The greyhound dream

Chapter 3

Storm ran, he got a good 2 second start against the other dogs. They were much faster than those at the other stadium, Storm found himself battling for third place against a sneaky white greyhound. The greyhound would speed up, and slow, and bark, trying to get Storm's attention away from running. But Storm knew his goal, and wasn't about to lose it over some dog's tricks. Storm pushed himself to his limits, running faster than the white greyhound. A grey greyhound was in second place, she ran with ease, and elegance. She'd obviously been running her whole life, and trained nearly every day. Storm budded ahead of her, then fell behind. She was pushing herself to her limits to pass Storm, but he tried even harder. He felt his muscles give away, but kept swiftly moving. The white greyhound was chasing his behind now. The ring was much larger, Storm underestimated the strength he would need to finish the race. His energy diminished, he got no closer to the greyhound that was in the lead. Storm fell back to a normal pace, he figured he better save his energy for finishing the race, or if he had to pass the white greyhound again. Storm saw the line approaching, he threw all his energy forward and neared the lead greyhound's rear. Storm skidded to a halt, he had placed a solid second place against the fastest greyhounds he'd ever met. The crowd screamed and cheered.

"Thank you for joining us today! This round Lighting On The Sky places first! With Chasing The Storm right behind in second place! Love Like No Other in third place! We'll get the next dog ready folks!" The man on the megaphone boomed.

Storm panted and walked up the Lightning On The Sky, "How'd you run so fast! The greyhounds here are way faster than back at home!"

"Haha I'll take that as a compliment! I've trained hard everyday and this is a championship after all, not just your average race! Good job coming second, I got pretty worried when I saw you advancing on me," Lighting smiled.

"Hey Chasing The Storm that was a pretty close huh? Beat me by a thread!" Love Like No Other barked.

"Oh yea! I really pushed myself to the limits that time!" Storm smiled.

Storm's owner came up behind him and attached a lead to him. The man patted Storm approvingly n the head and smiled.

"Good boy Storm! Won us some good money, keep that up and maybe I'll start to train you daily!" The man smiled.

The man led Storm back to Light and Prize, he tied Storm up and took Prize away.

"So what place did you come in?" Light asked.

"Second! But I used every ounce of my energy, those dogs are really fast!" Storm barked.

"No kidding!" Light laughed.

Storm laid down by the pole, he fell into a deep sleep, and before he knew it the day had slipped from his grasp. Storm yawned, he looked around, every team of dogs were still tied to the pole. It was late night, and most dogs were fast asleep. Storm was still groggy from the race, had he pushed himself to hard? He washed that thought out of his mind, of course he hadn't, if it meant getting a good place in a race Storm would push himself into that he was still sore and sleepy hours later. Storm let his head rest on Lights backside, he once again fell into a peaceful rest.

"Wake up! It's almost time for us sleepy head!" Light barked.

Storm groggily opened his eyes, Light was excitedly barking. Prize was grooming his paw, uninterested in anything but himself. Storm got up, he saw the people were just bringing the previous racers back. This time the man grabbed Prize, Storm yawned and licked his white paw. Light was standing on her hind legs trying to get a view of the race.

"You're sure interested today huh?" Storm mumbled.

"Of course! After hearing you got second I wanted to become better!" She barked.

Storm sighed and looked at the brindle and white greyhound that was pulling so hard on her lead just to get a good view of a race that hadn't even started. Storm wagged his tail and ran in place for a second. He tried to loosen his joints for the next race. Light had given up any hope for seeing the race and began to copy Storm's movements. She did it with much less elegance, but it still had the same effect of looseness on her. Storm laughed at her, she was flailing her paws in the air and doing an almost dance like movement. She turned to Storm and got a 'is that a challenge?' face on. Storm smiled back and they began to wrestle. When Prize got back both dogs were panting hard. The man unattached Storm's lead and led him to the small crate. Storm caught his breath and focused on the track. The megaphone man's voice boomed, Storm heard the starting words, 3... 2... 1... Go! The door flung itself open, Storm let his paws guide him. He was fourth place, and advancing on a mostly white but a little black spotted greyhound. Storm placed a solid third place before he began to need to push himself further. He took a deep breath and called on his aching limbs to take him to second place. He ran as fast as the next dog, they were both trying to get ahead of each other, and efficiently losing energy. The dog and Storm locked eyes, he held eye contact. The dog broke eye contact, Storm focussed back on the track, to realize whilst in heavy eye contact he and the dog had passed the lead dog. Storm was amazed at his new found strength, he was running at a pace that would be pushing himself very hard, casually. The second place dog was just at his heels, but Storm was holding the first place. He saw the line approaching in the distance. He gave it his all, running as hard as he could for the last few seconds of the race. The crowd went wild, Storm had made first place!

"Wow ladies and gentlemen I don't think anyone could have predicted that Chasing The Storm could place first! At second we've got Faster Than Sound and third Captain Of The Track!" The megaphone man boomed.

Storm panted hard, he gleamed with pride and pleasure, he'd just placed first in a championship match! The dog he'd been racing against for first place walked casually up to him.

"Good job out there Chasing The Storm, I have a feeling I'll be seeing more of you in championships," The dog grunted.

"Haha for sure! Nice job by the way, I almost lost against you Faster Than Sound!" Storm smiled.

"I didn't expect such a run from you two! I thought I'd have this one in the bag for sure, guess I was wrong though," Captain of the Track barked.

The man patted Storm on the head, he hooked his harness and led him back to the others. Light was eagerly jumping when the men came, and Prize was snoozing.

"What place!?!" Light barked.

"First! I'm a winner," Strom bragged.

"Haha not for long! It's my turn now!" Light exclaimed as she was taken away by the men.

Storm laid his head on the grass and looked to the sky, he remembered Rocky, who was probably lonely without someone to talk to. Storm hadn't even known what he'd looked like, yet he was very attached to the racing dog. He told the best stories of how he'd won races, or how he'd been beaten by the fastest dogs on earth. Storm sighed and slept the rest of the day away.