Jake was almost running back to his house, he wanted to get his gear as soon as possible, catching up to that girl was his priority number one. He quickly grabbed his board and mask, glanced at his wristwatch, and rushed outside. It was almost 6 pm, it would get dark in a few hours, he had to find her until then.
He regrouped with the gang, and they started moving towards the mountain. They walked at a pretty fast pace, which was still incredibly slow for Jake. He was holding back from just transforming into his dragon form and dashing to the destination. Spud and Trixie were chatting and laughing behind him, while his eyes were glued to the mountain.
"Dragon sight!" His eyes changed, pupils transforming to the likes of a reptile. He scanned the mountain, the people on it, and the people on the ski lift. He thought he saw the pink hat that she was wearing, but he wasn't sure. He sighed, and transformed his eyes back.
Shortly after, he was riding alone in a ski lift cabin. Trixie and Spud were riding before him. The lift was fast, which calmed down Jake a little. He decided to kill the time by checking on his gear. His new snowboard was mostly black, with a red dragon painted on the back. He wiped his mask, checked the straps on the board, and looked out the window.
The higher they got, the more breathtaking was the view. The mountain was surrounded by a forest of pine trees, and a little further, he could see a huge lake, which appeared to be frozen. He wanted to check it out at some point during this vacation, it looked so mysterious, almost magic. The sky was covered in clouds, but he could see where the sun was. It was slowly moving towards the horizon, which meant that he was running out of time. He looked forward, and was happy to see that the top was near.
He could see a few houses, like the ones back in the village, with smoke coming out of the chimneys. He figured these were some sort of restaurants and maybe some souvenirs shops. At last, he could get out of the cabin. Trixie and Spud raced to the track, while he looked around. That girl was nowhere to be seen, so he decided to have a quick ride on one of the tracks. There were 5, with increasing difficulty. Most of the people here were on tracks 1 and 2, some were riding 3 and 4. Trixie and Spud went for the third one, to get comfortable with the mountain first.
Of course, Jake went for the 5th track. No one seemed to be around this one, which made him feel pretty cool. He strapped himself to the board, put the mask on, and took a deep breath. Just as he was about to take off, he heard footsteps behind him. She was wearing a mask with pink one sided glass, so he couldn't see half of her face, but he recognized her right away.
"Hey" he said, trying not to be nervous.
"Hey yourself!" she was excited, he thought she was anxious to ride, but hoped she was happy to see him.
"Did you try this one yet?" he pretended to adjust his watch.
"Not really, no. I'm pretty sure I can handle it though." She replied, while adjusting the straps on her own board. "This one's pretty extreme, I tried 4 before this, which is considered really hard for most, I liked it. How do you like the mountain in general?" she took way too long with her straps, strapping and unstrapping, maybe she was stalling as well. At least he hoped so.
"Dunno yet! I'm starting with this one" He was finally ready, and got into position.
"Confident, are we? I like it. Let's see what you got then!" She suddenly stopped fumbling with the straps, and jumped onto the track. Jake smirked, and immediately followed.
The track was extremely steep from the start. He quickly gained speed. He watched her flawlessly maneuver the obstacles, and throwing in a few tricks here and then. He wasn't going to spend the way down watching her back though. He ducked, and started gaining on her. Then he saw the perfect opportunity- there was a snowdrift ahead. He was just a few feet away from her at this point, and as he hoped, she chose to dodge it. He used the snowdrift as a trampoline, and summersaulted over her head, landing ahead. He heard her laugh then, a cheerful, kind of "challenge accepted" laugh. He smiled himself, and pressed on.
They kept racing, showing off, at the hardest track of the mountain. They almost danced around each other, having the time of their life. When they finished 2/3 of the track, Jake was ahead. He took an opportunity to jump, and do a 360. When he was about to land from the jump, something happened. For a split second, he saw something big coming his way. Before he could process, what it was, it hit him. He was completely blown away, off the track. He heard her scream then
"JAKE!", just before he started chaotically rolling down at a deadly speed. There were no trees for the hundred meters, but he knew, that if he hit a tree at this point, he would be very lucky to survive. He tried to transform, but couldn't focus. The forest was closing in. Suddenly, he felt someone pull hard on his hood, bringing him back into upright position. He was in control again, but the forest was upon them. They had no choice, but to maneuver around trees. This turned into a race for their lives, one mistake would mean the end. She was right beside him, which somehow empowered him.
As they sped through the forest, he saw something blue amidst the trees. He realized then, that they were heading right for the lake. He couldn't know how thick the ice was, and he couldn't risk them going underwater. Finally, the forest was behind them, but they were still too fast to stop before the lake. He shouted then
"Hold on!" as he grabbed her by the waste with his right hand, while he buried his left in the snow. He transformed his left hand, and reached the earth below the snow, digging his claws into it. It hurt a lot, but he wouldn't let go. And just when they were about to hit the ice, they halted to a full stop.
They lay there, both breathing heavily. Jake lost his mask along the way, and he heard her taking off her mask. They looked at each other for a few seconds, then just burst into laughter. The tension slowly went away, as they laughed away the fear and nervousness. Finally, they sat up. She was the one to break the silence
"Well, you sure do have the skills to back up that confidence of yours" she said
"Aw come on, YOU were amazing" he replied, to which she smiled sheepishly. "What was it that hit me though? I couldn't really see"
"I'm not sure myself. Looked like some kind of… giant snowball?"
"Aw well, guess I got in the middle of a snow troll snowball fight" They both chuckled then. After a pause, she spoke
"Do you think they exist? Trolls. Well, not just trolls. All kinds of mythical beasts and creatures."
"Yes. I really do. I think there's much more to the world, than meets the eye." He said, looking into the sky.
"Me too. But it's one thing to believe, and another to actually see any proof. I'd give a lot to live in a world with magic." She sounded somewhat sad, and Jake wanted nothing more, than to transform right there and then. It took him a great deal of self-restraint, to not do just that.
"You never know, maybe someday it'll happen. Just look at this lake even, seems pretty magic to me." He said, smiling slightly. She smiled back at him, and nodded
"Yeah, it IS beautiful" she said, as she took in the sight of the lake, trees and mountains around them.
Jake could only see one beautiful thing though.
Neither of them wanted to get up, or break the silence. They both reveled in the cold, fresh and somewhat enchanting air around them, and each other's company. Jake looked at the sky, and saw the sun getting lower. He hated it, but they had to move. He spoke
"We have to…"
"I know. Do you… want to come here again? Together?"
"I'd love to. Would you?"
"I'd love to."
Hearing her say that, made Jake's chest warm. He then remembered something
"Wait, did I ever tell you that my name is Jake?"
She frowned for a second
"I'm not sure… Maybe I heard someone call you that."
"Aw" Jake got up, and lend her a hand "Well, I'm Jake. Hi there. "
She smiled, took his hand, and got up
"Hi yourself. I'm Rose"