Karelia.
"Holy cow, you're quick!" said Kodi in surprise. "It's like you know."
"You should see me move on skates," Mika retorted. "And Boris, I didn't see you up there. The railing on the boat was blocking my view."
Suddenly, the four dogs in the area picked up a largely familiar smell.
"Uh, I smell herring now," Balto spoke, sounding tentatively. He then sniffed the air again to be sure. "Yep, it's herring."
"Fish on land?" asked Karelia.
"No, not even close," Jenna replied.
"Uncle Boris!" a voice exclaimed off in the distance.
"NO! Not the bears!" Boris exclaimed.
Before he knew it, two polar bear cubs - none other than Muk and Luk - were upon him. Scared out of wits, Rikko jumped up in hopes that Mika would catch her. He did, but as he wasn't fully upright, he struggled to keep his balance. Karelia, also spooked by the site of the bears, followed suit. Unfortunately, the extra weight caught Mika off balance, and they all fell over. Worst of all, Rikko's right elbow was accidentally pushing down on Mika's trachea.
"What are those things?!" Rikko asked in an exclamatory tone.
"Uh, Rikko," said Mika, his voice obviously altered by his windpipe being forced closed. "Your elbow's choking me!"
Rikko gasped as she saw what she didn't know she was doing.
"Oh!" she quickly said in surprise as she pulled her elbow off of Mika's throat. "Sorry about that, sweetheart."
"Who are these whacked-out fluff-balls?" Karelia asked.
"Muk and Luk, longtime friends of Boris and me," Balto responded.
"You know these mooks?" Karelia asked again.
"Yes, indeed," Balto again responded. "I've known Boris since I was a pup, having met him shortly after I first arrived here in Nome. My mother, a wolf, died when I was very young, and I never really knew my father, except that he was husky like you."
"Technically, I'm a malamute," Karelia nearly interrupted Balto.
"Well, he was still a nordic-type dog," Balto finished.
Meanwhile, Boris had gotten the usual Muk-and-Luk-type greeting they always gave him. Afterwards, it was Mika who was next under siege. They were happy to see him, too.
"Okay, okay, easy there, you two," said Mika as he tried to get Muk and Luk to calm down. "I'm happy to see you both, too."
"Are they always this hyper?" asked Rikko after she noticed the bears continue to bounce around like crazy.
"How should I know?" Mika replied. "I never bothered trying to understand them. I just accept the fact that they're like two really big kids. With one of them noticeably bigger than the other."
"Yeah, I'll say," Rikko added. "Who's who, again?"
"Luk is the larger of the two, and Muk is the smaller one," Mika responded.
The way he was able to tell was by a system of his own using the first letters of their names. The "L" in Luk stood for "large", as Luk was easily the bigger of the two. The "M" in Muk meant "miniature", since Muk, in Mika's mind, could easily be taken for a miniature version of Luk.
The Finn, meanwhile, was still gasping for air. Not just from Rikko accientally choking him, but also from the excited - and somewhat rough - greeting he got from the bears.
"I'm probably the first person I know," he said as he fought to catch his breath, "who's ever been greeted by a polar bear and not get mauled at the same time!"
"Well, you're not the only one, that's for sure!" Rikko added. "They were quite happy to see me, too."
"And yet they've never met you before," Mika said, stating the obvious.
"They sure took to her quite well," Balto put in.
"That they did," Mika finished.

That evening, Mikko, Mika, and Rikko were sitting in on a jam session with Mika's former band, Arctic Thunder, originally named Lapp Attack. Kaj, being a member himself, was definitely there. The lineup since Mika left to go play pro hockey was as follows:
Nick Jones: Lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Kaj Kykalisko: Lead guitar, backing vocals
Keith Black: Keyboards
Colin Stevenson: Bass guitar, backing vocals
Ryan Andrews: Drums and percussion
Originally, Nick did vocals without playing an instrument, with Mika playing rhythm guitar and even sometimes alternating lead vocal duties with Nick. After incurring strained relations with Keith, Nick quit the band, leaving Mika to assume double duty as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist. But following an altercation in an alleyway in which Kaj was attacked and almost killed, Mika, who killed one of the attackers and wounded the other two with a revolver, fled Nome for his own safety. Nick reassumed the frontman position, only to be injured during the extremist invasion. After Mika pursued them back to Nome, he would later take back his former position, beginning at a benefit show for the victims of the extremist attacks. They performed a few more shows with Mika before he got the offer to come play for the Detroit Cougars. Afterwards, Nick and Keith managed to patch things up and Nick came back into the band. And it was shortly afterward that the band changed its name from Lapp Attack to Arctic Thunder.
By now, everyone had their respective instruments out and had just wrapped up working on a new song called "Reach For The Sky." Mika also had a guitar out, as Nick and Kaj did already.
"That was very good, guys," Mika said of the new song.
"I've enjoyed all of them so far," Mikko put in. "Very cool."
"Yes, indeed, very good stuff," Rikko added.
"So, where's your dog, Mika?" Colin asked.
"Oh, Balto and Jenna took him out on the town for the night," Mika replied. "Something about taking him to meet some of the other dogs in town and showing him some of their favorite hangouts."
"Oh, okay," Colin responded.
"Besides, it's not like you haven't met him before," Mika added, noting the fact that Kaj had already introduced Karelia to them. So it wasn't like they weren't gonna get to meet him.
Between the time that Mika had left Nome and the present, Arctic Thunder added five new songs to its list. They almost never played covers, almost always playing their own original material. Mika was now in the process of looking over the lyrics to one of those five songs, this one named "Reach For The Sky". The band were going through the song while Mikko, Mika, and Rikko followed the words that Nick was singing along with what was written down.

Reach For The Sky

Reach for the sky, babe
Make it to heaven
Before your dreams grow old
Reach for the sky, babe
It's over your shoulder
Reach for your dawn's early light

I don't believe in miracles
But I do believe in fate
And I do believe it's calling your name
Don't depend on lucky breaks
If luck is on your side
It's just the joker playing in your game
You can see the chances coming
But you look the other way
At the risk of sounding helpless, girl
That's where we went wrong

Reach for the sky, babe
Make it to heaven
Before your dreams grow old
No one's so blind, girl
It's over you shoulder
Reach for your dawn's early light

Don't tell me you're not satisfied
Don't tell me that you can't find
A reason for the rocks upon your road
Educate you appetite
With a capital "A"
Lean to let me help you share the load
But you keep me at your distance
As the tears begin to show
So I really hope you make it, girl
Before I have to go

Reach for the sky, babe
Make it to heaven
Before your dreams grow old
No one's so blind, girl
It's over you shoulder
Reach for your dawn's early light

(It's all up to you)

"Very impressive," Mika said after he finished reading the lyrics.
"Thanks," Nick replied. "All five of us had a hand in writing the song in one way or another."
"Just like 'It Shouldn't Take Too Long'," Kaj added. "You, me, Keith, Colin, and Ryan all helped write it."
"You helped write these?" Mikko asked his brothers.
"Nick and I were the ones who originally wrote the lyrics," Mika commented. "Kaj got the idea for 'Fear Of Falling' after coming to America. It's about New York City, and since our earliest days in America were spent there, that's why the song is about that city."
"Interesting," said Rikko. "You know, Mika keeps a guitar with him in Kevin's apartment in Detroit."
"Really?" Kaj asked.
"Yes, indeed," Mika responded.
"Well, sounds like a part of this place went with you down to D-town!" Kaj added with a laugh.
"Indeed!" Mika put in. He, too, began laughing.

Nome scenes to be continued in Chapter 3, name still TBD.
Reach For The Sky originally performed by Cutting Crew. Arctic Thunder, the band featured in this series as well as Invasion, is a fictional incarnation of Cutting Crew.