Chapter 7: Back to the Past
SSX Resort, Main Hall
The next morning, Atomika and Zoe gathered the whole team in the main hall for the analyses.
"Okay is everyone here Mark?" Zoe asked.
"Let me see, we have you, Elise, Kaori, Moby, Psymon, Tane..." Atomika said stopped looked around.
"Who do we miss?" Zoe asked.
"We miss Alex, Ty and Mac. I don't know why Ty is late, but I already expected this from Alex and Mac." Atomika said.
"Tane how is it that you are on time, you were with them on their training session, weren't you?" Zoe asked.
"I used something they would have never thought about, an alarm clock. I am feeling just fine so you don't have to worry about me." Tane said.
"Oh, yeah well makes perfect sense, I'll go get them from their rooms." Zoe said when she wanted to go to their room.
"That won't be necessary, there they are." Atomika said when he pointed at them
Then suddenly, they all saw Alex, Mac and Ty running towards the main hall.
"I know for sure that I set and alarm, but it didn't go off. What happened to my alarm clock, Ty?" Mac asked.
"Sorry, I'm a heavy sleeper, must have turned it off at night. My bad hehe." Ty said guilty.
"You did what! Thanks a lot dude, now we are late and I'm tired as hell." Mac said angry.
"Come on, lighten up, you can get more action on the mountain. That will keep you awake." Alex said.
"Right, we are going to one of my favorite courses, Snow Jam and R&B from the third tournament. Just you wait guys, you are going to understand why I love that place." Mac said.
"Yeah me too, especially R&B, the grinds and jumps are amazing. I hope it still looks the same as before." Ty said.
"Before? You have been to Snow Jam and R&B before, when?" Mac asked.
"I dunno, like 8 or 10 years ago, I was hired to test the course on all the three peaks for the snowboarders. They were all fine." Ty explained.
"We are going to talk about this later, but we have to go now. Uuuwwaaahhh..." Mac said as he yawned afterwards.
They finally arrived tiredly and yawning into the main hall.
"There you are, looks like you guys are too tired to ride." Zoe said.
"No no we are..." Mac said while yawning. "We are in top condition, right guys?" Mac said.
"Speak for yourself man, I want to go back to bed and have some res." Ty said.
"Too bad idiot, you're the one who turned off the alarm!" Mac said mad.
"Stop it, we don't have time for fighting, so we have to go right now!" Alex said.
"Fine, let's go." Ty said.
"Now that we are all here, let's go the helicopter. Follow me." Atomika said when everybody followed him outside and went to the helicopter.
Sammy was outside and opened the doors.
"Get in everyone, we got a lot of ground to cover." Sammy said.
The team stepped in, before Mac and Alex stepped in, they both started to yawn at the same time. Sam saw them tired.
"Alex, Mac, are you feeling well?" Sam asked.
"Well, we are still very tired." Mac said.
"Maybe not a good idea to make a stop in France, I'm sorry Mac." Alex apologized.
"It's okay, I mean, it was for a good cause, let's just get through this quickly, the we can get some sleep." Mac said.
Both Alex and Mac stepped inside the helicopter, as they were the last people to get in. The helicopter flew away on it's way to Snow Jam.
Griff's Wing of the Resort
Back in the resort, Griff was still in his room thinking about a plan to get back at SSX. At the same time, he tried to figure out how he could win the competition.
He sat behind his desk and searched on his PC for some information about Mac Fraser and Kaori Nishidake to get his plan to work. Therefore he opened a special forum about SSX to get himself started.
"Okay, first some more info about Mac and Kaori. Like the military, I need to know my enemies at their fullest." Griff said when he looked at a special report about the boarders.
Griff read the report loud and clear.
"Mackenzie Fraser, in the snow business one of the best snowboarders in the world. However, being an highly above average racer, Mac is known around the globe for his skills in various Tricks, inventing his own tricks and his knowledge about the snowboard world itself. With various contests, he won over the jury with his signature tricks, Walking the Dog, as finishing move. Mac is overall immature, a lone wolf at certain times, sometimes cocky and too stressed out by personal problems, this also becomes his weakness. But aside this, Mac's greatest strength come from his skills in execution and excellence, his respect for his opponents and being an honorable and kind person for the one he cares the most about, his friends of SSX and possibly love interest, Japanese boarder, Kaori Nishidake."Griff said when he read the forum.
He then switched to another tab and opened a web about Kaori and read it loud and clear again.
"Kaori Nishidake, a Japanese boarder with a cheerful attitude, and one of the best racers around after Zoe Payne and Elise Riggs. Kaori was always one of the happiest and shyest persons you could possibly meet. Through the years, Kaori rose through the ranks and established herself as one of the best, in Japan and around the globe. Kaori found out that when she does tricks, she get an amazing kick inside herself that helps her to get faster in racing contests. Therefore she made up a trick of her own that relates to one of her favorite hobbies, dancing and listening to dance music. She called her trick the Pirouette Air Grind. Kaori is unfortunately also very easy to upset at times, it even influences her riding style. She is also very lazy and not that much of a person to practice everyday and only does so when she feels like it. This makes her easily distracted on the courses. But Kaori's greatest strength comes from her family and friends from SSX. Rumor from the third tournaments is that Kaori has a secret crush on Mackenzie "Mac" Fraser, but in an interview with Kaori, she walked away without saying anything, leaving the journalists in suspense." Griff said.
He then opened a main article about SSX in the second Tricky tournament for more info about the team's strength and weaknesses.
"In the third tournament called The Tricky Tournament 3, Team SSX took over the world with many talented boarders. With Zoe Payne as the leader, SSX won every major tournament and every course. From Garibaldi in Canada, to the three peaks made my the tournament commission self. With Kaori, Elise, Griff and Zoe herself as Racing specialist and Mac, Psymon, and Moby as Trick specialists, SSX was undefeated in every contest. Eddie Wachowski however turned their offer of joining them off, no one knows what happened to Eddie, some say he just disappeared from the face of the Earth. But even SSX had their fatal disadvantages. Even though they had experience with boarding others like Brodi, Seeiah, Luther, Nate, Allegra, Vigo, Sid, Hiro and many others, they didn't had much experience of boarding against one of their own in a real competition. As close as everybody was as friends, except for Zoe and Elise with some minor differences of the leadership, SSX couldn't afford to miss a member, or else the team might be in despair. However, 7 years ago, one of their own, Griff Simmons, bailed on SSX as the team was in panic on how to get back on the right path again with fundings. After the panic in competitions and losing every contest they entered, SSX split up and went their own way of doing something else than snowboarding. Zoe also abandoned the team and continued boarding on her own to be the best." Griff read on the internet.
He then turned his computer off and stood on the ground.
"When I left the team, they fell from their usual winning streak? So if I take away one member of them, then the past will repeat itself and their way of boarding will be different?" Griff said.
"That's good to know, I already got a plan on how I can defeat SSX. I need Kaori for this. The bad thing is, I have to wait for Mac and Kaori to have a real relationship. I can't rush them into it, or they would get suspicious. When I have the chance, I'll break their relationship so that Kaori will have to join me, and with her, Team SSX is done for. Zoe, this is payback for cheating in our race event, if you can play it that way, the so can I." Griff said.
Helicopter on its way to Snow Jam
In the helicopter, SSX was still on their way to the first course they were about to take, Snow Jam. Meanwhile, Alex and Mac were in a deep conversation with each other. While they were talking, Kaori got suspicious about the two being so close and tried to get a good hearing on what they were talking about.
"So you were the Peak master, did she challenge you?" Alex asked.
"No, I challenged her, she won a lot of competitions, racing, slopestyle, big airs, so I had to prove myself to everybody else." Mac said.
"And where did you two race?" Alex asked
"In the back country, she won the race, but I can't be surprised. She is one of the best racers, my specialty is tricks." Mac said
"Interesting, what did she say when she beat you?" Alex asked.
"She was bragging to me for being better for like 2 hours straight, but I still liked her no matter what. We are best friends after all. I was kind of childish back in the days about losing, so I wasn't that good in admitting defeat, hahaha." Mac said as he and Alex laughed.
"Wow, you are such a sweet boy, she must be lucky with a good friend like you." Alex said.
"Yeah, I try my best. Now that I'm older, I should take responsibilities for my actions." Mac said when he looked down at the ground.
"You're going to make it, I know you will." Alex said understanding.
Kaori looked suspicious at both of them with her arms crossed and spoke up.
"What are you two talking about?" Kaori asked.
"Uhhmm nothing, just... talking and stuff, right Alex." Mac said as he winked at her three times.
"Yes, we are just talking, nothing more or less." Alex said as she winked back.
"Hope you're enjoying you conversation!" Kaori said mad.
"Hey wait a sec, is there something I missed, what's wrong?" Mac asked worried.
"Nothing wrong at all." Kaori said as she took a seat somewhere else.
Mac looked at Elise as she saw Kaori sitting somewhere else.
"Elise, do you know what's wrong with her, she's been acting like that since yesterday when I came back from training." Mac asked.
"Kaori is just feeling a bit... left out and lonely, I tried to talk to her, but you know how she can be." Elise said.
Mac looked at Alex while she nodded 'yes' at him.
"I guess this is it." Mac said.
"Make sure you do it at midnight, and good luck?" Alex asked.
"What are you talking about?" Elise asked.
"Nothing Elise, just something Mac and I thought about." Alex said as she took Mac somewhere everybody.
"Attention people, we have arrived at our destination, get ready for landing." the pilot said when he landed the helicopter.
Snow Jam
The team finally arrived on their destination in Snow Jam. The helicopter landed as Team SSX stepped out and looked around.
"Okay we are here, this is Snow Jam." Atomika said.
"Wow, it looks so old, and abandoned. It looks like nobody has been here for like 8 years." Zoe said.
"Well, at least the start positions are still the same." Moby said as he walked up to the positions.
"Snow Jam, so many memories. I can't wait to begin!" Psymon yelled.
"SSX, it's time to race, go to the start positions and I'll watch from above in the helicopter with Sam." Atomika said as the team tried to approach their positions.
Then suddenly, Zoe stops everyone from going any further.
"Wait before we start, let's do that one thing before we start a competition. Remember what we always did in the Tricky Tournament before we worked together." Zoe said.
"What do you mean?" Elise asked.
"I thought from all the people, you would understand what I mean. Rival pre-events Elise." Zoe said.
"Oh that thing, okay I'm in. Let's stay nice, we are not rivals anymore. But let's stand next to our former rivals. Are you guys in?" Elise asked.
"Yeah sure why not, kind of missed that back in the old days. I also miss it to humiliate Moby in front of everybody." Mac said when they all went to their former rivals.
"Yeah you wish Kenzie, I was always better than you were in trash talk, that will never change." Moby said.
"Hey Elise, that outfit suits you well, for sale in the 99 cent store?" Zoe said.
"Unfortunately for you, my shoes are more expensive than your clothes." Elise said.
"Mac, after 10 years, you're still a little dwarf next to me, hehe." Moby said.
"Moby, after 10 years, you're jokes are still worse then your snowboard skills." Mac said.
"Psymon, you disgust me!" Kaori said.
"Aahahaha, now I know you didn't mean that, little girl, hahahaha!" Psymon yelled.
"Okay that was it, Atomika, you do the start sign." Zoe said.
"Okay. Three, two, one... Go!" Atomika said when he started the race and Zoe took the lead.
While everybody was racing, Psymon wasn't done with a certain somebody.
"Oooghaaah Boohhgaahhhaaa!" Psymon yelled next to Kaori.
"Stop doing that!" Kaori said as she covered her face.
Mac saw what he did and stepped in.
"Hey hey Psymon, the trash talk is over, enough. Move on with the race would you." Mac said.
"Hehehe, I was just playing, see yah kiddos." Psymon said as she sped up.
"Thanks, that was really sweet of you." Kaori said.
"Don't mention it, come on let's..." Mac said while yawning deeply again. "Let's continue the race and show them what we really can do." Mac said.
"Are you okay, you look very tired?" Kaori asked worried.
"Yeah, yeah I'm alright and full of energy, we have to continue..." Mac said as he tried to speed up.
"You're right." Kaori said while smiling.
Meanwhile, Zoe took first and Elise second place.
"Heha, this race is all mine, get ready for the second place Elise!" Zoe said shouted.
"In your dreams, I'll prove that I'm one of the best in this team!" Elise shouted back.
"Ladies ladies, you are forgetting one small little detail. The first place is mine, laters." Moby said when he took first place form Zoe by jumped over her head.
"I think we have a common enemy." Elise said.
"While we are fighting, Moby took advantage of it. Let's show him he can't fool us anymore." Zoe said as they all tried to get behind Moby.
Halfway Snow Jam
The race was still going on, it was a long competition with Zoe, Elise, Moby, Kaori, Tane and Psymon in the lead. They started to get closer and closer to the finish line. Meanwhile, Ty, Alex and Mac were behind the six other boarders.
"The others are taking this race a bit too seriously." Ty said.
"Atomika said that it was just analyze, what do you think Mac?" Alex asked but Mac didn't answer her as he got his eyes closed.
"Wake up!" Alex yelled as he shockingly opened his eyes.
"I'm up, I'm up, I'm racing, really. Look it me, woohoo!" Mac said shocked.
"You still look tired, let's get this over with so that we can get some rest later." Ty said as he tried to catch up with the others.
"Yeah, yeah that's for the best." Mac said when he tried to go faster.
While they were still behind, the rest was approaching the finish line faster and faster. Once again, Zoe, Elise and Moby were the one's to take the lead again.
"The victory is mine Riggs." Zoe said.
"You wished Payne!" Elise said.
"You're both wrong, I'm going to win this!" Moby said.
But right at the finishline, somebody else who they didn't expected, jumped over the three boarders and crossed the line first.
"Yeah, I won! I am number one!" Kaori said.
"Wait, Kaori? Where did she come from?" Zoe asked around.
"I don't know, she just appeared from above." Moby said.
"Kaori, how did you do that?" Elise asked.
"That's a secret, later guys, this race was totally mine." Kaori said
"Good job everyone, Zoe, I'll explain later what happened during the race. Right now, we have to wait for everyone to finish." Atomika said as he counted the riders who started to finish. "Let's see, Kaori, Zoe, Moby, Elise, Psymon, Tane, Ty... Oh look, there is Alex." Atomika said.
"H-Hello there." Alex said shy as she looked away.
"You're late." Atomika said.
"Sorry, had something else to do in meantime, but it was a failure." Alex said as she looked behind her.
"Where is Mac?" Atomika asked.
"Right there." Alex said as she pointed her thumb towards Mac who was approaching the line with his eyes closed, mumbling in his sleep.
"Mmm... Hamburgers... Video games... Awesomeness." Mac mumbled in his sleep while crossing the line.
"Wake up, you slept enough already." Atomika said as he woke up shockingly.
"Chicken Wings... Las Vegas... Kenny G! What, oh hey guys." Mac said while yawning. "When are we racing?" Mac said as Atomika sighted deeply.
"Chicken wings, Las Vegas and Kenny G? What the hell were you dreaming about?" Moby asked.
"Eating chicken wings in Las Vegas with Kenny G?" Mac said confused.
"You have one of the weirdest dreams ever. It sounds pretty neat. Come on buddy, I'll take you to the helicopter." Moby said as he carried him to the helicopter.
"It was a cool dream though, we were just chilling in Vegas, playing poker, gambling. I won everything, then I woke up." Mac said.
"Let's just go to the helicopter, I'll try to keep you awake when we are inside." Atomika said when everybody stepped into the helicopter and went to their next destination, R&B.