I don't have nothing really to say so let's begin.

Kodiak watched as his father disappeared around the side of his new master's house, waiting until the last of his tail vanished from sight before turning and making his way back toward the shed. His star struck friends soon turned and followed, each one of them bubbling over with excitement, Ralph especially. The group walked casually through the door and Scholla pushed it shut behind them. As was expected, Kodiak was immediately blasted with questions, the voices all blending together to the point that all he could hear was this loud, incomprehensible babbling. He tried in vain to separate the voices, but the more he tried, the more it hurt his ears. He shook his head and tried to speak.

"Alright guys," he began, but they still continued to press upon him.

"Guys!" he yelled, the babbling dying away.

Once it was quiet, Kodiak spoke.

"One at a time," he ordered with a chuckle.

Homma stepped forward to speak, but Ralph shoved her out of the way, much to the group's displeasure. He, however, did not realize, nor did he care for this fact. At the present time the only thing he was concerned about was the joy, the absolute honor he felt to finally be able to meet his idol. He had so much energy and so many things to say that the two became one when he spoke, causing his words to become jumbled together in one long sentence.

"Kodiyourdadissocool!Whendoyouthinkhe'llcomebackcauseI'-"

"Ralph slow down before you fry your brain," Kodiak interrupted with a chuckle.

Ralph closed his mouth and his face turned to embarrassment.

"Sorry Kodi, it's just that… I finally got to meet my hero!"

Kodiak laughed to himself. He knew that his dad was famous, but he didn't think that he was THIS famous. You're pretty popular when six week old pups already know of, idolize, and adore you.

"I'm not exactly sure when my dad will come back," Kodiak explained, "but I wouldn't count on him taking more than two days. And I bet that when he did if I were to ask he would help as ALL with our techniques, especially if we tell him we'll be running sleds."

This got excited nods throughout the shed, even Scholla had a small glint in his eyes. The energy and excitement buzzed throughout the entirety of the room, each pup shaking with it. It proved to be too much for Ralph to keep contained. With a powerful leap he rolled Kirby over, then Soqin. Soqin fell and bumped into Koe, knocking him off balance and sending him over as well. This resulted in a huge ruckus from the pups, each one turning upon the other until there was one giant "fight" underway. Scholla, Kodiak, Dusty, and Homma stood at a distance, watching as the pups rolled and jumped, bowled each other over, and nipped at ears. Dusty moved in to break up the fighting, but was turned upon herself, ultimately being forced to join in. kodiak and Homma laughed at this and Scholla simply let out an amused grunt. Kodiak shook his head.

"Come on guys," he began, taking a step toward the ongoing battle, "let's break this up before it gets out of hand."

Homma and Scholla nodded and followed, the three coming to a stop on the outside rim of the playful fighting. Koe was pinned by Dusty, Soqin was chewing on Kirby's ear, and Ralph was so caught up in the moment that he didn't realize the leg he chewed was his own. Kodiak laughed at this. Bad idea. Dusty heard him and grinned evilly then whirled around on him, her paws making contact with his side and sending him rolling into Homma. Kodiak came to a stop and shook his head to rid it of the dizziness that spun around in his skull. He saw Dusty standing proudly before him, her head held high in self dignifying glory. Kodiak smirked and got his feet beneath his body, the sprung straight at Dusty. She sidestepped him, Kodiak landing and turning hastily to face her. The two circled each other for a few long moments, contemplating and plotting their next plan of action. The two assailants locked eyes with each other as they continued their circular dance, each trying to read what the other had planned. Something moved behind Kodiak and Dusty involuntarily moved her eyes to catch whatever it was that gained her attention. Kodiak took this brief moment of lost focus to make his move. He leapt at Dusty, but was hit on his flank midflight. Upon contact he turned his head to see Homma with her stiff forepaws buried into his side, and then was sent on another roll, stopping o his hip and instantly rising again. He stood up and felt a sudden shudder run down his spine. He shook it off and retook his fighting stance, but something felt different this time. His vision suddenly became crystal clear, his hearing became so sharp he could hear the mice scurrying beneath the floor, and his nose became so keen that he could smell through the closed door what his new master was cooking for supper. He felt powerful, strong, and his paws were able to detect even the slightest vibration on the wooded floor. He had no idea what was happening, but whatever it was, he liked it. He rolled his muscles, allowing the power he felt to course through his entire body, and then turned his head forward.

Dusty was leaping at him again, her body already about a breath's time away from his. But in this brief second before her body could hit his, Kodiak was gone and next thing Dusty knew she herself was hit mid-leap and sent to the floor. She turned to see a flash of red before she was sent tumbling to the ground and knew that it was kodiak who had hit her, but she didn't understand how. Before she could think any further she hit the floor and turned to see Kodiak in the process of reversing an attack made by Homma, parrying her attack and sending her to the floor as well. Slowly around Kodiak the fighting began to stop, more and more of his friends stopping and gawking in amazement at the display that Kodiak was showing. Ralph found an opportunity to attack the distracted Kodiak and crept up behind him, stopping a brief distance behind and crouching to pounce. He leapt and made an ark straight down toward Kodiak's back, but next thing he knew said pup moved away and was hitting him from underneath, sending him over and to the floor. As soon as his foe was down, Kodiak turned and saw that everybody was staring at him with their mouths hanging open. He gazed back at them, moving his eyes back and forth amongst his friends.

"What's going on?' he asked energetically, "why did everybody stop?"

For a long moment no one answered. They just stood there silently, staring at him in awe. Kodiak sat back on his haunches and waited, his feeling of dominant prowess now subsiding with the action.

Finally Koe spoke.

"That was incredible!" he exclaimed.

Kodiak raised an eyebrow.

"What was?" he asked.

"That! That you did just now! It was awesome!" Koe blurted.

"What was so awesome?" Kodiak wondered further, "All I was doing was playing around?"

"But I've never seen anybody move so quick before!" Kirby spat ecstatically, "You ook down three people in like five seconds!"

Kodiak stitched his brows together.

"I did?"

He ran his eyes out upon his friends, seeing them all nod in affirmation.

"Wow," Kodiak whispered to himself.

He didn't even realize what he was doing. It all just felt like some instinct to him, one that he had all along, but remained dormant until now. The speed and sharper senses were new to him, but they just felt right, so he had no problem with it in the least. It was still kind of strange, though. Why would they show up now?

"Strange," Kodiak repeated to himself then began to pace.

"And speaking of strange," Kirby cut in, "What did your dad say about that," he asked referring to Kodiak's sudden change in gait.

Kodiak stopped and turned to face his friends.

"Oh that? That was nothing," Kodiak informed, "I tend to take after my mother in appearances, but my body I got from my dad," he explained further, "I was unlucky enough to get his bad joints.

He looked out at his friends and saw them nodding their understanding.

"Well what can you do to fix that?" Dusty questioned, "Cause people see you walking around like that and they'll think you're nuts."

She finished her sentence off sarcastically, her comment making Kodiak grin.

"My dad said to go get a massage from my mom every now and again to help it along."

They nodded.

"Well you'd better get on in there because our training starts day after tomorrow," Ralph informed excitedly.

Back at the trawler things were not going well.

From inside the cabin could be heard angered shouts and curses, and crashes from things being hit, thrown, or knocked over. Boris stood out and away from the boat with his head held in his wings, listening as his son continued in his rage. Boris knew that Balto had been bottling up anger and frustration for a very long time, the metaphorical bomb slowly ticking its clock toward the zero that would set it off. The goings-on of this evening were it, the thing that finally ran those numbers out; and as was expected there was an explosion far greater than Boris knew how to handle.

He had learned his lesson last time he tried to settle his son when he was this angry and now kept his distance through fear of recurring events. Last time the rage was about the constant bullying and that was enough to make him nearly destroy the cabin. Boris stepped in and the situation boiled into something far worse. Hurtful words were exchanged and the enraged hybrid lost control, knocked Boris out, and then ran away not returning for nearly two weeks. And when he did come home he was nearly dead from starvation and hypothermia.

By now things seemed to be finally cooling down inside the cabin, the shouts and crashes becoming more spaced and strained. Boris decided then that he should return and began to make his way inside. He waddled up the plank and saw Balto throw himself against the wall of the cabin, the old wood giving and sending him clean through the other side. Here Boris heard something that he hadn't heard from the hybrid in months. Balto began to shake and then folded his paw over his muzzle, soft sobs escaping him. Boris picked up his pace and moved over to his side, stopping by his shoulders and sitting down. He draped a wing over Balto's shoulder, Balto only just now realizing Boris' presence. Balto sniffed and Boris patted him comfortingly.

"It's gonna be alright kiddo," Boris consoled.

Balto shook his head.

"No it's not Boris," he said, wiping his eyes, "This is all my fault. I should have never gotten Jenna pregnant because I just knew that this was gonna happen, but I went and did it anyway. Now I might have to-"

He cut himself off. The words that he was about to say were just too painful and he couldn't find it in him to say them aloud.

"Have to what?" Boris asked concerned.

Balto didn't answer, but instead he rose to his feet with a new drive in him. He then began to make his way over toward the rail, pausing at the side and gazing out upon the town.

"Balto, where are you going?" Boris asked curiously.

Balto didn't even turn his head.

"I'm gonna do what I should have done a long time ago.

With that he leapt over the rail and began to trot his way toward the now ghostly looking town.

Something big in the near future. Stick around.