School had ended, and the kids were preparing to head out for home. Linda and Slash met up in front of the school, where not far from them, the mass of humanity that flooded the streets of Snow Town had still been forming.

"Didn't think we'd get that project done in class with all the distractions..." Linda said to Slash.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I got a little into Jam's talk about the race yesterday, and since Nancy was working with Tommy for today's assignment, since we were closer, he figured he'd talk to us." Slash replied.

"Well, he's got to stop obsessing over it so much, so he won a match, doesn't mean he has to keep it up after the race is over." Linda suggested.

"No use worrying about it now." Slash said wisely.

"True, anyway, i'll hold onto the project and we'll present it to the teacher in class tomorrow." Linda said.

"Alright, see you then." Slash said, giving a small sigh of relief.

Linda headed off with the project under her arm towards her castle, while Slash got on his board and headed towards Snowboard Street to take the lift-in to the top of the street. He saw Tommy just getting on the lift-in.

"Hey Tommy, how's it going?" Slash said, greeting him.

"Hey Slash, not too bad, a little sleepy from school, that lecture during Math Class was so long-winded..." Tommy replied sleepily.

"I got my project done with Linda in class, so that's all set, didn't think it'd go so smoothly." Slash said.

"Aside from what I heard about Linda chasing you..." Tommy started until Slash cut him off.

"...Hey hey! Let's not dwell on that!"

"Well it's true." Tommy insisted. "Really if you would have helped Linda with the project earlier, you probably wouldn't have had to work on it until the last day."

"The teacher gives us time to do our project, and I can use that time to do what I want so long as I get the project done, right?" Slash started.

"Yeah, that's right..." Tommy agreed.

"So there you go." Slash said with a smile.

Tommy just sighed, shaking his head. "Well, at least I heard about that race you guys had, too bad about Damien screwing things up for you all."

"He didn't screw much up." Slash insisted. "All he really did was add some more trouble to the race, and it wasn't even all that much, just really another racer on the road, and one who wouldn't even win if he got first place."

"Still makes me wonder why he showed up." Tommy said.

"Well, let him show, he doesn't frighten me." Slash said proudly.

With that, they continued up the lift in...

Meanwhile, Linda had just returned home, and headed to her room. She opened a drawer in her room and put the project in it, closed the drawer, then headed over to the bathroom to change outfits.

A few moments later, as she was coming back out in a dress, she was startled to hear a knock at her room door.

"Who is it?" Linda asked.

The butler, Yanci, replied through the door. "There is a Master Roger here to see you, Miss Maltinie..."

"Oh! Let him in then." Linda acknowledged.

A moment later, the door opened, and Roger walked in, holding his trusty board under his arm. "Hey Linda, how's things going? Did Slash finish with that project with you?"

"Yeah, i'm surprised we did so well on it." Linda said, shrugging a bit. "I suppose for a brat, he can get his work done when you give him the right discipline."

Roger chuckled a bit. "Well, I came because I wanted to invite you, Slash, and Wendy to a race. I figured since I got to race a bit with you guys, I could invite you all to race again."

Linda smiled a bit. "That sounds fun, I suppose I could go for a race after all this stress, but..."

Roger looked at her curiously. "But...?"

"Where are we going to race with all the people in Snow Town? Almost all the courses are closed down save for the ones i'd need to take a helicopter too, like Crazy Jungle." Linda asked.

Roger shrugged a little. "You've got a point, seems a little difficult to race with all the people here, but you know, you COULD race even with all the people here..."

Linda raised an eyebrow at the thought. "What do you mean? Are you insisting I race through the crowds, and possibly hurt people?"

Roger shook his head. "Don't picture it like that, picture it more like using your snowboarding skills to put yourself to the test, to get through Snowboard Street without actually hitting any of the people in Snow Town, it'd be the ultimate race course!"

Linda blinked a bit. "True, all those people would make racing a lot harder, but wouldn't they complain about it?"

Roger shook his head once more. "What if I told you that the people were actually here to watch some of the Snowboarding matches?"

"I suppose then I wouldn't care as much, but why would they? I thought they were here for the housing?" Linda asked.

Roger laughed a bit. "Is that what you heard? They're here because they heard of all the snowboarding and such out here, and many of them want to get in on the action, so many moved up here just to try it."

Linda shrugged a bit. "Well I figured that, but they plan to stay up here, don't they?"

"Possibly, but why not show them a taste of what they want to see up here?" Roger insisted.

Linda nodded a bit in realization. "Very good point..." She said. "Alright, you have my ear on this race then, when do you want to have it?"

Roger smiled a bit. "Tonight at 9:00 PM. I'll inform Slash and Wendy on the race as well. I asked Mr. Dog to help sponsor the race, so everything should be alright in this case."

Linda nodded again, smiling a bit. "Alright then, 9:00 PM it is, i'll make sure to bring my best skill with me, I heard you race pretty well, so expect a run for your skill, Roger." She said with a grin on her face.

Roger grinned a bit at the words. "Oh I'll be ready, you should be as well..." He said as he turned away, his voice darkening with those words.

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- And so another chapter done, this was more of a setup chapter for the next chapter, but I think it got the job done nicely. I should have the next chapter of this up sometime this month, so here's to some more recent updates from me.