Pleased to meet you, Karelia," Ralph replied. "I'm Ralph."
Rikko had now said hello to Kodi and even introduced herself. By now, Mika had made his rounds with Dusty, Ralph, and Kirby.
"So, when did you come in?" asked Kirby.
"Last night," Mika responded. "It was rather late. You were all probably asleep when my brother's plane landed."
"Probably," put in Kodi. "So dad probably doesn't even know you're here yet."
"Well, I haven't seen him since I got here, so I doubt it," Mika added.
"Any plan to drop by?" asked Dusty.
"That's our next stop," Karelia responded. "Don't ask me where to look. I haven't been up here in so long, I wouldn't easily remember where to look."
"Can't say I blame you," said Mika. "Come on, let's go find him."
"Okay if I come?" asked Kodi.
"Sure, why not," Mika replied as they set off to find wherever Balto might be.

The last place that Mika, Rikko, Karelia, and Kodi looked was at the old boat on the outskirts of town. By now, Mika had gone back to the house temporarily and gotten some of his hockey equipment. With him were a stick in his right hand, a puck in a jacket pocket, and a goal and net assembly in the left hand. Rikko, meanwhile, was carrying a crate filled with extra pucks. He took it with him to the area surrounding the boat so he could do some shooting drills. If they found Balto out here in the process, Mika thought, great. If not, oh well, the search goes on.
On the boat, Balto and Jenna were inside the deckhouse relaxing after having their breakfast. There wasn't much going on, other than idle talk and just enjoying the view outside the boat. Boris was outside doing some of his usual housekeeping work, seemingly oblivious to what was going on a few yards away, where Mika was taking his practice shots. If anything, Mika was sure that the thumping of pucks hitting the wooden goaltender picture would have caught their attention. Unfortunately, such was Mika's accuracy that all pucks he fired went in the net without even touching the wood goalie set up so he would know where not to aim a shot at.
Boris may not have heard the noise, but Balto and Jenna faintly heard something. It wouldn't be until Mika's next shot, which he tried at a crazy angle just for fun, that they took any notice. The shot bounced off the point where the right post met the crossbar and went straight toward a hole in the railing of the boat. Unfortunately for Boris, he happened to be standing in front of a metal bucket that he usually used for storing water with which to clean the deck along with a mop. The puck hit the bucket and sent Boris flying along with it.
"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Boris screamed as the shot sent almost sent him clear over the horizon and out to sea.
"Uh, did I hit something up there?" Mika said upon hearing the clang of the puck hitting the bucket  and Boris's screams.
"I don't know," Rikko replied. "I can't see anything past the railing."
The railing was blocking her view.
"Ah, probably nothing important," Karelia scoffed, shaking it off as if it never even happened.
Not so with Balto and Jenna, who were both very concerned.
"Boris!" Balto called out in desperation. "Boris, can you hear me?!"
"Where are you, Boris?!" Jenna chimed in.
They both frantically searched the boat for him. Meanwhile, Karelia let out a howl to announce their presence. Kodi joined him. As Balto was closest to their location, he heard them more easily.
"Now what could that be?" he said to himself. He then ran over to the edge of the boat and immediately spotted one of his kids, an unknown dog that he didn't quite recognize, a male human who he immediately recognized, and a female human that he didn't recognize at first.
"Hey, B-Rock! Look who's back!" Mika called out to his canine friend.
"Mika!" Balto called back. "Jenna! Mika's back!" he then called out to his mate.
Jenna then bounded over to where Balto was standing on the boat. After seeing Mika, both of them headed down the ramp leading onto and off of the boat and immediately ran over to where the Finn, his girlfriend, dog, as well as one of their own sons were standing.
"Look who I found walking the streets of Nome again," said Kodi, motioning with his head at Mika.
"Yes, I see," Jenna replied.
"Kirby spotted them coming out of Outdoor Outfitters," Kodi added.
Meanwhile, Balto had gone straight over to Mika. Clearly, he was elated to see his Finnish friend once again. And Mika was equally happy to see Balto again.
"Oh, it is so good to see you again!" Mika said happily as he hugged Balto. "The day before coming back up here I was telling Kevin," he continued, pausing to catch his breath and think of what to say next, "how much I missed you." He then motioned for Jenna to come over and say "hi".
"Jenna, come here, girl," he said. Balto backed up a little bit to let Jenna in as she bounded over to greet Mika.
Meanwhile, Rikko had crouched down to Balto's level to say her hellos.
"So, you must be Balto," she said. "Mika's told me so much about you."
"I had a hunch he would have by now," Balto thought. "Now I know for sure that Mika wasn't kidding when he told me about you."
Rikko knew by now what Balto had pulled off during the diptheria scare four years ago, having heard about it from the newspapers and eventually hearing Mika describe what he knew about the outbreak. Who better to tell Mika the whole story of what happened than one of the dogs involved with getting the serum to Nome?
"So, when did you come in?" Balto asked Mika.
"Last night," Mika responded. "It was a bit late when Mikko landed."
"Yeah, he told me so himself, Dad," Kodi put in. "Although I didn't hear anything. I must've really been out by that time."
"Me too," added Balto.
"Same here," finished Jenna. She then turned to Balto and said, "So, I take it that's Rikko."
"Yes, indeed," Balto confirmed.
"Well if I ever doubted what Mika told you about her before," Jenna said to Balto, "I'm not doubting it now. I know we both just met her, but it already sounds like what you told me that Mika told you about her was right on the mark."
"There was no way I could fabricate any part of that," said Balto. "Not by a long shot."
The way Balto described Rikko to Jenna was that if the human species had an answer to Jenna, Rikko was exactly that. The only prior hint Jenna had of Balto's description of Rikko was an older photograph of her and Mika from back when they were still living in Kokkola, Finland. Which was also before Mika grew out his blonde mullet. But it only had her slightly convinced. Now that she was here in person, Jenna found that story a little more believable, as did Balto. Until now, all he had to go by on that was Mika's word of mouth. Namely, all he knew about Rikko was what Mika had told him. Now, he too, had a reason to believe it more than he had before.
"And you must be Karelia," said Balto.
"That I am," Karelia confirmed.
Karelia got his name after a region of eastern Finland that lay on the border with Russia. Despite some Nordic cultural landscapes in Finland, the Finns were not a Scandinavian people. Instead, their roots lie with the Estonians to the south across the Gulf of Finland. They themselves originated in the Ural Mountains that separate Europe and Asia, splitting Russia onto two different continents.
Meanwhile, back out over the water, Boris had landed in the shallow water just off the beach. When he woke up after being temporarily knocked unconscious, he found a hockey puck next to him.
"Where did this come from?" he asked himself aloud. With that, he started for shore, carrying the puck and bucket with him. He was determined to find out where it came from.
His own girlfriend, Stella, was off looking for food well away from the boat's location. She had returned just as Boris had made it back to shore. She found him wobbling around, a little woozy from a combination of exhaustion from swimming back to shore and from being spun around in mid-air after he and the pail went flying through the air.
"Boris? What happened to you?" Stella asked, sounding very concerned.
"This hit me," Boris replied as he held up the puck, his voice slurred slightly as he was still in a daze.
"Where could it have come from?" Stella pondered.
"I don't know," Boris responded.
At that moment, Stella saw something on shore that gave her a hint into what happened.
"Uh, Boris," she said after a brief pause. "I think I found out where that thing came from." She then motioned towards where Mika, Rikko, Balto, Jenna, Kodi, and Karelia were all gathered.
"Well, look who's back!" Boris exclaimed, having finally regained his wits. He and Stella both went over to where Mika and the others were standing.
"Welcome back, Mika," said Stella after she and Boris arrived.
"Hi, Stella, Boris," Mika said in response.
"Uh, I believe this is yours," said Boris sounding a little displeased as he held up the puck that sent him on his recent wild ride.
He then threw the puck at Mika like a discus, only for the Finn to catch it with one hand. The jaws of both geese dropped, as did those of every dog nearby except Karelia.
"Holy cow,