"The flying part is not hard.", Boris said as he hopped up and flapped his wings allowing himself to hover a bit before landing on the deck and pointing upward, "It's where you go when you do it."

Cole raised an eyebrow.

"Boris, what exactly are you getting at?"

Balto was looking up before Boris ushered them to come close. They leaned close as Boris looked like he was trying to hold something in, but then he let it out.

"I hate heights."

Balto and Cole both burst out laughing for a minute before they caught themselves.

"Wait a minute. Are you saying that you're afraid of heights?", Balto asked him.

"No, of course not.", Boris retorted before noticing Balto not paying him any mind and Cole still having his eyebrow up, "Just a little."

Cole sighed as he saw the goose slump into a depressing state. He turned to Balto and noticed Balto was now looking Boris' way the same way he was.

"Balto, we have to help him out.", Cole said calmly, "Boris helped us out, now we have to do the same for him."

Balto looked away as if thinking and then he brightened up.

"You got something?", Cole asked as Balto got to his feet.

"Come on, Boris.", Balto said cheerfully as he headed off, "I have an idea."

Cole gave chase with Boris right behind them. Balto had gotten off the boat with Boris right behind, but Cole noticed something nearby.

"Huh, who's here?", he wondered.

He stepped over to see Ralph walking around in a circle looking a bit stressed.

"Ralph?"

The husky paused as he noticed the company and straightened up.

"Oh Togo, I had no idea you were around here."

"So, would you mind telling me why you're here?", Cole asked.

Ralph ushered Cole to follow him. Cole looked back and thought about what Balto was planning for Boris, but that would have to wait as he followed Ralph into town.

"Togo, I was hoping you could help me with-"

Ralph paused as he noticed Dusty walking by and ducked behind some trash cans. He nervously peeked out and saw Dusty walk away down an alley before he came out again. Cole now was a bit confused.

"What? You're scared of your teammate?", he guessed.

Ralph looked Cole's way a bit firm.

"No.", he said before his expression became one of nervousness, "I just…well, I…I…"

"You what?", Cole asked.

Ralph took a breath before talking.

"I like her okay?"

Cole looked a bit surprised. He wasn't expecting this, but Ralph just said it.

/

Ralph looked Cole's way a bit desperate.

"Togo, you must have met a lot of girls in your day right?"

Cole felt a bit of nervousness himself, but he got over it.

"Well, they knew I was a famous sled dog owned by a local musher who knew a good sled dog when he saw it.", he admitted, "So why not go talk to her?"

Ralph tensed.

"But how?", he asked looking worried, "What will I ask? How will I approach her? What will she say?"

"Ralph, you're psyching yourself out.", Cole told the husky firmly, "Just stop being so scared and just tell her how you feel about her. You won't know unless you give it a try."

Ralph tried to shake off his nerves and gave a smile Cole's way.

"Thanks Togo. I'll give it a try."

"Glad to be of help.", Cole answered, "And a little advice: don't pretend to be something you're not. Be yourself and hope for the best."

Ralph looked a bit in awe.

"Wow, did your musher teach you that?"

"Nah, that I learned myself.", Cole answered, "Best of luck."

As Ralph dashed off, Steele had observed the conversation nearby as Cole headed out of Nome.

"A husky of his weight with Dusty?", he scoffed, "Hmph, not likely. My best guess is he's just going to blow it badly and come crawling to Togo to help him make amends if he wasn't such a klutz."

He kept his eyes on Cole and a smile came to his face.

"Well, let's just see what the wolf dogs are up to.", he said to himself as he got up from the porch he was resting on, stretched and then flinched in pain, "Oh, darn back pain."

Even though he had recovered, the procedure had clearly left its mark on his lower spine near his back legs. It wasn't constant, but Steele wasn't about to let it get him down. He followed Cole to a spacious spot not far from Nome where Balto was with Boris though he was placing an empty four sack on the goose's head which Steele paused and raised an eyebrow.

"Now what could be going on here?", he asked himself as he kept his distance so he could observe and hopefully neither Balto or Cole would sniff him out.

Cole had come up to Balto and Boris just as the flour sack was set.

"Don't worry.", Balto assured, "This will work."

"Don't worry he says. Ha!", Boris answered clearly not on board.

"Well, what do you see?", Cole asked.

"Nothing.", Boris said rather sharply through the sack, "What do you think I see?"

Steele suddenly felt a pang of amusement in his cold heart.

"This should be good.", he chuckled to himself.

/

Balto paused and came up to Boris.

"Flap around like this for a while and you'll get used to the feel of flying.", he instructed, "Then you'll forget you're up in the air."

"You know, this makes sense, in absurd, illogical way.", Boris answered before he opened his wings and took a start before flapping his wings and started ascending.

Balto and Cole ran up behind him until Boris was airborne.

"That's it! That's it", Balto exclaimed excitedly, "You're doing it."

"You're doing great up there!", Cole called out to the goose, "How does it feel?"

"Not bad, except I have no idea where I'm going!", Boris called back.

Balto and Cole both saw that Boris was flying right for a tree! They flinched as Boris crashed and then fell to the ground with a thud. Steele saw it too and he was suddenly on the verge of laughing.

"Oh this was worth it.", he snickered quietly to himself.

For the next attempt to help Boris out, Cole suggested Boris fly without opening his eyes til he was airborne again. Boris started flying again as Cole told him and Balto looked amused.

"Keep going! Keep going!", he called out.

"Is working.", Boris said calmly, "Is working."

"Wait for it.", Cole said before Boris got high enough and he called out, "Okay Boris, open your eyes."

Boris did and when he looked up, he looked down and screamed before he fell into the snow with a loud thump sending a few feathers out. Steele didn't bother holding back as he quietly snickered to himself. Seeing that goose fail was the highlight of his day if he didn't count bullying Cole and Balto.

"Any more ideas?", Cole asked Balto.

Boris then pulled a wing out of the snow as if he was thinking.

"I think I have something."

A bit later, Balto and Cole saw Boris fly a few inches off the ground, but looking like he was enjoying it.

"Ah! What do you know? I am flying.", he said enthusiastically, "I am one hot goose."

"I'm not sure Stella's going to see it that way.", Balto stated.

"I wouldn't think so, but I'm not a bird.", Cole commented.

Boris just flew past them clearly in the zone.

"I am good. I am the goose."

Balto and Cole turned, but Steele saw Boris crash into another tree and this time, he burst out laughing and drawing Balto and Cole's attention.

"Steele.", Balto frowned.

"How much did you see?", Cole asked firmly.

Steele managed to pull himself together for a moment so he could stand up and look snide.

"Just enough to see the old goose fail.", he chuckled, "Though I must admit that I find it so…so…funny!"

He fell on the snow and was laughing like a maniac though Balto and Cole weren't too thrilled to see him do so. Boris came over and seeing Steele laughing, he got a bit miffed.

"Hey, what you think you're doing here you big lumbering-"

Steele stopped laughing enough to give Boris a flash of his gnarly teeth which made the goose pause and whimper. Before Steele could say anything, Cole stepped in front of Boris not taking his eyes off Steele.

"You are such a disgusting, downtrodden, despicable creep.", he said firmly, "Now I suggest you move along."

Steele only raised an eyebrow.

"Or what?", he asked still smiling ghoulishly, "You'll go feral and put me out of my misery?"

Cole knew Steele was baiting him, but he was finding it hard to hold back. And Balto was clearly reaching his breaking point also. Luckily, something put the whole thing on pause.

/

"Steele!"

Steele tensed as his musher was calling him. He couldn't let his musher think he was slipping away if he wanted to still be owned after what happened in the serum run.

"We'll finish this some other time.", he said giving a warning sneer before dashing off.

As Steele dashed off, Balto and Cole tried calming down.

"Why is it that Steele needs to stick his big fat nose into our business?", Cole asked.

Balto shrugged.

"I don't know. He just does."

Cole wanted to spit, but then he smiled. Boris noticed alongside Balto as Cole then burst into song.

"You're a bad dog, Mr. Steele. You always were a pain. You're as cozy as a blizzard, you're as gentle as a sprain Mr. Steele. You're a rotten chum batch in a rusty old pail."

Balto couldn't help but tap his paw to the song's rhythm though Boris didn't look on board as Cole continued singing and the trio headed back to the boat.

"You're a real beast, Mr. Steele. Your heart's a block of ice. Your voice is full of ice shards, your soul is full of spite Mr. Steele. I wouldn't believe you'd have a real nice bite."

Balto chuckled as Cole was describing Steele in song and couldn't help but sing a verse himself due to it being so catchy.

"You're very ugly Mr. Steele. You have black ice in your eyes. You have all that good company of a swarm of buzzing flies Mr. Steele."

Boris looked firm.

"If I had to choose which I'd prefer, I'd take the-"

"Buzzing swarm of flies.", Cole finished with a snicker.

While Balto looked amused with Cole's song, Boris was looking appalled.

"Ugh, why would you describe that mean dog so?", he asked.

"I don't know.", Cole admitted, "It just came to my mind and I thought I'd sing it."

Balto's smile was warm to Cole's eyes.

"Well, I wouldn't describe Steele that bad, but that would be pretty close."

Cole knew Balto was right. Just cause Steele was bullying them, he didn't have the right to sing a song about how disgusting he was just to get back at him. It would only prove he was no better.

"Sorry Balto and Boris.", he admitted looking a bit ashamed, "I shouldn't have done that."

Boris looked amused.

"Then again, that song has a catchy tune.", he said smiling.

Cole felt satisfied that Boris was admitting his song was catchy, but Coel still felt obliged to keep the song to himself in case others around Nome would get the idea and Steele's bullying would only get worse if the mean malamute ever found out which he probably would. Then Cole felt a breeze on his backside. He turned, but saw nothing there.

"Togo? You okay?", Balto asked.

Cole quickly put his suspicion behind him and gave a smile.

"Yeah, just thought I felt something."

The trio headed back to the boat unaware that in Nome, there was tension rising.

/

It all started when Dipsy had gathered some beef jerky from the store, but as she got to the post office, she noticed Duke was heading inside. As much as her appetite got to her, for now she put it on hold as she figured Mel would have a stressful episode. She had gotten to the door just as someone came out and she was able to hear what was being said between Mr. Conner and Duke.

"Well Duke, you make a good argument.", Mr. Conner said, "Maybe we should give it a try."

Dipsey saw Mel near Duke's boots and looking shocked as she was confused.

"It'll be an honor to work for you and the U.S. Mail, Mr. Conner.", Duke said very friendly.

Mel then ushered with his head and Dipsey got the message as she went aside as Mel headed out to meet her while looking back to see Mr. Conner and Duke shake hands. This was not good! Mel got out as he noticed Dipsey dig into the jerky she had brought, but he was too worked up to care.

"OK, this is really horrible. Devastating."

Dipsey took a moment to pause before looking his way.

"Besides that, give me the particulars.", she said hoping he'd calm down a bit.

Unfortunately, that's not what happened as Mel got up in her face.

"We gotta spread the word."

"And what word would that be?", Dipsey asked not following.

"That the mail is going to be delivered by that flying whatever.", Mel answered growing more frantic with each word, "The sled dogs are through. Canned. Fired. Out on their butts."

Now that was enough to shock even Dipsey.

"Unbelievable.", she said with a bit of jerky in her mouth.

Mel gathered enough of his nerve to be firm again.

"Dipsey, we're gonna have to activate the E.D.A.S."

Dipsey was a bit at a loss as she forgot what it ment, but she hoped Mel would remind her as she swallowed what was in her mouth.

"And what would that be?"

Mel flicked a bit of jerky on her nose to get her attention.

"Hello? The Emergency Dog Alert System."

"Ohh.", Dipsey answered as she now knew what it ment.

She and Mel hurried off while Steele who had been passing by had heard Mel as well. Needless to say, he didn't take the news too well.

"That flying thing is taking my job away?", he thought bitterly, "Not if I have anything to say about it."

Steele noticed his musher was distracted so he hurried off to tell Fox and his former teammates what Mel had said, but that was put on hold as barking around Nome started sounding off. Guess he didn't have to do so. Ralph meanwhile was approaching Dusty's home when the system had sounded off. He saw Dusty go over a clothesline and land next to him though she looked a bit surprised.

"Ralph?", she asked, "What are you doing here?"

Ralph thought fast.

"Coming to get you.", he answered.

Dusty paid it no mind as she and Ralph headed to the alley where the dogs would gather.

(A/N: The song Cole and Balto sing is based on "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch". I don't claim anything.)