the Stearman had been holding a strong lead the whole time. It was at the point where Togo started to fear that the Stearman winning was inevitable.
At random times Buck would do flybys or do midair hotshot moves like wheel barrels, or radial G turns. Togo and the sled team were impressed by how well Buck could fly his plane without crashing, especially Mr. Harris. After all Buck had been delivering for the United States Mail Service since 1925, so he was pretty experienced when it came to aviation.
At one point while running Mac tripped and nearly fell.
"AGH! Herby you're pulling me again!" He shouted.
"ME!? Why do you always have to blame everything on me!?" Herby shouted back to him.
"Keep it together boys!" Togo shouted to them.
"You got it Togo!" Herby shouted to him.
"All right everybody! Move those paws!" Togo ordered.
"Come on guys!" Kobi said.
After running up a hill Togo and the teamed spotted a town on the horizon (Fairbanks).
"There it is, Fairbanks is straight ahead!" Togo shouted.
Just as Togo said that the Stearman flew directly over them and continued its way to Fairbanks.
"Oh no!" Togo cried.
"I don't believe it..." Kobi said.
"How'd he do that!?" Herby asked.
"What are going to do now!?" Dani cried dramatically.
"Hey, the race is only half over, we still have a chance to win!" Togo shouted to them.
"Don't give up now!" He added.
Buck slowed the engine of The Northern Flyer down as it made its final landing approach, once it was on the ground and stopped. Buck turned the engine off, he unfastened his seatbelt, jumped out of the cockpit, made his way to the front and opened the cargo hatch. Buck grabbed the mailbag he had delivered from Anchorage and set it on the ground and was startled to hear a...honk originate from it. Buck looked at the bag he had set on the ground and curiously picked it up and shook it, nothing.
"Heh, must have been a toy or something." Buck said to himself.
Just then a man approached Buck with a bag of mail.
"Here's the batch for the return trip, Buck." He said.
Buck smiled and took the bag from him.
"Thank you sir and here's your mail sir." Buck said as he handed his bag of mail to the mailman.
"Your welcome, Buck safe travels now." The mailman said.
Buck then took the bag the man back to his plane and placed it in the cargo hold. Buck was about to close the cargo hatch when he noticed something on the wing of his plane. When he observed it closer he realized that it was frost.
"Of course..." He said to himself.
Meanwhile as the mailman was walking away with the bag of mail when Noris's head popped out from the bag, Noris grunted as he squirmed his way out of the bag. When Noris finally got himself out of the bag he observed his surroundings and realized that he was no longer in Anchorage.
"Where the bloody 'eck am I?" the British goose asked himself.
Meanwhile Buck, who was scrapping the frost off of the wings of his plane paused when he heard the sound of barking. He looked up and smiled to see Harris and sled team approaching Buck waved to Harris who waved back.
The sled team skidded to halt and Harris quickly grabbed the bag of mail and sprinted to the post office.
Meanwhile Noris's jaw dropped when he read a sign that read:
"Welcome to Fairbanks (est. 1903)"
"Fairbanks!? How the blooming heck did I get here!?" Noris asked himself.
Noris turned when he heard:
"Okay guys, ya'll ready for the return trip?" followed by barks of excitement.
Noris turned to see Togo, Kobi, Herby, Dani, and Mac getting ready to run.
"Togo?" Noris asked himself
"Hike!" Harris said to his dogs and they took off running.
"TOGO! WAIT COME BACK DON'T LEAVE ME HERE LAD!" Noris cried.
Noris tried to run after them but it was too late the sled team had departed back for Anchorage.
"Oh, what's the use? I'm gonna be spending the rest of my days here in Fairbanks!" Noris cried dramatically.
Noris slowly started to walk away but paused when his eyes landed on The Northern Flyer and its still opened cargo hatch.
Noris then came up with an idea.
A/N: "WhErE's ThE WiNds oF cHaNgE?!" "He'S PrObAbLy CaNcElLeD iT!" "It'S BeEn oVeR a YeAr! UpDaTe NoW oR I'Ll UnFoLlOw!"
Yeaaahhh, I have some explaining to do. Okay some of you may know that I said in a journal on my DeviantArt that I was canceling "The Winds of Change" due to the fact that its just Balto 3 retold but with different characters, in a different setting, and some dialogue changes. But however the demand for it's revival was COMPLETELY persistent and I just couldn't ignore the demand for it anymore so I finally decided to revive the whole project and finish the whole thing, but aside from that I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thank you everyone for being patient and for the amazing support it means a lot, and I'll see you in the next chapter.
-Drew.