Invasion: Chapter 1: The New Kid In Town

"You're kidding me. It's over already?" Balto thought to himself. He had just gone on the ride of his life, fulling a dream of flying. After saving Duke the pilot following a plane crash a few months earlier, the favor had been returned. Reluctantly, Balto stepped out of the cockpit and set foot on the ground. Jenna and Kodi were waiting nearby, having come back into Nome after seeing Duke's plane land. Eagerly, they ran over to see him. Balto looked rather expressionless, thrilled to have experienced such a thrilling ride, yet slightly bummed out that it seemed to end too soon. For him, anyway. "Welcome back, Balto" Jenna said, rubbing the top of her muzzle against the underside of his.
"How was the plane ride, Dad?" asked Kodi.
"It was terrific!" Balto exclaimed. "Could've been longer though. I would have asked for a longer ride, but Duke had to land and refuel."
"Sounds great!" Kodi said enthusiastically. "When can I ride?" "You might want to take that up with Duke himself" Balto suggested. All three of them laughed lightly. "So, you had a good time?" asked Jenna, eager to hear the details. "Yes, definitely. And the view was better than I ever imagined" said Balto, also sounding enthusiastic. Any feelings of disappointment seemed to disappear at that very moment. Just having two loved ones being there to greet him had given him a boost. Even Jenna and Kodi could tell that Balto did not come away disappointed or let down by the experience. It was as though he had completed a major accomplishment, or achieved a lifelong dream. Although he'd only had the dream since he first saw a plane fly, it seemed like it had been with him much longer. Either way, Balto loved every minute of the flight. Aside from the flight, none of them could think of anything else to talk about on the way back to Nome. The only other topic that came up was what Kodi and his team were going to do now that they were off for the summer. Kodi paused for a while before he finally spoke. "Oh, I don't know. Probably the same things all the other dogs do. And see if I can get that ride." "Well, you're going to have to wait for that," said Balto. "Duke has to go on his first mail run of the summer season once he refuels his plane." "Whoa, wait a minute!" Kodi exclaimed. "We won that race, and he still gets a job doing the same thing that I do?" "They have to keep the mail and supplies moving somehow when the snow melts," Balto said. "Yeah, unless someone invents a dogsled with wheel and axle fittings that will let a sled move over ground that isn't snow-covered, I don't think we'll be seeing any year-round mail-running by dogsled anytime soon" Jenna added. "But just think, you'll have something to look foward to." "Yeah," said Kodi. "I sure will. That, and my own aerial tour. And you know, that does make sense about keeping the mail runs going even though we can't make them. As we say, 'the mail must go through'." "You got that right, son" Balto added as the trio headed into Nome.
Once back in town, Balto's next destination was the dog market to look at some new collars. His usual one was starting to feel tight and uncomfortable around his neck, which is why he hadn't even been wearing one lately. Not finding one he liked, he decided to come back later. His next destination was the dog's restaurant to inquire about a bottle of peach juice, which was usually in abundant supply. After picking it up, Balto started for home. Coming out of an alleyway with the juice strapped to his back, Balto suddenly noticed somebody bearing down on him, obviously in a hurry, at a perpendicular angle to him. And he didn't even notice until he was already out in the street. By then, it was too late. "WHOA!" both of them screamed. The other being, a human, had nowhere to go but straight into Balto. The ensuing impact knocked both of them over and dislodged the juice bottle from Balto's back. The stranger landed right on top of the bottle, his entire body weight crushing the glass, a piece of which ended up lodged in his right cheek. He grimaced from the pain, not just from the glass fragment, but because peach juice was seeping into the fresh wound. Just in front of both of them, two men who had been carrying a window, which got destroyed in the chaos, were picking up what was left of what was supposed to be a new storefront window. Neither were pleased with the guy who had just accidently knocked the window out of their grasp, breaking it. "Watch where you're going, kid!" one of them exclaimed, grabbing him by his jacket. "Hey I'm walking here!" the kid, who actually was more of a young adult. "Besides, it's not my fault your window broke. That dog there tripped me." He was clearly still reeling from the glass shard and peach juice in his face. "And maybe should have had a firmer grip on it." "Where do you get off telling us how to carry a window?!" the other man asked in a very cross manner. From around a nearby building corner, Balto watched as a heated argument ensued. After roughly five minutes it was over, at which point the stranger walked off fuming, his cheek bleeding slightly. "You going to pay for the window or what, kid?" one of window carriers asked. "I'll send you the money when I can afford it," the stranger answered. "And by the way, I have a name, you know. It's Mika (pronounced me-kah)." He couldn't say much else because the pain from his cheek laceration made it hard to talk. As he walk past, bound for the hospital, Balto couldn't help but look up at Mika and think "Man, that guy sure has a bad attitude. Then again, anybody would if that just happened to them." And with that, he went back for another bottle of peach juice, a no-charge replacement, and went home.
The glass shard was carefully removed from Mika's right cheek after his arrival at the hospital. Despite being told to hold still and the best efforts to remove it as painlessly as possible, Mika still flinched a little. Quickly, more blood spilled form the laceration. Fortunately, a bandage had been applied in time to stop any further bleeding. The extent of the damage was such that the wound would have to be stitched shut and bandaged. "For such a nasty accident, it's incredible you didn't sustain a more serious injury than this, Mr. Kykalisko (pronounced koo-ka-lis-ko)" said the doctor who was treating him. "Now the wound is gonna hurt for a few days, but it will heal eventually." "How long will that take?" Mika asked. "Hopefully no more than a week," said the doctor. "And I will say it's a good thing that you got here as soon as you did. If you had waited any longer or had tried to remove the glass yourself, the damage extent could've been a lot worse." Mika breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't easy for him explaining what had happened. He wasn't sure if anyone would believe him, which fortunately, was not the case. He also spoke with a thick Finnish accent, which few, if any people in town, even understood, even though he'd lived in Nome for roughly seven months. And yes, he hails from Finland. Before leaving the hospital, Mika was given a couple bags of ice for his cheek. He had also been advised to keep them in a cold, dry place. After thanking the doctor who treated his injury, Mika went home for the day.
Balto, running a few minutes late, finally made it back to Jenna's house with the juice. She looked happy to see him, although she wondered why the errand took longer than expected. "What took you so long, baby?" Jenna asked. "Ugh," Balto grunted, "you won't believe what happened to me." "You can still tell me," Jenna said reassuringly. "Alright, here's what happened. I went to the dog market to look at a new collar. Not finding one I liked, I went ahead to the restaurant to get some of that peach juice we both like." Balto paused briefly to decide how to describe what happened, not sure if Jenna would believe him. "On the way back, FROM OUT OF NOWHERE," his voice elevating, "I get clobbered by somebody who must have in a hurry. He trips, lands on top of the juice bottle, crushes it, and in doing so bumps into two guys carrying a window. They drop it, it shatters, and a fragment of the bottle gets lodged in his right cheek." "Ooh. That's gotta hurt." Jenna said it grimacing slightly. "Yeah," Balto replied. "So anyway, the window guys start yelling at this other guy, he does likewise, they start arguing, and it ended with him storming off. I tell you, Jenna, he was MAD. Then again, anyone would be if they were in his shoes." "So how did you get this juice bottle?" Jenna asked. "It was given to me as a free replacement" Balto responded. "What luck." "Yeah." Balto continued. "What's really weird is, I knew the new guy was mad, but I couldn't understand a freaking word he said." "What?" asked Jenna. "Well, he spoke with a bit of an accent. It was quite thick. Not to mention he was yelling at them in some other language that I don't recognize. It was definitely not a local Inuit dialect" Balto added. "He said his name was Mika, but

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