Kingdom Hearts: Light Of Nome

Chapter 4: The Journey Begins

Balto had felt terrible for what he had done that day,in his heart he knew he had hatred for Steele and the other dogs aside from Jenna. But in the back of his mind he knew that he shouldn't have given into his darkness,after seeing that he hurt Jenna and to a lesser extent Sora,he ran away to be by himself. Even Nikki,Kaltag,and Star felt a little bad for what they caused but not by much,Star simply bopped himself on the head while Nikki and Kaltag tried to pin the blame on eachother.

Sora,Donald,Goofy,Borris,and Jenna were searching for Balto but he was nowhere to be found not even at the boat.

"Balto where are you!" Sora shouted while Borris was trying to lure him out with dog treats he stole from a shop. Donald was using a flare spell to try and get his attention and Jenna was shouting his name along with Sora. Meanwhile in a little patch of woods away from the town Balto had climbed up into a tree so no one could find him aside from a few squirrels that inhabited the tree. It also provided a nice view of the town and frozen wasteland,but all it served as was a reminder that he could not find any place that would accept him. Out on the tundra he could faintly see the group supposedly looking for him,but he simply said to himself "Sora,Jenna,Borris. A monster like me doesn't deserve good friends like you. I'm Sorry."

Eventually they stopped their search as they had gotten tired,hungry,and the sun was starting to set. They went back to the town to watch the dogs take off as they lit a signal light for when the dogs would arrive back. They all got into the crowd to get a good view and the sight of Steele acting all proud and heroic made Sora gag. Meanwhile Rosie and her parents were looking out a window with worried yet hopeful faces. This was a huge gamble for the town that would entirely determine the kid's fate. Soon the dogs bolted off at a incredible speed as Balto could see them from the tree he was in thanks to the signal light,he simply sighed and jumped down to find something to eat. Even as a wolf-dog he couldn't hunt as good as a wolf and he knew he had to find some food,he took a look towards the town and decided to hopefully find something there.

Once the crowd died down when the dogs left,Sora turned to a worried Jenna as she was having thoughts about Balto and Rosie. He took this opportunity to try and cheer her up and assure her about Balto's good nature.

"Jenna,Balto is not that monster he turned into. There's a lot more to him than what that town thinks. Don't you agree?"

"Sora,Balto is one of the sweetest dogs I've ever met. Back there in the boiler room,I saw a side of him that they all refuse to see. He may be a half breed,but that's ok with me."

Jenna started to tear up as she whimpered "I just want Rosie to be safe,I don't trust that ego mutt Steele with the medicine."

Sora hearing this decided to have a group discussion with Donald and Goofy as they were watching their conversation. They huddled together and Sora whispered "I don't trust Steele and those dogs to keep the medicine safe either. Why don't we go get it ourselves?"

"I don't know Sora,if Steele sees that we saved the town who knows what he will do." Goofy replied while Donald nodded his head in agreement.

"Come on,that mutt cares far more about showing off to Jenna than saving the town. Plus we're junior heroes and maybe this will get Phil off his high horse." Donald and Goofy reluctantly agreed as Sora concluded "It's settled,we leave at dawn." and they exclaimed all at once "All for one and one for all."

Sora approached Jenna and announced "We've decided to handle this ourselves. Steele's not heroic enough to be a rescue dog."

"Thank you Sora,Donald,Goofy." Jenna replied gratefully but Sora muttered "I just wish Balto would go with us. We were gonna go together to prove himself to the town…..but anyway all that matters is saving those kids." Sora waved goodbye to Jenna and Borris as the three decided to go ahead and get some sleep. They had a very big journey ahead of them. Sora thought to himself "I don't wanna sleep in this town,but the boat is too far away." He glanced at the boiler room and told Donald and Goofy "Hey,we can sleep in the boiler room. It's warm in there and I don't think anyone would bother us." Donald and Goofy agreed as they proceeded to get a good night's sleep.

Meanwhile Steele's gang was making good progress,non stop running in the dead of a freezing night. Soon they made it to the pick up point for the medicine and as fast as they arrived,they proceeded to head back to the town,but unfortunately things were starting to go very wrong. Not only was more and more snow starting to fall,but it was the omen of a great blizzard and it beat the group hard as they slowly trudged through the snow. Steele was getting more and more determined to keep going but the other dogs were having second thoughts.

"Steele! Maybe we should go back! We're lost!" Star suggested to which Steele snarled back "I am not lost!". Star got very scared as to what an angry beast like Steele could do to him and he reluctantly pushed on.

"Lost? Heh-heh. Did I say lost? You didn't let me finish I wanted to say-" he stammered frantically but before he could finish Steele shouted "This way!" as he pulled the team forward.

Back in the town the news of the team's situation had made it back to the other dogs to their shock and horror.

"It's terrible my friends. Just terrible. Steele and his team are lost." One of them announced to a group of dogs in the boiler room as they gasped in shock. Sora,Donald,and Goofy were fast asleep but out of view of the dogs,however their discussion about Steele woke up Sora as he decided to eavesdrop. Balto meanwhile had made it back to the town as he tried to scavenge for some food but to no avail. Once he heard the discussion from the boiler room he too decided to eavesdrop on them through a window,he at least wanted to know how they were doing.

"They've missed their second checkpoint. I knew it,they're off the trail."

"Can't they send another team?" another dog asked to which the dog replied "It's too dangerous for us and our men."

"What about them little ones?"

"The medicine won't be here in time….we're going to lose them." Sora and Balto gasped when they heard this,Sora was right that Steele would find some way to screw it up. Balto hearing this whispered to himself "Rosie." he knew he had to go out and find Steele,his crew and the medicine.

"Donald,Goofy. Change of plans,we have to go now." Sora whispered as he woke up Donald and Goofy."

"Morning already?" Donald asked to which Sora replied "No,Steele's messed up like I thought it he would. We have to leave now if we are going to save those kids."

"Are you sure there isn't anyone who can help?" the dog asked to which Sora replied out loud "Yes there is." as he appeared from their sleeping spot.

"My name's Sora,this is Donald and Goofy. We're going to go out there and bring that medicine back."

"But how can do you expect to do that,Steele and his team are lost and the kids have less and less time left."

"We'll find a way. I promise. Let's go." Sora reassured the dogs as the three bolted out of the boiler room. They headed towards the starting line where the dogs took off and thankfully the snow hadn't completely covered their tracks. Sora took one last look at the hospital and said to himself "Don't worry everyone. We'll be back. And we'll make sure this doesn't happen again." as he was reminded of Saix and how he was the cause of this.

Meanwhile things were not looking good for Rosie,she was in bed at the hospital as they let Jenna in to see her. She slowly walked up to Rosie as she woke up,but before she could get some time with Jenna she fell back asleep due to the sickness. Balto was watching from the window and left to see how the humans were doing. He took a look inside the carpenter's shop and was shocked to see that they had already built coffins as all hope had been lost for them. It was settled,Balto immediately proceeded to go after the medicine unaware that Sora,Donald,and Goofy were already ahead of them. Unfortunately the gummi ship was out of the question since the blizzard had completely covered it in snow and they couldn't be bothered to remember where it was,so they had to take it on foot. The three trudged through the frozen wasteland that seemed to go on forever but Sora was not stopping despite his feet feeling like they were about to fall off.

"Come on guys,we have to keep going." Sora said in a determined tone but Donald and Goofy were slowing down. Sora got an idea to cast fire and use his keyblade as a torch and he told Donald to do the same thing to his staff. It made the hike more bearable and it certainly prevented them from freezing to death.

"Do you think the medicine will save those kiddies?" Goofy asked which was a valid question since the sickness was caused by the seeds of darkness Saix planted. Sora stopped for second and thought about it for a minute. The people didn't even know what it exactly was and the medicine was just a last resort,so it wasn't exactly guaranteed that this would help. These thoughts started to creep in his mind but he brushed them off and replied "I don't know,but anything that can help is worth the trouble."

Back in Nome Balto was heading out while Borris was trying to convince him to stay.

"Balto,please. Don't go crazy on me now. This is foolishness you will die like a dog! Oh,uh,no offense." Borris insisted but Balto didn't even bat an eye and continued onward. Out in the distance on the boat Muk and Luk were overhearing their talk and decided to tag along without any hesitation.

"You will be frozen stiff by morning! When you are big frozen-stiff statue named Balto,don't come running to me!" Borris threatened before Muk and Luk came sliding on some ice and tackled him. Once they got up Muk asked "Luk says "Where is he going?" "

"He's going into the freezing coldness to find a dog he doesn't like to bring medicine back to a town that doesn't like him. And who knows where those clownish friends of his are? Oh no! I'm beginning to understand the bear!"

Balto realizing that Borris needed some convincing to come along with him,picked him up by the mouth and brought him to the hospital window where they could see the bedroom lined up with sick kids. Once Borris saw how much pain Rosie was going through he said "So let's go get the medicine."

"Wait a minute. Now you're coming?"

"Spending days in bitter cold,facing wild animals,risking death from exposure,is like a holiday in old country." Borris joked as the group finally took off. Back at the hospital Jenna was looking at Rosie through the window and started to cry softly as she lay her head on the window still. However her nose perked up once she caught a familiar scent,she sniffed it some more and turned around to see some tracks leading out of town. It was Balto's team's tracks and she questioned "Balto?"

"Balto's…..going for the medicine? Sora has to know this." She thought to herself as she scurried around the town looking for Sora but to no avail. Once she reached the starting line where the dogs took off,she stared at the ground to find Sora,Donald's and Goofy's footprints. Realizing that they all had gone out to find the medicine,she bolted off too.

They all continued their journey each with different means of approaching things. Balto was marking trees so they could find their way back,Sora was dragging the keyblade in the snow so it could resemble a road,and Jenna was following Balto's path. It was a very monotonous trudge as the scenery never changed and the attempts to play games like I Spy didn't help as there was nothing to "spy". It was nonstop walking for what felt like days but Balto and Sora's group managed to reach the forests of Alaska to their relief. Sora climbed on top of the trees hoping to see the medicine from there but to no avail,and Balto wasn't too far behind due to their increased speed as four legged animals. Soon Balto started to sniff the air to maybe get a whiff of Steele's scent to which Muk and Luk tried to imitate to Borris's annoyance.

"Come on,Steele and his team passed this way." Balto said while Borris muttered "Boy is he lost." As Balto was continuing to mark trees,he suddenly caught multiple familiar scents. It wasn't Steele's but it was strangely familiar. He continued to sniff the air until he perked up "What's Sora doing out here?!"

Borris asked " Yes,what would he be doing out here? He's probably drinking hot coca by the fire." Balto thought for a moment until he remembered their talk the night before the race.

"He said he wanted to come with me to get the medicine assuming I won,maybe he's gone out to get it himself." Balto sniffed the air some more until he yelled "He's not too far ahead,let's go!" as they followed their scents.

Meanwhile Steele's gang was still hopelessly lost as the blizzard continued to beat them down as Star yelled "STEELE! WE'RE GOING IN CIRCLES" to which Steele snarled back "WHAT?!"

"Circles is a good thing. I mean uh,they're circular." Star nervously stammered as Steele was obviously getting more frustrated and angry.

"I know what I'm doing! It's-it's….this way! Come on!" Steele shouted as he pulled the team forward once again but as they were dashing through the snow,a giant heartless soon appeared inches away from Steele's face and in a flash made a sharp turn to avoid it. However the turn led them directly down a downward slope that was way too steep for him to control as they slid down at a incredible speed,the musher was getting beat up badly due to the rocks and tree branches they hit,and once they reached the ground they were all thrown off of the sled and to make things worse,the musher was knocked out. They were stranded with no way home. The dogs started to get out of the snow as Nikki complained "Ohh I hit my head on something." to which Kaltag replied "Yeah my head." They walked towards the musher and they knew he was not fit to drive as they broke the news to Steele.

"Looks like he's hurt bad Steele."

"What are we gonna do now Steele?"

Steele merely kept quiet and for the first time in his life,he showed genuine fear and didn't know what to do.

Out in the distance on a mountain top,the heartless reappeared but this time by Saix. For he had summoned the heartless and had deliberately crippled them. He said to himself in a ghostly deep voice "Your determination is impressive. All the pieces are in place." Soon Xemnas appeared beside him "Lord Xemnas everything is going according to plan. Once that wolf dog appears,he will be pushed so hard to the point of once again giving in to the darkness,but this time he will not return."

"Good. Sora is on his way as well. Pretty soon they will have their reunion,and Sora will have no choice but to defeat the half-breed. It's all he ever does."

End Of Chapter 4