Kingdom Hearts: Light Of Nome
Chapter 7: A Wolf's Journey
Their main quest that Sora and Balto started so long ago was now in the endgame,they had found the medicine and now that Steele was out of the way due to his ego trip,all they seemingly had to do was brave a terrible blizzard and make it home before the worst could happen.
Balto and his team seemed to be making decent progress thanks to Balto's markings and Sora wasn't too far behind them,but their increased speed as 4 legged animals made it increasingly hard for Sora to fully catch up,even to the point where he had to use quick run and the increased speed of Valor form nonstop which became tiring quickly,not to mention the lack of drive orbs in the area.
However Sora's progress would be brought to a screeching halt when he came across Steele's distraction of making a bunch of misleading marks in the trees,and to make things even worse,because of this Sora and Balto were now in entirely different areas of the forest as opposed to one just being further ahead.
Sora instantly stopped in his tracks to observe his surroundings and it didn't take very long for him to realize that it was Steele's doing as he angrily stated "Ugh,what is wrong with you Steele?! I gotta find a way out of here."
He started to quickly turn around in the hopes of seeing a hint of light from the medicine sled,but unfortunately there was no sight of it due to the snow and setting sun. However Sora did have a light bulb go off in his head when he looked up to the trees and realized "Hey,if I can climb up the trees,I can possibly spot Balto!"
He used aerial dodge and jumped highly into the branches of the tallest tree in the patch of woods he was in,and once he reached the tallest point he could possibly go,he was hypnotized by the sheer amount of trees and mountains stretching as far as the eye could see,but he quickly brushed it aside and tried to spot Balto.
Sora squinted his eyes and tried his hardest to make out a hint of light,but it was no use because of the thick snow storm until he got the idea to cast a giant fire spell that incinerated some of the snow which finally allowed him to spot Balto's sled in the north. He smiled and gave a sigh of relief as he said to himself "Balto,I'm on my way."
He jumped off the tree and jumped to the tops of the other trees one by one as that would be the quickest way to reach Balto while Balto and his team continued through the snow until they came across Steele's distraction. Balto stopped in his tracks and gasped in a panic "Oh no." as he saw all of Steele's markings in the trees,not to mention the fact that they were now at a fork in the road.
"Which way Balto,which way? Which way?" Star asked frantically from behind Balto to which he nervously stammered "Uh,this way." before he pulled them in the direction of the left road. As they ran through the freezing cold snow and forest,Balto soon stopped abruptly at the sight of another series of markings by Steele,which caused all the other dogs to be sandwiched into each other violently.
"Balto,why are you taking us in circles?" Kaltag asked in a semi frustrated voice to which Balto instantly shot back "I'm not! I mean,I don't know. Of course,it's Steele,what if Sora can't figure his way out either?"
"You hear this? Even the spikey haired kid could be lost,maybe we was better off with Steele there." Nikki remarked admits being sandwiched in between Star and Kaltag before Balto yelled sternly "No! Come on mush!" and started to run off again,but this time at an even greater speed than before. It was getting to the point where the other dogs were having trouble catching up to him as Star nervously pleaded "Balto,slow down!" but the wolf dog kept on going.
Balto was getting more and more nervous by the second and started to increase his speed ever so slightly,and seeing Steele's markings were even causing him to panic to which Nikki remarked "Hey,you're going too fast!"
Apparently Balto was going so fast that he would soon exit the patch of woods to be met with the edge of a hill that led to a gorge,Balto tried to stop but his speed combined with the steepness of the hill caused him along with the other dogs to slide down it at a incredible velocity. However just at the nick of time,Balto managed to keep them from falling off the cliff to the relief of the other dogs,but that relief wouldn't last for long as the box of medicine looked like it was about to fall off the sled as Nikki yelled "Look out!"
Balto took immediate defensive action and jumped down to where the medicine was and grabbed one of the straps with his teeth,just barely keeping it off the hill as Star yelled happily "All right! Good catch Balto!"
"There you are,are you guys okay?!" The dogs suddenly heard the voice of Sora call out to them as the team of dogs turned around to see Sora standing at the top of the hill. He went out of valor form and quickly told them of Steele's plan "Steele has been marking the trees one by one,we could be completely lost." to which Kaltag retorted "We noticed Einstein."
"Well I'm just looking out for the team!" Sora angrily retorted before the snow beneath Balto's feet started to crumble and cause him to start to fall off the cliff with the medicine,the other dogs started to panic and Sora yelled "Hold on Balto! I'm coming!"
Sora jumped down the hill and quickly grabbed Balto by the tail,but that wasn't enough to hold them and the medicine up and Sora came tumbling down with Balto before their world and vision faded to black.
Back in Nome,Donald,Goofy,Borris,Muk,and Luk were eavesdropping on the other dogs,who were having a discussion in the boiler room about the sled team's predicament.
Jenna,who was present with the dogs and was covering up in a blanket,was listening to one of the dog's concerns as he stated "I don't get it,how could Balto and Sora hope to find Steele and his team? They were off the trail!" to which Jenna tried to shed some positivity "Well they,they're tracking them."
"That mutt and spiky haired doofus? Tracking a championship team in a blizzard?!" Another one of the dogs made fun of Balto and Sora before he and the other dogs burst out into mocking laughter,while Jenna got an annoyed and angry look in her face.
The dog's hysterical laughter would be cut off however when the door to the boiler room slammed open,letting in a whole lot of wind and snow as Jenna perked up excitingly "Balto? Sora?"
However her enthusiasm would vanish in an instant when she and the other dogs realized that it was only Steele,who was covered in a thick layer of ice as they with the exception of Jenna greeted him with relief.
"Steele!"
"You're alive!"
"You're back!"
"Where ya been,are you okay?"
One of the dogs rolled Steele a bone to which he instantly jumped at it and started to chew at it,but not before one of the dogs asked out of surpise of seeing Steele's state "What happened to you?" and Steele made up a lie in a very heartfelt and depressed voice.
"Well,one by one they fell,frozen,barely alive." Steele started his blatant lie before he headed to the fire and shook off all of the ice as he continued "I pulled four onto the sled,three more on my back! And uh….I walked,and I walked,but i-it was just-it was too late. Ohh,they were-"
"What about the medicine?" One of the dogs interrupted Steele's melodrama to which he got slighty more nervous yet continued "Well,uh,I-I went on,d-dragging the medicine,alone,all -and then suddenly….that wolf dog and boy with the key appeared. Balto and Sora,th-they demanded I let them take the medicine. You know they,they just wanted so much to be heroes in your eyes,and th-they grabbed the crate,but they couldn't handle it. Th-they couldn't see the patch of ice-the snow,the wind and-and then the log and the cliff-well they,they just didn't have a ch-they just-I'm sorry."
Steele started to cry fake tears as the other dogs were clearly starting to fall for his lie while he continued "And then-" before he pulled out Balto's bandana that Jenna gave him as she gasped "My bandana."
Steele walked towards Jenna as she started to breath heavily and cry as Steele dropped the bandana in front of her and concluded "They…..made me promise to take care of you,Jenna." However Jenna's grief wouldn't last for long as she soon started to suspect that something was amiss,she started at the floor and at Kairi's good luck charm that Sora gave her and raised her head and got a disapproving scowl as she replied "You're lying."
The dogs started to gasp out of horror and disbelief as Steele started to show a hint of nervousness in his eyes and Jenna continued "Steele's lying. Balto and Sora are alive,and they're coming home." before she picked up the good luck charm and dashed out of the boiler room.
The other dogs started to question what was up with Jenna as Steele quickly made up another lie "Well,you know,she needs a little time. The loss of someone close to you can do that to someone. Poor thing."
Meanwhile Rosie's parents were at the hospital and grieving over the possible impending death of her,as slight fragments of darkness started to flow out of her mouth along with the other kids in the hospital. Rosie was as cold as the coldest ice and snow,and the darkness that was flowing from her and the kids made the already freezing hospital even colder with an unnerving and unsettling chill.
While the residents were starting to turn off their house lights for the night,Jenna could be seen hauling up a lit lantern up a hill,along with a mysterious pile of colored glass shards. She started to spread the glass shards very specifically and carefully,but once they were in the right position,she let the lantern shine on them causing them to emit a ginormous and beautiful arrangement of light and colors that resembled the northern lights. She gave off a sigh of relief and turned out to the horizon as she whispered "Balto,Sora,please hurry."
Speaking of the other two,Balto and Sora were buried under a large amount of snow due to their fall off the cliff,however Balto managed to slowly dig his way out of the snow. He saw Sora's hand sticking out of the snow a few feet away from him and dragged him out of the snow as he tried to wake him up "Sora? Sora! You gotta get up,Sora!" but to no avail. Sora was freezing cold and he seemed to show no signs of breathing as Balto started to breath heavily out of sadness and lay his head on Sora's body.
"Rosie. Sora." Balto whispered to himself in shame and defeat as he started to sniffle and cry silently,he started to think it was time for him to accept his fate and give into the unbearable cold until he noticed a pair of white paws standing in front of him. He lifted his head and eyes to be greeted by a white wolf with orange eyes seemingly blending in with the snow,the wolf lifted its head up high and howled loudly as Balto showed a small hint of fear at the wolf's presence.
Balto turned his head away from the wolf in utter defeat as the wolf started to slowly walk away from him and vanish into the snow,but Balto would soon find a sight he didn't expect to see,it was the medicine box sitting alone in the snow beneath the cliff unharmed. Balto took a look at the cliff side and when he realized that he could carry the medicine up the mountain,he instantly knew what he had to do as the encouraging words of Borris echoed in his head "Let me tell you something you two. A dog and a boy cannot make this journey alone,but maybe a wolf and a man...can."
Balto got a determined look in his face and turned around as he started to stand up from the snow proudly as he told the unconscious Sora "Sora,I'll finish this for you." and put his paw in one of the wolf's still visible paw prints. Balto finally accepted his heritage as a halfbreed with pride as he lifted his head up and let out a loud and proud wolf howl. The white wolf appeared once again in the snow and walked towards Balto as it joined in on his howling.
The other dogs,who were sitting on top of the cliff in defeat and shivering due to the cold,perked up in fear when they heard the distant howling of wolves as Nikki remarked nonchalantly "Things are not bad enough,now we got wolves."
"Wolves!" The other dogs shouted as they huddled up to each other in fear while Nikki walked over to the cliff and exclaimed "Hey over here!"
The other dogs headed over to the edge of the cliff and were shocked by what they saw,Balto was seen carrying up the crate of medicine all by himself as Nikki remarked "Balto? And he's got the medicine!" to which Star asked slightly more nervous "Wait a minute,where's Sora?"
"Come on Balto,youse can make it." Nikki yelled from atop the cliff as Nikki quickly complimented Balto's actions "That's the most amazing,fantastic,incredible-that's the most phenomenal-I-I never-"
"That's good!" Star interrupted Nikki's excited babbling before Nikki had enough and sat on Star's head,while Balto continued to climb up the mountain. The dogs continued to shout worrs of sheer encouragement as Balto continued to climb up the mountain,it was a hard and grueling experience for Balto,but he soon managed to make it to the top of the mountain as the dogs relieved him of the medicine.
"Yeah! You did it!"
"Congratulations! That was great! I couldn't have done that!" Nikki and Star exclaimed ecstatically while the other dogs loaded the medicine onto the sled,but Nikki was more confused by Sora's absence and asked "Hey Balto,where's Sora?"
Balto's happy and heroic smile turned to a saddened frown as he merely hung his head and didn't say a word. That was more than a dead giveaway to the dogs and the smiles of Star and Nikki went away as they hung their heads in sadness,despite them not knowing Sora for that long and giving him a really hard time when they first met.
The other dogs sat in silence for a few more moments before Balto stood up from the snow and stated more proudly "Sora wouldn't want us to sit around and let these kids die. He's been one of my closest friends since the past few days,and I will make sure this medicine gets to those kids if it's the last thing I do! Lets go!"
"Yeah!"The other dogs shouted and cheered in unison before they hooked themselves up to the sled and dashed off to the town as fast as they could,but little did they know that a slight hint of consciousness and life was still within Sora.
Sora found himself in the middle of a dark void,it wasn't the realm of darkness or the endless abyss,but he did feel a sense of dread and fear overcome him,until he heard what sounded like the very faint and muffled voice of Roxas call his name,despite Roxas not being present in the void.
"Who's there?" Sora asked out of confusion and eagerness to see who it was,but there was no response to be heard or found.