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New Friends (Chapter 1)

Hi there, Kyle here. Just a quick note on the timeline of the following piece... I'm taking a few liberties here, assuming that the incidents of All Dogs Go To Heaven happened in the early 30s. This story follows shortly after those events, but Charlie has returned from Heaven to be with Itchy again in New Orleans. By the way, I own none of the characters portrayed within the story, they're copyright of Don Bluth and Universal Artists, and Universal.

Enjoy (hopefully), more coming.

Balto grinned slightly, standing before the runway. The plane coming in was a large-ish transport, a Ford Tri-Motor, with shiny silver skin and the Ford logo emblazoned on the side. But Balto cared nothing for that. To him, it was just another plane. No, it was the contents of this particular plane which had him excited.

Ever since Jenna had died in what most dogs viewed as somewhat suspicious circumstances, he had become yet again somewhat of an outcast, and after Boris left he had no one to console or comfort him, or even to talk to. However, he had heard that some new dogs were being transferred up to their lonely little hamlet, and so he decided to give them a warm welcome.

Lining up with the runway, the plane dipped suddenly as a strong gust of wind buffeted it, but managed to regain stability and smacked down to the ground, bouncing slightly before finally planting itself upon the ground. Extending the flaps, the plane taxied down the runway, coming to a halt before the supply depot, by Balto. With a sputter and hiss the pilot shut down the three engines, one of which dieseled noisily for a few seconds before backfiring and coming to a halt. Opening the cockpit door, the pilot got out, stretching his back while rubbing his sore neck. Balto guessed that with a landing like that, he probably wouldn't be sitting to eat for a good week.

Walking around, he moved over to the cargo door, moving in strange quick jerky steps which spoke of a rough landing on an underpadded seat. As he moved to unlatch the door, Balto came over behind him, being silent. The humans generally ignored him after his brief time in the spotlight, but there was always the chance that his wolfish looks may elicit a violent response. Finally, the pilot flilpped the latch over to the open position and swung the door open. Peering in, he blinked a few times, but as Balto watched, his hands tightened up into white-knuckle fists, and he suddenly erupted into a loud string of curses and obscenities and ran off to the supply depot.

After a display like that, one can't really blame Balto for being somewhat hesitant to enter the plane, but he wanted to make sure no one was hurt. Poking his head in slowly, he looked around, prepared to run if something should attack him, but all he could see were some broken boxes. Well, in all reality, the boxes were totally shattered, smashed beyond all repair with all their contents strewn across the floor. 'Maybe that explains the pilot's reaction...' Balto mused to himself, 'Humans seem touchy over spilled things,'. "Hello?" Balto called out hesitantly, "Anyone home?".

He started slightly when he heard some grunting and groaning coming from one of the broken boxes. "Hello?" he asked, jumping up into the fuselage of the plane. The box in question was smashed, like all the others, but it appeared to be... Moving. "It's alive!" Balto exclaimed jokingly, smiling a bit. However, he jumped again when a voice emerged from under the wreckage.

"God damn it, Itchy... Get off of me!" a gruff voice growled from below the box.

"I'm sorry, boss! I'm trying!" was the response, and the wreckage jerked around a bit as the two dogs tried to disentangle themselves.

"Don't be sorry, just get off!" growled the first voice again, obviously getting angry.

"Hey, guys, do you need some help?" Balto asked, poking his head closer to the box. However, the two gave no indication of having heard him, as they continued to struggle under the box. Finally, the larger of the two decided to take things into his own paws, and abruptly stood up, sending up a great flurry of objects flying into the air. Along with wreckage of the box, this cascade included one very surprised looking dachshund, yelping in a high register. Leaping up, Balto deftly snagged the back of the ratty old shirt the dachshund was wearing and deposited him gently to the floor of the plane.

"Thanks..." the little dog said, shaking out his outfit. Suddenly, he jumped back with a yelped curse, exclaiming "Whoa! Hang on! Who're you??" as he backed up, finding refuge behind the other dog, a rather handsome german shepherd. "Uh... Geback! I know ka-ra-te!" the weiner dog growled as he stood up on his hind legs, extending his paws in a weak imitation of a martial arts stance. Of course, this just heightened the sense of ridiculousness in the whole situation.

"Whoa, now, Itchy... This guy just saved your hide! Show a little respect!" exclaimed the shep, giving Itchy a little swat to the side of the head.

"Ow! That hurt..." Itchy exclaimed, whining a bit. He ruefully snatched his hat off his head and scratched the side of his head, brushing off a few fleas which tagged along.

The big dog snatched the dachshund's hat from his paws, but then gave Itchy's head an affectionate ruffle with his forepaw and plopped the hat back on Itchy's pointy head. "Sorry, 'bout that, pal. I am Charlie B. Barkin, and this is my associate, Itchy Itchiford, dachshund. What's your name?" Before Balto could even start to answer, Charlie cut in again, saying "Um... Also, where exactly are we?".

"The name's Balto, just Balto. As for our where, you have arrived in the pinnacle of Western civilization, and the greatest town in the world, Nome," Balto said sarcastically, grinning and wagging.

The little guy's eyes bugged out at this, and he immediately plopped to his ass and started scratching at some fleas buried deep in his hide. "Um... Nome? Like, Alaska? Oh crap... That's... That's... Bad!" he exclaimed, scratching his head with a paw. Charlie consented with planting a paw on his face and shaking his head at Itchy's display.

"What do ya mean, you didn't know where you were being crated off to? Didn't your owners tell you?" Balto asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Ha! Owners!" Charlie exclaimed, chuckling. "Don't make me laugh, pal. Me an' ol' Itchy here are rogue dogs. We were shipped here from New Orleans... A culmination of different reasons, but namely because the pound was getting sick of us, so they tossed us on the nearest plane. Hence our timely arrival," Charlie said, rolling his eyes goofily. "Say... What say you we get off this here tin can before that pissy human comes back?" the golden shep asked, trotting out the door.

"Is he always so... Random?" Balto asked Itchy, following in Charlie's path. Itchy nodded, grinning.

"Now, how about a proper introduction?" Charlie asked, moving his large red nose down towards Balto's furry silvery crotch. Balto followed suit, taking a good healthy whiff of Charlie's considerable golden sheath. Balto found himself enjoying this for some reason; there was no real reason to enjoy it, he had done the same hundreds of times in his life, but something made this time different, special. Charlie's own special musk was enthralling to his nose, and as he sniffed he felt ashamedly a little pulse in his own groin as his cock grew in his sheath. Directly after this, Balto could've sworn that Charlie's nose was touching his sheath, but then he pulled back, and reluctantly Balto withdrew from Charlie's nether regions. Balto and Itchy then exchanged sniffs as well, perfectly normally, and the strange touch with Charlie was already fading from Balto's mind by the time they finished.

"Well, what say we explore this here town? Balto, I assume you know the place? Care to give us a little tour?" Charlie asked, wagging his long shaggy tail.

For the next hour or so, Balto led them through the streets, past all of the familiar buildings, describing each in passing. All too soon, though, they had finished, and were back on the outskirts of town. "So... Where do you live, Balto? Who's your owner?" Itchy asked, glancing up into Balto's bright golden eyes.

Balto grimaced a little, tail drooping, but caught himself and brought a smile back to his wolfy face. "Well, I live... See out there, that derelict tug boat? The wooden one? That is my humble domicile..." he said, wagging his tail forcefully.

Charlie looked, and sure enough, there it was, silhouetted nicely gaginst the sinking Arctic sun and the sparkling ocean water. However, his mind was elsewhere entirely, pondering Balto's odd expression when asked. He had seen things like that before... Often on the hard-luck, down-trodden mutts he had associated with on occasion. However, he didn't want to be a callous ass, so he chose not to pursue it...

"Hey, what's up with the face thingy, Balto?" Itchy asked, staring up at the large wolfish looking dog in confusion.

"Oh, it's probably just a facial tic, right Balto?" Charlie butted in, stepping on Itchy's stubby tail. He for one could tell when the time wasn't right. Itchy yelped and grabbed at his tail, glaring up at Charlie's long face, but Charlie rolled his eyes and glared back, with a definite 'shut up!' expression.

"Uh... Yah, that's it! Facial tic! Get 'em sometimes!" Balto exclaimed forcefully, wagging emphatically to show his support of the idea. Eager to change the topic, Charlie cleared his throat.

"So... Where does a poor dog stay in this little one-horse town? No offense, of course, but we seem to have been caught a little short at the moment," he asked, giving Balto a strange grin.

"Well... If you don't have owners, you'd probably be stuck outside. I dunno, there's a few options..." Balto said slowly, thinking it over. "The boiler room is always hot, but given that it's summertime now that may not be for the best...". Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Hey, if you guys want you could stay with me for a while! I got a bed under the stars, plenty of room... The occasional fish even swims up to it in high tide! Whadda ya say?" he asked, wagging his tail anxiously.

"Well, I for one would be honoured to accept your most gracious... Um... Deal... Thingy," stated Itchy, bowing slightly. He looked so ridiculous in that pose the Balto and Charlie both instantly burst out in laughter.

"Um... What he said!" Charlie laughed, wagging his tail again and rolling his eyes comically. "Sounds similar to my place... I live in a taxi! Well, lived... Low mileage, of course," he exclaimed, wheezing a laugh. "Hey, listen... thanks for everything," Charlie said, giving Balto a little nuzzle on the side of the neck. It felt lovely, snuggling his head into Balto's soft shaggy pelt, but he knew the limits of simple courtesy and withdrew quickly.

Balto also enjoyed the nuzzle, though he wasn't quite sure why. Charlie's warm touch had simply been coureous, but still... For some reason it felt like more, and Balto was reminded again of the light touch to his sheath during their introductions. However, he was sure he was just imagining things, so he nodded and turned tail, trotting off to his boat with Charlie and Itchy in tow.

Several days went by in a similar manner. Balto showed his two new friends around town, but in general he avoided the other dogs of the town, and finally after a week or so, Charlie commented on it.

"Well... Let's just say I'm not exactly the most popular bum in this town, and leave it at that?" Balto said, trying to brush off the question. Charlie was curious, though, and adamant in his questioning.

"Well... Why not? You seem like a great guy to me, Balto. So what's up? And don't you con me... I haven't made it this far in life and business without being able to distinguish lies from truth..." Charlie said, grinning slightly as the thought 'at least when I'm sober' flashed through his mind.

Balto opened his mouth, but then he caught sight of something over Charlie's shoulder and grimaced, mouth setting in a hard line. "Later... We can talk about it later, Charlie. Let's just get out of here... Like, now, please?" Balto asked, looking decidedly nervous.

Charlie was now somewhat confused, so he craned his neck around to where Balto had been looking. Approaching them was a little gang of dogs, four in all, though it was clear who was the boss and who were the flunkies. The black and white malamute in the middle was clearly boss; Charlie saw it writ all across his smug face and through how he carried his body. "Is it them?" he whispered to Balto, raising a tufted eyebrow.

"Goddam...." Balto cursed, lifting his lip a little to bare his teeth. "Ya, it's them. Don't bother with them... They'll pick a fight if they can find one," Balto said, grimacing and frowning in their direction.

Striding up with all the arrogance of a self-elected leader, the malmute came to a stop in front of Charlie, ignoring Itchy for his size. "So... The new dog in town! Where've ya been?" he asked, smiling a seemingly warm smile. However, Charlie wasn't fooled. He noticed that the smile never reached the big dog's eyes, flecks of cold blue ice set deep into the mutt's skull. Suddenly, the dog's ears flattened back to his skull, and his lip curled in disgust. "Balto! And why are you hanging with this asshole? Low standards? Trust me, you're better off with us of breeding..." the big guy said, directing most of the talk to Charlie.

Quirking an eyebrow up, Charlie felt an immediate dislike for the boisterous mutt and his moronic cohorts. He recognized them for what they were... The leader as a self-absorbed power-hungry asshole, and the lackeys as... Well, idiots following a guy they thought was cool. He also noticed their pointed lack of interest in Itchy, and thought to remedy that situation. "Say, Itch, mighty rude not to include you in this discussion, eh? What d'ya say?" he said, turning to face his bud.

"Uh... Right! Not very nice!" Itchy said, growling slightly. The four newcomers simply laughed.

"Well, here for just one night, the one, the only... Itchy Itchiford!" Charlie exclaimed, waving a paw before Itchy and bowing theatrically.

"But where would I be without the assistance of Charlie B. Barkin?" Itchy asked, laughing slightly. Charlie playfully growled at Itchy, raising a paw as if to strike him in the head, but dropped it and wagged his tail, grinning. However, both then turned back to the gang before them.

"So then, pal, what is your beef with Balto?" Charlie asked, growling slightly. "He's the only dog here who's even cared enough to show us any friendship or hospitality so far," Charlie said, cocking his head off to one side.

The big one, tall-and-ugly as Charlie began to think of him, sneered at this statement. "Dog?" he fairly spat, "Don't make me laugh. This... This bloody half breed? You've been mixing with a wolf, Chucky." Charlie bristled slightly at the mention of that nickname, but tall-'n-ugly continued heedlessly. "This particular half-breed is dangerous! Ask him about his mate! Kill any bitches recently, Bingo?" he asked, smirking at Balto. Balto snarled angrily, baring his teeth, but Charlie stepped in front of him. Tall-'n-ugly was surprised briefly, but then continued once again. "He's dangerous, a mix-breed, and an asshole. If you've any brains you'll join us," he said, sounding as if he thought he had just offered Charlie the world's best T-bone steak.

Itchy began growling too, but Charlie patted his shoulder soothingly. "Quite frankly, I happen to be an excellent judge of character and lies, Mr..." Charlie trailed off, waiting for the name. When it was given, he continued. "From what I can tell, not only was essentially everything you just said a lie, but you yourself seem the asshole here, tough guy." Turning back to Balto, Charlie asked "So... About this mate..." but got no further.

"She was murdered!" Balto snarled, wolfish eyes flashing.

"Ya, by you, Bingo!" Steele exclaimed. His lackeys gave a laugh at this, doubtlessly thinking their leader to be tremendously witty. Balto bared his teeth further, but Charlie shoook his head slightly.

"Do you swear that you had nothing to do with her death, Balto?" Charlie asked seriously, staring directly into Balto's furious golden gaze. Balto met his stare easily, and snarled out an affirmative. "Okay. I believe you," Charlie said, licking the tip of Balto's nose gently. Wheeling around, Charlie walked straight up to Steele, ignoring his escort. "Which makes you a liar!" he exclaimed, poking Steele hard. "And I don't like liars too much! At least, when it's not me..." he said, accentuating the words with a low-pitched growl. "So, may I kindly suggest you piss off?" he snarled, glaring into Steele's shocked eyes.

Steele's eyes flashed, and his breath came in short angry puffs. "How dare you! How fucking dare you?!" he growled, amazed. "Since you clearly have no respect for your betters, street mutt, my boys here will learn you some! GET 'EM!" he yelled.

The three dogs of his escort leaped forward, snarling and snapping. Charlie started forward, but then he was shoved sideways by Balto. "Too long have I put up with your shit, Steele. You know I'm innocent! But I won't have you caught up in this... This is my business," he said, directing the last comments to Charlie.

"Are you serious? Come on, we're friends! Friends stick together!" Itchy exclaimed, stepping up to them.

"Yah... What he said!" Charlie exclaimed, rolling his eyes. "Come on, we can lick 'em!" he said, snarling at Steele. Briefly, though, for then he put on a sassy grin, and gave a 'come-get-it' head toss, tail lowered. As Balto watched, he suddenly took in parts of Chalrlie he had never noticed before; the chewed up ear, the ragged tail, the lean but defined musculature, and the faint criss-crossing of scars over his muzzle. Charlie had definitely been in his fair share of fights, all right. Seeing this, he suddenly felt less afraid and stood easier, prepared for the brawl which was sure to come.

As one, Steele's groupies mobbed the three, and almost instantly Itchy was tossed off to the side, slamming his head on a rock. He collapsed in a string of gibberish curses. Balto and Charlie stood their ground, and as Balto hunkered down and launched himself at Nikki, Charlie raised up on his hind legs and punched Kaltag hard across the muzzle. Kaltag saw stars, but pounced Charlie, and started biting at his neck, going in for the kill. Charlie gave him a powerful kick, and followed with a one-two punch combo of a smack to the side of the head followed by a lefty uppercut to the chin. Kaltag dropped like a rock.

Meanwhile, Balto was wrestling with Nikki. Nikki snapped at his face, cutting up Balto's nose with sharp teeth, but Balto flexed his powerful thighs and threw Nikki back off of him, pressing the attack. He pounced Nikki again and bared his jaws, preparing to rip the fat dog's throat out, but at the last instant he realized what he was doing and merely headbutted Nikki between the eyes. Nikki's eyes snapped closed, and he droopped limp. Now, Charlie and Balto turned on Star, the wimpiest seeming of the three. He giggled hysterically, then uttered a shrieky laugh and ran off yelping. Finally, they rounded on Steele. Both were furious, and Steele could easily tell.

"No... Not the face!" he whimpered, crouching down and loosing a stream of urine to patter to the dirt road. Balto smirked and turned tail, but Charlie stayed a moment longer, and in that moment Steele flexed his big thighs and sprang, snapping his jaws shut on the back of Balto's head. Balto twisted, and got loose, but Steele caught an ear and tore, ripping half of it off. With a high howl of pain, Balto bucked, throwing Steele off. Charlie immediately pounced on Steele, pinning him to the ground while socking him in the face.

"I'll... Teach... You... To pounce... My friend... With... His... Goddam back turned!" Charlie snarled, accentuating every word with a punch. Finally, he felt Balto tugging at him, and stopped, leaving Steele's face a bloody mess.

"Come on, Charlie, he's not worth it... Come on. Itchy, you good?" Balto asked, sniffing at Itchy's long little body.

"Whahoo, that tickles!" he laughed, jumping to his feet. "Um... Whoa! Bad guys!" he exclaimed, plopping to his ass and scratching ferociously at some fleas.

"That's what I love about you, Itchy... Your firm grasp on the obvious," Charlie said, ruffling Itchy's head fur. "Come on... Let's go home." That said, the three of them walked off slowly, heading back to the tug.

When they arrived, Balto rounded on the other two with a strange expression on his face. "List, uh, I'd just... Well, I'd like to thank both of you for helping me back there. Though, of course you'd've been much better off leaving it alone... Now Steele's got new dogs to rag on. But still... Thanks. It's been a long time since anyone has shown any care for me," he finished, bright eyes glistening slightly.

"Aw, come on, you big softy... It's us! You don't think we'd let a member of our gang be smacked around by any old idiot, do you? Charlie said, grinning somewhat bashfully. "We got yer back!"

"Yeah, lie he says!" Itchy exclaimed, wagging his short stump of a tail.

Balto looked back upon them, Itchy's face serious, Charlie's long muzzle twisted by a goofy grin, and felt a sudden powerful surge of emotion for them. He felt companionship, friendship, and... Love? Yes, he felt love for these two beautiful dogs. Happy as the proverbial clam, the three of them went off to scrounge up some dinner.