Oddball's Adventures of Snow Buddies

chapter 19

The next morning, Shasta came out of the igloo first. He saw that it was morning, so he woke everybody up. Patch was the first to wake up with a yawn.

Adam woke up, he crawled out the door and smiled as he saw the fluffy snow and it was morning. "Let's go, pups," he then told his canine team. "We got a race to win."

"Yeah, we do!" Oddball cheered.

Neysa and her father wished the racers luck as they saddled up in the sled and moved out once again. This time though, Oddball was going to be on Budderball's side in the race so she could finally show the others what she was made of. And where Buddha was okay with taking a rest from yesterday.

"That's my girl." Patch smiled proudly as Oddball took her turn.

"This is so awesome." Oddball smiled.

"Let the force be with you, Oddball." Buddha whispered hopefully for the female dalmatian puppy.

They didn't know it yet, but they were right next to Jean George and his team.

Eventually, the two teams met. Adam yelped as he fell off his sled as the dogs were about to hit each other. Jean George laughed as he saw Adam fall as he kept going ahead with his dogs.

"That was so uncalled for!" Oddball growled.

"Whoa, that was close!" Shasta called in relief, then looked back to his human with a gasp. "Adam's hurt!"

Patch and Colette rushed out of the blanket and saw Adam fall flat in the snow. Patch went over to see how badly injured Adam was. The puppies even came and tried to lick the boy awake. Adam grunted and tried to get them away.

"Stand back, guys, let him breathe." Patch told the Buddies.

The Buddies all did so.

"Adam, are you all right?" Colette asked the boy.

"Yeah, I'm okay, guys," Adam stood up, dusting himself and put the sled back on top in place. "Hike!"

"You heard the man, let's go!" Oddball sounded mature now.

Patch, Colette, and Buddha soon went back under the blanket before they were on the move again.

"Come on, Shasta, we can do this!" Adam called. "Hike! Hike!"

They were very far, but not too far now from the finish line.

The announcer announced Adam's arrival with the puppies and everybody cheered for them.

Adam saw Jean George stopping, so he told the pups to stop for now. "Where you going?!" he called to the bullying adult.

"It is too late, you cannot save them!" Jean George yelled. "Zhey are goners, huh?"

"Seriously? He's just giving up on his dogs?" Patch asked.

"Quitter..." Colette huffed.

Adam stopped and he took a closer look. Jean George's dogs were stuck in the water and the ice broke up around them and they looked as though they could drown.

"How come they broke the ice?" Oddball asked. "We didn't do that before!"

"They fell through the ice because they're too heavy." Shasta replied, then looked back to the others. "There's something I need to tell you guys..." he then said softly and sadly. "This is where my mom and dad died."

"We know, Shasta, Francois told us." Patch said.

"He did?" Shasta asked in surprise.

The others nodded to him to show that that fact was indeed true.