Turns out the bloody git was a millionaire who's son had banned from bmx and started doing the same tricks on the Elysium.
The guy's son had moved on through, grown up and broken both legs. I should've known something was up right than and there, but nope. Anyway, after the son had recovered, he had been banned from boarding by the doctors. So, he went and gathered some locals for him to watch.
ESPN comes along, asks if they're qualified for a show. They of course aren't. The guy through, he's bloody rich, you know. So he decides to gather up riders, and see if he can get ESPN Coverage.
There was a catch. We couldn't be boarders before we were signed up.
So where did he look ? Same place he found me. Elise who was a model trying anything. Zoe, a downhill mountain biker. Jurgen, a backwoods skier who had more than once crossed the border to do Elysium on two boards stead of one, Kaori a funky skateboarder from Tokyo, etc. It was only October, and the season officially started with thanksgiving in America, but we were there anyway.
The reason was simple enough. Elysium is high. Very high. It stays frozen, no matter what. Its on one of the highest mountains in the world. It had gotten frozen somehow, we don't know, but it didn't melt. At all. The crowds were supplied with Oxygen, and it was pressure pumped in vital areas so we didn't suffocate.
Well. we were given boards based on our personalities, what could be attributed to wet suits with our designs from other sports on them, and told to perfect our 'mad cap skills'. That's a quote too.
What fallowed was a painfull experiance in which I made Zoe and Elise look at my arse. A lot. The only problem was Mac was faster than I, and if your not the lead dog...
I ended up staying behind a lot. JP and me would ride easy in the practices and talk. Well, insult each other. Jurgen would talk nicely with me. And than, there would be those days we would race like hell.
The holiday came. We started filming snatches of clips from practice runs. They would show pan-overs of the other courses, some still being built. ESPN began showing the vignettes and mentioning a 'Christmas surprise' for the extremist. We started doing voice recordings so that when we would do in air commentary on our game, people would recognize us.
It started with Hiro. He would exclaim the mighty wind spirits. Than JP would talk about the bountifull fall. Jurgen would talk about the power and edging. Than I would go on, and say something bout the style only an athlete like me would have.
The commercials were detailed with silhouettes. They showed Kaori and Elise criss crossing in the air with Zoe zigging beneath them and jumping when they landed.
For the boy's, it had the 5 of us riding in a diamond pattern. I got lead, and would duck. Mac would jump over me, and Jurgen and JP would switch around. Hiro would pull up besides me, and we would do a side rotation flip away from each other in time for Mac to jump back and do a grab mutation. He never landed it, as it froze and just our black silhouettes would be boarding.
Soon, ssx logo's began appearing on boards in shops. People didn't see any connection at all.
Than came the day. ESPN put aside the Christmas football. It told people we were its present to the world. I called my Pap and told him a merry Christmas, and got on my gear. Than I went out. Elise was the first to be introduced. As a model, it came natural to her. She went out and put on the nice pouty look, and explained it all.
Than it panned to me. I was up.
"This is Jones, Moby Jones. I'm here, you bloody gits!" I said, opening with my line from the bmx showoff circuit. Ratings went up when a pre-established extreme star was a spokesman. "I'm here for you, and I'm missing a good old Christmas dinner with me mum and pap, So you'd best enjoy this." I paused, looking around and grinning like a maniac. I was in what appeared to be my bmx gear. I clapped my hands together "Right now. I bet your all just wondering what on earth I'm doing here, and more importantly, where here is." JP walked past and told them where we were, exactly, in French. Elise made a show of shoving him out of the camera. "Well, You still don't know where we are, mates. You may have a guess, but what it is, well. Your the guesser. Me, I'm just here to give you a bloody good show. Me and my Mates, that is. Now, the first person to guess where I am, gets a free item in the bloomin post." I said. Thats when Mac crashed through the skylight on his board.
"Yo, yo yo! Hold your head high, and listen to the sounds, cause here we go" He said, his voice blending with Ryzel's, our DJ for the track. We all affized our head gear, and in the night sky, went out into the Elysium.