Kodi woke up the next morning to being violently shoved by Steele.

"What's wrong, Steele?"

Steele kicked Kodi.

"Get up! Time to work! This isn't the nice warm boiler room!"

"Woah, are you ok?"

"I WILL BE WHEN YOU GET UP!" Steele roared.

Kodi got to his paws. Steele must be a scumbag by day and a lover by night. Or… was last night a one time thing?

"Star, Nikki, Kaltag, get up. Time to run the slaves."

Nikki woke up with Kaltag crushing him.

"Get off mes!"

"Shut up!"

Aleu woke up. Star had her trapped.

"Hey Star, can you let me go?"

"No thanks!"

Kaltag hit Star and got him to let go. Meanwhile, the sled team was getting ready to go.

"Where's Kodi?" Kirby asked.

"What do you mean? Is he not here?" Ralph worried.

"I talked to him two days ago. He seemed to be as happy as he normally is. I haven't talked to him since, though," Dusty said.

Mr. Simpson came in, "Alright, dogs! Let's get going! We're leaving early so we can be on time!"

The three dogs weren't very motivated. But then again, the never got motivated easily. Mr. Simpson looked around and didn't see Kodi.

"Where's Kodi? Kodi! Come here, boy!"

He inspected the boiler room. Where was he? Mr. Simpson now had to look around the rest of the town.

"KODI! COME HERE! TIME TO GO!" Mr. Simpson yelled.

He was nowhere to be found. The five other sled dogs helped out. Mr. Simpson gave up.

"Kodi, I love you, but if you keep this up, I gotta let you go," Mr. Simpson said to himself hoping Kodi would magically hear him.

Mr. Simpson went to the Post Office.

"Mr. Connor, I can't find Kodi. I need to borrow a dog."

"Kodi's gone? Let me see who's available."

Mr. Connor checked the chart of sled dogs.

"Next available dog is Kodi's brother."

"Where is Dingo again?"

"His owners should live right next to Paul's Diner."

Mr. Simpson headed to Dingo. He had to inform Dingo's boy that he'd be gone. The boy's dad answered.

"Hi sir, are you Dingo's owner?"

"That's me. What's up?"

"Dingo is the next available sled dog. Kodi's missing."

"Oh, well, let me tell Matt."

Dingo saw Mr. Simpson and got excited. Was he going for a run? Mr. Simpson pulled out a harness. Dingo went crazy. He bolted out the door and urged to get the harness on. Matt hugged Dingo.

"Stay safe! I love you, Dingo!"

Dingo licked his pup as a goodbye.

"I'm gonna get to race Kodi!"

He looked at the sled dogs. None of them were Kodi.

"Where's Kodi, guys?"

"We don't know. You're replacing him," Kirby said sadly.

"Wait, what? For how long?"

"We have no idea. He just disappeared," Ralph said.

Dingo started to get concerned. Balto came to farewell his son. The wrong son was in a harness.

"Dingo? W… Where's Kodi?"

"Apparently no one can find him."

"We looked everywhere. He's not in Nome," Dusty said.

"I gotta find him! Do you know of any motivation why he'd just run off!?"

Jenna knew something wasn't right.

"Where's Kodi?"

"That's what we're all trying to figure out," Dingo said.

"It's weird to see Dingo instead of Kodi," Mr. Simpson said.

He had a bad feeling he had to just deal with it. So much for leaving early as well.

"Hike!" he yelled.

Dingo didn't think about the resistance when he went to launch. It's been a while. The harness pulled him back. He fell to the ground as the other dogs started going. He just pulled a complete Star. He was twisted up in his harness with the line wrapped around his paw. What an embarrassment.

"Woah!" Mr. Simpson yelled.

Dingo fixed everything and they were off again. Balto howled out to his kids. Yukon, Nunivat, and Saba arrived.

"Have you seen Kodi?"

"I just saw him before he left town. He said he was gonna go for a day out in the wild. He even said he'd be back for his mail run," Nunivat said.

"Was he depressed?"

"He was acting like he got fourth place in a national dogsled championship."

"So he was happy?"

"Yeah."

Back at Steele's cave Kodi had another thing coming.

"You know your mom's friend Dixie? She's here."

"How many dogs turned on my family?"

"They didn't technically turn on you. Dixie just wants something out of you."

Dixie came into the room, "And into me!"

"God! Help me!"

Dixie shoved Kodi to the floor. Aleu could hear Kodi's yelps. Thankfully they weren't yelps of pain, but they were still cries for help.

"What is Steele doing to Kodi?" Kaltag asked.

"I'll check on him," Star said.

Star went up to see Dixie and Kodi while Steele was watching. They each looked at Star who was at the entrance.

"Awkward…" Star said.

He walked off wanting nothing to do with what he saw.

"Dixie is taking advantage of Kodi."

"Eww!" Kaltag said.

"I sure feels bad for Kodi, dere," Nikki said.

"Dixie is the most ugliest, the grossest, the shortest little…" Kaltag ranted.

"Kodi should take a long bath afterwards!" Star interrupted.

Kaltag went to hit Star, but Aleu blocked it.

"Stop hitting him!"

Star licked Aleu as a thank you.

Dingo may not have trained for a while, but he was still pulling the other lazy dogs on the team.

"Dingo! Slow down!" Kirby said.

"Wow! You guys are slow aren't you!?"

"We don't push ourselves anymore than we need to!" Dusty said.

"I already miss Kodi!" Ralph said.

"Now I know why you guys are always late!"

Kirby, Dusty, and Ralph already didn't like Dingo. If he was a permanent replacement, they only hoped he would calm down and be more like his brother. He slowed down so he wouldn't push the others too much and make them complain.

"If we're going to start running on time, we have to speed up! I want you guys to like me, but it'll be a love-hate relationship if you guys keep it up!" Dingo said.

"You're not replacing Kodi for good!"

"I hope not, but until then, I want to a strong bond with you guys! I'll be doing Kodi a favor by pushing you guys harder. He'll finally run at a faster pace and actually be on time!"

"Please don't push us the way your dad did!" Ralph pleaded.

"Kodi told me he pushed you guys as hard as you can go! I'm not going to do that, but Kodi is too nice and doesn't push you enough!"

"I'm the lead dog, here! You're not even the lead dog!" Kirby clarified, "We should go at MY pace!"

"YOUR pace always had you running behind!"

Kodi laid there on his back in disbelief as Dixie was still licking his face. That was against his will! He was used as a ma…

Don't you dare say it! Kodi thought to himself. I was used against my will, that's all!

"Good job Dixie!" Steele said, "My turn!"

"Oh God!" Kodi yelled, "No! No!"

Steele grabbed Dixie and laid down with her.

"Oh thank God!" Kodi said, "I thought… never mind."

Aleu was talking to Star while Kaltag and Nikki talked their plans through.

"What do wes do? Wes can't jus keep torturings her," Nikki said.

"I know! We need to help her! That beating Steele gave her was unnecessary! I hope Kodi isn't having too bad of a time!" Kaltag replied.

"Wes have to obeys him, dere. Youse knows he will kills us."

"We're idiots! We fell into his trap… AGAIN!"

"Kodi probably hates ours guts right about nows. He will not help us, dere."

"I'm not sure if Aleu can sense our mercy."

"Wes are showing her no mercy.

Balto had to find his lost pup! He only has five left! To lose another one would only leave him with three while Dingo is replacing Kodi.

"I saw him leave right around here," Nunivat said, "But I don't know how far he went."

"He could be anywhere. I really hope Dingo at least gets his scent!"

"What if… what if something happened to him? What if he got attacked, or lost? What if someone captured him?" Saba worried.

"If anyone hurts him, me and dad are going to rip ANYONE who touches him to shreds!" Yukon said.

"If he's gone… if someone killed him, I wouldn't be able to go out and kill them! I… I'd just be… lost," Balto said, "If any of you go, I'd be lost in sorrow."

Balto couldn't bear the thought of any of his pups dying. Watching Aleu happily heading on her own was hard enough. At least she was happy and alive. Balto sucked up those thoughts and anger flooded his mind.

"Who wants to go with me to look for him!?"

"I'll go," Nunivat said, "I have no one to go home to."

"Out there? No humans? No one to protect us? No…" Saba said.

"I have my girl to go home to. I can't leave her. Unless Kodi is confirmed KIA, I can't leave," Yukon said.

Yukon was the biggest and toughest of all 6 pups, but he was used a toy for his girl. Through the years of constant annoyingness, he loves her to death. He hates to say it, but he loves her more than he loves his mom and dad.

"Woah!" Mr. Simpson yelled.

The team came to a stop.

"Time for lunch!" Ralph said.

"Lunch? I just ate before we left!" Dingo said, "I can't run on a full stomach!"

Mr. Simpson let each dog roam free and eat. Dingo got a good whiff. Kodi? There was no way he was all the way out here!

"Is this a normal stopping place?" Dingo asked.

"Yeah, we always stop here for a rest," Kirby said.

"That's why I smell Kodi."

"Yeah, I got excited at first too, but it wasn't him."

"When was the last time you came through here?"

"The day before Kodi disappeared. Why?"

"It seems too recent! Doesn't his scent seem strong?"

Kirby sniffed the air, "Yeah, but… I don't know. I know his scent well, it seems about right."

"To be honest, Kirby, I probably know his scent better than you. Although you travel next to him, I grew up in the same litter. He's my closest sibling!"

"I don't doubt it."

Dingo thought for a minute, "Are you… gay by chance?"

Kirby exploded in laughter, "Why do you ask? Do I look good to you?"

"No, I'm just wondering, just wanting to know."

"More or less," Kirby admitted, "I go both ways."

Dingo knows Kodi had a crush on Kirby. Dingo is the only dog Kodi told about him being gay. He knew he could trust Dingo to not tell anyone else.