Win, Lose, or Draw

Alaskan Wilderness, 11:30 pm;

"That!" said Balto, getting the sled harness back on.

"I've got an idea, we need to put some distance between us and that monster." said Tina, she put on her harness and dashed with Balto deeper into the canyon, the others falling shortly behind..

Steele groggily woke up. "Alright, now I know how he felt." said Steele. He feels something big land in the snow in front of him.

The group reached the end of the canyon. "Alright, this will have to do, Jenna get those set up, there's a lantern on the sled, its lit use that." said Tina, she turned to Boris and the polar bears. "You three just hide, we can beat this thing and at the moment it has no reason to try to kill you." The three obey and hide behind a snow bank.

Steele is thrown into the clearing, rolling several times before coming to a stop. He coughs and hacks, some of his ribs shattered. The Outsider walks into the clearing, walking on all fours, its snout had lengthened to a more dog-like appearance and dog-like ears now adorned its head. "Tina, explain." said Balto, surprised by the change in the creature's appearance, as was Jenna.

"Well it considered you a worthy opponent so it most of evolved to be more like a dog." said Tina, reasonably shocked.

"Great, it got more powerful."

"I know!"

The Outsider picked Steele up with its tail and stood up to its full height. It extended it claws in front of its face. "Drop him! He might be a complete moron but he still doesn't deserve this!" yelled Balto.

The Outsider looked at him then back at Steele. It retracted its claws. "You…disappoint…me…" it said. It took Steele's front leg and slowly bent it, causing Steele to scream in pain until a loud snap was heard. Steele lost consciousness from pain. The Outsider snapped its head to the side after releasing its grip on Steele's leg. Its tail snapped sideways and toss Steele easily. It turned back to the group, all of whom were a little shocked by what it just did. It looked up at the canyon wall behind it. It leapt up and slammed its hands into the top, causing another avalanche that sealed off the section of canyon they were in. "No…way…out…but…through…me…" it said.

"You heard it, the only way out is to stop it." said Jenna, still shocked that it had broken Steele's leg like a twig.

"No matter what happens guys, we can't let this thing out of this canyon, win, lose, or draw, we've got to take it down for good." said Tina, Balto and Jenna nodded.

"I'll set up the Northern Lights." said Jenna, she rushed off to were she left the bag to find that it had been buried under a layer of snow, she couldn't find it. She quickly started digging.

The Outsider charged at Tina and Balto on all fours. It leapt at them, claws extended. They jump to the side and its claws drive into the frozen earth. It quickly retracts them and turns. It charges again, for the first time trying to bite them with its razor sharp teeth. The avoid and it gets a mouth full of snow. "Its acting more like a dog now too." said Balto.

The Outsider spits out the cold snow and charges again, moving much faster on all fours but still not as fast as they were, dodging its bite once more. It brings its hands up and hits both at once, sending them rolling across the ground. "Its getting smarter, not good." said Tina.

Jenna gasped as she looked desperately for bag. She began to lose hope until she saw the Outsider land a hit. She calmed down and sniff around for her own scent. She quickly found the bag and ran back to the sled. She saw the Outsider prepare its blades to drive into Tina. She quickly pressed her nose against a button on the machine Tina had made, guessing which on it was. A noise like thunder started sounding. The Outsider looked up and quickly retracted its blades. Jenna smiled and poured the bottles onto the ground, positioning them with her paws. She set the lit lantern behind her and stood between it and the bottles. "Hey! Outsider, come and get me!" she yelled. The Outsider snapped around to see her. It dashed forwards quickly. Jenna was scared but she managed to get the consciousness to get out of the way as the monster leapt at her. The aurora instantly shot out of the bottles and cast over the Outsider. The genetic demon roared in pain as its eyes burned from the bright light. It fell forwards, crashing face first into the bottles, drawing another screech of agony as the sharp shards drove into its eyes. It stood up and roared as it tried to get the shards out, only doing more damage to itself. "Well that worked better than I'd hoped."

Tina thought of something and ran to the sled, getting out a syringe filled with yellow liquid. She threw it at the monster's head, it broke on impact, sending the fluid running into its eyes. She jumped back, avoiding getting any on her. "What was that?" asked Balto.

"The same stuff I gave you mixed with the left over diphtheria anti-toxin from your run. The same stuff that makes it work on the virus has the effect of reversing the other medicines effect, it can no longer regenerate." said Tina with a smirk. "Oh and don't worry, I didn't mess up the time line using that."

"Who knew that night would save us now?" asked Jenna, smiling.

"Lets attack it while its still stunned." said Balto, leaping forwards and kicking off the monster's chest. The monster staggered back before Tina dashed forwards and drove her head into the monster's stomach. It gasped as it staggered. It began flailing madly in front of it, blind and not knowing were it was being attacked. Jenna got behind it and drove her head into its back. It fell forwards but caught itself. Tina drove her head into its lower jaw. It staggered back, only to be struck with a tackle from Balto. Suddenly, it stopped flailing and stood absolutely still. "What's it doing? Do it give up?"

"I'm not going to give it the chance." said Jenna, jumping at it.

"Jenna! Wait!" yelled Tina.

The Outsider twirled around and slammed its fist into Jenna's side. She went rolling across the ground for a few feet. She got up and managed to shake off the impact. "Alright what happened?"

"It's using its other senses to track us, it adapted."

"Great, how powerful is this thing going to get?" asked Balto. He ran forward and jumped at it. It spun around and caught him in midair. It threw him a good distance as Tina tried to attack it. It swung its tail around and hit her in the side, getting a yelp out of her. Jenna managed to jump on its back and bit down on its neck. It let out its disturbing laugh and grabbed her with its tail before throwing her. Balto tried to take its legs out from under it but it jumped into the air and struck him with its tail with enough force to knock him a few feet away. Tina and Jenna dashed at it from behind and jumped at it. It caught them and smacked their heads together. It threw Tina away but turned to Jenna. It knew she wasn't Tina but it was harder for her to tell without its eyesight so it decided to get rid of her. It wrapped its tail around her neck and released its hand hold, leaving her hanging by her neck. She struggled, her air being cut off. She was scared, she couldn't breathe. Balto shook off the hit he'd taken and saw his mate being strangled. He ran around and bit down on its tail. The Outsider faced its head in his direction, unable to see him, it recognized his scent. It let out a mocking laugh at him. Balto snarled and bit down harder, he kept biting down, not letting up. Jenna began to black out and Balto's jaw began to hurt but finally he felt his teeth sink in and tasted the horrid blood of the abomination. The Outsider tossed Jenna away and roared in pain as it tried to dislodge Balto.

Jenna gasped for breath, putting her paw over her throat. "That was too close." she gasped.

Tina came over. "Jenna? You alright?" she asked. She looked at Balto and saw some of the monster's green blood drip from his maw. "I don't believe it! That thing's skin can withstand bullets and he bit through! For you Jenna, that's love there."

Jenna smiled, knowing her mate had done the impossible again, for her. "You know Balto, nothing is impossible."

The Outsider struck Balto's head a few times with its fists to try and dislodge his grip. Balto felt light headed and let go, it hadn't hit him with full force. The Outsider felt and bleeding wound in its tail. It snarled and let out a furious roar. It extended its claws, despite the simulated thunder. It charged at Balto, who jumped out of the way. It's claw drove through the lantern Jenna had used, becoming lodged in it. It didn't seem to notice as it kept trying to hit Balto with its claw and unknowingly the lantern but it couldn't manage to hit Balto. It struck the cliff face after one of its misses, shattering the lantern. It's claw glowed red with heat. "Great as if it wasn't dangerous enough already." said Balto, though he was very confident now that he knew he could pierce its hide. He kept dodging. One miss drove its claw through a piece of ice on the cliff face, creating a lot of steam and cooling its claw. Balto couldn't see through the steam and the monster tried to take advantage with its claw. Jenna and Tina picked up a medium sized rock and together threw it into the monster's path. The Outsider's claw struck the rock. The steam settled to reveal…The Outsider's claw's on one hand had snapped off and driven into the snow! "What happened?" asked Balto.

"When you rapidly freeze hot metal, it gets fragile." said Tina.

"Good, we weakened it." said Jenna, smiling.

"Good, lets finish it off!" said Balto, he jumped behind the still distracted monster and pulled on its tail.

"Jenna, how's you ankle?" asked Tina.

"I'm not sure, haven't been paying attention." said Jenna, looking down at her ankle.

"Get closer to the ground please."

Jenna was confused by this request but did so. Tina stepped back before charging forwards and jumping off Jenna's back. She hit the Outsider square in the chest, combine with Balto pulling it from behind, the monster finally hit the ground. Jenna was still startled from Tina's actions but ran forwards as the monster set up and drove her head into its bottom jaw. The beast was drove down to the ground and stayed down. "Did we beat it?"

"Don't let your guard down." said Tina.

The Outsider's eye snapped open and it whipped its tail around, knocking the trio away from it. It breathed heavily. "Insolent…pests!…" it yelled.

Balto had landed beside the sled. He noticed the dynamite sticking out. He saw that despite being smashed, the lantern's fire remained lit. "Please let this work." he said lowly. He dashed to the sled and grabbed the dynamite. He ran towards the Outsider, lighting the fuse on the way. It turned towards him right as he jumped onto it. He landed his front paws on its shoulders and drove his head forwards, driving the blunt side of the dynamite into the creature's empty eye socket as deep as he could.

The Outsider launched its blade-less hand up and grabbed Balto by the throat. It lifted him off it and extended its claw. "DIE!!!" it yelled.

To Jenna everything seemed to slow down as her dream repeated itself in reality. The Outsider plunged its claw into Balto's chest, his eyes went wide and he gasped. The monster pulled its claw out and threw him, smacking his head off the mountain side and good distance away. "NO!!!" she yelled. She tried to run to him but Tina stopped.

Your hero is dead! said the Outsider's warped voice in Tina's head.

"Maybe so but he was enough to take him down. Jenna get down the dynamite!" she yelled, covering hers and Jenna's heads.

The Outsider suddenly realized what was about to happen, it couldn't pull the dynamite out in time and it knew it. "Not…Over…" it said, it raised its bloody claw above its head and let out a loud roar…right as the dynamite exploded.

Jenna remained down, she wanted to rush to her mates aid but she couldn't go until the blast was over. Once it cleared, she looked up. As the dust settled, the Outsider still stood, in a pillar of fire. She looked shocked until the smoke around its upper body cleared, its head was gone. The monster's flaming corpse fell to the ground. Before it hit the ground Jenna had rushed to her mate who laid bleeding and motionless in the snow. She nudged him, crying uncontrollably. "No! You can't be gone!" She kept nudging him.

Tina walked over but stopped to look at the dead monster, she could feel its life sighs had truly vanished, they'd killed it. She walked over to Balto. Boris and the polar bears had came over and were working with Jenna to try to wake him up. "Come on Balto, don't quit on old Boris now." said Boris, shaking Balto head. Muk and Luk were shaking him too but not saying anything, they understood how bad it was.

Tina sighed, crying herself but not nearly as much as Jenna. She went over to the sled and got out the first aid kit she packed. She bandaged up the deep wound in his chest, tears streaming down her face. "Well at least he can't bleed to death now." she said. She looked up at the mound of snow and ice that the Outsider had left before dieing. There was no way they could just carry him over it. She new the polar bears had strength they had no idea they had, which was why they almost crushed Boris and Balto when hugging them but they wouldn't even be able to. She realized something. "The sled! We can get him back to Nome for help!" she said. Suddenly though the earth seem to start shaking and the ground beneath the Outsider collapsed, an underground cave had been destabilized by the explosion and now opened like a massive maw to swallow the blazing corpse. The fissure kept going and stopped half way under the sled. Tina ran over and grabbed a rope on it. Muk and Luk came over and tried to pull it back. They tugged and tugged. It was almost to the point it would stop swaying towards the abyss…when the rope snapped. The three of them fell backward but Tina quickly scrambled to her feet and looked over as the sled smashed on the rock a far distance below. She fell on her rear and started crying, losing hope of saving Balto.

Fifteen minutes later after trying to wake Balto, Tina stopped trying so did Boris. Jenna wouldn't, she kept nudging him, no longer crying just because she was out of tears. "Jenna, he's gone…we've got to go or we'll freeze to death out here." Tina said, feeling crushed.

"She is right Jenna…Balto is…dead." said Boris, sad. Muk and Luk burst into a crying fit.

Jenna snapped around. "He's not dead! He can't be!" she yelled.

"Jenna, if he wasn't killed by the Outsider to begin with, he's probably froze to death by now and so will we if we don-"

"I'd rather freeze to death!" yelled Jenna, not willing to leave her mate. She laid on him as the others looked at their feet. "You can't die…you promised you wouldn't leave me…" she said softly. She cried, tears she didn't know she had left…"You can't be gone…" she said. Suddenly she heard something, a soft rhythmic thumping. A heart beat! She snapped up and looked at the others. "He's still alive! I heard his heart beat!" she said, excited.

Tina and Boris looked at each other. Tina went over to Balto and put her ear to his chest. She heard his heart beat. "She's right, he's heart is beating! Faintly but I can hear it!" she said. They resumed their effort to wake him. Jenna nudged him for a few moments before nuzzling his head.

"Come on Balto, you can't let us down now." she said.

Balto was in his dreamscape again, unconscious here too. Aniu approached him, Alex beside her. "He's still alive but he's so deeply unconscious, almost like a coma." said Alex.

"Alex, you might be from the future but you don't know all things, Balto will overcome this for his mate." said Aniu. She put her muzzle beside Balto's head. "Balto, you're loved ones need you, you must wake, Jenna's waiting."

In the real world, Balto's eyes snapped open. He groaned and looked at Jenna. "Miss me?" he asked.

"Balto! You're alive!" Jenna yelled. She nuzzled him till she was tired.

"It takes more than a monster to do me in…the Outsider! Where is it?!"

"Dead, we did it, its been destroyed." said Tina, smiling.

Muk and Luk prepared to hug Boris but for once waited. Boris was surprised but smiled. "Oh come on, give uncle Boris a hug." he said. They responded with their normal act of nearly crushing him.

"This is all well and good but…I'm still alive over here!" yelled Steele, laying on his side in the snow, his leg bent at a strange angle.

Tina walked over. "Fine." she said, rolling her eyes. "I'll hel-"

"No! I don't want your hel-"

"Shut up!" said Tina and struck Steele on the back of the neck, knocking him out. She bandaged his wounds and straitened his leg before splinting it. She slapped him awake. "There! You didn't deserve that but I did it anyway and don't be ungrateful or I'll reconsider and throw you in the chasm with the Outsider's flaming remains." Tina's yelling caused the avalanche blocking the canyon to rumble down itself and into the cave, covering all the remains of the Outsider beneath snow and rock, unblocking the path in the process. "Well that's convenient"

"Yeah, now let's go home." said Balto.

Nome, Alaska, 4 am;

"Why am I even here?" asked Steele, sitting angry on the outskirts of Nome.

"For once I'm agreeing with the bully." said Boris.

"Well I thought you'd want to say goodbye to Tina. Steele she did help you, would you rather she of thrown you into the chasm?" asked Balto.

Steele got mad but said nothing. "Steele you can't say anything about the Outsider, its extremely important that monster remains a secret." said Tina

"Yeah, yeah." said Steele, not really intending to do so.

"Steele's you're still the same selfish glory hound." said Balto

"Well if my calculations are correct, the passage should open soon." said Tina.

"Well if you're ever around please drop by." said Jenna, nuzzling her descendent.

"Same for you two."

"Goodbye." said Balto, licking her on the cheek.

Tina stepped back and drove one of the Outsider's broken metal claws into the ground. Thunder roared throughout the area. "Goodbye." she said as lightning surged down from the sky and struck the metal claw. Reality warped around her again. She pointed her snout skywards and let out a howl, Balto joined her and Alex appeared beside Tina and did the same. The warp ended, Tina was gone.

Luk pointed and said something. "How should I know what happen?!" asked Boris. "Oh great, I'm speaking bear again!"

"What the heck happened?!" asked Steele.

"Tina went home to the future, were she and the Outsider are from." said Jenna, rubbing against Balto and chuckling.

"She was staying with her ancestors." said Balto, a smirk forming on his face.

Steele's eyes went wide as he realized just who he'd been hitting on earlier. "You know I think you guys are right, no one needs to know about this." he said, rather rapidly.

New York City, 7 am, 2007;

Tina reemerged from the warp right were she'd began, this time she was able to not be knocked out. She looked up at Balto's statue and smiled. "Thank you." she said before letting out a howl. "Better go make sure the world isn't ruled by apes or something like that." she said with a laugh as she walked off.

Alex and Aniu watch down from above. "Well Aniu, you know that was a dangerous journey." said Alex.

"Yes but fate decided for it to be so and that terrible beast has been destroyed." said Aniu.

"Yeah, our charges' combined might was too much for it, I just wish it hadn't been such a close call."

"Time travel may change the path of time but there is always risk."

"Alright but lets try to prevent this in the future, if I was alive I'd of had a heart attack." said Alex with a laugh.

The End…