Chapter 8: A mountain of peril

Today, there were some events up in the wintry mountains on Animalympic islands for the two events: the Slalom and Downhill. The star of these events was the European alpinist Kurt Wuffner, who in the previous games went missing for a while, stranded in the mountains until he found the lost city of Dogra-La, where he recovered his strength, found love, and then returned just in time to earn himself the gold in Downhill. After gaining the gold, he departed to find the city again. Nobody knew if he would show up again or not.

The first event was the Slalom with some old timers like the North American frog Jimmy Ribbit who struggled badly in the previous games, often slamming into the flag poles on the way down, which would put him down but Brenda Springer and Bjorn Freeborg (a Swedish horse), complimented his commitment and resilience, and rhe European warthog Marcel Pourseux who after suffering several accidents throughout his career, especially a motorcycle incident, kept getting back up. The Cooper Gang were hoping that there weren't any crime for this day, though they were happy that yesterday Sly and Carmelita got a gold in Figure Skating bringing the number of medals up to four for them, three golds and one silver. The weather for today was fair, bright and a tolerable level of winter cold, with some light snowfall.

Up first in the event was one of the Calamari brothers, Ricardo who decided to branch out his sports repertoire with this event. At the starting bell, Ricardo thrusted himself down the slope, doing his best to get around the flags, starting off quite well, but at one point, one of his tentacles got caught on a flag pole and he began to stumble the rest of the way down the slope, into a wall, just short of the finish line. Medics came over to check up on him, he suffered a concussion from the crash. His dreams of gold shattered by one mishap.

The next competitor was none other than Jimmy Ribbit himself, having learned from his folly in the previous games. Unlike Ricardo Calamari, Jimmy was much more alert of what he was doing, going down the slope and around the flag poles. His speed wasn't the greatest but he ended up getting a very respectable time of 53 seconds.

The third skier was Marcel Pouseux, also having recovered and learned from his folly in the previous games, he was hopeful that the repairs to him were good enough. He descended much faster down the slope and around the poles, earning himself a time of 51 seconds. No sooner did Marcel cross the line, some witnesses in the audience and crew spotted two hang-gliders one yellow, one red, the yellow one showed a familiar face in all his glory: The dog star Kurt Wuffner himself, in the red was a female dog, decked out in winter gear, but looked as if from a lost civilization. Up first, the female started and with much faster speed and grace descended down, crossing the finish line at a time of 49 seconds, and as soon as that happened, it was Kurt's turn, and like the female crossed at 49 seconds as well. As he crossed, Kurt and the female smiled at each other, confident in gaining a gold medal simultaneously.

Brenda and Bjorn approached the two, ready for interviewing, first to Kurt.

"Kurt Wuffner, it's been said that after the previous Animalympics, you left to relocate Dogra-La, were you successful?" she asked him and then held up the microphone.

"Ja ja! Dis lovely von is Dachsine who having lived moost of her life in Dogra-La, decided to live herr dream oov a life beyond ze mountains of herr citae. She goot some pointeahrs from me how to ski in several events, includins dis von." Bjorn came over to Dachsine, who was a little nervous at first, but after seeing Kurt do his interview she renewed her confidence in public speaking.

"Dachsine, surely dis ees all brand niew to you, vat er yer thoughts 'bout competing in ze Animalympics?" he asked her.

"Feels glorious to be with my love Kurt, and to finally experience life outside of my world and into his, plus get my first taste of victory, I'm beginning to love this life!" She smiled enthusiastically, then turn to Kurt who winked in affection."

"Ya vol!" Kurt added. The audience cheered for both Kurt and Dachsine as they both earned the gold medal simultaneously for Europe. Jimmy Ribbit

The next event was the Downhill, known for where Marcel crashed again, tumbling down the mountain, and barely crossing the finish line, only for Kurt to return from his trip to Dogra-La just in the nick of time to earn another gold for Europe. Dachsine was allowed in this event as well as one competition wasn't good enough for her, having inherited her sense of adventure from Kurt himself. This time she wasn't the only newcomer to this event, as Ricardo Calamari was going to be in this one too. Kurt himself decided to step out and allow Dachsine the honor of a chance of getting a gold medal herself.

Up first was Ricardo determined to try his luck even further in the Downhill and expand his Animalympic experience. As soon as the bell rang, he sprung himself downward, watching the dips in the slope, unlike in the Slalom, he was feeling confident in his abilities. At the third however, he squatted down too soon and instead launched himself into the air, it felt like he was flying. As soon as he landed, which was rough, he crossed over the finish line with a time of 1:06 minutes.

The next up was Marcel himself, determined to improve his performance after the dreadful finish from the previous games. As soon has he launched himself from the start at the sound of the bell, he sped downwards, looking quite nice down the hill. At the 2nd dip however, he started tumbling, but then recovered at the next dip back in good form, crossing the finish line with a time of 1:04.

Finally it was all up to Dachsine herself, coached by Kurt himself, she was feeling confident in her abilities after her performance on the slalom. At the sound of the bell she propelled herself downward down the slope, reflecting on some important techniques that were taught by Kurt before their arrival on the mountain. Not once did she stumble or leap on any dip, eventually she crossed the finish line with a time of 1:02 a new record. As soon as she crossed the finish line with this new time, the audience including the Cooper Gang, gave her a standing ovation. Brenda Springer came forward to interview Dachsine.

"Dachsine, how does it feel to not only earn your first gold medal, but create a new Animalympic record?"

"Well Brenda, I have Kurt to thank for teaching me all there is to know about skiing, but I always wanted to do so since I was a little girl from my perch in Dogra-La. Now I have a feeling Kurt and I will get married afterwards!"

"Ya vol Dachsine! Dat vas vunderbar! Marriage iz certainly expected and accepted! Ve shall ski ze vorld!"